Disclaimer: I OWN YOUR PANTS! …But not D.N.Angel. Only Demi and Rayen and stuffers.
Author's Note: Good God.
Dark: What?
Hotaru: Some people are just… bleh.
Daisuke: Where?
Hotaru: Here. Read this.
All: -reads and cracks up laughing-
Demi: Goodness!
Hotaru: I seem to attract idiots…
Rayen: Maybe it's 'cause you're one, too?
Hotaru: Yeah, but in the good way. Not in the "Here! Let me be an annoyance because I can! Hee hee HEE!" way. –cough- Anyway, I could reply to all that, and I probably will, but later. I'm too lazy as of now, so that girl can kiss my a-
Krad: AS HOTARU WAS GOING TO SAY… here's chapter five.
Dark: "Dainty Firefly's Scepter".
CHAPTER FIVE START
On the way to school the next morning, Demi touched her nose again and groaned. "They're not going awaaaay…" she whined, sighing moodily.
:What isn't going away: Came the much more mature voice of Rayen.
"These bumps on my nose. I have no idea if they're acne or what… I can't see them or anything." Demi thought back. She could hear Rayen 'hmm' thoughtfully in her mind.
:Well, you wash your face, don't you: Demi nodded. :You exfoliate: Demi raised her eyebrows.
"Uh… I don't make it a habit of going to the beach and rubbing sand in my face," she replied allowed, sounding if Rayen's question were the stupidest question in the history of forever.
:…Idiot.: Rayen said flatly, her face settling into a slightly annoyed look at Demi's ignorance. :You do know that you have to exfoliate your skin before you wash it, don't you? And there are LOTION-type things that you use, not stinkin' beach sand.:
Demi blinked. "Really?" she asked. She bit her lip and blushed sheepishly. "I… I never knew that…" she murmured.
:Well, that's obvious.: Rayen responded, crossing her arms in Demi's mind.
An indignant expression came onto Demi's face. "And just what does that mean?" she asked, offended.
:Look at you: Rayne exclaimed, throwing her arms up in slight frustration. :You don't know anything about maintaining your appearance, do you? It makes my skin crawl to know I work so hard to look they way I do and then I'm stuck in the body of a girl who doesn't care.:
Demi looked down at the ground, her eyebrows furrowing and her eyes tearing up in anger. "I've been called plain by my peers, by Dark, and now by you, Rayen?"
Rayen groaned and said, :No! I'm just saying… uhg. Look, I'll teach you a thing or two about maximizing your assets, alright?"
Demi was still miffed that Rayen hadn't apologized or anything, but she smiled a little at the thought of learning something about being prettier. "Well… alright…" she answered, wiping the tears from her eyes as she walked into school. For once, she was actually on time.
As she passed the attendance office window, she heard a "Yoo-hoo! Demi-chan!" She stopped and cringed. Nakashima-san. Demi had to admit she was a nice lady and she could provide some good information on what Dark was stealing, but the woman was a bit clingy.
Demi, unable to be mean and just brush her off, turned and smiled politely as she walked over to the window. "Good morning, Nakashima-san!" She glanced over at the older woman's computer and couldn't help but grin in amusement to see she was- once again- on the Dark website. "You sure do visit that site a lot, don't you?"
Cho laughed and answered, "Well, I am the webmisstress, after all!" Demi blinked and looked at the website. It had a wonderful layout, very complicated HTML, CSS, and JavaScript on it, she could tell. Plus there was a lot of information, rumors, history, pictures, video files, sound files… there was everything. Demi had tried her hand at making websites before, and she had barely been able to make a decent fanfiction page on a free website host. She was truly impressed.
"Wow, it looks great!" she chirped, taking a little more interest in her older acquaintance. "Hey, found any leads on Dark?"
Cho chuckled merrily. "My! Someone's quite interested!" Cho winked at her as she teased, "Hoping to catch his attention, huh?" Demi blushed as Nakashima-san continued to tease her.
"Can you just… drop the teasing, already?" Demi muttered quietly.
Nakashima-san shrugged, "Whatever you say, Ms. Mousy!" Demi twitched at the name. She couldn't imagine being married to Dark. It was just… weird. "Anyway, he's going after the Dainty Firefly's Scepter tonight." She clicked the correct link and the picture loaded. A silver rod about as tall as Demi was shown. Purple gems engraved in patterns that looked strangely like an ancient language spiraled up the rod until they reached the top. There a large black stone sat. Sturdy yet thin silver wires criss-crossed and entangled themselves in one another about an inch away from the stone, wrapping around little purple gems in randomized places to hold them in place in the air.
