There simply wasn't enough of this pairing and it's steadily become my favorite. It's Tatsoka, though it'll take a while to build up to it. :nervous smile: It's my first attempt at this pairing so let me know what you think.

Chapter 1

Hisoka woke up was a start. His breathing was heavy as he checked the bed sitting in front of him. Tsuzuki was lying there, asleep, all was well. It had been a week since Kyoto and no matter how many reassurances he had, Hisoka still dreamt every night that they hadn't made it in time. That he had lost his partner and his family.

Tsuzuki had not been alone ever since that night. During work hours Watari was with him. Tatsumi would make an occasional appearance, usually with lunch for Tsuzuki or a pile of paperwork for himself to do while he was there. Hisoka was there any chance he could. His breaks, lunch, and most of the time after work was spent in the infirmary with Tsuzuki. He'd always have a book or would feign disinterest in his partner to keep things normal.

It was the nights that were very different. Tatsumi and Watari would stop in and say their good-byes as they got ready to head home and once they were both gone Hisoka would drop the mask slightly and mention that he should probably be heading home. Tsuzuki never failed to ask the empath to stay and Hisoka never refused his partner's request. He would stay seated in the chair next to Tsuzuki and that was where he slept.

The empath had no complaints about the way things were going, except that the chair was highly uncomfortable and the nightmares wouldn't leave him. He once again checked to make sure that his partner was really there. When she shifted to lean forward, he realized two things. One, his back didn't crack as it usually did and two, the chair was suddenly much more comfortable this morning. He looked down and realized that the small chair had transformed into a larger one with more cushioning. His eternally young body had been able to curl up properly in it with his head on one of the armrests.

"What in the world?" He examined the chair to find that it was actually rather expensive and that he had never seen it before in his life or death. His voice must have woken Tsuzuki because he heard a shifting in the bed next to him. When he looked over he found two amethyst eyes staring wide-eyed at the chair.

"When did you bring that here, Hisoka?" The man asked in a sleepy voice as he rubbed his eyes. Hisoka rolled his at his partner before flopping back down in the chair. It was there and comfortable so he might as well use it. Besides, he must have slept most of the night in it.

"I found it here when I woke up. I don't know where it came from." He said with a sigh. This was the first time he had woken up without his back screaming at him in a week. "I'd like to find out, though." Tsuzuki nodded in agreement before sitting up.

"It was nice of whoever brought it to think of you like that." The man gave Hisoka a sad smile. "I don't know why you won't just sleep in one of the beds here. There's plenty of them." He gestured to the half a dozen unused beds sitting in the infirmary.

"That's for me to know and you to never find out." The empath said with a slight huff. He'd never admit that it was because he needed to make sure Tsuzuki was there after the dreams and the beds were too far away to meet this demand. The comment, however, pulled Tsuzuki into puppy mode.

"That's so mean, 'Soka-chan! I just wanna make sure you take care of yourself. You already take care of me." Hisoka glared and Tsuzuki whimpered still in puppy mode. "'Soka-chan!" The man whined. This little argument was what Tatsumi walked into as he entered the infirmary. He made no comment and was getting ready to leave when Tsuzuki spotted him. "Ah! Tatsumi-san, look at what someone did for Hisoka. They left him a nice comfy chair to sleep in since he won't sleep in the beds." Hisoka groaned and covered his eyes with his hand.

"I see that. I wonder who would have the money to pay for such a thing." Tatsumi said with a slight grimace. They all knew that Tatsumi had an odd habit of being able appraise things with one look. No doubt, he recognized how expensive the chair was. Hisoka jumped slightly and turned his head to Tatsumi.

"They could try to write it off as a business expense. Tatsumi-san, would you . . ." The empath trailed off. He hadn't wanted it to slip that he was curious, but well, he was. Not only that, but Tatsumi wasn't one to hand out his assistance without some sort of compensation.

