Chapter Fourteen—Yet Left In Reach Of Blinding Sight

'There is love of course. And then there's life, its enemy.'

--Jean Anouilh

'Heav'n hath no rage like love to hatred turn'd,

Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorn'd.

(Hell hath no Fury like a Woman Scorned)'

--William Congreve, The Mourning Bride

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She was angry.

Angry that they had used Silence on her. Angry that they had quieted her song once again. Angry because she had been so close to her Hikari.

The Mystic was angry, and they would know it.

She looked down at the woman lying on the floor at her feet. She was the mother of the boy; the mother who had found her in the yard as a statue. She was the one who collected her Hikari's artworks and sealed them away in her basement.

She knelt down next to the sleeping Niwa mother and touched a single finger to her forehead. "You will sleep," she said. "You will sleep in a deathly slumber until I am made whole again. You will sleep until I find my Hikari. You will sleep until I am rewarded with a life" Then there was a glow and the symbol of a crescent moon shone on the Niwa mother's forehead before dulling out to a simple, blue moon.

The Mystic's Dream straightened to her feet and stepped over the woman's motionless body, making her way to the front door. She stepped out into the night and looked up at the moon. "Give me your strength," she whispered, and tore off a piece of cloth from the edge of her gown. The minute it separated the cloth turned back to glass, and she dropped the glass amongst the flowers in the front yard, making them bloom even bigger, their colors more vibrant and lustrous. "Now I may always find you, dark-winged one. Now I will always know where it is you hide." She turned towards the street and waved her hand softly through the air. Mist spilled from her splayed fingertips and swirled in the space before her, coming together to form a stairwell upwards.

She stepped onto the mist and began to sing a song bred from anger and hate and made to sound terribly beautiful:

"Now rages my anger,

Sweet souls of the night,

My rage befalls all who would silence my song.

I come for my Hikari,

For my life and my love,

And I shall own thee before this night is gone…'

She looked down from her heavenly perch, staring at the cobblestone street and the tiled rooftops. Once upon a time, long ago, such a sight would have filled her with peace and calm and she would appreciate the town and its people. Now the sight filled her with sadness and regret, and she wanted it to disappear, just as she had been forced to do.

She ran her hand through her long hair and drew from it wavering strands of mist that clung to her fingers. She let the strands swirl and cascade downward, and whatever they touched began to age drastically. Stone began to crumble and fall apart. Metal rusted and cracked. Plants died. The earth dried up. Dust coated everything and cobwebs materialized from nowhere.

The effect began to spread, slowly claiming street after house after yard, aging the town just as long as the Mystic had been encased. The sight did not please her but sufficed, and she turned back towards her destination and began to walk long the air, letting her ghostly song underscore the withering city below:

"I kill the man I love upon this day.

Please.

Don't look at me that way."

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Risa ducked low behind the bushes with Takeshi, parting the leaves to see the five officers standing guard at the back entrance to the museum. Takeshi took a quick snapshot of the men and then turned away, beckoning Risa to come look. She released the bush and crouched down next to him, peering over his shoulder to look at his tiny digital screen.

"I'll close up on their faces so we can see them better. I know some of the men on the force, so that should give us an advantage." He clicked a few buttons and the image of the officers lit up the screen. Saehara zoomed in on their faces, bending in closer to inspect them. "I know the two guys on the end; they work with my dad a lot. The man in the middle has to be in his forties and the one next to him has to be older than even that."

"What about him?" Risa asked, pointing to the last one in line. Her classmate grimaced.

"Look at his posture! He's not even standing right. There's no way he could be the Chief Commander of Police." He lowered his camera and pointed to his right. "We're looking for the best of the best! We'll keep on moving and examine everyone guarding the ground entrances. I doubt the Commander has made it to the roof."

Still crouching, Takeshi dashed off to his right, keeping low and out of sight. Risa followed behind him, looking at her watch. Dark was never late, and time was running out.

They had formed a system. Saehara could steal a snapshot and they both could examine it in less than a minute. It helped that he knew most of those on the squad, and for the ones he didn't know he could point out obvious faults: he was way too old, he was way too scared, he looked tired, he looked bored, he looked as if he wanted to kill someone. No one was fitting the profile.

Finally, they came back to the front of the museum where it seemed that more guards had gathered as Dark's entry time approached. Takeshi hadn't wanted to start off at the front because there wasn't enough of a crowd to use as cover, but now the museum courtyard was more than packed, and weaving their way to the front and stealing snapshots of the officers would be less conspicuous.

