Investigation.
T: So here we are again! I'm going to resist the urge to prattle on to you about the plot outline for this chapter and, instead, I'm going to warn you that the OC becomes fairly prevalent from this point onwards and that all previous warnings remain! I am not Matasushita-san and thus I can't have created Yami can I?
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The man before him is full of a calm certainty that permeated his whole demeanour and gave Hisoka confidence enough that, when the man enquires, "Can I help you?" he is able to respond,
"I was looking for Myagi Luka." The other smiles and he is filed with the same comforting warmth he feels always about his partner.
"I'm afraid that Kasan passed away five years ago, perhaps I might be of aid?"
"I am afraid not, the matter I wished to discuss was for her ears only."
"We were a very close family and did not keep secrets…"
"My name is Kurosaki Hisoka and I was, until recently, the companion of Tsuzuki Asato." The Man's calm demeanour vanishes at the mention of that name and is replaced, instead, with a mix of shock and curiosity.
"Would you like to come in, Kurosaki-kun?" The formality is a little odd coming from one so akin to his partner and sends a sweet ache through him that he has, for the moment, no wish to dwell upon.
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The man's house in decorated with subtly showy objects that add to the general 'upmarket' feel of the building. The intrigue these objects hold keeping his mind focused right until his host offers him a seat.
Once Hisoka is seated the other leans a little forward in his own chair and enquires,
"When did you meet him? How did he seem to you? Did you find mother through his mentioning her name or did you learn of her once he passed away?" The other pushes back the curiosity that has driven this out of character response and, once he has re-established his control he says, "You will have to forgive my intensity, Kurosaki-kun, but I have been raised on tales of that man and even named for his sake."
"I understand, Myagi-san and to answer your questions; Tsuzuki and I met three years ago at work, he seemed over confident and yet at the same time infinitely vulnerable, he never talked to me directly of his past but it was there as a shadow in his eye…"
"You are about to tell me that you did, indeed, learn of Kasan after he passed on and yet that is not the precise truth is it?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that you did not know him while he was alive, that you met long after he had passed on." There has been no indication in the other's emotions that he would make such a statement, thus he is unable to prevent the shock of the words and the momentary numbness that emotion ignites in his mind. "Perhaps we should start again?" The other enquires as he gains his feet and, bowing politely, says, "I am Myagi Asato, seventh head of the Myagi-clan." Rising from the bow he reaches into his trouser pocket and pulls out a small rectangle of paper that clears a little of the mystery,
"You are an Onmyoji." He remarks as he gestures to the perfectly scripted Ofuda clutched in the other's fingers.
"That is correct." He realises then that the intense nature of the other's calm had been intended as a shield for his power and, feeling a little indignant, he enquires,
"You deliberately shielded yourself from me?"
"As you shielded your true nature from me."
"I had no choice!"
"Nor I." The other clearly wishes the subject dropped and all but instantly remarks, "Will you tell your true story now, Kurosaki-kun?" Hisoka takes a moment to consider his response and then, a liar's smile on his face, he recounts to the other a highly edited account of his time with Tsuzuki and of the events that had lead him to this point.
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"Luka-nii, what was tousan like?" The question is a little unexpected and, bending to look her brother in the eye, she enquires,
"What's brought this on Asato?"
"Today when I sat with Kasan she told me that I had tousan's eyes, that because of that my fate would be his fate, my life his life."
"Asato, kasan is not well and she does not always mean the things that she says."
"I know, neesan and I'm sure my life will be different from tousan's…it is just… hearing kasan say those things made me realises that I do not know who tousan was or what sort of a life he lead."
"Tousan was a gentle man who believed in the value of life above all things. He lived strongly, giving all that was in his power to give and taking as little as he could in return. As to his fate…" She trails at that, the words stifled by the hopeful look in the violet eyes before her.
She wishes so desperately to protect the kindness she sees in those eyes, wishes to insure that kindness remains untainted by the demons lurking in the history of their line.
Thus she pulls the child into her arms and, kissing his forehead, she says,
"I have another story to tell you Asato, of only you'll listen."
