Chapter 9

Oriya

Hi! Yumi here again! Ah finally I'm back to my old schedule! Here's chapter 9, and it was one of my favorites to write! Poor Muraki…

Tsuzuki felt rays of sunlight pouring in on his face and he groggily opened his eyes. Muraki's arms were around his waist, his eyes still closed in peaceful repose. He leaned over, so that his face was inches away from Muraki's and kissed his forehead. Tsuzuki had actually enjoyed being with him, even if it was only due to physical attraction. The entire night had been filled with kisses and soft words and Tsuzuki was beginning to wonder if it was the same Muraki he'd known before all of this. Placing a hand on Muraki's back, he remembered what had happened before Muraki had fallen asleep:

"What do you mean I need to work on my stamina?" Tsuzuki protested, still out of breath.

Muraki closed his eyes and shook his head, resting against Tsuzuki's bare chest.

"Mr. Tsuzuki, please not so loud. I am rather tired after all. But as I was saying, you don't last very long. You have an exquisite body, and I'd like to unlock your full potential." he said softly, draping an arm across Tsuzuki's stomach.

"My what? What do you want from me? You took my body, aren't you satisfied yet?"

Muraki's eyes shot open, shining with newfound determination and anger.

"Satisfied? As if I'm some despised…thing that you find pity for? If I only wanted sex, I could have easily taken you on The Camellia and now I resent myself for not doing so. But I waited for you, Asato. Waited for you to come to me."

He was serious.

"I…I didn't mean for it to sound like that, I'm just…I don't understand you. I really don't. And it's not like I'm not trying to…" Tsuzuki started.

"Don't say another thing about it. Our relationship has some details to work out, and I'm not feeling up to that tonight." Muraki interrupted, turning away from Tsuzuki.

"I'm sorry I was upset with you." he apologized.

"Beloved, I do not care. We made love tonight and I could want nothing more of you as it is. But I should like to ask something of you. I…request that you stay here again with me." Muraki said gently, turning his head back to face Tsuzuki.

Intensity shone from Muraki's silvery gaze as he stared up at his beloved and Tsuzuki could hardly resist him.

"I hadn't planned on leaving, but…"

"I'm glad." Muraki interrupted, swiftly kissing Tsuzuki's lips once more before falling back down to the bed.

Muraki had been kind. Unusually kind throughout the entire night. Tsuzuki wondered at what could be going on. Had Muraki's hardened heart finally softened? Tsuzuki cast a final glance at his sleeping partner before gently sliding from the large bed.

"Sorry Muraki…I do have work after all."

He planted his feet to the ground and picked up his clothes from the floor, hastily redressing himself. Other than a few subtle bruises on his neck from Muraki's kisses, disheveled hair, and misplaced buttons, he looked as if nothing had happened to him last night. Straightening out his tie, he disappeared from Muraki's room.

Inside the bed, a hand reached out and grasped the edge of his pillow, his eyes wide open. Muraki pried the pillow from the bed and pulled out something he'd been hiding since 3 a.m. While Tsuzuki slept, he'd found Tatsumi's paper in Tsuzuki's pants pocket and had stuffed it under his pillow to read in the morning.

"Well Mr. Tsuzuki, I'm glad that you stayed as long as you did and thanks to your irresponsibility, I'll know what Mr. Tatsumi was trying to hide from me."

Madness in his eyes, he nearly tore at the paper to read it. His heart sped up at seeing his picture immediately. As paranoid as he'd been already, he never imagined himself to actually have been involved in the paper.

"Victim Status? Victim of wha-…" Suddenly he caught on. The reason he'd been admitted to stay in JuOhCho. The reason The Count had come up with his case. Even the reason he'd been allowed to get so close to Tsuzuki was so that he could be watched.

He sank to his knees, realizing he'd been betrayed. Tonight he would have to complete his deal with his demon. And now that he knew Tsuzuki could have been in on the entire plan, he had a reason to kill him.

"I trust you slept well, my beloved angel of darkness." Muraki tore the paper, the silvery eye of his picture following him as it fell into numerous pieces.

