"Hey, onii-chan." Angel giggled, hopping into her room, where Emil was hanging out after Sunday school classes, like usual. She had long ago stopped carrying Marron around, but she still kept the dirty, worn out doll as a keepsake. It was resting on the little shelf next to her headboard, which doubled as a desk. "Oh? Where's Access?"

"Eh. He's somewhere, probably helping Sister Natalia." Emil shrugged, leaning on the wall. He ran his hand through his hair, frowning a bit when she called him her big brother. "Hey, that lesson today…"

"I don't get it." Angel finished for Emil, sitting down on the bed.

"Yeah. I mean… that thing about lust and desire and stuff…"

"How does it apply as a sin to non-married people when it doesn't apply to a married couple?" Angel asked.

"Are you reading my mind?" Emil chuckled. He actually knew full well what lust was, but Angel was so innocent….

Ever since that first kiss… his crush had grown into pure love. He couldn't stop thinking about her, noticing her, staring at her and spacing out, imagining what it would be like if they were always together. He wanted to be with her… He wanted to kiss her again.

With these thoughts, "love" had quickly turned into "desire".

"Say, Angel… Why is giving in to 'lust' such a bad thing?" Emil asked, wondering what she would answer.

"Um… I don't know. Lust is different from 'love', though… I think there has to be 'love' and unity for the act to not be a sin." Angel speculated. "At least, that's what Sister Natalia says."

"So if you like someone… when does 'like' become 'love'?" Emil questioned, sliding over to sit on the bed with her. She didn't seem to notice.

"Uh, I don't know…" She said again, her face contorting in concentration as she thought hard. "I like you as a friend… and I love you as a brother, I guess. I have since I met you." She mused. "Though what is love, really?"

She didn't notice the almost hurt look on Emil's face.

"So if we don't know what 'love' is… what if we already have it?" He pressed, seeming to lean in closer, "Would that make 'lust' a sin? Why is lust a sin, anyway?"

"Um… I don't think it makes lust a sin then… Eh? Emil…?" Angel blinked, suddenly noticing how far away his face was to hers when she felt his warm breath tickling her ear. She looked over to him, seeing that he was only a few inches away now.

"Aren't you even curious to see why?"

"We shouldn't…. That would be sinning." Angel said, staying still.

"But if we have what makes it not a sin, we wouldn't be sinning, now would we?" Emil gave a mischievous smile.

"Emil?"

"Come on. Let's see if it's so bad that the church would prohibit it."

"But… Emil…!" Angel was cut off when Emil captured her lips, his hand coming up to keep her head in place. He gently pushed her down on the bed.

When he broke the kiss after a moment, he looked down at her, his hands on both sides of her head as his legs straddled her. "I love you, Angel. I have loved you for a long time."

His heart was pounding. Hers was racing alongside it.

Her voice was small as she spoke. "Then… I suppose… I am a little curious… I mean, I heard some adults say that it feels really good…"

"Then let's see what feels good about it."

"Oh… okay…" Angel blushed, seeing that his hands were moving. "What… what are you doing?!" She seemed flustered when he pulled off his shirt, then reaching for hers. She could easily see that his chest was tan and flat, but strong.

"Well, you have to take off your clothes to experience the gratification… At least, that's what I heard." Emil gave a smile, seeming calm. In reality, he was extremely nervous. He had never seen a girl without her clothes on before… and no girl had ever seen him without his. This was a new experience.

He would fall three stories off a mansion roof to run away from the owners of his heists' targets and feel no fear. He would rather be doing that now.

"Where do you hear these things?" Angel asked, lifting an eyebrow, attempting to keep her cool as well, seeing his collected demeanor.

"Eh, places." He wanted to drop the conversation, but obviously, he would have to guide her through this, despite his own inexperience.

Her dress-like shirt came off. Their faces were deep red. He leaned down and kissed her again, too modest to actually look at her body.

Neither of them noticed the crack in the door or the crimson eyes that peeked at their silhouettes. It closed quickly and silently, the face of the owner of those eyes as red as his hair.

That night, Emil and Angel lay together, naked, under her blanket. His arms were around her, like when they were children, cuddling her to make sure she was safe from the dark. It was night now, but they had exhausted themselves earlier in the day enough to take a small nap. Now they were wide awake.

"Emil…?" Angel squeaked softly.

"Yeah, Angel?" Emil replied with a gentle tone, stroking her hair.

"…I'm scared." She held him closer, "The shadows…"

"It's okay… I'm here. I'm your guardian angel, remember? I won't let anything bad happen to you."

