Disclaimers: Would I bother to put this up if I did own it?
Warnings: An attempt to get pairings together and open… and fails miserably. Oh, mild language, violence, and insults towards Dark's intellect.
Other: Needless to say, they talk, they try to get somewhere, they get nowhere. Yay for them.
000
"When they meet again, something more terrifying and evil will awaken. Something long since sealed away will break free: leaving death and destruction in its wake. Will they be able to handle it again? Or is this the end of the road?"
Phase Four: Peace Never Lasts
Daisuke was grinning innocently as Satoshi gave him a death ridden glare, "What are you talking about? You look great!"
"I look like a moron."
"No way, you're gorgeous," winked the shop assistant, and the vampire looked ready to hit her for the either the comment of the gesture, one could never tell. But it was clear that he wasn't all that happy, but what was he to do about it at this point and time?
Having been forced out of his entire black attire of clothing, the vampire had been forced into a number of different clothes, dress suits, and the random stuff that had long since been classified as a girl's sport in terms of impulse shopping for the sake of it.
Right now he was staring at the mirror like the end of the world had come, although it was just a normal white dress shirt and some pants, but still. It must have had something to do with being stared at by the two mortals currently with him. Very, very uncomfortable. The redhead he could deal with, but the scary blonde that was squealing as such…
"I never thought you two would be the ones into shopping for clothes," Krad commented as she entered the dressing room. Clothes stood out from both sides and it was incredibly cramped as she raised an eyebrow. Not being one to get into the girly-girly stuff, she hated being here at the moment.
Dark was right behind her, thankfully not running into anything or tripping things over, "Great, now that vamp-boy over there is wearing something new, the end of the world is upon us!" He yelled, only to run right into Krad although she was in plain sight.
The assistant, who had been staring at Dark now, blinked at a loss, "Vamp-boy?"
"It's nothing, nothing," Daisuke said hastily, shooting the adolescent a sharp look before handing her some money, "Well, we better go now, right? Bye and thanks again!" He was out of the door as the sentence finished and Satoshi was clutching onto his old clothes as he followed the human out quickly. Krad just watched them as they walked off, smiling with a hint of irony in her features.
"Aw… isn't that just so cute?" she asked, before noticing that the shop assistant was still staring at her not-said-out-loud-but-still-her-boyfriend-whatever, "What? Did he grow an extra head?"
Dark scowled at her, "Shut up!"
"Yeah right, as if I'd listen to you."
"… So," recovering quickly as the two older adolescents glared at each other with the terms 'if looks could kill', the shop assistant got out of her stupor and flourished about, "Would you two like to see some of the newest styles around? Or will you just be taking your leave? Or… customary service? White's really your colour."
Noticing that this was directed right at Krad, the blonde stared at her like she'd gone insane, "What did you just say?"
"White's your colour. Okay, let's just add a little pink to it and then you're all set!"
"We're going," snapped the blonde, grabbing her-boyfriend-yet-maybe-not-but-they-had-silently-agreed-on-it by the wrist and yanking him out of the shop. The bell connected to the door's entrance jangled violently as the door slammed shut and even then Krad was still fuming and stomping on her way.
Lost as to what had been just said, Dark allowed himself to be dragged along. Sure, being dragged like a little kid with his mother wasn't the most encouraging of things to be thinking of, but at least she hadn't tried to kill him just yet; although she looked like she sorely wanted to. What was with that whole pink and white thing, anyway? Did it even matter? Krad hated dresses or anything related to it but had been forced to wear them her whole life, so what difference did it make? Probably a lot, but that wasn't the point at the moment, was it?
Not knowing why she was overreacting as she was, Krad was still fuming at the stupid, stupid girl's comments about colour. And clothes, which had been left unsaid but hung around the shop like a plague. Her face felt flushed and she wasn't paying all that much attention to where she was going, but Daisuke's voice soon brought her back to reality and she glanced up.
"Krad-san, you don't look so well," the redhead said as she approached them, conveniently forgetting that she was still dragging Dark along, "Did Dark say something stupid again?"
"Why would I say something stupid?" asked the now-annoyed purple-haired adolescent, popping up behind the blonde.
"Because you always say something stupid. Right, Hiwatari-kun?"
The blue-haired vampire nodded silently in the affirmative. Then again, he knew that this conversation wasn't going to help them get anywhere, but being stuck where he was was enough to keep him there. Or something like that; he had no idea what to think anymore.
Dark fumed indignantly, "Why does everyone I meet like to pick on me so much! I'm just like the rest of you, so stop being so mean to me!" He waved his arms around, "I bet you all do it on purpose!"
