Me: Happy Birthday! Ya know, to someone in the world who's birthday is today...
Shizuku: Uh, I could be mistaken, but isn't today your birthday on March 5th?
Me: Huh? *checks calendar* Wow, how did I forget?
Shizuku: *face palm* Sometimes I wonder how I was created by such an idiotic mind...
Chapter 15: How can you Tell?
Shizuku's POV:
In retrospect, I slightly marveled on how the school was able to afford a trip like this for our class, but as they say, when something amazing happens that can barely be explained, just go along with it. Well, actually, now that I think about it I can't think of anybody who has said that before, but I guess it was still a fairly true statement.
"Uh, Shizuku?" I heard a voice behind me ask, and it sounded slightly concerned, but when I turned around, I saw that Daisuke wore an expression that resembled confusion more than anything else. And when he was confused, it made me slightly worry if he's okay.
"Yeah, what is it?" I asked him in return, and he started to look down at a piece of paper, which by chance I was guessing was our room assignment, and I was really hoping that we weren't lost in the hotel, like he was on the plane, because I had actually wanted to just flop into the firm, untouched mattress in our room. You know why? Because it was about eleven o'clock at night, and I was still kind of tired from the ride over here, and the fact I had a trace of jet-leg didn't really benefit this situation at all.
"I didn't realize that we were sharing a room together..." Daisuke practically whispered, and I could have imagined it, but I think he looked a bit nervous. But hey, that's just how it looked to me.
"Didn't you read the form? Or pay attention during class?" I asked him, probably sounding quite harsh in tone, but what did it really matter? No offense to Daisuke, since he is an irreplaceable friend, but to miss out or ignore a factor like that was mostly careless, if not idiotic, on his part. But then again, who am I to judge people? This would just be the guy I would have to live with for about seven days, and I've already survived about that long with Seiji, so how much worse could it be?
"Uh, I really wasn't paying attention." He admitted quietly, so silent that I was barely able to hear him, but I still got the message.
"Well, does it bother you that much? Because we could see the teacher tomorrow about it." I told him, although, he didn't look as concerned as he did before, or as confused, but some sort of expression that I really couldn't describe. But since I could tell he was hesitating to respond, I took the paper from him, just because I was slightly desperate to recuperate to where we were suppose to be, and not wandering the halls while still lugging our luggage around.
I started trailing down the hall, and from the noise emanating from behind me, I could tell that he was following me as well, although he was surprisingly silent, and just that fact was starting to bother me.
Did I say something wrong? I couldn't help but wonder, because at certain times, I am never such if what I want to say is the appropriate thing to say. One of the reasons I tend to get nervous on occasion when speaking. Maybe I had insulted Daisuke without even knowing it... I wasn't trying to anyway, so I wouldn't want him to feel offended.
Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I had barely realized that I had been multi-tasking, and was now standing in front of one of the many doors in the floor's hallway, and just remembered that I had never received a key in order to unlock it. Although I felt a bit squeamish doing so, I reluctantly turned to Daisuke, who was looking at me as well.
"Um, by any chance would you happen to have the key card?" I questioned him, although for some reason, I felt regretful for doing so.
"Yeah, wait one second..." He replied, and started to dug into the right pocket in his jeans. I could tell that he seemed frustrated about getting it out, but just stood there in silence, and waited until he finally pulled the card out, and I noticed how he was claiming his silent, yet small victory. "Here you go!"
"Thanks!" I offered with a smile, and quickly slid the card through the electronic lock that was placed on the door (who knows why they chose to make things so complicated) and waited a couple of milliseconds until I saw the small green light, signaling it was unlocked.
I swung the door open to as wide as it could possibly go, yes, a bit unnecessary, but I was tired of carrying around my bag for so long, and the doorway needed to be completely open so that our luggage could actually get into the room in the first place. But I still slugged my bag over my shoulder somewhat effortlessly, to make it fit in the doorway.
After surveying the room for a second, I could see that there wasn't all that much to the main room except a small table, a couch, and a tv. Although, I could also see two other doors which were closed shut, one in which I was guessing would be the bathroom,and the other was probably a bedroom.
"Hey Dai..." I started to say while turning around, but stopped mid sentence when I saw him, struggling to bring his bag into the room, and fit it through the doorway, and I could tell by his actions that he was really giving it his all, put the bag would barely budge. I should probably help him...
