Ikuto: Hey everyone

Ikuto: Hey everyone! This is my newest, and probably my main, fanfiction that I have just recently started. It'll feature Daikeru as the main couple; the title of the story comes from the song After Dark by Asian Kung-Fu Generation.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, except my own, in this story. This includes Daisuke, Takeru, Taichi, Hikari/Kari, etc.

Chapter One: New Beginnings

The alarm clock sitting on the blonde haired boy's nightstand began beeping loudly, awakening a groan from the boy who banged the digital clock until it finally shut off. "I dun want to get up," he grumbled until he felt someone else's presence in the room, as if reading his mind somebody jumped on his super small bed and began to shake him uncontrollably.

"Keru-chan, niichan told me to wake you up," Hikari stated as she continued shaking her brother, Takeru just groaned some more before pushing her off the bed. Of course she was able to land on her feet but Takeru's actions just caused her to get pissed off.

"Need sleep…" The boy snuggled against his pillow and let his body relax as he tried to let sleep overcome him once more, Kari huffed before walking out of Takeru's room. Then he heard footsteps again and he absentmindedly told Kari to leave him alone, when he heard nothing Takeru decided to let his mind relax once more.

"Get up, Keru-chan." Takeru frowned, first of all this wasn't Kari's voice this one was much more deeper and masculine and second of all why was everyone trying to disturb his sleep?

"Niichan," Takeru whined, he kept his eyes closed and began pulling the covers over his head, that was until he felt cold water splash on him, what the hell!? "Taichi, why the hell did you just do that!?" Takeru questioned angrily as he sat bolt upright and stared into the dark chocolate eyes of his older brother.

"You wouldn't get up," Taichi shrugged while tossing the empty bucket next to a stack of boxes filled with Takeru's things. "Go dry off and get changed, you have school in a half hour." Takeru's eyes burned holes into the back of Taichi's neck as the eighteen year old walked out of the room, the blonde haired boy sighed as he glanced around his room. He hadn't really unpacked any of his things yet this room had been messier when Taichi had been sleeping in it, and now it belonged to Takeru.

"Oniisama…" Takeru's eyes watered as he glanced at the picture of Yamato, his brother, and himself side by side only a few months prior to two weeks ago. He wiped the tears that stung his eyes using his hand before getting up and heading towards the bathroom, still in his boxers, so he could dry himself off and get ready for school.

"Takeru hurry up!" Taichi voice threatened, Takeru flicked on the bathroom light, which caused the fan to awaken loudly. Obviously Taichi didn't know Takeru had already made his way to the bathroom "Thank you!" Takeru grabbed a towel and began wiping his face and rubbing his hair. He'd certainly find a way to get Taichi back.

"Niisama, will you be at the entrance ceremony?" Takeru shouted to Taichi who was busily preparing breakfast in the kitchen, by the ringing smoke detector and the smell of burnt food Takeru guessed that his brother had just burnt some toast. "Niisama?"

"No, Keru-chan." Taichi called back, Takeru frowned and walked back to his room so he could grab some clothes to put on. As soon as he walked into the room he gasped in surprise and anger.

"I have to wear a uniform?!" He glanced uncertainly at the clothes; a navy blazer, slacks, necktie, and white shirt rested peacefully on his bed and that were how they were going to stay because Takeru wasn't going to wear a uniform. Taichi walked into his room and over to Takeru, pulling the younger boy into a hug, while staring at the uniform that Hikari had put out for Takeru.

"I swear I had nothing to do with it," of course he had been the one that picked the uniform up from Takeru's new school, yet he was sure he hid it in his closet. "Hikari, did you put this uniform on Keru-chan's bed?" Taichi called out to the kitchen where Kari was now fixing Taichi's mistakes and remaking breakfast for the three of them. A giggle was heard from the kitchen and she answered back confidently.

"Yes I did!" Came the reply, Taichi huffed before kissing the back of Takeru's neck and telling the boy to put on the uniform or else he'd put it on for him. Takeru blushed lightly and set about putting on the uncomfortable clothes, soon he was looking in the mirror at himself and frowned once more. He wasn't going to school. "Niichan and niichan!" Kari called both of them, recently she had decided to call both of her brothers 'niichan' so she could confuse them and she laughed every time the wrong one answered. Takeru walked out of his room and into the living room, which was also the dining room, and behind the half wall was the kitchen. All three of them lived in this small apartment yet all of them had managed to get a separate room, except for when they had someone staying the night and if they did Takeru would sleep in Taichi's room or on the couch, and the apartment never seemed too small for them.

