Disclaimers: DNAngel does not belong to me and… yeah.

--- The Night Never Ends ---

--- Chapter One: Life ---

Pulling a thick and heavy volume from under his desk, the person frowned thoughtfully before flipping it open and studying the distinct scribbling of a scribe who just couldn't write legibly. It wasn't very useful then, seeing as they couldn't even read it, but if studied for many hours on end, it was actually quite possible to make out a word or two.

And that was how Satoshi Hiwatari was spending his day.

Sapphire eyes behind glasses, cerulean hair that looked a bit windswept although the only window in the room was closed, the fourteen-year-old boy scanned the unreadable text. He read with such intensity that he didn't even seem to hear something heavy smash into the door of the very room in which he sat at; having locked himself in so that he wouldn't be disturbed. Voices floated back and forth as children played games outside on the streets and the like, with the occasional yell of someone older telling them off for getting in the way.

It was a bright day with a scattering of clouds, and it was quite breezy, yet not too cold. Cobblestone streets were the main construction for footpaths and roads, as people hurried back and forth like as any other day. Shawls and hats were tugged at almost playfully by the occasional breeze, and they tried to ignore it all, carrying on their daily tasks which were too boring to mention.

And during all this, Satoshi didn't pay the least attention to any of it, as he continued to try and make out a particularly small scribble that might have meant something but most likely didn't. It was little wonder, after every single day of reading such small and squashed texts, that he had to wear glasses. He wasn't complaining or anything, and he was so good looking that girls thought it really suit him, but he paid them little attention as well. Being popular wasn't in his wish list, and it never would be, so that was yet another reason that he locked himself in the house and small room: if just to avoid the rabid fangirls and the like; he didn't even find the opposite sex attractive anymore. It had to be because of them for sure. He might as well be dead if he'd been forced to go out with them or something just as bad; a heart attack, for one thing.

If it hadn't been for a certain someone, he would have probably cracked under the pressure and massacred everyone; or, to a more tame degree, locked himself in the house and never come out ever again because it was too painful; not that he wasn't pale-skinned enough.

Continuing his reading, the blue-haired boy ignored all the calls of his parents to go outside or to at least open a window, but his head snapped up instantly as the very sound of a light tap hit the solid oak of the door. Only one person he knew ever knocked like that – as if afraid that they were disturbing someone – and he clambered stiffly out of his seat to open the door; he had been sitting there for over four hours, of course. Without a hint of hesitation, he pulled it open.

Ignoring the scowling face of his mother who stood in the background, Satoshi nodded politely at the guest in front of him. A boy his own age with ruby eyes and unruly crimson locks nodded back, a small smile tugging at his lips. This irritated the blue-haired boy, to say the least, but not in the way that he wanted him to throw stuff at the annoying fangirls who came to his house every few hours; no, it was more of an irritation of knowing that the boy in front of him knew him more then even his own parents and he was incredibly happy about it like that. Then again, it wasn't actually irritation; affection was a better term to put it.

And he was rambling to himself again, so he pulled the redhead in and closed the door in his mother's face, who had raised an eyebrow but said nothing. They rarely exchanged words with one another; but it might have been because Satoshi was too intelligent for his own good and… well… it just didn't seem to work out. But they didn't hate each other; it was just a very, very, very detached amount of affection that flowed in the Hiwatari household.

But he forgot all that as he turned his attention back to his guest, who was smiling at him softly, having opening the closed window. The voices outside had become more distinct and he could identify them all easily, but that wasn't the point.

Despite the fact that the blue-haired boy was staring at him with such an intensity that was alarming, the redhead seemed incredibly relaxed, "You know that you're going to go blind if you keep on studying texts with words that don't make words," he chided lightly, "And did you forget that I was coming over or something?"

Satoshi shook his head, "How could I forget? But this is the only place that I can get some peace and quiet from the rest of the world."

The redhead feigned surprise, "You mean that you can't even get any peace in your own room?"

"Must we go through that?" the blue-haired boy rolled his eyes in mock despair before approaching the boy by the window. It was a rather small room, and was made even more cramped due to the bookcases, desk and chair and books that made up at least three-quarters of the place. Wrapping his arms around the boy's waist, he hugged him, "And besides, if I wanted to avoid people, I'd have to jump out of a third-storey window, Daisuke."

