Things to know:
Dare ni – who
Doushite/naze – why
Epilogue
He was falling. He knew it would end. After all, he believed that everything had an end. He was sure to land on something some time. His eyes warily looked around the dark, deep, depths of his surroundings. The darkness seemed to be stretching for miles. He was still falling in the seeming, endless cliff. Or what he assumed was a cliff.
He knew he had to be somewhere.
Duo…He perked up, fully awake. Someone was calling him. He tried looking around for the voice. But couldn't pinpoint a direction as it echoed in the dark abyss. He hoped that voice called again.
The voice felt warm and welcoming. He wanted to hear it again.
Duo!
There it was again. Still, he couldn't pinpoint the location. He tried to call back, but he couldn't vocalize his own words. His own vocal chords weren't working. He had to find that voice. He wanted to hear it to find his way out.
Duo!
He had to wake up. It was coming from outside, just in his reach. He tried moving, finding that his limbs were movable.
Duo!
There! He thought. He outstretched his hand in one direction of where the voice was the strongest. He had to reach it. A bright light shined through. He shielded his eyes, his hand outstretched. He felt his hand being grasped. He gripped tightly so the person wouldn't let go. He felt himself being pulled through toward the light.
He fell out before he could see who it was.
-X-
"Look! He's waking up!"
He groaned at the excited voice. Personally, he thought it was too happy at the moment. Although he shouldn't complain, but at the minute, he didn't really care. He blinked repeatedly as white hit his eyes. No doubt this must be a hospital. He loathed hospitals. He blinked once more and his vision cleared. He saw golden eyes and hair in his vision. Watari.
"Saa, Duo you're awake!" the genki scientist stated as he stepped back to give him some room. "We thought you'd never get out of that."
Wait a sec… How did he get here?
Duo remembered that he was going to rescue Hisoka. They were in some dark corridor and blank. He couldn't recall anything else. It was just a huge blackout for him.
"How… how'd I get here?" Duo asked hoarsely. He felt like he ran marathon and back.
"Sei-chan found you both! And brought you both back here." The scientist answered for him. Duo groaned. It was too early for perkiness. He felt like he was missing another question. Where was Hisoka?
Duo quickly sat up but then groaned in pain as dizziness hit him. Bad idea, bad idea… He thought to himself. Watari slipped him something and he quickly drowned it, completely forgetting that anything offered by Watari, one should be wary of. It didn't bother him anyway. Or he didn't seem to notice. His mind was on the blond empath. He was about to ask, until he spotted Hisoka on the bed a few feet over.
"How long…" Duo asked softly.
"You've been out a week," Watari answered hoping Duo wouldn't want ask about Hisoka.
Watari had no answer to give Duo. Hisoka hadn't woken up since they were brought back. Duo had been drifting on and off, but Hisoka didn't so much as move. In fact, when they found the empath, he wasn't breathing. But they knew Hisoka wasn't completely dead yet. His body didn't disappear. Duo's eyes drifted back to the empath, asking the silent question.
"Same as you. He should be up by later or so." Watari lied exceptionally. He didn't know when Hisoka would actually wake up. Hisoka was a difficult case. It could range from two weeks to a month before the empath woke up. It had happened a century ago when he was assigned to L3 on a mission. Tsuzuki came back brining an unconscious Hisoka who was out for a month and two weeks.
He's lying. The thought drifted through Duo's mind.
"You're lying." He snarled viciously. Watari took a step back at the sneer. It was as if Duo was a completely different person. Hisoka had told him about it a few months ago at how Duo's power had a different personality. He had to trend carefully. Before he could say anything else, Duo was already at Hisoka's side grasping the cold hand. Duo's violet eyes glared accusingly at Watari. "He's ice cold! What have you been doing?" He yelled at Watari. He was irrational at the moment.
Luckily Tatsumi came at the right time.
"Duo! Calm yourself! It isn't his fault," he calmly scolded him. Duo scowled.
"You all probably knew this would happen, especially when we ran into him! Why haven't you done anything!" he yelled back.
"We tried! But the god, the one within you, refused him his release, directly."
Tatsumi was calm. He had to not anger the God of Death himself. He stared emotionlessly at Duo's shocked look. He was glad Duo backed down. It wasn't really Duo's fault per say, but rather what he had inside of him.
"All we have to do is wait. Your unstable emotions will do him no good. This is very common especially for him during difficult cases such as this." Tatsumi stated before exiting, dragging his lover along with him. They needed to talk out of Duo's hearing range.
