Satoshi sure didn't know what to think about his stalker. He wasn't sure if Krad was his stalker or not. He didn't have solid evidence and he didn't want to jump to conclusions. But how else did Krad know his name? And know that he wanted to watch that movie? And did Krad somehow know that nobody would see that movie?
"Satoshi-sama? Are you okay?" To-to, the maid/animagus, asked. When Satoshi's eyes still seem too far away, she knocked on the door loudly and laughed when Satoshi startled. "Sir, are you okay? You've been out of it since… yesterday. Did that man that kidnapped you try anything?" She asked concerned. 'But then, why would he let you come back?'
"N… No. Nothing's wrong, To-to. There's just a lot on my mind." Satoshi elaborated. His maid rolled her eyes. If this were a normal household, the maid would be punished for doing what she just did, but whoever said this was a normal household?
"Satoshi-sama. I'm not trying to anger you, but when did you not have something on your mind? You always have these crazy ideas for machinery, ready to build. Sometimes I wonder why you make so many things when no one is going to use them on the field." To-to said teasingly. Satoshi frowned and swirled his chair around to his desk. The albino scowled and made faces at her master's back, which were ignored.
"I know someone would use it. Some day, some where." Satoshi said. Even though you couldn't really hear it, To-to could detect a dreamy, hopeful quality in his voice.
'So now, he forgot the stranger.' To-to thought. Out loud, she said, "Well, I'll leave now. It's boring watching you write out plans and making things. I'll go to the town." She was hoping to find the strange blonde and see what he wanted with her master. He had suffered too much to find some stalker just liked him for his looks. Satoshi's fan girls weren't stalkers. They're rabid fans. To-to aimed to push the traveler away, never to fully harm or disturb Satoshi. And that is why she is currently on the path to the town.
Looking around, To-to saw that many people were packing their things up and closing stalls. Why didn't they do that the day before, she didn't know. Frankly, she didn't care. Since she never saw the man before in town, she headed for the inn where everyone ranging from vendors to travelers to villagers who couldn't afford a house occupied.
"Sir, was there a blonde man with golden eyes staying here?" To-to asked the clerk at the front desk. He was typing away at a computer and he scowled when she interrupted his work. But due to policies, he turned and answered her anyway.
"Ma'am. There are a lot of blonde males that come to this inn. We never pay attention to their eye color, so I'm afraid I can't help you." He said dully. He pushed his square-rimmed glasses onto his nose and his eyes dared her to challenge him. She hesitated, but she talked back anyways.
"Can I have a spare key to every room that has a blonde male?" She already knew the answer was a no, but it was okay to ask, wasn't it? Obviously not, according to the boy in front of her who glared and said a forced "No." Turning away, she frowned. She faced the glass doors and was about to walk away when boys with strange colored hair walked off the stairs. One was a redhead and the other was a brunette. Wait, the latter had violet hair. She frowned even further. Teenagers these days. They have no taste at all. The two boys' hair were spiked and To-to jumped to conclusions that they were punks.
"Daisuke! Dark! Wait up!" A somewhat familiar voice said from behind them. The two waited and To-to's eyes widened when she saw who had yelled. It was the blonde man. The one she was asking for!
"Krad, hurry up!" The redhead said. Krad, as To-to just learned, grinned sheepishly and walked next to them. Before they could walk away, To-to went into action. Walking fast and making sure the boys wouldn't leave her eyesight, To-to stopped in front of them. Holding her hand out, To-to glared at the trio. They merely looked at her strangely, confused as to what she was doing, purposely blocking their way.
"Uh… Miss, can you please move?" Daisuke politely asked. He made a shooing motion to go with his statement. Behind him, Krad snorted and Dark snickered. Daisuke shot each of them a glare and turned back to To-to who had yet made a move. Dark looked at her clothing and broke into tiny sniggers again. She was a maid, and Dark thought that it was funny. That earned Dark another glare from Daisuke. Obviously Daisuke wanted Dark to know that it was rude to stare at someone and make fun of their choice of clothing (though it is peculiar that she's in a French maid outfit).
"I need to talk to that blondie behind you." Krad scowled at being called a blondie and Dark merely burst out in chuckles. Once again, he earned a glare, but this time from Krad. He made his face to say "What? I didn't do anything." Needless to say, his innocent act was unappreciated. These people didn't know how to appreciate art. Or at least that's what Dark thought.
"What?" Krad's voice was gruff and Daisuke looked at Krad weirdly. With his eyes, Daisuke asked what was wrong. Krad made a tiny shook of his head and said to To-to, "What do you want? I never did anything to you." The maid gulped at the tone; there was a small bit of threatening in it.
