Chapter 10

Daisuke tried to pay attention in his biology class, he really did. However, this was the very last class of the day, and he'd been up late stealing and up even later cramming for his English test this morning. Besides, there wasn't any play practice today, since Saehara had lost his voice from yelling all the time. That meant that as soon as class was over, then he could go to Hiwatari's place and research with him for the entire afternoon.

You know, you're getting entirely too excited about going to Hiwatari's, Dark observed with a frown in his voice.

Daisuke shrugged. I've learned a lot of neat stuff from his books. I know lots more about Freedert-san, even though we still haven't found exactly what we're looking for.

Research? Dark asked incredulously. You're getting this excited over research? After spending hours and hours in school every day?

Daisuke smiled slightly. Learning about this stuff is much more fun than learning about trigonometry and diagramming sentences.

Dark sighed. You're gonna be a bookworm just like Kosuke unless I do something, aren't you.

I'm gonna be me, not Dad or Mom or Jii-chan, Daisuke reminded him. Just because I like learning about the art I steal doesn't mean I'm a bookworm. He paused as Dark's words sank in. What do you mean, 'unless you do something?'

He could almost see Dark's grin. What do you think I mean?

Daisuke had to repress a shudder. I'm not sure I want to think about it.

No, you should. Think about it, I mean.

Why? Daisuke asked warily.

Cause whatever you think of will probably be worse than anything I can come up with, and then I can use your ideas, Dark said brightly.

Daisuke resisted the urge to bury his head in his hands.

"Are you awake, Niwa-kun?" a feminine voice asked by his shoulder.

The redhead whirled to see Riku standing there, holding her bag and looking at him in concern. Class was over, and the other students were likewise gathering their bags.

"You were staring off into the distance like you were a million miles away," she said softly, looking at him carefully. "You're not getting sick, are you?"

He shook his head and smiled at her, shoving his notebook into his bag and standing up. "Sorry, Riku-san. I was just thinking. I'm fine."

"Good!" she smiled at him as they walked down the hall. "So, I don't have practice today, and there's no play practice, either. Want to hang out with me for a while?"

Daisuke shook his head apologetically. "Sorry, Riku-san. I have to do something with Hiwatari-kun."

"Again?" Her face tightened somewhat, and she regarded him warily. "You've been spending a lot of time with Hiwatari-kun lately."

"Umm…" Daisuke was slightly thrown.

You know, I think she's jealous, Dark said, interested.

Of Hiwatari-kun? Why?

Dark shrugged. She's a female. They're not supposed to make sense.

"Hiwatari's helping me with a school project," Daisuke told her.

Her eyes narrowed. "What project? We don't have any projects due."

Oops.

Yeah, that excuse doesn't work nearly as well on classmates as it does on parents, Dark observed.
"Well, it's more of an extra-curricular project," he babbled nervously. "But Hiwatari's helping me with the history."

"You know, if you want help with school, I can help too," she said, sounding somewhat hurt.

"It's not that, Riku-san." Daisuke ran a hand through his hair in growing frustration. "It's just that he has some books and stuff that I can't find anywhere else. He's letting me look at them."

"Fine," she said shortly, looking at the ground.

Daisuke stared at her, confused beyond words. "Are you mad at me or something?" he asked, bewildered.

She sighed. "It's just that I hardly get to see you anymore." Riku looked up at him, eyes wide and somewhat nervous. "Are you…are you getting tired of me?"

"No!" Daisuke replied instantly. "I really like you, Riku-san. I mean, really like you."

She blushed, but smiled shyly back at him. "I really like you too, Niwa-kun."

"It's just that…" he sighed. "I'm just kinda busy right now."

"Okay," Riku said softly. "I'll try to be more understanding."

Daisuke grinned at her. "It's fine, Riku-san. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

She smiled at him, but it didn't have the usual fire in it. "Okay."

Daisuke waved at her and jogged off in search of Hiwatari-kun.

If he'd turned around, he would've seen that the look on Riku's face more than suggested that it was not okay.

But he didn't.

XXXXX

Satoshi was annoyed, and he allowed himself the luxury of tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Daisuke. It was bad enough that he had to sit on museum rooftops in the rain or hide in corners too small for the average five-year-old and wait for Dark to appear. He highly resented having to wait for Daisuke, since he was doing him the favor of letting him use the Hikari archives. Any other Niwa would have recognized the honor and been waiting at precisely the correct time, silent and with a look of awed appreciation on their faces.

