A/N: Thanks to those who left a review! I really appreciate it. Also, I have to admit that I feel guilty about the horrible and thinly concealed literary reference that is Adrian's name, even though no one's caught me. I also realized maybe I should have warned that there is an OC involved, but he's only really a secondary figure in the story to the canon characters—I tried to treat him like the characters that appear in the arcs of the manga, actually, to give the case a similar feel. I hope that comes off somewhat. Thanks to all readers, and my beta as always!

A Staircase in the Darkness

Chapter Three

It was loud in the restaurant, but not overwhelmingly so. The effect was actually oddly warming, the bustle of the employees and the cheerful chatter of the customers filling the air. It still made Hisoka a little nauseous, but he thought that if he didn't have his empathy, it might have been a good atmosphere for him, too. Tsuzuki seemed to be enjoying it, although he had stopped chattering a few minutes ago. The food had yet to arrive, but the waitress had only just taken their orders, so that wasn't such a surprise when the place seemed busy. Tsuzuki generally only went quiet either when the food had taken too long in arriving, or when there was something he really wanted to say, but he was debating it.

Hisoka very nearly blurted 'out with it,' but decided it would be better not to. Instead, he opted for giving a pointedly quizzical look.

"Is something the matter, Hisoka?" Concern immediately leapt into his eyes, his mouth a thin line of worry.

Sighing, Hisoka adjusted the placement of his napkin on the table absently, just so he wouldn't have to look. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

"I was just… thinking," Tsuzuki paused, and Hisoka fervently hoped he wasn't going to try and claim that he had been contemplating how the dessert would taste. He would definitely end up throwing something at him for that one (although he had been doing that significantly less often as of late).

"About…?" Hisoka resorted to the reminder after a moment had passed, trying not to just sound irritated. This was his chance to show Tsuzuki that he should be talking about these things to him.

There was only a brief pause before Tsuzuki settled his chin on his hands, smiling. "You."

That had been about the last answer he'd been expecting. Against his will, his cheeks traitorously grew hot and flushed pink. He idly entertained the notion of knocking his utensils onto the floor, just for the excuse of hiding his face while picking them up. No, that would just make him look like an even bigger fool. "Wha- what?"

Tsuzuki chuckled a little, tilting his head to the side. It was a beautiful sound, but acknowledging that was the last thing Hisoka wanted to do right now. "Of course I think about you! You're my partner, after all. Should I have made up something else?"

Frowning, Hisoka crossed his arms. "…No," he ended up saying, although frankly that's what he would have done if he had been caught in the same situation. He wanted to say a million different things after that, but none of them were willing to come out. He was somehow thankful, because at least half of them were incriminating or at the very least quite embarrassing. It's not like I haven't been thinking about you, too, for example.

"See? You don't need to be embarrassed!"

Refusing to sputter indignantly as his instincts wished to, Hisoka willed his blush to go away. That teasing tone was infuriating. "You should be thinking about the case, instead," he said, stiffly, refusing to meet those eyes.

"Aww, but you know what they say! All work and no play makes life awfully dull!"

"Tsuzuki… that isn't even how the expression goes," he replied in disbelief, voice totally deadpan. Sometimes he wondered if the older man did this just to be cute, or if he was sincerely going senile.

The playful pout that followed seemed to be supporting evidence for his first guess. "You got the point! And I already told you what I thought about the case, anyways."

Hisoka narrowed his eyes. He knew that his suspicions of the (innocent, by his assessment) man they'd met with were not the extent of his feelings on the case. He grunted softly, rolling his eyes. "…I don't even know what there is to think about," he muttered eventually.

Tsuzuki looked surprise at the return to that topic. Maybe he'd expected to avoid having to voice his actual thoughts by giving that answer, but Hisoka wasn't planning on totally dropping it, even if it meant going through more embarrassment. This was the sort of thing they should be able to discuss, he firmly believed. There should be at least that much trust between them.

"Trust me, you have nooo idea then!" Although he was laughing, he looked a little agitated. Hisoka frowned. He didn't want to talk about it? Shouldn't he be the one reluctant about the topic? "I wonder when dinner will get here… I'm starving!"

He was positively asking for the icy glare that those words earned him. Hisoka was half-tempted to call him out on the obvious dodge, but instead he sighed. He couldn't even remember what he'd ordered. This case really had him out of it.

The clock's steady tick was the only sound reverberating around the cramped apartment, and it seemed deafeningly loud. Although he blinked them insistently, the man's eyes felt impossibly dry. The only light that remained on by this time of night was the small lamp overseeing his writing desk, and it felt blinding to him. The notes dashed sporadically about the paper before him seemed to swim. He leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath.

