Sister: I think this is a good chapter. It's kinda long though.

Chapter 8

With Dark

Dark was flying back to where he knew Daisuke and Krad were. "All right, Dark," he told himself. "That's done with so I'll go help Dai-Chan."

He arrived just in time to hear Krad say, "To seal one without the other, I won't kill you or your beloved Dark. I won't even seal him."

Dark didn't expect Daisuke to hesitate. Before Dark could stop him, Daisuke had answered, "Okay, we have a deal."

Krad laughed. "Wise choice, Daisuke." And with that, he flew away.

"Daisuke! What did you just do?" Dark yelled.

"Dark?" Daisuke turned to him with teary eyes. "I'm so sorry, Dark. I didn't know what else to do! I don't want you to get hurt!" He flew into Dark's arms and they landed on the only part of the podium stage that wasn't blown up.

"Shh," Dark whispered. "Don't worry. We'll find a way out of this. I used to be a great Phantom Thief, remember? I can find my way out of any situation." He smiled lovingly at the boy and stroked his hair.

Daisuke looked up. "Yeah, you're right."

"Yes, I am." Dark leaned down and kissed Daisuke. The boy responded enthusiastically, but Dark broke the kiss after a few seconds remembering that he had left Satoshi with the couple. "Dai-Chan," he said, "we have to get Hiwatari. I left him with a young couple while I was gone. They're taking care of him."

"Do you know where they are?" Daisuke asked.

Dark smirked. "I placed a tracker on the woman. Even though I'm not a thief, I still have all the tools and skill I used to." Daisuke gave Dark a look that said, 'are you serious?' Dark only grinned. "I'm just kidding, Dai-Chan." Daisuke gave a relieved sigh. "I put the tracker on Hiwatari."

"Okay, where did they go?" Daisuke wondered aloud.

"Let's see," the purple-haired man said looking at the receiver. "It looks like they went east," he said taking off.

With Satoshi

"Oh! He's waking up!" a woman's voice said.

Satoshi began to stir. He looked around at unfamiliar surroundings and faces. "Who… who are you?" he asked. "Where am I?"

"Your friend, Dark, asked us to take care of you," a man said. "You're hurt pretty bad. We're in one of the cities' panic rooms."

Satoshi's head started to throb. "What happened?"

"We don't know," the woman said. She had sandy-blonde hair and was probably in her late twenties. "We weren't there when you got hurt." She smiled. "What's your name?" Satoshi turned, opening his mouth to answer her. Apparently she recognized him because she answered her own question. "Oh, you're the commander of the police team to catch Dark, aren't you?" Satoshi nodded. "Your name is Satoshi, right? I'm Rin. This is Hikaru," Rin said pointing to a young man next to her. He was probably the same age with dark brown hair.

Satoshi's brain finally registered all that Rin said. (AN: Sister: man that took long enough! I thought you were smart, Satoshi! Sato: *death glare* Sister: Sorry!) "Wait," Satoshi said, "Did you say that Dark brought me to you?" (AN: that sounds like I'm talking about his continence or something!)

"Yes," Hikaru said. "Why? Should there have been someone else?"

Satoshi shook his head. "No, I was just surprised."

"What's your family like?" Hikaru asked.

"My mom's dead and my dad… he's a bit abusive." Hikaru and Rin looked at him sadly. Damn it! Why'd I say that?

There was a loud banging noise at the door. Satoshi instinctively flapped his wings to try and escape from the threat and felt a searing pain shoot through his head. Stop it! There's no reason to fly yet, he thought, ignoring the pain.

"Hiwatari!" It was Daisuke's voice. "Hiwatari, are you awake?"

"Niwa?" Satoshi said. He opened the door and the two angels flew in. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"We came to get you," Daisuke said. "How are you? Are you hurt?"

Satoshi smiled at how much his friend cared. "I think I'm alright. I just have a slight headache is all. What happened to me?"

"You saved Dai-Chan from Krad's spell. After that you were thrown into a tree and I found these two to take care of you while I was gone." Dark turned to Rin and Hikaru. "Thanks for taking care of him. I really appreciate it."

Hikaru asked Dark, "I thought that Satoshi was supposed to capture you. When did you become friends?"

"I don't remember." Dark looked at Satoshi. "Can you think of anything?"

Satoshi shook his head. "I just don't think of you as a criminal anymore. You don't steal and I don't have to house Krad so I don't feel a need to catch you." He smiled. "You're a nice guy, Dark."

"Satoshi," Rin said, "are you going to introduce us?"

"Oh yes. Dark, Niwa, this is Rin," he said gesturing to the woman, "and this is Hikaru."

"Nice to meet you both," Daisuke said.

"Yeah same," Dark said. "So, Hiwatari, I have a question for you."

