44*Warning: Manga/Anime Spoilers*
Disclaimer:
I don't own Yami no Matsuei
Beta: Eria
Request fic for: general zargon
Setting: Takes place after Kyoto in the anime/manga and ignores GenSoKai Arc. I guess this could be seen as alternate universe or alternate story line.
Dans l'Obscurité
By EggDropSoup
Chapitre Trois: Aube
Tatsumi Seichiro was in a good mood. The last few days at the office had been nice and quiet, allowing him to relax, balance the department's budget, and not have to worry about any buildings exploding (for once). It was amazing what one could do without the distraction of annoying and money-wasting employees. Maybe he would try and put everyone out on assignment at the same time more often.
Because he had been so busy attending to those matters, he had forgotten to pick up the fax sent by the Korean Shinigami Branch earlier that morning. He needed the information they had sent him for the next staff meeting that would be held when all the Shokan employees returned back from their assignments.
He stepped inside the communal office quickly, his eyes searching for the fax machine and was quite surprised when he spotted Hisoka in the far back. Hisoka was sitting in his designated chair with his elbows propped on the desk and his head in his hands.
Tatsumi frowned. Hisoka and Tsuzuki weren't due back for a while yet and judging from the boy's posture, he was obviously upset. With renewed purpose, he stepped forward, walking past the other rows of desks until he stopped right in front of the youngest Shokan Division member.
When the blond didn't acknowledge his presence right away, Tatsumi's frown deepened and he cleared his throat loudly before speaking, "Kurosaki-kun."
Startled, Hisoka looked up – those bright eyes looked so wrong in Tatsumi's opinion- so sad and desperately unhappy. Hisoka blinked a few times before he slid his hands away from his face and straightened in his seat. "Tatsumi-san, good evening," he greeted, his voice flat.
"Good evening," Tatsumi acknowledged back, more out of habit then intended politeness. "You're back already? And why isn't Tsuzuki-san with you?"
Hisoka's shoulders visibly stiffened at his partner's name and he remained frozen for a moment. His silence worried Tatsumi, especially when the blond seemed to be struggling for something to say.
"Kurosaki-kun," he pressed, growing more concerned the longer the blond didn't answer him. "Where is Tsuzuki-san right now?"
Hisoka swallowed, his eyes going to stare at the desktop in front of him. "Tsuzuki's still in Karatsu," he admitted. His voice was quiet and ashamed.
Tatsumi's gaze on him sharpened. "Why? Did something happen?"
The empath nodded silently and shifted awkwardly in his seat. "Tsuzuki…I said some things to him."
Tatsumi studied him, his eyebrows lifting as he took this all in. "Kurosaki-kun, Tsuzuki-san is a rather resilient individual. I'm sure that whatever has happened can still be all worked out-"
"I was a total ass to him. Everything he did for me, I shoved it right back in his face," Hisoka blurted out, hating himself. "I told him he was in the way and that I didn't need him. He was so hurt. I…I don't know what to say to him now." He wasn't aware of the way his mouth quivered or how his hands shook when he pushed them back up to cover his face.
This wasn't the first time that Tatsumi had seen him at a loss of what to do. The last time had been in Kyoto when Tsuzuki had a nervous breakdown. Why was it that whenever the going got tough, he always seemed to ran away?
No, Hisoka knew why he always ran. It was because he was too afraid of what would become of it if he stuck it out. He was afraid of letting himself fall in love with Tsuzuki. Afraid of what it would mean if he fully let Tsuzuki in. So he kept walls up and pretended to be displeased at his partner over the slightest things. Anything so as to not show how much the other man truly meant to him.
He was a coward.
"If Tsuzuki-san and I fought as much as you two did, we'd still be partners," Tatsumi said thoughtfully, his words coming out slow and calm, interrupting the younger male's self-deprecating thoughts.
Hisoka lowered his hands to his sides; saw the wistful look on Tatsumi's face. "Tatsumi-san?"
"I think that you should go back, Kurosaki-kun. You should go back and have a talk with Tsuzuki-san and tell him everything you've told me just now. He'll understand," Tatsumi said, giving him a small and thoughtful smile and added, "After all, you really don't want to leave Tsuzuki-san, do you?"
