Title: Danger of Caring
Author: Andro
Rating: PG-13
Couples: Tsuzuki+Hisoka, Tatsumi+Watari
Disclaimer: Come on..._ Do I really need to say it? Oh, fine, I don't own these gorgeous guys. 'Sides Sogetsu, Kizuki and Hikaru.
Author Notes: Thank you to all who reviewed. *huggles*
Yes, you'll probably note, but depending on who's POV I'm writing from, the writing kind of tends to change. =) You'll possibly detect it more in Kizuki's parts, where it becomes a bit more humorous and not quite-err-sane? ^^ She's much happier now that she's not stuck around a bunch of creepy grown ups in black. Oh, and from now on it'll be way more shinigami-focused POV, since I just wanted you to sort of know the original characters instead of them just -being- there.
"Speech"
//Thoughts\\
- Emphasis -
Flashback
*~*~*~
Tatsumi seemed to take their explanation with relative calmness. From behind his computer desk, he deliberately reached up with exaggerated slow movements to pull his glasses down to stare at the three people standing in front of him with cool blue eyes.
"So you decided to bring the child here."
Big eyes, a darker shade of azure than his looked up at her name being mentioned, then the girl gave a squeak and hid behind Tsuzuki, clutching on to his coat. Laying a hand on her head, Tsuzuki gave the secretary an accusing glance.
"Yes, if it is Sogetsu, he won't hesitate to harm her. He's shown no restraint in...doing other things to people." The violet eyed shinigami glanced down at the cowering girl and tugged at her hair to get her attention.
"Can you please wait outside while I talk to him?"
She shot him a hesitant look, threw another glance at Tatsumi and then nodded slightly, still clutching at the worn toy. Without another word she slipped outside, letting the door close behind her. She didn't really want to hear what they were saying anyway.
With curious eyes, Kizuki looked around. It -looked- like what a normal office should look like, but there was no one around. Still, she oddly didn't feel threatened here. Here was safe. Even if Kizuki didn't exactly know where 'here' was. Tsu-chan said that they were in the place that he lived, but she was pretty sure it wasn't Tokyo. It wasn't sakura blossom time at home, but here there were more cherry petals than she'd ever seen -anywhere-. It was almost like the ground was covered in it, and they fell so thick it was like snow. Pink fluffy snow.
Kizuki smiled at her thoughts, recognizing them as being a mode of trying not to think of what was going on and started stroking Tomoki's head, smoothing the rumpled violet fur. At least she didn't have that suffocating feeling anymore, so why not be happy about that? Mommy always said that with the bad things, good things could come too. Her smile wavered slightly, knowing that she wouldn't see Mommy again. Or Daddy. And Sogetsu was responsible somehow.
//Why...?\\ Kizuki wondered silently. He was never really friendly with her, but he had never been cruel. He never teased anyone, or hit them, he just seemed a little bit withdrawn. But his friends all loved him, especially the one that always brought her nice things to eat when he came over. Kizuki frowned. She hoped Sogetsu wouldn't hurt his friends.
The little girl glanced back at the closed doorway. They were taking an awfully long time in there. Surely they wouldn't mind if she looked around a little? From the look of things, she'd be spending time with these people a lot. She didn't mind. The tall one made her feel like she'd done something wrong, like broken a priceless vase, but he didn't seem to want to hurt her.
Shifting from one foot to the other, Kizuki stared at the clock. Was it slowing down? It almost seemed like it was-maybe it was cheating. She stared harder. It was definitely going deliberately slow. The clock was evil. It wanted to give her time to think over all the bad stuff. Well, she wouldn't let it!
Raising her chin up stubbornly, Kizuki looked around for something to entertain herself with and instead detected the very faint sound of someone moving about, speaking. She was almost a hundred percent positive that it was another person; being this close to the office she'd just come out of, she'd have to move away to make sure it wasn't just coming from the other room.
Giving a tiny shrug to herself, Kizuki wandered down the hallway, making sure she remembered where she was going so afterwards she wouldn't get lost. Kizuki tried to be quiet as she neared the door the sounds were coming from, and noted gratefully that whoever was inside had left it partly open. From inside, she could see an abnormal amount of glass gleaming, and she peered inside.
*~*~*~
The blonde scientist dropped back against his chair, defeated for the moment. Absently, he continuously tapped a blue pen against the hard wood of his desk, attention focused on the blank screen that occasionally flashed "NO RESULT FOUND" across the wide expanse. He'd been at it for a little over forty minutes straight without a break, trying to find the souls of the Mizuro family over the islands of Japan, but so far, no luck. It was as if they didn't even exist.
There wasn't even a spiritual residue in the house, which in a way, disturbed him more. When one lived in a place, no matter for how short a time, they tended to leave a tiny bit of themselves there. To find absolutely nothing perturbed the facts the he knew.
Dropping the pen, Watari reached up and flicked open the top of his shirt, feeling the heat get to him. Tatsumi had decided to be a cheapskate again and not put the air conditioning on. It was in fact just the right temperature outside, but within the building, without air circulating, it was getting stuffy and overly warm. Having suspected that this would be the case, Watari had changed into a pair of comfortable jeans and a white button up shirt. To avoid any accidents caused by dipping sleeves into liquids, they had been pulled back up to his forearms. His customary white lab coat was thrown over the back of his chair, since he didn't need at it at that precise moment and it only made things hotter.
Back to the subject at hand, the blond shinigami tilted his head to the side, considering his options. Apparently, searching them by computer wasn't going to cut it. And until he got a report from Tsuzuki and Hisoka, he wouldn't be of much help at all. Maybe he could go help the Goushoshin, they had been put in charge of finding all possible causes of a soul disappearing completely. At least he'd be helping a bit, and Tatsumi wouldn't rag on him for doing nothing.
//Tatsumi...\\ He sighed, playing with the the computer keys. Watari had been part of the force for years, and had watched as the secretary seemed to withdraw more and more; especially since he didn't have a partner and was stuck in his office most of the time, planning budgets. He suspected he knew at least one of the causes why Tatsumi was like that, but the other man always froze him out politely, but firmly whenever he tried to do anything.
The scientist made an face, and let out an exasperated snort. Lately, Tatsumi had taken to simply nodding or shaking his head whenever possible, avoiding directly speaking to him. Now that annoyed him, he could at least speak to him.
Eventually, Watari's senses kicked in and told him that someone was watching him. Blinking, he slowly swiveled his chair and stared, a bit cluelessly at the short kid looking back at him curiously, hanging on to a ridiculously bright purple bunny. Fortunately, memory kicked in at last, and he offered a sheepish smile.
"Kizuki Mizuro, right?"
The girl nodded, if she thought it was odd that he knew her name, she didn't show it, only stretched out her hand.
"Nice to meet you."
Puzzled, Watari stared at it, and then shook it awkwardly. Why in the world had the child used a Western custom?
Kizuki Mizuro looked perplexed.
"Aren't you gaejin? You don't look Japanese.."
