Kodomo no Yami

A Yami no Matsuei fic by Ginzai

 

Chapter One: All Hallow's Eve (and Morning)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            "Neeeee, Hiso~oka..."

            Hisoka glanced up from his reading, looking into his partner's earnest heliotrope eyes.  Tsuzuki was in full puppy mode, wide happy expression speaking volumes about his intentions. 

            "Whatever it is, forget it."

            Tsuzuki facefaulted and went chibi instead.

            "Demo..."

            "No."

            "But you don't even know what it is!"

            "It doesn't matter.  Knowing you it is likely something stupid, or childish, and just because we are on vacation for the rest of the week doesn't mean that I have to involve myself in one of your senseless escapades."  Hisoka turned back to his mystery novel, fully intent on shutting out his wayward partner.

            Still in chibi mode, Tsuzuki stuck his lips out and sighed, puffing up at the hair that fell in his eyes. 

            Hisoka ignored him.

            Tsuzuki sidled next to him on the bench and began to read over his shoulder.

            Hisoka bridled slightly, but kept his attention on the paper.

            Sniffling slightly, Tsuzuki leveled huge wavering eyes on the younger boy, blinking tears into his lashes and providing a generally pathetic picture.

            Gritting his teeth, Hisoka’s temper snapped.  "Crying and making eyes works on Tatsumi not me.  Why don't you go bother him with your idea, and leave me alone?"  

            Tsuzuki popped back into normal mode.  He grinned down at Hisoka, who watched him with wary eyes.  "Hisoka, ne, that's actually a good idea.  Tatsumi was next on my list, anyway.  Hiso~oka...If I can get Tatsumi to agree to it, will you go too?"

            Hisoka blinked at his over-exuberant partner, regarding him with a vague sense of disquiet.  Well, Tatsumi certainly wouldn't agree to anything that was overly humiliating...Unless Tsuzuki was going to cry over it...  He quickly calculated the probability that Tsuzuki would start to wail if he didn't get his own way and received results that were immediate and near a hundred percent.  And if Tsuzuki started to cry,

Tatsumi wouldn't have a chance.  Then Hisoka would be stuck in whatever strange and arcane plot Tsuzuki had cooked up this time.  And given that the end results of Tsuzuki's cooking and Tsuzuki's "Great Ideas" tended to be about the same --pretty and good looking simply on a maatter of looks, toxic when you actually got into it-- this was a *very* dangerous thing.

            But if he didn't agree to something, Tsuzuki would keep this up for the rest of the week and he wouldn't be able to finish his book...

            Finally he looked up at Tsuzuki's expectant face, hope shining brightly from his visage.

            "Fine.  I'll agree to it if you can get Tatsumi to come too."

            "Yoshi!"

            "And you have to have Watari to come as well."

            "Not a problem!  I needed his help any way.”  *heart*

            What the hell was this?  A project that he would not only be able to convince Tatsumi to go along with, even if that wasn't a insurmountable difficulty for Tsuzuki like it was for everyone else in the department, but also pull Watari from the Pandora's Box he called a laboratory?  Tsuzuki might be able to pull stuff with Tatsumi, but he didn't have that same gift with Watari...  Hisoka thought fast.

            "And you have to get the Chief's permission too.  I don't want a repeat of the last time you had a great idea."

            Tsuzuki winced but said nothing.

            "Tsuzuki?"

            "..."

            "Something the matter, Tsuzuki?"

            Tsuzuki blinked and waved his hands at Hisoka, laughing nervously.  "Not at all!  Demo...do I really have to have the Chief's permission?"

            "Hai."

            "Okay..."  Tsuzuki blinked and blew his bangs out of his eyes.  They fell back into place immediately.  He scowled at them, his expression generally pensive.  Finally he pulled himself back together, jumped back to his feet and grinned manically down at his now somewhat nervous partner.  "Alright!  I'll do it!  I'll get Tatsumi and Watari *and* the Chief to agree with me, even if the Chief doesn't come with us, because that would be really weird-”

At Hisoka's raised eyebrow he flushed and waved his hands wildly. 

