August 4, 2009

"Honey," my mom said softly. "Wake up, Kuri."

I sat up. "W-What's up? Are you crazy? It's like, five thirty AM."

"Your dad and I have to go away and visit your grandfather," she said. "Your father's packing the car. Y-You can't come. We don't know how long we'll be gone, so we arranged for you to stay with the Niwas—"

"What?" I stopped her. "Oh I get it, I'm dreaming, right?"

"No, no, listen, honey," my mom said. "We have to go, okay? But we'll be back soon, I promise. Now you go back to sleep, and you can pack up and go over to the Niwas' house when you get up."

I awoke in bright sunlight. I despised it. At first I didn't remember why I was so upset, but then I did. I picked up a book and threw it at the wall.

I sat on my bed, and tears poured down my cheeks.

I began to pack my bags.

"This stone…it has powerful magic, Daisuke," Satoshi said.

He and Rei searched for matches on their laptops. After a few seconds, Rei found one. Once she had read the screen, she gasped.

"Daisuke…how long has Kuri been using this stone?" she asked, a worried tone in her voice.

"She uses it every day at least," Daisuke replied. "What is it?"

"It's like a controlling agent," Satoshi replied, reading the screen. "She has one half of the stone, and someone else…has the other half. That's who has been controlling her. Every time she uses magic and uses the stone as a focus object, that person gets more control. And…I think I found out what they are using her for."

Daisuke looked at the screen of Satoshi's computer, but he didn't understand the language on the screen. "W-What is that?"

"It's an ancient spell," Satoshi replied. "Only people like Kuri understand it. Dark and Krad might be able to…but I'm not sure. And besides, this spell…is only meant for the extremely practiced and powerful. Dark and Krad would both be destroyed attempting to do it, so you can imagine what would happen to Kuri. It's a spell that will undo everything Dark has done…it will reawaken all the Hikari arts."

Daisuke stood. "We have to warn Miss Kuri."

"Where is she?" asked Rei, looking even more worried now. "She was supposed to meet us here. Kuri's always early, never late."

"Daisuke, go find her," Satoshi said. "I'm going to find out who's doing this."

Rei looked at Satoshi. He was more worried than she expected. She had thought he disliked Kuri. Why did he seem so upset? Was there something else involved?

"Mrs. Niwa?" I said softly. "My mother said I was to stay here for the remainder of the summer."

"Yes, of course, dear," Daisuke's mom said to me.

A few minutes later, I was all unpacked and sitting on the bed of the guest room.

"Mrs. Niwa….I'm going down to the beach, okay," I said to her, leaving out the back door.

"Mom!" Daisuke rushed in his house. "Do we have any surveillance of Miss Kuri's house? I need to know if she left, or if someone took her!"

"No one took her, silly!" his mom said. "She's staying with us! Her parents left. She went to the beach."

"I'm going after her," Daisuke said.

He ran out the back door and down to the beach.

I sang softly, some meaningless lyrics from something I had heard on the radio. I was crying, and trying my best to make the tears stop.

"Miss Kuri?" Daisuke said from behind me, making me jump. "That was…really beautiful!"

Suddenly he noticed I was crying. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I don't understand it, Daisuke," I said softly. "Everyone I love, I'm losing. And I can't stop it. Not with all my magic crap, I can't do a thing."

I turned suddenly and walked towards the water. "Take me now!" I yelled dramatically.

"Hey, stop!" Daisuke ran over and pulled me back up on the rocks. "There's a drop-off there! You could really get hurt!"

"Would serve me right, y'know?!" I exclaimed, wiping my tears with my hand angrily.

"No, it wouldn't!" Daisuke replied just as fiercely. "Just because you messed up, doesn't mean you deserve to be punished!"

I sat down. "It just hurts so much."

To my surprise, Daisuke knelt and took me in his arms while I cried. "I know it does. I've lost people too. But…it gets better, I promise."

She seems so strong, but she really does hurt a lot, Daisuke thought. When I told her she was being controlled, she still blamed herself, saying she should have fought harder! She's…frustrating. At least she promised to stop using that stone.

Daisuke? Dark asked. You know in a couple days we have to go looking for The Dagger to End the Heart, right? Are you going to tell her?

Mom said she would tell her, Daisuke responded. And Hiwatari promised me he'd keep an eye on her.

Daisuke…we might…really get hurt this time, Dark said, more quietly. Don't you want to tell her before we leave…in case…

Nothing's going to happen, Dark! Daisuke said, angrily. We'll be home safe.