Kinda long winded, I know. But it's the only way to really put in the
picture. I mean, to just jump into the action and revelations... it
just ruins it. Please, keep reading.
-------------------
Akane: School's boring. I wanna go home.
Seena58: Say... are you in any way related to Akane Tendo in Ranma 1/2?
Akane: NO! (punches Seena58 and then whams her with a giant mallet)
Seena58: ... I rest my case.
(everyone sweatdrops)
-------------------
Chapter 6: The Mystery Continues
-------------------
By the time lunch had started, the rain had finally come to an end and most of the students filed out of the classroom to the school grounds. Daisuke got up, placing his books into his bag, swung it over his shoulder and looked around.
"I wonder where Saehara and Sekimoto went..." he muttered. Since they weren't there, he shrugged and made his way out of the classroom.
As he stepped out onto the school grounds, he noticed how cold it really was, and shivered slightly. Why so many people wanted to come out here for an hour, he didn't know. Pulling his coat closer around him, he walked around the grounds aimlessly.
Empty place... empty place... he thought, looking around as he trudged along, I can't find an empty place...
He stopped at a relatively quiet place, where there was only one student sitting on her own. It was Akane. She turned slightly as Daisuke's footsteps made a crunching noise as he tramped over the gravel pavement.
"Oh, Niwa-kun," she said, blinking, "hello again."
"Takada-san..." he turned away, "sorry! I'll just leave now! I didn't mean to disturb you!"
He felt uneasy for some reason, he noticed, when he was around Akane, like when Satoshi was right behind him without him knowing so until it was too late. Like at that very moment. Daisuke practically jumped out of his skin when he noticed the other boy was, well, right behind him.
"GAH! Hi-Hiwartari-kun!" he gasped out, "Wh-why are you..."
Satoshi just stared at him and Daisuke's voice faded off weakly and he stared in silence. Akane got up, brushing grass stains off her skirt and she observed Satoshi silently.
"Hello," she said shortly, "you must be a friend of Niwa-kun's, I expect."
"I am Hiwartari Satoshi," his voice and speech pattern had moved from 'creepy classmate' to 'overly polite stranger', and it was rather unsettling for Daisuke, "and you must be Takada-san."
Akane's eyebrows rose slightly, but she didn't say anything. Finally, she gave the two a slight smile, "Well, then, Niwa-kun, I guess I should be going," as she walked off, she regarded Satoshi for a little longer and then said, "it was nice to make your acquaintance, Hiwartari-kun."
As she left, Daisuke could see, from a distance, her being swamped by a group of girls.
"..." turning away from the sight, he considered the other boy thoughtfully, "Hiwartari-kun... why were you..."
Maybe he was trying to DO something to you! sniggered Dark, so suddenly that Daisuke practically crashed into the other boy in surprise.
WHY ARE YOU AWAKE?!?!?! he screamed.
... there was silence again, and Daisuke frowned.
You jerk...
"Niwa-kun," Daisuke wrenched his attention back to his classmate, "from yesterday... did you feel it?"
"Huh?" the smaller boy blinked, "What do you mea--"
"Before the sphere was taken, before Dark was even there," cut in Satoshi, "there was another presence there already."
"!!" That's right... I did have that feeling... "Hiwartari-kun... you felt it as well?"
"If I didn't feel it," Satoshi gave him a long look, "then I wouldn't be asking you, would I?"
"Oh... yeah..." he laughed nervously, before getting serious, "but, could you identify what that feeling was? Because... I couldn't really explain it to Dark, so..."
"I have no real indication of it being real," started the other boy, "but I'm assuming that it was another form of magic, that we have never encountered before."
"Ah... right..." Now that you mention it... Daisuke frowned, that scroll I have seemed to be emitting the same weird waves I was feeling that night...
"Is something wrong?" Satoshi asked, after a long moment of silence, and Daisuke looked up, surprised.
"Oh! Uh-I-um-you see..." he took a deep breath, "I only just noticed that those weird waves that I felt there... a scroll that I have... it has the same power to it..."
"Really...?" there was a strange glint in his eyes and Daisuke couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Yeah..." he mumbled, "so... um..."