He'd only penciled in roughly two notes since that evening. Excitement still coursed through his veins; each thought that came to him somehow returned to those visitors he'd had. Everything had been just as he'd been told, from their appearances to what they'd wanted to know. The whole story must have been true, every word that man had told him. Adrian smiled, lips stretched thin over his teeth. He pulled his hand into a fist before unfurling it, imagining the nerves across his skin alight with the sensation of her hand within them. It shouldn't be long, at this rate…

It ended up not being until the next morning that they arrived at the previous victim's apartment, which was fortunately still vacant, at the very least. It had been mostly emptied out, however, and there wasn't much to look for. Some of the personal assets were still left behind, packaged in cardboard boxes in one corner of the room, waiting to be taken by family members. Only the really valued things had been taken as of yet.

Hisoka was feeling irritated, to say the least, after last night. Tsuzuki had delayed throughout dinner, and then attempted to bargain with the waitress, arguing that his apple pie really should be complimentary, or at the very least discounted. The girl had been surprisingly no-nonsense about the whole affair, however, and had not relented even through the puppy eyes treatment. Hisoka had quietly applauded her for the feat, although he mostly just really wanted to move on with the investigation already. By the time they had paid and left, Tsuzuki had convinced him that there would no longer be any advantage to going that night, rather than the morning. He'd been reluctant, if tired and with a giant headache, but agreed to hold off.

Despite all that, Tsuzuki had the gall to step in with a smile, happily pointing out that at least there was still something for them to investigate. Hisoka had delegated him to picking apart the cardboard boxes as punishment, while he went down the small hallway to look into the side rooms.

To his surprise, there was still a calendar left hanging on the wall. There really… shouldn't have been, from his understanding of what the man's family had done in the wake of his death; it should either have been packed up or taken, to be kept in his memory. Something was off here. Gingerly lifting it from the nail holding it up, he scanned the page for this month. It took a moment to decipher, but there were notes on a few days marking when he'd seen a doctor, or gone to an event. And the very last note he'd made, was… Hisoka's eyes widened.

Just as he'd closed the calendar and tucked it under his arm, prepared to go show it to his partner, he heard distinctive footsteps approaching. Tsuzuki must have found something, too.

"Hisoka," he said as he came into sight, "Look at this."

Brows furrowed, Hisoka examined the object outreached to him. It was a jewel case, with a white CD inside. He hardly had to even read the characters written on it to guess what they said. Performed by Adrian Mann.

"That's…" he muttered, hand drawn to his chin as he thought, but he ended up unable to think of a conclusion. Did it even mean anything? Perhaps the man was an upcoming name in the music world. He wouldn't be surprised, with those skills.

"It's too much to be a coincidence," Tsuzuki asserted, voice firm. "He's definitely involved in this case somehow."

Hisoka bit his lip gently. "I don't think we can say that for sure," he replied, still in thought. "It only makes sense that they'd both have his CDs, if they were involved in the local music circles."

His partner wasn't convinced, he could tell that much. He seemed oddly insistent on involving this man, but even the second piece of evidence just couldn't move Hisoka away from his certainty that Adrian Mann had no hand in this, was just a bystander.

"Anyway," he said, deciding that they could argue about this more later if needed, "I found something, too." He held the calendar out to Tsuzuki, indicating the last note written.

"It's funny that this was left behind," he mused as he looked quizzically at the date Hisoka was pointing to. "But what's up with that one? He went to a concert that day…?"

"Tatsuya Akira had written in his daily planner that he attended the very same concert," Hisoka remarked as he closed the calendar again. "Isn't that, also, too odd to be a coincidence?"

Tsuzuki looked like he wanted to say something, but chose not to. "You're right. We should check out that concert hall, then," he replied after a moment's silence. Hisoka guessed he still wanted to follow up on the lead with the CDs, but he ended up just quietly pocketing the jewel case.

"Was there anything else in those boxes?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Tsuzuki hummed. "Just a lot of classical music CDs, and some books. Nothing he'd written himself, though, or anything suspicious."

Hisoka nodded. It made sense; and two suspicious articles was already more than he'd been expecting to find. The rest of the place was almost completely bare, the carpets rolled up and shoved into corners. Soon enough someone else might move in, once everyone had entirely forgotten what had happened in the apartment.

The ceiling looked just the same as it did yesterday, but Hisoka found himself staring at it anyways. It wasn't a particularly special ceiling, just one of those white-washed plaster ones. It didn't even have those randomly dispersed punctures to decorate it. It was kind of maddening to look at, actually, and he turned his head to the side, but he just ended up looking at Tsuzuki when he did that. While that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it wasn't something he particularly wanted to get used to. Looking at Tsuzuki made him think about things that he shouldn't be, especially not while they were working, and most definitely not while he was supposed to be irked with him.

