Chapter Text
The rock in your hand was small, no larger than a school eraser but it would be enough. Your target wasn’t big either. It wouldn’t take much to kill it, just a single strike. All you had to do was hit it.
You swung the rock hard as you could, sending it flying through the air. It smashed into the ground, raising a cloud of dust from the dry dirt. You sighed. Already knowing what you would see when the dust cleared you didn’t bother to go over to check. There would be nothing there. In the split second between the rock leaving your hand and when it struck the dirt the mouse had vanished. The bread crust it had dropped during its escape was the only evidence it had ever been there at all.
You kicked the dirt, sending up another cloud. It had been a small mouse, probably no bigger than your palm, but it would have been a nice snack. After roaming around the city for most of the evening you were tired. You could have used it.
“What’s it like?” you heard from behind you. You froze. It was Yoshida, your work partner. You hadn’t realized he had been watching you.
You turned around. He was sitting on a low concrete slab in the middle of the empty lot, his feet hanging just an inch or two off the ground. He was the reason you were at this construction site. He had accepted this assignment late on a Friday night, stealing the start of your weekend from you. It was typical of him, but still irritating.
With an application and a written test any person could become a devil hunter and go private or public but as a devil you were given no choice. You had to register with the government and work for Public Safety. It made sense, the government didn’t want devils running around unmonitored and uninsured, but it hardly felt fair. You hadn’t wanted to work for the government, learning all their rules and regulations and spending more time in an office than you did on the field.
So you hadn’t. Instead of registering yourself you had found yourself a company that was more than willing to work with you. The pay was under the table and the benefits weren’t bad. As you had been reading your work contract you had wondered why all hunters didn’t go private, but it didn’t take long for you to understand why. It was people like Yoshida.
Someone like him wouldn’t exist in Public Safety. Arrogant as he was, no team would ever agree to work with him. They wouldn’t make it a day, no, an hour with him before they got fed up and insisted on being reassigned. But of course, unlike the government, private companies operated for no reason other than profits. All they cared about was results. Your company didn’t care whether the two of you got along or could even tolerate each other. You could quit if you didn’t like it.
And you had considered quitting, every single day since you had met him a few months ago. As well as the two of you worked together, your respective abilities synergizing well, you couldn’t stand him. He was younger than you but as condescending as he was you would never have guessed it. Even when he wasn’t speaking down to you it was how he looked at you, like you weren’t his equal. It was infuriating, but for the pay you put up with it. On a good night you could make what it would take a week to make with Public Safety.
That being said, you were looking forward to the day you could get a new partner. Eventually Yoshida would let slip up, all devil hunters did. Most devil hunters didn’t make it to twenty-five. With human hunters outnumbering devils by such a large margin at your company, you would probably have a new, better partner the day after his funeral. Not that you would attend.
“What’s what like?” you asked curtly. You wanted to go home. The devil that was supposedly living at this construction site wasn’t anywhere to be found. You could report that to your supervisor and go home but Yoshida had insisted on waiting just a little longer. He was interested in seeing what the Hammer Devil was like.
“Needing blood,” he replied. He had been watching your battle with the mouse. Being seen losing against a mere mouse might have been embarrassing but you didn’t care what a human thought of you, much less what Yoshida did. You wouldn’t give him the flustered response he was probably hoping for.
“If you smoked you would understand,” you told him, though you weren’t sure he would. It wasn’t irritation at realizing you only had one cigarette left or even the struggle of trying to quit. Only the deepest of withdrawals could be comparable to how a devil felt around fresh blood. It was water, food, comfort, and everything else a human could possibly crave all wrapped up in a single desire.
Yoshida nodded thoughtfully. It was hardly new information to him but it was nice to have confirmation. Just like people, devils were all different. Even the same devil, killed and reborn, would be different. A devil that had once taken on a monstrous form might return with a friendlier, more human appearance.
