Something was going on.
The whole problem climaxed when Tsuzuki appeared to work, looking badly shaken, pale… with bags under his eyes that spoke of either nightmares or no sleep at all. He was fuzzy, spoke little, and appeared jumpy. Hisoka was watching his partner like a hawk, frowning more than was normal for the boy, and when he once almost flinched away from him, Tatsumi had had enough.
"Tsuzuki, my office," he said quietly as he passed by the younger man's desk.
Like an old man Tsuzuki rose, head down, an expression of acceptance and fate on his face.
"Tsuzuki, what's going on?" Tatsumi asked when his subordinate had closed the door after him.
"Nothing."
"Let me rephrase it: what is wrong with you? You look like shit, Hisoka's more alienated than he was when he came here, and I'm getting frostbite just watching you two!"
Tsuzuki winced, sinking in on himself. "It's personal."
Tatsumi felt his worry grow. In the past Tsuzuki had always told him everything, had poured his heart out, had asked for help. He had cried, begged, pleaded and sobbed, never afraid to show emotions. Now he was… moving away from Tatsumi, removing himself, and it worried the Shadow Master more than anything.
"Tsuzuki…? You know you can talk about anything with me."
Not even his relationship with Watari would ever change what he felt for Tsuzuki, the love of a brother. Nothing more, nothing less. Everything else was in the past. Watari was his here and now, and his future.
A sigh answered his offer and violet eyes rose slowly to meet worried blue ones.
"I… can't, Tatsumi. I just can't. I can't talk about it with anyone. It's… too personal."
Tatsumi's frown deepened.
"It's… my shikigami," the younger man mumbled.
"Your shikigami?"
Color crept into the pale cheeks. Tsuzuki was blushing.
What was going on? Tatsumi wondered, confused. His shikigami? And he's embarrassed about it?
"So… if it's your shikigami… maybe you can solve it in GensouKai?" he asked, completely at a loss.
A wince. "I don't think so…"
"Tsuzuki…"
A deep sigh. "I know you mean well. I know I can talk to you about just about anything, but… this is something no one can help me with. At least no one in Meifu."
"Is it Touda?"
Tsuzuki paled and swallowed. "W-what…?"
Bingo. So it was the fire serpent. If it was him, then it also had to be something about the bond. Wonderful! Tatsumi's lips became a thin line.
"Listen, Seiichiro," the younger shinigami sighed, raking a hand through his tousled hair. "I… appreciate the concern, but… I really have to deal with this alone. Okay? I mean, if I want to talk about it, I know where to find you."
Tatsumi was given a wan smile and then Tsuzuki left. The Shadow Master gazed at the closed door. He had no idea what to do. He didn't know as much about shikigami as he wanted to. Why should he? His powers didn't require him to find a protector, a shikigami. Tsuzuki had twelve and while there had never been any trouble, ever since the bond to Touda had appeared things were complicated.
And they kept getting more and more so.
Something had happened. Something that was emotionally taking Tsuzuki apart. And there was nothing any of them could do – except Hisoka. And Hisoka appeared to be the last person Tsuzuki actually wanted to turn to.
He sighed silently.
He really didn't need this.
Shinigami could get drunk. It took some time, some heavy drinking, and
some really hard stuff to get past tipsy and enter the realm of 'drunk
as a skunk', but it was possible.
Tsuzuki Asato had long since gone past tipsy or slightly intoxicated.
He had cheerfully drank himself past the point of no return, had hit the
bottle with a vengeance and was by reaching a place where 'high as a kite'
meant he was still sober.
In a word, he was fried.
How he managed to get into GensouKai in that condition, how he could
even maneuver between the worlds, was a complete mystery, but he did.
And he went to the only place he could think of, his safe haven.
Rikugo looked up from the papers he was studying when the doors to his
study creaked open. The astrologer had sensed the arrival of his master
in GensouKai almost immediately – every one of Tsuzuki's shikigami knew
when he was paying a visit and at least one of them, usually Byakko, would
go and greet him. So it did surprise Rikugo to see Tsuzuki without company.
He also was able – to a degree – to read the emotional state of the shinigami,
whether he was upset or happy. Right now, Tsuzuki seemed to be very much
upset – and drunk.
And that was putting it mildly. The man was surrounded by a haze of
alcohol that could intoxicate everyone who came too close.
"Tsuzuki!"
Forgetting about his papers Rikugo rushed to the other man's side,
catching the swaying form before it could hit the floor.
