Chapter 5
It took us no time to get up to the Adirondack Mountains. Unfortunately, once we got up there the police were already there and they had blocked off the entire area.
"Shit," cursed Aaron. "Looks like we missed him."
"No," I said. "He's still around here somewhere. I can feel him."
"Should we look?" asked Tsuzuki uncertainly.
"Our best bet is to split up and search around while we're invisible," suggested Aaron. "Let's start at the crime scene and work our way from there."
Since we didn't really have a clue where the crime scene was, we ending up hiking invisible behind the policemen towards the crime scene. It wasn't too long before we reached it. The woman was covered with a blanket. I shuddered as I was forced to remember seeing what she looked like as she died. I was glad Tsuzuki hadn't seen it.
Though seeing the woman in general didn't help matters.
Tsuzuki turned so he didn't have to look at her. "We came up from down there. I think we should each take the other directions."
"Good idea," said Aaron, looking at the woman with pity on his face. "I'll look northward. Tsuzuki, you take the west and Hisoka you take the east."
I eyed the two of them, wondering if they both could keep it together. "Are you two all right?"
"…Yes," said Tsuzuki. "I'll be all right."
"Don't mind me," said Aaron, waving a hand. "I'm use to these situations. Seeing her lying there like that reminded me of my death. Even after I was found my body had to lay there for a while before they could move me."
I nodded. "Well, let's take your strategy. If any of you run into trouble, give a yell okay?"
Both nodded and we all set off in our separate directions. The smell of fresh pine was starting to get to me, especially given the current situation. I was edgy enough as it was. But I kept my eyes and empathy clear to see if I could detect Muraki.
It was a while before I could sense him really close by. Since Aaron and Tsuzuki didn't yell or something, I knew they were all right.
I didn't know about me, though.
I had walked enough that I was near the edge of a cliff. Not that I worried about the height or the jagged rocks and lake that rested below. Being a Shinigami had its benefits; along with my ability to regenerate, I could fly as well. Though I practiced some caution whilst walking along the cliff's edge, not so much as I might have had I been alive.
It was only after walking on my path for about ten minutes did I realize just how much my luck sucked.
I felt a whoosh of air next to me and I heard a chillingly familiar voice say, "Bouya."
Next thing I know, I'm hit with an energy blast. One that wouldn't hurt me physically, but strong enough to knock me off the cliff.
I hate it when I jinx myself.
I recovered myself and stopped myself in mid air, twenty feet above the jagged rocks. Though the fall wouldn't kill me, I wasn't exactly crazy about getting crushed by jagged rocks. Who knew how long it would take me to heal.
"Muraki!!!" I yelled, flying back up to where I was knocked off. Muraki made his presence known. A mixture of intense hatred and fear coursed through me; I hated the fact I had this fear of him. Damn him for raping and murdering me.
"I'm surprised to see you here," said Muraki calmly, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "I never would've guessed you would follow me."
"What the hell are you up to?!" I yelled, levitating myself in the air, keeping a reasonable distance from Muraki.
"Just having a little fun," he said sadistically. "I'm such a busy doctor; I have the right to have fun, don't I?"
"Murdering people isn't a game, you sick fuck!!! And I'm sure you aren't killing people for the hell of it!!!!"
"What if I told you I was?"
"You—"
"You should've taken the dream I sent you seriously. Although…" a weird smile spread across his face. "Since you're here, it means Tsuzuki-san is also here. How sweet to be able to see him after so long."
"If you touch him again I'll kill you!!!" I shrieked, my newfound protectiveness of Tsuzuki surfacing.
"As if you could kill me." Muraki's smiled melded into an evil smirk. "I never would've thought you would be possessive of him. It looks like Meifu really is a small world…if the one you love most is another man."
My entire face turned red and my teeth gritted in fury. First the American Shinigami, now Muraki!! What was with everyone, thinking I had those kind of feelings for Tsuzuki?!
It was then I felt a whoosh on either side of me. Tsuzuki and Aaron had no doubt heard the commotion and teleported to this location.
"Holy shit," said Aaron. "He really does have light hair! I've never seen that in any other Japanese person!!"
"Be impressed later!!" I growled.
"Muraki!!" Tsuzuki yelled.
