Well I'm back! I think the next chapter will be the last, therefore this is my last chance at a cliffhanger. Sorry!

All the quotes Hisoka hears in his sleep come from earlier in the story.

And, of course, my thanks and love to those who reviewed, and those who read quietly.

Chapter 13

Tsuzuki stood at the front door of the house he had been ejected from less than an hour before. Come hell or high water he was going to get his partner back.

He knocked on the door. Good manners had to be observed after all.

The violet eyed man soon changed his mind when there was no answer. To hell with good manners. He withdrew a fuda from his coat and threw it at the door. The door exploded inwards and Tsuzuki stepped over the splinters entering the house.

"Hisoka?" When there was no response to his call Tsuzuki headed for the room he'd last seen Hisoka enter.

He pushed open the door and froze at the sight before him.

Muraki lay face down on the floor, an empty glass beside him and a red puddle soaking into the carpet.

Tsuzuki stepped into the room before he noticed the other form on the sofa, slumped over, unmoving. He rushed to the sofa, Muraki temporarily forgotten. Placing his hands on the slim shoulders, he pulled his partner into a sitting position. Hisoka's head lolled then fell to the back of the sofa.

"Hisoka! Can you here me! Wake up, please."

Emerald eyes slid open, unfocused and glazed, then closed once again.

Tsuzuki cursed under his breath. Keeping Hisoka upright with one hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone with the other. He dialed a number and waited for an answer.

It was picked up on the first ring.

"Tatsumi desu."

"Tatsumi, I need you here now. Watari too." Tsuzuki gave him the address and pressed the end button.

There were a few minutes of quiet before Tsuzuki heard a familiar voice.

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Of course it is, who else would make toothpicks out of the front door?"

Another moment passed and Tatsumi and Watari came into the room. Watari hurried over to Tsuzuki and Hisoka while Tatsumi examined the scene.

Seeing the half empty bottle of wine on the side bar, Tatsumi went over for a closer look. He noticed something on the bar behind the wine and picked it up.

"What's this?"

The other two men looked over at him. Watari saw the vial he was holding up and his eyes went wide.

"Let me see that!"

Tatsumi crossed the room and handed the vial to the scientist. Watari looked at it closely, then held it to his nose and sniffed. Looking from Hisoka to the doctor a picture formed in his mind. He paled.

"We have to take them back to Meifu right now." Watari said as he pocketed the vial.

No one questioned his words. Tatsumi hefted Muraki, while Tsuzuki gently lifted Hisoka into his arms.

XXX

The moment they arrived in Meifu Watari rushed off to his lab, leaving the other two to get Hisoka and Muraki settled in the infirmary.

Watari went immediately to the cupboard where he stored potions that he had created.

Just because other found his lab chaotic didn't mean that Watari was not organized, and it only took him a moment to see where the vial had come from. He reached in and pulled out another vial containing the same potion. Thank Enma he had more, he needed it to make a cure.

That and time. Unfortunately he didn't know how much of the latter he had.

Watari had just begun to mix chemicals together when Tatsumi popped his head into the lab

"I'm going to take Minase-kun home, will you and Tsuzuki-san be alright?"

Watari barely looked up from his work. "We'll be fine. I've got to get a counteractive agent into Bon and that doctor soon if they're going to survive, but it will be a while before either one of them wakes up."

Tatsumi nodded. "I'll be back soon"

XXX

A half hour later saw Watari in the infirmary with two prepared syringes. Tsuzuki watched as he injected the first one into Hisoka's arm. The he turned to the still form of Muraki and prepared to give him the second injection.

"I almost wish I didn't have to do this." Watari muttered under his breath.

Tsuzuki nodded in agreement. "We save him so he can go and kill more people." He slumped. "It would probably be better if we just let him go."

"But we can't." Tatsumi's voice came from the door. "If Kurosaki-kun kills Muraki, he will be considered a rouge Shinigami, and there will be consequences."

"Don't worry Tsuzuki." Watari looked up briefly, "We'll find another way to stop Muraki from killing."

