Disclaimers: Does not own the characters, but the concept may be mine… if no one has taken it already.

Warnings: Vagueness, randomness (as always) and just the fact that I can't do anything remotely romantic.

Other: Pshaw… I can't believe I typed this. It's very… random… and we meet the rest of Argentine's family! (and for some reason, their last name is Delvin XD)

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 Eight: Must be a family thing

The garden was, needless to say, huge. Like, way beyond huge. The sort of scary super-big-gigantic-impossibly-possible huge. Or this was just making no sense, as per usual. Not that anyone really cared enough to correct them or anything in the end.

Krad stared at the bush in front of her which seemed to have white flowers growing out to them. "Hey, what the hell do you think this is?"

With, who was sitting on top of her head, blinked, "Kyuu?"

"I thought you would know these sorts of things, being the princess and all," Dark replied, looking down at the bush, as if waiting for it to do something completely and utterly amazing. Maybe it would come to life and eat them all? Well, in this world, anything was pretty much possible.

She shot him a frown, "I think by now you would know that I rarely did anything in my 'role' when I could avoid it. Otherwise I'd have to massacre the entire kingdom."

"Now that sounds painful."

"Doesn't it?"

Casting his long-time-childhood-friend, Dark sat himself down on the grass. Like he had thought previously, the place was colossal. Aside from the paved pathway and the large, marble-looking fountain in the center of it and what he suspected was a garden maze, all the flowers and the variety of flowers present scared the shit out of him. And he wasn't just thinking that alone.

Even the gardens back at the palace hadn't been so… exquisite. Krad had to admire anyone who would waste so much time keeping this place in check, and wondered if the family had a hired gardener or something. Or an insane member of the kin that took care of it; either way.

"Hey, Krad…" this was Dark, obviously.

"What?" she shot back, not turning to face him and just continued to stare at the bush as if it fascinated her; well… they were white, weren't they? There was something about that colour that intrigued her and made her nauseous at the same time. Actually, that might have been due to the comment that that crazy shop assistant had said back some chapters…

She shook her head, getting rid of the thought and waited for Dark to continue.

"… Why do people bother to have gardens in the first place, anyway?"

"And you're asking ME this?" she shot back.

"Well, you have a point there."

They fell silent again, lost in their own thoughts and who knows what, although Krad did eventually have to take a seat because standing there and looking at flowers weren't all that interesting.

Dark flopped back as the blonde watched With bounce off, probably in search of food, or something. "Oh yeah, I was meaning to ask…"

"Again? What is it this time?"

"Why are we out here in the first place?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if he was just asking for the sake of it, or merely being the idiot she knew him as, "I just thought a little fresh air would help clear my mind a bit." She replied sarcastically.

"Oh… okay."

And he believed that.

Krad shook her head, pitying the stupidity that wrought Dark's mind. "Look, Satoshi and Daisuke want some time alone to talk about what just happened, right?" she waited until the purple-haired person next to her nodded in understanding, "And the last thing they need is people like you getting in the way and being annoying, right?"

"Yeah, but-" Dark began as he frowned at being called annoying.

"Trust me. If you don't want vampire to attack you, it'd be better to just let them have some quality time alone." Krad, satisfied that she'd explained in the simplest way possible, leaned forward and closed her eyes. Geeze, for one morning, it was already beginning to tire her out. Way too hectic for its own good and, well… she couldn't place why it had to be that way.

Always, no matter what she wanted to do or whatever, something always had to get in the way and it was beginning to but her senseless. Maybe if she just killed everyone, it would work out, but… she highly doubted it possible.

Dark had fallen silent, and the blonde wondered if he was sleeping or, god forbid, thinking. It didn't seem possible for him to actually think about anything, being the impulsive, insanely reckless person who couldn't even defend himself correctly, so she chose the idea of him sleeping because there seriously wasn't anything to do.

A sudden force on her shoulder made Krad turn around, to meet Dark's gaze, "What?" she asked blankly.

"Well, seeing as we're allowing them to have time alone," he began, shrugging slightly, "Why don't we do something? 'Kay?"

