"Summer went by way too fast." Yuri heard a familiar voice behind her. As she turned around, he saw fur familiar faces: Kori, Momo, Deíji, and Raine. All of them standing in summer clothing: shorts, tank tops, and sandals.
"Hey, guys." Yuri said with a smile. "Almost four months, huh? Doesn't seem like it."
Everyone was in a good mood. Raine was a little more tanned, Momo was wearing an even bigger smile, Deíji was looking a lot more… built to say in the least, and Kori was actually smiling as well. Everyone looked a little more happy.
"Did you know that Daisuke got in?" Yuki said, arriving from behind the crowd. The group smiled a welcoming smile, and looked at Yuri. They still didn't know how Yuri felt about her, and anything Yuri felt, the rest of the group felt as well.
"Say what?" Yuri asked. "That's amazing. I can't believe we all got into the same high school."
"Now, we're going to be classmates until college!" Momo said, happily.
"Did you sign up for drama?" Yuki asked Yuri, looking at the schedule in Yuri's hands.
"Yeah. You did to, didn't you?"
"Why not? The class may be interesting. What period do you have it?"
"Second, why?"
"So do I."
"Alright."
"Are you two feeling okay?" Raine asked. Yuki and Yuri looked at her in an odd way, and then looked at each other, and then back at Raine.
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, at the beginning of the break, before we left, you guys were at each other's throats, and now you guys act like your best of friends."
"We kinda are." Yuri said with a little bit of thought involved.
"How did that happen?" Deíji asked.
"Who knows, who cares." Yuki said.
"And you guys haven't fought over Daisuke lately?" Kori asked.
The two had looked at each other, and then looked back at the group and said in unison: "Nope."
"Speaking of Daisuke," Raine said. "Has anybody seen him."
"No. We've been here for three hours getting registered, and I haven't seen him at all." Yuri said.
"Maybe he didn't make it, after all." Momo said.
"Who didn't make it?" a voice asked, and when the girls turned around, they were startled at first. With the same golden eyes, everyone knew that it was Daisuke right away, but he had completely changed. His hair was to the middle of his back, and pony-tailed differently. He seemed a little buffer, and he was tan. However, his grin and stance hadn't changed a bit.
Seeing the new Daisuke, all the girls had stared at him with a red, blushed face. With the girls only staring, his grin started to diminish, but the same sense of amusement had been in his eyes.
"Do I have something on my face?" he teased, knowing they realized how much he had changed.
"Daisuke!" The girls shouted in unison, and everyone but Yuri had ran over to him and gathered around him, shooting one question after another like machine gun bullets. As soon as he got them to speak one at a time, he still couldn't answer quick enough.
"You're so tan." Kori said.
"Where'd you go all summer?" Deíji asked.
"You actually got into AU High School?" Raine added/
"Your hair looks just like Ruroni Kenshin's." Momo said with a broad smile.
"Wow, I don't think my hair's that long." Daisuke said as he brought the end of his hair over his shoulders, and examined it. "Anyway," he said. "I'll catch up with you guys later. I have to go register."
"You haven't registered yet?" Yuki asked. "It's hell. Way too long for any school if you ask me."
"Well, I guess I'm getting prepared for hell."
Yuri suddenly slid next to Daisuke, without looking up at him. She took his hand, and then looked into his eyes.
"I want to talk to you, Daisuke. Privately."
And with that, she lead him towards the back of the school. The others watched them leave to the back together."
"Are they going to the back to smooch?" Momo asked.
Now thinking about what the odds were that Momo was right, everyone had gasped. But before they could hunt down the two and destroy the moment (And perhaps Daisuke), Yuki got in the way of them.
"I'll follow them. They won't do anything while I'm with them. I assure you."
And Yuri was off to find the two before they started to raise hell in the group.
XxXxXxX
"I can't believe how much you've changed."
"Is that a bad thing?" Daisuke said, sitting on a rock underneath a large redwood. He looked at her as she stood in front of him.
"No." she said with a smile, and then gently brushed his hair with her hand. "That's not a bad thing at all."
"So, what have you been up to this whole summer."
"Training and hanging out with Yuki."
"Are you guys friends now?"
"Friends and partners."
"Partners? Wait, are you saying–"
Yuri gently put a finger on his lips, telling him to be quiet. But her eyes were full of laughter and amusement. She was happy to see him, and that made Daisuke shiver on the inside. Not a bad shiver, but a shiver of warmth and delight.
"I've gotten to become a Demon Hunter." She said.
Daisuke smiled.
"About time." He teased.
Yuri sat next to him on the rock. A gently breeze blew making the warm summer air, cooler and more refreshing. Yuri looked up at the cloudless sky and sighed a nice, relaxed sigh.
