A/N: Wan! New chapter! Important! Please read the Author's Notes at the end of this chapter!

Warning: Yucky descriptions. Arrogant, annoying OCs.

Review replies:

Inami, nekoMoon-chan, Literary Eagle, daemonchan, DK-Adeena, Sakusha-san, shaynie: ah, your continued support is a wonderful balm to my soul. . . .and nekoMoon-chan, don't worry, I'm not stopping the lemons. *grin*

Kodomo Hikari: Wan! New reader? Wan!

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                                                          Chapter 24

 

                                                        Off with his head!

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He couldn't believe it. He was actually getting loose from the chains.

The metal rattled and hissed warningly, still trying to snake around his burnt body but he ignored it. The fact that he could do so sent another rush of adrenalin through him and he surged forward again, still on his hands and knees.

More of the chains fell away, clinking and clattering on to the floor in so much broken metal and dust. He ignored the way his skin broke and bled as he crawled, trailing glimmers of blood and weeping pus on the matte floor. All he cared about, all he knew, all he heard, was that voice calling to him, now stronger than ever.

Kyo.

It was just a word. Just his name, really. But it was Taka calling him. And for Taka, he would go through worse than this.

He still felt the cold eddies of the mist swirling around his naked body but that too, meant nothing. Like the chains, they were dissolving away. Kyo didn't really know what happened. One moment he had been lying on the floor in a weary stupor when all of a sudden, there was a bright flash of light that left afterimages like rainbows and the chains were suddenly breaking apart.

He had taken his chance then, not daring to waste this new opportunity and had gone towards the direction where the voice was loudest. He was unsure of how long he had been crawling. It felt long enough. The pain was finally starting to get to him, as did the blood and pus that made his going slippery.

He paused in his trek. There was a sudden charge to the atmosphere, a feeling of pressure against his skin and without warning, the last of the chains broke off and with an almost whine, the mist fizzled out.

Letting out a gurgle of joy, his throat long too damaged to produce any coherent sound, Kyo crawled faster towards the call, relying more on his hearing than from any visual point.

You see, his eyes had been burnt shut.

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Hisoka had been, at this point, a Shinigami for more than 20 years. The passage of time was marked by little coming or going by the Shinigami. There had been no new recruits after Kyo had disappeared, the Shokan forbidden to do so by Enma. And throughout this rather long term of service for one so young, he had only heard the mention of the Shiroku in official edicts or correspondence from Enma-Daioh. He had never met any of them face to face or wasn't even aware that there was a department to the name.

As it is, he was kind of disappointed to find the two Shiroku representative somewhat. . .normal.

Hisoka took a seat near the end of the conference table, Tsuzuki on his left and Takashi on his right, nearest to the door. The sensei had to be forcibly torn away from Kyo's side. The only reason he finally relented to their urging was Tatsumi saying, "Do you really want to have Kyo waking up in the dungeons rather than his own bed?"

Hisoka had also been (unpleasantly) surprised to find that they do have dungeons.

Tsuzuki had been able to give him a very brief summary of how the Shiroku functioned, him having dealt with that department only once himself in his hundred-odd years of service. The Shiroku were the official record-keepers of Enma, taking part in every court proceedings, recording judgments and generally, act as the immediate liaise between Enma and the rest of the JuuOhCho. Only heads of divisions, like Kanoe, were granted the rare privilege of private audiences with the deity.

"They don't really deal with cases of treason, especially when it concerns Shinigami," Tsuzuki had informed him on their hurried trek to the meeting room. His tone had been rather stilted, his body tense and Hisoka had raised an eyebrow at the tight control Tsuzuki had on his shields as he spoke. "They only did it once, that I remember of. Enma preferred that he dealt with any matters of treason himself. If there was any," he added.

He had been unable to ask more as everyone had reached the meeting room and silently, Tatsumi, still keeping a tight hold on Takashi, filed in silently. There was none of the usual boisterous noise and good-natured ribbing that went on whenever the Shinigami got together in large groups. Even Terazuma was uncharacteristically silent.

But then, Hisoka figured that accusations of treason, especially when it concerned the Lord of the Dead, was hardly an occasion to joke around.

"Gentlemen! And ladies. Please, come in and make yourself comfortable," came a jovial voice from the front.

