Secrets Held Within

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Chapter 5

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Dark slowly turned toward the blonde, facing him completely, and gently rested his hands on his hips. With his face mangled with an expression of curiosity, perplexion, and concern, he asked, "Death?"

Krad's glazed golden eyes flashed, and he violently shook his gaze away from the mantle-piece to Dark. "Did I say that?"

Nodding slowly at first, Dark raised an eyebrow. "Yeah."

"Oh," was all that Krad said before he smiled. "I apologize for that. I wasn't really thinking about what I told you. Well...I was, but," He paused and cleared his throat, " What I mean is that…"

Dark chuckled lightly, causing the blonde to look at him, confused. "It's all right. I understand. Besides, we all think about death one way or another."

Krad nodded and walked towards the window, peering outside. "Then you've thought of dying before?"

"Sure. Like I said: everyone has."

Silence from the blonde; Dark walked over to him, standing next to him as the two looked out the window. "It's weird…" Dark said after a moment. "I can't have known you for longer then a few hours, but it feels like…it feels like it's been so much longer."

Krad lazily looked at Dark from out of the corner of his eye, regarding him quietly. "Is that so good a thing?"

"Yeah, I think so. The only-" Dark was interrupted by a sudden yawn, and was immediately hit with a rush of fatigue. "Whoa…"

"Something's wrong?"

"Just got really tired, is all. Nothing to worry about," He said, smiling boisterously at the blonde, who in return, only shrugged. "If you say so. Maybe you should go home and get some sleep."

Dark shook his head. "I don't live here. I'm staying at the inn in town. The one the Harada's own," he added, as he reminisced of Daisuke playfully scolding him for not informing him of that fact.

"Does it make much of a difference?" Krad asked, unsure why he needed that much information.

"No, not really. I'm sure I could get some rest and stop by again later—if you wouldn't mind, of course," he added hastily.

"Not at all. I enjoy your company, so you shouldn't have to ask if you want to come over. Although…Well, never mind. Just come whenever you want. I'll be here."

Dark nodded to the blonde and headed towards the front room. "All right, then. I'll be back whenever I get around to it, then."

"I'll wait," Krad said as Dark disappeared behind the corner of the room.

Hearing the door close, Krad returned to looking out the window, and dismally placed his elbows on the windowsill, resting his head in the palms of his hands. "What am I doing…?"

It was cold, and Dark was shivering long before he had even been out of eyeshot of the house. He had been foolish, he realized before, not to have brought heavier clothing. Pausing in the middle of the path, he forced his chattering teeth to cease their actions, and quickly ran numb fingers up and down his arms in a futile attempt to warm himself.

"This…isn't…working!" He yelled to no one in particular before he grit his teeth tighter together as icy wind brushed down his throat. Coughing, he scowled at his foolishness and began to run in a brisk pace towards his temporary residence.

The icy air burned his lungs, but he tried to ignore it, and pushed back the pain and continued to run. As if things could not get any worse, Dark was suddenly drenched in a heavy sheet of water—rain pouring from the skies. "God damn it!"

But then…the town came into view, and Dark suppressed a smile despite the fact that rain was falling even harder now then it had been a few moments ago.

Running into the building, he, as quickly and yet quietly as he could, closed the door behind him and ran into his room-giving that door the same treatment as the one in front of the inn.

Changing quickly out of his soaking wet clothes, he dressed in an ensemble made of a thick, cotton like material and dove under the blankets and quilts that layered his bed. Although still shivering, he was asleep in a matter of moments.

Daisuke awoke to almost pitch black. He knew it couldn't have still been before dawn, so he waited and listened. There was a heavy pattering—The sound of rain cascading in rich, thick flows of water down the inn. He relaxed, and began to wake up--nice and slowly.

Several hours later, long after Satoshi had risen as well, the two met up with the Harada's once again.

Sitting in the kitchen watching the two girls prepare food for the customers, Risa suddenly asked, "Where's Mister Dark?"

Riku rolled her eyes, and turned to help her sister with the dishes. "He's probably still asleep. He wakes up at the oddest of hours, and then comes back and sleeps the whole day. Then he gets up and does it again."

Daisuke shrugged, a smile faintly illuminated on his pale face. " I thought I heard him come in this morning, but that was a really long time ago…and normally he'd be up by now…"

Risa's eyes flashed. "Do you think there's something wrong?"

Satoshi scoffed, and rolled his eyes. Daisuke stood up from the chair he was sitting in and walked through the kitchen to the door that lead to the main room. "I don't know," he murmured happily, "but I'll go check. Be back in a minute!" He called, before closing the door behind him.