But while he had gone quiet you knew Yoshida better than to think he was finished. His hand was resting on his chin, a habit of his you had picked up on. You waited, scuffing your shoes in the dirt, and sure enough eventually he spoke.
“Come here,” he said, beckoning you with a wave. “I have something to show you.” You grumbled but started towards him. You hated being told around by him, especially when he had no authority to do so, but you knew he wouldn’t let it go. You wouldn’t let him think you cared though. You took your time, weaving around the steel beams and wiring that was strewn across the site instead of stepping over them as you would have otherwise.
When you reached Yoshida, you looked down at him and waited for him to speak. You wouldn’t fight for whatever he had to say. Content enough with how you had come over without him needing to convince you, he cut right to it. Lifting a hand Yoshida brushed back the bangs that covered his cheek. You watched as he revealed a small horizontal cut on his left cheek, right below his eye. Once you had seen it he let his hair fall back over it, hiding it again.
“It was the Pencil Devil yesterday.” The devil hadn’t been too much of a bother, the two of you taking it down in a matter of seconds, but you had been taken by surprise. A solid rod of graphite had pierced through the air and grazed him. A centimeter closer and it would have torn a hole in his skull but he would have never been so careless as to let that happen. It had only managed to land the scratch it had because he had been allowing himself to enjoy the fight just a bit too much.
“Overconfidence will do that,” you said with a laugh. It was the first time in all your time working together that you had seen Yoshida get injured, even if it was just a scratch. Maybe it would humble him a little. That was much too optimistic though, and his gentle smile told you that. Your partner would always be insufferable.
Yoshida hadn’t called you over to show off the mistake though. “Go on,” he said, drawing his hair aside again. Almost a day old now, the cut wouldn’t be fresh but it would have only begun to heal. There was probably only a thin line of clotted blood keeping it together. It wouldn’t take much to open it up again. So small, barely anything would come out if the cut opened again but you would get the flavor, that thick metallic taste you had gone so long without. You couldn’t remember the last time you had tasted human blood. You could remember the bird you had torn into a month or two ago but never a human.
“I’m telling you that you can have it,” Yoshida explained with a smile, interrupting your thoughts. He felt you had spent enough time staring at it. It was fun watching your eyes bounce back and forth between the cut and meeting his eyes but what would come next would be even better.
You scowled at him. There it was, that patronizing attitude of his you loathed. It wasn’t that you didn’t understand what he was offering. You didn’t want it. You would never debase yourself as to take blood from him. You would rather go off in search of the rat. The rat would offer more blood than whatever few flecks might be on his cheek. It would be fresh and warm too, all around more appealing than him.
Yoshida didn’t say anything more. He didn’t have to. You had taken a step towards him. You had convinced yourself, and were continuing to convince yourself further as you came closer. Inch by inch you were drifting in towards him, like metal drawn to a magnet.
You didn’t know what Yoshida was thinking or what he wanted but all you were doing was getting a closer look. A cut could say a lot, not only about what might have caused it but about the person. You would know whether he was healthy by how he was healing. Getting in closer and taking in the scent you might even be able to take a guess at his blood type. AB or B would be ideal, just your personal preference.
You set your hand on Yoshida’s shoulder to steady yourself as you came in closer. He didn’t move, even as you rested most of your weight against him. He was as solid as the concrete he was sitting on. Any other time you would have been concerned about him sliding away, sending you tumbling onto the ground but right now the thought didn’t even cross your mind. Yoshida wanted you to see this.
You hung over him as you studied his cheek but the dim light didn’t let you make out as much as you would have liked. Perhaps knowing that, Yoshida tilted his head and offered you a better angle. Illuminated in the various colors of streetlights and neon signs, you could make out enough of his face. With your other hand on his chin, you turned him towards you a little more. There it was, the perfect angle.