//Oh, so that's it, she thinks I'm American or something.\\ Laughing, the man shook his head, startling 003 who had been quietly taking a nap in it. She flew up, fluttering her small wings indignantly at being woken up suddenly like that. The owl squawked sharply, and Watari sweatdropped, waving his hands around in an apologetic way.
"I'm sorry! But you really shouldn't sleep in my hair, it's not my fault!"
Kizuki stared at the owl, wide eyed. Apparently, she'd never seen one.
"Sweet..." She whispered, reaching up with a hand.
Finding a friendly perch, 003 flew down and sat down on the turned palm, hooting at Watari in a berating way that made reminded him a little too much of the department's shadow user.
"Sorry, sorry." Watari patted the animal lightly on her head, scratching the special spot he knew she couldn't reach and itched constantly. Immediately, the sermon stopped, her ego soothed.
Glancing from the tiny owl, to the cheerful man with the longest hair she'd ever seen on a person in real life, Kizuki couldn't help but smile, dark mood banished. Someone that treated an animal like that couldn't possibly be bad. She was in good hands.
"Well-in any case, my name is Watari, since you're here, I guess Tsuzuki and Hisoka came back as well?"
In reply to his answer, she nodded, slowly pulling her hand closer towards her body to see 003 up close. She was careful, because she was afraid it would fly off in a frightened flutter.
"Don't worry, 003 is quite intelligent, she knows you don't mean her any harm." Watari reassured the mortal absently, leaving her to play with his pet before sinking into thought. If Kizuki was here, then was Sogetsu here as well? And if so, why where the two here? Tatsumi hadn't said anything about bringing them back... A vaguely grim smile touched upon his lips before it disappeared. The secretary might not be too happy about that. More mouths to feed in his point of view. Oh, well. It was sort of cute to see him getting his feathers ruffled.
An idea occurred to him.
"Say, Kizuki? Does anyone else know you're here?"
*~*~*~
"You really think the brother did it."
"It's a possibility I don't want to ignore." Hisoka replied truthfully, feeling Tsuzuki standing next to him; offering silent support.
"Tsuzuki?"
The violet eyed shinigami gave a brief shrug.
"It's the first day Tatsumi, but yes, I do believe that there is a strong possibility that Sogetsu may in some way be the cause of this mess. Willingly, without meaning to, or with all intention, I'm not sure."
Tatsumi looked resigned. If both of them believed it, and it looked that they did, there was nothing that he could say. //Very well.\\
"What do you plan to do tomorrow?"
It was Hisoka that spoke up.
"Since you say that there is nothing on Mizuro Sogetsu's files that hint that he might even have an inkling of resentment towards his family, or any powers, we've decided to start visiting the people who knew the family the most. Hopefully, they could give us some hint as to why any of this is happening."
Tsuzuki nodded, frowning to himself. That was right-suppocedly, there was nothing on Sogetsu that suggested that he was anything more than a good looking boy with a bright future ahead. The death of his mother had been an accident while he had been playing in the backyard, which was unfortunate, but there hadn't seemed to be any long term trauma. Even if the experience had driven him to do kill his father and step-mother, how had he done it? Where were the souls? It was like a shirt that seemed to fit when you put it on, but then you realized that it was too tight in some places, and too loose in others.
The meeting ended a few minutes later, and Tsuzuki walked out of the privacy of the office.
"What do you think? Should I try my special world famous Tsuzuki's Super Special Spicy Curry for tonight?"
"Not if you want her to live to see her eighth birthday." Hisoka retorted, crossing his arms. //If this idiot feeds her any of -that- junk, she probably will die.\\ While Tsuzuki's food may appear tasty and normal, the taste of it was actually so terrible that everyone knew to avoid his food at all costs.
"Don't be mean! My cooking has gotten better! I mean, it even smells yummy!" The violet eyed shinigami protested loudly, seemingly hurt before he froze, panicked.
"Where's Kizuki?"
"What?" Looking down, Hisoka turned pale at the lack of any blue eyed girls in the vicinity. //Didn't we tell her to stay put!? She's worse than Tsuzuki!\\ Turning to the crying male next to him, Hisoka's irritation rose.
"Stop sobbing, she must be around here somewhere, we weren't talking for Tatsumi for long."
With that, Tsuzuki brightened, forgetting he had just been pouring waterfalls.
"Right! Now, if I were a kid, and I was bored, where would I go?"
Biting back a resort that Tsuzuki -always- acted like a kid, the empath took a deep breath and thought about it. His brow furrowed, an idea dawning.
"She wouldn't..."
Tsuzuki looked hopeful, checking down the hallway.
"Can't hurt to see..."
Hisoka held back a groan. Who else in the department besides Tsuzuki would get along just -fine- with a child? The name of one golden eyed shinigami rose to mind. //Well, it's good news if she -is- with him, at least.\\
All of the sudden he felt himself being dragged by the clothing of his shoulder, making him yelp as Tsuzuki pulled the teenager after him, eager to visit Watari's lab.
"I can walk you know!"
"But you weren't moooving!"
*~*~*~
"-And THAT'S why I think life is like a candy cane."
Two pairs of eyes looked at him confusedly. One pair was blue, the other brown. One belonged to Kizuki, the other to 003 who looked almost suspiciously like she was rolling them in exasperation.
"Uhm...." She blinked, then asked as politely as she could.
"That's very nice, but may I have the cane now?"
Sheepishly, Watari handed over the candy he'd been waving around to make his point.
"Sure kid. Sorry, I just get carried away sometimes."
Clutching at the treat happily, Kizuki waved it off and began gnawing at the end of the stick.
"S'kay, it's fun to listen. I don't get to talk to grown ups often." Silently, she added-// Definitely never talked to a grown up like you.\\ On her shoulder, 003 fluttered her wings and flew off in an agitated flight as the door was yanked open and two breathless males dropped inside.
"Is she-KI-ZU-KIIII!" The young girl was stunned into silence as she was suddenly enveloped into a thick hug, her breath caught at how tight she was being held. Uncomfortably, she tried to push back against the over zealous shinigami to no avail-he wasn't letting go. Her face slowly started to take on an unhealthy blue tinge.
"Tsuzuki!"
Looking clueless, Tsuzuki blinked at the put off expression on his partner's face.
"What? What! Aren't you glad we found her too?"
"Uhm...Tsuzuki...human children aren't supposed to be able to turn blue...unless they're lacking oxygen..." Watari informed him patiently, watching as different shades of blue and violet crossed over the little girl's face.
Immediately releasing Kizuki, Tsuzuki's eyes watered.
"Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry Kizuki-chaaaan!"
Trying to hold back an amused smile, Watari patted the human on the back, getting her to gulp in huge amounts of breath while she tried to nod in Tsuzuki's general direction, trying to tell him it was okay.
"She's fine Tsuzuki, but you have to be careful, she's neither a shinigami, or at all that big." The scientist chastised him gently, letting himself drop back into his computer chair. Within a few more seconds, Kizuki's face had returned a bright red color in nature, but she could speak at that point.
