Dark was sitting at the kitchen counter, staring into a mug of coffee as if it held all the answers, and from the looks of it, the coffee was stone cold. He looked a bit disheveled, was dressed in his kaitou outfit from the past, and there was an expression of exhaustion and pain on his features.
Daisuke got himself a glass of orange juice and settled down opposite his partner.
"What happened?" he only wanted to know.
Tormented, violet eyes met his and Dark sighed. "What hasn't?" he asked rhetorically.
Oh damn. This was bad, the young man decided.
"Good morning," Satoshi's voice interrupted them, but from the way Hikari trailed off, he had picked up on the situation.
Exchanging brief looks, Satoshi just nodded, grabbed the juice container and left the kitchen in search for his missing half.
"Dark?" Daisuke coaxed gently.
Dark buried his head in his arms, groaning. "I'm an idiot, Dai. A goddamn idiot!"
Krad had chosen the attic as his refuge and Satoshi hadn't expected
it otherwise. It was where he usually spent his time, reading, doing whatever
he did outside his host's body the rare times he was separated. The attic
had been refurbished as a studio with a huge, triangular window that gave
a great view. Light poured in through the window and the skylights that
had been worked into the roof. It was a place Satoshi loved and where he
had worked countless hours, and it was a place where he and Daisuke had
spent leisurely afternoons when the rain was pounding down on the roof,
just listening to the sound of raindrops.
Satoshi looked at his demon, his curse, noting the suppressed anger
and fury, the way Krad was close to exploding. He stepped closer, aware
of the danger should the being he had come to trust suddenly turn on him,
but something inside him shook its head. Krad wouldn't hurt him. He was
sure of it.
"Krad?" he coaxed gently. "Wanna tell me what's going on?"
Krad pinched the bridge of his nose in a very human gesture and Satoshi
wondered if demons could get headaches.
"Dark found the figurine."
For a moment Satoshi had no idea what he was talking about, then all
color left his face. "What?!"
"He found it in Emiko's basement. I'm sorry, Sato."
Satoshi flailed for words. Dark had… he had seen it? He had…?
"He knows I sealed it. He knows you created it."
"Oh my god…."
Krad looked mournfully at him. "Sorry," he repeated.
"I guess he… didn't approve."
"Yes, in a way."
"Shit. Will he tell Daisuke?"
"I don't know. We… didn't really touch that topic. The fight was about
something else."
Satoshi shot him a confused look.
"He said I should have stopped you from doing this, that my first host
is to blame for our cursed existence already…" Krad closed his eyes. "I
know that, but I would never stop you."
Satoshi reached out automatically and touched his demon. "Thank you,
Krad. Even though I regret what I did, what I created, I am truly truly
thankful that you let me go through with it."
Krad smiled a little. "You're welcome. I still stand by it… it's beautiful,
Satoshi."
The young man shrugged, slightly self-conscious, then looked at the
other. "What else happened?"
"Nothing."
That had come too quickly.
"Dark? Mind explaining what happened?" Daisuke asked patiently. "And
don't say it's nothing."
Dark buried his head in his hands. "Krad and I had… an argument."
"Well, that's obvious."
"It wasn't friendly."
"Stating the obvious again." Daisuke emptied his glass of orange juice
and got up for a coffee. He knew he would need one. "The house is still
standing, you have all your arms and legs, so I guess it wasn't that bad…"
At Dark's wince he stopped. "It was that bad?"
The kaitou nodded.
"And I'm not seeing any holes in the wall why?"
"He held back," was the pained sigh.
"I see." Daisuke switched on the perculator and shot his partner an
inquiring look. "Now… spill it. What happened? What's the reason?"
Dark looked up, the violet eyes tight. "When we helped Emiko with cleaning
out the treasure room, I found something in a crate. It was a Hikari figurine.
Very beautiful. And sealed."
Daisuke listened, not yet sure what this was really about. "Mom has
a lot of stuff down there," he commented.
"Yes, but this was a recent piece of art. And the one who had sealed
it was… Krad."
"Krad?"
"Yes, my other half."
"I know who Krad is," Daisuke replied, annoyed. "When did he start
sealing art?"
"Recently. Before you went to Prague. And… by Satoshi's request."
Daisuke blinked. "Come again? Dark, you're not making sense! What's
going on here?"
"Hikari Satoshi created a piece of art, that's what's going here,"
Dark replied tightly.
"Satoshi did what?" Daisuke breathed, wide brown eyes looking at his
partner.
"He created a figurine, art… Krad sealed it immediately. It was powerful,
Dai. Very, very powerful."
Daisuke had to sit down. "Why?" he stuttered.
"Krad said it was for you. Because he loves you. He spent a lot of
time on it."
"And he hid it away? Why?!"
