#but for daisuke too caught in the shadow of dark's wings

[dnangelic]

the hollow nonviolence but nevertheless heavily palpable longing and empty vastness of daisuke's heart. post

[higuchimon]

what do you want to see?

GX Month is almost over and I'm having a lot of fun with it. But it did push back finishing my WIPs a lot, and it added a few to the list despite my best efforts. So, my next goal after this is to finish those WIPs. That's not what I'm asking. This is: I have a lot of series and worlds. Which do you, the readers I share what I write with, wants to see the most? Here are your options:

Digimon Adventure 02

Division of Destiny: The world of Reign of the Undead King, taking place afterward. The living Chosen adjust to a world of blue skies and green grass and Digimon who aren't trying to kill them. But Piemon and Vamdemon are still out there, and Vamdemon has Daisuke.

Take To The Skies: Daisuke falls more and more under the Kaiser's control and he really doesn't want to. But even his stubbornness can only hold out so long. [unknown type of ending]

Fragmented Memory: Kaiser keeps a firm hold over Daisuke by manipulating his memory. But even he can't succeed forever, right? Only time will tell - and maybe not this story. [unknown type of ending]

Broken Bonds: Takeru must still deal with his soulmate Piemon and the fact that Patamon won't hatch out of his egg. [unknown type of ending]

Fight To Remember: Ken and Daisuke have both lost their memories. Getting them back will involve remembering that they're enemies - unless something happens before that. Something like becoming friends.

Services Rendered: So, to pay the Kaiser back for saving his life, Daisuke has to do what the Kaiser wants. What does the Kaiser want? [probably open-ended]

Scars of Victory: The elder Chosen have returned to the Digital World. After 7 years they've missed out on a lot and need to get caught up. But will the Kaiser give them the time? [probably open-ended]

Course of Events: Daisuke grows up with Piemon and LadyDevimon, learning what it is to be their son, their servant, and their warrior. And then the Chosen arrive - along with the sister he barely remembers.

Walking The Edge: The Kaiser has what he wants. Daisuke finally knows who he is and is going to help him - whether Daisuke likes it or not. If the Chosen haven't stopped him in all these years, how can they now when they're down one? [undecided ending]

Dark Brotherhood: Now that the Kaiser has his half-brother Anbumon with him, they're going to take down the Chosen. If only it were that easy.

Danger Zone: Kaiser is very annoyed that Hikari prevented him from taking Daisuke. So he's going to make sure that she delivers his prey right to him. [not a happy ending]

Melody of the Heart: They need to find Jou and Koushiro to help Taichi be immune to Yamato's enchanting voice. It's a long journey and an amazing adventure.

Heart of Demon, Soul of Angel: How exactly did Yamato distract Taichi? Well, Ken had to get Daisuke on a date. So how did Yamato manage that? He's a demon. He did it with lust. [not entirely happy ending]

Game of Life: Now that the Kaiser knows about the breed, what is he going to do next?

Bitter Bargain: The first night that Daisuke spends in the Kaiser's fortress is much like when the Kaiser spent it at his apartment. [obviously rated M & forced consent]

Sanguine Bindings: How did the Chosen deal with the Kaiser's revelation as a vampire and having taken Daisuke?

Purpose of Existence: Yamato, Koushiro, and the Kaiser go to rescue Daisuke. But who is going to rescue Daisuke from the Kaiser?

No Good Decisions: V-mon's an egg. Daisuke is still sick - and is he getting sicker? But the Kaiser's there to take care of him.

Flaming Ivy: The Kaiser has chosen Daisuke as his Firestarter. Daisuke might not feel the same way - or maybe he does.

Digimon Xros Wars: Young Hunters Leaping Through Time

Hunting The Great Game: A look back into the past - it's really not so easy to break Kiriha free of DarkKnightmon's control.

Yu-Gi-Oh GX

Reversal: the full story of RYou's expereinces as a spy in Haou's forces, ending up with his reveal and the consequences thereof. Not a happy ending.

Reversal: the rebellion finds hope at long last. Or hope finds them, whichever way. Happy ending, or at least a neutral one (depending on how much I want to put in the story).

Reversal: O'Brien is able to track down his deck and duel disk. Reasonaly happy ending.

Hell's Ice: Ryou awakens in Dark World and slowly learns that he has a connection to ice, snow, and cold, and must learn to master his powers under Snoww's instruction, while surviving serving Brron.

Itch To Scratch: Juudai & Yubel take Johan to find out what he really is. Johan is not very happy about what he finds out.

Bridges: A tale of Samejima and Ryou, with Ryou learning how to bind demons and be a duelist of the Cyber-style.

King's Champion: Magician to King: Fujiwara Yuusuke has lost his parents. Honest offers to take him to another world, since he has no family left. That doesn't turn out the way that they both hope.

Shadow Demons: There's someone who wants to destroy demon prince Ryou, shadow mage Yuusuke, guardian angel Honest, and angel of love FUbuki. This is going to be difficult to deal with.

Past and Future: The story of how Juudai went swimming, lost his clothes, fought demons, and flew home naked.

Hole In Your Heart: A retelling of season three, with a more detailed timeframe and an arc of Dark World that's not far too short.

In Darkness We Find Fire: Ryou, Fubuki, and Yuusuke's first year, learning who they are and how to deal with being Healers and Firestarter.

In Darkness We Find Fire: Shou's first year as a duelist and Healer is far more interesting than he expected.

Prisoner of the Black Tower: Why does Haou keep Johan in the tower?

Red Zinnias: So, the Light has been expunged from Saiou. He's free for the first time in a while. So now what happens?

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal

On Dragon's Wings:

Hating Humanity: Now that Durbe has restored Nasch and Merag's memories, it's time to figure out what to do about the Astral Messenger - who hasn't arrived yet.

Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V

Confusing: Yuuri is getting better at twisting Shun's memories. But that also requires taking him out into the field - where he can encounter those from his past.

Angels, Demons, & Deciding Factors: Yuuri's corruption of Shun continues. [rated M/R, technical non-con in the sense Shun isn't in his right mind and Yuuri is a jerk]

Collars and Keeping: Yuuri inflicts punishment onto Shun for his escape attempt. [rated M/R. see also, Yuuri is a sadistic jerk]

Fae Song: The story of how Rin and Ruri came to serve selena - and what happened to Yuugo.

Strike Hard Strike Fast: Shun has to deal with being captured by vampires. As if one wouldn't be bad enough.

Ashes and Oaths: What happens to Shun now that Yuuri's captured him? Pain. Lots and lots of pain.

Beat of Wings: Yuugo's wings have been bound, like all Flyers of Commons. He can only be released if somoene purchases his services or if he's sold to someone. Roget will try to buy Yuuri off any way he can.

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boubei Love

Burning Inscription: Kinshiro and Atsushi finally find out the truth of their soulmate marks. Along with the truth of what their battle is really about.

Crossovers

Digimon Adventure 02 & YGO GX: Replacement Vampire: Camula and Vamdemon sent the newly turned RYou to be Camula's replacement in the Seven Stars. So how is that going to work out?

Intrafandom Crossovers

Scorpion Strike: Lesath learns to adjust to the Barian World and his new position as Mizael's assistant. That means dealing with Vector.

Message me, comment, or whatever about which one you'd like to see. This will be reblogged on a regular basis and will continue until I've finished my current WIPs, so probably into 2021.

