A/N: I'm sorry for the delay, but school has started, so updates will be scattered for me. This chapter might be a little awkward, but I hope you like it all the same. Again, I apologize for the wait and please, enjoy! 

Chapter Five – She Was Lost

"How much farther?"

"Not that much."

"I was never even aware this part of my manor existed."

"You built your property over Hikari land. This has been here for ages."

"You knew of it's existence?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"When you first took me in."

They continued to walk down the darkened corridor, the only source of light coming from Satoshi's flashlight as he led the way. His father stayed close behind and slightly hunched. The corridor was low but wide, being underground.

"Why did you never tell me about it?"

Satoshi gripped his flashlight tighter. "It was like I said before, my ancestors did not trust 'The Mystic's Dream'. They wanted to destroy it but they couldn't, so they sealed it away on their own land, hoping that some future descendent could find the means to contain it's power."

"And why is it that they could not seal it for themselves?"

Satoshi did not answer.

Tell him, Satoshi-dono. Tell the truth of the Mystic.

He shook his head, ignoring Krad. Was he not burdened enough, having his demanding father and a murderous alter ego on his case night and day? Now he had to deal with a piece of art whose history had only been passed down through Hikari blood and memories, making him the soul heir to the knowledge of its power. He sighed deeply.

The yoke was too great.

They reached the end of the corridor and faced a circular door made of white gold with a single embedded orb in its middle.

"I presume there is a key?" his father asked, but he failed to keep the excitement out of his voice. Satoshi glanced back at him and flicked off his flashlight.

"Only the touch of a Hikari can open this vault."

"Why did you turn off the light?"

Satoshi laid his hand on the orb. There was no ethereal light, no shining glow that told of the vault opening. The door simply opened with a slight creak and Satoshi stepped in after it. "We won't need it. It's too bright." He walked into the darkness where it consumed him. His father stayed behind at first, unwilling to follow.

"There is no other purpose for me being here if I cannot see the art." He was angry, yes, but there were others things Satoshi worried about than his father's wrath.

"You can still see it without the flashlight," he murmured, although his voice echoed against the rooms high acoustics. He walked farther into the shadows. He soon heard the echo of footsteps behind him.

Turn on the light, Satoshi-dono. Gaze on to the majesty of the Mystic. You've wanted to for ages.

The hiss of Krad's voice in his ear plagued him but he ignored it, his hands clenching into fists. You're prodding a fruitless temptation, he thought fiercely. Unlike my ancestors, I have no use for the Mystic. It is nothing to me.

They had come so deep into the chamber that the darkness was thick with shadowed walls. But in the space in front of them, clearly visible in the immediate black, was the faint glow of an oil lamp sitting on the stone ground at the base of a podium.

The footsteps behind him stopped.

"That's—that's the 'Mystic'?"

"Yes." Satoshi walked up to the podium and gazed down at it. He had seen it in his dreams, in Krad's memories, but he had never seen it in real life. Now he had, and he was glad to know that it's beauty did not affect him as badly as it did his father. "This is her." He sighed and sank to the ground, sitting in front of her simple podium. "Please leave now, father. Dark will be coming soon."

And he closed his eyes to wait as his father gazed longing for a few more moments before leaving him behind with the darkness and the single blazing oil lamp.

--------

She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Risa? Are you in here?"

"Yeah, I am." Not doing much but lying there. She didn't even see her sister enter the room, she was so distracted lately.

"Risa, are you okay?"

What was wrong with her?

"Yeah, I'm fine Riku."

"You don't look fine."

Something was plaguing her; something that made her feel horrible inside. Something that involved blue eyes and a cold exterior.

"Maybe I'm just tired." But she wasn't tired. She was far from it. She was really just a little distressed.

"From what?"

From Hiwatari. "From school," she answered quickly. She couldn't be thinking of Satoshi now. Not after she had tried to come to good terms with him and he had refused. Risa felt the bed dip again and Riku was lying on her side next to her. Risa turned her head to her sister. "Riku, mother and father always taught us to be kind to others, right?"

Riku furrowed her brow. "Of course."

"Well, what do you do when your kindness only makes them…angrier?"

She blinked, confused. "Angrier? How could that make someone angrier?"

Yes, how could it?

"I don't know."

Riku sat up and looked down at her sister, puzzled. Risa stared back, waiting for the retribution she was sure she would get for being sad. Riku never did like it when she was sad.

Not that Hiwatari was making her sad.

More the situation he had placed on her.

"Well Risa, whoever it is that isn't taking well to your kindness is an idiot," Riku replied deliberately.

Risa smiled broadly despite herself. "Oh, really?" she asked coyly. Her sister grinned and nodded.

"'Kindness is a gesture only the plagued refuse', and I'll bet anything it's a plague of idiocy."

Risa giggled. "Where did you hear that?"

