A/n: Sorry it took so long for this one. Been reading the manga. X.x I am now officially a Hakusuki shipper. DAMN VOLUME 9!
Follow Me
''
Tatsumi waited until everyone was asleep later that night and snuck off to Bara's room.
The door was cracked and the light still on.
He peered through and found her standing at the window.
'It's much too late for a child of her age to still be awake. What on earth could she be doing at this hour?'
Her body was that of a seven year old, but her movements mirrored an adult.
Tatsumi could chalk this up to being raised by a single mother, but there was just something behind the lure or an innocent face that spoke of a wisdom far older than even he himself.
To Muraki's face she was nothing more than a child, and in some ways she was…however there was a dark riddle lurking deep within her blood.
Suddenly she froze and Tatsumi took a few steps back, however the door flew open and a horrified scream ripped from his lungs as he looked down upon her.
Tsuzuki was the first to his side just in time to catch him.
"Tatsumi! Tatsumi wake up!"
He settled his lover to the floor and looked up at the girl, almost fainting himself.
Her eyes were glowing an eerie blue and her long tendrils of fine silk like hair coiled in the air like snakes.
She took a step towards them and reached out her hand but before she could make an attack, Muraki called out to her.
"Kurobara! Stop!"
She looked up suddenly, returning to normal.
"I…caught him watching me father. I was afraid."
Muraki stared at her for a long moment.
He knew Tatsumi wouldn't hurt her, but at the same time he was pissed that he was even out of the room while the rest of them slept.
"I'm sure he was simply checking on you. Come with me darling, we must talk."
Tsuzuki subconsciously cringed as she glared down at him while she passed.
Once the two had gone into the kitchen, Oriya glared down at Tsuzuki.
"What the hell was that all about?"
Tsuzuki looked down at Tatsumi and shook his head.
"I guess we'll find out when he wakes up."
''
Muraki stood in the kitchen with Bara.
"Kurobara. I understand that you've been through a lot, but I cannot let you attack random people. There's enough strangeness that happens around here without screams ringing through the night."
She looked down.
"I'm sorry father. I was scared."
She went to hug him but he stopped her and dropped to her eye level.
"Stop the act. I want to know what the hell he did to you. You may be seven years old physically but you're a grown woman inside and I can see that as clear as day now."
She sighed deeply.
"Alright. You caught me. I don't entirely know who I am. I know things far beyond this body, but at the same time I have the emotions of a small child."
Muraki sat there for a moment in silence.
"Are you really my daughter?"
She nodded.
"Until two months ago anyway. Now I am your daughter, but am also the sorceress I was five hundred years ago. His plan is to make this body harness the energy I collected until I'm ten and then kill me for it. I don't want to remember being an eighty-year-old woman and then dyeing. I want to be the happy child I was reborn as."
Muraki sighed deeply as he watched tears come to her eyes.
"Was it a past life regression, or a spell?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know. I don't remember much about this lifetime."
He pulled her against him and kissed her forehead.
"I'll find a way to make you normal again."
She looked into his eyes for a moment before brushing away her tears.
This movement brought tears to his own eyes as he was reminded of the last night he'd spent with Ukyou.
"If I had known about you sooner…none of this would have happened."
She hugged him tightly, trying her best to be the child she was.
"Father…does that mean that you love me?"
Muraki blinked back his tears and held her at arms length.
"Kurobara…I've loved you from the second I laid eyes on you. Above all else I am your father and I won't ever hurt you. I want you to trust me the way you trusted your mother. I will find away to bring you back to the way you are supposed to be. I do love you, I just…"
She nodded with a slight smile.
"I understand."
He stood and took her hand gently.
"Now, we're going to have to give you a bed time because I can't worry about what's going on while I'm sleeping. You're perfectly safe in this house…and you need to apologize to Tatsumi-san tomorrow."
''
The next morning Muraki sat together with Tsuzuki and Tatsumi, sending Oriya off to keep Bara busy.
"So you see, she has relapses from time to time. That suggests it's a spell. I think I know how to counter it, but the backlash if it doesn't work is dangerous. I need a place to perform it where magic and spells have no effect on people. I need…"
Tatsumi stopped him.
"No. Do you know what could happen if you screw up?"
He looked up at the secretary and nodded.
"That's why I need an open space. I won't fail at the spell; I just don't want to screw up fifteen hundred people. There are children in this neighborhood who happen to be the reincarnations of several of my previous victims and the last thing I need is a bunch of twelve year olds trying to kill me."
Tsuzuki looked up at Tatsumi as well.
"That would screw up the records on a massive scale. I think he's right. The only safe place to do it is Meifu."
Tatsumi growled at him.
"No! We just won't do the spell at all. If I LET him do this there's no telling the consequences."
Muraki smirked at this suddenly.
"Who's to say you can stop me? Listen to your heart for once secretary. Doesn't she deserve as normal a life as she can have? Remembering her past life is what has been corrupting her so much. Don't you want to give that beautiful little girl the chance to grow into a normal woman with a normal father?"
Tatsumi looked down at him in confusion.
"What normal? You're about as normal as a purple leprechaun. That poor child hasn't a chance in hell one way or the other."
He then turned to Tsuzuki.
"Next time you screw up Tsuzuki, we both get fired for it and I don't know about you, but if I leave the ministry in any less than seventy years I'll…"
Tsuzuki suddenly got an idea.
"We're not letting him do anything. If we try to stop him and just can't do it than it's not our fault."
Tatsumi sighed deeply.
"You're insane Tsuzuki. If we get caught…"
Tsuzuki stopped him.
"We won't unless you tell on me. Muraki has kidnapped me before. What's to stop him again?"
Tatsumi's eyes widened at this.
"What!"
Muraki stood and stared down at Tsuzuki.
"You mean to tell me you not only want me to kidnap you, but drag you into Meifu with Tatsumi on my trail? Tsuzuki…you're a genius!"
Before Tatsumi could move, Muraki backhanded Tsuzuki, knocking him out and picked him up.
"Let's go, shall we. I have my shield and you wouldn't dare to attack him."
Tatsumi growled as he realized he was left with no choice and followed them back to the ministry.