Dark gazed out across the park, listlessly counting the minutes away. He had resisted the urge to follow Daisuke to school that day. Spending a day by himself had been easy enough, in theory, but Dark was quickly finding that after such a long coexistence, he hated being alone.
"Mister!" a little girl was tugging at his pant leg.
He glanced down, shaken from his reverie. She was small; about four or five, he reasoned, and her sundress was muddy and torn. "Hn?" he asked distractedly.
"Mister, please!" her eyes were clouding with tears. "We were playing and he fell! He won't get up, Mister…"
Dark paused a minute, trying to decipher some sort of meaning from the little girl's incoherent babble. He followed her to the other side of the park where a narrow stone wall separated the playing area from a Buhdist graveyard below.
"He climbed on the wall…" she was saying.
Realization crept icily into Dark's mind. Someone had fallen from the wall, and someone was probably still on the other side. His heartbeat racing to block the thoughts clouding his mind, Dark vaulted the wall into the graveyard below.
There, on the hard-packed soil, lay the motionless form of a small child. His frail body was much too still, his limbs jutting at odd angles. Dark could feel a twisting in his stomache. He reached out to check the boy's pulse and recoiled in horror. His little body had already grown cold.
"Get an adult!" he croaked, his voice breaking in panic.
"Mister…" the little girl implored quietly. "You are an adult…"
Dark glanced to her suddenly. Such a thing hadn't occurred to him. "What… what am I supposed to do?" he asked, suddenly feeling very unsure.
The girl's lip quivered, her eyes seemed to be looking into his soul, begging him to save her dead friend, to erase time. He wanted to run.
You are an adult…
"Oh God…" he turned back to the prone boy. Nothing had changed. The boy was still there, the same as he had been. The wind touseled his hair in a lighthearted manner, earily out of place for the situation. Unnable to think, Dark scooped the motionless body into his arms. The boy was heavy; heavy with a weight unnatural for his small body. It couldn't be… Dark wouldn't accept it.
"Go home!" he shouted at the girl as he sprinted the length of the park. "Go home and tell your mother to call the hospital!"
"Riku…" Daisuke had finally caught up with her at the train station.
"Let go of me!" she tried to jerk her wrist from his grasp. "Let go of me!"
"Riku, please!" he begged. "Just give me a chance to explain!"
Finally succeeding in freeing her wrist, she spun around to face him. Her cheeks were red with anger, embarrassment and pain, and her tears seemed to cut lines through the pink of her cheeks. "How can you explain!" she demanded. "How on earth do you think you can explain that!"
Daisuke was taken aback. She was right. What did he expect to say? What was there to explain?
"Do you… do you really love him, Daisuke?" she gulped through her tears. "You love Dark… instead of me?"
It was breaking his heart to see her like this. "I… It's not… like that, Riku… I… care for you. Dark is just…" Is just what? He demanded of himself. He sighed. "Look… I… met Dark about a year ago. I didn't realize the way that I felt until recently, Riku. I really didn't mean to lead you on or to hurt you, but…" he took a deep breath to steady his resolve. He wouldn't lie about this. He owed it to Dark to tell the truth. "I do love him, Riku. I love him more than I knew I was capable of loving, and what we have together is so much more than I ever hoped for in my life."
"What about what we have?" she squeeked.
Daisuke cringed. "Riku… you don't… really love me. Maybe you think you do, but… how can you call what we have 'love'? You… really don't even know me." He said the last part, realizing it for the first time, himself. "You don't know who I am. You don't know what I do. You don't even know what I want to be!"
"I want to know, Daisuke! I want to know you!" she pleaded. "I've tried, but every time I want to get close, you push me away! I've asked you about things, Daisuke, I've asked you about yourself!"
"No…" he shook his head. "You haven't. You've only ever asked me… about Dark."
She was silent. He was right. Riku stared at the cracks in the cement between her feet. Had she ever… really even thought about Daisuke without thinking about Dark? Had there ever been a time that she spent with him when Dark didn't intrude on her thoughts? How did she feel when Daisuke held her hand? Did she feel anything?
"Dai… suke…" she breathed after a moment, finally looking up to meet his eyes. "Oh, Daisuke… you're right." Her eyes were beginning to well up with tears again. "I don't know you."
"Riku," he began. "I really didn't want to hurt you. I… I meant to tell you before, but I didn't know how! It was… I was afraid of what you'd think, or if you'd be mad, or-
She cut him off, taking his hand gently. "Daisuke… I don't… want to hear this right now." She said firmly. "Soon… soon I'll be okay again, but… right now, I really don't want to hear this." She smiled sadly. "We'll be friends, Daisuke, but right now, I need some time to think, that's all. Is that okay?"
He nodded weakly. She was handling it better than he'd thought… at least he hoped so. It was hard to tell.
