Disclaimer: So far, only Rina Ito is my own original character, all the other yummy men/women in
this story all belong to Yoko Matsushita.
WARNINGS: Same warning as before, the rating will go up maybe later, but for right now it's all
thanks to violence and language. Flying OOC'ness in characters, but it's an AU, so that can't
be helped right?...hehe..heh...*cough*!
PAIRINGS: TsuxSoka, and another couple is reviled!! Who? well...
POV warnings, I've set it up so the only first person POV will be Tsuzuki's no one else.
Also, '..' is thoughts and /../ is a memory.
..........................................................................................
My World of Strawberries and Cream.
A Lullaby the Rain Sings to Me
"Apple pie?"
"You REALLY never tried apple pie before??"
"Ahh, no, heh," a light pink touches her cheeks. It only helps serve to remind me that
Hisoka's still unconscious. I look at my partner, well, he'll be my EX-partner, but it's okay to
still be concerned for him... Right?
"He'll be okay." The words shock me back to reality. I look back at the girl I've just
met. Her eye's seem warm, and somehow, very sad. "Really, he'll be okay," she repeated as her
lips pushed into a reassuring smile.
I return her smile, but, it's just another fake one, just so she won't worry about me.
I have an odd thought, one I push to the very, VERY back of my mind. Really where did that come
from?
"What?" She must have caught the look on my face as I tried to bury the forementioned
thought. I look at the girl, and sum up that I like her, and will probably never see her again,
so what harm can come from telling her? Besides, I felt like she was like me in some way. I
couldn't quite say why. It might have just been the fact that she was tied down to that bed, with
all those tubes running around her, IN her. It could have been that smile, that was hallow of any
real happiness. A smile that was only good at tricking people into thinking everything was okay.
It's not like she was bad at it, but it's hard to hide things from people using the same
techniques they do.
"I was just thinking," I admit slowly, as much to myself as to her, "I haven't seen him
smile, and I don't think I ever will." We won't be together much longer, and seeing Rina smile
just now... I just thought how I wanted to see him smile before he left.
"Don't worry," Her words are warm, like they have been tempered with wisdom beyond her
short years. I look to her and am taking back by what I find, a real smile. Warm and radiating.
That smile, purifying, shown through her, making her look not like a sick, thin, pale child, who
had spent more days in a hospital bed then she ever did under the sun.
'How do true smiles make people glow like that?'
"But... He's always mad at me it seems. He's been nothing but cold, you know? I can't
even get him to make any other face besides a scowl," It almost seems like I'm talking about
Hisoka like I've known for a long time. The thought doesn't seem untrue for some odd reason, but
I quickly dismiss that absurd idea from my mind.
Rina reaches out her small hand and places it over mine. I quickly look up at her with
worry. She's positioned precariously on her bed, stretching slightly to reach me. She's still
smiling a real smile at me, almost like she's warming me with that smile, a rare smile she must
reserve for only when she feels it's important. I feel unworthy under it's warmth, but she only
tightens her frail hand on mine when I cast my eye's away.
"If, you be who you are," She says, ever so softly, barely above a hushed whisper. "As
long as you are who you are... It will be okay. Trust me," Her eye's are on me still, but they
have gone clouded now, like she is looking through me, beyond me.
"I can tell, you are a good man, Tsuzuki," Her eye's refocus on me again, drawing back
from what ever land they were before. "Don't give up on him." The last words she says are
somewhat desperate on her lips, like there was so much she meant to say in those few words, more
then the they themselves expressed.
I was about to question her, but there's a stirring behind me. I quickly turn and get
out of my chair to move to my partner's side. Hisoka's eye's are blinking slowly as he fight's
off the fatigue of sleep.
"Hisoka? Are you alright!?!"
"Ba... Baka." Relief floods me, at his words. He still remembers me it seems. He makes
a move to sit up, and I try and help him. He relaxes a little into my touch, which threw me for
a loop, that was, until his eye's finished staving off the drowsiness, and he jerked away from
me.
"I-I don't need help!" He stutters a little as his furiously goes from pale to crimson
in less then a second. I realize I'm smiling, but, it's odd, because I can't remember when it
started. I actually feel... happy?? No, that's not possible for me.
"Are you okay Hisoka? What happened??" I'm desperate to know just what happened, just
why the boy collapsed, just why he screamed in such away that chilled my blood in my heart, and
made all my hairs stand on end. I'm so concerned, that it's starting to twist and root itself into
my heart, quickly becoming a spreading fear.
"You're thinking... too hard." His face isn't the deep crimson as before, but a soft
pink has replaced it. His tone is hard, yet there's something else hidden in it.
'Am I getting better at reading him? Or, is this the first time his words aren't as
cold as before?' I check my mental shields again, just to make sure he isn't going to be getting
any of my distress, or weird thoughts. They have definitely been getting weirder as of late.
"What happened?" I ask quietly. Hisoka gave me a look that lasted only for a second, before
his mask slid back over it. It was in that second though, I hated myself. I put that look on his
face. It was fear, pure fear.
"It was stronger then I thought it would be," he stoically began, his voice was lifeless
of all the emotions he was hiding inside himself. Only his hands, which had grasped the sheet
and were wringing them with white, strained knuckles, reviled how upset he was. Even still, he
didn't stop explaining what had happened, taking a slow breath, he continued. "There was... A
man... he was carving into her... He enjoyed it. Tsuzuki, I don't know, but I don't think that
man was completely human. Humans don't... FEEL like that. He was torchering her. It wasn't
about killing," Deep green eye's raised up to mine. Memories flashed across his eye's, chased
be an expression so fast, I didn't know what to make of it. "When he was cutting me, no, I mean
her, he drew that circle around her body. With my blood, he drew that evil circle. He was
smiling the whole time... Even, even..." Hisoka couldn't keep up the act any longer as his hand
flew to his mouth. He vomited all his stomachs contents onto the hospital floor before his eye's
had glazed and he fell forward. I was able to catch the boy, before he could descend to the
ground.
"Hisoka... I'm sorry." It was my fault. He must have known the effects of doing what
I had asked him to, yet he did it anyway. Even in describing what had happened, he kept on
confusing what had happened to the victim, like it had happened to him. Was that what I had asked
him to do then? I asked him to experiance that horrid death? I didn't know I had asked him to
take on what that woman felt as she was being killed. He belived he was the one killed in that
awful way, and I'm the one who told him to do it!
'Poor kid,' I can't help but think as I gently lay him back down onto the hospital bed,
pulling the blankets up over him. I use what I can find next to the bed and clean the vomit up.
Of course, being killed made him physically sick. I'm a horrid person. His breath evens out as
he collapses into a deep sleep.
"He must be exhausted..." I gently run a hand over some of his soft blond locks, an act
that I'm sure never to repeat again. His face only relaxes slightly as sleep fills him.
"I heard a nurse say he should be okay in a day." I return my eye's to Rina, and can't
stop the embarrassed look that claims my face. 'She saw that...?!? I had forgotten she was there.'
Then it hit's me, she HEARD that. I stiffen slightly, my brain quickly working out what
to do.
'I could kill her...' I can feel the perspiration on my brow. I don't want to. She's a
good person, to kill her would be.... There must be someway to play this off, BUT HOW?!?
"They're bad, huh?"
"Huh?" I'm pulled from my frenzied thoughts at her unexpected question.
"Nightmares. It sounds like he has awful ones." She adjusts in her bed slightly, pulling
up her covers. "It's okay, if you want to stay. I'm just getting a little tired is all. If the
nurse come's back in, you can just tell her that I asked you to stay, kay'?"
