AN: Oooookay. This took a while to write. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with it. Took some liberties with the story a little and there are some clues dropped to the actual plot line. it only took 5 chapters to hint at it This is going to be the darkest chapter for a while. Hope you like it!
The soft brown eyes, full of kindness and understanding were gone. Instead, eyes the color of amethyst stared at him through a glaze of pain and suffering. Her once soft delicate nose had become aquiline, and the round curve of her cheek was now angular. Tsuzuki backed up a step as he stared in horror at his mirror image on his sisters' face.
"This is a nightmare, it has to be! Let me out!"
A soft chuckle filled the air. Tsuzuki tried to turn but could not tear his eyes away from his sister's specter. He felt a presence at his back and lips against his ear as the figure behind him murmured,
"It's not a nightmare, it's a memory. But some memories can be our darkest nightmares. Is that not right Tsuzuki?" A shiver pulsed down Tsuzuki's spine as the lips delicately caressed his ear. He spun away and faced Muraki.
"This isn't a memory! YOU did this!"
Muraki smiled lazily, every inch of his body radiating confidence and composure. "It is not my memory, nor is it yours. But it IS a recollection. Perhaps this person does not truly know her, only knows of her. From her appearance it would not be unreasonable to assume that this person also knows you." Placing his hands in the pockets of his white dress slacks, Muraki regarded Tsuzuki calmly; waiting.
Tsuzuki stared back at Muraki through narrowed eyes. "If that's so, why are you showing me this? What do someone else's memories have to do with you?"
Muraki's laugh was deep and cold. "Oh these memories are very much tied to me. That boy doesn't know the half of how he has assisted me. While his interpretation of your past is slightly different from the original it still provides me with valuable information. He can provide me with your feelings, images from your past, a cacophony of vital characteristics that I treasure to no end." His grin took on a savage edge. "But these aren't the only memories I can see."
Muraki raised his hand and snapped his fingers, Tsuzuki found himself in a dark room with a cold bare floor. The room was split in half by a tall wall of wooden bars. On the other side of those bars a child was curled in a corner. Catching his breath, Tsuzuki dropped to his knees and reached a hand through the bars towards the figure. The child didn't notice, his head pressed against his knees. Sobs shook his slight frame and the tiny hands clutched the edge of the yukata around his knees convulsively. Finally the tousled blond head rose and the boy scrubbed his teary face and emerald eyes with the back of one trembling hand. He had just managed to wipe the last of the tears from his cheeks before the door banged open.
The man who entered the room turned hard jade eyes on the small child. "You have been warned Hisoka. You are NEVER to talk about your condition, NEVER."
The child cowered, and then cried out. "I'm sorry! I know! I'm sorry! I'll try harder, please!" The stern expression on his father's face didn't change.
"Your mother wishes me to tell you that you are not to be let out until you can behave properly. She feels a week in here will do you the most good."
Hisoka's head snapped up. His lips trembled and his body quaked with the effort of keeping from sobbing. "A week?" he whimpered softly, then cringed again as his father's eyes snapped with anger.
"It is a minimal punishment compared to what Iwao-san wishes to do. You will not disgrace our family again Hisoka."
"But it's TRUE! He wants you and me and mama dead! All he wants is the family wealth!"
Nagare slammed his hand against the bars, making the boy jump. "Another word boy and it'll be more than just one week you spend in here. I will not hear such slander on any person in the family, especially my older brother." With one last icy look at his son, Nagare turned on his heel and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Hisoka drew a ragged breath as the lock clicked into place.
Tsuzuki had barely moved during the encounter, it was not until Nagare had practically walked through him that he understood that he had no tangible presence in this memory. He gazed at the young Hisoka with tears in his eyes.
"Oh Hisoka, I'm so sorry."
Muraki moved in the shadows and Tsuzuki jumped, he had completely forgotten about the doctors' presence. The silver haired man gazed down at the child and said with a dark grin. "He is so much more enticing when he is older. Thirteen was the perfect age."
Tsuzuki rose to his feet in one swift motion and with a roar of rage, charged at Muraki. With fluid grace Muraki spun him about, trapping one arm behind him, the other at his side. Dragging Tsuzuki's struggling body against him, Muraki once again allowed his lips to caress Tsuzuki's ear.
"The best part is yet to come, Tsuzuki. You should understand how much the boy has hidden from you. Perhaps it will help to understand how strongly that boy is connected to me." Muraki released the arm pinned at Tsuzuki's side and once again snapped his fingers. The surroundings once again shifted from the cold chill of the dark room, to the breezy hilltop bathed in moonlight.
