Disclaimer: I don't own DN Angel. Sorry, I need to rush, I'm suppose to be asleep, and I'm typing under my covers
Please take a moment of silence for the people who died and the friends and families that were affected during 9/11...
Chapter 20: Dancing in the Dark
Shizuku's POV:
"So, enlighten me... Why didn't you ask Riku to the dance?" I questioned Daisuke while taking a sip from a cold water bottle, and in reply I heard him groan and drop down onto his bed with a thump.
"I... just couldn't... because when I was about to, I transformed..." His muffled words came though the pillow that he was burying his face into. For some reason, I had a sudden urge to pat his spiky head and mess up his surprisingly soft hair in a somewhat comforting way. Although, it was only a couple of seconds later that the sweet moment was shattered by laughing, which was hard to believe was coming from my own mouth. And from the moment I had realized it, tears were already started to form in my eyes and breathing was starting to become difficult.
I raised my head to see that Daisuke was looking at me like I was a type of madman, which didn't seem like it could be such a far fetched idea. It was oblivious to even myself why this somewhat depressing moment seemed to be such a humorous occasion, but I felt my heart start to speed up in my chest, and I had to grip onto my water bottle with full force in order to keep my hand from shaking, and all that resolved in was me crushing the Poland Springs bottle and spilling water onto the carpet.
"Shizuku, are you okay?" I heard a voice ask me, but it seemed too distant to seem real. My whole body felt like it had suddenly turned ice cold, and the world seemed to be spinning around me, and my eyelids felt like weights and were about to close. Why now? It makes no sense...
I felt a sharp pain on both of my shoulders as I was shaken out my trance by Daisuke, and it was then I realized that his fingernails were digging into me, most likely because of the fear that he was showing on his face. "Shizuku... what's wrong?"
"I-It's nothing, I just have to sit down for a second..." I told him before falling down onto the bed that he had recently risen from, while he kept asking if I felt alright, and of course I would tell a white lie and reassure him that nothing would be wrong with my health. The only problem was, what could I possibly tell him that would seem legit?
"Oh, sometimes I suffer from heart burns, and it just takes me by surprise." I told him dumbly, not thinking of any better excuse me for my strange condition that he had just witnessed. And even more unbelievable, he had actually believed every word that I had said, and started asking me about how heart burn works and how it feels. Luckily, it wasn't hard to describe, since I did recall having it once in my lifetime.
"Wow... it looked like it really hurt." Daisuke told me, and picked up the now smashed up Poland Springs bottle from the floor and disposing it in the trash can for me. Running a hand through my hair, I gripped my chest in a attempt to calm myself down. This feeling wasn't new, but I always did dread when it happened, and it seemed to get worse every single time it happened. But still, I would have to make Daisuke forget that he saw that.
"So, I think that you should still take Riku to the dance... All you need to do is dress up a bit and ask her, trust me... It'll work."
He gave me a confused look, and was about to argue back at my idea. "Listen! Just have some faith, now go put on what you were going to wear!" I yelled at him, and although he seemed a bit frightened, Daisuke rummaged through his drawer to get what seemed like a casual suit and went to go change in the bathroom. As soon as he was gone, I took deeper breaths and laid down on his bed from exhaustion.
I don't understand why it would happen now... I thought it only hurt me when I didn't... My thoughts were cut off by the sound of a door opening, and I scrambled off of the bed and forced myself to stand on my feet, trying to look as normal as possible. Not shortly afterward, Daisuke walked into the room, looking quite uncomfortable and tugging at various parts of his suit, mainly the collar.
Seeing his hair was a bit messed up, I reached on the top of my toes to try and smooth part of it out. It was a bit difficult since I was a bit shorter than he was, but I managed to make Daisuke look a little bit better, but not by much.
"See! You look fine, just stop worrying about things." I told him, but he went to look at himself in the mirror of the bathroom. Something about the way he was glancing at himself told me that he was uncertain, so I rolled my eyes at him. Unexpectedly, I felt my pocket vibrate, only to see that I had just received a text message from Risa.
Come to my room quick! I've got to get you ready for tonight!
