*munches on cake cautiously* Why can't you be my brother? I mean, you can bake, cook, be kind, and so much more!

Seiji: Why, thank you! You are very kind. Although, I think we're missing the reason for this celebration...

Shizuku: *enters room* Hey, what are you all doing here? Shouldn't we start the story? ... And why cake?

Me: You don't know? It's one year since this story started, so it's like our anniversary. In an author and character way, but you know! Just shut up and eat some cake! Your brother is very talented...

Seiji: And remember, my sister and I are the property of the lovely SoulMaiden, and the rest of the DN Angel cast is not.

Shizuku: Don't talk like we're just objects!

Chapter 21: Home?

Shizuku's POV:

"So, in two weeks we start school again, right?" I asked Daisuke as every passenger on the plane had started to arise from their seats in what seemed like a small mob. Alike everyone else, the two of us had started to stand as well, if only to stretch our legs due to the fact that we had been sitting in those airplane seats for hours and hours.

"Yeah, that's right... So I guess we'll see each other then?" And in response, I gave him a simple nod as we both waited for most of the anxious crowd to leave the small walkway, before getting up and I attempted to reach the upper compartment where our carryon bags were. Although, no matter how hard I tried, I could only graze the bottom of the plastic, but wasn't tall enough to actually open it.

Luckily, Daisuke noticed my slight struggle and made the movement to assist me in opening it, and handing me the bags that he was able to recognize as the ones that we had brought on. I uttered a small thanks in embarrassment of being so short, but I don't think he seemed to mind one bit. As soon as the small black handbag was in my possession, I dug through it, sifting through the items that I had brought just in case, like my inhaler that I hadn't used in two years.

Pushing away other things like my wallet, and hard candy that I loved, I finally retrieved my iPod from the very bottom. For some reason, I hadn't felt like I wanted to listen to music during the flight, but I knew for a fact that with the tedious task of gathering luggage, I would want to drain my head with something. Although, I had no idea what I was in the mood for, so I decided to just set the device on shuffle, and stuck one earbud in my right ear, cranking the volume to its max as I entered the noisy airport.

Not even looking at the screen, I immediately knew what song had started to play, as it was one of my favorites. Superboy and the Invisible Girl, possibly one of the most breathtaking songs from the show Next to Normal, in my own opinion of course. It was catchy, addictive, yet meaningful and full of tension. I had almost forgotten how much I loved showtunes, and just Broadway in general, and immediately switched the settings on my iPod to infinite loop, so I could just listen to this one song over and over again.

Striding over to the baggage area, I waited patiently until I was able to successfully obtain my own luggage, which only took about 10 minutes all together. Meaning, I had already listened to Alice Ripley's voice for about five times, yet it never seemed to get old, and continued to be on my way without making any move to change my selection of music.

Carefully coordinating my movements, I managed to travel through the large crowds of business men and obvious tourists, although being pushed around quite a bit by the occasional rude passerby. One of them, had actually knocked my earbud out, and caused me to scramble in an attempt to put it back in, which was a bit difficult while carrying my two bags, although I was able to place in back in time for the small duet part towards the end.

I was a bit skeptical to trust Seiji, since he had claimed that he would be here to meet me when I had landed, and so far I hadn't seen the faintest sight of him. It wouldn't really be far off from his personality to forget about the date, but it would still make me a bit angry.

One chance... I thought to myself before pulling out my cell phone, and checking to see if I had any form of reception, although it was highly doubtful in a concentrated and packed place like this, but I decided to have a little faith. And to my relief, there was a measly amount of bars in the exact spot where I was standing, and made a point of not to move, just in case I would lose it.

My contact list was practically empty as it was, so locating Seiji's number was not much of a challenge. A bit hesitant, I reluctantly pushed the small green call button while the scroller was still above his name, and it started to dial.

In the strangest way, the most awkward part of this whole moment was actually just the task to standing still in the midst of people who were in the process of swarming and scampering to all of their late flights. Some of them, in their great hurry, carelessly knocked into me with the oversized black bags in which they held onto so tightly, possibly adding new bruises to my arms.

