Unable to stop himself, Watari drew his thumb down along the strong bone of Tatsumi’s wrist before he released the older man and moved back out of the way.  Tatsumi blinked and left his hand hovering for a moment as if puzzled by the idea of someone touching him in an affectionate manner, then the older Shinigami shook off his surprise and turned to the task of opening the vent screen.

 

Setting the screen aside, Tatsumi extended his spiritual sense to confirm that the corridor was empty.  Satisfied he caught the top rim of the vent frame and gracefully levered his long body out of the air duct.  Landing silently the Kagetsukai stepped to the side, making a physical scan of the hallway.

 

A wash of air against Tatsumi’s cheek was all that signaled Watari’s descent at his side.  Casting a quick glance over his shoulder, Tatsumi gave a nod that it was all clear, at which point Watari turned to the task of replacing the vent screen.  Once he was done with this simple but significant task, the younger Guardian stepped up behind his partner’s shoulder.

 

“Where do you want to start?”  Watari whispered.

 

There was a long pause.  Then, in a determined voice, Tatsumi answered shortly. “Kelly Esoka’s room.”

 

Suiting action to words, Tatsumi disappeared into the shadows slipping down the darkened hallway.  Watari cast an understanding look at his partner’s back before moving silently down the hall in the elder man’s wake.

 

While it would have been easier to ghost the hospital corridors in spirit form, they would need the power derived from their human forms in order to separate the Fenalla from her host and dispatch her back to Meifu.  They had to do it the hard way.  It would probably have come as a shock to many members of the Shokan Division were they to witness the textbook precision with which Watari and Tatsumi moved together through the hospital.  With no words exchanged, they seamlessly exchanged the lead from turn to turn, one making certain the corridor ahead was clear while the other kept watch on the hall they had just passed through.  It was the type of teamwork that spoke of a long history, or a natural affinity as partners.

 

Leapfrogging along, Watari reached Kelly Esoka’s door a jump ahead of Tatsumi.  Ducking his head around the frame, the scientist frowned as he noted the empty room.  Touching his partner’s elbow, he directed Tatsumi’s attention towards the room while taking over look out on the corridor.

 

Tatsumi knew before he looked that Kelly was not sleeping peacefully in her bed the way he had so hoped to find her.  It took only a quick glance for him to confirm that the room was completely empty of its occupant and the dark haired Shinigami bit back a curse.

 

“All right, we don’t have much time.”  He whispered. “Suggestions?”

 

“Spiritual sense?” Watari spoke back sotto voice.

 

“The hospital is too big, and there are too many stray souls moving around.  I can’t get a fix.”

 

“Mm…” Watari considered trying to cast his own spirit sense to the thought winds, but his strength lay in the animation of the inanimate.  He knew that Tatsumi was stronger when it came to living souls and if Tatsumi couldn’t pin down a location, then Watari didn’t stand a chance.

 

“Wait, I know.” Watari continued. “Jonathan.  He’ll have a residual tie to his mother.  It should sharpen your focus on Kelly Esoka’s spiritual signal.”

 

The look Tatsumi gave his partner was far from friendly and Watari fought the urge to draw back a step.

 

“You want me to use an innocent child to pinpoint his mother so we can, in essence, take her away from him?”

 

Watari took a slow breath, seeking to still the shiver that wanted to work its way up his spine.  It hurt to see the disgust in Tatsumi’s eyes as the elder Shinigami spoke and it took every ounce of the scientist’s logical brain to remind his heart that Tatsumi was disgusted with the necessity of the action and not Watari personally; at least not entirely.

 

“We need to use every means possible to locate a denizen of the World of the Dead before they unlawfully claim the life of an innocent mortal.”

 

“Innocent?”  Tatsumi reared back, blue eyes flashing. “Watari-SAN you saw the report. These people…”

 

“Now is definitely not the time, for this conversation, Tatsumi-SAN.” Watari’s voice never rose above a whisper but his amber eyes burned with firm resolve. “What I propose will not harm Jonathan Esoka and that is the only thing that should factor into this decision.”

 

“Not harm him??”  Tatsumi snapped incredulously.

 

“Seiichirou…” Watari began to rebuke his partner when a startled cry from down the hall interrupted him.

 

Pushing past Tatsumi, Watari took off down the long hallway not bothering to see if his partner followed him.   Skidding on the slick floor, Watari grabbed at the doorframe of a room at the end of the corridor and threw himself into the room beyond. 

 

Normally it would have housed up to four patients but at the moment it only had one occupant.   They had worked their way down to the first floor and the large room spilled out onto a nice patio at the back.  The curtains to the glass windows stood open and moonlight spilled into the room, illuminated it almost as bright as day. 

 

A young man, silent now, occupied the bed furthest from the door.  As Watari’s eyes adjusted to the brighter light in the room, he could see the slender figure of Kelly Esoka, animated by the Fenalla standing over the patient.  Esoka’s hands were resting over the man’s heart and forehead as the Fenalla drew his life energy out of his body and into the frail form of her host.

