Here you go everyone! Enjoy!

Chapter 17- Pacing

Daisuke struggled to break free from whatever hold had him pinned. He was terrified, his heart seizing in his chest while he watched in horror as whoever was coming toward him was almost coming into view.

"Somebody please! Help me!"

~...ake up...~

"Dark! Dark is that you?!"

~Daisu...co...on...ge...up!~

The child shut his eyes tight, the tears stinging his eyes and face. "P-Please..."

"Daisuke! Wake up!"

Daisuke opened his eyes and shot up in his bed, his body covered in sweat and his whole body heaving uncontrollably. He put a hand to his chest and felt his heart thudding against his ribcage, trying to calm down. The sun was shining brightly into his bedroom, the bedsheets tossed in all directions around the mattress. He looked up to see who was calling to him; his eyes fixed into the violet, stoic eyes of the Fallen, who had his hands clasped firmly on the boys shoulders.

"D-Dark.." he stammered, his lungs struggling to get a decent breath of air. "Dark I-I-"

"Shhhh..." Dark said calmly, placing a finger on the boys trembling lips. "It's still early. You don't want to stir your mother. She'll worry."

Daisuke went silent and rubbed his eyes, feeling that he wasn't only crying in the nightmare that he had. He sniffled, wrapping his arms around his own chest, taking in deep breaths while he let his brain slow down. Parts of his dream flash across his memory, making him shudder in fear. The gloved hand, the golden, piercing eyes that seemed to go right through him. It was if the eyes were looking for someone else...

"What happened Daisuke?" Dark asked, his tone low. "I got shoved out of your body just a few moments ago. Once I realized that I had a physical body again I found you thrashing about in your sleep. It took a few shakes to wake you up. Forgive me if it was too much."

The boy shook his head, running a shaky hand through his messy locks. "N-No. It's alright. I just had a really bad dream. I-I'll be fine. Nothing else happened though. The wings-"

"Haven't appeared since you fell asleep." Dark commented. "You must have had a really bad nightmare. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I-I..." the redhead started, then bit his lip while shaking his head. "I don't think so. I don't want to talk about it if that's okay."

"Alright Daisuke." Dark said, finally moving away from the boy. He didn't realize how close he was to the child until now. He looked away for a brief moment. 'I was just concerned for him. That's all. He was having a nightmare. That's my excuse.'

Daisuke slipped off the bed, giving his head a shake and lightly slapped his face to wake up. He pushed the memory of his dream out of his thoughts as best as he could. He didn't want to worry Dark with it. He looked down and noticed that he only had his bottoms on. He looked at the Fallen, seeing that Dark was staring at him, which made the boy jump.

"I-I'm okay now Dark. I think I will stay awake and get dressed."

Dark nodded. "I'll leave you to it." In a quick moment the man faded from view, returning in the back of the redheads mind.

The room was silent. The child looked at his shadow, his shoulders shivering slightly as he went to his clothes, grabbing an outfit and quickly pulled it on. He tossed his pants from the night before in the pile of dirty laundry. He looked at his jeans, tugging on them slightly.

'Huh...they do seem smaller. Maybe Momma was right.' Daisuke thought to himself. 'But I don't wanna burden her with buying new clothes for me. She's got enough troubles with everything else I don't want to be a bother.'

Looking up at the mirror, he felt a little silly seeing his pants a few inches shorter to his legs. He turned, pulling at his shirt and squinting to see one of the lines where his wings appeared, running his finger softly on top of it. "I just hope no one really notices these. Especially Momma or Dr. Musashi."

~As long as you don't make too much notice to it, everything should be fine.~

"Okay."

~We will just have to be discreet when you need to let your wings be exposed.~

Daisuke understood, pulling up his shirt collar. He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth and combed his hair as best as he could. He looked in the bathroom mirror, blinking in surprise. 'Dark?'

~Yes Daisuke?~

The child stepped off his stool, looking up at the mirror again. He could now mark that he could see that he could see up to his nose in the mirror, 'I'm taller than I was yesterday.'

Dark fiddled with his own paranoia. 'No...no-no. Keep it together.' He did his best to maintain a cool head with his vessel, ~It's possible that you're getting an early growth spurt. It happens to humans sometimes. It's perfectly normal.~ 'I hope.'

