Disclaimer: All the characters used in this story are the sole property of Yukiru Sugisaki.

Thanks to everyone who took the time and reviewd. I'm sorry for every grammatical error you may find but it's the best I can do and I really try to improve my (non-existent) english skills

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Garden of forgotten dreams
02 – Desperation

- - -

The ticking of a clock was the first sound the red-haired boy noticed when he finally woke up in his bed, not sure if the events of the previous night had been a nightmare or not.

'Believe me, everything has been frighteningly real.'

Abruptly Daisuke sat up, ignoring the slight nausea radiating through his body. 'Where's Satoshi?'

'He's in the guestroom. Your mother took him in when we came back yesterday. I guess he's still unconscious.'

Slowly the redhead came to his feet and made his way to the door. 'I need to see him.'

'Wouldn't it be better to talk to Emiko first?' Dark dared to raise objections to his friends actions.

Daisuke ignored him. Silently they crossed the floor and without hesitation the boy carefully opened the door to the guestroom and stepped inside.

Satoshi was lying on the bed. Still unconscious, his blue hair spread over the cushions and surrounding his head like a halo, Daisuke suddenly felt his mouth becoming dry.

The thief chuckled knowingly. 'I gather from your behaviour that you care for him.'

'Of course I care! He's my friend! Nothing more nothing less!' The red-haired boy defended himself although he knew it was rather futile. The thief had long ago picked up all the emotions growing inside his heart for this mysterious bluenette know lying right in front of him... His gaze flickered over the pale flesh where the blanket had gone out of place and bared a flawless shoulder to his hungry eyes. Could it be...?

'Get your mind out of the gutter.' The thief stated harshly and a little bit worried when his alter ego attempted to grab the covers. For whatever purpose Dark didn't dare to think about but it made him rather nervous.

'I'll only wanted to make sure he's not freezing!' His friend managed to look hurt and guilty at the same time.

'If you say so.' Pretending to be disinterested, Dark stifled a yawn. 'Now you've convinced yourself that he's alright can we please go and talk to your mother?'

Daisuke obviously wasn't willing to leave the room. Instead of following the thief's suggestion, he decided to stay. 'What happened?'

The thief hesitated. 'I'm not sure.'

He tried to retard his answer but Daisuke was insistent. 'Tell me! Is he dying?'

'I have no idea. We don't even know if he still has his soul!'

'But…' The redhead chewed nervously on his bottom lip. 'When his soul is gone… what happens to him? Will he stay unconscious for the rest of his life? Or will he simply fade away like the boy who was caught several weeks ago?'

'I don't know. All we can do is to wait if awakes.'

'And if not?'

Dark smiled sadly. 'Then we have to fight on our own.'

- - -

Pain. White, hot, blinding. Burning through every nerve and fibre of his body and leaving him exhausted and numb.

"Satoshi, please wake up!"

He knew this voice. He was absolutely sure that somehow he just had to know…

"Satoshi, please! Don't give up. I know you can hear me!"

Something was missing. He could feel a terrible loss inside his mind and the pain of it nearly drove him insane. It was as if his soul was torn in half.

"Please… wake up…"

He never wanted to listen to obey when waking up meant to accept the loneliness constantly growing inside him.

Then a soft touch caught his attention. Something warm and tender pressed against his lips and Satoshi felt himself responding.

It was a very nice feeling… Curious he opened his eyes.

"Satoshi!" Daisuke's face came in his field of vision, a relieved smile on his lips. "We feared we had lost you!"

Had he been sick? This wasn't his room. The blue-haired boy looked around and noticed a pile of foreign clothes neatly folded on a stool nearby. Then his hand brushed over his thigh. Almost instantly a slight blush crept up his face when he realised that the covers were the only thing hiding his naked body from Daisuke's view.

"We had to undress you. Your clothes were torn beyond redemption and I thought it would be alright for you to borrow some of mine."

Wordlessly Satoshi tried to process this information and ended up accepting it. He was too tired to care anyway. His attention snapped back to the boy sitting beside him when Daisuke took his hand and squeezed it lightly.

"I know it is hard for you but please tell me what happened."

For a long moment Satoshi only stared at him, not sure if he would be able to vocalize the one thought that was predominant in his mind. But when Daisuke leaned in, clearly worried about him, he couldn't hold it back any longer.

"It hurts…"

"What hurts?"

Satoshi closed his eyes, trying to regain control over his feelings but the emptiness inside his mind pained him. "Krad. He's gone."

'What!'

Daisuke winced when the thief in his mind cried out in surprise. "How can he be gone?"

'When you think about it, it's rather obvious. Satoshi's still here but when Krad is gone then it must have been him who was taken by the net.'

'Does this mean Satoshi's free?'

Somehow Daisuke sounded too happy for his liking and Dark felt an uneasy feeling growing in his heart. Will he be equally happy when I'm gone? Then another realisation hit him and unexpectedly he felt tears forming in his eyes. 'He sacrificed himself…'

'Dark?'

The thief hastened to cover his sorrow with a presumptuous smile. 'It really is obvious, Daisuke. Krad took over Satoshi's body and ended up imprisoned by the net. Their separation was a forced one. In time Satoshi would have created a family and passed his curse on but as matters stands he now lost an important part of his soul and I'm sure all he can feel is emptiness where Krad should have been.'

'Do you really think he misses him?'

'It's not a question about missing. It's a question about need. He needs him. Otherwise it will take Satoshi forever to heal.'

Finally all the pieces fell in place. 'But its also possible that he'll never recover.'

