-)*(-

Going down the painted beige hallway and past the lockers, the restrooms came up on the left. Satoshi detoured there first to collect his thoughts. At the sink he cupped his hands under the stream of cool water and brought some of the liquid up, paying special attention to his forehead.

Risa... He couldn't believe it. When she'd touched him there had been no doubt. She possesses magic and she cursed me! He ran more water over his face.

Why? With what? And how? She shouldn't possess magic! And she shouldn't know how to use it!

Krad stirred uneasily. A cold sensation spread through him and his knees shook. It felt like his whole body was suddenly caught in an earthquake. He slipped to the floor and let his head rest against the underside of the sink. The water still ran noisily down the drain.

The other presence inside him churned; angry and confused. Then faded. Satoshi gasped, nearly banging his head in order to rocket up and see himself in the large mirror. It showed nothing different, but he felt the difference. Krad had retreated from him! Abruptly his knees fully gave out and he dropped flat to his butt, his mouth wide open and the color draining from his face.

"Krad is... gone..." Satoshi whispered, but he couldn't believe it. This was a trick. Had to be! But... it wasn't. How? He was shaking. Life couldn't just change like this. Everything he knew; everything he'd conditioned himself for, lifted from his shoulders in seconds.

His mind was wholly his and quiet. There was no constant influential presence to suppress, no heavy attitude weighing on him. It was just him and peace; something he hadn't had in so long he'd forgot what it felt like.

"Risa, how did you-"

The restroom door opened and another guy walked in. This startled Satoshi from his thoughts and he whipped his head around. The incoming person wasn't very familiar, but they'd passed a few times in the hallway. A pair of deep blue eyes looked at him on the floor – with his face dripping wet and the sink left to run unattended.

"Hey! Are you okay?" The slightly taller teen helped the other to his feet. Satoshi's legs almost gave out again. He faced a tiled wall and extended his arms to lean on it.

"I'll be fine," he answered breathlessly over his shoulder. "Sorry to trouble you."

The teen raised a dark brow. "Man, you don't look so good. Do you want to go to the nurse? I think you can be excused based on your color alone."

"I was just on my way there." His legs felt like jelly and his mind was reeling. His mouth was so dry and it felt like he couldn't get enough air. Things were spinning. Satoshi was in shock, he knew the symptoms. Funny he knew what was going on but couldn't control it. Sometimes it sucked having an over analytical brain.

"Do you need an escort?"

He's gone! The Hikari Curse is gone! I can live! And Daisuke-

Had this affected Dark?

"Thank you, but no. I can make it there."

Satoshi stepped from the wall and shuffled over to the door, twitching lightly, but thankfully keeping his balance. When he went to pull the handle, he didn't have the strength for it. His hand slipped from the too weak grasp he'd used. The other teen silently came up and helped him. "Here," he said, offering something in his hand, "you left this by the sink."

It was a pair of glasses.

Satoshi numbly reached out for them. He felt like laughing. He didn't need them anymore. He didn't need them anymore! It was too much. He couldn't take this fast of an unbelievable change. It was too wonderful and too sudden.

"Come on." Suddenly his whole arm was grabbed and the teen was leading him down the hall, past the bulletin boards and to the nurse's office. "You're way too spacey right now. It might just be your luck to run into a science project being carted down the hall." Satoshi didn't argue. He barely got a chance to see the nurse and the bed she offered before he blacked out.

-.-

A phone's shrill ring echoed before it was quickly answered.

"Is this Kei Hiwatari?" A pleasant, if not worried woman's voice fluttered down the line in Kei's office.

"It is. What is the problem?" Because there definitely was one.

"This is the Azumano Junior High School nurse. Sir, your son was led by another student into my office a few minutes ago, and when I took his stats and tried getting his attention he didn't respond in any way. His temperature is fairly high and if I didn't know any better I'd say he's suffering from an acute case of Jaundice. But he's missing one of the common symptoms associated with it, though only the one that I can tell. I believe he should be checked at the hospital and have some blood work done. Right away, if possible."

