Wandering Aimlessly
.nine.
Okay, I've already told you this and all, but this chapter is actually a compilation of chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12!! Zohmehgash!! Any-dang-way, don't think that means this chapter is going to be ridiculous long, either, it only means it's going to be weird and containing much more information than it should. What do I mean by weird? I mean I'm going to be injecting very strange things in very strange places. For example: Hamaru wasn't going to be in this chapter or the next. You'll see when you get there. Anyway, I hope you don't mind since I'm only doing it for the romance and fluff to get here faster. I mean, technically, that's all your reading this for, ne?
Oh, and the beginning… where Muraki says "VICTORY…" I couldn't help it. Sorry.
I need to make a stronger freakin' plan for this story… Ahahaha…
Oh, I guess there is one more thing. Muraki talks about what he said in Tsuzuki's dream (beginning of volume 5) and he shouldn't know about that. Besides, it was a dream, he didn't really say it. I'm pretending he did say it. Get over it. I don't feel like going through 11 volumes of manga to find direct creepy Muraki quotes.
I said get over it! Don't make me try to steal NaPap's three-headed Hydra so I can sic it on you! Seriously… it'll eat me alive and then you guys will never know what happens next.
Lastly, there is something that I think needs to happen for me to want to continue writing this. I don't know if anyone (besides you, Thorn) cares, but I want to change it to OriTari instead of TaTari. Does anyone else care?
DISCLAIMER
I don't own Descendants of Darkness/Yami no Matsuei. Darn.
EXCHANGE
Amagumo: Someone is going to have to say something sometime.
All: …
Watari: -sticks tongue out indignantly-
Tatsumi: -strangles Hira in Watari's absence-
Amagumo: -swats Tatsumi with a newspaper- No, Tatsumi! Bad!
Watari: -grabs newspaper and hits Tatsumi with it-
Hira: -unconsciousness-
Tatsumi: -twitch-
Muraki: -fury at stupidity of all of this-
Tsuzuki: -reading girly magazine-
Amagumo: Okay, this is ridiculous. I'm starting the chapter!
.Muraki Kazutaka.
"Because I like Muraki."
Oh.
…
VICTORY!
"I see," Mr. Tatsumi said, casually pushing his glasses up his nose, "I think I know what you mean, Asato."
All three of us flinched at his usage of Tsuzuki's given name. For me, it came off as a challenge, but I was too blinded by my elation and triumph at the moment to be concerned about anyone other than myself. As carefully as one could, I walked over to Tsuzuki and cradled his cheek in the palm of my hand. He returned my endearing stare, but a little too disdainfully. Quickly, but not without gently stroking the entire length of his beautiful face, I removed my hand and turned around. I didn't want to freak him out again and have him change his mind about liking me, "Yes, well, I don't know if this explains all of the questions I have."
Tsuzuki said he liked me. I assumed he might stab himself for something like that since he considered it so evil and sinful and whatnot. However, his liking me did not explain what he called me or his earlier behavior in the least. Why he called me "Mr. Muraki" and… something else. I couldn't remember. I hadn't been my frightfully aware self in the car tonight.
Watari nodded, and turned to the blushing, purple-eyed Shinigami, "So, Tsuzuki? Do you know what that was about? Were you freaked out or something?" Mr. Watari was ready to be over and done with this. I think that normally he wouldn't just fly right through this without any deeper investigation. But who was I to say the way any of them were acting was strange? I had known them but a year, and not well at that. I had certainly gotten to know Tsuzuki, however, and I was fully aware of the strange way he was behaving earlier. I was able to see that it was just blatantly… incorrect.
"What are you talking about?" Tsuzuki said, honestly confused.
"Muraki said you were acting strangely," Tatsumi said stiffly, obviously displeased in the turn of things.
"I don't think I know what he's talking about," he said, eyeing me crossly, "Unless he means I wasn't as annoyed as usual."
"That is not what I meant," I countered sharply, "Tsuzuki, you had taken to calling me 'Mr. Muraki.' You hadn't even called me that when we first met. You were in there giggling like a stupid schoolgirl with a crush! And do you know how I snapped you out of it all? Another kiss. This is raising plenty of questions, none which have been answered. I wonder if you might explain yourself?"