"I thank you..." I hesitate before making my next decision. "Rina, can I ask a favor of
you?"
"What?"
"I have some... 'Things' I need to take care of. If I'm not back, when he wakes up..."
She smiles knowingly and waves me away. "It's okay, I'll take care of him."
"Thank you." I warmly reply from the bottom of my heart. I bow deeply, "You're a very
kind girl." A blush tinges her face, and she rubs her hand on her head, giving a nervous laugh.
"I-it's okay. It's my pleasure!" I spare one last glance at my partner and head out of
the room. I trust my instincts. They tell me Rina is a good person. They're also telling me
Hisoka is not as tough as he likes to fake he is. I don't want him to have anything more to do
with this case. I'm going to finish it.
Alone.
My thoughts cloud my vision, and I don't register there's a person in front of me till I
bump into her. I stumble back only slightly, as does the girl I bumped into. At least I didn't
knock her over~
"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." The lady shakes her head slightly
and smiles, trying to ease my discomfort.
"Ah, no, I also was distracted." Her voice is pure and rings like bells as she speaks.
It draws me out of my daze, and I look over her again. She's a beautiful woman, barely in her
twenties. She has chestnut brown hair that's been pulled to the sides into Chinese style buns,
hair that matches her dark hazel eye's. She's holding a bouquet of lovely spring flowers in her
arms, a handmade card placed in them. The flowers can barley hide the Chinese style red dress
that hugs her body more then nicely.
"Sir?" She is looking at me, a knowing gaze. I laugh nervously at being caught staring at her
like that.
"Sorry, it's just, I thought you sounded familiar was all," I offered in way of explanation
to the striking woman.
"Maybe I do," there's a small smile as she makes her way past me. I let that cryptic
answer pass, dismissing the familiarity I heard in her voice; I've never seen this woman before
in my life. Turning out of the hospital, once under the cover of the clouds that hung low in
the sky, I pull out my cell phone and quickly dial the number to Head Quarters.
"Hello?"
"Yes, It's me. I'm going to need your help down here, all right?"
"What? I thought you had gotten a new partner?"
"I'll explain later. Can you meet me at the hotel... and don't tell Tatsumi that I called
asking for your help, okay?"
"I can do that, but what AM I suppose to tell him then?"
"Tell him, I asked you to bring a file to me."
"All right. What file do you want me to bring then?"
"Anyone that you think he'd buy for being relevant will do."
"If Tatsumi found out..."
"It's important, please?"
"... Fine, but only for you."
"Great! I'll see you at the hotel."
"Okay, see you."
*beep*
**********************************************
Rina lay in her bed wide awake. Tired as she was, her mind was too busy processing
everything it had just taken in. She blushed slightly, a memory of talking to someone new, even
more so, when she remembered what she told Tsuzuki. She had prophesied for him. Pulling the
sheets up to her chin she silently chided herself. He probably thought she was really weird now,
it was stupid of her to do that for someone she had just met. A thought crept into her head that
made her skin tingle with dread; what if he TOLD someone? They would think she was crazy. Oh,
it was a BIG mistake to do that! Her mind was so clouded that when a soft tapping hit the door
to her room, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Oh, it's you, Maria." Rina called familiarly to the woman at the door. Maria smiled
softly, walking over to Rina and handing her the bouquet of flowers. Rina hesitated, before taking
the offered gift.
"I know anemones and baby's breath are some of your favorites." Maria warmly smiled at the
girl who held the gift gingerly. Rina's face, was a mask, void of all emotions.
"Last time I visited, it was spring, and you said you wanted to pick the flowers in the
garden." Maria looked past Rina to the window that started shake lightly as thunder began to roll
in on the sky above.
Rina, did not say a single word of thanks to Maria, didn't make any indication that she had
even heard her friends words. Shifting slightly though, she turned to the window next to her
bed, opening it with care.
"Rina," Maria began, her voice flooded with concern, " you shouldn't open the window now,
it's going to rain~" Maria started to raise out of her seat to close the window, and stopped.
Rina held the bouquet out the window, and was ripping the flowers apart ferociously with her
fingers. It showered small white, pink and yellow petals to the ground below. The handmade card
was the last thing left in her small frail fingers. Rina stared momentarily at the card, blinking
but once, then it too she shredded into tiny pieces.
"Rina..." Maria's voice was softer then before, as she continued on to the window, closing
it just after the rain had decided to pour from the sky. The older woman turned to Rina, who was
currently sitting on top of the bed, her arms laying limply in her lap. There was no expression
on her face, no emotion that pulled at her eyes. " Look what you've done," Maria gingerly picked
up her friends hands, examining the cuts that were left behind at her renting of stems and paper.
"You're bleeding." Maria quickly went to the bathroom that adjoined them, returning with bandages
and disinfectant. Carefully Maria opened the disinfectant, and began to dot softly on the silent
girl's fresh cuts.
"....."
"....."
"....Why are you here?"
"I just finished my tour," Maria closed the disinfectant, and began to bandage the injured
fingers. Rina pulled her hands away after the bandaging had been completed. Turning her back to
Maria, she pulled the blankets over herself.
"I was about to go to sleep." Rina coldly stated to the other woman who only smiled and
nodded to her. She couldn't see the small action, but she didn't have to.
"I missed you," Again a soft tone answered to the harsh one. "Is it okay if I stay until
you fall asleep? I promise I won't keep you awake."
Silence was the only thing that answered Maria, and silence was all she really expected.
It would have been an odd sight to see, Rina curled faraway from Maria, Maria smiling warmly at
the distant girl. It would have been an odd sight, to see her silently, as she hugged the book
she had been reading close to her heart.
Rina could not cry. No tears that would promised comfort. No tears that burned on her
skin, or that left her feeling weaker then before. Her heart, had become nothing more then an
empty shell, emptier then it had ever been before. Her head, which had just a moment ago, been
alive with thought, and her heart alive with feeling, both now only clenched in pain. Where had
it gone? Just a little bit ago, she had felt alive, alive, for the first time, in longer then she dared remember. Alive... The
concept seemed a far off one now, one she could no longer grasp.
Not any more.
The rain fell hard that day, a constant tapping sound against the window pane, a soft
drumming against the ground and the torn petals of white, yellow, and pink.
**********************************************
"Ah, GuShoShin!" Watari rushed over to the librarian who had just passed the door to his
lab. The GuShoShin turned , his small feet making a very light tapping sound as he faced Watari.
The little librarian had on a small rain jacket, tall yellow rain boots, and a yellow rain cap.
On his hands were small red gloves, and was sporting a child's backpack. He really looked like a
little grade schooler dressed up like that.
"Tatsumi said you were going to give a file to Tsuzuki that he had requested?"
"Yes, I am," his high pitched young voice broke through the quite halls of the NSF head
quarters.
"Then, here, take this too," Watari handed him a laptop, "This will connect Tsuzuki strait
to my computer here, and I can share what I've found out with him."
"Uhh, but," GuShoShin's huge eye's shifted slightly. "Tsuzuki isn't good with computers..."
"Oh? Really," Watari was either making a good play at being ignorant of Tsuzuki's none
existent technical skills, or he really was ignorant. "Well," Watari smiled and winked at his
small friend, "I guess, you'll just have to stay there and help him for a bit." Watari then did
a light turn and skipped back into his lab.
'Genuses are...scary.' GuShoShin concluded as he placed the laptop into his pack, next
to a yellow folder marked 'Kurosaki, Hisoka'. He then proceeded to head out of the NSF.
