"This," the shinigami patted his coat pocket, "permits only me to go to New London. I'll write him a letter, explaining everything later." Tsuzuki turned and exited the manor house with Gushoshin, still gasping, but close at his heels.
"Oh, Kurosaki-san," Gushoshin mumbled, "Hurry."
Dear Hisoka,
I have meant to tell you this face to face, but the circumstances don't permit it. I am in North America by now, so do not come after me. I have told no what had happened on the cruise, and just in case know that I don't hold any grudge against you. That night, Muraki had somehow bound my powers within me without me knowing and you of all people know how useless I am without my powers, heh heh. Anyways, I must confront him and discover the price of them and what motive Muraki could possibly have in North America.
I wish you the best of luck Hisoka, and hope to see you again in the future.
Tsuzuki Asato
Hisoka read the letter once over, and then one more time just to make sure that he didn't misread anything in the letter. Tsuzuki said, quite clearly, that he was going to North America. If only he had slipped, and mistakenly left a clue of his exact location. Could it even be possible he could use his ability to locate Tsuzuki? Or was there a spell he could use?
Hisoka tucked the letter into his pocket neatly. All that day, and the next, he went through the motions of working, trying to think of some way he could figure out where Tsuzuki could have possibly sent the letter from. There had to be a way to find a person under a classified alias; and surely Chief Kenoe wouldn't let Tsuzuki leave without Hisoka? They were a team. As hard as it was to admit, Hisoka was sure they were like…peanut butter and jelly is how Americans would put it.
Hisoka was sure now that Tsuzuki didn't want to be found either. None of the books he read held spell for finding a person without a remnant of their physical being. The words in the letter were Tsuzuki's, but no one could have written it because nothing had a connection to it. To this day, Tsuzuki apparent intelligence sends him reeling sometimes, and not in a good way. Every time Tsuzuki used a smidgeon of his brain, it meant that there was something really wrong. Really wrong.
X_X_X
Hisoka was in Watari's lab when he knew exactly what to do. He didn't know why he never thought of it before. Watari was performing, yet again, the essence tracking spell, which, if Tsuzuki had written the letter himself, would have led Hisoka directly to him. Hisoka theorized that if he could sense Tsuzuki's emotions when he wrote the letter, then maybe they'd come up with something.
The door opened suddenly, and Hisoka felt his chest clench. Looking over Watari's shoulder he saw Tatsumi hesitate for a fraction of a second; but why would Tatsumi be nervous?
"Not now," Watari said, "Hisoka-chan and I are busy."
Tatsumi stepped up to a table and placed a folder of documents on top. Then he said something Hisoka didn't think Tatsumi would say. "You won't find him."
Watari snapped his head up. Hisoka's jaw was frozen shut.
"Momo Voravuta. Our contact says Kazutaka Muraki is hiding him." Watari nodded, and Tatsumi left.
But, Hisoka knew now, what he had to do. Hisoka had to go after him, and get Tsuzuki's whereabouts out of him. If only he could read thoughts instead of emotions.
Watari went back to the spell, but Hisoka excused himself and left. His mind was racing. Now that he knew how to locate Tsuzuki, he couldn't stand still and do nothing. He must act.
X_X_X
Conference Room
"This week Saya and Yuma are going to be our resident shinigami this week," Chief Kenoe nodded to the two shinigami women, "As they have never resided with us before, I want Hisoka Kurosaki to give them the official tour, and—,"
"But!"
"AND, accompany them to their errands."
"Chief," Hisoka protested, "I have case work that's overdue."
"No he doesn't," Tatsumi countered, "he's just trying to find Tsuzuki, and Watari is helping him."
Everyone around the table fell silent. Eyes moved between the Chief, Hisoka, Watari, and Tsuzuki.
"How do you know this, Tatsumi?" Chief Kenoe asked.
"I say Hisoka-san and Watari-san performing a tracking spell in the lab when I walked in to give Watari-san the files he had requested."
"But we could have been tracking anything!" Hisoka slammed his fist on the table.
"I heard you whispering about America before I entered," Tatsumi replied coolly.
"That's not true!"
Tatsumi turned to Chief Kenoe, clearly expecting some sort of judgment to be passed. Chief Kenoe massaged his temples, and then looked at his subordinates. He said, "I will deal with this Tsuzuki business later. Right now there's some dead body business that needs to be dealt with." And that was the end of it.
Hisoka half listened to the different cases. None were given to him, so apparently Saya and Yuma were there to replace he and Tsuzuki. His chest clenched at the thought. Why did Tsuzuki go to America without him? He would be a sitting duck against Muraki if they ever crossed paths. Hisoka needed to find Tsuzuki quick, or section protocol would be the least of their worries.