Unable to stop despite of herself, Krad smirked, "And you wonder why? I think it's all a bit obvious. Your intelligence isn't all that great and you're not the brightest of people. And what everyone else says is completely and utterly true, so stop your whining already."
This just ended up with even more complaining on the thief's part, "Krad-----!"
"Just shut up already."
He pouted at this and crossed his arms. Shaking her head at the childish display she was getting from the other end, the blonde turned away and looked around to locate where they were exactly. They had arrived at the center of the village-town-whatever and both younger teens were sitting by a stone fountain that was spouting out clean-ish looking water. Not that she would really trust it and all, but it didn't look all that bad.
"Has that thing been there for a long time?" she asked casually, trying to regain the vibe of normal conversation above all and deciding not to comment on the really weird look of Satoshi not being hooded all the time.
Daisuke nodded happily, "Yeah, as long as I can remember being here. Argentine-kun used to take us here to learn summoning and stuff, because he said there was something really special to it and all."
"Really now?"
"Uh-huh! And if you pay really close attention, then you can actually feel the magic running through this entire town!"
It was clear that the redhead was getting really excited now because his face seemed to light up in extreme excitement, although Krad also got the feeling that he was going to hurt himself if he wasn't all that careful. And as she was thinking this very thought, the boy somehow managed to topple over and practically fell into the fountain. That was, he would have, if Satoshi hadn't grabbed him at the last moment.
Of course, this led to a rather jumbled situation that only lasted for a few seconds, and of which both human and vampire ended up on the stony pavement in a heap. Dark sniggered at this before looking away as Krad glared at him, and then the blonde bent over and offered one of them a hand up. That being because she couldn't tell one from the other now as they were pretty much tangled up… somehow. Really, how was that possible when they both had just tripped?
"Ow…" mumbled Daisuke.
"You okay?" the blonde asked.
"I… think? Hiwatari-kun?" as always, the redhead was more concerned about others rather than himself. Hell, if he was bleeding to death and some guy was next to him with a sprained ankle, he would attempt to help them.
"I'm fine. You should be more careful," the vampire replied in a muffled voice. The redhead disentangled himself with Krad's help and then pulled Satoshi up as well, who brushed some soil off his new clothes and raised an eyebrow at the mortal. "You really have to stop being so enthusiastic."
The shorter boy's face flushed at this, "Uh…"
Whatever else the redhead might have said at this point was rudely interrupted as Dark, having gotten bored with the proceedings, decided to move things at a faster pace. A much faster pace at that, which involved shoving Daisuke into Satoshi and they both ended up in the fountain anyway.
Krad glared at him, "What the hell was that for, you bastard? Are you trying to get them killed or something?"
"Well, I could, but you wouldn't approve of it," the purple-haired man said calmly, giving her a winning smile that she did not succumb to, "But you said that vampy over there liked dear Dai-chan, so we might as well get it over and done with." The blonde shut him up by slamming the sheath of her broadsword on his thick, thick skull. He collapsed on the pavement, unconscious, but she paid him no heed as she walked over to the fountain to check on the other two.
Surprising enough, Daisuke was laughing. Did he hit his head or something and go completely insane? Or was it just a mental relapse on the back of his mind; currently under construction.
"Are you… sane?" she asked hesitantly.
The redhead smiled back at her, calming down quickly, "Yeah, of course I am. I mean, this just strongly reminded me of when Daichi used to…" laughing softly, he shook his head, "Never mind, just childhood memories and all. A bit nostalgic is all."
"Oh… I see…" Recalling the little fact that the redhead's parents had died and had left him in the care of other relatives and not much else, Krad had to wonder how he must have felt most of the time and even now. Ah well, worry about that later and get back to the present. "You two should get out before you catch a cold or something."
Seemingly noticing just then that they were both still in the fountain, Daisuke seemed incredibly shocked.
"Oh yeah! … Dark!"
"He's sleeping," the blonde put some strong emphasis on the word 'sleeping' and kicked the lump lightly to check if he was still out of it or not. When he didn't stir, she just shrugged and waited for both boys to get out of the fountain themselves. As expected, Satoshi wasn't happy at all.
Wiping his classes clean – which was a hard task, considering that everything was saturated – the vampire scowled angrily; the first actual full emotion any of them had witnessed for a long time. It was shocking; and very, very amusing. "What is wrong with him? Does he have some sort of mental problem?" he snapped, not finding the situation even the least bit funny.
The blonde shrugged nonchalantly at this, "I guess you could say that he was trying to help is all."
This got both boys blinking, not understanding a thing of what that meant. Golden eyes rolled in exasperation; really, she had no idea on why males had to be so oblivious to everything around them? The only thing that ever seemed to get through their skulls was fighting or about to fight something large and scary. Oh sure, she was in the same mind, but at least she was really thick in the skulls at times like these.
