Galatea
Twelfth Movement: A Night on the Town
"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."
Ellen Parr
'Ne…Satoshi-sama…' a golden voice piped up innocently one evening after their concord had been reestablished, as Satoshi was putting together a key for a practice test he'd prepared for a few of his tutoring charges.
Not pausing his question writing, he prodded, "What?" and flipped forward a few pages in the textbook he had currently settled in his lap, running a thin finger down a list of terms.
'Are you…getting bored?'
"Bored?" Satoshi parroted, not quite getting the question, "Putting this key together isn't the most stimulating of activities, I will give you that."
He could sense the wavering in his mind, though, as Krad waved him off, 'No no—not this. I meant…with Dark. Last time, when we went out…you didn't say anything the whole time…' He warily paused, and tested, 'Did I do something out of line? Or were you simply tired, or—'
"There's no reason for me to pay any attention during the fights nowadays, you know that. You didn't do anything out of line, so stop worrying. I just…didn't see the need to be looking over your shoulder and commenting the whole time." He set down the pencil and shifted the papers off to the side, bending forward to pick up another stack to leaf through. "I trust you enough that you're not going to kill Niwa even if I don't watch your…every…move…"
He paused in shock at his own statement, hand hovering in the air over the papers he had reached for, brows knitting in uncertainty. Had he just said…what he'd thought he'd said? In his mind, he could sense the same shocked silence and querying of whether or not his curse had heard correctly. It had just…rolled off his tongue so easily, he hadn't even given the words a second thought. But looking back…there was so much hidden meaning.
I trust youTrust was…not something he was sure he was entirely ready to give to Krad…was he? Could he stand being vulnerable in any way before the demon in the hopes that whatever had changed in him of late was enough that Satoshi wouldn't feel betrayed once again, wouldn't feel used, abused? Really, what was he basing this thought of trust on?
Before he could answer his own question, a hesitant wave roiled through his mindscape, shimmering uncertainly, 'You…trust me, Satoshi-sama?' The boy recoiled unconsciously at the question, still unsure of his answer and whether or not it was true or simply a product of quick speaking.
'I've…done little to merit your trust, you know…'
Satoshi wanted to spit back something harsh along the lines of "Damn straight," but his tongue was halted—he didn't want to make the same mistake of rashly barking out a statement and later regretting it, so instead he paused a moment and gathered his thoughts.
"Well…like I said," he gulped, mouth dry, "You've been fine fighting Dark, and nothing bad's happened with him. And we've been…I guess doing fine, so—so is it really that…that strange? I just—it's too much work to watch you all the time!" He finished in a huff, growing uncomfortable with explaining himself off the top of his head when he didn't even know how he really felt about the trust issue in the first place.
But he hadn't been lying when he'd spoken about growing lax in keeping tabs on his curse as he battled Dark almost weekly. Krad had made the compromise quite some time ago, and so far it was working—until the blonde gave him another reason not to trust him, he…could do pretty much nothing but that.
'So…then, you do? Trust me?'
"I said yes—now stop bugging me about it before I change my mind!" He pasted his usual frown back on and slumped into the couch, pulling the papers up with him and returning to preparing the test key.
Not five minutes had passed, though, before he was once again interrupted—though this time Krad caught his attention by simply phasing into his vision, adopting his astral form and settling onto the opposite edge of the couch.
"Something else I can help you with? I'm never going to get this done, you know." The blonde head turned slowly to stare at his Tamer, and Satoshi got a bit nervous under the intense gaze, "Wh—what? What is it now?"
'Satoshi-sama…' The voice was soft at first, but quickly found a firm footing, 'Do you…remember the ring you were given? The one by Niwa Kosuke? Shortly after…after your father's funeral? Do you remember it?'
After a few rapid blinks, Satoshi's mind started working and he sifted through his memory to answer the random question posed by his curse. Ring…ring…after the funeral had been—detention! And the envelope Kosuke had given to Daisuke to pass on to him, with the letter and…the ring! "I…yeah—yeah I remember it now. I think I put it…" He paused as he checked his memory again, "…In the jewelry box—in my top dresser drawer. Should still be there—I never had to use it, or knew what to even use it for really…" He ran his eyes over Krad's form warily, "…Why? 'S there something wrong with it? Why'd you bring it up?"
A smile containing barely concealed excitement spread over the blonde's features, 'Go get it—I want…I want to try something.' It wasn't a command, more of an urging, and Satoshi frowned, still confused, but in the end gave in anyway. He set the papers down again and pushed up off the couch, wandering into his room with Krad's image following like a faithful puppy at his heels. He sifted through the top drawer and eventually pulled out a small black box and settled back onto the bed with it, lifting the lid. Inside were various trinkets he rarely saw, a few rings, a pocket watch, even a brooch he'd been told belonged to his mother when she was a child. He shifted aside the watch to open a small side compartment, and pulled out the same small black ring he'd received from Kosuke via his son only a month or so before.
He held it out in his palm for Krad to see and stared at it—it wasn't anything special, from what he could judge, a leaf-like pattern around the band its only distinguishing characteristic.
