Note: This is a slightly edited version of a fanfiction I submitted for PortConMaine 2004's Fanfiction Contest. I figured I might as well upload it onto fanfiction.net until I find another site to host my fiction or start my own.

Disclaimer: If I owned Yami no Matsuei, Hisoka and Tsuzuki would be a cannon couple. .

Warnings: None, except for shounen-ai fluff with minor angst. (Why is this a warning?)

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Unnaturally vibrant green eyes fixed on black characters. Light brown hair run through with golden sunlight. Pale skin bathed in a warm glow, crisscrossed with barely-visible pink scars. Lips pursed in thought as tapered fingers brushed absently against the worn cover almost reverently. His knees were drawn up to his chest, book balancing on top of them. And surrounding him was the sense of stillness and strength and wonder that was Hisoka.

Tsuzuki thought he would cry.

Instead, he leaned against the doorframe, smiling at his partner with upturned lips and soft amethyst eyes that seemed to radiate love and happiness. It had been a long time since he had seen him like this. Unlike him, Tsuzuki was rarely able to rouse himself in time to watch the sunrise. And so, every time he was presented with this vision, he cherished it.

He watched the emerald eyes of his partner fly over the pages, seeming to devour the words before him. Yet despite the quickness of his reading, the calm aura around him did not change. It was just one of the many things about him that fascinated Tsuzuki.

The sun rose higher. His partner shifted slightly on the couch, tilting his head to one side to prevent the light from shining directly into his eyes.

Tsuzuki still did not move from his position in the doorway. He let his eyes slide shut, basking in the quiet and in the contentedness he could feel rolling off of his partner.

So much had changed since that day when they had first met five years ago.

For Tsuzuki, five years was almost nothing. When you have been dead for over seven decades, to say that time begins to blur together puts it mildly. Months turned into years which turned into decades which turned into centuries. Partners came only to leave again, some barely staying long enough for Tsuzuki to memorize their names. He had tried to find something to hold on to, whether it was enjoying the simple feeling of the sakura petals falling on his face or the often-mindless chats he would have with Watari.

But somehow it was never enough. The Darkness continued eating away at him, waiting until he was unstable enough that it could take over and wreak havoc on this new life like it had on his mortal one. He would feel himself falling, his facade that he had tried so hard to hide behind beginning to crack. The voices would scream in his ears and he would see the blood on his hands and he would cry himself to sleep every night like he had right after he had died.

And then a sixteen-year-old boy had held a gun to his back and everything else just faded away.

He had watched his young partner and had seen how he isolated himself from everyone to keep from getting hurt again. And suddenly, there was nothing more important to him than being able to make his partner smile.

A sudden tickling in the back of his neck brought Tsuzuki back to the present and alerted him that he was being watched. He jerked his head up, eyes flying open and blinking rapidly, trying to adjust to how bright the room had become during his contemplation.

The first thing he saw when his vision was finally back to normal were the emerald eyes of his partner studying him intently. He tried to read the emotions in his eyes, but other than a hint of amusement, he couldn't pick up on anything. Not for the first time, Tsuzuki wondered what it would be like to have his partner's empathic senses.

His partner continued to stare at him, his face carefully neutral. Tsuzuki began to shift his weight nervously from one foot to the other, wondering just how long he had been watching him and exactly how many of his thoughts he had picked up on. He let out an embarrassed laugh, rubbing one hand against the back of his head.

The corners of his partner's mouth twitched upwards slightly, but his gaze remained.

Finally, Tsuzuki couldn't take it anymore.

"Hisoka . . ."

"Baka." Normally, Tsuzuki might have taken offence or tried to laugh it off, but from the soft tone in which the word was spoken, he knew Hisoka was using it more as an endearment than an insult. It had been that way between them for a while now.

He ducked his head, grinning. "Perhaps." And then he added, "But when you look so beautiful, how am I supposed to keep from thinking about how wonderful you are?"

Hisoka snorted, but Tsuzuki smiled at the slight blush that made his cheeks glow rosy pink in the sunlight. "So beautiful, 'Soka."

His cheeks flamed red and he looked back down at his book as he tried to get his blush under control. When his gaze turned to Tsuzuki again, his cheeks only lightly dusted with pink, his emerald eyes were soft and full of emotion. It made Tsuzuki so happy, knowing that Hisoka trusted him enough to lower his empathic shielding and open himself up like this.

Hisoka chewed his lower lip, a habit he had picked up somewhere that manifested itself whenever he was considering something. Finally, setting the book temporarily aside and unfolding his legs, he tilted his head toward Tsuzuki and said, "Join me?"

Tsuzuki beamed, leaving the doorway behind and crossing the room toward Hisoka, the sunlight warming his skin as he walked. He sat down on the couch next to his partner, kissing his lips tenderly before lying down with his head in Hisoka's lap. A sigh escaped his lips as Hisoka began stoking his hair with one hand, the other reaching for the book.

A lot had changed in five years. And Tsuzuki had to admit he was quite satisfied with the results.

OWARI