Chapter 7

With Dark

Upon seeing unknown hatred and anger in Dark's eyes, Krad stood motionless giving Dark a chance to get his hit in. Krad flew back into the nearby stone bridge, cracking it. "What…?" Krad started. He had never felt this much power coming from Dark. "What are you doing?!" he asked.

"I'm taking you down. You've hurt and almost killed too many people." He growled. "You almost killed Daisuke and his friend twice! How can anyone forgive you?!"

Krad smirked. "Dark, of all people, I would think that you would forgive me seeing that I'm your other half."

Dark looked down at the boy in his arms and reconsidered. "I can't deal with you right now. This kid is unconscious and fading fast." Dark gently picked Takeshi and sent one last death glare at Krad before flying off towards the hospital.

With Daisuke

"Do you have any ideas as far as what you have to do to seal Krad?" Satoshi questioned.

Daisuke shook his head. "No, but I bet my mom does. The book at home should give us a hint at least." Daisuke's cell phone rang. "Hold on. Hello?"

"Dai, it's Dark. Takeshi's in the hospital." Daisuke was startled. "Krad got to him. He went into emergency surgery. I don't know how he's doing right now." Dark paused for a moment. "I'll call you back. The doctor's coming out."

The phone went dead and Daisuke veered to the left. Niwa, where are you going?"

"Takeshi's in the hospital." A look of worry flickered across Satoshi's face as he followed Dai.

BREAK

When Daisuke and Satoshi arrived at the hospital they headed straight for the emergency rooms. When they got there Satoshi noticed Dark with his head hanging. "Dark," Satoshi said, "how is he?"

Dark looked up and what was written across his face surprised both of them. The emotions they saw were sadness, disappointment, and the most surprising, fear. "I… I couldn't get to him in time… I'm so sorry, Dai." He put his head in his hands and his shoulders began to shake.

"Dark?" Daisuke said. The great Phantom Thief Dark was crying. "Dark," Daisuke said again, "are you okay?"

"They… they couldn't save him. Takeshi, he's gone." Dark cried harder.

Daisuke became angry but his face softened when Dark flinched. "Dark, I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at Krad. No, I'm furious with him."

Just as Daisuke was about to start crying as well, the doctor came out again with a huge smile and said, "Mr. Mousey?" Dark, Daisuke and Satoshi walked over to him. "I have good news for you. Mr. Sahara is alive and conscious. I don't know how, but he's very lucky."

"Can we see him?" Daisuke asked eagerly.

"Yes," the doctor said. "Follow me." He led them to a room about halfway down the hall. Lying in the bed was Daisuke's best friend. Daisuke ran over.

"Takeshi! How are you feeling?" Then he noticed Takeshi's bandages. There was one around his head, one on his nose, and around his ears. They were all dotted with blood. "What did Krad do to you?"

"Hey Daisuke," Takeshi said. "He got me in the face. I guess I died for a minute or two." He smiled. "I'm fine now." He looked over to see Dark sitting on a chair in the corner, head in his hands, and Satoshi standing by the door. He looked back over at Dark and said, "Hey, Dark, come here. I wanna talk to you." Dark slowly walked over and sat in the chair by the bed. "What's wrong with you, man?"

Dark shook his head. "It's… I couldn't get to you in time. You almost died because of me!" he almost yelled.

"Calm down. It's not your fault. I shouldn't have gone out in the open in the first place."

Dark frowned. "Yeah, you shouldn't have. Still, I'm sorry." He turned to Dai. "Dai-Chan, I can't believe that you don't blame me for this. How can you just let it go? How can you forgive me so easily? I almost killed your best friend."

Daisuke smiled. "If you were anyone else, I would have trouble forgiving you. But I love you and I know it wasn't your fault."

"Ahem. *cough cough*." It was Takeshi. "Anyway, now that we've established that it's Krad's fault and not Dark's, let's talk about something else like what Risa will think about Daisuke being with Dark." Takeshi smiled. "I could write a story about the famous Phantom Thief Dark having a boyfriend!"

Both Dark and Daisuke sweat dropped. Satoshi just laughed. "Whoa!" Dark said. "Hiwatari can laugh? That's new."

Daisuke playfully hit Dark over the head. "Dark, be nice to Hiwatari. Remember, he's still the commander. You never know what he'll do," he said watching Satoshi.

Satoshi just laughed harder. "Don't worry, Niwa. You're too close of friends to arrest. Even Dark is a friend now."

"Really?" asked Dark. He was unsure if Satoshi was telling the truth, but he decided to go with his gut feeling to trust him. "Well I guess I'll be safe seeing that you're the only one who could even get close to arresting me."

"So Dark," Takeshi said in his reporters voice, "how did you get to know Daisuke so well?"

"Why are you asking if you already know?" Dark asked.

"I'm doing this to get a good story!"

"Fine, but it's a VERY long story." Dark sighed. "It all started with a painting." Dark told him the story of the Black Wings and how he and Krad were born. He explained how the Hikari artworks came to be so powerful and how they came alive. Why they had to be sealed and everything else that had to do with that. "Now," he concluded, "I live, or lived, in the male Niwa DNA. Before I had my own body, every male Niwa, on his 14th birthday, turns into me when they're love emotion becomes too strong. They can only turn back once that emotion calms down. This continues until their love is returned."

All this time, Takeshi had been writing this story down. "So you're separated now. How did that happen and why?"

I don't know how, but I have a theory as to why." Dark took a deep breath. "I think this was because after a while, even though his love was returned, Riku broke it off realizing that she only loved him like a brother. I returned because family love is what they had and I only disappear when the love is true."

"So you disappeared thinking that the love was true?"

"Yes. That's what I think."

"All right!" Takeshi said. "This'll make a great story!"

"What? No, no. Do we have to let everyone know?"

"Dark, wait," the red-head said. "This might be a good thing. It might be easier to catch Krad if more people know about him."

"Daisuke's right," Satoshi said. "It will also be easier for people to stay safe. If they know what he looks like and what he can do, they can look out for each other. Besides, we won't always be there to protect them. We should let the mayor know first. He can make the announcement."

BREAK

"Okay, how will we explain this?" Dark said. Daisuke, Dark and Satoshi were at the mayor's house. Well, actually, they were sitting in a tree hidden from view.

"The police must have heard about us and informed him," Daisuke said. "If he knows, we should be able to talk to him about Krad with no problem."

"Talk to who about Krad?" a voice said from behind them. Said angel was perched behind them, smirking evilly. "Well?"

"Krad!" Satoshi hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"How rude," Krad said. "Am I not allowed to see my master?"

"That depends," Satoshi answered his face an emotionless mask. "How did you find us?"

Krad smiled. "Oh, it was quite easy, Master Satoshi. The only other people who have wings in this city are you, Dark and Daisuke." The last two names were filled with venom.

"Why did you really come? We all know it wasn't to see Hiwatari," Daisuke growled.

"You're right. I'm here to kill you, Daisuke." Krad charged Daisuke and Daisuke had no time to get out of the way.