Disclaimer: Don't own DNAngel.

Takeshi glared at the kitchen table with contempt. He'd spent hours cooking his father's favorite dinner, setting the table perfectly, all the while cleaning the small apartment. It had been time he could have spent getting a scoop on Dark. Instead he had spent it listening to his dad gripe at everything that wasn't done as the man sat going through his notes on the Dark case.

Then, just as dinner was on the table, all of Takeshi's efforts about to pay off, the phone had rung. After only a few minutes on the phone, his father had high tailed it out of the apartment, without so much as a goodbye or explanation. He'd even forgotten to pull his shoes on…not that Takeshi cared. His father would realize it soon enough…well, maybe he would. If he did, his father would probably blame him for not reminding him to slip them on.

With a sigh, he glanced at the coffee table where his father had laid out his files on Dark, forgetting to put them away before leaving. Slowly, he took a step towards them, only to stop when he heard his Voice of Reason, Tom, speak.

What do you think you're doing?

Leave the boy alone, Tom, his Reporter Voice, Bob, retorted. He's a reporter. He has to look! It's his job!

His father wouldn't want him to look at them, though! He's kept them hidden all this time for a reason!

But he left them out this time. He wants Takeshi to look. Chief knows that Takeshi has a healthy curiosity! He wouldn't leave them out without knowing that they'd be looked at. He's practically given his permission! Unsaid permission, but permission all the same!

Takeshi grinned. As always, Bob was right. Why wouldn't he be right? Being a reporter was messy work, involving doing things that weren't always…ethical. And Chief did know that Takeshi couldn't be trusted around important information without supervision. No matter how important the call had been, if he didn't want Takeshi seeing the files, he wouldn't have left them there, right where Takeshi could see them, tempting him to look.

No longer hesitating and ignoring Tom's You're going to get into trouble, he threw himself onto the couch and picked up the papers, remembering where each had been place so his father wouldn't know he had touched them (he didn't want to tempt fate, even though he was well within his right to look at them).

As the minutes passed, Takeshi's excitement began to disappear. Most of what was in there he already knew about, and what he didn't know wasn't important, only his father's thoughts on how to catch Dark. All of them, Takeshi was sure, wouldn't work.

It wasn't until he was about to quit and put the files down did he see the one thing that could give him a lead. Three small words which could give him the inside scoop. Commander Satoshi Hiwatari.

Dangerous Interview

Satoshi glared at the excited brunette in front of him. He was rambling on and on so fast that Satoshi could only catch the occasional word; such as Dark, files, Commander, and interview, with a whole bunch of gibberish in between. Those few words he did catch, however, were enough to give him a clue as to what he was saying…were enough to cause him to freeze for a moment before cursing beneath his breath. He should've known that Takeshi would've dug out the information of his involvement in the Dark case…should be surprised that he hadn't found out sooner.

With a silent sigh, he briefly wondered how Takeshi had come across the information, but then decided it hardly mattered. For now his biggest concern was to figure out a way to get away from the reporter without promising an interview. It didn't seem likely, but he had to hope that there was some way for him to do so…the determined look in Takeshi's eyes did scare him a bit, though.

"So? How about it? Will you? You've gotta! I won't take no for an answer, Hiwatari! I can't take no for an answer! It's all so…so perfect! Who would've thought that the commander of the Dark case had been sitting in front of me all this time and I never even guessedit! You owe it to me for keeping it a secret! Please? Please?!" he begged, going as far as to drop to his knees and throwing his arms around Satoshi's legs, preventing escape.

Satoshi paled significantly. All his hopes for getting out of the…encounter were quickly deteriorating. This was much much worse than all those fan girls who stalked him, who hid in his shower to spy on him. He wanted to know what he had done to deserve this.

What's the big deal? Just give him the interview, Krad cackled. At least he's not trying to rape you like that one girl.

Satoshi shuddered just at the memory. May the homeless guy he had hid behind rest in peace. The deal is he's persistent. He won't give up until he knows every last detail…I can't have him finding out about you or Niwa.

Then don't tell him. You're good at dodging questions.

Satoshi shook his head. "I can't," he said to Takeshi. "My schedule's filled."



"We can do it at anytime that you're not busy, I can wait! Next week! Next month! Next century! Just give me an interview!" His grip on Satoshi's legs tightened as though his life depended on Satoshi agreeing…which, now that the blue-haired boy thought about it, it probably did. If he kept refusing, there was a good chance that the next newspaper headline would involve suicide.

Satoshi fought the urge to roll his eyes. "That's the problem. I'm always busy. Between school, homework, and the case, I barely even have time to sleep."

A large smile lit up Takeshi's face. "I'll follow you around! We don't have to sit and have the interview. We can just talk while you work! It's a win/win situation! We both get what we want!"

