This story was the result of a brainstorming session between myself and two other members of our YnoM rp group. (I play Hisoka and Tatsumi -hearts-) Anyways, in the rp, we kinda had Muraki kill off Hijiri so he could be a shinigami too, which is why he's here. Odd thing is, Hijiri and Muraki are played by the same person. 0_o Yeah. It might also be good to note that at this point, Tsuzuki and Hisoka live together as lovers, and I believe the same holds true for Watari and Hijiri.
Pairings: Tsuzuki/Hisoka, Watari/Hijiri
Disclaimer: I do not own Yami no Matsuei, or any of Yoko Matsushita's characters.
"I'm not going."
Tsuzuki looked from the pool party invitation in his hand to his scowling partner. "Why not?"
"Because." Ah yes, logic. Wonderful thing, that.
"Because why?"
"Tsuzuki," Hisoka's tone bordered on growling. "I'm NOT going."
"Aww, come on." Tsuzuki leaned down to nuzzle him. "Please? It'll be fun."
"No. And so what if it'll be fun? I have better things to do."
"Such as?"
"...."
"Exactly. You need to get out more."
"I'm not going. I don't even own a bathing suit!" This was the wrong thing to say, and Hisoka realized it just after he had finished saying it. His partner's spreading grin was not reassuring.
"We'll go shopping and get you one!" Before the empath could protest, Tsuzuki grabbed him by the arm and hauled him outside, chirping some nonsense about 'cute shorts'.
Hisoka sighed and schooled his face into an irritated mask. He would go. It would make Tsuzuki happy, so he would go. That didn't mean he had to look like he enjoyed it.
~*~})|({~*~
"Watari...?" Hijiri peered cautiously into Watari's makeshift lab, praying he wouldn't end up being blown up. "You in there?"
"Aa! I'm over here...in the storage closet! I'm stuck!"
Hijiri sighed fondly, shaking his head, and moved to help his wayward partner. "Just how are you...oh."
Watari smiled sheepishly, wrapped in several hundred feet of wires. Half of them were blinking with tiny multicolored light bulbs. JuOhCho's scientist had found the Christmas lights. "I needed an extension cord for an experiment. Things got a bit out of hand."
"That's an understatement." Hijiri laughed and started disentangling the blond from his twinkling net. As if by magic the Christmas lights ended up swallowing Hijiri as well. The two blinked at one another, face-to-face, chest-to-chest.
"Hey Watari...."
"I know. Close the door." Grin.
Some time later....
"Na, Hijiri...what were you looking for earlier?"
"I was looking for you."
Watari blinked, probably the most intelligent response he'd had to anything that day.
"I got an invitation in the mail. Hakushaku-sama's having a pool party for all the staff."
"Are we going?"
"I wanted to...unless you had something else planned for tomorrow?"
"Nope!" Watari smiled brightly. "No plans!"
"Great!"
"Oh!" Watari turned suddenly, looking through his potions with an excited grin. "This would be such a perfect opportunity to test a few potions from my newest batch! One of them HAS to be the right formula!"
Hijiri laughed nervously, and backed out of the room. He knew full well that Watari wouldn't test anything on HIM, but it was better not to be around when the scientist was plotting. That way he couldn't be forced to testify later.
~*~})|({~*~
Mumble grumble. "-baka-" Mutter mumble. "Don't know how I let you talk me into this...." Grumble growl "-damn shorts-" Hisoka pulled his yukata closer as he and Tsuzuki walked into the fenced in area of the party.
Tsuzuki tried and failed to hold in a fit of giggles. Hisoka was blushing a rather charming shade of pink, more from embarrassment than any actual anger. Probably.
"Neko-chan...?" Hisoka shot him a halfhearted glare for the public use of his nickname which Tsuzuki cheerfully ignored. "You can take that off now. We're at the pool."
"Thanks, I hadn't noticed." The sarcasm was ignored as completely as the glare had been. "I'm not taking off my yukata. I'm here. That's all we agreed to."
"Nuh-uh. You agreed to go swimming."
"When did I ever agree to that?"
"When you bought the shorts. You implied it."
"I only bought the shorts so you'd leave me alone!"
"But you still bought swim trunks, so now you have to swim." Tsuzuki smiled, pleased with his infallible logic. Hisoka glared, and stalked off to find someplace to sit.
For a moment, Tsuzuki stood chuckling at his partner. His laughter ceased abruptly as he felt hands that weren't there tugging at his yukata. He jumped away, startled, and turned to see empty air. Well, almost empty air. There was a Speedo floating at about his waist level.
The invisible count chuckled. "Come now, Tsuzuki-san. Let's see YOUR bathing suit."
Tsuzuki turned and fled, ignoring warnings about slippery concrete, and crying out for help from his partner. His frantic dash caused no less than four people to take impromptu dunkings in the cold water, including Terazuma who, once he surfaced and finished choking, proved to have a very impressive vocabulary of swears.
He reached Hisoka and skittered behind him, knocking the teen off balance and almost into the pool. He was rewarded with another of his partner's infamous glares. He cowered, puppy ears and tail drooping.
"Gomen ne, Hisoka, but-"
"Yo! Tsuzuki!" Watari's cheerful greeting was accompanied by a careless splash as he popped up from under the water. He grinned widely as streams of water ran down his face.
"Nice pigtails," Tsuzuki said by way of greeting.
Watari looked down at the twin braids that hung over his shoulder and grinned.
"Where's Hijiri?"
"Um...." The sopping blond glanced about for his partner. "He's around here somewhere. Konnichi wa, Bon!"
Hisoka nodded absently in response from where he sat, nose in a book, on one of the lounge chairs.
"Hisokaaaaaaaaaa!" Waterfall tears streamed down Tsuzuki's face as he whined. "You aren't supposed to be reading here! You're supposed to have fun!"
"I am having fun. This is a good book."
Tsuzuki sighed in a dramatic teasing sort of way. "Well if you aren't going to exercise to build some muscle on that lean frame of yours, at LEAST take off your yukata and get some sun." He smiled as Hisoka glared at him.
"Baka. Leave me alone."
"Tsuzuki!" Hijiri grinned from where he was treading water next to Watari. "Come on in! The water's great!"
"Hai!" He dropped his yukata in a heap on the end of Hisoka's chair. "Not going to get jealous that I'm swimming with Hijiri, are you," he asked in a low teasing tone.
