The next couple of days were rather uneventful for Terazuma. It was business as usual, and he hadn't brought up Kuroshungei to Kurosaki or Tsuzuki. This day, however, would test Terazuma's control of his Shikigami. He woke up to a light rain, which only worsened as the morning went on. By the time he had finished getting ready for work, it was pouring. As much as he hated the rain, however, he felt a little hopeful. As long as he avoided getting drenched, he would be able to practice holding Kuroshungei away. The other positive note was that if he did transform, it wouldn't be something embarrassing like the last time.

Before walking out the door, Kannuki handed Terazuma his umbrella then grabbed her own. They never shared one, since being so close to each other was dangerous, especially while it was raining. There had been a few times when Kannuki had mentioned how romantic it was to share an umbrella in the rain, but she knew better than to actually try it with Terazuma. After taking his umbrella, Terazuma didn't light up a cigarette like he normally did when it was raining. He wanted to try going without giving Kuroshungei that comfort.

As they stepped outside, Terazuma shuddered. Though the rain wasn't hitting his body, Kuroshungei still didn't like it, and was further protesting due to the lack of smoke. He didn't like being denied, but the Shinigami was refusing to give in. After a couple of minutes, the Shikigami finally calmed a bit. Though he was still agitated, he wasn't threatening to take over Terazuma. This pleased Terazuma, and he decided to take it a little further. He angled his umbrella back slightly, letting a few drops of rain splash onto his face. He shuddered visibly as the cold water hit his skin, his Shikigami immediately exerting force, trying to get Terazuma back under the umbrella.

"Hajime? Are you alright?" Kannuki asked, having seen Terazuma tense.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just the rain, it's coming down heavy."

"Why don't you get a cigarette? I mean, I like seeing you not smoking, but doesn't it help?"

Terazuma shrugged. "It does help a little, but I'm trying to smoke a bit less. The things aren't cheap."

Kannuki smiled. "Hajime, that's wonderful! I'm so happy you are trying!"

Gray clouds may have been covering the sky, but Terazuma could swear it was a bright, shiny day with how Kannuki had so quickly pepped up. He stuck his arm out into the rain for a moment before retreating back under the umbrella, just to spite Kuroshungei. The Shikigami was not at all happy, but Terazuma managed to retain his control. He did know when he had reached his limit, however, and right now, this was it. Any more teasing, and he would certainly transform. For the remainder of the walk, Terazuma stayed under his umbrella, satisfied with having kept his control.

Only a few minutes after arriving at work, Terazuma and Kannuki were joined by Tsuzuki and Kurosaki.

"Kurosaki! Tsuzuki! Good morning!" Kannuki greeted the pair with a smile.

"Good morning, Wakaba!" Tsuzuki said in a voice even cheerier than his usual.

"Good morning." Hisoka said to Kannuki before turning to Terazuma. "You seem happy today, considering the weather."

Terazuma shrugged. "Guess you could say that." Luckily for him, he didn't have to explain, as Kurosaki could get the gist of why he was in a good mood via empathy. "Surprising to see you on time the third day in a row, Tsuzuki. I take it Kurosaki is responsible for that?"

Tsuzuki scowled, but Kurosaki ignored it and spoke anyway, "It wasn't easy. I had to drag him out of bed yesterday. Literally."

Kannuki giggled. "Well, you are both here on time, and that's all that matters! How is everything going with your house, Kurosaki? Is it being worked on?"

"Well, you know how Tatsumi is. Since the cost of repairs is coming out of the budget until Tsuzuki and Terazuma have fully paid it back, he's searching for the cheapest way possible without downgrading my house. Not to mention the furniture and appliances inside that need to be replaced."

Terazuma crossed his arms. "In other words, nothing has been done yet."

"Exactly."

"Well, just remember, we'll help out with whatever you need!" Kannuki said with a friendly smile. "Oh, we should probably get to work! See you later, Kurosaki, Tsuzuki! Let's go, Hajime!"