He only stared at me, trying, it seemed, to recall exactly what it was he had done. It did not seem that he was successful. He looked up at me again and frowned, "I don't know. I might've been a little freaked out, I guess," he said, giving Watari's under-thought theory credit.
"I don't think that's right," I said, irritated. That couldn't be right. Kissing him initiated the problem, and kissing him ended it. If he was freaked out, kissing him again should have made it worse. Well, I suppose, thinking about it hard enough, kissing him again could've knocked him back to his senses.
"This is going nowhere. Muraki, go home. Tsuzuki, maybe you should stay here with Watari," Tatsumi said, standing up. He truly thought I would listen to him. Just like that.
"I am concerned," I declared, "and I think I need to stay a little longer."
"Unfortunately," Tatsumi's tone rose with his anger, "This is Watari's house, and that choice belongs solely to him."
Watari, not wanting any responsibility, looked to Tsuzuki for his input. To my utter delight, my purple-eyed love said, "I should talk to him," and came to me himself, and led me out of the place. I looked over my shoulder at the last minute to see Tatsumi pushing his glasses up again in his sign of defeat, and Watari… he winked at me. I almost winked back, but I think such camaraderie needed to wait for a little while longer.
"What did you wish to talk about, Tsuzuki?" I said, leading him to my car. I opened the passenger's side up for him, but he moved to the other side and sat in the driver's seat. Wordlessly, I handed him the keys and he took them, as though it was completely normal for me to do so.
"I remember you acting strangely, too, Muraki," He said, staring the car, "You called me something that you'd never called me before, and you were nervous. It was… all I can say was you were acting strangely."
I had been uncharacteristically upset during that whole event, but I had believed it somewhat justified before. Apparently it was not.
"So you can remember what I was doing, but not what you were doing."
Tsuzuki looked at me quizzically, as before, "I wasn't doing anything! I was just sitting there!" He really didn't remember. We'd had something of a conversation not ten minutes ago and he couldn't even remember speaking, only me speaking to him. How strange that must've seemed.
"I swear you spoke," I said, concerned that I had been hallucinating or something. This wasn't a dream. Dreams were never so vivid and full of true things and feelings. This was not a dream. Impossible.
"We're going to have to wait, then," Tsuzuki said, pulling out of the parking lot, "Wait to see what's going on."
It was at this lovely moment that something rammed into my car. The first thing I did was look at Tsuzuki, who was equally as confused as I was. We both checked the back window to see if we had hit was a spontaneously appearing pole, but that did not seem to be it either. When we turned back to the front of the car, we saw that something was certainly amiss.
Black something or other rolled down the window shield like extra thick syrup. It smelled hot, like something burning, and was beginning to seep in through the windows to pool at the bottom of the car. It moved quickly despite it's high viscosity. I didn't know what it was going to do, and neither of us really seemed to care, we just knew we wanted away from the fetid gunk. Tsuzuki stopped the car and, rather calmly, removed himself from the vehicle. I tried to follow suit but my own door was glued shut by the viscous fluid. I maneuvered across to the driver's side and vaulted myself out of the car just as the door was slammed shut by some invisible force.
I had to say, neither of us seemed particularly rattled or surprised by this development. At the time, we did not suspect that it had anything to do with our personality damage, but it was something we felt we needed to investigate. Obviously. Regardless of whether or not it disturbed us, it was not a natural occurrence. Not even in Meifu.
We watched my car as it steamed and hissed under the apparently acidic content of the substance and it shrunk away slowly. When only the sticky black goo was left, it closed in on itself as if going down a drain. We watched the road for a moment, then, as we were about to engage in a insightful conversation and question more of our night, we heard a crash. An explosion followed. We did not hear it to any of our sides. We did not see anything either. We only felt a rumble beneath our feet and a slight glow where the car had melted away. Had it fallen somewhere? Maybe it hadn't melted at all…
"What's trying to kill us?" Tsuzuki said, slightly perturbed.
"I must say that I do not now, dearest."
He sniffed at the term of endearment that I had recently taken to, "I don't-"
And then something erupted in front of us. We couldn't really see what it was, but it smelled like even hotter than the goo, and it was blacker than the night. It spouted from the same spot, of course, and fell to the ground in front of us. After picking itself up, this living development became visible and bowed, "Were you not ready for our call, Lord?"
