Archive of Our Own

 Mirror

When he first sees the flecks of gold in his eyes it frightens him, is Krad trying to come back? But no, there is no touch of Krad’s thoughts against his own. Perhaps the curse being broken forever has resulted in a bit of Krad’s magic left behind, maybe Niwa-no he corrects himself Daisuke, Daisuke, no more trying to distance himself from the other boy by reminding himself that they were born to be enemies, (it hadn’t worked anyway.)Maybe Daisuke has the same thing happening to him, if that’s the case then he shouldn’t worry.
 Later that day the first thing he notices about his friend is the violet in amongst the red-brown irises as they walk to school together. 

Freedom

He had never expected to have any, or to live past the sealing for that matter, and it is hard to believe sometimes that he has his freedom now, and a long life ahead of him. But the curse is broken, all three Hikari curses are broken, short life expectancy, Krad, and magic art, although the last is debatable, just because his magic does other things now and he can safely create art doesn’t mean his art is normal, there is something more to it than normal art has.

Sky

All the sky is his to explore and he has never flown before on his own. The first time his wings sprout he is frightened and startled, frightened by the fact that he has wings of his own, and startled by the fact that they hadn’t hurt as they grew. He shifts one a bit clumsily, learning to move it, and is surprised at how natural it feels. The sun is setting he realizes as a glance up shows him red sky out the window, and against the pink, red, and orange was a splotch of darker red, moving this way and that, wheeling and diving. Instinctively he knows what the red splotch is, or rather who. Unthinking he goes to the door to the outer stairs, opens it, and spreads his wings, leaping skyward and flying towards the sunset and the red winged shape soaring there. Another wing beat and Daisuke smiles at him and turns away, throwing an over the shoulder glance inviting him to play. They chase and race each other through the sky until the sun is down completely, and only then realize how long they have explored the sky as they swoop down to land in unison. For the first time all evening they speak. “Can we fly together again Satoshi?”
And he answers without thinking, “Yes, whenever we can I will share the skies with you.”

Thrill

When Daisuke told him about storm diving and lightning dodging, Satoshi wondered if his friend was insane even thinking about it, and the fact that apparently Dark had loved doing those things was not at all comforting. He had said that. ‘No he was not trying things as risky as that without working his way up to it first.’ So his friend had suggested plummeting and soaring instead, and reluctantly Satoshi had agreed. Oh it was not at all what he had imagined, there was no fear in falling or spinning wildly, it was thrilling and exhilarating. He realized he was laughing, as he switched from falling to gliding for the third time that night. He and Daisuke fly circles and spirals around each other and swoop downward sharply again. This is what it means to truly fly on his own to control his course in the sky instead of watching from captivity in the back of his own mind. He thinks he may understand Krad a little better now, he knows he would be angry if someone tried to keep him from the sky.

Spring

He had never been fond of the season but now he has more reason to dislike it. He can hardly move without shedding blue feathers, which feels very strange when his wings aren’t even there at the moment. Hopefully this molting will be over soon, about the only consolation is that no one sees him like this. At least he isn’t the only one who’s shedding feathers. But he really hadn’t expected limbs that were only half real and not always there because they are magical to molt.

Feathers

It is a great relief that his feathers are not white like Krads were, he has a hard enough time trying to disassociate the fact that he has wings from the memories of those more painful times. If his wings were white feathered it would be too much a reminder of harder times. And if Krad had left that much of a mark on him that white wings came at need he would probably do something desperate and stupid.

Great

He is stunned to find that Daisuke knows nothing about the Hikari works and didn’t even know about the magic or Dark until after the first transformation. What were the Niwa thinking! Daisuke could’ve been killed by not knowing anything about the Greater and Lesser works
of magic.

Close

He can be close to others now without fear of Krad breaking out of his mind. But despite that there is no more need to fear social contact he still is not very good at it due to his long isolation.
It is ironic that the one who was born as his enemy is his closest friend and confidant. But they have been through too much together, even saving each other’s lives multiple times despite what their families would say, to not have a close bond with each other.  Although many would be upset that he is closer to Daisuke than to his girlfriend if they knew about it, he will never have with Risa what he has with Daisuke, who is his first and best friend, partner, confidant, companion in the sky, and the reason he is still alive to have all of this.

Longing

For most of his life he had longed for freedom from the family curse and the Duty he had been born to, even going to the extreme of attempting to destroy his own body so long as he took Krad with him. But now he learns the price of that freedom he longed for, to be magic, to need to fly and use his magic. And he now feels a constant longing for the skies ever since he first flew on his own wings, but all in all, even with this price, the freedom he longed for is worth it.

Pain

For a long time when he practices calling his wings he expects pain, like the pain that came with Krad forcing a transformation, including wings from a body that was never meant to have them, with magic clashing against magic under his skin, his own magic, and Krad’s fighting; almost tearing him apart. Taking to the skies now is nothing like that, and the scars on his shoulders are fading remarkably fast, in fact they seem fainter every time he retracts his wings.

Dreams

The first time he dreams of an empty expanse of nothingness and Krad in the middle of it, he thinks that it is not surprising to dream of a recent painful past. By the fifth time however he wonders if it is not just a dream, especially with the way Krad was always silent, watching him inscrutably but with what seemed hope. If he had been revisiting the past in dreams than Krad would not be so silent, but he is.  The sixth time finds himself here he says “Why do you haunt me still Krad, will I never be free of you?”
And is startled to hear Krad speak in a rather hoarse voice, “I didn’t expect to see you again Master Satoshi, how are you here?” Krad’s voice is not the cool self-assured tones that he remembers, nor does it have the bitter taunting note that it usually had. But the tone is familiar, and he remembers Krad was like this in the week after they first met, when he was very sick, Krad had been worried and had probably kept him alive, with no one to check in on him. And due to his own stubbornness no one knew he was sick and delirious, —but he had turned fourteen on the second day of the fever, and Krad had woken and worried. He hadn’t been able to get up even to feed himself but he had woken up to see a thermos of instant soup at his bedside. And a white feather next to it.  He had forgotten about that until now, hearing that tone again. He had written Krad helping him heal off as a delirious dream, because his next experience with the family curse was Krad urging him to kill his friend and Dark both, but now he realized that it had been real.

Warmth

Curled up together in a tangle of arms, legs, and wings, after enjoying the sunlight and privacy to fly, I realize this is the warmest I have ever been as I doze off. A sudden pressure on my right wing makes me crack an eye open at a rustle of feathers and I see red obscuring my vision, Daisuke had evidently shifted in sleep. Extracting my right wing from where it had somehow been half pinned under him, I then stretch it out and drape it over us like a blanket. Now more comfortable in this position than having him lying on my wing I attempt to go back to sleep. I am warmed from the embrace of wings, and from the companionship of my first friend, who was so lucky to be born a Niwa. —Unable to resist I carefully shift until my hand is resting on his wing, half buried in the down, and run my fingers through his feathers. He makes a cute noise in his sleep that sounds almost like a purring kitten in response to my touch. Lulled by his purr and the warmth of our feathers I smile and drift off to sleep again.

Stars

When he flies he prefers to look ahead and up, keeping his gaze fixed on the stars above as the city falls away. They are so much brighter up here against the night with no other lights to get in the way, like diamonds against velvet. He is above the wispy clouds now, and the stars are brighter still with no clouds in the way. It is when he realizes the full moon hangs larger now and is ahead of him that he snaps out of his reverie. Just in time too as a streak of crimson darts past, obscuring the moon and turning to hover near him, wings beating at a slow, steady pace, just enough to stay relatively near. Satoshi matches his friend’s movements easily; aided by that instinctive understanding the two of them had discovered how to reach two weeks after they had made the choice. For a while they fly together in companionable silence and then as the moon begins to sink towards the horizon they turn towards each other again. His friend tilts his head and an impression of ‘we should probably land soon’ comes across in a whisper light brush against his thoughts.
No matter how many times they’ve ‘spoken’ like this it is still unnerving, but at these heights it’s more practical that trying to speak aloud. ‘Yes’ he thinks back, ‘we should.’
A ripple of amusement, ‘Race you back.’ And his friend drops into a diving swoop, gaining speed as he turns back toward the city they had left so far behind. Satoshi flashes a quick grin and turns on a wingtip, chasing his friend from higher above as he tries something new, forcing magic into every feather on his wings. It worked, he is picking up speed faster than usual, ahead and above of Daisuke now he dives past his friend, zipping past the startled red blur as his wings start to sting from the magic. He stops boosting his flight (he was using the way that their feathers can be charged to zip through things like knives on the feathers on his wings) and twists midair, flashing a triumphant grin at his friend before corkscrewing in a dive back to the town.