"Jealous? Over an idiot with a puppy on his ass?"
Tsuzuki looked down over his shoulder to where Hisoka was gesturing. His shorts indeed sported a wide-eyed white puppy.
"Guess not," he said, smiling lopsidedly. "See you later, then!" With no further warning, he jumped into the water, splashing Hisoka who responded with a flood of bad language.
Swimming proved to be a wonderful distraction for Tsuzuki. Or was that, served as a distraction for everyone else? That seemed more correct, as the strong and able body of many's affections slid through the water at a steady pace. The invisible count wearing his Speedo had perched on the edge of the pool, getting a ringside seat to the 'show' most were watching vividly.
"Damn. I didn't know Tsuzuki could swim. At least not anything past a doggie paddle." Terazuma grouched. "He pretends to be lazy, but he's capable. Stupid bastard-a showoff-ITATETETETE!"
"Hajime-chan, if you don't like it, why don't you just stop looking? Or do you LIKE Tsuzuki-san too?" Wakaba pouted, holding the detective's ear firmly as she pulled him towards the diving board.
As Terazuma sputtered his reply, Hisoka was left to watch secretly from over the edge of his book, his gaze thankfully hidden by his sunglasses. As more and more...inappropriate...comments about Tsuzuki passed among the shinigami within earshot, he found himself bristling unintentionally. He had accepted the fact that most of JuOhCho's employees admired or desired Tsuzuki, but he still didn't enjoy hearing their discussions about that idiot. He swore quietly.
"Problems, Kurosaki-kun?" Tatsumi's question came from nowhere, causing Hisoka to jump and drop his book. He hadn't even heard the secretary approach.
"N-no, Tatsumi-san. No problems." He retrieved his book, trying to regain some amount of dignity.
"You seemed irritated about something."
Hisoka refused to respond, and Tatsumi was not one to pry without excellent reason, so he moved from his place behind Hisoka's chair to a table several yards away. He settled himself in a chair and took out a pen and a thick folder.
After a while, the heat became enough to pull Hisoka's attention away from his book. He sighed and ran his fingers through sweat dampened locks before untying the sash that held his yukata closed. He stood, stretching a bit, and made his way to the refreshments table.
Sake bottles littered the table, and Hisoka briefly pondered the wisdom of serving alcohol at a pool party. He poured himself a cup of iced punch, and sipped at the ruby liquid. It tasted...odd.
"Oh...damn it!" He slammed the cup down and stared at the spiked punch bowl in disgust, hoping he hadn't ingested enough alcohol to impair his judgment.
"Hisoka!" The empath was glomped from behind by an over-eager inu-Tsuzuki. "Gonna swim now?"
"What did I tell you earlier?"
"You're...not going to swim...?"
"Very good. Try to remember this time."
"Can you?"
"Can I what?" Hisoka was fast losing his temper.
"Swim."
"Of course I can swim!"
"Are you sure?"
"What do you mean, am I sure? I'm telling you, I know how to swim!"
"Then why are you blushing?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"You shouldn't be embarrassed about not knowing how to swim. There're a lot of people that can't."
"I KNOW how to-"
"Tsuzuki!" Hakushaku was apparently standing right behind Tsuzuki, who whirled, surprised, when he spoke. "Join me in the hot tub?" Invisible or not, the leer that went along with that question was obvious.
"Ha-Hakushaku...." Tsuzuki looked about desperately for an escape. He settled for shoving Hisoka between himself and the count. "Have you met my koibito?"
The empath could feel himself blushing. "Tsuzuki!"
"Koibito?"
"Yeah, see?" With no further warning, Tsuzuki spun Hisoka around and kissed him. At first it was just a chaste, clean kiss, but when Tsuzuki moved a bit, stepping closer, Hisoka found his head tilting in a manner to get away-yet it only gave Tsuzuki more access to his mouth when he opened it to cry out in protest. It was an opportunity that the baka took advantage of, almost involuntarily.
"A-Ano... You could have just said no, Tsuzuki-san." Hakushaku said a bit flustered, yet then he leered once again. "Now I must extend that invitation to both you and your...'koibito'."
"NANI?" Tsuzuki ended the kiss with a jerk, eyes wide that his escape plan had failed. "But I-" He stopped suddenly, feeling something wrong with the situation. First, Hakushaku was leering. Second, the entire area was quiet. Too quiet. He noticed everyone was focused upon him. And lastly-he could not shake the sense of impending doom, just beside him where Hisoka stood. He looked down slowly.
The negative aura around Hisoka was nearly tangible. He stood tense and bristled, fists clenched at his sides as he shook with rage. "Te-teme...."
"Hi-Hisoka, I-"
"KONO BAKA YARO!" Hisoka shoved himself away from Tsuzuki. Unfortunately, he overbalanced, and stumbled backwards into the pool.
"Hisoka!" Tsuzuki leapt in after him immediately. He surfaced moments later, one arm around a thrashing Hisoka. Shinigami scrambled out of the way as he pulled his partner onto the concrete.
He kneeled, one leg on either side of the choking teen, looking down with panicked violet eyes.
"Oh God! Are you okay? Do you need mouth to mouth?" Without waiting for an answer, he leaned in, pressing his lips against Hisoka's.
Jade eyes snapped open in shock, and Hisoka shoved Tsuzuki away. "What are you DOING? Get OFF me!"
Rather than doing the safe, sane thing and listening to him, Tsuzuki pulled his partner into a tight, wet hug.
"You're okay! Yokatta!"
"Let me GO, you idiot! Get off!" At this point Hisoka's face was about the same color as a tomato. He could feel himself panicking. There was too much attention focused on him. Well, him and Tsuzuki.
"Better let go of Bon, Tsuzuki. He looks pissed."
Finally Tsuzuki realized exactly what he was doing and where he was doing it. He scrambled backwards off Hisoka, and prayed that he wouldn't be hit. Luckily for him, Hisoka seemed to be in no shape to do anything more than sit there, trying to catch his breath and calm his breathing.
"Eh heh heh.... Is that punch? I think I need some punch. Why don't I just go get some punch?" Tsuzuki stood and dashed off, pausing to grab one of the overlarge glasses of punch and gulp it down before seeking a suitable place to hide.
The crowd around Hisoka slowly dispersed, taking their unshielded emotions-mostly amusement or jealousy-with them. Soon the only one left was Hakushaku.