Tsuzuki sucked in a shuddering breath. Hisoka had never told him all of the details of what had happened between him and Muraki, but Tsuzuki had seen enough to guess. Muraki's amusement around the boy, and Hisoka's combination of rage and terror would have been ample clues. Then there were the dreams. Tsuzuki could remember countless times together on missions where Hisoka would wake screaming for help. After Tsuzuki had reassured him, the boy went off alone for a while, not wanting to be touched or looked at. Tsuzuki wanted to close his eyes and shut out Hisoka's memories, it wasn't right to see this. Muraki hissed when Tsuzuki's eyes closed.
"If you won't watch I'll find a way to break him Tsuzuki." He purred. "My target all this time has been you. You know how easily I can find my prey. How long do you think it would take for that boy to shatter completely? I've taken him once. Perhaps three times would do it? More? It is your decision Tsuzuki. I'll keep showing you the memory until you've watched the entire thing. For every time I repeat it, that's one more time I'll break that doll."
Tsuzuki's breath hitched in a soft sob as he opened his eyes and watched as the small thirteen year old boy stood under the Sakura. He saw the boy's head turn towards the moon. The boy's eyes widened as he saw the silhouette of two figures outlined against the crimson orb. Then the figures pulled apart and there was a silvery flash of a knife before it was buried in the woman's chest. The young boy screamed, his outburst reverberating among the trees. The man's head rose to look at him, silver metallic eye glittering coldly.
Tsuzuki felt his heart begin to race. Looking at Muraki from years ago, he truly understood that tint of fear that was always present in Hisoka's face whenever he saw the Doctor. There was something feral yet broken in that gaze. It was a twisted shard of humanity that looked at the young boy underneath the red moon. Tsuzuki barely realized that the current Muraki still had hold of him. He screamed as loud as he could.
"Hisoka! RUN!"
As if he had heard him the boy turned, trying to flee back across the Sakura grove. Muraki was there in the next instant, moving so fast that it had been impossible to see. He caught Hisoka by the back of his yukata. The fabric pulled away from the boy's pale skin, the sleeves falling from narrow shoulders, the front forming a pale V of flesh down his torso as it was pulled from the obi. Hisoka stumbled, falling to the ground as he was caught by his garment. Muraki quickly loosened the obi and pulled the yukata the rest of the way apart. Hisoka surged upwards, trying to break away and run, but Muraki placed a hand on his head and spoke several words. After that touch, the boy slumped to the ground, all resistance gone.
Tsuzuki willed his eyes to cloud and not see when Muraki divested himself of his clothing, when he caressed Hisoka's pale skin. At the man's touch Hisoka tried to resume fighting, straining against the spell that held his body immobile. His cries and sobs for someone to rescue him broke Tsuzuki's heart. Suddenly those sobs were broken by a harsh scream and Hisoka's body convulsed, his back arching upwards with pain as Muraki thrust forward. The silver knife flashed in the dark as the doctor brought it up to trace the boy's skin. Still thrusting steadily above him, Muraki began to cut designs into pale flesh, using the knife and his nails to make the marks. Hisoka's cries were softer now, deadened by pain and fear, a hitched sob that was almost an afterthought to the agony of his violation.
Muraki's movements were faster now, his body pushing against the boy's with more urgency. Taking Hisoka's head in his hands he brought his lips close to the boy's ear. Tsuzuki couldn't hear what was said, but he didn't have to, Muraki's lips were by his ear as well, supplying him with the words.
"You'll forget this bouya, but you won't forget the pain. You are my doll now, my puppet, and you will always feel me inside of you."
Muraki gave one last violent thrust and as he did so, turned Hisoka's head viciously to one side. The sharp crack of breaking bone filled the space now devoid of Hisoka's cries. The bloody pattern on the boy's body flared red and then faded, leaving skin unmarked. Muraki rose from the limp body and casually donned his clothing. He ran his hand gently over the unmoving chest, the curse scars flared under his palm then died away. Still unconscious, Hisoka began to breathe. Muraki stepped away from the boy and looked at him.
"It'll be awhile before your soul realizes that your body is dead. Unfortunately in the few years of agony you have remaining, you will not remember this lovely encounter. But I have my instructions. I expect we will meet again bouya, I will enjoy reminding you of this night."
Tsuzuki had only a few moments to contemplate this statement before he felt Muraki's hand on the back of his neck. Oblivion descended.
AN: Next we go to Meifu! Hisoka is trying to find Tsuzuki, and Enma Daioh and Kanou Kachou have a meeting. Hisoka! You bad little eavesdropper you!