"Not like that!  He just doesn't work with us so much.  Ne?"

            Hisoka did have to agree with that.  Besides, whatever humiliating thing Tsuzuki had dreamed up now, he, for one, would rather keep between as few people as possible.  Unlike the Apple Pie Bake-off And Karoke Night Special Event Contest With Special Adult Kool-Aid Beverage...He shuddered at the mere thought.

            Tsuzuki reached out to ruffle his hair and he moved out from under the offending hand.  "Okay.  Be at Watari's lab at five fifteen, ne?  I'll be waiting!  Ja, Hisoka!"  With a final wink and grin, Tsuzuki ran back inside the building. 

Hisoka just shook his head and tried to get back to his novel.  Sometimes it was better not to think about, really.  Whatever arcane scheme Tsuzuki had concocted this week was like as not one of those things.  He let himself slid back into the eerie world of Lance Iratsumi, Private Ace and his latest case.  Who had murdered Shikireiki-sama, and why?  The answers lay somewhere within the next three chapters and he was eager to find out.

            But even as Hisoka lost himself in the book, somewhere at the back of his mind warning bells were going off.  After all, he had forgotten to ask just *what* he'd agreed to...

 

 

 

           

 

 

***

 

 

            His office was his sanctuary.

Twelve by fourteen feet, with hardwood floors and a large window that faced to the south, Tatsumi's office was more home to him then his place of residence.  He knew each and every crack and crevice in the walls and his desk received regular more polishing then Dios' Sex-Mobile.  As Tatsumi's landlady could confirm, he spend more nights at the office than at his apartment anyway.  His apartment was grey walled, with shag carpeting that seemed to include in it the repulsiveness of day old vomit with the pure eye-catching grotesque horror of a fatal four-car pileup.  The furniture was old, the bed never slept in, though always made, and the contents of the 1967 GE refrigerator were things best left to the imagination.  Deep within the bowels of his pantry a full-scale war had emerged between rival ant factions, a titanic battle not seen since the last Steven Spielberg movie, a frightening display of the abuse of power, all solidified into the microcosmic world of insects.  Unfortunately for them, there was a bottle of Raid under the sink that would spell their doom the next time Tatsumi opened the cabinet door.

            But his office...

            His office was a place of peace. 

            Breathing deeply, Tatsumi entered the room and shut the door behind him.  He leaned against it for a moment, taking stock of the foot-high stack of papers in his inbox, and the newly placed folders that had been dropped on his desk for judgment. 

He crossed over to his chair and slowly, with all the reverence of a king taking his thrown, sat on the thinly cushioned leather seat.  He allowed himself a brief moment of relaxation, settling into the chair and his job, even going so far as to lift and drop one of the balls of the Eternal Motion toy that Tsuzuki-san had bought him for his birthday last year.   It sent a satisfying series of clacks into the air.  Tatsumi smiled, more at the thought of gift-bearer than because of the gift itself. 

            The clock behind him struck nine.  With an eerie flash of his glasses, Tatsumi seized the first of the folders on his desk, briefly perused the contents, and slammed it down into the black plastic box marked "Watari's Bills".

            Fun was fun.  But here at the office...There was Work to do.

            At least, there was until a certain Shinigami decided to pay him a visit...

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

            "Ne, Tatsumi..."

            Tatsumi looked up from his accounts to find a pair of wide violet eyes staring earnestly at him at far too close a distance.  Slightly offset by this he paused, mentally reviewing the past few days to see if there was anything that Tsuzuki could possibly need or want.  Cake, candy, and apple pie floated through his head, but as Tsuzuki was on leave for the rest of the week, there was nowhere for him to get such things.  Nor was there any reason, as far as Tatsumi was concerned, to let Tsuzuki go to Earth to get them.