Laughing lightly, Satoshi's boyfriend hugged him back, "Well, it's not everyday you get a chance to see a member of the high and aristocratic Hiwatari family's mangled corpse on the back lawn," he commented. Then he grimaced lightly, studying the other boy's face, "But then I'd feel sorry for you because think of your admirers' reactions…"

Satoshi grimaced at the thought before shutting up the redhead by closing the gap between them for a moment. When they eventually pulled away, he glared thinly at the shorter boy in front of him warningly, "Never EVER mention those people who stalk me ever again…"

Daisuke smiled apologetically, seeing as they were still embracing each other, "Naa… sorry, Satoshi, but you can't hide in your house all day…"

"I do go out!" the glare was replaced by an indignant-hurt look which was quite rare for anyone to see because of his usual lack of emotion when around other people; except when he was around Daisuke, which was a completely different story in the matter.

"But not without me around!"

"But when you're not around, they stalk me and crowd me and god knows what else they would plan to do if you weren't around at all!"

"Does that make me your knight in shining armor?"

Shaking his head in silent laughter, although looking rather fed-up, Satoshi pinched his boyfriend's cheek lightly, "Let's not go into that argument again."

Pouting at the treatment of being inferior in the relationship – which was the truth, but neither one of them cared – Daisuke was soon over it and proceeded in trying to drag the blue-haired boy out of the room, but he refused bluntly.

Ever since they had begun to go out – approximately four months and a scattered number of weeks – the redhead had attempted to get Satoshi to be a bit more sociable, or at least capable of walking around the town-village-city-like place without being scared that he was being attacked. The problem was, he was always stalked by the scariest of fangirls and he never went outside unless he was with either Daisuke or with one of his other few friends. And there weren't many of them around, so it was usually the redhead's task to attempt to get him to walk around like a normal person.

"Why must you make it so hard for everyone, including yourself?" whined the redhead piteously, sniffling slightly as he tugged at Satoshi's arm. He got a fed up sigh in return and continued to try and wrench the taller boy out of the room without much success.

"You really should calm down once in a while, Daisuke," Satoshi muttered, watching impassively as the redhead failed to move him a bit. Then, grinning slightly, he jerked his arm back and Daisuke, with a surprised squeak, was jerked back into his arms again. "And you know that you have to pay me back tonight if I go outside."

The redhead blushed, but tried to cover it up as he spluttered, "D-d-don't start talking like that! It reminds me of Dark too much and then he's going to tell me 'told you so'! That's the last thing that I need to hear!"

Shaking his head, the blue-haired boy attempted to look offended as he poked the redhead in the ribs lightly, "Since when have you compared me to that pervert, hm? And when I mean by paying back, I'm referring to that stupid exorcism that failed a week back. They want me to complete it, but I need a healer otherwise I might as well be dead."

Daisuke inclined his head, "Oh… that one."

Having gotten over that little argument, the two left the room and out of the house, where most children seemed to be. Adults in expensive and elaborate clothing flounced around them, in an almost huffy manner that seemed to say that they couldn't believe the younger generation these days. The streets were lined with the familiar bulk of cobblestones that made up the road and footpaths, while horses and carriages bumped their way across. A few trees lined the street, but as it was the higher-society-like place, the buildings were also built with lavish designs and with and the like, with the tiny gardens that had very little flowers, or dead, seeing as they never took care of it. It was either take care of the gardens themselves, or hire something; so it was a lose-lose situation for them.

Weaving past a couple of kids that were playing a sort of soldier-battle-to-war game, both Satoshi and Daisuke made their way down the street. This was where the bulk of society sat; as well as the shops and stalls that proved a lot more interesting then just trying to ignore the sounds of people trying to blow the place up.

Perhaps the strangest part about the two boy's relationship was that Satoshi was of an aristocratic family, while Daisuke had been of a lower class. The Hiwatari family couldn't believe that their oldest son could even end up like that, and had even attempted to send him to a psychiatrist, but that hadn't changed a thing and he kept hanging around the redhead whenever possible. They had then been forced to accept it, and admit to the fact that at least he went outside once in a while. The Niwa family, on the other hand, found that as long as they got along fine in the end, there was no problem with the matter, and who was going to complain?

