I don't own anything that has to do with Yami no Matsuei, just like I don't own anything else..... drat.....
Ginger: This is my first fic for yami no matsuei, so as with others, I enjoy being somewhat unconventional. If you don't care for anything different, don't read my story, no one's making you. Anyway, enjoy.
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Hisoka felt somewhat strange when he walked into the office he shared with Tsuzuki. But something was missing.
Tsuzuki.
After another long fight Tsuzuki had been hurt, and this time, he was hardly recovering because he had suddenly fallen ill and no one had any explanation as to why. He was in the Ministry's health facilities, sleeping day after day, and slowly, healing.
But in the mean time, he was leaving Hisoka alone.
Hisoka sat down at his desk and found himself staring at the wall. His days felt like a boring routine without Tsuzuki begging for sweets, or giving him a puppy dog face.
"Kurosaki! I've never known you to doze on the job."
Hisoka looked up to see Tatsumi standing in front of his desk.
"Sorry Mr. Tatsumi. I've just been…… tired lately." he said softly. "I'll get my reports in tonight I promise."
"I need you back out in the field Kurosaki." said Tatsumi matter-of-factly.
Hisoka didn't know how to respond at first, but after a moment he muttered: "But I don't have a partner, unless you're going to send me out with Mr. Watari."
"I have a temporary partner for you." said Tatsumi, adjusting his glasses.
"A temporary partner?" he muttered. 'Great, I'm going to turn into Tsuzuki.'
"It's only till Tsuzuki is out of the health facility, your partner won't be here for long anyway, he's only temporary. He's an…. Auditor of sorts…"
Hisoka starred. "An auditor…..?" he asked curiously. Then he thought to himself, 'An auditor of what? I thought that was Mr. Tatsumi's job.'
"It's very hard to explain. But be on your best behavior with him, will you Kurosaki?"
"Yes sir Mr. Tatsumi."
"Alright, he'll be here soon."
Hisoka watched as Tatsumi walked out of the room.
"A temporary partner……" he sighed. "Be on my best behavior. It's not like I'm Tsuzuki and I'm going to get into trouble every moment of everyday without someone watching me."
With another sigh, he turned back to the window and starred at the Sakura blossoms that would litter the ground.
He was so busy watching out the window he never noticed when someone else walked into the room.
"They're quite beautiful, aren't they?" came a soft voice.
Hisoka jumped and whirled around to see a man that was obviously taller then Tsuzuki, tall enough that his head was well above the top of the door frame.
He had smooth olive skin, and short white hair with blue highlights slicked back. His periwinkle blue eyes were framed by a pair of thick, square, plastic rimmed glasses. He didn't wear a suit. He had a an outfit of all black silk. Black silk pants, black silk dress shirt, and a black silk vest with a patch.
"I…. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in." Hisoka muttered, trying not to stare at the patch.
It was a somewhat disturbing patch. A picture of a decapitated skeleton a scroll in one hand, a book in the other, the skull laughing as it's body kneeled in a knightly fashion behind two scythes, crossed over each other and blood dripping off the blades into a large red puddle at the skeleton's knees. The top had the words 'Atrum Nex Viator,' the bottom, 'Perdice Mortis Nuntius.'
"It's quite alright, you did seem quite deep in thought." said the man with a smooth British accent.
" I'm sorry sir, I've just been really….. Preoccupied lately." He muttered, feeling himself tense up, then relax constantly.
The man smiled kindly and walked over to stand beside him.
Hisoka felt his neck crack as he tried to look up at him.
"It's understandable. But Asato should recover in a couple of weeks, I just came here from visiting him."
Hisoka blinked. "You call him Asato?"
"I have known him for about sixty of the seventy years he's worked here. I'm Alistair by the way."
"Alistair? Well, I'm Hisoka Kurosaki,"
"It's nice to meet you Hisoka."
"Where are you from?" Hisoka asked curiously.
"I'm at the top of the European Sector of the Ministry."
"The European sector?"
"Yes, I preside over Europe, Russia, and both north and south America."
"Is that why Tatsumi said you're here doing an audit of the bureau?"
Alistair chuckled a bit. "I just told him that so I could come check on Asato. To be honest I hate paper work. That's what I have Angelica for."
Hisoka starred again. "Angelica? A secretary?"
"No, by book of souls. Imagine all the records in your ministry's library, in one book about eight inches thick, and one of the Gushoshin twins is the actual book itself. Angelica is the book of souls with a soul. She can sort herself and she likes to have an occasional conversation about the weather."
