Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Yami no Kenzoku ❯ Chapter Eleven ( Chapter 11 )

Notes: Another Tokyo Babylon reference. Oops. Little thief me.

I kept 'itadakimasu' as that, because well . . . it doesn't have a straight translation so it'd sound weird in English to say "I express my gratitude for the meal!" . . .okay, so maybe that's a little dramatic, but it does come off better in Japanese.

Also keep 'father' as 'tousama' . . . primarily because I can't think of a way in English for someone to call their father by something as respectful as tousama. But then I generally keep terms like 'grandmother' and 'aunt' and such in Japanese. Also, 'obasan' is used this chapter, meaning aunt.

And 'rei kan' is apparently 'spiritual sense' and one of Tatsumi's abilities. Don't hold me to this, but I think he has the ability to sense spirits and demons and the like within a certain distance. Or so my friend Megan tells me.

'Kagome' means 'caged girl.' A lot of this is exact from the manga, and so is that portion of this chapter, so . . . yadda yadda yadda. ^_^;;

Another crap ending, too. Whee! Go me. ><;;

Yami no Kenzoku

Chapter Ten

Kill it. . .!

Nagare, kill that child!

He will be of no benefit to the Kurosaki family!

"Tousama . . .

"Tousama . . .

"Where are we going, Tousama?

"Tousama . . .

"Whose grave is that?

"Tousama?"

Someone turned - slithered - looked at him paused and regarded him then smiled.

"You wish to know?

"This is . . . your grave.

"Hisoka."

Something slithered again wrapped around something on the ground a bloody head it wrapped around and swallowed whole.

"This is your death."

Someone screamed.

Hisoka woke up and screamed. He did not realize that he was screaming until someone had gripped him by both arms and was shaking him to wake him up completely. He blinked, at once shutting his mouth and realizing where he was. Tsuzuki was seated on the bed with him. They were inside of the Kurosaki household, in the rooms Nagare had given them throughout the duration of their stay. Moonlight streamed in through the window, telling him that was no later than three or four in the morning.

"Hisoka?"

Oh, right. And Tsuzuki was with him. He had almost forgotten that as he was absorbing his surroundings.

"Are you okay?"

Hisoka ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Yeah . . . just a bad dream. I'm okay. Did I wake you and Tatsumi-san?"

Tsuzuki smiled slightly, lifting a hand to brush Hisoka's hair from his face. "Tatsumi sleeps like the dead. Don't worry about him. But I heard you, so I came to check on you. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. Guess being here brings back more bad memories than I'd like to admit."

Not that it did. When he was awake, he was fine. It was when he dreamed that the past came back to haunt him, forcing him to relive the memories that he had long wanted to keep buried.

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

Hisoka could feel a faint blush rising on his cheeks at the offer. Not trusting his voice, he only gave a brief nod as a response. Tsuzuki, not seeming to notice his embarrassment, slipped beneath the blankets beside him. Once Tsuzuki was adjusted and Hisoka was certain that his blush was gone, he stretched out alongside the older shinigami, facing him.

"This is why I didn't want you to come," Tsuzuki said softly, not speaking above a whisper when they were so close to one another. "It's not that none of us didn't think you could handle it . . . we just didn't want you to have to live bad memories again."

"Oh. . . . yeah, I know. But I really am okay."

"Really? Or are you just telling me that so I won't worry?"

Hisoka closed his eyes, if only to escape having to look into Tsuzuki's. "It's strange . . . even though I shouldn't feel anything for either of them, when I saw them . . . I don't know what I felt. Pity, maybe. I think maybe I was sad."

His hands tightened into fists quite suddenly and he opened his eyes. "But I /shouldn't/. They didn't give a damn about me so I shouldn't give a damn about either of them. I should be /happy/ that they're suffering like this, just like I had to. But . . . I can't . . . and . . ."

"It's because you're kind."

He stopped and looked up. Tsuzuki was smiling down at him.

"You're a kind person, Hisoka. It's not in your nature to feel pleasure when someone else is suffering, even if that person did cause you pain. Especially not if that person is your mother or father."

"But . . ."