Satoshi looked like he was going to do something, but was stopped as Riku's voice floated overhead.
"Niwa-kun!"
Without another word, Satoshi left in the other direction as Riku came by, smiling, and, to Daisuke's surprise, holding With in her arms.
"Ah, Niwa-kun, I found you!" she laughed.
"Riku-san..." Daisuke smiled slightly, "why are you... um, here?"
"I found your pet," she held up With, who shook its tail in obvious enjoyment, "so I decided to return him to you!"
"Oh, thank you, Riku-san!" his smile widened as he accepted the white bunny-like creature, and Riku's face turned slightly pink with embarrassment, "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no! Nothing at all!" she laughed, turning away, "See you at class, then!"
"Yeah, later," he watched as she walked off to join her sister, who had obviously been watching them the whole time. Risa seemed to be smiling evilly and saying something to Riku, who was apparently denying whatever the younger twin was saying. After a while, the two seemed to make up and walked off towards the main building together. Daisuke eyes With, who was now sitting on his shoulder, and frowned slightly at the youma.
"With..." he started, "why were you there?"
"Kyu... kyu kyu kyu!" out of nowhere, With pulled out a sheet and, wagging its tail, held it out for him to take.
"Huh?" accepting the sheet, Daisuke held it up, and read what was on it, and stopped, "But... this is..."
"Kyuu!" agreed With.
"There are... hmm..." the boy frowned as the school bell rang sharply, "ah... better get to class."
Folding the sheet and placing it in his pocket, Daisuke made his way to the school building, unaware that two people were watching him from afar. One, as usual, was Satoshi.
The other, was Akane.
---
As the school day commenced, Daisuke waved goodbye to his friends before starting his own way home. Once he was sure that he wouldn't be disturbed, he took out the sheet of paper and began to read through it thoroughly:
As Ancient times recall, there have never been a set number of rules to life. Why do we, humans, have to be here in the first place? Why were we created into this world as the selfish, self-centered people we are now? Is there a real answer to this? This scroll has been written as part of my lesson, yet, I cannot concentrate, so I shall speak my thoughts instead.
I am a priestess, under the teaching of my master. I've only just recently started my learning, and already, I have too many questions that have been left unanswered, for my master forbids me to ask any more questions that are 'irrelevant' to the ways of a priestess in training. And still, I cannot just forget such questions, for they have burned deep within my memory, and I know, no matter how long it takes, I shall never forget them, not until I get an answer.
One of my biggest questions, one which makes my master furious, is the reason behind the Hikari and Niwa conflict. I read about them in one of the scrolls in the study room, and yet, he has refused to answer any questions concerning either family. Their rivalry, their passion of the use of magic, what was the reason that it all started, pulling in the males in their wake? I do not know, and I don't think I will ever know. But I know one thing: they are somehow related to the Time Keepers and the Artifacts of Time.
The Artifacts of Time... they hold an even more mysterious and dangerous power which neither the Niwas nor the Hikaris will ever possess, and, if it had been a destructive force, I might have been more worried.
And yet, the mystery continues, as these Artifacts... they are connected, once again, to the two families, and my master will not speak of them...
"... I ends here?" Daisuke stopped in disappointment, as the writing finished and he hung his head, "I can't believe it. And I was really getting into it, too."
"Kyuu?" With asked.
The Niwa and Hikari conflict... thought Daisuke, as he shoved the paper back into his pocket and continued on his way home, even I don't know the reason to it...
---
"I'm home," Daisuke called as he opened the front door and entered the hallway. After a few seconds, he knew that it was now free of traps and started to make his way down the hall. Entering the living room, he found Towa sleeping on the couch, in bird form. Blinking in confusion, Daisuke prodded her gently until she woke up. She yawned, and rubbed her eyes.
"Huh... what's up...?" she asked, still half asleep.
"Towa-chan? Are you okay?" he asked, and she gave him a long, tired stare.
"Oh... Daisuke, welcome home," she yawned again, "sorry... just been up so late at night... translating the scroll..."
"You mean..." Daisuke shook his head, "well, you can go back to sleep then."
