Akugami

16. Ketchup Mall.

For what felt like an overly suspended moment in time, Yukiyo shook in uncontrolled sobs embracing him, as tightly as she could, and when she finally found her voice, she gave him the simplest of answers he'd been dreading; "No." She calmly responded before breaking into sobs again.

Of course she was gonna say no, but he was hoping she wouldn't, he'd been looking for an easy out after he'd realized that this life was going to be so much worse than the last, it was crushing him.

"Please." Tatsumi asked, almost pleadingly.

"No, I can't; I won't... are you even aware of what you're saying!?" She snapped at him, burying her face in his shoulder and crying out. "You i***t!"

Silence elapsed them, and the cold winds from outside invaded the mall, carrying with it new promises of darker days, and Yukiyo found herself unable to stop crying.

"Tatsumi, I don't know why you'd feel this cornered, but dying doesn't solve problems, if you have a burden, you can share it with me." She instructed him in sobbs and sniffles. "I don't want to lose another loved one."

Unbeknownst to her, it had only made his desire to die worsen, she had no idea just what she was saying, and to whom she was saying it; he'd lost everything... Before her was a man broken to the core, trying his hardest to stay afloat while he witnessed the world sink for a second time.

"Why, why would I share such a thing, why would I curse you?" He croaked below whispers, but it was just loud enough to be heard by her.

"Because, all I have is you and Teru, and I'd rather share a curse with you than lose you, Tatsumi." She softly cried, feeling knives in her heart when he tried pushing her away from his person. "Stop fighting me you bastard, I'm not leaving you, no matter what, I won't leave you, I'd say even if the world is ending, but that's already happened, and I'm still here." She put up a convincing argument.

"I'm not even human anymore." Tatsumi looked across the large space into the dark stores, can you say that after you know what happened?" He asked her, and she instantly pulled away from him, keeping a firm grasp on his shoulders as she stared at his low hung head.

"What?"

"You heard me." He groaned, then started shivering again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, softly embracing him again.

"It means what it means Yukiyo."

"Whatever... Whatever it is, my answer is still no." She replied. "Never." She spoke again, sitting across his lap and wrapping her arms around his torso, caressing his cold body and resting her head in the crook of his neck.

"You're a very stubborn girl." Tatsumi mused when he realized that she'd not budge without him, he started believing that maybe he wasn't reincarnated into his actual body for once, it could have been a different reality completely, things were happening differently, the Akugami were stronger now than they were ten years after appearing in his other life, Yukiyo was more loyal, and Teru; even though he'd not spent the apocalypse with him, he didn't believe that the Teru of the past would ever turn his back in a time of need. "Thank you, Yukiyo." He then sighed, finally feeling a spark of relief and wrapping his arms around her, soaking up the love she was giving him.

"Now that they'd madenit to Ketchup Town, there was someone he was going to look for, in his last life she was still alive even after the first few months, hopefully she hadn't died because of an altered timeline, or worse, changed like he thought Teru had.

Of course he wasn't motivated to love just yet, he was still as tired as a corpse, and so they just sat there, lost in each other's embrace while listening as the rain drowned out everything else.

Neither of the two knew when it happened, but right there on the cold floor, they both fell asleep.

Mere minutes later that peace was interrupted by the sound of footsteps, and Tatsumi had realized something new with the given powers Ravana had forced on him to save his life, that being the sick feeling of hate he'd feel eminaying from Akugami as they approached; he couod sense them, but sensing no Akugami close by, Tatsumi chose to ignore the approaching footsteps and closed his eyes once again, that was until Yukiyo was literally yanked away from his arms, leaving a cold wind where her warm body just was.

"Teru." He sighed, slowly sitting forward holding his head down and rubbing his eyes, fluttering them open. He was right after all, this wasn't the Teru he knew at all, he thought he had kept a good of his best friend, but as he progressed he couldn't help the feeling that he'd saved a complete stranger, even then though, Teru was still Teru.

"Teru!" Yukiyo yelped in a daze after being put to stand after she'd just been sleeping peacefully, she began beating weakly against his chest when he put her upright. "What the hell!?"

"Stop struggling and stay put Yukiyo!" Her cousin shot back, keeping his focus solely on Tatsumi's lowered head.

"You could have woken us in a proper manner, what's with all this?" Tatsumi sighed, lifting a knee and resting his chin on it while keeping his eyes closed deliberately.

"I don't trust you around Yukiyo." Teru spat. "You're not you anymore, you're not the Tatsumi I know." Teru continued to speak with visible venom, this caught Tatsumi off guard, was he not acting like himself then?

Was the Tatsumi who's body he took really not him of the past and another stranger?

"Let go of me!" Yukiyo protested weakly, but Teru's grip was painfully final.

