Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Promenade 26: Prelude de la Finale

By the time Kaito had finished using the soldering iron, dinner was ready. He made it almost all the way through the meal before succumbing to a spectacular yawn, and after the dishes were cleaned Solomon made another batch of tea. He gave a mug of the hot liquid to Kaito and one to a slightly startled Hakuba, pouring the remainder into a thermos.

"You can drink whenever you feel ready to sleep, but you both look like you could use that tonight."

Hakuba smiled wryly. "So noted."

"You can take the thermos with you when you're ready to leave, as well," Solomon added. "Temperature and time should make no difference."

Kaito wrapped his hands around the mug. "We seem to be saying this a lot, but thanks."

Solomon nodded. "Of course."

Riku gestured at Kaito's drink. "You should drink that sooner rather than later, with the insane sleep debt you're still dealing with."

"Mmm." Kaito looked at Solomon. "Do you mind if I take this up to the guest bedroom? I'd rather not deal with stairs on this stuff again."

"That's perfectly all right," Solomon chuckled. "Go ahead."

Kaito nodded, made his round of good nights, and headed upstairs. Once ready for bed, though, he didn't drink right away. Instead, he slipped beneath the covers, pulled them over his head, and just let go.

He didn't stop shaking for a long time.

Kaito awoke the next day to silence, alone in the guest bedroom for the second time in as many mornings.

Not counting the morning I lived through twice, of course...

This time, however, sun shone through the cracks in the window blinds and the clock read almost ten AM. With a yawn, he dragged himself out of bed and got ready for the day. He still wasn't happy about essentially drugging himself to sleep, but at least he was rested and functional for the time being, and with any luck he'd keep a low tolerance to the tea.

Once satisfied that he looked presentable, Kaito paused to grab the brick-shaped box he'd put on the bedside table last night and headed downstairs to find out what Hakuba and Riku were up to. To his surprise, he found them in the living room at the game table, mutually absorbed by a game of chess.

Hakuba was facing the stairs, though he didn't look up from his study of the game board. "Good morning, Kuroba-kun."

Riku turned in his seat and smiled. "It's about time. We were wondering if you were ever going to wake up."

"Good morning to you, too. I was making up for lost time." Kaito joined them at the table, standing to the side and studying the game board. "Have I missed anything yet?"

"Not much, if you don't count breakfast," Riku answered as Hakuba moved a bishop. "Yugi-kun called Mokuba-kun last night. He has a spare Sapphire Luster Dragon that he's willing to give you after school today."

Kaito smiled. "Great." He scrutinized the board for another few minutes, then set the box down on Hakuba's side of the table, by the captured pieces. "For the soon-to-be winner. Sorry, Riku-kun, looks like you still need practice."

Riku's smile twisted wryly. "I'm surrounded by chessmasters."

There was an almost edge to the words, not directed at Hakuba or Kaito, but before Kaito could comment on it, Hakuba replied, "You play well for being a year out of practice. You should do better when you can look more moves ahead."

"Mo—I spent the game anticipating by ten!"

Hakuba's lips quirked. "I tend to be able to calculate fifteen to twenty. "

Riku stared at Hakuba, then transferred his gaze to Kaito and back again. "...You people are insane."

Kairo grinned. "You noticed."

Riku shook his head. "No wonder you two haven't given up on each other, no matter how many buttons you push. No one else can keep up with you in so many areas."

Kaito exchanged a glance with Hakuba, abruptly in uncomfortable territory. Hakuba shrugged and ignored the comment, picking up Kaito's box with wary suspicion. "What is this?"

"Just open it and see."

Hakuba slowly rotated the box in his hands. "If it turns my hair purple again, my vengeance will be swift."

Riku snickered.

Huh, no actual death threat. ...I guess calling me a dead man hits a little too close to home, right now.