"Have you found any clues as to who killed your mom?" she asked. She knew it was painful to talk about, but she needed to know. She wasn't just training to be only Yuki's partner.
"No. Not yet."
"What are you going to do when you find this person?" Yuri asked.
"That, I'm not entirely sure about. I've actually thought about giving up on it. Not entirely, but for a while now. I'm getting nowhere faster than I was usually, and every time I try to investigate, something pops up from DHA or with Hakura. I don't have the free time I did a year ago."
"So, you're going to take a break?"
"Just a little one. I mean, I can't stand not knowing the murderer of my mother for all eternity. But right now, I have some business."
"With Kagori?" she asked.
"Yeah. How'd you…"
"Hakura sentthe newsto me through Yuri, and I got installed. I get some news every now and then, but other than that, it's nothing too big. I've slayed a couple of demons, but I'm still working."
"I missed your first demon slay? Well, that sucks."
"No, it's alright. I'm kind of glad you missed it. It was really embarrassing. You can't imagine how bad it was."
"How bad?" he asked.
"Well, my spiritual weapon wouldn't show for the longest time, and when it did, it shot out of my hand by accident. Luckily, that accident lead to my slaying, but it was only luck. No skill whatsoever."
"I'm sure there was a hidden skill somewhere in there." he teased
"Yeah, right."
As the two were talking, an arrow was shot out and almost hit Daisuke. But before it got a hit on it, it shattered couple of inches away from his face, no movement from Daisuke whatsoever. Daisuke looked towards the direction of the arrow with a smile. There he saw Yuri with a grin on her face.
"You have gotten better, haven't you?" she asked.
"Not too much. I almost didn't sense that."
Almost? Yuri thought I didn't sense that at all!? How did he pick up on that so quick? How much better has he gotten?
"So, are you up for a bit of a challenge?" Yuki asked as she walked up to the two.
"Challenge?" Daisuke asked. "What kind of a challenge." Daisuke stood up and started to stretch a little.
"I want to see what you've been taught by Kyutaka and Hakura. Plus, I want you to see how much me and Yuri have gotten better."
"Me?" Yuri asked.
"What did you have in mind?" Daisuke questioned.
"A little two-on-one battle. Me and Yuri verses you. How about it? Unless your afraid."
"Alright."
"And no holding back." Yuri said.
"Only if you do the same for me." Daisuke said with a grin.
"Fine. But we'll have to find a place that's a little more concealed. Otherwise we might get caught and questioned. And we don't want that, do we?"
"So, what do you suggest?"
"This school. Nine o'clock, tonight."
"Fine. You've got a deal. I only live about a mile away from here anyway. It would be my pleasure to show you everything that I've had."
"Alright." Yuki said with a grin. "See you tonight."
XxXxXxX
"So, that's Daisuke." Kitsune said in a odd twist of the mouth. She looked at Daisuke from afar. "Why are we doing this for Kagori?"
"I concur," Doichi said. "Something about all this doesn't seem right. Like Kagori isn't telling us something."
"There's no need for what Kagori says or doesn't say. He can destroy us just as easily, whether we stick up and fight or not." Yukin said. "Besides, we're going to the same school as him, so we might as well study him."
The three were somehow, and strangely, accepted by AU High, and were standing at a registration booth. They watched Daisuke talk to a couple of boys, who they guessed were old time friends. As they registered as well, they kept one eye out for him.
Kitsune, the moment she saw him, she swore that she couldn't be able to lay a single harmful finger on him. How could she harm somebody so cute? His long hair that made him look like an American boy, a secret turn-on of Kitsune's. She was attracted, deeply. But, then again, if she was to join Daisuke, she knew that she would only have to destroy the competition. It was almost a waste that they would have to see him as an enemy.
As Kitsune had eyed Daisuke, Doichi could see something shimmer in a way that the two hadn't agreed with Kagori about. She was almost…admiring him. This wasn't good. This wasn't part of the deal. And with every second, the admiration grew. Doichi didn't know why, but something in the pit of his stomach had made him feel sick with ever time he found her looking at him like that. He couldn't handle it, so he stared the other way for most of the time.
Yukin also saw Daisuke, and couldn't believe who he had seen. He looked more like a model for some teen magazine than a Demon Hunter. Besides his clothes anyway, he looked like he was pure fake. How could this pansy be the person who could ruled the title of biggest and strongest Demon Hunter in the world? It wasn't logical. Yukin hadn't said much through the whole registration thing anyway, and it was going to stay that way. Anything that had gone through his mind would stay there, unless it truly needed to be said.
