A/N: This is the new chapter you all have been waiting for, and I hope you like it. CHAPTER NINE HAS A NEW ENDING. Please be sure to check it out.

Golden week for Krad had actually started on time that year. He'd gotten everything done, or ready to be accomplished in the comfort of his own home, by noon, and continued to hang around the office simply because it was bad form to be the first on to go. So, seeing as he was stuck, he checked his e-mail.

Since it was empty, he checked it again, and this time was rewarded with a message.

HeY KraD

wEn r u GeTtInG hOmE?? R u coOkin 2DaY? WaTs 4 DinEr?

dARk

Krad frowned. Dark had been spending much too long on the internet.

Dark,

I will be home when I am finished with work. It is your turn to cook, so what we have for dinner is entirely up to you. I only ask that you make something I will actually eat this time.

Thank you in advance,

Krad

He sent the message and like magic, a new one came in.

kk Y U tAlKin lyk Dat? O.o

Maybe Americans really were violent, because Krad suddenly had the strong urge to shoot his roommate in the face.

5 pm had him on the train coming home, 5:03 pm had him asleep on that train, and 5:04 had him jolted awake by mysterious vibrations in his pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and read the message.

u on ur way yet

Krad rolled his eyes.

Yes, I just got on the train. I'll be there in about an hour and a half.

A message came back.

k

Krad closed his eyes, leaned back, and fell right back to sleep. When he had first arrived in Japan, he hadn't understood how all those salary-men had been able to sleep through the announcements, rumbling of the train, and constant movement of people, to wake up precisely at the right stop, but now all those distractions were a soothing lullaby. The swaying of the train and the small jolts it made as it traveled down the rail created a fine cross between a swing and a massage chair, and all the background noise drowned out his own thoughts until it was nothing more than a soft melody lulling him to sleep.

He didn't even have to deal with people sitting next to him. The fact that he was white and just plain different from everyone else seemed to automatically turn into a two-foot, Japanese-free radius in which only other foreigners trespassed.

Although sometimes, he forgot he was originally American and was startled to see a foreigner. He'd been surprised by his own reflection before, and had to remind himself that the intimidating outsider in the window was himself.

He woke up just as the train was pulling up to his stop and began to fight his way drowsily to the exit. The train pulled away and he exited the station and hunkered down for the long walk home. If he didn't want to have to pay for gas, and wasn't so against fighting Japanese traffic two ways daily, he'd just take his own car, but that was just too inconvenient. Besides, he didn't even know if there was a place to park near the office.

His phone vibrated.

u home yet

Krad didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed.

No, not yet.

Krad came home to crashing noises. He was used to hearing such sounds when Dark managed to sneak into the kitchen, but these crashes were different. He slipped off his shoes quietly and slowly deposited his keys in the basket by the door. The noises stopped for a minute and Krad listened for them to start again before retrieving the broom from the closet. He didn't know where Dark was just yet, but if the robber was still there, it could mean Dark was in trouble. It didn't matter too much so long as Dark was still alive. He'd kill whatever bastard dared to invade his apartment.

He made it to the hall and again, the noises stopped. He froze and listened again. There was a voice and the noises started again. Krad felt the emotion drain from him slowly. Dark's room. The bastard was in Dark's room.

His heart pounded in his ears and his hands felt cold as he reached for the handle. His breathing quickened and adrenaline flushed his system, but he hesitated. He hesitated, and he felt really stupid, because just then, he swore he could hear Dark's voice in all the scuffling. Krad frowned. Dark sounded like he was in pain.

With a shout, Krad flung open the door and charged into the room, to find something he was not expecting.

"Krad! That you?"

"Dark," he knew his roommate was a moron, but this was reaching new levels. "Do you want to tell me how you got stuck like that in the dresser?" Dark's voice was muffled by the thick wood as he was folded up with only his back end sticking out of the spot where the bottom drawer usually went.

"Well, I was reading this Fung Shui book, and–"

"Never mind." Krad decided he really didn't want to know. "Let's just get you out of there."

It had taken half an hour to get Dark out of the dresser, but only fifteen minutes for the take-out to arrive. They ate, watched a bit of TV, then after Dark took off to see if he could snipe the shower before other residents of their floor got to it, Krad pulled out his laptop. Golden Week or not, he still had work to do. Foreign business associates didn't quite know about the sanctimony of Golden Week, so he had to be prepared to appease them should any problems arise.

He was halfway through the Power-point he'd be using on Saturday, when a slightly damp hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Krad," suddenly, Krad felt like child caught in the cookie jar except for the fact that work was most definitely not like cookies, "What are you doing?"

He sighed. How to explain this? "Dark, I–"

"Is this work?" Dark crossed his arms and frowned.

"Well, yes, but–"

"Why are you working on Golden Week?"

"Well, technically, it's not Golden Week yet," Krad offered, and Dark reacted to his wittiness by shutting the laptop and snatching it away. "Hey!"

"No work on Golden Week," Dark admonished, then disappeared into his room, taking Krad's laptop with him. Krad just shook his head and leaned back against the couch. He'd get it back later, probably when Dark wanders off somewhere. For now, he figured it would be ok to rest.