"I should probably be glad I don't have a talking book."
"Well see, that's the difference between your guys and my guys. You see, you only take care of one or two souls at a time. My subordinates, are angels of mass death, my partner Malachai and I are the masters with the most souls under our belts. We take care of war, genocide, and natural disasters. We get the world whenever the death toll reaches over a hundred. We need our records on hand when that occurs."
"Angels of mass death….. So you've seen a lot… haven't you?" Hisoka asked slowly.
"I've taken souls from World War one. Malachai and I took on all of the souls of world war two, so between the two of us we took seventy three million four hundred and twenty two thousand eight hundred and twenty one. Hence why our patches say Atrum Nex Viator."
"I don't even know what language that's in." Hisoka mumbled.
"It's Latin, meaning very worthy deadly messenger."
Hisoka just sighed and put his head on his desk. He jumped a bit when Alistair kneeled down in front of the desk and looked into Hisoka's eyes.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, I… I'm fine. Like I said, I'm just a bit tired and preoccupied. That's all." he mumbled, looking away. 'Why is it that I can't feel anything from this guy?' he thought to himself, unable to feel any inkling of emotion from the man.
"Well why don't you take a break and go say hello to Asato? He woke up earlier today." Alistair said kindly.
"I have to finish this report." Hisoka sighed, picking up his pen.
He was surprised when Alistair gently tugged the pen from Hisoka's hand.
"I'll tell Tatsumi that you weren't feeling too well and that I'll make sure you finish tomorrow alright?"
"I don't think Tatsumi will buy that."
"Trust me, I'm higher then the Enma-Diaoh himself. He may rule over the Japanese Ministry, but I rule over all angels of death. Tatsumi's more likely to listen to me then you'd be inclined to believe."
"Are you really that powerful?"
"You'd be amazed. Now go say hello to Asato. I'm sure a visit would help both of you feel better,"
After one small second thought, Hisoka grabbed his coat and left the office.
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"Tsuzuki….. I really need to talk to you, please wake up." Hisoka whispered as he sat at Tsuzuki's side.
After a moment, Hisoka could feel Tsuzuki's emotions start to come through as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Tsuzuki!" he sighed relieved.
"Hisoka?"
"How are you feeling?" Hisoka asked softly, taking one of Tsuzuki's hands in his own.
"Could be better obviously."
"Obviously." said Hisoka with a small smile. "Did you ever work with a guy named Alistair?"
"Of course. He came by earlier and said he's your temporary partner."
"I can't read the guy's emotions Tsuzuki, it's bothering me immensely." he said slowly.
"You won't be able to read him Hisoka. He put up a barrier. Though it's probably best that you didn't feel all of his emotions. Some of his are more twisted them mine. But I promise you Hisoka, you can trust him. He was my only partner that had lasted as long as you and the only reason he left was because the European Ministry demanded him back."
"But Tsuzuki…." he began to protest.
"Please Hisoka. He'll protect you while I can't. He's going to be staying in my room in our apartment for the time being."
Hisoka didn't like thinking about a stranger being in Tsuzuki's bed across the hall from his own room.
"I promise you Hisoka, you'll be fine. And he'll have Suzaku."
"How can he have one of your guardians?"
"She trusts him. She thinks he's handsome too, I think that has something to do with her agreeing to be with him for a little while." Tsuzuki said thoughtfully.
"He just makes me nervous Tsuzuki! The guy claims he's higher then Enma-Diaoh!"
"He is. You'll learn why later on. For now, it's not important. But just trust him Hisoka. For me?"
"I'll try." Hisoka sighed.
"Good now, go home an get some rest. You look exhausted. Besides, you might want to help Alistair get home because he has no idea where he's going."
"I don't know where he is. I left him in the office."
"Then that means he's probably there."
Hisoka could tell that Tsuzuki was getting tired, so he reached over and hugged him.
"Goodnight Tsuzuki. Sweet dreams." Hisoka whispered.
Tsuzuki tried his best to return the hug, but his arms were so weak.
"Goodnight Hisoka." he said softly.
The minute Hisoka stood up, Tsuzuki was fast asleep and Hisoka felt alone again. He sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets before walking out of the room, staring at the floor. But he froze when he saw a gigantic pair of black dress shoes that blended in with Black silk slacks. He looked up to see Alistair watching him closely.
"So did Asato wake up?" he asked.
"Yes. And he said you're staying at our place." he mumbled.
"I hope you don't mind."
"I suppose I don't really have a choice in the matter." he sighed. "Come on, let's go home."