Hakuba didn't wait for a reply, but carefully removed the box's lid and a layer of tissue wrapping to reveal a pair of sunglasses, the Puma style that he occasionally wore on bright summer days in Japan. The blond detective shot Kaito a perplexed look, picking the glasses up by the nose bridge with a gloved hand. Once in the air, the earpieces flicked down from the weight of a bronze chain connecting them, the metal welded along their length and across the upper inside edge of the frame to form a single, unbroken loop. Two small bars of metal were also welded to the earpieces at the point where they would rest against the bare skin of Hakuba's temples.

Hakuba stared, turning the gift over in his hands, a thumb absently running along the metal on the frame.

"You won't always be able to wear gloves, especially after we get back home," Kaito offered to fill the silence. "You can brush off a new habit of wearing sunglasses with a catch chain all the time pretty easily, though. I don't know how much Solomon-san has talked about bronze, but it should mute things."

"...Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kaito replied, watching as Hakuba slipped the chain around his neck. Almost instantly, a startling amount of tension previously hidden in the set of the detective's shoulders melted away, and surprise and profound relief flashed through his expression before it settled on quiet curiosity. He slid the sunglasses over his eyes, letting them rest there for a few moments before pushing them up to perch on the top of his head. The blond then carefully tugged off his gloves, and picked up one of chess pieces Riku had captured.

"Well?" Riku soon prompted, curious.

"Nothing, but I suspect any impressions these pieces may have ever had are faded away. A better test would be to rejoin Solomon-san in the store again for a while. I still wanted to talk with him about a few things, anyway." Hakuba set the piece down. "If you want to keep playing, Riku-kun, I'm sure Kuroba-kun would oblige you a game."

Kaito shoved the memories of yesterday's dream and twisted chess game down and away. This was different, and it wouldn't hurt to play a real game. "Sure, why not?"

With a nod, Hakuba stood and headed to the game shop, allowing Kaito to take the chair while Riku reset the chessboard. Kaito let Riku choose color, and Riku took white. The younger boy had an aggressive, if somewhat linear, playing style; Kaito countered with his typical calculated randomness, though he could tell he was out of practice with applying strategies to a game board. Feints worked marvelously when done right, but they were difficult to pull off.

After a while, Kaito moved a pawn and asked, "So... how are you holding up? With any luck, we can go after Sora-kun by tomorrow."

Riku shrugged, which Kaito took to mean 'Nervous, but I'm trying to not think about it.'

"After you went to bed I found the nearest park in walking distance from here and practiced for a while. Hakuba-kun came too, to test his shields and run through some katas. I told him about Yami-kun and Bakura-kun on the way back, since he asked." Riku smiled slightly. "He thought it was weird, but he didn't refuse to believe it or try to disprove it."

"Progress," Kaito snickered. "He's doing okay, then, after whatever the heck it was that he did yesterday?"

"You could always ask him yourself," Riku pointed out, taking one of Kaito's bishops.

"...I don't want him thinking that I'm looking for a reason to leave him behind again."

Riku rolled his eyes. "It's hard to read him, but he seemed fine. Solomon-san went to bed right after we got back from the park, so I think yesterday is what they're talking about now."

Kaito nodded. "Works." He went back to concentrating on the game.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon passed with lazy ease. Kaito took advantage of the fact that they were waiting for Saguru's staff to arrive to feel justified in simply relaxing as much as possible. The last few days at the Motou's had, on the whole, been more stressful than not, and he was hoping for at least ONE day where nothing much happened.

After the chess game ended (a hard-fought but decisive victory for Kaito), Kaito and Riku helped Solomon and Hakuba make lunch, then returned to the living room with Hakuba in tow. Riku stretched out on the couch with a book that he'd apparently been reading over the past few days, and Kaito challenged Hakuba to a Duel.

"If you're going to be the only person around to play back home, I want to be sure you have a decently balanced deck before we leave." Kaito smirked. "Easy wins are nowhere near as fun."

Hakuba smiled, eyes glinting. "Then by all means, let's test it."

Kaito should have realized that Hakuba's smile was a few shades too smug when the detective agreed to a game.

He glared at the cards laid out on the table, gaze skittering around the multiple ichthyic monsters face-up on Hakuba's side of the playing field. "I hate you so much."