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"Kurosaki-kun?" The kindness in the other's voice stirs him from his sleep and, a frown crossing his face, he enquires,
"Since when have you used my last name, idiot?" Laughter greets this enquiry and, as a cool hand sets against his forehead, he gains the reply,
"I will gladly address you by your first name, Kurosaki-kun, but I wish to earn the honour for my own sake rather than steal it from my uncle." He feels his skin heating then and, moving as far from the other as possible, he says,
"Forgive me, Myagi-san."
"Kasan told me that I look like my uncle and so I can understand that, semi conscious, you might mistake me for him." The calm in the other's voice eases a little of his embarrassment and, hitching his knees into his stomach, he says,
"It seems that I fell asleep before you could reciprocate with your story."
"Clearly you had need of the rest…" The other trails a moment and, his emotions crumbling into uncertainty, he enquires, "Is everything alright, Kurosaki-kun? Last night I heard you screaming in your sleep and this morning when I came to wake you there were tears in your eyes…"
"My past has not been kind, Myagi-san and often its cruelties haunt my dreams."
"Would you care to discuss it?"
"Not with you, no."
"Then perhaps I should continue from where we left off last night?" He smiles then, the thing clearly intended to mask the hurt he feels due to the rejection.
"You were going to tell me of your mother."
"Her father was a powerful Omnyoji who did much for this town and who was eventually corrupted by the power that he held. Kasan felt always the weight of his 'crimes' while she was growing and yet she did not allow this burden to crush her. Instead she used it to grow strong enough that she could protect her dearest brother from their father's taint and help him to reach his true potential."
"However?"
"There is madness in my family line, Kurosaki-kun, madness that my uncle inherited and that, bit by bit, turned him into a 'stranger'. Kasan tried her hardest to help him…to save him from his father's fate…but…"
"He ran away." The other looks a little startled and, wishing to distract him from the question he thinks to ask, Hisoka enquires, "Did they meet again after that?"
"Apparently they argued that night and kasan left him alone a while in order that they both might cool down. When kasan returned she found him curled in on himself, sobbing apologies and licking at some imaginary object clutched in his hands." The words spark the vivid memory of Tsuzuki clutching Keiko's served head, licking desperately at the blood and, fighting the bile that has risen to his stomach, he enquires,
"He believed that he had killed her, didn't he?"
"No matter how much kasan talked to him or pushed him to look at her, he would not believe otherwise and once his desperation became enough that he fled…" He trails and after a moment of silence says, "Kasan never gave up the hope of finding him, her search leading her to tousan, to the theories he held and to a life she had never thought to lead."
Hisoka does not know how to fill the silence that follows these words, only that he desperately wishes to think on something other than what he has just been told.
"You are empathic, are you not?" The question is so unexpected that he replies to the positive without thought for the consequences of doing as such. "I am sure that many people have cursed your for that ability and that, more often than not, you view it more 'curse' than 'gift'."
"Are you going to tell me that you understand, that growing up as an Omnyoji has meant that you know what it is to be watched always with suspicious eyes?" The anger has been prompted by his confusion and, emotionally raw as he is, he can not quite seem to curb it. Indeed he gains his feet and, rolling up his sleeve, he enquires, "Do you also understand what it feels like to be beaten by your own parents? To be locked away in a cell like some animal and left there to rot? Perhaps you understand also what it is to be raped when you are only thirteen and stricken with a curse that will take three years to kill you? Maybe you understand what it is to finally have the hope that you might, some day, be free of the hurt such experiences have caused and then to learn that the one who has inspired this hope should not, in fact, be a part of your world?"
He knows that he is shaking, knows that the curse is shining so brightly upon his skin that it must look all but fresh to the other and that he has said oh so much more than he had wanted to. Yet, as Myagi-san tales him into a firm embrace, he realises that these things are little more than selfish trivialities, realises that but one thing should concern him at the moment:
How best to confront Tsuzuki with this news.
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T: Hisoka's logic (and my own) is that had Tsuzuki not been responsible for his sister's death he would not have become a Shinigami. This spawned by someone saying, at some point during the manga, something along the lines of 'once you've killed one person you might as well kill another'. I know there are other aspects of Tsuzuki's enrolment into the bureaux that are vaguely adverse to this theory but I'm hoping I'll fill the holes in as we go! Again please feel free to ask questions and I'll see you with the next chapter Sunday.