For whatever reason ever since this morning Dark had felt that something had gone wrong in the Hikari Estate so instead of letting Kyo attend school like he was supposed to… Let me get this straight. We're gonna skip school and get into enormous trouble from Riku just because of some lame hunch of yours? Dark sighed and adjusted his wings to the left. Yeah. You got a problem with that? Kyo fumed, Yes I have a problem! You told me this was important! You're always taking over my body and making up stupid excuses for it! Dark gritted his teeth and ran a tongue over the sharp, bumpy god-damn braces.
Shut up! At least I put my bands on this morning unlike a certain redhead who's gonna be a braceface for the rest of his life! I take better care of your body than you do! Their childish argument continued until Dark landed on the steps of the Estate, where Kyo blocked him with a rather weak mental barrier. That Hikari butler's car was parked just outside so that was good. For once he decided to follow the socially acceptable laws of entry and knocked on the door, his wings transforming back into Wiz. He put him in his pocket and Toro answered, then after a few back and forth questions admitted, "Actually I haven't seen either of them so far…" He turned and Dark slid in and closed the door behind him. "I'll come with- saves you the trouble of coming back down to get me." The butler looked irritated but allowed Dark to follow him upstairs. Toro made to open the door but Dark stopped him with a single fluid movement. "Here, let me." His voice was barely above a whisper.
The thief wasn't usually in-tune with his other half but could tell that Krad was extremely pissed off. He opened the door silently and stepped inside keeping his back to the wall. Krad was laying face-up on the floor, apparently unconscious, with his golden hair free of its usual tie. Until today Dark had been under the impression that people couldn't sleep angry- apparently the white angel was an exception. Odd- Aisoku was also missing. Leaning against the wall the thief snapped his fingers.
In an instant the hunter was awake and he flipped over onto all fours in a sole shift of muscles, claws extended. As he moved he snarled a challenge, but went quiet when he realized it was only the thief, and he was well across the room. "A tad on the high-strung side are we." His other half observed and Krad stood, flexing the unnatural additions at the end of each finger.
"Where are they?"
"Who?" Yellow eyes narrowed and flicked down to his watch before settling again on the thief. "Shit. They could be anywhere by now!"
"…Again, who?" Krad suddenly closed the space between them and slammed Dark up onto the wall by his red collar. "Only the people who stole our son, Mousy."
As Krad paused for the words to sink in the phantom pointed to Krad's hands and, managing not to wince, asked, "Mind retracting the claws first, kitty?"
The blonde realized that said claws were dug into the thief's skin, just under the collarbone, and blood was beginning to trickle down caramel skin. See! This is what happens when you skip school! Kyo barked and Dark almost rolled his eyes. White Wings retracted them but did not drop the thief to the floor. "This is your fault."
Krad accused, his grip impeded slightly by the Niwa's blood, and Dark couldn't help but snap back, "Yeah? How so? You were the one supposed to be protecting him!" Krad threw him to the floor with surprising force and screeched, "You were the one who left us yesterday! If you hadn't he'd still be with us now!" His magic crackled around him and his wolf eyes glowed as he spat, "You're always leaving us!" Dark realized that this conversation had suddenly taken a whole new direction and stood up, approaching his furious other half. Dark, what are you doing? I don't want to go home in stitches! He ignored Kyo and dodged the rather halfhearted kick Krad aimed at him, pinning the blonde's arms behind him and pushing him up against the wall, not harshly, but carefully, being sure not to bruise or break anything.
The hunter cursed, thrashed, and bucked but with some effort Dark was able to keep him against the wall. "That wasn't my choice and you know it Krad. It was..."
Hell, he didn't have to explain himself; his actions were enough, weren't they? Krad's ribcage expanded and contracted spastically. Since he was so close to Krad he noticed a fine layer of blonde hair beginning to snake down the nape of his ivory neck.
"Don't even think about it. You' really kill your tamer over-"
"I would do anything for him." Krad said, and turned so one golden eye met with amethyst. Dark's gaze flicked to the two black smears on the floor that were probably people at some point and murmured, "Looks like you've already killed for him." The beginnings of a gold mane receded and Krad's breath came back into the boundaries of normal. "And what would you propose we do?" "Go back to little-man's house and see if he did give out the footage. I'll do the talking if we do." Krad growled,
"And why is that?" and the thief pointed out, "Because… you're in a bit of a killing mood right now." He moved one arm and put it across Krad's chest in a half-hug. "We're gonna find him, Krad. And we're gonna beat the shit out of everyone involved in kidnapping him." Krad blinked and seemed to relax a bit.
