3.27.04

Chapter 11:

Hisoka lay on his side, his hand slowly going numb from the weight on his forearm. The sound of light chatter came from the hallway; its light peaking through the crack in door. It had been a month since Hisoka last saw Tsuzuki; as the time passed he slowly felt himself die. He stayed in his room for most of the month and only left for bathroom visits and the occasional food, he wouldn't have eaten at all if his parents hadn't threatened him.

"Oh for Christ sake, Hisoka! You've been moping for too long, get up and do something productive for once." His mother badgered him from the doorway her hands resting on her silk clad hips. Hisoka continued to lay in silence as she stared at him, "Fine. Become a bed sore for all I care, your father and I are going to the auction. We'll be back at ten." She said as she turned on her heel. She stopped for a moment and added "And don't you even think about leaving…" She then stormed off.

Hisoka continued to blankly stare at his wall. "Tsuzuki..." He turned violently trying to erase the image of his friend engraved in his mind, it was impossible to get the man out of his head. However, every time he thought of his lover the image of him would alter a little each time. "I'm forgetting about you…I need to see you…"

He watched the headlights streaming through his window get smaller and soon vanish into darkness. Hisoka sat up and brushed a hand through his sandy bangs, he laughed to himself in relief; it was the first time that his parents left the house together in what seemed like forever. Seeing how rare an occasion it was, Hisoka left his room and made his way down to the kitchen.

He filled a glass up with water from the faucet and leaned against the counter looking up at his reflection in the window. He placed some fingers on his face running over bones that protruded farther out than they had a month ago.

"I'm falling apart Tsuzuki…" He whispered to himself as he hung his head. "If only…"

He looked over to the phone on the wall, a thought tugged at his brain as he calculated the outcome if he were to make a phone call. He smiled as he recalled his mother's words, "She said not to leave…so I won't leave."

He placed a hand on the phone and tried to remember the number to the institute; he dialed in the number and waited for a cheery voice to pick up.

"West Wind Mental Institution, how may I help you?"

"Hi, uh, I wanted to know if I could speak with Tsuzuki Asato?"

"Tsuzuki?" The woman sounded surprised.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry sir, but Tsuzuki doesn't work here anymore…"

"What? Why?!" Hisoka half screamed.

"We don't know, he just stopped coming to work a month ago so we had to fire him. I'm sorry. Who is this by the way?"

There was silence for a moment before Hisoka answered "T-This is Kurosaki Hisoka…"

"Hisoka! This is Sherry, hey how are you?"

"Uh, I've been ok…" He wanted to laugh at his obvious lie.

"We've all missed you here, especially Tsuzuki, some think that he quit because you left." She said with a little sadness in her voice.

"Oh…Is there an address or a number I can reach him at?" He asked, his hands tangling up in the phone chord.

"I don't know if I'm aloud to give information out like that…" She said.

"Oh…I see…"

A little silence passed over the line and Sherry sighed, "I'm probably not supposed to do this but I can tell how much he means to you… his address is 1450 Reinhold Circle it's just off of Park Street ."

"Um, is there a phone number I can reach him at, I can't exactly leave…"

"No, sorry, we tried to get a hold of him but his phone has been disconnected."

"Disconnected?"

"Yeah, we're not sure why."

"Oh…ok…Well thanks."

"It was nice talking to you."

"You too." Hisoka hung up the phone, contemplating the information he had just received. He tapped his pen over the address as he bit his lip, there was no way his parents would allow him to leave so asking was out of the question, the only thing he could do was make an escape, but what if Tsuzuki turned him down at the door? Hisoka flinched at the though, the last thing he needed was Tsuzuki's rejection.

Plans and consequences flew through his head at light speed and he came to the conclusion that if Tsuzuki didn't want to see him, and his parents wanted to kill him, then he would either run away or just kill himself, he really hoped that he wouldn't have to resort to either.

Hisoka stood proudly over his sculpture made of pillows and blankets; it really was a work of art, he made legs and arms out of rolled up linens from the closet and made a head with a small throw pillow, he even made an indent on the side of one them to represent his waist, he then threw a blanket over all of it turned to put his jacket on. He quickly walked downstairs and out the door, a taxi waited silently by the curb.

"Where to?" The cab driver asked as pleasantly as he could as he sniffed the sweet sent of money emanating from Hisoka.

" Park Street ." Hisoka asked as he crumbled the piece of paper in his hands.

"Alrighty." The man said as he began to drive.

Hisoka simply watched the yellow lights make streaks across the night sky and reflect in the windows as they drove through tunnels and over bridges. The taxi driver parked by a sidewalk and turned around for a moment, "Is there any particular place you want me to drop you off?" He asked.

"No, its fine here." Hisoka said as he dropped a fifty into the front seat and exited the vehicle.

"Hey wait this is way too much!" The driver shouted from the car.

"Its fine, keep it." Hisoka shouted back as he walked away in search of Reinhold Circle . It was quiet yet the sound of the trees being blown by a humid evening wind echoed in his ears. He expected that with the temperature and the humidity a storm was brewing over his head, he only hoped that he would get to Tsuzuki's before it started to thunder and lighting. He should have knocked on wood.

