MAJOR EDIT: READ: I accidentally cut off a section of the fic when I posted, so sorry! So just read this chapter over- not all of it, it was just the first scene that was cut off.

Woohoo! Thanks for all the support people!

Oh, yeah, and for any who don't rememeber... Masahiro is that kid who hangs out with Takeshi and Daisuke, in the manga, at least. The blondie with funky eyes.

Enjoy!

Envious Snow

Dark finally stirred, his head throbbing painfully, the gash at the back of his head keening pain out in waves that made his eyes blur and his body slow. He uttered a small groan and tried to lift himself off the ground, but the most he managed was to struggle onto a sitting position, leaning heavily against the wall now splattered with his blood, breath coming in wavering, harsh mouthfuls of air.

Through the shifting focus of his eyes, he could see a shock of blue at the foot of the canvas and knew that Krad was now gone, back inside the commander's mind, but whether he was alright or not, he'd have to find out indirectly through Daisuke tomorrow from Satoshi, as well as what the hell had happened.

Thinking of Daisuke, the dark-haired kaitou searched his mind for a sign of the fire-headed boy- in safety preferably. He finally found him, in the far corners of his mind, safely protected. Dark heaved a sigh of relief, he must have unconsciously thrown Daisuke into the back of his subconscious to keep him out of harm's way at the impact.

"Daisuke…?"he called out, his voice sounding weak even in his mind, as his breathing calmed a bit, blood still weaving a warm trail down his back.

"Dark? Are you alright? What happened?" his alter-ego answered immediately, the action of wringing his hands together as obvious as the anxiety and concern discernible in his voice.

"I'm… alright…" he managed to say to Daisuke.

"What about Satoshi?" Dark would have smiled at seeing the sunset-tinted boy biting his lip in dreaded expectance, had he not tried to get up and instead ended up on all fours, everything in his vision melting together and tipping sideways in his dizziness.

"Dark?"

"Alright, I'll check on him!" he ground out, misinterpreting Daisuke's query as one of pleads instead of concern.

"No, I mean, please do, but are you really alright?"

"I'm fine!" his teeth ground together to keep himself from crying out in pain.

"You're not!" Daisuke said forcefully, beginning to feel sick simply from the waves of pain reverberating from Dark's mind, "Switch!"

But sudden yelling and loud footsteps made the amethyst-eyed thief stop cold, and he turned to Daisuke"We can't! If we switch, you'll get caught!"

"But I'm in better shape than you!"

"If they see some red-haired kid they'll know it's you. There aren't any red-heads for miles, and besides, they're expecting me. Imagine what would happen if instead of Dark, they see you. It'd be impossible t explain," Dark spat out, his mind whirling. He glanced around him, the sounds of the coming police officers growing louder and louder.

"Wiz…" he croaked out, hating how hard it was for him to speak aloud, in contrast to thinking. But faithful as ever, Wiz appeared immediately, changing into the large, raven-like creature with huge, pure night wings, feathers floating flirtingly through the air. The demon pet cocked his head at the fallen dark-haired thief before gently wrapping its claws around Dark's arms, lifting him up effortlessly.

From inside Dark's mind, Daisuke looked out to Satoshi, trying to see if he was alright. From his vantage point, it seemed like he was only sleeping, and he could only hope so.

The police men, with Takeshi's father at the lead, finally burst through the doors of the museum vault, in time to see the fallen body of their commander, and a black-winged angel flying out of the window.

OoO

Daisuke pushed himself to the surface as they lighted in front of his house, discarding Wiz's claws from his shoulder and rushing inside.

"Honeeey! How'd you do?" Emiko immediately bombarded her son, hugging him tightly, then blinked, "Wait, where's the painting!"

"Mom, it doesn't matter, Dark got hurt!" the ruby-haired kaitou pushed off his mother's arms frantically.

Emiko's eyes narrowed, "Hurt? How?"

