This is the extended version of my old fanfic, Files and Folders. Perhaps this one will give you more pleasure…
Files and Folders: Extended Vers.
Understandably, Watari Yutaka became more than a bit irate when he was disturbed from his experiments. Various distractions had often hindered his ability to focus on them, which simply couldn't happen as the creation of his revolutionary invention, the marvelous, sex-changing potion was nearing its completion. At times like these, he thought to himself, he sympathized with the department secretary, Tatsumi Seiichirou. He did not, however, when he barged in (quite rudely, hardly ever knocked!), lecturing about how useless such a potion would be, or how much money the Bureau had lost on his account. True, an invention produced by a dead man may be a bit suspicious, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. It could change the world!
Watari was naturally a very laid-back, easy-going type of person, it was true. Seldom did he ever become REALLY angry, luckily for his peers; his rage could match even Tatsumi's, and frighten even the bravest of men out of their choice of undergarments. However, this particular Wednesday was becoming quite trying for the dear scientist. Tsuzuki was the first to disturb him, begging for protection from a certain grouchy empath. Saya and Yuma, who had returned for the summer, were next; they had pounced on him while his back was turned, squealing their hellos. On top of it, 003 had been pecking at him all morning for a handful of cornflakes. SOMETHING had to give! And it did, to the sound of an extremely loud crash, which resonated through the halls like an explosion.
Usually the blonde ignored every distraction (with the exception of Tsuzuki, who was impossible to ignore) while he toiled away in the laboratory. Engrossing one's self in what they do takes skill, and Watari had transformed it into an art form, focusing every ounce of attention on his state-of-the-art electron microscope or some such gadget or chemical. The strange crash seemed to shake the foundations of the huge building and that was something that even he could not ignore. He growled in frustration, raising the beaker bubbling under his gaze.
"Oi, Watari! Get out here, pronto!" He heard one of his colleagues yell for him from the outside hallway. Opening the door, he squinted at the new source of fluorescent light and followed the accusing finger of his workmate to the end of the hall.
"Ah, the storage room. Some stuff probably fell out of the cabinets again."
"Some? Sounded like somebody just dumped the whole room out onto the floor! You know how unstable the…" Watari interrupted.
"Yes, yes, I helped pack half the stuff. I'll check it out." He walked hesitantly to the end of the hall and put his hand on the steel doorknob, not quite looking forward to putting all of that stuff back. He turned the knob, thinking to himself, 'This had better be good.' Little did he expect to see the whole file cabinet's contents had, indeed, been expelled in a dusty cloud of prehistoric files, and even more surprising was that Tatsumi was partially flattened and completely pissed underneath it all.
He could've busted a gut, had he not restrained himself.
It was obvious to anyone that the Science division's storage room was seldom opened, and hadn't been cleaned in a good thirty years at least. The many cardboard boxes, filled to the brim with forgotten contents and taped not-so-snugly shut with peeling masking tape, was coated in an inch-thick layer of dust, along with everything else that had been bunched into the room. Ancient granules of dirt flew in a large cloud from the pile of neglected files and folders that concealed the disgruntled secretary. Watari knelt and brushed a few of the papers aside, uncovering a much-angered Tatsumi, whose azure eyes were narrowed in a mixture of embarrassment and frustration. Noticing the scientist's presence, he ducked quickly under his stone-cold façade and began to brush stray dust bunnies from his wrinkled work jacket. The scientist took this chance to tease the brunet, plopping down next to him and rustling a few papers with his weight.
"Burying yourself in your work again, eh?"
"Your corny jokes are not appreciated, Watari. The blonde forged a pouty glare, sticking his tongue out at the secretary, who responded with a roll of his eyes. "It would be appreciated, however," he continued, undaunted, "if you were to assist me in exhuming myself from these…" His voice trailed off as he began to replace the scattered files into their respective folders. Watari obliged with a smile and his trademark salute.
The two Shinigami laboriously dug through the mountain of paperwork, and sorted them carefully into their rightful places. 'Geez, I kinda pity Tatsumi now. He has to do this every day!' He sighed and continued the tedious work. Tatsumi took the silence as an opportunity to strike up a conversation.
Okay. More like constructive criticism. At least, he thought so.
"It's a pity that your workmates are as unorganized as you are, Watari-san. How do you all manage to keep this place up?" A frown furrowed the offended scientist's brow.
"It piles up, Tatsumi. Not many people use our stuff." The carefree tone had left Watari's voice and Tatsumi ventured to make amends.
"Is their something wrong?" Not the best thing to say in this situation. Watari looked at him critically and answered through gritted teeth.
"No, of COURSE NOT. Why would you ever think that?"
"There must be something…" He never got to finish his sentence.
"Of course there is!! You…" the secretary flinched as his angered partner poked at him with a handful of papers. "ALWAYS criticize me!" He sighed and put the papers into their folder.
"Well…uh," Tatsumi stuttered, and then attempted to change the subject. "Why are all of these so cramped up in here? This one's from 1900…"
"Is it MY fault we're not important enough to have useful files?" The blonde scientist retorted, stuffing more various papers callously into their containers.
"Watari, of course you're important to…"
Watari raised an eyebrow. The secretary tried to save face, and finished the sentence with a quick improvisation. Not necessarily a good one.
"…many of us." Tatsumi lowered his head to his significantly smaller stack of files to hide the blush rapidly growing on his cheeks. Watari shrugged it off and used a rusty, discarded stapler to join some corresponding files together. It was a good excuse NOT to talk to Tatsumi, anyway. Lifting his head slightly, Tatsumi spoke, though still attempting to keep his full attention on his work.
"Why did you leave your experiment to see me, anyway? I do happen to know you were exceptionally excited about this one, am I right?" A bemused look spread across the scientist's face as he replied.
"Well, aren't YOU conceited? I was only checking out the crash, not you. As tempting as that thought may be."
The secretary flushed a deep red at this, and the blonde Shinigami chuckled. "Well, fun's fun, Tatsumi-san, but I had best be off. Chemicals to mix, genders to change, y'know…" His sentence trailed off, and he knelt down to give the older man a chaste kiss on the cheek. Leaving him stunned, he pushed open the heavy door. "I'll be in the lab!" The young scientist called to the other, winking cutely before he disappeared behind the door, which followed him with a loud thud.
Tatsumi dropped the armful of files that he had been gathering in shock. He listened to the silence, which hummed faintly with the lilting tune that the recently-departed scientist was humming as he walked (skipped, jumped, who knew?) down the hall. He looked down at his new workload and cursed in the blonde's wake. Suddenly, his work had gotten a lot harder.
-owari