Hisoka turned to face the speaker. The two Shiroku representatives were a study of contrasts. The one who spoke looked as he had sounded. He was rather on the plump side, face rather red and shining lightly with sweat despite the mild hold of spring. His partner meanwhile, was as thin as a broomstick. And not in a good way. Looking as though he had died of starvation, his frame was slim to the point of being skeletal. His glasses practically slid off his thin nose to hang at the very edge. With a twitch that appeared to be a nervous habit, he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose almost absent-mindedly. But that was the only action he took that appeared unthought-of. Every other movement, gesture and wording, seemed to be brought about after meticulous planning  and careful deliberation.

He made Tatsumi appeared positively carefree.

"Gentlemen," the thin speaker continued, "And ladies," he added with a slight sneer. The ladies seemed to take offense at that and bristled slightly. "You've been called here to answer charges of treason against our great Lord, Enma-Daioh. How do you plead?"

"Now, now Kato," his partner laughed merrily. "There's no need to get all stuffed and serious. We haven't even introduced ourselves, ne? My name is Ichijiro Hatatsu. This uptight straightlaced here is Kazuma Kato," he smiled affably. "No, no need to introduce yourselves," he waved off Kanoe who had been on the verge of doing the rounds. "We know everyone here quite well."

"You had mentioned that we have been summoned to answer charges of treason," Tatsumi's well-schooled voice cut across like hot knife through butter. "May we know of what we have been accused of?"

Ichijiro raised an eyebrow but seeing no protest from Kanoe, answered Tatsumi. "Yes well. Treason. Nasty business, eh?" The Shinigami looked stoically back. "Ah. . .yes. 16 years ago, your head had reported to us that one of your colleagues went missing. A search and rescue mission was approved, to be met with failure and his status, this Shinigami Shiozaki Kyo was later filed as Missing in Action. Am I correct so far?"

They nodded in varying degrees. Takashi didn't bother, instead, looking distractedly at the closed door.

"Enma-sama later issued a standing directive that any indication whatsoever of this Shinigami was to be treated as Priority One, requiring immediate notification of the relevant authorities." Here, he cleared his throat but was forestalled by his partner who immediately took up the narration.

"As it is, it was still unclear whether he was forcibly taken or left on his own accord, due to lack of evidence. However, we have been informed that this Shinigami had been found three days ago yet not one of you made the necessary report." His voice was a low, sibilant hiss and his grey eyes flashed behind his glasses. "Not only that, the Shinigami Matsumada Takashi expressly broke the edict of no human contact between Shinigami and living relatives and friends. And to cap it all off, a confrontation occurred with members of the Shokan and denizens of the Makai resulting in one death and a forced transfer between worlds. How do you plead?"

Hisoka knew then, with utter certainty that needed no backing from his empathy, that this Kazuma Kato hated the Shinigami and would do anything in his power to see them fall. He shivered as those cold grey eyes swept over him once in a raking glance. Anything.

"We plead nothing," Tatsumi replied sharply and Hisoka couldn't help the little thrill of respect he felt for the secretary. Even accusations of treason could not shake the man's poise. "Yes, we had located our colleague three days ago but we were hampered by the need to verify that he is our missing friend."

"Verify?" Ichijiro broke in. "You mean you weren't sure? And you still brought him in to Meifu while, I presume, revealing the existence of Shinigami in the first place?" He was still smiling affably.

Does everyone in the JuuOhCho have a grudge against the Shinigami or something? Hisoka wondered despairingly. For even within the depths of that friendly smile Hisoka could detect a well of malice at what Ichijiro thought was a blunder on their part.

"It was a matter of being cautious," Tatsumi rebuked. "While we are positive that he was indeed our colleague, with verification from Kurosaki-san, Shiozaki-san himself was unable to recall any of us. His memories had been modified. Not only that, he also showed evidence of aging. He was clearly being tampered with and-"

"Aha! So you admit that Shinigami Shiozaki Kyo had willfully violated the tenets of his contract?" Kazuma declared triumphantly.

"Were you even listening to a word I said?" Tatsumi hissed. His hands clenched the armrests of his chair and it seemed then that his poise was about to break. But Watari reached over, laying a restraining hand on his and Tatsumi visibly relaxed. "Shiozaki-san was forcibly taken, 16 years ago by Hanagawa Ayame. A curse was then placed on him, body and soul, which bounded his memories and caused his body to age as that of a normal human. We had just managed to break the curse."