"Angels are made of light." The young teenager mused a bit, "What are those words in Japanese?"

"Angel, tenshi. Light, hikari. Shadows… kage… Dark… yami." Emil listed off easily. These were words he used often… the first two being the ones he used to describe Angel in his head. "Anata wa watashi no tenshi desu…. Watashi no hikari…"

"…I am your angel…? Your light?" Angel parroted, looking up at him. She smiled a bit, inching up and giving him a small kiss. "Thank you…. You are my light in the dark too."

Emil snuggled closer to her. "What are those words in English?" He said back to her, knowing that she had learned a great deal of English from her mother before she died.

"Engel is Angel, of course…"

"Like you." Her friend interjected.

Angel giggled, continuing, "Licht… light. Schatten, shadow. And… oh. Dunkel in English is 'dark'. I'll teach you how to write it tomorrow."

"Dark…" Emil repeated. He liked the sound of that.

"…Emil? Are we going to get in trouble?" The blue-haired teen asked in her small voice, "We did something bad…"

The elder of the pair ran his hand through her long, currently tangled hair. "No. No one's going to find out, okay? We're fine." He assured her, "It wasn't bad… we did it out of love, right? We can't be damned for that…"

"We also did it out of curiosity…. It did feel really good though… Is that the thing that makes it a sin?"

"I don't know, but if this is sinning… I want to do it again." Emil answered with a charming grin, but he saw the look on her face, half horrified and half concerned. He caressed her cheek gently with his thumb. "Don't worry. Nothing is going to happen to us, okay?"

How wrong he would be.

Angel was crying hysterically. Sister Natalia was trying to push her carefully onto the wagon that had arrived at the orphanage. Emil was shouting angrily at the old woman and the drivers of the wagon, his fists clenched tightly. Access was attempting to hold him back.

The drivers of the wagon grabbed her roughly by the arms, pulling her up. She struggled, reaching out for Emil and Access, still crying and screaming in agony.

"Angel!" Emil called, "Damn it, Access! Let me go!" He growled, swatting at the ten-year-old. "They're taking her away! Let me go!"

"Emil!!"

"Angel! Angel!!"

Soon, they weren't able to do anything. The drivers snapped the reigns, and they were gone.

Emil hit the ground hard, not even caring that his fist hurt now. He glared at Access angrily. "Why the hell didn't you let me save her?!"

"I… I…!" Access' face was reddened from his own tears.

Emil stood up, going over to Sister Natalia. "Why?! Why did you do that? She's not sixteen yet!"

Sister Natalia gave the young redhead a hard look. "We're sending her to a convent… in Great Britain. She has always wanted to go there, hasn't she?"

Emil knew immediately that something was wrong. "You didn't even ask her! She didn't want to go… not like that! Why?!"

"She committed a sin…. The father thought that this was the best way to cleanse her of that." Sister Natalia said gently, trying not to upset the boy even more. "You, young man, are in need of some cleansing as well."

Emil flinched. This was about that day?! How did she know about that?!

She reached to take him by the arm. He stepped back. "Don't touch me!" He ran off, out of the church courtyard.

Access chased after him. "Big bro! Wait up!"

It wasn't until they got to the field outside of town before he stopped, mercilessly beating up a tree until his knuckles were raw and red, but he didn't notice the blood. He still didn't listen to his younger brother, growling and muttering to himself angrily.

"Big bro, I… I didn't mean to… I never meant for… I didn't know they would do that!"

This certainly got Emil's attention. He turned around, a fire alight in his violet eyes. "What?! What did you do, Access?!"

Access flinched, looking down at the ground and digging his toe in the dirt. "I… I asked Sister Natalia… what it's called when a girl and boy are in a bed together without any clothes on." He explained nervously, blushing deeply, "She asked me why I suddenly said that and I told her that I saw you and sis like that…" He admitted reluctantly, then looking up and quickly raising his hands in defense when he saw Emil raise his fist to clobber him. "I-I swear! I didn't know she would do that! I didn't mean to send her away! I swear it!" He began to cry again.

Emil took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. He watched younger brother cry for a while, and his brotherly instinct rose inside of him. He let out a heavy sigh. "Don't cry, you wimp. Men don't cry."

The young redhead looked up in surprise, wiping his eyes quickly. "Y-you're not mad at me?"

Emil growled. "Of course I am, but that's not bringing Angel back." He looked toward the sky. It was too bright, too blue… It was mocking him.

