Its back!! Sorry it took so long, got sidetracked with Like the Rain.
IT'S A REAL SONG. Forgot to put the copyright in the last chapter so I'll put it here.
'You Belong to Me' belongs to it's rightful owner. Wish I could say I wrote it cause I love the song, but I didn't. Look it up, it's very nice!
Oh, and Fatal Frame is property of Konami.
jennamarie: The llamas were on vacation at the time so the bears were filling in. Hisoka will keep the dampener in this story but his has taken it off in Like the Rain now so yay for him growing up!!
Kaouri18: I need to draw a proper pic of Hokuto just so everyone can see he would make a horrible woman. Glad you get it though XD That was possibly the fluffiest thing I've ever written but I'm glad you liked it.
laustic: Look up the song somewhere (I-tunes, youtube, whatever) cause it's even better set to music ;)
Hiyami: lol, I almost made you squeal eh? I'm not sure how they got the album back but I'm sure Neina 'enticing' him had something to do with it. I think I'll use that idea in a later chapter. And no problem! Sorry for the really late update!!
Psychodahlia: Woot! You're new!! Thank you for the suggestions, I actually did use them. Read on and thank you again!!
DesertQueen: You're welcome!! Not my song but thanks!
All ficlets involving games were inspired by the rather broad suggestion put forth by Hiyami!!!
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1) Videogames
"So…how does this work again?" Hokuto asked. He held the controller loosely, looking rather perplexedly at the many buttons and sticks that would rotate and snap back when he pushed on them.
Watari sighed. "The buttons let you do stuff, like pick things up and jump and select weapons or items or attack. The joystick lets you move around. Really Hokuto it's not that hard."
"Watch your tone, kid. And considering I've nearly mastered that computer thing you keep going on about, I'm sure I'll be fine with this…uh…"
"Videogame."
"Right. So what game did you all rent again for this thing?"
Hisoka picked up the box and stared at it rather dubiously. "Fatal Frame. Evidently it has something to do with ghosts."
"Really?" Tsuzuki asked. He pulled the comforter a little tighter around him. "Why'd you pick that, Watari?"
"It looked cool! And the video store guy said it was really good. He also said something about not being able to sleep for a few days…"
"Oh come on, it can't be that bad. We've all dealt with much scarier things than simple ghosts. Pop it in and let's get this party started!"
It was about two hours later when Neina, coming home from helping out at the ministry, walked into the living room on a rather peculiar picture. "Why are all of you huddled under that blanket together?"
Hokuto's hand ventured out from its safe haven to point at the TV screen, colored blood red with options listed in a box at the center. "Evil shrine maiden…ropes and…little girls in kimonos…it's scarier than it looks…can you beat it for us?"
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2) Soccer
Tsuzuki bounced the ball a little more on the edge of his toes as the others walked out onto the field. "So, does everyone know how to play?" They'd come to the park and he'd taken the soccer ball with him this time to try and get everyone to play.
"I actually don't," Neina said. "You're not supposed to use your hands?"
"Nope. Not unless you're the goalie. All you do is kick it across the field into the net. Here," he kicked the ball to her. "Try it."
She frowned but shrugged. Sliding to toe of her foot under the ball, she gave a few experiment bounces upward. Then she suddenly kicked it high into the air, jumped up and gave a flying kick that sent it rocketing from the middle of the field to the goal at the far end hard enough to almost puncture the rope netting.
The boys all stared open mouthed.
"She's on my team!" Watari piped.
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3) Relaxation Time? (Also inspired by a suggestion by Psychodahilia that I really liked )
Tatsumi sighed and stretched out on the couch. It was one of those rare moments when the others were all busy in their own endeavors and leaving him alone. He wished he could catch up on the paper work he imagined was in his office in towering columns but with his powers gone he could not transport there and being roughly four-foot one he couldn't drive a car.
As such he had to busy himself with the only other thing that would put him at ease: a game of Sudoku. There was something about trying to organize the numbers within the boxes that made him feel, if not relaxed, then at least as if his stress was somehow alleviated.
"Hisoka!!!" Tatsumi jumped at the call and sank further behind the couch with his pencil and game book. "Hisoka!! Where are you?"
"I'm over here."
"Oh! Do you want to go play outside?"
Please say yes, Tatsumi thought despondently. Relaxation time did not involve two of his co-workers yelling across the house to each other five feet from him.
"Sure. What do you want to play? Soccer?"
"Nah, the balls still flat from last time. How about golf? I saw a bunch of clubs in the closet."
"Uh…alright, but do you know how to play golf?"
"How hard could it be? Business men do it all the time."
