Splice.

Amber eyes, warm and sharp, set alight to his insides. The other boy must be Kura’s age, fourteen. They sit across from each other, staring the other down.

"Who the fuck are you?" Kura all but actually spits in this unknown boy’s face. The boy raises a surreptitious brow and the corner of his mouth twitches.

"Kage, who the fuck are you?" Kage smiles holding his hand out between them over the table, he’s obviously mocking Kura.

Kura launches over the table, it flips and he lands on top of Kage on the floor. His fingers curl around the other’s throat, Kage’s face remains placid and unmoving. He squeezes and feels Kage swallow, feels the bob of the other’s Adam’s apple.

Kage smirks and Kura blacks out.
~~~

Kura comes to, his ears ring, his throat burns and his hands ache. For once there’s no blood on his palms, there’s no screaming, there’s hardly a thing out of place besides the upturned table and chairs.

Kage eases his shin off of Kura’s neck and leans against the wall beside the other, their chests heave in unison as they try to catch their breath.

"You calmed down now?" Kage asks between deep intakes of breath. Kura nods and lays flat on the floor, the white ceiling stares down at him.

~~~

"Do you just hate everyone?" Kage asks in a bored tone picking at his food.

"Not particularly," Kura muses staring up at the lights instead of looking at those sharp eyes, "I just don’t like the way people look at me," he shrugs.

"Why?" Interest slowly seeps into Kage’s tone.

"Because they know, they can see that I’m not like them," the florescent light burns into the back of his vision.

"Why should that bother you?" Kage sneers, a thick veneer of hate. Kura snaps his eyes to the other and blinks furiously.

"What?" His brows quirk, he’s quite taken aback by the sudden outburst.

"Why does it matter what they think? Why does it matter at all?" Kage slams his fist against the table and their plates rattle.

"Kage," Kura says lowly and slowly, "I am not you," his chest heaves.

"Then explain," Kage waves his hand in front of them.

"No."

~~~

Fingers press against his mouth, they slip between his lips and delve inside. It’s possibly the most disgusting and sexual thing that’s ever happened to him. Kura doesn’t open his eyes, what would be the point anyways. He knows it’s Kage’s weight he feels pressing down upon him, instead he sinks his teeth into the flesh of those fingers.

"You’ve got such a viscous mouth," Kage says fondly from above, his smile can be heard in his tone.

Kura relaxes his mouth and the fingers go deeper until he’s gagging. Who the fuck cares if he dies because it’s certainly not him and he’s blacked out again.

~~~

Kage’s head starts to spin and he can’t take in breath. The hands around his throat squeeze harder, he feels the bones of Kura’s fingers grind against the tendons in his neck. He feels Kura’s hips dig into the flesh of the inside of his thighs. His fingers are still in the other’s mouth, he pushes his whole fist inside and Kura starts to cough, Kura’s eyes refocus.

They release each other in unison and cough hard.

Kage’s hand rests over Kura’s lips, Kura’s hands rest lightly around the bottom of Kage’s throat.

Kage lies down completely on top of Kura, tosses his glasses to the floor and rests his mouth against Kura’s collar bone. The boys sleep comfortably uncomfortable.

~~~

Fingers slip into his hair and Kage’s instantly awake, sits bolt upright upon Kura. The other’s boy’s hand falls to his lap. He stares down at the peaceful sleeping face. Kura gnashes his teeth, the noise and sudden movement hardly startles Kage, but adrenaline rushes through him all the same.

Kage wants to tear the boy inside out, but then he’d have no one to play with. The hand on his lap is so warm, the heat sears through his sweat pants.

~~~

The office they were thrust into was small and strange, all they did day in and day out was fill out questionnaires. They varied in subject and quality, it was quite some time before Kura realised what was really going on.

He sits up straight with his revelation and he surveys the room, his side looks exactly the same as Kage’s. It’s exactly the same, even down to the tiny scratches on the wall near the left edge of the table. That isn’t what disturbs him most though.

His blood pools away from his face and settles heavy and thick into his heart. Kage has stopped filling out the questionnaires, Kage has turned around in his chair and is staring right back at him.

"Freak," he spits at his mirror image with longer hair, glasses and eyes brighter than his.

"Freak," the noise is repeated back to him.

~~~

Kura’s eyes go wide, surprise, shock, horror and humour cross his face. He presses his lips together so hard it almost hurts, it’s a futile attempt to keep himself from laughing. The rough harsh noise bursts out, forcing his lips apart.

"What?" Kage says brows upturned, he rubs his head self-consciously.

"What the fuck did you do?" Kura barks doubled over, one hand braced on his desk. "Is that a mullet?" He can barely get the words out through his laughter.

"Whatever asshole," Kage spits offhandedly as he places his briefcase upon his desk, Kura’s laughter slowly dies down and Kage begins to retrieve his work things from the briefcase.

"Why do you even bother brining that thing or dressing like that?" Kura questions with raised brows.

"What do you mean?" Kage says simply arranging his papers. He wears the basic salary man garb: black tie, black trousers, black shoes and a white shirt. On the other hand, Kura is wearing sweats, worn out sneakers and the grey t-shirt he has twelve of.

"I mean what’s the point?" His top lip curls over his teeth.

"It makes it more like work, like I choose to be here," and really how can Kura argue with that.

