Engel an der Leine

What if I told you that I'm not who I seem I am?

What if...I told you I was something else?

Something not of this world...

Would you hate me?

Would you pity me?

Would it make me important to you?

Would you throw me away if you found out?

For you...I'd live a lie.

I'd live in the darkness for you...

Since my heart is already...dark...

Chapter II:

"Michael-sama, is something wrong?"

"Aye, it seems that Lucifer is on the hunt as well."

"Fear not, we shall find him before they."

"Thank you little one, but I fear that he has his ways of talking through the darkness in the heart."

"..."

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"Do you want to go outside?"

"Eh?"

"You don't get to romp around in the snow a lot do you?"

Dark shook his head, he didn't bother adding the fact that he had never even touched snow before. They always kept him locked up in a shed during winter, snow scared him a bit, it reminded him of that shed, where only he stayed, and sometimes the men would bring him a piece of bread or something, then leave. Once they left, everything went dreadfully silent, he would be trapped there in the never ending white, icy and cold, no one would come if you called out. Just sitting there trapped in white, no sound, no one, just himself.

"Well, let's hurry up and go outside before the blizzard comes."

The slave snapped out of his trance, in truth he didn't want to go outside but he nodded and looked outside, the grass was covered with white already, violet eyes stared in bewilderment, there was no grass around the shed, just dirt surrounding it, watching snow fall made him feel at peace but the thought of going into the white trap scared him.

"Why don't you take it off?"

Dark turned his attention to Krad, "Take what off Krad-sama?"

"Your leash, it's just going to get all wet."

Dark held up the leash for Krad to see that it was permanently attached to the collar. Krad gave a soft, "Oh..." and got out of his seat and walked behind Dark. He fiddled with the collar a bit and it came off and landed in Dark's hands, the boy looked at Krad in confusion, "You won't be needing it, not in this house."

Dark just stared at his master; all slaves needed a collar so other people knew they had a master already. Krad headed out the door and back into the living room, he opened a closet door and pulled out a coat, he headed back into the kitchen, he held the coat at Dark, "If we're going outside, you can't possibly be only wearing that, you're going to freeze."

Dark got up and took the coat hesitantly, "Arigatou, Krad-sama..."

"No problem, now hurry up and put it on."

"Hai." Dark slipped the jacket on and followed Krad into the hallway which lead to a glass door with a rich brown doorframe, the slave could see endless white through the glass, he felt his heart skip a bit in excitement and fear all mixed together. Krad took out two pairs of boots from a closet by the door. He pointed at a pair and looked at Dark.

"See if these fit you."

Dark nodded and tried the boots on, even though he secretly wished that they wouldn't, "They fit, Krad-sama."

"Good...let's go outside then."

Krad opened the door which sent a cold breeze into the house, the slave stayed at the door, the blonde looked back, "Come on already!"

Dark hastily went after the blonde, he held his breathe as he was about to walk through the snow. When he took a step into the snow he was utterly surprised at how fluffy it was, it didn't make him feel trapped, 'Oh yea...I'm not in that shed anymore...I'm outside now...'

"I-it's so fluffy! It's like walking on a cloud, Krad-sama!"

Krad smiled at the boy's amazement, "Yea...just like walking on a cloud..."

Dark smiled at his master as he held out his hands letting the snow gently land onto it. Krad looked in surprise as the boy smiled, such a simple thing such as snow can make this boy smile. 'He should smile more often...but I guess it's easier said then done...'

Krad returned the smile and looked up, it was starting to snow harder, they would have to go back inside in a few minutes. "Are you cold?"

Dark nodded a bit, Krad suggested, "Let's go inside then, it looks like the storm's coming quite quickly."

"Hai, Krad-sama."

Krad held a finger at Dark's lips shushing him, "Repeat after me, Krad."

"Krad?"

"Very good, do you think you can call me Krad instead of Krad-sama now?"

Dark nodded, confused at what his master was trying to say, "Hai...Krad..."