Warily watching the nothing where the count should have been, Hisoka stood slowly, wishing to high heaven that his face would stop burning.
The count was watching him; he could feel it as well as the emotions running off the man. The senile nut bag was probably perfectly capable of shielding his emotions, but for whatever reason didn't bother. Right now he was amused and curious.
"Exactly how long have you been Tsuzuki's koibito?"
For a moment Hisoka was silent, judging the wisdom of telling off the count for prying. "...A while now."
The curiosity and amusement increased, taking a distinctly unpleasant twist. Hakushaku was leering again. "Exactly how far have you two-"
At that point, Hisoka decided he didn't care what the count's status within JuOhCho was. He turned quickly, and hurried away from the invisible pervert.
On the other side of the pool, Tsuzuki was wandering around as the alcohol transferred from the punch to his system. It didn't take him long to literally stumble over Hijiri, who had been sunbathing.
"G'men...'sai...." He said, face down in an untidy heap on the pavement.
"Tsuzuki...?" Hijiri sat up and stared at the inebriated shinigami in confusion, wondering why the man was so unusually clumsy. Of course, he didn't realize that Tsuzuki had consumed enough alcohol to knock out a normal person. The punch glasses really were quite large.
Tsuzuki managed to pull himself into a sitting position, sprouting his puppy ears and tail as tears glistened in his unfocused eyes.
"Gomen'sai, 'Soka....Plees don' be mad...." The alcohol was slurring his speech and fuzzing his thoughts as he apologized to the wrong person.
"Tsuzuki, I'm not-"
"For kishin' you when you didn' wanna...and lettin' you fall in...."
"I'm Hijiri, Tsuzuki. Not Hisoka."
Tsuzuki either didn't hear, or the words didn't register, because the next thing Hijiri knew, the older man had draped himself over his slim shoulders.
"Are you mad at me, 'Soka? C'n I kish you now? No 'ne's lookin'...." Tsuzuki leaned over, pushing Hijiri back down as he tried to kiss him.
"Tsu-Tsuzuki!" Hijiri pushed him away and scrambled sideways. "Stop that. I'm not Hisoka!" He stood, backing away, only to be grabbed up in Watari's arms as the batty scientist swooped past and jumped into the pool.
"Banzaaaaaaaaaaaaaai!"
"COLD! Coldcoldcold! Watariiiiiiiii!"
"'Sokaaaa!" Tsuzuki's distressed wail caught the attention of half the guests at the party. "Whe're goin', 'Soka? Wait fer me." He climbed up onto the diving board, and walked out to the edge.
"Tsuzuki!"
Hearing his name from behind, the violet eyed shinigami spun, losing his balance, but miraculously managing not to fall. Hisoka appeared at the end of the diving board and hauled himself up off the ladder.
"What are you doing up here?"
"I was lookin' fer you, 'Soka. 'Cause I was gonna give you a kish to 'pol'gise."
"You're drunk," Hisoka said in disgust, advancing slowly on Tsuzuki. "You actually drank that punch, didn't you?"
"Punch? I dun wan' any punch. I wan' a kish." He stumbled a step forward, wrapped his arms clumsily around Hisoka's waist, and kissed him. Unfortunately, in his current state, his balance was severely impaired, and he rocked backward. The movement caused the pair to fall off the diving board and plummet head first towards the water. Tsuzuki's kiss was broken with a splash.
They both emerged from the water several seconds later, spluttering and treading water, but unhurt. The cold shock had temporarily lessened the effects the spiked punch had been having on Tsuzuki, and he looked around in alert confusion.
Hisoka glared at him evenly. "I told you I could swim." Something behind Tsuzuki caught his eye, and he sniggered. "Those belong to you?" He pointed to a pair of swim trunks floating in the water, smirking at the look on Tsuzuki's face.
His amusement was quickly replaced with suspicion as Tsuzuki's eyes half closed and he fixed Hisoka with a smirk of his own. "These belong to you?" He raised a hand out of the water, holding the teen's shorts.
"Give those back!" Hisoka hissed, trying not to draw attention.
"How 'bout we have some fun first?" A predatory look entered Tsuzuki's eyes as he slid through the water towards his partner.
Hisoka blanched. "D-don't you dare!"
"Hey, sempai!" Tsuzuki turned to glare at Terazuma for interrupting his fun. His jaw dropped as he saw that the other shinigami was currently in possession of his trunks. "Lose something?"
Tsuzuki launched himself out of the pool and took off after Terazuma at top speed, forgetting that he still held Hisoka's bathing suit. Luckily for the empath, everyone's attention was focused on his streaking partner.
"Give those BACK you overblown housecat!"
"Sorry, sempai-can't hear you!" Terazuma raced around the pool, using all his speed to keep ahead of Tsuzuki. All of a sudden, he skidded to a halt, and flung the trunks in Tsuzuki's face, effectively stopping him short.
He glared at Terazuma for a moment, panting, having forgotten his current state of undress...until he noticed the Speedo floating right in front of him. He panicked and skipped backwards over the wet pavement. Chance finally kicked in, and he slipped, hitting his head with a loud crack before slipping unconscious under the water.
Everyone in the immediate vicinity dove under the water, including the count, to pull him up, excluding the count, who had only jumped in to watch. It was Watari, however, who actually surfaced with Tsuzuki.
Tatsumi knelt beside the pool, and lifted Tsuzuki carefully out of the water. Once he was laid out on the concrete, the secretary spread his yukata over him. He checked the wound anxiously, but it was shallow, and already healing. He sat back, relieved.
"Tatsumi...?" Hijiri looked on from the water, worried.
"He'll be fine." One of Tatsumi's rare, kind smiles spread across his face. "He-"
Tsuzuki sat up, absently rubbing his head and interrupting Tatsumi. "Wha' happened?"
"You fell in," Watari informed him cheerfully. "But you only hit your head, so you didn't do any real damage."
Several shinigami, Terazuma included, laughed at that. Hijiri glared disapprovingly at Watari, and Tsuzuki and Tatsumi refrained from comment.
A moment later, a startled yelp drew their attention to the opposite corner of the pool where the water was only a few feet deep. Hisoka was crouched as low as possible in the water, backed into a corner, and blushing like mad as he glared at the empty air in front of him.
No, not empty, Tsuzuki realized as he spotted a distorted Speedo under the water.