"Hey Daisuke, I have to go... See you later!" I told him quickly before leaving the room before he could say anything else. Closing the door behind me, I started to walk down the hall, except when I reached my destination, it was easy to notice the amount of noise that was coming from inside. I was hesitant to knock on the door, but I didn't have to when it opened by itself.
"I told you! You need to leave!" I heard Risa yell from inside, but when the door opened, it was Satoshi with his back to me.
"Fine. But this is still my room as much as yours..." He said before turning around and facing me. "Oh, hello Shizuku."
"Oh yay! You're here!" Risa squealed and pushed Satoshi out of the way, earning her a glare from him. And not to soon afterward, she pulled me into the room and shut the door. Honestly, I was feeling a bit concerned, since I hadn't even seen the dress that she supposedly picked out for me.
"Here it is!" She announced after rummaging through the closet of the room. "I got it in my size, so I hope it fits!" It was pretty simple and classic, no ruffles, glitter, or anything fancy, and I happened to like the shade of midnight blue. I wasn't the kind to wear dresses, but I couldn't help but think that it seemed quite beautiful, but it was also a fact that clothes seem more graceful by themselves than on actual people. Which was very ironic in its own way.
Well, I guess it could be worse.
Later that night...
After entering the small room where the dance was being held, I immediately ran into Riku, and decided to talk to her for a while before many more people came, since the two of us were a bit early.
"Hey Riku." I greeted, and she offered a friendly wave in return, although her expression seemed a bit sour.
"Oh, hi... Are you here with anyone? Because Daisuke didn't ask me..." She said dreadfully, and I felt it was a bit ironic that I had now heard both sides to this short story, but there were facts that Riku were completely oblivious to.
"Actually, Daisuke said he felt really guilty about that, he was moping all morning..." I told her, trying to give Daisuke an advantage. "But you know, if he asks you to dance later, I think you should say yes." At first Riku didn't look so sure, so I tried to convince her more into the idea of it. After all, Daisuke does deserve some slack once in a while.
We talked for a while, and by then, the room was starting to fill up with people, most of them dancing in stupid ways that they must have thought to be humorous, but I tried my best to ignore them.
"Well, you do have a point..." Riku finally agreed, "But, I highly doubt Daisuke will ask me anyway..." And as if on cue, the one person we were just talking about walked up to the two of us, looking almost exactly as he did back inside the room about a couple hours ago, except now, he was slightly blushing. I gave him a reassuring wink when Riku wasn't looking, and he gave me a small smile.
"Um... Riku? Would you like to dance?" He asked, and she almost immediately nodded her head yes before the two of them disappeared among the small crowd of students that were already on the floor. And the timing turned out to be extra perfect, as a slow song begun to play through the speakers.
"Aren't you a little matchmaker..." A voice said behind me, and smiling, I turned around to Satoshi, who was holding his hand out, and gestured his head to the direction of the dance floor. Shyly, I started to shake my head no while blushing, basically because it was a slow song, and I wasn't exceptionally great at ballroom dancing. But despite my silent protest, he practically dragged me out to a small part of the dance floor where it was basically dead air, with no one around it, and I felt him pull me into the dance.
Slowly, I started to follow the movements, but I was basically just attempting to hide how flustered I had actually gotten. Somehow, even though this was a completely different situation, it reminded me a bit about the time that I had discovered my feelings for Satoshi. The way we were dancing, the way I was feeling, and the way it felt like he was literally swept me off my feet, felt a bit like tonight.
"It kind of brings back memories, doesn't it?" He asked me, obviously thinking about the exact same moment I was, and I silently nodded my head. Separating just a tiny bit from me, Satoshi leaned down to press his forehead against mine, and I couldn't help but smile at the movement. We started to get a little closer, and I was half looking at the ground to avoid eye contact. When, a super loud song that I recognized to be Run Devil Run, starting to play through the speakers, causing me to slightly jump.
The two of us quickly separated, and acted like nothing had happened, not that anyone was really looking, anyway.
"I'll be right back with some water..." He said before disappearing out of my sight, and I started to feel the slightest bit tense in my own skin, and attempted to calm myself down my breathing a bit deeply. And yet, I was feeling optimistic, and I knew that tonight would be great.
