AN:  Ah ha!  I've never updated the quickly before!  Mostly because I've never gotten so many reviews.  I love everyone who left one!!!  *hugs for all!!!*

Chapter I:  Un Homme et son Peché

It wasn't an apartment, not under any stretch of the imagination.  It was a mess, plain and simple.  There were stacks of newspaper piling up in the corners, magazines covering the chesterfield and several large textbooks spread out over the half unpacked cardboard boxes that served as tables.  In addition, the floor was littered with crumpled balls of paper, and more than a few discarded (and burnt) lab coats.  The apartment was less of a living space and more of a storage facility; one that hadn't been visited recently, if the smell wafting from the lone cup of coffee resting precariously on an oversized medical text was any indication.

Watari wrinkled his nose a little as he entered the room, but it was more subconscious than a mental acknowledgement of the stench.  He was far too lost in thought for anything like that to register.

He couldn't believe how much of an idiot he was being, about everything.  His little encounter with Muraki was in no way his fault.  He'd never seen the man before, so for him to expect to be able to recognize the sadistic bastard was completely unreasonable.  On top of that, even Tsuzuki, who had first hand knowledge of what the doctor was capable of, had admitted that Muraki could be very charming when it suited his purposes.  No way was it his fault, so he shouldn't bother feeling guilty about it…

At least that's what he tried to tell himself.  How well it was actually working was another matter.

He slowly made his way to the bedroom and absentmindedly began clearing it of more textbooks newspaper clippings.  There were sheets on the bed, but they were covered in a thin layer of dust.  Stripping the bed of those as well, he continued his thoughts…

He wasn't sure what to think about having destroyed his lab.  He couldn't understand how he had let himself become so far go to take out his frustration on it.  Each piece of equipment in there had been the product of a lot of hard work and persuasion.  Convincing Tatsumi of parting with a penny was about as enjoyable as giving an alligator a root canal, and a lot less fruitful.  He'd paid for almost all of it himself, and now what did he have to show for it?  Two weeks vacation?

Idly, he wondered whose idea that had been; Hisoka's or the chief's?  The more he dwelled on it, the more he decided he didn't want it.  Two weeks of free time and absolutely not thing to do with it.  He couldn't continue with any experiments, and with nothing to do, he was bound to think himself into place he'd rather not go.

Remaking the bed, he decided it was better to think of some things with a clear head so, ridding himself of his clothes, he crawled into his bed and fell into a restless sleep.

.-~+~*~+~-.

Munching on a small apple-filled pastry, Tsuzuki waited for Hisoka to return from the library.  They needed to do a little more research on the case they were working on, and Hisoka had been adamant that he remain in the lounge, claiming that he would only get in the way.  Tsuzuki was more than happy to oblige.  It meant that he'd had the time to convince Wakaba she wanted to procure for him a pile of sweets.  He'd shared them with her, of course, and all in all it was a successful evening for him.

He wasn't sure about Hisoka's progress, however, and he began to get a little worried when his partner didn't get back after a while.  It wasn't as though anything bad would happen to the boy, but still…

His fears were proven unreasonable when Hisoka entered the room, but Tsuzuki did note the small frown the younger boy wore.

"Things didn't go as planned?" he asked, a little anxious.  They really needed to get the information on the case.  If they didn't solve it soon, Tatsumi would become angry, and an angry Tatsumi wasn't fun.

Hisoka shook his head a little, more to rid himself of the residue of Watari's feelings than in response to his partner.  He set a file down on the table.  "Everything went fine… It's just…"

"What?" Tsuzuki demanded, concern evident in his voice.

Hesitating a moment, the green eyed man finally replied, "It's nothing… just Watari…" he trailed off again.

Tsuzuki's face broke into a grin, misunderstanding the situation.  Watari never lacked test subjects for his experiments, mostly because they all consumed his little concoctions unwittingly.  The violet-eyed man simply assumed that the scientist was up to his old tricks.  "What did he do this time?"

Shaking his head, Hisoka replied, "It's not like that…  Watari destroyed his lab tonight…"

"What!"

"The chief sent him home and gave him some vacation time," he continued, nodding his head a little.

"Is he okay?  We have to go see him!  That lab was…"  Tsuzuki's words were coming in a nearly incoherent stream, and he was out the door before he finished, on his way to find the scientist, but then Hisoka's hand was on his wrist, holding him back.  "Hisoka…" he whined.

"He destroyed his own lab!" Hisoka exclaimed!  Tsuzuki stopped tugging his arm and looked at his partner as though he'd grown not just a second, but a third head as well.   Watari, destroy his own lab?  That thing was his baby and his home all wrapped into one.  Though the man was crazy, he would never do something to endanger it.

"He's under a lot of stress right now," Hisoka then explained.  "The best thing for him would probably to have time to sort things out on his own, so just leave him be.  If he wants to talk to you, he knows where to find you."

Tsuzuki pouted a little, be he couldn't argue with his partners logic.  "Alright then, I guess we'll go out and wrap up the case then…"

Nodding once in agreement, Hisoka let the older man lead the way.

.-~+~*~+~-.

Upon waking, the blond haired scientist was confused and disoriented. He wasn't in his lab, and he also wasn't on the couch in his office.  It took him several moments for his mind to focus enough to figure out where he was, and when he finally did, he pulled the down filled blanket up over his head and curled more tightly around his pillows.  Waking up today was a decidedly bad idea.  He wasn't going to get out of bed; he was only going to sleep for the rest of the week.

