Warning! Bloody long A/N to follow!
A/N: *giggling crazily* Oh my God, all you people who reviewed made me soooo happy! Sankyuu! Ice-Phoenix: You lucky thing, I'm in the middle of holidays right now so I'm updating EVERY night. That is, unless Writer's Block *gasp!* hits me *knocks wood* (ouch, my head).
Graffiti: Thank you, but rest assured, there will be some terribly angst- filled moments (it's what we live for...) And the inspiration for Kyo? The name IS actually from Samurai Deeper Kyo but the mental image I have of him is from....uh...my ex. Sad huh? If he wasn't real, he'd made a great bishounen, I assure you. Oh, btw, in my mind, Kyo's hair is a side parting, the fringe brushing just below his eyes... *wipes drool*
Ysabet: Hey, at least I made your worklife interesting, right? *grins*.
Ruby-Tears: *sob!* You understand Kyo so well! Don't worry, I'm definitely getting more angsty! And Hijiri might come up soon (I'll try my best!). And Muraki??? Ah, wait & see! I was supposed to take T'ai Chi lessons but got too lazy to ^^ I looked up all the info I got and I'll see if I can work some more in! Anyways, enjoy this chapter. I'm introducing the case that will make an un-living hell of our cute-asses Shinigamis' lives!
Pairings: Tsu x 'Soka, Tats x Watari (any idea on how to make it happen?), Kyo x (identity soon to be revealed!)
Warning: Watari's New & Improved Potion! Nosebleeds! Lacy Bras! Death.
Disclaimer: Why do we keep on bothering to do this? I mean, if any one of us actually owned YnM, would we be here in the first place?
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CHAPTER 3: Why Do We Become Shinigamis?
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This was one of their briefest cases so far. By mid-afternoon, all three of them had made it back to Meifu. After sending the girl on, Kyo had been strangely reticent. Normally, Tsuzuki would assume that it was due to the painful process of sending a soul on. No matter what the circumstances are, it still hurts. He had more than 70 years of experience to prove it.
But with Kyo. . .it was slightly different. From the look on his face, it was as if Kyo himself had been in that girl's place, that he had seen his own brothers crushed under broken beams and rubble and was helpless to do anything about it. In a way, the bot reminded Tsuzuki of himself. He took on another's pain while ignoring his own.
Kyo was walking ahead of them, mounting the steps leading into the entrance to JuuOhCho, hands in his pockets, and seemingly oblivious to the two of them behind him. Tsuzuki nudged Hisoka gently, the look in his eyes plainly clear. With a sigh and an irritated roll of the eyes, Hisoka shook his head.
"I can't tell what's wrong. He's as good as you or Tatsumi when it comes to building emotional shields," Hisoka muttered to Tsuzuki almost resentfully. He had been "gifted" with the abilities of an empath and by god, he should be able to use it! But *noooooo*, SOME people just felt the need to prove to him that hell yeah, he was an empath, but so what? Nanananana!
Any further diatribe Hisoka might have continued with himself was interrupted as they reached the staff room and Tsuzuki placed a warm hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk to him or shall I?" Tsuzuki nodded at Kyo who had gone over to the coffee pot and was pouring himself a cup.
"I'll do it," Hisoka sighed. "I'll have a better chance at getting the straight story from him. You two are just too alike to do that. Both of you could be lying through your teeth about how fine you are and nobody could contradict you."
Tsuzuki pouted, "I've gotten better haven't I? I mean, considering what we've been doing in bed all this time, my shields have-"
"B-baka! Urusai!" Hisoka clamped a hand around Tsuzuki's mouth. "Are you planning on announcing to the whole office about what we do together?!" Oh, god, he was blushing, he could feel the heat in his cheeks. And naturally, Tsuzuki was smirking over the fact that he made Hisoka blush yet again.
"Right, I'll see you later then," with a cheery wave, Tsuzuki spun around and headed to Tatsumi's office, probably intent on harassing the poor man again into getting a life that does not revolve around the office budget. "Ja ne!"
Hisoka watched him go with an exasperated smile on his face. A sudden, vivid mental image of some of their. . ."activities" flashed in his mind and he blushed fiercely again. God, someday his blush reflex would be the death of him.
Kyo looked up from the cup of coffee he was nursing at the sound of Hisoka approaching. He smiled and pointed at the coffee machine. "Want one?" At Hisoka's nod, he poured a cup for Hisoka, handing it over to him and leaned against the desk behind him. "What's up?"
"I should be the one asking you that."
"Oh?" Kyo raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Why's that?"
Hisoka sighed. "You're upset about something. I can tell. Even with that mile-high shield you got on." His tone was rather pointed as he made that statement and Kyo winced slightly.
"Am I that obvious?" He asked.
