:: love me ::
chapter 3 - ikanaide...
Muraki chuckled as he brought a miraculously still white gloved-hand up to rest on Tsuzuki's shoulder. He came dangerously close to the shinigami.
"Still kawaii as ever, Tsuzuki-san," he smirked, as Tsuzuki flushed.
"Keep your hands off me, Muraki," Tsuzuki snarled.
"You wouldn't be so cold if I had my way with you, Tsuzuki-san," Muraki crooned, "perhaps if you'd spend tonight with me I could teach you a thing or two worth learning... instead of spending your time with..." he leaned in to kiss Tsuzuki on the lips.
Hisoka was beside himself, infuriated. Why couldn't Tsuzuki push him away? Why did he allow himself to be touched here and there by that psycho? It was a desolate place so why didn't he use Fuda magic? Why isn't he doing anything? his mouth hung open as he saw Muraki bring his lips together. He was raving inside - Tsuzuki just kissed HIM!! how dare Muraki kiss the same lips that just brought them so close together?!
"Yamero, Muraki!" he blurted, catching himself too late.
The man with the silver hair stopped in mid-sentence and narrowed his eyes at Hisoka. "... with such... riffraff..." He left Tsuzuki and clasped Hisoka's chin. Lowering himself to come face-to-face with the trembling empath, he whispered, "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, boy... I'd count myself lucky not to have been used as bait to lure Tsuzuki-san out." He leered with a touch of malice. "But id be glad to play with my old toy again... I really wouldn't mind," he smiled and let go of Hisoka, who fell to his knees and shook, sweat rolling down his neck. He could feel Muraki's hatred - the treachery, the insanity, and the fear of the victims.
Tsuzuki hurriedly helped Hisoka to his feet as he kept his firm glare on Muraki. "When will you ever stop -"
"Oh, not anytime soon I'm afraid," the man extracted a piece of tape, "I'll just leave this here," he gently placed it on Tsuzuki's neck, and smiled fondly at the brunette. "Don't be late," he stared deep into Tsuzuki's eyes, taking a quick glance at Hisoka before disappearing into the trees,
Tsuzuki relaxed and knitted his brows. "What a sicko," he muttered, before holding Hisoka about the shoulders. "You okay?" he asked.
Hisoka nodded, as the cluster of emotions drifted away from him, and he stopped shivering.
"We'd better take this to Watari," Tsuzuki peeled the tape off his neck, looking disgusted - on it were two paper pieces.
***
The two shinigami strolled down the hallways of Enma-cho and entered Watari's unusually quiet laboratory, only to find it empty, save for his experiments and a computer on stand-by.
"Does Watari knock off early on Saturdays?" Hisoka asked, checking his watch. It was only eight.
Tsuzuki shook his head and grinned. "he's taking a break, come on." He took hold of Hisoka's wrist and dragged him down the same hall, stopping outside Tatsumi's office. He pressed his ear to the door and grinned again, his amethyst eyes sparkling mischievously. Puzzled, his young companion did likewise. Hisoka's eyes widened as he heard what the closed door might have concealed.
"Well unlike you, I'm not always caught up with chemicals and computers..." Tatsumi's voice came silky and seductive, punctuated by a gasp that sounded all too familiar.
Hisoka wanted to question, but was silenced by an extremely excited Tsuzuki, who had a finger over his lips, grinning from ear to ear. He leaned towards the door again, but had only managed to pick out a low moan from Watari before he felt Tsuzuki's fingers around his wrist. He looked, but his senior was invisible.
"Trust me," he heard a whisper in his ear, "It's going to be fun."
Hisoka shrugged and played along, and was grateful Tsuzuki never loosened his grip - the latter was extremely unpredictable in such situations... and it didn't take a rocket-scientist to figure there was a prank coming on. He heard Tsuzuki knock, once. Twice. Immediately there came the shuffling of fabric. Tsuzuki snuffed out an oncoming burst of laughter. Hisoka felt his arm tugged to the side.
"Who is it?" a flustered Tatsumi strained to sound like his usual stern self.