'Rutile's companion piece…' Krad breathed, staring down at the bit of jewelry, and Satoshi's eyes snapped up, waiting for the blonde to clarify what exactly he was talking about. 'The Rutile was made to awaken sleeping powers, magnify them, until they all but engulfed their user—in the wrong hands, or in the hands of one without the knowledge of how to use it, Rutile was quite the deadly Hikari work, but this…this is most definitely a Niwa piece.
'If Rutile awakens powers…this would put them to back sleep. Lock them away—temporarily, at least.' His haughtiness could not be kept at bay for too long, it seemed, 'Nothing made by Niwa hands can truly match a Hikari work. But this…I must hand it to those thieves, this is no small work.' He pulled back up and turned his eyes from the ring to his Tamer, 'Use it, Satoshi-sama—for tonight, use it!'
Thin brows pulled together in confusion Krad should have seen coming, "Wha—use it! This? But—I—why!" He clenched his fingers around the metal band, "Kosuke told me what it was for, in that letter he wrote—I don't need it! Not…not now…" He trailed off, adding simply, "It'd just be like—well, like taking over your body…"
'Exactly,' was the short return, and blue eyes locked onto gold, 'You are a human, Satoshi-sama—a beautiful human—' he was quick to add, '—but a human nonetheless. You have…no idea what it's like to be astral, even that form I taught you to take when I manifest—it's completely different being art given life as I am. The thrill and ego that comes with being an immortal, the absolute command and control of Astral, the power, the—the wings even! It's always been something Dark and I have indulged in, have used to battle each other, but…
'I want to share it with you.' A pause as he gathered himself, 'I want you to be the first Tamer I have given my full and complete trust to—I want to relinquish…absolute control over my physical makeup…to you. In short, I want you to be able to feel what it's like to be me.'
Satoshi's eyes widened considerably, and it was all he could do to keep his mouth from hanging open ungracefully. "You want me…to use this ring—to take over your body? You—you want me to!" A silent nod, "But I…" He trailed off; he'd wanted to remind Krad that it was stupid to entrust another with that kind of power—Satoshi could do so much in that form that would hurt Krad but not register on his human form, and he might even daresay there was a spell buried somewhere in his adopted father's old books that would allow him to banish his demon then and there simply by being in Krad's form, since the blonde would certainly never try and seal himself.
To place that much trust in his Tamer…was Krad insane? Wait—rephrase, was Krad more insane than usual?
"But why…me? Aren't you…afraid? At all? Of…of letting someone else take your body…?" Satoshi certainly was—ever since seeing Dark wreaking havoc in Daisuke's body that time on St. White's Day last year, he'd been a bit uneasy, contemplating the horrors that might ensue if Krad ever figured out how to take him without fully transforming.
'Because you said you trust me…so I want to return it.'
"So I guess…I just put it on? Then what?" Satoshi turned the band over in his hand, staring at it warily as if fearing it was about to leap out of his palm and clamp onto his nose. "The note said I'd still transform if you tried…"
'But that would be the extent—my own consciousness is not supposed to surface.' He looked his host over, 'Well? It won't hurt to try at least, will it?'
Frowning, Satoshi eventually gave in, "Here goes, then…" Picking up the ring with his right hand, he hesitantly lifted it over to his left index finger, treating the metal like a scalding brand he didn't want to touch. Eventually though, whatever reservations had still dwelled in his mind were dispersed, and he slid it on and waited. "So…you try now…to—to take me." He couldn't believe he was actually asking Krad to do this…
The image that had been standing before him dissolved into nothingness, retreating into the unbreachable walls of his own mind, and the boy waited in a confusing mix of anxiety and excitement.
He could sense the cold washing over him as tendrils of Astral were sent out as feelers, exploring the boundaries of his consciousness, with Krad doing his best to nudge aside Satoshi's own mind as gently as possible. This, though, proved to be a more difficult matter than usual.
'There's…I can't do it—there's a barrier of some kind…Is this the ring's doing?'
"H—how should I know?" Satoshi was getting a bit tense at the intrusion upon his mind—it was usually so fast he didn't have time to react to the sensation, didn't have time to linger on the feeling. But it was like sticking a finger down the back of his throat, and he wanted to gag so badly and remove the presence. It was all but impossible to concentrate with that pressure all inside his head where it shouldn't be. "Just—hurry it up! Do something—don't just sit there in between!"
The presence pushed harder, pressing in all directions as Krad stretched himself to his limits trying to break through the barrier—until eventually, parts of him did get through, but not his usual parts.
'A filter! It's not a seal—it's a filter!' Satoshi, though, had no time to comprehend this epiphany of his curse's, for he was concentrating completely upon the eerie sensation of transforming without retreating back into his little corner of Krad's mind. His legs stretched out longer, arms too, muscling up more than his usual lean build. His chest broadened and his hair—his hair spooled out onto the floor like golden flax until his legs reached a length where the ponytail-bound mane just barely reached his ankles.
All too soon, he felt the changes grind to a halt, and took a tentative breath, eyes darting around the room. "I—is it—AH!" He slapped his hands over his mouth, eyes widening—that was…Krad's voice! He had—he had Krad's voice! "I sound…like you…!"
