Disclaimers: Pft. Whatever.

Warnings: Krad's a girl. Daisuke has a twin. Dark is... I dunno. This part is focused on Dark and Krad anyway. Go figure.

Other: Uhm... Something. I'm trying to get this story complete...

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"Thirteen years, thirteen stars. Foul separate souls destined from the start. One dreaded prophecy; waiting to come true…"

Fragment One: Unavoidable (Part 1)

"KRAD!"

The blonde spun around and nearly fell off the seat she'd been sitting on for the past hour and looked around as her mother entered the lavishly designed room that looked like a bomb had been set off. Although they were mother and child and had very little in common, Krad was actually taken aback; since when had she been last visited like this? She stood up and waited for the telling off she'd been expecting since last week. She knew it had to come sooner or later: apparently, it was sooner for her.

"Hikari Krad, child of my blood," demanded the (er) Queen, "What do you think you are WEARING?" She pointed at the blonde's choice of clothes almost accusingly.

Looking down at her attire, Krad couldn't see anything wrong with it. Sure, most of the girls usually wore those frilly dresses that she always tripped over, but what was wrong with what she had on now?

"I want you out of those… things!"

"Why?" Krad retorted coolly, well aware that her mother wouldn't come any closer, seeing that her room was an absolute state of chaos, "I like what I've got on now, and if it isn't dirty, there's no need to change it, right?" She watched as her mother's face turned dark red.

"Why… why must my only child be like this?" she half-screamed in desperation before pointing at her daughter again, who had both arms crossed and a half-amused expression planted firmly on her face, "Oh, when your father finds this out…" she left the room, unable to take the destruction that had been surrounding her upon entrance.

Krad, being who she was, hated the orderly life placed on her and it was going to get worse, she knew it. That was the main reason why her room looked like someone had dropped a bomb in it and most of her clothes were scattered everywhere; not exactly the type of room royalty would have, that was for sure. And most of the dresses that she'd been forced to wear for the last few years were also scattered around.

Now that she thought of it, her parents were bound to go on about marrying some guy she'd never heard of to keep the family line going, and it went downhill from there. She couldn't understand what was wrong with them; were all families like this?

She frowned, trying to remember the times she'd spent with the prince from the other kingdom; Dark. Yeah, he'd been more than what most could handle, but he was much more entertaining than the rest of them. At least he didn't act like she was supposed to be… whatever she was (she hated the term princess; it was just… just so… she couldn't explain it) and even when he had it was in terms of a joke, which she was open minded enough to understand. Not that anyone else seemed to get the joke, but what were they to do?

And what WAS wrong with her choice in clothes? Admittedly the jeans and shirt were pretty much out of fashion where they were, and they really stood out due to the fact that it was black and all, but who cared? Krad knew she didn't, and she intended to wear them for as long as she could. Admittedly it would send her father up against her, but she was also aware that most people tried to keep away from her bad side.

Okay, so royalty and status sometimes did help, but not all the time.

The blonde stretched and unconsciously pulled at her ponytail, which caught some of the sun's rays and made it almost blinding. The room was indeed a mess with the clothes, books, and the odd piece of stationary everywhere, but she was in no mood to clean it, and she wasn't about to allow some maid to get into it either.

Krad looked out the window.

Okay, birthday or none, this was a drag.

000

Somewhere in the spacious… ballroom-like-place, King(cough) Hikari looked up from some boring documentary or another and noticed that his wife was incredibly flustered and obviously out of it, considering how much she was muttering under her breath.

"Is something the matter, dear wife?" he asked; only half-paying attention to what he was doing. He was supposed to fill out some documentary for some sort of legal legistration or something, and he didn't even know what that meant, and he was tired, and he knew he was missing something important, but he couldn't put his finger on it…

"It's Krad!" wailed the queen, "No matter what I try to do, she's always, always disobeying our rules! I cannot understand how or why she grew up this way! Are we such terrible parents now?"

"Hn… well, this is Krad we're talking about," mused the king kindly, as she slouched onto a comfy seat, looking entirely put-out as she wring her hands on a handkerchief she didn't know she had, "That one has always managed to get into our hair at the best of times."

His wife pouted, "This time it was clothes! I've told her, again and again, that since she is the rightful heir of the kingdom, she should be setting a good reputation out there! And if she walks out wearing… wearing…" she seemed stuck for words and she clicked his tongue.

