DISCLAIMER: Yoko Matsushita is GOD of all yami no matsuei.....I'm just having fun is all :p
Also I've finally done it! Any OC!! NOT a mary sue I assure you. So, the character Rina Ito
is mine, all mine :)
WARNINGS: The rating will go up maybe later, but for right now it's all thanks to violence
and language. Oh, and watch out for flying OOC'ness in characters, hey, it can't helped it's
an AU...well that's my excuse at least ^_^;
PAIRINGS: TsuxSoka, and some...other ones (Wait for it ;p)
..........................................................................................
My World of Strawberries and Cream.
A Window of Colors
A broad grin pulls at my lips, water fills my mouth and my eyes at the sight before me.
Ribbons and bows are tied all around the basket, a beautiful, beautiful basket brimming with all
kinds of confections and sweets of every flavor and color. I'm tempted to pinch myself, to find
out if this is a dream or reality, but I stop myself short of my face. If this is a dream, then
I don't want to wake up! I hurriedly grab up the gift in a hug and can't help but to beam a
smile up at the bestower of my happiness.
"San~kyu, Tatsumi-san!!" I would have giving him a huge hug, had that not meant dropping
my oh so precious treasure of sweet goodness! Tatsumi adjusted his glasses and let a ghost of a
smile appear on his face. Watari, our resident scientist and literal guineas, ran over to me,
nearly crushing me in a vice like hug. I, of course, kept the gift basket out stretched far away
from his killer embrace.
"AWWW~! Look at him, Tatsumi," Watari began as he started to pinch at my cheeks and pull
at them, making my face look more then comical. "He's soooo~ CUTE!!"
"Waa-ga-di! Stu-d eet, eet hu-uets!!" I can barely see his face has gushed with an ear
to ear grin as I feel the skin on my face pulled in directions it should never have gone.
"Hmmm?" He stops mid pull, yet doesn't let go. "What was that Tsuzuki? You sound kinda
weird today?"
"Emf ED eEt OugH!!"
"Ahhh! You DO sound bad! Well then," That innocent smile of his changes to a viscouse one,
like a wolf who'd caught his pray in a trap, "I'm going to have to take you to the lab and...run
some tests!" A cold shiver attacks my body and I just KNOW where this is going. Watari is the
scientist, one who doubles as a nurse when needs be, but after working with him as long as I have,
I don't even touch the coffee in the brake room after he's gotten to it! Watari has an odd habit
of treating everyone in the department as his personal guinea pigs, slipping all kinds of odd
formulas into food, drinks, and anything else he might be able to get someone to ingest, with or
without their consent....or knowledge. He defends himself by saying that it would all stop if
Tatsumi would give him the funds he needs to get proper testing equipment.
Let's just say that Tatsumi's priorities don't seem to include our safety over his budget.
"Watari-san," Tatsumi's neutral voice stops Watari who still has me by the face and had
started to drag me off to his lab. I turn relief flooded eyes up to my savior. I just knew Tatsumi
wouldn't just stand by and let Watari have his way with me! Tatsumi looks straight on at both of
us and continues as he turns his back to us,"...the chief expects us all to be in the briefing in
five minutes."
Waterfalls burst from my eye's, 'I just knew it was too good to hope for...'
Watari finally lets go of my cheeks and smiles back to me and shrugs , "Well, I can wait,
I suppose till after." Watari turned and followed Tatsumi out of the my office to go to the
briefing room. My head falls slack as I realize that after this meeting, my fate will be sealed.
Who knows what he would do to me. There was that one time he turned someone's skin green for a week,
or made a peony sprout off another persons head! For being a guineas Watari sure seems to screw up
his formulas a lot.
My eye's roam over to the gift basket on my desk. Tatsumi had given it to me, saying it
was for how successful the mission turned out down in Hokushu. I felt nothing at those words of
praise. Not that this wasn't something to be proud of! Takushita, our target, was a man who ran
an underground group of child slave traders. Orphans, runaways, abducted children, all were run
through his dirty little underground. That in itself, while sick as it was, was not something
that would grant us, the NSF, to interfere. It wasn't till he started making deals with devils
that we could step in.
Yeah, devils. Honest to god devils. He was selling the children to the demons, in return
he was being granted power, and near immortality. I did say NEAR.
In that cabin, that time, after we left the shadows, Tatsumi and I killed them all. Our
guns and the bonus of surprise aloud us to kill almost everyone else in there within seconds. The
battle with Takushita was a little different. The bullets didn't work, but we expected something to
that effect. It took awhile, but I was able to get past Takushita's demon hounds, using my ofudo,
and pinned him to the ground, locking away his powers with a soul binding spell.
I killed him.
I ripped apart his throat with my hands.
Gingerly, I lift my hand to my face, taking in it's sent. It still reaks of blood. I had
still been wearing those white gloves, now turned black with what should have been that mans blood.
No matter how much I wash my hands, they still smell of blood, a smell that follows me everywhere
it seems. A frown touches my lips. It's a small thing I suppose, really. I just wish I didn't
constantly have to smell like blood.
I'm still standing here like an idiot, arn't I? Tatsumi will be really mad if I'm late
to the meeting after he JUST told me about it! I sigh and move to head for the door, before
something catches me eye. There, under some of the sweets in the basket, is a familiar colored
wrapper. I walk over to the pile of sweets and push some aside. Okay, so it's not like I don't
like the gift. It's not like I don't LIKE sweet things, gods no! In fact, it's one of the only
things I like about this whole world. Instant pleasure and requiem is offered in any sugary
confection, it's so simple, so very simple and I guess most think I'm an idiot for how I would
give anything for them, yet, what can be said about something that can make you forget everything
in the world, everything save for that taste, that texture, that smell. Well, I must be an idiot,
I sound like one now don't I? Oh there it is! My careful digging reveal what I was searching
for, a small bag of strawberry and cream taffy. These were hand made and sold in a candy shop I
found when Tatsumi and I went to Hokushu. I can't help but smile lightly as I pick up the bag.
We only stopped by that store once, I never even noticed that Tatsumi had bought anything. Well,
it was a candy shop and me being me, I don't think I could have noticed if Tatsumi had run around
naked with sparklers! Ahh, well, I might have noticed that...
Remembering Tatsumi, I mentally kick myself as I snatch up the bag, hiding it in my suit
pocket, and rush out of my office full speed to the conference room. I make it down the hall,
charging around the corner. There must have been someone right around the bend, because I see a
a pair of wide green eye's and a pale face as I come crashing head first into the person. I fall
over, unable to keep my feet under me and close my eyes to brace for the painful fall the hard
tile floor promises me. I fell, true enough, but the landing wasn't hard at all. Infact it was
rather soft, and...warm?
'Wait, tile floors arn't warm, well they shouldn't be soft either. And they sure as heck
don't shake like this do they?'