Had the curse not been so worn out by the effort of trying to instate himself when blocked by this ring, he might have laughed heartily at the boy's reaction; instead he could only smile wearily from his prison. 'Well—who did you think you'd sound like? That's my body.'
"Ah—I want to see!" He darted over to the closet full-length mirror like a child on Christmas morning eager to unwrap his presents. His pants, which had been long to begin with, had now crept up another few inches, exposing a bit of his calf, and the material clung more tightly to his muscular thighs now. His shirt mirrored this, stretching over the wider chest and back, with a bit of flesh peeking out every now and then where buttons strained to hold.
Krad had to mentally bite his tongue to keep from making a comment about Satoshi's eyes roaming eagerly over the body he was in now—he didn't want to break the atmosphere! But seeing the now-golden eyes reflected in the mirror darting everywhere, hands running over skin and muscles, testing the form for flaws and finding not one—it was quite difficult for the curse to maintain his composure.
Seeking a different route for his thoughts to distract him, Krad commented idly, 'Why don't you go out? It's already nightfall—no one will see.'
Satoshi looked up into the mirror—a quite un-Krad-like expression of confusion painted on what looked to be Krad's features. "Out…? Out where?" He turned his head to the window and the sky outside which was washing over violet. "You can't expect me to just take an evening stroll like this."
'Of course not,' Krad assured him, 'Why walk, when you can fly?'
A deep pause, and he turned back to the mirror. "…F—fly?" His eyes fell away as realization washed over him, and his heart quickened its beat, "I…you mean…"
A mental smile filled his mind, warming him from the inside out, 'Am I to take that to mean you'd like to try it?' Satoshi barely managed a curt nod, quite eager to learn what exactly he could do in this body. 'All right all right—first I think, though, I'm going to have to teach you how to use Astral in my body.'
"But—you already did that, when you taught me projection."
'It's different in my body—remember? I'm the one you had to actually anchor on to; I've got far greater Astral use capacities than humans. Now—hold your arms out full in front of you, palms facing forward.' Satoshi complied without question, 'Close your eyes and concentrate, feel the Astral like you did when I taught you—you shouldn't have to search for it, though, like humans. For me, the Astral is all around and ever-present. You will…hear it…I suppose is the term you could use.' He watched the mirror intently as the golden eyes slid shut, the boy concentrating his energies on synchronizing with Krad's powers that lay just beyond his reach.
"I…I do…" A smile slowly spread across his face, "Wh—what now?"
'Now…you're going to have to…recite a numbing spell—in Latin.'
"Latin!" The golden eyes shot open in alarm, "Wh—why! You know I hate that language! I never did well in it!"
'It's not my choice!' Krad couldn't help his defensive tone, 'Blame your ancestors! They're the ones who conjured up these damn things! And would you rather those wings just come ripping out of your back?'
Satoshi flinched as harsh memories clamored for attention, eyes falling away, "N—no…I'll do it…"
'Alright then—repeat after me: Mortal flesh, feel no more, not pain, not pleasure, bliss, nor sore… Carnis mortalis, non diutius senti, nec dolorem, nec voluptatem, nec beatitudinem, nec dolentem.'
Satoshi repeated in perfect tandem, letting the syllables flow from his lips in that familiar golden tone, sprinkling the air with elegant words he didn't pretend to understand, simply parroting what was whispered in his mind.
'Wings from the void, heed my call—numb this body full to all… Alae ab inani, vocem curate—prorsus corpus torpere fac.'
Finishing the short incantation, Satoshi held his breath waiting for word on what to do next.
'Good—now call them.'
A pause, "…Call them?…Call them what?"
Krad frowned, 'Did you never pay attention when I went out?' Satoshi blushed, and noted distantly how foreign a hue the red seemed on Krad's pale high cheeks, 'Call the wings.' Satoshi opened his mouth, obviously about to call out to the appendages, only to be interrupted again, 'Not with your voice! Just—with the Astral! It's—' The curse heaved a mental sigh, 'It's a lot easier to do than to explain it, I suppose… All right: I simply test the threads and…pluck them…and they come…but you don't know about the threads enough to be able to do it…the two of us synchronizing would do it, but—'
"Wait—synchronizing?" That definitely sounded like something he would not be comfortable doing with Krad. It sounded like it involved mutual consent. It sounded like it involved mind intrusion. It sounded…well, truthfully, just the name made it sound a lot like sex.
'You wouldn't want to do it,' Krad assured him, as if reading his mind…which was probably what he'd done, 'It's like…both of our minds working in tandem, you feel what I feel, and I feel what you feel. You could see my thought processes regarding using Astral, but…it's not something I'd expect Satoshi-sama to want to try, actually—never mind, I'll keep thinking of how to best explain it.'
Five more minutes passed in silence as Krad wracked his mind futilely to discern how best to get across what exactly it was to use his curse's astral abilities. To sense it was one thing; to use it, bend it, shape it, call it, was another thing entirely. He'd done it for three hundred years—by now it was child's play. But to explain it to another being, even one so close to him as Satoshi, was a different matter.
"…H—how long would…the synchronization last…? It wouldn't—it wouldn't be permanent…would it?"