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On the way home Hisoka felt somewhat nervous. The man just made him feel uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry if I make you nervous Hisoka." said Alistair sincerely as he broke the uncomfortable silence. "I don't mean to."
"I'm sure you don't, I just….. Have trouble trusting people." he sighed slowly, shaking his head a little.
"It's entirely understandable." Alistair said honestly. "I can be the exact same way."
"Funny, you look like the type that would feel comfortable in any setting." he admitted looking up at the man.
"Quite the contrary. At over eight and a half feet tall, it's hard to feel comfortable anywhere. People stare."
"Were you big as a child?" Hisoka asked, amazed by the man's height.
At that Hisoka felt some emotion come off the man as if he dropped the barrier long enough to let out a ping of remorse.
"I never was a child. I was created as an adult."
Hisoka paused, unsure of what to think. "Created? What are you? A scientific experiment?"
"No, I was created by Lucifer. The creator of Hell. I'm a demon."
Hisoka suddenly felt terrified, his heart began to race slightly, and he felt his blood run cold.
"But I betrayed him long ago. I was created very different from other demons." Alistair said quickly.
But Hisoka still took a couple of steps back.
"I know how Asato feels. Trust me. You see, what makes you human, is not your physical body, but what's inside. I have a human heart. I have a human soul. Essentially I'm human."
"Why would you betray the devil?" Hisoka asked, trying not to shake in front of Alistair. He didn't want him to know that he was scared.
"Because I felt…. Guilty, and sad. I was sent to take a boy who was labeled as a dark soul. But he wasn't dark. He was just….. Very sad, and lonely. He contemplated suicide, that's all. The only thing he ever did wrong was love a family that didn't love him in return. So I felt bad and I took care of him. I protected him for twelve years until Lucifer got angry and imprisoned me. Malachai helped me escape to heaven, and I was granted guardian status. I have one black wing feathered, one white bat wing which says I'm half angel."
"A demon converted to an angel?"
"Well, an attempted conversion. I'm basically shunned by both demons and angels, but loved by the Creator."
"The creator?"
"Mortals give him many names. God, Allah, Kami-sama. We call him the Creator. It just makes sense since he created everything."
"I suppose it does." Hisoka sighed. He took a deep breath and did his best to relax. "You're very different aren't you?"
"I'm the Ruler of the Demons, and the second master of the angels of death. Of course I'm different. I have dual rolls."
"Dual rolls….. I'm lost." Hisoka sighed, sitting against a tree.
"I make sure that demons don't leave hell and hurt mortals. But it's really quite difficult given the true amount of them."
Hisoka just pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his forehead on them. But suddenly he felt something pick him up.
"Hey! Wait! What the hell are you doing?!" Hisoka cried as Alistair lifted him off the ground. He was amazed at how easily he sat on just one of Alistair's shoulders. "You really are a giant." he admitted, gripping Alistair's silk vest tightly with both hands.
"I know. And you truly are tired if you can't walk." Alistair said looking up at him with a kind smile, one very long arm wrapped around Hisoka's legs to keep him steady.
"You don't pick up Tsuzuki like this right?"
Alistair chuckled. "Of course not. Though I can pick him up like a child. Trust me I've seen every side of Asato."
Hisoka then got something of a smirk. "What was one of the most embarrassing moments Tsuzuki ever had with you?" he asked curiously.
"Hmm…. I believe, that was when…. He climbed into my bed in the middle of the night, crying from a nightmare when he was thirty seven." Alistair said thoughtfully as they began to walk away. "It was the middle of the night and I woke up to find a moving blanket beside me that was making noise. I lifted up the corner and found Asato trying to wipe away tears. So I said 'come now Asato, you're a big boy, you shouldn't be crying from nightmares. They're not real."
"Tsuzuki does seem to have quite a few nightmares." Hisoka said thoughtfully. "But that's not really that embarrassing."
"It will be trust me. Anyway, Asato just mumbled apologies. So I sat up, and I picked him up and sat him in my lap, wrapping him up in the blanket. He looked at me and said 'If I'm a big boy, why can you pick me up as if I'm little?' I told him it was because deep down, he was still a child at heart. I said 'only a child has such a sweet tooth, only a child could act so silly, And only a child would crawl into their daddy's bed in the middle of the night, hiding under a blanket because they were scared by a nightmare.' and he just sat in my lap like a child till he fell asleep."
Hisoka chuckled a little. "Only a child would crawl into their daddy's bed hiding under a blanket." he repeated. " I like that answer."
