Getting to Know Him

"Daisuke!" I sat up quickly and looked around. "I'm…still alive?" I looked at my arms and saw not cuts or abrasions. I saw a campfire not too far away from me. I spread my hands out to it to help me warm up. A bright golden object popped down in front of me and swung back and forth.

"You really can be a pain, you know that?" I looked up to see Dark with a smug look on his face.

I looked back to the golden object and saw that it was a small staff that had a bright blue orb on top of it. "Is that what you had to get?"

Dark sat down next to me, "Yep. This should help us find Daisuke. But I can only use it once."

"What will happen once you use it?"

"It will lead us to what we desire and then go back to the ship I found it in."

"Isn't that why you were trying to steal this painting though?"

"No. It's safest inside the painting. Who knows how it would react in the real world."

"Sounds like your job is more complicated than I thought."

"Of course it is. I have to avoid those detectives and make a great entrance on the scene, but not big enough where I get caught."

"And you have to leave notes too."

"Uh…right." He rubbed the back of his head.

"So…where are we now? Another painting?"

He sat in silence and put the staff down. "We're in 'the' painting."

"What do you mean 'the'?"

"The one that Daisuke is in."

"Huh? But how'd we get here? And how do you know Daisuke is here?"

"You should feel it too, Riku."

"Feel it?"

"Place your hand on your heart. If you truly love him…you should be able to feel his presence."

I did what he said, but then asked "If we can feel him then why do we need the staff?"

"Because feeling alone won't tell us where he is in this giant zone."

"It's a zone of nothing but more darkness. If we don't find Daisuke here…he could end up trapped inside a sculpture or inside another painting."

"We can't let that happen!"

"We won't."

"Then why are we just sitting here!"

"Because…you haven't felt Daisuke yet, have you?"

"…" I closed my eyes.

"If you don't feel him I'll have to go on without you. The staff will let me know when I hand it to you."

Tfft. Tests in the middle of a search and find? What the heck? Oh well. If it will help me find Daisuke then it's work it. I thought to myself as I listened for whatever it was I was supposed to hear or discover. Dark slid the staff into my other hand and as I opened my eyes it glowed a brilliant blue color.

"What does this mean, Dark?"

"It means we're ready to find Daisuke." He pulled me up, onto his back and followed the line of blue light.

"So this light will lead us to him?"

"It should. If that was the desire you had in mind when you held it."

"And why couldn't you do that?"

"Because I had to make a fire somehow. Otherwise we would have been overcome by the demonic energy and darkness within this zone."

"So that's how you made the fire."

He nodded. "You were our last shot. So let's hope this works."

We flew on and I knew Dark must have been getting tired or at least his wings must have been. It seemed like hours had passed by. "um…Dark?"

He looked back at me, "Hm?"

"How long will the blue light stay glowing?"

"I'm not sure. But as long as it does, we're safe. Nothing around here likes the light."

"I see…" I was silent for a bit more and then asked, "What if Daisuke has already moved somewhere else?"

"Then we'll follow him there."

"But we won't have a staff to find him."

"We have perseverance. That's all we need."

I began to cry a little, but tried to hold it back. Dark seemed to ignore me, because he knew I didn't want him to see me cry. He handed me a handkerchief with the initials RH on them. "Huh? Is this Risa's?"

"Heh…yeah. She wanted me to have it. So I would always think of her…that's what she said anyway." I slapped the back of his head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"I don't like you leading on my sister you pervert."

He shook his head, "Oh here we go again."

"You're too old for her! And I don't think you plan to stay around long, do you!"

He stopped flying and glared at me, "What do you mean!"

"You always seem to vanish and not return for years. And on top of that…you don't seem to age."

"Heh…" He continued flying again and said nothing but, "Listen…Risa knows I can't stay here forever…"

"She does?"

He nodded, "Yes…but she's also the only girl who doesn't think I'm a monster."

"Monster?"

"Yeah…you think I'm one."

"No…I think you're a pervert. There's a big difference."

He chuckled. "Really? So would you slap a monster?"

I laughed, "No, but I would kick its butt if it tried to kill me."

The darkness was filled with our laughter and as the light led on, our laughter died down and silence filled the place once again. And it stayed that way quite a bit. I think it was because both Dark and I were intensely thinking about the conversation we had just had. Me about him thinking he was a monster and him about…well something. Maybe the same thing.

But he broke the silence and I found out what he was really thinking about. "Riku…"

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to alarm you, but…if Daisuke is in a sculpture…there will be no way to get him out. He'll be trapped in there…"

"Forever!"

"…" Dark said nothing and it made me angry, sad, and concerned. What if Daisuke really was inside a sculpture? Would I never see him again! Would I never be able to hear his voice again!

Miss Riku! I heard his voice echoe in the back of mind from all of our memories together. I had to see him again! I had to hear him again! "Daisuke!"