by Rina K. Fenderson
6. Screams
The night was silent, absolutely and utterly still. The crickets chirped in the warm weather of early autumn and the night wind remained so gentle it made no sound, even as it whispered through the trees and their browning leaves. The night calm was spoiled only by a random car traveling by on the back streets where he ran. Other than that the houses were dark and the streets seemed deserted.
Hisoka didn�t notice the silence for his heart was pounding much to loudly in its cavity, straining against his ribs, his breath, so heated, that it condensed in a misted fog before him, even in the mild temperature. His feet thundered against the sidewalks and deserted streets as he ran and ran and ran. He was only going by feeling and it was much too often that he lost it and had to backtrack on himself. The others at the Shokan division might be worried where he was now, he had disappeared earlier that morning. He didn�t stop to call them, he didn�t care if they worried, he had to get to Tsuzuki. His sneakers screeched against the sidewalk when a pain spread over his chest and arms, settling at the nape of his neck. Hisoka doubled over, tumbling to his knees and obtaining a curious look from a homeless man lounging on a near by park bench. He whined in pain and curled over himself to push the pain back. He was close, but it was Muraki that he felt. Muraki was the only being that could give him this much pain. He knew the curses Muraki carved into him were throbbing red under his clothes, he felt their pulsing beat. He forced his breath to slow as panic set in and twined his fingers through his blond hair as he tried to make the pounding across his temples cease. After a few minutes it dulled, either that or he was getting used to the pain, and he was able to stand. Emerald eyes flashed around the area, looking, searching, for anything that looked familiar. Hisoka�s jaw clenched violently when he saw the mansion, standing tall in this less populated part of Tokyo. In the dark it loomed over hauntingly, only a few lights illuminating its great expanse. His heart jumped slightly upon beholding, above the decor of the mansion, a full moon tinted with red glowing bright and hanging low in the sky. He shuttered, but it was at that moment he heard the scream, so loud it felt like the culprit was beside him wailing in his ear. He covered his ears, trying to block it out and realized then, when the voice only grew louder and more pained, it wasn�t vocal. "Tsuzuki," he whispered, his feet in motion again, bolting straight for the mansion. That was Tsuzuki�s scream, but he wasn�t letting it out vocally, instead it was stretching through his mind drawn out and holding every fear he was feeling, every pain that was vibrating through his body. Hisoka�s heart went into double time again as he slammed his small body against the locked front door. The scream ripped through him again, as his hands were pushing against the wooden door more for support from the pain that tore into him than to get it open, but at that scream, at the horror and agony and utter fright he felt within that voice and that mind, he felt his fury condensing quickly. His teeth ground together, his jaw ached from the tenseness, his fingers dug into the wood of the door, his nails almost bent backward, then he exploded, a red haze engulfing him and his fury forcing from his body, hitting anything in close vicinity full force. He felt himself falling and with a dim afterthought, he realized he had knocked down the door. Laying atop it for a moment or two as the dust settled, Hisoka gathered his wits and his legs and bolted down the hall following the mental whimpers and screams of his partner. Shadowed visions trailed over his mind, giving him glimpsed of Tsuzuki�s experience that hit a chord deep in his chest. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs to the second level and leaned against the railing, feeling the bile rising in his throat. Those visions mixed with memories of his own past, merged to a point where he couldn�t sense which was which. Muraki was raping him, at that moment, with Hisoka so close. He felt his knees going weak, but another pitiful whimper vibrated through his brain and his back straightened of its own will. He spun away from the railing and vaulted up the stairs taking them two at a time. "Tsuzuki, I�m here."