Chapter Seven
Akimiya's hands are trembling. I think mine probably are too, but I feel pretty calm. You know, considering that there's a knife at my throat. Maybe it's just because I don't believe for one second that he's actually going to kill me. I believe that he'll try, and I believe that he may hate himself for failing, but I don't believe that he'll succeed.
"So you ditched me earlier on purpose." I talk, buying myself time while I try to figure out what to do. "I was supposed to die then, like it was an accident on the job. No blood on your hands; you could just say that you hadn't gotten there in time." I pause for a second, my eyes still locked on Akimiya. "Muraki set this whole mission up for us, I imagine?"
He nods slowly. All right, that makes sense.
"So now you're going to try to kill me with what, a kitchen knife?" Sarcasm will get you everywhere. "Had you forgotten that Shinigami can't be killed that way? Tsuzuki damn near dismembered me with a meat cleaver when he was possessed by that demon, and I was up and walking around the next day."
He presses the knife harder against my throat. I think it cut at least a little, because my neck stings now. I can feel the blood trickling down into my shirt. Good thing I didn't like these clothes.
Of all the stupid things to be thinking right now . . .
"It's a cursed knife," he says, his voice harsh. "It has the ability to kill a Shinigami like a normal human."
"Oh, that was thoughtful of Muraki." Keep the tone light. I feel like I'm a hostage negotiator, which is pretty pathetic because I'm the hostage here. "And what are you going to do, dump my body in an alley and plead ignorance? They won't buy that, you know. They'll trace it back to you."
"They'll trace it back to him," Akimiya retorts. "And I don't give a damn."
"Yeah? He'll care. What'd he promise you, anyway? To give you your life back? To let you be happy with Rika again? I've got news for you, Akimiya; he's lying. He always lies. He had no intention of keeping up his end of the bargain. There's only one way the two of you can be happy together, and that's if you're both dead. And believe me, I'm sure that's what Muraki intends to do with both of you."
"You're just trying to save your own skin." He presses the knife even harder. The blood has moved from trickling to streaming. This is bad.
"Damn right I am," I reply. "But I'm also trying to save yours."
"If I don't," Akimiya says, and his voice is now trembling as much as his hands. "If I don't, he'll kill Rika-chan. I know he will."
"Yeah. And he'll kill her if you do, too. That's what you get when you make a deal with the devil."
"Shut up." Akimiya closes his eyes for an instant, trying to regain his bearings. "I-If I just do this . . . it'll be okay. I can have Rika-chan back again."
"You're deluding yourself," I say softly. "And you know it." If he presses that thing into my throat any harder, he's either going to hit my jugular or my windpipe, and if he's right about the knife, that'll be it for me.
There's a very long second of silence while Akimiya just stands there. Then he drops the knife and backs away. I start forward, but before I can take more than a step, he sinks to his knees and presses his hands against his face. "I-I couldn't," he mumbles into them. "Rika-chan . . . I'm sorry."
Okay. My brain starts to kick back into gear. Pick up the knife before Akimiya can use it to do something stupid and toss it onto the bed. I get a towel from the bathroom and press it against the wound in my throat. It's not healing, which I suppose makes sense if it was a cursed knife. Mental note to find real bandages as soon as possible. Now what? Try to get Akimiya back into the land of the coherent.
I kneel beside him and shake his shoulder gently. He glances up at me. "He's going to kill her."
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
"We can't go get her," Akimiya says dully. "He's watching us both."
I frown. "How closely?"
"I don't know. But -- " He pauses suddenly. "He doesn't know about the everyday stuff. I mean, when he contacts me he asks."
"He been contacting you regularly?" I ask.
Akimiya looks away and nods. "I-In my dreams."
"Big surprise." Okay, think. Muraki probably doesn't know yet that Akimiya tried to kill me and failed (twice, technically), but I'm sure he'd know if one of us went to get Rika. That means that someone else has to do it. Can't be Tsuzuki; Muraki would definitely know if he paid us a visit. That doesn't leave many options, especially given the fact that it's now nearly midnight. No matter what I do, I'm going to have to wake somebody up, because this can't wait until morning.
