A/N: Mwahahaha! Kelly's back and she forgot to take her medication! Be
afraid..be vewwy vewwy afwaid..
Ruby-Tears; Thanks very much about the ideas! Definitely be keeping them in mind as I'm in the middle of holidays and refusing to do my assignments!
Ice-Phoenix-san: I aim to please *bows*. Everyone: feel free to insert any image of any dark-haired bishounen in picturing Kyo (if you people knew where I got the inspiration for Kyo. . ..sigh)
Pairings: (Thanks to Ruby-Tears for reminding me about this!) Tsu x Hisoka, Tera x Wakaba, Tats x Watari (but these dimwits still don't realize they like each other as yet, sheesh!) and Kyo x ???
Warnings: Not much yet, still in G or maybe PG. This chapter will hopefully get the ball rolling for the case that will shake their (undead) lives! A slight tinge of lemon if I can work it in but as I'm very new at yaoi/lemon, I don't really dare to go on about it. (Imgine the hell I'd receive if my sister read it..ouch.)
Disclaimer: No, no, YnM does not belong to me *cough* *cough*
Chapter 2: I Know How You Feel
Dawn filtered in slowly from between the cracks of the wooden blinds that covered the windows. The soft light traveled the breadth of the floor, up his bed, to slowly caress his half-curled fingers and like a benediction from God, kissed his face.
Kyo had been awake for the past two hours, lying on his side with his hand flung across the wide empty space beside him on the bed. He had watched with unseeing eyes as total blackness morphed slowly into predawn grey and finally, the clamshell pink heralding the start of a new day.
What the dawnlight revealed was a modest sized bedroom, tastefully furnished with dark wood furniture and cream and beige tones. The same theme echoed throughout the one floor apartment given to him by JuuOhCho, the calm monotony broken by bright splashes of art prints hanging on the creamy toned walls. Any visitor to his apartment (and there had been a few since he started work a few weeks ago) would always mention how soothing the whole décor was.
Kyo was starting to hate his apartment. It was a near exact duplication of his old home back when he was still alive, on Chijou. It wasn't due to some unconscious urge that he decorated it the same way. In fact, it was quite deliberate. He had thought, foolishly perhaps, that it would give him comfort, some sort of peace, to come home to a place well-loved.
But all it brought back were painful memories of what he had lost.
Yet you would think that he'd redo his apartment, start from scratch, anything, just as long as those memories won't haunt him day and night.
But if memories were all that you have, would you banish them? Even if in remembering, it makes you feels like you're dying all over again?
So Kyo didn't redecorate his apartment. He needed those memories. After all, isn't that why he became a Shinigami in the first place? Isn't that why everyone in the Shokan Division became Shinigamis? Because of our ties to the living world that no 'eternal rest' can banish.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. . . .
The bed was perhaps the biggest mistake of all, Kyo thought wryly. If everything else in the apartment brings back memories, then the bed is the chain that shackles him to them. But he couldn't bring himself to buy a smaller one. It felt. . . wrong. So now, what he has is a bed too big for him and yet too small to contain his loneliness.
With a sigh, he got up, shivering a little as the cool morning air kissed his skin and made his way to the bathroom, discarding his boxers on the way. Almost, he could hear a familiar voice teasing him the way he used to be teased.
/I don't know why you bother wearing those in the first place, they always come off even before you sleep anyway/
"I like to keep my modesty, you hentai," Kyo murmured to himself absently. He stepped into the shower cubicle and closed the frosted glass doors behind him. He had always liked taking showers; it made him feel as though he was in a little world of his own where the only sound that could be heard was the rushing of the water, drowning out anything else that his mind could drag up and torture him with. Turning the shower on full-blast, cold, he gave a gasp as the water hit him. He slid down the wall onto the floor and pulled up his knees, hugging himself.
It was going to be a long day.
________________________________________________________________________
He centered himself, closing his eyes and allowing his body to relax in his stance. Slowly, he focused his breath, starting from the point of Tan T'ien* and gradually, throughout his whole body. The balancing of his chi became like a calming drug that soothed the senses and washed away the memories.