"Mmm..." closing her eyes, Towa was asleep instantly. Looking up, he noticed that the house seemed strangely, and eerily, quiet. Pulling off his shoes, he tramped upstairs and entered his room.
Maybe they're out? he thought, though why all of them are out seems a bit odd for them...
It didn't take him too long to change out of school uniform and into a plain shirt and pants. He sat back on his chair, staring at the piece of paper and the small card that he had been holding, since the time he found out that he had it in his shirt pocket, somehow.
So many strange things... he repeated, putting them away and pulling out his exercise books, oh well, whatever, might as well do my homework now.
---
"We're home!"
Emiko really didn't need to call out that they were home, as Daisuke could identify the door opening and their footsteps as they passed down the trap-free hallway. Opening the door to his room and coming out of it, he was there just in time to greet his parents and grandfather.
"Daisuke! Have you been waiting for this long?" Daiki looked quite surprised when he saw his grandson and Daisuke couldn't help but frown slightly.
"I've been home for the past three hours," he said skeptically, and Kosuke smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, Daisuke, for not giving you a proper explanation before we went, but Emiko-san insisted," he said, "let me explain."
"I'll just go and get dinner ready," called Emiko as she left the room before anyone could protest.
"Now," started Kosuke, sitting down and indicating that Daisuke should do the same, "you received the paper with the translation of the scroll, correct?"
Daisuke nodded slowly.
"And I am sure you noticed that it has been uncompleted as well?"
Again, Daisuke nodded.
"Well, we went to every open museum and library, hoping to find the rest of the script," Kosuke sighed and shook his head, "but we have had no luck. Somehow, I doubt that there is another copy in the whole world."
"Dad..." started Daisuke, "who... wrote the scroll... and when was it written?"
"That is what we are trying to work out," his father explained, "the scroll itself seems pretty old, but the exact date, we do not know."
"I see," Daisuke got up, "well, I'm going to my room."
"Hey, wait Daisuke!" Daiki started, but he was already gone, "Where do you think he's up to, Kosuke-kun?"
"... I don't know."
---
Oi, Daisuke, what're you up to? asked Dark, sitting on the bed as Daisuke fished out the scroll again, And what do you plan to do with that? You can't read it, you know.
"I know," replied Daisuke, "but I think this may be the key to our questions."
How can you be so sure?
"I'm not," Daisuke shook his head, pulling the scroll open, "but I've got that feeling."
...
As he passed through the unidentifiable writing, Daisuke stopped at the very end and pointed at a single word, which was written in english.
"This must be by whom it was from," he declared.
So who was it? Dark asked impatiently, I ain't here to play games with you, Daisuke.
"It's by a person," Daisuke bent down to the writing, reading it carefully, "by a person... in the 5th century--"
WELL?!
"--named Celes."
###
"So, did it work, Scarlet?" Celes asked, not turning as the other girl entered the void they were occupying. Scarlet shrugged and sat down.
"It's a lot harder than I thought," she sighed, "but I think I can manage it well enough. How was your side of the plan?"
"Could've been worse," said the smaller girl cheerfully, "but I think Chester is pulling a spaz out now."
Scarlet sniffed, "Whatever. As long as he doesn't find us, I don't care what he does."
"... is it nice there?"
"Hm?" Scarlet blinked thoughtfully, "Yeah... it is. So much more... beautiful..."
"Are you going to be okay?"
"Just fine!" she got up sharply, "I'm going to bed now!"
Once she was gone, Celes frowned, "Oh, Scarlet..."
-------------------
Don't know how long'll it'll take for the next chap! But hope you'll be back soon! Thanks again!
Quite a bit of Daisuke-Satoshi interaction, I know, but who's he gonna talk to then? Dark? I don't think so. Dark need his sleep. Dark: That's right!
YEAH! Got that scroll back in! And what's up with Scarlet? What was her plan? Will be revealed later. (evil smile) Argh... editing it WAY too tiring for me. My eyes hurt...
Oh yeah, if anyone'ld like to beta read (or whatever) before hand, let me know. Have a FF-DNAngel crossover currently being developed, so if you're interested... yeah.