"It's said that this scepter belonged to a Firefly Fae, more specifically, the Princess of the Firefly Fae. The myth goes that the Princess fell in love with a human, and she promised to find a way to become human or turn him into a Fae. But he grew impatient and fell in love with a human woman, so the Princess used her magic to kill the two out of her own jealousy." Demi rolled her eyes. She could do without the legends. All she needed was the information.
"So, where is this Princess's scepter being held, and when is Dark going to take it?" Demi asked, tilting her head slightly at the picture. Cho clicked the back button, and Demi read aloud, "'On display at the House of Artistic Culture, said to be stolen at 7:30 tonight.'" Demi nodded to Cho and smiled. "Thank you, have a nice day!"
With that, Demi walked off to her first class. It wasn't long before she found the sliding door in front of her, and when she pushed it to the side, she stepped forward to find the blue-haired boy standing there. Now what was his name again? "Ohmygod! Her boobs are like, totally on Satoshi's chest!" whispered one of the girls in their class.
Satoshi raised an eyebrow at her, even after she'd taken a step back and apologized. He stared at Demi, and, though she kept a straight face, wished he wouldn't. His ice blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly and Demi fought the urge to gulp. Did he recognize her bust from the night before?
"You should pay more attention," he said. His tone was not menacing; he wasn't antagonizing her. Satoshi was merely stating a fact, and Demi luckily took it that way. She gave him a curt, stiff nod, and he walked out. She watched him walk down the hall until he turned into the boys' bathroom, and a light blush settled on her cheeks.
The rest of her Geometry class was spent cursing herself for being so idiotic in the presence of such a good-looking guy. She hadn't noticed the night before, probably because it had been dark and she had to concentrate on other things. Demi snuck glances at the back of his head, three rows up and one to the side.
Demi was surprised to find that he was also in her Biology class. To Demi's fortune and misfortune, Satoshi, who had been absent the day before, was invited to work with she and Daisuke. Towards the end of the period, however, she noticed he wasn't as distant or cold as she thought he was. He and Daisuke seemed to be friends, since Satoshi was comfortable talking, joking, and even chuckling a bit with the redhead. Demi made sure to stay out of it, unsure of what to say. A pinkish blush rose into her cheeks again as she began the t-test for their project.
Daisuke's laughter died down after a moment and he looked to Demi, wondering why his newest friend was so quiet. "Demi, you know Satoshi, don't you?" he asked with a blink. Demi gave a slight nod, not looking up. Satoshi looked over, his eyes surveying her before moving down to her paper. Her eyebrows furrowed and she bit her lip, tapping her pencil quietly in an "I know I can do this" manner.
"What seems to be the problem, Demi?" he asked, leaning over a little in his chair to peer at her paper.
Demi's gaze snapped up to meet his, and just as quickly she looked back to her notes. "I must have missed something…" she mumbled. Satoshi heard and, as she was flipping through her notes, pointed to her equation.
"Amanogawa-sensei said to switch the variables if their difference would come out to be a negative number," he stated. He watched as she blinked and looked back to the paper, then flipped through her notes. Her already pink cheeks became a more prominent shade of red and he glanced over, finding that she had the notes about it, but had merely missed them. Satoshi smirked at her funny behavior while she erased her entire equation, pulled her calculator closer, and started over.
"Something wrong, Demi?" Daisuke asked, resting his chin in his hand as he watched her.
Demi looked up at him and blinked for a moment, as if trying to think of what to say. "Oh, no!" she finally said, shaking her head. "No, no, no. Biology's becoming my worst subject, is all," Demi explained, then immediately went back to her equation.
Daisuke frowned slightly, wondering what was going on. She hadn't come across to him as the flustered type, especially not after her first day. He blushed a little when he remembered. No, Demi was bold and unafraid to speak her mind. So what was getting her all worked up?
:…Hiwatari…: Dark growled in Daisuke's head. As Satoshi and Demi began to chat about something, Daisuke zoned out to talk to his alter ego.
"What about him?" Daisuke questioned, glancing at Satoshi. He didn't seem to be doing anything. He was just talking to Demi. Daisuke blinked as something clicked. "Wait… you're not…"
:Not what: Dark asked, sounding a bit miffed.
