Disclaimer: Yoko Matsushita is the creator of all Yami no Matsuei and all its characters. OC(s) so far include Rina Ito, and that's it. More will follow.

Warning(s): Nothing new here.

Pairings: TsuxSoka, TasxTzu, and MurxSoka. More later...

POV: First person POV will always be Tsuzuki and no one else; however POV will change when I feel it's best for the story.

Notes: Again, '...' thoughts and ...is memories.

"Watashi no Otouto....

yasashi otoko no ko....

demo....

Sono warui roku-nin wa

....watshi no Otouto-chan o

....kuroshite

'ano gohan o tabemasen'

atashi wa shiki desu.

Sou... atashi wa atashi no Otouto-chan mohou desu.

Sore kara atashi wa jahito o kirai

Daikirai

Sore kara mina wa atashi o kuroshite

Mina wa shin daiyo

kore wa tsukuri-banashi janai."

.....

......

......

The harsh sounds of flesh bruising under assailing feet and fists echoed inside the empty halls of the school. The body that received the attacks crumbled to the ground. His legs had not worked for some time after the assault began; however the ones betting him had not let that stop their attack. Instead two of the boys had held his arms firmly as the third boy, Kishima, had relentlessly barreled his fists into the trapped boy's torso. When Kishima had finished, the two lackeys released their hold of the boy, letting him fall to the floor.

"I told you, didn't I?" The arrogant voice of his assailant filled the deserted hallway. Kishima was more happy then angry right now, as he had his enemy battered and spitting blood on the floor in front of him. Smirking, he bent down, grabbing a hand full of hair, and roughly yanked the boy's head back, letting him see into two pained, and still defiant, green eyes. Those eyes were ones that would never submit, no matter how many times he was to be beaten. The defiance and strength that filled them once again lit the anger that had stirred on the attack. Kishima brought his fist down onto that face, bashing the boy's head onto the floor in turn.

"Keep your eyes to yourself, Hijiri!"

Hijiri lay still on the cold tiled floor, his blood pounding loudly behind his ears, fighting the darkness that was threatening to overcome his sight. He couldn't allow himself to pass out, no matter how they beat him. He couldn't fight back now, but he wouldn't let them get away with this. Every fiber of his being swore to this, as his assailants mockingly laughed at his injured state, and left him to lie in his own blood.

They were going to pay!

"We just received this," Tatsumi's voice filled the darkened room. He clicked a button on the control for the slide projector. There were three bodies, old men, all hanging inside a hallway, their heads tipped to the sides. "This is taking priority due to it's... Troubling circumstances."

"Suicide?" I voice the question to Tatsumi, who shakes his head and pushes his glasses higher in silent reply.

"Why would the NSF be interested in some old men hanging themselves? I thought we only handled things that went beyond the realm of the police." That voice, sounding irritated as usual, came from across the table, causing me to flinch unconsciously. I can't help but be grateful for the darkness in the room. I have my hands on my lap too, to help me keep the bandages that are around my right wrist well out of sight.

"This was no suicide. To start with," Tatsumi raised his hand to the projected screen, indicating to the area below the bodies, "there is no way these men could have hung themselves; there was nothing for them to stand on anywhere near the scene." Clicking the control again, he flipped to the next slide. The next picture was a close up of the fine fishing-line string that held the bodies suspended in the air.

"That string is so thin, it should have cut through their skin," Watari pointed out from his seat next to me. He really was the analytical type.

"Yes, however," Tatsumi turned his eyes to the blond, "This is no sting." His voice seemed a little off of its usual cool and controlled speech, or was that just my imagination? Maybe I'm one who is over analyzing now.

"It's hair. They were each hung by a single strand of human hair."

"That must be some shampoo."

Ohh, okay I didn't mean for that to slip out!! Definitely not the thing to say, especially with the looks I'm getting from the entire room. I'm just going to shut up now, and see if I can get my body to shrink down any lower in my seat. There's a faint cough as Tatsumi is trying to return attention back to the front of the room.

