Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Yami no Kenzoku ❯ Chapter Fifteen ( Chapter 15 )

Notes: Reading Rurouni Kenshin stories lately, something has started to bother me. Japanese in stories. Some is okay. For instance, if I'm reading Rurouni Kenshin fan fiction, I don't mind so much to see Sanosuke call Megumi 'kitsune', but if she calls him 'tori atama' (I think that's chicken head) I tend to cringe. Point of the matter is, sometimes anime stories are just a wee bit excessive on the use of Japanese. I try to keep mine to an absolute minimum and only use it when I think is necessary, but . . . sometimes I slip up (instances I have had Hisoka call Tsuzuki 'baka' instead of 'stupid' or 'idiot' for example).

Ahem. The point of the matter is that Terazuma calls Tsuzuki 'sempai' in the manga, and he calls Tsuzuki sempai in this story. I can't think of a literal translation for sempai anyway, and if I could, it would probably sound really dumb in English.

(I suppose that's rather funny, considering the title of this story is Japanese, but I named it after a song. So…… yeah. ^^)

I also had trouble coming up for something Watari would call Terazuma by, and Terazuma likewise for Watari. 'Watari-san' just didn't seem to work coming from Terazuma, so that just got stuck as Watari. Meanwhile I was tempted to have Watari call Terazuma 'Tera-chan' since he calls Terazuma's shikigami Kuro-chan, but I settled on Tera. Far as I know, those two never directly speak to each other in the manga (yet, I suppose) so I just came up with something.

This chapter moves a bit quickly, but I want them to get into the thick of things as soon as I can. So that's my excuse. ^_^;;

Yami no Kenzoku

Chapter Fourteen

Tatsumi was far too much of a cheapskate to spring for more than two hotel rooms for the four shinigami in Tokyo. He would have not given them enough for two, had a female not been amongst them. However, because Wakaba had joined them, she was given a single room completely to herself, while Tsuzuki, Watari, and Terazuma were forced to share. It was more than obvious after an hour that they arrived in Tokyo that the arrangements would not work.

But Tsuzuki and Terazuma suffered through with their dismal housing arrangements. There were only two full sized beds in the room, and while the logical thing to do would have been to double up, all three refused, for various reasons. Thus they traded turns sleeping in comfort. Two would have the beds one night, while the unfortunate one would be forced to sleep on the floor. This lasted a week, until Tsuzuki and Terazuma both began to complain terribly, and Wakaba finally offered to share her room with one of them. None of the three was able to look beyond gender differences and accept her offer, however, and so the arrangements continued as they were.

A week and a half into their investigation, with no leads at all, Terazuma had finally become suffocated enough in the hotel that he simply had to leave. And so that was how he ended up seated outside of a popular coffee shop in downtown Tokyo, Wakaba across from him and a cup of coffee in hand. He had made a dramatic point of complaining about her coming along, but in truth, he hardly minded at all.

"Watari-san thinks we're at a dead end here," Wakaba said thoughtfully. She had ordered a caramel mocha, that still sat barely touched in the circle of her arms, which were resting on the tabletop.

Terazuma had bought the morning paper before they had gone into the coffee shop, and over the top of the paper, he raised an eyebrow slightly at his younger partner.

"Where should we be looking then?" he asked, not intending to sound brusque, but coming off as such anyway.

"We've been here almost two weeks, and we still don't even know where Muraki's clinic is," Wakaba said thoughtfully. "Tokyo's just way too big."

Terazuma folded the paper in his hands and set it down on the table. A cigarette was hanging out the side of his mouth, as always, but he was not smoking it yet.

"Tsuzuki and Watari are looking," he replied. He lifted his coffee mug to his lips and took a sip. "But if nothing comes up again we'll try something else."

"Like what?" Wakaba pressed, inclining her head slightly at him. Terazuma hated it when she gave him that innocent, wide-eyed look.

