Roleplaying
By Leareth

Chapter Two

Oriya sighed and relit his pipe. He was getting dizzy watching 'Muraki' pace the room up and down like a caged tiger. At least he wasn't yelling anymore. "Sit down, you're going to wear out my tatami," he said in exasperation.

'Muraki' glared and kept pacing. Oriya rolled his eyes.

It had taken a while for things to calm down and when it did, Oriya had managed to at least get a handle on what had happened. After a bit more screaming he had figured out that the person currently walking around in Muraki's body was the shadow-master of the JuOhCho. Any respect Oriya might have had for him (not that he truly respected anyone) disappeared very quickly as he watched the shadow-master try and deal with the crisis. It wasn't impressive, to say the least.

"Oi." 'Muraki' glanced at him. "Unless you're planning on re-breaking those ribs and dying of a punctured lung, you're not going anywhere. Sit down before you hurt yourself."

For his thoughtfulness, Oriya was rewarded with another glare. "How can you expect me to be calm in this situation??" 'Muraki' demanded.

"I don't expect you to damage my friend's body, that's for sure." Oriya took a puff on his pipe. "You have any idea how many times I've had to patch him up?"

"I couldn't care less."

Oriya gave him a Look. "Considering you're walking around in his body at the moment, you should."

'Muraki' glared at him, but seeing the logic of the situation, grudgingly took a seat. As he did so, he winced. Watching 'Muraki's frustrated expression as he registered the pain, Oriya rolled his eyes. "Oh great and wonderful shadow-master, you're human now, in case you haven't realised."

"I have realised that, thank you very much!" 'Muraki' gingerly touched the bandages wrapped around his chest. "I've forgotten how long it takes for mortal bodies to heal."

Now it was Oriya's turn to look angry. "Those broken ribs are your doing, you know that? If you hadn't bashed him up so badly that time you wouldn't be hurting now, so you have no one to blame but yourself."

'Muraki' shot him several daggers worth of glare. "If your friend wasn't a pervert I wouldn't have had –" He broke off and froze. His eyes widened. He turned even paler if that was possible. Then he dashed for the door. "TSUZUKI-SAN!!"

"Oi, watch it –!" Too late, 'Muraki' doubled over in pain. Seeing his friend – or more correctly, his friend's body – hurting Oriya immediately leapt to his assistance. He quickly remembered to remedy his thinking when 'Muraki' lashed out at him.

"Get off! I need to get back!"

Oriya stepped back and folded his arms. "You're not going anywhere in that condition."

'Muraki' shot him a killing look from beneath a fall of silver hair. "You don't get it, do you," he bit out. "If I'm in this body that means that Muraki must be in mine, and if that hentai does anything to Tsuzuki-san while walking around in my body I'll –"

"You think I'm any more happy about the situation than you?!" retorted Oriya angrily. "My friend just turned into an anal-retentive freak, how do you think I feel??"

'Muraki' twitched. Then he headed for the door again. Oriya sighed in exasperation. "Now where are you going?"

"Leaving. The company is offensive."

Oriya snorted. "Not that I like yours any better."

'Muraki' turned and glared. "This coming from a brothel owner? Do excuse me while I laugh."

"We all have to earn a living." Oriya folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "And anyway, how are you supposed to get back to wherever-it-is you come from?"

'Muraki's' eyes narrowed. "What do you mean."

"Well, if you'd get off stressing about Purple-Eyes, it should be obvious. You're a god of death, right? How are you supposed to get back to the afterlife when you're still alive, hmm?"

'Muraki' stared, speechless. Oriya blinked. He had never imagined his friend's face capable of dread before.

* * * * * * *

Konoe sighed, then pulled himself into a more alert state as he heard his office door open. He looked up, about to mildly reprimand whosoever it was that it was polite to knock before entering, then blinked.

"Tatsumi?"

The tall shinigami, who was looking curiously about the room, glanced up at him as if startled at being addressed. Konoe frowned. "What are you doing here, Tatsumi?" he asked. "I thought you were going to be in the hospital for the next couple of days."