"…Jealous, ar-"
:Shut. Up.: Dark interrupted. In Daisuke's mind, if he thought about seeing Dark's face, he could see the redness in his cheeks. Daisuke's red eyes went wide.
"You are, aren't you!"
Dark looked away and ran a hand through his hair. :I can't help it. She doesn't like me, but she likes him? She doesn't even know him.:
"…Well… she doesn't know you, either." Daisuke fought to keep from laughing at Dark's facial expression that followed. Then he heard Dark mumbling things to himself and Dark cut off their link.
"Ooh, so Riku and Risa came to your rescue?" Demi asked, smiling warmly at Satoshi.
"Well, actually, some officials came to get us. But yes, they did inform them," Satoshi explained. Daisuke blinked, lost, and looked to Demi. She really did look like she was enjoying talking to Satoshi. Her whole face was lighted up, like she felt special because he was conversing with her.
…Riku had never looked like that.
…After school that day…
Demi was walking home with Daisuke again, at a faster pace than usual. She planned on really getting ready for stealing tonight. She needed to gather a few things and get some of her homework done. "You know, I need to come over to your house and get my backpack sometime. You took off with it that one day…" she mused aloud, grinning at the memory. It had been on the night of her first theft. When she heard no reply, she looked to Daisuke to find him staring into space. "…Daisuke?" she called.
He blinked and looked to her, just watching her for a minute. Demi couldn't figure it out, but he seemed different. "Do you like Satoshi?"
Demi gasped quietly, not expecting such a question. She quickly composed herself, shrugging nonchalantly. "Yeah, he's a nice guy. I think we could all be great friends. You, me, Satoshi, and Rik-" She was cut off as Daisuke swiftly stepped in front of her and she knocked into him. He grabbed her elbows to keep her from falling, but when she moved to keep walking, he didn't let her budge. "Wha-"
"No, Demi. Do you like him?" Daisuke questioned, his voice urgent. His expression softened and he moved his right hand away from her elbow to brush his fingertips on her forehead gently. "Really like him…?" he asked, sounding rather defeated.
For a moment, Demi couldn't think. She could just stand there, eyes as wide as saucers, and blush. No one had ever been so gentle with her before. Other than family, of course. No one had ever cared so much if she liked someone else, that was for sure. But then she snapped out of it. Daisuke didn't act like this. Something must have happened to him to make him behave funny. Maybe he had a fight with Riku. The point was, she knew he wasn't being this way just because he cared about her.
She gave him a sheepish smile and jumped back. Daisuke, not ready for such a quick movement, lost his grip on her. Demi put a hand on his shoulder and said, "It's alright, Daisuke. Go home, do your homework, and get some rest, okay?" With that, she took off at a run to her home.
Daisuke turned and watched her leave until she was gone. Then a spark of light appeared in his eyes and he blinked. His eyebrows furrowed and he glared up towards his forehead. "DARK!" he shouted in his head. "What have I told you about taking over without warning me! And to do that, of all things… sheesh!" Daisuke blushed and stomped off towards home, grumbling things under his breath at Dark as he did.
Riku blinked where she stood, walking to Daisuke's house from school. She had planned to meet him on the way and took a shortcut to witness the scene that had unfolded. Her chest tightened and her limbs began to hurt at the thought of the caress Daisuke had given Demi. She shook her head and turned around. It must have been some misunderstanding. She'd better just go home and do her homework, to get it out of her head.
…Later that night…
Demi stepped up towards the House of Artistic Culture, once again arriving without her mask on. She looked into her messenger bag at her new supplies. There wasn't much else than what she had last time- just a bit of rope, a flashlight, printed information on every museum in Azumano, a bag of marbles, a bag of hard candy, a bag of beads, and ten packets of sticky notes that read in loopy cursive, "Hope you don't mind if I 'borrow' something! Love, Rayen."
"Still don't see why we're gonna tell people about us…" Demi thought, but received nothing but a chuckle from Rayen. Demi rolled her eyes and walked forward towards the crowd, weaving her way to the front. She watched as the guards that were going to hold back the crowd made their way over. Like last time, she put up her hair and put the mask on. The people in the crowd were too excited to take real notice of her.
