Watari clicked away franticly at his computer. He'd joined the Gushoshins in their effort to track down either Hisoka or Muraki. This proved much more difficult than any previous time that they'd tried. There's been so few cases, and almost none of them were the type that could not easily be described as simply a wondering spirit that did not know or refused to except the fact that they were now dead. Muraki hadn't been even expected of anything for so long, there were no recent sightings of him or any murders that seemed to be connected to him or any of his previous cases filed against him. Watari really was at a lost, he could not even except it as a challenge as he tended to do with difficult cases, he usually did quite enjoy the hard ones. This one however, it was someone very personal that was in danger, someone he was rather responsible for in this state. If anything were to happen to Hisoka...
"Watari, you should take a break, you've been at it for days straight." The younger of the Gushoshins floated behind the blonde scientist. The floating chicken god was truly and sincerely concerned for the ministry's mad scientist. The usually lively and energetic, if not sugar rush liked man was slowly running out of fuel. He'd sat hunched in that chair for days, his hair had grown dirty and knotted from days of not washing or combing it. his eyes were drooping from days upon days of not sleeping. Regardless of him being a shinigami, they were not built for work like this, at least not without rest every now and then.
"Can't. Bon's still out there and we still don't know where he or Muraki is.
"Watari san." The two voices of the brothers became strong, demanding. One spun the chair away from the computer, another pushed it slightly away from the glowing of the screen in the dark room. Watari clearly protested, He twisted back to the computer but the two brothers glared angrily at him when he tried to move back to the computer. "Watari san, you're being relieved of duty for now. Take some rest."
"But..!" The evilest of glares from the Gushoshins stopped Watari dead. His eyes suddenly began to droop and he fell back against the back of the chair. His body suddenly felt so tired. His eyes closed and his mouth opened in a long, silent yawn. Satisfied that they would be obeyed the Gushoshins flew back over to the computer, clicking away and continuing Watari's research..
'How... how could I have not noticed. He was so pale.. so thin and sick. It wasn't normal for bon, even if he is naturally small. And Muraki.. that baby.' Tears came to Watari's eyes in just the sheer thought of what had happened to Hisoka, at the thought of the pain Hisoka was suffering, knowing all along that the bay wasn't Tsuzuki's. 'It's like Muraki knows, like he can tell everything that goes on here. But how.. he couldn't have known what happened to Hisoka, that I had given him that stupid potion or to know how it would effect him. Even so, had that all been only a coincidence, how would Muraki have known now that Hisoka was pregnant. Could he do that to Bon, read his mind?'
"What was that Watari san?"
"Huh?"
"You said 'read his mind'. What were you talking about. Do you have any leads?"
Watari paled. He'd not meant to mention any of his private thought s outside his own mind. He didn't realize he'd even done it till after it was done and the chickens mentioned it. Now what should he do? "Oh, no.. I was just wishing.. we could read his mind.. then we could get Hisoka back quickly." They bought it, turning back to their computer with no more response than a sad and sympathetic look on their faces. It was Muraki's. That's all that Watari could think, it was Muraki's and it was all his fault.
-0- There he was, his unsuspecting prey. In his mind James Bond music was playing and he was moving as stealthy as any of the most experienced of hunters, living or dead.
Hisoka sat comfortably in his chair, reading a rather large book. As usual Tsuzuki was complaining about him wanting only to read and immerse himself in his books calling him names like "nerd" and "bookworm". Then again, as usual, Hisoka hadn't let it bother him. He'd sat quietly through all of Tsuzuki's complaints, continuing with little efficiency to read his book, growing more and more aggravated as the idiot continued to ramble on. Finally the baka of a shinigami pouted in defeat and ran away to frown himself in sweets, leaving Hisoka, finally, in peace to finish his book. Perhaps he should have taken Tatsumi's advice and left the ministry and headed home. the day was slow, nothing was needed to be done, well, except maybe a bit of Tsuzuki's paperwork, but he wasn't going to do that for him. A random thought struck him then. 'If Tsuzuki had lived... would he have died of diabetes?'