            "Whatever it is, forget it."

            Tsuzuki sweatdropped.  "Mou...That's what Hisoka said too.."

            Tatsumi raised an elegant eyebrow.  "If Kurosake-kun decided to refuse you, I'm sure it was for good reason."

            "But that doesn't matter, Tatsumi.  I've convinced him too!"

            Raising a finger to resettle his glasses more firmly on his nose, Tatsumi peered at the younger Shinigami warily.  "Should I go pray for him?"

            "Of course not," Tsuzuki said with a frown.  "I just need you to do me a little favour."

            Tatsumi gave a pointed glance to the piles of paperwork that currently covered his desk.  "I'm afraid I'm a bit busy right now, Tsuzuki-san, and the budget has just been cut again.  There is no money to support another quest to find the best yakanori shop in Japan right now."

            "But this is free!"

            This caused two things to happen within Tatsumi's mind.  His first thought was that anything that was free couldn't be bad.  Money is something to be cherished, after all.  What could be the harm in it?  His second was that this was Tsuzuki-san speaking.  Tsuzuki wouldn't know the word frugal if it danced naked in front of him waving a flaming torch and singing God Save the Queen.  With a faux French accent.

            In other words, Tsuzuki's latest 'favour' smacked dangerously of Tsuzuki's last 'Great Idea'.  Tatsumi didn't even want to think about how much that pie fiasco had cost the department..

            Tatsumi narrowed his eyes at the now slightly nervous Tsuzuki.  With a rather suspicious tinge to his voice he asked, "And just what is this favour of yours, Tsuzuki-san?"

            Tsuzuki raised a hand to cradle the back of his hand, laughing slightly at Tatsumi's expectant expression.  "Nothing much, nothing much!  I've already got Hisoka to agree with it, all that's left is you, Watari, and Konoe!"

            ~Konoe?~ 

            This knocked him slightly off track.  "What do you have to do that is both free and needs Konoe's direct involvement?"

            "We~ell.."  Tsuzuki hesitated, biting his lip as he fiddled with the Eternal Motion toy on the right corner of Tatsumi's desk.  "It doesn't really need Konoe's involvement, really..  It's more that I need his permission.  Hisoka made me promise to get it."  *pout*

            Tatsumi shrugged and let his eyes fall back to the paper he had been reading.  "Then Kurosake-kun is beginning to get some sense.  I still do not see how this applies to me, Tsuzuki-san."

            Tsuzuki fixed him with a rather predatory grin.  Given that this is Tsuzuki, and not even a demon-possessed Tsuzuki, it looked more sickly than dangerous.  Tsuzuki and predatory do not mix well.  He seemed to realize that himself, because the grin was very quickly dropped and a more fitting smirk applied to his lips.

            Tatsumi felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

            "You are a very important part of it.  Ta-Tsu-Mi.  And all you've got to do is promise that you'll be free this afternoon by five o'clock.  Easy, ne?" *heart*

            ~Promise to be free at five?  Why would he need me to be available this afternoon?~  Tatsumi wondered at it for a moment before squashing down the ideas that chibi-devil-'Tsumi-chan came up with.  Those wouldn't have worked anyway.  Not if Kurosake-kun was going to be there at any rate.

            Still, while there was a lot of work to be done, there wasn't much that couldn't be put off for an afternoon.  Most of it was just general upkeep anyway.

            And looking at Tsuzuki's hopeful expression, he realized that not doing it would make Tsuzuki upset.  And that went against Tatsumi's Moral Code of Conduct (rule number 216).

            Finally he sighed and put the papers back down onto his desk.  Tatsumi folded his hands and leaned his chin on them, peering quizzically at Tsuzuki, who positively radiated innocence back at him.

            "This won't cost the department anything?"

            Tsuzuki beamed at him.  "Not a single yen!"

