As the Niwa and Hikari families were going through the many steps of checking, many of the people in the airport were giving Dark strange looks, doing double-takes, and generally making him feel like he was some sort of terrorist. He nudged Riku-"Hey, I'm gonna go change into Kyo alright? Be right back." and she nodded, searching through her luggage and transferring a few books into her carry-on. He walked down the many halls of the airport with a swagger in his stride, observing the many cute foreign girls who caught his eye.

He looped his thumbs in his pockets and smiled at one of them before casually slinking into the men's room. Luckily for him, it was so crowded that no one would be keeping track of who was coming and going and more specifically, that one of them had come in a seventeen-year-old stud and come out a fourteen-year-old redhead. Kyo's stomach growled and he realized it had been a good five hours since he'd last eaten. That and being Dark for so long usually made him hungry, for some odd reason. Each food stand he walked by mocked him with an array of delicious smells- warm bread, steaming beef, hot mustard and soups and ramen and mitarashi dango and… By the time he arrived back at Riku's side he felt like he was starving.

"Hey mom can you give me some money to go and-" She stopped him by putting a finger on his lips, a motion that he hated. "Hush dear- we're having some problems with our passports."

"But-" He glanced over at Kiryu who had the same look of need and motioned for him to continue.

"Kiryu's hungry too! We'll just take a minute!" Riku sighed- really, why couldn't they have had a sweet little girl? She blamed Daisuke for that one. Oh well. She handed them both some yen and shooed them off. "And make sure to come back before our plane leaves- you have half an hour you two!" The two boys scampered over to the nearest fast-food joint they could find and in fifteen minutes, were busy wolfing down steaming helpings of burgers, fries and a large chocolate shake each. As Kyo nearly choked on his burger Kiryu commented,

"You know, that phantom thief really isn't the demon everyone makes him out to be. I'll bet you never get locked out of your house." Kyo swallowed the hunk of beef that had threatened his life and nodded. "Yep, pretty handy in those situations. But I'll bet Krad doesn't randomly take over your body to go flirt with some hot chicks that happen to walk by."

It only happened once…Dark grumbled in the back of Kyo's mind. "Nope. He's been pretty quiet actually." ... in the 'waiting to strike like a coiled snake' kind of way. In the back of Kryu's mind Krad barely listened and was a little irked at how well the two sons seemed to be getting along. But unlike with Satoshi, he kept his mouth shut. They would learn in time that a friendship between the two families was impossible. He stretched his wings and folded them, tucking a few stray strands of golden hair behind his ear.

Beep

…

…

… "Lenka he's flat lining." Silence. The sound of metal snipping flesh.

"I'm almost d-"

"This isn't time for almost you son of a bitch he's flat lining! Sew him up! Do it right now!" Grey eyes narrowed.

" I don't appreciate your emotional connection to the subject, Inessa. It's making you-" To her relief, he put down the scalpel, and picked up the sterile needle and 'thread', stitching up the boy's caramel colored skin and putting gentle pressure on the cut with gauze. "Dull." There was a tense silence as they both waited for Aisoku to stabilize, and Inessa swallowed her growing panic. She wasn't here for this. She wasn't here to kill anyone. After about twenty seconds the monitor picked up a beat again and suddenly she could breathe.

Krad's eyes widened. The connection to Aisoku- something that hadn't changed in the last twenty two years… It was gone, like someone had snuffed out a candle. He couldn't feel him at all. It was as if Aisoku had been wiped off the face of the earth. Aisoku? Nothing. Not even the hum of sleep.

AISOKU! Kyo nearly jumped out of his skin as Kiyu's eyes turned an alarming shade of yellow, so wide he could see the white all around the golden orbs. His breathing was hitched and irregular and he griped the side of the table with Kiryu's hand, teetering on the border of fully transforming in the middle of the food court. Dark pushed himself to the front of Kyo's shocked mind, turning his red eyes purple, and forced the panicking blonde to focus on him. "Krad, look at me. What's-" Krad snapped, "I can't sense Aisoku! I can't- it's like he doesn't exist!"

