Title: Danger of Caring
Author: Andro
Status: Incomplete
Couples: TatsumixWatari, Tsuzuki+Hisoka, OC+OC (yaoi...)
Disclaimer: Insert witty disclaimer here.
Author Notes: ^^ Thank you to all who reviewed, I appreciate it, this being (basically) my third fic that I've writen. ^^; Esp. thanks for Julie. ^.~
Second: Does anyone know how to italize and stuff in Ff.net format? ;_;
Third: Warning: Completely un-beta'ed. _ My two beta readers aren't available anymore..and..yea, right. ^^; So sorry.
"Talking"
//Thoughts.\\
- Enphasis -
Flashbacks
*~*~*~
Tsuzuki tilted his head to the side and studied the young man in bed curiosly. Like many youths in Japan, he'd bleached his hair, but to the point that it was a silvery white color that briefly reminded Tsuzuki uncomfortably of Muraki. However, that was where the recemblance ended, for Hikaru had soft, kind golden eyes and his skin was tanned. He wore a simple, loose white shirt, and the rest of him was covered by a blue comforter.
"Who are you?"
"Tsuzuki Asato."
"..." Puzzled, Hikaru tilted his head to the side as well, mirroring Tsuzuki's actions and tried to smile cheerfully. "Pleased to meet you Tsuzuki, I'm Shinji Hikaru." Patiently, he waited for Tsuzuki to explain his presence in his room.
"I...Sogetsu Mizuro went missing yesturday afternoon along with his littler sister, Kazuki. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions..." The shinigami tried, awkwardly to explain the circumstances. Something about trying to explain the situation without really telling the truth to Hikaru didn't really feel right.
Worry flashed across the golden eyes, and Hikaru sat up straighter, then was forced to curl over as coughs racked his thin form. Concerned, Tsuzuki moved forward, but the teen stopped him, raising a hand. The dreadful hacking noise ceased, much to Tsuzuki's relief and a watery gaze was raised up to the Shinigami again. Trying to help, the man grabbed a glass of water off the stand and offered it to the young teen who took it with a grateful look and swallowed half the contents with one gulp to soothe his raw throat. After taking a deep breath, Hikaru set the glass down and brushed the tears away from his eyes. His voice had lowered into an even huskier tone.
"I'm sorry, I get sick very easily and I'm particularly bad this time."
Smiling reassuringly, Tsuzuki waved it off. "It's allright, it's not like it can be helped right?"
Hikaru nodded slightly, and gestured for Tsuzuki to sit on the corner of the bed, as the room was lacking a place to sit. Gingerly, Tsuzuki sat and cleared his throat. "I guess that's why you missed school then.:" Another nod, and Hikaru looked at Tsuzuki silently for a long time. "...Sogetsu...?" "Like I said, he's missing. May I ask you some questions? It could be very helpful in finding him." An odd expression crossed Hikaru's face, yet he nodded, white hair falling across his eyes. Tsuzuki had the faint impression that perhaps Hikaru Shinji would not live for much longer, but the room itself didn't have the aura of death, so he pushed the concern to the back of his mind to be studied later. "How did you meet Sogetsu?" "I was lost...on my first day of school. I bumped into Sogetsu and managed to completely destroy the science project he'd been carrying. He-" Hikaru took a deep breath, massaging his throat. "He wasn't angry about it at all. He took one look at me and asked me if I wanted him to show me around."
Tsuzuki blinked. //Really doesn't sound like Sogetsu is the kind of person that would kill his parents...\\ He frowned.
"What is the place that you would say Sogetsu goes to the most?"
The responce was immediate.
"The library."
A blink.
"Well, I suppoce that makes sense, he is a top student..." Tsuzuki received a faint, weary smile from Hikaru for that. "No, he doesn't study. At least not anything that I've seen at school. He's really interested in the paranormal, and will always be searching for odd looking, old books that nobody even remembers anymore. He'll spend days and days pouring over one book and even forget to eat a lot of the time. I don't know what he finds so fascinating, he's never told me..." Hikaru's voice trailed off into a thin whisper, his voice giving out.
Tsuzuki nodded, and stood up.
"Thank you Hikaru, you've been very helpful. We'll be sure to notify you when anything new pops up." Tsuzuki's violet eyes were alight with energy. Finally, a clue. Something that didn't fit the pattern of a perfect teenage boy. He turned and hurried out of the room, not catching Hikaru's last words.