"No," Hisoka admitted grudgingly. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, you're as good as Tsuzuki and Tatsumi at hiding your real emotions. But a little bit of it leaks through anyway. Besides," he shrugged, "as corny as it sounds, the look in your eyes also says you're hurting. Want to talk about it?"
"No."
"You should you know. It'll help you deal with the pain, even if it's just a little bit."
"No."
A twitchmark appeared on Hisoka's forehead and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Listen you idiot. Everyone in this office is like a family to me. Even," Hisoka sighed again, "Saya and Yuma." Kyo snickered at that. The Hokkaido pair still haven't given up on trying to get Hisoka to wear a Pink House dress yet. "And that includes you."
"And here I thought you loved me more than that," Kyo sighed mournfully into his coffee cup.
Hisoka blushed *yet again* and glared at Kyo who was now chortling into his cup. Kyo's cup was beginning to feel slightly overused by now. "Ha. Ha."
"Kidding!" Kyo held up a hand in surrender and a moment later, his expression turned serious again. At that instant, his face was bathed with the sunlight streaming through the office windows, lending glossy highlights to his raven black hair and illuminated his pale blue eyes. Once again, Hisoka was struck with Kyo's beauty and something else; a feeling of sorrow, sorrow so vast he wanted to weep for him and yet at the same time, that feeling of sorrow was gentle, for Kyo it seemed, had learned to accept it. Or at least, trying to.
And in an instant also, that feeling of sorrow disappeared, and Kyo smiled. "Everyone in the Shokan Division is like my family too. But this," Kyo hesitated briefly, "is something I'm not really ready to talk about just now. Not yet. But thank you for caring, and for asking. I really appreciate it."
And Hisoka sighed, admitting defeat. That part at least, Hisoka could confirm was the truth. Since Kyo isn't ready to talk about it, he himself had no right to force the man into making unwanted confessions. "But if you ever need to talk to anybody, about anything. . ." Hisoka trailed off. He had been losing most of his aloofness, thanks to Tsuzuki and everyone else but it was still a bit uncomfortable for him to be making such announcements. He was glad then, that Kyo didn't press him further. Instead, Kyo set down his cup, got up, and brushed a kiss on top of his head.
The expression on Kyo's face was gentle. "You're like the younger brother I never had." The smile on his face was a bit wistful and a faraway look entered his eyes.
"Don't you have any siblings?" Hisoka asked, curious. He had never heard Kyo talk about his family before.
Kyo shook his head. "I'm an only child."
"What about your parents?"
"Dead."
Hisoka winced. "Gomen, I didn't-"
Kyo waved off his apology, smiling, "It's okay. They've been dead for a long time anyway. I hardly remember them."
"So who did you live with?"
"By myself. Oops," some of his ofuda had fallen out of his pocket and he bent over to pick it up. The thought suddenly struck Hisoka that he had never seen Kyo used his powers before. Powers that he had been born with. Everyone, naturally, could use 'jitsu, in varying degrees, and in Kyo's case, he was a fast learner, already nearly as good as Tsuzuki at using ofudas. But he had never demonstrated any other powers.
"Ne, Kyo-san, don't you have any other power besides 'jitsu?" He watched as Kyo idly began playing with an ofuda, folding it into a paper messenger. Kyo looked up from the magical bird resting quietly in the palm of his hand and cocked his head to the side.
"Well, I don't really know how to say it without making it sound too corny but. . ."
"What is it?" Hisoka asked, interested.
Kyo scratched his head thoughtfully. "I guess showing you would be much better." With that, he held out his left hand and muttered an incantation. With the same hand, he suddenly made a hooking gesture and a strong wind suddenly blew into the room. Briefly, Hisoka wandered who the idiot was that had left a window open but strangely, the sudden wind swirled only around them, making Hisoka feel as though he was in the eye of a cyclone. Just as suddenly, with a flip of his hand, the wind died down.
Hisoka's eyes widened in appreciation. "You can control wind?"
Kyo shook his head in the negative. "Not just wind, all of the four elements. Earth, wind, water and fire. To some degree that is. Tsuzuki has the Four Gods of North, East, West and South, right?"
Hisoka nodded. "Well, you could say that I'm below him as the elements are the aspects of the Four Gods and I can manipulate it."
"Wow," Hisoka murmured appreciatively. "Could you do it when you were alive too?"
"No, not really. I did notice though, that sometimes, if I wished for it really hard, it would rain. Or the rain would stop. It depends. But I never really knew." Kyo shrugged.
Hisoka wanted to question him further about his powers but the office door suddenly banged open, revealing a slightly charred and smoking Watari and 003. The former was holding a vial in his hands, the liquid inside a vibrant rose pink.
"Kyo! There you are! I did it! In just a few hours too! Thanks to you!" Watari practically flew over and hugged Kyo fiercely, rather effectively making Kyo turn an interesting shade of blue.