"Consider it desensitization therapy." Hakuba hadn't stopped smirking for the past hour and a half. Out of four games, Kaito had been able to keep his concentration well enough to win all of one, and that one only by some quick last-minute thinking. The fifth one wasn't shaping up very promisingly, either.

I feel like my luck took one glance at the fish deck and decided to take a vacation until the cards are put back away.

In a welcome change of fortune, the flow of the game was interrupted by a now-familiar call of "Hi, Grandpa! We're home!" from the game shop. Yugi, Mokuba and Joey entered a minute later, and after a round of greetings Mokuba pulled the promised card out of his school bag and presented it to Kaito.

In the back of his mind, Kaito would have sworn that he felt the mental equivalent of a sharp intake of breath.

"We can't stay," Mokuba explained as Kaito accepted the card. "I work on Tuesdays, and something went wrong in R&D this morning that I need to try and fix before Nii-sama feels like he has to, but I wanted to make sure you got this sooner rather than later. You can just have it; I have more copies than I could put in a deck."

"Thanks." Kaito smiled, putting the card away in his side-deck. "I'll take good care of it."

Do you want me to try calling him home?He silently asked Méraud.

::Perhaps... not quite yet?:: Méraud murmured hesitantly. Kaito sympathized. If he tried the card and it didn't work properly because of where the other dragon was, Méraud would be losing her first and best hope in a long time for seeing her brother again. It was almost easier to keep it in reserve, as a comfort.

When things have settled down, then.

Returning his attention back to the others, Kaito bid Mokuba and Joey goodbye as the pair headed back out again, leaving Yugi standing by the game table and studying the Duel-in-progress with interest.

"Who's winning?"

"Odds are on Hakuba-kun," Kaito grumbled with only a hint of bitterness. Looking at the arrangement of cards, he decided now was as good a time as any to ask Yugi a question. "Oh, hey, Yugi-kun, I wanted to ask you something."

Yugi looked over from the game to Kaito. "Okay, what?"

Kaito sifted through his discard pile and pulled out Change of Heart, holding it up between two fingers for Yugi to see. "I get how this works in a duel—" he'd used it last game to force one of Hakuba's monsters to protect his Lifepoints "—and Bakura-kun said it would be useful, but I'm not sure how it would play out in a real fight."

Yugi laughed. "It's more of a specialty card than most. Bakura-kun probably included it because he knows firsthand how effective it is. You'd use it if you were facing a possessing ghost, or multiple personalities, and you wanted to deal with the person who's NOT currently in control." Yugi smiled, letting his school bag slide off his shoulder onto the ground. "Why don't you try it on me? You'll just see us switch, and it's good to have an idea of what your cards look like when used for real, so that they don't surprise you."

Kaito glanced at Hakuba. "You mind?"

"By all means, feel free to postpone your inevitable defeat."

"Git." Kaito rolled his eyes, then turned to Yugi and concentrated. "... Change of Heart."

A pale light appeared, swiftly expanding into a large sphere that encompassed not only Yugi in its transparent glow, but also Hakuba's chair and the part of the couch just behind Yugi, where Riku had been reading his book. The islander had looked up with interest during Yugi's explanation of the card, giving Kaito a perfect view of his face as the light washed over him. Within the course of a few moments, Riku's facial expression progressed from sudden shock to a picture of sheer, unadulterated TERROR, then went blank for a split-second before morphing into dark, twisted grin of satisfaction.

Oh, cra—

The thought hadn't even finished before Kaito's free hand closed on the top card from Hakuba's discard pile, which had been so annoying not ten minutes ago but was now his best chance of keeping everyone in the room sane, intact, and still here—

"Swords of Revealing Light!"

Three shining swords sprang into existence. Not-Riku froze in the middle of rising from the couch, expression briefly flashing into surprise as he realized that his limbs no longer moved. Kaito sagged back in his chair, exhaling slowly, keeping his gaze locked with Riku's golden eyes.

"...Ansem, I presume?"