Tsuzuki looked at him in disbelief. "How?"

Watari didn't have an answer for him.

XXX

Voices. He could hear voices. He could practically feel them pressing against him.

"It's your fault buoya."

Was he dreaming?

"Nothing's ever easy is it? Can you feel anything?"

"Maybe you'll even discover how dear Tsuzuki-san felt and take your own life, I can only hope."

"You did not do this. It was not you. Do you understand?"

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

"You, my doll, will never be strong enough to take on the likes of me."

"Giving up already bouya?"

"He could get lost in Muraki's mind…"

"…I hope he doesn't leave anything of himself behind…"

"You have to be stopped."

Emerald eyes opened and blinked.

'What?' Hisoka's mind whirled. He felt dizzy and sick, and very confused. 'Why am I still here?'

Looking around he saw another figure lying in a bed across the room. Hisoka slid out of the bed clinging to the edge when his knees threatened to buckle. Very slowly he made his way across the room.

A chill pierced him when he recognized the platinum hair spread across the pillow, and he let himself sink to the floor.

'This can't be happening' he thought, dropping his head into his hands. 'He's not supposed to be here. I'm not supposed to be here.'

Arms wrapped around him from behind, lifting him, supporting him.

"C'mon 'Soka, you need to be in bed." A soft voice, warm breath against his ear.

"Tsuzuki?" Hisoka looked up at the older man.

"Shhh, we'll talk when you're feeling better." Tsuzuki started leading Hisoka back to the bed he'd vacated.

"No, Tsuzuki…" Hisoka tried to turn back in Tsuzuki's arms, but they tightened around him, and wouldn't allow him to turn back towards the other still sleeping form. "Why?"

Tsuzuki didn't say anything until he had gotten his partner lying comfortably in the bed. Then he stretched out on the bed beside him, sitting up against the headboard. "Hisoka, we had to save him."

Hisoka found himself looking into a pair of serious violet eyes.

"If we didn't save him we couldn't have saved you."

Tsuzuki once again wrapped his arms around the young empath. "Did you mean it?"

"What?"

Tsuzuki pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and held it up. "Did you mean it?"

Hisoka blushed a firey red. "Yes, I meant it" He whispered

Tsuzuki held him tight, squeezing the breath right out of him.

XXX

"…lost in Muraki's mind…"

"…leave anything of himself behind…"

"You have to be stopped."

Dreaming, voices…

Agitation, anxiety, Tsuzuki?

Hisoka opened his eyes in time to see Tsuzuki leaving the room at a quick pace. A low moan drew his attention to the other bed. Muraki was beginning to stir.

'…leave something of himself behind…'

An idea occurred to Hisoka and he got to his feet, ignoring the nausea that the movement caused and the ache in his body. He teleported out of the infirmary, returning less than a minute later.

He walked over to his tormenter's bed and felt for the link that Muraki had created between them, reaching out for Muraki's mind.

Silver blue eyes opened and stared into emerald green.

Hisoka pushed into Muraki's mind with his empathy, as hard as he could. A cold sense of darkness surrounded him.

Muraki stiffened, his eyes still locked with Hisoka's and Hisoka could feel Muraki's mind rising to push him out, or worse. Before the doctor could rally his defenses, Hisoka mentally let go of part of his talent and withdrew.

Muraki slowly, painfully pulled himself into a sitting position. "What are you doing bouya?"

Hisoka tossed his gun, which he had just collected from his apartment into Muraki's lap.

"Hurt me."

Muraki looked from the gun to Hisoka. He picked up the gun.

"Happy to oblige."

XXX

"Watari!"

The blonde in question looked up as Tsuzuki rushed into the lab.

"Muraki's waking up."

"Oh, right." Watari looked over his table for the syringe he filled earlier with a sedative, he found it after a few minutes under a loose paper. "Can't have that man running all over Meifu."

Tsuzuki fidgeted as he waited for the scientist to hurry. "C'mon Watari!"

"Alright, I'm coming."

The two men were headed back to the infirmary when they heard the gunshot, followed by a cry of pain.