On the other hand, any other Niwa might have alternatively gone to Satoshi's apartment while he was impatiently waiting for said Niwa to show and stolen the archives while he was gone.

Still, Daisuke was usually on time. Satoshi leaned against the gate and idly wondered what was keeping the redhead…and suddenly froze as the insanity of the situation finally struck him.

When had waiting for Daisuke become habit?

The sun continued to shine, but Satoshi suddenly felt cold. When had Daisuke slipped into his life, becoming more than simply his quarry? When had he become a part of his everyday routine?

When had the Niwa become…a friend?

Satoshi's mouth thinned. He could not afford friends. Especially one that was a Niwa. He abruptly pushed himself away from the gate and started walking towards his apartment, thoughts tumbling in his head as he walked through the crisp autumn afternoon.

This had to end. For both of their sakes.

"Hiwatari-kun!" Daisuke came bounding up, cheeks flushed and juggling his books into his bag. "Sorry I'm late; Riku-san wanted to talk…"

Satoshi kept walking, pointedly saying nothing.

The redhead was cheerfully oblivious to Satoshi's stony silence and continued to chatter about that day's lessons. Finally, Satoshi just stopped walking, letting people flow past him. He stepped to the edge of the sidewalk.

Daisuke walked a pace or two further before he realized that the other boy was no longer there. He stopped and swiveled around. "Hiwatari-kun? Is something wrong?"

"Yes," Satoshi said simply. "This is."

The redhead looked confused and stepped next to him, into a small side street. "What is?"

"The two of us. Working together."

"Why?" he said slowly, still clearly confused.

Satoshi sighed. "You have to stay away from me."

Daisuke frowned. "Why?"

The commander stared at him. "I would've thought it would be obvious. We're enemies, Niwa."

The redhead's face grew serious. "Why?" he asked simply.

Satoshi wondered briefly if Daisuke was being deliberately obtuse. "I have to capture Dark."

"Well, you don't have to," he replied with a sideways grin.

The commander was not amused. "It's my responsibility, the responsibility of my clan. I have no choice."

"Everyone has a choice," Daisuke said softly, serious again. "You could walk away, Hiwatari-kun."

"You really think so?" Satoshi asked with a raise of his eyebrow. "Would Dark let you walk away from being a phantom thief?"

Daisuke sighed and looked away.

"We're both trapped, Niwa," the commander explained. "We have to play out these roles we were born to fill. We can not be anything other. No matter what we want, no matter what we feel, we were destined to be enemies."

"But we're not," the redhead protested.

"But we ought to be."

"I don't want to be," Daisuke said resolutely, firmly. "Do you?"

Satoshi sighed. "It's not a matter of what I want, Niwa.

"It should be," Daisuke responded with surprising solemnity. "Do you?"

"You have to stay away from me," Satoshi tried again, attempting to convey the inherent danger to the other boy. He got the uneasy feeling he might as well be talking to a brick wall for all the impression it made.

"I'm not afraid of you," Daisuke said softly, almost too softly to be heard.

"You should be," Satoshi replied almost as softly, feeling as if the situation was somehow slipping away from him.

And then Daisuke smiled, a bright sunny smile that lit up the alley. "But I'm not afraid, and we're not enemies. We may be destined to be foes, opposites, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends." His smile grew somewhat wry. "Besides, it's more interesting this way."

Satoshi stared back at him, shaking his head in disbelief tinged with a growing amusement. "'Interesting?' You truly have a gift for understatement, Niwa."

The other boy grinned at him. "So…can we go look up stuff about Freedert-san now?"

The commander resisted the urge to roll his eyes as they began to walk again. "This is a bad idea."

Daisuke shrugged. "Like I said, it will be interesting."

Satoshi shook his head. "You know, Niwa, the ancient Chinese have a curse…"

XXXXX

Emiko was waiting to greet Daisuke when he got home from Satoshi's that day, Kosuke behind her. Her eyes were wide and excited—in fact, she was so happy that she hadn't even set up any traps for her son that day. "Dai-chan! I've found it!" She seized his hands and pulled him into a hug.

"Found what?" Daisuke mumbled into her shoulder.

"The axe!"

Kosuke gently pulled her off his son. "We think we've found the axe," he corrected her.

She made a face. "Why do you have to be so negative?" she chided, though she was still smiling.