Demi surveyed the area, a plan already formulating in her mind. The museum's front was pretty barren- just grass, really, except for a fountain in the middle. The fountain spouted water up into the air around the circumference of the fountain, and Demi could barely make out the statue of an angel with folded wings behind the curtain of water. "Perfect." She thought. The fountain, however, was about ten to thirteen yards away.
There was one police car parked about three yards away with its door open, and yet another parked right next to the fountain. From where she stood, the decorative clumps of trees and bushes around the museum's land were within throwing distance of the fountain. It would be a very difficult throw, yes- most likely one that would injure her shoulder from jerking it. It was a disadvantage she'd just have to live with, she decided. After the police car near the fountain, the museum was only seven feet away.
:Break a leg but don't break a leg- you know what I mean: Rayen thought to her, a confident smile in her tone. Demi nodded and took out a handful of marbles.
The police that had been approaching were about five feet away, and she discreetly scattered the marbles onto the ground in front of the crowd. One by one, the unsuspecting policemen stepped on some marbles and slipped, flailed, then began to tumble towards the crowd. Demi watched carefully, then ducked out of the way of a policeman and darted for the nearest police car. She dove inside and curled up in the foot space of the passenger's seat, her heart pounding as she heard the commotion.
"What has been going on lately! Damn!" grumbled a police officer as he leaned in through the passenger's seat window. Demi held her breath, and luckily she went completely unnoticed as he slipped out after grabbing his walkie-talkie, which was blasting orders for officers to settle things down over at the gate.
Demi peeked out, watching as officers left their posts to help the tripped-up officers. Still, though, there were plenty of police scattered about. They were all, however, peering over at the ruckus she had caused. She looked to the fountain and carefully crawled out of the car, sliding onto the ground.
She began to half-crawl half-slither over to the fountain. It was dark enough by now so that her black clothes blended in well enough with the grass. And, since she was crouched so low to the ground, she was just barely out of the numerous officers' fields of view. When she reached the fountain, she tentatively but quickly jumped through the small space between the pillars of water.
Demi climbed onto the angel statue. As she sat on the angel's shoulders, she looked out. The angel's folded wings hid her from view of others, and the water shot up to her nose's height, also hiding her from view. It was the perfect place to hide, for now.
"There! It's Dark!" Demi gasped quietly, but didn't bother to waste time looking at him. She had to hurry if she wanted to beat him to the Dainty Firefly's Scepter. Demi took out handfuls of hard candy, beads, and marbles. She threw some as hard as she could into the trees and bushes. Though she was too far to hear it, she could see the rustling leaves and branches, and the officers near the area heard, too. They began to investigate the trees and bushes. As for the rest, Demi threw marbles, hard candy, and beads at the other police cars in the area, hitting the one by the fountain last. All the alarms began going off, causing the remaining officers to gather around the cars, scrambling around to find the keys to turn the alarm off.
Demi climbed down quickly, dropping one of her prettiest marbles into the fountain. "I wish for luck," she whispered, taking a deep breath. She eyed the officers around the car near the fountain and, when they were all preoccupied with the car, she hopped out of the fountain behind them, making a break for the museum.
Demi smiled as she neared the doors, but gasped when Satoshi began running in front of her for the doors. She almost stopped, but noticed he was running into the museum as well, and hadn't seen her in his haste. She ducked behind the door was he swung it open, then hurried herself inside before the door closed.
As Satoshi ran to the back of the museum, she ran, too, trying her hardest to stay in step with him. It was a good thing she had taken one year of band and knew how to count out a rhythm, because it really helped. Still, she slipped her hand into her bag and pulled out some more hard candy, just in case.
It was a smart thing to do, too, seeing as doing so had caused her to lose track of her count, and Satoshi whirled around to face her. Demi, who had been rather close behind, squeaked and dodged to the side. As she heard him begin to pursue her, she threw the candy behind her and kept running. A fraction of a second later, she heard the thump of his body hitting the ground, as well as clatter of glasses.
Demi's heart thumped in her chest and she clasped her hand over it, afraid it would burst out of her chest if she didn't. She kept running. She didn't know why police officers stationed around didn't come after her at the sound of her fast-paced footsteps. Maybe they thought assumed they were the steps of a fellow officer? It didn't matter. What did matter was the exhibit in front of her. She skidded to a stop and pressed herself against the wall, peeking into the room.
