Dark Adaptation

by Hickok

NEW CONTENT ADDED! Bound to the eternal contract, can a life of sin be so easily shed? Muraki has all that he desires, yet so much remains unanswered. What manner of darkness unfurled between the walls of Muraki manor? Muraki x Tsuzuki and Oriya x Watari

28. Tsuzuki: Death Precedes Us Pt: 3

Dark Adaptation

Death Precedes us with a Knowing Smile: Part 3 of 1

"Like God, I do not play by the roll of a dice and I do not believe in coincidence." – V from the move "V from Vendetta".

He went by Pandora…

"Pandora?" I repeated the name back slowly and Ichibana smiled into the opposite direction to which I was standing.

"Aye, Pandora. He was a cute liddle tacker… all mussed dark blond hair, ass and elbows… cute as a toetetsu." He turned to face us, waving both open hands up and down belligerantly. "Ye know… 'e looked a bit like you." He said, directing Hisoka's attention towards our conversation. Until now he had been lost in the speculative musings of Tatsumi's feeble condition and had barely spared a thought for our savior.

"Who?" My partner asked as he wandered over. I remembered abruptly that he had not before met Ichibana and had not an inkling that the savy half-djinni worked for Watari. In a manner of speaking. Hisoka gave Ichibana a kind of withering once over, whilst the semi-gothic, catlike man posed for his viewing pleasure, hands on hips and nearly every one of his sharp, white teeth on display. Once Hisoka had turned his attention on Ichibana, it didn't take long before the others (Wakaba and Tatsumi excluded) came wandering over for a look-see. Yuma and Saya in particular, I noticed, did not seem the least bit sorry at being saved by someone who though not tall and not exactly slender, was certainly an eye-pleaser. Ichibana naturally noticed their attentions the moment they were directed on him and he basked in it, as contentedly as a cat laps up an unhindered ray of sunlight.

"Ja, ja, adore me." He encouraged, with an egotistical flutter of his hand. Neither Yuma nor Saya seemed bothered by his arrogance and had elapsed into a fit of girlish giggling hysteria. Aki too couldn't seem to take his eyes away from the djinni's exotically garmented figure and I was almost jealous. Almost.

"Thankyou for saving us." Hisoka said, with a humble dip of his head. His heart wasn't exactly in his voice however and no warmth reached his eyes when he raised them to meet Ichibana's crimson soaked gaze again. "But… who are you exactly?"

Ichibana pretended to be humble, his delicate fingers pressed light against his mostly bare chest. "Who, little ol' me?" He winked at Hisoka in such an uncanny impersonation of Watari that I figured he must have copped onto more of his mannerisms in their fourteen years together than even he had realized. "I ain't nothin' but the dream that fulfills everyone's wishes, toots. The merest touch of my hand," He waved his own about lavishly. "Can ignite a raging inferno in the loins of even the most hormone impaired."

"His name is Ichibana." I stated, incurring a rather put upon expression from the Paranormal under discussion. "He's a djinni of the Jann tribe. And he owes me some allegiance apparently." I sighed deeply, relieved that I could provide an answer to one question at least. "Yes. Yes I do know Pandora, Ichibana. He was here only minutes before you turned up yourself."

No longer bothering with his wimsical theatrics, Ichibana repeated my sigh and pressed a hand over his face, momentarily appearing much older than he truly seemed. Palpable relief washed over him and his eyes shimmered, as though he were briefly entertaining the permittance of tears.

"He's alive…?" He questioned hesitantly. "I feared that 'e would be punished, fer tryin' ta get away… But, he seemed all right ta ye? I mean… I was going to keep him protected and then fourteen years ago… I just… disappeared…"

Fourteen years ago… no doubt in my mind what had happened there. The date fit perfectly. "I'm sorry you were so deeply troubled." I said with a low bow. "But Ichibana, this Pandora… I've spoken with him many times. He has curse markings all over his body and he… well, he's a Once-Human right?"

"Ja." The djinni established, sweeping his long nails back through his fashionably shaggy hair. One of the edges must have been torn, because they briefly snagged on the return journey, making him whince momentarily. "But 'e couldn't recall 'is true name. Jus' a few memories 'ere and there… didn't matter none ta us much. We was happy. We done made us a home away from that Hell… Heaven don't last long 'nough as it should though."

"You blame Watari?" I asked, testing the waters. I kept my voice low, because no one else was supposed to know that Watari had been containing a level three djinni in his glasses. "Because he was sent to stop you absorbing the souls of the dead and he trapped you?"

"Watari?" Ichibana mused thoughtfully, head tipped back as though he were surveying a drifting thought. Then he was grinning at me, eyes shut and all teeth. "'Ow could I hate that nappy little blond number?"

Again, that vague sense of familiarity tugged at my senses. "Nappy little blond number…?" I repeated, an amused quirk lilting my lips upward. Ichibana trotted over towards me and leaned up on tippytoes (he was only five foot six, a real shorty) to lay a kiss against my cheek. He'd always been real fond of me, though in a more nurturing, maternal way but he'd never kissed me before, not even on the cheek. Sure he'd hugged me, lounged in my lap or patted my ass occasionally but that was the sort of behavior I was used to from him. I nearly wet myself when following this sincere little gesture, Ichibana slid his arms up around my neck and hugged me both tightly and warmly.

"I'm relieved ta hear e's still up and about." Having done his mooshy moment for the day, Ichibana hurriedly released me with a merry clap on the shoulder and then trundled over to pick up the unconscious figure of the mangled Bowel Thorn. "I'll clean up, 'ere. Sorry to rush off like this and leave you so unsatisfied doll but there are urgent matters of which only I am fit to attend to." He leaned close to me and leered almost suggestively. "I dare say we shall be seein' one another again very soon. Until then; adieu, sweet adieu."

And with a swirl of sakura, our perverted savior was gone. I took a moment simply to savor the silence and nearly burst out laughing when I caught sight of the purely exasperated expression on Hisoka and Terazuma's faces.

"What… was that all about?" The detective asked, his left hand eye twitching tellingly at the corner.

"Just an old friend, who felt he owed me a favor." I said mysteriously, watching with some amusement as Aki inhaled deeply on the air as the sakura drifted past him, his expression almost dopey, as though hopped up high on something suspicious.

"Whatever it was…" He sighed, a stupid smile stretching up his face. "Smelt damn good… And you even got a kiss from him! Lucky."

I shouldered him a little more roughly then was perhaps necessary as I made my stalwart way over to the hunched figure of Wakaba, plucking white and pink blossoms out of my hair as I went. My fellow Guardians, nursing still healing injuries, followed along in my wake and we gathered around Tatsumi's still and blood soaked figure, watching with silent reverence as Wakaba gingerly mopped the sweat of his brow, holding his upper torso tightly in line against her own.

"Is he all right?" I asked, reassured to see the shallow dips of my former partners chest. It seemed as though he was having difficulty breathing but as long as he was alive, that was all that mattered.

Wakaba nodded but her eyes were squeezed shut and she refused to release custody of Tatsumi to anyone other than herself, even when Aki forcefully attempted to lift him free from her hold.

"He's fine… but…" She hesitated and when I glanced down into her face, her long dark lashes were wet with tears. "He needs to go back to the Ministry… he's lost so much blood…"

"I can take him back," Aki insisted, casting me a look I found difficult to interpret. "From the sound of things, I don't think you guys are finished here."

Hisoka nodded, arms crossed so tightly across his chest it seemed they weren't set to unravel for at least a year. "Princess Tsubaki… she told me that Muraki has a childhood friend, a girl he's in love with. And I gather those demons were talking about the same woman. We find her, we find Muraki."

He wasn't wrong there. That is exactly where Muraki was that day.

"I can send out a tracking demon," I said, trying not to seem light hearted about it as I drew the origami symble in the air, breathing life into it so that it became an actual bird with glaringly white feathers and startlingly purple eyes. "We need to find the home of Ukyou Sakagumi; can you lead us there?"

The bird tilted her beautiful white head upward to meet my eyes and with a gentle flutter, lifted herself into the air and hovered just above my head, her long tail feathers trailing down beneath her. She chirped impatiently.

"Guess that's our cue to get going," Terazuma grumbled, his somewhat disenchanted features unable to detach themselves from Wakaba and her brown suited burden. He seemed particularly baffled regarding her attentions towards our superior, more so perplexed rather than concerned. "Kanuuki? … Go back with this fella to the Ministry. Stay there with Tatsumi."

"Terazuma…" Wakaba looked up for the first time since Tatsumi had been released from the Bowel Thorn. I understood all too well that Terazuma meant to spare his partner the distress of having to decide where to direct her attentions. She was clearly more concerned over Tatsumi's condition and Terazuma was attempting to eradicate her guilt by deciding for her. I found this incredibly thoughtful, considering the shapeshifters delicate temper and the deliberate fact that he could have been none too pleased by what he was witnessing. I thought (and I'm sure I'm not the only one) that Terazuma might have had a little crush on Wakaba and I knew for a fact that she was incredibly fond of him. But perhaps… perhaps this was not in a romantic sense as I had previously led myself to believe?

"It's okay." Terazuma said but his voice was slightly slurred, as though he were biting his tongue as he said it. He glared at me as though the entire incident were my fault. "Well? Are we goin' or what?"

"Um… yeah, you guys go on ahead. I'll catch up."

For once, they did as I asked, sensing that I might have needed a quiet moment to sob over Tatsumi's prone figure or something, I don't know. They took off, Terazuma casting furtive glances over his shoulder as he went. I waited until they were out of sight before kneeling down beside Wakaba, watching dolefully as Aki redoubled his attempts to possess her burden.

"Come on, sweetheart. He needs to go. There now." He gently eased Tatsumi out of Wakaba's arms and slung one of the secretary's own around his shoulder. I nodded at him.

"Aki, would you mind taking him back alone? There's something I need to discuss with Wakaba first."

"Sure." Aki stated and instantly proceeded to fade away, taking the unconscious Tatsumi along for the ride. I turned to Wakaba, trying to force her eyes to meet mine but she kept them directed towards the ground, her folded hands stained in patches by Tatsumi's blood. It had seeped into the front of her reconaissance attire and smeared across her neck and face in hodge podge patches.

"Okay Kanuuki," I used her given name more to provoke her attention rather than to introduce a delayed sense of intimacy between us. "What's going on?"

She burst into tears with neither pretence nor warning and it was only by my good fortune that I was able to procure my handkerchief (which Muraki had packed no less) into her bloodstained hands before she thrust her face against them. Her shoulders were shaking from what I assumed was delayed shock.