"Sorry...were you looking for me?"
"Haai! We thought something bad had happened to you!" Tsuzuki announced to the room, still looking worried.
"Sorry...but nothing bad can happen to me here!" Kizuki announced back after a second, looking remarkably cheerful for someone who'd just had a recent brush with death. Picking up Tomoki, she looked at the dropped candy cane on the floor with sorrow before picking it up and throwing it away with a little shrug. Returning, she found all three grown up's eyes on her. Confused, she stared back.
"What did I do?"
"We were just wondering how you knew." Hisoka explained shortly, studying her before giving a shrug to himself and turning to Watari.
"Have you found anything interesting?"
Puzzled, Kizuki blinked; then her attention was drawn to Tsuzuki who was rummaging inside the trash can for something.
"Something interesting? At this point, I'll settle for finding -anything- at all. There's nothing. It's like they never existed except in the memories of others and legal papers. I think you two are on your own." Watari admitted, throwing a glowering glance at his computer. It wasn't often that he was completely stumped, and as a self respected scientist, that really annoyed him.
Hisoka's look turned grim, and he leaned with his hands against the desk.
"Check the Mizuro house again."
"Okay..." Stroking the keys across his computer board with fast flicks of his fingers, Watari closed up his current file and searched for the one titled 'Mizuro House'. Clicking enter, a new reading began to form.
Satisfied, but unsure of what Bon was trying to find out, Watari leaned back against his chair and stared at the screen until a result finally flashed.
"What the -hell- is -that-?" The blond demanded, staring at the charts. Hate and jealousy feelings were off the scale now, when previously there had been nothing but normal levels of family happiness. His eyes narrowed.
"That sort of thing doesn't happen in just three hours. That's a build up that could take years to form."
"I know." Hisoka murmured, still staring at the screen. "We think the brother might have been hiding it all. But if it wasn't his doing, then it was certainty someone, that -can't- happen by itself, can it?"
"No, feelings are naturally inclined to make themselves known, it's only by a being's self restraint that they don't scatter everywhere. Besides, if I couldn't pick up even a trace of all this before, and now it's like a bomb of negative things just waiting to go off, -someone- had a hand in it. Most likely whoever did it wanted us-or some one else-to believe that they were a happy, normal family."
"Do you think it was him?" The green-eyed teen questioned, straightening up and crossing his arms. //It's not like there's a lot of people that it can be...\\
"I wouldn't write it off." Watari admitted, fingers playing gingerly across the keyboard.
"By the way, what are you going to do with the kid?"
"We've decided to keep her here. Since we don't know exactly where the threat is coming from in her world, it's too dangerous to leave her there." Avoiding inquisitive golden eyes, Hisoka cleared his throat.
"Since we'll be gone investigating, and Tatsumi can't split his attention between his work and taking care of a child...we've decided you should take care of Kizuki."
Watari gawked.
"You're kidding, right?"
Unsure, Hisoka shook his head, then only had a split second to move out the way to avoid being glomped by an overly energetic golden haired scientist. Kizuki unfortunately, since she had been busy staring at the furry brown tail growing out of Tsuzuki's behind as he rummaged through the trash, was not so lucky, and for the second time in less than half an hour, found herself in a tight shinigami hug.
"I get to experience the joys of motherhood!" The scientist squealed in delight, lifting Kizuki quite a few feet off the ground. Startled, she clutched at the other's lab coat, eyes wide.
"Eeeeh?"
Poking his head out the trash, Tsuzuki looked triumphant, a candy cane stuck between his teeth.
"Hmnnn?"
Sweatdropping, Hisoka grabbed his partner's shirt and began pulling him out of the room as the voice of Watari rambled on in the background about green dresses and pink ribbons.
"Watari's agreed to take care of Kizuki. Now, come on, we have work to do tomorrow and research to do now."
*~*~*~
The time it took to travel to the living Earth was nonexistent. Barely seconds passed when they went through the gates when Tsuzuki Asato and Hisoka Kurosaki found themselves standing on a tall telephone poll in front of Sarasuga High School.
The day was just breaking, showing hints that it would be a beautiful, breath-taking clear sky kind of day with a cheerful breeze. Students in groups of two or more, with an occasional loner made their way into the large courtyard behind the school, either chatting with friends or scrambling to get their work for the day ahead finished. A few of the mass were leaning against the side wall of the school, thin burning cylinders held casually between the fingers of the more experienced smokers, and others held the cigarettes between trembling hands, afraid they would be caught.
Tsuzuki sighed softly. Sogetsu wasn't there. Not that it was likely that he would, but it would have been nice if he had been. Less work for them.
Stretching his arms, the older shinigami curled them behind his head and watched the colorful array of teens with a curious look.
"So where do we start?"
"He's very popular, right? Let's just pick some classmates of his and the teachers. Then we can find the people he was with the most." Hisoka said, though his eyes held a far away, almost wistful look in them as he stared down at the school.
"Is something wrong...?" Tsuzuki inquired gently, trying not to scare his skittish and ubberly private partner off.
Snapping back to the present, the young shinigami shook his head in a negative motion and snapped a quick "Nothing!" before jumping down to the ground. Sighing in exasperation, Tsuzuki followed.
*~*~*~
First off was Sogetsu's beginning period, math. The teacher was a stately woman with a pair of askew glasses that clashed with her personality. She was suspicious of the appearance of Hisoka and Tsuzuki, even demanded to know why Hisoka was not in school. With more than a little difficulty, Tsuzuki explained that they were investigating the mysterious disappearances of Sogetsu Mizuro and his little sister, Kizuki. At the mention of those names, the woman's black eyes softened, and the two had no more troubles with questioning anyone. In fact, everyone was more than willing to talk to them once they found out Sogetsu was missing. Apparently, Sogetsu was more than popular in his school, he was -loved-.
Particularly by the girls. They all continued to gushingly describe him as "Handsome, a little on the quiet side, but very kind and gentle.". The first years thought of him as an idol and his own class was very fond of him. He was never afraid to lend a hand where it was needed, or to smile to make someone else feel better. His grades were perfect, his attendance record was almost impeccable, save for the days when his parents died, and to top it all off, he was the school's best soccer player. Nobody ever even uttered one bad word about him, even those that apparently didn't like him that much.
It was downright puzzling for Tsuzuki. How in the world an apparently so well mannered kid could kill his parents and erase all traces of their existence?
He pondered upon that as he waited outside of the school counselor's office for Hisoka to come out. He leaned against the wall with a preoccupied look on his face, weighing the possibility that it wasn't Sogetsu after all. He frowned. It wasn't -impossible-, but then again, the whole situation was bizarre. He sighed. They'd interviewed at least two dozen people, and the day was being drawn well into afternoon. This was their last stop. They were trying to get the home address of one Hikaru Shinji, age sixteen, second year of high school.(1) His name had been repeated over and over when others had been questioned as to who Sogetsu hung out with the most. But he hadn't been in school for three days, and nobody knew where he lived or what was wrong with him.
