Chapter 10

Hisoka blinked against the bright morning light. He was tired, grumpy, and not at all looking forward to what the day had in store.

He let out an irritated sigh and nudged his partner's head, which was resting on his thigh. "Tsuzuki, wake up!"

He watched at blinked groggily, awareness dawning, then flickering over to the other bed to see Rika curled up in her blankets, still sleeping. An indulgent smile crossed his face, and Hisoka scowled seeing it.

With a heave, Hisoka pushed Tsuzuki off the bed. "I said wake up! We need to talk."

Tsuzuki glared at Hisoka from the floor. "That hurt!"

"Good! Then you're awake. Get up."

With a weary sigh, Tsuzuki climbed to his feet as Hisoka got out of bed and grabbing his clothes, made for the bathroom. He was still trying to wipe sleep out of his eyes several minutes later when the youth re-emerged, dressed, and gestured him out into the hallway.

Tsuzuki went out into the hall, Hisoka right behind him, pulling the door shut.

Taking in the grim expression on Hisoka's face, Tsuzuki felt his hackles rise. He knew already he didn't want to have this conversation, especially after all the drama of the day before. "Is this going to be one of those discussions where you tell me I'm too involved?" He asked, just a little sarcastically.

"That too, but this is more serious Tsuzuki. I don't think that Rika's being honest with us."

"What do you mean?" Tsuzuki's voice was tight.

"Just that she's not telling us everything, and she's hiding thing…"

"And you know this, how? You can't read her, you've barely spent any time with her, and you're openly hostile towards her; even if she wanted to, she wouldn't have been able to tell you anything!"

"Tsuzuki…"

"No! She's just a girl who needs help! And not to be attacked every time she turns around by someone who is supposed to be protecting her!"

"Tsuzuki!" Hisoka raised his voice to interrupt his partners tirade. "When I go back to Meifu, I'm going to suggest that this case be re-assigned."

"What? Why?"

"Because you've become too attached. You're not being objective anymore."

"I'm fine!"

"No you're not! I may not be able to read her, but I can read you just fine! Have you considered even once, that Rika may not be an innocent bystander? That she might have something to do with what's been going on?"

"And just what do you mean by that?"

For the first time, Hisoka hesitated. "Tsuzuki, I…I don't think she's human."

"Of course she's human! What, you think she may be different, so she doesn't deserve to be protected? You think she's not human, so it's okay what's happening to her? Do you think she's a MONSTER? OR A DEMON? HOW DARE YOU! WE'RE HUMAN DAMNIT!"

"T-Tsu…"

Suddenly Tsuzuki realized he had his partner pinned to the wall by his shoulders. Hisoka's eyes were closed; he was breathing heavily and his hands were clenched into fists. He let go abruptly and pulled his hands away, watching as Hisoka slumped against the wall, wrapping his arms around his middle and pulling into himself as he panted for breath. "Hisoka…"

"I'm fine," Hisoka gritted out, "it's fine. Just… wait."

Tsuzuki took a step away to give the empath space. He was still shaking with his own anger, but attempted to reign it in for his partner's sake.

Hisoka took a deep breath and willed his mind to clear. His head hurt, his senses burned, and he felt as if he had just survived a nuclear blast.

"Hisoka, I'm sorry…" Tsuzuki began, back in control, but Hisoka brushed the apology away.

"Don't be. I'm fine; but I'm still asking Tatsumi to re-assign the case."

Tsuzuki's features hardened again. "No," he shook his head, "I won't leave her unprotected."

"Other shinigami can protect her."

"Not as well as I can," Tsuzuki argued, his expression fierce. "I will not leave Ruka alone!" Turning on his heel, he stalked back into the hotel room, slamming the door behind him.

Hisoka followed, pulling the door back open, only to find Rika blocking his path.

"Here!" She said cheerily, thrusting his bag, a box, and two folders out at him with a satisfied smirk on her face. "Don't come back!" With that, she closed the door firmly in his face.

Hisoka immediately tried the knob; locked. He stopped for a moment to consider his options. He could force his way into the hotel room and force a confrontation, or he could return to Meifu and recruit Tatsumi into talking, or scaring some sense into his partner. The second option sounded the best, and would probably involve less bloodshed.

