How could I have been so blind? It all makes perfect sense. Everything was right in front of me, so how did I miss it? Satoshi asked himself.

You became too attached to that girl. She distracted you from our goal.

You mean your goal Krad. You want to destroy Dark; I only want to capture him. But still, to think she's been trying to tame us all this time.

I told you she was only a problem. Now you see that I was right. She must be eliminated if we are to succeed in capturing Dark. But you seem to hesitate and avoid her by skipping school. Perhaps you should let me handle the girl.

Enough Krad!

Satoshi was pulled from his conversation with Krad by a knock on the door. He was still dressed in his pajamas, but as he did not expect the visitor to be anyone important, he did not feel the need to change.

"Hello Satoshi," Rikuto greeted him. "I brought you-" but Satoshi cut her off before she could finish.

"What are you doing here?" he practically shouted at her. Before he could say more he clutched his stomach. Rikuto recognized what was happening. Before Satoshi lost control to Krad he whispered one word: "Run!"

She didn't need to be told twice. She had seen what Krad could do and didn't want to have a second encounter. Satoshi's books fell on the ground as she turned around and ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time. She heard Krad chuckling as he flew down the steps behind her. While she hoped Krad wouldn't want to be seen during the day and wouldn't follow her into the street, she didn't slow down to check. That choice turned out to be a good thing as she heard cars breaking and horns honking. Krad was still following her.

She wanted to lead Krad away from the city and its people. As she ran down the street she made a quick decision and turned down the street to her left. If she could reach the end there was a trail that led down to the ocean. Hopefully she could think of a way to get away from Krad by the time she got down it.

The trail was a zigzag path cut into the cliff face. Rikuto's head had just disappeared beneath the street level when the dirt next to her head exploded. The force sent her sliding straight down the cliff. She desperately tried to stop herself before she hit the ground. Fifteen feet from the rocky bottom below, her feet landed back on the trail. The impact traveled from her legs to the rest of her body, but she had no time to recover. She immediately crouched down, then lowered herself over the edge while holding on to the path with her hands. When she reached the next level down she repeated the process until she reached the bottom. She stepped away from the wall seconds before it exploded behind her. She was thrown face first onto the racks covering the ground around her. She braced herself for the fall but never hit the rocks. Krad had grabbed her by the back of her shirt and was carrying her towards the ocean.

One look at the ocean and she began struggling against Krad's hold. Some of the waves were six feet high. The water was rough looking, the way it looks before a storm. She knew Krad was going to drown her. He had taken her plan and used it against her. With no people nearby there was no one to save her. She struggled for a few minutes until Krad changed his grip and held her by both wrists and carried her dangerously close to the churning water below. He carried her far away from the shore so there would be no chance of her swimming back before he could catch her. Then he stopped flying. He grabbed her by the neck and brought her face to face with him.

"Since my host is too weak to dispose of you himself, I shall do it myself. He tried to protect you by keeping his distance. You obviously could not see that and instead delivered yourself right to his doorstep. I am seizing the opportunity he did not. Now, with no one to save you, I will make sure you die this time."

He plunged her into the sea, only getting the arm holding her down wet. She struggled to get her head above water, knowing only too well how long she could hold her breath. She didn't know how long she'd been under when she felt Krad's grip loosen slightly. She took the opportunity to raise her head out of the water and get another breath. In the few seconds before Krad pushed her head back under, she noticed it had started raining and wondered if Krad didn't want to get his wings wet. So when he pushed her head down again she grabbed his arm and used hi momentum to bring him down with her. Then she started swimming deeper. She knew she was right about his wings when he fought against her and tried to get back to the surface. He reached the top and took deep breaths, but couldn't seem to get out of the water. Rikuto came up a few feet away from him and watched him thrash about. Finally the wings disappeared and Satoshi took over.

"Satoshi!" Rikuto swam over to him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. You shouldn't have come to see me. Krad is determined to kill you and being near you only makes him harder to control. That's why I haven't been to school." He sighed. She knew he was right. She had been stupid to forget that Krad would want her dead even more now that he knew she was trying to tame him. "Swim back to shore Rikuto. Once you've reached it I'll follow you. I should be able to keep Krad under control for that long, but don't wait for me. And don't come see me again."

Rikuto nodded and began her swim back to shore. She tried to hurry because she knew Satoshi was waiting on her. With the waves pushing her all around and the rain blinding her, it took twenty minutes to reach the shore. Near the shore the waves broke right on top of her. She was pushed under and swallowed a great deal of water before she touched solid ground. She turned and gave Satoshi a little wave to let him know she'd made it to the shore. Then she quickly made her way up the cliff and back home. When she got there she took a shower, quickly finished her homework, and went to bed. Now she needed the rest as much as Myri.