Disclaimer: See first chapter.
Sorry this one's a little slower. School's a pain in the rear and we have to do all these imbecilic things for Driver's Ed... (sweatdrops) Anyway! Thanks for all your reviews (I love them! Thank you!) and on with the fic!
Edit: Ah... I remember Driver's Ed days... they were annoying. hee. I hope to change more in a later chapter, since I can't abuse the storyline much at this point. Especially the 'confrontation' chapter, I can't wait to play with that... thank you's to everyone who has re-reviewed and reviewed for the first time!
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When my eyes snap open, I am of an instant awareness that I'm late.
For school. Its not as if I haven't been through it before, but it's beneficial to make a good impression. Prove to the surviving Hikari clan members that I'm not dead yet? Who knows.
I slip out of bed and tug on my uniform quickly. It doesn't much matter though. The curse of low-blood pressure will keep my mind asleep and sluggish for another half-hour. I will be useless in school.
Even though I'm out of it (so EVERYTHING is screwed up), I still feel like there's something missing from the morning. More than usual even...
Someone...?
No. Bad Satoshi, no thinking about Risa. Off-limits, a menace, a curse even. Just... turn off that switch in your mind right now and forget her.
I thunk my head forward onto the table, a very un-like me move but I don't care. The only thing it really earns me is a slight pain, not a loss of all memory of Risa. Not that I expected it would.
Even if I can't FORGET her, I certainly don't miss that back-stabbing, sugar-high, emotion-oblivious, pain in the...
I hate you Risa Harada.
You told everyone that Satoshi Hikari was insane, that we were going out, that I was depressed... I don't know what you told them! I don't know... and I'm confused...
The doorbell interrupts my confusion and I sit up slowly, musing involuntarilyas I do. All the 'what if's in my mind chaseeach other around like dumb animals in my mind.Maybe... it's her? Perhaps I can...
Satoshi, what kind of idiot are you! This isn't Daisuke you know, YOU didn't do anything wrong this time!
I open the door while keeping the chain on so it thwacks taunt while I glare at the messenger darkly. (Number 56 if you're keeping track. "Glare of the peeved and half-asleep") The delivery man trembles slightly but admirably continues with his mission. Nice to know the mail service has standards in their employees.
"Hikari, Satoshi?" He asks hesitantly, peering back at my face inside the darkened apartment like I'm some kind of vampire. Upon confirming his suspicions, he holds out a clipboard. I shut the door again, sliding back the chain, and open it again, fumbling the clipboard. I glance down the list cluelessly. Curse my low-blood pressure, I can't recall if I'm suppose to date it, or time it, or write down who it's from... what do I do with it again?
I suppose I could steal it and start stalking people on it.
Oh yes, I am completely out of it...
The man is staring at me oddly. Deal with it. I'm half-asleep and it's not my fault, so go stare at some other tired sod!
"You're... supposed to sign it Hikari-kun." He says hesitantly. I nod impatiently, as if I knew this all along, which I DID, I was just testing him... and sign my name. He snatches it back as if it's on fire, shoves the nearly-forgotten package into my hands and hurries off down the hall, not even bothering for a glance back at me. I don't blame him.
The smirk can't help but slip across my face as I head back into my apartment.
Satoshi Hikari, terror of delivery men, hunter of purple-haired thieves, strikes again!
Heh. The foolish mortals shall fear me.
The package clunks onto the table (menacingly) and I hear a faint "snick" from inside the cardboard box's walls.
Perhaps I should call a bomb squad? That would be quite entertaining, especially for this hour of the morning.
I glance at the return address and it's really no surprise that it comes from the Niwa household. Somehow I doubt Daisuke would send me an explosive however, the thought of Niwa, carefully packing a bomb into the package with the help of his over-eager mother, almost makes me smile.
Almost.
But thoughts of Niwa lead to Riku.
And Riku to Risa.
And back to pain again. That little... not thinking about her, not thinking about her! La la la la la, I can't hear youuu!