"What's the most embarrassing moment you've had with him?" Alistair asked with a smile.
"I don't know. Maybe the first time we met. We got into an argument over stupid stuff, and it turned into a drinking contest and I passed out and he had to carry me to his hotel."
Alistair chuckled and it shook Hisoka enough that he could feel the vibration in his chest.
"The first time I met Asato he was doing the puppy bit with Tatsumi over lunch expenses." he said. "I think I scared him a bit at first."
"You can seem quite intimidating." Hisoka said honestly, feeling himself warm up to the man. "Do you really have Suzaku while Tsuzuki's in the hospital?"
"Yes. She agrees to come if I summon her for help. She reminds me of my knight Sarafi."
"You have a knight?" Hisoka asked.
"Of course, I am the demon king after all. Mind you she can be a total bitch sometimes." he sighed.
"I bet Suzaku can too." Hisoka pointed out.
"Absolutely. But she's usually that way when she get's over protective. Sarafi's that way because she feels like she'd rather be the bitch instead of just a bitch."
Hisoka laughed a little. "Sounds like you've got a stubborn one." he said with a smile.
"Sometimes she's just too stubborn. She likes to disobey orders, she's had numerous love affairs, and she likes to bite people occasionally."
"I take it you don't rely on her for protection?"
"Asato would be better protection then Sarafi sometimes." he said with a shake of his head.
Hisoka laughed hard enough that he swayed a little and Alistair had to tighten his grip to keep him steady.
"Careful now Hisoka, you don't want to fall over."
"That's a long ways down isn't it?" he muttered, looking down at the ground. But when he looked up he was surprised to see the house he shared with Tsuzuki in front of them. "Hey, how'd you know how to get here?"
Alistair gave him an intrigued look. "I used to live here Hisoka. Your bedroom was my old room."
"But Tsuzuki said you didn't know how to get here and that I should walk with you so you wouldn't get lost." Hisoka muttered as Alistair gently lifted him off of his shoulder and set him down on the ground.
"Maybe it was because Asato didn't want you walking home alone." he suggested with a shrug. "I couldn't tell you his reasoning behind what he does."
"I don't think anyone could understand Tsuzuki completely." Hisoka admitted, leading Alistair into the house.
It was then the he realized Asato barely had to duck to get inside the house, whereas any other doorway he had to bend over to avoid hitting his head.
"You're why these doorways are so tall." he said in revelation. "And why the doorknob to my bedroom is at chest height for me."
"That's exactly why Hisoka."
Hisoka looked at his bedroom door, then at Tsuzuki's door. It usually went unnoticed, but now that he looked, Tsuzuki's room had a normal size door, he looked over at his room, and realized his door was much larger.
"Are you hungry Hisoka?" Alistair asked.
"Yeah, getting there. Are you?"
"With my size, what do you think?" Alistair joked with a smile.
"I think you could clean out our fridge in one sitting." Hisoka replied with a grin,
"Right you are. Which is why I'm lucky I get paid enough to take care of my eating habits."
"What would you like for dinner?" Hisoka asked, walking into the kitchen.
Alistair followed and looked in the cabinets.
Hisoka starred. The cabinets he usually had to have a chair to see into, were lower then eye level for Alistair.
"Well, how about I make dinner tonight Hisoka?" Alistair asked.
"Umm…. Sure."
"Mind if I make an old favorite?"
"I don't mind at all. What is it?"
"It's called toad in the hole. Don't let the name fool you though," said Alistair quickly, seeing the look on Hisoka's face. "It has nothing to do with toads."
"Then why is it called toad in the hole?"
"I honestly have no idea. Roderick taught me how to make though and it became my favorite."
"Okay, I'm trusting you on this one." Hisoka said. Then he paused, realizing he said he trusted the man for something.
"Don't worry, even if you can't trust me as a person, you can trust that my cooking skills are not anywhere near as bad as Asato's."
Hisoka finally smiled a little. "Alright. Then I let you make dinner, I think I'm going to take a quick shower."
"Alright then. Dinner should be ready in about a half an hour."
Hisoka just turned around and went down the hall to his room. He looked at his bed for a second, then a thought occurred. He walked across the hall and into Tsuzuki's room, and upon inspection he realized,
"This must be Mr. Alistair's old bed." he muttered. "It's way too long for Tsuzuki, and mine is a normal size. No wonder Tsuzuki told Mr. Alistair he could borrow his room."
After a moment he returned to his room and grabbed clean clothes before heading into the shower, wondering about his new temporary partner.
