Thankful For You

...Part 1...

There is a distinct feeling that happens around Thanksgiving. Through all the push and pull of the Christmas season trying to start too early and the last tendrils of Autumn trying to hold on just a bit longer... it's hard to describe, but it's pleasant. It's like... the feeling of being an impartial watcher of a tug-o-war match between two good friends. Something like that.

Kosuke helped Emiko lift a simmering turkey out of the oven and set it up on the stove to rest a while, while they finished off the rest of the meal's components: stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry relish, green bean casserole; the whole nine yards. The two of them were busy cooking away, laughing about this and that while they did so.

The season of cheer was about to begin, and you could feel it everywhere. Everywhere, that was, except near Krad.

Krad was lying on the couch, reading a book in which the plotline was cumbersome and was not going in the direction he would have liked. The smells coming from the kitchen made him hungrier than he'd ever felt in his long and drawn-out life. What was worse, Dark was prodding him in the face. Krad tried to push the irritant away from his face, but to no avail. When he had had more than enough, he sat up sharply and wheeled on Dark, who had to think fast in order to block the swat from a hardcover book aimed at his head.

"What do you want, Mousy?"

Dark lowered his defending arm cautiously. "Your attention. Did I get it?"

Krad inhaled tensely through his nose before slumping into an exasperated sigh. "Yes. You did. I would appreciate it if next time you did not try to bruise my face." Krad rubbed the sore spot on his cheekbone gently. "I could do much worse to you for it."

Dark stood from where he had been kneeling beside the couch. "I'd like to see you try," he said, smirking. Dark held out his hand to Krad, but Krad only stared at him.

"What do you want?" he repeated tersely.

"I thought you would like to come with me to pick up Satoshi," Dark explained, retracting his hand and instead shoving it in the pocket of his jeans. "Daisuke invited him to join us for dinner."

Krad leaned back into the couch again and turned his gaze back to the pages of his book. "I don't know why I should come along to pick up someone who despises me, to deliver him to your dinner."

Dark grabbed the book, which slid easily enough from Krad's hands. "Satoshi doesn't despise you, Krad. I mean, he certainly used to" – Krad crossed his arms over his chest and turned away slightly – "but that's all over now. And what do you mean by my dinner? You're included, too." Dark tried to turn Krad's head to face him again. Krad turned, but still wouldn't look up. He pulled Dark's hand away from his face.

"I don't want to go with you."

Dark sighed. "Alright, fine." He ruffled Krad's hair a bit before bounding over to the foot of the stairs to Daisuke's room. "Daisuke! I'm going to grab that Hiwatari creep! You comin'?" Without waiting for an answer, Dark grabbed his coat and strode out the door, Daisuke scrambling about to catch up with him.

Kosuke watched Krad with a level of concern as he stared at the open book on the coffee table.

. . .

Haven't seen much from me in a while, have you? There's more to come in this one; for now I'm tired.