Hiiii! Been quite a long time now, hasn't it? I swear it's not my fault! It is all because of the evil evil anime+manga called HunterxHunter. I'm innocent! It lured me into it's trap of watching the anime... and once I started I couldn't stop. So I ended up watching all eh.. 96? episodes, and then I started reading the manga (again). To prove that it's definitely not my fault, I can even blame it on a character! That damn Hisoka! ahh... The sexiness... the hotness... the evilness... I'm drooling just thinking about it. But why, oh why, was he named Hisoka of all names? I bet you can all figure out who I think about when the name Hisoka is mentioned... a certain little brat we all know and ... eh... I was going to say love, but you know... that would be a lie. Either way, that's what I've been up to. Don't kill me for being slow! puppy dog eyes I did warn you it was going to happen sooner or later. But anyway, here is the next chapter for you!

To my dear reviewers, do you actually get the answers I give to each review? I hope so, but well... I don't really trust ;; So if you haven't received any response (and I respond to ALL reviews), please tell me.

And before I start, I should mention that the next chapter can't be expected til like 2 weeks... cause I'm gonna meet some friends who lives in a town 6 hours away... and I'll be there for a week, and then it's my graduation and my friend will be here... so all in all it will add up to approx. 2 weeks. I'm not saying it's impossible that there will be an update before that, just don't expect it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yami No Matsuei.

Chapter 4

Pondering and recollection

Some days after Muraki's visit, Tsuzuki found himself handcuffed to the headboard of Tatsumi's bed. It was an interesting experience for him, especially with Watari sleeping next too him, talking loudly in his sleep about owls.

"Nooo… 003…. Not there!"

Tsuzuki found himself wondering, like many times before if there was something seriously wrong with his best friend. He didn't even want to know what Watari was dreaming about. There was also more important issues to think about, he figured. Like the situation he had somehow got himself into. An old and sadistic vampire chasing him… Tsuzuki hadn't been sure how to react to that information when they had told him. And even more so, the fact that he would have to live handcuffed to this bed until they were sure the endorphins had completely dissociated. Tsuzuki sighed. This was the reason to why he did not like monsters… they did bad things. Such as forcing him to lie in a bed all day, handcuffed, no less. It made it quite hard to move, but they didn't want to take the chance that Muraki suddenly visited and got him out of the house, and so, Tatsumi's bed was his current land, and the surrounding room his universe. Sometimes he reached paradise when Tatsumi remembered that he was but a human being and needed to use the bathroom every now and then. As Watari mumbled something about how he wanted to eat unicorn meat, Tsuzuki reached the conclusion that he shouldn't complain. After all, his friends did try to keep him out of Muraki's reach, and he did get both breakfast and dinner on the bed, plus the cakes and deserts Watari smuggled in for him. But it was just so boring! The only thing he had been doing was to think. Think, think, think, think! It was driving him nuts, he really didn't have that much to think about in the first place, and now doing nothing else? He sighed again. What had he done to deserve this? Walking into a graveyard during a red full moon. But that wasn't really his fault. It was all because of his blond friend. It really should be him who laid tied to the bed, day out and day in. Stupid majority. He had voted against being tied to a bed all day after hearing Tatsumi's reasoning, but of course everyone else had voted for. They were all sadistic bastards… the one he needed protection from wasn't Muraki, it was them! What was so fearsome about a 1000+ years old vampire anyway? His friends were so much worse.

Some km away, in a fancy apartment, specially prepared for his living, Muraki was also deep in thought. He was usually a calm and calculating person, only moving when it benefited him. But that day had been different… He had been filled with such a need to posses his Tsuzuki that he had acted without thinking. It was so unlike him, he wasn't quite sure what had happened. Especially when he had left for the night. Randomly attacking the first pedestrian he met, sloppily draining his blood and left the corpse lying around. And he was usually so very careful… The blood had gone to his head… Tsuzuki's sweetly delicious essence, Muraki needed more of it. There had been another with such blood, Muraki vaguely recalled. Such a long time ago…

And then he remembered. Around the time when he had just been turned, hot- headed and hungry he had gone to the public baths, looking for a victim. At the time he hadn't been as picky, and anyone's blood worked fine. But as he was leisurely drinking the blood, he had arrived. And Muraki had found himself stunned by the simple beauty and the power. The blood of the intruder had oozed of it. Dropping his victim to the floor, careless about the fact that he was not yet dead, Muraki had captured the other man just as he was about to flee, taking his time slowly devouring his blood. It had been heaven, drinking that blood… just like drinking Tsuzuki's was. At that time, his pleasure had been cut short. His victim escaped and gathered a great mob to chase Muraki out. They had been able to at that time. Nothing but a mere fledgling, taking care of more than two people proved itself to be too great of a challenge for him, and he had escaped. Pushed the humiliating event so far back into his mind that he hadn't been able to remember it. Until now. Until he got a taste of Tsuzuki's blood and it's taste triggered the memory within him to rise to the surface. Such a taste… He wasn't going to let it go this time. This time it was going to be his, completely and utterly. Alone in the finely furnished room, Muraki smirked.

It had already been a week. Hisoka was getting impatient. He had been patrolling every day, taking special care to snoop around Tatsumi's small house. He was waiting for Muraki. The next time they fought, he was going to win. There was no way he could let that bastard escape from him one more time! He was not going to be toyed with anymore. At least that's what he had decided. Tatsumi was quite sure he wasn't going to succeed very well. He had seen the fight, and as much as he hated to admit it, Hisoka wasn't strong enough to handle Muraki yet. Some serious training was in order first, but the kid kept sneaking out before Tatsumi had a chance to inform him about it. He knew it was on purpose, Hisoka didn't think he needed to train, evidently he figured that as long as he found Muraki it was enough. The naiveté of youth. Even though Tatsumi thought so, also he was worried about Muraki's long absence. The other man must know that he could easily beat them all, but yet he didn't make his move. It must mean that when the hit actually came, they would be in trouble. Or perhaps he simply wanted them to relax and so be unprepared for the next attack. It did seem to be a quite useful tactics when it came to Watari and Tsuzuki. The latter had been released from the confinement of the bed and handcuffs after Watari took a blood sample and examined it for strange endorphins. There didn't seem to be any, so Tatsumi had finally given in and let Tsuzuki go to work again. There was, however, conditions. He was never to be left alone, with preferably Tatsumi or Hisoka. Watari's protection skills were highly doubted, despite his claims that he had plenty of useful inventions that would protect them from vampires. His portable "house" was one of them. The only problem was that it was just a normal tent and it wasn't protected by the old law, and even if it had been there wouldn't have been enough time to set it up once Muraki came to get what he considered his. But so far there hadn't been any trouble, and the two best friends really seemed to believe that Tsuzuki was safe and that Muraki had given up. From Tatsumi's point of view, that was being naïve. Muraki would return, he just wasn't sure when.

'

Hohoho. Shorter chapter then usual. My apologies. This is a bit of a small intermission (or whatever it's called;;) that needed to come for the story to move on. Not much action here, but you get to see what some of the characters think. Always something?:)

And I just want to point out a funny thing I noticed. It's about reviews. That is, for each chapter, the number of reviews I've got has increased by one. 1'st chapter 2, 2'nd chapter 3, 3'rd chapter 4. And this is despite the third chapter lying out there with no new updates for ages... Do I sense a pattern here? Maybe. let's see if we can keep it going, shall we? Or possibly prove me wrong by getting more than 5 reviews for this chap? That being said, please review? sweet smile

(hahaha, my authors notes are almost half the lenght of the chapterXD)