"Please be careful..."
*~*~*~
Watari studied the bubbling tubes filled with different colored substances, but he wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing. Behind him, a fire from a Bunsen burner rose up high and flickered against a bowl filled with a nasty looking black goop that let out a loud POP sound once in a while. 003 was looking at it a little nervously.
"Idiot..." The whisper was so soft, that even Watari didn't hear it. He actually wasn't aware that he'd talked out loud, just as he wasn't really sure who he was calling an idiot. It wasn't normal for the cheerful scientist to be depressed, but that's what Watari was at that moment as he sat heavily down on his chair and sighed. With a practiced motion he slipped his glasses off and rubbed the glass against a clean part of his labcoat. He wondered idly where Kazuki had gone off to again. She seemed to be easily bored with things. It'd been a few hours since he'd seen the little girl, but considering where they were, she couldn't be getting herself into that much trouble.
Another loud pop.
Anxious, 003 ruffled her feathers, making her tiny body twice as big and let out a high pitched hoot. Nothing. Watari didn't even flicker an eyelash. Annoyed, she tried tugging at her human's hair, only mildly surprised when her pulling produced a flowing wave of golden hair as she'd pulled off his ribbon. Mentally, she shrugged. Attention was attention. Taking off into flight, she flew over to the bubbling concoction and dropped it inside. Immediatly it sank like lead into the hot goey substance and an unpleasant smell was released. 003 looked at Watari, and almost fell into the batch herself.
Nothing. The man hadn't even had the decency to twitch.
If she had been a dog she would have bit him, as it was, she was tempted to bite him anyway.
Quick footsteps signalled the arrival of someone brief seconds before the door to the lab was pushed open, and in the doorway stood Tatsumi stiffly, pushing falling glasses back into place. "I'm sorry to inform you that due to several accidents within the past year and reconstruction fees, we will have to cut the lab's spending money by half. Have a good day." The door shut again rapidly.
Watari stared at the closed doorway with a blank look for a few seconds, no actual expression crossing his face before he finally blinked. "...The hell?" The substance that had been cooking for several hours already gave a disgusting burping sound before flying in thick black semi solid strips all over Watari's coat, staining it beyond repair and landing on his hair. He blinked again.
Watari twitched.
*~*~*~
Long after the mysterious man had left, Hikaru found himself studying their conversation with a strange fascination. He couldn't keep his mind off the violet eyes. They seemed so sad.
Annoyed with himself, the teen slumped against his pillows and stared at his ceiling. Above was a poster of Ichiwa Kurai, one of his favorite soccer players, so he focused on that.
//Not bad...a little blurry around the edges...the humidity probably caused that effect...\\ Hikaru commented absently, trying to find faults with the photograph. Nothing else to mind.
Put off, he frowned, and rubbed his eyes. //I'm tired again. This sucks. I've slept for half a day, and I still want to go back to sleep...\\ Restlessly, he turned his head to the side and found his gaze caught by a picture he'd taken during the summer break. Hikaru managed to smile. For once, Sogetsu looked something beyond perfectly calm. He was staring confusedly at the lobster on his plate, apparently trying to figure out how to start eating.
Golden eyes slid shut, recalling that day.
For a summer day, the sky had been cloudy and trecherous. To do anything outside was foolish, so Hikaru had suggested that they go out to a restaurant. Sogetsu had never had steamed lobster, to which Hikaru had decided it was something that needed to be fixed promtly. The restaurant was a small one near the bay, and the food wasn't too expensive, so Hikaru had dragged the older teen there to eat. Sogetsu had looked so cute when presented with his plate that Hikaru hadn't been able to resist taking a picture with his ever present camera. "I had fun that day." A soft voice interrupted, sounding faintly wistful.
Startled, Hikaru twisted around, and found himself staring into solemn silver eyes that he knew well.
"S-Sogetsu?"
The senior smiled, though it looked somewhat fake, and faded as fast as it had appeared.
"Hello Hikaru."
Another person might have demanded to know what was going on, or wonder where they were, but Hikaru only found himself clinging to his best friend, afraid he'd dissapear without a warning again.
"Where were you? They told me you vanished!"
Regretfully, Sogetsu pushed the pale teen away by the shoulders, keeping him a small distance away.