"THAT'S BECAUSE I'M NOT A FLOOR, DUMB ASS!!" An infuriated voice rips through my ears.
'And they SURE don't use language like that...' I inwardly wince and prepare to do the
usual grovel and apology. 'I'm such a klutz.' Using my arms, I push my body up and open my mouth
to give a brief apology, when I stop. Underneath me is a boy, just in between being a child and a
man. He has blond hair and pale skin that contrast greatly with his cold green eyes. He was truly a
sight to behold, and while that was true, what really surprised me, besides those chilled green eyes
of his, was himself. He was a KID. What in the seven hells was a KID doing here in NSF?!? Was it
'bring your child to work day,' and I missed the memo?? My expression twisted in confusion and fear.
'What if he somehow snuck in? It's not safe for him here, no matter who he is, if the other's found
him...'
"Well...?" A cold harsh tone jerked me from my thoughts. I focus again at the sight
before me and realize I've still got the youth pinned beneath me. I didn't know people could
blush that shade of red.
"Oh, sorry for running into you, I'm late so I was just...hehe," I offer in way of
explanation. I offer my hand to help him up. He looks at my hand with what I could swear was
disgust, before pushing himself up on his own accord. He brushes off his jeans and gives me a
death glare before, moving to head past me. I grab his arm to stop him, after all, I've been in
the NSF the longest, and I sure as heck don't know him. I can't just let someone suspicious
wander around headquarters! The second my hand makes contact with him, he stops dead in his
tracks, his eye's go wide, and I wonder if I've squeezed him too tightly. He proves that thought
wrong by roughly jerking his arm away from my hand. He's breathing hard as he keeps those eye's
of his trained on me.
"Keep your hands OFF me," He commands through clenched teeth.
I was about to grab him again, to demand what he was doing here, but somehow, I couldn't
move my body. It was as if an outward force was being used against me. My body was refusing to
acknowledge me! It froze under that gaze. Somehow, it felt as though those eye's could seen
through me. Through ALL of me. Like I was stripped naked then and there. It was not a feeling
anyone would normally welcome, for me...
'I can't be laid bare like that...If that happens, I'll be...'
"Don't worry," The boy states as he turns slightly, his gaze only partly remains on me,
"I'm suppose to be here." He takes a hand out of his pocket and shows me an ID card for our
section. I move my hand to take the card, thanking the gods that my body has decided to obey me
again. As I grab the card from him he quickly takes his hand away so we won't touch. It was a
small motion, but I didn't miss it.
'I'm quite a monster if even this kid won't touch me,' I smile lightly at the thought.
The kid shifts uncomfortably in the corner of my eye, but his gaze isn't upon me. I return my
attention to inspecting the ID card. It contained all the basic information. His name was
Hisoka Kurosaki, he was sixteen years old, and...
"WHAT?!" My eye's must be bugging out of my head with the look I'm getting from this
'Hisoka' now. They MUST be, because what this says can't be right! It Says he's not just a
member of the NSF, but he's an agent. An AGENT!! There's no such thing. This can't be right!.
'There's no WAY they'd let a child be and agent. It's absurd!'
Hisoka is glaring at me again and it looks like he really wants to hit me, even his hands
have curled tightly around his arms and his foot is tapping impatiently. "What's your problem?
You're gapping like a fish." His tone is cynical and impatient. I pull my mouth closed and
hand him back his card.
"It's just...well, you seem really young to be an agent is all." He snatches back the card
from my grasp and puts it back in his pocket.
"What? Is there an age limit on joining or some thing?" He sarcastically remarks. I've
never thought about that before, but, now that I do, I'd say YES! After all, agents kill, it can't
be helped. It's written in the job description! I can't help, but pity the kid.
'children shouldn't be made to do things like this.'
"Hey!," He's giving me a death glare again and I'm really starting to wonder if he has any
other expressions...well there was that blush, the was cute. "Hey!! would you stop that!"
"Huh?" Oh look, there's that blush again!
"Don't think of me like I'm a CHILD!"
"What? I didn't say anything." I put my hands up in show of defense. I feel my lips
strain in a smile that I hope will calm the boy. He must not be a morning person if this is how
long he can stay angry. The my sleeve of my suit falls down a little and I notice my watch on my
wrist.
"Oh, crap! I'm late, I'm late! He's going to kill me," I quickly bow to the boy, "Sorry
for running into you like that. I'll make it up to you!" I turn and continue my way down the
hall calling over my shoulder, "Since you are working for the NSF, I'll buy you lunch next time
I see you!" The boy just looks back at me like I've grown a tail or second head. I'll apologize
better next time I see him, but in order to LIVE that long, I'm going to have to figure out a good
excuse to tell Tatsumi when I see him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And...?" I've been trying to make myself shrink down in size since I first entered the
room. Just what did Tatsumi expect of me anyway? I've NEVER been on time for anything. I can't
stop myself from wringing my hands, I already told him I was late because I ran over a person in
the hall. Okay, so I left out the part where I was just hanging around my office, but still! I
can hear a tired sigh from across the room, I take that as my cue to look up. Tatsumi waves his
hand dismissively muttering something and invites me to sit down. Glad at his never ending
patients, I happily hope over to my seat next to Watari, who is currently giving me a sympathetic
smile.
As I take me seat, I notice the Chief yawning over his cup of coffee. He moved and took
the seat across from Watari, signaling Tatsumi to start the meeting. The Chief is an older man,
somewhere in his fifties, or at least I THINK he is. He won't tell anyone his age. However
chief Konoe is a really good man. He works really hard, and looks out for all the employees in
his division. He's always been like a father to me, and if it weren't for him, I wouldn't even
be here.
After all, he saved me, from that place...
Thoughts and bits of memories flash through my mind. None of them bring forth anything
even close to a pleasant feeling. Quickly I shake me head, as if I could physically toss those
memories away from the front of my thoughts. Oddly, though, it seems to work as the memories
again retreat to the background of my mind. Things like that, I don't need to remember things
like before.
I was saved form that place by the chief, I don't need to remember anything before the
NSF. This is the fate I have accepted for myself. When I first came here, it wasn't a choice to
remember or not, I couldn't. I couldn't even remember my own name. In time though, that blissful
ignorance began to crack and flake away as memories from before began to push their way to the
surface. They're still there, memories of who I was, what I did back then. Memories of places,
faces, emotions, tears, they're all still there, so close to my surface. I can't let myself
think about things too much, or I start to remember things... So far, I haven't remembered
anything I don't want to have just washed away from me. But that tends to be a problem with
memories, once they've stirred, they won't lay back down to the abyss from where they came. They
stay with you, forever. Right now, it's better this way.
A yellow folder is placed in front of me and I follow the retreating hand to the man
sitting next to me. Watari gives me his beaming knowing smile and returns his eye's to Tatsumi.
Tatsumi clicks a button and the room's lights turn off, and the projector in the center of the
table hums to life.
