Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed or D.N Angel.

Summary: Meeting with witches and getting kidnapped by artwork definitely hadn't been part of the plan. D.N Angel crossover

Pairings: Kaito x Shinichi (DC) and Daisuke x Riku (DNA)

An Eternal Art

By V. Shalyr

VII

Your Heart and Mine

Taking a deep breath, Shinichi let it out slowly and tried to settle his nerves. You have until midnight, what had she meant by that? Until midnight to do what—find a way to restore Kaito's memories of him or they would be gone for good? That had certainly been her implication.

He felt sick.

A petulant side of him wanted to rage that she didn't have the right to do this to them. But then fairness wasn't a concept that entered into the calculations of the world all that often realistically speaking and throwing a fit about it wouldn't bring Kaito back.

This settled, Shinichi forced himself to focus on the problem at hand. Had Kaito already lost his memories when he'd gotten up that morning? But no, looking around the room, Shinichi found a note scribbled in Kaito's casual hand beside the phone addressed to 'Shin-chan!' just in case Shinichi hadn't woken up by the time he left for school. Apparently, he now had the day off from work.

Kaito had been standing at the kitchen table when he'd dropped his cup. It seemed logical to assume that whatever had changed, it had happened then. What had he been looking at? Cleaning up the spilled coffee and porcelain fragments while he scanned the tabletop, Shinichi's eyes fell upon the vase of roses. They seemed different from how he remembered. It took him a moment to figure out why.

One particular flower, partly hidden amongst the others, seemed a slightly different color—or perhaps it was the texture of it that felt out of place. Compared with the roses around it, its petals seemed impossibly red and strangely, unnaturally flawless, every petal in the ideal place. Yet as he watched, the brilliance of the rose appeared to bleed away just a little and a single petal wavered, drooped, then fell away to flutter down upon the table. It wouldn't last long.

You have until midnight…

Shinichi wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh, curse, or cry. Of course it had to be that story. It made perfect sense—a spell and a time limit within which to break it or they would lose their chance forever. They had so little time and the enemy had dealt them their cards, but Shinichi wouldn't—couldn't—lose.

First thing was first. He had to find out exactly what Kaito had forgotten.

.

"Ah, I'm going to be late!"

Daisuke sprinted the entire way to school, mentally kicking himself for forgetting to set his alarm clock after he'd gotten home the night before. He'd just been so tired that it had completely slipped his mind. Just as he barreled through the school's front doors, however, a hand shot out and grabbed him by the back of the collar. Daisuke yelped and spun around when the hand let go.

"Kudou-san?"

Shinichi cleared his throat. "Sorry about that, but I've been waiting for you. I need to ask you for a favor."

"What is it?"

"Something's happened to Kaito and I need your help figuring out the details."

The redhead's face immediately clouded with worry. "Is Kuroba-sensei all right?"

The detective sighed. "I guess that depends on your definition of all right. He's not hurt or anything, but he seems to have forgotten who I am."

"What?"

"It has to do with Swan-san," Shinichi explained. He didn't feel much like going into the details at the moment. "Anyway, I need you to help me ask him a couple questions. If you'll take this listening device, I can hear what he says. It'll be strange if I ask seeing as he currently doesn't think he knows me."

Daisuke nodded. "I'll do what I can."

Shinichi smiled and proceeded to tell him the questions he'd put together while he was waiting.

During the break after morning classes, Daisuke made his way to the theatre teacher's office and knocked hesitantly on the door.

"Come in, it's not locked."

Wondering why he felt so nervous all of a sudden, the redhead pushed the door open and stepped inside. Kaito sat at his desk with various copies of what looked like the play their class had chosen spread out before him. It looked like he'd being going through the various scripts and jotting down notes.

"Is there something I can help you with, Niwa-kun?"

Daisuke took a deep breath, hastily sorting through all the points he was supposed to cover in his head. "I was just wondering if you've assigned roles yet for the performance."

Kaito shrugged. "No, I haven't. I was actually thinking about having you guys choose, or holding an informal audition for the parts."

"We're doing Swan Princess, right? Are you choosing what version of the script we're going to use?"

"That's right." Kaito swept a hand over his notes. "They all have some good parts though. I was just working on combining them when you arrived."

"Do you…do you think it's a good idea to do this story though?"

Indigo eyes met his blankly. "What do you mean?"

Daisuke shifted uncomfortably. "You know, with what's been happening with the Rulane exhibit."