"I'm s-s-sorry to g-get all emotional like this!" She sobbed, blowing her nose noisely. As the current King (or Queen arguably) of blubbering dramatics, I felt it was hardly my place to comment on her behavior, so I did us all a service and kept my big mouth shut.

"It's okay. It's nothing to apologize for." I explained gently, using my curved index finger to wipe her cheeks. Her tears had turned black on account of her eye makeup and my attentions only left dark smudges against her pale skin. "Seeing what happened to that girl must have really upset you."

"It's not just that," she snuffled, tenderly running the corner of the handkerchief beneath her eyes to clear up the blotches. "I've w-wanted to talk with someone about this for so long but I hadn't the words… I mean, I can't very well discuss it with Hajime, can I?" She finally met my gaze and her own mysteriously mismatched eyes were bloodshot. "You promise to keep this just between us?"

"Of course." I said, wondering who I could possibly tell anyway. It's not like I was the biggest gossip whore about after all. Maybe the second biggest.

Wakaba managed to compose herself a little, cleaning her hands on the handkerchief as she twisted it nervously about. "It's about Seiichirou."

No shit, I nearly said but thankfully found a little tact and managed to keep it to myself.

"Go on." I said instead.

"You know he has-" She broke eye contact again and looked to the side instead, as though some foreign object on the ground had caught her attention. "- feelings for you… right?"

I stared at the side of her face, all that she presented me with, affronted but not as surprised as I may once have been by this news.

"By God woman!" I cried with much indignation. "Is there anything the rest of the Summons Department doesn't find out before me?"

Her attractive eyes widened slightly as she finally returned my gaze. "Oh… so you knew?"

"Only since this morning. Tatsumi seemed to think he wasn't going to survive this mission, so he wanted to have a little tell all." I etched quotation marks in the air as I spoke the words 'tell all'. Come to think of it… Tatsumi very nearly did shuffle off that day. Had he had some vague premonatory sense that everything wasn't going to be smooth sailing after all? "Which is stupid…" I concluded lamely. "But how did you know about it?"

Wakaba appeared plaintively surprised. "Well… everyone kind of did. I mean, no offense but it was kind of obvious."

"It was not!" I snapped, puffing up in pure indignation. "Not to me at least… not that that's saying much." I sourly wanted to change the subject. "So why didn't anyone think to say anything?"

"Because it wasn't our place to." Wakaba stated firmly, a small frown carressing her features. "If you didn't see it, Tatsumi clearly wasn't ready to let you know. And it wasn't our place to go blabbing it out."

"But that's – look, never mind." I exclaimed, waving my hands about dismissively. "This clearly isn't about me, so why are we talking about it? Why should Tatsumi's apparent hard on for me, make you so upset?"

"Well… you're a difficult person to compete against."

"Compete against!?" I realized I was still yelling and lowered my voice to match Wakaba's covet tone. It had hit me then with solemn clarity. "Wakaba… you have feelings for Tatsumi?"

Her hands held the handkerchief over her chin as though she were ashamed to show her face above it.

"I… I think I do." She seemed bizzarely frustrated by her inability to express herself competently. "I'm so confused, Tsuzuki! It's just one thing after another and now this! This isn't something I would normally think about! When I first got an inkling of it… I just tried to ignore it, put it out of my mind and get on with it. But… it's getting so hard." She dropped her arms in a kind of exasperated shrug. "Now I'm… I'm thinking about him all the time. The more I try and stop myself the more I do the opposite. Oh, I don't know!" Her aggravated features tore into my heart. "And I don't know why I'm so worked up about it. I mean, everyone knows Seiichirou likes you!"

"Apparently." I again reminded myself that this was not about me. "All I can really suggest is that you talk about this with Tatsumi. He's a reasonable guy. For the most part." This was clearly an overstatement and we both knew it. "But there's something I don't get… don't you and Terazuma… I thought you liked him?"

She shook her head sadly. "Not those sorts of feelings anway. I don't know, he's more like a big brother… or a little brother most of the time." She smiled with fond impatience. "And you know how Seiichirou gets around girls. He gets all… squirrely. It wouldn't be an easy conversation to have."

"The most important conversations never are," I said in a moment of pure sageliness.

"And it doesn't seem fair on Hajime either…" She murmured morosely, looking to the side. "I mean… I don't mean to sound presumptuous but I'm almost sure he might feel something for me. He certainly depends on me and this… it feels like such a betrayal in some way."

"And it might be," I said, not even looking at her as I exposited yet another slice of wisdom. My eyes widened because I was figuring something out. Not just for her but also for myself. "But it's important to be honest to yourself as well. And even if doing that ends up hurting someone else," I saw Hisoka in my minds eye. "There's a reason why we have feelings for people. If you can't stop thinking about someone, it means that you love something about them. Even if it doesn't make much sense at the time."

Wakaba was giving me a very knowing look and I guess she had realized that this talk hadn't been entirely in her favor. I worked the cramped muscles of my face into a smile and pressed the palm of my hand against Wakaba's cheek.

"You're not being fair on Tatsumi, if you're not as honest with him as you have been with me." I expressed, rubbing a smear of eyeliner from beneath the lower curve of her lashes. "Any man would be honored to be loved by a woman such as you. I'm sure Tatsumi can see that. You've got a good head on your shoulders, Wakaba. And everyone likes to hear that somebody finds them attractive, that someone likes them. It can make all the difference in the world to know that. If you really care about Tatsumi, then isn't that enough? And who's to say that he may not eventually reciprocate those feelings?" I shook my finger lightly in her face. "Some people only dare to love a person once they're sure that person feels something for them. Call it a security measure."

Wakaba sniffed and dabbed the end of her nose gingerly on the cleanest corner of the handkerchief she could find.

"You make it sound so easy…" She mumbled, voice muffled slightly by the fabric swaying over her lips. "But… I don't know that I'm secure enough in myself to take that first step… But now… now isn't the moment to be discussing it."

"I think any moment spent on bringing a little more love into the lives of us Guardians is a moment well spent." I said, straightening the ribbons in Wakaba's hair and tidying her up as much as possible. "I, for one, give you my whole hearted support. I would like nothing more than to see you with Tatsumi. I think…" And for some reason, I was seeing Oriya and Watari in my head at that moment. "- that gentle, cheerful people like you, can make all the difference in the lives of others. Especially those that are predisposed to being perhaps a little too serious at times." I added, with a telling wink.

Wakaba's lips quirked up into a smile. "You're right." She gave my extended hand a little slap. "I'll do my best. But I'm not promising anything, so don't expect to be hearing wedding bells when you get back, okay?"

I laughed and pinched her cheek. "I'll put those flower arrangements on back order."

I made sure that Wakaba had made the transition safely before conjuring up a second Guide and instructing it to follow the path of the first one. It took quite some time for us to fly the distance to Nagoya (we weren't able to teleport on account of the messengers) and by the time we touched down outside of the home above which the messengers hovered tellingly, the sky was beginning to grow dark. The light rain that had fallen across Tokyo all day, had given way to a dank humidity in this area of Japan and it was with some level of castigation that I continually found myself plucking the back of my trousers free from my rump as gathering sweat caused it to stick in place.

As I swooped over the house, it became quite obvious (though I was already clued in) that Muraki had come here and was possibly still hanging around. His car was parked in the driveway and only a few flowers from the surrounding trees had fallen to rest on its hood and roof. He must have only arrived recently and the other Guardians were smart enough to realize that this probably meant he was in the house right at that moment. Or he'd left on foot and abandoned his car, which would have been stupid. Considering he'd just had it repaired from when Ukyou had reversed into it and all and I can't imagine that job had been exactly cheap either. Muraki may have been many things but he certainly wasn't the kind of individual that would simply walk away from a considerable investment.

Terazuma, having come over quite surly from his no doubt surmounting suspicions concerning his partner and the department treasurer, was redirecting his frustrations by taking immediate control of the group in Tatsumi's absence. By the time I had landed (still gainfully deploying the seat of my pants from between the crack of my buttocks) he had already employed a marvelous plan.

"We kick down the door and run towards him in a single file." The shapeshifter was explaining, with a great number of quite unnecessary gesticulating hand movements. "He can only take out the person in front, one at a time. So, if we order from least important to most important, with Tsuzuki in front and me in the back-" (4)

"Fuck you, man." I exclaimed as I dropped down beside him, watching his eyes narrow maliciously at my presence. The next thing I knew his index finger was jabbing directly into my chest with such force that he was actually shoving me backwards, nearly causing me to lose my balance on more than one occasion.

"Don't-fuck-with-me-now-Tsuzuki." He snarled, punctuating each word with a particularly violent jab of his finger. I started to wonder if he had dented a hole in my pectoral. "Not in the mood! If you've got a better idea to get that Mad Eye Lunatic from killing us all in one hit, then I would suggest you share it because in case you hadn't noticed, we're all still a bit bent out of shape from our last encounter with someone who, may I remind you, wasn't even in our job description?"

"Yeah. I noticed." I growled, swiping at Terazuma's hand in order to get him to back up a step. Truth was, I already had a plan. The only plan that was likely to work. In my favor anyway. "My idea," I began, ignoring Hisoka's callous remark that Hell had indeed frozen over, "Is to go in alone." I held up a hand as they all immediately started protesting. "Now, now, listen! You mustn't think I'm being foolish! As Terazuma just said, not a one of us is a hundred percent at the moment. We're all weak and we still have a very big job to do. And you all know how Muraki reacts to me." My cheeks flushed a little at my boldness but I ploughed on anyway. "Let me talk to him first. See if I can't talk him down a little, negotiate some, you know? I just feel that if we go in there casting, roaring, swearing, stabbing, cursing, hexing, jinxing and the like, we're only going to come out the worst for it. And Muraki would probably just teleport out of there before we'd have a chance to lay a scratch on him. We'd probably do more damage to his fiancée than him!"

"For all we know, he's already murdered his fiancée and is sitting there next to her dead body having a cup of tea." Hisoka growled, not unfairly as he glanced over his shoulder towards the house. I could see the pressure of his deeply entrenched and rightful urge to take revenge against the man who had been responsible for his death and rape, working him over. He was raring to get inside. Mentally bursting at the seams to return his suffering with interest.

I sighed deeply, felt myself being devoured by that raging guilt that stirred in the depths of my body like a coiled snake, roused by the movement of the prey that was my weak emotions. Sometimes, I dare wished that this snake would one day devour me completely and soothing darkness would be all I knew. But escape was no longer that simple for me anymore and I simply had to push on, doing what I could do resolve this situation as best I could. Tomorrow was a new day. I could only take a step at a time in this long journey and keep my back to the starving snake that longed to devour me.