I didn't really need to think much more as I tossed my own duffel to the ground, and helped Daisuke with his, and after a couple of seconds, we were both able to pull it through, as he thanked me for my help, and I just smiled at him, like I always had.
"So, let's just check out the rest of the room and make some sleeping arrangements?" I asked him, and he just nodded, and we both left our suitcases in the middle of the room, almost completely forgotten. And it looked like my hunches proved true when I opened the door on the left, and it revealed a room with two beds on the opposite side of each wall, which by deduction I would assume make the door on the right lead to a bathroom.
"Um, you can have the room to yourself, and I can take the couch..." I heard him offer softly, but in secret, I thought the idea was pretty preposterous, I mean, the room has two beds after all, so why would he want to sleep on the couch?
"Why don't we just share the room? There are two beds." I asked him plainly, although when I saw him face his face was a little pink, but I suppose it's just because it's pretty frigid here, even in the hotel. Being myself, I wasn't very cold, but I had also taken a trip to New York City during the Christmas season through late January. True, it was very enlightening, and quite the sight to see, but there was a vast number of snowstorms, and various times when the snow would pile up so high that you would barely be able to take one step, and the cars would be buried under three feet of snow. So in short, I'm used to the harsh weather.
"Are you sure?" He asked me, kinda with an uneasy look on his face, although I didn't really get what was bothering him...
"Yeah, and if you want to trade partners, we'll do it in the morning when we can find Sensei." I said without looking at him this time, bringing up our previous conversation, although we really never finished it. I didn't personally care what his decision he wanted to make, as long as I don't get stuck with some creep as a partner, I'll manage just fine.
"Uh, Shizuku, I was only a concerned before because... well..." He started festering with his words, as if thinking about which ones he should choose to say, and obviously having some difficulty in doing so, and there was a couple awkward seconds of silence as he was putting his thoughts together. But when he seemed to have everything together, he didn't look just as confused anymore, but still quite nervous.
"I wasn't sure if you would be okay with it..." He uttered, and his answer lightly came to a shock to me, because I never really expected his reasoning to come from his concern for me, but I also found it kind of idiotic as well, and made me kind of frustrated.
I lightly punched his arm, not enough to actually cause much harm, but apparently hard enough for him to clutch him arm in his small amount of pain. His reaction was the kind that you would probably expect if you were to randomly hit a friend, in which he gave a face that could be described as a cross between confusion, and awe. Otherwise could be defined as a "why the hell did you do that?" look.
"Why did you-"
"Because you're just too considerate!" I yelled at him, interrupting what his obvious sentence was going to be.
"What, what do you mean?" He expression even more startled than it previously was when I had hit him. I had to admit that my outburst had been a bit odd, but it was actually bothersome how kind my friend could be sometimes.
"I don't need you to worry about me, maybe you should think about yourself for a change." I muttered, a bitter look on my face, and went to the main room in order to retrieve my duffel bag, just in case I wouldn't trip on it in the morning or something. As I lifted it up, I could hear the shuffle of feet behind me, probably indicating that Daisuke was here to either see what I was doing, getting his own bag, or a combination of both.
He picked up his own black duffle bag with an amount of struggle, but in silence, and I figured that he would be able to handle it, and did not offer to assist him in carrying it. I wasn't planning on unpacking anything, but I did want to get into some more lose fitting clothes since I was still in a bit sleep deprived, even though I had slept for who knows how long on the plane. (I actually didn't know, because I barely ever pass out on flights or bus rides.) And I wasn't about to fall asleep in jeans anyway, even though I didn't wear extremely tight ones, they would still be a bit troublesome and uncomfortable.
I flopped it down onto the bed nearest to the window, which in a way was claiming it as mine, and zipped open the bag. It was a smart move that I placed a couple of grey sweats on the top of my things, and just took a pair of pants and a sweater out to change into.
I walked past Daisuke, who was still struggling with his bag... Really, what was in there that made it so heavy to him? It half puzzled me, but I walked straight into the bathroom, and took into the essence of the small hotel bathroom, which just smelt like soap and Lemon Pledge, too clean for my liking, but it didn't matter all that much.