Clan

Daisuke doesn’t know how lucky he is to be born a Niwa, their so warm and nice. Weird in comparison to other families but nice, the clan is scattered and the legacy secret. But his life was nothing like what I went through growing up as the heir to the Hikari clan. I was raised in the Academy to be their perfect tool, heir to the cursed legacy in the main line and also the last possible heir to the leadership of the clan. If I hadn’t been destined to carry Krad I would’ve been made a puppet ruler, but no one would dare train Krad’s future host to be a puppet, because of the consequences they would face when Krad woke again. All the history to know, and worst was being taught everything that would happen to me eventually, and then nearly as bad were all those mantras to learn; ‘deprive a Niwa of his wings, he cannot steal Hikari things’ and ‘kill your heart, and do not hold anything dear to you so that he may not appear.’ The history neglected to mention how Krad became a terror in the first place, hated and feared from the very beginning, and given no chance for understanding as Dark was by the Niwas. Krad had learned his cruelty from the early Hikari and their hate. I do not hate Krad, I can’t, I hated what he did, what he wanted to do, but I never hated him. I understood him, more than I ever wanted to. I do however hate my clan, and find Daisuke’s idea about what to do to them highly appealing. Going there as we truly are, playing up the magical aspect of it, maybe bluffing that we have Dark and Krad’s full power, and threatening to break things, It needs a bit of work on details but not a lot.

Itch

Another thing he hates about molting in spring is the itching, as feathers fall out there is a lot of itching on limbs that aren’t always there to itch. And although scratching does help there are places he just can’t reach. If anyone had been present to see the ‘Ice prince’ as half the school called him, losing his temper over an itch. Well, his reputation would’ve changed drastically, not that he cares about reputation one way or the other. He spends most of that miserable week with his wings fully out just to relieve the itch somewhat, it does help. When on the second day Daisuke comes over to visit and trails red feathers behind him , the two of them spent most of that day commiserating over molting, and helping each other preen the itching about to fall feathers out a bit more comfortably than just falling out randomly, which had caused half the itching.

Magic

“Do you regret it? ”
Violet flecked garnets meet his own blue and gold for a long moment. “Choosing magic? No, I have no regrets.”
“Even with this?” He indicates the gash that is healing over visibly, one would hardly know it had happened five minutes ago with how faded it is. It looks at least a week old now.
A nod “Even with this.” The gash on his hand is now nearly invisible.
“So now on the list of peculiar magic that we have is flight, anything with the feathers, Barriers, a larger capacity for magic than is humanly possible, and distinctly inhuman magic, as well as limited telepathy, and an odd coordination in flight that results in the fact that somehow even when surprised we never collide midair, plus the newly discovered fast healing.”
“Add the way we never get cold even when flying in winter to the list, I still haven’t figured out how to do that on purpose, and the way we have no problems with rapid altitude changes and I think that’s everything.”

 Apprentice

When Daisuke said that he would be out of town for a few days, looking for a descendant of Dark's apprentice and asking me to cover for him I was shocked, I didn’t even know Dark had an apprentice, and I said as much.
“I didn’t know either until last night,” Daisuke said “but apparently about seventy years ago, when he was with my great-grandfather, he saw potential in a street kid and took him under his wing, literally. The kid became a good thief and worthy of the title Kaitou, and he took the name Kuroba in honor of Dark. Dark told me that he promised to look in on that family when he could, and that he looked in when he was with Grandpa. He sprung this on me in last night’s meeting and asked me to look in for him.”
I sighed, “Alright I’ll cover for you at school and with the Harada’s, but you have to deal with your family on your own. And I want to hear all about it when you get back if there is anything interesting to hear.” Because a family whose main influence was Dark and managed to catch his eye, sounds like there will be things to hear about when Daisuke comes back. “Who knows, I might even want to meet them.”

Watching

 He watches Daisuke try fruitlessly to clean the algae out of his feathers, they had misjudged their landing last night and while he had managed to just tumble onto the sandy lake-shore, his friend had landed in the lake and emerged wet and covered in algae. They had gotten as much of it off Daisuke as they could at night, and decided to deal with the rest in the morning. Now Daisuke seems to be having trouble with some parts; Satoshi silently stands, padding over to kneel just behind his friend, reaching for the ruffled left wing. As his hand makes contact with ruffled red feathers Daisuke gasps. ‘May I help?’ he offers silently, smoothing down the feathers, just so, and bits of algae come away as he reaches the base of those ruffled feathers. Hesitation, comes across their link and then feelings of ‘assent’ and ‘comfort’. Carefully Satoshi helps preen his friend’s wings, one feather at a time, feeling quiet contentment seep across to his mind as he reaches the soft down at the base of the wing, watching the shimmering red appear as the algae and dirt falls away at his touch. His friend is nearly purring as he starts on the other wing, and to his surprise feels a light pressure on his own right wing. He stifles a smile; it seems his friend wants to return the favor. ‘May I ? ' a questioning thought touches his own and he sends back ‘assent.’  And they spend the morning in companionable silence, preening each other’s wings.

Crystal

He was often compared to ice, seemingly cold and sharp and blank as ice. But even the hardest ice crystals thaw in warmth. And although almost no one knew this was so, he had thawed in the warmth of Daisuke’s offer of friendship; the ice crystal was no longer a good comparison to him.
For crystals of ice melt and crystals of glass shatter, but the magic that he had become might endure forever. If he resembles any crystal it is the deep sapphire and his friend the burning ruby, both long lasting and with more value than simple beauty that most covet them for, unknowing of the other qualities of these gems.

Comfort

No matter that everyone thinks Risa is his girlfriend they are just friends. It is comforting to know that a normal human can accept him for what he is, but that’s all there is to it. He wants to get used to having a future and the life he has as half magic before thinking about romance. Anyway, she may only be his second friend ever and the only purely human one, but she is also his tie to humanity,  which is more important for him to have than for Daisuke to have, after all Daisuke has the comfort of his clan. But he is alone, with a close friend in the same situation as him, but no one to remind him of what it is to be human.

Alone

Sometimes he flies alone, although he prefers to share the skies with Daisuke and suspects that his friend feels the same way, there are times when the pressures of life behind masks get to be too much and he escapes into the sky for stress relief. He’s been alone for so long that sometimes human or almost human companionship becomes overwhelming, and he takes to the skies on his own, for the freedom to simply be what he is. At those times his awareness of Daisuke fades to the back of his mind, becoming almost quiescent, with nothing coming through other than a very general awareness that his friend is there if he needs him. That is a comfort though, as it reminds him that there will always be someone if he needs companionship, and even alone he is not lonely.

Empty

The phrase ‘empty air’ is a lie; just because there is nothing visible doesn’t mean it is empty. Air currents, silky, sinuous, and steely strong certainly are not empty air. Nor are the clouds that we dive in and out of as we play in the night sky empty air. They are wet and fun to use as cover for ambushing each other, or simply skinning the upper surface of a cloud layer and trying to get closer to the clouds while not being the one to touch them first. I bank left to where there is a slight dip in the clouds and skim it, Daisuke attempts to match me, but his toes trail in the clouds and I know that my flash of ‘triumph’ just crossed our link, and my partner knows he lost.

Tomorrow

It is strange how when the two of us fly high enough we can see the dawn of tomorrow before it should be visible from the ground.  And as I lie on the wind, wings in the slow steady beat for a high altitude hover, I watch the dawn rise. It is strange how up here tomorrow becomes today, but when I land it is tomorrow again, because the dawn hasn’t touched the visible sky from the ground.

Wings

It is amazing how natural it feels to have wings, how flight came as easily as breathing, although some of the trickier things such as quick turns and dodges he had to figure out by trial and error. But the knowledge of how to move them to take off, fly, soar, glide, and land is seemingly instinctive. Some of that may be residual muscle memory from Krad, but there is more than what he remembers Krad doing. However he knows how to do this, whether it is just that the magic is instinctive, or something more, he can fly on his own Sliver-blue wings and what does it matter how he knows what to do; the fact is he does know.