Right, work. I follow everyone's gaze to the pictures that cover the wall, and my stomach
curls of it's own accord. It's a woman...or I THINK it's a woman. The eye's have been burned out,
the arms were torn almost completely off. The chest... was a mutilation. Flesh ripped and hung
in strips over the torso. There was a large whole where the heart should have been. Multiple
deep cuts ran up her legs, her cloths suggested that the killer had taken more then just her blood
in the end.
"This, will be our new case," Tatsumi began,grimly. I try to look at the picture to glen
all the information I can from it, but I can't look at it anymore. Turning my head away I look
to the Chief, who has kept his eye's closed, no doubt he has already seen the file. Shifting my
gaze to Watari, I find the blond scientist with eye's that are wide, his face a mask of horror
and pity. "This is Yokote, Fusami... and this," there's a clicking sound made as the slide changes.
I turn up to see the next slid only to see more of the same, or that's what I think at first till
I notice that the bodies in the pictures are in two different locations; it's another body.
"This is Nozaki, Akira...and this," another sicking click fills the silence of the room, another
body displayed before us.
"Sadamoto, Hajime," *click*
"Ueda, Haruka," *click*
"Iyadomi, Sanoe."
"This is more then just killing..." The horrified tone in Watari's voice pulls me from
the trance the dead Sanoe's eye's have cast upon me. "Look at the wounds on the ribs. The way
they break out from the heart cavity. At first, it just looks like someone reached in and ripped
their hearts out, but those wounds, could only have been made if... It looks the the rips were
torn apart and pushed out from the INSIDE."
"So it's a spell? A demon maybe?" I ask the question to no one in particular
"Our biggest clue right now is this," Tatsumi changes the slide again and this time we see
the murder scene from above. The body is laying in an ally, in the middle of what looks like a
magic circle drawn in the victim's own blood.
"Is it real?" Watari looks to Tatsumi who motions to the folder. We open it up and flip
to the pages that have diagrams of the circle.
"These's words are defiantly demonic." Watari adjusts he glasses to better see the document
in the dark. "I can't read it though. It looks to be a branch off the main language. If I can
figure out what branch it is, it could give us a clue just what kind of demon we're dealing with."
"Don't eliminate the possibility that this could also be the work of a human." Tatsumi
points out to Watari, who just looks quizzically at the older man. "Besides the diagrams we also
found blood at the murder scene. Human blood, and not the victim's either."
"You think a human did this?" I question Tatsumi, however it's the Chief who answerers.
"We really don't know. It could be a demon who just used another human's blood in the
spell, or it could be a human who has extensive knowledge of spells and Demonic tongue, or it
could be a human possessed by a demon, or it could be something completely different. There's
far too many inconsistencies and variables to take into account here. The only thing we do know,
is what Watari has said. A force went into their bodies and the hearts were forced out from the
inside. That's the only reason we even really HAVE this case. Other wise, it would have been
written off as just a satanic serial killer and the police would be handling it." Tatsumi moves
to turn off the projector and the lights flicker back on.
"Don't forget, we're not the police. We don't handle murders, that's not why we're
assigned this case. We are the NSF, we only got this case because it was deemed that these are
more then just the works of a fanatical killer." Flipping through the file quickly I note the
victim's different age's, sex, and social background.
"Wait, so what do these victims have in common anyway?"
"Nothing."
"What??" I can't contain my outburst. These victims were all very ritualistically
killed. In these type of killings, especially ones that involve such intricate spell work, there
is always something that ties the victims of such acts together.
"They have absolutely nothing in common, except the area of Nagasaki. It's where they
lived, and where they were found dead." Tatsumi said stoically.
"That's all we have," Konoe added on finalizing the briefing. Turning his tired eye's on
Watari he made a motion to the folder. "Watari, we're going to need you to translate the spell
and get us any information or leads from it."
"Right, Chief!," Watari jumped up from his seat, saluting the Chief in his excitement at
his assignment, "You can count on me!"
"Then it looks like Tatsumi and I will be doing the foot work on this case." I
grab my folder as I move to get up, but the Chief holds up his hand to stop me.
"No, I need Tatsumi here."
"What??" I can hear the whine in my voice already, but I can't help it! "But, you just
said you needed Watari here to deciphering the spell. I'm not aloud to work a case alone!"
Confusion is whipping my brain around. How could they send me out alone? I mean, I know we're
short staffed, but that's a violation of regulations! Plus, the only other person they could
send me out with, they can't. There's no way I could walk around the streets of Nagasaki with
GuShoShin, I mean he'd stand out like a sore thumb!
"Calm down Tsuzuki," Konoe pats my shoulder on his way to the door holding it open, and
motioning me to follow him. "We can't send you out alone and we won't have to." I follow him
out into the hallway as he starts to walk me to my office.
"Actually we just received a new recruit. He was at the briefing room waiting for you to
show, but since you were late, I just sent him to your office so he could settle in a little bit."
"A partner?" Oh, somehow I was getting a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"He's already been briefed on the mission. It was just because of his...condition that
we thought it better if he wasn't in the briefing with both you and Watari when you were shown
the case."
"'Condition?'"
"I'll explain when I introduce you," Konoe stopped us right in front of my office, and the
sinking feeling I had finnaly bottomed out when I saw the person waiting in my office.
"Tsuzuki," Konoe gestured with his hand to the youth who looked like a deer caught in the
headlights of a car, "this is Kurosaki, Hisoka. Hisoka, this is Tsuzuki, Asato."
"Uh, hehe, h-hello again," I'm trying to smile and be friendly, but my somehow my eyebrow
just keeps twitching. Of course it would make sense. He was new to the NSF, I didn't recognize
him, and I'm the only employee at the time who doesn't have a set partner. They've given me
Tatsumi or Watari for a temporary partner whenever there was an assignment. The words 'partner'
and 'Tsuzuki' just don't mix. I've got a bad reputation around the NSF as the laziest slacker
ever to hold the position... Okay, so I admit, it's not like I haven't earned the title. It does
very little in the way of encouraging people to want to work with me, though, so they've been
giving me the new recruits. They don't usually know what they're in for so they don't protest to
work with someone else till after the first month or two. That's why the boy's next words weren't
very shocking.
"Him?? He's an idiot! There's no way I'm working with him!"
Usually it took more then the first day for those words to come out...
"Oh, so you already met?" Konoe is giving me his, 'just what did you do THIS time' stare.
"If that's what you'd call 'meeting'!" There's a tint of a blush on his face as he
crosses his arms in front of his chest.
'Hehe, he looks really cute when he blushes and pouts like that!'
"Stop that already!" Hisoka raises a finger accusingly at me, "I already told you before,
stop thinking of me like a child!"
"But, I never said that!" Desperately I turn to Konoe, giving him the most pleading look,
"Right? I never said anything like that! I just said hello." The Chief looks like he's about
to burst at the seams, laughter bubbling and escaping the hand he has pressed to his mouth.
