Hair///Trigger

Within the last few hours, I'd gotten ahead in math class, gone on my first date in months, seen a few gruesome dead bodies, nearly gotten killed several times, and got bitten by a one of a kind woman with claws that left a hole in my housemate in the next room.

I'll do with less guns in my face in the next "romantic rescue," though.

"Are claws a thing? I don't know this kind of stuff. Internet searching only gets you so far, you know." I ask the contradictorily playful, yet lethal girl. Why's she kicking her legs in the air like that? It's so damn cute.

"'Classified information,' Romeo." She turns a hand towards me and, holy shit, her fingernails just tripled.

"Just kidding. You just didn't search hard enough. 'Demon fetish' on those naughty sites of yours won't exactly mention the physical capabilities of Reborn, you know. Some of us have them, some don't. I don't know why humans starting thinking claws were extinct or something."

She's been teasing me like this ever since we finished our walk. And man. Was that a walk. My mouth still hurts from where she bit me, but the bleeding's stopped. She kept asking me to double check if my blood was still on her lips. I lied a few times just to keep touching them. I really hope she doesn't like making me bleed like that, though.

"So how'd you become a Hunter? And how long?"

"Uhh. That part actually IS classified. Sorry!" She says, while getting up. I look at her gear at the foot of the bed and just accept it as is.

I can't help but wonder what she sees in me to make all this worthwhile for her. Man. I'm gonna kiss her again. She doesn't resist when I push her down. This superhuman vixen that could throw me across the room is instead allowing our lips to melt against one another. We've only just met, and are moving so fast. I guess life threatening situations have a way of bringing people together.

"Mmmf! I am SO glad you like that fang. Should I withhold more classified information from you? Is that your kink? Weirdo." And she's so easy to laugh with—plus she m.o.a.ns whenever my tongue touches that fang. We should share another nasty pie together. I swear, I think I still taste it on her tongue. Hard to believe our 'first date' was just a few hours ago.

"Only a woman like you could make me laugh in a situation like this. You know it's like a horror movie outside this room, right?"

I should be freaking out. I should be grieving. Instead, I'm just glad to still be alive. And she makes me feel VERY alive.

"Why yes, I am very aware of the bloody guts outside your awesome room. And sorry for killing your roommate. Uh. Yeah."

"Relax, you probably saved my life. If Cesar could kill," I pause, remembering the tragedy, "his 'hostage' so casually, I don't want to think what they could have done to me."

My friend wasn't the brightest of people, but he didn't deserve to be murdered.

"Serious question, though; Why do you go to our school, anyway?"

Her smile relaxes. She gets up from underneath me and sits beside me, leaning her head against my shoulder.

"I'm the world's first Reborn Hunter. That's an achievement with my name in the books that no one else can claim. But! That's not all I want to do, you know? I'm not going to just be some dumb gun fanatic that goes around killing her own kind in the name of justice. I want to make something more. And I have to study human history and art to discover what that 'more' is."

"So you don't know yet?" I ask. She's so confident and committed, but I need to remind myself. We're both still young with our futures ahead of us. Survival is all I've been thinking about for the last few hours that I almost lost sight of that. Now, though, the only thing on my mind is how much she loves to put her hands on me.

"Nope! Of course I want to bridge the gap between Reborn and humans. But I can't just want something and not know how to do it. It's like you, with all this stuff around you. You've got a lot of everything in this room, and it's not all just for show, is it?" She says, noting all the details of my room from the obvious DIY tech projects to my more artistic side.

"Nope. Proud to say I've got a pretty good grasp on all this stuff."

"'Pretty good,' huh? Sounds like modesty to me!" She says, cheering me on. I'm falling for this girl.

"You can master all this, but do you really think you can make a career out of all of it, at once?"

"In one lifetime? Yeah, right. The world doesn't work that way. To my disappointment, time—and career building—sucks."

"Exactly. I've only got one life. I can't just waste time aimlessly guessing for the best way to do what I want to do. That's why I want an education. Aaaaand that's why you're helping me with my math homework next week, right?" She practically bounces in the bed as she asks this.

"Huh. I honestly didn't think about school. This is all happening so fast."

"One sec, my Captain is here. Gotta put my military face on!" She steps out and the scent of blood enters the room again. The candles we lit aren't much help after all.

She greets her Captain at the door. She sounds so formal and structured compared to how we were just speaking. I take a look at my computer. All the first person shooter games installed in that thing are nothing compared to her, the real deal.

At my doorway now stands a tall, black haired woman seemingly in her mid 30s wearing the same gear I saw in the alley. Behind her, Janine stands at attention, "military face" on. "Mr. Armeen. May we enter?"

"Go ahead, please. Sit down." I return the polite greeting, not that I have much to sit down on except this rickety "office" chair.

"We'll stand, thank you. I am Hunter designation US4-D1-1, 'Athena.' You have already met Specialist Atlasz."

Hunters have a developed habit of not throwing their identities everywhere. It sounds robotic, but going by their Country-District-Assignment designations or cover names keeps them safe in case some nut on the other side of the world wants revenge against their friends or family. In this case, her designation means she's the leader of District 1's Hunter presence.

"I have a business proposition. First, and foremost, you are hereby under arrest for your involvement with the Rogue Demon known as 'Mist,' or, as you may know her, 'Alice.'"

The rapid blinking from Janine hopefully means she didn't see this coming, either. Then again, I had no idea how any of this will turn out. At least I'm not dead.

"Mr. Armeen, as my prisoner, and a civilian, you are allowed certain rights. Based on the assessment of my team, my authority, and your minimal threat factor, you are entitled to acquittal should you cooperate with the following terms."

"I'm listening." She's essentially arresting me and immediately offering to let me go. After, of course, subtly telling me I'm useless.

"This property was leased to a criminal Rogue Demon, now deceased. Hunter unit US4-D1 has opted to acquire this property for use in District 1's use. I am extending to you, on behalf of the state, an offer of employment to support the administrative functions of US4-D1."

What?

"Conditions for employment will involve the acquittal of your previous crimes regarding the escort of the Demon, 'Mist,' in addition to immediate relocation to the facility in question."

No way. Charges dropped, and I get to legally live here with a "stay at home" job?

"This will be an offer of civilian employment in a government facility, but for the safety of US4-D1 and associates, you will still be required to comply with Hunter regulations on and off site. Gunnery Sergeant US4-D1-4 will have further details, should you wish to pursue this offer. I will be forwarding a summary of these details to Specialist US4-D1-11, should you need to review them."

That's one hell of a proposal. Hunter operations are complicated, and their official staffing is supposedly relatively minimal. It's fairly common for a Hunter division to leave administrative and day to day paperwork with the state or local District government. A job like this means I can support Janine somehow and not put a huge target on my head—AND have this place all to myself.

Now that's a silver lining.

"Janine, this is amazing. I don't know what to say about all this. How is your Captain able to do this? It's barely been a couple hours. Is this real?"

"It's real. Our Administrative Chief is a genius. She probably started investigating you the instant we got to ID you and started pulling strings. If you passed her standards, you're good by me."

"Glad to hear it because you, Specialist Atlasz, are VERY good by me."

"Mr. Armeen," she says, in her military voice, "might I remind you that you are at present, 'under my custody.'"

Hot.

"As my prisoner, my involvement with you is strictly limited to your security and supervision within this facility."

Not hot.

"I do recall, however," she says, changing her tone to one I'm starting to like, "that Hunter regulations don't forbid relations between enlisted and civilians—including those employed by a Hunter based contract."

Is this my "ex"-girlfriend's way of telling me to "get a job?" This is too funny.