"This hair, while strong, also has another interesting property."

"Besides breaking the laws of physics?" Watari is way to chipper, considering that we have three hallow looking eyes staring out at us on that big screen. Well, I can't be any better; I'll bet that the ghosts of those guys are going to put a hex on us for taking their deaths so lightly. Oh, no, wait! Tatsumi just said something and everyone got wide eyed and really quite. What was it? What did I miss?! This can't be good. Ahh, crap, there's no way I can ask him to repeat what he just said.

"That's impossible!" Watari's metal chair scrapped against the floor as the blond stood up, slamming both his hands on the table.

'What did I miss??!!' I'm so stressed on worrying about what was said that I almost missed the hushed words that came across from me.

"Watari's right. Even if you say that those three are 'sixteen year old high school students', how can that be?" Hisoka finishes his question to Tatsumi, and shoots me a quick look before returning his eyes to the front. I can feel my mouth drop. There's no way, did he...

Did he just do what I think he did?

"Their DNA matches that of Matsuura, Akihisa; Yamaguchi, Ryota; and Kishima, Keiji." Another click changed the picture from the corpses to the school photo of each of the students. All were young, healthy looking boys, nothing like their withered, dead bodies.

"But how?" Watari is sounding rather amazed, or was he impressed? Either way, I just know that it can't bode well.

"We have a theory on that, and it would tie in with the cause of death." Tatsumi moved to the light switch, flicking it on before he passed out folders to each of us. Inside was the autopsy report for each of the victims. I really hate trying to figure these things out, but luckily...

"They died of a complete system failure? They didn't die of strangulation?"

...Watari always bursts out with a quick translation.

"Total cellular failure. Every organ in their body shut down at about the same time. Death was not due to lack of oxygen in their blood, and not a single one of their necks was broken. Every part of their body shut down due to, as best we can tell, old age." Tatsumi moved over to the projected that sat near me at the end of the table, clicking it off. "We are going with the assumption that they're life force was drained from their bodies, and possible through that hair. This would explain their aged state, and would follow with the preliminary test results we have preformed on the hairs themselves."

"We also have reason to believe there will be three more victims in addition to these three." Tatsumi isn't looking at us, and I can't help but feel he's dodging something. I try waiting for him to continue, however he's giving no indication that he has anything left to share. Opening my mouth to ask, however, another voice cuts me off.

"How do you know three more will die?" Tatsumi looks on at Hisoka, yet he is just staring at the boy, he doesn't even look like he's deciding if he wants to answer or not. He's lips remain closed, his expression unreadable.

"That is classified," The Chief voice fills in the muted Tatsumi's stead, bringing the cup of tea he's been holding onto up to his lips.

"Wait, what do you mean 'classified'?!" Watari bursts out, not bothering to even try and hide his shock. I have to admit, I'm shocked too. There is rarely anything they keep a secret from us when it involves a mission. All information is important for solving the cases as quickly as possible.

"It means just that."

Watari tries to protest that last bit; however the Chief gives one of his 'evil eye' stares and the scientist meeps a little before pulling his seat back under him.

"I'm going to need all of you in the field on this one. If the next three are going to die it will be within the next week or two max." Konoe pointed at Watari, getting a puzzled look from the scientist, who questioning blinked several times and pointed at himself in return. "You're going out too."

"Wha- Really??" Now THAT is odd. Watari is an agent, true, however he hasn't been out on a mission in the last six months. Normally he stays behind and works on solving any clues or problems that arise while we're out in the field. This is defiantly becoming very strange. There's a solid tapping on the table drawing my attention to Tatsumi who is actually tapping the folder in front of him, and not the table.