Sometimes… I think I could see myself reflected in the eyes of that beast, chained down in my soul. It drew closer each day.

"We can't just assume that, Hisoka." I said, trying to be reasonable. The boy just gave me a churlish look and I started to feel the slightest bit miffed. His attitude towards me lately was inconceivable; unless of course he had some idea… no, he couldn't have done. I'd kept my thoughts carefully and deliberately shielded from him. There was no way he could have figured it out… "Hisoka… come on. I know you wanna run that guy through pretty damn badly. We all do." Depending on the mood I was in, this wasn't exactly an outright lie. And stop laughing Watari, that's not what I meant! "But we can't get careless. Look what happened with Tatsumi. I don't want to see anything like that happen to you guys… not unless it's you, Terazuma." The shifter made an extremely rude gesture. "Now, now, be nice. I'm offering to front my ass up as a distraction and you're getting all potty handed with me."

"Guess my suggestion of you flashin' your tits at him wasn't so far off after all, eh?" Aki said, with an uncertain and sad smile. "Sorry for the crude language ladies."

"They're crude themselves. Yes you are!" I insisted as both girls started urgently marching protests at me. "I heard you two talking about your boobs on our last staff vacation to Hokkaido!"

"Like you and Watari don't talk dirty to each other every time I see you at work." Yuma exclaimed, whilst Saya just held back a string of severe giggles for reminding her of that particular conversation the girls had had whilst in the hot springs. The boys area had been right behind the wall surrounding theirs, incidentally. "You two are always talking about your bodies and other guys bodies and girls bits and pieces… it's really gross! You're both as poofy as all get out and there you are carrying on about how hot the new receptionist in the Sakura Zensen is!"

"Well she is!" I defended, preparing to out my second rebuttal when suddenly my recently healed ear was stinging again. I glared at Terazuma who glared right back as though daring me to say something.

"You were going inside… to talk to Muraki." He grunted out, having managed to restrain himself from saying something far more offensive I imagined. "And then… what? What's your big plan after you have a nice little tete-a-tete with him? Shag him senseless and then call us in to carry him out all wrapped up in a dirty sheet?" He snorted as though violently disagreeing with what he'd just said. "But wait… that would imply you even know how to have sex and everyone here knows you're about as experienced as a little girl."

This stung so bad that I nearly hit him and I honestly had to put my back to him and clench my eyes and fists shut, talking myself down and fighting back my escalating feeling of inadequacy that always whelmed up inside of me when I thought of how far behind everybody else I was in this department. Especially at this late stage in my life. Didn't anyone get that I could have had sex whenever the Hell I'd wanted? I chose not to. I wanted to make love when it felt as though I were doing it for the right reasons, not just to impress anyone else or even to impress myself. I felt someone's hand land on my shoulder and give it a reassuring squeeze.

"That was uncalled for." Aki's deep, smooth voice was saying. "Tsuzuki has done nothing wrong in maintaining himself for the right person and the right moment. I dare say when he finally reaches that moment, some bastard out there is going to be extremely lucky."

And won't he just know it, I thought, opening my eyes and flashing Aki a look of deep gratitude. He returned it in full and I knew exactly what he was thinking in that moment. He was still hoping that 'lucky bastard' was going to be him. Having seen me after so long was bringing back all those old feelings, for me as well as him. I had been in love with him after all and you don't just toss aside feelings of love and never experience them again. For me, being in love had been a huge thing. And still was. But my strongest feelings were standing behind those old lingering pulses I still had for Aki. There were dominant emotions swirling within me and it was a little surprising to realize that in this moment I was experiencing a sensation in equal to what I had for Aki all those years ago. But it was no longer for Aki that my heart raced and my skin reddened and my lips parted for a rushed and excited breath… No more Aki that featured in some of my favorite fantasies, the ones that came to me so unconsciously, that I was immediately and equally ashamed and aroused by.

And in that moment, that single moment when I was staring into the face of the one and only person I had ever loved in a romantic way, that single second, that tiny instant… that was when the whole world changed for me.

I was in love and this new love was so intense that it completely drowned the strong feelings I'd had for Aki.

"I'll go in," I said, my voice breathless and Hisoka was staring at me, eyes wide and I forced his mind back with everything I had. I'd sent off too much emotion in that moment. Been sloppy. No doubt he had experienced these contrary feelings of love I had but wasn't sure exactly who they'd been directed at. He knew it wasn't Aki because I'd been comparing these new feelings to what I had once felt for Aki. But when around Hisoka I barely ever, if rarely, thought about Muraki with his face or name in my mind. This made life very difficult sometimes but it becames an almost unconscious habit when you kicked around with a telepath all the time.

"I'll go in," I repeated, taking a step away from Aki, not bothering to shift into invisibility. With Muraki's abnormal eye he could see us phase into the Second Layer of Reality anyway, so it was pointless to exorcise normal measures of guile. "Give me ten minutes or so and if I'm not out by then… come on in and give it everything you've got. But at least give me the chance to talk him down. To get him to come back to the Ministry of his own accord. To be judged."

"He won't come willingly, Tsuzuki." Hisoka said sullenly and with an almost disabling sense of hopelessness. "He's going to do something to you, if you go in there alone. And he'll do everything he can to kill the rest of us."

I sensed something else was coming and wasn't disappointed.

"Ten minutes… and I will be giving it everything I've got." My partner said, hands in his pockets and setting his back against the large tree behind which we had all initially gathered. He refused to meet my eyes. "I just want you to know that…"

Jesus Christ, I thought, a great lump forming in my throat, so constricting I virutally couldn't breath until I had forced it down. Hisoka had an inkling… he didn't know but he suspected in his own mind, without having touched mine, that I felt something for Muraki. Simply by observing me…

I turned my back on him, hating myself and feeling that great serpent rising up behind me, jaws unhinged and fangs dripping along that great line of black leading back towards oblivion. I could see my face in its' mirror like eyes, reflecting my pain and guilt right back at me.

"I…" There was nothing else to say. Had to play dumb, had no choice. I flashed my bright, trademark smile back over my shoulder. "You nail that bastard for all its' worth. Especially if he's doing ungodly things to me, you got that? Feel free to hit him with anything you can get your hands on and don't stop 'til he's crying like a baby."

This evoked the smallest of smiles from Hisoka and it made the serpent retreat, if only momentarily.

Terazuma held up his watch arm and set the time. "Ya got ten minutes exactly. Then we're coming in." He looked as though he felt sorry about what he'd said before but I turned my back on him and marched off before he had a second to think about apologizing. Screw him if he thought I was going to let him appease his own feelings, not after touching my sore point that way. Ninety-seven years of age and having never taken a lover… I didn't often tell people about it, such was my shame of it sometimes. I'd told Watari because he was my closest friend and even he only teased me about it sparingly. But he'd never used it the way Terazuma had. To actually degrade me. Being a virgin was something I was both ashamed and proud of, in unequal measure, depending on my state of mind at the time it might have been under consideration. I'd had chances to have had sex. Many chances in fact, but I never took a one of them. Why? Because I think I was waiting for something just a little more spectacular. When it wouldn't seem forced. When it was right for me, corny as that sounds. I'd gone without sex for so long that I'd gotten to the stage of my existence where I felt the craving very sparingly. Well, that and the fact that I was also a very old man (if not in appearance, then definitely in mind and disposition) and I had more things to worry about. Like taxes and paying the rent.

Like trying to talk my homicidal boyfriend into walking calmly out of his fiancée's house and into the waiting arms of over a half dozen Guardians of Death that each wanted to tear literal strips off of him. Oh yes, my life was a fucking cakewalk. Why didn't I think about sex more, it wasn't as though I didn't have the time! Jesus.

The front door was open and this was Danger Sign No. 1. Without bothering to knock or wait for an invitation, I ploughed on into the silent and dark house, noticing that most of the curtains were drawn and a couple of newspapers were piled on the doormat. This certainly didn't bode well for dear Ukyou and I sincerely hoped that no harm had befallen her.

I heard some voices coming from the bedroom and a lot of violent scruffling. One of the voices was getting increasingly louder and I recognized Muraki's distinct candor. It sounded as though he were in trouble, or he was causing trouble for someone else. Either way, I suppose it was prudent that I get my cute little butt down that hall as quickly as I could.

I burst up the hallway and dashed towards the sound of the disturbance, catching a glimpse of a familiar figure standing in the doorway of what appeared to be the main bedroom.

Pandora! Or Saki, whatever he was calling himself at that particular moment. As I ran to intercept him, a cloud of white feathers suddenly blinded my vision and the boy disappeared behind them, teleporting himself out of the house. I'd barely had time to consider his reasons for doing so, when they hit me, quite literally, square in the chest.

I looked down in astonishment, at the hatchet like meat cleaver, the blade almost entirely entrenched between the lines of my pectorals.

For the love of- How many more injuries could I possibly accumulate today? I mean, really! This was just starting to get a little- no, really ridiculous.

Unnatural pain coursed through my body, only increasing when I reached up to grasp the brute weapon by the handle and started to slowly ease it free.

"Oh shit."

Muraki's visible eye was nearly bulging from his head.

"I didn't do it…" He whispered, obviously referring to the carnal devestation of his fiancée, who I could now see splayed violently on the bed behind him and not the kitchen utensil currently protruding from his boyfriends' chest.. A familiar red sygil was emblazened on the wall above her head; the same mark I had seen above the altar in the Other Place… The same mark Watari was currently investigating.

I gazed into Muraki's horror stricken visage and felt an unfamiliar sensation burgeoning within my chest. My eyes welled a little at this stirring of affection I felt towards the man who had caused me so much grief during the two years we had been associated.

"I know…" I said, wincing at the sticky sensation of blood sliding down my chest beneath my shirt. "Muraki I'm sorry… We ran into some trouble at your place and the other Guardians found out you were here… I'm sorry. We've gotta get you outta here before they see you."

"Mr. Tsuzuki…" His voice was extremely hesitant. "What did I give you as a gift two weeks ago following our trip to the Tokyo Cinema?"

I glared back at him through my streaming eyes. "W-What?!"

"Please… just answer the question. What gift did I give you?"

I grunted as fresh pain coursed through my body and shook my right sleeve back in a distracted fashion.

"Whaddya mean 'what did you give me?' This watch, remember?"

His entire body relaxed immediately and he was on his feet before I could blink. "So it is you then. Thank goodness, I've had just enough of my fair share of doppelgangers for today, I think."