I looked at it and wrinkled my nose in disgust. I wasn't sure what kind of demon it was, for I had never seen one before, but it was a demon nonetheless. It was truly one of the most disgusting things I had ever smelt. Like burning flesh. It appeared, however, fairly normal. A human appearance overall with slanted eyes and sharp features. This included a nearly pointed nose and slightly triangular ears. It's teeth were obviously inhuman, but this was only on the higher planes of sight, which normal humans couldn't engage in. Little, white shark's teeth poked from the demon's maw, glistening threateningly as he smirked. His hair shone in the very small amount of moonlight there was, and appeared to be the same color as the moon itself. It was of a medium length, and tied back by a feminine, maroon ribbon. It wore ridiculous, archaic robes that you might see on the figure of a samurai lord from the distant past. The colours were vibrant, but barely discernable in the dim lighting. I would have to say they appeared to be gray and yellow in this light. His eyes glowed amber.
"Who are you?" Tsuzuki said, finally beginning to freak out.
At hearing this voice, the thing looked up and the corner of it's mouth twitched into some sort of crooked smile, "Ah… I see," he said, clearing some sort of turmoil up for himself, "Then you will need some assistance, my lord," He bowed again, deeper, still smiling his very annoying smile.
"Assistance in what?" Tsuzuki said, appointing himself as this demon's lord.
"My name is Hamaru, my great lord. Expect to see me in the future," He bowed deeper.
"Do not leave!" Tsuzuki snapped. He had took the role as 'lord' and was already playing it.
Hamaru listened, seemingly unable to do anything differently, "Lord?" He looked at both Tsuzuki and I when he spoke. When he bowed, he bowed twice. Once to each of us.
"Explain your loyalty to me. What am I lord of?" Tsuzuki asked this, and seemed to expect some sort of answer.
Hamaru bowed until his forehead was pressed to the ground, "Forgive me Lord, but I cannot. You may or may not recall, but many years ago you had me placed under a constricting order not to tell you this until the reunion. You shall be brought back to us soon, my lord. I must be going," the demon then stood straight and turned to me, "Great Lord," he spoke to me the same as he had to Tsuzuki, "I do hope to see you reunited soon."
Yes, of course.
What?
I must say, I was not used to being so confused and I certainly did not like it. I preferred being on top and in control of the situation.
"Hamaru," I spoke stiffly, and he listened intently, as I had expected, "Why did you just take my car?"
He smiled at me, flashy, sharp, white teeth gleaming demonically, "We're waiting for you in your realm, Lord. We thought you might be ready for the call. We shall return your car to you," he bowed and gestured to the side and the road bubbled venomously. My car rose from the goo, completely unscathed.
"Lord, might you take on your reunion now?" Hamaru was still smiling since he knew something we didn't know.
Tsuzuki said, "Yes!"
"No! Not without knowing what it is," I said.
"You will never know, Muraki Kazutaka," Hamaru said creepily, "But it can wait. Great Lord, I have something to attend to, I must depart," he bowed backwards, into the mess of goo, but did not disappear. Surprised, he looked up at Tsuzuki, hearing unspoken words, "You still wish to speak to me?"
Tsuzuki nodded, surprised as well, "I was wondering how I could summon you, Hamaru."
"You cannot, Tsuzuki Asato. I can only be summoned by the great lord," Hamaru's grin was malicious, teasing.
Thinking I had a little something figured out, I stepped forward, "How might I summonyou, Hamaru?"
His grin widened. I wanted to punch his pointy little teeth out, "You cannot, Muraki Kazutaka. I can only be summoned by the great lord," and he slipped through the ground to wherever it was he was going.
"Who the hell is the great lord, then!?" Tsuzuki fumed.
I was equally distressed, "I do not know. He called me great lord twice, but only denied it at the end. Part of it must be a lie."
Tsuzuki tossed me the car keys and got into the passenger's seat, "Take us to your house," he demanded.
I obliged blithely, revving the engine and taking off down the street as if we had something to escape. That was utterly ridiculous. I had much better things to think about right now but I couldn't get that ass Hamaru out of my head. Why was he an ass? Because he'd ruined my entire day, that's why. Not Tsuzuki's earlier MPD actions. Hamaru had.
"I want to…"
I turned to Tsuzuki instantly, caring much more about what he had to say than the whining in my head, "Hm?"
