Starza: ::dodges the spork of doom:: yeah, sorry about the mistakes, I don't have much time to proofread it, honestly, it's a wonder that I even get it up online… ^^;
Amy: I'd like to think that my story was original; I hope that it's not copying the idea of some other poor fanfiction writer.
Nini: ah, you get that feeling about the chara's too? I can't help it, I love to have their reactions to stuff like this…I'm a sucker for drama… ^^;
Lexa: wow, yay! I'm loved! ::is jumped on:: geh, I'm trying to write, really I am, yet since the school year is winding down, I'm kind of forced to spend more time on that than I would like…anyway, here's the next chapter!
Elle-FaTe2x1 and Missy-chan: I'm glad you liked it! Here's the next chapter for you!
Stephanie: thank you for loving it, and yes, there will definitely be some Tsuzuki+Hisoka for you…maybe not in this chapter, but eventually…
sherbie: anticipation will be sustained for now, until the next cliffhanger at the end of this chapter ^^;
sakurakumagorou: honestly, I'm surprised with how many people like this. I'd like to think that my characters are accurately portrayed, although sometimes I worry that too much of my own personality is slowly slipping into Tsuzuki's. x_x I hope that you continue to like my ways of showing all the different chara's personalities. And here is your update, I hope that I never have to face those leprechauns or evil grasshoppers… ^-^;
and to scarlet.tennyo: I know you're reading this, you just never review, yet I felt compelled to post a thank you in here for you. I hope that you keep reading it!
Once again, thank you guys for reading, even the people that haven't reviewed yet. Arigato gozaimasu, minna! ^_____^
This is the chapter where finally, my own plot line starts to begin taking effect. Enjoy!
Of Paper Flowers and Purple Skies: Chapter 4
**a week or so later**
Hisoka looked up from the paperwork, frowning. He never thought that he would think this, but it was too quiet. He usually liked relaxing, but under the circumstances, it was wearing on his nerves.
They weren't allowed to do field work yet, even if there were a case for them to work on, so they were confined to the office to try and get through some paperwork. Yet still, that wasn't really what was getting to him.
Tsuzuki was actually doing his portion of the paperwork, and without complaint or unnecessary threatening from Tatsumi. And he didn't talk as much. Sure, there was your occasional "Mou, Hisoka, you're so mean," but even that was starting to sound forced. Hisoka didn't like it at all.
Tsuzuki had left for the break room an hour ago. Surely it didn't take anyone that long to get coffee, but it was Tsuzuki they were talking about, and with him, you had to learn to expect anything. Yet Hisoka was worried.
Capping his pen, Hisoka stood up. Tsuzuki'd been gone for too long, and he couldn't take it anymore. Throwing a quick glance around their office, Hisoka left and headed towards the break room.
Looking down at the floor, Hisoka wasn't watching where he was going, and he almost walked into Watari. Luckily, Watari had his mind on where he was going, as he caught the boy as he stumbled in surprise.
"Whoa…slow down there, bon. Where're you going?" 'Honestly, watch where you're going. If I were anyone else, I would've run him over,' Watari thought to himself.
Hisoka blushed quickly, pulling himself away from Watari to stand by himself.
"I…well…" he stuttered, berating himself for not being on top of things. Looking down, he forced himself to speak. "To find Tsuzuki. He's been missing for an hour now…"
Watari blinked at that. Tsuzuki would usually tell people where he was going. Sure, he was secretive, but he was not a person to make others worry about him. "Where was he last?" he asked, trying to help the obviously concerned boy.
"He said that he was going to the break room to get some coffee, but…" he trailed off. 'He didn't come back after that,' he finished in his head.
Watari's troubled expression did nothing to boost Hisoka's spirits, neither did his words.
"I'm sorry, bon… I don't know where he is then. I just came from the break room, and he was certainly not in there, or hasn't been in the last half hour…" Seeing Hisoka's hopeless expression, he added, "but I can help you look for him, if you want."
Watari didn't exactly know what he was doing. He had to get back to the lab to finish up the work Tatsumi kept pestering him about, but when he saw the boy's worry, he couldn't help but help. Tsuzuki had put Hisoka through a lot, yet they had so much farther to go. Nothing was easy.