"N-now, now!" It's taking all his strength of will to keep the laughter from over coming
his words. Why do I feel like the butt of someone's joke?
"Remember what I said before, Tsuzuki? Hisoka has a special 'condition'. Hisoka here is
EMPATHIC. He can sense emotions and thoughts, so..."
"eh...EE~HH!!!??" Yeah, my slowed brain is finally beginning to piece it all together.
'Wait, so that means that he heard everything I've thought so far?? EVEN NOW?!'
"Well, it sure isn't hard," Hisoka's eye's lock onto mine, again I start to get the feeling
he can see into my core. "You barely have any mental shield, and you're thoughts are so loud..."
There's a pained expression, mixed with annoyance as he pushes his fingers into his temple.
"I'll have nothing, but migraines if I have to work with this stooge!"
'Well, that wasn't very nice.'
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP ALREADY?!"
"Tsuzuki," Konoe interjects in an effort to stop the tension that's escalated off the scale
in the last five minutes, "It's best if you start practicing those mental shielding techniques you
were taught in your training. You haven't forgotten, have you?" There's a weary look in the older
mans eye's as he questions me. I know I'm not much in the way of an agent, but I haven't forgotten
something so basic. I concentrate, relaxing my mind and pull it into myself. I must have succeeded
because the boy's expression relaxes slightly.
"Better?"
"Hmph! About as good as could be expected."
Well I walked right into that one. Konoe gives a slight nod of approval and moves for the
door.
"Hey," Hisoka calls after the older man before he can escape. "It's only temporary right?
Once a position somewhere else is opened I can transfer, right?" Konoe give's a nod, and glances
sadly at me.
"Yes, but until that time, I need you both to cooperate on this case. I'll see what's
open after the case is over." I could swear that Konoe looks like he's pitying me, I can hear it
in his voice, and see it in that last glance he gives me before he leaves the small office.
There's a clicking sound as the door closes, one that only helps to express the silence now left
between me and my new 'partner'.
"Well," I take the initiative and break the silence that only envelopes the room. "Since
you already know the details of the mission," I lift up a my folder of information and gesture
towards the door. "Might as well head down to Nagasaki," I finish with one of my winning smiles.
Nagasaki is actually in my district, and is only a ten minute drive from HQ. Hisoka just gives
me a calculated look, trying to read something about me, and for all I know, he probably can.
It kind of makes me a little nervous, like I've been placed under the microscope. Fidgeting
isn't what I want to be known for!
'Ah well, skrew it.'
"Come on," I bounce over to him, if my attitude throws him off, what I did next made him
nearly die of shock! It's not such a big thing though, just me hooking my arm around his and
hopping out of the office, heading to garage to get to the car.
It's not such a big thing, really.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rina Ito raised her slender arms far over her head, stretching muscles she'd forgotten
she even had. The doctor was speaking some words to her mother who just seemed to smile a little
and nod at them. She never listened to what the doctors said anymore, what's the point any ways?
Nothing was ever going to change. No matter how many times they tested her, she would always be
sick. No matter how much the forced her into those exercises, her legs were never going to work.
She turned away from the look and colors of the hospital room to that of her window.
There was always so much color outside that window. Spring, it was all a beautiful green,
and pink, sakura trees bloomed and burst to life there. Summer, the flower beds of the hospital
gardens gave way, opening finally to their full splendor. Fall, the maple trees turned fire red,
flaming in the burning sunsets. Even in winter, the snow, was most colorful of all. At first
morning's light, the snow reflected every color of the rainbow if you really looked at it. Yes,
every season, for over five years now, she had sat in this bed. Looked out this very window.
Anything was better then where she was now. It was cold, the room smelled of disinfectants, and
the colors in the room... it was as if she was living in a world dead of color, dead of life. It
was not the way she saw her life ever ending up. Not stuck in this black and white room, this
world void of all brightness. Only the window was her company. After all these years though, she
was starting to hate this beautiful view granted to her. To only ever stare out at the playing
children. To only ever stare out, as someone else picked the flower she admired the most.
To be confined in this prison until her body finally decided to join her and give up fighting.
To give up completely, and just disappear.
Why was she still alive? Was her body so bent on betraying her? To make her live as a
shell of a human, to live in a shell of a world. Why did her body betray her own wish to die so
much? All she wanted, all she wished for anymore, was that she would go to sleep, and not awake
back to the lifeless ceiling. That she'd leave the needles, the tests, the pain, all of it. It
was enough. Nothing more could be done, and everyone knew it. Yet still, everyone betrayed her
just as her body had. They lied to her face, with promises that eventually a different treatment
would work, a cure would be found, the pain would stop. Someone, a nurse, long since transferred,
was the cruelest of all. She promised to take her out into the garden when she could leave the
confines of her IVs and tubes that tied her down to all the different machines. She was still tied
down. She still couldn't leave this place. She would NEVER leave this place.
Something warm ran down her face, and dripped onto her hand. Gingerly lifting her hand,
her fingers dabbed at her face, following this odd liquid's source to her own eye. Had she cried?
her face twisted in disbelief. Bringing the fallen tear to her tongue, flicking it out to taste
of the water there. Salty...? She was crying? It had been years since she last shed a tear.
She had thought that she had no more to shed. She swore to herself she wouldn't shed another tear,
no matter what! More hot tears fell from her eye's now, quickly soaking the sheets clenched in her
hands. Her mother said something, had placed her hands on Rina's arms, but Rina was far from her
mother's call, from her mother's warmth. The only warmth she felt now, was the the burning her
tears made as the streaked upon her face.
So, her body was going to betray her even in this?
Life is cruel.
..............TBC
*********************************
My little note's-you-can-skip-over-if-you-don't-wanna-read-this-crappy-kinda-stuff....
Longer than the last one, ne? Ehh, well I hope so anyway. I was going to make this
chapter longer, but thought this might be a good place to stop the madness.
Oh, and I love angst, drama, and tragedy, so there will be much of the above in later
chapters...actually I like useless fluff too so, ;)
Fav. Character? SOKA-CHAN! Good call to Tenshiamanda on that one! Yes, I love that he's
an assassin too. He seems so moody though. The story starts out kinda similar to the manga and
anime, but, na. Trust me, this is a WHOLE nother universe for these guys. And plot? Yes I have
one of those too ^_^ be warned though this is a Lo~ng story.
I'm debating on switching POV's eventually, maybe, but most, if not all of the rest of
the story, will be written from Tsuzuki's.
cross that bridge when I get to it.
I'm gonna try and get the next chapter posted tomorrow if I can.
Also, it's okay to like Rina, I have no intention of having this OC turning this into a
straight, none shounen-ai fic. I LIKE SHOUNEN-AI! That should be obvious by the pairing listed.
At worst, she might become a swooning fan girl... uhh, I really don't have that written
in here for her yet, but I kinda like the sound of that!