~~~

Kura wakes up coughing for his life and yet again Kage’s hand is down his throat. He breaks Kage’s hand.

~~~

"Aim," the irritating digital voice orders through the speakers, Kage and Kura aim in unison.

Kura squeezes his left eye shut as he peers down the sight of the white plastic practice rifle, his tongue slightly pokes out of his mouth as he readies himself for something to appear on one of the digital walls.

Kage faces the other way, vision on the two walls that Kura can’t see. The rifle sits comfortably upon his shoulder, his arms are steady and his trigger finger itches to press down. He doesn’t stare down the sights since he has next to no peripheral vision, he stays alert waiting for something to happen.

"Prepare for battle," the digital voice drones.

An inky round form appears on Kura’s side, it’s there for hardly a second before he’s expertly blown it away. The room becomes dark and loud, the sound of their rifles, their movements, the simulated sound of the formless beings threaten to suffocate him. He feels like he’s drowning, feels like he’s being mentally violated.

Suddenly the room’s white again and he’s on his back, Kage hovers over him concern heavily buried under that mask of a face.

"Get the fuck up," Kage whispers harshly, his eyes shift to the door. Kura eyes the hand Kage holds out for him, the door hisses and Kura quickly takes Kage’s hand scrambling to his feet.

They turn toward the door and stand on point like good little soldiers.

~~~

Every night Kage tries to envision his parents, he can see their bodies, knows every detail of what they were wearing that day, but he can’t see their faces. When he looks up there are deep fuzzy holes dark as oblivion where their faces should be. Like a black hole slowly sucking him in, it’s terrifying and wondrous.

However, he’ll never forget the face of the man that destroyed them. He’ll never forget the taste of blood in his mouth. He’ll never forget how white bones really are. And he’ll especially never forget how easily people die.

~~~

The armour feels strange, it reminds him of Kage’s heavy body curling around his own. It’s warm, hard and not as heavy as he thought it would be. The armour is white and highly reflective, Kura thinks that it’s no use since dark is the absence of light.

However, he likes the way that the plates fit together, the soft lightweight material that acts as a barrier between the metal and his body makes him feel divorced from the situation.

Kage’s at his side in the brightly lit van, he suddenly hates it all. Mostly he hates his helmet, how they can hear everything he says, but then again they always have.

~~~

The sky’s a constant grey, atmosphere dense with a substance that Kura pretends not to know anything about. He lets the gun hang lazily from his shoulder, completely uninterested in using it.

Apart from the atmosphere, everything is pretty much exactly the same as he remembers. Buildings spear the clouds, lampposts standing to attention.

Something brittle snaps under Kura’s foot, it’s remnants puff up around him in a dust cloud. He looks to the ground and finds the area is littered with the corpses of birds, he lifts his foot up and away from the cadaver he’d just desecrated. Kage watches him with a hard stare, lips pressed together in a firm line.

"Get a move on soldiers," the squad leader yells from his cosy little office ten thousand metres underground directly into their ears. Kura hisses, lips curling back over his gums.

~~~

He watches the back of Kage’s head encased in the glistening white helmet, Kura feels too far away. His eyes shift around, trying not to even so much as glance over the dark form projected all over the concrete and metal of the landscape. Kura feels their eyeless face watching him, judging him for surviving through something that they could not.

"Kag?" Kura’s voice wavers embarrassingly.

"Yeah," Kage returns eyes focused down the sights of his rifle, sweeping the area dutifully.

"Do you ever feel guilty?" He feels a truth down in his gut, just like that time in the underpass all those years ago.

"You shouldn’t ever feel guilty for something that you were not in control of," Kage says with an even tone.

"Don’t you think you owe it to all those people that died, don’t you think we shouldn’t have survived knowing what we are," the rifle rattles against his hip as he jogs to catch up to Kage.

"We’re alive simply because we are what we are," Kage raises a brow at the other in slight irritation, Kura feels it mirrored on his face.

"Don’t you think that’s a method of warfare?" Kura feels better for having something other than the shadows to focus on.

~~~

Everyone’s yelling, screaming, crying, embracing, holding, laughing and just generally reacting. Kura and Kage stand there having lost all sense of purpose.

People slowly turn to them, slowly descend upon them, separate them and Kura’s alone in the dark again.