A/N: Italics represent people's thoughts, usually Daisuke's.
-o-o-o-
Aoi.
Chapter 5: A Drop of Colour
The morning sun shone through the window, bathing Daisuke with its revitalising heat. The boy still had his eyes closed and was afraid of opening them. He remembered very little of the night before, though he could recall having staggered back home with a just as drunk Satoshi by his side and an upset-looking Krad catching them both to prevent them from falling. His head ached too much for his liking and his body felt sore for no apparent reason. He turned to face the light that had brought him back to consciousness when he felt something underneath him. Something soft yet with sharp, irregular edges that felt nothing like his mattress. Suddenly worried, he willed his eyes open... and regretted having done so as he gasped.
-o-
Dark sat worried at the back of the classroom, barely paying attention to the lesson. His thoughts kept coming back to Daisuke and the possible reasons for his unexpected absence. He seemed perfectly fine, yesterday, he thought, why couldn't he come? He sighed as he realised that Satoshi wasn't there either. Funny, I hadn't noticed... The teacher kept drawling the lesson, stretching the hours until they seemed eternal. Dark couldn't take it anymore; he was bored and worried and had no intentions of listening to this man.
"May I go to the bathroom, sir?" Dark asked as he stood up.
The teacher halted on his speech, looking at Dark with a puzzled gaze. "Yes, Mousy..." he said rather stupidly, having forgotten what he had been talking about, thanks to the inappropriate interruption.
"Thank you, sir," Dark said as he rushed to get out of the classroom, into the hallway straight to freedom... and into Krad.
"Krad? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same thing to you, don't you think?" The blond boy answered, his brow raised as he watched his friend pick up his things that had fallen to the floor. "Where are you going?"
"Out. I'm sick of today's lesson, I can't take it anymore..." he admitted.
Krad looked at him in a funny way, but said nothing. Instead, he simply sighed and led Dark to the main gates, where he was headed. "Are you going out, too?" Dark asked. Krad shook his head, explaining to him that he needed to fetch the janitor, since one of the light bulbs had exploded. Dark laughed at him, thinking he was joking, but he wasn't. "Why would a light bulb explode?"
"D'you think I know?" was all the response he got from Krad. The blond kept walking, looking a bit tired which explained why he wasn't talking much. Dark then realised that, since Satoshi and Krad were living together, he probably knew why the boy was absent. And both being such close friends to Daisuke, might know the redhead's reasons for skipping classes. A sparkle of hope glittered in Dark's chest, but it died just as soon as he turned around to face Krad. The blond was nowhere to be seen and he was way past the main gates and out of the school. Damn it...
-o-
Daisuke looked into the glassy mess of blue that were Satoshi's eyes. He tried to process the overload of information, but his brain seemed to stop working. I... am lying... over... Satoshi? He was so surprised, nervous and embarrassed that he couldn't move, which made things even more complicated for him. But Satoshi wasn't doing any better... The blue-haired teen had his eyes the size of saucers and could barely understand what was going on. There was, in fact, only one thing he could think about and he was sure that voicing it out loud wouldn't help solving the situation at hand. Still, he was so desperate that he couldn't stop himself.
"Daisuke... what are you doing in my bed?"
The redhead looked like he'd been slapped in the face. Though he didn't know why. "What are you talking about, this isn't your...!!" But as he bawled like a little girl, he took in the surroundings, effectively realising that... "This isn't my room."
"I already know, baka. This is my room and you're lying on my bed... on top of me, no less." Satoshi had trouble finishing the sentence and by the last syllable he was so red in the cheeks that he had to look away. Daisuke still hadn't recovered from the initial shock, which meant that he couldn't move, yet. "Daisuke," Satoshi addressed the boy with as much dignity as he could find inside himself, "would you, please, get off me?"
"I'd love to," Daisuke admitted, "but I can't move."
-o-
Dark was now sitting on his living room's sofa as he zapped through the channels, trying to distract himself. Needless to say, so far he had only failed. He still couldn't get Daisuke out of his mind, something that kept unnerving him and making him feel uncomfortable. Why did he care so much about someone he barely knew?
Why was suddenly so, so very worried?
-o-
"What do you mean?" asked Satoshi, losing the little patience he had left.