It was pouring and he was soaked from head to toe, he looked at a small maroon house with a large tree in the front. He didn't even need to look at the house number to know It was Tsuzuki's, he could tell by the massive garden in the front of the house filled with roses and daffodils and any color flower you could think of, however he was sure that the flowers were much lovelier without a storm reigning down on them.

Hisoka rang the doorbell and tried to straighten his appearance out while he waited for an answer. The door opened a crack for a moment and then was flung open to reveal his lover in a much disheveled manner; a blanket was draped over his shoulders and his eyes were black circles contrasting against his pale skin.

"H-Hisoka!" The man said with breathlessness he then laughed and drew the wet boy into a hug.

"Tsuzuki, I'm getting you all wet." Hisoka said as he thought about pulling away from the warm embrace.

Tsuzuki pulled away still smiling, "Oh your right, come inside and get dried off." The man pulled him inside and closed the door, he then ran off in search of a towel. Hisoka stood in front of the door hoping he wasn't dripping on anything too important, he looked around to see a rather plain house with a large window in the living room facing the back yard. A few paintings were hanging on the walls and some flower vases placed randomly on top of things spreading the welcoming sent of lilac about the room.

Tsuzuki rushed back into the room with a white towel, he then placed it on Hisoka's head and slowly dried his hair, Tsuzuki's tired eyes smiled at him as he massaged the boy's scalp with the towel. Hisoka took advantage of the situation and closed the distance between them, kissing the older man lightly on the lips and then settling his head on his chest.

"Tsuzuki…I missed you so much…"

"I missed you too."

"I've been locked up in my house for a month now and everyday I would think of you and how I would eventually get to see you…and I nearly died when I heard you left work. Sherry, luckily, was nice enough to give me your address."

"Your parents don't know you're here?" Tsuzuki asked.

"No…they probably won't know for a while, they aren't even home…"

"Hisoka...you're going to get in trouble…"

"I don't care as long as I can be with you. That's all I want for the rest of my life; just to be with you."

Tsuzuki sighed and gently pushed the boy away he walked off to take a seat in the living room, Hisoka followed after him.

"Tsuzuki what's wrong?" Hisoka asked as he stood in front of the weary man.

"Hisoka. I'm sick." He said as he stared out side watching the tempest lash at the trees.

"With what? When will you be better?"

Tsuzuki sighed and continued to gaze out at the trees, "Let me phrase this differently. I'm dying."

Hisoka sat for a moment listening to Tsuzuki's last sentence echo through his ears; thousands of emotions became tangled up and paralyzed him, allowing him only to listen and hear the upside of the situation, if there was one.

"I've had a tumor in my brain for the last 4 years. I only found out about it a year and a half ago…by the time they found it they said that it was impossible to help. So seeing as I was all alone at the time I opted out of Chemotherapy and decided to just live it out as long as it would let me."

"…You were sick this whole time and never told me you were feeling bad?! Am I not worth your problems or something?" Hisoka began to scream.

Tsuzuki looked down at his trembling hands and whispered, "No you are worth it…its just…whenever you were around me I forgot anything was wrong. You were the perfect drug…you kept me alive…"

"…So you started getting worse after my mom found out?" Hisoka said as he crossed his arms and turn his back to his sickly friend.

"Yeah…but don't put the blame on her…don't put it on anyone. This was bound to happen. That's why I was reluctant to start something with you; I knew it would end like this."

Hisoka stared out the window and watched a bolt of lightning light up the sky, "Why can't they just remove it?" he asked softly as he began to cry.

"At this point it would just end up killing me. It depends on how old it is and where it's at…and well…it would just kill me…"

"Oh Jesus…" Hisoka said as he sunk to the floor, he buried his face in his knees and began to sob. Tsuzuki came up behind him and pulled him into his arms as the leaned up against the base of the couch, Hisoka curled up against him as he continued to sob and repeat "Oh Jesus why?" Tsuzuki made small hushing noises as he kissed his lover's sandy blonde head.

"It's going to be ok…" Tsuzuki comforted him.

"No its not…Your going to die…You've been dying for the last year and I've been a spoiled brat thinking that my life was hard…Jesus, Tsuzuki, you should be the one whose scared and crying but here I am worried about what I'm going to do with out you…I'm so fucking selfish… " He said as he whispered hoarsely.

Tsuzuki held Hisoka silently; he had no idea how to respond to the boy so he just held him tighter.

"Is someone taking care of you?" Hisoka asked, breaking the silence.

"No, not really." Tsuzuki replied softly.

The green eyed boy sat up abruptly and looked at Tsuzuki angrily, "What?! So you're here all alone?"

"Yeah…"

"Are you stupid?!" Hisoka blared, "What if something happens to you?! No one would be able to find you!"

Hisoka stared into Tsuzuki's troubled amethyst eyes and placed a hand on his friend's still trembling ones, Tsuzuki's loss and fear writhed in the boy's body and it coaxed more tears from his red eyes. He kissed the purple eyed man once more and placed a hand on the back of his neck.

"I'm moving in. I'm going to live with you."

Tsuzuki closed his eyes and leaned into the boy, "What about your parents?"

"I don't give a damn what they think. And plus it's…it's just temporary, right?" The boy replied before the rain pattered louder on the roof and windows of that small house.

T.B.C.

I was waiting for so long to write this part I don't think it came out as well as I planned so I might go back in and work on it, maybe make it a little more descriptive, anyways…. R&R