"I-I want y-you to stop b-bothering S-Satoshi-sama…" To-to cursed herself for stuttering. She won't sound intimidating at all and she learned before that the useless tone would make them do the things they do even more. She does not want this strange male with a long ponytail (no offense) to follow her master. God knows what he'll do to Satoshi-sama.
Daisuke stared at the girl before him. At first, he mistook the white hair as growing old white. But up close, Daisuke realized that it was simply some defect in her DNA that caused her not to have black or whatever her parents' hair colors were. She was just like Daisuke. What else was strange was the fact that she's a maid. Her master isn't anywhere, since she doesn't seem to be respectful right now. And usually, maids don't have correct grammar like she does. Why is she so special? Even his cards were warning him of something. She has a mean intent and Daisuke needs to find out what she'll do.
"And why should I?" Krad dared. Dark mentally sputtered at him. Subconsciously, he already felt her magic and he knew that she was not one to be messed with. Krad should just comply with her request. It wasn't like they'll stay for long. What Dark didn't know was that Krad already knew. Krad recognized her as the animagus that was his Satoshi's maid. Yep. Krad already claimed Satoshi. At least in his mind anyways. He didn't build up enough courage to really claim him.
"Krad. Be quiet." Daisuke chastised. With so much thoughts running through each of their heads, they almost forgot about him. "Miss? Can you tell me your name? Maybe we can sort things out, ne?" Daisuke asked her softly. Daisuke was after all, a true gentleman. Toto- blushed at the nice tone that often wasn't used to associate with her. She nodded gently, though her expression was still stern and hard. Krad sighed in his mind. Daisuke always butt his head into other people's businesses. Why can't he ever shut his mouth shut? All Dark did was scowl at having someone else taking Daisuke's attention.
"My name is Towa, sir. But I'd like to be called To-to." To-to said. Daisuke nodded in reply and waited for her to continue. His action was not wasted. "My master is busy right now and I would like your companion to not bother him. Satoshi-sama shouldn't suffer any more than he already had." Daisuke's eyes were confused. Satoshi was busy? And what does she mean suffer? Was Satoshi in pain? And where did Krad come into? This made no sense and questions after questions compiled up.
"Is Satoshi hurt? What happened to him?" It wasn't Daisuke who asked. It was Krad. His voice was worried and if you look closely, a part of his teeth was chewing on his lower lip. To-to glared at him, disrespect and threats can be seen in her green irises. Daisuke shook his head. To-to seems to be too overprotective. It makes one wonder what kind of feelings she has for Satoshi. But since her eyes or voice didn't really show any jealousy or envy, Daisuke supposed that the feeling is platonic.
"None of your business." To-to hissed. Her anger had no reason behind it. Not a valid one, anyway. Krad wondered if she just hated him alone or thought that Daisuke was cute, so she won't dislike him. To find out if she is a feminist or not, Krad has to push Dark into the situation. He completely forgot the fact that if she were a feminist, she wouldn't be overprotective over his Satoshi. Ah. The joy of having some such beauty belonging to him alone.
Dark was being ignored and any other time, he wouldn't really care. But Daisuke wasn't paying attention to him. He would've whined, but that would be unbecoming in front of a female, maid or not. He disregarded the warning of magic his feelings were giving him.
"We'd like a valid reason, To-to. Otherwise, we wouldn't see the point in listening to a maid like you." Dark seethed. To-to's face reddened in anger and Daisuke whirled around to face him. Unlike any other guys, Daisuke chose to slap Dark on the left cheek. He forgot what it meant to slap someone (1) on the left cheek and can only think of the fact that Dark was prejudice (Daisuke didn't know any other reason).
"Don't speak to her like that, Dark! That's mean and stupid! Apologize to her right now." Daisuke scolded, sounding like a mother. Dark looked down guiltily and mumbled a "Sorry" that didn't sound convincing. Sighing, Daisuke turned back to To-to. Her face was less red, because of Daisuke's defense.
"I'm sorry for what he did. But he is right. We'll need to know the truth about what is happening. We'll leave soon, so if it's just a bad influence, you'll get rid of us easily." Daisuke said slowly, explaining to To-to the vague purpose of listening to why she demanded them to stop seeing the azure-haired boy. She nodded in understanding, though she still looked reluctant to speak. Or at least to the older males.