[mintaka14]

In the Temple of the Firebird

 Put on your war paint

[The Phoenix: Fall Out Boy]

 Daisuke had a weird sense of disorientation as he felt the cold paving stones under his hand. He crouched in the sideways shadow cast by the eaves of the building behind him as the sun rose on the eastern horizon, and looked up into the unwinking gaze of a red and gold bird statue spreading its wings over the edge of the roof. A broad white marble terrace stretched out in front of him, stained pink by the dawn sky, until it dropped away in steep stone steps to a courtyard and the three scarlet gateways beyond with their dark, curving roofs.

Past the gates, the courtyard rose again in layer upon layer of terraced steps and carved marble balustrades up to the vast, blood-red shape of a temple that loomed over everything. Then the raucous noise of crow calls caught his attention.

The shadow of wings flitted over the wide, white expanse of the courtyard below where he crouched, growing thicker and louder as the crows closed in. More crows were sweeping in, spiralling around someone at the gates.

In the middle of the hurricane of wings, Daisuke could see a splash of brilliant red and gold. A girl about his own age in scarlet silk and gauze robes had her arms thrown up, the gold and jewels in her headdress glittering like fire as she tried to fight off the birds flurrying around her. She backed up against the pillar of the gate, the sweeping, embroidered hem of her gown almost tripping her and her hair unravelling as claws caught in the elaborate braids and coils. Daisuke could see the flash of a red sleeve and a flicker of dark hair as the girl snatched up a broken pole from the ground beside her, swinging it to smack one bird into a tumbling fall, but there were too many to take its place.

The crows in the air were dangerous enough, but as they touched the ground they morphed into more of the gangly, tattered warriors that had attacked Daisuke near his home, all beaky noses and wicked black eyes with deadly blades in their hands. The girl lashed out again with her broken stick, but she didn’t stand a chance against two dozen of them.

“Where is He?” one of the crow-creatures demanded harshly. “Where is the god Suzaku?”

“The ceremony didn’t work!” the girl shouted back. She swung her stick, and the crow-creature danced warily out of reach. “He’s not here!”

There was a hiss, and a crow fell out of the air with a scarlet arrow through its heart. Daisuke’s head snapped around at the sound of a shout. Another arrow whistled through the air, and another one, and more crows dropped. On the other side of the courtyard, past the gate, Daisuke could see the distant figure of an archer standing in the doorway of the tiered temple, coolly fitting another arrow to his bow. Two more figures were running towards the steep steps leading down from the temple, but Daisuke could see that they were too far away. They wouldn’t get to the girl before the crows had done serious damage.

He was rising to his feet, his hand dipping into his pocket and out again to flick his butterfly knife in an arc even as he broke into a run. Daisuke vaulted over the balustrade and fell on the crows from above.

Beaks and feathers fluttered blackly at the edge of his vision, and morphed into lanky creatures with cadaverous, hungry faces. Daisuke ducked blades and striking talons with unthinking ease, and snapped his foot into the side of the nearest creature. He slid a little in a thick puddle of blood and straightened, bringing his blade up to catch another one in the ribs. At the distant edge of the courtyard Daisuke caught a glimpse of broken pennants and overturned braziers still smoking, as if they had only just been abandoned.

The girl screamed as one of the crows raked at her arm from above. It was her. The voice that had called him.

Daisuke spun towards her and struck out at a creature closing in behind him, turning under another grasping claw as he came up. The crow warriors skirted around him, tumbling back over themselves as they circled cautiously. His blade flashed out again and another of the half-human half-crow things collapsed in a shower of feathers. Daisuke came face to face with the girl.

There was fear in those dark eyes and pale, pointed face, and more than a little fire.

Movement flickered to her right and with a wordless cry Daisuke threw himself at her. She tumbled and fell as his shoulder hit her, and his blade shot out, catching the creature across the throat. The world faded around him and focused into the feel of metal on bone, each sharp stab and each high shriek meaning that he'd struck home. The rake of claws across his back and the flicker of pain along his arm was an irritation, nothing more, and hardly a distraction.

He was dimly aware of two more figures joining the fight. The one in the short black tunic moved like shadow through the battle, and Daisuke caught only a brief flash of light on a blade before another crow warrior disintegrated.

The warrior in pale silk robes was sunlight to the shadow, and the air fairly glittered as his sword swept through it. He moved in a deadly pattern that brushed the crows from the sky and turned the ground-borne creatures into nothing more than feathers and blood.

Then Daisuke was too caught up in the battle to pay attention to them.

Until there was nothing left to fight.

Daisuke wiped his knife on his jeans, and casually swung it shut. He looked around to find the girl they had been defending hurrying up the steps of the building he had landed in front of, her torn skirts bundled up in one hand and her dark hair dishevelled and caught in the glittering beads of her headdress.

“You could say thank you, sugar!” he called after her.

“Thank you!” she responded without breaking stride. The sunlight and shadow warriors both followed, their entire attention on the girl. Daisuke frowned, and tailed after them, looking for answers.

The dim light in the building left him blinking after the early sunlight outside, and it took Daisuke a moment to make out the outline of red columns and the ornate altar with the tablets of the ancestors. On each side of the altar were elaborately carved shelves stacked with scrolls and books, and the dark-haired girl was moving rapidly along the shelves, scooping books into her arms. Her elaborately embroidered red and gold robes were trailing on the floor behind her in tatters, but she seemed completely indifferent to their state, or to the long, bleeding scrapes that Daisuke could see on her arms and cheek.

The shadow fighter moved to stand in the doorway, his eyes trained on the sky, but the one who looked like a prince or an elf from a big budget drama strode over to the girl in the red robes.

“Priestess, you should not have risked yourself like that for the Chronicles of Suzaku,” he insisted, reaching to take them from her hands. “We cannot take the books with us.”

She yanked them out of his reach, hugging the books to her chest.

“I need them,” she said fiercely.

The princeling tried again, and the dark-haired girl backpedalled to put the altar and the ancestors between them.

“I need to find out why the ceremony didn’t work, and what I did wrong, otherwise I can’t fix it. It’ll be in the Chronicles. It has to be,” she added a little desperately. The princeling moved slowly as if he didn’t want to startle her until he was on the same side of the altar.

“Marin, it is not like you to be so unreasonable. More tengu will be coming soon, and the oni demons will not be far behind them. We need to go back for the rest of your Seishi warriors, and we need to leave here before the demons arrive.” The princeling’s hands closed gently over hers clasped tightly around the books. “I know you think you need these books, but they are not worth your life.”

In that moment, Daisuke pushed himself forwards.

“Wait,” he drawled, “you went through those crow things, and you called me here, because of some books?”

Everyone swung around to look at him. He was aware of the way the princeling’s hand dropped to the hilt at his side, and the way that the dark-haired girl reached out to touch his wrist, easing it away from the sword.

“What do you mean, I called you?” she demanded.

“I mean one minute I’m at home, then I hear you yelling for help and here I am.” He stuck his hands in his pockets, glancing around the Temple, and turned his gaze back on this unknown girl. “Wherever here is. Care to enlighten me?”

“You’re from Japan?” she asked faintly.

“Arakicho district, Tokyo. I’m getting the feeling that you’re not from around here either.”

“I’m from Ichibancho.”

Daisuke’s eyebrow lifted, and he suppressed a whistle. Rich girl.