"Itadaki-masu," Taichi said, Hikari and Takeru followed suit before lifting up their chopsticks and eating their meal. After eating they began to put the dishes into the sink and then Taichi led the way out of the apartment, locking it before they headed towards the elevator and rode it all the way down to the parking lot. Soon they were in Taichi's Dad's old car that was now his own and were on their way to Aoyama Gakuin Junior High School.

"You never went to Aoyama Junior High before right, Takeru?" Kari asked as they neared closer to his new school, of course Kari was going to be there too so he didn't have to be worried about making new friends. "Oh by the way, here's your schedule. Niichan threatened the principal so we have all our classes together!" Kari squealed in delight while Taichi grinned, Takeru placed his head into his hands. How was that good? Taichi could've gone to jail for threatening someone like the principal!

"Just don't go telling everyone about what I did, okay?" Taichi looked at me before stopping the car, we were finally here. "Also, I won't be picking you up after you're done school. I'll have to go to work right away." Takeru nodded as Kari and him got out of the car, he slammed the door shut and waved goodbye to Taichi as the older boy drove off. He turned around and came face to face with his new school, and it was huge!

"C'mon, niichan!" Kari took Takeru's hand and started walking towards the auditorium where all the students and teachers were gathering. Throughout the whole entrance ceremony the principal talked about the standards of the school and introduced the staff for the year but Takeru wasn't really paying attention, his thoughts had slipped into the memory of two weeks ago. The night when his brother died.

"Oniichan, watch out!" Takeru shrieked, everything seemed to happen in slow motion but it also seemed to replay it faster. Takeru and Yamato had just been out and were currently driving on the highway heading back home when suddenly the car in front of them slammed on it's brakes causing Yamato's car to slam into the car that just slammed on it's brakes. But it wasn't over yet, the car behind them slammed into their own car at full speed lifting up the car a bit as the other car went somewhat under their car and then another car slammed into the car that had just slammed into them making the car go further under them. Somehow they had started flipping as more and more cars started slamming into each other, Takeru was knocked unconscious while Yamato was crushed. A few hours later Takeru woke up in a hospital bed, Taichi and Hikari were beside his bed and as soon as Kari noticed that he was awake she flung herself into his arms and began sobbing. Taichi also had tears in his eyes and soon the color drained out of Takeru's face as he remembered the accident and he demanded that Taichi tell him where his brother was.

"Takeru," Taichi looked the younger, blonde haired boy in the eyes and Takeru realized that Taichi was being serious right now. "Ya-Yamato was crushed in the car accident, he died along with seven other people. Over ten people were seriously injured, you were one of the three that had hardly any scratches at all…" Then Takeru began to cry, over the next few hours Takeru would fall into sleep and wake up only to cry himself to sleep. After Takeru was released from the hospital Taichi told him that he had fought for guardianship over Takeru since Yamato stated in his will that if anything were to happen to him Taichi would gain custody of Takeru. Of course his parents had rejected the idea but since Yamato had gained custody of Takeru when he turned eighteen and it stated that Taichi was to be given Takeru Taichi won custody. He then adopted Takeru as his brother, Kari also supported this idea one hundred percent. So he had moved in with Taichi and Kari, who had lost their parents a year ago, and became part of their family only a week ago.

"Niichan, stop daydreaming!" Kari snapped suddenly, awaking Takeru from his dream-like state, he looked at her and then realized that everyone was leaving. "Class is starting, don't worry nothing much happens on the first day." She was right, soon it was lunchtime and Takeru was eating his lunch with Kari out in the schoolyard. Takeru had taken a sudden interest in the soccer match that was going on at the soccer field near them, Kari was also watching and cheering. "Go, Daisuke!"

"Daisuke?" Takeru looked at Kari and then followed her gaze to a tan, well-built teenage boy with mahogany hair and brown eyes. This guy, Daisuke, reminded Takeru of Taichi but only a little bit besides this boy might be more mature than Taichi. Of course he found out he was wrong when Daisuke came running over to them, he had decided to take a break from the soccer game, ignoring the groans and protests that came from his teammates.