Krad smiled and led Dark back into the house. They put away the boots and the coat and went into the living room where Krad lit the fireplace, "I'll be right back." And he disappeared up a case of stairs which was down the hall. When he got back, he changed into a sleeveless hoody and a pair of worn out cargo pants and he was carrying a towel and a blanket. He tossed the towel onto Dark's head and set the blanket down.

"Here, dry yourself, and here's a blanket incase you get cold, I can't imagine your clothes being very warm."

"Arigatou...Krad-sa...Krad." Dark was having a hard time adjusting to the new way of calling people. Krad didn't seem to mind as long as he corrected himself.

"Is there anything you'd like to drink? There's cocoa, mocha, tea, and coffee for hot drinks. Milk, juice and pop for cold drinks."

Dark decided to take a risk and actually request something, if Krad was just pretending, he'd get punished, but he had to know, "Cocoa please, Krad."

Krad just smiled and nodded, "Do you want marshmallows in that?"

"Ah...sure...thank you..."

"You're welcome, just have a seat on the couch."

Krad left the room while Dark dried his hair from the melted snow; Dark noticed that the towel, the house, and Krad smelled sweet like...like...like vanilla, almost marshmallowy. He sat down on the couch, it was fluffy and beige. Dark wrapped the vanilla scented blanket around himself, and smiled to himself, as he felt the fluffy blanket surrounding him with warmth, warmth he didn't feel in a long time. Krad soon returned with mugs in his hands, he handed one to Dark who nodded his thanks and sat down on the other couch and sipped his cocoa.

Dark warmed his hands on the warm mug and looked at it, he could see marshmallows bobbing in the drink, he took a sip, he decided that hot cocoa with marshmallows was officially his favorite drink in winter.

Krad stared into the fire, he could hear the wind howling outside, he glanced at the clock, it was nearly six and the sky was as dark as night already. He gave Dark the warmest blanket in the house, but he didn't really mind, the boy needed it more then him, his thoughts lingered onto the next subject, he looked at Dark, "It's almost dinner time, what do you want to have?"

"It doesn't matter." Dark replied, Krad sighed, he couldn't decide over spaghetti or pizza.

"Pizza or spaghetti?"

Dark thought for a moment, he knew what they were, but to him they pretty much seemed to be a dream, he was thinking really hard, pizza or spaghetti, pizza or spaghetti...he finally decided, "Is there anyway we can have both?"

Krad looked up for a moment, "Sure, why not?"

Krad got up and took the empty mugs, "Do you want to help me make dinner?"

Dark nodded and followed Krad into the kitchen. Once inside, Krad started taking pans and pots out of cabinets and drawers, he laid them out on the table and looked at Dark.

"Shall we get the pizza ready first?"

"Hai, Krad..."

"Don't worry about making a mess, that's what cooking's about. What do you want on the pizza, should it be Hawaiian or pepperoni or just cheese?"

Dark thought for a moment, then he grinned, "Can we have Hawaiian with extra cheese, Krad?"

"Sure, why not?" Krad was quite surprised at the grin; it seemed that Dark was getting use to being here already.

Krad grabbed a can of pineapples from a cabinet and he grabbed ham and cheese from the fridge. He set everything on an island in the middle of the kitchen.

He grabbed the flour and a mixing bowl, he added the flour into the milking bowl, "Hey Dark, can you grab some yeast and get a cup and fill it with warm water from the tap, yeast's in the second cabinet to your left, and the cup's in the cup board up there."

Dark nodded and grabbed the ingredients, and handed it to Krad, "Good, now grab the salt by the stove and shortening from the fridge, and get the measuring spoons and cups from that drawer there."

The boy did as he was instructed, and watched Krad mix everything together, then he poured flour onto the island he dumped the dough onto the table and looked at Dark, "Why don't you knead it a couple times like this," he demonstrated, "here, I'll go cut up the toppings."

"Hai," Dark started kneading the dough, "like this Krad?"

Krad smiled and walked over to Dark, "That's right," he was directly behind him when reached out, it looked like he was hugging him and he rolled up the slave's sleeves, "you're going to get them all white with dough if you don't roll them up."

Dark blushed, "T-thanks Krad."

Krad just laughed a bit and went back to chopping up the toppings, "Anytime Dark, anytime."