Hisoka sighed, not bothering to finish the sentence. He did not know what to say. On some level, he knew that Tsuzuki was right. He was not sure he agreed that he was a kind person, but he /was/ a person that could feel compassion for even those that had done him wrong. All aside from Muraki, that was. He would never forgive Muraki for what he had done to he and Tsuzuki.

"Go to sleep, Hisoka . . . no one will hurt you as long as I'm here."

Tsuzuki had closed his eyes, nestling into the pillow he had confiscated. Hisoka reluctantly did as he was instructed and closed his own eyes. As he drifted away, Tsuzuki spoke a few soft words reassuringly to him.

"And if anyone does come . . . I'll chase them away."

Hisoka smiled and closed his eyes.

As long as Tsuzuki was with him, he was safe.

Morning came, its golden rays filtered in through the thin garments of the draperies and beaming down on Hisoka where he still slept, tangled up in the blankets with a pillow wrapped in his arms. Tsuzuki had woken up long before him and had already showered and dressed in the attire the servants had laid out for him before he started to nudge Hisoka away. The younger shinigami tried to ignore him, rolling away and mumbling some kind of plead for another five minutes, but there was only so much of Tsuzuki's insistent poking he could take.

"Okay," he groaned, voice muffled by the pillow his face was buried in. "I'm up, I'm up!"

"Breakfast is in fifteen minutes," Tsuzuki said. "Better get up and dressed quick."

Hisoka sighed and sat up, running a hand through his disheveled hair. After Tsuzuki had come in to sleep beside him, he had slept quite well. Well enough that even now all he wanted to do was sleep more. But Tatsumi would not tolerate either of them being late. It would be disrespectful toward their hosts, not to mention that as a rule, Tatsumi hated people that were late. Hisoka stretched out his arms above his head to wake up fully before tossing the blankets off and climbing out of bed.

"Uh. Tsuzuki."

"Yah?"

"I have to wear this kimono?"

Tsuzuki peeked his head out of the bathroom, a toothbrush sticking out the side of his mouth. "Yah. 'ish only pwoper."

"Tsuzuki?"

"Yah?"

"Go spit before you talk. Toothpaste is dribbling down your chin."

". . . oh."

Tsuzuki disappeared into the bathroom again. Hisoka looked dubiously at the clothing that had been laid out for him. He hated kimonos. He understood very well that they were a part of Japanese culture, and because his family was as highly respected as they were, it was only proper that they dressed in clothing such as this, but it didn't make him hate them any less. They were restricting to movement, and oftentimes had the most hideous patterns, and . . . well, there were probably dozens of reasons, but the point of the matter was that he hated kimonos.

But to put on a good face, he put it on, glad to find that it fit him almost perfectly and was a shade of dark blue he found tolerable. Once he was dressed, Tsuzuki emerged from the bathroom, and Hisoka went in to quickly take care of a few necessities. Within ten minutes, both were joining Tatsumi outside in the hall to go down to breakfast.

Miya met them and guided them downstairs to the dining hall, where they would be fortunate enough to have a meal without interruption, or members of the Kurosaki family. It seemed that Nagare had things that he had to attend to, giving the shinigami a chance to speak about what they had already learned, as well as attempt to extract as much information as possible from Miya.

"Thank you very much," Tatsumi said politely as the young servant brought their meals to them.

"Itadakimasu!" Tsuzuki chirped, and he immediately began to dive into his food.

Tatsumi sighed, eyes rolling heavenward. "Please excuse my assistant's behavior."

"It's okay," Miya said, smiling. "Please enjoy yourselves."

She drifted out of the room to take care of her morning chores, leaving the shinigami alone. Tsuzuki continued to eat quite happily, while Tatsumi and Hisoka ate more moderately and politely.

"Kurosaki-kun, perhaps you could give us an idea of what is happening here," Tatsumi said. He paused and took a sip of his tea. "As they are your family, after all."

"Sure they're my family," Hisoka replied, poking at the meal on his plate, "but that doesn't mean I know them. I don't really remember my life before I was seven. And after that point . . . well, you know the story."

If Tatsumi had other questions, he was not able to ask Hisoka. Miya returned at that moment to refill their glasses and see if there was anything else that they needed.