I was looking in the mirror and didn't see anything out of the ordinary, just the same face that I wore everyday, nothing new or exceptional. While I let out a sigh, and turned on the cold water in the sink, and once I removed my glasses, splashed some on my face so that I could attempt to stay awake long enough to climb into bed, and not just drop to the floor on the way there.
Quickly changing out of the casual day clothes I had previously been wearing, I practically threw on my substitute pajamas (my regular ones had short sleeves) and gathered up the ones I was no longer wearing, planning to just throw them back into the bag. I also removed the hair band that was keeping my hair back into a ponytail, and placed the band around my wrist.
Swinging the door open, I was alarmed by seeing Daisuke, who had his hand raised in a manner like he was going to knock on the door, right before I opened it.
"Um... I'm going to sleep Daisuke..." I told him, and he just nodded in response, stepping aside so I could get by. "If I were you, I would do the same thing..."
"Yeah, I know, I'm just getting changed for bed, so good night!" He said to me with one of his brightest smiles of the day, as I walked off into the room, flipping the lights off as I went inside, and I waited a brief moment for my eyes to adjust from the certain lack of light.
When they did, I tossed my clothes on top of my duffel, now far too lazy to actually stuff them inside, and removed the bag from the bed, onto the carpeted floor with a thump. I removed the covers and slowly climbed in, feeling the warm sensation of being able to relax, and I went out like a light.
Dark's POV:
I was waiting patiently as Daisuke was changing into a yellow t-shirt and some cargo pants in order to go to sleep, but what he didn't know was what he was going to find out soon, right after he got out of that bathroom.
He gathered up the disregarded clothes he had left on the floor, and left the small bathroom, making his way back into the bedroom he was suppose to be in. As soon as he entered, I noticed how the lights were all off, and apparently, so did he, because five seconds later, he tripped over his own bag, falling flat on his face onto the floor.
"Nice move... you've got real coordination there Dai!" I mocked him, and he just grumbled in defeat, pushing himself up after not necessarily enduring much pain, but suffering from massive fatigue. I knew this would be the best time to get things done, and I probably wouldn't get another chance like the one I have now, so I decided to go for it.
"Hey, do you think I could take over from here Daisuke?" I asked him, as he was placing his dirty clothes back into his bag, the very same one that had just caused him small pain, and me small amusement.
"What? No Dark, I'm too tired right now..." He started arguing, although he seemed to forget who won most of the daily arguments we could have with each other. Oh well, over time, maybe he just has to learn with more experience.
"You can sleep! But just let me out? Besides, that was your part of the agreement, wasn't it? You let me out when I want within reason?" I asked him, half demanding, but still half putting up an innocent act, to make him feel a bit guilty into letting me in control.
"...Well, right now isn't really within reason." He said after a couple of seconds, not really giving me the answer I was looking for, maybe if I just bothered him enough, he would allow it...
"Come on... You can sleep, and I won't bother you, and I really feel like I need to stretch..." I convinced him, and this time, he actually caved in, quicker than I would have thought, but I'll take it anyway!
It only took a matter of seconds before I was completely in control, and I felt that Daisuke was already sleeping, probably from the somewhat hectic day he had gone through, but I'm glad it wasn't me who went through all of that, it seemed like it would be far too boring for me.
"Okay, now to do what I came out for..." I said, pretty much just speaking to myself, but since I didn't see Shizuku budge, I would assume that she was already asleep. Perfect...
I silently walked over to her, and noticed how peaceful she looked when she was asleep. It wasn't quite like it was on the plane, since her hair was out and sprawled out over a good portion of the bed, personally, I don't see the point of her wearing it up all the time, since she looked additionally gorgeous with it down to it's full length.
Somewhat, I was feeling guilty, for what I was about to do, but this was the only way I could find out if she has any intentions, or will be a threat or not. Because if she is, I can't just let it go without warning Daisuke.
"I'm sorry..." I whispered to her softly, before pulling out a black feather, and placing my other hand on her forehead, chanting one of my spells in another language so old that no one could ever recall it, as I felt my spirit resinate with hers, and I felt myself travel into her mind, with all of her darkest memories and thoughts at my disposal, hoping that something in them would be able to give me some sort of clue.
A/N: Sorry it's kinda rushed, but I didn't have a lot of time this week to write, I hope you enjoyed it! Next time, Dark finds himself in a pretty tough situation, so stay tuned! (And make my birthday memorable by leaving reviews!)