Closed Doors
By Leareth

Part Three
"Uh oh."

"What?"

Watari grumbled something under his breath as he took stock of the plates, cups, cutlery and drinks. "I forgot the cake."

Hisoka rolled his eyes while Tsuzuki looked panicked. "You can't have forgotten the cake!"

Watari hastily waved his hands around for calm. "It's ok, it's ok! I probably just left it in the lab." Quickly he got up and ran for the door. "Gimme a sec; I'll be back!"

Hisoka sighed as the blond scientist disappeared. He turned to Tsuzuki, who sat in bed with drooping puppy ears and a pained expression, and sighed again. "Do you really think you should be having cake while you're still in hospital?"

Tsuzuki turned to him with an innocent grin and a happy puppy-tail. "Of course! Cake is the best medicine in the world!" Hisoka Looked at him and Tsuzuki's grin slipped a little. "Ok, ok, so maybe not – but it's good anyway!"

The green eyes rolled in strained patience. Then they looked Tsuzuki up and down. "You ok?" Hisoka asked quietly.

Tsuzuki glanced at him confused for a second, then smiled a little. "Yeah. I'm ok."

Hisoka had the feeling this wasn't quite the entire truth. "You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. We shinigami heal fast, remember?" Tsuzuki's eyes, Hisoka noticed, were looking at the bed. Shinigami heal fast physically, it's emotionally I'm worried about, Tsuzuki. And I can tell you're pretending.

As if sensing his partner's train of thought, Tsuzuki spoke again. "I'm ok, really, Hisoka. It's past, it's over, I can forget . . ." Hisoka didn't know if Tsuzuki was trying to reassure his partner or himself. "And besides," he added hastily, giving the boy-shinigami a shining smile. "I've got you to look after me, right?"

Embarrassed, Hisoka looked away. "Only idiots ask stupid questions like that."

Tsuzuki was used to his partner's temperament by now. "Thank you, Hisoka," he said gratefully.

Watari chose this moment to return with the cake. "Aaaaaaand as I successfully predicted, this sweet concoction of the finest ingredients mankind can buy decorated with rich chocolate, thick cream and the juiciest strawberries from the Earl's own garden, was exactly where I left it!" he announced, triumphantly placing the said piece on the makeshift table and striking a pose. "I am such a genius!"

Hisoka rolled his eyes as his partner cheered and got up to get the cake knife.

It was Tsuzuki's last night in the hospital and as so he, Watari and Hisoka were having a little celebratory party. Watari brought the cake and drinks (he had wanted to bring sake, but as Hisoka's body was only sixteen and Tsuzuki was still technically a hospital patient, he had to settle for a non-alcoholic wine instead), while Hisoka brought the plates and cutlery. After eating, Watari and Hisoka entertained Tsuzuki with various reports of the daily happenings in the JuOhCho. It was more Watari doing the telling than Hisoka; the boy-shinigami wasn't one for speaking much, so instead he just listened to the scientist rattle on, interrupting now and again to make some dry comment of his own. The overall effect was something like that of a rusty car continuously stopping and starting, and it was just as amusing as the stories themselves.

"So, like, the Gushoushin are advancing on Terazuma squawking at him about his overdue books, and Terazuma's backing away not looking where he's going," said Watari. His eyes twinkled behind the glasses. "What he doesn't realise is that Hisoka-kun's behind him, so before we know it, he's bumped into Hisoka-kun and we have a raging black lion on the loose again." The scientist paused in his anecdote as Tsuzuki lay back in the pillows and laughed. On the other side of the bed, Hisoka sat with his arms folded not amused at all. "It was hilarious, I tell you! We've got the Gushoushin flying everywhere trying to find somewhere to hide, Hisoka-kun gaping like a fish off to one side–"

"I was not gaping," stated Hisoka. "I just stood there and blinked."

"–blinking off to one side, Saya and Yuma giggling their heads off until Terazuma gets too close in which case they start screaming, while I'm rushing off to find Wakaba-chan before anything gets smashed." Watari grinned as Tsuzuki tried to picture the mental image in his head. "Luckily she was just in the next room and she slapped the spell on Terazuma real quick, so all we had to do was clean everything up as quickly as possible before Tatsumi came to see what was going on and sue us all for damages."

Tsuzuki laughed again, and Watari and Hisoka could almost see the figures of their colleagues walking across their friend's mind and smile as he imagined the story for himself. But then the smile fell and disappeared, and the two of them knew that one person had walked onto the ground of Tsuzuki's thoughts, bringing with him confusion and unhappiness. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments; Watari and Hisoka were reluctant to speak on the issue, not knowing what exactly to say. They had, of course, invited Tatsumi to the party. Tatsumi wasn't here.

Tsuzuki looked at one, then the other of his friends. "So I take it Tatsumi was pretty mad," he said quietly. "How's he doing?"

Hisoka and Watari exchanged a glance. One of them was angry. The other was uncertain. "Uh, he's ok, I think," Hisoka said finally. "He stays in his office practically all day so . . ."

"He's being an idiot," said Watari disgustedly. "A total, complete idiot."

Tsuzuki blinked. "What do you mean? Is he okay?"