“Zifeng! There are more tengu coming!” the shadow guy in the doorway called urgently to the princeling, who was watching Daisuke and the Priestess with a frown. Dark specks were drawing closer in the brilliant blue sky.

The princeling called Zifeng looked around quickly, then turned back to the girl with her armload of books.

“Marin, you cannot take them all,” he caved in. He reached down and snatched up a long, deep basket that was obviously used for carrying the books, and held it out to her. “Take as many as you can fit in here. The protective wards are still intact, so the archives will be safe until we can return for them, but we have to go now.”

The Priestess he had called Marin said nothing, her jaw tensing, but she began loading books into the basket until it was overflowing. Daisuke noticed that in spite of the haste she was being very careful with how she stashed the volumes.

“Hurry!” the lookout urged, and Marin swung the basket onto her back, staggering a little at the weight.

“Marin!” the princeling interrupted from the doorway, and Marin hurried towards him. She glanced back over her shoulder at Daisuke.

“Well? Are you coming?”

So Daisuke followed as they ran down the steps and bolted for the broad red gates across the courtyard. He could hear the first sounds of the crow demons in the sky behind them now. Through the arch of the central gate, the massive shape of the Temple loomed in front of them, casting its tiered shadow across the paving stones. They hit the first of the steep steps just as the tengu swept overhead.

A black feathered body fell to his right, splayed on the carved stone slab running up the centre of the staircase and blood trickled around the engraved figure of a phoenix, staining the stone dark red. Another bird tumbled out of the sky with an arrow through it. Crows rained down around them as they ran, until they neared the top of the steps and Daisuke could see another group of people in the Temple doorway. The archer he’d seen before was standing, braced, a little to the front, putting arrows into the air with impossible speed, and another girl was running purposefully towards them with a sword in her hands and skirts of rose-coloured silk and gauze swirling around her. Jewels sparked in the flying strands of her smooth, black hair.

“Princess Meixing!” Zifeng shouted at the girl. “Get back!”

The running girl ignored him. As she drew closer, Daisuke could see how very young she was, but she held the sword as if she knew what she was doing with it, and there was a fierce light in her eyes. She swung in behind Marin and turned to face down the approaching crows.

“Meixing!” Zifeng repeated, a note of fear or anger in his voice.

“Get the Priestess to safety,” the young princess cut him off. She spun the sword in a tight curve, her feet braced, just as one of the other members of the group closed in on her other side. There were no weapons in the big man’s hands, but he held them open as if he were about to throw something and there was stern purpose in his tall frame. The plain brown lines of his linen jacket were oddly stark next to the princess’ bright glitter, but they both stood their ground, an odd pair, as the crows rushed down at them.

The princeling stopped himself on whatever he’d been going to say, his expression grim, and wheeled around to sweep Marin and her basket of books through the door of the Temple. Daisuke followed after them, not sure what else to do.

The moment Marin was safely through the doors, Zifeng spun around in a swirl of perfect hair and pale silk robes.

“Fall back!” he ordered, his voice ringing over the clamour of the crows. Daisuke glanced back to see the Princess Meixing sweep another crow out of the air, and another crow morph into that weird, spindly demon form as it touched the ground only to be engulfed by a tide of vines that climbed out of the stones to drag it down and break it. Daisuke’s eyes drifted to the tall young man in the unprepossessing tunic as he lifted his hands again, as if he were drawing something out of the ground. Another fountain of vines erupted into the air, commanded by the sweep of his hands, and the crows scattered in noisy alarm.

“Fall. Back!!” Zifeng shouted again, and they pivoted and broke into a run for the doors. Crows shrieked in the air behind them, closing in. The young princess skidded through the doors with the vine guy close on her heels, and the huge doors were slammed shut.

“The wards will take care of the tengu,” someone said.

Daisuke could hear the birds’ bodies slamming against the wooden doors, but the sounds eventually died away, and outside was silent. Inside, he looked around with interest.

The Temple was lit with the fire burning in the bronze brazier in the middle of the hall, and its light caught on the pattern of the constellations marked out on the marble floor around the brazier, and on the gilt figures painted on the vast red columns. Daisuke’s gaze followed the columns up and up into the shadows far above.

And Daisuke found himself looking up into the bright ruby eyes of the massive firebird towering over him. Light caught on the great claws of the statue and flickered like fire on the golden feathers. Daisuke felt something crawl down the back of his neck. He shivered slightly.

"What is this?" he breathed.

At the sound of his voice, Marin spun around, startled, as if she had forgotten he was there. It was interesting to note how many of the roomful of people were now standing between Marin and him with weapons in their hands. Vine guy and the young princess with the sword were watching him fiercely, and the archer had his bow half-pulled. Daisuke had no doubt that should he make a wrong move, there would be an arrow through his heart before he could blink.

The young man in the shadowy grey tunic from the courtyard was standing just out of Daisuke’s line of sight. When Daisuke turned his head slightly to include him, he was the only one who didn’t seem to have a weapon in his hand but he was holding himself with a balanced tension that Daisuke recognised. He gave Daisuke a brief, enigmatic nod. Daisuke lifted an eyebrow.

"Now, there's a warm welcome," he muttered wryly. He counted seven defenders between him and the Priestess.

"How did he get in here?" a boy with the beads and robes of a monk, and a very un-monk-like scowl, growled. He held a long, rough staff in a fighting stance.

"I walked through the door."

"How did you get through the Suzaku wards? Only the Priestess or the Seishi bound to the god Suzaku should be able to get in here.”

“And that’s another problem I need to solve,” Marin said from behind the wall of protectors, her voice shaking a little. “Along with what he’s doing here in the first place. I really don’t need this right now, on top of everything else.”

“Hey, this is all on you, lady. You’re the one who yelled for help, and here I am. So how the hell do I get back home?”

“Show some respect when you speak to the Priestess of Suzaku,” the monk boy snapped.

“I’ll respect Her Worshipfulness plenty when she sends me back where I came from.”

“Does this really look like the time to be arguing about this?” she shouted at him.

“We do not have time for this,” Zifeng interrupted decisively. “There will be another flock of tengu arriving soon, once they realise that the last cohort failed, and while we are safe in here behind Suzaku’s wards we cannot remain here forever. We have to take the Priestess to safety.”

“Yes, but where?” Meixing asked.

“Somewhere where I can work out what went wrong with the Summoning Ceremony,” Marin said. She shot Daisuke a stricken look as she hefted the basket of books a little higher on her shoulder, revealing another deep gouge on the side of her neck.

“And somewhere I can tend to those crow scratches before they turn septic,” a young woman said from the other side of the Temple. She stepped briskly towards them, the stiff white brocade of her gown rustling as it brushed against the stone floor, and reached to tilt Marin’s chin with a practised efficiency. Her lips tightened slightly as she inspected the bloody marks.

“Can it wait a little longer, Xuelian?” Zifeng asked her. “If there is no imminent threat to the Priestess’ health then we need to leave.”

“It will have to,” the young woman said reluctantly. “I don’t like the look of those wounds, but Marin isn’t in immediate danger.”

Daisuke shot a look at the dark-haired Priestess, but she said nothing. Her gaze had dropped to the ground, and in the flickering light it looked like her already pale face was growing paler.

“Then we move now,” the princeling was saying, and he turned to the doors. “Stay close, and keep the Priestess under cover.”