"No," the blond agreed, and for the first time since he had come back to Meifu he felt truly confident enough to admit that. "No, I don't want to leave him."
He needed Tsuzuki, that part of him he couldn't deny.
"So what are you waiting for?" Tatsumi prompted, smirking lightly, his voice full of challenge.
And Hisoka found himself unconsciously answering to it as he stood up from his desk on steady legs and prepared himself to teleport back.
He would go back and tell Tsuzuki he was sorry and confess to the feelings that he had inside him. He still had time.
Not wanting to wait another moment, he vanished instantly, his body being transported back to the city and leaving Tatsumi alone in the now empty office. The only evidence that he had even been there was that his chair was still slightly pushed back.
Tatsumi shook his head and remembering his initial reason for being in the office, made his way toward the fax machine. He picked up the printed memo and left the office quietly with a small gentle smile present on his face.
Sighing deeply, Tsuzuki unlocked the door of the old abandoned house and stepped inside. The sun was setting outside, but there was still enough light streaming through the windows to make out the hallways and rooms. He and Hisoka would have to get settled and come up with a plan for tonight before it got too dark.
He wasn't sure how things would be between them now with so much having happened and gone wrong in the last few hours. It was like all the trust and understanding they had built had fallen to the wayside. He had never felt so disconnected from Hisoka before as he did now. And that realization hurt far more than when his partner had so harshly rejected his feelings.
"I'm back," he called out, not looking up as he shut the door behind him and locked it. He could hear his loud, clear voice echo throughout the house a few times and he waited for Hisoka's automatic reply as he shuffled out of his trench coat and shoes.
When he didn't hear anything, he tried calling out to his partner again, "Hisoka?" Curiously, he placed his trench coat on the hanger by the door and stepped away from the walkway cautiously.
When he entered the sitting room, he didn't notice anything amiss. Everything was as it had been before. The table was covered in dust and the adjacent chairs and cabinets that helped decorate the room were equally as untouched. There was no sign that Hisoka or anyone else had been in there. He frowned, his lips thinning out, as he started forward again -concerned that Hisoka hadn't responded at all- and intending to proceed into the kitchen next.
Just as he turned his head, he saw a flash of shadow out of the corner of his eye. It immediately caught his attention and he reeled around quickly to run toward the direction it had come from. He hurried out into the large, dimly-lit hall and noticed a small light coming out from the open door of the study.
He walked briskly into the study, and had just barely crossed the threshold as he looked around the room to see a hint or indication as to where Hisoka could have gone. On the coffee table, a small flickering candle stood, barely lighting up the room. Even though the room was a bit dark, Tsuzuki could squint his eyes enough to make out Hisoka's duffle bag in the corner and the book the blond had read earlier that day was lying on the floor, but his partner was no where to be found.
Panic spiked through him as he whirled around in alarm to stalk out the doorway and search the rest of the house. He could hear the worried concern in his own voice as he said, "Hisoka? Hisoka, are you here?"
When he still didn't hear a reply his cries became more desperate, more distressed, "Hisoka, where are you?" The more seconds that passed without any response, the more his anxiety grew until his throat felt tight with trepidation, "Hisoka!" he called gruffly, sounding just as broken as he felt. "Please answer me. I'm sorry, I-"
Pain at the back of his head stopped him before he could walk out the doorway, harsh and piercing. He raised a hand instinctively to where it hurt, cupping the back of his skull as he doubled over. His vision began to swim and he staggered, his body swaying as he tried to stay conscious but the pain hurt so much that he felt like he was having vertigo.
His mind was in a fog, everything seemed to be moving so fast and the walls in front of him were spinning. His breathing became quicker, more labored as it filled the silence of the room around him. His eyes were twitching, and then rolling, until the only parts of them visible were the white sclera that showed through his still open lids.
And then he was falling, his knees buckling and his eyelids finally closed as his body collapsed on the wooden floor.
If he hadn't been so focused on finding his partner, he may have noticed that the fuda he had placed on the four corners of the study had disappeared. Or he may have seen the white face of the ghost woman with long dark hair that had been shadowing him in the dark shadows of the house during his frantic search the entire time.