"This is quite a remarkable old mansion," he said thoughtfully as Miya poured them each another cup of tea. "There are numerous storehouses and warehouses . . ."

"That's because the Kurosaki clan has been a distinguished family since the Kamakura period," Miya replied with a smile. "This mansion has many cultural assets to the era, so it cannot be built over or redone."

"I see," Tatsumi mused. "I suppose that is why there are still rooms like that prison . . . ah, excuse my rudeness."

Miya was not offended by his words. "You were startled by the mistress, then?"

"It seemed like Nagare-sama was hiding something distasteful or pitiful."

"Do the other servants know about it?" Tsuzuki spoke up, taking his attention away from the meal before him for a moment. Tatsumi sighed and leaned over to wipe up the grains of rice plastered to the side of his mouth.

"Ah . . . no," Miya answered slowly. "Only I and a few other superior servants know of Rui-sama's condition. There would be trouble if Danna-sama's relatives knew . . ."

"Is it really that big of a deal?" Tsuzuki asked, surprised.

He knew that family traditions and honor were very important to all distinguished Japanese families, but he had never been brought up in an atmosphere of that kind, much less been around people of that nature. It all seemed beyond excessive to him, to try so hard to hide something simply for fear of the opinions of the other family members.

"Yes, sensei, it is very important," Miya said. "Danna-sama does this for fear of Iwao-san of the branch family."

"Is he an uncle or something?" Tatsumi questioned.

Miya shook her head. "He is Danna-sama's elder brother by ten years. He holds a grudge against Danna-sama for inheriting the main house. He would do anything to take control of the Kurosaki family. That is why we must hide Rui-sama. If Iwao-san knew . . ."

"He would do everything in his power to become the head of the family," Tatsumi finished.

Miya nodded. "Yes. So please . . . do not think badly of the master." She bowed stiffly to them. "Please excuse me. I have chores to attend to."

She left them without another word, perhaps fearing that she had already given away far too much information than Nagare would have wanted to be told. Tatsumi frowned.

Lacing his fingers together and leaning forward with his chin to his hands, he asked, "What do you think, Tsuzuki-san? About all of this . . . no matter how much trouble their may be with the succession, is it worth putting the life of someone on the line?"

"I don't really know," Tsuzuki admitted. "But I thought all old families were like this. They're like incarnations of pride and honor."

"It /is/ that important," Hisoka spoke up, drawing both their attention to him. He had remained quiet throughout the duration of the meal, but found now that he had to speak. "Traditions and honor and pride, whatever you want to call it . . . to this family, their image is everything. Anything that threatens damaging their reputations . . . they get rid of as quickly as possible. My mother . . . Rui is no different."

"Excuse me if I was rude," Tatsumi said apologetically. Hisoka shrugged in response, and the older shinigami continued. "We should investigate Hazama-sensei's room to find clues about Rui's condition . . ."

Hazama, according to what information Miya had given Tatsumi and Tsuzuki, had been the physician in charge of taking care of Rui for more than half a year before his death. During that time, he had remained a guest of the Kurosaki family, and because his death had only occurred little more than a month prior, his room had yet to have been cleaned out by the servants. It was there that Tatsumi led Tsuzuki and Hisoka, in hopes of dragging up some information concerning the odd happenings in the household.

For more than an hour the shinigami searched the room, coming up with nothing. It was all perfectly organized, and as Nagare had told them, all information on Rui the doctor might have kept was gone. There was not even a slight hint that could tell them what direction they should look in.

"Nothing," Tsuzuki said, slamming the last desk drawer closed. He flopped down in the chair and sighed. "Don't think we're going to be finding anything in here, Tatsumi."

"There is something," Tatsumi murmured. "A spiritual residue, I think . . ."

"Rei kan?" Tsuzuki asked.

"Rei kan?" repeated Hisoka. "What's that?"

Propping his feet up on the desk in front of him, Tsuzuki explained, "Rei kan is a spiritual sense. Tatsumi has the ability to sense spirits and demons and the like up to about a mile. Just watch."