He opened his eyes and almost hypnotically, moved into the first opening sequence of the dance of T'ai Chi Ch'uan*. Each movement came naturally to him, the result of nearly a lifetime of practice. Time and space lost meaning to him as he danced, allowing those ancient steps of T'ai Chi to absorb his pain. He became as one with everything and nothing, letting his mind drift free of its shackles and pain.
It was when he finally came to the end of the dance and had slowly expelled his breath, that he became aware of a spectator to his performance.
"Ah, Kurosaki-kun," Kyo grinned. "Ohayo."
"Ohayo, Kyo-san. And I told you, it's Hisoka." The green-eyed youth smiled faintly. He was leaning against the doorway of the dojo, regarding Kyo with that serious expression on his face which Kyo had come to recognize as his trademark. Not that the boy was naturally glum, but from the bits and pieces that Kyo had gathered, Hisoka has every reason to be so serious, considering his past. But from what Watari told him, and it's something that Kyo totally agreed on, Hisoka was getting better at showing his pleasure. Even more so when he was around Tsuzuki.
"I'm sorry, you wanted to use the dojo? I'm finished now so it's all yours," Kyo had noticed that Hisoka was wearing a hakama and uwagi*, like he was, and assumed that Hisoka had come here for his morning practice.
Hisoka waved off his apology and stood before Kyo, a puzzled expression on his face. "What was it were you practicing just now? You looked as though you were dancing but weren't. . . ."
"It's called T'ai Chi Ch'uan," At the still puzzled look on Hisoka's face, he clarified further. "It's an ancient Chinese martial arts, developed by Shaolin monks to protect themselves. Nowadays, people use it as a sort of meditation."
Hisoka smiled another one of those half-smiles of his, though this one was tinged slightly with sympathy. "Couldn't sleep?"
Kyo threw him a startled look until he remembered the boy's emphatic ability. He grinned ruefully and nodded his head. "Aa. That's what you get for drinking coffee before bedtime."
From the look on Hisoka's face, Kyo could tell that he didn't believe one word of it, but had the grace to not comment on the evasion. Instead, he held up a bamboo sword he had taken down earlier from the weapons' rack. "Do you kendo?"
Blinking, an artfully innocent look on his face, Kyo nodded again. "Not very good at it though."
Hisoka snorted in disbelief.
"But I'd be willing to give it a go. Loser buys lunch?"
Kyo was rewarded with a grin. "You're on."
(9.30 a.m.; an hour later)
Nearly everyone was in the staff room that morning, enjoying some coffee and doughnuts before starting on the mounds of paperwork that was cluttering up everyone's desk. (Tsuzuki's especially but he claimed that it was actually his smart approach to work: get everything done at the last minute or if all else fails, get Hisoka to do it for him. With suitable rewards of course).
Kyo was nibbling on a chocolate frosted doughnut and making big, sad eyes at Watari, complaining about Hisoka whom he claimed won the match earlier unfairly, by whacking him on the head with the bamboo sword and thus, gained the advantage of surprise. Watari patted Kyo's head reassuringly, making soothing noises. It had surprised and amused everyone (except Terazuma) to discover that Kyo was nearly as good as Tsuzuki at pulling the chibi look. But where Tsuzuki tended to brim with restless puppy energy even in that form, Kyo delighted in just sitting, cleaning his furry paws, washing his luxurious whiskers and wagging his tail quietly, effectively making people irresistibly cooing over him.
Hisoka rolled his eyes in mock exasperation from his place on Tsuzuki's lap. Any attempts to remove himself from that particular vicinity had been cheerfully blocked by a pair of strong arms and a carefully placed mouth. "And who was it that started cheating in the first place?" he demanded, amused.
"Mou, Hisoka-san never said that tickling is considered as cheating. . ." Chibi-Kyo swung his legs back and forth from the desk he was perched on, looking beseechingly at Hisoka.
