Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Yami no Kenzoku ❯ Chapter Thirteen ( Chapter 13 )

Notes: The end of this stage. Hope it doesn't flow too quickly or anything. O.o Unfortunately, that's how this chapter has to be. I want to wind up everything for this stage now, so it seems like a lot packed into one, but . . . mneh.

More Japanese than usual in this chapter. But I'm pretty sure most people are aware of everything I've used, so I'm not worried. ^^

Cliffhanger-ish ending, but all will be explained next chapter.

Yami no Kenzoku

Chapter Twelve

Nagare was not difficult to calm down. Once Tatsumi had closed the door and Tsuzuki had brought the man a cup of tea, he seemed to be more at ease, though he quite likely, by the looks he kept giving them, was ungrateful that they had seen him in such a state. Tatsumi held his ground, but Tsuzuki and Hisoka looked hopelessly out of place, while Muraki stood off to the side, simply observing.

"I would like to have a few words alone with Nagare-sama," Tatsumi announced. "If that is all right with you, Nagare-sama."

Not taking his attention away from his cup of tea, Nagare waved a hand dismissively. Tsuzuki and Hisoka filed gratefully out of the room. Muraki, sparing a single glance to Tatsumi, followed not far behind them. Tatsumi did not want to leave Tsuzuki and Hisoka alone as long as Muraki was around, but unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. And he was sure, if push came to shove, Tsuzuki would do well to defend both himself and the younger shinigami.

"Well," Tatsumi said, turning to face Nagare, "shall we speak honestly, Nagare-san?"

"I see I was right in assuming you stayed not for my well being," Nagare commented. "Doctor."

Tatsumi smiled. "So you have seen through our disguises."

"I had my doubts in the beginning."

"Shall we talk, then?"

"I do not think I can be rid of you unless I agree. Take a seat, Tatsumi-san."

Alone in her room, pale face dotted with perspiration, Rui turned restlessly in the prison of her bed. Ridden with the two-year pregnancy, unable to move, see the outdoors, feel sunlight . . . she sighed. It was a terrible existence, this that she lived now. But perhaps it was what she deserved for sins of the past.

Something was moving through the room, she realized in a moment of startling clarity. She turned, attempting to see through the darkness of her chambers.

"Who is it . . .?!"

A sound . . . water dropping?

"Who is over there?"

She turned. A woman, dark hair covering her face and preventing Rui from recognizing her was at her beside. Water dripped from the long straggles of hair. Rui gasped and tried to move away.

"No . . . impossible . . ."

The woman smiled.

". . . oneesan . . .!"

Miya had brought them tea, and sitting across from one another at the desk, Nagare and Tatsumi both sipped gingerly at theirs, not quite tasting the liquid. Nagare had rewrapped the bandages he wore to cover the scales on his body, and his yukata jacket was wrapped around his shoulders.

"Well, what do you wish to ask me?" Nagare began.

Tatsumi set down his cup of tea. "I would like to know of the nature of Hazama-sensei's death. Was it an accident? Or did you have him killed because he discovered too many of the family secrets?"

Nagare stiffened visibly.

"One cannot admit to someone one did not do, Tatsumi-san," he responded evenly. "Hazama-sensei's death was a terrible accident."

Tatsumi did not believe him, and from the way Nagare kept his eyes locked on his cup of tea and not the man across from him, Tatsumi rather thought that Nagare knew he did not believe him. But for the moment, he would allow it to go. Their purpose here was not to investigate the death of Hazama, but to conduct an investigation of the Kurosaki family.

He smiled cheerfully. "Well, let's change the subject. How about to a story of a ghost I have heard? A story about a ghost that looks very much like Rui-san."

He reached within his jacket and withdrew the picture of the twins Hisoka had discovered.

"Rui-san was a twin, was she not? No one would have noticed if that had at anytime been switched. Hazama-sensei was around them. He learned of the Kurosaki family's secrets, of your malady, of your wife's two-year pregnancy, of Kasane's spirit in the lake. And so he had to be ridded of before anyone else learned of this family's secrets."

