Home at last?
Welcome to Nihon! Please be sure that all passports are immediately available upon request. The announcement blared across the station as Satoshi and Daisuke got off. Abel and Esther walked around confused; this only grew worse as they didn't speak the native tongue of the country, nihongo.
"I don't think we can get a place to stay unless we can find a translator…" said Abel with a sigh.
"What're those 2 doing over there?" said Esther aloud. Abel turned to see Daisuke and Satoshi talking to an officer who worked at the train station. They came back over and said, "Sakamoto-san said that there's a hotel a couple of blocks from the station."
"Wait, you mean you can speak nihongo?!" said the two AX agents in surprise.
"Nihongo…I don't believe this! You two don't even know what nihongo means do you?" said Daisuke who looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh.
"Not a clue."
The two teens fell over laughing. When Hikari could finally speak, he said, "Nihongo translates as 'Japanese language'. Hell, Nihon is the Japanese word for Japan!"
"WHAT!" Abel said in shock.
"Apparently they only switched the language, not the original name. Which means we can talk to people and translate too!" said Daisuke with a grin.
"First things first, we need to change the currency. Father Nightroad, which of you is in charge of the funds for this trip?" asked Satoshi.
"They gave Esther full control. Why?"
"Esther has the cash? Figures…I guess someone has been doing their homework on other nations," grinned Satoshi.
"What makes you say that?"
"In Nihon households, the women are the ones in control of funds not men. In other words it's a complete reversal of what you're used to."
"How do you know all of this?!" said Esther in shock.
"My last name, Hikari, is Japanese for 'light'. Though the kanji form usually translates as 'ice hunter'."
"In short, this is what you might call our 'home turf'. We used to live here, so we know more about it than outsiders do," explained Daisuke.
"I guess we don't need to find a translator after all," said Abel with a nervous laugh.
Satoshi took Esther to the bank and had the cash turned into yen, the native currency. Satoshi also checked something which completely took him by surprise. His bank account from his own time was still active! (Meaning they'd have more money for the trip than originally thought.)
Daisuke waited until they returned, and had to endure several questions from Abel in the process. When Satoshi returned, he spoke with Daisuke in private away from the other two.
"Daisuke, I need you to stay with Abel and Esther for an hour or two. I need to check something out. Apparently our bank accounts from our own time are still active."
"Let me guess, you want to see if your house is still there too, right?"
Satoshi had Daisuke take the two AX agents on a mini tour, and they met back up at the fountain near the peak. Satoshi headed to where his house was and found it still standing; and still in good condition too!
"I got good news for you, Father Abel."
"What?"
"You don't need to worry about paying for a hotel. My old house is still standing," said Satoshi.
"So you mean that you two really did live here?"
"Better believe it," said the teens in unison.
"This mission is just full of surprises…" murmured Abel.
They headed back to the mansion and Satoshi showed them the house. During his tour, he stumbled across his laptop, which surprisingly was still working! He had to undo a time-seal to retrieve it, but he was caught off guard by the contents.
"So where do each of us sleep?" asked Abel.
"You get the couch and Esther gets the spare bedroom."
"And what about you and Daisuke?" asked Esther.
"I have a bunk bed in my room," lied Satoshi.
Abel fell asleep quickly on the couch while Esther fell asleep immediately after her head hit the pillow. Daisuke and Satoshi enter his room and chat for about an hour. Soon their eyes began to droop, and Satoshi went to bed. Daisuke was a bit unnerved at the fact that Satoshi lied about the second bed and was reluctant to get in.
"Would you relax? You can sleep at the other end," said Satoshi with a hint of annoyance. Daisuke fell asleep shortly after that; Satoshi tried to go back to sleep, but was unable to. For some reason, the only thing rushing through his head was thoughts of Daisuke!
Daisuke's dreams all revolved around his counter-part Satoshi. This disturbed him, but didn't wake him up. He shivered slightly as the cold temperature seeped through the covers. He was still shivering when he felt something warm curl up next to him. He assumed it was Wiz and fell deep asleep.