With that, Kannuki began skipping away. As Tsuzuki and Kurosaki began to follow suit, Terazuma made a move to grab Kurosaki's arm, stopping himself when he remembered who it was he was about to touch, and just called to him soft enough so that Tsuzuki, who was ahead, wouldn't hear.

"Hey, Kurosaki. Do you think you and Tsuzuki could meet me in the break room around twelve-thirty today?"

Kurosaki stopped when Terazuma called his name and turned around. "I suppose so. Are you going to ask Tsuzuki about Kuroshungei?"

Terazuma glanced to one side. "Well, I wanna see if he has any useful information. I've been working a little on it. I tested Kuroshungei out in the rain today, but that won't be enough."

"Alright. I'll bring Tsuzuki to the break room this afternoon then. I'm sure he'll be all too willing to take a break."

If he was able to touch Kurosaki, Terazuma would have given him a pat on the shoulder. "Thanks. See you later."

Kurosaki watched as Terazuma walked off. He was actually surprised Terazuma had requested to see Tsuzuki later. For him to put aside their rivalry and ask for help with a touchy subject like that showed that he cared for Kannuki a lot more than he showed. Kurosaki knew he cared about her, but he had expected Terazuma to remain stubborn. Doing this for Kannuki seemed extremely important to him. The only problem now was preventing Terazuma and Tsuzuki from getting into an argument. Kurosaki could only hope they could restrain themselves.

--------------------------

As the clock hit half-past noon, Kurosaki put his work aside and looked over at Tsuzuki.

"Hey, Tsuzuki, want to take a lunch break?"

Tsuzuki immediately looked up from his papers. "Sure!"

"You've been in an unusually happy mood all throughout work. Most of the time you are looking back at the clock every five minutes, bored." Kurosaki noted as he and Tsuzuki got up from their desks and headed over to the break room.

"Really? Well, I guess I'm happy you're staying at my house for a bit while yours gets fixed. I'm used to living alone, so it's nice having somebody else there. Don't you agree?"

Kurosaki shrugged. He hadn't really thought about it much, but so far, living with Tsuzuki hadn't been that bad at all. Tsuzuki didn't bother him too much, and left him alone when he wanted some quiet time. They kept the chores split evenly between them (though Kurosaki always did the cooking, out of fear of eating anything Tsuzuki made, Tsuzuki washed the dishes in return), and they hadn't had any problems yet. If it kept Tsuzuki in good spirits, Kurosaki was more than willing to stay. Ever since the incident in Kyoto, he feared Tsuzuki falling back into depression, and if he could do anything to prevent that from happening, he would. At least by living with him, he could keep a close eye on him.

When they got to the break room, Terazuma was already there, sitting on one of the sofas and smoking a cigarette. He glanced up when the pair walked into the room. Kurosaki and Terazuma exchanged glances, Terazuma hesitating to speak with Tsuzuki, and Kurosaki waiting for Terazuma to say something. Nobody said anything until Tsuzuki and Kurosaki had gotten food and sat down. Finally, Terazuma spoke.

"Hey, Tsuzuki...I, uh...I have a...favor...to ask of you..."

Tsuzuki put his sandwich down, looking at Terazuma with skepticism. "You want to ask me for a favor?"

Terazuma kept his gaze on his hands in his lap. "Yeah...you know how it is with Kuroshungei and all? Well, when I saw you dancing with Kannuki at the Count's ball the other day...I realized what I couldn't do for her. That day when I was visiting Kurosaki, I was asking him for help. I want to be able to suppress Kuroshungei, if just for a little while. I want it to be a surprise though, just in case I can't do it. I don't want to get Kannuki's hopes up then fail her."

Kurosaki looked over at Tsuzuki, "I told him to ask you, because you know a lot about Shikigami and I don't know anything about them. I figured you could help him a lot more than I could."

"Oh. Well then, if that's the case, you came to the right person." Tsuzuki said with a smug smile, clearly enjoying the fact Terazuma was asking for his help. "You don't want to learn to overpower him, you want to learn to work together with him."