"No, I told you that's not true!"

Tatsumi removed the glasses perched on his nose and began to clean the lenses meticulously. "One of the twins died in the lake near this house, correct? Do not deny it. I have already seen for myself."

"Stop."

"Rui-san's elder twin was the one that died. She committed suicide in that lake. Her name was Kasane, and since that time, that lake has been called the Abyss of Kasane.

"Now, perhaps, Nagare-san, you can tell me why."

"No! Oneesan!"

Kasane lurched forward, pale arms reaching out to Rui. The younger sister tried to move away, but having been bed-ridden for two years, her muscles were weak and she could not move quickly enough. The cold, dripping arms of Kasane wrapped around her in a deadly embrace.

"Forgive me, Oneesan!"

"We were always sisters . . . always together . . . ne, Rui-chan?"

Rui dared to look into her sister's face. She screamed. Her face, the pale, dripping face, had become cruel and reptilian. A piercing yellow eye glared at her from the depths of the dark hair.

"Isn't that so . . .Rui-chan . . ."

The lake was beautiful. Nestled between a forested area not far from the Kurosaki estates, it was overgrown with plant and wildlife. It had once been a place that children played, that much Tsuzuki could see by the tire swing hanging from the limb of one tree, and the sandpit not far from it. Hisoka was seated on a swing that dangled from another tree, while the older shinigami was on the ground, his back to the trunk of the tree, simply watching the still waters of the lake.

And the fact that they had been able to ditch Muraki made it all the sweeter.

It was peaceful here, Tsuzuki reflected. If his parents had not been the way they were, Tsuzuki thought it would have been a wonderful place for Hisoka to grow up.

"Tsuzuki . . ."

Tsuzuki looked up. Hisoka had his head bowed, preventing him from seeing the younger shinigami's face, but he could tell from the tone of his voice that something was bothering him. Hisoka was naturally serious, but it was not like him to sound as though death had tapped him on the shoulder.

"I lied, Tsuzuki," he said softly. "I lied. I remember . . . everything about my childhood."

Tsuzuki was quiet a moment, absorbing this information. Tatsumi had been right about Hisoka withholding information from him. In a way, he had known Tatsumi was right, but he had wanted to believe that Hisoka would tell him the truth. But that he had not did not bother him. There were some things everyone wanted to keep secret.

"Do you want to tell me the truth?" he asked slowly.

". . .yeah."

When Hisoka did not continue, Tsuzuki moved away from his position against the trunk of the tree and came over to sit near him. Settling one hand on Hisoka's knee, he looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

"The rule . . ." Hisoka stopped, faltered, drew a breath, and tried to continue. "The rule of the Kurosaki family is that the first born child is the one that becomes the master of the house, and only the first born child. But along with that rule, there is the one that states that the master can only be male."

Tsuzuki frowned. "I don't understand."

"If a girl was born, she would be labeled as the heir of the family. That's true, because she would have been the one that was born first. But the master and mistress would continue to try for another child. For a boy. And when a boy was born, the girl child . . . would be killed.

"My father . . . though he was married to my mother, he had not been faithful to her. My aunt . . . Kasane became pregnant with his child. She had a girl and they named her Hisoka. But then I was born. My father knew that he had to have her killed, but Kasane . . . she begged and pleaded with him, and he agreed to let her live. But so that the family would never known that he had been unfaithful to Rui, and that the girl was really his eldest child, they named me Hisoka as well, and pretended that I was the eldest. The family believed it, so they were safe . . .

"But as we got older, Tousama . . . Nagare . . . he realized that one day, someone would discover what he was hiding. He had to get rid of her. So . . . when we were very young, when I was only five or six, he had her killed.