In his peripheral vision Kaito saw Yami raise an eyebrow, stepping away and half-turning to have Riku and Kaito both in his view. "Ansem?"

When the man in question seemed disinclined to answer, Kaito replied, "Possessive ghost who tried to use Riku-kun to kill a lot of people last year, before Hakuba-kun and I first met him. I THOUGHT the bastard was already permanently dealt with."

Yami glanced at Ansem. "I see. And what is it that you want?"

The arrogant smirk on Ansem's face made Kaito grit his teeth against the urge to punch him. "Darkness greater than your own... little Heartless."

"Only a fool seeks Darkness that doesn't come to him by right," Yami countered, voice steely. "And only a monster steals a child's body to do it."

Ansem chuckled, the same liquid-dark sound Kaito remembered from his first encounter with Riku on the skyscraper, but with a scornful malevolence underlying the amusement.

"He gave himself to me. And the Darkness is already mine."

Kaito finally remembered why Ansem's dark purr sounded familiar—he'd heard it vaguely yesterday, when he'd torn the Shadows to find Riku in the park. It was even more unpleasant now that he could make out the words, as well.

...The room was darkening, he realized, not just the shadows but the entire room, even though Ansem was physically immobile. And Kaito had a migraine quickly building from trying to enforce even THAT much.

Yami's eyes narrowed. "If you think you know so much about the Darkness, Ansem... then let's play a game."

The inverted pyramid flashed with light, and the familiar dark-colors presence of the Shadows swirled through the room, dancing around all four occupants, even Hakuba. The blonde had turned in his chair earlier so that now Yami faced him, but he sat silent and still, simply watching from behind a blank expression. Kaito noticed the Shadows skate around the sunglasses perched on top of Hakuba's head without touching them, and he found himself hoping desperately that the bronze WORKING, and Hakuba couldn't feel anything from Ansem.

The burden of the Swords' summon eased unexpectedly, taking a small fraction of the migraine with it as it bled away, somehow adapted into Yami's magic as it wove together the setup of the game: Ansem abruptly finished rising to his full height, looking around at his surroundings but making no attempt to leave through a corridor. The room was dark now, with the illumination that made it possible to distinguish who was standing where coming from an unknown source.

"Neither Light, nor the Darkness..." Ansem's gaze returned to focus on Yami, lips pulling back in a parody of a smile. "How very... interesting."

"If you're so interested... let's play." Face revealing nothing, Yami pulled a candle out of apparent thin air with an ease that would have made a skilled conjurer proud. He placed it on the game table, then carefully lit the wick with a similarly conjured match. "If your Darkness is so strong, then let's see it snuff out this tiny light. Douse the candle without touching it, and no one will stop you. If you cannot... you will be destroyed."

"...A child's game."

The Darkness moved, roiling forward around Yugi and Hakuba — Not touching, thank any luck spirits hanging around — and surging over the game table in order to overwhelm the pale, flickering flame. Fire swayed and quivered, but would not dim even as Ansem's expression contorted in surprise, frustration, fury. The more the Darkness covered the candle and flame in its chokehold, the brighter the light shone through.

I didn't know olive skin could turn that shade of purple.

Finally, Ansem's patience snapped. One hand darted out to snuff the candle between finger and thumb, only to be frozen just short of the flame as Shadows suddenly swarmed around him, immobilizing him.

"That's against the rules." Yami's cold expression didn't change as Ansem snarled, straining to break the Shadows grip. "The thing you fail to understand, Ansem, is that I... and the boy you fight... are touched by Shadow. And while light may banish darkness, it only makes a shadow stronger." Kaito hadn't thought ice and steel could echo, but there were echoes in Yami's voice as he raised a hand and declared, "Penalty Game."

Everything went black.

For a soundless, timeless moment, there was nothing. Then the Shadows dispersed, leaving the living room filled with nothing but lamplight and afternoon sunshine.

Riku lay collapsed against the front of the couch, head dropped back against the seat cushion as he blankly stared up at the ceiling, chest rising and falling erratically.