"Yeah. I saw him…" I murmured, feeling a cold sweat break out on my forehead as Muraki knocked my fingers away from the shaft of the meat cleaver and fasten onto it himself. "Pandora… that kid… he's…" I grasped Muraki's wrist between my own, preventing him from taking any further action until he had heard me out. I looked up into his contrary eyes, forcing his attention back towards my face. "Muraki… he's your brother. Pandora is Saki Shidou. Your brother… right?"

I had never before witnessed such pure strife in Muraki's fine features and it chilled my bones formidably. He looked down upon me as though I had transformed into some manner of grisly horror before his very eyes.

"How… why would you…? Why would…" He paused in order to give himself a moment to adequately compose himself. "How could you possibly see the resemblence?"

"Resemblance?" I asked, confused. "I saw… I saw pictures of him at your house…"

"All the pictures containing Saki have been edited… so to speak." Muraki said, his eye narrowing suspiciously at me. "Only those within his own room…" His fingers started to shake, causing the blade of the cleaver to quiver beneath my flesh. "You had no business entering that room, Asato Tsuzuki! It is not seen, even by you whom I share such liberties with!"

He ripped the blade clean out of my flesh, sending roaring pain thrashing down through my torso and into my legs. I collapsed, hand pressing down upon the gushing wound, putting all my mental effort towards healing, legs curled up beneath me and working to scurry backwards from Muraki's expression of primal rage. I began to feel as though I were in very serious danger. I had never seen him reduced to quite such animalistic behavior.

"Why did you go in there?!" He roared, advancing on me with the cleaver still dripping my blood in his hand. His knuckles where as pale as the visible whites of his eyes and he stared down at me over the upward tilt of his chin.

Myy heart pounded in my chest. "Muraki… the other Guardians are outside… please…"

I could feel his cruelty. And his rage.

Never before had he felt less human to me. And least in control of himself.

I want you to know that I was capable of stopping you at any time. Used my powers, summoned my shikigami. I could have stopped you.

I think it's important for you to know that.

His eyes were very cold and I think that was the most terrifying part for me. Muraki wasn't a cold person in nature. A cruel person, yes. A practical person but never cold. Never expressionless. This face of nothing… it made him completely unpredictable to me. I had no idea what was going to happen next. But I was afraid. Afraid because of those disabling thoughts I had been feeling outside only minutes ago. Afraid because I was bound by those emotions and I wasn't sure I'd be able to protect myself with these limitations in place.

Did you know Muraki has fangs? I kid you not. I had felt them the night before when he had been absorbing my essence and seen them once on the deck of the Queen Camellia. He was a psychic vampire, who absorbed essence most effectually through blood but he wasn't a vampire in the sense that we commonly think of them. No garlic allegy (he'd eaten a garlic dish at the restaurant, so I knew he had no issue in that department) no unholy reaction to a crucifix (his family had been Catholic; I'd seen a mounted cross in his own home) and he could quite comfortably walk around during the daylight hours without turning to ash. The only similarity he had to a true vampire was his bloodless albino white skin and the long sharp fangs that slowly slid down over his lower lip and those in his bottom row of teeth sliding up between them. They weren't traditionally vampire long; (think Interview with the Vampire) and you could see no visible difference when he wasn't experiencing bloodlust or excitement. But he was definitely excited at that moment; the white fangs glistened wetly atop his lips; shining with saliva.

He could deliver a double bite with these eye-teeth; four puncture marks instead of one. I had seen him momentarily lose control the night before when he had stabbed me in the neck but even then I had not entirely doubted his presence of mind. I had felt Muraki. Felt that he was partly in control; if not entirely.

Now I knew there was nothing. No control, no presence of humanity, no lingering feeling of affection. I became nothing more than a piece of meat to him.

And he was hungry.

Abandoning the cleaver, he grabbed me by the hair, pulled my head back. He smelt my skin. His tongue slid out from between his fangs and glided up my neck.

My eyes shimmered with tears, my body liberally quivered as I felt the rage roll off of him in waves.

"Muraki… there's no time." I whispered, trying to distract him. He jerked my hair roughly, causing pain to shoot through my scalp as the roots were ripped violently. "The others… the others are outside… please get in control…"

A gurgling hiss lilted out of his throat and his fangs parted, the same way a cat made clear its' displeasure. There seemed to be nothing human left of him.

A tiny sliver of impatience speared through me and my heart throbbed as adrenaline flushed my system. "Dammit, get a hold of yourself! We have to go!" I reached up and slapped him hard around the face, trying to jolt him back to reality.

This turned out to be a big mistake.

He struck.

He struck and he held nothing back.

My hand had been coming away from his face and it got between his mouth and my neck. His fangs sank deep, my finger driving up into his mouth so that the eye-teeth punctured below the knuckle, up through the palm and into the fleshy part of my thumb. I screamed, pressing my lips together almost immediately to smother the noise I'd made, as he ground his jaws shut, gnawing through the bones of my hand, lapping urgently at the blood that spilled out from the throbbing puncture marks.

"Muraki… Muraki don't do this." I had to fight around the pain to get a word out and try not to scream again. The ten minutes must surely have been coming to a close. I started sobbing as I thrust my free hand up into his face, slamming the heel into his eyes, nose and chin. "It's me… it's Tsuzuki! Look at me, Muraki. You're hurting me."

One well aimed clout with my hand, forced Muraki to part his lips just enough for me to yank my mauled hand free. I scuttled backwards from him on my butt but he got his arms around me, fingernails tearing through my jacket and into the skin of my back. I brought my knee up against my chest, shielding my wounded hand behind it and keeping Muraki at a safe distance as his drove his face towards me again, howling with fury as I thwarted his attempts to feed.

"Get a hold of yourself!" I shrieked, shoving my foot into his chest to push him back. His hands found the collar of my shirt and the buttons popped open all the way down to the base as he forced the halves apart. His sharp nails tore strips across my chest, flames of pain shearing through my torso as he tried to use my skin as a leverage to work his way back up to me. I continued to scuttle back, using my legs to hold him at bay until my back hit the far wall. It occurred to me that it might have been better not to have struggled, as this would no doubt have only excited him further but my mind was too scrambled to work this out on it's own. As always with Muraki, my first instinct was to fight.

I kicked out as Muraki came at me again and this time he managed to grab a hold of my ankle. I struggled to free myself but he had it yanked to the side before I could act and then he was up between my legs, forcing them apart at the thigh. His teeth sank into my neck; all four of them. I thought he was trying to take a rectangular chunk out of my throat, his violence was so great.

"No!" I sobbed, closing my eyes as I put my healing hand up to his forehead and tried to force his face away. I used all my preternatural strength and I could feel the flesh tearing but Muraki's strength was escalating, from only the small amount of blood he had already taken. He dug the fangs in deeper, like a tic that someone was trying to burn free and his hands fell across my bare stomach as another hunger took hold of him. His fingers fumbled at my belt buckle.

"Honey, no!" I sobbed, using a sweet word because I thought it may have had the same effect on him that it usually had on me. "Baby, don't do this… please don't. Please, please don't… honey, let go of me so I can get you out of he-" One of his hands closed around my neck and choked my protests out.

Muraki! Desperate for oxygen, I abandoned all pretences and sank my nails into his neck and dug in, scratching, tearing and ripping but this only increased his excitement, as I suspected it would. I could feel the proof of his excitement digging into me, as his free hand whipped my belt out of the waistpand of my pants, popping open the button and working the zipper down.

I needed to breathe but there was so much going on. My brain was numb from bloodloss and lack of air. My body was going cold and each attempt I made to dissuade his attentions grew gradually weaker and weaker, until I might as well have been batting him with a paper fan. I felt cool air hit my extremeties as Muraki, through much rearrangement and contortionism, managed to tug my pants and boxer shorts down to my ankles, whilst keeping my body pinned all the while. I drove my fist into his wrist and his hand released my neck, giving me blessed, much needed oxygen, that I inhaled like a man that was not already dead. Muraki's teeth slid out of my neck and he licked the puncture wounds, before rearing back and hoisting my legs up onto his shoulders. I flailed, trying hard to reach him, to twist away as he removed my shoes, enabling my trousers and underwear to be ripped free completely. His own dresspants came down, his underpants with them. He was hard and rigid and ready. I comprehended my own delicate constitution in that moment and realized that if I didn't do something to redirect his intentions, then Terazuma's suggestion may very well have come true. Only it would be me being carried out senseless on the sheet. And less myself then I was when I first came into this house.

I needed to divert his attention if I wanted to spare myself, so I gathered my remaining strength and drove my legs down around his shouders until they framed his waist. His hands gripped my hips, preparing to enter me without preparation but with a painful wriggle, and a strange sort of bunny hop on my bottom, I managed to bring myself to my knees and I reached around Muraki, digging my fingernails into the cleft of his firm bottom. I didn't give myself time to be afraid of what I was about to do, to comprehend the fact that I had never done this before and how I wished it could have been under better circumstances. Feeling his nails dig impatiently into my back, drawing blood that his already stained lips worked over, I took a deep breath, held it and dropped my mouth down over his jutting erection.

It was a strange tangy sort of taste. Salty and not unpleasant. The skin of his penis was soft but there was a hard, solid sort of muscle just benenath the taught flesh that drove a strange excitement through me. I was dribbling around the intrusion, saliva sliding down from the corner of my mouth and dripping from my chin as I sucked hard and forcefully, using my teeth when I thought appropriate. I wriggled my fingers into his bottom and forced a few of them into the pucker, trying to make everything as evocative as possible. I could hear him groaning and that for me was the best part of it. But the rest…

I won't lie… I wanted it to end this as soon as possible. I needed it to, before the Guardians burst in and saw us in this position. How ironic would it be to have Hisoka almost stumble onto the situation now, having only narrowly avoiding doing so that very morning!

Muraki was big and full and out of control. He had me by the hair again and he was forcing himself into my throat, nearly choking me again and I was sucking air desperately in through my nose, my head spinning. I hadn't done this before and I already hated it. Giving was nowhere near as fun as receiving. I could barely breathe, I felt uncomfortable, my throat was rubbed raw from the overexcited jabs and his scent and taste cloyed my senses. And when he came, his roar loud and primal, the taste of his semen actually disgusted me and I felt as though something must have been wrong with me. All the romanace novels and stories I'd heard said that the taste of your lover should have been sweet to you. Should have been sexy and you should drink it right down. Muraki had that morning and he seemed to have enjoyed it immensly.

I hated it. It was warm and thick and a little sour and I choked up what he had ejaculated down my throat, trying in vain to swallow but finding it as difficult as swallowing my own vomit would have been. Feeling slightly ashamed and utterly embarrassed, I leaned over and coughed it onto the carpet, tears welling up at the corners of my eyes.

