The Language I Spoke Yesterday

Surname

Regret settle over my shoulders like a wet blanket. It was a familiar mantle. Intrusive and unwelcome. The rays of winter sun did nothing for the cold. I turned my face up to it anyway. I closed my eyes and soaked it in. Soaked up the sunlight and let the remorse fall off. No matter what I did, I was always a day late and a dollar short.

But not today.

Oh no, not today.

Today I still had time.

Time to make a difference.

I focused on the Haki around me. Near the cross of 4th and C street, all I could feel were bundles of joy and eagerness for the coming spring. Shopping and chatter. Mention of the Celestial Dragon on the island had me rubbing my neck. Serena was no Amilia, but she was no joke, either.

I twitched as something touched my face. I opened my eyes to see snow drifting down from the pale sky. I stared at it for several seconds before I was able to pull myself back to the present. Everything that Channing had told me about his friend said that she would be found exactly in the opposite direction from where she was supposed to be. Since the cafe where I left her crew was on the corner of 5th and B, I needed to be closer to 25th and V street. It was too close to Poor Man's Walk for my liking, and way too close to the small outpost of Black Antlers.

My options were to either go or give up.

I started walking North.

I stuck my hands in my pockets and kept my eyes forward. Out of my peripherals, I noticed several people in clothes darker than what the natives usually wore. They weren't black, but deep browns and beiges. They didn't stand out, but they didn't quite fit, either. Maybe if they had been as excited about the perfectly white flakes falling from the sky as the people who belonged here, it would have taken me more time to notice them. Two stars.

They didn't seem to notice me. I looked like some nobody in a bright blue trench coat and a grey turtleneck. It helped that I had the strangest hair color. I smirked. I remembered Mom being so confused when my little brother was born.

"I understand one child with green hair, but two!?" She exclaimed.

Lost in thought, I wondered how my little brother had turned out. He was always a hard headed little snot. I wanted to meet him. What kind of man was he? As soon as I had done my part in keeping the Poison Tongue out of the World Government's eye, I would find out. Maybe I'd even ask to join his crew. I could take back the family name.

Roronoa.

I grinned to myself at the thought, and the feeling of someone closing in behind me. I turned down a wide alley. It was an outlet for several apartment buildings and fairly well traveled. Conveniently, we'd missed the lunch hour and it was going to be quiet for a while before people started coming home from work.

Hands still in my pockets, I stopped inside the shadow. "Your stalking ability is top notch. Five stars!"

"A funny guy, are ya?" He growled. His footsteps changed. The sound of leather soles on concrete changed to hooves and kept coming.

I let him get within ten feet before I spun around. I wasn't surprised to see tan fur on his face or a set of four point antlers sprouting from his head. He lowered his head and charged. I grabbed his antlers, digging in my heels. My armament haki kept the hard bone from damaging my hands. He grunted in surprise. "The fuck you made out of, punk?"

"Sarcasm and regret." I told him solemnly. My knee came up and broke his nose. While he was processing the shock and pain, I stood him up and slammed him into the wall. I held my armament blackened arm against his throat and pressed him against the bricks. His face turned red and he grabbed my wrist and elbow. His blood ran down my leather coat, filling every seam and wrinkle. His horns shrank to nothing as he lost his transformation. "Why are you following me?"