Well, Tatsumi is the obvious choice, mostly because he's the only one of us besides Tsuzuki that can actually fight against Muraki without losing pitifully. Now the only question remains, how do I get in touch with Tatsumi? He's gone home for the night, I'm sure, so contacting HQ wouldn't do me any good. I can use my empathy to get in touch with Tsuzuki, but that's only because we're so close.
Then again, Tsuzuki doesn't have any Reikan ability, and Tatsumi does. So it's worth a try.
"What are we going to do?" Akimiya asks, sounding like he's on the verge of full-blown panic.
"I'm going to try to get Tatsumi," I say.
He shakes his head vigorously. "N-No. I don't want to tell him I just tried to kill you."
I must say that I don't blame him for that. "Then we won't tell him. Yet. I'm sure as hell not going to hide this from him, but it can wait until after Rika is safe. Okay?"
He hesitates, then nods. I press the towel harder against my throat. I'll be glad to get into Watari's care for this stupid wound, that's for sure. Then I sit on the bed and think very hard about Tatsumi and needing him here right now.
It takes a few minutes, before there's a knock on the door. Ah, Tatsumi, ever the gentleman. Won't even appear in our room when I've sent for him. I open the door to let him in. He looks immaculate, which is pretty impressive, given the hour. Doesn't he ever sleep?
"You needed something?" he asks. Tatsumi is generally impossible to faze, but he looks slightly startled to see me bleeding all over the place. I suppose with good reason, since Shinigami generally don't bleed for more than a few seconds. Unless the wound is held open for some reason, like those stupid wires Muraki used to tie me up with. He also looks slightly confused, which is probably because I sent for him instead of Tsuzuki.
"Yeah," I say with a sigh. "We've got a slight problem and I couldn't call for Tsuzuki because it involves Muraki."
"Oh." Tatsumi gives this due consideration. "What is it?"
"It's a very long and complicated story," I tell him. "Can you do me a favor and go pick up Rika, and bring her back to the Meifu?" He raises an eyebrow. I know mortals are allowed into the Meifu under special circumstances, like when we were protecting Hijiri and Kazusa from the demon, but it's a very rare occurrence. "Muraki has threatened to kill her. Again. And Akimiya and I are afraid that if we go to get her, he'll kill her before we can get there. He's watching us, but he won't be watching you."
Tatsumi pushes his glasses up on his nose. "I'll expect the full story at some point," he says. "But for now I'll go get Rika. Will you two be coming back soon?"
"Yeah." I glance at Akimiya, who seems to have settled into some form of shock. Peachy. "As soon as we wrap up here. An hour at most."
"All right."
I thank Tatsumi profusely for coming to our rescue, and then he leaves. I turn back to Akimiya. "Now. You. Lie down and go to sleep."
He gives me an incredulous look. "You expect me to sleep?"
"Trance if you can't sleep. I want you to start talking to Muraki to distract him from the fact that Tatsumi is picking up Rika. Tell him what happened today, about the botched thing with those six kids. You can tell him that Tsuzuki saved me. Don't mention the thing with the knife. Say we're going to be here one more day and you're going to try for another 'accident' tomorrow. Got all that?"
He nods faintly, then lies down. I doubt he'll be able to sleep, but he's a powerful enough yumemi that he should be able to do it from a trance instead.
It's about a half an hour before he sits up again. "He seemed to believe me," he says doubtfully. "But I make no promises."
I glance at my watch. "That's all right. Tatsumi's probably in the Meifu by now, so let's get going."
He stands up and looks at me. "Hisoka . . . I'm sorry, I just . . ."
I shrug. "You didn't kill me, did you?"
His gaze suddenly becomes fixed to his shoes. "I should have known better than to trust Muraki."
"You don't know him like I do. Now come on. It's stupid to stand here and agonize over this."
He nods slowly. "Aa. Thanks."
~~~~
Much to my surprise, Tsuzuki and Watari are both there with Tatsumi and Rika when Akimiya and I get back. "Who called you?" I ask them. They both point at Tatsumi.
He shrugs. "I figured Tsuzuki would want to be informed, and Watari would need to look at that wound."
Tsuzuki walks over and takes the towel away. "How did that happen?" he asks, looking confused.
"Cursed knife. No big deal."
"Well, come on, I'll fix it up for you," Watari says. "Akimiya-san can explain everything, ne?"
Akimiya looks . . . terrified. Splendid.