Hisoka snorted. "And I take it the hakama also didn't count as cheating?" he raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Well," Kyo grinned, "that was an accident." At Tsuzuki's questioning look, he explained. "I. . .er. . .*nearly*. . .er. . .accidently, mind you, pulled his hakama off." Tsuzuki burst into laughter but was cut off by the elbow digging into his ribs, compliments of Hisoka. "Well, it's a good defense tactic, don't you think?" Kyo added earnestly. "I mean, if somebody dangerous is rushing at you with a sword, all you have to do is a quick swipe at the belt and bam! He's no longer a threat. Really!"
There was silence for a few moments and then everyone burst into laughter, including Hisoka, who was shaking his head in laughing disbelief. "I'm sure it's actually a secret kendo move taught only by the masters of old," Hisoka chuckled. "'If all else fails, go for the belt'!"
The morning passed on pleasantly. They haven't had a case in these two weeks and everyone was taking the chance to relax, knowing full well that the idyllic moment could be dashed in a matter of minutes. "Safe" and "Boring" is definitely not on the job specification when one applies to be a God of Death.
Watari and Kyo were also lounging around in the staff room, Watari saying he needed a break from his lab and Kyo having finished his paperwork, discussing on what exactly went wrong with Watari's gender-changing formula. Kyo had only ended up with a pair of breasts instead of the whole, uh. . .ensemble, shall we say?
"I've been racking my brains trying to think of where I went wrong," Watari frowned. "Everything was perfect. I had the right amount of sodium laureate, gamma-Linolic acid. . ."
Kyo sipped his coffee thoughtfully. Instead of being terrified out of his wits, Kyo had rather enjoyed the experience of being temporarily half- female. At his colleagues' baffled looks, he said that at least it wasn't boring.
"Maybe you were lacking in yin?" he volunteered helpfully.
"What do you mean?" asked Watari, curious.
"It's simple," Kyo shrugged, "the universe and everything in it is made up of two basic forces; Yin and Yang. Yin is primarily a female energy and Yang is male. Should one aspect override the other, then the predominant force's aspects would emerge. Maybe that would explain why I didn't get the full service," Kyo added, smiling.
What a profound idea! Watari's eyes simply glowed with the possibilities that were never before thought of. This new partner of his was proving to be more than a good friend; he could be the key to unlock the door on his path to success! But before he could open his mouth to discuss it further with Kyo, the door opened and Tatsumi stepped in, oblivious to the sighs of relief that went around the room as its occupants fervently thanked every god in existence that Watari's further ventures into his obsession was temporarily put on hold.
For now anyway.
"Tsuzuki-san, Hisoka-san and Kyo-san. In my office please, you have a new assignment." Tatsumi beckoned at them to join him and all three dutifully trooped behind him, following into his office. Kyo was the last to enter and closed the door behind him as Tatsumi sat down behind his desk and slid a folder across the smooth, uncluttered surface to Tsuzuki.
"It's a fairly simple assignment, involving a soul that is still stuck on Chijou. You three should not have any trouble with it and it'll give Kyo more field experience," said Tatsumi, steepling his fingers and looking pointedly at Tsuzuki. "Your budget is still 30000 yen each, daily. Don't overspend."
"Haaaaaaiiiii.."
________________________________________________________________________
(On Chijou, Nagasaki)
It was a beautiful summer's day in Nagasaki today. The sky is an endless blue, dotted here and there with puffy white clouds. Swallows flew and dived overhead as the three Shinigami made their way to the other side of town. All three were dressed casually as there was no need to go undercover for this case. Kyo had worn light blue denim jeans, a white T-shirt, beige jacket and a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. That is not to say that he was an indifferent dresser, but today, he felt like relaxing and there's no outfit as relaxing as a pair of jeans (well, shorts were relaxing too but that would be going overboard).