 

“By the power of the Shokan Division, I charge you hold.”  Watari commanded in a no nonsense tone, advancing into the room.

 

The Fenalla looked up from her meal and hissed at the Guardian, annoyed at being interrupted.  For a moment it looked as if she would hold her ground but faced with the set features of the Shinigami, and more to the point, the mounting power as he prepared to cast a spell on her, the succubus broke away from her prey and dashed out of the room through the patio doors into the garden beyond.  The Guardian might be the more powerful but they were on her hunting grounds and she knew all of the possible exits.  She would not be cornered by the likes of a Guardian of Death.

 

However, the succubus forgot one of Meifu’s most important laws.  Shinigami work in pairs.

 

As she slipped with liquid grace through the door she sought the immediate cover of shadows, but this time the shadows turned against her.  Leaping forward, they wrapped their inky grasp around her arms, throat and waist, holding her fast.

 

“Wha…?!?”  The Fenalla cried in dismay, struggling against the restraint.

 

Stepping calmly out of the very shadows he controlled, Tatsumi lifted his right arm holding his fingers splayed outwards and the shadows of the garden leapt to his bidding.  When Watari had taken off down the hall, Tatsumi had initially moved to follow but, remembering the layout of the first floor of the hospital, he’d turned instead and slipped through an empty room, out into the garden.  A Fenalla was not likely to stand and fight against a Shinigami, but Tatsumi did expect her to run and with Watari blocking the only exit into the hospital it made sense that the succubus would seek to escape through the garden.

 

“By the authority of the JuoCho…” Tatsumi began to echo his partner’s formal words in an icy tone, which was commanding in and of itself.   

 

Turning towards her captor, the beautiful creature gave Tatsumi a look of wide-eyed innocence.

“You know not what you are doing, Guardian.  Release me.”  Her voice was slightly deeper than Kelly Esoka’s light alto but it was still achingly lovely and Tatsumi felt something in him wanting to respond to her request.

 

It took the Kagetsukai a moment to realize that the Fenalla was loading her beautiful voice with an almost hypnotic like suggestion.  Setting his teeth together, Tatsumi ruthlessly crushed the response in his own heart, infuriated more by the fact that this creature was twisting his genuine affection for the mortal Kelly Esoka than the fact that she’d dare attempt such a trick on a Shinigami.  The Kagetsukai’s face took on such a forbidding expression that the Fenalla drew back a little.

 

At that moment Watari, after pausing to make certain that the young man was still alive, blew threw the patio doors in a flurry of coattails and long limbs.   He quickly located the shadow bound Fenalla and his amber eyes lit up as he spied Tatsumi.

 

“Nice catch, Tatsumi.”  Watari exclaimed.  Anger at the Fenalla, stirred by catching her in the act of illegally removing the life force from a mortal, caused Watari’s tone to sound borderline haughty.

 

“Enough, Watari-san.”  Tatsumi snapped harshly. “Separate them and send her back, now!”

 

An elegant eyebrow arched at Tatsumi’s tone but Watari wisely didn’t comment on the elder man’s abruptness. Watari brought his hand up speaking in a soft voice he prepared to deliver a summoning spell, which would separate the Fenalla from her host and banish the succubus back to her own realm.

 

As the younger Shinigami drew the spell towards it’s conclusion, the Fenalla turned desperate eyes towards Tatsumi.  Though the elder Guardian’s expression brooked no sympathy for the plight of the succubus, the Fenalla was adept at reading and manipulating situations and more importantly men to her advantage, and desperate times called for desperate measures.  For a moment the Fenalla relaxed her hold on Kelly Esoka’s sleeping consciousness and allowed the mortal woman’s spiritual signature to become dominate. 

 

Startled, panicked at suddenly finding herself standing outside, bound by something she couldn’t see, Kelly Esoka looked around wildly then screamed in pure unadulterated terror.  Her blue eyes cast about until they found Tatsumi.

 

“Tatsumi-san?!?!”  Her cry was a combination of bewilderment laced with pleading for an explanation.  Reaching her hands as far as the shadows would allow, she mutely begged him to help her.

 

Shocked Tatsumi fell back feeling as if he’d been sucker punched, which in a way, he had.  For a split second, his mind screamed illusion, but it was quickly overruled by his sense of the soul within.  That sense told him he did in fact face Kelly Esoka and not a well performed acting job on the Fenalla’s part.  Pole-axed, his shadows fell away from the frail, terrified and struggling form of Kelly Esoka.

 

In the blink of an eye the Fenalla was back, smiling wickedly at Tatsumi.  Behind her, moving quickly when he saw Tatsumi falter Watari released the spell, hoping to catch the Fenalla while she was still distracted with his partner.

 

Luck was not on Watari’s side.  Blowing Tatsumi a kiss the succubus turned and brought her hands up, deflecting the spell Watari had just cast back on the scientist.