And as for Dark… he was just an idiot. A complete and utter moron with no brain and absolutely no understanding on how to 'help' people and the like. Annoying, annoying and even more annoying was how she had actually grown used to his attitude and usually stupid and careless mistakes.
Ah, the mysteries of how the human heart actually works.
She snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed that both vampire and human were watching her intently, obviously waiting for some sort of explanation on her last sentence that explained her boyfriend-not-said-out-loud actions of being an idiot and a half.
"Well, we both agreed that you," she jabbed a finger at the dripping vampire, "have absolutely no social life and that Daisuke is the only one you have ever talked to, am I correct?"
"… I suppose. Unless you mean family," the vampire mumbled, seeing as the blonde wasn't about to let him off without answering something first. He stared at the water surrounding him, but jerked instantly up when Daisuke gasped.
"… What'd you do to Dark?" the redhead asked first before remembering why he was so shocked, "It's cold in here! We better get out before the cleaning guys get here or something," he tried to stand up, but was unable to and flopped back with a sigh.
Krad looked back at the purple-haired adolescent without much care and then offered the two a hand up; which drenched her sleeve in the process. "You two really shouldn't be sitting in there. And I though Dark needed some medical attention, so I brained him."
Satoshi raised an eyebrow, pushing Daisuke to go first, "You brained him." He repeated, like he wasn't sure what she had meant by that.
"Yeah, so?"
"You… brained him."
"Well, Krad-san's just that sort of person," the redhead offered helpfully, as the blonde pulled the vampire up as well. They were both completely and utterly saturated and still dripping wet. She scowled at this and gave the unconscious lump another helpful kick.
"Well, come on. You two need to dry off or something before you get sick with something."
She led them off, but not before the redhead could turn around quizzically, "You're going to leave Dark lying there?"
Sighing at this, Krad hit her forehead, "I'm not going to drag him along with us at the moment. Unless you're both offering to do that…" she trailed off and waved a vague hand around, "I'll go get him after got you two out of those saturated things and dried off. The inn should have something, right?"
"If you mean rooms and clothes and stuff, yeah," nodded Daisuke slowly, still looking back until the vampire dragged him off before he could hurt himself again. The blonde was muttering under her breath as she walked them off like – sad to say – an annoyed mother with children who could not be controlled; oh, the horrors of that particular description.
In truth, she was slightly worried about leaving Dark there, and there were people awake and stuff, walking around and doing other things, so she expected to find Dark being poked by curious little kids by the time she got back. Hopefully that wasn't too long away.
000
"Really, Hiwatari-kun, you look better if you're not hiding in the shadows as much."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Of course you know what I'm talking about," Daisuke leaned forward, smiling, "If you just went out a bit more and wasn't so antisocial and cold, then you'd make a lot of friends."
Sitting there with a look of disbelief on his face, Satoshi just shook his head, "I don't like company."
"And that's why you argue with people and give them the cold shoulder!" the redhead scowled at this, but it wasn't all that threatening like. With, who had been through the entire ordeal in the folds of the boy's cloak was now sitting right in front of the fire and 'kyu'-ing happily, completely ignoring his master and the vampire.
Krad had managed to get them a room with a fireplace and had left the rest to them, telling them that she would soon be back with a – hopefully – semi-conscious Dark and all, and then she was gone. The room was a small, slightly stuffy place, more for just one person, but neither boy seemed to care about that little fact and, at that very moment, Daisuke was trying to convince Satoshi that it was okay to talk to people. Of course, the vampire was unwilling to accept such a belief.
So now the two of them were sitting in front of the fireplace, wearing some really weird-brown-whatever-garments and half-conversing, half-arguing. Not that it was getting them anywhere so it was all great and everything; yes, everyone was happy.
Unless the blonde was screaming at Dark again for being an asshole, but whatever. That didn't involve them in any way – they hoped – so it was just best to sit back, relax, and enjoy each other's company to the extent as to wonder what the hell were they supposed to do next.
Daisuke pulled away from leaning forwards too much and looked up at the ceiling, unaware of the fact that the vampire was still staring at him and wandered back into his own thoughts. It was funny to think that they had been apart from each other for three years and nothing had really changed at all. And that alone was hilarious but then… wait, why the hell was he thinking like that and why did it seem to implicate in his mind that he and Satoshi were together or something? Wait, why hell did he think just that and now he had a headache and it wasn't all that great and… ow…
Rubbing his temples and closing his eyes, the redhead mumbled something incoherent while the vampire continued to analyse him with a skeptic expression on his face. Wow, if this kept up we could all safely say that he was going through an emotional crisis.
