Chapter 17: December 18
Daisuke approached the fountain a few minutes before noon to find Satoshi already waiting there, a small bag of groceries beside him.
He buys groceries? Dark asked incredulously. The surprises one finds out.
Daisuke sighed. Come on, Dark, you know he eats. We eat lunch together.
That surprised me too, Dark said dryly. I always thought that the Hikari lived on a steady diet of air and revenge.
"Ready to go?" Daisuke asked brightly, ignoring the thief.
The commander looked up at him calmly. "If you are."
And the relaxed attitude Daisuke had wanted to establish died before it ever really existed. The two boys walked out of the park and headed down the road toward Satoshi's apartment in silence.
A silence that Daisuke was rapidly finding stifling.
Who cares? Don't say anything if you don't have anything to say, Dark suggested.
Well, yeah, Daisuke began, But I almost always have something to say. Except I don't have anything to say, and that's kinda weird, and I don't want Satoshi to notice cause I don't want him to think anything is wrong, even though something is wrong cause I feel kinda uncomfortable about going back to his apartment, but I don't want to tell him I'm uncomfortable, cause then he'll feel bad, and so I can't think of anything to say! Daisuke finished in a rush.
Daisuke… Dark sighed.
What?
He just asked you a question.
"What?" Daisuke asked, head swiveling to Satoshi.
The commander was looking at him with a carefully blank expression, but Daisuke thought he saw a slight smirk. "I asked if you'd found anything interesting in the biographies yet."
"Oh," the redhead said sheepishly, ruffling his hair. "Well, not really. But I think that Hikari Taro and Niwa Yuudai, the Niwa who interrupted the Black Wings ceremony, loved the same girl."
Satoshi's brow furrowed. "I don't remember reading that anywhere. What makes you think that, Niwa?"
"It was scribbled in a margin," Daisuke explained as he opened the door of the apartment building for Satoshi. "The book was talking about how Taro created the Black Wings for his betrothed, and the note said that if it weren't for the competition between Taro and Yuudai, none of this would have happened."
"That may explain why the appearance of the curses may be linked to strong emotion," Satoshi allowed thoughtfully. He shook his head. "My ancestors apparently didn't think that the emotional relationships between the first Hikari and Niwa were relevant."
Daisuke, however, was still puzzling over the first comment. "You mean your curse is triggered by emotion too?"
Satoshi's face abruptly grew closed and distant.
Oops, Daisuke winced. I think I crossed a line.
Crossed it? You tapdanced over it, Dark crowed.
Satoshi paused and unlocked the door to his apartment, walking in. Daisuke followed, feeling uncomfortable. He looked around at his friend's living room.
Nothing had changed. It had been over a month since Daisuke had last been there, but the apartment was exactly the same. The same empty walls, the same nearly-empty room, untouched by any color or holiday decoration.
The apartment was cold, but that wasn't the only reason Daisuke shivered and rubbed his arms.
"Are you okay, Niwa?" Satoshi looked at him with some concern.
"Oh, yeah!" Daisuke said brightly, dropping his arms back to his side. "Just fine."
Satoshi eyed him for a second, then sighed. "Would you like some tea?"
"Oh, it's okay, Hiwatari-kun," Daisuke reassured him earnestly. "I mean, I don't want you to go to any trouble. It's not that cold or anything."
"Niwa, I'm going to get some tea. Do you want some as well?" Satoshi asked calmly.
"Oh," Daisuke said gratefully, recognizing the peace offering for what it was. "Yes, then. Please."
As Satoshi moved into the kitchen, Daisuke dropped his bag next to the couch and wandered around the room. As he passed the desk, a tiny flash of color caught his eye. He stopped. The envelope that he had given Hiwatari his sketch in had been carefully placed under a paperweight.
A smile slowly bloomed on the redhead's face, and he sat down on the couch.
XXXXX
Satoshi pulled the tea bags from the two mugs and dropped them in the trash. He picked up the two steaming mugs and carried them out into the living room.
Daisuke was sitting on the couch, and he smiled as he reached for the tea. "Thank you, Hiwatari-kun."
Satoshi nodded as he sipped his own tea. For some reason, he felt unaccountably nervous having Daisuke here again, and that uncomfortable feeling kept him quiet. The silence grew as the two boys continued to sip their tea, and he felt the redhead's eyes on him.
"I was thinking," Daisuke began slowly. "Maybe we should research out here."
Satoshi blinked. "Why?"
"Well," Daisuke looked down and fiddled with a loose thread on the cushion. "I think both of us would be more comfortable if I wasn't in the archives."
Satoshi stared at him silently, touched by the Niwa's thoughtfulness.