"I read it in a book somewhere. So, are you coming down for dinner?"

Risa sat up, feeling much better. "Yeah, I'll be down soon."

But when Riku left Risa laid back down on her bed and looked back at the ceiling. She thought of Hiwatari again but decided that if he didn't want to make peace between them then fine, she'd obey his wishes. He wasn't exactly the suave, debonair thief that Dark was; the Thief was always a charming gentleman when she was with him.

Risa's hand unconsciously reached over the side of her bed and into the folds of her book bag. She withdrew the white feather that she kept on the inside pocket, holding it up over her face so that her lamplight made it look nearly transparent.

Even the unknown owner of the feather was probably a better gentleman that Hiwatari.

He even had the decency to leave her his jacket.

--------

Dark flicked the latch and waited for the sound of running footsteps to die down. He leaned one shoulder against the closed door and crossed his arms.

Sometimes getting past the guards was too easy.

"Dark, where are we?" Daisuke asked. Dark looked around the room they were in, shrugging.

"Don't know. But I can feel the pulse of life faintly here; the life of an artwork."

But there was no art here. They were in an old cellar, the walls and flooring made from stone and the beams that helped support it made from aged birch. Crates of little significance lined the walls, and near the back there were a few shelves scattered with knick knacks, rusted tools, and empty jars. Other than that, the place was near empty.

He felt Daisuke yawn. "Art? Here? Doesn't seem like the kind of place that's prepared for it."

Dark straightened and glanced around, the black wings that were Wiz towering behind him. "You're right. Hey, Daisuke, you seem more tired than usual. Are you getting lazy on me?"

"No, I am not getting lazy! It's just all this is taking a lot out of me!"

Dark laughed to himself, walking over to the shelves. "'All this'? What do you mean? School?"

He felt Daisuke yawn again. "No, not just school. I mean this, transforming into you and dealing with your magic."

Dark stopped walking abruptly and frowned, the laugh gone from his lips. "My magic is painful for you, isn't it?"

"No, no, don't worry about that. It only hurts a little bit. But it mostly just makes me tired. I probably just need a but more rest, is all."

Dark sighed and cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah. Right." But he knew it wasn't true. The magic that he possessed did not fit well with that of a regular human, and the price Dark paid for using his magic was the pain of Daisuke's body and the draining of his energy.

If anything, it made him feel more like a parasite than an other half.

"Don't worry, Dark," Daisuke said. "Even though you'd never admit it, I know you try to hold back on your magic as much as you can. I'm just lucky I'm not Hiwatari-san. Krad doesn't seem to care for him that much."

"Hah. Krad doesn't care for anyone or anything but himself." Dark growled inwardly at the idea of Krad before bending over the shelves and inspecting the contents carefully. It took a few moments, but then he found the jar he was looking for and twisted the lid slightly to the left. The bare wall to the side of the shelves sank away to reveal a sizable passage.

"How did you know that was there!" Daisuke exclaimed. Dark shrugged, peeking in.

"I just did. I could feel the art coming from this wall." He squared his shoulders and jumped from the ground, flapping his black wings. "Okay Daisuke, I'll be taking over from here. You go and rest now."

"Be careful, Dark," Daisuke said as the phantom thief flew down the passageway, his chest barely grazing the floor skidding past. Dark grinned.

"I'm always careful."

--------

Satoshi leaned his head back and groaned, clutching his stomach. His side was still sore from the cracked rib, but his blood pressure was dropping as well. He hadn't eaten before he came. A careless mistake.

He frowned and glanced up at the podium, the broad platform wide enough to obscure the 'Mystic' from his angle, but it still didn't prevent him from throwing his coat over it to hide it. The most he could see was one, glass hand, intricately carved, reaching upward towards the darkened ceiling and the surface above. Even from his seat on the floor he could make out the loving detail of the art: the wrinkles in the hand, the bends of the fingers, the minute lines on the palms.

He had to admit, his ancestors had an amazing skill for art.

Look at her, Satoshi-dono. Gaze upon her. Appreciate the creation of your Hikari relatives.

Satoshi turned his eyes away and stared into the waiting darkness once again. "Shut up, Krad. Why don't you come out here and look at it yourself, since you're so obsessed," he muttered angrily, although, admittedly, there was hardly enough anger behind the statement. He was never very good at expressing emotion.

Oh, count on the fact that I will, tamer. But let's just say that I'm waiting for the right time to appear. There was a low laugh. Satoshi sighed heavily.

"Interfering with Dark, I presume. Sadly, it won't happen tonight. I've already got plans for the Phantom Thief."

You haven't the strength to fight me, Satoshi-dono. Your body is weak and your mind is growing weaker. I do not see how you can tell me what to do.

Blue eyes flashed. "My body may be recovering, Krad, but my mind suffers from nothing. And, for a task as important and complicated as this, it's all I'll need to hold you back. It is hardly weak."