"Riku-kun?" Kaito slipped out of his chair, approaching cautiously. Hakuba moved as well, shadowing Kaito, even though he didn't speak.

With some effort, Riku's ragged breathing stabilized, the only movement in his lax frame.

"He... He's gone." The note of sheer, disbelieving wonder in his voice was almost painful to hear. "I can't feel him. I'd forgotten..." He trailed off.

"What it was like to be free?" Yami's quiet baritone asked.

Riku closed his eyes. "Yeah."

Yami nodded. "But he is gone, and he won't be coming back."

"...You're sure?"

"Quite."

Riku sighed. "Thank you."

"How do you feel?" Kaito eyed Riku dubiously.

"...Like I threw up everything I've eaten in the past year and a herd of elephants trampled through my skull, but it's starting to fade a little."

Yami shifted, Yugi coming back to the forefront. "I'll go get you some aspirin. It can't hurt." The smaller teen headed for the kitchen.

"You'll want it for later," Kaito added, a frustrated growl rising in his throat, "after I kick your butt for not saying anything."

Riku winced. "You couldn't have done anything. I didn't think there was anything that could help me; I chose binding his remnant rather than losing my memories. I had it under control..."

Before Kaito could reply, Hakuba dryly remarked over Kaito's shoulder, "Oh God, there's three of us."

Riku snorted reflexively, covering his face with a hand, as Yugi returned with a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water.

"...Could I have the bottle when you're finished?" Hakuba inquired with a deceptive blandness as Riku shook three tablets into his palm. Kaito glanced back at him, took in the visible tension around the blond's eyes, and snagged the bottle from Riku to pass it over.

"Give it here when you're done. ...How did the sunglasses work?"

Hakuba dry-swallowed two tablets and handed the aspirin back to Kaito. "They shut out the vast majority. After the initial surprise I was able to deal with the remnants myself. I'd imagine they should be effective against most things we might face." He hesitated. "It's... different, depending on whether or not there's a mind behind it."

...So Ansem was an added level of nasty worse than the Darkness corridor and Heartless. Joy.

"Okay, that makes two decent things to come out of this mess. Not bad, considering." Kaito liberated Riku of his half-full water glass and downed two aspirin, then gave the bottle back to Yugi and set the glass on the game table. "Thanks."

"...Well." At the unexpected voice, the teenagers turned to see Solomon standing in the doorway to the shop with a long, thin package in his arms. "It seems I missed something." Amusement with a hint of inquiry colored his tone.

"Um..." Yugi scratched his temple. "The remnant of a possessive ghost tried to take Riku over. We stopped him. Is that a staff?"

"Yes, for Saguru-kun. It just arrived. I thought he might like to open it himself."

"Your friends work very quickly. Thank you..." Hakuba closed the distance to Solomon and took the packaged staff with an almost reverential care. Not bothering to head back to his chair, the detective knelt on the floor and pulled out a pocketknife, delicately slicing through the packaging tape and peeling back brown paper.

Kaito started to take a step closer to Hakuba, then turned back and extended a hand to help Riku up. The younger boy hesitated, then took it and stood in one slow, deliberate movement, wincing only a little.

"So, what's the verdict, Hakuba-kun?" Kaito moved to see blond and staff more clearly. A dark, lacquered wood peeked through torn paper, with a flat, metal cap on the end already visible.

Hakuba removed the last of the wrapping and balanced the weapon in his hands, weighing it carefully. "It's... in gaming terms, it would be a masterwork weapon." The blond looked faintly embarrassed and quickly looked up at Solomon. "Wood, and... copper, for the endcaps? The conductive element in bronze, I believe you said."

"Very good. There's a copper core beneath the wood, as well. The copper acts as a one-way conduit, but on its own the only choices for carrying energy are 'on' or 'off'. The surrounding wood balances the copper by being able to absorb however much or little energy you wish. It also makes the staff lighter and insulated against temperature extremes." Solomon smiled slightly. "Essentially, it's designed to let an empath project without experiencing feedback, but also to not, if he'd rather simply employ a good old-fashioned smacking to his target."

