Cat-chan: I'm hoping to finish this by Christmas, who here thinks I can do it?
Tsuzuki and Hisoka: We do.
Cat-chan: Really? Yay! -glomps the bishies- I hope my readers do too! Oh! Speaking of my readers, one sent in something for you 'Sokaa!
Hisoka: I can hardly contain my excitement.
Tsuzuki: Ne, what is it?
Cat-chan: A neko-french-maid uniform!
-Cat-chan holds it up to them. Hisoka falls over and Tsuzuki gets a nosebleed-
Cat-chan: Looks like Tsu likes it! -watches him get a tissue-
Hisoka: -very angry- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL?
Cat-chan: eep! Sorry Hisoka! -puts uniform in box-
Hisoka: One of these days, I'm really gonna-
Cat-chan: -thinks of diversion- Oh no! Look, Tsuzuki's going to die from immense blood loss! -points at Tsuzuki before running off-
Hisoka: -blushing and glaring at Tsuzuki- IDIOT! Stop thinking about me like that!
Tsuzuki: -holding tissue to his nose- S-sorry 'Soka! But you looked so desireable in my mind!
-the mere innocence of Tsu's voice causes Hisoka to fall over again, still blushing-

Chapter 22: Violets are blue

"I just need to get away for a little bit. That's all."

It had been one week since Hisoka woke up and one week since he had spoken with meaning towards his partner. To anyone actually. His voice was void of emotion, the monotone startling many of the shinigami and Setsuko as well. Since his apartment had been engulfed in the fire and was nothing but ashes, he'd been staying in the infirmary. Plus, Watari was still running tests on him. Tatsumi had informed the scientist of Hisoka's strange behavior on the night in Nagasaki, so he had immediately set to work on why it had happened. So far, his only conclusion was teenage hormones.

Hisoka was allowed to walk around JuOhCho and do paperwork though, it wasn't as if he was required to remain bedridden. However, he was to have someone accompany him at almost all times. This was to prevent him leaving again and to make sure he did not suffer from any breakdowns. Setsuko had been one to have the misfortune of being with Hisoka when he had a mental breakdown and burst into tears at the sight of his reflection. He had broken the mirror he'd been looking at into a bunch of tiny shards. Both had ended up with little nicks. Other than that, the boy had endured only two other little mishaps like that. One with Watari in the infirmary, he was sedated for that one, and the other was in front of Tsuzuki who also began crying at the sight of his partner so broken.

"Nani?"

Tsuzuki was not in the best of spirits either, deeply depressed and guilt tripping for being the one to bring out this change in Hisoka. Tatsumi had attempted to reassure him that it wasn't his doing, that the teen's behavior was due to whatever occurred in Nagasaki. The brunette didn't believe him. Watari said Hisoka would get over whatever it was soon enough. He didn't believe him either. Setsuko said she had a bad feeling about all of this. Tsuzuki did agree with her on that.

"I'm going to go away for a little bit."

The girl had been avoiding Hisoka like the plague, taking cover with Tsuzuki or Wakaba. Something about the youth frightened her, the way his eyes would change was what she told them. Watari had said that the boy's eyes were the same as always, just a little duller. Tsuzuki just looked confused. Wakaba said that it wasn't his eyes, just his expression. Tatsumi didn't say anything. No one understood what she had been trying to say except for him. Setsuko was afraid of how Hisoka's eyes would flash crimson for the briefest of seconds when he looked at her and how fearful they'd look the next second and then how he'd walk away from her with a lifeless look. It wasn't like him.

"What do you mean? Why?"

So she found it safer to be with Tsuzuki or Wakaba or someone when the empath was around. His eyes didn't change then. He merely stared blankly around other, blinking still, but it was just so… bleak… This is what led to Tsuzuki and Setsuko going outside for a walk among the sakura. To get away from the look that instilled guilt in both hearts.

Currently, confused mocha optics were gazing at the brunette. He looked lost, yet so sure of something at the same time. His amethyst eyes were bright, but with sadness and determination. She had never seen this look before, it didn't look right to her. And what he was saying, it made no sense whatsoever.

Tsuzuki raked a hand through chocolate tresses, "It's just something I need to do. I need to get away and think. Without any distraction or anything holding me back."

"You're leaving?" Setsuko appeared crestfallen, so young.

