Well, ok, hello, Im not dead, basically, and furthermore, I was not intending to upload this until my other stories were sufficiently updated. I know that maintaining a notmal storyline with many stories to handle is quite difficult and takes time, but, since the site needed some Muraki/Tsuzuki story update REAL BAD (seriousle people) I decided to upload it after all.
By the way my otehr stories are also in progress (in percent):
My Fair Lady 20
Wardrobe 40
Corpse groom -80 ( I write it negative because the whole amount I had written would really need some revising)
Little angel turned bad 10
This is set in AU, as you might have suspected, and is set in times of Jack the Riper, which by the way is a very loose interpretation of the Vicotrian Great Britain. (im not a britt, so I could use some constructive criticism, which also refers to my grammar and spelling. AND BY THAT I MEAN. Please dont write - your spelling sucks - if you see an incorrect line, please do tell me which one it is if youre going throught all the trouble of review-writing just for that, thankyou.)
Yours truly,
Turbo
The dark November night was as enveloping the old city of London in mist
The dark November night was as enveloping the old city of London in mist. Soft golden light from the lanterns was pouring generously into the clumps of fog rising from Thames. A lonesome police officer was pacing down the street, his kettle-like hat lengthening his shadow eerily, the metal buttons of his uniform reflected the near lights.
He heard a rustle and a noise, his violet eyes flashed and he hurried in that direction - he was on the post for a reason. He rushed down the street, his shoe soles clacking against the cobbled road surface. He rounded the corner hastily only to spot an elderly lady making her way down the street.
-"Good evening sir." She stated in a gravelly tone only old ladies in mist-filled evening were capable of.
-"Evening, madam." The police officer tipped his hat. "It's dangerous to wander at this hour especially for lone ladies."
-"Oh, no worries officer, my home is right behind that corner. I had stayed a bit too long at my niece, she has such nice boys, and we chattered all the evening away. . . " she chuckled in an elderly manner. The police officer ushered her to go to the safety of her home, out of the dangers way for what she thanked him nicely, and gave him a piece of Scottish shortbread, her niece had given her. He smiled back at her and returned to his post, standing perfectly still and listening to the sounds of the woman's wooden cane and only relaxed once he heard the reassuring sound of the shutting door.
He sighed and paced further. Maybe he will not come tonight. Maybe he'll miss this night out. I wish he did. He heard a rustle behind him and whipped around quickly, but it was only an old alley cat carrying a mouse. An odd mouse though, it looked more like pale root.
-"Shoo!" He scared the creature just for having something to do and it abandoned it's pray. Curiously, he came closer to inspect it. To his utter horror, it was no rodent or bird, it was a finger of a human being.
-"Oh my goodness." He took out the handkerchief and wrapped the appendage in it carefully. By the feels of it, the digit was still fresh. Tsuzuki frowned. He didn't miss out after all.
Extra, extra! Jack rips the lives again, Scotland Yard helpless, read all about it!
Tsuzuki clutched his aching head, sitting by his office table. He had to fill in forms upon forms of bureaucratic idiocy – when he found the body, how he found it, at what time, where, if there were witnesses, if he saw the culprit.
The press didn't sympathize at all, all the boulevard paper headlines chanted in unison that Scotland Yard were nothing more than amateurs not knowing their job, letting a maniac run loose, however The Times and Guardian gave them the harshest critic.
The population was in panic, charm shops were booming, by selling anti Jack-the-Ripper wards. Watari had even given him one the last night, for luck, he said.
Tsuzuki didn't even want to know what it was, the pouch he had been given smelt suspiciously of garlic. For all the warding purposes, if the maniac struck him, all he could hope for, was that he was intolerant to the plant, or was a vampire, the statement, by the way, had appeared in one of the woman's magazines, also, miraculously provided by Watari.
Whenever he asked the man why he read those, he answered that there were some good hair care tips, and seeing that the blonde was tremendously fond of his tresses, Tsuzuki could sympathize.