"What do we do?" Watari asked after Tatsumi closed the door in his office. Tatsumi sighed.
"I guess all we can do is to wait. This has happened before; I hope he'll wake sooner rather than later. We should try to find out what happened before we try anything," Tatsumi told him. It would probably be hard milking information out of Duo. After all, it could've been the other that took control and solved everything.
When him and Watari arrived, there was nothing except for an unconscious Duo and Hisoka. It was like a reminiscent of the case in L3 a century ago. Except this time, it wasn't only Hisoka who was found unconscious. While they approached the compound, they felt a strange aura that was familiar. There was another, it was similar to Duo's so Tatsumi didn't pay much attention to it. The aura was the same one right before Tsuzuki found Hisoka on the L3 case. They need to review it and get Duo's report, that way they could figure out what's going on. There had to be more to this.
Tatsumi thought back to Tsuzuki's words after the L3 case:
"I saw this woman standing over him. She disappeared before I could catch her. I saw her again when I entered Hisoka's mind. She had his conscious bound. But when I arrived she let him go. As soon as he woke up, he didn't remember us or even himself."
He was lucky that he remembered it.
"Yutaka, get Duo. I need to speak with him immediately. I remembered something useful."
-X-
Duo sighed, mulling over his uselessness. He kept blaming himself for the incident and the state Hisoka was in. He didn't know, but Tatsumi's words seem to ring through. He sat next to Hisoka, grasping his icy hand. It was odd that Hisoka would be this cold. Although the other felt cold, it was never this bad. It was as if Hisoka wasn't even in there.
"Duo… Tatsumi wants to see you," Watari told him.
Duo quickly got up and glanced once more at Hisoka before walking past the scientist. His head was downcast, hiding himself. He didn't want to go back and talk to Tatsumi. He didn't buy that the other man was going to not scold him again.
Watari watched Duo exit the infirmary. Although Tatsumi wasn't that harsh, it should've been done a bit differently. He sighed before checking on Hisoka. He remembered that Duo mentioned that Hisoka was cold. Watari briefly touched Hisoka's skin and recoiled his hand in surprise. It was ice cold.
Could it be?-X-
It was cold. He didn't know where he was but it felt familiar. He stared mutely at the ground, which was decorated with light, pink flowers. His feet were about a foot away from the ground. Something held him up. They felt like bark scraping against his wrists. He lifted his head slowly, looking up to find himself being bound to a sakura. The sakura never brought good memories. The fact that they surround him during his afterlife wasn't helping either.
He was aware of images flashing in the dark background. He glanced up wearily as a voice interrupted his musings.
"You have nice memories, Hisoka. I wonder why I haven't seen them before," a woman said. She sounded familiar. He turned his head slowly towards the right where he had heard her. His green eyes found long, black hair. He didn't act surprised as her face turned towards him.
He remembered her.
The woman who invaded his mind a century ago until… what?
"Naze…" he spoke out softly as his voice would let him. He stared blankly at her as she stood up and went up to him. She lifted his head to look at her. She was gentle as if he would break should he be handled so roughly. Perhaps he could…
"I'm here again because… I demand that Shinigami kill me, all of me. I left a part of myself within your mind. But… I don't regret losing the first time." She smiled as if reminiscing of a good memory. "The host has potential. Duo, was what he was named? He probably had some useful power to contain Shinigami as he had. He held back at the last second. If he didn't I'd probably be dead too along with my other self. Then you too would be in trouble."
Hisoka wondered what she was talking about. Who was she talking about? Duo?
Who was Duo?
The name was familiar and brought some happiness, but it was discouraging at the same time. What was wrong with him? He felt as if he should know the name.
"Doushite?" he asked himself. Why? Why is he thinking about that name?
"Why would you be in trouble? Your mind would shake and break from the foreign mind." She answered, but was not the question he was really asking. She pointed to herself, but at least she clarified what she was talking about. "Me." She had finished. "We inhabit your body. I have no intention of taking over. That's why when Tsuzuki came, I had to leave; we'd cause to much destruction in here."
Tsuzuki? Another familiar name he knew he should know. But it wouldn't come to mind.
"Tsuzuki… dare ni…?"
The woman looked at him with shock written all over he features. Hisoka wondered why she would be shocked. Then her features shifted and expressed pity. Pity for him…
He hated that. For some reason, he hated pity.
"Did you wish to forget? Or is my presence taking over your memories?"
"Presence…? Memories…?"
