AbhorsenSabriel87: Wow, I really didn't know if I was going to continue this or not...
Akefia: Why not?
Sabriel: Because I'm not that good at DNAngel.
Akefia: Just because you don't know everything about it doesn't mean anything. You don't need to be a DNAngel otaku to write a DNAngel fanfic.
Sabriel: True... but it helps like Hell.
Akefia: --sighs-- Whatever makes you feel better, Sabriel.
Sabriel: --bows-- Disclaimer, my kleptomaniacle friend?
Akefia: --glares daggers at her-- AbhorsenSabriel87 does not own DNAngel, nor does she claim ownership over Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Sabriel: Thanks again Akefia. Onto the reviewer responses, then the fic is yours to read. --bows to readers--
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---------------------Chapter 2: Enter Arima----------------------
---Satoshi Hiwatari is your average student... okay, maybe not. Satoshi Hiwatari is actually Satoshi Hikari, one of the few clans of "tamers" in the world. That makes him much like Daisuke Niwa... except his other half is that of a homicidal and rather possessive maniac by the name of Krad. Also throw in the fact that Satoshi is head of the police force designed to capture Dark Mousy, or at least keep artwork safe from him. Most of the time, it doesn't work and the only person to see or talk to Dark is Satoshi himself. Throw in that Satoshi is brilliant beyond his years as well as fairly popular because of his looks and brains, and you have yourself one helluva guy. At the moment, this sixteen-year-old young man sat in his Pre-Calculus class, working on the homework assigned earlier that hour. With only about half an hour until the end of class, he had plenty of time to finish it, but he wanted the rest of the time to work on the plan he had to capture Dark tonight.
---The art museum that Satoshi's adoptive father owns is almost routinely plagued by thefts from Dark. The museum holds a wide collection of all the Hikari family artifacts, but now they had recently received a shipment of valuable art from Scotland from a wealthy family by the name of McCloude, and now Dark had apparently set his sights those as well for some reason. The painting in question was painted about seventeen centuries ago by an unknown artist was titled rather simply; "Warrior Assassin". He had left the note earlier that day at the front steps of the museum, and now Satoshi had to find a way to protect it before Dark came at nine o'clock to claim it. But why did he decide to switch families? What was the benefit?
--- The teacher interrupted Satoshi's thoughts briefly by standing up and taking a note from the office attendant that had just left the classroom. The blonde haired young man looked up from his now finished math work to see another young woman standing at the teacher's desk, her back to the class. She was half bowed over the teacher's desk and in the flat shoes required in the school uniform, but Satoshi could tell she was easily taller than most of the girls and quite a few boys at the school. The uniform itself was a knee-length emerald skirt and female sailor top of white and green. A dark green ribbon tied the girl's copper and gold hair in a long braid down to her hips, and a small leather backpack rested gently in her hands as she spoke in hushed tones with the teacher. The teacher, a woman in her early forties, nodded and the girl stepped to the side, moving to the side of the desk.
--- "Class," the teacher said sternly, although almost the whole class was already looking curiously at the new person in the room, even though her head was bowed and her bangs hid her face from view. "This is our new foreign exchange student, Arima Yukinawa. She is from Scotland and has recently returned Japan." The young woman bowed formally to the class, muttering a quiet "Good afternoon everyone" to the class. When she straightened up, he head remained bowed and her eyes (which were still unseen) remained apparently locked onto the floor. The teacher looked to her and motioned to the seat next to Satoshi, the only open seat in the class. The girl nodded silently and sat down, silent and graceful as she pulled the math book from her backpack as well as a notebook and a pencil and started working quickly on the problems without a word. Satoshi continued his work as well, but was secretly unnerved by this young woman sitting to his right. She didn't glance at anyone at all throughout the entire time she was in the classroom, nor did she speak to anyone but the teacher. But that wasn't what unnerved him; that was just fuel to more suspicion. The real reason... she had almost the same feeling that Daisuke had. Satoshi sensed a familiar power coming from her, but it was hidden well, almost as if locked away tightly. The blonde quickly shoved the thoughts to the back of his mind and continued on his work.
---The bell rang twenty minutes later and the class left noisily except for the two students next to each other. Satoshi packed up quickly but in an unrushed manner, the same as the young woman next to him. Equally as quiet as her entrance, the girl named Arima Yukinawa slung the backpack over her slender shoulders and flitted through the crowd with grace and ease. Satoshi shook his head, lifted his backpack onto his right shoulder, eased past the crowd as best as he could, and headed for his Chemistry class.