"Kari, I haven't seen you since…" Daisuke obviously had a hard time remembering when he had last seen someone yet Kari only giggled.

"We just saw each other a few weeks ago," she reminded him, this caused him to rub the back of his head sheepishly and grin. Takeru groaned after Daisuke started talking about how good he was at soccer and how he had missed Kari so much, he also mentioned that he had pulled a few pranks on people during the holidays. Daisuke was certainly another Taichi. After a few more groans Daisuke finally glanced over at Takeru, had he not noticed he was there until just now?

"Who is this?" Daisuke asked, blue stared into brown eyes; Takeru noticed a hint of jealousy in Daisuke's voice. Kari opened her mouth to answer but Takeru casually slung his arm over her shoulder and smirked, Kari tried her hardest not to laugh when she saw the look on Daisuke's face.

"I'm her boyfriend," that was all it took, Daisuke broke down and started freaking out Kari couldn't hold her laughter in anymore and Daisuke was officially confused. "Relax," Takeru told Daisuke as he removed his arm from around Kari's shoulder, Kari stopped laughing and felt it was time for her to explain.

"Takeru is my brother, well he's not related to me by blood, he's my adopted brother." The tension between Daisuke and Takeru relaxed, Daisuke gave a happy sigh of relief and then glanced at Takeru.

"So you guys adopted him from an orphanage, why?" Takeru started to glare at Daisuke who was staring at Kari. "Did Taichi want a brother or something, doesn't this guy have any other family?" Of course Daisuke hadn't realized what he was saying was ticking off Takeru but that last statement made the blonde snap, he suddenly stood up and grabbed Daisuke by the collar of his shirt. Of course Daisuke had changed out from his school uniform so he would get his clothes dirty but that didn't really matter right now because Takeru had pinned the boy against the tree they had been relaxing under. "What the hell are you doing?!" Daisuke hissed, glaring back at Takeru who tightened his grip on Daisuke's shirt.

"Don't ever talk about my family, you don't know what I went through and to answer your other question; they didn't just come and take me from an orphanage, Taichi and Hikari have been my friends for years and they helped me out by giving me a place to live. They were there for me when everyone else wasn't." Takeru let go of Daisuke and began walking away; Kari got up and shot Daisuke an 'I'm sorry' look before chasing after Takeru.

"Takeru!" Kari finally caught up to her fuming brother; he had taken refuge underneath a Sakura tree near the west wing of the school. "Takeru, you almost hurt Daisuke!" Kari yelled as she walked closer, she soon stopped when she realized that the blonde was shaking. "Oh, Keru-chan. Daisuke didn't know, he didn't know." Kari drop down beside Takeru and pulled him into a hug as he continued crying, he honestly didn't mean to hurt Daisuke he had snapped or something and was just acting on an impulse.

"I know he didn't know," Takeru soon began to calm down; he glanced up at Kari and sighed. "I'm going to have to apologize to him, aren't I?"

"You bet you are," Kari huffed, Takeru sighed once more before getting up with Kari and heading inside so they weren't late for their next class. Of course they still had another ten minutes or so to get there before class even started so Kari opted to show Takeru around the school a bit more.

Soon the bell for fifth period rang and while the students waited for the teacher to come by Takeru took a glance at his classmates for this subject, of course when he saw Daisuke walking over to them he immediately told Kari that he was going to get a drink of water before class began. When he got back the teacher was ushering the students into the classroom but told them not to sit down anywhere, they soon found out that they had to put their names into a hat and this would decide the seating plan. Takeru sighed, his other teachers in the rest of his classes had told them that they could sit anywhere they wanted but only if they behaved themselves yet Ms. Tanaka liked to do things differently.

"As you can see here at Aoyama Junior High we normally have two desks pushed up against each other so you are sitting directly beside someone. There are only a few select classes where this doesn't happen, luckily my class isn't one of those classes." She smiled and went on to explain that she encouraged students talking to each other and helping each other out as long as the class didn't get too noisy and no one interrupted her. As everyone waited to sit down they shifted around, trying to support their books and other objects for the afternoon as Ms. Tanaka started pulling the names out of a hat and telling students where they were sitting. I was told to sit beside the window in the back corner of the room, she then told Kari to sit in front of me and I dreaded the name of the person that was chosen to sit beside me; Daisuke Motomiya.