"I remember that it drove Kasane out of her mind . . . she completely lost control of her own senses. Losing her daughter . . . it upset her so much that she committed suicide in the lake - this lake. But before she died, she cursed my father. She said that she would haunt him until the day he died for the wrong he had done to her, and she said that her curse would be worse than Yatonokami's . ..

"That's why . . . this lake . . . Kasane still haunts . . ."

Tsuzuki lifted his hand to gently cup Hisoka's face in his palm. "Hisoka . . ."

"All of my dreams," Hisoka continued, not recognizing the tender touch, "are about her. My older sister, Kasane's daughter . . . that's what I've been dreaming about . . . her death . . . it wasn't even quick or painless . . . her head . . . the head . . . and Tousama, he took me to her grave, and he showed me, and a snake was . . . was wrapped around her head . . ."

"Hisoka," Tsuzuki tried again. "Stop."

"Kagome. She would always play Kagome with the other village kids . . . she got along with them, she was accepted by them so they'd play with her and they'd always play Kagome . . ."

Tsuzuki gripped Hisoka by the shoulders, and in one quick movement, had pulled him down from the swing and into his arms. Hisoka did not struggle against him. He fell limp, burying his face into Tsuzuki's chest and accepting the comfort gratefully.

How long they remained that way Tsuzuki did not know. But the moment ended with the high, blood-curdling scream of a woman echoed from the house and reached them. Tsuzuki knew at once who it was.

". . . Rui."

The scream reached Tatsumi and Nagare as well. Tatsumi stood at once.

"Rui-san, is it? Has something happened? I shall call the doctor . . ."

Nagare reached out and caught him by the arm in one blindingly quick movement. Tatsumi stopped, turning to look at the man with slightly wide eyes.

"That would be useless," Nagare said calmly. "She is delusional."

". . . delusional?"

Nagare bowed his head, turning away from Tatsumi. "Yes . . . Rui is convinced that the spirit of her dead sister is coming to kill her . . ."

Tatsumi jerked away from his grip.

"Even now, you will do nothing to help her? You will not admit her to a hospital so that she may receive treatment?! For her own well-being, you must not be so stubborn!"

Nagare would not look at him. Fists clenched in his lap, leaning forward with his head bowed, he would not meet Tatsumi's eyes.

"This is no concern of yours . . . I will say it only once more! Stop looking into our family business!"

"Is that it? Are you traditions so important that you would let her die? Are they so important that you would watch your own son die?!"

It was not a question that demanded a response. Without waiting for a reaction or a word from Nagare, Tatsumi turned and walked out on him, slamming the door shut on his way.

He nearly slammed into Tsuzuki and Hisoka coming from the opposite direction on his way out of the study. Fortunately, he was able to catch Tsuzuki by the shoulders before they met in a collision.

"Did you hear Rui screaming?" Tsuzuki asked.

"You as well, then," Tatsumi murmured. "Come, we must see what it is happening."

Tsuzuki and Hisoka wasted no time in following Tatsumi as the older shinigami led the way through the household toward Rui's chambers. As they drew nearer, they could hear the dull sobs of the woman, joined with a few occasional words that meant nothing to them, but she did not scream again. She did not seem to be in any trouble at all, Tatsumi might have thought for a moment.

The door was locked when they arrived. But in one swift movement, Tatsumi had kicked it down, and together, the three shinigami pressed into the room.

Rui was prostrate on the floor beside her bed. No one was in the room. It was only Rui, huddled in a fetal position, sobbing and mumbling nonsensical words.

Tatsumi helped her back into bed. Though he was no doctor, he did a brief examination, and found that nothing appeared to be outwardly wrong. As a precaution, he summoned for Miya, and told her to bring Muraki for a completely examination. His duty complete, Tatsumi took Tsuzuki and Hisoka and returned to their own quarters.

Once they were all settled in, somewhat relaxed after the events of the morning, Tsuzuki was able to convince Hisoka to tell Tatsumi the story that the younger shinigami had told him at the lake side. Tatsumi listened without interrupting, and when it was all done, he simply nodded slightly to himself, as though it was what he had expected all along.