Hisoka briefed them from the file as they walked towards their destination, a collapsed house at the edge of town. Apparently, the house had been destroyed in a landslide due to unseasonal heavy rains. All 3 members of the family that lived there were killed; an older sister and her two little brothers. She had been supporting the whole family after their parents died, and had kept the family together through custody battles with the court. The brothers had died instantly at the site while the sister died on her way to the hospital. The soul they were to retrieve was the sister's.
The sight that greeted them was not pretty. Broken pieces of timber stuck out from the ground like jagged teeth and the fallen bricks and crushed slate were covered over with a fine layer of silt, soot and dust and weeds had started to claim back the site. They found the sister easily enough. She was sitting on the ground a little way from the house, staring blankly at the sight of the destruction of her life. She didn't seem to notice or care as the three Shinigami approached her cautiously. Reluctant spirits were always something to be reckoned with, and should not be taken lightly.
Tsuzuki stepped forward and was no more than a few paces from the girl when he was suddenly stopped short. The spirit had put up a barrier around herself, apparently for the very purpose of hindering anyone from taking her back to Meifu.
Tsuzuki went back to the others, rubbing his neck worriedly. "She's put up a kekkai," he sighed. "We may have to break it to get to her."
Hisoka frowned. "Won't that just give her time to disappear, when we're trying to break it?" Tsuzuki nodded. "Why don't we try talking to her first?" He suggested.
Tsuzuki shook his head. "I don't think it'll help. From the look in her eyes, I'd say she's too far gone and nothing we say would get through to her. I think breaking the kekkai is the only option we have right now. Then maybe we can track her down and talk to her if she escapes."
"Why don't you let me try something first?" Kyo spoke up. He had been watching the girl quietly all this time, a strange expression on his face that Hisoka could not decipher. Kyo was rapidly becoming nearly as good as Tatsumi at hiding his emotions.
Hisoka and Tsuzuki exchanged looks and the latter shrugged. "Okay, but remember, be careful," warned Tsuzuki. "We'll be standing by in case of trouble." With that, both he and Hisoka took out their ofudas.
Kyo smiled in assurance and went over to the trapped soul. He stopped just before the barrier in front of her and crouched down. He reached up and took off his cap, throwing it away. Without a word, he just sat there, a patient look on his face and held out his arms to her.
How long they remained like that, like frozen statues in a tableau, Hisoka did not know. But suddenly, and without warning, the barrier broke and splintered into ghostly shards. Tsuzuki and Hisoka leapt forward, containment spells already forming on their tongues, but the girl didn't attack Kyo as they expected her to. Instead, she threw herself into his waiting arms and buried her face in his shoulders, wailing out her torment.
Both of them watched in silence as the spirit of a sister who only wanted to protect her family forever, through hard times and obstacles near- insurmountable, only to lose them to death, sobbed out the grief of her failure, in the protective circle of Kyo's arms.
Watching them, Hisoka could not decide who looked the more grief-stricken; the dead sister or Kyo himself.
________________________________________________________________________
~to be continued~
________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Wow! 10 pages! My back is killing me! This chapter was intended to show how Kyo really is, the kind of person he is..hopefully it worked! Like I said earlier in the prologue, this fic is Kyo-centric, so you've been warned!
*Tan T'ien=a T'ai Chi terminology; the spot at your lower abdomen, near the pelvis, that is believed to be the center of the chi in the body.
*T'ai Chi Ch'uan=it's T'ai Chi basically. Contrary to popular belief, it's not an old folks' exercise method. It's technically a form of martial arts. For a great example of using T'ai Chi in fighting, watch any Jet Li movies. His style of fighting incorporates different schools of fighting but is primarily based on T'ai Chi (that's what I think anyway ^ 0 ^
*Hakama & Uwagi=like the outfit Kenshin Himura wears (or any Japanese martial arts practitioner does). Hakama is the pants. I stole the definition from Akasha (if you're reading this, I'm sorry I didn't ask you first! Hontoni gomenasai!
A/N P.S: As always, R & R is greatly appreciated! Btw, does anybody feel like killing me for not getting to the major plot in the story already???? If you have any ideas on how the next chapters should be, feel free to tell me! Half of the time, I'm not sure myself about where I'm going! Haha!
