The next morning, Haruko was nudged awake by a small, cold, slightly wet something prodding at her nose.
"Go away..." She grumbled sleepily as she pulled the covers over her face.
"Kyuu...?" chirped a high pitched voiced. Haruko merely grumbled and shifted a bit under her covers in response.
"Kyuu!" yelled the voice as it bit Haruko's ear.
"Ouch! What the he-" She sat bolt upright and saw an annoyed Wiz lying in her lap. On impulse she looked at the clock.
"Geh! I'm gonna be late!" She shouted, jumping out of bed and into her closet. A moment of scuffling later, she tumbled out, fully dressed in her school uniform. She grabbed Wiz and ran downstairs where she saw Daisuke eating breakfast while Daiki sat next to him, reading the paper.
"Some things never change, eh Haruko?" Daiki laughed. The girl glared at him.
"Whatever. Where's Emiko?" she asked noticing the woman's absence.
"She wasn't feeling well, so she's still asleep." Daisuke answered.
"Hm. I hope she's all right. Anyway, Daisuke, we gotta go." Haruko said, stealing Daisuke's last piece of toast and sticking it in her mouth.
"Hey!" He responded, looking at her, annoyed.
"Do you want to be late or not?" She asked, having already let go of Wiz and picking up her school bag.
"Wha? But... Ugh, fine." He sighed, defeated.
She's annoying isn't she? Dark said in a know-it-all tone. Daisuke ignored him; he didn't feel like putting up with Dark this early.
They walked halfway to school in silence until it started bugging Haruko.
"You know, it's weird." She spoke up. "It seems like I just saw you as infant, but now I'm walking with you to your school. And I'm going to have all the same classes with you. I'm going to be the classmate of a boy who I watched being born."
"You're crazy." Daisuke said, in an almost affectionate way. She just smiled and ruffled his hair.
"You have no right to talk. You should've seen yourself as a baby." And then she was off, telling him the stories of his childhood. He had been told these same stories before by his mom and grandpa, but he had never really paid that much attention. Now he was being told these stories by someone who seemed to be his own age, and he was paying full attention. He didn't know why he suddenly actually cared, but he did.
When they finally got to school, Haruko smiled.
"It's good to be back." She said. And with that, she and Daisuke walked to their first period class.
Inside, Takeshi Saehara was making a big deal about some pictures of Dark he had taken the night before and was surrounded by a crowd of girls. When Daisuke and Haruko walked in, the girl noticed the crowd and pushed her way through to the boy.
"What's this about Dark pictures?" She asked Takeshi. He looked at her.
"Would you like some?" He asked, holding one in front of her face. She grabbed it and examined it. "Really high quality," he bragged, "Probably some of the best I've taken yet."
"Some of the best computer imaging I've seen in awhile." Haruko admitted. Takeshi snatched back the photo from her hand.
"What do you mean 'computer imaging'?" he asked suspiciously.
"They're not real." Haruko pointed out. She grabbed her picture again and pointed at different spots. "Well first off, you made the hair blue. If anything, it's more purple. Also the shadows on his face don't match the direction of the ones on his clothes. And the wings have no shadowing at all."
The girls holding pictures already looked at theirs and either nodded or mumbled in agreement. Takeshi looked slightly scared at being found out.
"W-what are you talking about? Th-these are so real! I was there last night!" He defended.
"Yeah, I know you were. I was there, remember? I ran into you." Haruko said, not looking up from the picture.
"Wait, that was you!" Takeshi asked, startled.
"Yeah, who did you think it was?" she responded, still not looking up. By now, the girls had started leaving to converse with their friends, taking their pictures with them.
"But you... You ki-" before he could finish, the bell rang and the teacher came in.
"Sit down, sit down." The teacher said. The students obeyed. "Now, as you can all see, we have a new student. Asakura Haruko." Haruko stood in front of the class, inwardly giggling at the false surname she had given the school.