"How old did Kagori say he was?" Kitsune asked dreamily again.
"Fifteen. He'll turn sixteen in five months." Yukin answered. "He's the same age as you guys."
"How old are you?" Doichi asked, noticing that the voice that Kagori had was a voice was showing they were insignificant.
"Seventeen. I'll be eighteen in the middle of winter."
"Winter?" Doichi smiled. "Fits you well."
"What's the suppose to mean?" Yukin asked.
"Nothing. It just means that, well, your birthday is in winter, and you're kind of a cold-shouldered person. Just like a wolf."
"I suppose. The animal is a majestic one." Yukin said.
"So, how long before we make a move?" Doichi asked. "I don't want to wait a couple months. That's far too long. We have to kill him while we think we can."
"We still need training." Yukin said. "The books haven't taught us everything."
"I've already read it once. Why should I recheck it."
"I've read mine twice." Kitsune said in a prideful tone.
"Five times." Yukin said and started to walk away, the two watching him with amazement. Five times? In a couple of months? They were each over a thousand pages long. Was he insane?
"Well, anyway," Doichi said, breaking the silence. "I really think we should strike soon."
As he said that, Daisuke started to walk past Doichi, and looked his straight in the eye. Doichi's eyes never left Daisuke's. But before Daisuke reached the door, he winked at Doichi. Giving off a look that said he knew everything that was going on with Kagori, and even knew his weakness…
XxXxXxX
"I Really can't believe that you're back." Dr. Hiru said. "You've grown so much."
"Yeah, I suppose." Daisuke as he looked out the window, the same one that used to be crashed. The thing that had started the launch of this crazy mixed up Demon Hunting world.
"So, let's begin, how are you?"
"Really relaxed." Daisuke answered honestly. He didn't know why, but ever since he had come back from Yosemite, he had felt so relaxed, and everything seemed so… he couldn't explain it. He felt Life High in a whole new way. That feeling of being able to conquer the world if he wished, but at the same time, wanted to hug everything and everyone around him. Only, instead of the grin of cockiness and an urge to go out and explore in his eyes, they were soft, and seemed determined. Determined to work harder. To get better, to watch the world pass him by without a doubt or care of what he was doing.
"I can see that." Dr. Hiru said. "You look a lot better nowadays."
"What do you mean?"
"Back then, you were quiet, didn't really want to talk, only answered questions that were asked, never asked any questions, and you were very stiff. But now, look at you."
Daisuke caught himself slouching in the chair as if he was at home. He didn't realize what he was doing. He straightened himself up, only for manners, not because he felt insecure.
"No, it's quiet fine." Dr. Hiru said as he started to straighten himself. "Be as comfortable as you want."
"Thanks." Daisuke said, getting back into the position he was in.
"Well, I've got a record of your progress at Sakura's. It seems that your grades there were well. Anything with the other students?"
"I made a couple of great friends that helped me out in English 3."
"English 3? I thought you were taking English one."
"What did the paper say?"
"It just said English. I assumed since you've never taken English before, that you would have taken one. But I guess you had a little English under your belt."
"No. Not at all."
Dr. Hiru looked at the report card again, a little confused on what Daisuke was saying. Daisuke had managed to a B in that class. With progress reports, they all said that most of A's he received from the class wasn't homework, the easy stuff, it was the tests and pop quizzes. Dr. Hiru didn't know what to make of it.
"So, you said that you had friends that had helped you out in English, right?"
"Yeah. Yuri, Raine, Deíji, Kori and Momo."
"Momo? Is that her nickname."
"I think so. But, boy was she active. I mean, this one time…"
Daisuke had spent a couple of minutes just explaining Momo. When he had finished talking about all his friends, time was up. But even though Dr. Hiru had looked at her clock, she saw that Daisuke was having fun explaining everybody to her. Especially this Yuri girl. Dr. Hiru didn't have any other appointments for the rest of the day and figured that she would have a little chat with him for a while longer. What was going to come out of it other than help?
"So, how well did the other students, other than your friends, accept you in the school."
"Pretty easily. It was easier making friends there than it was at my old school."
"Really." Dr. Hiru smiled. Daisuke knew this smile well. It creeped him out every time he had seen it, but today, it seemed that nothing really bothered him about it. The "Sexuality" talk. "So, did you have any steamy affairs with the school-mates."
"Nope." Daisuke answered.
"None at all?" Dr. Hiru asked.
"No. An affair is a romantic and sexual relationship, sometimes one of brief duration, between two people who are not married to each other. I had no sexual relations with anybody there."
"Lustful eyes?"
"Oh, yeah." Daisuke said laughing at his admitting attitude.