'Exactly.'

'Then there is only one thing we can do.' Daisuke stated firmly and the determination in his voice was sending a shiver of misgiving down the thief's spine. 'We have to bring Krad back.'

- - -

"We need more information and Satoshi is the only one who can give them to us."

"But he's hurt!" Right after he woke for a very short time, the blue-haired boy had fallen unconscious again. Daisuke wasn't too happy about the thought of bothering Satoshi but his mother was persistent.

"I know that he's recovering from a trauma but we can't be considerate of his pain. We can't afford to waste any more time."

'She's right, Daisuke. The Hikari's created the net and therefore they have to know everything about it. And unfortunately Satoshi's the last of his line. There is no-one else we can ask.'

'What makes you think that Satoshi can be of any help? Isn't it possible that he doesn't know anything at all?'

'The Hikaris used to keep diaries about their artefacts wherein they described in detail appearance, effectiveness and possible ways of abatement. Hopefully those diaries are still existing.'

Daisuke told his mother what Dark had said and Emiko nodded. "I've heard about that, too. But none of us knows where those diaries are. The Hikaris hid them somewhere in their mansion."

"Mansion!" Daisuke knitted his brows. "I've never heard about a mansion. Satoshi's living in a small apartment."

His mother threw him an amused smile. "He may be living in an apartment but he's the last of the Hikari line. On this account he inherited all the family fortune. And believe me, the Hikaris are a rather wealthy family."

For several moments both Niwas were sitting in silence then the red-haired boy sighed in defeat and nodded. "I guess you're right. We have to ask him. But can we at least wait until he's waking up?"

Emiko shook her head. "Impossible. It may be days until he wakes and we need to start immediately."

"Alright." Daisuke slowly came to his feet. "But I'm the one questioning him. I don't want you to upset him"

The boy quickly left the room and his mother could do nothing else than to stare at him in mild wonder, asking herself if there was something she better should know about.

- - -

When Satoshi woke for the second time that day he felt a whole lot better than before although he still had the feeling to be incomplete.

Smiling humourlessly he reprimanded himself for being so inconsequent. Since the day he first learned about the curse he had to live with, he had wished to be free.

But losing Krad hurt more than he could ever have suspected. Deep inside his soul there was a place, now cold and deserted, where once the warm presence of his curse had been. His freedom was nothing more than a cruel lie.

Even if it was hard to admit: He couldn't live without his curse. And now he would give everything to have him back.

"You're awake!"

The soft voice of his friend took him by surprise and made the blue-haired boy flinch.

"How are you?" Daisuke sat down on the edge of the bed. Hesitating for only one moment he finally plucked up his courage and took Satoshi's hand. "Do you feel better?"

Completely caught off guard Satoshi could do nothing more than to stare at the boy sitting this confidentially beside him.

"Satoshi? Is everything alright?" Daisuke was clearly worried about his behaviour but Satoshi couldn't bring himself to answer.

Memories of his last encounter with the red-haired boy flooded his mind. He recognised the worry in Daisuke's eyes, his smooth voice full of concern and pity and suddenly out of the deepest part of his mind he remembered more… something had touched his lips, something soft and warm, so wonderfully tender he never wanted to miss it again and in this instant he realised that he must have been kissed by his friend.

Ranging between embarrassment and shock he found himself in a loss for words. Daisuke had kissed him? Somehow he couldn't bring his mind to accept this idea but there was no other possible conclusion. The sensation had been unmistakable.

"Satoshi, please say something. You're scaring me!"

"I'm sorry, Daisuke. I was a little bit… distracted." The blue-haired commander forced a weak smile on his lips and noticed with amusement how happy the other boy suddenly seemed.

"After all you've been through it's more than understandable to feel distracted. But..." Daisuke fidgeted restlessly, obviously not sure how to continue.

'Come on, Dai-chan! Ask him. We can't afford to waste any more time.'

"There is something we need to talk about." Daisuke decided that it was best for him to plunge right in. "We know what happened. Krad is gone. Dark told me that this forced separation is hurting you and I want to bring him back."

Satoshi inhaled sharply but his friend wasn't finished.

"Dark remembered the diaries your family kept. Please give them to us. We need to gather as much information as possible about the net before we go back into the house and fight it."

Daisuke wanted to bring Krad back? Take such a risk only for a demon who wanted to kill him more than once? Satoshi's thoughts were quickly reduced to one question. "Why?"

"Because I l... care about you." Blushing furiously the boy in front of him suddenly found the ceiling rather interesting.

'How inconspicuously.'

'Shut up.'

'Why can't you admit that its not his friendship your interested in?'

"Because it's not true!"

Blinking in surprise, Satoshi asked slightly bewildered: "What's not true?"

"Erm...never mind." Daisuke flashed a brilliant red and did his best to ignore the thief's hysterical laughter in the back of his head. "Please, Satoshi! Give us those diaries!"

The bluenette closed his eyes. "And you really want to bring him back?"

Oh god, how he needed him. To fill this aching hole in his heart and soul with the presence of his demon again. Maybe there even was a chance for them to learn to bear each others presence without fighting. If only he got him back he would do better.

Daisuke nodded. "Yes."

A soft sigh, then: "Alright. I'll give them to you."

"Thank you, Satoshi!" Daisuke leaned in and before his friend had the slightest chance to react he planted a short kiss on his cheek. "I'll tell mom about it."

Then he was gone and Satoshi found himself staring in deep shock at the closed door.

tbc