Ruby-Tears; Thanks very much about the ideas! Definitely be keeping them in mind as I'm in the middle of holidays and refusing to do my assignments!
Ice-Phoenix-san: I aim to please *bows*. Everyone: feel free to insert any image of any dark-haired bishounen in picturing Kyo (if you people knew where I got the inspiration for Kyo. . ..sigh)
Pairings: (Thanks to Ruby-Tears for reminding me about this!) Tsu x Hisoka, Tera x Wakaba, Tats x Watari (but these dimwits still don't realize they like each other as yet, sheesh!) and Kyo x ???
Warnings: Not much yet, still in G or maybe PG. This chapter will hopefully get the ball rolling for the case that will shake their (undead) lives! A slight tinge of lemon if I can work it in but as I'm very new at yaoi/lemon, I don't really dare to go on about it. (Imgine the hell I'd receive if my sister read it..ouch.)
Disclaimer: No, no, YnM does not belong to me *cough* *cough*
Chapter 2: I Know How You Feel
Dawn filtered in slowly from between the cracks of the wooden blinds that covered the windows. The soft light traveled the breadth of the floor, up his bed, to slowly caress his half-curled fingers and like a benediction from God, kissed his face.
Kyo had been awake for the past two hours, lying on his side with his hand flung across the wide empty space beside him on the bed. He had watched with unseeing eyes as total blackness morphed slowly into predawn grey and finally, the clamshell pink heralding the start of a new day.
What the dawnlight revealed was a modest sized bedroom, tastefully furnished with dark wood furniture and cream and beige tones. The same theme echoed throughout the one floor apartment given to him by JuuOhCho, the calm monotony broken by bright splashes of art prints hanging on the creamy toned walls. Any visitor to his apartment (and there had been a few since he started work a few weeks ago) would always mention how soothing the whole décor was.
Kyo was starting to hate his apartment. It was a near exact duplication of his old home back when he was still alive, on Chijou. It wasn't due to some unconscious urge that he decorated it the same way. In fact, it was quite deliberate. He had thought, foolishly perhaps, that it would give him comfort, some sort of peace, to come home to a place well-loved.
But all it brought back were painful memories of what he had lost.
Yet you would think that he'd redo his apartment, start from scratch, anything, just as long as those memories won't haunt him day and night.
But if memories were all that you have, would you banish them? Even if in remembering, it makes you feels like you're dying all over again?
So Kyo didn't redecorate his apartment. He needed those memories. After all, isn't that why he became a Shinigami in the first place? Isn't that why everyone in the Shokan Division became Shinigamis? Because of our ties to the living world that no 'eternal rest' can banish.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. . . .
The bed was perhaps the biggest mistake of all, Kyo thought wryly. If everything else in the apartment brings back memories, then the bed is the chain that shackles him to them. But he couldn't bring himself to buy a smaller one. It felt. . . wrong. So now, what he has is a bed too big for him and yet too small to contain his loneliness.
With a sigh, he got up, shivering a little as the cool morning air kissed his skin and made his way to the bathroom, discarding his boxers on the way. Almost, he could hear a familiar voice teasing him the way he used to be teased.
/I don't know why you bother wearing those in the first place, they always come off even before you sleep anyway/
"I like to keep my modesty, you hentai," Kyo murmured to himself absently. He stepped into the shower cubicle and closed the frosted glass doors behind him. He had always liked taking showers; it made him feel as though he was in a little world of his own where the only sound that could be heard was the rushing of the water, drowning out anything else that his mind could drag up and torture him with. Turning the shower on full-blast, cold, he gave a gasp as the water hit him. He slid down the wall onto the floor and pulled up his knees, hugging himself.
It was going to be a long day.
________________________________________________________________________
He centered himself, closing his eyes and allowing his body to relax in his stance. Slowly, he focused his breath, starting from the point of Tan T'ien* and gradually, throughout his whole body. The balancing of his chi became like a calming drug that soothed the senses and washed away the memories.