"What will you do when I burn your wings?" he hissed, falling into horrible laughter.

"I WILL KILL YOU TSUZUKI! I WILL KILL YOU SAKI!!!" Muraki screamed at his ceiling, his voice crackling at the sheer force of his words.

Watari nearly choked on a piece of toast as Tsuzuki suddenly appeared in the meeting room.

"Hi guys!" he called joyously.

"Good morning Tsuzuki." Watari replied, spluttering a few bread crumbs to the table.

"So what's going on?"

Tsuzuki eyed the remainder of Watari's toast and then saw the rest of his breakfast on another plate. His puppy tail wagged eagerly. Watari sighed and moved the plate towards a hungry Tsuzuki.

"Well, I was going to eat breakfast before someone decided to eat it for me."

Tsuzuki's ears flopped to his head and he frowned. "I'm sorry. It's just Muraki didn't feed me over at his house and I was hungry."

Watari's eyes widened in shock at what he'd just said. "You…you were at Muraki's house? That's where you were this entire time? You slept with Muraki???" his voice was gradually increasing volume and Tsuzuki had to shush him.

"Wait a minute, it's not that simple. I mean I didn't just go and have sex with him for no reason! See, we were fighting over some paper and he gave me a massage and then…well…maybe we did have sex for no apparent reason, but still that's no reason to go shouting it!" he yelled out, his own voice louder than Watari's had been.

The door to the meeting room swung open and in walked a tired-looking Hisoka, yawning as he ambled inside.

"Wait, Tsuzuki…who did you have sex with for no reason?" Hisoka asked in a sleepy voice.

"It's not important. Uh…" he dropped his voice to a low whisper. "Muraki…"

Hisoka was now fully awake. "What?! You did? Why?! How did he force you into that?"

"Well he didn't really force me into it…I think we're kind of…together now." Tsuzuki replied, blushing deeply.

Hisoka felt sick. His murderer had somehow seduced his best friend? "Tsuzuki! Did you forget he'd our enemy?! I can't believe you Tsuzuki!" he said angrily.

Suddenly another unfamiliar voice joined the quarrel. "I'm sorry boy, but I'm not going to let you insult Kazu."

Everyone turned to see a beautiful man with long black hair wearing a luxurious blue and green kimono embroidered with pink sakura petals.

"So. I finally meet you, Asato Tsuzuki." Oriya said with the sweetest smile he could muster.

It was difficult. This was the man that Muraki had left him for. The one that had caused him so much pain. The one that Muraki loved.

"And you are…" Tsuzuki started.

Oriya subconsciously glared at him.

Kazu never found time to tell him about me? The bastard.

Suddenly, Tatsumi stepped out from behind Oriya and clasped his shoulder to prevent any violence. "This is Oriya Miburo. I brought him here in hopes that Muraki would be here, but I see that he's not."

"Oh. He's still asleep." Tsuzuki blurted out.

Oriya caught his glance and frowned. Tsuzuki fell silent in fear.

"Then I take it he's at home. I'm tired of following him around. It's just…he hasn't been sounding like he's alright lately and I was worried. Tsuzuki, can I speak with you for a few minutes?" Oriya requested.

Watari and Hisoka immediately left, while Tatsumi was a bit hesitant to leave the two alone. Oriya noticed and laughed. "I'm not armed." he mused.

Tatsumi nodded and cast a final gaze at Tsuzuki before turning away and walking out the door.

"So…how has he been?" Oriya asked to break the silence that had fallen over the room after he and Tsuzuki had been left alone.

Tsuzuki shook his head. "Honestly I don't know. Sometimes he's fine and we get along, but sometimes…"

"Sometimes you're afraid of him. I know. Kazu's never…struck me or anything; he promised a long time ago he wouldn't. But then, I don't know much about him anymore. After he left for college, we sort of drifted. I still don't know what all happened to him there, but that's when the killings started."

"And…you stayed in Kyoto?" Tsuzuki questioned, crossing his arms.