Niwa

 ‘That clan is insane’ I decide, jumping a pit trap in the front hallway, and hearing a splash from it. At least it seems most of the traps have been disabled, thank goodness. But if this is what Daisuke went through growing up then it’s no wonder I could never catch him. Darts shoot out of the walls, there is a banana peel on the floor and another pit trap, several wall mounted lasers and an electrified door. They may not be the arrogant self-important stick-in-the-mud traditionalists that my clan is, but they make up for it with the quirks.

Wind

Hovering above the clouds, watching his friend dive in and out of them exultantly makes Satoshi wonder if perhaps wind racing is more fun than he had imagined. Daisuke bursts out of the clouds again and Satoshi feels ‘exhilaration’ hum into his mind. Suddenly feeling playful, he dives, shooting past Daisuke and into the cloud layer while sending ‘challenge’ across to him. Flaring his wings Satoshi catches the edge of an air current and darts into it, soaring in the front of the current, using the boost to gain speed, and then erupting out of the clouds. This is much more fun than he had dreamed it could ever be, and of course the chance to startle his friend doesn’t hurt either.

Fight
Twist, dodge, and flare wings in a stall just in time to avoid a feather barrage, retaliate with mixed blades and explosive feathers. Use the time gained by this to form a barrier and build up a multilayered barrage of feather-bombs, then drop the barrier and send all of them out to explode at once. The edge of the blast rattles Daisuke, although he had a barrier of his own up I see. Using the moment I gained with that blast I boost my flight and aim for the clouds, vanishing in them with ease, my light silver-blue feathers blend in better than my partner’s flame red would.
Wizard
“So, you’re sick of it too huh?” Satoshi looked up from where he had been hiding behind his book from the Potter fans Vs. the Twilight fans, and their argument which had now been going for four days straight whenever there was free time. “What gave it away?” he asked Daisuke.
“The doodle on your canvas earlier of books burning helped, but mostly I know you. And even Riku picked a side because she likes Potter, gah, magic doesn’t work like that.” 
“I know, but at least you haven’t had people comparing you to Edward Cullen. Just because I’m not very good at being social, and have pale skin, and they never see me eat, and am stronger than I look, they compare me to a vampire.” Satoshi finished his rant; luckily no one seemed to have heard him over the argument.
“Tell me about it” Daisuke agreed with a sigh. “At least no one knows what we are, then it would probably be worse.”
"Agreed. Lets go back to eating on the roof until this blows over."
"Good idea." Daisuke said as Satoshi grabbed his bag, suiting actions to words and heading for the roof.

Safe

In the dream world everything is strange, I never did hate Krad to begin with, though I hated what he did, and now I remember that he probably saved my life. But to just sit here in this place between dreams and reality, with Krad a silent companion in this realm of nothingness that seems to be beyond the seal of the Black wings, is utterly surreal. Being here with Krad fees safe somehow, in a way much like when Daisuke and I just enjoy each other’s company ant the fact that together we do not need to pretend. But to feel that here, now, with Krad? It’s astounding and shocking how his wings, the originals of my own, are so warm and soft over us. I think I am beginning to feel for Krad what Daisuke felt and probably still feels for Dark, that he is family.
And with this version of Krad, I honestly don’t mind. This time I feel safe enough to tell Krad about the changes that Daisuke and I are undergoing, and the reaction I get is not what I would’ve been expecting if I’d been expecting anything. “So the thief wasn’t lying.”  I sit up, “You can talk to Dark?”
 “Some, I prefer not to. You are much better company than he is, but we were one long ago, and we may have been apart too long to return to what we were then, but we don’t fight anymore. After all, what would be the point now?” I nod and ask “So Daisuke told, Dark, who told you, that the two of us are becoming more magic and less human, do either of you have any clue why this is happening?”  Krad doesn’t reply, instead he stares at me and I suddenly realize that my own wings just appeared. I hadn’t called them consciously, which I need to do if I want them in the world, but it seems the rules are different here.  “This is…” Krad murmurs and reaches out. I’ve never seen him like this, and don’t realize that he was reaching for my wings until his hand reaches the right one disbelievingly. At the brush of his fingers I stiffen, but can’t quite pull the wing away.

Invitation

So Daisuke wants me to go to Takeshi’s costume party, just so the two of us can flaunt our wings and inhumanity under everyone’s noses, without them knowing that we really are what we look like… Sounds like fun.  I grin “That is an utterly devious plan and I wouldn’t have thought it of you.”
“So you don’t think it’s a good idea?” he questions over the phone.
“No, I think it’s a risky idea but it’s not like anyone will figure us out” I snort, “after all, its Takeshi’s party, and he’s not likely to make the connection.”

Costume

So many people wanted to know how Daisuke and I made our costumes and how they were so realistic, of course we didn’t answer. It felt very strange to be out in public like this with no worry about being seen as we are. And really it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Thankfully Daisuke doesn’t seem to have realized that I’m wearing the one set of Krad’s clothes that somehow stayed in the world, (don’t ask me how that worked though because I have no clue) although it’s probably less recognizable without the flowing outer layer that had pink lining (I really need to ask him tonight why the pink.) But the wrap with gold lining is pretty recognizable, so maybe Daisuke just didn’t want to talk about it now. Actually that’s probably it.
A thought touches my mind ‘Satoshi’ Oh; it seems that he just didn’t want to bring it up out loud. ‘Yes?’ I send back, fixing my eyes on where he is sitting across the room with Riku the kitsune,who seems to be enjoying the chance to pet his wings.
‘That costume looks rather like part of Krad’s outfit, is that what it is?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘Why?’
‘The dream-meetings have changed things, and I remember now that he probably saved my life when I turned fourteen. I was very sick.’
‘Oh. Incoming!’ 
“Hey, you seem interested in that wall, is there someone you like there? Oh, I know, you’re looking at fairy princess Risa aren’t you?”  I turn and fix Takeshi with my iciest stare. “No, I was just thinking.”  ‘Can’t talk anymore, Takeshi turned up.’ ‘Yeah, I see. Later then?’
‘Later.’

Theft

‘Satoshi,’ I sat up as a foreign thought brushed my mind ‘I don’t know if our link reaches this far but I’m on my way home.’ ‘Where are you?’ I sent back.
‘On my way back, by air.’ Amusement colored this thought and I snickered, so he’s flying home on the wing huh, be a good chance to see how long we can sustain flight without landing, the only things that have made us land have been sunrise, because people would wonder where we are, or magic exhaustion because we over did it on our magic practice. ‘See how long you can fly without landing would you? It would be nice to know how long we can stay airborne.’ A feeling of assent touched my mind and I expected him to pull away now, but worry and unease seeped across, though I doubt he was trying to convey anything.  Curious I asked ‘What has you worried?’ 
‘You felt that?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Well… have you heard about the Kaitou Kid, Tokyo jewel thief?’  I began to have a bad feeling about what came next. But I answered anyway ‘Yes.’
‘Guess who it is.’
My bad feeling solidified. ‘The heir?’
‘Yes, I watched a heist and recognized some techniques, that was how I knew I’d found the right Kuroba family. But that’s not what has me worried Satoshi. Kaito is looking for Pandora.’
I felt ice shoot down my spine at that.  If the gem of immortality is known to be more than a legend we need to find it fast. If the idiot who made it is still around every magic user in both our clans wants to have a word with him. ‘He wants to be immortal?’ I questioned. ‘I would’ve thought better of someone whose family learned from Dark.’
‘No, he doesn’t want immortality. He wants to destroy it to keep it out of the hands of someone who does want immortality. And given the fact that Kaito is nowhere near old enough to be the first Kid, and the death of his father, I think that whoever he wants to keep it from is willing to kill for it.’
I swallowed hard. ‘I’ll hit the books; look for the last known sightings of Pandora, as well as just what it looks like. That one should never have been made, even my clan agree on this, and considering my clan’s attitude to magic artifacts runs something along the lines of there are never too many…’
‘I get it. I’ll hit the books as soon as I get back too.’
‘Daisuke… if we can’t find much on it in writing… we may need to network.’
‘Network?’
‘Your clan may leave most of the sealing to the main line, but they are all over the place.’
‘Surprise’, hummed along our link, and then ‘thoughtfulness, consideration, acquiescence.’ I closed my eyes for a moment and steeled my nerves, hoping I wouldn’t need to do what I had just thought of, even if it was a logical next step from the Niwa network.
‘Satoshi ?’
He caught my unease it seems, but then I caught his.  I answered his unasked question ‘I may need to search the clan library and see if anyone there knows anything.’
‘Oh.’ Concern, rippled across to me, and then, determination. ‘If it comes to that… I’ll go with you.’
‘Thank you’

