Journalist: Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own DN Angel, and I suppose I never will.

A/N: I was sitting at my desk, thinking about possible ideas for another fanfic with proper chapters and everything, and this idea just came into my head. As with most of my long fics, this one will be AU and like all the rest, it will have some yaoi in it. I sincerely hope that you will find this story just as enjoyable as the rest that I have written. Have fun!

Dark walked into the small café, a smile playing about his lips. His dark purple eyes gazed over the room, searching for an empty table. He soon spotted one and walked over, poised and confident. Tucked neatly into the crook of his arm was a notebook, with a pen behind his ear. Dark knew that he was getting a few stares, but most of the other patrons of the café merely glanced at him once and then looked away. By all standards, he wasn't exactly average-looking, but everyone was already used to seeing the journalist walk in ever day at exactly the same time. He was never late, never absent, never accompanied.

A waitress hurried over, wisps of her dark brown hair falling out of the hasty bun she had made. There were a few stains on her apron and her glasses were askew, but she smiled cheerfully all the same. "The usual, sir?" Dark flashed her a grin, eyes dancing.

"You know me too well, Kuri," he remarked. The waitress laughed lightly and scribbled his order on the notepad in her hand before tucking it into her pocket and straightening up.

"Of course," she replied lightly, "I would be a fool not to recognize you by now." Dark smiled and the waitress left, her steps quick and graceful. Dark leaned back into the booth and looked around, picking hints of all the customers' characters. Two businessmen sat in the table nearest to the door, intensely focussed on their discussion. Dark saw that they had been there a while; their coffees were no longer emitting steam. He observed that one man, at least, had a family; he was wearing a wedding ring. Out of the corner of his eye, Dark saw Kuri approaching with a tray in her hands. On it was his meal; an iced lemon tea and a ciabatta sandwich. Balancing the tray deftly in one hand, the waitress placed the glass on the table and then the plate, warning Dark that it was hot. After thanking her, Dark attacked the meal with right good will; he was famished.

Daisuke walked out of the supermarket, whistling happily. He was glad that grocery shopping was over, because it meant that the twins and Krad would stop whining at him to get more food. Admittedly, their fridge had been looking a little empty since Krad had moved in with them, but that was merely because his fan base always showed up and they had been forced to feed the fan base as well. As a result, food supplies in the fridge deteriorated at an alarming rate. He hurried across the street, trying to balance the many heavy bags. He sensed a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye and Daisuke turned around, curious to see what had just happened. To his horror and dismay, he saw two men grappling in the alleyway. One seemed to be weakening quickly; his movements became feebler by the minute. The other man seemed to be still going strong and was winning. As though in slow motion, Daisuke saw the weaker one fall to the ground, clutching a bright red gash on his leg. He felt a strange tingling sensation come over him and in horror he realized that it was taking over again. The shopping bags fell from his hands and he keeled over, unconscious even as a hot blast of concentrated light shot out from him.

Dark emerged from the café, completely satisfied by the meal he'd just had. As usual, the food quality had been great and the price just right. He crossed the street, looking around as usual. He knew that this was a dangerous area, but all the same it was a great shortcut home. In broad daylight, that is. An extraordinary bright flash of light caught his eye and the young journalist ran over, notebook and pen already appearing in his hands. Dark rounded the corner, just in time to see Daisuke collapse on the ground and the light engulf a would-be attacker. Trembling with excitement, the journalist scribbled down notes about the scene in his notepad. To his amazement, the man engulfed screamed as the light surrounded him and then collapsed twitching as it left. Eyes wide, Dark dropped the pen in his excitement. A movement caught his eye and he turned around to see Daisuke recover.

Daisuke blinked, trying to remember why he was lying on a concrete pavement in some dark area. At first, he thought that he'd been mugged, but when he felt the burning pain in his chest, he knew that he'd just lost control. Shifting slightly, he tilted his head to one side and caught a flash of purple. The next thing he knew, he was staring into a pair of intense, amethyst eyes. "Yo, you okay there?"