"On second thought," I say, "it's already been bleeding for a half hour. Five more minutes isn't going to make any difference. Where's Rika?"
"In you and Sakamoto-san's office, extremely puzzled," Tatsumi replies.
"She can be puzzled for five more minutes, too," I say. "I think this story had best remain between the five of us . . . well, and I suppose Kachou should know, but he isn't here, so he can find out later." Pause. "Akimiya, why don't you go explain to Rika, okay?"
Akimiya gives me a look of undying gratitude and hurries off.
"What's this all about?" Tsuzuki asks me, frowning.
"To be very brief and blunt," because hell if I'm going to be anything but, "when Muraki had captured Rika, he made a deal with Akimiya that if Akimiya killed me, he would give them their life together back. Akimiya got cold feet at the last minute, thus me still being here."
"That's brief, all right," Tatsumi says, and if he wasn't more contained I think he'd be rolling his eyes right now.
"That's all the news that's fit to print," I reply. "No offense, but I think the details of this one are going to remain between Akimiya and I. He didn't kill me, we didn't let Muraki kill Rika, and the rest of it really doesn't matter."
"What about that?" Watari asks, gesturing to my neck.
"Ah, yeah," I say. "That's from when Akimiya was holding the knife at my neck. I think he thought that if he pressed down hard enough, I'd shut up." I take out the knife and hand it over to Watari. "Muraki gave it to him as a last resort, which he had to use because Tsuzuki fouled up his earlier plan to let me get killed by that idiotic coven. It's cursed to be able to kill Shinigami, which is why I assume that it hasn't stopped bleeding yet."
Watari examines the knife carefully, then hands it back, which sort of amuses me. I mean, what the hell do I want it for? A souvenir? "I've never seen a curse like this before," he remarks. "I suppose Muraki must have come up with it himself."
He ushers me down to the infirmary with Tatsumi and Tsuzuki trailing along behind. "It won't need stitches, will it?" I ask hopefully.
"Nah," Watari replies. "I'll just bandage it. It's pretty shallow. But if it doesn't stop bleeding, you'd better let me know."
"No kidding." I sit down on one of the infirmary beds and let him fix me up.
"What are we going to do about Rika?" Tsuzuki asks thoughtfully. "If we send her back to Chijou, I'm pretty sure Muraki will kill her just out of spite. He doesn't like having his plans foiled."
Now that my brain is clear, I'm surprised I didn't figure out what Muraki was planning earlier. I mean, going after Akimiya out of a petty sense of revenge is one thing, but there was no need to involve Rika this way unless he actually wanted something specific. If all he wanted to do was hurt Akimiya, he would have just killed her.
At the last encounter I had with Muraki, it became clear that he was never going to kill me (again) because in doing so he would lose Tsuzuki forever. However, it was also made clear that he had no problems with trying to get me killed and was probably going to do so fairly often. As long as Tsuzuki doesn't know he was involved and blame him, it wouldn't matter. I'm sure Muraki wasn't planning on letting Akimiya live long enough to spill that little secret.
But Tsuzuki's right. Muraki would, at this point, kill Rika just to show that he was annoyed with Akimiya. And probably try to kill Akimiya, as well, though that's a lot more difficult to do than killing Rika.
"Well," I say with a shrug, "can she stay here?"
For the first time in recorded history, Tatsumi looks clueless. "I don't know," he says. "It's never been done before. Living people generally aren't very enthusiastic about the idea of taking up residence in the land of the dead. I'd have to ask Kachou-san, and even he might not know."
"Because if it's allowed, it seems to be the best solution. She'll be safe from Muraki, Akimiya will be able to be with her and so he won't go psychotic anymore." I touch the bandage on my throat and wince. "Sending her back to Chijou might as well be a death sentence."
"Well, she can certainly stay here for a few days, in any case," Tatsumi says. "I'll speak to Kachou tomorrow. At this point, we may as well all go home."
We all nod agreement. Sleep, finally.
"Oh, by the way," Tatsumi says as he steps out of the infirmary, "I like your outfit, Kurosaki-kun."
He must be joking.
He'd better be joking, anyway.
~~~~
Akimiya is crying into Rika's shoulder when I stick my head into our office, which immediately makes me want to run for the hills, but Rika beckons me inside. Tsuzuki stays behind me, leaning against the door frame. Akimiya glances up and rubs his eyes. "How's your throat?"
