It gave him something to do.
Satoshi moved restlessly, but he didn't wake, and Krad whispered softly, caressing him until the young man quieted down.
You wouldn't sleep if you knew it was me touching you, he thought sadly. Because I lost you. I never really had you.
Rising from the bed, he left the bedroom, feeling tired and hurt. Niwa would come home and hopefully heal the damage. He couldn't. He was supposed to protect the host, but all he had done was injure Satoshi more.
Conflicting emotions rose inside of him and he curled up in a couch chair, staring at the outside world through a window.
Daisuke arrived in the middle of the night. It was past midnight already,
everything was silent, but the lights were on in the Hikari house. Daisuke
dropped his bags in the hallway and hurried inside, almost colliding with
a tall, unmovable object.
"Krad?" he exclaimed, staring at the demon.
"You're finally back," Krad remarked compassionlessly.
"Satoshi… what…?"
"He's asleep."
"So you took over?" Daisuke snapped angrily, too wound up to think
straight. Worry had kept him from sleeping on the flight.
"No. He's in the bedroom."
They separated, Dark whispered, stunned.
"You… he…? What?!"
"Just go to him, Niwa. He needs you."
Krad moved out of the way, a small smile on his features. Daisuke didn't
think. He just ran into the bedroom without a second thought.
Satoshi lay in the bed they had shared so often before, apparently asleep.
Daisuke just stood in the room, staring at his lover and friend, taking
in the pale skin, the exhaustion lines, the dark smudges under the eyes.
There were tell-tale signs that he hadn't eaten a lot. He looked thinner
than usual. And the bandages…
Both hands were wrapped up and there was a big band-aid on his neck.
Oh my god, what happened here?
Dark urged him on, told him to go, and Daisuke did. He shakily sat
down on the mattress, touching the pale face.
Blue eyes opened.
Opened wide.
"Dai…?"
The voice was rough from crying and hoarse. Those eyes looked dull,
lifeless, like Satoshi had lost all hope. Daisuke just wrapped his arms
around his lover, holding him as fingers dug into his shirt.
"Satoshi," he said softly, making it a question and a prayer.
"You're back," Satoshi whispered, voice filled with tears. "You're
home, you're home, you're… here…"
They were streaming down his cheeks unchecked. Daisuke tried not to
surrender to his shock. His lover had never lost it like this, so completely,
that he had cried.
What had happened here?!
For now the question would remain unanswered as he crawled into the
bed, holding the man he loved, comforting him. Satoshi just buried into
him, weeping, shaking, holding on like a drowning man.
"I'm back," Daisuke murmured again and again. "It's okay. I'm back."
The light of the sun was slanting through the window, creating warm
patterns on the worn wooden table and the tiled floor. The smell of coffee
hung in the air, the windows were partially open and due to the silence,
the sound of the ocean was audible even from here. Waves breaking against
the cliffs, sea gulls in the sky, riding the winds, and out on the ocean,
fishing boats dotted the horizon.
Despite the homey and relaxing atmosphere, the tension in the kitchen
was thick enough to cut with a knife. The night had been bad on Daisuke,
holding his lover in his arms, questions whirling around in his mind. Satoshi
looked bad. He had eaten little, had forgotten to take care of himself,
and everything was so blindingly obvious like years back. Hikari had been
a thin boy, pale, with eyes that were too old to be those of a fourteen
year-old hidden behind glasses. He was a genius, but he had never been
a kid. He had neglected his body to keep Krad at bay, almost to the point
of malnourishment, but he had never starved himself to be too weak to fight
back.
All that had changed after the final battle. He had filled out nicely,
had grown into a tall young man, had gotten rid of those glasses, and his
eyes had finally filled with life and love… Daisuke stopped.
Don't think about it now.
Satoshi had slept deeply in his arms and Daisuke had allowed himself
to drift off, but he hadn't slept well at all. Dark was resting inside
him, not very talkative.
Daisuke looked at the blond demon. Krad was clad in clothes that belonged
to his host. His frame was just about the same size as Satoshi's. The clothes
looked strange on him. Jeans, a light gray, long-sleeve sweater, and sneakers.
Very strange. The blond hair was still the same style, though, right down
to the one, long strand of hair that only a magical being like Dark or
Krad could have fall just this way. The same was true about the pony tail.
But he also noted the fine lines and the paleness of the face, as well
as the slightly more than ruffled look. Daisuke was tired, so was Krad,
but Daisuke had at least managed to grab a few hours of sleep. He had no
idea what Krad had been doing outside Satoshi's body the whole time, except
learn how to make coffee and cook soup it seemed.
We acquire skills from the host if we want to, Dark had told
him.
Oh well, that was the least of his problems and mysteries.
"What happened?" he wanted to know, sipping at his coffee.
Golden eyes looked at him. "An accident."
"You said so over the phone. What kind of accident? His hands are cut…
and his neck…"
"He hit the mirror."
"What? Why?" Daisuke exclaimed.
There was an ironic smile on the handsome features. "He didn't like
what he saw, Niwa, it's that easy."
Daisuke swallowed, feeling Dark move uneasily inside him. "That accounts
for the hands, but his neck…"
Krad folded his hands, staring at them, then finally the golden eyes
faced him steadily. "He looked into the mirror and saw me. He tried to
kill me, then himself."
Daisuke lost all color and felt Dark wrap himself around him like a
stabilizing, comforting blanket.
Oh my god… oh my god!
Satoshi had only done that once before, when they had been both just
back seat watchers of the final battle, when Satoshi had wanted to destroy
his body to stop Krad. He had stopped him then.
Daisuke! Dark snapped. Get a grip! Satoshi needs you!
He tried… why?!
Ask him. Just go to him, ask him… and talk, okay?
Daisuke swallowed, looking back at Krad who was watching him dispassionately.
Without another word he slipped off the stool and went back into the bedroom.
Krad watched Niwa go, an expression of sadness on his features. He finally
let his head sink onto his arms on the table, hunching over, feeling the
exhaustion sweep through him. His energy levels were abysmally low. He
was in a powered down mode, without wings or the ability to use magic at
all. He was actually quite defenseless, but he didn't care.
He tried to kill himself.
That thought was still on his mind.
Satoshi had done it before, in the last battle he had waged against
Dark. He had drawn the blood circle and tried to destroy his body to stop
Krad. A last defense. A last attempt to stop it all. But he had never tried
to take his life while he had been a host throughout the years.
The demon's hands clenched into fists.
His fault.
I did that.
And it hurt so much. Things had changed, had started to affect him
for no apparent reason, and he was still changing. That change hurt more
than anything he had ever gone through.
Raising pain-filled golden eyes he stared at the door leading deeper
into the house, into the bedroom where his host lay.