Holiday Hangout


Kairi

Finally the holidays came, and Dark seemed to appear more often than ever. The way Daisuke had thrown himself at the concert project had been almost frightening. (Technically, that concert had heralded the beginning of the holidays.)

My leg still bothered me somewhat; it was hard to walk without a limp. The police, after having someone check me over and ask me questions about the missing necklace, left me alone.


I wobbled out and looked around at the sky. "So beautiful…and now I can enjoy it without worrying about being late for school. At least I hurt my leg at the beginning of holidays, so I don't have any problems there." Then I stared off in the direction of Daisuke's house. "I wonder how he's doing. Something's been bothering him, and it wasn't…" I touched my lips with a small smile, "that kiss or two."

Back to reality. "I wonder if I should visit him, and see how he's doing."

The thought was parent to the deed. My own parents don't really do much for the holidays, so I had free rein, especially once I turned fifteen.


I had to walk to his house; since the Horn of Neptune incident, I had yet to find my bike. I'd left it somewhere out near the beach and with school and all, I hadn't had time to go find it again. That was probably the only inconvenient part of Dark flying me home: losing my bike.

I swear, it took me an hour to get to Daisuke's house, and it normally takes me only ten minutes. When I got there, the Haradas were parked outside!

"Hey, Riku!" I peeked in the window. It was the first I'd seen them since the concert. "Trouble?"

She glared at Risa, who'd just gotten out. "Risa's bag was too heavy for the car, and we broke down."

"Oh." I sighed, leaning on the car. "I can't believe how long her infatuation's lasting. I figured out weeks ago that flirting with the mystery guy is okay, but you can't take him home with you."

"Oh, she knows that. She's planning on following him everywhere instead of taking him home."

I rolled my eyes. "The last time I saw her anywhere near Dark during one of his excursions, she was wearing a skirt and heels. She doesn't know the first thing about adventuring."

"What were you doing out there?" Riku got out and looked at me.

"Don't ask."

Risa filled her in. "She'd gotten stuck in a trap. Mister Dark rescued her, and she was staying with him until he could get her out."

"And what happened to your leg?"

I was wondering how long it'd take Riku to notice I was favoring my left leg. "I tripped over something after the concert."

"Ow. Is it okay?" That was Risa, actually.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. I technically shouldn't have been walking on it, but I wanted to visit Daisuke. He's seemed bothered by something lately."

"Hmm…" Riku again.

Mister Niwa invited us in. "Kairi, you shouldn't be walking around with your leg like that!"

"Like I didn't already know that – yes, sir." Gotta remember to be polite, even if I'd been in the sun too long. "I just wanted to visit."

"Hold on," Risa pointed at him while looking at me, "how does he know you got hurt?"

I shrugged. "He helped me get home after the concert."

"Oh."

Then Daisuke walked in, still half-asleep. "I slept way too late today. Why didn't you wake me up, Mom?"

Oh, this'll be good.

As soon as he realized the Harada twins were sitting there staring at him, he freaked out and ran back out into the inner sanctum of his house.

I snickered a little. "We startled him. He'll be back."

Riku looked at me with narrowed eyes. "I don't think it's that funny."

"I'm sorry…it's just that…no, it's not that funny. I just can't help it!"

After – I suspected – a conversation with Dark, Daisuke managed to come back into the room. By this point, the twins had figured out that this was his house.

"You've been here before and you knew it was Niwa's house?" Risa asked me. "Why didn't you tell us before?"

"You didn't ask me."

"Hello, Harada Sisters. Hello, Miss Chiyoko – how's your leg?"

"Better, thanks for asking."

Then Mio Hio came blasting through the door. I startled up to my feet, putting my full weight on both legs. "What's she doing here – ow!" I sat down again. "It still hurts to put pressure on that leg!"

"Oh?" Mio looked up. "Why, Kairi, what happened?"

"You want the actual story? I got spooked after the concert, I was running with low visibility and tripped over the rail that keeps cars from driving off the road and over a cliff." Okay, I ended up in a bad mood thanks to Mio's appearance. I just don't like her.

At any rate, I got a chorus of "WHAT?" from all three girls.

"How did you survive that?" Mio asked, finally getting off of Daisuke.

I glanced at Risa. "Okay, take a guess." What with what was always on her mind right now, she'd probably land on the actual story.

Risa was quiet for a couple of seconds. Then she gave me a starry-eyed expression. "Mister Dark saved you?"

"Got it in one. He saved me from falling and tended to my leg. Then he left me where Niwa would find me, and Niwa got me home." Mostly true, anyway.

"Wow! Now I know he'll make a great husband!"

Gag me with a hairball.

Then Mio decided to cook some food for Daisuke. Honestly, I didn't think she should be trusted to feed Wiff, let alone Dai.

