Crow

Crow

.-.

.-.

Daisuke’s whole body felt heavy, and he didn’t sit up when he opened his eyes. He stayed lying in bed, thinking about what had happened to him and Dark the night before and staring at the ceiling. From the dull pain in his right side, he remembered the wound, and wondered if it had been poisoned.

The thief was quiet, but Daisuke knew that Dark had woken up a long time before him. He began to worry about the wound and tried to remember if they had felt anything strange when they had the encounter with...whatever that thing was. Maybe there was something else besides them, apart from Dark and Krad, or maybe something that had come to cause more damage than any of them could...

“Why aren’t you trying to calm me, Dark?” He asked the thief mentally.

“Because you’re already too big to be babied by me, Dai-kun. You’re sixteen and not getting any younger,” Dark responded in the same way.

“So, it’s not poisoned?”

“I can’t answer, but something happened to us.”

“What was that thing?”

Both knew what they were talking about.

“I don’t know.”

“Can you see the feather?” said Daisuke, looking toward his lighted desk where the feather was, straight, stiff, and as black as the night.

“What feather?”

“Stop playing around, Dark.”

“I’m not playing around, I don’t see any feathers.”

“The black one that was here, it’s not like Wiz’s feathers.”

“Daisuke, I think you are poisoned. You’re seeing things.”

“Things that I can touch.”

“I don’t think that you can prove it, so it’s better that you rest now.”

“What time is it?” asked Daisuke aloud, looking at his watch.

It read 5:30 PM.

The redhead was surprised. Never had he slept for so long, not even when he had had that battle with Krad at the beach when they went on a vacation. He asked Dark if he had used magic, but both knew that he hadn’t. He only wanted to assure himself that there was enough sanity around to continue living.

His mother returned a little after six o’clock. She looked very worried, and she didn’t stop talking while she hugged him. She brought him a cup of tea with milk and cookies. Daisuke ate them without enthusiasm. The distant attitude of her son alarmed Emiko.

-Daisuke, I already called a doctor, and he’s coming here- Emiko told him, taking his hand.

-Ah- and nothing more.

-Dai, you have us all very worried. Your grandfather even called from Osaka-

-Did he find the other part of the parchment yet?- asked Daisuke, turning his head toward his mother, interested.

-No, but he has found a few more leads concerning its whereabouts-

-And why is it so important? I thought that we weren’t interested in books...-

-The old ones, yes, Daisuke, especially when they speak of our family. You already know, proud Niwa-

-Ah, yes-

“Daisuke, even I’m realizing that today you’ve got less of an attitude than a daikon.” (1)

“Stop fucking with me.”

Emiko had left, but he could hear her low voice, talking with the doctor. Dark was still. He couldn’t believe that Daisuke had spoken like that. What’s more, he thought Daisuke didn’t know what words like that meant.

“I’ve decided: you’ve been poisoned.”

.-.

Rest for a whole week, no strain or strong emotions, no leaving at night and no seeing other people: the only one who seemed to be bothered by all of this was Dark. Daisuke didn’t care, and didn’t follow the orders to have no strong feelings. He thought that, in the course of two days, everything would return to normal.

Or, maybe this was his new normal.

Riku came to see him, but she wasn’t allowed to be within three meters of him. Saehara and Wiz did too, but the orders had been clear, and Emiko had promised to make sure they were followed out to the letter. Riku brought him his homework, and Daisuke, propped up by a pile of pillows, did them without thinking about doing more than that.

The second day, Kosuke decided to go and talk with him, man-to-man. He asked Dark if he could let them be alone, and looked for a while at the vacant eyes of his son.

-Daisuke, is there anything that you haven’t told us until now?- he said quietly, taking the hand of his son.

Daisuke told him everything again, about a thing that had black wings and how it had hurt his side. The wound had already closed, but he couldn’t exercise for two weeks. He told how there had been something that he could see and Dark couldn’t, and spoke as well about the necklace.

-What is it, Daisuke?- asked his father, interested.

-A piece of night-

-What?-

-A feather made from a piece of night- and he signaled to the lighted desk where, easily visible, the feather sat.

