A/N: I'd like to take a moment to thank Burned Vamp for reminding me of my mistake in the last chapter. I suppose I forgot about it. Silly author...okay, I fixed it in this chapter. This is a rather sad chapter. Very angsty atmosphere here. This is a very sad story, isn't it? Hopefully it will get happier later on.

Daisuke felt numb. It was the only word he could think of to fit his mood. Yamato had taken him to his home and had immediately suggested they get much-needed rest. He had been shown to the guest bedroom and had lain in its bed for a full thirty minutes, gazing up at the ceiling. He hadn't been able to fall asleep, his body being used to keeping itself awake during the length of the night. He had finally grabbed his blanket and brought it out to the front porch, seating himself on a plastic lawn chair and staring at the night sky, blanket wrapping his body up in its security and warmth.

He tried to think about his situation, but couldn't bring his mind to work properly. No thoughts offered to surface in his mind, instead preferring to stay buried in the depths of his psyche. In this state of mind, he found he could only sit there, numbly observing the passage of the moon in the night sky.

When a thought finally surfaced in his brain, it startled him, causing him to gasp for breath and grip the arms of the lawn chair he perched upon.

The puppy...I left the puppy in the backyard.

Tears unexpectedly filled his eyes at the thought of his new, only friend being left alone, vulnerable to the ferocity of Ken's psychosis. He struggled to get to his feet, wincing at the rude awakening to his slumbering, protesting legs. He made his way inside and quickly found Yamato's bedroom, opening the door slowly and with slight reluctance towards waking the blonde up.

"Yamato?" he called gently.

Yamato immediately stirred in bed, turning around to peer at the boy in the doorway, one eye shut tightly.

"Daisuke? Is everything okay?"

"The dog, Yamato...it's still there."

Yamato saw the teartracks on the young boy's face when the moonlight fell across his face, making the tiny rivers gleam in an almost symbolic way. They made this usually hardened, lifeless boy seem much more human, showing weakness so clearly on a face that looked younger in the life-giving light of the moon. Yamato had never seen such emotion pooled in the depths of the boy's eyes.

The beauty of it all brought life to his limbs and his mind, stirring him to his feet.

"Okay, let me get my jacket on, and you get yours. We'll go rescue this dog of yours."

Daisuke's face brightened and he immediately rushed to find his jacket. Yamato smiled to himself over this new invigoration in Daisuke and he followed the younger one as quickly as his sleepiness allowed.

~ ~ ~ ~

Yamato parked well away from the house, turning the ignition and silencing the vehicle. They stole away from the car and crept up the sidewalk, reaching the front yard and quickly creeping to the fence enclosing the backyard. Daisuke frowned when the dog did not run to greet them. He was sure the canine would have heard their footsteps over the grass.

Daisuke opened the gate quickly, having had experience with opening and closing it, thanking the stars for his reluctance to keep a lock on the gate entrance.

Yamato and he searched for the puppy, keeping an ear out for any sound of life. Yamato heard Daisuke gasp in the dark and a faint whimpering reached his ears. He rushed to find the redhead and gasped when he took in the sight of Daisuke kneeling over a mound of fur. Daisuke turned to him, and he saw the renewed tears in the boy's eyes.

"He broke his legs. He's been tortured."

Yamato assumed that the first "he" had been a substitution for Ken's name and frowned, his face growing dark. He was very much against animal abuse, and adored all furry creatures. He aided Daisuke in lifting the dog when he saw that Daisuke was struggling to figure out how to lift the pup without further injuring it.

Daisuke turned to him with a strange light in his eye.

"I forgot something inside. I just want to go in and get it. Don't worry, I won't be caught. He's asleep at this time."

Yamato opened his mouth to argue against the boy going in alone but Daisuke lifted a finger to silence him. Yamato's eyes widened when Daisuke leant forward to press a gentle kiss to his lips. Daisuke's smile lightened up his face amongst the darkness of the night as he pulled away.

"I can do this myself," Daisuke assured him.

With no further warning, Daisuke turned and fled to the back door of the house, removing a key from under a potted plant and unlocking the door. Yamato sighed as Daisuke's body disappeared into the darkness of the house, turning and carrying the puppy as carefully as he could back to his car.

Daisuke felt thankful for the many nights he had arrived home later than usual and had to sneak in unnoticed. His footfalls made next to no sound as he crept through the hallways and to the main bathroom. He opened a drawer and felt around inside of it, grinning when his hand touched what he had been searching for. He grasped the object and drew it out, feeling almost entranced as the slivers of moonlight coming in through a nearby window fell across the object and illuminated it. He quickly tucked it away inside of his jacket and closed the drawer, turning and beginning his exit of the dark house.

