A/N: Hi! I know it's been a LOOONG while since I've posted anything... I'm very sorry for that!! I've been... roleplaying and doing art and stuff... so... sorry! I know it's no excuse... but I also have been considering rewriting a lot of my stuff. Life is a confusing mess right now, so I don't have much time for anything!

Anyway, so two weeks ago me and my partner Kenny had our one-year anniversary for our roleplay. It was kinda fun XD. The day before I had started writing this story and I didn't even realize it was the anniversary. I didn't think it would take TWO WEEKS! Wow. I cried while writing some parts, mainly the end. A little note: Angel is a character from my roleplay with my sister, waaay back when. She was different from this one, and had no romantic interest in Dark. How the times have changed, huh? As for Access... not only is he needed for the plot, he was cute. That's the only reason he was created (based off of Access from Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne X3).

For some reason I'm not completely satisfied with the 54 pages I wrote... Something's missing :/ I just can't figure out what...

Disclaimer: I do not own DNAngel or any other mentioned materials. The vague relation to this story is enough for me to disclaim it right? Rated M for some adult implications and death... kinda. Sorry in advanced for splitting up the chapters weirdly!

GIFTS

He was only four years old when his father died. His mother just couldn't handle it, and found comfort in the arms of another man, delusional in her emotionally shattered state. It was soon after his father's accident that his mother left him and his newborn baby brother in the care of the church nuns to run off with this man.

He never saw her again.

Despite the good treatment of the nuns, he was never satisfied with just what they gave him. Before his brother even turned two years old, he had begun to find joy in taking things that didn't belong to him, ignoring the nuns' teachings about how it was a sin and forgetting what his mother had told him about how immoral it was. There was a certain level of challenge involved that he became addicted to, and he had mastered all kinds of techniques by himself before he turned six years old. Besides… he needed to defy his mother, even if she wasn't there. She always did say, "Never steal, because it makes you a bad person." For all he cared, everything she had ever said about character was two faced. After all, hadn't she stolen his right to a mother when she decided to not be one?

However, the things he stole were never for himself. On many occasions, he gave the bread or the toys or the clothes he "found" to the other orphanage kids. He felt a bit sorry for them, since all of their parents were dead. He knew his mother was still alive, and it made his blood boil to think about it. In time he would forget her completely.

He had never been caught. Stealing little trinkets and picking pockets just wasn't enough of a challenge, though.

So one day, he decided to target the richer part of Munich, Germany.

His small feet maneuvered through the crowd of gargantuan adults easily, ducking under their legs and slipping through the small cracks in their walking patterns. He looked around for something to steal, acting like a lost little boy.

And then he saw it. On a street less crowded than others was a small jewelry store. It was well built and it looked hard to get into. It was perfect.

He snuck up to the front doors, slipping inside. It took a while for anybody to notice him, his eyes gleaming as he took in the sight of the glittering gold and shining silver. His tiny hands were clenching and unclenching in excitement, ready to move.

And then he snatched an expensive looking pendant from the glass counter. The man behind it noticed right away, his eyes widening.

"Hey, get back here!" He shouted as the little thief darted out the door. "Somebody catch him!"

The boy glanced behind him with one thought. Oh shit. He ran faster, clutching the necklace in one hand and pushing his way back onto the street with the other.

Not looking where he was going, he ran straight into someone of about the same height. They both crashed to the ground, but the boy scrambled to his feet. His violet purple eyes met deep indigo ones, but he only had a glimpse of the girl before his feet automatically ran off again, hearing the shouts of the jewelry store owner.

He heard little cries, and looked over his shoulder to see the little dark-haired girl be picked up by the jewelry man, who had stopped to take care of her. Babyish tears ran down her chubby pink cheeks as the man stroked her hair and muttered soothing things to her, glaring in the direction where the thief had run.

The boy looked forward again and kept running, a little regret rising in his stomach.

"Emil! Where have you been? Access has been crying for you all morning."

"Sorry, Sister Natalia… I was playing with my friends." The boy lied smoothly, taking the two year old boy from the older woman.

"He's your responsibility, Emil. We'll help you with him, but you can't just go off on your own without telling anyone. He needs you." Sister Natalia put her hands on her hips, scolding him.

"I know." Emil said softly, cradling his brother with some difficulty. He was only six years old, but he did know.

"Next time let us know, okay?" Sister Natalia sighed, going off to pray. "Don't be late for mass tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay." Emil sighed, going to his room. He put Access on the bed. "Sorry, little buddy. Did you miss me? I went to get something cool today." He grinned, holding up the gold pendant. Access didn't understand much of what he was saying, but he still talked to him. After all, Access was his only family.