"Peachy keen dandy." Right, Akimiya, and how are you? "You explain everything to her?"
They both nod.
"Well, we're all going home," I explain. "Rika, you're welcome to stay for the next few days until we figure out a more permanent solution." I pause. "Tatsumi is going to speak to Kachou about her taking up residence here."
"Really?!" Akimiya looks like he's about to fall over with sheer joy.
I pull over a chair and sit down so I can look Rika in the eye. "It's not as great as Akimiya seems to think it is. It's basically exile. There's a lot less to do in the Meifu. And unlike the rest of us, you won't be able to make day trips to Chijou. You'll never see any of your family again, and they'll never know what happened to you. You'll simply have disappeared. You'll grow old and eventually die while Akimiya stays twenty-three your entire life."
"But -- " Akimiya begins.
I hold up my hand to stop him. "We don't even know if it's allowed yet," I remind him. "But she needs to know the whole situation. This isn't a honeymoon we're talking about."
She nods slightly. "I understand. I promise I'll consider it carefully."
Akimiya looks slightly hurt by this, so I decide it's high time to change the subject. "By the way, I don't believe we've been properly introduced. My name's Kurosaki Hisoka. This is Asato Tsuzuki."
She manages a smile. "Nice to meet you. I'm Nanami Rika."
I shake her hand. Tsuzuki is grinning from the doorway, his usual self.
"And now, since it's three a.m., I'm going home and going to bed, and I suggest both of you do the same."
~~~~
I wake up the next morning and that wound is burning and itching. I don't know if normal wounds do that, but it's better safe than sorry, so I make a mental note to see Watari as soon as I get to the office. I'm greeted with the unpleasant news that we still have to go take care of that stupid coven.
"We're sending Tsuzuki with you," Konoe-Kachou tells us. "He needs to start getting back into field work, and you might need the backup." And they don't quite trust Akimiya yet. The words hang unspoken in the air.
"I'm not sure that's really necessary," I say, trying to show my faith in Akimiya. He gives me a grateful look.
"Don't forget," Tatsumi speaks up, "that Muraki is most likely going to be on the lookout for you."
"All the more reason to not bring Tsuzuki," I insist.
Tsuzuki smiles and puts a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Hisoka. I think I'll be fine."
Damn it. I don't like this one bit, but there's nothing I can do to prevent it. They're right in that Tsuzuki needs to get back into field work. Hanging around in the office all day is annoying the hell out of him, I know it. So call me protective; I certainly won't argue.
"Any news about Rika?" I ask.
"I'm going to speak to EnmaDaioh about it," Konoe-Kachou says. "We'll have the answer by the time the three of you get back."
"All right."
The three of us troop out of the office. "They don't trust me," Akimiya says gloomily.
"Well, no offense, but you did try to kill me last night," I remind him. "That probably doesn't put you high up on the list of trustworthy employees."
Akimiya turns pink and looks away. He doesn't say anything else about it, so I decide not to bring the subject up either.
I suppose it's rather odd that I'm not angry with him. I'm sure most people in my position would be. But for some reason I just can't blame him. I think if our positions were reversed, and it was Tsuzuki's life at stake, I would do the same. Maybe not, but I would know better than to trust Muraki. But Akimiya loves her. Maybe a little bit too much, if there's any such thing.
And does she love him as much? I suppose we'll know from what she decides. It would be an awful thing for her to give up everything for him. Then again, what choice does she have? Sending her back her would be the same thing as killing her. I know Muraki well enough to say that.
I catch Tsuzuki's hand as we walk down the hall. After how uncertain he was at first, about being with me like this, sometimes I catch myself doubting how much he loves me. But that's one of the few good things my empathy has done for me. I don't have to doubt, because I know. He would die for me, just as easily as I would die for him.
"Are we going to stop by the infirmary?" Tsuzuki asks, and I realize with a start that I was rubbing at the wound again.
"Aa. I just want to get it checked."
The other two opt to wait outside while Watari takes off the bandages and prods at the wound for a minute. "Well, it's closing all right," he says. "The itching and burning you're feeling are pretty normal. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just let me rebandage it."
I leave feeling reassured. Watari generally knows what he's talking about in this sort of thing, of course.