The hallway outside Watari's lab, grew darker, as though the shadows in it were growing
stronger, deeper. They pulsed, as if life had awakened in them. Dark ripples pooled and wavered,
anxiously awaiting a direction, a command. Their master was displeased.
Tatsumi was leaning against the wall, just around the corner of where the two deceptive
employees conversation had just taken place. The secretary was no fool, and he knew Tsuzuki far
too well to have fallen for that, 'I'm just bringing a file,' excuse. Tsuzuki and his partner
weren't getting along. That was something that was never new, it was always a constant.
He had told GuShoShin to return after delivering the file, and now Watari had found a way
to side step that command. Pushing up his glasses, he let his thoughts wander into ways of making
the blond pay for messing into his plans like that.
**********************************************
I rushed into the hotel, shaking off the effects of nature from my black trench coat.
Passing the front desk, I was more then glad to note that the woman from the morning was not there.
I take the elevator up to the room I'm sharing, with my currently absent partner, and stop short
at the door.
'It's open...?'
My hand slides into the inner pocket of my jacket and a pull out two of the ofudas I have
stashed in there. Quietly, I press my body against the wall, calling forth any spell from my memory
that might come in handy. Once I've selected a few, I use my free hand to shove the door in. Using
a duck and roll I was taught in my training to quickly enter past the door into the room. The
charms, that were like normal paper a second ago, are now burning hot in my fingers, power filling
them. A quick scan, and I find the room is empty, and undisturbed.
'No, some one's here. I can feel it..."
"Come on out," I hiss low and threatening. My stance hasn't relaxed in the least, as I
stay down close to the ground, ready to move at the first sign of danger.
"Hey, relax it's me!" A scared, childlike voice calls from under the bed.
"wha-? GuShoShi??" I question at that voice, as a small childlike form came scooting
out from underneath that red heart shaped bed. He's dressed very appropriately for the weather.
I feel really bad for GuShoShin, looking at him now. He looks like a small child in the yellow
rain coat. He almost looks human, if it weren't for his face, the one flaw in his disguise.
I was with Tatsumi on a mission, almost four years ago, when we first met GuShoShin. We
had gone in to investigate a lead on a burnt lab. The things we found there, were the deformed
bodies of animals and children, all the products of mixing science and magic. It seemed as though
the person who had conducted the experiments was trying to combine the traits of specific animals,
demons, and humans together. It's called making chimeras I believe. While investigating the burnt
ruins of the lab, we over heard some people talking about a strange animal that had taken to haunting
the ruins at night. We returned again, when the night fell, and found him there, sifting through
the ashen rubble of the building.
He looked as a fine doll, or toy at first. He had huge owl shaped eyes, a small yellow
beak, and soft white feathers that covered all the parts of his body that showed. He was dress
in what looked like a China doll's clothing. Small black shoes that where covered in soot, his
cloths were a bright orange, and he wore a sun colored scarf that tied around his neck. On his
head was a red clothed cap that held a golden circlet around it's base. If it weren't for the
spots of ash and soot that stained his cloths, they would have been warm and colorful.
The little bird creature, upon hearing my approach, quickly jumped up to his feet and
attempted to run. Tatsumi was faster then the small creature, as he willed the shadows to cage
the creature in a prison of darkness. It wasn't until we were finally able to calm him down, and
convince him we weren't there to harm him, that he told us what had happened there.
He was a twin, he had said. He and his brother, were taken by an evil man, a doctor who
was trying to find the way to overcome 'the human condition of death', as he liked to call it. He
knew much of the dark arts and using that, with his knowledge of the human body, he transformed
the brothers into their current states. Apparently something had gone wrong though, as they had
taken on more physical traits in the crossing then they should have. However, the doctor had said
it was a success, as they both acquired an innate talent for magic, and their new bodies wouldn't
age a day. In the process, however, he had wiped their memories of their pasts. Using his magic,
he strengthened the link they shared instead.
He gave them both one name; GuShoShin.
The man was very cruel, as they both quickly learned. He murdered at will with no reguard
to human life. Often, he would take his victims into his lab to cut them apart, and experiment on
their corpses. The twins were forced to assist him in his mutilation of the dead, for if ever one of
them was to refuse or disobey him, he would lock that twin in a cell, then torcher the other one.
With their link enhanced as it had been, it felt as though they both were beeing torchered. Neither
one could bare the thought of doing that to the other.
It was an effective punishment.
It was the night the lab had exploded, that the GuShoShin had made plans to escape. GuShoShin
didn't give the exacts as to what happened, but he said that it was because of his brother that he
was able to escape. GuShoShin had come back to the lab to search for his twin, but his brother
and their master, had disappeared without a trace. GuShoShin insisted that his twin was still
alive, though. That he could feel him through their link. However, if he was still alive, the only
reason that he wouldn't have come to him, would be if the doctor was still alive too, and he was
still under that monster's power.
GuShoShin signed up to help the NSF as the document keeper, our 'librarian'. If there was
any clue to the doctor in those files, he wanted to find it. It's been almost four years since
then. Nothing on the man GuShoShin called 'master' exists in our files, yet GuShoShin says that
he still feels his brother, and for that, he will keep working for the NSF. He believes, that
eventually, one of the cases we receive will lead him to his former 'master', and in turn, his
lost twin.
'If it weren't for that man, GuShoShin would be just a normal little boy.' I can't keep
myself from feeling pity for the child like creature in front of me. He'd gone through a lot in
his short life, yet even still, he was strong. He hadn't given up, and he was still fighting with
a strong spirit that lit up is eye's and seemed to rub off on anyone who was near him. He said that
no matter what, as long as his brother lived, he would never stop search, never give up hope. I
hope that his brother IS alive still, for GuShoShin's sake.
"Hey? You still with me??" GuShoShin is standing up on a chair waving a hand in front of
my eyes. He lets out a small sigh, as I jerk back to the present. "Man, Tsuzuki," He starts as he
hops off the chair, " you sure choose odd times to take a little mental brake." His young voice,
is full of sarcasm.
"Well," I get down on my heels, so I can look him in the eyes, " I was just thinking you
look like a little elementary kid dressed like that!" He turns to me and taps my head with one
of his fingers. An odd energy seeps into my body, first warm as it ripples through me, then it
quickly changes to cold as I feel my joints ridge up. I try to ask him what he did, but my mouth
won't move, I can't even blink!
"I'm sorry Tsuzuki," GuShoShin grins devilishly at me, scrunching up his little feather
covered face, "I missed that, could you repeat it to me." His hand is to his little ear, mockingly.
"Ummmhh Umuummm," A throaty reply is all I can manage to get out through my clenched mouth.
"Well, what's that?" He leans in closer to me and I try again, this time I try shouting,
but the words only brake apart in my throat, making them sound like hysterical cries.
"Ah, I see, so you really mean that you don't NEED me to be doing you this favor, even
though I was putting myself on the line for you, facing a prickling Tatsumi just to help YOU
out? So, I guess I can just go home then?" He taps my head again, releasing me from the spell, I
tip over, losing my precarious balance, and end up on my side on the ground. GuShoShin, shoves his
face a few inches away from mine and gives me a hard, questioning, "Hmm??"
"Ahh, GOMEN!" I put my hands together and bow my head, while still maintaining my sprawled
position on the floor. GuShoShin gives a satisfied look as he goes to the chair he had stood on
before and begins to hang his rain coat and hat on it. I return to my feet by the time he finishes,
as he turns before me, dressed as he usually is, in that same ancient Chinese style garb as always.
I take a seat at the table, while Gushoshin goes back to the bed, fishing around underneath it.