Heh, mental 'ignoring' like that was one of the first things Krad unoffically banned when he appeared. They drove him absolutely mad. So of course I did them all the more... then suddenly I stopped.
...ah. Because Niwa showed up. Irritating Krad more then necessary wasn't a good idea anymore.
I get to work trying to open the box.
(divider)
Fifteen minutes and two knives later, all the tape is off. If I didn't know better, I would swear this was done by a female. They tend to put more tape on packages then boys.
But enough with the packing, because what's inside is what steals my interest.
I still don't understand how it's even possible.
Is this Emiko Niwa's idea of a joke? Did she just go to her son and say, 'Hey Daisuke, remember that teen that stalked Dark? Let's really confuse, and possibly send him into cardiac arrest today! It'll be so much fun!'
It's a calling card.
In Dark's hand, the flowery, sharp gothic style that he's so addicted to that it's even possible to tell when he's speaking instead of Daisuke. I'll never understand that...
But the calling card's message is infinitely clear.
"Dark Mousy will kidnap Satoshi Hikari at the top of the Cathedral at 12:00 sharp tonight."
He couldn't have issued a more direct command if he had tacked on that useless (and irritating) slogan our school uses: "Be there or be square". But how can he even exist! There's no way for the seal to break, not yet...
More importantly, if Dark returns, will Krad return? The memory of that voice, back in my head...
It's enough to make me want Dark gone again, just leave me to my void. There isn't any Krad to torment me here.
There's no use debating this any longer. I'm late for school, and I already know what I'm doing for the calling card.
I know I'll be there.
Because who can really just reject their purpose when it returns? Willingly return to the emptiness that is their life? Maybe I could find another purpose... but that would require emotion, something I am severely lacking in. And my only other purpose has driven me away, and I've made it impossible for her to return.
But if Dark is my purpose, I don't want to be left alone again.
I head off for school , putting thoughts of everything but paperwork out of my head.
Or rather, try to, and fail miserably.
No one knows that Dark has returned. Harada, that ranting fangirl, doesn't even know. Like the Hikaris, it's a secret.
It's a secret.
One that can almost make me forget.
(divider)
"Hiwatari-kun. Hiwatari-kun?"
I snap to attention, though invisibly since I always look like I'm paying attention. The teacher is calling my name repeatedly, a rarity for me.
"Yes?"
"Can you answer this question in English?" The teacher asks and begins to speak the question, but the girl aside from me raises her hand, her blush as deep as a seven-year-old's on Valentine's Day. Since when did my metaphors get so sappy? Perhaps I should seek therapy for this disturbing new development in my psyche. Or not. My last shrink, appointed to me by my 'father', was carted off to a nut house. Maybe it had something to do with my cross-examination of his methods...
"Sensei... can I ask the question?" The girl asks, a little TOO eagerly for my comfort. The idle wish that I'd been paying attention grows. What is the
"Hai." The teacher responds and the girl turns to me, looking like a horse examining a carrot. This is quite eerie, to put it simply.
"-Will... you go out with... me, Mr Hiwatari?-"
"-No, Ms. Mori, I will not.-" I reply smoothly in english. So -that- was why she wanted to ask the question. More then likely -not- because she wanted to get shot down in front of the entire class though. Not that I care.
Her face crumples immediately. Oh, not today. I can't take one of them today. Not one of those girls that's like a mood ring and changes emotions every other moment, then promptly blames it on me. (1) Should I be in love with every girl in this school! Heh, but if I was, they would hate me because I'd be like "everyone else". They both go for and deny what they want. Fools.
"Mori-san?" The teacher asks in concern and the girl runs out of the classroom, starting to bawl loudly as she reaches the doorway. I'll never understand females. They possess skills uncomprehensible by myself.
"Hiwatari-san." The teacher looks over at me, a million words in that firm gaze. Unfortunately, the message in that stare is screaming, 'you made this mess, will you go find her already and patch things up?'
Sigh.
