...Part 38: Dark...

My only job now was to distract Itanami –which was a job I rather enjoyed. I slept on her time, now; during the day. I'd lay with her and watch the sun rise through Daichi's window, waiting until I knew she was asleep before I get any rest, too. I always began on the couch, with my arm draped over her waist or encasing her shoulder, and I would rest my face against her back, breathing in her scent, but then I always ended up waking to find myself on the floor next to the furniture, Itanami's fingers brushing my skin or tangling in my clothes or hair, subconsciously searching for me.

After a week of dealing with that, I decided that Daichi-and-formerly-Daisuke's couch was simply too damn small.

"Emiko, do we still have an extra room in this house somewhere?" I asked her one evening in the interval between the family heading off to bed and Itanami waking up. "A guest room or something?"

Emiko shook her head. "No, I'm afraid we don't. Why?" she wondered, yawning.

"Itanami and I don't exactly fit on Daichi's couch," I said.

She kissed me on the forehead. "Sorry, Dark. I don't have another room available." Emiko thought for a while. "I suppose you could use our room during the day..." she considered.

That did make sense. When we slept, every other bedroom in the house was empty, and when they slept, we were anywhere but.

"But I'll have to take it up with Kosuke," Emiko added. I knew there'd be a catch in there somewhere.

So, that's what she did. She told Kosuke my concern and her idea, but he disagreed in the end. "I don't know if it works that way for her, but if Itanami is too exposed to our scent like that, she may target us, too," he'd pointed out.

I wondered vaguely what my soul smelled like to her – if souls had a scent.

I shrugged. "Maybe I'll ask Itanami the details of that later."

They went to bed, and I went up to Daichi's room with him to get my soul-sucker away before he did the same. He looked terrible. His neck was bruised and he claimed he still felt light-headed sometimes.

"Itanami," I whispered, smoothing my hand down her arm and back up again to pull the satin-like black hair away from her neck. "Wake up, doll-face. The humans need to get some sleep, okay?" I smiled. I didn't usually refer to them as 'the humans' – but it fit, obviously.

She sighed and rolled onto her back, her crimson eyes squinting at me in a teenager sort of way that told me something to the effect of 'Go away! I wanna sleep in.'

I gave her my best smirk and wedged my arms under her shoulders and knees, picking her up off of the couch, myself. "Come on. Let's leave Daichi in peace. He's not feeling so great today."

"Good night, Dark," Daichi said groggily.



"Night, kid – sweet dreams and all that."

He gave me a weak smile and closed the door behind us.

"You have such a soft spot," Itanami chuckled.

"And?" I retorted. So what if I cared? "You do, too."

"I do not!" she protested, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well, you didn't eat me," I pointed out.

Itanami pursed her lips together, frustrated that I'd won and trying not to laugh from what I'd said.

I grinned triumphantly, dropping her onto the couch – yes, dropping her.

"I can still eat you!" she growled, trying to hide the smile that crept across her face, clashing with the seriously freaky eyes. Why was it that Azumano girls had to have freaky eyes these days? Suna, Tomomi – well, she had Satoshi's eyes, but that was bad enough – and Itanami. Eesh.

"Hey, settle down," I laughed when she moved swiftly up to the back of the sofa in a low crouch.

"But you just told me to get up," she argued, tensing a bit.

My eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."

Itanami sprang off of the couch, barreling into me and knocking me to the ground. "I just did," she said curtly, shaking the some hair out of her face. She straddled my waist and pinned my wrists to the floor, looking satisfied with herself.

As if that could really hold me. I wasn't the legendary Phantom Thief Dark for nothing. In an effortless motion, I pushed my wrists off the floor and tipped Itanami onto her back. My hands at either side of her head held me up to look down on her pretty face, laughing.

"You know, Darke – I don't like you."

I half-shrugged. "I think I can live with that," I fibbed – only because she wasn't exactly truthful, either.

She rolled her eyes at me.

Suddenly, her eyes looked almost glazed over. I knew that look. "Itanami," I hissed. "Snap out of it!" I waved a hand in front of her face. "Hey! Look at me." She groaned as I turned her face toward mine. It felt like she was some kind of rehab patient or something. Stop sucking out people's souls, Itanami – It could be addictive, and very unhealthy for all parties involved.

"But –"

I kissed her before she could finish what she was going to say. She was frowning at me – with her eyes open. That kina ruined it, but at least she didn't protest, and her eyes began to clear up a bit. I continued kissing her despite the lack of response, trailing my lips along her jaw and down her neck lightly.



"You can't distract me forever, Dark." Itanami strung her fingers through my hair and pushed my head away. "I know you don't like it, but –" I pressed my finger over her lips but she kept speaking "– souls are what I survive on. They make me stronger."

"You can live without them, though, can't you?" I ventured.

"Well, yes – that is, if you want me to start looking like trash and tripping over my own feet on a regular basis; sure."

"You sound like you've been there before," I commented.

"Being trapped in someone's cellar for a decade or so is not fun," she stated. "I don't advise it."

I could imagine what had happened to whoever rediscovered her. Spring cleaning didn't turn out so well, I assumed.

Itanami traced the tips of her fingers down the length of my throat and over to the left of my collarbone. "You can't distract me forever," she breathed again. "If you keep me from getting what I want for too long, things could get nasty..."

I didn't want to know.