Chapter 5

Daisuke chewed his lip worriedly, watching the TV attentively. The cameras were trying to get a close up on the people coming out of the museum, the reporters babbling away about something that the redhead really wasn't concerned with at the moment.

"The unthinkable has happened!" one reporter said excitedly. "Phantom Thief Dark has finally been captured!"

Daisuke's heart stopped. Emiko gasped, and Daikii made a soft sound of confusion. Cameras struggled again, and then an image of Dark flashed onto the screen. The thief was on a stretcher being carried into a police vehicle, his face pale and still. Daisuke could see blood along his cheek, and the liquid was also staining his shoulder.

"Listen to his breathing…" Kosuke murmured.

The faint sound of Dark's breath came through over the speaking, and Daisuke frowned when he heard that it was faint and stuttering, hitching in Dark's chest. "What did they do to him?" the redhead asked.

Emiko's voice was soft and shocked. "I… I don't know…"

Dark awoke slowly, his eyes feeling as though they were glued shut. He groaned softly, trying to shift himself, but pain lanced through him. He stilled instantly, trying to stop the pain from roaring through him.

There was a dark chuckle from somewhere near him, and Dark managed to pry his eyes open. There was hardly any light in the room, coming from a single light bulb in the ceiling. Dark blinked slowly, still trying to regain his bearings.

An instant later a large hand grabbed at the nape of his neck, lifting him as easily as a cat would lift a kitten by the scruff of its neck. Dark made a soft sound of pain as the movement jarred his aching body, but he didn't struggle against the hold, afraid to cause himself more pain.

A finger trailed over his jaw, and Dark shuddered. "Well, aren't you a pretty little thing…" Rancid breath poured into his nose, and Dark fought the impulse to vomit.

He managed to beat it down, but as he didn't respond to the voice the hand shook him violently, sending pain roaring from his left shoulder, head, chest, and ankle as it thumped against something. Bile rose in his throat, and Dark couldn't hold it back, heaving and throwing up what little he had in his stomach.

He was dropped roughly, sending more pain through his lean body, eliciting a faint moan from his lips. There was a slow chuckle from above him, and Dark managed to open his eyes once more, looking up at a large figure that stood over him. He groaned again, wincing as pain roared through him one more time.

"Yup, I do believe I've gotten lucky for once in my life…"

Dark's vision was fading, he struggled to remain conscious, but he sank beneath the waves of blackness.

Daisuke was worried and scared. Two days had passed since Dark had been captured, and he didn't know what to do. He knew perfectly well where the thief was, the prison on the outskirts of town. But as to what he could do… well that was the problem.

Daisuke could do nothing. He couldn't very well try and break Dark out of prison, that was against the law. But he couldn't try and get Dark out the simple way; people would associate him with the thief. He couldn't even go visit Dark, which pained him to no end. He felt lonely all the time, without Dark's presence nearby to sooth him.

Emiko was just as worried as Daisuke. She was constantly trying to find a way to get around all the obstacles, but there was nothing that she could think of. Kosuke and Daikii were just as diligent as she was, but they were having no luck.

Daisuke had never felt so helpless in his life.

Dark healed slowly, and soon he was able to stand again, as well as move around easily. He didn't have fainting spells anymore, and he was finally aware of his surroundings. He knew that he was in prison, but he had lost count of the time he had been there. The only thing that really stayed in his mind was his 'roommate.'

He was a lumbering hulk of a man, nearly a full foot and a half taller than Dark, and much more muscular. Dark had no doubts that if he wanted too, this man could snap him in half like a twig. And the fact that this man had decided that Dark was a good replacement for a woman didn't help.

Dark spent every moment of every day fighting to keep himself away from this man. The brute was constantly trying to touch him, brushing fingers through violet hair, grabbing arms and legs, bumping against him and pretending it was an accident. Dark knew better, and he knew that it wouldn't be long until the man started making more devious advances, and the thief was afraid.

He missed Daisuke desperately, but he knew that the redhead couldn't come visit him, they would be connected together. He didn't know what to do about the whole situation; he didn't even know how long he was going to be in this place.

Bathing became the bane of his existence. He wanted to be clean, but for this place, bathing was setting all the men loose in one area with shower heads and soap scattered around. Dark could handle the showering around other men; it was the wolf-whistles and cat-calls that constantly followed him. He was smaller and leaner than all the others, so they saw him as an outlet for their sexual desires, and he hated it.

Dark dealt with it as well as he could until things got out of hand. The guards let them loose again for the day, and Dark went about his business as usual, bathing quickly and drying himself so he could get out of there. He would rather be in his cell then here with all those men.

Just as he was finishing washing he felt breath against the back of his neck, and he automatically lashed out. His hand was caught, and then pain roared up from the limb as it was squeezed tightly. Whimpering slightly, the thief turned to meet the maddened eyes of his 'roommate.'

There was lust in those eyes, and other things that Dark didn't even want to think about. Dark was terrified, and he tried to back away with no success.

A large meaty hand closed around his throat, and Dark squeaked as his air supply was cut off, the man lifting him easily and shoving him against the wall. A finger trailed over his cheek, and Dark stared with horrified violet eyes into this man's face.

"Scream…"

Dark tried to get enough breath to survive, let alone scream, barely succeeding. There was no way he would scream for this bastard, and he gathered saliva in his mouth, successfully spitting into the man's face, causing him to cry out in rage and drop the thief.

Grasping his throat and gasping for breath, Dark leapt to his feet and ran from the area, pulling on his clothes as he went. He was caught by a guard, who instantly knocked him over the head hard enough to make him dizzy. After he was led back his cell he sat shivering on his cot, his arms wrapped around himself.

His cellmate was brought back shortly, and Dark shoved himself into the corner, trying to melt into the wall. The man's face was angry, and he stalked forward, reaching out faster than Dark would expect and slamming the thief against the wall. Rancid breath filled Dark's lungs and he choked. "You'll pay for that, pretty," the man snarled, squeezing Dark's throat tightly and then letting go, climbing into the top bunk and going silent.

Dark spent the rest of the night shivering in fear in the corner, unable to sleep for fear of the man above him.

I'm not sure how happy I am with this chapter... I tried to write it several times, and this is what I came up with... Let me know what you think!