"No matter, she'll grow out of it."

"No she won't! And on her birthday as well!"

This set a light bulb on, right over King Hikari's head, "Her… birthday… today?"

She threw him a sideways glance, "What? You didn't remember?"

"Ah…" oh shit, he thought, I knew I forgot something! "Of course I remembered! I mean, yes, yes I did."

"Then I suppose you'll have something special for her seventeenth birthday?"

"Oh… but of course!"

The queen threw him another glance – that was filled with obvious suspicion – and she stalked off to do something, leaving the king to deal with his boring, boring documentary and now with his daughter's birthday on the line as well, he was completely and utterly screwed.

"Why didn't anyone tell me…" he muttered.

000

Dark landed gracefully in the middle of nowhere in the Sun Kingdom and looked around; it was extremely quiet for the middle of the morning. Maybe everyone was having an extra lie-in for some reason. He frowned at this but didn't put too much in mind, seeing that he had other things occupying his mind.

One of them was Krad.

He couldn't remember how they had met exactly, but since then, there had been four completely harmless years where they messed around and played like nothing was wrong. But after those years, their parents suddenly became more… possessive (?) of their children and…

The purple-haired prince frowned, trying to work it out. Ever since some time he couldn't remember, his parents had always avoided the subject of the Sun Kingdom and even about Krad, saying that he should make friends here and stop thinking about that place; but how could he? His social status made him almost unreachable to the rest of mankind and that, of course, wasn't a good thing, and Krad HAD been his first friend.

He tapped his head a moment, trying to get the memory to come back to him. They had known each other since birth, and he always used to spend time with her because of the lack of friends, and now he had snuck out just so he could wish her a happy birthday.

Oh yeah. His parents were going to kill him now, that was for sure.

But Krad was still his only friend – although they rarely saw each other unless it was one of those boring meetings, and even then they didn't get to talk – and if Dark's life was as bad as he thought it was, the blonde's couldn't be any better. Worse, he supposed: he couldn't understand what it was with girls and fashion, but Krad had never shown any interest in it, even at the age of FOUR, so now would be just as bad.

Dark blinked and looked at his surroundings.

"… ow…" Too bright. Almost blinding. Gawd, this place was definitely a death trap, and his eyes wouldn't be adjusting to it anytime soon, that he knew. So painful for him… Rubbing his amethyst eyes, he waited for the spots in front of him to fade and then looked around himself properly.

Okay, he was in the middle of nowhere and there was no one around to tell him off for coming in without permission. Not that that was the first, but it was still a bit odd, and off putting, now that he thought of it. I mean, how could they NOT see him! He was wearing freaking BLACK in all this yellow, golden, white… whatever it was place!

For some reason this seemed to make Dark think more, and that meant his head hurt again and he groaned in pain. Really, he had to stop doing that or his head would fall off one day.

Recovering slightly as the headache lessened enough for him to start walking, the purple-haired teen began to walk to… well, the giant building which led to Krad.

Like the blonde, Dark had been isolated due to his social status and there was no way around it. Krad was always the serious child, but seemed to have honestly enjoyed his company and they used to joke and play like any other bunch of kids.

Now? Well, who knew.

He'd seen the blonde a few times when they had the whole family meeting thing, but it was always from a distance and all that. Maybe now he would get a chance to talk to her without going on about politics or whatever the adults talked about.

That and he really needed to tell his childhood friend that pale/bright colours really didn't suit her. She was pale enough as she was.

Brushing himself off again and striding off towards the castle, Dark decided to stop thinking and start doing.

Besides, he had a present to deliver.

000

The Moon Kingdom was currently tearing the place apart as soon as they were told that their only son had practically disappeared off the face of the earth.

Of course, when the nurse told him that he had gone to the Sun Kingdom, that made them tear the place up even faster.

Okay, so they were a bit on the mental side.

"How could you let him run off like that!" the king yelled while his wife looked out the window anxiously. "We need to teach that boy some discipline!"

"We've taught him everything!" wailed the queen. "Why did he have to do that now! We've got planning to do!"

The yelling/bellowing king stopped, "What?"

She also stopped wringing her hands, "What?" she echoed.

"What are you talking about, you mad woman?"

"Mad? I'm not mad!" she shrieked, "And I was talking about the whole engagement that we were supposed to be planning for him in secret! Oh, the disaster of us all!"

