Er . . . apparently something happened and I loaded the wrong chapter here . . . thank you Kagome-reincarnation for telling me. It's fixed now.
Yay! Another chapter. I again want to thank you all for your support. . . . . I don't know what else to say without sounding like a broken record. On with the chapter.
The two of them were working in Tatsumi's office when the phone rang. Watari's concentration was completely shattered so he took to listening in on the conversation. It wouldn't promise to be entertaining since this was Tatsumi, but it would be a welcome distraction from the mountains of paperwork. He was already formulating the plan to slip something into Hisoka or Tsuzuki's coffee the next time they were in.
"Tsuzuki?" Watari's eyebrows rose. Maybe this would be an interesting conversation after all. Tsuzuki always promised entertainment. "Calm down, Tsuzuki what about Kurosaki-kun?" Scratch the earlier comments. Watari was worried now. "He just disappeared?" There was a pause as Tatsumi waited for Tsuzuki to finish. "Alright. I'll be right over. Wait until we get there to go searching." Watari jumped up and sent the secretary a hard glare. "Excuse me, Watari-san and I will be right over." With that he hung up the phone. Tatsumi walked over to the scientist, set a hand on his shoulder and they were in the hotel room in the next second. Tsuzuki had just set down the phone and looked up at them. Watari gave him a small smile
"Tatsumi and I'll hold down the fort while you go searching for Bon." Tsuzuki gave them both a grateful smile. Tatsumi pushed his glasses further up his nose.
"Call us when you find him." Tsuzuki gave them a quick nod before dashing out of the room. Tatsumi closed the door with a sigh and pushed his glasses up again. They were all worried about Hisoka and why he had suddenly run off. Tsuzuki hadn't had the patience to explain the details of what had happened.
"Maybe Motoko-chan can explain what happened." Watari said absently and he held 003 in his hands. The owl had been perched on Tatsumi's shoulder when they had teleported and returned to Watari once Tsuzuki had run out. Tatsumi looked down as he felt a small tug at his pants leg.
"Tatsumi-san, I'm sorry. This is all my fault." Motoko looked up at him with tears falling down her cheeks. "I know you and Tari-san are real busy so you can just go back home. I can take care of myself." Tatsumi let out a sigh and picked up the crying girl. He had never been very good with children, but had picked up this habit from Tsuzuki and right now, despite her chronological age Motoko was a seven-year-old. Watari came over and pat her head.
"We're going to stay here until Bon and Tsuzuki come back. Besides, we're worried about both of you." He gave the girl a bright smile. She sniffed, nodded then turned and let out all of her tears into Tatsumi's shoulder. "Can you tell us what happened?' She nodded into Tatsumi's shoulder, but the tears prevented her explanation. Watari gently pat her back until the tears let up enough for her to speak.
"I wanted to peak into Nii-san's mind. Just a small look, but when I did I got sucked in entirely." She sniffed and hands fisted into Tatsumi's suit jacket. "His whole life, all his secrets, and even a few repressed memories flooded into my mind. He didn't even get into mine to be fair. He disappeared after he found out." The tears came back and she buried her head in Tatsumi's shoulder again.
"I see." Watari said more to himself than anyone in particular. He sent an understanding look to Tatsumi and continued to pat Motoko's back. "Bon isn't mad, Toko-chan. He just has to absorb the information. Tsuzuki will find him and then he'll come back and tell you that he's not mad." Tatsumi rolled his eyes. That wasn't necessarily the truth. It wasn't going to help. She may look like a seven-year-old, but she wasn't that young. Hisoka wasn't about to come back and tell her that he wasn't mad. Hell, half the time not even Tsuzuki could tell when he was mad or not.
"Watari-san." The tone was warning and his eyes narrowed at the scientist. Watari met his gaze and stared back with determination. He wasn't going to take it back or tell her the truth because she just needed comfort right now. The girl fell asleep still crying into Tatsumi's shoulder. They wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't released her death-grip hold on his jacket.
"Let's get her to bed." Watari said leading the way to the bedroom and allowing Tatsumi to continue holding the child. Once Tatsumi set her down on the bed Watari took over in pulling the sheets up to her chin and pushing the hair away from her forehead. "She's really upset."
"She was extremely worried when she found out that Kurosaki-kun was an empath." Tatsumi said as he leaned against the wall. "She asked me to set up a barrier in her mind that would keep him out if her shields ever failed." Watari raised an eyebrow and looked over at the secretary. "If Kurosaki-kun's empathy ever picked up on any of Narita-chan's inner emotions they would overload his senses." He pushed his glasses up again. "That was how she had explained it to me."