"Really?" Dr. Hiru asked.
"Yeah. I don't think that the girls over there were bad looking at all. They all had fairly great bodies."
"Did you ever wish to see them naked." Dr. Hiru was impressed to see Daisuke actually talking about this kind of stuff. Or was it just so he would seem straight so he wouldn't have to go to another all girl's school. No. That couldn't be it at all. The way he spoke, the expressions he had made, everything seemed that he was really happy and really excited to tell his story from over there.
"Wish?" Daisuke exploded with volume, showing that the statement was underestimated. "I got to see almost twenty of them on my first day."
"Wha…?" Dr. Hiru was shocked by this statement. So shocked, that she couldn't stop the brief moment of her thinking of Daisuke holding a young girl's breasts.
"I got lost." Daisuke explained. "Walked into the girl's hot springs."
"But, a spring has steam, how did you not know what it was?"
"Call me stupid, but I thought that since we were in the hills, that it might actually be a volcanoes."
Daisuke continued to talk about his small adventures of everything from trying to get a cinnamon bun to passing Pre-Cal with an embarrassing B-. Everything he said was like a huge story or legend that he was telling a group of young children.
"You should be an actor." Dr. Hiru said as he finished up another story.
"Yeah, my mom told me that all the time."
His mother? He brought his mother? He never used to bring up his mother in past, Dr. Hiru noticed. He used to clam up or change the subject, but now he spoke of her in an almost admiring way, as if she was his hero and still alive.
"You spoke of you mother?" Dr. Hiru pointed out. "You've never spoke of her with your choice before."
"I guess I just never really could believe the fact that I couldn't find the killer of her."
"And now you do?"
"I don't really know. Maybe I'll see this killer, maybe I won't."
"Now, you've always said that somebody killed her, but reports say that it was an accident."
"Yeah, well…"
"Well what?" Dr. Hiru asked after a small amount of silence. Daisuke was now looking at the floor, looking almost hurt again. A wound still recovering.
"Nobody believed anything that I had to say."
"And what did you have to say that they didn't believe you? You were a witness to the scene, why didn't they believe you."
Daisuke looked at the clock in the room, and stood up. He looked at Dr. Hiru with a forced smile.
"Hey, look, I'm a half hour after I should be. My dad might explode again, and I don't want to go through that on my first week back." His hurt was still there, and leaving was a way to avoid the question.
"Alright, Daisuke." Dr. Hiru said. "We'll continue this talk next week. Wednesday at three, the usual time."
"Uh… yeah, sure."
And with that, Daisuke walked out the door. But Dr. Hiru could tell that there was something going on in the past that the future was bringing soon. She didn't know why, but something inside her had told her that things were going to start unraveling things from the past, and it was going to be harder than Daisuke could ever imagine, even if she didn't know what it was about.
XxXxXxX
"He's late." Yuri said, looking at her cell phone and outing it back in her pocket. There was a slight breeze, but nothing that they couldn't handle in shorts and a sweatshirt. Yuki said that shorts were easy to run, dive, and keep hot air from building and making her sweat, but the sweat shirt was there to keep warm in the cold, and also to make sure your arms don't get skinned up when you bounce off the asphalt.
"Fashionably late." Yuki said with a smile. "He's always this way. Funny thing is, he never tries to be."
Yuri thought about it, and noticed that she was right. When she was meeting him somewhere, he was always this late, and even when the two had to go somewhere together, he was the one to always make them late there, too.
As soon as Yuri's thoughts had ended there, she heard a, "Sorry I'm late." And towards the eastern gate, stood Daisuke with an embarrassed look on his face.
"As usual." Yuki said. "What took you so long to get here?"
"Lot track of time. You know, watching TV doesn't give you a great sense of time."
"So, how are we going to do this?" Yuri asked. "We agreed on no holding back, right?"
"Yeah, we did." Yuki agreed. "And that especially goes for you, Daisuke."
"Why me?"
"Because we're girls. We know how much guys hold back when they're fighting girls. It's ridiculous. Now, you're going to give it to us like we were Kagori, or something."
"Are you guys sure you want me to go that hard on–"
Daisuke turned to the side, just as two spiritual blades had passed him, the girls going after the same target, but opposite directions. Daisuke had dodged the two blades, and when he had, everything seemed to be in slow motion. How did Daisuke dodge that attack? He was in the middle of talking, and it wasn't a very obvious one. He shouldn't have had too much time to think about it. Has he gotten a lot better than they thought?
Daisuke summoned his spiritual sword, and the girls had started to attack again. This time, they were both in front of him, taking blows toward him. But he was only dodging. He only used his sword once to deflect, but it only seemed to make annoyance, not to shield himself. After a couple of seconds, the girls backed off.