"I want to try and make the rest of this night normal. I mean, as normal as date with you can get." I was very happy to hear this from him. Except for that last part, maybe. That wasn't nearly as enamoring…
"I agree. I'll cook us some dinner and we can talk about Mikosei some more," I didn't want to talk about Mikosei, but it was the only reason Tsuzuki had even agreed to come with me. I needed to let him know I remembered that.
Tsuzuki shook his head like a frustrated child, "No, I don't want to talk about Mikosei… or… Hamaru. I want to just talk," I had never heard such an urge come from those lips and I was not about to start complaining about it.
"Of course, Mr. Tsuzuki. It is a nice idea."
"You don't call the person you're dating 'Mr.,'" Tsuzuki muttered, apparently disappointed in my return to formalities. I hadn't done it to my will, I was just afraid of Not-Tsuzuki Tsuzuki to come back. I didn't want that at all.
"Tsuzuki then. I am more than happy to call you 'Tsuzuki,'" I said, smiling a little and taking a left turn. I had to say, I was getting excited, like I had been earlier. It was a little foolish, because whatever we ended up doing at my place certainly had the potential of ending the same way that the colorful sky place had.
And the rest of the not-so-long drive was absolutely silent, sans Tsuzuki's occasional, forlorn sighs. They were actually kind of obnoxious and very annoying. They said, Say something Muraki, I'm bored and you're a terrible host to my company. And then he always jerked to look out the side window after he sighed to add, Bastard.
What was I supposed to say that I hadn't already? You look nice, Mr. Tsuzuki… I love you Mr. Tsuzuki… Marry me, Mr. Tsuzuki… Then I'll adopt you, Mr. Tsuzuki… There was only one other thing that I wanted and hadn't really said. It would be kind of dangerous to say now.
I want to fuck you hard into the sheets, Mr. Tsuzuki.
I don't think the rest of the night would go well at all if I were to blurt that one out.
Well, I mean, I had said that, but in… a nicer way. More… modest. I mean, I only made the implications. Saying it like that, the way I wanted,would scare him off for sure. That isn't my goal… It would have to wait until another time, when it won't scare him off.
So we made it to my lavish mansion and I hoped to the gods that my maid had cleaned up the untidiness from earlier. I tended to mess absently with everything in the house when I was bored, and I was as bored as I had even been earlier when waiting for date-time to come around.
To her fortune, she had cleaned up the place. I took Tsuzuki's coat and hung it beside my own then led him into the kitchen, "So what would you like then, Tsuzuki? I'm pretty sure I have everything…"
My damn cook was gone… I didn't cook. I hadn't cooked for a long time. I went out, or ordered people to cook for me. Well, Oriya had made me do a lot of cooking when I was healing at his house, maybe I could put some of that old knowledge to use here.
"I'm not hungry…" He said quietly, still smoldering.
Goddamnit! That was unfortunate. I was ravenous, "Are you sure? I have cakes, too."
Tsuzuki said, "No."
He turned down cake? Apparently I didn't know him as well as I thought I did, "Well then, would you like to sit down, Tsuzuki?" I said, trying hard to remain genial and in love.
"I guess."
So then what were we going to do? Talk? I don't think we had much to talk about, did we?
I sat down first, patting the spot next to me. He sat down as well, not too far away, either. Pleased, I draped my arm over his shoulders and asked, "I assume the boy is still your partner, then?"
He only nodded. He was going to make conversation hard.
"Tsuzuki, might I remind you that both Mr. Tatsumi and Watari are fairly supportive of this idea?"
He twitched and looked at me, startled. I smiled, not really sure what to say to such an expression.
So I changed the subject, "Do you ever get a vacation? I want to know what your life is like, Tsuzuki."
"I'm dead," he reminded, though he was not angry or cold in the way he said it, "We get a vacation once a year," he remembered something, "Last year we got to go to Hôkaido! Watari and I ate so much crab we almost got sick and Tatsumi actually sang in karaoke with us! And Chief Konoe sang too, but he was annoying people and then we all went to the onsen and their were talking animals that-!" he stopped, seeing the smile I had on my face.
How adorable he was when he wasn't hating me, "Please go on, Tsuzuki."
He didn't go on. He asked, "How come you haven't done that until now?"
I feigned confusion. I didn't know what he was asking about, but I really wasn't surprised that he had stopped, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"That smile. Normally you just kinda… smirked at me. Now you smile."