Hisoka hesitated, staring at the door. He hated to leave Tsuzuki here with Rika, that last slip of the tongue had not passed by unnoticed; but the sooner he left, the sooner he could get this whole mess sorted out.

With a sigh of frustration, Hisoka left the mortal plane.

XXX

With an angry stride, Tsuzuki stalked through the hotel room, straight into the bathroom and shut the door. He turned on the cold water full blast and splashed some on his face. He needed to cool down, he had not been this angry in a while, and never at Hisoka, but he could not believe what the empath was suggesting…

Look at those eyes, I don't think he's… human!

Rika was scared, and hunted, and Hisoka wanted them to just abandon her!

Monster! Demon!

He shook his head at his reflection in the mirror above the sink.

He couldn't do it.

Get them!

He just couldn't.

XXX

Hisoka dropped the box and files off at his desk before he went looking for Tatsumi. To his dismay he found that the Shikons secretary was in a meeting with Kanoe-Katcho and Enma-Daio, and wouldn't be available for 'a while'.

"How long is a while?" Hisoka demanded of Wakaba when she gave him the news.

She gave him a sympathetic look. "Sorry Hisoka-kun, it could be anywhere from five minutes to several hours. There's no way to tell."

"Thanks anyway," Hisoka said, frustration making him sound more brusque than he had meant to be. Wakaba took it in stride, giving him a friendly wave as she returned to work.

Hisoka decided that if he had to wait, he would use the time to go through the box that Kinshasa-san had given him for Natsue Rika. He doubted he'd learn anything from it, it was probably full of mementos and pink things, and whatever girls collected, but it would give him something to do until Tatsumi got out of the meeting.

Back in the office with a fresh cup of tea, Hisoka pulled the box towards him. It was an ordinary cardboard box with a strip of tape holding the flaps closed. He pulled off the tape, flipped open the flaps and looked inside.

There was a large square of pressed wood sitting on top of the other contents. He reached in to remove it, but pulled his hands back as if he'd been burned when he'd touched it…

There was some very nasty energy coming from the wood square. He braced himself and tried again. He pulled the thing out of the box and flipped it over.

It was a Ouija board.

Underneath it were several books, a planchette, red and white candles, a jewellery box, and a small bottle half full of liquid. He opened it and sniffed lightly; butane.

A picture was beginning to shape itself in his mind as he reached for the books. The first was How to Use Ouija Board: Communication With the Spirit World, there was also Talking to Deceased Loved Ones, and The Art of Séance. Hisoka fanned through the books quickly, and just as quickly became annoyed. They were rubbish. New age ideas of how to play with magic, written by feel-good people with only the vaguest idea of what they were writing about. Unfortunately…

Hisoka's eyes flicked to the Ouija board, there were smears of soot on it, as if someone had tried to burn it and not been able to cause much damage.

Unfortunately, there was enough real information in those books, incomplete as it was, to cause a lot of trouble.

A young girl looses both parents at the same time, having to move in with an older brother who lives in another city means she lost her home and friends at the same time. Alone and grieving, she comes across one or more the these books and decides to try to talk to her parents one more time. So she gets a Ouija board, and lo and behold, she gets a response! Hopeful, she keeps talking to whatever it is she made contact with, it probably claiming to be her mother or father. She hasn't used any type of protection or warding, because the books haven't warned her that the spirits of those we love are not the only things out there.

So the thing she's contacted leeches energy off her until it is able to materialize, at which point it starts to follow her around, becoming the stalker that both she and Kinshasa-san had seen.

The girl becomes frightened, and maybe even begins to realize that the thing she's been talking to is not what she thought it was. In a desperate move, she tries to burn the Ouija board. The resulting fire kills her brother and herself, but at the moment of her death, the thing following her would be able to get a foothold, it takes the body with it's last lingering traces of life, and moves into it.

Paramedics had preformed CPR on Nitsue Rika. She had died, her soul departed, and something else had moved in.

Hisoka closed his eyes. He had been right, and he wasn't happy about it.

It hadn't been a dream or a vision in the night, it had really happened.

Rika was a demon.