Barely audible, I was able to recognize the faint vibrating ring of the dialing tone. I waited a couple moments, expecting his annoying voice to respond, but the ring just continued, the ominous noise starting to fill my ears. Although, it was soon replaced by a female robotic tone that no one really ever wants to hear.

At the tone, please record your message after the be- As I cut the call off before the recorded voice could even finish it's sentence. It was on instinct that my eyes felt a bit saddened, and a sigh found it's way from my mouth. Making my own decision right then and there, I left the airport through the front door and attempted to hail some sort of car, like I did when I first arrived in this town and any other for the first time.

Surprisingly, it wasn't long until I was able to catch one for myself, and simply told the driver the address about a block away from my house. I could tell that the man was looking at me skeptically through the driver's mirror, as if wondering if I would actually pay him or not. Paying no mind to him, I found my eyes gazing out of the window, focusing more on the darkened scenery more than my own faint reflection.

My body slightly tugged against my seatbelt, the world outside the glass stopped moving as the car stopped, and the man in the drivers seat turned around in my direction. "Your total turns out to be..." He hesitated as he stared at the payment counter in the front. Before he could finish, I quickly got out a little more that what I would estimate to be the amount and told him to keep the change.

Gathering my things, I slammed the car door closed after exiting and began to walk down the dark sidewalk only lit by a couple of street lamps. I felt a bit lazy, so I extended the handle of my larger luggage case to make use of the small wheels on the bottom, while they squeaked as they moved down the street.

At this time of night, it was mostly silent, and most of the lights in the nearby buildings were often turned off, and the feeling of walking like this made me feel just the slightest bit lonely. Wait... Lonely? I don't think I've felt like that in years... I realized, and started to think about why I would feel such a way now. All that I was doing was taking the block long stroll back to my house.

Yet, I felt a bit of insecurity in the air, or perhaps it was just me being a little bit too paranoid for myself. Whatever it was, the essence soon left as I approached the front door and reached for the keys in my carryon. It was a job which took two hands to accomplish, since it was a scattered mess in there, finding the small set of metal keys was a bit difficult.

Finally unlocking the door blocking my way, I saw that the interior of the house was dark, and not a single sign of life was to be seen. Before taking any other measures, I trudged upstairs and dumped the luggage on the floor, deciding that I would unpack them later. Then proceeded to turn on almost all the lights in the house that I possibly could. Leaving it completely dark seemed a bit creepy, especially because I had no intention of falling asleep right away.

Digging through my closet, I located the two things which I was looking for, and I had a sudden urge to find. The small portable DVD player that I had purchased for longer plane rides some years ago, and a copy of Tim Burtons The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was a simple kids movie, probably made to provoke the minds of young children to have some sort of nightmare, hence the title. Yet, I found the short story sweet.

I walked back downstairs and plopped myself down on top of the couch, stretching my legs out as if the furniture was a type of bed, and popped the DVD into its proper place. The singing, the spider-like and creepy movements of the characters immediately caught my total attention, and I had almost forgot about everything else in my surroundings.

Ring ring... ring ring... The not so familiar tone of the house phone rang, but since I wasn't sure of who it might be, I allowed it to continue ringing, and didn't even make a move to answer it, no matter how annoying the noise might be.

"Um, hey... Suki? Are you there?" A voice I knew too well spoke through the phone, probably attempting to leave a message. Still, I stayed put in my comfortable position, and tried to ignore the somewhat hesitant voice that was filling the house besides the movie.

"Listen, I know that you're mad at me because I forgot, but I know you're there! So just pick up the phone!" He started to yell, and I paused the movie since I had become far too distracted to pay attention to it any longer. I made my way over to the phone, not in a rush, but I felt that I should at least do him the pleasure of picking up when he had called.

"Well, I guess you're not home..." His voice finally said as I had started to reach for the phone, but my hand drew back in the thought that he would just hang up. "Now I feel like an idiot... I guess I'll just erase this message when I get back. I hope I beat you home if you're not there already!"

And with a small click, Seiji had hung up the phone, and I went back to continue watching on the couch, humming along to some of the songs, although I wasn't as focused as before the phone call. My mind started to wander, and my thoughts seemed to go everywhere except the relaxing that I had intended to do. For some reason, I was impatiently waiting to hear the door unlock, because I never knew when Seiji was planning to come back from whatever he had been doing.