PLZ TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK #^_^# All C&C welcome!
Also I've finally done it! Any OC!! NOT a mary sue I assure you. So, the character Rina Ito
is mine, all mine :)
WARNINGS: The rating will go up maybe later, but for right now it's all thanks to violence
and language. Oh, and watch out for flying OOC'ness in characters, hey, it can't helped it's
an AU...well that's my excuse at least ^_^;
PAIRINGS: TsuxSoka, and some...other ones (Wait for it ;p)
..........................................................................................
My World of Strawberries and Cream.
A Window of Colors
A broad grin pulls at my lips, water fills my mouth and my eyes at the sight before me.
Ribbons and bows are tied all around the basket, a beautiful, beautiful basket brimming with all
kinds of confections and sweets of every flavor and color. I'm tempted to pinch myself, to find
out if this is a dream or reality, but I stop myself short of my face. If this is a dream, then
I don't want to wake up! I hurriedly grab up the gift in a hug and can't help but to beam a
smile up at the bestower of my happiness.
"San~kyu, Tatsumi-san!!" I would have giving him a huge hug, had that not meant dropping
my oh so precious treasure of sweet goodness! Tatsumi adjusted his glasses and let a ghost of a
smile appear on his face. Watari, our resident scientist and literal guineas, ran over to me,
nearly crushing me in a vice like hug. I, of course, kept the gift basket out stretched far away
from his killer embrace.
"AWWW~! Look at him, Tatsumi," Watari began as he started to pinch at my cheeks and pull
at them, making my face look more then comical. "He's soooo~ CUTE!!"
"Waa-ga-di! Stu-d eet, eet hu-uets!!" I can barely see his face has gushed with an ear
to ear grin as I feel the skin on my face pulled in directions it should never have gone.
"Hmmm?" He stops mid pull, yet doesn't let go. "What was that Tsuzuki? You sound kinda
weird today?"
"Emf ED eEt OugH!!"
"Ahhh! You DO sound bad! Well then," That innocent smile of his changes to a viscouse one,
like a wolf who'd caught his pray in a trap, "I'm going to have to take you to the lab and...run
some tests!" A cold shiver attacks my body and I just KNOW where this is going. Watari is the
scientist, one who doubles as a nurse when needs be, but after working with him as long as I have,
I don't even touch the coffee in the brake room after he's gotten to it! Watari has an odd habit
of treating everyone in the department as his personal guinea pigs, slipping all kinds of odd
formulas into food, drinks, and anything else he might be able to get someone to ingest, with or
without their consent....or knowledge. He defends himself by saying that it would all stop if
Tatsumi would give him the funds he needs to get proper testing equipment.
Let's just say that Tatsumi's priorities don't seem to include our safety over his budget.
"Watari-san," Tatsumi's neutral voice stops Watari who still has me by the face and had
started to drag me off to his lab. I turn relief flooded eyes up to my savior. I just knew Tatsumi
wouldn't just stand by and let Watari have his way with me! Tatsumi looks straight on at both of
us and continues as he turns his back to us,"...the chief expects us all to be in the briefing in
five minutes."
Waterfalls burst from my eye's, 'I just knew it was too good to hope for...'
Watari finally lets go of my cheeks and smiles back to me and shrugs , "Well, I can wait,
I suppose till after." Watari turned and followed Tatsumi out of the my office to go to the
briefing room. My head falls slack as I realize that after this meeting, my fate will be sealed.
Who knows what he would do to me. There was that one time he turned someone's skin green for a week,
or made a peony sprout off another persons head! For being a guineas Watari sure seems to screw up
his formulas a lot.
My eye's roam over to the gift basket on my desk. Tatsumi had given it to me, saying it
was for how successful the mission turned out down in Hokushu. I felt nothing at those words of
praise. Not that this wasn't something to be proud of! Takushita, our target, was a man who ran
an underground group of child slave traders. Orphans, runaways, abducted children, all were run
through his dirty little underground. That in itself, while sick as it was, was not something
that would grant us, the NSF, to interfere. It wasn't till he started making deals with devils
that we could step in.
Yeah, devils. Honest to god devils. He was selling the children to the demons, in return
he was being granted power, and near immortality. I did say NEAR.
In that cabin, that time, after we left the shadows, Tatsumi and I killed them all. Our
guns and the bonus of surprise aloud us to kill almost everyone else in there within seconds. The
battle with Takushita was a little different. The bullets didn't work, but we expected something to
that effect. It took awhile, but I was able to get past Takushita's demon hounds, using my ofudo,
and pinned him to the ground, locking away his powers with a soul binding spell.
I killed him.
I ripped apart his throat with my hands.
Gingerly, I lift my hand to my face, taking in it's sent. It still reaks of blood. I had
still been wearing those white gloves, now turned black with what should have been that mans blood.
No matter how much I wash my hands, they still smell of blood, a smell that follows me everywhere
it seems. A frown touches my lips. It's a small thing I suppose, really. I just wish I didn't
constantly have to smell like blood.
I'm still standing here like an idiot, arn't I? Tatsumi will be really mad if I'm late
to the meeting after he JUST told me about it! I sigh and move to head for the door, before
something catches me eye. There, under some of the sweets in the basket, is a familiar colored
wrapper. I walk over to the pile of sweets and push some aside. Okay, so it's not like I don't
like the gift. It's not like I don't LIKE sweet things, gods no! In fact, it's one of the only
things I like about this whole world. Instant pleasure and requiem is offered in any sugary
confection, it's so simple, so very simple and I guess most think I'm an idiot for how I would
give anything for them, yet, what can be said about something that can make you forget everything
in the world, everything save for that taste, that texture, that smell. Well, I must be an idiot,
I sound like one now don't I? Oh there it is! My careful digging reveal what I was searching
for, a small bag of strawberry and cream taffy. These were hand made and sold in a candy shop I
found when Tatsumi and I went to Hokushu. I can't help but smile lightly as I pick up the bag.
We only stopped by that store once, I never even noticed that Tatsumi had bought anything. Well,
it was a candy shop and me being me, I don't think I could have noticed if Tatsumi had run around
naked with sparklers! Ahh, well, I might have noticed that...
Remembering Tatsumi, I mentally kick myself as I snatch up the bag, hiding it in my suit
pocket, and rush out of my office full speed to the conference room. I make it down the hall,
charging around the corner. There must have been someone right around the bend, because I see a
a pair of wide green eye's and a pale face as I come crashing head first into the person. I fall
over, unable to keep my feet under me and close my eyes to brace for the painful fall the hard
tile floor promises me. I fell, true enough, but the landing wasn't hard at all. Infact it was
rather soft, and...warm?
'Wait, tile floors arn't warm, well they shouldn't be soft either. And they sure as heck
don't shake like this do they?'
"THAT'S BECAUSE I'M NOT A FLOOR, DUMB ASS!!" An infuriated voice rips through my ears.