"…Thank you, Watari," Hisoka said. He hated to sound pitiful and needy, but he was worried, and it was trying just to sit back and watch his partner float away. "He won't've gone far…"
"That's the spirit! We'll find him," Watari beamed. And at that, they headed off in search of Tsuzuki.
Tatsumi had just finished some paperwork, and he set off on his routine check of the operations around the office building. Lately, nothing bad had been happening; Tsuzuki, for once, kept himself out of trouble, even with Terazuma, which was a feat in itself.
The truth was, Tatsumi was beside himself. Should he really have saved Tsuzuki? There really was no good answer to that. If he had only saved Hisoka, (which would have been half impossible, since their hold on each other had been so tight), then the boy might never have learned to love anyone ever again. Yet he had saved him, and he wasn't sure how well Tsuzuki was coping with that…if at all.
That was the problem with Tsuzuki. He never told you what was wrong, or how he had come to feel that way. He didn't really even let on that anything was wrong until it was too strong to hold back anymore. Tatsumi wished that Tsuzuki were more open about things, but then that wouldn't be the Tsuzuki that everyone 'knew'.
Tatsumi stepped outside, to get a breath of fresh air, into the courtyard. Silently walking through the sakura groves, he could sense another's presence, but he couldn't put a face to it until he happened to look across at the benches. There sat a man with chocolate brown hair, dozing, yet with a troubled expression on his face.
Tatsumi walked over to stand near Tsuzuki. He really didn't want to wake the man up, but he had undoubtedly taken a break from work, and lengthened it by resting. Tsuzuki needed to sleep, but now was neither the time nor the place for him to do so.
Crouching down to Tsuzuki's level, Tatsumi reached out a hand to grip Tsuzuki's shoulder, gently shaking him. "Tsuzuki-san…wake up…"
Sleepy amethyst eyes blinked up at him. "Tatsumi…?" he asked with a yawn, stretching before becoming remotely awake.
"I realize that you are tired, Tsuzuki-san, but that is why one has a house and a bed…for sleeping. You aren't doing anyone any good by just sitting there, napping…" Tatsumi said, a bit exasperated.
"I'm sorry, Tatsumi," Tsuzuki said, turning his gaze down at the ground. "I just came out here for some fresh air, I must've fallen asleep…I won't do it again, I'm just not…sleeping very well lately."
If anything, Tsuzuki didn't want to worry the other shinigami, his coworkers. Yet he know that Tatsumi would search for a reason, and he wouldn't leave until he was satisfied, so he gave him that small bit of information as an excuse.
Looking down at Tsuzuki, Tatsumi noticed how much older Tsuzuki looked when his eyes weren't shining brightly at you; how tired the expression on his face was, and the only slightly noticeable dark circles underneath his eyes.
"I understand, Tsuzuki-san. The past few months have been very busy, so I can't really blame you for being tired; we all are…" he said, trailing off.
"However, you were the only one who I caught sleeping during working hours. Try not to do that anymore, if possible." His voice was toned with slight annoyance, yet he couldn't help but soften it, as the man in front of him winced slightly.
"Come on, Tsuzuki-san, let's get back to the office. Kurosaki-kun's probably wondering where you are, now," he said, reaching out his hand to help Tsuzuki up.
Looking up at Tatsumi again, Tsuzuki smiled slightly. Hisoka was probably fed up with him by now, after everything he'd put him through. Taking the offered hand, Tsuzuki moved to stand next to Tatsumi.
"You're right, he's probably getting annoyed at my lack of paperwork. …I'm sorry, Tatsumi. Let's go." Turning, Tsuzuki headed off back towards the building with Tatsumi.
"So, what was your excuse for leaving this time?" Tatsumi asked, the almost uncomfortable silence broken by his voice.
"I was supposed to be in the break room…" Tsuzuki answered. "To get some coffee."
"Well, than that's where we'll go. Coffee will help you wake up, and concentrate on your paperwork."
Tsuzuki blinked at Tatsumi's words, and then looked away, smiling again. That was Tatsumi, always looking out for him; no matter how much he screwed up, and no matter how angry Tatsumi gets at him, he'll always be there to fix the situation for him, to make up a plausible excuse for his mistakes.