Dinner turned out to be quite enjoyable despite the fact that Hisoka still had no idea what Yorkshire pudding batter was, and while it was called pudding in the first place.
But Hisoka found himself feeling relatively comfortable around Alistair. He got the same feeling's from Alistair that he did from Tsuzuki. Even though he couldn't really feel the man's emotions, he felt warmth and comfort come from him.
After more chatter about embarrassing moments with Tsuzuki Hisoka decided to go to bed for the night, and he managed to fall asleep easily without any worry.
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But in the middle of the night Hisoka woke up with an anguished cry from a horrible nightmare. He was drenched in a cold sweat, and his breathing was heavy, as he tried to stop shaking.
He couldn't remember it, but the nightmare gave him a dark and uneasy feeling. He looked at the window and saw the shadow of the tree branches outside moving in the wind and it just made the feeling grow.
Completely forgetting that it wasn't Tsuzuki in the room across the hall, Hisoka got up and went into the room where he found Alistair stretched out on top of the blankets, still in his uniform, and quietly dozing.
He blushed and turned to walked out of the room, but then,
"Hisoka? Are you all right?"
"I'm sorry, I just forgot for a moment that Tsuzuki wasn't here." Hisoka said turning around to look at Alistair. "I just wanted to talk with him. I'm sorry I bothered you Mr. Alistair."
"You didn't bother me at all Hisoka. Are you sure you're alright?" Alistair asked, sitting up. "I'm here to talk to if you'd like."
Hisoka opened his mouth to say no, but instead he walked over and climbed up onto the bed where he sat cross-legged in front of Alistair.
"So what's wrong Hisoka?" Alistair asked kindly.
"I just feel….. Uneasy about something. I don't know what though." he sighed.
Hisoka was surprised when the dark feeling suddenly disappeared, he felt a bit lighter, and he took a deep breath, feeling peace overcome him.
"I'm sorry Hisoka. I was so tired I let my barriers down." Alistair said softly. "I usually emit the darker emotions, even if I don't always feel them. It's not on purpose. It's just…. An issue I have."
"I think part of it came from a nightmare though." Hisoka said honestly. "I don't remember what the nightmare was, but I know it scared me a bit."
"Was it different from your usual ones?" Alistair asked in curiosity.
"How do you know what my usual ones are?"
"Asato gave me fair warning. But it with certain pasts, nightmares are understandable."
"Do you ever have nightmares?"
"Of course I do. They're usually from when I worked at the death camps with Malachai. But unlike me, you have to worry about the man who caused your nightmares coming back for you."
"Tsuzuki said you'd protect me while he's gone." Hisoka mumbled, somewhat childishly.
"Of course Hisoka. You're very dear to Asato. I haven't seen him make this much progress since I left. Because of you he's finally managing to come to terms with his past."
"Because of me?"
"Hisoka, Asato let's very few people truly get close to him. Usually when he does, he ends up hurt, like you. He may not share everything, but he's getting better, and you don't always share everything either do you?"
"No, I suppose not." Hisoka shivered a little which made him realize that the room was absolutely freezing.
Alistair just smiled and gently wrapped a large red blanket around him. "That ought to help you feel a bit warmer." he said. "Now then, would you still like to talk? I honestly think you should try and go back to sleep, it's been a long day and you look exhausted."
"I don't… I don't really want to be….. Left alone right now." he muttered slowly with a yawn.
"But you do want to sleep." Alistair said with a chuckle.
Hisoka let Alistair help him lay down, and as he rested his head on the pillow he felt himself begin to drift off slowly.
"Get some sleep Hisoka, you really need it." said Alistair softly and he tucked the blanket around Hisoka to keep him warm.
"Thank you Mr. Alistair." Hisoka mumbled. "For letting me stay in here tonight."
"I always did the same for Asato and Roderick whenever they couldn't handle being alone. You're no different child." he said honestly.
Hisoka smiled a little when he felt a very large, but very gentle hand run though his hair, giving him a warm, safe feeling. Before long, he drifted off into a deep peaceful sleep.
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Ginger: Okay, chapter one is up which took me longer then expected. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it, if you did and want me to continue, leave a review, if you didn't well I'm not forcing you to come back now am I, so don't be mean and nasty. For anyone that might have read my code geass fics, Alistair is quite similar to my dear Leon Berkenbridge before anyone knew what he was, but I changed Alistair a bit for this story. But enough of me rambling. If you like it let me know and I'll keep writing, if you don't, I don't need your opinion anyway. Thank you.