Locks

He will never cease to be amazed by Daisuke’s skill with locks, even though his friend is the Niwa heir and Dark's former partner, he is sure that it used to take his friend longer to open them. He is probably the only Hikari in history to have gotten a demonstration of Niwa lock picking, as opposed to having seen it in use aiding an escape. Much less to be given lessons on locks from a Niwa. Daisuke’s fingers blur over the keypad, and Satoshi stiffens at a tingle of magic.
“Why are you using-” he blurts out and then silently finishes ‘-magic?’
“I’m not doing it on purpose. And I don’t always realize when I’m doing it, have you got any idea how this is happening?” Satoshi thought for a moment. “Locks are your specialty, so maybe your magic boosts what you’re already good at.” ‘I think that’s how my clan got their start before they learned to harness it.’
‘Oh’

Might

He soars in the storm’ s might, twisting, darting, diving and wheeling, there and he twists aside before lightning strikes.  Catching a current he rides the wind at the heart of the storm upwards, and breaches the top of the clouds, easy wing beats keeping him steady in the calmer winds at this altitude. One, two,now! He dives, and lets all tightly held control slip, for here there was no control. It just wasn't possible. There was no time to think, no time to plan. All he could do was move. So that was what he did. He ducked and weaved. Darting in and out of the rolling clouds in a deadly but beautiful dance. His only partner the wind and a red blur that came near and away again, reveling as he did in the storms might as they flirted with bits of lightning. Seeing just how close they could get to the dangerous phenomenon, and then up again. Each beat of great wings propelling him to the height above the clouds for storm-diving, now that there was no more lightning to dodge.

Flying

Gliding on the night wind isn’t the wild exhilaration of the storms, but it is in some ways better. The entire world is there below our sight, with the distance turning city lights to stars beneath, and the night sky above and around us. We can travel so far at this altitude, simply by diving and swooping, and have at times been known to leave the city behind completely in our exploration of the skies.

Tempest

We climbed hard and also covered ground at a tremendous rate of speed, through the tumultuous clouds.  We leveled out on the topside of the storm, hovered for a moment looking at each other, my partner’s red and violet eyes meeting my blue and gold, then dove simultaneously, shrieking in delight. The wind snatched our screams as we dropped into a canyon created by the clouds. I dodged the lightening, and dipped from one side to the other, compensating for some of the turbulence that wracked these storms, my eyes fixed on the red winged figure a bit ahead of me. We then leveled out a little and raced for the wild wind that ran at the head of the storm. Then lifted, right before we reached the great horizontal vortex that the massive front was pushing along, and it was timed perfectly as we rode the crest and inserted ourselves into the wave. We surfed the curl, picking up even more speed as the powerful wind helped push us along. I shot along the tunnel of wind and at the edge of control I tightened my wings in. Then we reached the end of the vortex and with the wave threatening to crash over us; we came rocketing out of the clouds to soar into a rain filled sky. It was impossible to tell how much of the exhilaration I was feeling was mine and how much was Daisuke’s, for we were both adrenalin high.

Choice

I could never have easily returned to being human, having never known a normal life to begin with. So when we were given the choice I knew that I didn’t really have one, but feared that my only friend would chose to return to that normal life he is lucky enough to have had before this all began. So when Daisuke’s response to the fact that we had a choice was not a quick ‘I give up my magic’ but instead ‘we need to think about this’ I was overjoyed. And when we came to tell the Eternal Guide our decision, I managed to sum up all of the feelings I had about this in one sentence “It would cost more to give up magic than it could possibly cost to keep it.”

Sleep

I don’t fear sleep anymore, even with the way I meet Krad in my dreams, what with him no longer being the monster he was while bound to me. Ironic that he only became someone I could stand having been part of my life after there was no more chance for that to happen. But I sleep, dream of Krad, wake up, and often haven’t gotten enough sleep that I should be functional in the day, yet somehow feel well rested in spite of this. It seems that one of the effects of magic is that less sleep is necessary, and given that Daisuke and I only really dare fly at night that’s a good thing.

Need

When I realized that if we didn’t get a chance to fly we’d go stir crazy it was after the stir craziness started to happen, unfortunately. But ever since then we have made sure that there is time to fly as we need to, for since we first touched the sky, and felt the wind under our own wings, we have walked the earth with our eyes turned skywards, for there we have been, and there we always long to return. We need the freedom of the skies for our own peace of mind, and to keep our magic levels manageable, because if we don’t burn up some of it with supporting the existence of wings we just have a constant build up that is dangerously easy to use without meaning to. I suspect that a state like this is the only way we might be able to use the sort of raw magic bolts that Dark and Krad were throwing around in the fight over the rutile, but neither of us really wants to do that as anything more than to find out if we can.

 Trap

 I no longer live trapped in an emotional cage of my own making to bind Krad still, and I‘m never going back to that again. I live free now, with only the constraints I choose for myself to limit me; and those are to keep my magic in check more than anything. I dare feel now; I can care, laugh and love as I choose. I can have friends, and I can tell my clan that I will never be ruled by tradition again. Let them try to trap me; I have more magic than they do all put together, and I have the Niwa heir on my side.

Love

Nothing compares to freedom of the skies that I love. Calm, wildly windy, tempestuous, stormy or clear, I love all of the moods of the sky. I think that is due to the change though, because I used to hate getting wet, but now if I am drenched because I was flying I do not care, for my love of the skies surpasses that. 

Brothers

There are no words for my relationship with Daisuke, or with Krad for that matter; if not for Daisuke I would be dead. And though Krad is the reason I would be dead, now that we are no longer so inseparably bound together and he is somewhat saner, I care for him too. Friends, partners, brothers, none of those words truly fit; but they are the closest there are.

Twilight

Without a doubt, the best time for flight is the twilight hour, late enough that no one is likely to look for us, but early enough that we can still catch some sunlight. Also there are more thermals, which neither of us had even thought about until that island trip Daisuke suggested, which is how we found out what it can be like to fly fully free, with no fear of discovery, because even at night someone might see us while stargazing.

Flight

He pities humans, he realizes one night, they can’t know the sky and the lift of the winds, or the sight of the world from so high above the ground. And then he realizes that he had just thought humans as if he isn’t one, which while technically true now is frightening that he thinks that way. He wonders when he began to think that way, but then comes an insistent brush against his mind ‘why sad partner? Concern, affection. Play? Our time of freedom not for moping. This last was gently chiding. He shakes off his reverie and turns easily, circling higher to catch his friend.

Memory

He remembers pain from the white wings tearing through his shoulders, and taunts from the sharp, agile mind that had shadowed his own, looming, ready to pounce at any sign of weakness. Now he can form wings of his own with a thought and there is no pain, only a slight tingle, and he spends every sleeping hour with Krad who had shadowed his mind, now a good friend and someone he might be willing to call family.

Fall

Gravity tore at him as he plummeted downwards, then he snapped his wings open and the fall became a swoop as he pulled up, then arced into a forwards glide, turning the momentum of the fall into speed. Up he soared again and then, just because he could, he flew a spiral up and down, sliding on the wind as the stars and land wheel by. He closed his eyes and took in deep breaths, filled with the smell of the sea (salty, fresh) and the smell of the city (gaseous, artificial). His wings expanded and beat down heavily, even more so than before. He opened his eyes and spread his arms out, as if trying to swallow the entire earth in an embrace. His body tilted sideways and he let his body spin out of control. His heart pounded hardly in his chest, beating wildly in fear. But Satoshi couldn't share that same fear. He felt free, chainless, and boundless. However much his heart beat, he didn't care, the twirl in him spinning faster and faster. His arms shook tiredly from being held up high for too long, but Satoshi didn't drop them. Every sensation was being numbed. All sensation except for the joyous revelation of being free and flying like a bird. Or maybe, dancing with nature, without a care, free to do anything. To twist and turn heedlessly and wildly. Freely. This sheer wild joy is unmatched by anything in the world, for the chance to simply be what he is, uncaring for worry or secrecy. He fell, flew, and dove, aloft on the wild winds under his wings.

