Chapter 9

It started out as a niggling feeling in the back of his mind, a sort of 'did I leave the dog out?' kind of feeling, and as it grew stronger and more persistent, Hisoka knew that it was time to leave. He stood up abruptly, surprising Kinshasa-san; she let out a startled "Oh!"

"I'm sorry," Hisoka apologised, "but I just realized that I'm late meeting my friends; your story was too fascinating, and I stayed too long." He favoured her with a small smile, which she returned.

"Well I… Oh!" Suddenly she was the one jumping to her feet. "I nearly forgot!" with that, she hurried from the room.

Hisoka stood where he was, barely resisting the urge to fidget. The niggling feeling was getting worse, accompanied by the growing understanding that something was wrong. He didn't know what, but something!

Thankfully, Kinashita-san was only gone for a few minutes; she returned carrying a cardboard box which she held out to Hisoka. "I don't get out much, it gets harder when you're my age, and sadly I lost track of Rika when she left the hospital, so if you see her, could you please give her this?"

"I'll do my best," Hisoka told her, accepting the box.

"Thank you." Kinashita-san looked relieved. "They're just some things that were recovered from the apartment after the fire. I thought she might like to have them back."

"You're very kind," Hisoka said, bowing his head to her. "Thank you for your time; and the cookies."

XXXXX

His anxiety level was almost through the roof by the time he made it back to the hotel.

Hisoka burst through the door and felt a part of himself immediately calm at the sight of his partner lying asleep across one of the beds.

Quietly he made his way to the bed and reached out to smooth the dark hair away from the man's face. He could still feel the echoes of emotional distress as Tsuzuki slept. There was a noise behind him, but even as he began to turn he heard Rika's voice.

"Oh, it's you."

Hisoka sighed in irritation. "What happened?" he asked, gesturing towards Tsuzuki.

"He had a hard day." Rika smirked at him. "So much for protecting your partner."

Hisoka fought to keep his expression neutral, he wanted Rika co-operative, he did not want to start a fight with her. "There are a couple of things I'd like to ask you."

Rika's smirk grew wider. "Oh really? Okay, shoot!" She moved to the little kitchenette area and took a seat at the table.

Hisoka moved to stand across from her. "What's your real name?"

"Murata Rika."

Hisoka frowned. He couldn't sense any deciet in her, but he couldn't sense any sincerity either. Or anything else for that matter, he would probably be able to sense more emotions from the table. "Did you know there was another Murata Rika who lived near here?" Hisoka reached into one of the folders and pulled out the picture of Murata Rika before the fire. He handed it to Rika. "Do you know her?"

Rika frowned at the photo, then directed the frown at him as she handed the picture back. "I've never seen her before."

He took the photo back and tucked it into the folder. "It seems that this Murata Rika is the girl that moved in with Totohome and summoned the demon," Hisoka said, watching Rika closely for any reaction. "Are you sure you didn't know her?"

Rika stared placidly for several long minutes. "You don't like me much, do you?"

Surprised, Hisoka rallied quickly. "Whether I like you or not has no bearing on the situation, we need to…"

"Admit it!" Rika interrupted. "You don't like me!"

"Rika-san…"

"Admit it!" Rika's voice was rising and becoming more shrill.

Hisoka circled the table, and catching Rika's arm, led her forcibly out of the hotel room. He closed the door so they would not disturb Tsuzuki, and let her go.

"The only thing that matters to me," he hissed angrily, "is solving this case so we can leave, and your life can go back to normal. If I like you, or don't like you makes no difference at all!"

"Fine!" Rika snapped back at him, "that's fine! I'm going to bed! You can get bent, or go to Hell for all I care!" With that she squared her shoulders, raised her head and stormed back into the hotel room.

Hisoka barely caught the door as she tried to slam it on him.

XXXXX

Awareness came abruptly.

He was awake; Hisoka blinked his eyes open in the darkness, in the middle of the night and he didn't know why.

Keeping his breathing even, he closed his eyes and listened carefully. He could hear Tsuzuki's soft breathing, a faint rattle of pipes in the distance, and the very quiet slide of cloth against cloth. He heard the creak of bedsprings, and his bed didn't shift, he knew that it was not Tsuzuki getting up.

Given his options; sleeping is a chair, sharing a bed with Rika, or squeezing into the bed with Tsuzuki, he had settled for option number 3. Besides, Tsuzuki was sprawled out across the foot of the bed, so Hisoka had plenty of room to curl up, and decent access to the blanket too.

Opening his eyes, Hisoka could barely make out the shape of Rika as she moved across the room. She reached the door and paused, looking back over her shoulder.

Hisoka shut his eyes and forced himself to stay relaxed. Focusing on his breathing, he listened to the slight sound of her footsteps as she slipped out of the room.

The moment Hisoka heard the door click shut behind her, he was on his feet following. He trailed her silently through the hotel and out the front doors where she stopped under a large oak.

Hisoka slipped behind the hotels large sign, where he could watch without being seen. Maybe she couldn't sleep and had just come out for a breath of fresh air, he wouldn't interrupt her, but he would keep an eye on her. After all, they still didn't know where the demon was.

It was as if the thought of it brought the thing into existence. A loud, savage growling, and suddenly it was there, tearing towards the girl.

Hisoka jerked, prepared to move out to intercept the demon when he noticed Rika's reaction.

Or rather, Rika's lack of reaction.

She stood unafraid, her posture relaxed as the demon bore down on her. It stopped inches in front of her, panting.

Hisoka watched amazed as she reached up and scratched it's head, as if it were a large, ugly dog.

"Almost everything is going according to plan," she muttered to the demon. "Tomorrow you'll have to try again, and make sure it's convincing!"

The demon growled in acknowledgement, and then turned and trotted away, disappearing into the night.

Frozen behind the sign, Hisoka was lost in waves of indecision. What was Rika doing? Should he get Tsuzuki? What was her plan? He wanted to get Tsuzuki and himself out of there, but what would Rika do if they lost track of her?

Rika whirled abruptly, glaring straight at him. "Nosy little shinigami!" she hissed, her eyes glowing red in the dark, "I knew you didn't like me!"

…And Hisoka shot up in his bed, sweat drenched, his hands fisted in the blankets. He shook his head to clear it, breathing hard.

"'Soka?"

Tsuzuki had risen up on one elbow and was blinking at him groggily.

Hisoka's eyes shot over to the other bed.

Rika was lying curled up in her blankets, her breathing deep and even, fast asleep.

A dream?

Nightmare?

Vision?

What the Hell?

"Hisoka? Are you okay?" Tsuzuki's voice was more alert now, concerned.

Hisoka took a deep breath and reached for calm as he turned back to his partner. "Yeah," he frowned when his voice came out higher than he intended. He cleared his throat. "Bad dream."

"When did you get in?" Tsuzuki asked.

Hisoka gave him an intense look. "Probably about 10 minutes after you fell asleep. I felt you all the way across town. You wanna talk about it?"

"M'be in the morning." Tsuzuki said, yawning. He streached, pulling himself more fully onto the bed and settled down with this head resting just above Hisoka's knee.

"T-Tsuzuki!" Hisoka sputtered, but the violet-eyed man had already dropped back to sleep. With a sigh of irritation, Hisoka settled back down into the bed, careful not to jar Tsuzuki's head. Once comfortable, he turned his head and watched Rika sleep until morning.