Author's Notes:
New format (sorta, it's very similar to the other…) to go with a new chapter. How good is that? Hn! Hmm. Now, onto the technical stuff. I don't own anything DNAngel (besides my personal copies of the mangas… but a friend of mine gave me a really neato site for some cool stuff like wall scrolls… .:conspires to snitch her mum's credit card one day:. Heh…), so there's that.
One last thing before I go on to start chapter nine (I'm on nine, right? Gah, school's so hectic!! X.x My editor hates me i-i), I want to start something new for me, and it's prolly just a one-chapter thing… I don't know, depends on how this one goes. I'm going to start chapter dedications, but I'm not gonna tell the person I'm dedicating the chapter to that they're getting a dedication… so it'll be a surprise… yeah. Hn. Anyway!!
This chapter is going to be dedicated to my very, very dear friend Angelis… Thank you so very much, Angel, for just being my friend and everything you've done. Daisuki, boku enjeru-o! .:super-hyper-huggle:. Arigato, ke'chara.
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The blunet sat on his heels, panting a bit, and wiped his forearm across his brow. He was trying to dig through the snow, but the going was slow. The snow had frozen over, half-melted, and frozen over once more, and now there was a transparent, glossy sheen of thick ice over the granular snow. "You know," he said conversationally over his shoulder, "this is very disheartening. I've been at this for an hour, and I've only made about an inch of progress."
Daisuke was sitting in the hot spring, leaning over with his elbows on the cold stone floor and watching the detective with an odd expression playing across his face. "At least we'll have plenty of water," he joked absently.
"That's true." Satoshi sighed and decided to take a break. He stood up, stretching, and winced as he heard and felt his spine crack and pop, then dropped down onto his knees at the edge of the pool. They'd filled an empty water bottle with ice grains, lidded it as tightly as they could, and then put it in the hot water to melt the ice.
The redhead turned his cheek onto his arms to follow the other boy with his crimson eyes. Everything seemed so different, but he couldn't place when it had happened, why, or even what had happened. All he knew was that Satoshi seemed… different. There wasn't really any other word for it. I already told him I like him, the younger boy thought despondently. What an idiot! He hit himself in the head. Baka!
"Hn." He slid down the bank a bit until his forehead rested on the stone floor. But is it lust… or…
From afar, it seemed, he felt the water close over the top of his head. The heat of the pool enveloped him, deliciously numbing his limbs, sapping energy from his mind. Dimly he heard the blunet's worried voice, then felt himself being jerked up. The sudden rush of cold air on his warmed body woke him with a shock, and he found himself staring into the anxious crystal-blue eyes of the object of his torment.
…Or love?
Love? Who loves?
I love… A slight burning sensation began in the pit of his stomach, spreading warmth throughout his body.
Love who?
I love… him. Suddenly the tiny flame within him burst into an angry blaze, slowly licking at his insides. Daisuke felt his eyes widen and he curled around himself. My body… it feels like I'm on fire… Gasping weakly for the air that would not come, he sank into a loving oblivion in Satoshi's embrace.
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Satoshi pulled the bottle up from the sulfurous-smelling water and pretended to check the fluidity of its contents, but really he was watching Daisuke from the corner of his eye. What was on the redhead's mind? Daisuke had been oddly quiet since he'd awakened that morning, wrapped up once more in Satoshi's arms. Is he coming down with anything? I hope not…
The redhead had slowly started slipping back into the water. Usually the commander left the younger boy to his own devices in the water, just checking up on him every so often to make sure his ankle didn't cause him to drown—it was much like babysitting, he thought—but he didn't like the blank, not-all-there look in Daisuke's eyes this time. Which was why, when the redhead didn't come back up right away after slipping under the water's surface, Satoshi leaned far in and snagged the boy's wrist, pulling him up into his lap and ignoring the wet.
Daisuke stared up at Satoshi as if seeing him for the first time ever. The blunet had to suppress a blush, much to his surprise. But then the younger boy's lovely claret eyes widened and squeezed closed, and he wrapped himself around his middle. A sudden, sick kind of gasping came from his throat, and he pressed himself against Satoshi's abdomen.
"Niwa-kun? Niwa-kun!" Satoshi rocked the redhead in his arms, thoughts racing. What's happening to him? His skin is so hot… "Daisuke!"
Suddenly the redhead's body was engulfed in a brilliant white light, so bright Satoshi had to look away and shield his eyes with one arm. "Nani?!"
When he was once more able to look towards his friend, it took a moment of furious blinking for Satoshi's eyes to work properly. The vision before him didn't change. He found himself staring into the curious, brilliant violet eyes of a stranger, not the gentle vermilion of his classmate. The blunet was on his feet in a flash, dumping the strange boy on the ground in a heap. In that moment, Satoshi knew his life would never be the same.
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The boy at his feet was definitely not Daisuke, Satoshi figured. This new teen was somewhat older, more mature-looking than Daisuke. His face was longer, thinner, as was his body. The stranger's hair was a deep shade of indigo and violet to match his eyes, but it looked natural. His body was gracefully slender, not too lean. For a moment he seemed almost familiar to Satoshi, but the feeling was only fleeting.
The detective stared as the other boy sorted his hair out of his eyes and glared up at him. "What did you do that for, Hiwatari-kun?"
"Who are you?" Satoshi demanded. "What did you do with Daisuke?"
The other boy's head tilted to the side and his eyes slid out of focus, then back in. "He's here as well, and just as puzzled as you. Did his mother not explain it?"
"He doesn't have a mother," the blunet snapped. "Explain what?"
"Hmm. I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I don't see any way around it. I am called Dark Mousy, but am otherwise known as the Phantom Thief. Perhaps you've heard of me?"
Satoshi's eyes widened as his memory supplied his mind with the information. "Impossible! The Phantom Thief robbed museums and art galleries forty years ago! They never figured out who was behind it…Where is Daisuke?"
"Has it really been that long?" He sighed. "Must've been a girl, then… and I told you, he is here as well, and he is fine. Shut up about him for a moment, I'm trying to explain this to you," Dark snapped, annoyed. "Unless you'd rather not know."
Satoshi shut up. Dark smirked. "I thought so. Anyway, in Daisuke's family, there is a certain gene. This gene says that the firstborn male children in the line shall share their bodies with me when they turn fourteen, and every time thereafter they become sexually excited, until their first love bears fruit. The first time they transform, they just take on my physical appearance, but when they change because of emotion, I come along with the package. Handy, isn't it?" He flashed Satoshi a peace-sign.
"Why did he change now?"
Dark shrugged. "I don't know, I just woke up. Maybe he was having very entertaining thoughts… This generation could be fun." A wicked grin crossed his face.
The detective glowered. "How does he change back?"
"It works both ways."
And since we're stuck in this cave, unless he gets the hots for me, Satoshi thought with a sinking heart, I'm stuck with him.
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Author's Note:
Okay, that wasn't too awful, was it? It should be easy to tell who's talking when… Dark speaks in italics and quotes, everyone else is in normal with quotes. Thoughts are just in italics. I can't exactly change fonts like they do in the manga, since fanfiction strips the stories of their fonts. What's going to be interesting is showing the banter between Daisuke and Dark… Yeah. Fun. Anyway. That's chapter nine. Short, I know, I'm sorry!! But I think the quality is very good, and like they say, quality over quantity! Heh… o.o;; yeah. Please, drop by a review. I like those, and I'll be more inclined to write another chapter. Thank you all again for reading!!