Act

Control, was the mantra that he had lived by as long as he could remember. Measure every word, care for nothing, and be as ice. That mantra is forsaken now, and the act of the Ice Prince is gone. He still stays tightly controlled, but only to keep from doing magic without meaning to. He cares and laughs now, well he had cared for Daisuke before he was free, but that’s different.  He can have friends now, and act as he wants to instead of how he was raised to behave. And if his clan finds out and tries to change that, —Let them try, against power the match of a Great Work they will fail, and he will not face them alone either.

Water

I shake the water off my feathers and give Daisuke an affronted look, though I suspect that my mock annoyance is somewhat spoiled by the undercurrent of amusement that I am sure is echoing to his mind, the link is currently open after all. I tense, and then pounce, if I have to get dunked in our secret bay then it’s only fair that he gets wet too. He squawks as we hit the water, and his wings are flailing wildly, splashing water everywhere. I dive, vanishing easily in the water, propelling myself quickly through it, then seeing that he has gotten over his surprise I breach the surface behind him, splashing my partner again. Seeing that he intends to retaliate I form a quick barrier, and we spend a while having a splash fight before dozing off on the shore, wings draped loosely over our bodies.

Earth

The ground grows closer and closer as I dive, leveling out fifteen feet above the earth, then skimming along the hillside. Its times like this that I am glad that one of the less noticeable changes is to vision; things at insane distances and close up objects in the night are equally visible, which considering the way I am skimming the ground is a good thing. The hillside drops suddenly and I veer upwards again, away from the earth and into the sky once more.

Burn

He turns his gaze away from the sunrise and toward the person next to him. “We need to be more careful in the future, he almost got a picture of us.” Red hair shifts as his companion nods.
“I guess this means no more flying before sundown then. At least I doubt we were recognized. Takeshi isn’t good at being quiet even when he’s stunned.”
“We may be able to still fly in the daytime, but only when its stormy and we can vanish in the clouds.” He doesn’t add that the need for those flights to burn up the excess magic that a body that’s still mostly human can’t contain despite the changes they’ve undergone means at least five flights every month or risk losing control over magic.

Owl

We are acting more like night owls now, I muse, looking at a toy owl as I wait for Daisuke, although technically since we spend the day awake as much as the nights we aren’t exactly like owls. And there’s Daisuke now, that shade of red is unmistakable, even in crowds. And there are the Haradas next to him, joy, if Risa tries to get me to be her boyfriend again I swear… I’m just not ready for romance. We’re fourteen for crying out loud, and I for one am still working on trying to be less socially inept before I even think about that sort of thing. Her insistence that we double date with Riku and Daisuke is a pain, she may have grown up from the silly girl who decided she wanted to marry Dark without knowing the first thing about him, but she’s still a birdbrain. I admit I’m somewhat fond of her, but she’s just a friend, nothing more. Now if only I could get her to understand that, but oh well.

Forsaken

The Dream of the Forsaken was a deceptive piece of art, showing a peaceful meadow at sunset to the casual eye, but if you looked more closely the red sunset and clouds became fire licking at the heels of indistinct cloudy silhouettes that were ensnared by the tops of the trees on the meadows edge.  As deceptive in its magic as in its looks, it was quite a monkey’s paw. Satoshi felt his magic surge into the seal, then suddenly the drain stopped and the Dream of the Forsaken was simply a painting. There was nothing about it anymore that made one want to look again, that drew every eye to it and invoked admiration for the way the sunset glowed. ‘There, it’s done.’  Laughter danced through his mind,
‘You kind of overdid it on the magic there.’ His partner ‘said’.
‘That’s why you had me do this seal.’ Satoshi pointed out as they turned to go ‘because I need the control practice.’  
‘Yep! But you were putting so much into it that I felt my magic try to drain to you through the link.’
‘No wonder I feel so low on power.’
‘Yeah, here.'
Magic tingled and suddenly Satoshi felt his partner's power surge into himself. 'What did you do?!'
'I lent you some of my power reserves, I thought if you almost drew from me by accident I could lend you some on purpose.'

Seekers
So, here we are at the one place I would’ve been happy never to see again, clan heir’s duty be dammed. The Hikari Academy. And I brought Daisuke with me, a Niwa to the home of their enemies, because the library might have something on Pandora. Thus we have to seek out said knowledge, if it exists. We circle for a few minutes, spiraling downwards and I see that my hated relatives have realized that we aren’t birds as the shadows of our wings grow larger. A crowd gathers and I see one of my most hated teachers pointing at us in what seems to be shock, he must think that we are Dark and Krad together; after all, not even the Tamers can have wings of their own. We land and it’s clear my clan is in shock, taking advantage of the element of surprise I announce “The feud is over and the Black Wings is sealed. Krad left me with his power and Dark did likewise to his tamer.” Play along Daisuke, remember the plan.’
‘Uh huh. Got it.’
“We are all that they were, but unrestricted by the conditions that held them.” I raise my voice.  “I am Satoshi Hikari, last Tamer to Krad, and heir to his power. I am the last heir to the leadership of clan Hikari. Pandora has resurfaced and I want everyone who knows anything about it to tell me. I also want the library searched for anything about where it has been and what it looks like now.”
I fold my wings but don’t banish them, just as a reminder as to what I am now, when dealing with my cursed clan I need every intimidation factor I can manage.  ‘Don’t hide your wings Daisuke, let everyone here see us for what we are.’  That old teacher is still spluttering at my statements; despite me being the destined host for their beloved golden eyed Krad, who they loved and feared, that man hated me.
Daisuke has my back as for a moment I flash back to my time as a child here, he says loudly “So this is your clan partner? I hadn’t expected quite this reception to the return of the clan heir.”  One of the people at the front of the crowd speaks up, I think his name is Ashiya, the other rebel against tradition in my clan and the one blood relative I am somewhat fond of for all the trouble he caused everyone else. “Is that a Niwa?!” there is hidden glee in his tone. “Dark’s former tamer, the heir to his power?”  
I incline my head. “As I said, the feud is over. That he is a Niwa is of no importance to anything other than tradition, about which I could care less. Continuing the feud is pointless now, and my partner is indeed Dark’s heir. I said as much earlier, and how else would he have wings?”

Walking

The grass is soft under my feet and the sunlight seems green though the leaves as I climb the little hill to the tree Daisuke likes to just sit under. I can see why he likes this place, it’s so peaceful and within easy walking distance from his house. The sort of spot that even if I didn’t know that magic still exists I could believe that there was some left in this world. 

Hawk

Like a hawk I circle on an updraft, my powerful wings supporting my weight with ease. The world of humans is so far below me that I should be unable to make out more than the outlines of the streets and houses, but I can see far more than that. I see the shore and the bay, and I see the ridge where the Harada house is built, and on the other edge of the bay from there I both see and know that Daisuke’s house is there. My eyes are much sharper than human eyes can be, and the entire city is spread out below me like a living map. I can see the people below me hurrying home in the evening, and from the Niwa house a shape I know as well as my own reflection soars towards me. I dip a wing and turn towards him.  ‘You’re late.’ I try to seem exasperated but it’s hard to fake emotions through our link.

Gentle

How is it that something so gentle can be so fierce, I wonder, remembering Daisuke’s face as we sealed the Maiden’s Song. He had practically burned in our link, and his face had been so still, but his eyes were quite literally glowing in anger. He is normally such a calm, caring person, but in that moment I felt a fury the match of Krad’s at Dark from him. I hope I never see Daisuke like that again. If he loses himself to a magic rage… the gentle person who befriended me and gave me a reason to live, might be lost forever.  While there is a chance that I could call him back to himself through our link, I would rather not have to test that out.