You didn’t want his blood but the more you studied the cut under the neon and the more you smelled it, the more you needed it. Yoshida let out an audible breath but didn’t flinch as you pressed your tongue against him. He wasn’t opposed, but surprised. It was hot, warmer than he would have expected. He didn’t know whether that was because you were a devil but whatever the reason he would remember it.
Your breath was cooler though, chilling his skin where your tongue had been. You had sighed. You hadn’t tasted much of anything except for Yoshida himself, the salt of his sweat and the dust he had kicked up while investigating the lot with you. It had been a barely imperceptible amount of blood.
Squeezing his shoulder, you came in again. You couldn’t help it. Without much of a scab, without much holding it together, it shouldn’t take much for it to split again. You ran your tongue over it a few times, desperately urging the blood to come forth. Getting nowhere like that, you pressed your lips against him. You licked at the cut a few more times but finally, fed up, you sucked on his skin, tugging at it.
Yoshida twisted away, raising a hand to keep you from following him. You wouldn’t have. The interruption had made you realize what you were doing. You had lost control of yourself. That alone irritated you but when you met eyes with Yoshida and saw that he wasn’t upset but grinning you had reached your limit. You shoved him by the shoulder and spun around before storming off. You didn’t know where the gate in the fence was but you would concern yourself with finding it later. You needed some distance between the two of you.
“You can hang around here all night but I’m leaving,” you spat back at him. You finished the thought by wiping your mouth with the back of your hand. You wanted to get home and tear into the first leftovers you found in your fridge. You wanted his taste out of your mouth.
“Okay, okay,” Yoshida sighed, exasperated. It didn’t seem like the devil would be making an appearance tonight. The two of you could try again tomorrow.
“Ah,” you heard from behind you, the loud hiss of air being drawn through clenched teeth. Half-hoping you would find him ambushed by the devil, you turned back to check on Yoshida. He was standing but he hadn’t made it a single step from the slab he had been sitting on. He was looking down at his palms.
After a muttered complaint he looked at you. Meeting your eyes, he held up his right hand as if to wave but he was only showing it to you. Even in the dark it wasn’t hard to make it out. Blood was running down from the broken skin at the base of his thumb. He had caught it on the concrete when he had been getting up.
But despite the blood, Yoshida was smiling. “Seems like a shame to waste it,” he commented. Though he spoke gently and with a kind smile, the implication wasn’t lost on you. You wanted to roll your eyes and mumble something, telling him you weren’t amused by his joke, but you could only watch the blood as it dripped down his arm. With every beat of his heart more oozed out of his palm but only when there was enough to collect in a drop did it begin to run down. With the path each drop took different than the last, it was entrancing.
With your sense of smell hundreds if not thousands of times better than his, you smelled every last thing in this construction site. The tools and materials hauled in for the job, the cigarettes the workers had smoked, even what they had eaten for lunch. But while you could still smell all of that, what overpowered all of it was the scent of his blood.
You were walking before you realized it. He was right, it would be a shame to waste it. And he should apologize for leading you on earlier. Getting not even the slightest hint of blood from it, he had cleaned that cut thoroughly.
Retracing your steps you returned to the middle of the lot, where you had left Yoshida. When you reached him you didn’t acknowledge him other than to go to take his arm by the wrist. With him standing now, you were no longer towering over him but rather the opposite. You thought you preferred it when he had been sitting.
You caught nothing but air. Yoshida had pulled his hand back at the last second. You were getting ahead of yourself.
“Beg for it.”
“Huh?” You would have never given him the satisfaction of a reaction like that if you could have helped it, but the noise had slipped out in sheer disbelief. You couldn’t believe what you had heard. Or what you thought you had heard. Yoshida was still smiling softly.
You hadn’t misheard though.
“You’re a dog, aren’t you?” he asked. “Then beg like one.”
Your face twisted into a sneer. This wasn't the first time Yoshida had reminded you what devil you were and it wouldn't be the last. He had always lorded it over you. He was the devil hunter and you were his Dog.