"I shall keep an eye on the expenses for you, Kurosaki-kun." The man said as he pushed his glasses further up his nose. "I, too, would like to know who would do such a thing." Hisoka wasn't as fluent in Tatsumi as Tsuzuki was, but he figured this meant he wanted to know who would spend this much money on something as a chair for the infirmary and that they would not get away with it as a business expense unless they gave the proper reasoning.

"Thank you, Tatsumi-san." The empath bowed his head slightly to the man before standing up. This routine was normal as well. When Tatsumi showed up for work Hisoka would go home and get ready himself while the secretary looked after Tsuzuki. Tatsumi nodded his head in return and Hisoka teleported to his house.

His mind was still working through who could have done something like this as he took his shower. Tsuzuki would have been his first guess since he always seemed to worry about Hisoka, but the man had no money, especially not after the damages in Kyoto and he had been asleep when it had happened. Watari was his next guess, but the scientist had mentioned earlier that his latest batch of exploding potions had managed to deplete his salary so there was barely money to live off of, much less spend on things like chairs. Tatsumi was immediately eliminated. The secretary wouldn't have spent so much on something and he had also expressed an interest in who it was. Konoe, wouldn't have wasted any of his souvenir budget on this so he was out, too. Terazuma didn't like Tsuzuki so he wouldn't dream of helping his partner and Wakaba's gifts were usually food she had cooked herself.

By the end of his shower he had eliminated everyone in Meifu. He swore lightly as he got dressed, swearing he was going to figure this out if it killed him, again. Once he dressed he moved into his kitchen. "Breakfast. Breakfast. Do I really need to eat?" Hisoka thought as he looked thought his cabinets. Tsuzuki's voice wormed its way into his mind.

"Are you eating all right, Hisoka? Tatsumi yelled at me the other day saying that I should be taking better care of you." Hisoka groaned and grabbed a bowl for cereal. He wondered just when Tsuzuki seemed to take over as his conscience, or his mother, he wasn't sure which it really was. The cereal settled strange in his stomach and he had a vague feeling that it wasn't going to set right at all during the day.

"Damn. Tsuzuki owes me for this." He cursed again as he swallowed another mouthful. As he ate Hisoka established that he was not one for eating breakfast and that Tsuzuki would pay for this, somehow.

The air in the offices was a bit strained. Since Kyoto it had always been a bit tight, but this was a whole new level. As Hisoka walked down he hall he was forced to focus more on his shields than usual. Something had definitely happened while he was getting ready. Watari poked his head out of the infirmary and was the first to greet him.

"Hey, there, Bon! As soon as you're finished with Tsuzuki, here, Konoe said to go to his office." He quickly ran down the hall forcing Hisoka to see Tsuzuki. The empath knew now that something had happened and that he probably wasn't going to like it. He was being sent to Tsuzuki before to try to calm him down so that he wouldn't blow up at Konoe. The old man had had one to many heart attacks from Hisoka's sudden bursts. He'd, of course, lived through them all, but it was no fun for any of them and they worked to not repeat the event again.

With a sigh, he entered the infirmary. Tsuzuki was finishing off his breakfast and caught sight of Hisoka. His face brightened at he quickly finished the meal. Hisoka sat in the chair as he waited for his partner to finish.

"Ne, Hisoka, do you know why Konoe-kachou wants to see you?" Hisoka shook his head and settled into the chair. He was a bit nervous about the meeting, not that he'd ever admit that. His mind was already coming up with a few reasons for the meeting and none of them meant anything good. "Don't worry, Hisoka. It can't be all bad. Watari just told me that they're gonna give me something to do all day." Tsuzuki brightened and began talking about becoming Watari's lab assistant for a while. Hisoka noted that in the description it was specifically mentioned that he was not to be a guinea pig for any experiments.