Tatsumi looked at him steadily. Konoe began to feel uneasy under that blue gaze. Despite their difference in rank there was no way that anyone would dare call Tatsumi Seiichiro a 'mere' secretary.

"Kacho," Tatsumi said at last. He paused, as if waiting for Konoe to way something. When he didn't, Tatsumi continued. "I thought that I was well enough to be discharged."

"Oh. Uh . . ." Konoe gestured to the papers littering his desk. "So does this mean you're coming back to work already? You don't have to, of course," he said hastily, seeing Tatsumi look at the papers. "I wasn't expecting you back for a couple more days, so technically you're still on leave."

"Is that so?" Tatsumi gave him that unwavering look again for moment before smiling. "Well then, if you don't mind, I think I will take things easy until then."

Konoe blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes."

Konoe stared. As far as he could remember – and he could remember a long time – Tatsumi had never willingly taken leave before in the whole time he had been secretary. After a few moments of blinking he came to the conclusion that Tatsumi's accident in the mortal realm had affected him more than first realised. The idea of the control-freak with head trauma added up to one thing in the Kacho's mind – LEAVE ALONE. "Alright then," he said aloud. "Uh . . ."

Tatsumi smiled. "Have you seen Tsuzuki-san anywhere?" he asked.

"Tsuzuki?" Konoe frowned. "Well, since it's mid-morning, I'd assume he'd be in the common room where the cake is. I thought you knew that."

Tatsumi's smile grew ever so slightly wider and he turned to go. "Just checking, Kacho."

"What are you looking for him for?" asked Konoe curiously. "He hasn't gotten into trouble again, has he?"

Tatsumi paused. He turned to look over his shoulder at the Chief. For some reason Konoe felt uneasy again. "Tsuzuki-san's fine," the shinigami said, one hand on the door-handle ready to close it behind him. There was a smile on his face that Konoe wasn't sure if he was comfortable with. "Trouble hasn't found him . . . yet."

Before anything else could be said, Tatsumi left the room. Konoe stared after him for a moment, wondering at Tatsumi's too-nice-and-friendly behaviour, before realising that he was going to have to function without a secretary for the next two days and starting to stress.

* * * * * * *

Watari peered critically at the precipitate in the beaker. According to his calculations, when he added in that serum he should have ended up with a clear solution. This resulting chalky-like substance was as far from clear as he could get. Muttering various things best left unheard under his breath, the scientist put the beaker back over the Bunsen burner and flumped onto a stool to sulk. He knew that he was close to a breakthrough. How, he wasn't sure, just call it a scientist's gut feeling. All he needed to get his gender-switching potion to work was time. And money. Always money. The measly grant Tatsumi had allowed him had dwindled to practically nothing now, and another seemed about as likely as pigs with wings. But he was so close –

Watari jerked his head up as he saw a familiar figure passing in front of his lab-door.

"Tatsumi?" He got off his chair and poked his head out into the corridor. "Hey, Tatsumi, what are you doing walking around? Didn't I say that you were supposed to stay in the hospital under observation for a bit?"

The shinigami paused. Then he turned slowly and regarded Watari as if sizing him up. Watari blinked.

"Watari-san . . ." Tatsumi said the name slowly, as if experimenting with it. "I decided to get up and see what was going on."

"Hmph." Watari opened the door further and leaned on the frame. "Well I suppose so, seeing as asking you to stay idle while there's work to be done is like asking Tsuzuki to stay away from sweets. Still," he continued, giving the taller shinigami a Look, "make sure you don't stress yourself, alright?"

Tatsumi smiled. "Of course."

Watari blinked. "What did you just say?"

"Of course."

Watari blinked again. "That's it? 'Of course'? You're not going to say something like the reason you get stressed at work is because of me or Tsuzuki or Terazuma? That's it?"

Tatsumi looked surprised. "Well, yes."

Watari stared. Tatsumi was in a good mood. Not only that, an amiable mood. Watari wondered what the occasion was. It wasn't Tatsumi's birthday, it wasn't Tsuzuki's birthday either, it wasn't the end of the financial year, it wasn't Christmas or New Year, and it wasn't a national holiday. There was absolutely no reason for it.

