Whee! Chapter 3! (Hey, it rhymes. Hehe.) Anyway, sorry for not updating sooner, but I had writer's block and I kinda lost interest in the story for a while. By the way, what's with the "review responses aren't allowed in the story" thing? I think the review reply thing is silly. But that's off the subject…
Disclaimer: DN Angel belongs to Yukiru Sugisaki, the plot of Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix, and the various Disney characters belong to Disney. I only own DN Angel DVDs and a copy of Kingdom Hearts.
Bright sunlight was the first thing that greeted Daisuke when he opened his eyes. He raised his head and peered at the mostly cloudless sky.
Mm…am I still dreaming?
He felt the warmth of the sun and smelled the salt from the sea, and decided that this time it was much too real to be a dream. He closed his eyes and leaned his head backwards when he found himself in shade, which confused him. He opened his eyes just in time to see a face framed in blue hair appear in the air above him.
"Huh!"
He rolled over onto his stomach and scrambled into a seated position, facing the owner of the face. The boy standing there was clothed in a white t-shirt, maroon shorts, and black sandals. He raised an eyebrow at Daisuke, who responded by throwing a handful of sand at him.
"Satoshi, don't scare me like that!"
"It's your own fault. You fell asleep again," the bluenette replied
"I did?" Daisuke looked somewhat confused, but then he remembered the dream. "Oh yeah, there was this…black thing…and it tried to kill me. I was surrounded by black stuff, and I couldn't breath or see anything…ow!" Daisuke yelped again; he had just sat on a pointed shell, which he picked up and threw into the ocean.
Satoshi's eyes followed the path of the shell until it hit the water and disappeared below. "Are you sure you weren't just dreaming?"
"No! I don't know!" It seemed real to him, but he had decided earlier that it was just a dream, and decided to stick with that though. Just a dream, a nightmare, nothing more. He looked back at Satoshi, but the boy had moved to stand closer to the water, still staring out at the endless expanse of water.
"Satoshi," Daisuke said suddenly, "do you remember anything about your hometown? I mean, you grew up there before coming here." He leaned back into a more comfortable position.
"I don't remember anything."
"Nothing? You don't remember your parents, or your friends, or anything else?" Daisuke asked, surprised.
"I've told you before, I don't remember anything."
Daisuke shifted his gaze to the sand and began tracing patterns in it. "If you could, would you go back?"
"I don't know. I'm fine where I am." Satoshi replied, turning around.
"You are?"
"Yes."
"Well, I'd like to see it. We could both go. There's got to be other places we could visit, too, out there." Daisuke smiled, and he thought that Satoshi managed a faint smile as well, although he couldn't be entirely sure.
"Are you two gonna leave without me?" a voice asked.
Daisuke tilted his head back and Satoshi simply looked over Daisuke's head. From Daisuke's point of view, he could see a boy with messy purple hair and matching eyes. He was fifteen, a year older than Daisuke and Satoshi, and had a log underneath one arm. Daisuke had known Dark since he was four, and the two were like brothers.
"So," Dark continued, running his free hand through his hair, and messing it up even more, "I'm stuck working on the raft alone while you two are lazing around down here." He walked over until he was standing directly over Daisuke and dropped the log onto the redhead's stomach. Daisuke tried to catch it and failed miserably. Dark laughed and Satoshi smacked him in the back of the head.
"Satoshi! What was that for? You're just as lazy as he is!" Dark pointed accusingly at Satoshi, who kept a blank face.
"I know for a fact that you've been spying on Riku for most of the day."
At that statement, Dark flinched slightly, and Daisuke, who had seated himself on top of the log Dark had been carrying, snickered. Dark made a face at Daisuke and threw himself into the sand, looking for all the world like he was completely exhausted.
"Hey Dark, wanna race? I bet I can beat you to the other end of the island," Daisuke challenged the violet-haired boy. He knew that Dark could never resist a challenge, especially if it involved Daisuke. This didn't seem to be the case today, though.
"Are you joking, Daisuke? I'm too tired."
"Ready…go," Satoshi said offhandedly, unofficially starting the race. Dark looked at Satoshi, exchanged a glance with Daisuke, and then the two racers leapt to their feet and started running as fast as they could towards the opposite end of the island. Satoshi brought up the rear of the "race", going at a much slower pace, as he wasn't really actually participating. The other two were neck in neck, and as they neared the end, they both sped up. Daisuke's dream was completely forgotten.
Later…
"Daisuke, are you listening to me?"
Daisuke's gaze snapped instantly back to his friend's face. He had been staring off somewhere behind and slightly to the left of Satoshi.