Hisoka brushed the thought off with a slight shake of his head. They didn't have much to worry about now at any rate now did they. Even if the violet eyed man was to drown himself in chocolate, the only real thing that could come of it was obesity. Even if it were to make him sick, he could never really die again now could he? Hisoka frowned, glaring at his book. Why was he even worrying about the idiot! With a growl he turned back to his book at hand. It was then that he sensed it, when he'd calmed his nerves and quieted his mind. "What do you want Watari?" His voice was cold, accusing and venomous.
Watari jumped a bit, somewhat frightened by the way the boy was able to tell his presence without even looking up from hi book, especial since Watari had been trying to sneak up behind him. Then again, with a second thought, it would only make sense, he was an empath after all. "Nothing really." He replied after calming his nerves and fixing his heartbeat to a normal pace. "I was just wondering if you were hungry, or thirsty or anything. I just made some tea and I thought maybe you'd like a cup?" Watari suggested hopeful, he'd already planned on the boy saying yes, or rather, hoped on it and held the cup placed delicately on the saucer in front of him.
Hisoka glanced suspecting at the blonde man from over the top of his book. "What are you trying to pull on Watari?" He looked at the tea, or perhaps it was more of a glare. Sniffing it he looked back at Watari with searching, eyes.
"Really Bon, your accusations hurt me. Can't I just do something nice for a fellow coworker?" He offered the cup even more openly to Hisoka who slowly lowered h book, opened to his page down to his lap to hold his spot. He cautiously excepted the cup, holding it an unnecessary length away from him, expecting it to blow up in his face at any moment. Watari sat in a comfy, fluffy chair across from him. He needed to think of some small talk, Hisoka was too suspicious at the moment. "So. What's new between you two?"
"What are you talking about?" Hisoka watched the tea, it didn't explode.. something had to be waiting to pop out of it and try to drag him in, to another dimension or something knowing Watari.
"You and Tsuzuki. Have you two hooked up yet? How 'bout kissing? More maybe..."
"Watari!" Hisoka forgot the tea, not caring what came out of it or what would come of it. His shining emerald eyes turned wide as humanly possible, a bright red blush crossing his face. Watari chuckled inwardly at this. He really was cute when he blushed, now he saw just how Tsuzuki could be misled by his innocent looks and dragged into Hisoka's scorn and punches like a sailor to the depths of rocks by a siren, calling from a distance. If Tsuzuki hadn't already laid claim to him, and if Hisoka was ever capable of letting anyone besides Tsuzuki in, Watari might even have tried to move in on the boy.
"It's perfectly natural you know. Nothing to be ashamed of. You're a teen, still just a boy. It's good for you to feel desire like that, otherwise, I'd be a little concerned about you Hisoka. You know, sometimes not being able to show your affection openly just means you're confused in your sexuality or perhaps in your desires. that would explain why you're so crabby and hermit like at work wouldn't it. You know, it's not good to keep all that pent up inside you" Watari was definitely enjoying this plan, he got both his purpose and "the talk" with bon done at the same time.
"Watari!" Hisoka was red now, completely. His blush was most surely still there, however, his anger was making him even more red.
Watari knew then that his time for fun was done. It was time to be serious with the boy and tell him just the kind of words he needed to hear. So he put on his most serious face, one he usually only used when there was something of great importance at hand. "Hisoka."
The boy turned to him, his blush lightening and the red of his anger draining from his face. Watari never used that tone of voice, he wasn't being Watari, the mad genki scientist they all knew him to be.
