Reviving the Sun: Vengeful Spirit
Author's note: Hateki and Kuyo are already getting into trouble, and Kiame gets involved with the cops. All the while Tsuzuki, Hisoka and Watari are still trying to keep Goku from Tatsumi and the chief…
Warnings: shonen-ai, yaoi, language, violence, blood, murder, reincarnation and a few other things that will be brought up as they appear.
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own… nothing but the plot of this story at least.
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The atmosphere in the hospital was as heavy as a controlled riot when Kuyo and Hateki finally arrived. Nurses were rushing back and forth through the dim white halls, panic barely controlled in their eyes, while groups of patients were huddled into corners gossiping about some event. A middle-aged, dark haired man in a white lab coat Hateki didn't recognize strode up to them, his shoulders tense.
"Sataki-sensei," Kuyo's surprised voice told Hateki that this man was someone he knew. The young intern walked up to the man deftly, worry in his steps. Something in the older man's eyes worried him.
"Tomotori-kun, were you here when that gunshot victim was brought in?" Kuyo nodded in reply, not quite sure what to think. Noting the nod, the doctor continued, "There was a girl with him right? What room was she in? You were the one that asked for a place for her right?" Kuyo froze, startled by the sudden bombardment of questions.
"Yes…" he murmured finally. "But I didn't see where she was taken. Sataki looked up at him.
"There's something you have to see. You're one of the only witnesses we have that the girl was here."
"What's going on?" The doctor ignored Kuyo's question as he led the two through the white halls. Hateki followed on, watching the two carefully. The tension around them seemed to increase as they moved. Kuyo was silent, his eyes darkened with thought. He had never seen where the girl, Riho, had been taken, but now he was beginning to wonder whether this barely controlled chaos around them had to do with her… he chided himself silently. Of course it did, why else would they need him as a witness to her earlier presence? But what had happened? They turned one of the winding corners and were met by a swath of yellow tape and a collection of diligently working men in police uniforms. A detective looked up from her quiet conversation with one of the officers as they came around the bend.
"Is this the man?" the detective, a red-haired woman, asked. Sataki nodded.
"This is Tomotori Kuyo, an intern currently working under me," he answered. The woman nodded, then looked up at Hateki.
"And you are?" she asked warily. Hateki shrugged noncomitantly.
"Friend of Kuyo's," he answered smoothly. The woman glanced at Kuyo, who nodded a confirmation.
"Tomotori-san?" the woman asked. "Do you have any information on the girl who was staying in this room?" Kuyo frowned.
"Her name… Riho… but…" he glanced at Hateki who nodded as if telling him that was all he knew as well. "What happened?" Kuyo asked the woman. Her responding expression was of mild surprise.
"You don't know?" she asked him incredulously. Kuyo shook his head. The detective beckoned him under the tape. She guided him to the hospital room door, where he froze in utter shock. Blood was everywhere, painting the walls a dark, pealing crimson and two barely distinguishable adult figures were slumped against the walls. It was as if they had been crushed by an unimaginable force, beaten by… The sight sent a cold shiver down Kuyo's spine. Something about the savagery displayed by that splattered blood disturbed him, and not because of the two deaths… it was the blood… dripping… raining…
"What happened here?" Hateki asked, his surprised voice breaking through those strange thoughts. Kuyo jumped, startled, but recovered quickly enough to hide it from all but the most observant of eyes.
"We were hoping you could tell us something," the detective replied.
"Where's Riho?" was Hateki's next question. "The girl, where is she?" The detective shook her head.
"We don't know. All we know is that she was registered to this room. Now we have two dead bodies and a missing child and no explanation for either."
"What about-" Kuyo was cut off by an ominous snapping sound nearby, from the room across the hall. His immediate reaction was to run to the room and fling the door open. As he did, wind ripped the door from his hands and pushed it wide.
"What the hell is going on!" he could hear Hateki yell in the background. Kuyo thought of a way to answer him… all he knew was that he sensed something dangerous nearby. The wind drowned out all other sounds around him, pulling him in. Ahead, near the old hospital bed, he could just make out a small figure hovering in the air.
"Riho!" Then Hateki was next to him, hands held protectively in front of his face and his expression shocked.
"What?" Kuyo called over the unnatural wind. It seemed as if it were just the two of them within that storm, the yells of other mortals drowned out by the defining roar. Hateki didn't answer him, whether because he didn't hear or not Kuyo didn't know. The dark haired man stared ahead with his crimson eyes narrowed. The wind broke suddenly and they collapsed into the floor in the eye of the storm, the supernatural wind still blowing around them.
"You shouldn't have interfered." The voice was deep, seductive and feminine, far more mature than the child's body hovering before them.
"What the hell are you doing?" Hateki shouted, jumping to his feet. Glittering brown eyes watched him solemnly.
"You should have left us in that alley. If you had, you wouldn't have to die now." Kuyo froze. Lying in the unshaken bed was the same man Hateki had brought in only hours before.