Muraki's hands fell away from my back and his movements stilled, his breathing slightly ragged. I gasped for air, coughing and gasping, tears streaming down my face. A little whimper came out of me.

"Mr. Tsuzuki?" Muraki asked. He seemed to have come back to his senses but his voice trembled with the after effects of his orgasm. "What… happened…?"

I sobbed as means of reply. My whole body was weak and my mind fluttered on and off, tempting me towards unconsciousness. But I didn't faint. I wanted to get dressed but I couldn't move yet and I wasn't sure when I would be able to. The wounds over my neck and chest had closed up but I was still dizzy from the feeding. My throat hurt and I felt battered.

"Muraki…" I finally managed to say. His hands went to my shoulders and he lifted my face up so he could meet my eyes. He looked sincerely distressed. Good for him.

"Did I lose control…?!" He asked with urgency. His fangs had retracted but his lips looked considerably more rosy than they had before. "Darling… did I hurt you more badly than I should have? Did I…"

Relieved to hear his voice, I sank my forehead down against his chest and knitted my fingers into his shirt front, wanting his strength and comfort. I felt his chest contract and his violent inhalation, so I gathered he had noticed our similarly naked states.

"Mr. Tsuzuki! I didn't… tell me I didn't!" He gingerly felt his penis, groaned at the wetness of it. "A waste… the waste of it! Mr. Tsuzuki… forgive me… I didn't… I lost control. Ukyou's been… and that boy, I just… Forgive me." He finished weakly.

I shook my head, letting him gather me up in his arms and soothe back my hair. His fingers went to my bottom and I allowed him to assure himself that I was still innocent. The relief was thick in his voice.

"You don't appear to have been… What happened?" He seemed to be genuinely concerned. "Did I have sex with you?"

I shook my head again. "No. You tried to but I…" I fluttered a hand ineffectually at my mouth. "I just… found another way to stop you."

Muraki sighed with relief, gathering up our clothes and setting to work dressing us both. "Thank goodness…" He kept whispering, fingers stroking up and down my back, grazing through my hair and carressing my face. "Thank goodness."

"Yeah. Thank goodness I'm still a virgin, or else I'd be fucking useless to you." I snapped, impatient and angry. It didn't seem to matter to him that he'd mauled my hand, ripped my throat out and driven me into a situation where I'd been forced to perform a sex act on him that I had never done before. And all he was worried about was whether or not I was still innocent.

"Mr. Tsuzuki… that was insensitive… I'm sorry…" He slipped my shoes back on for me, one at a time. "But Ukyou is… I can't get my head together…"

My eyes fell on the bed, where I could feel a gentle aura emanating. "Forget it… listen we don't have much time… she needs to be taken to a hospital…"

"It's too late for that," He hissed and I was startled to see tears rolling heavily down from that silver eye. "She's gone… there's no pulse…"

I checked again and sure enough, a very pale aura registered within my senses. "No." I insisted, pulling myself up on my knees. "Her pulse has stopped but her lifeforce hasn't departed the body yet. It's very weak… she needs to be revived immediately if she's to be saved. You know CPR right?"

Muraki stared as though seeing me for the first time. The harsh lines of his face began to smooth out, much to my great relief. "You… you're positive…?"

I nodded vigarously. "I'm never wrong about these things, Muraki! It's part of the job description! But you'd better do it fast because the other Guardians are waiting outside and their hot for your blood. They expect me to be out there with you any minute now, or they'll come screaming through the door!"

Muraki didn't waste another second. Releasing my foot (which fell to the floor with a large and painful thunk) he raced over to where Ukyou lay spreadeagled across the sheets and gently tilted her head into a lateral position, allowing the excess fluid to drain free and her tongue to fall forwards. Using his index finger, he swabbed the inside of her mouth to check for any foreign bodies that may have constricted her airways. With his spare hand he gestured towards me urgently.

"I'll need you to perform the cardiac compressions, whilst I administer expired air resuscitation." He stated, ushering me over to stand on the other side of the bed. "You do know how to perform ECC right?" He asked, suspicious no doubt on account of my offensively blank expression.

I thought back to the cardiopulmonary resuscitation course the Summons Section agents had all been required to undertake. Watari's proud and happy voice rang clear in my memory, accomponied by the image of him standing at the head of the staff room, index finger raised high in the air.

"External cardiac compressions should be applied as soon as possible; granted the airways are satisfactorily cleared. It allows oxygen to reach the vital organs, such as the brain and heart, which prevents brain damage and eventual death. This is done by compressing the casualities heart between the breastbone and the spine, which artificially pumps the blood into the major arteries of the body…"

"You… might have to talk me through it…" I said, shamefaced. Muraki flashed me a single second look of exasperation but he didn't berate me, for which I was grateful.

"All right… pay close attention." I had never seen the brutish doctor so deliberately serious. "I need you to place the index finger of your right hand at the top of her breastbone; just here." He quickly tapped the area where I was intended to apply my attentions. "Now, place the index finger of your left hand at the bottom of her breastbone, where the ribs join. Just here." Another guiding tap, directing me forward. "Keep both index fingers in position and use your thumbs to divide the breastbone. Yes, like that. Now, leave your left hand index finger and thumb in place and put the heel of your right hand between them. Right, now set your left hand over the right and interlock your fingers. Keep your arms straight and use only the heels of your hands to begin compressions. Depress the chestbone about five centimeters."

This was difficult to estimate but I did the best I could and Muraki seemed satisfied by my effort. Extremely hasseled but satisfied.

"Perfect. Now relax and take your weight off of your hands. This will allow the chest to expand properly. I'm going to begin the mouth-to-mouth. I'll need you to count out the five compressions and then I'll breathe."

I nodded vigorously and applied five swift chest compressions, sounding them out as I did. Following the fifth compression, Muraki tilted Ukyou's jaw back, one hand beneath her chin the other on her forehead. Ensuring that her mouth was only slightly open, he took a deep breath and placed his parted lips over hers, sealing the spaces between them tightly. His cheek was pressed up against her nose, to prevent air from escaping. I felt her chest rise beneath my hands as he exhaled deeply, causing her lungs to fill. He gave five full breaths within a ten second span.

"Compressions, now." He commanded as he came up for air. I quickly displaced five chest compressions and in rhythm Muraki expelled his own breath into the lungs of his fiancée; a human being whom he was trying to save. I'm not sure he considered the irony… he would have even spared a moment for it and that was the most telling aspect of all.

After thirty or so repititions of cardiopulmonary resuscitation's, Muraki suddenly withdrew his mouth from Ukyou's.

"Ukyou…" He whispered, fingers pressed against the cardio pulse in her neck. I elicited a delighted gasp as I felt her chest begin to rise and fall beneath my hands. I could sense her aura start to flare back into a dominance, though it was still terribly weak.

"Muraki… we really should get her to the hospital. Is there a back door to this place? We can sneak you out with her and-" I trailed off when I caught sight of the strange look he was giving me. "What's up…? Why are you staring at me like that?"

He didn't take his eye off of me, even as he wrapped Ukyou up in the blanket upon which she lay and hoisted her into his arms.

"Mr. Tsuzuki… how did you know?"

"How did I know what?" I asked distractedly, peering out through a gap in the curtains. I could see Saya and Hisoka down around the side of the house but none of the others were in my line of sight. I could only hope that the back entrance was being currently neglected…

"How did you know that I didn't do this?" He gestured gently with Ukyou as though I could possibly miss what 'this' was. I looked at him, puzzled.

"What do you mean, 'how do I know'?" I asked, snatching the cleaver up off of the carpet and tucking it into the waistband of my pants. The blade rested cool against the skin of my thigh. "I just know… I know you didn't do this…" I reached over and clutched at his upper arm. "Come on… I've got to get the two of you out of here…"

"You would… defy your friends and colleagues… to help me?"

"I just said so, didn't I?" I was starting to get impatient. "I care about you, Muraki… and I want to help Ukyou too." I grasped his wrist and looked up urgently into his face. "Please don't fight me, don't interragate me… let's just get out of here, okay?"

His lips landed soft and cool against my forehead and then his chin carressed the same area as he pressed himself as close to me as possible, whilst holding Ukyou.

"I love you," He whispered. I slipped my hand up and slunk it around his neck, trailing my fingers down over his thundering pulse. My cheek was pressed against the only part of his chest that I could reach and his heart beat steadily into my temple.

"I love you too."

I'd never said it before and I might have even imagined it then, my voice was so feathery. But there was no doubting that Muraki had heard it. He jerked away from me, lower lip awning open and his arms falling so limp that he nearly upended poor Ukyou on the floor. I dashed forward and swept my arm underneath her.

"Careful…" I cautioned. I could feel Muraki's eyes burning into my forehead, as though he were trying to sense the truth of my words by peering directly into my mind.

"Do you, Mr. Tsuzuki?" His lips came back together and his expression relaxed so that it returned to that cool, unconcerned façade he was so comfortable with. But there was something in his face; he held it deliberately poised, as if to restrain a more insistent emotion pushing urgently to free itself.

I gently clasped my fist around the arm of Muraki's shirt and lowered my eyes. His gaze was so intense, I couldn't bring myself to meet it.

"Yes I do," I said, goosebumps breaking across my flesh. "Since you disappeared after Kyoto… I kept thinking about you." I remembered Wakaba's words, her feelings for Tatsumi and how they constantly lingered, no matter how hard she tried to ignore them. "You were always there, always in my head… and whenever I thought of you, you made me feel as though… I'm worth a little more than I ever thought I could be. You made me believe in myself, all because you could tell me to my face that I was beautiful." My heart thudded urgently against my chest and I could feel a strange burgeoning excitement swelling up within me; the same feeling I usually got after surviving a harrowing situation. Adrenaline. The sense that I was engaging in some daring act, something that would dramatically change me life the second it began. Cold and hot flushes pulsed through my skin as I reached up and nursed my cheek against his, my lips soft against his ear. "Being with you is so painful… because it makes me happy. And I know we can never have a normal relationship. The things you have done are too terrible and I'm no saint either. I want nothing more than to be able to put my arms around you and whisper all the sweet things I want to say but I know that's not going to happen because I can never entirely relax around you. I want to be able to grow old with you but that's not going to happen either. And I want to be able to love you without any inhibitions; to know that I can trust you and talk to you and be proud of what I feel for you but I can't have that either! We can never have what anyone else would expect out of a relationship… maybe we can't ever truly be happy. But you've been trying so hard… you haven't hurt anyone, or killed anyone… you've done exactly as I've asked and I've given you so little in return." He slid his cheek up against mine, breath warm against my skin. "I can't justify my feelings for you. Nothing I can say will make it right. But I do love you. And I know you love me. And the fact that I can never trust you, makes me all the more wild for every little touch, every kiss… that I'll still want to escape from you the moment we make love. I'm crazy for that, Muraki. To be your victim, for ever after."