"Hurry," Risa urged, peering over his shoulder and squinting at the officers. The spotlights they had trained on the sky was blinding, and it washed out a lot of faces.

"Hold on! I need to darken the view screen."

"Then do it fast! You're going to slow."

"Oh, stop whining."

"Saehara!"

"Alright, alright! I'll use single shots so we can siphon through them faster." He fixed his eye to the camera, aimed the lens and began rapidly shooting. Risa hopped up and down impatiently, still trying to squint at the men's' faces. She couldn't tell if anyone seemed younger than the rest; they were all pretty much the same height.

Saehara lowered his camera. "Got it," he said, and straightened up to show her. Together they bent over the tiny screen once more as he rapidly scrolled through each individual photograph. "No. No. No. He's younger than most of what we've seen, but I've heard about him: he's just a newbie. No. No."

On and on they scrolled and Risa was getting restless. The shots were so close-up that she could see every man's features, and she began picking eyes amongst the faces. Brown eyes in an aged face, grey ones in an old one, brown eyes in a young face, blue eyes in a younger one…

Very blue eyes. In a too young face.

Takeshi had noticed at the same time as Risa and stopped scrolling, both of them staring down in amazement.

"Is that--?" he started to say. Risa shook her head.

"I don't know. Is it possible--?"

"But is it really…"

"It looks just like…"

The both looked up at stared ahead to where the fourteen-year-old, blue-eyed officer stood only a mere twenty-odd feet in front of them, circling around the guarding officials stealthily, as if trying not to be noticed.

"Hiwatari!" The both of them called as one, amplifying their voices far above the surrounding noisy crowd. Satoshi's head whipped around and he stared at them from across the police tape, his face showing true surprise for the first time.

He stared.

Takeshi stared.

And Risa stared at Satoshi Hiwatari standing there dressed in a police uniform.

She blushed a deep, scarlet red.

She did so love a man in uniform.

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Satoshi felt his stomach drop through his entire body and the blood run ice cold in his veins. His mouth would have dropped open if he hadn't caught himself in time.

He thought his head was going to explode.

Oh no, was the only thought running through his mind.

"Hiwatari! Hiwatari!" Takeshi Saehara kept calling his name, even though Risa had gone silent at his shoulder. The boy started to wave him over dramatically, causing a very raucous scene and drawing attention to his person.

Which, to Satoshi's dismay, was the exact opposite of what he had wanted. He was supposed to be a ghost amongst his officers; his squads only knew his name and only a few of them knew what the Commander looked like, and he wanted to keep it that way. Takeshi was ruining his cover.

"Hiwatari!"

Inwardly groaning, Satoshi glanced around and jogged over to them, pulling down the brim of his hat farther to cover his face. He reached them at the edge of the police tape and leaned over menacingly, staring into both their faces.

"Shut up and come with me," he commanded, and lifted the tape for them to cross under.

"Hey, thanks a lot! I never thought the class genius would be such a good connection, eh, Harada--ow!"

Satoshi had grabbed him mid-sentence by the collar and Risa by the arm, dragging them away from the entrance and to a grove of trees somewhere towards the west wing of the museum. There was less of a crowd here and not as many guards, which allowed them some privacy. He ushered them into the trees and followed afterward, thankful for the looming shadows and greenery to hide behind.

"Geez, you don't have to be so rough!'

"Yes, I do." He stared at them both with a mixture and anger and dread. His eyes strayed longer on Risa. She was wearing his jacket again. As if he wasn't already frustrated. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. Risa flinched at the harshness of his tone and he instantly felt guilty.

"We could ask you the same thing," Takeshi answered, rubbing his neck. Satoshi did not feel sorry for him.

"I'm supposed to be here. I'm allowed to be here."

"Then I'm allowed to be here, too. My father is the lead detective of this case, so that gives me--,"

"Your father may be the lead detective, Saehara-san, but he leads no men unless I command him too. As Chief Commander of Police I give the orders and privileges and I revoke any privilege you so foolishly claim to be yours." It was the largest speech he had ever given where he flourished his power, and it had been truly awkward. He could never recall ever speaking in such a way.

Risa and Takeshi just stared at him in wide-eyed surprise, (or was it horror?), as he waited out their reactions. Risa was the first one to speak.