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm leaving. But only for a little bit. I'll come back 'Suko-chan, don't worry about that."

"But… but nii-san needs you!" She cried out, "You can't go!"

The brunette snorted, "Needs me? Setsuko, he's terrified of me. So much so that he's like a walking zombie. He hid all his emotions so that he wouldn't feel hurt again. And you know why? Because of me, that's why."

"No… that's not…" she tried to think up ways to make him stay. "It's my fault, not yours."

Tsuzuki shook his head, "How can it be your fault 'Suko? That's impossible."

He looked pained for a moment, then nothing as he replied to the child, "Tsuzuki doesn't have to know. No one does. It's better if we just keep it between you and me, okay?"

"He doesn't want you to know." Setsuko whispered meekly.

"See then, it's my fault." he pointed out, looking down at her sadly.

The girl shook her head frantically, "N-no! That's not… you've got it all… stop saying that!"

Tsuzuki knelt down so that he was level with the child. She was shaking, reaching out for him. He hugged her gently, patting her back and trying to soothe her. "Setsuko, please. I need to do this."

"Okay…" she finally replied, pulling back to look him straight in the eyes, "What do I tell nii-san and the others?"

He shrugged, "Tell them what you want to."

"You will be back, right?" Her gaze held firmly.

"I will, I'll be back real soon 'Suko-chan." Tsuzuki ruffled her hair playfully, smiling distantly, "Take care of Hisoka while I'm gone, okay? Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

He was saying that to convince himself that nothing was really wrong, Setsuko saw right through that façade, "Okay. But that's your job, so I won't take your place for too long." she swallowed before speaking again, "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." he stood up straight, retracting his hand from her head and shoving it in his trench coat pocket.

Setsuko watched as he walked away from her, she watched until he became a faint shimmer and then nothing. She watched until she was sure he was not coming back. She watched as the sakura continued to fall from the trees. She watched until the tears stopped falling.

"Itsuki-chan, you're alone." Tatsumi stated when the girl reentered the office, "Where's Tsuzuki-san?"

She didn't answer him until she got to Wakaba and crawled into her lap, "He left."

"Aka-chan?" the copper-haired girl wrapped her arms around her, "What do you mean?"

"He said he needed to get away for a little bit to think about stuff. He said he'd be back." Setsuko murmured softly, appreciating the comforting hug.

Tatsumi looked away, "I see… did he say where he was going and when he'd be back?"

"No." she shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's my fault everything's bad now. It's my curse…"

The secretary had nothing to say, for he had no idea what she could mean by that. Besides, Wakaba was already reassuring her and coming up with reasons that made it impossible for this whole thing to be her fault. Tatsumi believed that the child was not at fault, in his opinion Muraki was the one who had caused the pandemonium. He left the two girls in silence, on a search for Watari to see what he had the genki scientist could come up with. With both Tsuzuki and Hisoka in such states… things were not going well. This was just the thing he had been trying to prevent by forcing them both to stick with paperwork for the two months before the case with Setsuko. Yet, Tatsumi supposed it was just something fate had had up her sleeve for a long time.

"Tatsumi, you're looking more down and out than usual. What happened?" Watari asked once the secretary reached the lab.

He removed his glasses calmly and wiping at them with a cloth, "Tsuzuki-san has left."

"Well that's not unusual! Tsu's almost always missing and it's most likely sweet shopping." the scientist remarked casually, looking at some data on his laptop.

Tatsumi shook his head, "No, what I mean is that Tsuzuki left for a little while so he could think. According to Itsuki-chan that is. And now she believes that all this is her fault. Because of her curse."

Watari frowned, "Well it's just one guilt-trip after another, isn't it? I looked up more information on the demon supposedly haunting her, but I got nothing that we didn't already know. Wait, are we gonna tell bon about Tsuzuki?"

"Not yet, I think we should wait until he asks. That will give us some clue as to if Kurosaki-kun is still capable of feeling something other than nonchalance." he replied, placing his glasses back on.

The blonde nodded, "Alright then, that's what we'll do. What if Tsuzuki doesn't come back though?"

"Itsuki-chan told me that he said he would," Tatsumi clarified, "But if he takes longer than a day or so, we're going after him. I do believe he has the right to sort his thoughts, but not for such a long period of time. Do not forget that his thoughts stray to what happened in Kyoto more often then not nowadays."

