Against the Wind by silvershadeus - Part 1
Against the wind
We were runnin' against the wind
We were young and
strong, we were runnin'
against the wind
~ Against the Wind ~ Bob Seger
One of his ears flicking in annoyance, Watari stared down at the prone figure
at his feet with his hands on his hips. 003 hovered about his head hooting
worriedly to herself.
While he hadn't expected Tsuzuki to take the truth
about what he was calmly and rationally, neither had he expected the other man
to faint at the sight of him. True, seeing someone he'd always thought of as
human with a pair of furry fox ears perched on his head and a bushy tail was not
an everyday thing, but...
Tsuzuki had seen and done enough things in his
afterlife that something like discovering that one of his friends was anything
but human should not have affected him quite so badly.
Amber-gold eyes
sliding to look at the owl, Watari's expression softened slightly. Granted, he
should have known better than to change in his lab where anyone could
have walked in and seen him, but really. Where did Tsuzuki go around walking
into someone's workspace unannounced like that? And besides it was late. By all
rights Watari should have been the only one left in the building. There should
have been no problems...
"You never know when to quit, do you, Tsuzuki?"
He asked softly, warm affection leaking into his voice.
Holding out his
arm as 003 hooted insistently at him Watari stared at the unconscious form of
his friend. 003 hooted again - sounding almost pleased this time - and landed on
Watari's outstretched arm in a rush of wings. Cooing softly at him, she worked
her way up to his shoulder where she nibbled on a lock of his hair in a gesture
of affection.
Now what was he going to do? He had only been
allowed to work in the EnmaCho Shokan Division through a special arrangement and
strict orders that no one was to know what he was. Not even his
friends.
Well, his human friends, at least. Or formerly human...
or...whatever the hell it was they were now.
And he had done so, for many
years. It was strange enough that a fox spirit such as himself had wanted to
become a Shinigami. Stranger still was the fact that he had been allowed to by
Enma himself.
He was always so busy in his lab working on some new
invention or sex-changing potion that no one had ever bothered to wonder who or
what he really was. Watari was rather proud of the eccentric front he put up,
even though most of it was not faked. He truly was fascinated with human science
and technology to the point where he often lost days puttering around
with it. And not once had anyone looked twice at him, suspecting that he was not
what he appeared to be. An absent-minded scientist and inventor with an odd view
of life - or the afterlife, as the case may be.
Although Watari suspected
that Tatsumi knew something of his true nature, but one ever knew for sure with
Tatsumi. When it came to secrets Tatsumi was quite adept at hiding them -
sometimes even from himself. And come to think of it, Hisoka had been giving him
odd looks lately. As though he somehow sensed that Watari had never been
-
Sighing, he turned to look at the small owl perched on his shoulder,
golden eyes troubled. She returned his gaze, cocking her head and blinking in a
way that clearly told Watari that she had no better idea of what to
do.
Shaking his head, Watari bent to grab hold of one of Tsuzuki's arms
preparatory to moving him. Whatever he was going to do now, the floor could
hardly be a comfortable place to leave the violet-eyed Shinigami. And besides,
Tsuzuki had been too good of a friend to leave there. If he hoped to somehow
salvage the situation he might as well start off on the right foot.
He
had wasted his life looking for something he could never have; he would not do
the same with his afterlife. He had friends now, people who honestly cared about
him, and people that he genuinely cared for in return. He would not sacrifice
what he had gained for something he would never have again. It had been a hard
lesson to learn, but one he had committed to memory.
003 took flight as
he hefted Tsuzuki to his feet, coming to land on the back of Watari's computer
chair and well out of the way. She watched with obvious interest as he half
carried, half dragged Tsuzuki to the small couch set along the far wall of his
lab. He spent more time in his lab than at his apartment, as a result of his
various experiments. So it only made sense for him to keep a comfortable couch
in his lab that he could sleep on while involved in his work.
Laying
Tsuzuki down on it, Watari took the folded up blanket on the back of the couch
and covered the unconscious Shinigami with it. Stepping back, he smiled a little
sadly as Tsuzuki snuggled into the warm blanket and soft cushions of the couch,
fingers curling around the edge of the blanket.
Sighing again, Watari
walked over to his computer chair shooing 003 from the back of it as he sat
down. His ears were pressed against his skull, half in worry, half in annoyance
at himself. He shouldn't have allowed himself to get so confident that no one
would walk in on him so late when he was in his lab. No one had ever done so
before, probably out of some odd sort of respect for him.
But he'd wanted
to shift into his true form so badly, had felt the need to release himself from
his human form like a tangible thing. While he was more than satisfied with his
human appearance - which came so close to his real appearance - he longed to
move about in his true form. Longed for the familiar stretch and slide of muscle
and sinew beneath his honeyed skin. Longed to have the added inches to his
height, the sharper senses that came with it.
He longed to run,
feeling the burn in his longer legs and muscles. Feeling the wind through his
hair, tickling his ears. He longed for the freedom his true form allowed him. He
longed for what he had lost and could only have again now in stolen moments.
Snatches of time taken from his new life where he could regain his true form
only in hiding.
So he had - unwisely as it had turned out - shifted out
of his human form and into his Youko form while still in his office. He had
assumed that everyone else had already gone home for the night and that there
would be no one to witness his transformation. He had assumed that it wouldn't
hurt to revert to his true form for even a little while.
And then Tsuzuki
had walked in, an invitation to join him for late night drinks at a cozy little
bar down on Earth to celebrate the end to another long
workweek.
Snorting, Watari shook his head, ears swiveling towards
Tsuzuki as the older Shinigami muttered unintelligibly to himself. When the
other man made no other sound, or movement, Watari shook his head in
amusement.
Gathering his tail in his hands, he combed his fingers
through the soft fur, seeking tangles and snarls that he knew weren't there. It
gave him something to do with his hands while he waited for Tsuzuki to regain
consciousness. Glancing up at Tsuzuki, Watari realized that he was in for a long
wait.
To be continued...