"Y-you're the Commander of Police?" she asked in a quiet voice. He met her eyes and tried to find any sort of anger or hatred there. He was, after all, the man in charge of capturing her beloved Dark. But he could see nothing but true surprise.

He shrugged. "Yes, I am."

"For how long?" Takeshi asked.

"Since I turned fourteen last year."

"Since you turned fourteen?" The other boy looked incredulous. "You say it as if it's normal!"

"It is for me."

"But…but…." Saehara shook his head, confusion befuddling his mind. "But the men said that the Commander was someone fresh out of college! Top of his class…a prodigy straight from a private university--," He cut himself off and stared at a waiting Hiwatari. An uncomfortable pause followed. "You've graduated from college?!"

He nodded once.

"You have?" Risa asked, her voice coming out a little stronger. He nodded again. "But why are you in middle school then?"

Because I wanted to know what it felt like, he thought to himself. I wanted to know what it felt like to be fourteen.

"I have my reasons," he said out loud. He glanced down at his watch. The Thief would be coming at any minute.

"This is too much for me," Takeshi exclaimed, throwing up his hands and pacing through the trees. "And here I thought I had connections with the police!"

"So you were there," Risa said to him, her head titled to one side. Satoshi met her gaze even though he didn't want to. "You were there that night when I fell from the museum terrace." He didn't say anything. "Why didn't you say so? Why did you try to keep it a secret?"

"I'm Chief Commander of Police. My position requires a certain amount of discretion, especially from my classmates. I didn't want to jeopardize my cover by getting involved with you or your sister."

Her brow furrowed and she stepped towards him, staring up into his face. "If you didn't want to get involved with us then why did you give me this jacket?" she demanded.

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Dark cried out and gripped his head in agony, his rapid movement causing him to fall a few meters out of the air. On his shoulder Towa screeched in pain as she, too, covered her head with her wings. From within Daisuke was getting worried.

"Dark? Dark! What's wrong?"

"Don't talk, Daisuke," the Phantom Thief said. "It hurts too much." He cried out again and lost more altitude, his chest almost skimming the tops of wayward trees. An up-reaching branch caught the hem of his trench coat and down he went, tumbling through a web of canopy and leaves, Towa flying off his shoulder during the descent.

With a painful thud Dark landed on his back on someone's front yard, his black wings, having been crushed under his weight, disappeared to be replaced by a winded Wiz trying to scurry out from beneath.

"Sorry," Dark apologized, and rolled over a bit to let the poor creature free. Wiz scurried out and collapsed on the ground next to him, panting in earnest. Towa was lying a few feet away, back in her human form and moaning in pain.

Daisuke was hysterical.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?!"

"I'm fine," Dark grumbled, gingerly pushing himself to a sitting position. "And you sound like a dotting mother."

"I'm not dotting."

"Are you all right over there, Towa?"

She whimpered and sat up as well, rubbing her shoulder. "I want to go home," she whined.

"We can't," Dark said, struggling to his feet. "Now more than ever."

"What do you mean?" Daisuke asked. Dark straightened to a standing position.

"It's the Mystic's Dream, Daisuke. She's loose again."

"What?!"

"And she's using her magic," Towa offered, standing up as well. "She's using a lot of it, and it hurts." She looked so sad. "Her magic always hurts."

"Do you know where she is?" Dark asked the Guide, reaching down and scooping up Wiz. "Is she still at the house?"

"She's at the house, on the street, in the buildings, everywhere! She's everywhere and she's spreading fast," Towa snapped. "Whatever it is she's done is big and reeks with the stench of her. She's done something horrible. To the town."

"All I feel is the cold," Dark said, frowning. "It's gotten really cold--,"

"There," Towa cried, whipping her head around and peering through the trees lining the front yard. Her eyes had glazed over again, just as they had done on Saturday night. "There is the voice that will quiet her song. There does it rise from the depths of the sea, from it's sanctuary away from her voice." She reached a hand outward. "Dark….I can feel it...Silence—,"

"Ignore it, Towa," Dark said, brushing past her and preparing for flight once again. "We have a journal to steal."

"No, Dark! You must get the horn! The horn is the only weapon that works against her!" She latched onto his arm and held him to the earth, her grip unnaturally strong. Dark growled and tried to break free.

"Let me go, Towa! The journal is more important right now and I'll lose my window to steal it if I wait any longer!"

"But the horn!"