A slow smile began to spread over Watari's face.

"Hey, Tatsumi," said the scientist, pushing the lab-door open a little more to oh-so-subtly reveal the interior, "remember that formula I've been working on?"

He watched carefully as Tatsumi's eyes flicked towards the lab then back to his face. The secretary's expression had turned wary, and Watari knew that he had to tread carefully. Good mood or not, Tatsumi wasn't stupid. "What about it?"

The beaker inside the lab chose this moment to start bubbling and Watari smiled as charmingly as possible. "Remember how I told you the other day how close I was to a breakthrough?"

The wary look became even more wary. "Vaguely."

"Well, you see, Tatsumi, I can see a breakthrough taking place really soon, there's just one problem."

"And?"

Watari took a deep breath and wished he had purple eyes for back up. "I need more money."

"Oh. Is that all," Tatsumi turned to go.

"Hey!" Watari looked cross. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

Tatsumi paused and turned back with an impatient sigh. "What do you want me to say?"

Watari folded his arms and glared. "Well, 'Sure, have some more money' would be good."

Tatsumi started walking away again. "Have some more money if you want then."

The scientist blinked. Twice. "Huh? Did I hear you right?"

"You should have." The secretary kept walking.

Watari stared after him. Then, as soon as Tatsumi turned the corner, he did a victory dance. He had no idea what was up with Tatsumi, but whatever it was, it was good for him!

* * * * * * *

Hisoka stopped as he realised who the person walking towards him in the corridor was. He blinked; from what Watari had told everyone, he wasn't supposed to be seeing Tatsumi on his feet until at least tomorrow.

"Tatsumi-san?"

The moment the name left his lips, Tatsumi stopped. He glanced up at Hisoka. The boy-shinigami frowned; was he imagining things or had the secretary's expression become ever so slightly dark?

"Tatsumi-san." Hisoka continued walking until he was within an appropriate conversation distance from the other shinigami. "What are you doing here? Watari-san said that you weren't going to be back at work for a couple of days."

The secretary didn't answer immediately. Hisoka blinked, sensing shields going up. Being as powerful an empath as he was, Hisoka could easily sense anything people around him were feeling, and even though shinigami were far better able to control themselves than normal humans Hisoka still found it difficult not to sense the emotions of his fellow workers. As he had told Watari and Tsuzuki, being caught looking in onto the hearts of people was far, far worse than eavesdropping. It had gotten him into enough trouble while he was alive. So Tatsumi's wariness was understandable. Hisoka, however, found it a little strange. Everyone in JuOhCho trusted Hisoka not to pry into their minds.

"I felt I was well enough to come back," the secretary said at last. "Lying in bed idle is not something I'm comfortable with."

Hisoka nodded. He should have expected it. "That's good. You were unconscious for over a day; everyone was worried. Tsuzuki was so worried he's not going to care if you're going to yell at him as long as you're awake to do it."

Tatsumi gazed at him steadily for a moment, then smiled slowly. "Tsuzuki-san was worried about me?"

Hisoka frowned. The smile was similar to the one that usually heralded a major budget cut, completely different from the gentle and kind expression Hisoka usually associated with Tatsumi when Tsuzuki was the subject of conversation. "Well, yeah . . ." Hisoka gave Tatsumi a sideways glance. "Are you alright, Tatsumi-san?"

The smile got a little wider. Then Tatsumi turned around. "I've never felt better in my life, boy. Do excuse me, I need to get a few things."

Hisoka blinked. Before he could say anything, however, Tatsumi walked away in the opposite direction that he had come. Hisoka stood staring after him for a long time, then remembered that he'd better go fetch Watari to the common room before Tsuzuki ate all the cake.

* * * * * * *

Saya, Yuma, Terazuma and Wakaba all stared.

"Ano . . ." said Wakaba slowly. "Am I seeing this?"

Everybody's heads slowly went Nod nod.

"Those are roses and chocolates, right?"

Nod nod.