I still smirked nowadays. Trust me, I still did. I smirked at Mibu the other day when I was threatening to become his best girl's danna. Why had I done that again…? Oh yeah, I wanted an omelet for breakfast but he was serving plain, boring, white rice. Again. It didn't work, but I guess it had been a little over the top…
"I don't have any evil plans to smirk about anymore…" I said absently.
He just stared at me, shocked, "Meaning that every time you smirked at me before you were thinking about taking my head off!?"
Well, when you put it that way it sounds harsh… I smiled at him, making sure he didn't try to worm out of the arm I had around him, "It's not like that anymore, Mr. Tsuzuki. Think of the wonderful future we could have if you could stop thinking about the past…" Seriously! People who held on too tightly to the past would only trip on the future.
"Don't call me that!" I guess he was serious, ne? I really wasn't used to calling him 'Tsuzuki.' I had to work at calling him 'Mr.' before but now he had decided to switch it around.
"I'm sorry, it's habit. Now… the past… are you about to try to let it go?"
He looked away from me and pouted, "It's not that I don't want to, but I… I don't think I can do that. There'll always be reminders of it."
"I suppose that is true, isn't it?" I mused, "Well then, I'll just have to get myself forgiven by Mr. Tatsumi, Watari, and the boy." Maybe I should try to call him 'Kurosaki' or something? I'd probably be accused of insensitivity sooner or later if I didn't.
"I think Watari is the only one of those that's even remotely possible," Tsuzuki muttered angrily. He was probably right, unless Watari and Tsuzuki could work together to convince the other two. Mr. Tatsumi might not forgive me, but I was pretty sure that he would cope with me, if he had to.
"I'll make it work, Tsuzuki," I said, rubbing his shoulder and upper arm reassuringly. This act seem to have some sort of effect on him, and he gave a pathetic, despairing sigh and fell sideways to rest his weight on me.
"Now what of these talking animals?" I said, smiling again.
He up looked at me strangely before remembering his story, and was pitched right back into his happy memories. He spoke of so many things, many which were a little strange and hard to understand. There was a time that I had no arms… there was a time he was a girl in a book in love with Mr. Tatsumi (that story was very confusing for me)… there was a time that he was in a haunted hotel… archery contest… sex-change potions… He had plenty of things to talk about.
Eventually, while on the subject of how frightened Tsuzuki was of ghosts, ghouls, and Watson, he started drifting off and I began to massage his arm again to help get him to sleep. I could've fallen asleep at the very same moment since I was so relaxed, but my hunger distracted me and I had to wait before sleep finally came to me.
When I woke up, only one thing had changed, and it was the first thing that I noticed. Tsuzuki, who had merely been resting his head on my shoulder before, now lay nuzzled into me. He must've woken up and found the lever on the side of the couch that kicked out a foot rest. I'm surprised this hadn't woken me up, but I was much more comfortable than I had been when I fell asleep with his face pressed into my neck and his arms sandwiched between my side and his front. His legs were curved, one resting on top of my own. I wonder if he meant to wake up before I did and make it seem like that hadn't happened.
"Are you awake?" his tiny susurration startled me and I shifted so I could see his face better. He smiled a little, but he looked worried that I would disapprove of our position. I do not know how he could have such a qualm, but I would be letting him know that I was more than okay with this.
All I did was kiss him on the forehead. He didn't stab himself, he didn't start calling me weird things, he didn't cry, he didn't even frown; he smiled. I would chalk that up as a big fat success, "Good morning, dearest," I said, trying to get everything I could out of his sudden excellent disposition.
The 'dearest' made his smile widen and I smiled back at him, "Would you like some breakfast?" I asked, no longer able to ignore the raging famish in my stomach.
He nodded and sighed, "I'll stay for something quick, Muraki, but I should go after that, okay?"
I frowned, "Why do you need to go?"
He frowned even deeper than I did, "Well, first of all, I have work. Second of all, Hisoka is probably really- I really need to talk to him." Not to mention how Watari and Mr. Tatsumi must be feeling since their (my) Tsuzuki hadn't come home the entire night.