"You go get the horn then," Dark spat, yanking his arm free and tossing Wiz into the air. "You can get it and you can play it and you can be the one who goes blind. Wiz, to me!" The tiny creature let out a resounding 'kyuu' before transforming into wings again, positioning himself on Dark and lifting him into the air.

"But Dark--!"

"You'll be fine, and I'm running out of time! Just find the horn and then meet me at the museum!" He saluted to her, half mocking, half serious, and then turned towards the sky and ascended upward, leaving Towa behind on the ground.

"No! No, wait!" But he was gone, and she was alone. "Damn you, Dark," she grumbled, stomping her foot. She shivered involuntarily and glanced around herself, helpless. "I'm the Guide, you're the Thief. I find the art, you steal the art. You're not supposed to break the system," she huffed indignantly, reproaching Dark in angered whispers. "Okay Towa, let's just get this over with."

She closed her eyes and tapped into her magic, reaching out with her powers to find the unique pulse of Silence. From every part of her body invisible rays shot out like a spider web, reaching across vast differences and pulsating with the energy of anything and everything. If someone were to see what Towa saw when she closed her eyes they would have been overwhelmed. There were light beacons everywhere, creating a mayhem of different colors, sounds and emotions. But she was the Eternal Guide, and years of seeing such chaos had made her sharp.

She ignored the pulse beacons of humans, plants, houses, objects and whatnot and sought out the unique feeling that belonged to the horn. It wasn't so much a beacon, like everything else, but more of a song made substantial, if she were to describe it. It was imposing and engulfing, but also comforting.

There, at least three miles to her left. The song of the horn was emanating with new life, calling her to its location. It was somewhere atop the ocean again, but not in the same place as last time.

"All right," she muttered to herself, her eyes still closed. "I'm coming for you…."

Suddenly Towa's magical vision changed drastically, the entire reach of her magic obscured by a singular, blazing blue light that drowned out everything else. She cried out and clamped her hand over her eyes, as if blinded. Mentally, at least, she was.

"No," she muttered, knowing what the blue light meant. It brought with it a deep aching feeling, and within her Towa could feel her stomach twist. She wanted to be sick. "No…!"

Stepping through the trees behind her crouching form, the Mystic's Dream approached, watching the cowering Guide with a jaded interest. She kept a fair distance away, but all the same Towa could feel her destructive magic, and it pained her.

"What do you want?" she cried, her voice muffled from the ground. She refused to turn and look at the creature. "I have done nothing to you."

"But you will," the Mystic said, her voice carrying about the yard, light as air. "You seek the weapon that will seal me. I cannot let you silence my song again."

"I—I must find it," Towa replied, shaking madly. To be speaking with the Mystic's Dream! "You want something…that you are not allowed to have…!"

The Mystic cocked her head to the side. "Not allowed?"

"Yes!" Tears filled her eyes. The creature's closeness was physically painful. "You want what is forbidden to all of us--…you want a Hikari li--,"

"It is not forbidden to me." She did not yell or scream or cry out, but her statement startled Towa into silence, burrowing deep inside of her and resonating in her chest. It left a deeper impression than a yell. "It is owed."

The Mystic's Dream came around the Guide and stood before her head. She knelt down and touched both of her bitter cold hands on either side of her face. Towa screamed in pure agony as the Mystic lifted her face upward, peering at her through dancing blue and grey eyes. But Towa did not open her eyes. She, too, was still susceptible to the Mystic's allure.

"Towa no Shirube. You are also a creation made from the hands of our Hikari masters. You are an artwork as well; an artwork with great powers." She tightened her hold on Towa and the Guide cried out louder. Behind her closed lids the light of her magic blazed to almost a blinding state. "I will take your powers, Towa no Shirube, and I will use them to find what I am looking for. I will steal them from you. It is what is owed to me."

"Stop it! Stop it! Leave me alone," Towa screamed, grabbing the Mystic's wrists and trying to pull them away. But as fragile as the creature felt, she was strong, and her hands would not budge. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I am not doing anything to you. I am doing this for me." She lifted her head upward and closed her eyes. Like a sickening wave, Towa felt all of her powers seep out of her and into the Mystic's fingers, taking them from her entire body, from her entire spirit.

"No!" She wriggled and tried to move away, to no avail. "No!" She was growing weaker as her powers diminished. The Mystic looked back down at her.

"You will sleep, Towa no Shirube. You will slumber in a night I have created just for you." A blue crescent began to glow on Towa's forehead. "I will be the Eternal Guide now."