I mean really, what's the worst that could happen?
Krad's POV:
Allow my apologies, Master Satoshi. But I can not witness this for much longer. I told him, and before he even had a chance to respond to my sudden outburst, I forced myself to take over his body.
No, Krad... not now... Satoshi started to plea, but I ignored his attempt and continued to push farther. It was quite pathetic that not one of the humans surrounding him didn't even notice his struggles, as he almost collapsed on the ground, and was leaning against a table for support.
Obviously, if he were to suddenly grow my wings, it would draw all sorts of unnecessary attention, but I wasn't attempting to go so far. In a matter of seconds, the transformation that I was aiming for was completed, and I moved my arms around a bit while looking at my accomplished form. Although, there was one thing that filled my curiosity, and since there was no mirror available in my position, I removed the glasses from my face as used them to see my own reflection.
As I expected, the face I was looking at proved to be Satoshi's, except for the small feature that I slightly feared. Although nothing that would cause much of a problem, it would be obvious that that girl would certainly notice if my eyes were not blue like Master Satoshi's.
I must not make eye contact... I thought to myself, and situated the bangs the short blue that I wasn't familiar with on myself so that it would hide most of my vision, but this way, it would also probably hide the coloration of my eyes. Searching briefly around the room, it wasn't long until I spotted my target leaning against a wall, seeming to be staring off into space. Smirking, I made my way over to her while avoiding the other students, none of them turned an eye to me, which made this task simpler than I would have thought.
Upon turning herself to me, the girl showed a small and idiotic looking grin on her face. In a way, it was an instinct to gag at her expression, but in order to keep my appearance believable, I twisted my lips into the best excuse of a smirk as I could possibly spare. I attempted to sustain glaring at her feet instead of her face, but the downside to this would be that this girl would start asking questions.
"Is something wrong?" I heard the Sakishima ask, inside my mind, I was struggling to create possible excuses, and a reason why I would be able to lead her outside the building.
"Well, I believe that I need some... fresh air." I responded, and as soon as I did, a new realization came obvious to me. That I had not even thought to account for a possible change of voice during the transformation, and the tone I was using was none other than my own.
"I think you do... Your voice seems kinda off..." She said, and I had to suppress the urge to chuckle at how much of an imbecile this girl truly turned out to be. She tugged my hand and led me out of the door of the room, and the two of us left without being detected by anyone. It was almost how unbelievable how effortless my task was becoming.
Outside, small white flakes started to fall from the sky, although the sky didn't seem to look very dangerous. Good, I should assume that flying shall not be a predicament... Now the only thing left to decide is where. Scanning around as far as my eyesight would allow me, I searched for a place that would be high enough from the ground, but also somewhere adequately discreet.
Out of nowhere, I heard a gasp from my side. And when looking in the direction of the noise, it was none other than the Sakishima girl, slowly making an attempt to back away from me. There was a noticeable expression of something that I knew quite well. Fear.
"W-Who are you..." She pathetically stuttered while staring directly at my eyes, and I realized my mistake of looking around the town and allowing her to see their color. Dropping my previous act, a sadist smirk and vicious glare appeared on my face, and quickly grabbed her by the waist and chin. Gasps and sounds of struggles escaped her, but I kept her in place as I bent down to whisper in her ear.
"You should know very well who I am... Honestly, you are quite a nuisance." I told her before slightly tightening my grip on her, and using a bit of my magic. For a split second, the girl started to glow a golden hue, before she stopped moving completely, and fell limp in my arms. I kept in mind that the spell wouldn't last very long since I was still using Master Satoshi's body.
Acting quickly, I picked up the girl's body bridal style and transformed back into my usual form. I slightly flinched as the wings ripped from under the skin of my back. Ignoring the insignificant amount of pain, I rose to the sky in a flurry of the snow crystals in my way, additionally deciding to search for a destination while in the sky, my eyes automatically landed on what looked like an ancient and abandoned church.
I could just kill her now... The thought appeared in my head, which the understanding that dropping her from our current height would be more than certain to finish the job. Yet, something about just allowing her to fall to her death would not be completely satisfying to me.
