Summary
Shu has been responsible for Mika’s food for a long time—the days following the outbreak are no exception.
Shu has been responsible for Mika’s food for a long time—the days following the outbreak are no exception.
I posted this on Halloween, but have mixed feelings on keeping it up at times, especially because I don't actually ship these two. Still, I like the image of the scene enough to let it stay up.
The raspy moans are audible long before Shu is close to the room. Approaching the door, he wonders for a moment—as he holds the prepared meal he has in his arms—that if it’s truly been long enough where he hasn’t properly bathed, that even Mika, in his current state, can smell him from where he is… How embarrassing.
He sets the food down on the worn wooden floor with a huff, then knocks on the door with his knuckles. “Kagehira, I’m coming in.”
Another guttural exhale is what he gets as a reply.
Despite how ready Mika sounds, Shu lingers for a moment, ensuring him ample enough time to be prepared for his entrance anyways. After he clears his throat, he twists the door knob and cracks the door open. Dropping to a kneel, he then scoops the meal off of the floor into his arms again. A grunt escapes him as he rises to a stand, then after nudging the door open with his hip, he steps into the room.
“Ohhhh, shhh… ah…” Mika’s neck bulges against his leather collar with each attempt to lean forward in his sitting posture. His arms reach out unhurriedly, but the strength at which he pulls away from the bedpost belies his composure, revealing his eagerness. “Weh, bah…”
“I’m home.” Shu closes the door with a kick behind him, nearly causing himself to lose balance. “I apologize for taking so long.”
“ Haaah… Ngahh~” It almost sounds reassuring.
Shu drops to a kneel again to deposit the food. It rolls once, stiffly, toward Mika for him to pick up. And he wastes no time doing just that.
Cruuunch. Mika’s eyes squeeze closed as his teeth tear into an upper arm. He shakes his head back and forth, left and right, fighting the tough meat. He growls, grinding his teeth even harder. Crrrick, crrrack, snap! His teeth make contact with each other in a fierce clack, squirting coagulated blood in the process.
He exhales after the effort, repositioning the severed arm in front of him before he gasps and looks up to Shu. “Ahhh…” The tone is unsure, like he just realized a social faux pas. “Ahh, ahh…”
Shu blinks from his unintended staring. “You were… more famished than usual, right? Then I’ll forgive you of your manners, just this once.”
“ Haaah, haah~” Mika’s eyes nearly disappear again in his smile, before he digs in with a, “Saaaw-ee… Sank yoo, fer foo…”
Shu brings his propped knee to rest against the floor, settling back on his shins.
It doesn’t get easier. He’s done this a number of times now, and it doesn’t get easier. It’s revolting witnessing rotting canines tear into what used to be warm flesh. The sounds of bones crunching when Mika’s impatience shows is harrowing. Not to mention, the stench of it all. It pains Shu to admit that his nose is starting to get desensitized to it.
“Ohh-shahh…”
Thud, splat. Clots fall from Mika’s mouth, and the traces of blood that refused to be drained, prior to Shu delivering Mika of his meal, oozes out between the cracks of wood.
In Shu’s blurry periphery, a limp wrist extends towards him, then another. He blinks, dampening his eyelashes and raising his chin to watch Mika form the rest of his sentence.
Agape with lingering juices of his last bite, strings of dirty saliva connect Mika’s top and bottom jaw while his tongue juts out. It flops around aimlessly until it lifts to rest behind his front teeth. “D’ahh… ooh, keh…?”
Shu focuses his gaze higher, peering into Mika’s eyes. The darkened sclera brings out the gold and blue of Mika’s irises, and it’s bone-chilling, the way they still shine with the beauty of a doll- No, human.
It’s been so long since he caught word of survivors or the development of a cure. When he wanders the outside of their little cabin, swinging his hatchet towards lost souls, he feels the remnants of his humanity chip away, wondering the point of it all.
But the way he reaches towards him, with the gentility and grace that reminds him of those far off memories, shining so bright…
“Oshhh-sah… D’ahh, yoo, keh?”
Shu laughs, and Mika’s arms gently lower in confusion.
He grows closer to him, leaning over the corpse and caressing the right side of his face. His thumb traces underneath his eye, smearing a speck of blood that splattered onto his upper cheek. “I am. And no matter what happens to you, know that I am here for you. For your next meal, for your next spring, and the ones that come after. For eternity…”
he promises.