"Ah, you mean those fairytale paintings we saw at the museum the other day. I'm still not sure what that has to do with our choice of story though. Did you not like the paintings?"

Daisuke stared. "Umm, I guess you could say that."

Kaito chuckled. "They were just paintings, Niwa-kun, a bit creepy maybe but that's no reason to let them influence our performance. Artists each have their own interpretations after all."

After last night, this conversation could not have felt more surreal. Shaking his head, Daisuke glanced around the room hurriedly and was relieved when he spotted that morning's newspapers on a stool by the window. "Oh, did you see Dark's newest heist notice? Seems like he's interested in the Rulane paintings too."

Kaito nodded absently, his gaze returning to the scripts scattered upon the tabletop.

"Do you think that new phantom thief will appear again?"

"Who?"

"KID, the one that pulled off that heist a couple weeks ago."

"Never heard of him. You say he's new?"

"Yeah," Daisuke faltered, starting to feel very sorry for Kudou-san. "He appeared shortly after you moved here, so maybe you had other things on your mind. Where did you say you were from again?"

At this, Kaito hesitated for a moment. "You must be mistaken. I've always lived here."

"But you told us that you just moved here on the first day of class…"

"Did I now? Hmm, I wonder why I would have said that."

Down the hall in an empty classroom leaning against the wall beside the door, Shinichi sighed. It looked like Kaito didn't remember anything related to their world or the magic that had brought them here. If he looked at it from her perspective, it had been the perfect move. With Kaito's memories of their own world gone, he had no reason to search for a way home—no reason to fight her.

Shinichi didn't move when Daisuke slipped into the classroom.

"So which story is it?" the redhead asked.

Instead of answering aloud, Shinichi handed him his notebook, open to a page where he had included a photograph of the painting in question.

"Fragile Hope," Daisuke read, peering at the image and the title engraved upon the plaque beneath it. The image itself was dark and full of shadows. Though Daisuke thought he could make out the silhouettes of two people dancing in the back, all attention was focused upon a single red rose upon a glass table.

"Beauty and the Beast?" Daisuke guessed.

Shinichi cringed and nodded.

"Well," Daisuke said slowly, thinking, "I suppose in the story, the spell on the prince was finally broken because he fell in love."

Glancing up at the strange noise the detective had made at that statement, Daisuke wondered vaguely why Shinichi was turning red.

Much as he wanted to find a way to get Kaito back to normal, Shinichi was forced to wait until after his class was dismissed. At least that gave him some much needed thinking time. Really, it would have been so much easier if he'd been the one who had lost his memories. Romance was Kaito's forte, not his. Then again, Kaito was good, but even he couldn't get someone to fall in love with him in only one day. Love didn't work that way. And in the end, Shinichi decided that even trying would be counterproductive. After all, it would be completely out of character for him and it was him just the way he was that Kaito had come to care for. No, there had to be another answer. Perhaps if he could remind him of things they had done together?

He was still trying to decide how to go about this plan when the students filed out of the classroom and he found himself face to face with the focus of his troubled thoughts.

"Hey, you're that guy who was in my kitchen this morning," Kaito exclaimed in recognition. "Come to think of it, what were you doing in my apartment?"

This was going to be a long, long day.

Shinichi took a deep breath, mentally bracing himself. "I live there."

"Really? Funny, I could have sworn I lived there."

"You do."

Kaito paused to consider this. "You mean we live there together? But I don't remember having a roommate. And there's only one bedroom—and one bed for that matter. You don't sleep on the floor, do you?"

"Uh, no."

Oh god, Shinichi so did not want to be having this conversation. If Kaito remembered this when he got his memories back, he was going to die of laughter.

"We, er, sort of share the bed."

He could practically hear the gears turning in Kaito's head. "I suppose asking you if you're sure would be a little strange. Still, I would have thought I'd remember that."

He paused and cocked his head to one side, regarding the detective with a smirk. "Not that I think I'd mind."

"…"

Damn you, Kaito, Shinichi cursed mentally. Even under the influence of magic-induced amnesia, his lover found ways to embarrass him. On the other hand, this was probably a good sign. At least Kaito wasn't writing him off as a lunatic. Perhaps this wouldn't be as hard as he'd feared.

"I think you must have had an accident this morning and lost some of your memories," Shinichi said, picking his words carefully. "It's hard to explain, but it's really, really important that you get them back."