"Each of us has been assigned roles to play out. This case will require us to investigate the school where the murders occurred. We will need to be able to freely talk with all members of the staff and student body." Flipping into my folder I find I'm supposed to play out a nurse. I can't help but fell they might be giving me the wrong role here. I mean, I really am not that good with things like how to treat sicknesses or anything. Why couldn't they have made me the janitor? I know how to clean, that's easy. Watari seems happy with whatever he was assigned as he is practically beaming and singing 'science is the spice of life'. I know I shouldn't look, but I can't help my curiosity. Casting my eyes toward my par-... Hisoka, I can't really make out his reaction as he reads his role. Well, actually, he looks pissed, but he almost always looks that way. "The one who killed those three boys will either be casing the school, be a member of the faculty, or even the student body."

"So they could be anyone." Hisoka's irritation at the all inclusive category of suspects is evident in his tone.

"You have two hours before you have to leave," Konoe began, un-phased by the last comment and rose up from his chair. His eyes looked each of us in turn. So many emotions had filled those tired eyes before he shook whatever thoughts had been filling them away. "You should all familiarize yourselves with your cover and the case... Good luck." The last of his words where hesitantly added, his voice portraying something that I couldn't quite put my finger on, yet it worried me deeply.

Each took our folders with the information we were required to study and made our way out the door. Watari headed for his lab, still singing, Tatsumi gave me a small nod, before following Konoe to his office, leaving just me and Hisoka. I try to smile; it's not a comfortable situation and it's the only thing I know how to do.

I don't want to be around him right now. It's been only three days since I last talked to him, or even saw him. I've been making a point to avoid any place he might go, like the break room, the infirmary, and our office... Tatsumi shares an office with Konoe, and Watari's office is his lab, and I'm the only one who has an empty desk so even though we aren't partners anymore we still have to share the same small office.

"You don't have to get so fidgety around me..." Hisoka's harsh tone knocks me off my train of thought. He's staring at me, agitated again. Not a big surprise. "It's not like I'm going to bite you."

"No-no, it's not that at all," Rubbing my head and offering a laugh as best I can; it comes out sounding rather pathetic. I must seem really stupid to him, that's what his eyes are saying at least, though...

"Hisoka, you look really good."

Something very hard hits my head, rocking it with a quick wave of pain that then leaves me to step back and stare wide eyed at a very pink and very, very angry face.

"W-WHAT WAS THAT FOR??!"

"YOU IDOIT!!"

Our outbursts where simultaneous, leaving both of us to just stare confused at each other. I thought it was uncomfortable before, but this silence is defiantly the most awkward it's been since we've met. I've decided to keep my eyes averted, maybe this will help make it a little more bearable, you know, if I don't see him he can't see me thing? What I really didn't expect was for him to be the one to quietly break the silence that had engulfed the void around us.

"...What do you mean?" His voice is very hushed, and when I look at him, questioning with my eyes, I find his own turned down and to the side as mine had been. It takes me just a little time before I catch onto what he was referring to.

"I... I don't see any bandages on you." My hands are up and in front of me, just incase he decides he wants to throw another blow. His reaction is a complete one-eighty of what I had expected though, as his head whips around to look up at me, a face with shock filled wide green eyes. For a second, I could swear there was a deep seeded sadness in them. However, his expression quickly melts away, his eyes growing hard and narrow as anger reclaims his voice.

"What... What would you care about that?!" His tone rising and becoming more enraged with every word. I can't help but pull my arms over my head for my own defense, noticing how tightly his hands have curled into fists.

"I'm sorry!"

'Why is he getting so mad??'

"I was hopping you were feeling better!!"

I really am expecting him to pummel me; I'm waiting for it. My eyes squeeze shut too, waiting for the blows. It's not that I can understand why he is going to do it, but I'm more then sure I deserve it. I end up standing in that position, for quite a while with no fist striking out at me. Lifting up my head to open just one eye to see what was happening, I can only stare on at a very cute and confused red face that is so close in front of me.