When next Krad spoke it was his usual mocking tone, but, this time, a hint of inquisitive nature. Oh, really? Then why the frustrations, tamer? Why the distress over a pretty little girl with brown eyes and long hair, wearing a white jacket and chasing a cherry blossom in the wind?

Satoshi tensed.

Your mind worries about her. Did you hurt her feelings this morning? Should you have been kinder? Should you have taken the jacket from her--…

"Shut up, Krad."

--and those kind of thoughts take away from your precious, isolated nature. Your cold, calculating mind is being plagued by juvenile dilemmas. My dear tamer is, dare I say, becoming a teenager?

"Shut up, Krad! I don't care for whatever manipulative thoughts you've concocted for me. Tonight I stay in control, whether I have to die to do so or not. I've got too important of a job to hand it over to the likes of you." Satoshi felt the low rumbles of Krad's laugh but knew that he would be silent…for now at least. But it didn't matter. He'd prove to him soon enough that, when the problem called for it, Satoshi could stay in control.

And with the Phantom Thief on his way and the fabled 'Mystic's Dream' as the target, staying in control was an absolute necessity.

--------

Dark landed nimbly on his feet, glancing back at the black corridor. With a soft 'kyuu', Wiz transformed back into his rabbit self and landed on the ground next to Dark's ankle. The roofing was too low for him to stay as wings.

Dark frowned at the blackness he saw. He hadn't thought to bring a light, but now he regretted it. He was consumed in complete darkness.

"We're pretty far from the manor," he murmured to himself, reaching out an arm in front of him. He explored the darkness with his fingers before his hand fell against a cold, hard surface. Dark gritted his teeth. "Sorry about this, Daisuke," he whispered before reaching inside of himself to draw forth his magic. He pressed his fingertip against the smooth surface and it instantly illuminated, revealing a door made of white gold with an orb at its center.

--------

Satoshi looked up. Far across the surrounding blackness he could see a circular glow of light coming from the direction he had entered. His eyes narrowed.

Dark had arrived at last.

--------

He inspected the door for a moment before placing his palm over the orb and blasting it with the smallest amount of magic as he could. The door did not budge, but he did not want to try it again. If the Commander and Krad were inside he'd have to save his strength.

"Maybe it's just a plain lock." But when he touched the orb the door immediately creaked, slowly opening for him. He frowned, watching it open to even more blackness. "Or maybe not."

He stepped in, the light from the door fading and drowning him in artificial blindness once more. A blindness that was near complete save for the smallest flicker of light somewhere ahead of him.

"Or maybe it's just plain magical; a lock that can only be accessed by Hikari blood or Hikari creation." The dead, bland voice echoed over the expanse, its origin coming from somewhere near the light.

Dark walked forward, his fists clenched at his sides as he grinned. Somewhere behind him Wiz followed at a distance as he headed for the small silhouette of Satoshi in the distance. "So, tonight I get the Chief Police Commander? Where's the demon in angel's clothing?" he called out. But his intention to anger Satoshi seemed fruitless as the boy merely sighed.

"Fond as you are of Krad, I am obliged to keep him sedated for the night," he remarked, although the barb he had purposely stuck in there was useless in his tired tone. "It's just you and me, Dark."

The Thief rolled his eyes, stopping a reasonable distance away and crossing his arms. "How sentimental. I'm nearly touched." He examined the Commander's face and had to keep himself from laughing. Instead of being the ever primped Hiwatari, arms folded and eyes narrowed in vicious malice, Satoshi sat almost slumped on the ground, his back leaning against a podium and his knees drawn up to his chest, his elbows resting lazily against them. But despite the tired and lax manner from which he appeared, Dark could still see the crazed glee in his eyes; the same glint that always flickered there when he saw Dark.

This was the rush of the chase, the joy he found in tracking and capturing.

"How do you know about 'The Mystic's Dream?"

Dark was caught off guard by the blunt question. He dropped his arms to his sides and stared at Satoshi.

"Are you really asking me that?"

"Yes."

Dark frowned. "Why aren't you trying to capture me?"

"My family has never spoken of the 'Mystic', nor has it ever been recorded in their documents or books."

"You're not even standing. What's wrong with you?"

Satoshi shifted his weight against the podium, sitting up slightly straighter. "So it would naturally strike me as odd that you have heard of it, irregardless of you being in the Niwa family."

"Enough questions!" Dark was growing frustrated and, to be honest, slightly uncomfortable. It was strange enough for Hiwatari to be lazing about on the ground like he was, but it was even stranger in the stance that he held; it was as if he were ready to pounce at any movement Dark made towards the sculpture. "We just know, all right! All I'm concerned about is that it's Hikari art, and I steal Hikari art!"

