Chapter 9

Discoveries

"That was sappy," Daisuke commented when they were safely away. "Even for you."

"Sappy, huh?" Dark asked, examining the city below. "Look down there—that's your girlfriend Risa's house. Let's see how you act around her." He started to descend toward the balcony, where Daisuke could just make out a figure standing at the railing.

"Dark, no!" Daisuke protested. "It's late. We have to be getting home."

"Sure," Dark replied. "You just don't want to see her like this." He landed lightly on the balcony behind the girl. She was wearing a pair of fuzzy pajamas, gazing out over the water towards the horizon. Dark stole up behind her, grasped her shoulders, and turned her around. That's when he realized she had short hair. It was Riku, not Risa. And she wasn't happy to see him. Too late. She looked up and froze for a second, just long enough for Dark to think, "Oh, blast."

"Get away from me, you pervert!" she yelled.

"No! Wait! I didn't mean…" Dark replied, while trying to restrain her from hitting him.

"Let me go!" she yelled, fighting against his hold.

"Shh! Listen for a moment!" But she had both hands on his chest now, trying to pushi him away, still screaming. That's when it happened. Light gathered in her hands. Dark froze in shock, staring down at her hands. There was a bright flash like a strobe light going off that lit up the sky, and Dark was hurtled backwards, through the wall and into the next room. Someone screamed. He landed sprawled out on the floor, covered in dust, unable to feel his back. There was a hole in the wall, through which Riku was staring with her jaw slightly dropped.

"Are you alive?" Daisuke asked. Dark could tell he was trying very hard not to laugh from the ripples of amusement in his mind.

"I think so," Dark replied, trying to maintain his dignity.

"Then you deserved it. Go, Riku!" Daisuke was positively beaming. Riku, however, was horrified.

"I'm sorry!" she said, walking through the door she'd just blasted into existence and kneeling down beside him. "Are you alright? I don't know what happened!"

"What's going on?" a sleepy voice asked from across the room. There was a gasp. "A Guardian!" Feet pattered across the carpeted floor and Risa entered Dark's vision. "Wow! I've wanted to meet you for forever!" Finally she took in the stat of her wall. "What happened? Riku, what did you do!" Dark started to get to his feet. He was covered in sheet-rock dust from the wall, which turned his clothes white so that he looked more like Krad than himself. What a way to meet a girl.

"Me?" Riku asked, affronted. "It was him! He tried to molest me!" Dark choked.

"I did not!"

"Riku!" Risa exclaimed. "I can't believe you!"

"You did, too!"

"You didn't have to blast me through the wall!"

"But Riku," Risa said, "how did you blast him through the wall in the first place?"

"I…" Riku stopped short in the middle of her tirade, taken by surprise. How had she done it?

"You must be one of the Powers," Dark replied thoughtfully.

"Riku's a Power?" Risa asked, wide-eyed.

"I am not!"

"Oh, yes you are. That was the White Flame you just wielded."

"No, I'm not!" Riku protested again. "I'd know if I was."

"Well, let's check then," Dark replied.

"How?" Riku started to ask, but before she knew it he had scooped her up into his arms and was carrying her across the room. "Put me down, you pervert!" she yelled, struggling and kicking. He did. In fact, he dumped her onto the bed. "Why, you…" she started, beginning to pull herself up. But she shoved her back down before she could finish and started pulling her shirt up. "No!" she shouted. "Help!" Risa was standing a few feet back, watching with interest.

"I think we should trust him," Risa replied. Riku started to reply, but at that point she felt Dark's fingers brush her shoulder and she shivered.

"You have the mark," he said. "You are one of the Powers." Riku hurriedly pulled her shirt back down and glared fits at him.

"Whoa! Now I want a mark too!" Risa exclaimed. In Dark's mind, Daisuke had had about enough.

"Please, Dark! Can we just go?"

"What, and leave your girlfriend?" Dark asked.

"It's getting late."

"Party pooper," Dark replied. Aloud, he said, "Well, it seems about time I should leave. It's been a pleasure meeting you." He kissed Riku's palm before she could drag it away and wipe I off on her bed.

"Come again!" Risa called after him as he walked back out onto the balcony and took off.

"I mean to," Dark muttered.

"Well, where is she?" The man who spoke was sitting across the dark room, submerged in shadows.

"Sir, our most humble apologies. We didn't manage to acquire her." It was the whit Power who spoke again.