"Expensive roses and chocolates?"

Nod nod.

"That is Tatsumi-san holding them, right?"

Nod nod.

Pause. Wakaba rubbed her eyes. "We're definitely all seeing this, right?"

Everyone went Nod Nod again, all wearing identical stunned expressions. Wakaba fell silent, the sight of Tatsumi standing in the doorway with a large bouquet of roses in one hand and a box of chocolates in the other too amazing to allow for conversation. At the common room table, his back to the door, Tsuzuki was happily eating a large slice of strawberries-and-cream cake. As the three girls and Terazuma watched through the window of the adjacent door, Tatsumi silently entered the room behind Tsuzuki. He leaned over Tsuzuki's shoulder, roses and chocolates hidden behind his back, and closed his eyes as Tsuzuki's hair brushed his neck. He smiled.

Saya, Yuma, Terazuma and Wakaba were shocked speechless.

* * * * * * *

Seeing the shadow over his cake Tsuzuki stopped eating and turned around. His eyes widened.

"Tatsumi!" Tsuzuki stood up from his seat, still holding his fork with some cake on it. "You're back!"

Tatsumi smiled. "Hello, Tsuzuki-san. Did you miss me?"

"Of course!" Tsuzuki's face was innocently happy, then he remembered his manners. "Uh, do you want some cake?" he asked, gesturing to the cake with his laden fork.

"Hmm." Tatsumi's free hand came up to hold his chin thoughtfully as he looked between the cake and Tsuzuki. Suddenly, he smirked. "I think I will."

Before the startled Tsuzuki could react, Tatsumi grabbed his hand and ate the chunk of cake on his fork.

* * * * * * *

Terazuma's jaw dropped. "What did he just –"

The three girls glared at him, delicate fingers over their lips. "Shh!!"

Terazuma shut up.

* * * * * * *

Having finished the morsel, Tatsumi brought the flowers and chocolates out into the open. "I heard that you were worried about me," he said softly. "These are for you."

Tsuzuki blinked. "Me?"

* * * * * * *

Four pairs of eyes blinked in stunned disbelief.

* * * * * * *

Tatsumi smiled disarmingly. "Of course, Tsuzuki-san. They go well with your eyes." He placed the bouquet into Tsuzuki's stunned arms then lifted the box of chocolates. "You like these, don't you?"

Tsuzuki, who had been staring a little apprehensively at the roses, lighted up at the confectionary. "Oh wow! Really just for me?"

"Just for you." Tatsumi opened the box and picked out a caramel cup. "Here."

* * * * * * *

Four pairs of eyes boggled as Tatsumi held the chocolate before Tsuzuki's lips. "Is that really Tatsumi?!" asked Saya in disbelief.

Footsteps were heard in the corridor behind them; too engrossed in the show none of the members of the group-huddle by the door turned around. If they had, they would have seen that Hisoka and Watari were frowning at them.

"Hey, what are you guys all looking at?" asked Watari curiously.

To his and Hisoka's surprise, everyone turned around with fingers over their lips. "Shh!!"

Watari and Hisoka blinked. "What's going on?" asked the boy-shinigami in a more hushed voice.

Wakaba giggled. "Look, Hisoka-kun! Tatsumi-san is feeding Tsuzuki-san chocolates!"

"Huh?" Intrigued, Hisoka and Watari joined the spying huddle.

* * * * * * *

"Try this one." Tatsumi picked out a hazelnut swirl. "Say 'ah'."

Tsuzuki, puppy ears and all, smiled charmingly and complied, letting Tatsumi pop the chocolate into his open mouth.

* * * * * * *

Watari's glasses slipped off his nose. "You have got to be kidding me."

Saya and Yuma held hands over their mouths stifling squeaks of laughter. "Aren't they cute?"

Wakaba turned shining eyes onto her partner. "Ne, Hajime-chan, I want to be fed chocolates too!"

Terazuma turned red and muttered something about having no money. Hisoka looked uncomfortable.

"Uh, should we be watching this?"

