Tsuzuki/Hisoka (Yami no Matsuei)
Title: Partners: Tsuzuki and Hisoka
Author: Brigdh
Spoilers: Not really.
Email: Brigdh@yahoo.com
Personal Website: nextdooruniverse
Hisoka: Wanna hear our fortune from this morning?
Tsuzuki: Tell me! Tell me!
Hisoka: Our compatibility is...
Tsuzuki: Yeah? Yeah?
Hisoka: Positively and absolutely... zero.
Tsuzuki: How mean.
Hisoka: But I don't think things can get any worse. We've already hit rock bottom. All we can do now is climb up.
-Yami no Matsuei, episode 11
Yami no Matsuei. The title translates into the somewhat less pretty "The Descendants of Darkness". Yeah, translates. This is an anime/manga series, complete with all the big-eyed animation and occasionally confusing cultural references that entails. If you're feeling skeptical already, trust me, I know where you're coming from. A few years ago I'd never seen an anime, nor did I have any particular desire to do so. It wasn't that I had anything against them, it was just that when I went looking for angst and drama and humor and romance, I didn't go looking in Japanese cartoons.
Which was a total mistake. From the moment of my first contact with Yami no Matsuei- which was the music vid Possession by WTF- I wanted more. More of the amazingly beautiful characters, more of their funny and sad world, more of the tragic backstories and light, daily banter, more of the fascinating, complex relationships that tied one character to another. And of course, more of the ever-present subtext, which constantly seems to be trying to erase that 'sub' part.
Tsuzuki:He's cute when he's quiet. Maybe I'll kiss him.
-Volume 1, Chapter 2
It's hard to put the appeal of Tsuzuki/Hisoka into a few words. They don't fit into any of the typical categories of pairings. They're certainly not childhood sweethearts, or rivals, or archenemies. They don't quite fit the 'snarky partners' vibe of buddy-cop dramas. You could describe them as 'best friends turned lovers', but that doesn't feel right either. And they do have traces of the epic, destined type love, but... Well, Romeo would never have started an 'I need you!' speech by calling Juliet an idiot.
They are my OTP. I am completely, embarrassingly devoted to the pairing, for over two years now. I don't think it's possible to watch or read the series and not see that there's something special between them, however you might choose to interpret that. What it all comes down to, for me, is pretty simple: Tsuzuki and Hisoka fit together. Neither of them is perfect- they're both pretty far from it, actually. But they balance each other. Where one is weak, the other is strong. Where one is afraid, the other is brave. Where one despairs, the other prevails. They're both needy and crippled and broken, but together, they hold up. They become better. And there's something wonderful and beautiful in watching that.
Plus, they're both really, really pretty.
Hisoka: You're happy that I'm back to being sharp-tongued?
Tsuzuki: Yup. Happy.
-Volume 3, Chapter 4
So, how about some background? Tsuzuki Asato (that's the Japanese name order, by the way: family name first and given name last) was born in 1900. He killed himself in 1926, after spending eight years catatonic in a mental hospital, a state possibly triggered by some catastrophic event. He's the taller, dark-haired one in the picture. He's also the main character in a series that starts up seventy years later.
Yami no Matsuei, you see, is about shinigami- that's "gods of death", the Japanese equivalent to the Grim Reaper. It turns out that the Underworld is really just a giant bureaucracy, and even death isn't enough to get you out of paper work and budgets. According to the mythology, there's a special registrar to keep track of the lifespan of every person in the country, and when and how they're supposed to die. But things don't always go right. Sometimes people die when they should live, sometimes people live when they should die, and sometimes a demon or vampire or sorcerer shows up and starts really confusing things. This is why the shinigami are allowed to hang around: when things go wrong, they're sent in to investigate and fix the problem. They're like undead FBI agents.
Every shinigami starts out as a normal human being, one who died before they were ready. That's the only requirement for getting the job: a tie to the mortal world so strong that the soul refuses to move on. It's a great system and provides plenty of willing workers, but it doesn't exactly lead to a staff that's what you could call stable and balanced. As a safeguard, the shinigami work in pairs, to protect and keep an eye on one another.
