Disclaimer: I am in no way trying to jack Sugisaki-sensei up. That is all.

Sakura-Angel: Helloooooo again! After like, the long hiatus EVER, I'm back! And with more Riku and Dark for everyone! Exciting, ain't it? So anyways, this is supposed to be a multi-chapter and yadda yadda, but I have a hard time with those because I'm a bum and I lose interest quickly. So keep me excited about this one, people! Because, believe me, I have some interesting things in store with this one, oh yes I do.

Dark: And she's dragged me in to do this again, so don't miss me!

Sakura-Angel: I'm sure they won't, sweetie.

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She walked at a pace faster than was nessecary, heels clacking evenly against the concrete. Her heart thumped erratically, heavily behind her ribcage, and she crossed her arms over her torso, hoping to confine it so it wouldn't leap out of her chest. Her blood felt like it was flowing slower than usual with the cold weather and her unwilling heart. She had a vague thought that she shouldn't be walking this fast with a body that didn't want to, but her body had never listened to her mind very well. It's how she ended up in this mess anyway.

Her heart leaped a bit higher at the thought of who she was meeting, and she felt disgusted at her childlike eagerness immediately. She hated it that she couldn't help it. She felt it brewing in the pit of her stomach, the deadly mixture of knowing what would happen and the hope that it wouldn't. It snaked up her spine and through her ribs and gripped her heart tightly, and this is what she suspected was making it pump so slowly.

"Oh please oh please oh please," she thought, and pulled open the door to Lao's, a funny little Chinese restaurant where the lights were blinding and the food was devoured fast.

She looked around subtly, tried calming her crazy heartbeat, and tried to breathe properly all at once. He wasn't here. 'Okay, no problem. Just sit down at a table and everything will go from there,' she assured herself. She plopped down in a chair quickly, a rush of blood going to her head.

"Can't sit there!" An accented voice yelled out.

It took her awhile to realize the man had been bellowing at her, and she stood up, receiving another head rush, and stumbled. She fell clumsily onto the floor, wishing that an incredibly attractive, mysterious man with gorgeous eyes had been there to catch her like in all the movies. No such luck.

"Riku, what are you doing on the floor?" A voice cut through the clamour with an I-can't-believe-you're-so-clumsy/Oh-I-feel-so-sorry-for-you tone. The being extended a hand towards her.

"Krad!" She immediately berated herself for sounding so happy and took his hand, heartbeat still erratic. "Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah," he dismissed as he pulled her up. He beckoned over a waiter at the same time, who was right in the middle of taking tea to a table. The waiter motioned for him to wait and he scowled fiercely. "Stupid waiters and their crap service," he mumbled.

"Mm," came Riku's autopilot response. It was then that, while brushing the dirt off her skirt, she noticed the incredibly half-skeptical, half-amused looking man standing next to Krad. He was wearing baggy off-white pants with an amazing number of pockets, a belt which he had looped his thumb relaxedly around, a black muscle shirt - which, by the way, she had not thought were accurately named until the moment she saw him - with some sort of radical design blazed on the side, and a string necklace with a wooden charm hanging off the end. 'Definetely, definitely one of his friends.'

"Um, hello?"

She snapped out of the half-daze she didn't even know she was in. "What?" It was then she realized that the wooden-string necklace and had-to-be-custom shirt were much closer to her than they were originally. She blinked and looked up.

He chuckled and looked at her quizically. "You all right?"

"Oh, so sorry," she berated herself more for messing up the first meeting she'd ever had with one of her boyfriend's friends. "I was just a little dazed."

"I could tell," he said, sounding even more amused than before. He looked over his shoulder at Krad, busy cussing out the waiter.

"I'm Riku. Riku Harada," she stuck out her hand, expecting him to shake it and instead receiving a gentle brush of his lips.

"Charmed," he replied, standing up again.

Riku could feel herself blushing, even though she tried to quelch it with thoughts like 'I can't believe guys still do that' and 'What slime'. She knew it wasn't going to work though.

"Move overrrrrr!" the stocky manager bulldozed his way through the pair, momentarily surprising the both of them. "Why standing in restaurant like frozen?" he sounded genuinely stressed as he headed outside.

She blinked, punctuating her surprise, and returned to Dark. "Thank you for that..."

"Dark," he supplied.

"Dark. But I'm sure I can't have charmed you with my case of ADD," she smiled a frail smile.

He smiled and his eyes lit up, knowing now for sure that she wasn't your ordinary girl, but Riku couldn't see that. All she could see was a spark, some sort of twinkle she couldn't place in those red depths. She saw his hair, light purple and just casually wild enough so that she could tell he didn't gel it. It looked soft in fact, and it fell aronud his face gracefully. Right then, he looked... amazing.

But what? Wait. She had Krad. Yes. Her heart was leaping today at the thought of him, right? Right. So much that she was disgusted, right? Right. And even though she had that impending feeling that he was going to dump her, she still liked him for some reason, right? Right. On top of it all, she was here for Krad, not Hot Guy. Wait. That was certainly not his name. She forgot it already. Oh God, she was already so used to calling him 'That Hot Guy' in her mind that she'd actually forgotten his real name. And she'd just said his name ten seconds ago.

"Hey Riku! Dark, could you call her over," Krad called.

'Right. Dark.' She thought, without actually making a move towards Krad.

"Hello? Ms. Self-Proclaimed-Case-of-ADD?" Dark waved a hand in her face and motioned smoothly towards a table. "Your table awaits."

"Right," she said, snapping back to life. "Thank you, Dark," she made sure she said his name, certain that she'd remember it if she said it at least more than once.

He looked amusedly at her for what seemed like the millionth time, and turned to make his way out. "Nice meeting you, Riku."

"Nice meeting you too," and she looked after his retreating back a fraction of a second longer than she should have.

"Hey, I'm over here, y'know," Krad said a little jokingly, a little not.

She turned around to face her boyfriend, possibly soon-to-not-be-boyfriend, and sat down. She expected to feel a wave of dread wash over her at the realization of his probably dumping her, but she instead felt nothing. And before she knew it -- "I'm breaking up with you."

"What?" Krad's eyes widened.

She had just stunned herself, but somehow managed to put sentences together. "I'm breaking up with you. I can't stand the way you look at other women all the time or how you're so neglectful. You never call me for the sake of calling and you never do anything romantic."

The waiter came just that moment to pour the tea, but upon hearing Riku's statements and seeing the growing mix of shock and resentment on Krad's face, he did a 180.

"... You're a bad boyfriend, Krad. I hate it that I've liked you enough to put up with it, but now I've decided that it's just not going to work."

His mouth moved but words weren't coming out with the usual ease. "I- yo- whe-," he stuttered, overcome with shock. She was glad that she was the one making him feel like this now, as spiteful as it was.

"It doesn't matter. I'm sorry Krad. Maybe you'll learn something."

And she stood up and walked out, heartbeat finally, finally normal again.

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Sakura-Angel: Sooooo? Tell me how I did. Haven't written anything in awhile, and this came out in about an hour and a half.

Dark: Can you tell completely?

Sakura-Angel: Oh... hush.