Tatsumi opened the door to let in a very worried Hisoka and Tsuzuki. Huge violet eyes looked around in utter shock, taking in the mass of destruction that once had been Watari's lab. The shinigami knew what Tatsumi's shadows were capable of and he recognized their work immediately. Hisoka rushed past him, kneeling beside the curled up figure on the ground... and then flinched away, gasping in distress.

"Tatsumi?" Tsuzuki queried softly.

The Shadow Master leaned against the wall, looking like death warmed over himself.

"I lost control," he whispered, and Tsuzuki winced.

He looked around again, then his eyes came to rest on the blond man. "Watari?" he whispered.

Pain filled blue eyes looked at him. "I... think I hurt him..."

"You hurt me?"

Watari's usually cheerful voice was rough and laden with venom, and it didn't need an empath to flinch. The scientist had stopped shaking and was now kneeling on the floor, golden eyes staring hard at his lover.

"You hurt me! You didn't just hurt me, Tatsumi! How could you... it was the first time ever I said no, and you... you took what you wanted nevertheless! And you dare to tell me you love me! I should have known, I'm used to this kind of love; I expected you to ... but you didn't have to rape me! Get out! Get out of my sight and never come back!"

Tsuzuki watched as Tatsumi's face fell, grew even paler at the enraged words, and he grabbed his arm when the other man simply turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

"Konoe. I lost control and one of my - colleagues got injured. That's inexcusable." Tatsumi's voice was like automatic, lifeless, without emotions.

His whole face was devoid of anything, but his eyes spoke lengths...

Tsuzuki had received the call while he had been on his way home. He had just powered down his computer and had been ready to call it a day when Tatsumi's call had startled him. His friend's voice had been almost dead, so completely and utterly shocked, so... so completely not-Tatsumi. Grabbing Hisoka, who had been slightly confused, he had raced down to the lab – to find this destruction, this horror.

And now...

Tatsumi had taken Watari by force? raced through his head. He had lost control? Impossible. Tatsumi never lost control! And he was the most gentle person Tsuzuki had ever met. He could be stern, he could be unforgiving when something occurred, but he never dealt out blows, he never forced himself on anyone...

This was impossible!

And to lose control of his shadows on top of that... no way!

"Tatsumi?"

Serious, confused and very sad blue eyes met his, and Tsuzuki felt his heart clench at the pain he saw in there, too.

"I'm going to apply for immediate vacation, until this... case... is solved. I want you two to investigate my... behavior, as discretely as possible. Until the reason for it is found I'm a liability to this department and a danger to my colleagues."

Hisoka had guided Watari to one of the chairs that had survived the attack, was talking quietly to the injured man without touching him. The empath met Tsuzuki's gaze, disbelief coloring his own features.

"Seii," Tsuzuki whispered and touched him, noticing the flinch. "Seii, listen to me... Whatever happened here, whatever possessed you, you can't just turn your back on itand run. You taught me that. Now follow your own advise! Hisoka and I will investigate, but you can't just leave."

"I can and I will. I'm a danger. You saw it. What if I lose control again?"

Tsuzuki met the desperate features. "Then we'll assign a guardian to you. Terazuma's free at the moment."

The Shadow Master smiled darkly. "Even the Black One's no match against the full force of my shadows, Tsuzuki. The only one I'd trust in stopping me is you."

He looked at his friend and one-time partner. He knew Tatsumi was right. He could take him. He could defeat him if he used the power inside him.

"Then I'll stick to you like glue."

"You have a case to work."

"You are my case."

"I'm not a lost soul!" Tatsumi argued.

"Right now, you are," was the quiet reply, the inhuman eyes very, very serious.

Hisoka appeared at his side and Tsuzuki gave him a brief look, confirming the determination of his partner.

"I'll take Watari home. You'll be okay?"

"Yes. I'll be here and have a look around. With Tatsumi."

The older shinigami evaded the green eyes and Hisoka frowned a little, but he didn't say a thing. He just nodded again and joined Watari once more, who left without ever looking up. Tatsumi's eyes followed the departing figure, a soul deep pain visible in those haunted eyes.

Tsuzuki stepped between the man and the door that had closed now. "Seii, tell me what happened," he demanded.

After a moment of hesitation, Tatsumi did just that.

° ° °

Tsuzuki sat in the silent, dark lab, looking around what had once been Watari's little kingdom. No one had cleaned up, nothing had been moved, except for a chair or two. On one chair he currently sat and let his thoughts pass through his mind. Tatsumi had told him every detail of what he remembered. He had also mentioned that he had lost control like that before, but not as badly. He couldn't remember anything, but apparently he had taken Watari and the two men had had a rough tumble of sex. This time, though, it had been more.

Why? Tsuzuki thought. Why would Tatsumi lose it like this? Why would he force himself on his partner? And he had lost control of the shadows, too.

Something's not right. Something's terribly wrong. This isn't Tatsumi.

Amethyst eyes strayed over broken furniture, cracked and dented walls, glass splinters covering the ground... and he shook his head again.

No, Tatsumi wouldn't do this.

Could it have been a possession? Some kind of demon or devil?

