Ragnarok ~ Part Five
The End is only The Beginning
Warning: Attention ladies and gentlemen. We are descending into R Level. I repeat: We are descending into R Level. Hold onto your hats, grab your favorite plushie, and enjoy the ride. =P
Part Five
It stood
silent. The light gleamed off of its smooth surface, unable to uncover the
horrors beyond. Hisoka stood a few feet away, giving his opponent a wary look.
“ ‘Cmon,
Soka-chan!” Hotaru called out. “We’ll be late!”
It was,
in truth, the girls’ locker room door. This, Hisoka decided, was the end of the
charade. There was no possible way to change into the female uniform – which
was far too revealing in his opinion – without blowing his cover. The
only problem was, he didn’t have a valid excuse to
not dress out.
“Kurosaki-san!”
A voice called out
“That’s
Hikari-sensei,” Kageko
stated, noticing the empath’s blank look. “She’s
our gym teacher.”
“Ah.” He
watched the petite woman screech to a halt before them, mildly winded from her
impromptu jog.
“I am
sooooooooooo sorry, Kurosaki-san!” She
exclaimed, bowing slightly before raising her gray eyes to meet his. “I
completely forgot!”
“ ‘Forgot’?”
Hisoka echoed, completely confused.
Hikaru
nodded, blushing slightly from embarrassment. “Your guardian called and
explained your…situation. Here.” She shoved a boy’s uniform into his arms. “I
wrapped the key to the nearby bathroom in there – you should be able to change
in privacy.”
An embarrassing
and effective solution to his problem.
Hisoka could feel the stares from multiple eyes on his back. The air was alive
with speculation and suspicion, the emotions sliding around his skin like warm
water. Voices buzzed behind him, but he was already too far away to understand
them.
The gym teacher
said she knew his ‘situation’. Did that mean his real situation, or was
she told something else? If it had been something else, Hisoka fervently hoped
Tatsumi had played his guardian – he couldn’t even begin to imagine what
weird excuses his coworkers could have come up with.
There was
something else, however, that bugged Hisoka even more. How did an all
girls school happen to have a boy’s uniform
lying around?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This book,
Watari decided, promised to be one of the most entertaining and fascinating
non-fiction books he had obtained. The tale hinted by the book was almost
surreal, and the wording archaic. Ragnarok
was older than he had first presumed, and exceedingly hard to translate. He
glanced down at the paper in his hand. It had been three days – three days had
been necessary to translate the few pages of the beginning.
According to
official documents, the angel commander to the Griffin Division,
Hiketsu, is a traitor. He has been accused with
treason and other such crimes, cast out of all heavenly realms, and hunted by
those who once knew him. He is now known as a Fallen Angel. There are even
rumors, at the time this was written, that Hiketsu
has been killed on Earth.
The story
within these pages is very different. While Hiketsu
is indeed a Fallen Angel, he is not a traitor. On the contrary, he is one of
those that sacrificed the most during the latest Ragnarok.
I was privileged to work with him personally, and thus I feel obligated to
defend him from the slander mistaken as fact.
This is the
true story of the last Ragnarok. This is
Hiketsu’s story.
- Kigaru
Only one
important question remained. How was this related to Tsuzuki and Bon?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Birds called to
each other from different trees in the park. A cool, gentle breeze soared
through the grass and trees alike, gently tugging on Tsuzuki’s black trench coat
before starting its invisible dance again.
The Shinigami
took long, unhurried strides as he walked down the dirt path – files in one
hand, a bag of pastries in the other. He passed benches filled with
kindergarten children and mother, lawns littered with both sakura petals and
relaxed salary men.
It took some
time before he found an empty bench. A gaggle of preschoolers ran around
nearby, laughing and screaming. Tsuzuki smiled as he set the brown bag beside
him – unlike his partner, who liked solitude, he was most comfortable in
populated areas, the places that fairly thrummed with life.
His smile faded
as he opened the case file, slowly slipping into what Hisoka had once silently
dubbed “mission mode”. The first page was simply a plain, white paper bearing
the victim’s statistics.
Name:
Mitsuu Sumeragi
Sex: Female
Age: 19
Time of Death:
Cause of Death:
Demon Attack; Strangulation
Status: Soul
Missing
Tsuzuki ate as
he read through the brief overview and the medical report. He skillfully
avoided the pictures clipped to the other side of the folder. After all, he
didn’t want to waste the food he bought in case the photos were gruesome enough
to make him ill.