The boy pushed his glasses farther up his nose, looking up at Dark with narrowed eyes. "I'm telling you now that you're not going to take the 'Mystic'."

Dark scoffed at him, growing highly annoyed. "Spare me, Commander. How many times have you tried to prevent my stealing and failed miserably?"

"This is different."

"How so?"

"I intend to persuade you otherwise."

Dark's jaw nearly dropped in surprise. Next to him Wiz practically died from shock, falling on his back with his feet in the air, having been utterly bewildered. "Excuse me?"

"I said I'm going to persuade you to leave it alone." Satoshi struggled to his feet, groaning. Dark watched him and felt a swell of hate build inside him for Krad. If the damn bastard showed any intelligence, he would have helped Hiwatari heal so that Dark would at least have a decent adversary. Either help him to heal or refrain from murdering him slowly with magic. "No matter what I have to do, I can't let you take this sculpture."

"And why is that?"

"Because it's dangerous."

"I'm dangerous."

"You're nothing compared to this." Satoshi stood in front of the 'Mystic', obscuring Dark's vision of the art shrouded by Hiwatari's coat. "This is not simply art we are talking about here, or the Hikari and Niwa rivalry. This is far more lethal than that, and I beg you to leave this one alone."

Dark's mouth twitched with a smile, ignoring Satoshi's serious demeanor. "You beg?"

"Yes, I do."

"The great Chief Commander would actually beg?"

Hiwatari gritted his teeth. "Be serious for once, Dark! This isn't about me or you anymore; it's bigger than that!" Satoshi let out a pained cry and crashed to his knees, hunching over the ground in brutal agony. Dark took a step back, unprepared. Krad had already been late in showing up and he had assumed he would not come about tonight, as Satoshi had said.

The blue-haired youth, however, seemed persistent in keeping his promise. He struggled violently with Krad, his hair beginning to fade into a golden hue and his eyes flickering between transformation. But it was more than once that Dark thought Krad was going to break through when Satoshi suppressed him once more, regaining his control. The Thief had to admit that he was impressed.

"I said not tonight, Krad!" Satoshi's strained cry bounced off the chamber walls and ceiling. He slammed a fist into the stone ground in agonizing annoyance. "Leave it alone!"

"Dark!" Dark blinked once then twice. He had thought Daisuke had fallen into the recesses of slumber but, apparently, the raucous that was happening in the chamber had drawn him forth once again. "Dark, what is going on?"

"Your friend there is having quiet an identity crisis." Dark's brow furrowed in unnerving displeasure. Satoshi was clearly being torn from the inside by fighting Krad, but he still kept on. He truly was unwilling to relinquish his control to the beast that night. It half-occurred to Dark that the 'Mystic' had to be the ultimate danger for a human to subjugate himself to torture.

"Stop it! Stop it, now! It's too dangerous to let go!" Satoshi jerked his head up abruptly and stared directly into Dark's eyes. The intensity of those blue irises sent the thief reeling back in shock. "Leave! Get out of here! Don't go anywhere near the sculpture!"

Truly, Dark would have heeded the boy's words and gotten himself out of there, if not for his own fearful observation of the Krad/Satoshi struggle, but even more so for the safety of Daisuke. If Krad really did break through after all that time he would be right furious, having had to struggle so long with his tamer. He would have taken out his frustrations on Dark, and Dark would then be forced to use more magic than he had originally intended.

And that would hurt Daisuke. A lot.

But the prospect of running away, of abandoning his Phantom Thief duties, seemed dishonorable.

"Dark, we have to help him," Daisuke said. "He's going to really hurt himself if Krad doesn't stop or if he doesn't give in." But Dark shook his head, eyes genuinely filled with pity.

"No, he won't get hurt. He might die."

"DARK!"

The shrill cry shattered the darkness surrounding them as a tornado of white wings erupted around Satoshi, swirling in an angry mass. Hiwatari struggled in the storm's eye, continuing his fight. Dark quickly touched Wiz's head and used his wings to lift himself from the ground to hover above Satoshi.

"DARK!"

Dark would have been almost completely convinced that it was Krad who called his name, if only Satoshi had not continued to scream in his suffering voice.

"DARK, GO! The 'Mystic' will only bring horrible things with her awakening! Just leave it alone! Just this once!"

There was a huge burst of wind and Satoshi hunched over again as a glistening pair of pearl white wings erupted from his back. The Phantom Thief gritted his teeth and flexed his muscles, preparing himself.

"I'm sorry, Daisuke," he said. "I'll try not to hurt you too much this time."

--------

Risa whipped around, her eyes immediately resting on her balcony doors. They were firmly shut and the curtains drawn.

She frowned, turning back around to leave her room.

But she could have sworn that there had been a gust of wind; wind colder than she had ever felt before.

For a fleeting moment she imagined the image of two, towering white wings, but she quickly dismissed it and flicked off her light, leaving her room.