"I understand. It's quite strange; he looked fine when he left for school just this morning. I can be there within twenty minutes. Do you think that will be okay? Or should you go ahead and call the E.M.T?" If Satoshi couldn't be roused, then the first thing she should have done was call the ambulance. Any professional should have known this.

"He's stable, so I don't believe that's necessary. I'll keep an eye on him until you arrive."

The fool was going to be getting a complaint from him, and a lawsuit if something was seriously wrong with Satoshi.

"Thank you. I'm on my way."

Kei hung up the phone and stood, retrieving his keys from off his huge desk, nearly toppling over some paperwork from last night. With an impatient noise he made his way to the elevators, continuing with a brisk walk until he was in the driver's seat of his sleek, black Corvette.

-.-

The school bell rang again.

Lunch time. Risa wanted to go hide. Grudgingly, she copied everyone else and fetched her bento, but all too soon everyone was crowding around her and asking her questions.

"What's going on with you and Hiwatari? Did you guys see each other outside of school and get into a fight?" Ritsuko bounced in her excitement.

"He was staring at you awfully hard," one of the girls Risa barely knew said jealously.

"He treated you so roughly!" one boy said sympathetically.

"Yeah, what did you do to deserve that?" another girl snickered. Risa couldn't tell if she was on her side, or Satoshi's. More than likely Satoshi's with all the fan girls he had.

"You guys saw everything that's happened between us. He stared at me and I gave him a dirty look, then I got in trouble for it! And I tried to be nice and get something out of his hair, then he gets mad with me! He's such a snob!"

And this is where the room divided into two groups: The boys and the girls.

"I knew he was a weirdo from the start," a boy announced.

"Lier! Satoshi is the coolest there is!" a hyper girl chimed in.

"You girls have such horrible tastes!"

"And you guys lack eyesight!"

Risa sighed. She was right in the middle of a scream fest. Riku looked so annoyed as she got up to walk out the door. Risa wished she could follow her, but the crowd would probably only leave with her. "QUIET!" she yelled above everyone else.

The class looked at her. "I'd like to be able to get up from my desk, please."

"No, no, no! We have to discuss this and decide if Satoshi and you are an item now," Ritsuko said deviously. Risa's jaw dropped. Her friend knew what she had just started.

"WHAT?" all the other girls shouted.

"Are you crazy?"

"As if!"

"Satoshi wouldn't want someone who's not even in his fan club!"

"You all are such idiots!" Risa screamed. And so, there was no peace for the entire lunch break, and Daisuke dared not get close to ask his own questions. He gave up after the crowd didn't disperse five minutes later (and it didn't look like it would anytime soon) and just opted to go see the nurse instead. He rushed down the halls, finding the nurse in her office looking contrite and with only empty beds behind her wheeled chair.

"Yes?" she questioned as she looked over some documents on a clipboard.

"I wanted to know if my friend Satoshi Hiwatari was alright."

At the mentioning of the name she seemed to flinch a little bit. Maybe he was just seeing things. Slanted eyes turned to study him. She gave him a strict look. Its effects were enhanced by the tight bun her sandy hair was pulled into.

"He'll be fine. His father came to pick him up a while ago to go to the hospital, but his condition didn't look too serious."

"H-hospital!"

"I wouldn't worry. You should be able to pay him a visit after school. Is there any other reason that you're here?"

Daisuke shook his head. She'd given him more questions than answers, but she'd said all she was going say. "Um, no. Thank you." He backed out of the office and turned on his heel, disappearing around a corner. The nurse gave a slight snort.

"How dare he question how I do my job?" she asked herself, glancing to the letter she'd received from the Head Office. A complaint letter. Because she hadn't done her job correctly. Now the principal was considering firing her.

"He's the one who didn't keep an eye on his child!" she huffed, referring to Kei. She stood from her chair, having to move to work out some of her frustrated anger. She started by adjusting the sheets on the beds, again. After a few minutes she stopped.

Looking back at it, the right thing to have done would have been calling an ambulance right away. She'd just never had to do anything of the sort before and hadn't expected to then. Which was no excuse. Her training had taught her better. She hung her head and her shoulders drooped.

-)*(-