Satoshi felt Daisuke shiver from the cold room. He ran through his options; Daisuke kept shivering. Finally, he gave into his instincts and curled up next to Daisuke. He felt the red-head tense at first, then slowly relax against him. Right before he falls asleep himself, he felt warmth seep through his thin shirt. He opened his eyes to find…crimson orbs looking right back at him. Dark extended his black wings around the Hikari and they both fell asleep.
Satoshi woke up the next morning to find Daisuke snuggled up against him. He was mildly awake and didn't think anything of it. He slowly fell back asleep. Daisuke woke ten minutes later to also realize he lay against Satoshi. He heard Esther and Abel stir, and decided that it would be a VERY bad idea for the two to see them like this. He slowly got up and dressed. He noticed Satoshi awaken moments after he finished putting his clothes on; he realized the other was almost completely unaware of his surroundings. He left the room and heard Satoshi stumble out of bed. He went into the kitchen to find Esther and Abel making coffee. Satoshi came in 5 minutes later, almost completely awake at this point.
"What are we going to do first, Satoshi?" asked Abel.
"We need to find the Methuselah base of operations."
"Any idea where they might be hiding?"
"No, but Niwa and I will ask around. Can you give me any noticeable traits of Methuselah?" asked Satoshi.
"Well, they have better speed, not to mention strength, and tend to have fangs sometimes," said Abel.
"And most of the time, they're in a position of power," added Esther.
"Got it. So basically we're looking for people with unusual powers," said Niwa.
"Pretty much."
"So are you guys gonna wait here or are you going to tag along?" asked Satoshi.
"We'll stay here; we'd only get in your way if we went," said Abel.
As Satoshi and Daisuke asked around, they quickly found out that most of the vampires were hiding out in Daisuke's old home.
"I wonder why they choose my house and not yours," murmured Daisuke.
"Probably 'cause you house was built to train thieves, remember?"
"True. But still, I don't think that they'd be able to get into the basement," said Daisuke as he considered the reason.
"Because of the wards around it?"
"Exactly."
"Well why don't we see if what they've done to it? From what we've heard so far, they're never in the house during the day at all," said Satoshi.
They went to Daisuke's home, which from the outside looked like it hadn't changed at all. The biggest shock they found was that Daisuke's house key still worked! They cautiously entered the house, narrowly avoiding the old traps. As they came to the door, Daisuke stopped and cautiously touched the doorknob. As he had feared, the final trap was working as well. He turned off the electric current and they entered the door. The interior was almost identical to what it had been in their time. As they entered the basement, they were mildly surprised to find the enchanted door jammed. It took Daisuke 1 minute to undo the problem and they entered.
The artwork that had been stolen over the centuries remained undisturbed; dust collected on the pieces. There were more pieces that usual, but everything in the room had dust on it, cobwebs attached to the teens very quickly.
"Jeez…this place must have been left alone for centuries!" said Daisuke in annoyance as he brushed the cobwebs away from his face.
"Hey Daisuke… did that jam seem deliberate to you?"
"Now that you mention it, it did seem strange that the door was jammed at all," replied Daisuke.
"I wonder who did it…"
"Dark. Want to know something funny?" asked Daisuke.
"What?"
"If mom saw this place like it is now she'd be having a major fit."
"By fit you mean she'd be clearing out every store in a ten block radius of their cleaning supplies," joked Satoshi.
"Exactly!" laughed Daisuke. They could both easily imagine that scenario happening.
They stopped at the base of the cauldron where Daisuke's mother and grandfather used to perform sealing ceremonies for the art pieces. Daisuke wasn't shocked when he saw the two feathers framed, had NO dust or cobwebs on it at all.
"Daisuke, why didn't the dust collect on that frame?"
"A spell had been placed on it when they first put the frame up to prevent that," replied Daisuke.
"That would do it," mumbled Satoshi.
A thought occurred to Daisuke while he looked at the feathers.
"Hey Satoshi, is it possible to connect the two paintings?"
"How so?"
"I mean to make it possible for us to come into one another's area," said Daisuke.
"I guess so, but we'd need a powerful piece of the other's magic to pull it off."
"Did you bring the paintings with you?"
"I brought Krad's."
"Well, why don't we establish a connection for Krad and Dark right now?"
"Where are we going to find the magic for…?"