            "Fine then."  At Tsuzuki's joyfilled exclamation, he added, "However, if anything goes wrong, it's coming out of your paycheck."

            Tsuzuki ignored this, still grinning like a madman.  "Wai!  Two down, two to go!  Ja ne~ee, Tatsumi!"

            With a final parting wave, Tsuzuki grinned and bolted, slamming the door behind him.  One of the few framed pictures on the wall fell with a soft crack, spilling broken glass onto the floor.

            Tatsumi looked first at it and then at the door where Tsuzuki had just left.

            "Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?"

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

            Tsuzuki Asato leaned back against the wall of Watari's lab with a idyllic smile on his lips.  This idea was a great one, simply fantastic in scope and range.  He closed his eyes in absolute bliss, just thinking about it.  Its simple genius was of such a magnificent standing that he was surprised that no one else had thought of it before.  Then again, most of the shinigami in their division weren't into the same things that he was...Shame that.           

            And he already had three down!  Getting Watari to help hadn't been a problem, especially as he was the one who had suggested the idea to him in the first place.  The Chief though..

            Tsuzuki frowned, thinking about it.  Getting Konoe's permission was a problem; at least, it would've been one had he tried to go about it by himself.  With the aid of a third party, things had become much easier.           

            He shuddered, teeth worrying his lower lip as he pondered whether asking Hakushuku-sama for another favour had really been worth it.  After a moment he decided that it had been, though only just barely.  At least the return favour wasn't that big a deal this time.  He carefully turned his mind from the last time Hakushuku-sama had decided to "collect".

            Tsuzuki held out the scrap of fabric that Hakushuku-sama had given him to wear in return for his support with Konoe.  It was rather skimpy, but that wouldn't be a problem in a few minutes.  Just as soon as Watari finished delivering his concoction, they'd be fine. 

            He grinned, clutching cloth to his chest, lost in the sheer bliss of the moment.

            Tonight was going to be great!

            Behind him the clock struck five.  Tsuzuki glanced up at it, and blinked in slight surprise as Watari bounced back into the lab, waving a thumbs up and sporting a rather large smile. 

            "All clear!" Watari smirked at him and Tsuzuki found himself returning the favour.  Watari collapsed backwards into one of the several rolling chairs that littered the lab floor.  Still grinning, he watched Tsuzuki with wide amber eyes.  "He didn't suspect a thing!” 

            Tsuzuki blinked.  "Really?  I thought Tatsumi didn't trust anything that you made anymore."

            Watari paused and mulled over the issue for a moment, one finger stuck in his mouth.  He eventually shrugged and leaned back again, lacing his hands together behind his head.  "Nah, that's just when I make coffee."

            "Oh."

            "Hai!  Besides," Watari added with a wink, "I didn't deliver it.  I got Wakabi-chan to give it to him for me." 

            Tsuzuki glomped him.  "Wa~ai!  Watari, you are so smart!"

            Watari raised a smug finger and smirked wickedly.  "Of course!  And as soon as I finish my GREAT BREAKTHROUGH I'll be set!  The world will tremble at my genius!"  He broke into a laughing fit, a demonic light shining from below, highlighting mad features.

            Tsuzuki sweatdropped and edged away.  "Maa, maa.."  He glanced back at the clock again.  Watari had given Tatsumi his portion, and knowing Tatsumi he was drinking it right now.  That just left Hisoka.. 

            He shrugged and picked up one of the remaining three vials.  Its clear contents swirled with a vague sparkly afterimage, and he shuddered lightly remembering the last time that he had messed around with one of Watari's creations.  But that had been a completely different circumstance, and besides which, he knew what he was doing much more than he had then!  Or he hoped he did, at any rate.

            Behind him a door opened and closed again softly.  Watari broke off his maniacal laughter to peer quizzically at the newcomer.  Tsuzuki looked over his shoulder, still holding the glass vial carefully. 

            Hisoka stepped into the room, casting a wary glare at the both of them.