"No, Saehara, you're the one who'll get what he wants. I'll just get annoyed."

Takeshi pouted. "Please? I'll do anything you want! Promise! Money, women, even sex! Just please give me an interview!"

"Will you let go of my legs?"

Takeshi grinned at him. "Only if you promise!"

"No."

Grin wavering, Takeshi's eyes widened. "Not even if I promised to be you sex slave for as long as you wanted?"

"Especially if you promised to be my sex slave."

Satoshi could see tears prickling in the brunette's eyes and frowned. He hated crying…almost more than he hated arms being wrapped around his legs, preventing escape from the crying. Takeshi's voice became louder, drawing the attention of those around them. "Wh-why not? Do you not find me sexy? Am I not hot enough? Not uke-ish enough?! You're just going to throw me to the side like I mean nothing to you?! Like I'm trash?!"

Trying to back away from the enraged boy, forgetting for a moment about the arms, he fell backwards, landing on his butt with a thud. Takeshi, refusing to relinquish his legs, fell forward with him, his head landing on Satoshi's lap, causing a collective gasp of the students around them at the risqué pose.

"Get off of me," Satoshi snapped, glaring at the now blushing Takeshi.

The smaller boy shook his head, not even lifting his head up to look around. Satoshi was positive that he didn't even realize where his head was. "You have to promise! Please! Just promise you'll do it! For me!"

Satoshi would have agreed to anything to get Takeshi's head off his lap. He was about to nod, to say yes, when the weight was suddenly gone. Glancing up, he saw Daisuke standing with his arms wrapped around Takeshi's waist, holding him back from attacking Satoshi again. "Calm down, Saehara," he said. "You're making a scene. Whatever it is you want Hiwatari to do, I'm sure you can find some other way…a subtle way, without so many people around to get the wrong idea."

"B-b-but I have to get him to give me an interview!" Takeshi said, a few tears actually falling.

Daisuke glanced at Satoshi, amusement clear on his face. Satoshi glared.

"You don't have to get him to agree right now, though," Daisuke remarked, turning his attention back to Takeshi. "You should think of a different…strategy…since this one isn't working."

Takeshi wiped the tears away, nodding. "You're right." He looked at Satoshi, brown eyes glowing with determination. "But I'm not going to give up! I will get an interview."

Persistent little bugger, isn't he?

Too persistent.

Cute though.

Dangerous Interview

Satoshi groaned as yet another box of equipment toppled over. It was the fifth box that night. The eighteenth that week. Glancing over, he saw Takeshi's hastily retreating back. Probably trying to find yet another hiding place so that the blue-haired boy wouldn't find him. Sad thing was, Satoshi never even needed to look for Takashi. The boy made his presence known through clumsiness, sneezes, and yawns. What was worse, Takeshi didn't even know how horrible he was at hiding.

It took everything he had not to run after the brunette, not to get angry. He wasn't sure what the boy's plan was, but he was sure that if he ruined it, whatever Takeshi came up with next would be worse than following him around and breaking thousands of dollars worth of equipment. He was sure he didn't want to learn what would come next.

Turning back to the Chief, who was trying to look as though he didn't know who it was that kept ruining their plans, he decided to take his frustrations out on him.

"I expect you to replace everything," he said, enjoying the way the man paled at the thought. "I don't know how you son came to learn of my involvement with the Dark case, and I don't really care. But I can assure you, if he continues with these antics, it won't be my job on the line."



"You can't mean that, Commander Hiwatari! If you'd just give him an interview, he wouldn't be doing this. He's only doing what comes naturally to him!"

"Natural?" he said as the sound of yet another box falling came to him. "There is nothing natural about how bad he is at it."

Chief Saehara shook his head. "I don't know what's gotten into him. He usually sneaks around without getting caught. I never even know what he's up to till it's too late. It's like he's doing it on purpose, though I don't know why he would want to get caught. When he was younger, I had hoped he would follow in my footsteps, he loved mysteries, loved to figure things out, but it wasn't meant to be. He's a born reporter, willing to do anything to get a lead. Even if we don't understand what he's doing, he does have a strategy and he won't give up until he gets what he wants."

"Are you suggesting that I give in? If he digs in too deeply he could ruin the case."

"By agreeing to the interview, at least you'll have a say as to what he finds out. If he keeps looking on his own, there's no telling what he'll learn."

Ignoring that last bit, Satoshi sighed and left him. He could feel Takeshi's eyes on him, watching his every move. Then, suddenly, the feeling was gone. Glancing around, Satoshi couldn't see him anywhere. It was as though he'd just disappeared. Assuming that Takeshi had given up for the day, he turned around only to find the boy standing in front of him, not even a foot away.

"Go away, Saehara."

"Just give me a minute and I won't bother you again today."