"There's no time right now, I'll explain it to you in a sec, right now you have to take care of him," he responded firmly, glancing at his father for help as he began to transform.

"Oh dear…" the red-haired haired woman murmured as she saw Dark's body crumple to the floor, blood spilling steadily from the back of his head.

OoO

A long while later, Emiko sighed heavily, wiping her forehead with one sleeve as she laid down her tools. Laid face-down on the couch amidst comfortable pillows and various bits of bloodstained gauze and first-aid tools was Dark.

"Alright, I'm done stitching him up," she announced quietly, serious for once, and glanced at Kosuke, stroking the kaitou's dark hair lovingly, watching his pale face breathe in and out slowly.

"He'll have to take it easy for a while, it could be serious," her husband responded, voice quiet as usual.

"Of course," she murmured, "Daisuke? Can you hear me? You can come out sweetie, I've finished taking care of Dark. I even washed his hair!" she omitted to say what she had washed out of his hair, the obvious answer would only have conflicted with the cheerful tone she tried to inject in her voice.

The natural glow that seemed to come from the transformation faded as Daisuke sat up, rubbing the back his head, the after effect of having felt all of Dark's pain coming from that spot making him almost feel as if it was on himself.

"How bad was it?" he asked, turning to his mother and father.

"He'll probably have the worst headache of his life, and he may be… a bit unstable for a while, but the gash wasn't too deep, even if it did have to be stitched. It's just that the position at the back of the head is a delicate spot…. There could be some unexpected side-effects because of that," Kosuke answered truthfully. Though he hated to tell all of it, the bad and the good, he preferred it to falsely saying it was ok. That only brought disappointment, and it was dangerous in some cases.

"But he'll be ok, I promise you," his wife interrupted, "We'll give him some good soup and have him sleep for a while—"

"He does that anyway…" Daisuke sweatdropped, beginning a sigh that turned into a long yawn.

"Go to bed, you know you can't miss school," Emiko said firmly, though her hands were gentle in guiding her only son up the stairs, father and husband following faithfully quiet. Kosuke dove forward to catch his son and swing him onto his back as Daisuke stumbled on a step and almost fell, practically falling asleep as he walked.

"Will you tell us what happened tomorrow?"

"Yeah…" ruby eyes closed over, extinguished for the night.

OoO

The alarm blared out, but despite its disconcerting loudness, the sound only barely permeated Satoshi's sleep-fogged senses. And once it finally did, even knowing that it was time to get up and go to school, it took Satoshi immeasurable effort just to open his eyes and lift his arm to shut off that dastardly little device. Resisting the dragging urge to just close his eyes and fall back asleep in that warm bed that seemed to cushion his tired body, he forced himself to sit up, knowing that otherwise he would fall asleep for sure.

It took him a full fifty minutes before he felt he was awake enough to get up, twenty more than usual. And even if he hadn't been awake, he couldn't afford to be late to class. Still, he frowned inwardly, surprised that even a night's rest hadn't made him feel any less exhausted than he had the night before. According to the idiot Saehara senior, it'd taken a bit of effort to rouse him last night, after which he'd stumbled home, hoping some rest would get him back on his feet. He may not have expected to be 100 in the morning, but he was even more exhausted than when he'd finally dropped onto the bed like a stone into water. And what was with this headache?

Rubbing his head gingerly as he adjusted his tie sloppily, he almost forgot to pick up his bookbag, and finally stepped out the door, fully aware that he'd have to hurry if he didn't want to be late. He'd never been late, even if there'd been that one day absent, and he wasn't going to start now. Stumbling every once in a while, he made his way hurriedly to school, dropping everything off into the back of his head. He'd figure out what had happened the night before later.

OoO

"I wonder where Satoshi is…?" Daisuke muttered, looking around nervously. Had he been hurt after all?

"That square? Who knows. But I got some great pics of Dark last night!" Takeshi plopped himself in front of Daisuke, grabbing his notebook and flipping through it, "Where's yesterday's homework?"