Before he knew it, he was asleep on the couch, and Dark, who had slunk back in to make sure he wasn't doing paperwork, chuckled and shook his head.

The week had been filled with various activities planned mostly by Dark, most of which Krad found enjoyable. Still, he had searched for his laptop every time Dark's back was turned, but could never quite find the damn thing. It was getting a little more than irritating, and he was thankful that he hadn't been called in. Without something to work with, any emergency meeting he would have had to attend would have been a disaster.

Monday came again as the last day of Golden Week, and Krad had not been able to do a single thing.

Krad shut the door behind him quietly and sat in front of the glowing screen. There was more than one way to get his work done. One window had been left open by Dark–an e-mail account, it looked like–and one of the messages on the front page was something sent to an e-mail address he was familiar with. Krad frowned. Why would Dark be e-mailing my parents? He stared at the screen blankly, not knowing what to do. It was wrong to read Dark's private e-mail, but it had something to do with his parents, therefore had something to do with Krad. He swiveled in the chair, looking to make sure the door was still closed and locked, then moved his hand over the mouse.

Resigning himself, he selected the message.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hikari,

I'm just writing you to inform you that we want nothing more to do with you. From here on, you are not to involve yourselves with Krad, and if you disregard my warning, I swear I will make your lives a miserable Hell. You do not own him, you do not control him, and you most certainly do not care for him. Krad does not need you any more, and all you ever do is make his life difficult.

Any further invasions on out lives will not be dealt with as calmly or civilly as I am doing now. This is the final warning.

By the way, you both should be proud. Despite all you attempts to fuck him up, Krad managed to rise above you and turn out to be a great guy. You should be glad that at least one member of your gene pool is a decent person. Aren't you just thrilled?

Do not respond to this message. We don't care for what it is you have to say.

–Dark

Krad read through the letter again, slowly this time, trying to decipher exactly what Dark had thought he was doing. He looked at the date it was sent and leaned back in his chair. Easter. Krad covered his eyes with a hand. Dark had threatened his parents over what happened on Easter. Somehow, he was relieved about the invasion of his privacy, but worried at the same time. How had his parents responded? What had Dark been thinking? Why had Dark even thought to write this? Did his parents actually take the letter to heart?

His mind was brought back to the stress of that day, and he took a long, shaky breath. It was times like these that he wished he had taken up smoking, just so he could have something there to calm his nerves.

He didn't know when Dark had come up behind him, and he didn't really care. He could feel the man standing behind him right that moment, and it was all that mattered. "Why, Dark?"

"Because," Krad relaxed a bit at Dark's tone. He didn't seem the least bit offended at Krad's prying. "You wouldn't tell them off yourself, so I did." Krad slumped in the rolling chair, keeping his eyes securely on the message on the screen. "They were screwing up your head, Krad, and you didn't deserve that."

"Not that." That much Krad had understood on his own. Some parts of Dark's reasoning were very obvious. "Why did you go to all that for me?"

"Oh, that's easy." Krad glanced skeptically over his shoulder, not knowing what was so easy about it. "You're my friend, and I don't want to see you go through all that if you don't have to."

Krad smiled and shook his head, laughter escaping no matter how hard he tried to hold it back. "Dark, you're such an idiot."

"I know." Dark gave a toothy grin, holding up a box of fireworks. "Now why don't we get out of this dark room and have some real fun?"

For a while, Krad was simply content to watch Dark light the fuse and run away, catching himself on fire and using the explosives in ways not in the instructions. He had a feeling that Dark was making it more dangerous on purpose. It seemed more fun that way. Dark cheered as one mutilated firework went off with a loud boom, laughter echoing across the neighborhood as he ran around barefoot in khaki shorts and a dark T-shirt. The purple-haired man seemed so much like a child at times like these, and Krad was jealous that he could let loose and have fun.

Dark glanced over at Krad, watching with a distant smile in slacks and a button-down shirt rolled up to his elbows. Just running around by himself wasn't good enough. Smirking, he lit the fuse on a spinner, and–ahem–accidentally tossed it in Krad's direction. "Holy shit!" The blond jumped to his feet with a shout and ran out of the path of the burning, moving orb of color and pain, half-way in the street before the thing stopped chasing him. "Dark! You ass-hole!"

Dark threw another at him.

This one didn't follow him, and Krad armed himself with explosives. With a sneer, hit lit a few and pitched them in Dark's direction, and the man dodged with maniacal laughter. "You can't get me, Krad!"

"You wanna bet?" Krad lit the match and readied a few more.

"Yeah, I'll bet!" Dark stuck out his tongue, and the game began. Looking up, he saw two familiar faces on a balcony and in the back of his mind, wished them a belated Happy Golden Week.

A/N: This ended a lot happier than the last chapter, so maybe it'll make up for it. The next episode if for June and I'm trying to decide if I want to do the thing I was thinking of for June or July. After that, it shouldn't be too long, ok? Well, review and have a nice day.