"Like . . . like . . . I don't know! Stop looking at me like that!"

Wakaba made a face and settled back. "You're so whiny, Hajime-chan."

"You were giving me the eye," Terazuma grumbled. He picked up his carelessly folded paper and flipped it open once again, hoping to block her from his vision.

Settling her chin on her folded hands, Wakaba allowed her eyes to wander away, to watch the various people on the sidewalk that were passing the coffee shop. Tsuzuki and Watari had been searching for Muraki's clinic for more than a week now, while she and Terazuma had been assigned to taking note of any mysterious happenings in the city that Muraki might have had connection to. Thus far, they had no luck in either department.

It almost seemed that Muraki had taken Kaiki and simply vanished into nothingness. That was how Watari had explained it when Muraki had taken Kai when they were in Kamakura. They simply had no idea where he would have reappeared.

Tokyo was nothing but a dead end.

But if not here, where Muraki had told Tsuzuki personally that he had his practice, then where was he?

Wakaba sighed and chewed thoughtfully at her lower lip. Wherever he was, she hoped that Kai was safe.

Almost two weeks and they had no leads at all. Tsuzuki was beginning to become disheartened about the investigation. Muraki would be found if he wanted to be found, he had proved that once before in Kyoto, but if he did not want them to find him then they never would. Tsuzuki had not said this to any of the other shinigami, and while he would have never claimed to understand Muraki, he did think that he understood the man more than the others. And what he knew for a fact was that Muraki did not want to be found.

They had started out with the most logical of places to begin searching for a doctor - the yellow pages. When that had failed, they had given in to Wakaba's suggestion of simply calling up information and asking for Doctor Muraki Kazutaka. They had found quite a few people with the same surname as his, but none with the first name Kazutaka, or a medical practice in downtown Tokyo.

Now he and Watari had taken to the streets. Covering Tokyo by ground was far from Tsuzuki's idea of fun. For one, the city was entirely too large, with far too many buildings and people, to be able to pinpoint just one person. That included with his doubt that Muraki was even in the city, and even more doubt that Kaiki was with him, made Tsuzuki feel that they were doing nothing but running around in circles.

Watari was determined to keep looking. Terazuma had no opinion of his own and did only as he instructed. Tsuzuki knew that Wakaba agreed with him, but without any other leads, the suggestion of searching elsewhere was never brought up. Watari had promised, however, that if they found nothing today, that they would contact Konoe and Tatsumi and ask what would be the best plan of action.

Shoving his hands into the pockets of the long jacket he wore, Tsuzuki followed Watari as the other shinigami lead him through the city, on another wild goose chase of his. They had been at it long enough that 003, Watari's hyperactive owl, had gotten too tired to flit around them and had settled on Tsuzuki's shoulder to nap. Tsuzuki was jealous that he couldn't do something like that. It would have made the day pass much more quickly.

"Watari," Tsuzuki said, nearly whining, "it's practically four in the afternoon. Can we stop and get something to eat?"

"You think only with your stomach," Watari chastised. He did not even spare the other shinigami a glance over his shoulder. Tsuzuki was tempted to bean 003 at his head.

"My stomach thinks for me," Tsuzuki corrected. "And right now it's hungry. C'mon, c'mon, please? I'm starving!"

Watari looked back at him briefly, a smile on his face. "One more place and then we'll have lunch."

"You sound like Tatsumi," Tsuzuki grumbled, but he accepted the compromise and followed along after Watari grudgingly.

He realized that Watari was worried about Kai, possibly more worried than any of them. Watari was the only one that had actually had the chance to come to know him, given that they were partners. Tsuzuki knew he would have been just as worried if he were in Watari's position and it was Hisoka that had been abducted by Muraki.

He frowned slightly, eyes wandering away from the sidewalk as it passed beneath his feet to the world around them. Tatsumi had told him before they departed that Hisoka would be healed completely in another week and a half, possibly two weeks. He supposed that by now, Hisoka would be up and walking, all traces of the injuries he had sustained in Kamakura gone. But it was doubtful that Konoe and Tatsumi would allow him to be on field duty for at least another week.

