Chase.
1.Loss.
T: Hello! Hello! Welcome to the rather experimental, emotional rollercoaster ride that is 'chase', we would like to inform passengers that this fic contains; angst, OOC, mixed cannon, a potential for slash and flashing lights! We would also like remind passengers that the characters and locations used in this fic are owned by Yoko Matsushita and her powerful imagination!
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He'd spent the better part of his weeks budget and yet, if the item in question had the desired effect, it was worth more than twice that expense.
Taking a deep breath, he glances into the bag once more, then, carefully arranging his emotions, he knocks solidly on the door.
He continues to knock for what seems like hours before his concern becomes enough that he places social protocol to one side and lets himself into the house.
Both the hallway and the living room are littered with objects that have quite clearly been thrown, yet it is the small trail of blood winding its way through this devastation to the bathroom which turns the concern in his heart to panic.
Upon entering the small bathroom he is met not, as he had feared, with the sight of his partner being held at knife point, but rather with an empty room and a piece of paper stick to the cabinet that balances above the sink.
There are stray smudges of dried blood on the edges of the paper, this a detail that he pushes to the back of his mind as he registers his partner's sure hand scrawling its way across the thing.
He reads these words once, twice, thrice and then proceeds to faint.
When he regains consciousness he is in the familiar surrounding of the bureaux's infirmary, Watari's face complete with a 'concerned smile', hovering a few feet above him.
"Welcome back." The other remarks as he straitens himself out.
"Why am I here, Watari?
For a moment the scientist looks uncertain of himself and then, his smile tightening into something altogether false, he enquires,
"You had a bit of a shock, Tsu, don't you remember?"
"I remember going to Hisoka's house to apologise for upsetting him…I'd bought him that book that he's been after in hopes of paving things over…he didn't answer and so I let myself in…" He trails as he realises that he can recall nothing of what had happened next, that the 'shock' Watari had talked of had robed those memories from him.
Seeing his distress Watari settles onto the foot of his bed and, his smile becoming again, despite the sorrow contained within it, true, he says,
"It seems that Bon lost his temper last night and threw a few things around his house. When he tried to clean up after himself a little later on he ended out cutting himself badly enough that he had to hold the wound over his bathroom sink while it healed. Of course, he should have come strait to me, but Bon being Bon…"
"You're rambling." There is more impatience than good humour in his tone and at the sound of it Watari becomes uncharacteristically sober.
The silence draws out a great while and then, in a tone he recognises all to well from the weeks after Kyoto, the other says,
"While waiting for his wound to heal Bon wrote a note and stuck it to the cabinet above his sink. You found that note when you went to see him…"
"And it was that that caused me to faint." As he speaks those words the memories bloom in his head…
…memories of scattered debris about Hisoka's living room…
….memories of blood and the sudden terrible thought that Muraki had once again crossed into the Mefu…
…memories of a blood stained slip of paper and the words written upon it.
"Where is it?"
"I've got it." The scientist responds before saying, "It might be a good idea to wait a little before reading it again, Tsu. Give yourself chance to deal with the situation."
He suppresses the sudden flash of anger that the statement insights in his heart and, as gently as he is able, informs the other,
"I have no want to 'get used' to this, Watari. I want to understand why Hisoka has done this thing and then I want to find him…want to bring him back where he belongs."
After another long moment of silence the scientist delves into one of the many pockets on his lab coat and, once he has freed the note, passes it into his care.
'I am leaving of my own free volition. I have not been forced nor bribed in any manner. This is simply something that I need to do. I do not want to be found…not even by you.'
The words are as cold and as detached as he recalls, their precise phrasing giving no room for re-interpretation or hope.
For a long while he simply stares at the thing, a numb detachment filling his heart as he scrabbles to understand the terrible nightmare that he has fallen into.
Eventually he reaches the clear understanding that he shall not gain such clarity alone, that there is but one individual who can bring order to the chaos and, crunching the note into a small ball, he says,
"I'm going after him."
"Then I'm coming with you."
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There is an overwhelming edge of suspicion coming from the woman at the desk and he is unsurprised when, but a moment later, she informs him,
"We don't allow guests under the age of thirteen to check in without being accompanied by an adult."
Squashing down the frustration the comment causes he pulls his id from his back pocket and presents it to the woman. Her suspicion lingers a moment more and then the emotion is consumed by embarrassment.
He weathers her apologies with a liar's smile, gives her his false credit and residency details, kindly dismisses her offer of aid and, once she has given him the directions to his room, bids her a soft farewell.
It is an illusion he retails until the very instant that his hotel room doorway clicks behind him and then he becomes again the cool, hard headed, young boy who had so heartlessly abandoned his partner in his hour of need.
He can not allow himself to dwell on this fact, can not allow himself to think of Tsuzuki at all.
He has, after all, something that he needs to do, something that he should have done right at the very start before the whole affair had become so very 'complex'.
He knows that he needs to remain focused onto that goal, knows that if his mind wavers, even for the briefest second, all shall be lost.
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T: Expect the next chapter Tuesday at the latest. Review??