* * * * * * *

Inside the common room, Tsuzuki turned towards the closed door. He blinked. Was that someone whispering? "Ano, Tatsumi . . ." he said slowly, forgetting about chocolates for a second. "Did you hear something?"

Tatsumi stepped very close and leaned over him. "Hear what, Tsuzuki-san?" he said softly.

Tsuzuki frowned and squinted at the door's window. He was concentrating too hard to notice the close proximity of the other man. "I don't know, I thought I heard –" He broke off as Tatsumi laid a hand flat on the table on either side of him, effectively trapping him. Tsuzuki stiffened. "Uh, Tatsumi?"

"Yes, Tsuzuki-san?"

Tsuzuki looked up into the other man's face – and froze.

* * * * * * *

On the other side of the door, the hands stuffed into various mouths were made useless as shock rendered everyone speechless.

Hisoka was the first to regain use of his tongue. "Watari-san . . ." he said slowly, "are you sure that letting Tatsumi-san out of hospital while he's still recovering from head trauma was a good idea?"

Watari's glasses were fogging, so he removed them and wiped them on his coat. "I didn't. He walked out himself. You really think I'm going to try and stop him?"

"Of course not." Saya and Yuma giggled. "No one stops Tatsumi from doing anything."

"Including that?" said Terazuma dryly, pointing to the couple in the common room.

Wakaba, one finger placed thoughtfully on her lip, was staring intently. "I didn't know Tatsumi-san had a thing for Tsuzuki-san," she commented.

Watari folded his arms and looked wise. "Oh, he does. I just didn't think it went that far."

"Maybe his near-death experience made him realise what he's missing?" said Saya.

"He's already dead," Hisoka pointed out.

* * * * * * *

Meanwhile, Tsuzuki was beginning to feel rather uncomfortable trapped between Tatsumi and the table. It was the same kind of uncomfortable he got whenever Muraki had hit on him. But this was Tatsumi. It didn't make sense . . .

"You know, Tsuzuki-san," whispered Tatsumi, his blue eyes fixing Tsuzuki's violet ones in a gaze that refused to let him go, "I was right. Red goes with your eyes so well. I can see it on your face."

Tsuzuki wondered if he was hearing things again, or if his heart actually was racing that fast. "R-really?"

"Yes." Tatsumi smiled. For some reason that smile brought up bad memories for Tsuzuki. "You're blushing. Most adorably, I must say."

Tsuzuki turned an even deeper shade of red. "Oh . . ." was all he managed to say.

Tatsumi smiled and leaned even closer if such a thing was possible. "You know something else, Tsuzuki-san?" he murmured into the younger shinigami's dark hair. "You . . ."

* * * * * * *

"I never knew Tatsumi-san could be this smooth," commented a wide-eyed Wakaba as the secretary lifted a hand to trace down one side of Tsuzuki's cheek. She, like everyone else (except Hisoka, who was probably getting more than enough unwanted information from any unshielded persons through his empathic senses), had her ears and face pressed as closely as possible against the door's window trying to catch what was being said in the next room.

" . . . are good enough . . ."

Saya and Yuma stared and wished they had brought a camera as Tsuzuki's eyes began to flutter shut. "Is Tatsumi going to –?"

" . . . to make me . . ."

Hisoka had his arms folded and was pointedly looking away, face pink. "We really shouldn't be watching this, guys . . ."

" . . . want to . . ."

Watari's eyes bugged out as he saw that Tatsumi's face was getting very close to Tsuzuki's. "Don't tell me they're really gonna . . ."

" . . . eat y–"

Terazuma was making gagging sounds. "EAT?!"

Too late, Watari slapped a hand over Terazuma's mouth. The girls squeaked as they realised that show inside the common room had abruptly halted.

Then, out of the silence, there was the sound of footsteps. Slow, dangerous footsteps. The six spies trembled in their shoes.

The door swung open with a loud and scary creak.

Tatsumi stared balefully down at the group and turned them all into mice.

"Don't you people have work to do?" he said icily.

Freeze, cower. Suddenly everyone found excuses to be somewhere else.

"Well, would you look at the time!"

