Disclaimer: I don't own Yami No Matsuei

Additional Characters: All Tsuzuki's Shikigami, Kotaro, Kojiro, OFC, Maria, Ukyo, Muraki, Ruka, OMC (Chizuru? Rika?)

Additional Pairings: Ukyo/Muraki, Ruka/OMC, Maria/Kijin, Kojiro/OFC (Chizuru/Rika?)

Additional Background Information: I decided to make Tsuzuki's landlords the ones who adopted Kazusa.

Much-Needed Information Or I'll Make Up My Own Answers: How did Ruka (Tsuzuki's sister) die?

Shout-Outs:

Happygreendragon – Look up at the list of Additional Characters. I've decided to include Muraki! Tee-hee! However, he's not going to be a major player. His existence hinges on Ukyo appearing. After that, he'll just go away, unless I get another random flash of brilliance.

jennamarie – You're welcome! And yes, Daion is a pot. As I look at him, he looks like a flower pot more than anything, but he's a pot nonetheless.

December Jewel – Thank you!

Lynn - Thanks!

Side Note #1: Right, so I changed Tsuzuki's and Hisoka birthdays! Finally! They were annoying me to no end. Hisoka as a Libra physically hurts me. (Muraki as a Sagittarius hurts me more, but I didn't feel like fixing it just yet.) So I changed Hisoka to November 14th, making him a Scorpio, a Chestnut Tree, and with the Life Path 7. I also changed Tsuzuki to March 6th, making him still a Pisces (Matsushita really hit the nail on the head with Tsuzuki's sign), a Weeping Willow Tree, and with the Life Path 9. Here's what it says about them:

Pisces: Sensitive, compassionate, helpful, sociable, adaptable, open, relaxed, intuitive, artistic, romantic, imaginative, kind, selfless, generous, philosophical, shy, dependent, unpunctual, untidy, undisciplined, escapist, careless, impractical, gullible, overemotional, vague, weak-willed, proud, slippery, impressionable, secretive, habit-prone

Weeping Willow Tree: Beautiful, attractive, compassionate, honest, intuitive, melancholic, demanding, restless, capricious, loves the beautiful, loves the tasteful, dreamer, traveler, impressionable, suffers in love but eventually finds an anchoring partner

Life Path 9: Humanitarian, idealistic, broad-minded, compassionate, charismatic, creative, perceptive, teacher, self-critical, social reformer

Scorpio: Passionate, subtle, magnetic, deep, focused, psychological, independent, exciting, loyal, tenacious, analytical, hateful, rigid, suspicious, overbearing, sarcastic, vengeful, forceful, stubborn, self-destructive, jealous, obsessive, manipulative, penetrating, secretive, easily hurt, ambitious

Chestnut Tree: Unusually beautiful, vivacious, interesting, modest, has a sense of justice, fair, irritable, lacks self-confidence, feels misunderstood, shy, has difficulties finding love, loves only once

Life Path 7: Secretive, loner, perceptive, analytical, spiritual, planner, quick, decisive, truthful, loyal, deep thinker, perfectionist

I also made up personalities for Taimou and Kouchin based on their character numbers.

Delayed Reactions

Wakaba hummed a made-up tune, tapping her foot against the floor as she typed in the coordinates for the Suzaku Gate. As the gates opened and the smoke cleared, it took all the self-restraint she had not to fly her body and her news directly into Kotaro and Kojiro's faces.

"Finally asked her out, eh, eh, Kojiro? You'll be sucking face soon enough, eh, eh?"

"Ooh, it's a great day for love!" Wakaba said, clapping her hands together. "Did Kojiro ask Natsuko out?"

"I don't know; that's what I've been trying to get out of him all day," Kotaro said. "Why's it a great day for love, miko? Are things finally going well with Terazuma?"

"No!" Wakaba yelled, gesticulating wildly and blushing. "It's these two!" She pointed with her thumb and pointer finger at Tsuzuki and Hisoka. "They're engaged!"

"Engaged? Whoa, I thought they were just partners."

