Disclaimer: I don't own Yami No Matsuei
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst, Humor
Characters: Hisoka, Tsuzuki, Watari, Tatsumi, Saya, Yuma, Tsubaki, Eileen, Hijiri, Kazusa, Wakaba, Terazuma, assorted Shinigami and Shikigami (Muraki?)
Pairings: (Established) Hisoka/Tsuzuki, Saya/Yuma, Tsubaki/Eileen, (Forthcoming) Terazuma/Wakaba, Tatsumi/Watari, (Implied) Hijiri/Kazusa
Spoilers: Anime episodes 1-13, Manga volumes 1-9 (Anime takes precedence).
Timeline: June 1996—Vampire's Lure arc (Nagasaki). September 1996—Devil's Trill arc (Kumamoto). April 1997—King of Swords arc (Queen Camellia). December 1997—Snow Queen arc (Hokkaido). January 1998—Martial Arts Competition arc (Meifu). March 1998—St. Michel arc (Nagasaki). May 1998—Count's Story arc (Meifu). December 1998—Demon's Reckoning arc (Kyoto). January 1999—Shikigami arc (Kansei). May 2000—Now (Meifu).
Background Info #1: Hisoka mentions an instance leading to he and Tsuzuki moving in together. The text explains it pretty well, but if you have any further questions, leave them in a review and I'll explain on the review board.
Background Info #2: Tsubaki and Eileen are both in Meifu. They both have 17-year-old bodies. After Tsubaki died Eileen was freed and sent back to Hong Kong, where she became a Shinigami (partnered with Maria Wong). Saya and Yuma found Eileen in the summer of 1999 and reunited her with Tsubaki. (This will eventually become a story, if my Microsoft Word will actually save the document…) Tsubaki lives in Meifu waiting for a Shinigami post, but Eileen is still a Shinigami in Hong Kong.
Background Info # 3: Kazusa lives in Meifu, HOWEVER! she is not dead. If you think about it, dying in a place inhabited by dead people is a double negative and therefore negates itself. But since she has no living family, and since Hijiri can probably only take care of himself, she lives in Meifu with some dead people who adopted her. She is also around 12 years old. (I don't know her actual age so I just made her 8 at the time of her appearance, and this story takes place about four years after that.)
Background Info # 4: I am not including the Kurosaki arc (Kamakura). Hisoka's hunt for a Shikigami turned out all for naught. (Poor Riko!) The characters from Kansei are all there, though.
Much-Needed Information Or I'll Make Up My Own Answers: How did Ruka (Tsuzuki's sister) die?
The Question
18 months. A bare year and a half since "what happened in Kyoto", the euphemism that Tsuzuki's attempted murder-suicide was going as these days. And they were sitting in the same restaurant that they had been in 18 months ago.
Tsuzuki was knocking back a salty dog while Hisoka sipped quietly on a Café Vienna. Every once in a while Tsuzuki stopped drinking and covered Hisoka's free hand with his own, smiling at his partner and housemate. Hisoka would bite the fleshy inside of his lips and look embarrassed enough to be publicly decent, though every time he would turn his hand and tickle Tsuzuki's palm, smiling.
"The apple pie here is delicious," Tsuzuki said, in a very hint-dropping way.
"You can get the pie, Tsuzuki," Hisoka said, his voice world-weary.
"Yay! Love you, Hisoka!" Tsuzuki leaned over the table and planted a kiss on Hisoka's mouth.
A year ago that would have scrambled Hisoka's thoughts and set his face cherry red. Now his thoughts remained perfectly ordered and his face warmed only a little. He may have an uncontrollable blush complex but spending a year and a half in a dedicated relationship with the demonstrative man in Meifu made one used to some things. Though no one, except for the record keepers, knew that they were living together just yet. Hisoka didn't want the crude jokes that were bound to follow such an announcement. While he could easily silence such remarks with a glare, the jokes would only dredge up memories of their disastrous first attempt at lovemaking, which had ended abruptly when Hisoka heard Muraki's voice in his head and consequently nearly clawed Tsuzuki to shreds with his fingernails. Granted, the incident had led directly to them moving in together ("Is it okay if you stay here for today?" "It's okay if I stay here forever."), and their relationship had only blossomed since then, but it was still a painful, unpleasant memory that could only serve as a detriment.
Obviously, Tsuzuki felt so as well. Since they began cohabitating he hadn't pushed for another try or even hinted at it, even though they slept in the same bed and always managed to wake up tangled in each other's arms.
Tsuzuki's emotions were usually pleasant, which made for warm, cozy nights. Nights when Tsuzuki was upset were few and far between, and those nights entailed either sleeplessness of the couch for Hisoka—usually the former, as what upset Tsuzuki usually did likewise for Hisoka.
"Want a piece?" Tsuzuki offered, holding a bite-sized morsel out for Hisoka on his fork and snapping Hisoka out of his stupor. The image conjured up the memory of the proverbial morning after (though the night before had been anything but typical), when Tsuzuki had made him play the invalid and fed him anything he ate that day. Hisoka's initial annoyed feeling had given way to enjoyment of being taken care of, not to mention the pleasure he got seeing how happy it had made Tsuzuki.
"If you think you can stand the parting," Hisoka said, taking the fork.