 

“Dahhaargh!”  Watari cried, as the summoning magic ricocheted into him.

 

Since he originated the magic, he was not drawn back to Meifu but the blow felt like he’d been hit square in the chest by a load of buckshot.  It threw him to his knees, gasping for breath and curled over in agony.

 

The Fenalla laughed a bright rich sound as she danced a graceful circle around the fallen Guardian, stroking her fingers across the bent man’s face.

 

“Silly creature.”  She trilled, scratching the side of Watari’s cheek with a sharp fingernail even as she watched the frozen Tatsumi with eyes that were a burning, intense blue. 

 

“Silly creatures, I should say.  Both of you are so silly.  I’m going back into the hospital now and back to Kelly’s room.  If you follow me I will release her consciousness again and let her live with the horrors done on her behalf.”

 

“What do you mean?”  Tatsumi ground out.

 

“I mean that this sweet child has no idea how it is she’s surviving.  She’s such a gentle soul, Guardian… how do you think she’ll react to knowing that she’s killed all these innocent people?” 

 

Tatsumi watched as the Fenalla stroked her fingers along the side of Watari’s neck.  The fact that the younger Shinigami couldn’t move away from the succubus spoke to just how badly he was hurting.

 

Had to put your all into that spell, didn’t you ‘Taka. Tatsumi thought, not unsympathetically before turning his attention back to the Fenalla who was speaking once again.

 

“Oh, but that’s right.  They weren’t so innocent, were they?  Let me see here, there were a couple of your common muggers and the rapist…you know the one who liked to prey on disabled women?  Then there was the man under suspicion of vehicular manslaughter in the death of his step-daughter, yes he was a real prize, a real useful member of society.”

 

As she spoke, the Fenalla’s blue eyes sparked with genuine anger.

 

“That is not the issue…” Tatsumi began, the words sounding hollow in his ears.

 

“It is the issue!  Kelly Esoka is a true innocent. A lovely young woman who shares the beauty of her spirit and her innocence with those she meets.  She is one of those rare mortals who can remind us of the joy in life and it is wrong… WRONG that she be denied the mortal pleasure of watching her son grow.  It is wrong that her infant, who is pure, be denied his mother’s love and protection while those animals continue to walk this world destroying and defiling those who can not protect themselves!”

 

The Fenalla’s argument was a good one.  Hell, it was the very argument that Tatsumi had been having with himself since Watari confirmed what they had both suspected.  Tatsumi shook his head slowly, side to side.  He knew that he needed to stop the succubus here and now but her words made such sense.

 

Why must Kelly Esoka die?  Why must good people die?

 

The question was as old as time and one that all Guardians fought with on a daily basis.  Just when Tatsumi thought he had a handle on an answer, something came along to shake his belief in himself and in his duty.

 

The Fenalla calmed and pounced on the fact that Tatsumi was openly conflicted.

 

“Even though they were monsters, this gentle spirit who hosts me would be devastated, would be soul sick to discover the trade made for her life, because of the kind of person she is.  Is that what you want, Guardian?”

 

“No.”  Tatsumi whispered, his mind already searching for an answer to an impossible situation but the Fenalla seized upon the softly spoken word.

 

“I didn’t think so.  Follow me and I will show her everything.”

 

Then, confident that she had Tatsumi at least momentarily stopped, she turned and walked back into the hospital.

 

Reeling in emotional agony, Tatsumi watched her walk away.  A deep groan from Watari shook the Kagetsukai out of his shock and he stumbled towards his fallen partner.  Still in physical agony, Watari hugged his torso with his arms, blonde hair spilling across his face and fanning over his thighs, the picture of misery. 

 

“’Taka.”  Tatsumi used the shortened version of his partner’s given name without thinking as he moved to the younger man.

 

Kneeling gracefully beside the other Guardian, Tatsumi curled one hand around Watari’s shoulder in a steadying motion.  The other he lay on the other man’s back.  The soft fabric of Watari’s coat was warm against Tatsumi’s palm as he smoothed gentle circles in between Watari’s shoulder blades.   He’d been hit by a summoning spell in his past, and he remembered it hurt like a bitch.

 

For a long moment the two men knelt there.  Tatsumi offered what comfort he could and strangely enough, drew comfort from the simple act of touching his partner.  Though bent double and groaning at regular intervals, Watari still managed to sooth and ground the elder man.

 

As soon as he could draw a breath without feeling as if his lungs were being crushed, Watari turned his head, unfolding one hand from around his chest so he could sweep his hair out of his face.

 

“Seiichirou.  We need to talk.”

 

Tatsumi looked down into his partner’s knowing, amber eyes.  So warm and gentle yet at the same time intensely resolute.  Unable to stop himself, Tatsumi reached forward and brushed a few stray strands of hair out of the younger Guardian’s face.

 

“Yes.”  The single word was the closest thing Tatsumi could admit to the vulnerability he was feeling. 

 

The vulnerability Watari saw in his heart.

 

What else do you see there, my observant one?

 

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