Galatea
Third Movement: No Man's Land
"Compromise is never anything but an ignoble truce
between the duty of a man and the terror of a coward."
—Reginald W. Kaufman—
Satoshi finally broke down and directly asked Krad what he wanted to know after he got back to his apartment, safely behind thick walls. Guessing wasn't getting him anywhere after all.
"…Why didn't you try to stop me?"
It was a question that had been stewing inside Satoshi's mind for the past week—ever since that night on the rooftop when everything had culminated in a frustrating display in front of Dark and Niwa. Enough was enough, he was through with all this, and nothing was holding him to this damn family-ordained job any longer.
But there was always that suspicion that his curse, that Krad…was simply biding his time and luring the boy into a false sense if security. Yes, that would be just like him, wouldn't it? Let him hope, let him think for a moment that he would actually finally be able to do what he wanted to do, and not what the Hikari clan wanted him to do. And then—snap! Krad would take him when he was least expecting it, and laugh haughtily with that golden voice of his as his fingers wrapped tighter, tighter around the delicate windpipe of Niwa Da—
'Would you have preferred I did something? I should have thought you'd be thankful I was finally not meddling in your affairs.' A white-robed figure materialized, relaxing onto the couch in the living room faced away from his host. 'It seems I can do nothing to satisfy you—what a troublesome boy.'
Satoshi frowned and dropped his pack in the genkan, removing his shoes as well. "You know well enough that without me in that position there's nothing I can legally do anymore to mess around with Dark. That's why Hiwatari had me put there in the first place, remember?"
Krad smiled and leaned his head to the side, resting it in his palm while his elbow was cocked on the arm of the sofa. 'I know that… Can you not just accept that I'm letting you do as you wish this time? Perhaps I've come around—perhaps I've changed and no longer think Dark's as big a threat as I've made him out to be.'
"Bull," the boy snapped back, and slipped onto the opposite end of the couch, glaring at his curse as if he were trying to stare into Krad's deepest thoughts and discern truth from fiction. "For all the hell you've put me through just for that thief, there's no way you can expect me to believe that line of crap. And if you're planning something I'd rather face it now than have you spring it on me at some point in time in the future."
'Then wouldn't telling you ruin the surprise, Satoshi-sama?'
Getting frustrated with Krad's toying around, he ground out again, "This is all a game to you, isn't it?—Just tell me what you're planning! The Krad I know wouldn't let me just leave Dark to rob us blind, he'd never stoop that low—"
'Ah, the Krad you know, is it? You seem to think you've got me pegged quite well apparently—yes, you were even expecting me to try something with that quip you made earlier to Saehara, going on about "greater beings than you or him" standing watch over the city against Dark.'
Satoshi paled slightly and whipped his head around to face Krad. "You—heard that?"
The blonde had to fight back a scoff, 'Of course—you think I don't pay attention?'
Turning his head back around, Satoshi couldn't fight the slightly embarrassed flush that crept over his cheeks, "No—I just…didn't think you heard that." Krad raised a thin eyebrow. "I couldn't think of anything else to tell Saehara, so I just slipped in something about you since he wanted some kind of better explanation for why I was leaving…"
They lapsed into silence for a few more moments, Satoshi's mind flitting from subject to subject as he tried to process all that had happened in the past week, that day, and all that waited him the next week. Dark's notice…when had the last one come out? Nearly a week ago? One was due again soon, probably tomorrow—
'Tomorrow?' Satoshi silently cursed his inability to erect the formidable mental barriers his curse was so skilled at maintaining for himself.
He sighed, "Yes—but I wasn't talking to you. And it's just a guess, doesn't concern me anymore—or you—so I don't care." He leaned back further into the couch cushions and rested his weary eyes, letting them slide shut.
'Well stop thinking so loudly! I can't tell when you're speaking to me or yourself—'"You'll know when I'm speaking to you because it won't happen voluntarily. Is that enough warning, or should I make some further distinction?" He opened one eye to gauge Krad's reaction, and was somewhat pleased to find an abashed expression across his slender features.
Pushing himself up from his comfortable position, though, he deemed it not the smartest idea to fall asleep on the couch as he'd been about to do, and wandered around the side headed for his bedroom at the rear of the apartment.
