Crystal Hearts

We can grow only once in our lives. As our love crystallizes and grows, so, too, do our hearts…they are a manifestation of our love. In time, they are given over to the one who inspired them…who wished them happiness. You at least…I wish you happiness…

Chapter 9: I Miss You

He got out of bed and looked around. A flash of gold caught his eye, it was coming from the balcony. The boy headed outside silently, to his surprise he found his curse curled up against the wall in the rain. Knees drawn up to his chest, arms wrapped around them tightly. Long dripping wet golden bangs hid sharp cat-like eyes. Satoshi narrowed his eyes, faintly, he could see traces of white wings wrapped against the form. So Krad had found his way outside… "So there you are Krad…"

The blonde didn't answer him, Satoshi frowned, "Krad, is this about yesterday?"

The hunter shook his head desolately, "He knew…he knew everything…"

But he didn't do anything about it, Satoshi mentally added. Had Krad been trying to hide it? It certainly wouldn't be surprising, "Come on back Krad…"

The blonde looked at him somewhat surprised, he had expected his tamer to be happy being rid of him. After all he was but a curse. Slowly, he got up and melted away into the blue haired boy, unseeing golden eyes avoiding eye contact, ((You are too kind Satoshi-sama…))

(I suppose, what were you doing in the rain?)

((Thinking.))

Satoshi didn't press the matter and headed inside to dry off, (I'm guessing you'll just be staying there for the rest of the day?) It felt odd, almost new that he was talking to his curse in such a casual way.

((Perhaps…))

The blue haired boy blinked, that was unexpected, he had braced himself for 'no' as an answer too…but then again, he gave a little shrug and headed into the kitchen to fix himself breakfast.

The day was fairly quiet, Satoshi sat around and read while Krad continued his pondering. Near the afternoon, the blonde suddenly took over, (Krad?)

The hunter straightened himself up and walked towards the main entrance, ((Satoshi-sama, don't you think it'd be better if we were to end this now once and for all?))

(What?)

((He's here.)) Suddenly, the windows shattered and a figure in black leapt towards him. Krad smirked and sent a blast flying.

"Whoa, what are you trying to do? Kill me?"

"That's precisely what I'm trying to do, kaitou!"

"What?" The thief dodged another blast.

"Start fighting thief or else this will be your demise."

"As if!"

The blonde grinned and backed up, dodging a kick, "You're going to have to do better than that."

It wasn't hard to figure out where the thief was, there was a tremendous amount of energy emitting from him. But being unable to see put him into a disadvantage, he bumped into a wall losing half a second, a second later and he would've been shot.

(Krad! What are you doing!.?)

((Ending this Satoshi-sama.))

He was fighting desperately now, dodging repeatedly, the thief was finally getting serious. Finally, he was pinned down, Dark held his feather right on the blonde, a spell waiting to kill him. "What's going on Krad?"

The blonde smirked, "What's the matter? Can't bring yourself to kill me?" He charged up, "You're pathetic." The spell was cast, Krad winced in pain but his grin came back, "You've grown weak…"

The thief frowned, what was wrong wit the blonde? It was almost as though… "What's wrong with you?"

"There's nothing wrong with me! What's wrong with you? Why won't you just hurry up and kill me?"

He frowned, he had just given it away. The thief got off him, "What?" Krad snarled, he revved towards Dark, catching him off guard. But a moment later, he found himself pinned against the wall, "Why Krad? Why are you so eager to die, you don't seem to mind the idea of dragging Satoshi down along with you!"

Krad scoffed, "We both know it's going to happen, when Satoshi-sama gives his heart away to the Niwa. That'll be the end. It'll be the end of both me and the Hikari. So why not speed up the process? Kill me right now, Dark."

"I…can't…"

Golden eyes watched the thief unseeingly, he asked him coldly, "Why?"

"Because…I still love you…" He placed his lips on top of the blonde's.

Needless to say, the blonde was shocked beyond words, something slid down his cheek as the thief kissed him…it felt so familiar yet different. He tried to hold up his defense but finally, he gave into the thief and opened his mouth to his lover. A single regretful thought crossed his mind, ((It's all going to happen again…))

When the thief looked up, he was surprised by the silent tears sliding down the blonde's cheek, "Krad…do you hate me that much?"

Krad didn't respond, he didn't know how to. He allowed the thief to kiss his now closed eyes, gently brushing the tears away, ((Why? Why am I so weak?))

