I wrote this years ago, before Yami was even out in English, then promptly lost the spiral it was written in. Three years later, I dig it up. Joy.
Sh, quiet.
We can't talk too loudly around here.
Hard to believe, isn't it? How much he's changed?
Oh, that's right. You don't know. You weren't here then.
This man, here, that's his office, he used to be the most cheerful, loudest Shinigami around. Except besides maybe Watari-san.
You don't believe me, do you?
I know, he's so quiet now, so serious. There's a reason for that.
Here, let's move away. Where he can't hear us. It would upset him if he heard.
Ok, we're all right here. You want to know what happened? It's not a very long story, but it's a sad one.
Here goes.
He had a lover, years ago. They were partners, and friends, and more.
Yeah, I know he refuses to work with anyone now. I know that. Are you going to listen or not?
Anyway. His lover, I forget his name, wasn't as cheerful as /he/ used to be, but they were still very close. They'd been through a lot together. No, those cases are all closed now, you need a special pass to see them, but the gossip grapevine still manages to dig some stuff up. That's beside the point.
Anyway. Let me continue now.
They were very close, but they still got in a lot of arguments. Their personalities were very different, but any fights were usually over in a couple of days, at the latest.
One day, though, they got into a really big fight. No, I don't know over what. I doubt he knows, anymore. It's been over twenty years, after all. But this fight, this one wasn't over in a day or two. It ended with his lover storming out, saying he was going to petition Enma-Oh for rebirth, I've heard.
He though his partner wasn't serious. He waited for him to come back, so he could apologize, so everything would be okay again. But he didn't come back.
A day turned into a week, a week into a month.
It was obvious his lover wasn't just hiding somewhere, to spite him.
Hm? Yeah, I'm getting to that. Stop interrupting, and it'll go faster.
Anyway, he went to Enma-Oh, who told him that his partner's request had been granted. He'd been reborn.
Well, this upset him, of course. He went to Earth immediately, and managed to find his lover, but he was just a baby. That's the problem with rebirth, you know?
So then he went back to Enma-Oh, and asked to be reborn, too. But he'd broken one too many rules, I guess. Enma-Oh had to punish him.
He had to stay here.
He was one of the best Shinigami, too. The strongest, I've heard.
This hurt him, though.
He got quieter and quieter, after that. He took fewer assignments to Earth, and eventually refused to go at all.
Ah? Oh, hello, Tatsumi-san. Yes, of course we'll take these to the library. Have a nice day, Tatsumi-san.
You know Tatsumi-san, of course. Well, he tried to help. But he couldn't help at all, and gradually he got shut out, too.
No, it's not over yet. Don't worry, I'll tell the rest.
So. Eventually he was assigned a case he had to take, no one else could handle it. But while he was down there, I heard he ran into his lover.
No, there wasn't a big, tearful reunion. That's another problem with rebirth, you don't remember what's happened before. He tried to get his partner to recognize him, but only managed to scare him away.
That was four years ago.
Hello, Gushoshin-san. Tatsumi-san asked us to return these. Yes, that's all, thank you. Goodbye.
Now. Four years ago.
After that, he even stopped talking to his old friends. Hardly anyone's ever seen him outside his office, now, and absolutely no one's allowed inside.
Hm? Yeah, Tatsumi-san looked in the Book, but unless his partner's murdered or dies accidentally, he'll be on Earth for another forty years or so. I don't know exactly how long, just the rumors.
Yeah, that's a long time to be alone.
He'll wait, though, he loves his partner too much to do anything else.
Yeah, it's sad. It's sad.
But he'll make it through.
Angsty!Tsuzuki poked me with a stick until I wrote this. It was like, "Psst, hey. Hey, you, with the writer's block. I've got a nice little plotbunny for you..."
Oh yes, another rant for all those who don't give a flying flip:
WTF is wrong with Viz? Apparently, they can neither read hiragana, nor count in Japanese. Chidsuru, Viz? ChiDSUru? There /is/ no letter for DSU. It's quite clearly written in the original as ChiZUru, which is an actual name. At least they changed Tatsumi's first name back to normal, whereas before they'd left off two whole syllables. !spoiler alert! Also, in the 7th volume: In the scene where Oriya is asking Muraki about the people he's killed: In the English version, Muraki says "Ten people," and Oriya starts freaking because he's killed that many. BUT! In the original Japanese version (which my friend owns, which is how I know) Muraki says "Ten people?" and Oriya goes "No, eleven!" And starts freaking because his best friend can't keep track of how many people he's killed.
This makes me sad, that a college freshman taking Japanese 2 apparently knows more Japanese than the people who translate it for a living working at Viz.