A/N: WARNING! There is some vulgar language in this chapter, so be forewarned. It's only at the beginning of Hisoka's part, when a new character is introduced, but it's very slight.

"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.

On the way back to the hotel, Tsuzuki thought of what Muraki told him. Before now, before he met Muraki, even before he died, he couldn't ever imagine something like that happening to him, or even someone wanting to do that to him. It was just so abnormal…so disgusting.

He wished Hisoka were here.

Tsuzuki turned down Union Street, heading for the hotel he was staying at. It wasn't very far from the little café and it wouldn't be very hard for Muraki to find, but that was the only hotel in town; except for the bed and breakfast five minutes away, but that smelled like burnt coffee and wet dog. The Radisson smelled like the peppermints they had everywhere.

Tsuzuki shook his head; mind off of sweets, on task. There were a few things he had to investigate before he could make any solid conclusions.

The good thing about New London was that it was a little town surrounded by many magical places. There were many art galleries and cafés, little delis and high fashion boutiques, performing arts theatres and---best of all---book stores with extensive literature you couldn't find anywhere else. He just had to find them.

­­­­­­­­­­Tsuzuki entered the hotel and headed straight for the reception desk. No one was attending it so he rung the bell twice.

"One moment," said a voice under the desk. Tsuzuki frowned. The receptionist bumped their head on the underside of the desk, moaned, and then appeared. She was a little petite thing with a big fat, friendly smile, "How may I help you, Tsuzuki-san?"

What?! Tsuzuki flinched. "How do you know my name?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh!" wide went her big brown eyes, "I remembered your name when you first checked in."

"I didn't see you…you weren't there."

"I saw you!" Big smile, "It's not often we get foreign guests. It's very exciting. But, I apologize for scaring you, Tsuzuki-san---is that right? ---any guest at the Radisson Hotel is a very important guest. Especially one that can wield o-fuda, but I very much prefer the one in Niantic. It's called The Book Barn. It's huge. They sell used books but since you're looking for a rare copy they should have it. They might even have a book on the history of New London or about the power of the 12 shikigami. After that you can have coffee at this old lady's house. She sells it through her window, but its delicious stuff. Here are the directions to both places."

Tsuzuki was speechless. This girl was sending him for a loop; one who can wield o-fuda; the shikigami? What? But, her eyes were normal, no dilation. She didn't even smell funny; she couldn't be hypnotized…

"Who are you?"

"Um…My name is Barbara!"

"No, NO! You don't have to keep your cover. I'm a shinigami from Nagasaki. I'm conducting an investigation here in Connecticut. Can you help me?"

"Umm…" she said again, "we sell souvenirs at the gift shop…"

Tsuzuki frowned. What was this girl playing at, he couldn't figure it out. He looked at the yellow slip of paper she held out to him, then back to her eyes. Maybe he was hallucinating… "Thank you," he said, took the directions, and got out of that hotel as fast as he could.

X_X_X

"That man! Said that no one would ever be able to find me! How should I know where your little pu'y dog went off to? You should have kept a tight leash on 'im in the first place!"

Momo Voravuta went on and on. He ranted and raved about the crazy hack of a doctor. The man was insane, he reeked of blood, his feet stank, and he was too pale! Wherever he was he hoped it was hell! He hoped his cojones would freeze and fall off!

"He swore on his life's blood that no one would find me, even if I stepped into the damn police station and stripped down to my hairy handles."

"What were you hiding from?" Hisoka asked. He wasn't for tactic today and Voravuta's anger didn't make his mood any better.

"Not 'what;' 'who;' and that's none of your darn business."

"I think it is, since I know where you are."
"What are you going to do? Arrest me? I'll only post bail!"

"Trust me, Mr. Voravuta, you wouldn't be able to post bond at where I would take you." Hisoka stared Voravuta down until the man sighed, resignation seeping into ever muscle of his body.

"I give up. I'm tired," Voravuta sighed again, "I know what you are, Kurosaki-san…I know who you are."

Hisoka became ram rod straight on his feet.

"Your Tsuzuki-san's partner and Tsuzuki-san warned me again and again that if I continued to do what I was doing, then it would come back to bite me. Indeed, it has."

"What are you talking about?" Hisoka asked, "What is this about Tsuzuki?"

Voravuta looked at Hisoka in surprise, "you don't know? I thought he would have told you---maybe not about me---but about him. I don't know…" Voravuta looked into Hisoka's glaring eyes, "I have to start a few years back, to when I first met Tsuzuki-san…

"When I first met Tsuzuki-san, it was a complete coincidence. He wasn't looking for me at all and wouldn't have if I had kept my big mouth shut.

"At the time, I owned an independent shop, working as a cover for what I really sold there. See, I was in the black market business, magical items and things. What's worse, I sold to anyone who named the right price; Anyone. Even mortals. They were the best buyers of them all. What did I care if they got killed somewhere along the line 'cus they didn't use their merch' right?

"Anyways, he came up into my shop, all innocent. 'e was looking for a pastry dish I had displayed in the window. Just happened to ask to buy it, but the way he asked was the password to a special object I had. I mean really special, 'cus that thing was expensive as who knew what. It was pretty hard to come by too, so I was surprised when this pretty guy walked right into my shop and asked for it. "Bold" was what I thought, because he wasn't trying to hide his face at all.

"When I brought it out, the object, he took one look at it and turned white. I thought he was sick but when he asked me if I was a black market dealer I knew I was in deep. Figured he really was talking about buying the pastry dish... He bought it from me anyway and said that if I kept doing what I was doing it'd bite me in the butt later…"

"What was it that he bought?" Hisoka asked.

Voravuta paused, "The Anima Charm."

Hisoka frowned.

"That Anima Charm has the ability to hold anyone's soul for an indefinite time. There are Anima Charms that have held living souls for thousands of years. The hard part is getting inside to communicate with them. Even harder than that, is controlling them.

"See, when a soul is bound in an Anima Charm they become suspended, like in a worm hole while the body is completely operational; its soul is just in another place. It's hard to explain, but the point is that anyone can control the world if he has enough Anima Charms. It's fairly easy to place a soul in an Anima Charm. Just take a drop of their blood and boil it, and the charm, in a vat of pig's urine.

"I'm sure you're wondering 'what does this have to do with Tsuzuki-san.' Well, a couple of months later Muraki came to me with the same charm that Tsuzuki-san bought. I didn't question how he got it; didn't matter to me. Everything was all about money; 'cept when Muraki came back to me a couple days later. Said a whole bunch o' people would start looking for me and…I had to go into hiding for both of our safety..."

Hisoka frowned, "I still don't understand how the Anima Charm has any relevance to me or Tsuzuki."

Voravuta looked at Hisoka, exasperated, "Tsuzuki's soul is in the Anima Charm."

A/N: I must cut it off there. I hope it's not a cliffhanger…or maybe I do…Anyways, this is for you, Nagaku Tsuzuku Yami! It usually takes me weeks to write and upload each chappy, but here is the fourth! A few more to go! There's not going to be a sequel, but I'm a little sad that the story is almost over. (sigh) Well, lots-a-luv for sticking through to the end, everyone!