Page 161 of A Soul to Touch

A form and a half came into view, and Faunus only knew that it was Mayumi kneeling on the floor next to his skull when she came close enough to slip through the veil of his filtered, idled mind.

“You’re awake.” Her voice was distant. “It’s been a day since you came back.”

Faunus focused on her and noticed, eventually, everything began to settle.

The pain in his face remained, worsening even, while the world steadied. But there was a partial dimness that didn’t fade on the left side of his sight, and he swore his hearing was off on that same side.

A curt, lung-shuddering whine echoed out of his lungs.

“Why do I hurt so much?” He wriggled again, his tail curling in aversion to being captured this way. “And why am I tied like this?”

With something clamping his jaws shut, he was lying face down with his arms behind his back and his legs together. Hecould see he was inside, a safe distance from the fire but was still within range of its warmth.

“You don’t remember?”

When he shook his head, Mayumi looked to the ground.

Her hair was shielding the side of her face, and he was surprised to find her in a dress. He’d never seen her in one before, and although it was grey and plain with an underdress beneath it, he thought it suited her.

“I couldn’t stand to leave you outside by yourself when you healed, but I’m currently on my period. I covered your snout, hoping it would help hide you from the smell, and I tied you up in case that didn’t work.”

He was surprised she avoided eye contact with him since Mayumi didn’t often avert her gaze for long periods of time.

She appears tired.

From what he could see of her face, the underneath of her eyes were bruised and heavily creased. She also appeared paler than normal.

“Although a few drops would not send me into a craze, that was still wise of you.”

But with Mayumi being a Demonslayer for eleven years, he thought she must know ways to get around this feminine issue.

She became silent, which always made him worry.

“Mayumi?”

When she didn’t turn to him nor respond, Faunus turned his head more towards her. He yelped. The need to touch his face and discover why it ached so bad ate at him, and the inability to do so nettled him.

“I’m so sorry, Faunus.” The despairing tone he heard in her voice made his fur and spikes puff. “I’ve put a salve on your face to aid with the pain, I don’t even know if it’s helping, but I’ve cracked your skull further.”

White lifted into his sight. It was then that he understood the dimness he could see in his left orb and why his vision was partially split... the reason he couldn’t hear properly was because of his skull.

He wanted to be angry, but he found he could never be so with her. He allowed all the tension that had shot through him to ease.

“How? What happened, Mayumi?”

She covered her left arm and turned her head away to face it completely the other way.

“You attacked me. Well, you nearly killed me, to be precise. I tried to cut off your head like you told me to.”

He looked at the arm she was covering with her hand, and panic struck him.

“Are you injured?”

“Did you know that your neck is really fucking thick?” she asked instead of answering, which only made his panic worsen. “When I tried booting the sword into your throat, my foot slipped, and you ended up headbutting my knee with your horn. You collapsed after that.”

Could Mayumi hear his heart beating against the floor? She must be able to, it was as heavy as a drum. Every word she uttered left a metallic, sour taste in his throat.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked, struggling to get out of his bonds so he could check her. When she didn’t say anything, he began to growl. “Answer me, Mayumi!”

---