Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Yami no Kenzoku ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )

Notes: Tokyo Babylon reference! Yay! ^-^ Um. If you know Tokyo Babylon, you'll get it. If you don't, that's fine too. Because it's really got no point there but just to be there. And Beauty and the Beast. I thought I'd announce it before someone else did and thereby irked me by doing so. So nyah. =P I know it's there, I put it there on purpose.

And oi, do I ever suck at battle scenes. Wah. Actually, as a whole, I hate this chapter . . . guh. The writing quality is bad, and nothing works right . . . yagh. But it's the best I can do after slaving away days at this. (kinda) And let's not even mention the ending . . .wah. o.o

Yami no Kenzoku

Chapter Eight

It was decided, for the safety of the guests, that the murder not be announced. Rumors spread quickly that the game had become a reality, but for the most part, no one believed it to be true. Only those that served as the heads of a party knew the truth, having been told by their servants. Tatsumi was one of them and had chosen to inform his party members, unlike many others, who seemed to think it a hoax being played on them by the manor staff. No one seemed to believe that another death might occur.

People could never be more stupid when they began to deny reality, as was Kai's opinion. Death was around them, and yet rather than face it and accept it as matter of life, they chose to refuse its existence. He had never known a person - that was, he could never recall having known a person - that had been able to accept death with opens arms. But he was not a person to judge. It made him a hypocrite.

He, too, had feared death. He had not attempted to avoid it at all costs, but like many, he did wonder what happened when death came and whether or not there was a such thing as an afterlife. Now that he was dead and knew, he did not think it was anything to fear at all. Maybe that was why he had become so opinionated about the guests of the manor that chose not to believe that a murder /had/ in fact occurred and could again.

He rubbed slightly at his arm, his fingertips tracing over the burned words in his skin. Muraki killed because he took pleasure in it, Hisoka had told him. There was no other reason for why he did what he did. Kai imagined that when he had killed his mother, that for Muraki, it had been nothing but a moment's pleasure. A moment of pleasure that had ended her life. Why, he wondered, were people like that allowed to live?

He knew that one of the duties of a shinigami was to make sure that the names of those that appeared in the Kiseki arrived in Meifu. For those souls that did not come, they were to return them to the place where they belonged. Or, had the person somehow cheated death, they were to take the life of that person to set them on 'the right path' so to speak. But it was also their duty to prevent the premature deaths of those whose names had not appeared in the Kiseki.

Why then, could they not kill a man like Muraki, who constantly killed and caused people to die before their time? He knew that it could not be said that when Muraki killed people, that it had been their time to die. No person was fated to be murdered. That was why the shinigami had been brought into existence in Meifu, to ensure that those murdered did find their way to Meifu and were given proper judgment before JuOhCho.

Kai unbuttoned the cuff of his shirt and pulled the fabric away to reveal the scars on his arm. Whatever Muraki had done to his mother, it had to have been horrible, for him to scald it into his flesh so that he would never forget the name of the man that had taken her life . . . and if that was true, did he even want to remember his past? Who he had been? What life had he led? What if he turned out to be no better than Muraki?

"Hey, don't look so glum, chum."

Kaiki quickly covered up his arm and looked up to find Watari coming into the room, a cinnamon roll in his mouth that he had picked up from breakfast. He gave a slight wave of his hand as he plopped down at the computer station he had set up at an oak wood desk not far from his bed.

"What's up?" he asked, kicking up his feet onto the desk and leaning back in his char. 003, his faithful owl, settled down on the monitor to take a nap.

"Nothing," Kai replied. He returned his gaze to the land beyond the window, where he was seated. "I was just thinking about some stuff."

"Well, don't hurt yourself," Watari said with a smile, and he devoted his attention to his computer and whatever it was he was working on at the moment.

"Is Tatsumi-san still looking into the murder?" Kai spoke up after several moments. He was always hesitant to speak to Watari when the older shinigami was tapping furiously away at his computer, though he had no reason to be. Watari was always friendly with him and never minded the interruptions.