'You think so?' He looked at his reflection, now beaming a little. 'At least I won't be too short to reach alot of things. I might not have to look up to Risa-chan and Riku-chan too much anymore.'

~That's the spirit.~ Dark said, trying to be reassuring. ~Let's head downstairs and wait for your mother. There's bound to be some cartoons on at this hour.~

Daisuke seemed to perk up, keeping what happened in his dream out of his thoughts as he made it down the stairs. He turned on the television and set the volume low, plopping himself onto the couch, keeping his mind busy with what was playing on the screen. Dark took note of what was happening to the redhead, but kept it to himself.

'It's just a growth spurt. Nothing out of the ordinary. It's just a coincidence.' the Fallen thought, running through the last couple of months in his brain. 'I helped him get better, that's all I did. This is just puberty...of a ten-year-old. It has nothing to do with me being here...

...please let me be right.'

A few hours later, Emiko stirred from her bed and stretched, looking out the window to see the clear blue sky. It felt like it was going to be a good day of good weather. She slipped out of bed and walked down the hall to her sons bedroom. She softly knocked, turning the knob slowly.

"Dai-tenshi? It's time to get up honey. I can't have you sleep the day away-"

She opened the door to find that her son was no where in his bed. She looked around the room, noticing that there wasn't a trace of the boy. She blinked in surprise, walking towards the bathroom.

"Huh? The light's still on. Dai?" she looked inside, hoping not to invade his privacy too much. She noticed that the toothpaste was open and the hairbrush wasn't where it normally was placed. She raised an eyebrow, calling out from the bathroom. "Daisuke? Where are you dear?"

"I'm downstairs Momma!" she heard from the living room. She was even more surprised, tilting her head while she thought about it.

'Daisuke's awake early on a Sunday? And it's not an appointment day. Strange...' she took a few moments to think about it before she shook her head. 'Silly Emiko, put it out of your mind for now. Maybe he's becoming more responsible with not sleeping in?' She picked up the toothpaste, seeing that there was a large amount that had disappeared, noticing that there was a portion of the minty substance along the side of the sink and now slowly going into the drain. '...he gets -this- from his father one hundred percent.'

She cleaned up the mess and got herself ready for the day. Once she was finished she decended downstairs to see Daisuke sitting quietly on the couch watching the television. Once Daisuke had seen her come in he scrambled off the couch and gave her a hug, nuzzling her stomach happily.

"I waited here for you Momma. Were you surprised?"

She smiled, wrapping her arms around his head and petted his hair. "I was. Were you waiting for breakfast?"

Daisuke nodded, looking up at her with a smile. "Uh huh! I didn't want to miss it this time. Can we have pancakes today?"

She giggled, wiping away some of the toothpaste that was still on the corner of his mouth. "I dunno..."

He pouted, looking at her with pleading eyes. She could feel her heart melting quickly, her joke foiled by one gaze. "Okay, okay. We can have pancakes this morning, but only if you help me. Making pancakes for the both of us sounds like a Momma and son job."

"Okay Momma!" he said excited, giving him another hug.

Emiko knelt down and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, returning the embrace. She remembered last night. This was a regular Daisuke hug. It didn't feel different like the one from the night before. It was warm, not empty. She felt that this was her real Daisuke. The bubbly, happy child that she had taken care of since day one. Her little angel. She gave him an extra squeeze, kissing his forehead.

"Come on, let's head to the kitchen. I gotta find my partner an apron so he doesn't get dirty."

"Yes Momma!" he responded, giving her a salute before bounding for the kitchen. She couldn't help but notice the tangled mess of hair he hand missed at the very back of his head, letting out a soft chuckle before venturing into the kitchen herself.

"Fanks Momma." Daisuke said in between bites of his breakfast. "Fhere affome!"

"Now Dai, don't eat with your mouth full. I don't want you to choke."

The redhead swallowed, grabbing his glass of milk to wash down the delicious taste of syrup and fluffy pancake. The kitchen smelled so good because of his mothers cooking. Daisuke had helped with adding all the ingredients and got to stir the mixing bowl with his mothers help. Emiko had control of the actual cooking process. His stomach growled loudly once he saw his small stack of pancakes in front of his face, wolfing down his share happily.