"So our case unravels more," he mused thoughtfully.

"Oi, he's going to get all mystic on us," Tsuzuki muttered to Hisoka.

Tatsumi did not continue on that train of thought. He turned, and said quite suddenly, "We have to bring Shinori-kun here."

Tsuzuki nearly fell out of his chair. "Tatsumi . . . you /couldn't/ have been serious when you told Muraki that you would bring Kai here."

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow. "Why could I not have been serious?"

"It's . . . it's Kai! He's our friend! We can't turn him over to that bastard!"

"I said nothing about handing him over to Muraki."

". . . . . okay, I give up. You're being /way/ too weird today even for me."

"Muraki's presence here makes our investigation needlessly inconvenient," Tatsumi said. "To keep him from making our stay anymore inconvenient than he already has, we must use Shinori-kun as . . . blackmail of sorts, I suppose."

"Blackmail?" Tsuzuki repeated. "You're going to use Kai like a tool?"

Tatsumi sighed. "Tsuzuki-san, would you rather that we /pretend/ that we will hand Shinori-kun over to him, or would you prefer that we let him take Kurosaki-kun?"

Tsuzuki did not respond.

"I know that it may seem harsh, but it is the only edge we have against Muraki for the time being," Tatsumi continued. "If we can keep him from doing anything to inhibit our investigation, that is what we must do. The case will be closed soon. We will never have to hand Shinori-kun over to him."

"You're leaving out the fine details of how are we going to stop him from snatching /Kai/ once he's here," Tsuzuki argued. "If Muraki wants something, he's going to take it. It's not like we can tell him 'sorry, you can't have him yet.'"

"Of course not," Tatsumi responded, sounding vaguely insulted. "But Muraki, villain that he may be, is a gentleman. If we convince him that Shinori-kun is in some way necessary to solving this case, he may agree to let him stay with us until then."

"You're doing a lot of guessing and hoping here, Tatsumi. And it's going to be Kai that suffers if you're wrong."

Without another word, Tsuzuki stood and walked out of the room.

Watari was no more eager than Tsuzuki to bring Kaiki to Kamakura, but when it came as a direct order from Konoe for him to go to Kamakura with his young partner, he could no longer argue their decision. Kai was not told why they were needed in Kamakura, and so when he and Watari arrived, greeted by Tatsumi and Hisoka -- Tsuzuki was missing -- he was none the wiser about the danger he was stepping into. But Watari did not intend to leave him in the cold for long.

As Tatsumi was explaining what they already knew and assumed was happening at the Kurosaki household, Watari took a paused moment to interrupt, "So why don't you tell us why we're here, Tatsumi?"

Tatsumi and Hisoka exchanged glances. Kai, not being in the least dense, knew at once that there was something they were all keeping from him.

"What's going on . . .?" he asked slowly.

Tatsumi favored Watari with another sour look before turning his attention to Kai. "An unwanted visitor has inhibited our progress a bit."

"Who?" Kai asked, afraid he already knew the answer.

"Muraki," Hisoka replied quietly. "He came . . . asking for you . . ."

Kai stopped short, causing Watari, who was walking behind him, to run into him.

"You're going to turn me over to him?" Kai asked shakily.

"No, we're not turning you over to him," Tatsumi answered. "But we at least want him to believe that we will cooperate with him, so that he will not make our investigation difficult. It won't be for long. We're nearly done here."

"Besides," Watari said, trying to sound cheerful, "Muraki's too much of a perfectionist to snatch you up and take off. It'd make him seem suspicious to these people here, since he has agreed to stay on as a doctor."

"Where is he, anyway?" Hisoka asked. "We're supposed to be keeping an eye on him."

"Examining Rui," Tatsumi answered. "Come. We shall have a talk with him."