"Right, I wouldn't dream of it." Watari replied, shutting his laptop and stroking 003, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Hisoka stared with much indifference at the red liquid that pooled on the bathroom counter. It was dark and dried in some places, yet bright and fresh in others. It depended on which interval it had fallen at. He could feel that his eye had received it's vision back, even if he couldn't really see himself. It was all nothing wherever the hell he was. The only thing he could see there in the darness was his reflection in the mirrors. He was glad that the mirror wasn't there anymore. He was glad that he had broke it. However, he did save the largest shard. It was a little smaller than the palm of his hand and very sharp. The boy had kept it for later usage. No one had seen him take it, so no one knew he had it. No one understood him when he told them why he had broken the mirror, how could they. They didn't see it. They didn't see that thing staring back at him… it hadn't been him. Whatever it was, it hadn't been him.

Although, Hisoka hadn't been him for a while. There were the occasions where he would be aware of himself and what he was doing. They didn't last long, but it was okay. Most of the time it happened when he was extremely bored, tired, or afraid. At first he thought it would happen when he was angry or sad too, but when he was angry he was shoved further into the darkness and something else seemed to make him say things he did not mean. As if there was someone else living inside his body. The way his eyes would change was proof that something was not right.

Picking up the blood stained mirror shard, Hisoka took another deep breath and once again plunged the object into his eye. Like Christmas… he thought dazed, picturing himself with his green eyes pouring red blood. He had lost count of how many times he did this, but if his eyes wanted to be red well then by fucking god they'd be red. But of his own doing, not someone or something else's. He still had control over his body. Whether or not his body wanted to agree with this was beside the question. The shard was set back on the counter, his hand covered in the crimson liquid that ran down his cheeks like tears.

"This is why you're not supposed to be alone."

Blindly, Hisoka whirled around to face the owner of the voice. His blurred vision could vaguely make out the form of Setsuko staring up at him sadly. He clasped his hand over his bleeding eye, well aware of how quickly it was healing. The girl showed no surprise though, it was as if she knew that if she went looking for him she would find him stabbing holes in his eyes. Knowing Setsuko, she probably had some weird way of knowing.

"What do you want?" he growled irritably.

Her eyes seemed to light up just a little, "I'm looking for you nii-san. What else would I be doing?"

"Why do you look so much happier all of a sudden?" he asked, also feeling the relief she felt through his empathy.

Setsuko looked at the blood, then at him, "Because you're becoming you again. That's good."

"You're making no sense." he retorted, wiping away the blood from his newly regenerated eye.

She shrugged, "I wouldn't expect you to think so. But I think I need to tell you some stuff now, okay?"

Hisoka arched an eyebrow, before the dullness crept back into his eyes, "F-fine."

"Anou, if it helps… then you can do that again…" she sighed, pointing at the piece of mirror in the puddle of blood.

"What do you mean 'if it helps'?" he asked, trying with much effort to keep the monotone out of his voice. His eyes flickered.

Setsuko glared, "Haruna. Stop it."

Instantly, the flickering between red and green ceased and Hisoka began coughing, "What-" a break for a cough "-was that all about? Setsuko?"

The girl fidgeted, "Umm… can I tell you somewhere else?"

He nodded, grabbing a fistful of paper towels first to mop up the blood with. Once it was cleared away, Setsuko led the boy down the hall to the office he shared with Tsuzuki. The man was not present, which did not surprise him. A sinking feeling entered him, remembering when one of his outbursts caused his partner to break down as well. The self-loathing and guilt was radiating throughout Tsuzuki's entire being, Hisoka wondered why he could not feel those emotions at that moment. He could feel no emotions save for Setsuko's actually…

"Where is everyone?" he asked hoarsely, rubbing at his now irritated eye.

"Don't do that, it just makes it worse. Trust me." she told him, sitting down in one of the chairs, "Tatsumi-san and Yuu-chan are in the lab. Onee-chan went looking for Terazuma-san. And the GuShoShin are in the library."

"What about Tsuzuki?" Hisoka inquired, frowning and refraining from scratching at his eye.

Setsuko looked out the window, "The sakura trees are pretty, aren't they nii-san?"

"Setsuko…" the teen warned, "Where's Tsuzuki?"