Emiko sipped her tea, watching her son. 'He's been acting differently this weekend. He's been up and down so much I can't keep track. Could it be something going on? Possibly that he's growing up? I don't really know." She cut a piece of her pancake and ate slowly, her mind still focused on her son. 'He doesn't seem to be sick. I haven't seen him eat so fiercely in a long time. Darn it Emiko, don't fuss over your own son. He's better now, I'll just have to keep an eye out for him, good or bad.'

"Momma?"

Emiko looked up at the redhead, trying not to laugh at the dribbling syrup that was trailing down his chin. "Napkin Dai. What is it dear?"

Daisuke grabbed his napkin, not entirely getting the sticky substance off of his face. "Uhm...if it's okay...can we go to the mall today?"

"The mall?" she asked, remembering what she said from yesterday. "Oh! You want to get some clothes today?"

The redhead nodded. "I mean, if we can get clothes. I don't wanna be a bother to you- - Momma?"

Emiko shook her head. "Don't you ever think that you're a bother ever again. Is that clear?"

The child looked away meekly. "Okay..."

"You're not in trouble, Dai. You're my son and I want to do what's best for you. I love you, you know that."

"I do."

"Then you don't have to think that you're a bother."

"But, I know we don't have much-"

"Don't worry about adult problems. You're still my little boy. As much as you may want to grow up sweetie, you don't need to do it right away. Just let Momma worry about it. Got it?"

Daisuke went silent, biting his lip. 'Dark?'

~No way. I know better to make a mother angry. Just listen to what she wants to do.~

'You too?' he sighed. 'You're right.'

Emiko raised her eyebrow. "Well Dai, do you want to go to the mall to get some new outfits?"

The boy straightened in his seat, his hands in his lap. "Y-Yes'um!"

She smiled, "Good boy." she took another bite of her breakfast. "You keep eating and then we can clean up before we head out the door."

He nodded, biting a few more pieces off of his pancake that he was working on.

Dark mentally flinched. 'Yup, never mess with an irritated mother."

It wasn't long after breakfast that Daisuke was walking out the door with his mother, piling into a taxi cab and heading into the city towards the nearest mall. The redhead sat quietly while his mother talked with the driver. He looked up at the towering buildings and skyscrapers that him feel like he was just an ant if someone was looking down towards the ground. It sparked a few ideas in his head about being able to fly, like some of the superheroes children at school would talk about. Being that high however made him pale, crossing off the idea of trying to attempt it.

'Dark? How does it feel?'

~How does what feel?~

'To be able to fly?'

Dark let out a soft sigh, ~Lonely.~

Daisuke paused, feeling like he hit a nerve. Dark chuckled lightly. ~It's alright Daisuke. I'm only teasing. I had the Clan, so I wasn't really alone unless I was on a mission, remember? But to fly, it's an exhilarating experience. Seeing the scenery from overhead is really beautiful. However, I only got to really do it at night, right? So to see it during the day was rare.~

'Rare...huh...'

~Don't be getting any ideas in your head about it. Once I have enough power we will be able to separate and you will be able to go on being a normal human boy and go on with your life. Yes, you could attempt flying as we discussed, but I don't want you to injure yourself and I get us in trouble.~

With Dark saying those words, Daisuke felt his heart sink. Normal. It was a word that after the recent turn of events was something he hadn't heard of in the time he has spent with Dark living inside of him. He got used to the Fallen in his head, being able to talk to someone when he was alone at home or at school made him happy. The boy knew that there would come a time that they would have to part, but Dark wouldn't completely disappear on him, would he?

"Dai honey. We're here." Emiko called, tapping Daisuke on the shoulder.

Daisuke jumped slightly and shied away, his mind going back to his marks that he had. He gave a shrug to make it look like he was only getting her attention before getting unbuckled from the seat and climbed out of the vehicle with his mother. He took her hand and held the front of his jacket, looking up at the large intimidating building that they were walking into.

.o~End of Chapter 17~o.

Another chapter written! Hope you glad liked it. Not alot of action happening in this chapter besides the beginning. But there's got to be some downtime, right? Let me know of your thoughts? Don't be shy about commenting. I always like feedback!