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Dark/Daisuke POV

After plucking the clear plastic straw from the drain I return to my mom's side. It's plain to see that Hiwatari is still out of the loop. He seems listless. My guess is he's not even aware of us right now. Having low blood pressure must be horrid. If I had it, I'd probably be dead by now. Dodging traps is a constant must even if you're still half asleep. Hmm... Musing silently to myself, I hand over the straw and return to my seat. Deciding to grab it rather than sit, I take it over to the left of my mom. This puts me at a good reaching distance in case an extra hand is needed.

"Mom?" I ask softly, not wanting to chance alarming Hiwatari should he become aware.

"Yes, Dai?" She begins stirring the drink with the straw. For some reason as I look at the fluid whirling I feel queasy. I've tried that before somewhere... Maybe it'll come to me later. Not a pleasant taste to it, that much I'm sure of.

"Can you pull out your chair a little so I'll have a better angle for assisting?"

She takes another moment getting things positioned on the table, then she pushes backwards in her seat with Hiwatari braced in both arms.

"You know, you may feel lost and confused about yourself at the moment," she looks over at me, "but you're still my sweet Dai-chan." Her face shows a wide grin as mine blushes warmly before she turns her attention back to Hiwatari.

"Now, if you want to help," she repositions the bundle, "then somehow try to get him to drink before he catches on to what we're doing," she finishes with a hint of amusement.

"Alright." I reach and grab the cup with the straw. Staring down at Hiwatari, I wonder what I can do. I'm scared that he'll be very angry at me for this. Though, I'm only trying to help him. Okay, he's still zoned out. If I can just part his lips easily, then put the straw through, maybe he'll automatically start drinking it. Long shot, but it's the best I've got for the most part.

I easy my free hand towards his face only to jump before I touch him. His eyes had focused for an instant and he'd followed my movements. I frown. Not good. If there's some awareness already then shouldn't he be protesting? Maybe something else is wrong with him.

I look up to my mom. She just tilts her head, gesturing for me to proceed. Well, if she isn't worried. Again, I reach out with a free hand, but before reaching his lips I put my palm to his forehead. Just making sure that he doesn't have a fever. That would indicate something is wrong... He doesn't have a fever at all. Instead, he feels way too cold. Softly, he sighs. I pause for a moment, watching before resuming my original agenda.

Nervous as ever, I try to stop shaking long enough to easily part his lips. They really are parched. Inserting the straw gently between, I pause again to wait for his reaction. My mom and I both wait silently. … Nothing. He's not drinking it at all. With eyes barely open, his gaze turns towards me, unfocused. I wiggle the straw just a little seeing if that will do, hoping to get his attention focused just enough to sip on it a bit. He just blinks softly and sticks the tip of his tongue against the straw to force it out.

Back to square one. How am I going to do this? My purple bang falls into sight again as I slouch dejectedly and take my arm back.

"Daisuke, want me to try?" Mom looks over at me. I shake me head.

"No. Let me try it once more, please." I'm afraid that she might decide this isn't working and bring out something bad, like a tube to force down his throat.

"Okay," she sighs disappointedly. From my side grandpa chuckles again. I've yet to hear another page be turned. Maybe he's amused by this?

Think, Daisuke. How can you get him to drink? … Taking my unsteady hand, I motion his lips apart for a second time. This time, however, he pulls away from me. Emotion is starting to cross his face. Better hurry. I'm not sure where I know this from, but if he wakes up fully I'll never be able too help him properly.

For a third time his lips are parted as his face is carefully watched. Moving the cup to the table with my other hand, I use my finger to plug the straws tip. Keeping the liquid inside the small tube, I place it to his mouth. Releasing the straw's tip brings the small amount of fluid into him. At the same time, I take my free hand and soothe his throat into a swallowing motion.

Making eye contact with him to gauge his reaction shows nothing, but after a second I smile as his head tips back a little and he swallows.

"Finally," my mom breathes. "We may yet get this to work." She grins, then says happily, "A Niwa never gives up, right, Dai?" Nodding while still watching Hiwatari, I begin the process with the straw over again. And over again, until about the fourth time when Hiwatari makes a noise. Looking back into his eyes, anyone can see he's not happy... Confused and not happy. Slowly, he opens his mouth and closes it. Then, with hardly any force, he shudders with a frown. Then, I frown.

"Mom." ...

"Yes?"

"What does this taste like, anyway?" Glancing her direction and trying to keep a straight face at the same time shows she debating something.

"Well" she drags out. "That's a tough question. Taste is up to the individual after all." I close my eyes.