Muraki was indeed examining Rui. In the brief time he had come to the Kurosaki household, he had manipulated her in the same way as he had so many others, gaining her trust in him to make her a useful piece to his game. After all, who was more trustworthy than the doctor?

Seated at her bedside, Muraki listened with feigned interest as she explained to him in great detail how cruelly her husband treated her and how terrible it was to be locked in her prison-like room. In truth, he was not interested until she mentioned the name of her sister, Kasane.

"Your elder twin, mistress?" he interrupted politely.

Rui turned to look at him, appearing vaguely startled that he only now wished to speak. "Yes," she said, "my elder twin is . . . she is trying to kill me. I'm most certain of that."

"I thought that your sister was dead," Muraki said gently. Gently because it was quite likely, considering her circumstances, that this woman was far beyond sanity, and he did not particularly want or need her to start screaming like a lunatic. That would bring Tatsumi straight to him, and while he was an amusing man, Muraki did not like him very much. He made things difficult.

"Her ghost is trying to kill me," Rui clarified. "Only yesterday morning she was here! She fled when Tatsumi-san came . . . and then you, sensei."

"I see . . ." Muraki murmured. He looked up with a sudden smile on his face a moment later. "Well, mistress, it is late. Please get some rest."

"Ah . . . yes, sensei."

Muraki paused at the door, looking over his shoulder to offer a pleasant, "Sleep well," before slipping outside.

He was met most promptly by Tatsumi and the brat.

"Tatsumi-san," he said, plastering a smile to his face. "Oh . . ." His line of sight went over the shinigami's shoulder to see that he and the boy were not alone. Another two shinigami had joined them, one Muraki could have cared less, but the golden haired, silver eyed boy caught his attention quite quickly.

"You brought him to me," he continued in a pleased tone. "I did not think you would do it, Tatsumi-san."

"We brought him," Tatsumi agreed, "but you are not to have him just yet, sensei."

Muraki raised an eyebrow. "Must I wait?"

"Wouldn't it be a tad suspicious, sensei, if you were to take off tomorrow morning, just as you have gained Rui-san's trust?" Tatsumi asked cordially. "I suggest that you stay well into that woman can do without you. Otherwise you may attract unwanted attention. Besides . . . we need Shinori-kun to assist us in closing this case."

"Shinori?" Muraki repeated, disregarding everything else Tatsumi had told him within the blink of an eye. "Is that what you are calling yourself?"

Kai, not understanding the question, could only stare back at him.

"Well . . ." Muraki took a step forward, nearer to Kai. Watari immediately moved to interject himself between him, but Tatsumi caught him by the arm and held him.

Muraki lifted a hand to lightly touch Kai's face. His fingers traced down, to his pale neck, and his index finger dipped into the collar of the shirt he wore. He tugged down the shirt enough to reveal Kai's collarbone.

"I was correct," Muraki said, smiling. "You are the one I have been looking for."

Muraki released Kai without a word to him.

"Very well, Tatsumi-san," he said. "I shall wait until this case is complete. But do well to remember that I am not a patient man." He raised a hand in a parting gesture. "Well . . . ja ne."

no . . .

stop . . .

don't . . .

oneesan . . .

. . . wake up.

kill the one that has hurt you.

The scream woke all of the shinigami.

Tsuzuki was the first to bolt out of bed. Finding some semblance of clothing strewn about his floor, he quickly dressed in a pair of slacks and his button-down dress shirt before racing out of his room, into the main living room that adjourned all of their rooms. Tatsumi was awake, standing in the middle of the room, while Watari and Kai, still blurry-eyed from sleep, stood rubbing their eyes and trying to wake up.

"Where did that come from?" Tsuzuki asked.

"I'm not sure . . ." Tatsumi answered. "Perhaps Kurosaki-kun . . . dreaming again?"

Tsuzuki did not have the chance to respond. Another scream came, and this time, he knew that it was Hisoka.

