Z.N.

I'm back! Gomen, everyone! School's been a pain lately, and I'm applying to college and a summer camp, and… yeah. Gomen! –deep bow- Thank you all for patiently sticking by me!

I was surprised when I started getting reviews so often now—almost every day I have at least one, if no two on this story or another, all asking me to update or if I'd died. Well, I'm not dead, and I do plan on continuing these, all of them. Well, maybe not Finally Together, but we'll just see whenever the plot bunnies for that one decide to come back, shan't we? Yeah. So, on with chapter eighteen, and again, I'm so sorry!

A pale glow filled the room, dimly illuminating the pasty blunet's face. His fingers drifted over the keyboard with lightning grace, filling the screen line by line with text. Every so often, however, he had to stop and rub between his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. Gods, he's loud, Satoshi thought annoyedly as the throbbing in his temples started up again. He looked around the room pleadingly for something to give him patience with the other boy. His eyes settled upon a picture of the adorable redhead.

The picture was a snapshot taken from the school's photo album, of Daisuke at one of the school's affairs a few years ago. He was laughing and flashing the camera a love and peace sign. It was Satoshi's favourite picture because it showed Daisuke in his natural state, calm and relaxed, even happy. The cold exterior that had frosted his face and hardened his heart from the failing foster system and the unforgiving, judgmental world hadn't manifested itself yet. Satoshi tried to remember those happy days.

Unfortunately this technique didn't work. For the third time in the past ten minutes he pushed himself from his desk and stalked from the room to his guest bedroom.

He pushed the door open, wincing inwardly somewhat when it clashed against the wall. However, his momentary remorse evaporated as the sheer volume of the American rock music that was blaring from a stolen stereo system nearly brought him to his knees. The dark-haired teen lying on the bed hadn't noticed him come in. Headphones covered his ears, blaring yet another type of music that could dimly be heard over the stereo system.

Satoshi stormed over in an angry fit and snatched the headphones from the miniature CD player lying on the thief's chest, and shoved the stereo off the desktop. It fell with a resounding and sickening crash, and mechanical pieces skittered across the floor.

Indignantly the thief sat upright. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Commander?" he snarled. "You broke it!"

"I told you to keep it down!" Satoshi screamed right back. "I have neighbors on every side of me, and I'm trying to work!" He shoved his hands through his hair agitatedly and took a deep breath to calm himself. "Look," he continued in a somewhat more civilized tone, "I've had three complaints about you in the twenty-four hours you've been here. My superiors are starting to get suspicious. Don't forget, to the rest of the world, Daisuke is still MIA. They already think I had something to do with it."

"Look, I don't have to take this from you," Dark began heatedly.

"What other choice do you have?" Satoshi snarled coldly. "Daisuke's tired, he needs rest. You can't help him if you end up getting the both of us evicted—"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Dark stood abruptly, eyes blazing with a hellish fire. "You keep talking about what Daisuke needs, what Daisuke wants. You think you know him so well, you think you know what you're talking about. You really have no clue. Do you know what has happened to him in the past month? Well? Do you?"

The blunet recoiled. True, Daisuke hadn't told him, but he hadn't exactly had time, now had he? Krad had seen to that, and nearly killed Daisuke in the process. "I love him. That's all I need to know. I'll take care of him from now on."

"You love him," Dark repeated scathingly. "You love him. No. He loves you. Do you know how long he was in anguish, agonizing over the thought that you didn't love him? That you'd abandoned him? He was institutionalized, nearly raped, and almost killed, and all thinking that you'd left him. Do you know how much pain he was in? Do you know what it would have meant to him just to have a phone call from you? A letter? No, I don't think so. You'll take care of him? Where were you when he needed you, detective? Huh? Where?"

The accusations stung, stabbing the blunet deep in the heart. "I didn't know where he was. Nobody would tell me anything. How was I to know?"

"Do you want to know what happened to him?" the blunet asked darkly.

Satoshi nodded quietly and swallowed, not at all certain he'd like this story.

"After you graciously took him home, his family tossed him back to the wolves. Only they didn't want him." He'd taken up stalking around the cornered blunet. "So they sent him to a boy's correctional facility. He was teased, picked on, and harassed, but he made friends with a sickly boy who'd been in his position before. The school bully took a perverted love interest in Daisuke. Daisuke's best friend ended up dying in a cold-blooded murder Daisuke witnessed. He died trying to save Daisuke from being raped and possibly killed. Killed, Commander. Koji died because there was nobody there to save them. Daisuke nearly died because there was nobody to save them. And you tell me you love him?" He glared coldly at Satoshi. "As I see it, you're no better than Kazumi. You could've saved them all."

