Well, here is Chapter 5. I am so proud of myself!

I am amazed I am keeping with it!

Once again I own nothing but the clothes on my back.

Enjoy! (and review, please review!)

Chapter 5

Tsuzuki sat at his desk. His treats long since devoured, he was hungry, board, and growing just a little annoyed. Where was Hisoka? Settling his gaze on the door, Tsuzuki willed it to open. It only took a few seconds before he gave up on that course of action. Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and checked his watch. A whole minute had passed since the last time he checked.

If they were not safe in Meifu, Tsuzuki would have been worried by now. He glanced at his watch again, 20 seconds. Ok, so maybe he was worried after all.

Tsuzuki headed out the door in search of his partner.

XXX

Tatsumi supported an unresponsive Hisoka down to the lab. Without the arm around his waist, Tatsumi was sure that the youth would crumple to a heap on the ground.

When Hisoka had buried his face in his hands, Tatsumi had gently, but firmly, pulled his hands away and tilted the boy's head up so that their eyes met. "Kusosaki-kun, what did you see?"

"I killed her," Hisoka's voice was strained. "I came up behind her and ran a knife through her neck. When she looked at me she was so afraid! And she hurt!"

Tatsumi found that disturbing, had the empath been feeling the victims' emotions and distress as well as experiencing the murders? "Did you see where you were? Anything you recognized?"

"No, there were some trees, a bench, like a park, but I didn't look around, I just…."

"Listen to me." Tatsumi's blue eyes bored into the other shinigami's. "You did not do this. It was not you. Do you understand?"

"I was awake! It wasn't a nightmare." Hisoka tried to look away.

Tatsumi cupped the boys face and forced him to meet his gaze. "It. Was. Not. You."

"I couldn't stop it."

Hisoka's voice sounded so hopeless that Tatsumi had flinched. He pulled the boy to his feet and half carried him down the hall.

XXX

Watari was back at the computer when the pair entered the lab. He turned when he heard them. Tatsumi let Hisoka slump into a vacant chair then moved out of the way as Watari ran over.

"Bon! Bon? What's wrong" Getting no answers, Watari waved his hand in front of Hisoka face. "Are you all right?"

Tatsumi took hold of Watari's arm and pulled him a little distance away. "He had another vision." He told the blond scientist.

Watari shot the boy a sympathetic look. "Has he reached the same conclusions we did?"

"I think he's getting there, it's only a matter of time."

Watari opened his mouth to reply, but was irrupted by a moan from Hisoka, who wrapped his arms around his waist and curled in on himself, almost toppling out of the chair. He caught himself at the last moment and looked up. Once again emerald met sapphire.

"It wasn't me."

Tatsumi nodded, walked over to the youth and knelt down in front of him. "You know who it was, of course."

Hisoka nodded. He was unconsciously rocking himself back and forth. Tatsumi was at a loss at how to relive the boy's obvious distress. Mentally, he cursed a certain doctor.

"Hey, has anyone seen……Oh there you are!" Tsuzuki stopped in the doorway and found himself the recipient of three intense looks. The emerald eyes of his partner looking lost and hurt. The sapphire eyes of the man who knelt in front of him, radiating concern and frustration, and the amber eyes of the scientist who stood a little behind them, his gaze more serious than Tsuzuki could remember seeing it, for a long time anyway.

"What's going on here?" At once he moved and knelt down in front of his partner, Tatsumi moving to give him room. "Hisoka?" He reached up and placed his hand against the pale cheek. Hisoka closed his eyes and let his head fall forward until it rested on Tsuzuki's shoulder. Tsuzuki responded by wrapping his arms around the smaller shinigami, feeling tremors running through his frame.

"What's going on here?" He repeated his question, looking up at the other two men with confusion.

Tatsumi and Watari looked at each other. Watari waved his hand, "You tell him."

Tatsumi nodded. "Tsuzuki-san…"

"Wait." Hisoka's voice was muffled against Tsuzuki's shoulder. He hesitated savoring one more moment of comfort from the older man, then pulled away and looked into his partner's amethyst eyes. "I'll tell you."

Watari let out a sigh of relief. "Good. C'mon Tatsumi-san, let go get some coffee."

"Coffee?" Tatsumi looked non-pulsed.

"Yeah, coffee. Bon, don't go too far, you hear? You're going to be my guest for a while." With that, Watari grabbed ahold of Tatsumi's arm and dragged him out of the room.

