A/N: See? I am working on finishing what I started!

Punk Matt: Okay, okay. Disclaimer for this chapter is the same as before.

There's more of Yamato shamelessly flirting with poor, confused Daisuke. More Daisuke-angst. How I love it. . .

Daisuke stared out the window, chewing absentmindedly on his gum, arms crossed, earphones providing him with his favorite getaway in life. The music pounded in his ears and his head, numbing the intensity of any other unpleasant things inside of his head. It wasn't able to completely wipe away the twisted imagery and the bad thoughts, but he was working on it.

Outside, the sun was shining. Daisuke thought it ought to be raining, because he preferred rain to sunshine. Considering the type of person he was, this wasn't too surprising. He looked back down at the drawing on his desk. His hand was still poised, pencil held carefully, over the paper. He moved it to get a better look.

On the paper were several little sketches. A few overlapped others, and there were words scribbled next to or circling around certain pictures. The ones that stood out the most to him were the little angel and demon squatting next to the large, skeletal Cheshire cat. The angel had long hair and wide, beautiful eyes. Neither the hair nor the eyes were colored in. The demon had hair so darkly colored with pencil that it could pass as inky black, with equally black eyes.

Above the angel, small words were written: WHY ISHIDA?

There was nothing written around or near the demon.

The song on the CD player ended and Daisuke heard a faint clicking sound as it started over again. He'd had it on repeat for nearly the entire day.

His hand moved to let the pencil tip rest just above the picture of the demon. It stayed there for a few seconds and then moved away again as Daisuke dropped the pencil next to his notebook and slid down in his seat, tilting his head back. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly through his mouth, his lips coming forward as if he were blowing cigarette smoke out. He leant his head forward again and reached a hand up to rest over his forehead. The silver snake ring on his right hand felt cool against his flesh.

"Daisuke?"

He lowered his hand from his forehead and his eyes shifted up to look at the speaker, face blank. His mouth was still slightly open, and he hadn't bothered to lift his head to look up, so he seemed to be peering up through his bangs in a sort of creepy way. The one who had spoken to him visibly gulped.

The girl held a paper out in her hand and he noticed it was shaking slightly. He snatched it away and she jumped a little, taking a step back.

"Is...is it yours?" she asked hesitantly.

He didn't make any sign of having heard her over the music, opening his binder and sliding the paper into the inside pocket. She took it as a yes and quickly walked away to continue passing out the papers.

He didn't hear the bell ringing for lunch, but he saw his classmates standing up as one and heading towards the door, so he got up and followed them.

He bypassed the cafeteria and headed straight for one of the side doors.

Sitting on a bench in the shade just outside of the school, Daisuke carefully took his CD player out of his large front pocket. He pushed the button to take the song off of repeat and scanned the next few to find a different song. He'd decided he could move on from that song now.

He set the CD player down on his lap and looked over at the row of trees nearby. He was feeling calmer than usual that day. He enjoyed the calm while it lasted, tilting his head back and closing his eyes to listen to the slight rustling of the wind through the tree branches. The music changed as the song did, and now, instead of a hard, fast rock song, a slow, soothing instrumental played in his ears. He hadn't heard this kind of music in a long time. Lately, he'd depended on the harsh heavy metal that made up most of Ken's music library to get him through each day. This was the first time in a long time that Daisuke had felt relaxed enough to want to listen to the rest of the CD.

He suddenly felt a presence and his eyes shot open to stare into clear blue. He pressed himself back against the bench, reaching up to pull his earphones out. He narrowed his eyes at the blonde sitting down beside him.

"Don't startle me like that," Daisuke grumbled.

Yamato laughed and turned to smile at him. "What're you doing out here?"

"What're you doing out here?"

"I asked you first."

Daisuke sighed. "Well, I was trying to get away from everyone and relax out here, before you came along and ruined the calm I was getting into."

"And I came out here because I recognized the back of your head and saw you were all alone."

"I was all alone for a reason."

"Which would be...?"

"Didn't you hear anything I just said?" Daisuke snapped.