"I can't move. I don't even feel my limbs, anymore," Daisuke said on the verge of tears as he tried to avoid looking at his friend... or whatever he was now. "Wait!" The sudden thought struck him. "We're dressed, so that must mean..." But Satoshi shook his head frantically, ignoring the look of incredulity on his friend's face. Looking up and down the length of their bodies, he wished the bed would split in two and let him sink into the blackest pit of hell. Damn... we're in our underwear... he paused to consider the situation.
We're in our underwear!!! He screamed mentally as he felt his limbs reattaching to his body and move, taking his weight off Satoshi. "I see you can move, now..." Satoshi tried to snicker as he got up from the bed. He had to think of this as some kind of bad joke, he could not believe the situation, it was impossible. Daisuke was his best friend, how could he do something so... indecent to someone like him? He was so innocent, so shy and easily ashamed and always so close to a nervous breakdown... it was simply impossible, they couldn't have... could they?
"Daisuke," he asked, risking the last bit of sanity he had left. "Do you, by any chance, remember what we did last night?"
Daisuke's mind was screaming, pleading for Lucifer to come and take him. He shook his head and admitted that he could not remember a single thing. "I don't even know how I got here," he said, feeling even more embarrassed than he already was, which was saying quite a lot.
-o-
Dark had given up on hope that afternoon. He had tried everything to distract himself from the worries clouding his thoughts, but everything had been futile. He was even considering going to sleep early -it wasn't even four!-. Luckily for him, the telephone rang.
"Hello?"
"Dark-kun!"
Dark knew that voice, so shrill and full of life, so confident and determining, so... "Keiji Saga?"
"Well, yes!" the blond at the other side of the telephone answered happily. Dark smiled widely as it finally dawned on him; he was talking to Keiji, his childhood friend, Keiji! He couldn't even remember when was the last time he'd spoken to him. Maybe... a month ago?
"Keiji-kun, how are you?" he asked to his friend. "I've been phoning you for ages but no-one would pick up and you never called, so I was really worried!"
"I've been on vacation..." Keiji laughed on the phone, suddenly feeling guilty for having abandoned his friend for so long. "I'm sorry, but it had been so unexpected... the trip and all, I mean. But, anyway, I didn't phone you to argue, but to give you good news!"
"What is it, Keiji-kun?"
"I'm moving back to Azumano! AND, I'll be attending your school, isn't that amazing?"
"Really? That's so cool, Keiji-kun! When are you starting classes?"
"Tomorrow morning, I think Krad Hikari is one of my classmates. Oh, I can't wait to get my hands on him!!"
"Keiji-kun!" Dark exclaimed, feeling hot in the cheeks. Some things would never change, would they?
"Neh, always such a prudie, Dark-kun... anyway, I was wondering, are you free today?"
"Yeah," Dark answered reluctantly. If this was just one of Keiji's jokes he would get really mad...
"Great, because we need to catch up and I need someone to come with me to my acting classes."
Silence. "You, Keiji Saga, are studying acting?" He could feel the enthusiastic nod from the other side of the line. "Is this a joke?"
"No, Dark-kun, it isn't. I have finally found my career."
"Well, then... when does this class start?"
"At eight, are you coming?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Great, do you want to meet up at six in the old museum?"
"Yeah, see you there."
"Bye, Dark-kun!"
"Ja ne!"
-o-
The next day, the four friends met outside the institute fifteen minutes before classes started. Krad was wearing his smug smirk, though no-one knew what he was so smug about, and the rest were feeling uncomfortable. Dark and Daisuke still had trouble when speaking to the other and Satoshi and Daisuke could not even look at the other in the eyes. Dark thought it was really odd for them to do that, a thought that increased his suspicions of the day before a fifty percent.
Well, at least Daisuke is here, he thought.
Everything was going relatively fine, when someone 'kyaa-ed' and jumped behind Dark, catching him in a deathly grip. "Keiji-kun, you're choking me," said Dark as he tried to get the blond, hyperactive boy off his back.
"Ohayou, Dark-kun," Keiji greeted before spotting a certain someone. "Ooooh... Krad-kun, I haven't seen you for such a long time," he purred as he walked to where Krad was standing.