But that sounded unlikely. Devils and demons didn't possess only for a moment; they took over full time. He had been a victim once and he knew what that was like.

Tatsumi was himself and there had been no negative emissions from him.

Thoughts- he asked the only other being currently with him, though not physically.

Touda seemed to shift, the inky darkness that was him flowing around him. -I'm not a detective-

Tsuzuki smiled. -Neither am I, but this is my case-

The fire shikigami snorted, but he seemed to be thinking. -He wasn't possessed. No demon or devil is known for this-

Yeah, but why would he lose it like this-

Another thoughtful silence. -Either he possesses a split personality or it was some kind of drug or poison- Touda rumbled.

Tsuzuki frowned. He hadn't thought of that. "Poison or drug," he murmured.

Tatsumi could be a little frightening sometimes, but he certainly wasn't a psychopath, even with his long time as a shinigami which could get to a person every now and then. But Tatsumi rarely worked active cases which made the second possibility much more likely. But who would drug him? And moreover - why? Or could it even have been accidental? And what kind of poison or drug could have an effect like this on a shinigami?

He would have to look into it.

Tatsumi was currently in his office and the moment he was done here he would pick him up and go home with him. He wouldn't leave the other man alone right now. Hisoka was staying with Watari, getting everything out of the blond that he possibly could.

Poison...

° ° °

Arrangements had been made and while they were strange arrangements, they worked. At least Tsuzuki hoped they would. He had brought Tatsumi home with him, pushed the unresisting man into his apartment, stripped him of his jacket and tie, forced tea into his hands, and told him he would stay here tonight.

Tatsumi hadn't argued.

Shell-shocked, he had followed orders, right down to letting Tsuzuki get him under the shower and wash off the worst grime. Now, with the older shinigami in his bedroom and sleeping the sleep of the exhausted, Tsuzuki sat at his kitchen counter and tried to make sense of it all.

But nothing made sense.

The image of the lab returned, as well as Touda's words.

Poison?

It sounded logical, but how? Maybe it was a demon and they just had never heard of him or her? He would have to ask Hisoka to run an empathic check on the residue of the lab.

Thinking of his partner, Tsuzuki picked up his phone and dialed a number. Someone answered after the first ring.

"It's me," he said softly. "How is he?"

He listened, face growing more grim.

"Okay. Stay with him tonight. I need you to run a check tomorrow. On the lab. Find out if there was something... demonic in there. Yes, demonic... Thanks, Hisoka. I'll be back in Meifu. I need to talk to Konoe and practice damage control." He smiled slightly at the comment that got him, then hung up after a good-bye.

Tsuzuki placed the receiver back into the cradle and looked at the partially closed bedroom door. He couldn't leave Tatsumi alone, but neither could he assign someone else to guard the man. At least no one in Meifu. There was someone he could ask for a favor...

° ° °

Whatever physical traces there had been from the attack and the subsequent...

Rape, Yutaka, it was rape, Watari thought darkly.

Well, he bore no more traces of the violence inflicted upon his body. Shinigami healed quickly and everything was as it had been before.

His mind was another matter.

Curled up on the bed of his host, staring at the blank wall, Watari tried to wrap his mind around what had happened. He came up with nothing. Tatsumi had... he had...

No!

You were so easy, Yutaka ...

No!

You liked those games ...

NO!

He hadn't wanted it, no way, not like that, never like that.

Tightly bound, legs spread wide, screams muffled by the gag, pain, so much pain ...

I love you, Yutaka ... you are perfect ...

Tears of humiliation and pain streaming down his face, a hand softly cradling his face ... it's all right, Yuta, I know I didn't hurt you ...
Yuki?

I always used you, my little lamb. Did you think I would hang out with such a nerd as you were in college? That I would suffer your babble for nothing?

I love you, Watari Yutaka ...

Yeah, right.

He screwed his eyes shut and felt tremors race through his body. He remembered every little detail, from the cold, ruthless expression in the usually so warm eyes, to the hard set of the features that could relay so many emotions when they were together. Yuki ... no, Tatsumi ...

Nothing was right about this. Nothing at all. But the fact remained: Tatsumi had raped him, had taken him against his will and by force.

Because I said no...

And he had used him nevertheless ...

What did you expect? You're his little toy, Yutaka...

Tears gathered in his eyes and he sobbed softly. There was a hooting sound and he blinked, feeling the light weight of his little owl land on his shoulder. 003 nuzzled his hair, tiny feet shuffling over the fabric of his borrowed clothes. He had no idea where Hisoka had gotten clothes that fit his much taller size, and he didn't care.

003 hooted again, more urgently.

Watari turned onto his back and she fluttered a little, rearranging her position to sit on his chest. He smiled tearfully and stroked over the tiny head.

"Sorry, my friend. I'm not good company right now."

Another hoot and she tilted her head.

"Why?" Watari whispered. "Why did it happen?"

Huge owl eyes regarded him, 003 having no answer for that question. And somehow Watari felt no drive to get up and find out himself. He just lay in Hisoka's bed, body and mind trying to adjust to the violent attack – and failing miserably.

tbc...