"Yup," he answered, not pausing in what he was doing or even glancing up. "He and Terazuma are looking into it to find some motive behind it, if they can."

"But it's Muraki. Hisoka said . . . that he never really has a reason for killing the people he does . . ."

"Well, that much is true," Watari replied thoughtfully. "But not really. Sure, it seems like he doesn't have a reason, but that's what Tsuzuki and Hisoka will tell you . . . to Muraki himself, maybe he does have a reason for what he does. Maybe he kills people to use as bait to bring Tsuzuki to him. Maybe he does it because he's hired to. Whatever the case, no one just goes and randomly kills people. Even those who kill people for pleasure have a reason - to get pleasure out of it."

Kai sighed softly, silver eyes slipping away from Watari to the window.

"Maybe . . . people who kill . . . are really very lonely."

"YOU!"

Tsuzuki did a double take and nearly fell out of his chair as Terazuma came stomping forward, pointing an accusing finger at him. He immediately flung his hands up in the air, as though he were being caught for a crime or something like that. With the way Terazuma was acting, that probably wasn't far from the truth.

"I didn't do it!" Tsuzuki exclaimed immediately.

"No, of course you didn't," Terazuma said calmly. "I just wanted to see you jump."

Tsuzuki glared daggers at Terazuma as the other shinigami flopped into a chair across the table he was seated at, kicking his feet up and pulling a cigarette out from behind his elvish ear. That was something like the third time Terazuma had managed to catch him off guard quite like that, and it never became any easier to cope with each time. Tsuzuki was on the verge of slugging him.

"Did you find anything out?" Hisoka asked, as Wakaba took a seat beside Terazuma. The four shinigami were in the empty dining hall, having a very late breakfast. Tsuzuki and Hisoka had both slept in past noon, while Terazuma and Wakaba had joined Tatsumi in his hunt for information about the murder.

"Nothing solid, no," Terazuma answered. "Death was somewhere between ten and eleven at night. Cause was a knife to the throat. No fingerprints. The knife's gone. Most everyone is in their rooms by then, so no one saw any suspicious activity."

"No evidence that it's Muraki?" Tsuzuki asked.

Terazuma shook his head. "It's not like he left us his jacket or anything to go by. Seems like everybody's content to keep it a secret too. Until someone else dies, anyway. Maybe then they'll take it seriously." He said it in a manner that stated clearly that he was disgusted with the way the murder was being handled, and if that did not give it away, the way he smashed his cigarette in an ash tray said words enough.

"Wo~w, Hajime-chan is acting like a real detective," Wakaba spoke up.

"What's that supposed to mean?!!" Terazuma demanded.

Wakaba blushed faintly. "Well, last time you went around blaming /everyone/ and it turned out that the Earl's mask was just in his costume room under that weird gorilla costume . . ."

". . . yeah, well . . . . you be quiet."

"Watari mentioned running some tests on things Tatsumi picked up around the room through his computer," Hisoka spoke up. He took a small sip of his tea. "To see whether or not there's any traces of whoever it was."

"If it was Muraki, he'd leave clues behind, wouldn't he?" Tsuzuki asked at length. "To give us a way to find him . . ."

Wakaba shook her head. "I don't think so in this case, Tsuzuki-san. He knows you already suspect him, so it'd be overkill for him to go around leaving you hints. Besides, you know where he is already too. I think maybe he's trying to place the blame on someone else to confuse you all."

"Hey, who's the detective here?!" Terazuma snapped.

"That does make sense," Hisoka said thoughtfully, ignoring Terazuma. "So I guess all we can do is try and prevent him from killing anyone else."

Tsuzuki only gave a slight nod in response, inwardly thinking that it may not be that easy at all. They had never been able to prevent it before when Muraki killed people; what made this time any different than those? He had proved time and time again that he was able to out wit the best of them. Tsuzuki had good reason to be pessimistic about their current circumstances.

