Well, I'm back^^ school has been way too busy, giving me absolutely no time to write.. In case anyone wonders, my other fic "Invisible fave in the mirror" will be uploaded.. once I've had enough time to actually think of something..

Anyway, this fic has been in my head for quite some time, and of course it's about Krad, I just really love that guy. I just hope the mangaka remembers to actually put him in the storyline for once, if she's going to bring out another chapter (she takes a lot of breaks now doesn't she...) Oh well, I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: no owning here, sadly enough..

Just a boy

He knew it the second he entered the room. Really, there was no doubting it when seeing the long golden hairs glow in the pale moonlight from a gap in the curtains and the matching eyes glare at him from the dark. Kosuke smiled softly, walking into the guestroom with Daisuke's clothes under his arm - surely they'll fit Hiwatari-kun, not speaking, nor attacking or screaming, because there was absolutely no need...

That it had been a chaotic afternoon, no one would deny. He remembered just reading his newspaper in peace, when suddenly his son ran in, carrying a unconscious, blue-haired boy in his arms. After some heated battles of arguments with his dear Emiko, in which he had convinced her that they could not throw poor Satoshi back on the street, and absolutely not in the middle of the road, they'd laid the boy in this room, so he could rest. Inwardly he sighed, he had been told that the Hikari's had a weak health and having seen the pale boy laying there, he knew it was true. And it was all because of-

Catlike eyes followed him like a predator would, while he walked without a break to the chair at the other end of the room. Properly he piled the clothes up and after a short while, turned around and looked at the fair-haired boy glaring distrustfully at him.

"I don't understand," he said slowly, with a small, sad smile. "Why do you weaken your tamer so much, Krad-kun?"

The eyes narrowed, but the winged creature did not answer. At least, Kosuke thought with a small shrug, he did not attack him either.

"You do know he won't last long if you keep using all his strength, don't you?"

Again he received a cold glare, while the angel - how ironic it was - just sat there, legs pulled up, arms around them, such a childlike position, making the already pale and slender boy look so fragile, if he had not known-

"It does not concern you, Niwa." Were the hissed words after a short time, just when he opened his mouth to say something else.

He smiled at the hostility and slowly shook his head. "I'm afraid it is, Krad-kun," another glare, "it does concern me - seeing Satoshi-kun suffer this much, and for what?"

Krad tilt his head to one side, long hairs falling around him like golden curtains, as he smiled without any kindness. "Well, kill Dark for me and you don't have to worry any more, Niwa." He did not react to those words, but he knew that his emotions were burning in his eyes, making the angel-like creature laugh softly. "But of course, you won't do that, now would you, father of thieves? You're all so loving."

Kosuke frowned at the hatred, but also something else, something he could not name just yet, hidden inside those last words. "No, I can't do that." He agreed and walked to the bed where the boy was covered in the shadows, sitting down at the other end after some hesitation and waiting for any kind of attack or hostility. None came, although he saw how Krad froze and looked at him warily. "But really, Krad-kun, you shouldn't speak like that. Is it really that important to kill Dark? Should you really harm other people because of it?"

"Don't speak about things you know nothing about." Krad hissed back at him.

He shrugged with a sigh. "Alright, alright, you're right about that, I know nothing about this everlasting feud between your family and ours, Krad-kun, but still... fighting so long over something..." He laughed. "Something so trifling as art, I don't understand why people should die because of that."

The winged creature huffed and looked away from him, golden eyes seemingly lost in the darkness of the room. He did not dare to turn on the lights, somehow he believed it would destroy this strange kind of... peaceful atmosphere?

"Or is it more than that?" He asked, looking questioning at the delicate outlines of the boy's face, and the way his eyes fell down for a second, a small moment of true emotions. "No one would fight for hundreds of years, just for some property." He concluded softly.

"Maybe they would..."

"Nonsense, Krad-kun."

"Why are you even here?" The angel asked him with a sharp movement of his head, glaring at him with burning eyes.

"Why are you here, Krad-kun, in the house of the Niwa's nonetheless? And not screaming for blood, I might add."

This time he received an annoyed look.

"You could kill him right now." He spoke softly. "Daisuke is sleeping, just like Dark, all defenceless."

"Maybe I could..."

"But you're not doing it." He said with a small grin. "It would seem my view of you was wrong, Krad-kun, you're not that 'evil, homicidal and twisted' as I was made to believe."

Even though the angel tried to hide it, he saw the flinch running through the whiteclad body.

"Prejudice," he shook his head. "It's horrible, isn't it?"

"I don't know what you're trying to do," the other began with a cold voice, but he interrupted him immediately. "I don't know it either, Krad-kun, I guess it's just because you looked so lonely just now."

This made the so-called ice hunter laugh, almost emotionless, if not for the bitterness hidden inside it. "Lonely right? That's pathetic, Niwa."

"Please, call me Kosuke, 'Niwa' sounds so awfull. And I don't think it's pathetic at all, Krad-kun."

A scornful laugh.

He sighed softly and for a moment, just watched the boy, the majestic white wings, the long - almost impossible long - golden hairs, with the cross faith full tied at the end of a ponytale, the almost lost look in the otherwise powerfull eyes... An artwork, something 'supernatural', and yet, so...