The fact that they weren't saying anything at the moment was bugging him and that said a lot, not being the sort to get into a conversation in the first place. But then again, it was a particular someone, blah blah blah. Grumbling in the back of his mind, Satoshi tried to banish these thoughts out of his head. He was going round in circles again and it hurt. Yes, it actually hurt.
Not to mention the words that that crazy girl had said a while back stuck in his mind, and yes, he had admitted it then but was now in denial so that was that. He was not going to say anything about human emotions that probably meant something yet didn't and all that annoying and confusing junk. Wow, he likes to think a lot as well.
Silence filled the small, cramped room and there was still no sign of Krad or Dark anywhere. Probably abandoned them and it was still only oh so early in the morning. Too much had happened and if he ever saw that crazy purple-haired guy again, he was going to… well, not kill him, but maul him to an inch of his life. Yes, that sounded about right.
"They're sure taking their time, aren't they?" asked Daisuke, finally breaking the silence that surrounded them. Satoshi nodded once and then there was more silence.
"Kyu..." it seemed that even With was getting fed up with it.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Sadly, no one was around to save them from this awfully awkward silence/moment and one of them would have to do something, even if it just ended up being a flippant comment about the weather. Then again, neither one was thinking in that direction, were they?
So, after a long, long time later… (five seconds to be precise) the vampire snapped. "Niwa."
"Yeah?"
The vampire leaned forward slightly, at a loss as to what to say next. Really, what was he supposed to do now? Daisuke was just staring at him, waiting for him to say something else, but now that he had nothing else to say… well… uh… yes, he was incredibly lost now.
"I…"
The redhead blinked.
"I…"
Damn those humans and their stupid ways of expressing themselves or whatever.
"I…"
There was a word after that… what was it again?
"…"
Dammit, he wasn't going to be able to say it.
"…?" this was Daisuke.
Besides, what would happen if the boy didn't feel the same way? It was all wrong in the end, and even he wasn't stupid enough to figure that little piece of information out.
"I…" he gave up, "Never mind, it wasn't anything important." Satoshi instantly regretted this as the boy's face fell in disappointment, but he knew that he was never going to be able to say it and that was final.
The redhead shuffled closer to the rather confused/annoyed vampire and brushed some bangs out of the way. Satoshi's eyes widened at this, still very much lost as he was at the beginning of this very meeting. Damn them all.
"Hiwatari-kun…"
Then fate decided to be cruel again as Krad burst into the room, Dark close behind. "Come on! You guy's ready yet? We gotta move it or lose it pronto, you two!"
Scrambling away at the sudden interruption, Daisuke tripped over his feet as he tried to grab all of his possessions. Completely ignoring the fact that he was in a sort of public, the redhead hurriedly changed back into his own clothes. "Why? What's going on?"
Dark was scowling out the window, "Well, let's just say that there are a crazy amount of people stumbling around and screaming about being permanently blind. It's amusing, but not much else." He rubbed the top of his head, where Krad had hit him.
"You know, that doesn't really help," pulling his supply bag over his shoulder, he blinked at the two older members of their group and Satoshi returned from wherever he had been, fully dressed and emotionless once more. "Krad-san?"
She smiled slightly as she, too, glanced out the window, "The Gate finally got repaired and now they've sent the entire army to try and find me and Dark. Kinda pointless; I would have thought they would think we were dead already."
With jumped on Daisuke's head, "Kyuu!"
"So does that mean…"
"Let's move before some of them come here. You can't trust them. And like hell I'm going to get dragged back there."
"And I completely agree with Krad."
The redhead sighed; "This is way too much to be happening in one morning…" he groaned, but followed them out. Satoshi was in the same thinking wavelength, and dammit, something had been going on… or was it just him?
Well he knew life; the peace just never lasted.
000
(coughs) They were so close… so very, very close. And the Gate's finally been fixed, after three long years of nothing. What happens? Well, you just have to wait and see XD
Replies:
Koway Oceshia: You have a point there, but Daisuke's got that thing with being naïve-like, and as you can see, Satoshi is at a loss for words. What, you liked the chickens? o.O Well, it all depends on what happens afterwards :D Thanks. And Dark and Krad will be arguing for a long time later… I just can't see them getting along for a long period of time…
neko-nya: Thanks! XD Whoa, you need to tell yourself to breathe a lot more then, right? And poor Krad has become sterorised (that's not even a word…)! Maybe they'll meet some while they run around the world (I never did mention the ocean here, did I?).
aki: Okay, I'm going to work on it as hard as I can! Until my brain flops out, anyway.