So I'm now in college and guess what? College kinda sucks. There's a lot of work and hardly any down time. Oh well, I finally got some inspiration to write this chapter up, sorry for the incredibly long wait, I'll actively try harder not to do that ever again with this story. I was planing on this chapter being the actual fair scene but that didn't quite work out. So here is this chapter and the next one will have the fair scene in it.
It's like 3 o'clock in the morning here so I'm just gonna head to bed and post this first thing in the morning. Any and all mistakes are mine and I'll probably fix them tomorrow (feb. 3, 2014).
As always, Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of DN Angel, however, I do own this plot and the characters mentioned in this chapter that you will read and think to yourself "I don't remember these people being in DN Angel."
Burning Memory
Chapter 7
Tour de la Casa
I woke to the sound of birds chirping outside of my window and sun shining into my eyes. I groaned as I stretched, working out all of the kinks in my back from lying in one position for too long. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as I walked to my bathroom to relieve myself.
I was kind of happy that I didn't have my nightmare again last night. I have been having the same nightmare almost every night since that first night almost a week ago. I guess it's not all that surprising to have a relapse after all these years. And especially not when Dark looks so much like One-Shot Vincent that it's kind of scary.
If it wasn't for the fact the One-Shot Vincent would be in his late 30's by now I would have thought that Dark was Vincent. After finishing my morning routine I picked out an outfit that consisted of a red button down t-shirt over a black tee and blue jeans. One last glance in the full length mirror attached to the back of my door I nodded my approval before heading downstairs for breakfast.
A quick glance at the clock at the end of the hallway showed that it was already 9:37 in the morning. That was kind of early for me as it was the weekend but I guess with the excitement of actually going on another date with Dark today must have woken me up early.
I walked into the dining room and immediately noticed that Dark was already awake and eating a plate with tamagoyaki and a half eaten bowl of white rice on the side.
"Hey sleepyhead, you're finally awake," Dark smiled at me as soon as he noticed my presence in the room.
"It's only a little past 9:30," I joked back, taking an empty seat next to him. Dark leaned over and nudged me a bit with his shoulder as his grin got wider. "What time did you get up?"
"Around 8:00, I think," Dark tilted his head, as if he was actually trying to pinpoint the exact time he had woken up this morning. "Yeah, that sounds about right."
"8? Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked incredulously. Dark was awake for an hour and a half. What did he do all morning? Surely he didn't just lay about in bed until now.
"I didn't want to wake you," Dark said, almost with a pout as if waking me up early was the worst possible thing he could have done. "Besides, Lynne was already up and about so I just talked with her for a while till I got hungry and she took pity on me and made me breakfast. It's really good, here, try some." With that Dark cut up a piece off of his tamagoyaki with his fork and held it out for me to eat.
At first I was hesitant to take a bite, already feeling a blush creep onto my face just thinking about Dark hand feeding me. And despite having already eaten Lynne's food practically all my life I couldn't just pass up a chance like this.
Willing my blush to go down I leaned forward and wrapped my mouth around the fork that was held nearly in my face. I looked up into Dark's eyes and I pulled back, the piece of tamagoyaki now in my mouth. Dark's eyes became almost lidded as he watched me chew the food slowly. I watched as Dark's eyes darted down to my lips as I swallowed, my eyes followed Dark's tongue as he licked his lips.
I had no idea what just happened but, I think I just turned him on. I took a quick glance down to Dark's lap before snapping my eyes back up and blushed like crazy. I did. I completely just turned on my boyfriend without even meaning to. What does one do in a situation like this? I have no experience with this type of stuff.
Whenever Risa (and it was so hard to think her name, but I needed to get over it so there it was) and I hung out things like this never happened. Granted, we were a little younger, but we were still together. I mean, we went on an occasional date every now and again but the most we had ever done was hold hands, maybe a peck on the cheek.
By now the silence was getting to me, and all Dark seemed to do was smile at me as if it was the most normal thing in the world to get a hard on at the breakfast table just because your boyfriend ate some food.
Dark must have caught my glance or understood what the blush was for because the next sentence out of his mouth was, "Do you like it?"
"W-what?" I stammered, my heart beating so fast it felt like it would burst. Was he really asking me if I like his hard on?
"The tamagoyaki? Do you like it?" Dark asked again, only this time with a smirk.
My brain nearly shut down there for a minute. 'The tamagoyaki? That's was he meant? Thank goodness because for a second there I thought he meant… why was he still smirking at me?'
