Warnings: hmm…

Notes: Hee…I'm alive! I read the note that was supposed to be here and found out that I've left this since…September. Well…I'll try to see what I can do about that!

DeathAngleCreo, Nuriko is here cuz he's my favorite character, and if you try to read each one of my writings (ignore the two poems and the other that was a request/plead of sorts), Nuriko's always in there somehow. Caer, aww…you're sweet! I really try to make my English intelligible, but I only end up with this…ehehehe. Kimitha, if you're reading this…ILOVEYOUILOVEYOUILOVEYOU!!! Hehe…for those confused, I'm on her faves list. Thanks to the others who reviwed! Anyway…here's part three!

Part Three: Namae

Back in Meifu, everyone was in a flurry.

Tsuzuki's missing.

When Hisoka dropped by after work that day, he found the house empty. Everything was in the exact same order he left this morning. And Tsuzuki was gone.

Tatsumi was too close to tearing his hair out. "Kurosaki-kun, could you please go over everything again?"

Hisoka sighed, they've been over the same thing for a million times already. It's not that he doesn't care about his partner, contrary to that, actually. He just thought that if they actually plunged into action instead of having him repeat the same story a million times over, expecting it to change, they might actually get somewhere.

"I woke up before he did and made breakfast. I prepared for work and told him not to go to work, or leave Meifu, or the house, for that matter. I hid every single thing that could possibly harm him. He smiled and bode me goodbye. When I came back this afternoon, he was gone and the house was the same as I left it this morning."

"Did you tell him that you'd be back this afternoon?"

A sigh. "Yes, I did." If only it didn't go against any of the ethics he possessed, Hisoka would've pounded the office secretary to the ground.

Watari burst into the room, hair disheveled as always, but looking remarkably tired. "We searched the whole place, every nook and cranny. There was no sign of a struggle, so he wasn't kidnapped. There were no other fingerprints either aside from Tsuzuki-san's and Hisoka."

Tatsumi rubbed at his nape and sighed. " Where could he be? Kurosaki-kun, are you sure he heard you when you said not to leave the house?"

Anger crept over the 16-year old Shinigami's face and he stood up, knocking his chair over, "I told you a million times. I did. And he heard me. Tsuzuki's depressed, not deaf. Neither am i. If we approached this by actually looking for him, maybe we'd have him back by now. This whole NYPD Blue act obviously isn't working." He started stalking out of the room when Tatsumi's dangerously low voice stopped him.

"And where do you think would you look for him?"

"Muraki's would be a start," Hisoka replied, not turning around.

"What if Muraki's not involved in this?"

"How can he be not? He always is."

"But what if he isn't? Are you going to tip him to that Tsuzuki's gone so he can go look for him instead and maybe return him to us?"

Hisoka turned around, "So what?! Are you trying to rule out the obvious fact that he could be responsible for this?!"

Watari observed the arguing two. Tatsumi had a heated expression on his face, while Hisoka's shoulders tensed up at the last statement. Finally, he broke his silence and sighed, "Bon, he has a point. Muraki might not know about this and telling him could only tip him off. Besides, Tsuzuki hasn't projected anything, has he?"

No answer. He continued, "If Muraki has him, you'd've felt it by now. You have a link with him, right?"

Hisoka turned his head to Watari's direction, "Why won't you let me use my empathy on him, then?"

Watari smiled, at least the boy's listening to reason, "If Tsuzuki hasn't sent you a signal of some sort by now, you're going to have to project more, am I right? Since your link only connects you to Tsuzuki-san's emotions and not his whereabouts, you'll need to project more on a place in general and just focus on him to know where to locate him. And this is by searching where his emotions are coming from, right?"

Hisoka nodded.

"But, since we don't know where Tsuzuki-san is, you'll need to do several blind attempts on different places, hoping to find him there. In doing so, the chances are high that you'd try to project on a place where Muraki is. Since empaths could feel each other's projections even if it's not focused on them, and if I'm not mistaken, Muraki himself can do a bit of empathy, he might be able to detect your projection. This would be just as bad as…"

"…telling Muraki himself." Hisoka finished in understanding.

Watari sent a look over to Tatsumi to find the older man looking noticeably calm, then he turned back to Hisoka, still smiling, "Right. So using your empathy is out of the question."

Tatsumi turned to Hisoka, who seems to be deep in thought. The green eyed Shinigami rubbed his thumb and index finger along the sides of his chin in thought, and then looked up and said, "What makes you think that Muraki's not involved in this, anyway?"