"Yeah! Yeah…I'm sorry. Supplies, right?"
"Yeah. I need you to find two logs, one cloth, and a length of rope. Bring them back here, okay?"
Daisuke nodded and hurried away, only to trip and fall on his face not even twenty feet away from Satoshi, landing face first in the sand and inhaling a mouthful. Coughing and sputtering, he turned to the object that had attacked his ankle, only to discover a partially buried log. In fact, it looked like it had been buried on purpose, rather than accidentally. He certainly didn't remember seeing it earlier. Oh well, he needed the log. He picked it up and set it by the nearby shack so he would remember its location later, and looked around.
He knew the island by the back of his hand, and thus knew exactly where he would be able to find all the materials he needed. The closest one was on the small island not far from the shack, but that was the area that Dark had claimed as his own. In other words, if anyone was found on the small bit of land, he or she would be attacked, forced to complete some bizarre quest per Dark's request to avoid emotional or physical punishment, or challenged to a duel for temporary passage rights. Needless to say, it was a low-traffic area.
Daisuke waded out into the water and around the island to the ladder built into the side. He quickly climbed up and peered over the edge. There, lying mere feet away, was the log Dark had been carrying earlier, but the purple-haired boy was nowhere to be found. Not waiting for him to return, Daisuke scrambled onto the island, scooped up the log, and darted across the bridge leading to the island. In the middle, he jumped off and collected the log he had set by the shack.
Two items down, two to go.
Daisuke turned his attention to the treehouse this time and started making his way over there.
"Daisuke, watch out!" a female voice suddenly shouted. Daisuke turned towards the source of the voice just as something blue whizzed past his head. He spun around and found the boy from his dream standing behind him, shrugging and grinning apologetically.
"That was a close one, ya?"
"Wakka, you should watch where you're aiming! You could have hit Daisuke in the head."
Both boys turned their attention to the girl below. It was one of the girls from the dream, a long-haired one named Risa. She was holding Wakka's ball, and looking pretty angry. As it turned out, she was, as she demonstrated by throwing the ball back at Wakka at an unexpected speed. The boy just barely managed to catch it without falling over.
"Risa, lighten up, ya?" Wakka grinned and turned to Daisuke. "Up for a match today?"
"Okay, but just a quick one." Daisuke replied.
Daisuke and Wakka took their positions on the empty stretch of beach below, Daisuke with his wooden sword propped on his shoulder, and Wakka with his ball tucked under his arm.
"You first!" Daisuke shouted.
As if he were waiting for those words, Wakka leaned back and threw the ball at Daisuke, aiming for his chest. Daisuke sidestepped and the ball bounced away behind him, making Wakka chase after it so that he could attack again. Daisuke waited until Wakka had retrieved his "weapon" and prepared for another throw. This time, the throw was aimed for his head, so when it was nearly there, he brought the sword up and swung at the ball. It flew back through the air to Wakka, who didn't quite dodge in time and received the blow directly in the stomach. He doubled over, apparently winded, so Daisuke went over to him.
"Are you okay?"
Just as Daisuke got within 3 feet of Wakka, the boy straightened up and threw the ball at Daisuke again. This time, he wasn't able to dodge and got the hit full force in the chest. Daisuke stumbled backwards and Wakka retrieved his ball. He threw it again, but Daisuke managed to bat away the throw, a bit harder than anticipated, and the ball hit home again, this time Wakka's head. Unfortunately, this only made him disoriented and dizzy, and he began throwing the ball randomly and at shorter intervals. At one point, Daisuke managed to catch the ball and lob it at Wakka's feet, causing him to trip over it.
"Aw, man, that hurt!" Wakka grinned dizzily as Daisuke helped him up. "It was a good match, ya?"
"Um, yeah, good match." Daisuke jumped onto the raised rock section of the island, the part underneath the treehouse. To get to the treehouse, he still had to climb a long ladder. The treehouse really consisted of a hollowed-out tree and a deck that was built over the water. The deck wrapped partway around the treehouse and stopped at the ladder. Daisuke got to the top of the ladder and walked down the short walkway, onto the deck.
Then it hit him.
He had stood in that exact spot before, in his dream, surrounded by his friends. No, those weren't his friends; they were too…unlifelike to be the people he knew. He shook his head, pushing the memory out of his mind, and walked into the treehouse. He had expected a white sheet to be in there, but what he didn't expect was for the sheet to be thrown over his head.
"H-Hey!"
"Daisuke?"
His vision suddenly cleared and he found himself face-to-face with Risa again, who looked extremely disappointed. Daisuke blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. He always felt extremely nervous around Risa.
