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Category: Yami no Matsuei

Title: Hidden research, an experiment in death and rebirth.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: An experiment leads to rebirth for a green-eyed shinigami, tearing him away from death and a devoted partner.

Excessum

**************

He woke up with a start writhing in pain. Agony swept over his flesh, an intense throbbing like freshly burned skin. His vision blurred with tears as he tossed around the bed. He clawed at the closest object trying to rise on the bed. His brushed against a lamp but a jolt down his back caused him to spasm knocking over the lamp. The smashing sound of the lamp was soon followed by the nightstand being over turned.

He could feel it. The need to give into the darkness. It was trying to rip him from this world. The pain, it was just too much. He gasped feeling the air forced out of his lungs. He couldn't hold on much more. He just couldn't.

"Tsuzuki."

: : : : : : : : : : : : :

The brunet Shinigami dropped his toast. A sudden coldness swept over him freezing his veins. There was something wrong.

"Hisoka."

He sprinted out the door and towards his partner's home. Everything had to be ok. It had to be.

Tsuzuki reached Hisoka's home in record time. He turned his key and opened the door leaving it open in his haste. It wouldn't matter if he got yelled out. He had to make sure the green-eyed imp was safe. He swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped through the bedroom door.

"No." He said hoarsely as he looked around the room. "NO." He rasped louder. It looked like Hisoka had put up a fight.

"NO!"

He felt an overwhelming sense of distress trying to swallow him whole. Shinigami homes were supposed to be safe. How could this have happened? Fighting the urge to slump to the floor and cry he moved toward the bed and flung the sheet back.

There was no blood, which frightened him more than anything else. He had hoped the mad scientist had stayed dead even though Hisoka had said he was still alive.

He'd always harbored this small hope that the man was dead but not anymore. Crazy Bastard. He was the only one who could have done this. The only one. But why?

Why did he continue using Hisoka for bait?

Tsuzuki snorted in disgust. He knew why? It was because of him. Always because of him. Those closest to him had always gotten hurt. So who better than his reason in life. He had accepted long ago the fact that he loved the green-eyed imp. Just as he accepted that Hisoka had been no where near ready to hear the declaration. So he'd remained silent and he'd gone as far as shielding his feelings completely for the last couple of months.

"I'm going to kill you." He thought unmercifully. He would make sure of it this time. No matter what. He knew Shinigami weren't suppose to abuse their power, following personal vendetta's. It's the reason Shinigami traveled in pairs. And he had always tried to at least abide by those set of rules but not anymore. He was tired of caring.

The distraught shinigami grabbed a pink sweater off a chair and headed back out. He needed to alert everyone. They had to get Hisoka back. Once he had the boy he would kill Muraki. Whatever the cost, consequences be dammed.

*************

After so many years of research he would soon know if he had succeeded. This was a trial experiment and though he expected for it to work, he still knew there were several glitches he would have to work out. It's why he'd needed a guinea pig. It's why he'd gone after his last remaining living doll. The blonde his pet adored so much. Though this had nothing to with the purple-eyed man he knew he'd be seeing him sooner of later. The man was very resourceful when it concerned this boy.

He walked closer to the gurneys in the middle of the room. The doctor bent over a flaxen haired youth, eternally sixteen. The boy had been too beautiful for a quick death. The thought brought pleasant memories of a dark night under a red moon. Pleasant memories for him though he didn't think the boy would quite agree. He ran his fingers over the cold flesh. The youth's body had become pale about halfway through the blood transfusion. This body was nothing more than a shell now but still beautiful even in death. He bent closer to the cherubic face, his lips brushing over the boy's cold ones. He sighed and moved back. It wasn't nearly as fun as when there wasn't a struggle.

Strands of white silver hair fell into his eyes when he cocked his head to the side. He leaned over the second body. Genetically engineered but perfect nonetheless. This twenty-year old boy was perfect, right down to the last strand. The mad scientist ran his hand over the flaxen locks. It was just as soft as the first time he'd threaded his fingers into it.

The drugs would take a while to wear off. So it would be a while before he saw those hateful emerald eyes glaring at him, wishing him bloody murder. He bent closer to his creation. Licking the side of the boy's mouth before he brushed his lips over the soft mouth. He leaned his face over the warm flesh, nuzzling it briefly before he pulled away. "Soon." He whispered to his creation. He would have fun with this one. After the experiment was over of course. Maybe he'd even go as far as to carve the curse again.

Muraki smiled widely.

Yes that would be fun. To have the boy try and run from him, struggling. To have him squirm and quiver, writhing underneath him. Screaming but never pleading. Even at the young age of thirteen he'd not pleaded. The green-eyed child had wished him bloody murder and he was sure the youth would have tried killing him given the chance. But he'd not begged for his life. That's what he'd liked about him at the time.

Though in time he'd come to see the boy as an annoyance mainly because he'd interfered with his plans in snatching Tsuzuki-san. Still he couldn't help but feel attraction flare up for his creation. A new being, born out of years of research and genetic alterations. Dark magic and a deep obsession.

The mad doctor moved away from the sleeping model and back over to the first gurney. He pulled the blanket over the deceased shinigami. He no longer needed the body. He might as well bury it. 'Back to the grave,' he thought as he picked up the shinigami's corpse. He would be nice. He'd bury the corpse with the real body.

*************

The purple-eyed shinigami paced up and down the room. He was going crazy with worry. Gone was the cheery demeanor instead it had been replaced with concern.