The red-haired boy yawned suddenly, "But… he's usually here way before us…"

"Jeez, you're looking kinda tired today," Masahiro noted, fingering a bit of his straw-blonde hair as he glanced at Daisuke's sleepy eyes.

"Yeah… I stayed up late last night to… study," small hands flicked it off as unimportant.

"Yeah I know, cram school's got me all messed up with work!" the blonde boy groaned, shaking his head.

"What are you talking about, you sleep most of the time!" the budding reporter looked up from copying his classmate's homework.

"What are you talking about? How would you know? You don't go to my cram school!"

"I did an article on it, and caught you snoozin'," Takeshi grinned widely, revealing dangerously pointy canines.

"That was a one time thing…" Masahiro muttered.

"Is everyone here?" the teacher called out, looking around to begin taking attendance.

"Hiwatari's not here!" Takeshi waved to the empty seat behind Daisuke.

"Hm, that's odd. Well, he might get here since the bell hasn't—" her voice was cut off as the door opened abruptly, revealing a certain blue-haired commander, arm leaning against the doorframe, chest heaving lightly up and down as he regained his breath. The image lasted only for a second as he breathed in deeply and stood up straight, walking inside. The bell suddenly rang out, its monotone beep recalling how close the perfect-record student had been to being late.

"I'm sorry for not getting here earlier," he bowed calmly at the teacher.

"Oh, don't be silly, you weren't late," her dark hair bobbed to the side as she giggled.

Daisuke heaved a sigh of relief as Satoshi walked past him, heading to sit behind the red-haired boy.

"I was afraid something had happened to you, cause you've never been late to school," he whispered, flashing a bright smile as the teacher called out for their attention. Satoshi nodded briefly, walking past and sitting down, feeling strangely pleased. Daisuke had been afraid he'd been hurt?

OoO

The lunch bell finally rang, and Daisuke sighed heavily, feeling tired already. Going to bed at three didn't help. He prodded his mind carefully, searching for Dark, and found him still fast asleep. Rubbing his eyes to rid them of sleep, he got up and walked to Satoshi, who was sitting with his chin in his palm, autumn-blue hair brushing over his eyes, making it impossible for Daisuke to tell if he was asleep or awake.

"Satoshi-kun?" he began, and the young police commander started, glancing up through glazed eyes confusedly.

"Lunch time," the ruby-eyed boy said simply, giving the sleepy commander a smile.

Satoshi nodded and fumbled to a standing position, following Daisuke out of the classroom to fall in slow step with him.

"Are you alright? I mean, after last night…." Daisuke glanced at the sapphire-eyed boy.

"I don't know what happened last night. As far as my research had shown, there were no specific harmful magical properties of the painting, so what happened last night was unexpected. All I know is that after Dark… kissed… Krad, there was light, and he was thrown back and then Krad blacked out, and I went into his subconscious. When I woke up you were gone."

The younger boy huffed, "I don't want Commander Hiwatari here, I want Satoshi-kun. You look really tired…"

It took the blue-haired boy a moment to speak, shocked at the words of his younger classmate. There was only kindness and concern in Daisuke, always honest and pure, so different from anything Satoshi was ever exposed to.

"I came home exhausted… and I thought sleeping would help, but I woke up even more tired…" he admitted. Daisuke nodded sympathetically.

"What time did you go to bed?"

Satoshi shrugged, "I don't know… two?"

"Lucky, Dark got hurt when he slammed against the wall, and Mom had to stitch him up, so I didn't actually go to bed until about three," Daisuke said. His tone was casual, but his hands fidgeted with the straps of his bookbag, his eyes glancing away for a moment.

"Is he alright?" Satoshi didn't really care about Dark, say, but it mattered to Daisuke if Dark was alright, so it mattered to Satoshi too.

"He's sleeping now… Dad said that he'll have to take it easy for a while…"

The taller boy could see the concern for the thief in the wing master's eyes, and found he had little to say, "Er… Tell him to get well soon."