For lack of a better place to start, we track back to the warehouse where I nearly got my life force sucked out the previous night. It seems like ages ago now. Time does really funny things for life-shaking events. Tsuzuki goes in first, and reports that the place is empty.
"So what do we do?" I ask.
Tsuzuki looks around. "Well, what I'm guessing happened is that they've absorbed the life forces into themselves, so there's no way we can restore it to its original owners. But their bodies should be around here somewhere."
"Wait a minute," I say. "Do you mean that there are dead bodies with souls still stuck in them somewhere around here?"
"That's about as well as it can be phrased, yeah," Tsuzuki says, taking out some ofuda.
I shiver. "That's creepy." The thought of being trapped in my own dead body is . . . scary. "But I thought one of the victims was found. Sort of wandering, with no memory of what had happened."
"Hm." Tsuzuki is still looking around. "They probably hadn't perfected the spell yet, and didn't take enough of his energy to kill him. I'm assuming that the subsequent victims were all killed."
"They said last night that they didn't kill," I muse.
"Probably because they didn't want you to run," Akimiya points out dryly.
Tsuzuki nods slightly and starts tugging on a door. Between the three of us, we manage to yank it open. The bodies are all inside. "They haven't started to decay," Akimiya observes. "But some of them should be weeks old."
Tsuzuki looks them over for a minute. "There's probably still just enough energy left in them for that . . . it's less like they're dead and more like they're in permanent comas."
"No chance of recovery?" I ask. It's really scary how we become jaded to these things with time. All part of the job, I guess. Except for Tsuzuki. He never became jaded. Every time an innocent died, it hurt just as much as the first one. No wonder he nearly went crazy.
Tsuzuki shakes his head. "I'll free their souls," he says softly.
Akimiya and I take that as our cue to leave the room. "Is he okay?" Akimiya asks me.
"I don't know," I say, giving the room a curious look. "He was never very good at handling things like this . . . but he may have learned. Only time will tell, really."
He nods slightly. Tsuzuki doesn't take very long. "We can leave an anonymous tip at the police about where to find the bodies," he says, looking slightly distracted. "They can take care of it from here."
I nod. Tsuzuki closes the door. "What about the six teenagers?" I ask.
Tsuzuki shakes his head. "Not our business. Ours is just to send the souls onto the correct path. The rest is up to the living."
"All right." I don't really like that idea, but I know he's right. We all stand and look at the door for a second before turning to go.
"Excellent work as always, Tsuzuki-san," Muraki says from his place at the door, and I jump about ten thousand feet into the air. Now really, why didn't I expect this? "Excellent job to all of you, actually. You did quite well."
We just look at him. There's really nothing any of us can say. And Muraki won't take on three of us at once; even he knows better.
"What do you want?" Tsuzuki finally asks him.
"I thought I should pay a visit to say goodbye," Muraki says, with a slight smile on his lips. He's looking right at me. Why the hell is he looking at me? "You may not realize it yet, of course, but you're going to be dead in about a day."
My hand goes automatically to my throat.
"Yes, very good," Muraki says, seeing the motion. "The knife is cursed, but unlike what I told Akimiya-san here, it only needs to draw blood for the curse to be enacted." He smiles at all of us. "I knew he'd never be able to do it, of course, but I also knew that he'd try. I imagine that you're feeling an itching, burning sensation right about now?"
I'm panicking. I can feel it. Mostly because I've started to hyperventilate. But this isn't right. He would never admit to being the reason I'm dead, not if he wants Tsuzuki. There's something I'm missing. There has to be.
"There's a countercurse, naturally," Muraki continues as all of us stare at him. "But your scientist won't find it. That's why I invented a curse instead of using an old one."
Tsuzuki breathes out slowly. I think he's about to get really pissed off. "What do you want, Muraki?"
His smile gets wider, and it's fixed on Tsuzuki now. "I'll perform the countercurse and save him," he says. "On one condition."
"Well, what is it?" I snap. He loves the melodrama. I hate him. Akimiya is just standing there. I think he's in shock again.
Muraki walks over and puts his hand on Tsuzuki's cheek. "I'll save him if you'll be mine."
~~~~
Wah, I'm so evil. ^_^ I'm leaving for a few days so there won't be any more for about a week or so. Gomen ne! You can yell at me if you want.