"Idiot..." Hisoka's voice has no edge with the insult, his face quickly hiding his emotions that had been so clear just a moment ago. Keeping his file under his arm, he shoves his hands into his jeans and turns away, leaving me to stand there arms still raised over my head. Letting my arms drop down after he takes a corner, I can only stare at the spot he disappeared.

That's when it started.

A strange warm feeling was slowly building in my chest. Even though it was small, it felt...safe; peaceful. My hand unconsciously moves to my chest, to see if it could be felt on my skin. However, the pleasant sensation was short lived.

The soft, warm feeling is quickly replaced with one far more dark and painful then the soft lulling emptiness that usually fills me. The small point of serenity that had lit up inside me only cast darker shadows then the ones that had existed before. The pain increased and my hand began curling into the fabric of my shirt, my muscles tightening in response. That small amount of warmth only served to show what the whole of my being was filled with. Straitening my composure, I head up to the nearest staircase to run and hid in my one impenetrable haven; the garden on the roof.

My mind, unbidden, races as I ascend the stairs; each foot step on the cement echoing in my ears timing it's self with my heart beats. I know this emptiness I feel was always there, it's not something that I haven't felt everyday, every minute. Now, though, I know this new feeling that had flickered in me was different. It was pleasant, and it only served to show just how much the void that had long since consumed me hurt by comparison.

The source, the cause of this painful calm eludes my mind; as my mind was already forcing the new, now unwelcome, sensation away under the same haze that has encompassed it ever since I awoke. I don't want to fight it either, it's better this way.

It's better to forget painful things.

Do not get Hisoka wrong on this point! He wasn't trying to be nice to that dolt. He just didn't want to hear his stupid question about 'what was said just then?' And not hitting him when he most defiantly deserved it? Or even just talking to him? No, it's not that he was being nice to that idiot. Being too mean to that fool was going to blow his cover! Tatsumi had already told him that he was the first one that that man had ever rejected, ever! That meant that he stood out to an extreme. If it ever came down to it, and he would have to stave off suspicion, something like that would only help to set him apart from most normal agents...right? Those were the lines his mind was running over and over again. That fool was going to blow his cover, and he hadn't done anything to him. He wasn't even the one to injure his wrist. Really though, what did he care if that fool was hurt? Hisoka had seen the bandages around Tsuzuki's wrist when he had raised his arms to block his blow. After all, what business of his was it? He wasn't Tsuzuki's partner. Never wanted it; glad it's gone!

Hisoka stopped in 'his' office placing his folder on 'his' desk. Suppressing a huff of indignation, the blond rested his head on his hand, eyes turning to stare at the empty desk just to his left. Amending that last bit, the chair was empty; the desk was covered in papers and files. Green eyes spotted a few wrappers that never made it into the trash can under the desk, and an open box of taffy that rested on the corner. The desk it's self was very full, but no one had occupied it for three days now. That 'no one' who had been avoiding him, the one who tried to avert his eyes every time he was anywhere near Hisoka.

That no one who said they didn't want to be his partner...

Leaning back in his chair, it gave a slight squeak under the change of pressure on its hinges. Hisoka flipped open his file, grimacing once more at the cliché roll he was going to be asked to play; transfer student. This whole case was starting to play out like a bad scripted detective novel. Sure it was logical for him to play a student, he looked the age and all, but... Pressing his eyes closed, the blond let out a sigh, releasing some of the pent up anger with it.

".... I really don't like people."

The words were a voice to a deadened room; confiding his thoughts within the four walls. Everyone needs to talk to someone; everyone needs to share things about themselves. Hisoka's choice in whom, or more like what, was based on the fact of if it couldn't talk back. If it couldn't share those private words he spoke with another living soul. This left him more then not confiding in animals, or, as in this case, with inanimate objects or empty rooms. He truthfully would not, or could not, speak in confidence with another human. He couldn't trust them. As an empath you would think that he could understand humans very well, communicate openly with them. However, the problem was he could see into people too well. He knew their hearts, and the dark fingerings that stirred in them. He had yet to like what he had seen; he knew humans far better then anyone else. He hated people. It was their disposition to hurt others, their intolerance, their lack of understanding of the consequences their own selfish acts caused. There was very little he could say he did like in people, so he would rather simply avoid any type of interaction with them.

