Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Whispers in the Dark ❯ Clouds Gather ( Chapter 1 )

Duo made his way swiftly back to the office, caffeinated soda and a candy bar in hand. He had also gotten Heero a protein bar, determined to make the stubborn ex-pilot eat something. His skin crawled as he thought about Dr. Muraki. Normally no one would have been able to even approach the room without him knowing they were there, old wartime habits. The silver haired doctor had not only managed to get into the room, but walk up behind Duo and extend his arm over the braided preventer's shoulder. The man truly gave him the wiggens. His hair fell over his left eye, reminding him of Trowa's hair - almost. His only visible eye was a pale icy blue and his gaze always seemed leering.

 

The office door swung open and Duo opened his mouth to exclaim his return when he suddenly closed his mouth and wrinkled his brow. The incessant clicking of his partner's keyboard was gone and Heero's chair was left empty. `Where the hell did he disappear to?' Duo stepped into the room, leaving the door open, as he peered at his desk, searching for a note of some kind. He flipped open his cell phone, about to dial Heero's pager number when a familiar figure appeared in the door.

 

“Fei! Have you seen Heero? The guy up an disappeared on me!”

 

Wufei winced at the used of his nickname, “He told me to stop by and let you know he got called into an conference and to keep running the info. He said something about-“

 

“Not falling behind, yeah, yeah. I hear the same excuse all the time. Great, so he's dumping the boring shit on me, ne? Did he say how long the conference would be?”

 

“No, but he seemed to think it would be awhile. He said he'd meet you back home later tonight.”

 

“Thanks, Wu-man! Say… would you like to help me ou-“

 

“No. I have my own mission to deal with,” and with that, Wufei turned on his heel and stalked down the hall in that tight-assed way of his. Duo shook his head, `That guy seriously needs to get laid… Home,' Duo smiled, `I don't ever think I'll get used to that. Heero and I have a “home.”'

 

Duo settled into his chair, tossing the candy bar and protein bar next to his can of soda. He cracked his fingers and rolled his head from side to side. He put the protein bar in his top desk drawer, saving it to shove down Heero's throat another day. He peeled back the candy wrapper and shoved the end of the bar into his mouth before he began typing. Heero would have no doubt sent the files to Duo via e-mail. Duo sighed as he glanced at the encrypted files. God forbid Heero send anything without encrypting it first.

 

~*~*~

 

Strange things had been happening throughout the realm of the Judgment Bureau. They had been receiving information about strange souls that weren't in the Hall of Candles, and candles had been going out, but there were no signs of the souls the represented. Hisoka and Tsuzuki had also been hearing rumors of a man fitting Muraki's description lurking around the streets. The strange occurrences had the whole bureau busy and the paperwork was piling up on Hisoka's desk. Hisoka had told Tatsumi long ago to just put all of the paperwork on his desk since Tsuzuki managed to con him into doing all of it anyway. Now the poor green-eyed empath couldn't even see the office door over the towers of paper he was trying ferociously to fill out and file away. Tsuzuki was off bothering Watari, so Hisoka had a bit of quiet time to work, but before he could enjoy the silence the energetic sweet tooth himself bounced into the room.

 

“Hey, Soka-kun, guess what?”

 

“What,” Hisoka muttered half-heartedly, already immune to being called “Soka-kun.”

 

“They're sending us out into the city! They have a strong lead that Muraki has been seen in and around a rundown apartment building over the past few weeks. They're sending us over to investigate.”

 

Hisoka blinked and looked up, but sighed when he realized he still couldn't see over the paperwork. He stood, relieved to be getting out of the office and getting a break from his paperwork, but he wasn't very happy about a possible run in with Muraki. Tsuzuki kept a close eye on his quiet partner; he didn't have to be an empath to know the emotions running through the boy's heart. Hisoka's mental shields were up and strong, but so were the older Shinigami's.

 

“Do you want me to wait for you?'

 

“Aa, I just have to grab my things,” was Hisoka's distant reply.

 

Tsuzuki left the room, allowing Hisoka to gather his thoughts and calm his emotions before heading out. He wasn't particularly happy about seeing the crazy doctor again either, but Hisoka held more than emotional scars; his body bore the physical ones as well. A smile immediately sprung to Tsuzuki's face as Hisoka came into view, putting on his usual bouncy, sugar-induced-energy mask. He knew Hisoka wasn't fooled, but it made himself feel better, less vulnerable. They walked off, out of the bureau building as Tsuzuki chattered on about how they could always stop for a late lunch and a treat at a local café he had seen a few days before.

 

~*~*~

 

Hisoka's blonde eyebrow rose as he stood staring at the building in question. The apartment building was an old wooden structure that was only two floors, but he still couldn't see how it was still standing. The thing looked like the poster for `condemned.' Tsuzuki whistled as he walked closer to the building, checking it for caution tape and warning signs. Not that it would matter. They were both already dead, after all. A small, broken shingle slid from the roof and clattered to the ground, causing both Shinigami to jump. Hisoka sighed when he saw it was only a shingle.