Dark looked closely at the unconscious redhead from a distance, noting the delicate features and flaming red hair. His hand moved across the page on autopilot, translating the purple-haired man's thoughts onto the paper. The eyes slowly fluttered open and a pair of startlingly red eyes gazed into his. Dark leaned in for a better look and blinked as the eyes lost their dazed look. With a soft cry, the young man sprang up and grabbed the plastic bags with some difficulty, and tried to walk away quickly. Dark frowned slightly, wondering just why he seemed so scared. "Hey, wait!" he called out as he ran after the young man. This only seemed to intimidate him more and Dark altered his voice to make it seem less urgent. He caught up to the shorter redhead and tried to help him with the shopping bags, talking all the while. "Don't worry," he quickly said, "I'm not the police or anything, I'm just a journalist." When the younger one flinched slightly, Dark quickly moderated his tone. "It's just that I want to—here, let me help you with that—" (he grabbed two of the heaviest looking bags) "—interview you about that light thing and all." The young man looked at him appraisingly, red eyes seeming to pierce right into the very depths of his soul. Dark felt a little shiver go up his spine at the look and felt as though he was being tested in some way. Apparently, he must have passed because the redhead gave him an awkward smile. He opened his mouth and Dark felt another set of shivers rush up his spine as he heard the young man's voice.

"A-All right then," Daisuke managed to stammer out. He fervently hoped that the journalist wouldn't ask him about funny lights or anything of the sort. Moreover, he hoped that the interview would be quick and that his part in the story wouldn't come out in the newspapers. "What do you want to know?" he asked, hoping that the journalist would just ask him a few questions. No such luck.

"Well…first things first. What's your name?" Dark asked. He looked more closely at the redhead and jotted down a few more things in his notebook about the guy's appearance.

"Daisuke," Daisuke stammered out. He looked at the reporter, hoping that this piece of information would distract the guy from his purpose. No such luck, however.

"Cool, I'm Dark. You don't need to know that, though. Now, about the murder thing…did you see a flash of light?"

"I don't know," Daisuke replied dully. "I passed out before that." It was a small lie.

"Aw, come on," Dark prodded. "What did you see, then?" Dark stood with notebook and pen at the ready. How he managed to write and hold the two heavy shopping bags at the same time was a mystery to Daisuke.

"Uh…I was…uh…walking through the alley way to get back to the apartment…and I saw these two men grappling." Dark nodded, listening attentively and walking at the same time. "I suddenly saw that one man had a knife in his hand and was trying to slash the other man with it. I saw blood and then I just…I just passed out." He didn't want to say any more, for fear of giving away his secret. Dark looked slightly disappointed, but scribbled away in that little green notepad.

"Cool, thanks." Dark looked directly at Daisuke and narrowed his purple eyes, gazing at the younger man intently. The redhead shifted uncomfortably and was grateful when he realized that they were back in his neighbourhood.

"Uh…Dark?" The reporter looked at Daisuke, puzzled. The pretty redhead had stopped and was holding out his other hand, the one without shopping bags dangling from it.

"Hey, I don't have any money for you, if that's what—" he stopped when Daisuke leaned forward and gently tugged at the bags.

"Oh." Dark was about to give Daisuke the plastic bags, but then realized that the guy was looking a little under the weather. No surprises there, considering he just fainted away. "Tell you what, I'll help you carry these up."

"No!" Daisuke shook his head furiously. "It's alright, really, I mean…"

Dark grinned and shook his head just as vigorously, purple locks flying all over the place. "Come on, you look a little pale anyway. Sure you're eating enough?"

Daisuke blinked. This reporter was really weird, to say the least. First he offered to carry his shopping for him even though all he wanted was an eyewitness account of the scuffle in the back alley, and then when he'd gotten that, he wanted to continue helping. Just what was up with this guy? "Hey, you won't get anymore information out of me," he warned. "Last chance." To his immense surprise, Dark broke out into soft, husky laughter that sent a shiver down his spine. The red-eyed boy shuddered at the velvety sound.

"Don't worry," the reporter assured him once he had recovered from his bout of mirth. "I'm not going to back out. I always finish the job properly," he laughed again as Daisuke eyed him warily. "Sorry," he apologized. The pair continued into the lobby of the building, heading straight for the elevator.

Daisuke stood on the opposite side of the elevator from Dark, still not quite sure what to make of this odd character. Dark, on the other hand, was shifting restlessly. Being an outgoing person, he couldn't bear to be in a lift with someone he knew and not talk. So he began to ask questions. "You live here by yourself?"

Daisuke jumped and Dark wondered just why the younger man was so twitchy. He repeated his question and this time Daisuke answered slightly more confidently. "Yes," he answered. Dark nodded.

"How many?"

"Three others, not including me."

"Wow, doesn't the apartment ever feel a little small?"

"No, not really." Daisuke was starting to feel a little uneasy now. He felt like he was being interrogated mercilessly, the questions coming like machine-gun bullets. Apparently, Dark sensed this too because he stopped questioning and casually leaned against the wall of the lift.