Thunderstorm

 Pain. Sorrow. Heartbroken regret. Desolation. Grief. Loneliness. Slammed into me through the mind link like a thunderbolt, almost knocking me over, Daisuke was hurting and alone, and apparently had lost control over the shields on his end of the link. Actually, from what I was feeling he seemed to have lost control over almost everything. I hurried to the outer door, and leaped into the storm, wings forming and spreading as I leaped. As fast as I could I winged my way towards the flame red figure in the stormy skies, magic sparking around him. The link was so flooded that I couldn’t get through to him when I tried. I had a sinking feeling that I knew what had set my friend and partner off, probably he only just found out about the Haradas. I quickened my flight as the magic crackling around him grew stronger and wilder, and did something that was probably stupid if I took the time to think it over but there wasn’t time at the moment. Darting in front of him I was grateful for the fact that he managed to talk me into lightning dodging, because with the amount of wild magic he was letting of I needed those reflexes.  The reminder of my existence seemed to calm him some, as the magic he was throwing off faded into nothing. But still grief came over our link, and I matched his flight, recognizing it as a desperate attempt to let go of the chill and pain in his heart, and so I echoed his movements, to remind my friend, that I am here, that I care, in case he starts to lose himself to magic again.

Kink

I’ve had these wings for months now, but I still don’t understand them completely. They molt without needing to be solid to shed feathers, and they itch without being there too, so I feel it under my skin until I call them, at which point the sensation moves to where they join my back. Compared to all this the fact that spreading them works kinks out of formerly nonexistent muscles ought to be ordinary, but  is the most puzzling thing of all. Where are my wings when they aren’t real, are they insubstantial? Do they shrink to almost nothing and wait under my shoulder blades until I need them again? I think the last one is most likely sometimes, what with how they feel when I first spread them again. But if that’s the case then how is it that there is no pain from spreading them? My best guess is that my body has changed, in more than just magic but actual physical changes, which allow my wings to exist painlessly.

Motion

Stars and land and clouds blur by, as I corkscrew through the air. I plunge in and out of clouds, twist and dart wildly, and dive only to catch myself at the last minute. Every motion I make near instinctive by now, with all the flying I do. I think that if this is the price I pay for giving up on a human life, it is more than worth it. Especially what with the fact that if I had stayed human I probably wouldn’t have lived long. 

Change

Slowly, bit by bit I am learning to act more like a normal human. I can never change what I am though, and that doesn’t just mean magic. I was raised very differently and live by different rules than the rest of my class, and am grateful for the fact that Daisuke seems to have developed an internal Satoshi-to-English translation dictionary. He understands me, and has since even before we developed a mindlink, I understand him, and most of what normal people say, but I am awful at communicating back. Part of that is just that I have trouble with people the same age as me, oh I can manage well enough if necessary, but the big thing is that I’m smarter than them.  I am a genius and I hate it, it’s just another trait of my cursed bloodline. The change to a creature of magic was easier to deal with than learning to be more social, and I have to take care with how I try to be social or my fangirls get ideas.

Vision

My ancestors had a vision, of a work of art to surpass anything they had made before, and when they didn’t get what they wanted they took it out on Krad for not being what they had wanted. Since they couldn’t catch the Niwa thief who had interrupted things and whom they blamed for the split, they cursed Krad. They feared and hated him, and didn’t have the sense to see that it was a bad idea to have a magical creature more powerful than they were mad at them. I’ve managed to gather this from many nights of those strange ‘not really dreams’ that I share with Krad. Daisuke and I eventually figured out (with input from our former curses which we then put together in the waking world) that the last echoes of the magic that had kept Dark and Krad bound to our bloodlines for so long, tied their minds to ours still. Most of the magic that had maintained that tie had backlashed into us at the sealing of the Black Wings, which is how we became magical ourselves, but there was just enough left in that old channel to keep that tie going. If we had chosen to be human that link would’ve dissipated without having strong magic to anchor both ends, but we chose to be magic, and so the channel stayed, letting our sleeping minds reach beyond the seal and into the Black Wings, while our waking minds reach each other. Needless to say this makes sleep interesting. 

Learn

Slowly I learn how to be human. Although I will never be normal, I can at least hope to fit in. It’s hard, and there are some things I doubt I will ever understand about humanity. It is also disturbing how easily I slip into regarding myself as inhuman, even though it’s true. Oughtn’t I to identify as a human before a creature of magic? Apparently sitting in a corner reading a book doesn’t count as ‘human social interaction’. I’m an introvert, by habit at least, if not by nature, but even if I will never be as social as Daisuke I need to be able to have a casual conversation with other people instead of managing to spook them.  Although people being spooked by me now may be because I am no longer human instead of because of my poor social skills. I’ve seen the way some of our classmates have started to give Daisuke odd looks before shaking their heads, as if on some level they recognize that he isn’t human.

Cooking

He was amused by Daisuke’s shock at the fact that he baked, honestly he’s been taking care of himself for a while. Although he is fully aware that baking doesn’t fit with the image that has grown up around him, and the way he manages to avoid having to participate in the cooking class only adds to that.

Blur

The air is hazy and the dust makes his eyes sting. He wishes they could fly, just to get above the dust, but flight is for nighttime only, unless it’s certain that no one’s likely to see them before they’re high enough to look like birds. They are about due another flight anyway, or they risk magic overload, but the sky-longing is growing stronger more quickly than usual. They will probably go for their third flight of the month tonight; he can see Daisuke shifting restlessly and feel the other’s racing thoughts that signify that his friend is also feeling the sky-longing.  So tonight the stars will witness two figures blurring through the night in a game of airborne tag, as soon as they dare take off.

Now

So many years our clans have been feuding, it’s hard to believe that now that is at an end. Even though Daisuke and I have the power to make that decision as the heirs to our clans, and we have done so. I know my clan was expecting me to die when they sent me to hunt Dark, after all Krad’s Tamers don’t live very long, but I realize now that that man (I can’t make myself call him father) was supposed to make sure I died with Krad instead of letting me return and take the leadership that is my other birthright. No one wanted my line to keep ruling, but as we had the most magic they couldn’t get rid of us either, but I am the only one left and if I had died the leadership would’ve fallen to whoever was the next strongest.  They couldn’t have killed me directly, after all I was going to hold Krad, but they could try to arrange for me to die after this generation’s fight was over and Krad had left me, if I survived holding him that long.

Silence

So much passes between us without a word spoken, and at times like this we don’t even think in words. Our minds touch and flow into one another enough that while we are still two we are also one, in a perfect synchrony that should be impossible, but isn’t for us. At such times we are more like one person in two bodies than two people linked in our minds, and I know what he knows and will do and he knows what I’ll do. It should be frightening, but it’s not, and drawing apart again, after being so close leaves the both of us off balance. But we can’t stay like that too long without risking losing ourselves, our individuality, so we draw apart to where we can only feel each other’s presence if we try to.

History

So much history was destroyed by the cultural reform, and I have a hard time not correcting the history that people know today, because as a Hikari I learned the real history, what with the clan records having been spared the purging that most collections went through. From what Daisuke says the Niwa records also have true records, but are scattered in various caches throughout the world, everywhere that a significant number of Niwa can guard them. I wouldn’t know, it’s not like his mother will let me into the house without having her objections overridden by Daisuke and his father. After all, I am a Hikari by blood, and she only sees my heritage as one of the enemy, not the fact that I care for her son and hate my clan as much as she does.

Wait

He thinks about the things that Daisuke will not, about the day that will soon come when they can no longer hide their agelessness and so must leave. Two and a half years have passed since they chose magic, and the now seventeen year old no-longer mortal duo, having stopped ageing at some point after they turned sixteen, are counting the days until they have to leave. But he knows Daisuke doesn’t think about what it will be like five years from now, ten years from now, as the people they know and that he cares for grow old and the two of them remain untouched by time.  Satoshi knows that Daisuke counts the days with sorrow, while he counts them with anticipation. Everything was thrown off however by Emiko Niwa informing the two of them (well he wasn’t really supposed to hear it and she didn’t want him to know, but he and Daisuke had been linked enough that he had heard through his partners ears) that Towa had felt at least five Hikari artworks activating in the area of the Sunnydale Hellmouth, so they had to be stolen.

Power

Wings spread for a moment, and then he leaps, powerful wing beats propelling him into the sky, into the night. Gliding on the wind he dips a wing and turns in flight, enjoying the caress of the wind in his feathers and under his great wings, more silver than blue in the light of the full moon. Laughter hums across from his partner’s mind to his own as a second figure, aloft on great crimson wings equally large as his own silver-blue, joins him in the sky. The two immortals fly for hours, reveling in the freedom of the sky that came with the power they now hold, every wingbeat and gliding turn easy as breathing by now. On any other night they would be play-fighting or racing wildly through the air in a game of sky tag, with maybe dodging through the windmills to add to the fun, but tonight is different. Full moon nights are for quiet companionship, soaring above water and land, and simply gliding on the wind, rather than playing with magic and going wild.

