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'Asato-kun...'
Tsuzuki dreams of her.
'My little brother. Don't worry about the other children, they're not like us.'
Someone older, wiser, eyes just like his own.
'Ruka-nee,' young Tsuzuki Asato would cry into his older sister's dress. 'Why can't I be like them?'
'Because you can be so much more than them. You shall see, Asato-kun.' She would smile, that gently fanged smile, warm only to him. Then one time she had asked, 'Did they hurt you?'
'Yes,' he replied, unthinking, wiping the wetness from his eyes. She would lean down and kiss the tears away.
'Then let your nee-chan help you.'
And the next day, the children who he had tried to befriend went missing, never to be found. Disappeared - stolen into the night as if they had never exsisted.
'Ruka-nee...' he whispered, standing in the empty field. He had tried to join the children in catching fireflies two nights ago. But now the turfs of grass were void and silent. 'Where are they?'
'In a place where they will never hurt you again,' Ruka answered, drawing him into her embrace, her hands more like claws than fingers. 'When you need help, just come to me.'
He never would. But even so, he still felt so safe in her arms... he would become sleepy and doze off. And every night, she would tell him, though he never remembered, 'I'll come back for you, my dear Asato-kun...'
----
Sometimes Tsuzuki would wake up being watched by his green-eyed partner. Hisoka rested his chin on the crook of Tsuzuki's shoulder, breath slow and soft.
"Good morning," Hisoka might say, staring curiously. One slim hand tugged the covers up to his face, so that only his eyes were peeking out from the blankets.
"Ohayo," Tsuzuki usually answered, then burrowing himself into the blankets to peek at Hisoka in a similar fashion. They would playfully wage a staring contest until someone - usually Tsuzuki - would give in and chuckle, quickly diving and tackling Hisoka. Hisoka protested, and they engaged in a wrestling match that ended with one of them stradling the other, then the victor would head off to claim the first shower.
Tsuzuki stared after Hisoka, dreams forgotten, as the young Shinigami took up a set of clean clothes.
"Come baaack," Tsuzuki whined pitiously, limply sprawled over the bed.
"Tell me why should I."
"Because I love you?"
The corners of his eyes crinkled, as if trying not to smile. "Try again."
"Hisoka-samaaaa, please come and give Tsuzuki-chan a hug?" Tsuzuki tilted his head to the side, eyes wide, hands propped on his chest like paws.
"Stupid," Hisoka responded, but entertained his partner and crawled over. Tsuzuki threw his arms and a leg over the young man and squeezed him as he would a plushie, rejoicing at how comfortably their bodies meshed, and how fortunate he was to have someone so wonderful with him. Hisoka, likewise, felt the same.
After some quality cuddling Tsuzuki suddenly hopped off the bed and declared, "Now, the shower is mine!"
"Unfair!" Hisoka called, sitting up. "Do you have no honor?" He was answered by a throaty cackle, followed by the sound of running water.
Tsuzuki wandered out sometime later, with a towel propped turban-style on his head... wearing nothing else.
"Get some clothes on," Hisoka ordered and looked away, while trying to maneuver around the man to get into the bathroom.
"Why should I? Since I have no honor..." he joked, giving Hisoka a swift peck on the nose.
His face wrinkled in gentle annoyance before Hisoka gamely returned to Tsuzuki a complete kiss, and Tsuzuki found he was tempted to step back into the bathroom and take another shower, but this time not alone.
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TBC