Tsuzuki and Hisoka watched the other men exit before Tsuzuki turned his attention back to his partner. "So tell me."

Hisoka nodded, took a deep breath and proceeded to study his knees. "You know that Muraki caught me when we were on out last assignment, and let me go."

Tsuzuki nodded encouragingly.

"Well, while he had me, he burned some marks onto my back. I showed Watari when we got back, but he didn't know what to make of them either. I didn't tell you because…..well, I didn't want you to worry, and…."

"Can I see?" Tsuzuki asked, reaching out to touch Hisoka.

Hisoka brushed his hand aside. "Later. Anyways, later, while you were talking to Kanoe kachou, I had a dream." He shuttered at the memory. "I dreamt that I killed someone."

"You?"

Hisoka nodded. "It was awful. I had no control over what I was doing. I stabbed her, and I couldn't stop it, but…"

He looked up with pleading green eyes "It wasn't me. I was seeing through someone else's eyes." His head lowered. He wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his forehead on his knees. "It happened again after I left the library. I, He killed someone else. The first time I really thought it was a dream, just a horrible nightmare. But this time I wasn't asleep. It was real. I felt her fear and pain, and I felt her death." Hisoka shuttered again trying to pull into himself.

Tsuzuki reached out again, wrapping his arms around Hisoka tightly, searching for words to make it better. He couldn't find any. Anger rushed through him and he had to strengthen his shields to keep his emotions from further disturbing the sensitive empath. "So these marks on your back…"

"Let him share his experiences with me. I see, hear and feel what he does. But not his emotions. The emotions I feel come from his victims. Tsuzuki?"

"It's okay Hisoka, we'll find a way to stop it."

"I'd rather find a way to stop him."

"So would I."

XXX

Watari and Tatsumi sat across from each other at a table in the break room, each nursing a cup of coffee.

"So what do you have in mind?"

"Well, I want to keep Bon with me for a while, I want to see what happens when he has a vision. Maybe we can find a way to counter it or block it out."

"Maybe."

"You still need to talk to him, don't you?"

"Aa." Tatsumi pinched the bridge of his nose between his forefingers. "How long do you think we should give them before we go back?"

"It's only been half an hour, give them some time. Besides, it's late. You wouldn't be able to anything tonight anyway."

"So those markings you told me about, are they another curse?"

Watari shook his head, "No, not really, more like a physical component of a spell that allows Muraki to create a link between them, so he can let Bon see what he's doing."

"Did I tell you that Kurosaki-kun seems to be emphatically feeling the victims during the visions?"

"Really?" Watari looked up sharply. "That's interesting." He rubbed his chin. "Very interesting."

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow, "That wasn't quite the word that came to my mind, but alright, why is it interesting?"

Watari shook his head "I need to think about it for a bit. It could mean something, or nothing. I'm not sure."

"You think about it, I'm going back." Swallowing the last of his coffee, Tatsumi stood and turned to leave the room, and very neatly fell over in shock.

Tsuzuki stood in the doorway with one arm around Hisoka, who looked to all the world like he was ready for a nap.

"Ah, Tsuzuki, Bon, you're all done then?" Watari was grinning at them from were he sat at the table. Seeing Tatsumi start at finding the pair almost directly behind him almost cracked him up. "Well then, let's head down to the infirmary shall we?"

"The infirmary? What for?" Hisoka wasn't looking too happy, and Watari was feeling entirely too happy for his comfort.

"Just think of it as your home away from home. At least for now."

"Watari…."

"Now now Bon, I just want to keep an eye on you for a bit. It's for the best, and besides, I doubt any of us wants you alone if you have another vision."

Hisoka winced. Watari was right of course, he didn't want to be alone if he had another vision, and he knew he would. And another, and another…..He swayed on his feet and felt Tsuzuki's arm tighten around him. "Fine." He snapped.

XXX

Tsuzuki tucked Hisoka into one of the infirmary beds, earning himself a frosty glare of doom. Tsuzuki just smiled in response.

Tatsumi sat down on the foot of the bed. "Kurosaki-kun, have you seen this woman before?" He handed Hisoka a picture of a young woman in her early twenties with laughing brown eyes and long dark hair. Hisoka's mind flashed back to the last time he'd seen that face, as he lowered her lifeless body to the wet ground. He pushed the picture away.

"It's her. "

Tatsumi nodded. He didn't need anymore elaboration than that.