“Even him?” the young monk asked, jerking his head towards Daisuke.

“We are not leaving him behind,” Marin spoke up, lifting her head.

“Daisuke,” Daisuke said casually.

“What?”

“My name is Daisuke.”

“Marin Hoshimiya,” she told him vaguely, her attention stil focused on the princeling. “Can we finish the introductions when we’re not in mortal danger?”

“Yes, Your Worshipfulness,” Daisuke said mockingly, and followed the source of his current predicament out of the doors.

“We will make for the Zhuque Gate,” Zifeng decided, and Daisuke noted the way his eyes were already scanning the horizon, but the brightening dawn sky remained clear with no specks of black to mar it. The group moved across the broad terrace towards the steps, and Daisuke found himself falling in beside the Priestess.

The chaos out here was as bad as the northern doors had been. There was a litter of pennants and musical instruments everywhere, as if people in the middle of a celebration had abandoned them and run. Crows lay in pitiful little heaps of feather and bone and broken wings, but some of the bodies were human, with shattered swords in their hands. A woman lay slumped under a broken piece of balustrade, her eyes still blankly open under the deep red claw marks scored across her face.

“Oh, gods, there were still people here when it started,” Daisuke heard the Marin’s horrified whisper, and he glanced over at her. The Priestess’ face was paper white beside him, her attention fixed on the unmoving mounds.

“So what’s a classy girl like you doing in a place like this?” he asked, and she shot a distracted look in his direction, her attention pulled away from the bloody chaos, as he’d intended. “Where is this, anyway? Ancient China? Have we travelled back in time?”

“Not exactly.”

“What are those things, anyway?” he asked curiously. He nudged one limp little heap with the toe of his shoe as he passed, and it shed a few feathers. A black beak knocked against the stones as he rolled it over. They were definitely crows.

“Tengu,” Marin said shortly. “Crow demons. They live for mischief and destruction, and one’s a nuisance but in a flock like that they’re deadly. You should be dead now, fighting them with just that little knife of yours.”

“Hey, I’m tougher than I look,” he protested. She shot him a flat look.

“Are you as crazy as you looked, fighting a flock of tengu with a teeny tiny knife?”

“So, tengu,” Daisuke deflected, not sure he liked the direction things were going, but at least she had a bit of colour back in her face now, and she didn’t look like she was going to throw up anymore. He glanced around him. “That doesn’t sound like they should fit in here. It doesn’t sound very Chinese to me.”

“No, they’re not. But this isn’t exactly China.”

“Well, I don’t know where this is,” he said in some exasperation. “I just know it’s not home, and it’s not Japan, and frankly I don’t care where we are as long as I get home soon.”

“For whatever I did that dragged you here, I’m sorry, okay?” she snapped back. “I really didn’t mean to pull anyone else into this mess. I’ve been fasting for three days now for that damn ceremony, and I’m tired, and in case you haven’t noticed we’re in the middle of a crisis here. As soon as I have a moment to think straight I will work out how I brought you here and I will send you home, because the gods above know that I really don’t want to spend another minute dealing with you on top of everything else.”

She broke off with an angry gasp as the group passed under another row of elaborate gates carved and painted with fantastical creatures. Daisuke looked up into the curious eyes of yet another red and gold bird staring down at him with its wings outspread, and he scowled up at it.

Beyond the gates, the broad street in front of them boiled with chaos. Everyone seemed to by scrambling to get out of the way, the street choked with carts and overturned baskets. The air was loud with the noise of shouting, braying animals, and crying children. Some of the shops closest to the Temple had their awnings pulled down and an abandoned air about them, and scattered fruit rolled in the street to be trampled underfoot. The battle in the Temple grounds had clearly spilled into the streets beyond as people had escaped from the tengu attack.

Daisuke glanced to the right, where the Temple street opened up into the main street. He could see helmets moving towards them against the flow of the crowd, their red plumes and tassels bobbing as they ran.

“Not that way,” Meixing insisted behind him. “I’m not risking going back to the palace.”

In the distance, Daisuke heard the sonorous boom of a massive drum, and a deep bell began to toll over the city. Zifeng came to a stop, holding up a hand. For a brief moment, the scrambling crowd around them seemed to freeze, carters and scholars and soldiers with their heads all turned towards the south as the bell continued to toll and the drum thundered its cryptic message.

Zifeng’s serene face betrayed a crease of tension as he exchanged a look with the shadow guy.

“The city is under attack,” Zifeng said quietly. “Which means that the gates will be closing, and our retreat is restricted. The Imperial Guards will be searching for us, or rather for the Priestess and the Princess.”

“I’m not going back there,” Meixing repeated fiercely. “And you need me if we’re going to try to summon Suzaku again.”

“We don’t have much time,” the shadow guy said to Zifeng. “The tengu will regroup and return soon. And the southern gates are no longer an option, if I’m reading the drum code right. That’s where the attack is coming from.”

“We make for the harbour,” Zifeng decided. “It will take us an hour or so to reach there, but that is our best chance, and my family has a ship berthed there.”

He turned to the rest of the group. “We will have to split up. Tian Zhen, take the Princess and Xuelian with you. Do you know the way to the western docks? Keep heading downhill, and look for the ship with the vermilion bird on the hull when you get there. Xuelian can get you past any checkpoints. Do not use your power unless you have no other choice, Tian Zhen. We do not want to draw attention if we can avoid it. And Meixing, no heroics.”

He held the young girl’s gaze for a long moment until she gave a reluctant nod.

“Zhu Yi,” Zifeng turned to the archer. “You and Zhang Yong should skirt around the inner walls until you get to the Liang Gate. That will be one of the last to close.”

He pivoted to the shadow warrior. “Jing Yun…”

“I’m with the Priestess,” Jing Yun said pleasantly, his hands tucked casually in his belt. “Your powers are formidable, but you need to keep her out of sight of the tengu and the guards, and you’ll need my… skills.”

“You can get us past the outer gates?”

“I have a plan.”

“Does it involve your Suzaku-given talents?”

“We might need to save that for emergencies,” Jing Yun said, and Zifeng nodded.

As the others divided up and melted into the crowd, leaving Zifeng and Jing Yun with Marin, Daisuke caught the speculative look that Zifeng gave him. Marin must have seen it too.

“He’s with me,” she told him firmly.

“Am I?” Daisuke asked drily.

“What’s your alternative?” she shot back.

Daisuke glanced around at the street and the buildings and world that looked like it was straight out of ancient China. The bell still rang its sonorous warning of a city under attack, and the drums rumbled over the city. He had no idea where he was, or how to get home. He turned back to the girl who had somehow brought him here.

“You have a point,” he conceded.

They set off again, and Daisuke lost track of the houses and shops they passed. He heard someone calling out to offer fortunes told and futures revealed, and a sharp voice cutting over the noise to announce the freshest fish in the city. Men in faded livery jogged past carrying swaying sedan chairs. At the edge of the road, a group of children were kicking a leather ball between them. The pandemonium of the tengu didn’t seem to have spread this far from the Temple, and the warning drums hadn’t stirred panic yet in spite of the black specks circling the sky above them. A few people turned towards the sound, but there was no urgency in their faces yet

Jing Yun led them through the crowds, past the noisy baskets full of ducks and the poles covered in dried eels, dodging close to the teetering towers of ceramics and the bright piles of cloth.