Krad thought for a moment, 'I should think not…even host and curse as you and I are, there are still some barriers between us, and I wouldn't think a process like temporarily synchronizing would breach those barriers. I expect it shouldn't last beyond the time limit of that ring's power. A day, perhaps a bit more or less.'
There was another long pause as Satoshi stood there in Krad's body, looking pathetically at his reflection, "…I'll do it, then…"
'Satoshi-sama…' Krad began warily, 'You—you do understand what this is, right? There would be…no barriers left… You'll have full access to my mind, and I yours—'
"I know!" the boy snapped angrily, "I know…but it—it's just for a little while…and I want…" He was hesitant to say that he wanted to try out Krad's body while he was in it, to fly, to use the Astral he saw his curse flinging about all the time, to experience fully what the blonde lived like…He really wanted to know, now that he was in the body, what made Krad Krad. And if his curse ever found that out…
'…You're giving me more trust when I haven't earned it, Satoshi-sama…'
"Stop talking like that!" he growled, "I'll give my trust to whomever I want! And if I…if I want to trust that you…won't do anything I don't want you to…then let me—if you want to do something about it, then don't prove me an idiot for doing this with you…Maybe that'll clear your conscience."
…please don't hurt me.
Mother…I have no mother…
Niwa has a mother. Niwa has many things I don't have. Niwa has a family. Niwa has a curse who cares. Niwa has friends, Niwa has people who love him.
Niwa has been rejected before. Niwa has rejected before. Harada Risa. Harada Riku. Hiwatari—Hikari Satoshi. Niwa Daisuke. Dark.
Krad…
Krad…?
"…It still feels like before…" Krad's voice was tinged with Satoshi's slight whine, wondering what was wrong. "I don't feel different…Krad?" He could feel the familiar pressure in a corner of his mind, reminding him that the blonde was still there with him, but he couldn't figure out why he wasn't answering, "Krad? Hey—it feels the same."
A shudder he couldn't fight wracked his body as his curse's mental struggles reverberated in his own form, "Wha—what's going on!" The voice took on an unfamiliar tone, one Krad had never used before: panic.
'Y—your thoughts Satoshi-sama! Stop them—put up something; a barrier! Please—a barrier!'
Golden eyes darted around uncertainly, "What're you talking about! What kind of barrier are you—"
Krad is always there with me; Krad never leaves me alone, Krad never leaves me, Krad never leaves. Krad won't die unless I die, but then he'll come back. He always comes back. Krad is a curse, but at least he is my curse.
Niwa has a curse too. Niwa has many things I don't have, but we both have our curses. Niwa has Dark, I have Krad.
Does Niwa love his Dark, I wonder? His Dark is always with him, he might love him. I do not know. Can a host love his curse? I do not know. Can a curse love his host? I do not know. I used to love Niwa. Now…I do not know.
Dark is a curse, Niwa is a host. Krad is a curse, I am a host. Can a host love his curse? I do not kn—
'SATOSHI-SAMA! STOP YOUR THOUGHTS! FOCUS ON SOMETHING! I can't—AAH!' Another spasm echoed along astral threads from curse to host, sending Satoshi slipping to his knees, cradling his head in his hands. Thoughts, thoughts, what thoughts!
Confusion pain pleasure elation anticipation anxiety excitement fear trepidation courageThoughts thoughts thoughts thoughts thoughts thoughts thoughts thoughts tho—
KRAD
KRAD
KRAD
KRAD
Krad…
…
"…Krad…?" the boy hazarded, cracking open an eye and daring a scan of the room, hoping that whatever had just happened was over, and he might see a mirror image of the body he was currently using standing over his form, curled up into a fetal position as he was at the moment.
There was no image, but a voice did answer in his mind, 'It—it's fine now, Satoshi-sama… You bought me time to put up a rudimentary shield…'
"Wh—what was that all about?" He turned his confused gaze to the floor, still sensing the fear rolling off of the mental voice as it had pounded him with entreaties to stop that which he hadn't even realized he was doing. "I don't…I don't even know what I did…"
But before Krad could even begin to tell him what had just transpired, he knew. Knowledge and understanding simply popped into his mind: The synchronization had been perfectly successful, it was simply that Krad's personal shields kept his thoughts from unnecessarily straying into Satoshi's own mind when they weren't needed—not actually a barrier, but more of a funnel, directing thoughts where to go and when. Satoshi, though, didn't know he'd even need to do something like that so when the two had fused (or whatever one wanted to call their state now), all his normal thoughts flushed into Krad like a tsunami, overcoming him and giving him little chance to react until he could instruct his host to find something to anchor onto. The pain, the fear, of being lost amidst a sea of thoughts he couldn't differentiate, all pounding him, begging for attention, flooding his senses with Satoshi and drowning out Krad altogether…
But Satoshi could also sense a kind of beaming pride that felt warm when it washed over his mindscape, like a ray of sunshine into a darkened room he wanted to curl up in, pride that his focus had been Krad himself—
Well, it was just—that was the object he'd been confronted with right then, that was all. It wasn't surprising that the very same person screaming inside his mind would have been the one thing he thought of and anchored onto at that moment, was it? That was the only reason he'd held onto a single thought of Krad to stabilize his thoughts, "So…don't misunderstand me, alright?" he finished aloud, conscious that his every feeling and thought had been sensed by the curse inside of him, and he pushed himself into a standing position.
