Recommended listening: Nishra's Dance by Enam

My Angel

Chapter 16

It was hard, truly it was.

Hisoka's feet felt heavy as he forced his body to move—pushing his muscles beyond what they wanted to do—and strode down the dirt road, his feet clad once more in his sandals of gold with silver linings, carved wood and hand-crafted only for him. It had just been moments ago that the noise he had been dreading—the trumpet—was played and warned the society in heaven that the trial case was re-convening, ordering everyone back into the courtroom without time to hesitate. Hisoka knew that Diego was secretly protecting him from behind other angels' backs, but that didn't make Hisoka any less afraid, despite how he didn't admit to such feelings.

It felt cold as he entered the courtroom for the second time that day, ignoring the stares and hearing his own feet hitting the stone booming in his ears. It was all he heard. One step, second step. He heard it over the whispers, the exclamations, the motions from other angels. What reassured him that he was still in his angelic body was his empathy flaring slightly with all the negative emotions around. Disgust, confusion, pity, anger, sadness, hatred—

He stopped, snapping his head up. He had stopped just before he had reached his seat. Hatred? That couldn't be right. No true angel of heaven could feel true hatred. It wasn't possible. Hisoka's eyes were drawn to the table across from his where Velken was seated, flipping through some papers. They looked like his old medical records obtained from earth. Was he even allowed to look at those? Probably...

Those icy eyes glanced up from the papers and the empath froze. The steel eyes drove a stake in his chest and twisted a full 360 degrees, making Hisoka suddenly feel as if he were going to be violently sick right then and there. He had never, in his afterlife, seen such coldness reflecting out at him, from an angel, no less. And since he was in the courtroom, Hisoka couldn't reach out with his empathy to read the angels thoughts. That was forbidden and with how much trouble he was in, he couldn't afford anything else screwing up. Could it be that…?

He shook his head. No, God's kingdom would never allow such a being and a disguise was especially hard to pull off; it was impossible. It couldn't happen. It just… couldn't.

"Would all please rise once more for Judge Kira," said the bailiff, motioning with his hands.

Everyone who had been sitting now stood, some bowing their heads as Kira e-reentered the room, looking just a tad tired. In a flash, she fixed her slightly messy hair and let out a sigh, seating herself at her place and she banged her gavel once. Everyone now sat, some still whispering. Hearing them, Kira tilted her head and motioned with her hand for them to quiet with an additional bang with her gavel. Silence engulfed the room.

Hisoka leaned back in his chair as Diego seated himself next to him. He felt nervous, just like before, but even more so because the fact that if he glanced through his bangs, just ever so slightly, he would see the satisfied smirk on Velken's face, unrelenting and confident, but there was something. What was it...?

"Will the defendant please rise and approach the bench." It was an order, not a request.

Hisoka snapped out of his thoughts and rose as he was told, his wings folding tightly against the curve of his back, reflecting his emotions with a dull purple color, dull as a pastel. Silently, the empath walked up to the bench, facing Kira and bowed. The woman folded her hands. "We will be continuing your case at this time, Kurosaki. However, we must attain permission from you to use your medical records and past client case files for both sides, as you are the only one here who can vouch for yourself. Consider it wisely."

Hisoka blinked at her, and then suddenly his mouth dropped open in shock. No. No way were they using his client records. All it had were the details of his missions; there was nothing there. What use could they be? And his medical records! How were those helpful? It was probably just another set-up by Velken to deal another emotional blow to his psyche, something he seriously didn't need at the moment. Hisoka glanced up and shut his mouth, hiding the sudden fear behind his eyes and he glanced back at Diego before switching over to Velken. The angel's face was now straight, but there was a wicked twinkle behind those arctic blue eyes. No. His records could not be used in those hands. Probably not even in Diego's hands.

"May I ask what use they would be to my case?" Hisoka asked, deciding to work around the problem and solve it by stabbing it from behind without looking like a murderer.

Kira turned to look at Velken, who rose up and took the stack of files into his hands. One of the folders, Hisoka noted, was purple, which was indicating his current case with Tsuzuki. The case folders were ones he had chosen based on eye color. There were two green ones, a gold one, a blue one, and then the purple one. How were his cases with Hijiri, Hisae, Watari, and Misaki relevant to his one with Tsuzuki? Unless... 'Oh, no!'

Velken spoke. "These case records in my hand are of people who lived within the same area that were given to Kurosaki Hisoka as clients during the first twenty years of his work as a guardian." Velken opened the files one by one. "Minase Hijiri, Tóyjó Hisae, Watari Yutaka, and Himura Masaki are all of Kurosaki's past clients that have had similar difficulties to Asato Tsuzuki, considering the special powers they each possess, and since they live near the man, we can use past files to fill in the blanks Kurosaki has left us with in regards to his act of sodomy."

Diego stood up, eyes narrowed, but said nothing. His amethyst eyes once so warm were now like balls of ice, glaring daggers at Velken for his use of illogical fallacy. Hisoka found his fists clenched together, shaking with an intensity he hadn't known for a long time. Gritting his teeth, he grounded out another question. "And my medical records?"