Tsuzuki had hoped that by that time, this case would be done and over with. Things didn't seem to be shaping up the way he had hoped.

"Uh, where are we going?" he asked finally, realizing he had absolutely no idea. He had been following Watari blindly around for the past three days, after all.

"'They say one doctor knows another,'" Watari said. It was a direct quote, Tsuzuki realized, of what Muraki had said to Tatsumi in Kamakura.

"We're going to see a doctor?" Tsuzuki asked dumbly.

"No, we're going to see Buddha," Watari replied. "Yes, we're going to see a doctor."

Tsuzuki picked up 003 and hurtled him at Watari's head. The poor miniature owl collided with the head of his master with a dull thump, before falling rather unceremoniously to the ground. Watari grumbled and rubbed at the back of his head.

"That beak hurts y'know!"

Tsuzuki beamed innocently.

003 continued to sit where he had fallen, seeing stars. Taking pity on him, Tsuzuki picked him up and returned him to his shoulder.

"There have to be thousands of doctors in Tokyo," Tsuzuki said pointedly. "How do you know we're not running into just another dead end?"

"I did some research and found Muraki's last known address in Tokyo. There's a practice not far from there. It's a long shot, but worth it if it gives us even the slightest hint, right?"

Tsuzuki sighed. "I guess so."

Despite not having ever been to Tokyo while he was alive, and very few times in his afterlife, Watari seemed to know his way around quite well. Tsuzuki was surprised when they arrived at a small practice in hardly no time at all.

Watari lead the way in. A young receptionist was seated behind the counter, and as they entered, she looked up at them with a bright, friendly smile.

"Hello," she greeted. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Tsuzuki glanced at Watari. He sincerely hoped he had some vague idea of what he was doing, or this was nothing but yet another dead end.

"Yes, actually," Watari said with a bright smile of his own, surprising Tsuzuki. Apparently he had thought this out more than the other shinigami had thought.

"I just recently moved back to Tokyo, you see, and when I lived here before my doctor was a man by the name of Muraki Kazutaka. But now I can't seem to find him. I was hoping that you might have some idea of where he ended up."

The receptionist frowned slightly. "Doctor Muraki Kazutaka, you said?"

"Yes," Watari confirmed with a nod. "Do you know him?"

"The name seems familiar . . . hold on a moment and I'll ask Dr. Sakano."

She stood up and bustled away, leaving the shinigami in peace. Tsuzuki occupied a vacant chair in the waiting room and propped his feet up on the one across from him.

"Some of your experiments work after all."

Watari beamed. "I am, after all, a world-class scientist."

"I think it's just blind luck."

Watari held up his nose haughtily. "What would you know of science and experimentation? You are a heathen."

Tsuzuki blinked. "I am /not/ a heathen!"

"Gentlemen?"

Tsuzuki and Watari looked up from their antics to find that the receptionist had returned with the doctor. He was not a very elderly man, though Tsuzuki and Watari appeared far younger than him, even though Tsuzuki had a good forty years over both of them. He wore black-rimmed glasses and overall reminded Tsuzuki terribly of the man that Muraki had been working with while in Kyoto, but he carefully kept that thought to himself.

"My receptionist said that you are looking for Muraki Kazutaka."

"Ah, yes," Watari answered. "Do you know him?"

"Vaguely," Dr. Sakano responded, and the way he said it made Tsuzuki wonder if he were telling the complete truth.

"Muraki-san had a practice not far from here," he continued. "But he abandoned it a little less than a year ago. We were business colleagues, no more."

Tsuzuki frowned. That statement confirmed it - there was something more that Sakano was not telling them.

"Do you know where we can find him?" Watari asked.