Kosuke stayed, frozen, meaning to control himself. Later he left his son’s room, and Daisuke listened to the subdued murmurs from the floor below. It didn’t matter much to him.

.-.

-I want to talk to you-

That phrase surprised them both, but the only one that Hiwatari could see was Daisuke. The redhead turned in his seat and looked at Satoshi, who returned the cold look. They were alone; it was already time to go and the redhead was acting slow, as he stopped putting away his school things to look dreamily out the window. He was thinking about the creature with black wings...another Dark?

-Can I...can I help you?- he asked, regaining his composure.

-The creature with black wings did this to you- he indicated Daisuke’s right side -And you’ve changed a lot. Even Saehara was quite when you looked at him-

-That’s not my fault-

-Not is it mine. That thing put something in you that is making you act like this-

-Please tell me something I don’t know-

-What is it that you can see, and no one else can?-

-A black feather-

Silence.

-Daisuke- he used the boy’s name, and this also surprised him -A black feather, as if it were a piece of darkness?- He was breathing slowly, but the redhead could see how his hands trembled.

-Yes-

All vestiges of color abandoned the face of Hiwatari, and even Dark was alarmed at seeing this. Satoshi got up, his movements almost robotic, and took his backpack without looking at Daisuke again. The thief wanted to go, and didn’t want to know what it was that Daisuke was thinking about, and left the redhead, or at least his mind.

He heard the flutter of a large creature at the window, and he turned his head.

The first thing he saw as something of his size, but to say what it was pale would be an understatement; it was a white creature, whiter than snow, and he could only see his hands, feet, and face. The rest was covered by feathers, like the one Daisuke had in his room. Daisuke was petrified by the sight, because the thing seemed to be a boy. A Japanese boy about his age.

When it put one of its white feed into the classroom, Daisuke reacted. Trying to get away, and tripping on a chair in the other aisle, he called to Dark. The thing was getting closer, slowly but surely, and he had just enough time to feel the voice of the thief before the creature touched his forehead with a finger.

It was as if freezing water had spread throughout his body, beginning from his forehead. Dark was gone, or was somewhere else, and Daisuke felt like the thing was moving his hand down the middle of his chest and pushing it, as if he would throw him over the floor, headfirst. And he looked like he was ready to do so. Now that he was closer, Daisuke could sense that this whole creature was cold too, as if he was made of ice and snow. And it was getting closer to his face.

The hand that had been pushing him was now grabbing one of Daisuke’s hands, and the other was caressing his face. The redhead was trembling, but not only from the cold and fear. He didn’t want to know what this thing was going to do with him, but he could guess. The creature, who had two pairs of black wings on his back, almost covered the bodies of them both, submerging them in darkness. His eyes were two empty wells and had no expression, as if he was dead. Daisuke didn’t feel like anything like this could be alive. The thought made Daisuke shiver.

-Who are you?- the redhead asked the creature, now full of fear.

The being stopped his hand’s journey to Daisuke’s chest and he looked at his eyes. They were like this for a long time, and when he opened his mouth to respond, they heard steps and something hit him in the face.

-Get away, you bastard!- the voice of Hiwatari sounded more than alarmed, but Daisuke couldn’t easily identify where it came from.

The being looked with a deepening frown at the intrusion before flying through the window and giving the redhead one last expressionless glance.

-Are you alright?- Hiwatari asked Daisuke, helping him get up. Dark came back, shouting at the bird-like creature.

-Yes, I think so-

He didn’t understand anything, but he believed he knew now who he had met with the other night in the museum.

.-.

.-.

(1) A Daikon is a giant radish and is characterized for being very bland. Bad actors from Japanese theatre are called daikons if they are inexpressive. It isn’t very frequent because Kabuki and Noh theatre presentations are normally of a very high level. (Kabuki and Noh are theatres which represent only men or only women, respectively).

This Fanfic takes place after the saga of “The Second Hand of Time.” I haven’t seen the anime (but I have all of the manga volumes to date that have been published) and it would be based on the events in that part. I’ll be done with every thing soon, and, whether or not it’s good, I have already decided the ending (and I don’t think anyone has put in their fanfic until now)

And again, one million thanks to mi English translator, Mora Black.

C you

Nakokun