'Where are you going?'Stopping in his tracks, Satoshi turned a cold eye to the blonde, "…Bed, what business is it of yours? Or is this a new aspect of my life you feel the need to exert some control over?" Again, that same strange sheepish expression crossed Krad's face, and Satoshi turned back forward, one foot over the threshold.
'S—Satoshi-sama.'
Sighing loudly, the Hikari boy stopped and turned around for the second time, "What is it? Do you have a problem with my going to bed?"
The image fiddled with his cuffs nervously, and actually seemed to falter for words. 'I just…I wanted to…'
"Spit it out already! I'm tired!"
Krad snapped to attention as if he'd found some source of courage suddenly, 'I wish to fight Dark tomorrow night should his advance notice arrive as suspected.'
Satoshi blinked a few times in rapid succession. Krad "wished" to fight? As in…he was asking permission? From the same person he'd forcibly taken control of so many times before? "You…what?"
Relaxing slightly, he blonde elaborated, though obviously finding this "asking" tone a bit foreign on his tongue. 'I'm asking…for your blessing, I suppose.' He turned his eyes away ashamedly, 'You think I'm fooling around with this, I can feel it—but I'm not! I want…I want you to let me.'
Taking a cue from his own curse, Satoshi relaxed a bit as well and towed the line, crossing his arms. "And what if I say no?"
'…Then I…will refrain, as you wish.'
Had he not at least a modicum of self-respect still inside himself, Satoshi's mouth might have dropped open, gaping in disbelief, which would then segue into his collapsing into a fit of laughter. Instead he shook his head to clear his thoughts and brushed it off, "Right—that'll be the day. When Krad of the Hikari cared in the least whether or not his Tamer told him he could battle his eternal rival." As if to reinforce the ridiculousness of the claim, he laughed harshly.
Krad, though, seemed to think this was quite a serious matter and was slightly offended, brows furrowing. 'I—I'm serious! I'm asking you to let me fight!'
Satoshi's laughter slowly died down, his usual frown falling back into place—the cruel joke had played on long enough, "You're asking my permission, is that it? You want me to just let you go on your merry way killing Niwa? Is it some pathetic attempt to rid yourself of the guilt that you've gone against your own Tamer's wishes?" Krad's own frown didn't move from its place. "Fine—I'll play along. No. If you step one foot out of this apartment when Dark's next advance notice comes, I assure you it will be without my consent." Still no change.
'…Very well then…as I agreed, I will comply.' The image slowly dissipated into nothingness, 'Good night, Satoshi-sama.'
And Krad was gone, back inside his formidable mental barriers, away from Satoshi's thoughts for the rest of the night.
So, why did it still feel so strange…?
The next morning dawned with little fanfare; he mundanely applied a bit of antiseptic to his hand, as he'd been doing for over a week now, still putting off having a doctor look at it, washed his face, arranged his hair so that it looked decent enough where he wouldn't get stares, then picked up his bag, checked his fax machine, and left the apartment.
As expected, Saehara apparently wasn't used to his not coming to work anymore, and—since it was the first one since he'd quit—had sent the boy a copy of the advance notice which had no doubt been found early that morning. By ten o'clock it would be all over the school, whispered about in hushed giggles by the younger Harada and her gaggle of girlfriends. Niwa would, as was usual on advance notice days, be fidgety and nervous around him—though, he supposed, this could also be because he'd confessed his feelings to the boy. Either way, their relationship was anything but normal.
"Yume no Yumi, huh?" The Bow of Dreams—second in the series of Hikari war works. It wasn't supposed to arrive in Azumano for another few weeks, but apparently since the Kan no Ken was no longer available for public viewing, the benefactor supplying the works had sent this one ahead.
Smiling softly, he almost felt a twinge of pity for Saehara—the bow was meant to be used to put large forces to sleep at once, leveling an entire battlefield in a single blow without any loss of life; contrarily, it could also be used in conjunction with the Toukou no Tooya, a single golden arrow that, when fired from the Bow of Dreams, sent the victim into a string of nightmares which debased the mind to an almost primal state—as a torture device, it was quite effective. Leave it to the Hikaris to fashion a weapon that attacked the mind more than the body…
He buttoned his coat up almost all the way when he stepped outside—winter was well under way, and they'd had a late-night flurry the evening before. Muddy snow littered the sidewalks, and people steadied themselves shakily to avoid slipping as they walked past him.
