A/N: This story takes place towards the end of the first Wizarding war, in the year 1981 (where James and Lily Potter where killed and Voldermort forced into hiding. Voldermort states in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: "The Dementors will join us. They are our natural allies." Therefore, although there is no mention of them being used in the first war, I can feel justified doing so in my story. True they are used for Ministry Purposes, but then they legalised the use of the Unforgivables during the war after they were outlawed in 1717 and Dumbledore states, in response to Fudge, that "The rest of us sleep less soundly …Voldermort can offer them much more scope for their powers and their pleasures than you can." It was a similar situation as with the giants. It could be bigotry, or it might not be. Since it's relatively open, I call author's privileges on it.

Another thing. I know the Frontier gang from Digimon live in Japan and all, but it's an AU. I've dislocated them to Britain to fit it in with the storyline. There's a lot more subtleties to play with when you've got the characters cemented, hence why I like AUs so much.

I don't know what colour robes Obliviators wear, so I made them purple because of the background of the wiki-page. If someone knows, please tell me.

The Triwizard tournament was discontinued sometime after 1792 but the exact date isn't given. More space to play with.

This story isn't all that long (thank goodness). Six to eight chapters I think. Haven't quite finished the plan.

Hopefully the next note won't be quite so long. Sorry 'bout that.

Enjoy, and R&R.

THE LIGHT BENEATH DARKNESS' SHADES

Chapter 1

'Koichi, please stop pacing.'

Koichi Kimura certainly heard his mother, because his footholds faltered for a brief moment, before he fell back into the anxious laps around the living room. Their curtains were tightly drawn, but every now and then he would tweak them back to peer into the dim streets, then quickly draw them back and continue his pacing. And that had been going on for over half an hour.

Tomoko's hand shook a moment as she reached for her tea again, taking it into her hands only so they had something solid to grasp.

'I know he's late,' she said soothingly, trying to swallow her worry for the younger twin. 'But he's been late before.'

'Not this late,' her elder son disagreed, still walking in circles, feet barely making a noise as they touched the carpet as their owner waiting anxiously.

The soft "pop" of Apparition five minutes later had both mother and son on their feet and ready in a second, wand in the hand of the latter.

'Who is it?' he asked softly, tweaking the curtain again.

The crystalline blue eyes of his brother greeted him.

'It's me,' Koji's voice replied.

But the elder twin made no move to unlock the door, nor did the younger to attempt the handle.

'What was Mum going to name us if we were female?' Koichi asked finally, thumbing through a question they hadn't already needed to ask.

'She was going to name you Hikari,' the other replied quietly so eavesdroppers, should they exist, would be hard-pressed to hear. 'And me Akari.'

But still neither answered the door.

'What was the first thing you said to me after our fight last year?'

Koichi bit his lip lightly. Trust his brother to bring that up. '"How the hell did you manage not to get yourself trampled,"' he quoted.

There was a grunt of approval before he undid the enchantments locking the door before unlocking the Muggle deadlock, quickly letting the other in before relocking everything again.

'You're pale.'

'Sorry I was late,' the younger twin apologized, brushing off his mauve robes and ignoring the other's statement. 'Everything's a mess.' He absentmindedly rubbed his right arm, grimacing lightly. 'The giants knocked down a bridge over at Caldicot; three cars and a truck went down, and some scum wiped out a Muggle Boarding home shot up the Dark Mark. Too many people saw it, and it wasn't even a clean kill. Slowed everything up. Took ages to clear.'

He was scowling at the end of it, but not because of all the extra work the war was causing, especially when it came to keeping the Muggles, non-magical folk, both ignorant and safe.

'How was your day?' he asked in general, trying to wipe off the scowl and making an extra effort to lighten his tone as his mother was looking at him in concern.

'Same old,' Koichi shrugged, collapsing on the couch. 'Too many injuries for the personnel at St Mungo's to be able to manage. There's so many casualties all over the place. So many people getting hurt.'

'How many this time?'

'I don't count, Koji,' his brother frowned wearily, and a little sadly. 'I'm a Mediwizard. I just help the people I can, whether that be on the field or in the hospital.'

'Enough about that.' But Tomoko was frowning as she stood up and put an arm around each of her sons. 'You're both safely at home, and that's what's more important.'

Both sons looked at their mother, then exchanged glances over the top of her head. It was true; they were safe, with as much enchantments they could muster up together. But their mother, being a Muggle, had just the tiniest bit of difficulty understanding the war. She loved them both, had no problem with them being Wizards, but as she had trouble understanding all the associated concepts and, as far as her knowledge went, the wards the twins had set up around the house were enough to stop any unwanted visitors. And they had been so far.