The blonde blinked for a moment, having absolutely no idea on where this was going, "Something as in… what?"

Dark winked, "You'll see."

Of course, in an instant, Krad really didn't trust him.

Then again, if anything ended up reckless and/or stupidly insane she could just brain him if she wanted to.

000

Rubbing his eyes in a dazed notion, Daisuke stared blankly at the ceiling, which was, like everything else, decorated in one way or another. But this time… it was kind of… nostalgic. He frowned vaguely at this, trying to work out where and why the feeling was there, and then concluded that it had something to do with his old home back in this very town. More pondering… and then it came to him.

His own family had had these sort of designs in the former nursery when he and Daichi had still been no more than two. The patterns had not been childish, to say the least, and incredibly captivating.

Wait… why was he remembering this for?

He closed his eyes with a sigh, but they snapped right back open when he felt something cool touch his forehead lightly. Turning his head, he instantly recognized who it was.

"Hiwatari-kun?"

The vampire nodded slightly, having taken a seat by the bed, "Are you okay?"

Blinking for a moment, Daisuke sat up slightly, "Yeah… I think so. Just a little dizzy, that's all." As his vision cleared, it was easier for the redhead to get a grip on his surroundings. Guessing by the decorations as such, he was in one of the many guestrooms. "How long was I out?"

"About an hour."

"Oh… well… uhm…" Daisuke was at a complete loss as to what he was supposed to say now. Besides the fact that he did feel completely fine – aside from loss of blood – it didn't seem right to start asking about… vampire's eating habits. Or should that have been drinking?

"Sorry about that."

"Eh? What?" the redhead turned quickly to stare at Satoshi, who was now staring at the ground. At least, that was what he assumed.

The blunette shrugged slightly, "I didn't know I was going to suddenly collapse like that," he expanded, "I usually get along fine without human blood, but I suppose my body was never meant to adapt to that…" he brought his hands up slightly and only noticed then that they were shaking lightly. "I didn't mean to hurt you…" Satoshi stopped when he noticed that Daisuke had placed his own hands over them.

"Hey, I'm fine, aren't I?" always the optimist, the daemon tamer smiled brightly at him. "Besides, I've recovered, haven't I? What's the problem? If you needed blood so badly, you could have told us. I'm fine with it."

"… Really?" well, that was a shock and a half. Knowing humans and their prejudice against anything other than humans and fluffy, harmless animals, the last thing he'd expected was to Daisuke not to freak out. Then he remembered that this was Daisuke that he was talking/thinking about, so maybe it shouldn't have come so much as a shock.

"Yeah."

If he'd been a mortal, it would have been correct to say that blood was pounding in his ears at this point, but Satoshi, being the vampire he was, really didn't have blood in him at all, but the sensation was probably quite similar. Before either one knew exactly what was happening, the blunette leaned forward to kiss Daisuke.

Ruby eyes widened in shock for a split second before they closed and the redhead returned the kiss willingly; but, of course, interruptions seemed to be the main course of where they were and the door behind them burst open.

Aine gave a yelp of pain as she hit the floor hard with a thud. Groaning, she rubbed the bottom of her chin and grimaced, "I hate this place sometimes…"

Satoshi raised an eyebrow, "What were you doing?"

"Aine-chan," Daisuke, recollecting his thoughts, smiled brightly from his position on the bed, "were you trying to listen in again?"

This made the vampire turn around, "Again?"

"Oh, she just has this thing with eavesdropping on people who come here… even her own family… it's kind of funny because most of the doors are pretty unstable and… well… you just saw."

"Right…"

"Hey, hey, Dai-chan's recovered," without any semblance of a warning, the sandy-blonde-haired girl had picked herself up and glomped the redhead; after running the short distance between the door and the bed, of course. At this point, Satoshi was wondering how sane she really was, and Daisuke… well, he seemed to be used to this sort of treatment.

"So, then," she grinned before her eyes shifted on the two of them, "what were you two doing then, eh? You guys seem quite familiar with each other… so I was wondering… you know…"

Daisuke blinked, "Wondering… what… exactly?" Sometimes it was hard, even for his family, to work out where her mind was going.