Tsuzuki has a bit of a problem with that. He just can't keep a partner. It's not his fault, but anyone put with him always resigns or dies or moves on or demands reassignment. He's 96 at the beginning of the series, and he's never managed to stick with a partner for more than two years. Tsuzuki is an immature, lazy slob who's content to stay in the backwoods where cases are few and easy instead of doing actual work. He's a drunk, a glutton with a huge sweet tooth, and prefers to pretend that paperwork doesn't exist. He's touchy-feely and clingy and just wants to become very bestest friends with everyone he meets. He's far too sensitive. He can't stand to hurt anyone or anything and has no respect for himself. And, apparently, his bouncy, happy, scatterbrain personality covers a huge well of self-hatred and suicidal tendencies.
Kurosaki Hisoka dies in 1996, after three years of an illness that no one was able to diagnosis, let alone cure. He's 16 at the time. After accidentally overhearing that he may have been murdered rather than dying naturally, he becomes a shinigami to discover the truth and gets shunted off to serve as Tsuzuki's partner.
Hisoka is the latest heir of an ancient, noble family, and his upbringing was strict, cold and severe. It didn't help that he's an empath and his parents locked him in a cell for fear of the shame he might bring to them. He's the blond one (and don't ask why a traditional Japanese family are all blond-haired and green-eyed. It's better not to think too hard about it). He doesn't like to be touched, he doesn't like people, and he doesn't like to share feelings or really talk at all. He's very stand-offish and short-tempered. He gets his work done, is neat and tidy and avoids most extremes- except for when he's angry, which is often and scary. He's stubborn, sarcastic and rude, obsessed with being seen as mature, and is generally your average teenage brat.
They do not hit it off well, which is a huge understatement since Hisoka reacts to seeing Tsuzuki for the first time by pulling a gun on the poor man. Sure, it's only because he thought Tsuzuki was the vampire they were chasing, but it's not exactly a promising way to start a new partnership. Things get better after that.
Eventually.
Hisoka: Wha... What are you doing, ready your blade! I have to defeat you! I have to get back Tsuzuki!
-Volume 8, Chapter 2
Tsuzuki and Hisoka do have one thing in common: they desperately want you to think they are simple, one-dimensional. Neither of them is very good at keeping up the act, but they sure try hard, even though they see through each other with ease. Tsuzuki isn't stupid or lazy; he carries more guilt and remorse than one person should ever have to feel, and he will never get used to the cases that require them to take a human life. He clearly believes that he's worthless, and yet he craves acceptance and love, a dichotomy that drives him to present himself as the office idiot, someone funny and friendly and likable.
Hisoka is not nearly as cruel as he tries to be. He pushes people away to protect himself from yet another betrayal. He's angry so that he doesn't have to be afraid; misanthropic so that he doesn't have to be lonely.
But it's not all a front, either. Tsuzuki is genuinely sweet and kind, more than capable of the easy, frank affection that Hisoka can't manage. He does like sunny mornings and ice cream and puppies, and he takes joy in little things. He's gentle and patient and pretty much everything else Hisoka's not going to be if he has a hundred years to grow up. He's absolutely honest in this one area, if nowhere else: he would never betray a trust, nor hurt a loved one. Tsuzuki always cares, no matter how it hurts him. And Hisoka is brave and strong, which he might realize if he stopped trying so hard to be braver and stronger. He is straight forward; when he says something, he means it. Tsuzuki, who is forever doubting and uncertain- especially about himself- relies on that unflinching steadiness. Hisoka isn't concerned about the right thing to do. He barges in and just does something, whether it's taking on a monster head-first or dealing with Tsuzuki mid-nervous-breakdown. He's fiercely loyal and protective, and too stubborn to ever admit giving up would be a good idea, but that means he keeps fighting where Tsuzuki surrenders.
A relationship between them isn't going to fix all their problems. Because, boy, do these two have problems. I haven't mentioned most of them, because they tend to constitute spoilers, but they're bad enough that I'm incapable of watching the anime without yelling at the screen, "Therapy! You NEED to be in therapy!" Tsuzuki/Hisoka doesn't provide a fix-it for the darkness in both characters' pasts, nor will it instantly heal all their wounds. But it does give them the opportunity to try again, to make something better out of what life has given them. And by the end of the series, I wanted that badly, wanted them to be happy after all they'd been through. When written well, Tsuzuki/Hisoka is needy and messy and hard and rough and trying, but ultimately uplifting (Most of the time. Dark fics can be pretty freakin' depressing). They've got a fun dynamic. They're nearly constantly arguing over little things, or annoying each other. They'll do something so sweet for each other, and then try to hide it or pretend that they don't care. And in little things, you can see their confidence and devotion to each other- the way Tsuzuki is always finding excuses to touch Hisoka, and the way Hisoka watches Tsuzuki when he thinks he's not looking, and how, when it's important, when things matter, all the stupid frustrating stuff falls away and they would do anything for each other.