After they flattened out the dough onto a pizza pan, Krad handed the slave the toppings, "Here, I need to get the spaghetti ready, its tomato sauce, cheese, toppings then more cheese okay?"

Dark nodded, he watched Krad make the spaghetti as he put on the tomato sauce, he always thought that masters would hire more slaves to cook, and slaves to do things that Krad did himself. Dark started to add the cheese; this was much more different than what he had been expecting, from the kindness to the cooking, it was more different than he had ever imagined, it was better. Krad was boiling the spaghetti when he went to put the flour away.

"Ano Krad..."

"Eh?"

Too late, Krad didn't notice that the flour wasn't close properly, and within seconds, the kitchen was covered in white. The two of them coughed and looked around, Dark stated, "It looks like it snowed inside..."

Krad started to laugh, "You're right Dark, looks like indoor snow, that was stupid of me. Don't worry, flour comes right out when you dust it off, but we're going to need to wash this stuff out. Come on."

The blonde led the boy upstairs and into a bedroom, he opened a drawer and took out a pair of baggy jeans and a white turtleneck sweater, he led Dark to the bathroom and set down the clothes, "Here, you take a bath first while I go finish dinner, your clothes are here, there's a fresh towel hanging there and I suggest you use a lot of shampoo since your hair turned white. Take your time, I'll be downstairs."

Dark nodded dumbly and watch his master leave, he replayed those last few minutes over and over again in his head, he remembered Krad's laughter the best, it sounded...nice. He slipped his shirt off and looked at the scar on his arm, his master saw it, but he didn't force him to tell how he got it, Krad didn't force him to do anything, which was a change, a change he liked, a lot.

Krad put the pizza in the oven and added tomato sauce to the spaghetti, it wasn't usual for him to burst out laughing like that, then the phone rang, he picked it up.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Krad!"

"Oh, hi Emiko."

"Sooo...how's he doing?"

"He's doing fine."

"Did you name him yet?"

"I named him Dark."

"How are you getting along with Dark? How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine."

"I told you!"

"So you did."

"Hmph, don't give me that attitude young man, now thank me for buying him."

"Thank you for buying him." The blonde held the phone an arm's length away from his ear to stop it from becoming permanently deaf.

"That's better, you're welcome!"

"Right..."

"You really need to bring him over some time!"

"Not in this blizzard I won't."

"Good point."

"Ah shoot, the spaghetti's just about done."

"You're making spaghetti for dinner!?"

"Yea..."

"Darn, if only there wasn't a blizzard..."

"Yea, it's too bad." Krad silently thanked who ever created the snow storm in the first place.

"Oh well, I'll leave you to your cooking, have fun!"

"I will, bye."

"Bye bye!"

Krad hung the phone and turned the stove off, he sighed, he felt half deaf after that call. The blonde had cleaned up the kitchen and got out plates and forks, he looked at the doorway to see Dark, "You're done?"

Dark nodded, he looked around to see the kitchen back into its original state, "Wow...did you clean it all up by yourself Krad?"

The blonde nodded, "I guess it's my turn to wash off, feel free to look around, there's nothing special around here."

Krad took off upstairs, and left Dark in the kitchen filled with delicious aroma from the freshly cooked food. The slave wandered out onto the hallway and found a room he didn't notice before, he opened the door, it was a storage room, the boy pulled the light switch and found that the room was full of boxes. Curiosity made him open the decorated jewelry box. The top of the box was a picture of an angel right in the center and around the picture were stones and crystals on the lid and around the outside of the box. Dark opened it up and a soft tune started playing, the inside was covered in red velvet, jewelry gleamed inside and the top of the lid was a picture of a blonde smiling. It must be Krad, the slave thought, he looked through the jewelry box going through necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings, then something caught his eyes, he took it out, it was a fairly simple looking necklace with a platinum feather hanging. 'It's so beautiful...'

"Like it?"

Dark turned around to see Krad standing there, "Aa...it's really pretty."

"Here," Krad took the necklace and put it on Dark, "you can have it."

Dark looked down at the necklace, then at Krad, "It's okay, you can have it, really."