When he opened his eyes, Tsuzuki found himself in the living room with his limbs stretched out and restrained by several extension cords. Not only were they holding him in place, but they were also below him, forming a dark brown web-like structure underneath him. Upon seeing the extent of his restraints, he quickly came to his senses and began thrashing instinctively, trying to pull at the bindings on his arms and legs in an attempt to escape.
He couldn't remember how he had gotten into such a predicament, but the throbbing at the back of his head told him of a possibility.
"It's no use to struggle; the cords have a binding spell on them," a cool, female voice from behind him spoke quietly, startling him from his act of resistance.
He stopped and turned his face upside down to see the ghost woman standing close behind him. She looked just like she had the last time he had seen her when she had been expelled from Hisoka's body. Her long hair shielded half of her face and her dress was as white as her complexion, blending in with the ashen skin so well that you had to blink a few times to tell which was which. She looked calm and collected as she stood by the doorway, watching him appraisingly.
As soon as Tsuzuki recognized her, his face instantly changed from surprise to a look of anger as he seethed, "You!"
"Me," she agreed, stepping closer and appearing pleased at his obvious show of antagonism. She stopped a few steps away from him and spoke, "Now that your partner is gone, you're all mine."
"What? But Hisoka-"
"He left," the ghost interrupted, "and from what happened in your fight, he probably won't be coming back."
Tsuzuki's eyes narrowed. Hisoka's luggage was still in the study, he had seen it. But other than that there had been no indication that his partner was even there, even during his brief search of the house earlier. He didn't want to believe that Hisoka had left him, but he didn't think that the ghost woman was lying.
With a heavy heart Tsuzuki clenched his jaw and demanded, "What do you want from me?"
"I've been feeding off the souls of humans for months in order to maintain the anchor that ties me to this plane. But they aren't enough," she explained and glanced at his body with hungry eyes. "I need a soul that's more powerful and one that can keep producing energy for me for a very long time."
Tsuzuki had known about her using the souls of her victims as an energy source, but he still didn't see how he fit into the equation. Or why the ghost wasn't doing anything to hurt him. "What does that have to do with me?"
"You're a shinigami. You're immortal, and your energy can be replenished continuously."
The gears in his mind turned until something clicked. "So that's why there was an increase in your victims. You wanted to drag us out." His words were more a statement than a question, his face expressing the true extent of the distress he felt at having learned that.
She shrugged a shoulder and pursed her lips, not the least bit ashamed of what he accused her of. "It worked, didn't it?"
His face twisted into a look of pure revulsion as he attempted to lash out at her, but his arms were still restrained by the cords. He couldn't get to her no matter how hard he tried. "You're disgusting!" he spat, his voice full of venom. All those people had died just so she could find a conveniently charged soul-battery.
She smiled, clever and cunning, as she observed him and a placed a coy hand on her hip. "I prefer the term, opportunistic."
His glare intensified as he watched her. She thought this was funny, like he was a chess piece in a game that she could drag out for however long she wanted. But Tsuzuki wasn't in the mood to play around with her. He wanted answers. "If you needed a shinigami then why'd you choose me and not my partner? You were able to manipulate him quite easily through his empathy."
Of course, Tsuzuki had never wanted Hisoka to be the target of any of the ghost's plans but after all that had happened on this case, he still didn't understand why she wanted him. All her involvement during their stay in the house had somehow affected Hisoka. If Hisoka was really gone like she said, then what was the point of her involving him to begin with?
She paused, considered, "The boy had a talent, yes. But from the moment you stepped in this house I could feel how much stronger you were apart from him. You were my target from the start."
"Then why did you give him all those nightmares? Why not me?" If he was her true target, then what did she have to gain by pursuing his partner?
"I gave him nightmares because the boy's well-being affects you the most. If I cripple him then I cripple you." Coolly, she eyed him. Casually, she stepped closer until she was at his side. So close she could reach out and touch him if she wanted. Caustically, she smiled. "It's your own fault you know. Your love for him is obvious."
Her comments stung both at his pride and at his heart, taking a jab at his feelings and the unexplainable absence of his partner. She knew she was making him miserable, but whether or not Hisoka had truly abandoned him still had yet to be revealed.
Below the surface, he felt insecure at the accusations placed against his partner, and he truly didn't know what he should think.