Finding what he was looking for, he pulls it out. I have to stifle a giggle when I see it. It's
a small red backpack that has little cutesy animals embroidered on it. I clam up tight when he
shoots me that warning glare. This was just getting too good!
"I have something for you," he says as he joins me at the table, taking the seat across
from mine. Opening up his backpack he pulls out a laptop that he slides to me.
I flip it open and it turns on automatically. There's some owl wallpaper on the desktop,
and an icon that says 'Click Me ^_^!' Yes, everything about this screams Watari. I click the
Icon, using the built in mouse. A window starts to load, then opens to reveil...
"TA-TA-TATSUMI?!!?!?!" Is the only greeting I can manage to get out at the man who is
glowering at me on the computer screen. He's got that, 'I'm one step ahead of you like always'
smirk of his on, a cowering Watari pops up behind him, waving a greeting from his position behind
the sinister secretary.
"Well, hello to you too, Tsuzuki-san." His voice is perfectly level, only his eye's which
are flickering with black, and the shadows shifting in the background of what looks like Watari's
lab, give away what he's really feeling.
'Ohhhh yeah! He's mad.'
"Y-Yes?" I've put on my best scared puppy dog face, hoping to pacify the choleric man.
My hopes raise as I see him let out a weary sigh. I raise my eye's hopefully to him.
"JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
"Wahh!!" I tip my chair over in fright and I go crashing to the floor. He projects his
inflamed aura even through a computer screen!
"You can't have other employees abandoning their duties here to go and help you, whenever
you want." His tone is like ice, and it betrays no leniency on my behest. "It's a waist of funds
to pull out more then two people on a mission." His tone turns deadly with his last words. Oh
yeah, that's why he gets mad at stuff like this. He's always about the money in the end.
"This job was assigned to you and Hisoka. You're going to just have to get it together for
this mission. This goes for you too, Hisoka. Hisoka?" He pauses from his rant and I keep myself
far away from the very stoic face that, now, is glancing around the room.
"Tsuzuki, where's Hisoka?" Tatsumi's voice is full of warning, if I use the wrong words,
I have no doubt he'll withhold my pay for this month.
"Well, you see, what happened was......" I nervously begin to explain all that happened
that day, hoping Tatsumi would show some compassion on the situation.
At the VERY least, hoping he wouldn't forgo my paycheck again!
**********************************************
The sun had descended from the sky, but clouds still covered the night stars, never ceasing
in their down pour from the heavens. It was this light tapping that pulled the emerald eyed youth
from his deep slumber. He had slept so deeply, he hadn't even dreamt.
'SO,' he remised, 'there are some benefits to being that exhausted.'
Suddenly, Hisoka was aware of another presence in the room with him. Someones soft
voices in a lullaby that was filling the black air around him. He sat up slowly, his eyes
adjusting to the unnatural cloud of darkness the room was covered in. Across from him, he could
make out, through the light of the window, two figures, two women, their faces, though, were still
masked by the darkness, impossible to see. The smaller figure was leaning up against the taller
one, who had her arms wrapped lightly around the smaller girl. She was singing sofltly and rocking
the smaller one, who only nuzzle closer to the source of the soothing tune..
"Yuma?" Hisoka questioned lightly.
The rocking stopped, and Hisoka felt the air in the room change over from that of care
and comfort, to that of shock, dread, fear, and then, slowely, the feelings turned again. The
emotions became that of sadistic humor. He couldn't see her face, but he didn't have to. He
knew she must have a twisted smile pulling at her mouth.
'No, not Yuma.' Quickly the days events replayed themselves out again in his mind. He
came to the NSF, met Konoe, Tatsumi, and Tsuzuki. Nagasaki, he was in Nagasaki now. An ally,
pain, warm light, the smell of disinfectant....
Dark, sickening thoughts pushed against Hisoka's mind. Longing, longing to cause pain,
longing to hurt, longing to for the feeling just as someone gave up, their spirit broken under
the will of the other. Desire, hate, and that sadistic fascination, like a cat who has found a
mouse to rip it's long claws into. To bat at it, letting it run a little, then swiping it down
again. Bleeding it slowly to the edge of death. A savage desire for the crimson that so easily
flowed when aloud. The emotions pushed hard against his mental barriers, pressing cracking,
forcing their way in.
Hisoka's breath hitched in his throat, the presence that emitted these thoughts, these
dark, sick feelings, moved off of the bed, and advanced toward him. Soft foot falls sliced into
the night storm's rhythmic drumming against the building. Each step making his next breath come
thicker then last, harder and harder to push into his lungs.
She was only a few feet away from him now, only a few feet, and yet, the shadows only
intensified around her face. How could he be so close and still not see what stood right in front
of him?! Even without seeing her eye's he could see her mouth. A mouth where the edges turned up
and pulled the lips desperately thin against teeth. Hisoka opened his mouth, but no sound emerged.
He tried again, and again, only the sound of air passing out of his throat was the result, his
efforts a vain attempt. The girls lips pulled into an full open mouth grin. Ever so slowly, she
raised her hand to her face, a finger pressing onto that very grin.
"shhhh~"
Her command stilled all sounds. The world became deafly quite, quite to the point where
it seemed the silence was the loudest thing in the entire world. Sweat covered Hisoka's brow, his
chest constricted. Using every bit of will he had, he pushed the fear to the back of his mind.
There was no way in HELL he was going to let his mind crumble under the weight of the sick BITCH
that stood before him! Pushing himself away form the foreboding figure, he readied himself to
fight in anyway he could.
Hisoka didn't have his gun with him, and there were no objects in reach to use against
the advancing threat. Quickly weighing out his options, he braced himself against the wall. There
was only one weapon left to him now, one he regarded with great apprehension. He didn't want to
use it, if there was another way he could avoid it.
The looming evil shadow suddenly shot out it's long bony clawed hands as it leapt onto
him. Hisoka could see it's eye's then, saw how pitch black they were, and saw himself grow in
the reflection of those eyes, as the creature grew in his own.
It wants to kill him. It was going to kill him!
Flesh rent and tore as it met razor sharp claws, crimson spattering against white walls and
blue covers.
Green eye's dilate, clouded with shock and pain.
A word escapes from shaking lips.
A red light fills the room.
The rain descends to the ground, a rhythmic, constant lullaby. A lullaby that drowns out
all other sounds, enveloping the city in it's sad song, all the way through until the night's end.
..............TBC
*********************************
My little note's-you-can-skip-over-if-you-don't-wanna-read-this-crappy-kinda-stuff....
HAHAHA! A real cliff hanger, right, right?... Right?
Sorry this one took so long. I had writer's block for a bit there. Gomen ne?
The second coupling to be announced? How do you like a little shoujo-ai? Yes the second
coupling will be a little Maria Wong and Rina Ito. Like it? Don't? Well, if you're against
shoujo-ai... just relax and take it slow ^_^! Shoujo isn't such a far jump from Shounen that
anyone here shouldn't be able to handle it.
The GuShoShin, is himself! I tried really hard when I was making the plot to put the
GuShoShin in there, in a believable way, didn't fail, did I -_-;?
The cast grows! Maria, GuShoShin, and even Yuma is mentioned so far in this chapter.
I'm so proud right now ^_^. only a few more to knock down, but unfortunately, that won't be till
way later. Damn plot, getting in the way of my fun... well the plots fun too so that's okay.
Plus, enough forshadowing to choke a horse in this one, huh?
And a BIG thank you everyone for your kind words! It really helps me to write and be
inspired, when my brain takes a hiatus. Really, it means alot #^_^#
Again C&C welcome. Let me know of how you think the story is going so far. Like, love, hate?
this story all belong to Yoko Matsushita.