--When he entered the familiar room, always smelling of formaldehyde and various chemicals as they shared the room with the senior Anatomy classes, he saw the young woman once more speaking to the teacher, who nodded and pointed to a seat by the right side of the room at Station 6. Satoshi blinked in mild surprise and sat at his own seat at Station 8 as the other students filed into classroom. When the bell rang once more, the teacher stood up and cleared his throat. "I have a project for you today," he said calmly, looking through his horn-rimmed glasses at the thirty-some-odd students in his classroom. "Your project will last for two weeks and counts as two test scores. You shall be working in pairs that shall be predetermined by myself and the randomization of the computer. When I call your name, step with forward and wait for your partner's name to be announced, then come get your project from me. Each project is on a different scientific subject, so there shall be no comparison of notes between groups. Until I call your name, you shall answer questions 6-20 in you textbook on page 538. Any questions?" No one raised their hands, so the teacher wrote the assignment on the board and sat at his computer, typing as Satoshi and the rest of the students extracted their Chemistry books and began their questions.
---For the entire hour, names were called without many disputes about the pick. Satoshi kept an ear out for his name, but did not hear it called. Even when he finished the questions and handed them to the teacher, his name was not called as he passed the new girl when he went back to his seat as she handed her answers as well. Five minutes to the end of class, the teacher looked up from his computer and called out, "Who has not been given a project yet?" Satoshi, the new girl, and two other students in the class who tied for second-highest grade in the class under Satoshi raised their hands, but no one else did anything except start packing up for their next class. "See me after class you four," was all the teacher said as the bell rang and the other students began walking out. Satoshi took his time packing up and slung his backpack onto his thin shoulders as the last student walked out the door. He walked up to the teacher's desk at the same time as the two other students and the new student came up shortly after, her eyes still cast downwards and hidden by her bangs. "You three are my most intelligent students," the teacher said calmly to Satoshi and the other young man and the girl next to him. "And Miss Arima Yukinawa here is supposed to have graduated with honors at her last school before she transferred here. As a reward, I shall not only allow you to choose your partners, but your project as well."
---"But Mr. Hitori," the other boy replied, but the teacher cut him off with the wave of his hand. "No Yoshiko," the teacher interrupted. "No buts. This is a reward for your hard work in my class. The other students might have been able to choose their own partners if they worked half as hard as you four. Now choose." Yoshiko looked uncertainly at the other girl, who also looked between Satoshi, Yoshiko, and Arima. Satoshi simply looked at the teacher until an unfamiliar voice touched his ears from his right, soft yet defiant and firm.
---"This arrangement is not only unfair, Mr. Hitori, but it is rather biased. I shall not choose." Satoshi looked over to see Arima with her head straight, her now apparently green eyes looking directly at the teacher in firm resolution. Before the teacher could say anything (or the two other students), Satoshi nodded. "Miss Yukinawa is correct," he said quietly. "Nor shall I choose." Mr. Hitori looked between them all and nodded. "Then Yoshiko, you and Chihiro shall be paired, and Satoshi will be paired with Arima. Come to me tomorrow with your choice for a project." The new teenage student bowed and swiftly left the room, her hips swaying slightly as if she were a spirit and flowed with the wind itself. Yoshiko and Chihiro also bowed and left the room right behind Satoshi, who walked quickly after his new partner. When he caught up to her at her locker, he leaned against the wall and looked at her expectantly. When she didn't even look at him, he narrowed his eyes and said quietly, "When do you want to meet to discuss our project?" The girl who he now gauged to be about 5' 11 simply glanced at him with her emerald green right eye and muttered in that same thick and soft Scottish accent that flowed easily off her tongue even when speaking Japanese, "Whenever you wish, Hiwatari-sama. I have no objections to the time or place. But we must be getting to our next classes now; the bell rings in approximately two minutes." Satoshi looked at his watch as she shut her locker and spun the lock twice and saw that she was correct. He straightened up again, locking his eyes back onto the young woman's face as he did so. "All right then," he replied. "Meet me right after school at the art museum or you won't have another chance to talk to me until tomorrow." The girl simply nodded and walked down the hall with him to their next classes... which happened to be Advanced Psychology. Satoshi gave her a questioning look as he walked in behind her, but said nothing as he took his seat and she spoke once more with the teacher as the bell rang. Once again, the teacher nodded and class began as usual. Satoshi looked out the window, distantly thinking that it was bound to be a long day.
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---In all truth, it was. The new girl Arima was in every one of his classes, and the four projects that they were assigned had them put together somehow. It was as if the teachers wanted to see exactly what Arima could do in comparison to Satoshi. Or, it could be judge of his skill to see if he could hold up to the pressure. Either way, he didn't care and he simply waited for her after English IV ((AN; Language)) at the school gates. They and two other students were to perform a section of a Shakespearean play of their choosing and present it in a week and a half. The two other students had already informed Satoshi that they would meet Arima and him later in the park after their sports practice, so he simply waited for Arima until ten minutes after class. When she didn't show up at the front gates, he shrugged it off and walked down to the park.