Ninety minutes
passed, Tsuzuki only vaguely aware of the children departing, leaving him in
solitude. The food long since devoured and the files finally finished, he
flipped back to the beginning to look at the photos.
The first thing
he saw was Hisoka. His purple eyes widened and his breath caught as he
tightened his grip on the file, his knuckles turning white.
No, not Hisoka. The figure in the pictures was supposed to have
been female, and her long hair was ebony black. Her eyes, though, wide and
blank and unseeing, brought a twinge of pain in his chest – they were the exact
same hue as his partner’s.
He crushed down
an irrational urge to check on Hisoka, to simply make sure. The boy was
still in school and already annoyed – Tsuzuki was not eager to get a
particularly vindictive lashing from the rough side of the teenager’s tongue.
He focused his attention back on the photos, turning slightly ill.
The figure in
the picture had not died easy.
There were
thin, red lines around her neck where the claws of the demon had torn through.
Her blouse had been shredded into thin strips, an activity which had to take
time. Tsuzuki winced; he could almost feel the terror of this woman as
she had been stripped by a figure from nightmares.
A gapping hole
stood present just above her left breast – her heart had been torn out. The
scientists on the case concluded that it had been eaten. There was very little
blood around the wound; the presence of saliva indicated that the demon had most
likely drunk as much as he could hold.
The wounds
below were even more horrifying. The skin over the abdomen had been completely
devoured, and a large portion of the major organs missing. The leftovers were
unidentifiable, completely shredded into a pulpy, glistening mash.
Her skirt was
pushed up, bunching into cramped folds around her hips. She had not been
allowed dignity, even in death. Her inner thighs had been eaten away to the
bone. Tsuzuki’s knuckles whitened. The last wound had been something
completely unnecessary – it was nothing more than a derogatory gesture.
Sad, purple
eyes gazed into the sky as he gently put the photo away. The entire thing had
been unnecessary, really, especially the torture she was reported to have gone
through both before and after death.
Tsuzuki stood,
stretching the kinks out of his muscles from sitting too long. It was time to
pick Hisoka up from school. His lips twitched as he tried to imagine the day
his partner had to go through.
If it had been
anyone else the brunet would have brought sweets along to cheer them up – but
the empath pretended to hate them. Not that he minded of course – it
simply meant more for him.
Tsuzuki grinned
as he retraced his footsteps along the path. Perhaps he would buy some sweets
after all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If it weren’t
considered such an undignified gesture, Hisoka would have bolted out of the
classroom door as soon as the bell rang. Instead, he stood up and calmly
gathered his books.
The young
empath could hear the buzz of whispers start up as soon as he entered the
hallway. By the end of the day, multiple theories about his conversation with
the gym teacher had sprung up among his fellow students. Fortunately, none of
the rumors he overheard were even close to the truth.
“ ‘Soka-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan~!”
Hotaru’s gleeful cry rebounded through the front
courtyard of the school. The voice was quickly followed by the hyper girl
herself. She stopped a few, mere inches in front of him, a small dust cloud
forming behind her. “Is it true? Is it true? Is it really
really true, ‘Soka-chan?”
“Is what
true?” He snapped, irritable.
“Is it
really true that you have an abusive boyfriend?”
His eyes
widened as Hisoka was caught off guard. That was one rumor he hadn’t
heard. Hotaru started sniffling, taking his silence
as confirmation. She leapt forward, hugging him. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Poor ‘Soka-chan!”
The physical
contact broke the empath out of his shock. “Whaaaaaaaaaat?
I do not have a boyfriend!” He started to pry her off, blushing
furiously. At the mention of the word ‘boyfriend’, Tsuzuki had come to mind.
He viciously crushed that train of thought before it got any further – now was
not the time to think of things like that.
A hand flashed
out, grabbing Hotaru by the collar and prying her
off of her victim. She pouted, looking up. “Awww,
Kageko! I was simply trying to give ‘Soka-chan a
hug!”
“And choking
the poor girl to death while you were at it,” Kageko
commented dryly, pointing to Hisoka’s red face. He opened his mouth to protest
and then closed it – telling them the truth would bring many unwanted
consequences.
“Hisoka, you
okay? You look all red.” The blond in question stiffened – Tsuzuki always had
the worst timing.
“Hmmmmmmmmm…”
Hotaru circled around the brunet, inspecting him
from all sides. Tsuzuki kept a politely curious eye on her, but otherwise did
nothing. She wasn’t threatening him, and while her stares made him nervous they
didn’t creep him out like Muraki’s did.
The inspection
finished, she frowned, looking over at Hisoka. “ ‘Soka-chan,
your boyfriend doesn’t seem abusive at all! He reminds me more of a huggable
teddy bear!”