"They?" His frown became apparent.
"Who are 'they'?"
"They-him-a guy came by asking questions." Fruitlessly, Hikaru tried to find answers to unspoken questions in Sogetsu's face, but he gave nothing away past a mild level of distaste.
"Don't talk to him again."
Knowing better than to ask why, Hikaru simply shook his head.
"When are you coming back?"
A brief splash of surprise.
"You know this isn't real?"
"The real Sogetsu doesn't feel like this." The photographer told the illusion truthfully. "Besides, I'm so sick right now that I can't even stand. So I must be dreaming....or something."
Again, a thin, weary smile crossed Sogetsu's face as he reached out and touched Hikaru's cheek with a brief hand.
"I'll be back soon. I just need to find someone."
Hikaru frowned.
"Kizuki?"
"Yes."
He gave him a curious look.
"Alright. Please hurry, and good luck."
"Who are you talking to?" Mrs.Shinji questioned her son with a disturbed frown as she came in carrying the afternoon tea. She watched as Hikaru jerked back from staring with focused concentration at air and stared at her dazedly for a few seconds, then his pupils seemed to go back to normal and he glanced around his room, as if seeing it for the first time.
"I...no one." He murmured softly, then leaned back against his bed, looking more weary and tired than she'd seen him in years. Pursing her lips together, Hikaru's mother set down the tray next to his table and began pouring the tea silently.
*~*~*~
"How did that happen?" Kizuki squeaked, staring at the evil looking black blob that was stuck fast to Watari's golden locks. He was rummaging impatiently through his collection of medical instruments, searching for something. Agitated. 003 fluttered down on the girl's shoulder and hooted a warning into her ear. The message was clear, "Don't bother him, he's in a *really* bad mood." Kizuki decided to take the little bird's advice and edged closer to the door-just in case of course.
She'd only been gone for a couple hours, having discovered that collecting cherry petals and making a bed with them was really quite worth it. Loose petals stuck to her from everywhere, some pressed into her clothes, some caught in her hair, but she didn't notice them, only watched the scientist as he finally gave a triumphant shout and pulled something from the box. Metal gleamed wickedly in the air and Kizuki whimpered at the sight of a deadly sharp looking knife.
"A...annou...Watari!"
"Hmn, just hold on a sec."
With not just a little measure of worry, the dark haired mortal watched as metal slid through aureate strands easily, like cutting through soft butter. Golden locks shimmered as they fell down to the floor, one after another, forming a pile. She only watched, appalled as Watari's beautiful mane of long hair was shortened until it only brushed against his chin. Finally, he stopped when there were no more goop infected pieces and set down the surgical knife, running his hand distractedly through the short locks. It felt weird to him, after some thirty something years of having it the same length. Not bad, just weird. Finally, he looked at Kizuki, and she looked back at him with a trembling lower lip.
"Why did you do that?! That'll take years to grow back!" She cried, looking at all the cut hair with a horrified gaze. Instinctually, her hand reached up to touch her own hair, tugging at strands.
"Sorry, sorry." Watari put the instrument down and kicked the clumps to the side, making a note to clean it up at one point or another.
"Don't worry, my hair grows back faster. Like much faster. In two days, I'll have it back to normal." He told her easily, patting the top of her head reassuringly. She looked at him, sniffling.
"You promise?"
"I don't need to, you'll see if for yourself." Watari announced cheerfully. //It's not like I could have avoided it in any case, that stuff wouldn't have let go and it would have eaten the rest of my hair as well eventually.\\ Second note to self: Check black goop for signs of sentient life. Kizuki stared at him doubtfully, before sighing and hugging Tomoki.
"Okay." She agreed. //I'm going to stay here for longer?\\ Kizuki reflected. //Who are these people? I can trust them, but who are they?\\
"Come on." Watari chirped, curling and arm around her shoulders and leading her out of the lab. His experiments were starting to smell bad anyway.
"Eh? Where are we going?" The cerulean eyed girl asked out loud, startled, and a bit suspicious. If the 'come on' was about those dresses she'd been watching him gloat over, she was going to kick him in the groin and run to the other man with the glasses. At least he didn't seem like the type of man that would want to suffocate in a sea of yellow ruffles and bows.
"To get you new clothing!" The blonde scientist announced cheerfully, pulling both of them out into the hall before he realized that he was missing Kizuki.