Tsuzuki didn't reply, but instead pressed his back to the wall. They saw the knob turn, and the door creak open. Tatsumi had managed to get his suit as neat as ever, and Tsuzuki marveled. Hisoka starter to worry as he felt Tsuzuki let go, but had to supress his urge to laugh, when Tatsumi fell backwards, his face contorted with shock. His attacker magically came visible, and Tsuzuki finally let his laughing barrage lose in Tatsumi's annoyed facade.
"Unlike you, I'm not always caught up with chemicals and computers..." Tsuzuki imitated, his face flushed from laughing too much. He rolled off Tatsumi and clutched his aching abs, hot tears streaming down his cheeks. Tatsumi got up and brushed his suit down and snorted, hardly surprised upon seeing Hisoka step in with a controlled smile.
Watari laughed from behind Tatsumi's desk, "So it's Tsuzuki," he wasn't abashed at being caught in the act, "and we thought it was Konoe- san."
"Hope you don't mind, Tatsumi. This baka couldn't help himself," he nodded to an almost insane Tsuzuki.
"Daijoubu," Watari slunk his arms around Tatsumi's neck, answering instead, "Tatsumi doesn't mind, do you, Tatsumi?" he looked at the secretary, who was trying to scavenge whatever was left of his dignity.
Tsuzuki had managed to calm down and had gotten to his feet. He leaned against a bookshelf for support and grinned cheekily at Tatsumi, expecting him to say something. Instead, he cleared his throat and smoother out Watari's tangles.
The blonde smiled happily, and turned to their audience. "Hey Bon, how's the hotel?" he winked.
"Nothing happened," Hisoka blushed and suddenly became very interested in the carpet.
Watari looked at Tsuzuki skeptically, who chuckled and assured him Hisoka was telling the truth, making sure to add an extremely visible wink.
"So what are the two of you doing here again?" Tatsumi questioned sternly, "goofing off again?"
"Fortunately not," Hisoka muttered, his blush slowly draining, "we found Muraki."
Watari let go of his embarrassed lover and adjusted the position of his glasses. "Anything else?"
"Aa," Tsuzuki nodded, "that maniac stuck this to my neck. We were hoping you could do something about it." He pressed it into Watari's open palm.
"Of course I can do something about it," Watari mumbled to his new clues, and immediately stroked Tatsumi's cheek. "I gotta go, koi," he grinned, "this is interesting," and ran to his lab before Tatsumi could say anything.
Tatsumi shook his head, smiling. "Sometimes I wonder if he prefers his work to me."
Tsuzuki shoved Hisoka out and assured, "don't worry Tatsumi, I'm sure you're more alluring than that any day. Jaa!"
Tatsumi mused at how childish Tsuzuki could get. But then again, he was the one who provided the laughs they needed. Watari and his corny jokes alone weren't enough to sustain the life of Enma-cho. He smiled to himself as he began to tidy his desk. Office was never a good place for getting intimate with Watari. Things would get awfully messy. He took a quick glance around his office. There was still the happiness of everyone together lingering in the atmosphere. He found it pointless to remain alone in the office, and figured things would be more lively with the other three.
"Ah! Tatsumi!" Watari exclaimed exuberantly the moment Tatsumi stepped in, "Take a look at this! Fascinating..." he began mumbling to himself again.
The secretary pushed up his glasses, and studied Watari's monitor. "What IS this?? The love letter you were talking about?"
Watari nodded, "It's finally completed! Man, this Muraki guy's really got it bad for Tsuzuki," he grinned.
Tsuzuki waved that comment away idly, and noticed Hisoka didn't look too happy about it. He smiled, and brought his hand to Hisoka's lower back discreetly enough to avoid drawing unnecessary attention. Hisoka didn't look back and smile as expected, but his frown seemed to have disappeared.
There were two days of Muraki's given grace time, and Tsuzuki was thinking of a nice break, with an unlimited supply of sweets... and no errands to run... and just slacking around with Hisoka... he smiled, his fluffy tail waving back and forth subconsciously.
"You two better go back and keep on standby," Tatsumi said as the puppy's tears began to pool, "You can't totally take his word for it. That guy could con a lobster into thinking it was a rabbit." He ignored the puppy, which chewed on its lower lip pitifully.