Running a careless hand through chocolate brown locks, Tsuzuki hoped that being a close friend kept him safe out of Sogetsu's reaches-that is, if it was Sogetsu behind it all. A metallic click alerted him that the door next to him was opening before a soft screeching sound filled the air as the door was pulled inwardly.
"Thank you, you've been of great assistance." Hisoka bowed to the woman and closed the door behind him, a paper with scrawled words clutched in his hands.
"Let's go."
*~*~*~
Tsuzuki was amazed. Just barely explaining that they were trying to find Sogetsu Mizuro and it was like an instant personality shift into a glowing woman. Yuki Shinji had been less than friendly when opening the door of her apartment to find two strange men on her welcome mat, but now she was as overly sweet and fluttering around, asking a question then asking another before they could answer.
They were in one of downtown Tokyo's many apartment buildings, and trying to see Hikaru Shinji so that they could question him as to where Sogetsu could possibly be. However, the way his mother was carrying on, that could possibly take hours before they could. Sighing, Tsuzuki tried again to interrupt the barrel of words that were thrown at them as they stood, a bit awkwardly in the clean living room. No dice. She wasn't even paying that much attention to them, only raving about how well-mannered and intelligent Sogetsu was, especially when compared to her own son. Hearing that, Tsuzuki couldn't help but feel sorry, and more than a little curious about Hikaru.
His attention was caught by the sound of a faint cough, and he stared down a hallway. There were only three doors. One of them had to lead to Hikaru's room. Shooting Hisoka a regretful glance, he took the opportunity to slip away when Mrs.Shinji's back was turned and checked the first door on the left. Only a bathroom. The sound of another cough lead him towards the door at the end. The sound of the woman and Hisoka's voices melted away into a muted background and Tsuzuki knocked lightly on the white door. There was a brief pause before a thin, slightly husky voice welcomed him in.
Stepping into the room, Tsuzuki knew right off that this was without question Hikaru Shinji's room. On the giant bookshelf filled with a few books, were dozens of picture frames. On the same shelf sat a large, professional looking camera, and Tsuzuki re-called hearing someone mention that Hikaru was the photographer for the school newspaper. But that wasn't how he knew. The first thing that had gotten his attention had been the lovingly smiling face of Sogetsu as he leaned over a pale haired boy's shoulder, looking mischievous. In fact, many of the pictures in the room were of Sogetsu, a large quantity of them with the same boy.
Then Tsuzuki glanced at the bed for the first time, and met curious golden eyes.
*~*~*~
Kizuki was starting to wonder if perhaps she would be better off with the scary man with the glasses. Watari was all right she supposed, but if he really thought she was going to stick herself in a pink dress with all those ribbons, hoops, hearts and glitter, he had another thing coming. She sighed. But he -did- seem to have fun planning out the dresses on a slightly crumpled notepad he'd found on the floor. Even if his drawing reminded her of her kindergarten sketches.
Bored, she looked around the lab again. Nothing was different. The excitement had worn off hours ago, and she was getting tired and hungry. Watari almost seemed like he didn't need to eat, so she didn't want to bother him. Her stomach growled in protest. It wanted food. And soon. Making a face, Kizuki looked resigned to starving when 003 fluttered across her face and out the door.
Startled, Kizuki followed.
After following the animal for a few seconds at a running pace, Kizuki found herself in a new room with a long table, and best of all-there was -food- on the table. Squealing happily, Kizuki immediately picked a roll of sushi and brought it to her lips, and bit into it. It was a little stale, but it was food and she was eight so it was all nifty in her eyes.
Content, she hummed and finished the morsel, wiping her hand on her arm to avoid getting Hisoka's white shirt-that he'd been kind enough to let her borrow since she had nothing else to wear-dirty. The shirt was still too big for her, but she liked it. It was very loose and comfortable and smelled curiously enough of the violet eyed man.
Then she noticed she wasn't alone.
Blue eyes peered at her over glasses with a spark of hidden amusement. The secretary was for once taking a brief break and had decided to stop by the lunch room. There was no point in having a lunch room if it was never used.
"Go ahead. It's there to be eaten." Tatsumi informed the child casually, then his attention was piqued by the energetic owl flying around the room in circles. One eyebrow arched up. Kizuki and 003 were there. So, taking that into consideration, that meant...
The door opened.
Tatsumi held back a groan at the glimpse of gleaming golden hair. Just the person he'd been -trying- to avoid.
"Neeeee, Kizuki-chan! You really shouldn't wander off like that." Watari complained, then forgot about it as he spied Tatsumi sitting at the end of the table. Grinning almost from ear to ear, he bounced down to the secretary and promptly dropped his arms around the wide shoulders.
"Wai! Tatsumi actually took a break to eat! A-ma-zing!"
Curious, Kizuki looked from the cheerful blonde to the blue eyed man whose cheeks were beginning to dye red and she blinked, then shrugged and fed 003 a bit of peach.
"What do you think you're doing?" Tatsumi asked coldly, stiff in the loose embrace. It wasn't like Watari was hugging him too tightly, it actually felt quite nice, and the scientist smelled faintly of something pleasant that Tatsumi couldn't quite put a finger on. //Nevermind that, he has to respect my personal space.\\ The secretary told himself then pushed the beaming blond with a hard shove.
Caught off guard, Watari found himself in an awkward position trying to catch his balance which failed miserably since he ended up falling down on the floor and hitting his head against the wall to make things better.
He stayed still for a second, eyes tightly shut at the brief rush of pain that quickly disappeared completely, then opened one eye to look up unhappily at the other shinigami.
"Mou, Tatsumi, do you really hate my touch that much?" Watari complained lightly; there was a trace of hurt in the aureate gaze that remained even after the scientist pulled himself to his feet and assured a wide eyed Kizuki that he was fine before quickly disappearing; the excuse being something silly that didn't make sense.
Unsure, Kizuki glanced again from the shut door, to Tatsumi before she decided it was worth the risk.
"Mommy used to say that people that care for you are hard to find, so you have to treasure them, or before you know it, they'll be gone beyond your reach." She told him solemnly, eyes sad.
The man looked lost, and she wasn't completely sure that he'd even heard her words when the azure eyes focused on her, looking tired.
"Your mother was a very wise woman Mizuro-san."(2)
*~*~*~
1.In Japan, high school goes from 10th grade to 12th. Junior High is 7-9, etc.
2.Yes, I know that adding the Japanese endings annoy some people, and I don't keep it up all through the fic, but sometimes it just fits better. Tatsumi wouldn't really call Kizuki by her first name, and Mizuro just doesn't really sound right somehow.
Wow. Uhm. This fic will definitely be longer than 10,000 words. o_O Err. Yea. In any case, in the next chapter, Tsuzuki finds out more about Sogetsu from Hikaru, a library card is a clue that begins to unravel the mystery of where the souls have gone and things between Tatsumi and Watari go from bad, to worse.