Terazuma slammed his hand down on the table. "Dammit, this is why I didn't want to come to you for help! I knew you were going to say that!"

Tsuzuki gaze hardened. "Well, you did ask, and that's my answer. It's because you don't try to understand each other that you are constantly having to fight each other. Having a Shikigami is the same as having a partnership. It doesn't work out if you don't care about each other. You have to trust your partner and work with him, not against him. Same with a Shikigami."

"No, you don't get it." Terazuma said, shaking his head, "I don't want his power. I don't want to work with him. Just because it's easy for you to befriend every damn Shikigami you come across doesn't mean I can just become Kuroshungei's friend!"

"Then what is it, exactly, you want me to do? You asked me for help, but won't take my advice. Why bother if you aren't going to listen?" Tsuzuki growled, his tone growing more unfriendly as the conversation went on.

Terazuma sighed in aggravation. "I don't know. Kurosaki thought you could help, so I asked. I thought by sticking around him for a bit, I could learn to hold Kuroshungei away for a short period of time. It worked a little in the rain this morning. I just..." he sighed again, this time in defeat, "Never mind, forget it. I'll figure it out on my own." He was about to walk away, but Tsuzuki spoke up.

"You really want to do this for Wakaba, don't you?"

Terazuma stopped and turned to face Tsuzuki. "Why else would I ask you of all people for help?"

"Alright, how about this: whenever you get a chance, stop by my house and we'll see what we can do."

Terazuma nodded and continued on his way back to his desk. Kurosaki raised an eyebrow at Tsuzuki.

"I hope you know what you are doing by inviting him over. If your house gets destroyed next, I'm not helping you and I'll go live with Tatsumi."

"Aw, come on, Hisoka! It's not like something gets destroyed every time Terazuma and I are in the same room!"

"Right. That's why you two destroyed the library. Twice. Then managed to blow half of my house to smithereens for no reason."

Tsuzuki took a big bite out of his sandwich before speaking again. "Don't worry, it'll be fine! It's not like we'll do anything inside that could make him transform."

"Which is exactly why I went outside with Terazuma, yet you two still managed to wreck my house."

Just as Tsuzuki opened his mouth to protest, Kurosaki stuffed the remainder of Tsuzuki's sandwich into the elder Shinigami's mouth, cutting off whatever words were about to come from it.

"Shut up and finish your lunch so we can get back to work."

-----------------------

"Hey, Kannuki, I'm going to head over to Tsuzuki's for a bit. I told them I'd help rearrange some furniture to make some space for Kurosaki. He could use some kind of bed and all, you know."

Kannuki looked up from the plate she was currently washing and over at Terazuma. "Oh, that's nice of you, Hajime! Do you want me to go along and help out?"

Terazuma shook his head. "Nope, I got it. Don't worry, I'm not going to argue with Tsuzuki. I'll walk away if it gets bad, okay? I promise."

"Okay. Don't be out too late!"

I'll be back within a couple of hours." Terazuma replied, grabbing a jacket and heading out the door. Luckily, it had stopped raining. It had poured all afternoon, which really tested Terazuma's patience. He had stayed in a fairly good mood, however, compared to how he normally was when it rained that hard, so he figured he was making some slight progress with his training.

When he arrived at the house, Kurosaki was the one who answered the door. Tsuzuki was finishing up washing the dishes as Terazuma walked in.

"You actually came." Tsuzuki said, looking over at Terazuma in surprise.

"Did you think I wasn't serious about this?"

"Well, still, I never expected to see you at my house. Does Wakaba know?"

"I told her that I was coming over to help rearrange furniture to make more room for Kurosaki. So, what's the deal? Can you actually help me, or are you just going to rant about companionship?"

Tsuzuki sighed, "Hisoka and I have been talking about it. I still think trying to force Kuroshungei to submit to you isn't the right way to do it, but Hisoka thinks we could give it a try."

