6. Information.

T: Somehow, I knew wed was an unrealistic goal, still the game that's been distracting me recently has now been completed so the gaps should become smaller again! Warnings and disclaimers remain, as always, the same.

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"He means that we've met before, Tsubaki-kun." Tsuzuki responds after a moments silence. "It's been a while, Hijiri-kun, but not quite as long as I had hoped."

An odd look flashes onto her partner's face for the briefest of instants and then, his face become again a neutral geniality, he says,

"I had truly wanted to live a full life, Tsuzuki, however it seems that my body had other ideas."

"Then you died because of an illness?"

"That is correct."

Relief clear now on the elder Shinigami's face he leans a little towards her partner and enquires,

"So what have you been up to since the last we saw you?"

The enquiry sparks a sudden influx of information that she listens to for but ten minuets before politely excusing herself from the table and making her way back to her office.

Hisoka catches her halfway and, without explanation, guides her out into the gardens that surround the bureaux. Once they are out in the open a thick silence falls upon them which is broken only when, after bending to sniff gently at a patch of morning glories, the other informs her,

"We met him on assignment about a year before we came into your life. It was not an easy case, for there was a powerful daemon at its heart, a stubborn creature that would not accept its defeat and continued to fight even after it had been defeated."

"I see." She responds and then, without quite understanding why, she says, "He seems to care a great deal about what Tsuzuki-san thinks of him."

"During the assignment Tsuzuki protected Hijiri with his typical hard headed determination and, little by little, Hijiri began to fall both for that trait and for Tsuzuki himself."

Clearly the him mentioned, from time to time, by her partner was Tsuzuki-san and in understanding this, in understanding how very much her partner cared for the elder Shinigami, she found that she could little understand how Hisoka could talk about the matter in so calm a manner. It is a confusion that Hisoka's empathy picks up with ease and, but a moment after the emotion has appeared in her heart, the other smiles a rare smile and says,

"I trust him implicitly, Tsubaki and thus there is no need for me to be concerned by Hijiri's affection."

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"I am glad that you were happy, Hijiri…that you were able to move on from that terrible incident." There is a genuine relief in the other's voice and, a hot sort of happiness coursing through his body, he responds,

"I would never have managed such a thing if not for you Tsuzuki, for you showed me what it was to be strong and in doing as such you saved me."

The other smiles an odd sort of smile in response and, pressing himself a little closer to the other, he says,

"You seem somehow different."

"Do I?"

"You seem sadder somehow, however, it's not a negative sadness, it's more that you've stopped pretending that everything's all right and accepted life for what it is, 'warts and all'."

"I suppose that's true, in its way." The other remarks as a small, genuine, smile blooms on his lips.

"I am glad that you managed to reach such a conclusion before…" He catches himself before he says anything further and, the heat of a blush radiating off his cheeks, he fixes his attention on the half-finished cup of coffee that his partner has left behind.

"'Before' what, Hijiri?"

"It's just a foolish notion that I had, a silly nothing that there's little point in discussing."

"Yet if it's something that's been bothering you then it's best that you let it out, silly or no." The soft comfort clear in the other's voice is something he recalls well and, lifting his head in order to meet the steady amethyst of the other's eyes, he says,

"I got to know you rather well during the time we spent together and I began to see that there was a darkness hiding behind your smiles, a darkness that I feared would consume you if you kept it caged away for much longer."

"So it was clear even then." The other's manner has changed dramatically as he has uttered those words, his body crumpling into an exaggerated slouch and a distance coming to his eyes that brings a cold sweat to his skin.

"Tsuzuki?"

"I'm alright, Hijiri, truly, it is just…"

Suddenly everything becomes painfully clear to him and, concern swamping his entire being, he enquires,

"Something happened, didn't it?"

"I am not as strong as you believe me, Hijiri; there is a weakness in my heart you see, a powerful self doubt that threatens always the stability of my mind. Nine months ago that man found a way to push at that emotion enough so that I lost control of my senses enough so that I believed there to be put one rout of escape left to me." He pauses a moment and then, eyes distant still, he says, "I decided that I needed to die, needed to release those that I cared for from the darkness that surrounded me, thus I called forth Touda, whose flames are hot enough even to burn away the immortal soul of a Shinigami and waited for death to claim me."

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T: I'm of the belief that the mental scars left on Tsuzuki by Kyoto will never quite heal, thus the slight EMO nature of this last chunk of dialogue! Update Tuesday (I promise!) Review?