Heyyaaa ok ladies and gents, this is da next chapter. Thank you for your patience and reviews (chazmy, Sueona).

My former self would have said: I like Muraki xTsuzuki pairing, but I think some Tatsumi + Tsuzuki drama would suit nicely.

My current self would say: meh- however it rolls, really.

Turbo from the dead

Watari`s office

-"What do you mean there is no antidote?" Tsuzuki squeaked, his entire body had undergone dramatic changes overnight. It both upset and agitated him as he was now faced with a duality of what his body represented and how he identified himself. Hate was a strong word to apply to oneself but currently he hated his girlie voice, his fine-boned body and all curves that made him what he was now.

-"The serum wasn't tested, I wasn't even sure it would work." Watari stated apologetically. "Currently there is not much that can be done, I`m afraid. You will just have to wait until the serum is metabolized by your body, hopefully. Otherwise we can wait for it to break down naturally but I am not sure about the half life of this thing." He did take Tsuzuki`s blood samples and promised to run more thorough tests on them. "For now try not to think about it too much and chalk it up to experience."

Tsuzuki shot him a doubtful glance. "Dunno how that would work. Now I feel so vulnerable and permanently exposed." He sighed. "Like peaches in a backpack."

Watari was already used to Tsuzuki`s unusual expressions which he assumed had arizen for personal experiences.-"Speaking of peaches.." Watari quipped in. "Have you considered a support system for your new bodyparts?" He gestured towards his own chest whilst looking at Tsuzuki.

The brunette rolled his eyes -"I know what a bra is and I also realize I need one but the idea of entering the place that sells them completely terrifies me. It is like an unknown territory where each turn could be a trap."

-"How about you go with Wakaba or the new girl? I bet that would be an icebreaker." Watari took off his glasses to polish them. They always ended up having finger smears on them despite his best efforts

-"Yeah or it might as well send her running for the hills just form the thought of her future colleagues."

-"You don`t look half bad for a chick." Watari winked at him.

-"I meant you not me." Tsuzuki huffed.

-"You know, I for one see an opportunity in your current position." Watari now put his cleaned glasses on and looked at Tsuzuki in a manner that said they had a great mission to carry out. "In fact something you totally must do. And something that only you can pull off." Their eyes locked and air grew electric between them.

-"Go touch Terazuma?!" Tsuzuki blurted out smiling wickedly.

-"Yes!" Watari almost squealed raising arms high, waving imaginary fans in his hands. "Do it for science!"

On this cheerful note Tsuzuki left Watari`s lab to join Hisoka at his desk. "Morning Tsuzuki." Tatsumi dropped over his shoulder as he passed his colleague in the corridor. Then he stopped and whipped about. Sensing Tatsumi`s stare directed at him Tsuzuki stopped too and turned around smiling and waving awkwardly. The secretary gave him a quick once-over and the papers dropped from his folder. Tsuzuki noticed a vein pulsing in Tatsumi`s temple and tried to assess just how fast Tatsumi`s thought processes were because in an instant he cleared his throat, adjusted his glasses, probably steadying himself as he did and spoke unnaturally cheerfully.

-"Shall I have a word with Mr. Watari? "

-"Ah, no need I already spoke to him this morning."

-"Oh, Is it permanent?"

-"I have no idea." Tsuzuki sighed and bent down to help Tatsumi pick up the stray sheets of paper. "But I have a favor to ask of you." He looked the secretary seriously in the eye. Tatsumi wanted to say something but he could not seem to find the right words so he gestured for Tsuzuki to continue what he had initiated.

-"Could I take a day off for personal reasons? You see I cannot go around like this." He gestured at his apparent bosom that was putting a considerable strain on the buttons of his shirt.

-"Yes, em, sure, I mean. Only half a day Mr. Tsuzuki." It took Tatsumi a moment to gather his thoughts but he managed clicking back into the business mode.

-"A paid half a day?" Tsuzuki pressed.

-"Alright, I will note it down." The secretary wrestled with his agenda for a moment being uncharacteristically disheveled.

Terazuma had overheard their conversation and peeked behind the corner. He gave Tsuzuki a look and an appreciative whistle. "I see you are already taking advanatage of your new situation." The brunette gave him a sharp look but Tatsumi beat him to it."Now Treazuma I think this is hardly appropri..." Tsuzuki cut him off.

-"You jealous?" Trusuki threw back venomously. "Thanks to you now I have to take time off to look decent."

-"Looking decent never seemed to bother you before." Terazuma shot back nonplussed. "Furthermore it is majorly thanks to Watari, so keep your little outbreaks off my side of the office."

-"You know, for a guy who goes on a rampage from merely touching a woman you sure talk big." Tsuzuki gave him a dirty look. That was a soft spot on Terazuma that everyone took care not to touch too much unless they wanted to get in trouble.

-"Don`t think that you looking like a woman now will stop me from punching you." He growled now fully opposing Truzuki, pushing one of his shirtsleeves up his forearm.

Tsuzuki puffed his chest out to greater effect."Try it, I dare you." Though they spoke big it never went as far as physical persuation. Terazuma would brandish his fists and Tsuzuki would tease him in return but they had never been found beating eachother to pulp except for a couple of times at the very beginning of their acquaintanceship.

-"Please stop, both of you." Tatsumi finally got through to them. "If I did not know better I would think that you were a dysfunctional couple. Also, Mr. Terazuma could you please clue me in as to your ownership of office space?" He paused for a moment so his words reached the both men.

