Walking In The Dark
Disclaimer: All that was stated in Ch.1 remains true in ch. 2
"Totally a werewolf," Daisuke muttered to himself, chewing half-heartedly at the tasteless school issued lunch. At the other end of the cafeteria sat the freshman, Hida Iori, mechanically eating his bento and not looking at anything going on around him. "Look at those shifty eyes and that snarling face. Who does he think he's fooling?" Daisuke grinned at his awesome observational skills.
His tablemates were involved in dissecting the latest action movie, something Daisuke only partially listened too. He hadn't seen it yet and didn't want the plot ruined.
Eventually, he grew tired of eyeing the school werewolf, letting his attention wander about the room. He spotted Takeru, sitting contentedly in the middle of his fan club. Which mostly consisted of guys from the basketball team and girls who wanted to date guys on the basketball team. Sad, really.
The girl sitting next to him gestured wildly, drawing Daisuke's attention to her hand. Light flickered off one finger; she was wearing a ring with some purple stone. What was it called? Amethyst. Nice color. It reminded him of something…yeah, a pair of eyes. Beautiful, slanted eyes in a flawless face. A face with an elegant mouth that curved sensuously as its owner smirked at him.
He found himself staring as it came closer to him, exhaling sweet breath that made his skin tingle. Arms slid around his neck and a soft, warm weight settled into his lap. Those wine red lips ghosted past the sensitive line of his jaw as the dark head bowed toward him. Daisuke sighed low and leaned back, a hot flush of lounging rising through his body and making his toes curl.
The arms tightened, drawing him closer to the sleek curve of a lithe, toned body. Midnight dark hair brushed his cheek and his squeezed his eyes closed in desperation when wet heat glided along the base of his neck –
"Daisuke!"
His chair was shoved hard, nearly knocking him to the floor. Daisuke sat up fast, gripping the edge of the table to keep from falling over. He was still in the school cafeteria, surrounded by his friends. His lap was empty. The girl who'd shook him was laughing, hand coming up to cover her mouth. "Daisuke you dork, you fell asleep!"
"Uhh," he said, dazed. He'd been dreaming? It had felt so real! A blush splashed across his cheeks to realize he'd been having that kind of dream at school. "Heh heh, guess I didn't get enough sleep last night. Probably cause my stupid sister snored all – "
Daisuke had been reaching up to rub at the tingle on the side of his neck and now he froze as fingers encountered a damp smear just above his collarbone. Cold shock jolted down his spine and coiled sickly in his stomach.
Mumbling a hasty excuse, he pushed away from the table and ran from the lunchroom, not slowing down until he reached the boy's restroom. The stall door cracked into the graffiti covered wall as he fell to his knees in front of the toilet and brought up his lunch.
"Ugh," he groaned after the heaves had stopped and leaned his aching head against the wall, "What the hell was that."
His face felt hot and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He hadn't had an attack like this in years, not since he was eight and the demonic soul-eater had besieged his elementary school for weeks. (Said soul-eater being a gawky and painfully shy middle-school aged boy with a stutter who'd been doing community service in Daisuke's class.) The doctors had called them "panic attacks" and prescribed drugs that his father pushed on him with relief and his mother cheerfully flushed down the toilet whenever her husband's back was turned.
Daisuke wiped his mouth again and sat up straight, pushing the handle to send the ugly mess right down the drain. "Gotta be the werewolf," he muttered, "Evil things are always messing with people." A thought occurred. "That asshole, he's probably trying to eat my soul too!"
Not that he'd ever heard of werewolves eating souls, but it was hard to tell the depth the Legions of Darkness would go to.
He went to the cracked porcelain sink to wash his face and rinse the bile out of his mouth. The first burst of cold water was a relief, clearing away some of the fuzziness and soothing the throbbing in his head. He gurgled loudly and spat, looking up at the mirror to see how his hair had weathered the experience.
Exotic purple eyes framed by pale skin gleamed at him darkly from the distorted glass, wine red lips lifting over white teeth. Daisuke –
"Shit!"
He threw himself back from the sink and crashed into the nearest bathroom stall, sliding down to the floor. A few quick pants, and then he yelled brazenly, "Its not going to work, you jerk! I'm not scared at all!"
The door into the restroom opened suddenly and Daisuke nearly jumped out of his skin. Takeru stood holding the door open with one hand, hair ablaze with the light of the sun, expression confused and slightly concerned.
"You okay, Daisuke? I saw you run out earlier," he said, entering to offer the fallen boy his hand. It took Daisuke a moment to let go from where he'd grabbed over his heart in sudden terror and accept the help up.
"Yeah," he said and swallowed as his stomach gave a threatening roll, "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess the leftovers from breakfast suddenly caught up with me. I knew those boiled eggs tasted funny…"
"Spare me the details," Takeru said with grimace, waving his hand, "You sure you don't want to go to the school nurse?"
"Nah, I'm okay. Besides she'd make me hang around the office all day because my parents told the school not to let me go home sick anymore," Daisuke said, pushing past Takeru and heading out into the hall.
"About time they wised up," Takeru said dryly and followed him.
Despite his assurances of being all right, Daisuke spent the rest of day feeling out of sorts and uncomfortable, like an indefinable itch right where he couldn't scratch it. His mind kept drifting back to the face he'd seen in the mirror and earlier in the cafeteria; something about it was disturbingly familiar and the thought that he'd seen it before, and it had left enough of an impression to imprint on his painfully poor memory, disturbed him greatly.
Among other things, it certainly put an added edge to the usual daily joy of attending high school.
He and Takeru made it home early after final period, as neither of them had practice that afternoon, and dinner at the Motomiya residence was as loud and active as always.
Daisuke ended up in a shouting match with his mother about the televised football game from last week; a fight that had them on their feet and leaning over the table to get into each other's faces. Both his mother and sister supported teams he hated, and vise versa, so each football season their home became a battleground. His father watched it all in mild bemusement and his sister Jun threw in unneeded side comments.
Once the table had been cleared, they engaged in the nightly conflict over what one-hour show they got to watch before bed which ended as it always did – with his father taking the remote and turning the news on.
Daisuke fell asleep within the first ten minutes, rousing only when Jun kicked him in the head.
Later, face washed and teeth brushed, Daisuke fell into bed and rolled over into the arms of the person waiting for him.