"No! They've been serious for a year and a half. They're going to Kansei to tell Tsuzuki's Shiki!"

"All 12 of them? Good luck with that," Kotaro said, half-joking, half-sincere. "Well, pass through, you two."

A whirling gray cloud suddenly and swiftly enveloped Tsuzuki and Hisoka and pulled them imperceptibly into Kansei. As the Suzaku gate closed, Wakaba turned her energies to Kojiro. "Did you ask Natsuko? Did you?"

"I hate this gate," Hisoka said, coughing forcibly. He opened his eyes to once again find himself floating above the city of the imaginary world. It was still afternoon in Kansei, with an impeccably blue sky complete with fluffy white clouds.

"Hisoka, watch out!"

Tsuzuki grabbed Hisoka arm and yanked him out of the way as something red and scintillating whizzed past where his face had just been.

"Not good enough, Suzaku-imotou!" a taunting male voice came from below them.

"I am seriously going to murder you!" a livid female voice followed.

"Suzaku and Touda are going at it again," Tsuzuki sighed, as one who expects bad news. "It's well enough that we came now, so we could stop them. The last time they fought Tenku took some damage; I don't think he'll be too thrilled if it happened again…" Taking Hisoka's hand, he descended towards where the two voices were still locked in a battle of words and well as fire.

"Hey! Suzaku! Touda! Knock it off! Touda, I command you to stop! Suzaku, come on, stop it!"

Suzaku took one last furious swipe with her sword before managing to stop herself. Touda doused the fireball he was summoning in his hand, and both of them turned to look at where Tsuzuki and Hisoka had landed.

"Tsuzuki! Hisoka!" Suzaku's sword dematerialized as she ran at them, throwing her arms around them in a double-glomp. "What are you two doing here?"

"Hmph. Split personality, much?" Touda grumbled, putting his arms akimbo and glaring after Suzaku.

"Shut up!" Suzaku shot back, letting go of her master though unwilling to let go of his companion.

"YAY! Tsuzuki and Hisoka 'r' here!"

A flying tackle knocked Hisoka out of Suzaku's grasp and face-forward into the concrete. His albino tail wagging cheerily back and forth, Byakko perched triumphantly on Hisoka's back.

"Finally! I was gonna get Seiryuu to hit them with some water if they kept on fighting, but you stopped them for us!"

"D'you mind getting off of me!" Hisoka hollered petulantly, trapped under the weight of the White Tiger's human form.

Byakko scrambled off Hisoka's back and Hisoka got to his feet, feeling his spine and the adjacent bones creaking. Pressing his palms to the small of his back, he arched his spine inward to stretch it out. He nearly jumped when he felt a pair of hands on his back, pressing the thumbs into his skin to ease the ache, but after the second of panic had passed he knew whose hands those were.

"Why are you here?" Suzaku asked.

"Hisoka and I've got some news for you guys!" Tsuzuki said. "Listen, can you guys get Seiryuu and the rest to come to Tenku? It's really big and I want you all to know at the same time, so can you do me that favor? Please?"

"Of course, Tsuzuki," Suzaku said helpfully.

"Sure!" Byakko said. "Tenko and I were playing hide-and-seek before Touda and Suzaku started fighting…but that was…fifteen minutes ago…uh-oh…Tenko? TENKO!" Byakko shot off, searching for Tsuzuki's youngest Shikigami.

Touda sighed a sigh of the long-suffering and wondered off to help with the search.

"You're sure you want them at our wedding?" Hisoka asked.

Tsuzuki did not deign to answer, and instead poked his finger into Hisoka's temple.

"Come on, Hisoka, Tenku's waiting!"

"You two are WHAT?"

The above written was the collective cry from 9 voices, each in varying tones. Two voices were silent, being non-existent, and the third let out a squeak and threw its tiny, feminine body onto Hisoka's leg, wrapping its arms around his thigh.

"You're…not…happy?" Tsuzuki asked slowly, staring at the other 11 of his Shikigami as Hisoka tried to pry Tenko off his leg.