"I'm still the same person." Tatsumi tried defending himself, but Teru was not buying it. "Why don't you trust me anymore, what did I do wrong?"

Teru was about to answer when Mai gasped aloud charging in and stopping beside Tatsumi and placing her hand on his shoulder. "What the- are you okay?!" She asked. "This isn't your blood right?"" She asked again before gasping when she saw that just like Tatsumi, Yukiyo's torso was also tainted with a lot of blood. "Yukiyo!"

"H-hey Mai, were both fine, the blood is Akugami blood." Yukiyo replied to the brunette calmly then turned to Teru, turning pink with anger. "Let go of me, Teru, stop being an asshole."

"Actually." Tatsumi interjected "I don't feel so good, but we're safe for now, so someone should go get the rest out there, we can find a safe place inside the mall and bunker up."

"Got it." Mai confirmed, seeing that he just wanted to get rid of her while he and the other two finished an argument, it was none of her business, but she knew that whatever it was Tatsumi would win, she trusted him completely so and taking off to deliver news to the other women was easy to her.

"Open your eyes." Teru ordered Tatsumi above Yukiyo's increased struggle.

"Let her go." Tatsumi shot back.

"What the hell's gotten into you!?" Yukiyo finally snapped like a maniac. "let go of me, right, Now!" She cried, as her voice broke away into sobbs, and Tatsumi's innate desire to protect her began surfacing once again.

"Teru, that's enough, you're hurting her." Tatsumi growled, standing and sheathing the katana. "I get that I have some explaining to do, but why are you hurting her; your own family?"

Teru went dark with rage, tightening his grip on her arm so hard she yelped and whined. "T-Teru, stop already it hurts."

She whimpered, and after that Tatsumi had heard enough. He was several feet away before, but suddenly, he was right in front of them in an instant, the moment it happened Teru released Yukiyo out of shock, jumping back into a defensive stance while drawing one of his blades, but his real shock came when Tatsumi opened his eyes, revealing bright crimson irises with thin black slits, that was a shock he'd not been expecting, he'd just wanted to look at him in his eyes when he spoke to him to judge his honesty, only Suteki and Yukiyo so far had known that Tatsumi's eyes had changed.

Teru's guard dropped instantly and he stumbled backward, slipping in a pool of thick liquid and hitting the ground in a spluttering thud while Yukiyo instinctively sought safer arms, and latched onto Tatsumi's hand with tears flowing down her cheeks and a dark bruise on her wrists. "You... You made her cry Teru, you broke your own rule, didn't you make me promised to not make Yukiyo cry?" Tatsumi growled again, but then thinking about it, he also broke that promise about twenty minutes before when he tried getting her to kill him, but he wasn't going to bring that up while staring Teru dead in his eyes, besides, the blonde he'd fallen sileny, both from shock and realisation.

"Yukiyo... Get away, from him." Teru rasped slowly, rising to his feet and tightly grasping onto his blades. "Just take a look at his eyes, this isn't Tatsumi, this is an imposter, let go of him and come here, right now while he's still in pretense."

When she turned, her eyes went blank for a moment, but her grip on Tatsumi's arm only tightened "I already know that this isn't the Tatsumi I knew a week ago, since the Akugami first appeared he's changed, he's become even more caring than he was before, but Teru, don't you think that they're, Beautiful?" She asked, looking at Tatsumi with a small and adoring smile.

Nobody was expecting that.

Not Teru.

Not her own self.

Not Tatsumi.

The large opening went, completely numb with electric silence, Teru wasn't just shocked now, he was dumbstruck.

Yukiyo turned her back to her cousin, staring into Tatsumi's orbs as though they were ice cream. "What happened, Tatsumi, Is this why you wanted to, why you asked me to..." She couldn't say it, her head got jolts of pain just thinking about it, but the look in her eyes told him all he needed to know.

In an attempt to calm her hurting heart, Tatsumi opened his mouth to speak, but he was paused when screams from outside echoed through the mall. "Both of you, get to-"

"No!" Yukiyo quickly interrupted. "I'm not going anywhere with him!" She shouted with a point at her cousin, causing Teru to wince when she said it, but he quickly replaced his hurt with anger, turning his head and walking away.

"Fine." Tatsumi groaned in submission grasping at the katana. "I'll just...... H... What the hell!?" He suddenly yelled in frustration. "let it go!" He yelled again tugging at the handle of the sword, veins even started popping up on his forehead. "Let it go!!" He screamed for the third time, but the katana wouldn't unlatch, Ravana wasn't releasing it for some reason; he hadn't even known she could do that.

"What's going on?" Yukiyo demanded frustratingly.

"It won't f*****g open!" He snarled like an animal, revealing his recently grown fangs. "God damnit Ravana, let it go!!"

"To be perfectly clear Tatsumi, until our contract is complete, you shouldn't be given any further aid, proper payment is required." She coldly retorted.

