A/N: First, I'd like to wish you all a very, merry Chirstmas! Secondly, I'd like to say that I'm very happy with this chapter! Hope you all enjoy it and review! Okay? Good! Well, once more, Merry Chirstmas and you may read...after the disclaimer...

Disclaimer: I will never own D.N.Angel, except when I buy the manga/DVDs and other stuff. So, now, on with the fic!


.:Chapter Eight : Apologies:.

Asazawa Kokoro looked just like Miyako, except with longer hair and darker eyes. Her hair and the eyes were not the only thing different: her body had more womanly curves than Miyako, her chest was larger, she was several inches taller and around 19 years old. But, other than just a physical appearance, Kokoro seemed much more sinister.

"My, my," she said with a slightly surprised face as she saw Satoshi staring at her. "No wonder my dear little Miyako-chan is in love with you. You are rather handsome."

Satoshi said nothing but glared at her. He did not really know how to react so he decided to be what his first emotion was: angry.

"Oh, come now, son," she said, frowning, "don't glare at me. You're burning a hole in my face."

Satoshi noticed something more: her way of speaking was almost like that of a person that lived around 100 years before since her Japanese was rather formal.

She was fumbling around with the necklace, smirking. She whispered something about it to herself in French, then sighed before reaching for the IV and starting to pull it out of her arm.

"Now," she said, after taking the IV off successfully, "will you be most kindest to let Krad out once more?"

"You know him?" Satoshi asked, rather surprised.

"Of course," she said, stepping towards him and bending close so that their faces were a few inches away from each other. Now he knew just how uncomfortable Miyako felt at school.

"So? Will you call him out?" she asked, waiting.

"No," Satoshi stated.

Kokoro pulled back away from him, and scoffed. "No?!"

"That's right."

"Ah, my dear, but you will let him out!" Kokoro laughed.

"I clearly told you that I would not--" Satoshi said, his head turning to look at her only to see her leaning out an open window. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Just making sure that you know what's at stake," she said as she pushed herself out of the window.

Before Satoshi could reach her Kokoro slipped out and jumped. He threw his head out the window and looked down, searching for her, but did not find her. If she really fell from the second story than she would have wound up on the alley just outside their window, but when he glanced down she was not there.

"Taketani!" He screamed, more worried about Miyako than Kokoro. "Taketani!"

A presence lurked behind him before there was only a cruel laugh that erupted from near the door. When he looked back he saw Kokoro standing there, smirking.

"You really are the dumbest child Krad has ever been stuck in."

Satoshi glared at her for a moment before the words really sunk in. She had known Krad, for what seemed like a long time. There was something that bothered him though…

"You seem to say nothing, but your looks say it all: you're angered by my appearance and by the fact that I am a friend of Krad's, right?" she asked, a look of knowing twinkled in her cruel eyes.

"Where's Taketani?" Satoshi asked, ignoring her, again.

"Oh, her?" Kokoro sighed, "she's been where I was: in a darker part of her soul, just like the place you go to when Krad takes over."

'So she is like Niwa and I,' Satoshi thought.

("Did I not tell you that before, Satoshi-sama?") Krad said inside his head suddenly.

"How do you know so much?" Satoshi asked, ignoring Krad's comment and focusing on Kokoro.

"I know so much because Krad has told me a lot the last time our paths had crossed," Kokoro said, smiling.

"Which was how many years ago?" Satoshi inquired.

"Well, er, about 100 years, but that's just a guess."

Something about this seemed rather strange. Here he was, talking with Kokoro about how she knew Krad rather than trying to come up with a plan to have her change back to Miyako.

"Pathetic," Kokoro said suddenly.

Satoshi looked at her and saw hate in her eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"I wonder how my dear Miyako and Krad put up with someone as pathetic and worthless as you."

The words hit him like a slap to the face. He had been told that he was not loved by the family several times because of the curse. Satoshi was used to being hated because of Krad. He was used to being alone and not wanted. But when told flat out, like Kokoro had just done, made him realize that he was not as good as he thought he was. Maybe he was...

"Aw…" Kokoro cooed, "are you going to cry?"

"No!" he snapped, anger replacing the short pang of despair and sadness.

"Sure looked like it," Kokoro said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, that's not at all what I was doing," Satoshi glared.

Kokoro was about to say something, but, instead, she moved closer towards Satoshi. Her hand reached for his neck and she gripped onto it so fast that Satoshi did not have anytime to react.

