The Wound That Never Heals
Chapter 2
Footsteps echoed throughout the empty corridor as a figure in black ran at neck breaking speed towards the infirmary. Tsuzuki Asato surprised everybody inside when he suddenly burst through the doors of the infirmary.
"Hisoka, are you all right?" Tsuzuki shouted as he rushed to the only occupied bed in the room. To his surprise, the pair of emerald green eyes staring back at him reflected the worry he felt. "Hisoka?"
Staring up at the purple eyes filled with unspoken concern, Kurosaki Hisoka tried hard to mask his feelings and act like his usual self. "Baka, of course I'm all right." Looking around him, he saw the expectant faces of Tatsumi Seiichirou and Watari Yutaka. He sighed. "Anou, Tsuzuki..." However, before he could get another word out, Tsuzuki rushed towards Watari.
"What happened to Hisoka? Was it the curse? Was that why he fainted all of a sudden?" Tsuzuki's eyes flashed with anger as he thought of the man who placed the curse. The reason why Hisoka was so frail was entirely because of the curse and he hate Muraki Kazutaka for it.
"The curse?" The blonde stared back at him, confused. "Oh the curse. No, no, it was not because of the curse. It was due to um...um...over, overwork and erm...exhaustion. Yes, yes, it was because of it. Now Tsuzuki, did you give all the paperwork to bon again?" The resident doctor stared at the purple-eyed shinigami accusingly.
Tsuzuki flushed. "Well, it was because I erm...got drunk once in a while and well, you know. Oh Hisoka, I'm so sorry for leaving all the paperwork to you. I promise you once you get well, I will do all your paperwork for you as well."
Hisoka closed his eyes tiredly at this empty promise. "You said the same thing two weeks ago." He did not want his partner to be so considerate towards him. It made what he was going to say all the harder.
"Oh um....did I? Oh well. Anyway, you must get well soon. I will bring you some of your favourite dishes tomorrow when I visit you. Hisoka, I was so worried for you. I'm really sorry for being so lazy and causing you to faint due to exhaustion from overworking. Watari, when can he leave the infirmary?"
"Soon. I don't think you need to bring him any of your cooking. In fact, he can leave first thing tomorrow."
Hisoka looked for Tatsumi desperately. He had to do it now. They were leaving for Chijou tomorrow. However, he seemed to lack the courage to tell Tsuzuki that he was going to leave him and that they had to work separately. Tsuzuki cared so much for him that it made his heart ache. He found Tatsumi and saw the man looking at him. His desperation must have been shown on his face. The man nodded at him.
"Tsuzuki-san, it's late and I believe it's better not to disturb Kurosaki- kun now. Let him get the rest he deserved. Come on, I have something important to speak to you about." Tatsumi was slowly guiding Tsuzuki towards the door of the infirmary.
Tsuzuki turned around and gave Hisoka a huge grin. "Daijoubu ne? Oyasumi, Hisoka." It warmed Hisoka's heart. Tsuzuki was pleasantly surprised when the green-eyed boy responded with a timid smile. It was the first time he had seen Hisoka smile. It was so much like an angel smiling. His own smile widened, if possible. When the pair had left the room, Hisoka turned towards Watari with a worried frown. "Gomen nasai, I didn't have the courage to tell him. Sorry I'm so weak. If another person was killed tonight, it would be all my fault."
Watari ruffled his hair playfully. "Don't worry, bon, I'm sure Tatsumi will do a good job of telling him. Rest well tonight and make sure you are strong for tomorrow. That would be enough. Don't think so much. Sleep tight. Oyasumi."
Hisoka nodded and closed his eyes. However, sleep couldn't seem to come. What if it was really him? If it was really him...he did not want to think.
Outside the infirmary, Tsuzuki was getting very nervous. "Um...Tatsumi-san, the important thing was not about my latest expenditure right?"
"Oh? Please explain your latest expenditure then. How came you can exceed by so much?"
"Waaa! Gomen nasai, Tatsumi-san. It was just that when I saw the cream puffs, I couldn't resist. They even had a competition over who can eat the most cream puffs in an hour. But just then our suspect came into view and I didn't get the finish the competition so I had to pay for all the cream puffs I ate."
"And that proved to be quite a lot, didn't it? Well, well, now I know. Don't look so scared, Tsuzuki-san. It was a good guess but no, I'm not going to talk to you about your outstanding bills. It's about...Kurosaki- kun." Tatsumi used a tired hand to push up his glasses.
