Yay, chapter three, at long last! Sorry about not putting it up yesterday, I got lazy. It happens to the best of us, right?

Not much to say really.

Disclaimer: I don't own it go away.

Chapter Three: Missing

"Okay, Takeshi."

"Here."

"Hakuo Hiwatari?"

"Here."

"Satoshi Hiwatari?"

"Here."

"Risa Harada?"

"Here."

"Riku Harada?"

"Here."

"Niwa?" ... "No Niwa again?" The teacher scanned the room before jotting down a small note next to Daisuke's name on the attendance sheet. She looked up before continuing down the list, "Does anyone talk to Daisuke-kun outside of school?" Risa, Riku, Takeshi, and a reluctant Satoshi raised their hands. "Okay, do any of you four know what's wrong with him? Is he sick?"

Risa and Riku glanced at each other and shrugged, "No sensei, we haven't talked to him in a while actually." Riku said.

Takeshi, ever the optimist, chimed in, "Maybe he fell into the lake or got lost or something." He received a glare from both Harada's at that one. Satoshi and Hakuo never offered answers.

After school that day Satoshi and Hakuo stopped by Daisuke's house, only to find his frantic mother getting into her car with a phone to her ear. Hakuo approached her first, "Um, excuse me, are you Niwa-san's mother?" He asked politely.

Emiko looked yup, "Oh, yes." She said, looking back at Satoshi warily.

He saw the look she gave him and didn't return it, "Relax, we only want to know if he's all right since he hasn't been in school for at least three weeks."

"I know, he's been missing." She turned away from the two of them and said into the phone, "Kosuke I have to go, let me know if you find even a hair from his head!" She demanded before flipping the phone shut and stuffing it into her pocket. "Look, you two, we're in the middle of a full scale search, would you mind helping at all?" She asked, even though she had sworn against asking Satoshi, the Hikari, for anything.

Hakuo looked back at Satoshi, who nodded, and then looked back at Emiko, "We don't mind at all!" Hakuo said, a bit too happily. "Just tell us what to do, ma'am." He said, adjusting his shirt collar as if to hide something. Satoshi examined him carefully and caught a glimpse of a gold chain, but disregarded it as merely a piece of jewelry.

They gave up the search for the night at eight o'clock, much to Mrs. Niwa's disappointment. She broke down crying (not for the first time) when Kosuke showed up without any clues either. Satoshi walked back to his apartment after he and Hakuo had said goodbye and good luck to the Niwa family.

Hakuo stuffed his hands into his pockets, "I can't believe he's missing, poor Niwa-kun." He said, sighing and looking up at the starry sky.

Satoshi remained silent, as usual, for a few minutes. "But who would want to kidnap Niwa? And if he wasn't kidnapped why would he run away?" He half-thought to himself. Krad decided to add in his two cents.

Well, did you guys check the outskirts of town?

No. Not enough hours in the day, Krad.

Well, there are plenty of hours in the night. You can sleep while I look.

I don't trust you not to kill him on sight, Krad.

xXx

"A note from the infamous Phantom Thief Dark appeared this morning in the local museum of art saying that he planned to steal the End of the Dream painting. ... "

Emiko, Satoshi, and Hakuo all watched their respective television sets with surprised, shocked, and in Hakuo's case smug looks. Emiko clapped her hands over her mouth, "They're alive! Oh Kosuke come here and see this!" She called to her husband.

Satoshi stared at the television in blank shock, stopping getting dressed with his left arm halfway through the sleeve. "It can't be... I've got to be at that museum tonight no matter what!" He declared, finishing dressing and running to the police station to prepare. Good thing there was no school today or tomorrow.

Hakuo smirked to himself and walked out the front door to his home, off god only knows where.

xXx

"Secure the area! Nobody gets in or out am I understood?" Satoshi commanded.

"Yes sir! We have all windows and doors locked and guarded from the inside and the outside!"

Satoshi looked around, assessing the terrain before checking the clock. "Good, he should be here in a matter of twenty minutes." One of the guards switched off the lights inside the museum so everyone could take their stations, it was so quiet that the crowd could be heard outside.

Satoshi had sat himself in a shadowed corner, listening to everything around him. A cough, the occasional rustle of clothing as someone moved to keep themselves comfortable while they waited.

"Ack!" There was an odd sound as one man fell to the floor and guns started going off. Dark's unmistakable silhouette stood before their group, with a dead guard at his feet. The bullets seemed to do absolutely nothing as the rest of the guards gave up and headed out in fear for their own lives, leaving only Satoshi and the thief.

"Dark!" Satoshi shouted angrily, gun in hand and a glare on his face. "Where's Daisuke, where have you two been! Answer me!" He demanded, aiming the earlier mentioned gun at the thief. In the faint light that now shone inside from the lights outside, Satoshi's eyes were adjusting so he could see Dark clearly now. The thief looked no different, with his large black wings and a... blindfold?

Dark didn't answer him, he merely jumped back into the window and stood on the ledge expectantly, waiting for the commander. Satoshi was getting angry, "Dark! Where IS he!?"

With that, Dark finally spoke. "I'm not here to steal anything tonight, commander. Please follow me." He said blandly, as if he were tired from a night without rest or something.

Satoshi glared at him, "No!", and transformed into Krad before he could help it. The blonde angel eyed Dark curiously before, without Dark noticing, tearing the blindfold off of the thief's eyes. What he saw shocked him and Satoshi.

"What...?" he asked nobody in particular. Darks eyes were dull, lifeless. (That kind of lifeless that makes their pupils seemingly disappear.) He looked, simply, soulless. And on top of that, there was the strangest curse mark in between his eyes. Krad stared blankly at Dark, "What happened to you..."

"Follow me." Dark repeated, spreading his wings and taking off into the night sky, in perfect view of the public. The crowd erupted in a chorus of screams and shouts and camera flashes. Krad quickly followed Dark into the sky.