Chapter 2: Voices Inside the Brain

"But I know just what it feels like to have a voice in the back of my head. Like a face that I hold inside, a face that awakes when I close my eyes. A face that watches every time I lie, a face that laughs every time I fall."

Papercut; Linkin Park

"Hello again, Hijiri." The brown-haired, teal-eyed empath said with a small smile as Hijiri and the others entered the Judgement Bureau. Within it, is the Summons Department whose charge it is to retrieve any lost souls still wandering the mortal world. Beyond the Judgement Bureau, is the Ministry of Hades, where the judges judge the sins of the dead.

"Hey, Hisoka!" Hijiri shouted and rushed up to him. "Where's Kazusa?" he looked around for the little girl. Kazusa Otonashi was Tatsuya Otonashi's daughter. She had died in an attempt to save Hijiri's life. A column in the court room of the Bureau collapsed when Tsuzuki went out of control and almost fell onto Hijiri, but Kazusa pushed him out of the way. If it wasn't for her, Hijiri would be dead.

"She's back at the Kyushu Sector." Hisoka told him. His gaze was pried from Hijiri to Tsuzuki. The pale and almost dead expression on his face made him ask, "Something wrong?"

Tsuzuki's eyes quickly met Hisoka's right after the question. A nervous smile peered on his lips. "No . . . I'm fine."

"You sure? 'Cause you're sweating." The young empath pointed out. "And your fear and confusion have skyrocketed."

The Shinigami had to wipe his forehead just to see if Hisoka was messing around with him again or not. Surprisingly, Hisoka wasn't just kidding around and he was sweating a lot.

Am I sure I'm fine?

"I'm good. I just need to lie down and I'll be back to normal in no time." He rubbed his forehead one more time and massaged his temples to calm himself.

"Welcome back Tsuzuki. I'm sure I can sleep tonight knowing you retrieved the violin for studies, yes?" a voice called from behind them. It was their chief operative–Konoe. The old man was wearing the regular business outfit that everyone in the Bureau wore, but he wore a disappointed frown–even before Tsuzuki could answer. "And you got some Manjuu for me as well, didn't you?"

"Yes . . . and no." He pushed Hijiri up to him, not daring to touch the violin himself. "I did get you the violin. But I forgot about the Manjuu." Tsuzuki's last sentence came out slurred so that his boss could barely hear each word separately.

"Thank Hades that you didn't screw this one up. Tatsumi–come take the violin and tell the Gushoshin to analyze the thing from head to toe for any strange markings." And with that order, the chief's assistant–Ichiro Tatsumi came out from his hiding spot in the Bureau and took the violin from him. Tatsumi was a clean-cut man who took care of the papers and sending information back and forth to Chief Konoe.

"Yes, Chief Konoe." Tatsumi said as he walked back in, cradling the violin in his arms so as not to drop it.

Not until your soul is mine . . .

Tatsumi stopped dead in his tracks. "Who's there?" he asked curiously. He looked around for a second. Ichiro did not have fear what-so-ever, but the sound of that deep and emotionless voice ran chills up his spine.

Give it to me!

His face cringed up. Who was talking to him? No one was around and that voice was too close to be from far away. He just shook his head and kept walking. For some reason, Ichiro was starting to freak out. He began to remember now. That voice . . .

"Do you need something?" one of the two Gushoshin birds asked and appeared in front of him. The Gushin Gods were small birds that wore cloaks and boots along with a big baggy hat to top it all off. They were responsible for tallying the good and bad deeds in an individual's life.

"Oh, yes." He held out the violin to the small bird with a dead half smile. "Could you look this violin over for me? We're looking for any odd markings. Once you get the results, please send them back to the Chief."

"Nota problem." The Gushoshin took the violin then bounded off with it in its hands. With the two birds studying the violin, there was no possible way that they could miss a thing. After all, they were the best of the best.

"Hello, Kazusa!" Hijiri shouted as he rushed up to the little girl and his savior with open arms. She was waiting outside of the home they housed at while in Kyushu on missions.

"Hijiri!" she called back and raced toward him. Her Beautiful white dress fluttered gracefully behind her feet as she ran.

As Kazusa jumped into his arms and he picked her up off her feet, her arms went about his neck, dragging him into a hug. "I've missed you, Hijiri!" she shouted happily.

"I've missed you too." He smiled to her and brushed her golden hair back to look at her happy face.

"Hijiri," a familiar hand touched his shoulder. He took a glance back at the hand's possessor and saw Tsuzuki. "Can I talk with you for a second?"

"Yeah, sure." He nodded and sat Kazusa back down to her feet. The violinist tapped her head and told her to stay put while he talked with the Shinigami. "What is it Tsuzuki?"

"That's it! That's my question. What is it?" Tsuzuki placed his hands on the boy's shoulders and met him eye-to-eye with a serious look. "What lives in the violin?"

"What are you talking about? There is nothing in that violin." Hijiri snapped quickly. He had owned that violin for quite sometime now and knew that there was absolutely nothing dwelling in the hallow wood of this instrument.

"I heard voices." The Guardian of Death explained to him about the voice that he knew but could not name and how it talked to him every time he touched it and what it would say.

"I haven't heard any of these 'voices ' that you're talking about." Hijiri patted his shoulder in an attempt to make him feel the least bit better. "Let's wait until we get the results back and see what the Gushoshin find out about it. Then we'll pick up from there." He smiled and walked up to Kazusa. He took her hand and lead her inside.

"There's something in there . . . " he lowered his head and started to walk back into the house with Hisoka following shortly behind him.

An hour later had passed until and everyone was sitting in the living room. They were laid out upon the couches and many chairs that sat in the living room. Everyone was just happy that there was a break that was longer than thirty minutes. But groans escaped many lips when Hisoka came in, waving around a piece of computer paper. "The results are here." Hisoka said as he walked into the living room where they were all gathered. He sat down on the couch next to Tsuzuki and began to read:

"Dear Tsuzuki and the others:

The violin that Hijiri possesses was a 'one night' made violin and carved out of Angelic and Demonic wood. On one side, there are markings in an odd language. We haven't been able to tell what it says because it is in some old language that our computers cannot read. It may be the same language as the carvers of the violin–Angelic and Demonic. Through our reports, there was only one who was on both sides. That was Lucifer. When we tried to look into his files, they were all gone–as if they were erased. We'll know more later. But that's all for now.

Gushoshin Gods"

Lucifer . . . Tsuzuki thought to himself. "Excuse me . . . " his voice was dead as he spoke. "I need some thinking to do." And with that said, Tsuzuki was gone and out of the room.

"Hmm . . . " Hisoka placed his chin on his palm and rested his elbow on his knee. He looked as though he was in deep thought. He's hiding something.