She gave his hand a light squeeze. "My train's here." She announced. "If you see Risa, tell her I didn't feel well, okay?"
"Okay…" he agreed. "Riku, I'm… I'm sorry."
She shook her head. "I don't care right now." She told him, apologetically. "I'll… talk to you in a couple of days." With that, the door to the train hissed shut and began its treck out of the station.
Daisuke stared after the train for a long time. He didn't feel like going home just yet. Even though he knew he didn't love her, it still hurt. He'd never wanted to see that look in her eyes, or hear that tone in her voice, like she was too weary for words. He gazed down the road a bit and decided to walk home. It would give him time to think, time to grieve, time to sort it all out. He didn't want Dark to have to see him like this.
Thinking of Dark cheered him a little. At least there was that.
"Dark?" Emiko knocked gently on the door. "Please, Dark, just open the door." He hadn't come out since he'd returned from the hospital and it was beginning to worry her. "There's nothing more you could have done," she tried to console him, "even the doctors said so."
The door creaked open, revealing a very bedraggled looking Dark. "They weren't there." He mumbled. "They don't know what I did."
"Oh Dark…" she reached out to brush his hair back from his eyes. "Dark, he's going to be okay. I know it was scary, but it's okay now."
"He… won't walk again, will he?" he asked, knowingly.
She bit her lip, "No… probably not."
"I… thought he was dead." He confided. "I really thought he was dead."
"Come on." She took him by the elbow, leading him downstairs. "Let's have some tea, okay?"
Emiko set the cup before Dark. "Do you want sugar?" she asked, knowing he would. He didn't reply, so she added some anyway, stirring the tea for him.
"He was… so heavy in my arms," he told her, "and so cold. Emiko… I've never seen death before."
"And you didn't today." She reminded. "Dark, why are you so worked up about all this? It's sad, that's true, but accidents happen. He didn't die. Because of you, that little boy didn't die today. There's something else bothering you, Dark, what is it?"
He met her eyes suddenly. "Daisuke could die." He told her.
She stared at him for a moment. "Yes… he could," she agreed, "we all could. That's not something we can control."
He shifted his gaze away from her to his tea.
"That's what you're worrying about?" she asked him.
"Is it… selfish of me?" he wondered. "That little boy is in the hospital. His parent's are probably worried sick, and all I can do is sit here and worry about myself, and how I don't want to be alone."
"Nobody wants to be alone." She assured him. "It's not selfish to want to protect the people we love." She took his hand gently. "Don't you think I worry about Daisuke?" she asked. "I do. I worry about him and Kosuke and my father. Sometimes I worry so much that I don't get anything done. And every night that you go out, Dark, I worry about you. If you're selfish, then I'm worse. I worry that if something happened to you, Daisuke would never smile again, and I couldn't stand that. Is that selfish?" she asked.
Dark gazed at her for a long moment, and finally smiled. "He is going to be okay, though… that little boy, right? I mean… at least, he'll live."
She nodded. "He'll live."
Dark smiled. "Then what am I sitting around moping for? I've got a museum to rob."
"I'm home!" Daisuke called upon entering the house.
"Welcome back, sweetie!" Emiko called.
"Welcome back!" Kosuke and Daichi corrussed.
So Dark was out. Daisuke remembered hearing the kids at school talking about a note during break, but he'd completely forgotten about it, what with the stresses of the day. It was nearing eight o' clock. Dark wouldn't be too much longer. He smiled, hugging his bag to himself. It would be good to see Dark after such a long day. He hadn't realized how much of a comfort it was to have Dark always with him until recently, until he had to reacquaint himself with the emptiness of his own thoughts. He'd forgotten how to daydream long ago. He'd been sheltering his thoughts so carefully… but now, certain functions were coming back, certain recollections… certain pictures from a certain comic book… He flushed slightly, shaking the dizzying thoughts from his head.
"You're home late." Emiko stated, poking her head around the corner.
"I decided to walk back," he replied, "It was such a nice day." He neglected to mention that he'd passed their street several times, not quite finished enough with his musings to head home.
She nodded, then, "Baby, come sit with me a minute. Something happened today that you should know about."
Daisuke sat and listened in increasing horror to the recount of Dark's afternoon. He felt a litteral ache for the older boy. How it must have hurt Dark to be so helpless!
"… and it sort of scared him, Dai," Emiko was saying, "So just be a little bit sensitive to that tonight. It's hard for him, you know? There's so much he doesn't understand yet."
Daisuke nodded emphatically. "Poor Dark!"
Emiko smiled. "I knew you'd understand." She paused a minute. Daisuke quirked an eyebrow. She was giving him that weird smile… "Kyaaaa! You two are Soooooooo cute!"