Byakko's answer came not in the form of words, but rather in his signature physical display of affection: a running hug that knocked Tsuzuki flat.

"Byakko, get off him!" Suzaku squawked, rushing forward to drag Byakko off his master and help Tsuzuki up, only to imitate what Byakko had done, though to a lesser degree. Tsuzuki managed to stay on his feet.

"Suzaku-neechan, that's not fair!" Byakko whined. "How come you get to—hey, there's Hisoka!"

Hisoka yanked Tenko off his leg and held her up in front of his face as a deflector for Byakko. The defensive move was effective for Byakko from the front, but not Kouchin from behind.

"Kouchin, I'm glad you're happy, but Hisoka's face is turning red," Tsuzuki yelled over at her, seeing the dark pink tint his partner's face was turning from the tightness of her arms around his stomach. Kouchin let go, and Hisoka audibly gasped for breath.

"Tenko is a good shield, isn't she?" Kijin asked, his eyes crinkling as he smiled. Gently pushing Byakko out of the way, he fetched Tenko from Hisoka's hands and blocked the path of any other tacklers. "Congratulations, Hisoka. I'm very happy for you two."

"Thanks," Hisoka said, grateful for both the words and the protection.

"Daddy, isn't it great?" Tenko called, waving her arm wildly at Seiryuu. "Daddy? Daddy! Isn't it?"

"Seiryuu," Rikugo muttered warningly, glaring sideways at the Blue Dragon. Seiryuu frowned and glared right back. Rikugo sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, how long ago was it that you and Hisoka fought? Nearly a year and a half! Do get over it, you insufferable a—s."

"Rikugo said a bad word!" Tenko crowed, hopping out of Kijin's arms.

"Rikugo had the grounds to say it in," Touda muttered.

"Don't you dare approve of using foul language around a child!" Suzaku snapped at him, letting go of Tsuzuki.

"Temper, temper," Touda taunted.

"You little…"

"What did you just say about language, Suzaku-imotou?"

Taking advantage of the temporary distraction, Byakko charged and flattened his target.

"Excuse me for interrupting your little hormone-fest," a chilly voice said over the din, "but I do believe you have forgotten why we are here." Taimou's cape fluttered in the wind as she floated across the floor to put her hand on Tsuzuki's shoulder. "Has it slipped your mind that our employer just announced his engagement?"

"Byakko, I really can't breathe," Hisoka wheezed from underneath the White Tiger.

Byakko was deaf to his pleas, however. "Yeah! Tsuzuki's gonna have a wedding! I love weddings! Drinks all around!"

Hisoka, winded, crushed, gave two groans of pain as Byakko clambered off him and rushed away in search of intoxicating beverages.

"I think it's great!" Tenko, frustrated at her father's lack of compliance, said omnisciently, and ran over to Tsuzuki's feet.

"Thanks, Tenko," Tsuzuki said warmly, lifting the 7-year-old Shikigami into his arms and nuzzling her cheek with his nose. "I think it's great, too."

"Yeah…same here," Hisoka said, sitting up straight despite feeling like Byakko had cracked several of his ribs.

Rikugo went forward to help Hisoka up by offering a hand and pulling him to his feet. Once properly steadied, Rikugo sandwiched both of Hisoka's hands in between his own and shook all four hands up and down. "Ditto to that," he offered, smiling amicably. "I'm sure I speak for, well, most of us here when we say we are very happy for you two."

"He's speaking for me," Kijin proffered, giving his father an exasperated look.

"And me," Kouchin said, smiling

"As for those not here…well, Byakko speaks for himself."

"That he does," Taimou said from within her cloak, sounding amused.

The building creaked a loud, resounding rrrr sound.

"I suppose that means Tenku is happy, too," Tsuzuki said, with a sweat drop.

"What are your plans?" Kouchin asked. "Are you having a wedding? Where? When? Are we part of it?"

"Well, I don't kn-…" Tsuzuki suddenly felt Hisoka's eyes boring a hole in the back of his head "…want to reveal all our plans just now," he quickly amended. "But yes, we are having a…small ceremony, and since you're all my Shiki, I want you to be guests."