"What is it?" Kyo gasped out, after succeeding in disentangling himself from Watari's death grip.
Watari was so excited, that his words tumbled over each other in his haste to explain what happened. "It was what you said earlier about the Yin thing and I finally realized where I went wrong with the gender-changing formula the other day and I managed to make the necessary adjustments to my calculations and look it's all ready and what we really need is a test subject and who do you think should be the one to test it on-"
Kyo cut Watari off rather abruptly. "Ne, Hisoka? Are you okay? You look rather pale. Do you want to drink some-"
It was Kyo's turn to be abruptly cut off as Hisoka practically burned his sneakers off, running away so fast like that.
"-water?"
Kyo and Watari blinked.
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(Sometime later)
Giggle. "Are you sure?" There was a slightly hysterical tone to Kyo's voice, caused by the need to suppress the urge to roll around on the floor in laughter.
Snicker. "Really. You look great! Fabulous even!" Wakaba's voice too was threatening to break into maniacal giggles at any moment.
"Oh my God!" Saya and Yuma squealed excitedly. "You look sooooo cute! As cute as Hisoka would look like if he ever wears a Pink House dress!"
There was silence for a few moments, broken only by the occasional giggle and a few "are you sure"s from Kyo. Kyo's voice had changed in pitch, becoming slightly higher with a husky tone to it that made Watari's ears burn red. In fact, Watari was beginning to have doubts about the wisdom of revealing the result of his latest experiment to the girls. Judging from the sounds coming from behind the closed and locked door to the room next to his lab where the girls had dragged Kyo into after getting over their shock, he was getting a funny feeling that he might have gotten more than he bargained for from his latest success.
More silence, and then. "Wow, so you mean I'm a B cup?"
The wall in front of Watari was suddenly decorated with a pint of his blood as his nose practically spurted with it. Yes, it was definitely a bad idea getting the girls involved.
"Isn't that a bit too low?" Kyo sounded uncertain.
The girls' replies were muffled but he definitely heard Kyo say next, "But my breasts will spill out!"
Oh dear God. Too much blood loss. Watari was practically on his knees, trying to control the sudden outflow. He was seeing miniature 003s flying around his head thanks to the sudden lightheadedness he was suffering from. Or was it miniature Kyos dancing around in bikinis?
Watari fainted.
The door opened then and four girls came out. "What's wrong with Watari?" Kyo asked, looking down in concern at the scientist, passed out on the floor. The other three girls looked at the blood-splattered walls around them and suddenly burst into gales of laughter. This is going to be sooooo good!
(A little later, in the staff room)
Tatsumi was once again lecturing Tsuzuki on the need to have his paperwork handed in neatly and on time. And no, how many times does he have to repeat this, watercolors do NOT make a good substitute for crayons! And will Tsuzuki PLEASE stop talking with his mouth full?????
Hisoka was ignoring them as usual as he read a book, his paperwork finished ages ago. Terazuma was sitting at his desk with his feet propped up on it and scowling at Wakaba's empty seat. Konoe meanwhile, was refilling his coffee and muttering something about how lazy, good-for-nothing employees should at least leave *some* of the chocolate filled doughnuts for the boss. Really, is it too much to ask?
All in all, it was another day at the Shokan Division, marred only by the conspicuously absent seats of 5 of their other staff members. (Hisoka had managed to achieve temporary short term amnesia on hearing about the latest, successful gender-changing potion. Maybe it was all just a bad dream. . . that, or make sure that Watari or Kyo didn't get anywhere within a 5 foot range of the coffee machine.)
Further berating, scowling, complaining and temporary short term amnesia was cut short by the bang of the door flying open and everyone automatically looked up to see what the commotion was about.
For a few minutes, complete and perfect silence lay like a lover's touch over the room. No one moved, no one breathed, no one even thought of anything as they took in the sight before them.
Kyo is a girl. A very beautiful girl. His hair was now past his waist, falling in a thick braid. Kyo's outfit meanwhile, seemed to be a modification of the outfit he wore this morning. The jeans was replaced by another pair, this one artistically ripped at *strategic* locations and the soft material was practically *molded* to his thighs and tapered down to his rather sexily strapped ankles in 3 inch heels. The jeans rode low on his hips, revealing a smooth, taut stomach, made even more visible by the white T-shirt that was suddenly waaaaaaaaayyy too short. It's hem had been cut off at midriff, the sleeves completely gone and the neckline had been cut into a jagged V and-and. . .
Tsuzuki, Hisoka, Terazuma and Konoe suddenly found themselves under various desks, desperately trying to control their nosebleeds. Tatsumi meanwhile had shown remarkable restraint at Kyo's shocking entrance. The only sign of discomfort he showed was a small twitchmark at his forehead.
