Alright, I have finished chapter 3 Yay me! Sorry it took so long, but the next chapter will probably take just as long.

I went back and looked at my first two chapters and had to go find a corner to hide in. I lost all my formatting when I uploaded my story, and while I tried to put it back together, something still got lost in the translation. I apologize for any confusion.

I had a real problem with this chapter, namely Tatsumi. He just didn't want to get back into the story, and every time I tried to write him in, he grabbed a writer's block off my desk and beat me over the head with it! Has anyone else had this problem?

Chapter 3

Watari Yutaka ran through the hall of Ju-Oh-Cho at top speed, a miniature ball of feathers named 003 flapped madly in his wake trying to keep up. Only moments earlier Tatsumi had come into his lab to inform him that Tsuzuki had arrived carrying an unconscious Hisoka.

The scientist and sometimes doctor burst through the door to the infirmary. He took in Tsuzuki's worried face and Hisoka's pale unmoving form in his arms.

"Put him there." Watari gestured vaguely towards half a dozen beds against the wall as he tuned away to open his supply cabinet.

Tsuzuki laid his partner gently on one of the infirmary beds, but Hisoka still let out a cry of pain and he was placed on the soft mattress. He rolled onto his side and curled into himself.

Watari picked up a syringe and filled it with a clear liquid, which he brought over and gently pulling the boy back onto his back, injected the contents into Hisoka's left arm. He saw Tsuzuki's questioning glance and smiled reassuringly at him. "Just a mild painkiller."

"What's wrong with him?" Tsuzuki looked at Watari with pleading eyes.

I'm not sure Tsuzuki-san, I don't see any obvious injuries, but something seems to be causing him a lot of pain. Here, give me a hand lets get him undressed and….." Watari paused as clear green opened and regarded him steadily. "Oh Bon, your awake! Can you tell us what happened?

Hisoka looked around, his brow wrinkling in confusion. He hurt, but nowhere near what he had experienced the last time he opened his eyes. He could feel familiar emotions around him, concern, caring, warmth. "Watari-san? Where, I mean how did I get here?"

"Tsuzuki brought you back."

"Tsuzuki?" Hisoka turned his head to face his partner. "You rescued me?"

"Rescued? I found you out cold on a bench at the park." Tsuzuki sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to brush blond strands out of emerald eyes.

"What?" Hisoka looked from Tsuzuki to Watari and back again. "But that means he must have let me go." he said in a near whisper. Tsuzuki looked almost as confused as he was; Watari was trying his best to look reassuring, even though Hisoka could feel the shock coming from him.

"He who Hisoka?" Tsuzuki looked as if he was dreading the answer. (duh, you think!)

"Muraki."

"What did he do?" Tsuzuki's voice was almost as quiet as Hisoka's had been.

"I, I'm not sure what he did!" Hisoka studied his partner carefully, noting the tension in his face and body. He was wound tighter than a violin string.

A small cough from the doorway interrupted the moment. Tsuzuki jumped almost a foot in the air and came down, missing the edge of the bed and landing on the floor. The tension broken, Hisoka found himself grinning at his unfortunate partner. Watari was not so restrained, and was nearly doubled over in laughter. Tsuzuki stood up and rubbed his bruised 'ego'.

With a ghost of a smile on his own lips Tatsumi observed the other shinigami. "Are you alright Tsuzuki-san?"

Tsuzuki flashed the secretary a sheepish smile and resettled himself on the edge of the bed. "I'm fine."

"And how are you doing Kurosaki-kun?"

"I'm ok."

Tatsumi nodded. "I just came by to inform you that Tamura-san's soul has arrived in Meifu, and Tsuzuki, Kanoe is waiting in his office for you to give your report."

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now. Kurosaki-kun will be fine, and you shouldn't be to long."

"Alright." Tsuzuki moaned getting back up. "You!" He pointed at Hisoka, "Rest! That's an order!" Hisoka shot him a dirty look that he completely ignored as he left the room with Tatsumi.

Watari moved to follow the pair but was stopped by the hand that grabbed his wrist.

"Wait, Watari-san, there's something I need you to look at." Hisoka gingerly sat up and started to remove his shirt. Watari saw the boy's jaw clench and realized the action was hurting him. He immediately moved to help, pulling the material over the boy's head.

Hisoka let out a relived sigh and lay back down, this time on his stomach, leaving his back exposed.

Watari let out a gasp of dismay "Ohh, bon!" Across Hisoka's back, just below his shoulder blades was a single line of strange characters about three inches high. He ever so gently ran his hand across the black lines burnt into the boy's skin, hearing his indrawn hiss of pain he quickly removed his hand. "How did he do this?"

"He somehow managed to recreate Toda's fire, using ashes from the original." Hisoka pause to collect himself. "He heated a knife in the fire and…..well…"

"Yeah." Watari leaned in close to study the damage done to the youth's back. "That would explain why it hasn't healed. If this was done using Toda's fire, it will heal very slowly, if at all. This looks almost like writing, but I've never seen anything quite like it before. Did he say anything to you that would give you a clue as to why he would do this, or even what it does?"

"He said he was going to drive me mad."

"What?"

"He said just killing me would be crude and Tsuzuki wouldn't like it, so he was going to drive me mad and hope I'll kill myself."

"And I'm sure Tsuzuki would like that so much better." Watari muttered to himself. Hisoka snorted.

Watari gave Hisoka a quick grin and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm going to go and run these markings through my computer and see if I can find anything similar. You should try to get some rest. Hisoka nodded and started to sit up. Watari gently pushed him back down. "Rest implies you stay in bed, reclined and possibly asleep."