The nails that had also grown in length and become sharp, dug their way into his neck, making red marks appear around them. He grunted in pain as they dug in deeper.

"Now," Kokoro said coldly, "call out Krad!"

"No…" Satoshi managed to gasp out as his hand wrapped around Kokoro's wrist, trying to pull it off himself, but to no avail.

"Call him out now!" Kokoro said. No. She ordered.

This time though, Satoshi was unable to answer because of the fact that Kokoro's fury had caused her to tighten the grip around his neck more. He was having great difficulty breathing.

"Let…go…"he said between jagged breaths.

"Krad," she whispered, softly, almost sounding kind. Then she did something that surprised him.

As Kokoro continued to hold onto his neck, she loosened her grip slightly so that he was able to breath a little more properly than he had been. Satoshi had taken a few gasps of air before noticing that Kokoro was leaning closer towards him. Before he could speak, her lips pressed against his own and she placed a rather warm kiss on Satoshi.

His blue eyes widened as he stood there, frozen, unable to move. He felt nothing, yes, nothing, while the girl kissed him, but Krad screamed out, enraged.

("Get away from her!") he screamed at Satoshi. ("You can't kiss her!")

Satoshi tired to respond, but even his thoughts seemed to be jumbled.

("Damn it! Get away from her!") Krad screamed, louder this time.

It seemed like an eternity before Kokoro finally pulled away from the boy. Her green eyes met his blue ones and they widened.

"Shit…"

Then, without warning, her eyes glazed over and she fell forward, toppling onto Satoshi with a soft groan.

Not wanting to drop her, since she was still Miyako, he grabbed onto her, holding her with an arm around her waist. Something was odd, though, since the darkness that emanated from Kokoro was gone, almost instantaneously.

"Taketani?" Satoshi tried, hoping she had transformed back.

There was no response from the girl in his arms. Maybe she was just unconscious, as she had been moments before. But, odd enough, Krad had stopped screaming and had calmed.

"Ow…" came a soft moan from the girl after a moment.

He glanced down at her as she looked up. Their eyes met and he noticed that her eyes were back to that same light green that he had grown accustomed to.

"Hiwatari?" she asked.

"Hi," was all he could think of saying.

After a moment of studying his face, her eyes grew wide.

"Did you meet Asazawa?" she asked quickly.

Satoshi looked into her eyes, which were filled with despair, and said, "yes."

Miyako, stumbling around his hold, stood up properly and continued to stare at his face. As his arms slipped away from her, she reached for his face and put both her hands on his cheeks. She looked all over his face, his head, his torso, then…

"Oh, my God, you're bleeding!"

Satoshi stopped and looked at her. "Blood?"

"On you're neck!" she said, as she stared at said part of his body. "Don't tell me you didn't feel that."

Satoshi looked at her for a moment before glancing down at the floor. Miyako walked over to the door, pulled it open and called the first nurse she saw. The nurse, rushed in, quickly assessed the situation, then sighed, relieved that it wasn't that much blood, before telling them that she would be right back after getting some gauze.

The door slid shut again and the two students were left alone again.

"Taketani," Satoshi said after the moment of silence.

Miyako chuckled, not cruelly or anything like that, but in a way that it expressed her shock to the entire situation.

"What's so funny?" Satoshi asked.

"Everything." She sighed. "I mean, you and I started off hating each other, practically, yet here we are, both very similar in the fact that we both have alter egos who have known each other. The chances of this happening are very slim, close to nothing, and yet, that thing has happened to us."

"I really don't see what's so funny about all of this," Satoshi said, putting his hand around his wounds on his neck, finally being able to feel the blood dripping down.

How he hated feeling weak, especially in front of her. Satoshi looked down at the ground, ignoring the questioning look he got from Miyako. Footsteps got closer and once they stopped he felt a warm hand placed over his own.

Her hand, he noticed, was gentle and warm. Something inside of him--either his own emotions or Krad--stirred in a strange way, which made him rather uncomfortable.

"Hiwatari, I'm really sorry for letting her hurt you," Miyako said suddenly. "I should have done my best to control that witch."

Satoshi chuckled suddenly.

"Hiwatari?" she asked, looking at him, perplexed.

"You really are--"

The door slid open and in came the same nurse they had called moments before. She carried a first aid box with her and she stepped towards them, but she stopped, noticing the way the two middle school students were looking at each other.