Kyo smiled nervously and without meaning to, (really! He didn't mean to!) sashayed into the room, the jeans showing off his newfound aspects quite well, as did the suddenly-reduced T-shirt. Kyo came to stand before Tatsumi, looking up at him from beneath his eyelashes, the move coming instinctively to him.
"Ano, Tatsumi-san?" Kyo's voice was husky, the sexy tone sending involuntary shivers down Tatsumi's back. And then he made the mistake of looking down.
And was greeted with the sight of what the new, plunging neckline revealed: the top of a very black, very lacy, bra.
Tatsumi's last thought as his nose bled profusely was; she has very nice cleavage.
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(The next day)
Everyone was quite good about yesterday's incident, surprisingly. Watari would have thought that Tatsumi at least, would have made some threats about cutting his budget again but no one said a word. In fact, all of the males in the office had slightly glazed looks on their faces and not a few blushed as they glanced over at Kyo (now back to being a male), who was diligently starting on some new paperwork.
Kyo would have liked to stay female for a few days at least but even Watari's curious nature could not deny the fact that the whole division would have to come to a grinding halt if 70% of their staff kept on experiencing nosebleeds at the most inappropriate times, including their resident scientist, who was supposed to be keeping track of the experiment.
And so, rather regretfully, Kyo had taken the antidote and Saya and Yuma had to cancel their large order of Pink House dresses and Wakaba had to stow away her camera, while comforting a distraught Terazuma who kept on repeating for nearly an hour, "What if Tsuzuki turns into a female too?????"
So life was plodding on, everyone busy with their work, (and trying to stop sneaking covert glances at Kyo) when Tatsumi came in. He cleared his throat, blushed slightly when he caught sight of Kyo, and announced, "Emergency staff meeting in 5 minutes. Every one is to attend."
Kyo exchanged glances with Watari but Watari just shrugged, indicating he didn't know what was going on either. (Watari had decided to take a break from his lab for a while). Staff meetings which everyone had to attend was rare and usually meant something important; a new Shinigami, a big case, or. . .?
5 minutes later, everyone was already in the meeting room, a new record as even Tsuzuki and Watari was on time. Everyone that is, except Konoe Kacho. Tatsumi said that the meeting was called by Konoe and would be started when he got back from his sudden meeting with EnmaDaioh. Uneasy glances passed from one person to the next. This didn't sound too good. An impromptu meeting with Enma? And a full staff emergency meeting?
A few minutes later, Konoe came in, a harassed look on his face and he was clutching a thick file. He nodded to Tatsumi and sat down heavily in his customary chair at the head of the table.
"All right people," Konoe spoke up, his voice crisp and urgent. The air in the room was suddenly stilled as each person looked intently at him, no one saying a word. "We have a new case, given by Enma himself."
Kyo frowned. He had been here long enough to know that a case that merits attention from EnmaDaioh himself meant that the case was highly important. Konoe then opened the file, took out some slides, and passed it along to the Gushoushin brothers who quickly set up the projector. When they finished, the younger brother floated over to the side of the room and flipped off the light switch.
For a moment, all they could see was the white blank screen from the projector and the elder brother then pressed the slide button.
As the first image came up, everyone gasped, even the normally taciturn Tatsumi. Their faces were pale as they regarded the horror before them. "This," Konoe said gruffly, "is the first victim."
They could tell that it was a female, and that was mainly due to her clothes, a long nightgown. The woman was pinned up against the wall, long nails driven into her hands and feet, cruxification style. And her head was missing.
Numbly, Kyo thought to himself, I hope the bastard had cut off her head before crucifying her. . .
The murder seemed to be of occult intent as a pentagram and two overlapping circles were drawn under and around the body, the jagged characters of a spell written around it, in between the two circles. Strangely, when blood should have been spilled all over the walls and on the floor, not one drop of it escaped the circle and pentagram. It was like utter insanity and chaos was bottled in by the magic symbols.
"There's at least 5 more victims that we know of, " Konoe continued, as the projector clicked and flashed, revealing more grisly images of different victims, all killed in the same manner. "But the 7th victim, which happened last night. . . ." Konoe's voice trailed off.
When the last image clicked into place, they understood his distress. This victim was a small boy it seemed, also killed using the same modus operandi but what chilled their blood was the elegant, cursive script, two feet high, painted above the body like a proclamation in blood. It said:
COME TO ME, SHINIGAMIS.