Upon reaching the break room, Tsuzuki got a mug out, and poured himself some coffee. The mug half full, he then added cream and sugar until it was almost full, moving through the actions on automatic, having done so for almost all of the time he had been working in Juohcho; which was exceeding on 80 years now.
Taking a small sip of the coffee, he reveled in the sugar, and how much it helped him hide from the world, especially from his coworkers.
With a sigh, Tatsumi ushered Tsuzuki to the door of the break room, before turning and leaving with the other man.
With each searched corridor and room, Watari became more concerned, not so much for Tsuzuki, but for Hisoka. The boy, no matter if he would never admit it, was extremely attached to the violet-eyed shinigami, and to make him worry like this…
Meanwhile, Hisoka wasn't necessarily worried anymore, he was more concerned. He couldn't figure out what was happening with Tsuzuki, nor what he would have to do to get through to the man. Tsuzuki shouldn't force himself to go through with this by himself; he should open up and trust someone.
"Well, I know that this sounds stupid, but we could go back to the break room and look again. He wasn't there before, but…maybe he got sidetracked or something. Sound good, bon?" asked Watari, looking back to the boy as he closed the door to the recently searched room.
They had worked their way around from where they met in the hallway, and the next room to search in that direction was Tsuzuki and Hisoka's shared office, which was an obvious dead end as well.
"…Un," replied Hisoka. 'Why not?' he thought. 'We're bound to find him somewhere, why not there?'
Looking down at the ground, both of them made their way towards the break room, not watching where they were going. Apparently, the other people walking there weren't watching where they were going either.
A concerned Watari and a confused Hisoka multiplied by and overprotective Tatsumi and a sleepy Tsuzuki carrying the remains of what was his coffee equals something that resembles a disaster area. Luckily, Tatsumi was a little more prepared for this than the rest, and he agilely caught the falling mug as he uncharacteristically stumbled over the other three shinigami.
Hisoka blinked open his eyes as he slowly picked himself up from his previous position of being sprawled on the floor, and found himself staring into wide, violet eyes. 'Tsuzuki…' he thought, relieved, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything.
"Tatsumi…and Tsuzuki…" Watari said, rubbing his head as he stood up as well. Fully comprehending what he was seeing, finally he snapped.
"Tsuzuki! Where were you?! You were gone for more than an hour, when you should've been only fifteen minutes at the most! You should at least say that you were going to be gone long, you nearly worried bon half to a second death!" he berated him.
Tsuzuki was surprised at the last sentence. He could only blink and sputter at Watari's outburst, while Hisoka's blush reflex kicked in, against his will.
"…He was with me," Tatsumi finally said, breaking the awkward silence. "I had found him in the break room, and had asked him to help me with the filing from a while back, and he agreed."
Watari blinked, trying to maintain his composure. "That's fine, but the next time, tell someone before you go and disappear like that."
Looking down, Tsuzuki nodded. "Hai, I'm sorry to have worried you both."
"No problem," said Watari. "After all, it gave me an excuse to be out of my lab. But don't do it again!" he added comically.
"Ha~ i!" answered Tsuzuki.
Hisoka, who had been watching this whole situation, finally spoke up. "Come on, Tsuzuki, you still have a pile of paperwork that you need to finish." And with that, he headed back to their office.
"…You really did worry bon, you know…he cares a whole lot more than you may think…" Watari said, before heading back to his experiments, paperwork, and 003.
"…Thank you, Tatsumi," Tsuzuki said, turning back to the secretary when he was sure the others were gone.
Tatsumi nodded, and then watched Tsuzuki start back to his shared office.
"Tsuzuki-san!" he called.
"Hn?" Tsuzuki said, turning back for a second.
"Get some rest."
Turning, Tsuzuki headed back to the office again.
Tatsumi watched him leave, his gentle blue eyes slightly saddened. He could tell that Hisoka didn't believe that story at all; the amount of guilt from Tsuzuki was almost tangible.
Watari's words came back to him as he turned and walked back to his own paperwork.
"You really did worry bon, you know…he cares a whole lot more than you may think."
End of Chapter 4
A.N.: there you go! As always, the reviews are what are supporting this whole think and keeping it afloat…without your support, it would be fire kindling by now. So review, onegai shimasu, and let me know what you think! ::bows::
(Murasaki: "Worried bon to a second death"…? How lame is that?)
(Me: …keep quiet, you…)