Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Nothing If Not By Your Side ❯ Asking for assistance ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Nothing If Not By Your Side


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(I am nothing.)

Light, indiscernible footsteps fall upon a tiled floor, clicking in rhythm to the tick-tock anthem of his wristwatch.

(When faced with a truly dangerous enemy, he always comes to the rescue, while I stand helplessly behind, unable to do anything.)

An elevator door closes in front of him as he steps inside, like that of a cage or chilling cell, vibrating low in his chest, and forcing him to unwillingly hold his breath. He has never cared for elevators. There is too much control given up when a machine is handed not only the fate of your destination, but the bearings of your feet.

(He risks his life - what life he has - for me, and I can do nothing to help.)

Ding. The dreaded doors open and his chosen destination lies before him. That same rhythmic click begins as he heads down a narrow hallway, intending to reach the room at the very end, whether he is welcome within or not.

(What kind of partner am I if I can't even play my part in battle? What use am I to him?)

An eerie glow greets him from the crack beneath the door of the room he will soon reach. It offsets him only a heartbeat, though, for the person on the other side is greatly needed, and the reason too important to be left for nothing.

(I refuse to stand by and watch him suffer for me - for anything - ever again.)

Trembling fingers reach up to the handle on the uninviting door, pausing moments before the completion of their desired act. Time has never been on his side. But today, this very day, he will make it his.

(We will be equals. I refuse to accept anything less.)

Kurosaki Hisoka pulls open the door to the basement laboratory, met by a wave of foul smelling air in a cloud of putrid smoke. It is well known among shinigami that Watari's lab is one to be entered with great caution, keeping a sharp lookout for what may await you inside.

"Ah...Watari-san...?"

"NOROU!!" screams a voice from within the thick clouds of smoke, followed by a succession of breaking glass and a very angry stomp at the ground. "Shippai! So close, and still nothing to show for it!"

"Watari-san, daijobu desu, ka?"

"Eh? Bon? Is that you?"

The whirring of a fan follows the flick of some unseen switch, and slowly the clouds of smoke begin to dissipate, leaving behind the image of a very frazzled Watari with tousled hair and crooked glasses balancing on the tip of his nose. Clearly, his latest attempt at whatever concoction he had been experimenting with, wasn't very successful. A pile of broken test tubes lies scattered on the table in front of him.

Waving a small hand at the remaining haze in the air, Hisoka approaches Watari's work station, raising an eyebrow in question as to what his eccentric friend had been trying to accomplish. Actually, he has a pretty good idea.

"Still working on that foolish potion of yours?"

Watari grimaces, straightening his tilted spectacles. "You won't think my gender change potion is so foolish once I get it right, Kurosaki-kun. It could revolutionize modern science!"

"Hn...if you say so." Hisoka comments with little generosity. The force that has brought him here today is much stronger than mere flights of fancy. "Watari-san...may I ask something of you?"

Fiddling with the broken bits of glass, Watari's large brown eyes brighten kindly as he looks back up at Hisoka from the mess of his desk. "Of course! I am always ready to help someone in need. What is it you wish to ask?"

"I want you to make a potion for me."

"For you? Nothing dangerous or illegal I hope?" the smiling scientist answers back, carefully sweeping the remnants of his failure into the trash.

"Iie, nothing like that." Hisoka reassures. "I need a potion that can make a person...grow older."

The little hand-broom Watari had been using drops to the table. Staring hard at Hisoka, he looks suddenly very serious and unsettled. Hisoka is unable to return the look directly, not one for intimacy in any of its forms, but he feels the weight of Watari's eyes bearing down on him as if their very depths hold all the boundaries of gravity.

A few unbearable moments pass in silence, too still and unnatural for comfort. Eventually, the quiet is disrupted, but the tone and quality of Watari's voice breaking into it is an alarmingly unfamiliar sound.

"Doushite?" he asks, low and steady, with eyes still centered on Hisoka's face. "To have you ask this of me, I am entitled to some explanation, ne?"

Lowering his gaze, Hisoka focuses on the intricate patterns in the floor - anything to keep himself from having to look back at his intent interrogator. "Don't assume you know the answer. I am not a child! I shouldn't have to look like one...live like one...and be this useless, just because I didn't live long enough to grow up."

The young boy's words are hallow, falling out of the air like drops of lead. The meaning buried within them, however, is so deeply severe that not a single syllable could be ignored.

Hisoka begins to pick up on the shuffling of approaching feet, well aware that Watari is moving around the desk to be closer to him. Without even trying, he absorbs the blonde's every pulsing emotion, overcome more and more by the sheer force of feeling as the space between them thins.

"I was almost expecting you to say something else." comes Watari's melodic voice, gentle, and yet nearly teasing in the way the notes play out. "For *those* reasons...I don't see why I shouldn't help you, Kurosaki-kun. As long as you're sure those really are the reasons you want this."