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~to be continued~
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A/N: Yea! My first official cliffhanger! So what do you guys think? Reviews make the typing easier and faster... (hint, hint!). I'm getting quite excited about the upcoming chapters myself. The only thing stopping me from doing it right now is the fact that I'm pretty much exhausted and it's already 4.35 am!! So please, R & R!!! (^ o ^)
A/N: *giggling crazily* Oh my God, all you people who reviewed made me soooo happy! Sankyuu! Ice-Phoenix: You lucky thing, I'm in the middle of holidays right now so I'm updating EVERY night. That is, unless Writer's Block *gasp!* hits me *knocks wood* (ouch, my head).
Graffiti: Thank you, but rest assured, there will be some terribly angst- filled moments (it's what we live for...) And the inspiration for Kyo? The name IS actually from Samurai Deeper Kyo but the mental image I have of him is from....uh...my ex. Sad huh? If he wasn't real, he'd made a great bishounen, I assure you. Oh, btw, in my mind, Kyo's hair is a side parting, the fringe brushing just below his eyes... *wipes drool*
Ysabet: Hey, at least I made your worklife interesting, right? *grins*.
Ruby-Tears: *sob!* You understand Kyo so well! Don't worry, I'm definitely getting more angsty! And Hijiri might come up soon (I'll try my best!). And Muraki??? Ah, wait & see! I was supposed to take T'ai Chi lessons but got too lazy to ^^ I looked up all the info I got and I'll see if I can work some more in! Anyways, enjoy this chapter. I'm introducing the case that will make an un-living hell of our cute-asses Shinigamis' lives!
Pairings: Tsu x 'Soka, Tats x Watari (any idea on how to make it happen?), Kyo x (identity soon to be revealed!)
Warning: Watari's New & Improved Potion! Nosebleeds! Lacy Bras! Death.
Disclaimer: Why do we keep on bothering to do this? I mean, if any one of us actually owned YnM, would we be here in the first place?
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CHAPTER 3: Why Do We Become Shinigamis?
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This was one of their briefest cases so far. By mid-afternoon, all three of them had made it back to Meifu. After sending the girl on, Kyo had been strangely reticent. Normally, Tsuzuki would assume that it was due to the painful process of sending a soul on. No matter what the circumstances are, it still hurts. He had more than 70 years of experience to prove it.
But with Kyo. . .it was slightly different. From the look on his face, it was as if Kyo himself had been in that girl's place, that he had seen his own brothers crushed under broken beams and rubble and was helpless to do anything about it. In a way, the bot reminded Tsuzuki of himself. He took on another's pain while ignoring his own.
Kyo was walking ahead of them, mounting the steps leading into the entrance to JuuOhCho, hands in his pockets, and seemingly oblivious to the two of them behind him. Tsuzuki nudged Hisoka gently, the look in his eyes plainly clear. With a sigh and an irritated roll of the eyes, Hisoka shook his head.
"I can't tell what's wrong. He's as good as you or Tatsumi when it comes to building emotional shields," Hisoka muttered to Tsuzuki almost resentfully. He had been "gifted" with the abilities of an empath and by god, he should be able to use it! But *noooooo*, SOME people just felt the need to prove to him that hell yeah, he was an empath, but so what? Nanananana!
Any further diatribe Hisoka might have continued with himself was interrupted as they reached the staff room and Tsuzuki placed a warm hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk to him or shall I?" Tsuzuki nodded at Kyo who had gone over to the coffee pot and was pouring himself a cup.
"I'll do it," Hisoka sighed. "I'll have a better chance at getting the straight story from him. You two are just too alike to do that. Both of you could be lying through your teeth about how fine you are and nobody could contradict you."
Tsuzuki pouted, "I've gotten better haven't I? I mean, considering what we've been doing in bed all this time, my shields have-"
"B-baka! Urusai!" Hisoka clamped a hand around Tsuzuki's mouth. "Are you planning on announcing to the whole office about what we do together?!" Oh, god, he was blushing, he could feel the heat in his cheeks. And naturally, Tsuzuki was smirking over the fact that he made Hisoka blush yet again.
"Right, I'll see you later then," with a cheery wave, Tsuzuki spun around and headed to Tatsumi's office, probably intent on harassing the poor man again into getting a life that does not revolve around the office budget. "Ja ne!"
Hisoka watched him go with an exasperated smile on his face. A sudden, vivid mental image of some of their. . ."activities" flashed in his mind and he blushed fiercely again. God, someday his blush reflex would be the death of him.
Kyo looked up from the cup of coffee he was nursing at the sound of Hisoka approaching. He smiled and pointed at the coffee machine. "Want one?" At Hisoka's nod, he poured a cup for Hisoka, handing it over to him and leaned against the desk behind him. "What's up?"
"I should be the one asking you that."
"Oh?" Kyo raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Why's that?"
Hisoka sighed. "You're upset about something. I can tell. Even with that mile-high shield you got on." His tone was rather pointed as he made that statement and Kyo winced slightly.
"Am I that obvious?" He asked.