---Since he had over an hour to wait, he started hiking around for a bit, going off the designated trails and simply wandering through the trees. This area usually relaxed him, but something in the air seemed energized, almost electric. Fueled by the energy in the air around him, Satoshi sped up his pace, stepping through the trees quickly and without hesitation for noise. He kept speeding up, until finally he was going at a full-out sprint through the forest, almost as if he were at one with it and simply moving to stay with it. Shortly, he ran out of breath and stopped, leaning up against an old willow on the edge of the crystal blue lake that had the park named Crystal Forest. He panted for breath, slowly drawing them in and attempting to slow his rapid heart, then listened in the quiet around him. At first, he could hear nothing but his own heavy breathing, then he heard lightly toned and softly played music. Oddly intrigued, he followed the sound until he came to a small clear area by the waterfront, hidden by the thick trees, and dancing gracefully to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was Arima, clad in a simple white dress and bare feet.
---Although Satoshi did not entirely understand why she was doing this, it didn't make the image any less enchanting. Arima looked like a ghostly spirit or a heaven-sent goddess praying or confessing her sins in her own way, as beautifully real and fantastic as any painting Satoshi himself had ever seen. "Poetry in motion" was hardly a fitting description that so many dance lovers liked to spout off about performances they had seen, as saying that would be unjust to this dance and the one portraying it. He just stood and watched, wondering exactly why she did this here of all places and not in her own home. The piece finished and Arima slowed her steps until she sat next to the radio, not even breathing heavily at her entrancing part. She reached one hand delicately over and turned off the machine and paused... then turned to face Satoshi. "... I didn't know you were there, Hikari-san." Satoshi's heart thudded heavily in his chest. Only a few people knew about what family he had come from before the Hiwatari clan adopted him. How did she of all people know?
---Satoshi mentally shook himself and entered the small area. "I didn't know of your presence either, Miss Yukinawa. I was only walking through the park when I happened upon you here. You're a beautiful dancer." The last phrase surprised him, as he had been thinking it but had no intention of saying it. The other looked at him for a moment, as if considering the comment, then stood, lifting up her backpack and radio as well. "Thank you," she responded. "I haven't heard that in a long while. That's a very kind thing for you to say." Satoshi blinked, slightly confused by this new girl. Sure it was refreshing that she didn't fawn over his every word like other girls in this town, but she didn't have to be so... aloof. "The others are waiting for us, are they not?" she asked quietly, putting away her radio in her backpack. "Shall we go ahead and meet them? If we are early, we can work on one of the other projects we were assigned together."
---Satoshi, regaining his composure, nodded silently and walked behind the tall girl as she led the way back to the main part of the park where they were to meet with their classmates once again. 'Something is odd about this girl,' he thought. 'I can't put my finger on it, but something about her reminds me of Dark.'
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Sabriel: There! I finished the second chapter! Get off my back J.T.!
Akefia: Who's J.T.?
Sabriel: A really good friend of mine at my school. He's been bugging me since before school let out to finish this damn chapter.
Akefia: And you wonder why because...?
Sabriel: Shut up ya damn kleptomaniac spirit.
Akefia: Humph. That's gratitude for you.
Sabriel: Feh. You didn't have to stay here, ya know.
Akefia: Where else would I go? If I leave, I have three choices I can do and that's it.
Sabriel???
Akefia: Choice 1) I sit in the Ring and plot something evil for the sake of getting the Yu-Gi-Oh! series back to Egyptology and away from this Atlantis crap.
Sabriel --nods-- A good idea. I've been wanting to do that too.
Akefia: Choice 2) I enact some sort of stupid-ass treaty with the idiot villain of the series to get back at Atemu once again.
Sabriel: Old. And note to you readers who don't know anything about Yu-Gi-Oh! the series, Atemu is Yami's real name from when he was alive in ancient Egypt some five thousand years ago.
Akefia: Exactly. And that got old as soon as the series started taking a turn for the worse.
Sabriel: Yeah, I know. What's the third?
Akefia: I could go find Ryou and Anna and hang with them, Aylanna, and Nayalani.
Sabriel: --grins-- You mean with Lani.
Akefia: ...
Sabriel: --to readers-- Anna is one of the first characters I created ever. Like Yuugi, she's a reincarnation, but she's there twice over (and so is Yuugi, but he doesn't know that yet). One of her reincarnations is a Celtic sorceress named Aylanna, and the other is an Egyptian priestess named Nayalani, nicknamed Lani by a good friend of hers back then. Akefia has quite an extensive record with Lani.
Akefia:... Review readers.
Sabriel: --blinks-- What brought that up? Usually you hate saying that.
Akefia: Loathe is the word you're looking for, my dear authoress. But I'm saying it so I actually have a reason not to kill you right now!
Sabriel: Eep! --runs away with Akefia chasing after her--
