Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ The Strangest Conversations ❯ The Strangest Conversations ( Chapter 1 )

The Strangest Conversations

 

 

Hisoka sat waiting on one of the wooden benches just outside the doors of the Justice Department. He was swinging his feet, feeling slightly bored, waiting for his grandmother to finish her business with Kwan Yin.

 

He smiled slightly as he watched them walk out of the building. He was amused by the fact that several people had followed them outside and were attempting to engage them in conversation. Tatsumi and Watari would have laughed at the number of men, and women for that matter, trying to get Blaze's attention. Well, Watari would have laughed. Tatsumi would probably have had the shadows swallow them without a second thought.

 

It was distinctly odd the changes that could happen in just a few short months. He had gone from having no family that he would have cared to claim, to having a great (several hundred generations removed) grandmother whom he adored. She just happened to be the oldest and most powerful shinigami in the world.

 

Said grandmother was also involved in ways Hisoka really didn't want to think about with not just one but two of his co-workers. He had sensed her energy in some very unusual places on both of them two days after he had met her. Both of them had been just too damn happy for nine o'clock on a Monday morning. Not to mention Watari's stray thought of “The things that woman can do with ties,” was enough to make him really not want to know what had transpired at Tatsumi's the previous evening. As it had been an ongoing thing for several months at this point, he had gotten used to it.

 

Kwan Yin nodded in his direction and Blaze managed to break free of the group. He stood up as she approached him and found himself engulfed in her embrace a few seconds later. He sighed contentedly to himself. It never ceased to amaze him how safe he felt in her arms.

 

He smiled as he felt the hard twinge of jealousy come from the group still gathered around Kwan Yin. They really had no idea who either of the women were. They couldn't begin to imagine they were in the presence of two of the Queens of Earth. All any of them saw were two beautiful women.

 

Kwan Yin smiled at them serenely through her throng of admirers and waved them on.

 

He and Blaze started off to supper, her fingers laced firmly through his.

 

“So, I'm guessing you managed to give Tsu the slip,” Blaze said smiling.

 

“No,” Hisoka said with a sigh. “I fully expect him to show up at the restaurant to mooch desert.”

 

“Why does that not surprise me in the slightest?”

 

“It certainly shouldn't,” Hisoka said. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Blaze, I don't mean to pry . . .”

 

“But you're going to.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Well?” she prompted. “What did you want to know about?”

 

“A lot of things.”

 

“Such as?”

 

“Why ice and not fire? Since it's your element I would have thought that would be the natural thing to use.”

 

“It would have been if we hadn't been in a crowded restaurant. I'm fairly certain someone would have noticed him suddenly becoming a blazing pillar. As it was, the ice was easier. It makes it look like a heart attack. The heart and lungs stop functioning because they're frozen.”

 

“How do you know Muraki?”

 

“So, that's what he's calling himself these days. He's gone by many other names in many other lifetimes, naturally. Where to begin with this,” she said, tapping her fingers thoughtfully on her chin. “Can supper wait?”

 

“I'm not really hungry right now,” Hisoka said.

 

“Okay. I think I'd better explain a few things about my life first.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“I met the person who is Muraki during the lifetime I obtained this body. At that time, my followers and I helped those coming back from battle to reacclimatize themselves to living in normal society. That was where my followers and I came in. Most of the women and men who functioned under me were very talented in a wide range of things. Everything from soothing battle fatigue to teaching basic healing techniques to “other things”.

 

“What other things?”

 

“I'm not so certain I should be having this particular conversation with you, Hisoka.”

 

“Blaze, I won't lose it because someone mentions sex. I mean, I have to get used to people talking about it some time. It's a favorite topic of conversation for most people. Other people enjoy it.”

 

Blaze felt the horror of what had happened to him start to well up again. She put her hands on his shoulders and forced him to look her in the eyes.

 

“Sweetheart, you've never really had sex. Before you start to protest, what happened to you was in no way how sex is supposed to be. We'll discuss the fact that rape has very little to do with sex and a lot to do with generally over blown or nonexistent ego and power trips at some later time.”

 

Hisoka nodded and Blaze put an arm around his waist as they started walking again.

 

“Anyway, back to my early life. If even one of the soldiers coming back from battle snapped and couldn't deal with day to day life, they had the potential to wipe out entire villages.”

 

Hisoka nodded. “I can see that. Since the population was so small at that time everyone needed to survive.”