The double doors at the far end of the dining hall creaked protestingly in announcement of someone's entrance. The four shinigami looked up to find Lucille coming into the room, likely having been doing her chores around the manor and coming to the dining hall to clean things up. She offered them a sunny smile.

"Good morning. Is there anything I can get you?"

"No, we're just relaxing a bit," Tsuzuki said, returning the smile. "Thanks anyway."

Lucille nodded. "Well, don't hesitant to ask if you do need anything."

Terazuma glanced sidelong at the other shinigami. Tsuzuki and Hisoka did not catch the meaning in his gaze, but Wakaba, who had known him longer than anyone, gave a nod of agreement.

"Actually, there is something you could help us with," Terazuma said. "We were wondering about another guest that's staying here. A Dr. Muraki Kazutaka."

"Muraki-sensei?" Lucille asked. "Yes, there's a man by that name here. He has never been before, but from what I hear, he's familiar with the owner of the manor. He's been staying in his own private quarters and not participating in the game, however. Why do you ask of Muraki-sensei?"

Terazuma gave a shrug and offered one of his more pleasant smiles. "Oh, no reason really. Thanks."

Lucille continued to look at him with an odd expression on her face, but finally gave a shrug and continued along her way. Terazuma was not offended. Odd looks were something he had become accustomed to over the years, what with the shape of his ears and the odd markings beneath his eyes.

"Not that it really tells us anything," Tsuzuki said with a sigh once Lucille had disappeared. "So he knows the owner of the manor. Big deal. He knew the owner of the Queen Camellia too."

"But he was connected to the murders then because he knew Kakyouin," Hisoka put in thoughtfully.

"So the owner of the manor has something to do with this?" Wakaba asked.

Hisoka shrugged. "Well, who knows. Where Muraki's concerned nothing's ever the way it seems."

A new voice interrupted their conversation. "So suspicious," it said. "I'm insulted."

Both Tsuzuki and Hisoka would have recognized that voice in a crowd of five million people. They stiffened somewhat, eyes lifting very slowly to find Muraki standing in the frame of the double doors. Terazuma and Wakaba, who were still as of yet unfamiliar with Muraki, were not quite as affected by his sudden appearance.

"Good morning," Muraki said cordially, a smile gracing his features. "Tsuzuki-san, I do not believe I am acquainted with your friends."

"And I'd rather it stay that way before you try to kill them too," Tsuzuki snapped in return.

"So you really think I am the murderer?" Muraki asked, raising one silver eyebrow in amusement. "Have I given you reason to believe I would want to kill that man? But I did not come to argue my innocence. I was wondering if you would like to join me for dinner this evening, Tsuzuki-san."

Tsuzuki's head slammed down on the table and he groaned quite audibly. Muraki continued to smile pleasantly.

"No," Tsuzuki growled, lifting his head from the table. "No, I would /not/ like to have dinner with you this evening. Or tomorrow evening. Or the day after that. Or ever."

"It might be in your best interests to reconsider."

Tsuzuki straightened himself up, at once becoming serious. "Why?"

Muraki chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. I haven't done a thing to any of your companions. I find none of them as amusing as I do you. But I may be of some help to this case you are attempting to solve."

"I think I can figure it out on my own."

"I promise that I will be on my best behavior."

"Promise you'll be chained to your chair and I might reconsider," Tsuzuki muttered beneath his breath. "Yeah, fine, whatever. I'll go."

"Tsuzuki!" Hisoka and Wakaba exclaimed at once, both startled at his willingness.

"Wonderful," Muraki said brightly. "Then I will see you at seven, Tsuzuki-san. Til then." He gave a slight wave of his hand, and with those simple parting words, was gone.

Hisoka immediately whirled on his partner. "What are you /thinking/? Are you /insane/?"