"Eh...Zuki?"
With a turn, he found her hiding behind a vaguely startled looking Tatsumi, peering from behind one leg.
"No! No dresses!"
"Wha...?" The secretary began to ask, before catching a sigh of Watari and freezing. The other man simply gave him an odd look and turned to Kizuki.
"Aww! But a fluffy little blue dress would look great on you! I even got a Western catalogue, see?" Out of nowhere, he pulled the glossy magazine, only resulting in Kizuki cringing and grabbing on to Tatsumi's leg pants. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.
Looking near fake tears, Watari began to sniffle, as absurd as it was considering he was a grown man on his knees, on the floor, begging a little girl to let him try dresses on her. He quickly enough stopped than when a long, thin hand touched the crown of his head, sinking through the golden mess. Stunned yellow eyes were raised to meet dark blue.
"Why did you cut it?" Tatsumi forced out in a choking voice. After a long time of wishing that he could touch Watari's long mane of wavy hair, he was finally feeling how soft and silky it was, but it was different. He'd imagined being able to run his hands from the roots to the very tips of the end, a long luxurious path that was now cut disappointingly short.
"I....I..." Watari stumbled over his words, unable to look away from Tatsumi and gather his thoughts.
"I had to, I had an accident..."
A tiny voice piped up from behind them, trying to be optimistic.
"It'll grow back soon!" Kizuki chirped, still grabbing a hold of Tatsumi's leg. That seemed to bring the secretary out of his daze, and he blinked, yanking his hand away from Watari as it was burned. He pressed the palm of the other against his forehead and rubbed the tense point there.
"Yes, of course it will. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late for meeting." He lied curtly, moving out of Kizuki's hold and striding down the hall to disappear past a corner.
With a soft, defeated groan, Watari slumped on the floor, staring at the ceiling moodily. The floor was cold too. //It figures. He really doesn't like touching me.\\
A head full of black hair came into his vision, and Zuki peered down at him, hesitantly.
"...We can go try on those dresses now..."
*~*~*~
About the hair thing-Yea, I know they're shinigami and all, but I just figure that since it's just hair, no blood was spilled or anything, the healing/repairing proccess takes it's time.
Author: Andro
Status: Incomplete
Couples: TatsumixWatari, Tsuzuki+Hisoka, OC+OC (yaoi...)
Disclaimer: Insert witty disclaimer here.
Author Notes: ^^ Thank you to all who reviewed, I appreciate it, this being (basically) my third fic that I've writen. ^^; Esp. thanks for Julie. ^.~
Second: Does anyone know how to italize and stuff in Ff.net format? ;_;
Third: Warning: Completely un-beta'ed. _ My two beta readers aren't available anymore..and..yea, right. ^^; So sorry.
"Talking"
//Thoughts.\\
- Enphasis -
Flashbacks
*~*~*~
Tsuzuki tilted his head to the side and studied the young man in bed curiosly. Like many youths in Japan, he'd bleached his hair, but to the point that it was a silvery white color that briefly reminded Tsuzuki uncomfortably of Muraki. However, that was where the recemblance ended, for Hikaru had soft, kind golden eyes and his skin was tanned. He wore a simple, loose white shirt, and the rest of him was covered by a blue comforter.
"Who are you?"
"Tsuzuki Asato."
"..." Puzzled, Hikaru tilted his head to the side as well, mirroring Tsuzuki's actions and tried to smile cheerfully. "Pleased to meet you Tsuzuki, I'm Shinji Hikaru." Patiently, he waited for Tsuzuki to explain his presence in his room.
"I...Sogetsu Mizuro went missing yesturday afternoon along with his littler sister, Kazuki. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions..." The shinigami tried, awkwardly to explain the circumstances. Something about trying to explain the situation without really telling the truth to Hikaru didn't really feel right.
Worry flashed across the golden eyes, and Hikaru sat up straighter, then was forced to curl over as coughs racked his thin form. Concerned, Tsuzuki moved forward, but the teen stopped him, raising a hand. The dreadful hacking noise ceased, much to Tsuzuki's relief and a watery gaze was raised up to the Shinigami again. Trying to help, the man grabbed a glass of water off the stand and offered it to the young teen who took it with a grateful look and swallowed half the contents with one gulp to soothe his raw throat. After taking a deep breath, Hikaru set the glass down and brushed the tears away from his eyes. His voice had lowered into an even huskier tone.