Daisuke laughed, "Don't tell me you wouldn't mind a break?" he paused, "Your tie's messed up."

Satoshi almost backed up, a blush gracing his cheeks as Daisuke reached out to adjust his tie. Funny, he thought, remembering a time in which he'd been so much taller that Daisuke had had to stand on the tip of his toes. Red strands of hair brushed against Satoshi's neck, the tropical scent making filling his senses.

"You've gotten taller," he observed softly, feeling the tug around his neck as the shorter boy finished tying the tie.

"I get that a lot," Daisuke grinned sheepishly, "Let's go, I'm hungry."

Satoshi followed Daisuke outside, sitting down and watching his classmate open his lunch.

"Didn't you bring a lunch?"

"I didn't have time," the sapphire-eyed boy muttered.

"You can have some of mine," Daisuke offered him half of his sandwich.

"Ah, sure," Satoshi mumbled, staring at the sandwich quietly before taking a hesitant bite.

"Um, how's Krad?" Daisuke asked.

The blue-haired boy stopped for a second, surprised. The blonde angel hadn't uttered a word, and with Satoshi half-asleep all day, he had neither noticed nor cared to search for the blonde. Now he did, and it took him a while, Krad's low energy making it hard to find him. The sadistic angel was still out cold, and apparently hadn't even stirred since the night before.

"His energy's completely drained," Satoshi responded, "Just like mine. He hasn't even woken up yet."

"Do you think he'll be alright?"

Satoshi raised an eyebrow, surprised, "Why would you care about him?" he paused, the thought boiling in his blood, "He's always trying to kill you!"

"Er, well, I know, but that doesn't mean I wish him ill or something… and… Dark…" he paused, then laughed, "Dark would kill me if he heard me say this but…" and here the young kaitou's face turned pensive, "That night… he was being completely honest when he kissed Krad. He really cares for him."

The tall pale-faced boy was shocked into utter silence.

"What?"

Daisuke blushed despite himself, "It sounds really odd to say this… but I felt love from him. I had no idea, they're always trying to kill each other after all… I wonder if there's stuff between them that we don't know about…?"

Satoshi followed the ruby-eyed boy's gaze up to the sky, muttering, "I don't know," the sun was bright, much too bright for him, and he looked back down at the darker ground, "Krad always avoids talking about Dark with me."

Well, it could have also been that the Hikari avoided all sorts of conversation from the ice-hunter, so there wouldn't have been much of a chance for Krad to even get to the subject of Dark in a serious conversation. A heart-to-heart between him and Krad. The thought was almost funny, Satoshi thought.

He realized that fiery eyes were boring into him with a curious expression and blinked, "What?"

"Does Krad love Dark back?"

Another moment of silence, and had Satoshi not been in mind-blown shock, he would have wondered how it was that this kept happening. Situations of surprise only came when he was with Daisuke, even Dark posed no emotional surprises to him. But that was only logical, seeing as how the rest of his life was an act, the pitiful attempt of a fourteen-year-old Hikari genius cursed with a demon to live a normal life. There were no surprises in drama that the actors did not know about.

Could Krad…? Satoshi would have said no in a heartbeat, but he wondered… Krad had returned that kiss, and not only that, but returned it with passion. Had they been more finely in tune, like Daisuke and Dark were, maybe Satoshi would have understood the deeper currents of emotion that he'd felt from Krad at that instant. Confusion had been the one transmitted to him most clearly, but he was sure he hadn't felt hatred…

