AFTER THE END

Chapter One: My name is… Hikari

ぼく　の　なまえ　は　。。。　光

"What will we do?" asked Riku, referring to the fact that Satoshi had fainted and they had no way to get him anywhere.

"It's alright," replied Daisuke. "I think… help will be here soon." By that, he meant his family. Surely they would be coming to find him soon. Besides, he had a feeling they were on their way. Risa knelt down on the other side of Satoshi, determined to help him. He was covered in small cuts and scratches – not to mention the two gashes on his shoulders where his wings had broken through the skin.

"Riku, Niwa-kun," she said, taking Satoshi's shoulders and gently pulling him closer to her. Niwa, seeing what she was doing, helped to lay the boy down on the ground, his head resting on Risa's knees. "We need water," she said. Both Riku and Daisuke hesitated, slightly surprised by this new side of the younger Harada. But Daisuke knew that she was right, and after a moment he stood up and turned toward the buildings not far away. There would hopefully be a pop machine with water in it in one of them. Riku glanced back at her sister once, and then ran to catch up with Daisuke.

Risa remained sitting on her knees, Satoshi's head resting in her lap. Her scrutinizing eyes looked up and down his body. There was blood on his arms, his chest, and his shoulders. How could he have gotten hurt like this? But then… she had seen his wings, so she knew that much at least. 'How sad…' She brushed back some bangs from his forehead and looked at his peaceful face. She'd never looked at him like this before. She'd never looked at him at all, really. He'd just been there, at the back of the class; a top student, good athlete, but too quiet to really… notice.

Satoshi flinched at her touch on his face, and his eyelids fluttered for a moment. He looked up at her, but his eyes weren't focused. "Niwa…" he muttered softly, and then slipped back into a dreamless sleep.

Voices drew Risa's attention away from the boy on her lap. "Risa!" Riku was shouting happily, running toward her. Behind her, walking, were more people. She recognized them; Daisuke's mother, father, and grandfather, as well as his maid and his 'rabbit,' With. Daisuke's mother was looking over her son, checking for any injuries while they walked over to the group.

Riku stopped and stood by her sister as Daisuke and his family continued to make their way over. They halted a few steps away, but Kosuke came straight to Satoshi and Risa, and knelt down, taking in his condition. "He's far worse for wear than you are, Dai," Kosuke said quietly after a moment, "but he should be alright. Let's get him home."

This surprised both Emiko and Towa, not to mention Daisuke, but his grandfather stepped forward to help lift the sleeping boy gently onto Kosuke's back. "Up we go," said Kosuke as he stood up. "He's really light," he added as an afterthought.

The sound of distant sirens drifted over the rubble, and to their ears. "Come on," said Emiko, jumping back to action. "We don't want to be seen here." The group had no objections, and within a moment they had all set off toward the back roads. It would take them almost an hour to reach the Niwa home on foot from there.

For a moment, Daisuke and the two Harada sisters were caught up in a deep conversation, and Emiko took advantage of their distraction to move up to walk next to her father and husband. "Where exactly are you planning to put him? Not in our house?" she hissed quietly. "This is crazy!"

"Emiko," Daichi scolded softly. "The curse has ended. And besides… he's only a child, after all." Emiko looked to Kosuke, but he seemed distracted, deep in thought. She noticed for the first time how carefully her husband was walking, trying not to jar Satoshi too much. She looked at his broken body, his arms wrapped loosely around Kosuke's neck. Despite his injuries, his face was relaxed… peaceful. She sighed in defeat.

"I'll set up the bed in the spare room then," she said.

---

"Phew," said Daisuke as they climbed up what seemed to be a million steps to the tired boy. "How did you guys get there so fast, anyway?"

"That would be my doing, master Daisuke," chirped Towa happily.

Daisuke glanced at Risa and Riku, who were both looking at him curiously now. "Oh…" he replied.

The group walked in near-silence for a time, Kosuke and Daiki leading, followed by Towa and Emiko who were locked in an excited conversation about all that had happened. Risa paused for a moment, looking once more to Satoshi. She could see his back more clearly now – the two holes in his jacket were red with blood. "Hey," she said, running up to walk next to Kosuke. "Shouldn't we take Hiwatari-kun to a hospital?"

"Kosuke smiled faintly. "No… I think that it would be much better for him if we took him home. He'd probably prefer it that way, anyway," he replied.

"But what about his injuries?" Risa asked.

"Don't you worry yourself, young lady," said Daiki, speaking for the first time in a while. "We've dealt with this sort of thing many times throughout the Niwa family's generations. Besides," he added in a slightly lower tone. "How would you explain his injuries to the doctors?" He motioned to Satoshi's back, but Risa already knew what he meant.

"We can't cause him anymore trouble than he needs," Kosuke said, smiling sadly. "He's already got enough to worry about."