The phantom thief felt his stomach drop. Doesn't exist? They wouldn't-

The White Wings didn't know what to do, what to say. It was as if his mind had completely shut down and his thoughts reeled around in a repetitive circle-…Oh God oh no please no…

His mouth was open, his pupils contracted to little black pinpoints. Vaguely, he was aware of his other half saying something, trying to get him back to the real world, to him. But Krad was not interested in this human world if his son wasn't in it. He called again and again, his thought-voice reaching an almost hysterical pitch, stretching out his inhuman senses to their limit when unexpectedly Aisoku's presence flooded into his being.

He was back.

He was alive.

And even more amazing, he heard his son's voice in his head… dad? It's okay.

The rest of his words were obscured, like always, but it was enough. Kiryu's body, which had been coiled tighter than a boa's deadly embrace, relaxed into the cheap foam chair. Pupils widened, and the white's of Krad's eyes lessened to a normal range. "He's back." Krad murmured and felt self conscious of the half-dozen people who had looked their way at his outburst. "Sorry."Dark blinked and let out a shaky sigh.

"It's fine. I think…We might want to leave the families here after all." Yellow eyes looked down in agreement then disappeared entirely and in a few moments the tamers were in full control again.
They blinked and stared at each other in surprise and fear. "So that's Krad huh?" Kyo sipped at the remainder of his shake and kept an eye on the young Hikari. It wasn't like the Niwa's were completely unfamiliar with the way Krad treated his tamers, but he didn't seem hurt, just shaken. "Y-yeah." He reached for the rest of his burger and ignored the way the tips of his fingers throbbed. Although Krad had healed the wounds made from sprouting those wicked cat claws, sometimes they still ached. The White Wings was curled in the back of his mind and if he didn't know any better he'd say that Krad was still dazed from the sudden cut-off of Aisoku's mind. "He's pretty scary. Could you warn me before doing that? I almost pissed myself." Kiryu almost choked on his milkshake, then started to laugh. "Wha-what?" Kyo laughed with him. "You heard me. Those yellow eyes…Whoo! You could be the star of a horror movie!" They finished their meals and went back to their parents, who were still dealing with the passport issues. After they were all seated together Kyo said quietly to Riku, "Mom? I think…Dark and Krad want to go by themselves."

She blinked and turned to him. "What? No, that's way too dangerous. Not only for you." He saw the way she glanced over in Kiryu's direction. Dark took over the boy's voice and said quietly, "Riku. Krad can sense Aisoku's presence. Even when he's asleep. But just a few moments ago he lost contact with him for about twenty seconds. We need to get to him as soon as possible, and I know that Kyo and Kiryu's passports were already accepted." She sighed deeply and clasped her hands together. Damn, how he wished he was in his other form so he could put an arm around her, reassure her that he was going to take care of her son and do his best to keep blondie under control. Daisuke was lucky to have a girl like her. She nodded, just barely and turned to Daisuke whispering Dark's plan into his ear. The redhead glanced into those deep wine-colored eyes. "You'd better take care of him, Kiryu too." Dark glanced over at the Hikari family.

"They're never going to agree to this." Daisuke scratched the back of his head. "They uh…don't have to." He pulled out Kiryu's passport and handed it to the thief. "His luggage is right over there and the flight leaves in five minutes. We'll get them to understand somehow." Dark found himself hugging the redheaded father. Heh… I still remember when I had to lean down to hug you, Daisuke. The Niwa snorted. Well I'm taller than you now, so we're even. The phantom thief raised an eyebrow. On a good day, maybe. He slipped the passport into his jacket and waited until Kiryu had separated from his parents before persuading him to grab his bags and follow the redhead onto their flight to Russia.

The flight was about three hours long and after the first hour and a half Kyo was bored out of his mind. He needed something to do, and quick, otherwise he'd just flip out, go Dark and start making passes at that stewardess that kept asking him if he wanted anything. "Psst." He nudged Kiryu in the side, who at this point would have given his left arm for some decent sleep. "What, Kyo."