"What… why? Did you want him to die?" Kuyo asked her. "Riho…"
"Don't say that name!" the child hissed, striking out at them with some strange unseen force. Hateki and Kuyo stumbled back, watching warily as the girl approached them, her eyes burning with rage. "Riho died three years ago. She no longer exists."
"What?" It was Hateki who had spoken. "What do we have to do with this? Why do you want him dead?" An expression almost akin to sadness touched with an unnerving smile appeared on the girl's face.
"I no longer exist…" she murmured. "Only you two know I exist… no one must know. Once my task is done I will cease to be a part of this world…. My master will let me free…"
"Your master?" Kuyo asked her. Her expression changed to a delicate smile.
"No one can interfere with my task… No one…"
"Like we could stop her if we tried…" Hateki muttered.
"Hateki get down!" Kuyo pushed him to the ground as another attack whizzed by their heads. Hateki looked up, then froze. A second attack was coming right for them…
Green light filled the room. There was a small shriek from the girl, a strike like a bullet hitting metal and a whirl of wind. Then everything stopped, so suddenly Hateki almost hit the floor again. The wind around them went still and Kuyo collapsed against him, the green light dying as the brunette relaxed. The girl was gone, nowhere to be found and luckily the sleeping man was undisturbed. Apparently the girl had been so focused on their interference that she had missed the chance to kill him… if that was what she was trying to do.
"Are you alright?" Hateki asked, pushing Kuyo off him into a sitting position. The green-eyed man looked dazed and tired.
"I'm fine," he rasped a reply. "Are you alright?" Hateki nodded.
"Fine, but what was that light?" It was almost impossibly to miss the sudden change in Kuyo's expression. The usually calm and smiling man was suddenly withdrawn and guarded, a steely light in his eyes.
"Promise me you won't tell anyone," he said, his voice strangely neutral.
"That was you?" The two could hear someone banging on the door. A little startled, they realized that it must have blown shut at some point and was now probably jammed from the air pressure. Kuyo nodded finally to Hateki, fixing him with a piercing stare.
"Ki manipulation," he explained shortly. Hateki frowned, watching him carefully. "I…" Kuyo swallowed, glancing at the door. The knocking was getting louder. "No one here knows," he told Hateki. "Swear to me you won't say anything about this." Hateki relaxed, giving the green-eyed man a lopsided grin.
"Don't worry about it," he replied. "Everyone's got their secrets." Kuyo missed the guarded expression on Hateki's face. "Right now we should help them get that door open." Kuyo nodded, glancing at the still sleeping patient.
"He needs assistance," he murmured, nodding towards the man on the bed. Hateki rolled his eyes.
"Yeah well, so do you," he said and slid an arm around the smaller man's waist. Hateki helped Kuyo to his feet, slinging the man's arm over his own shoulder for support. As he took a step the door finally banged open, startling the two. A group of uniformed officers filed into the room, weapons ready.
"Clear!" one of them yelled, and the detective and Sataki entered the room.
"Tomotori-kun?" he asked, stepping up to the exhausted man. "What the hell happened?" Kuyo gave him a tired, innocent smile, leaning into Hateki's welcome support.
"I don't really know," he answered. Hateki had to fight the urge to blanch at the blatant lie. Now that he had a glimpse of the man's honesty, his lies were much more apparent. Still… the man should have been an actor, not a doctor. "We were knocked out by that wind," Kuyo continued. "When we came too the room was in shambles and the door was jammed." Sataki frowned at the explanation.
"There was a flash of green light, then the wind stopped…"
"Green light?" Again Hateki was shocked by Kuyo's brilliantly feigned innocence. That man was dangerous.
"You didn't see it?" Sataki asked. Kuyo shook his head, wincing slightly. Shadows were beginning to creep into his vision and his head felt light.
"No…" he swallowed. He had over done it a bit tonight… it had been awhile since he had needed to create a shield from his ki… healing came much easier to him. "The patient…"
"We'll take care of it," Sataki answered.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Hateki broke in, noticing the growing weight of the man he was supporting. Kuyo tried to nod, but his vision was fuzzy.
"I'm…" Kuyo's eyes rolled back in his head as he finally fainted, exhausted by the night's events.
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Kiame looked up at the man standing before him.
"Job you say?" he asked coolly. The man, a detective from Oita nodded.
"We've come across a series of strange murders… we can't explain them. I've been asked to call an omnyoji in on the case," he explained. Kiame nodded, urging the man to continue impatiently. The detective frowned, setting a file on Kiame's desk and flipping it open. "Three deaths," he stated. "The first two bodies have no apparent wounds. We've run tests and if there were any drugs used they're long gone. They're perfectly healthy except for the fact that… their dead."
"And?" Kiame asked.
"The third is completely different." The detective flipped to one of the pictures in the file, a gruesome photo of a young woman, brutally butchered. "The only connection we have is this." The man flipped to another photo. "It's some kind of cult symbol, I'm sure. It's the only thing that connects this murder to the other two, since we found the same thing at those two scenes." Kiame focused his eyes on the man, who winced visibly under the lavender stare.
"Alright."