Author: Andro
Rating: PG-13
Couples: Tsuzuki+Hisoka, Tatsumi+Watari
Disclaimer: Come on..._ Do I really need to say it? Oh, fine, I don't own these gorgeous guys. 'Sides Sogetsu, Kizuki and Hikaru.
Author Notes: Thank you to all who reviewed. *huggles*
Yes, you'll probably note, but depending on who's POV I'm writing from, the writing kind of tends to change. =) You'll possibly detect it more in Kizuki's parts, where it becomes a bit more humorous and not quite-err-sane? ^^ She's much happier now that she's not stuck around a bunch of creepy grown ups in black. Oh, and from now on it'll be way more shinigami-focused POV, since I just wanted you to sort of know the original characters instead of them just -being- there.
"Speech"
//Thoughts\\
- Emphasis -
Flashback
*~*~*~
Tatsumi seemed to take their explanation with relative calmness. From behind his computer desk, he deliberately reached up with exaggerated slow movements to pull his glasses down to stare at the three people standing in front of him with cool blue eyes.
"So you decided to bring the child here."
Big eyes, a darker shade of azure than his looked up at her name being mentioned, then the girl gave a squeak and hid behind Tsuzuki, clutching on to his coat. Laying a hand on her head, Tsuzuki gave the secretary an accusing glance.
"Yes, if it is Sogetsu, he won't hesitate to harm her. He's shown no restraint in...doing other things to people." The violet eyed shinigami glanced down at the cowering girl and tugged at her hair to get her attention.
"Can you please wait outside while I talk to him?"
She shot him a hesitant look, threw another glance at Tatsumi and then nodded slightly, still clutching at the worn toy. Without another word she slipped outside, letting the door close behind her. She didn't really want to hear what they were saying anyway.
With curious eyes, Kizuki looked around. It -looked- like what a normal office should look like, but there was no one around. Still, she oddly didn't feel threatened here. Here was safe. Even if Kizuki didn't exactly know where 'here' was. Tsu-chan said that they were in the place that he lived, but she was pretty sure it wasn't Tokyo. It wasn't sakura blossom time at home, but here there were more cherry petals than she'd ever seen -anywhere-. It was almost like the ground was covered in it, and they fell so thick it was like snow. Pink fluffy snow.
Kizuki smiled at her thoughts, recognizing them as being a mode of trying not to think of what was going on and started stroking Tomoki's head, smoothing the rumpled violet fur. At least she didn't have that suffocating feeling anymore, so why not be happy about that? Mommy always said that with the bad things, good things could come too. Her smile wavered slightly, knowing that she wouldn't see Mommy again. Or Daddy. And Sogetsu was responsible somehow.
//Why...?\\ Kizuki wondered silently. He was never really friendly with her, but he had never been cruel. He never teased anyone, or hit them, he just seemed a little bit withdrawn. But his friends all loved him, especially the one that always brought her nice things to eat when he came over. Kizuki frowned. She hoped Sogetsu wouldn't hurt his friends.
The little girl glanced back at the closed doorway. They were taking an awfully long time in there. Surely they wouldn't mind if she looked around a little? From the look of things, she'd be spending time with these people a lot. She didn't mind. The tall one made her feel like she'd done something wrong, like broken a priceless vase, but he didn't seem to want to hurt her.
Shifting from one foot to the other, Kizuki stared at the clock. Was it slowing down? It almost seemed like it was-maybe it was cheating. She stared harder. It was definitely going deliberately slow. The clock was evil. It wanted to give her time to think over all the bad stuff. Well, she wouldn't let it!
Raising her chin up stubbornly, Kizuki looked around for something to entertain herself with and instead detected the very faint sound of someone moving about, speaking. She was almost a hundred percent positive that it was another person; being this close to the office she'd just come out of, she'd have to move away to make sure it wasn't just coming from the other room.
Giving a tiny shrug to herself, Kizuki wandered down the hallway, making sure she remembered where she was going so afterwards she wouldn't get lost. Kizuki tried to be quiet as she neared the door the sounds were coming from, and noted gratefully that whoever was inside had left it partly open. From inside, she could see an abnormal amount of glass gleaming, and she peered inside.
*~*~*~
The blonde scientist dropped back against his chair, defeated for the moment. Absently, he continuously tapped a blue pen against the hard wood of his desk, attention focused on the blank screen that occasionally flashed "NO RESULT FOUND" across the wide expanse. He'd been at it for a little over forty minutes straight without a break, trying to find the souls of the Mizuro family over the islands of Japan, but so far, no luck. It was as if they didn't even exist.
There wasn't even a spiritual residue in the house, which in a way, disturbed him more. When one lived in a place, no matter for how short a time, they tended to leave a tiny bit of themselves there. To find absolutely nothing perturbed the facts the he knew.
Dropping the pen, Watari reached up and flicked open the top of his shirt, feeling the heat get to him. Tatsumi had decided to be a cheapskate again and not put the air conditioning on. It was in fact just the right temperature outside, but within the building, without air circulating, it was getting stuffy and overly warm. Having suspected that this would be the case, Watari had changed into a pair of comfortable jeans and a white button up shirt. To avoid any accidents caused by dipping sleeves into liquids, they had been pulled back up to his forearms. His customary white lab coat was thrown over the back of his chair, since he didn't need at it at that precise moment and it only made things hotter.
Back to the subject at hand, the blond shinigami tilted his head to the side, considering his options. Apparently, searching them by computer wasn't going to cut it. And until he got a report from Tsuzuki and Hisoka, he wouldn't be of much help at all. Maybe he could go help the Goushoshin, they had been put in charge of finding all possible causes of a soul disappearing completely. At least he'd be helping a bit, and Tatsumi wouldn't rag on him for doing nothing.
//Tatsumi...\\ He sighed, playing with the the computer keys. Watari had been part of the force for years, and had watched as the secretary seemed to withdraw more and more; especially since he didn't have a partner and was stuck in his office most of the time, planning budgets. He suspected he knew at least one of the causes why Tatsumi was like that, but the other man always froze him out politely, but firmly whenever he tried to do anything.
The scientist made an face, and let out an exasperated snort. Lately, Tatsumi had taken to simply nodding or shaking his head whenever possible, avoiding directly speaking to him. Now that annoyed him, he could at least speak to him.
Eventually, Watari's senses kicked in and told him that someone was watching him. Blinking, he slowly swiveled his chair and stared, a bit cluelessly at the short kid looking back at him curiously, hanging on to a ridiculously bright purple bunny. Fortunately, memory kicked in at last, and he offered a sheepish smile.
"Kizuki Mizuro, right?"
The girl nodded, if she thought it was odd that he knew her name, she didn't show it, only stretched out her hand.
"Nice to meet you."
Puzzled, Watari stared at it, and then shook it awkwardly. Why in the world had the child used a Western custom?
Kizuki Mizuro looked perplexed.
"Aren't you gaejin? You don't look Japanese.."
