Just a quick note for those of you who haven't read my other fics:
...# Part: Somebody... = Chapter number and whose POV the chapter is in.

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Children of the Mirror

...2nd Part: Dark...

When I got home, I went straight up to my room and the adjoining bathroom, sneaking past my mom to examine my lip in a mirror. I grimaced when I touched the marks. My lip had stopped bleeding, finally, and now I could see where Krad's teeth had broken through my skin. The inside of my lip wasn't much better. I'd have to wear a scarf over my face or something in order to hide it. But that wouldn't cover up the fact that it still hurt, and the wounds inside of my mouth stung every time my curious tongue brushed over the unfamiliar crevices – which was often.

I washed the blood off my hands and my chin, groaning when I thought about facing my parents about this. I couldn't tell him I'd just kissed some guy because of a dare! My father might go into a tangent about the crime of my actions, and how I was such a disappointment outside of the good grades that didn't quite fit my character. And my mother... I didn't even know what to think. My mother was a very unpredictable person.

In conclusion, I was doomed. And grounded – not that grounding me had ever stopped me before, but it took less effort to just walk out the front door than going through the window.

"Dark? Is that you upstairs?" My mom's voice.

I took another look at my lip in the mirror and moaned miserably. Here comes round one. "Yeah! I'm home!"

"I didn't hear you come in," she said. "Are you okay?" I heard the stairs creak as she walked up them, then she was knocking on my bedroom door.

"I'm fine, Mom," I lied.

"I know that's not true. You only sneak in if something's wrong or you've brought a girl home with you. Now which is it? Let me in, Dark."

I gave a frustrated sigh. "The door's not locked." But maybe it should be.

She opened it and walked into my room, where I now stood in the middle of the floor with my arms crossed over my chest, waiting for her to notice the bite on my face – and she did, faster than I had anticipated.

"Oh, God – where did you get that? What happened?" she worried, coming over to me to examine the damage.

"Uhm... uh..." I didn't know how to answer at all. Make up a story? Tell her the straight truth?

"Dark, did you get into a fight again?" my mother demanded. Apparently, she didn't realize that the cuts on my lip were not exactly common.

"You could say that..." I considered.

"With who?"

Better tell the truth, I decided. "Krad."

Her face suddenly turned very serious. "What did you do to him?" What!? She was being defensive of him, now... why? I couldn't understand it at all.

"Nothing!" I protested. "I didn't do anything!"

She shook my shoulders. "Don't lie to me, Dark. What did you do to get into a fight with him?"

I didn't hear my dad come home. I didn't hear the door or his boots against the floor.

"I didn't get into a fight with him, okay!?" I shouted suddenly. "I kissed him!"

My mother slapped me. This stunned me. It didn't hurt, really, but she didn't do things like that unless she was really upset and I had done something tragically wrong – which, surprisingly enough, did not happen often. She turned away from me and went over to sit on the edge of my bed, just as my father tramped into my room to see what was going on. Actually, by the look on his face, he already knew. Damnit.

I braced myself for the worst. A lot went through my head then, but I never would have guessed at the rumors I would soon hear from the two of them. And I didn't believe them.