A/N - I just deleted about 5 more chapters.  (*eyes are all bugged out*  WHY???)  I didn't like them.  (YOU ARE AN IDIOT I TELL YOU, A REAL IDIOT!)  Oh leave me alone.  Anyway, please leave a review so we can hit the 200 review mark before we finish!!

Chapter Twenty-Five: Yami and Akari

But if I'm all alone in this world
And love disappears instead of tears
I won't hang my head, I'll fly away
Tomorrow I'll be closer to that dream I held

~Ashita wa Motto

                Yami and Akari…  Takato still did not understand their purpose.  He hadn't spoken to them in quite a while.   They had quietly faded into the background, as if they knew that was their purpose.  All Takato could puzzle out was that they were servants of Aishuu, and they were his light and dark sides…whatever that meant. 

                Is it time?

                No.  Takato is not ready for this.  Neither are we.  IT has not appeared yet.  Aishuu-sama has not given the word.  We will not act.

                Do you feel no compassion for the boy?  We are he, he is we.  His soul is only a fraction of what it was.  Were we not created to try to help him?  Are we not the physical manifestations of his soul?

                You are true.  But we cannot do what we have not been told.  Had Yami been more than an illusion in a mirror, he would've held Akari.  It seems so different from what we were meant to do originally, nee?  We were trying to convince Takato to chose between us.

                A mistake.  No one can chose between themselves.  But…  Why did we even do that in the first place?  It feels…like…something is missing…  Ah, never mind now.  It will come, as you say.

                I wonder…  Yami closed his eyes and laughed ruefully.   What do you propose will happen to us when Takato is ready?  Will we disappear?  Will we die?  Will we be trapped here forever?  Or…will…  No…  That can't happen.  I don't want it to happen!

                Want what to happen?

                Nothing, love, nothing.  They say innocence is an essential part of light.  But don't worry.  I'll protect you.  Don't worry about a thing, I'll handle it.

                Takato lay on the bed in a seemingly enchanted stupor.  Aishuu's illusion hovered around.  Yami and Akari caught a glimpse of his eyes.  They gleamed with something neither had seen before.  What's that gleam in his eye?  Aishuu seated himself on the bed, and watched Takato with a protective eye.  But…the eye gleamed with someone…scary…

                However the fates decree it…  The time will come when the fallen angel spreads his wings and light and darkness join into one… The soul is ripped to shreds and the world falls to pieces.  Then…it all depends on Takato…