Velken now smirked, sending a shiver down Hisoka's spine. "Considering your past, it may also help us understand if you've had any psychological trauma in your life that could've led you away from God's path and down your sinful one."

Diego interjected immediately. "I object to the logic surrounding those statements, Your Honor."

Velken turned to Diego. "It is not your decision to make, Diego."

Diego narrowed his eyes further. "I am his defense attorney and I have the right to do so."

"I believe the question was directed at Kurosaki and not at you."

Kira immediately banged her gavel. "Shut up, the both of you." She turned her gaze and blinked at the empath before her. "Kurosaki?"

Hisoka's wings were slowly turning from the pastel purple to a deep, raging red. On the boy, they looked almost terrifying and he couldn't find a way to calm down. Diego made a move to walk over, but then suddenly, Hisoka unclenched his fist and put his hand up to stop him. If he did anything now, it would look suspicious. For a moment, he found himself breathing; that was the only sound he heard. His deep blood-red wings now dulled down to a faded red, still pulsating with a strong light.

So this was it. Velken's challenge. A Code Silver in a nutshell. The act of questioning the use of personal information was something that hadn't been done in a courtroom for the past 500 years considering that God had always allowed immediate investigation to all trials from before, but those were for demons who had disguised as angels or something akin to that. Hisoka felt a little lucky he was allowed to choose, considering his position. He couldn't pick the stupid decision of letting Velken use it. Not only would that beat him down for sure, but he'd be prideful of himself, something he had learned to give up, thanks to Diego's teachings and God's laws. Besides, Velken's logic was unreasonable. Psychological trauma? Whoring clients? Hisoka had vowed never to fall in love with a client... that was before Tsuzuki's time and Hisoka decided he couldn't keep that vow. And the "trauma" Velken must be looking for were the aftereffects Hisoka still experienced somehow or another when he was alone; he'd wake up from nightmares screaming or his body would flare brightly with red curse marks. Until the man – Muraki — was dead, Hisoka would still go through the torment. Velken had no right to use his feelings against him.

Kira looked down at Hisoka. "I need an answer now, Kurosaki."

Hisoka glanced back at her, his eyes no long calculating, no longer wondering about what could be if he did or did not allow the usage of his records. The logic wouldn't pass through. He knew it.

"No."

Diego let out a small sound of relief while Velken's eyes narrowed, clearly disappointed. Hisoka turned to face the prosecuting attorney with a new fire in his eyes. Velken actually cringed at the look. Hisoka's wings spread out a bit, changing from the dulled red to a deep navy blue with his new confidence and knowledge he felt he had had all along.

He wasn't going to lose.

"My answer is no."

-x-

There was a distant ring, almost unheard despite the fact that it was echoing throughout the entire house, accompanied by yips for attention. It was a phone. Of course. The stupid thing... who would call this early?

Tsuzuki sighed as he rose from his place in the chair by the frosty window and follow Pascal to where he kept the phone in the kitchen. He picked up Pascal, holding him in one hand before placing him on the counter, moving to pet him to keep him quiet. Ignoring the hesitance he demonstrated by letting his hand hover over the phone handle, he picked up the phone and had it against his ear for a full ten seconds before he actually spoke.

"Moshi-moshi?"

There was a crisp and cut voice on the other line, a voice that the violet-eyed man knew well and couldn't forget even if he had amnesia. Not Hisoka as he had hoped – but why the hell would Hisoka use the phone? – but rather, someone else who he trusted. Tatsumi. "Tsuzuki-san? Why didn't you come into work today?"

Oh, he had work today. Wait, when had that been announced? Oh, right, he had only been excused early the previous day. Not excused for another day. Right. "Ah, gomen ne, Tatsumi. I've been a little distracted..."

"I see. Well, make sure it doesn't happen again. We need you at work tomorrow at latest," came the crisp reply again.

Tsuzuki nodded, despite that Tatsumi couldn't see it. "Ah, wakata. I'll be there..." His voice trailed off between "be" and "there". He hoped it would go unnoticed.

"Tsuzuki-san? Is there something wrong?" Nope, ears were as sharp as ever.

Tsuzuki recovered as quickly as he could, though his voice was still a little shaky when he spoke again. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired, I suppose..." Then a thought hit him. He remembered his conversation with Hisoka days ago about Tatsumi.

"Seiichiro Tatsumi is your boss?"

"How'd you know?"

"I am your guardian."

"That's true."

But somehow, there was something the angel was hiding. Something important. But he hadn't told him. Why hadn't he—?

"Tsuzuki-san?"

Brought back to reality, Tsuzuki held the phone closer to his ear and his motions on Pascal's ears stopped abruptly as he thought of something he hadn't before.

"Tatsumi, I have a question." Tsuzuki took a deep breath, as if trying to mentally prepare himself for something unexpected. "Do you know a boy about five foot six, around sixteen with short blonde hair and green eyes? Kinda boyish, but serious at the same time?"

No response.

"His name's Hisoka."

Silence. Then...

"Yes."