The police officer of London district otherwise known as Tsuzuki Asato stood up and went to pour himself some Earl grey before he continued. He yawned and soon afterwards scalded himself by pouring some of the boiling water over his hand in attempt to make some tea. He cursed under his breath and instantly went down to wiping the water from the table surface. Ofcourse, the case had been out for too long, and the latest newspapers were suggesting even more surreal developments of the events, they were receiving angry letters from the families of the victims or some random persons who thought that their advice/ accusation/ complaint would help in any way, however now he couldn't care less. He had had a dreadful night shift, and he had worked through to the morning, the dull weather didn't help much either.
Now he was very sleepy, and couldn't wait for the coroner to come and make a section of the body to determine the cause of the death so he could finally close the paper folder concerning the body and send it to be buried within shelves concerning the case, finding the culprit has proven impossible.
There was another reason why he waited for the coroner so impatiently. Sophisticated and pedantic as the man was, he was surprisingly indulgent to Tsuzukis sometimes careless ways, and every now and then, he would allow the officer to take a nap on the only couch situated in doctors study, which occupied the basement of the police building, and would even cover up for him, to spare the brunettes already modest paycheck.
Moody of the days events, he nestled his chin in his palms and gazed outside - that dull, cold grey, oh how he hated it. He didn't notice how he drifted into the dream realm, full of apple cake and ginger ale, Dutch butter biscuits and foamy cider heaven, A huge gingerbread was taping him on the middle of the head. He wanted to swat the thing off, and already did so, catching something in the process.
The contact with reality pulled him out of his dreamland.
-"Mhhm." Tsuzuki cracked his eyes open, to see a blotch of white. He smiled automatically, not needing to focus his sight just yet. He knew exactly who the outfit belonged to. Had it been anyone else, he would have been worried. "Just a couple more minutes." He groaned and stretched.
-"Morning." A smooth voice answered. He could hear a tinge of humor in the voice. "How bold you've become, napping so openly, are you expecting a raise?"
Tsuzuki grimaced and pulled himself together.
-"Oh come off it, k? I'm fresh from night shift and form filling." He yawned again. "Oh my goodness," he mumbled cracking his bones back into place. "There is a new body waiting for you in the basement by the way."
-"Oh really," The doctor stated matter-of-factly.
-"Yea, Mr. Tatsumi suspects that it is another move of our old friend Jack, and you'd better snap to it, I still wanna go home and catch a couple of hours of sleep until Tatsumi can dock my pay again."
-"The fate of the thin blue line eh?" Muraki smiled.
-"Thinning blue line would be more appropriate, I hadn't eaten a normal meal in weeks." He pulled his shirt back from his body where it hung bag-like.
-"You should really do something about it, Mr. Tsuzuki. Mr. Tatsumi really doesn't seem to notice the effort you're investing. I could speak to him if you'd like." The white man offered.
-"No, no, it's ok, I understand that the state is in crisis and so on, and I'm not the only one suffering, and yesterday a lovely old lady gave me a shortbread, despite the fact that a widows pension is not that great. I should really know better than complain." Muraki gave the brunette a tender look.
-"How about going to lunch together? My treat." The doctor beamed at the officer.
-"It would be very nice, but I must decline, I mean, I should go home and, you know, appear there every now and then – at least to justify the rent." Muraki chuckled.
-"You may always nap in my office, you know that." He assured the brunette looking him in the eye.
-"But, but." Tsuzuki stuttered, unable to find any other excuse.
-"You still have to wait until I do the autopsy don't you?" He stated, not breaking the eye contact. The brunette looked mesmerized, as if he was a rabbit caught in the unblinking stare or a python. "It will take some time, and seeing as you don't have anything better to do." Tsuzuki blinked, snapping out of the trance-like state.
-"OK, ok, you got your point across."
-"It's very lovely of you; it gets a bit lonely down there." The doctor smiled. The man stepped away so the brunette had the opportunity to stand up.
