Author's Note: So, I went back and was reading some of my previous chapters, only to find that this site had eaten my line breaks. It's annoying, since I dislike using the horizontal ruler other than for separating author's notes and the story. I'm debating on whether it's worth it to export them to see if the variation I tried in this chapter will last. But enough about my formatting issues, and a little about this chapter. A scenario of this sort has been stuck in my head for a while, but I hadn't really gotten the motivation to write it. It's a depressing one, assuming if certain things were to progress to a "bad end" for the manga canon.

Warnings: angst, character death.

19. Gray

When Daisuke looked back on it, even though everything had been hectic, there had also been an odd balance between all of them. He thought that somehow, through all the setbacks, nothing would really change. Dark would fight with Krad sometimes but otherwise get out okay. They would tiptoe around the Haradas and the rest of the general public for the sake of keeping secret identities a secret. Through all this, Hiwatari-kun would always be by his side.

That hadn't been the case.

It hadn't been obvious at first, but Hiwatari-kun's health had gradually gotten worse. He grew more and more tired over time and had little energy to do anything extra. When Dark or Daisuke had the misfortune to encounter Krad, the transformations wreaked much more havoc on the increasingly frail body than they used to. Eventually, that body became to weak for Krad to risk taking over. Hiwatari-kun had stopped attending school at this point, and when he had revealed this news when Daisuke came over to visit, he had admitted in a strained voice that—at the very least—he could have some peace in his own body. That he didn't have to worry about hurting Daisuke anymore. When Daisuke heard those words, he clung to Hiwatari-kun as if he was the only other person in the world and sobbed shamelessly. Overwhelmed by the intensity of Daisuke's emotions, Hiwatari-kun had also cried, silently.

That night also marked his confession. A simple "I love you" that was not explained further before or after; only that he didn't expect Daisuke to return his feelings. Daisuke had of course been shocked to hear this, but then he called Hiwatari-kun an idiot for worrying about him so much and said that he wouldn't abandon him regardless of what Hiwatari-kun's feelings were—whether that was hate or love or anything in between.

And he never did. Daisuke had visited Hiwatari-kun every day and talked about things such as what had happened in school. He visited sometimes with others and sometimes alone, until there were no more days. Hiwatari-kun had been moved to the local hospital near the end, and was rarely conscious. He passed in his sleep.

Daisuke's father had answered the phone call that delivered the bad news. Daisuke's reaction was unlike anything the Niwa family had ever witnessed from him before. For a few long minutes, he had simply stood in place with a blank expression that saw nothing. Then, without warning, he had stormed off into the basement. It had taken a while for them to locate him, given how large the Niwa family's basement was. They eventually found him with Argentine in one of the larger rooms. Argentine, sympathetic but unsure of what to do, was standing next to Daisuke, who was on his knees and grieving. The two of them were surrounded by a mess of broken Hikari artworks.

By the time the funeral was held, Daisuke wasn't faring much better. His state of mind wavered between being a wreck of emotion and feeling nothing at all. After that, the latter gradually won out. He spent almost every moment of his spare time burying himself in creating art (mostly painting) to try to concentrate on something, anything else than what had happened. His family and friends worried about him, though they could do little to change the situation. They just hoped for the best—that one day, things would get better for Daisuke.

Eventually, they did. Months later, Daisuke began to wander out of his isolation and indulged in the things that he had enjoyed before. He still painted more often than he had, but his condition seemed to be improving.

x - X - x - X - x - X - x

After school and sports practice was over, Riku opened the door to the school's art room. Daisuke was there, cleaning up his brushes in the sink. He looked up when she entered and smiled at her. They exchanged a few words in casual conversation. Then, they ended up next to the canvas that was drying on one of the easels.

Riku's eyes lit up at the scenery. "Wow, a snow-scape!"

Daisuke laughed a little at her enthusiasm. "Nostalgic, right?" She nodded and continued to admire the painting. After a moment, though, her brows drew together. "Riku-san? Does something look bad?" He peered at the painting, trying to spot any mistakes in the details.

"Ah, no, of course not!" she answered immediately, waving her hands in a "no" gesture for emphasis. "It's really beautiful." A pause, perhaps of contemplation, or perhaps one of hesitation. "It really is. But...why isn't the snow blue?"

Though Daisuke's eyes stopped combing over the painting, he didn't look away from it. "What?"

A bit awkwardly, Riku elaborated. "You felt so strongly about the colors the last time you painted something like this, so I guess I was just surprised."

Daisuke's gaze was fixated on the light gray shadows of the pure white snow. "Blue, huh..." For the fraction of a moment that his expression had turned serious, it was lost when he turned to face his girlfriend with a smile. "I guess I can't see it that way anymore."

Even though the smile itself looked no different from the one that he had given Riku earlier, the honesty of the expression didn't quite make it to his eyes. Riku gave no indication of whether she noticed or not; only said simply, "I see."