Something in the way Kaito was looking at him made Shinichi feel like he thought he might be a little crazy—which, by the way, was totally unfair considering which of the two of them was the real madman—but as long as he was willing to humor him, he had a chance. All he had to do was somehow remind Kaito of all the things they had been through together and get him to remember them. It was unfortunate they weren't at home; there, he'd be able to visit places they'd been to together.

Granted, intentional or not, Kaito seemed more than happy to help matters along.

"Are you hungry? I was thinking about going to the café down the street after I get all this stuff packed. You're welcome to accompany me and explain what you mean."

Kaito was giving him that smile he used on people when he wanted them to do something, and the scary thing about it was that it usually worked.

"Umm, sure."

.

Shinichi wasn't sure where to begin. There seemed to be so much that needed to be told. In the end, he settled for starting with a basic outline of the important points and then fleshing out the details, pausing in his narration only for the waitress to take their orders. Until midnight, that didn't leave him a lot of time.

"So what you're telling me," Kaito said, stirring the hot chocolate in his mug, "is that you and I are from another world and we were brought here—or rather I was brought here and you found a way to follow me—by a crazy painting who wants to become a real person and wants me here as a kind of magic conduit to let that happen?"

"That about sums it up," Shinichi agreed, trying not to wince at how ridiculous it sounded. He hoped Kaito could tell how honestly worried he was. The magician had always been good at reading people. He needed him to believe him.

There was a long moment of silence in which Shinichi picked at his food and tried not to fidget. Then Kaito looked up from his own plate and asked, "So what do you want to do?"

"You…believe me?"

Kaito shrugged, polishing off the remainder of his order. "Don't know, but this is important to you, yes? And I certainly have no objections to spending more time together. You're interesting."

Interesting, huh? Well, Kaito had always told him he thought he was interesting, though Shinichi had never quite made up his mind whether or not he wanted to know what Kaito found so "interesting" about him. So far, caution had always won out over curiosity.

At the moment, he had more important things to wonder about anyway.

.

After saying goodbye to Riku, Daisuke made his way home slowly, his mind lost in thought. He'd seen Kudou-san and Kuroba-sensei leave the school together, the detective talking almost nonstop—which was pretty strange behavior for the young man in itself.

"I wonder if Kudou-san will be able to get him to remember," he wondered aloud to himself.

/I don't think we need to worry too much about that. In stories, true love can always overcome anything, right?/

"Huh? What do you mean?"

/Man, Daisuke, could you possibly be more dense?/

"Hey! That's not a very nice thing to say."

He couldn't see him but he could just tell Dark was rolling his eyes. /Tch, whatever. Come on, hurry up, we were supposed to be home by now./

A tall man with black hair just as messy as Daisuke's opened the door for him as he was about to reach for the handle. "Dad!"

Niwa Kosuke greeted his son with a warm but tired smile. "Hey, it's good to see you, Daisuke. You'd better come inside. I have some news you ought to hear."

"Good or bad?" Daisuke asked nervously.

"Ah, a bit of both I'm afraid."

"Yeah?"

His father nodded solemnly, shutting the door behind him and following him into the living room where various books and papers covered the low table. "I went to take a look at those fairytale paintings today," his father began, running a hand through his already tousled locks. "I'm not sure we'll actually be able to seal any of the paintings individually. They're too much of a set, too connected."

Daisuke's stomach dropped. "But then what do we do? We can't just take all of them."

Kosuke shook his head. "No, and I'm not sure we could even if we tried. Their magic is too strong and too—different—courtesy, I believe, of that new teacher your mother was telling me about. It would be way too dangerous."

/But not all of them,/ Dark mused. /I imagine our last escapade would have severely drained her dragon. We'll just have to deal and do what we can where she's weak. If nothing else, it will buy us time./

"Hold on a second," Daisuke piped up suddenly, "what does this have to do with Kuroba-sensei?"

/His presence here is changing the nature of our magic,/ Dark supplied. /I've been sensing it for awhile now. It's not just the fairytales that are being affected. I wonder if she realizes that./

Daisuke shook his head. This was just too much. Like magic hadn't been complicated enough before. At least back then, Dark and his grandfather had had all the answers.

"Dad, I think maybe I should go check on Kudou-san, just in case he needs our help."

Finding the detective in question proved to be almost too easy, mainly because shortly after he'd started searching, he'd sensed another disturbance not unlike the ones that had plagued the city in the past couple weeks.

