闇のドロボウ

Yami no Dorobou

"But... Why don't they have a separate room for the toilet and shower? ...I miss Japan," Daisuke said as he walked out of the bathroom, towel over his shoulders, with nothing but boxers on.

"We'll go back as soon as we figure out how we can. Also, we need to think of why we came too. We haven't even gone to the museum yet," Satoshi said, looking up from his book. He was sitting in a chair with a lamp gleaming over his shoulder. It was 5 AM, but to Daisuke and Satoshi, it kind of felt like it was 2 PM. Hardly the time to sleep.

"So do you have any ideas on how to get back to Japan?" Daisuke asked, flopping onto the bed that had just been made and messing it up again.

"Well... We could go on a boat part of the way. Maybe we can trek across Europe and Asia to get to Japan?"

"...How long will that take?" Daisuke asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Oh... Probably over two weeks," Satoshi said, shrugging.

"Two weeks?!" Daisuke asked, sitting bolt upright and nearly throwing himself off the bed.

"That is, if we go nonstop. Most of the time we will be taking trains. We will probably have to transfer more than 5 times. I haven't looked up the train system here in Europe, nor have I looked up the time schedules, though I will look them up today, most likely." Satoshi certainly didn't seemed bothered by this.

"Good... Being in Europe is kind of strange," Daisuke said, obviously a little close-minded to being in a different country. "But... Two weeks!"

,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,

The two had left for the museum at about 9 AM. To Daisuke's mild surprise and slight annoyance, the museum was but a few blocks away- easily walked to. This was because of Satoshi's strategic hotel planning. (Even more strategic was getting a one-bed room. Yeah. He lied about all the two-bedders being full up.)

Daisuke insisted that they have "breakfast" at a quaint little café opposite the museum. They spent about thirty minutes there, Daisuke making small talk (or trying to. Satoshi isn't much for small talk...) as they sipped cups of coffee and ate a coffee cake or two.

After their lovely meal, Daisuke and Satoshi went to the museum to get a feel for the place, look at the types of locks and security systems, what it would take to disable them, and all things of that nature. Satoshi had pulled blueprints out of the air... Er... Computer (hacking skills), but Daisuke wanted to actually feel how the museum was laid out. Sure, the blueprint would help later when the three decided how the burglary would go down, but for now, they went through the exhibits.

The necklace was in a room on the second floor- the main exhibit room on that floor, though it was not the "main" feature. That belonged to a collection of rich Chinese jewelry from about 300 years ago. Apparently it was an exhibit for somewhat recent oriental jewelry.

Daisuke, being raised by a family of art thieves and himself loving art, walked along the cases, staring at the different metals and stones and beads and ceramic pendants and the like until he came upon the Chiryou no Kubikazari. The necklace of healing. It had a warm feel about it- the opposite of the ring. Yet it looked so like the ring with its twisting vines for a chain and a large brilliant cut diamond as the pendant.

The strange thing about the cut on this diamond, though, was that every facet caught the light and there was none that appeared to reflect blackness as in the Kurushimi no Yubiwa.

Satoshi had been sitting on a bench, looking around the room and taking note of every security alarm and camera there was in the room while still looking inconspicuous. After giving the room a thorough look-over, he went over to Daisuke who was still ogling over the necklace that they were to steal.

"We should continue on... We don't want to waste all day looking at this necklace, even if it is pretty," Satoshi said in English once Daisuke looked up at him. For a second, Daisuke looked confused, then nodded. It wouldn't do to just look at the thing they were going to steal now, right? They had to look interested in other things... After all, the necklace was going to disappear that night and the police were sure to look over every tape and question every person who looked interested in it.

"Alright. Ah... Let's go to the Egyptian art room," Daisuke said, smiling.

,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,

The went back to the hotel around 6 PM. Even Satoshi was tired.

"You know I'm not coming with you to steal the necklace, right?" Satoshi asked as he sat down in the chair by the lamp.

"What? B-but..." Daisuke stuttered. He thought that Satoshi was actually going to help him steal the necklace. He had draped himself over the bed again, hugging a pillow tight to his chest.

"I can't exactly change my appearance as you do... We don't want Krad to come out..." Satoshi said, looking at the wall.

"No... But can't you just change your appearance and not let Krad out?" Daisuke said, moving so that he'd be in Satoshi's view.

"It would be hard. Chances are that Krad would have an easier time taking over my body because I'm in his. All he would have to do is push aside my mind... I don't want to risk your safety... Neither do I want to risk mine..."

,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,

It wasn't like Satoshi to cry, but that's exactly what he was doing. Oh it hurt so badly. Why did he have to share a body with this demonic angel? Why was he tortured so?