"No," Hisoka admitted grudgingly. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, you're as good as Tsuzuki and Tatsumi at hiding your real emotions. But a little bit of it leaks through anyway. Besides," he shrugged, "as corny as it sounds, the look in your eyes also says you're hurting. Want to talk about it?"
"No."
"You should you know. It'll help you deal with the pain, even if it's just a little bit."
"No."
A twitchmark appeared on Hisoka's forehead and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Listen you idiot. Everyone in this office is like a family to me. Even," Hisoka sighed again, "Saya and Yuma." Kyo snickered at that. The Hokkaido pair still haven't given up on trying to get Hisoka to wear a Pink House dress yet. "And that includes you."
"And here I thought you loved me more than that," Kyo sighed mournfully into his coffee cup.
Hisoka blushed *yet again* and glared at Kyo who was now chortling into his cup. Kyo's cup was beginning to feel slightly overused by now. "Ha. Ha."
"Kidding!" Kyo held up a hand in surrender and a moment later, his expression turned serious again. At that instant, his face was bathed with the sunlight streaming through the office windows, lending glossy highlights to his raven black hair and illuminated his pale blue eyes. Once again, Hisoka was struck with Kyo's beauty and something else; a feeling of sorrow, sorrow so vast he wanted to weep for him and yet at the same time, that feeling of sorrow was gentle, for Kyo it seemed, had learned to accept it. Or at least, trying to.
And in an instant also, that feeling of sorrow disappeared, and Kyo smiled. "Everyone in the Shokan Division is like my family too. But this," Kyo hesitated briefly, "is something I'm not really ready to talk about just now. Not yet. But thank you for caring, and for asking. I really appreciate it."
And Hisoka sighed, admitting defeat. That part at least, Hisoka could confirm was the truth. Since Kyo isn't ready to talk about it, he himself had no right to force the man into making unwanted confessions. "But if you ever need to talk to anybody, about anything. . ." Hisoka trailed off. He had been losing most of his aloofness, thanks to Tsuzuki and everyone else but it was still a bit uncomfortable for him to be making such announcements. He was glad then, that Kyo didn't press him further. Instead, Kyo set down his cup, got up, and brushed a kiss on top of his head.
The expression on Kyo's face was gentle. "You're like the younger brother I never had." The smile on his face was a bit wistful and a faraway look entered his eyes.
"Don't you have any siblings?" Hisoka asked, curious. He had never heard Kyo talk about his family before.
Kyo shook his head. "I'm an only child."
"What about your parents?"
"Dead."
Hisoka winced. "Gomen, I didn't-"
Kyo waved off his apology, smiling, "It's okay. They've been dead for a long time anyway. I hardly remember them."
"So who did you live with?"
"By myself. Oops," some of his ofuda had fallen out of his pocket and he bent over to pick it up. The thought suddenly struck Hisoka that he had never seen Kyo used his powers before. Powers that he had been born with. Everyone, naturally, could use 'jitsu, in varying degrees, and in Kyo's case, he was a fast learner, already nearly as good as Tsuzuki at using ofudas. But he had never demonstrated any other powers.
"Ne, Kyo-san, don't you have any other power besides 'jitsu?" He watched as Kyo idly began playing with an ofuda, folding it into a paper messenger. Kyo looked up from the magical bird resting quietly in the palm of his hand and cocked his head to the side.
"Well, I don't really know how to say it without making it sound too corny but. . ."
"What is it?" Hisoka asked, interested.
Kyo scratched his head thoughtfully. "I guess showing you would be much better." With that, he held out his left hand and muttered an incantation. With the same hand, he suddenly made a hooking gesture and a strong wind suddenly blew into the room. Briefly, Hisoka wandered who the idiot was that had left a window open but strangely, the sudden wind swirled only around them, making Hisoka feel as though he was in the eye of a cyclone. Just as suddenly, with a flip of his hand, the wind died down.
Hisoka's eyes widened in appreciation. "You can control wind?"
Kyo shook his head in the negative. "Not just wind, all of the four elements. Earth, wind, water and fire. To some degree that is. Tsuzuki has the Four Gods of North, East, West and South, right?"
Hisoka nodded. "Well, you could say that I'm below him as the elements are the aspects of the Four Gods and I can manipulate it."
"Wow," Hisoka murmured appreciatively. "Could you do it when you were alive too?"
"No, not really. I did notice though, that sometimes, if I wished for it really hard, it would rain. Or the rain would stop. It depends. But I never really knew." Kyo shrugged.
Hisoka wanted to question him further about his powers but the office door suddenly banged open, revealing a slightly charred and smoking Watari and 003. The former was holding a vial in his hands, the liquid inside a vibrant rose pink.
"Kyo! There you are! I did it! In just a few hours too! Thanks to you!" Watari practically flew over and hugged Kyo fiercely, rather effectively making Kyo turn an interesting shade of blue.
