Secrets Held Within

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Chapter 3

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Dark's eyes widened and he stared at this new figure that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"I trust you found everything you needed?" The blond said, his wan smile still in place.

Dark shook his head, his momentary shock completely gone. "Who are you?" he asked, confusion and curiosity lacing his voice.

The blond in return, replied, "Who are you?"

Dark frowned, already wary of this stranger. "Dark…Mousy."

"Krad," the blond said simply before making a curt bow. " A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Dark nodded as his eyesight met with Krad's once again. "Yeah…"

This person wore an odd ensemble—consisting of a loose white shirt that crept to just below Krad's chin, veiling his form from the bottom of his ears, downward, and sleeves that flared out slightly. He wore simple black pants, and draped over him was a long black cape.

He watched Dark with cold, golden eyes, and Dark could do nothing—not even find sensible words to say to this man.

Coughing in order to clear his throat, the one called Krad raised a gloved hand to his face, and looked at Dark. "Might I ask, what brought you here?"

Dark looked at the blonde, and raised an eyebrow. "That depends. Why are you here?"

Krad shook his head, smirking lightly. "Must you answer me with questions?"

Dark crossed his arms. "Maybe. What are you doing here?"

Mocking him, and crossing his arms as well, Krad spoke in his silky voice, "This is where I subsist."

"How is that possible—The whole place is covered in dust. No living person could be staying here," Dark argued.

The blonde nodded slightly, a smirk still plastered on his pale face. "How very true you are."

Dark was confused and made no effort to conceal his perplexity. "Eh? Well…what does that make you, then?"

Krad smirk drifted away, leaving only a grim expression. He didn't reply to Dark, but instead stepped outside into the dark, moonlit night.

"Hey…" Dark said, unsure if he had upset the blond.

Krad stopped in mid-step, and turned slightly to look at Dark, who was now following him. The violet haired male paused as Krad had, and looked in bewilderment and the sky.

"Whoa! It's already that late? I have to get back to the inn," He said quickly, taking a few hurried steps down the path. He passed Krad and was a good number of feet in front of him when he heard in a somewhat timid tone, "Will you come back tomorrow?"

It was Dark's turn to pause, and he turned to regard the blonde silently. A long moment passed and then he looked into Krad's forlorn face. "Will you be here?" he asked after a moment.

Krad nodded slightly and Dark did the same. "Yeah, I'll come. See you then," he called before running off down the road.

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Dark opened the doors of the inn to find laughter ringing through the rooms. He walked into the common room and found the two twins sitting next to each other and laughing with the boys he had seen earlier—although the one called Satoshi seemed to merely have his lips curved into a slight smile.

"Hey!" He called, smiling at the four. "Looks like you're all having fun. What have I missed?"

Daisuke turned to look at him, his red eyes shining with laughter. He waved to Dark and smiled. "Hi! I didn't know that this inn was the Harada's!"

Dark smiled. "Was I was supposed to tell you?"

Risa giggled, blushing furiously as Dark entered the room, and she couldn't keep her eyes off of his 'beautiful' face.

Dark pretended not to notice, and had so far done a good job as he listened to Daisuke explain to him how he and Satoshi and the Harada twins had once been very good friends when they were young, but after the sisters moved they had long since lost contact with them.

Dark listened half-heartedly, his mind drifting to the blond he had met earlier. Krad was his name…wasn't it? Yeah, that sounded right. Who was he?—why was Dark so interested in him? He had barely said anything…so why couldn't Dark get him off his mind?

"Dark? Dark!" Riku yelled, as Daisuke waved his hands in front of the purple haired man's face.

"Huh—what?" Dark said, jumping back from the two faces that were only a foot away from his and blinked as he snapped back into reality.

"You…did you hear me?" Daisuke asked, his red eyes glowing with worry.

"Uh…yeah. I was just thinking. Sorry," Dark muttered as he scratched the back of his head.

"Long day?" Satoshi asked quietly, although his voice was heard quite clearly over the room.

"Yeah, I guess," Dark, said as he stood up. "Sorry about that. I think I'm just tired. I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow, okay?"

Dark nodded, and was dismissed when the four friends all bid him farewell and goodnight—some more energetic then others, though.

Walking up the stairs and to his room, Dark smiled faintly. Something just clicked and he couldn't help it—whether it was because there were new people to liven up this boring town or because he had made the acquaintance of a certain mysterious blonde, he couldn't tell. All that mattered was, he could feel in his blood that something remarkable was going to happen, and when it came to things like that, Dark was never wrong.

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Oi, sorry for the short chapter. Unfortunately it's pretty late at night and I finally got around to actually writing this chapter instead of plotting other stories. I hope you can forgive me if it took a little while to update-but my school starts this Monday and my mother insists on going shopping all the time. Oh well, even school won't stop me from updating and posting new stories, so those who care don't have to worry—I swear I won't abandon my stories or anything, okay?

Anyway, thanks to everyone who viewed my story, but…wouldn't you please review for me? It really helps when you do, but I'm not going to complain or beg if you don't want to spend the few minutes it takes to do it. Thanks for reading, anyway, though!

To all those that DID review, you have my utmost gratitude!