"Besides, this couch is much more comfy than that rock-hard chair," Daisuke said with a sudden bright grin.
Satoshi had to smile at that, but he grew serious quickly. "If you're sure," he said quietly. "You don't have to."
Daisuke smiled at him. "I'm sure." And he made himself comfortable, curling up against the arm of the couch. "We should probably get started," he said cheerfully. "We don't have much time before we have to get ready for the heist tonight."
"You're right, of course," Satoshi said with a perfectly straight face, though a glint of humor shone in his eyes.
Daisuke rolled his eyes. "You know, it makes me really nervous when you say that."
And Satoshi went to go get the books.
XXXXX
Satoshi smiled slightly in satisfaction as he reached the locked art restoration room that was his post for the night's heist. He had finally regained control of the operation to catch Dark, and the annoying Hashimoto was outside with Inspector Saehara, probably fuming. Satoshi didn't care. He had more important things to be concerned about right now.
Tonight was the night when he was going to try his new strategy. He had come to the conclusion over the past few weeks that the problem with the previous heists was that although Satoshi had managed to get his hands on Dark several times, the thief always managed to escape before reinforcements could be summoned.
And so, the only solution was to slow him down.
Satoshi closed and relocked the door behind him and flicked on the lights. The target tonight was a small pendant. When he had learned that it had been damaged in transit, he had winced, but since none of the employees reported strange visions or episodes of sleepwalking, Satoshi assumed that the damage was surface only. In any case, since it had to be repaired before display, the artwork was currently residing in a tiny, windowless room with only one door.
Perfect.
Satoshi leaned against the wall, after carefully placing the pendant on the nearby counter, and waited.
Sure enough, just as his clock marked 10 pm, the lights went out.
Having anticipated this, Satoshi had set up a large battery-powered light earlier. He now turned it on, flooding the room with light almost as bright as the overhead fluorescents. Hearing a faint scrape, Satoshi turned to face the door again, casually shoving his hands in his pockets.
Dark was standing there, one hand shielding from the bright glare. "I see you were expecting me," he said dryly, dropping his hand.
Satoshi shrugged. "You are fairly predictable."
The thief's eyes narrowed. "So are you."
"Really? Why do you say that?"
Dark gestured to the pendant lying on the table. "That's a fake."
Satoshi raised an eyebrow. Unseen by Dark, he tapped a small button with his foot to summon reinforcements. "Very nicely done. That didn't take you nearly as long as I thought it would."
Moving quicker than Satoshi could see, Dark was suddenly close, within arm's reach. "I know you have it." He looked the teen up and down appraisingly. "Am I going to have to search you?"
And Satoshi smiled. He whipped his hands out of his pockets, grabbing one of Dark's arms and clicking one wrist of a set of handcuffs around the thief's other wrist before Dark could dodge in the confines of the crowded room.
Dark jumped back before Satoshi could click on the other wrist…and was jerked to a stop. He glared at the commander, who held up his own wrist, sporting the other handcuff.
"You handcuffed yourself to me?" Dark asked, trying to jerk his other hand out of Satoshi's grasp. Satoshi held on tight, and the thief stopped struggling to give him a smirk. "Kinky, commander."
Satoshi simply gazed back at him, satisfaction present in his voice. "You can't get out of this one, Dark."
The humor faded from the thief's eyes. "You know, I could just drag you home with me," he said dangerously.
"I'd like to see you try it," Satoshi responded simply. "You're not that much larger than I am, and I'm not going anywhere. Besides, my reinforcements should be here any second."
He could see Dark's eyes widen. And then they narrowed appraisingly.
"Why Commander," he said huskily, stepping right up to Satoshi and backing him against the wall. Satoshi glared at him, but was distracted for a second by a flash of amber from the thief's dark purple eyes. The thief's free arm escaped from Satoshi's grasp and slipped sensuously up his back.
"I didn't know you cared," he breathed into Satoshi's ear in Daisuke's voice.
Satoshi froze for one fatal second in the shock of hearing Niwa's voice from the thief. And in that second, Dark maneuvered his trapped hand into picking the lock of the handcuffs and his other hand pulled the pendant from Satoshi's back pocket. Satoshi lunged for the thief, furious, but Dark slipped past him and into the hall.
Satoshi could hear the shouts of the officers, but as he emerged from the small room, the shouts turned into puzzled curses as the thief crashed through a stained glass window and, sprouting wings, flew away.
A fury cold and hard as ice filling him, Satoshi turned on his heel and stalked back into the restoration room to get his equipment. As he picked up the spotlight, Hashimoto appeared in the doorway.
"I see he got away. Again," the man observed coolly.
"Apparently," Satoshi said shortly, continuing to work. He turned to pick up a small wastebasket filled with paper.
