Back on Earth, Maria's stepmother is pissed off because she cannot contact the doctor. There is a knock on the door and she hurries to it, thinking the doctor has finally shown up. However, it is an angry Tsuzuki who greets her at the door. He demands to know who is behind the plan regarding Maria's resurrection. When Maria's stepmother says she will be killed if she revealed the truth, Tsuzuki asks instead if the man is Doctor Muraki. Maria's stepmother collapses in defeat.

Elsewhere in a dark building, Hisoka is covered in blood and tied up with wires against a bed that has been turned standing up. Muraki is standing in front of him, a few feet away. {Muraki: "Bouya, you've been a good toy."} Hisoka struggles to move against the wires and only succeed in cutting his neck. Muraki tells him it's futile because the wires are made of women's hair and a special binding spell. When Hisoka asks what Muraki wants with him, Muraki just smiles and fires a shot that lands only inches from Hisoka's face. He then walks up to Hisoka and tilts the boy's chin with the gun. {Muraki: "I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to use you as bait." Hisoka: "Tsuzuki..?"} He then licks Hisoka's bloody fingers. Hisoka thinks to himself how he can only feel a dark, muddled feeling coming from Muraki. He wonders how someone can be so disturbed/twisted inside. Muraki moves away and says he never expects to see him again. Hisoka is surprised at this. {Muraki: "Don't you remember? Our (??something) encounter three years ago?"} [I think the (??something) is "lustful", but I'm not positive so don't quote me on this. =P] Muraki decides it's probably time to revive Hisoka's sealed memories. He reaches out touches Hisoka on the forehead, and Hisoka screams...

Tsuzuki is standing at the railings, close to where he has found the puddle of blood earlier. He places his hand on a blood-covered spot on the railings and blames himself for Hisoka's disappearance. In his right hand, he holds the cellphone that belongs to Maria's stepmother. GuShoShin comes up behind him, worried. Just then, the phone rings and Tsuzuki answers, knowing Muraki is on the other line. After a private conversation on Muraki's part, Tsuzuki replies, "I understand," and hangs up. He tells GuShoShin he's going to meet with Muraki. GuShoShin tries to convince him otherwise, knowing the meeting is a trap. Tsuzuki decides to go nevertheless, since he has to save Hisoka no matter what. He calls up a shikigami in the form of a bird, and tells GuShoShin that the shikigami is a tracker who will lead him to Hisoka's hidden place. [Ano...why didn't you use this earlier?]

Tsuzuki finds Muraki in the church, since Muraki's message is "I'll wait for you at the place where we first met." Muraki turns to Tsuzuki and says, "I had prayed to see you again." As a reply to Tsuzuki's inquiries on Hisoka's whereabouts, Muraki throws him a blood-soaked handkerchief. Not waiting to see Tsuzuki's shocked face, Muraki says, "let's go."

Muraki takes Tsuzuki to a museum. He starts a conversation about the time when Bakufu has attempted to suppress Christianity, so people find a way to keep their religion by hiding signs of cross behind the Buddha. [Bafuku is an era in Japan where a military government, led by the shogun, rules. **much thanks to Lex for the info.] He then turns to Tsuzuki and comments on the beauty of Tsuzuki's eyes.

They go to an antique shop, where Muraki has some fun playing with two dolls. {Muraki: "Dolls, if broken, can be fixed. In comparison, human beings are very fragile."} When he asks Tsuzuki which dolls he like more, Tsuzuki is too worried about Hisoka to even hear him. Muraki is very pissed at this.

Afterwards, they go to a cafe. {Muraki: "I remember you really like sweets."} Tsuzuki has a outburst and tells Muraki to quit playing games with him and just spill Hisoka's whereabouts. Muraki says he's doing this all for Tsuzuki. He then replies the boy is okay, and Tsuzuki really shouldn't worry about him that much. {Muraki: "I know all about the boy. After all, the one who killed him was ME."}

...Hisoka couldn't sleep one night, so he went out for a walk. Under a cherry tree, a man in white trenchcoat was hovering over a woman. As the red moon (tm) reappeared from behind the clouds, the man stabbed the woman with a knife. He turned around and saw Hisoka...

In the cafe, Tsuzuki listens with shock. {Muraki: "I would have just killed him, but since he was such a pretty boy..."}

[Insert scenes of Hisoka getting disrobed, Muraki thrusting into Hisoka while Hisoka's hands are tied above him... Hisoka in agony as Muraki's curse marked his body...]