Then Riku went charging into the kitchen to compete against Mio for Daisuke's heart. I fell over sideways on the sofa and started talking to the ceiling. "Mio and Riku both seem to want Daisuke, Risa definitely wants Dark…and I don't seem to have any boy on my horizon who's even remotely close to being interesting."

Then chaos sounded in the kitchen. It sounded like Miss Niwa had set training traps for Daisuke and clean forgotten about mentioning it.


Finally, some food was prepped. I wasn't hungry, not really, and after a certain point, everyone forgot I was there.

Well…almost everyone.

"So, Kairi," Risa leaned over to me. "Mister Dark told me about the curse on your family."

"Huh?" Riku came over and sat down on my other side. "Kairi's got a curse?"

"Mm-hmm! It's an awful curse that means she'll never get to see Phantom Dark!"

"Not clearly, anyway," I added. "Whenever he appears, my sight goes blurry, or I even go blind."

"Which happened on the night of the concert?" Risa went on to her question.

"Hm? Oh…first my sight went blurry, and that was when I got spooked. I got outside and then went blind. My sight didn't come back even remotely until…" I stopped. How do I explain Krad?

"Well?" Risa prompted.

"Until I'd been carried in Dark's arms for a while."

"Oooh!" I'd just sent Risa off to Dreamland.

I rolled my eyes at Riku.

"You're awfully close to Dark, you know," Riku commented after their driver took their car to the repair shop.

"I think he feels kind of guilty about the curse," I stared at the ceiling again.

We went up to see Daisuke's room. Mio was poking her nose around everywhere.

Then I looked at Daisuke and started counting down on my fingers. He looked confused for a second. Then he looked almost panicked.

Three…two…one…

Mio opened the closet. "Whoa-oh! Daisuke!"

My black dress was hanging there, and sitting next to it was the picture of me, not quite done.

She pulled out the dress and picture. "This is, like, so exquisite! Kairi, is it yours?"

I rolled my eyes. "Well…yes. I'd asked Dai – um…Niwa to paint a picture of me that looked mysterious. I've been coming to his house to pose for him pretty often."

"I can see that!" She was studying the painting some more.

Risa suddenly got an Enlightened look on her face. "That's why you knew this was Niwa's house!"

Riku looked at the dress. "This looks familiar…you wore this at the concert, didn't you?"

"Yeah, the favor I'd wanted to ask Niwa was if I could get ready at his house. I've seen no point in taking the dress home with me when I'm currently only really wearing it to pose for him."

Daisuke finally found the courage to speak up on the subject. "She's, um, a great model, and I wouldn't mind painting some other picture of her later."

That was the first I'd heard him say that, and I smiled at him. "Thanks, Niwa."

Then we went out on the balcony. I sighed. The breeze was so nice, and I couldn't help but think of all those times – well, okay, one time – when Dark flew me over to this very spot.

Then we went back in. By that time, Daisuke's mom was back.

"Hello, girls. How's that leg, Kairi?"

I was semi-balancing on one foot at that moment. "Okay, I guess."

"Well, you shouldn't go standing around all day like a stork! Come on, sit down!"


So I got to sit outside while everyone else prepared a barbeque supper. I'll admit, it was pretty fun to hang out there while others were around.

"Um…Miss Chiyoko?"

I glanced up. Daisuke was just looking at me, and none of the other girls were in sight. "Yeah, what's up?"

"It's just…um…the light's so perfect right now…"

I smiled at him. "You want to finish the painting, is that it?"

"Yeah, and what with the way the sunset's shining in your eyes right now..." he blushed a little.

"Do you want me in the dress?"

"No! No, that's okay. I've only got the face left to do, so you don't need the dress."

"Okay, you get the stuff while I get comfortable."


Mio left around the time cake was brought out, and by that point, the painting was mostly done.

"I'll come get some as soon as I've finished this."

Risa and Riku both looked over Daisuke's shoulders as he put some finishing touches on the painting.

"That's beautiful, Niwa." Since I was staring at some spot on the roof, I never saw who said that.

"Thanks, Miss Harada." And that gave me no clues who it was.

I went over to look at it as soon as he gave me the okay about moving. He'd captured my dark side! "Thank you, Daisuke."

He acted a little embarrassed. Okay, it was a lot embarrassed. "Oh, it was nothing."

Then I sat back down on the edge of the balcony.

"You know," Risa came over with some cake for me and sat down next to me, "I bet if a lot of boys saw that painting, you'd have a boyfriend before you knew it!"

"Yeah, but…" I stared out at the ocean, "do I really want a boy who only cares about what I look like? I want someone who's honest…who cares about who I am…who's sweet and sensitive…and doesn't care that I'm cursed."

"Oh." Then Risa asked, "Do you think Mister Dark counts on any of those?"

I cocked my head. "In my mind he fills all those points except the one about the curse. He cares; he still sort of feels that he's responsible."

Daisuke fills all those points…but I know that for some reason I don't love him that way. Will I find anyone who's like Daisuke and Dark combined?