X_X_X
After Conference; Chief Kenoe's office
Hisoka and Watari stood before Chief Kenoe's desk. They stood straight as flag poles, their faces devoid of emotion. They knew that there was every chance their shinigami powers would be stripped from them, and that their souls would be laid to rest. Neither Hisoka, nor Watari wanted anything like that to happen. They had too many answers resting on their work as shinigamis.
The door opened and Chief Kenoe appeared in front of them---with someone else.
The Count.
X_X_X
New London
Tsuzuki's breathe rose and obscured his sight for odd moments. The cold bit his nose, and scraped across his cheeks. He couldn't feel his toes. Like every small town on the map, no one ever told you if there was something you had to take with you to survive. For this town it was a thick coat, scarf, ear muffs, and boots. As unnaturally unnatural as it was, winter norm for this town was a temperature in the negative C's. In Tsuzuki's opinion, the tour pamphlet should have had a warning label slapped on the front. The shinigami couldn't think of anyone who would want to vacation in this cold little town. Except for Muraki.
Tsuzuki reached the intersection of State and Bank, and turned left onto Bank Street. The sidewalks were narrow on both sides, and the historic buildings rose up like little Hisokas, ready to berate him for going after Muraki by himself. Tsuzuki pushed that thought to the back of his mind. He had more important things to turn his attention to; like the little corner deli across the street, and the coffee shop not farther down with all the cakes displayed in the window. Maybe this town wasn't so bad after all, concluded Tsuzuki, and crossed the street to the coffee shop.
The interior of the coffee shop was stifling and smelled strongly of roasting coffee beans and cake batter; certainly a very nice smell. The place had a surreal quality to it, and everywhere Tsuzuki looked, it felt like he was looking through a veil he didn't know he was wearing. Time was of no relevance here, Tsuzuki concluded; the two substances to survive existed in this single, beautiful place.
"…Coffee and cake! Come get your coffee and cake!"
Tsuzuki swung his gaze to the man behind the counter. He was a tall and lanky man, with grey hair, yet he was young. His steely blue eye's glittered with the richness of innocence but in no way did they give him an evil appearance.
Tsuzuki approached the counter; he resolved to buy three slices of angel food cake, one loaf of coffee cake, one slice of double chocolate brownie mousse cake, and no more. The young teller smiled and retrieved Tsuzuki's order. Tsuzuki paid for the cakes and slipped the bag on to his arm. When he looked up he saw another slice of angel food cake on a plate, ready to be eaten.
"It's on the house," the clerk said.
Tsuzuki's eyes lit up and he smiled, "Thank you!" He took the plate and carried it to the back of the café. He sat at the bay window, and watched the ocean moved as he ate his cake piece by piece. Such an amazing force of nature…
"Beautiful view; an amazing force of nature, water is."
Tsuzuki froze and glanced to his left. There he sat nonchalantly. Muraki shifted his gaze.
"Don't you think so, Tsuzuki-san?"
Tsuzuki's first instinct was to get up and run, then get up and prepare to fight, then he remembered why he was halfway across the world in the first place: the have cake and tea with this demon and discuss the wondrous qualities of the oceans. Not!
"How did you find me?" Tsuzuki asked.
Muraki smirked, "come now. Certainly you have a much more important question to ask me…like…"
"What did you do to me?" Tsuzuki finally asked.
Muraki didn't answer immediately. He sat forward in his chair, placed his elbows on his knees, and steeple his fingers under his chin. For an odd moment Tsuzuki saw what Muraki would look like if he wasn't an evil doctor; quite beautiful actually, even with his mechanical, mismatched eye. Then the spell broke, and Muraki looked like his evil, conniving, manipulative, bastard self again.
"I didn't think you'd ask that question either," Muraki said, "ask me something else."
"No," Tsuzuki replied, "tell me how you took my power."
Muraki looked at the shinigami, and then laughed. It was a mirthless laugh that filled the entire café with a relentless chill. The place lost its surreal quality, and Tsuzuki shivered.
"Do you really want to know? I promise you won't like the answer. Answers can be a bane, you know," When Tsuzuki didn't decline, Muraki continued, "several months back; I came upon an old acquaintance of mine. He owed me a few favors and at the time I knew that I was about to take a cruise and would need his assistance. Now that you've succumbed to a mere bet, Tsuzuki, I can say with pride that I never thought I could beat you on the Elizabeth. My acquaintance told me that if I somehow acquired some of your existence I could possess a certain power over you. Who knew I'd enjoy it this much? The one catch was that you had to give it to me willingly, and that was the hardest part of the plan. After I won the bet…you know the rest."
Tsuzuki frowned, "but---I don't."
Muraki smirked. He leaned into Tsuzuki provocatively and whispered in his ear. Tsuzuki's eyes widened; he couldn't breathe.
A/N: Finally…the good stuff! This story is almost over, I've gotten to the 'how' Muraki got Tsuzuki's powers; now I'll just let you guys simmer in your theories…see you soon! .