Chapter 21: With Grants Riku's Wish
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Riku smoothens With's fur with her hands. She plays with his long ears; With giggles. Riku giggled as well out of amusement.
"Wah, you're so cute." Riku said.
With looked around and suddenly began leaping from Riku's lap. Riku keeps grabbing him back to her lap.
"What's the matter? What is it?" Riku asked.
With shrugs her again and again. Riku looks up and sees the black feather hanging beside her mirror. It dances with the wind circling around her room. If not for its chains, it might've been taken away by the wind. Her face fell.
"Oh that," Riku smiled at him. She takes him up as she stands up. "Let's take a look at it,"
Riku approaches the mirror and takes the necklace. She places the pendant close to With for him to be able to reach it. With holds the black feather and rubs it in his face.
Riku blushed seeing his cute face and giggled. "Wah!" she hugged him and raised him up to look at him.
With is still holding the feather against his face. Riku's face softens for him. She returned With against her chest.
"You like him too, don't you?" Riku said compassionately. She recalls Dark's words: 'I am not some one, Riku. I'm only some thing,' Dark said. 'I can have things that I need but never have the things that I want; I'll only break them. That includes you, Riku. You should understand. I don't want to break you.'
Riku sits on the couch beside the window.
"Yeah," she said. "I think I should,"
--
With fell asleep on Riku's lap. Riku runs her fingers on With's fur; she cautiously takes the feather in his paws. She looks at it compassionately. She remembers his dark wings.
"If only you can be some one...if you can be someone then we don't have to keep lying to ourselves, right?" Riku murmured.
She sighs and leans her head on the windowsill, looking up to the moon. She didn't notice the feather starts to dust with glittering lights once again.
She takes the feather up to her eyes, above her sight of the moon. She noticed the dust of glitters on the bristles of the feather. She sat up and looked closely at it. Mistaking it as just glitters, she tries brushing it away, falling the light dust over With. With's fur began to glow as well. Riku tries blowing it away. She noticed the light dust made its way on the stem that holds the bristles of the feather. "It's light," she said. She also realized With's fur is also glowing in light. Riku startles; she brushes With's fur, her hand was lighted. Riku raises With to her face.
"With?" Riku called. With's eyes are opened and both are glowing. She panicked.
She rushes outside.
"Risa! Help me!" Riku screamed.
Risa came rushing to her.
"What is it, Riku? What happened?" Risa asked.
Riku's hand is sweating, cold and trembling. "My pet, With, he-" Riku held Risa's arm. Riku pulled Risa into her room.
"Oh my," Risa gasped seeing a glowing object lying on Riku's bed. "What's that?"
"It's With. My rabbit," Riku claimed.
Risa looked at Riku. "With?"
"Yes, yes." Riku said. "Risa, we have to do something,"
"What do you want me to do?" Risa panicked, affected by Riku's panicking.
"Call Niwa. Please call Niwa-kun," Riku said. "Tell him what happened to With,"
"Okay, okay." Risa said rushing to make a phone call.
Riku approaches With. She reaches out her hand, thinking of holding him, but she hesitated at the last moment. She got scared for some reason.
The blinding light, shaped like a sphere began to elongate in form. Riku gasped. "No," she held her mouth.
--
"I'm on my way," Daisuke said and hanged up the phone.
Everyone is looking at him. "Who is that, Daisuke?" Emiko asked.
"It's Risa. She said something happened to With and began glowing in light," Daisuke said.
They all got surprised. Emiko began to worry.
"I'll come with you," Kosuke said.
"Me too." Daiki said.
"Right," Daisuke agreed.
"I want to come, too." Emiko said.
Daisuke looked at Emiko; Emiko is looking serious. "Mom-"
"Oh, I want to come, too," Towa said.
Daisuke sweatdropped.
"This is not a field trip!" Daiki and Kosuke chorused.
--
Risa went back to Riku's room.
"Riku-" Risa gasped seeing that the glowing sphere had turned longer and glows brighter, almost blinding her eyes.
"Riku!" Risa called. Riku is inside, with her back turned and clasping her palms in her eyes.
"Risa!" Riku responded.
"Where are you?"
"I'm in here," Riku said.
"Get out before you get blind!" Risa said.
"I can't. I'm too close to it! If I open my eyes, I might get blind!" Riku said.
"What?" Risa said. "Riku, I'll go to check if Daisuke had arrived. I promise I'll come back," Risa said.
"Okay!"
Risa ran away to the gate to wait for Daisuke.
--
"What could have gone wrong?" Daisuke murmured.
"This is what I mean when I said 'don't ever let anyone see him'." Daiki scolded Daisuke.
"I only lent With to Riku," Daisuke protested.
"What are saying? What's the difference of lending With to her between showing With to her?! Have you become dense?! Come here and I'll shake that sleeping brain of yours!" Daiki yelled.
Kosuke came in between them.
"Otousan, Daisuke only wants cheer Riku up." Kosuke reasoned.
"Daisuke is becoming spoiled since you came! You never tell him what he should do!" Daiki yelled.
Kosuke is speechless.
"I never saw grandpa this angry before." Daisuke thought. "He really respects the Niwa tradition of keeping With a secret and only inside the Niwa household."
"Is there nothing more that this car can do to get faster?" Daiki scolded the Harada's driver.
"Sorry. I will make it faster." The chauffer said.
"Don't say it. Do it!" Daiki yelled.
The finally reached the Harada's residence. Risa is already at the gate waiting for their arrival. Risa ordered the guards to open the gates instantly.
--
Finally, the light fades away. Riku opens her eyes gently and cautiously. She turns around slowly and got surprised.
"What the-" Riku gasped. "Ah!"
With jumped into her.
"WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!"
--
Everybody got surprised hearing Riku's scream.
"Riku!" Daisuke said and rushes to where the sound came from. Risa and others followed.
"Riku!" Daisuke called, worried. He gasped.
Risa and others came as well. Risa held her mouth in surprise. Kosuke is astonished. "Oh dear," Daiki said.
Riku is trembling and dumbfounded. She is lying on her stomach with a young man, who looks exactly like Dark, on top of her and brushing his cheeks at her back.
"If I'm right...I think...he's...purring," Riku trembled.
"Dark-san?" Risa called.
The young man looked up to everyone in the door. They all gasped. He looked at Daisuke and smiled. Daisuke sweatdropped.
"Daisuke," he said.
"Huh?" Daisuke said.
"Daisuke!" he claimed, and approached Daisuke through frog leaps. Everyone sweatdropped.
He held on Daisuke's shirt and smiled. "Daisuke...With!" he said.
"With?" Daisuke repeated.
"Un," he nodded. "With!"
"No way," Daisuke blinked.
"With! With! With!" the young man claimed.
Daiki and Kosuke are astonished, getting the same idea.
"You're...With?!" Daisuke exclaimed.
The young man paused in surprise. "Un! Yeah!" he said, smiling and giggles. Daisuke is startled. "Daisuke!" he claimed and leaps to Daisuke. Daisuke fell to the ground.
Risa is astonished.
Kosuke and Daiki looked at each other. Daiki looked at Riku. Riku is still on the ground, motionless. Kosuke followed Daiki's eyes.
"She might've made a wish," Daiki said.
"Yes, but...doing that, she'll need one of his feathers," Kosuke said.
"She's Dark's sacred maiden, it's impossible that she doesn't have one," Daiki said.
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NOTE: Review please...(",)