"So, where do we go with this?" Muraki asked. He sounded breathless and his cheeks were slightly pink. My body was aching with my sudden, palpable want of him. I was so excited my body was trembling all over but I hadn't made it this far by being a weak man.

So instead of acting out all those wanton desires, I put my arm around his neck and squeezed him briefly. "Wherever it takes us." I replied and I lay my lips against the side of his face. "I'm preparing to meet you half way… but I need you to keep trying for me. Not to hurt anyone else. You do and I walk; no argument."

"Of course." He said and he returned the kiss to my temple. "Mr. Tsuzuki… we'll talk about this later. I look forward to it with great anticipation." He smiled at me in that familiar teasing manner I was so accustomed to. "But for now… we should get out of here. The sooner we get Ukyou to the hospital the better."

"That's a very good point…" I said, a plan of action forming in my mind. I whipped my phone out of my pocket and quickly punched in a number.

Ichibana picked up after the fourth ring.

"- and only light on ze 'eat or ze sauce vill separate. Ye don't vant ze skin ta wrinkle. Ah, guttentaag again, Tsuzuki. Sorry 'bout that maat, just tellin' these bozo's 'ow ta make a decent chicken dish. Ye Japs never cook yer food long enough. Yer so impatient… Anyway, what can I do fer ye? More beastie trouble?"

"Actually, I'm in Nagoya now. I'm with Muraki." I explained, casting another nervous glance out the window. Hisoka was no longer standing near the front… had he doubled around the back way?

"And ye want me ta come film the momentous occasion fer pure posterity purposes?" The djinni enquired in a cheeky tone. I felt my face redden.

"No, of course not! I'm in a bit of a pinch though."

"For a change."

"You don't have to tell me. Listen… could you please come here and lend me a hand?"

Ichibana mused on this for a moment.

"Well…" He drawled. "It's not really in my parameters to follow an order from ye, baby doll. Blondie's the one done got the collar round me neck after all."

Cold sweat was quite literally beading on my neck as I slammed the bedroom door shut and braced my shoulder against it. Couldn't be too careful.

"I'm not giving you an order!" I explained, exasperated. Muraki looked a mixture of quietly amused and concerned, in a rather dignified sort of way. "I'm asking you as a friend… please, I wouldn't even think of asking for your help again if it wasn't an emergency!"

"I dare say, I think ye would." Ichibana stated but didn't seemed annoyed in the least. "A'right. I'll lend ye me resources. Be over in a jiffy." He paused, considering what he'd just said. "What do ye 'umans mean by that, anyway? People always seem ta be 'comin' back in a jiffy'… Do ye suppose it's some kind of lingerie?"

I tried not to grind my teeth too loudly. "For the love of God, Ichibana! It means quite literally, a second. And quite literally, I need you here in a second! Please!" I remembered he didn't have to do this for me, so I tried not to exorcise too much authority for fear he might tell me exactly where I could stick it.

"Christ almighty, would ye lax out a bit?" The djinni said coolly. "Bad 'nough I gotta put up with Blondie snappin' at me if I so much as sniff, without ye hoppin' on the bad turn bandwagon and given' me what for! I'm in a delicate condition and I've already stretched myself thin today. Last thing I need's undue stress."

"I'm not stressed!" I screamed down the phone. "And what do you mean 'delicate'? No offense Ichibana but you're about as delicate as a bull elephant!"

"I certainly hope that's not a thinly veiled back handed comment concerning my weight!" Ichibana snapped back, tartly. "By delicate I mean pregnant! That would be where all the extra cushioning's coming from, dummkopf!"

I nearly dropped the phone. "You're pregnant!?" I squealed, my voice stretching out into a sustained soprano pitch. "How the fuck did that happen?"

"Well… the fuck was for the most part responsible. Ye answered yer own question, maat." I could just see the djinni rolling his eyes. "Mein gott, I mean, I know you're inexperienced and all that but I guess I kinda took fer granted that ye knew where babies came from."

My face flushed all the way down to the lobes of my ears, which amused Muraki to no end.

"Babies come from women!" I growled, taking another peek out the window. Hisoka was back beside Saya again but he was pointing at his watch and gesturing urgently towards the house. We didn't have much time. "You're not a woman!"

"No, I am djinni." He explained carefully, as though educating a particularly dimwitted child. "And djinni are quite lovely in that we are sexually superior. Androgynous, in our natural state, we can adopt either male or female genita-look, that ain't the point. The point is, I'm pregnant. Pregnant. Which means I ain't just watchin' out fer me own skin anymore, y'know?"

"I understand… Ichibana, it's okay. If I'd known…"

BAMPF.

Ichibana had appeared in front of me and he was hanging up the phone and slipping it into his pocket. "I'll help ya out, maat." He said, waving my protests away with an empress like gesture. "I just wanted ya te know that I gotta take it easy. Specially after all the excitement of this mornin'. Hey now." He went towards Muraki, hand outstretched. "Ye must be Mad-Eye. Nice ta meet ya, toots."

Muraki loosed one arm from around Ukyou's still form to give the djinni's hand a perfunctory shake. He looked thoroughly astonished that anyone could refer to him as 'toots.'

"Pleasure." The doctor said. And I wagered it was from the way that his visible eye roved up and down the djinni's figure. "And you are?"

"Names Ichibana of the Jann." Said the djinni, thrusting his thumb up against his chest. "Currently in the service of one blondie; Yutaka Watari." He fluttered his eyelashes temptingly at Muraki. "Ye know, it's like I always said. All the good ones are either taken, homicidal maniacs or hard fer Tsuzuki… djinni can't catch a break round 'ere."

"I don't think you've ever said that," I mumbled, hanging my own phone and slipping it away. "So… 'bout this favor…"

Ichibana was sniffing the air, distracted.

"Smells like death and sex in 'ere." He murmured, pointed ears twitching slightly. "Two things I done norm'ly like but…" His eyes fell on me and though outwardly calm, something seemed to be stirring inside. "Yer favor, doll?"

"See this woman?" I gestured to Muraki to come forwards with Ukyou still swathed protectively in his arm. She seemed to be stirring slightly, her fingers twitching against his shirtfront. "We need you to take her."

The djinni's face lit up. "All right, free girls!" Though about the same size as Ukyou, he managed to capably transfer her weight into his arms and hold her as though she weighed barely a thing. He beamed around at us. "And it ain't even my birthday. What's the special occasion?"

"She's my fiancée." Muraki growled, his eye narrowing with deep dislike. "And she's already been through Hell enough, do don't try anything funny."

Ichibana sneered back at him. "As if I would. I don't get me jollies the way some do."

Muraki scowled and took a step towards the djinni, who though pregnant didn't back off. I got between them, hands extended because they looked like they were about to launch themselves at one another. "Enough." I insisted, giving them both a stern look. "Ichibana; I'd be very grateful if you could take Ukyou to the hospital. She needs to be treated urgently."

"What happened t' er?" The djinni asked, looking down into Ukyou's slumbering features and then, almost as though it had just occurred to him to do so, gazed up to take in the blood painted sygil. His pupils dilated; entire body stiffening. "That… bastard." He spat, spotting the same connection that I had. "But what's she got ta do with this…?"

I put my hand on the djinni's shoulder. "That, we have to figure out later. But right now, she needs immediate attention."

"Right!" The djinni enthused, looking enthusiastic and obedient. "Any hospital in particular?"

"Tokyo General Hospital." Muraki said, who was picking something off of the stained bedsheets upon which Ukyou had been lying. Whatever it was, he pocketed it between the folds of his white, neatly creased handkerchief. "Once I return, I'll tend to her myself."

The djinni nodded and then remained in place, looking back and forth between us as though awaiting additional orders. I blinked back at him, equally clueless.

"The polar caps are melting…" Muraki remarked after this dragged on for a minute or so.

Ichibana glared at him from the corner of his eye but thankfully didn't give him cheek. "Is that all ye called me up fer?"

I nodded, concerned. "I would have done it myself but… I gotta help Muraki… Sorry to inconvenience you."

"Never an inconvenience fer you and certainly not an inconvenience ta help a lady." The djinni insisted. He turned to Muraki, red eyes flashing slightly. "Doktor, I'll help ye 'cos o' my doll 'ere, Mad-Eye but I 'ear ye made more trouble for him… ye 'urt 'im in any way 'e don't like… I'll do in a day the job these Ministry Bozo's couldn't do in two years. Capishe?"

If anyone else had spoken to Muraki this way, I would have questioned their sanity and will to live until the next day. But having seen Ichibana's powers demonstrated only hours earlier, I didn't doubt that he could give Muraki a definite run for his money. If anything.

I expected Muraki to laugh, or sneer at least but to his credit the doctor only nodded congenially. "And I would certainly deserve it, djinni." He dipped his chin down in a stout bow. "I would thankyou to take good care of my fiancée."

Ichibana smiled and gave a little mock salute before spinning int a mid air spiral, that sucked both him and Ukyou into the transfigural vortex. I turned to Muraki with an urgent expression.

"For future reference, try and be nicer to Ichibana. He may not look it but he's really quite strong. If you're nice to him, he'll be a good friend."

Muraki seemed severely unimpressed. "He's Mr. Watari's summons then?"

"Not exactly… Suzaku is a summons, whereas Ichibana is a djinni. And Ichibana would never say it out loud, but when it comes to Watari he's loyal to a fault. Think he'd walk across broken glass if Watari asked him to. … Not without comlaining mind."

"Is Ukyou in good hands?" Muraki asked worriedly. I put my hand gently on his inside elbow.

"The best. And I'm sure he would brag about it as well. …Now, we'd best hurry ourselves. I'll need to draw a little blood."

Muraki didn't hesitate. Drawing his sleeve up, he used his sharp nails to serrate the pale skin of his wrist, drawing a few drops of blood. He held it out for my inspection.

"Is this enough?"

I whipped a fuda out of my pocket. "That's perfect." I said, swiping the face of the paper over the graze, imbedding Muraki's essence. I used my fingernail to write the spell symbols across the blank surface, muttering the verbal instructions as I did. When I'd finished, I turned my face back up towards Muraki's.

"I'm using this fuda to create an illusion. I'll use it to draw the other Guardians away, that'll give you time to escape in the car."

Muraki stared at me for a very, very long time.

"What?"