He paid them no attention, though; after quickly checking to see how alert Krad was (blessedly silent, and, from the rhythm of his waves, asleep) he went over the previous evening's proposal again.
He couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what the demon was up to! Brushing it off and forgetting about the whole thing would have been best—he'd done the right thing last night, hadn't he? Again and again he repeated in his mind that anything Krad suggested would in the end wind up hurting him, so why even entertain the thought? There was no way his curse was thinking of cooperating—he had no reason to!
He'd known about Krad almost his whole life, since he was old enough to understand what exactly a curse was and how two living beings could occupy the same physical body. And he'd heard countless stories from the elders about their "blessed" protector, who kept them all safe from the ravages of the Niwa clan. What was one young boy every few generations or so compared to the well being of the Hikaris? Krad was worth it.
Krad could do anything, Krad could keep them all safe and secure, Krad Krad Krad… What the hell did they know, though? None of them had ever been his host even! No, never—for most Tamers died early deaths; whether or not this was directly resultant from their being host to the curse was debatable, but Satoshi strongly suspected the demon played some role in their demises, just as he would no doubt play a role in his own.
So if Krad was so wonderful…why cooperate with Satoshi? The blonde didn't need him beyond his role as a container for his astral essence—the boy was a prisoner in his own body! If Krad wanted to come out, he came out, without regard to any pain he thrust upon his host—it was that simple! There was no reason, dammit! Why did he have to be so confusing?!
Maybe…maybe he was just getting tired too—no doubt Satoshi wasn't the first host to fight him tooth and claw for control over his body; it was the best answer he could muster at this moment. And after all, cooperation between host and curse would facilitate future transformations and such…it was worth a shot…
With a compromise, he could set his own standards that Krad would have to submit to—and if the blonde truly wanted this, he would have to give in!
Taking a mental step back, Satoshi scoffed at himself. Gods, he was an idiot for even thinking about this.
As he turned the corner, striding in through the great gates of Azumano No. 2, his pack began to vibrate, and moments later a measured beeping emitted from the side pocket. Frowning, Satoshi reached in and studied his cell phone. "This is Hiwatari speaking," he answered flatly.
"Satoshi." The voice on the other end spoke his name with a feeling reminding the boy of a military inspection, and he unconsciously straightened up as if the owner of the voice was actually looking at him. "Are you busy this afternoon? I have something to discuss with you."
"No, I'm not busy, Father." He smiled faintly, knowing he'd just made the man angry—he'd virtually admitted he wasn't going to Dark's museum site this evening to defend the Yume no Yumi, and he was just fine with that, "I suppose you want me to come down to see you at the police station, then? What time?"
There was silence, doubtless as Hiwatari Kei's mouth gaped open like a fish's at his adopted child's audacity to speak to him in such a way. But as always, he quickly recovered his senses and continued on, "One o'clock, if you please—I'd like to get this discussed before tonight."
No doubt he intended to pressure the boy into going to thwart Dark again. Satoshi's smile grew even wider: just let him try…
"Ah—watch out! It's coming your way! Hey!" Satoshi had only a moment to look up from his book during lunch before he was pelted squarely in the face with a strategically fired snowball, burying him in a pile of soft feathery ice, which slowly slid to the ground with a soft fwap.
Blinking a few times as drops of water wound their way down his smooth wind-reddened cheeks to his chin, he slowly set the book down and removed his glasses, wiping his eyes with a sleeve, and pushing himself up by bracing his back against the tree behind him.
"Saehara! Look what you did!" a familiar voice chided his friend, followed by the faint crunch of gravel as the Niwa boy approached to offer an apology to the unwitting victim of their snowball war, "Ah, I'm really sorry—I should've been paying more attent—Hi…Hiwatari…kun?"
Satoshi looked up from wiping off his glasses to stare at Daisuke, who was now considerably more embarrassed and apologetic, sputtering non-sensical phrases consisting of a muddled mass of "gomen"s and "really really sorry" and "do you need help getting cleaned up?"
"I'm fine Niwa…" He bent down to retrieve his book, only to find that Daisuke had already done it, and was hesitantly holding it out for him to take, a self-conscious smile tugging at his lips. Satoshi took the proffered book and searched for his page he'd left off on, reinserting his bookmark, and the Niwa boy took this as his cue to return to his game with Saehara and Sekimoto.