"Why are you just sitting there? Take shots at us."
"Aren't we still warming up?" Daisuke, clueless as ever, asked.
But the way the girls heard the question was more like: "You guys aren't as good as I thought?"
The two went at it harder and faster than they did before, and still, Daisuke only used his sword to deflect a couple of times. Just when they were getting fed up with his easygoing attitude about the fight, he had grabbed Yuki, and tossed her out of the picture for a second. And before Yuri could even realize what happened, Daisuke kneed her in the stomach, grabbed the back of her collar and threw her right into Yuki.
Yuki got up quickly, and charged again, thinking about where to swing every time she tried to attack. But with Daisuke's speed, he only had to deflect every other shot. But fairly soon, Yuri had started to attack from the back, having swords coming at Daisuke from both sides. Somehow, Daisuke had even managed to uphold the girls strikes with only one sword. Daisuke would deflect and swipe toward one girl, making the deflect that the girl had made her step back, and he would turn and do the same to the other. But as soon as he got in the position that he needed to hold his sword with both hands with Yuki, Yuri went for another back attack. Stuck in the position that he was in, Yuki realized that this could be the end of the fight if they could somehow keep in that position.
But Yuki thought too soon.
As soon as the strike was suppose to happen, Daisuke lifted one hands from his sword, still holding up against Yuki, and summoned another sword with his other hand, and started to fight Yuri with one hand. Even though he had let go with one, Yuki swore that the pressure that he was putting on her with two hands was weaker than what he was giving her now. She couldn't drop the hold that they were in. That would mean a slash in the vital areas.
After a couple of seconds of fighting with Daisuke, Yuri started to grow tired, and she knew that Daisuke could read it in her face. He threw a shot towards her, and she deflected it, but that made her hands fly above her head with how much momentum was in the shot. Daisuke grabbed her ankle, and swung her at Yuki like a club, and then threw Yuri on the grass.
I underestimated his ability to grow in strength Yuri thought. He's improved far greater than I could possibly hope to ever accomplish to grow. What would usually take a lifetime to developed, he has developed in a short four months. How is this possible?
But before any more action could happen to go on further, there was a spiritual arrow that none of the three had shot, and Daisuke had dodged it by simply tilting his head to the left. If he hadn't noticed that, he would have ended up dead. Daisuke turned around to see a glow of a spiritual weapon in a tree, one of the very few trees that were there.
"Who's there?" Daisuke called.
A shadowy figure had leaped out of the tree, and landed a couple of yards away from Yuri. An amazing leap of almost fifty feet. Daisuke gulped. This guy could really jump.
"And who might you be?" the figure asked Daisuke. "Harming young girls, let alone fellow Demon Hunters. What kind of vile person are you."
"No, you don't understand," Yuri said. "We were–"
"No need to explain, fare maiden. I shall vanquish this loathsome creature that has laid a finger on you."
Oh, jeez. Daisuke thought. This guy's speaking 14th century. How much weirder do they get?
The figure ended up being a seventeen year old boy, the same colored hair as Daisuke, same length as well, but his hair was slightly unkempt and a little shaggy. But his grin, it was more cocky than Daisuke could ever think his to be, and it was underestimating everything around him.
As the guy ran up, Daisuke ran up quicker and socked the guy in the face, and he flew yards. But instead of falling on his back like Daisuke imagined he would, the guy landed right on his feet. The guy rubbed his cheek, and smiled.
"Nice hit."
"Who are you?" Daisuke asked. That's weird. Usually somebody that slow is inexperienced, but it seems that this guy has a little more training under his belt than he appears to show.
"My name is Kataka Ryuku. The most handsome man in the land."
"Really?" Daisuke asked again, not amused at all. This guy's an idiot.
"And, dare I ask, who are you." Ryuku asked.
"Me. I'm Hiromushu Daisuke."
"Daisuke?! The Daisuke!?"
"Um… I guess."
"And here you are, the greatest Demon Hunter to be, and you're fighting with young women!? How dare you! And to think I once admired you!"
"No, you've got it all wrong, we were only–"
"Silence! I will slay you!"
Here we go again. Daisuke thought, thinking about the last attempt of an attack. But this time, a punch was made with Daisuke faster than he could even read anything or sense anything that was coming towards him. Daisuke flew back, and bounced once on his back, but than landed on his feet. He rubbed his jaw, making sure everything was in place. What was that? And why did this guy all of the sudden get so fast. Was he holding back before. He couldn't read anything before. In fact, he couldn't even sense the guy when he shot the arrow. He must be well trained if he couldn't even read the guy's existence.