***
"Daijoubu ka? Hisoka?" Tsuzuki asked as they settled back in their hotel room two hours later. The sky was a deep midnight blue, flecked with sprays of twinkling stars. He didn't answer, but stared straight up, as if trying to count exactly how many stars there were. Tsuzuki shook his coat off and took his place beside Hisoka, who lay face up on the balcony. The fair-haired shinigami sighed and sat up just as his senior had gotten used to the floor, his hands serving as a pillow.
"You don't look so good," Tsuzuki looked at Hisoka, seeing the youth's slender shoulders gently heave with each slow breath.
"Something's not right," Hisoka sounded perturbed. As if thinking he sounded ridiculous, he chided himself, unknowingly voicing his thoughts. "I'm being paranoid again - you shouldn't take me seriously." He began to overlook Tsuzuki's presence. "But I'm just worried something might happen to you," his cheeks began to glow a soft pink, even as the ominous feel began to set into him. "I mean, I almost lost you once, and that was bad enough but -"
"Forget it," Tsuzuki's voice was warm, as he planted a kiss on Hisoka's forehead and entered the room. He fell back onto the bed and called out, "It's gonna be cold out there; the last thing we need if you catching a cold at this time." He looked out at Hisoka, who paid him as much attention as he would to the sound of wind rushing past his ears. Tsuzuki gave a dirty look and called again, "I'm gonna talk your ears off if you don't come in - then I'm going to drag you to the café and clean your wallet!"
Hisoka still didn't respond, and Tsuzuki's lips curved upwards into a near-evil grin.
"And when you're asleep I'll march right up to that psycho Muraki wherever he is and -"
Hisoka promptly stood up, although he still looked like he didn't really care. Tsuzuki grinned and patted himself on the back. He slipped under the covers as Hisoka did and closed his tired eyes.
Hisoka knew his partner wasn't asleep - as tired as he was, Tsuzuki would never slumber until he was sure Hisoka had given in to fatigue.
"There's something you want to say, isn't there?" Tsuzuki nervously pulled Hisoka into a small embrace that brought blood rushing to the empath's face, half-afraid of being pushed away. Pressed so close to Tsuzuki, Hisoka relieved a little of their discomfort by letting his arm lie across the broad plane of Tsuzuki's chest, feeling it's steady rise and fall. He felt warmth floating into his body, and allowed it to ease his tension (what little there was). For that moment, he breathed in the soft musk that was uniquely just Tsuzuki.
"I was just thinking... when I almost lost you, I was... afraid."
"Afraid?"
"You were just so helpless -"
"Aah, shut up." Tsuzuki wasn't fond of being 'helpless' or being reminded of Muraki telling him he wasn't human.
"I felt so lost, and began to wonder - what would I do without Tsuzuki? I didn't want to be alone anymore... it's been that way once, and it sucked, although I was already used to it." he clenched his fist on Tsuzuki's shirt, as he relived his grief. "Do you know how painful that was?"
"But I'm here now, am I not?"
"Yes, but now Muraki..." Hisoka strained.
"It's going to be my problem then," the brunette smiled, "I won't make you worry again. Okay?"
Hisoka merely nodded in reply.
"Saa, let's sleep! I'm bushed!" Tsuzuki threw it all behind him and yawned.
"Baka." He forced his eyes close.
The morning dawned very bright and cold; but the only one unaffected by the chill and the sun beams glaring into his closed eyes was just comfortable, thank you very much, enveloped in the warmth of the fluffy blanket, snug as a dumpling [now where did that come from?]. When his drowsy eyes finally opened, the space beside him had been vacated. But then again, he was sprawled face down right in the middle - and he did have an uncanny inclination to move a lot in his sleep. Did he push Hisoka off? Tsuzuki scrambled to look over the side of the bed. No Hisoka.
"Che," Tsuzuki frowned, where did that kid go? The bathroom was empty; Tsuzuki's eyes strayed to the two pairs of shoes. He didn't go out? His denim jacket was left on the chair, though... the shinigami's brain flooded with questions as he began to worry. Then, as a jackpot machine would stop, Muraki's image came into picture.
"Masaka! Did he - Hisoka!!" Tsuzuki jumped off the bed and quickly fit his shoes on. He rushed for the door, his heart pounding non-stop.
- author's rambling -
-.-;; can't believe I did that. I only have one comment: probably won't be updating until my stoopid exams are over. Yup. Catcha later~! ^^
chapter 3 - ikanaide...