Satoshi slid to the ground and covered his ears numbly. "Shut up," he whispered and closed his eyes, trying to block out the sound.

"You might as well have killed Koji—"

"Shut up," he repeated, squeezing his eyes closed tighter. "Get out."

"You could've had Daisuke raped—"

"Get out." Tears started to leak down Satoshi's cheeks. In his mind, Dark's words made sense. If only he hadn't sent Daisuke back to his family, none of this would've happened. If only he'd had Daisuke stay with him, like he'd wanted, they would've been all right. It was all his fault. If only…

"You almost killed Daisuke."

"Get out!" Satoshi screamed hysterically, staggering to his feet and shoving the dark-haired boy away from him. "Get out, get out, get out! I hate you! Go! Leave!" If he leaves, everything will be all right again. Everything horrible started right after this damned thief appeared in our lives. If he leaves, everything will go back to normal again. None of this will have ever happened. In his state of hysteria, Satoshi's mind would've rationalized anything to take the blame from himself and pin it on the mysterious immortal.

"Fine! We're leaving." Dark didn't look over his shoulder, but continued straight down the hall. The apartment rattled and pictures shook themselves from their places on the wall from the force of the door slamming with a cutting finality behind him.

Following him out, Satoshi snatched up a decorative ceramic vase given to him by a horrific aunt as a birthday present and hurled it at the door. The vase shattered, sending shards of pottery skittering across the floor and back at him.

"Go," he whispered, then yelled again, "I hate you! I don't want to see you again! Never come back!" Beneath him his legs turned to jelly, and he slid to the floor in a defeated heap. Reality and sanity came crashing back at him. Tears sheeted down his face, an itchy tonic to his overheated face.

In a moment of crushing panic he realized his folly and staggered to his feet. He'd sent away the only link to his only love in a moment of anger and fear. It was snowing outside, the other boy hadn't even taken a coat or his shoes: he'd catch his death. Satoshi lurched to his feet and ran out the door, slamming the door behind him.

The picture of Daisuke on the corner of the blunet's desk fell with a clatter, glass shards showering the floor.

An hour later Satoshi staggered back into his apartment, exhaustion etched on his face and defeat evident in his posture. He hadn't found Dark. I was right behind him, he thought. Not even five minutes after he left. So why didn't I find them?

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he stared out the window. "I didn't mean it. Come back."

Outside the snow fell in fat flakes, blanketing the scape with a layer of prism white. Satoshi dragged himself into a set of clean clothing and toweled his hair dry. He crawled into bed and beneath the blankets, but couldn't get comfortable. No matter how exhausted he seemed to be, he could not sleep. Worry and confusion tumbled through his mind pell-mell. He needed to be up and active, rather than lying there and trying to sleep.

He noted the broken picture on the floor and knelt to clean it up. A glass shard stuck his finger, drawing blood. Sighing, he stuck his finger in his mouth and continued cleaning up the glass. This does not bode well.

The living room was warm when he curled up on the sofa, staring blankly out the window. He clutched a blanket around his shoulders and tried to think, but all he could think about was throwing Daisuke out.

Krad seemed to awaken in the back of his mind with a yawn. He sensed the unease and guilt his other half was wallowing in and reveled in it for a moment before asking, What's wrong now

Go back to sleep. I don't want to deal with you right now. This is all your fault.

I've been asleep for two days, how can it be my fault? he replied indignantly. Does it have something to do with your precious Daisuke-kun? Is he dead yet?

No, he's not 'dead yet', don't sound so thrilled, Satoshi snarled. He just went away for a little while. He'll be back.

He prayed with all his soul that he was right.

Z.N.

Kind of a cruddy redebut chapter, I suppose... but I'm not dead! Granted, I might be after everyone reads this... It's kind of short and not very good, but I wrote it all late at night, like, now. I had a whole nother way at going at this chapter written up, but I deleted it and rewrote it because I was getting bored with the other... maybe it would've worked better... but this way gets the plot back on track. Somewhat... anyway! Babbling... Night!