His resolve only lasted a few minutes before his eyes flashed open.  Now that he was awake, every noise in the apartment seemed to be there only to annoy him, from the ticking of the clock beside him to the low hum of the refrigerator.  To add insult to injury, the furnace kicked on at that moment, adding its grating noise to the cacophony.

Someone up there did not want him to go back to sleep.

Even so, it took him an extended period of time to roll out of bed, literally.  He fell into a heap, tangled in his blankets.  This graceful action was followed by a fumbling search for his glasses, before he finally got up to start his day.

His effort to brew a cup of coffee was hindered by the fact that there was no coffee in the kitchen, and the same could be said for breakfast.  The only thing that remotely resembled food was something that could have been considered a half eaten bologna sandwich, if not for the other things sprouting from it.

Shaking his head, Watari decided it would be better to give up on breakfast until he had a chance to get things sorted out.

After a quick, scalding shower, the blond headed back to his office.  As much as he didn't want to go there; didn't want to see the remnants of his lab, or face his friends, he needed to get a few and pick up 003.  If he wasn't going to be around for a while he didn't want to leave the poor owl all alone.  Besides, his feathery pet could keep him company.  That way he wouldn't be talking to himself.

Watari met Wakaba in the hall as he headed towards his office.  He would have greeted her, but she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the nearest empty room.  Quickly, she shut the door behind them and gave him a pitying smile.  "I wouldn't go out there if I were you."

"Why not?" he asked, though he had the sinking feeling he knew why.

The girl put a hand on Watari's shoulder and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. 

"Tatsumi's on a real rampage right now," she explained.  "Whatever you were doing in your lab last night damaged more than just your equipment, and the chief won't let him take the money for repairs out of your pay check."

The mad scientist gave Wakaba a sickly smile.  "Oh…"  Meeting Tatsumi in the hallway would be a bad thing right now.  "I see."

The little guardian cocked her head to the side and peered at Watari, mismatched eyes inquisitive.  "Why exactly are you here, if you don't mind me asking?  Terezuma told me you were on vacation or something."

 "Or something," Watari muttered to himself, shaking his head slightly, before offering he a grin.   "Oh, I am.  I just thought I'd pick up 003.  Don't want him to get lonely."  It was more like he didn't want to get lonely, but it wasn't as though he were going to tell her that.

Wakaba returned the grin.  "If that's the case, your just wait here and I'll go nab him for you.  No need for you to get into an argument with Tatsumi"

Watari smiled back and nodded in agreement.  "Tatsumi's scary."

The girl giggled a little and darted out the door, promising to return quickly.  Watari turned to look out the window at the sakura blossoms, but turned back around when he heard the door open, surprised that Wakaba had come back so quickly… except it wasn't Wakaba.

"Tatsumi…"  The blonde's voice deflated.

The secretary gave him a dark look.  "What are you doing here?" he demanded, his voice cold.

Fiddling with the hem of his sleeve, Watari replied, "I was just picking up a few things…"

The other's glare deepened.  "What the hell were you doing last night?"

Watari winced.  "I had a mishap in the lab…"

"A mishap?" Tatsumi asked incredulously, his voice rising in anger.  "Is that what you call it?  Because of your stupidity we're going to run low on funds.  The money for repairs is going too come out of the department's budget.  Your selfishness…"

Watari had been trying to interrupt the other, politely, when finally it became too much.  With his hands covering his ears, like a child, he cried, "Shut up!  Just shut up!"

Tatsumi took a step back, shocked by the blonde's out burst.  The scientist almost never got angry; especially not with his friends.

"You're certainly one to talk about being selfish, Tatsumi," Watari snarled.  "You've never done anything in your life that wasn't for money.  You care more about hording your money than you do about the people around you!"  Visibly shaking, he delivered a final, low blow.  "But think, what will you have if you don't spend it and drive all of your friends away?  Might as well be poor…  No, you might as well be dead."

The brown-haired secretary stared blankly at Watari, not showing that the other's words had actually struck a chord.  "Think what you will Yutaka."

Tatsumi turned to leave, but gave a start when he saw Wakaba standing in the doorway, a look of confusion on her face.  She send the older man a look of pity before stepping aside and letting him leave.  He pushed past her and closed the door with slightly more force than was needed.

The guardian sent Watari a withering glace, and 003 squawked indignantly, as if for emphasis.  "That was uncalled for."

Deep down, the mad scientist knew that Wakaba was right, but he would never be able to admit it.  There was some truth to what he said, and Tatsumi just made him so angry.  He couldn't help but lash out.  Unfortunately, it only made him feel worse, because now Tatsumi was hurt as well.

Noting the guilt in Watari's eyes, the girl felt a little sympathy for him.  Handing off the small owl, she patted the scientist on the shoulder.  "Go home and get some rest, you need it."

Watari nodded numbly in reply.  "Thank you Wakaba."

With that he was on his way home, having just alienated a friend, feeling almost as miserable as he had the night before, and still alone.

AN:  Whoo hoo!  I know, no Muraki in this chapter, but there's going to be a lot of him in the next so don't worry.

On another note, I've been told I need to recruit more people to join the YnM cast with the Muck I'm on.  You know, the one that sort of inspired this.  ^.^  There's actually quite a few characters open.  Tatsumi and Oryia if you watched the anime, and nearly all of the secondary characters from the mange (Wakaba, Terezuma, Yuma, etc…)  Send me an e-mail or tell me in a review if your interested.  I can get you the stuff for it.  ^.^

I'm grateful for all of the food you guys fed me last time, so I'll try and get the next chapter up soon.

Please review and feed the author.