It was four am, Sunday morning. Watari sat at his desk reading information off his computer and watching the brunet out of the corner of his eye. It had been exactly one whole day since the boy had gone missing. Everyone had been called in and where out looking for the youth.

Tsuzuki had come in not more than fifteen minutes ago to see if his partner had been found and had tried to leave when he found that the youth was not. Tatsumi had stopped him though, ordering him to stay or he would have him restrained. It was harsh but the purple-eyed man was unraveling. They had to find the boy and fast or Tsuzuki might become dangerous.

Watari looked over his information and sighed. It was useless there was too much ground to cover. If it had been Muraki, which seemed to be the case he could be out anywhere.

Tsuzuki stopped suddenly.

Watari turned in his chair to look at the brunet. Watched as he sent a messenger out the window to look for his partner. The brunet leaned against the window, a pained expression on his face. "Hisoka."

Watari bit his lip, keeping the words in his mouth. It was hard, watching the other shinigami suffer. But anything he said could only serve in upsetting the brunet causing him to flee in search of his much-cherished partner.

Poor Tsuzuki.

*************

Cold and bright. Pulled from oblivion and tossed aside, he now felt the stirrings of consciousness. His vision was blurry and his mind was groggy. He felt like he was floating in a heavy mist. He opened his eyes slowly aware of the glaring bright light. He felt disconnect. He moved his arms and found they did in fact move though there was a feeling of detachment. He turned his head to the side though there was nothing but an empty gurney.

He rose to sitting position, his movements sluggish. He was so weak. He looked around the room noticing everything was white, sterile. A hospital?

No, there would be staff right. So it had to be something else. Either a clinic or . . . . . a laboratory. Maybe.

He turned his feet to the side, stepping on the cold floor slowly. He leaned his weight on his gurney until he felt he could stand. He let go and fell against the second bed.

A flash spread across his vision.

A sixteen-year-old boy with blond hair lay sleeping. No, not sleeping he was . . . . . drugged.

Maybe.

A man, with white-silver hair stood over the body, caressing it in a sensual way.

His vision cleared and he stood again.

He looked around carefully as a feeling of foreboding swept into him. Like a deep searing cold it spread over his body and into his bones. He couldn't stay here. He knew the fair-haired man. Something in him told him it wasn't the best of ideas to stay and he agreed. He moved to the side of the room looking for anything to wear. But the longer he stayed the larger the ominous feeling grew. In the end he put on a lab coat and found his way out of the room.

Anger and adrenaline replaced his fear when he found himself lost in a maze. It was like the place had been built with the purpose to confuse all but the creator. He had a sense of time slipping between his fingers and he knew if he didn't make it out now he might not get a chance again. He closed his eyes and touched the walls. A sense of something stirred in the back of his mind, leading him out.

Into night. The building he emerged from was dark, abandoned. He hugged his body close and walked down the deserted street. Wanting to run but being barefoot he had no choice but to walk. He kept to the shadows feeling afraid he would otherwise be caught.

Where to go?

He didn't know where to go. He walked and walked till he felt his feet would give out. He stood in the middle of a clearing. A park of some sort. Familiar in his heart but a stranger to his mind. The body in his vision had been drugged so he assumed the same for himself. If the drugs wore of he might be able to remember, for now he only had feelings. He drew closer to a fountain and sat down. He'd been walking for hours on end. The sun was just rising. Soon there would be people. But where was he supposed to go?

He willed his eyes to remain open when they dropped in exhaustion. He was just so tired. If he could rest for at least and hour then he could find shelter. He lay across the cold cement and closed his eyes. Hoping he was right, that as soon as the drugs wore of he'd remember where he was supposed to go.

*************

The silvered haired scientist entered his laboratory through the back of the abandoned building. Down the stairs and through the first door all the way down to the basement. Getting rid of the body had taken longer than expected but it was done. Now he had nothing but his model to look after. The prototype.

Walls, ceilings and doors, a white blankness covered everything in sight just as emptiness hung in the air. Though for the man who worked here, it was nothing new. It's how he liked it. Clean and sterile like an operating room. He walked into the main lab and froze.

Where was his creation?

He looked around the room, past the glass tank along the wall. The sent of Ringer Solution from the tanks hung in the air, so familiar he no longer noticed. He searched the rest of the room almost frantically, behind medical carts, respirators and medical carts. But it useless the room was completely empty.

The rhythmic sound of pumping respirator ventilators and the combining hiss of liquid infusers was all the sound in the room. The beep of computer processors was faint in the back of his mind. His creation was gone. How?

Think!!

The body was too weak to be moving about. Even with out all the drugs in his system the body should still have trouble getting around, especially since it's never walked before. It's never been outside the DAMN room.

All right he would assume that to be the case. There was no link between himself and this other body so it would be harder to find. But he was sure he could find him. His thoughts raced as he ran out of the lab. Where which way would he go? Muraki took a moment before he ran down a deserted street. The boy had always been smart, naturally he would go where he would be least liable to run into people. But that'd be it only if he'd escaped on his own.

There was no way the purple-eyed shinigami had found him yet. Or would even find him first. Even if he had seen the boy he wouldn't recognize him. A living, breathing, twenty year old man. Tsuzuki would overlook his creation even with the resemblance.

That better turn out to be the case.

I hope everyone enjoyed the beginning. Sorry it took me so long to get back to YnM but my hand keeps cramping up and so I can't put chapters out as fast as I once could. Sorry. Still I hope you guys will patiently wait as I struggle to get the next couple of chapters out.

Latin

Excessum: departure, death, digression