"Hey, are you awake yet?" A voice echoed along with the orchestra of the air conditioner set on high. It had to easily be the hottest day of the year, the heat rising off the road could be seen from just a few feet away.

"Hijiri?" The sound came again and cut through the darkness of a gradually dissolving dream world. Hijiri opened his eyes, it took a while to focus at the entity talking to him, but he could soon make out blond hair and green eyes which mirrored his own sitting in the chair next to his bed. The resemblance between he and Hisoka was amazing really, how could there be two people in the world who look exactly alike yet have not even the slightest relation to each other? The truth may have been that the genetic out come of offspring wasn't as infinite as people thought.

"Hey, Hisoka." Hijiri said with a smile. He had regained his color but he still looked sickly and his voice was still a little raspy.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Not too bad, surprisingly." He laughed.

"That's good," he gave a small smile and cut right to the chase "I've come to ask you a few questions."

"Oh? I'll answer them as long as you can answer a few of my own. Why are you here?" He sat up and leaned against the metal head bored of his bead.

"Well, we've been getting a lot of reports about kids dying at your school, but it doesn't have any relation to the suicide rate. The kids have been victims of a virus or something of the sort, claiming symptoms like what you experienced."

"Oh great, so I'm going to die?"

"Well, not if we can prevent it."

"We? You mean Tsuzuki is working with you on this?"

"Yeah, he's my partner, it's required." The boy's face instantly lit up.

"How come he's not with you?"

"He wasn't able to come for questioning. Now about what happened…"

"What's he doing?" All these questions about Tsuzuki were starting to piss Hisoka off.

"Listen, that's not what I came here to talk to you about, I need to find out what's causing you and your classmates' sicknesses." Hisoka said with an irritated tone.

"You seem kinda touchy about Tsuzuki." Hisoka felt heat rise up in him, and it wasn't only the hot weather that was getting to him. He unbuttoned the top of his shirt in hopes it would cool him off a bit.

"No, I just want to do my job."

"What is he to you?"

"What?" The kid was getting on his nerves fast with his barrage of questions.

"Do you have feelings for him?"

"Jesus, I know where he's going with this..." Hisoka thought, he desperately wished he could melt to a puddle on the floor and avoid the whole conversation but Hijiri was relentless.

"What? No. He's a guy." He tried to act like he was disgusted at the thought.

"You're so quick to answer...are you sure? I thought-"

Hisoka got up out of his chair and placed both hands on Hijiri's shoulders hoping he would make him get the picture and shut up. Hijiri looked a little surprised at the sudden movement.

"Hijiri, stop! I don't feel anything for him! Do you get it?"

"Get what?" A familiar voice came from behind them. Hisoka's eyes widened and his face turned crimson, he took his hands away from Hijiri and quickly turned around to see Tsuzuki standing in the doorway. He wasn't looking as bad as he was before, his color had come back but he still looked exhausted.

"Uh- nothing." Hisoka said tensely.

"Oh, well I'm sorry I'm late. How far did you get with the questions?"

"We haven't even started, so you came at the perfect time." Hisoka said, still sounding a bit pissed.

"Um, Hisoka? Can I talk to Tsuzuki for a moment?" Hijiri asked.

"Sure, it was getting a little too hot in here anyways." He left the room closing the door behind him. The hallway was much cooler but a little darker, he leaned up against one of the snow white walls, just a few feet from the door. He sighed and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Is it hot in there?" A rich voice came up next to him, nearly causing him to have a heart attack.

"Jesus! You scared me, Asai." He tried to slow his heart beat back down to normal. He didn't even hear her walking near him; the woman either floated or just had a way of walking heels that prevent any sound. He guessed the later.

"I'm terribly sorry; I have a tendency of doing that." She leaned up against the wall across from him, her eyes looked like they changed colors, her once gray orbs were now a bright cerulean blue that matched the color of Tatsumi's. Grayish eyes have a tendency of changing color depending on what color is around them, the bright blue sleeveless blouse she was wearing must have been the culprit.

"Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be at the school?"

"I'm on break, so I decided to come by and see if I could lend a hand. You sound like you don't like me here."

"No offence, but I don't."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I only wish to extend a hand of friendship with you."

"Extend a hand of friendship?" he mocked her, "I don't believe that shit."

Asai said nothing, instead she just laughed.

"What are you laughing at?"

The woman suddenly closed the distance across the hall and pushed him into the wall gently, her arm just above his head.

"Why do you hate me so much, boy?" she said in a breathy tone, "hmm?" A cold energy radiated from her body and played along Hisoka's skin like a thousand frozen hands that kept his back stiff against the wall.

"What are you?" His voice wavered with fear. Asai just locked her cerulean gaze with his and placed a long crimson fingernail lightly on his chest as if he never asked the question.

"Hmm? What's this?" she said softly as she lightly traced the scars on his chest, "A memoir of something unpleasant? Perhaps…murder?" the way "murder" rolled across her tongue made him feel sick. He wanted to scream out but every time he tried the cold gasped tighter around his neck.

"How about torture?" She continued as she pressed a little harder. She moved her thin fingers down further; popping buttons open on his shirt exposing more of his torso. His body trembled as she traced the pink trails down to his belly where he let out some small whimpers. "Oh, God, Tsuzuki, someone, anyone, save me! Tsuzuki…please…help me…"

"Or maybe…rape?" His eyes widened with horror and he now began to frantically move about trying to avoid the woman's touch; still making his small helpless noises. He wanted someone to come out and save him, he wanted to yell to Tsuzuki for help so badly, but her energy was clamping down on his larynx.

"Ahh…yes, that's it isn't it?" she said with a slight muse to her voice. The cold wind that played on Hisoka's skin had died down. His fear satisfied her enough to allow him to speak slightly.

"You twisted demon! What the fuck are you?! If Tsuzuki finds you like this he'll kill you!" He tried to scream but his voice was too muffled for it to travel to his target in the room behind him.

Anger rose to Asai's eyes, she flattened her hand on his stomach and dug the tips of her nails into him, the hand that rested on the wall above him was now full of blonde hair that yanked his head back. "You're best to know where your place is, boy. Tsuzuki is nothing compared to me!" She smiled at the boy, his heart raced like a humming bird's in her hand, the small quick beating sensations made her want to squeeze the life out of it.

A sudden rush of heat flamed over his skin and his vision was taken away and replaced with pictures and emotions flashing through his head. His empathy was picking up hundred's of years worth of violent memories and feelings and it sent an energy through his body that was unlike any other he had experienced. He couldn't decipher whether the sensations he was feeling were the pain of endless torture or the pleasure of an organism. He clawed at the hand that kept him against the wall but the heat was too unbearable and scorched his skin. There was nothing he could do, he let her push him into the wall and waited for it all to end.

TBC…..

And so the plot thickens…hope you enjoyed this chapter, I thought this one was kinda fun to write. Anyways, don't be afraid to tell me what you think. Again, if you want to get a hold of me for comments my screen name for AIM is SolarusV50, I also take e-mails. Tootles for now my lovelies…