I have no other option (except maybe pretending to ignore the gaze and get TOLD to go find her).
I stride (striding is a forgotten art, it is a graceful, rocking motion and very few can accomplish it convincingly.) down the hall, looking for the little bawling calfer, weeping maiden.
Of whom there is no sign. Plenty of teardrops leading towards the girls' bathroom however, and I am -not- headed in there for any pathetic basketcase of a female.
"Yukimura-kun! No! Get away!"
"Is it so much to ask for? A kiss? A date? I don't want anything more then that Harada-san..."
The name alone makes me stop dead in my tracks o wait alongside the girls' bathroom.
Harada.
There's no help for it... even if I hate her, even if she asked for this to happen, I'm not going to just... listen.
I move towards the sound of the scuffle mutely. It's funny, I never noticed the corner of my vision is hazed by red. "Yukimura" turns to stare at me as I come up behind him. I could've taken him down from behind without him ever noticing I was there, but I prefer it this way. This is a perverted high-schooler, not a ninja, and should be treated as such.
"Hey, this isn't your problem!" He protests angrily, brandishing a fist bravely (and pathetically).
I deck him.
It has been far, far, FAR too long since I decked anyone.
I can't deck Daisuke (are you kidding? I might kill him!)
or Krad (yesss Satoshi, deck your alter ego. Then we'll take you off to the place with the jackets that let you give yourself a hug.)
or Dark (it's a bit physically impossible. Decking people with wings is not easy.)
So, I decked Yukimura.
And to put it bluntly, it felt good.
Until my eyes fell on the scared maiden I had rescued.
"H-Hiwatari-kun?" She stutters, blushing darkly and brushing off her skirt, letting her bangs hang low over her face to hide a shamed blush.
"T-thanks..."
Has anyone ever calculated exactly how alike Riku and Risa's voices can sound?
Probably not, but I can honestly say that she fooled me.
It's RIKU who stands here before me, fidgeting and playing with her pleated skirt, waiting for me to say something so she can get back to class, away from me. The creepy boy.
I'm shocked she's not attacking me, after I assume Risa, no, HARADA-SAN, just Harada-san now... has told her everything about my statement. Has she no sense of sibling defense? Maybe it just slipped her mind, in the way that important things do. I'm not about to ask.
Aside from that, my mind is still stalling on the idea that her sister wasn't here, wasn't her, was never in any danger, yet I jumped at the idea that she was. Satoshi you... you puppy!
Riku shifts, her short hair pulled back by a headband. She offers a faint smile to me, still surprising me that she's not angry..
"Thanks, I-I don't know why that-that PERVERT was acting like that!" Her word stutter with hatred and she glares at the whimpering Yukimura measuring his length on the tile floor with venom in her gaze.
I'd hate to be on the receiving end of the glare, even if in her mind, I should deserve it.
"Oh!" She turns back to me, having turned to head off towards her class.
"Are you going to the Cathedral tonight Hiwatari-kun?"
Eh?
Even if she is Daisuke's girlfriend, how much does he TELL her? Does she know that Dark has returned? That he issued the calling card?
How much has Risa told her for that matter... about Dark, and the Hikari's foolish 'purpose', and...
who knows what she may have said.
But how can Riku know something so...
I'm tempted to say private, but it isn't. I don't even know what I'm expecting from Dark.
It abruptly comes to my attention that I've been staring at her stupidly for almost 30 seconds. A curse on my absentminded musing!
"Never mind, I'll see you!" She rushes the sentence together in a jumble taking off down the hall.
I miss my sanity.
(divider)
(1) Reliant K "Mood Ring" anyone?
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Edit: Wow, that went fast. Are my chapters getting shorter or something? I feel like I should put in an interlude or something... Wahhhhh! I renamed 'Koji' Yukimura, and now my mind has run off with the idea of Yukimura from Samurai Deeper Kyo being decked by Satoshi... disturbing to say the least... :dances and thinks about Sarutobi Sasuke: Mwahahaha!