Kageko
let out a snort of laughter and Tsuzuki raised an eyebrow, his eyes twinkling.
Hisoka spluttered, his jaw working frantically with silent denials. It took him
a full minute to find his voice. “He is not my boyfriend!”
Hotaru
tilted her head to the side. “Oh? But he’s not related to you – the two of you
look nothing alike.” She nodded solemnly, as if reaching a sudden,
important decision. Patting his shoulders a few times – oblivious to his flinch
– she gave him a conspiratorial wink. “It’s okay, ‘Soka-chan, your secret is
safe with me!”
Hisoka eyed her
warily. “What secret?”
“That you’re
dating without parental permission!” Tsuzuki’s lips twitched and Hisoka gaped,
caught off guard. Hotaru continued on, oblivious.
“This is just like a shoujo manga – a regular Romeo
and Juliet! Two people, desperately in love but denied
eachother by societal rules and unfeeling
relatives!” She clasped her hands together, stars glowing in her eyes as
she squealed. “It makes my heart race simply thinking about it!”
Hisoka blushed,
ducking his head in embarrassment. Hotaru’s ranting
had drawn a huge crowd, the spectators forming a semi-circle around the group of
four. The faint, muted amusement he could feel from Tsuzuki and
Kageko wasn’t helping, either. He opened his mouth
to – once again – deny everything, but a sudden arm draping itself leisurely
around his shoulders cut him off.
Tsuzuki sighed
dramatically, bringing his partner closer. “It seems she’s found us out, Hisoka.
I guess we’re too obvious.”
Hisoka froze,
completely forgetting to squirm out of his partner’s embrace. What?
By the
heightened murmurs in the crowd and the incredulous look on
Kageko’s face, he wasn’t the only one asking the same question. The
raven-haired girl eyed Tsuzuki. “You can’t be serious.” Her tone was
neutral, but he could feel a twinge of bitterness – a twinge so subtle, he had
almost missed it in his shocked state.
Tsuzuki nodded,
looking remorseful. “Though it’s not Hisoka’s parents that are the problem,” he
continued, ignoring his partner’s pain-promising glare. “You see, Hisoka’s
ashamed of dating an older man.”
Hotaru
gasped, then gave the empath a reprimanding glare.
“ ‘Soka-chan! How can you be so
insensitive?”
Kageko
snorted again then grabbed Hotaru by the arm,
dragging her off. “Hey! I’m not done lecturing ‘Soka-chan!”
She gave the
hyper schoolgirl a significant look. “We have work, remember?”
What came next
was one of the strangest things Hisoka had ever sensed. It was almost as though
someone had flipped a switch. Hotaru’s exuberance
and cheerfulness dimmed as they were tainted with the shadows of darker
emotions. Her tense shoulders loosened as her entire body relaxed. “Oh, I
nearly forgot!” But even the energy in her voice seemed subdued. “Bye, Hi-chan!”
Hisoka
frowned, staring at the duo’s departing backs as he
allowed Tsuzuki to draw him away. The change over Hotaru
had been fast – way too fast. It was impossible for a human’s emotions
to switch that fast. In fact, his empathy was telling him that the schoolgirl
had transformed into a completely different person.
The blond
snorted, ignoring Tsuzuki’s curious glance. Another person?
His brain must have fried due to overexposure with his partner – the idea was
completely idiotic!
And speaking of
his partner…
As they rounded
the corner Hisoka shrugged off Tsuzuki’s arm, spinning around to pin the older
man with a glare. The brunet started to sweat. “Now, Hisoka…”
Hisoka
twitched, indulging himself with a luxury he rarely allowed himself to have: he
acted on impulse.
Tsuzuki yelped,
clutching his leg as the blond walked off, feeling completely satisfied. Seeing
his partner’s retreating back, the brunet hobbled after him as best he could.
“Hisoka!”
He wailed. “I was only joking! You didn’t have to kick me!”
Author’s Notes
~ I think I should tell all of you this: I am not happy with this
chapter. When I was writing it I thought it was just fine, but by the time I
finished typing I just felt some sort of wrongness from it.
Besides the daemon. ^_-
My beta reader
concurs – she, too, feels there is something lacking. *Scratches head*
Maybe I was just having an off time, what with college acceptances and
scholarships and stuff. *Shrugs* I looked this
over, both before and after Ryou, but I really can’t
think of a way to fix this. But chapter 6 will be better – I promise! I’m very
happy with the way its coming out right now.
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