"Unfortunately, Muraki's probably the only one that does know what's going on here, and who might be the next person to be killed," Tsuzuki responded calmly. "I'm only doing my job."

"But--!"

Tsuzuki smiled. "Don't worry, Hisoka. Everything will be fine."

Hisoka didn't believe him. Nothing would be fine, as he so casually put it, wherever Muraki was concerned. Though Tsuzuki did well to hide from everyone else that he was still heavily affected by the events in Kyoto, Hisoka knew him too well to be fooled. Tsuzuki could pretend that being around Muraki and even having dinner with him would not bother him; he could keep up this face of calmness and rationality. But Hisoka would never believe it.

"If you have to go, Tsuzuki-san, please at least have someone go with you that can come in if there's any sign of trouble," Wakaba pleaded. "For your own safety."

"No," Tsuzuki said slowly. "If I do that, it'll just endanger you guys. I don't want that."

"What about yourself? What about endangering /your/ life?" Hisoka snapped.

"I don't mind taking the risk if it's just me."

"Tsuzuki," Hisoka tried, but the older shinigami silenced him by raising his hand in a gesture to tell Hisoka to not bother.

"That's my decision. I'm not changing it."

Hisoka wanted to slug him. Or yell at him. Or do something to express how much Tsuzuki's latest idiotic idea was angering him. But he didn't do anything; simply gave Tsuzuki a very cold glare, and proceeded to slump deeper into his chair, determined to not speak to him for the remainder of the day. It was childish, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"You're a crazy bastard, sempai," Terazuma said, shaking his head and stubbing out his cigarette in an ash tray. "But I can't say I have any more respect for you than I did before for what you're doing."

For once, Tsuzuki only smiled in response. "Well, there isn't really anything I can do to get your respect, is there?" he asked, and that was all.

Hisoka continued to silently fume, until he was long forgotten by his companions and even he began to wonder what it was that he was upset about.

As evening fell and the other shinigami were leaving to go to dinner, Tsuzuki was sneaking away from the group and beginning his trek to Muraki's hall. Terazuma, Wakaba, and Hisoka all knew what he was up to, but he had forbidden them from telling Tatsumi or the others. Tatsumi would not have let him go, and this was something Tsuzuki believed that he had to do. He couldn't let any of them stand in his way or try to detour him from that path.

It was for two reasons that he went to see Muraki. One, he did know that if anyone could give them clues in this case, it would be him. And two, it was something he had to do on his own. He had to be able to face Muraki and not be afraid, to not remember everything that had happened in Kyoto. It was the only way he could come to terms with everything.

That was why he soon found himself standing outside of Muraki's room, knuckles gently rapping on the door to announce his presence. Not but a moment later was the door being opened; never let it be said that Muraki was rude. He would never leave his esteemed guest waiting.

"Good evening, Tsuzuki-san," he said pleasantly, with the same smile on his face that always made a chill run up Tsuzuki's spine. "Please, come in."

Tsuzuki did not have much choice in the matter either way. Muraki placed his hand on the small of his back and guided him into the room, making it difficult for Tsuzuki to bolt even if he had wanted to. But he stood his ground and came inside on the same illusion of calmness he had executed that morning.

Muraki led him over to dining area of the large room. He might have done something horribly cliché, such as pulling out Tsuzuki's chair for him, but the shinigami had sat down before the doctor had the chance. Muraki did not seem to mind. He only smiled and took his seat across from Tsuzuki.

"I am surprised that your companions allowed you to come," he said conversationally, beginning to pour them each a glass of wine. "They do not like me very much, I think."

Tsuzuki wondered where he had come up with that brilliant idea. But he held his tongue. He did not want to say something that he would later regret, no matter how enticing the temptation was.

"I hope you intend to eat this evening, Tsuzuki-san," Muraki said. He slid a glass of wine across the table to his guest. "You rarely do in my presence."