"I-I'm sorry… I really am. I didn't mean to…"

"I know, I know." Emil frowned, "But right now, we need to get her back."

"Y-yeah! Okay! I'll do anything to get her back! What do we do?" Access perked up, little tears still in the corners of his eyes. He knew Emil always had a plan… always. Even if it was off the top of his head, it always never failed to succeed.

"First, you're going back to the orphanage. Get Marron and With and whatever you can. We're not going back there."

"E-eh? We're not?" Access repeated in confusion. Emil nodded solemnly. "O-okay… but…" It was the only home he had ever known….

"Say goodbye to everyone too. Don't worry, we'll see them again, promise." Emil said seriously, with a small smile. "Remember that mansion we stole from last year, the one to the north-west, near Langwierder See? Meet me there, and don't get lost. They'll probably rest somewhere near Egenhofen… so we'll have to hurry. They've already got a head-start."

"R-right!" Access turned to run off, but then he paused. "Wait, what are you gonna do?"

"Just go!" Emil barked at him, causing him to flinch and dash away. He growled a sigh, running his hand through his dark red hair. "Angel…" He looked toward the sky again.

"…Don't worry. I promised to protect you. There's nothing this phantom thief can't do. After all… the great Kaitou Dark is coming to save you."

"Damn it! We're not going fast enough!" Emil complained angrily as he and Access stopped to rest again. They had been running all day, out of breath and just plain exhausted by the time night rolled around. Their feet did hurt, but Emil was running on pure adrenaline.

With, who had been hanging tightly onto his shoulder, gave a kyuu of worry.

"Big bro… it's impossible to catch up with horses like that…! By the time we catch up, they'll probably already be on a boat…" Access said regretfully.

"Grrr… If only we had wings! Or magic! We've got to save her…!"

With sensed the desperate need in Emil's voice, pawing at his cheek sadly. Suddenly he jumped off, wagging his stubby tail as he sat on the ground, looking a bit excited.

"Not now, With…." Emil was obviously frustrated, but With didn't give up his plethora of kyuu's. "What, are you hungry?" He fished some strawberries out of his bag, throwing them to the small animal.

Delighted, With ate the fruit, but then he kept kyuu'ing. Emil gave him a strange look.

"What…?" Emil knew that the little creature wasn't just hungry. There was something else. He had known that With was a lot smarter than most creatures, but… was he trying to tell them something?

"I think he wants to help save Ange too." Access mused, standing up. "Okay, let's go again."

"Kyuu! Kyuu!" With cried. Access was heading off again, but Emil was staring it straight in the eyes, their crimson orbs locking.

And then, as if somebody had heard Emil's wish, With changed. In a flurry of feathers, suddenly a great black beast stood before him, its wings spread to their full length, black as ink and magnificent and full.

"Holy…!" Emil breathed in awe, his eyes wide. "With?!"

"Kyuu!" His cute squeak was slightly deeper now, but it was most definitely the small rabbit from before, except he wasn't small and he wasn't a rabbit. Actually, he looked more like a dog or a fox or a wolf of some sort, though his wings were far too big for his small body.

He flapped his wings a bit, jumping up and tackling Emil, licking his face. Access had stopped and turned around, and he was now simply staring.

"Hey, cut that out!" Emil couldn't help but smile, "Okay, this is new, and it's most definitely awesome. Since when could you shape-shift, little guy?" He petted the winged animal.

"Kyuu, kyuu!" He purred, backing off a bit. He bowed its head.

"…You want to help rescue Angel." Emil knew right away. "What… are those wings of yours magic?"

"Kyuu!" With ran around him, jumping onto his back and holding on securely, his paws gentle but firm. He flapped his wings a bit, and surprisingly, Emil was suddenly flying.

"Whoa… wow! Cool!"

"Big bro!" Access called, regaining his senses, "Come on, let's go save Angel!"

"Right!" Emil nodded, getting back into focus, "Can you carry two, With?" With gave another kyuu in response, and stooped down so that Emil could grab Access. Emil was already strong for his physique, so it wasn't hard to scoop him up. "Hopefully air travel will be faster, huh?"

"W-we're flying!" Access realized, slightly frightened and excited by the idea, "Amazing…!"

"Let's gawk later. Let's fly, now!"

"Kyuu!"

"There. She's stopping in that monastery for tonight. I guess she's training on the go…" Emil frowned.

"What are we gonna do, bro?"

Emil gave a mischievous grin. "What we always do. We're going to steal the target."