The news sent chills down his spine, to think she'd pull some bullshit like this after letting him use her power so openly and even forcing a half contract onto him, demons.… Oy..

"Fine," he snarled again. "I'll do it without your damn help then!" He snapped, and then with that, he released the sheath and let the strap free from his waist; the katana fell into the pool of blood they were standing in.

Then without a word more, he snatched the blade on Yukiyo's side and made a speedy dash out of the mall, leaving her and Teru who was at the escalator in unequaled curiosity and confusion, upon entering the open air Tatsumi was hit with a sudden gust of wind and rain that had him wincing instantly but looking forward, all discomfort was forgotten the moment he saw the green haired woman from the truck being picked up by the only Akugami present.

Feeling adrenaline pumping his muscles, he let out a war cry in his charge, jumping atop the truck before launching himself at the monster.

Before the creature could harm the woman any further than holding her tightly, he skillfully landed on it's face. Plunging the blade in it's left eye, but as one wouldn't have expected, the blade didn't penetrate, instead it simply slid across the glossy surface, causing the Akugami to blink before averting it's attention to him; then opening it's jaws, it's tongue quickly shot out from it's throat. Sliding around his leg and seizing it with the strength of a man eating snake.

Two things became obvious at this point, he really was on his last thread of strength, and didn't have enough to fight any longer, also for whatever reason, this Akugami was making advances three times faster than any he'd faced before, it was moving terrifyingly fast.

"Crap." He instantly hissed, spinning the blade on his fingers and placing his feet on both it's top and bottom lips 'Crap-crap-crap!" He continued on, beginning to sever the tongue with the seemingly dulled waste of good metal Yukiyo had intended to save him with.

"Boobs!" He suddenly heard, and turning his gaze to meet the pink haired girl from before "Hang on!" The girl yelled again.

It took a moment, but he finally hacked the clingy fifth limb from his leg, but instead of falling, he was grabbed by a powerful hand; the creature was fuming with rage as it squeezed his lower body.

Looking up again, his eyes met the Akugami's, nd he lost his cool when it started lifting him to it's mouth dripping with thick blood and saliva.

"No, hell no, you motherfucker, You f*****g monster." He spat, channeling rage fueled for some unknown reason. "I've had enough!" He screamed at the Akugami then in what could only have been a moment of true desperation; he grabbed onto the thick flesh of the beast and sunk his teeth in it, biting down with all of his strength; such strength as a matter of fact that the enflamed area tore clean off in his mouth.

Catching the Akugami so off guard that it released a deepthroated snarl and let him go, ignoring the gasps that filled his ears when he fell to his feet, he dove again at the beast without a millisecond's worth of hesitation, clinging to it and slowly climbing to it's head, dodging when it's hand had come too close.

He lifted his hand and stabbed at the only weak spot he knew, over and over he stabbed the same area with the useless weapon, all while screaming on the topnof his lungs, to Yukiyo at the entrance of the mall who'd seen him dispatch the Akugami with ease before, she could tell that whatever his depression had been about had to do with the sword he'd left behind in the mall.

Tatsumi continued hacking away at the Akugami's mould until finally, the skin finally let an opening, and he instantly took the initiative, using his whole upper body for momentum, he roared a cry of rage and sunk the blade into the creature's head.

The blood filling it's throat prevented it from making as much noise, as it dropped the crying woman and flailed around, only encouraging Tatsumi, and so with the last of his consciousness, he folded his fist and punched the hilt of the blade clean into the streaming bloody head tissue, feeling an instant stillness, and as the Akugami fell to the ground, he indolently Crashed from it's head, epically rolling several times before coming to an unresponsive halt in the downpour.

From the feeling of cold, numbing fatigue, to overwhelming warmth and still breathing.

The strong sense of safety made him never want to open his eyes, but at the slow mention of his name in a sweet and beloved voice, Tatsumi reluctantly did just that; fresh bath scents tickled his nose, sweet scents that he'd only dreamt of, for anyone else it was probably just a few days, but he hadn't smelled or herein indulged in anything like this for years, save for his initial awakening when he first met Yukiyo, in what had to be the cleanest room he'd seen in years, but as he opened his eyes he found himself staring at a pair of very large breasts, and beautiful green hair, Tatsumi was puzzled as he looked at the breasts.

He was in a tub of sorts, but why we're there bodies pressed against him? He wondered.

"Hey Boobs, look, he's waking up." He heard a voice pierce his daze.

"I told you it would work." The big breasted woman softly replied, pulling him close to herself and embracing him again.

It took a while.. but when the dots finally connected, Tatsumi's mind began racing a mile a second.

"Holy s**t!" He snapped opening his eyes fully.

“I'm in a tub full of naked women!” He thought... but then; “Oh crap, I'm naked, what the f**k is all this!?”