Flinging open the door to his young partner's room, he found Hisoka sitting up in bed, now fully awake and in control of himself, but with his eyes wide and perspiration dotting his face. Tsuzuki immediately went over to him and put his arms around him.

"Hey, it's okay," he said soothingly. "It's okay."

"No, it's not." Hisoka's reply was muffled against his shirt, making it impossible for Tsuzuki to hear him. Hisoka wanted to push him away and cling to him all at the same time. He /knew/ that something was wrong, but the dream . . . it made him want to curl up in Tsuzuki's arms like a child.

But he couldn't. Not when he knew something was /very/ wrong.

Moving gently away from Tsuzuki, he said, "I think something has happened to my mother."

"How do you know?" Tsuzuki asked with a frown.

Hisoka gave him a bland look.

". . . oh, right. Duh. Well, let's go take a look around . . ."

The shinigami were dressed and assembled in the living room within a matter of moments. Tatsumi led the way out and through the winding corridors of the Kurosaki household, still being the only one of them the most aware of their surroundings. The others followed at a safe distance.

"Not that way," Hisoka said as Tatsumi began to take them down the hallway to Rui's chambers. "I think . . . she's somewhere else . . ."

"Where?" Watari asked.

". . . Shichirigahama. Yeah. The beach."

Kai yawned. "Guess this means we gotta go to the beach."

"Certainly," Tatsumi answered with a smile.

Though Kai would have preferred not to, being as tired as he was, the shinigami agreed to go to the beach, if only to assure Hisoka nothing was happening and he was worrying for nothing. Tsuzuki was inclined to believe that it was the nightmare that had made him believe that something was happening, but as Hisoka had been right in circumstances like these before, he would trust him.

Through the darkness, they could see nothing on the beach as they approached from the mountain to trail. But as they drew nearer, Hisoka could make out the faint figures of people below. Fearing he knew who it was, he took off in a run down the path. Helpless to stop him, the other shinigami followed.

As their feet touched the beach sand, they could make out the figures of those on the beach. One, a man, his back against the wall of a sharp uprise of cliffs, and another large, dark form that was lumbering toward him. None of the shinigami could see clearly what exactly it /was/, but if any of them had to make a guess, they would have thought it was a serpent of some kind.

"That is Nagare," Tatsumi said.

"And he's about to get himself killed by that thing," Watari added.

Tsuzuki flashed them both a smile. "Not for long."

He raised his hands and began to recite the incantation to summon his shikigami. But as he drawing to a close, Hisoka suddenly lashed out and caught him by the arms, stopping him.

"That's my mother!" he exclaimed. "It's Rui!"

Tsuzuki stopped and stared.

The creature had recognized their presence. It turned to him, its head swerving around to pin them with its deadly eyes, and Tsuzuki saw for himself that Hisoka was not lying. In a grotesque image, he saw that Rui was a part of the serpent creature, and its head . . . was Kasane. It made him think at once of Mariko and what she had become at that time . . .

He could have killed Rui too in a split second if Hisoka had not stopped him.

"Sorry, Hisoka," he mumbled.

The creature Kasane and Rui had become did not focus its attention on them. Whirling around, it focused again on its prey. Nagare, hopeless to escape, could only stand and stare as the serpent approached to make its kill.

"We have to stop it," Watari said, sounding impossibly calm despite the nature of their situation.

"You'll kill my mother!" Hisoka cried.

"And she's gonna kill him," Watari argued, pointing at Nagare.

"Actually," Tatsumi interrupted, "I believe Kasane is the one in control . . ."

The creature lunged. Nagare screamed. Its teeth had sunk into his arm. Tsuzuki took a step forward, perhaps thinking that he could do something, anything, but he did not go far. Knowing that he would have to harm Rui to save Nagare was not something he could do.

No one saw the killing blow. Too disgusted to watch, the shinigami looked away, hearing only the sound of bones cracking and blood splashing against the beach sand.

And then there was another sound. Something scraping on the sound, something growling, something enormous . . .