Now, about those wings…
The numbing spell was still holding fast, and Satoshi couldn't even feel the fabric of his shirt rubbing against his back, tight as the material was.
No, something told him, and he could barely discern it was Krad: 'No—hold off on summoning the wings; you need new clothing, something that won't restrict you so when flying.'
Frowning, Satoshi stared into the mirror, "Well then, let's do it already! I'm getting bored just standing around in this body with nothing to do!" Open up a pocket dimension, something told him: that's what he had to do. Though…how to do that? Instantly the knowledge was his, as if it was a task he'd learned long before and had been on the tip of his tongue—he even had to fight back an involuntary, "Oh, I remember now!" so natural had the task seemed.
Feel the strings around him, flowing from living thing to living thing, from living to inanimate, from inanimate to inanimate—feel them all, pluck them, watch them waver like ripples in a pond, and watch reality shift… Pull apart a pair, reach inside and test the Astral: it feels good today, it wants to be used, it wishes to serve its user today. Visualize what I want, picture Krad as he was before, see him standing there, in those garments, looking like some European nobleman from centuries past.
Feel the earthly threads dissolve, feel the astral threads molding to this body, Satoshi's body, Krad's body, our body; the undershirt winds around the arms like a snake, constricting the chest but—not so tight, and the breeches ballooning out over his thighs! Vest snapping over, charcoal gray, like molten lead—no, like mercury, liquid silver, silky and smooth and so pleasurable against his skin when one rubs his cheek over it. And falling like snow upon his shoulders, draping down to cover his form, the knee-length overcoat, eyes trailing down to gloss over shiny jet-black boots that looked as if they'd been polished tirelessly.
'Not bad, if I do say so myself—I think you're getting the hang of this, Satoshi-sama!'
"What about the wings? Can we do them now?" The boy's voice was having a harder and harder time disguising the excitement that was laced in it like poison, betraying Satoshi's anticipation and eagerness to get on with the night.
'Why ask me? You know now…'
"Ah—yeah!" He put off admiring himself in the mirror and let his arms drop to his sides as his eyes closed in concentration, brows furrowing.
Call them…call them… Not with the mouth, but with the mind, the heart, the will—that was what drove a bloodline curse, more than anything: the will. By his will Krad could do virtually anything if he so desired it. Could take over his host's body, could relinquish his body to his host, could seal himself away, could…could kill his own host, could drive them to madness, could drive them to self-hate, could make them wish they'd never been born and plant in their mind a deep wish to wipe themselves from existen—
'Satoshi-sama?' a worried voice echoed in his mind, '…The wings, aren't you going to summon them?'
"Ah—y-yes…I'm doing it…Sorry…" Satoshi straightened the body back up and refocused, mentally berating himself for letting himself be distracted by the maze which was Krad's mind…for letting himself bore further into that mind than he'd have liked to have gone…
Right, the wings. Yes. He refocused his thoughts again and spoke a single word into the void of Astral that surrounded him on all sides: Come.
Instantly the numbing spell went to work as the two huge appendages burst from his shoulder blades, bent in half, and quickly unfurled to their full expanse, larger than any bird Satoshi knew of as the tips very nearly stretched the expanse off the room. The numbing spell, no longer needed, wore off, and just as the boy was about to query how he was actually supposed to use the things—he knew.
"I…think I kind of like this synchronization thing…I don't have to ask you anything." He pushed them further out until the tips brushed the walls on either side, stretching them as best he could to get out any kinks, then folded them close to his body as he flung open the bay windows and stepped onto the balcony, taking a deep breath of the cool night air.
'Perfect night for a flight, wouldn't you say?'
"I would have to agree with you there…" He unfurled the wings again like twin snow-white umbrellas, and propped one foot up on the wire railing, admiring the sparkling sea of lights which was the mid-evening Azumano district. The night owls were still out, but most respectable institutions had already closed.
'Now, Satoshi-sama, you do understand how to use the wings, right? You don't think you need to, I don't know, practice a bit? Maybe from the roof?' He could see from their perch that the nearest building was too close for him to be comfortable with his newly fledged host flying around. He'd have more room to maneuver if they started higher up—
"It's fine, it's fine! You know how to use them, so now I know too! That was the whole purpose of this synchronization, wasn't it?"
'Well, yes, but…knowing how to fly and actually flying are two different things, Satoshi-sama. It's just as if you read how to do something in a book; when you must actually do it on your own, it's quite diff—'
"I said I'd be fine! Stop worrying! Now…" The wings spread open further in anticipation, and Satoshi shifted his weight forward onto the foot perched on the railing, giving a little jump as he maneuvered his balance forward, then—he pushed off!
And then he began falling. Very fast.
'Sa—SATOSHI-SAMA! FLAP! THE WINGS! USE THEM! FLAP THEM, IDIOT!'
