Starving and Craving

The first time it happens is by the sea.

Or rather, the first time it hits him is by the sea. With the intensity of it- there is no way for him to tell for how long it’s been creeping up, sneaking in his mind, until he could do nothing but notice it.

"Look!" Dororo says, twirling like a child- twirling like the chaotic trickster fox Hyakkimaru is half convinced he is. "It's all so barren!"

It is. Wide wide nothingness, as far as Hyakkimaru's eyes can see.

The water feels cold around his calves. Salt fills his nose, strong and foreign and tickling. Sand slide between his toes; not quite like mud, but largely different to how regular solid soil behaves.

It's beautiful.

"Hey, check this out!" Dororo calls, dragging Hyakkimaru's attention away from this infinity. The thief holds a wiggling thing up, and laughs. It's a rough sound; scratchy and obnoxious and oh so happy. "I found a crab!"

This, too, is beautiful.

"That's neat." Hyakkimaru says. "Do you think we can eat it?" But his attention isn't on the crab. His ears are for that laugh; his eyes are for that dirt-covered face. And his hands hang at his side, in that chill wind, cold and empty and-

I want to touch you.

That is... an odd thought.

An odd thought that will not leave.

"Yo, aniki, do you want to go right or left?"

Hyakkimaru doesn't care. Hyakkimaru never has. He's not a creature of desire; even his limbs are more about getting back what he should have, rather than actively seeking anything external. 

I want

A recurring feeling, circling, whispering, anytime Dororo smiles, anytime Dororo laughs; something pulsing from the depths of his bones that makes his fingers itch, a hunger that parasites his mind and his dreams that he can't write off. 

I want to touch

Heat and pressure and texture- what would it be like? What would it feel like? Soft, rough? Warm, cold? What of skin, what of hair? The crease of his joints, the lines of his hands? A body that isn't his own, all flesh and weight and life- what is it like?

I want

I want to touch

I want to touch you

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