With that understanding in mind, the thought of parading through a school as a student, trying to wean information out of the kids there, was not something he looked forward to. Not in the least. There was no doubt in his head this assignment was going to be hell.

Hisoka thoroughly read through the cover he had to take. He may not like people, however, there was no way in any level of the 7 hells he was not going to give everything he could into the investigation or anything else he attempted; his responsible and serious side taking over. After he had the cover memorized front to back he closed the folder, left the stilled office, and headed to Watari's lab where their identifications and cloths for this job were being kept.

In truth he had never been to Watari's lab. His grand tour of the NSF had failed to show him where that particular room was. Konoe had only shown him to his office and the break room. Turning another corner lead the empath to a stairwell and a dead end. Spinning around, the boy was mentally cursing the NSF and all the people in it. You would think they would at least show you all the places you needed to go. Especially in this maze of a building! Just how was he suppose find this lab? A tiny voice in the back of his head put in its own two cents, telling him that he probably would have known if he were with Tsuzuki. His partner was the one who was suppose to show him the ropes as it were, ere go, the layout of the NSF... right? He couldn't suppress a small chuckle at the irony of his situation.

"Well, if this isn't fucked up..."

Hisoka continued his search of this level the building, when he passed by a door that was ajar; the rapid flight of fingers of a keyboard pulling his attention into the room. Deciding it would be better to ask for help then wander around for half an hour; Hisoka pressed the door open, eyes searching the room before him. Actually, it was more then just another office room. It was a massively huge library! Books that filled the shelves to the ceiling, and many more that didn't even fit inside the shelves lay in stacks on the floor. The center of the room also had bookshelves rowed through it. There was an old fashioned wood desk directly to his right, covered with papers and pens. The seat behind the desk was empty. However, the clicking of keys revealed the location of the occupant of the room as being on the opposite side of the entry away from the door, but the shelves were limiting his view of the operator of the computer. Hisoka gave a slight cough to announce his presences. At first there was no stop in the rhythm of the clicking keys, so the empath decided to raise the octaves of the cough a few levels, bringing a halt to the typing that echoed in the room.

"Hello?" Hisoka let his voice be carried into the room, just loud enough to be heard, but not so much as to destroy the serenity that enveloped this room cresend with the written words of thousands, if not millions of individuals. Emerald eyes searched the room for any signs of movement. Straining with his eyes to focus around the area, the empath began to use his gift unintentional to scan the room for emotions to pin-point the location of the individual in the room. He's sixth sense easily picked up on the other person who, if his senses were right, was very close to him.

With a start, green eyes widened and feet quickly jumped the youth back so as to place distance between him and whatever had just jerked on his cloths. Looking down at the source of the effect was a sight that made Hisoka became as pale as the moon when the mist covers the expanse. The happy smiling face that stood no more then a couple feet above the ground, the waving feathered hand, and the doll styled cloths, all made Hisoka's blood drain to his feet, leaving his brain muddled and running in the same circle of un-reasonable questions.

"You're... what...??" Not even a full sentence could find passage between his lips, the creature before him, a child who wore feathers, merrily smiled as though he had expected no less from the empath.

"Don't look too shocked now, I could take it the wrong way." A high pitched voice echoed throughout the room. Hisoka blinked twice, again trying to reason the scene before him in his mind.

"Take it easy now," The creature motioned away with his hand, moving around Hisoka who was still frozen in place. The creature moved behind the desk near the entrance, standing in the chair behind it so he could stair the boy in the eye. "My name is GuShoShin, and you are Kurosaki-san, correct?"

"What... Why are you here?!" The agitation at his new circumstances bursting out, his hands slamming on the desk that stood between him and his new, very big, in actuality very small, and feathered problem. GuShoShin looked on only puzzled into those hard and jaded green eyes.