Choosing my judgement to glide my way in the direction of the church, I was starting to feel movement from the still unconscious girl, and realized that she would be waking up very soon. Not that it really mattered when she decided to awake, as long as it would be her last.
3rd Person POV: (Wow, I'm changing perspectives a lot, aren't I? 0.0)
As soon as Krad landed upon the open tower of the abandoned church, Shizuku began to stir more than before, and shortly regained consciousness. Lazily, she opened her eyes and saw the face of a captor she did not know, and automatically screamed. In reaction to her, Krad shoved her against a wall and pressed his hand against her mouth quite roughly to silence her.
Her heart started to beat faster than ever, and the paralyzing feeling of true terror washed over her quickly, so that she did not dare move. Shizuku could not scream any longer, and soon became silent, staring wide-eyed at the stranger who she assumed that she knew about.
"My name is Krad, although it doesn't much matter to you." He said, and removed his gloved hand from the girl's mouth. Feeling completely trapped, she couldn't do anything except to stare at him until he decided to make his next move. Roughly grabbing her shoulders, Krad made sure that she would stay pinned against that wall, and would not move.
A thousand thoughts were going through Shizuku's head, and not a single one was positive. She was imagining what he was going to do, and started to shiver at just thinking about the possibilities. He wanted to murder her, that much she knew... It was the cold glare in Krad's eyes that made her fear him the most.
"You should stay away from what doesn't belong to you." He hissed in her face, making her slightly cringe from how close he had gotten, but nothing prepared her for what happened next.
Krad forcefully crushed his lips against hers, completely catching Shizuku off guard, and she felt her eyes widen at the sudden surprise. Completely shocked, she felt like she couldn't even move, yet, she tried and struggled as much as she could, her lips already feeling bruised from the abuse.
For a split second, she managed to push him away so that she could finally breathe, which sounded like a quick gasp before Krad pinned her once again against the wall, pushing his lips on hers, which were already numb from pain. And the longer he kept it up, the more drowsy Shizuku seemed to be.
Krad! What are you doing? Stop it right now! Satoshi pleaded to his other half, while he was forced to watch what was occurring. Even though he tried his hardest to fight back and regain control, Krad's power over his body seemed to be growing. Coming to this realization, he figured out what Krad's plan had been all this time.
You're stealing her energy? Aren't you?(1) He screamed within his mind, and in return, Krad gave him an evil snicker, which cleared his suspicions. Krad! Stop it or she'll die!
Ah, so you finally see my point. Time shall heal all wounds, Master Satoshi, in no time, this girl will only be a distant memory. Krad finally responded, and chuckled a bit more as Shizuku's body started to feel limper than before. Satoshi's efforts were simply wasted, as Krad felt her energy transfer to himself, coursing through his veins, allowing him absolute control to keep his tamer nothing but an annoying voice.
Removing his hands from Shizuku's shoulders, Krad felt her starting to slip down the wall. Instead, he used one arm to encircle her waist, and his free hand to vigorously yank her chin upward. It was quite clear to him that the girl's heartbeat had slowed down immensely, meaning that the job was almost complete.
Only a little while longer... Krad thought to himself, feeling a sense of pleasure that in a matter of seconds the thing that had gotten involved with Satoshi would finally learn it's lesson, that interfering with his everything was something that was not taken lightly to him. To think, for a moment I thought of her as a potential threat.
Suddenly, I sharp pain ripped through Krad's wing, causing him to pull away and growl of agony. Dropping the now unconscious girl to the ground, he twisted his head backwards to see that his usually white right wing was starting to turn blood soaked red. Attempting to move the damaged wing to inspect the injury closer, he slightly winced as it felt like something was twisting inside the wing, and weighing it down quite heavily.
A metal object pierced through the feathers, and without a second thought, Krad yanked it from his wing, causing more of the blood to pour out of the fresh wound. It stained his white outfit, including his gloves in which he held what had caused him to actually feel a insignificant amount of pain. Twirling the instrument around, he gave it a deadly but utterly confused look.
"A... Kunai?(2)" He slightly whispered to just himself before throwing the pathetic weapon to the ground. But it was then when he finally noticed a presence behind him. Someone... or something had been watching him this whole time.