Before she had a chance to leave, Miyako called out to her and told her that she needed to close the wounds, though very simple, quickly because she was scared of it getting infected.

"Of course," the nurse said, trying to sound understanding but it came out rude. Miyako understood why. The nurse was supposed to know more about this than her and if she's being told by a fourteen year-old how to do her job, well, than, that's just pathetic.

As the nurse began to clean Satoshi's wounds, she glanced back at Miyako.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" she asked.

Miyako stared at her for a moment before realizing it: she was a patient there.

"Oh, well, erm, I guess I'm feeling better," Miyako said, scratching the back of her head.

"Then, will you be checking out soon?"

Miyako glanced at Satoshi, asking him for a silent answer, but when she got none, she said, "Very soon."

The nurse did not say a reply, but she did smile at Miyako. Not wanting to seem rude, Miyako smiled back at her before sitting back down on her bed.

.:With Dark and Daisuke:.

"It's strange" Dark said as they flew through the skies towards their destination.

("What do you mean, Dark?") Daisuke asked him.

"There are millions of guards and they are just guarding some fake locket." Dark pointed out to his young tamer.

("Fake?")

Dark nodded. He landed on the roof of a building and Wiz transformed back from his wings into his rabbit form.

("Then if the fake one is at the museum, where's the real one?")

"Heh, you haven't figured it out, Dai-chan?" Dark asked.

Daisuke just looked at him, rather confused. How he hated being left in the dark about things.

"You know that girl, Taketani?" Dark asked the red-head, who nodded in agreement. "She has it."

Daisuke stopped to think for a second. He had seen pictures of it, then stopped, once remembering of the heart-shaped locket he had shown her at Hiwatari's home a few days before. That's when it hit him.

("Was it that necklace that she--?")

"Wait!" Dark whispered, and crouched down low beneath the half-wall that was on the edges of the building. They both looked down towards the door in which two people came through.

("Is that Hiwatari and Taketani?") Daisuke asked Dark.

Dark nodded in response then smirked. "Look at that, she still has the locket. What luck."

With that Dark jumped down into the alley, got into position, and waited in the shadows for a time to strike.

.:With Satoshi and Miyako:.

They had finally gotten out of the hospital building after a few hours. The sun had set just a few moments before and it was just a few minutes before Dark had said he would steal the locket. Something told her that she would not make it home that night and so she had decided to call Yukio just in case.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Satoshi asked her as she handed him back his phone.

She looked at him and smiled. "Yep!"

"You're might get hurt and--"

Miyako walked over towards him and stopped right in front of him, placing her hands on his hips and said, "I'm tough and I can take on Dark!"

The look Satoshi gave her was that of disbelief. But, before he could say anything to her he pushed her towards the wall, making her grunt in pain from the impact.

"Hiwa--"

"Shh!" he ordered.

Miyako blinked and stared at him. She noticed him walking over towards the alley that was next to the alley between the hospital and the building next to it. She followed him, but kept a distance.

"What's there?" she asked him in a whisper.

("I have a bad feeling about this,") Kokoro said darkly.

The voice startled Miyako and she jumped once hearing her voice. "Ah! What the--?"

"Quiet!" Satoshi ordered, but it was in vain.

The next second that followed was all a blur: there was a flash of purple and black, a laughing male voice, followed by a scream from Miyako.

"Man, you guys are really not getting any better at this," Dark laughed.

Satoshi looked over at Dark only to see that he was holding onto Miyako, who was squirming under the thief's hold.

"Dark, let go of her," Satoshi said, glaring at him.

"Sure, but only after I take Kokoro's heart," Dark grinned.

With his free hand he reached for the locket, only to be stopped when he felt a warm hand rather than the cold metal of the locket. He was about to pull her hand away when he felt a pain in the hand he was using to cover the girl's mouth.

"Ah!" he cried as he pulled his hand away from her mouth. He glanced down at the palm of his hand and saw a bite mark there. "She bit me."

"Hiwatari!' she cried as she ran towards Satoshi. Once she made it behind him, he placed his left hand out in front of Miyako as a form of protection.

Dark put his hand back at his side and looked past Satoshi, at Miyako. "Come on, girly, just hand over the locket and I'll leave you in peace."

"There's no way I'll give you this!" she shouted.

"You can't be serious." Dark laughed, looking from one to the other.