Access gurgled something delightedly, reaching out to bat the necklace. Emil laughed. "Yeah, it's awesome, huh? But I have to sell it. Get some money, actually buy some food, you know? I saw some cakes the other day that looked really good… But you can't really steal those and have them taste good. The ones on display, they're really stale, you know?" He ruffled Access' short, dark red hair, the same color as his.

He watched Access play with the trinket, holding it so he wouldn't bite it and break his baby teeth or anything. His mind wandered, however, to the navy-haired girl from the street… and her tears…

"Mom always did say you should never make a girl cry, huh? Geez…" Even after her disappearance, the redheaded orphan still listened to her advice.

After mass the next morning, Emil went to the local trader and gave him the necklace, gaining a good sum of money for it. The next thing he did was go to the local seamstress.

After his daily rounds of getting clothes and food for the orphan kids and dropping it off, he headed off again. This time… he went back to the upper-class street.

He looked around, hoping nobody would recognize him from the previous day. As he approached the street the jewelry store was on, he noticed that it seemed more empty than usual. Then again, it was a Sunday, and most people were off to church.

Maybe she wouldn't be there, then… He thought with a little melancholy.

And then he saw, sitting in the shadow of an alley between the jewelry store and another building, the short-haired girl drawing circles in the dirt and playing jacks with herself. Now that he got a good look at her, he could see that she was no older than himself, maybe younger.

Actually… she looked like… a tiny angel…

She looked up when she saw his shadow. She blinked, tilting her head. "Ah! You're that boy from yesterday." She squeaked in her high-pitched voice, standing up.

Emil shuffled his feet, his hands behind his back. "Sorry about that… I didn't mean to push you…" He apologized quietly. He stared at her. She didn't seem very afraid.

"Oh. That's okay. It just hurt a bit. But I'm fine now!" She gave a cute little grin, coming out into the sunlight. "What are you doing here?"

Emil bit his lip, looking away as he took his hand from behind his back and handed her a cute, rabbit-like plush toy that had red tips on its ears. "Here, this is for you."

The girl's face lit up as she took the toy, hugging it close to her and nuzzling it affectionately. "Wow! It's so cute! Thank you!"

"You're welcome." Emil gave his own grin, glad that she was smiling. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at mass?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She giggled, "Daddy said I didn't have to go today, so I'm playing here. Want to play with me?"

"Um… sure, I guess." Emil shrugged, "I'm Emil."

"Angel."

Emil blinked. Angel? That tugged at his mind, but he shrugged it off. He sat down and played jacks with Angel, feeling, for once, a little free. He hadn't sat down to play anything for a long time. This felt nice.

"So why did you take daddy's necklace? Daddy got mad yesterday."

"Well… because… I needed to? My brother and my friends at the orphanage need food and stuff." Emil shrugged. For some reason, he couldn't lie to this girl.

She tilted her head, her pig tails bouncing next to her ears. "Or… far… egg? Oh… fan edge?" She tried to pronounce it, with much difficulty.

"Orphanage… it's that place for kids with no parents." Emil blinked. She didn't know? Oh, well, of course she didn't. She had her parents.

"Ooh… so you don't have a mommy and a daddy?" Angel asked curiously, earning a shake of the head. "Eh? Really?" A nod. "Oh… Sorry."

"It's no problem." Emil shrugged, "Sorry I stole from your dad's store, by the way."

"What's 'stole'?" Angel asked naively, tilting her head in a cute way.

"Um… stealing is when you take things that don't belong to you." Emil explained, shrugging.

"Ooh… but daddy says taking things that aren't yours makes you a bad person, because if you take things from other people, someone is sad or they lose something important to them."

"Yeah, that's what my mom used to say too…"

"But you're not such a bad person."

Emil blinked. That was… unexpected. "Eh?"

"Well, you came back to apologize and you gave me this cute toy." Angel grinned, cuddling her rabbit doll. "I don't think you're bad. I think you're really nice."

"Err… gee, thanks, I guess." Emil suddenly felt bashful, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hey, let's be friends, okay? We'll be good friends!" Angel said with a little giggle.

"Huh? Oh… okay…" Emil seemed perplexed by her friendly manner. She was so fearless….

"Can you play with me tomorrow too? And you said you had a brother right? Can I meet him?"

"Well, yeah, I guess, but he can't really walk or anything… you'd have to come down to the orphanage…" Emil said dumbly.

"Really? Okay! Where is it? I'll visit sometime!"

"Eh? S-sure…" She talked really fast… Emil found it hard to keep up. Her attention span seemed to be very short, as she changed subjects a lot. "It's…"

"Angel? Where are you?"

"Oh, hi daddy! Over here!" Angel stood up wand waved, blinking when Emil shot up.

"Wait a minute, your dad…?!"

"Yes… I said daddy told me I didn't have to go, didn't I? That didn't mean he was leaving me alone here." She giggled a bit.