"...Thank you." Hakuba rose to his feet and dropped into a ready stance, then another, before the lack of unoccupied floor restricted his movements. "It's perfect."

"You still ought to take some time to get used to it," Kaito observed. "I'm ready to be outside for a while. Bring the staff and the three of us can hit the park until dinner."

Solomon nodded. "Yes, that would be good for you."

Yugi smiled. "Have fun."

"...Wait." Hakuba gripped his staff a shade uncertainly, hesitating. "If I'm going to be able to concentrate properly, I need to... ground myself again."

"Sure. Finishing the Duel?"

Hakuba looked almost about to say yes, but then he closed his mouth and shook his head. "My alternative should take less time."

Kaito cocked his head. "How long do you need?"

"A few minutes... ten on the outside."

"Okay. I'll clean up the cards."

Hakuba's lips flickered upwards in a brief smile. "I concede a draw."

With a nod, he headed for the study... but to Kaito's surprise, left the door partway open. As faint sounds of movement drifted out, Solomon gained a thoughtful expression and sat down on the couch, joined by Yugi with a look of eager anticipation. Feeling like he was missing something, Kaito glanced over at Riku, who seemed startled, but not unhappy.

"What...?"

Riku held up a hand and shook his head, eyes on the door. "Wait," he commanded quietly.

Kaito folded his arms and shifted his weight, turning back to watch the study door. He didn't have to wait long—after a few moments of complete silence, his jaw dropped as the living room suddenly filled with the sounds of a rapid, complex violin solo.

…He's playing it perfectly. Cold.

The hell?

"It's not something he shares with people." Riku's murmur, directly behind and above Kaito's ear, made him twitch. "I found out by accident on Sunday night, after you were asleep. I told him he could tell you, but it didn't seem like he would… he must not have known how to say it, but wanted you to know."

Kaito glanced back at Riku, taking in the younger boy's faint smile.

…And the fact that he listened to you means a lot, doesn't it?

"I really should've guessed," he responded absently, still processing the idea. "Especially after the Inverness and naming a hawk Watson."

"If you expect to be psychic, sure," Riku said with a hint of amusement.

"Hadn't you heard? I have sparkly magic powers."

Riku snorted quietly. They fell silent, just listening; Kaito cleaned up the unfinished Duel and pocketed his cards on automatic pilot. He didn't recognize the piece beyond a generic Western-European label, but it was a superb piece of music.

The melody went on for a few minutes, remaining well shy of the ten-minute mark when it finally drew to a close. Kaito found himself almost hoping that Hakuba would play a second piece—he'd nearly forgotten how much better music was when being performed live—but the ensuing silence remained broken only by the soft sounds of what had to be Hakuba carefully packing the violin back away. Solomon stood with a smile, nodded to them wordlessly, and headed back out to the shop. Yugi pulled his schoolbag up onto the couch beside him and took out took out some homework, then looked up as Hakuba reappeared in the doorway, staff in hand.

"Thanks for letting us listen, Hakuba-kun. You're really good."

Hakuba smiled, a bit self-consciously. "You're welcome." He glanced at Kaito. "If you're ready..."

"...Is there anything you don't do well?" Kaito asked, only half-joking.

Hakuba's smile gained the faintest of edges. "People." The smile lightened. "And I can't draw worth a damn."

"Oh, well, if that's all..." Kaito smirked. "Come on, let's go. See you later, Yugi-kun."

"Bye," Yugi responded, bending over his homework. "Don't be late for dinner."

"The odds of such an occurrence are slim to none, I'm sure," Hakuba responded dryly as they headed for the door.

Riku led the way to the park near the Motou's house, a fifteen-minute walk.

"I'm not sure which is more disturbing," Hakuba commented as the neared their destination, carrying his staff right-handed so that it lay along the flat of his extended arm, the upper end sticking up several feet above his head to ensure that the bottom endcap never scraped against the sidewalk. "The idea that no one seems to notice that I'm carrying around an obvious weapon, or the idea that they simply don't care."