"Doing it! You know!" she seemed agitated that neither boy was catching her drift.

"…" the vampire looked over, hoping for an explanation from Daisuke, but the redhead looked just as baffled. Interpreting With was easier than this, that was for sure.

He thought for a moment, "Doing it… like… work? Planning? Talking about his heritage?"

She shook her head firmly, "Geez, you're still so clueless. Well, never mind then, I'll just have to explain it to you and…" something heavy hit the back of her head and she jolted forward into Daisuke, "Fuc… I mean, hey, that hurt! Argie--!"

Aine pouted as she turned to look at her brother, who shook his head by the doorway. The book she'd been carrying with her earlier that day (and dropped it when she glomped Daisuke) was now lying on the carpeted floor innocently.

"You have to stop confusing people like that and, honestly, they're only seventeen, as far as I know." He snapped, annoyed.

"Say what?" the redhead looked over questioning, but got a shake of the head in reply.

"Don't give Daisuke more bad influences on your part, Aine, please," a long-haired blonde entered, frowning lightly. "You did a rather thorough job on Daichi when they were here already."

"Alethea-san!" the redhead beamed suddenly – albeit scarily – and attempted to get out of bed, nearly tripped, and it was only because Satoshi was there that he didn't end up breaking his nose. Wrapping his arms around the vampire's neck, Daisuke inclined his head, not caring about the position he was now in. "Uh… shouldn't you be at work?"

Smiling calmly, she walked over, pushed Aine on the shoulder to make her sit down, and then took a seat herself on the bed. "Ne, ne? Daisuke, you've really grown, haven't you? And matured a lot." She held her hand up a certain height from the floor, "I remember when you were that tall, remember?"

"Mou… I wasn't THAT short…"

More or less unnoticed, Satoshi watched as the conversation went between the two, which soon became banter with Aine and Argentine involved (if not unwillingly) and he pondered the situation at the moment. The vampire couldn't help but notice that Alethea seemed to have a motherly-air to her, especially that little fact about Daisuke being short… like, very short…

Now that he thought about it, Daisuke had grown quite a bit over the last three years, although he'd never say it out loud himself; leave that to Dark or something.

"So… Satoshi, is it?" he snapped out of his musing and met Alethea's eyes.

"Yeah?"

"You're a full-blooded, true vampire then, eh?"

"That's right."

"Well, then… I suppose that's fine. Take good care of Daisuke, okay?"

"Yeah! Or we'll get you," Aine added helpfully.

"Oi…" Daisuke began, but no one was really paying him much attention.

"Okay…" agreed Satoshi, although he wondered why they were telling him this. It sounded just a bit too… well, okay, so they were traveling together and all, but there seemed to be another meaning behind their words. Not to mention Argentine was now muttering under his breath and scowling. The only word the blunette made out was "unnatural"…

It seemed that they knew more about the situation between them then even they knew. And that was slightly worrying.

Not that he could do anything about it.

"Oh yeah; where're Dark and Krad?" Daisuke had leaned forward to tug lightly at Aine's hair. She turned to face him, blinked, and then turned to the other two in the room.

"Sis? Bro?"

"No idea," Argentine said while Alethea shrugged. He was about to say more, but another blonde entered the room. He nodded to Daisuke, ignored Satoshi, and then turned to the other three.

"It looks like the alarm's gone off in that room," he said lightly. The other three blondes jerked up in an instant at this.

"You two stay here," commanded Alethea, "We'll take care of this."

Daisuke opened his mouth to protest, but Aine clapped a hand over it and shoved him back onto the bed before leaving herself. Argentine was the last to leave and he inclined his head at the redhead, who stared back questioningly.

"Let's just say those lunatics that are after your companions seemed to have honed in on them so…" he sighed before leaving the room.

"Well… that was… odd," Satoshi commented, not allowing the silence to stretch out.

"Hm, actually, this is more passive compared to what I remembered," the redhead commented, before expanding due to the vampire's blank look, "Argentine, Aine, Alethea and Armel Delvin are quadruplets."

"That would explain why they're so alike."