He was more irked with himself right now, though. He had been the one insisting that the concert hall was a lead for the case, not the CD. And it could have been a lead, if said hall hadn't been one of the largest in Fukuoka, the Symphony Hall. There had been well over one thousand people at that concert. For two classical music enthusiasts to have both attended wasn't surprising, nevermind suspicious. He sighed, nuzzling his cheek farther into the mattress before he realized what he was doing. Tsuzuki was looking at him oddly, so he lethargically sat up, suddenly embarrassed.

"Hisoka," he said, nervousness practically emanating from him. It was funny how sometimes the man was so transparent, and other times he was so impossibly confusing that not even Hisoka's empathy could decipher him. "I…"

Uncomfortable, Hisoka stiffened where he now sat, fortunately at an angle that didn't force him to meet his partner's eyes. There were a lot of things he might be wanting to say right now, and he wasn't sure how many of them he wanted to hear. "You…?" he ended up pushing after it was obvious the other had fallen into silence, contemplating whether or not to speak. In the end, it would be better to hear.

"No, nevermind." His smile was tight and controlled as he shook his head, eyes shut. It just looked sad. Hisoka glared at him full-force. Now this, this was not fair.

"You can't tell me… even now?" It was hard to keep his voice from trembling. The words simply didn't want to leave his throat, awkward and heavy as they felt. Even if he insistently put his trust into his partner (it took great effort at times, to remind himself that this was Tsuzuki, and he could trust him), opening himself up to something that could hurt felt so unnatural. Reluctantly, he met Tsuzuki's eyes. He looked surprised. Those eyes softened in understanding, looking impossibly gentle, yet tormented at the same time. Hisoka knew all too well that trust wasn't simple, but why couldn't Tsuzuki understand that he would prefer to be hurt by the truth, to share a burden, no matter how heavy, if it was from him?

"It's not… that," his voice was quiet, all too quiet in the total silence. "It's just… not a good time. I shouldn't have said anything."

Hurt shone in Hisoka's eyes. He had to look away. Tsuzuki should have known that didn't matter. It wasn't like he himself hadn't practically confessed his love while they were both about to die; talk about horrible timing. "Whatever, then," he muttered, getting up and walking to the small table in the center of their room. His fingers traced the paper there, which had been crumpled in frustration on the way back. It was in his own handwriting, detailing how to get to the concert hall. He sighed. There was a convoluted mess of emotion pushing at him from his partner's direction, and it ached.

Hisoka could already feel the apology hanging in the air with unexpected clarity, but he didn't want to hear it. "We should get moving on with the investigation," he interrupted preemptively, voice quiet and not as biting as he wanted it to sound. He just sounded tired and sad; pathetic.

A strangled sigh was the only reply he got, as several moments passed. At last Tsuzuki broke the silence, sounding thoroughly remorseful. "I guess our next step would be…" Both of them were contemplating it, troubled with the lack of evidence leading them anywhere. Tsuzuki was tempted to mention the pianist again, but he decided not to test his luck again; making things even worse between them after such a tense moment was the last thing he needed.

"Are there spells that can…" Hisoka looked uneasy as he spoke, "control people's emotions?"

Tsuzuki's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Not that a human would be able to cast," he replied, eyes cast upward as he considered. "If a demon were involved… a high level one could certainly manipulate people that way."

Frowning, Hisoka turned back towards his partner again at last, leaning back with the table as support. That was a disturbing thought, to say the least. He hummed, contemplating the possibility. Nothing about the scene had implied a demonic presence, but that didn't rule out the possibility.

There was concern in Tsuzuki's eyes again. The idea seemed to trouble him, too. "Why do you ask, though?"

Arms crossed uneasily over his stomach, the younger shinigami trained his eyes on the carpet. "When we went to Tatsuya's apartment, I could feel the remnants of what he'd been experiencing," he tried to say it matter-of-factly, but he almost shivered at the memory. "It must have been almost impossibly strong to leave an impression behind for so long… It just doesn't fit in with how his life had been going."

His partner nodded, mouth downturned in sympathy and concern. "It might be," he said quietly. "It would explain how all the suicide methods were similar. But a demon wouldn't just go about doing this on his own… It's a violation of the treaty with Enmachou, unless…"

"Unless they're under contract?"

"Exactly," Tsuzuki bit his lip idly. If Hisoka was right, this case would be getting very complicated, very quickly. "Although it's hard to imagine what sort of contract would entail this sort of fulfillment…"

"It must have something to do with music," Hisoka mused. "That's the most obvious connection between the victims so far. Perhaps some sort of grudge, or jealousy, from another musician?"

"That would make sense," the older shinigami replied, nodding. "Too bad we don't have anything to go off of, for the identity of either the demon or the potential contractor."

Hisoka sighed in frustration. No leads meant hours spent attempting to research futile suspicions, with no actual way of affirming anything. This case would, realistically, be at a stalemate until they somehow stumbled across new evidence. He cringed; that would likely require another death. In short, their investigation could not be failing more spectacularly; two days, and they'd gotten nowhere.