Nothing was really grabbing my attention anymore, and I switched the device in my lap off, and reached for the remote on the coffee table and turned on the television. Flipping through the channels, there really wasn't much that caught my interest, a couple game shows, children sitcoms, and the soap operas for those lonely people who needed drama in their lives. I decided on watching a news program which talked about next to nothing, since this town seemed too safe and peaceful for its own good.

Click. A sound behind me quickly caught my attention, and I walked towards the opening door, as if on instinct to greet whoever would walk in, although I already knew who it was. Seiji came inside, closing the door quietly behind him, and hiding something that I couldn't see behind his back.

"I was wondering why the lights were on..." He said, not directly making eye contact with me, but clearly he had been addressing me. "I missed you so much!" Seiji yelled and pulled me in a large hug, and it felt like it was breaking my ribs, but I didn't say anything, but just stood there silently. I wasn't in the mood to talk to him, honestly, because he still did leave me abandoned at that airport, and something like that wasn't taken lightly with me.

"So, how was your trip? You have fun? How was the last day?" He started pestering me, while I gave him a blank expression, and started to look at the white fabric draped around his left arm, where he also held a small brown briefcase in hand. He made a small and failed attempt to hide it from me, while I just raised an eyebrow inquisitively at his actions.

"Oh, these are nothing..." He said sheepishly, and threw them across the room to the floor, possibly thinking that I would forget about them if they were out of sight. But, with my curiosity getting the best of me, I picked up the few items, and started to inspect the white piece of fabric in particular, which turned out to be some kind of coat. "NO DON'T LOOK AT IT! IT'S POISONOUS!" I heard Seiji started to scream at me and rush over and snatch it away from me, but not before I was able to read the small name tag on its front.

"Doctor... Davidson? Since when are you a doctor?" I asked while hopelessly confused, and Seiji looked like he was about to duck and run, and was biting his lip tightly in a very frightened way. It took him a while, as if thinking about what he could say.

"...Um, well... You see... I kinda am trained in the medical profession, but look at you! What's wrong with your arm, huh?" Seiji yelled, at me, his version of fear turning into a type of rage towards me. I stared at him, wide eyed in shock at the fact that he could even tell about the injury on my arm.

The way he was staring at me, how uncomfortable his glare made me feel, I had to admit it. For the first time in my life, I was scared of Seiji, and I could even feel myself slightly tremble. I don't know what it was that made him notice, but after a moment, his face softened once again, as if sensing my terror.

"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. But I would like to look at your arm." He quickly apologized, and I silently nodded, in a way of saying that I had forgave him, as he grabbed my right wrist to lead me over to the couch. I pushed up my left sleeve to show the sloppy bandages that I had applied myself, and obviously not very well. He removed the white gauze himself, and grabbed my left arm with both his hands, turning it over in different angels to observe the stitches.

I brought my foot to the surface of the couch, and then balanced my elbow on top of my knee in order to burry my chin into the palm of my right hand. I became a bit bored while he just sat across from me and stared at my arm, and the unspoken communication between the two of us was starting to become even more awkward than before.

"So, what did you do on the last day of the trip?" He asked, breaking the silence, and stealing a quick glance of eye contact with me while smiling. Although, I didn't like that expression, mostly because it seemed to fake for him to always be so happy... One of the many things that I was not able to understand.

"I don't know... I think I caught a cold or something, because I can't remember the last day." I admitted truthfully, and his smile faltered, noticeably turning into a sort of darkened frown. It was something I didn't see too often from him, so my suspicions started to rise just a bit higher than before. I wasn't lying, my memory about the last day was really quite frazzled, and I had absolutely no idea why it would be.

"It looks fine! I'll just have to remove those stitches when the time is right." He told me, completely dropping the previous subject, and released my arm back to me. Immediately, I pulled the sleeve back down, on a force of habit, and didn't even bother to go through the trouble of re-bandaging it. As soon as I did, a small pang went off in my head, causing me to make a small flinch. Rubbing my temples, I felt a small migraine start to emerge in my head.