Claim

When I claimed my birthright, which I would rather not have had to do, I set chaos loose in my clan. There is constant muttering and whispered arguments everywhere I go, and as soon as I make my presence known everyone goes dead silent. I think I frighten them. Good, they should be frightened. I’m looking for an excuse to cause havoc and destroy things; if Daisuke and I didn’t need the records intact I’d have done it already. They sent me out to die, but now I’m back, and stronger than anyone in my line has been for three hundred years. And given that we were in charge because we were stronger magically than any other branch, which is how we managed to survive Krad; well, I’m as strong as a Great Work, and don’t have the limitations that art would, plus I have a grudge against them: they have reason to be frightened. The few good things that have come out of this visit are the chance to be winged without hiding, even if only for intimidation, and telling my clan that the feud is over, while working in subtly that if they try to control me again I will decimate them.

Protection

I have a duty to the world to clean up the mess my distant ancestors made every time they created and then let their work go without binding its power first. Granted, in the beginning they didn’t know what they were making, but by the time the Niwa started to warn them that if they wouldn’t take responsibility the Niwa would protect the world and seal the magic, by any means necessary, the Hikari knew what they were doing. They wouldn’t listen, after all nothing Hikari made would harm its creators, and they didn’t really care about normal humans, so the Niwa began to steal Hikari art and seal it away. Then four hundred years ago someone had the idea to make the Black Wings, a work of art with a life of its own, as if the world needed another one. It was supposed to surpass the three existing Great Works; The Second Hand of Time, the Wedge of Time, and Argentine. The Black Wings was supposed to be four times as strong as any of them, and they were all rather equal in power. What my ancestors got, however, was Dark and Krad. Then in a history making moment of common sense they sealed away the empty shell that was what was left of the Black Wings before it became a power vacuum that would’ve sucked in everything until it sucked in Dark and Krad again. Then they made the Edge of Sorrows about fifty years after that, to break the seal, why they made something with that much potential for causing trouble I don’t know, even granting that they hid it really well , concealing it in another artwork was effective. I mean I was living with the thing and never felt it. Fifty years after the Edge of Sorrows was made the secret of how to create Great Works was lost in the cultural reform, as was most Hikari work. Two hundred and fifteen years after that Towa was created, and her creator managed to do by accident what generations of Hikari had tried to do and failed: he created another Great Work. Now only Towa and Argentine still exist in any meaningful way, but there are still Lesser Works to seal away.

Illusions

I didn’t understand why people daydream of things they can never have, because when the illusionary world they dream of fades away and all that remains is reality, it should only hurt. But I learned why after Daisuke showed me kindness, fully knowing who and what I am and after I hurt him, he smiled at me. Since then I had my own illusion to dream of, a world where I didn’t have to worry about duty, feuds or Krad, and could return what Daisuke gave me without worry. My dream was of freedom that I never expected to see, and I doubt Daisuke realizes that the reason I held on so long was him, with his freedom to live and his affection for me, when I should be the person he hated most in the world. I lived for his smile, for the scraps of true affection, the only care anyone had ever shown for me as a person. That illusion is reality now, I have my freedom and the chance to live, and I can return the care he shows so freely without worry now. He is pretty much the center of my world, and while I realize that it isn’t healthy to be so dependent, I can’t really change. I can only try to learn to live with my freedom, now that I have it. But no matter how much I grow into my freedom, or how many others I may learn to care for, I know I’ll always come running if he calls, and he feels the same.

Recognition

I know forgeries when I see them; it's a bone deep knowledge, because fakes have no depth, no hum of magic to them. All art has something of a magical hum to it; although it's rare for anything not of Hikari make to gain sentience, but there is still a hum to it. The painting that has half the class staring in awe is a good fake, but it is only a fake. Something in this exhibit is not only real but powerful though, and I recognize the feel of a Lesser Work waking up when it happens. I hope it isn't waking up because I'm here. The magic of whatever the Work is has a feel of music to it so it is probably either a musical instrument or a painting of a musician. 'Daisuke, do you feel anything stirring here?'
'Yeah, there's Hikari work here. ' I extend my power a little, searching for whatever it is and the magic flares sharply is it recognizes me, Hikari that I am. 'Whoops'
'What was that?!'
'I was trying to find it, but instead I woke it up.'

Balance

His mind is like fire, so warm and comforting, and strong at need. He is in so many ways my opposite, and once he told me that my mind feels like a river in response to my own observation about how he is fire. But unlike fire he never burns me; in fact his fire only balances the cold I've known so long, if am a river it's because he melted my ice walls. Ice hunter and red feather, fire and water, we balance each other out. Equal opposites, but then opposites attract.

Rest

Daisuke's vibrant scarlet wings, usually splayed out freely whenever they were visible, now drooped limply behind him in sorrow. Satoshi pulled his partner closer, and that seemed to break the dam holding the redhead's tears back. Tears mingled with the rain pouring down on them as Daisuke sobbed into his best friend's shoulder, the human side of him grieving for the loss of Riku now that he had mourned in the way of magic. Satoshi shifted, wrapping his own great wings around the other in an embrace of feathers, and sending a constant thrum of reassurance through their mind link. As Daisuke cried himself to sleep Satoshi sighed, speaking his first words aloud since he had felt Daisuke's pain and joined him in the sky; "Even though they're moving away and it feels like everyone you love is leaving you, rest now Daisuke. I promise I'll stay with you, as long as you want me. You comforted me so many times; let me do the same for you now."

Pride

My ancestors pride in their artwork cursed them and all their descendants' throughout four centuries, and cursed their art even before then. Yet even cursed by their own pride they didn't learn from it. While I can understand to some extent the reason they created still, having felt the drive to do it myself, if I can refrain from giving in to that desire they could've too. Two hundred years ago the clan elders were proud enough to try to mold the current heir into a puppet, and they fell as a result, for the will of someone who had been molded to be easy to manipulate was incapable of holding Krad back and he decided to take vengeance for two centuries of torture and hatred. And according to him Akira, the puppet heir in question was fully on Krad's side anyway. That is why no one tried to mold me into a pliable leader, not with what had happened the only time that had been tried. Though pride was the downfall of many Hikari I can't help being proud of the person I've become, secure in the knowledge that I defied my destiny and all expectations placed upon me to rise beyond the blind hate that fueled a centuries old secret war. Together Daisuke and I ended the feud, and from that and the sealing of the Black Wings came power beyond anything my relatives could imagine.

Elation

The wild joy of flight is something that is alien to a human mind, he suspects. It is too pure and clear in comparison to what he had felt when he was still fully human but with something of magic still, before they made the choice. This all-consuming elation whenever he lets go of restraint in dizzying flight, and the wild thrill of the storms with no fear of the lightning, only a certainty of when to move is not something he could've understood before. But he doesn't always look at the world like a human would, less so when he is like this, and thus understands these feelings.

Fear

They landed rain drenched on Daisuke's balcony, folding their wings but not bothering to banish them now that the secret was out in this house. A jolt of fear slammed into him when, as Daisuke turned to face him, his partner's bi-colored eyes resembled Dark's when he was angry or had been using significant magic: at those times Dark's pupils had become the same cat-slit as Krad's eyes were always. Now Daisuke's pupils were cat-slit.
'What's wrong?' Satoshi sent the image he had seen over the link, and gave Daisuke a moment to realize that was his own eyes.
Bewilderment, realization, surprise' and then 'I guess I know why Riku gave me that look now.'
'Look?' Satoshi questioned.
Daisuke nodded, 'I only visited her once after lightning dodging, and she gave me a look that made me never do that again. I thought that probably a bit more inhumanity than she was comfortable with showed, but I hadn't considered that we had another physical change.'
'We?' Satoshi asked. A moment later what he looked like to Daisuke flashed into his own mind, and his eyes were as catlike as Daisuke's own. He was both shocked and not at the same time; on the one hand if Daisuke's eyes were currently catlike due to the magic at the forefront of his being, then logically the same should be happening with his own. On the other hand he still equated slit pupils to Krad and the gold flecks in amongst the blue suddenly seemed more prominent than before, though they hadn't actually changed any.