"The feathers. The white one belonged to Krad, the other Dark."
It took over an hour for the connection to be created, but it was worth it. Daisuke quickly jammed the door again and they went immediately back to Satoshi's house.
"So how did your search go?" asked Abel.
"It went okay. We found where their base is… There's only one problem."
"Problem?"
"It's my house. Good thing I'm used to the traps," said Daisuke.
"Traps?!"
"Mom used to set traps for me everyday. I had to go through them every morning and every afternoon when I came home from school."
"So the traps were still operational?"
"Yup."
"Daisuke came from a family of Phantom Thieves. The traps were a part of his training. We also found that the secret basement of his house was undisturbed until we managed to get in."
"So what happened?"
"We came home after we retrieved something from the basement and re-jammed the door. Now if you'll excuse us, we have some spell casting to do."
It took over an hour for the spell to be complete. Now Dark and Krad could travel between each other's domain, as well as Daisuke and Satoshi. That night, Satoshi mysteriously switched places with Krad for no reason. Krad took flight, and flew half-way across the city before he noticed Dark was following him.
"Guess I'm not the only one in the mood for some fresh air," joked Dark.
"Did you come out to keep me out of trouble?" snorted Krad.
"Are you kidding?! I'd rather CAUSE trouble than keep you out of it!"
"True," admitted Krad.
"Mind if I tag along?"
"Knock yourself out for all I care."
"So, what do you think happened with the house? Why would someone deliberately jam that PARTICULAR door?"
"Beats me." Krad said as he flew further. It wasn't until he heard a certain whoosh that he turned around.
"What the…?!" He exclaimed as a second blast flew in their direction. It came closer and closer until…
"WATCH OUT!" yelled Dark as he flew in the oncoming path of the blast. His wings were badly singed and he started to plummet. Krad had an important decision to make. Either he flew down and saved his other half, or he let Dark die. He tucked his wings in and dropped like a stone after Dark. He barely caught him before he hit the concrete hard.
"Krad…? Why're you…?" said Dark weakly before he blacked out completely. Krad held onto him as he flew fast towards the house. Their assailant continued his onslaught and didn't stop until they vanished from view inside the paintings.
"Don't you dare die on me Mousey!" said Krad as he lay the thief on the floor. Dark's breath was harsh and ragged.
Krad took a light blanket and lay it over the shivering thief. His breaths continued to come harshly, but their ragged edge had diminished for the moment. Krad was annoyed and tired. He silently swore that whoever attacked them would pay dearly. He slowly rolled Dark onto his stomach and inspected the damage. The thief's wings were almost destroyed, and there was a large burn mark where the blast had hit. If Krad didn't do something, then Dark would NOT have lasted the night. He sighed as he closed his eyes and gently put his hands at the bottom of the burn mark.
His hands started to glow a violent gold as he slowly moved them over the injury. Wherever the glow touched, the burn gradually faded, leaving only smooth skin behind. When he got close to Dark's wings, he opened his eyes. His heart raced for no reason, and he quickly closed them again if only to finish healing Dark. He couldn't afford to be distracted by the sight of Dark's bare skin.
When he dared to open his eyes again, the burn had almost completely healed. All that was left was to heal the wings. Krad's energy was low; he barely had the strength to keep his eyes open. Then he heard Dark's groan…
"What…what the hell happened?!" he said with a wince from pain.
"We…were…attacked."
"What's wrong?"
"I used too much energy healing your sorry ass."
"Thanks…" Dark said in surprise.
"Hell…it's the least…I could do…after you saved me…from that blast," Krad replied his eyes drooping. Dark watched in shock as Krad fainted in his arms. The thief's energy was low as well, so he carefully picked Krad up and laid him down on the bed. He attempted to open the portal to his room, only to create a hole just small enough for With to come through. His energy spent, he gently collapsed next to Krad on the bed.
A certain blue-haired teen entered; his eyes widened in shock at the sight of Krad and Dark lying next to each other. He found a blanket and lay it over the two alter egos and quietly left.
(If you haven't guessed already, THIS IS A YAOI FANFIC. If you don't like boy-on-boy pairings, then tough luck. If you don't want to read a yaoi fanfic then you can quit reading now.)