"I'm sorry, I get sick very easily and I'm particularly bad this time."
Smiling reassuringly, Tsuzuki waved it off. "It's allright, it's not like it can be helped right?"
Hikaru nodded slightly, and gestured for Tsuzuki to sit on the corner of the bed, as the room was lacking a place to sit. Gingerly, Tsuzuki sat and cleared his throat. "I guess that's why you missed school then.:" Another nod, and Hikaru looked at Tsuzuki silently for a long time. "...Sogetsu...?" "Like I said, he's missing. May I ask you some questions? It could be very helpful in finding him." An odd expression crossed Hikaru's face, yet he nodded, white hair falling across his eyes. Tsuzuki had the faint impression that perhaps Hikaru Shinji would not live for much longer, but the room itself didn't have the aura of death, so he pushed the concern to the back of his mind to be studied later. "How did you meet Sogetsu?" "I was lost...on my first day of school. I bumped into Sogetsu and managed to completely destroy the science project he'd been carrying. He-" Hikaru took a deep breath, massaging his throat. "He wasn't angry about it at all. He took one look at me and asked me if I wanted him to show me around."
Tsuzuki blinked. //Really doesn't sound like Sogetsu is the kind of person that would kill his parents...\\ He frowned.
"What is the place that you would say Sogetsu goes to the most?"
The responce was immediate.
"The library."
A blink.
"Well, I suppoce that makes sense, he is a top student..." Tsuzuki received a faint, weary smile from Hikaru for that. "No, he doesn't study. At least not anything that I've seen at school. He's really interested in the paranormal, and will always be searching for odd looking, old books that nobody even remembers anymore. He'll spend days and days pouring over one book and even forget to eat a lot of the time. I don't know what he finds so fascinating, he's never told me..." Hikaru's voice trailed off into a thin whisper, his voice giving out.
Tsuzuki nodded, and stood up.
"Thank you Hikaru, you've been very helpful. We'll be sure to notify you when anything new pops up." Tsuzuki's violet eyes were alight with energy. Finally, a clue. Something that didn't fit the pattern of a perfect teenage boy. He turned and hurried out of the room, not catching Hikaru's last words.
"Please be careful..."
*~*~*~
Watari studied the bubbling tubes filled with different colored substances, but he wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing. Behind him, a fire from a Bunsen burner rose up high and flickered against a bowl filled with a nasty looking black goop that let out a loud POP sound once in a while. 003 was looking at it a little nervously.
"Idiot..." The whisper was so soft, that even Watari didn't hear it. He actually wasn't aware that he'd talked out loud, just as he wasn't really sure who he was calling an idiot. It wasn't normal for the cheerful scientist to be depressed, but that's what Watari was at that moment as he sat heavily down on his chair and sighed. With a practiced motion he slipped his glasses off and rubbed the glass against a clean part of his labcoat. He wondered idly where Kazuki had gone off to again. She seemed to be easily bored with things. It'd been a few hours since he'd seen the little girl, but considering where they were, she couldn't be getting herself into that much trouble.
Another loud pop.
Anxious, 003 ruffled her feathers, making her tiny body twice as big and let out a high pitched hoot. Nothing. Watari didn't even flicker an eyelash. Annoyed, she tried tugging at her human's hair, only mildly surprised when her pulling produced a flowing wave of golden hair as she'd pulled off his ribbon. Mentally, she shrugged. Attention was attention. Taking off into flight, she flew over to the bubbling concoction and dropped it inside. Immediatly it sank like lead into the hot goey substance and an unpleasant smell was released. 003 looked at Watari, and almost fell into the batch herself.
Nothing. The man hadn't even had the decency to twitch.
If she had been a dog she would have bit him, as it was, she was tempted to bite him anyway.
Quick footsteps signalled the arrival of someone brief seconds before the door to the lab was pushed open, and in the doorway stood Tatsumi stiffly, pushing falling glasses back into place. "I'm sorry to inform you that due to several accidents within the past year and reconstruction fees, we will have to cut the lab's spending money by half. Have a good day." The door shut again rapidly.
Watari stared at the closed doorway with a blank look for a few seconds, no actual expression crossing his face before he finally blinked. "...The hell?" The substance that had been cooking for several hours already gave a disgusting burping sound before flying in thick black semi solid strips all over Watari's coat, staining it beyond repair and landing on his hair. He blinked again.