"Ah, we're here," he remarked lightly. He waited for Daisuke to step outside of the lift first before getting out himself and waiting for the redhead to lead the way. Daisuke walked to the apartment at the furthest left of the corridor and set the bags on the floor gently before fumbling in his pocket for the keys. To the redhead's obvious dismay, he had left them inside the house again. The worst part was, there was no one at home this time to let him in. The twins were at an afternoon dance club meeting and Krad was…somewhere. Groaning quietly to himself, Daisuke sank down onto the doorstep and looked up at Dark.

"You can just leave the stuff here and go," he told the reporter. "I won't be able to get into the house for a while." He smiled ruefully. Dark raised an eyebrow.

"What, you locked yourself out?" Daisuke nodded ruefully again and could not help but smile a little as the young journalist threw back his head and laughed.

Dark finished laughing and then looked at Daisuke, his purple eyes calmer now. "Say, how about we go to that little café downstairs and just sit there till your friends come back? You can't call them, can you?" Daisuke shook his head, a little wary of this outgoing, energetic stranger who seemed to be taking entirely too much interest in him.

Dark looked at Daisuke, tapping his foot slightly impatiently. "Look, I don't know if you're just shy or whatever, but I'm not going to drag you into some back alley and rape you or whatever, okay?" Daisuke flinched at the mention of the word 'rape', but Dark was too busy talking to notice the younger one's reaction. "Come on," the purple boy said, picking up his bags again. "Let's go. Besides, you look a little pale there." Daisuke slowly got up and picked up his bags, following the energetic reporter.

Daisuke wondered just why the reporter seemed to be taking such good care of him. It wasn't as though he had any information, and it certainly wasn't as though he had any money or whatever on him. He looked again at the reporter and blinked; the man had turned around and was looking at him curiously. "Hey there, you all right?"

"Yeah…just a little off," Daisuke automatically replied.

"Dude…you definitely look off." Daisuke was about to protest at this comment when he felt a gentle hand cup his chin. "Seriously," Dark pointed out. "You look really tired." Daisuke stared into the purple eyes above him, lost in their swirling depths. He was shaken gently by the journalist and he looked up to see the other man shaking his head and muttering something that was obviously not intended for anyone but himself.

"It's all right, really," Daisuke spoke up. "I'm fine, there's nothing wrong with me." Heaven forbid that any of his friends should come home and find that he was 'unwell'; they would probably call his parents and his mother would go ballistic. He realized that the journalist was speaking to him and snapped back to the real world just in time to catch the tail-end of Dark's question.

"….anything?" Daisuke shook his head and he felt the journalist sigh. He felt slightly sorry for the other man; after all, he was offering to buy him something. Dark gave his order to the waitress and she hurried off, giggling at the journalist's good looks. The university student finally decided to pull himself together and ask a few questions of his own.

"Why are you so interested in me, anyway?" Dark shrugged lightly.

"Probably because I've always had a soft spot for vulnerable characters."

Daisuke found himself bristling slightly. "Just what do you mean by vulnerable?"

The journalist held up both hands in a gesture of surrender. "Chill out, I wasn't implying anything. I just merely stated that you looked like you were going to pass out again at any moment."

"Well," Daisuke began hotly. "I'm not."

"Excuse me for being nice!" Dark sharply retorted. "I'll just leave you now and let you drag your damn bags upstairs again, shall I?" With those words, he slapped a stack of bills on the table and stalked out like an angry cat. Daisuke sat at the table, mouth wide open. He hadn't really meant what he said, it was just that the man had somehow managed to rile him up. The waitress came with a tray of food and looked in surprise at the table and the bills lying neatly on it. Daisuke suddenly had a brainwave and on an impulse, asked the waitress to wrap the food up. She did so quickly and Daisuke left, hoping that the bills were on the table.

Dark:

Dark rolled his eyes as he thought about Daisuke again. Geez, try to help a guy. Remind me never to offer anyone that kind of assistance ever again. Just as he was about to arrive back at the newspaper offices, Dark heard someone panting behind him. He whipped around and saw a red-faced and tired Daisuke holding out a bag of food to him. Dark recognized the logo on the bag as the one from the café and still in shock, took the bag from the other man. Dark peeked inside and saw a neat stack of bills lying on top of the still-warm box. Jerking his head up, he opened his mouth to shout at Daisuke but the man was already gone. Sighing, Dark turned around and pushed the door of the office open.

Okay, first chapter of my new fic up. Hope you enjoyed it, cause like I said, it's from only a tiny, tiny little fragment of an idea. Constructive criticism enjoyed, reviews enjoyed but please no flames. Reviews are craved and appreciated. Thanks for reading, and for having the patience to get this far (lol)! Don't forget to leave a review before you leave, thanks.