Daisuke didn’t realise what he was up to until he stopped in front of a small brick building that had seen better days. The sign hanging over the doorway looked as though it had been stripped of all but the barest hints of blue and gold.

“This is your plan?!” Zifeng said in an outraged half-whisper. “To break into a guard house and steal armour?”

“Seems like a good plan to me,” Daisuke put in, and Zifeng turned a frigid stare on him.

“Can you think of a better way to stay out of sight and get through the outer gates?” Jing Yun muttered, his attention on the padlock on the door. Daisuke raised an eyebrow as Jing Yun slipped a thin piece of metal out of his sleeve and fitted it into the lock.

“You have got to teach me how to do that,” he said enviously. Jing Yun looked up with a grin.

And the door swung open.

“What’s more important here?” Jing Yun asked Zifeng reasonably. “Playing by the rules, or keeping our Priestess safe? The city guards are looking for us, and the tengu are still hunting, and it seems like a bad idea to be arguing about this in the middle of the street.”

“Can we decide quickly what we’re going to do, because the longer we stand here the more chance there is that we’ll be caught,” Marin interjected, and Zifeng’s frozen look melted a little.

“Your safety is paramount,” he conceded.

Jing Yun stepped inside without waiting for Zifeng’s approval. Daisuke was stopped as Zifeng blocked him, his eyes grim in his perfect face. There was a challenge in that look.

Zifeng said darkly, “Perhaps we should leave him here.” Marin turned on him.

“How many times do I have to say it?” she snarled. “Somehow I brought Daisuke here, and he’s a part of all of this. He’s my responsibility, so until I work out what’s going on and how to make it right and send him back to Tokyo, and how to save the whole damn world, then he’s coming with us. So stop trying to thwart me, Zifeng!”

Zifeng had backed up a startled step.

“Marin, this is not like you,” he said, and Marin’s face crumpled with guilt and fatigue. She buried her face in her hands.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice sounding exhausted and on the verge of tears. “I’m really sorry. I’m just… so tired, and the world keeps spinning around me, and I screwed up the ceremony somehow and now there are tengu and demons and people dying and I don’t know how to fix it!” she wailed softly.

Daisuke shoved his hands into his pockets to stop himself from reaching out to comfort her. He didn’t think that her two protectors would appreciate a dangerous stranger touching their Priestess. She lifted her face from her hands, a lost look in her eyes as she turned to Daisuke.

“I’ll fix this. I will fix this and get you home,” she said with the weight of the world in her voice.

“Then let’s get you somewhere safe so we can work it all out and get home again,” Daisuke told her gently, and held the watch house door open for her. She passed inside, and as Daisuke moved to follow her he found his path blocked again by Zifeng, whose perfect features were rigid with fury.

“You heard the lady,” Daisuke said cheerfully. “I’m with her.”

And he pushed past Zifeng into the watch house.

[lisatelramor]

A Witch Afoot

The last DCMK/DNAngel crossover fic for the moment, written for the random prompt of Akako-Satoshi: Entangled

Ordinarily Satoshi wouldn’t bother being involved with a heist that Dark isn’t involved in. He’s seen the note, different methodology in its warning, different handwriting, different signature, different thief. But unfortunately for him, the thief is interested in a Hikari work, and anything Hikari falls under Satoshi’s responsibility.

The necklace in question is a ruby set in silver with elaborate enamel backing; quite pretty objectively speaking, but the Eternal Heart is one of the more obscure Hikari works. It was a gift to a lover by one of Satoshi’s ancestors, and not even a work of one of the more notable ancestors. The man had been one of Krad’s tamers, died young, and possessed no great magical talent. The artwork had a spark, yes, but it didn’t have the breath of life most Hikari works had. Somehow it had still managed to gain a reputation as a sort of longevity booster. The lover had lived to a good age, as had each successive descendant to wear the necklace until the latest had decided to have it displayed instead of wearing it.

She should have just kept it private. Not even Dark would have wanted it if she had. Now there is a thief Satoshi only knew about in passing after it and a high likelihood that Dark would show up just for the hell of it.

Satoshi hates his family. Even the harmless artworks bring nothing good back to him.

The inspector brought in for this clashes with Saehara, each of them obnoxiously loud and prone to jumping on the slightest hint of a clue even when none were present. Satoshi doesn’t know much about this Kaitou Kid, but if his methods are anywhere remotely similar to Dark’s, he would have a simple time waltzing in under disguise in this chaos. No amount of face pinching is going to hold up for long and half the police present barely know the other half.

Satoshi leaves the inspectors to their squabbling. The usual traps set for Dark are active and the case is riddled with its own fail safes. The defenses there are about as good as they are going to get, and likely just as useless as ever. His focus is on the escape routes. If the thief is like Dark—and he has heard that this thief also enjoys escaping through the sky—then he will likely choose a similar route. And if Dark does show up after all, well, Satoshi will be in position for that as well.

He is just settling into the perfect vantage point when he sees a teenage girl creeping down a stairwell. It is not Harada Risa for once, nor her sister. Satoshi doesn’t recognize the poker straight dark red hair or her face. She is in a ridiculously revealing outfit, a cropped top and tight pants with a red scarf looped around her hips. The outfit is made to catch and draw the eye, not hide, but she moves like she is trying to avoid notice. She stooped a few feet away from Satoshi’s hiding place to stick a piece of paper against one of floor tiles.

There is a tingling rush of magic in Satoshi’s other sense. A witch. Krad stirs in the back of his mind. Satoshi blanks his emotions.

“What are you doing?” He abandons his hiding place. The girl whirls, her magic swirling like the afterimage of a rearing snake around her. She looks at him and…smiles?

“Just setting up a little something for a certain thief,” she says. There’s magic lacing her voice, magic in her footsteps as she approaches, and Satoshi can feel it crowding his mind. There is an awful lot of bare skin showing on her. Especially leading toward her cleavage—why his eyes are drawn there he isn’t sure; Satoshi doesn’t have any interest in that sort of thing. “I suppose you’d be the White Feather?” she says, but that last bit is more to herself than for Satoshi.

It chills him though, snapping through her attempt to ensnare him. She almost succeeded too. Satoshi narrows his eyes. The girl smiles, bright red lips and perfect eyebrows over reddish-brown eyes. “It’s not polite to enchant someone on the first meeting,” Satoshi says.

“That’s exactly the time to do it,” the girl counters. “First impressions are the most lasting.” There is a hint of teeth in her smile. Elsewhere shouting starts. The heist is on. “I don’t mean to trespass on another practitioner’s territory, but the thief is mine you see.”

“Is he.” The spell she placed moments before felt like a binding of some sort.

There are definitely teeth in her smile. “He just hasn’t accepted that yet.”

“I’m afraid you’re interfering with police matters,” Satoshi says. Detached, for she is the sort of magic user that feeds off emotions and twisting them to her will. Lucky for him that he doesn’t have an access of such things for her to toy with. “And you’re interfering with a personal grudge.”

“Against Kid?”

“Against anyone who touches family artwork.”

There is a shift in the air. The girl is an arm’s length away, and then closer, her magic reaching for Satoshi. It’s automatic to raise his own in response, and that rouses Krad, splitting his concentration down the middle. It’s a silent struggle of wills, Satoshi against the pressure on both sides to give in. He could win if he just took out his brushes, but he will not. He doesn’t need his family’s methods, doesn’t need—

A hand touches his jaw, tilts his face up and her face is a breath away from his. Lips brush his. Satoshi jerks back, losing his concentration, letting her magic batter up against him in tight tangles. Krad sweeps to the forefront of his mind and drags on that bit of magic that triggers the shift. His bones ache and fire lances down his back.