Daisuke arrived just in time to grab a flower pot that had been about to teeter off a balcony and drop the few stories to the street below where the detective and magician were about to enter what seemed to be a flower shop. Steadying himself on the balcony with a breath of relief, the redhead glanced around in confusion. He could have sworn he'd caught a flash of silver wings.

/You weren't imagining it,/ Dark assured him. /She's here too./

Actually, maybe that wasn't so reassuring.

Dropping into a crouch, Daisuke peered through the glass front of the flower shop and over its colorful displays at the two young men now at the counter. They spoke briefly with the clerk then proceeded to wander through the shop towards a section where roses of all breeds had been arranged—yellow and red, white and pink, and even some so dark they seemed almost black. The detective turned anxious eyes towards his companion, but the other only gave a regretful shake of his head in reply.

All of a sudden, a young woman emerged from a door in the back dressed in the green apron of a shop assistant. She glanced about the shop and turned her feet purposefully in the direction of the two men.

/Daisuke, hurry up and go ask her to help you pick flowers for Riku./

Bewildered but clearly hearing the urgency in the older thief's voice, Daisuke dropped down into the street and dashed into the flower shop, making a beeline for the shop assistant. "Excuse me, miss, but I really need your help!"

The woman jumped a little before turning and plastering a fake smile onto her inhumanly beautiful face. It was all Daisuke could do not to step back. For just a moment, the eyes that met his had shone silver.

"Can it wait? I'm afraid I have other customers to see to."

The redhead swallowed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Please? I, uh—"

/Upset my girlfriend and really need a way to make it up to her right away,/ Dark supplied without missing a beat.

"Upset my girlfriend and really need a way to make it up to her right away," Daisuke repeated before his mind had quite caught up with his mouth. /Hey! No one's going to believe that./

/Why not?/

/Because—because… Oh, I don't know, it just sounds ridiculous./

/As they say, love can make people do crazy things. Besides, it's just for show. We just needed to stall her./

Sure enough, peering past the assistant who was not really an assistant at all, Daisuke noted that the other two had already left. The woman favored him with a cool, knowing glare before spinning on her heel and sweeping away with a cold elegance that betrayed her origins. Daisuke didn't linger to watch her, hurrying instead after his departed targets as soon as he could get his feet to move again.

/Dark, what's going on?/

/She's trying to interfere. Looks like we'll have our hands full for the rest of the day./

.

They had started the afternoon at a flower shop where he knew Kaito had gotten most of his roses since arriving in this world. He'd taken Shinichi to visit it more than a couple times, but though Kaito could recall all the occasions in which he'd been at the store, it was like Shinichi had been blocked out of the scene. The detective supposed he should have expected as much, but that didn't stop it from being a bit discouraging.

Perhaps he should take a different approach and try for something a little closer to home.

With that in mind, the two found their way to a pet store Shinichi had noticed during one of his cases. It was one of many pet stores he'd passed in the city, but this one had stuck in his memory because instead of the usual small, furry animals, its windows had been full of birds. One bird in particular currently occupied his mind.

Kaito surveyed the various cages with curiosity while Shinichi talked with a shop assistant and tugged him deeper into the shop. He'd never been here before and yet something about the place did seem to strike a chord with him. Something about the place made his hands itch. But why? He didn't have any pets. At least he didn't think he did. He wasn't so sure anymore.

"Kaito?"

Returning his attention to his companion, he automatically reached up to accept the fuzzy something that was passed to him. Startled, he looked down into a pair of beady, black eyes. The ball of white fluff cooed and he stared.

"It's a dove," Shinichi said helpfully.

"I can see that," Kaito mused, handling the dove with deft assurance, petting and soothing it as it shifted a little nervously in his grasp.

"Seems familiar?"

Looking back at the detective, Kaito considered the question and nodded slowly. But it wasn't the dove in his hands that tugged at whatever lay behind the shadows in his mind. It was the way Shinichi smiled.

.

Daisuke snuck out of the back of the pet store, having disposed of a tiny, translucent snake with Dark's help moments before. The miniature serpent had been busy trying to unlock cages and goad their occupants into creating mass chaos in the store, but luckily, he'd caught the critter before any real harm could be done.

"Though I don't know why she didn't just send the snake after them," he wondered, getting back on the trail of the two men. "Not that I want her to attack them or anything, but wouldn't it have been easier?"