Knowing her predicament, Daisuke turned around and with his eyes alone, he told them to leave first. They too were reluctant, but Daisuke had enough will power to push them away. Seeing them out of his sight, Daisuke turned around and placed a hand on To-to's shoulder. Her head was bowed down and Daisuke couldn't see her eyes because her bangs were in the way. But he knew she was crying. The tiny water drops on the floor told him so. He even knew why she was crying. It was due to Satoshi and her reason.
"To-to-san, what's wrong? If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay." Daisuke consoled her. He knew his words would make her consider telling him. Daisuke knew he was manipulative like that, even if others don't think so. To-to sniffed. Daisuke knew she was another one of those who believed he was a gullible, adorable idiot.
"Hic. No, Daisuke-sama." To-to hiccupped. She added -sama to Daisuke's name, because she liked and respected him. "Nothing's wrong now. But it wasn't the same before." Daisuke mentally rolled his eyes. He was feeling a bit sarcastic this morning, and she caught him at a bad time.
'Blah. Blah. Blah. And now, she'll tell me a sob story about Satoshi. Then slowly, she'd tell me her own story, trying to get my attention. Puh-lease.' Daisuke thought, a true narcist. But you can't really blame him. Daisuke is rather cute. (Behind a wall, a fan girl was squealing).
"Satoshi-sama. He… He doesn't have the same childhood as everyone else. His parents died when he was not a decade old. He loved them. And they left him behind… His guardian is a drunkard. He often yells at Satoshi (with obscenities) and sometimes he was abused." To-to sobbed. "Once, Master-sama had a knife and he scarred Satoshi-sama."
Daisuke doesn't think much of the things To-to just told him. He already knew the world was like that. It wasn't anything like children's storybooks. There's no happy ending, life isn't fair, and love certainly couldn't conquer all. Where did all this cynical thoughts/feelings come from?
"Then, what happened?" His voice seemed so different and far away. At first Daisuke couldn't even recognize it. Detached, his hand gently patted To-to's back as the other hand pulled her face into his shoulder. To-to freely let tears flow and soon, Daisuke's shirt was somewhat soaked. To-to sobbed and sniffed for a while and Daisuke wondered if she was going to continue or not (and that she's getting snot onto his t-shirt).
"To-to-san?"
"… Hic. I'm sorry. Hic. I don't think –hic- I can tell you the –hic- worst part. Hic. That's for –hic- Satoshi-sama to –hic- do." To-to wept. Daisuke mentally sighed. If he wanted to trifle with Satoshi's business, he'll have to spout out some noble, courageous words that would no doubt reassure To-to that he (and Dark and Krad) comes in peace. Rolling his eyes, he nodded and adorned a caring, compassionate mask that would make any girl faint or blush uncontrollably. (Working his charm! XD)
"To-to-san." Daisuke lifted her chin with his index finger. "I understand if you can't continue. Everyone has their secrets and if you consider what happened to Satoshi as a secret, I'll respect your thoughts. I won't question them and I'll try to convince the other two. Is that okay, Miss To-to?" Daisuke spoke gently. To-to would like to think that he was exceptionally nice, but her magic couldn't help but be wary of him. There was no one on Tarot that was that great. Maybe Daisuke has some other motive?
"Y-yes. D-Daisuke-sama." She gracefully stood up straight and bowed before walking away like a dignified maid. Daisuke rolled his eyes again. Now, what should he do? He knew that something would be happening, but what? And since he knew that something would happen, therefore it would be his responsibility to stop any danger. But if there weren't any clues, Daisuke supposes he could play around a bit. His mind whispered things like Daisuke just wanted Krad to find someone else and not his Dark. Daisuke denied his thoughts. His mind slipped into the back of his mind, making itself unseen, which was perfectly fine with Daisuke.
"Daisuke! What did she say?" Dark asked as he ran towards Daisuke from wherever he went. Krad bounded after him, saying nothing. Daisuke's feelings of skeptical and whatnot drifted away slowly. It would not be well if someone saw the strange look in his eyes. Turning around, Daisuke smiled at Dark. Daisuke wasn't sure if the smile was real or not.
"I'm sorry, Dark. It's something private. I think we already overstepped our bounds by asking to uncover some secrets." Daisuke said apologetically. Dark shook his head disappointedly and Krad narrowed his eyes. He didn't comment, but Dark sure did.
"But you're a stranger, too! If she told you, why couldn't she tell us?" Dark remarked casually. He didn't really care about this Satoshi. They'll be leaving anyways and it's not like anything important will happen any time soon here. He was quite the slow one to not notice Krad's feelings for the light-blue-eyed boy.