Dark liked his lips, the salty taste of tears lingered in his mouth, "Do you hate me?"

"I don't know…"

"I love you…"

"…I know…"

The thief sighed, "If only I found out earlier…"

"We cannot do anything to change the past…"

Dark rested his head at the croak of the blonde's neck, "Gods Krad, it's all my fault isn't it? I kept taking you for granted, I thought you'd always be there…invincible almost…"

"Well you were wrong, we both were."

The thief looked up, "What?"

Krad looked away, he could feel amethyst eyes penetrating him, "I overestimated you…I expected you to always be there for me too, loving no one else…"

"I only loved you! There was no one else!"

"And what about the girls? The ones you'd go to every night?"

"I never thought-"

"Me too Dark, me too…"

Dark bit his lip, "Can't we start over?"

The blonde watched him blankly, "I'm afraid it's too late for that, I only had one heart to give away and apparently, I've already done that."

He stared at his feet, the hunter couldn't see him but he could still feel golden eyes watching him. Daisuke had remained silent. "Why can't it all simply go back to the way it was?" He mused to no one in particular.

"It can never be like that again, everything different now. Completely different, nothing can ever be like it was back then…"

Dark felt small, very small, like a child, "I miss the old times Krad, I miss you…"

Krad paused, "…me too…I can't even see you now…"

The hunter's form faded back into the blue haired boy's, Dark sighed/You want to talk to creepy boy?./

#Not rea-wait, yea, I do.#

/Aye aye./

The thief changed into the redhead, "Hiwatari-kun…"

"Niwa."

"Exactly what did Dark do?"

Satoshi frowned, "From what I heard, I'd guess that he went for everything that breathed and Krad took it personally since yea…you get the idea…"

/The kid's too smart for his own good./

"I'd say that that was pretty accurate. Dark's getting upset."

Satoshi smirked, "I see…"

"I'd better get going home now…bye."

"Bye."

Satoshi closed the door, (Krad?)

((Yes Satoshi-sama?))

(I guess that failed…hmm…I was wondering, just how many times have you been betrayed?)

((I've lost count…))

(What do you think will happen next, with Aku I mean.)

((I don't know, after he sent his killer birds after us, I'm not sure what he's going to come up with next.))

(He's very original, I have to give him that. But still, he was after you, why is that?)

((To avenge his brother perhaps?))

(No, I doubt it, when you think about it, I think he's testing and toying with you at the same time.)

The boy walked to his balcony, a gentle breeze blew by, Krad came out beside him watching the sunset with empty eyes, ((Is it beautiful Satoshi-sama?))

He silently wondered if this was the Krad that he had been missing out on, a Krad he never really knew, (Aa, very.)

#Dark?#

/Yea/

#How come I never found out anything of this sort until recently? Why didn't you tell me earlier?#

/Well first of all, you were too young. And second, this is the last generation for Krad, after this, I don't know what will become of us. I don't even know if I'll ever be able to see Krad again. What I wouldn't give to hold him in my arms again…/

#You loved him so much…what about the girl-#

/There were just flings, I play around and end up leaving them, if I had known that Krad was upset about me doing that, I would've stopped centuries ago!./

#Dark…#

/Forget it./

The redhead didn't forget it, what I wouldn't give to hold him in my arms again… the thief missed him that much…there had to be something he could do.

That night, he ran to Satoshi's house, he figured it was the least he could do for Dark. He knocked on the blue haired boy's door. Satoshi answered it almost at once, his eyes grew wide, "Niwa! What are you going here?"

"Can you do me a favor? Hiwatari-kun, please, it's for Dark…"

Blue eyes blinked, "Sure, what do you need?"

"Can I spend the night here with you?"

He blinked again, "Sure…there's only one bed though…"

"That's fine."

"Come in…"

The redhead stepped inside and explained everything to the blue haired boy, he chuckled, "You truly are the kindest person I've ever met."

The two talked then crawled into bed and soon enough, shifted into their sleeping entities. Awhile later, Dark opened his eyes to gold, almost at once he realized what the redhead had done for him. /Thank you Daisuke…/ He held the blonde closer towards him, it felt just as it used to. Only the blonde was much quieter and his heart was deadly silent.