"You majesty!" yelled a guard, tripping over his feet as he rushed into the room. That, and he was panting for his life, "We are prepared to leave to the Sun kingdom in search of your son the prince!"

"Whatever," muttered the king, "Let us be off!"

"How could you forget that?" bellowed the queen as he ran off, to avoid further reprimands.

Yeah, life was cruel.

000

With a sigh, Krad tossed a book to the floor, not interested on reading or anything, and she was definitely not going out there to be haggled by the servants or her mother. Hm… her father would know as well by now, but nothing was going to make her change her mind. She liked these clothes and what difference did it make? None, as far as she knew.

How long had it been since she'd cleaned up her room? She frowned and contemplated for a moment, kicking one of the annoying dresses out of the way. No, she just couldn't remember anymore. But it wasn't the sort of mess that made an odour; more of a throw this here and don't pick it up mess. And she made clear instructions for no one to touch her room at all. That or suffer pain of death: well, okay, she wasn't that cruel and all, but she liked the mess that way it was so there.

Striding over to the balcony that was connected to her room, she managed to receive the shock of her life when a purple-haired, leather-clad figure popped out of nowhere. Her reaction? Hit him over the head; which she did with extreme ferocity.

"You… you idiot!" she burst out indignantly as the figure groaned in obvious pain. "What the hell are you doing here!"

Dark grinned and rubbed his head before landing on the balcony and making his wings disappear just like that. Without further ado, he embraced his childhood friend.

"Happy birthday Krad-chan!" he cheered. Then he noticed the state of both her room and what she was wearing, "Whoa… you're allowed to get away with this?"

"Well, they know they can't force me to do anything I don't want to do," replied the blonde as she re-entered the room. "And what are you doing here anyway?" He hadn't been accompanied by anyone, so did that mean…

"It's your birthday! Why wouldn't I be here?" Dark seemed insulted by this question, "And this is the first time we've seen each other without someone breathing down our backs!" He whipped out a small box and handed it over to her. It was a plain cube-shaped thing, but was tied up with a ribbon of dark blue and Krad opened it curiously.

"Okay…" she gave him a long, blank look, "And when did you start to think that I like hair accessories?"

The purple-haired teen was shocked, "Wha-? Are you saying that--" He stopped when Krad laughed playfully and pushed him, making him unbalance and fall over himself.

"I'm kidding, okay? You stupid prince," she scoffed and holding up the golden cross that Dark had just given him, "Still as stupid as I thought you were. And thank you."

"Hey, that's what friends are for, right?"

"Hn…" Krad suddenly became incredibly thoughtful as Dark stood up and dusted himself off. Taking a seat next to her, he inclined his head and waited for her to speak. "How long has it been now?"

He blinked, "What?"

The blonde sighed and looked up at him, "How long has it been since we were allowed to speak like this without people breathing down our necks?" she emphasized.

It came to him, "Oh. That's right. I'm going to be in trouble, won't I?" He shrugged it off, "Oh well."

"Can you answer the question?" Krad repeated, looking agitated now and her grip on the cross tightened somewhat.

"Yeah," Dark nodded, "I know how long it's been.

"Thirteen years."

000

Evil will befall the world… there is no way to escape it, for you cannot run and hide from this fact, and there is no way around it.

If you had paid heed to what I had said, then you will follow these instructions. Only fools believe otherwise, and that is what you cannot do; no one can change fate, no one ever will.

If you are not prepared for what will happen in time… then there is no other way around it…

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Hm... I didn't get as much feedback as I wanted it to, but no matter. As long as it didn't fall flat on its face I'm not complaining.

Just in case you think otherwise, Dark and Krad just know each other as friends. At this point. Who knows about the future...

Reviews:

Shimmering Solitude: I know, that's what made me so confused in the first place. And I'll never watch the anime. (sobs) Ah well, what's done is done, and she isn't that important.

Hakudoshi-chan: I think that was one of the reason's why I made him a girl. XD Well, here's the update.

kittenoftime: Okay... I'm still thinking about how Dai and Sato are going to get along... Dark and Krad have it easier, they know each other, to say the least. XD

Blues-Angels-Wings: Here's an update! Enjoy!

kyo's little koneko: Thanks for the comments and all. Interesting, huh? It's only just begun...

Okay, look out for part 2 of this story... next week. We learn a little bit about Daisuke and Satoshi and Daichi, but who knows... (shrugs) Onwards we go!