Kurosaki nodded. "Given yours and Kuroshungei's personalities, I don't think trying to work together will work. At least not right away. I figured if you could show Kuroshungei that he's going to have to listen to you, eventually he's going to do only what he's supposed to, and then you can worry about working together better." Granted, he didn't know much about Shikigami, but it sounded like a good idea to him. After all, he and Tsuzuki hadn't worked well together at first. Kurosaki had tried going against Tsuzuki and investigating his own death until Tsuzuki caught him. They had been working together a lot better since then for the most part. If having a Shikigami was like having a partner, then something similar should work for Terazuma and Kuroshungei, right?

"At least somebody understands where I'm coming from." Terazuma said, glad he wasn't going to have to deal with Tsuzuki trying to force his ways of taming Shikigami onto him. He couldn't be friends with Kuroshungei like that. He knew he couldn't. If he tried, the Shikigami would just try to take over again. Terazuma had to show him who was boss, and that was that.

"Still," Tsuzuki cut in, wiping his hands on the hand towel and fully turning to face Terazuma, "I think it would help if you tried to understand each other."

"We understand each other perfectly well. I don't want him, he doesn't want me. Simple as that." Terazuma growled.

Tsuzuki fought to keep from raising his voice at Terazuma. "I know that, but did you ever stop to think about why Kurshungei doesn't want to be your Shikigami?"

Terazuma went silent. Truth be told, he didn't really care about why Kuroshungei didn't want to be his Shikigami, but he knew Tsuzuki wasn't going to take that for an answer.

Tsuzuki took Terazuma's silence as a no. "See? That's why I say you can't properly control a Shikigami if you don't understand it. Does Kuroshungei dislike humans? Does he just not like how you treat him? Maybe he actually does want to work with you, but you won't let him."

"But it's only when he touches a girl." Hisoka pointed out, leaving out the fact that he, too, could transform Terazuma, "Or in the rain, right?"

"Well, the rain is explainable by the fact Kuroshungei is a fire Shiki. The other part is what we have to figure out, and that's something only Terazuma can do. Terazuma, you not wanting a Shikigami in the first place might only be part of the problem. If you can figure out why he tries to take over specifically when you touch a female, you can then figure out what to do to prevent it."

Terazuma remained quiet. He never really bothered to think about why it was only when he touched a female (or, apparently, anybody he tried to convince himself was a female) that Kuroshungei took over. It wasn't until Tsuzuki mentioned it that he realized he didn't want to think about it. Why was that? Was he...scared?

Kurosaki picked up on Terazuma's sudden and unusual change of mood. "Terazuma?"

Terazuma quickly shook the thoughts out of his head. He didn't want Kurosaki picking anything up from his thoughts. "Nothing, never mind. Hey, Tsuzuki, would you mind if I came back tomorrow or something? I don't want to be gone too long and it looks like it might start raining again soon."

"I suppose so..." Tsuzuki answered, slightly confused as to why Terazuma suddenly seemed to want to leave, but come back another day.

"Alright, I'll stop by later then. See ya." With that, Terazuma walked out the door.

"What was that all about?" Tsuzuki asked.

Kurosaki shrugged. "I'm not sure. His mood suddenly shifted, but he hid it as soon as he realized. He must have thought of something, but I'm not going to pry into something he obviously doesn't want me to know."

"Oh. Well, I hope he can figure it out. Wakaba is really special to him."

"I know."

It was quiet for a moment before Tsuzuki spoke again, "Hey, speaking of furniture, want to go pick up a cot or something you can sleep on? I feel bad sending you to the couch every night...Are you sure you don't want to sleep in my bed? I can take the couch."

Kurosaki sighed. "Tsuzuki, we went over this before. I'm smaller than you, so it makes more sense for me to sleep on the couch, and there is no point in spending money on a cot. You're never going to use it again when I get my house back anyway."

Tsuzuki frowned. "Ah, I guess you're right..." To be honest, he didn't really want Kurosaki to go home. He liked having somebody else around. Kurosaki always did prefer to be alone though, and Tsuzuki figured Kurosaki didn't want to live with him longer than was necessary. "Well, if you ever change your mind, just let me know." He gave a grin.