"Yeah, anyway, their parents were rarely at home when I was still living around here, so they've been more or less living on their own, supporting one another."

"And their attitudes…?"

"Always like that," Daisuke grinned, "it's just a family thing of theirs. I wouldn't worry about it, Hiwatari-kun."

"I see." The blunette thought for a moment, before shrugging it off, "I'd rather not ask what Aine was talking about before…"

"Don't worry. She's always been one to make random comments."

"… but in terms about us…"

"Hm?"

000

"Hell!" Dark yelped as he leapt to one side to avoid being sliced in half with the blade that Krad was currently wielding. "Do you have to be that violent! Are you trying to kill me or something!"

The blonde thought about it for a moment, and then grinned, "Well, it wouldn't be such a bad idea, now, would it? Besides, you're the one who asked for training! I'm a mercenary by trade! So pipe down and fight back!"

She came at him with an overhead cut and the purple-haired adolescent gave another yelp as he tried to dodge it. Krad fumed, "Stop dodging it and fight back, moron!"

"But you're gonna kill me!"

"Tough luck! At least defend!"

As she swung at him again, Dark did as he was told and there was the distinct sound to metal clashing as he defended with his knives. Both were more or less locked in place and Krad blinked.

"Well, what do you know," she muttered, "you actually know how to defend. I'm shocked."

"And I'm insulted," was the retort, "why do you always have to belittle me like that?.!"

"Because you're a complete moron!"

Dark rolled his eyes at this, still straining to make sure that the blade Krad was still holding onto didn't slice him into pieces, which, at this point, was probably what the blonde was thinking at the moment. So he did the only smart thing he could think of to distract her; he kissed her.

Of course, this did shock Krad, but at the same time it meant he got a fist in his face and he was knocked back. "Dammit, Krad! You're too violent!"

"And you're a damn freaking idiot!" she snapped, glaring at him, "If you were caught in that same situation with an enemy, would you seriously do that?"

"Well… if it distracted them long enough…"

"Damnit!" Krad shook her head, re-sheathing her blade, "You can be so thick sometimes!"

"What's that supposed to mean?.!"

"Whatever you're damn thick skull wants to interpret it as!"

Spinning on her heel, the blonde stomped her way back to the house, with Dark scrambling after her with With, who had come back sometime when they hadn't been paying much attention. The last thing she expected then was for the door to suddenly slam open when she'd been about to open it herself, and it sent her reeling back rather forcefully. Slamming into the guy behind her, it was only by chance that they didn't collapse in a heap.

"Bloody hell…" Krad muttered, clearly beginning to snap under the pressure.

"Oh, sorry about that," Aine smiled slightly in embarrassment, "maybe I shouldn't be so enthusiastic in the future…"

"Not going to happen, with you anyway," Argentine commented.

"Wow, you guys have doubled," Dark said, as he noticed the other two behind them, "now I'm officially freaked."

"We'll talk later," Aine shrugged at her brother and sister, before shoving them back towards the door, "go back to where Daisuke and Satoshi are, 'kay? We'll deal with this."

Krad turned her head slightly as she managed to regain her balance, "Deal with what?" but she was talking to the door as it slammed shut. "Oh great. Let's just go then."

"What's going on?" Dark asked.

"Kyuu!"

There was a sudden, rattling explosion.

"Well," sighed the blonde, turning the knob to where the other two were, "we'll probably find out sooner than later."

000

"Scout report!"

"So?"

"We've found them! It wasn't hard, seeing as their not exactly mortal, now are they?"

"Good job. We'll leave a message for the others."

"We're going before them?"

"Of course, moron! They might move off if we wait."

"Oh… okay…"

"Move out!"

000

(cue suspense music) Caught out! Although they don't know it. And quadruplets? Why that? Because we already had enough twins XD Risa and Riku and Daisuke and Daichi… why more? So yeah, Argentine has two sisters and a brother now and they all look alike XP

Kissing! Stuff! I can't do anything beyond that, so… yeah. And what do you know, Daisuke and Satoshi kissed before Dark and Krad, although Krad half killed him for it… XD

(has no idea what's going to happen next)