The hallway explodes into smoke and chaos.

Two inspectors and half a dozen officers barrel after a cackling figure dressed in white. It’s distracting enough that the enchantress loses her grip and even Krad is left momentarily stunned. Satoshi grits his teeth and wrenches back into control.

“Akako-hime!” the man in white calls. Kid, it has to be Kid, but what sort of thief wears white? “How lovely to see you!” He dodges a tackle and jumps neatly over one of the traps meant for Dark—a pit trap that the officers all fall into. Their shrieks are cut off as the floor closes over them. What is the point of traps when they catch the police instead of the thief? Kid bounces past, somehow avoiding the entirety of the enchantress’s trap. “Good evening to you too, Detective!” he chirps before heading up the stairs.

So much for Satoshi’s vantage point.

The girl hisses between her teeth and chases after him.

Odd. Satoshi was sure Dark would show up. There’s not much point in chasing after Kid now, not when he’s probably reached the rooftop. Instead Satoshi finds the release button for the pit trap. The unhappy voices of eight police officers echo up at him.

“I’ll go find a rope,” he says, not caring if they can hear him over the profanity being spouted or not. His back still aches. And he almost got caught by a love spell of all things. Pathetic, Krad sneers, still awake and ready to try and pull control away at the slightest hint of weakness. Satoshi ignores him.

Satoshi has succeeded in finding a rope (and releasing almost a dozen police officers from their own traps. This is just embarrassing) when the white suited thief lands in front of him. He has the witch from earlier unconscious and slung over one shoulder.

Satoshi reaches for his handcuffs.

“No need for that,” the thief says. He twists his hand and in a puff of white smoke, the Eternal Heart is dangling from his gloved fist. “It seems this isn’t what I was looking for after all.” He tosses it. The silver and gemstone glint in the low light. Satoshi catches it. Its magic recognizes the Hikari blood in him and warms beneath his touch; he could change it, shape it to what he wanted and it would respond happily.

“You’re returning it?”

“I overheard it’s personally important to you. Figured I’d give it back now instead of later.” Kid grins. It is odd how much a bit of shadow and a monocle managed to hide his face. Maybe he has magic of his own too. If he’s using it though, Satoshi can’t feel it.

“What kind of thief returns what he steals?!”

Satoshi and Kid look as one to the man in the police uniform watching this exchange. Satoshi grabs his handcuffs and lunges. Dark rips off his disguise, leaping back with his wings spread wide.

Dark points at Kid. “You’re a freaking disgrace to the name of thieves everywhere! And wearing white! What the hell is even wrong with you?!”

Kid bows. “Kaitou Kid, Moonlit Magician at your service. I happen to be a gentleman thief, and would hardly keep what I don’t need.”

“The whole point of stealing is to take what’s not yours!”

“Something you’d know very well, Dark,” Satoshi says. He catches one of Dark’s ankles sending him crashing back to the ground with a yelp. Satoshi manages to cuff one of his wrists but Dark squirms free before he can do more than that.

With a powerful beat of wings, Dark lands on top of the roof. “Ha! You’re slipping, Commander!” The Eternal Heart dangles from his hand. “If the moron in white doesn’t want it, I’ll be glad to take it off your hands.”

“Rude,” Kid mutters.

Krad yanks on Satoshi’s magic and Satoshi winces. He is not. Feeling. Anything.

“Want me to get it back?” Kid offers.

Okay, he’s feeling something, but it isn’t anything Krad can use. Satoshi laughs incredulously. Kid should have flown away already. “Dark,” he calls. “That necklace belongs to a young woman whose family has had it for over a century. I’m sure she’d be overjoyed to hear that Dark stole it back for her from Kaitou Kid.”

“Stop trying to manipulate me Hiwatari. You’re not good at it.” Dark’s wings block out the moon. “Thanks for the necklace. See you around!”

Well, it had been worth a shot. If Satoshi is lucky, maybe Daisuke would talk Dark into giving it back. Dark is susceptible to the gratitude of a pretty young woman after all.

Kid lets out a low whistle. “Well, that was different. When you free Nakamori-keibu, let him know I tried to return the gem, ok?” Kid gives a bow. “And sorry for Akako-hime. She’s determined to catch me in her own way.”

Kid presses some sort of button on his suit and was hauled upward. Satoshi watches him go with Krad’s frustration bubbling hard enough that it felt like his own. Please let them never cross paths again.

Later, after all the officers are free and the traps are reset or removed, Satoshi examines the spell the witch set earlier. It’s a binding spell all right, one meant to turn whoever tripped it into her obedient servant. Satoshi leaves it there with a seal of his own over top to keep it dormant. Next time Dark has a heist, he’ll remove his seal and see if Dark trips it off.

[dnangelic]

PUBLIC / PRIVATE INFO.

PUBLIC. info available to everyone.

dark is an infamous criminal phantom thief, although his 'true identity' remains a mystery. azumano, as his main operative center, loves and loathes him the most, and his influence completely dominates the entire province like it's his own little miniature country: a single word of his appearance or the announcement of a calling card warning can send huge, hundreds-of-persons stampedes in any direction.

likewise, there's always someone reporting on him, and his heists are typically broadcast on live television or radio. he's just as well known for giving out lots of fan-service too, and doesn't mind indulging photograph or autograph requests, though he always refuses interviews. it's no secret that he loves to show his face and play with all the flattery and frustration that comes with it from fans to law-enforcement alike, but he never gives away anything too personal - the vast, vast majority only know his appearance as a roughly 17 year old, his overwhelming fame, and his name.

the wings (or any other part of dark's appearance, like his freaky slit eyes/retractable talons/lack of fingerprint/regular body temp) aren't a secret, but they are also considered a deep mystery. nobody knows how they work, but canonically, 'nobody in azumano denies that people can fly' either. off-heist spottings do happen: there are many times when dark's flying over that ordinary people will witness the heavy shadow of enormous wings, and dark often swiftly becomes part of its seven mysteries at any school daisuke attends. dark's feathers are also often left behind in various locations and can be treated as a collector's item.

dark mainly targets hikari artworks, but he can and has targeted others, ranging from priceless rarities to no-name, entirely unguarded others. he seemingly has little particular standard or qualification for his artistic targets and personally says that it doesn't matter what he takes, so long as everything that he wants becomes his - this is, in fact, half true.

dark also sometimes just ... doesn't show up. or he shows up late compared to his arrival time. (this is due to daisuke having his own life and not devoting it utterly to being a phantom thief. seriously. he ditched once to go on a date with a girl instead of steal.) dark will also abandon a heist if poor weather happens to hit - he doesn't like to steal in conditions such as rain or snow.

on daisuke's side of things, he's generally considered an ordinary, if not somewhat boring person (at best) or a clumsy, spacey loser (at worst) within his school. other students know him as someone who's almost drowned in swim class, who's fallen off a cliff during a class hike, who gets lost, zones out and wanders off and ends up separated from groups easily, who has semi-poor grades... etc. the general consensus is that while he's nice, he's also a bit of a weirdo who gets caught up in trouble every once in a while.

his current 'friends' include saehara and sekimoto. saehara is an agressive wannabe-reporter whose only ambition is to reveal dark's true identity, and his father is an azumano inspector also tasked with capturing dark. satoshi hiwatari, who's currently head of the azumano police department (as well as the current last of the hikari) abides by a daylight truce around daisuke, and daisuke does consider him a friend. apart from hiwatari who is entirely aware of dark's identity and the niwa and hikari family's history, nobody suspects daisuke of being dark--- not even in the slightest, given how 'different' they are, and thus likewise how impossible it seems.

daisuke's involved with his school's art club. there are times he can't make it and has to leave early if he's scheduled for a heist, but he does enjoy his time at club and often spends what he can working on personal projects until late in the afternoon. many of the other members note that he always works hard and tries to demonstrate kindness by offering to clean things up or staying behind a little whenever he can, but his own connection and appreciation of the arts is fairly well-known and undeniable.

