A Dish Best Served Cold (closed, Lyv)

Just a little more...

Silver-green eyes reflected the light of the waning sun, unrelenting to the heat of the breeze and the sight of ratty souls scurrying about in this measly district. Sweat trickled between a furrowed brow as the figure huffed from a distance, his groans veiled by the furious screams of adults chasing some thieving children. He could feel pinpricks of itch crawling on his now-hairy head, and he took the liberty of scratching it with his broken nails. It's the little things that bothered him, things he didn't even have the misfortune of feeling when he didn't have a physical body. This feminine body, though... it turned out to be obnoxiously sensitive. And yet, he had to. More like, he didn't have a choice.

It was unlike him to bother with these puny things that didn't affect him, things that require a lot of legwork and a lot of waiting, especially not when the safest place he could hide in was some dingy roof from across the street, probably only strong enough to support his lanky body. The missions they used to give his shinigami, they were usually the healy kind. You go there and assist and definitely do some healing and then come back. Not the investigative kind. Definitely not the accompany other teams and verify the legitimacy of this report kind of thing. He had to keep appearances, somehow. And this'll do... even if it meant doing nothing but wait for something exciting as a team member posed as one of the target's hired assistants for the day in moving all these new acquisitions around. He watched the shop do its thing, its customers engulfed by flames in varying shades of black-- a visual acuity he'd managed to carry on with this new body, he supposed.

It was almost time to put a stop to his suffering. Just a bit more... Or so he thought.

Energy surged through his body when a lone soul's energy flared inside the shop, enveloped in pure black flames that concealed the soul beneath the darkness. No... no! His fingers scraped against the rough wooden roof as he pulled the body closer, his body and soul rattled with the sight of a soul with such strong murderous intent. Normally, he wouldn't bother-- in fact, he'd love front row seats on a nice rampage. But not now that this mission had inconvenienced him so, he'd rather have the damn thing end fruitfully. In his haste to scramble down his not-so-cushy hiding spot, he managed to do a roll and landed unceremoniously on a filthy patch of land surrounding the house. Laboriously, he dragged himself up, just in time to see their blonde teammate burst through the doors and raced towards his general direction, almost bumping him back to the ground.

"Did you get it?" he spoke, reaching for the man's hands and feeling his shihakusho for any hidden packs. Disgruntled at the lack of any significant bumps, the man shot an accusatory glare at the other shinigami. "You had one job! One!" he hissed, clutching the blonde man's collar until his hands hurt. What pissed him off, upon probing the man's face, was the lack of dejection from their failure to fulfill their objective. How do people live with mush for brains?! The thought of hurling the man straight into the dilapidated house came to mind, but it wasn't quite the kind of reputation he'd like to let this face have. 

"Lev," his teammate managed to speak between his ragged breathing, resting one hand on Lev's shoulders, and one hand on his own waist, "Dude came like a fucking bull on drugs whipping that sword out. If I didn't take the first opportunity to flee, I'd blow my cover. At worse, I could've died. He seemed to be attacking those assholes, but I ain't gonna risk being confused with those lowlives. The fuck did you expect me to do, just stay there and get my ass handed to me?" The man looked up at Lev, as though he had the answer on his face all along. His stare, naturally, was met with a frigid stare of harsh judgment.

"I don't know, but shouldn't you be doing something to rectify the situation?"

The other man merely stared at him like it was the worst thing Lev could've said, muttering a flabbergasted 'what' under his breath. "You do realize that if I fucking show my face there, I'm dead meat, right?" He continued on panting, now clutching at Lev's shoulders even without intending to. "You know..." his voice trailed as he scanned Lev from head to toe, "you look weird enough to be unsuspecting if you ever go there."

Lev merely raised an eyebrow as he shoved the man's hand out of his shoulder. "And why, exactly, am I going there in your place? You just said it yourself, someone's on a rampage."

"Because if you don't, we'd manage to get only a sample. We'd get our asses kicked and nothing much to show. You, you're here to provide aid and assess the thing, possibly keep us all alive and kicking. And if you don't stop that guy, Aruki-san might actually fucking die!"  He slammed his beefy hand at the shabby wall behind Lev, an action he'd regretted as soon as the wood crumbled and nearly gave way. Instinctively, he pulled his hand back and shook it, before returning the favor and lifting Lev by the collar. "We fail to track where these items are coming from, and you'll fail in your role here," he whispered, meeting Lev eye to eye. 

"You realize I can just wait until they're gone and consider by job done, right?" Lev hissed and gave a sideways glance to the shop, ensuring that the screeches still rose from within the structure.

The blonde shinigami merely smirked, his hot, deep breath heavy on Lev's cheek. "Like we'll fucking let you go by doing a half-assed job, bitch."

Like an act done on a cue, the shop's doors flew open, almost falling off its hinges from the sheer strength at which they were pulled. "Fuck you," Lev hissed, kneeing the other man right on the belly to free himself and rushed to chase after the rampant other, following the trail of flames his reiatsu left behind. Not a thief, then, he thought as he gave a passing glance at the shop's interior. Items of sorts were strewn everywhere, teabags hanging loosely from torn packages, herbs scattered across the wooden floor. For a moment, he wondered why people would go such lengths for these...

It didn't take long before movement took its toll on his body. After all, neither he, nor the body, was used of chasing things around-- and yet he mustered the strength to keep running in hopes of actually catching up. The sky grew ever darker, and with this black flames covering the man's body, Lev could barely make out his features, only knowing it was the same guy by the reiatsu he emitted. "Hey, you!" He rasped, and regretted it as soon as the words left his lips. Movement and speech, not cool. Silence met him, and though obscenely annoyed at the situation, he spoke again in a louder voice, "Hey you weird blonde guy!

"Hey! Stop!"