by Rina K. Fenderson
1. Blood Rain
Tsuzuki Asato was begging to panic on a high level. He called in Tatsumi, Watari, and even pleaded for the cheif to gather up a search party. That suggestion was over-looked. "Kurosaki-kun, has left without telling you before, Tsuzuki-kun," Konoe had said. "I don't see any point in getting so worked up. He's just escaping for a bit."
But Tsuzuki felt something was wrong and Tatsumi and Watari were more conciderate; giving him their free time to help him look. All they had to go on was that Hisoka and Tsuzuki were supposed to meet at a restaurant on the corner of Shuhin and Juuni streets. Hisoka never showed and Tsuzuki had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. At the moment the trio was back at the restaurant. Watari was sitting with Tsuzuki, amber eyes flitting from the plate of untouched apple pie to his comrade who had even moved to pick up the fork. It was a fearful thing when Tsuzuki refused food of any sort, especially sweets; that was a clear indication that something was wrong. Brushing back a few blond locks with one hand, Watari nudged the plate closer to Tsuzuki. "Come on, Tsuzuki-kun. You should eat something...you look so pale." Tsuzuki merely closed his eyes and shook his head, turning his face away with his dark hair shading his features. Watari sighed and looked over to where Tatsumi was speaking with the barkeep, asking if Hisoka had been seen. When the secretery turned back and headed toward their table, Watari knew by the frown on his face there had been no luck. Watari didn't know what to do. He had seen Hisoka leave Tsuzuki in the dark before, but for some reason Tsuzuki was especially fearful, making Watari worry that their growning affection let Tsuzuki feel Hisoka's aura and perhaps the danger he was in. "Tsuzuki...maybe you're over reacting. Bon, has stood you up before--" "He's in trouble...I know he is. We need to find him!" Tsuzuki snapped, standing abruptly. He looked as if he were going to speak more, scold Watari or lash out at Tatsumi, who had just made it to their table, but his words died when he gasped. His violet eyes caught a glimmmer of silver under the street light; a striking grey drenched with rain water and a slitted eye trained forward as the figure passed outside of the restaurant. Tsuzuki felt his heart pick up pace and without thinking of the consequence he darted out of the diner and into the pouring ran. "Tsuzuki?" Tatsumi asked, glancing at Watari before following after his friend. Tsuzuki slipped on the sidewalk slightly as he started running after the white figure moving away from him, but he reached the tall male soon after and skidded to a halt. "Muraki!" He turned slowly, his chin raised slightly so he could eye Tsuzuki with a soft smile. "Tsuzuki-kun, how wonderful to see you." "Where is he?" "Where is who?" Tsuzuki frowned, wondering if his inisial reaction got him into more trouble than it helped him. Muraki was advancing slightly, cornering Tsuzuki near an alleyway. "Muraki Kazutaka...I thought you had left our realm." Muraki's silver eyes flickered reluctantly away from Tsuzuki to glower at Tatsumi and Watari. "Actually, I have yet to join 'your' realm, but if you were assuming I had died, I assure you it will take more than a flame." "Pity," Tatsumi hissed, not even bother to retort to Muraki's correcting him. "I also don't see why you are so upset. It was Tsuzuki-san, who approached me. I was merely returning to my lab," Muraki smiled, cheerfully, shaking the rain off his umbrella for a moment. "Although I'm not complaining. I do love seeing you often, Tsuzuki-san." Tsuzuki batted at the hand that was reaching for his cheek and pulled back his upper lip. "Hisoka is missing." Muraki's smile turned siniser, spreading across his lips like a snake through the underbrush. "'Hisoka' has...'left your realm'." "What?" Tsuzuki whispered, his legs buckling and his body falling back to the building behind him for support. Tatsumi edge forward, his fingers clenching as Muraki leaning into Tsuzuki, whispering in his ear. "A mute soul in possession of evil can not set foot in the Agency of Hades nor tell his tale of exile..." Muraki moved away when Tatsumi took another warning step forward and the pale-skinned male smiled warmly. "Do you need me to walk you back to the restaurant. So you can stay a little less wet." Tsuzuki glared at his enemy, amethyst eyes dark and brow furrowed. Smirking slightly, Muraki nodded. "Well, then. I will see you again." The trio watched him go, disappearing beneath a curtain of rain. Tsuzuki covered his eyes with a hand, and took in a shaking breath. "What does he mean? Where's Hisoka?" Tatsumi wrapped an arm around Tsuzuki shoulder, pulling him into his chest. "We'll find him Tsuzuki...come on." He helped Tsuzuki along for a while, until the fellow shinigami decided to walk on his own, his violet eyes wide as they scanned the area Muraki had come from. The rain had let up slightly, enough that they could see more than a few feet before them. Though all of them were drenched to the bone and knew at least one of them would get sick after this endeavor. It was Watari that found him, though he hadn't been sure that the distant motionless lump of peach and red was human until he took a few steps closer. He had to curbed the impulse to gasp, for fear of alerting Tsuzuki as he wanted to witness Hisoka's condition before Tsuzuki in hopes to soften a hard blow, but he never expected the sight to hit himself so painfully. The boy was curled up on his side, covered in blood with every inch of him exposed to the rain. His clothes had been folded neatly beside his body, which sickened Watari to an untold degree. As he knelt and spread his raincoat over the young blond's body, Hisoka made no move of consciousness. Watari was beginning to fear it was too late. It was clear Hisoka had lost a massive amount of blood and the scientist wondered if it was enough to strip Hisoka of his life as a shinigami. "Watari?" Tatsumi's voice behind him made Watari jump and spin around, but soon after he let out his breath and wrapped his arms around himself, his amber eyes flickering back down to Hisoka's prone body. "How does it look?" "I don't know," Watari whispered, leaning down again and brushing the boy's hair out of his face. "There's so much blood, yet there is much more rain. The mix of the two might make it look worse than it is." "Or better than it is," Tatsumi countered, running his hand over the deep puncture in Hisoka's chest. He traced the wound finding a jagged pattern and narrowed his eyes. His lips parted taking in a breath to ask Watari what he thought it was, but the breath sounded much deeper and more drawn out than Tatsumi felt. Then he heard the trembling whimper... "Hisoka..." Tatsumi was on his feet before Tsuzuki could utter another word and pushed him back slightly. "Tsuzuki, come with me. Watari will bring him back to JoOhChou--" "No!" Tsuzuki snapped, detangling himself from Tatsumi's hands. He managed to glare at his co-worker for a moment, before his eyes settled on his partner and softened as he brow furrowed deeply. Watari stood again, letting Tsuzuki kneel in the mud and look over Hisoka. "Watari...will he be alright?" "I'm not sure, Tsuzuki. We need to get him some place dry quickly," Watari replied, his own voice close to shaking in fear and sadness. The boy looked like a broken doll and they all knew he had been shattered in more ways that one. There was a moment when only the rain could be heard tinkering on the leaves above them and their saturated clothes, then Tsuzuki shifted his arms beneath Hisoka and lifted him up. Watari swallowed at the image the two made. Tsuzuki pulling the edge of his coat around Hisoka's body to cover what Watari's coat did not, his head tilted downward to stare into the blond boy's blood-smeared face, as he lay with dangling limbs in Tsuzuki's cradling arms. "Lets go, there was an inn not far from here."