Another chapter, and this time we're starting it with a little interaction between Tsuzuki, Hisoka, and Konoe. It's a hangup I have as an author if I don't give everyone their due moment in the spotlight, even if the fic completely isn't about them. Sometimes I go out of my way to include a character, just to get their name in. Oh well, read the chapter, I'll see you at the bottom.
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Tsuzuki staggered into the break room for his midmorning cup of coffee. No amount of caffeine seemed to shake the doldrums of case research; having sifted through yet another thick and musty tome, graciously provided from the never-ending supply the Gushoshin twins stood guard over, for a good part of the day. He would've much rather have gone out and done the usual footwork, but that had been yesterday, and today he was stuck in the office doing research on various forms of poltergeists. Why he couldn't just sit in the haunted house and observe said spirit was beyond him.
Konoe was berating Hisoka just inside the door, the young blonde half-listening, stirring his coffee with a crooked stirrer, the brown plastic deformed from some unfortunate mishap, no doubt involving Watari. It was somewhat apparent that the teenager was not the subject of the older man's tirade, as it would have resulted in his cringing and shrinking in humble apology, but merely the unfortunate soul whom the chief happened to accost first.
"Tsuzuki!" Konoe barked as the brunette tried to skirt around them and make it to the coffee machines undetected. He stood ramrod straight, saluting the chief stiffly.
"Sir!"
The beleaguered boss sighed at this. "Cut that out. I need you to call Tatsumi and Watari's apartment."
"How come?" he inquired casually, fixing his coffee and moving to peruse the breakfast fare on the dilapidated card table next to the counter designated for coffee. Granola bars and fruit. Obviously Wakaba and Terazuma were still on their latest assignment.
"Neither of them have shown up for work yet," Hisoka replied, staring down at the cup in his hand, watching steam rise from the coffee.
Tsuzuki frowned, hiking up his sleeve to glance at his watch. "It's almost lunchtime."
"Idiot, it's ten past ten," his partner corrected, annoyed at Tsuzuki's food-oriented timetable. The older man stared at his watch, shaking his wrist a few times, before his violet eyes went wide with mild surprise.
"Oh jeez, my watch battery died. Didn't even notice that. Okay, so it's ten past ten. And they didn't call or anything, say they were not coming in, coming in late, what have you?"
Konoe shook his head. "I'd be more likely to expect this from Watari, but Tatsumi? It's unacceptable, and very unlike him as well."
Watari shuffled into the room at this given moment, looking like death warmed over. His hair was limp and dull, eyes ringed with dark circles, clothes rumpled and suspiciously the same ensemble he'd worn the day before. He staggered over to the main table, leaning against it with his hip, seeming dazed. Konoe grabbed his collar and started shaking the young man back and forth.
"Where the hell have you been? Where's Tatsumi? And the answer had better be 'in his office' or else you'll…"
Watari let out a strangled sob, shoving the chief's meaty hands away. "I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
The scientist cast his dulled amber eyes to the floor, his strawberry blonde hair curtaining his face. "I don't know. Tatsumi didn't come home last night. I don't know where he is."
Tsuzuki cursed softly, pulling out a plastic chair and pointing to it. "Sit down. Hisoka, mind fixing Watari a cup of coffee? And give him a granola bar or a banana or something. Chief, you can get back to whatever you were doing, we'll handle things."
Generally Konoe would've hung about for such an interrogation, but Tsuzuki's amethyst eyes had lost their lighthearted air, a colder emotion settling behind them, the look of a man who should never be questioned, lest he blow your head off in one of twelve different ways. Tatsumi and Watari were his two best and closest friends, and a grave matter of this proportion was enough to switch Tsuzuki to his more serious and infinitely more frightening of personas. The chief quietly excused himself as Hisoka handed off a cup of coffee dosed with cream and sugar to Watari's tastes, heavy on everything but the coffee, and some sort of cardboard flavored prepackaged breakfast-on-the-go bar.
"You said Tatsumi didn't come home last night…how is that possible? We saw you two leave together yesterday," Hisoka observed, clutching his arms in a physical expression of the shields he'd clamped down on his empathy to avoid feeling the spill of Watari's emotions.