'I don't like you two going out in all that though,' she said worriedly.

'We have to, Mum,' Koji said soothingly, placing an arm around her and guiding her to the table. 'You no neither of us can stand and do nothing. We have to try and do what we can, and we do have to work.'

'And we can take care of ourselves,' Koichi inputted. 'It's you we worry about.'

Tomoko sighed. 'I believe that's my job to be worrying about the two of you.' Her sigh turned into a frown. 'You're looking a little pale.' She looked at Koji.

'Yeah, well that Muggle Boarding scene was rather messy.' He put on a fake smile that convinced no-one. 'I'm starving though. Let's have dinner.'

Koichi gave him a look that clearly said that they'd talk about this later.

'What was different about the scene?' Koichi asked, once they were alone and their mother had gone off to bed.

'What was different about what scene?' Koji shot back, slipping out of his robes and into his sleeping clothes.

'Don't play dumb with me,' the elder twin scolded. 'You don't get pale over the usual murder scenes.'

The younger twin sighed, pulling the hair-tie out of his hair, then running a comb through them.

'They're sick bro. That's it.'

'The Death Eaters?'

'No. The Dementors.'

There was a silence as Koichi stared at his brother, mouth hanging part-way open. 'D-Dementors?' he repeated, stuttering a little. 'What are they doing in a Muggle village?'

Koji shook his head. 'Hell if I know, but everyone's at a loss. Someone from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is looking into it. At the same time, we Obliviated anyone too close and who felt the effects, and the Muggle-Worthy excuse committee is working on covering up the deaths.'

'Too much to deny it ever happened.' Koichi eyed his brother's arm again. 'Let me see your arm.'

'It's not a new injury,' his twin replied, rubbing it slightly. 'It's from the Erumpent.'

The elder twin frowned at him, before turning away and clamouring onto his bed, picking a book off the bookshelf.

'Oh come on,' Koji sighed, a little exasperated. 'You're still hung up over that? They removed the horn.'

'Considering you won the tournament by default by the simple fact that your rivals were almost killed by the said rampaging Erumpent, I would think you wouldn't talk so casually about it,' Koichi snapped in a single breath.

'Having a rampaging Erumpent on your tail is good training for when you have to thread your way through Death Eaters and Dark creatures to keep Muggles safe and blissfully unaware of their danger,' the other pointed out, before adding under his breath but still loud enough for the other to hear: 'because of this damn war, they might as well have turned us all into Aurors because we're doing that plus our jobs.'

'And that's all beside the point, seeing as that wasn't your intention in throwing your name into the goblet of fire.' The book sat in his lap, but he didn't open it, simply staring into the eyes of the feline on the front cover.

'That's because you're a goddamn Ravenclaw!' the younger twin exclaimed, a little loudly. 'Always need an answer for everything.'

'I think,' Koichi said quietly, looking up. 'That it's perfectly justified when their younger brother throws themselves into reckless danger for no consequence.' There was a pause, and when Koji finished fastening the last button and collapsed on his own bed, the other continued. 'We never did properly talk about this.'

'No,' the other agreed, rubbing his temples a little. 'We haven't. It was our first real fight.'

'It was.' Koichi set his book down. 'Why did you put your name in the Goblet? Without telling me too?'

Koji rolled over, so the two brothers' eyes met once more. 'I put my name in the Goblet because outside the walls of Hogwarts a war was becoming progressively worse each day and I wanted to be ready before we were thrown into it, so I could protect Mum…and you.'

Koichi looked at him. 'I think…I always knew you never did it for the glory,' he said quietly. 'But it hurt that you hadn't told me. That I had to find out when the Goblet threw your name out in front of an entire school that's not even ours.'

To be honest, he hadn't thought about that at the time, and he said as much. 'Truth be told, part of me was afraid you'd talk me out of it.'

'And this is coming from a Slytherin?' Koichi raised a black eyebrow, looking eerily like his brother before falling back into his usual softer expression, the one that endeared him to patients both on the field and in St. Mungo's. 'You know as well as I do, when you set your mind to something there's no deterring you.' The intense look fell as his lips parted slightly again. 'Unless…'

'Unless I wasn't sure enough to risk that,' Koji admitted, easing the elastic out of his hair and combing through the long strands with his fingers. 'It was risky, but I still think we were safer under the guard of our Headmasters and Beauxbatons-'

'That's an understatement,' Koichi interrupted. 'A trial-run of the Triwizard Tournament that was rolled over during the first task?'

