Chapter 3: A Tightened Leash

Makima and Io are sitting on a bench where Power obliterated a Sea Cucumber Devil. Io's back is facing Denji and Power and he has a cigarette in his mouth. 

Purple blood is all over Power and the street.

Makima puts a hand on her chin. "If Public Safety kills a civilian hunter's devil, we're guilty of obstructing their business. Normally, you'd be arrested for that kind of thing."

Makima continues. "Power, you're going to need to think a bit more before acting. And you'll have to get her under control, Denji."

"Huh?" Denji points at himself. "I'm in trouble, too?"

"Before becoming a Fiend, Power was the Blood Devil... So she's got a talent for using blood in battle, but also gets worked up pretty easily. Maybe she's not cut out to be a Devil Hunter after all."

"It..." Power starts to sweat and she grabs Denji's arm and points to him. "I-It was he who commanded me to kill!"

"I did not!" Denji shouts. "How can you just lie like that?!" He rips his arm way from Power.

"It is no lie! It was him!" She lightly pushes Denji. "The human ordered me to kill this devil! That's the truth!"

Denji pushes Power away from him. "What a creep!" He points at Power. "Miss Makima, this devil's a total liar! You oughta arrest her right now!"

Denji continues. "You're under arrest for the crime of being a fake-ass liar!"

Power points at Denji again. "Not true! It was by his command! Devils do not lie! It is only humans who do!"

"No one ever said that!" Denji starts to push against Power and she does the same to Denji. "And you're the reason why! Dumbass! Shitty liar!"

"Humans and your filthy lies! I only did as I was told!"

Io's smile turns to an annoyed one as he lightly growls.

"Why the hell do you talk like that anyway?!" Denji asks Power. "It's so creepy!"

Io's stinger slams into the ground between the two. Power stares at the tip of Io's metallic tail in fear. 

"Could you quiet down?" Makima asks as Io's tail retracts back into him.

"Y-Yes." Power looks down in slight fear of Makima.

Io takes a deep breath and smiles. 'Fear.' 

"Very good, Power." Makima compliments. "Honestly, I don't really care who got in whose way. I want to see the two of you working well together. Can you show me that?"

"We... W-We can." Power stutters. 

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Later that night.

Kuroka enters he and Io's apartment and she notices all the lights off, but the TV is still on. 

Kuroka closes the door and takes her shoes off. Then he ears and Tails come out as she walks towards the living room. She walks into the living room and sees Io sleeping. His tie hanging loosely off his neck and a couple top buttons undone on his dress shirt.

An empty bottle of sleeping pills in one hand and an empty can of beer in the other. A couple other open cans of beer are sitting on top of the coffee table. Kuroka looks at a clock on the wall. 

11:58 P.M. 

Kuroka looks back at Io. "Got desperate, huh?"

Kuroka sighs and she turns the Tv off and tosses the empty bottle and cans away. Then she picks Io up and heads into their bedroom and she sets Io onto the bed and takes off his shirt and tie and tosses them on the ground.

The Kuroka strips down from her kimono and folds it up and sets it on the floor. Then she takes off her bra and panties and sets them on her folded kimono. 

She then crawls onto the bed and lifts up the blankets and sets Io under them and then she snuggles onto his chest.

Io's chest steadily rises up and down. Kuroka looks up at Io and stares at his lips. She leans up towards Io's lips and her lips hover over his for a few seconds.

But then she just kisses his check. "Good night." She then snuggles back into Io's chest and closes her eyes.

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The next afternoon Io is waiting outside the Public Safety building. He's smoking a cigarette, waiting for Makima to finish her meeting.  

Inside the meeting room Makima is standing in front of a large table that has multiple humans sitting at it.

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"The American matter has got the Soviet war hawks crowing more loudly than ever." A human says. "There are rumors about the military use of devils, as well. Hopefully, devils will remain Japan's only enemies in the future. Makima, how are the hunting dogs that have been added to the squad performing?"

"There's one that seems promising, and another that seems interesting." Makima states.

"Interesting...?"

"A pup that I just recently picked up."

The human taps his pen against the table, hard. "Your job is to raise these hounds, and then put them to work. Make sure not to grow attached."