'And they SURE don't use language like that...' I inwardly wince and prepare to do the
usual grovel and apology. 'I'm such a klutz.' Using my arms, I push my body up and open my mouth
to give a brief apology, when I stop. Underneath me is a boy, just in between being a child and a
man. He has blond hair and pale skin that contrast greatly with his cold green eyes. He was truly a
sight to behold, and while that was true, what really surprised me, besides those chilled green eyes
of his, was himself. He was a KID. What in the seven hells was a KID doing here in NSF?!? Was it
'bring your child to work day,' and I missed the memo?? My expression twisted in confusion and fear.
'What if he somehow snuck in? It's not safe for him here, no matter who he is, if the other's found
him...'
"Well...?" A cold harsh tone jerked me from my thoughts. I focus again at the sight
before me and realize I've still got the youth pinned beneath me. I didn't know people could
blush that shade of red.
"Oh, sorry for running into you, I'm late so I was just...hehe," I offer in way of
explanation. I offer my hand to help him up. He looks at my hand with what I could swear was
disgust, before pushing himself up on his own accord. He brushes off his jeans and gives me a
death glare before, moving to head past me. I grab his arm to stop him, after all, I've been in
the NSF the longest, and I sure as heck don't know him. I can't just let someone suspicious
wander around headquarters! The second my hand makes contact with him, he stops dead in his
tracks, his eye's go wide, and I wonder if I've squeezed him too tightly. He proves that thought
wrong by roughly jerking his arm away from my hand. He's breathing hard as he keeps those eye's
of his trained on me.
"Keep your hands OFF me," He commands through clenched teeth.
I was about to grab him again, to demand what he was doing here, but somehow, I couldn't
move my body. It was as if an outward force was being used against me. My body was refusing to
acknowledge me! It froze under that gaze. Somehow, it felt as though those eye's could seen
through me. Through ALL of me. Like I was stripped naked then and there. It was not a feeling
anyone would normally welcome, for me...
'I can't be laid bare like that...If that happens, I'll be...'
"Don't worry," The boy states as he turns slightly, his gaze only partly remains on me,
"I'm suppose to be here." He takes a hand out of his pocket and shows me an ID card for our
section. I move my hand to take the card, thanking the gods that my body has decided to obey me
again. As I grab the card from him he quickly takes his hand away so we won't touch. It was a
small motion, but I didn't miss it.
'I'm quite a monster if even this kid won't touch me,' I smile lightly at the thought.
The kid shifts uncomfortably in the corner of my eye, but his gaze isn't upon me. I return my
attention to inspecting the ID card. It contained all the basic information. His name was
Hisoka Kurosaki, he was sixteen years old, and...
"WHAT?!" My eye's must be bugging out of my head with the look I'm getting from this
'Hisoka' now. They MUST be, because what this says can't be right! It Says he's not just a
member of the NSF, but he's an agent. An AGENT!! There's no such thing. This can't be right!.
'There's no WAY they'd let a child be and agent. It's absurd!'
Hisoka is glaring at me again and it looks like he really wants to hit me, even his hands
have curled tightly around his arms and his foot is tapping impatiently. "What's your problem?
You're gapping like a fish." His tone is cynical and impatient. I pull my mouth closed and
hand him back his card.
"It's just...well, you seem really young to be an agent is all." He snatches back the card
from my grasp and puts it back in his pocket.
"What? Is there an age limit on joining or some thing?" He sarcastically remarks. I've
never thought about that before, but, now that I do, I'd say YES! After all, agents kill, it can't
be helped. It's written in the job description! I can't help, but pity the kid.
'children shouldn't be made to do things like this.'
"Hey!," He's giving me a death glare again and I'm really starting to wonder if he has any
other expressions...well there was that blush, the was cute. "Hey!! would you stop that!"
"Huh?" Oh look, there's that blush again!
"Don't think of me like I'm a CHILD!"
"What? I didn't say anything." I put my hands up in show of defense. I feel my lips
strain in a smile that I hope will calm the boy. He must not be a morning person if this is how
long he can stay angry. The my sleeve of my suit falls down a little and I notice my watch on my
wrist.
"Oh, crap! I'm late, I'm late! He's going to kill me," I quickly bow to the boy, "Sorry
for running into you like that. I'll make it up to you!" I turn and continue my way down the
hall calling over my shoulder, "Since you are working for the NSF, I'll buy you lunch next time
I see you!" The boy just looks back at me like I've grown a tail or second head. I'll apologize
better next time I see him, but in order to LIVE that long, I'm going to have to figure out a good
excuse to tell Tatsumi when I see him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And...?" I've been trying to make myself shrink down in size since I first entered the
room. Just what did Tatsumi expect of me anyway? I've NEVER been on time for anything. I can't
stop myself from wringing my hands, I already told him I was late because I ran over a person in
the hall. Okay, so I left out the part where I was just hanging around my office, but still! I
can hear a tired sigh from across the room, I take that as my cue to look up. Tatsumi waves his
hand dismissively muttering something and invites me to sit down. Glad at his never ending
patients, I happily hope over to my seat next to Watari, who is currently giving me a sympathetic
smile.
As I take me seat, I notice the Chief yawning over his cup of coffee. He moved and took
the seat across from Watari, signaling Tatsumi to start the meeting. The Chief is an older man,
somewhere in his fifties, or at least I THINK he is. He won't tell anyone his age. However
chief Konoe is a really good man. He works really hard, and looks out for all the employees in
his division. He's always been like a father to me, and if it weren't for him, I wouldn't even
be here.
After all, he saved me, from that place...
Thoughts and bits of memories flash through my mind. None of them bring forth anything
even close to a pleasant feeling. Quickly I shake me head, as if I could physically toss those
memories away from the front of my thoughts. Oddly, though, it seems to work as the memories
again retreat to the background of my mind. Things like that, I don't need to remember things
like before.
I was saved form that place by the chief, I don't need to remember anything before the
NSF. This is the fate I have accepted for myself. When I first came here, it wasn't a choice to
remember or not, I couldn't. I couldn't even remember my own name. In time though, that blissful
ignorance began to crack and flake away as memories from before began to push their way to the
surface. They're still there, memories of who I was, what I did back then. Memories of places,
faces, emotions, tears, they're all still there, so close to my surface. I can't let myself
think about things too much, or I start to remember things... So far, I haven't remembered
anything I don't want to have just washed away from me. But that tends to be a problem with
memories, once they've stirred, they won't lay back down to the abyss from where they came. They
stay with you, forever. Right now, it's better this way.
A yellow folder is placed in front of me and I follow the retreating hand to the man
sitting next to me. Watari gives me his beaming knowing smile and returns his eye's to Tatsumi.
Tatsumi clicks a button and the room's lights turn off, and the projector in the center of the
table hums to life.