WARNINGS: Same warning as before, the rating will go up maybe later, but for right now it's all
thanks to violence and language. Flying OOC'ness in characters, but it's an AU, so that can't
be helped right?...hehe..heh...*cough*!
PAIRINGS: TsuxSoka, and another couple is reviled!! Who? well...
POV warnings, I've set it up so the only first person POV will be Tsuzuki's no one else.
Also, '..' is thoughts and /../ is a memory.
..........................................................................................
My World of Strawberries and Cream.
A Lullaby the Rain Sings to Me
"Apple pie?"
"You REALLY never tried apple pie before??"
"Ahh, no, heh," a light pink touches her cheeks. It only helps serve to remind me that
Hisoka's still unconscious. I look at my partner, well, he'll be my EX-partner, but it's okay to
still be concerned for him... Right?
"He'll be okay." The words shock me back to reality. I look back at the girl I've just
met. Her eye's seem warm, and somehow, very sad. "Really, he'll be okay," she repeated as her
lips pushed into a reassuring smile.
I return her smile, but, it's just another fake one, just so she won't worry about me.
I have an odd thought, one I push to the very, VERY back of my mind. Really where did that come
from?
"What?" She must have caught the look on my face as I tried to bury the forementioned
thought. I look at the girl, and sum up that I like her, and will probably never see her again,
so what harm can come from telling her? Besides, I felt like she was like me in some way. I
couldn't quite say why. It might have just been the fact that she was tied down to that bed, with
all those tubes running around her, IN her. It could have been that smile, that was hallow of any
real happiness. A smile that was only good at tricking people into thinking everything was okay.
It's not like she was bad at it, but it's hard to hide things from people using the same
techniques they do.
"I was just thinking," I admit slowly, as much to myself as to her, "I haven't seen him
smile, and I don't think I ever will." We won't be together much longer, and seeing Rina smile
just now... I just thought how I wanted to see him smile before he left.
"Don't worry," Her words are warm, like they have been tempered with wisdom beyond her
short years. I look to her and am taking back by what I find, a real smile. Warm and radiating.
That smile, purifying, shown through her, making her look not like a sick, thin, pale child, who
had spent more days in a hospital bed then she ever did under the sun.
'How do true smiles make people glow like that?'
"But... He's always mad at me it seems. He's been nothing but cold, you know? I can't
even get him to make any other face besides a scowl," It almost seems like I'm talking about
Hisoka like I've known for a long time. The thought doesn't seem untrue for some odd reason, but
I quickly dismiss that absurd idea from my mind.
Rina reaches out her small hand and places it over mine. I quickly look up at her with
worry. She's positioned precariously on her bed, stretching slightly to reach me. She's still
smiling a real smile at me, almost like she's warming me with that smile, a rare smile she must
reserve for only when she feels it's important. I feel unworthy under it's warmth, but she only
tightens her frail hand on mine when I cast my eye's away.
"If, you be who you are," She says, ever so softly, barely above a hushed whisper. "As
long as you are who you are... It will be okay. Trust me," Her eye's are on me still, but they
have gone clouded now, like she is looking through me, beyond me.
"I can tell, you are a good man, Tsuzuki," Her eye's refocus on me again, drawing back
from what ever land they were before. "Don't give up on him." The last words she says are
somewhat desperate on her lips, like there was so much she meant to say in those few words, more
then the they themselves expressed.
I was about to question her, but there's a stirring behind me. I quickly turn and get
out of my chair to move to my partner's side. Hisoka's eye's are blinking slowly as he fight's
off the fatigue of sleep.
"Hisoka? Are you alright!?!"
"Ba... Baka." Relief floods me, at his words. He still remembers me it seems. He makes
a move to sit up, and I try and help him. He relaxes a little into my touch, which threw me for
a loop, that was, until his eye's finished staving off the drowsiness, and he jerked away from
me.
"I-I don't need help!" He stutters a little as his furiously goes from pale to crimson
in less then a second. I realize I'm smiling, but, it's odd, because I can't remember when it
started. I actually feel... happy?? No, that's not possible for me.
"Are you okay Hisoka? What happened??" I'm desperate to know just what happened, just
why the boy collapsed, just why he screamed in such away that chilled my blood in my heart, and
made all my hairs stand on end. I'm so concerned, that it's starting to twist and root itself into
my heart, quickly becoming a spreading fear.
"You're thinking... too hard." His face isn't the deep crimson as before, but a soft
pink has replaced it. His tone is hard, yet there's something else hidden in it.
'Am I getting better at reading him? Or, is this the first time his words aren't as
cold as before?' I check my mental shields again, just to make sure he isn't going to be getting
any of my distress, or weird thoughts. They have definitely been getting weirder as of late.
"What happened?" I ask quietly. Hisoka gave me a look that lasted only for a second, before
his mask slid back over it. It was in that second though, I hated myself. I put that look on his
face. It was fear, pure fear.
"It was stronger then I thought it would be," he stoically began, his voice was lifeless
of all the emotions he was hiding inside himself. Only his hands, which had grasped the sheet
and were wringing them with white, strained knuckles, reviled how upset he was. Even still, he
didn't stop explaining what had happened, taking a slow breath, he continued. "There was... A
man... he was carving into her... He enjoyed it. Tsuzuki, I don't know, but I don't think that
man was completely human. Humans don't... FEEL like that. He was torchering her. It wasn't
about killing," Deep green eye's raised up to mine. Memories flashed across his eye's, chased
be an expression so fast, I didn't know what to make of it. "When he was cutting me, no, I mean
her, he drew that circle around her body. With my blood, he drew that evil circle. He was
smiling the whole time... Even, even..." Hisoka couldn't keep up the act any longer as his hand
flew to his mouth. He vomited all his stomachs contents onto the hospital floor before his eye's
had glazed and he fell forward. I was able to catch the boy, before he could descend to the
ground.
"Hisoka... I'm sorry." It was my fault. He must have known the effects of doing what
I had asked him to, yet he did it anyway. Even in describing what had happened, he kept on
confusing what had happened to the victim, like it had happened to him. Was that what I had asked
him to do then? I asked him to experiance that horrid death? I didn't know I had asked him to
take on what that woman felt as she was being killed. He belived he was the one killed in that
awful way, and I'm the one who told him to do it!
'Poor kid,' I can't help but think as I gently lay him back down onto the hospital bed,
pulling the blankets up over him. I use what I can find next to the bed and clean the vomit up.
Of course, being killed made him physically sick. I'm a horrid person. His breath evens out as
he collapses into a deep sleep.
"He must be exhausted..." I gently run a hand over some of his soft blond locks, an act
that I'm sure never to repeat again. His face only relaxes slightly as sleep fills him.
"I heard a nurse say he should be okay in a day." I return my eye's to Rina, and can't
stop the embarrassed look that claims my face. 'She saw that...?!? I had forgotten she was there.'
Then it hit's me, she HEARD that. I stiffen slightly, my brain quickly working out what
to do.
'I could kill her...' I can feel the perspiration on my brow. I don't want to. She's a
good person, to kill her would be.... There must be someway to play this off, BUT HOW?!?
"They're bad, huh?"
"Huh?" I'm pulled from my frenzied thoughts at her unexpected question.
"Nightmares. It sounds like he has awful ones." She adjusts in her bed slightly, pulling
up her covers. "It's okay, if you want to stay. I'm just getting a little tired is all. If the
nurse come's back in, you can just tell her that I asked you to stay, kay'?"