"I'm interrupting aren't I? Even if I die you still wouldn't remember. Gomen ne, Hisoka-kun." She apologized sadly. Sorry? For what, he wondered. What was there for her to be sorry about? "Gomen ne, for being selfish. To protect your mind, you shut off the most important memories. That's why I placed you in the barrier in case the blasts would harm you. I guess the barrier wasn't enough to hold back the blast."
A barrier? To protect… Him?
"He should be coming for you soon. I'm sure the Kagetsukai and the scientist figured out where you are."
-X-
A way to enter minds? It was completely unreal. He thought only telepaths and empaths could do that. He was neither. Besides, the last person to accomplish that, who was neither, was already gone! But the question was… would he really do it? Could he do it?
Could he just invade Hisoka's mind like that?
Tatsumi stated it was the only way to get Hisoka back. He said that it was a similar case when Hisoka and his previous partner went to L3 a century ago. Tatsumi said that the presence that Duo had been fighting when they arrived, matched that of the one in L3. If all of this was true, then maybe the woman invaded Hisoka's mind without anyone knowing.
Duo bit his lip in thought. He knew he shouldn't do it, but it would save Hisoka before the empath completely loss his memory. That's what Tatsumi told him. If it was to save Hisoka, he'd do it. He took a deep breath before walking into the infirmary to see Tatsumi, Watari, and Karin. What was she doing here? He wondered.
"Have you decided?" Tatsumi asked. Duo nodded.
"I'll do it. Anything I should be warned about?" he asked. It doesn't hurt to be cautious.
"Yeah! If you don't bring Mommy back, I'm going to hurt you!" Karin stated. Duo sighed. Annoying little… "You better be nice to me because I'm going to take you there." Eh? He thought in confusion.
"Karin has telepathic abilities along with telekinetic powers. She is going to be your medium through jumping minds," Watari explained. "She's been trained enough for this."
Duo was sort of relieved. He got another that could read minds or at least draw conclusions of thoughts base on emotions alone. He swore the dead were out to torment him. He doubt Karin would do anything to jeopardize this. After all, he was the only one to go and save her 'mommy'. He sat at the side, on the bed, of Hisoka. Karin grasped his hand and held Hisoka's in the other. Without warning, he was pulled from consciousness and soon knocked out.
-X-
The sky was pitch black. But the surroundings had a glow to them, revealing the ground, which he stumbled upon. At least that was a plus. If worse comes to worse, he'd probably be calling out Hisoka's name. He walked brusquely along the path. It seemed like he was around a park. He took swift steps hoping he could find Hisoka in time.
Whatever this place was, it reminded him too much of Meifu since he was surrounded with sakura on most sides. Pink petals covered the grounds except the pathway. It was freakishly freaky. Duo continued his pace, walking quickly but cautious as to not disturb Hisoka's subconscious. He had been warned that heavy damage to the mind makes one tend to withdraw. Hisoka being an empath, which just tripled the chances.
Alas, he continued on. This seemed never ending. He hoped he could do this in a limited amount of time. All he had to do was convince Hisoka to come with him. But he couldn't help but think of the warning he was received. Tatsumi told him to beware and that there could be other forces lurking around. He swore he was going in circles. He knew he'd past this place before. Maybe going straight wasn't a good idea. He paused in his step, taking a good look around trying to find a weak point and hoping it wouldn't hurt Hisoka in the process. Before he could make a move, the scene flickered and changed. Now the dark sky was filled with moving pictures. Duo saw Hisoka in them and another man with brown hair and purple eyes? They must be memories.
"Welcome, Duo-kun." Duo turned around to face a sakura to notice that Hisoka was tied to it while the woman he faced off about a day ago was next to it. He thought his counterpart took care of her. "You're wondering why I'm here," she began to speak. "You see, a century ago, I placed a part of my consciousness in his mind. Before the shinigami had found him, I got acquainted. Of course, he wasn't aware. But now that my body has been defeated, you have to face me again." She drew out a familiar sword and pointed it in his direction. "Oh, you shouldn't get careless. One wrong move and you'll damage his psyche."
She began to glow. The tree binding Hisoka vanished. The empath was floating on his back, staring blankly at the surroundings. He wasn't aware of who was there. He was empty, devoid of any coherent thoughts.
"I'll protect his conscious so we won't destroy it. Now draw your weapon Shi no Kami," she commanded. Duo growled in annoyance. He was tired of this God of Death stuff. Subconsciously, a scythe formed in his hands. His fingers curled around the handle and pointed the blade towards the woman.