Oriya nodded. "Stayed to run Ko-Ka-Kuro. I was always where I wanted to be. Kazu always wanted to be a doctor, so I let him go." he sighed.

"That must have been hard to do. I mean, you loved him didn't you?"

At this, Oriya turned to face Tsuzuki, blushing slightly. "What? Did…did he tell you that? Yeah. I guess I always have. I don't think I'm homosexual; it's just that things are different with Kazu. He's the only person that I've ever..." Oriya stopped immediately, realizing what he was suggesting.

"I'm sorry!" he said quickly, waving his hands. "That wasn't…what I should have said. I've just been worried about him lately. He won't sleep until he gets Saki back. I hope you know that." Oriya said darkly, adjusting his kimono around his shoulders.

Tsuzuki eyed the decorative fabric that hung across Oriya's chest and wondered at how many times Muraki had carelessly torn it from him, slaking a temporary lust. He wondered at how much Oriya had suffered for this man that he loved so much.

"Tell me…do you ever regret knowing Muraki?"

Oriya shook his head in disbelief. "Why would you even say that? Should I have left him with that bastard uncle of his, locked away in that madhouse?! When I met him…we were both so young then, but I still remember it. We were family to each other, but more than that. I kissed him the first time so I never felt that he took advantage of me. Well not then anyhow."

Oriya laughed at the thought for a moment and then strongly shook his head. "No. Kazu doesn't do things like that to me. He needs me as much as I need…"

Tsuzuki interrupted, angered at Oriya's determination.

"Listen Oriya, he doesn't love you; don't let him use you like that anymore! I don't like when he hurts people, but I guess that doesn't bother you and-…"

Oriya glared at him intensely. "Doesn't bother me? I'm the one he called after his first murder. He was away in college when he called me, upset over it, telling me he knew he couldn't stop after this. I didn't have the money to get him right then, and I knew he wouldn't come home. So I sat in Kyoto and waited, every once in awhile hearing some story about how he just 'couldn't resist tearing that beautiful girl to pieces after raping her.' Do you have any idea how that felt to me? Any idea at all? I tried for 15 years to help him and I realize now that I only made things worse! And you dare ask if I'm bothered by the murders he commits?!" Oriya persisted, his voice becoming louder.

All this was upsetting Tsuzuki further. "Then why don't you do anything about it if you say you're such a close friend to him?"

Oriya turned his head away. "I will do something about it. I haven't been able to up until now, but I promised myself I'd make it up to him."

"So is that all? You'll try to…" Suddenly Tsuzuki felt someone standing behind him and he nearly fell over.

"Mr. Tsuzuki, I request that you not yell at Oriya. I'd prefer he leave in one piece." Muraki's familiar sensuous voice quelled his anger.

"Hey don't sneak up on me like that, it's not-…" Tsuzuki started.

Muraki moved closer to Tsuzuki and was about to wrap his arms around his waist before noticing Oriya's wolfish glare. He awkwardly inched further away from his beloved and slid his hands uneasily into his pockets. Like a spoiled boy (for that's what he was) denied his dessert, he turned to offer Oriya a sinister smile, almost daring him to speak.

"Oh I see you decided to check on me, Oriya. Or did you wish to reclaim that yukata I borrowed from you a few days ago? Sadly I left it at home; I didn't know you'd be coming. A thousand apolo-…"

"Shut the fucking hell up you damn prick. That voice of yours…I don't want to hear it, understand?" Oriya spat, his words dripping with venom.

And they're close friends? Tsuzuki couldn't help thinking it as Oriya continued to glare. For being a head shorter than the doctor, Oriya could sure hold his own.

"Well, I see someone's not in the best mood today. So what is it this time?" Muraki mused with a laugh.

"I need to talk to you. Tsuzuki, could you leave us alone for a second? This is important so you had better treat it that way Kazutaka." Oriya insisted.

Tsuzuki knew something was wrong but decided not to ask, as Oriya was angry enough as it was. He slowly walked away, leaving Oriya and Muraki alone.

As soon as the door clicked, signaling Tsuzuki was gone Oriya moved closer to his friend and hugged him tightly.