"Oh, Daisuke! You're up!" I heard Lynne exclaim from the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen. She stood there with her normal apron on and a small bowl of white rice. The tension that had been slowly building since Dark had asked me his question was now gone as Lynne entered the room. "I was wondering when you would join us. How was your night?"
I sighed on the inside and thanked Lynne over and over in my head for the change of topic. Of course I knew she was asking about my dream last night, knowing that for the last week I have been having nightmares. "Good, I slept so well, I don't even remember my dream." Which was the truth, I didn't remember my dream from last night, or if I even had a dream.
"That's nice to hear," Lynne smiled as she placed the bowl of rice on the table close to Dark and me. "Would you like some breakfast Daisuke?"
"Yes please," I answered, feeling my hunger flare up just thinking about eating a plate of my own tamagoyaki.
"Coming right up," Lynne said before she turned around and entering the kitchen to presumably get my breakfast. She returned not a minute later with my own plate to eat and set it down in front of me. "Enjoy yourselves and call for me if you want some more."
With that said she left the room, leaving Dark and myself alone again. Before I could take a bite of my own food I noticed Dark out of the corner of my eye about to say something. Not wanting him to return to the previous conversation again I quickly asked the first thing that came to my mind. "So, how was your night?"
Dark seemed to pause in whatever it was he was about to say. For a second I could have sworn that he pouted but then Dark was smiling again as he answered my question. "It was nice, though I did feel a little lonely having that big room all to myself."
I paused with a fork of food halfway to my mouth as I tried to think about what to say to that. Should I say sorry and suggest a smaller room. Should I offer to sleep in the room with him? Should I offer to let him sleep in my room with me? Should I just leave it and let him just deal with it? That last one would be mean. Oh, what should I say and do?
"I'm sorry," I started, getting that part out of the way first. Dark seemed to smile wider at my apology.
Before I could say anything else about it though Dark spoke again, "that's alright, I guess I'll just have to find some way to not feel so lonely."
"Really, like what?" I asked, really interested in what idea he had in mind.
"Guess you'll just have to wait and see," Dark answered with a secretive smirk on his face as he turned in his seat to finish eating his breakfast.
Somehow that smirk sent a chill down my spine, and not because it scared me. I don't know how to describe the feeling. Excitement? Apprehension? I don't know.
The rest of breakfast passed with silence and traded smiles between Dark and me. Dark finished before me since he started eating first. While he waited for me to finish eating he talked about how much fun we were going to have at the fair today and how we should start getting ready around 4 o'clock so they had enough time to get there and ride all the rides and still have time to see the fireworks at 10.
It didn't take much longer before I was finished eating too and we were placing out empty plates and bowls in the sink for Lynne. We decided that we would pass the time with a movie that neither of us had watched. This lead us to sitting next to each other on the couch while the television played some action movie where there was a lot of explosions and the bad guy was trying to take over the government while killing people. I wasn't really watching the movie all that much to be honest. I was curled up so that my feet were practically under me as I leaned against Dark's side. Dark in return had an arm draped across my back as he sat with his feet on the ground and his side against the couch's armrest.
It felt so nice to be lying against Dark's side like this. He was so warm and soft that I felt like I could just stay here forever. Of course that wasn't meant to be and all too soon the movie was over, the bad guy was caught and the hero fell for the damsel in distress.
I took a glance at the clock over the television to see that the time was almost noon. We had both agreed to skip lunch so we could eat more fair food when we arrived which meant that we had another four more hours before we were planning on leaving for the fair. With that in mind I suggested that Dark and I either play a game or I give him a proper tour of the house since I didn't last night.
"I want to see more of your house," Dark smiled as he stood up from the couch. "Besides, we played video games last night."
"Good point, tour it is." Dark held out his hand to me to help me off the couch. I looked from his hand to his face before smiling back at him and grabbing his hand. Despite watching tons of movies and reading lots of books where the guy pulls the girl up too much and she stumbles into his arms Dark didn't do that. I didn't know wither to be sad that I didn't get to be in his arms or happy that I didn't get embarrassed for tripping over myself.
I turned off the television on the way out of the living room. Dark and I were holding hands as I lead him around the house, pointing out rooms and even sharing a few memories that I had about each one as we went along.
"-and I remember this one time when I was four and my mother found me under the desk surrounded and nearly covered in important papers that my dad had been working on. She was so angry at first but then I said, 'look mom, I'm helping dad,' and she just started laughing," I laughed out as I finish my story before passing my dad's office.