"It's horrible, isn't it?" I say. She as well as admitted it in her own way of speaking.

"For the most part, yes. But, it's very easy on the stomach and great for re-hydration. It's a great Niwa secret that was developed by one of our own generations ago. Oh, don't give me that pout. Satoshi will survive. It doesn't have that much of a taste actually. Being mostly made up of water it's kind of deluded. But, it is somewhat bitter and has that metallic iron taste in it."

Now it's my turn to shudder. It sounds as if it would taste like plasma. Before opening my eyes, which had closed on account of the shudder, she speaks again.

"Daisuke, you may want to either continue, or move." Jumping out of my musing long enough to concentrate, I see my mom looking rather amused. Tilting my head in question, she continues.

"He's coming round. I'm thinking you might want to go ahead and move and let me deal with him." Taking the hint, I move to return the chair to its proper place. No sooner do I adjust the chair, a series of small growls starts issuing from around the table. Something has Hiwatari mad. Oh boy, not good! Mom and him might get into a rough spat here in a minute.

"Shush, Satoshi. You're okay, I have you," she says very softly and tenderly. Either he doesn't hear, or he doesn't understand. He keeps on growling, which steadily rises in volume and quickly alternates between frustrated, almost panicky noises. Why is he acting like this?

"Kyuu kyuu!" With pokes his head out from behind the table's leg. Huge ears are perked straight out on both sides, reminding me of wings for some odd reason.

"Do you know what's going on, With?" I ask, kneeling down next to him. I'm almost back to my previous position of earlier under here. That's when I notice the cloth hanging over the table's top for the first time. It's effectively covering the clear glass above. Shows how focused I was earlier. All I'd noticed was the food.

"Kyuu." With just fluffs his fur out and does a 180 degree turn to watch the action unfold. Perhaps he only wanted me down here with him? The growling from Hiwatari begins to lessen, but he starts to struggle weakly against the blanket and my mom.

"Satoshi! Calm down! We're not... going to... hurt... you!" she grunts out between his efforts. But, watching him it doesn't seem like he's afraid to me. It's more like he's fighting. The more I watch the look on his face, the more I'm sure of it. That's when a name comes to mind... Krad!

"Mom! Put him down!" Her attention hardly shifts to me.

"Why should I?" She stubbornly tries to hold on to the squirming bundle. It's as though he's trying to free his right arm desperately.

"Tch! Cause I believe Krad's about to come out for a second time today," I try to say calmly, but it comes out more like a feral growl.

All she does is stare under the table at me with a face that says, "You're way off," before resuming where she left off with Hiwatari. Well? Shoot! Now what am I suppose to do?

"If Krad were coming out his magic could easily be felt, Daisuke. So don't worry just yet," Grandpa claims after turning another thin page of the news. Everyone's so calm! Fine, let them see that terror again if they want to! I'll be ready for him this time!

Bracing myself for whatever lies ahead, I concentrate fully on the two in front of me. Blue hair begins to look even damper than it did. It sticks to him as he continues to squirm. If it were possible I'm sure he'd be thrashing by now. Worried, I ease under the table, heading towards them.

"Daisuke..." Mom says in a warning tone as I nearly come out from underneath the table close to her. Still crouching, I examine Hiwatari. The growls have nearly stopped, for which I'm grateful, and his movements are calming down rapidly; they're now only small jerks of his head from side to side. Only every now and then will his right arm jump in an effort to knock the blanket aside. Krad really isn't going to show up? Certainly his presences isn't here. Guess the little guy is only making such a fuss over being confined in a blanket. Afterbrushing stray strands of purple out of my face, I reach out.

Carefully, I ease a corner of the blanket free from its tucked in position. Hiwatari almost immediately jerks his right arm free. From there his hand goes to his face. A relieved sigh is barely audible as he makes to sit up straight. Mom doesn't stop him and soon he's clumsily hunched over in her lap. Transfixed, her and I stare as she loosely keeps her hold around him. So, does this mean Hiwatari's claustrophobic? For some reason that's hard to believe.

After a few more moments, he spreads his fingers open slowly and with one nearly focused eye, he peers around. Does he even remember what happened? I wonder. Understanding dawns fast on his face as the sleepiness recedes bit by bit. His eyes find mine and, locking on to them, he lets his arm fall limp by his side. Being knocked along with it, the top part of the once finely wrapped blanket pools neglected around his middle. I blink at the bruised circle that is revealed right in the middle of his chest. Lines that make no sense run through it and I wonder what caused them. A weary feeling runs through me at the sight, like a warning not to get too close to it.