Yamato held his hands up, one holding two fingers up in the peace sign. "Hey, I didn't mean to put you in a bad mood or anything. I just wanted to see how you were doing."

Daisuke sighed and shifted to try and get comfortable again, seeing he wasn't going to be able to shake the blonde off so easily.

"I was doing just fine."

"And now?"

"Now I want to go back to doing just fine, if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind."

Daisuke stared at him as the blonde made no move to leave. Yamato continued to smile at him, not even blinking. He just couldn't take a hint.

"I want to be alone," Daisuke said bluntly.

"Well, that's too bad, since I'm here, and I don't plan on leaving any time soon."

"Why are you doing this?"

"What, annoying you by sticking around even though it's clear you want me to disappear?" Yamato laughed. "Well, yesterday night you told me something that no one had ever told me before. It stuck with me."

"What?"

"You said my voice, and this is a direct quote, entranced you. You said you couldn't forget my voice, and it sounded like I was making love to the music or the audience."

"Yeah, I did say that," Daisuke agreed, remembering their conversation.

"Do you still feel that way?"

Daisuke nodded, picking at the sleeve of his dark, hooded sweatshirt. Yamato leaned back to take a better look at him. He looked very thin.

"Do you always skip lunch?"

Daisuke looked up at him. "I don't like school food."

"But you eat outside of school, right?"

"Of course I do." Daisuke narrowed his eyes. "I'm not anorexic or bulimic or anything. I eat healthily. I'm not that screwed up."

Yamato looked a little guilty and lowered his eyes. "Sorry. I didn't mean it to sound that way."

Daisuke studied him and saw the boy was being honest. "It's okay. Sorry I've been snapping at you. I haven't been having the best of days."

Yamato smiled and brushed his own bangs out of his face. "Sorry to hear it. I could try to cheer you up, if you want."

"You don't have to," Daisuke said quietly, looking down again.

"Can you hold eye contact with a person for more than a few seconds, or is it some type of weird disorder?"

Daisuke looked up at him, his expression one of surprise. He hadn't realized he'd been staring at the floor for most of their conversation.

"Sorry."

"Stop apologizing! You aren't doing anything wrong."

"You're apologizing a lot, too."

Yamato smiled. "Well then, let's both stop apologizing."

Daisuke offered the smallest of smiles. "Okay."

Yamato threw his arms into the air. "There it is! You've finally smiled! Well, sort of."

Daisuke frowned again. "What?"

"You haven't smiled once all day. It's even made me sad."

"Are you stalking me or something? How would you know if I've smiled or not?"

"I haven't been stalking you. I've just been...watching you closely."

"Yeah, that makes me feel so much less paranoid."

Yamato laughed and rolled his eyes at the younger boy. He reached out and ruffled Daisuke's hair, making the young spiky-haired redhead pout at him.

"You're short."

"What?" Daisuke asked in exasperation.

Yamato caught the tone of voice and laughed again. The bell rang to tell all students to head back to class and Yamato stood, stretching his arms. He looked back down at Daisuke.

"Want to do something after school today?"

Daisuke raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"I don't know. Go out for ice cream or something?"

"Go out for what?" Daisuke stared at him.

"Ice cream. You know, the cold, yummy stuff?"

"I know what ice cream is," Daisuke growled.

Yamato rolled his eyes. "So, do you want to?"

Daisuke looked thoughtful for awhile, then sighed. "Well, you're probably going to bug me if I don't. I guess I can."

Yamato brightened. "Great! Just meet me in the front of the school later on today."

"Okay," Daisuke said, sighing and feeling a smile curve his lips. "See you later then, Yamato."

Yamato grinned widely and pointed a finger at Daisuke's chest. "You said my name."

Daisuke gave him an odd look, but before he could reply, Yamato began walking off, waving back at him and then turning to rush to his class.

Daisuke shook his head as he watched the blonde disappear into the school. He glanced down at his CD player, sighed, and switched the song back to the one he'd had on repeat for most of the day. He found the Repeat button again and pressed it, put it back into his pocket, and walked back into the school.