"What are you going to do to me?" He asked, becoming impatient.
If he really was all alone now, then he wanted to get his involvement with her done. No use in having to drag it out. If she was going to kill him like the others and use his soul then he'd rather have it happen quickly.
Unmistakable triumph flashed into those dark eyes of hers. Most of the frustration he was directing at her wasn't even intended for her. It was triggered by the betrayal and abandonment he seemed to be feeling. He was giving up. "I'm not going to do anything to you. You're the one who's going to help me with my little problem, after all."
Tsuzuki scoffed with a snort of pure opposition. "Why would I help you?"
"Because I can give you something no one else can," Naomi said, her voice sounded so soft and persuasive that it triggered Tsuzuki's interest more than he would have like to admit.
She bent over his restrained body and ran a chalk-white hand slowly over his face to tilt his chin up until he was looking right at her. Her eyes were searching his face hungrily, so close to harnessing the power that his soul possessed. "Tell me, Tsuzuki. How would you like to sleep and have wonderful dreams forever?"
The silver mirror on the wall in front of them glowed as the moonlight streamed in through the windows.
When Hisoka reached the house, he knew instantly that something was wrong. The levels of spiritual energy that surrounded the house seemed to have increased. The sure intensity of it was striking, like someone had dumped frigid ice water over his head.
He entered the house carefully and took note of how dark and quiet it was inside, which made him uneasy. When they had stayed in the house, Tsuzuki had lit up the place like a Christmas tree, placing various candles and kerosene lamps around the rooms and hallways because the house's electrical circuits hadn't worked in years. And Tsuzuki was noisy by nature, always stumbling or rustling something when he moved.
Judging by the darkness of the house and the silence, he would have normally thought that Tsuzuki had yet to return. But his partner's shoes and coat at the door said otherwise, leaving him to believe that something must have happened.
Hisoka waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the house before he made his way through the sitting room and hallway. He cautiously passed by the various rooms that connected to the hall, peeking into them carefully for any signs of his partner.
None of the rooms revealed Tsuzuki's whereabouts or any clues as to what may have happened. No furniture or décor had been misplaced that he could see, but he became greatly concerned when he saw that the fuda spells Tsuzuki had placed on the walls of the study room had fallen to the floor.
He was tempted to stretch out with his empathy, to see if he could sense his partner that way, but the spiritual energy in the house was too much. It was all he could do to keep his mind alert as he continued down the hall and into the living room.
The only room he had yet to search.
Hisoka slid through the doorway of the living room slowly, looking each way as he took one cautious step after another. The energy was stronger in here than the rest of the house. The walls seemed almost alive with it; pumping full of energy like blood does in a person's veins.
His eyes scanned the room guardedly as he inched further inside. The curtain-less windows in the living room allowed the moonlight to easily pour in, helping to further illuminate parts of the room.
When his eyes caught sight of Tsuzuki lying on the cold wood floor, in the middle of the living room he stopped breathing. "Tsuzuki!"
His body moved on its own before he realized what was happening, bringing him to Tsuzuki's side. He flopped down hard on his knees and his hands automatically started to examine his partner's face. His small fingers pressed worriedly against Tsuzuki's temple, his cheek.
"I had a feeling you'd come back, boy," a quiet whisper that he didn't really hear called out from the shadows, reminding him that he and Tsuzuki weren't the only ones still inside the house.
Cold air brushed against the back of his neck, causing the skin there to pebble with goose bumps and his shoulders to tense rigidly. "You…"
"Me?" the same voice scoffed, this time speaking louder. "That's the second time someone's called me that. How rude. My name is Naaaaoooommmmi."
He slowly turned his head to who he knew was the ghost, his eyes narrowing as he demanded, "What did you do to Tsuzuki?!"
"I didn't do anything to him that he didn't want. He and I made a deal. He stays here with me forever and I grant him an eternal sleep." She crossed her arms and cocked her hip. "You should be happy. Your case is now closed. Your superiors will be pleased to know that no more of their precious souls will go missing from judgment."
"I'm not going back without Tsuzuki!" he declared defiantly and to further cement his words he gripped Tsuzuki's arm and held it tightly to his chest.