Hisoka turned his attention to Tatsumi. The older shinigami had his back turned to them and his eyes closed as he concentrated on the room and the inkling of spiritual energy tugging at him. Hisoka was surprised to see that as his focus became more intense and precise, he began to move, walking in the direction that he could sense the energy coming from. He stopped quite suddenly at the far end of the room and opened his eyes.

"A trapdoor," he announced. He knelt down on one knee and pulled the carpet away to reveal the secret passage. "It would have easily been overlooked, even by the Kurosaki family that knows this house . . . Tsuzuki-san, give me a hand."

Tsuzuki crossed the room to come kneel beside Tatsumi. Together, the two shinigami lifted up the floorboards to reveal a small compartment below. Tsuzuki summoned a ball of flame to his hand to light the area.

"Doesn't look like there's anything there . . ."

"Wait," Hisoka said. "There's something down there. Tatsumi-san, can you lower me down?"

Carefully, Tatsumi helped Hisoka lower himself into the crawlspace. The young shinigami knelt down, rummaging amongst the dust and debris for a moment before finally locating what his eyes had seen from above. He held up the slip of paper to Tatsumi, and then with Tsuzuki's help, climbed out of the small space.

"Something's written here . . ." Tatsumi brushed away the dust plastered to the paper to reveal a few scribbled characters on its back. "Showa era 53 . . . 1973, then? This is quite old."

"What's on the other side?" Tsuzuki asked. He had replaced the floorboards and dissipated his ball of flame, leaving them in the artificial light of a single lamp.

". . . a photograph," Tatsumi answered. "A picture of Rui and someone . . . that looks just like her."

Tatsumi held the picture out to Hisoka. The younger shinigami took it hesitantly. It was in fact a picture of his mother, when she was very young. Her dark hair was done up in ribbons and she was smiling cheerfully at the camera, in a way he had never seen her smile before her. And beside her, dressed identically, hair matching hers and the smile the same, was another young woman. Her twin.

". . . obasan . . . Kasane . . ."

"Kurosaki-kun is not telling us everything he knows."

Tsuzuki frowned and looked up from his tea to regard Tatsumi. The other shinigami stood at the window, arms folded over his waist as he stared out into nothingness. Hisoka had already gone to bed, claiming that he had not had a decent night of sleep. But both Tsuzuki and Tatsumi had known it was because being here was finally beginning to wear on him.

"What makes you say that?" Tsuzuki asked. "He told us what he knows about Kasane . . ."

"He told us that she was his mother's elder twin sister and that she drowned in the lake," Tatsumi replied. "Don't you think it is odd, Tsuzuki-san, this time of age, that a person can still drown? Much less without anyone noticing . . . /and/ in that lake. You and I saw it. It is too shallow."

"So you think it was suicide."

Tatsumi nodded, lifting a hand to push up his glasses. "And if it was suicide, Kurosaki-kun must know why she would be driven to do such a thing."

"But Hisoka said that he doesn't remember anything before he was seven, and that's when his parents . . ."

"Tsuzuki-san, you remember when you were seven, do you not?"

Tsuzuki flinched. He remembered. He did not /want/ to remember, but he did.

". . . yes, Tatsumi."

"There is something he is keeping from us," Tatsumi concluded. ". . . well, I am going to go out, Tsuzuki-san."

Tsuzuki blinked. "Eh? But it's almost midnight!"

Tatsumi glanced at him briefly, an inkling of a smile tugging at his lips. "Concerned for me?"

Tsuzuki blinked wide amethyst eyes. Then, realizing what Tatsumi was getting at, a faint blush rose up on his cheeks. Tatsumi chuckled.

"I only want a breath of fresh air. I won't stay out long."

Lifting his hand in a vague gesture of goodbye to Tsuzuki, Tatsumi slipped silently out of the room.

He shoved his hands within the folds of the yukata he wore and strolled down the hall, head bowed as he considered what little information they had. It would have been a less difficult case, he imagined, if those they spoke to and interviewed would be a little more forthcoming with information. But everyone involved with the Kurosaki family, even Hisoka, seemed to be hiding something. There was some terrible secret this family harbored that they would do anything to prevent from being released to the public.