Muraki chuckled as he brought a miraculously still white gloved-hand up to rest on Tsuzuki's shoulder. He came dangerously close to the shinigami.
"Still kawaii as ever, Tsuzuki-san," he smirked, as Tsuzuki flushed.
"Keep your hands off me, Muraki," Tsuzuki snarled.
"You wouldn't be so cold if I had my way with you, Tsuzuki-san," Muraki crooned, "perhaps if you'd spend tonight with me I could teach you a thing or two worth learning... instead of spending your time with..." he leaned in to kiss Tsuzuki on the lips.
Hisoka was beside himself, infuriated. Why couldn't Tsuzuki push him away? Why did he allow himself to be touched here and there by that psycho? It was a desolate place so why didn't he use Fuda magic? Why isn't he doing anything? his mouth hung open as he saw Muraki bring his lips together. He was raving inside - Tsuzuki just kissed HIM!! how dare Muraki kiss the same lips that just brought them so close together?!
"Yamero, Muraki!" he blurted, catching himself too late.
The man with the silver hair stopped in mid-sentence and narrowed his eyes at Hisoka. "... with such... riffraff..." He left Tsuzuki and clasped Hisoka's chin. Lowering himself to come face-to-face with the trembling empath, he whispered, "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, boy... I'd count myself lucky not to have been used as bait to lure Tsuzuki-san out." He leered with a touch of malice. "But id be glad to play with my old toy again... I really wouldn't mind," he smiled and let go of Hisoka, who fell to his knees and shook, sweat rolling down his neck. He could feel Muraki's hatred - the treachery, the insanity, and the fear of the victims.
Tsuzuki hurriedly helped Hisoka to his feet as he kept his firm glare on Muraki. "When will you ever stop -"
"Oh, not anytime soon I'm afraid," the man extracted a piece of tape, "I'll just leave this here," he gently placed it on Tsuzuki's neck, and smiled fondly at the brunette. "Don't be late," he stared deep into Tsuzuki's eyes, taking a quick glance at Hisoka before disappearing into the trees,
Tsuzuki relaxed and knitted his brows. "What a sicko," he muttered, before holding Hisoka about the shoulders. "You okay?" he asked.
Hisoka nodded, as the cluster of emotions drifted away from him, and he stopped shivering.
"We'd better take this to Watari," Tsuzuki peeled the tape off his neck, looking disgusted - on it were two paper pieces.
***
The two shinigami strolled down the hallways of Enma-cho and entered Watari's unusually quiet laboratory, only to find it empty, save for his experiments and a computer on stand-by.
"Does Watari knock off early on Saturdays?" Hisoka asked, checking his watch. It was only eight.
Tsuzuki shook his head and grinned. "he's taking a break, come on." He took hold of Hisoka's wrist and dragged him down the same hall, stopping outside Tatsumi's office. He pressed his ear to the door and grinned again, his amethyst eyes sparkling mischievously. Puzzled, his young companion did likewise. Hisoka's eyes widened as he heard what the closed door might have concealed.
"Well unlike you, I'm not always caught up with chemicals and computers..." Tatsumi's voice came silky and seductive, punctuated by a gasp that sounded all too familiar.
Hisoka wanted to question, but was silenced by an extremely excited Tsuzuki, who had a finger over his lips, grinning from ear to ear. He leaned towards the door again, but had only managed to pick out a low moan from Watari before he felt Tsuzuki's fingers around his wrist. He looked, but his senior was invisible.
"Trust me," he heard a whisper in his ear, "It's going to be fun."
Hisoka shrugged and played along, and was grateful Tsuzuki never loosened his grip - the latter was extremely unpredictable in such situations... and it didn't take a rocket-scientist to figure there was a prank coming on. He heard Tsuzuki knock, once. Twice. Immediately there came the shuffling of fabric. Tsuzuki snuffed out an oncoming burst of laughter. Hisoka felt his arm tugged to the side.
"Who is it?" a flustered Tatsumi strained to sound like his usual stern self.