"What?" Access squeaked quietly, "You mean kidnap her?"

"What choice do we have, Access? If we don't, she's going to be sent to Britain and we'll never see her again." Emil said seriously. "Come on. You're ten, they won't care if you go and ask for shelter for the night. Go in, remember to look for an escape route, and find Angel."

"Right. After I get out, then what?"

"We run. No time to figure out if With can handle three weights, but I know I can't handle both of you. We just have to get her out of there, okay?" Emil said with a tone of authority.

"Got it." Access jumped down from the building they were perched on, racing across the street.

Emil looked to With on his shoulder. "You did good today, buddy. I owe you, don't I?" He chuckled a bit, reaching up and rubbing the white rabbit's furry head.

"Kyuu!" He motioned with his head to a window on the monastery, where they could see Angel.

She was looking out into the night, her elbows on the windowsill and her fingers entwined. She was kneeling, praying… rolling the half-melted cross in her palm.

He could almost see her lips moving in the darkness, her silent words reaching his ears.

"Please save me… Emil…"

"Come on, Angel!" Emil's face was full of relief and joy. He held Angel's hand tightly as they ran through the dark cobblestoned streets of the town, with Access just behind them. Their feet were silent, though Angel's were bare.

They didn't stop running until they got outside the town, where they stopped in a field and collapsed, tired and out of breath.

Angel started crying again.

"Sis? Why are you crying?" Access asked, worried.

"I'm… just so… happy…!" She was indeed smiling, her tears being those of joy.

"Heh… what did I tell you, Angel?" Emil smiled softly, giving her a sideways glance. "I wasn't going to let anything bad happen to you…"

"…Because you're my guardian angel." Angel finished, sniffling. She wiped her eyes, sitting up a little and rolling over to face him, leaning over him. "…Thank you."

"Hey, I promised, right?" Emil gazed up into the deep blue pools of her soul, "Don't cry, Ange. You're safe now, okay?" He suddenly gave a grin, reaching up and wiping some leftover tears with his thumb, caressing her cheek gently, "Besides… you're going to drip all over me."

Angel laughed, purely overjoyed. She leaned down, pressing a kiss to his lips. He kissed back, his hand moving to the small of her back, pressing her closer.

After a moment, when Access realized why it was so quiet, he groaned. "Eww…! Guys, please don't do that in front of me!" He whined, "Seriously. It's because of that that this whole thing happened!"

Emil broke the kiss, sitting up. The redhead glanced over to his little brother. "Oh, right. I never did properly punish you for that."

"Eep!" Access shot up when Emil suddenly gave chase. Angel watched for a moment, a look of confusion marring her face, but then she started laughing.

It seemed as if nothing had changed.

"Oww…. Not cool, big bro…" Access moaned, holding his eye.

"You could have really hurt him, Emil! How could you?" Angel scolded as she tilted Access' head back a little, pouring some lake water over his face. It was morning now, but they had traveled enough to get back to Langwierder See by the previous midnight. They had camped out there until dawn, and now Angel was treating the bruises Access had gained in his scuffle with Emil.

"He's the reason we're in this mess." Emil spat, washing his face. He had explained the situation to Angel on the way to Langwierder See.

"H-hey, watch it! That hurts…!" Access pouted.

"Sorry!" Angel bent down and kissed his eye. "There, is that better?" Access blushed profoundly.

"You know, that never works…" Emil rolled his eyes.

"And yet you still like it." Angel retorted, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Anyway, guys…. What now?" Access interrupted.

"Well… we keep going, I guess." Emil shrugged.

Angel tilted her head. "We're not going back home?"

Emil looked thoughtful. "We can… go near that place we used to call home, but there's no way we're heading back to that orphanage." He said. "Come on, this is our chance! Let's get a house… be a real family. We're on our own now. We were supposed to have two more years, but I guess that's not the case. But that's okay, right? We can start our own lives and take care of ourselves, just like we always have!"

Angel looked a little sad. "But… we're still kids… how are we ever going to get a house? Land? Money?"

"Don't be silly, Ange. We can do it. Don't worry, I'll handle it all. We promised to take care of you, remember?" Emil gave a charming grin.

"Yeah! Let's make a new promise, okay?" Access said, giving a similar grin, "We'll always take care of each other, no matter what! We have no one else now…"

"I… I can take care of you too." Angel nodded, seeming determined, "I promise too!"

The Niwa brothers grinned, the elder ruffling the girl's hair.

"Alright then, onward… to the heart of our Munich!"