"Didn't you go back without him already? What's stopping you from doing it again?" she asked flatly, shooting him an unimpressed look.
"That was different! Tsuzuki knows I would never abandon him." On that he was firm. He might have shown a side of cowardice before by leaving, but he was back now and he wasn't going to let her take away the person that meant the most to him.
She laughed, straightened, and shook her head. Her dark long hair fell over part of her face as her shoulders shook. "That's where you're wrong, young shinigami. Your Tsuzuki thought you left him here. That's why he was so willing to take my deal."
"I don't believe you. There's no way Tsuzuki would have agreed to that. You must have tricked him!" he accused angrily, but his hold on Tsuzuki's arm lessened fractionally.
"I may have used some of my tricks on him but a ghost cannot possess the unwilling," she countered. "I trapped him and then offered him a deal. When he saw that you weren't coming back for him, he agreed, all on his own. He even opened a way for me just like you did in your dreams. So really, I guess I should be thanking you. Your lover's spat made all this possible." She gave a little twirl.
The empath flushed in both embarrassment and anger. Words of hate were itching at his tongue, wanting him to say and do something about this ghost woman who stood so smugly before him. But now wasn't the time to argue futilely with her.
He snarled before turning his attention back to his partner. He released Tsuzuki's arm and placed two fingers against the older man's neck, just under the jaw bone where the carotid artery pumped between the wind pipe and neck muscle below it.
Tsuzuki's skin felt clammy and cold beneath his fingers, but Hisoka could feel the reassuring steady beat of a pulse. It was faint but stable. He let out a sigh of relief.
Good. Tsuzuki's body was still functioning for now. He still had time. He just had to wake his partner up before Naomi sucked his soul out altogether.
He placed both his hands on either side of Tsuzuki's shoulders and attempted to stir the man from his deep sleep.
"Tsuzuki, wake up! Wake up, Tsuzuki!" He shook his partner's shoulders roughly, but no matter how strong or how forcefully he pushed, Tsuzuki didn't stir. Instead, his body remained limp on the floor and his head lulled from side to side with each shove Hisoka gave him.
Please wake up, he willed, feeling desperate. He couldn't lose Tsuzuki now. Not like this. Not before he could tell Tsuzuki his true feelings and make the things between them right.
"You can't wake him that way," Naomi said cheerily, highly amused that Hisoka had attempted to rouse his partner in vain but she made no move to stop him.
As soon as she said that, Hisoka's eyes opened with realization as his empathy tapped into her thoughts, replaying back the whole scenario that had happened earlier with both her and Tsuzuki.
He could see his partner restrained by the extension cords, Naomi's body leaning over him and promising him an eternity of peace if he only gave her his soul. And when Tsuzuki had agreed, his body had gone limp-his soul being sucked into the silver full-length mirror that hung on the wall just a few feet in front of them.
The mirror was the anchor. The very thing they had been looking for this entire time.
And Tsuzuki's soul was inside it.
He moved quickly, lighting fast, as he jumped to his feet. His hand automatically went to the pocket of his jean jacket for the fuda Tsuzuki had given him before.
"Not so fast, pretty boy," the ghost chastised, sounding bored and unsurprised as she snapped her fingers. One of the lamp's extension cords immediately shot out and encircled Hisoka's leg, stopping him from going any further. He reached down to frantically tug at it as it constricted around his thigh, forcing him to stop even as he resisted.
Slender white hands were placed on either side of his face, and instantly she tapped into his empathy, flooding into him like an invasive parasite. "You just don't know when to give up do you?"
He froze, his body no longer under his control as he felt her presence ease into the back of his mind, flooding his thoughts and ruling over the motions of his arms and legs.
"He agreed to my deal so long as I didn't drain any more souls," she said into his head, as his body temperature continued to drop. He felt so cold and the muscles and nerves in his body would spasm involuntarily, making a last attempt to regain some circulatory warmth. The pulsing ache in his head increased, like someone was screeching in his ear and causing his brain to throb painfully. "However, I didn't make any promises to him about not killing anyone. It's such a shame, but I can't have you getting in my way."
