Sorry for the long wait everyone- I promise the next chapter will be longer!
Another week passed and Aisoku continued staying home from school. He didn't want to but his wings were getting so large he was having trouble doing simple things- even reaching up to put a shirt on had turned into a white-hot, painful ordeal. Any time his shoulder blades came together it sent his body into agony so these last few days he'd ditched the idea of a shirt altogether. He was laying on his belly now with his head to one side, watching the red numbers on his clock.
Eleven at night…Sweat trickled down from between his shoulders and the very center of his palms burned with the same fire under his sternum.
Aisoku groaned- it was particularly bad tonight. He brought his palm up to his face in the darkness. It looked sort of…bluish in the very middle.
Blinking, he flexed his fingers and made a fist, then opened it again. It was still there. "What…" He held his hand just an inch above the blankets and just barely, the light blue tinge colored the fabric. Well, great. Apparently I'm radioactive. The pain continued to build and as it did the light got brighter. Aisoku panted, realized something was flowing down his arm and he pointed his hand in the only safe direction he could think of- the window.
As he drew in, searching for the core of this power his hand exploded in a mass of blue-white fire and he screamed.
As Satoshi sat and discussed the possibilities of Aisoku's magic with Krad, via Kiryu, they abruptly stopped talking and turned their heads.
Krad raised an eyebrow, patted the black familiar in his lap and commented, "Ah. You can still sense magic being used."
The little fox yawned and mewled, "Ryuuu…" happily. After all he'd been waiting fourteen years to be reunited with his master. Satoshi nodded and opened his mouth just as Krad answered, "It was Aisoku." The bluenette pushed his glasses up the ridge of his nose.
"Well there goes one theory. If you don't mind me asking, why are we still-" The blonde grinned.
"Connected? I haven't the slightest. We must have bonded more than the average Tamer and host, or perhaps…" The Hikari's emotions came through to him- anger and fear for his son, and something so raw just seeing the angel again that it was blocked off the moment Krad caught a tendril of it.
"This leaves two then. He will either learn how to control the magic as it grows or-"Krad finished. "Have no control, the result of being conceived in a human body." Satoshi glared. "Stop doing that." Yellow eyes flashed in amusement and he picked up the leather bound book beside the Hikari's pale elbow.
"There were no other cases like mine?" His old partner shook his head once.
" None. A few came close but never actually achieved a living human form. At least not for long." A single orchid-white finger tapped the black leather.
"I will take this up to your son's room to see if you overlooked anything." Satoshi nodded and stood along with him and as the blonde opened the basement door he murmured, "Krad." The artwork turned and his ponytail swung through the air, the picture of health and youth. "Thank you for being careful with my son." Satoshi felt a kind of bitter, cynical laughter seeping from Krad.
"I wouldn't thank me just yet." It wasn't a threat or a promise, merely a statement but it still chilled the air between them.
Pure gold met metallic blue, and then Krad was gone, his familiar Rai curled comfortably around his shoulders.
The glass shattered and fell like chunks of silver and some of them drew little red lines in Aisoku's skin as they came down. He was preoccupied with just what was blasting out of his left hand. The magic forked across the black sky, searing his corneas and singing the neighbor's roof tiles.
Stop, please stop! He closed his hand but for a half- second longer it continued to blast and he dropped to the floor when it finally stopped, holding his hand.
Both Emiko and Kosuke burst in at that moment and crouched down beside him. She spoke first. "Aisoku, what happened? You broke the window…"
Which wasn't entirely accurate. He also broke the window frame. It was scorched black and as he watched a few bits fell onto the carpet and disintegrated.
"Yeah." Was this what shock felt like, this numbness? On the other hand, he did feel a little better now. That pressure had finally died. Emiko noticed a thin red trickle down the hand he was favoring and tried to take it into hers- he snatched it back. "Don't! You'll …get hurt."He curled it into a fist grit his teeth. It kind of felt burned, especially the fingers. Kosuke murmured, "I'll go and get some wrapping for that." And Aisoku realized that Emiko was still holding him. "I'm fine." She snorted.
"Tell me what happened, honey." He didn't like the pet name, but it was an accurate description of his hair color so it had stuck. Instead of speaking right away he put his hand flat on the carpet and carefully inched it open. No explosion. Nothing. The bluish light was still there though and it seemed brighter than before. He wondered if it would ever go away, or if he'd have his own personal nightlights forever. The thought depressed him. "I don't know. I just felt this pressure down my arm and then this…stuff-" "Magic." Kosuke corrected. "Magic went out of control." His back, as if deciding he wasn't in enough pain suddenly twisted and throbbed sickeningly.
He almost fell to all fours, "Aah…" and he felt her touch the new nerves of his wings gently. It subsided, inch by inch and he sat up. He was really getting sick of these little… "Aisoku-kun, you should just let them out." He didn't understand how she could possibly think that was a good idea. "They're not ready yet."
This fact seemed hard wired into his brain, and even as he spoke he knew it was the truth. Right now they were only covered in thin down and in the Japanese winter, would probably freeze even with heating. But soon. This was also a fact and he shuddered as Kosuke reentered the room and hid the feeling as Kosuke began to wrap his hand. Kosuke then tapped his wife's shoulder. "Honey, go back to bed. I'll take care of this."She glanced at him, then at Kosuke and kissed his forehead before smoothing her pajamas and shutting the door behind her. As the gauze wound around his fingers his adopted father tied the fabric and tapped one finger in the center of Aisoku's palm. "When did this appear?" The black-haired Niwa put an arm over his thin shoulders and Aisoku put his hand back against his chest, tightly.
"Um, about half an hour ago…" The older man waited until the slight tremble left his body. "Do you think that will happen again?" He honestly didn't know, but since he felt less…powerful now he ventured, "I don't think so." Kosuke ruffled his blonde hair and stood, then hauled the boy to his feet.
"I think we should look deeper into this tomorrow. Do you think you'll be able to get back to sleep, Aisoku?" The blonde swallowed.
"Is this going to get worse?" A sigh. "I don't know. Sorry, but…I really don't know what's going to happen. But we'll help you when it does."
They stared at each other for a little while, then set to work fixing the busted-out window as best they could. When it was taped up and sealed Kosuke gave him a quick hug and cleared off. He crawled into bed and pulled the covers up to his chest, then lay flat on his belly and fiddled with the chain of his ever-present necklace.
Damn. Sometimes I wish you weren't so honest…
His wings- he wasn't going to pussyfoot around that fact anymore- twitched and settled and he buried his face in the pillow.
Thanks to Sapphiet, RosalieCullenHale1,FF19, Lady Fai, InuYashaFreak, D. an Angel, and Liolette of the void..