The count chuckled, and the sound carried across the pool. "No wonder you like this one so much. Such a pretty little thing."
Hisoka shouted and slapped at something near his cheek. Tsuzuki dove back into the pool, still naked, and swam as fast as he could to his partner's aid.
He darted in between Hisoka and the count and drew himself up to his full height.
"Back off you pervert! Only I get to look at him! Itai!" He spun, confused when Hisoka whacked the back of his head.
"Don't say stupid things!"
"What, you WANT him to be leering at you?"
"BAKA! You know what I meant!"
"But Hisokaaaa!"
Hakushaku watched, grinning, pleased that Tsuzuki had so neatly forgotten him. He reached for his favorite shinigami's unprotected backside.
"You can be the biggest idiot someti-" Hisoka stopped short as Tsuzuki jerked, and stood completely rigid, irises retracting to dots as his eyes widened. "What-" He put the pieces together as Hakushaku began giggling in a most disturbing manner. He waded calmly around his frozen partner, and delivered a punch directly to the unmasked half of the count's invisible face.
A tear that would have been quite comical, had it not been for the situation, rolled down the count's mask. "You hit me...."
"Go. Away." Hisoka was pissed, and in no mood to be at all polite. Especially not to a molesting pervert.
"Ah...you two want these back, right?" Hijiri offered their trunks with an embarrassed laugh.
"What do YOU think, dumbass?"
"Hisoka! Watch your mouth! Hijiri's helping." Tsuzuki accepted both pairs of trunks with a 'thank you', and handed the smaller pair to Hisoka.
"He was being a dumbass," Hisoka muttered, pulling on his trunks gratefully.
"Well, I've got a sore ass, so let's go home."
Hisoka stared at him for a second before deciding not to ask. He settled instead for an irritated I told you so. "We never should have come in the first place." He climbed out of the pool and wrapped himself in a towel. Tsuzuki followed suit.
"Why are you still blushing?"
"How should I know? It's a damn involuntary reflex." He rubbed the towel over his shoulders. "Ite! What the hell...?" He peered at his skin and swore again.
"You're swearing an awful lot today."
"I'm sunburned, you idiot!"
"Really?" Tsuzuki grinned, and Hisoka glared at him.
"And just WHY is that something to smile about?"
"'Cause 'Soka-chan is cute when he blushes!"
"I'm NOT blushing!"
"It's close enough!"
Hisoka didn't comment further, but simply gathered his things and headed for the exit. Tsuzuki did the same, laughing silently to himself.
As they passed by one of the ladders, Watari popped out of the water with all the grace of a bull sea lion. Hisoka glared at him for the spray that was sent up, but would have left him alone had the obliviously genki shinigami had not spoken.
"You know, you and Hijiri really are too much alike. You're both red as strawberries!" The statement was accompanied by a wide, closed-eye grin. He never saw the fist that knocked him back into the water.
"Hisoka!" Tsuzuki looked at him with a mixture of surprise, concern, and disapproval.
"Sorry. Reflex."
"You really need to chill out. Maybe we should go sit in a hot tub before we leave." A lazy grin spread across Tsuzuki's face as he envisioned the warm, bubbling waters of the hot tub. "Yeah, let's do that."
"No. I want to go home. I don't want to BE here."
"Please?"
"Tsuzuki, I came here because YOU wanted me to. I'm done."
Puppy ears sprouted from Tsuzuki's chocolate hair and his tail wagged happily. "For me? Wai! Neko-chan DOES love me!" Hisoka jumped a bit as Tsuzuki glomped him. "Yosh! Let's go!" So saying, he dragged his partner off for a dip in the hot tub.
"Wait! I never agreed to this!"
"But Hisoka loves me, right? So it's fine!"
"What does that have to do with this?"
Tsuzuki stopped and spun. "Would you please just relax? You're going to make yourself sick. Look, it'll just be the two of us, okay? No one else to worry about."
"...fine." His agreement was rewarded with a warm smile from Tsuzuki. The taller man wrapped an arm around Hisoka's shoulders and led him to a small hot tub.
They set aside their towels and yukatas and sank into the hot, bubbling water.
"See? It's nice." Hisoka didn't reply, but Tsuzuki had expected that. He wrapped an arm carefully around the empath's sunburned shoulders, and leaned back, relaxing. After a several minutes of comfortable silence, he felt Hisoka shift, loosing all his stored tension. The younger shinigami's head drooped to rest against Tsuzuki's chest.
"Feel better?" Hisoka didn't answer, so Tsuzuki shook his shoulder gently. "Neko-chan?" He tilted the teen's chin up, and realized that he had fainted. Apparently the heat had gotten to him.
Tsuzuki chuckled and climbed out of the hot tub, careful not to let Hisoka slip under. He lifted his partner out of the water, and set him down in a nearby chair. All their towels went into the pool bag they had brought, and Tsuzuki put on his own yukata before slipping Hisoka into his. The pool bag went over one arm, and he lifted Hisoka, holding him carefully.
"I guess I did push it a bit far," he said quietly, "but you should have said something about this." He chuckled. "We're both idiots."
Hisoka mumbled something in his sleep and nestled closer as Tsuzuki carried him home.
Watari laughed from the pool as he watched the two leave.
"I take it you aren't mad at Hisoka for punching you?" Hijiri was watching his partner closely, keeping his own face unreadable.
"Iya. Not really. I should have known better than to poke fun at Bon when he's in such a bad mood. Speaking of poking fun...." Watari reached out and poked gently at Hijiri's sunburn.
"Itai! Watari, that hurts."
"Sorry. You wanna go home? I have some lotion that'll feel really good."
"A-aa. Sure." Watari studied Hijiri. He looked even redder all of a sudden.
"Come on, let's get going. Better to treat it now than let it wait." Hijiri nodded and followed Watari out of the pool. They collected their things and made their way out as Watari grinned, humming slightly off key.
"You know Hijiri, even though you got burned, the party was a lot of fun. Hakushaku really should do this more often. Maybe next time the potion I add to the punch will have an effect on someone."
~*~})|({~*~ end ~*~})|({~*~
So anyways, um, I need to mention something. First off, thanks to all the people who have left comments and suggestions for my work. It's been really great to get so much feedback so quickly.
I've gotten a few comments from people who want to see more of 'Sakura'. Problem is, that was sort of a two part one shot deal. There isn't any more. The idea ended with Tsuzuki's realization that he and Hisoka needed each other. Sorry. I'll try not to leave things so open anymore.