NEXT UP- Look for my new parody thingy of DNAngel: The Wonderful World of Ramblings! It'll be there! Hope you'll be there too!
-------------------
Akane: School's boring. I wanna go home.
Seena58: Say... are you in any way related to Akane Tendo in Ranma 1/2?
Akane: NO! (punches Seena58 and then whams her with a giant mallet)
Seena58: ... I rest my case.
(everyone sweatdrops)
-------------------
Chapter 6: The Mystery Continues
-------------------
By the time lunch had started, the rain had finally come to an end and most of the students filed out of the classroom to the school grounds. Daisuke got up, placing his books into his bag, swung it over his shoulder and looked around.
"I wonder where Saehara and Sekimoto went..." he muttered. Since they weren't there, he shrugged and made his way out of the classroom.
As he stepped out onto the school grounds, he noticed how cold it really was, and shivered slightly. Why so many people wanted to come out here for an hour, he didn't know. Pulling his coat closer around him, he walked around the grounds aimlessly.
Empty place... empty place... he thought, looking around as he trudged along, I can't find an empty place...
He stopped at a relatively quiet place, where there was only one student sitting on her own. It was Akane. She turned slightly as Daisuke's footsteps made a crunching noise as he tramped over the gravel pavement.
"Oh, Niwa-kun," she said, blinking, "hello again."
"Takada-san..." he turned away, "sorry! I'll just leave now! I didn't mean to disturb you!"
He felt uneasy for some reason, he noticed, when he was around Akane, like when Satoshi was right behind him without him knowing so until it was too late. Like at that very moment. Daisuke practically jumped out of his skin when he noticed the other boy was, well, right behind him.
"GAH! Hi-Hiwartari-kun!" he gasped out, "Wh-why are you..."
Satoshi just stared at him and Daisuke's voice faded off weakly and he stared in silence. Akane got up, brushing grass stains off her skirt and she observed Satoshi silently.
"Hello," she said shortly, "you must be a friend of Niwa-kun's, I expect."
"I am Hiwartari Satoshi," his voice and speech pattern had moved from 'creepy classmate' to 'overly polite stranger', and it was rather unsettling for Daisuke, "and you must be Takada-san."
Akane's eyebrows rose slightly, but she didn't say anything. Finally, she gave the two a slight smile, "Well, then, Niwa-kun, I guess I should be going," as she walked off, she regarded Satoshi for a little longer and then said, "it was nice to make your acquaintance, Hiwartari-kun."
As she left, Daisuke could see, from a distance, her being swamped by a group of girls.
"..." turning away from the sight, he considered the other boy thoughtfully, "Hiwartari-kun... why were you..."
Maybe he was trying to DO something to you! sniggered Dark, so suddenly that Daisuke practically crashed into the other boy in surprise.
WHY ARE YOU AWAKE?!?!?! he screamed.
... there was silence again, and Daisuke frowned.
You jerk...
"Niwa-kun," Daisuke wrenched his attention back to his classmate, "from yesterday... did you feel it?"
"Huh?" the smaller boy blinked, "What do you mea--"
"Before the sphere was taken, before Dark was even there," cut in Satoshi, "there was another presence there already."
"!!" That's right... I did have that feeling... "Hiwartari-kun... you felt it as well?"
"If I didn't feel it," Satoshi gave him a long look, "then I wouldn't be asking you, would I?"
"Oh... yeah..." he laughed nervously, before getting serious, "but, could you identify what that feeling was? Because... I couldn't really explain it to Dark, so..."
"I have no real indication of it being real," started the other boy, "but I'm assuming that it was another form of magic, that we have never encountered before."
"Ah... right..." Now that you mention it... Daisuke frowned, that scroll I have seemed to be emitting the same weird waves I was feeling that night...
"Is something wrong?" Satoshi asked, after a long moment of silence, and Daisuke looked up, surprised.
"Oh! Uh-I-um-you see..." he took a deep breath, "I only just noticed that those weird waves that I felt there... a scroll that I have... it has the same power to it..."
"Really...?" there was a strange glint in his eyes and Daisuke couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Yeah..." he mumbled, "so... um..."
Satoshi looked like he was going to do something, but was stopped as Riku's voice floated overhead.