 

“Tsuzuki-kun, are you sure this is the building we're suppose to be at? I doubt rats can live here safely, let alone Muraki.”

 

“This is the address they gave me. Maybe we should try to take a peek inside? We might get lucky and find this is only a façade…”

 

“I doubt it,” Hisoka sighed, “but alright. Well, we will look a little bit, but if the building even creaks too loud we're gone.”

 

Tsuzuki smiled and nodded in agreement, testing the door lightly to make sure it would open without sending debris tumbling down on them. The door swung open with a surprising silence and ease as Hisoka walked up behind his partner. They both poked their heads in and peered around before Tsuzuki decided to test the floors. The floorboards squeaked under the pressure of one shoe clad foot, the sound reminiscent of the creaky floorboards of a haunted house. The floors took the taller shinigami's weight without too much protest, so Hisoka stepped inside. They decided to split up, Hisoka taking the top floor and Tsuzuki investigating the first floor.

 

As Hisoka slowly made his way up the stairs he noticed the light in the hollow of the stairwell was lit, so as he checked room to room, he flicked the light switches. They all worked, which allowed Hisoka to get a good look at each room, not venturing too far in. His green eyes would scan the room for anything unusual, such as the dust wiped clear on a door or piece of furniture, but it looked as though he was last person to walk through the place in years. He was on is way to check the old bathroom at the end of the hall when he heard Tsuzuki yell up the stairs.

 

“Hey, Soka-kun! There's a trap door to the basement down here. It seems to be shut pretty tight. Want to check it out?”

 

“Well, I don't want to, but it seems we have to,” Hisoka spoke as he came down the stairs, “The upstairs is clear. Did you see anything else unusual?”

 

“Iie. It looks like the dust has been settled down here for years.”

 

“Same upstairs. So, if Muraki has been using this place, how does he get in?”

 

Tsuzuki shrugged as he led Hisoka toward the trap door. They entered a back sitting room, the old furniture still covered with those ominous white sheets. He shivered before he caught sight of the door. Tsuzuki must have tripped over the handle and tossed the rug aside to see what it was. Violet eyes almost glared at the handle as he removed his jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeves, readying himself to try prying it open once more. Hisoka stood at Tsuzuki's side, jean jacket sleeves rolled up already, offering his help. Together they took hold of the brass ring that served as the handle, which had been stuck angled up. They counted to three quietly before heaving on the handle, the wood screeching as it rubbed together. The two shinigami leaned back, using their weight against the door, and they smiled as it popped loose, only to throw them both off balance and send them tumbling backwards onto their butts on the floor. Hisoka cursed lightly pulling himself up off the floor and dusting himself off as Tsuzuki did the same, only the latter sneezed a few times as the dust from his clothing filled the air.

 

Hisoka noticed a warm breeze coming from the freshly opened trap door and he glanced into the opening curiously, finding a surprise. The stairs leading down looked new, in fact, they were metal. As his vision adjusted to the lack of light he noticed that the walls has also been covered it metal. It appeared as if the underground of the house had been reinforced and made into an almost bunker like structure. Tsuzuki and Hisoka exchanged glances as they started down the stairs, finding quite an elaborate laboratory for such a small space. They knew for sure that Muraki had been using the building by the looks of some of the machinery around the room, and unlike the rest of the house, there wasn't a speck of dust to be seen.

 

“Well, it seems he got our answer, ne,” Tsuzuki whispered, still unsure if they were alone.

 

“Aa. He's been here, no doubt. Lets look at some of the things he's been working on. Maybe we could figure out what he's trying to do before it gets out of hand.”

 

“Hai”

 

They began glancing into machines and jars and flipping through paperwork left out as they walked about the room, never letting the other out of their sights. Tsuzuki peered at a strange oval machine bolted down to one of the lab desks, walking around it and checking it out. He skimmed the paperwork surrounding it, trying to figure out what it was for.

 

“Hisoka, what do you suppose this does?”

 

“I don't know, but don't touch…”

 

Before Hisoka could even finish his sentence Tsuzuki had placed his hands on it, that ever-growing curiosity compelling him to touch it. His hands brushed against a light panel on the front and it lit up immediately, startling Tsuzuki and causing him to back up.

 

“What did you do, Tsuzuki?!”

 

The shout was ignored as a light pulsed outward, sending a thrumming sensation through both shinigami, they tried to move away from the machine, but were rooted in place as the light expanded. The light suddenly shot back towards the machine leaving the room void of the two people who had previously been there with and echoed curse that had served as Tsuzuki and Hisoka's last words on their own plane of existence.

~*~*~

 

It was nine o'clock at night and Duo was just making his way out of the building. He had gotten so rapped up in the files he was working on that he had lost track of time. He had gotten a page from Heero saying he had to run out and do errands for Lady Une pertaining to the case. Duo had gotten that message around 7:30 and expected Heero to be at home already. The great thing about working in the Neo Tokyo Preventer's Office was the fact that their two-story condo was across the street. Well, a park separated the two destinations, but it was a fairly small one, and it was well lit. Not that Duo couldn't take care of himself. Most people didn't try to commit muggings and what not in the park across the street from the Preventer building, especially with so many Preventers living in the apartments and condos around the park.