"We did…but about halfway home he gave me his keys and told me to go on without him. I made the mistake of asking about his promotion, he seemed so upset and I knew I shouldn't have said anything, but I wanted to let him know it was all right that he didn't get it and I told him so…but then he said he needed time to think. That he wanted me to go home and leave him alone to think," Watari explained, his calm voice pregnant with the anguished worry he truly felt.
"So you just left him?" Tsuzuki questioned.
Watari shook his head vehemently. "Not right away. I wanted him to come home, I was worried about him, he hadn't eaten at all yesterday, and it really isn't like Tatsumi not to tell me about his concerns. But he pushed me away, and gave me that 'this is not up for discussion' look. So I told him I'd meet him at home."
"And he never came," Hisoka concluded, taking a sip of coffee. While Tsuzuki was hovering around Watari in a similar fashion to the absent 003, who was probably holding down whichever fort her commanding officer had ordered her encampment at; he was leaning against the wall opposite the two men, scowling as usual.
"No. I waited up all night, just in case he did. I called him a few times, tried calling his extension here, no answer, not even once. I'd hoped he'd be here," Watari's voice broke as his shoulders hitched with a sob. "I'm not even angry at him. I'm just…so worried. Tatsumi wouldn't do something like this, you both know it. He didn't even apologize for snapping at me on the walk home, and he's never failed to do so. Tatsumi refuses to leave his conflicts unresolved and unapologized for, even if I'm the one at fault."
Tsuzuki and Hisoka exchanged glances from across the room. This sounded both very familiar and very disconcerting. It seemed as though they would be shaking down certain sword-wielding brothel owners for information in the near future.
"Wherever he is," Watari said slowly, his eyes rimmed with tears, "I'm almost dead certain Tatsumi did not go there of his own free will."
"We'll have the Gushoshin transfer our current case to one of the other pairs and set out on search right away, don't you worry, Watari. Hisoka and I will have him back here waving his pointer stick faster than you can say, 'the damages from your blowing up the lab will be deducted from your paycheck and no, you cannot have more budget money.' So smile a little, okay?" Tsuzuki suggested, trying to lighten the somberness that hung in the room.
"I'm sorry, Tsuzuki, I know you want to help, but I think this is something I'm going to have to deal with myself. I promise that if I need you, I won't hesitate to ask, but Tatsumi is my partner and my responsibility. I want to do this on my own."
Tsuzuki stood agape, about ready to vehemently protest, but Hisoka calmly shook his head. It was not up for any sort of discussion, whether he was in favor of letting Watari fly solo or not, which he most definitely was not. The whole thing stank of Muraki's taint, Tsuzuki knew it without hesitation or doubt, and though he trusted his friend, questioned whether Watari could hold his own against a man both he himself, Hisoka, and Tatsumi all struggled against. Despite the knowledge that Watari was proficiently trained in Shinigami summoning magic, he'd hardly ever seen the amber-eyed scientist wield anything other than his powers of bringing life to the inanimate, and that was usually in jest.
"Don't give me that look, Tsuzuki, the kicked puppy face isn't going to work on me today. I can't always depend on you and Bon to bail me out every time something bad happens. I need to stand on my own two feet and rely on my own abilities. Besides, Tatsumi would kick my ass if he found out I couldn't handle rescuing him by myself," Watari remarked, trying to smile.
"I think you're being an idiot," Hisoka stated bluntly, "but you're right. Let me know if you need any help, though I doubt I'll be any considering I can't read Tatsumi's emotions."
Watari now genuinely smiled, though his eyes still shimmered with the faint trace of tears.
"Thanks, Bon. But I'll be all right. These things generally work out all right in the end, one way or another."
He walked off, his step determined, far removed from his usual flighty, springy step that was generally accompanied by cheery whistling. Hisoka crossed the room and touched Tsuzuki's arm, not even looking at the older man, trying to be as much a comfort as he would allow himself to be.
"Do you really think he'll be all right?"
Hisoka shrugged. "We'll just have to wait and see."
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Notes: Watari taking charge, novel concept, isn't it? But if we follow Watari's logic, it makes perfect sense. He'll explain it more in depth at a later chapter, his real reasoning behind why he doesn't want the others going out after Muraki. *grimace* I feel really bad for doing this to him and Tatsumi…