"I'm here just as you are," GuShoShin began, not fazed by the hard stare he was receiving. He had not yet met the boy, though had seen his picture that one time when he took his file to Tsuzuki. Plus, there was a lot of talk in the Office about the one that even the ever loving and forgiving Tsuzuki couldn't stand. At first when GuShoShin had heard that Tsuzuki had refused the boy, he hadn't believed it. When the paper work crossed his desk for the partner change though, the reality that Tsuzuki had found someone he couldn't like finally began to sink in. Hard to deny reality when the proof was staring him in the face.

Face to face with this very same young man in question, the chimera was beginning to understand just how rude the boy could be. However, was that enough to turn Tsuzuki away from some one? That thought made GuShoShin feel a bit disappointed in the older man he had come to revered.

"It's not like that!" GuShoShin was taken back from his revien, left with a start. The sight of a very red, and even more agitated, green eyed boy who was staring hard at the feather covered child. Puzzlement at the words took over the chimera's mind, until he remembered what made this boy a canedte for the NSF. Hisoka continued, anger coming in clearly over his voice, "He's a stupid, oblivious, fool who cares about others too much, but..." Hisoka clamped his hand over his mouth, shocked even more then GuShoShin was at his outburst. Regaining some of the composure he always relied on, Hisoka hide his emotions behind a mask of indifference. He was good at that, he had done it often.

"Anyways, it's not important what you think of him," The boys voice was also masked as he continued, his emotions reined in tight, hidden so well it almost made his words empty of any hint of his soul, "So, are you going to tell me why you are here?"

"I'm the librarian, GuShoShin." The bird child's eyes squinted slightly, trying hard to figure out just what this kid was getting at. "I'm not really an agent of the NSF, if that's what you're getting at. I'm more like the record keeper." GuShoShin gestured to his own body, brushing lightly against his white feathers. "I know I don't look like much," the childlike voice spoke out of the chimera's body, "but if it came down to it, I could hold my own in a fight," GuShoShin's bitter feelings, infused with a sick humor at his own situation flowed freely over Hisoka. At first the empath resisted the emotions until something inside his head clicked, and all of his anger and frustration washed as quickly away as it had come with this new understanding.

"You're different..." GuShoShin looked shocked up at this boy, and then quickly broke into a laugh that racked his small body.

"Oh come on now! That's obvious right?" The little librarian fought to contain his laugh to a chuckle as he watched the boy's muscles tighten again. "Let's just say I'm the unfortunate out come of a horribly messed up childhood." Pointing to his chest, right above his heart, GuShoShin smiled with a strength that had only grown through opposition. "Believe it or not, I'm a human, same as you. Even underneath all these feathers."

"Oh..." Hisoka didn't want to ask about details about GuShoShin's past. Besides, he had a fairly good idea just where his origins lead.

"Now," The librarian stood up tall, gesturing to the boy before him, "how can I help you? Did you come for a document? You'll need clearance to view anything that's in the back, but anything else in here is fair game."

"Ah, no, that's not it," Hisoka replied, his mind quickly adapting to this new turn of events. "I'm actually lost. I need to find Watari's lab." GuShoShin smiled and nodded in understanding before he quickly began to run through directions to the lab. The happy smiling creature... child that was before him knew nothing of the weight that now bore down on Hisoka, or the decision he slowly, yet firmly, came to at that time; a decision that would change the fate of everyone in the NSF forever.

.............................tbc

Author's note:

Yep, this chapter up too. There's a twee bit of confusion maybe in this chapter. More relationship stuffs, all really confusing no? End of this arch will make sense though, I promise (after all there's enough foreshadowing to kill a horse ) Anyways, I'll update much sooner. No promises, but maybe next weekend...? (when I can get to a computer with internet )

Again, and it can never be said enough, thank you to my critics!!! (love for all!!!!)