° ° °
Shock was too mild a word to describe the state of Daisuke's family. Well, most of it anyway. Emiko was flabbergasted, Daikii just stared at Satoshi, and only Kosuke seemed to take it with his usual calm and total acceptance. He was the one who smiled at Satoshi, nodding.
"I suppose we now have the answer to a few more things," Daisuke's father remarked.
Satoshi nodded slowly.
"It doesn't change who you are, though."
"I wonder if Riu was aware what this meant," Daikii murmured, stroking over his beard. "Two blood lines of Hikari, unified in one child."
Satoshi bit his lower lip and Daisuke interlaced their fingers, squeezing them reassuringly.
"It's the past," he said out loud. "It has nothing to do with anything any more. The curse is gone, the fight is over."
Brown eyes glowed with determination.
"Yes, you are right," Kosuke agreed. "It changes nothing for this family." He met Satoshi's unsure gaze. "But will it change something about your birth father?"
"What? I... I don't even know if he's alive," Satoshi replied. "Kei's notes ended about a year prior to the destruction of the Black Wings. He never really knew much about Kentaro, just that he and my mother had an affair, that he was my true father."
"But Krad said he knows about him, too. That he read some files..." Kosuke reminded him.
A shrug. "I asked Krad not to tell me more."
"Do you want to know more now?"
Another shrug. "I don't think it's important."
Emiko stepped forward. "He might want to know he has a son, Satoshi. I know I'd want to in his place."
"Maybe," Satoshi conceded. "I need to think about it."
She cupped his cheek, rubbing a thumb over it as if he was a small child to be comforted.
"You do that. But Kosuke is right; nothing will change because of this. You're still who you are."
He looked into her warm, brown eyes and smiled valiantly. "Thank you."
"And I'd be delighted if you stayed for dinner."
Daisuke chuckled and rubbed a hand over his lover's back. "I think we could eat."
"Skinny as you are, you should," Emiko muttered.
"Mom..."
She smiled and winked at them. Daisuke just sighed dramatically. Emiko had always been complaining how thin Satoshi was, had tried to make him fill out more when he had come to live with them after the whole near-armageddon, and she had done a great job. Satoshi looked healthy and strong.
Emiko walked into the kitchen, commandeering her husband into assisting her, and Daikii just returned to his spot in the living room where he spent a lot of his time reading. The two young men decided to get a breath of fresh air and went into the garden.
Daisuke looked out over the ocean, glancing at his lover now and then.
"Will you look for him?" he finally asked, the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks far below a distant thunder.
"I don't know," Satoshi answered, not looking at him.
Daisuke didn't reply to that. It was Satoshi's choice. He would stand
behind him whatever he did.
Inside his mind he felt Dark stir for the first time and smiled a little
at him. Dark just brushed over his senses, then continued to rest inside
his host's body. Krad had refused to separate from Satoshi and Dark kept
him company in their shared realm.
Things would heal.
Somehow.
° ° °
Wings the color of the darkest sky, even more black than that. Wings the color of ebony, large and elegant in their form, each feather gleaming and healthy, rustled softly in the breeze. Attached to a slender form, muscular and athletic, lithe and wiry, they curled like a protective shield over and around the body.
White wings stood in total contrast to them. Snow-white with a silvery touch, just as large as their black counterparts, they were folded on the back of an equally slender man.
Both were sitting on the roof of the Niwa-Hikari home, overlooking the silent town around them, watching lights go out as people went to sleep. The stars were out, but clouds covered most of the sky and only occasionally could they catch a glimpse. It smelled of rain, of an approaching thunder storm far in the distance, and their senses could easily pick up the charged air that would soon hit this town.
Dark gazed at his lover and partner, his counterpart, and smiled a little at Krad's almost wistful expression. Blond hair moved lazily in the breeze that would soon by a strong wind. The pony tail was impeccable, held tight against the playful winds. Dark's own unruly mop was easy prey for all kinds of bad weather.
"Wanna go inside?" the kaitou asked after a while.
Krad shrugged. "It's still nice."
"It's going to rain."
"Not yet."
"Okay."
For the past hours they had done nothing but keep each other company, silent, each lost in his thoughts.
It was how they continued to sit together until the rain began, a light drizzle that peppered the gleaming wings.
Standing inside the house, Dark looked outside into the ever-increasing rain. Krad stepped close and wrapped his arms around Dark's waist, the wings dissolving almost automatically. He kissed the other man gently, lips opening to taste his lover. Dark closed his eyes and just concentrated on the feel and taste and smell of the man he loved.
"Love you," he whispered against the warm lips. "Very, very much. Whatever happens."
And a lot had already. Three hundred years of fighting each other, of hating, of trying to kill the other half. What had happened now was moderate compared to that.
"Satoshi loves you, too. He won't ever hurt you."
"I know," Krad murmured, half-lidded eyes regarding Dark. "It was just too much on top of everything. Hel... Hel triggered something and I couldn't stop it all from happening."
"I understand." Dark slipped his hands under the shirt and caressed warm skin. "Make love to me?" he whispered a plea.
Krad's eyes seemed to darken in color, a rich golden hue. There was a promise in there, a need, and a gentleness that took Dark's breath away.
They fell onto the bed of Dark's room, a tangle of arms and legs, kissing each other, hands roaming, and he inhaled softly as Krad undressed him. Nothing could compare to what he felt with his lover; nothing at all. It was a thrill, a tingle, an arousal of such proportion that even the hunt of some precious Hikari art paled in that light. Krad was power and tenderness, fierceness and love; he was Dark's other half, a soul he knew and loved and wanted.
No matter his past.
No matter their history.
They belonged together, just like Satoshi and Daisuke.
Unbreakable.