"Give me something to do. Anything." Kiryu looked around. "Go steal that apple juice from that guy, then put it back before he notices it's gone." Kiryu watched in surprise as he did just that, then came back with a smug look on his face. "Piece of cake. Give me something harder." If any of the stewardesses had been paying close attention they would have noted the unusual amount of items that had rearranged themselves on flight 73, and might have connected it to the Niwa name. But luck was on their side and they arrived at the Russian airport without any problems. The first thing they did was get all their money converted from yen to rubles. Then they both went into the bathroom and transformed, changing into outfits Dark somehow obtained that would fit and protect them against the bitter cold. Krad zipped up the dark blue jacket over his undershirt, and then pulled on the pants in the bathroom stall next to the thief. He tapped on the wall.

"Dark, what is wrong with these pants?"They were …well, tight in the general crotch/butt area, and around the ankles.

"They're skinny jeans Krad, they're supposed to be like that." He replied and pulled on a black wolf-fur trimmed jacket.

"Well I don't appreciate where they… Just go get another pair." The Kaitou pulled on his own jeans and matching black boots, then checked his watch. "I don't have time to cater to your every style whim, Casper. We gotta go get the rental car." Krad growled mutedly and fussed with them, but eventually gave up and pulled on his boots, crossing his arms and waiting as the thief made adjustments to his outfit. Finally he emerged and grinned from ear to ear at the sight of the obviously uncomfortable angel.

"Nice legs." Krad flushed a deep scarlet, "You-!" and would have blasted him with electricity had a man not trotted into the bathroom at that exact moment. The light in his palm faded and the two of them went out to the front of the airport, still carrying their tamer's luggage. "You did get us a taxi didn't you?" Krad asked, his hair escaping his hood and blowing to one side in fine golden strands. "Eheh...Well, sort of." He darted out in front of the next taxi like a deer and blocked its path, shouting, "Oi! Возвращаться!" Miraculously instead of getting mown down like Krad logically assumed he would be the driver allowed both of them inside, took their money, and drove off. "See? If you stick with me, everything turns out alright in the end." He said cheerfully, admiring the architecture of the strange buildings they passed by. "That remains to be seen, and since when did you speak Russian?" Krad said quietly and yawned- by Japanese standards it was almost two in the morning.

He couldn't wait to burrow into the sheets that awaited them at the hotel.

"Since I lived there for a few years, back about one hundred years ago- don't you remember?" Krad pulled up his feet and tucked his hands deep in his pockets.

"Oh. I had forgotten. I assumed all you did there was steal and drink." Dark chuckled. "Well, there is that." The thief put his arms behind his head and leaned down into the seat, relaxed and comfortable. As the car rumbled along through feet-deep snow he glanced over in Krad's direction, since he'd been pretty quiet the last few minutes. His eyes were closed and his white eyelashes cast grey shadows on his cheekbones. Dark suppressed the urge to shove him in the shoulder and wake him up, and instead checked his watch. Damn, they'd missed the appointment. He called and set up another one for the following day. He looked at Krad in irritation and a tingly fuzziness went up his spine. Seeing Krad asleep reminded him of those late nights and early mornings where he'd hop out of bed and assure the barely-conscious blonde that he could go back to sleep, the thief would take care of the baby.

Sometimes Aisoku would need to be fed or changed and then he'd go right to sleep but other times he simply wanted to be held. Dark would gather him up and curl into the chair downstairs, sometimes in only boxers. He'd hold the baby up against his bare chest and murmur nothing in particular, stroking his blonde hair and chubby arms until the crying lessened and finally stopped.

He'd close his eyes and let his chin barely rest on top of that tiny head, feeling his little folded arms, legs and the beat of his miniscule heart.

He missed that. He missed just being around Aisoku. Their taxi skidded to a halt and he shook the blonde awake and then nearly dragged him and all their luggage up to their room. "G'night." He said quietly, not even bothering to change as he slid into the bed on the right. "Night." His other half answered as his body morphed back into Kiryu's form.

Aisoku dragged himself up into consciousness. He could feel Krad's mind in a crazed panic, swirling around in his head. What was wrong? His drugged brain didn't understand why his father was almost hysterical. He didn't bother to open his eyes, or attempt to move his muscles….dad? It's okay. I'm here. I'm okay. He felt that yellow-gold presence relax and wrap around him in relief like a thick blanket. And he couldn't help but fall back into a deep, comforting sleep.