He stopped in front of the main bedroom and turned to gaze cautiously at the closed door. Curiosity overcoming him, he turned around and sneaked up to place an ear against the door, listening for any sounds coming from inside. He cursed the fact that Ken was a silent sleeper and had never shown any tendency to snore.

He shook his head and reminded himself that Yamato was waiting for him outside. Without any other thought about what lay behind the bedroom door, he snuck out of the house through the front door, leaving it unlocked behind himself.

Yamato waited leaning against the car door. He straightened up when Daisuke came out of the front door. He watched the boy turn to close it as carefully as he could. Daisuke turned back around to smile wearily at the blonde.

"The puppy?"

"He's in the car already. I wrapped him in a small towel."

They got back into the car and drove away as quickly as they could.

"Do you want to go to the veterinarian?"

Daisuke's face darkened, his face pressed against the window, hand resting against the puppy's brow. He heard the puppy give another low whimper and glanced down at it in time to notice the red foam coming from his mouth. Daisuke shifted his head to peer down at the puppy more closely and saw that the redness in the foam was blood.

"Its legs aren't the only problem," Daisuke said quietly. "The vet won't help him. He didn't help us any last time we visited him, and he won't now. It's just a waste of money."

Yamato nodded silently. "What do you want to do, then?"

"Let's just take him back home. I know what I want to do with him."

Yamato glanced at Daisuke upon hearing the reluctance and sadness in his tone of voice. Yamato focused his attention back onto the road.

"Whatever you say, Daisuke."

~ ~ ~ ~

Daisuke cast his saddened, hurt-filled eyes back down upon the puppy laying on the ground.

"I don't want you to suffer anymore," he whispered.

He had asked for privacy from Yamato and the blonde had consented, going back into the house to leave the boy alone with his pet. Tears fell once again from Daisuke's eyes and he didn't bother to brush them away, knowing they weren't the last ones for the night. Daisuke retrieved the object he had stolen from the house from his jacket and carefully ran a finger over it. The puppy gave a low, subdued whimper and moved its head slightly over the ground. Blood trickled up its throat and out through its open mouth, dripping onto the dirty ground.

"I know what he did to you," Daisuke continued quietly. He popped the weapon open and checked for bullets. It was full. He had never used it on anything before. "He probably would have liked to do it to me, too, if I'd let him." Daisuke rolled his eyes at himself, smiling slightly, though not happily. "Of course I'd let him."

The puppy gave a gurgling sound as it tried to whimper through the blood caking its throat.

Daisuke sniffled as he shut the weapon and undid the safety catch. He pointed it directly at the puppy's bowed, wet head. Its fur was no longer golden, but instead seemed a more brown color, sweaty and stinking.

"This is for the best. For both you and me."

He tightened his hold on the weapon and resolved not to turn away.

"You're going to a much better place."

His hand shook slightly and he further firmed his grip.

"I wish you luck, friend. Thank you for everything. Goodbye."

Daisuke pulled the trigger, releasing one bullet into the golden head, far past the need to flinch with his eyes upon hearing the blast and seeing the blood splatter over the floor, covering the blood that his boyfriend had drawn out from the tired body. The color of the blood his bullet had drawn was different from the color of the older blood. He noticed the difference in color with an odd feeling in his gut. Without letting another second in time lapse, he turned and regurgitated all of the ugliness the past few days had left piling inside of him. All of the hatred, rage, injustice, sorrow, and lost faith spilled out of his small body and onto the dirt, staining it an ugly dark color. He wiped his mouth and found his hand was shaking violently, as was the rest of his body, and he silently fell upon his knees and cried, letting the warm gun drop from his hand and onto the tainted ground.

When he finally gathered up the will to bring himself to his feet again, he went back inside of the house. Yamato immediately rose from his seat at the kitchen table and shifted uncertainly on his feet. Daisuke met his questioning gaze with one that was world-weary and seemed out of place on such a young, sweet face. Yamato strode towards the boy and took him into his arms, letting Daisuke collapse against him and weep for his lost innocence.

Once Daisuke was able to stand on his own once again, all traces of tears wiped from his face, sorrow gone from his gaze and leaving him with his usual blank look, Yamato went out to the backyard to clean up the mess that was left upon the ground and bury the puppy's body in the backyard. He found the gun and decided to keep it in one of the drawers in his bedroom. When he came back in, he did not find Daisuke in the kitchen. Frowning as his gut clenched, he rushed to the guest bedroom, flipping the light switch on. He smiled and relaxed when he was greeted with the sight of the redhead curled up in the sheets on the bed, sleeping soundly with his head digging into the pillow. Yamato turned the lights back off.

"Goodnight," he whispered to the room.

He quietly closed the door and went straight to his room to get a few more hours of sleep in before he had to rise to deal with the next day.