"Looks like we're stuck with each other for this class," Daisuke announced cheerfully as he sat down in the desk beside me, did he not remember that I had just shoved him against a tree outside?!

"Yeah well, I…" Daisuke waved a hand at me which I took as a 'shut up and let me speak' gesture.

"Kari told me everything while you went to get a drink," Daisuke told me in a whisper, his voice was so quiet not even Kari could hear him. "I'm sorry for saying things without even knowing the full story-" Takeru cut him off before he could finish.

"So," he began, he didn't know when but sometime in the time frame of five to ten seconds Takeru had began fidgeting in his seat. "You know that my brother was crushed in a car accident while I was sitting beside him and didn't even get any broken limps or any life threatening injuries?" Takeru glanced at Daisuke and his eyes widened, Daisuke's tan skin now looked pale and his own brown eyes had widened in shock.

"Wh-what?" Daisuke asked Takeru who then called Kari's name; she turned around and noticed the state Daisuke was in.

"What did you say to him?"

"He said that you told him everyone and I thought you had told him about Yamato!" Tears threatened to roll down his cheeks but he remained calm, it had taken Takeru a few days but after his brother's death he had learned to control his tears.

"No," Hikari looked at Daisuke and then back at Takeru. "I only told him that you felt sorry for what you did and you really didn't mean to hurt him or anything."

"Daisuke," Takeru turned around to the boy whose skin was turning back to normal color and he was blinking. "My brother died in the big huge car accident that took place two weeks ago."

"I-I'm sorry, I really didn't know." Daisuke looked down at the ground and Takeru continued to fight the tears in his eyes. After a few more minutes of organizing the students, Ms. Tanaka told everyone to settle down and then she began telling them about the class.

"As you know this is English, but this is the elective for English and we'll be watching English movies that you'll have to answer questions on and have tests just like a normal English class." Ms. Tanaka explained while Takeru pushed the recent events out of his mind and began staring out the window, his head rested on his arm, which was propped up on the desk. "You may now talk amongst yourselves for the remainder of the period, but remember that tomorrow will be a full work period!" After that she sat down at her desk which was at the front of the room, the students soon began to talk to the person beside them or their friends that were situated around the room.

"Hm." Takeru stared at the falling cherry blossoms that were being blown off the trees by the spring wind.

"Hey, Takeru." Daisuke nudged the blonde boy, Takeru looked at Daisuke. "Do you want to hang out after school today, I ask Kari and she said she'd hang out with us too."

"Sure." Takeru replied, he glanced at Kari who was starting to talk to the girl beside her. "What did you have in mind?"

"We could always go over to your house or we could go to the park."

"We'll head over to my house, I guess." Takeru shrugged, was Daisuke trying to make up for what he said?

"Okay," Daisuke grinned and then took out his schedule. "Takeru, let me see your schedule for a second." Takeru handed Daisuke his schedule and the boy soon began to compare the two. "So you have all the same classes as me except for math, you take advance math."

"You wanted to have all the same classes as Kari didn't you?" Takeru figured this out quickly seeing as how Kari had all the same classes as him, including math.

"Yeah, but they wouldn't let me take the advance math class."

"I wonder why," Daisuke stuck his tongue out at Takeru; the other teen began doing the same thing. "How 'bout we have a staring competition?" Daisuke quickly agreed and soon the two boys were staring at each other, with out blinking, while Kari judged.

"Takeru, you blinked." Shit! Takeru thought for sure that he could've won the match, Daisuke laughed at the blonde who grumbled something and began staring out the window again. "So what do we have next again?" Kari asked, Daisuke handed Takeru back his schedule before checking his own.

"We have homeroom next," Daisuke, announced cheerfully, Takeru began tapping his fingers on his desk. When was school going to end?

"Ring you stupid bell!" Daisuke and Kari chuckled at their friend's impatience, Takeru growled and looked at Daisuke. "Like you can't wait until we go over to my place, you'll be in Kari's house."