Hashimoto studied the teen critically. "Your plan didn't work, then," he stated rather than asked.
Satoshi shrugged slightly. "Only partly." He reached into the basket to pull out the real pendant from its hiding place.
Surprise showed on the man's face for an instant. "Dark got away with a fake?"
The commander nodded. "Dark's behavior tends to fall into patterns. One can generally tell what he'll do next." His face tightened as he remembered the thief using Daisuke's voice. "But not always."
XXXXX
For once in his life, Daisuke was truly furious. Don't you ever do that again, Dark! Do you hear me?!
Geez, Daisuke, if you were talking out loud the whole world would hear you, Dark said plaintively, wincing away from the loud, angry tones.
This is not funny! Daisuke said hotly. What you did to Hiwatari-kun was cruel
He would have got us! Dark protested. It was the only way!
There were a million ways you could have tried to distract him, the redhead protested. You just did it so that you could escape with the necklace.
I'm
a thief, Daisuke. That's what I do.
If the job was too hot, we
could have tried again tomorrow. What you did wasn't necessary
Dark scowled. I'm the Phantom Thief Dark. I don't 'try again tomorrow.' I always get my target.
Bullshit! Daisuke retorted. There was the time with Menou when you waited a whole day just because she asked you to, and then there was the time with Risa when you had to take her home. That time you blew the entire job!
The thief's scowl deepened. I don't like doing that.
Yeah, but you could've! Daisuke took a deep breath. Dark, I know you like winning; I know you like beating Hiwatari-kun in these heists, but I don't. So leave me out of it.
Okay, okay, Dark said sulkily. I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of this.
Dark…
Fine! Dark threw up his hands as he landed on Daisuke's balcony. I won't do it again.
Good, Daisuke said firmly.
"Dark!" Emiko dashed out of the living room as the thief came down the stairs.
He held up the pendant for her to see, and her smile widened. "Excellent job!"
Daiki and Kosuke had followed her out. "We were starting to get worried there for a while," Daiki said. "You were in the museum for a long time."
Dark tossed the necklace to Kosuke. "There were complications."
"What kind of complications?" Emiko asked suspiciously.
Dark sighed. "Forget it. In any case, I got it."
"No, you didn't," Kosuke said, turning the pendant over in his hand.
Three heads whipped around to look at the scholar, who sighed. "It's a fake."
"What?!" Dark ripped the pendant out of Kosuke's hands and looked at it more closely. "I could feel the presence of the real one in the room…" The thief paused, examining the necklace, then scowled darkly, casting it down. "The creepy bastard must have kept the real one hidden somewhere in the room." His eyes narrowed. "How many fakes did he have?!"
"You're referring to Hikari-san, I presume?" Kosuke asked dryly.
Dark was trying to keep his temper under control, but the rapid clenching and unclenching of his fists was giving him away. "He expected me to search him?"
Well, you are predictable, Daisuke murmured, his voice carrying just the slightest hint of smugness.
Shut up!
Daiki picked the necklace up off the floor. "Odd. It contains just a small trace of magic, enough so you wouldn't notice until you really looked at it."
Dark looked as though he was going to burst. "That's the exact same trick he pulled with the axe. That bastard!"
Emiko frowned in concern. "Still—why didn't you notice on the way home? Are you all right?"
"Daisuke and I were having a discussion," the thief said tonelessly.
The look Kosuke gave him was knowing, calculating. "About what?" he asked pointedly.
Dark ignored the question. "Emiko, send out another notice. Please," he added.
"Of course."
"I'll get it tomorrow. You can count on that." And with that, he transformed into Daisuke.
The entire family stared at the redhead. Daisuke stared back stonily, in no mood for talk. "I'm going to bed."
He stalked up the stairs, and Kosuke followed him. "Daisuke…did you and Dark have a fight?"
Daisuke sighed deeply and yanked his black leather jacket off. "I don't want to talk about it, Dad."
A hand landed on his shoulder. Daisuke looked up into his father's concerned eyes. "Did Dark do something to hurt you?" he asked softly.
Daisuke could still see the look of shock and pain on Satoshi's face. "No. He didn't hurt me."
Kosuke caught the slight emphasis on the last word and sighed softly in sympathy. "I see." A look of ominous calm settled on his face. "Do I need to have a talk with Dark?"
Pulling
away, Daisuke tossed the jacket in the nearest corner of his room.
"No, we got it worked out."
Recognizing the dismissal for
what it was, Kosuke walked to the stairs. "If you're sure."
Daisuke glanced back at him and smiled briefly. "Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks, Dad."
Kosuke gave him an answering smile and shut the door quietly behind him.