Tsuzuki didn't reply, but instead pressed his back to the wall. They saw the knob turn, and the door creak open. Tatsumi had managed to get his suit as neat as ever, and Tsuzuki marveled. Hisoka starter to worry as he felt Tsuzuki let go, but had to supress his urge to laugh, when Tatsumi fell backwards, his face contorted with shock. His attacker magically came visible, and Tsuzuki finally let his laughing barrage lose in Tatsumi's annoyed facade.
"Unlike you, I'm not always caught up with chemicals and computers..." Tsuzuki imitated, his face flushed from laughing too much. He rolled off Tatsumi and clutched his aching abs, hot tears streaming down his cheeks. Tatsumi got up and brushed his suit down and snorted, hardly surprised upon seeing Hisoka step in with a controlled smile.
Watari laughed from behind Tatsumi's desk, "So it's Tsuzuki," he wasn't abashed at being caught in the act, "and we thought it was Konoe- san."
"Hope you don't mind, Tatsumi. This baka couldn't help himself," he nodded to an almost insane Tsuzuki.
"Daijoubu," Watari slunk his arms around Tatsumi's neck, answering instead, "Tatsumi doesn't mind, do you, Tatsumi?" he looked at the secretary, who was trying to scavenge whatever was left of his dignity.
Tsuzuki had managed to calm down and had gotten to his feet. He leaned against a bookshelf for support and grinned cheekily at Tatsumi, expecting him to say something. Instead, he cleared his throat and smoother out Watari's tangles.
The blonde smiled happily, and turned to their audience. "Hey Bon, how's the hotel?" he winked.
"Nothing happened," Hisoka blushed and suddenly became very interested in the carpet.
Watari looked at Tsuzuki skeptically, who chuckled and assured him Hisoka was telling the truth, making sure to add an extremely visible wink.
"So what are the two of you doing here again?" Tatsumi questioned sternly, "goofing off again?"
"Fortunately not," Hisoka muttered, his blush slowly draining, "we found Muraki."
Watari let go of his embarrassed lover and adjusted the position of his glasses. "Anything else?"
"Aa," Tsuzuki nodded, "that maniac stuck this to my neck. We were hoping you could do something about it." He pressed it into Watari's open palm.
"Of course I can do something about it," Watari mumbled to his new clues, and immediately stroked Tatsumi's cheek. "I gotta go, koi," he grinned, "this is interesting," and ran to his lab before Tatsumi could say anything.
Tatsumi shook his head, smiling. "Sometimes I wonder if he prefers his work to me."
Tsuzuki shoved Hisoka out and assured, "don't worry Tatsumi, I'm sure you're more alluring than that any day. Jaa!"
Tatsumi mused at how childish Tsuzuki could get. But then again, he was the one who provided the laughs they needed. Watari and his corny jokes alone weren't enough to sustain the life of Enma-cho. He smiled to himself as he began to tidy his desk. Office was never a good place for getting intimate with Watari. Things would get awfully messy. He took a quick glance around his office. There was still the happiness of everyone together lingering in the atmosphere. He found it pointless to remain alone in the office, and figured things would be more lively with the other three.
"Ah! Tatsumi!" Watari exclaimed exuberantly the moment Tatsumi stepped in, "Take a look at this! Fascinating..." he began mumbling to himself again.
The secretary pushed up his glasses, and studied Watari's monitor. "What IS this?? The love letter you were talking about?"
Watari nodded, "It's finally completed! Man, this Muraki guy's really got it bad for Tsuzuki," he grinned.
Tsuzuki waved that comment away idly, and noticed Hisoka didn't look too happy about it. He smiled, and brought his hand to Hisoka's lower back discreetly enough to avoid drawing unnecessary attention. Hisoka didn't look back and smile as expected, but his frown seemed to have disappeared.
There were two days of Muraki's given grace time, and Tsuzuki was thinking of a nice break, with an unlimited supply of sweets... and no errands to run... and just slacking around with Hisoka... he smiled, his fluffy tail waving back and forth subconsciously.
"You two better go back and keep on standby," Tatsumi said as the puppy's tears began to pool, "You can't totally take his word for it. That guy could con a lobster into thinking it was a rabbit." He ignored the puppy, which chewed on its lower lip pitifully.