Dark ran a hand through his unruly, black hair. "You know why. His
love alone made it very powerful. Your admiration and love would have turned
it into another Black Wings."
Daisuke shook his head. Not in denial but in continued shock and horror.
Dark's lips tightened. "When I discovered it I made a mistake."
Niwa shot him a confused look.
"I lit into him. I… said things I sorely regret now, but which I can't
take back. I…" Dark evaded his host's eyes. "I… I'd…" He broke off. "I
made a mistake."
"Tell me," Daisuke begged softly.
Dark tried to refuse, but in the end he did. He told Daisuke everything
that had happened.
Satoshi looked at Krad, stunned beyond belief at what he had heard.
Golden eyes whirled with anger and pain, and Hikari reached out, cupping
one cheek in a very intimate gesture.
"No one will seal you, Krad. Not as long as I live and breathe. You're
mine."
Eyes widened and Krad stared at him. Satoshi smirked.
"You're not the only possessive one. I am, too. You're mine, my demon,
my curse. No one, not even the kaitou Dark Mousy, has a right to decide
over your fate."
"Sato…"
"Mine," Satoshi repeated firmly, with just as much possessiveness as
Krad had shown in the past when it came to his host.
Krad's lips curled into a faint, almost sarcastic smile. "A few years
ago I would have done everything to hear those words, Hikari Satoshi."
The young man shrugged, grinning a little. "Back then they wouldn't
have been the truth. Now they are. I won't let Dark do anything to you."
"Thank you," was the sincere reply.
Daisuke rubbed his neck, then looked at his partner, who seemed small
and beaten and so confused at the moment. Gone was the powerful, cocky
and self-assured thief, the man who never shied away from anything, who
knew how good he was, who flaunted his assets, and who used what he could
to reach his goals. Instead, Dark was suddenly very young and ill at ease.
He looked more like a whipped puppy than a three centuries old master thief.
"Why did you do that, Dark?" Daisuke asked.
"I don't know, Daisuke. I really don't know. I thought about it all
the time, and I can't find an answer. It just… pissed me off."
"That Satoshi tried himself at art? That he did it out of love? That
Krad sealed it? That he didn't trust you enough to tell you?"
Dark winced. "Yeah."
"Which one?" Daisuke pressed on.
"That he didn't trust me," the kaitou murmured after a while.
"You two have a history, Dark, don't forget that. Krad is just now
learning what it means to be free, to have what he wanted without chains
holding him down or someone trying to hurt him." Daisuke held the troubled,
violet eyes. "You two were enemies for close to three centuries. Old instincts
and habits die hard."
"Yeah…"
"He doesn't trust me," Krad sighed and leaned back, looking at the sky
through the window.
Satoshi shook his head. "He does. It was just… an over reaction."
"He had no right to attack you."
"No, he didn't, but in a way I understand him. I knew I had to seal
the figurine, Krad. And I think you and Dark should talk about it."
Krad snorted. "We're done talking."
"I don't believe that months of hard work and growing trust can be
destroyed that easily."
Golden eyes filled with sarcasm. "I do, Satoshi. I do."
"You should go and talk to him," Daisuke advised.
"And apologize?"
"If you feel like it's necessary," the young man said with a fine smile.
"This is your relationship, partner."
Dark blinked at the word 'relationship', but he let it slip. Too much
was going through his head. There was the need to set things right against
the old habit to just kick the crap out of the demon and be done with him.
Then there was this attraction to his other half, something he had felt
throughout the centuries, something that had always brought them together.
He could feel Krad, his very presence in this house, like a faint background
hum. It was how they had come to be aware of each other with each rebirth.
It was their common heritage.
Same wavelengths, he mused. But different. Opposites.
And opposites attract.
So true, Dark sighed to himself. In good ways and bad ways. For three
centuries there had been only the bad ways.
"I don't think he would want to talk to me," he finally said.
"You don't know until you try."
"He might just want to kill me," Dark murmured.
"Yeah, he might. I know I'd kick your ass if it had been me," Daisuke
told him with a grin.
"You are such a helpful little spirit," came the growl.
Dai grinned more. "Go, Dark. Go and talk to him. You need him."
Now what was that supposed to mean? Dark thought.
His human partner leaned forward, catching his eyes. "You once told
me he's your antithesis. He's the light to your darkness, he's part of
what makes you both good and evil in the same person. Krad's not the negative
side, you're not the positive side. You each share half of it. You need
each other like I need Satoshi. Maybe in a slight variation to that relationship,
but you need him."
Dark closed his eyes and buried his head in his hands. Yes, he needed
Krad. Had always needed him. The figurine popped up in his head. Unity.
Balance. It was them in a way. Each independent and fiercely so, but also
so much dependent on the other.
"Wish me luck," he sighed as he rose.
Daisuke just gave him a cheerful smile.