Dusk
By: Neko-chan
A/N: I shall now attempt the almost impossible: Write a one-shot Malik/Yami no Malik and Yami no Malik/Malik shounen-ai pairing story that won't make people run screaming in terror, but still manages to keep them _in character_. *cracks knuckles* Let's see how well I do.
WARNING: SHOUNEN-AI!!!
DISCLAIMER: ... If I owned them, do you think that Bug-Man (AKA the Inspector) would be living? No? Heh. Thought so.
Sunset and dusk were coming soon. Malik could sense it.
The sound of waves crashing against the shore rose up all around him until it was the only thing he could hear, big and grand and all-encompassing. The violet-eyed boy stepped closer to the wet sand, the foam-tipped waves, the salty air that he could taste on the tip of his tongue. This trip to the shore had been _his_ secret, one that he kept even from his sister and Rishid. _His_ secret because he loved the ocean in a way that no one else could possibly ever understand. And yet...
He was about to share this secret with someone twisted and cruel--someone who he feared greatly, on so many levels.
\Yami...\ he softly called. Even now, he didn't know if the Other would show. Sometimes he did. Sometimes he didn't. It all completely and totally depended on the mood that he was in.
A moment passed--longer than a heartbeat, but sooner than eternity--and suddenly there was a bright flash of light from the Sennen Rod. There he stood--all dusky, golden skin and hooded bedroom eyes, eyes so dark a violet they were almost black. True, it was partly the look of his eyes that made Malik shiver. More so than that, however, was the spiraling and chaotic look _in_ his eyes: Insanity.
Yami no Malik was mentally stable--if it could be even _loosely_ called that--around only very few people. His hikari was one of those select people.
\Yami...?\ Malik took a deep breath and gathered the courage to look his yami in the eyes. It was true that many people feared him--it was hard not to gloat and smirk and revel in that fact--but his yami was so much worse than he was. Malik didn't care about others--they could all die and he wouldn't bat a soot-black eyelash. His yami... Yami no Malik rejoiced in his destruction and darkness and madness. Something sadistic and cruel and calculating--something that was bound to Malik for all of eternity. For all of forever.
\\...?\\ It was only for a moment, but the insanity cleared a bit. He seemed a little more lucid and normal (with the two of them, what _could_ be considered normal?), but the thought-speech question was tinged blood-red with chaos and destruction, tasting of darkness and the abyss beyond.
Goosebumps marched up and down Malik's arms.
Still, he forged on ahead. \Yami, I brought you here so you could understand something. Something about _me_--what I think and believe and want and need.\ His expression turned thoughtful for a moment, the Malik smiled a viscous and sadistic and dark smile. Even at that moment of time, he never realized how closely the yami and hikari pairs mirrored each other. But Yami no Malik did. And his smile was an echo of Malik's...and yet not.
The purple-eyed boy took a deep breath once again and continued on, staring out over the expanse of the sand and the sea. "I wanted to show you this, Yami. This is _my_ secret. No one else but you knows. Fascination and love and awe, all for one thing. When I saw the ocean for the very first time, it was like finally coming into the light.
"All of my life, I _was_ in the dark. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. Full of hatred and hurting--I like hurting and I know that you do, too, because you're like me. All of my life, I had been surrounded by darkness and sand. But the ocean was sparkling and clean and watery and oh-so cool and...different."
Yami no Malik's eyes focused and cleared just a little bit more--not much, but his eyes lost a little bit more of the insanity residing in them. He looked at Malik, his eyes curiously blank and flat, and with his head tilted to one side.
Still, Malik forged on. "I've realized something since then. The ocean is sparkling and the very embodiment of life and light--but darkness and nightmares still lie deep within it."
\\But hikari-pretty still loves the ocean,\\ Yami no Malik pointed out. Slowly but surely, the insanity was returning to his eyes. And Malik didn't mind this fact as much.
"No, I don't hate the ocean."
\\Dark-light?\\
The hikari thought about this for a long, long time. Many seconds--minutes? hours? days?--passed before he finally answered. \Yes, dark-light. It's a combination of both darkness and light--able to be both and yet neither at the same time. You can't have one without the other because they complete and compliment each other.\
Malik could feel his yami smirk through their mind-link. Thoughts filled with chaos and blood and death and darkness and madness drifted through the duo's minds. The terrifying thing was, neither knew which mind the thoughts came from. But it didn't matter--not now, not ever again. It was time to embrace Darkness and fall into the Abyss.
\Yami...\ "I've discovered that you could still love and desire and need and want what you fear the most. Eventually, that fear melts away and leaves nothing but desire. Yami, I don't know whether I love you or hate you. But I still want you, all the same."
Yami no Malik paused and finally gave his hikari his full attention. He looked deep within Malik's eyes for a long moment. Then he smiled.
\\Dark-light. MY dark-light.\\
The sun finally set, kissing their skin with a dusk-tinged color, darkening their eyes to a darkness that could only be found just after midnight. The skies above them were crimson, blood-red. Neither noticed the change, however, nor did they care. Each was already lost; lost in themselves and in each other.
And the waves crashed up upon the shore, covered their tanned feet in white, white foam--light and ticklish and pure and everything _they were not_. ... Ebony darkness and dark light.
Echoing laughter came up out of the Abyss.
~Owari~
Notes: As you know, there are a lot of yami/omote pairing stories. *cheers* However... I don't like reading the Yami no Malik/Malik ones because Yami no Malik is usually so grossly out of character. In fact, he's usually portrayed as happy. A happy Yami no Malik is a scary and terrifying Yami no Malik. And Malik is scared of his yami--Yami no Malik _somewhat_ hints at it in the subbed. So, I personally think that if there would be a yami/omote pairing featuring Malik and Yami no Malik, it would be founded on desire, not love. (However, this could eventually change. Personally, I don't really think that it would.) Also, though Malik is usually considered a hikari, he's darker than the others. Hence, "the dark-light" comment made by Yami no Malik in this story. And both characters are considered mad, but they each have their own moments of lucidity. ... Anyway, these were the things that I hoped people would pick up on and wanted to explain if they didn't. (Pixy Stix for you if you picked up on it! ^_~) So review and make a cat-girl happy. ...please? ^_^ Ja~!
~Neko-chan