Note: /.../ «-- Daisuke's thoughts Dark's thoughts --» italics
-o-o-o-
Saa, me o tojite.
Chapter 3: Touched.
Daisuke...
"Dark?"
Emiko helped Dark escape the trap he had fallen into. She kept asking him what was wrong and muttering how she'd have never imagined something like that could happen to him of all people. Dark kept telling her to shut up, but she wouldn't listen so, once he got out of the trap, he simply fled into Daisuke's room and lay on the bed. Once again he felt his body transforming into Daisuke's and he let him rest.
When Emiko entered the room, she found her son sleeping with a worried look on his face; a look that hid a lot of pain. She called Dark in an angry voice, demanding to know what had happened and why her son was in such a bad state. After a while, which only served to make her even more worried, Dark appeared before her, trying to avoid her gaze and looking pitifully guilty.
"What happened?"
"You've been asking the same thing over and over."
"I wouldn't have done it if you had told me what on Earth was the problem!" Emiko snapped at the annoyed man before her. "What happened to Daisuke? Why are you looking like that? Did you have a fight? What did you do?"
"SHUT UP!" Dark yelled, leaving Emiko petrified with disbelief. How could he raise his voice to her? How could he be so insufferable, when all she wanted was to know what had happened to her son?
The door opened and Kosuke stepped inside the room. "What is the yelling all about? he asked, before settling his gaze on Dark and instantly knowing there was something wrong. "What happened?"
"You don't have a large vocabulary, don't you?" Dark asked ironically, earning a glare from Kosuke. Emiko was still quiet not knowing what to do or say; she was so worried about Daisuke that she didn't want to upset Dark anymore for fear of what he would do.
"Dark," Kosuke addressed the thief in a quiet voice that let him know he couldn't joke anymore, "what happened? Why are you up this early and why are you here to begin with? I thought Daisuke had work to do this afternoon, what are you doing here?"
Dark sighed and finally turned to look into Kosuke's eyes. "Daisuke wasn't feeling very well," he said, "and he fainted. I guess..."
"What do you mean 'I guess'? Don't you know what happened?" Those were the first words Emiko had said in a while.
"No, I don't know. The only thing I know was what I already told you. I don't know why he was feeling so bad or why he fainted. I woke up when he fell to the ground and then transformed into, well, myself and brought us here so he could rest. That's it, end of story."
"Wait..." Kosuke said carefully, going red in the face with repressed anger. "You transformed in broad daylight, in the middle of a street?" Dark nodded, he didn't know what else to do. "Are you insane?! You could have been seen!! It would have been the end of the secret, someone might have seen you and what would you do then?"
"What a nice parent are you..." Dark said, being ironical again and starting to lose his already short temper again. "Why do you care if I were seen or not?! What did you want me to do, leave Daisuke lying on the street?"
Both Kosuke and Emiko went speechless. Kosuke hadn't meant to say something like that, but he realised he had certainly implied it. Admitting he was wrong, he raised his voice once again and quietly, in a very soft, almost pleading tone, he said "I'm sorry, Dark, and... thank you."
Finally, Dark looked him in the eyes and, after a short moment, he nodded. "That's okay. Now, I'll just let Daisuke sleep. You should prepare something for him to eat and something warm to drink, I think it'll be enough." He snorted with uncomfortable laughter, before adding, "though I'm not exactly an expert on medicine, am I?"
That was the last thing he said before he transformed his body one more time into Daisuke's. Emiko and Kosuke stared at their son's body and the expression on his face for a while, studying it and secretly trying to decipher what might be wrong with him, before turning away and leaving the room.
/Dark?/
Daisuke? Dark asked for reassurance. He had never been so glad to hear him speak.
/Yes. Um... thank you for bringing me here./
That's okay... Are you alright?
/No, not really. Dark, I... while I was at Satoshi's... Takeshi said something about you. Something about tomorrow's task./
Oh. Dark felt his spirits sink. What did he say?
/He said... this was the first time you didn't mention what you were planning on stealing. And then, Satoshi-kun, he said that, maybe, you didn't know what you are going to steal./ Daisuke felt that all too familiar pain coming back to him. He now realised it wasn't only worry, but also disappointment; he vaguely suspected Dark didn't really trust him and that made him feel even worse. /Is that true, Dark? Do you not know what you're after this time?/ He needed Dark to tell him Satoshi was right. He needed to be reassured of the man's trust in him. He needed...
No.
The words sank deep into Daisuke's heart and he felt his breath getting caught in his throat. He didn't trust him; Dark was sharing his body but didn't consider him important enough to let him know what he was going to steal, even if it meant risking both of their lives. Dark didn't trust him.
No, it's not true. Daisuke heard him speak again. He sounded guilty and sad, but Daisuke couldn't understand why. After all, if there was someone who should feel sad, it was definitely him; he felt betrayed. I do know what I have to steal, Dark carried on with his confession. But I think this is not the time to be talking about that. Not with you, Daisuke-chan, feeling so weak. Rest your body, sleep; we'll talk when you're better.