"Tell me your name. It's unfair that you only know mine," Duo said. She smiled.
"I have no name. But if you prefer, you may call me Nanashi. You are here to fulfill my wish."
With that, she charged head on. Duo had barely any time to block. But was lucky enough. She went on the offensive. But Duo did notice something; her strikes were not as strong as before. She was careful about breaking Hisoka's mind. It meant he had to be too. But he had no room to attack as she stayed on the offensive. He had to find an opening. If only he had Heero's skills. He examined her skills and saw many flaws but many counters. But he quickly found an opening. He managed to land a kick, stopping her attacks. In a flash, he knocked the blade out of her hands and stabbed her with her own sword. He made sure to get it right this time.
"Looks like you found me out this time," she managed to say before she went dead and began to disappear.
Duo quickly made his way over to Hisoka who was still out of it. Now how was he going to get out? They didn't tell him what else he was supposed to do. Perhaps he should try waking Hisoka up. He gently shook his unconscious form.
"Hisoka! Hisoka!" he kept calling out. He tried a few more times and finally got a response.
"Duo…?" Hisoka groggily said.
"Thank god you're alive." Duo said hugging the shinigami close to him.
"Is she gone?"
"Yeah, she's gone."
A white light shined and Duo shielded his and Hisoka's eyes. And then it was dark.
-X-
Duo slowly opened his eyes. He noticed that he was back at the infirmary. He felt his hand being gripped and noticed his hand was entwined with Hisoka's. At least the skin felt warmer now instead of the previous ice cold. He smiled at Hisoka's sleeping face. He hoped the empath woke up soon. He didn't want to deal with Karin at all if she found him awake and her 'mommy' still asleep.
Despite the fact he thought of her a brat he still liked her. Karin was different. But it was nice. It wasn't like the occasional argument he had with Wufei, or the disagreements between him and Heero at times.
Duo was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a faint groan come from the sleeping occupant. He watched as those eyelids opened revealing beautiful emeralds. Hisoka was really a sight to behold. His features resembled that of Quatre's but the personality was more like Heero's, cold and emotionless but kind and caring at times. He smiled as those eyes trained on him.
"Hey, sleepyhead." He casually said. He helped the empath sit up.
"How long?" Hisoka softly spoke.
"More than a week. You've slept enough. I'll go get Watari-san." Before he could leave, the grip on his hand tightened and pulled him back. He fell back on a seating position on the bed facing Hisoka. He was surprised as a hand touched his cheek and the fact that Hisoka gazed at him adoringly.
"Thank you Duo."
Duo was surprised as he felt soft lips over his. He was shocked but he wasn't complaining. He was glad Hisoka initiated this time. He return the kiss, grinning. His free hand reached behind the neck pulling them closer. He then gently eased the other lying back on the bed. He maneuvered himself that he was on top of him. He quickly took control.
This time of passion didn't last long as the door opened and Duo was kicked off the bed. He grumbled obscenities at the person who dare interrupt him. He saw Karin. He growled in annoyance since she didn't pay him any mind.
"Mommy! Save me from him!" Karin said pointing at the door at Terazuma who suddenly showed up. He looked peeved. But as soon as his eyes landed on Hisoka, who was wide-awake and looking at him in a certain way, he quickly high-tailed it away. "Thank you Mommy!"
"Hey, kid, you were interrupting something," Duo said glaring playfully at the little girl.
"I didn't see anything that I was interrupting," Karin bit back. She haughtily looked at him.
"C'mere little girl, the God of Death is going to teach you a lesson." See 'eeped' as Duo chased her out the door. As soon as she was gone, he closed the door and blockaded it with the nearby drawers, pretty convenient. He calmly walked back. "Well, now that there aren't going to be any interruptions." He made his way back to his original position before he was kicked off.
"Duo, I'm tired." Hisoka plainly said.
"You weren't tired a few moments ago. Besides… You can't deny me now. I'll just take it from you anyway." Duo whispered the last part before crushing his lips on his. Hisoka struggled for a bit but eventually gave in. He felt those emotions flowing through him that he couldn't help but respond.
Besides, he could yell at Duo later for making him indisposed later.
OWARI!
BLK Angel of Destruction: I finally finished this! I told you guys it would be a longer chapter! The whole epilogue, I was happy to get it done during the break. Anyways I hope you people enjoyed the story! Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them!
Review! No Flames! C+C accepted!