I didn't say anything, but slowly shifted out from underneath him and stood up. I was still in those horrible constricting, casual clothes from the night before, and my mouth was terribly dry. I'm sure Tsuzuki felt the same, "Ah, Tsuzuki, I believe I have an extra toothbrush if you'd like to…?" I said, stretching just a little.
"Okay," he said, standing up after me and following me a little ways to one of the bigger bathrooms.
"I keep some just in case I get sick," I explained. He only nodded and set to work. He left the bathroom when he was done and I brushed my own teeth. I walked out of the bathroom and he was no where in sight, but I was pretty sure he hadn't left, so I went straight to the kitchen, "Tsuzuki?"
From somewhere, I think one of the living rooms, he spoke, "Muraki?"
"What would you like, love?" I wonder if he smiled or anything.
"Why don't we have omelets, like you like?"
I was extremely uplifted that he remembered something so menial. I didn't remember him listening to me so avidly, but apparently he was making mental notes of the things I told him. How delightfully enamoring.
"What a generous idea," I said genially, "But are you sure there isn't anything you would like?"
He was silent, and I worried for a moment about what he was doing. I was sure there wasn't anything in my house that I wouldn't want him to see, but I couldn't help but have the annoying idea that he would find something embarrassing, "I like omelets, Muraki!" He sounded happy. Like he was laughing.
I put the frying pan on the stove and turned on the heat. I pulled out all of the ingredients and to plates, then I left to go find him and see where he was snooping around.
He wasn't too far away or anything, but he was in the room where I kept things that had actually managed to become sentimental to me. He held a picture in his hands and there were many others strewn over the table. I studied Tsuzuki's expression to see what he was getting out of all of this, but I still couldn't really tell. His eyes were sad, but he wore a wide, entertained smile. I examined the pictures on the table and saw two of my family, several of Oriya and Ukyou, and the one I had of him when he was my grandfather's patient so long ago.
I walked up behind him slowly and wrapped my arms around his abdomen, "What're you doing, Tsuzuki?"
"Muraki," he said, slightly agitated and reprimanding. I didn't move and he didn't say anything further to get me to move, "Who are they? You have so many pictures of them…"
"My fiancée and my… best friend," I'd never had to tell anyone that before, and it was a very strange fact to face. Oriya was… my best friend.
He wrenched himself from my grasp and was instantly pissed, "Fiancée!? Muraki, you bastard! You can't date when you have a fiancée! My God, don't you know better!?"
I sighed, "Ukyou thinks I'm dead, Tsuzuki. I haven't spoken to her in over a year," and I wasn't planning on it anytime soon. Ukyou was nice… some times… but she was kinda… bitchy. She would probably try to slap me across the face if she ever saw me again, and I would have no choice but to stop her and save my dignity as a man. But apparently this whole 'fiancée' thing was disturbing to Tsuzuki, and he was so much more important then me going through with dumping Ukyou. Besides, Ukyou was a very dear, old friend to me, and I did miss her, so it would only benefit me in the end.
"I'm sorry Tsuzuki, I should've said something," I said, moving a couple of steps in his direction, "I'll cut things off with her immediately. You can even come with me," I offered this just so he could be sure I did dump her. If he couldn't be sure, than he would always have that in the back of his mind and it would sabotage my chances with him.
"Okay…" he said, pouting a little, "Did you stop talking to your best friend, too?"
I was happy to tell him something a little better, "I only called him the other day, after I knew you shinigami weren't looking for me anymore. I was worried that if I called him earlier he would have gotten into trouble."
"But we don't know who he is…" Tsuzuki said, coming to me with a look of confusion on his face.
I didn't tell him about his friends meeting with Oriya last year. It wasn't necessary information, "Shinigami are supernatural, I wasn't sure if they were capable of such awareness or not. Now, accompany me to the kitchen?" He took one last look at the photo, smiled sadly, and placed it on the table. I glanced down at it quickly before we left the room and frowned. I remembered the day that picture was taken well. It was only a few days before Saki came and poisoned the rest of my life…
"I think you do," Oriya said, leaning against the fence. It was his seventeenth birthday, and it was the three of us and his family at his house. A small party, but it was Oriya, and he didn't want to put up with a bunch of drunk fools at his house. Anywhere else was fine with him.
"Shut up, you jerk. There's no way I would ever let myself fall in love with you," she said, pushing me away.