"It's mine and I'll never give it to anyone! Especially you!"

Dark stopped and stared. A smirk appeared on his face. "Fine, then, I guess I'll have to take it by force."

He ran towards the two, and jumped up in front of them, preparing to land next to Miyako and steal the locket. Satoshi quickly read his attack and shoved Miyako out of the way as he ducked away from Dark as well. Dark landed, turned to face Satoshi and then Miyako.

"Run!" Satoshi shouted at Miyako.

Miyako hesitated, but when she saw Dark coming after her, she got up, forced herself to move and ran down the streets--which were empty, thank god.

"Hey!" Dark snapped, trying to run after the girl.

"No you don't!" Satoshi screamed.

Suddenly Dark was frozen, his body suspended in midair, an invisible hand tightening around his entire body. God, how he hated the brat for this.

"You," Dark glared at the bluenette, "let me go!"

"No," Satoshi said, holding the white feather in front of his face. "You are my prey, and I am supposed to capture you. Now that that's happened I will take you to--Miyako, what the hell are you doing?"

Miyako had come back, running towards them. She was holding onto something, something rather large and sharp. It took Satoshi another second look at to figure out that she had somehow managed to get a hold on a sword.

"Taketani!" Satoshi screamed, shocked.

But the shout did not slow her down. Miyako ran faster towards Dark, drawing out her sword.

"You're dead, Dark!" she shouted.

Just as she was about to stab the thief, he fell down, freed from Satoshi's hold, and jumped up into the sky, away from her reach. Noticing that she was going to end up hitting Satoshi rather than Dark, Miyako twisted her sword downward and away from Satoshi.

"Damn it!" Miyako cursed.

She looked upward and saw Dark falling down, his leg aiming for either her, or Satoshi, or both. Miyako put up the sword as a shield, and when Dark landed on the flat edge of the blade she pushed upward making him fall back.

Once he landed on his feet, Miyako charged at him, a war cry erupting from her. As she swung her sword again towards him she wound up missing for he dodged her blow once more. She chased after Dark, swinging again and again, but missing each time.

"Damn!" she panted, stopping for a brief moment to catch her breath.

"Now," Dark told himself and pulled out a black feather.

Miyako, who was momentarily distracted, did not notice the action until it was already done: Dark put the feather to the sword and it transformed back into the small locket which was Kokoro's heart and fell to the floor.

"No!" Miyako gasped.

All three of them reached for the necklace, simultaneously. But Miyako and Satoshi were too slow and Dark snatched it up before they got near enough to it.

"Ha!" he cried in triumph as he stood up before the two, a grin on his face. "It's finally mine!"

"No, give it back!" Miyako shrieked.

"Nope, I think I'll keep it," Dark grinned and called out to Wiz, who immediately transformed into his black wings and attached to his back. "Thanks," he said before jumping into the air and flying away.

"Dark!" Satoshi screamed, enraged.

The thief had gotten away again. How it made Satoshi angry: every time that he had Dark so close, so very close, the thief managed to slip away from his grasp. Satoshi clenched his fist, trying to control his anger.

"Damn it," he murmured under his breath.

There was a soft sob coming from Miyako, which caused him to break out of his trance. He turned and looked at her, with a raised eyebrow.

"Taketani?" he called out, while he walked towards her.

"I-I can't believe I lost it."

"Come on," Satoshi said, kneeling down in beside her. "It's useless and--"

"It may be useless and a burden, but," she sobbed, hugging her shoulders. "But I made a promise to Angel to always wear it and protect and now I-I--"

Satoshi glared at her as she hiccupped and sobbed harder. He was fed up with the fact that Miyako kept mentioning that girl, Angel, over and over again, but never actually told her anything other than the fact that she was a Hikari.

"Taketani," he snapped. "Tell me about her."

"But--"

"Tell me."

Miyako stared at him for a while, her body shaking. Her lips trembled, the answer coming out as a soft gasp.

"Okay."

.:End of Chapter:.


A/N: Ahh, another chapter done! Yay! But, so mysterious, don't you think? The locket, Kokoro, and Angel--Who are they and what's their role in the entire story? Well, if I get--hmm--oh, let's say 2-3 reviews I'll hurry up and post chapter 9, and it'll be very soon cuz I've already started working on it! So, the more reviews, the more motivation for moi, and the faster you'll find out some of the secrets to this story. Okay? So, yeah. Happy Holidays!