AN: Chapter 4, yea! Well, this chapter is much longer, and I hope you like it, 'cause it's a bunch of set up. Sorry for those of you that don't like that sort of thing.

Chapter 4

Lost and Found

To-To's eyes flew open. "Mr. Daiki! Mr. Kosuke! Ms. Emiko! You won't believe it! Just now I…thought…I…felt…" she trailed off, suddenly realizing she couldn't remember what she had felt. "Wait a minute! What happened?"

"You passed out, To-To," Emiko said, sounding concerned, and helped To-To sit up on the couch. "Don't you remember?"

"No. Why would I do that?"

"We were hoping you could fill us in," Kosuke said, leaning in. "We were driving all over town hoping you might be able to sense the Bengal's Breath."

"That's right. Something was hiding it, some sort of magic barrier, maybe. Had to be, or I could have found it."

"Yes, that's what you said in the car. Then you shouted, grabbed your head, and fell unconscious," Daiki's gravelly voiced piped up from the armchair.

"I remember! A big blast of magic suddenly flared up. It overwhelmed me when I was looking for even the tiniest clue to the Bengal's Breath! And I felt…no, it couldn't be, it just couldn't."

"To-To, please don't hide anything from us! Both Daisuke and Satoshi are missing and we need everything we can find out to help get them back." Emiko clung to To-To's hand desperately.

"Oh, alright, but you'll think I'm crazy! I could have sworn I felt Mr. Dark!"

"What? Dark!" Their confused and surprised cries vied with each other in volume. "How can that be!"

"Hey! There's something else now, too!" To-To cried. "I can feel the Bengal's Breath!"

"Where, To-To! Can you tell us where you sense it!"

"I can't say, but I can show you. It's funny. Suddenly it's clear as crystal. Whoever that man was, he must have removed the barrier stopping me. I couldn't see clearly who he was through all that snow!"

"Now's not the time to worry about who he was. We need to try to find the boys before something worse happens to them," Daiki said.

"Right! I'll lead the way!" shouted To-To.

"Stop the car, Mr. Kosuke! Pull over right here! The Bengal's Breath Brooch is somewhere really close." To-To screeched, the sound only minimally muffled by the pane of glass she had her nose pressed against, her excited, fearful breath fogging on the winter-cooled surface.

"Then they must be somewhere in the park." Emiko was already unbuckled and pulling the door handle as Kosuke swerved into the closest parking spot, leaving a pair of black trails on the asphalt with his screeching stop. The four of them rushed out, Kosuke, To-To, and Daiki doing their best to catch up to Emiko.

"Ms. Emiko! To your left! They're somewhere to the left!" To-To shouted at her fading back. Emiko turned, dodging into a manicured hedgerow at her call, the rest of them trailing behind at top speed though the hole she had created. She stopped as she met a branching trail, her fear-fueled flight halted by her confusion. To-To took the lead as she hesitated, racing ahead, to the right this time, slowing as she reached a sharp left-hand turn. The Niwas met her as she seemed to collapse, falling to kneel on the melted slush and dirty gravel on the ground.

"To-To! What's wrong!" Kosuke said, rushing to kneel beside the woman.

"It's alright. I found them." Behind another row of perfectly trimmed bushes covered in snow, lay the Bengal's Breath Brooch, the amber-encased black stripes glinting off the snow, the curves of the delicate silver decorations encircling it shining with frost. It rested as if carelessly thrown down next to the two boys, Daisuke and Satoshi, who looked dirty, bruised, and obviously unconscious, but otherwise unharmed. They carefully picked them up, and brought them back to the car, thankful for the cover of darkness that aided in avoiding awkward questions.

"It doesn't make sense. Why kidnap them, then let them leave less than a day later? Or rather, do everything to make sure we find them?" Emiko had finally calmed down and was slumped in a chair with a soothing cup of tea, after, of course, she had made sure Daisuke was, indeed, going to be just fine.

"Yes, it does seem rather like he was mocking us," Daiki answered. "Perhaps he no longer needed them. But what would he need from them in the first place?" Kosuke looked up at his statement, the expression of his eyes giving a clear view of the wheels turning in his head.

"To-To? You felt something really powerful this afternoon, right before you fainted."

"Yes, Mr. Kosuke. I felt this big surge of magic, it was overpowering! And right before I passed out I felt a familiar presence. Or at least I think I did. I might have imagined it. I thought I felt Dark."

"You …did." The two words interjected themselves into the conversation. Four pairs of eyes shifted to the staircase, where Satoshi was attempting to brace his exhausted body. He fumbled in his rumpled shirt pocket and pulled out two contrasting, tapered shapes, one black, one white. "I managed…to grab…these when…he wasn't…looking, right before…I went…unconscious." He breathed heavily, as if speaking was almost too much of an effort for his drained state, and began to work his way over to the living room.

"You really shouldn't be up, you know," Daiki commented, though he did nothing to dissuade him from his chosen course. "But since you're awake, why don't you tell us what happened?" Satoshi literally fell into the nearest chair, which had been hastily evacuated by Emiko.