Could Krad love Dark? He wasn't sure he liked the idea, it sounded too foreign, and painful in itself. It seemed to him like theirs was a screwed up love affair, if that was what it was. How could two beings like that… how did they stand fighting everyday? Satoshi barely kept his sanity in check being possessed by Krad, much less trying to kill Daisuke. He snorted, maybe that was what was wrong with Krad, and Dark as well. Trying to kill the one you loved had to have some sort of effect on you. He glanced at Daisuke, who had become lost in thought once more, and tried to imagine what it would be like trying to annihilate him for all of eternity, with no other option than to fight and be fought against. In his mind, he could see Daisuke's arm raised, sword poised to stab his heart, ruby eyes filled with the fury that he'd gotten used to seeing in Krad's eyes, and then the arm came down, right above Satoshi's heart…

He gasped, clutching his heart, surprised that the image had almost hurt physically. Daisuke's attention was on him in an instant, and Satoshi looked up into the ruby eyes, the concern replacing the fury that his mind had envisioned.

"I'm fine," he answered Daisuke's troubled question, but the expression didn't leave the young wing master's face.

"I told you, I'm fine…" he didn't elaborate, not sure how to explain—not wanting to explain.

"…" Daisuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "You worry me."

"Me?" Satoshi blinked. It never ceased to amaze him just how much importance he had to Daisuke. It was a concept that he still had trouble wrapping his mind around, that he, a lonely boy who had never had friends or family, and was only seen as a tool in a much larger act, a pawn in a never ending drama, someone who was used to being looked over and only acknowledged for his brains or looks—was actually thought about and talked about, cared about, by Daisuke, for nothing more than being himself. Satoshi could say he was mature and understanding about many things, but emotions and matters of the heart were the one thing that still transcended past his mind's ability to even reach, no matter how high he stretched out his hands, the wisps of emotion and the reasons behind them still eluded him, laughing above his head.

Another one of those unreadable emotions shone behind the fire-haired boy's eyes as he shook his head and smiled gently, "Never mind. But yeah, I get worried about your health too."

Too? Satoshi yawned, rubbing his eyes tiredly, and Daisuke followed suit seconds after.

"You better go to sleep early today," he grinned.

"You too," Satoshi retorted, resting his head on his hand and yawning again.

"Hey guys."

Both boys turned to see Riku and Takeshi heading towards them, the former still eating his bento as he flipped through a stack of photographs in his hand.

"You two look tired," she observed, looking down at their sleepy faces. Satoshi's face was neutral again, his guard raised once more. Daisuke grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, we're completely out of it. I was studying, and he was working."

Takeshi looked up, "Hey, did you hear about last night?"

"Er… no, what happened?"

The reporter looked smug, "Dark finally failed."

Satoshi smirked and the red-haired boy laughed nervously, "You sure? That seems kinda unlikely. Maybe there was some complication or something?"

"Nope," Takeshi grinned fiercely, "He failed completely. He was supposed to steal 'Envious Snow', but the painting's still there," he shoved a picture of the painting at Daisuke's face, which the shorter boy pretended to show interest in, "Actually, it was really weird—"

"Let me see that picture," Satoshi interrupted, and the reporter blinked and handed it to him. Sapphire eyes scanned the picture, narrowing sharply before stating simply--

"This is a fake."

"What!" Takeshi was outraged, "I took it last night at after the attempted robbery! I stood in front of the painting and took a picture!"

The commander's eyes glanced at the picture once more, "You say you took this after the robbery?"

"Yeah. I was trying to get some pictures of the commander who's in charge of capturing Dark, but he's always gone!" the dark-haired boy grumbled.

The blue-haired boy didn't acknowledge the comment, and Daisuke peeked over his shoulder to get a look at the picture again. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but then again, he wasn't a Hikari, and last night he'd only seen the painting once. It didn't seem to match up though, if Satoshi said it was a fake, then there was something clearly wrong with the painting, but if Takeshi had stood in front of the painting and gotten a shot of it… Daisuke had known Takeshi to be many things, but a liar wasn't one of them—then what did that mean?

"Why do you say it's a fake?" Riku tilted her head.

"…I must have been wrong," the look he gave Daisuke clearly meant otherwise.

