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Chapter Eight: Bonds:

Hisoka tried his best to fake it at work. /Everything's fine/, he told himself. In a sense, Tsuzuki suspected otherwise.

"Hisoka," he spoke up at their desks. His partner didn't look up from his paperwork.

"Yes?" he asked.

"You doing anything for lunch?" Tsuzuki asked.

"No."

"Great! There's a new yakisoba place that just opened last week. Good food."

"Do you always think with your stomach?"

"Please?"

Hisoka sighed. "Fine, whatever."

Tsuzuki squealed loud enough to draw attention. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Hisoka rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Anything to shut him… No, to forget about her. It was easier when he didn't care.

Why did she have to come back? Hisoka sat at the yakisoba bar lost in thought. Tsuzuki looked up from his lunch.

"Something wrong?" he asked. "Hisoka? Hisoka?" The younger shinigami looked up.

"Did you say something?" he asked. Tsuzuki frowned at him.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked. Hisoka dropped his shoulders.

"I loved you, you know?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Tsuzuki replied.

"No, you don't!" Hisoka breathed out. "It's okay. I am getting over you gradually. I have been doing good, but…" Hisoka's heart began twist with pain. This was easier in his head.

"I'm worried that I'll relapse soon," he confessed. Tsuzuki lowered his chopsticks.

"What are you saying?" he asked.

"I am in serious trouble," Hisoka admitted.

"Did something happen?"

His partner's hand trembled. "She's back."

The color drained from Tsuzuki's face. "No…"

"It's not like that this time. Something's wrong."

"How?"

"I can't explain it!"

"Don't do anything stupid, Hisoka!"

"I won't! She needs me right now!"

"Hisoka…"

His partner put his hand to his forehead. "Forget it, okay? Forget I said anything!"

"Hisoka…"

"Look, can we talk about something else?" the younger shinigami asked.

"Fine," Tsuzuki said. "How is the Eda-Kimoto case going?"

"They are still looking for the leak."

"Damn it." Tsuzuki took another drink of sake.

"Should you be drinking that right now?"

"It's fine! I don't even have that much."

"That much?"

"Yes!" Tsuzuki frowned. "You're starting to sound like Anna-chan."

"How is she doing?" Hisoka asked. That question caught his partner off-guard.

"Why?" he asked.

"Just asking."

"Fine, she's fine."

Hisoka finished his meal. "We'll get them."

"Huh?" Tsuzuki asked. The younger shinigami patted him on the back.

"We will get the mole in the bureau," Hisoka assured him. Tsuzuki didn't know what to say.

"Hisoka…" he murmured. His partner held up his hand.

"I'll see you back at the office," he said in a low voice. The younger shinigami paid his part of the tab and left. Hisoka forced himself not look back. This could work out, right? He was over Tsuzuki and was almost done fixing himself. Hisoka froze on the street. That was true for Tsuzuki, but what about Jessie? Hisoka already regretted going home tonight. He looked back at the yakisoba shop. The shinigami pulled out his phone and dialed up the number for this situation.

"Hello?" Hisoka asked. "I need to talk. Yes, it's that bad."