And they were made in the likeness of each other, reflecting what the other did not possess, one light, one dark. One daemon, one angel, but who is to say which is which? For when the mind is shattered and the body poisoned, light and dark may become Dark and Light.

Each part of them was to fit into the other perfectly. Made like puzzle pieces, their bodies could be melded as one.

Hikari text, ca 1925

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Strawberry Wine/ Act 2: Seventeen

"Mrs. Niwa…"

"My son? Is he all right? Where is he? When can I see him?"

"May we talk privately, please, Mrs. Niwa…?"

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Daisuke blinked and sat up. Other than feeling as though he had been sucked into a whirling tunnel for a bit, the test wasn't all that bad. In fact, for a second, he had thought he'd seen Dark's face.

"Ready, dear?" A nurse helped him off the table and into his shoes. Daisuke wondered why everyone always held out their arm for him now, like he had suddenly become a celebrity. With a last look at the grave doctors at the other side of the room, he let himself be led into an unfamiliar office, decorated in a shade of violent pink.

"This is Dr. Stephanie's office," the nurse said. "Ah…the doctor recommended you visit a psychologist after the poisoning shock. Don't worry," she said reassuringly, "Dr. Stephanie is very nice to children."

Daisuke stared. Dr. Stephanie was dressed in a suit too pink to look at directly. Her strawberry blond hair was tucked back with a magenta ribbon. There was a cherry drink on a nearby cabinet. Taken as a whole, the neon room made him squint.

"Hello, Daisuke," Dr. Stephanie said. Her voice was also a little too high for comfort. Daisuke knew he wasn't going to be looking forward to these visits.

"You'll be coming here for a month, or until the hospital discharges you," Dr. Stephanie continued, fingering a highlighter yellow folder. "So let's start, shall we? You seem to like my room, Daisuke. No, it's okay, keep staring! I think the color rejuvenates patients."

Rejuvenates, or kills? Daisuke asked. He needed sunglasses. Dr. Stephanie mistook the grimace of eye pain for a smile, and she returned it, ten times more vibrant.

"Okay, first, tell me who matters in your life, Daisuke."

"…Um…my parents…"

"And? Friends? Girlfriends? Aw, you're blushing!" Dr. Stephanie giggled and threw back her head as Daisuke sweat-dropped, anime-style.

"Takeshi, Riku, Risa, Satoshi…" Daisuke kept naming names, but was surprised when Dr. Stephanie only nodded. He had expected her to take notes or something. Instead, she fixed him with a beady stare, and bobbed her head up and down like a doll to his answers.

Finally, he seemed to have run through the list. Dr. Stephanie sighed for a moment, and then she brightened. "All right, then. If, oh, hypothetically---just pretending here! ---you were to, oh, I don't know, die, would you miss these people?"

Daisuke gaped. She wasn't serious.

"Yes," he said firmly, wanting to say duh.

She considered this. "And what would make you feel better, knowing that you'd be leaving these wonderful people behind once you died?"

"Spend time with them," Daisuke said, thinking of all his friends.

"Naturally," she said, as though she was talking to a toddler. "But I do notice you left off one name."

"Who…?" Daisuke thought about it. Dr. Stephanie was starting to creep him out. Why was she asking about death and dying?

"A gentleman named…Dark…" Dr. Stephanie trailed off, scrutinizing his every expression.

Daisuke paled. Dark… he had seen Dark poisoned, he had seen Dark fall, he had heard Dark call his name, he had…spent so much time with Dark, but now he couldn't even bear to remember him. He couldn't bear to tell Risa what'd happened. Because the fact was, Dark had gotten killed because of him. It was his fault that Dark was dead...

He didn't notice he was barely breathing anymore. Dark had fallen, Dark had helped Daisuke many times, and how had he been paid back?

"…my fault," he whispered softly, a flinch escaping.

Dr. Stephanie didn't hear him. Instead, she had enough evidence. She hurriedly scribbled in the highlighter yellow folder:

"Patient experienced nausea and became obviously distressed when the name Dark was mentioned. He knows something about this, I'm sure, but I will need more time to pry it out of him. He also had chest palpitations and shallow breathing. Whether or not he knows Dark did the crime remains to be seen. I really think he's been through enough trauma, though, poor boy…"

When she was done, she set down her pen and felt sorry for his pained face. "Oh, Daisuke," she said sympathetically as she came to hug him. Her perfume was Rosa Scentafolia, and Daisuke nearly suffocated and lost his eyesight. Dr. Stephanie crushed his arms painfully. "It's okay to confess…I'm sure you couldn't have stopped that madman. But Daisuke, if you knew about it beforehand, why didn't you tell someone? Why didn't you go for help? We know he was your friend, but…."

Is she talking about the poisoning? Daisuke wondered. What? I didn't know about the poisoning before it happened! If I did, I would have told someone, but I didn't know! Why are you saying I should've gone for help? I had no idea what Krad wanted to do!

"Friend or not, you shouldn't have kept it to yourself,"Dr. Stephanie went on, still choking him.

Friend? When had Krad been his friend? They were enemies! Daisuke struggled against the vice-like grip. Were they even talking about the same poisoning?

"What are you talking about--?" he managed to spit out before his ribs caved.

Dr. Stephanie held the boy at arms-length. For some reason he looked relieved to have broken out of the hug. "Why, Daisuke," she murmured, "didn't you know?"

He met her blue eyes. She was squatting to his level, and there was pity in her eyes.

"The cup you drank—the poison---they found fingerprints, Daisuke." she said, concern knitting her eyebrows together. "They know who did it! They know who poisoned you!"

"Well, I already know who did it," Daisuke blurted. "But he's not my friend!"

She ignored the last sentence. "I KNEW IT!" she said triumphantly. "I knew you knew you were going to be poisoned! And I'm going to say again, you should've told someone!"

Daisuke sank into a chair. This was tiring him out. His brain hurt again, too. "Whose fingerprints?" he asked, just to skip the lecture.

He had closed his eyes, but they flipped open the second the name left Dr. Stephanie's lips. "Oh, you must not have found out, Daisuke. They traced the fingerprints, and---oh, how horrible---Dark poisoned you, dear."

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"We're sorry, Mrs. Niwa. The tumor has grown extraordinarily. There is very little we can do at this stage in the proceedings."

"Chemotherapy? Surgery? Can't you do anything?"

"We can't operate. Too risky."

"We're sorry, Mrs. Niwa."

"Do you need some tissues?"

Emiko rose, sobs constricting her throat. No. She would not cry. There were others that need consoling.

My boy, she thought, my boy…

-----------------------------------/this/is/when/you/cry/or/try/to/fake/it/-------------------------------------

"Do you remember your name?" the nurse asked.

The blond sat up, amused and confused. "Uh…George Washington?"

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