.Only.
Neuro paced the office, around the perimeter like a wolf checking territory. On the walls his feet roamed, on the ceiling, over the windows, his hair falling back perfectly in place as he righted again and again. The world turned upside down and around and perpendicular, but she had still not come.
He made his way over to his desk and picked up the cellphone, considering. Should he call again? Impatience leaped in him, but he quickly calmed himself. No. If that slave decided not to answer his call, she'll face the consequences. He dropped the phone back onto the table. Akane flinched a little as it cracked. He was angry. Maybe only a little, but enough to break a phone from a drop of less than a metre.
He stopped by the bookcase, filled with books, magazines, old newspaper clippings. He'd read them all, twice. Once for memorization, and the second time to reprieve his boredom. And that's what he was now. Bored. Bored, bored, boooored.
Where was she? Making him wait was a crime in itself. He glanced at the clock. It had been two minutes and thirty-two seconds since he had last called. That's enough time. Humans were all for rapid responses anyway. But as he picked up the phone it fell apart in his hands and he remembered why he didn't like getting angry, especially not in the human world.
So he'll pay her a visit instead. Hunger comes before all, even punishing disobedient slaves.
Fifth house from the corner, second level from the ground, third window from the right. He knew the way into her room like the back of his gloves. He also knew exactly how to wriggle the window in such a fashion that the pane opened soundlessly.
But what he didn't know, what he didn't expect was this. His little slave was looking even more filthy and ragged than normal, sitting all curled up on the floor. Her head was resting on her arms, as if in respite. ...Well, she wasn't dead, so she must be fine!
"Slave~! Come on, the puzzles are calling! What are you sleeping for, you lazy barnyard pig. Let's go, before I have to wake you by more...unconventional means."
Yako shook her head very slightly, eyes pressed against her sleeve. "...Neuro, no...I'm...tired."
Neuro froze, mouth almost dropping open in shock. Did she just refuse a direct order from him? He looked around, almost expecting the inhabitants of the demon world to come rushing up out of the holes torn in the universe. No, maybe she was just going through a rebellious phase. He'll fix that.
"Did I say you had a choice in this lifetime?" He walked over and yanked her upwards by the back of her collar. Still she wouldn't look at him, eyes staring adamantly at the floor, legs dragging. He frowned, shaking her. She was usually quite agreeable with his orders. Obviously, something must've happened. He lifted her easily, then used one hand to tilt up her chin. She struggled, but no human could match his strength. And it was then Neuro saw why she didn't want him to see her face.
Black bruises crept like disease across her soft skin, swelling pebbled the corner of one eye and her lips seemed redder than normal, as if she had mashed over-ripe cherries haphazardly against it. Unlike the small injuries she quickly recovered from when he played with her, this was far graver. Someone had deliberately roughed her up. Someone had deliberately laid a hand on his property, his slave. The cold smile on his face twisted into a frown, and his eyes darkened into a deep, deep jade. When had this happened? Where? And why hadn't he known? Surely his surveillance bug would have caught this? Unless...
Quickly, he searched the surroundings for its presence, but his thought was confirmed. The bug was gone. Destroyed, most likely. But by who? Who would have noticed it? Who would bother to destroy it? He turned back to Yako, still limp in his hand, her face turned away from his. A strange, sharp sort of anger stroked the undersides of his skin, unfamiliar and irritating. He felt like crushing something, dragging his claws through a terrified, screaming face.
"Tell me everything." His voice came out foreign and new, an almost inelegant growl made of stilted tones and animalistic core. A faint voice in his mind warbled at him, reminders of calm, of hierarchy. So he tried to reassure himself: he was simply seeking the perpetrator to exact punishment – a human trained as Yako was, a human that belonged solely to him, nobody but him had the right to do this.
"Speak, Yako. Who did this?" He shook her slightly for emphasis. Yako shuddered in his grip, her frail hands pushed against him. Neuro hissed softly, his agitation building. He could feel himself transforming, flickering between true and fake. The anger bubbled, and he imagined the feeling flooding over his hands as molten hot blood, fluid, glutinous. Thick with the pain and suffering of a human - specifically, the one who did this.
Carefully – human brains were fragile, after all – he probed her mind with one of his tools, rifling through her memories to find a suspect. Of course, it would be far more entertaining if he had proceeded as normal, searching for clues, inferring scenarios...but this was urgent. It was almost as if there was a pressing need to punish, to ensure that whoever had intruded will not do so again.
He tossed Yako unceremoniously onto her bed and left, flitting through the window and leaving a hole that trickled dust long after he had disappeared from sight.
A/N: Ok, a little unfinished. I had meant to write more, but never got round to it, I guess.