-"I apologize for overstepping my boundaries with regards of private space ownership" Terazuma backed off clearly he was not going to apologize to Tsuzuki but that was ok, the squabble had passed, no more ministry property was destroyed that day and that made Tatsumi happy.

After this little altercation Tsuzuki finally joined Hisoka in their office corner. The young man still reacted sharpish when Tsuzuki entered his line of sight but there was none of the hostility of their first encounter.

-"How did it go?" Hisoka was purposefully avoiding Tsuzuki`s eyes as he was feeling uncomfortable in his now effeminate colleague`s presence. The way he was starting to feel about his partner`s appearance definitely was out of place in the work environment.

-"No decisive news, so we will just have to wait. What`s on the menu today?"

A new case had come up and they were to work in tandem with one of their new colleagues whom everyone with exception of Tsuzuki and Watari had met. Now was their chance though at the first moment Wakaba thought Tsuzuki was another newcomer. The news about Tsuzuki`s accident apparently had not reached her yet.

Chief Konoe introduced a woman almost same age as Tatsumi as Minami Shizuka. Her hair was black and cropped just below her earlobes, eyes set deeply, giving her an appearance of a flapper girl from the twenties era. She smiled and bowed to her future colleagues. She seemed a bit melancholic but no one was very excited about finding out they were dead so she got a pass from Watari who winked at her encouragingly.

After the brief introductions they proceeded with the case at hand. It was everything but new since there were very few breakthroughs it sort of went on and off for years only to abruptly finish with a dead end. It was one of those meetings when they accessed how likely it was that the similar crime had any relation with the long case they were on. This time around they were to assume a more hands-on approach.

The signature partly matched that of Muraki`s handiwork however the case had been out for longer than the doctor had been alive so either he was a copycat or there was something else on the move.

- " Mr. Tsuzuki, Mr. Hisoka, you will be taking Miss Minami on this mission with you. Please prepare for your sortie tomorrow. I trust you will work out the dynamics of your group." The meeting was dismissed but chief Konoe lingered with the trio. "Now I know it is all fresh for you but we believe this case to be of lower intensity, if we can go by history. So it would be a great fieldwork practice for Ms. Minami."

-"Hey, what is your ability?" Tsuzuki quipped in whilst staring at the newcomer. Hisoka groaned and crossed his arms across his chest. Tsuzuki was being impolite.

-"I, uh.." Minami stuttered unsure of what to say.

Watari bounced by their side. "Give her some space, Tsuzuki, not everyone comes pre-equipped like someone I know." He glanced at Hisoka. Tsuzuki put hands on his hips to reproach Watari but a button popped in his shirt and hit the blonde across the face. "Speaking of space, looks like your new assets need it too." Watari remarked only to be hit square on the head by a folder Tatsumi usually carried around.

-"Please excuse them Miss Minami, I will brief you on our internal regulations. I assure you that you will have more time to bond with your teammates over the course of the investigation." The poor woman looked a bit overwhelmed but followed Tatsumi to his office.

-" So what do you think?" Watari asked once Tatsumi and Minami were out of earshot.

Hisoka remained silent for a moment so Tsuzuki took it upon himself to question the youth. "Yeah, Hisoka, what did you think?" The empath "hmphed". That usually meant he did not want to share his thoughts but he did manage giving the two others a token of his opinion to keep them from badgering him. "Her essence does not seem to have fully established itself yet. She is still too faint to read."

- "But you still felt something, right?" Watari pressed.

- "It is not polite to just sense people out like that." Hisoka huffed. "Give her time and get offa me." He established to his benefit.

They heard Wakaba and Saya behind them. The latter and Hisoka exchanged uneasy glances. It seems they were not yet ready to go official with their relationship and Tsuzuki just smiled warmly at the both girls. "Say, Tsuzuki, what happened to you?" They giggled.

- "You know, afterlife gets boring without a change." He smiled at them amicably. "You would not have any clothes I could borrow from you."

By the end of the day Tsuzuki was frustrated, he had found out that none of Wakaba`s or Saya`s dresses would fit him on account of him being taller. Yuma did not want to share hers and he was running our of affordable options to dress himself. He would have to go and buy stuff.

Tatsumi spotted him sitting on the side of an armchair, unfinished cup of coffee in hand. Upon his greeting Tsuzuki almost spilled his coffee. -"Sorry to have disturbed you but what are you still doing here?"

Tsuzuki rubbed his forehead and sighed. "I tried negotiating with the girls but so far I cannot even borrow clothes for they would not fit."

-"Look, your half day off has already started so you should be coming up with solutions for this because you surely will not get another one any time soon." Upon seeing the adverse effect his speech had on Tsuzuki, Tatsumi sat down near him and tried to behave more like a friend rather than a superior. "Sorry, I did not mean to say it that way. What I meant to say was that you should not be wasting your time here. How about you talk with Miss Minami?"

-"I`m not sure she would be comfortable with me borrowing her clothes."

Tatsumi shrugged. "You will be working with her, so I cannot imagine a better icebreaker. Speak of the devil." Minami was approaching them from opposite part of the hallway, probably heading towards restrooms. "Miss Minami, could we have some of your time please?"

That afternoon Tsuzuki and Minami left the office together, Hisoka had excused himself under auspices of catching up with his sword practice.

-"Soo.." Tsuzuki tried breaking the silence "What is the plan?"

-"We will go to a thrift store." Minami offered leading the way.

-"Uh, but you do not know who owned those clothes before."

-"There is nothing a bucket of bleach cannot fix." She smiled at him. Something told Tsuzuki that Minami and Tatsumi would get along.

So, Dear Readers, this is where the logical end of this chapter appears.

Also, this is a fun retrospective work