"What is it?" Kyo gasped out, after succeeding in disentangling himself from Watari's death grip.
Watari was so excited, that his words tumbled over each other in his haste to explain what happened. "It was what you said earlier about the Yin thing and I finally realized where I went wrong with the gender-changing formula the other day and I managed to make the necessary adjustments to my calculations and look it's all ready and what we really need is a test subject and who do you think should be the one to test it on-"
Kyo cut Watari off rather abruptly. "Ne, Hisoka? Are you okay? You look rather pale. Do you want to drink some-"
It was Kyo's turn to be abruptly cut off as Hisoka practically burned his sneakers off, running away so fast like that.
"-water?"
Kyo and Watari blinked.
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(Sometime later)
Giggle. "Are you sure?" There was a slightly hysterical tone to Kyo's voice, caused by the need to suppress the urge to roll around on the floor in laughter.
Snicker. "Really. You look great! Fabulous even!" Wakaba's voice too was threatening to break into maniacal giggles at any moment.
"Oh my God!" Saya and Yuma squealed excitedly. "You look sooooo cute! As cute as Hisoka would look like if he ever wears a Pink House dress!"
There was silence for a few moments, broken only by the occasional giggle and a few "are you sure"s from Kyo. Kyo's voice had changed in pitch, becoming slightly higher with a husky tone to it that made Watari's ears burn red. In fact, Watari was beginning to have doubts about the wisdom of revealing the result of his latest experiment to the girls. Judging from the sounds coming from behind the closed and locked door to the room next to his lab where the girls had dragged Kyo into after getting over their shock, he was getting a funny feeling that he might have gotten more than he bargained for from his latest success.
More silence, and then. "Wow, so you mean I'm a B cup?"
The wall in front of Watari was suddenly decorated with a pint of his blood as his nose practically spurted with it. Yes, it was definitely a bad idea getting the girls involved.
"Isn't that a bit too low?" Kyo sounded uncertain.
The girls' replies were muffled but he definitely heard Kyo say next, "But my breasts will spill out!"
Oh dear God. Too much blood loss. Watari was practically on his knees, trying to control the sudden outflow. He was seeing miniature 003s flying around his head thanks to the sudden lightheadedness he was suffering from. Or was it miniature Kyos dancing around in bikinis?
Watari fainted.
The door opened then and four girls came out. "What's wrong with Watari?" Kyo asked, looking down in concern at the scientist, passed out on the floor. The other three girls looked at the blood-splattered walls around them and suddenly burst into gales of laughter. This is going to be sooooo good!
(A little later, in the staff room)
Tatsumi was once again lecturing Tsuzuki on the need to have his paperwork handed in neatly and on time. And no, how many times does he have to repeat this, watercolors do NOT make a good substitute for crayons! And will Tsuzuki PLEASE stop talking with his mouth full?????
Hisoka was ignoring them as usual as he read a book, his paperwork finished ages ago. Terazuma was sitting at his desk with his feet propped up on it and scowling at Wakaba's empty seat. Konoe meanwhile, was refilling his coffee and muttering something about how lazy, good-for-nothing employees should at least leave *some* of the chocolate filled doughnuts for the boss. Really, is it too much to ask?
All in all, it was another day at the Shokan Division, marred only by the conspicuously absent seats of 5 of their other staff members. (Hisoka had managed to achieve temporary short term amnesia on hearing about the latest, successful gender-changing potion. Maybe it was all just a bad dream. . . that, or make sure that Watari or Kyo didn't get anywhere within a 5 foot range of the coffee machine.)
Further berating, scowling, complaining and temporary short term amnesia was cut short by the bang of the door flying open and everyone automatically looked up to see what the commotion was about.
For a few minutes, complete and perfect silence lay like a lover's touch over the room. No one moved, no one breathed, no one even thought of anything as they took in the sight before them.
Kyo is a girl. A very beautiful girl. His hair was now past his waist, falling in a thick braid. Kyo's outfit meanwhile, seemed to be a modification of the outfit he wore this morning. The jeans was replaced by another pair, this one artistically ripped at *strategic* locations and the soft material was practically *molded* to his thighs and tapered down to his rather sexily strapped ankles in 3 inch heels. The jeans rode low on his hips, revealing a smooth, taut stomach, made even more visible by the white T-shirt that was suddenly waaaaaaaaayyy too short. It's hem had been cut off at midriff, the sleeves completely gone and the neckline had been cut into a jagged V and-and. . .
Tsuzuki, Hisoka, Terazuma and Konoe suddenly found themselves under various desks, desperately trying to control their nosebleeds. Tatsumi meanwhile had shown remarkable restraint at Kyo's shocking entrance. The only sign of discomfort he showed was a small twitchmark at his forehead.