"I've been there before, just like you I've been a friend to the Yagami family for years." Takeru shot a questioning look at Kari who nodded; Daisuke had known Taichi and Kari for years already?

"I'm so glad the first day is over!" Daisuke slammed his locker closed, whistling cheerfully as Kari and Takeru waited for him. "Taichi isn't picking you guys up, right?"

"We told you that about ten times already in homeroom-" Takeru was cut off by Daisuke grabbing the back of his collar and dragging him while Kari followed closely, chuckling at Daisuke's actions while Takeru grumbled.

"Lighten up," was all Daisuke said before he let Takeru go and proceeded to walk off school grounds with the Yagami siblings following behind him. "So, what are we going to do when we get there?"

"We could always watch a movie," Kari suggested, Takeru nodded his head in agreement while remaining silent and Daisuke grinned, obviously he was going to agree with Kari. "We just bought this new movie called Enchanted, Taichi ordered it off of the Internet. It's in English but we won't have any trouble understanding it, right?"

"You guys might not have any trouble," Daisuke huffed, he obviously would still watch the movie. "But I'm not so great when it comes to English."

"We'll help you understand it, Daisuke-kun." Takeru walked up to beside Daisuke while Kari walked up to the soccer player's other side. "Just don't fall asleep during the movie," Takeru accused Daisuke, and then he began thinking about what he was doing. He had only known the other boy for a few hours yet after what had happened at lunch they were talking like the best of friends.

"You better help me 'cause I don't want to start snoring," Daisuke complained, Takeru laughed a little while Kari giggled.

"If you start snoring then we'll have to make you leave," Kari told him, causing the boy to promise he wouldn't snore at all. "Oh, Dai-kun. Are you going to sleep over?"

"Maybe, it would be much easier to walk to school from your house tomorrow morning or Taichi could give me a drive. I mean my apartment is all the way in the busiest part of Shibuya!"

"We don't exactly have room for Daisuke, Kari." Takeru told his sister, she giggled and looked at Takeru with her cute eyes.

"Of course we do, silly!" Kari pointed at Takeru and he groaned, knowing what she was going to say next. "You'll share your bed with him or you'll sleep on the couch!"

"Me, why not him?!" Takeru stated in shock, why would he have to sleep on the lumpy old couch?

"Well I don't exactly want to give up my bed, Taichi doesn't like sharing, and Daisuke is our guest so we can't make him sleep on the couch!"

"Daisuke might not even be allowed to sleep over," Takeru pointed out he began to add onto this but was cut out by Daisuke's loud talking.

"Hi Mom? Yeah, it's Daisuke." He was on his cell phone, oh no! "Can I stay over at Kari's house, yes I'll be able to get to school on time, no I won't- Mother?! How could you think I'd do something like that to her? I'm not like those old men on the news…"

"His mother is very overprotective of me, she doesn't want Daisuke to do anything." Kari explained as she listened to the phone conversation, soon Daisuke hung up and put his cell phone away.

"I'm allowed to sleep over," He looked up at Takeru with some sort of puppy dog look on his face.

"I'm not sleeping on the couch so you can share my bed…" Takeru groaned as Daisuke jumped up and down in joy.

'Takeru & Kari, I've gone to work and won't be back until around 9 PM. Get something to eat but I'll be bringing home pizza so don't eat too much, and make sure to guard the fridge if Daisuke is over!

Love, Taichi'

"Niichan won't be home until later?" Kari asked as she tried to read the note from over Takeru's shoulder, Daisuke was busy sneaking over to the fridge. "He's bringing home pizza, okay."

"Stop right there, Daisuke!" Takeru commanded the boy who was only inches away from the fridge stocked with food, Takeru grabbed his shirt and dragged him out of the kitchen and to the living room where all three of them sat down and began channel surfing. "We'll watch the movie in an hour or so, that way Taichi will be home a half hour after we finished watching it."

"M'kay," Daisuke agreed absentmindedly while scanning the TV screen, searching for some non-boring show to watch to pass the time. Soon all three of them were fighting for some space on the couch, only half an hour to go before they started watching the movie.

"So, Takeru which school did you go to before you went to our school?" Daisuke asked, trying to make conversation with the blonde haired boy.

"Hm. Not really sure, I didn't remember the name because I hated the place so much."