 

Duo jogged across the street and into park, his breath coming out it light wispy puffs, as the air grew much colder during the fall nights. His laptop, tucked securely in it's leather case, was slung over his shoulder and patting lightly against his jacket. Duo was still jogging to keep warm, as he forgot his scarf and gloves and was terribly affected by the cold; he obviously wasn't paying attention to what lay in the path to his warm home because as he approached the sidewalk he tripped, crashing to his knees on the ground.

 

“Kuso! Itai, itai…”

 

~*~*~

 

Tsuzuki was jolted awake but a sharp pain in his side, hissing and moaning lightly as he rolled onto his stomach to push himself up off the ground. He got up onto his knees and immediately began looking for Hisoka, who he found starting to regain consciousness next to him. Tsuzuki laid a hand on Hisoka's shoulder as he started to get up, assuring him he was there and making sure the younger shinigami was okay.

 

“Uh… can you guys tell me what you're doing laying around in the park this time of night?”

 

The mysterious voice startled Tsuzuki, and he first thought they had been knocked out and Muraki had gotten a hold of them, but the voice was different, richer. He turned to meet the speaker, only to find the same shade of violet that colored his eyes staring back at him. This caused both men's eyes to widen a fraction at the shock of seeing someone with the same unusual eye color. Hisoka gasped lightly when he finally came around fully and took notice of both the stranger and their location. Hisoka looked around and found that they were, in fact, on the ground in the middle of the park, and so was the stranger, with a small hole in the right knee of his pants. The stranger's eyes softened.

 

“You two must be freezing. It's been getting very cold here at night. You don't look homeless, I mean, your clothes fit you proper, and they're fairly nice. You weren't mugged were you?”

 

“Uh… no,” Hisoka replied, “We weren't mugged. We… well, we aren't quite sure what happened.”

 

The stranger was on his feet, crouched down now where Tsuzuki and Hisoka could notice the unfamiliar uniform, almost military in it's appearance, that the man wore along with the long braid that trailed down and pooled on the cold ground between the black worn military issue boots.

 

“No memory, ne? Well, I was walking home from work and happened to trip over you,” motioning to Tsuzuki, “Sorry if I kicked you. I wasn't really paying attention.”

 

The stranger had an apologetic smile on his face as he scratched the back of his neck. Hisoka could tell this was a nervous habit he'd done since he was younger, but the man seemed anything but nervous. The man seemed quite confident of himself, and felt comfortable talking to two strangers in a park.

 

“That's alright, really. I was the one laying on the ground after all. My name is Tsuzuki, buy the way,” Tsuzuki smiled, “Do you mind telling us where we are exactly?”

 

“I'm Duo, Duo Maxwell. You happen to be smack in the middle of Sakura Park at the heart of Neo Tokyo.”

 

“Neo Tokyo?” Hisoka asked, a perplexed look on his face.

 

“Hai… you do remember that Tokyo was destroyed during the early wars, right?”

 

Tsuzuki and Hisoka stared at one another, confusion and dread scrawled across their features. This had to be joke, right? There was no possible way that strange machine had transported them to a different world, a different dimension, right? Wrong. They sat in the middle of an unfamiliar park, in a now unfamiliar city, looking at a stranger in an unfamiliar uniform. Hisoka paled, standing up on shaky legs to make his way over to a near by bench and shivering from the cold. Tsuzuki had shot up to help steady his partner, but stayed close by, seeing that he was still fairly sure on his feet for the moment.

 

“I live just across the street, maybe you should come inside for a bit and warm up. I'll look up a hotel or something that can take you for the night…”

 

“Oh no, we couldn't do that,” Tsuzuki replied, “You've been kind enough, I'm sure we can find our own way.”

 

“You didn't even know what city you were in a moment ago. Come on. My lover wouldn't mind you over for an hour or two, and we have plenty of room. Besides, I have a cherry pie made that I could heat up in the oven. No one can resist warm pie on a cold night, ne?”

 

Tsuzuki's eyes widened a bit, sparkling with the prospects of tasting a sweet pie, but he pushed back is sweet tooth, looking to Hisoka to make sure he was alright with the idea. Hisoka, in the mean time, had flushed when the man, Duo, had spoken of his `lover,' obviously meaning another man. He calmed a bit, noticing Duo didn't seem embarrassed to tell strangers of his sexual preference, and he heard the last bit about having warm pie on a cold night. He knew that would sell Tsuzuki on the matter, and Duo was right, they didn't know the city and could surely use help in finding a hotel to stay in.

 

“We… well, we have money, but I doubt it's accepted here…”

 

“Credits are accepted in any country…” Duo responded, slightly confused.

 

“We don't have `Credits,' we have Yen,” Tsuzuki answered.

 

“Yen?! Where the hell did you find that? They haven't printed or coined Yen for ages! Man, you guys are worse off then I thought! Well, Come on. Lets go get you warm first. We'll work out the other stuff a later.”