"If we were concerned with getting me out of here as soon as possible, couldn't I have gone with your friend the djinni?" He said, gesturing at the empty place Ichibana had previously occupied. "Or better yet; why can't I just teleport out of here with you?"

"Because side-by-side teleportion is impossible for Guardians!" I snapped, hands on my hips. "And Ichibana has already done enough for me today! Teleportation is physically draining and he's pregnant! Besides…" I added bashfully. "I thought you wouldn't want to leave your car here."

"I can't believe you're going to all this trouble for me." Muraki's smile made my heart loop but I tried not to let it show. I may have admitted a few things to him but damned if I would make life easy for him, just because he knew how strong my feelings were!

"Don't be so presumptious." I said, sticking my nose in the air. "I'm saving my own butt too, don't forget. You're not the only one with his hand caught in the cookie jar at the moment."

Muraki chuckled, his hand working a circle into my lower back. "Getting hold of the sweeter things in life is always the most challenging. And the most fraught with danger." He said, wearily, as though this were a game he wished were long over. "I soon grow tired of all this skulking about."

"Yes, well, I'm afraid you'll just have to skulk about for a little while longer." I established insensitively, hurling the fuda into the air and uttering the complex construction spell. As the paper returned to face height, it lit up and from it formed an illusion that was identical to Muraki in every way. Except there appeared to be nothing going on behind the eyes.

"Handsome fellow." Muraki remarked, walking in a circle around his doppelganger. "But I doubt our friends outside are going to be fooled by him. They know your abilities after all. And it doesn't have much of a personality does it?"

"All it has to do is run." I explained, running my hand up the back of Muraki's neck and teasing the longer strands of hair between my fingers. "If the others chase it long enough, you'll have enough time to get to your car and take off. And then I'll… well, I guess I'll just wing it." I finished uncertainly, sliding a second fuda out of my inside jacket pocket and trawling my finger across it a second time, reciting the animation mantra. When the symbols had been sufficiently enfused, I held it up to the Doppelganger's face and brought it down before its blank expression, causing the eyes to flicker as it acquired a direct connection to me, that would enable me some control over its' actions. I hadn't done this particular spell very often; something about it just didn't sit right with me morally. Usually I would use the doppelganger as a symbol, to represent rather than to act. But I hadn't exactly been at my moral best during those times, so this was hardly another notch on my bad vibes belt.

"You contain the essence of Kazutaka Muraki," I told the double, the eye of which had come to focus on me with an astute obedience I know the true Muraki would never show. "Act as he would but in no way whatsoever, will you harm those that pursue you. Lure them to the West. Your duration time is… ten minutes." After the duration time of a spell elapsed, the spell effect would disperse and the other Guardians would realize they had been tricked and return to Ukyou's house. I was counting on them to assume that it was Muraki responsible for this little piece of skullduggery. I figured ten minutes would get them far away enough and Muraki would be driving off in the opposite direction. "Are my instructions clear?"

The doppelganger nodded and the true Muraki turned to me with a raised brow, quite obviously amused and strangely pleased by the compliance of his double.

"Well, well, well… I can't say it's entirely unappealing to see you command me in such a manner, Mr. Tsuzuki. Perhaps one day you shall speak to me as such." He mused, with a thoughtful deviance. I ignored him and directed the double towards the window.

"Go now." I instructed and reached out to tug the window open. "Move fast. Behave as Kazutaka Muraki would!"

The doppelganger shot out the window and vaulted high into the air, white coat flapping around his body like the wings of an overgrown dove. I heard a startled cry herald his appearance almost immediately.

"There he is!" Saya's voice and then a formidable displacement of energy as she shot a spell at the airborn doppelganger. Muraki's brows shot up into his forehead.

"They're certainly not holding anything back, are they?" He observed, seeming rather pleased that he had not made his exit without this distraction. I looked over my shoulder at him, staying out of sight from the window.

"Gee, I wonder why?"

He smirked deviously at me.

"Come play, Guardians!" The doppelganger was taunting, sounding every bit like the Muraki from which its' essence had been drawn. Another large displacement of force and the double was laughing. "That's all you have, boy? Memories of that night bringing out the tender side of you? I didn't know you cared…"

"He's running! The cowardly piece of shit is takin' off!" Terazuma. Furious, for a change. "Tsuzuki?! Where the Hell are you?!"

"He must still be inside!" Hisoka this time and he sounded panicked. "I knew he'd do something to him if he went in alone! I'll go check on him!"

"Like Hell you will! We need your offensive skills, kid!" Terazuma's voice was loud, bossy and undeniably persuasive. He may have been a pain in the ass but he knew how to best interpret a bad situation. "We've gotta contain him before he gets away and I need your skills to do it! He hasn't got Tsuzuki, so he's still inside the house! He'll be fine until we've got this psycho under control! Now shift your ass, he's heading West!"

"Come on," I ordered, grabbing Muraki around the wrist and leading him out of the blood splattered room and into the hallway, tugging him impatiently along behind me. In the living room, I risked a glance out the window and I could see my fellow Guardians already diminished to faint shapes in the distance, spell discharge lighting the sky. It was a secluded area fortunately, with not many people around for miles and I'd had the foresight to send the doppelganger inland; where there were no dwellings.

"Let's get going." I said, turning around to usher Muraki out the back door and found myself wrapped up in his arms, his cool lips upon mine. I surrendered for a moment, pressing the palms of my hands against his cheeks and closing my eyes, enjoying the unfamiliar intimacy.

"Thankyou." Muraki said as we separated and for the first time I saw the sincerity of his gratitude in his eye. This was a first. Muraki's emotions never ever seemed to reach his eyes. I was touched. "After… everything… you know…"

I realized he was ashamed of his loss of control in the bedroom and this was not the limit of his responsibility towards me. He had done a lot to me. He knew that. He was grateful that I was a better person than he was.

I stroked his face and ran my fingers down over his lips, giving him a small smile. I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say.

"Come on," I finally said, taking his hand in mine and leading him towards the rear of the house. There would be time to talk later. Who knew how long? The future seemed so broad to me now and for the first time in my life, I looked towards it with a genuinely positive perspective. Things were changing. And I was part of that change for once.

I swung open the back door and Muraki and I embraced briefly beneath the frame, bathed in the failing light of the afternoon.

"I have to stay here. I'll come see you later. Tonight." I promised and as our eyes met, I couldn't stall the little sliver of excitement that ran through me. "But first… when you get home, I have to warn you. There was a man there. A man in a blue coat who chased me with a cleaver. His name is Okiko Haruhi."

"Okiko Haruhi?" A crease formed between the lines of Muraki's brow. "He's a lodger… from one of the Guest wings of the manor. I met him this morning." He gripped my shoulders tightly. "You say he attacked you?"

I nodded. "Yeah… he was there with this angel; a necromancer. Haruhi killed the Blank Faced Specters you set in place there." Muraki groaned, apparently appalled. "He said… well, I'll explain it later. My point is, when you get home, throw up every defense you possibly can. If that guy is a true lodger, then you've got to get him out of the grounds ASAP. He's not just a cleaver-weilding maniac, though you'd think that would be enough, wouldn't you? He has Paranormal powers and something inside of him called a Popo Bawa that shares his body, the same way Saagatanasu shared mine." No, not quite the same. Their relationship appeared to be based upon a more equalized partnership, whereas Saagatanasu had taken control of my body and consciousness entirely.

"Saagatana-who? Wait… did you say Popo Bawa?" Muraki looked horrified. "Are you positive that's what's inside of him?"

I nodded, wincing as he clenched my arms a little too tightly. "Yeah, that's right. Ease up, that hurts." He relaxed his grip a little but his face remained deeply troubled. "But that's not all. I don't know about the Popo Bawa but I found out only recently that Okiko Haruhi was Watari's godfather and he… well, he kidnapped and raped Watari and his older sister when they were children." Muraki continued to look more and more troubled.

"When they were children?" He whispered.

"He was a pedophile." The words from Muraki's manor suddenly spun through my mind for some reason. Suffer the Children to come unto me. "Come to think of it… that's probably why the Popo Bawa came to him in the first place… anyway, put the protections around your manor again. But no stupid monsters or spectars or creepy snake eyed ghouls, okay?"

He looked at me oddly.

"I only set in place the Blank Faced Spectars." He established, eyebrows creasing down even further. "There were no other creatures… I haven't the power for anything too elaborate. Not at the moment, anyway. Especially not… snake eyed ghouls." He finished with a funny sort of grimace. My body flushed cold.

"Yes. Well, someone else was having quite the party whilst you were out of the state." I established, feeling exhaustion finally start to creep over me. I had sustained a lot of injuries that day, done a lot of running around and lost a lot of blood. I needed to rest quite badly. "Just… do me a favor and put up some better protection around your joint, okay? You should have enough of my essence now to lend you a hand."

"Mr. Tsuzuki… how kind of you to concern yourself with my safety." Muraki purred, running his fingers along the side of my face as he leered at me. I knocked his fingers away impatiently.

"Kind, nothing! I'm worred about getting beat up again the next time I drop by! Now get going. It's been a long day and I won't be able to relax until I see your tail-lights at the far end of the road."

He nodded and swiftly brushed his mouth against mine. "Come see me tonight?"

"I said I would." I replied gruffly, giving him a little push in the shoulders. "Go on. My spell won't hold much longer."

Muraki turned and stepped down over the the stoop onto the gravel pathway below. I was just starting to relax, when I registered something move from beneath my line of sight. Where the light hit the window sill to the left of Muraki's head, a shadow had formed across the ground, arching towards the doctors foot. I saw it significantly twitch.

"NO!" I screamed as the darkness broke open.

From stem to stern, Muraki's torso tore in two and something erupted up and out through the blood that gushed hot and wet from the grisly wound. A black blade, larger than a man and entirely intangible, made of smoke or shade rather than true steel. It had punctured through Muraki's ribcage, sending shards of bone catapaulting into the wall behind him. The red of his blood was so bright… it seared against my flesh and soaked my body in a whiplash, right down the center of my chest. The trail curved up my face, blotted out one eye and every blink dripped tears of crimson.

Muraki's face showed only the barest hint of pain and then relaxed as he turned to meet my eyes, with an expression that simply said that he had expected no less.

His mouth formed my name. His face suddenly contorted and his mouth jerked open like a ventriloquest dummies, a spurt of blood gushing out. He was dying; dying again, blood dribbling down his chin, blood pooling around his body as he collapsed to the ground, the whisp of blade sliding haphazardly out of his body. Like a barbed hook, inserted beneath skin, it tore him anew, serrating his flesh, squirting blood in the reverse pattern across the door through which we had just left.

