A/n: k so stick with me here because I keep getting torn between two ideas. I won't even know which I go with until I've written it. Yay for more reviewers! Koneko, you're right, I lost everyone at about chapter 13 or so. Out of the 5775 people clicking on it, only 36 have made it to chapter 23. x.x what gets me is the 11 people with an alert on it who have never once reviewed it. I am working on a Tsuzuki/Hisoka chapter fic right now and as soon as I finish chapter three on it I'll be posting it. Haven't come up with a name for it yet though. Thanks again to reviewers and I hope you like the next few tricks. XD poor Muraki…
''
Follow Me
''
Tsuzuki appeared in the living room of Oriya's second house with Tatsumi and glanced around at the damage.
The couch had its cushions barely hanging on and the small coffee table was over turned and broken in half.
Blond and white hairs were scattered everywhere.
Blond hairs that he recognized as Hisoka's.
"What in the hell happened here!"
A low voice was heard as Oriya stepped out of his room.
"Not so loud. He's in very bad shape. That boy beat him to within an inch of his life last night."
A weak voice was heard from behind him and he turned and ran, quickly enough to catch Muraki as he stumbled out of the room.
"Oriya. Oriya is that Tsuzuki? I thought I heard Tsuzuki's voice."
Tsuzuki stared at him in shock.
He seemed like he was really hurt.
Oriya groaned as the seriously out of it doctor saw Tsuzuki.
"Tsuzuki…is it really you?"
To say that Tatsumi was happy to see Muraki is such a state, would have been an understatement.
Also relieved.
This meant he couldn't possibly sleep with Tsuzuki, but Tsuzuki's next words scared him.
"I can't leave him like this. I'll help you Oriya."
Tatsumi grabbed his wrist.
"Don't you dare. Let the bastard die!"
Tsuzuki swung around.
"Stop being selfish Tatsumi! He has a daughter now. What will happen to her if he dies?"
Tatsumi growled at this.
"Have a chance at a normal life? What's wrong with that?"
Muraki spoke in a hushed voice.
"She's been corrupted already and not be me. She's already taken her first steps into darkness and now all I can do is try to guide her through it."
Tatsumi growled at this.
"What do you mean not by you!"
Oriya glanced down the hall.
"Not so loud please. I don't want her to see him like this. She's probably back into the voodoo dolls and the last thing I need is to be poked to death…"
Muraki struggled against Oriya.
"Let's go back into the room so we can talk about this where I can be somewhat comfortable. These pain pills are bad enough."
Tatsumi snickered at this.
"Like you've never been high before?"
Muraki growled at this.
"Like you haven't? It's not the high that's the problem anyway. It's not being able to feel anything until it wears off."
Oriya sighed deeply and helped Muraki back into the room and over to the bed.
Tsuzuki and Tatsumi soon followed and the three sat beside the bed.
Once everyone was settled, Tsuzuki looked up.
"Muraki, what's going on with your daughter?"
Muraki closed his eyes tightly.
"Ukyou was murdered by an old acquaintance. She was teaching Kurobara various techniques of spiritual self defense, probably because she knew that she was going to die soon. Kurobara however, has picked them up as games. She's a very intelligent child, but she doesn't quite grasp the meaning of the things she's doing just yet. Tsuzuki-san, I need your help. If you help me with this I swear I'll leave you all alone for the rest of my life."
Tsuzuki was silent for a moment.
There had been a subtle change in him since he'd left the child in the doctors care.
A shift towards good.
He had hoped that Ukyou was right and that Muraki would eventually become a normal man, maybe this small change was the sign he'd been waiting for.
"Is it so important to you that you'd change your ways just for one little girl?"
Muraki bit back tears.
"I know I've only had her for a few weeks but I'm already attached to her. I've never felt like this before. I've never been afraid for someone's life. Well I'm afraid for hers Tsuzuki, it's only a matter of time before he finds us and finishes his plan."
Tatsumi looked up finally and spoke softly.
"Give me one reason we should deal in the affairs of a murderer? Why should we help you when you've done nothing but plaque us over fifteen years?"
Muraki looked over at Tatsumi sullenly.
"I'm not asking you to help me for a selfish reason. I'm asking you to help me save my seven-year old daughter from a fate far worse than death. He knows what runs through our veins and he knows she's the only one capable of giving him what he wants. Please, help me protect my own blood. I love her Tatsumi-san. I love her the way I should. Please don't take that away from me. She is the only sanity I have left in this world and if she's gone I'll be the worst case you've ever handled."