"I'm pretty sure it's the first one," Kaito responded. "I think this city has a permanently active SEP-Field."

"S-E-P?" Riku repeated, puzzled.

"Somebody-Else's-Problem," Hakuba explained, sounding more than a little disturbed, "so named because people tend to ignore unpleasant things that aren't their responsibility to deal with. Kuroba-kun, how on Earth...?"

Kaito grinned. "I tracked down the first book after seeing Terry Pratchett being compared to Douglas Adams."

"...You are far too obsessed with Western culture and cult followings."

"Hey, I haven't gotten hold of Doctor Who yet."

"Thank God. The last thing you need is ideas now that you are your own personal TARDIS."

"Where's the fun in that?" Kaito stretched his arms above his head as the stepped from concrete onto a grassy field edged with trees. "Okay. Riku-kun, find a good sword-stick and we can warm up. You and Hakuba-kun need to know what it's like to fight against each other of you're going to be able to do close-quarters combat against the Heartless together with tripping over one another."

"Tyrant." Riku shoved Kaito lightly in the shoulder from behind, then smiled and headed for the trees.

Hakuba's eyes glinted slightly as he laid his staff in the grass to warm up. "Tyrranus Ridiculus."

Kaito laughed. "Detectus Pratori."

"Never try to learn Latin, Kuroba. You'll mangle the poor, defenseless language system while it's incapable of fighting back."

...Kuroba?

"I make no promises," Kaito answered easily. "It's on my to-do list somewhere if I ever get bored enough."

"Oh. Well. If the other option is your feeling bored, butcher Latin by all means."

"I'll be sure to inflict my verbal slaughter on you when I do."

The banter continued throughout the warm-up, Riku joining in occasionally after he returned with a suitable sparring weapon. It ended by unspoken agreement after Hakuba picked back up his staff. The blond began a set of kata to adjust to the nuances of his weapon; Riku and Kaito paralleled him briefly with a few sword and bare-handed kata, before Riku declared "Think fast!" during a mutual interlude and came after Kaito with a swing only marginally slower than his full speed. Kaito dodged instinctively, and let the move initiate a game of one-sided, not-quite-tag that continued until Hakuba stopped practicing and began to watch.

When Kaito and Riku slowed to a halt, the blond commented blandly, "After watching you evade with intent, I find myself terrified of the prospect of you ever chasing down something or someone with any kind of truly determined resolve."

Kaito grinned as the adrenaline rush began to fade. "I'm too lazy."

Until I find something actually worth catching.

Hakuba's snort conveyed how little the detective believed the flippant answer, but he didn't push.

He didn't need to.

Kaito relinquished Riku as a sparring partner, and settled in the grass to watch how Hakuba reacted in a fight. Admittedly, one-on-one wasn't the same as being effectively mobbed, but the principles of movement were still there.

Eventually Riku and Hakuba adjusted to how the other fought, finding a rhythm of attack, parry, and counter. They maintained the pattern for a while, orbiting Kaito's position on the grass like a drunk binary star, before finally breaking apart on some unspoken signal and sinking to the ground beside Kaito to catch their breath.

They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the afternoon sun, faint breeze, and endorphin high of a good workout.

And then, almost predictably, the afternoon went to hell.

A pillar of Darkness rose into thin air, then faded away to reveal a man wearing another twin of Riku's black coat, the lowered hood exposing a spiky mane of flame-red hair and piercing green eyes. In the moment it took for all three boys to scramble to their feet, the Nobody's focus zeroed in on Riku and he declared, with a look of utter exasperation:

"Do you have any idea how hard you are to track down, kid?"

Yep, more evil. Who's happy to see Axel?

Notes: The violin solo that Saguru plays is Bach's Preludia, Partitia No. 3. The SEP-field is, of course, from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Saguru's Latin quotation corresponds to "Tyrant Jester" or "Tyrant of the Ridiculous." Kaito's comeback is essentially a bad approximation of Dog Latin, with the intended meaning of "Detective prat."

2/09