"Who are you?" Krad asked rather rudely, making Keiji flinch.
"What do you mean 'who are you'?!! I'm Keiji Saga, I used to go to primary school with you, you baka!!" Keiji was red in the face and looking murderous. No one forgets about Keiji Saga!! He thought to himself, before finally crumbling inside. Why did he forget...?
"Oh, yeah, I remember you..." Yay! Keiji came to life again with those words. "You were the tiny guy with the annoying voice who kept jumping and singing and behaving like a complete idiot most of the time, aren't you? The class' clown!"
I want to kill myself...
Dark snickered to himself, careful of no letting anyone hear him as he turned to look at Daisuke, who was looking puzzled and a little... upset? "Keiji!" he called. The other boy looked at him, his eyes now opaque and betraying disappointment. "I'd like you to meet my friends."
"Satoshi Hiwatari." The boy nodded shyly in Keiji's direction. "Satoshi is Krad's cousin, whom I think you already know." Keiji glared at his friend, before he was introduced to the last one of Dark's friends, a boy a red hair and stunning bright eyes. "This is D-Daisuke Niwa," Dark stuttered, trying to avoid meeting the boy's gaze. Keiji shook Daisuke's hand and turned to look at Dark, smirking. He already knew everything.
When the bell rung, everyone went to their respective classrooms; Dark, Daisuke and Satoshi speaking little or nothing and Keiji chasing after Krad who kept ignoring him. But everything would be alright, they would all survive.
And survive they did. By lunch-break, everyone was back into action, chatting amiably as they usually did, except for Daisuke and Satoshi. Dark, who was sitting next to Krad, took the opportunity to ask, "why aren't they on speaking terms?"
Krad smiled widely then, snickering to himself as he answered. "The two idiots have been like that since they woke up in the same bed the other day, but--" Krad never finished his sentence. Keiji jumped from his spot to where the long-haired blond was, startling him and making him forget what he had been saying.
But Dark had heard enough.
Picking up his lunchbox he rushed down the stairs and into his classroom, picked up his backpack and ran out of school. He was suddenly very angry, jealous, hurt and he admitted all of those feelings and didn't care because the pain was bigger than anything else. Biting his lip, he tried to stop the tears from flowing as he stomped back to his house. Of all the things he expected to hear, what Krad had told him wasn't one of them.
"Atchooo!" Krad sneezed as he thought of whom might be thinking of him. "What did you tell him?" Keiji asked perplexed at his friend's behaviour as Krad realised...
Oops...
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Well, another chapter done, I really hope you liked it. Sorry if there is too much dialogue and not enough narration, but it would have looked stupid if I tried to narrate, for example, Keiji and Dark's dialogue on the phone. Ah, well, I did my best. The thing is, my Writer's Block isn't completely cured. But it will be by the next chapter, even if it's the last thing I do!! By the way, the chapter's title is a song by Hyde. I love Hyde.
Oh, another thing... I just HAD to include Saga in this story!! I think it will make this story a lot funnier... I hope, at least. And if not, at least he's there... trying to seduce Krad. No, seriously, I had to include him because there's a part of the next chapter that would have looked incoherent... I won't say another word, it'd spoil the surprise...
Krad: cough I don't think there IS a surprise cough
Bumblebee: shut up, Krad.
Saga: I have the perfect idea!! Let's have the boys in a school play where Daisuke is a slutty princess and Satoshi is the sexy, legendary kaitô Dark!!
silence
Bumblebee: Yeah, well... cough ja ne!
Oh! I lamost forgot: I just posted a little one-shot thingie with KradxSat, support it!! Or else...
But before taking my leave... it's review time!! (yay)
darksaphire: I'll be waiting for that fic (please, make it DarkxDai, please????)
Sakura-Angel2: he's funny, yeah... I loved writing the drunk scenes... and their dialogues in this chapter.
KageKitsune16: you're forgiven. Here's the new chapter, review it!!! (neh, that sounded a bit too desperate, huh? ")
Yuki Haitani: I'm glad you liked it!!
Pyro Demon: new reviewer! Yay! I'm going pop-ularr... I can be sooo stupid, sometimes... ah, well, I'm really glad you like this!
baka-chibi-puffs: yay, drunk is good! (except when it's me)