"NO!"

Towa's eyes snapped open and she stared fully into the face of the Mystic's Dream. Her body seized up, her muscles contracted achingly and her eyes burned with the sight of her. Tears began to spill down her face, but she wasn't really crying. The Mystic let her go, but Towa still could not look away.

"Sleep now, young Guide. Sleep until I am given what is owed." She placed her palm on Towa's shoulder and gently pushed her to the ground, laying her comfortably on her back. Towa just stared straight ahead, not seeing, not seeing. "Sleep until I have my Hikari."

Towa closed her eyes.

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She wanted to know his answer. She needed to know his answer. Before Dark showed up.

There was the sound of electronic static and the radio on Satoshi's belt began blinking as a man's muffled voice spoke to all officers.

"This is Detective Saehara speaking. Dark has been sighted thirty yards away, flying in from the southwest. I repeat, Dark has been sighted coming in from the southwest! All units check in and hold your positions!"

"Hey, that's my dad," Takeshi said. They both ignored him.

Satoshi unhooked the radio and pressed down on the talk button, holding it up to his mouth but keeping his eyes on Risa. "This is unit three reporting from the eastern wall. Holding all positions, sir." He released the button and hooked the radio back into place, still holding her gaze. "You two have to leave."

"What?"

"What?!" Takeshi stomped up to him and glared up into his face. "I'm not leaving now, not when Dark is on his way! And look, we have you to help us get into the heat of the action!"

"You do not have me," Satoshi said, shifting his eyes to meet his. "I am not a connection for you to exploit, Saehara-san. As an officer on the Azumano Police Force I am asking you to get back on the other side of that tape and to remain discreet."

Takeshi, although obviously taken aback, held his ground. "Well, if you're asking, then I say 'no'."

Satoshi's glare hardened. "Then as Chief Commander of the Azumano Police, I am ordering to get off of my crime scene right now."

Takeshi tried to challenge his stare but failed, of course. So he simply nodded and looked away. "All right then, if that's what you think is best. Come on, Harada-san." He inched past him and headed back the way they had come. Risa didn't budge.

"You haven't answered me yet, Hiwatari." She spoke confidently and strongly, refusing to back down. She wanted to know. "Why did you give me this jacket?"

Satoshi reached forward and placed both his hands on her shoulders in a physical attempt to calm her down. Were she not angry and anxious she would have been giddy and excited like the schoolgirl she was.

But she was angry. Angry that she didn't know him at all.

"Now is not the time to have a conversation. I am here on business, as has been demonstrated, and I need you and Saehara-san to leave, for your own safety. Please," he added, saying the last word almost as an afterthought. It only made Risa angrier. Satoshi turned to leave but she caught him by the arm and pulled him back, just the same way she had done so a few days back, in the cherry tree orchard at their school.

She whipped him around to face her and met his eyes with her own blazing ones. "Promise me then," she demanded. "Promise that you won't run away the next time I try to talk to you. Promise me that you'll answer me and promise me that you'll tell the truth."

"Harada-san--,"

"Promise." She was inches away from his face, her skin already tingling with the closeness of him. She breathed in his scent. Night air and clean linen. A familiar aroma, and her favorite one.

"…I promise," he finally said, and gently pulled free of her hand. "Now, go," he commanded, turning around and running off before they could speak anymore. Risa and Takeshi watched him go and then were left with only each other.

"Just great, Harada," he complained, shaking his head. "You finally put your feminine wiles to good use and you still get us kicked off the property."

Risa raised an eyebrow at him. "Feminine wiles?"

"Yeah, feminine wiles! You know, the arm grab, the 'in-your-face' attitude, the commanding voice, the physical proximity," he said, prancing about in his demonstration of how a woman might walk. It didn't look womanly at all and Risa couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, if that is what feminine wiles look like then I definitely don't want to be feminine." Takeshi sneered at her and started to leave, but Risa held up a ring of keys dangling from her index finger, smiling. "But they can't be all bad, since they did help me to get Hiwatari's key ring to the museum."

Her classmate whipped around and stared, open-mouthed and surprised. "You got his keys? How?"

"I slipped them off his belt latch."

Takeshi was ecstatic. "Harada, you're amazing! That's brilliant! You just took the Chief Commander of Police's master set of keys!"