"Well I have to say I'm surprised you're still alive. But I'm happy you chose to stay that way." Oriya said with a smile.

Muraki let his arms hang by his side, not wishing to hug Oriya in response.

"It won't last much more, Oriya. I only have a few more days that I can stand this demon draining me like this. The Count isn't allowing me any killings, so there's no way to regain lost strength but rest…which I haven't gotten much of in the past few nights." Muraki said, a hint of sarcasm evident in his voice.

Oriya held him tighter. "I told you to get some sleep, you idiot. Listen, leave here for awhile and rest, ok? No more demon or Tsuzuki for a few days. You should come back to Ko Ka Kuro with me." he insisted but Muraki shook his head.

"I'm not going there. Not until Saki dies." Muraki said stiffly.

Oriya couldn't believe it. After all these years, that was the only thing that his beloved Kazu could think of. Saki and Tsuzuki. It had always been something like that with him. He could be so obsessive. Oriya loved him, but there was only so much that his mental situation could excuse. Muraki was evil, spoiled, and cruel and Oriya felt that more than ever. At 15, they'd made a promise never to hurt each other and only Oriya had lived up to that promise. Now he would break it.

"Kazu stop it! I don't want you to talk about that shit anymore! None of your boyfriend…" Oriya paused for a second before letting loose one of the worst insults he'd ever told his friend.

"And none of Tsuzuki either."

Muraki's smirk vanished in a second and he looked as if he'd just been hit in the face. For the first time in years, Oriya didn't feel the forceful gaze of Dr. Muraki, but the lonely eyes of Kazutaka. Even his blue eye no longer held its menacing glow. Oriya realized at once he'd used a low insult, even if it was effective. However, he kept his aggressive stare, hoping for once it would be Muraki to concede. What he got wasn't even close to his expectations.

"Oriya…" he whispered, fishing into his pocket for something.

Something told Oriya that this wasn't right. His eyes reflected sorrow but he couldn't help sense some other emotion emanating from his beloved.

"W-what are you doing Kazu?!" Oriya protested, stepping backwards.

"Do you really hate me so much to do this to me? I have exactly what I want right here. What I need. I don't need you. All I want is for Saki to die." His voice was monotone and colder than ice, although there were hot tears streaming down his face.

"Kazu I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that…"

Oriya trailed off as Muraki pulled his hand out from inside his white coat. He was holding a small revolver.

"Kazu…are you going to kill me now?" Oriya asked calmly, backing away from him. Oriya was trying to reach his friend's sane mind.

It was gone. Muraki had slipped into complete madness. Ever since this morning, he'd been planning to kill Tsuzuki and slowly his mind was ebbing away.

"Quiet! The lamb should not ask such questions as it is led to the slaughter!" he cried, pulling the trigger.

He laughed cruelly as a single bullet whizzed through the air and cut Oriya's cheek as it traveled, only a millimeter from truly injuring him. Muraki had done this on purpose as a warning and Oriya knew that. But still, Oriya couldn't believe he'd actually shot at him. As the loud boom of the single shot faded, so did Muraki's sinister smile and he was calm once more. He slowly strode over to the trembling Oriya and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. Gently, he pushed Oriya's hair out of his eyes and kissed his forehead.

"There. They will all have heard the gunshot and come looking here. You tell them I've gone to my laboratory ruins. I'll end this where it all began. And…I will miss your company. The mansion is yours, do with it as you wish. Goodbye."

Oriya was too afraid to get up and walk after him. He stayed on the floor, watching helplessly as Muraki walked out of the room, and out of his life possibly forever. He pushed himself onto his feet, reaching out as if to clutch at Muraki's white coat when the door shut in his face. Oriya's lip began to tremble and his shoulders shook with the weight of quiet sobbing. He pounded a fist against the door and slid his hand down the smooth surface, tears blurring his vision.

"Come back Kazu…please come back to me."

The end of Chapter 9! Wow, I'm starting to want to pair Muraki and Oriya more and more! Poor Oriya!