Chapter 3 Bewitching Captive
Tsuzuki woke up in the middle of the night, rubbing his eyes drowsily. Across the window, the huge moon behind the dark clouds hung high in the night sky, revealing only some lighter part of the moon.
His eyes don't need much time to adjust to the dark since he always was acquainted to it. He tensed as he acknowledged that something wasn't right.
He couldn't feel the warm body in front of him.
As the clouds inched apart itself, it revealed the full white round moon.
The next thing he heard himself gasped as he can now see clearly. The bed which he slumped on, which was supposed to hold the sleeping boy was empty.
That wasn't all. The blankets were folded neatly on the clean bed as though it had never been used in the first place. The white sheet almost looked glowing as the stream of the moonlight bathed them.
"Hisoka?" Tsuzuki stumbled to his feet, leaving the sheet to fall off untidily. He ran to check the bathroom. Empty. He looked around the room which was relatively small enough to get the idea in no time that there was no one but himself.
Hisoka's jeans were gone, as were his shoes. He's gone. 'Maybe he just went for a walk or something. But…at a time like this? Without…telling me?' The idea doesn't seem to calm Tsuzuki down; he grabbed his trench coat, pulled on his shoes and reached for the doorknob.
As the door was swung open, Tsuzuki gasped once again. The place before his eyes was covered with nothing. Everywhere he set his eyes upon were all totally white with faint fog; nothingness. He turned around to find that the room he had occupied with Hisoka was now gone.
"What is this place…?"
It all doesn't make any sense to him, but he put it aside. Priority should come first. He ought to find Hisoka.
Before he could take a step, a couple cut across his path. Frowning at the sudden disturbance, his eyes followed the two form's back. From where he stood, he could make out a woman with long black hair holding the hand that belonged to the little boy beside her. Both wore beautiful kimonos. The woman was in dark red and the boy was in light green one.
'A mother and her child?' Tsuzuki wondered. He was about to called them to ask what had happen here when he suddenly recognized the small form of the boy. Sandy blond hair, pinkish white pale skin.
"Hisoka!"
Within a few long hurried strides, Tsuzuki had caught up with them and grasped the little boy's free hand in his own and turned him around gently. The wide innocent emerald eyes were now looking startled at the concerned amethyst ones.
The woman made no move, but she didn't let go of the boy's other hand.
"It's really you, Hisoka." Tsuzuki smiled faintly with relief as he got down on his knees to level with Hisoka's small form.
'Why was Hisoka becomes so small as he looks no older than 13?' But he swiftly brushed the thought from his mind. In all honesty, he didn't really care. Whether his partner was in 16 or 13 years of age in that body, whatever, younger or older, as long as it was Hisoka.
The boy made no move as well, the emerald eyes that previously registered shock now locking on Tsuzuki with faint surprise.
Seconds passed, then minutes, and finally a tiny arm jerked, half-heartedly trying to pull out of Tsuzuki's grip. Tsuzuki blinked as he recalled how this little boy behave just like the partner he knew so well, he smiled softly at the boy. "It's ok, I won't hurt you." Then he turned to the woman in the red kimono. "Excuse me, Miss, but where are you taking Hisoka to? He's with me."
Still, the woman didn't move, continuing instead to stare unmoving and ahead, as though frozen in time, except the hold of her hand on Hisoka was tightened. Much to Hisoka's small hand, he let out a small yelp.
Had not the woman Hisoka's hand in hers, Tsuzuki would have pulled the boy directly into his arms.
"Miss! You're hurting him! Please let go." Before Tsuzuki could try to pry the woman's hand off his little partner, her body began to fade, and soon enough, vanished.
Disappeared.
Tsuzuki could only gaped at the scene in shock, but his mind snapped back when Hisoka made a small sound. "It's all right; I'll take you out of here, Hisoka." Tsuzuki gave him a reassuring smile, tightening his grip on the boy gently.
"It's ok, Tsuzuki."
Tsuzuki was caught by the sudden soft voice as he was about to stand, he bent down once more. "What?" He asked the boy gently.
At the moment, his eyes widened as the boy now began to fade the way the woman had.
Trying to quell the panic rising within him, Tsuzuki now brought both of Hisoka's arms together in front of him, looking questioningly into those eyes. "Hisoka! What's happening to you?"
The once-cold green eyes were now softened on Tsuzuki.
"Tsuzuki…I do believe…" The voice was now so small that Tsuzuki couldn't almost make it out. As well as Hisoka's lips, it curved upward into a small smile, which no one could ever tell that the boy was actually smiling.
"What? Hisoka, what…" Tsuzuki couldn't help but stuttered as he felt Hisoka's hands were getting cold. His form slowly but kept fading more and more.
Deep inside, Tsuzuki knew that there was nothing he could do, much like he doesn't know what to do when there was only nothingness around them. But that didn't stop him from trying to teleport back to Meifu alongside with Hisoka. Unsurprisingly, he failed.
Everything doesn't seem to make sense at all.
All he could do was hold the boy closed to himself, dread filled his amethyst eyes. "Hisoka…don't disappear. Don't go away from me." His voice muffled as he whispered into the boy's neck until the small figure was completely gone. Then he was holding onto nothing but an empty air.