"I'd rather get to the point," Tsuzuki replied, forcing his voice to remain calm and neutral.

"Mm. Of course. But I would rather talk. I'm surprised you haven't asked how it was I managed to survive the flames of your shikigami, and then from that wound you inflicted on me."

Muraki stood and began pacing toward him. Tsuzuki unconsciously leaned back further in his chair, as though in some attempt to be further away from him.

"I still bear the scar," Muraki said, stopping inches from him. "And your shikigami . . . I think that it would have destroyed me, given the chance. But I was fortunate to escape. That is another very faithful creature you have serving you, Tsuzuki. Touda, is it called?"

Tsuzuki did not respond. It was true; Touda was one of his most faithful shikigami. Perhaps the one that was most loyal to him. Suzaku and Byakko and all the others . . . they would do anything to protect him, and Touda would do the same, but with one slight difference. Every command Tsuzuki gave Touda followed through on, no matter what the request was. Even if that request was to be killed. Suzaku and the others would never do that for him.

"I think I would like to test him," Muraki said lightly.

"Wha . . .?"

Muraki did not respond. Tsuzuki did not react quickly enough to stop him as he raised a hand above his head, and without a single word, snapped his fingers. At once the ground began to rumble beneath them. Tsuzuki flung himself up and out of his chair as the tremors became stronger as something approached them.

Tsuzuki did not see clearly what happened. There seemed to be a great flash of light, and then, quite suddenly, he and Muraki were not the only occupants of the room. An enormous demon, a hydra bearing six heads, stood with them. It was at once the largest creature Tsuzuki had ever seen and yet, it seemed to fit perfectly in the room, without any difficulty. Likely more affects of Muraki's magic at work.

"Choose yours, Tsuzuki-san," Muraki said. The hydra stood behind him, its six heads nipping at one another until their master gave a command. Tsuzuki was still amazed by the intense size of the demon and the power it had to possess. He had to choose quickly which of his shikigami would be well-matched against such a creature.

He made his decision in a split second. Placing his hands before him in a gesture of praying, he said the words of a prayer softly, and ended with the words, "Come forth, SohRyu!"

At once the blue serpent appeared. SohRyu rivaled in size to the hydra, that much Tsuzuki could see, but he was not certain that their abilities were evenly matched. That was what he would see in the upcoming battle.

Muraki snapped his fingers once again. The hydra moved forward, all of its heads working in perfect alliance with one another. Tsuzuki gave a single command to SohRyu and he too moved forward to meet the hydra mid-way. The two dragons clashed and in a fury of shrieks and battle cries, attempted to beat the other to the ground.

They continued for an indeterminable amount of time, their masters giving them commands at intervals throughout the battle. Tsuzuki could see well into it that his SohRyu, though powerful and possibly the greatest of his shikigami, was not evenly matched against the hydra. The hydra, possessing six heads as it did, was able to catch him from all sides. It was impossible for SohRyu to be able to withstand all of the attacks.

"SohRyu!" Tsuzuki called. "It's no use! Stand down!"

The serpent did not heed his call. If anything, he began to fight with more determination and ferocity than before. But Tsuzuki did not feel any better about the turn of the battle.

One of the heads of the hydra moved forward with blinding speed. SohRyu did not move quickly enough to avoid it, and long, crooked fangs sank deeply into the serpent's neck. The hydra clung to him, sinking its teeth in even deeper, until Tsuzuki could see the yellow eyes of his shikigami beginning to drift closed.

Upon a command from Muraki, the hydra released SohRyu, allowing the serpent shikigami to fall limp to the ground.

"SohRyu!!" Tsuzuki cried.

"He was not a good choice, Tsuzuki-san," Muraki said thoughtfully, his voice rising above the snapping of the hydra, and the labored breathing of the serpent shikigami. "Better to finish him." He raised his hand, fingers posed to give the command.

"Stop it!" Tsuzuki yelled. "Stop!"