"You failed."

"Sir."

"This is a… minor setback. There will be another chance. He will come when you attack the stone, leaving the girl alone. It will be the perfect opportunity."

"But sire, after tonight he will not want to leave her by herself. Won't he take the girl with him?"

"No. It will be dangerous and he will not want her hurt."

"Yes, sir. We will not fail you again."

"I should think not. Now, for your punishment." There was no warning. One minute the Power was standing as straight as possible in the middle of the room, the next he was writhing on the floor. If anyone had been around they would have heard the screams.

Satoshi woke up with the sun in his eyes. He frowned and squinted through it. That's when he realized one of his arms was wrapped around Mika's waist. He froze, trying to figure out how to get out of this one.

"Krad, I'm going to kill you," he muttered, inching slowly away. Unfortunately, it still woke Mika up. She yawned contentedly, rolled over, opened her eyes, and froze.

"Wait!" Satoshi started to say. "It's not what it…" But it was too late. The ensuing yell could be heard for blocks. Satoshi wasn't quite sure what happened after that.

"Get away from me!" she shouted, pushing at him with her hands while simultaneously kicking him. Satoshi knew only that he ended up on his back on the floor with a painful thump. But that wasn't the end of the assault. Before he could get to his feet he was bashed over the head with a big fluffy pillow. She continued to attack him as he struggled up, trying to ward off her blows. "You pervert!" Satoshi dashed out the door, narrowly missing several pillows she chucked across the room at him.

"What the heck happened, Krad," he muttered as he stalked off down the hall. The Guardian had just been woken up by all the commotion and took a few seconds to piece together what had happened.

"What…" he started to ask.

"You switched with me!" Satoshi yelled furiously.

"…Oops."

"Oops?!"

"Well, I didn't do it on purpose! It must have happened while we were sleeping." Krad sounded thoughtful. Satoshi groaned.

The ride into school was particularly quite. Neither Satoshi nor Mika said a word to each other the entire time.

By second period that day, there were rumors circulating around the school about what had happened to Ukawa. By then it was common knowledge that Ukawa was in the hospital recovering from burns and everyone had a different theory about how it had happened. There were even a few rumors about the cute blond boy.

Of course, Mika didn't know this until Risa suddenly sat down next to her, looking mischievous.

"So, what's his name?" Risa asked. Mika looked up and frowned in confusion.

"Who's?"

"That blond guys'."

"Oh, Krad." Mika had forgotten that he'd dragged her out of school the day before. Oh, man! Everyone must have seen them!

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you a thing now?"

"A what?" Mika yelped. Risa raised an eyebrow.

"No less that eleven girls saw you two together." Mika thought about Krad's kiss and smiled. "Uh huh," Risa said. "I'll leave you alone then."

Sometime during fifth period the girl sitting in front of Satoshi turned around and handed him a note. Satoshi sighed and started to crumple it up when something caught his eye. It had Daisuke's name written on it. Curious, he opened it up. It read:

Found one.

Meet me at 7?

Satoshi understood immediately. They'd found one of the Powers. He realized Daisuke was watching him from across the room. Folding the note back up, he nodded. Daisuke turned back around.

Man, when it comes to High School Drama, I am clueless. Don't kill me! The next chapter will kick us out of it again and back into action.

This hasn't been updated in so long, mainly because I seriously thought no one really cared. And because, well, let's see you finish up three fics at the same time. Speaking of which, I don't care if you don't read Dragon Knights, you should so go read Getting Rath Back. I finally did a really good job on a story. I wish now it had been for you guys. But I am learning, and if I do this again, I swear I'll never do an OC or romance again. If I stick to people dying, I stay a lot more interested in writing. What a horrible thought, though…

Review Responses:

To The Oblivious Captain Anna: Thank you. You were the first person to review, and for the longest time the only one. That meant a lot.

To TokiNoKusabi: I hat to admit it, but I was planning on dropping this fic until you reviewed. Then some thought occurred to me like, "Well, someone likes it, I better at least get up what I have." I definitely agree. It's so hard to find non-yaoi stories. How come there have to be some many really good writers who only write that stuff? I almost combined this chapter with 10 for you to hurry it up. But if I want to go get up my other fic, I better hurry... blinks then again, I just realized I don't have it with me. Blast! That's not good. I was trying to get them both up today…