"I… can agree with that."
"But here's the key- not yet. We need information- who they were, where their facilities are, the most likely place they took him and why…" He released the White Wings and walked across the room, beginning to pace as he thought it over. Inside Dark's mind, Kyo could feel a plan beginning to form and wriggled nervously.
"I'll do the stealing and some plotting, and you do the killing, maiming and general destruction once we get there. Fair?"Krad managed an incredulous, "Is 'the great phantom thief' implying that he'd work with me to-" Dark interrupted. "Damn right. Much as I hate to admit it, your strong point is magic, and we may need a lot of it to get him back. So?" A tan hand reached out and hung in the air. "Only… if you bear in mind that I'm perfectly capable of rescuing him on my own." Krad wasn't an idiot either- perhaps he could rescue Aisoku on his own, but how could any plan go wrong with the greatest thief alive as a backup? Krad shook the outstretched hand and found it to be surprisingly rough. "And vice versa. Now-" He grinned almost as evilly as Krad. "Time for a chat with a certain neighbor." It was easy enough to find out where he lived. Dark called Emiko, and she reported that he was the one on the right-hand side. Since they didn't want to be spotted they decided to let Toro drive them, and he kept an eye on the thief for more than half the ride. Dark amused himself by trying to put his feet in Krad's lap, just for the hell of it, or perhaps to distract from the pit of emotions in his stomach. The first time Krad merely growled and pushed the slightly dirtied boots away with a quick swipe. The second time, he paired it with a verbal warning. "Sweet Jesus your muscles are tense." The thief observed, letting his leather-clad legs spread lazily.
"Doesn't do you any good you know. Tires you out for the real fight." Krad's lips twitched, "As if I would take your advice on the matter."The Kaitou stretched and the muscles along his shoulders and biceps rippled smoothly. "You should considering I've beaten you –" Krad then he noticed the five punctures on the phantom's neck still weren't fully healed. "Oh- here." Moving the thick red sweater collar a bit he laid he hand on the wounds and let the tiniest bit of magic heal them. Dark stared, and Krad snatched his hand away. "What." The stare changed into a full-blown smirk, devilish full lips stretched to capacity.
"Thanks, mommy."
Krad's eye twitched. "Remind me again why we're working together."
"Because things changed between us the moment you saw Aisoku's eyes." Saffron eyes widened and he stared at the thief, mouth agape, before closing it and covering, "Hardly. It only makes it slightly harder to dole out the beatings you deserve." Dark chuckled and a single gold eyebrow raised. "You know what we sound like?" Then, yellow narrowed.
"Don't even."
"An old married couple." White Wings punched him with a mix of revulsion, disgust and just enough disdain for the thief to let out a bark of laughter. "Your face…"
"I suppose you're going to be the one to tell Emiko Aisoku got kidnapped." It was almost comical how fast his face changed from humor to horror. "Shit, I had forgotten… Ooh, she' gonna kill me…" Toro interjected, "We are going to be right next to her house. It'd probably be better if you told her now rather than later." Dark groaned and his counterpart grinned as the Hikari driver pulled over to the curb just in front of Emiko's house. As the thief got out he wiped the smirk off the blonde's face with, "You know you'll have to come too. You were the one who saw those guys…" "A single identifying patch on the right shoulder- a double helix that unwound on each end to form s circle. Their outfits were black, their color dark. That is all I know." Dark pouted.
"Oh, a great support system you are." Krad twitched. "I should have killed you for that earlier comment." His other half mussed blonde hair, pulling his hand away before Krad could twist it. "You should have killed me the moment I got you pregnant."
Krad leapt out of the car, "You did not 'get me pregnant' because I AM NOT FEMALE!" then realized that they were in a well-populated area of Japan and a good thirty people had just heard him. The bystanders stared and Krad slid back into the seat and shut the door, his face red to his ears. He stretched out his legs, slumped back and pretended not to exist. It was a good half-hour before Dark came back, his hair ruffled and his gait dejected. Krad opened the car door and asked, "So?" The thief flinched. "So, Emiko called Riku to tell her, and Riku called Risa, so now everyone's in on what happened." Krad put his hands in his pockets.