Daisuke had come up to Ryuku as fast as he could, faster than the girls could see, and threw a punch, but Ryuku had dodged. Daisuke threw punch after punch, but Ryuku had simply dodged them all, until Daisuke brought up his knee and kneed Ryuku in the jaw. The hit had made Ryuku lift off of the ground a little, and Daisuke made a clean shot in Ryuku's stomach. But Ryuku didn't stop after he landed back on his feet. He came up to Daisuke, and Daisuke had prepared for the worst.
Throws were made out and Daisuke blocked some with his own arms, and Ryuku had just kept going at it, until he had swept kicked Daisuke. But Daisuke jumped back into offense, landing on his hands, and managed to kick Ryuku in the face. As Ryuku backed up from the blow, Daisuke got back on his feet. But the moment he was on his feet, Ryuku had gone into the offense once again.
For a raw five two minutes, the battle had raged on for what seemed like forever. The two seemed to jumped from offense to defense every couple of seconds. Until Ryuku had socked Daisuke in his face, and off his feet. As Daisuke fell, though, he shot out a shot of an explosive small ball, and it sent Ryuku through the very tree he was standing in a moment ago. The tree crumbled and fell over. Ryuku laid on the ground. He didn't get up. The crew walked to the body to see Ryuku panting, but sure enough, a grin on his face.
"You're one helluva kid there, Daisuke." He said, and he sat up. The way he spoke, it was as if it was somebody totally different from a moment ago. "That's the Daisuke I had always heard about. But why were you attacking these two ladies?"
"I wasn't attacking them." Daisuke explained. "They're my friends. And we were training."
"It didn't look like you were going easy on them at all."
"That's the way we play." Yuri explained.
Ryuku looked at Yuri up close, and felt something go off inside of him. Her elegant black hair, her amazing eyes, the way she looked at him… everything seemed to be wonderful about her.
"And who do we have here?" Ryuku asked, taking Yuri's hand and slightly bowing.
"I…I'm Yuri." She said, uncertain if it was safe to give her name to the freak in front of her.
"Yuri. Such a beautiful name. A name that is only fit for a goddess."
"Um… sure." Yuri said, taking her hand back. "Thanks."
"So, Ryuku, where you from?" Daisuke asked.
"Well, I live a couple of blocks, and–"
"I think he means what are you doing here getting involved in another Demon Hunter's fight."
"Well, I saw people who had the powers I have, so I wanted to see what was going on. And then when I saw that a man was attacking two beautiful ladies, I couldn't help but use my chivalry ways and save you girls."
"Are you an idiot?" Yuki asked. "Because you act like one."
"So, are you from DHA?" Daisuke asked.
"DHA? What's that?" Ryuku asked.
"WHAT!?" the others yelled.
"What's the big deal?"
"You mean to tell us that you're this powerful, and you've never even heard of DHA?"
"Is that a bad thing?" Ryuku asked.
"Well, it's just a bit… odd." Yuri said.
"I guess, than, you'll have to teach me about this DHA, won't you, my dear Yuri." Ryuku said, once again taking Yuri's hand.
"Boy, don't you look like a cute couple." Yuki said with a sly grin.
"Shut up!" Yuri said as she took her hand back.
Yuki's cell phone had gone off with a ring and, Yuki grabbed it from her pocket. She looked at it for a minute and then put it away.
"Daisuke, we need to get to your house, pronto."
"Why?"
"Don't ask questions. We need to get there before your dad gets upset again."
"What this about you needing to go, too?" Yuri questioned.
"I can't explain it now. It'll be easier if Daisuke just saw for himself. We need to go now. And one thing Daisuke."
"What's that."
"What ever you do, you need to convince your dad that I'm Hakura's daughter."
XxXxXxX
Daisuke could hear his dad as he headed up the apartment door. He sounded happy. But why did he know Hakura, and did he know of the DHA or anything about Demon Hunting?
"Hey dad, I'm home." Daisuke said as he opened the door. He walked down the hall to find his dad and Hakura sitting at the table with Yuki at the side. They were chatting along nicely. Daisuke had lost Yuki during the run home but he didn't know that she had made it before him so soon. She didn't even look out of breath now.
"Daisuke!" his father said with a smile. "Just the guy I want to talk to. C'mere for a second."
Daisuke walked over, trying to seem uneasy and confused as he pretended not to Hakura nor Yuki.
"Daisuke, this is an old friend of mine and your mother's, Natashai Hakura. I've known her since High School."
"So, this is your son, Daisuke." Hakura said with a smile, something Daisuke hadn't seen on her face before. "I've seen him a couple times around the city. Daisuke, have you met my daughter yet?"