In the morning, Krad woke up, he found a pair of arms circling around him. He touched the arm and recognized who the owner was. No one ever wrapped him in an embrace quite like Dark did. Not too tight and not too loose, it was always just right. He mused about those nights when the loneliness of their very existence would be forgotten, even if it was temporarily. He allowed himself to stay in the embrace, letting the warmness comfort him. Soon he founds himself falling asleep again, before he realized it, he had dozed off, wrapped in the arms of his lover. ((Dark…I missed you…))

Dark held onto the blonde, not wanting to let go, he felt like crying at the thought of letting him go. He hugged Krad tighter, almost as if he was afraid that the blonde would disappear before his eyes. The blonde stirred, he felt the embrace tighten almost desperately, "Dark…" he said softly.

"Just a bit longer, please, just a bit…"

"Dark…" ((I wish I could see you...all I have left of you are memories of the past...))

"I missed you Krad, I missed holding you, I missed talking to you…I missed you…"

The blonde remained silent, taking in everything the thief just said, he sat up on the edge of the bed, a moment later Dark followed, he shifted so that the hunter was sitting between his legs, he hugged the blonde by the waist just like he used to. Krad looked up, he felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes, finally, he broke the silence, "Me too…I miss it all…" He said just as the tears spilt down his cheeks, "I wish it could all be like it was before too…but it can't Dark, and it still hurts. Even after all these generations, it still hurts…"

The thief just held the blonde tighter, not trusting his voice. He held Krad even as he transformed. A drop of water hit his hand as he, himself turned back into his host. Daisuke got up, to his surprise, Satoshi had tears sliding down his cheek, "Daisuke…" That was the first time he had called him by his name, "Is this enough?"

He nodded, "This is all we can do for now…"

Satoshi wiped the tears away, "Krad misses him, but the past pains him…"

"And Dark still loves Krad more than anything in the world…"

"They're both in pain."

Daisuke nodded again, "What can we do?"

"There's really nothing we can do right now…"

"I just wish I could help them…"

"Don't worry, you already did."

"Satoshi-kun…"

/He's right, you've helped a lot, thank you…/

"It'll be alright, don't worry."

Daisuke gave a smile, "Aa…arigatou."

((The wing master set this up?))

(Aa…does it surprise you?)

((Yes…))

(Why?)

((I've attempted to annihilate him several times…))

(He is a forgiving person.)

Krad looked away, ((Kindness will be the downfall of him.))

(Not if I'm there to save him.)

((Satoshi-sama…))

(Krad…)

((Yes?))

(I…I think I've fallen in love with him…)

Nya

Here's the next chapter! Satoshi's finally admitted it! -cheers- What's going to happen to them? o.O

Les Scribbles- Yoro's so much nicer than Seiko XD Personally, I liked Kin more and I'm not sure why XP I'm somewhat obsessed with the name now so don't be surprised if it appears again XD Pity the killer birds :P

Hakudoshi-chan- Yes poor Krad...Dark didn't want Krad to know about it...chicken...-looks away- I meant something else...but yea...Krad's always the victim isn't he? That's partly my fault but no one has to know... :)

Mysterious Kaitou- Ah yes, the joys of torturing Krad XP Birds are evil, toucans and parrots are funny though, actually birds aren't evil, they're just annoying but they're cute...-can't make upmy mind- err yes...anyhoo...spread the joys os SDXKWD XD

Anukis-san- Yup, Seiko was mean, I mean compared to Kin and Yoro there's a huge contrast between good and evil :P Daisuke was being cute and helpful :O Yea! Rawr Krad's Dark's XP

golden-flame4- Krad's out on the balcony having rain poured on him :D I mean :( lol, he's definately drool-worthy XD And I can't blame you for swooning either ;)

Cherry- I just read her fics, I've been influenced XP But I didn't think it's represent it that much...does it? o.O Well the Krad-angst...I'm addicted to that XP Can't help it :3

dimonyo-anghel- He's long gone...he came and left my mind XP I think he's made alot of enemies already...he's outside XD Yes...pity Krad, he doesn't really deserve all this torture, but I was bored and this is the result XP

leoth- Here's another chapter! It's been around a week again XD Compared to some of my other fics -which I'm working on- this is getting updated pretty face :D

General Kitty Girl- I'm Japanese XD I want to learn German! It sounds really fun to learn :D We have a German teacher at our school and he taught me how to cuss o.O well he didn't teach me but I asked him what they meant XP Anyways, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

ilovekyo- Dark's possessively protective :D I like him that way too XP Poor Krad, getting traumatized due to the likes of me. -bows head in shame- My sadistic mind works in strange ways doesn't it:P