Disclaimers: Who here honestly wants to say that they owned this story anyway?
Warnings: Krad threatens Dark with bodily pain (did she?) Daichi freaks out about broken dishes, and Satoshi is still rather… passive, to say the least. Ah well, life will go on.
Other: Nothing really happens, now that I think about it. Maybe the next chapter…
000
"Thirteen years, thirteen stars. Foul separate souls destined from the start. One dreaded prophecy; waiting to come true…"
Fragment Five: Family Feuds and Fears
If there was one thing in life that Dark was never going to forget anytime soon was that life was incredibly cruel and falling face-first on the floor – even if there were clothes everywhere to soften the blow – was still painful. Krad obviously had it better, seeing that she had been sitting on the bed this whole time, but she still seemed rather disgruntled at the sudden… er, well, whatever it was, was very annoying.
"What do you think that was?" she asked, regaining her composure in a matter of second. She smoothed her hair back slightly, "And when was the last time we had to suffer such a weird attack?"
"That was an attack?" Dark's face was completely void of any sort of emotion besides stupidity, "On the whole, I have a feeling that we'll be getting a pleasant lecture with the parents of both sides."
The blonde sighed at this, "Just what I needed to know," she groaned to herself as she flopped back onto the pale yellow sheets of her bed. "And we all have to remember that it's still my birthday."
Dark got up and rubbed his face, "Aw… sorry Krad-chan. Never meant to hurt you like that."
Krad raised a brow, "Pardon?"
The door on the other side of the room gave an audible thud before Dark could reply.
"Krad! Krad!" yelled her mother, in some sort of frenzy. "Get out here right now!"
"Why should I!" the teen bellowed back, scrambling off her bed and beginning to shove Dark towards the balcony, "We all know that 'the outside world is a horrible place for a delicate girl like me'!" She mimicked her mother's voice for the last sentence, and the purple-haired teen gave a soft snort.
"If you're delicate, I suppose I'm just fine china," he commented, only to yelp when she stamped on his foot. "Damn you!"
"Shut up," she hissed dangerously, as the door trembled and Queen Hikari continued the yelling match.
"Well, if that's the very case, then you should know that you have visitors awaiting your presence!"
"Oh yeah? And who might they be?" Krad rolled her eyes, "More of those 'suitors' you keep going on about? Well, do you remember the last time you tried that on me?"
"You--"
Dark stood out on the balcony, both arms folded across his chest and an amused look on his face, "What'd you do to them?" he asked curiously.
"Well… er…"
"You didn't kick them down the stairs, did you?" the purple-haired teen continued, urging her to explain, "I mean, you did that to me and we became good friends."
The blonde gave him a half-glance before paying more attention to the door, which would fall off its hinges sometime soon, "Well, if you need to know…" she shrugged, "I threw some darts at them – along with any loose furniture I could get my hands on - and managed to get them pretty good," noticing the look on her friend's face, she added hastily, "They were tranquilizer darts!"
Dark couldn't help but grin, "And where the hell did you get them from?"
Krad huffed, "Do you really need all the details? Or do you want me to kick you out of here?"
"Okay, okay already. Peace," the purple-haired teen held out both hands in defense, "Don't get too worked up now, Krad."
She huffed again at this, but didn't say anymore because now both her parents were trying to get the door open. By the sounds of it, they had located a giant battering ram and were using it for all its worth.
"Why can't they just give up already…" she groaned.
"I guess that means I'm off--" Dark began, mostly to himself, but noticed something out on the grounds and cursed softly, "Well, I think I found out who your uninvited guests are. And they're not those suitors you tried to kill."
Wrapping a hand around Dark's neck, Krad began to slowly choke him, "I didn't try to kill them!" she hissed dangerously, but stopped when she caught sight of what Dark had been talking about, "Great…"
Right outside the walls of their palace, er… place, Dark's own family were piled outside, clearly standing out from the crowd. They didn't look very happy, however, and Krad could understand why. She hit him over the head with a tennis racket that had been sitting around close by.
"I knew I should have prepared for this!" she muttered to herself as she ran back into the room, leaving Dark to groan his head off.
"Hey, what was that for anyway?" he yelled as she pulled some clothes off the floor and streaked into another, smaller room. Probably the dressing room, but whatever. He didn't care.
When she didn't reply, he stormed back into the room and took a seat, waiting for the blonde. When she finally did step out, he noticed that she was wearing a dress that was midnight blue in colour but her hair was still tied back. Pity, but whatever.
"… Wow," Dark said, staring at her. But he didn't get to stare at her long, because Krad shoved something in is hand and then whipped around. "Huh? What?"