"Sorry, got to go then. Don't tell anyone you saw me, okay? I'll come tomorrow." Emil quickly ran down the alley, "Bye!"

Angel looked a bit sad and confused, but she waved. "Bye bye, Emil!"

After he disappeared into the shadows, her father appeared behind her. "Angel? Who were you talking to?" He crouched down next to her, "Where did you get that toy?"

"A new friend." Angel bit her tongue. That was all he needed to know. "I can keep it, right? Please, daddy?" She looked up at her father with big, sparkling blue eyes.

"Well, sure, why not?"

"I saw an angel today."

Sister Natalia chuckled. "Really now?"

Emil nodded. "Yeah. She was really pretty." He said as he helped Sister Natalia clean the dishes from dinner, standing on a stool to be able to reach. "No, wait, I saw her yesterday."

"How cute." Sister Natalia smiled kindly, "What was her name, child?"

"Angel. She said her name was Angel. Can she come here sometime?" Emil asked, though he knew he'd take Angel to the orphanage anyway.

Sister Natalia blinked. "Well of course. I'd like to meet this angel." She still smiled.

The next day and the next, Emil kept visiting Angel. He played with her, and learned that she didn't have any friends. She came from a rich family, and her parents, being hard working citizens, didn't attend any parties or gatherings for her to meet other children of the same class. But she didn't mind, she liked hanging out with Emil. She dragged the rabbit plush he had given her around with her everywhere, even naming it Marron. Emil even occasionally brought her some treats like he would bring the orphans, candies and cakes and those sorts of things.

He visited her every day for a few weeks, and then took her to visit the orphanage a few times. She got to meet Access, and every other orphan. They ranged from babies to adolescents, every one of them dressed in nice rags. Angel was surprised by their poverty, and decided that she would help them out. She asked her parents to donate, even taking them down to see the orphans themselves. The poor things were pathetic. Of course, her parents were shocked by her sudden interest in philanthropy, but they didn't protest, gladly donating to the orphans.

Emil found it comforting to be in Angel's presence. She was like his mother in the far and distant past, when she used to tuck him in at night and read him stories. Angel didn't do that, but the effect was the same… She made him feel free and safe. She made him feel like he didn't have any responsibilities, like he wasn't an orphan, like he didn't have a stolen away life.

She helped him take care of Access, bringing him toys and candies. She was an angel to the young boy, saving him from things he was too young to handle. And she didn't even know it.

He could never figure out how he would ever repay her.

All the gifts in the world would never do. He could steal absolutely everything for her and give her the sky, and it still wouldn't be enough.

"So what's your family name, Emil?" Angel asked as they sat on a bench in the local park playground, eating the cake Emil had brought. They were talking about names, of course. Angel's family bore the name of a famous jeweler, of course, known in Germany for generations.

"Niwa." Emil answered simply, not caring to explain the history behind it like Angel did.

"Ni… wa…? What an odd surname. It sounds foreign. Like mine. Angel is English, for 'angel' of course. My mommy is teaching me!" Angel said as she leaned over, looking closely at Emil's face.

He flinched, leaning back. "What are you doing?"

"Now that I think about it… you look kind of foreign too." The young blue-haired girl mused, "Your eyes are really sharp. A little slanted, like those people from the east."

"Well, gee, thanks. Girls like that, right?" Emil grinned casually, chuckling slightly nervously.

"Silly." Angel rolled her eyes. "So what does Niwa mean? It's an eastern name right?"

Emil shrugged. "I don't really know… my dad died before he could teach me a lot of Japanese, but I think it means 'two of myself'… or was it 'red wings'? I can't remember…"

"Wooow, that sounds cool! So your dad was Ja… Jar… Jabe…"

"Japanese. You know, that island that opened up a few years ago? Japan?" Emil shrugged again, "But yeah. My dad came over here from Japan. He was going to go to that island to the north, but he met mom and married her and then decided to stay here." He sighed a bit, recalling the time he asked his dad about his origins.

Angel blinked, seeing how forlorn her friend had become. Her lips pursed, realizing that she had, perhaps, touched on a sensitive subject. She thought for a moment, then, hoping to brighten the mood, asked, "Have you ever been to Japan?"

The redhead boy blinked, looking over. "Um… no…"

Angel grinned broadly. "Let's go, then! We'll go to Japan!"

"Eh? But…" How unexpected…

"I bet it will be beautiful… it's an island right? It must have a lot of water… Oh, I've never seen the sea… I can't wait! I've never been on a boat either! Or out of the town!" Angel went on excitedly, "Come on! When we grow up, we'll go together! Okay?" Angel had that sweet, innocent look on her face, the one that showed she just had good intentions. Emil couldn't help but smile softly.

"Okay. We'll go… together."