Kyo smiled nervously and without meaning to, (really! He didn't mean to!) sashayed into the room, the jeans showing off his newfound aspects quite well, as did the suddenly-reduced T-shirt. Kyo came to stand before Tatsumi, looking up at him from beneath his eyelashes, the move coming instinctively to him.
"Ano, Tatsumi-san?" Kyo's voice was husky, the sexy tone sending involuntary shivers down Tatsumi's back. And then he made the mistake of looking down.
And was greeted with the sight of what the new, plunging neckline revealed: the top of a very black, very lacy, bra.
Tatsumi's last thought as his nose bled profusely was; she has very nice cleavage.
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(The next day)
Everyone was quite good about yesterday's incident, surprisingly. Watari would have thought that Tatsumi at least, would have made some threats about cutting his budget again but no one said a word. In fact, all of the males in the office had slightly glazed looks on their faces and not a few blushed as they glanced over at Kyo (now back to being a male), who was diligently starting on some new paperwork.
Kyo would have liked to stay female for a few days at least but even Watari's curious nature could not deny the fact that the whole division would have to come to a grinding halt if 70% of their staff kept on experiencing nosebleeds at the most inappropriate times, including their resident scientist, who was supposed to be keeping track of the experiment.
And so, rather regretfully, Kyo had taken the antidote and Saya and Yuma had to cancel their large order of Pink House dresses and Wakaba had to stow away her camera, while comforting a distraught Terazuma who kept on repeating for nearly an hour, "What if Tsuzuki turns into a female too?????"
So life was plodding on, everyone busy with their work, (and trying to stop sneaking covert glances at Kyo) when Tatsumi came in. He cleared his throat, blushed slightly when he caught sight of Kyo, and announced, "Emergency staff meeting in 5 minutes. Every one is to attend."
Kyo exchanged glances with Watari but Watari just shrugged, indicating he didn't know what was going on either. (Watari had decided to take a break from his lab for a while). Staff meetings which everyone had to attend was rare and usually meant something important; a new Shinigami, a big case, or. . .?
5 minutes later, everyone was already in the meeting room, a new record as even Tsuzuki and Watari was on time. Everyone that is, except Konoe Kacho. Tatsumi said that the meeting was called by Konoe and would be started when he got back from his sudden meeting with EnmaDaioh. Uneasy glances passed from one person to the next. This didn't sound too good. An impromptu meeting with Enma? And a full staff emergency meeting?
A few minutes later, Konoe came in, a harassed look on his face and he was clutching a thick file. He nodded to Tatsumi and sat down heavily in his customary chair at the head of the table.
"All right people," Konoe spoke up, his voice crisp and urgent. The air in the room was suddenly stilled as each person looked intently at him, no one saying a word. "We have a new case, given by Enma himself."
Kyo frowned. He had been here long enough to know that a case that merits attention from EnmaDaioh himself meant that the case was highly important. Konoe then opened the file, took out some slides, and passed it along to the Gushoushin brothers who quickly set up the projector. When they finished, the younger brother floated over to the side of the room and flipped off the light switch.
For a moment, all they could see was the white blank screen from the projector and the elder brother then pressed the slide button.
As the first image came up, everyone gasped, even the normally taciturn Tatsumi. Their faces were pale as they regarded the horror before them. "This," Konoe said gruffly, "is the first victim."
They could tell that it was a female, and that was mainly due to her clothes, a long nightgown. The woman was pinned up against the wall, long nails driven into her hands and feet, cruxification style. And her head was missing.
Numbly, Kyo thought to himself, I hope the bastard had cut off her head before crucifying her. . .
The murder seemed to be of occult intent as a pentagram and two overlapping circles were drawn under and around the body, the jagged characters of a spell written around it, in between the two circles. Strangely, when blood should have been spilled all over the walls and on the floor, not one drop of it escaped the circle and pentagram. It was like utter insanity and chaos was bottled in by the magic symbols.
"There's at least 5 more victims that we know of, " Konoe continued, as the projector clicked and flashed, revealing more grisly images of different victims, all killed in the same manner. "But the 7th victim, which happened last night. . . ." Konoe's voice trailed off.
When the last image clicked into place, they understood his distress. This victim was a small boy it seemed, also killed using the same modus operandi but what chilled their blood was the elegant, cursive script, two feet high, painted above the body like a proclamation in blood. It said:
COME TO ME, SHINIGAMIS.
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~to be continued~
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A/N: Yea! My first official cliffhanger! So what do you guys think? Reviews make the typing easier and faster... (hint, hint!). I'm getting quite excited about the upcoming chapters myself. The only thing stopping me from doing it right now is the fact that I'm pretty much exhausted and it's already 4.35 am!! So please, R & R!!! (^ o ^)