Quickly, Daisuke stepped towards the older teens room and lightly knocked on the door, noting the silence that followed. "Dark?" he called lightly. When he received no answer, he opened the door and stepped inside, surprised to find that it was nearly impossible to see—for the curtains had been drawn tightly over the window, and no candles were lit.

Stepping carefully through the room as if to avoid breaking anything that might be lying on it, Daisuke reached the curtains and fumbled with the sash that drew it closed. When he finally managed to tug the elegant stream, a mass of light enveloped the room, illuminating all within it.

Before turning to speak with Dark, Daisuke noticed that it was awfully cloudy outside, and that already a strong wind had begun. "Must be a snowstorm," He murmured, before turning to the purple haired figure.

"Dark? Are you awake?"

Dark made no motion or sound, but was silent under several thick bundles.

"Dark," the small boy persisted, "Wake up, it's well past noon and you're still asleep. That isn't healthy, you know."

Dark again, was utterly motionless.

Sighing, Daisuke walked over to the figure and shook him gently. This time, Dark groaned and heavy eyelids fluttered open.

"Dai…? What are you doing here?"

"I came to get you," was the earnest reply. "You've been asleep all morning—everyone was getting worried about you."

Dark lazily closed his eyes, and emitted a horrid cough, his whole body fitfully shaking with the force of it.

"Dark?" Dai called, and he knelt down to fell his forehead. It was burning up. "You're sick!" he declared, standing up.

Other boy slowly ceased coughing and gave a speculating glare to Daisuke. "That's not true. I don't get sick."

"Stay right here, I'll be back with some medicine or something. Just wait," the boy said as he pulled away from Dark's bedside and strode to the door.

"Dai! Wait—I'm fine! I don't need any thing!" Dark called, scrambling to sit up and untangle himself from the many blankets he held atop his figure.

"Stay right there," Daisuke called coldly, freezing Dark in his actions.

"Ugh…fine !" He yelled angrily, pouting much as a small child who had not gotten his way would have. He pulled the blankets violently over his head.

Daisuke entered the kitchen, and finding the older of the two twins there, asked, "Miss Harada, do you keep any medicines or things?"

Riku turned, "Why? Is Dark sick or something?"

Daisuke smiled, "I think he got sick or something from being out in the cold too much. He has a fever right now, so…"

Riku nodded and Risa gasped in over-exaggerated terror, before squealing, "Will he be all right?"

"Oh, Risa. Get over it—He'll be fine if he gets some rest and some good food in him. If you want to help him, go get the medicine out of the basement while I get him some stew. That always helps when one of us has a cold," Riku said to the two boys as she pulled out an ordinary piece of wooden crockery, and began to dish something in it.

Satoshi nodded and looked outside as Risa opened the door to fetch something to help Dark. "It looks like a blizzard," he mused aloud.

"That's what I thought," Daisuke murmured as Satoshi turned to look at Riku. "You said earlier that he went out at the oddest of times, correct?" Pausing for a nod, Satoshi continued his speaking. "Why do you think he does that?"

Daisuke blinked, and then a smile twitched on his lips. "Satoshi…what are you implying?"

Satoshi's eyes gleamed mischievously. "Oh, you know."

Riku's brows furrowed, and then her eyes widened and she gasped—finally grasping what the other two were saying. "You think he's found a girl?"

Satoshi smirked. "I would think he's found someone if he's leaving…how early in the morning?"

Blinking, Daisuke stated, "This morning I woke up to him hitting his head against the window—it was still a good hour or two away from dawn, so…"

Nodding, the tallest of the three friends continued. "If he's waking up that early, it has to be something…"

"So…what?" Riku asked, setting the bowl on the counter and placing a hand on her hip. "Are you planning something?"

Shaking his head, Satoshi shrugged. "Probably not. I'm just curious who it is."

Risa walked in then, shaking her hair out of her face. "How do you even know he likes someone? What if he's just got things to do!" She yelled, a stern look crossing her features.

"Risa, get over it. Just because you have a crush on him it doesn't mean that he had to return your feelings." Riku said, rolling her eyes at her twin's dramatic words.

Blushing, Risa glared, and then angrily said, " Here's your medicine!" She angrily threw the box atop the table and she stormed out of the kitchen.

Daisuke took a step to go after her, but Satoshi grabbed his shoulder. "You don't want to do that. Girls…are better off having some time to think when they're angry. Besides, we have to help Dark, remember?"