More than confident in his own ability, Yoshida had never wanted a partner. He would work together with other devil hunters on assignments when he had to but it was the exception and not the rule. He worked best alone. But while he had never wanted a partner he found he didn’t mind a dog, especially not a cute one. Being partnered with the Dog Devil wasn’t too bad.
You bit your tongue, almost drawing out your own blood. You knew you would only regret it later if you spoke. Yoshida wouldn't forget whatever insults you threw at him.
But while you managed to catch yourself before you had snarled something, that was all you could do. You wanted to charge off, leaving Yoshida behind, but no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t make yourself leave. Your legs refused to listen, refused to take a single step that might help relieve some of the frustration that had been building within you.
Glaring at Yoshida, you realized it wasn’t just your legs. Not a single muscle, not even a single cell of your body would listen to you. You couldn’t tear your eyes off the hand Yoshida was holding out, you could only watch intently as the blood ran down his pale skin. With his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, you wondered whether any of the blood would make it there, staining the white fabric. None had made it there yet but torn up as it was, there was still blood flowing from his hand.
And that was to say nothing of the smell. The thousands of scents you could have picked out earlier were all gone. The smell of blood had washed over the two of you, filtering everything else out. With each breath you took a reminder of what you wanted it was difficult to breathe, as if the air itself had become congealed.
Yoshida didn’t press you, which was somehow more infuriating than if he had. If he had taunted you then later you would have an excuse. You could tell yourself that he had pressured you, pushing you over and over until you had broken. With him silent there was no one to blame for what you said except yourself.
“Please,” you muttered and with that Yoshida broke into a fresh smile. Not once could he recall ever getting a ‘please’ from you before, nor a ‘thank you’ or even a ‘sorry’. You had been nothing but rude to him since the day you had met. With that in mind he didn’t push for you to repeat yourself, this time without mumbling. It was progress.
“Alright,” Yoshida said but when you reached out to take his hand he dodged it again. That hadn’t been permission.
You watched as Yoshida lowered his hand down in front of him, right below his belt. With his palm up and his thumb out towards you the blood stopped trickling down wrist and instead began to follow his thumb. Some of the blood streamed down the top of his thumb, while others ran down underneath, tucked out of sight. As mesmerizing as it was, you looked up to glare at Yoshida. You weren’t stupid. His hand was pressed right up against his crotch.
“Kneel,” Yoshida instructed you. Blood splattered onto the dirt. The longer you kept him waiting the more would fall, wasted. With his wound already beginning to close up, it was impossible to say how much more was left.
Yoshida gave a breathless laugh as you lowered yourself down onto the dirt. Your objection kept to only a grumble, you had barely fought it at all. You were learning.
Finally, after dodging you so many times, Yoshida let you come in. He watched as you got settled, holding his hand with one of yours and setting your other on his thigh to keep yourself steady. Your fingers dug into him as you pulled the two of you closer together. If he tried to back out now or went to tease you any further he would regret it. Sometimes you felt he forgot you were a devil.
Gingerly, you brought your tongue to his thumb. The blood that had been gathered at its tip, just about to fall as a drop, ran down onto your tongue instead. You shut your eyes as the taste filled your mouth. You hated your partner but you wouldn't deny there was something beautiful about his blood. You had known from the smell there would be.
His blood was rich, overwhelmingly so. Comparing his blood to someone else’s would be akin to comparing cream to skim milk. You shouldn't have needed more. The single drop you had tasted was as good as a mouthful. Satisfied with that, you should have gotten up and dusted yourself off. You would have snapped something about his blood being rotten and left for the evening. But opening your mouth, you took his thumb into your mouth.
You let your teeth graze him as you came towards him but if Yoshida were bothered by it he didn’t show it. If he were to be bothered by anything it would be his palm, stinging, but he hadn’t felt that since he had scraped it. All his attention was on you and only you.