Tatsumi closed his eyes with a deep sigh.
"What exactly is this man after?"
Muraki looked over at Oriya for a moment before closing his eyes again.
"I was nineteen…and just started medical school when I met him."
''
Nineteen-year old Muraki stepped into the classroom on his first day, books tightly clutched over his chest, and took the nearest seat to the front.
The man that sat behind the teachers desk glanced up at the new student and sent a chill down his spine.
Tourmaline eyes stared coldly from behind thick dark brown bangs.
They watched Muraki like a hawk the entire day and when class was over he was called over.
"I'm professor Yamikaze. You're new here?"
Muraki nodded nervously.
Nothing made him nervous before, but there was something about this man that made Muraki think that not even his demons could harm him.
"State your full name please."
Muraki was slow with his words.
"Kazutaka Muraki Sir, fourth generation of Muraki in Tokyo."
Those unusual eyes lit up suddenly, and Muraki felt like a small helpless child under the gaze.
"As I suspected. You're grandfather and I went to school together."
Muraki was shocked at this statement.
"But you don't look any older than me!"
The professor chuckled at this.
"I…age gracefully. How old are you?"
Muraki debated whether to lie or not but resolved to tell him.
"Nineteen."
He seemed angry with this.
"Too old…you may go."
Muraki spent many long months under the constant gaze of the professor until one night when he awoke to find the man standing over him with what Muraki already realized was a ritual dagger.
"You intend to sacrifice me?"
The professor stopped suddenly as he realized Muraki was awake.
"You know these things boy?"
Muraki nodded.
"I'm well versed. Sacrificing me would do you no good. You need a virgin and I lost that five years ago."
The professor shrugged.
"I'll kill you anyway."
Muraki barely dove out of the way as the dagger came down where his throat would have been and quickly he called upon a dragon.
His powers were still developing, however, and soon it was destroyed and he found himself on his knees with his hands behind his back and the dagger to his throat.
"I see you have potential Kazutaka and I'll spare you if you give me your first born before it's tenth year."
Muraki smirked inwardly at this.
He didn't want children anyway so there was nothing to lose.
"Very well. But if I'm going to give up my own blood for you, I want to know why."
The professor let him up and stood himself.
"The power that runs through your veins is twice as strong in you as it was in your father and your grandfather. The blood keeps getting more and more powerful and only your child will be able to harness it. I will use it to give myself strength and it will keep me from being harmed. It will give me a second sight and I will live for five hundred years…only if it's pure blood."
After that night Muraki spent the rest of his school training under those watchful eyes, apprenticing to learn more magic and to better his art of energy eating.
Slowly the Professor made sure that Muraki was as cold and devious as he and Muraki left him, forgetting about the promise he'd made years earlier.
''
None had realized that Bara was standing in the doorway while Muraki was speaking.
He started as she moved closer into the room.
"Kurobara…"
She passed the three on the floor and sat beside her father.
"Mommy told me to give you something if you started to ask about Mr. Yamikaze. Se also told me that I was to begin training myself for a long battle. But I'm to give you this first. She said you'll know what to do with it."
From inside the sleeve pocket of her kimono, she pulled out a strangely shaped object, wrapped several times over in a cloth. Muraki slowly took it from her and unwrapped it to find a silver hand mirror.
He chuckled slightly at this as he turned it over a few times in his hand.
"Very good. You're mother was a very smart woman. I hope you grow to be like her. Go to your room now and take this. Place it on your window and when I give you my instructions, begin them immediately. I hope that it will not resort to that, but you must be ready if it dose."
She nodded silently and left them after he handed her a fuda.
Tsuzuki looked up at him.
"Okay now what just happened here?"
Muraki frowned.
"He corrupted me far worse than I would have been on my own. Yamikaze isn't his real name and I'm not sure what it really is, but he is a dark wind. If it comes down to it, she may have to fight him mentally. He will try everything in his power to turn her evil before her tenth birthday and she needs to be strong to fight that."
Tsuzuki nodded.
"I understand now why this is so important. If we don't stop this man…"
Muraki nodded grimly.
"He'll have the world at his feet and not even you can stop him."
Tatsumi looked back towards the room where the girl went with furrowed brows.
'Something is very off about that girl…'