Daisuke looked at Yuki, who waved a slight wave of shyness. They were acting pretty much the very opposite than they really were. But what really scared Daisuke was: the fact that they had done it so well, it seemed like they used to be happy or shy.
"Hi, I'm Yuki. I think we're going to be schoolmates this year."
"What school did you get into?" Daisuke asked, playing along.
"AU High."
"Really?" Daisuke's father asked, amused. "So did this idiot. Don't know how, nor do I really care. My son's going to a big name High School."
"Yes, this really is a time for celebration." Hakura said. "That's why I brought this." Hakura brought a couple of bottles of sake. But these were the "Bigger-than-your-face-in-height-and-width" kind of bottles. Knowing Daisuke's father, he never quit drinking until the guests drinks were completely gone. Daisuke's father had found it as some sort of repayment for the person who brought the beverage. And it made sense. Someone brought you something, you use it until it's gone. Even if it meant getting a major hangover the next morning.
"So," Daisuke's father continued as Hakura poured his first glass. "You had a daughter around the same time we had Daisuke?"
"Yes. I was married for a while, but…"
"What happened. If you don't mind me asking."
"Cancer, to say the least. Luckily, he didn't suffer very long. He died a couple months when we found out he was diagnosed. That was when poor Yuki was thirteen."
"Yeah. I can understand exactly what you went through." Daisuke's father said as he took his first sip.
The rest of the evening had fallen between Daisuke's father and Hakura flirting a little. It wasn't totally obvious, but it wasn't oblivious either. She would gently brush her hand against his, and he would scoot closer to her. Around eleven-thirty, a bottle and a half was gone, and more than half of it was drunk to Daisuke's father. He was a little light on his feet, and his words slowly started to slur. But nonetheless, he seemed pretty straight-minded. By Midnight, Yuri was caught sleeping on the couch, and Daisuke's father finished up the last of the sake. Daisuke started to notice that the alcohol had started to take a little effect on Hakura. Other than her face being a little blushed, she didn't seem any different.
But by one, when Daisuke had started to head to bed, like everyone else, he saw his father head to his room, and Hakura had stopped there. She turned around and looked Daisuke in the eyes. She walked to him with a slight smile.
"Daisuke?" She got his attention, and added a little nervous smile. "Don't worry about anything that's going to happen, understand? Anything and everything I do is to help you understand what happened to your mother. I want you to understand that. Even if it doesn't seem like it at all, I doing it only for you."
Daisuke didn't quiet know what she was talking about, thinking that the sake had taken its toll. But as soon as he saw her walk into the bedroom, close the door behind her, he thought he had the idea. The click of the lock had made his ideas for a known fact.
XxXxXxX
They did it… Daisuke thought as he laid in his bed. From the slightly padded walls, he could here Hakura saying good-bye to Daisuke's father. It was eight in the morning, and she sounded exhausted. The sun shown bright and Daisuke didn't get out of bed. He didn't even remember most of the night, except the last part, when Hakura talked to him. But he had known one thing for sure. They actually had sex.
His father and Hakura… for some reason, it didn't bother him much. Sure, it was gross to think about any adult figure you know having sex, but thinking about his dad with Hakura didn't seem too bad. It even seemed normal at first. Sure, there would be an awkwardness for the first few weeks, maybe months, but that would be expected. It was his father and his trainer after all.
Finally, Daisuke forced himself out of bed. He brushed his hand against his eyes, waking himself up, trying to wake himself up even more than he already was. When he was ready, he headed to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, and then got dressed. When he got out, he looked at his father who was toasting some bagels.
"Hey," His dad said. "Some night, huh."
"Maybe for you." Daisuke said. He knew that his dad knew what Daisuke was thinking. His father hadn't looked up at him, only played attention to the bagels. "Dad, do you like Hakura a lot?"
"Well, yeah, I mean we…"
"How come you never mentioned her in the past."
"Well, she was your mother's friends, son. It didn't feel right back then."
"But it does now?"
"Well, that's not to say–"
"So, just because a certain amount of time has gone by, you think you can sleep with mom's best friend?"
"Son, you have to understand, it's not what you think."
Even if it doesn't seem like it at all, I doing it only for you. Hakura's voice rang through Daisuke's head. He sighed.
"It's alright, dad." Daisuke said. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have exploded like that. It was just a surprise, that's all."
"You're apologizing? Are you sick?"
"Ha-ha," Daisuke said sarcastically. "But seriously. I shouldn't act so selfish. I wan you to be happy too."
"Thank you, son."
"Oh, and dad?"