"Oh?" Satoshi answered. "What's the question?"

"I was wondering if you would like to stay with Dai-Chan and I. I'm sure we can convince Emiko into letting you in." Satoshi looked surprised. "You don't have to," Dark said quickly, "but I just thought I would give you that option since you know how your dad is."

"You mean live with you?" Satoshi asked. "I don't know about that. Only because my dad would go crazy and he would figure out where I'm staying." He smiled. "It's a nice offer, but I don't think I can yet."

"Satoshi," the brown-haired man said, "If you don't think you can stay with them, you can stay with us."

Rin butt in. "I know this is sudden, especially since we just met you, but I think it would be best. Just until your dad gets better."

"Let me think about it." Satoshi said. "I'll let you know tomorrow."

"Okay Satoshi. Here's our number. If you ever need someone to talk to or a place to stay, call us. We'll be glad to help."

Satoshi looked at them thankfully. "Thank you. This really means a lot."

"All right, Hiwatari," Dark said. "We have to go."

They started to head out when Satoshi looked back and saw Hikaru holding Rin who was crying. "Wait," he said. "I think I'm going to stay with them."

Dark shrugged. "Your choice, Hiwatari." Satoshi smiled at him and flew back to the couple.

"Rin," he said. "It's okay. I'm here. And guess what? I'm taking up your offer." Rin looked up and smiled at him. Hikaru pulled him and Rin into a hug. This hug was different than the hug's Satoshi had gotten from his father. This hug possessed feelings of love and friendship. The blunnette had never felt these things from anyone. Not even his grandparents. This time, though, Satoshi knew it was all real and he was happy.

With Dark and Daisuke

"Where is Hiwatari going?" Daisuke asked.

"Ah, he's going to stay with his new family." Dark answered.

"What do you mean?"

Dark gave him a knowing look. "He's leaving his dad's and going to live with that couple."

"Why would he-?" then it occurred to Dai. "Oh, it's because of his dad, isn't it?"

Dark nodded. "That must be it. We should go find Krad," Dark aid changing the subject.

"Yeah, we probably should." With that, the two teens flew out of the panic room telling the people to lock the door behind them.

"Where should we search?" Daisuke asked.

Dark frowned. "I know exactly where to look for him." Dark took a sharp right and Daisuke followed.

"Why are we going to the hospital?" the red head said after a while.

"Takeshi's there. Krad's going to finish him off if we don't get there first."

"Why would he want to kill Takeshi?"

"Once Krad starts something he doesn't let it go. He was about to kill him but we interfered. Now he'll do whatever it takes to kill that boy. The only chance he has is if we get there first."

"Is there any way to get there faster?"

"No, we're taking the fastest way."

BREAK

At the hospital Dark and Daisuke found Takeshi's room. "I'm sorry, Dai-Chan," Dark said sadly, hugging him. Daisuke's best friend was lying on the bed, bandages torn, with blood pooling onto the white sheets. Daisuke clung to Dark, sobbing into his shirt. Dark wrapped his wings around his boyfriend.

Takeshi's dad burst into the room. "Takeshi!" He saw his son lying motionless on the bed. "What happened to him?" he asked the two teens.

"Krad," Dark choked out. The inspector stumbled over to the bed and fell to his knees. Dark led Daisuke over to the crying father and put his hand on the man's back. "I'm so sorry. This wouldn't have happened if we had gotten here in time."

"It's all right. I don't blame you. If you could do me a favor it would be great."

"What kind of favor?"

"I would like you to hurt this man that killed my son."

Dark smirked. "I don't normally just go around hurting people, but Krad is an exception. I'd be glad to get him for you. We planned on killing him anyway." His smirk turned to a frown. "I don't let maniacs run around the city free."

"Well, I thank you for that," the black-haired man said. "I really hope you can catch this man. I'll do whatever it takes to help."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I don't want anyone else getting hurt, especially cops."

"What do you suppose we do then?"

Dark shrugged. "Just hang back and watch. Way back."

BREAK

Back in Daisuke's room

Dark hugged Daisuke tightly and petted his hair. The crying boy was buried in Dark's shirt, his body jerking in heart-wrenching sobs. Neither spoke a word; Daisuke, because he was crying too hard, and Dark for fear of making it worse. Finally, Daisuke lifted his head from Dark's chest. "Thank you, Dark," he sniffled and wrapped his arms around Dark.

"Daisuke," Dark said, "I'm not going to say that I understand, but I will say that I know what it feels like. I've seen many of my tamers die while I still lived. I know what it feels like to lose a friend." Dai smiled and the two sat in silence. Dark was concentrating on planning a way to catch Krad. He looked down at the red head in his arms and knew that he would do whatever it took to keep his boyfriend safe from Krad.

Sister: Whew! Please review!