As Dark's wings began to dry out Daisuke grabbed up both of the thick towels and stacked them carefully near the end of the couch, then ducked as Dark's left wing flapped out happily. "Sorry!" He pulled them close against his back, surprised at how warm they were, and Daisuke retreated to the couch on the other side of the Chinese trunk. "It's ok, here, go ahead and stretch them out. I want to see how big they are!" The thief hesitated a bit,
"Well, ok…" and let them flap a few times before stretching them out behind him. It created a small breeze in the room, and the few papers that were on the trunk fluttered to the ground to join the remains of the vase. "Wow…" They seemed bigger already, and as the thin light from the drawn curtains hit them, they shimmered.
"I guess I'm probably not going to work tomorrow, either…" Dark ventured, folding one of them so he could get at an itch before spreading it out again and ignoring the way the glossy feathers tickled his back. As that train of thought continued his eyes darkened and Daisuke asked softly " Dark…?" he rubbed the side of his face with one enormous hand, "It's nothing, it's just…I'm kinda wondering how the hell I'm gonna keep my day job with these things. They're probably gonna help me a lot with thieving, but…" and then settled back down on his thick arms. "Maybe they're retractable." The little fox suggested, and Dark snorted. "Pshyeah, that's gonna happen." The phantom let himself recover for another ten minutes or so, then sighed and began to stand up. "Well, there's no helpin' it. I'm ravenous again."
Daisuke stood up and ran over, pushing gently on Dark's chest to get him to lie back down. "No, you should just rest, Dark. I'll make you something."
Blushing at the boy's touch, he shied away and muttered, "Well …alright." curling back down into the patterned sofa. A few minutes later Daisuke returned with a bowl of cereal and explained, "Well, it's almost seven so I figured you should have something more like breakfast." Dark sat up and folded his new appendages carefully against his spine, "Thanks, Daisuke. I think all this food is probably going straight to these-" He shuffled them gently, "But oh well. There definitely not big enough to fly with yet, so…" The redheads ears flicked up curiously, "How do you know that?" and his tail thumped against the floor once. Dark shrugged and swallowed a mouthful of cereal. "Dunno. It just kinda feels that way, you know?" Daisuke didn't know, but he nodded and asked, "Can I open the curtains?" and Dark nodded back.
As soon as he opened them the morning sun came flooding in and he suddenly recognized parts of the vast woods behind his new master's house.
There were that big bundle of blackberries that had scratched at his arms… and the little, barely-there deer trail between the ferns he had been following, on that night he'd finally run away…He looked to the side at Dark's back door and noticed that it was still unlocked, the way it had been in those freezing hours of darkness.
It almost made him laugh- a thief, having security issues. He got himself some breakfast too and was about finished when the phone rang. "I'll get it!"
Before Dark could say anything he'd already picked it up and an irritated voice snapped, "Hello? Dark, it that you?" He handed it to the phantom thief quickly and Dark set down his blue bowl. "Yello? Oh, hey Emiko. Yeah, I did steal it but…The stones are counterfeit, won't fetch anything on the black market…."
Daisuke looked insulted, "They're not fake!" and Dark shushed him quickly. "Yeah, big disappointment…However, I have another one- the Kijo Tora, which might fetch 60,000 yen…I won't be there, but my assistant can give it to you…" After a few more 'yes's and a short "At the usual place," he hung up and ruffled his wings nervously. "Ah, Daisuke, could you do me a favor?" He gathered up their bowls and headed back to the kitchen, "Yeah, sure. What is it?"
"When her accomplice, Kosuke comes tomorrow, could you give him the Kijo Tora?" He gathered himself up, "C'mon, I'll show you where it is…" Daisuke followed anxiously behind him.
"Dark, are you sure you're ok?" and he smirked and patted the little artwork on his thin shoulder. "Yeah, I feel a lot better, just kinda sleepy still, but anyway…"
He led Daisuke down and down until they came upon a thick wood door at the end of the rock staircase. "Only I can get in here," He said with a hint of pride,
"If anyone else tried a wall would come up," He gestured to the line at the last stair, "-and trap them here until I found them." He ran one pinky down the thin vertical slit on the right-hand side of the door, and it squeaked open. It was actually a huge room, as big as the living room, and every inch of it was filled with piece after piece, large ones, and small ones, frightening and beautiful… "I think it's over here…" He heard Dark mutter and followed him like a duckling- he definitely could get lost in here, so that was in his best interest. As he passed a life-sized marble angel statue he could have sworn it blinked at him, and he reached out to touch its impassive face… Dark was suddenly there again and pulled him mildly away by his long-sleeved shirt, "C'mon, that one freaks me out…" and they approached a pedestal with a tiny carved tiger about the size of a large melon. "Ah, here you are!" He purred happily and picked up the tiger to rub off the small amount of dust that had gathered there. "It's a good thing you can only talk at night, my little temptress; otherwise they would find out that I haven't sealed you yet…"
He wrapped it in the red velvet drape on top of the pedestal and lodged it underneath his arm like a football.
"Alright, let's go!" The he froze as a buxom Brazilian babe virtually materialized in front of him, her arms crossed angrily.
"If I put my mind to it I can talk whenever I want to, Dark." As she said his name her voice turned into a husky rumble, and Daisuke's eyebrows almost went up to his hairline- she was dressed in a traditional black kimono, with patterns of stripes weaving their way down to her bare tan feet, even more auburn then Dark's own skin. Luscious black curls cascaded on either side of a triangular face, topped with tiger ears, and she pouted and ran her hand gently over Dark's bicep,
"You're not really going to get rid of me are you…?" her amber eyes wide and pleading. "I know you still haven't forgiven me for breaking the-…oh, whatever it was…" She flipped her hand and curled one arm around Dark's waist, and Daisuke's tail puffed out angrily, making it look three times bigger.
"But we can work this out, can't we…?" She brushed her lips over his, and batted her eyelashes, but Dark merely whispered back,
"'Fraid your girlish charms won't work on me, Tora. Maybe it's fate that you were stolen by the only gay thief in Japan." She snarled, backed away and hit him in the chest with her fist, "Oh, I just hate you!" and disappeared back into the tiny sculpture. He continued towards the door again, then looked at Daisuke and pointed,
"Hey, what's up with your tail?" and Daisuke flushed, "Oh, um, nothing!" and tried furiously to smooth the hairs back down to no avail. "Dang it…"
He hissed and finally just held it behind him so Dark couldn't see and insisted, "Let's go!" Dark held up one thick purple eyebrow but decided to let it drop and they went back to the living room and dropped off the sculpture, then Dark headed upstairs, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Wait- Dark, where are you going?" Daisuke asked with his ears straight up and he answered through a yawn. "Back to bed! You can watch TV or do what you'd like though, I'll probably only be a few hours."
The redhead looked for and eventually found Wiz, and then sneaked back into Dark's room when he was sure he had fallen asleep.
The hair on his tail finally had calmed down and seeing him dead to the world like this… Daisuke climbed up into his bed, careful not to touch him or shake the mattress too much, and curled up into a little ball. From here, Dark really did look like an angel…His long amethyst hair spread out against the black and purple sheets…
His sleek obsidian wings half- unfurled and hanging almost off the edge…
...the little artwork leaned forward, froze to make sure Dark hadn't noticed, and then placed a soft kiss in the haphazard part of Darks hair. "Goodnight, Dark…"
He smiled gently, happy that he had gotten away with it, then curled back down into the comforter so he could just be near him for a few moments more…
Reviews please! ... Sorry about the lack of DarkxDai, I'll try to add more in!