Author's Note: Sorry for the little hiatus, I was a bit stuck on this chapter. Stupid writer's block. Also, I appologise for posting something like this on Christmas. ^^; I did post something nice on my dA though.


12. Insanity

Eating lunch with Niwa had become a common occurrence for Satoshi, though given the circumstances, whether or not that was wise was a matter of opinion.

Surprisingly though, other than the occasional malicious comment from Krad, they could usually enjoy their meal on the roof without being interrupted.

Usually.

With a dull flush on his cheeks and a fond expression on his face, Daisuke had been telling Satoshi about a conversation he had earlier with Riku.

"…and then she asked me if her hair looked okay, because Harada-san usually styles it for her but today she had to do something before school," he explained.

Satoshi nodded absent-mindedly, a bit displeased at having to listen to sentence after sentence about the older twin. It wasn't that he didn't like making small talk with Niwa—it made him feel more normal, after all. It wasn't as if Harada Riku was a bad person either. She seemed rather kind, actually. But…did Niwa really need to talk about her so much?

At that instant, it seemed as if some higher power had sensed Satoshi's plight. With a bit of amusement, Satoshi watched as the other's face reddened further to the point where it probably wasn't healthy.

"Hey!" Daisuke protested aloud. "It's not like that at all, I—," Daisuke suddenly panicked and clapped a hand over his mouth, then remembered exactly who he had been talking to. He sighed both in relief and in exasperation. "Sorry, Hiwatari-kun. He shows me some very…," he turned a bit redder as he searched for the right wording, "inappropriate images sometimes." Satoshi raised an eyebrow and Daisuke's eyes suddenly became unfocused for a moment, as they always did when Dark said something. "It's not funny!" he exclaimed after a moment and crossed his arms with a huff.

"Should I leave you two alone for a minute?" Satoshi inquired, the tiniest hint of a smile visible on his face.

Daisuke shot his friend a withering glance, miffed that Satoshi, of all people, was teasing him. He sighed again, realizing that Satoshi didn't have any ill intentions. "No, this happens a lot. I've seen a few of his thoughts by accident when we're not talking too. The first time was on purpose just because I was curious, but I wasn't able to look Harada-san or Riku-san in the face for a few days after that."

Satoshi decided that he didn't want to know. "How unfortunate," he responded neutrally.

"What about you, Hiwatari-kun?" the redhead questioned.

Beneath thin glass frames, blue eyes blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Does Krad ever bother you like that? What does he think about?"

As the blood involuntarily drained from his face, Satoshi tried and failed to keep his body from tensing. Aside from the usual threats of violence toward Niwa and Dark, or any random thing relating to the Hikari family, he had glimpsed Krad's inner thoughts once.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It had been a very late night after one of Dark's heists. The thief, as usual, had escaped. Having to fight control for his body did not help Satoshi any. Krad had been taunting Satoshi by reading the boy's thoughts, and that had made Satoshi furious. He was sick of Krad having free reign over his mind, and in turn keeping many secrets from Satoshi that were likely to never be unveiled. He had pounded on the barriers between Krad's mind and his own, desperate to get at least a glimpse of the demonic angel's innermost thoughts.

When the barriers had let up unexpectedly, Satoshi had been unprepared for what he saw. Vivid images bombarded him from all directions. There was so much red, and most of it was not from Niwa's hair. The majority of the images were similar, involving torture or other cruel things centered around either Dark or other members of the Niwa family, usually Daisuke. If those weren't enough to make Satoshi's stomach churn, a few of the images had featured Krad and himself. The details of any of those visions were not something he wanted to remember.

With a strangled-sounding gasp, Satoshi had internally backed away as far as he could from Krad's thoughts. That had been a sleepless night.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

As Satoshi stared down at what remained of his lunch, he abruptly decided that he wasn't hungry anymore.

"Hiwatari-kun?" Daisuke asked carefully, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Satoshi's body tensed even further than before and he had to resist the urge to knock the hand away, opting instead to shrug it off as gently and as patiently as possible. "Niwa," he addressed the other. His voice was as cold as ice—a tone that he had used less and less often these days. It seemed it hadn't lost its edge, however, as the redhead visibly winced. "You don't want to see inside of Krad's mind. Ever."

Daisuke realized far too late how wrong he had been to voice his honest curiosity about the matter. Satoshi quickly stood up and he panicked. "Hiwatari-kun, wait!"

This time, Satoshi really did push away the hand that reached for him. "Don't touch me," he demanded. He turned around and briskly walked toward the roof's door.

"I'm sorry…," Daisuke said quietly. Satoshi pretended not to hear and slammed the door behind him. Once he was inside he leaned against the cold metal of the door for a moment and hung his head. He knew that he had hurt Daisuke just now, and he could already feel the pangs of regret from it. However, his emotions were in too much turmoil to just take it back right now.

When class resumed, the unfeeling mask that Satoshi wore was even more firmly set in place than usual. Although the two of them tried to not look at each other for the rest of the day, they had made eye contact by accident once. Although to anyone else in the class Satoshi looked normal, the pain in Daisuke's eyes was reflected equally; no façade could hide that.


Author's Note: *cringe* Well, this chapter was a bunch of sunshine and rainbows, wasn't it? Though, I suppose not all of these are going to be light-hearted. It would get a bit redundant that way.