"No," Sakano answered. "I have not seen him since then." He was shuffling through papers on the receptionist's desk distractedly. "Now, gentleman, if you have no further need of me may I ask you to leave? I run a business here, not a lost and found."

Watari nodded slightly, a frown like Tsuzuki's crossing his face. "I'm sorry for taking your time. Thank you for your help."

Sakano did not bother to give them a word of parting when they left his practice.

Outside, Tsuzuki shoved his hands back into the pockets of his jacket, considering what they had just been told. As it turned out, he and Wakaba had been right in their assumptions that Tokyo was no more than a dead end. If Muraki had abandoned his practice in the city a year ago, then it was quite likely that he was not in the city. Which meant that they would have to search elsewhere.

"He was hiding something," Watari said thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Tsuzuki agreed. "But we have no idea /what/ he's hiding . . ."

"Protecting Muraki, maybe?" Watari suggested.

Tsuzuki shrugged. "Who knows . . . but whatever the case, I doubt that Muraki's still here in Tokyo. He might have even suspected us to come here to look for him, and so he hightailed it to somewhere else."

"Where, is the problem."

"Yeah . . ."

"No matter," Watari said brightly. "Let's just head back to the hotel and let Wakaba-chan and Tera know what we found."

With the low budget Tatsumi was keeping them on, the shinigami could only afford a small pizza for dinner, but given that they had more important things to be concerned with, no one complained much. Tsuzuki was disappointed that he would have to go yet another day without dessert, but he learned to bear with it.

Watari had explained to Terazuma and Wakaba what he and Tsuzuki had discovered at Dr. Sakano's practice, and the two other shinigami were currently chewing on that information. It seemed very little to go by, to Terazuma anyway, but he supposed something was better than nothing.

"I don't think if we tried to interrogate that guy anymore we'd get anything out of him," Terazuma said. He was seated in one of the room's two leather chairs, his feet propped up on the table between them by the pizza box. The crust of his slice sat discarded, while he continued to chew thoughtfully on the cigarette in his mouth.

"Maybe if just Hajime-chan and I went to talk to him?" Wakaba suggested. "He wouldn't talk if it was the two of you again but maybe . . ."

"It'd be too suspicious to have more people coming back and asking about Muraki all of a sudden," Watari said pointedly. "Until we come up with something we have to make do with what we have."

"Which is pretty much nothing at all," Tsuzuki said. All they knew was that Muraki had abandoned his medical practice in Tokyo a year ago, and that Sakano seemed to have some connection to him. Tsuzuki hardly thought that was enough to make a solid case on.

"Well, we do know that Muraki can't be in Tokyo," Watari said thoughtfully. "So where else would he be?"

Wakaba sighed and settled her chin on her hands. "There's so /many/ places. We'd have to search all of Japan."

"And he could have hightailed it out of Japan too," Terazuma said, to be the bearer of bad news. He unfolded the newspaper he had bought that morning and flipped through it while the others talked.

"What I want to know is what he wanted with Kai," Tsuzuki said, voicing the one concern that they had all had in the very beginning, but never spoken about.

There seemed to be no solid reason. Muraki had never made it clear to him, and Kai did not have enough memories of his past to piece together where Muraki had once been connected to him. Tsuzuki could not even begin to make an assumption.

"When we were in Kamakura..." he began, slowly, "he said that we had something that belonged to him. He meant Kai."

"He also looked at something on the kid's collarbone, or chest maybe," Watari put in. "Remember, when he said that Kai really was the one he was looking for?"

Tsuzuki frowned. He had nearly forgotten that, but as he began to recall it to memory, he realized how odd it was. None of them had ever noticed anything identifiable about Kai below his neckline before. Of course, none of them had ever seen him without a shirt on. Tsuzuki supposed it could have been anything. Marks even, maybe, like those that Hisoka had on his body. Muraki could have cursed Kai the same way a long time ago.

"Watari, did the Gushoshin do any background checks on Kai?" Tsuzuki asked.