He opened his eyes and almost hypnotically, moved into the first opening sequence of the dance of T'ai Chi Ch'uan*. Each movement came naturally to him, the result of nearly a lifetime of practice. Time and space lost meaning to him as he danced, allowing those ancient steps of T'ai Chi to absorb his pain. He became as one with everything and nothing, letting his mind drift free of its shackles and pain.
It was when he finally came to the end of the dance and had slowly expelled his breath, that he became aware of a spectator to his performance.
"Ah, Kurosaki-kun," Kyo grinned. "Ohayo."
"Ohayo, Kyo-san. And I told you, it's Hisoka." The green-eyed youth smiled faintly. He was leaning against the doorway of the dojo, regarding Kyo with that serious expression on his face which Kyo had come to recognize as his trademark. Not that the boy was naturally glum, but from the bits and pieces that Kyo had gathered, Hisoka has every reason to be so serious, considering his past. But from what Watari told him, and it's something that Kyo totally agreed on, Hisoka was getting better at showing his pleasure. Even more so when he was around Tsuzuki.
"I'm sorry, you wanted to use the dojo? I'm finished now so it's all yours," Kyo had noticed that Hisoka was wearing a hakama and uwagi*, like he was, and assumed that Hisoka had come here for his morning practice.
Hisoka waved off his apology and stood before Kyo, a puzzled expression on his face. "What was it were you practicing just now? You looked as though you were dancing but weren't. . . ."
"It's called T'ai Chi Ch'uan," At the still puzzled look on Hisoka's face, he clarified further. "It's an ancient Chinese martial arts, developed by Shaolin monks to protect themselves. Nowadays, people use it as a sort of meditation."
Hisoka smiled another one of those half-smiles of his, though this one was tinged slightly with sympathy. "Couldn't sleep?"
Kyo threw him a startled look until he remembered the boy's emphatic ability. He grinned ruefully and nodded his head. "Aa. That's what you get for drinking coffee before bedtime."
From the look on Hisoka's face, Kyo could tell that he didn't believe one word of it, but had the grace to not comment on the evasion. Instead, he held up a bamboo sword he had taken down earlier from the weapons' rack. "Do you kendo?"
Blinking, an artfully innocent look on his face, Kyo nodded again. "Not very good at it though."
Hisoka snorted in disbelief.
"But I'd be willing to give it a go. Loser buys lunch?"
Kyo was rewarded with a grin. "You're on."
(9.30 a.m.; an hour later)
Nearly everyone was in the staff room that morning, enjoying some coffee and doughnuts before starting on the mounds of paperwork that was cluttering up everyone's desk. (Tsuzuki's especially but he claimed that it was actually his smart approach to work: get everything done at the last minute or if all else fails, get Hisoka to do it for him. With suitable rewards of course).
Kyo was nibbling on a chocolate frosted doughnut and making big, sad eyes at Watari, complaining about Hisoka whom he claimed won the match earlier unfairly, by whacking him on the head with the bamboo sword and thus, gained the advantage of surprise. Watari patted Kyo's head reassuringly, making soothing noises. It had surprised and amused everyone (except Terazuma) to discover that Kyo was nearly as good as Tsuzuki at pulling the chibi look. But where Tsuzuki tended to brim with restless puppy energy even in that form, Kyo delighted in just sitting, cleaning his furry paws, washing his luxurious whiskers and wagging his tail quietly, effectively making people irresistibly cooing over him.
Hisoka rolled his eyes in mock exasperation from his place on Tsuzuki's lap. Any attempts to remove himself from that particular vicinity had been cheerfully blocked by a pair of strong arms and a carefully placed mouth. "And who was it that started cheating in the first place?" he demanded, amused.
"Mou, Hisoka-san never said that tickling is considered as cheating. . ." Chibi-Kyo swung his legs back and forth from the desk he was perched on, looking beseechingly at Hisoka.