Then, something clicked, and as if they were simply going to meet to discuss some math problem or English translation assignment later that evening, Daisuke spoke softly, "I guess…I'll see you tonight then…since Dark's notice went out this morning…"
Pushing his glasses back onto his nose and pocketing the book into his pack, Satoshi gathered the rest of this things, not even looking the boy in the eye, and retorted, "I told you last week, I quit. I'm not going to be there anymore."
Daisuke, who had been already on his way back to the game, stopped in his tracks and slowly turned his head around, confusion evident on his innocent features, "You…but, you were just kidding, weren't you? You weren't really…" He trailed off into nothingness, before setting his mouth into a firm frown, and muttered angrily, "No…you never kid."
"Correct." Satoshi slung his pack over his shoulder and stared the Niwa boy down, "And Dark—" He now directed his speech to the curse lying dormant in some far recess of Daisuke's mind, and the being stirred to consciousness long enough to register Satoshi's threat, "I wouldn't get too cocky about all this if I were you…just because I won't be there…doesn't mean he won't…"
There was, of course, no response from the phantom thief inside Daisuke's mind, but Daisuke himself had something to say in answer to the assertion, and his face went pale, fear trickling down into his throat and tainting his voice with a nervous quiver, "…Wh—what's that supposed to mean, Hiwatari-kun?"
Satoshi narrowed his eyes in annoyance at the pathetic attempt to once again brush off the threat, "Exactly what it sounds like I mean, Niwa. Use that shrewd mind of yours for once."
He was merely issuing a warning to the both of them, leveling the playing field as it were. That way, he could not be faulted for anything Krad did—he had just warned them after all. If that kaitou and his host weren't prepared to fight his curse that evening, then it would be their own fault, and not because they'd been surprised.
"I've given Krad free rein to do whatever he pleases with Dark—fight him, bloody him, maim him—with the sole stipulation that he not kill you. I have done my part in this fight and am bored with it all, so I leave the rest to him—you'll do well not to underestimate him. I can't very well leave you two to rob my family blind, you know."
With that, Satoshi turned and began to walk away from the snowfight to find a more suitable spot to study in, but was stopped when Daisuke reached out and grabbed his retreating coattail. "Hiwatari-kun, you can't—"
"Don't you ever—" Satoshi jerked around and swiftly detached Daisuke's hand from his jacket, slamming the boy into the tree he'd just been sitting under, cornering him by placing hands on either side of his head and leaning in close, "—tell me what I can and cannot do, Niwa." His eyes glinted with a cold malice, and he narrowed them predatorily as he drank in the fear washing off of the redhead, almost tangible in the wintry air.
"…Hi—Hiwa…"
Voice dropping to a low whisper, Satoshi leaned in even closer until their noses were mere hairs' breadths away from touching. "…Will you scream for me, Niwa…when he comes for you and your Dark?"
Daisuke's breath was coming out in ragged gasps now, and Satoshi relented his attack and pulled away, storming off to another area of the schoolyard.
Shivering, the redhead offered him a forlorn look and pulled his own jacket closer before returning to his game, heart much heavier and feeling like it bore the weight of the world.
It was suddenly a lot colder than it had been a few moments before.
Krad at least had the good graces to wait until Satoshi had rounded the corner before he popped into his astral form and began strolling alongside the boy as he walked away, awaiting some form of explanation that he knew was coming.
"What?" Satoshi snapped angrily, well aware of what the blonde had appeared for. Krad was silent still. "So…maybe I changed my mind."
'You were quite specific in that stipulation for "suddenly" changing your mind.' Now it was the Hikari boy who said nothing. 'You were…serious?'
A sigh, "Just—for one time. That's all I'm granting right now. Whatever happens tonight…will decide if I do it again." What was he saying? Was he actually expecting Krad to listen to him? He mentally slapped himself. Well, if worse came to worse, Krad would take his body anyway, and no amount of stipulating or setting conditions would change that.
He could at least say he tried. "I…thought about it, and I guessed there was nothing to lose from doing it once, so I came up with that in front of Niwa—but I'm serious about the conditions." He stopped walking and turned to face the blonde, face stern as if scolding a child. "I'll…give my consent—" What the hell… "—chase him, hurt him, do what you wish, but—don't kill him. Or I solemnly swear you will regret discarding this trust I'm giving you."