Both boys wore plain clothes, with no elaborate or ornate designs as they walked past a couple of people their own age as they entered the business-district-like-place that was always crowded, no matter what. Daisuke, being who he was, instantly rushed to look at the items on sale with Satoshi in tow, not as interested. If anything, he was more interested at staring at the redhead than anything else. There were only two things that truly caught his attention other than his boyfriend; and that was old books explaining supernatural occurrences with magic and art.

Daisuke, knowing this, dragged him to a cult-like-wiccan-gothic-related shop which was always filled with items and the like that helped with magic and anything similar. In this point of time and life, after all the eerie tales that they'd heard, people being able to use magic wasn't all that of a problem anymore. Then again, very few people were actually capable of using it and most people boasting about it couldn't even heal a paper cut.

As a descendent of the Niwa clan, it was a lot easier to believe that the redhead might have inherited some of his family's magic-capabilities, and although they had been healers all these generations, Daisuke seemed to be more talented in the offensive side of spells. 'Black' magic, as people had claimed, but no one cared unless the person actually did something that hurt others.

Satoshi, on the other hand, had been born in a family that hadn't been able to use magic at all, and yet he'd been blessed with a special branch similar to the 'elements'. Not much was known about the branch, and people didn't seem to want to know, but the Niwa family had been more than willing to help him while he learnt to control his magic.

The shop was decorated with dark colours ranging from purple to red and black, with shelves that were stacked with various books and object in jars. Inside the jars were various roots and components used when people wanted to use magic but weren't naturally talented. Tarot cards sat in decks, while jewelry glittered in the dim light that was being emitted from a number of lamps that hung by overhead. It looked stuffy, yet didn't feel nor smell it, and the boys were greeted by a silver-haired female a couple of years older than them. Her clothes were all black and her hair was cropped, along with three earrings adorning each ear and she smiled at them cheerfully.

"Hi! Welcome and all that!" she chirped excitedly, "Dai-chan! Sato-chan! Glad to see you again!" Without warning, she hugged them both and then pouted, "Why'd it take you two so long to get back here? I mean, you're the only people I'd even consider selling stuff to!"

"Towa! What's going on?" roared a distant voice in the back. The girl sniffed, more to herself, and then grinned back at the two. "Well, take your time and all. I'll be at back if you need any help."

"Well, we might not be buying anything--" began Daisuke, but Towa waved it off impatiently.

"Doesn't matter. Like I said, you two are the only ones worth me working here. All the others who come here believe they're from the Legion of the Undead," she grimaced disdainfully at this and then waved to them before disappearing further into the shop.

As they entered deeper into the small-looking shop, they were greeted by more shelves, books, and items. It was actually quite interesting to look at, for one thing, and highly useful if one knew how to use them and cast spells. But even if a complete stranger who didn't use magic entered, it was still highly interesting to stare at all the trinkets, which were solved nowhere else because other shops just refused to stock them.

Wandering around the shelves, Daisuke's eyes seemed to gleam in wonder and fascination, while Satoshi frowned thoughtfully at a strange device that whirled softly, like there was a small machine in it or something. Poking it cautiously, nothing happened and he called the redhead over.

"Yeah?" asked the shorter boy cheerfully, bouncing over.

"Do you know what this is?" asked the blue-haired boy, waving at the small box with minute details that he couldn't make out. Peering at the item for a moment, the Niwa shook his head slightly, and straightened up.

"An animus prehendo?" he finally decided to say, more to himself than the boy next to him. "Soul Snatcher," he translated simply to the perplexed look Satoshi shot him. "But why would they have one of these here in the first place? It doesn't work like that…"

Seeing that the redhead was talking more to himself, the blue-haired boy tapped him back into reality. Daisuke smiled apologetically before explaining it to his magic-deprived friend, "A soul snatcher does exactly as the name tells us. It can trap a soul within that little box and only the wielder can release it; or if it breaks or something similar. But it only works on the dead souls that wander around this world," he added thoughtfully, "And we have none here… so why would they be trying to sell it in the first place?"

With a sigh, Satoshi shook his head, "Sometimes I'm scared of what you know. Remember your theory about the guillotine and the revolution?"

The redhead nodded, grinning at this, "We ended up sharing the same bed for a month after that, and that was before we started going out."

"And I never forgave you about that," he added firmly, ruffling the boy's hair before they returned to their inspection of the random items. Most things they'd seen before, yet there were a number of items that had just come in and were quite interesting to stare at for long periods of time.