"I—I AM! I—DAMMIT, AND DON'T CALL ME AN IDIOT! FLY! Fl—fly!" He didn't need two voices telling him that falling five stories wasn't a good idea—he knew he had to do something. Quickly, though, he recovered enough to command the wings, catching his falling form like a parachute and slowly carrying him back up above the rooftops as he pummeled the air furiously. He supposed he'd just been expecting to suddenly find himself lighter than air, floating along with the wings as simple guides.
'Those are astral wings, but they are wings! You're not a bird in that body, Satoshi-sama, you have to flap them, you know.'
"Right right…I understand already," he muttered dejectedly as he felt another lecture coming on, cresting the fading air currents falling off of the skyscrapers in the downtown area. He trolled along lazily on the outstretched wings as he pondered what to do next.
The view from a few hundred feet above the city was quite different from his usual head on view, and with his senses completely thrown off by the nightscape, Satoshi relied heavily on Krad's innate sense of direction around the town to guide him.
They turned west towards the harbor after a moment's indecision, and the boy had a bit of trouble getting the hang of gliding, but eventually managed to get the wings to obey, and soon he was soaring low and fast just a few inches over the glittering black surface of the bay. Taking a deep breath of the fresh sea air, he dropped one gloved hand and dragged a few fingers along the surface in glee. So caught up was he in the moment that he barely missed crashing into a buoy, almost tumbling ungracefully into the cold water, and earning a chiding from his curse.
"Oh! I want to try those blast things you use on Dark!" He caught himself before he came off too excited and readjusted his tone, "That is—I want to try my hand at them—they seem…interesting. Yes."
Krad suppressed a mental laugh—his host always, above anything else, furiously guarded his emotions, loath to let even the being he was physically closest to, his curse, see him in what he thought a weak state, indulging in his normal fourteen-year-old emotions. Whereas most any other child would be ecstatic at the process of being able to fire beams of energy from their palms, Satoshi tried to treat the feat like an everyday occurrence he was deigning to experiment.
'Well then, might I suggest some target practice?'
The golden eyes scanned the area below where Krad's body was currently hovering; they'd turned back inland away from the ocean and were now over the front courtyard of the Central Art Museum. In the back corner of the gardens, adorning a large fountain, was the pride and joy of the previous curator: a recreation of the famous "Thinker", commemorating an exhibit on the great minds of the twentieth century which had run a few years back.
An all-too-familiar devilish grin snuck onto Krad's features as mischievous thoughts congregated in Satoshi's mind. "I've never vandalized anything before, you know…not once in over fourteen years…"
'Really? You should have met Hikari Ashiya then… A more urchin-like host than he I think I have never had. Perpetual trouble-maker, and a damn fine fighter to boot… But you wouldn't believe the lectures I had to sit through with that boy…'
"Sounds like it's time to break my record then…"
Krad cracked a mental smile, 'You're certainly feeling mischievous tonight, Satoshi-sama.' He could sense his host's heartbeat speed up nervously as he struggled for a retort.
"No! I just—it's this body of yours! You're like some wind-up toy who always has to be doing something, never satisfied with sitting around. How can you stand all this—energy? It's annoying…" It was a pitiful excuse, they both knew, though thankfully neither pushed the matter any further, content with the knowledge that Satoshi was having fun whether he liked it or not.
As before, the moment Satoshi began concentrating on how to form the pulsing spheres of energy, he knew, thanks to the synchronization, and smiled broadly. "So, it's not much different from summoning the wings… I just gather it in my hands this time, right?"
A mental nod, 'I did something similar when I taught you projection a while back: except then, instead of a ball, I formed a rope and fed it to you.'
"Ah, got it—here goes…" The white wings continued to flail against the air to support Krad's body's weight as he struggled to hover, but Satoshi let them go without monitoring them. He was concentrating at the moment.
Quickly thrusting his hands forward, palms facing in front, he began to knead the air before him like bread dough, working thin fingers into the invisible Astral to wind it around his hands until it congregated in a large enough quantity and—"There!"
The air between his palms burst into a ball of light as if a lightbulb had been dangled between them, shining more brightly than a raging inferno, and just as dangerous.
Then, a pause, "Umm…how do I throw it…?"
'Just like a normal ball! Toss it wherever! Weren't you trying to hit the statue?'
"Alright then…" He raised both arms over his head, being sure to hold tightly to the Astral, "Aah—hah!"
It had been a long night for Niwa Daisuke. The Central Art Museum had closed early, as it was a weekend, and his mother had seen it as a wonderful opportunity to get an early start on his pre-mission reconnaissance, reminding him cheerily not to forget to pick up milk on the way home. He'd sighed and asked for the fifth time that day why he had to go and check out this museum again when he and Dark had already successfully raided it numerous times before without problems.
"They've gotten a new security system, remember?" She had said, "You can never be too careful! Won't you at least go give it a once-over, for me? It'll make your poor mother feel so much better knowing her boys aren't going into a job unprepared!"
He'd, of course, eventually given in to the begging, never able to turn down his mother in any request she made, no matter how hard he tried to fight it. Dark had grumbled the whole way here, and wasn't showing any signs of stopping soon, feeling the need to make a note every time he came across something that wouldn't work against him in this fancy new system.
'And a laser trip wire at the top of the main stairwell? Please! Like the great phantom thief Dark-sama would even think of coming in through the main lobby when there's an open window in the back by the basement!'
