This story is for you-and-I-we-have-the-stars. I hope you like it and sorry it took so long! :D

Here By Me

"Yes Hotsuma, i'll be there. I said I would be and I will, I just have some things to take care of first. I'll see you at 4pm."
'That's what he said. Just this morning before we went to our seperate classes he said that, so where is he?' I thought peering around the door and scanning the crowd for probably the tenth time in the last 5 minutes. There were only a few seats remaining and I could tell that the match was about to begin.

"Alright guys, you know what to do so let's go out there and win!" I heard the coach shout and I ran out into the gym with the rest of the team. Looking at the faces of all the students, family and friends here to support the team I still couldn't see the one face I wanted so badly to see.
'Where is he? Has something happened? What if a duras showed up and he needs my help fighting it? He could be laying in an alley somewhere bleeding to death all because I wasn't there to help him! I should go and check on him. He said it was just a routine thing to help the police with an investigation but maybe something unexpected came up.' Similar thoughts continued to fill my mind as I tried to decide whether or not I should abandon the match to go and find my partner. Both teams bowed to each other and then I took my position on the court and waited for the toss up to begin the game.
'I'm sure everything is fine and he's just been delayed by traffic or something like that. I can't really just leave the team like that if there's actually nothing wrong at all but without going how will I know if there's anything wrong.'

"Hey Renjou!" I whipped my head round to see who had called and only just managed to catch the ball that was thrown my way. I span around, surveying the court and figuring out if any of my team were free for the ball or if I should dribble it and try to get it in the basket myself. Seeing that they were all marked by the opposing team, I bounced the ball on the floor in front of me momentarily before sprinting forward and weaving around the opposition to the other side of the court and the basket.
It was a difficult shot but my zweilt training, the way Shusei and I fight and my natural athletisism made me sure I could do it so I carefully aimed, jumped and threw the ball. It sailed through the air, above the heads of my team and the other, circled the rim of the net and fell through. Smiling, I turned to look back at my team and stopped suddenly. There in the crowd was Shusei, looking straight at me and smiling a genuine smile. I breathed a sigh of relief as I was assured of my partner's safety by his presence and my own smile grew to a grin.

20 minutes later found me running to Shusei in the 5 minute long break, the relief I felt earlier now having been replaced by anger.

"Where were you? You were 10 minutes late!" I yelled as soon as I was near enough, drawing the attention of everyone in the room but I couldn't care less. I had been worried half to death about him and I was fully prepared to demand an explanation and screw what everyone else thought.

"Hotsuma, calm down. It was only 10 minutes and i'm sorry but i'm here now. I was just a little delayed at the police station." Shusei spoke softly, trying to placate me.

Lowering my voice a little as I could tell that Shusei was uncomfortable with all the attention we had attracted, I continued. "What did they have you doing this time?"

"Just the usual; trying to get a vision from evidence to find a criminal. 3 murders and no leads." Shusei said calmly although I was sure it was affecting him more than he let on. As I was about to call him on it, the coach announced the break was over. Cursing the bad timing, I turned to go back to the court and finish the game but stopped. "Don't think that's the end of this conversation Shusei." Then I jogged back to the team.

The rest of the match passed in a flurry of dribbling, passing and shooting and, by the last minute of the game a little under half an hour later, our team had quite a considerable lead on the opposition making it impossible for them to win. The coach and team were overjoyed at the win and while I was thrilled, I really just wanted to get to Shusei and make absolute sure that he was ok. We once again did the obligatory bowing to the other team and they did the same then both teams walked off the court.

As the rest of the team walked victoriously off the court, waving to friends, high-fiving and congratulating each other as they went, I struggled to seperate myself from the team. Having finally freed myself from the crowd of sweaty bodies I ran over to Shusei who had a beautiful smile on his face that I regretted I would have to remove.

"Alright Shusei, time to finish that conversation." I said as soon as I reached where my partner was sitting. I was determined to find out if he was alright and didn't care that I was still covered in sweat and wearing my basketball kit.

"Hotsuma! Congratulations! You did great!"

"Don't change the subject!" I demanded. "What did they have you do this time?"

"Hotsuma, do you really think this is the best place to have this conversation?" He asked rhetorically in a hushed tone.

"Well I guess not... but that doesn't matter, now answer my question!" I shouted, ignoring the people who had turned to look at us.

"Alright... but not here. Get changed and we'll continue this outside, ok?" Shusei asked, almost patronisingly.

Reluctantly I admitted that his plan made sense and returned to the changing rooms where this whole situation had begun. Weaving my way around the team and muttering a quick 'Thanks, you too' whenever someone slapped me on the back and congratulated me for a great game. I wasn't paying attetion though, I was just focused on getting changed and getting back to Shusei. The team were grateful to me since, thnks to my zweilt training, I was athletic and had played quite a big part in the victory but I just didn't have the time for 'Well done's, pats on the back and celebrating. I needed to get to Shusei. Plus, when you defeat duras, save lives and put your own life on the line on a daily basis, winning a high school basketball match doesn't mean that much.

Quickly stripping and pulling on my regular clothes, I said a brief goodbye to my team-mates and jogged out of the changing rooms and back out into the gym. There was a steady stream of people leaving through the double doors at the back of the large mostly empty room so it took a few moments to find my partner but I was soon running over to him once again. Grabbing his arm, I dragged him out through the doors and around the building to a field, slowing down when a tall tree came into view near the edge of the field. Still leading Shusei, I walked over to the tree and leaned against the trunk before sliding down to a sitting position.

"Well don't just stand there, sit down." I told him impatiently. I needed to know that my partner was alright and it was taking far too long for my mind to be put at ease. As Shusei carefully sat down beside me, I began to feel a little better; we were finally getting somewhere. "So why were you late?"

"I already told you; the police work took longer than anticipated. I'm sorry I was late but I got here as soon as I could."

"What was today's case? It must be something bad if they accepted your help. Stubborn, skeptical bastards hate asking for your help..." I said, muttering the last bit.

"It doesn't matter Hotsuma. Let's just focus on your victory." I knew he was lying. We had been together for most of lives so I could read him like an open book; an open children's book, it was that easy!

"Just tell me Shusei." I growled, beginning to get impatient once again.

"It was a serial murder and rape. 5 victims; 3 girls and 2 boys. No clear M.O and no real leads which is why they enlisted my help." Shusei spoke matter-of-factly, hiding the effect such a thing had obviously had on him.

People tend not to realise that Shuesi's power is God's eyes, meaning that he sees things. When he helps with these cases he sees what happened, often in excruciating and sickening detail. People think that he just sees the killer but that is naive idealism. He sees everything related to the case or the object he's investigating.

There was really nothing I could say that would make any difference so I said nothing and moved Shusei's head to rest on my shoulder.

"Damn Takashiro..." I muttered. Shusei wasn't one to cry, nor was I for that matter, but at that moment I felt like I could have. Out of all the Zweilt, Shusei went through the most with his power and yet he still complained the least of us all. It was Takashiro's fault for making him help the police but i knew that, despite how distressing it was for him, Shusei was glad he could help people with his power. That's part of what makes the Zweilt so good at what we do, we like being able to use our powrs to help people.

"You know Shusei, there's no point hiding the fact that it bothers you. I can always tell anyway." I chastised.

"Yeah, you can..." He replied softly and leaned into me. We sat there for at least an hour, though i wasn't actually keeping track of the time, before finally making our way back to the house, both with lighter hearts than he had arrived here with.

Here By Me

The conversation ended up not really being that fluffy after all... Sorry. Let me know if you'd like me to try to make it more fluffy. :)