Tsuzuki found this very, very odd. How could he, who had mastered twelve Shikigami, been forced onto his back with a kendo sword to his neck. And the culprit was his fragile-looking, almost girlish in appearance, partner, Hisoka. In fact, it wasn't just weird; it was plain freaky.

This predicament could've been brought around by the fact that he had totally dissed kendo.

It was definitely time for a flashback...

XXX

Tsuzuki was walking through the hallway in a very jovial manner, humming the newest tune that he had conducted by himself when he was supposed to be doing his paperwork. Not really supposed to do his paperwork, he saw it more as a suggestion. Hisoka, on the other hand, found it oddly annoying when Tsuzuki didn't have it done. Strange kid...

Speaking of which, where was his partner?

Tsuzuki scoured the halls once more, checked his office, and even asked Tatsumi and Watari. But there was no sign of his little buddy.

"Perhaps Kurosaki is in the library," Tatsumi suggested upon being asked for the hundredth time. Tsuzuki shook his head vehemently.

"No, after the Gushoshins fixed up the library, they banned Hisoka for two weeks because they were afraid that for some weird reason, I would follow him there and destroy it."

"Again?"

Tsuzuki shrugged off that comment with a quick. "Maybe Watari knows where he is..."

"Hm...I haven't seen much of Bon all day. Have you checked the li-"

"He's not there."

"Oh. Well, maybe he's training."

Tsuzuki considered that for a couple of seconds. But the words Hisoka and training just never seemed to go hand-in-hand. But nonetheless, Tsuzuki still decided to see if his partner was in there.

Surprisingly, he saw Hisoka working very hard with a kendo sword. He was quite good at it, actually. Tsuzuki had never known anyone to work so gracefully with a sword like Hisoka did. His small body combined with the sword were so contradicting that it worked.

Tsuzuki took one more step closer, which was apparently one too many. Hisoka's head whipped around like a deer and stood facing Tsuzuki. His piercing eyes unnerved Tsuzuki slightly. He seemed to scan Tsuzuki for a moment before deciding that it was safe for him to go back to his training.

"I couldn't find you..." Tsuzuki whined, somewhat hoping that this would finally be the phrase that started a conversation.

"Why didn't you check here?"

Shot down like a biplane. Tsuzuki rubbed his bruised ego before continuing in an almost hopeless pursuit.

"You're pretty good."

"I practice."

Well, it was just swinging a sword around. Anyone could do it, Tsuzuki figured. Hisoka froze in mid-swing and looked to Tsuzuki with an almost glare.

"Just swinging a sword around, huh?" he repeated. "Anyone could do it?" he seemed almost indignant.

Tsuzuki rubbed the back of his head. "Well, yeah. I mean, it seems simple enough."

"If you don't have the proper stance, you'll be dead in seconds."

"Isn't that overexaggerating?"

Hisoka rolled his eyes. It was obvious that he did not agree with Tsuzuki's logic. He took his stance again and swung once more. He was quick, Tsuzuki gave him that, but what was there to sword-fighting?

And, he didn't know how, but it two seconds he felt the ground lift from under him and he met unexpectedly with the ground. He looked up to see Hisoka standing above him with the sword raised close to his neck. He seemed almost frightening with that sword.

"If this were a real sword, and you were a human, you'd be dead," he told him. There was a tone of righteous anger in his voice. Tsuzuki gulped before attempting to stand up.

Unfortunately for him, Hisoka only pressed the sword closer to his neck. Even if it was dull wood, it still kind of hurt.

"Take. It. Back."

"What?"

"What you said about anyone could do it. And it is not all about swinging your sword around. If you believe that kind of logic, you will be defeated easily before you can even react."

Tsuzuki sighed. "You really like this kind of stuff, don't you?"

"I practice."

Tsuzuki smiled. "I can tell. Alright, not anyone can do it. You proved me wrong, Hisoka. And it's not all about swinging your sword around."

Hisoka seemed pleased with himself that he had finally won. He raised his sword to allow Tsuzuki to stand up.

Once he was up, Tsuzuki placed his lips onto Hisoka's, gaining a shocked expression from his partner. But he didn't pull away.

"And if," Tsuzuki started once they had parted, "you don't keep the advantage in a fight, you'll always lose." He ruffled his hair slightly.

Hisoka, who was still in shock from the kiss, muttered something about Tsuzuki being an idiot, and picked up his sword that had fallen to the ground at the time of the kiss.

"You know, I think being tall has its advantages in sword-fighting. Especially against you."

He turned to Hisoka who was still stammering uncontrollably. He was endearingly cute. Before Tsuzuki walked out, he thought of something that was perfectly wonderful. "We should train together more often, Hisoka."

It was then that Hisoka recovered from his temporary shock. "Y-you idiot! Like I'd let you win like that again!" Unlike Tsuzuki, there was no smile on his face. He was completely sincere about not wanting to let Tsuzuki win again, which only pleased the older Shinigami more.

"Not everyone can mess with a sword like you can," Tsuzuki began, "and no one can kiss like you, either..."

It seemed to take Hisoka a second before processing what his partner had just said. A blush slowly crept its way onto Hisoka's face. Tsuzuki chuckled lightly at his misfortune and walked out.

He could still hear Hisoka yelling from the closed door. Tsuzuki kept walking, humming a new tune that he had come up with during their "training".