"Niwa-kun!"
Without another word, Satoshi left in the other direction as Riku came by, smiling, and, to Daisuke's surprise, holding With in her arms.
"Ah, Niwa-kun, I found you!" she laughed.
"Riku-san..." Daisuke smiled slightly, "why are you... um, here?"
"I found your pet," she held up With, who shook its tail in obvious enjoyment, "so I decided to return him to you!"
"Oh, thank you, Riku-san!" his smile widened as he accepted the white bunny-like creature, and Riku's face turned slightly pink with embarrassment, "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no! Nothing at all!" she laughed, turning away, "See you at class, then!"
"Yeah, later," he watched as she walked off to join her sister, who had obviously been watching them the whole time. Risa seemed to be smiling evilly and saying something to Riku, who was apparently denying whatever the younger twin was saying. After a while, the two seemed to make up and walked off towards the main building together. Daisuke eyes With, who was now sitting on his shoulder, and frowned slightly at the youma.
"With..." he started, "why were you there?"
"Kyu... kyu kyu kyu!" out of nowhere, With pulled out a sheet and, wagging its tail, held it out for him to take.
"Huh?" accepting the sheet, Daisuke held it up, and read what was on it, and stopped, "But... this is..."
"Kyuu!" agreed With.
"There are... hmm..." the boy frowned as the school bell rang sharply, "ah... better get to class."
Folding the sheet and placing it in his pocket, Daisuke made his way to the school building, unaware that two people were watching him from afar. One, as usual, was Satoshi.
The other, was Akane.
---
As the school day commenced, Daisuke waved goodbye to his friends before starting his own way home. Once he was sure that he wouldn't be disturbed, he took out the sheet of paper and began to read through it thoroughly:
As Ancient times recall, there have never been a set number of rules to life. Why do we, humans, have to be here in the first place? Why were we created into this world as the selfish, self-centered people we are now? Is there a real answer to this? This scroll has been written as part of my lesson, yet, I cannot concentrate, so I shall speak my thoughts instead.
I am a priestess, under the teaching of my master. I've only just recently started my learning, and already, I have too many questions that have been left unanswered, for my master forbids me to ask any more questions that are 'irrelevant' to the ways of a priestess in training. And still, I cannot just forget such questions, for they have burned deep within my memory, and I know, no matter how long it takes, I shall never forget them, not until I get an answer.
One of my biggest questions, one which makes my master furious, is the reason behind the Hikari and Niwa conflict. I read about them in one of the scrolls in the study room, and yet, he has refused to answer any questions concerning either family. Their rivalry, their passion of the use of magic, what was the reason that it all started, pulling in the males in their wake? I do not know, and I don't think I will ever know. But I know one thing: they are somehow related to the Time Keepers and the Artifacts of Time.
The Artifacts of Time... they hold an even more mysterious and dangerous power which neither the Niwas nor the Hikaris will ever possess, and, if it had been a destructive force, I might have been more worried.
And yet, the mystery continues, as these Artifacts... they are connected, once again, to the two families, and my master will not speak of them...
"... I ends here?" Daisuke stopped in disappointment, as the writing finished and he hung his head, "I can't believe it. And I was really getting into it, too."
"Kyuu?" With asked.
The Niwa and Hikari conflict... thought Daisuke, as he shoved the paper back into his pocket and continued on his way home, even I don't know the reason to it...
---
"I'm home," Daisuke called as he opened the front door and entered the hallway. After a few seconds, he knew that it was now free of traps and started to make his way down the hall. Entering the living room, he found Towa sleeping on the couch, in bird form. Blinking in confusion, Daisuke prodded her gently until she woke up. She yawned, and rubbed her eyes.
"Huh... what's up...?" she asked, still half asleep.
"Towa-chan? Are you okay?" he asked, and she gave him a long, tired stare.
"Oh... Daisuke, welcome home," she yawned again, "sorry... just been up so late at night... translating the scroll..."
"You mean..." Daisuke shook his head, "well, you can go back to sleep then."
"Mmm..." closing her eyes, Towa was asleep instantly. Looking up, he noticed that the house seemed strangely, and eerily, quiet. Pulling off his shoes, he tramped upstairs and entered his room.