Watari twitched.
*~*~*~
Long after the mysterious man had left, Hikaru found himself studying their conversation with a strange fascination. He couldn't keep his mind off the violet eyes. They seemed so sad.
Annoyed with himself, the teen slumped against his pillows and stared at his ceiling. Above was a poster of Ichiwa Kurai, one of his favorite soccer players, so he focused on that.
//Not bad...a little blurry around the edges...the humidity probably caused that effect...\\ Hikaru commented absently, trying to find faults with the photograph. Nothing else to mind.
Put off, he frowned, and rubbed his eyes. //I'm tired again. This sucks. I've slept for half a day, and I still want to go back to sleep...\\ Restlessly, he turned his head to the side and found his gaze caught by a picture he'd taken during the summer break. Hikaru managed to smile. For once, Sogetsu looked something beyond perfectly calm. He was staring confusedly at the lobster on his plate, apparently trying to figure out how to start eating.
Golden eyes slid shut, recalling that day.
For a summer day, the sky had been cloudy and trecherous. To do anything outside was foolish, so Hikaru had suggested that they go out to a restaurant. Sogetsu had never had steamed lobster, to which Hikaru had decided it was something that needed to be fixed promtly. The restaurant was a small one near the bay, and the food wasn't too expensive, so Hikaru had dragged the older teen there to eat. Sogetsu had looked so cute when presented with his plate that Hikaru hadn't been able to resist taking a picture with his ever present camera. "I had fun that day." A soft voice interrupted, sounding faintly wistful.
Startled, Hikaru twisted around, and found himself staring into solemn silver eyes that he knew well.
"S-Sogetsu?"
The senior smiled, though it looked somewhat fake, and faded as fast as it had appeared.
"Hello Hikaru."
Another person might have demanded to know what was going on, or wonder where they were, but Hikaru only found himself clinging to his best friend, afraid he'd dissapear without a warning again.
"Where were you? They told me you vanished!"
Regretfully, Sogetsu pushed the pale teen away by the shoulders, keeping him a small distance away.
"They?" His frown became apparent.
"Who are 'they'?"
"They-him-a guy came by asking questions." Fruitlessly, Hikaru tried to find answers to unspoken questions in Sogetsu's face, but he gave nothing away past a mild level of distaste.
"Don't talk to him again."
Knowing better than to ask why, Hikaru simply shook his head.
"When are you coming back?"
A brief splash of surprise.
"You know this isn't real?"
"The real Sogetsu doesn't feel like this." The photographer told the illusion truthfully. "Besides, I'm so sick right now that I can't even stand. So I must be dreaming....or something."
Again, a thin, weary smile crossed Sogetsu's face as he reached out and touched Hikaru's cheek with a brief hand.
"I'll be back soon. I just need to find someone."
Hikaru frowned.
"Kizuki?"
"Yes."
He gave him a curious look.
"Alright. Please hurry, and good luck."
"Who are you talking to?" Mrs.Shinji questioned her son with a disturbed frown as she came in carrying the afternoon tea. She watched as Hikaru jerked back from staring with focused concentration at air and stared at her dazedly for a few seconds, then his pupils seemed to go back to normal and he glanced around his room, as if seeing it for the first time.
"I...no one." He murmured softly, then leaned back against his bed, looking more weary and tired than she'd seen him in years. Pursing her lips together, Hikaru's mother set down the tray next to his table and began pouring the tea silently.
*~*~*~
"How did that happen?" Kizuki squeaked, staring at the evil looking black blob that was stuck fast to Watari's golden locks. He was rummaging impatiently through his collection of medical instruments, searching for something. Agitated. 003 fluttered down on the girl's shoulder and hooted a warning into her ear. The message was clear, "Don't bother him, he's in a *really* bad mood." Kizuki decided to take the little bird's advice and edged closer to the door-just in case of course.
She'd only been gone for a couple hours, having discovered that collecting cherry petals and making a bed with them was really quite worth it. Loose petals stuck to her from everywhere, some pressed into her clothes, some caught in her hair, but she didn't notice them, only watched the scientist as he finally gave a triumphant shout and pulled something from the box. Metal gleamed wickedly in the air and Kizuki whimpered at the sight of a deadly sharp looking knife.