"That's nice, Tsuzuki." The bad feeling about the meeting suddenly became worse. If they were giving Tsuzuki something to do then that meant that they were ready to put them both back to work. He suddenly knew what the meeting was about. He groaned and slid down in the chair. "They're assigning me a partner." Tsuzuki stopped mid-sentence, Hisoka wasn't aware he had been speaking.

"That . . . I guess that would make sense . . ." Tsuzuki's face had fallen. Both of them were wary. To them it felt a bit like Konoe was trying to replace Tsuzuki. They know that wasn't the case, but the feeling was hard to ignore. "Don't worry, Hisoka. I'm sure I'll be in working order in no time. Then we'll go back to the way things were." Tsuzuki said, his face brightening. Hisoka wasn't falling for it for a second.

"Don't worry, idiot." The empath huffed as he stood up. "I'll go get this over with. Once we meet I'll come back and tell you all about how much it sucked, happy?" Tsuzuki gave him a small smile and waved to him as he walked toward the door.

"Good luck, 'Soka-chan! Behave! No scratching and biting!" He called after his friend. Hisoka sneered and slammed the door behind him. Watari laughed from his place outside the door, but stopped after a glare from Hisoka.

"Easy, Bon! He's just worried." He gave him a nervous smile and slipped into the infirmary. Hisoka sighed and walked toward Konoe's office. The tense air seemed to make sense suddenly. Everyone had probably been warned so that they wouldn't be forced to face Hisoka's wrath and Tsuzuki's nervousness unprepared. Once he got to the office the knocked on the door before pushing it open.

"Ah! There you are, Hisoka!" Konoe said with a forced smile. Hisoka could feel the nervousness come off of him in waves. Tatsumi was standing next to him, the emotional blank wall that he always was. The empath had no idea what was running through the secretary's mind as he pushed his glasses up on his face.

"I'm sure, by now, you have figured out why you have been called in here, Kurosaki-kun." He nodded. "You and Tsuzuki-san are still in charge of Kyushu and with Tsuzuki-san's condition . . ." The secretary trailed off as his eyes softened lightly. Konoe stepped in.

"We understand that the two of you are extremely close, but you must have a partner and Tsuzuki is unable to perform his duties. This is only temporary, until Tsuzuki is able to come back to work." Hisoka rolled his eyes and nodded his head. He understood them, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Now that you understand the situation I would like you to meet your new partner." The door opened and an older man came in. "Kurosaki-kun, this is Iwasaki-san. He will be your partner and will fill you in on everything you will need to know for your role as shinigami." The man nodded his head to Hisoka.

"Iwasaki Kazuma. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said with a slight sneer in his voice. Hisoka rolled his eyes and looked back at Konoe and Tatsumi. The nervousness coming off of Konoe seemed to increase and Tatsumi was as unreadable as ever as he handed Hisoka a file.

"Here is the case file. I apologize that there is no briefing this time, but we need the two of you to start on this right away. We have put it off as long as possible." Hisoka nodded as he took the file from the secretary. "I will keep an eye on Tsuzuki-san for you, Kurosaki-kun."

"Thank you, Tatsumi-san. We will be on our way then." He turned around and walked out of the office, expecting his new partner to follow. His head was beginning to ache at the emotions he was receiving from his new partner. The first thing he would need to learn is how to shield. He turned around suddenly glaring murder at the man. "Let me explain something. One," He held up a single finger. "I am an empath. This means that I feel other people's emotions. That means you are going to have to learn how to shield. And two," He held up another finger. "This partnership is only temporary. Got that?" The man's eyes narrowed slightly and Hisoka felt the anger before the man even clenched his fists.

"Look, you brat. I don't take orders from kids. Let's just get this case over with." He said gruffly and returned Hisoka's glare. The empath turned up the power of the ice in his gaze and saw the man shudder slightly, though his gaze remained fixed on Hisoka.

"Fine." He opened the file and found the place they were supposed to go. They both teleported to their location, still glaring murder at the other, though Hisoka's cold eyes seemed to be winning their silent battle.