"They do background checks on everyone that becomes a shinigami," Watari replied. "But if they noticed anything odd about him, they would have told us."

"We could contact them and ask them to send us what information they have on Kai," Wakaba suggested. "Maybe it'll give us some clue on how he and Muraki are connected. That way, it might be easier to find them."

"It's easy to figure out how they're connected," Terazuma said suddenly, calling their attention to him. "Kai had it branded in his arm, remember? 'Muraki killed my mother.' Before he lost his memory, he was probably just some kid trying to get revenge."

Watari sighed. "Well, that doesn't exactly tell us anything . . ."

"Wha . . . hey!"

Wakaba suddenly reached out and snatched the newspaper that Terazuma was holding from his hands. Startled, his cigarette felt out of his mouth and onto the floor.

"Hey! Kannuki! What the hell--"

"You didn't notice this?"

Terazuma and the other shinigami blinked. Wakaba sighed and turned the paper around to face them. Across the page a headline reading 'Three Murders in Kyoto' was spread out in thick, bold letters. Terazuma had never noticed it because that sort of thing was not of as much interest to him as the comics section.

"In Kyoto?" Watari murmured, reaching out to take the paper from Wakaba. His eyes skimmed it thoroughly.

"They started just before we arrived in Tokyo," Wakaba said pointedly. "And the last two have happened while we've been here. If we ever bothered to keep an eye on the news, we would have known."

Tsuzuki had flopped down on the bed beside Watari and was reading over his shoulder. "Three murders . . . has to be more than coincidence."

"Yeah," Watari agreed, "especially when all three victims had their hair cut."

Tsuzuki paled.

"What?" Terazuma asked. "I don't get it."

Unwanted memories of Kyoto flooded back to Tsuzuki. Images rushed at him. He saw Hisoka, standing on those bloodied steps, a murdered body at his feet. Muraki stood above him, silhouetted by the red moon. He remembered that night, when Muraki had asked him about his scars, and why he wore his watch on his right hand. But most of all he remembered Touda's flames, enveloping him, slowly killing him, before Hisoka had come.

Tsuzuki had never wanted to have any more bad memories of that city. And after all that had happened there, between he and Hisoka and Muraki, he never wanted to return again. But it seemed that they were being baited once again.

"Muraki cut the hair of the victims in Kyoto, a year ago," Watari explained briefly. Terazuma needed no more information than that - he knew everything that had happened then. "So . . . he must be doing it again, to get us to go to Kyoto."

He glanced at Tsuzuki. "What do you think?"

"I think . . . the only thing we can do . . . is go to Kyoto."

Without constant explosions caused by Watari and whines from Tsuzuki, or complaints from Terazuma and cooking by Wakaba, Hisoka thought that the Shokan Division was ridiculously quiet and lonely. He would have been grateful for the silence, if only his mind was not constantly occupied by Tsuzuki and the others, and wondering if they would be all right on their own.

He knew it was stupid to worry. There were four of him, and his added addition would hardly make a difference in the long run. But he would have felt much better if he could have been there with them.

He had healed almost completely from the injuries sustained in Kamakura. His legs had healed and he was walking quite well on his own, but the infirmary doctors, backed up by Tatsumi, refused to let him do field duty for at least another week. Hisoka thought he might very well go mad in that time worrying about the other shinigami.

The first few days had passed relatively well. He had taken his time away from field duty as an opportunity to be in the library more often, but as he began to read the same books twice, that had bored him. After that it had been a matter of simply wasting the days away. The afterlife, he realized, was amazingly boring, which was rather disappointing. He would have hoped that death could have offered him some distractions that life had been unable to.

A week and a half into his forced vacation, he decided that enough was enough, and thus he went to see Tatsumi, maybe to demand to join Tsuzuki and the other shinigami if he could. He found the older shinigami seated in his office, looking perplexed. That stopped Hisoka from demanding immediately that he be put on field duty.