"Yes son?"
Daisuke walked to the front door with a bagel in hand and took a bit. As he started to chew, he looked at his dad's smiling face.
"Can you please wear something besides a towel? It's weird."
"Oh, c'mon!" His dad said. "We're both men, right. You can handle it!"
"Whatever."
And Daisuke walked out the door. And as soon as he did, he saw three people who he hadn't seen in a long time.
"Josh? Andrew? Hiru? What are you guys doing here?"
The trio who had been Daisuke's middle-school pals had grinned from ear to ear as they stared at Daisuke. He hadn't seen them since he had left for Sakura's.
Josh and Andrew were the American friends he had who had their father's involved in the military and was working in Japan since they were all in fifth grade. Their parents were both friends, and accepted the job together. But there was a difference in the two. Josh was the shorter, more pudgy type, the one who was a constant gamer. While Andrew was a little less dorkey looking, he wasn't too good with the ladies, even though he liked to pretend that he was.
Hiru was Daisuke's friend growing up most of his life. They went through their thick and thin together, and they both trusted each other with the utmost brotherly love. Hiru was a little quieter than the rest of the group. Other than the smoking, and being from Australia, you could say he was the Raine of the group.
"Well, well, well…" Josh said. "You've gotten yourself a little new taste of design."
"What are you talking about?" Daisuke asked as he walked down the stairs.
"Look at ya," Andrew said. "You look like Ruroni Kenshin. I swear, if you had a sword strapped to your side and the right outfit, you could maybe pull it off as his evil twin. Hence the black hair."
"Is this the only reason you guys came over? To pick on my hair."
"Nay man, we haven't seen you in ages. Plus, we want to brag something that we have that you're never going to believe."
"What's that?" Daisuke asked.
In unison, the three pulled out their wallet and showed Daisuke a picture of themselves with the words "AU HIGH SCHOOL" next to the picture. His friends were aiming to go there back since fifth grade, but Daisuke's studies weren't too good, so he never even thought about it back then. But then again, their study skills were only a little better than Daisuke's, which meant that this was all a big surprise to them all.
"You guys got in."
"All thanks to Hiru. He gave us a study rush since you were gone."
"Nah, I didn't do too much." Hiru said. "I just gave them a couple of flashcards to work with."
"Don't be so modest." Andrew said. "You got us into this wonderful, and now we can all laugh at Daisuke's face for being the only one not to get in."
"Who said I didn't get in?" Daisuke asked as he pulled out his wallet and showed his friends his picture with the same letters and words right next to his picture. Josh grabbed the wallet in awe.
"NO WAY! It's gotta be a fake. There's no way you could have gotten into that school!"
"Why not?" Daisuke asked.
"You couldn't even multiply fractions six months ago. And now your saying that you have the grades to make it to AU High?"
"Well, the help I got over at Sakura's really helped out a lot. I even boosted my math level to pre-cal, and I even pulled an A- in it."
"Was it that easy?"
"The work? No. To understand from everyone there, yeah."
Daisuke remembered a study session he had with Yuri one of his first days after her figuring out his Demon Hunting skills. He was having trouble with some factoring stuff, and it was easy for her to explain it in ways he could understand.
"Alright." She said. "If ½ A4(75), than what's your answer going to be?"
Daisuke looked at the paper with a blank expression. He didn't understand this stuff at all. How was he suppose to learn how to do this?
"Okay, look," Yuri said, understanding that he wasn't getting it. "Let's say that each number is a demon, alright."
"Okay." Daisuke said, sounding a little interested.
"So, you need to find the special type of demons."
"Alright. How do we do that?"
"Well, there are seven groups of purple demons and five groups of orange demons, how many demons is that going to make in total?"
"Twelve?"
"Exactly, so now you have twelve groups of demons together. So, now, each demon can reproduce four more demons, so, what's that going to make?"
"Forty-eight?"
"Right. And if you have the power to only destroy half, how many more demons are going to survive?"
"Twenty-four."
"Exactly!" she said. "Great. Do you get it?"
"Yeah. But why couldn't we just divide the whole thing in our head. It wasn't that hard." Yuri hit him hard in the head for being an idiot. Those were the good times though. The times when they all hang out and just laughed, cried, or just made strange faces at each other.
"Yeah, it was great." Daisuke said, coming back from his memory.
"So, let me ask you one question, Daisuke. Are you really gay, or is that just a rumor."
"A rumor, a lie, and confusion, and that's what got me to go to Sakura's."
"I bet the girls there really made fun of you and hated you."
Looking back at his memories with the girls, and knowing the jealousy that would rise out of Andrew, Daisuke simply said: "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."