"Ohh…we love you, Tsuzuki," Suzaku said, putting her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. Tsuzuki hugged her with one arm about her waist, the other arm still supporting Tenko.

Kouchin clapped her hands together, the light bulb turning on in her head. "Why don't you have the ceremony here, inside Tenku?"

"In Kansei?" Tsuzuki questioned.

"Why not? We won't have to concentrate on keeping our human forms, and it's appropriate."

"Huh…that's not a bad idea…in fact, it's a great idea! Hisoka, why don't we…"

Tsuzuki was cut off as Byakko jumped on Hisoka from behind, not quite managing to send Hisoka to the floor but upsetting his balance.

"We'll talk about it," Tsuzuki promised.

"We'll talk about what?" Hisoka asked, struggling to break Byakko's grasp.

"Um…" Tsuzuki sensed Hisoka wouldn't be very receptive to the idea at the moment. "I'll tell you when we get back to Meifu. Byakko, would you please stop glomping my fiancé…?"

"Remind me to get a new spine," Hisoka grumbled, stomping away from Tenku.

"Oh, don't be a baby," Tsuzuki teased, pushing Hisoka's head.

"Don't touch me. Go bury yourself."

"Hisoka, don't be mean to me," Tsuzuki whined. "It coulda gone a lot a worse."

"How, pray tell?"

"Well…" Tsuzuki reached over Hisoka's shoulder and took his hand, bending a finger up with every point. "Byakko could have actually broken your spine, and Suzaku and Touda could've started fighting again, and Seiryuu could've attacked you or he and Rikugo could have started fighting, and Tenku could have collapsed on himself."

"…Don't touch me. Go bury yourself."

Tsuzuki laughed and hugged Hisoka around the neck, effectively stopping their trek away from the castle. "Well, we're going to go tell Kazusa, and then off to China for Maria and Eileen."

"Wait. After Kazusa, shouldn't we just go to Kumamoto and tell Hijiri?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that! It'll be quicker that way, won't it? I knew there was a reason I kept you around."

"Love you too."

"Of course you do. At least, hopefully."

Hisoka rolled his eyes. "How do we get out of here, again?"

"Like so." A fuda scroll materialized in between Tsuzuki's index and middle fingers. Hisoka watched as the pupils in Tsuzuki's eyes restricted and a stream of words in an ancient, forgotten dialect left his mouth. He threw the fuda down and said in his native, present tongue, "Gatekeepers! Miko! Appear and release us!"

A hole tore into the atmosphere of Kansei, and Kotaro and Kojiro appeared on either side of it. Hisoka covered his eyes as the wind kicked up dust particles, and no sooner did his hand rest upon his forehead did he disappear, along with Tsuzuki, through the computer-space continuum back into Meifu.

"Well, Kojiro still won't ask Natsuko out," Wakaba babbled as she, Hisoka, and Tsuzuki walked up the stairs from the Meifu gates. "I keep telling him, if Hisoka can ask somebody to marry him, than he can certainly ask a girl out for a simple date."

"Um, thanks?" Hisoka muttered.

"Well, to be honest, Hisoka, I would never have expected you to be the one doing the proposing," Wakaba said, frankly but nicely. "Tsuzuki always seemed to be more into a relationship, even before what happened in Kyoto, when you two were still denying everything."

"Just goes to show you can't tell about people, can you?" Tsuzuki asked. "I mean, my first impression of Hisoka was that he was a snot-nosed punk."

"And mine of Tsuzuki was that he was a childish idiot."

"Not a very auspicious start for Meifu's hottest couple," Wakaba said observantly, before squinting her eyes shut and giggling.

"What was your first impression of Terazuma, Wakaba?"

Wakaba's eyes flew open and she blushed furiously at Hisoka's question. "I-I thought he was just a tough loner type. W-why?"

"Just wondering," Hisoka said, shrugging and looking away. Tsuzuki poked him in the back of the neck, as if admonishing him for teasing her.