"You know how much Tsuzuki cares for you and you know his intentions. He wouldn't ever do anything to harm you. No one here is telling you to get with Tsuzuki or not, all we want you to do Hisoka, is open your heart, listen to your own feeling and sort them from everyone else's. Don't deny yourself what you want when it's staring you right in the face." Watari and Hisoka sat in silence for a while longer. It was a somewhat uncomfortable silence that neither knew what to tell the other after the last statement. Watari was rather surprised at himself. He never thought that he would be able to say that to Hisoka.
The silence remained unbroken until there came a rustle that drew Hisoka's attention. Watari had lifted himself from the seat across from him and was now collecting a few things, supposedly his. He turned back to Hisoka silently, connecting eyes with him for only a few seconds until he turned and walked out the room. Hisoka sat in his chair, book lay out on his lap, staring at the steaming tea laying delicately in his palms, his finger numb. -0-
Watari jumped from his sleep deprived state of slumber at the slamming and, from the sounds of it, breaking of the door. The Gushoshins did just the same, turning from the glowing screen of the monitor towards the door, light flooding in from the hallway. The tall dark figure of Asato Tsuzuki glooming in the frame was discouraging. They could see through the look on his face, the anger in his stance and the poor broken door crashed on the floor that his searches had proved fruitless again. It'd been days now and no information of Hisoka or Muraki's whereabouts. Though, it wasn't completely without clues..
"Tsuzuki...?" Watari soothingly questioned. With each passing day Watari grew more and more concerned not only for Hisoka and the baby he was carrying but for Tsuzuki. Tsuzuki already took the weight of the world upon himself and now he took Hisoka's disappearance as well, as much as it was Watari's fault. "Tsuzuki, what happened?"
"He did it again. he did it AGAIN!" Tsuzuki punched a wall next to the broken doors frame, a large crack formed there that ran from his fist down to the floor and up to the ceiling as a result. This scared back Watari and the Gushoshins, all three moving back with a slight gasp of breath. "He did it again, he sent us on a wild goose chase..." Tsuzuki clutched in his other hand Hisoka's large, warm and fluffy sweater. It was just the type Hisoka liked, the ones he'd been wearing more often to hide his growing belly that only Watari knew to be a baby.
Tears pricked the violet eyes as he stared at the item in his hands. Muraki's been doing it for day, sending out false locations of Hisoka to the ministry when they tried to track Hisoka, all of them completely random and never close enough to each other to limit their location efficiently. Tsuzuki had been all over Japan in the last few days and each time all he was ever met with was an abandoned old building and not a trace of Hisoka other than an article of his clothing, It was like a false energy reading that he was using to manipulate them, sending out one that they would all think to be Hisoka's and it always disappeared after making itself known as one of Muraki's tricks.
Falling against the wall, braced only by his arm Tsuzuki cried, forehead to the cool wall. The tears racked his body, making his entire body tremble with each sob as he slowly fell to his knees. collapsed against the wall he looked so defenseless, so vulnerable, Watari forgot all about Tsuzuki's ability to kill any being imaginable, forgot about how he'd just raised the maintenance bill again and ran to his old friend. He wrapped his arms around the older shinigami.
"He's never going to let us find him.. not until it's too late."
"Pull yourself together man. Hisoka needs you to be strong for him now, he's counting on you, and he knows he can count on you. Let yourself fall apart in him now and you fail him. Do it for Hisoka..." Watari squeezed his friends shoulder trying to transfer whatever energy he had to his friend. Tsuzuki would need it.. He only wished he could have given more to Hisoka. he looked up to the ceiling, praying to the sky that Hisoka was alright wherever he was and that no harm had come to him, that he was holding up better than the crying man in his arms. He just had to be alright.
YAY! a longer chapter yet again! (longer by 346 words!) I love all of you! review review! I love reviews and love makes the world go round, and of course in order to move faster, the world needs to be moving, there for REVIEWS MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND! oh.. and sorry for all my angst lovers for the kinda funny/sweet little flashback in there... I don't know what came over me.. I write from emotions and.. I don't know... o.o I was not my normal angsty self!