Tsuzuki was instantly alert. "What about Hisoka?"
"As you know, shinigamis have to work in pairs. However, Watari does not have a partner and he is investigating a very important case now. Hence, Kurosaki-kun will be his partner temporarily."
"But that will leave me partnerless! Why couldn't the both of us work with Watari? That has happened before, hadn't it?"
"It's just for one case, Tsuzuki-san. And I hope you still remembered what happened the last time the three of you worked together." Tatsumi cringed. He knew he had said the wrong thing. Nobody could have forgotten what had happened.
Tsuzuki flinched visibly. He remembered everything all too well. The murders, Muraki, Mariko, Suzaku, the flames, the pain, Tohda and, Hisoka. He was shaking and couldn't seem to stop. Suddenly, he felt a warm arm around him. Tatsumi.
"I'm sorry, Tsuzuki-san, I did not want to bring back your memories." The unwanted memories. "Go home and rest. We still have to work tomorrow." Tatsumi turned to go. Tsuzuki grabbed his hand. "When will they leave?" Tatsumi looked at the pain-filled face. He hesitated. "Tomorrow, first thing in the morning." Tsuzuki nodded and let go of his hand. He turned to go.
Tatsumi watched the man leave with a familiar ache in his heart. He wanted to rush to the man, take him in his arms and comfort him. However, he knew that he did not have the right anymore. Tsuzuki belonged to someone else now. He could only wish for him to be happy. He too, turned to go, but in the other direction. Their paths will never cross again.
It was a cool starry night. The air smelt faintly of sakuras, as usual. Meifu had all too many of them, Tsuzuki decided. He had always enjoyed the solitude and quietness on his way home. It gave him time to think, to take off his mask. He still had several tons of paper work in his office but he wasn't particularly concerned. Hisoka would it for him eventually. With a pang, he realized that Hisoka would not be there to do the paperwork for him. That set him thinking. Was this Hisoka's subtle way of telling him that he was tired of being his partner? He quickly discarded that idea. Hisoka was never subtle. Then why had they not wanted to work with him? It must be something he did. Was Hisoka sick of him? Maybe the temporary change would turn out to be permanent. He shook his head. What happened in Kyoto previously was all too fresh in his mind. Maybe they were just considerate for him. That must be it. As the night progressed, the clouds slowly uncovered the moon, the light from which dimmed all the stars.
Tsuzuki did not notice. It was a red moon.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Only Mariko's lonely steps could be heard as she hurried home. It was getting late. There was not even a single soul around. She shuddered as another blast of chilly wind tore through her clothing. She pulled them tighter around her.
Mariko wanted to kick herself for taking this shortcut through the sakura trees. It was so dark and nobody would be around to help her if she got into trouble. Twenty more minutes and she would be out of here. Suddenly, the moon came out from behind the clouds. She was momentarily glad for the light it gave. Then she stopped and looked up. It was a red moon, the colour of blood. She shivered, like a leaf shaking in the wind. She started to run. Little did she know, there was no escape for her.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Tsuzuki couldn't sleep. He had been tossing and turning in his bed for the past two hours but to no avail. It was going to be midnight soon. It was no use. He might as well as get up and have a drink of water. Tsuzuki had never experienced insomnia before. But this had happened for the past seven to eight days already. He couldn't seem to fall asleep before midnight. Then he will experience weird dreams of which he had utterly no memory of. Luckily it had not affected his work in the day or Tatsumi will cut his salary again. Wait a minute, he had no longer any salary to cut from. With a depressed moan, he sank back to his bed.
He did not know when he fell asleep, but when he finally did, it was a sleep plagued with dreams.
The air smelt faintly of sakuras, as usual. Am I in Meifu? There sure were a lot of sakura trees. In fact, everywhere I looked there seemed to be quite a few. But...if this was Meifu, where was EmmaCho? This place seemed to be a sakura forest. The night was cool enough and everywhere was well lit up by the warm glow of the moon. Wait, why was the glow of the moon red? Unless...it's really a red moon. Oh no, Muraki. Was he nearby? Did he commit murder again? What was this place? Wasn't I in bed? If I was in bed, then I should be sleeping. If I was sleeping, then this must be a dream. Right, I'm in a dream right now. But...where was Tohda? Where was the flame, the pain? Unless, this is a different dream. Great, everything just seemed to get better and better. Now, how do I get out of here? Is that a woman? What was she doing out here? Would she be easy to kill? Oh gosh! Why am I thinking about that? I should really get out of here.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~*
The crimson moon shone down upon the sakura trees and the woman, who was running as if she had lost her mind. It seemed to mock everything it saw. With an almost human-like chuckle, it disappeared behind the blankets of clouds. Everything went dark. Even the stars did not dare to show their faces.