"Oops, I think I left a beaker boiling bye!"

"I ah, need to return a book to the library."

"Mustn't slack, must get back to work!"

In record time, everyone had disappeared.

'Tatsumi' smirked. Then he turned back to the common room only to find that Tsuzuki, flustered and confused, had taken the chance to slip away.

* * * * * * *

At least he was outside this time, thought Oriya to himself. He leaned on one of the veranda pillars and chewed the end of his pipe as he watched 'Muraki' – or, rather, the anal-retentive control-freak of a shadow-master as he had dubbed him – pace the garden. Oriya was a little miffed; he had designed the garden personally and was very proud of it, but the control-freak had barely spared it a glance.

"Y'know, it's weird seeing you this nervous," he commented.

'Muraki' spun around and fixed him with a glare. "I. Am. NOT. This. Bastard."

Oriya sighed and turned away. "Fine then. Be impolite. I was going to tell you about a possible idea to help get everything back to normal but I take it you don't want to hear it."

"I don't."

"Sure?'

"Yes."

"Really sure?"

"YES."

"Really, really sure?"

"Why are you so eager to help me?"

Oriya glared. "Look at whose company I'm stuck with. That should say everything."

'Muraki' twitched. Oriya raised an eyebrow. "So have you got any ideas yourself, oh great and wonderful shadow-master? You've been pacing long enough."

Silence. Oriya watched 'Muraki' grit his teeth. "What's your idea," the control-freak bit out.

"Please."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Say please."

'Muraki' glared. He muttered something under his breath.

"What's that? I didn't hear you."

'Muraki' twitched. "JUST TELL ME YOUR DAMNED IDEA PLEASE!"

Oriya smiled. "Well, since you asked so nicely." Flicking the ends of his kimono out of the way he sat down on the steps and puffed on his pipe, gathering his thoughts into order. "Now let's see . . ." He looked up at 'Muraki'. "You shinigami go investigate any strange or unusual supernatural happenings in the world, right?"

'Muraki' nodded warily.

"Well, every time that you – I mean, Muraki, causes trouble, the boy and Purple-Eyes turn up, right?"

Another nod. Oriya grinned.

"How do you feel about causing some property damage?"

* * * * * * *

Hisoka thought that after yesterday, short of treating everyone to an expensive dinner all costs to himself, Tatsumi could do nothing more to surprise him. He was wrong.

"Tsuzuki-san." At the sound of Tatsumi calling his name, Tsuzuki turned around curiously. Hisoka watched as unobtrusively as possible from behind his book. All around him, everyone was not-so-subtly doing the same. Word of Tatsumi's courtly behaviour towards Tsuzuki in the common room yesterday had got around, and despite the fact that the workday was ending there were quite a few people in the room waiting for a show.

"Are you doing anything tonight, Tsuzuki-san?" asked Tatsumi, his voice pitched just at that level where it seemed to be a private conversation yet was still audible to the whole room. "I was wondering if you had any plans for dinner."

"Eh?" Tsuzuki put a hand to his head and looked embarrassed. "Well, I was going to have take-out or cook . . ."

Hisoka was glad for the book's cover, so he could gag at the thought of eating Tsuzuki's cooking without anyone noticing.

"Take-out or cooking?" Tatsumi raised an eyebrow. "How dull. Let me take you out."

The low murmuring around the room stopped. There was the expected pin-drop silence. Hisoka forgot to turn the page.

Tsuzuki blinked. "What did you say?"

Tatsumi smiled and took a step closer towards Tsuzuki. "Come out to dinner with me tonight."

All around the room, Hisoka, Watari, Saya, Yuma, Terazuma, Wakaba and any other shinigami who happened to have nothing better to do, strained their ears and eyes as much as possible without seeming obvious about it.

Tsuzuki blinked adorably – and rather cluelessly. Then his amethyst eyes narrowed. "Do I have to pay?"

Hisoka thought he heard a feminine voice hiss, 'What kind of question is that when someone asks you out on a date??' and choked.