It quickly became much worse, and I shut my eyes quite tightly, holding my head with both my hands, my fingernails digging into my skull, causing a bit of pain to cancel out the headache, but not by much. I heard the sound of rushed footsteps, but I couldn't open my eyes to see what was going on, and could only sit there and tremble as my pain grew even worse, like a seething fire inside my mind.

When it was finally over, I had felt so weak, and fell face first onto the couch, almost on the verge of fainting, but I was able to realize something a bit important. Where did Seiji go?

"Why hello there, my lovely. I deeply apologize for causing you such pain, but it was the only way that I could finally meet you." A strange voice said, but the strangest part, was it seemed to be right next to my ear. Feeling breathing against part of my face, I automatically jumped back up into a sitting position and started to scream at the dark figure standing before me.

I was quickly silence by his large hand, and a type of expression on the stranger's face which I wasn't able to read at all. In a way, he looked a bit like he was pouting at me, but to pout didn't really fit the type of description that I was looking for, but no other word could come to my mind.

"Please don't scream, I don't want you to fear me. I serve to protect you, my lady. My name is Kokubyaku." He said slowly, and removed his gloved hand from my face, although I had no idea what to say. I felt scared, and threatened, and had no idea what any of this even meant.

"I suppose I should explain myself, so that you can feel more secure around me, yes?" Kokubyaku half whispered, and bent down on one knee to become closer to the height of my sitting form, and took one of my hands, grazing his lips over it so slightly, a smirk on his face that caused me to slightly shiver.

"I suppose that you could call me, a third of the Black Wings. Not even close to being complete." He started to explain, some sorrow on his face, but anyone could tell that it was obviously fake. His eyes were cold and black as coal, as if unfeeling and dead, and he never broke eye contact from me, and continued to terrify every part of me.

"Usually, my form is incredibly weak by solely itself..." He said, now standing up to his full height, he towered over me, and grabbed both my shoulders a bit roughly, causing me to silently gasp to myself. His sinister look seemed to peer right through me, and his face was unflinching as it came closer, now a smirk playing on his face.

"But you... When I feed off of your pain and sorrow, I gain so much power! Of course, I sometimes need to force those migraines upon you, but the results are always satisfactory..." He slightly slurred, with a cat like grin, and through my fear, I found it a bit hard to even form words.

"Y-You cause my migraines? Does that mean, you also cause the... attacks?" I asked hesitantly, although wish that I hadn't, because if this... Kokubyaku was able to hurt me so easily, I would have every right to feel threatened by his presence.

"If you are referring to the waves of pain when you do not travel to a place of my liking, then yes. I also apologize for putting you through one of them this week."

It was true. There was always a pattern, that when I stayed in a certain town for too long, my body would start reacting, giving me attacks that were similar to one that Daisuke had seen. I may had not remembered much from the other day, but that was one thing that I wouldn't forget. All this time, the pains that my body endured for an unexplainable reason, was really feeding another part of the Black Wings power? It seemed unbelievable, or maybe, I didn't want to believe it, and wish this man would just disappear, like he wasn't here.

"I know you fear me now... But if you trust me, I can make all of your worries disappear, you'll never again feel lonely, abandoned, or upset. I will heal all your wounds, and give you protection... All I ask is that you do what I say."

At that moment, he had slipped something from what I assumed came from his pocket, and placed it on my neck, as within a closer look, I noticed it was a small pedant which I had never seen before. As he did the clasp behind my neck, it started to glow a bit faintly, and all my fear was gone, as well as any other emotion I was feeling at the moment. In fact, I couple barely feel anything, as if my mind had gone completely numb. Except, I knew to say three words involuntarily, as if my mouth worked on its own.

"Yes, I accept."

A/N: To all of you reading this, thanks for pulling through with me and for some of you, following me for about a year now. This really makes me want to update more often, although I'm not sure I'll get the chance. But I'll try!
(Just for the record, I'm not sure what I just wrote, I've been sick during the writing of this chapter.)

Yay! I have my DN Angel cosplay! It came in the mail the other day, and it looks a lot like the school uniform!