"Now Asakura-san, would you please introduce yourself?" The teacher requested. Haruko let out a small sigh and mechanically gave the short introduction speech that she had used over the years when she began attending the schools of the Niwas.
"Hi. Obviously, my name's Haruko and I don't like talking in front of large groups." She said simply. The teacher looked at her.
"That's all?" She asked.
"Yup." Haruko answered.
"All right then. You'll sit next to Harada-san. I mean Risa. Risa-san, please raise your hand." The teacher said. The younger Harada raised her hand. Haruko nodded and took the empty seat next to the girl.
"Hi." Said the Harada. Haruko smiled and responded with a "hi".
So this is the girl Daisuke likes, hm? Haruko thought with a smirk. She turned her attention back to the teacher.
About half way into the period, Haruko noticed a note on her desk. She looked at the Harada who smiled. Haruko cocked a brow and read the note.
"Hi there Haruko! What's up? Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. Hey, where are you from, if you don't mind my asking?" it said. Haruko smiled and replied, telling her that she was from America. A few minutes later, the note had reappeared on her desk.
"America? Wow, too cool! I've always wanted to go there. But anyway, if you don't mind me asking (again), what's your relation to Daisuke? Are you doing a foreign exchange thing at his house or something? Because I noticed that you two came to school together." she wrote. Haruko lied and said that they were cousins. When the note came back to her, it had a long babble about Dark Mousy. Haruko nearly laughed out loud and wrote back that he wasn't as great as she seemed to think. She didn't get the note back after that.
Eventually, it came time for lunch. Haruko seeked out Daisuke and grabbed his arm when she saw him. Or, at least, when she thought she saw him.
"Yo, Daisuke. Come on, let's eat." She said to the boy.
"Hey, I'm not Daisuke." said boy replied. He turned out to be Takeshi.
"Whoops. My bad. Can you tell me where I can find him?" She asked. He shrugged.
"He's probably in the art room. He likes painting for some reason. He's really good at it though-"
"That's nice. Do you think you could take me to him?" She asked. Takeshi shook his head.
"Nah, just leave him. He'll come out sooner or later. He almost always does before lunch is over anyway. Besides, I'd like to talk to you." He finished the last sentence looking her directly in the eye with a stern expression, but a slight blush to his cheeks.
"Sure, whatever." Haruko replied with a smirk before walking off with him. When they got outside, they sat on a bench and looked at each other.
"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Haruko asked.
"Well, first I want to start off by saying that I think we got off on the wrong foot. Like last night, for instance. You ran into me... literally... and I got mad. And then you got mad. And then... well..." His voice suddenly trailed off as his face grew red.
"And then, well, what?" Haruko asked, wanting to hear the rest.
"Well, you kinda... k-kissed me." He finished, suddenly unable to look at her.
"But it made your forehead feel better, right?" She said, completely unruffled. The casual tone of her voice made Takeshi look up at her. He examined her face. Her expression hadn't changed in the least and there wasn't any additional color to her cheeks. So either she was really good at hiding her feelings or the incident hadn't bothered her at all, like it was the kind of thing she did a lot.
"Yeah, I guess, but-" Takeshi continued.
"Well then what's the problem?" Haruko interrupted, an innocent expression decorating her face. This only served to make Takeshi even more nervous. She was acting like it was nothing. He decided to change the subject.
"Well, anyway, why were you there last night? Are you into Dark or something? I mean, you critiqued my pictures so harshly..." He said, able to look into her eyes once more. She smirked at his question.
"I guess you could say I'm Dark's biggest fan." She answered. He felt his heart drop for some reason unbeknownst to him. "I know everything about him and I'm there every time he has something to steal. Do an internet search for Dark Mousy and I can guarantee you that most of the legit stuff you find can be rooted to information I leaked out."
Takeshi sat there, stunned by her rant. It took him a moment to regain his senses.
"So I guess you're pretty obsessed with the guy." He said. Just like all the other girls at school...