"The man, Daisuke said he mentioned the Black Wings to him. And when I was awake, I…I saw it."

"The…Black Wings!"

"What was left of it. He…he needed us for our connection to it. It was like every emotion I ever felt about them, both of them, all its energy, were…siphoned into the artwork. I…I think Daisuke felt the same. All the Hikari records always…indicated that something like this was possible, but…nothing like it had ever been done before. The theory was that something, or in this case someone, outside could…connect with the emotions that an artwork had absorbed, the ones that…animate it, give it life. If the emotions are…strong enough, like my hate, and Daisuke's caring, it could…break the artwork's seal." He lifted his bright eyes to meet those assembled around him, seemingly unsurprised by the sharp intake of breath that came from each.

"You mean…Dark, and Krad, have been, released? The seal Dark placed is…broken?" Emiko stared unblinkingly down at his seated form with a look of disbelief, though she had truthfully been expecting this sort of news since To-To had revealed what she felt. Another set of footsteps came on the stairs, and Daisuke emerged from the stairwell, rubbing his drooping eyes tiredly.

"The problem is, Mom," he said, catching his breath as Satoshi had at the bottom of the stairs, "Neither of us have…been able to contact…Dark or Krad." He, too, settled down, sitting next to Satoshi, the two of them drained, as the magic had pulled every bit of their energy into releasing the two halves of the living artwork.

The doorbell of the Niwa's home clamored throughout the house. Though it had been two worried days since the breaking of the Black Wings' seal, the family still leapt at the jingling tone, remembering what had happened the last time it had been sounded. Daisuke, who was closest to the door, stepped over to open it. It jangled over and over, as if the person on the other side of the wooden barrier was impatient.

"Yes? Who is it?" Daisuke twisted the handle, cautiously opening the door and peering out. "Waaah!" he shouted as someone pulled on his hand and started to drag him down the street. Kosuke and Emiko burst out of the door anxiously at his startled, strangled noise.

"Jeeze, your family's jumpy," Takeshi grumbled, stopping so suddenly in his hurried run that Daisuke fell over trying to avoid running into him. "What're you doing down there, Daisuke?" he complained, noticing finally that his friend was on the ground. "Aw, it's your choice where you sit, why should I care?" He paused as a whoosh of wind tore at his winter coat. "Why'd you take us outside, Daisuke? It's cold like you wouldn't believe out here. Let's go inside." Grabbing the collar of Daisuke's shirt, he began dragging him back through the front door, leaving a trail of plowed snow behind them.

"So, Takeshi," he asked when he had finally gotten all the snow off of the back of his shirt and the two of them had set down, "why did you came here?" He was wondering exactly what scheme he was literally trying to drag him into now.

"Well, you see, I got this really hot tip-"

"You mean you 'accidentally' overheard some secret information from your father at the police station," Satoshi interrupted from his seat where he had joined them while Daisuke had dried off.

"Well, yeah, naturally." Takeshi seemed not at all repentant. "I've got to get hot stuff somewhere. Anyway, what I heard is definitely going to be front page news." He leaned forward conspiratorially and dropped his voice, forcing them to lean in as well to hear him. "You can't tell anyone, or they'll be all over this too, and my story won't be worth anything. I heard my father telling his men; there's been another warning, the first one in a year."

"A warning?" Daisuke unconsciously lowered his voice to match his friend's.

"Yeah. It says he's going to steal the Thousand Tears' Shine, tonight at eight."

"You mean…it's a warning from…Dark!"

"Some of Dad's cops sure thought so, but Dad's not so sure. He didn't sign his name, and Dad said he always signed it. Guess he wanted to make sure they knew it was him who was going to steal it." Takeshi grinned at Daisuke's shocked expression. "I thought you'd like to in on this little scoop."

Daisuke just stared for a moment at his stupid smile. "B…but, if he thinks that it is Dark, why didn't he bring in Satoshi? He was in charge of his capture."

"I don't know why he hasn't brought in Hiwatari yet. Maybe he doesn't think-"

A ring interrupted him, high-pitched notes jangling from Satoshi's pocket. He calmly reached in and flipped it open.

"Hiwatari. Yes. I'll be there. Tell your men to wait for my arrival." With a soft bip! he ended the call, then shifted his icy blue eyes to meet the questioning ones of the other two high schoolers.

"It seems Takeshi here hasn't been telling us his usual web of knotted truths and hair-brained schemes." Slipping the phone back into the pocket, he continued in his soft, near-emotionless voice. "They want me to come supervise the police defense of the Thousand Tears' Shine. Seems your father managed to convince someone that it really is Dark once again."

AN: So, this is my attempt at a cliffhanger. Hope it's as horrible as some of the others I've read in other stories. Why? Cause I'm evil that way. I hope as well that you enjoyed these chapters, again, please review, that way I know what you like and dislike about FH and can change it accordingly if I wish. But even more so than that, please just be kind and let me know what you think.

Next chapter coming soon: White in the Night.