I also got a couple comments concerning the way I space my stories. If this is any easier to read, please let me know. Thank you muchly.
Pairings: Tsuzuki/Hisoka, Watari/Hijiri
Disclaimer: I do not own Yami no Matsuei, or any of Yoko Matsushita's characters.
"I'm not going."
Tsuzuki looked from the pool party invitation in his hand to his scowling partner. "Why not?"
"Because." Ah yes, logic. Wonderful thing, that.
"Because why?"
"Tsuzuki," Hisoka's tone bordered on growling. "I'm NOT going."
"Aww, come on." Tsuzuki leaned down to nuzzle him. "Please? It'll be fun."
"No. And so what if it'll be fun? I have better things to do."
"Such as?"
"...."
"Exactly. You need to get out more."
"I'm not going. I don't even own a bathing suit!" This was the wrong thing to say, and Hisoka realized it just after he had finished saying it. His partner's spreading grin was not reassuring.
"We'll go shopping and get you one!" Before the empath could protest, Tsuzuki grabbed him by the arm and hauled him outside, chirping some nonsense about 'cute shorts'.
Hisoka sighed and schooled his face into an irritated mask. He would go. It would make Tsuzuki happy, so he would go. That didn't mean he had to look like he enjoyed it.
~*~})|({~*~
"Watari...?" Hijiri peered cautiously into Watari's makeshift lab, praying he wouldn't end up being blown up. "You in there?"
"Aa! I'm over here...in the storage closet! I'm stuck!"
Hijiri sighed fondly, shaking his head, and moved to help his wayward partner. "Just how are you...oh."
Watari smiled sheepishly, wrapped in several hundred feet of wires. Half of them were blinking with tiny multicolored light bulbs. JuOhCho's scientist had found the Christmas lights. "I needed an extension cord for an experiment. Things got a bit out of hand."
"That's an understatement." Hijiri laughed and started disentangling the blond from his twinkling net. As if by magic the Christmas lights ended up swallowing Hijiri as well. The two blinked at one another, face-to-face, chest-to-chest.
"Hey Watari...."
"I know. Close the door." Grin.
Some time later....
"Na, Hijiri...what were you looking for earlier?"
"I was looking for you."
Watari blinked, probably the most intelligent response he'd had to anything that day.
"I got an invitation in the mail. Hakushaku-sama's having a pool party for all the staff."
"Are we going?"
"I wanted to...unless you had something else planned for tomorrow?"
"Nope!" Watari smiled brightly. "No plans!"
"Great!"
"Oh!" Watari turned suddenly, looking through his potions with an excited grin. "This would be such a perfect opportunity to test a few potions from my newest batch! One of them HAS to be the right formula!"
Hijiri laughed nervously, and backed out of the room. He knew full well that Watari wouldn't test anything on HIM, but it was better not to be around when the scientist was plotting. That way he couldn't be forced to testify later.
~*~})|({~*~
Mumble grumble. "-baka-" Mutter mumble. "Don't know how I let you talk me into this...." Grumble growl "-damn shorts-" Hisoka pulled his yukata closer as he and Tsuzuki walked into the fenced in area of the party.
Tsuzuki tried and failed to hold in a fit of giggles. Hisoka was blushing a rather charming shade of pink, more from embarrassment than any actual anger. Probably.
"Neko-chan...?" Hisoka shot him a halfhearted glare for the public use of his nickname which Tsuzuki cheerfully ignored. "You can take that off now. We're at the pool."
"Thanks, I hadn't noticed." The sarcasm was ignored as completely as the glare had been. "I'm not taking off my yukata. I'm here. That's all we agreed to."
"Nuh-uh. You agreed to go swimming."
"When did I ever agree to that?"
"When you bought the shorts. You implied it."
"I only bought the shorts so you'd leave me alone!"
"But you still bought swim trunks, so now you have to swim." Tsuzuki smiled, pleased with his infallible logic. Hisoka glared, and stalked off to find someplace to sit.
For a moment, Tsuzuki stood chuckling at his partner. His laughter ceased abruptly as he felt hands that weren't there tugging at his yukata. He jumped away, startled, and turned to see empty air. Well, almost empty air. There was a Speedo floating at about his waist level.
The invisible count chuckled. "Come now, Tsuzuki-san. Let's see YOUR bathing suit."
Tsuzuki turned and fled, ignoring warnings about slippery concrete, and crying out for help from his partner. His frantic dash caused no less than four people to take impromptu dunkings in the cold water, including Terazuma who, once he surfaced and finished choking, proved to have a very impressive vocabulary of swears.
He reached Hisoka and skittered behind him, knocking the teen off balance and almost into the pool. He was rewarded with another of his partner's infamous glares. He cowered, puppy ears and tail drooping.
"Gomen ne, Hisoka, but-"
"Yo! Tsuzuki!" Watari's cheerful greeting was accompanied by a careless splash as he popped up from under the water. He grinned widely as streams of water ran down his face.
"Nice pigtails," Tsuzuki said by way of greeting.
Watari looked down at the twin braids that hung over his shoulder and grinned.
"Where's Hijiri?"
"Um...." The sopping blond glanced about for his partner. "He's around here somewhere. Konnichi wa, Bon!"
Hisoka nodded absently in response from where he sat, nose in a book, on one of the lounge chairs.
"Hisokaaaaaaaaaa!" Waterfall tears streamed down Tsuzuki's face as he whined. "You aren't supposed to be reading here! You're supposed to have fun!"
"I am having fun. This is a good book."
Tsuzuki sighed in a dramatic teasing sort of way. "Well if you aren't going to exercise to build some muscle on that lean frame of yours, at LEAST take off your yukata and get some sun." He smiled as Hisoka glared at him.
"Baka. Leave me alone."
"Tsuzuki!" Hijiri grinned from where he was treading water next to Watari. "Come on in! The water's great!"
"Hai!" He dropped his yukata in a heap on the end of Hisoka's chair. "Not going to get jealous that I'm swimming with Hijiri, are you," he asked in a low teasing tone.
"Jealous? Over an idiot with a puppy on his ass?"
Tsuzuki looked down over his shoulder to where Hisoka was gesturing. His shorts indeed sported a wide-eyed white puppy.