Finally getting out of the shock, Tsuzuki tells Muraki to shut up. Muraki tells him Hisoka is only bait in this game. {Muraki: "I'll keep the prize for now, since you keep thinking about him during our date. It's your fault. You lose your calm whenever his name comes up in our conversation."} Muraki also mentions that even though Hisoka's a shinigami, he will still die if he lose any more blood. Before Muraki leaves, he notices Tsuzuki's shikigami flying outside the window.

It's near nighttime. In the dark building, Hisoka has flashbacks to all the times when Tsuzuki helps him. Amused, he wonders why he is thinking about Tsuzuki at a time like this. Suddenly, he hears someone calling his name. He opens his eyes and sees Tsuzuki and GuShoShin in the doorway facing him. As Tsuzuki starts to free him from the wires, Hisoka asks why Tsuzuki has come to rescue someone like him. Tsuzuki replies he can't just leave him there. Before they can escape, however, Muraki shows up.

Tsuzuki is now very angry at Muraki for treating them all like toys, so he attacks Muraki with a spell. Not the least affected, Muraki tells him to look up, where bats occupy the entire ceiling. The bats start to attack them. Tsuzuki terminates them with spells, while Hisoka and GuShoShin stay in a barrier created by another one of Tsuzuki's spells.

Muraki summons a powerful three-headed monster to attack Tsuzuki, who dodges all the attacks. However, the explosions manage to damage the barrier protecting Hisoka and GuShoShin. Hisoka tries to set up another barrier, but his blood loss prevents him from getting enough strength to do so. Sensing this weakness, Muraki sends the monster to attack Hisoka in full-force. Tsuzuki yells at Muraki to stop, but that only fuels Muraki's anger. Muraki is very annoyed at Hisoka now, since the boy keeps getting in between him and Tsuzuki. He thinks he can have Tsuzuki all to himself if Hisoka is gone. Muraki tells his monster to destroy Hisoka once and for all. The barrier is about to break, and the monster sends another strong attack against it...

Tsuzuki rushes forward and shields Hisoka with his own body. The blast hits him straight in the back and leaves behind a deep gaping wound. [Is it me, or is the blood flowing out from the wrong place?] Muraki is really happy now because he figures Tsuzuki is too weak to fight back. He demands the boy move aside and hand Tsuzuki to him.

Tsuzuki grabs Hisoka's arm and begins to speak to him via Hisoka's empathic abilities. He says he knows Hisoka would feel uncomfortable synchronizing with him, but he needs to borrow Hisoka's body and energy to summon Suzaku. Hisoka replies he understand and will let Tsuzuki borrow his body.

As Muraki closes in on the two, Hisoka suddenly stands up and holds Tsuzuki behind him. A red aura surrounds him and he begins a summoning spell in Tsuzuki's voice. Muraki is awed at this combination of power and wonders how it is possible. When Suzaku appears, Muraki is mad and yells, "it's not fair!" [^^;; All's fair in love and war.] After Suzaku properly disposes off the monster, Muraki's anger changes to joy. He is impressed that Tsuzuki is stronger than he has imaged. Then he vanishes into thin air, vowing they haven't seen the last of him. [Is Muraki really human!? O_o;]

GuShoShin worries about the two until he sees Tsuzuki carrying Hisoka out of the ruins. GuShoShin is relieved.

In the rain, Hisoka tells Tsuzuki now he understands why he has chosen to become a shinigami. {Hisoka: "I wanted to know the truth."} Hisoka has learned by chance that his death is not due to illness, and wants to find his killer. Now that he does find the killer, however, he can't do anything about it.

{Tsuzuki: "What's your impression of Muraki?"
Hisoka: "I don't know. His soul is too dark for someone of my abilities to understand.}

When Tsuzuki asks him what are his plans from now, Hisoka replies that he doesn't know, but he would understand if Tsuzuki doesn't want to pair up with him anymore. Tsuzuki jokes in a serious tone that Hisoka may be right, since no one would want to pair up with a brat like him.... "at least that was what I thought before". Now Tsuzuki wants Hisoka to be his partner. When Hisoka asks why Tsuzuki saved him, Tsuzuki replies, "because we're partners".

Afterwards, Tsuzuki decides to celebrate their partnership with a meal, and proceeds to recommend several different types of food. {Hisoka: "Don't just decide for yourself! Do you even have money!? Tatsumi-san will berate you again."}