"You should go now, Niwa. Satoshi-sama does not concern you, and neither do I."

"Satoshi-sama?" He repeated with a small laugh. "For someone who doesn't care about the life of his tamer nor his health, you seem rather devoted."

It was almost a growl, that escaped Krad. Like a predator caught in a trap...

"So... calling him that - you do care about him?"

"He's my everything." Was the automatic answer.

"Satoshi-kun seems convinced that that's a lie, though." Another flinch, as small as it was. "But it's not, right?"

"He's my everything." Repeated Krad with a sharp undertone. "Of course I care for him, but it does not matter, now does it? He hates me, it's as simple as that."

He looked mournful at the underlying expression, that the angel tried to suppress. Slowly, very slowly, he was-

"You're still here..."

"You are too, that must mean something."

A glare. He smiled back, with a warm, kind smile.

"Please, Krad-kun, just tell me this, and then I'll leave: why do you want to kill Dark?"

"Why does it matter?" Krad bit back.

"Because we're talking about my son too, Krad-kun, he's sharing the body of the one person you want to kill. Of course it concerns me."

Krad looked away, annoyed, but also... with his shoulders raised, wings almost protective curled around him, so fragile...

"Why?" He repeated.

"Because I hate him, Niwa."

Not satisfied with just that, he leaned with his chin on his hand. "Why, Krad-kun?"

"Because..."

"That's not an answer."

The movement was too fast to follow, and before he knew it he felt long fingers wrap around his neck, finding himself surrounded by glowing wings and staring into angered golden pits.

"You must have a dying wish, Niwa." Hissed his attacker, tightening his grip and cutting off his air. And still, he was not afraid, not at all, in fact.

"Why... do you want to kill him, Krad-kun?" He managed to ask. "Just... answer."

"I hate him! I hate him! So simple is it!"

"I don't believe you." He gasped.

For a moment, the anger just seemed to swell, but then the grip lessened. "I don't understand you at all, Niwa." Krad said, looking away, his voice once again monotone.

"You can't just hate him, Krad-kun." He rubbed his neck. "And about understanding me... I'm just egoistic right now. I don't want to lose Daisuke, nor Dark. Neither does Emiko - my wife - or grandpa, or Towa-chan, or so many other people, Satoshi-kun too doesn't want to lose Daisuke, I'm sure. And Risa-chan, I believe, would be 'devastated', if something happened to Dark."

There it was, once again. A true emotion, shimmer in those pools of gold. Sadness, perhaps? Krad turned away from him and resumed his former position.

"There you have it, Niwa, the reason why I hate that stupid thief. Thief," he repeated, eyes finding Kosuke's for a moment. "He is a thief! Why do they even care about him? He's the one doing the wrong thing, not me! And yet, they all like him! Everybody! Why?" Something then broke in the golden eyes and he saw it all: loneliness, sadness, hatred, despair, all mixed together in that burning look. "I'm doing the right thing, and yet, nobody ever bothered! They all hate me, you all hate me! You ask me why, but..."

He frowned for a moment, silenced by those words. Then, slowly, he reached out and placed a tender hand on an already stiffening shoulder. "You're right, Krad-kun," he admitted. "That's really unfair."

A sarcastic laugh escaped the boys lips and even though his shoulder felt absolutely frozen underneath Kosuke's touch, as if he wanted nothing more then breaking free, he did not move.

"He does not deserve it..." The quiet voice said, maybe to him, maybe to himself, or maybe to no one particularly. "Why should he, the thief!, deserve it all - freedom, love, friends, everything - and I not, while I'm doing the right thing! I always just did the right thing! Stopping him from stealing the artwork of mine family, and yet... all love him. Even my own family does not care about a thing I do. The only way I get just a little bit noticed by you all, is by actually attacking. And the only way I get just a little bit freedom, is by actually taking it by force. The only way to stop this all, is to kill Dark and end it. Does that answer your question, Niwa? If I did none of those things, I wouldn't have a life at all. But that's what you want, don't you? You want me to play dead, so you're precious Dark can be all happy and free..."

For a few seconds he just blinked, not expecting it at all. "Well, I-" he said, faltering for words. "If I must be honest, I never thought of it that way, Krad-kun."

"Of course you didn't, Niwa."

He smiled a sad smile, moving over to the boy and without any hesitation, wrapping a arm around the once again stiffening shoulders. "But that doesn't mean I'll never think of it that way," He pulled the angel closer and heard the sharp intake of breath, while he placed his chin on the blond crown. "I don't want you to play dead, Krad-kun, but I don't want you to kill Dark or Daisuke either. Perhaps we can come to some kind of compromise, what do you think?"

He felt a small shiver and after a short while, the body in his arm grew weaker and slowly began to lean against him. "Prejudice," he muttered, "it's really awfull, don't you think?"

It was silent for a long time, then the words were softly uttered.

"Thank you, Kosuke-san."

He smiled. Artwork or not, in the end he really was just a boy...

Fin

Please R&R, it'll make my day!