"I need to put my shirt back on." He sat up.

"But Bon, won't that hurt?"

Hisoka shrugged and grabbed his shirt. "I don't want Tsuzuki to see this."

"But Bon…."

"No. He'll just worry, and he's already worried enough. We don't even know if this will do anything yet. Watari-san, please don't tell him."

"But Bon, he'll be hurt if you keep this from him." Watari watched as Hisoka folded his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, and he'll blame himself if I tell him. He'll blame himself for letting it happen, and then he'll blame himself for not being able to stop whatever it does. Which is the lesser evil?"

"Fine. I won't tell him. But I still think you should." Watari moved to leave, then turned back for just a moment. "Do you think you could handle some food? You should eat something."

Hisoka nodded and Watari rewarded him with a small smile. "Good, I'll just be a few minutes then." Watari closed the door behind him. Hisoka curled up on his side and tried to stop his mind from wondering. He was aided in this when he was suddenly dive-bombed by a small grey bundle of feathers. He started, then sat back up and picked up the tiny owl.

"Well hello 003, you decided to stay for a while?" The little owl hooted happily and skittered across Hisoka's palm. He smiled at the birds antics and stroked her chests with his forefinger. 003 nipped affectionately at his finger, then took off into air, flying circles around the bed.

Hisoka lay back down, and watched the little owl, he felt his eyes growing heavy. 'I'll just rest for a moment.' he thought as he fell asleep.

A whisper in the back of his mind.

"Now the game begins."

He was walking down a street he didn't recognize. A light drizzle made the night around him seem grey and surreal. He seemed to be completely alone except for the young woman walking slightly ahead of him carrying an umbrella, her long dark hair reached her hips and swayed gently as she walked. Pausing under a street lamp, she turned to look up at him. Bright brown eyes sparkled under the light as she offered him a warm smile. He felt himself smile back at her. His hands were in his pockets, his right fist grasped something hard.

"Thank-you for walking with me, I was worried about leaving alone" she gave a nervous laugh. "You never know what type of people you're going to meet around here."

He felt himself nod as he stepped closer to her.

His right hand left his pocket and he raised his arm over his head.

He could see the surprise on the young woman's face, he could feel her sudden fear and disbelief.

His arm descended and he watched as a silver dagger sank into her chest.

He tried to close his eyes, please stop this, but his eyes remained open, seeing everything.

Blood flowed over his hands and his arm rose again, and descended, over and over.

He felt each decent of the knife, he felt the woman's pain as the blade pierced her flesh; he felt her fear, her death.

He wanted to scream, cry, anything, but he had no control. No, please, not real, make it stop! He could still feel the smile on his lips.

He lowered the lifeless body to the ground. Blood pooled on the ground around the corpse.

He looked down at himself, He was clothed in red.

XXXX

Tatsumi place the plate of food on a small bedside table. He watched as Hisoka tossed restlessly in his sleep.
A nightmare, as Tatsumi watched, Hisoka's movements became more violent. He reached down and gave the boy's shoulder a small shake. "Kurosaki-kun? You need to wake up."

Hisoka didn't wake up. He was gasping in air as if he was trying to cry out, his mouth opening in silent screams. Tatsumi pulled him into a sitting position and gave him a hard shake, Hisoka slumped back down on the bed, sill asleep. "Please stop this," the youth's words were almost inaudible. The normally unflappable shadow master was coming close to panic, why wouldn't he wake up?

"No, please, not real, make it stop!" Again, raspy and quiet, but Tatsumi was sure the boy was trying to shout the words. He tapped Hisoka's cheek lightly, then again, not so lightly.

Emerald met sapphire.

Tatsumi let out a sigh of relief that the young shinigami was finally awake. Hisoka sat up and raised his hands and stared at them intently. His whole body shuttered and he let himself slump against Tatsumi.

"There's no blood." He rubbed his hands against his chest, still feeling lingering pain there.

The comment made no sense to Tatsumi. "What was that?"

"That nightmare, it seemed so real……I dreamt I killed a woman, I stabbed her to death………I couldn't stop it…" Hisoka's breathing became heavier as he approached hysteria.

Tatsumi rubbed his back in an effort to sooth the boy "It's alright Kurosaki-kun, it was just a dream."

In an extreme act of will, Hisoka pulled himself together and began to calm down. He really wanted Tatsumi to stop rubbing his back, it hurt, but he appreciated the gesture. He pulled back from the secretary. "Thank you Tatsumi-san. If you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"

"Watari-san asked me to bring you some lunch," Tatsumi gestured to the plate of food beside the bed. "He was going to bring it himself but he had to go after Terazuma-san.

"Terazuma-san?"

"Aa," something flickered in the man's clear blue eyes, annoyance, amusement? Tatsumi's emotions were almost always a mystery, even to the empath. "Apparently Terazuma-san was having an altercation with a photocopier and planed to take an axe to it. He said the damn thing bit him again. Watari-san took exception to the idea and went to stop him."

Hisoka's eyes widened. He remembered when Terazuma had burst into his office after his first problem nasty encounter with the copier in question. The memory made him laugh out loud.

"You're feeling better now 'Soka-chan?" Tsuzuki asked, breezing into the room, heartened by the sound of his partner's laughter.

Hisoka pushed the memory of the nightmare away. "Yeah, I'm feeling better, and don't call me that."

"But Hisoookaaaaa…………."

"Baka!"