Shattered Emeralds

By: Vain 11.2001

I don't own Yami no Matsuei, nor can I claim Hisoka, Tsuzuki, Watari, Muraki, nor Tatsumi-Yoko Matsushita does. Please don't sue me; I'm poor and I'm not bright enough to try and profit from this. Read and review, please!! ^_~

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!!!!!!!! READ THIS, OR YOU WILL BE CONFUSED !!!!!!!!

::TIMELINE INFORMATION::

Okay, here's the deal:

This is slight AU. Tsuzuki was sent on an extended vacation for a year, so when Hisoka came to the department, he ended up getting paired with Watari instead. Unfortunately, a certain platinum-haired pedophile was waiting in the wings and decided that it was time to "re-acquire" his former plaything. Now, six months later, Tsuzuki has returned to JuOhCho to find everything turned upside down. Worst of all, no one will tell him what's going on. And, moreover, why is Tsuzuki dreaming about a mysterious boy with emerald eyes whom he's never met, and just what does he have to do with this new case?

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PROLOGUE

A DREAM IN TIME GONE BY

"There is a type of truth in silence." The boy stared at him as though he expected an answer. When none was forthcoming, he closed his vivid green eyes, tilted his head back and sighed heavily. "I am sick of this silence. It's too quiet here." He raised a fine-boned hand and tapped his forehead. "I miss the world."

The man stared, unsure how to react-unsure if he could react.

The boy dropped his head to look at him, opening his fantastic eyes again. "They say that when you die, it's a release, but it's not like that for us, is it? I was a Shinigami, just like you, but that didn't stop him. It should have. I wanted it to so badly . . . You're not safe either." Iridescent emerald eyes flared and the youth turned to go.

The motion seemed to snap the man out of his funk and he lunged forward to grip at the teenager's arm, but his fingers closed around air. "Wait!" His voice echoed in a disturbingly insubstantial way the boy's hadn't. "Who are you?! Why are you haunting me?!"

The boy stopped and looked over his slender shoulder, eyes harsh, emotionless mirrors. They stared at one another in silence for a time.

"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me," the man whispered at last, unable to bear the weight of that harsh gaze. "Please . . . Who are you? What do you want?"

The boy didn't so much as blink. "He's coming." He turned and began to walk away again.

"But who are you?!?!" The man wanted desperately to run after the fragile figure that already seemed to be fading away, but found himself rooted to the spot.

When the reply came, it sounded like the wind. "My name was Kurosaki Hisoka . . ."

Violet eyes snapped open and the man sat upright with a gasp. Another one . . . Tsuzuki dropped his head into his hands and waited until the trembling stopped. It took a long time.

"He's coming."

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