"Let us go. We should buy some materials if we are to leave quickly." Krad said monotonously. The fact didn't escape Daisuke, but he paid no heed to it. He simply nodded to Krad's suggestion. Dark shrugged and the topic was dropped as they finally exited the inn.
Satoshi was confused when To-to rushed by him blushing with tears in her eyes. Did something happen? She looked panic-stricken. His maid seemed to be embarrassed and ashamed of something. Where did she go this morning?
"To-to, are you okay? What's wrong?" Satoshi asked his maid. She shook her head and ignored Satoshi by turning away from him. He felt anger, but Satoshi let it go, thinking To-to is feeling sick or something. After all, she doesn't normally act like this. Stepping forward, he placed a hand on the exact same spot that Daisuke touched. Something about that action prompted To-to to talk. But it wasn't what Satoshi wanted to hear.
"N-nothing's wrong, S-Satoshi-sama. Nothing." She murmured nervously. She was a stutterer in the past, but she had changed when she grew more confident. Though when she's nervous, the problem came back. And this clued Satoshi in that something is definitely wrong since To-to's confidence grew so much that it was rare when she's nervous.
"I'm serious, To-to. Tell me or I'll…" Nobody appreciated threats and certainly not To-to. Satoshi knew if he continued any further, To-to would close herself up more and not let anyone, and he meant anyone know about the problem. That'll be bad, because Satoshi knew the outcome of pulling everything in and not let a single thought or feeling escape. It will overwhelm To-to.
"Why do you look so guilty? At least tell me that much." Satoshi asked gently, trying to act like some male actor in one of the movies. Since it always worked there, why wouldn't it work in real life? That was the reason Satoshi told himself. He didn't want to know that he was softening. It'll allow people to get close and maybe hurt him. Though Satoshi was pretty sure some people already got pass his defenses. Here would be someone coughing and saying Krad's name in between the coughs.
At first, To-to resisted and shook Satoshi's hand off her shoulder. She was afraid she'd let out everything like she did with Daisuke. But the guilt was eating at her and she didn't know what to do. What should she tell Satoshi-sama and what not to tell? She wasn't even sure if the redhead and her companions would even heed her warning. Taking a deep breath, To-to decided to tell Satoshi that she told Daisuke the overall summary of his childhood (but she wasn't exactly sure if Satoshi knew Daisuke or not).
"Satoshi-sama, I-I… I told someone… about your chi… childhood. I-I didn't say everything! I just… I just gave a small summary! Honestly! I didn't tell everything!" What To-to said was hesitant and unstable. Some words came out fast and some were slow, as if unsure on how to continue. But one thing was sure; Satoshi knew someone in town knows something about him. He didn't know who knows it, but he'll find out. Satoshi will try to convince that person to forget everything To-to had said to them, that it was simply a fable. He just wished it were that easy.
Numb with shock and fear, Satoshi stepped back. Even though To-to said it was a summary, Satoshi wasn't sure if she had blurted out one of his biggest secrets. Summaries tend to give some hints of the main plot.
"Get out." His voice was far away, but Satoshi could still detect the coldness in those two simple words. He saw To-to flinch but he couldn't bring himself to care. The memory that he had so forcefully made to forget was pushing itself to the surface. He had never truly forgot about it, because sometimes, during stuffy silences, the memory comes to haunt him, bringing him wisps of what he had done and what others had done and the consequences of his and others' deeds. The feelings of guilt and anger and jealousy and bitterness were never let go. Even now, the memories are still plaguing his dreams.
"S-Satoshi-sama?" To-to asked worriedly, momentarily not caring about the guilt. Satoshi-sama was more important. He's acting cold, just like when they first met. That's not fair. After all her hard work on breaking down the walls, it was so easy for him to build them back up and leave her stranded outside. Did relationships break that easily with just one sentence?
"Get out, I said. Leave me alone. That's an order." Satoshi said stonily. He turned around and ignored To-to, walking away to his room. They were talking in the hallway and now Satoshi would probably lock himself inside that small room of his. Well, not necessarily small. His room was big (he is rich, you know). But what To-to meant is that Satoshi would sit on his chair by his desk, brooding. The room (or world) would only include Satoshi, the chair, and the desk. Great job, To-to.
Satoshi glanced at her with a glare and she retreated out of the room. Her disarrayed emotions had taken another hit and To-to was sure she had more than fifty percent chance of crying. She couldn't let Satoshi see her tears, whether or not he's paying attention. He needed her to be strong.