He started to run forward to his shikigami. But at that moment there was a brilliant flash of light, blinding him and preventing him from moving forward. It faded away, and shielding his eyes, Tsuzuki was able to see vague shapes standing before him. One red, one white, one brown . . . the latter two much larger than the third. He rubbed his eyes, attempting to clear his vision.

"Tsuzuki-san."

A gentle voice spoke his name and he felt a hand on his arm. He blinked several times and found himself looking into a pair of blue eyes behind the lenses of glasses. Tatsumi had come. And the two forms with him were Suzaku and Byakko.

"Tatsumi," Tsuzuki said softly, in realization. "Neechan . . . and Byakko . . . no."

Tsuzuki jerked his arm free of the grip Tatsumi had him in, rushing forward to Byakko and burying his hands in the deep fur in a pathetic gesture to hold him back.

"No! Both of you, stand down!" Tsuzuki commanded.

Neither shikigami looked as though they were willing to obey him. Suzaku gave a battle shriek, a cry that Tsuzuki knew all too well. She was prepared to destroy the hydra, or to die trying. The low rumble in Byakko's throat told him that the other shikigami felt no differently.

"That is a direct order from your master! Stand down!"

"SohRyu . . ."

It was Byakko that spoke. Younger than the other shikigami Tsuzuki commanded, he did not seem to understand the command.

"Take him to GensouKai and treat him," Tsuzuki said. "That is my order."

"Tsuzuki-san." Tatsumi's voice came to him again. "We must go before Muraki makes another move."

Tsuzuki did not listen to him. "Do as I say, Suzaku, Byakko!"

"As you wish."

Above the roar of Suzaku's flames, Tsuzuki heard the sound of Muraki snapping his fingers.

The next moment passed by him in a fury of colors and sounds. He felt arms encircle him from behind, dragging him away from Suzaku and Byakko. The hydra screamed and moved forward to attack; Suzaku gave a battle cry, and Byakko a roar of rage - or was it pain? He knew that he was yelling something, another command, something, but he did not hear his own voice. And before he knew what was happening, all of those images and sounds had disappeared, and were replaced with darkness as he slipped away.

"Neechan!"

Hisoka and Tatsumi both looked up. Tsuzuki had woken up. He sat bolt upright in bed, staring straight forward into nothingness, the blankets clenched in his hands. Both shinigami stood and hurried over to him.

"Neechan," Tsuzuki repeated. "SohRyu and Byakko, are they . . . what . . ."

"Calm down, Tsuzuki-san," Tatsumi said gently. He took a seat beside Tsuzuki on the bed and smoothed his long bangs from his face. "They are all safe."

Tsuzuki appeared marginally relieved by this. With a gentle push from Tatsumi, he allowed himself to be lowered back down into bed, and the covers pulled back up over him. Besides, he had a horrible headache. He was not about to deny being waited on like this.

"They obeyed your command and returned to GensouKai," Tatsumi explained.

"And SohRyu?" Tsuzuki asked.

"He was not wounded very much. He should be fine."

Tsuzuki nodded. "How long have I been out?"

"Only a few hours," Tatsumi answered. He frowned and glanced at Hisoka, who gave a shrug of his shoulders in response. Reaching within his jacket, Tatsumi removed an envelope from the inside pocket and held it out to Tsuzuki. "This came for you," he said.

Tsuzuki sat up and took the offered envelope from Tatsumi. It was not addressed to anyone in particular, but his name was written in clear characters across it. Tsuzuki glanced at Tatsumi and Hisoka before flipping it over and breaking the seal. He removed the letter inside and unfolded it.

". . . it's from Muraki," he said slowly. "He said he would tell me about the murders . . . this is everything he knows."

Tsuzuki held it out to Tatsumi. The other shinigami took it and read over it briefly, one eyebrow raising slightly as he did.

