Not Jealous
Tatsumi was not jealous of anyone at all. Not the Hokkaido pair's occasionally alarming enthusiasm, nor Wakaba's cheerfulness. Not Watari, and his manic glee, nor Tsuzuki, and his ability to relax when the entire Shokan Division was against him. He was not even jealous of Chief Konoe and his ability to be content with his own place in life, or afterlife, as it is. And Seiichirou Tatsumi was most definitely not jealous of Kurosaki.
Sure, Kurosaki was lovely. The beautiful boy with the tragic past and the sulky attitude and the innocent face with the eyes like shattered emeralds. And yes, people seemed to flock to the child, despite heated glares and venomous protests and a downright vicious attitude, all wanting to be friends and take care of the newest shinigami.
It is little ironic that the same people who would swarm to help an apparently sociopathic boy capable of using their very thoughts against them if he so chose, would avoid a perfectly nice and respectable Tatsumi like the plague simply for doing his job. The secretary had always thought it just the tiniest bit unfair. Not that there was any reason for complaint of course, as long as it didn't interfere with the work process. Efficiency was what mattered.
And of course, one certainly couldn't forget the power. Oh, not the empathy, though that was bad enough. It was nearly impossible to feel you had any sort of privacy when the kid was in sight, and even when there were several walls between you and the boy, there was no guarantee that your thoughts were your own.
Empathy aside though, it was obvious to anyone who knew what to look for that when he did finally manage to break whatever barrier that was constricting his powers, Kurosaki would rival even Tsuzuki for strength.
Tatsumi had yet to figure out how Kurosaki managed to think himself so weak. Yes, there were plenty of unfortunate…incidences in the boy's past, and being partnered with Tsuzuki had made even Tatsumi, himself, insecure, but the indicators of the boy's coming powers were ridiculously obvious. The very fact that he was partnered with Tsuzuki being the most evident.
It was common knowledge that Shinigami were paired very carefully to make sure that each partner was able to both complement and counter the other. Enma-daioh, himself carefully considered each pairing before it was put into affect and had seemed very sure of the unlikely pairing of the oldest and newest shinigami.
The boy had to realize that the king of the underworld would never allow a true weakling to be partnered with the walking powerhouse that was Tsuzuki. An amateur yes, but not a weakling.
And of course, there was the indisputable and undeniable fact that Kurosaki had Tsuzuki. The weak little boy, constantly at war with his powers, drowning in teenage angst, and with an inferiority complex almost as big as the titanic chip on his shoulder, had succeeded where he, Tatsumi, one of the most powerful shinigami in existence, had failed. Hisoka had saved Tsuzuki, against the man's own wishes. And even now he continued to save him, putting up with all the man's eccentricities and insecurities and almost-but-not-quite mental breakdowns. Wading determinedly through the mire of guilt and despair in the elder's soul. And gradually cracking the cheerful mask which had been fixed firmly in place for over seventy years, allowing honest smiles to surface.
No, Tatsumi was not jealous that Hisoka had triumphed where he, himself had failed miserably. And the boy had not only triumphed, but done so almost effortlessly. As though jumping through supernatural black flame to drag an overly emotional, guilt ridden, suicidal head case off his own funeral pyre against the man's very will was simply one of the inevitable and clichéd facts of life.
No, Tatsumi was most definitely not jealous of Kurosaki.
A/N: I'm not really happy with how this turned out. I think I meant for it to go in a different direction entirely, but unfortunately, I wrote the first few paragraphs and then proceeded to forget about it entirely. When it finally did occur to me to finish it (a month later), I had completely forgotten what I was trying to say sigh. I suppose I'll come back and fix it if I ever remember what I was originally talking about, but I'm posting it for now cause….well, because I like to post things ;