"Guess not," he said, smiling lopsidedly. "See you later, then!" With no further warning, he jumped into the water, splashing Hisoka who responded with a flood of bad language.
Swimming proved to be a wonderful distraction for Tsuzuki. Or was that, served as a distraction for everyone else? That seemed more correct, as the strong and able body of many's affections slid through the water at a steady pace. The invisible count wearing his Speedo had perched on the edge of the pool, getting a ringside seat to the 'show' most were watching vividly.
"Damn. I didn't know Tsuzuki could swim. At least not anything past a doggie paddle." Terazuma grouched. "He pretends to be lazy, but he's capable. Stupid bastard-a showoff-ITATETETETE!"
"Hajime-chan, if you don't like it, why don't you just stop looking? Or do you LIKE Tsuzuki-san too?" Wakaba pouted, holding the detective's ear firmly as she pulled him towards the diving board.
As Terazuma sputtered his reply, Hisoka was left to watch secretly from over the edge of his book, his gaze thankfully hidden by his sunglasses. As more and more...inappropriate...comments about Tsuzuki passed among the shinigami within earshot, he found himself bristling unintentionally. He had accepted the fact that most of JuOhCho's employees admired or desired Tsuzuki, but he still didn't enjoy hearing their discussions about that idiot. He swore quietly.
"Problems, Kurosaki-kun?" Tatsumi's question came from nowhere, causing Hisoka to jump and drop his book. He hadn't even heard the secretary approach.
"N-no, Tatsumi-san. No problems." He retrieved his book, trying to regain some amount of dignity.
"You seemed irritated about something."
Hisoka refused to respond, and Tatsumi was not one to pry without excellent reason, so he moved from his place behind Hisoka's chair to a table several yards away. He settled himself in a chair and took out a pen and a thick folder.
After a while, the heat became enough to pull Hisoka's attention away from his book. He sighed and ran his fingers through sweat dampened locks before untying the sash that held his yukata closed. He stood, stretching a bit, and made his way to the refreshments table.
Sake bottles littered the table, and Hisoka briefly pondered the wisdom of serving alcohol at a pool party. He poured himself a cup of iced punch, and sipped at the ruby liquid. It tasted...odd.
"Oh...damn it!" He slammed the cup down and stared at the spiked punch bowl in disgust, hoping he hadn't ingested enough alcohol to impair his judgment.
"Hisoka!" The empath was glomped from behind by an over-eager inu-Tsuzuki. "Gonna swim now?"
"What did I tell you earlier?"
"You're...not going to swim...?"
"Very good. Try to remember this time."
"Can you?"
"Can I what?" Hisoka was fast losing his temper.
"Swim."
"Of course I can swim!"
"Are you sure?"
"What do you mean, am I sure? I'm telling you, I know how to swim!"
"Then why are you blushing?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"You shouldn't be embarrassed about not knowing how to swim. There're a lot of people that can't."
"I KNOW how to-"
"Tsuzuki!" Hakushaku was apparently standing right behind Tsuzuki, who whirled, surprised, when he spoke. "Join me in the hot tub?" Invisible or not, the leer that went along with that question was obvious.
"Ha-Hakushaku...." Tsuzuki looked about desperately for an escape. He settled for shoving Hisoka between himself and the count. "Have you met my koibito?"
The empath could feel himself blushing. "Tsuzuki!"
"Koibito?"
"Yeah, see?" With no further warning, Tsuzuki spun Hisoka around and kissed him. At first it was just a chaste, clean kiss, but when Tsuzuki moved a bit, stepping closer, Hisoka found his head tilting in a manner to get away-yet it only gave Tsuzuki more access to his mouth when he opened it to cry out in protest. It was an opportunity that the baka took advantage of, almost involuntarily.
"A-Ano... You could have just said no, Tsuzuki-san." Hakushaku said a bit flustered, yet then he leered once again. "Now I must extend that invitation to both you and your...'koibito'."
"NANI?" Tsuzuki ended the kiss with a jerk, eyes wide that his escape plan had failed. "But I-" He stopped suddenly, feeling something wrong with the situation. First, Hakushaku was leering. Second, the entire area was quiet. Too quiet. He noticed everyone was focused upon him. And lastly-he could not shake the sense of impending doom, just beside him where Hisoka stood. He looked down slowly.
The negative aura around Hisoka was nearly tangible. He stood tense and bristled, fists clenched at his sides as he shook with rage. "Te-teme...."
"Hi-Hisoka, I-"
"KONO BAKA YARO!" Hisoka shoved himself away from Tsuzuki. Unfortunately, he overbalanced, and stumbled backwards into the pool.
"Hisoka!" Tsuzuki leapt in after him immediately. He surfaced moments later, one arm around a thrashing Hisoka. Shinigami scrambled out of the way as he pulled his partner onto the concrete.
He kneeled, one leg on either side of the choking teen, looking down with panicked violet eyes.
"Oh God! Are you okay? Do you need mouth to mouth?" Without waiting for an answer, he leaned in, pressing his lips against Hisoka's.
Jade eyes snapped open in shock, and Hisoka shoved Tsuzuki away. "What are you DOING? Get OFF me!"
Rather than doing the safe, sane thing and listening to him, Tsuzuki pulled his partner into a tight, wet hug.
"You're okay! Yokatta!"
"Let me GO, you idiot! Get off!" At this point Hisoka's face was about the same color as a tomato. He could feel himself panicking. There was too much attention focused on him. Well, him and Tsuzuki.
"Better let go of Bon, Tsuzuki. He looks pissed."
Finally Tsuzuki realized exactly what he was doing and where he was doing it. He scrambled backwards off Hisoka, and prayed that he wouldn't be hit. Luckily for him, Hisoka seemed to be in no shape to do anything more than sit there, trying to catch his breath and calm his breathing.
"Eh heh heh.... Is that punch? I think I need some punch. Why don't I just go get some punch?" Tsuzuki stood and dashed off, pausing to grab one of the overlarge glasses of punch and gulp it down before seeking a suitable place to hide.
The crowd around Hisoka slowly dispersed, taking their unshielded emotions-mostly amusement or jealousy-with them. Soon the only one left was Hakushaku.
Warily watching the nothing where the count should have been, Hisoka stood slowly, wishing to high heaven that his face would stop burning.