SEMIPUBLIC. info available to some general groups.

the niwa family firmly established themselves as an ancestral family of master thieves (in other words, as a 'proper' family business devoutly training its children in thievery) around 500 years ago. dark's existence goes beyond that, starting from 2000 years ago. within the 'present,' dark has only just recently returned after a 40 year period absence.

dark has never been caught and jailed by ordinary human means in any sort of way that he hadn't initially planned for. if he's ever in a prison, it's because he wants to be there, and he is most definitely leaving with something in his hands that didn't initially belong to him.

there are hikari disciple-descendants within the world who are aware of the hikari artwork's magic. one of these includes funabashi, a student who goes to daisuke's school. the niwa family occasionally collaborates with these individuals for one reason or another, or also sometimes loosely employs bodyguards to watch over dark/daisuke. <- this is also available to ordinary, other criminal families who are willing to take a job babysitting daisuke, more or less.

likewise, the niwa family does handle a variety of cursed objects. they'll buy, retrieve (steal) and store enchanted items whether benign, beneficial or dangerous within the mansion's endless basement. this includes anything from small rings to swords to magnificent statues. curses that can be lifted will be, while ones that are too dangerous are simply sealed or put to sleep - this is where daisuke's status as a 'tamer' (or, literally translated, wing-lord,) of the arts comes from.

the family doesn't usually sell artworks on the blackmarket, but if they do, there's a very strict window qualifications. the niwa family won't let anything magical or overly powerful fall into anybody's hands; artworks sold are generally nothing more than ordinary, albeit still beautiful artworks fenced.

the family is still mind-blowingly wealthy!! daisuke lives in massive, multi-story mansion, though he always just refers to it as his 'home.' it's hard to miss the house itself, though it does have a reputation as being 'impenetrable-' visitors have to ring a bell and announce themselves to even get past the outside gate, (and this is because it's insanely, fatally layered with traps from top to bottom by daisuke's mother who has to disable them.) the family has a butler, it has a maid - who are also artworks, but still.

wiz, dark's familiar and daisuke's pet, transforms with him. the two are indispensable for each other during heists as MANY of dark's tricks rely on wiz and duplicity - thanks to wiz being able to transform not only into dark's wings but also people, including dark himself, he commonly appears in two places at once, making him all that much more difficult to catch. wiz is also considered a mystery - nobody has connected that the small white rabbit often riding on daisuke's shoulder is also the enormous black-winged dog-like thing that sometimes shows up during dark's heists.

PRIVATE. info that should only be known by very, very few.

daisuke's transformations into dark are, of course, amongst his most deepest secrets. despite its uncontrollable tendency just about only his family knows about dark and the way the family curse/genes work - that he transforms whenever his heart starts to pound.

dark himself not even being human is something he guards and treats somewhat as a secret - he was created and manifested within the niwa bloodline as this gene mutation due to a magical accident between an ancient niwa and an ancient hikari. the cultural revolution, a catastrophic event in which mass artworks were burnt and destroyed, was the result of his birth, and the beginning of dark's 'betrayal' against the hikari, his technically-creators, and his choice to steal.

this forges a metaphorical chain that binds dark to the artworks and his self-imposed duty/existence as a phantom thief. in tandem with his selfishness is an immense guilt that motivates him to steal away whatever artworks he can before the hikari, or merely time and neglect, destroy everything - he's usually seeking to preserve what's left.

dark does not have any sort of power or talent to fix (or create!) the artworks, (merely, at best, sustain them for just a little longer,) and he laments this. when a magical artwork breaks, without the power of a hikari, it's as good as dead.

generally speaking, and apart from wiz, dark and daisuke are usually expected to carry out their heists alone, but anyone in the family, most typically his mother, decides upon targets and sets out the warning cards. everyone in the family assists in whatever ways they can during a preparation phase- this means gathering building blueprints, radio information, general background knowledge or hearsay, etc.

daisuke's father is a researcher who specializes in magical artifacts and cursed objects, daisuke's grandfather was also dark, and daisuke's mother is all-around the most enthusiastic person in the family who's trained daisuke since birth, and also preps and readies dark's costumes for him. generally speaking, daisuke still gets the most difficult part(s) of actually committing the heist, and is thus usually left to plan things on his own with dark.

daisuke's genes have mutated. he's unique compared to the rest of the niwa because of this, being the closest to completely merge and 'become one' with dark. getting shot during the process halted their total unification, but they've still become intertwined in a way that 'dark is visible within daisuke' and 'daisuke is visible within dark.' empath muses or people with sixth spiritual senses/magical truth-seeing eyes do your thing here.

daisuke is extremely physically capable. it isn't just dark who can do incredible acrobatic movements or has bewildering reflexes or a catlike quiet when he walks. daisuke typically hides or dulls his movements down when in public, but apart from appearances, there's genuinely no difference in capability between himself and dark. this also applies to things like skill in hacking, lock-picking, wilderness survival, etc.

dark himself is capable of all sorts of magic. memory manipulation, elemental control, invisible force, etc, just about anything you can think of --- dark cannot, however, typically abuse these abilities as the magic takes a very powerful toll on daisuke's body. small tricks like putting someone to sleep or a small flame, enough to light a candle is no problem, but a full-scale wizard battle will leave him / daisuke unconscious for days if he doesn't have some kind of magical regulatory handicap equipment.

dark and daisuke being able to cross worlds through works of art is also generally kept a secret. as long as daisuke's capable of perfectly recreating a particular scenery from azumano, like his home or his room, he can always return home, or vice versa for other locations - but he does have to be careful as he can only move through these 'passageways' with dark's power, and likewise in dark's form.

daisuke will not let dark kill. dark himself alone can get very close to inhumanly murderous points, but as long as he's merged with daisuke, taking a life of any sort is generally off the table. more than a few serious attempts have been made on dark and daisuke's life, however - and they've got the scars to show for it, though these are generally covered up.

dark generally thinks eating is a pain and a chore and not his to deal with - it's daisuke's body, after all. if he has to consume something for calories for daisuke's sake, it's probably going to be a drink, or something like a smoothie or a milkshake, if he's not hand-fed by somebody. he and daisuke both have a sweet-tooth lean and are bad with overly spicy foods - 'why is this a secret?' because daisuke doesn't want people to know you can easily lure and tempt him around with fruit and candy.