Mariko finally stopped running. It was too dark to see. In the quiet of the night, she could only hear her own raspy breathings. Even that eventually stopped and all was left was the screaming silence. Yet, she could not seem to shake off the nagging feeling that someone or something was following her. It could not be far behind. Did she just hear footsteps? She froze. Her heart was in her mouth as she slowly crouched down and put her ear to the ground. There it was again. Thump, thump, thump. The ground had amplified the sound but she rather wished it had not. She got up slowly to her knees. Oh God. She was shaking so badly. She wanted to cry but she dared not. She had never been this scared in her life. Kneeling there, in the dark. Waiting and waiting, perhaps for her death.
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A/N: 3 stories in one day. Author is about to die. Um...I will probably be dormant for quite a while. Until I get my hands on another computer with internet connections, that is. As I said, I'm still on holiday. It's winter here. It's freezing. One day, the temperature drops about 20 degrees. I'm down with flu. One whole roll of tissue a day for my nose. Arghhhhhhhh! The nxt time you see me I might be dead already. Ok, anw, that's not the point. The important thing is, pls review and review and review. You have no idea how miraculous one review is for my cold. It can save my life for all you know. So please leave a review. Author thanks you very much :]
Reply to reviews:
Tessa Marlene: Thank you so much for your continuous support :] ::big hug:: you are wonderful. If I die during my trip I will mention you in my will and let you have all my scripts ::winks::
not so innocent bystander: thank you for your review and hope you have a pleasant trip. Hope its more successful than mine ::reaches for another tissue::
Disclaimer: Yami no Matsuei does not belong to me. It never did and never will. ::breaks down in tears:: ::sighz:: it takes away the last comfort of my life.
Chapter 2
Footsteps echoed throughout the empty corridor as a figure in black ran at neck breaking speed towards the infirmary. Tsuzuki Asato surprised everybody inside when he suddenly burst through the doors of the infirmary.
"Hisoka, are you all right?" Tsuzuki shouted as he rushed to the only occupied bed in the room. To his surprise, the pair of emerald green eyes staring back at him reflected the worry he felt. "Hisoka?"
Staring up at the purple eyes filled with unspoken concern, Kurosaki Hisoka tried hard to mask his feelings and act like his usual self. "Baka, of course I'm all right." Looking around him, he saw the expectant faces of Tatsumi Seiichirou and Watari Yutaka. He sighed. "Anou, Tsuzuki..." However, before he could get another word out, Tsuzuki rushed towards Watari.
"What happened to Hisoka? Was it the curse? Was that why he fainted all of a sudden?" Tsuzuki's eyes flashed with anger as he thought of the man who placed the curse. The reason why Hisoka was so frail was entirely because of the curse and he hate Muraki Kazutaka for it.
"The curse?" The blonde stared back at him, confused. "Oh the curse. No, no, it was not because of the curse. It was due to um...um...over, overwork and erm...exhaustion. Yes, yes, it was because of it. Now Tsuzuki, did you give all the paperwork to bon again?" The resident doctor stared at the purple-eyed shinigami accusingly.
Tsuzuki flushed. "Well, it was because I erm...got drunk once in a while and well, you know. Oh Hisoka, I'm so sorry for leaving all the paperwork to you. I promise you once you get well, I will do all your paperwork for you as well."
Hisoka closed his eyes tiredly at this empty promise. "You said the same thing two weeks ago." He did not want his partner to be so considerate towards him. It made what he was going to say all the harder.
"Oh um....did I? Oh well. Anyway, you must get well soon. I will bring you some of your favourite dishes tomorrow when I visit you. Hisoka, I was so worried for you. I'm really sorry for being so lazy and causing you to faint due to exhaustion from overworking. Watari, when can he leave the infirmary?"
"Soon. I don't think you need to bring him any of your cooking. In fact, he can leave first thing tomorrow."