"What's your favorite food?"

"Instant Ramen," Takeru answered the question.

"Oh come on, that's not really food!"

"It's edible so it's food, but I also like Sushi." Daisuke stuck out his tongue in disgust and quickly explained that he didn't eat raw fish. "It's not just fish that they use to make Sushi."

"Still, I don't eat too much seafood. I stick to the junk food like cheeseburgers and Pizza!" Takeru grumbled something about those things not being healthy for you before getting up and putting in the DVD, he sat back down between Kari and Daisuke. Eager to not let Daisuke get too comfortable near his little sister and friend, Daisuke made a slight noise that he quickly replaced with a growl and then he shut up and all three of them began to watch the movie.

"Huh, I missed the last part! What did they say?" Daisuke whispered into Takeru's ear, the blonde sighed every five minutes or so Daisuke was bugging him because Kari and told him to shut up when he had asked her.

"They were walking in the park when she started singing, the guy told her not to sing but she continued to." Takeru had to admit, Daisuke was doing pretty good with understanding the movie. The boy seemed to do good in English, so why ask the two people enjoying the movie what's going on? The answer was that Daisuke was bored, of course the proud teenager would never admit it.

"Oh," Daisuke nodded and turned to face back to the movie, Takeru did the same and prayed that he wasn't asked anymore questions. Takeru's prayer was answered when Daisuke fell asleep about halfway through the entire movie, of course this bothered Takeru even more because the boy was pretty quiet yet he was using Takeru's shoulder as a pillow.

"Kari?" Takeru gave his sister a pleading look but she just chuckled a little before facing back to the movie.

"He's your problem," Takeru grumbled but continued to watch the movie, even with Daisuke sleeping on him. "Oh my god! Di-did he just?"

"No, the rat is fine. See, he just fell into the bottle instead of being thrown into the fire." Kari huffed when Takeru called the chipmunk a rat but was happy to see that the animal hadn't been harmed.

"Hello, anyone here?" Taichi's voice rang from the door as he entered carrying two large boxes of pizza. "I sorta need some help carrying these in!" Takeru got up from the couch just as Daisuke woke up at the smell of pizza, Takeru let out a cry as he was pushed aside when the mahogany haired boy went to help Taichi carry in the pizza.

"He really loves pizza doesn't he?"

"Yeah, you should have seen him a year ago at his birthday party. They had to order him a large pizza just for himself!" Kari replied, she soon got up to get a slice of pizza while Takeru followed.

"Aha, I knew you would be here. That's why I got two large pizzas, jeez Daisuke! Down boy, down!" Taichi ordered, reluctantly Daisuke sat back down on the couch while Taichi began to put slices of pizza onto the plates of Takeru and Kari. He then gave himself two slices and went to sit on the couch, Daisuke started in amazement

"You didn't get me any?!"

"You have two legs and two arms, go get a slice for yourself!" Daisuke grumbled and Taichi chuckled, soon the couch was occupied by the Yagami siblings which left Daisuke eating on the floor. "Sorry, Dai. But this is our house, our couch!"

"Well at least I won't be sleeping on the floor tonight."

"I'm letting him share my bed with me," Takeru told Taichi, the older boy's eyes stared at Daisuke and then at Takeru.

"Really now? Well I might just have to force him to sleep outside!"

"Well dogs do sleep outside don't they?" Takeru agreed with Taichi quickly causing Kari to burst out laughing and Daisuke started staring at Takeru.

"I. Am. Not. A. Dog!"

"Well you follow Kari everywhere, you begged me to let me share a bed with you and Taichi did have to tell you 'down' which you obeyed like a good puppy." Takeru grinned and Daisuke gave him a sour look. "Don't worry, you'll still sleep inside."

"I better, I don't want to catch a cold or anything at the beginning of the school year."

"So it's settled, Daisuke will sleep on the couch!" Taichi clapped his hands together and Daisuke immediately looked up at the older boy.

"Taichi-sempai, I was going to sleep in Takeru's bed!"

"Not anymore!"

"That's not fair!"

"This is my house, my rules!" Taichi grinned and Daisuke tore a piece of cheese off of his slice of pizza angrily. "Aw is Dai-Inu mad?"

"I'm not a dog!"