School was over; in fact it had ended almost an hour earlier. The only reason Kari was still there was because Daisuke had an art club meeting. She sat out in the courtyard below the window of the art room (which was on the third floor) so that she was still within 100 yards of Daisuke and her heart. Bored out of her mind, she smacked her head against the wall of the building. "How long can a stupid meeting take?"
"You shouldn't do that," a voice said from behind her.
A shiver ran down her spine as she turned to see who had snuck up on her.
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Daisuke looked down at a sketch he had drawn; it was of Kari sitting on the beach, staring up at the sky, and smiling happily. A pair of angel wings spread out from her back: one black and one white. "I wonder what made me draw this…?" he thought to himself.
He glanced out the window and saw Kari standing in the courtyard where she promised to meet him. There was just one problem: she was with a familiar figure that Daisuke recognized right away.
"Damnit!"
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"Oh, hello, Hiwatari-kun," said Kari, pushing off the wall.
The bluenette smiled down at her, he must have been at least a head taller than she was and his blue eyes matched hers perfectly. "What are you still doing here?"
"Oh, I'm just waiting for Daisuke," Kari explained, "He has an Art Club meeting."
"How impolite of him to keep you waiting."
Kari laughed, "No, it's alright, I guess. I'm sure it will be over soon, don't you?"
Her smile was so sweet, so genuine; Satoshi couldn't help but let down his guard for just a moment. Pain shook his body and Krad yelled in his head, "She's mine!"
Satoshi grasped his chest; Krad was attacking him from the inside: trying to get out to Kari. The blue-eyed boy fought back with all of his might. He kneeled on the ground, gasping for breath.
"Hiwatari-kun!" screamed Kari. "Are you alright?" she touched his arm and jerked back in horror when she felt the magic emanating from his body. "I see…they're not all gone…" she whispered.
"KARI!"
She turned to see Daisuke running toward her and Satoshi.
"Kari, I want you to get out of here now."
Daisuke looked so serious; she had never seen him like that before. All Kari could do was nod, stumble to her feet, and run as the redhead turned to the now recovered Satoshi.
"Stay away from her."
"Heh," muttered Satoshi, as he pulled himself up, "It seems like someone's falling for their cousin."
"We both know that she's not my cousin," hissed Daisuke. He was a little surprised by the way he was acting; he had never gotten so upset over a girl before. Perhaps it was because Dark was inside of him; he was created to protect Kari at all costs; it might have rubbed off on Daisuke as well.
"I guess that we're rivals now, huh?"
Daisuke just narrowed his eyes and frowned, "I won't say it again, stay away from her." With that, he turned and headed to where Kari stood, almost one hundred yards away.
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"Daisuke, why didn't you…?" Kari's question was cut off by the redhead.
"I think you should avoid Hiwatari, he's bad news."
His eyes were like stone as he grabbed her hand and began leading her towards the house. Kari pulled away and looked at him, "Why?"
Daisuke stopped; he hadn't even considered the possibility of Kari questioning him. Having no idea what to say, he just stood there.
"Is it because he's really a Hikari?" she asked quietly.
"Yes!" He answered, intently, "He's related to the people who raped you, and he has Krad inside him! Isn't that reason enough to stay away from him, to hate him!"
"You have Dark inside of you," whispered Kari, "Does that mean I should hate you, too?"
"What?"
"Dark was supposed to protect me…" her blue eyes were wild with fury, "Where was he all those years? I guess I should hate you because he wasn't there!"
"N-no…that's not what I…"
"Why didn't you tell me that there were Hikaris left? I can break the curse now!" she turned and ran back to where they had left Satoshi.
For some unknown reason, the bluenette was still there; leaning against the wall of the school. Kari stepped in front of him and began unbuttoning the blazer of her uniform.
"This is what I have to do to break it? Right?" she asked, fumbling with her clothes while tears streamed down her face.
She finally managed to undo the final button and reach her shirt when Satoshi grabbed her wrists, "No…please stop…" sweat dripped down his face and Kari could see how hard he was fighting against Krad. "This…this isn't what I want."