"Right right, I think you've said enough for one night, Dark." Daisuke crawled back into the garden area on his stomach through the same window his curse had just been speaking of, keeping his voice in low tones, "And that window wasn't locked because it had been painted shut! It took me fifteen minutes to get it open—by then, then police probably would have noticed you back there, don't you think? Mom was right in suggesting we do surveillance even though we've hit this museum before."
'Hey, who's the three-hundred-year-old thief here? I know my stuff! That Saehara's a few centuries too early to be a match for me.'
The Niwa boy shrugged as he slid the window shut behind him, standing and dusting off his hands, "You can't blame him for trying—and don't forget, you still have Krad to deal with! He does know your tricks, even if Saehara's dad doesn't. He almost had you last time, remember? If With hadn't been there to hold him off for those few seconds—"
'A lucky shot, that's all it was!'Daisuke rolled his eyes and packed the small crowbar he'd used to get inside into his bag, slinging it back over his shoulders. "Well, shall we head home? I still have to pick up some milk for Mom—should be a store open late on the corner before we get up over the hill." With an affirmative agreement from his curse, Daisuke slipped into the shadows, headed for the rear garden wall of the Central Art Museum Courtyard.
Then all hell broke loose.
Louder than a canon fired right in his ear, the Niwa boy's world exploded in a furious blast, raining down rubble and marble-powder, and littering the ground around him with remains. Barely repressing a surprised yelp with the knowledge that he didn't want to be caught around here, Daisuke tried his very best to flatten himself against the wall, heart racing a mile a minute as he scanned his surroundings. "Wh—what was that!"
He moved his gaze from side to side, eastern wall to western wall, taking in countless fragments of what had apparently been destroyed in the blast: a large statue that had been situated atop the central fountain in the courtyard. "But…how did that…"
Further questioning was put on hold, though, as a new sound assaulted his ears, and he pressed back against the wall again: laughter. And it sounded vaguely familiar too… Daring to poke his head out, he scanned the skies hesitantly, seeking out the source of the noise.
"Is…that…"
'…KRAD?'
Two beings stared up through one pair of eyes at the surreal sight that greeted them: Dark's nemesis of three hundred years, hovering unsteadily in the sky over the gardens, leaning right and left every now and then on uncertain wings, and laughing! The strangest thing was not that he was laughing, but…the emotions conveyed in the sound.
Krad had laughed before, to be sure, on numerous occasions, usually when he was confident he had the upperhand in a fight between himself and Dark, but…it was different now. This laughter was…almost sincere. As if he genuinely found the situation enjoyable, funny.
When the blonde head turned away and began talking to himself in a tone Daisuke couldn't catch, the Niwa boy took the chance to slip out and over the low wall to get on home and think about what exactly was going on.
'What's gotten into that maniac tonight?'
Daisuke shook his head uncertainly, "You don't have any idea? He's never done this?"
'What, vandalizing museum property? That's my line of work! That guy's always so serious… Kind of freaks me out, hearing him like that…'
"I guess…I could ask Hiwatari-kun about it tomorrow at school…"
'If you really wanna confront that kid again be my guest… But just think of it like this: You two haven't had the best track record so far when you try and talk to him, you know.'
Frowning, Daisuke countered, "Well—that doesn't mean I can't still try. I'm his friend, I care about him! And…I'm curious, of course. To see if he even knew about Krad doing that."
Where his host couldn't see, Dark rolled his eyes and muttered softly, 'You're too nice to him…'
Winging his way back to his apartment after having blown the museum statue into countless tiny fragments, Satoshi had to consciously fight doing loop-de-loops in the air, still stubbornly intent on keeping his emotions under control. This, however, didn't stop him from babbling aimlessly and without signs of stopping.
"How do you fight all this energy! It all feels like it's clamoring to get out now! Ah—I could blow stuff up all day! That was great! I feel like I just did something really bad that I shouldn't have—"
'You did do something really bad that you shouldn't have, Satoshi-sama.'
He waved off the reminder, "As if they can pin it on me anyway—you've got Saehara scared stiff, you know. Between my warning him and you nearly biting his head off when you met last time, I don't think a shattered statue that no one cared about is going to make much difference." Slowing his descent and beating the air more furiously as he alighted on the balcony, he continued, "I guess I can understand now why you feel so much pressure to go out and chase Dark around…so much…power…"
Krad cracked a mental smile, 'If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were contemplating keeping my body…'
Immediately Satoshi recovered his senses and folded the wings close for comfort as he reached out to open the bay windows again, blushing brightly, "I—no! No! It was just—just a comment! I said I understood why, that's all. Doesn't mean I'm about to be any happier about letting you try and kill Niwa every time a notice comes out."
'So you'll gladly let me back when this ring's effects wear off?'"Of—of course! It's your body, not mine. Just because you don't have a problem taking my body and not giving it back when I want it, doesn't mean I have to sink to your level, you know."
The blonde cringed a bit inwardly at the harsh memories brought back of how often that was exactly what he'd done to his host: taken over the boy's body without any regard whatsoever for his own wishes.