[mintaka14]

Stars and Fire

A Fushigi Yuugi fanfiction

By Mintaka14

  Opening the Book

 Falling too fast to prepare for this

Tripping in the world could be dangerous

[Whatever It Takes: Imagine Dragons]

 Daisuke Sukunami felt a heat wash through him as he strode past the neon-lit shops, and he missed a step, involuntarily clutching at his chest as a sudden pain pulled at him like a demand. He had just enough time to think Eighteen is too young to die of a heart attack, and then it was gone as suddenly as it had clawed at his heart.

He stood there, shoulders hunched and dark red hair falling over his eyes, one hand still clenched in the t-shirt over his heart, until the lighter he’d been toying with caught his fingers and singed them. It dropped from his hand and bounced into the darkness of an alleyway. For a second, he was distracted by the brief, tiny arc of red-gold light as the lighter tumbled and spat little sparks that glittered and died before it had even hit the ground. Then there was a soft crunch as something crushed it underfoot and shifted.

The figure muttered, “What is this place?” The voice was oddly accented, and all Daisuke could make out in the shadows of the alley was the dark, angular shape of a man about his own height. “There is no god here, just this boy.”

A deeper shadow whispered harshly, “He must be tied to the Priestess, or else we should not have been drawn to this place to find him.”

“Are you sure he is why we’re here?”

A third voice hissed in sharp reprimand, and Daisuke casually eased his hand into the pocket of his black leather jacket, and out again. Any sane person would be running by now; Daisuke’s brother would have said that the inference of that should be obvious. There was a faint snick as he flipped his butterfly knife open.

“Let us end this, so we can go home,” the third one commanded.

When three dark, birdlike figures flew at him out of the alleyway, Daisuke was ready, loose and balanced with his blade in his hand. There was a flurry of robes in the sickly yellow glare of the streetlights and Daisuke faltered for one brief moment as he got his first clear look at his assailants. Their black eyes and beaky noses were almost human, but the feathers sprouting from their arms, which Daisuke had initially mistaken for ragged black coats, were definitely not.

Daisuke jolted into action and spun out of the way as nails like claws raked the air. He brought his knife up to meet the first one in a smooth movement. There was a hiss of pain. His foot snapped into the creature’s side, smashing it against the pole of the streetlight. There was the grinding sound of bones breaking, and another one flew at his face, catching him before he could react. Daisuke hit the ground, rolled, and came up breathing hard. His hand moved swiftly, shooting out to smash into the jaw of the second bird-man, his foot sweeping around to drive it to the ground and it stayed there, unmoving. And the third was above him, claws drawing blood as Daisuke quickly twisted out of the way. He felt blood drip down the side of his face, and ignored it, watching the creature with narrowed eyes.

“Where is He?” the creature demanded savagely. “Where is Suzaku?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Daisuke said, his eyes still fixed on the crow-thing.

With a strange, fluttering sound, it rushed upon him, and Daisuke stood his ground. He faced it, watching. Then his hand shot out, driving the knife deep into its ribs. The thing fell with a sick crack and an explosion of black crow feathers.

Daisuke stood immobile, watching the rain of feathers without any expression in his hazel eyes for a long moment. As the last few black feathers drifted into the gutter, he stared down at the crumpled remains of three crows lying in the street. He prodded one cautiously with the toe of his sneaker, but when a stray breeze ruffled the feathers of its broken wing he pulled back abruptly. Daisuke turned on his heel and broke into a fast walk. He refused to run.

The tiny, dilapidated shops and neon signs that flickered and zapped in the warm summer air gave way to narrower streets and close stone embankments spilling over with creepers and flowering vines. Houses perched over the steep flights of steps as he hurried down them, leaping several steps at a time and swinging around the steel railing. Light shone down from the windows as the shadows outside grew deeper. Without looking, Daisuke turned abruptly in at one of the gates, letting it slam behind him as he hurried up the narrow path and into the front door.

Leaning against the doorframe to pull his shoe off, Daisuke touched the cut at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. His hand was shaking a little.

"Ow," he muttered. He kicked the other shoe to one side and closed the door, frowning as he glanced at the other pair of shoes placed precisely together in the entrance. Hikari was home, which meant that dinner would be a series of disapproving lectures from his big brother.

"Daisuke?"

He winced. "I'm home, Mama," he called out, and managed to reach the foot of the stairs before she came to the door of the kitchen. He froze.

"Dinner's nearly ready," she told him brightly, blowing a hunk of toffee-brown hair out of her eyes as she wiped her hands on her apron. "You are planning on eating tonight?"

"Later, Mama." He grinned at her, and winced as the cut puckered. She reached up to touch it, frowning. The frown deepened as she got a good look at the dried blood on his cheek.

"Oh, Daisuke," she said reprovingly. "What kind of trouble have you been getting into this time? I thought you were going to try and stay out of fights now." She absently tidied her son's red hair, straightening his collar, and he pulled a face.

"Mama!"

Her fingers found a feather caught under the collar of his leather jacket, and she pulled it free, staring at it. “Where did this come from? What exactly have you been up to tonight?”

“It’s nothing. I’m fine, really.”

He turned back to the stairs, not wanting to deal with the weirdness himself, let alone try to explain it to his mother.

“And don’t think I don’t know you’ve been skipping school again,” his mother called after him. “Dinner in five minutes, young man. Your father will be back soon, and Hikari’s home for the weekend. I want the whole family together tonight.”

He lifted a hand in acknowledgement and kept going. Once inside his room, he shut the door firmly and leaned his back against it, tipping his head to rest on the cool wood.

“... Help me ...”

Daisuke’s head lifted abruptly at the words, startled into a swift glance around his room, but of course he was alone. He stilled, listening for the girl’s voice that had called for help, but there was nothing. No sounds came from the street outside, or the neighbours. He couldn’t even hear his mother clattering around in the kitchen, as she would be before dinner. Everything was unnervingly still. He considered his room more slowly, looking for something out of place.

At first, he didn't notice the book on his desk. Everything else was as it should be, his schoolbag slung in one corner and a trail of clothes scattered across the floor where he’d left them that morning. The poster of the constellations over his bed was as it had been since he was five. The jumble of matchboxes and lighters he’d collected spilled across the shelf beside his bed. A notebook, fallen open on the beginning of a story sketch in his hand, lay half-hidden under his pillow.

And there was a book on his desk that had most definitely not been there that morning. It looked old, and the cloth cover was faded red, with black script trailing down it. The brown leather binding was frayed and cracked in places.

Daisuke stared blankly around the room with a queer sensation of dislocation, shaking his head to try and get rid of the cry for help that seemed to be echoing through his mind. He reached out to touch the book's thick cloth cover.

“... Help me! ...”

He looked up sharply as the words breathed through his skull again, sending chills down the back of his neck. Unthinkingly, he lifted the book and its pages fell open in his hands as he turned.

“HELP ME!”

The girl’s voice screamed in desperation, and the world exploded into fiery red light, blinding him and ripping through him like glass. Daisuke felt himself cry out in fear as the world was torn away from him and flung him into the roaring void. Fire poured around him and through him for an eternity as the flesh was burned from his bones. There was nothing left but pain, searing along his nerves…

And then there was cool stone under his hands.

He crouched there for a moment longer, waiting for the ground to stop feeling like it was rippling under him. The fire faded.

Daisuke blinked, lifting his head slowly as his vision cleared to stare at the red wood and white stone columns around him, and turned his face up to the vaulted rafters above.

"Well, fuck," he said.