/Did you forget about that cross pendant Hiwatari made? Kudou had it when we were in the Sleeping Beauty painting. It's probably still on him. I can't imagine she'd want to risk another zap from that so soon after using all this magic./

"I suppose that's true." It was one less thing for them to worry about at any rate.

/Looks like the next stop is going to be a magic show. Huh, good idea./

Or at least it seemed like it until they got inside and the virtual flood of soon-to-be audience members engulfed them. Squeezed up against the wall, crimson eyes searched frantically for the two he was supposed to be tailing only to find them just in time to see a little girl with silver hair push a little boy between them. The child shrieked in surprise and his mother shrieked with him as she lost hold of him, and then both mother and father were pushing forward to try and prevent their son from being swept away in the rush. The commotion which had managed to separate thief and detective quickly escalated and within moments the laughing, chattering, careless mob completely swallowed them both.

The moment Shinichi had vanished from his immediate vicinity, Daisuke noticed a change in his teacher's demeanor. It was as though something—some emotion perhaps or just some kind of vividness—simply faded away, leaving his face vacant and distant. As though on autopilot, though more likely under the influence of the spell that held him, he turned and started wandering towards the theatre exit.

/Stop him!/ Dark hissed from the back of his head, but Daisuke had already begun to move.

Shoving his way through the uncooperative crowd, apologizing left and right for elbowing people in the ribs in order to make room, the redhead reached out and grabbed the older thief's sleeve. "Kuroba-sensei!"

Pausing, the man turned and glanced down at him. "Hmm? Oh, Niwa-kun. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the show," Daisuke answered quickly. "Isn't that why you're here?"

That oddly vague expression again. "The…show?"

"Yeah, you know, the magic show. I thought I saw you here with Kudou-san. Aren't the two of you here to watch it together?"

At the mention of the detective, a slight frown flickered across Kaito's face. "I…guess I was here with someone, wasn't I? Funny, it seems so hard to remember."

"I saw you two buying tickets outside," Daisuke agreed, maneuvering to place himself between the other thief and the exit. As he turned, he spotted Shinichi fighting his way back through the press of people towards them and let his shoulders relax in relief. "Oh, here he comes now. I hope you two enjoy the performance!"

Darting back into the crowd to watch from a distance, Daisuke noticed a certain clarity return to the drama teacher's face once the detective stood back at his side. Interesting, but his short conversation with the man had left him more than a bit concerned. Even if Swan wasn't able to directly attack the detective because of the sealing power of that cross pendant, he also didn't seem to be making all that much progress.

/It's working, you know,/ Dark informed him matter-of-factly., most likely having read his thoughts

Daisuke halted in his steps. "Really? But…how?"

/Kudou probably doesn't think much about romance. I guess it doesn't matter what world you're from. Emotions just aren't a detective's strong suit./

"Are you talking about the whole love breaking the curse thing?"

/What else?/ Dark chuckled. /As I said before, I don't think we need to worry about them. Kudou seems to have forgotten that they were already in love before the enchantment took hold. Even magic can't take that away—suppress it for a little while, maybe, but not for long and certainly not when he's trying so hard to hold onto him. Why do you think Swan's trying so hard to separate them? She's the one who messed up this time. Good idea, but she failed to think things through./

Something in his alter ego's explanation finally clicked and the redhead's mouth fell open in shock. "You mean—Kuroba-sensei and Kudou-san?"

In the back of his mind, Dark rolled his eyes again and snickered. /Good job, genius. Took you long enough. Now stop gawking and start moving. We've got to keep our dear Swan occupied until midnight./

.

Evening was approaching fast and Shinichi was starting to feel more than a bit depressed. He had almost exhausted all the possibilities he'd come up with and he was running out of time. Even though Kaito admitted to feelings of familiarity in certain situations or with Shinichi in general, he couldn't seem to remember anything concrete. He'd even resorted to bringing Kaito to the police station after the magic show to see if that environment would stir up anything KID related.

It hadn't.

Exiting the police station with more than a few odd looks from coworkers who had thought Shinichi was out sick, the detective slowed to a stop on the sidewalk. Almost everything on his mental list had been crossed off by now and it was hard not to feel a bit discouraged.

"Hey, you okay?"

Shinichi laughed tiredly. There was just something terribly ironic about Kaito asking him that question right now. But he couldn't let himself slow down just because he felt out of his depth. This was too important. Kaito was too important.