"That makes sense." It was Tatsumi's turn to raise an eyebrow. "She is the only shinigami younger than Bon and even he's a bit too young to be a shinigami. His life sucked butt. Think about it, Tatsumi. She was seven. What kind of seven-year-old demands to become a shinigami?" He let out a sigh and stood next to the secretary. "Does anyone really know what happened to her?" Tatsumi pushed his glasses further up on his nose.
"Her file has been sealed and only someone with the highest clearance can get it." Watari sighed and ran a hand through his long hair. "Tsuzuki is the only one I am sure knows, but that was only because he was the one who worked her case. His partner has passed on since and I had not come yet." Watari jumped up in front of the secretary. If this sudden movement caught the secretary off guard no one would have noticed.
"She was a case? Isn't there some kind of rule that says if they are a case they can't become a shinigami?" Tatsumi covered a sigh by pushing up his glasses. He did, however, roll his eyes.
"It is not a rule or regulation, but more of a suggested policy. Those who were cases tend to cause more problems as shinigami than even Tsuzuki himself. I believe something happened in the past that put this policy into effect." Watari thought for a second and his eyes moved to look at the girl sleeping on the bed. "Narita-chan is an extremely strong telepath and her mental shields protect her from possession. Those talents probably caused the policy to be overlooked."
"I don't know." Watari's voice sounded far away as he considered the explanation. "I just can't help, but think it had something to do with her life. I mean, seven years old . . ." He turned his gaze back to Tatsumi. "Not even the King of Hell is that cruel as to make a seven-year-old kill people for sixty years."
"If you are unsatisfied with my answer, Watari-san, I cannot do any more. Her file is sealed, only Tsuzuki seems to know anything and I am sure that she does not wish to tell us. If you do not like it then keep your ponderings to yourself." Tatsumi said with a sigh. Watari glared at him lightly.
"I'm not trying to squeeze you for information, Tatsumi. I was just trying to hold an intelligent conversation with you." He scolded the secretary lightly by swatting at his arm. Tatsumi raised an eyebrow at this gesture. "Lighten up. I know you're worried about Bon and Tsuzuki, but they will be fine. If anyone would know where Bon is hiding it would be Tsuzuki." He set a hand carefully on the secretary's shoulder. "If they don't call soon I'll stay here with Motoko-chan and you can go out looking for them. Sound good?" He gave Tatsumi his brightest smile.
"Fine." Tatsumi sounded almost like a stubborn child causing Watari to smile even brighter. "We should have brought some of that paperwork with us. It is a waste of time just to sit here and wait for them to come." Watari face-faulted and looked up at the man from his place on the floor.
"You, my friend, are a workaholic. Don't think I don't notice what times you leave the office." He stood up and waved his finger in front of Tatsumi's face. "You stay waaay too late and come in waaay too early. I've been on Konoe-kacho's case about forcing you to take some vacation time, but the man has no spine when it comes to you." Tatsumi raised an eyebrow.
"I do not need a vacation. The hours I work are just fine for me." His eyes narrowed slightly. "If you wish to admonish me for the amount of work I do maybe you should cut down on the laboratory expenses. Three explosions a week is very expensive, Watari-san and involves several forms that must be filled out, reviewed, signed, reviewed again, then sent back in." Watari smiled.
"Right. We made a deal that I would work on that, but that is not what I am talking about. I mean the hours you work. You come in at five every morning and there are nights that you do not leave until two or three. Tatsumi, that is unhealthy. I don't know how you can manage to work so much without having a nervous breakdown or falling asleep at your desk." He put his hands on his hips and glared. "If you don't start taking better care of yourself I will have to get involved. That means that I will be barging into your office to drag you to a lunch break and then later on to get you to get home." After the speak Tatsumi simply raised an eyebrow.
"What makes you think you will succeed in doing any such thing?" The threat was hidden under the words and in the slight ripple of the shadows in the room. Watari, however, was unaffected.
"I have my ways, Tatsumi. You will start taking better care of yourself or I will start taking care of you." There was an awkward silence as the two stared at each other. It was a staring contest of wills with neither willing to give in. Neither of them moved and neither had any idea of how long they stared. Their contest ended only when they heard the telephone ring.
Next chapter will be Tsuzuki looking for Hisoka. Please keep reviewing. I'll keep writing if I keep getting feedback. I like hearing what people think. Constructive criticism is adored. bows Arigatou gozaimasu.