-"Yeah, yeah." He yawned again.
They wandered through the police office, passing the multitude of empty seats – not all people had arrived yet, as it was quite early. There was light on in Tatsumis office though,
-"He never seems to sleep." Tsuzuki murmured, following the doctors white trench coat through the department. He wasn't the only one concerned, the head of the department, Mr. Tatsumi, was scarier than a Loch ness monster at these times.
The man wore glasses pinched to the bridge of his nose which only helped to render him even grislier.
-"Some people live to work." The doctor shrugged, standing by the staircase leading to the basement. Tsuzuki shivered visibly.
-"Is it me, or is it always so cold down there?"
-"It is a morgue after all, Mr. Tsuzuki. Or would you rather like those bodies decomposing just a floor below, I could imagine the smell." Tsuzuki pulled a face, if the summer day was hotter, then sometimes, the breeze carried out a funny smell or two out of the basement.
-"You just had to remind me, didn't you?" He huffed looking around. He disliked the place they descended to, is walls were colored in sickly green; Muraki lit the gas lamp to aid them on the way, how Muraki could work in such conditions, stayed a secret to him.
-"Be careful, Mr. Tsuzuki, I don't want to do more autopsies than necessary today."
They descended into the eerie, cold corridor. The air smelt of disinfectant, sulfur, decay and mould. Tsuzuki heard a jingle of the key, the doctor must have found the door. Tsuzuki never seemed to find the right one, which ended once with him sprinting up the staircase and through the department in search of a bathroom. After a metallic click, the door creaked to reveal a vast room with low ceiling and electric lights - Wataris modernization.
Several metal tables occupied the room; they looked somewhat like shallow sinks, with a hole and an indent at one end, for the extra fluids to go directly down the drain and into Thames. However Tsuzukis objective lied in the far corner of the room. It was a slightly worn out couch, as sickly green as the walls.
-"How you don't get rheumatism at this environment is beyond me." The brunette settled on the couch and gathered some cowers that laid conveniently on its edge.
-"I have my tricks." The doctor approached him smiling and draped the woolen covers around the brunette, ushering him to lie down. "Now take care and have some rest, I'll wake you up when the report is prepared." He mercifully pulled the curtain shut in front of the couch in order to spare brunette the gruesome aspects of his work.
Tsuzuki was falling asleep, when Muraki had changed into his work robe and gone to fetch the body. The brunette didn't even wake up when the body was brought in on a screechy cart, he snored happily through the part where the ribcage snapped with a fleshy crack, or when some of the internal organs were placed onto the scales with a wet slap.
He did wake up when the disinfectant was applied. The smell of dead flesh was overwhelmed by the smell of vinegar and sulfur.
The telltale creak and rustle on the couch indicated that the officer had woken up. Muraki pulled the salvating curtain back and peered down at the still sleepy man.
-"I see that you're awake." Tsuzuki pulled his legs to himself, thus giving Muraki a space to sit down, which the blonde did.
-"You're done already?" The officer yawned and pulled the covers more snuggly around him.
-"Yes, by the way not only with the body of your victim, but with others too. It's about four hours since you came here." Muraki explained.
-"What? You mean I slept that much? God, Tatsumis going to kill me! Why didn't you wake me up?" The man just smiled and shrugged. "You re doing that on purpose, aren't you?" Tsuzuki shot upwards, pouting at the doctor.
-"You didn't seem to mind sleeping a bit longer."
-"Mind? How can a sleeping person mind whatsoever? I was asleep, dammit!" The brunette raged, anger lighting his purple eyes. The young man started pacing the room nervously.
-"There is really no need to worry, Mr. Tsuzuki, Your shift doesn't start in another five hours, so why don't we go for a lunch. I doubt the restaurants should be overcrowded by this time."
-"I'm not too hungry, thankyou." He retorted, still being annoyed with the man. Tsuzukis stomach growled and he pressed a hand to it hastily as if trying to extinguish the noises.
