Chapter 3: Sympathy

"Tsuzuki, babe, could you take these trays to the kids in wing A?" the cafeteria lady asked, she was a nice lady but she always referred to him as "hun" or "babe" and it sort of made him sick.

"Sure." He grimaced as he grabbed hold of the cart of trays.

He looked at the list of rooms in wing A and cringed at the first name: Saki. The boy had been sent to an isolation room considering the events that occurred earlier that day. Lucky for Tsuzuki the boy wouldn't be as threatening as he was earlier. He pushed his cart down the hall way and stopped at Saki's door. There was a small window with little wires in it that crisscrossed he wondered if it kept the glass from shattering if something, or someone was to hit it. He knocked on the door to receive no answer, he was about to knock again when he heard a lazy voice emerge from the white room.

"I heard you the first time…" The boy emerged from the floor he walked up to the window and gave a strange smile. , "Oh, it's you…" he said as he leaned his arm up against the glass and glared at the man all the while a smile spread across his face.

"I have food for you." Tsuzuki said as he placed a tray through a slit in the door that went under the window. Saki took the tray and set it down on the floor and went back to his previous position. "You know," He said, "It's really nice that they finally hired a new orderly. The other ones are just so rude to me…they treat me like an animal…do you know how that feels?"

"No, I'm sorry but I don't." Tsuzuki was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

"Ah…well…I suppose that's normal, normal for a normal person…normal, normal, normal…" Saki repeated lazily, it appeared that they had put him on some sort of drug. Tsuzuki just arched an eyebrow at the boy not quite sure what he was getting at but then again, judging by where he was currently and what they had given him, he couldn't quite say that what the blond was blabbering on about was meant to make any sense anyways.

"I'd normally be angry that the fight was broken up but I'm not…the doctors gave me a sedative and I became drowsy…but you know…it was very peaceful. Very peaceful…"

"That's good, maybe it'll help you get better."

"The last thing I saw was you…the image of you is burned inside my skull now." Saki's pale hand was slowly slipping through the slit in the door. Tsuzuki stood completely baffled by his words and oblivious to the hand wandering dangerously close.

"What is he talking about?" Tsuzuki thought.

"Tsuzuki, you're quite an attractive man…" Saki whispered as his thin fingers slipped behind the waste of Tsuzuki's pants, slightly rubbing against the skin of his belly. "Woa now, kid!" Tsuzuki's mind screamed as he suddenly became aware of what was happening. He flew back to the other side of the wall a bit panicked, his face twisted in confusion.

Saki gave a little 'humph' of disgust and looked lazily up at the shocked man.

"I guess it is a little too bold to start off giving you a hand job," He said indolently, his hand now dangling out of the side of the opening. "Or maybe you don't swing that way?"

"Listen kid," Tsuzuki said, still too flustered to sound confident, "I'm flattered, but no."

"Fine then, but I must let you know, I understand you now, but my judgment may be a skew later. As you may already know, I'm pretty unstable at times. Anyways, I'll see you later." He gave a slight laugh and moved downward, disappearing into his room.

"Oh!" He added before Tsuzuki continued on his way, "Give my regards to my darling Hisoka…"

Tsuzuki looked down at his list to see Hisoka's name occupy the last spot. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy. He himself had had a rather peaceful childhood, not the greatest, but nice enough to leave him with good memories. It made him sad to think that there were people out there unable to experience that and end up living in the world without real love. He gently brought his hand up to the door and knocked. The request was followed by the door opening and green eyes peering through the crack. "Hey, I brought your dinner." He said as cheerfully as he could.

"Oh, thanks." Hisoka murmured as he took a tray offered to him, he seemed a little more timid than earlier.

"And, uh…" Tsuzuki paused as he thought of what to say but the emerald eyes were distracting him.

"What?"

"Oh, uh, here are your pills too." He said as he handed the blonde a small paper cup filled with colorful sedatives and the like. He realized that those were the pills that kept the boy stable; he wondered if he was anything like Saki when he didn't take them.

"I have to admit it, I am curious about this kid. What is he really like?" Tsuzuki pondered a bit.

Hisoka stared at the cup for a moment and turned away, "Can you come in for a second?"

"I guess I can for a little while." He said a little unsure of himself as he entered the room, he was startled by the sound of Hisoka shutting the door behind him.

"Saki says hello." Tsuzuki said a little jokingly Hisoka just gave a bitter snort.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked in a small voice hoping he wouldn't set Hisoka off.

"Konoe is an old fart; don't listen to anything he says."

"What?" Pure shock was plastered on the taller man's face, he wasn't quite sure if the boy was serious.

"I heard what he was telling you earlier. I'm not crazy and I don't want attention."

"Um…" He said a little shakily. "I believe you…"

"No you don't. No normal person would believe it when they hear someone claim to have 'special powers'. I guess you have good reason because most of the people labeling themselves as 'psychic' are lunatics. But for some people it's true…and it kills us to keep it inside." A hint of sadness could be detected in his voice.

Tsuzuki just backed up to the door speechless yet still listening to the boy.

"I shouldn't be in here, this kid is strange…" Tsuzuki thought as the boy abruptly turned to him as if he heard every word.

"Fine…don't believe me…I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable because I'm too strange."

"Ah I-" Tsuzuki stammered in shock.

Hisoka turned his piercing green eyes away from Tsuzuki and he gazed out the window at the gardens that were tinted blue by the coming night. "I was hoping that I could get through to you before anyone spoke to you about me. But I guess I'm already labeled a freak, right?"

Tsuzuki took a breath, "...but why me? Why does it matter what I think?"

"Because I sensed you had actual concern for me…I thought maybe we could become friends. I don't really have any company here if you haven't noticed."

"You can sense my concern? I thought you could just read minds?"

"Amongst other things, yes... I can only read minds if I try, but I'm mainly an Empath."

"An empath?" Tsuzuki asked with a little bit of confusion.

"People's emotions transfer to me when I make physical contact." He said as he walked over to Tsuzuki. He looked him in the eyes, Hisoka never noticed how strange Tsuzuki's eyes were before. He had never seen eyes like his before they were a shade of blue violet that he had never seen anything possess before. He studied Tsuzuki's face, even if he wasn't an empath he could tell Tsuzuki was scared and nervous, he was shaking. Hisoka brought a soft hand up to his cheek and watched Tsuzuki's purple eyes close gently.

"Confusion, doubt, nervousness, sympathy." Hisoka listed, though he was a little shocked at the last one.

Tsuzuki felt himself exhale. He was surprised that he had actually stopped breathing gave a breathy uncomfortable chuckle, "Seems you got most of them..."

"You believe me then?" Hisoka asked with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Yes," Tsuzuki said with certainty, "I believe you now."

"Do you fear me?"

Tsuzuki took another deep breath and sat down on Hisoka's bed, he watched himself fiddle with his hands, it was almost as if his body was moving on its own. "Honestly Hisoka, I can say I am scared. But you have to understand as a human being-" He noticed the boy's expression was turning from inquisitive to great sadness. The man grabbed hold of Hisoka's soft hand and watched as he absorbed all the emotion he had. Confusion, doubt, and nervousness flew around his mind like fireflies in a jar but suddenly only one emotion stayed with him and grew for each second Tsuzuki held his hand. Sympathy. Sympathy, sympathy, sympathy!

"I fear what I don't understand," Tsuzuki said quietly as he watched Hisoka struggle around his emotions, "but I do want to learn to understand."