"Convenient," he murmured finally. "You should know, Tsuzuki-san, that there was another murder while you were with Muraki . . . this only confirms that it could not have been him."

Tsuzuki sighed.

"I guess . . . we need to go talk to Lucille."

Seated together in the room that Watari and Kaiki shared, the shinigami (including Konoe, whom had finally been able to come out of hiding after having been a 'victim') waited while Tatsumi retrieved their servant girl. It did not take long. Not long after Tatsumi had gone to find Lucille, he returned, guiding her in with a hand on her arm. She took one look around at them and felt her heart rising up in her throat.

Tsuzuki stood. "Why?" he asked.

Lucille took a step backward, but it was for nothing. Her back connected with Tatsumi, and he settled both hands on her shoulders to keep her in place.

"You . . . you know?" she asked. "How?!"

"An ugly little bird told us," Terazuma spoke up. "And you should explain. I doubt the police will be as kind with you as we will."

Lucille, her eyes wide with horror, tried again to break free from Tatsumi. "What /are/ you things?!" she exclaimed. "You're . . . like demons . . .!"

"You could put it like that," Tsuzuki said. "But we're not here to talk about that. Tell us why you killed them."

Tatsumi was able to keep her from breaking away from him and running away, but he was not able to stop her from slumping to the ground before him and hiding her face in her hands. He stood, dumbfounded, as he had never been able to understand women. Fortunately Wakaba hurried over to her and knelt down beside her, putting a reassuring arm around her shoulders.

"Please, we only need to know why those people had to die," Wakaba said gently.

Lucille looked up, her eyes red with tears. "Do you know what those men did?" She directed the question not to Wakaba, but the men in the room, as though they were to blame as well. "The second man I killed . . . he owned a bordello outside of Tokyo . . . he sold girls like slaves! I . . . I was one of them."

"And the other man?" Wakaba asked, continuing to speak in gentle, reassuring tones. The other shinigami stood dumbfounded. None of them would have been able to do what Wakaba did.

"A customer," Lucille said softly. "He came often, and always . . . /always/ had to have me. My parents were poor . . . we came to Japan from France when I was a child. My father's job transferred him, and then, just as we came here, he was fired and couldn't support us. We didn't even have the money to go back to our own country . . . so . . . my mother . . . she couldn't support me . . . she sold me into that life! So that I could earn money for her . . . and my father didn't even say no . . .

"T-there was a boy I knew growing up. He was always so kind to me . . . I really loved him. When we were older, he proposed to me and promised to take me away from the bordello . . . but when the owner and that customer found out, they had him murdered, so that I could stay and remain a whore for them! I /had/ to kill them, I /had/ to. For Taka, I killed them . . ."

Lucille ended her story in a broken sob. She pressed her hands back to her face to hide her tears. Wakaba put her arms comfortingly around her, while the other shinigami stood back, not knowing what to do.

"It'll be okay," Wakaba said reassuringly, soothingly. "Don't cry. Everything will be fine . . ."

And of all of them, it was Terazuma that looked the most disturbed by the scene before him.

"It has been unanimously decided that for next year's vacation, we will go no where that revolves around murder."

At Konoe's announcement, a round of agreements circled around the staff meeting room. With their lives as shinigami revolving around death, no one wanted to see anymore of it than they had to, especially on vacation.

"What happened to Lucille, though?" Kai spoke up from his position beside Watari.

Konoe gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Regardless of the reason, she did kill those men. She will be spending the rest of her life in prison."

"That's horrible," Wakaba said softly. "She had such a horrible life, and now . . ."

"Unfortunately, not every story has a happy ending," Konoe replied, tone gentle. "But that is all that needed to be said. Meeting dismissed."

"Tsuzuki!"

Tsuzuki stopped on his path down one of EnmaCho's many halls and looked over his shoulder. "Oh, hi, Hisoka," he greeted, smiling. "Happy birthday."

Hisoka stopped dead in the hall, eyes widening slightly. "Y . . . you remembered?"