They just go together. They trust each other, depend on each other, and irritate the hell out of each other. They risk their lives to rescue each other- and throw away life to be together, and reclaim life because of each other. They're steadier, happier people together- sexual relationship or no- than they are apart. To me, this pairing is the hope that no one is broken past repair, that you get another chance, and that love sometimes actually does save the day.
There's this moment at the end of the Kyoto Arc, where Hisoka's wrapped around Tsuzuki and they're both crying, and Tsuzuki finally, finally, brings his arms up around Hisoka, and everything is destruction and terror on all sides, everything is a roaring black inferno, and the building is crashing down all around them, and then Tsuzuki just... relaxes into Hisoka's hold with this little noise of happiness and contentment. Yeah. That's my OTP. In the midst of hell, but together. And surviving.
Hisoka: Why do that for me? Why? I... I don't deserve...
Tsuzuki: Because you're my partner.
Hisoka: Stupid.
-Yami no Matsuei, Episode 3
Recs:
Karmic Ocean Dried Up by ranalore
Long Way Down by yasminm
Stupidity by threewalls
Learning the Ropes by rackhamrose
The City of Lost Causes by Dorian Gray
Monsters Under the Bed by Katalyst
Hatsuyuki by fuu
Little Things, by ciceqi
The series by beeblebabe and geekerypokery:
Wall
Good Enough
Breakfast of Champions
Sodomy of Errors
Traditions by beeblebabe alone
Twice as Hard by geekerypokery alone
The Sleep To Dream AU series by amet (incomplete)
The Price of Falling series by sephyelysian (incomplete)
Vids:
Momentum by boniblithe
Translations from the manga are from theria.net, minus the excess line breaks and exclamation points. Translations from the episodes are from my fansubs.
Author: Brigdh
Spoilers: Not really.
Email: Brigdh@yahoo.com
Personal Website: nextdooruniverse
Hisoka: Wanna hear our fortune from this morning?
Tsuzuki: Tell me! Tell me!
Hisoka: Our compatibility is...
Tsuzuki: Yeah? Yeah?
Hisoka: Positively and absolutely... zero.
Tsuzuki: How mean.
Hisoka: But I don't think things can get any worse. We've already hit rock bottom. All we can do now is climb up.
-Yami no Matsuei, episode 11
Yami no Matsuei. The title translates into the somewhat less pretty "The Descendants of Darkness". Yeah, translates. This is an anime/manga series, complete with all the big-eyed animation and occasionally confusing cultural references that entails. If you're feeling skeptical already, trust me, I know where you're coming from. A few years ago I'd never seen an anime, nor did I have any particular desire to do so. It wasn't that I had anything against them, it was just that when I went looking for angst and drama and humor and romance, I didn't go looking in Japanese cartoons.
Which was a total mistake. From the moment of my first contact with Yami no Matsuei- which was the music vid Possession by WTF- I wanted more. More of the amazingly beautiful characters, more of their funny and sad world, more of the tragic backstories and light, daily banter, more of the fascinating, complex relationships that tied one character to another. And of course, more of the ever-present subtext, which constantly seems to be trying to erase that 'sub' part.
Tsuzuki:He's cute when he's quiet. Maybe I'll kiss him.
-Volume 1, Chapter 2
It's hard to put the appeal of Tsuzuki/Hisoka into a few words. They don't fit into any of the typical categories of pairings. They're certainly not childhood sweethearts, or rivals, or archenemies. They don't quite fit the 'snarky partners' vibe of buddy-cop dramas. You could describe them as 'best friends turned lovers', but that doesn't feel right either. And they do have traces of the epic, destined type love, but... Well, Romeo would never have started an 'I need you!' speech by calling Juliet an idiot.