Right, work. I follow everyone's gaze to the pictures that cover the wall, and my stomach
curls of it's own accord. It's a woman...or I THINK it's a woman. The eye's have been burned out,
the arms were torn almost completely off. The chest... was a mutilation. Flesh ripped and hung
in strips over the torso. There was a large whole where the heart should have been. Multiple
deep cuts ran up her legs, her cloths suggested that the killer had taken more then just her blood
in the end.
"This, will be our new case," Tatsumi began,grimly. I try to look at the picture to glen
all the information I can from it, but I can't look at it anymore. Turning my head away I look
to the Chief, who has kept his eye's closed, no doubt he has already seen the file. Shifting my
gaze to Watari, I find the blond scientist with eye's that are wide, his face a mask of horror
and pity. "This is Yokote, Fusami... and this," there's a clicking sound made as the slide changes.
I turn up to see the next slid only to see more of the same, or that's what I think at first till
I notice that the bodies in the pictures are in two different locations; it's another body.
"This is Nozaki, Akira...and this," another sicking click fills the silence of the room, another
body displayed before us.
"Sadamoto, Hajime," *click*
"Ueda, Haruka," *click*
"Iyadomi, Sanoe."
"This is more then just killing..." The horrified tone in Watari's voice pulls me from
the trance the dead Sanoe's eye's have cast upon me. "Look at the wounds on the ribs. The way
they break out from the heart cavity. At first, it just looks like someone reached in and ripped
their hearts out, but those wounds, could only have been made if... It looks the the rips were
torn apart and pushed out from the INSIDE."
"So it's a spell? A demon maybe?" I ask the question to no one in particular
"Our biggest clue right now is this," Tatsumi changes the slide again and this time we see
the murder scene from above. The body is laying in an ally, in the middle of what looks like a
magic circle drawn in the victim's own blood.
"Is it real?" Watari looks to Tatsumi who motions to the folder. We open it up and flip
to the pages that have diagrams of the circle.
"These's words are defiantly demonic." Watari adjusts he glasses to better see the document
in the dark. "I can't read it though. It looks to be a branch off the main language. If I can
figure out what branch it is, it could give us a clue just what kind of demon we're dealing with."
"Don't eliminate the possibility that this could also be the work of a human." Tatsumi
points out to Watari, who just looks quizzically at the older man. "Besides the diagrams we also
found blood at the murder scene. Human blood, and not the victim's either."
"You think a human did this?" I question Tatsumi, however it's the Chief who answerers.
"We really don't know. It could be a demon who just used another human's blood in the
spell, or it could be a human who has extensive knowledge of spells and Demonic tongue, or it
could be a human possessed by a demon, or it could be something completely different. There's
far too many inconsistencies and variables to take into account here. The only thing we do know,
is what Watari has said. A force went into their bodies and the hearts were forced out from the
inside. That's the only reason we even really HAVE this case. Other wise, it would have been
written off as just a satanic serial killer and the police would be handling it." Tatsumi moves
to turn off the projector and the lights flicker back on.
"Don't forget, we're not the police. We don't handle murders, that's not why we're
assigned this case. We are the NSF, we only got this case because it was deemed that these are
more then just the works of a fanatical killer." Flipping through the file quickly I note the
victim's different age's, sex, and social background.
"Wait, so what do these victims have in common anyway?"
"Nothing."
"What??" I can't contain my outburst. These victims were all very ritualistically
killed. In these type of killings, especially ones that involve such intricate spell work, there
is always something that ties the victims of such acts together.
"They have absolutely nothing in common, except the area of Nagasaki. It's where they
lived, and where they were found dead." Tatsumi said stoically.
"That's all we have," Konoe added on finalizing the briefing. Turning his tired eye's on
Watari he made a motion to the folder. "Watari, we're going to need you to translate the spell
and get us any information or leads from it."
"Right, Chief!," Watari jumped up from his seat, saluting the Chief in his excitement at
his assignment, "You can count on me!"
"Then it looks like Tatsumi and I will be doing the foot work on this case." I
grab my folder as I move to get up, but the Chief holds up his hand to stop me.
"No, I need Tatsumi here."
"What??" I can hear the whine in my voice already, but I can't help it! "But, you just
said you needed Watari here to deciphering the spell. I'm not aloud to work a case alone!"
Confusion is whipping my brain around. How could they send me out alone? I mean, I know we're
short staffed, but that's a violation of regulations! Plus, the only other person they could
send me out with, they can't. There's no way I could walk around the streets of Nagasaki with
GuShoShin, I mean he'd stand out like a sore thumb!
"Calm down Tsuzuki," Konoe pats my shoulder on his way to the door holding it open, and
motioning me to follow him. "We can't send you out alone and we won't have to." I follow him
out into the hallway as he starts to walk me to my office.
"Actually we just received a new recruit. He was at the briefing room waiting for you to
show, but since you were late, I just sent him to your office so he could settle in a little bit."
"A partner?" Oh, somehow I was getting a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"He's already been briefed on the mission. It was just because of his...condition that
we thought it better if he wasn't in the briefing with both you and Watari when you were shown
the case."
"'Condition?'"
"I'll explain when I introduce you," Konoe stopped us right in front of my office, and the
sinking feeling I had finnaly bottomed out when I saw the person waiting in my office.
"Tsuzuki," Konoe gestured with his hand to the youth who looked like a deer caught in the
headlights of a car, "this is Kurosaki, Hisoka. Hisoka, this is Tsuzuki, Asato."
"Uh, hehe, h-hello again," I'm trying to smile and be friendly, but my somehow my eyebrow
just keeps twitching. Of course it would make sense. He was new to the NSF, I didn't recognize
him, and I'm the only employee at the time who doesn't have a set partner. They've given me
Tatsumi or Watari for a temporary partner whenever there was an assignment. The words 'partner'
and 'Tsuzuki' just don't mix. I've got a bad reputation around the NSF as the laziest slacker
ever to hold the position... Okay, so I admit, it's not like I haven't earned the title. It does
very little in the way of encouraging people to want to work with me, though, so they've been
giving me the new recruits. They don't usually know what they're in for so they don't protest to
work with someone else till after the first month or two. That's why the boy's next words weren't
very shocking.
"Him?? He's an idiot! There's no way I'm working with him!"
Usually it took more then the first day for those words to come out...
"Oh, so you already met?" Konoe is giving me his, 'just what did you do THIS time' stare.
"If that's what you'd call 'meeting'!" There's a tint of a blush on his face as he
crosses his arms in front of his chest.
'Hehe, he looks really cute when he blushes and pouts like that!'
"Stop that already!" Hisoka raises a finger accusingly at me, "I already told you before,
stop thinking of me like a child!"
"But, I never said that!" Desperately I turn to Konoe, giving him the most pleading look,
"Right? I never said anything like that! I just said hello." The Chief looks like he's about
to burst at the seams, laughter bubbling and escaping the hand he has pressed to his mouth.