"Long time no see, Tsuzuki-san," said Muraki, feigning sincerity. Or was he? "I knew you would come eventually."
Tsuzuki froze next to me and my hatred erupted. No, not this. Not after everything we went through to save him. Muraki was trying to drag him down into insanity again by laying on the guilt…
I grabbed Tsuzuki's arm. "Don't you listen to him!! He's not doing this because of you!! He's doing it for the hell of it!!"
Tsuzuki let out a shaky sigh, trying to pull himself together.
"While I enjoy chatting with you," said Muraki. "I'm afraid I'm short on time. If you'll excuse me, I have to get going."
"You're not going anywhere!!!" I shrieked. I glanced at Tsuzuki. "Hurry!! Summon Suzaku or one of your other Shikigami!!!"
Tsuzuki looked extremely stressed out. He obviously wasn't up for summoning a Shikigami at the moment.
"Goodbye," said Muraki, and he teleported away.
"Wait!!" yelled Aaron, flying down to where Muraki had been. "Shit!! Miss Jackson's gonna have my ass!!"
"Tsuzuki," I said, trying very hard not to get angry. It was expected that he'd be uncomfortable around Muraki.
But we just let him get away. One of our few chances to nab him and we failed.
"You guys need to cool it," said Bethany. "Everyone's gets a goof every now and then."
I'm glad Tsuzuki didn't understand English well. I'm pretty certain that he didn't need her encouragement.
It was hours later and (unfortunately) we were back at Bethany's apartment. On the jukebox there was quite a strange song, "Tequila".
From the other room I could hear faint yelling and I winced. Aaron had called Lea to let her know what happened today; judging from the yelling I could tell she didn't take it too well.
"I had the restaurant bag up your food," continued Bethany. She went over a smoothed a hand over a framed signed poster of Elvis Presley. "It's in my fridge in case you get hungry."
I doubt Tsuzuki had much of an appetite for the desserts. But I translated what she said to him anyways. He just gave a slight nod and continued staring off into space.
Aaron came back into the room, looking tense and rubbing his ear. "Well, Miss Jackson's officially docked my pay."
"I'm sorry," said Tsuzuki.
Aaron shook his head. "Believe me, I got off light!! She told me that if you two were under her employ she'd fire you!! But since you're not, she expects you to write a report of what happened and fax it to your boss."
"I'll take care of it," said Tsuzuki before I could respond. "It's my fault Muraki slipped away; I have to take responsibility."
"I share the blame as much as you do," I snapped, angry that he was trying to take the whole blame as usual. "I was standing there too. I could've caught him!!"
Tsuzuki sighed, not responding to me.
Bethany had been watching our exchange (which had been in Japanese) with a blank look on her face. She stretched and stood up.
"I'm gonna pile up Z's," she said, yawning widely. "You three are nodding as it is."
Aaron rolled his eyes and stood. "Yeah, I'm exhausted. And tomorrow's gonna be a long day; Miss Jackson wants to expand on the yelling lecture she gave me on the phone." He turned to us, switching to Japanese. "You two can crash at my place; it's spacious and I'm sure you might not be comfortable here."
"Yeah," I said as the jukebox switched to a song called 'Bye Bye Love'. The song gave me a weird vibe.
"I have to warn you; we're going to have to be in early. I don't want to get on Miss Jackson's bad side any further than I already am."
"Don't let Miss Jackson rattle your cage," said Bethany. "I mean, she's such a cube!! And have you seen her threads?!"
"I'm tired," I interrupted. "Let's get going."
"Kazutaka Muraki was last seen in this area," said Lea, pointing with her laser pointer at the large map of New York on the white screen. It was four o'clock the next morning and we were packed into the conferencing room. All the Shinigami were there. And with the exception of Lea, everyone (including Shane) was ready to fall asleep.
I drained my tenth cup of coffee, wondering how New York's Shinigami could put up with this. I mean, neither Kachou nor Tatsumi would put us through this (though I'm fairly certain Tatsumi was the type of person who got up at such ungodly hours). But I had to pay attention; not just because it was my job but because I needed to translate for Tsuzuki.