Takeshi cut him off, "You sure were. Like I was saying though, it was really weird. We haven't heard the commander's side of the story yet, so we don't even know how he managed to fend Dark off."

Riku crossed her arms, "I think it's about time that perverted criminal failed."

Daisuke drew his breath in sharply, but it was his turn to remain silent now, his hands closing into fists, and Satoshi wondered how many times he was thrust in that type of situation, wanting to speak out to side with Dark, but knowing that would cause suspicion, of which he already had more than enough. It was part of their curse though. They were special, he and Daisuke, forever to contend with other humans' foolish comments and thoughts. What do they know? They have no idea what the situation really is, it's too far past their understanding, he thought bitterly. He was sure Daisuke didn't see it that way, he of course, would never even think of blaming the others for their ignorance. Satoshi knew that it really wasn't their fault either, but maybe it was resentment that fueled his bitterness—Ignorance was indeed bliss.

Takeshi continued, "By the looks of it though, Dark was hurt. There was a lot of blood. They said something about the commander going home, so I don't know if he was hurt too or something. The blood was all Dark's though— Daisuke? What's wrong?"

Satoshi had a split second to observe the troubled look on Daisuke's face before the red-haired boy's head snapped up, smiling widely, "Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about something else."

Takeshi frowned, "Whatever. Sometimes I wonder about you two, you guys get the funniest looks on your faces sometimes…"

Daisuke laughed it off, while Satoshi simply gave him a flat look. Riku sighed, pulling a strand of hair absently, "Risa's beside herself with worry about Dark though," her tone was a mix between exasperation and pity, before switching abruptly to one of annoyance, "That stupid Dark! All he does is cause trouble!"

"That's not true…" the wing master muttered weakly.

"No? Then what good has he caused?" Riku snapped. Satoshi could tell how much her sister's predicament upset her, that was most likely the truth behind her lash-outs at Dark. Well, that and the supposed kiss Daisuke had told him about. He had heard that a girl's first kiss was important to her, so it was logical to follow that Riku would have a certain enmity towards Dark…

"What good… has Dark caused?" Ruby eyes clouded as they struggled with an answer, and Satoshi felt a compelling urge to place his hand on his shoulder and offer him some sort of comfort, but he was all too aware of his classmate's presence, forming a barrier miles wide between him and Daisuke. The ruby-eyed boy's hands were trembling, the edge of his teeth showing as he bit his lip, his search for an answer tearing him shred by painful shred inside.

Ding, Dong, Ding

Rike yelped "Oh shoot, I have lunch duty today! I gotta clean up the classroom," she whirled around to pick up her lunchbox, waving at them from behind as she raced off towards the classroom. Takeshi took another bite of his rice cake before casually saluting them goodbye.

"I'm gonna see Masahiro about that literature homework we had yesterday," he grinned and walked off, muttering something about getting more pictures from the museum.

Daisuke stared after his friends for a long time, then sighed heavily and stood up, his movements slow, "…I'm tired…" he paused, his eyes fading out of focus, his voice whispering softly, more to himself than anything, "I… couldn't answer the question… What good has Dark done? … But... what wrong has he done?"

The taller boy watched him for a moment, unsure of how to respond, his own tiredness regaining control of his aching body as he stood up after being sedentary for so long. Time seemed to stretch and pull, wavering between them, and finally, he found something he could say, the one emotion that was welling inside him.

"…Daisuke…"

"Yeah?" Daisuke barely acknowledged him, his gaze distantly focused on the clouds that seemed to saunter at a leisurely pace in the crisp late-autumn sky. Satoshi found that his words seemed to be locked up inside him, but his mouth moved of its own consent and somehow let them loose.

"I'm sorry."

Daisuke took a moment to register the words, but once they did, his head turned slowly towards the blue-haired boy, and though Satoshi hadn't voiced it, his eyes troubled with uncertainty and embarrassment, the flame-haired angel understood what he'd meant, and smiled.

"Thanks."

Thanks for reading!