//Oh, so that's it, she thinks I'm American or something.\\ Laughing, the man shook his head, startling 003 who had been quietly taking a nap in it. She flew up, fluttering her small wings indignantly at being woken up suddenly like that. The owl squawked sharply, and Watari sweatdropped, waving his hands around in an apologetic way.
"I'm sorry! But you really shouldn't sleep in my hair, it's not my fault!"
Kizuki stared at the owl, wide eyed. Apparently, she'd never seen one.
"Sweet..." She whispered, reaching up with a hand.
Finding a friendly perch, 003 flew down and sat down on the turned palm, hooting at Watari in a berating way that made reminded him a little too much of the department's shadow user.
"Sorry, sorry." Watari patted the animal lightly on her head, scratching the special spot he knew she couldn't reach and itched constantly. Immediately, the sermon stopped, her ego soothed.
Glancing from the tiny owl, to the cheerful man with the longest hair she'd ever seen on a person in real life, Kizuki couldn't help but smile, dark mood banished. Someone that treated an animal like that couldn't possibly be bad. She was in good hands.
"Well-in any case, my name is Watari, since you're here, I guess Tsuzuki and Hisoka came back as well?"
In reply to his answer, she nodded, slowly pulling her hand closer towards her body to see 003 up close. She was careful, because she was afraid it would fly off in a frightened flutter.
"Don't worry, 003 is quite intelligent, she knows you don't mean her any harm." Watari reassured the mortal absently, leaving her to play with his pet before sinking into thought. If Kizuki was here, then was Sogetsu here as well? And if so, why where the two here? Tatsumi hadn't said anything about bringing them back... A vaguely grim smile touched upon his lips before it disappeared. The secretary might not be too happy about that. More mouths to feed in his point of view. Oh, well. It was sort of cute to see him getting his feathers ruffled.
An idea occurred to him.
"Say, Kizuki? Does anyone else know you're here?"
*~*~*~
"You really think the brother did it."
"It's a possibility I don't want to ignore." Hisoka replied truthfully, feeling Tsuzuki standing next to him; offering silent support.
"Tsuzuki?"
The violet eyed shinigami gave a brief shrug.
"It's the first day Tatsumi, but yes, I do believe that there is a strong possibility that Sogetsu may in some way be the cause of this mess. Willingly, without meaning to, or with all intention, I'm not sure."
Tatsumi looked resigned. If both of them believed it, and it looked that they did, there was nothing that he could say. //Very well.\\
"What do you plan to do tomorrow?"
It was Hisoka that spoke up.
"Since you say that there is nothing on Mizuro Sogetsu's files that hint that he might even have an inkling of resentment towards his family, or any powers, we've decided to start visiting the people who knew the family the most. Hopefully, they could give us some hint as to why any of this is happening."
Tsuzuki nodded, frowning to himself. That was right-suppocedly, there was nothing on Sogetsu that suggested that he was anything more than a good looking boy with a bright future ahead. The death of his mother had been an accident while he had been playing in the backyard, which was unfortunate, but there hadn't seemed to be any long term trauma. Even if the experience had driven him to do kill his father and step-mother, how had he done it? Where were the souls? It was like a shirt that seemed to fit when you put it on, but then you realized that it was too tight in some places, and too loose in others.
The meeting ended a few minutes later, and Tsuzuki walked out of the privacy of the office.
"What do you think? Should I try my special world famous Tsuzuki's Super Special Spicy Curry for tonight?"
"Not if you want her to live to see her eighth birthday." Hisoka retorted, crossing his arms. //If this idiot feeds her any of -that- junk, she probably will die.\\ While Tsuzuki's food may appear tasty and normal, the taste of it was actually so terrible that everyone knew to avoid his food at all costs.
"Don't be mean! My cooking has gotten better! I mean, it even smells yummy!" The violet eyed shinigami protested loudly, seemingly hurt before he froze, panicked.
"Where's Kizuki?"
"What?" Looking down, Hisoka turned pale at the lack of any blue eyed girls in the vicinity. //Didn't we tell her to stay put!? She's worse than Tsuzuki!\\ Turning to the crying male next to him, Hisoka's irritation rose.
"Stop sobbing, she must be around here somewhere, we weren't talking for Tatsumi for long."
With that, Tsuzuki brightened, forgetting he had just been pouring waterfalls.
"Right! Now, if I were a kid, and I was bored, where would I go?"
Biting back a resort that Tsuzuki -always- acted like a kid, the empath took a deep breath and thought about it. His brow furrowed, an idea dawning.
"She wouldn't..."
Tsuzuki looked hopeful, checking down the hallway.
"Can't hurt to see..."
Hisoka held back a groan. Who else in the department besides Tsuzuki would get along just -fine- with a child? The name of one golden eyed shinigami rose to mind. //Well, it's good news if she -is- with him, at least.\\
All of the sudden he felt himself being dragged by the clothing of his shoulder, making him yelp as Tsuzuki pulled the teenager after him, eager to visit Watari's lab.
"I can walk you know!"
"But you weren't moooving!"
*~*~*~
"-And THAT'S why I think life is like a candy cane."
Two pairs of eyes looked at him confusedly. One pair was blue, the other brown. One belonged to Kizuki, the other to 003 who looked almost suspiciously like she was rolling them in exasperation.
"Uhm...." She blinked, then asked as politely as she could.
"That's very nice, but may I have the cane now?"
Sheepishly, Watari handed over the candy he'd been waving around to make his point.
"Sure kid. Sorry, I just get carried away sometimes."
Clutching at the treat happily, Kizuki waved it off and began gnawing at the end of the stick.
"S'kay, it's fun to listen. I don't get to talk to grown ups often." Silently, she added-// Definitely never talked to a grown up like you.\\ On her shoulder, 003 fluttered her wings and flew off in an agitated flight as the door was yanked open and two breathless males dropped inside.
"Is she-KI-ZU-KIIII!" The young girl was stunned into silence as she was suddenly enveloped into a thick hug, her breath caught at how tight she was being held. Uncomfortably, she tried to push back against the over zealous shinigami to no avail-he wasn't letting go. Her face slowly started to take on an unhealthy blue tinge.
"Tsuzuki!"
Looking clueless, Tsuzuki blinked at the put off expression on his partner's face.
"What? What! Aren't you glad we found her too?"
"Uhm...Tsuzuki...human children aren't supposed to be able to turn blue...unless they're lacking oxygen..." Watari informed him patiently, watching as different shades of blue and violet crossed over the little girl's face.
Immediately releasing Kizuki, Tsuzuki's eyes watered.
"Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry Kizuki-chaaaan!"
Trying to hold back an amused smile, Watari patted the human on the back, getting her to gulp in huge amounts of breath while she tried to nod in Tsuzuki's general direction, trying to tell him it was okay.
"She's fine Tsuzuki, but you have to be careful, she's neither a shinigami, or at all that big." The scientist chastised him gently, letting himself drop back into his computer chair. Within a few more seconds, Kizuki's face had returned a bright red color in nature, but she could speak at that point.