Shock: that is the only word to describe how Kari felt at that moment. "'This isn't what I want.' He doesn't want to hurt me? I don't understand…"
Another hand reached out and took her arm, it was Daisuke. "Kari, we have to go."
She nodded weakly and allowed her so-called cousin to pull her away from the boy who had just saved her from making a huge mistake.
Satoshi collapsed the moment they were out of sight; his energy drained from his battle with his inner self.
Walking down the sidewalk, Kari and Daisuke were silent. Kari was still in shock from what happened; she didn't understand what was going on. Daisuke didn't want to set her off again; so he remained quiet, hoping that she could control herself until they got home.
"Daisuke-kun!" a yell reached their ears from a ways down the sidewalk, penetrating the stillness.
The pair turned to see Riku running to catch up with them.
By the time she reached them she was out of breath and panting, "Hello…" she took a deep breath, "Daisuke-kun, Kari-san. It's nice to see you."
Kari suddenly snapped out of her trance and quickly put on a huge smile, "Riku-san, how are you?"
"I'm doing well, but I'm glad I caught you guys," she had finally regained her breath and turned to Daisuke, "I, um, got these tickets to the fair tomorrow…would you like to go with me?" she asked, a light blush spreading across her face.
"Ah, um…that is…" Daisuke fumbled with the words on his tongue.
"Of course he would!" squealed Kari, the fake smile still planted firmly on her face. "All Daisuke ever talks about is 'Riku-san this, Riku-san that," I just know he would love to go to the fair with you!"
"Uh…" Riku's blush grew even deeper, "Is that true, Daisuke-kun?"
He just stood there for a moment until he felt Kari elbow him in the ribs, "Y-yes, I'd love to go with you tomorrow."
Riku smiled and clapped her hands together, "Great! We can meet at the clock tower around noon, okay?"
"Alright," he said, smiling at her.
Riku quickly excused herself and rush in the opposite direction, she had run out of lacrosse practice to talk to Daisuke when she saw him on the way home. The rest of the walk to the Niwa home was quiet; neither of the two said a word to each other.
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The minute they stepped through the door, Kari walked straight over to the phone and picked up the school phonebook that sat next to it. After flipping through the pages she finally found the number of the person she wanted to call and she dialed it quickly before Daisuke could say anything.
"This is Satoshi Hiwatari."
"I don't understand what you told me before; no one has ever said something like that to me before…" Kari trailed off.
"Who is this?" the boy paused, "Kari!"
"I think I'd like to get to know you better…" she whispered, "Can you meet me tomorrow at the fair?"
"S-sure, okay."
"How does noon sound? At that café near the clock tower, we can get some lunch and walk around…"
"That sounds good…" replied Satoshi, "I'm sorry, but I really have to go. I have some work I need to do."
"Okay, bye," she hung up without listening for him to say anything back because Daisuke was standing next to her with an unreadable expression on his face.
"You just called Hiwatari, didn't you?"
She nodded.
"And you just asked him on a date?"
She nodded once more.
"Are you insane! You can't go out with him!" Daisuke screamed at her.
"Why the hell not!" she retaliated, "He's not like the other Hikaris, I can tell! Didn't you see how hard he was fighting against Krad? Everyone else would just let him take over! Give me one really good reason why I shouldn't give him a chance!"
Before she could say anything else, Daisuke grabbed her waist and pulled her close. His red eyes caught her blue ones just as he pressed his lips against hers.
Fireworks.
Kari's lips were agape in surprise so it was easy for her "cousin" to slide his tongue into her mouth. She didn't resist him at all; she just stood there in astonishment until Daisuke pulled away from the lung-draining kiss.
"That's why!"
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W00t! Chapter nine is up! Sorry this one took so long, forgive me! bows I have issues with writing kissing scenes…or any romantic scenes for that matter… (Maybe I shouldn't be writing a romantic story, then, huh? Heheheheh…)
Okay, next chappie you get to see Kari's reaction to the kiss and the date at the fair! O.O
