Thank you for the reviews! They're priceless to me… especially since I thought no one would even bother to read this fic… I'm so lucky… T.T I hope you enjoy this chapter
Chap 4 One Day of Freedom (PART 1)
It was almost dawn. Tsuzuki made his way to the zoo at around 5.00 a.m. carrying a bag of clothes he bought for Hisoka the night he made the one-day-freedom deal with the manager. As he looked around, he noticed that most of the shops weren't even open yet (obviously…). He had to take a day off from work just to take Hisoka out.
This is gonna be great. I've got everything planned perfectly for today. Its going to be the best day of his life… I'll make sure of it!
As he entered the zoo, he noticed that the security guards were all snoring. Only one was awake and waiting for him, and that was Tatsumi. Tatsumi smiled at him and accompanied him to Hisoka's cage. The boy didn't know anything about the deal and slept peacefully inside his cage.
"Does he always have to sleep that way?" Tsuzuki asked as he saw his friend without any blankets or any source of warmth.
"I'm afraid so. I'm not allowed to go near him, actually. Most of the guards are forbidden as well,… for their own safety I guess", Tatsumi replied sadly.
Tsuzuki's eyes narrowed at the reply but widened again in happiness as he saw the cage door being unlocked and opened. Hisoka stirred but didn't wake up. Tsuzuki was allowed to reach into the cage to wake him up. But instead of simply reaching in, he entered the cage himself and cradled Hisoka as though he was a baby. Still, Hisoka didn't wake up.
"Hey… wake up… It's me…", Tsuzuki whispered.
At that, Hisoka's eyes snapped open and he stared at Tsuzuki for the longest time before realizing that it wasn't a dream.
"Tsu…? What are doing here? What time is it? What's going on?" Hisoka mumbled while sleepily rubbing his eyes.
Tsuzuki just smiled and said "Don't worry,… You'll see. Now come on. Get up. We have until midnight tonight to do whatever we want. Outside this zoo, Hisoka. Away from this cage, the crowds and everything. It'll just be the two of us."
"H-huh?" Hisoka was confused but obeyed anyway.
Tsuzuki helped Hisoka out of his cage and the boy stretched his legs for the first time in such a long time that he had lost track of time. He had a little trouble when he tried to stand but Tsuzuki helped him every step of the way until they were out if the zoo.
They made their way to Tsuzuki's apartment so that Hisoka could change. He hadn't done so many things in such a long time that he had forgotten how to do them. Tsuzuki had to help him very often in doing things such as putting on clothes and such (he's been wearing the same rags since who knows when).
A few minutes later, they left the apartment and Tsuzuki led them to a hill covered with beautiful sakura trees. They sat under one and Tsuzuki wrapped his arms around Hisoka and made sure he was comfortable before asking him to turn his gaze to the area he pointed at.
Almost as soon as he told him to do so, Hisoka's eyes widened in fascination as he saw the sun rise in the distance. He hadn't seen anything so nice for such a long time. Tsuzuki simply chuckled when he saw Hisoka's dumbstruck expression.
"Tsu… It's so… pretty…"
"Not as pretty as you," Tsuzuki replied hugging him tightly as the boy smiled, blushing slightly. "Come on, Hisoka. There's so much more I want to show you today."
So they got up and walked around Tokyo, smelling the fresh morning air and watching people open their shops. Hisoka thought that he needed another few pairs of eyes to catch everything in one go. Of course, for other people, it would be nothing more than a normal everyday sight. For Hisoka however, it was like being in a whole new country, a new world that he'd never dreamed of.
"Hisoka… you hungry?" Tsuzuki's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"H-huh? Uh… um.. okay." Hisoka hardly ate but didn't want to spoil Tsuzuki's good, cheerful mood, so he said nothing as he was led into a local café and bought him more food than he ever had in the past month.
All this for breakfast? How on Earth am I supposed to finish this all by myself? But I don't want to upset him. He's been so nice to me… oh well, I'll try to eat as much as I can.
So he tried, and found the food tasty. But since he was so used to eating almost nothing all the time, he couldn't eat more than a few bites. This caught Tsuzuki's eye and made him slightly concerned.
"Soka? What's wrong" he inquired.
"Um… well, I'm not used to seeing this much food at one time. I don't usually eat more than a few bites."
"Oh… I see." Tsuzuki felt angry that Hisoka hadn't been treated any better than his show times. He was mistreated all the time. "Well, let me help you finish. We've still got lots more to see today. I'm gonna make sure you enjoy yourself today" and he smiled.
Hisoka smiled as he watched his friend gobble up all the food placed on the table, even his. "Don't worry. I already am."
A/N : This chapter ended up longer than I wanted… so I'm breaking it up into two parts. The second part will be in the next chapter. My friend's scolding me for not trying to prolong this story… -- well… it might be long now…
What did you think of this chapter? And could someone tell me exactly which part in this story sounds like 'Phantom of the Opera'? I can't get it at all….