Muraki looked up at me, hands squeezed tight about his center and a very slight smile managing to peel open across his lips. Though normally pale, the soft columns were now stained pink from the steady river of vitae that oozed down from deep beneath his throat.

I had seen this all before; the very same image I had met face to face with in the depths of the University of Kyoto. But it was not I that had struck this blow of death, not I that wished him die beneath my hand, not now, not now, no… couldn't be now…

Tatsumi… one hand extended, commanding the shadow came forth from where the evening sun hit the archway of the door. His skin pale, sweat streaming down his extremeties and eyes half lidded. Bandages whipped around his body though there was no wind. Wakaba was standing behind him, her eyes tearing and one delicate hand quavering over her mouth.

"No…" I barely heard the word come out of my mouth. "Muraki…"

His one true eye had gone as glassy as the mechanical orb in his right socket and though the world had surely ended, the ghost of a smile lingered on his face, the memory of my love divulged unsurpassed, even in the passing of life itself.

-EC-

1: A quote by Saint Augustine in the Latin, intended to deny an illusion. " Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."

2: (Aki's Spell translation, also in the Latin) "Hold it in, hold it tight. Contain! Contain!"

3: Kunoichi: Female Ninja. Lured their victims by means of trickery and seduction, very much like a djinni.

4: Yes, this was indeed a Red Vs Blue reference.

-EC-

Watari: Hey, Muraki's dead! All right! This is the best Halloween present a guy could ever ask for!

Muraki: Oh, shut up you little zealot. Is it any wonder your godfather wants to cut you into tiny bits with a cleaver?

Watari: … That's not half as funny as you dying.

Muraki: My dying isn't funny! And I'm not dead! … Least I don't think I'm dead. Wouldn't make much sense considering the next chapter is the MuTsu lemon. Finally.

Count: It could be a double whammy of necrophilia loving, if you know what I mean…?

Tsuzuki: Oh gross. Like having sex with Muraki isn't going to be bad enough without those sorts of images, Count.

Muraki: (curtly) I beg your pardon but… what was that remark about making love with me being bad?

Hickock: (Quickly) Whoo boy, was that a long chapter! And so revealing too!

Tsuzuki: WAAAH, NaPap! You're turning me into a slut-bunny!

Hickock: I most certainly am not! And my name is Hickock now! No more NaPap!

Watari: Well… only one more update now and you'll have to bid farewell to your chastity status forever, Tsuzuki!

Tsuzuki: I don't wanna! I'm scared!

Oriya: Now, now, there's no reason to be scared. (Pats Tsuzuki comfortingly on the back) Giving yourself to someone for the first time can be at the same time frightening and exciting but if you give yourself over to it, then I'm sure you'll find that it's not nearly as terrifying as you think. I mean, Yutaka threw himself right into it with me and it was his first time.

All: (Snort with laughter)

Oriya: (Oblivious) What?

Count: Um… considering that statement couldn't possibly be less true, how do you suppose he had a daughter without having had sex before?

Oriya: … It's amazing what science can do these days.

Watari: Yeah! I'm a pure person through and through! So you got no reason to be worried Tsuzuki! It's perfectly all right to wait for the right person.

Tsuzuki: Like you did with Oriya?

All: (Stifle laughter into various office supplies)

Watari: … (Looks as though he is going to say something but then stops and falls into silence again) …. Um… (Thinks some more) … Yes.

Oriya: (Smiles obliviously as he pats Watari's head) There, you see, Mr. Tsuzuki? What do you have to lose besides your virginity? It's time to say goodbye to Mr. Hymen.

Muraki: You're killing my accountant?!

All: …

Tatsumi: Not to quibble, Hickock but that joke was totally wasted considering that Tsuzuki is a boy and doesn't actually have a hymen.

Hickock: Oh shut up. You didn't even realize that Wakaba was in love with you!

Tatsumi: Well Tsuzuki didn't realize I was in love with him!

Count: He doesn't realize I'm in love with him either.

All: (Repeat of the smothered laughter)

Count: Genuinely confused) I say… what's so funny?

Tsuzuki: You're all disgusting, sex obsessed people! I'm making a push for sustained chastity and will fight for the right of hand holding over ass grabbing!

Muraki: Dear God in Heaven, NO!

Konoe: Bravo, Tsuzuki! You've finally got your head on straight.

Tatsumi: Chief? When did you turn up?

Saki: (Proudly) I've got my head on straight.

Oriya: Yes… I still wonder about that…

Konoe: Though I've got to say… this is certainly a damn sight removed from that case you took on with the dancing girl… what was her name…?

Tsuzuki: Oh, who remembers anymore?

Hisoka: Her name was Hisae.

Tsuzuki: (Jumps) Mother-fu--!

Watari: Hurray! The whole gangs here! ♥

Konoe: That's right… Hisae. Remember I told you back then that we discourage our Guardians from Hanky panky?

Oriya: (Snorts with laughter) Hanky-panky?

Tatsumi: That seems to be no problem, boss because if we're to go by what I've heard today, everyone here is still a virgin.

Muraki: (Looking at Tsuzuki) What's this about some dancing girl?

Tsuzuki: (Staring off into the distance dreamily) Lit from within and by spotlight the eastern rose of Eden, dressed in white dances-

Muraki: Stop that happy singing at once you little tart! How dare you fool around with some girl and then profess to love me! Why I should shave you bald and leave you out in the cold!

Tsuzuki: (Snaps back to reality) Excuse me but this was back before I even looked at you in a slightly romantic fashion! Back when you were a horrible murderous rampaging maniac, if I remember correctly. (Quickly) And it didn't happen!

Hisoka: Yes it did. You were swooning about for weeks afterwards, you silly old man!

Saki: Weren't you supposed to be gay, Tsuzuki?

Tsuzuki: Oh, who knows what they are in this genre?

Muraki: Where is this girl?! I will find her and destroy her!

Tsuzuki: She's already dead, so I wouldn't bother. And don't go giving me that look! (Nuzzles up to Muraki) It was just that one subplot… she meant nothing to me after the Saagatanasu arc.

Muraki: Oh yes, now where have I heard that before?

Watari: (Reassuringly) Just so you know, Oriya… I've never had it off with a dancing girl.

Oriya: Of course not. And even if anyone told me you had, I would stalwartly refuse to believe them.

Tsuzuki: Thanks a lot Mr. Konoe! Now look what you've done! And it's not like you can talk, chasing after that Akemi woman of Oriya's later in the story!

Hickock: (Urgently) The plot, Tsuzuki! Think of the plot you're ruining!

Konoe: (Ignorning her) I don't think a man who's currently dating a psychotic maniac-

Muraki: Former psychotic maniac. I'm taking classes.

Konoe: - has any right to lecture me about who I may or may not have relations with.

Watari: Are we talking about Ms. Aisubi?! You dirty old man! Having it off with a woman half your age-

Konoe: You can't talk! … Not that Oriya is a woman mind…

Oriya: (Still happily oblivious. What is he smoking today I wonder?)

Muraki: It's marijuana.

Oriya: No, it's an aromatic herb. Marijuana gives me leg tremors.

(All glance down at Oriya's nervously twitching leg and then stare suspiciously at Watari)

Watari: … He's much easier to deal with when he's stoned! … And I can take advantage of him without fear of refute too!

Tatsumi: … That's so insidious.

Watari: Hey, he got me drunk just so I would boff him.

Muraki: I can't imagine it would have taken a great deal of persuading…

Count: Touché. Maybe Wakaba should take a leaf from Mr. Mibu's book?

Tatsumi: (Blushes)

Muraki: Absolutely. Nothing a cheap hotel room and a pint of burbon couldn't fix. Might do you the world of good Mr. Tatsumi.

Tatsumi: (Still blushing) Oh would you be quiet?

Count: It seems like everyone is starting to get paired off around here, doesn't it? Watari is with Oriya-

Watari: (Hugging the stoned Oriya's arm to his chest as Oriya continues to stare off dazed into the distance)

Count: - my beloved Tsuzuki has found contentment in the arms of his … em, less than conventional partner Muraki-

Tsuzuki: (Trying to snuggle up to Muraki, who for once isn't having a bar of it)

Count: - Tatsumi is being favorably pursued by the sweet and vivacious much younger woman, Kanuuki Wakaba-

Tatsumi: (Tries and fails to look haughty and uninterested)

Count: - Mr. Konoe will in the not too distant future be courting a lovely fair haired geisha-

Konoe: (Looks very content in this prospect)

Count: - and dear Ichibana has… well… we're not sure really who he has, now do we?

Ichibana: (From somewhere undisclosed) Oh, now that's nice.

Count: But alas, who does dear Hisoka have? And Mr. Terazuma? And me? Who do I have?

Oriya: Your blow up Tsuzuki-doll doesn't count, Count?

Count: (Seriously) No, I don't think so… Alas, it seems poor Hisoka, Terazuma and I are fated to be the only single people in this entire story.

Saki: A-hem.

Count: Ah yes and Saki has his blood curdling cough to keep him company but as for the rest of us… perhaps Terazuma might be paired up with Seki when we should have the good fortune to find her current location?

Watari: NO! Absolutely not! Seki is my daughter and only I get to decide what man she is allowed to be with! … And Oriya too but only because he's her pimp!

Tsuzuki: (Claps hands together gleefully) Ooh, ooh! I know! Why don't we pair Hisoka up with Saki! I mean, they look pretty much alike and they're sorta both stuck around the same age!

Hisoka: I don't want to be paired up with anyone!

Saki: And I'm not interested in boys! Pandora maybe, but not me! You can ask him when he comes out to have a chat sometime. Why not pair the boy up with Fujisawa? You know… Kira's current partner?

Hisoka: Christ… not that guy from St. Micheals? The one who said he wanted to-

Watari: Bugger you? Yes that would be the one. Nice guy, very cute. I have his number if you're interested?

Hisoka: I'm not interested! Why the Hell would I be interested in that? And why on earth do you have his number, Mr. Watari?!

Muraki: It's not obvious?

Watari: Shut up. Read chapter… whatever. Can't recall which chapter exactly right now but I didn't get his number the way you're thinking. (Hands number to the Count) Here. I hope you two are very happy together.

Count: Ooooh, yay! Love!

Hickock: Gotta love a happy ending, right folks? Well, hope you enjoyed the update and by joves, I would jolly well love some reviews old chomps! Make my bloody day it would! Don't know when I can get the next chapter up but stay stout in heart and I shall have it to you as quickly as I can! Got to run now, chaps! Off to bed and ready for another day at work tomorrow. Cheery pip! XD