"What other reasons would there be?"

"Oh, I don't know. People do things for stupid reasons all the time. I guess I'm a little concerned. I wouldn't want you to regret your decision."

"I won't." Hisoka declares firmly, raising his lime-colored eyes from the safety of the floor. "Dozo, Watari-san. I'm asking you to do this for me. I...need this. And I don't need anything."

Desperation laces every word coming from the young boy's mouth, exuding more emotion than he would usually dare to express in the company of another. Hisoka generally keeps to himself. Certainly, being partnered with Tsuzuki for so long has affected him greatly, but it is a whole new world to alter someone's true nature, even if they want to be changed.

Studying the contours of Watari's face, Hisoka delves deep into the emotions his friend is experiencing, breathing a sigh of grateful relief when the corner's of the blonde's mouth twitch into a satisfied smile.

"Hmmm...you know what, Bon?" Watari begins, with a playful twinkle in his eye. "I believe you. Why don't you stop by tomorrow after dinner? I've dabbled in potions like this before, so it shouldn't take me long to make one for you. Although...there is something I still need to know."

"Nan desu, ka?"

Watari's smile broadens, and Hisoka suddenly feels overcome by chills that wrack his entire frame. They are not caused by cold or fear, but by an odd heat buried deep inside his body.

For some unexplainable reason, he believes Watari is trying to trap him.

"How old do you want to be?" the suspicious scientist inquires.

"I hadn't really thought about it." Hisoka admits, averting his eyes once again, and struggling to suppress the quivering in the pit of his stomach. "I suppose I'd like to be around -"

"Tsuzuki's age?" Watari jumps in, snatching up the opportunity before him like a hungry animal on the prowl.

Hisoka flinches, folding his arms in front of his chest as if to make his body smaller, more easily hidden and confined within himself. "Hmph...Tsuzuki acts like a three-year-old."

"You mean to say, he seems younger than he is, ne?" Watari questions, devouring the boy's obvious feelings of discomfort. "Still, I can tell you want to be closer in age to Tsuzuki. In your early 20's, perhaps? Six or seven years older?"

"Whatever..." the unsettled boy grumbles in reply, growing steadily impatient, and craving the sanctity of release from this room. "Just be sure I don't end up turning into a toddler or some decaying corpse. Your spells have a tendency to backfire."

Now it is Watari's turn to flinch. "That's harsh of you, Bon. Do you want my help or not? I am an experienced scientist, ne? I promise I can deliver what you've asked for. No side-affects or mishaps for you to worry your disgruntled, little head over, either."

The comment is meant to lighten the dreary mood Hisoka seems to carry with him wherever he goes, but in the boy's mind, this exchange has run its course. He longs to escape the laboratory, sighing heavily in defeat and concealed defiance.

At last, the final traces of smoke have been swept away by the fan in the ceiling, and yet there remains a thickness in the air, threatening to swallow both shinigami if they dare to breath in more than they should.

"Sumimasen, Watari-san. I have complete faith in you." Hisoka mends, forcing himself to look up again, though the intensity of Watari's eyes seem as if they might scald him should he linger too long. "What do you want in return?"

"Oh, you don't owe me anything for this, Bon." replies a hearty laugh. "I look forward to seeing what you'll look like all grown up. In fact, I think I'm really going to enjoy this."

Having had his fill of the conversation, Hisoka offers a half-hearted nod, and chooses to take his leave, sweeping out of the lab like the unstoppable force of nature he has always proven to be.

Left to the solitude of his work, Watari chuckles slightly to himself as he moves to the back of the room, gathering up the supplies he will need to fulfill the promise he is eager to carry out.

Pecking at the back of his buzzing thoughts, he finds a certain humor in the situation developing.

Scientists have an obligation to excel in levels of perception if they plan to carry out their work effectively, and Watari prides himself on being an extremely keen observer. He has believed for quite some time, actually, that the universe's youngest shinigami would one day knock on his door and ask for the very thing that was asked for today.

(Hai, I *am* going to enjoy this, Kurosaki-kun...) Watari muses, humming a familiar tune beneath his breath, and smiling happily to himself as he sets to work. (...though not nearly as much as Tsuzuki will.)


*****A/N*****


My first Yami fic! I hope you're enjoying it so far, and that you are intrigued by what this story will bring about. I know Rina K. Fenderson already wrote a fic with the same idea behind it, "Five Years in Five Days" (which I strongly recommend you read) but this shall be quite different. Truthfully, I thought up the idea long before I read Rina's fic, but she deserves credit for posting it first. :-) I will do my best to stray from what she created, while still holding true to how things would really play out. Arigato, minna, for reading, and PLEASE REVIEW!!!!