"Sorry...were you looking for me?"
"Haai! We thought something bad had happened to you!" Tsuzuki announced to the room, still looking worried.
"Sorry...but nothing bad can happen to me here!" Kizuki announced back after a second, looking remarkably cheerful for someone who'd just had a recent brush with death. Picking up Tomoki, she looked at the dropped candy cane on the floor with sorrow before picking it up and throwing it away with a little shrug. Returning, she found all three grown up's eyes on her. Confused, she stared back.
"What did I do?"
"We were just wondering how you knew." Hisoka explained shortly, studying her before giving a shrug to himself and turning to Watari.
"Have you found anything interesting?"
Puzzled, Kizuki blinked; then her attention was drawn to Tsuzuki who was rummaging inside the trash can for something.
"Something interesting? At this point, I'll settle for finding -anything- at all. There's nothing. It's like they never existed except in the memories of others and legal papers. I think you two are on your own." Watari admitted, throwing a glowering glance at his computer. It wasn't often that he was completely stumped, and as a self respected scientist, that really annoyed him.
Hisoka's look turned grim, and he leaned with his hands against the desk.
"Check the Mizuro house again."
"Okay..." Stroking the keys across his computer board with fast flicks of his fingers, Watari closed up his current file and searched for the one titled 'Mizuro House'. Clicking enter, a new reading began to form.
Satisfied, but unsure of what Bon was trying to find out, Watari leaned back against his chair and stared at the screen until a result finally flashed.
"What the -hell- is -that-?" The blond demanded, staring at the charts. Hate and jealousy feelings were off the scale now, when previously there had been nothing but normal levels of family happiness. His eyes narrowed.
"That sort of thing doesn't happen in just three hours. That's a build up that could take years to form."
"I know." Hisoka murmured, still staring at the screen. "We think the brother might have been hiding it all. But if it wasn't his doing, then it was certainty someone, that -can't- happen by itself, can it?"
"No, feelings are naturally inclined to make themselves known, it's only by a being's self restraint that they don't scatter everywhere. Besides, if I couldn't pick up even a trace of all this before, and now it's like a bomb of negative things just waiting to go off, -someone- had a hand in it. Most likely whoever did it wanted us-or some one else-to believe that they were a happy, normal family."
"Do you think it was him?" The green-eyed teen questioned, straightening up and crossing his arms. //It's not like there's a lot of people that it can be...\\
"I wouldn't write it off." Watari admitted, fingers playing gingerly across the keyboard.
"By the way, what are you going to do with the kid?"
"We've decided to keep her here. Since we don't know exactly where the threat is coming from in her world, it's too dangerous to leave her there." Avoiding inquisitive golden eyes, Hisoka cleared his throat.
"Since we'll be gone investigating, and Tatsumi can't split his attention between his work and taking care of a child...we've decided you should take care of Kizuki."
Watari gawked.
"You're kidding, right?"
Unsure, Hisoka shook his head, then only had a split second to move out the way to avoid being glomped by an overly energetic golden haired scientist. Kizuki unfortunately, since she had been busy staring at the furry brown tail growing out of Tsuzuki's behind as he rummaged through the trash, was not so lucky, and for the second time in less than half an hour, found herself in a tight shinigami hug.
"I get to experience the joys of motherhood!" The scientist squealed in delight, lifting Kizuki quite a few feet off the ground. Startled, she clutched at the other's lab coat, eyes wide.
"Eeeeh?"
Poking his head out the trash, Tsuzuki looked triumphant, a candy cane stuck between his teeth.
"Hmnnn?"
Sweatdropping, Hisoka grabbed his partner's shirt and began pulling him out of the room as the voice of Watari rambled on in the background about green dresses and pink ribbons.
"Watari's agreed to take care of Kizuki. Now, come on, we have work to do tomorrow and research to do now."
*~*~*~
The time it took to travel to the living Earth was nonexistent. Barely seconds passed when they went through the gates when Tsuzuki Asato and Hisoka Kurosaki found themselves standing on a tall telephone poll in front of Sarasuga High School.
The day was just breaking, showing hints that it would be a beautiful, breath-taking clear sky kind of day with a cheerful breeze. Students in groups of two or more, with an occasional loner made their way into the large courtyard behind the school, either chatting with friends or scrambling to get their work for the day ahead finished. A few of the mass were leaning against the side wall of the school, thin burning cylinders held casually between the fingers of the more experienced smokers, and others held the cigarettes between trembling hands, afraid they would be caught.
Tsuzuki sighed softly. Sogetsu wasn't there. Not that it was likely that he would, but it would have been nice if he had been. Less work for them.
Stretching his arms, the older shinigami curled them behind his head and watched the colorful array of teens with a curious look.
"So where do we start?"
"He's very popular, right? Let's just pick some classmates of his and the teachers. Then we can find the people he was with the most." Hisoka said, though his eyes held a far away, almost wistful look in them as he stared down at the school.
"Is something wrong...?" Tsuzuki inquired gently, trying not to scare his skittish and ubberly private partner off.
Snapping back to the present, the young shinigami shook his head in a negative motion and snapped a quick "Nothing!" before jumping down to the ground. Sighing in exasperation, Tsuzuki followed.
*~*~*~
First off was Sogetsu's beginning period, math. The teacher was a stately woman with a pair of askew glasses that clashed with her personality. She was suspicious of the appearance of Hisoka and Tsuzuki, even demanded to know why Hisoka was not in school. With more than a little difficulty, Tsuzuki explained that they were investigating the mysterious disappearances of Sogetsu Mizuro and his little sister, Kizuki. At the mention of those names, the woman's black eyes softened, and the two had no more troubles with questioning anyone. In fact, everyone was more than willing to talk to them once they found out Sogetsu was missing. Apparently, Sogetsu was more than popular in his school, he was -loved-.
Particularly by the girls. They all continued to gushingly describe him as "Handsome, a little on the quiet side, but very kind and gentle.". The first years thought of him as an idol and his own class was very fond of him. He was never afraid to lend a hand where it was needed, or to smile to make someone else feel better. His grades were perfect, his attendance record was almost impeccable, save for the days when his parents died, and to top it all off, he was the school's best soccer player. Nobody ever even uttered one bad word about him, even those that apparently didn't like him that much.
It was downright puzzling for Tsuzuki. How in the world an apparently so well mannered kid could kill his parents and erase all traces of their existence?
He pondered upon that as he waited outside of the school counselor's office for Hisoka to come out. He leaned against the wall with a preoccupied look on his face, weighing the possibility that it wasn't Sogetsu after all. He frowned. It wasn't -impossible-, but then again, the whole situation was bizarre. He sighed. They'd interviewed at least two dozen people, and the day was being drawn well into afternoon. This was their last stop. They were trying to get the home address of one Hikaru Shinji, age sixteen, second year of high school.(1) His name had been repeated over and over when others had been questioned as to who Sogetsu hung out with the most. But he hadn't been in school for three days, and nobody knew where he lived or what was wrong with him.