Satoshi had tried to push Krad to the back of his mind. The demon was killing him. Killing his mind, that is. Every day it was harder and harder to control himself. Being so close to Daisuke yet having to keep his hands off... Being unable to look the boy in the eyes anymore. These next two weeks about would be torture. But... For once he could help Daisuke. And two pieces of Hikari Artwork as well. He knew this was for the best... Yet... He still didn't like the idea of his family's artwork being stolen. And he, of course, didn't like Dark. Heh. The demon angel had made an effect on Satoshi after all.

Now, since Daisuke had gone out to steal the necklace as Dark, all the feelings he had bottled up for the past two day came spilling out and he had locked himself into the bathroom trying as hard as he could to keep Krad inside.

'Satoshi... I can make this all go away if you'd just Let. Me. Have. This. Body," Krad said, prodding the other's mind with acid tendrils, trying to take hold of Satoshi's consciousness.

'No, Krad... I can't let you do that... I can't let you hurt anyone... I can't let you hurt Daisuke...' Satoshi thought as he fell back against the bathroom wall and slid down.

'See what he has made you, Satoshi-sama? See what he has done to you?'

'He hasn't done this to me,' Satoshi thought leaning his head back against the wall. With every once of strength he had left, he forced Krad back to the edges of his mind. 'You have...'

,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,

'So... Creepy's actually helping us out? He's actually not going to come after us for stealing his precious family's artwork?' Dark thought as he soared high in the air. He looked rather like a bird from the ground... That is, it you could even see him against the black sky.

'Why'd you fly so high? The museum's just right there,' Daisuke replied, ignoring Dark's questions whilst pointing mentally to the museum. He was used to Dark and his mother bagging on Satoshi, though he knew it wasn't right and that it was just the demon inside of Satoshi that everyone really hated.

'Because I haven't flown in what seems like forever, that's why,' Dark replied, smirking. He did a little swoop to strengthen his statement.

'Don't give me that crap,' Daisuke snarled. It was really, really early in the morning for his mind and he hadn't slept since 5 AM in England. He was allowed to be irritated.

'Heh. Anyways, d you think Krad's going to come after us? What if this is some huge scam or trap or something and Satoshi's actually planning to capture me?' Dark wasn't so bad off. He had used the whole day to sleep off the minor jetlag he had incurred from being in Daisue's mind whilst traveling so far in a very short amount of time.

'I trust him,' Daisuke said as Dark lowered himself in the sky, hoping to not be seen. The group hadn't even left a sweet little note to warn people of the burglary. They didn't want anyone to know that he was coming, for once. That would just make it harder to leave the country, maybe. In every case, it would be hard to leave, actually.

Dark alighted on the rooftop of the museum and headed for an air duct. After looking at the pipe ways on the blueprints, he was sure he could navigate through them proficiently.

5 seconds of prying and the grate on the air duct was off and the thief slid in. Hopefully luck would be with him.

,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,

The theft had gone well. The thief held to his name with pride. No alarms, avoiding cameras. He even got the case open easy enough. Another plus- the necklace wasn't homicidal like its sister. Oh! And lets not forget that Krad hadn't come. It was a peaceful burglary for once. Which didn't sit well with Dark, of course.

Dark had a harder time getting back to the hotel... He still didn't want to be seen and he would be flying to the hotel window to get in. Lucky it was the dead of night and everyone was pretty much asleep or wasn't paying attention to the dark sky. He lighted on the balcony just outside the slide-open glass door and picked his way into the room.

Bed sheets were thrown onto the floor, the lamp was knocked down, but luckily not broken, luggage was haphazardly spread throughout the room and Dark knew he had entered the wrong room. It was a mess! But... There was whimpering coming from the other side of the bed, and Dark made his way around the somewhat big piece of furniture to check it out...

Satoshi was sitting there, all but conscious, laying down on the floor next to the bed. Well... Lucky Daisue was asleep...

,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,,.--.,

You're lucky this chapter wasn't named "Nan Shou Desu ka?" 何章ですか？ But I remember now and I can put a proper title there. Oh. And I stopped looking up words, so all the titles from… I think the third chapter and beyond are actually from my memory. I've been doing this a lot, and maybe I should stop before my Japanese family yells at me. XD Na… I don't think they're capable of yelling... But I do wish they'd write me back even if my memory-written letter is a piece of crap. e.e They don't have to write in English! x.x

Sorry… Ranting.

Well… I'm super-close to breaking the 2000 word marker for my chapters. By the way, I go by the actual story- not with my comments included. I hope to reach over 2000 next time, but I don't know how I will yet...

And yes… I gave up on NaNoWriMo because... Well... I was without a computer for 3 whole days and that got me way off schedule, not to mention spending time with my other stories. Please take a look at them. - If not, well then… Okay… I'm going to continue my NaNo story, though, and see it through to the end. I'm just not going to devote every second to it.

I like it when people review...

--Chiisai Hito