Chapter one: That's where they found Halimaro.

Hisoka listened to the voice draining on over the intercom ("will Mariho Sazutaka please come to the office"). They'd been on this case for ages. 'You would think that being immortal gave you patience' Hisoka was thinking to himself. A high school girl had slit her wrists, and while they knew she was there, they could not find her. Someone was cloaking her, that's what made the case interesting. Tsuzuki was having a hard time on this case, having attempted to slit his own wrists, and the powerful emotions were starting to wear the empath down. 'If we could just find her!' the young Shinigami thought bitterly. Being cloaked wasn't unheard of but… it was rare. 'Smells like Muraki, but…'

Hisoka was posing as a student again; he was in Tsuzuki's "homeroom" class. This period was history, Tsuzuki's favorite apparently. How they had gotten the original teacher to take off was a mystery, apparently he was a worse work-a-holic than Tatsumi, and hadn't missed a day of work in his entire 11 years of teaching. Hisoka had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the coffee Watari had offered the man when he first refused to let Tsuzuki take over. He chose not to dwell on that thought.

"Okay class, now it's time to turn to page 372. This week we're studying European exploration during the 1400's as I told you already in first class, well, most of you anyway." Most of the kids were in his first class, but there were a few who had come in, late and had weird schedules.

Hisoka wasn't really paying attention, they had to solve this case soon, there was only about a month of school left and they hadn't found the girl's spirit, apparently, her name was Halimaro Hendosun. 'Damn, he's wearing that face again' Hisoka had been Tsuzuki's partner long enough to recognize the mask he wore. This case was difficult, especially for Tsuzuki, but Hisoka hated the fake smile and blank eyes.

Since Tsuzuki and Hisoka were working under cover, Tatsumi and Watari were interviewing the people who knew the girl, the parents, her boyfriend (Tsylamiko something-or-other), and some of the other students. They said that the parents were in denial, she was an only child and they had recently discovered that she was cutting herself. Like most parents, they blamed themselves. The mother was apparently still folding and laundering the girl's clothes, waiting for her little girl to come home. The father wasn't talking at all, just sitting by the door, staring into space.

The boyfriend was another story; he sat, cried, and looked heart-broken. 'But those eyes' Hisoka shuddered, 'they told a different story' a story that matched his emotions 'he was relieved to be rid of the extra "baggage"'. From the interviews, they got that everyone at the school, except Halimaro, knew that he-what was the term he heard during the Teen Flick he and Tsuzuki had watched last night?-yes, that's right, "hit on everything that moved".

Hisoka was just glad that Muraki wasn't involved. 'If he puts his hands on Tsuzuki ever again…'truthfully, they hadn't seen or heard from the Doctor since Kyoto. Hisoka was sure he was still alive and out there somewhere. The curse scars still hadn't disappeared and he still had nightmares, in fact, they were getting worse. If Tsuzuki wasn't there at night now…. Hisoka blushed. Yes, the empath had moved in with the sugar crazed Tsuzuki shortly after Kyoto. No one at the office had been told and he wanted it to stay that way but, now that he thought about it, they probably already knew.

BLING!

"Well, that's the bell class; I'll be seeing you later." Tsuzuki said, breaking Hisoka's train of thought. He hadn't realized he'd been out of it for so long. "Kurosaki, could I see you about something?" 'Damn him' Hisoka thought blushing again, 'he better not be thinking of doing what I think his emotions are telling me he's thinking'

"Yes, sir." He replied curtly as he got his things together. This was the bad thing about this school was that having Tsuzuki for homeroom meant he had him for most of his classes. Not that he minded being with the older Shinigami, but he was very distracting. 'That and all the girls and even some of the boys are after him' not that he blamed them but, 'yeah, yeah I'm possessive of him, so what?'

He had lunch next and Tsuzuki knew it, it meant dessert. By the time Hisoka had finished getting all his things together and Tsuzuki had stopped shuffling papers, they were the only ones left in the room. "Okay Tsuzuki, what do you want?" Hisoka asked feeling the person in question start to hover over him.

"We-ell, I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me and discuss the case." He said hopefully.

Hisoka blushed and turned his face away "Baka."

Tsuzuki's face fell immediately and Hisoka felt the change in his emotions.

sigh "Yes, I'd love to have lunch with you."

Enter Inu Tsuzuki:

GLOMP

"Awww! 'Soka-chan does care!"

"Baka"

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I convinced Tsuzuki that it would cause a scandal if we went off campus to eat, (it would, but the real reason is that Tsuzuki, being a teacher, got free lunch, and with his sweet cravings anywhere else would have brought the wrath of Tatsumi down upon us, this way he could have as much food as he wanted and not over-spend). After Tsuzuki had filled up his tray with enough sweets to hold over an army, we decided to sit outside.

It was a nice day and there were only two left, they chose the closest one and quickly sat down. After sitting for a few moments and making a few casual observances, Hisoka realized something.

"Tsuzuki," (they were sitting close enough to everyone as to not make it look as if they wanted to be alone, but far enough away that they wouldn't be heard) "have you noticed anything odd about that other table?"

"Hmm." He paused to observe, "It looks as if everyone skirts around it. Let's ask why." He leaned over to another table 'just women' Hisoka realized with a pang 'Gods, I think I'm jealous' he stopped for a minute, shocked that he had thought that, then again they had been, albeit unofficially, together for a while now. In any case it looked like he was about to see Tsuzuki's charm at work.

"Excuse us ladies," he flashed a dazzling smile, "but would you mind telling us why everyone's avoiding that area over there?" the girls gave a collected shudder. 'They're scared!' Hisoka realized, 'but of what?' It was a nice place in actuality, no reason for anyone to avoid it, 'but I also sense a great sadness there, and pain that can't be where…'

"Yes." One of the girls said, putting herself back together, "My name is Sariah, this is Cheirimo, and Kainako. That's where they found Halimaro."

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