Tatsumi sighed in relief as their footsteps finally echoed down the hall towards the game closet. Alright, back to business…er…relaxing. If there's a one, a seven and a 4 in this box then…
He got only a few numbers written before a loud bang made him break his pencil in half. He looked over the top of the couch towards the kitchen to see faintly pale blue smoke wafting from the top of the door.
"Watari!! How many times do I have to say it?! My kitchen is not a laboratory!!!!" Neina yelled.
"But Neina-san, I think I might've found the cure for our condition!! If I could just have a few more hours—"
"I don't care if you found the cure for cancer!! My kitchen is covered in…blue powdery stuff!! And I still have to cook dinner!!"
Sounds like we're having take out tonight, Tatsumi thought as he settled back into the couch. He frowned when he realized his pencil was broken and stood to go into the library where the only known pencil sharpener was. Returning he was unsurprised to see Watari walking back into the kitchen, covered in blue splotches like a smurf reject, carrying a bucket and several sponges.
Sitting back on the couch he looked at his puzzle once more. If there's a five, a four, an eight and a…no, wait, that won't work…
A few minutes went buy in relative silence where he felt himself finally beginning to grow peaceful. Then there was a loud crash from upstairs like the sound of glass being broken.
"What the hell?!" Hokuto yelled. "A golf ball just broke one of our windows!! What—"
"We're sorry!!!"
"We?! You took the shot baka!!!"
"Watari!!! You're 'cure' is eating through my kitchen cabinets!!!"
"Who told said you could play golf?!"
"That's interesting…I wonder what would've happened if I'd added more phosphorous…"
Tastumi sighed and closed the book to rise and go deal with the arising problems. Who was he kidding? No matter how much they wanted him to 'relax' it wasn't happening in this house.
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4) Chess
Tsuzuki hunkered down in his chair again, glaring at the wooden chess pieces from their level. Hokuto was across from him, reading the newspaper. Tsuzuki fingered one of his rooks, trying to remember the way it was supposed to move. Hokuto didn't even look up. Tsuzuki moved his fingers to one of his pawns, the simplest of the pieces to remember which way to shuffle them across the board. Hokuto turned a page. Tsuzuki's hand went back to the rook and slapped it down on another square.
"Hah! Three more moves and you'll be—"
Hokuto moved his bishop forward without glancing from the article he was so immersed in and knocked his king down. "Checkmate."
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4) Card Shark
Neina smiled charmingly with her cards held in front of her. The boys and her husband were seated around her on the table, all grumbling and glaring at her. A good third of all the chips were stacked in front of her and the rest was divided unevenly between the five of them. The looser of this game had to clean all the bathrooms in the house.
Oh, she would never tell them her secret. She claimed that Sagara-sensei had taught her all his card secrets. He had but she had a much better weapon in her arsenal. Each time one of them got a good hand she could feel the sparks of excitement rolling off them. Each time they bluffed she felt tiny wisps of nervousness. As they said, half the game of poker was knowing when to hold them and when to fold them. And she knew each time.
Being an empath had some wonderful advantages.
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5) Snuggle
She didn't know how it happened. She didn't care. It was possibly the most wonderful sight she had ever seen. As discreetly as possible she had found her camera and snapped a quick picture of it before they woke. Later she had the picture printed and set it in a special place in the photo-album. Hisoka was sure to deny it ever happened later but she had photographic evidence. She smiled and traced the edge carefully.
Hisoka and Hokuto passed out on the couch. Hisoka asleep on his father's chest, face cast in the image of perfect peacefulness and snuggled under a duvet and into Hokuto's cotton tee-shirt. One of her husband's arms cast protectively around him in a soft embrace. His other hand behind his head with a relaxed near slumber like look on his face. It just couldn't get any better than that.
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6) Football
Neina had yelled in surprise when they came back in from playing football. She had thought they were going to play that safe 'touch football' some of the kids in the park played. She hadn't realized they meant tackle foot ball. A chastising snap at their carelessness when they couldn't heal was on the tip of her tongue but it died when all of them, even Hisoka, looked up and grinned sheepishly.
"Had fun, did you?" she muttered. They nodded and she shook her head. "Take off you're shoes before you come in, they're covered in mud."
Hokuto had laughed when he saw them coming down the stairs. He had to grab the hand railing to stop from doubling over and rolling down the final steps. "Whoa! You guys brought the battlefield home with you I see!"
The boys looked at one another as if for the first time. They were covered in streaks of mud with blades of grass sticking to them. There were scrapes and nicks across their hands and knees from catching themselves on the ground when one of the others had gotten them. Their hair had clumps of earth in it, sticking at odd angles because of it.