Tatsumi sighed and closed his eyes in mild irritation, "Kurosaki-kun, I thought…"

"No, I just want to know what made you think that he's not involved in this."

Tatsumi opened his eyes and regarded the younger Shinigami, "Okay. As you may have known, we've searched Tsuzuki-san's place thoroughly," this earned a snort from the younger Shinigami, but signaled him to go on, "And we didn't find any sign of struggle. No matter how much shock Tsuzuki-san must be in, the moment he sees Muraki, his alarms would go off, so to speak, and he'd try to get away from the man. Hence, cause some sort of struggle."

Hisoka looked like he was about to say something, when Watari cut him off, "besides, Muraki can't go to Meifu unless he's a spirit, or accompanied by a Shinigami, in which case, it has to be an emergency."

Hisoka nodded in understanding, "So, what so we do now, then? Wait for a miracle? Hope that before the day ends that Tsuzuki would come waltzing through that door and…and…" By now, Hisoka was hyperventilating.

When he walked up to Tsuzuki's front door earlier, he knew something was wrong. The house was too still and too quiet. He thought the older man was just asleep like he was the day before, but he can't lie to himself no more than he could lie to the others.

He couldn't feel Tsuzuki.

The last time, he thought that he was able to save Tsuzuki for good. He thought nothing else could happen that they won't be able to surpass, as long as they worked together. It was a promise they made.

But unfortunately, promises were made to be broken.

When he finally came to, he was at the infirmary with Watari hovering over him, "What happened?"

Watari frowned, his face twisted in concern, "You fainted."

"Oh," he said, looking at his hands, "is…uhm…Tsuzuki…?"

The doctor shook his head and looked away.

There was the sound of the door closing and he looked up to Tatsumi's face, stoic as ever.

"Are you okay now?"

Hisoka pondered about this for a while. What did he mean by okay, exactly? His first ever real friend was gone, his head was spinning, his whole body felt like jelly, he wanted to scream, shout, anything but be cooped up in this deafening silence, doing nothing. But he wasn't hurt, not physically. Shinigami heal real fast and his body doesn't really hurt, except for a little dizziness, which will pass. And he didn't think he could've actually caused any internal damage by fainting. So maybe he's okay. "Yeah."

Tatsumi turned to Watari, as if asking an unspoken question.

Watari nodded.

Tatsumi cleared his throat and Hisoka looked on, more confused than ever. "What?"

"Get dressed. You're going."

Hisoka's brow furrowed, "Going where?"

"Japan."

~*~

"So, what you're trying to tell me is you don't know your name?"

I nod.

"Or the place you work?"

Nod.

"Or where you live?"

Another nod. Is this gonna end anytime soon? I'm getting a neck ache.

"So, simply put, you don't know anything about yourself."

I'd nod again, but all the nodding makes my neck ache like hell, so I settle for a smile.

A patch of brown appeared at my shoulder and bright purple eyes looked up at me, "Well, what do we call you?"

Good question.

Apparently, they realized the goodness of it as well since we all shut up and silence reigned for a good whole minute. I was looking at the clock the whole time.

Kourin clapped.

I jumped fifty feet into the air.

Hokou snickered.

"What the hell was that for?!" I cried, clutching my chest.

She smiled and inched closer to me, "Sei."

Uhm…"Say what?"

She giggled and slapped my back playfully. Well, based from her look I assumed it was in a playful way, but I shot facedown to the bed anyway. Make no mistake. The girl was strong. "Silly, that's what we'll call you!"

Okay, weird people. "You'd call me Silly? Why the heck would you do that?"

Hokou giggled, tugging on my arm, "I think kaasan means that we'll call you Sei."

Oh. "Oh."

The five year old climbed beside me and stage whispered, "It's taken from my dad's last name, also ours."

I wanted to ask, I really do, if not for the pillow that sailed its way to the little child, causing both of us to tumbling. Well, in Hokou's case. I just fell with him.

Damn, she's strong.

AN: Nuriko in the house! Can ya tell, can ya? She's Kourin, duh! And guess who's Sei? Okay, reeeeeaaaaally big hint. Saihitei Seishuku. Yeppers! Hotohori's in here, too! Or, at least his name is. And guess where Hokou got his name…ehehehe…Hotohori + Kourin = Hokou. Smart, aren't I? Heehee.

I assumed Tatsumi's older than Watari, but correct me if I'm wrong. Also, I don't know much about empaths, not being one myself, but let's assume everything I said here was true. ^_^;

Hee…review! And tell me if there are any glaring errors and whatnot. I'll get back to it as soon as I have time…have fun!