Author's Note

Over 100 reviews!! .:Jumping up and down:. Thank you, thank you, thank you all!! .:Super-hyper-huggle-pounce Angel:. Number 100, I love you!!! .:Super-hyper-huggle-pounce twin:. Averon, Thankies for reading and reviewing!!! .:Dances with glee:. .:Breaks a heel on her boots:. .:Falls and twists her ankle:. OWIE!! .:Cries:.

(Nozomu) .:Blinkblink:. I don't know you… .:Helps her up anyway:. Get to it, girly-q.

.:Nodnod:. .:Gets to typing:.

One question before I get to the story: Does anybody know what town Daisuke and Satoshi live in? I know the name of their high school is mentioned in the mangas (I can't think of it right now, but I'll go look it up sooner or later), but I don't know what town they live in…I don't think it's Tokyo (that didn't look like Tokyo in the mangas… or Kyoto (though I wouldn't really know, never having been to either of them… It just didn't look busy or crowded enough to be a big city to me)) Hm. Oh well. If you know, please help me out!!

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This chapter is dedicated to my dear twin sister, Averon. Thank you so much for your support and guidance… I love you, sis!! .:Huggle:.

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Outside the day was fading in its never-ending cycle, blending into the night. Satoshi felt the changes in the temperature in the cave and glanced at his watch. It was about the time he and Daisuke usually went to sleep; what was he going to do tonight? Daisuke wasn't here, and he'd be damned if he was sleeping beside that… thief.

But you do have to admit, he is kind of cute… Satoshi couldn't keep the insidious voice inside him from whispering.

The object of his thoughts was sitting in the corner by the lagoon, feet dangling in the water. A plastic bottle, half-filled with water, was balanced precariously on its side edge: Dark was trying to make it balance on the rim. Every time he took his fingers away from the plastic top, however, the bottle invariably toppled into the water. The thief looked bored as he retrieved the bottle and tried once more. However, an hour of performing this feat over and over and always having it splash in their face could wear down anyone's nerves, even the famous Phantom Thief. His face was starting to turn red as he snatched the bottle from the lake once more.

The detective suppressed a grin and set about making their bed. The thief looked up, tossing a bit of violently violet hair from his matching eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked, bottle forgotten.

"I'm making our bed," Satoshi said neutrally. He doubled the blanketing on the ground over itself again and began making a nest of the last two. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

Our bed? As in share?" The other boy was startled into actually pushing the bottle into the water. This time he left it there.

"Hai, our. I don't know if you know this or not, but at night it drops to below freezing out there. This cave isn't quite as bad because of the heat given off by the lake, but it still gets too cold." His frosty gaze drifted up to pierce the older boy's. "Hence, we share. Got it?"

"Hai," he said sullenly and went back to staring sullenly at the waves drawn upon the wall by the reflection of the water's surface. He kicked the bottle in the water further into the lake.

The bed was arranged in a matter of moments. Satoshi sat in the center on his knees and pulled his jacket on over his long-sleeved top. "Bed time. Apparently since you're not limited by Niwa-kun's twisted ankle, you can help dig us out of here tomorrow."

"And if I don't want to help?" Dark asked moodily, pointedly ignoring the blunet's first statement.

"Then it'll just take us that much longer to get out of here. And our food's running low as it is."

He didn't deign to answer, and he didn't move, either. The thief just sat there, staring at the wall. "Well?" Satoshi asked impatiently. He was tired from trying to break through the snow all day and his body cried out for rest.

This guy's starting to get on my nerves, Dark thought. Maybe I oughta…

Don't you dare harm him! Daisuke screamed from the back of his mind. Just go to sleep, damn you! Or, better yet, change back into me. There must be somebody whom you love!

Instantly the image of a pretty brunette twirling a lacy parasol coquettishly flashed into the thief's mind, and his heart twisted painfully in his chest. Rika… Then a tearing pain spread through his body as the bones crunched and reverted back into their normal size and stature. His hair shrunk and shifted from the dark blue-violet to a violent red colour. Daisuke's body crumpled onto the banks.

"Dark-san?" Gentle hands scooped the boy's body up into deceptively strong arms. Daisuke kept his eyes closed and buried his face in Satoshi's jacket. "Niwa-kun." There was a noticeable softening in the commander's voice, and even—a smile?

Satoshi folded down onto his knees and just held the redhead for a moment before carefully stretching the younger boy out. "Does your ankle hurt, kaji?"

"A little." Daisuke tilted his head to the side and opened his eyes to mere slits. Satoshi noticed thankfully that they were back to their lovely crimson depths. When the older boy made to stand, however, Daisuke reached out and snatched at his hand. "It's not as bad as that—I don't need medicine. Just… stay with me? Didn't you say it was time to go to sleep?"

"I did…" Slowly he knelt back down and stretched out beside the redhead, keeping eye contact. "Are you sure you're all right, kaji?" His knuckles traced down Daisuke's cheek softly, reverently. The redhead tried not to lean into the touch.