Twisting his body around as fast as he possibly could, he scanned around the area in search of anything suspicious, yet, there wasn't a living thing in sight. Scowling, he knew that the culprit was obviously hiding in some sort of blind spot that Krad wasn't aware of. Letting the fact go for a split moment, he turned back around to gather Shizuku's body, since if someone was watching, all of this was highly dangerous.
Yet, when he stared at the ground where that girl was just moments before, was only the blooded kunai, and no trace of anything else. It was a distraction... Krad soon realized, and felt the anger and rage start to boil inside of him to the very brim. He couldn't stand to be fooled, and was more than certain to murder what ever was responsible for this form of trickery against him.
Growling a bit loudly, he gritted his teeth and felt more infuriated with each step he took across the floor, before he started to think about the situation rationally. Where could this offender possibly have escaped in such a short amount of time was the key piece to this, since whatever it was, it couldn't have gotten too far. On the other had, Krad wouldn't be able to travel great distances quite quickly either, since the damage done to his wing was surely more than enough to keep him grounded for a while. Which would probably serve as a predicament. Although, it wasn't long until the blonde finally realized the main location to flee.
The church...
Trying to be as swift, but as silent as he possibly could, Krad started to descend the old wooden staircase that had already seen its prime years, and were starting to already rot away. This made keeping quiet an extra challenge, since they would start to creak under the slightest of pressure. Although, near the end of the spiral wooden staircase, there was the faintest sound of a voice whispering something that echoed throughout the empty halls of the chapel.
"I need to keep you alive... just a bit longer..." The unknown male voice said while laying Shizuku down in one of the many wooden rows. Quietly observing from one of the many darkened corners of the room, Krad witnessed in confusion as an abnormal streak of translucent light blue light traveled from the darkened stranger and seemed to dissolve into the girl's body.
Aiming for a closer look, he attempting to make a move to the right but in the process, accidentally kicked a small pile of grey debris on the ground, making the smallest possible noise, but in the empty halls, it echoed all around the room. Crap... Krad thought as he hastily hid behind a nearby pillar in an attempt to not give up his location.
"You were the one who attempted to murder my lovely adolescent." A monotone voice echoed behind him and searching around for the voice, Krad was quite shocked to see a man standing right behind him.
Due to the shadows in the spot where they stood, the stranger's face was unseeable, but it was easy to tell that he had a structure and composure similar to Dark or Krad in terms of height and body buildup. His clothes mostly consisted of black and very dark grey, except for his twin belts and buckle boots, which in surprise were actually white.
Before another word could be spoken by either one of them, the man quickly pulled out twin sai(2) weapons and lunged for Krad without a second thought. Relying completely on reflexes, Krad just barely dodged the sudden attack, the sai ripping through the fabric of his white coat, but he himself was unscathed.
"That isn't something that I will take lightly..." He said, before immediately making another attempt to attack Krad, but with the weight of his dead wing, he was unable to dodge the short sword as it ripped through his flesh.
Screaming in agony, Krad was pinned against the wall, the weapon still lodged through his side, and blood starting to stain yet more of his outfit, slowly dripping down all the way to the floor. Gripping his teeth, he stared daggers at his attacker, furious that this stranger had actually have managed to get the better of him, to actually scar him. Whoever this man was, Krad was going to kill him, that he would make sure of.
Quickly using his hands, Krad grabbed both the wrists of his attacker, using one to pull the sai out of his flesh, and the other to hold back its twin, which was practically an inch away from his face. In that struggle on who was stronger than whom, the light from the moon shone through one of the holes where the windows used to be. And as Krad pushed his opponent further away from him, some of the light caught on the stranger's face, revealing a face that Krad couldn't believe.
"Kokubyaku(3)..." He snarled, before finally pulling the enemy away from him, causing Kokubyaku to snicker at him. "I suppose I wasn't far off when I presumed that this girl would have something to do with the likes of you." He spat, and in return, there was no audible response, but his rival simply licked the side of his sai covered in Krad's blood with a smirk on his face. As if trying to taunt him, or aggravate him more than he already was.