Reaction

While the reaction of the Niwa to finding out that Daisuke is changed was surprisingly accepting, their reaction when Towa blurted out that we had both changed was different. Massive freak-out from Daiki, calmness from Kosuke, Emiko being an overprotective lunatic Niwa mother, and rebellious Daisuke telling the lot of them that he and I are friends, that even if I wanted to hurt him he has just as much magic as I do so he can look after himself, and that if they didn't like us being friends they would just have to cope, and that we had both agreed continuing the feud at this point was just stupid. He showed me the memory later too, and I had trouble not laughing at parts of it.

Wild

Magic is not easy to contain when one wasn't meant for it from the beginning, so while most Hikari work has relatively good control (although with some of them it's debatable) Daisuke and I are lucky that our own involuntary magic has manifested as a boost in lock picking for Daisuke, and a boost to my reflexes and agility, instead of say a tendency to breathe life into things I make that aren't art, or for Daisuke to resort to his natural skill before doing things the normal way. But still it crackles under our skin, that buzz of leashed power growing slowly, until we give in to the sky-longing and let go of control, burning up our excess magic in the sky, in games of aerial tag or in practicing what we can do.

Truth

It's hard for me to trust others with myself, and most of my acquaintances are still children compared to me, which doesn't help. In all the world there is only one person who knows the truth about me, not just my magic but who I am, and he is as different as I am. Not even his family knows what I do, although Dark might've known some of it, but it is impossible for the two of us to keep secrets from one another. So we don't try to. He knows everything I kept hidden for so long, and that I hide still from human knowledge. I know and trust he won't tell any of my secrets to anyone… even his nagging family.

Future

With the fact that we are immortal now, I worry about company. Daisuke is a very social creature and will have difficulty if I'm the only company he won't outlive; I don't need much in the way of company as long as I have him, but I will probably eventually want someone else to talk to as well, and if it's possible to do I know he would like to have Dark back with him. I am less enthusiastic about getting our former curses out of the Black Wings, but with Krad as he's become in the two years since the sealing I think I could live with him in my mind. And even my link to Daisuke doesn't quite fill the empty place in my mind where Krad used to be, any more than I can take Dark's place in Daisuke's mind. My thoughts don't feel like Dark's any more than his feel like Krad, the thoughts of our others were still from inside, although an area of our minds we couldn't access, whereas linking between Daisuke and I is more from outside of our minds, like opening a window into another room.

Blown

Magic blew away any chance to live as a normal human, but I don't mind all that much. After all I would never have had much of a chance for a normal life even if there had been nothing left but memories of it all. I'd still be a Hikari and doomed to die young, but in the choice of magic I gained flight and a mental link to the one friend I have in all the world, I like being able to feel him thinking, and the knowledge that he is there if I need him. It's reassuring, knowing that I can count on him to always be there for me, and feeling that constant warmth of his mind. And when we soar the skies together, blown here and there on the wind, but still controlling our course I realize; no I have no regrets of what magic gave me in return for what it has taken from my line for so long.

Instinct

One of the hardest things for him to get used to after the change was the new instincts. The bone deep knowledge of the basics of flying was useful, but things like flapping water off after getting utterly soaked, or knowing what to do and not do about dirty feathers is different. And while the latter was useful, especially during the algae incident, the former was just undignified. A hand in his feathers derailed his train of thought as Daisuke reached the place where wings merged into a seemingly normal human back and caressed the miniscule feathers there, preening them gently. Evidently the root of his wings was a sensitive spot, as the light brush of his partner's fingers over those feathers made him just want to melt. No wonder Daisuke had purred when he was being preened.

Weight

For all their size the wings are surprisingly light and having them out all the time doesn't cause muscle strain or anything of the sort. It is this that makes him wonder just how far the physical changes went, aside from the obvious wings and not entirely human eyes. And when Daisuke had tripped down the stairs and landed on him earlier his friend didn't seem nearly as heavy as the last time they'd collided like that. If only their responsibilities were that light.

Fade

He could tell that the love his partner felt for Riku was fading now without her constant presence to reinforce it; more often the mental images that slipped across to his mind were only nostalgia and friendship, even the flaws in her character were less glossed over. He had worried that her stubborn refusal to accept that Dark had been part of Daisuke and losing him had hurt, would hurt Daisuke irreparably. Fortunately she had just avoided that topic of conversation. One day he'd asked Daisuke when Riku had become his trigger instead of her sister, he knew it had been Risa once after all. The answer had made him wonder if there had ever been proper love there at all: certainly the fact that Daisuke had abruptly started noticing her after Dark had stolen a love potion and lost it on her balcony, and she having glimpsed Daisuke for a moment had tried to return the empty vial the next morning was indicative. Especially given that he knew for a fact that at the time Dark had stolen the vial it had been full.

Loneliness

I had never thought Daisuke would understand the loneliness I feel when watching normal people chat freely without a care, and I know I could never be included in that kind of life. But he understood best, having grown to feel the same due to the veil of secrets that hide the knowledge of such things as: what Dark is and why he stole, or why the two of us have such uncanny knowledge of every museum, and are always alert when visiting one. He understands more and more with every time we meld and pull away again, for every feeling is shared then, as is every memory, and we come apart with knowledge of each other that is deeper than blood and stronger than steel. It took me a while to realize it but now even when I am by myself I'm never alone, not with the warmth of Daisuke's mind always at the back of my own.

Comprehend

We cannot be known or seen as we truly are, not even those who know about magic can hold the idea of what we are becoming, with no frame of reference for us. We are magic and mortal, fire's warmth and a torrent in thaw, we should be unable to exist, for a human cannot grasp the power of a Great Work as their own, any more than a work of art can understand humans. But the boundaries were blurred when the two halves of the Black Wings were bound to human minds for centuries. As a result at least Dark learned to understand humans somewhat and their power was channeled through and affected the bodies of their current humans. Now at first that had no major effect, all such magic stayed dormant with their departure to the next Tamer, but now they are sealed and we have it all, everything they left the imprint for in us, and human magic altered to mesh with the inherited magic that had held them bound to our blood for so long. Daisuke doesn't realize it, but even his family fears him at times when he slips; they may be Niwa and used to Dark and magic, but the heir is supposed to be only a magically strong human once Dark leaves, and they don't know how to handle what he has become.

Time

After a year and a half the Hikari stopped trying to undermine me, having learned that it wouldn't work. I almost wish they hadn't stopped, heading them off was excellent stress relief, and some of the payback was long overdue for what they did to me. I make a point, for intimidation purposes, of always being winged when dealing with them, only for intimidation purposes. Seriously, that's my only has nothing to do with the fact that any chance to be winged for long periods of time is a chance to be relished. Nothing at all. In any case I now have absolute rule over one of two major powers in underworld/magic politics, and Daisuke is well on his way to equal power as soon as his Rite of Passage is over with, (said rite consists of proving oneself as a thief after Dark has left) and then he'll be Heir Apparent to the Niwa leadership instead of Heir Presumptive. Given that now that the feud is OVER, we intend to make our clans rejoin the mystic underworld in more than the currently in effect 'stay out of our territory and our feud, that way we won't put the feud on hold to slaughter any interlopers.' That has been our only contribution for centuries, as well as the reason Japan is a safe haven from all kinds of things. The fact that he'll have the power of Heir Apparent is a good thing, because then he can command the Niwa. His Rite will involve dealing with five artworks on the active Hellmouth in America, starting a week from today. Hikari aren't supposed to know so much about the internal workings of clan Niwa, but he knows as much about how the Hikari work as I do about the Niwa so it evens out. Besides, we're friends and more kin to each other than our blood relatives, and there is no rule that says that accepting help from a Hikari makes the Rite invalid. Granted that's because no one ever thought it would happen, but still the only real rules are: that the target must be stolen and sealed within an amount of time decreed by the current clan head, that the Rite must be undergone after Dark has left the Tamer, and that the art must be secured with as little involvement of normal humans as possible. If the art has taken a human after the Niwa arrives the Rite is failed, but if the art takes a human before the Niwa can get there, successfully retrieving the human is also part of the Rite. I'm going with him on the Rite, given that no Rite has happened on a Hellmouth before now. I wonder how long it will take to seal all five, and how much power it will need given the whole Hellmouth issue. At least we settled the whole Pandora issue, so there's no need to worry about developments on that end of things while we're busy in America.