"I thank you..." I hesitate before making my next decision. "Rina, can I ask a favor of
you?"
"What?"
"I have some... 'Things' I need to take care of. If I'm not back, when he wakes up..."
She smiles knowingly and waves me away. "It's okay, I'll take care of him."
"Thank you." I warmly reply from the bottom of my heart. I bow deeply, "You're a very
kind girl." A blush tinges her face, and she rubs her hand on her head, giving a nervous laugh.
"I-it's okay. It's my pleasure!" I spare one last glance at my partner and head out of
the room. I trust my instincts. They tell me Rina is a good person. They're also telling me
Hisoka is not as tough as he likes to fake he is. I don't want him to have anything more to do
with this case. I'm going to finish it.
Alone.
My thoughts cloud my vision, and I don't register there's a person in front of me till I
bump into her. I stumble back only slightly, as does the girl I bumped into. At least I didn't
knock her over~
"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." The lady shakes her head slightly
and smiles, trying to ease my discomfort.
"Ah, no, I also was distracted." Her voice is pure and rings like bells as she speaks.
It draws me out of my daze, and I look over her again. She's a beautiful woman, barely in her
twenties. She has chestnut brown hair that's been pulled to the sides into Chinese style buns,
hair that matches her dark hazel eye's. She's holding a bouquet of lovely spring flowers in her
arms, a handmade card placed in them. The flowers can barley hide the Chinese style red dress
that hugs her body more then nicely.
"Sir?" She is looking at me, a knowing gaze. I laugh nervously at being caught staring at her
like that.
"Sorry, it's just, I thought you sounded familiar was all," I offered in way of explanation
to the striking woman.
"Maybe I do," there's a small smile as she makes her way past me. I let that cryptic
answer pass, dismissing the familiarity I heard in her voice; I've never seen this woman before
in my life. Turning out of the hospital, once under the cover of the clouds that hung low in
the sky, I pull out my cell phone and quickly dial the number to Head Quarters.
"Hello?"
"Yes, It's me. I'm going to need your help down here, all right?"
"What? I thought you had gotten a new partner?"
"I'll explain later. Can you meet me at the hotel... and don't tell Tatsumi that I called
asking for your help, okay?"
"I can do that, but what AM I suppose to tell him then?"
"Tell him, I asked you to bring a file to me."
"All right. What file do you want me to bring then?"
"Anyone that you think he'd buy for being relevant will do."
"If Tatsumi found out..."
"It's important, please?"
"... Fine, but only for you."
"Great! I'll see you at the hotel."
"Okay, see you."
*beep*
**********************************************
Rina lay in her bed wide awake. Tired as she was, her mind was too busy processing
everything it had just taken in. She blushed slightly, a memory of talking to someone new, even
more so, when she remembered what she told Tsuzuki. She had prophesied for him. Pulling the
sheets up to her chin she silently chided herself. He probably thought she was really weird now,
it was stupid of her to do that for someone she had just met. A thought crept into her head that
made her skin tingle with dread; what if he TOLD someone? They would think she was crazy. Oh,
it was a BIG mistake to do that! Her mind was so clouded that when a soft tapping hit the door
to her room, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Oh, it's you, Maria." Rina called familiarly to the woman at the door. Maria smiled
softly, walking over to Rina and handing her the bouquet of flowers. Rina hesitated, before taking
the offered gift.
"I know anemones and baby's breath are some of your favorites." Maria warmly smiled at the
girl who held the gift gingerly. Rina's face, was a mask, void of all emotions.
"Last time I visited, it was spring, and you said you wanted to pick the flowers in the
garden." Maria looked past Rina to the window that started shake lightly as thunder began to roll
in on the sky above.
Rina, did not say a single word of thanks to Maria, didn't make any indication that she had
even heard her friends words. Shifting slightly though, she turned to the window next to her
bed, opening it with care.
"Rina," Maria began, her voice flooded with concern, " you shouldn't open the window now,
it's going to rain~" Maria started to raise out of her seat to close the window, and stopped.
Rina held the bouquet out the window, and was ripping the flowers apart ferociously with her
fingers. It showered small white, pink and yellow petals to the ground below. The handmade card
was the last thing left in her small frail fingers. Rina stared momentarily at the card, blinking
but once, then it too she shredded into tiny pieces.
"Rina..." Maria's voice was softer then before, as she continued on to the window, closing
it just after the rain had decided to pour from the sky. The older woman turned to Rina, who was
currently sitting on top of the bed, her arms laying limply in her lap. There was no expression
on her face, no emotion that pulled at her eyes. " Look what you've done," Maria gingerly picked
up her friends hands, examining the cuts that were left behind at her renting of stems and paper.
"You're bleeding." Maria quickly went to the bathroom that adjoined them, returning with bandages
and disinfectant. Carefully Maria opened the disinfectant, and began to dot softly on the silent
girl's fresh cuts.
"....."
"....."
"....Why are you here?"
"I just finished my tour," Maria closed the disinfectant, and began to bandage the injured
fingers. Rina pulled her hands away after the bandaging had been completed. Turning her back to
Maria, she pulled the blankets over herself.
"I was about to go to sleep." Rina coldly stated to the other woman who only smiled and
nodded to her. She couldn't see the small action, but she didn't have to.
"I missed you," Again a soft tone answered to the harsh one. "Is it okay if I stay until
you fall asleep? I promise I won't keep you awake."
Silence was the only thing that answered Maria, and silence was all she really expected.
It would have been an odd sight to see, Rina curled faraway from Maria, Maria smiling warmly at
the distant girl. It would have been an odd sight, to see her silently, as she hugged the book
she had been reading close to her heart.
Rina could not cry. No tears that would promised comfort. No tears that burned on her
skin, or that left her feeling weaker then before. Her heart, had become nothing more then an
empty shell, emptier then it had ever been before. Her head, which had just a moment ago, been
alive with thought, and her heart alive with feeling, both now only clenched in pain. Where had
it gone? Just a little bit ago, she had felt alive, alive, for the first time, in longer then she dared remember. Alive... The
concept seemed a far off one now, one she could no longer grasp.
Not any more.
The rain fell hard that day, a constant tapping sound against the window pane, a soft
drumming against the ground and the torn petals of white, yellow, and pink.
**********************************************
"Ah, GuShoShin!" Watari rushed over to the librarian who had just passed the door to his
lab. The GuShoShin turned , his small feet making a very light tapping sound as he faced Watari.
The little librarian had on a small rain jacket, tall yellow rain boots, and a yellow rain cap.
On his hands were small red gloves, and was sporting a child's backpack. He really looked like a
little grade schooler dressed up like that.
"Tatsumi said you were going to give a file to Tsuzuki that he had requested?"
"Yes, I am," his high pitched young voice broke through the quite halls of the NSF head
quarters.
"Then, here, take this too," Watari handed him a laptop, "This will connect Tsuzuki strait
to my computer here, and I can share what I've found out with him."
"Uhh, but," GuShoShin's huge eye's shifted slightly. "Tsuzuki isn't good with computers..."
"Oh? Really," Watari was either making a good play at being ignorant of Tsuzuki's none
existent technical skills, or he really was ignorant. "Well," Watari smiled and winked at his
small friend, "I guess, you'll just have to stay there and help him for a bit." Watari then did
a light turn and skipped back into his lab.
'Genuses are...scary.' GuShoShin concluded as he placed the laptop into his pack, next
to a yellow folder marked 'Kurosaki, Hisoka'. He then proceeded to head out of the NSF.