That's what she was doing. She had taken over his body and had planned to kill him. He could already feel the strength of his limbs shutting down. They felt atrophied, comparable to a withered up tree. The last time he had felt that way was when he was dying under the pretense of an incurable illness. When he had found out the truth about the events of his death, and had been dragged off by Muraki only to be saved by Tsuzuki -he had sworn that he would never allow someone to have power over him again.
He had to fight it. He had to remove her from inside of him before she shut the rest of his body down. He had to stop her, before she took away the most important person in his existence. But, how? With his body immobile, he couldn't reach his fuda or form any exorcism spells. He was completely at her mercy.
A thought occurred to him as he frantically racked his brain. There was one thing. One thing that he could use and could rely on. His empathy. It was risky, but it was all the advantage that he had and he'd rather die trying than die from not doing anything at all.
There was more than just his own existence at stake.
"This is my body," he said, and he could feel the energy of his rage billowing in his gut, the excess of it flowing through his body like waves. As the energy pulsated and passed through the muscles and cellular tissue, they let off a scorching heat that made his bones ache. But those waves weren't even comparable to the growing pressure of energy still inside of him. The burning that wanted so badly to be released danced beneath his skin with anticipation. "Get out."
He let loose the energy blast. The force of it scorched parts of his skin and burned at his clothes but he didn't care. His clothes could be replaced and his body would heal after. What mattered was that the heat would expel her out.
And it did.
Naomi looked tired as she stood with a hand to her chest, doubled over. She was swaying as she gasped, and she seemed to have trouble standing. Her image was fading, flickering away. Hisoka knew that she had used a lot of energy to posses him and she wouldn't be able to attack him with anything until she re-energized. If she tried to attack him now, she would surely lose.
Taking advantage of this change in events, Hisoka hurried to the full length mirror, pulling out the fuda with every intention of bringing his partner back to reality. He wasn't totally exhausted yet, but he didn't want to take a chance and test his luck. There was no telling how many more chances he would get. He had had enough with ghosts for today and he wanted to end this case and bring Tsuzuki back to Meifu as soon as possible.
"Wait!" Naomi yelled out imploringly, gasping with the little strength she had left as he stopped in front of the mirror. He was only inches away from the glass surface. His arm was outstretched and his hand extended with the fuda and was ready to push it against the mirror's glass surface at any moment. "Won't you just let him go? I can assure you he's happy here with me. I've given him dreams that he's only ever imagined." She gave a laugh. "Look at him in the mirror if you don't believe me and see how peaceful he is. Would you really take that away from him?"
Hisoka could see Tsuzuki's face just below the surface of the mirror. The light of the dream world had tinted everything visible outside of the darkness blue. His partner looked to be dreaming away, his face illuminated by the blue hue.
With Naomi's weakened state, the spiritual energy that had kept his empathy out of sorts was gone, allowing him to catch faint glimpses of what the older man was dreaming of. He saw them together, lying side by side on the green lawn of Tsuzuki's garden. They were holding hands as the sun shined over them and the brunet looked as peaceful in the dream as the real Tsuzuki was looking now.
It made Hisoka want to give Tsuzuki that same happiness again, in reality.
"No. Call it selfish or whatever you like, but I can't live in a world without Tsuzuki." He put the hand with the fuda down and instead raised his free hand to trace his fingers over the glass that covered Tsuzuki's face.
"I will always find a way to bring him back. His place is here with me and I won't let him go. Not to anyone."
He glanced back at her one last time as he finished, "And definitely not to you."
He let his free hand fall and his other hand quickly pushed the fuda against the glass of the dream mirror. The paper charm reacted instantly and the glass and frame of the mirror shattered.
"No!" Naomi let out a strangled yell, as she watched the mirror crumble in horror. The only part of the mirror that hadn't been destroyed in the blast were the broken bits of frame that still hung to the wall and the glass shards that glittered over the wooden floor. Tsuzuki's image was no longer in any of the glass shards. That meant Hisoka's plan had worked and Tsuzuki's soul had gone back to his body.
Hisoka's eyes fell on the ghost, watching as she was disappearing quickly. Her form becoming more translucent as the fading quickened. She had been on earth too long and now that her anchor was destroyed she no longer had anything to keep her in the house.