The police officers stood around the Dainty Firefly's Scepter, which was rested on a plush velvet cushion. She bit her lip, trying to think of a way to get past them, when a blue aura surrounded each of them. Demi's eyes widened as she watched them fall to the ground. She stepped out of her hiding place and into the room, gawking, when she heard a familiar voice say, "Too easy."
Demi gasped, and almost called out his name in her normal voice. She managed to keep herself from doing so by turning the words into coughs, and then squeaked out in that horridly high-pitched voice, "Dark!" All the while, she hurried over to the Dainty Firefly's Scepter.
Dark dropped down in front of her, causing her to knock into him. He snaked his arms around her waist and watched her struggle, chuckling lightly. "We've gotta stop meeting like this," he murmured into her ear. Demi pushed on his chest, managing to get six inches between them before he tightened his grip on her. Her elbows gave way and she ended up pressed firmly against him.
Dark hadn't been expecting the sudden slip, either, and their lips met. At that moment, a thousand curses ran through Demi's head, berating herself for thinking it would be a good idea to cut a mouth hole. Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought her first kiss was ruined, and she moved to jerk away.
Dark, however, had other plans, thus he moved one hand behind her head to keep her there. First off, a kiss was the perfect way to daze her and run off with the Dainty Firefly's Scepter. That is, if he himself didn't get dazed. The Phantom Thief couldn't place it, but kissing this girl gave him a vast amount of satisfaction, like he'd finally triumphed over someone.
Really, he kind of enjoyed the kiss. She didn't move her lips at all, which was a bit ego deflating, seeing as it basically told him she didn't want to kiss him. Nonetheless, her lips were soft. She didn't wear any lip-gloss, but it was a good thing. Sticky lip-gloss over his lips wasn't exactly Dark's favorite thing.
His hold on her softened, and Demi took this opportunity to give one hard shove. He lost his hold, and, once again, was reminded of Demi. This time he remembered earlier that afternoon, when he had taken over Daisuke's body. He narrowed his eyes at her, scrutinizing her as ran over and grabbed the Dainty Firefly's Scepter, then ran out of the museum.
"Dark! What are you doing? Are you just going to let her get away like that? And what have I told you about kissing girls like it's a sport!" Dark rolled his eyes at Daisuke's scolding and spread his wings, exiting the museum through a window at the top of the wall.
:There are too many similarities.: he answered, flying out of sight of the officers. He scanned the ground below for Stripper Girl, but couldn't find her.
"What are you talking about?" Daisuke asked. Dark shook his head, beginning to fly towards Daisuke's house.
:Demi certainly knows how to hide, doesn't she: He asked Daisuke, who gasped in return.
"Dark, that couldn't be Demi. …Well, I know, it could… but Demi's… Demi's…" Daisuke hesitated.
:Smart. Smart enough to think up clever little tricks that could be used for getting into a museum nearly undetected.: Dark finished once he reached Daisuke's house. He flew high into the sky, searching for Demi's house in the vicinity. If he remembered correctly, Daisuke and Demi had once talked about how Demi lived close by Daisuke. Dark knew he'd recognize the house from the first night he'd met her.
Daisuke, who could read the inner workings of Dark's thoughts, said, "Dark, you sure remember a lot of what Demi and I talk about. And you've obviously been listening in and watching her while I'm at school if you know she's smart." A pink tint rose into Dark's cheeks, and he felt his heart rate speed up. He faltered in the sky, beginning to hover back down to Daisuke's house. "…You like Demi, don't you?"
"I-" He was interrupted as he bent forward, clutching his stomach as the usual uncomfortable warmth became fiery hot. The wave of hot spread through his whole being, and Daisuke dropped down the last three feet to the ground.
As the last of Dark's hold on Daisuke's body slipped away, he managed to whisper in his own voice through Daisuke's lips, "I… love her."
CHAPTER FIVE END
Hotaru: Please take note I'm using that word- "love"- in the same general sense that Yukiru Sugisaki does. I mean, Daisuke never really seemed to know Risa all that well, yet he still said, "I love Risa." You have to understand that in mangas like D.N.Angel, "love" is a term used very generally.
Demi: Still, I don't see why Dark couldn't love me in four days, because it happens waaay too often in manga that everyone loves.
Dark: Meaning, you should all be used to it by now.
Daisuke: Anyway, Hotaru's too lazy to think of a clever way for us to leave.
Krad: So yeah. We're leaving now.
All: See you next time! –leaves-