 

“Yes. And as you can imagine, there were some individuals who were much harder to retrain than others.”

 

“Was the person who turned out to be Muraki one of them?”

 

“Actually, no. I had my suspicions from the beginning about him though. He went through major bouts of depression after being brought to us. He was a model companion and ended up being released much sooner than any of his comrades were. He visited the temple often, talking to the others who had been in his unit. Helping the priests and priestesses as they went about individual duties. Most everyone thought he was wonderful.”

 

“Except for you.”

 

“I thought he was a decent sort at first. Maybe a little too much interested in the bloodshed that had gone before. But that was the way a lot of soldiers were,” she said with a shrug. “It was only after he had left the temple completely that I started to hear rumors.”

 

“Rumors of what?”

 

“Torture. Sadism, though there wasn't a word for it then. Murder. Madness. Keep in mind the goal was to make certain that everyone stayed alive so whole villages could survive and prosper.”

 

“How did you come to find out it was him?”

 

“It seems that I've always been a detective of sorts. I went to the scenes and scanned for traces. Clues of any kind. I started picking up familiar energy signatures right away. But since he had been one of the people out there helping search on the first few murders, I couldn't safely rule him as a prime suspect. But I couldn't rule him out either. As time and crimes went on, I began to suspect him more and more because his energy was everywhere at every crime scene. Most concentrated and intense at the sites of death or mutilation.”

 

“The killings excited him,” Hisoka stated flatly.

 

“Are you sure you want me to keep going with this? It only gets worse.”

 

“I can handle it, Blaze. If you get to a point that I can't, I know you'll feel it and stop,” Hisoka said with a slight grin.

 

“You're right there. At any rate, he seemed to know I suspected him. In fact, he actually encouraged it by pointing out things I'd missed to my subordinates, knowing it would get back to me,” she said thoughtfully.

 

“That would fit in well with his known inclination for head games. It's all like one big chess match to him as far as we're concerned.”

 

“Yes, he was always like that. I suppose I should be flattered that he considered me a worthy opponent. I don't think he ever believed I'd actually kill him though.”

 

Hisoka's eyes widened in shock and he sat down hard on the nearest bench.

 

“You killed him? While you were still alive? While you were still human?”

 

“I am still human,” Blaze said firmly. “And yes, I did kill him.”

 

“How?” Hisoka asked in a somewhat strangled voice.

 

She sighed and sat down next to him on the bench. “Sweetheart, why is this so important for you to know?”

 

“Because, if you managed to kill him when you were still alive, he can be killed again,” he said, his hands tightening into fists.

 

“Hisoka, listen to me. That was a very long time ago. Over the centuries as I've gotten better and stronger, so has he.”

 

“Yes, but he's still more or less human. A few enhancements here and there but he's still technically mortal.”

 

“Technically.”

 

“How did you manage to kill him?”

 

Blaze sighed heavily. “I stabbed him in the back. Literally. It isn't something I'm especially proud of, Hisoka. Partially because he was vulnerable and couldn't defend himself. It was definitely one of the more dishonorable actions I've performed.”

 

“I'm guessing there have been other dishonorable actions on your part.”

 

“Enough to give you nightmares for the rest of your afterlife.” She said this so seriously that he shivered a little bit. He had always known there had to be a very long and dark part of her past that she kept blocked from him and everyone else.

 

“You stabbed him during sex, didn't you.” It was not a question but a statement. “Yes, you blocked that memory. I guessed by your tone of voice and body language.”

 

She laughed and rubbed his hair. “You are so one of mine. I'll have to admit he got me good though.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

She smiled slightly, almost bitterly. “He told me I was dying. With his last breath. Evidently he had the curse set up to activate at his death because somehow he knew I would eventually kill him.”

 

“You actually admire him, don't you,” Hisoka said in disbelief.

 

“I admire the creativity and skills it took to orchestrate that particular curse, yes. As I'm sure you can guess, I am no easy target. Not even back then. However, as for admiring the man he was and obviously still is, no.”

 

“Why haven't you killed him again? You obviously can, since you did that night.”

 

“Because, I want him to know he's dead. Just like I knew I was dead all those millennia ago. I want him to be watching when death comes for him and know he can't do anything about it. I want him to suffer.” She almost hissed the words and Hisoka shivered again.

 

“Remind me to never piss you off.”