Daisuke wasn't sure what to think right now. He was pretty sure he was acting out of character before, but it didn't feel like it. 'I guess we can never really see our changes unless someone else points it out. Kind of like getting drunk.' Daisuke wanted to look for the maid to apologize for making her spill something personal out, but he couldn't find her anywhere. But she was a maid, so it was reasonable if he couldn't find her. All Daisuke needs to do is find Satoshi and in turn look for To-to.
Let's just hope Satoshi would be willing to see him now that Daisuke knows his secret. But Daisuke wonders if he can even look at Satoshi without pity or sympathy or even understanding in his eyes. And thanks to his earlier cynical empathy, he already knew that there's more to Satoshi's past than what To-to had talked about. Due to experience, Daisuke knew that people who suffered a lot without much help from others would dislike pity (because it came too late).
"Daisuke? Are you okay?" That question kept on being asked today, Daisuke noted absently. He nodded to Dark's concerned question and Dark's face eased to a relieved face, though there were traces of skepticism. There was nothing Dark could do so it would be rather pointless to tell him. Plus, they were currently in the marketplace looking for supplies. Someone could overhear them and spread gossip. And Daisuke had a strange thought that To-to would hunt him down to have revenge. That doesn't sound well.
"Get your potions here! Potions for health, potions for intelligence, potions for strength! Potions available for anything!" An old lady shouted to the customers. Dark sniggered and Daisuke looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Seeing that look, Dark calmed down and told Daisuke what he meant.
"It sounds like those video games that Square Enix creates. Those potions for health points, you know?" Dark explained, but Daisuke still looked at him weirdly. Then Daisuke answered Dark's confusion.
"But how is that funny?" Daisuke asked. Dark paused and looked up at the sky for the moment, thinking. It was a funny expression, but Daisuke bit back the laugh. He didn't want to confuse Dark any further by suddenly laughing.
"Ne, you two lovebirds should hurry up. If Daisuke wants to follow the maid's request, we have to hurry up, okay?" Krad asked teasingly. Daisuke and Dark flustered and if they could see Krad's face, they'd know that he was smirking. Wait. They did see.
"Krad! Stop saying that!" Dark shouted after the blonde. He ran after him as well. Dark didn't want to see Daisuke's face, or should it be he couldn't? Dark was blushing slightly, though it was cooling down to a certain degree. However, Dark still didn't want Daisuke to know that Krad's comment had made him uncomfortable. Dark didn't want to admit that Daisuke and him being together sounded very, very appealing.
Krad chuckled at Dark's antics, but he couldn't help the pang of jealousy and detest. He was jealous that Dark and Daisuke could see each other almost all day long and perhaps till the end of this journey. But he hated the fact that Dark wouldn't make a move. Daisuke could be taken away and that fact reminded him that Satoshi would be taken away from him soon, just because he has this retched quest. To take his mind off his horrible thoughts, Krad asked a curious question that had been nagging him for a while.
"You guys are foreigners, right? Where did you come from? You two just suddenly appeared in the forest." Krad said casually, but he noticed that Daisuke stiffened and Dark's face was rather strange. Then Daisuke relaxed and he shared a look with Dark, which said something along the lines of "Tell him the truth."
"We come from another world, believe it or not. I was a Tarot reader and Dark, here, was a… Wait. What was you career? I never asked." Daisuke replied vaguely, turning his face to look at Dark. Krad ignored his unclear explanation and followed Daisuke's example, looking at Dark who was blushing a little bit again.
"I-I was an artist. A painter of sorts." Dark said embarrassedly. "And Krad, we ARE from another world. If you don't believe us, it's you loss." Krad nodded and Daisuke beamed at learning Dark's job. Dark spotted a paint kit and some canvas and hurried off, avoiding any questions that the other two may have.
"Since it's an art stall that he's looking at, do you think he'll start painting during the trip?" Daisuke asked without looking at Krad. He shrugged.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. His paintings from this world might even help us, one way or another."
1. I read on some fic somewhere in Harry Potter section that if you slapped someone with your right hand to someone's left cheek; it meant that you wanted to marry him/her.
A/N: Daisuke sure is bi-polar, huh? Well, his body already dealt with the physical changes Dai had brought. Then there were the mental changes where he became a tiny bit more mature. This is where the emotional change takes place. Being more observant might make people more cynical and sarcastic. And next chapter will probably start with a flashback for Satoshi.
Hikari: Thanks for the film! It was hot! –drools- I never knew Daisuke could do that with his tongue… And what other secrets do you know about the four bishounens?