"Lost memories? Curses?" Kazuma smiled icily. "Come now. Your spinning of tall tales will not help you in any way. Just tell us the truth and we'll then deal with it accordingly."

"What we said is the truth."

Kazuma snorted. "Right. So you're saying that this Hanagawa Ayame abducted a Shinigami, placed a curse on him and you fought for his freedom with a demon, killing this supposed Ayame in the process and freed your friend from the curse?"

Tatsumi didn't even blink. "Exactly."

There was no mistaking the loathing in Kazuma's eyes as he leaned forward, palms resting flat on the surface of the table as he hissed across to Tatsumi, "We at the Shiroku have long thought that you Shinigami were accorded too much freedom and privilege. Just look what the power granted to your department caused! You move freely between the worlds, interacting with living humans and whenever something happens, you're so quick to blame someone else!" He was practically spitting now.

"Well I say it's high time someone teaches you the lesson that Shinigami are not invincible! By the time we get through with you, you'll be lucky if eternal damnation is the only punishment! Where is Shiozaki Kyo?!"

Everyone jumped visibly at the sudden shout. Hisoka tensed and looked over at Takashi. The sensei was still staring distractedly at the door, not even paying attention to the proceedings.

"Shiozaki-san is resting in the infirmary," Watari interjected blandly. He ignored the near-fanatical gleam in Kazuma's eyes and casually reached into the folds of his coat. "Breaking the curse produced some undesirable side effects," he tossed on to the table the remains of the blood-knife.

The shards glowed briefly underneath the fluorescent light, dispelling glimmers of murky red light before fading to dull black. The two Shiroku members shifted uneasily in their chairs. Even with the curse broken, they could feel the taint of dark spells and spent energies from the knife. "Shiozaki-san is still recovering and as the resident physician, I do not recommend that he be interrogated right now," Watari continued.

When the knife was produced, Ichijro and Kazuma had started to look a bit queasy and unsure, their resolve faltering in the evidence of blood-magic at work. But as Watari finished, the gleam returned again and the two shot each other triumphant smiles. Hisoka resisted the urge to strangle them.

"And I demand to see him at once!" Kazuma crowed. "You're obviously hiding something and we mean to get to the bottom of it! Now take us—"

He broke off when Takashi suddenly jumped to his feet.

"Takashi-san?" Tatsumi reached out a hand. "What's wrong?"

"Kyo," Takashi said distinctly and flinging the door open, sprinted down the hallway.

There was a mad rush for the door as everyone followed suit, shouting and yelling and with vicious elbows and jabs, Ichijiro and Kazuma managed to get ahead, following behind Takashi closely.

Hisoka noted absently that for a fat man, Ichijiro sure runs fast.

They arrived in Kyo's room moments after the three of them and had run in to find Ichijiro and Kazuma desperately trying to restrain Takashi. It became clear then why they did so. The window curtains were fluttering gently in the breeze and the bed they had placed Kyo in earlier was rumpled but empty, the sheets stained with blood and something unidentifiable.

Tatsumi and Tsuzuki immediately latched on to Ichijiro and Kazuma, trying to pry them off the sensei and for a minute or two, all was chaos. Kazuma was shouting something about Kyo getting away while Tsuzuki was threatening to call Suzaku if they didn't hand over Takashi right now.

It took a slight movement from a dark corner to halt all activity.

Like steel to magnet, all heads swiveled around slowly to what had at first, appeared to be shadows. It wasn't. It was Kyo.

Now that the tumult had finally ceased, Hisoka noted that the streaks of blood and. . .pus? didn't stain the bed only. It was smeared over the floor, a literal trail that led right to corner where Kyo had apparently taken refuge in.

"Shiozaki Kyo!" Ichijiro shouted. "You are hereby accused of treason and. . .and. . ." his pompous accusation trailed off into horrified silence as what he saw finally sank in.

They never did manage to change Kyo into a comfortable yukata. Instead, he still wore his shirt and slacks, though the shirt was lying opened, the buttons undone. But what little bit they say was enough to make Saya stumble back and Wakaba choke.