Alone in the middle of all of the nothingness, he cried.
"HISOKA!"
…ki…
'suki…'
"Tzusuki!"
His eyes snapped open at the voice calling his name. Tsuzuki practically leapt out of the bed to see Hisoka sitting in front of him, his emerald eyes reflecting a hint of shock.
"Hisoka…" The man choked out, his forehead sweating. "You're here; you're not disappearing from me?"
"What are you talking about? Daydreaming or what?" Hisoka asked confusingly. Before he could make further question, he was hurled by the bunch of emotion from Tsuzuki.
Worry, sadness, concern, relief.
Tsuzuki had been tossing and turning in his sleep, his eyebrows knitted and his face twisted in all the miserable expressions. As if he was about to cry.
'And he cried out…my name.'
"…don't go away…?"
'Where else would I go, Tsuzuki, if not back to you.'
"It's just a nightmare, Tsuzuki," Hisoka patted on Tsuzuki's back tentatively.
"It was so real, Hisoka," the man mumbled.
'I have had nightmares sometimes, about the people I killed, the guilt that had resulted, of Tohda's flames and even of Muraki but not this, never this.'
Hisoka sighed inwardly, "but I'm not going anywhere." He shrugged. "So what did you dreamed about? Would it help if you tell me about it?"
"I told you, it's just a nightmare, I'm here, Tsuzuki. Besides the woman you're talking about…" Hisoka paused dead in his conversation.
Guilt welled within Tsuzuki as he recalled that the boy no longer wished to have anything to do with a family who deemed him a monster anymore.
"I'm over with it already, long time ago," his face turned away, showing no emotion.
Tsuzuki knew it well more than the boy does, that it wasn't something to get over with that easily. It's still there. The pain, the wounds that had already became a permanent scar. He started to reach out to offer Hisoka what comfort he could.
Suddenly, the boy jerked his head and looked back at Tsuzuki, "We're already dead, right? We're in a place where no ordinary people can reach us, they can't hurt us anymore."
'It's only memories that hurt us.' Hisoka bit his lips.
Tsuzuki drew his hand back, smiling softly instead. "You're right; it's just a bad dream." He tried to tell himself to believe in Hisoka's words.
"Thanks, Hisoka, I guess I'm OK now," he beamed brightly at the boy who merely turned his face away and replied with a soft, "unn." Then the bright expression were turned into worried one, "Hisoka…I have to ask…how about you? Did he…did he do anything to you? Did he hurt you?"
"What?" The boy's eyebrows were raised questioningly, "what are you talking about?"
"Huh? I mean…yesterday." The man replied sadly, he added, "I'm…sorry…because of me…but I won't let him harm you again."
"What, what? Tsuzuki? Is that another dream or nightmare or what? What are you talking about this time?" Hisoka threw the questions when he didn't really understand what the other was talking about.
"You don't remember? Yesterday…last night…" Tsuzuki prompted as the boy shifted his gaze towards the white sheets resting on the bed and tried to think.
"Last night…you were drunk…I couldn't afford to carry you back to the hotel. So I left you in the park and went out to buy some cold drinks…and…and…after that…what happened? I…don't remember. Why…what happened, Tsuzuki?"
Hisoka's eyes set back on Tsuzuki questioningly. Tsuzuki remained motionless. "Did that guy erase his memory again? But what for? So he didn't do anything to Hisoka? It couldn't be, he never bother to leaves him alone. Or was it simply because I made it there in time before he had a chance to harm Hisoka.?'
"Tsuzuki?" The voice brought him back to attention, Tsuzuki has decided to spoke.
"Oh! It's nothing…yeah, I guess you passed out because you're too tired carrying me around, I found you somewhere near the park. Couldn't remember much of the detail either. I was drunk. And I just had a bad dream. All together I'm mixed up!" He laughed sheepishly.
Hisoka wasn't fooled; he's empath after all. He tried to make out what Tsuzuki was hiding from him, but Tsuzuki had put up strong shields, effectively blocking out all thoughts. He tried another way, looking seriously into those amethyst depths.
"I told you, it's nothing! Really! Hey, don't look at me like that. Don't ask question anymore. I don't want to think about that…dream anymore." The last words came out through trembling lips and his voice cracked.
'It's ok, as long as you're here with me, then everything will be right, nothing is wrong at all.'
The boy rolled his eyes. 'I blacked out? When? But the last thing I remember…I was in someone's arms…familiar ones…like Tsuzuki…and he's crying…why...?'
Tsuzuki looked anywhere but at Hisoka. It was an implication to avoid continuing the conversation. It made the empath merely sigh in defeat. 'Maybe it's just a daydreaming too.'
Hisoka scowled slightly before he threw himself out of the bed and started folding the sheets up.
"We're going back?" Tsuzuki asked upon seeing the boy's actions.
"Yeah, we've already finished our assignment, what's the point of staying here any longer?" Hisoka answered practically.
Tsuzuki slipped off his futon and fold it as well, preparing to leave. "Yeah, let's go home, Hisoka."
'But what do you said you believe in? Hisoka.'
to be continued