"It sounds like you had a pretty fun childhood," Dark laughed with me.
My laughter began to slowly die as I thought back on my earlier memories. What Dark said was sort of true in a sense. My childhood was fun for a bit. My parents and I would play sometimes and go places, but slowly as I got older my parents had to leave more and more for work until by the age of six they were practically living at work and were never around anymore.
Things were just never the same anymore; even after… even after the night they had only stuck around for a couple weeks before leaving again. Was I really that bad of a child? Bad enough that my parents didn't even want to be around me anymore?
Dark must have noticed my change in mood because one second I'm worrying about why my parents weren't around and the next my mind was blank as I felt warm lips attach to my mouth. Darks, lips moved against mine, not demanding or pushing so much as it was just there, a pleasant pressure to focus on. I leaned into the kiss, deepening it a little more before we both pulled away. I looked up at Dark, seeing the smile that now graced his beautiful face.
"Come on, you haven't even shown me the gardens yet," Dark beamed, pulling be towards the back porch sliding doors that lead to the back yard and the gardens.
All thoughts about my parents and childhood were thrown out the window as Dark and I ran though the back door and past the patio that marked the back porch. We ran and laughed together as we moved about the back yard, almost as if we were playing a game together.
We stopped after a few minutes by a swing that hung off one of the orchid trees. It was white and wooden, with seat cushions and a roof type hanging above that stopped the rain from ruining the seats. We both sat down on it and looked back out at the flowers and bushes that were arranged about the yard. The cherry blossoms were in bloom and there were little insects that flew about in the air.
Dark was still holding my hand in his as we leaned against each other, just smiling and looking at the beauty of nature. Dark began to slightly push the ground with his feet, making the swing move slightly back and forth, setting a slow rhythm.
I let my feet slightly brush the grass as the swing moved, feeling the blades tickle the bottom of my feet. Looking down at Dark and my hands I moved my thumb so that it rubbed circles on the back of his hand.
After a moment Dark leaned his head down so that it was lying on top of my own. We stayed that that, just feeling the swing swaying and leaning on each other. I felt so content, just sitting here with Dark. I remember sitting here before, many times in fact, but never had I felt quite so relaxed sitting here as I did now.
Time passed by us as we just sat here, taking in each other. After a few minutes Dark began to ask what each flower in the garden was and I would answer back. I took to learning all of the flowers' names that were put in the garden since this was where I spent most of my time.
There was actually a gardener that worked on the week days between noon and five who I would talk with on occasion. He would ask what flowers I would like planted each year to replace the ones that died over the winter and I would talk to him while he worked. Sometimes I would join him as we swapped stories.
There were not a lot of people that worked in the estate but the ones that did were always nice. I would talk with them sometimes when I was feeling particularly lonely and help them with their jobs around the house. There was Lynne who practically lived here with me, Minoru the gardener, Osamu who was the house keeper and made sure that the house was clean, and Masahiro who was the head of security around the house.
Minoru was about middle aged and was married with a five year old and a second child on the way. He was nice and had short-cropped, dirt blonde hair and brown eyes. His hands were hard and he had a dark tan from working in the sun all day.
Osamu was old and widowed with three sons and six grandchildren already. Despite his age the house was never dirty and he always seemed to enjoy his work. I once asked him why he was working here and he said that when he was growing up he used to work for my grandfather doing the same job. He said that he loved his work and that to serve for the Niwa family was a privilege for him. I never asked any further than that and he didn't seem to mind.
Masahiro was the only other person who practically lived in the house besides Lynne. He was tall and intimidating but was actually one of the nicest people I have ever met. He was quite young, only in his late twenties. His hair was black and was only an inch long, with a cowlick in the front that Lynne called "adorable". His eyes were dark blue and despite his young age he already had laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. Outside of security Masahiro was also my bodyguard outside of school and home. I didn't leave the house much but when I did and I needed a car Masahiro would drive me and keep watch over me from a safe distance.
Unfortunately, or fortunately for me in my case with my first date, Masahiro was doing some maintenance work on the security cameras outside the house that day so when I told him about the date in town square he wasn't really listening and Lynne said that since it was such a populated area and that I was meeting Dark there that I would be fine without a chaperone for one night.
That was not going to be the case tonight however. Masahiro was going to drive us to the pier that the fair was going to be at and he was going to be watching us from a distance. He knew that this was actually a date between Dark and me so he promised that he wouldn't interrupt and that he would try not to be seen too much. He also promised that he wouldn't tell my parents about me and my boyfriend so long as we kept it PG around him.