"TSUZUKI!"

"Oh no," Tsuzuki said, stopping at the top of the stairs. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no. Wakaba, let's go back to Kansei, okay? And stay for the next two months? Is that all right?"

"Tsuzuki, why—?"

"MY LOVE!"

A pair of gloves and a jagged mask came flying in from nowhere and tackled Tsuzuki to the ground, nearly sending him back down the flight of stairs they had just traveled up.

"Count, that's dangerous!" Tsuzuki yelped, feeling his head tilt back and nearly hit the first step.

"My flower! You have been plucked from the garden by someone other than myself! Such a transgression cannot go unheeded!"

"Sorry, Tsuzuki," Yuma's voice said from behind them. "We were hoping Konoe could stave it off for a while, but I guess the Count beat it out of him. Count, Tsuzuki's face is turning red…"

"I never thought it was possible for someone to give Anime sobs," Hisoka muttered, watching the Count bawl his eyes out. He reached down, awkwardly feeling for the Count's invisible body. Catching hold of some fabric, he yanked the Count off of Tsuzuki, hopefully to his feet, and offered a hand to help Tsuzuki up.

"You plucked my flower!" the Count sobbed at Hisoka, pulling off one of his gloves and dabbing his eye with it. "Stole him from my garden right underneath my nose! Oh, the sorrow! The woe!"

"Oh, the melodrama, oh, the bad acting!" Hisoka mimicked sarcastically under his breath, managing to help Tsuzuki regain his balance. Tsuzuki put his arm around Hisoka's waist defensively, fearing what a distressed Count might do, especially if he had just been sassed by the enemy.

The Count blew his nose very loudly into his glove, and then tossed it away. Having one the Count's hands invisible sent a nervous prickle down Tsuzuki's spine.

"My blooméd rose sits in someone else's vase!" the Count sniffled. He reached out and took Hisoka's chin, staring him in the eye. "Is he as good a gardener as I? Will he tend it as lovingly as I would? Will he make sure the petals never wither or die from extreme heat or cold, as I would? Well? Will he? Or shall I have to fight to win back my rose?"

"I've known Tsuzuki for four years," Hisoka said plainly, almost fiercely, not breaking eye contact with the Count. "And I have always been straight with him. If he's being an idiot, I'm going to tell him. If he's being annoying, I'm going to rebuke him. But I will never allow him to suffer by himself as he's been suffering for years. I will never allow him to get so low as to try and kill himself again. And I will especially never allow him to be taken away from me again, by you, or by that b—d Muraki, or by anyone else."

The Count's eye slits narrowed, and Hisoka glared right back. The stalemate pressed on for seconds that seemed like hours.

"Well, that's that. I suppose I'll have to give him up, then."

A very loud whoosh of air left every other mouth in the room as the Count turned away, shrugging his shoulders, elbows bent so his hands stuck out to the side.

"You're just going to give up?" Yuma gasped. Stories of the Count's ardor had made it all the way up to Hokkaido. Seeing the Count go down with only one statement from Hisoka…was that possible?

"Well, far be it from me to break up an engagement!" the Count said breezily. "What kind of tacky boor do you take me to be, Fukiya-san? I am a true aristocrat, and if I can't make my love happy, I will give my blessing to the person who does! I will hold my head high and carry on! However." An evil gleam glinted off his mask as he turned to face Hisoka again. "What you have told me, Kurosaki Hisoka, is a binding oral contract. Fukiya-san, Kannuki-san, and our dear Tsuzuki bear witness to it. If you break any of those promises and I hear of it, well…I dasn't speak of the consequences in mixed company."

"If I break any of those promises, I will punish myself," Hisoka said.

"Good, good, that it just what I wanted to hear," the Count said approvingly. "Oh, and Kurosaki? I wonder if I might have you in a private meeting later on? As I understand it from Konoe, you will be quite busy today spreading the good news, so tomorrow, or the day after, perhaps?"

"What do you want him for?" Tsuzuki asked protectively, pulling Hisoka even tighter against him.