Daisuke jumped almost a foot in the air. "Don't do that!" he snapped. "You could give somebody a heart-atack! Besides… it's embarrassing…"
Emiko frowned. "What's embarrassing about it, Daisuke?" she asked. "Your father and I aren't embarrassed by our love, ne Ko-chan?" she asked.
"Nope," he replied with a wink over the edge of a newspaper.
"See?" she added, as if it proved her point. "And Dark isn't embarrassed about it, so why should you be?"
Daisuke flushed. He didn't like this line of questioning. It inevitably lead to something very personal. "I- well… it's different." He crossed his arms childishly. "Because… you're my parents! You're not supposed to discuss those things with your parents!"
She knitted her brow in thought. "I talk to father all the time about those things." She protested.
"Wish you wouldn't." Daichi grunted from the low table where he was pretending to take a nap.
"Pish posh." She scolded him. "You're happy for me."
Daisuke shook his head, but he couldn't restrain a grin. It did make him happy in some ways, to know how happy she was about it, but it was still all so sudden. It was all moving so fast and Daisuke was beginning to wonder if things ever slowed down.
It had only been a weekend, but it seemed like an eternity. Things would start changing soon, what with Riku and Satoshi and-
"You'll need a bigger bed." Emiko concluded, as if she had just ended a conversation with him.
"What?" he asked, startled.
"That single just won't be big enough," she replied. "I mean, you can't very well move out while you're still in high school, but we could at least get you a bigger bed."
He blinked. "For what?"
She raised an eyebrow as if that were hint enough.
Daisuke stared.
She nudged him.
He blinked.
She stared.
"Mom… I don't know what you're talking about."
She sighed in defeat. "That little one's too rickety!" she replied, exasperated, "It'll probably break!"
"Break?"
She stared.
Break? Daisuke thought a minute, then flushed. "Mom!" he yelped.
She shrugged. "It would break." She told Kosuke.
He glanced over the edge of the paper with a your mother's right look. "It would break," he agreed.
"D-dad!" Daisuke replied in shock. "You guys can't be serious!" He leapt up. "Stop prying into my sex life!"
Kosuke blinked. "Sex life?" He flushed a little. "I just meant… y'no… it can't support both your and Dark's weight for too long…"
Daisuke flushed.
Kosuke flushed.
Emiko giggled. "You two are such prudes!"
Daichi sighed and rolled over to continue his nap.
"Feh!" Dark grinned, tossing the gem in the air and catching it on its decent. "Commander, you're getting slow."
Satoshi glared from his prone position on the floor, straddled between Dark's knees.
"I think he's wearing you out." Dark offered, reffering to Satoshi's alter-ego. "You let him take control too much… he doesn't respect your body. He puts you into unnecessary danger."
Satoshi looked away angrily. "And what am I supposed to do about it? If I'm getting weaker, he's getting stronger. It's becoming harder and harder to restrain him when…" he trailed off.
"When you think about Daisuke?" Dark asked softly.
There was momentary panic in the boy's eyes as he struggled against his own thoughts. "Shut-up…" he mumbled.
Dark sighed. He really did like Satoshi. He hadn't at first, and they were on opposing sides of a battle, but there was good in him. Good that Daisuke saw, good that he himself was beginning to see. Satoshi was a prisoner within himself, fighting Krad for dominance over his own thoughts. Dark pursed his lips a minute. "If I told you something…" he began, "If I told you something, some secret… then you would have to make a promise to me."
This caught the boy's attention. His weary eyes met Dark's with curiousity, but mistrust. "If you told me what?" he demanded.
"Ah-ah." Dark scolded. "First you would have to promise me something."
Satoshi shifted uncomfortably. "What would I have to promise you?" he asked, almost patronizingly.
Dark met his eyes intensely. "If I tell you how to overcome this little problem, you will promise me to not think of Daisuke like that anymore."
"What?" Satoshi's eyes widened.
"You will acknowledge that Daisuke is mine," Dark continued, "that he will always be mine. You will realize this and move on."
Satoshi stared at him as if he had said the most preposterous thing imaginable.
"You said you would sacrifice anything, Hiwatari," he pointed out, "So sacrifice this little obsession, and I'll tell you the secret to overcoming White wings."
The boy stared a long moment, obviously deep in thought. Was this some sort of trick? What did Dark have to gain? What did he have to lose? "I'll do it." He finally replied.
Dark smiled, standing up and turning to go. "Good." He grinned over his shoulder.
"Wait! How do I overcome him?" he demanded.
Dark paused. "You cut him out," he said simply. "You deny him your thoughts. Build a wall to keep him out, make him go to sleep. Daisuke did it to me once," he remembered with a distant look in his eye. "All you have to do… is cut him out."
A/N: Oh my! There wasn't any fluffyness in this chapter at all! How terrible… but that's what happens when plot gets in the way. Hmm… well, expect some major fluffy moments in the next chapter. .