She opened her mouth to speak, her eyes catching his for a fleeting moment but before she could say any last words, she vanished. The house rattled and shook, causing the furniture to move. The lamps and vases that had been sitting on the tables broke and the chairs fell onto their backs and sides. Hisoka shielded himself with his arms and covered his head in case any objects would be flung his way.
When the air had finally settled, Hisoka stood dazed, his adrenaline still spiking dully in his blood. He didn't notice how his burnt skin sizzled when it healed and repaired itself, or how his worn clothing was in tatters.
The whole house was a mess, almost like it had been overturned and shaken up. Looking at how the furniture was all scattered and banged up, it was a wonder he wasn't hit by any of it.
Remembering Tsuzuki, Hisoka instantly turned to find his partner. Thankfully, Tsuzuki didn't seem to have encountered any damage through the strange phenomenon. His body was exactly where Hisoka had last seen it, laying flat on the floor in the middle of the living room.
Once he reached Tsuzuki's side, he knelt beside the man's prone form and placed a hand against his forehead, his cheek. The skin beneath Hisoka's hand felt warm. A good sign that Tsuzuki's soul had found its way back.
He retracted his hand from his partner's face and placed it on the man's shoulder, giving it a little shove. "Tsuzuki?" He paused before he shook the man again, this time more insistent. "Tsuzuki, wake up."
Purple eyes fluttered open and a hoarse voice murmured, "Hisoka?" He squinted, glanced at the blond up and down, and took in his state of dress. "What happened to you?"
"It's a long story," Hisoka vaguely told him, not wanting to discuss his run in with the ghost woman. They could talk about that later when they filled out their reports.
"Are you alright? Do you remember anything?" He asked, changing the subject as Tsuzuki sat up, and looked around the room trying to figure out how he had gotten there.
Tsuzuki shook his head and blinked at him tiredly, still working on becoming fully coherent. "The last thing I remember…I was dreaming."
Hisoka felt his lips twitch when he heard that. Leave it to Tsuzuki to forget about the important stuff and just remember being asleep. Judging from the anxiousness his partner was projecting and the flittering gazes he seemed to be aiming at anywhere but him, it gave Hisoka a pretty good idea about the last thing his partner had been dreaming about.
He sank further down onto the floor so that he was resting on his knees beside Tsuzuki. He looked straight ahead, focused on brunet's mouth. It was right there. So close and just inches away from meeting his own.
"How about I give you something ten times better than any dream?" Hisoka whispered, as he placed a hand on the older man's cheek, and guided his face down. His voice was so quiet that if Tsuzuki hadn't been paying attention he would have missed it.
The older man's eyes widened in response, his mind scrambling to make sense of why Hisoka was so close and what exactly he meant by that.
"Idiot," the blond said, the skin contact between his hand and Tsuzuki's cheek allowing him to read his partner's mind. His lips were so close that Tsuzuki could feel Hisoka's breath on his face when he spoke. "I mean this."
The lips that pressed against his were soft and undemanding. Just like the small hand that held the side of his face. Tsuzuki found that he was pleased with both, the way that Hisoka was simply holding him, a steady form of support to the small display of feelings that had just taken place between them.
The kiss lasted only seconds, but the place that their lips met burned like a brand. Hisoka felt more than saw the stunned arousal in Tsuzuki's eyes when they stared back at him. He could feel the same need and desire clawing at his insides, a whole new level he had never wanted with anyone before.
When Hisoka pulled away, he shifted his eyes to the side, his face flushing instinctively from his show of bravado. He wasn't sure what to do next. Tsuzuki wasn't saying anything either, but Hisoka could see out of the corner of his eyes that his partner was still watching him.
"So?" he prompted after neither of them had spoken nor moved for some time, wanting to be rid of the awkward silence between and trying to take the focus off his obvious embarrassment.
At first, he wasn't sure how he would have felt about kissing Tsuzuki. He had gone into it without any plans beforehand and had hoped that by doing so his feelings would somehow reach Tsuzuki and that he, in turn, would receive some semblance of how his partner truly felt towards him.
He wasn't proficient in kissing. His only prior experience being the unwanted ones from his killer and the confusing ones he had shared in his brief moments with Tsubaki. But unlike those past experiences, this one didn't leave him feeling empty.
The kiss with Tsuzuki had been different, warming him in ways that the others hadn't.
