4. Past.

T: Slight cliff-hanger but other than this warnings remain the same. I own nothing that you see here other than the plot bunny.

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"Yes?" The enquiry comes from a rather handsome young man who looks to be in his mid to late twenties and, surreptitiously glancing at the directions that the bartender had given to him, he enquires,

"Would you be able to tell me where I can find Mirani Yamato?"

"That's me." The other responds, his mouth twisting into a charming smile before he enquires, "Can I help you?"

"I was told that you were the one to talk to about the murder of Endo Yuri."

"You'd better come in." The other remarks as he moves slightly to one side in order to allow him into the house.

Once his front door is closed Mirani-san guides him through a tight corridor into a western style living room.

"Take a seat." His host remarks as he settles himself onto a high backed and highly padded chair.

Once his host is assured that he is comfortable he enquires,

"Are you a detective for this world or the next?"

"How…"

"Did I know? Tousama spent his lives work investigating the many mysteries of the spiritual world and passed both the legacy and the interest in that subject onto myself."

"I see." He takes a moment to think through the correct course of action and then he says, "I'm a Shinigami."

"Then you'll be wanting to hear about the Kurosaki boy rather than about Endo-san, correct?"

Squashing the rush of excitement that courses though him at the sound of Hisoka's name he smiles what he hopes is a 'professional smile' and responds,

"That is correct."

"That night it was unbearably hot, the sort of dry heat we've not experienced your years before or since. The Kurosaki household staff would later claim that it'd been this heat that'd made the child restless, but the truth was that it was the emotions of the killer and Endo-san that'd disturbed their young master's sleep pattern. Those emotions also drew Kurosaki-kun towards the murder that was being committed and into the most precarious of situations." He pauses a moment, most likely to gauge his reaction to the tail so far and then he says, "The initial reports of the crime claimed that, in an attempt to cover his tracks, the murderer then led a brutal attack on the young child and subsequently fled the scene. This was not, of course, the complete truth and yet it was a more realistic depiction of events than later reports which made no mention of a witness at all."

"What was the 'complete truth' then?"

"Endo-san's murder brutally raped Kurosaki-san and used his 'bodily fluids' to scribe a vicious curse into the boy's skin that would take three years to finally kill him. I have a list here of the injuries the boy sustained during the 'event'," Mirani-san remarks as he pulls a thin folder from the side of his chair, extricates a slip of paper from the thing and passes it to him.

He reaches only the second thing on the list before he feels nauseous and returns it to the other,

"Why show me this?"

"Because you needed to see it, needed to understand what it was that Kurosaki-san's parents understood and what they subsequently covered over."

"But why?"

"Because it'll help you to understand why his spirit has lingered so very long and perhaps help you to give it peace at last."

He has to put all his effort into retaining his composure, into making it seem as though he had known all along of the 'restless sprit' and suppressing the desperate hope that has bubbled in his heart for the information that he might have found his partner at last.

Only once he is assured that he has done as such dose he enquire,

"Could you take me to where the boy's spirit has been seen with the most frequency?"

"Of course." The other responds as he gains his feet.

Mirani-san spends the journey discussing the spiritual world with him, the enthusiasm the younger man has an infectious thing which has him smiling right up until the very instant that they reach their destination.

For Mirani-san has brought him within inches of the spot that had, so many years previous, witnessed the terrible event that would, eventually, lead to Hisoka's death.

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T: Next chapter wed at the latest! Review??