"I'm sorry, Daisuke, I thought you were someone else," Risa apologized.
"It…it's okay. Can I have that cloth, though?" he asked, holding out his hand. "Satoshi's orders."
"Well…okay." She handed him the sheet and he quickly went back outside, where he spotted the rope in a corner of the deck, grabbed it, and got down. On the way back to Satoshi, he spotted the third person from his dream, a short-haired girl, sitting on the end of the boat dock.
"Hey, Riku," he greeted, approaching her fairly noisily from behind.
"Oh! Daisuke, you scared me! I haven't seen you for a while."
"I've been busy." He held out the sheet and rope to demonstrate his point.
"What are you guys planning, anyway?" Riku asked, turning around. Daisuke was at a loss for words. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone else about the project, but Riku had fixed him with an unblinking stare that made even Dark, who exuded self-confidence and could think of a response for just about everything, falter.
"I…I…can't tell you. It's top secret!" Daisuke backed up and hurried away as fast as he could.
"Hey, no fair Daisuke!"
"Satoshi, I've got the stuff you wanted," Daisuke panted as he dropped the materials in a heap in front of the boy.
"Great. Everything's here. Thanks Daisuke." He reached into a pocket of his shorts and produced a small bottle of green liquid. "Here, I found this earlier. It may be of more use to you than it is to me." He pressed it into Daisuke's hands, and the redhead pocketed it.
"Satoshi, have you seen Dark?"
A couple hours later
Satoshi, Dark, and Daisuke were hanging out on the small separate island, watching the sunset and each was mostly lost in his thoughts. Daisuke was lying on the trunk of the bent tree with his arms over his face, Satoshi was leaning against the tree near Daisuke's shoulders, and Dark was leaning against a nearby palm tree. Daisuke lifted his arms from his face.
"Um, Satoshi's home is somewhere out there? Right?"
"How should I know?" Dark asked, staring at the sunset, away from his friends. "We aren't going to find out just by asking questions."
"But…how far can a raft take us?" Daisuke asked again, turning his head to look at Dark.
"I don't know. Why are you asking so many questions, anyway?"
Daisuke frowned and mumbled something that sounded like "what a jerk" and rolled over, away from Dark. Unfortunately, he misjudged the trunk's width and ended up on the ground with a loud thud.
"Dark," Satoshi said, ignoring Daisuke, who was climbing back onto the tree, "suppose we did reach another world. What would you do there?"
Dark turned around. "I haven't really thought about it. "I've always wondered why we're here, on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?" At each "this", Dark waved his hand at the main part of the island.
"And, suppose there are other worlds… Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So, we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?" Dark turned his gaze to Daisuke, who shrugged.
"And that's why we should go find out. Sitting her and asking "why" won't get anything accomplished." Dark turned slightly, so that the pinks and oranges from the sunset were reflected in his eyes, giving him a slightly evil look. "Let's go."
In response to this, Daisuke rolled over again, this time onto his back, and stared up at the darkening sky. To tell the truth, he had never really understood what Dark was talking about a lot of the time. He was pretty content to live on the islands, but Dark always wanted to get away. He wasn't content with the small stuff. He wanted bigger, better, more interesting.
"You seem to be thinking a lot lately," Satoshi said. "That's unusual for you."
"Shut up! If you hadn't come here, I would never have considered leaving!" Dark shouted back, looking like he was about to pounce on Satoshi, who managed a half-smile. He brushed by Dark, patting him on the shoulder as he went by, and headed down the wooden bridge to go home. Daisuke jumped down from the tree and made to follow him.
"Hey, Daisuke!"
Daisuke halted, skidding slightly on the wooden planks. He turned around just in time to catch a yellow, star shaped fruit, apparently recently picked, as it still had the stem attached.
"A paopu…"
Dark crossed his arms and grinned. "You did want one, didn't you?"
"I did?" He never remembered asking for one. Dark had started walking down the bridge as well, but stopped level with Daisuke.
"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives, no matter what."
Daisuke stared the fruit. That was a good reason to have one, but who would he share it with? He knew Dark would probably share one with Riku. Maybe he could give it to…nah, that wouldn't work.
"C'mon Daisuke, I know you want to try it! You could give it to Satoshi!"
"Daaaaarrrk!" Daisuke's face turned a nice shade of red, and Dark, who was standing at the end of the bridge, burst out laughing and ran off. Daisuke gave chase, tossing the fruit over his shoulder in the process.
If two people share one…
"Dark, that wasn't funny!"
Their destinies become intertwined.
"Ahh! Daisuke, get off of me!"
They'll remain a part of each other's lives…
"Satoshi! Help me, please!"
No matter what.