R&R

Chapter 2.

Tsuzuki walked to the break room, "He's so cold towards me…is it because of something I did? If only I could just get him to talk to me like he used to…then…well, if he talked to me like he used to I guess there wouldn't be a problem in the first place.", He thought to himself. He couldn't help but laugh, he had no idea how to go about the problem, talking was the only thing he could to but if Hisoka didn't want to stick around to talk there wasn't any other option available to him.

The lights in the break room were off in order to save on electricity, Tatsumi always was strict on budgeting. He walked over to the coffeemaker; he hoped that coffee might make him feel at least a little rejuvenated he didn't think that it could make up for all the lost hours of sleep all though he wished it would.

"Tsuzuki Asato, correct?" a woman's voice came from behind causing Tsuzuki to spin around almost spilling his coffee. A young woman around the age of 25 was sitting on one of the couches behind him. She had curly black hair, he really couldn't see the length of it because she was reclining against the back cushions, but if she was standing it could have been about the middle of her back. She stood up, smoothed her black skirt down and strode over to the startled man, her black pumps clicked signaling her movement but she seemed to glide more than walk.

"I'm sorry, did I scare you?" she said as she squinted her gray eyes.

"Oh no, it's ok I just didn't think anyone was in here, must have been the darkness." He said, still trying to get his heart rate to go down, "Um, who are you?"

"Oh, I didn't mean to be rude, I'm Asai Oki, I'm from the Okinawa section, I've been sent here to help you and Kurosaki." She said as she shook his hand.

"That's funny; they didn't mention that we would be getting any outside help."

"Oh, that's because I was supposed to introduce myself during the briefing but I was getting held up in work so I called up Konoe and told him that I would just find you at the school if I didn't run into you here."

"I see, well I'm glad to be working with you."

"Well if you're not too busy would you like to head out? I don't really know my way around so I can't really get there on my own." She said as she played with a beaded necklace that hung just a little lower than her collar bone.

"Um, sure," He said glancing down at his coffee which he hadn't gotten the chance to drink. "I was just going to leave after my coffee anyways." He said forcing a smile to his tired face, he then downed half of his drink and dumped the rest out in the sink.
"Let's go." he said forcing another smile.

Hisoka watched himself in the mirror, as he did his collar. He never really liked wearing school uniforms the collars always made him feel trapped, and it did no good in the warmer months. He thought he looked good but a part of him felt ugly, "I'm such a terrible person, how can I just go on ignoring him, he's just going to go into another depression and if that happens I might not be around to stop him from…" He flinched at the thought, "…but how am I supposed to talk to him like we used to, it would just be too awkward to talk like we used to…" He sighed at himself and walked out of the room. Tatsumi came from further down the hall, "Kurosaki-kun, I thought you left already."

"Ah, no, why?" He responded.

"Oh, Tsuzuki told me that he was leaving, I guess he thought you'd catch up."

"That's odd; he's not normally that enthusiastic to start up on an assignment, normally he leaves with me."

"But lately you two seem to be having some troubles…"

"You could tell?" Hisoka said with a blush.

He nodded, "He doesn't seem to be himself lately, nor have you. I would think that the occurrence in Kyoto would have…," He tried to search for the appropriate words, "…brought you closer together."

"Ah…well…" Hisoka's blush grew redder.

"What's the problem?"

"Well, I have a bit of a hard time talking to him, its…well…some of the things I said in Kyoto, seemed a little out of character and…a little forward…I just don't know how to act I guess. It's too confusing to really put into words…" He said as he knotted the fabric of his pants up in his hands. Tatsumi's normally stern blue eyes seemed to soften with sympathy. He gave the boy a pat on the head.

"Well, I hope things work out for you." He said

"Thanks…Tatsumi."

Tatsumi then continued on his way, "Oh, and good luck." he shouted back.