"N-now, now!" It's taking all his strength of will to keep the laughter from over coming
his words. Why do I feel like the butt of someone's joke?
"Remember what I said before, Tsuzuki? Hisoka has a special 'condition'. Hisoka here is
EMPATHIC. He can sense emotions and thoughts, so..."
"eh...EE~HH!!!??" Yeah, my slowed brain is finally beginning to piece it all together.
'Wait, so that means that he heard everything I've thought so far?? EVEN NOW?!'
"Well, it sure isn't hard," Hisoka's eye's lock onto mine, again I start to get the feeling
he can see into my core. "You barely have any mental shield, and you're thoughts are so loud..."
There's a pained expression, mixed with annoyance as he pushes his fingers into his temple.
"I'll have nothing, but migraines if I have to work with this stooge!"
'Well, that wasn't very nice.'
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP ALREADY?!"
"Tsuzuki," Konoe interjects in an effort to stop the tension that's escalated off the scale
in the last five minutes, "It's best if you start practicing those mental shielding techniques you
were taught in your training. You haven't forgotten, have you?" There's a weary look in the older
mans eye's as he questions me. I know I'm not much in the way of an agent, but I haven't forgotten
something so basic. I concentrate, relaxing my mind and pull it into myself. I must have succeeded
because the boy's expression relaxes slightly.
"Better?"
"Hmph! About as good as could be expected."
Well I walked right into that one. Konoe gives a slight nod of approval and moves for the
door.
"Hey," Hisoka calls after the older man before he can escape. "It's only temporary right?
Once a position somewhere else is opened I can transfer, right?" Konoe give's a nod, and glances
sadly at me.
"Yes, but until that time, I need you both to cooperate on this case. I'll see what's
open after the case is over." I could swear that Konoe looks like he's pitying me, I can hear it
in his voice, and see it in that last glance he gives me before he leaves the small office.
There's a clicking sound as the door closes, one that only helps to express the silence now left
between me and my new 'partner'.
"Well," I take the initiative and break the silence that only envelopes the room. "Since
you already know the details of the mission," I lift up a my folder of information and gesture
towards the door. "Might as well head down to Nagasaki," I finish with one of my winning smiles.
Nagasaki is actually in my district, and is only a ten minute drive from HQ. Hisoka just gives
me a calculated look, trying to read something about me, and for all I know, he probably can.
It kind of makes me a little nervous, like I've been placed under the microscope. Fidgeting
isn't what I want to be known for!
'Ah well, skrew it.'
"Come on," I bounce over to him, if my attitude throws him off, what I did next made him
nearly die of shock! It's not such a big thing though, just me hooking my arm around his and
hopping out of the office, heading to garage to get to the car.
It's not such a big thing, really.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rina Ito raised her slender arms far over her head, stretching muscles she'd forgotten
she even had. The doctor was speaking some words to her mother who just seemed to smile a little
and nod at them. She never listened to what the doctors said anymore, what's the point any ways?
Nothing was ever going to change. No matter how many times they tested her, she would always be
sick. No matter how much the forced her into those exercises, her legs were never going to work.
She turned away from the look and colors of the hospital room to that of her window.
There was always so much color outside that window. Spring, it was all a beautiful green,
and pink, sakura trees bloomed and burst to life there. Summer, the flower beds of the hospital
gardens gave way, opening finally to their full splendor. Fall, the maple trees turned fire red,
flaming in the burning sunsets. Even in winter, the snow, was most colorful of all. At first
morning's light, the snow reflected every color of the rainbow if you really looked at it. Yes,
every season, for over five years now, she had sat in this bed. Looked out this very window.
Anything was better then where she was now. It was cold, the room smelled of disinfectants, and
the colors in the room... it was as if she was living in a world dead of color, dead of life. It
was not the way she saw her life ever ending up. Not stuck in this black and white room, this
world void of all brightness. Only the window was her company. After all these years though, she
was starting to hate this beautiful view granted to her. To only ever stare out at the playing
children. To only ever stare out, as someone else picked the flower she admired the most.
To be confined in this prison until her body finally decided to join her and give up fighting.
To give up completely, and just disappear.
Why was she still alive? Was her body so bent on betraying her? To make her live as a
shell of a human, to live in a shell of a world. Why did her body betray her own wish to die so
much? All she wanted, all she wished for anymore, was that she would go to sleep, and not awake
back to the lifeless ceiling. That she'd leave the needles, the tests, the pain, all of it. It
was enough. Nothing more could be done, and everyone knew it. Yet still, everyone betrayed her
just as her body had. They lied to her face, with promises that eventually a different treatment
would work, a cure would be found, the pain would stop. Someone, a nurse, long since transferred,
was the cruelest of all. She promised to take her out into the garden when she could leave the
confines of her IVs and tubes that tied her down to all the different machines. She was still tied
down. She still couldn't leave this place. She would NEVER leave this place.
Something warm ran down her face, and dripped onto her hand. Gingerly lifting her hand,
her fingers dabbed at her face, following this odd liquid's source to her own eye. Had she cried?
her face twisted in disbelief. Bringing the fallen tear to her tongue, flicking it out to taste
of the water there. Salty...? She was crying? It had been years since she last shed a tear.
She had thought that she had no more to shed. She swore to herself she wouldn't shed another tear,
no matter what! More hot tears fell from her eye's now, quickly soaking the sheets clenched in her
hands. Her mother said something, had placed her hands on Rina's arms, but Rina was far from her
mother's call, from her mother's warmth. The only warmth she felt now, was the the burning her
tears made as the streaked upon her face.
So, her body was going to betray her even in this?
Life is cruel.
..............TBC
*********************************
My little note's-you-can-skip-over-if-you-don't-wanna-read-this-crappy-kinda-stuff....
Longer than the last one, ne? Ehh, well I hope so anyway. I was going to make this
chapter longer, but thought this might be a good place to stop the madness.
Oh, and I love angst, drama, and tragedy, so there will be much of the above in later
chapters...actually I like useless fluff too so, ;)
Fav. Character? SOKA-CHAN! Good call to Tenshiamanda on that one! Yes, I love that he's
an assassin too. He seems so moody though. The story starts out kinda similar to the manga and
anime, but, na. Trust me, this is a WHOLE nother universe for these guys. And plot? Yes I have
one of those too ^_^ be warned though this is a Lo~ng story.
I'm debating on switching POV's eventually, maybe, but most, if not all of the rest of
the story, will be written from Tsuzuki's.
cross that bridge when I get to it.
I'm gonna try and get the next chapter posted tomorrow if I can.
Also, it's okay to like Rina, I have no intention of having this OC turning this into a
straight, none shounen-ai fic. I LIKE SHOUNEN-AI! That should be obvious by the pairing listed.
At worst, she might become a swooning fan girl... uhh, I really don't have that written
in here for her yet, but I kinda like the sound of that!
PLZ TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK #^_^# All C&C welcome!