"Oh, I don't think obsessed even begins to cover it." She laughed. "I mean, if you want to look at it that way. But it's not like the other girls at this school. They love him. I know better than that. He's actually quite an ass."
"You talk like you know him." Takeshi pointed out, wondering how she knew what he had just been thinking.
"Oh, I've met him once or twice..." She said in a mischievous tone, trying to sound like she was hiding something.
And so for the rest of the lunch period, Takeshi and Haruko were engaged in conversation about everything from Dark Mousy to Haruko's time in America to Takeshi's obsession with journalism. At one point, Daisuke came out of the art room to eat with his friends, but when he saw them talking with each other, he decided to leave them alone and go spend the rest of lunch with Masahiro.
LATER!
After school, Daisuke had been held up by one of his teachers and had told Haruko to start heading home by herself. She did as she was told and started to leave. She was almost off of the campus when she heard a voice behind her.
"Haruko-san of twelve stars." it said. She stopped, but didn't turn.
"I see you know my nickname." She said, slowly turning around. There stood Hiwatari Satoshi. "Tell me, how's Krad been these days?"
How does she...? He thought but ignored it.
"It's about time you showed yourself. I kind of missed Krad last generation. And I'm just itching for a rematch." Haruko told the boy in a menacing tone.
"I'm not here to pick a fight with you, Haruko." Satoshi told her. She raised an eyebrow. "I just want to talk to you. About Krad."
"Okay." Haruko said, suspicious. She and Satoshi left together.
"You see, Krad is more dangerous than ever now. He's told me about you-" Satoshi started.
"As he should have. I was very disappointed when I found out that Dark didn't tell Daisuke a thing about me until I got here-" Haruko interrupted.
"I'm being serious here!" Satoshi cut her off. She was silenced immediately. "Look, Krad told me about your battle with each other last time you two met, and how you lost, miserably. Even for someone immortal, he said it took a toll on you. And he says he knows what to expect from you this time, he says he's ready to finish you off, once and for all."
"And why would you care?" She asked, her voice sounding sad and serious. "You don't even know me. I can see you caring for Daisuke, you two were probably together longer." Her frown had turned to a sad smile. "But I just showed up in your life today. And as nothing more than the girl you saw in class who you just happen to know is Dark's partner. This is the first time we've even spoken." There was a momentary silence.
"I just don't want to hurt anyone." Satoshi said quietly. Haruko cast a glance at him. "I have to go now." And with that he turned down a street and was gone.
What a strange boy. She thought as she continued on her way. She had only gotten a few steps farther, however, when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She whipped around, ready to attack whoever it was, but saw that it was a panting Daisuke, holding himself up by her shoulder.
"Did you run this whole way?" She asked, her voice having a tone of "you poor, pathetic loser" in it. He nodded meekly and she laughed. "Come on." She said, putting his arm around her shoulders so she could help him walk. After a few blocks, Daisuke was feeling better and started walking on his own. It took him another minute to fully catch his breath so he could ask her:
"What were you talking to Satoshi about?" She looked at him and frowned for a fraction of a second before smiling.
"Oh, just this and that." She waved off, not wanting to worry Daisuke. He believed her and shrugged as they walked to his house.
But it wasn't just Daisuke she was trying not to worry, it was Satoshi too. She knew that Krad was more dangerous than ever and she knew that he wanted to fight her again. She had tried not to sound worried, but the fact was that she was scared. Very scared. She knew something was going to happen soon that could very well be the end of her. Krad had nearly found out how to kill her last time they fought and this time... Well, she knew he had had enough time to figure it out. And now that he knew, he wouldn't hesitate to end her life if given the chance.
Yeah, I know it took me while, I apologize. Stuff going on. But now school's over so I will get more of a chance to write! Thanks for stickin' with me because I know it sucks, and I know I'm lazy and I may change that idiotic nickname for Haruko. But thank you for reading! Every review that's not a flame warms me up a bit inside and inspires me to write faster. Thanks!