They are my OTP. I am completely, embarrassingly devoted to the pairing, for over two years now. I don't think it's possible to watch or read the series and not see that there's something special between them, however you might choose to interpret that. What it all comes down to, for me, is pretty simple: Tsuzuki and Hisoka fit together. Neither of them is perfect- they're both pretty far from it, actually. But they balance each other. Where one is weak, the other is strong. Where one is afraid, the other is brave. Where one despairs, the other prevails. They're both needy and crippled and broken, but together, they hold up. They become better. And there's something wonderful and beautiful in watching that.
Plus, they're both really, really pretty.
Hisoka: You're happy that I'm back to being sharp-tongued?
Tsuzuki: Yup. Happy.
-Volume 3, Chapter 4
So, how about some background? Tsuzuki Asato (that's the Japanese name order, by the way: family name first and given name last) was born in 1900. He killed himself in 1926, after spending eight years catatonic in a mental hospital, a state possibly triggered by some catastrophic event. He's the taller, dark-haired one in the picture. He's also the main character in a series that starts up seventy years later.
Yami no Matsuei, you see, is about shinigami- that's "gods of death", the Japanese equivalent to the Grim Reaper. It turns out that the Underworld is really just a giant bureaucracy, and even death isn't enough to get you out of paper work and budgets. According to the mythology, there's a special registrar to keep track of the lifespan of every person in the country, and when and how they're supposed to die. But things don't always go right. Sometimes people die when they should live, sometimes people live when they should die, and sometimes a demon or vampire or sorcerer shows up and starts really confusing things. This is why the shinigami are allowed to hang around: when things go wrong, they're sent in to investigate and fix the problem. They're like undead FBI agents.
Every shinigami starts out as a normal human being, one who died before they were ready. That's the only requirement for getting the job: a tie to the mortal world so strong that the soul refuses to move on. It's a great system and provides plenty of willing workers, but it doesn't exactly lead to a staff that's what you could call stable and balanced. As a safeguard, the shinigami work in pairs, to protect and keep an eye on one another.
Tsuzuki has a bit of a problem with that. He just can't keep a partner. It's not his fault, but anyone put with him always resigns or dies or moves on or demands reassignment. He's 96 at the beginning of the series, and he's never managed to stick with a partner for more than two years. Tsuzuki is an immature, lazy slob who's content to stay in the backwoods where cases are few and easy instead of doing actual work. He's a drunk, a glutton with a huge sweet tooth, and prefers to pretend that paperwork doesn't exist. He's touchy-feely and clingy and just wants to become very bestest friends with everyone he meets. He's far too sensitive. He can't stand to hurt anyone or anything and has no respect for himself. And, apparently, his bouncy, happy, scatterbrain personality covers a huge well of self-hatred and suicidal tendencies.
Kurosaki Hisoka dies in 1996, after three years of an illness that no one was able to diagnosis, let alone cure. He's 16 at the time. After accidentally overhearing that he may have been murdered rather than dying naturally, he becomes a shinigami to discover the truth and gets shunted off to serve as Tsuzuki's partner.
Hisoka is the latest heir of an ancient, noble family, and his upbringing was strict, cold and severe. It didn't help that he's an empath and his parents locked him in a cell for fear of the shame he might bring to them. He's the blond one (and don't ask why a traditional Japanese family are all blond-haired and green-eyed. It's better not to think too hard about it). He doesn't like to be touched, he doesn't like people, and he doesn't like to share feelings or really talk at all. He's very stand-offish and short-tempered. He gets his work done, is neat and tidy and avoids most extremes- except for when he's angry, which is often and scary. He's stubborn, sarcastic and rude, obsessed with being seen as mature, and is generally your average teenage brat.
They do not hit it off well, which is a huge understatement since Hisoka reacts to seeing Tsuzuki for the first time by pulling a gun on the poor man. Sure, it's only because he thought Tsuzuki was the vampire they were chasing, but it's not exactly a promising way to start a new partnership. Things get better after that.
Eventually.
Hisoka: Wha... What are you doing, ready your blade! I have to defeat you! I have to get back Tsuzuki!
-Volume 8, Chapter 2
Tsuzuki and Hisoka do have one thing in common: they desperately want you to think they are simple, one-dimensional. Neither of them is very good at keeping up the act, but they sure try hard, even though they see through each other with ease. Tsuzuki isn't stupid or lazy; he carries more guilt and remorse than one person should ever have to feel, and he will never get used to the cases that require them to take a human life. He clearly believes that he's worthless, and yet he craves acceptance and love, a dichotomy that drives him to present himself as the office idiot, someone funny and friendly and likable.