She smiled and did a little curtsy, proud of her accomplishment as well. "Why, thank you, Saehara. Now, are you going to come with me or not?" she asked, indicating the museum building. Takeshi nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course I will. But, why do you want to go in? What's in it for you?"

She flashed him a smile that she knew was convincing. "I am Dark's number one fan, right? How could I pass up a chance to meet him face to face?" Takeshi grinned, obviously accepting her lie, and then quickly ran over to the edge of the trees, peeking out and already devising their master plan to get in.

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Satoshi ran towards the front of the museum, where the crowd was uproarious at the presence of Dark and the officers were amidst mass pandemonium. He ran to the front line, helping a few of his men suppress the crowd that was pushing on the restriction tape.

"What's our status?" he asked the man next to him, a portly fellow he'd never seen before, part of his father's squad. The man thankfully didn't recognize him and answered him informally.

"This is going to be a huge mess. These people are going crazy and Dark as been sighted everywhere, like he's circling the building. Add that to the fact that we don't even know what he's stealing and you might as well lay this place down on a platter for him." He grumbled in dismay.

"How are things inside?" Satoshi asked, looking up, hoping to see Dark.

"Just as the Commander wanted. The museum staff is going about their regular business. The museum doesn't close till nine, so they're doing what they usually do at this hour, minus the crowds of people."

"Good." Satoshi clapped him on the back in an appreciative manner and left, still looking up into the sky. "Come on, Dark," he muttered under his breath. "Give me my window."

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Dark landed nimbly in the trees on the outskirts of the museum, peering through the foliage to get a good look at the building at a distance. He glanced up and looked at his black wings.

"All right Wiz, this is it. Lead them away from my scent."

With a faint 'kyuu', Wiz separated himself from Dark's back and, still retaining his wing-like form, flew out towards the museum, conjuring screams and yells from the crowd of onlookers and policemen below. Dark watched for a while as Wiz toyed with everyone, flying one way, then disappearing and flying another way. He was trying to confuse the squad on the rooftop; the officers down below were already confused.

Dark grinned. "Excellent."

With skilled ease the Phantom Thief slipped from his perch and landed, catlike, on the ground. He ran forward, dodging the trees and making his way towards the back of the building. He waited in the low bushes lining the vast outer courtyard and peered through the branches. Already he could see the officers getting nervous; some of the newbies were breaking ranks. He'd just have to find his moment when he could ease through the back door unnoticed.

If Wiz would just hurry up with the plan.

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"Okay…now!"

On his signal Risa ran out from their haven in the trees and aimed for one of the employee doors in the side of the museum. Whatever Dark was doing was causing a lot of confusion and the officers were slowly breaking ranks to run around whichever side he had been spotted at last. Takeshi was keeping a close lookout through his camera lens, and the minute one of the doors was left unguarded Risa was to run out and unlock it before anyone saw her.

She ran like she never ran in school or with her sister. She ran as if she had an important mission on her shoulders and the determination to match it. She ran as she had run when she would chase Dark.

Risa skidded to a halt in front of the door and slammed her hands into it to stop from colliding face first. She pulled the ring of keys out of her jacket pocket and began fumbling with them, trying to find the one that fit the keyhole. Anxiety and adrenaline made her clumsy, and she constantly kept missing. She glanced up a few times to make sure no one was coming back. Around her people kept on shouting and calling out for Dark.

"Come on," she mumbled to herself, trying out key after key. "Come on…." Finally one of them slid in and clicked, and Risa was able to turn the knob and push the door open. She half fell into the dark hallway on the other side before quickly recovering and whirling around. Her eyes immediately caught onto Takeshi who was already emerging from the bushes and making his way to her. "Saehara," she said under her breath, waving him to hurry up. He was glancing around as he ran, checking that the coast was clear…

…but then an officer, whose eyes had been trained on the skies, ran into him, knocking Takeshi to the ground. Risa involuntarily cried out and wanted to run out and help him, but another officer saw her and called for her to stop.

And she couldn't stop, so she slammed the door closed and flicked the lock back into place.

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There was his chance.

One of the officers had just disappeared around the corner and, for a few, precious seconds the wall on the eastern side of the museum was completely unguarded. With amazing speed Dark darted across the courtyard, broke the code on the electronic lock, slipped into the museum and closed the door not two seconds before another officer ran past.

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In the midst of all the chaos Satoshi found his chance to steal into the safety of the museum.

His radio blasted with Detective Saehara's voice and every officer was rushing about to follow the orders.