"What kind of partner would I be if I forgot? It's been a week since you told me, right?" Hisoka gave a slight nod in response. Tsuzuki smiled. "So then it's your birthday. And I did manage to figure out what to get you. Come on."

Hisoka blinked. "Huh?"

"Come on. It's down this way."

Hisoka followed as Tsuzuki led the way through the various halls, until he realized where it was that they were dead. The hall Tsuzuki turned down was the same that led to the library. Even more confused than before, Hisoka could only follow along obediently and trustingly.

"Okay, close your eyes," Tsuzuki commanded, turning to him. Hisoka raised an eyebrow. "Oh, c'mon. Live a little."

Hisoka sighed, but did as he was instructed. Tsuzuki did not trust him and moved to stand behind the younger shinigami, putting one hand on his shoulder, the other over his eyes.

Trusting Tsuzuki to be his eyes, Hisoka walked forward, Tsuzuki behind him and guiding his steps. He could hear a door open and then shut behind them, and even through his closed eyelids and the barrier of Tsuzuki's hand, he could tell that they had stepped into a room far brighter than the others in the library. If it was at all possible, he could feel himself growing eager to see what Tsuzuki's surprise was.

"Open your eyes," Tsuzuki said.

Hisoka did as he was instructed, eyes blinking rapidly as he tried to adjust to the newfound light. But once his vision had cleared, he had to rub at his eyes to prove that he was not just seeing things.

There was a room in the library that he remembered having come across once. It was a storage room, far larger than any ordinary storage room, as it held thousands upon thousands of odd things that the agency had collected over their many years in service. Hisoka had never thought very much of it until now. /This/ room was the storage room, and it was nothing like he remembered.

The windows had been cleaned, allowing light from outside to flood in. The chipped paint was gone, having been redone. The floor was spotless; he could see now that it was redwood, and a few carpets were spread across it here and there. Sofas and couches had been moved into the room. A fireplace, that he had never quite noticed before, stood directly before him at the far end of the room, in the center of it all.

But it was not these things that caught his eye so much as the walls of the room. They were bookshelves. Shelves upon shelves, all filled to the brim with books.

"What . . ."

He turned to look at Tsuzuki. The older shinigami smiled.

"Well, I know how much you like to read, and Kachou was talking about renovating this place anyway. Back in the day it used to be a lounge, but it got turned into a storage room somewhere along the way . . . so I just asked for a favor that it be turned into a library. With books that /don't/ deal with the kind of stuff that one's got."

He jerked his thumb in the direction of the room they had come from. Those books, the ones that the Gushoshin tended to, were all volumes of death, and not at all very interesting.

"This is . . ." Hisoka did not have the words. "I don't know," he admitted, shaking his head. "Great. Really . . . wow."

Tsuzuki laughed. "Well, just be thankful that Kachou liked the idea too. It's been done for awhile now. I just made everyone promise not to tell you so I could make it your birthday surprise. But! This isn't all!"

". . . it's not . . .?"

"Nope," Tsuzuki said, beaming. "Guys?"

From a corner of the room, the other shinigami appeared. Konoe, Tatsumi, Watari, Kaiki, Wakaba, and Terazuma, all loaded down with birthday supplies, from balloons to presents and party hats. Wakaba held an enormous cake lit up with candles in her arms.

"Happy birthday, Hisoka-kun!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "Quick, blow out the candles."

She set the cake down on a coffee table nestled between two couches. Hisoka knelt down beside it, and taking a deep breath, blew out all seventeen candles. Wakaba and Tsuzuki gave a cheer.

"What'd you wish for?" Kai asked.

"If he tells, it won't come true!" Wakaba said before Hisoka could respond. "Here, Tatsumi-san, you cut the cake. Hajime-chan, stop sneaking cookies. I thought you didn't like sweets! And Watari-san, put the presents over there . . .!"