He nodded instead. "I'm fine." Impatiently he scooted closer to Satoshi while being careful not to hurt himself. "It's cold, Hiwatari-kun," he whined.

"Satoshi," the commander corrected gently. "I'd like you to call me Satoshi from now on." He reached down and pulled the blankets up and over the two of them.

"Satoshi," Daisuke agreed, then laid his head on the blunet's chest. "Arigato."

The blunet smiled down on his friend and tucked the blankets in around them. Fondly he stroked the other boy's hair and relaxed. A single candle flickered in the far corner. Usually Daisuke doesn't like it being this dark. Perhaps he didn't notice.

That was a dirty trick, Dark complained in the back of Daisuke's mind. It was dirty and rotten and mean. Do you know how long I've waited to be out—to breathe?!

Do I care? Daisuke countered. He was feeling uncharacteristically mean, but he figured it was justified—how often does an average teenage boy turn into another person, especially when that other person is a phantom thief eons old?

The thief just sighed in his mind and faded out. Daisuke could still feel him, lurking in the farther recesses of his mind, and knew that if he but called, Dark would be there. It was an oddly comforting feeling, one that Daisuke wasn't sure he actually wanted or not. He'd spent all his life trying to learn not to depend upon anyone else, and here was this thief, his other self. Could he learn to depend on him, to have a friend?

Satoshi was quicker to sleep than Daisuke, his body worn-out from trying to break the ice. His arms were still locked securely about Daisuke's torso, however. For a while Daisuke just lay there, content to hold and be held. It was a while before he fell asleep, and when he did, he dreamt of strange shape-shifting creatures and a coquettish brunette.

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Daisuke sighed and crammed ice into an empty bottle. Satoshi was drinking the water faster than it melted; he was back at trying to dig them out. The blunet had worked up a fine sweat and he sat on his knees panting as he rubbed a small handful of ice over the back of his neck. "Whew… Never would've thought this could've been such hard work."

The redhead sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm no use to you at all. I should've stayed as Dark, then I could help."

Satoshi smiled and ruffled the boy's hair. "It's all right, kaji. What could you do, really, even uninjured? There's not enough room down the tunnel for the both of us."

"I know…" He sighed again. "Still."

"Let's take your mind off it. Here—" The commander shifted over next to him. "Lay down and let me look at your forehead. That cut ought to be healing nicely, but I just want to check."

Obediently Daisuke stretched out and rested his head in Satoshi's lap. He smiled up at the commander and playfully tugged at a bit of Satoshi's hair. He flashed a peace sign. Satoshi found himself smiling and chucking. "Baka," he said affectionately. "Now, settle down. When I'm done here, I'd like to look at your ankle again, okay, kaji?"

"Okay." After a pause, Daisuke chimed in, "Satoshi?"

"Nani?"

"Why do you call me 'kaji'?"

"It comes from your hair colour." Absently Satoshi tugged on a lock of the vermilion tresses as if to emphasize a point.

"Oh."

"Hn." The commander put another band-aid on his forehead, then helped Daisuke sit up. He moved around and very gently pulled Daisuke's swollen ankle into his lap. "This is going to hurt," he said, glancing up at the redhead.

Daisuke nodded but said nothing. Satoshi took that as a sign to continue and very carefully began unwrapping the gauze that held the ankle still. The colour drained from the younger boy's face as the pain shot up his leg and through his body. His hand scrabbled until it closed on Satoshi's. The blunet squeezed his hand tightly, then went back to work.

"It looks like it's healing," he said after a moment, "but I still don't want you up. I'm going to rewrap it and give you some more medication, okay?"

"You sure seem to like putting me to sleep," Daisuke commented between clenched teeth as Satoshi wrapped clean gauze over his ankle.

"It's much more peaceful that way," Satoshi said teasingly and flashed a grin at the startled boy. "Really, it'll heal better the more you sleep." He scooped the boy back into his arms and smiled. "Besides, don't you like being carried around?"

"It's starting to grow on me," the redhead admitted as he rested his head on Satoshi's shoulder.

Satoshi stretched him back out on their bed and tucked him back in, then gave him a bottle of half-melted ice and some medication. They were running low, but Satoshi judged that, even with how slow the digging was going, they'd be out in a day or two. It shouldn't matter. "Sleep well," he said softly and stroked Daisuke's cheek. "Sleep well."

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Author's Note

Crummy, yes, I needed to end it quickly cuz I'm supposed to be in bed now. .:Looks around:. I won't tell if you won't. I wanted to get this chapter up for my loyal reviewers—I love you all!

Anyway, kaji means "fire." Just thought I'd point that out…

Rika (I made a mistake when I first posted this chapter: I said it was Riku when the name is Rika) was Risa and Riku's grandmother, whom Dark loved way back when he was sharing a body with Daisuke's grandfather. It's all in the animes—I'm sorry for everyone who read it and got confused or whatnot. While Dark does respond to Riku sometimes, he always responds to Rika (but she's dead in the animes, so I don't think that matters much.)

I think that's all I have to comment on. If I forgot anything, I'll put it in with the next chapter. Thanks for reading, and please review!