A/n: First paragraph goes back to Muraki, Second is Tsuzuki's first cooking lesson, and third is an interesting dream of Hisoka's! but is it a premonition of things to come? Please review! Ps: LOL Koneko, you're reviews always amuse me! XD to be honest, I didn't even know it was going to last this long. I've never really tried chapter fics before, with the exception of like a four parter that isn't even finished. I am working on a tatari oneshot though.

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''

Muraki lay there in his bed, trying to ignore the pain long enough to sleep, but it wasn't working well.

He'd dose off for a moment or so, but something would shift and his ribs would start to ache again.

Oriya refused to leave his side most of the time, which left Bara to her own devices.

Little did either know what the child was up to in her room.

Oriya had given her a kimono to sleep in and some old dolls of Muraki's that weren't wanted anymore.

His maids attended to her bathing and food but she didn't have anyone to play with, so in her boredom she decided to play a game her mother had taught her.

She took up a doll that looked a lot like Oriya and wrapped one of the kimono's obis around it.

This game had amused her more than once.

She took up pins from the dresser that she'd begged the maid for and began.

Down the hall, Oriya was awakened by sharp pain at the back of his eyes.

After a moment it subsided and began in his stomach.

"What the hell!"

Muraki was jolted awake after having dosed off for about the hundredth time in the last two hours and looked up at him.

"What's wrong with you?"

Suddenly the pain in Oriya's stomach moved to his arm.

"I have pain all over…"

Muraki sat up and turned on the light.

Muraki grinned momentarily.

"Oriya, scream loudly like you've been really hurt."

He stared at Muraki.

"What if we scare…"

Muraki patted his shoulder.

"I have a sneaking suspicion about your pain. Trust me, just scream."

So Oriya screamed and a moment later they heard Bara's door open.

Muraki glanced at Oriya for a moment before calling out.

"Black Rose, come here child and bring that doll with you."

Oriya's mouth dropped open as she slinked into the room, clutching tightly to the doll in one hand and three longs pins in the other.

"You monstrous little…"

Muraki took his hand to silence him as he stared at his newfound kin.

"Now child, tell me, what is it were you doing with those pins just now?"

As an afterthought he frowned.

"And why aren't you asleep? It's nearly one in the morning."

She hid the doll and pins behind her back and looked up at him with hurt eyes.

"I was just playing a game. I didn't mean to hurt him really bad…"

Muraki was crossed between being amused as hell and very, very scared.

How the hell did a nine year old know voodoo?

He cleared his throat and patted the bed for her to sit next to him.

She cautiously walked past the glairing Oriya and sat down under her father's stern glance.

"What you're playing is called voodoo. Who taught you this game?"

She looked down and tears came to her eyes.

"Mommy."

Silence took hold of the room as this sank into Muraki's head.

"Would you like to take a trip tomorrow Oriya?"

Oriya nodded.

"I think it's in order. The child needs her own clothes and toys anyway…"

Muraki smiled and tipped her chin up.

"No more voodoo for now, policemen are watching daddy, you'll get me in trouble."

She looked up at him, her icy silver eyes staring through him.

"I know what those men were. They were not policemen. The bird the purple eyed man left with me goes to him every two hours and then comes back."

Muraki's eyes widened in shock.

"You can see the bird!"

She nodded and looked away.

"Mommy told me I inherited your sight. I don't really know what that means but she says I'm special."

His smile returned as he kissed her forehead.

"You are indeed very special Black Rose, very special to me. When I'm all better we'll go home and I'll buy you anything you want. But until then you have to be good okay? Now go lay down and go to sleep."

She smiled as he brushed away her tears.

"Okay daddy, goodnight."

He gently patted her head.

"Goodnight. And no more voodoo."

She nodded and handed him the pins.

Once she was out of earshot, Muraki couldn't contain his chuckling.

"Oriya, do you have any idea what this means!"

He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"That you're probably going to be the worst father in the world?"

Muraki stuck his tongue out at Oriya.

"This means that I have an advantage over Tsuzuki now!"

Oriya looked up at him in confusion.

"How so? She's just a child. Surely you haven't already come up with plans to corrupt her into your sick little game? She just lost her mother, she need stability and love, not to be traipsing through the underworld after your latest obsession."

Muraki glared.

"I wouldn't send her to the underworld, but if we play our cards right, she can bring him to me. If he thinks she's in danger he'll come running."

Oriya sighed and closed his eyes.

"When will you see me Muraki? When will you understand that you're killing me? Do you want me to die?"

Muraki was silent for a moment.

"Oriya…please get over your crush on me. There's no chance for you. I'm not the right man. If we're together I will kill you, only by smothering you with control."

Oriya bit back tears.

"Better to be smothered by control than slowly bled to death by a broken heart."

And with that, he was gone.

Muraki stared after him or a moment with a sad smile.