 

“I doubt you will ever piss me off to that level. Okay, let's leave this subject alone for a while. I really don't want to rehash my death before supper. Funny, you're the first person in several thousand years I've even been slightly inclined to tell this whole story to.”

 

“Maybe it's because I'm family,” Hisoka suggested.

 

“Maybe. Even Honey only knows bits and pieces of it.”

 

“Speaking of Watari . . .”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Um, now I'm not so sure I want to know about it.”

 

“What? You mean my weird little triangle with Honey and Seiichiro?”

 

“Blaze, there are certain things one just does not want to discuss with their grandmother no matter how lovely she is or how many generations removed.”

 

“Does that mean you don't want to discuss your feelings toward Tsu?” Blaze asked.

 

Hisoka blinked several times then stared at her. “How did you . . . Never mind. I know how you know.”

 

“That's what Tsu always says. So, what's the problem?”

 

“Isn't that wrong? I mean having those kinds of feelings for another man.” Try as he might, he couldn't seem to keep a note of desperation out of his voice.

 

“I don't think so. I'm pretty certain Seiichiro and Honey are in love with each other.”

 

“How can you be in love with that many people at once? Isn't that confusing to everyone?”

 

“You take love where you find it. If it happens to be with more than one person, so be it. I honestly don't think it would work as far as I'm concerned were it any other two people. But as it happens, I love both of them and they love each other and me as well, it just kind of works.”

 

“I thought you and Watari were only friends with fringes. At least that's what you told Tatsumi a while ago.”

 

“He and I are still best friends. It just kind of grew into something neither of us expected. I think Seiichiro was really the catalyst in that considering he loved both of us before either Watari or I suspected it. Hisoka, friendship is usually the basis of a lasting love. Immediate sparks are a good thing. Intensity and passion are wonderful in a relationship but that isn't all there is to a good one. If that were all, then the mundane tasks of daily life would kill love almost immediately.”

 

“I don't understand.”

 

She sighed and hugged him to her side. “I know you don't. I don't expect you to considering you've never experienced human contact all that much. You'll understand it in time. I'm not really good at explaining these kinds of things. But back to you and Tsu. I guess I can echo a question you asked Seiichiro: What do you intend to do about it?”

 

“I don't know. I mean, I know he loves me. I'd have to be a PSI potato not to know that considering he radiates it. I think I love him, but I'm not really sure what love feels like.”

 

“Sweetheart, you know what love feels like in varying degrees from other people. You have to recognize what it feels like in yourself. It will naturally be a little bit different because of varying qualities in every single individual make it different. But you can identify it for what it is.”

 

“I guess so,” he said, staring at his sneakers for a moment. “Blaze, you knew Tsuzuki when he first became a shinigami, right.”

 

“Yes. I knew him quite well then.”

 

“What was he like back then?”

 

“Oh, dear gods, mess doesn't even begin to cover it. He was nearly hysterical after every mission he went on. Convinced that the great divine hated him and he was doomed. He genuinely believed it. Still does from time to time as far as I can tell. Even after I took him to the outer edges of heaven. Heaven, Nirvana, Bliss, whatever, same place.”

 

“Why would you do that?”

 

“To prove a point to him. If I'm allowed there then he most certainly is. And I wanted him to meet certain individuals.”

 

“Who did you want him to meet?”

 

“The archangels. They're reborn every ten thousand years or so. At that point in time they were still in really young bodies and far less threatening than they usually are. I suppose they'd be around your physical age by now. I thought it would be good for him.”

 

“Was it?”

 

“It seemed to do him some good. He calmed down for a bit after that. Unfortunately, since then, three of them have more or less disappeared and no one can find them.”

 

“How do you disappear completely with the kind of power they have to have?”

 

“For an archangel, I would imagine it to be very easy for them to do. The fact that I can't find them is saying they pretty much don't want to be found.”

 

“You are very vain about your abilities some days, grandmother mine,” Hisoka said laughing.

 

“No, I'm just honest about them and know what I'm capable of.”

 

Hisoka shook his head. “You and I have the strangest conversations.”

 

“No doubt about that. Come on,” she said, taking his hand again. “Let's go eat.”

 

“You've been around Tsuzuki too long.”

 

“Probably.”

 

 

 

Author's notes:

***Being a PSI potato is a mildly derogatory term for someone who has no psychic or empathic ability.

***Energy signatures are the psychic/energetic impressions left on people and objects from other people. Like fingerprints, they are unique to the individual and can be psychically traced.