Satoshi had been with his curse long enough, been in the middle of enough confrontations, to know that if he didn't specifically outline what was and what was not acceptable in this little compromise of theirs being formed right now, he was quite liable to find himself bathed in Niwa blood by the next morning.
He shivered.
'…Understood, Satoshi-sama.'
Making no sign he'd even heard or cared, Satoshi quickly glanced down at his watch and frowned, marching out a nearby gate and turning down a side street towards the police station. Now he was late for his meeting with his father.
"Come in," Hiwatari Kei called flatly as he flipped through a stack of papers that had just been faxed to him from a distant prefecture that morning. Apparently a museum there had recently received a few artworks they thought might be of interest to him, and how right they were. He smiled as he filed the papers away, muttering, "Argentine…"
The wooden doors at the other end of the office creaked loudly as they were heaved open, revealing the stately form of his adopted son behind them. Satoshi stepped inside and shut the doors behind him. "You called me, Father?" His tone was as even as Kei's, without emotion even as he addressed his elder.
Kei stood and stepped forward to greet the boy, though refrained from hugging him as he'd done in the past. "Satoshi—it's certainly been a while. Over a month since you last came to visit."
"I make it a point not to 'visit' anyone unless I have a purpose. I've been busy with school and work, you know that."
The older man relaxed and stuck his hands in his pockets, cocking his head to the side. "Work…you say?" Satoshi didn't flinch. "Now, you know, that's really quite interesting, because for some reason I received a fax late yesterday afternoon from Saehara down at the police station informing me that I needed to authorize your dismissal from the force because you were not old enough to authorize it yourself. Care to…explain?"
"Not particularly," the boy shot back unblinkingly, cold blue eyes hidden behind the thin wire frame of his glasses.
The man stepped forward, face growing serious, and he stared down at Satoshi with obvious contempt, as if daring him to speak that way again. "What do you think you're doing by trying to quit the force? Your work is not finished by far."
Not backing down, Satoshi humored him and explained succinctly. "It is not your business whether or not I finish my work—you are not a Hikari elder, and so I do not answer to you in this respect. If you feel like playing father to me now and making me stay on the police force, you should have started many years ago. For now, I am tired, and so I quit. I am not asking your permission."
Kei clenched his fist at the Hikari boy's audacity. "So you're just going to abandon your position in this war? As a defender of your family honor? Are you not strong enough to—"
"Abandon?" Satoshi scoffed, "How can I abandon a post I never held in the first place? And it seems to me that you are the only person in this room who gives a damn about 'Hikari family honor'—"
"I'm not the only one…" Kei growled darkly, and Satoshi narrowed his eyes.
"That may be true, but he answers to me. I am his host—not you. And you'll do well to remember that I am your superior in that respect—"
SLAPThe shock rather than the pain was what caused Satoshi to gasp, and his hand flew up to feel what was now a red welt on his left cheek, eyes wide and stunned that this man would dare lay a finger on him.
"Impudent brat…" Kei hissed, though he himself was slightly surprised at his own actions.
This shock, though, was overshadowed by a new upwelling of panic as Satoshi's huddled form shimmered and shifted before him into the body shape of one he knew too well—knew and feared.
Krad stood to his full height, his golden eyes easily locking gazes with Hiwatari. Leaning forward, he gripped the man's collar in one gloved hand and pulled him close until their noses very nearly touched. Voice low, he spoke with deadly gravity, "No one…touches Satoshi-sama but me…" He could sense the quickening pulse beneath his grip, "Am I understood, human?"
Kei could not respond in intelligible language, but Krad took his pathetic whimper as affirmation, and let the man stand on his own again, pushing him back until he nearly fell over his own desk.
"If anyone is to have an argument about what is and is not Hikari family duty, then it shall be Satoshi-sama and I—you do not figure into our family line in any way, Hiwatari. Do not pretend to, or you will be exceedingly sorry for it."
Not bothering to await the man's second whimpered agreement, Krad swiftly turned and marched towards the door, smirking all the while. A step before crossing the threshold, he released his hold over the boy's body, and in perfect tandem, not even missing a step, Satoshi continued their march, slamming the door shut behind him.