            Tsuzuki's mouth broke into a smile that lit his face and he bounced over to his partner, swinging one arm about the smaller boy and holding the vial up to vaguely disturbed green eyes.  Hisoka sent him a withering look, as he always did whenever he deemed that Tsuzuki was acting overly affectionate.  Tsuzuki shrugged and released him, moving instead to sit back down on the edge of Watari's desktop.  He caught Watari's amused gaze out of the corner of his eye and sighed melodramatically at having been caught letting Hisoka Be Angry at him.

            Hisoka, for his part, ignored this, as he was often wont to do.  "You wanted me here?" 

            Tsuzuki nodded happily.  "Hai!  I've got a plan and Watari and Tatsumi AND Konoe agreed to it, so you've got to come along."

            Hisoka nodded, admitting the validity of the statement.  "How do I know that you got their permission?"

            Watari spoke up, exchanging an evil sort of smirk with Tsuzuki.  "Well, the two of us had something like this planned for ages now, so I was covered."

            Still grinning like a madman, Tsuzuki reached into his jacket pocket with his free hand and pulled out a slip of paper.  "And here's Konoe's permission slip!"

            Hisoka took it, unfolding the paper with a graceful flick of his hand.  It was only a few lines, and it gave no more indication about what was to come than anything in this highly enigmatic day.  It was written in Tsuzuki's carelessly formed, yet still rather attractive, characters, with only Konoe's own signature on the bottom of the sheet to show that it wasn't a forgery.

            /I, Konoe, give Tsuzuki Asato and Watari Yutaka permission to complete their project with Tatsumi Seiichirou and Kurosake Hisoka's aid.  -Konoe/        

            Hisoka gnawed at his lower lip for a moment, rereading the short letter.  It looked official, despite the brevity of the epistle.  Tsuzuki wouldn't have been able to forge the characters of Konoe’s name, not like this.  Tsuzuki was good for a lot of things, but forging anything wasn’t one of them.  Hisoka peered over the top of the letter at Tsuzuki's still beaming face. 

            "What did Tatsumi say?"

            Tsuzuki looked a bit nervous at that.  "Weeell..  He did agree to it..  In fact, he should be showing up any minute now."  He seemed rather eager to change the subject.

            Hisoka blinked.  Figured that Tatsumi would agree to Tsuzuki's plot.  But if Tatsumi, Watari, and Konoe had agreed to whatever fool idea Tsuzuki had come up with this time, there really wasn't anything that he could do about it.  He had given his word, after all.  Besides, what was the worst that Tsuzuki could do?

            He shuddered for even thinking that and promptly reprimanded himself.  This was *Tsuzuki*.  The worst that he could do was quite a lot.

            Keeping this in mind, Hisoka turned his gaze onto the vial that Tsuzuki was still absently playing with.  "And what," he asked, watching the potion suspiciously, as though he thought by staring at it long enough he would divine all its secrets, "Is that?"

            Tsuzuki regarded the vial with a surprised expression before looking over at Watari.  The blond scientist was currently hugging both arms about himself and turning quite red from trying not to laugh.  He frowned at that, before looking back at Hisoka.  His partner was currently poking a finger at the contents, watching the clear fluid run around the sides of the glass.

            "This," he said, wording his phrases carefully, "Is part of the plan."

            Hisoka continued to stare at the liquid.  "That looks familiar, Tsuzuki.  Have I seen that before?"

            "Maybe.." Tsuzuki hedged.  "But you did promise and you can't go back on your word, can you?"

            Hisoka sighed, defeated.  "No, I suppose not."

            Tsuzuki's grin turned triumphant.  "Then drink up!" 

            He pushed the vial at a very nonplussed Hisoka before turning to grab one of his own.  Behind him Watari did the same. 

            Hisoka looked the glass with wide eyes before looking back at Tsuzuki.  "You can't mean to drink this!  _Watari_ made it!"