Hisoka snorted. "And I take it the hakama also didn't count as cheating?" he raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Well," Kyo grinned, "that was an accident." At Tsuzuki's questioning look, he explained. "I. . .er. . .*nearly*. . .er. . .accidently, mind you, pulled his hakama off." Tsuzuki burst into laughter but was cut off by the elbow digging into his ribs, compliments of Hisoka. "Well, it's a good defense tactic, don't you think?" Kyo added earnestly. "I mean, if somebody dangerous is rushing at you with a sword, all you have to do is a quick swipe at the belt and bam! He's no longer a threat. Really!"
There was silence for a few moments and then everyone burst into laughter, including Hisoka, who was shaking his head in laughing disbelief. "I'm sure it's actually a secret kendo move taught only by the masters of old," Hisoka chuckled. "'If all else fails, go for the belt'!"
The morning passed on pleasantly. They haven't had a case in these two weeks and everyone was taking the chance to relax, knowing full well that the idyllic moment could be dashed in a matter of minutes. "Safe" and "Boring" is definitely not on the job specification when one applies to be a God of Death.
Watari and Kyo were also lounging around in the staff room, Watari saying he needed a break from his lab and Kyo having finished his paperwork, discussing on what exactly went wrong with Watari's gender-changing formula. Kyo had only ended up with a pair of breasts instead of the whole, uh. . .ensemble, shall we say?
"I've been racking my brains trying to think of where I went wrong," Watari frowned. "Everything was perfect. I had the right amount of sodium laureate, gamma-Linolic acid. . ."
Kyo sipped his coffee thoughtfully. Instead of being terrified out of his wits, Kyo had rather enjoyed the experience of being temporarily half- female. At his colleagues' baffled looks, he said that at least it wasn't boring.
"Maybe you were lacking in yin?" he volunteered helpfully.
"What do you mean?" asked Watari, curious.
"It's simple," Kyo shrugged, "the universe and everything in it is made up of two basic forces; Yin and Yang. Yin is primarily a female energy and Yang is male. Should one aspect override the other, then the predominant force's aspects would emerge. Maybe that would explain why I didn't get the full service," Kyo added, smiling.
What a profound idea! Watari's eyes simply glowed with the possibilities that were never before thought of. This new partner of his was proving to be more than a good friend; he could be the key to unlock the door on his path to success! But before he could open his mouth to discuss it further with Kyo, the door opened and Tatsumi stepped in, oblivious to the sighs of relief that went around the room as its occupants fervently thanked every god in existence that Watari's further ventures into his obsession was temporarily put on hold.
For now anyway.
"Tsuzuki-san, Hisoka-san and Kyo-san. In my office please, you have a new assignment." Tatsumi beckoned at them to join him and all three dutifully trooped behind him, following into his office. Kyo was the last to enter and closed the door behind him as Tatsumi sat down behind his desk and slid a folder across the smooth, uncluttered surface to Tsuzuki.
"It's a fairly simple assignment, involving a soul that is still stuck on Chijou. You three should not have any trouble with it and it'll give Kyo more field experience," said Tatsumi, steepling his fingers and looking pointedly at Tsuzuki. "Your budget is still 30000 yen each, daily. Don't overspend."
"Haaaaaaiiiii.."
________________________________________________________________________
(On Chijou, Nagasaki)
It was a beautiful summer's day in Nagasaki today. The sky is an endless blue, dotted here and there with puffy white clouds. Swallows flew and dived overhead as the three Shinigami made their way to the other side of town. All three were dressed casually as there was no need to go undercover for this case. Kyo had worn light blue denim jeans, a white T-shirt, beige jacket and a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. That is not to say that he was an indifferent dresser, but today, he felt like relaxing and there's no outfit as relaxing as a pair of jeans (well, shorts were relaxing too but that would be going overboard).
Hisoka briefed them from the file as they walked towards their destination, a collapsed house at the edge of town. Apparently, the house had been destroyed in a landslide due to unseasonal heavy rains. All 3 members of the family that lived there were killed; an older sister and her two little brothers. She had been supporting the whole family after their parents died, and had kept the family together through custody battles with the court. The brothers had died instantly at the site while the sister died on her way to the hospital. The soul they were to retrieve was the sister's.