"Tatsumi-san?"

Tatsumi looked up. "Ah, Kurosaki-kun. Come in."

Hisoka slipped into the office and dropped into the chair across from Tatsumi. Tatsumi removed his glasses and rubbed thoughtfully at the bridge of his nose.

"It seems that they have made some progress in their search for Muraki."

Hisoka frowned. "That's good, right?"

"Perhaps." Tatsumi paused. "Three deaths were recorded recently in the Kiseki, all three murders in Kyoto. We thought nothing of them - murder is not uncommon in large cities. What we did not take note of was the fact that all three victims had potions of their hair cut off."

"What . . .? Then, you mean . . ."

Tatsumi nodded. "Muraki seems to be killing people in the same fashion he did in Kyoto to lure us to him."

Hisoka frowned. If that was his tactic to lure Tsuzuki in, he had chosen a great, if not perfect one. Tsuzuki never wanted to see people hurt because of him. The simple fact alone that Muraki was killing those people to draw out he and the other shinigami would bring out Tsuzuki, but Hisoka did not think that he would be able to face the man if it came down to that.

Tsuzuki wasn't going to be able to do this alone.

"Tatsumi-san--"

"I know what you are going to ask," Tatsumi interrupted him. "And though it goes against my better judgment, I think you should go to Kyoto to be with Tsuzuki. He will need you there with him."

Hisoka paused, regarding Tatsumi for a moment thoughtfully. He knew how Tatsumi felt about Tsuzuki. He had always known, while Tsuzuki seemed oblivious to the older shinigami's affection for him. He wondered how, if it was hard for Tatsumi to let Tsuzuki be happy with someone else, did he keep pressuring for Hisoka to be with him?

He shook his head. It was ridiculous to think about that anyway - he and Tsuzuki were nothing more than partners.

"Thank you, Tatsumi-san," he said softly.

Tatsumi smiled. "You had better go quickly. They should have already arrived by now."

"A-aa . . ."

Tatsumi had arranged far better living arrangements for them in Kyoto than he had the year before when they were there, and as well, far better than the arrangements in Tokyo. Tsuzuki thought it was somewhat excessive to have three rooms, Terazuma and Wakaba each to one of their own, but he supposed he should forget about it and simply be grateful that he was no longer sleeping on the floor. Nor did he have to listen to Terazuma snore through the night either.

Once they had contacted Tatsumi and told him that they needed to be in Kyoto, not Tokyo, he had made the immediate arrangements to get them there. Before a day was over they had arrived in the city. Tsuzuki thought he was holding together fairly well the first afternoon - but once night fell and the memories returned, he knew that this would be one of the most difficult things he had to do in his entire life.

It was that evening that there came a knock at the door of the hotel room he was sharing with Watari. The other shinigami was not there - he and Wakaba had gone out to take in the sights while they still could, possibly pick up some information along the way. Tsuzuki frowned slightly and wandered over to answer the door.

Terazuma stood there, looking vaguely uncomfortable.

"Yo, sempai." He shoved his hands in his pockets, teeth working at the cigarette in his mouth methodically, eyes on the ground. "'m bored. So wanna go out into the city?" He paused, then continued quickly, "Since Kannuki and Watari are out anyway, probably off seeing some show or something, it's not like you or me has anything better to do. We might pick up on some useful stuff too."

Tsuzuki had to blink at him. In the entire time he had known Terazuma, he had never seen him this flustered unless he was around Wakaba. He might have laughed or teased him, but given their situation, he decided to go with his better judgment.

"Sure. Sounds good."

Terazuma was slightly startled by his willingness to agree, but did not complain. Together, the two shinigami, well bundled against the cold air of Kyoto that time of year, left the hotel and ventured into the city.

Neither was much interested in taking in the sights, and most forms of entertainment would have cost them a bundle of money neither was willing to waste. They wandered aimlessly, not speaking, but there was a companionable silence hanging over them, something that they had never quite had before.