Outside, the moon was high in the sky and surrounded by thousands upon thousands of stars. Here, within this mountain region, each could be seen without the restriction or air pollution or city lights. Tatsumi breathed in deeply the scent of mountain air and continued on his path, winding through the forested areas of the mountain side, unknowingly coming closer to the lake that was not far from the Kurosaki house.

Fireflies were dancing near the water's edge. Dozens of them, all lit up brightly for one moment, then darkened the next. Tatsumi reached out and caught on in the palm of his hand. They reminded him, not surprisingly, of his childhood. He would come out of the house on nights like this and catch fireflies, enough to fill a jar or two. But each time morning came . . .

"Mother would scold me for doing such cruel things," he murmured thoughtfully. He shook his hand, successfully scaring the firefly it away. It fluttered off to join the others.

Then, quite suddenly, all of the fireflies were gone. Tatsumi frowned, taking an unconscious step backward. But even as he moved the still lake water began to ripple and something - slithering - reached up from the depths of the water and closed a cold hand around his ankle.

"You . . . ca . . me . . . Na . . .gare . . ."

Using Tatsumi as leverage, the creature began to drag itself from the waters and continued to speak in the same broken, gurgling voice. Tatsumi, too frozen with shock to do anything, could only stare as a face of a woman appeared before him.

"Na . . . gare . . ."

Pale arms wrapped around his legs. The face looked up at him, adoration in its eyes. Broken, pale, eyes wide and delusional, dark straggles of hair falling over her face . . .

"Rui-san . . .!"

Kagome, kagome

When does the bird inside the cage come out?

At dawns and evenings

Who is behind

The crane and turtle that slipped?

"Hisoka-chan?"

"Was your mother being harsh again?"

"Poor Hisoka-chan."

"Yeah, poor Hisoka-chan."

"Come on, let's play together!"

"What do you want to play, Hisoka-chan?"

"Kagome, kagome!"

"Okay, you're demon first then, Hisoka-chan."

"Kagome, kagome

When does the bird inside the cage come out?

At dawns and evenings

Who is behind

The crane and turtle that slipped?"

"Now guess the name of the person who's behind you, Hisoka-chan!"

"Name?"

"Right, the name. Try and get the name right!"

". . . wait . . .who are all of you?"

Aren't we all friends from the same village?

Have you forgotten?

How mean. That's mean, Hisoka-chan.

"Friends . . . from the village . . .?"

"Don't you get it yet?! My name is Hisoka! The same as you! Why do you have my name? That was my name first! I won't forgive you! Give me back my name! Give it back!"

"Kagome! Kagome!"

Someone was shaking him, Hisoka realized. The voice that was speaking was his own, speaking in riddles and words that made no sense. As reality set in and he realized these things, he at once shut his mouth and opened his eyes. Tsuzuki was seated on the bed, hands on his shoulders, looking at him in concern, like that night before. He seemed relieved for some reason.

"I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to wake you up that time," he said, giving a smile, albeit it a shaky one. "You kept mumbling in your sleep, and then you started yelling . . . I've been trying to wake you for ten minutes."

"That long . . ." Hisoka murmured.

He lifted a hand to run through his hair, finding it damp to the touch. The nightmare . . . what he recalled from it, it had not been that terrifying, like a child's dream of a monster coming to get them . . . but something about it had disturbed him so much that even now, he could not stop shaking.

"Yeah," Tsuzuki replied. "Are you okay? You're shivering."

"Cold," Hisoka lied.

Tsuzuki leaned over to the far end of the bed and picked up the blanket that had been laid across it. Unfolding it, he wrapped it firmly around Hisoka's shoulders, in attempt to stop his shaking.

"Better?" he asked.

Hisoka nodded numbly. "Yeah. Sorry. I must be getting annoying . . ."

"Naw," Tsuzuki said with a smile. "Everybody has bad dreams every now and then. Want to tell me what it was?"

Hisoka was quiet a moment, considering telling Tsuzuki and sharing with him his bad memories, but he eventually shook his head. He did not think he could begin to explain what had been happening. All he remembered was voices and a vague shape of a person, a girl, that was close to his age . . . but of that he wasn't sure, because in the dream, he seemed to have been a child . . . he just couldn't remember.