***
"Daijoubu ka? Hisoka?" Tsuzuki asked as they settled back in their hotel room two hours later. The sky was a deep midnight blue, flecked with sprays of twinkling stars. He didn't answer, but stared straight up, as if trying to count exactly how many stars there were. Tsuzuki shook his coat off and took his place beside Hisoka, who lay face up on the balcony. The fair-haired shinigami sighed and sat up just as his senior had gotten used to the floor, his hands serving as a pillow.
"You don't look so good," Tsuzuki looked at Hisoka, seeing the youth's slender shoulders gently heave with each slow breath.
"Something's not right," Hisoka sounded perturbed. As if thinking he sounded ridiculous, he chided himself, unknowingly voicing his thoughts. "I'm being paranoid again - you shouldn't take me seriously." He began to overlook Tsuzuki's presence. "But I'm just worried something might happen to you," his cheeks began to glow a soft pink, even as the ominous feel began to set into him. "I mean, I almost lost you once, and that was bad enough but -"
"Forget it," Tsuzuki's voice was warm, as he planted a kiss on Hisoka's forehead and entered the room. He fell back onto the bed and called out, "It's gonna be cold out there; the last thing we need if you catching a cold at this time." He looked out at Hisoka, who paid him as much attention as he would to the sound of wind rushing past his ears. Tsuzuki gave a dirty look and called again, "I'm gonna talk your ears off if you don't come in - then I'm going to drag you to the café and clean your wallet!"
Hisoka still didn't respond, and Tsuzuki's lips curved upwards into a near-evil grin.
"And when you're asleep I'll march right up to that psycho Muraki wherever he is and -"
Hisoka promptly stood up, although he still looked like he didn't really care. Tsuzuki grinned and patted himself on the back. He slipped under the covers as Hisoka did and closed his tired eyes.
Hisoka knew his partner wasn't asleep - as tired as he was, Tsuzuki would never slumber until he was sure Hisoka had given in to fatigue.
"There's something you want to say, isn't there?" Tsuzuki nervously pulled Hisoka into a small embrace that brought blood rushing to the empath's face, half-afraid of being pushed away. Pressed so close to Tsuzuki, Hisoka relieved a little of their discomfort by letting his arm lie across the broad plane of Tsuzuki's chest, feeling it's steady rise and fall. He felt warmth floating into his body, and allowed it to ease his tension (what little there was). For that moment, he breathed in the soft musk that was uniquely just Tsuzuki.
"I was just thinking... when I almost lost you, I was... afraid."
"Afraid?"
"You were just so helpless -"
"Aah, shut up." Tsuzuki wasn't fond of being 'helpless' or being reminded of Muraki telling him he wasn't human.
"I felt so lost, and began to wonder - what would I do without Tsuzuki? I didn't want to be alone anymore... it's been that way once, and it sucked, although I was already used to it." he clenched his fist on Tsuzuki's shirt, as he relived his grief. "Do you know how painful that was?"
"But I'm here now, am I not?"
"Yes, but now Muraki..." Hisoka strained.
"It's going to be my problem then," the brunette smiled, "I won't make you worry again. Okay?"
Hisoka merely nodded in reply.
"Saa, let's sleep! I'm bushed!" Tsuzuki threw it all behind him and yawned.
"Baka." He forced his eyes close.
The morning dawned very bright and cold; but the only one unaffected by the chill and the sun beams glaring into his closed eyes was just comfortable, thank you very much, enveloped in the warmth of the fluffy blanket, snug as a dumpling [now where did that come from?]. When his drowsy eyes finally opened, the space beside him had been vacated. But then again, he was sprawled face down right in the middle - and he did have an uncanny inclination to move a lot in his sleep. Did he push Hisoka off? Tsuzuki scrambled to look over the side of the bed. No Hisoka.
"Che," Tsuzuki frowned, where did that kid go? The bathroom was empty; Tsuzuki's eyes strayed to the two pairs of shoes. He didn't go out? His denim jacket was left on the chair, though... the shinigami's brain flooded with questions as he began to worry. Then, as a jackpot machine would stop, Muraki's image came into picture.
"Masaka! Did he - Hisoka!!" Tsuzuki jumped off the bed and quickly fit his shoes on. He rushed for the door, his heart pounding non-stop.
- author's rambling -
-.-;; can't believe I did that. I only have one comment: probably won't be updating until my stoopid exams are over. Yup. Catcha later~! ^^