Hisoka is not nearly as cruel as he tries to be. He pushes people away to protect himself from yet another betrayal. He's angry so that he doesn't have to be afraid; misanthropic so that he doesn't have to be lonely.
But it's not all a front, either. Tsuzuki is genuinely sweet and kind, more than capable of the easy, frank affection that Hisoka can't manage. He does like sunny mornings and ice cream and puppies, and he takes joy in little things. He's gentle and patient and pretty much everything else Hisoka's not going to be if he has a hundred years to grow up. He's absolutely honest in this one area, if nowhere else: he would never betray a trust, nor hurt a loved one. Tsuzuki always cares, no matter how it hurts him. And Hisoka is brave and strong, which he might realize if he stopped trying so hard to be braver and stronger. He is straight forward; when he says something, he means it. Tsuzuki, who is forever doubting and uncertain- especially about himself- relies on that unflinching steadiness. Hisoka isn't concerned about the right thing to do. He barges in and just does something, whether it's taking on a monster head-first or dealing with Tsuzuki mid-nervous-breakdown. He's fiercely loyal and protective, and too stubborn to ever admit giving up would be a good idea, but that means he keeps fighting where Tsuzuki surrenders.
A relationship between them isn't going to fix all their problems. Because, boy, do these two have problems. I haven't mentioned most of them, because they tend to constitute spoilers, but they're bad enough that I'm incapable of watching the anime without yelling at the screen, "Therapy! You NEED to be in therapy!" Tsuzuki/Hisoka doesn't provide a fix-it for the darkness in both characters' pasts, nor will it instantly heal all their wounds. But it does give them the opportunity to try again, to make something better out of what life has given them. And by the end of the series, I wanted that badly, wanted them to be happy after all they'd been through. When written well, Tsuzuki/Hisoka is needy and messy and hard and rough and trying, but ultimately uplifting (Most of the time. Dark fics can be pretty freakin' depressing). They've got a fun dynamic. They're nearly constantly arguing over little things, or annoying each other. They'll do something so sweet for each other, and then try to hide it or pretend that they don't care. And in little things, you can see their confidence and devotion to each other- the way Tsuzuki is always finding excuses to touch Hisoka, and the way Hisoka watches Tsuzuki when he thinks he's not looking, and how, when it's important, when things matter, all the stupid frustrating stuff falls away and they would do anything for each other.
They just go together. They trust each other, depend on each other, and irritate the hell out of each other. They risk their lives to rescue each other- and throw away life to be together, and reclaim life because of each other. They're steadier, happier people together- sexual relationship or no- than they are apart. To me, this pairing is the hope that no one is broken past repair, that you get another chance, and that love sometimes actually does save the day.
There's this moment at the end of the Kyoto Arc, where Hisoka's wrapped around Tsuzuki and they're both crying, and Tsuzuki finally, finally, brings his arms up around Hisoka, and everything is destruction and terror on all sides, everything is a roaring black inferno, and the building is crashing down all around them, and then Tsuzuki just... relaxes into Hisoka's hold with this little noise of happiness and contentment. Yeah. That's my OTP. In the midst of hell, but together. And surviving.
Hisoka: Why do that for me? Why? I... I don't deserve...
Tsuzuki: Because you're my partner.
Hisoka: Stupid.
-Yami no Matsuei, Episode 3
Recs:
Karmic Ocean Dried Up by ranalore
Long Way Down by yasminm
Stupidity by threewalls
Learning the Ropes by rackhamrose
The City of Lost Causes by Dorian Gray
Monsters Under the Bed by Katalyst
Hatsuyuki by fuu
Little Things, by ciceqi
The series by beeblebabe and geekerypokery:
Wall
Good Enough
Breakfast of Champions
Sodomy of Errors
Traditions by beeblebabe alone
Twice as Hard by geekerypokery alone
The Sleep To Dream AU series by amet (incomplete)
The Price of Falling series by sephyelysian (incomplete)
Vids:
Momentum by boniblithe
Translations from the manga are from theria.net, minus the excess line breaks and exclamation points. Translations from the episodes are from my fansubs.