"I'll muddle through somehow," Tsuzuki said, grinning, as Hisoka put the fork in his mouth and pulled it out, leaving the pie behind.
"It's good." He handed the fork back.
"I told you!" Tsuzuki offered another forkful, which Hisoka allowed Tsuzuki to feed him. Then Tsuzuki settled into the rest of his three slices and Hisoka ordered another drink.
It was pitch-black by the time they paid their check and left. Pools of lamplight and the moon dimly lit the night. Almost instinctively Tsuzuki reached for Hisoka's hand; equally naturally Hisoka did the same. Tsuzuki pulled Hisoka closer to him and kissed the top of his head, allowing Hisoka a whiff of his feelings.
"Nostalgic."
"Huh?"
"You're feeling nostalgic."
"Oh, well…look where we are," Tsuzuki said, gesturing. "We were here 18 months ago. Right here you found out how everyone hated me because of my eyes. And you looked right into them and basically told me that you didn't care. Strange enough, that's a good memory for me."
"Not really for me."
"I know," Tsuzuki said, leaning down forward to kiss Hisoka's forehead. "It's bittersweet, what happened then and after that."
"Tsuzuki?"
"Yeah?"
"Did it…bother you that I saved you?"
"Tatsumi asked me the exact same thing, and the answer still hasn't changed. No."
"But Tatsumi saved you after I convinced you to change your mind. You don't think it was selfish of me?"
"Well, at the time, yeah. But now that I think about it…not really."
"How so?"
"I though I was useless. I thought I only hurt people. And then at rock bottom you told me that you needed me. You don't know how good that felt. That was the best thing anyone could ever do for me. And besides, if I had refused to go back, you would have died with me. You would have given up your second chance at life to let me know I was loved. That's pretty selfless, if you ask me."
""An immature love says 'I love you because I need you', but a mature love says 'I need you because I love you'"," Hisoka quoted softly.
"Yeah, that applies to us," Tsuzuki said. "I loved you before Touda and you realized you loved me during it. So we're good, selfless, mature lovers."
"Tsuzuki, do you want to get married?"
Both of them stopped in their tracks. Tsuzuki slowly turned to look at his partner.
"Do I…what?"
"People with a selfless, mature love get married, don't they?" Hisoka asked nervously, his face afire. "And we've known each other forfour years…been dating for a year and a half…we live together…and…I…I want to…I want to marry you."
"Do I want to marry you, hmm, let me think, uh, yeah!"
Hisoka crashed to the ground as Tsuzuki tackled him and kissed him so hard he feared for breath.
"How long have you been thinking about it?"
"Unconsciously? Since Touda. Consciously…about three seconds."
"We moved in together on a whim, too, and look at us now! Engaged!" Tsuzuki kissed him again. "God, I'm so happy! I'm engaged!"
"You are definitely the bride," Hisoka muttered.
"I am not wearing a dress!" Tsuzuki said indignantly, and Hisoka almost laughed at the pout on his face. "In fact, when Saya and Yuma get a hold of you, you'll be the one in the dress."
"Harpies," Hisoka muttered. Tsuzuki laughed, put his hands on Hisoka's face, and pulled him into another kiss, and another, and another, each one increasing in intensity. Hisoka flinched and Tsuzuki stopped short. Pulling his face back, he lifted his hand and stroked Hisoka's cheek.
"Will you be…?"
"By our wedding," Hisoka promised.
Tsuzuki hugged him around the waist, nuzzling his head into Hisoka's collarbone. "I love you."
"I know," Hisoka replied quietly. "And I love you, too."
"Of course you do, you asked me to marry you!" Tsuzuki jumped up, suddenly excited again, and reached down a hand to help his new fiancé to his feet. "Come on! This calls for a celebration!"
"We just ate," Hisoka reminded Tsuzuki as he regained his balance.
"No, I mean more people have to know about this!" Tsuzuki paused. "And then we can eat again," he tacked on with a wink.
"Who are you planning to tell?" Hisoka questioned.
"Well, everyone! I'd tell the whole world but I doubt they'd take me seriously—or they'd have me arrested because they don't know you're actually an adult now."
"Thanks for that totally unnecessary reminder that I look pubescent."
Tsuzuki gave him a wrinkled, apologetic smile. "Sorry."
"Forget it. I know you see me as an adult. Hopefully."
"Yes, I do," Tsuzuki said reassuringly. He squeezed Hisoka's hand, and then grinned even further than he had before, if that was even physically possible. "Now come on! There's no way I can keep this quiet for more than a day!"
"Wait a second here…"
"Hisoka! You can't expect me not to tell everyone!"
"Who's "everyone"?"
"Who do you think, silly? The office! Tatsumi, Watari, Chief Konoe, the Gushoshin, Wakaba…ooh, and I have to tell Suzaku and Touda and Byakko and the rest of my Shiki! And-and-and we can tell Hijiri and Maria! And don't you wanna tell Tsubaki?"
"Don't you think we should plan this before we tell anybody? They're going to bombard us with questions and we won't have an answer."
"Hisoka!" Tsuzuki whined. "This is gonna kill me and you know it!"
"I'm sadistic like that," Hisoka said proudly.
"I hate you."
"No you don't."
"Yeah, I don't," Tsuzuki said in mock-defeat. "Well…since you won't let me tell anyone first…"
"We can go get some Noji."
"Yay!"
