...Part 29: Dark...

Sitting on the floor in front of it, I watched Itanami sleep peacefully on Daichi's couch. It made sense for her to share the room, since Daichi was up and about during the day and she was nocturnal – so it was kind of like taking shifts, only for sleeping.

Itanami usually didn't move a muscle when she slept. She didn't breathe; she didn't even twitch. It was like she had died. But today she twisted into a new position, rolling onto her side, rather than lying corpse-like on her back. She slept that way for a while, then her scarlet eyes slowly opened.

"Finally wake up, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Good Evening, Dark," she responded. "How was your day?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Boring – went to school in Daichi's head – you know the drill."

She smirked, propping herself up on her elbow and leaning her head lazily on her hand. "Aww, my poor kaitou," she crooned, stroking my face with her free hand.

I admit it. This woman could wrap me around her little finger whenever she wanted, too. Even though looking into her eyes was like looking into deep pools of blood, she was gorgeous, and had an attitude that matched – or even rivaled – mine.

"So, have there been any leads on the murders they keep talking about?" Itanami had this odd fascination with the serial murders that have been going on for the past month or so. I could understand her curiosity, but then when Satoshi came over to update Daisuke on the cases, she would get all hostile and weird.

"No, but the Commander's here again."

She frowned at me. "You must ruin such a pretty evening, mustn't you?"

I stood up and took her hand, pulling her up off of the couch. "Hey, I didn't invite him."

Itanami didn't reply to that, just walked with me down the stairs, her arm around my waist. Her fingers played with my shirt out of absent-minded habit, and sometimes her nails would scrape against my skin. That had some strange effects on me sometimes, at which point she would laugh at me.

"Hello, Dark," Satoshi said smoothly, looking over his shoulder at me. "Itanami."

"Hikari," she hissed. I smoothed my hand over her shoulder in an attempt to make her relax.

We'd grown pretty close, Itanami and me – and it was kinda funny when Towa got jealous. We were damn near Siamese twins, the way we walked together so much. It felt good to have someone by your side – and she was just as inhuman as I was, if not more so at this point. I would never have to worry about her aging or dying...

I felt a smirk cross my lips. I was definitely no longer jealous of Krad – sure, he had his own body, but his Sacred Maiden would die, and mine would not – and he had left long ago anyway. When I came back up through the bloodline, there was a good chance that Itanami would still be here.



"So, what's the news on these killings?" I asked.

"I don't believe this is the work of a human."

"Sure," Itanami scoffed. "Maybe it was the work of a vampire, like people keep claiming."

"I wasn't finished," Satoshi said calmly. "I think it has been the work of a loose Hikari piece."

Itanami dug her nails into my side painfully, but I tried to ignore it. "Why?"

Satoshi explained, "The blood of the victims was left alone, and the bodies were all healthy. The only cause of death would have to be caused by those puncture wounds on their necks, but there was nothing to suggest anything was added to their blood to make them sick... The only cause of death I can figure out, is the loss of their souls."

Silence.

"Their... souls...?" Riku asked, obviously very confused.

"Yes. Whatever this thing was, it must have sucked out their souls, leaving them dead. So in retrospect, yes, there has been a vampire, but it is an artwork, rather, and it sucks souls, not blood."

"That doesn't make much sense, Satoshi," Daisuke pondered.

"I have a specific artwork in mind," Satoshi added.

Everyone was suddenly listening very hard. My side began to bleed and I tightened my hold on Itanami, warning her to cut it out if she wanted to keep those claws of hers.

"Which. One." she growled.

Satoshi glared back at her. You could practically feel the lightning tension that passed between the two of them. "You should know perfectly well, which one, Rose Kiss."

Realization dawned on everyone at once, along with disbelief. And in the same second, Itanami let go of me and lunged at Satoshi, teeth bared. It was then that I noticed the long fangs that completed the upper set of shiny-white teeth in her mouth. I grabbed her around the waist, preventing her from carrying out her attack and ran. I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew they would be after Itanami – and they couldn't have her! And I would not seal her for them.

"Let go of me, Dark!" she shrieked.

"No way – you're being charged with a whole damn deck of murders! You think they'll just let you go about your business?" I argued. "WITH!"

Dark, what's going on? Daichi worried.

Nothing concerning you! I growled. Keep to yourself for now, alright!?

Daichi promptly shut up, hanging back as if we were stealing something again.



"DARK!" Riku shouted. "Get back here!

"Dark! Dark!" There were echoes from others, calling me to come back.

Come back with Itanami – the Rose Kiss. Come back with the soul-sucker I'd fallen dreadfully in love with during my obliviousness to her month-long killing spree.

Leave Daichi out of it.