---

It didn't take as long as they had thought, and a little over half-an-hour later the seven of them were stepping up the walk. "I'll go make some tea!" Towa said, heading at once to the kitchen to prepare a drink for their guests.

"Dai, why don't you guys wait in the living room," said Emiko gently. Kosuke and Daiki were already headed toward the hall where the spare room was. "Wait!" cried Risa when she realized they were taking Satoshi. "Don't you need any help?"

Kosuke smiled. "We're just going to get him settled, tend to his injuries, and then you can come see him," he reassured. "Don't worry; we shouldn't take too long." He turned back down the hall and vanished around the corner.

"Hmm…" Risa pouted, but followed her sister over to the couch nonetheless. Daisuke just smiled in sympathy. He would much rather be in there too, making sure Satoshi was alright, but it was probably better this way. Emiko went upstairs to her bathroom to get the first-aid supplies and some cloths and warm water, and then went to the spare room as well.

Once she stepped inside, she closed the door behind herself and set down the supplied she had gotten. The two men had already laid Satoshi out on some towels on the bed and removed his shoes and Daisuke's coat. Kosuke took the water and cloths and began to carefully wash away the blood from Satoshi's chest and shoulders, while Emiko took out the bandage rolls. "At least the bleeding has stopped," Daiki said, watching them both work.

For the next ten minutes, they cleaned and bandaged his small cuts, and disinfected the many scratches. Despite Emiko's cold attitude toward him initially, it seemed that her feelings toward Satoshi had thawed somewhat. She worked with the gentle care of a mother as she tended his wounds. The worst injury was to his left arm, and they had to wrap the gauze around it once it was clean. Finally the only wounds left to treat were the cuts from his wings. "Lift him up," said Emiko, returning from changing the bloody water and towels.

Kosuke and Daiki held Satoshi up in a sitting position while Emiko sat behind the boy, inspecting his bloodied back. The only wounds were above his shoulders, but the blood from them had dripped down his entire back. With a sigh, she began to gently sponge away the blood, carefully avoiding the actual cuts.

"How is it," Daiki asked when she finally began to dab the warm water onto his shoulder blades. She narrowed her eyes as she cleared away the last of the blood, and was surprised by what she saw there.

"It's not as bad as it could be," she replied. "But it's still…"

Satoshi moaned softly, feeling the pain as pressure was applied to his sensitive back. "Hold him still," Emiko reminded them as she continued to work. She was quick but careful in cleaning the two wounds, and when she was finally finished she took out a jar of their special recipe ointment and gently rubbed some on the cuts. Satoshi cried out in his sleep, but no one could blame him, because although it usually healed quickly, they all knew how much that green ointment burned.

When she was finished rubbing it over his upper back, Emiko took up the gauze and wrapped Satoshi's upper torso. "We just have to keep them clean…" she muttered to herself, absorbed in her work.

Kosuke sighed and wiped a few drops of sweat from his forehead, before picking up Satoshi enough for Daiki to pull out the towels from beneath him. Then Kosuke laid him back into the bed and pulled up the blanket around him, resting his bandaged arm carefully on top of the blankets.

"I think we can call in our other guests now," he said with a small smile.

---

Although he had accomplished what he had to do, there was sadness in the Niwa house that hung thickly in the air. The loss of Dark was a heavy blow to all of them. But it was something that no one was ready to think about just yet, and so they pushed it to the back of their minds.

The rest of the day passed slowly, dragging on. It was Christmas Eve and so Daisuke and Riku kept their promise to spend it together. They went out for a while for a walk, but Risa stayed at the house. She sat alone in Satoshi's room with him, yet… accompanied only by Kosuke and Emiko when they occasionally dropped in.

How could it come to this anyway? How could no one have noticed how much he'd been suffering. Like a fragile soul, being ripped to pieces; Risa began to fit together the pieces, to create a full picture of what had really been happening.

Satoshi had saved her – or at least, he'd tried to – despite the pain it had caused him. He'd fought against the evil inside of him for so long… Risa felt tears come to her eyes, and she leaned forward to hide her face in the covers. Somehow… she had to make sure he was safe now…

---

"Come on Risa," Kosuke said softly. It was 8:00 at night, and she had been by Satoshi's side all day long. "There's nothing more you can do. He's comfortable at least, right?" She didn't reply. "You can come back and see him tomorrow. He'll be fine. I promise you I'll take care of him."

With a sigh, Risa nodded. She knew he was right; she had to go for now. Gently taking Satoshi's hand in hers, she looked at him once more. "Don't worry, Hiwatari-kun," she said with a smile. "You'll be just fine."

"Hi…Hikari…" Satoshi mumbled, his eyes fluttering open a bit.

"What?" asked Risa, leaning forward quickly to hear him better. Kosuke, too, looked at Satoshi.

"My name… is Hikari…" Satoshi repeated, before his eyes fell closed once more and he drifted back into sleep. Kosuke smiled.