The sight that greeted them was not pretty. Broken pieces of timber stuck out from the ground like jagged teeth and the fallen bricks and crushed slate were covered over with a fine layer of silt, soot and dust and weeds had started to claim back the site. They found the sister easily enough. She was sitting on the ground a little way from the house, staring blankly at the sight of the destruction of her life. She didn't seem to notice or care as the three Shinigami approached her cautiously. Reluctant spirits were always something to be reckoned with, and should not be taken lightly.
Tsuzuki stepped forward and was no more than a few paces from the girl when he was suddenly stopped short. The spirit had put up a barrier around herself, apparently for the very purpose of hindering anyone from taking her back to Meifu.
Tsuzuki went back to the others, rubbing his neck worriedly. "She's put up a kekkai," he sighed. "We may have to break it to get to her."
Hisoka frowned. "Won't that just give her time to disappear, when we're trying to break it?" Tsuzuki nodded. "Why don't we try talking to her first?" He suggested.
Tsuzuki shook his head. "I don't think it'll help. From the look in her eyes, I'd say she's too far gone and nothing we say would get through to her. I think breaking the kekkai is the only option we have right now. Then maybe we can track her down and talk to her if she escapes."
"Why don't you let me try something first?" Kyo spoke up. He had been watching the girl quietly all this time, a strange expression on his face that Hisoka could not decipher. Kyo was rapidly becoming nearly as good as Tatsumi at hiding his emotions.
Hisoka and Tsuzuki exchanged looks and the latter shrugged. "Okay, but remember, be careful," warned Tsuzuki. "We'll be standing by in case of trouble." With that, both he and Hisoka took out their ofudas.
Kyo smiled in assurance and went over to the trapped soul. He stopped just before the barrier in front of her and crouched down. He reached up and took off his cap, throwing it away. Without a word, he just sat there, a patient look on his face and held out his arms to her.
How long they remained like that, like frozen statues in a tableau, Hisoka did not know. But suddenly, and without warning, the barrier broke and splintered into ghostly shards. Tsuzuki and Hisoka leapt forward, containment spells already forming on their tongues, but the girl didn't attack Kyo as they expected her to. Instead, she threw herself into his waiting arms and buried her face in his shoulders, wailing out her torment.
Both of them watched in silence as the spirit of a sister who only wanted to protect her family forever, through hard times and obstacles near- insurmountable, only to lose them to death, sobbed out the grief of her failure, in the protective circle of Kyo's arms.
Watching them, Hisoka could not decide who looked the more grief-stricken; the dead sister or Kyo himself.
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~to be continued~
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A/N: Wow! 10 pages! My back is killing me! This chapter was intended to show how Kyo really is, the kind of person he is..hopefully it worked! Like I said earlier in the prologue, this fic is Kyo-centric, so you've been warned!
*Tan T'ien=a T'ai Chi terminology; the spot at your lower abdomen, near the pelvis, that is believed to be the center of the chi in the body.
*T'ai Chi Ch'uan=it's T'ai Chi basically. Contrary to popular belief, it's not an old folks' exercise method. It's technically a form of martial arts. For a great example of using T'ai Chi in fighting, watch any Jet Li movies. His style of fighting incorporates different schools of fighting but is primarily based on T'ai Chi (that's what I think anyway ^ 0 ^
*Hakama & Uwagi=like the outfit Kenshin Himura wears (or any Japanese martial arts practitioner does). Hakama is the pants. I stole the definition from Akasha (if you're reading this, I'm sorry I didn't ask you first! Hontoni gomenasai!
A/N P.S: As always, R & R is greatly appreciated! Btw, does anybody feel like killing me for not getting to the major plot in the story already???? If you have any ideas on how the next chapters should be, feel free to tell me! Half of the time, I'm not sure myself about where I'm going! Haha!