It was Oriya's idea. I hadn't ever suspected her liking me before, but once he'd suggested it, all of the tell-tale signs had popped out at me. I liked Ukyou, so I could either be a man and tell her, or wear her down and make her admit it herself. You can see what I had decided to do.
"I think you do, Ukyou. What's the big deal? It's not like we're going to stop hanging out with you," Oriya said, annoyed, "So, do you?" She thought it over and realized we really weren't the type to care. I mean, all we would really do was give her the occasional tease. And that was only if I didn't have feelings back, which in this case I did.
"Okay. Yeah, I have a crush on you, Kazutaka," she turned away from us, "Happy now, you smarmy bastards?" Maybe we picked on her too much. Tormenting her was oh, too fun.
Oriya's mother came outside then, "Muraki, Mibu, Ukyou!!" and we turned to the camera unknowingly, Oriya with a scowl on his face, Ukyou smiling pleasantly to the call (always acted like a perfect little girl in front of people's parents), and me with a confused, stupid look on my face
Two days later Saki would appear in my life and everything would start going wrong.
I could feel the expression on my face. The nostalgia, the hatred, and the longing… but I couldn't shove the thoughts away until Tsuzuki deliberately stepped in front of my line of view and unpleasant thoughts were erased. I didn't love him for nothing.
"Let's eat…" he said quietly.
"Of course, Tsuzuki," I said smiling, letting him know I was done being distasteful for the moment.
Breakfast was done in silence, but I could tell that Tsuzuki had a lot of things he wanted to ask me. I was sure that there were other things on his mind other than those pictures, but he seemed highly intrigued by the idea that I used to be, indeed, a rather happy youth. Sometimes I had trouble believing it myself.
"I'm going, then," He muttered, standing up and turning.
I stood up after him, "Let me show you out," I said happily, though I was very distressed that he thought he needed to leave. I had no choice but to let him go since he would definitely become angered if I tried to make it any other way.
I handed him his coat and he took it tiredly, putting it on and sighing. He seemed to sigh a lot, "Is everything alright?" I asked, just in case he might decide to confide in me for once. Wishful thinking, I suppose.
He looked at me, "Muraki?"
"Hmn?" I felt my eyes widen with his bluntness.
Tsuzuki said, "Can I get another kiss?" He blushed and looked away, acting as if he hadn't said anything.
I suppose he was expecting me to just kiss him on the cheek, or the forehead. This was not my plan in the least. I approached him slowly, and he looked at me, startled by my pleased expression. I took his face in my hands and soundly pressed my lips to his. I lingered for a brief moment after pulling away, then stepped back, "I hope you realize you didn't have to ask," but I guess it was a bit much to think that he might initiate a kiss on his own. In due time, I suppose. I added, "Please be careful. I don't trust that Hamaru, even if he is… serving us."
"R-right. Okay… I gotta go now," he hurried away anxiously.
I said, "Goodbye, dearest," he heard me and sped up, "I love you," like last time I told him, all he did was speed up. Now I needed to go see Oriya about Ukyou.
-END CHAPTER NINE-
Darn, this ended up only being chapter 9, 10, and 11. I could've kept going, but it really wouldn't have worked out very well if I had. The next chapter is going to definitely be a combination between 12 and 13. I can't say this chapter was pointless, but I don't think it's anything special. In fact, I quite near despise it. Well, whatever.
QUESTION TO THE READERS
Does anyone mind if I change it to Oriya/Watari instead of Tatsumi/Watari?
Please give your input through a review!
EXCHANGE
Amagumo: My God, if none of you are going to talk I'll just invite someone new.
Oriya: Somehow I heard your call, Amagumo.
Amagumo: And somehow you knew my name…
Muraki: -waves, then turns his attention to an unsuspecting Tsuzuki-
Watari: -chuckles and watches-
Hira: -is now conscious again; blushes-
Tatsumi: -has vanished into the shadows-
Oriya: You know, we don't have anything to talk about.
Amou: Well… we can make fun of Muraki…?
Muraki: -rubs Tsuzuki's thigh-
Tsuzuki: -jumps, but decides not to speak-
Oriya: No… I'm going to go talk to Watari…
Watari: Hiiii, Oriya!
Amagumo: Oh, so you'll talk to him.
Hira: -comes over- I don't like how things are going in the fiction. Watari has three potential boyfriends now.
Amagumo: -shrug-