Running a careless hand through chocolate brown locks, Tsuzuki hoped that being a close friend kept him safe out of Sogetsu's reaches-that is, if it was Sogetsu behind it all. A metallic click alerted him that the door next to him was opening before a soft screeching sound filled the air as the door was pulled inwardly.
"Thank you, you've been of great assistance." Hisoka bowed to the woman and closed the door behind him, a paper with scrawled words clutched in his hands.
"Let's go."
*~*~*~
Tsuzuki was amazed. Just barely explaining that they were trying to find Sogetsu Mizuro and it was like an instant personality shift into a glowing woman. Yuki Shinji had been less than friendly when opening the door of her apartment to find two strange men on her welcome mat, but now she was as overly sweet and fluttering around, asking a question then asking another before they could answer.
They were in one of downtown Tokyo's many apartment buildings, and trying to see Hikaru Shinji so that they could question him as to where Sogetsu could possibly be. However, the way his mother was carrying on, that could possibly take hours before they could. Sighing, Tsuzuki tried again to interrupt the barrel of words that were thrown at them as they stood, a bit awkwardly in the clean living room. No dice. She wasn't even paying that much attention to them, only raving about how well-mannered and intelligent Sogetsu was, especially when compared to her own son. Hearing that, Tsuzuki couldn't help but feel sorry, and more than a little curious about Hikaru.
His attention was caught by the sound of a faint cough, and he stared down a hallway. There were only three doors. One of them had to lead to Hikaru's room. Shooting Hisoka a regretful glance, he took the opportunity to slip away when Mrs.Shinji's back was turned and checked the first door on the left. Only a bathroom. The sound of another cough lead him towards the door at the end. The sound of the woman and Hisoka's voices melted away into a muted background and Tsuzuki knocked lightly on the white door. There was a brief pause before a thin, slightly husky voice welcomed him in.
Stepping into the room, Tsuzuki knew right off that this was without question Hikaru Shinji's room. On the giant bookshelf filled with a few books, were dozens of picture frames. On the same shelf sat a large, professional looking camera, and Tsuzuki re-called hearing someone mention that Hikaru was the photographer for the school newspaper. But that wasn't how he knew. The first thing that had gotten his attention had been the lovingly smiling face of Sogetsu as he leaned over a pale haired boy's shoulder, looking mischievous. In fact, many of the pictures in the room were of Sogetsu, a large quantity of them with the same boy.
Then Tsuzuki glanced at the bed for the first time, and met curious golden eyes.
*~*~*~
Kizuki was starting to wonder if perhaps she would be better off with the scary man with the glasses. Watari was all right she supposed, but if he really thought she was going to stick herself in a pink dress with all those ribbons, hoops, hearts and glitter, he had another thing coming. She sighed. But he -did- seem to have fun planning out the dresses on a slightly crumpled notepad he'd found on the floor. Even if his drawing reminded her of her kindergarten sketches.
Bored, she looked around the lab again. Nothing was different. The excitement had worn off hours ago, and she was getting tired and hungry. Watari almost seemed like he didn't need to eat, so she didn't want to bother him. Her stomach growled in protest. It wanted food. And soon. Making a face, Kizuki looked resigned to starving when 003 fluttered across her face and out the door.
Startled, Kizuki followed.
After following the animal for a few seconds at a running pace, Kizuki found herself in a new room with a long table, and best of all-there was -food- on the table. Squealing happily, Kizuki immediately picked a roll of sushi and brought it to her lips, and bit into it. It was a little stale, but it was food and she was eight so it was all nifty in her eyes.
Content, she hummed and finished the morsel, wiping her hand on her arm to avoid getting Hisoka's white shirt-that he'd been kind enough to let her borrow since she had nothing else to wear-dirty. The shirt was still too big for her, but she liked it. It was very loose and comfortable and smelled curiously enough of the violet eyed man.
Then she noticed she wasn't alone.
Blue eyes peered at her over glasses with a spark of hidden amusement. The secretary was for once taking a brief break and had decided to stop by the lunch room. There was no point in having a lunch room if it was never used.
"Go ahead. It's there to be eaten." Tatsumi informed the child casually, then his attention was piqued by the energetic owl flying around the room in circles. One eyebrow arched up. Kizuki and 003 were there. So, taking that into consideration, that meant...
The door opened.
Tatsumi held back a groan at the glimpse of gleaming golden hair. Just the person he'd been -trying- to avoid.
"Neeeee, Kizuki-chan! You really shouldn't wander off like that." Watari complained, then forgot about it as he spied Tatsumi sitting at the end of the table. Grinning almost from ear to ear, he bounced down to the secretary and promptly dropped his arms around the wide shoulders.
"Wai! Tatsumi actually took a break to eat! A-ma-zing!"
Curious, Kizuki looked from the cheerful blonde to the blue eyed man whose cheeks were beginning to dye red and she blinked, then shrugged and fed 003 a bit of peach.
"What do you think you're doing?" Tatsumi asked coldly, stiff in the loose embrace. It wasn't like Watari was hugging him too tightly, it actually felt quite nice, and the scientist smelled faintly of something pleasant that Tatsumi couldn't quite put a finger on. //Nevermind that, he has to respect my personal space.\\ The secretary told himself then pushed the beaming blond with a hard shove.
Caught off guard, Watari found himself in an awkward position trying to catch his balance which failed miserably since he ended up falling down on the floor and hitting his head against the wall to make things better.
He stayed still for a second, eyes tightly shut at the brief rush of pain that quickly disappeared completely, then opened one eye to look up unhappily at the other shinigami.
"Mou, Tatsumi, do you really hate my touch that much?" Watari complained lightly; there was a trace of hurt in the aureate gaze that remained even after the scientist pulled himself to his feet and assured a wide eyed Kizuki that he was fine before quickly disappearing; the excuse being something silly that didn't make sense.
Unsure, Kizuki glanced again from the shut door, to Tatsumi before she decided it was worth the risk.
"Mommy used to say that people that care for you are hard to find, so you have to treasure them, or before you know it, they'll be gone beyond your reach." She told him solemnly, eyes sad.
The man looked lost, and she wasn't completely sure that he'd even heard her words when the azure eyes focused on her, looking tired.
"Your mother was a very wise woman Mizuro-san."(2)
*~*~*~
1.In Japan, high school goes from 10th grade to 12th. Junior High is 7-9, etc.
2.Yes, I know that adding the Japanese endings annoy some people, and I don't keep it up all through the fic, but sometimes it just fits better. Tatsumi wouldn't really call Kizuki by her first name, and Mizuro just doesn't really sound right somehow.
Wow. Uhm. This fic will definitely be longer than 10,000 words. o_O Err. Yea. In any case, in the next chapter, Tsuzuki finds out more about Sogetsu from Hikaru, a library card is a clue that begins to unravel the mystery of where the souls have gone and things between Tatsumi and Watari go from bad, to worse.