"Dark? What are you doing?" His voice sounds rough, almost like he can't force air out quickly enough to form the words properly. He also has a bit of a wheeze.

I stand up abruptly, remembering that I'm still crouching. Unluckily, I forget about still being under the table.

"Ow!" My head crashes into the bottom of the table and Hiwatari stares as I fall down on my butt. I'm surprised that the glass doesn't break. Maybe it's made of that tempered stuff...

"Dai, are you alright?" Hiwatari emits a bewildered noise as my mom speaks. Guess he didn't notice her, or where he was sitting.

Watching on with watering eyes, he rotates to the left towards her. She just smiles and wraps him in a motherly hug.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Satoshi!" she cries happily. He grunts from the sudden pressure and she eases up on him a little. Using this as an opportunity, he maneuvers into a smooth slide out of her lap. Unluckily for him, the blanket keeps him from going much further than that. Instead of getting away like he'd no doubt intended, he ends up stumbling at the first contact with the floor and after a few uneasy attempts at correcting himself, he finally lands right next to me on his stomach, looking somewhat grouchy.

"Are you okay, Hiwatari?" I ask. He really should eat more, I think. He landed full force and I barely heard the smack against him and the floor.

"So, you really are Daisuke. What's the matter with you?" He sounds pained. Well, he did just take a fall after all. Combine that with his other injures... yeah... he's hurting.

"What do you mea-" I freeze as I hear a rolling sound coming from the table's surface above us. Oh no... It sounds like a glass must have tipped over up there.And it's moving towards our edge of the table. I look up at mom, then the table; which I can't see through because of the table's cloth; trying to have her tell me what it is. She gets the hint, checks, then smirks.

"It's the smelling salts, sweetie," she says in a upbeat tone with her eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Let's see if you can grab it as it falls. But remember it's still open so you'll have to be careful which side you catch upright." I grit my teeth in frustration and glance down at Hiwatari. He glances from my mother to me, then to the table, following the trail of the sound with his eyes.

Tch! Not bothering with mom's game I reach up top the table, trying to grab the elusive bottle. I end up hitting it once, knocking it towards a different direction. Darn it! Pressing myself against the table to allow for more reaching room, I blindly try to find the bottle. It's not hard with the noise it's making, but grabbing it's a different story.

About a few seconds later, my searching after it pays off and I firmly grasp it. I blow out a relieved breath. I really didn't want to smell that stuff if it crashed to the floor. Suddenly my hand gets grabbed. I snap my eyes up, finding my mom clenching it. Leaning from her chair, she tells me, "That wasn't in the rules."

Looking at her in disbelief, she yanks my hand roughly to the front and cracks my hand hard. I grit my teeth again as my fingers go numb and the bottle seems to drop in slow motion. (The kind of slow-mo that happens when you're watching something about to happen and your reflexes should have been enough to save it, but not quite. Sadly.)

Horrified, I use my left hand and attempt to catch it. But with her still grasping my right, it is too awkward for me and all I manage to do is shift it more towards Hiwatari. As it is falling I glance down at him. He looks annoyed, but calm enough. His gaze follows it coming at him and he frowns. He's not going to move in time. The bottle's either going to hit him, or smash right in front of him!

Hearing a small intake of breath, I watch as he pulls a hand over his mouth and nose. An instant later, the bottle smashes about five inches beside him. I breathe out another sigh of relief, then stop as I remember to hold my breath also. Great... time to move fast! A second after moving and Hiwatari is trying to move also. He's too weak to go far and only manages to roll onto his back. Quickly, I reach a hand to pull him up by an arm. Somewhere along the way he loses his breath and breathes. It's not a pretty picture... His face screws up and his eyes start watering, then his nose starts running. Twisting his face in agony, he starts going pale, dark circles start forming under his eyes and his nose turns a little red. Quickly, he looks away from me trying to hide it all.

And, how does stupid me take this? I bust out laughing from pure astonishment is what. Well, guess you know what happens. It's my turn with the smelling salts. And, WHOA! Do I get a whiff! Immediately I choke, going into spasms of coughing. Standing up fast to get away from the breathtaking scent doesn't help. Instead, I'm made dizzy from the quick motion along with lack of needed and much wanted fresh air. Seeing spots, my feet carry me backward and for some reason dumps me again on my behind. Hiwatari, with all his grace, can still manage expressions in his current condition. He looks at me with confusion before finally having the strength to roll out of salt smelling range and stands up, unwrapping the blanket from around him.

Right before my mom busts out laughing at us he pulls up to me and says, "You're not Daisuke." His eyes bore into my own. Now I'm highly confused.

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