"You'll take the job?" The detective was more than a little shocked. Kiame stood, sliding a cigarette out of the pack in his pocket and lighting it.
"That's no cult symbol."
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Three days. A twitch appeared under Tatsumi's eye. Three days and the three hoodlums had managed to hide away what ever they were keeping from him right under his nose. Apparently Watari was a better liar than he had originally given him credit for, or he was just incredibly good at hiding any incriminating physical evidence. He probably had practice from his many attempts to spike the office coffee with one of his infernal concoctions.
The main reason he never completely got away with it was because everyone knew it was him in the first place. Honestly if they ever decided to put him on trial for it there was a good bet that they'd never find enough evidence to convince anyone that it was him without incriminating another member of the office.
But this had nothing to do with coffee concoctions! Tatsumi frowned. He had even peaked into the blonde scientist's lab on occasion, expecting to find something strange hidden within. Needless to say he had come up with nothing. So what the hell were those three hiding anyway?
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"Whew… another close call," Watari slumped in the swivel chair next to his computer. Goku was perched on one of the lab tables near by, his eyebrow raised.
"Why do you want to hide me so much anyway?" he asked. Watari peaked an eye open, grinning at him.
"You've never met our boss. There's a good bet that they would want to keep you in custody due to the situation. It still stands to fact that you are dangerous," he answered. "Now that I think about it, the chief wouldn't actually be to scary, but Tatsumi…"
"You keep mentioning this Tatsumi," Goku noted. "Who is he?"
"The resident Kagetsukai and secretary here. He also controls our budget," was Watari's next answer. "That and he's scary when he's mad… even when he's not mad sometimes…"
"I almost wish I could meet him…" Watari sighed, resting his hands behind his neck.
"Maybe someday. For now it's probably better he doesn't know about you. I don't want him to pitch a fit. Plus… "
"What?" Goku asked. Watari shrugged.
"We're trying to find this Sanzo's soul for you ne?" he asked. Goku nodded. "We won't be able to do that without a little bit of help from you," Watari explained. "If you're locked up…" There was a knock at the door and Goku dove for the back room. Lucky it was Tsuzuki who popped his head in.
"Hisoka?" Watari asked, signaling to Goku that it was safe. The brunette boy popped out of the back room, climbing up on the lab table. With a smile Tsuzuki offered him a glazed donut, which Goku accepted gratefully.
"Sanku!"
"Hisoka's with Tatsumi," Tsuzuki answered the blonde. Watari frowned, slightly apprehensive.
"Why?" he asked.
"Nothing about our case," was Tsuzuki's answer. "At least I hope not." The scientist nodded, glancing at Goku. The boy looked up at them, licking his fingers clean of the lingering sugary glaze.
"Have you started looking for Sanzo?" he asked. Tsuzuki sighed.
"That's what I wanted to talk about actually," he answered.
"What about it?" Watari asked him, deceptively strait-faced. "You haven't gone to see the earl yet? With your luck it should be easy."
"Watari!" The older shinigami dropped to the floor, ears and tail drooping and his eyes streaming. Watari bit back a laugh (which was instead echoed by 003's hooting), and rolled his eyes. Goku just stared at the man incredulously.
"The earl has a tendency to… ask favors for his services," Watari tried to explain. When Goku just stared back at him like he had grown a second head, the blonde scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. "He likes Tsuzuki… not in a good way." The boy's eyes widened in understanding.
"Oh…" he replied, glancing at Tsuzuki who was now torn between cringing and smacking Watari. "Then what are we going to do?" Seeing Goku's worried look, Tsuzuki stopped his theatrics and smiled at him. He felt a little guilty for worrying the boy.
"I'll talk to him," he amended. "Guess I just have to work up the nerve…" There was another knock at the door and once more Goku dove for the back room.
"It's alright," Hisoka spoke up as he entered the room, a thin file folder in his hands.
"What did Tatsumi want?" Tsuzuki asked his partner.
"We have a new case." Hisoka set the folder on one of the lab counters.
"Case?" Goku asked.
"We haven't even finished this one! Is Tatsumi insane?" Tsuzuki exclaimed. Hisoka shrugged in response.
"He and the chief want us to suspend the current case for now. This one seems to be more urgent."
"What is it?" Watari asked curiously.
"Loose yurei," was Hisoka's answer. "It's already attacked a hospital and killed two medical personnel. It seemed to be targeting one specific person at first, but two more have gotten involved."
"What about Sanzo?" Goku asked, breaking their conversation.
"I…" Tsuzuki looked painfully lost and torn.
"I'll talk to the earl," Watari offered, taking pity on his older coworker. "With this case on the back burner I have nothing to do anyway for now. Might as well do something productive."
"And your experiments?" Hisoka raised a delicate, skeptical eyebrow. The scientist winked at them.
"Are just another sort of productivity!"
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Author's note: Finally got this one finished… Sorry it took so long, but college has kinda been sapping my energy. Kind of a transitional chapter, but I gotta set up the rest of the fic ne? Please don't forget to review, onegaishimasu!