The count was watching him; he could feel it as well as the emotions running off the man. The senile nut bag was probably perfectly capable of shielding his emotions, but for whatever reason didn't bother. Right now he was amused and curious.
"Exactly how long have you been Tsuzuki's koibito?"
For a moment Hisoka was silent, judging the wisdom of telling off the count for prying. "...A while now."
The curiosity and amusement increased, taking a distinctly unpleasant twist. Hakushaku was leering again. "Exactly how far have you two-"
At that point, Hisoka decided he didn't care what the count's status within JuOhCho was. He turned quickly, and hurried away from the invisible pervert.
On the other side of the pool, Tsuzuki was wandering around as the alcohol transferred from the punch to his system. It didn't take him long to literally stumble over Hijiri, who had been sunbathing.
"G'men...'sai...." He said, face down in an untidy heap on the pavement.
"Tsuzuki...?" Hijiri sat up and stared at the inebriated shinigami in confusion, wondering why the man was so unusually clumsy. Of course, he didn't realize that Tsuzuki had consumed enough alcohol to knock out a normal person. The punch glasses really were quite large.
Tsuzuki managed to pull himself into a sitting position, sprouting his puppy ears and tail as tears glistened in his unfocused eyes.
"Gomen'sai, 'Soka....Plees don' be mad...." The alcohol was slurring his speech and fuzzing his thoughts as he apologized to the wrong person.
"Tsuzuki, I'm not-"
"For kishin' you when you didn' wanna...and lettin' you fall in...."
"I'm Hijiri, Tsuzuki. Not Hisoka."
Tsuzuki either didn't hear, or the words didn't register, because the next thing Hijiri knew, the older man had draped himself over his slim shoulders.
"Are you mad at me, 'Soka? C'n I kish you now? No 'ne's lookin'...." Tsuzuki leaned over, pushing Hijiri back down as he tried to kiss him.
"Tsu-Tsuzuki!" Hijiri pushed him away and scrambled sideways. "Stop that. I'm not Hisoka!" He stood, backing away, only to be grabbed up in Watari's arms as the batty scientist swooped past and jumped into the pool.
"Banzaaaaaaaaaaaaaai!"
"COLD! Coldcoldcold! Watariiiiiiiii!"
"'Sokaaaa!" Tsuzuki's distressed wail caught the attention of half the guests at the party. "Whe're goin', 'Soka? Wait fer me." He climbed up onto the diving board, and walked out to the edge.
"Tsuzuki!"
Hearing his name from behind, the violet eyed shinigami spun, losing his balance, but miraculously managing not to fall. Hisoka appeared at the end of the diving board and hauled himself up off the ladder.
"What are you doing up here?"
"I was lookin' fer you, 'Soka. 'Cause I was gonna give you a kish to 'pol'gise."
"You're drunk," Hisoka said in disgust, advancing slowly on Tsuzuki. "You actually drank that punch, didn't you?"
"Punch? I dun wan' any punch. I wan' a kish." He stumbled a step forward, wrapped his arms clumsily around Hisoka's waist, and kissed him. Unfortunately, in his current state, his balance was severely impaired, and he rocked backward. The movement caused the pair to fall off the diving board and plummet head first towards the water. Tsuzuki's kiss was broken with a splash.
They both emerged from the water several seconds later, spluttering and treading water, but unhurt. The cold shock had temporarily lessened the effects the spiked punch had been having on Tsuzuki, and he looked around in alert confusion.
Hisoka glared at him evenly. "I told you I could swim." Something behind Tsuzuki caught his eye, and he sniggered. "Those belong to you?" He pointed to a pair of swim trunks floating in the water, smirking at the look on Tsuzuki's face.
His amusement was quickly replaced with suspicion as Tsuzuki's eyes half closed and he fixed Hisoka with a smirk of his own. "These belong to you?" He raised a hand out of the water, holding the teen's shorts.
"Give those back!" Hisoka hissed, trying not to draw attention.
"How 'bout we have some fun first?" A predatory look entered Tsuzuki's eyes as he slid through the water towards his partner.
Hisoka blanched. "D-don't you dare!"
"Hey, sempai!" Tsuzuki turned to glare at Terazuma for interrupting his fun. His jaw dropped as he saw that the other shinigami was currently in possession of his trunks. "Lose something?"
Tsuzuki launched himself out of the pool and took off after Terazuma at top speed, forgetting that he still held Hisoka's bathing suit. Luckily for the empath, everyone's attention was focused on his streaking partner.
"Give those BACK you overblown housecat!"
"Sorry, sempai-can't hear you!" Terazuma raced around the pool, using all his speed to keep ahead of Tsuzuki. All of a sudden, he skidded to a halt, and flung the trunks in Tsuzuki's face, effectively stopping him short.
He glared at Terazuma for a moment, panting, having forgotten his current state of undress...until he noticed the Speedo floating right in front of him. He panicked and skipped backwards over the wet pavement. Chance finally kicked in, and he slipped, hitting his head with a loud crack before slipping unconscious under the water.
Everyone in the immediate vicinity dove under the water, including the count, to pull him up, excluding the count, who had only jumped in to watch. It was Watari, however, who actually surfaced with Tsuzuki.
Tatsumi knelt beside the pool, and lifted Tsuzuki carefully out of the water. Once he was laid out on the concrete, the secretary spread his yukata over him. He checked the wound anxiously, but it was shallow, and already healing. He sat back, relieved.
"Tatsumi...?" Hijiri looked on from the water, worried.
"He'll be fine." One of Tatsumi's rare, kind smiles spread across his face. "He-"
Tsuzuki sat up, absently rubbing his head and interrupting Tatsumi. "Wha' happened?"
"You fell in," Watari informed him cheerfully. "But you only hit your head, so you didn't do any real damage."
Several shinigami, Terazuma included, laughed at that. Hijiri glared disapprovingly at Watari, and Tsuzuki and Tatsumi refrained from comment.
A moment later, a startled yelp drew their attention to the opposite corner of the pool where the water was only a few feet deep. Hisoka was crouched as low as possible in the water, backed into a corner, and blushing like mad as he glared at the empty air in front of him.
No, not empty, Tsuzuki realized as he spotted a distorted Speedo under the water.
The count chuckled, and the sound carried across the pool. "No wonder you like this one so much. Such a pretty little thing."
Hisoka shouted and slapped at something near his cheek. Tsuzuki dove back into the pool, still naked, and swam as fast as he could to his partner's aid.