-"The most effective cure to this, however is a nice meal, Mr. Tsuzuki."
-"Listen, I really don't mind you being so generous with me, but, I m really embarrassed when you do that."
-"Why, Mr. Tsuzuki, there is no reason to be ashamed, it's only natural." The brunette blushed, getting even more embarrassed for admitting it to the doctor.
-"It's not that. I mean, I'm a grown up man, I am supposed to be capable to take care for myself. I really don't like being a dependant, but now I feel like living by your graces." Muraki only grinned at him.
-"How old were you again?"
-"I'm 24." He stated shyly.
-"Well, you're barely out of your youth and into the adulthood. There is no reason to be ashamed, Mr. Tsuzuki, please take notice that I wouldn't have acted the way I do if you were a burden to me." He smiled assuringly. "So, If I'm not mistaken, my job here is finished. Come."
-"B-but what about the body?" Tsuzuki tried appealing to doctors pedantic side.
-"What about it? It's not like it can walk away, don't worry, I'm certain that it will remain where I left it by our return, I locked the door." The white man gave him a creepy smile. Tsuzuki recoiled, looking alarmed.
-"Don't say such things; you know they creep me out!" He stated with a pinch of irritation.
-"Do forgive me, but I can't help myself, you don't believe in monsters, do you?" The brunette sighed and rubbed his shoulder as they were emerging from the basement world of beyond.
-"To say the truth .." Tsuzuki paused, being all serious. He spoke in a lower register when he was serious and sad. ".. when I see those poor victims, I think that the monsters are very much real. What human could do such a thing to those poor women?" tears welled in the amethyst eyes. The brunette stifled a sob. "Sometimes I wish I could strangle that bastard with my bare hands for what he did. Albeit I doubt that I would be able to kill him, and I wouldn't regret it too, there is nothing human left about him, of that I'm sure." The doctor observed the little outburst curiously.
-"They say that the ones who killed the monsters were always human, the only question however remains, what would the act turn the slayers into - humans, monsters, fellow slaughterers." Muraki mused. Tsuzuki gaped at him.
-"They would just bring justice to the world, that's all." Tsuzuki stated clenching a fist.
-"Justice you say, so be it then." The man murmured.
-"Well, how do you see it then? Do you think it's justified to take a life of an innocent?" Tsuzuki pressed.
-"This is a tedious discussion really. It will only blossom into a semi existential debate that will lead us nowhere." Muraki cleared his glasses and set them back onto his nose. "Let's leave it at that."
-"Why don't you just admit that you regard Jack the Ripper as a rather romantic character." Tsuzuki stated. Muraki chuckled in response.
-"You'd better hand the reports to Mr. Tatsumi now; otherwise he will truly skin you alive and believe me, that is not romantic." Tsuzuki grappled around and noticed that he had no reports by him.
-"Darn, I must have left them in your study!" Tsuzuki was a blur, he darted to the door in the back, and raced down the stairs only to realize that the keys of the office were still in Murakis possession, cursing again, he ran up the stairs and met Murakis satisfied expression. The man held the keys out to the brunette in an outstretched hand. Tsuzuki only huffed, snatched the keys and bolted back.
After 20 minutes and a lecture by Tatsumi, during which Tsuzuki stood stock still and looked into space. Two men were walking through a street – small drizzle was filling the air, the slight breeze carried coal ash and smoke from the industrial part of the city. The streets were dirty, grim cabs passed them one by one as they were heading towards a little restaurant. Manufacture workers, dressed in dark work clothes were passing them noisily. Murakis impeccably white suit stood out severely on the backdrop of the symphony of dull grey and black.
-"Muraki, I always wondered, I mean, you're always generous with me, not that it's not nice, but, don't you need it more?" They were sitting in a small restaurant, not far from the department. Albeit it was not the top class dining hall, it had the air of comfort which higher class establishments lacked, furthermore the dishes were delicious and the servings – generous.