"Well, help me put that in my hair," the blonde commanded, looking at the ceiling, "Damn dresses don't let me bend down."
It was only then that he noticed that she was referring to the cross that he'd just given her and he cracked a grin and obliged. It fit nicely and he commented on her again, only to get hit around the face… again. He made a mental note to stop teasing her or complimenting her, because it would only be more pain for him. But it was still the truth.
"So, what are you planning to do?" Dark asked as Krad strode towards the door, where the parents were STILL trying to get open.
"Either get rid of them or jump off the balcony," she replied, while waving a hand at him to follow behind her. "You don't want to be caught in the middle, that's for sure."
Standing just behind her, Dark watched as Krad took a hold of the door handle and pulled it back. Along with the door actually opening, a number of people, who were holding a giant log of wood, ran in and somehow managed to ram into the balcony, which in turn collapsed under the weight and they fell down yelling.
Dark peered down in with a surprised look, "I think your parents were there in the midst of it."
She shrugged at this and began to leave the room, "Don't worry. They won't die anytime soon. Now come on, I don't think the reaction will be very good if they catch you on your own."
"Fine, fine," tearing his gaze at the strange scene below, the purple-haired teen followed his childhood friend out of the room and they proceeded on going down a various number of stairs towards the front entrance.
The entire castle was full of bright and happy colours. Okay, maybe not. The main focus was on the golds, yellows and whites, and it was pretty much blinding to the point that you'd have to wear sunglasses.
All the people who worked here – maids and such – bowed when they saw Krad and seemingly didn't notice Dark, who couldn't have cared less. He just needed out of the blinding light. It was just too painful…
He stopped when the blonde reached the main doors and pushed them open, greeting them with the most peculiar sight. At that very moment, Krad's family was having a rather… colourful argument with Dark's family, ignoring all bruises as such that they had inflicted from the balcony fall. And… well… no one was paying any attention to the two teens.
"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Dark asked.
Krad rolled her eyes, "Don't see why we should. This place is a bore." But when Dark pouted, she sighed, "Fine. But don't expect me to go anywhere far with this on."
He nodded in understanding and they left. Of course, no one noticed this because they were still arguing for no apparent reason. It was too early for that, anyway.
000
When the earthquake had finally decided to subside, Daisuke was on the floor in a heap. Satoshi was much better off, because he'd been in bed, but his eyes narrowed onto the curtains over the window, daring them to fall off anytime soon. The redhead waited until he was absolutely sure that it was all okay now, and then got up. He brushed himself off cautiously, only to remember something important, and he bolted out of the room.
The vampire blinked at this sudden action, his head finally getting around to the recover stage, but then decided it was none of his business and he really needed to get back.
But he hated that place so much already. The entire family treated him so… differently that it was just plain annoying, and he couldn't understand why that was so. Maybe staying here for a bit wasn't the best option he had, but it wasn't like Satoshi could move properly anyway. And it was light outside, so that would hurt.
Ugh; it just had to be one bad thing after another, didn't it?
Skidding down the stairs, Daisuke rushed around the entire building. The main reason to this was to make sure that it didn't collapse anytime soon… and the other was to check on Daichi. Really, she always seemed to get caught up in the middle of anything when she wanted to. And even when she didn't want to, it happened.
Of course, he didn't need to worry that much, because he managed to trip over his twin sister anyway. With a yelp, he fell to the floor and groaned in pain. And surprise. But mostly pain.
"Daichi!" he yelled. "What are you doing in the middle of the hallway like that!"
Their relative's house wasn't that old in style or anything, but some of the hallways were really thin and why she decided that was the best place to stay in, he'd never know.
Besides that, Daichi muttered something akin to an apology and got up, "Yeesh, that hurt. But that earthquake was intense…"
He could only shake his head at that. "And why were you just crouching here?"
"Hey, I had nowhere else to go!" she snapped back moodily, "And is that vampire still here?"
"Yes…"
She sighed, "I… don't like him. I want to go home!" Meaning that she wanted to return to the old village they'd lived in before and that… incident. Daisuke patted her lightly on the shoulder. He knew exactly how she felt and how badly she'd been affected by the whole deal. He had as well, but then again…
Turning away, he looked around; "Do you think all the dishes are broken now?"
Daichi paled at this, "Oh no! We're going to get in trouble for that!"
"We couldn't have done anything about it, anyway," he replied calmly, patting her on the shoulder, "It was unexpected and… geez, when was the last time we had to try and go through an earthquake like that?"