An hour or so passed this way, until finally, Terazuma ventured to speak.

"Kannuki and Watari'll be back by now," he said. "So we should get back."

Tsuzuki nodded. "Yea--"

A scream ripping through the air interrupted him.

Tsuzuki and Terazuma exchanged glances briefly before coming to a silent, unanimous decision to find where it had come from. Terazuma had a heightened sense of hearing, one of the few things he had been blessed with when he had joined with his shikigami, and took off running in exactly the right direction. Tsuzuki raced after him blindly.

He was not sure how much time had passed before Terazuma suddenly came to an abrupt stop. Tsuzuki started to speak, but Terazuma held up a hand, silencing him. They stood, breathing hard, and listening.

Another scream, this time much closer.

Terazuma ran down the alleyway and vaulted himself over the wire fence preventing them from the side. Tsuzuki followed, with just as much ease as the younger shinigami.

He nearly ran into Terazuma when he stopped again, in a garden behind one of the hundreds of shrines throughout Kyoto.

"Terazuma, wha . . ."

He stopped abruptly as he saw the reason why Terazuma had stopped.

Kaiki was kneeled on the ground, hands bloodied, cheeks streaked with red, and a hand clasped over an open wound. The body of a murdered woman was at his knees.

"I tried! I tried to . . . I--I tried to stop him . . . he ran . . . off that way."

"Terazuma," Tsuzuki said sharply.

"Gotcha." Terazuma needed no other command to hurry in the direction that Kai had indicated.

Tsuzuki knelt down beside the shuddering boy. Gingerly, he reached out and touched his shoulder. Kai looked up at him, his silver eyes wide with fear and shock.

"I tried to stop him," Kai repeated deliriously.

"I know," Tsuzuki said. "Are you hurt?"

Kai slowly removed his hand from his stomach. Tsuzuki saw that he had been slashed with a knife, and while deep, it was not deep enough to be life-threatening. He breathed a sigh of relief.

And then frowned when he saw a bloodied knife clutched in the hand of the victim.

"Kai, what happened?"

"He had a knife," Kai said. "He tried to kill her, but she had one too . . . f-for protection. She got him across the face, but then I got in the way, and he-he . . ."

Tsuzuki put both hands on Kai's shoulders. "It's okay. You don't have to say anymore."

"He shot her," Kai whispered. "When he saw things weren't going to work like he wanted, he shot her and ran . . ."

Tsuzuki could vaguely piece it together. He, no doubt Muraki from how badly it had shaken up Kai, had intended to kill this woman, and during the struggle she was able to wound him. Then Kai had intervened, and Muraki had stabbed him as well . . . then Muraki had given up on murdering her in cold blood and had shot her. There was a bullet hole in the center of her forehead, that made Tsuzuki feel sick to look at.

"See." Kai raised a shaky hand and gestured to the body. "He was able to stab her a few times, but not enough to kill her, so he shot her . . ."

"It's okay, Kai. Just . . . don't say anymore. You're going to be okay."

A twig being snapped beneath a foot caused Tsuzuki to look up. Terazuma had returned.

"There's nobody," he said. "He got away."

Tsuzuki cursed softly below his breath.

"Let's just get Kai out of here," he said quietly.

Terazuma removed his jacket, with a small amount of trouble, they eventually succeeded into tearing it into strips. Tsuzuki wrapped the make-shift gauze around Kai's wound firmly. Once he was certain that Kai would be able to make it, he helped the younger shinigami up and slowly began to walk away with him.

Terazuma started to follow, but as he passed the body, he stopped and frowned. Something seemed to be . . . missing here. This crime was too carelessly planned to be murder in Muraki's style - he was a perfectionist. This was messy, not at all like him.

"What the hell, what the hell . . ." Terazuma paced, muttering a moment, then stopped.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, chewing on his cigarette, he looked up to the sky.

"This isn't right at all . . ."