"Thank you..."

"You're welcome, now let's go eat dinner."

"Hai."

Krad headed off for the kitchen while Dark slowly followed him admiring the feather, they sat down and started to eat, they finished the pizza then the slave took a bite of the spaghetti and his face lit up, "Oishii!"

Krad smiled, and slurped a bit of spaghetti which resulted in getting tomato sauce mustache and all over his nose, "Glad you like it."

Dark started laughed as his master tried to look at his nose, Krad wiped it off and looked at the laughing slave, "Like you should be laughing, looks like I'm not the only messy eater too."

The boy looked at the glass, Krad was right, he had a sauce all over his face too, he continued laughing, soon Krad joined him, they laughed for a bit more then Krad noted, "Laughing suits you, more then me anyways."

Dark blushed, Krad just laughed a bit more, "Come on, we still have dessert left, think you can handle it?"

The slave smiled, "Yea!"

"Glad to hear that, we're having pie, there are way too many choices; do you want apple or strawberry pie?"

Dark didn't need to put a second thought into it, "Strawberry!"

"Sure, strawberry it is."

Dark smiled as a piece on a plate was set down in front of him, "Dig in."

The boy didn't need to be told twice before he picked his fork up and started eating, Krad looked at the boy as he ate with pleasure, he smiled inwardly. After they finished their pie Krad walked up to the sink and started washing the dished, Dark came up to him, "Can I help Krad?"

The blonde nodded, "Sure, rinse the, off and put them on the dish rack to dry."

They did the dishes and went upstairs, Krad thought for a second, "You can have the bed, I'll sleep on the couch..."

Dark shook his head, "It's okay, I can sleep on the floor."

"No, no one's going to sleep on the floor in this house unless for some reason we get a dog."

"I'll take the couch then."

Krad sighed, "Fine, fine, have it your way."

The blonde handed him a pillow, "The blanket's downstairs already."

Dark nodded, soon they both went to bed, Dark laid on the couch dangling the feather around, he started thinking about that smiling blonde in the picture. He decided that wouldn't be able to sleep for awhile so he went to the kitchen and watch the snow fall for sometime before heading back and falling asleep himself.

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The next morning violet eyes fluttered open lazily, he rubbed his eyes and heard someone coming downstairs, it was Krad, the blonde yawned and stretched a bit while going down the stairs, "Ohayou Dark..."

"Ohayou..."

Krad yawned again and started to head for the kitchen, then he looked back and asked, "Why don't you check how deep the snow is in the garden, if it's not too deep we can spend most of the day outside."

Dark got up immediately, excited at the thought of snow, he went down the hallway to where the door was, he stopped the second he saw it, he turned back and headed to the kitchen where Krad stood motionless, "Oh my..."

"This means we can't go outside doesn't it?"

"Aa...it looks like we're snowed in..."

The window was covered in white, the front door was covered in white, the back door was covered in white, no way out, and luckily it was still morning, they still had a bit of light in the house. "Whatever you do, just don't open windows or doors that lead outside, got it?"

Dark nodded, he felt like he had been swallowed by a cloud, although it wasn't as scary as being in the shed. He stared at the window which showed him a dark sky with falling flakes just last night and now was painted with white. "Would it look like this too if you were in the middle of a cloud?"

"I suppose it could. I've never been in the middle of a cloud so I wouldn't know."

"Me neither..."

"Let's get some breakfast shall we? I just hope the power hasn't gone out."

Dark nodded again, there wasn't anything better to do, Krad tried to open the stove, nothing, the blonde sighed, "Just my luck, the power's out, we're having a cold breakfast today."

"Okay..."

Krad took out a loaf of bread along with some ham from the fridge, some lettuce and other things that would go into a sub and handed a sandwich to Dark and then made one for himself. It was going to be a quiet day; he had no doubt about it.

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Nya I couldn't think about how or when to end this so it ended up this long nya Sorry it took a bit awhile to update nya The title means "Angel at the line" you'll fine out why later and the first part was written for me and I don't know how or why I thought of it or even put it down in the first place nya I'm weird =P Please R&R XD

Oishii means delicious.