"Dark's wings have been spotted somewhere on the roof! He's landed! He's landed!"

Never before had Satoshi been glad to see the utter mayhem caused by the under-trained Azumano Police. As blur after official blur created the perfect façade, Satoshi pushed open the front doors to the museum and darted off to take his prize before Dark had the chance.

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There were too many people.

And too many lights.

And too much noise.

She could feel her Hikari and knew that he was inside the building, beyond the sea of helpless humans and their primitive chatter. She could see him through the Eternal Guide's power like a beacon of clean, unwavering black light. Dark light. Shimmering light. A troubled soul for her to take.

"In the depths of the night," she sang, closing her eyes and lifting her voice. "I am like the ghost that douses the light."

Slowly she faded away into mist and her smoky essence spilled over the ground and seeped its way towards the crowd of people, skimming the ground at their feet as it made its way towards the museum.

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Risa ran down the hallway she had entered through and pushed open the door at the end. She found herself on the main floor of the museum, right in front of the eighteenth century sculptures and oil paintings. With both panic and excitement making her head spin, Risa started to turn towards the stairwell at her right. But before she could take a step upward a flurry of men's voices echoed down to her and she froze instantly.

"Come on, men! Secure that stairwell! Dark was spotted on the roof, so if he's heading downward we need to head him off!"

Footsteps started pounding against the hard linoleum of the stairs and Risa backed away quickly, turning tail and running in the opposite direction. She didn't stop until she noticed a tiny red light blinking on a wall and found another flight of stairs that led downward next to it.

She skittered down the steps but stopped abruptly at the landing to catch her breath. Her heart was racing and she could barely breath.

Risa stripped off her jacket and hung it on the railing as she leaned heavily against the wall for support. She mentally scolded herself yet again. Why did she insist on taking up these dangerous adventures when she knew she was terrible and everything that required physical savvy?!

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Satoshi tossed his officer's hat aside somewhere and tore at the buttons of his thick cotton overcoat. The uniform was much too constricting for the jobs he had to perform.

Throwing aside his shoulder belt and overcoat, Satoshi ran towards the back of the museum in only a thin white shirt and his navy pants with his radio hooked securely onto his back pocket. He unconsciously glanced upward towards the ceiling, imagining that he could see through the several floors of steel and concrete and up at the chaos that was most likely taking place on the roof.

He knew that it couldn't have been Dark who had landed on the roof. It was too boring and far too easy. If anything it was a distraction, but it was one Satoshi could use and he was going to exploit it to serve his mission. Tonight was not a night for catching Dark.

He found the staircase he had been searching for and checked the red light.

It was still blinking.

His devices were still in place.

With a burst of speed Satoshi flew down the staircase, only half concentrating on where he was going while he tried to listen to the men's voices that were echoing down the hall from behind. So distracted was his mind that he didn't even see her standing there, so when he rammed into her from behind he had been going at full speed and had made the collision extremely painful.

The girl he had hit screamed out in both surprise and pain and Satoshi, having only barely caught his balance, reached out a hand and grabbed her arm on instinct. He blinked several times to push the numbing ache in his shoulder away before he was able to fully focus his eyes on the girl and be properly angry at her for loitering on stair cases.

He opened his eyes.

Satoshi stared at Risa.

Risa stared at Satoshi.

Satoshi could feel all the excitement drop right out of his body only to be replaced with an overflow of regret and intense foreboding. But it was the sensation behind that feeling, the one that sent electricity through the hand that held her arm and sent its charge right through his core, taunting the blush on his neck and the quickened beat of his heart that truly frightened him It was the rapid shock that aroused his inner demon and caused the aching of coming wings to sting his shoulder blades.

Satoshi feared the feeling.

And, because she was somehow bringing it upon him, Satoshi feared Risa as well.

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Fear.

That was the cause of all her pain.

The fear of Love. The fear of Loss. The fear of Death…

She had only been a mere creation by Hikari hands, and through their magic was given the chance to live and breathe like the humans did.

She was given skin so that she may feel and a voice so that she could sing. She was given legs to dance and ears to hear. She was made to understand kindness and cruelty. She was given the chance to feel the warmth of the day and the coldness of night. She was given so many gifts by her creators.

And then there was one Hikari, the Hikari, her Hikari, that was there to teach her.

To teach her how to be happy. To teach her how to be sad. To teach her how it felt to love and be loved.