Chapter 19: Tattoo (2)
Gin's back was facing me. It seems that he's restraining something in front of him. His bare body seems to gleam beneath the weird light sources of the room. His upper body is naked. Beads of sweat roll down his skin but he seems to have no qualms about it. He was too focused to even care if his muscles went numb in concentration.
But what really caught my attention is the weird tattoo on his shoulder. It reminds me of something. It looks like a seal. The tattoo looks like a thin metal chain made of black ink.
At first, it takes the shape of a loop. Like a placid rattlesnake. Until the tattoo gradually moved to his shoulder. It looked alive. The chain started to travel across his shoulder through his arms. It looks like it's heading to his palm.
I gasped in shock. What the hell?
I stepped back. And that made the situation ten times worse. I nearly covered my mouth when the weapons started to fall one by one from the table that I knocked. I didn't even notice that I was leaning there! Gin quickly turned to me. My eyes widened. Even my breath was caught in my throat. The power I felt earlier immediately disappeared. The tattoo on his shoulder also stopped moving.
"What are you doing here?"
I didn't manage to answer immediately. Gin went to the wall and pulled down something. The switch of the dimensional apparatus. The weird feeling that the smoke gave disappeared and I saw the training room clearly.
"Why are you not answering?"
He went to a corner and took a towel the towel was hanging there with his upper uniform. He acts as if nothing happened. What did I saw earlier?
I was even more speechless when he approached me. I tried not to look at his naked body.
"You have the seal," I uttered without thinking when he sat down on a chair and began to wipe the sweat off his body.
"You have a schedule now, right?"
"What are you?"
"Being a nosy little devil this time?"
I clenched my hand. "You have the seal," I repeated.
He laughed at what I said. "Then?"
I was stunned. He is right. Why should I care? If his power is one of the cursed ability what is it to me? We train to get the most out of our ability mainly for practicality and survival. But with people like him, it will always be a never-ending battle of controlling something inside of you that demands to have a life of its own. It's a curse. Gin's body is a container of an ability that needs to be controlled and sealed.
Now I know why he is not your average student in this place. His path is way more ahead than any of us. And being the Team Captain of a group that will be joining the Linus Cup is only a mediocre task under his hand.
"Go back above. Avoid meddling with other people's business."
He sat on the chair while the towel was on his shoulder. It covered his tattoo but I can't help but feel that it's staring at me like a snake. I observed his arm while he wasn't facing me. Other than the beads of sweat gleaming beneath his biceps there was another thing that caught my attention.
Bruises. Black ink-like bruises.
Like a thin vein made of ink. It spreads from his arm to his palms where it's even thicker and blood started to flow from it. At first, you would think that someone drew lines on his hand. But the inks seem like open wounds.
"I will call Luna."
He looked at me, he seemed uninterested to what I've said. His damp hair that fell just a few inches above his eyelids kept sticking to the upper part of his forehead so he had to hold it while talking to me.
"Just go on," he said in a monotone voice.
I silently scoffed. If you don't need my help that's fine with me. I didn't mean it anyway. I was about to go and leave him when he handed me something but it just suddenly dropped. I stopped walking and looked at him. He really planned to put alcohol and bandages on his hand.
I looked down at the bottle of alcohol that rolled down my feet. I picked it up and gave it to him. He is crazy to think that he can grab a thing properly with a severely injured hand.
"Team Captain." I address him with a blank expression on my face. "Let me remind you that this is a team game."
I took the bandages from the medical kit that Luna left in the training room. I started to unroll them and estimated how long I would use to cover temporarily, Gin's bleeding wounds.
I really don't intend to help him. He can suffer for all I care. But that doesn't mean that I don't know the responsibility of being a member. He is still the Team Captain and he needs his confederates right now.
He didn't speak when I began to pour and soak the alcohol on his palm. The liquid practically sizzled in his arms. It almost smoked like it touched a smoldering rock. I can't help but wince. I don't want to imagine how painful that is.
It seems like he has no intention to complain so I just continued. I'm not as careful and as precise as Luna but I found myself focusing on what I'm doing. The same way I always did to Lucas whenever he's injured. Lucas used to tease me that I was the worst medic available in the history of Hesperia. He always said, that instead of the injury getting better it would worsen if I'm the one who treats it. Maybe because I often intentionally torture his wounds when I knew he got it from nonsense things.
"You looked tamed when you're focused."
[ED: *pukes blood ROFL. What, like a dog? Oh yeah, I almost forgot… Shia's a b*tch]
I paused what I was doing and looked at Gin. I blinked a few times to register what he said. He looked at me as if I was species that he saw for the first time. What was he thinking? The corners of his lips tugged into a slight curve when he saw the confusion on my face.
"I thought you're just a spitfire dragon that doesn't know the meaning of the word calm and controlled."
Is he mocking me? I scoffed. Wow what an asshole. I tightened the final wrap of bandage on his arm. So, tight that I almost felt like he winced. The rough pieces of cloth almost tore itself. I smirked inwardly. Good for you.
I stood up and cleaned off the dirt from my uniform that I wore. I'm helping him but he still had the mood to accuse me. Obsessive control freak.
"I know you will never say thank you but you're welcome," I said in a formal voice. "Team Captain."
I organized the things before I turned from him. When I looked at the direction of the door I suddenly stopped. A pair of eyes is looking at us. Her perfect angelic face seems to be digging her gaze upon me.
Corrine.