And yet the small box that Satoshi had come across wouldn't leave his mind and, eventually, he just gave up and decided to buy it. True, Daisuke would be baffled as to why he would buy such a useless item, but he wouldn't go against the action at all. If it was a ceremonial-sacrificial knife or something, on the other hand…

"Do you think learning a spell that freezes time could really work?" asked the redhead when they finally left the small shop. The daylight stung their eyes after being in such a dim place, and Daisuke was still confused to his boyfriend's purchase, but couldn't bother to ask about it or otherwise. Satoshi inclined his head, frowning.

"I don't know… would it?"

Frowning in thought, Daisuke took his time before answering, "We—ll… I suppose it is possible, but I don't know why anyone would think of using it at all."

Tucking the small box away as they walked down a street to a less crowded place, Satoshi could only blink ignorantly, "Why?"

"It involves sacrifice," the redhead shrugged, "I mean, a lot of it. Blood from innocent people. And why? I don't get it sometimes. Why people want to kill others just for one spell that freezes time forever. It's so sad…"

"And where did you read this?"

"I came across it while reading this old text, asked my parents, who freaked, and then I went to that shop for research about a week ago. I suppose the biggest problem is that I don't know any other magicians around to ask for their opinion," he shuddered, "and I would hate to talk to someone who would even consider using it."

Wrapping an arm around the redhead's shoulder, the blue-haired pulled his close for reassurance, "It's just a spell, Daisuke. You shouldn't think too much about it."

"Right…"

Upon entering the small, homely street of where Daisuke lived, they were flocked by a number of small children that the redhead knew, and by the time they got around that lot, the redhead was practically tackled by a figure with long brown hair. In right fangirl-style, she squealed excitedly and giggled, practically choking the Niwa with her death-grip around his neck.

"Dai-chan! So that's where you went!" she exclaimed.

"Risa-chan…" spluttered the redhead, as he attempted to pry her off, "Must you do that every time I see you? I'm going to be oxygen deprived one day…"

"Oh, cheer up already!" she said, pinching him in the cheek playfully before turning her attention towards Satoshi, who was watching the scene with an passive expression on his face, "Hi, Satoshi-kun! How're you today?"

"I'm fine," he replied calmly, "And I think you should let go before Daisuke dies."

"Right," nodding, Risa obliged and then grabbed the two boys by their wrists, "Come on! Come on! We can't be late for this!"

Daisuke blinked blankly, "What? What's going on? Did I miss something at home?"

Giggling, the brunette shook her head, "Come on! It's a surprise and I can't tell you! Now let's get a move on!"

With a sigh, the two boys allowed themselves to be dragged off to who knew where and for what reason, they were about to find out. Besides, knowing the girl, she wasn't going to push them into a pit of hungry wolves. But then again… it was possible.

---

Okay, if there is anyone here who is NOT lost and confused, I will be vaguely surprised. Or something similar to that sort of thing, but whatever. First chapter that introduced two of the four main characters (if you haven't worked that out yet) with some research done in the life at… that… time… Or something. I don't know anymore. Anyway, I was planning to put Dark and Krad as well into this chapter, but it just ended up too long and… yeah. Next chapter, though, I promise.

Risa is sugar-high/hyperactive, don't you think? I mean… geez, how did I end up with this? Although Risa was supposed to be the main character for this fic… but then changed in about a split second to the four guys… but she does have a key role in this. Later XD

What else is there to say? Well, Satoshi is being swamped by fangirls, Daisuke is he boyfriend, they've only been going out recently, Dark and Krad are NOT RELATED to them in any way; magic isn't all that rare where they live and they don't have witch burnings and… er… it's all a bit jumbled. And as for Daisuke's theory behind the guillotine and the French revolution… it's up to you about what he told Sato :P

Can't think of much else to say, but if you have any questions, I'll attempt to answer them.

Reviewer Replies:

Hakudoshi-chan: You think? XD The idea's still a little out of whack, though…

neko-nya: Zombie clowns and mime? Great, how do I incorporate them into the story! XD such evil beings wander the earth… Thanks!

nekogirltheanimefreak: Eheh… thanks a lot!

O.o K-chan: Maybe I was… unclear? Or I babbled on; again. Thanks!