Maybe they're out? he thought, though why all of them are out seems a bit odd for them...
It didn't take him too long to change out of school uniform and into a plain shirt and pants. He sat back on his chair, staring at the piece of paper and the small card that he had been holding, since the time he found out that he had it in his shirt pocket, somehow.
So many strange things... he repeated, putting them away and pulling out his exercise books, oh well, whatever, might as well do my homework now.
---
"We're home!"
Emiko really didn't need to call out that they were home, as Daisuke could identify the door opening and their footsteps as they passed down the trap-free hallway. Opening the door to his room and coming out of it, he was there just in time to greet his parents and grandfather.
"Daisuke! Have you been waiting for this long?" Daiki looked quite surprised when he saw his grandson and Daisuke couldn't help but frown slightly.
"I've been home for the past three hours," he said skeptically, and Kosuke smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, Daisuke, for not giving you a proper explanation before we went, but Emiko-san insisted," he said, "let me explain."
"I'll just go and get dinner ready," called Emiko as she left the room before anyone could protest.
"Now," started Kosuke, sitting down and indicating that Daisuke should do the same, "you received the paper with the translation of the scroll, correct?"
Daisuke nodded slowly.
"And I am sure you noticed that it has been uncompleted as well?"
Again, Daisuke nodded.
"Well, we went to every open museum and library, hoping to find the rest of the script," Kosuke sighed and shook his head, "but we have had no luck. Somehow, I doubt that there is another copy in the whole world."
"Dad..." started Daisuke, "who... wrote the scroll... and when was it written?"
"That is what we are trying to work out," his father explained, "the scroll itself seems pretty old, but the exact date, we do not know."
"I see," Daisuke got up, "well, I'm going to my room."
"Hey, wait Daisuke!" Daiki started, but he was already gone, "Where do you think he's up to, Kosuke-kun?"
"... I don't know."
---
Oi, Daisuke, what're you up to? asked Dark, sitting on the bed as Daisuke fished out the scroll again, And what do you plan to do with that? You can't read it, you know.
"I know," replied Daisuke, "but I think this may be the key to our questions."
How can you be so sure?
"I'm not," Daisuke shook his head, pulling the scroll open, "but I've got that feeling."
...
As he passed through the unidentifiable writing, Daisuke stopped at the very end and pointed at a single word, which was written in english.
"This must be by whom it was from," he declared.
So who was it? Dark asked impatiently, I ain't here to play games with you, Daisuke.
"It's by a person," Daisuke bent down to the writing, reading it carefully, "by a person... in the 5th century--"
WELL?!
"--named Celes."
###
"So, did it work, Scarlet?" Celes asked, not turning as the other girl entered the void they were occupying. Scarlet shrugged and sat down.
"It's a lot harder than I thought," she sighed, "but I think I can manage it well enough. How was your side of the plan?"
"Could've been worse," said the smaller girl cheerfully, "but I think Chester is pulling a spaz out now."
Scarlet sniffed, "Whatever. As long as he doesn't find us, I don't care what he does."
"... is it nice there?"
"Hm?" Scarlet blinked thoughtfully, "Yeah... it is. So much more... beautiful..."
"Are you going to be okay?"
"Just fine!" she got up sharply, "I'm going to bed now!"
Once she was gone, Celes frowned, "Oh, Scarlet..."
-------------------
Don't know how long'll it'll take for the next chap! But hope you'll be back soon! Thanks again!
Quite a bit of Daisuke-Satoshi interaction, I know, but who's he gonna talk to then? Dark? I don't think so. Dark need his sleep. Dark: That's right!
YEAH! Got that scroll back in! And what's up with Scarlet? What was her plan? Will be revealed later. (evil smile) Argh... editing it WAY too tiring for me. My eyes hurt...
Oh yeah, if anyone'ld like to beta read (or whatever) before hand, let me know. Have a FF-DNAngel crossover currently being developed, so if you're interested... yeah.
NEXT UP- Look for my new parody thingy of DNAngel: The Wonderful World of Ramblings! It'll be there! Hope you'll be there too!