"I'll tell you in a minute, okay?" mocha eyes pleaded with him, "I need to tell you something else first."

He sighed, but gave in, "Alright. What is it?"

"Anou… you know the fire? The fire was caused by a demon. The demon is named Haruna, she likes to feed off people's fear. That's why you were sleeping so long, she made you by making you relive all your worst fears. She made you think differently, that's why you were scared of Tsu-chan." she paused, allowing this information to sink in. "She's kinda a part of the curse… so… when you took my curse you took her too. Which is why you keep feeling funny. Haruna can take over your body for short periods of time. Part of that is the monotone and the red eyes and the breakdowns. That used to happen to me a lot. So I got scared when my eyes wouldn't stop going red. It scared my parents too. So I tried to get rid of my eyes, but… Muraki stopped me saying that I deserved this pain. But I know that it does help you get control. If you want nii-san, we could try to get rid of the curse again. I'll be more careful this time. I promise."

Hisoka stared hard at her, grasping only parts of what she was saying. Her explanation got through to him, but by then the warning bells in his head had already started ringing. She had so cunningly avoided speaking of his partner, as if she didn't want him to know something. This brush off of Tsuzuki clearly spelled out "s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g-s n-o-t r-i-g-h-t."

"A… a demon? What?" he frowned, not quite registering what she had said. His mind was still a little cloudy.

She nodded, "Hai, a demon. A demon is attached to the curse. It's what's making you feel and act funny. Can I take it back?"

"You already tried that." he pointed out, not feeling up to catching on fire again. No one in their right mind would.

"Please?" Setsuko implored, "I'll be really careful!"

Hisoka shrugged, "Aa, you can try. It didn't work last time, but you can try."

Setsuko gently touched his hand, the familiar pulling and pushing commenced. He winced, recoiling at her emotions followed by the taunting darkness. There were red eyes staring at him, angry and deranged. The he heard an equally angry voice.

"Stay away from my body!"

The next thing he knew, he was on his back on the floor and staring up at the ceiling. He felt nothing, close to empty just as he had the past week. From the corner of his eyes he could see Setsuko rubbing her hand and looking at him intently.

"You okay?" she asked, trying to see past the blankness in his eyes.

Hisoka continued to stare at the ceiling, "Hai."

She frowned bitterly at his monotone response, crossing her arms, "Damn demon bitch."

The boy felt the urge to reprimand her for swearing, the shock of her saying something like that overpowered the emptiness for a moment. Suddenly his body tensed up with hostility. Anger flowed through his veins, but it was not his own nor Setsuko's. It was inhuman.

"Nii-san. Nii-san it's okay now." tentatively opening his eyes, the teen found himself looking at the girl once more. "Well, I guess that proves it then."

"Proves what?" he asked a little breathlessly.

Setsuko rubbed the back of her neck, "Anou, it proves that Haruna doesn't want to leave you. Every time I try to take my curse back, she stops it by possessing you. She's got a strong hold on you."

"Stronger than she did on you." Hisoka finished for her, "With you it never came down to possession, she would just talk to you. I think… I think that maybe we did something wrong."

She tilted her head to the side, "What do you mean?"

"Muraki might've wanted this to happen. He might've wanted me to try and take the curse as some part of his little scheme or whatever it is he's up to. He always had a weird way of looking ahead into things. So without knowing it, we probably stumbled into his grasp like little pawns." he frowned, massaging his throbbing temple.

The girl thought about this, then nodded, "Yeah… maybe you're right. It's too… weird that Haruna isn't mad or anything. More like pleased I think. Hey, where are you going?" she asked as the empath stood up.

"I'm going to find Tsuzuki. To apologize for my behavior, explain the situation, and see if he can help us understand this a little better." he replied.

Setsuko looked frantic, "Ah- no, wait nii-san! You can't go talk to Tsu-chan!"

"Why not?" the inquiry pained her, she knew he wanted to see his partner through his own eyes again, not through Haruna's. Why did she have to be the one to tell him?

"H-he's gone." she answered softly. "He's not here. He left."

One of the most horrible things to see, in Setsuko's opinion, is watching someone you thought so highly of and believed was so strong, crumble so easily. She thought this as she watched Hisoka fall to his knees at the statement and gaze at her imploringly. She had a lot more explaining to do.