"How did you find it?" Daisuke asked. "I mean, I haven't found a hint of it anywhere in the books Hiwatari-kun's letting me see."

"It was in that book you brought from the library a while ago," Kosuke said.

Surprised, Daisuke frowned as he plopped down onto the couch. "I thought I lost that one. It was due weeks ago." His frown deepened. "You had it?"

Kosuke ran his hand through his hair somewhat nervously and grinned sheepishly. "Anyway, there was a section in the book about a piece of calligraphy done by Kukai. At the end of the chapter, it mentioned that it was owned by Kurosawa Nobu, who had an extensive collection of calligraphy and brushwork, as well as more eclectic pieces, such as baskets, pottery, seashells, and even an axe."

Daisuke's eyes widened slightly. "An axe?"

"I talked to some of my contacts," Emiko continued, "and eventually managed to get a description of Kurosawa's axe. It very closely matches the Edge of Sorrows."

"Ah. The contacts."

Oh, it's so nice to work in a time when art thieves can compare notes over long distances, Dark said cheerfully. This would have made my life so much easier two hundred years ago.

Daisuke ignored him. "So, this guy still has it?"

"Oh, no, he's dead," Emiko chirped as she sat down across from him.

"Uh…that's bad."

"No, that's good," she corrected him. "You see, he died a few months after going to prison when his embezzling activities were discovered, so his estate went to auction to cover his debts."

"Oh," Daisuke said, somewhat confused. "So, that's good, I guess."

Emiko shook her head. "No, that's bad. Anyone at the auction could have bought the axe, since no one knew exactly what it was."

"Yeah, I can see how that would be bad," Daisuke said knowingly.

"Actually, that's good," she cheerfully told him. "You see, since it was a public auction, the records of everything sold have been kept on file, which is why we had you go get that book of auction records from the library."

"Good, so we know who bought it."

"No. That's bad, because the axe wasn't listed in the items sold."

Daisuke had the sudden urge to bang his head against a wall, and Dark's hysterical laughter wasn't helping matters. "Mom…"

Kosuke took pity on him. "We think that the axe may still be on the estate property somewhere. It was reputably one of his favorite pieces; and since Kurosawa had a reputation of being possessive, it's entirely possible that he hid it rather than have it be taken."

"So, the axe is probably hidden somewhere on this guy's property?" Daisuke asked slowly.

"Yes," Emiko nodded.

Daisuke breathed a sigh of confusion. "But Towa said it was hidden. How are we going to be able to find it?"

"It's possible Kurosawa had some magical talent, or used the services of such a person," Kosuke said thoughtfully. "He may have recognized the magical potential of the piece and hid it appropriately. In any case, since the man was not Hikari, it's unlikely that whatever shielding he put on it would work against Dark if he was close enough."

"So as long as Dark is there on the property, he should be able to find it," Emiko concluded, standing up. "We still need to do some reconnaissance, learn some more about the man as well as his estate. It's several miles out of town, so we should learn more about the place before we rob it."

"Great," Daisuke said without much enthusiasm. "Let me guess, you want me to go the library and see what I can find."

Emiko grinned widely and hugged her son briefly. "That's my Dai-chan, such a smart boy!" She let him go and wandered back into the kitchen. "Towa-chan!" she called. "It's time to start dinner!"

Daisuke shouldered his bag and stood up. "I probably should start on my homework."

Kosuke stood up as well. "That's probably a good idea. Don't you have a job tonight?"

The redhead groaned. "Yeah, I do." He trudged towards the stairs. "Then I definitely need to go do my homework. It's a really late heist tonight. I won't be able to do anything afterwards."

"What's it tonight?" his father asked, moving towards the stairs as well.

"A small marble sculpture, the Bloom of Tranquility, or something," Daisuke said. He turned around on the stairs. "Why?"

The man shrugged. "Just curious. At least it's not too big. Marble is heavy."

"Yeah." A small smile appeared on the teen's face. "Although it would be funny to see Dark try and steal something bigger than he is. He'd probably just get it far enough to be out of the eyes of the cops, then transform into me and make me carry it the rest of the way."

Kosuke laughed, and waved as he wandered into the kitchen after Emiko.

Hey! The thief sounded affronted. Would I do that?

Yeah, Daisuke continued up the stairs. In a heartbeat.

He could feel the thief smirk. Damn, but you know me well.

The redhead couldn't help himself. He laughed and started his homework.