"I'm guessing Risa's… not pleased that I've been in possession of Kiryu's body for three days." "That's putting it lightly. But I did tell her as far as I knew you hadn't used magic excessively with him." Silence. Krad murmured, "Telling lies to make people happy…aren't you." This human body ached all over and he knew although he'd slept, he'd stayed in his own form, so it hadn't done much good. Also, he'd been drugged. Kiryu needed a break, and soon. "As soon as the opportunity comes I will let him rest." . . . really? Kiryu muttered in a hoarse rasp, and Krad felt a sudden twinge of guilt. Yes, and. . . I am sorry. "Why not now?" Dark's voice cut through their conversation. "Hn?"
"You can let Kiryu rest in the car while I find out about the footage. I'd like to keep the body count to a minimum, of possible."
"I suppose… I do have a bit of a temper." Krad ventured, but added, "Although most of the anger is merely pent-up aggression at some of your more charming comments." The thief nodded. "Most likely. But I just can't help myself. If I do need you for any intimidation, I'll come get you." "If he did intentionally hand over the film, you'd better not leave him unscathed." Purple eyes darkened almost to black. "You can trust me on that I suppose." Krad closed the car door again and relinquished control to Kiryu, who promptly curled up on the black leather and fell into a satisfying sleep, his hands curled up to his chest like a child.
Krad of course, did not sleep. He put his hand over his chest, over the link which now was the only thing that informed him that his child was still alive somewhere.
Aisoku, my only child, my baby, where are you. . . He closed his eyes in despair.
Aisoku woke up to a pair of strong arms hauling him up out of the van. "C'mon, kid, this way." He murmured, "S' Aisoku." And blinked fiercely but it didn't help clear his vision any. He was at a small personal airport of some kind, judging by the runways of pavement crossing the ground. His legs felt about the consistency of jelly and one of them caught of something and pitched him foreword.
Aisoku snapped out his wings to regain his balance and heard a muffled, "Oof!" from behind, followed by a thud. He pulled them back in, Oops. and let their conversation wash over him as he tried to figure out where he was. He glanced over his shoulder at the license plate on the vehicle- H265CG, with a box in the corner containing the number twenty-five and the word 'russia'. Russia?
" Hey, would you mind retracting those? You'll never fit on the plane with them." Aisoku most definitely did not want to go to Russia. The man on his left arm leaned in for a second and hissed in broken Japanese. "Don't talks with him, wake him up you will." The man on the right leaned in for a second and his face became clear. He had dark coloring, black eyes and dark brown skin and hair. "Nah, he can barely keep his eyes open." So, there were these two, the woman behind him with the car keys and possibly two pilots in the Adam A500 plane they were approaching. The man on the right loosened his grip. Aisoku retracted his wings slowly, then looped one foot around the man's ankle and dropped him to the ground, turned and nailed the other man in the jaw and was halfway back to the van when the ground jumped up to meet him.
He threw his hands out, alarmed, then realized what had happened as soon as the woman put a hand on his shoulder and explained,
"Ah… When your heart rate rises it accelerates the effect of the sedative." He glared up at her and suddenly, she realized why her boss considered him such a valuable asset. Those jeweled amethyst eyes, the shape, the curve of his jaw and lip…
"You're the Phantom Thief's son." She said in wonder, catching his body just before he hit the pavement.
He'd slipped back into unconsciousness. He was surprisingly heavy for such a scrawny kid, and as she slipped her hands under his knees and carried him to the plane, she felt the curve of wings just under his skin and surprisingly, guilt.
He probably just wanted to go home to his family. He couldn't have been older than twelve.
But whatever lay in his genes had the power to change the course of human history.
FF19-Heh you really like fight scenes huh. I was going to have a bigger one between Dark and Krad, but... later, later. And yes, Aisoku is punk/goth, but only a little, and he certainly can appreciate it. ^^
Damaged Ghost of an Angel- Okay I will! Thanks.
Sapphiet- Princesses. pfft. Sorry that this chap didn't answer that but it will be in the next one! Promise!