He had liked kissing Tsuzuki and while the brunet's own emotions showed a positive response, Hisoka still wanted –no, needed- some verbal acquiescence that the older man had liked it too.
Tsuzuki seemed to think carefully before finally replying with an indifferent, "Mm…It was good."
"Just good?" the blond raised an eyebrow, his face looking anything but happy at his partner's response. Did he not just experience the same kiss that Hisoka did? The blond was sure he had and he knew he hadn't read Tsuzuki's feelings wrong. There was no way he could read them wrong.
"It was good," Tsuzuki said again, nodding and sending him a slanted smile, "but I think that we can do better." He amended. "Have better."
Hisoka felt a tremble of both excitement and apprehension run through him as Tsuzuki's answer sunk in. There was more than just the intention of additional kisses that his partner seemed to be promising him.
"So why don't we?" He asked with a bit of challenge in his voice. He wondered where this show of self-confidence was coming from. He certainly didn't feel confident, but he was aware that his partner was watching him appraisingly and -if that smile was any indication- with keen interest. He decided that Tsuzuki didn't have to know how nervous he was or how quick the pulse at his throat raced.
Tsuzuki was looking at him with amused curiosity. His smile widening so it showed a white flash of teeth and it made the empath's throat go dry with apprehension.
If the brunet was aware of Hisoka's inner conflict at the brave invitation, he didn't say. Instead, he simply framed the blond's face with both his hands and moved in and covered Hisoka's mouth with his.
The next kiss was deeper, longer, and wetter.
Hisoka found it easy to return the kiss, his mouth pressing back firmly against Tsuzuki's own. His partner's hand cupped the back of his neck, and changed angles, coaxing the blond's mouth open by massaging their lips together.
It started slow, sensual, but soon Hisoka found it easy to mimic the open mouthed kisses. He wasn't nearly as skillful as his partner, having bumped the older man's teeth once or twice and a few times he had missed Tsuzuki's mouth altogether. Tsuzuki didn't mind his numerous fumbles at intimacy, but instead, helped him adapt and fall into the rhythm of it. Press. Suck. Pull.
Their pace quickened and the kisses became more insistent, more wild and threatening. Hisoka had to grip the front Tsuzuki's suit to keep his balance. He just couldn't concentrate on anything anymore. There was too much heat, too much of both his and Tsuzuki's feelings that caused his mind to become dizzy.
When they broke apart this time they were both left gasping with glossy, open mouths. Tsuzuki's hand dropped from his neck and slid down his spine, settling at the waist. Hisoka was still holding onto his partner's suit, the fingers clenching the fabric like a life-line.
"That was better," Hisoka admitted when his breathing finally evened out enough for him to speak. His face was flushed and his pupils were dilated, the dark circles having eclipsed the green until they were only a small ring.
Tsuzuki seemed equally affected, his eyes half-lidded and his sweaty bangs sticking to the side of his face. Hisoka decided he liked it when Tsuzuki looked like that. All hot and messy and not talking.
He could see the forgiveness in his partner's eyes; feel the love that Tsuzuki's heart directed at him. And he let it warm him, until he was giddy with hope.
They could start again.
The blond gave his partner a calculating smile before he used his hold on Tsuzuki's suit to tug him down to eye-level, leaving them nose to nose and mouth to mouth.
"We're still far from being done yet."
La fin.
AN :
Dans l'Obscurité is French for In Darkness/Into the Dark.
Chapitre Trois: Aube is French for Chapter Three: Dawn.
La fin is French for The end.
Special thanks to Retired Kitkat for help with these translations. :)
You are free to interpret what happens next however you'd like. :) Please don't kill me, haha. Correct Answer: There is no definite, correct answer. I've spent nearly 9 months writing this; therefore I think I can say that I gave birth to this monstrosity! (A pregnancy free of weight gain and stretch marks!) I hope you liked this story, general zargon. :) Thank you again for submitting your request! Also, a lovely artist at Tazmaa's Studio completed an awesome art commission for this chapter. The Illustration is accessible in the links section on my profile. Please go look at it and visit her site if you can. I hope you all enjoy the illustration as much as I do! It's gorgeous!
Update 3/30/13: This story has been edited for some overlooked grammar mistakes.
