5. Contemplation.
T: Up today because I had a huge waft of inspiration last night and managed to pen down a whole chapter in about a half hour! Huge cliff-hanger warning for the end of this chapter (I'm so sorry) and at last the slash makes its first tentative steps out of the shadows!
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He has only to step into the shade of the sakura to know that he has been deliberately led to this place, to know that the 'haunting' have been little more than a clever ploy to stall his progress for the briefest of instants.
He can not but wonder at the other's choice of distraction, can not but wonder if Hisoka had intended it as some oblique show of trust or if there is something else behind the gesture…
…wonders whether the other had constructed the whole affair as a sign that Hisoka truly had no wish for him to chase him, that the other was willing to expose even his most painful of secrets in order to prevent him from doing as such.
He sends Mirani-san on his way with a false promise to return once he has 'removed' the spirit and, thus at last alone, he settles himself down against the sturdy support of the tree's trunk.
In his minds eye he pulls forward the image of his partner, gives the thing enough substance and texture that, as long as he resists the temptation to reach out for the other, he can fool himself into believing that the younger man is at his side again. This particular 'trick' is one that he had used often since Kyoto in order to diminish the fear and the loneliness that plagued him during the night.
"What do you want me to do, Hisoka?" The phantom makes a displeased face and, bopping him once about the head, says,
"Baka! I want you to be happy."
The words bring a bitter sweet smile to his lips and, looking the phantom in the 'eyes' he enquires,
"Then why did you leave?"
It is a question that the phantom can not answer for him and, this silence eroding its 'realism' the thing fades again into the ether.
He remains propped against the sakura for the longest of times, allowing his mind to work over the issues in hand without adding the complication of his emotions.
He is pulled, eventually, from this trance by the soft pressure of a hand on his shoulder and the enquiry of,
"How about we get you back to the hotel?"
"Watari, what would you do in my place?" He enquires as he gains his feet.
"I'd trust my heart." The other responds.
"So who are we going to see first?" He enquires after a long moment of silence.
A wide smile blooms onto the scientists lips then and he responds,
"We don't need to go and see anyone."
"You mean you've found him already?"
"I have been informed that he never actually went into hiding and that, feeling it prudent to keep his whereabouts from Bon an yourself until such a point where you could both deal with such information in a 'mature' manner, Kaichou decided to 'garnish the truth' a little."
Deciding that it is best to keep his opinion on such a choice to himself he enquires,
"Where is he?"
"Tokyo."
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The woman at the desk is a previous patient and she keeps him for much longer that he would have desired with idle chatter. Despite this he finds that he has no need for the key in his pocket, finds the boy's hotel room door unlocked and the boy himself sat at the edge of his bed, his posture an anticipatory tautness of one impatiently awaiting company.
"Take a seat." The words are neither absent pleasantry nor harsh command but rather and odd mix of the two that further intensifies the general ambivalence that surrounds this meeting.
Settling onto the chair that has been placed, calculatedly, directly in the boy's eye line; he waits for the other to 'begin proceedings'.
He has but a short wait for, but a minute after he has taken his seat, the boy rolls up the sleeves of his shirt in order to expose the red fire of his curse marks then says,
"You told me once that these makes bonded us together, that as long as they were there upon my skin you would be in my head,"
"Yes?"
"Remove them." There is a force in the command that amuses him greatly and prompts him to enquire,
"Will you threaten to expose my secrets should I not do as such, bouya? Or perhaps you thing to threaten my life instead?"
"What use would there be in doing such things?"
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T: Next chapter wed. Review?