The hallway outside Watari's lab, grew darker, as though the shadows in it were growing
stronger, deeper. They pulsed, as if life had awakened in them. Dark ripples pooled and wavered,
anxiously awaiting a direction, a command. Their master was displeased.
Tatsumi was leaning against the wall, just around the corner of where the two deceptive
employees conversation had just taken place. The secretary was no fool, and he knew Tsuzuki far
too well to have fallen for that, 'I'm just bringing a file,' excuse. Tsuzuki and his partner
weren't getting along. That was something that was never new, it was always a constant.
He had told GuShoShin to return after delivering the file, and now Watari had found a way
to side step that command. Pushing up his glasses, he let his thoughts wander into ways of making
the blond pay for messing into his plans like that.
**********************************************
I rushed into the hotel, shaking off the effects of nature from my black trench coat.
Passing the front desk, I was more then glad to note that the woman from the morning was not there.
I take the elevator up to the room I'm sharing, with my currently absent partner, and stop short
at the door.
'It's open...?'
My hand slides into the inner pocket of my jacket and a pull out two of the ofudas I have
stashed in there. Quietly, I press my body against the wall, calling forth any spell from my memory
that might come in handy. Once I've selected a few, I use my free hand to shove the door in. Using
a duck and roll I was taught in my training to quickly enter past the door into the room. The
charms, that were like normal paper a second ago, are now burning hot in my fingers, power filling
them. A quick scan, and I find the room is empty, and undisturbed.
'No, some one's here. I can feel it..."
"Come on out," I hiss low and threatening. My stance hasn't relaxed in the least, as I
stay down close to the ground, ready to move at the first sign of danger.
"Hey, relax it's me!" A scared, childlike voice calls from under the bed.
"wha-? GuShoShi??" I question at that voice, as a small childlike form came scooting
out from underneath that red heart shaped bed. He's dressed very appropriately for the weather.
I feel really bad for GuShoShin, looking at him now. He looks like a small child in the yellow
rain coat. He almost looks human, if it weren't for his face, the one flaw in his disguise.
I was with Tatsumi on a mission, almost four years ago, when we first met GuShoShin. We
had gone in to investigate a lead on a burnt lab. The things we found there, were the deformed
bodies of animals and children, all the products of mixing science and magic. It seemed as though
the person who had conducted the experiments was trying to combine the traits of specific animals,
demons, and humans together. It's called making chimeras I believe. While investigating the burnt
ruins of the lab, we over heard some people talking about a strange animal that had taken to haunting
the ruins at night. We returned again, when the night fell, and found him there, sifting through
the ashen rubble of the building.
He looked as a fine doll, or toy at first. He had huge owl shaped eyes, a small yellow
beak, and soft white feathers that covered all the parts of his body that showed. He was dress
in what looked like a China doll's clothing. Small black shoes that where covered in soot, his
cloths were a bright orange, and he wore a sun colored scarf that tied around his neck. On his
head was a red clothed cap that held a golden circlet around it's base. If it weren't for the
spots of ash and soot that stained his cloths, they would have been warm and colorful.
The little bird creature, upon hearing my approach, quickly jumped up to his feet and
attempted to run. Tatsumi was faster then the small creature, as he willed the shadows to cage
the creature in a prison of darkness. It wasn't until we were finally able to calm him down, and
convince him we weren't there to harm him, that he told us what had happened there.
He was a twin, he had said. He and his brother, were taken by an evil man, a doctor who
was trying to find the way to overcome 'the human condition of death', as he liked to call it. He
knew much of the dark arts and using that, with his knowledge of the human body, he transformed
the brothers into their current states. Apparently something had gone wrong though, as they had
taken on more physical traits in the crossing then they should have. However, the doctor had said
it was a success, as they both acquired an innate talent for magic, and their new bodies wouldn't
age a day. In the process, however, he had wiped their memories of their pasts. Using his magic,
he strengthened the link they shared instead.
He gave them both one name; GuShoShin.
The man was very cruel, as they both quickly learned. He murdered at will with no reguard
to human life. Often, he would take his victims into his lab to cut them apart, and experiment on
their corpses. The twins were forced to assist him in his mutilation of the dead, for if ever one of
them was to refuse or disobey him, he would lock that twin in a cell, then torcher the other one.
With their link enhanced as it had been, it felt as though they both were beeing torchered. Neither
one could bare the thought of doing that to the other.
It was an effective punishment.
It was the night the lab had exploded, that the GuShoShin had made plans to escape. GuShoShin
didn't give the exacts as to what happened, but he said that it was because of his brother that he
was able to escape. GuShoShin had come back to the lab to search for his twin, but his brother
and their master, had disappeared without a trace. GuShoShin insisted that his twin was still
alive, though. That he could feel him through their link. However, if he was still alive, the only
reason that he wouldn't have come to him, would be if the doctor was still alive too, and he was
still under that monster's power.
GuShoShin signed up to help the NSF as the document keeper, our 'librarian'. If there was
any clue to the doctor in those files, he wanted to find it. It's been almost four years since
then. Nothing on the man GuShoShin called 'master' exists in our files, yet GuShoShin says that
he still feels his brother, and for that, he will keep working for the NSF. He believes, that
eventually, one of the cases we receive will lead him to his former 'master', and in turn, his
lost twin.
'If it weren't for that man, GuShoShin would be just a normal little boy.' I can't keep
myself from feeling pity for the child like creature in front of me. He'd gone through a lot in
his short life, yet even still, he was strong. He hadn't given up, and he was still fighting with
a strong spirit that lit up is eye's and seemed to rub off on anyone who was near him. He said that
no matter what, as long as his brother lived, he would never stop search, never give up hope. I
hope that his brother IS alive still, for GuShoShin's sake.
"Hey? You still with me??" GuShoShin is standing up on a chair waving a hand in front of
my eyes. He lets out a small sigh, as I jerk back to the present. "Man, Tsuzuki," He starts as he
hops off the chair, " you sure choose odd times to take a little mental brake." His young voice,
is full of sarcasm.
"Well," I get down on my heels, so I can look him in the eyes, " I was just thinking you
look like a little elementary kid dressed like that!" He turns to me and taps my head with one
of his fingers. An odd energy seeps into my body, first warm as it ripples through me, then it
quickly changes to cold as I feel my joints ridge up. I try to ask him what he did, but my mouth
won't move, I can't even blink!
"I'm sorry Tsuzuki," GuShoShin grins devilishly at me, scrunching up his little feather
covered face, "I missed that, could you repeat it to me." His hand is to his little ear, mockingly.
"Ummmhh Umuummm," A throaty reply is all I can manage to get out through my clenched mouth.
"Well, what's that?" He leans in closer to me and I try again, this time I try shouting,
but the words only brake apart in my throat, making them sound like hysterical cries.
"Ah, I see, so you really mean that you don't NEED me to be doing you this favor, even
though I was putting myself on the line for you, facing a prickling Tatsumi just to help YOU
out? So, I guess I can just go home then?" He taps my head again, releasing me from the spell, I
tip over, losing my precarious balance, and end up on my side on the ground. GuShoShin, shoves his
face a few inches away from mine and gives me a hard, questioning, "Hmm??"
"Ahh, GOMEN!" I put my hands together and bow my head, while still maintaining my sprawled
position on the floor. GuShoShin gives a satisfied look as he goes to the chair he had stood on
before and begins to hang his rain coat and hat on it. I return to my feet by the time he finishes,
as he turns before me, dressed as he usually is, in that same ancient Chinese style garb as always.
I take a seat at the table, while Gushoshin goes back to the bed, fishing around underneath it.