"Oh…yeah," he said watching Risa disappear behind the wall before his gaze drifted back to his other two friends. "So…what can I help with?"

"You could help me carry the medicine to the room while I take this stew." Riku said as she held in one hand a glass of water and in the other Dark's meal.

"Sure. Hey, are you coming, too, Satoshi?"

Raising and eyebrow, Satoshi shrugged. "No. I'll wait here."

Daisuke nodded and both he and Riku walked to Dark's room, where he was laying under the blankets, mumbling and complaining about random things.

"Dark!" Riku called harshly, as she set the meal down on the bedside table and Dark pulled himself out from under the covers.

"Yeah?"

"You should eat and get some rest-eat some of this, Daisuke said as he held out a strange looking mass of gelatinous ooze.

Dark grimaced and looked at Daisuke with a shocked look on his face, before shrugging and saying. "Sure…. Whatever you say, kid."

"Oh, just eat it and stop being such a baby," Riku said as she grabbed Daisuke's hand and dragged him out of the room, barely giving him enough time to set the medicinal object next to Dark's meal.

"Hey…wait, where are you going?" Dark called after the two, and the only reply he got was, "We're letting you sleep so you can get better and see your—" her Riku's voice was muffled from here on, and Dark merely shrugged it off as the door to his room was closed. "Whatever," he mumbled and took a bite of the stew, warily regarding the substance Daisuke had given him.

The first thing Krad noted when he stepped out of the house was, that it was very cold. Night had set in, and there were several inches of snow littering the ground. An emotionless mask donning his features, Krad stepped through the snow and ventured through the woods that separated his domain from that of the town.

A matter of time that passed irrelevantly for Krad was well spent, as in no time he reached the gate of the mountain and walked through town. Passing by the darkened houses, he strode toward a small, dilapidated church.

Reaching his destination, he walked behind it, into the cemetery that was almost a century old. He knelt atop a number of graves, and for each he pulled out a blooming white rose from the basket he'd brought with him and set it atop the ancient graves.

He wasn't sure how many hours he had spent that evening, but knew that when he departed from the holy land there was not a soul in sight, and that all was quiet. Apparently, the time of carousing was long over, and the citizens of Azumano had all retired to their lodgings.

Krad shrugged, used to the emptiness and quite. He quickly made his way over the fresh snow, enjoying the crunching sound of each step he took. The silence was broken when Krad passed a particularly grand building. Laughter, loud and brilliant slipped through the cracks. From outside, Krad could see the establishment was still brightly illuminated with a fire in its hearth. Unable to restrain himself, the blonde paused and eyed a small post attached to the door. It read:

'Proprietors: The Harada Family'

A faint smile appeared on his thin lips. Was this not where Dark was staying?

Well, as long as they're still awake, I don't see what harm I would bring by dropping by for a short visit, he mused.

He walked up the stairs and opened the front door that was always unlocked, should any unfortunate travelers require board in the dead of night.

At the sound of the door closing, several sets of eyes landed upon the oddly dressed male, and he couldn't help but feel slightly awkward around the group of young teenagers. Clearing his throat, he reached a gloved hand to his face to brush away a strand of hair that had obscured his vision.

"Pardon me…but might I inquire if you know of Dark Mousy's whereabouts?"

The three looked at each other, exchanging glances, before Riku finally replied, "He's in the first guestroom down that hall…but he's sick, so…"

Krad nodded. "And so he is resting. I see. Would you mind if I paid him a quick visit?"

"Uh…not at all, go right ahead," she said, scratching the back of her head.

"Thank you," was all the blond said before heading to said room. The door was open and a candle lit. Krad could see well enough—not that he needed light to see, he had long ago grown accustomed to the darkness.

Eyeing the figure that had his back turned to him, Krad then walked over near Dark's bed. "So…" he murmured quietly. "You caught a cold…because you were out in the snow so much, I take it. Because you came to visit me, none-the-less. I'm…sorry for that," he finished in little more then a whisper. Pulling one last white rose from the basket he carried with him, he set it upon the desk next to Dark's bed.

"Hope you get well soon," he said gently, and then turned on his heel to leave, heading out through the inn's common room, and back through the gentle snow to his realm or solitude.

Hey, sorry for the delayed update. There was one scene where I just couldn't figure out what to do, and then it came to me today, so I went on a writing fit. This particular chapter is longer then my others, so I hope it makes up for all the time I didn't update.

Anyway, I also want to apologize for any mistakes there may be in the text, but I was in a rush to get this done before tomorrow. Please forgive me and if you found any errors, please point them out so that I may fix them. Thank you very much for your time and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.