Friend

[honou_no_izumi]

Title: Friend
Series: Kamen Rider Decade
Characrtes: Kadoya Tsukasa, Kaitou Daiki
Summary: Set after Super Hero Taisen. No matter what, Kaito was still an important friend to him.
A/N: Warning. I was high on sugar while writing this... XD
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He thought if anyone could understand him best... it would be him. Not Natsumi, not Yuusuke... but him. Because unlike the two, he knew the old him... to an extent. So he thought, regardless of the unreasonable or roundabout things he'd done... at least he would understand his true intent. Despite that...

"Kaito! Stop running around anymore! How many different dimensions we're going to pass by before you stop running from me?"

Kaito stopped running... and turned towards him. "What else do you want from me, Tsukasa! But firstly, I thought you were hanging around with those new sentai and rider friends from earlier? Why now you're following me?"

He sighed. If he's not assuming wrong, it did sounded to him like Kaito was sulking. Perhaps he should be more direct, earlier. But Marvelous and those others kids were around, it would be too embarassing to act too friendly with Kaito with the possibility of them watching. But no matter what he did now, it seemed there was no winning this.

"Kaito, I'm sorry! Is that what you want to hear from me? I'm sorry to make you believe that I really became evil and rejoined Shocker and becoming their Supreme Leader. What more did you want from me?" Tsukasa asked as he took several strides to reach Kaito's side.

"As if I cared about the things you did!" Kaito shouted back, pushing Tsukasa away. He paused as he stared dumbfoundedly at Tsukasa, who easily fell onto the ground without any resistance. "Why are you falling so easily like some girl?"

Tsukasa hissed at him as he nursed his scraped elbow.

"Try jumping past five dimensions to chase after an idiot in a span thirty minutes and you tell me if your knees would still hold up properly."

Kaito huffed grumpily. "It's not like I asked for some other idiot to chase after me! And for your information, I'm not stupid!"

Tsukasa snorted. "Yes, we are..."

Kaito turned towards him. "Did you say something?"

Tsukasa shook his head, grinning.

Annoyed, Kaito started to leave again as Tsukasa got up.

"Why are you so stubborn, Kaito?" Tsukasa shouted. "No matter how much you wanted to avoid hearing it, I did... consider you as an important friend. Isn't that enough? Why can't you just stay with us? With me?"

Tsukasa sighed. "Why did you have to run around stealing treasures anyway? Not like you're going to keep them regardless. Why can't you just join us on a journey together? Again?"

Tsukasa tried to reach his hand out to Kaito before he slapped it away.

"Because the treasure I wanted is no more! No matter how much I'd try to get it... I would never get it back. Because it was lost... forever." Kaito glared at him. "How could you give me the treasure that I wanted then?"

Tsukasa stared at him dumbfounded. "What... was it that you're looking for?"

Kaito froze. Suddenly all the anger that he shown earlier vanished into thin air. "That... was something that no one could ever give me. Especially you. There's no way you could provide that kind of treasure to even entice me to forgo my old ways and remain with you. No way," he stressed again as Kaito prepared to leave again.

"Was it me? No... was the treasure you wanted, the old me?"

"Don't be ridiculous—"

"You know... it's been a while since you asked me whether or not I've tried eating sea cucumbers. Somehow I wonder if you just gave up..."
Kaito turned, "What're you talking about—"

"Even if I always treated you badly... it's not as if I hated you. It's just because you're the only one I felt comfortable enough to act like that without worrying that you'd leave me."

"What the—don't change the topic!"

Tsukasa shrugged. "I'm sorry... that I still couldn't regain all of my past memories. Even the ones that I got after meeting my sister; even that felt detached from me. As if those were just stories people told me instead of what I personally experienced. So the me that you knew... that person would never returned. Not anymore."

Kaito snorted.

"But..." Tsukasa grabbed Kaito's arm. "Despite that I still hoped that you would remain to be my friend. Even if I couldn't remember anything... I still hoped that we can still fight together. We're Kamen Riders.... aren't we?"

Kaito rolled his eyes at him. "You've really ran out of excuses, haven't you... Tsukasa? After all the shit you gave me, you really think I'm going to go back with you?"

Tsukasa puffed angrily. "Well who asked you to suddenly take over the Big Machine!"

"Now it's MY fault? Just go back to that Hikari Studio, Tsukasa... and stop bothering me."

"But are you going to come back?"

Kaito hissed at him. "You're annoying, Tsukasa! Buzz off, I get your message. FINE, I'll accept your friendship... as if you haven't shove it to me already. Get off my tail and don't FOLLOW me anymore. I'll come visit once a while if that makes you happy."

Tsukasa grinned. "Really?" he asked, just as Kaito disappeared into another dimension.

He sighed.

Guess that's as far as he could get, thought Tsukasa as he willed himself back to the dimension he remembered the studio was last at. When he opened his eyes again, he was back. The studio was empty, everyone must've been out.

Suddenly he felt so alone. If only Kaito was here...

"Well, I'll look forward to his next visit."

Because that's what friends do...