Unfortunately Tsuzuki was nodding off, probably not catching a word I was translating to him
"Miss Jackson, cast an eyeball at the clock!!" complained Bethany. I had the unfortunate burden of sitting next to her. The smell of her hairspray was overpowering and I felt ready to hurl. "It's four in the morning!! I don't dig this!!"
Lea sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She reminded me much of Tatsumi. But considering Tatsumi had a high tolerance for whining (what with being a former partner of Tsuzuki's), and I could hear her screaming at Aaron over the phone, I could tell she had very little patience.
"Don't tell me how to do my job, Bethany!!" she barked. "If you feel you have such a problem with my methods, then you can quit and get out of my section!!"
Bethany looked teary-eyed and exhausted at the same time. But she said no more. Lea took this as a cue to continue.
"Right, before I was rudely interrupted I was talking about Muraki's last location. Aaron?"
Aaron hesitantly stood up. "His latest victim was in that area. At the moment we can't think of an M.O. But yes, he was last seen there. He's probably still in that area, though—"
"I'm sure our jobs would've been made easier if he wasn't," said Lea, sighing heavily. "Don't make that mistake again!!"
Aaron nodded. "Yes, Miss Jackson."
I thought that would be the end of it. But Lea continued to drone on and on about the case. The lack of energy in the room made it all the more difficult to pay attention. I stopped translating because Tsuzuki had completely fallen asleep.
It was then that it happened. Unbeknownst to me, Bethany was nodding off in the chair next to me. It wasn't until she fell against me did I realize she was asleep.
A burst of vision filled my mind, along with loud voices. It was much like when she had grabbed my hands yesterday, but much worse.
Help!! Somebody help me!!
Where ya running to?
Let me go right now!!
I saw a flash of many faces, each wearing horrible expression. Fists lashed out and punched. Feet lashed out and kicked. Palms flashed out and slapped. It was too unbearable.
Stop it!!!
Hey, hold still baby!!!
No!! Leave me alone!!
Why isn't anyone helping her?! I wondered, trying to make sense of the scene. But the clearer the images became, the more it made sense.
I didn't want to see this.
Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Hisoka!!!"
My eyes snapped open. I was lying on the floor of the conference room. My throat felt raw; a clear indication I had screamed.
"Are you okay?" asked Tsuzuki, now awake. He looked frightened, but not so much as Bethany did.
"What did you did?!" demanded Shane.
"I-I-I don't know!!" cried Bethany. "I-I was nodding and the next thing I know he's screaming!!"
Tsuzuki helped me into a sitting position. "Was it your empathy?"
Bethany froze.
"My, my," said Lea, looking unfazed at the situation. "An empathic Shinigami. Is there anything else I need to know before we continue?"
Tsuzuki helped me back into my seat. Bethany was suddenly very edgy around me. I had a feeling the visions I saw were things I shouldn't have seen. Not that it was my fault.
"Considering Miss Myers was nodding off and Mr. Kurosaki had a freak-out fest, I think it's best I conclude the meeting," said Lea, gathering her papers. "Aaron, Bethany, I'm assigning Jamie to give you assistance in helping the Japanese Shinigami. I hope there are no objections?"
None were voiced.
"All right. This meeting is adjourned."
Bethany got up quickly and left the room. Aaron quickly came over to me. "Did you see some of her thoughts?"
"I might've," I said, forcing myself to my feet. Being tired and seeing unpleasant visions was taking its toll on me.
Aaron looked nervous. "Um…you didn't perchance see her death, did you?"
I was surprised. Those horrible visions were her death? "I dunno."
"She didn't exactly have a pleasant death. She's extremely sensitive about it and doesn't like people knowing about it."
I sighed heavily. I didn't need a lecture about such a thing. I'm not exactly about to go around telling everyone I meet I was raped and cursed to suffer for three years before I died. "I understand. Shall we continue with the case?"
"Yeah. I'll go get Bethany and we can all head out." He left the room, leaving us with Jamie.
"Um…" said Tsuzuki. His bad English didn't really help. But he managed. "Good morning, Jamie-san!!"
Jamie scoffed, looking at her watch. "I can't believe I'm stuck on this case with you idiots."
More translations:
cool it—relax, settle down
goof—someone who makes mistakes
pile up Z's—get some sleep
nod—drift off to sleep
cube—regular person
threads—clothing
cast an eyeball—to look