Tatsumi's smile became a little wider, rather like that of a cat who's got at the cream. Hisoka wasn't sure if he was comfortable with it. "Of course not, Tsuzuki-san. It'll be all on me."

Several jaws around the room dropped to the floor.

Tsuzuki's face lit up. "Tatsumi's paying? Alright, I'm coming!"

Without warning, Tatsumi grabbed Tsuzuki about the waist and drew him close. Various eyes around the room grew to the size of dinner plates.

"Pick you up in an hour then?" the secretary whispered into Tsuzuki's ear.

Hisoka frowned. There was something awfully familiar about the way Tatsumi was holding Tsuzuki like that . . .

"Uh . . ." Tsuzuki looked a little breathless, but managed to make his tongue work anyway. "S-sure."

Tatsumi smiled. "That's good." Suddenly he stepped away from Tsuzuki and headed for the door. "We have a reservation at Le Palais at seven. Private booth."

"Really?" Tsuzuki's eyes were very wide. "Oh wow! Thankyou, Tatsumi!"

Tatsumi gave one more enigmatic smile over his shoulder before exiting. A few moments of blinking later, Tsuzuki followed. As soon as the two of them were gone the room erupted into babbling.

"Oh my –!"

"Tatsumi-san's taking Tsuzuki-san out for dinner?!"

"A dinner date! Get it right!"

"At Le Palais too? Waaah, you know how expensive that place is??"

"And Tatsumi's paying for all of it?!"

"Ne, Hajime-chan, take me out to dinner too!"

"Candle-lit dinner in a private booth . . . how romantic!"

"Tatsumi? Romantic? Those two go together like oil and water!"

"Well, you saw how he's been acting towards Tsuzuki lately!"

"I figure that whack on the head must have been harder than first thought."

Hisoka didn't participate, gazing out the door through which Tatsumi and Tsuzuki had left, wondering why he felt uneasy. The whole affair was good for those two but something didn't feel right. No matter how hard he thought he couldn't put his finger on it. Sure, Tatsumi was acting strange, but as everyone said, head trauma did funny things. And it was pretty obvious that Tatsumi cared for Tsuzuki too. Still . . . Hisoka had never expected Tatsumi to act so . . . Muraki-like?

"Hisoka-san!" The boy-shinigami glanced up to see one of the Gushoushin hovering in front of him. "Kacho wants to see you and Tsuzuki-san in his office right away!"

Hisoka got up. "Alright, tell him I'm coming."

The chicken-like shikigami blinked. "Eh? Where's Tsuzuki-san?"

Hisoka didn't bother looking back. "Gone."

He found Konoe sitting at his desk, as always. The old chief was probably one of the few people left who had no idea what was going on in the office. It was nice to know, thought Hisoka, that some things remained normal.

"Kurosaki-kun." The old man nodded his arrival, then frowned. "Where's Tsuzuki? Don't tell me he's gone home already."

"He has." Hisoka stood almost to attention. "You wanted to see me, Kacho?"

"Mm." Konoe slid a file over to Hisoka. "We have a small problem going on in Kyoto that was just reported in. Apparently lots of buildings are being damaged by some unseen force. Not sure what it is, so I want you and Tsuzuki to take a look."

Hisoka opened the file and squinted at the photos inside. 'Damaged' was an understatement. 'Demolished' or 'destroyed' would be more correct. "Any witnesses or anything?" he asked.

"We did have one unconfirmed report of someone seeing a man in white at one of the sites, but," Konoe added with emphasis seeing Hisoka jump to the obvious conclusion, "this is an unconfirmed report and the witness was apparently not exactly sober, so don't assume anything."

Hisoka nodded. "I understand. I'll take care of it."

"What about Tsuzuki?" asked Konoe curiously.

Hisoka tucked the file under his arm. "He has uh, some personal business tonight," he said. "There's no need to bother him, I can handle this by myself."

Konoe raised an eyebrow at the boy-shinigami. "Are you sure?"

Hisoka looked Konoe in the eye. "You picked me personally, remember?" He turned to go. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I can take care of myself if I need to."

Behold, the Void @