"What happened? What's wrong?"
Large violet eyes tried to focus on his face and failed miserably.
"R'kugo?" Tsuzuki slurred, and the astrologer coughed slightly at the smell
– Tsuzuki was positively reeking of alcohol.
No wonder. A shinigami could hold his liquor pretty well, so to end
up in a state like this, how much did he have?
"Come on, Tsuzuki, let's get you to bed."
"Bed?"
"Yes."
"You?"
He smiled gently. "Yes, I'll take you to bed. You have to sleep this
off."
"Don't wanna. "
Rikugo frowned, carefully steering the drunken man through the corridors
toward his bedroom.
"You don't want to sleep?" he asked, opening the large doors to his
room.
"Uhn-n." Tsuzuki shook his head vehemently, which only resulted in
him swaying even more.
"Why not?"
"Dream."
Rikugo had managed to get Tsuzuki to sit on the bed and kneeled down
to remove the shoes and sock.
"Don' kneel, R'kugo…"
Yes, very drunk. But still able to communicate.
"I'm just taking your shoes off."
"Y' don' havva kneel," Tsuzuki insisted. "Notta servant."
Rikugo decided to ignore the drunken mumblings. The whole subject of
showing respect or submission were a sore spot for their master and none
of the shikigami knelt before him.
"Do you have nightmares, Tsuzuki?" the astrologer asked worriedly,
coming back to the refusal to go to sleep.
He had known his master long enough to understand that sometimes Tsuzuki
was haunted by dreams, by nightmares, usually after he had had an especially
hard case – like picking up the soul of a child or something like that.
"Hn… not really… "
"Then what do you fear to dream of?"
Tie and jacket came next and Rikugo gently pushed Tsuzuki back onto
the mattress, pulling a blanket over his master, tucking him in like he
would a child, listening to him mumbling into the pillow while he sat down
at his side.
"Ya'll love me, he'd said… all of you… ya'll sleep wi' me… "
Here we go again, Rikugo sighed.
Yes, they loved him, all of his twelve shikigami. They would express
their love in every way he would let them, might it be by giving their
own life or giving him pleasure, whatever he would ask of them. But Tsuzuki
couldn't cope with that.
"… he did… Rikugo?"
Large violet eyes opened, still unfocused but holding something like
a plea.
"Yes, Tsuzuki?"
A hand snaked from under the blanket, fingers curled around his wrist.
"Ya'll sleep with me, he'd said. Sleep with me?"
Rikugo sat dumbstruck, trying to make sense of the softly uttered
words – had he understood them correctly?
"You want me to stay here with you?" he carefully asked.
"Hn. Stay, Rikugo… sleep… "
There was more but the astrologer didn't quite understand. But what
he did get was that Tsuzuki needed him, needed him to be his anchor in
a sea of emotional turmoil. He couldn't leave the young man alone and even
if Sohryu had requested his presence right now, he would not have left
the chamber.
Shrugging off his numerous robes until he looked only half as impressive,
wearing a light yukata, he slipped under the blanket with Tsuzuki, feeling
the shinigami snuggle against him almost immediately, seeking out his warmth
and sigh in contentment. Closing his arms around the slender body he listened
to the breathing slowly evening out, indicating that the liquor had finally
won and put Tsuzuki to sleep.
What happened to you? he thought, worry increasing.
Tsuzuki wasn't prone to falling into a bottle when he had a problem.
Even Muraki hadn't driven him that far. Rikugo grimaced at the memory.
No, Muraki had done worse.
Stroking over the brown hair, caressing the flushed skin, the astrologer
wondered what could have occurred.
A case? Problems with Hisoka? Nothing he could think of was strong
enough to get Tsuzuki to so totally lose it.
Well, there was a way to get to the bottom of this.
Rikugo opened his second pair of eyes, the red reptilian orbs round
and alien in his human face. He Looked past the shields, the surface
thoughts that were a jumbled mess at best, and dove deeper into what was
his master's mind. He by-passed places that spoke only of happiness, of
joy, and followed a dark path deeper into the consciousness.
He rarely probed that deep, least of all into his master's mind, but
he needed to know what had the one who was his to protect so upset, and
somehow he doubted he would get a clear answer even if Tsuzuki was awake
and sober.
A little deeper, pushing guards away carefully, he found – Rikugo's
pupils turned into small slits and his eyes narrowed, letting him look
like the dangerous being he in fact was. Rage built up inside of him and
he pulled his master closer.
"Touda!"