Hisoka looked for Tatsumi desperately. He had to do it now. They were leaving for Chijou tomorrow. However, he seemed to lack the courage to tell Tsuzuki that he was going to leave him and that they had to work separately. Tsuzuki cared so much for him that it made his heart ache. He found Tatsumi and saw the man looking at him. His desperation must have been shown on his face. The man nodded at him.
"Tsuzuki-san, it's late and I believe it's better not to disturb Kurosaki- kun now. Let him get the rest he deserved. Come on, I have something important to speak to you about." Tatsumi was slowly guiding Tsuzuki towards the door of the infirmary.
Tsuzuki turned around and gave Hisoka a huge grin. "Daijoubu ne? Oyasumi, Hisoka." It warmed Hisoka's heart. Tsuzuki was pleasantly surprised when the green-eyed boy responded with a timid smile. It was the first time he had seen Hisoka smile. It was so much like an angel smiling. His own smile widened, if possible. When the pair had left the room, Hisoka turned towards Watari with a worried frown. "Gomen nasai, I didn't have the courage to tell him. Sorry I'm so weak. If another person was killed tonight, it would be all my fault."
Watari ruffled his hair playfully. "Don't worry, bon, I'm sure Tatsumi will do a good job of telling him. Rest well tonight and make sure you are strong for tomorrow. That would be enough. Don't think so much. Sleep tight. Oyasumi."
Hisoka nodded and closed his eyes. However, sleep couldn't seem to come. What if it was really him? If it was really him...he did not want to think.
Outside the infirmary, Tsuzuki was getting very nervous. "Um...Tatsumi-san, the important thing was not about my latest expenditure right?"
"Oh? Please explain your latest expenditure then. How came you can exceed by so much?"
"Waaa! Gomen nasai, Tatsumi-san. It was just that when I saw the cream puffs, I couldn't resist. They even had a competition over who can eat the most cream puffs in an hour. But just then our suspect came into view and I didn't get the finish the competition so I had to pay for all the cream puffs I ate."
"And that proved to be quite a lot, didn't it? Well, well, now I know. Don't look so scared, Tsuzuki-san. It was a good guess but no, I'm not going to talk to you about your outstanding bills. It's about...Kurosaki- kun." Tatsumi used a tired hand to push up his glasses.
Tsuzuki was instantly alert. "What about Hisoka?"
"As you know, shinigamis have to work in pairs. However, Watari does not have a partner and he is investigating a very important case now. Hence, Kurosaki-kun will be his partner temporarily."
"But that will leave me partnerless! Why couldn't the both of us work with Watari? That has happened before, hadn't it?"
"It's just for one case, Tsuzuki-san. And I hope you still remembered what happened the last time the three of you worked together." Tatsumi cringed. He knew he had said the wrong thing. Nobody could have forgotten what had happened.
Tsuzuki flinched visibly. He remembered everything all too well. The murders, Muraki, Mariko, Suzaku, the flames, the pain, Tohda and, Hisoka. He was shaking and couldn't seem to stop. Suddenly, he felt a warm arm around him. Tatsumi.
"I'm sorry, Tsuzuki-san, I did not want to bring back your memories." The unwanted memories. "Go home and rest. We still have to work tomorrow." Tatsumi turned to go. Tsuzuki grabbed his hand. "When will they leave?" Tatsumi looked at the pain-filled face. He hesitated. "Tomorrow, first thing in the morning." Tsuzuki nodded and let go of his hand. He turned to go.
Tatsumi watched the man leave with a familiar ache in his heart. He wanted to rush to the man, take him in his arms and comfort him. However, he knew that he did not have the right anymore. Tsuzuki belonged to someone else now. He could only wish for him to be happy. He too, turned to go, but in the other direction. Their paths will never cross again.
It was a cool starry night. The air smelt faintly of sakuras, as usual. Meifu had all too many of them, Tsuzuki decided. He had always enjoyed the solitude and quietness on his way home. It gave him time to think, to take off his mask. He still had several tons of paper work in his office but he wasn't particularly concerned. Hisoka would it for him eventually. With a pang, he realized that Hisoka would not be there to do the paperwork for him. That set him thinking. Was this Hisoka's subtle way of telling him that he was tired of being his partner? He quickly discarded that idea. Hisoka was never subtle. Then why had they not wanted to work with him? It must be something he did. Was Hisoka sick of him? Maybe the temporary change would turn out to be permanent. He shook his head. What happened in Kyoto previously was all too fresh in his mind. Maybe they were just considerate for him. That must be it. As the night progressed, the clouds slowly uncovered the moon, the light from which dimmed all the stars.