-"No, not particularly." Muraki replied, wiping his mouth with a serviette. "For you see, Mr. Tsuzuki, this is the best way I can reciprocate for your lovely company. As you may know, my line of work tends to make people avoid me, no matter how impeccable may my habits be. Some people say that I carry some death bacteria and if they touch me, they'd die soon. Such are the superstitions. However you came and held nothing back, even if you were afraid of me at first." Tsuzuki blushed, contemplating on the spoonful of soup.
-"I'm sorry about that, I really didn't mean to." He tried apologizing again for the old mishap he had had when he first started working in the police department. When Tsuzuki first came down to the creepy cellar where the coroner operated, he took Muraki for a ghost, quite literally, the man was so pale, the officer decided that it must have been a phantom, and he ran off screaming for help.
-"It's all in the past, don't worry, I'll never judge you, remember?" That was the phrase that had won Tsuzukis favors and not like the doctor didn't live up to his word. His first time in the police was hard, not like it was easier now, but still, in this moment he was entering a stage of improvement. All his life he had wanted to guard people from all bad and the best thing he was capable of, was being a police officer; however he never seemed to live up the demands of a proper police officer no matter how hard he tried. It made him incredibly sad; he would have gone the wrong path if not for the white doctor.
Under his patient attention, Tsuzuki begun to develop and transform, gain edges, like a rough piece of crystal being shaped into a diamond. However the phrase made him open up to the doctor unlike everyone else.
Whatever it is, I will not judge you
That was what the brunette had wanted – not strict orders or regimen, no smart remarks and advice, but simple acceptance would have been enough and it still was enough.
-"Oh my goodness, I feel so good, I wish I didn't have to go to work today anymore." The brunette stretched lazily. He had finished his soup and now felt completely at ease with himself. Muraki was finished too, he took his pocket watch out.
-"Hmm, you still have some good 3 hours before the work starts, so what would you like to do?" The man pocketed the watch yet again and stood up taking his coat.
-"I really wanna go home you know, dunno, call sick for the rest of the day, paycheck be damned, I need some proper rest." Tsuzuki stated and put his coat on. "How about you, your work day is over aint it?"
-"I believe it is." Muraki answered smoothly, a small smile creeping onto his face.
- "Geeze and with all that you manage feeding me as well." Tsuzuki snorted and shook his head. The young officer blushed at his own remark. He thought themes regarding paycheck as something akin of taboo, maybe his meager salary was the reason of his reluctance to speak of income, however this time he couldn't help but wonder.
-"Sorry, it's really not my business." Tsuzuki stated.
-"Quite on the contrary." Muraki retorted very seriously. "That's a completely reasonable question, Asato, especially for a police officer." Tsuzuki blinked at him, startled at mans seriousness, he was expecting the man to brush him off with a fine joke, however Muraki continued composedly.
-"My family owned a part of West Indian company, so we are still earning with the income from spices market." He explained. "A fairly interesting business, for a man like myself."
-"Whoa, but why did you chose to work, I mean, you have everything already, someone else in your position would enjoy their lives and think of nothing." The brunette shrugged and got a distasteful snort as a reply from the doctor.
-"Oh, Asato, do you really think that just living and enjoying my life would be something I could manage? Just spending your ancestors hard earned money is nothing short of a crime against your seniors. It's a dull way of spending ones existence. If anything it's even more miserable than one of a clochard, because such people have no purpose and no aim, I detest such, which is why I couldn't tolerate them for too long."
-" Now I understand why you didn't complain about your salary." Tsuzuki mumbled.
-"Yes, well, salary definitely isn't something I would work for in the police department anyway." Muraki chuckled and Tsuzuki couldn't help but join in, it was indeed funny in a grim way.
Sorry, according to the following story, this is the most logical place to make a break. Oh by the way - the main difference from other stories is taht this is an M rated one, and that means - smut ahead!