            Watari pouted.  "My potions don't *always* go wrong."

            "They go wrong often enough!"

            "Maa maa, Hisoka."  Tsuzuki smiled disarmingly at him.  "Don't worry.  We've tested this one."

            ~Tested?!~  Somehow the thought didn't reassure him very much.

            "On the count of three, ne?"  Tsuzuki raised his own vial.  "One." 

            Watari grinned again and Hisoka wondered sickly if he had he ever stopped.  Watari seemed like he had been sporting an insane smile since the moment Hisoka had entered the room.  Catching his worried look, the scientist lifted his own glass and waved it happily.

            "Two."

            This wasn't the infamous sex-changing potion was it?  Oh God, he looked enough like a girl as it was, he didn't want to actually be one!

            "Three!"

            Tsuzuki and Watari raised the glasses and drained them and Hisoka felt obligated to do the same.  Whatever it was, they were in it together.  It tasted sweet, almost cloyingly so, and he gagged at it.  Past the initial shock of saccrine it wasn't so bad, it was actually somewhat fruity, and fortunately there wasn't very much of it.  Vial now empty, Hisoka placed it back on the desk, next to Tsuzuki's and Watari's and waited to see what would happen.

            Nothing did.

            Hisoka watched, becoming increasingly nervous as Tsuzuki shot Watari a nervous look.  Seconds went by, measured with loud ticks from the clock on the wall.

            "Ne, Watari..  Are you sure you brewed that right?"  Tsuzuki bit his lower lip, casting large violet eyes towards their erstwhile alchemist.

            "Pretty sure..." Watari said and frowned.  "Let me check my notes."

            Tsuzuki nodded, his eyes still large in his face.  Too large.  Abnormally large.  Hisoka watched in bemused horror as Tsuzuki suddenly winced, one hand going to steady himself on the desk edge.

            ~What?~  Hisoka wondered, and then felt it himself.  He gasped as each muscle in his body suddenly contracted, not painfully, but it was still an odd feeling and he didn't much care for it.  Then it wasn't just his muscles but his skin and bones and flesh, and everything and he was lost to the sensation.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

            Had a person walked past Watari's lab at five sixteen that afternoon they would have been shocked at the sudden lights and strange and disturbing sounds emerging from it.  Given that this was *Watari's* lab, a place where few ventured who were not connected via close friendship to the Meifu's own mad scientist, no one noticed.  Even if there had been someone there, they would have clucked their worry and hurried along, fearing for the poor souls who had become subject to Watari's latest experiment and fearing for themselves, lest they too became tied to the project.

            As it was, no one was there to hear the three sudden loud pops of noise, nor to hear three voices raise in pitch and become lost.

 

 

            *Poof!*

            *Poof!*

            *Poof!*

           

 

            Silence fell.  And out of the sudden quiet, one tired voice asked a single, horrified question.

             "Tsuzuki...What have you done?"

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued.

 

 

 

 

 

            At last, another multiparter!  Wai!  *evil grin*

            This is the Halloween fic that I spoke of before, but because I couldn't get it out in time for the holiday in question, the plot has changed somewhat.  More to be revealed as it continues, and expect a *lot* of familiar faces.  Muraki is definitely to appear.  Expect to see him next chapter.

            This is a comedic fic, so don't expect much angst.  Maybe a little, because I love angst and can't seem to live without it.  *sweatdrop*  But it is mostly comedy, so no worries.  ^_^  No real clue for number of chapters...The expected number at this point is three or four.

            In chapter two, find out what potion our heroes have drank, and what was Tsuzuki's plot this time?  Will it be another pie contest?  Probably not, but will everyone wish it was by the end of the story?  How does Muraki tie in with what is going to happen, and what is Tatsumi's response to these happenings?  And just what *did* Tsuzuki promise to wear for Hakushuku-sama?

 

            All this and more, next time!

 

 

Ginzai

11-07-01