"Au contraire, Krad... The girl doesn't even have the slightest clue of my existence." Kokubyaku said in the same monotone voice, but had a devious look on his face. "I'm here on my own business."
Gripping his injury, Krad could do nothing but stare at the disgusting assassin, and once again felt a fury or rage boil inside of him. Because he was actually beaten, unable to escape by flight, and unable to defend himself because of his already existing wounds that opened up every single time that he moved. Kokubyaku, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying this display, slightly chuckling to himself at the sight of the white wings as helpless as this, and ever so slowly walked up against the wall he had been so brutally pushed off of.
Retreating his sai to his belts, he tightly gripped Krad by the throat, shoving him against the wall, and the sadist side of him broke loose. Using his free hand, he dug into the flesh of where his sword had ripped, causing more screams of agony to escape from Krad. Enjoying this, he removed the hand just seconds later, his gloved hand now red, before giving a pitiful expression.
"It truly is such a shame I can't kill you..." Kokubyaku told him softly, and tore his eyes from Krad to look in the direction of where he lay Shizuku's body minutes ago. "Even though I can't appear in females... There is something about the second-born Sakishima that is so, what's the word?" He stopped talking for a moment to gather his thoughts, before staring back at Krad with a sinister look.
"Useful... Which is why she must live another day." Krad, clearly shocked by his remark, only took into account one important detail that was uttered.
"Did you just say, second born?" Krad asked in disbelief, before finding the anger soon return to him. "There is more than one?" He yelled in his face, yet the expression on Kokubyaku did not change the slightest.
"Why yes, her brother is my current tamer, although, I wouldn't have the strength to be here without the girl. Which is another reason why I can not allow you to kill her... You know for a fact that the Kokuyoku didn't give me as much strength as you and Dark, which is why I haven't seen you in centuries, lost rival." And for some reason, the hand that he had clasped around Krad's throat started to glow in a strange blue light.
"And I hope I see you again." Suddenly, Krad's entire body started to glow an abnormal yellow hue, which was when Kokubyaku finally released his grip and returned back to the still unconscious Shizuku, picking her up bridal style. Looking backwards, he saw that Krad was no longer there, but a very shaken up bluenette.
"Hey! What are you doing with her?" Satoshi yelled after the man with Shizuku in his arms, who didn't even give the boy a second glance as he jumped out one of the still intact windows of the chapel, shattering the glass everywhere, causing Satoshi to hold him arm out in front of his face to prevent damage.
Barely managing the strength, he chased after the stranger who was surprisingly fast, darting around trees and small buildings. But it wasn't long until his legs gave out, and Satoshi tripped on a small rock jutting out of the ground, falling face down on the day old snow. It felt like he was giving up, because his body could barely move at all, and not even the dark stranger who was holding Shizuku was in his sight any longer. This was all my fault, I allowed myself to fall for her, and she nearly gets killed. I should have thought of her safety before my own feelings... I kept telling himself, his heart beating fast, and guilt laying down in his heart
Meanwhile...
"I am sorry I have no wings, my lovely adolescent..." Kokubyaku whispered to the still unconscious girl in his arms as he jumped around rooftops and high branches of trees. He kept running even after he could no longer hear the footsteps of the Hikari boy who was trailing him before, until he reached his destination.
Quietly unlocking the window, Kokubyaku carried Shizuku into the empty hotel room before laying her down on what he presumed to be her bed, although it was only a educated guess. This was her room, after all, he had at least made that factor sure. He covered her in one of the thick blankets, covering up her dark blue dress which was torn in a couple places, but he had already cured any of her possible injuries.
"I shall see you again soon... Suki."
A/N: I need some help! Alright, I'm trying to enter an AMV contest and I need a good Owl City song that would work for a DN Angel AMV. Please send me your recommendations. (I won't win the contest, because DN Angel isn't as popular as say, Fullmetal Alchemist, but I want to try!)
(1) You know that episode when Towa was introduced? Well, Dark gave her energy with a kiss... So I just reversed the idea.
(2)If you don't know what kunai or sai look like... There is a reason google exists.
(3) Kokubyaku is Japanese romanji for "black and white" or "right and wrong" (I actually found a decent translator!)