"Alright."

----------------

It wasn't really something Terazuma ever wanted to think about again. He tried to avoid any memories of that event when he was alive the best he could, and, for the most part, he was successful. It had been a long time since he'd been reminded of it, but the conversation with Tsuzuki had brought it all back.

He laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Kannuki had already gone to bed and was probably already asleep, leaving him to ponder over the reason he transformed when he touched females. Thinking about it now, he had an idea of why it happened. It seemed a little odd, since he was convinced Kuroshungei hated him, but it did kind of make sense.

When he was alive, Terazuma had been a detective. Granted, he wasn't exactly the best one, but he still took on various cases. At one point in his life, he had successfully busted a man who had been charged with the rape and murder of three women. The man was convicted and given a death sentence. What Terazuma hadn't known was that the man had had a younger brother who swore revenge after his sibling had been killed. Both men were extremely sly, and the younger brother knew just how to get his revenge.

About a week after the older brother died, the younger kidnapped a young woman Terazuma was rather fond of. The two had been friends for a while, and the woman had hinted at liking Terazuma as more than just a friend. The man called Terazuma, demanding him to go to an abandoned building if he wanted to see the girl again, and that if he brought any backup or anyone with him, she'd die.

Of course, Terazuma agreed. Without informing anybody, he went to the appointed area at the appointed time. When he arrived, the man was holding the woman at gunpoint. The two men had exchanged a few words, though, what they were, Terazuma couldn't exactly remember. All he could accurately recall was the horrified look on his friend's face, the tears streaming down her cheeks as she cried silently, both for Terazuma and herself. He wasn't sure what had happened next, either. Movements were made, Terazuma had every intent on saving his friend, gunshots rang out, and the woman fell to the ground, dead, a hole in her head. The man had been shot in the shoulder, and when Terazuma saw that his friend had been killed, he proceeded to shoot the man in the chest several times, killing him.

The incident had left Terazuma heavily wounded. He called an ambulance, but died before he made it to the hospital. He remembered the shame, the sorrow, the guilt for his friend's death. He remembered cursing himself over and over, wishing he hadn't made such a mistake. Surely a good detective wouldn't have left ways for the man to track him down. His friend was dead, and it was all his fault. He knew he was dying too, but at that moment, he didn't care. He only wished it could have been only him instead of his friend. She shouldn't have had to die for his mistakes.

Terazuma slammed his fist into his pillow at the memory. Even after so long, it still bothered him. Ever since becoming a Shinigami, he had tried to make it a point not to form relationships with women. It wasn't consciously, either. It wasn't until he thought about it that he realized that was why he distanced himself from Kannuki. Yet, at the same time, he could never keep her away. She was too special to him. Which brought him back to the point of Kuroshungei, the reason he was thinking about all of this at all.

Parasitic Shikigami were the type to come into action without being summoned when their master was in danger. Was it possible that Kuroshungei was actually protecting Terazuma? He didn't think it was likely, since he was convinced they hated each other. Still, it was a possibility. But how could he stop it from happening? If he told Tsuzuki what he thought it was, would Tsuzuki know? Not that Terazuma wanted to reveal this information to Tsuzuki. As far as he was concerned, it was none of that slacker's business. It was nobody's business but his own. The only problem was, he couldn't learn to control Kuroshungei without help. Kurosaki was an empath, maybe he would have good advice.

Terazuma sighed. Well, Kurosaki did know how to keep secrets. Perhaps Terazuma would talk to him. He didn't need to reveal everything. He would make up an excuse again tomorrow to visit Kurosaki and Tsuzuki, and hopefully this time, he'd get somewhere.

Author's Note: I'm kind of going out on a limb here with Terazuma's backstory. It just came to me as I was writing this chapter. Since we never get much of a glimpse into Terazuma's past, other than the fact he was a detective, I had to make one myself, and it all just pieced together as I wrote it. I hope you all enjoyed it.