Hisoka opened his eyes.

It was a hydra.

"No," Tsuzuki breathed.

Muraki lifted a hand and snapped his fingers. Obeying at once his command, the hydra lashed forward at the serpent that Kasane and Rui had become. The serpent moved away to escape it, but the hydra came forward again, until they were trapped in a pathetic game of dancing back and forth, one trading blows and the other crying in pain.

Hisoka fell to his knees, hands buried into his hair. He could feel it. He could feel /everything/. Rui and Kasane . . . screaming . . . their pain . . . everything.

"Stop it . . . stop . . ."

"Hisoka!"

Tsuzuki was by his side, daring not to touch him, for some fear of hurting him.

"Do something," Hisoka choked out. "Stop that thing . . ."

Tsuzuki stood. Giving a single nod acknowledgement, he raised his hands and began the incantation to summon his shikigami.

Suzaku appeared before him in flames. She needed no encouragement. Knowing exactly what it was expected of her to do, she moved forward and interjected herself between the hydra and the serpent. Distracted, the hydra dedicated its rage to her, and tearing his attention away from Suzaku for a brief moment, Tsuzuki saw the serpent crash into the ground. Watari and Tatsumi both hurried over to see what they could do, if anything. Kai remained with Hisoka.

The hydra and phoenix traded blows for an indeterminable amount of time. Tsuzuki realized that he was bleeding half-way through; he had been gnawing so much on his lip from worry for his shikigami he had broken the skin.

Muraki, on the other hand, was beginning to tire of this play. While his hydra was stronger than Suzaku and could have easily defeated her, she was an intelligent creature, and did well to protect both herself and her master. Muraki realized that something would have to be done to end this quickly.

He snapped his fingers, wordlessly giving the hydra a new command. It moved forward, and Tsuzuki saw too late where its destination was. He could do nothing to stop it before it had overtaken both Hisoka and Kai on the ground. The flames radiating from Suzaku made it impossible for him to see what was happening.

"Neechan!" he yelled to her. "Pull back!!"

Suzaku did as she was instructed, moving to hover behind him protectively. Tsuzuki saw then that the hydra held Hisoka in one of its deadly claws, and Kai was in the other. Both struggled to escape, but neither could break the grip.

"Make a decision, Tsuzuki-san," Muraki called. "I created all of this to end your case quickly so that I could take the boy, but of course you shinigami had to make it more difficult for me. Now decide whether I take the boy as we agreed, or if I kill them both."

"No!" Tsuzuki cried.

"It is a simple question. Which do you want to live?"

"That's not simple at all!" Tsuzuki yelled at him. "I can't do that!"

Muraki raised an eyebrow. "I suggest that you do. Like myself, my hydra is not well known for his patience."

To add to his words, a low growl escaped the hydra's throat. Both Hisoka and Kai cried out as it tightened its grip around them.

"It wasn't . . . supposed to work like this," Tsuzuki whispered. "Tatsumi, you said it'd be okay . . ."

"Tsuzuki-san," Muraki pressured.

"Shut up!" Tsuzuki screamed. "Shut the hell up!"

". . . very well. The decision is mine."

Tsuzuki screamed for him to stop. Muraki snapped his fingers. The hydra carelessly discarded Hisoka -- by throwing his body into the sharp, rigid cliffs surrounding the beach. As he fell limp to the ground, the hydra turned, carrying its prize to its master.

"Hisoka!"

Tsuzuki was not long in reaching his partner. Falling to his knees beside him, he gathered the near lifeless form into his arms. Broken, bleeding, Hisoka did not respond to any of his attempts to wake him.

"Hisoka, wake up! Open your eyes! Please!"

He did not see Muraki gather the unconscious Kaiki into his arms. He did not seem him fade away, Kai with him. He saw only Hisoka and heard only the sound of his own voice begging him to wake.

"Hisoka . . . please . . . please, Hisoka, come on . . . open your eyes . . ."