酒は本心を表す
sake wa honshin wo arawasu
“Sake shows true feelings.”
~Japanese proverb
Kit
I hate taking out the trash. I don’t know if it’s because it’s heavy or if it’s just me being grumpy, but I do it anyway. I take the giant black trash bag out back and toss it in the enormous dumpster.
The lid slaps down with a thud. “There.”
I turn to go back into the door leading to the club and see someone standing there, smoking a cigarette. He takes another puff, then tosses it to the ground and steps on it. “You want to be free?
“No,” I answer immediately. “I want to go back to my job so I can make rent.”
He snickers. He’s wearing a green trench coat and black boots, he has no shirt on beneath his coat, and his head is covered in a black beanie; all I see are green eyes and a smirk.
“I think you should come back with me. I mean, if you don’t finish this last life, what really was the purpose of jumping?”
“Jumping?” I repeat. “When did I ever jump off anything?”
“Scared of heights,” he says. “Of the color blue.”
I’m instantly triggered.
“Hates loud noises but prefers them to silence.” He moves right in front of me. “But the worst, the very worst, is when someone touches your ear, and you want to know why?”
I stumble back. My ears have always been sensitive to the point that even doctors couldn’t check them.
“Because…” He takes a step toward me. “The ears can’t forget what they hear and if what they hear is so painful and sensitive to the psyche, they bleed, they break, they mourn, over and over again, to the point of forcing the eyes and the brain to forget. Your ears are your savior, and yours have been doing it for a very long time. I think I might take them now. It’s time. You’ve been given three, four isn’t heard of, so let me take them.”
“Take my ears,” I repeat. “And wh-what would you do with them?”
“Use them, of course.” He grins. “I would give them to her because, at the end of the day, you have to give a token in order to gain a favor, and she’s been dying for your ears for a very long time, the way she wanted something else and got it.” He looks behind me as if searching for something. “Sad that you have scars.”
“What?”
“Hey!” Horus shouts from near the back door. “Who are you?”
The guy before me pales and then disappears like he was never there.
Horus jumps in front of me, grabbing me by the arms. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” No. I nod. “That guy.”
“Not a guy.” Horus shakes his head. “That was a shadow. They work for the lower gods and goddesses in hopes of earning enough time to gain back their original place in the cosmos.”
“A shadow?”
“Of the past. Your past. He wanted something from you.”
“He said he wanted my ears.” I feel dumb even saying it out loud; I’m shaking and trying not to burst into tears. “He said that, that hearing—”
“Shhh.” Horus holds me against his chest. “Let’s just go back to my place. I’ll try to figure it out for you.”
“Says the god.” I joke. I have to.
He laughs. “Yes, says the god of the sky. I mean, I do know things.”
“Can you know this one thing for me?” I look up into his blue eyes, still trembling over the encounter.
His breaths come faster, and his eyes hood; he lowers his mouth to mine and presses a gentle kiss against my lips. “My promise,” he says, tasting me gently. “I’ll figure it out for you.”
“Why?” I can barely breathe he’s squeezing me so tight, but he refuses to make eye contact like he knows something I don’t, and he’s afraid to tell me the bad news. I can’t believe I’m actually clinging to him the way I am. I just know he’s safety, he’s protection, he’s no longer the grumpy trainer—though he still has his temper—he’s security and promise. I just wish I knew why I feel this way and why every time he touches me, my lower back aches.
“Because we’re connected, I think. Because I care. Because…” He shakes his head. “I wish I had more answers, logic, solid reasoning for holding the woman I’m supposed to be training behind the bar after a phantom decides to lure her away. Maybe because I’m a god. It’s what I do.”
“You kiss random strangers?”
“No.” He smirks. “I haven’t kissed anyone in a very long, long time.”
I feel special in that moment. Needy. “Good reasons.”
He nods his head. “The only reasons I have for you right now.”
I grip his shirt. He wraps his arms around me. I don’t know why, but I need to deepen the kiss. He does it before I can, his tongue brushes mine, and I’m suddenly lost in him. My hands dig into his hair, he groans, and then I’m lifted against him. It’s all about us. I don’t care about anything else.
“Later,” he says between kisses. “I’ll figure it out later.”
“And now?” I ask.
“Now.” He yanks me against him. “I want you.”