The shirt exposed not one iota of healthy skin. Each square inch was marred by broken tissue, bleeding profusely or if not bleeding, then weeping pus. Where not bleeding or weeping, the skin was burnt beyond recognition, the tissues black and crumbling. And it wasn't just at his torso. It appeared that his whole body was burnt, even his face. His eyes were gummed shut by liquefied skin.

As they stood there in silent horror and morbid fascination, they noticed that his Shinigami healing power was desperately trying to heal the damage. The wounds and sores would heal and close up but the minute healthy pink skin showed, it instantly erupted in angry blisters which seeped pus and blood, breaking the tissues open again and the whole process of regeneration would start all over.

Kyo's hands fluttered weakly above his face and stomach, the site of most damage and his throat worked convulsively, Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

"Oh my god," Saya whimpered.

"Watari," Terazuma whispered brokenly. "Can't you do anything?"

Watari opened his mouth but Kazuma broke in, his righteous anger dissolving at the wretched sight. "What happened to-to him?"

Watari glared at Kazuma fiercely before answering. "We told you before! The curse breaking has caused severe backlash. This is the result! It's a physical manifestation of the curse dissolving! Do you still want to interrogate him now?!"

"I-we. . that is. ." Kazuma waved weakly. "We thought that. . ."

"Thought what? That we were lying? That we were trying to conceal evidence?" Watari, when pissed, could get quite scary it seemed. Ichijiro and Kazuma stammered and stumbled, each not knowing where to start and it was likely that they would stay like that if Takashi had not spoken.

"Let me go," Takashi said suddenly, his voice soft.

By his side, Ichijiro and Kazuma dropped his hands as though they were live snakes and backed away, trembling. They didn't get very far though, as the Shinigami closed up behind them, not letting them run away. They had demanded to see Kyo. Well, they were going to get it.

Takashi speaking seemed to have been a signal. Kyo's head darted to the direction of his voice, and though his eyes have yet to healed, he seemed to look directly at Takashi. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down harder but all he could produce was a gurgle.

"Kyo."

His voice throbbed with a level of passion that Hisoka had never heard before and he felt a light blush staining his cheeks. The sensei appeared to have forgotten everyone's presence as he let down the mask he had carefully maintained all these years and everyone could see the naked longing and pain on his face clearly. Though Kyo was the one suffering the burns of the curse, Takashi's face reflected his agony and each one of them recoiled slightly from this display of what should have been a private moment.

Hearing his name mentioned, Kyo gurgled again and tried to crawl out of his corner to the sensei. He hadn't even gone a step before Takashi was by his side in a flash, cradling him as closely as he dared.

"I'm right here Kyo, I'm not going anywhere."

At last, his eyes remolded themselves back to healthy skin and it was then that they noticed that the burns and eruptions were slowing down, more healthy skin showing and staying in perfect condition. Irises of the palest blue blazed forth, instantly latching on to Takashi's face, the man practically face to face with him anyway, nose gently bumping.

Again, his throat worked convulsively and it was an expectant minute later that he was at last, able to say;

"Taka."

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                                                   This is the part where I go;

                                                         To be continued!

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A/N: Yes, yes, it was cruel of me to leave it like that but.. . .what can I say? I love a good cliffie! Besides, the next part would be the long-awaited lemon (happy, Sakusha?) and I want it to be special. Right now, my eyes are swelling thanks to bloody insect bites. Tell me, HOW on earth am I going to do a touching lemon with my eyes half-open, swollen and itchy?

IMPORTANT NOTICE #1

Oh yes, someone mentioned that they would like to receive e-mail notices when I update my stories. Well? Do you guys want it? If you do, leave me your e-mail address when you review and tell me which story you want to be notified for, ne? As always, review!

IMPORTANT NOTICE #2

Nabbie, a beautiful, beautiful girl, has done a wonderful thing! She actually drew Kyo and Taka! Woohoo! Granted, it's still rough and Taka has to go through some adjustments and Kyo's hair needed to be fixed a bit but I LOVE IT! Kyo is nearly perfect and Taka is almost there! I wanted to put it up on my profile but I realized I can't do that coz I'm not paying for the additional services! Argh! So if anyone wants the pics, I'll gladly e-mail them to you. Just tell me and leave your e-mail address, kay? Once again, THANK YOU, NABBIE!  I'll let you guys know when she's finished with the new pics!