"Office gossip, as reported by my faithful Watson, is that Kurosaki has exceptional spirit power, but doesn't quite have the proper channel for it. Am I mistaken?"

Hisoka glared but said nothing.

"There are a few areas of study in spiritual magic not taught at Juohcho. I merely wondered if Kurosaki might be interested in them. They are extremely powerful and may make up for Kurosaki not having his own Shikigami."

Hisoka felt something stab him in the head. 'The a—shole's enjoying this…"

"And in any case, it may help Kurosaki uphold his vow of protecting Tsuzuki from being snatched away. If I can aid his oaths in any way, I certainly shall."

"The day after tomorrow, then," Hisoka said through clenched teeth, wanting nothing more than to sock the Count in the face.

"Very good then!" The Count clapped his hands in triumph. "I'll away to my castle and allow the two lovers to spread their joyous news!"

Delicately picking up his soiled glove, he fulfilled his words and hasted away.

"That man is insane," Hisoka deadpanned matter-of-factly.

"At least he won't try to molest me anymore," Tsuzuki said, as if he had just dropped an enormous weight from his shoulders.

"Hopefully," Yuma corrected, and Hisoka felt Tsuzuki tense up again.

"Let's get out of here," Hisoka said quickly. "We have a lot of people to tell."

"We'll go find Tsubaki so she can go to Hong Kong with us," Tsuzuki said. "And we should bring Kazusa to Kumamoto with us. I bet she wants to see Hijiri, too…"

"Tatsumi?"

"Hmm?" Tatsumi looked up from where he was shuffling a pile of papers. "Oh, Watari. What brings you here?"

"I was wondering if you were okay," Watari asked.

"Is that why you've been following me for the last half hour?"

Watari was decent enough to look embarrassed. "You noticed?"

"I was actually wondering how long my patience would hold out."

"Oh. Well…um. Well. You never answered my question. Are you okay?"

"With what?"

"Don't play that game, Tatsumi. Are you really okay with Tsuzuki and Bon getting married?"

"There's no reason why I shouldn't be."

"Give me a straight answer, Tatsumi. Are. You. Okay."

"I am perfectly fine with Tsuzuki and Kurosaki-kun getting married," Tatsumi said, making a point to look exasperated. "To be honest, I knew this day would probably come."

"Then why are you acting so anti-social?"

Tatsumi sighed. "Watari, I really can't give you the answer you're looking for."

"What answer am I looking for?"

"You want me to say that I'm jealous of Kurosaki-kun for being able to hang on to Tsuzuki."

"Well, that's what I think the answer is," Watari allowed, "but if it's not the answer, I want to know what is."

"And you are so ardent about this, because…?"

"Well, as much as we banter and bicker I hope we consider ourselves friends, and if one of my friends feels like c—p, I want to make sure he feels better. And the way to get rid of a problem is to get to the root of it."

"Aren't you quite the social scientist." Tatsumi adjusted his glasses. "Watari, I can't tell you anything when I'm not sure about anything, now can I? Am I jealous of Kurosaki-kun getting married to my old partner? I don't know. It may be an entirely different issue. But I really can't think with you throwing questions at me. So would you please just leave me alone for a bit?"

"B—hy much?" Watari snorted. "Fine, Tatsumi. I'll leave you for a bit."

"Thank you." Tatsumi turned back to his papers and began flipping through them. Watari noted how painfully obvious it was that he was pretending to look for a document that they both knew he did not need.

Well, I've decided to stop it here, mainly because I'm out of ideas, writing everyone else's reactions would get boring, and I'm desperate to get to the angst.

In all honesty, this chapter turned out quite differently from what it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be: 1) The Kansei scenes. 2) Tatsumi and Watari. 3) Hisoka and Tsuzuki leave to tell everyone else. 4) They return for the Count's scene. But I'm generally happy with how it turned out, though the ending Tatsumi and Watari scene could have gone better if I just had the idea for it.

Usually I hate writing after-chapter AUs asking for reviews, but…when my hit count says 469 and my review box says 11…one gets a little desperate. Please?