Watari shrugged. "I won't be surprised if he gives himself an ulcer overworking, but yeah, he's okay. He's so okay he's been snapping at everyone lately and being the secretary from hell. Not that he wasn't mean and scary before but over the past week it's gotten to the stage where the moment we see him coming, we all find excuses to be somewhere else."

Tsuzuki blinked again. "Why is Tatsumi being extra-mean and scary?"

Watari and Hisoka looked at each other. "You're the empath, kid," said the scientist with a shrug.

Hisoka shook his head. "I can you tell what emotions Tatsumi-san's feeling, I can't tell you why he's feeling that way. Why don't you tell us? You've known him for longer."

Watari laughed. "I've known the control-freak long enough to know that if he doesn't want to tell you something, he won't. Plus he's fantastic at hiding things from other people and has a stubborn streak as wide as JuOhCho."

"But don't you have some idea?" asked Tsuzuki plaintively.

Hisoka looked thoughtful. "Tatsumi-san is –" here he caught himself, about to say 'afraid' but then deciding it wouldn't do to tell Tsuzuki that, "– is worried about something. He doesn't want to think about it so he's been trying to distract himself at work."

"What, worried that the department accounts aren't going to balance this year?" asked Watari cynically. "Tsuzuki here did blow up the place again – oops, sorry," he said quickly, seeing Tsuzuki's pained expression.

Hisoka shook his head. "No, it's not that. It's something more personal. Don't ask me what," he said quickly, seeing the others' expressions. "I shouldn't be saying stuff about other people's emotions, and anyway, I can't do it anymore cause Tatsumi-san caught me at it."

Tsuzuki didn't look away from his partner. "Can you tell us anything so we can help him? Maybe we can talk to him or something."

"Talk to him?" Watari laughed. "Already tried that. He turned the icy death-glare on me and smashed my hand in the door."

"And I'm not going to talk to him," said Hisoka firmly. "You think it's bad getting caught talking behind someone's back? It's even worse getting caught looking in on people's emotions."

"But he's nice to you," Tsuzuki objected.

"Well, I don't feel comfortable about it."

The room fell silent for a few minutes. Then Watari looked at Tsuzuki. "You go talk to him."

Tsuzuki's eyes bulged out. "Me?!" he squeaked.

"Yes, you. You get out of hospital tomorrow, right? Go talk to him then. Bang on his door if you need to."

"But, but –" Tsuzuki looked at Hisoka for support, but his partner merely folded his arms raised one eyebrow at him. Tsuzuki drooped. "Hisokaaaaaaa …"

The boy-shinigami remained unmoved. "You're his old partner." Over Tsuzuki's head he glanced at Watari, both of them sharing the same thought; If Tsuzuki was what was wrong with Tatsumi, then Tsuzuki may as well be able to fix it. "You've got the best chance out of all of us talking some sense into him."

Tsuzuki laughed shortly. "He hasn't come to visit the whole week; I doubt he wants to talk to me." His voice was light as he said this, but Hisoka and Watari both noted that he refused to look at them. "But alright, I'll go talk to him. Not at work though, he hates that."

"So you'll go over to his apartment, then?" asked Hisoka.

Tsuzuki shrugged. "Suppose so. I need a walk anyway. Been lying here for too long."

"Well, tomorrow we're kicking you out," said Watari. He glanced at his watch. "I'll go get some sleep. Hisoka-kun, you're staying, right?" The boy-shinigami nodded. "Right, I'll come back at around three a.m. to take over."

Tsuzuki looked to each of his friends. "You two look so tired," he said softly.

Watari's good-natured face darkened. "Don't you start with the guilt trip again," he warned. "Otherwise I'm going to have to bash some sense into you."

Tsuzuki waved his hands trying to placate his friend. "No need for that, Watari! It's just . . ." he trailed off, looking down at his blankets, " . . . you guys shouldn't need to do this."

"Idiot."

Tsuzuki looked up, startled, at Hisoka.

"Idiot," the boy-shinigami repeated. He had his arms folded and had his eyes carefully averted to the wall. "We want to do this. No way we're losing you again."

"And don't you start blaming yourself either," said Watari. "It's not your fault. The person to blame is a freak of a doctor who deserves to be shot. Either that or we'll just loose Tatsumi on him." He laughed. "I don't think anyone would last long against that."

Tsuzuki smiled a little.

"Will you be okay after tomorrow?" asked Hisoka quietly.

The amethyst-eyed shinigami nodded, still smiling but not looking at them. Watari gritted his teeth, seeing straight through the smile but not willing to call his friend on it. Damnit, Tatsumi, Tsuzuki needs all of us at the moment and what are you doing, tallying spending costs again? Jeez.

Hisoka stood up, cleaning up the party things and putting them in a box. "It's getting late and we still have work tomorrow." He handed the box to Watari then sat in the chair beside the bed again. Tsuzuki watched them a little apprehensively. "Get some sleep. Don't worry, we're still here."

" . . . Yeah."

He did try to sleep, he really did try. But before many hours had passed, Tsuzuki was tossing and turning and Hisoka had to shake him awake. Tsuzuki clung to him for most of the night with wide, frightened eyes, wondering if he'd ever be able to sleep peacefully again.

Behold, the Void