Sometimes I think Masahiro and Lynne talk and share stories with each other about us. Almost like parents that are sharing stories about their children.
Before I knew it Dark and I had spent nearly two hours talking and sitting on the swing. Finally Lynne called for us from the back door, letting us know that it was 3:30 and that we should start getting ready for the fair.
I groaned out loud at the thought of having to get up and leave this perfect spot but I knew that I didn't want to miss going to the fair. Dark chuckled at my plight before standing up, pulling me along with him. The swing let out a slight squeak from the release of weight on the springs.
"What's the matter? Don't want to go to the fair with me?" Dark asked jokingly as we headed inside.
"No, I do, it's just… I mean, we were having such a good time," I nearly whined. I didn't of course, because I'm almost a grown man and men don't whine.
Dark squeezed my hand that he was still holding before speaking again, "that doesn't mean we won't have a good time at the fair."
"I know," I said, "I just- it was nice was all."
"It was, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, we should do it again sometime," I suggested.
"Of course, I think we should do that every day."
"You think?"
"Yeah, it was nice," Dark said with a smiled aimed at me. I smiled back at him feeling my heart skip a beat at the implied meaning of us being together every day.
We reached our rooms where we finally let go of each other's hands, not wanting to but having to anyway to get ready for tonight.
I quickly got ready by using the bathroom and changing my outfit for something a little heavier since it usually got colder at night. I brushed my teeth again and combed my hair before I deemed myself ready. I was now sporting a nice light green fleece jacket and a pair of dark blue jeans.
Looking in the mirror on the back of my door I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I can do this. We are going to the fair and Dark and I are going to have fun. With those words in my head I left my room and met up with Dark at the bottom of the stairs. He was now wearing a white shirt with a black jacket over it left unzipped with black slacks on. His dark hair was pulled back into a low ponytail with a few strays left out that framed his face perfectly. The white t-shirt was a little night on him and stretched across his chest, showing off his pectoral muscles.
I gulped at the sight before me as I descended the stairs, getting closer to him. He smiled at me as if he wasn't just sort of god standing in the middle of my home.
"Ready to go?" He asked, his striking voice snapped me out of my daze.
"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm ready to go," I said, trying to keep up with the conversation. "Um, where's Masahiro? He should be here by now to drive us there."
"I'm here," a deep voice said from behind me. I turned around and watched as Masahiro walked over to us, Lynne not far behind him. "Just letting Lynne know that we we're leaving now and that she now has the rest of the night off."
"That's nice, what do you plan on doing tonight Lynne?" I asked, knowing that Lynne didn't get too many days off since she cooked all day and cleaned on the weekends to let Osamu have those days off.
"Oh, I don't know. Probably just stay in and watch a movie or something," Lynne said, waving a hand in the air as if to shoo them out the door. "Don't worry about me, you boys should be gone by now to have fun and eat junk foods."
"Alright, but you really should have fun too you know," I said teasingly as all three of us guys left for the car in the drive way.
"Oh, hush you. Who says I can't have fun just by being indoors?" Lynne laughed from the doorway as she watched us leave. "Now, you boys have lots of fun while you're gone and don't come back till you've at least eaten your weight in junk food."
"If you say so Miss Lynne," Masahiro said as he held the back seat door open for Dark and Me.
"See you later Lynne, have a nice night," Dark waved before ducking inside the car.
"Goodnight Lynne, see you tomorrow," I almost hollered to her.
"Be safe Daisuke, I'll see you boys in the morning," She answered back, a smile nearly taking her whole face. "You too Mr. Masahiro. Don't get into too much trouble while you're away and try to have fun as well. You'll be at a fair, take advantage of that."
"As you wish Miss. Lynne," Masahiro answered back, a smile on his face. "Have a nice night." I watched the two smile at each other as Masahiro closed the car door after I sat down in the back seat next to Dark.
Masahiro moved around to the front of the car and took his seat behind the week. We all buckled in before Masahiro pulled out of the driveway. I looked out of the back window and watched at the image of a waving Lynne got smaller and smaller till we turned and she disappeared.
I turned back around in my seat and just barely noticed Masahiro's eyes looking through the rearview mirror before he looked back towards the road. I looked over towards Dark to notice him smiling at me. We were now on our way to the fair and Dark and my second date.