Tsuzuki did not notice. It was a red moon.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Only Mariko's lonely steps could be heard as she hurried home. It was getting late. There was not even a single soul around. She shuddered as another blast of chilly wind tore through her clothing. She pulled them tighter around her.
Mariko wanted to kick herself for taking this shortcut through the sakura trees. It was so dark and nobody would be around to help her if she got into trouble. Twenty more minutes and she would be out of here. Suddenly, the moon came out from behind the clouds. She was momentarily glad for the light it gave. Then she stopped and looked up. It was a red moon, the colour of blood. She shivered, like a leaf shaking in the wind. She started to run. Little did she know, there was no escape for her.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Tsuzuki couldn't sleep. He had been tossing and turning in his bed for the past two hours but to no avail. It was going to be midnight soon. It was no use. He might as well as get up and have a drink of water. Tsuzuki had never experienced insomnia before. But this had happened for the past seven to eight days already. He couldn't seem to fall asleep before midnight. Then he will experience weird dreams of which he had utterly no memory of. Luckily it had not affected his work in the day or Tatsumi will cut his salary again. Wait a minute, he had no longer any salary to cut from. With a depressed moan, he sank back to his bed.
He did not know when he fell asleep, but when he finally did, it was a sleep plagued with dreams.
The air smelt faintly of sakuras, as usual. Am I in Meifu? There sure were a lot of sakura trees. In fact, everywhere I looked there seemed to be quite a few. But...if this was Meifu, where was EmmaCho? This place seemed to be a sakura forest. The night was cool enough and everywhere was well lit up by the warm glow of the moon. Wait, why was the glow of the moon red? Unless...it's really a red moon. Oh no, Muraki. Was he nearby? Did he commit murder again? What was this place? Wasn't I in bed? If I was in bed, then I should be sleeping. If I was sleeping, then this must be a dream. Right, I'm in a dream right now. But...where was Tohda? Where was the flame, the pain? Unless, this is a different dream. Great, everything just seemed to get better and better. Now, how do I get out of here? Is that a woman? What was she doing out here? Would she be easy to kill? Oh gosh! Why am I thinking about that? I should really get out of here.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~*
The crimson moon shone down upon the sakura trees and the woman, who was running as if she had lost her mind. It seemed to mock everything it saw. With an almost human-like chuckle, it disappeared behind the blankets of clouds. Everything went dark. Even the stars did not dare to show their faces.
Mariko finally stopped running. It was too dark to see. In the quiet of the night, she could only hear her own raspy breathings. Even that eventually stopped and all was left was the screaming silence. Yet, she could not seem to shake off the nagging feeling that someone or something was following her. It could not be far behind. Did she just hear footsteps? She froze. Her heart was in her mouth as she slowly crouched down and put her ear to the ground. There it was again. Thump, thump, thump. The ground had amplified the sound but she rather wished it had not. She got up slowly to her knees. Oh God. She was shaking so badly. She wanted to cry but she dared not. She had never been this scared in her life. Kneeling there, in the dark. Waiting and waiting, perhaps for her death.
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A/N: 3 stories in one day. Author is about to die. Um...I will probably be dormant for quite a while. Until I get my hands on another computer with internet connections, that is. As I said, I'm still on holiday. It's winter here. It's freezing. One day, the temperature drops about 20 degrees. I'm down with flu. One whole roll of tissue a day for my nose. Arghhhhhhhh! The nxt time you see me I might be dead already. Ok, anw, that's not the point. The important thing is, pls review and review and review. You have no idea how miraculous one review is for my cold. It can save my life for all you know. So please leave a review. Author thanks you very much :]
Reply to reviews:
Tessa Marlene: Thank you so much for your continuous support :] ::big hug:: you are wonderful. If I die during my trip I will mention you in my will and let you have all my scripts ::winks::
not so innocent bystander: thank you for your review and hope you have a pleasant trip. Hope its more successful than mine ::reaches for another tissue::
Disclaimer: Yami no Matsuei does not belong to me. It never did and never will. ::breaks down in tears:: ::sighz:: it takes away the last comfort of my life.