Makima just keeps her indifferent smile on.

"Also we've noticed that Io's been playing a bit rough lately." The human says. "Tell him to start playing nice, or we'll tighten his leash again. He's already restricted to Japan. I don't think he wants to be restricted to only Tokyo."

Makima nods.

A few minutes later.

Io is looking to the sky as he lets a puff of smoke out. Then the door to the Public Safety building opens up and Makima walks out.

"Finally." Io says with an annoyed smile. "I was wondering when you'd get done."

Makima and Io start to walk towards the street, where Aki and Kuroka is waiting for them with Makima's car.

"What was the meeting about?" Io asks.

"More American and Soviet problems." Makima says.

"They're always causing problems with each other." Io says and he lets a puff of smoke out."Anything else?"

"They want you to start playing nicer or I'll have to tighten your leash." Makima says with a smile.

Io's frowns for a second before he gains an indifferent smile. "Fine."

They reach the car and Makima grabs Io's cigarette and throws it on the ground. "No, smoking in my car."

Io rolls his eyes and gets in the back and picks up Kuroka, who's in her cat form, and sets her on his lap. Makima gets in on the other side and Aki hands Makima a cup of coffee then he drives off.

A few minutes later.

Io's looking outside as he pets Kuroka.

"As far as I can tell, Denji's disgusting, not 'interesting.'" Aki says. "Why do you have such high hopes for him?"

Makima takes a sip of her coffee. "All devils are born with names. And the more those names are feared, the more powerful the devil is said to become. Coffee isn't considered very frightening, so a Coffee Devil would probably be weak. But what about a Car Devil? It's easy to imagine being run over and dying, so it would probably be strong." She looks to Io. "The stingers of bees, wasps and scorpions are feared so he'd be strong." She then looks to Kuroka. "A Cat Devil I would believe to be a strong one." She then looks back out the window. "And Denji can turn unto a Chainsaw Devil. Seems pretty interesting to me."

"He might be interesting, but I'm not sure he'll be any use." Aki exclaims. "Everyone in Public Safety has a real goal or motivation. But he said he just wants to live the good life. He's a bad fit for our operation. Not only that, but he thinks he can be friends with devils. He's still a kid. A stupid brat."

Io hums.

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Io's walking down a sidewalk. 'To live the good life? Heh, how stupid.' Io smirks to himself. 'I've tried that once and that damn Gun Devil ruined it!' Io looks at the cloudy sky. 'The kid's blind to the horor's of the world.' He puts a hand on his chest. 'I came to this world at the end of WW1, I still remember the feeling of mustard gas in my lungs, the feeling of bullets riddling my body. I've been a part of many major wars in the many decades I've been on this earth. I never want to feel mustard gas or napalm ever again.'

Io sighs as he passes an alleyway and he hears a female scream down it. Io looks down the alleyway and sees a thug trying to molest a women.

Io smirks and he licks his lips. "I could go for a snack."

Io walks into the alleyway.

"NO!" The woman shreiks. 

The thug slaps the woman across the face and she falls to the ground. "Shut up or I'll-" He suddenly coughs up blood and falls to his knees. 

Behind the thug is Io, holding the still beating heart of the thug and he sniffs it as blood splatters onto his face. "Oh, you have sinned so much." Io shivers in delight and he looks down to the woman shivering in fear. "I wonder if you've sinned at all?" Io's stinger comes out and flies towards the woman's face.

"They want you to start playing nicer or I'll have to tighten your leash." Makima's voice rings in Io's head and his stinger stops right in front of the woman's right eye. 

The woman stares at the stinger with great fear and after a few seconds it slowly retracts back to Io. "Leave!" Io orders and the woman looks up to him. "Leave, before I change my mind and kill you."  The woman gets up and runs away. "Never speak of this!"

Io bites into the heart and he pushes the thug, who's died on his knees, over and it falls to the ground with a thud.

Io chews the heart and more blood splatters onto his face. "Very sweet."

Io looks up to the cloudy sky as he eats the thuds heart and he sees the Bat Devil and Denji fly overheard.

"Huh, I was wondering where Batty went?" Io says and he finishes eating the heart and walks in the directions of where the Bat and Denji went.

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12-24-2022

1769 words.

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