He darted in between Hisoka and the count and drew himself up to his full height.
"Back off you pervert! Only I get to look at him! Itai!" He spun, confused when Hisoka whacked the back of his head.
"Don't say stupid things!"
"What, you WANT him to be leering at you?"
"BAKA! You know what I meant!"
"But Hisokaaaa!"
Hakushaku watched, grinning, pleased that Tsuzuki had so neatly forgotten him. He reached for his favorite shinigami's unprotected backside.
"You can be the biggest idiot someti-" Hisoka stopped short as Tsuzuki jerked, and stood completely rigid, irises retracting to dots as his eyes widened. "What-" He put the pieces together as Hakushaku began giggling in a most disturbing manner. He waded calmly around his frozen partner, and delivered a punch directly to the unmasked half of the count's invisible face.
A tear that would have been quite comical, had it not been for the situation, rolled down the count's mask. "You hit me...."
"Go. Away." Hisoka was pissed, and in no mood to be at all polite. Especially not to a molesting pervert.
"Ah...you two want these back, right?" Hijiri offered their trunks with an embarrassed laugh.
"What do YOU think, dumbass?"
"Hisoka! Watch your mouth! Hijiri's helping." Tsuzuki accepted both pairs of trunks with a 'thank you', and handed the smaller pair to Hisoka.
"He was being a dumbass," Hisoka muttered, pulling on his trunks gratefully.
"Well, I've got a sore ass, so let's go home."
Hisoka stared at him for a second before deciding not to ask. He settled instead for an irritated I told you so. "We never should have come in the first place." He climbed out of the pool and wrapped himself in a towel. Tsuzuki followed suit.
"Why are you still blushing?"
"How should I know? It's a damn involuntary reflex." He rubbed the towel over his shoulders. "Ite! What the hell...?" He peered at his skin and swore again.
"You're swearing an awful lot today."
"I'm sunburned, you idiot!"
"Really?" Tsuzuki grinned, and Hisoka glared at him.
"And just WHY is that something to smile about?"
"'Cause 'Soka-chan is cute when he blushes!"
"I'm NOT blushing!"
"It's close enough!"
Hisoka didn't comment further, but simply gathered his things and headed for the exit. Tsuzuki did the same, laughing silently to himself.
As they passed by one of the ladders, Watari popped out of the water with all the grace of a bull sea lion. Hisoka glared at him for the spray that was sent up, but would have left him alone had the obliviously genki shinigami had not spoken.
"You know, you and Hijiri really are too much alike. You're both red as strawberries!" The statement was accompanied by a wide, closed-eye grin. He never saw the fist that knocked him back into the water.
"Hisoka!" Tsuzuki looked at him with a mixture of surprise, concern, and disapproval.
"Sorry. Reflex."
"You really need to chill out. Maybe we should go sit in a hot tub before we leave." A lazy grin spread across Tsuzuki's face as he envisioned the warm, bubbling waters of the hot tub. "Yeah, let's do that."
"No. I want to go home. I don't want to BE here."
"Please?"
"Tsuzuki, I came here because YOU wanted me to. I'm done."
Puppy ears sprouted from Tsuzuki's chocolate hair and his tail wagged happily. "For me? Wai! Neko-chan DOES love me!" Hisoka jumped a bit as Tsuzuki glomped him. "Yosh! Let's go!" So saying, he dragged his partner off for a dip in the hot tub.
"Wait! I never agreed to this!"
"But Hisoka loves me, right? So it's fine!"
"What does that have to do with this?"
Tsuzuki stopped and spun. "Would you please just relax? You're going to make yourself sick. Look, it'll just be the two of us, okay? No one else to worry about."
"...fine." His agreement was rewarded with a warm smile from Tsuzuki. The taller man wrapped an arm around Hisoka's shoulders and led him to a small hot tub.
They set aside their towels and yukatas and sank into the hot, bubbling water.
"See? It's nice." Hisoka didn't reply, but Tsuzuki had expected that. He wrapped an arm carefully around the empath's sunburned shoulders, and leaned back, relaxing. After a several minutes of comfortable silence, he felt Hisoka shift, loosing all his stored tension. The younger shinigami's head drooped to rest against Tsuzuki's chest.
"Feel better?" Hisoka didn't answer, so Tsuzuki shook his shoulder gently. "Neko-chan?" He tilted the teen's chin up, and realized that he had fainted. Apparently the heat had gotten to him.
Tsuzuki chuckled and climbed out of the hot tub, careful not to let Hisoka slip under. He lifted his partner out of the water, and set him down in a nearby chair. All their towels went into the pool bag they had brought, and Tsuzuki put on his own yukata before slipping Hisoka into his. The pool bag went over one arm, and he lifted Hisoka, holding him carefully.
"I guess I did push it a bit far," he said quietly, "but you should have said something about this." He chuckled. "We're both idiots."
Hisoka mumbled something in his sleep and nestled closer as Tsuzuki carried him home.
Watari laughed from the pool as he watched the two leave.
"I take it you aren't mad at Hisoka for punching you?" Hijiri was watching his partner closely, keeping his own face unreadable.
"Iya. Not really. I should have known better than to poke fun at Bon when he's in such a bad mood. Speaking of poking fun...." Watari reached out and poked gently at Hijiri's sunburn.
"Itai! Watari, that hurts."
"Sorry. You wanna go home? I have some lotion that'll feel really good."
"A-aa. Sure." Watari studied Hijiri. He looked even redder all of a sudden.
"Come on, let's get going. Better to treat it now than let it wait." Hijiri nodded and followed Watari out of the pool. They collected their things and made their way out as Watari grinned, humming slightly off key.
"You know Hijiri, even though you got burned, the party was a lot of fun. Hakushaku really should do this more often. Maybe next time the potion I add to the punch will have an effect on someone."
~*~})|({~*~ end ~*~})|({~*~
So anyways, um, I need to mention something. First off, thanks to all the people who have left comments and suggestions for my work. It's been really great to get so much feedback so quickly.
I've gotten a few comments from people who want to see more of 'Sakura'. Problem is, that was sort of a two part one shot deal. There isn't any more. The idea ended with Tsuzuki's realization that he and Hisoka needed each other. Sorry. I'll try not to leave things so open anymore.
I also got a couple comments concerning the way I space my stories. If this is any easier to read, please let me know. Thank you muchly.