You ran your tongue across his thumb as you brought it deeper. It was slow and thoughtful, but greedy, getting everything that you could. You gathered the blood that had collected underneath then that of both sides, wiping every inch of his thumb clean.
You closed your lips around him as you swallowed. You knew how it must look to him but didn't care. You didn’t know when you would next have the opportunity of human blood, much less blood as good as this.
You wanted more. If he weren’t your coworker, if he weren’t a devil hunter, you might have bit him, drawing forth even more. Instead you only pulled back. You kept only the tip of his thumb in your mouth as you waited for more to come out of the wound on his palm. You teased his fingernail with your teeth as you grew impatient. It was slower now than it had been when he had first shown it to you. It had been stupid to wait. If you had known it would taste like this you would crumpled to your knees with his first command.
You gagged as you shoved his thumb back into your mouth. You had misjudged it. His hand was bigger than yours. You heard Yoshida laugh but spared yourself the embarrassment of looking up to see it. The laugh had been at your expense but it wasn’t derisive. He liked the enthusiasm. Actually, he might have been tempted to do it for you. The tears gathering in the corners of your eyes were a good addition to an already great scene.
Yoshida touched the side of your head with his fingertips lightly and after following along with you for a few strokes, let his hand settle there. It wasn’t that you hadn’t felt him testing you, you had. You had wanted to swat at him but hadn’t, letting him rest his hand there. You wouldn’t do anything that might end this even a second early. Now that he was holding you, you didn’t mind anyway. He wasn't fighting with the rhythm you had fallen into but encouraging it, rocking you gently.
Yoshida had only wanted to watch, to make you think twice before you started mouthing off at him, but hardly anything went to plan with devils. As you had gotten settled you had jostled him a few times, driving his hand against himself. But while the first few had been unintentional, it was very much intentional now. Yoshida was grinding the side of his hand against himself. He wasn't hiding it, sighing every so often. You had known what he was doing and hardly appreciated it but kept going. His blood was enough to excuse just about anything.
You heard Yoshida sigh. It was heavier than any noise he had made until now but it wasn’t over. He kept going, stealing another few strokes but that was all. Yoshida pushed you away and drew his thumb out of your mouth. Your teeth grated against his skin as you resisted but eventually you let go. You cast your eyes down towards the dirt, avoiding looking up at him. You didn't want to see the self-satisfied smile you knew you would see, nor how short and shallow his breathing had become.
“That’s probably enough,” he said. Devils weren’t supposed to have too much blood, lest they become too powerful, but Yoshida hadn’t even been thinking about you. He couldn’t go any further, not here.
But despite that, Yoshida offered you his palm. The blood had all but stopped coming out but there were a few small red buds still blooming from the scrape.
You took his hand with both of yours and held it still. You licked at his palm as gently as you could. You wouldn’t tear it open again, not because you cared but because Yoshida would have something to say about it. As a devil, hurting him would be a serious offense. He would probably have you apologize profusely, pleading with him to forgive you.
Only when the dried blood on his wrist was all that remained did you stop.
“Wow, you really are a dog,” Yoshida laughed. Graciously accepting the scraps he had been offering, you might as well have been waiting for him under the dinner table.
With that you stood up, wiping his blood from your face. With no blood to offer you didn’t have to take this from him anymore. Yoshida wasn’t quite finished though. Reaching out, he caught you by the jaw. Your shoulders rose as you tensed up but after letting you suffer in suspense for a second, he drew his thumb across your cheek. You had missed a spot. He wiped it away. You couldn’t take the train home like that.
With that Yoshida let you go. He dropped down onto the concrete behind him and sat down. He would give himself a few minutes to collect himself before he went anywhere. You didn’t stick around though. With one last glance at him you hurried off, making a break for the gate. Resting his head in his hand, he watched you disappear into the night. It was a blistering pace, with no mind given to what a passerby might think. He laughed. You even ran like a dog.