Chapter Five: We Will be Fine:

Tsuzuki stared off into space.

“Tsuzuki? Tsuzuki?”

The shinigami jerked his head upwards. Hisoka stood in front of him. His partner blinked at first.

“Oh…” Tsuzuki said. “Hisoka. Did you want something?” The younger shinigami frowned.

“Were you even listening to me?” he asked.

“Uh yeah, yeah,” Tsuzuki lied. “Of course I was.” Hisoka rolled his eyes.

“What?” his partner asked.

“She’s not holding up too well, is she?” Hisoka asked. Tsuzuki sighed.

“Not good,” he said. “She wants her job back before she goes crazy.”

“You can’t do that,” Hisoka said in a low voice.

“I know,” his partner said. “But I don’t know what else to do.” Tsuzuki looked down at his paperwork. He hadn’t gotten started.

“I made the promise,” Tsuzuki said.

“You didn’t…” Hisoka said.

“I had to,” his partner said. “I just want her happy.”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Hisoka told him. The shinigami threw back his head and groaned.

---------

Still, Tsuzuki had to do this. Anna needed to get out of her funk. He could at least try. At worst, they could laugh him out of the room. Part of him hoped that would be the case. And then what?

Tsuzuki rubbed his forehead.

“Looks like we will have to work from there,” he said to himself. Tsuzuki looked out the window. They have been through worse. In fact, the worst was last night. The storm was over. Now for the sunshine. If that would take risking his job, he would have to be down with that. Tsuzuki took in a deep breath.

“We will be okay,” he said to himself. The shinigami rose to his feet. Here goes. He turned and left his desk.

“We will be okay. We will be okay. We will be okay,” he said to himself the whole way there.