'Okay…when you put it that way.' Koji sighed again. Sometimes there was no getting around his brother. 'But being mowed down by a rampaging Erumpent does prepare you for a lot of extreme situations. And you made a show of being so disapproving and what not and slip a vial of Angel's Trumpet Drought into my robe? How the hell did you get your hands on that anyway?'

Koichi blushed at that. 'Professor Slughorn's private snores,' he replied. 'And I was worried.' And he hurriedly added at the other's smirk: 'you dare mention that to anyone and I'll spike your coffee with Laugh-inducing potion. And since you're so bad at potions, it'll take you ages to brew the right antitode.'

'You wouldn't dare,' the other spluttered, before smirking again. 'I still can't believe you Mr-perfect Ravenclaw stole from my Head of House. How did you not get c-caught?' His tone sounded like he was trying quite hard to prevent himself from cracking up. Of course, no-one could blame him; the idea that his elder, more responsible and generally rule-abiding brother would break the rules for him was touching, but also amusing past the surface.

The dam broke at the last word, but the moment Koichi opened his mouth to retaliate (whatever happened to their serious conversation?), a silver-glowing swan glided through the window.

The laughter immediately ceased as Koji turned to scowl at the Patronus as it opened its beak.

'Again outside office hours?' he asked, being talked over towards the end of his question.

'Charlton Road, Keynsham' intoned a low gravelly voice. 'Outside the mortgage shop.'

Koichi sighed once the silver light faded into a low mist. 'Better get going.'

'Need me to come with?'

'Considering you look run off your feet, I don't think that's a good idea,' the elder twin replied, pulling his sleepwear off and rapidly readorning his on the job uniform, lime green robes with a bone and wand crossed as the emblem and underneath the muggle-medic wear for dealing with muggles. Never knew when it could come in handy, but most wizards, especially pure-bloods, didn't take such precautions. 'I'll be back soon.'

'You'd better be,' came the reply, but considering the other was halfway across the house by then, snatching up the potions kit (disguised in the Muggles' eye as a first aid kit), he couldn't tell the tone.

He quickly unlatched the door, reversed the charms, and slipped out before retriggering them, along with the additional Colloportus to lock the door and stop the average Muggle thief.

After that, he spun on the spot and disapparated with a quiet "pop".

'…Conjunctivitis Curse,' Koichi sighed, straightening up from a swollen-eyed wizard. 'Sight would have been a liability after that. Cruciatus, and…hmm, that's interesting.'

'What is?' Fellow Mediwizard Clara Clayton asked, looking up from her own patient.

'He's stunned,' the other replied, wiping the surprise from his voice and summoning an Oculus potion from his kit. It was far easier than fishing about and risking the wrong potion being administered, especially due to the extendable charm upon the case to fit as many potions as possible and deemed necessary. Remarkable how even then there was sometimes need for something not on hand.

'The Cruciatus doesn't normally go with stunning spells,' the brunette commented, bow furrowing as she straightened up and transfigured the man below her into a bone. 'Avada Kevadra. Fourth one.'

'So why leave this guy alive?' the raven-haired male wondered, plugging the other's nose and forcing the potion down his throat. Within the minute, the swelling had gone down, enough to leave the puffiness as a slight bruise. A gloved hand gently prodded the skin, and in another minute, the closed eyes looked entirely natural.

Clara shrugged, albeit a little suspiciously, before rolling her sleeves up again and levering her wand. The other straightened into a crouch position, and pointing his wand at a particularly safe pressure point, whispered: 'Rennervate'.

The man's eyes opened. All the two Medi-Wizards had time to notice was they were a light shade of grey before he attempted to blast them. 'Confri-'

The brunette woman, ready for such a ploy, quickly retaliated with a stunning spell that just missed being deflected by the shield charm her workmate threw up. The red jet of light hit the other square on the chest and he slumped into his original position.

'Some thanks,' Clara muttered, brushing her sleeves back down. 'Never know who you can trust these days, and that's without the Imperius to consider.' She looked at the four bones, then the unconscious body before finally averting her stare to the other Mediwizard. 'Draw straws?'

Koichi got the longer one, so he wound up levitating their mystery survivor into the hands of the Ministry. The short straw involved quite a bit of paperwork.

'A poor setup if it was that,' the official on duty that night muttered to him. 'Rare enough to find a peace in this damn war. Why I ever became an Auror…'

The nineteen year old left the elder to his rambling, spinning on his heel and apparating home.