Then Dark disappeared into the deepest, most obscure recesses of Daisuke's mind. The redheaded boy, seeing he wouldn't get any more answers from Dark, did as he was told. And so, he turned into his left side, curled into a tiny ball and slept.
-o-
That night, Dark took control over Daisuke's body and forced it to change into his once more. He then flung his legs over the bed and stood up, stretching his limbs lazily. He made his way to the closet, from where he picked a few clothing items to cover his body with before he went for a walk.
With each passing day, he was feeling more and more nervous and anxious. He thought about his conversation with Daisuke and frowned. He did know what he was after, but he had absolutely no idea of what exactly that was. And he didn't even want to dwell on the magical abilities of that creation and what they might do to him, or even more importantly, to Daisuke. He couldn't see the point of trying to get hold of a cursed artefact, or whatever it was, when only the act of trying could have catastrophic consequences.
/...stupid!/
Dark frowned again, this time in confusion. Daisuke was awake was again and cursing; he had a vague feeling that word was intended to describe him. But then again, if Daisuke was angry with him, he couldn't quite blame him; he hadn't lied to him, but he didn't say anything either and that was just as bad.
/...he doesn't... trust... after all.../
He's thinking too loudly, almost as if he were shouting. Dark noticed with a pained expression, he must be really angry. What is he thinking about, I wonder. Trust... does he think I don't trust him for not telling him about tomorrow's... no, he's not stupid; he knows I trust him with all my secrets, well, almost. Is that why he's angry, then? Just because he thinks I don't trust him?
He didn't know he had that much of an impact on Daisuke's life; he had never imagined he could anger the boy so much for just a silly mistake. But it really wasn't that Dark didn't trust Daisuke; it was himself he didn't trust. He didn't know how he would explain things to the boy and if he ever managed to do it, he didn't know in which ways he could mess everything up, making things a lot more complicated. But it usually worked like that with those things someone ignores or doesn't understand, and he wasn't any different.
He yawned. The air around him was getting colder and colder every minute and he was too tired to keep on walking. Daisuke must have gone to sleep again, because Dark had long stopped hearing his thoughts or even feeling his presence. Sighing and deciding to think things over in the morning or sometime during the day, he dragged his body home. Once there, he stripped off his clothes and lay on the bed, covering himself with the soft, warm blankets and drifting off to sleep, forgetting to even change his body back into Daisuke's.
-o-
It was now Friday morning. A pair or dull, tired eyes opened lazily to take in the morning rays of sunshine. Dark stretched his limbs and made purring noises, almost like a cat, before turning on his side and closing his eyes again. He could always sleep as much as he wanted, but somehow, the feeling of lying on a soft mattress and being covered with fluffy blankets was an exquisite pleasure to him. He wondered when was the last time he had slept on a bed instead of the cold, dark pits of someone's mind.
And speaking about someone's mind, or rather someone... he hadn't felt Daisuke's presence not even once during the whole night. He would have been worried had he not spoken with the boy the day before. And besides, he knew Daisuke could never leave him. Not without help, at least.
Dark opened his eyes once again and looked to his right at the clock on the nightstand. It was already midday. His mouth hung open, he couldn't believe he had overslept so much. Apparently Emiko had decided Daisuke wasn't apt for going to school that day. Dark couldn't agree more and, to be honest with himself, he couldn't be gladder either.
But still... yes, he checked on the calendar by the clock. It was, indeed, Friday. He would have to steal the Curse of the Twilight at night and he was worried. With a bitter snicker, he thought he had never been worried about so many things before.
Perhaps I'm going soft...
Back to the topic at hand, Dark was worried. Not only because he still had no idea what the Curse did and it unnerved him, but also because he hadn't said a single thing to Daisuke. If he was nervous, he didn't want to imagine how Daisuke felt, having no idea whatsoever of what he was going to steal that night.
But still, Dark had made up his mind once and for all. He didn't care about the curse within the Curse or anything it could do to him or Daisuke, well he did actually, but he didn't mind enough to bother Daisuke with uncertain explanations. He thought the boy was bad enough without having to worry about a stupid, cursed artefact.
But would Daisuke understand why he hadn't said anything, or was he about to make things even more complicated between them? He shook his head mentally, dismissing the idea. He didn't think it would. He was just saving him the trouble of fearing for something that is as safe as it is dangerous. And anyway, if everything went as planned -that meaning they would both come out alive-, he would explain everything he needed to Daisuke. He was a good listener and a kind person; he would understand. There were so many things Dark wanted him to understand...
-o-o-o-Nyahahaaa! I decided to leave it at that. Hehe, I like this story; I thoroughly enjoy writing it. It's my favourite up to date and I haven't even completed it! Aaaanyway, got off track... I hope you like it and if you do, please leave a review!! Next chapter should be up soon, so stay tuned... or logged... or whatever.
By the way, are you all okay with the way Dark's thoughts look? It's just that I didn't know what else to do about it.