Finding what he was looking for, he pulls it out. I have to stifle a giggle when I see it. It's
a small red backpack that has little cutesy animals embroidered on it. I clam up tight when he
shoots me that warning glare. This was just getting too good!
"I have something for you," he says as he joins me at the table, taking the seat across
from mine. Opening up his backpack he pulls out a laptop that he slides to me.
I flip it open and it turns on automatically. There's some owl wallpaper on the desktop,
and an icon that says 'Click Me ^_^!' Yes, everything about this screams Watari. I click the
Icon, using the built in mouse. A window starts to load, then opens to reveil...
"TA-TA-TATSUMI?!!?!?!" Is the only greeting I can manage to get out at the man who is
glowering at me on the computer screen. He's got that, 'I'm one step ahead of you like always'
smirk of his on, a cowering Watari pops up behind him, waving a greeting from his position behind
the sinister secretary.
"Well, hello to you too, Tsuzuki-san." His voice is perfectly level, only his eye's which
are flickering with black, and the shadows shifting in the background of what looks like Watari's
lab, give away what he's really feeling.
'Ohhhh yeah! He's mad.'
"Y-Yes?" I've put on my best scared puppy dog face, hoping to pacify the choleric man.
My hopes raise as I see him let out a weary sigh. I raise my eye's hopefully to him.
"JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
"Wahh!!" I tip my chair over in fright and I go crashing to the floor. He projects his
inflamed aura even through a computer screen!
"You can't have other employees abandoning their duties here to go and help you, whenever
you want." His tone is like ice, and it betrays no leniency on my behest. "It's a waist of funds
to pull out more then two people on a mission." His tone turns deadly with his last words. Oh
yeah, that's why he gets mad at stuff like this. He's always about the money in the end.
"This job was assigned to you and Hisoka. You're going to just have to get it together for
this mission. This goes for you too, Hisoka. Hisoka?" He pauses from his rant and I keep myself
far away from the very stoic face that, now, is glancing around the room.
"Tsuzuki, where's Hisoka?" Tatsumi's voice is full of warning, if I use the wrong words,
I have no doubt he'll withhold my pay for this month.
"Well, you see, what happened was......" I nervously begin to explain all that happened
that day, hoping Tatsumi would show some compassion on the situation.
At the VERY least, hoping he wouldn't forgo my paycheck again!
**********************************************
The sun had descended from the sky, but clouds still covered the night stars, never ceasing
in their down pour from the heavens. It was this light tapping that pulled the emerald eyed youth
from his deep slumber. He had slept so deeply, he hadn't even dreamt.
'SO,' he remised, 'there are some benefits to being that exhausted.'
Suddenly, Hisoka was aware of another presence in the room with him. Someones soft
voices in a lullaby that was filling the black air around him. He sat up slowly, his eyes
adjusting to the unnatural cloud of darkness the room was covered in. Across from him, he could
make out, through the light of the window, two figures, two women, their faces, though, were still
masked by the darkness, impossible to see. The smaller figure was leaning up against the taller
one, who had her arms wrapped lightly around the smaller girl. She was singing sofltly and rocking
the smaller one, who only nuzzle closer to the source of the soothing tune..
"Yuma?" Hisoka questioned lightly.
The rocking stopped, and Hisoka felt the air in the room change over from that of care
and comfort, to that of shock, dread, fear, and then, slowely, the feelings turned again. The
emotions became that of sadistic humor. He couldn't see her face, but he didn't have to. He
knew she must have a twisted smile pulling at her mouth.
'No, not Yuma.' Quickly the days events replayed themselves out again in his mind. He
came to the NSF, met Konoe, Tatsumi, and Tsuzuki. Nagasaki, he was in Nagasaki now. An ally,
pain, warm light, the smell of disinfectant....
Dark, sickening thoughts pushed against Hisoka's mind. Longing, longing to cause pain,
longing to hurt, longing to for the feeling just as someone gave up, their spirit broken under
the will of the other. Desire, hate, and that sadistic fascination, like a cat who has found a
mouse to rip it's long claws into. To bat at it, letting it run a little, then swiping it down
again. Bleeding it slowly to the edge of death. A savage desire for the crimson that so easily
flowed when aloud. The emotions pushed hard against his mental barriers, pressing cracking,
forcing their way in.
Hisoka's breath hitched in his throat, the presence that emitted these thoughts, these
dark, sick feelings, moved off of the bed, and advanced toward him. Soft foot falls sliced into
the night storm's rhythmic drumming against the building. Each step making his next breath come
thicker then last, harder and harder to push into his lungs.
She was only a few feet away from him now, only a few feet, and yet, the shadows only
intensified around her face. How could he be so close and still not see what stood right in front
of him?! Even without seeing her eye's he could see her mouth. A mouth where the edges turned up
and pulled the lips desperately thin against teeth. Hisoka opened his mouth, but no sound emerged.
He tried again, and again, only the sound of air passing out of his throat was the result, his
efforts a vain attempt. The girls lips pulled into an full open mouth grin. Ever so slowly, she
raised her hand to her face, a finger pressing onto that very grin.
"shhhh~"
Her command stilled all sounds. The world became deafly quite, quite to the point where
it seemed the silence was the loudest thing in the entire world. Sweat covered Hisoka's brow, his
chest constricted. Using every bit of will he had, he pushed the fear to the back of his mind.
There was no way in HELL he was going to let his mind crumble under the weight of the sick BITCH
that stood before him! Pushing himself away form the foreboding figure, he readied himself to
fight in anyway he could.
Hisoka didn't have his gun with him, and there were no objects in reach to use against
the advancing threat. Quickly weighing out his options, he braced himself against the wall. There
was only one weapon left to him now, one he regarded with great apprehension. He didn't want to
use it, if there was another way he could avoid it.
The looming evil shadow suddenly shot out it's long bony clawed hands as it leapt onto
him. Hisoka could see it's eye's then, saw how pitch black they were, and saw himself grow in
the reflection of those eyes, as the creature grew in his own.
It wants to kill him. It was going to kill him!
Flesh rent and tore as it met razor sharp claws, crimson spattering against white walls and
blue covers.
Green eye's dilate, clouded with shock and pain.
A word escapes from shaking lips.
A red light fills the room.
The rain descends to the ground, a rhythmic, constant lullaby. A lullaby that drowns out
all other sounds, enveloping the city in it's sad song, all the way through until the night's end.
..............TBC
*********************************
My little note's-you-can-skip-over-if-you-don't-wanna-read-this-crappy-kinda-stuff....
HAHAHA! A real cliff hanger, right, right?... Right?
Sorry this one took so long. I had writer's block for a bit there. Gomen ne?
The second coupling to be announced? How do you like a little shoujo-ai? Yes the second
coupling will be a little Maria Wong and Rina Ito. Like it? Don't? Well, if you're against
shoujo-ai... just relax and take it slow ^_^! Shoujo isn't such a far jump from Shounen that
anyone here shouldn't be able to handle it.
The GuShoShin, is himself! I tried really hard when I was making the plot to put the
GuShoShin in there, in a believable way, didn't fail, did I -_-;?
The cast grows! Maria, GuShoShin, and even Yuma is mentioned so far in this chapter.
I'm so proud right now ^_^. only a few more to knock down, but unfortunately, that won't be till
way later. Damn plot, getting in the way of my fun... well the plots fun too so that's okay.
Plus, enough forshadowing to choke a horse in this one, huh?
And a BIG thank you everyone for your kind words! It really helps me to write and be
inspired, when my brain takes a hiatus. Really, it means alot #^_^#
Again C&C welcome. Let me know of how you think the story is going so far. Like, love, hate?