Satoshi continued onward into the room in silence while his curse drowned in self-pity for a while, relaxing after the evening's adventures. He rotated his shoulders a bit to ease the tension and noted idly that flying was quite tiring—how on earth had Krad kept this up for three centuries?
"Ne, Krad." He paused in the darkness at the foot of the bed, wings drooping pathetically, and a foreign feeling of guilt for his curse washed over him, starting a pounding headache in his head which he did not need. After a moment passed with no response, he tried again, "Krad—I'm talking to you!"
'Ah—gomen, Satoshi-sama…'
He sighed, "Tell me how to get rid of these wings, would you? Or else I'm just gonna go to sleep in this body…"
Krad started, perking up immediately at the idea of Satoshi sleeping in the same bed as his body, but carefully kept the image a guarded secret from his host, 'We're still synchronized, Satoshi-sama. Remember?'
Stifling a loud yawn, Satoshi muttered, "Oh yeah…still not used to knowing things I shouldn't know, I guess." He closed his eyes and concentrated for the umpteenth time that night, searching Krad's memory banks for a clue as to how to banish the appendages he'd worked so hard to call forth, not too surprised to find the key to their disappearing as simple as the key to calling them: Go.
"Well, what now?" he called into the empty room, slumping back onto the mattress in a very un-Krad-like pose, arms spread-eagle.
'Are you ready to return to your own body already?'
The blonde head lifted with considerable effort up off the bed, "I guess so…I can't exactly sleep like this—I've got school in the morning." His head dropped back slowly, then shot up again a moment later, "Wh—what about the synchronization? Will it wear off when we transform back? Or…what?"
Phasing into view, Krad shrugged his shoulders, 'I assume so—there'd be nothing to anchor on to anymore with the ring's power used up. That's part of where the real Rutile draws its power: a symbiotic synchronization. It uses a jumpstart of power to initiate the technique, establishes a synch between curse and host in the case of the Niwas and Hikaris, and then uses that synch to draw out more power.' He could sense Satoshi wavering uncertainly, a bit unsettled by the explanation, 'But…this is merely a Niwa-made mirror to Rutile. Not the real thing. By morning it will be as if this entire experience never happened. You will be Hikari Satoshi-sama, just as you have always been, no more a part of me than you were before.'
The boy relaxed slightly and pushed himself off the bed with no small effort, hobbling over to the closet to change into something to sleep in. For the second time that evening, Krad had to turn away or risk embarrassing himself as he watched his own curious golden eyes travel over his body, innocent as they may have been.
'So…was Niwa Kosuke's gift useful?' Satoshi pulled a shirt over the blonde head, having a bit of trouble getting the pony-tail through the head-hole, and turned to stare at his curse, 'Did you…enjoy yourself tonight?'
Hopping around on one foot as he struggled into a pair of pajama bottoms, Satoshi was only half-paying attention, "Of course I did—you were there, weren't you? I got to do things I wouldn't have dreamed of doing in my own body."
Finally managing to wrangle the bottoms onto the lithe body of his curse, he padded silently back over to the mattress and pulled back the covers before sliding in and resting his head on one of the pillows, intent on releasing his hold on the form as soon as he was comfortable, "But…I think I'll miss this synchronization… It wasn't as bad as you made it sound…"
Krad cocked a thin eyebrow at his host, 'Really now? You like having all your secrets exposed, open to me whenever I feel like looking at them? You like being this vulnerable before me, being this close to me? Or contrarily, you like being able to hold that same power over me? Is that what you're thinking? Because that's exactly what synchronization is: a bond of trust, trust that one won't hurt the other, or risk being hurt themselves.'
Satoshi lifted his head off the pillow and narrowed his eyes in angry confusion at his curse's astral form standing a few feet away, "What's your problem? All I said was I liked being able to do things without having to ask someone all the time—that I liked just knowing how. Something wrong with that?"
Sighing low, Krad shook his head, 'No…it wasn't that… Simply, I still feel bad about…about you saying you trusted me, and doing all this with me when I hadn't given you reason to—'
The boy rolled back over in bed, childish mannerisms taking over the elder man's body he was still in, "Didn't I tell you to shut up about that already?" A pause, and he continued more seriously in a softer tone, "Of course I didn't like being vulnerable like that…you know me better than anyone else, know I hate that feeling… I just…I didn't care. At that point I didn't care if you knew any secrets I had, or if you found something I didn't want you to see…
"I really did have fun, you know…I did…" Golden eyes slid shut for the final time that night, sending the Hikari child stationed behind them into the depths of slumber until the morning. "…Thank you…"
Krad's eyes softened as he watched the form waver and blur before his eyes, shrinking ever so slowly back to his normal height, hair washing over a pale blue, arms thinning and losing muscle mass, legs mirroring them, until the body settled in the bed was once again Hikari Satoshi through and through.
He cracked a sad smile, 'You're quite welcome, Satoshi-sama…' and leaned forward to grace the boy's forehead with a kiss he could not feel before he, too, retired for the night.
Auhor's Notes: Enjoy the bit of fluff that was this chapter while yoiu can...I must say it's mostly downhill from here. Next week: the aftermath of Satoshi's Night Out as Daisuke confronts him at school.