'Poor Oriya. If you only knew the kind of man I really am…if I was different, maybe I could give into you, but until I finally taste Tsuzuki, you will be just a shadow to me.'

''

After work Tatsumi took Tsuzuki to the store.

"Now, we'll start with something easy. It doesn't involve much actual cooking, and few people can screw this up."

Tsuzuki gave him the wounded puppy look.

"I'm not a total loss, I can cook some things."

Tatsumi gave him an incredulous look.

"Name three."

Tsuzuki immediately began counting on his fingers.

"Noodles, and pan fried dumplings, and curry chicken with rice…except, I usually overcook the chicken…and last time I made dumplings I put too much wasabi in the dressing so it was really hot, and…okay, what are we cooking?"

Tatsumi gave a smirk and grabbed his tie, pulling him quickly through the store towards the fish.

"We're having sushi and steamed clams tonight. Easy enough for the first lesson. It's mostly learning how to prep."

Tsuzuki was rather nervous by the time they got home.

He'd never tried to steam anything, but once he got it in the pan and going, it seemed to be going well.

Until he remembered that he didn't much like plain clams and Tatsumi would most likely want his kind of spicy.

So while Tatsumi was setting the table, Tsuzuki got out the wasabi powder.

Unfortunately Tatsumi caught him and yelled, startling Tsuzuki who dumped the entire bottle over the clams, which burned due to the heat and caught fire.

Now on top of a huge mess, Tatsumi had to deal with a hysterical Tsuzuki who was bawling his eyes out for having burned dinner.

"Tsuzuki…turn the stove off. We still have the sushi, it's okay."

The distraught inu fell to his knees.

"I can't do anything right!"

Tatsumi sighed and turned off the burner, quickly covering the fire and setting the pan in the sink before kneeling before Tsuzuki.

"Tsuzuki…there was a reason I bought the clams and sushi fish. I was pretty sure that you would mess it up so I got the sushi. Next time just don't add anything. Now come sit down while I fix the sushi and everything will be okay. You're next lesson will go better, I promise. On the Brightside, you passed the prep test."

Tsuzuki looked up into his eyes.

"You…you mean you're not mad at me?"

Tatsumi smiled softly and shook his head.

"Of course not Tsuzuki. We'll try again tomorrow."

He leaned down and gently kissed Tsuzuki.

"Calm down now. There was no harm done."

Tsuzuki wrapped his arms tightly around Tatsumi.

"I'm not hungry anymore."

Tatsumi chuckled.

"I suppose we could cook the fish tomorrow…if you'd like to go straight to bed."

Tsuzuki smiled brightly as Tatsumi lifted his from the floor and carried him into their room.

"I'll be right back."

Tsuzuki nodded and sighed deeply as Tatsumi left him.

He suddenly smiled.

'I think your romantic lesson will begin tonight…'

''

Hisoka wasn't sure where he was, or how he came to be floating in a small pond, but he sort of liked it.

He seemed to be looking at himself, floating there just below the surface.

He was wearing long white kimono with ivy leaves embroidered around the ankles and winding around the sides.

He was barefooted and otherwise nude and a little uncomfortable that, now being wet, the kimono was see through.

It was then that he realized he wasn't breathing.

His eyes were closed and it was like he had died all over again.

He heard shouting and turned to see Watari running towards him.

Without hesitation he jumped in and suddenly Hisoka was sucked back into his body.

He began to cough up water as Watari clung to his trembling wet body.

When he was able to breath again, he looked up into Watari's eyes, floating on the edge of consciousness.

"Wa…Watari…why did you…save me?"

Suddenly flashes of a darkened room flew before his eyes.

Muraki was there.

He could feel his skin crawling with disgust.

He tried desperately to cling to reality and clutched Watari's shirt tightly as he was lifted away.

"I don't care what he did to you Hisoka. I need you here with me."

Hisoka closed his eyes, choking up more water.

"But he…"

Watari stopped him with a deep kiss.

"It's over Hisoka. He's gone and that's all that matters now."

Hisoka felt the tears coming to his eyes.

"I don't want to live anymore. I'm tired…I'm so tired."

He stopped himself as he realized who's words he was mirroring.

Tsuzuki had tried to die by fire, and Hisoka had tried to die by water.

"Will you…give me a new reason to live Watari?"

He simply smiled back and suddenly they were back in Hisoka's room.

He looked up into Watari's eyes and the words that fell from his lips were once he'd said once before, only to Tsuzuki.

"Watari…I'm ready."

A small smile tugged at the corners of the older blonds mouth as he gently tugged at the shoulders of the kimono.

"Hisoka…"

Hisoka closed his eyes as he felt silken kisses on his neck.

"Yes?"

Watari stopped for a moment and when he said the words, Hisoka knew he meant them with far greater passion than he had before.

"I love you."

And with that, Tsuzuki completely disappeared from Hisoka's mind.

He gave a sigh of contentment with a realization as they two fell to the bed.

"Finally…I'm free."