Hiya! Well, this is a ficcy about Dai and Riku. After the reactions of the reviews on my other Dai and Riku story, I decided to write this one. Enjoy! And just so you know, the first chapter really don't have much on Dai and Riku, it just shows a PART of the setting. It will all make sense…NEXT CHAPTER mwahaha yes, you must wait until the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it. Except for the Carotems, since I did create them anyway.

By the way, mitsukai is his nickname that his mother and the people around the village call him because, well most people think he's an angel at first sight…

Chapter 1: Prologue

"I don't understand. What does a Carotem do?" a woman asked. The small, 8-year-old Krad watched from the cracked door. He had snuck into the castle because his mother was sick and needed help. The castle was the only place with an actual certified doctor. He had heard voices while he was walking around and decided to check it out. It was King Hiro's study, where he would talk to his royal advisers. The boy figured the woman was Lady Kisa, the King's wife.

"It is simple, M' lady, they can peer into your memories, and copy a person down to the last hair. They can copy everything they do, too. So you can never know if they are the real person or not until they attack you. Also, they can take over your body and attack other people." Towa, the town's magician, said.

"B-but, they want to start a war? Why? What have we ever done to them?" Lady Kisa stuttered.

King Hiro sighed, "Well, apparently, according to their leader, I've been unjust to them and pushing them out of homelands."

"Yes, but now, he is going to use his army to pose as people from the village and attack other villagers so we will all turn against those people and destroy them." Towa said sadly.

Krad stood wide-eyed in the hall. He didn't understand at all. Carotems were all around the village, and they seemed nice enough. He never thought they would try and kill everyone by starting a war. He ran from the hall and back out of the castle back to his own home.

"Mother, Matoko!" he cried, slamming the door open and staring at his mother, who was lying in a bed. She had brown hair that was tired in a loose ponytail and beautiful ember eyes. Matoko was a 14-year-old girl who was helping the boy take care of his mother. Krad also had a crush on her.

"What's wrong, Mitsukai?" his mother asked weakly. He ran to her bedside, crouched beside it and started to cry. "Mitsukai? What's wrong? What happened?"

"I-I heard something I shouldn't have!" he screamed. The woman sat up and hugged the boy. She started to stroke his shoulder length hair.

"And what was that?" Matoko asked softly. Krad looked at her with tear-stricken golden eyes.

"The Carotems are going to try and kill everyone in the village!" he shouted. He dug his face back into her sheets and continued to cry. Matoko gasped. His mother had stopped stroking him now and had let go of him. She just stared at him. He stood and looked at her, wiping the tears form his face. Suddenly, she slapped him, sending him to the floor. He picked his head up off the ground turned quickly to his mother, "M-Mother?"

"Mrs. Hikari!" Matoko cried, staring at the boy. She bent down to the floor and helped him up to his knees.

Her face was no longer warm, instead it had a cruel smirk splashed across it. "My, my, Mitsukai…where did you hear such a thing?"

"From the King himself!"

"Ahhh…I see." She got out of bed and walked to the closet, "Mitsukai, Matoko, I want to show you two something."

"W-what?" he stayed down on the floor as his mother turned to him. Her eyes no longer ember, but now turning red. She opened the closet door and a woman fell out. She had a dagger sticking out of her back. Her brown hair matted in knots with blood and beautiful ember eyes empty.

"Huh? I-I don't…" Matoko stammered.

"Recognize her?" his mother asked, they looked at her, horrified, then the Krad realized that the woman who had just hugged him was not his mother. He started to cry again, "No! Mother!"

He started to crawl towards her when the imposter stepped in front of him. She smirked at him and leaned down to grab him. He froze, not knowing what to do when Matoko threw herself in front of him, "Krad! Get out of here! Run away and find--"

"Just shut up, you worthless fleabag!" the woman yelled and grabbed the knife from Krad's mother's back and stabbed Matoko.

"Matoko!" Krad screamed and ran to the girl's aid. He picked her up in his small arms as the blood ran onto his clothes and body.

"Get…away…don't let…her get you…too." Matoko gasped. She fell limp in his arms. He laid her body back on the ground and stood.

"Come here, my little Mitsukai…" the woman said, holding out her arms. Krad screamed and ran out of the house. He jumped into the bush and waited until the monster came back out. When she did, she no longer looked like his mother. Instead, the creature had straight, black hair down to their shoulders and was wearing black slacks and shirt. Krad couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman at this point. He waited until it was far enough away from the house before he ran back in. He saw the two girls on the floor, blood everywhere. He walked up to his mother and fell to the ground beside her.

"Mother…" he whimpered as he laid beside his mother and held her hand. A few hours later, Matoko's mom came to pick her up for dinner. She walked in and found Krad in between the bodies and ran for help. When help finally came, Krad wouldn't let go of his mother and he refused to let them take away Matoko's body either. When they finally convinced him to let go of the bodies, they took him to the King and Queen to figure out what to do with him. He begged them to let him just live on his own. They agreed and said if he ever needed a place to stay, he could always stay in the castle dorms.

"Yes, your highness. Thank you." Krad said, bowing. He turned out the door and immediately ran into the magician who had brought him to the castle, "Towa! I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, it's no problem!" she laughed, then she looked at his baggy, old clothes which hadn't been cleaned or anything since the attack, "Dear child! What on earth are you still doing in those clothes?"

"Oh, I forgot about these…"

Towa smiled at him, "Say, how about you stay at my house for a while? You know, just until you get yourself back on your feet?"

Krad looked down. He didn't know what to do, really. "Well, I know of a cave outside of the village and thought I would just live there. At least until I become the age of being able to become a soldier and fight in the war."

"Nonsense! You can live with me! Besides," she looked around to make sure no one else was there, then bent to be eye-level with him, "I want to see if I can make a spell or something that will help us defeat the Carotems. I can't do it alone, though. So do you think you'd want to help me?"

Krad looked up at her with excited eyes, "Really?"

She nodded, "Would I lie to a cute little kid like you?"

Krad nodded back at her, "Yea! I'll help you so we can kick those Carotems' asses!"

Towa stood up, put her fists on her hips and smiled, "Well, then, it's settled! You're going to become my assistant and we're gonna find a way to beat these bastards!"

Towa grabbed his hand and they ran out of the castle and down to her house.

Okay! Well, that's the first chapter and the thing is, this doesn't really have much to do with the story OTHER than that's where Riku goes when she goes to sleep and… CRAP! I almost just told you what happens next chapter! But, just to for warn you, this is not a Krad and Riku pairing story! I would never ever write one of those! Riku is still in love with Daisuke and her and Krad just become friends because they kinda live in different eras and no it's not an Inuyasha type thing, If you read the next chapter, you'll find out why she goes there and all that jazz. So, ummm…

Sorry, I had to repost because of some spelling errors.

PLEASE REVIEW!

BlackAngel