"Too long ago," she groaned at the memory, "and I was the cause of it as well, remember?"
Oh yeah, he remembered. "At least no one was hurt."
Unable to help it, she snorted and punched him lightly on the arm, "Are you kidding me? Aunt and Uncle were so mad at me, I thought they were going to run around and tie me on the stake or something."
"Okay…" He raised a brow at this, but didn't say much else about it, "But I think you should be a bit more understanding. You were the one who summoned him over here…"
"Well, it was either him or that monster that was trying to tear my head off," she muttered, crossing her arms and walking up and down the hallway, "But now we've got a bloodsucker here! We're doomed! Oniichan, you should have just left him out to rot and die and… whatever happens to vampires!" She seemed to be getting worked up at this point, but Daisuke knew very well that she was too scared to actually go ahead with the idea.
But why had he brought the vampire home? Weren't they a sort of race that was best avoided? He was going to get in trouble for this, wasn't he?
Hiwatari. There was something about that name that seemed to click in the redhead's mind, but he just couldn't place it. It was there, but not there, and it was bugging the hell out of him.
Daichi continued her rant about vampire killings and how vampires had previously killed many people – although all they usually did was take blood to sustain life – and was so caught up in her own argument that she failed to notice her brother walking away and into the kitchen.
A number of things were out of place, and a good bit of it was on the floor, smashed. Kinda sad, really, and they weren't going to be happy, were they? Ugh… horrible, horrible prospect.
Locating a glass and filling it with water, Daisuke past his twin, who was still ranting, and went back upstairs, where he'd left Satoshi.
The vampire looked at him with a neutral expression on his face and the redhead silently passed the glass over, which he accepted without a word.
So this was a vampire up close, Daisuke mused silently, as he took a seat on the other end of the room. He tried to keep his attention elsewhere, but it wasn't everyday that you ran into someone like that who didn't instantly jump out and try to tear your throat out.
"What are you looking at?"
The redhead jerked out of his thoughts, unable to work out what was happening. Then it clicked to him that he'd been staring at Satoshi for… however long it'd been. With hopped on his head and 'kyu'-ed softly, and he blushed in embarrassment, as said vampire frowned at him.
"Ah… uhm… no… it's nothing…" he finally managed.
… Strange, strange mortal. And why was he still staying here? Satoshi mentally hit himself for these questions, but they were so true. Why was he still here, when he knew that he shouldn't be?
Here he was, in the presence of a mortal and not doing anything about it. Judging by the way the redhead looking at him, he wasn't afraid of him at all. It was really strange, actually.
And he was getting dizzy again.
The sound of a door opening downstairs, and a number of voices made Satoshi instantly alert, and Daisuke jumped up again, his face paling. The vampire raised a questioning eyebrow.
"They're home!" was all Daisuke yelled and he ran out of the room, "Stay here!"
As if he could go anywhere, even if he wanted to.
He flopped back and his mind cleared a bit again. How long was it going to take until he was sufficiently recovered? Why the hell did he keep getting those stupid twinges in his head? Did it mean anything?
…
To hell with it. He didn't care.
000
And so goes another chapter. Oh joy. And nothing has happed, still XO I can't believe how long this is taking. I'll get there soon… I hope… very soon… must… get it… done… soon…
Yeah, onwards we go.
Reviews:
Hakudoshi-chan: I'm working on it! It's just that world domination is so… clichéd. So yeah, I don't want to have to use that… unless it's a last resort. Thanks!
animefreaktyan: Yeah, it'd be painful. That and I have sensitive hearing and people were screaming all of yesterday, so put her in that and… ow. The earthquake didn't do as much as anyone wanted, aside from a few broken dishes XD there'll be more to it, though… I hope. Hm, raining boulders? (looks up) Haven't seen that happen for a while now… hm…
neko-nya: What's with the sky anyway? It's so cruel… Yeah, we have to feel sorry for Krad… We all change. For better or for worse… eh, it even out in the end, right? Eheh… makes me wonder how long it'll take for Satoshi to try something… mainly drinking blood… ah, shoot.
kittenoftime: Uh… they won't stay for that long, really. More like doing a task they were told to do, so yeah. Risa does have that ring to her, huh?
Blue-Angels-Wings: Well, yeah. I think so, anyway. Unless they had earthquakes all the time… hm… nah, it was because of that, and the prophecy coming into play! XD Here's the update, anyway!
ginny brenn: Thanks! Well, yeah, he is, but they're all pretty good-looking in the end :D
kyo's little koneko: XD He'd make a good vampire, huh?
Uh… not else much to say. But must keep… writing… (wanders off)