"A...annou...Watari!"
"Hmn, just hold on a sec."
With not just a little measure of worry, the dark haired mortal watched as metal slid through aureate strands easily, like cutting through soft butter. Golden locks shimmered as they fell down to the floor, one after another, forming a pile. She only watched, appalled as Watari's beautiful mane of long hair was shortened until it only brushed against his chin. Finally, he stopped when there were no more goop infected pieces and set down the surgical knife, running his hand distractedly through the short locks. It felt weird to him, after some thirty something years of having it the same length. Not bad, just weird. Finally, he looked at Kizuki, and she looked back at him with a trembling lower lip.
"Why did you do that?! That'll take years to grow back!" She cried, looking at all the cut hair with a horrified gaze. Instinctually, her hand reached up to touch her own hair, tugging at strands.
"Sorry, sorry." Watari put the instrument down and kicked the clumps to the side, making a note to clean it up at one point or another.
"Don't worry, my hair grows back faster. Like much faster. In two days, I'll have it back to normal." He told her easily, patting the top of her head reassuringly. She looked at him, sniffling.
"You promise?"
"I don't need to, you'll see if for yourself." Watari announced cheerfully. //It's not like I could have avoided it in any case, that stuff wouldn't have let go and it would have eaten the rest of my hair as well eventually.\\ Second note to self: Check black goop for signs of sentient life. Kizuki stared at him doubtfully, before sighing and hugging Tomoki.
"Okay." She agreed. //I'm going to stay here for longer?\\ Kizuki reflected. //Who are these people? I can trust them, but who are they?\\
"Come on." Watari chirped, curling and arm around her shoulders and leading her out of the lab. His experiments were starting to smell bad anyway.
"Eh? Where are we going?" The cerulean eyed girl asked out loud, startled, and a bit suspicious. If the 'come on' was about those dresses she'd been watching him gloat over, she was going to kick him in the groin and run to the other man with the glasses. At least he didn't seem like the type of man that would want to suffocate in a sea of yellow ruffles and bows.
"To get you new clothing!" The blonde scientist announced cheerfully, pulling both of them out into the hall before he realized that he was missing Kizuki.
"Eh...Zuki?"
With a turn, he found her hiding behind a vaguely startled looking Tatsumi, peering from behind one leg.
"No! No dresses!"
"Wha...?" The secretary began to ask, before catching a sigh of Watari and freezing. The other man simply gave him an odd look and turned to Kizuki.
"Aww! But a fluffy little blue dress would look great on you! I even got a Western catalogue, see?" Out of nowhere, he pulled the glossy magazine, only resulting in Kizuki cringing and grabbing on to Tatsumi's leg pants. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.
Looking near fake tears, Watari began to sniffle, as absurd as it was considering he was a grown man on his knees, on the floor, begging a little girl to let him try dresses on her. He quickly enough stopped than when a long, thin hand touched the crown of his head, sinking through the golden mess. Stunned yellow eyes were raised to meet dark blue.
"Why did you cut it?" Tatsumi forced out in a choking voice. After a long time of wishing that he could touch Watari's long mane of wavy hair, he was finally feeling how soft and silky it was, but it was different. He'd imagined being able to run his hands from the roots to the very tips of the end, a long luxurious path that was now cut disappointingly short.
"I....I..." Watari stumbled over his words, unable to look away from Tatsumi and gather his thoughts.
"I had to, I had an accident..."
A tiny voice piped up from behind them, trying to be optimistic.
"It'll grow back soon!" Kizuki chirped, still grabbing a hold of Tatsumi's leg. That seemed to bring the secretary out of his daze, and he blinked, yanking his hand away from Watari as it was burned. He pressed the palm of the other against his forehead and rubbed the tense point there.
"Yes, of course it will. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm late for meeting." He lied curtly, moving out of Kizuki's hold and striding down the hall to disappear past a corner.
With a soft, defeated groan, Watari slumped on the floor, staring at the ceiling moodily. The floor was cold too. //It figures. He really doesn't like touching me.\\
A head full of black hair came into his vision, and Zuki peered down at him, hesitantly.
"...We can go try on those dresses now..."
*~*~*~
About the hair thing-Yea, I know they're shinigami and all, but I just figure that since it's just hair, no blood was spilled or anything, the healing/repairing proccess takes it's time.