"No," he said quietly. "I'd rather just forget about it. Did I wake you up again?"

"Nope. It's only about midnight. I'm waiting up for Tatsumi. He went out for a walk or something. Do you want something to drink?"

Under any other circumstances, Hisoka would have been embarrassed or insulted to be waited on hand and foot. But Tsuzuki seemed to be genuinely concerned for him, and if it made him feel better to take care of him, Hisoka would not stop him. Slipping back down beneath the blankets, he gave a meek nod as his response. After helping Hisoka tug up the covers around him, Tsuzuki stood and disappeared, returning a moment later with a glass of water. Hisoka drank it down gratefully.

"I used to have nightmares when I was a kid," Tsuzuki said conversationally. He had settled back down on the bed beside Hisoka, seated with his back to the wall the head of the bed was against, his legs stretched out alongside Hisoka.

Because Tsuzuki was being even marginally forthcoming with information about his past, Hisoka asked, "What about?"

"Lots of things," Tsuzuki said. He shrugged slightly. "You know, the usual things kids have nightmares about. Bogeymen and monsters under the bed. That kind of thing. Sometimes about reality or things that happened to me."

Hisoka waited, to see if he would continue on that train of thought. When he did not speak again, Hisoka prompted him to by asking, "What did you do when you had bad dreams?"

"I'd go crying like a baby to my neesan," Tsuzuki answered with a grin. "She would always let me stay with her, or she would come and sit up with me until I fell asleep. And if I couldn't, she would stay up all night telling me stories.

"She shouldn't have, like I'd tell her, but she'd just tell me it was okay . . . Ruka had to work two jobs to support us, you see. She always had to be up very early in the morning to get to one and then to the other. That's why I would tell her she shouldn't bother with me. But she'd just smile and say it was okay."

"You miss her, don't you?"

". . . aa. Ruka was very important to me."

The sound of the door opening shook them both from their thoughts.

"That'll be Tatsumi," Tsuzuki said cheerfully, hopping off the bed.

Hisoka thought for a moment to remain nestled comfortably amongst the blankets, but he eventually gave in to the nagging at the back of his mind and climbed out of bed to follow Tsuzuki.

"What happened to you?!"

Tsuzuki's voice coming from the adjourning sitting room caused Hisoka to hurry into the next room. There he found Tatsumi seated on the couch, dripping wet, with tangles of what appeared to be water weeds hanging from his clothing. Tsuzuki had brought him a change of clothes and a towel, which he was running over his hair to dry it.

"I encountered a rather delusional creature by the lake," Tatsumi said dryly. "A woman. I thought for a moment that it was Rui, but . . ."

"How could you have been attacked by Rui?!" Tsuzuki exclaimed.

Tatsumi sneezed. "I couldn't have. Which makes me believe that it was her sister. Kurosaki-kun, is there any tea?"

"I'll make some," Hisoka said quickly, disappearing from the room.

He came back a few moments later, finding Tatsumi dressed in a change of clothes, a towel wrapped around his shoulders and his glasses perched on his nose. Tsuzuki was seated beside him. Hisoka gave each a cup of tea.

"She seemed to mistake me for Nagare," Tatsumi said, after having nearly downed his entire cup. He gestured to his drenched garments. "Perhaps because of the yukata."

"Do you really think it was Kasane? And does that mean she's alive?" Tsuzuki asked.

Tatsumi shook his head. "No. No, she is dead. I /can/ tell the difference between the living and the dead, after all."

"So then . . . her name must have appeared in the Kiseki, but her soul never gathered in Meifu," Tsuzuki murmured. "That would make her in our unsolved cases file back at EnmaCho, right?"

"Right. We will have one of the Gushoshin look into it."

"Well . . ." Tsuzuki stood up and stretched his arms out above his head. "Let's do that tomorrow. We all need to get some sleep, and you need to take care not to catch a cold, Tatsum~i."

Tatsumi smiled. "I thought you were not concerned for me, Tsuzuki-san."

"Oh . . . shush and go to bed."

"Yes, yes . . .good night, Tsuzuki-san, Kurosaki-kun."

"G'n~ight!"