"But we did have fun," Watari said. "Even Tatsumi. He really got into it after I teased him a little."
"Calling me 'bookish geek-bait' on any other day would've gotten you fired by the way."
"I'll bet!" he laughed. Neina smiled a little more fully.
"I guess this means we need a bath again, huh?" Tsuzuki said.
"A shower would work better for this I think," the blonde woman said. "Go on, we'll bandage you lot up when you get out."
The three elder boys raced upstairs toward the large master bathroom. Hisoka shifted a little and began up the stairs before he stopped and turned down the hallway.
"You okay?" she asked as he passed. He knew what she meant.
"I've got scrapes and cuts and bruises and dirt in places I didn't think dirt could get to," he muttered sourly.
She blinked but smirked. "But…"
He looked up at her and smiled through the streaks of dirt. "It was a lot of fun!"
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7) …But I know what I like! (Another piece inspired by Psychodahlia's suggestions)
"Museums…are…boring!!" Tsuzuki said and folded his arms.
"Tsuzuki, it's an art museum. It's not boring," Neina said as the hiked the steps up the building. "Besides, this is one of my favorite artists when I was younger and it's the last day of the exhibit."
"Hmph…so it's old art."
"What was that?" she growled.
"Nothing!" He sighed and trudged up the steps. Hisoka was waiting for him to catch up at the top.
"C'mon Tsuzuki, it won't be so bad. You'd be ten times as board if it was a history museum or something."
"That's true," he conceded. Art wasn't so bad. History though was boring enough that he'd be asleep on his feet in minutes of touring.
When they were inside and their passes were bought Hokuto handed them stickers to denote they were paying guests. "Okay. You guys can go off and tour on your own without us but pair up and meet us in front of…uh, that," he pointed to a statue of twisted winding metal with a clock face at the top, "in one hour. Got it?"
"Got it," they all said. Tatsumi and Watari headed off in one direction while Tsuzuki idly shuffled off to a nearby gallery where he saw a bench. Maybe he could just nap for an hour.
"Tsuzuki, what are these?"
He paused when Hisoka spoke to him, his full attention driven to him the way it always was. Walking over he actually stopped breathing when he saw the peace he was pointing at. A beautiful black haired girl stood beneath a lattice of winding magenta flowers, staring at a young man whose back was turned. She was wearing a Victorian style dress of white and dark blue that made her startling eyes stand out. The girl…reminded him of his sister.
"Tsuzuki? Are you okay?" Hisoka asked.
"Y…yeah, I'm alright. What were you saying?"
"I was wondering what type of flower that was. You know more about flowers than me."
He took a closer look at the vines wrapped around the lattice and nodded. "It's gloxinia. It means—"
"Love at first sight." The jolted at the knew voice but relaxed as it trailed off into a warm laugh. Looking behind them they saw an old woman sitting not far away. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to startle you. I over heard you're conversation and couldn't resist answering. I'm impressed with you young man. Not many know the meaning of flowers these days."
Hisoka bowed a little to show respect and Tsuzuki fumbled to follow suit.
"My sister taught me about it."
"I see…" She looked at the painting and her smile turned wistful. "Very lovely, isn't it? This is the painting I came to see. The artist was in love with that girl. That's why she's standing beneath the gloxinia."
"Is that him then?" Hisoka asked and pointed to figure turned away.
Her smiled dimmed a little and she shook her head. "No. That was the man she did love. The artist never made his feelings known."
"Then…how do you know he loved her?"
She looked up at the portrait again. "He told her…right before he died. He was a very sick man and painted this near his end." She rose, leaning heavily on a silver walking can…covered in carved gloxinia. She shuffled over and stood above them, though not far. "Let an old woman give you two young men some advice. If you find someone you love with all your heart, tell them. Even if they love someone else, tell them. Because there's always a chance…always that they could love you back one day. And then, even if it doesn't last forever, you can look back on what was instead of what could've been."
They two shinigamis blinked, drinking in the words spoken in the clear dry voice carefully before they nodded. The woman may have been surprised at the understanding in their faces but she never let on. Her eyes just smiled as she turned away and walked back towards the exit. Eyes that Tsuzuki couldn't help but think would stand out very well if she was wearing dark blue and white…
"Hisoka?" The blonde turned to him, evidently having been lost in thoughts of his own. "You want to walk around and look at some of the other paintings?"
He blinked and nodded. "I thought they were boring to you though?"
He smiled and threaded his hand into his. "I may not know art, but I know what I like. Right?"
Hisoka smiled warmly and clasped his hand tighter. "Right."
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Right, that's it for the shorts. Back to the main story-ish thing.
REVIEW AND SUGGEST.