"I'm okay. Come on, I want you to see something back at the apartment."

Shinichi was so preoccupied with his own misery that he almost failed to notice when Kaito reached out and took his hand as they started towards home. Casting a cautious, sidelong glance at his companion, Shinichi wondered if Kaito had even noticed the gesture. Regardless, he took some solace from it, if for no other reason than that it showed that his partner was still somewhere in there.

Half an hour later, Kaito found himself staring dubiously at a white suit complete with a top hat and—was that a monocle?

"Ah, what exactly am I supposed to do with this?"

"Put it on," Shinichi repeated patiently, turning his back to him and busying himself with organizing the items on top of the dresser. "Your reflexes seem intact so I don't think you'll accidentally trigger anything you might have left in those."

Still skeptical, Kaito ran a hand carefully over the white cloth. All the same, something about the outfit sent a tingle down his spine like excitement. He knew instinctively how all the pieces fit together.

Once that was done, Shinichi dug two of Kaito's black cloaks out from beneath the bed and handed one to the magician. Night had truly fallen now so getting to the museum unseen would not be a problem. Unfortunately, the museum doors were locked. Making a frustrated noise in the back of his throat, Shinichi peered up at the museum tower. If only—

"Need a hand up?"

Turning, he found Kaito crouched on the sill of a window a few feet up, holding out his hand.

"The tower roof, right?"

Shinichi nodded and accepted the hand, allowing Kaito to pull him up. With the thief's assistance, the two reached the roof in no time. It was the place where they had finally met back up after coming to this foreign world.

Kaito didn't say anything as he followed the detective across the roof to the opposite railing. They could see the city clock tower from here and there seemed to be a celebration of some sort going on in the plaza. Lights shone everywhere down in the streets near the tower's base. He didn't know what they were doing here but something about this whole scene—something about that tower and the lights and the moonlight that shone on the white fabric of his current attire—stirred something in his chest. It was almost an ache, but not the bad kind, more the kind of ache that came with happy memories, memories so precious that it made hearts ache because people never wanted to let them go.

Shinichi didn't take his eyes from the sky above the distant tower when Kaito came to stand beside him, draping an arm comfortably across the detective's shoulders. "It's about to start."

And as the fireworks went off, Kaito suddenly tensed and blinked. He looked around in confusion and tightened his grip on the detective beside him—his detective. "Shin-chan? What are we doing here?"

Shinichi jerked a little in surprise and turned to look at him, hardly daring to believe his ears. He had never been so happy to hear that dreadful nickname in his life. "KID?"

Kaito shot him a slightly baffled look at his choice of address—Shinichi had always been good about not using his alias outside of costume—but responded nonetheless. "Yes?"

Hold on a moment. He was in costume. When had that happened?

His bafflement quickly changed to alarm when his companion's eyes began to water and he flung his arms around him and buried his face in the crook of his neck. Wrapping one arm instinctively around his waist, he rubbed soothing circles on his back with the other. "Hey, you okay?"

What the hell was going on? Come to think of it, what the hell had he been doing today?

Shinichi laughed a little hoarsely and pulled away to scrub the relieved tears from his eyes. "It's a long story."

.

"It's over," Daisuke said quietly. "You've lost again."

A few feet away from him on the edge of the roof, Swan stared at the two young men on the museum tower in the distance. Her face was expressionless, framed by long, silver hair that barely stirred in the breeze as though the wind were not quite able to touch it—to touch her.

"Next time…"

Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Seeing the two of them together—it just made her feel so angry. It just wasn't fair. All those people laughing and celebrating in the streets with one another while all she could do was watch. Oh how she hated them for that.

"You can go now," she said acidly when the redhead made no move to move from his spot, "I'm too exhausted to do anything else right now."

She had used up far too much energy already that day. It was all she could do to stay in this world a while longer to see how the story ended. She might have hated the ending but she had to see it nonetheless. Something inside her wouldn't allow her to do otherwise.

Daisuke hesitated, thrown off by the peculiar combination of venom and despair in her voice. "Why are you really doing all this?"

But she didn't answer, just lowered her head so the curtain of her hair could hide her face. And, as Daisuke watched, her figure dissolved until all that remained was the memory of her presence.

She wouldn't admit that maybe, just maybe, she envied them too.

TBC…

AN: Whew, that was hard to write. ^_^