Satoshi's eyes narrowed. "That's nice of you."

"Not really. Dad's been getting cranky 'cause I'm not home cooking so he has to order take out…not that that'll stop me."

"Of course not. You've got one minute, cause I need to get back to work."

"I know. Dark's showing up again tonight."

"And I suppose you want a front row seat?"

"Nah, I can get that anyway." He tilted his head in thought. "You know, it's not surprising that Dark gets away every time. Even I can sneak pass the guards…and Risa Harada has done it a time or two to."

"Did you just come here to criticize us or do you have a point?"

"Oh…right…actually, I forgot what the point was. I had come up with a way to get you to agree, but it seems a bit unimportant now that I've realized how badyou are at your job. I still want the interview, but maybe you should do something to increase your men's defenses first. After all, you are supposed to catch Dark, aren't you?"

Satoshi's jaw clenched, his hands forming fists at his sides. "You finished yet?"

"You look angry. Did I hurt your feelings or something? 'Course, you hurt mine when you said you didn't find me sexy," he whined.

"I never said that," Satoshi growled.

"Oh, so you do find me sexy?" The grin was back. It seemed the more that Satoshi saw it, the more he hated it.

"I didn't say that either."

Takeshi pouted. "You can't do that!"

"Do what?"

"That! You can't say that I'm neither sexy or not-sexy. You have choose one!"

"This is pointless, Saehara."

"Good."

"What's so good about arguing over something pointless?"

"You're too stuck up, too serious. We're young, we're supposed to loosen up, have some fun. Get into trouble, do pointless things. Did you even do stuff like that when you were a kid?"

"Sure, but you can't expect me to act that way now."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not a child anymore, Saehara. I have too many people depending on me. Besides, didn't you say I needed to focus on my job?"

"Nope. You should focus on your job. You need to stop focusing and have some fun. Two totally different things."

Sighing with frustration, Satoshi snapped. "It's been over a minute. Don't you have your father's dinner to cook?"

"Yep." He glanced at his watch and cursed. "See you," he yelled as he rushed off.



Dangerous Interview

Takeshi fixed his and his father's plates, knowing that the man would be rushing through the door at any moment, eat quickly, and then leave just as quickly. He only wished he could go to the museum where Dark was appearing at. Unfortunately, he had an essay due the next day which he had kept putting off to follow Satoshi around. He kinda regretted it, but he knew that he wouldn't have changed things.

He now knew Satoshi's daily schedule, from the moment he woke every morning to the exact second his body hit the mattress at night, and every event in between…of course, it helped that he had made a copy of the blue-haired boy's planner when he'd bumped into him and picked it up "accidently". Satoshi had never even known it was missing.

By the time the table had been set and he had eaten and washed his plate, his father had entered the small apartment. Just as Takeshi had predicted, it hadn't taken more than ten minutes for the Chief to run out after his own meal, leaving the dishes exactly where they were for his son to take care of. With a shake of his head, he cleaned up the rest of the mess, thinking that at this rate he would become the perfect housewife…it wasn't surprising that he cooked better than most of the girls in his classes. The only one who came close to matching his skills was Riku Harada.

Sighing, he left to his room to work on his essay, mumbling angrily about teachers not respecting a reporter's need to report and dad's who understood that need, but cared more for a decent dinner. Really, he was surprised that the Chief had let him get away without cooking for so long.

He kept a small notebook open next to his essay paper in order to quickly jot down any questions he would need to ask at the interview and the random ideas that he came up with to ensure Satoshi's agreement. At the moment, only two ideas occupied the notebook. The first, annoy him until he consented, easily done while he followed him around, had obviously failed. He was still debating over the second. It wasn't that he didn't want to use the idea; it was just that he wasn't sure it would work. Besides, it would give Satoshi complete say over what went to the printers. It might only be the school newspaper, but Takeshi had never liked giving someone else the final say in his articles.

Tilting his head, he thought that that might just be enough to tempt Satoshi into giving in, but he didn't really want to give up so much of his freedom in what went in the article. But he had to do something to get the other boy's agreement. He had already told Sensei and the paper's editor that he was lining up an interview with someone on Dark case (he wouldn't say who in the case that Satoshi wanted to keep his identity a secret) and they were both ecstatic, eagerly awaiting what he would bring them.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. Worrying over what would happen if he couldn't get Satoshi to agree wouldn't do him any good. For tonight, he would force Satoshi and the interview from his mind and spend his time not getting the scoop on Dark making up the homework he had been putting off while he followed Satoshi around. He could only hope that it wouldn't take him too long and that he could be back on the case before too long.

Woohoo! I've been working on this one for months, but had to start over when it got deleted. It isn't as long as I had wanted to be, but if I went any further, it would've gotten boring. I hoped you liked it! And I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. Review!