Memories in the Sky

Ayane Selznick

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STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLIED

Pairings: Hiwatari Satoshi and Harada Risa

Summary: Memories are piled up experiences that lingered in the past. The only way to unlock them is to look at a peaceful horizon and remember how they brought up emotions in you.

Author's Note: Title and summary seemed to be in an angst start but the later part of this story will no longer be a sad atmosphere.

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Throughout the weeks of establishing the once destroyed city she grew up with, she found out that there wouldn't be any way to have him back.

Not that she wanted him back. It was just a dire emotion that kept on pacing back and forth when she looked up in the sky.

All those memories of him… all those that made her want to cry and laugh at the same time… it was an abyss of excruciating grief that no person, she believed, could heal her gradually.

Everything had settled on its place.

Her twin sister, Riku Harada, finally took comfort and love from Niwa Daisuke – the tamer of the Angel Dark, whom she ever first loved. Niwa Daisuke had declared then that Riku was his Sacred Maiden, all the reason why Dark has to vanish.

Krad, which she most frequently called as White Dark, disappeared along with Dark.

As what Niwa-kun and Hiwatari-kun explained to them, both Dark and Krad are one and the same. They were an artwork for the Hikari family, Satoshi's real surname, and through some mishaps, Krad and Dark were created. Both young lads believed that they would soon appear once another Hikari and Niwa descendant is born.

That would take what? So many years...

Risa Harada believed that she wouldn't be able to wait that long for him. For all she knew, she could have grown up as an old maid. Dark wouldn't like that.

Then there were her classmates. True, most of the girls in their school had probably gone into a long-week of mourning for the loss of infamous Phantom Thief. Saehara and the others had gone working up for a research concerning about Dark and Krad and where they had gone to. Risa believed that they won't find anything unless Satoshi and Daisuke tell them the truth.

But she doubted. The cause of appearance and disappearance of the two angels were extremely risky. They were strongly connected to them and to their families. Issues such as these should be kept in the deep corners of their mind, never to utter to somebody else.

In all possibilities, everybody has moved on.

The tragedy of the Angels may have started a blazing flood from a small spark of fire in the woods, but it soon vanished along with the memories that will be buried along in the past.

However, Risa did not think that way.

She loved memories, especially when it concerned about Dark and the White Dark. Her once dull life had splashed colors when Dark entered the picture. She knew fear because of Krad. She learned a lot from the past experiences she had encountered and neither of those had been her regret. Not even the loss of her first love.

She would miss him, that was a fact, but that doesn't mean that she has to mourn over for him.

Risa had known that Dark loved her grandmother. So much it shed him a tear when they have to part. Dark never shed a tear for her. Perhaps she was a little jealous of her grandmother, but the point was, through their love, she found maturity. She found understanding that not just from a mere kiss that would make somebody loves the other for eternity.

It takes a lot of understanding, a lot of emotions… a lot of sacrifices.

Love, has proven, is a pain from several knives that struck the heart. Love is death. The moment you felt your heart beat stopped, it seemed as though the air in your lungs had constricted. All the twirling emotions inside your body would create an inner turmoil, debating whether to show it or hide it.

She did not feel any of those when she looked at Dark. Neither when Dark kissed her. Because she never knew that love could cause all that passion. And because she was plainly absurd and juvenile, she could never know. What's important was all she ever wanted should be given to her.

Sometimes she wanted to jump from the balcony for the mortification she once held when realization dawned at her. She wanted to wash away the guilt, anguish and materialism all at once.

She wasn't suicidal. It was just a measly imagination to wash up everything that pulled her down. Most of the time, she would stand there and look at where the sun sets where the horizon of the unending sea rests. There she would unlock the memories again, feel mortified, and then smile nostalgically.

"Harada-san?"

Surprised, her angst moment suddenly slipped away when a voice from behind called her name. She turned around and frowned at the person who usually called her by surname.

"How many times have I told you that it's Risa?" She emphasized. She sent a glare of which she wished would scare the intruder.

But it never happened. Instead, the new comer smirked at her stubbornness and silliness, as he walked towards the balcony where she had leaned her back.

She looked up to him, her glares had forgotten. "What are you doing here?" He asked when he set his eyes on the beautiful horizon that invited him to watch.

Risa looked at the ground first before she turned around to continue watching the sea, now with somebody beside her. "Just thinking."

"About what?"

She glanced up, allowing him to know the pained pensive expression that filled in her eyes. "About how selfish and childish I was back then." She smiled wistfully, "And how everybody changed."

There was a moment of silence before he raised a question. "So you thought you didn't change at all?"

Perplexed, Risa looked at the tall pale blue haired boy with glasses. Rephrased… The boy who wore glasses before. He wasn't wearing his glasses anymore and he looked younger than he normally does.

"I know I did. But for some reason I'm unconvinced."

"Why?"

"I keep on going back to everything has happened. I find it hard to let go."

She heard him sigh before he answered. "That's true. You find it hard to let go. You keep lingering to what has happened, assuming there would be a way or another to restore it. But that doesn't help you. It would only exacerbate your situation, mostly your feelings."

"So what do I do?" Obvious trace of innocence seeped through her lips.

He gave her a small smile, "Let go. Think of something positive along the way. If you keep looking back and loiter in it, then there's no bright light in your future."

She lowered her head as she smiled. "You're right."

The soothing warmth that she heard and felt was conquering her once doomed condition. As she stood beside Satoshi Hiwatari, she knew that even when Dark has disappeared she would be safe.

Momentarily glancing up on him, Risa slowly embraced Satoshi's right arm, as though she was seeking more of his warmth. Satoshi looked down at her. His pale blue eyes, that once bore loneliness and yearning, now possessed with drowning love and kindness.

"You know…" Risa started with an endearing soft voice. "Among the people I've known, you're the only person who changed the most."

Satoshi blinked. "I know."

He shifted the embraced arm. He used it to hold Risa's shoulder, so that she would lean on to his body. In return, Risa cuddled on to him with her small arms around his abdomen. They looked at each other's eyes, a silent conversation they've grown with, and then Risa pulled herself to meet Satoshi's descending lips.

Their kiss was long and loving. It burst several miniature flames inside their stomachs, creating a winding reaction that chilled up their spine. Their breaths were sealed with gentle lips, intertwined with newfound love. They have each other as their guide for their way, the road of their future.

When they pulled apart, Satoshi planted another kiss on her forehead, making her eyes closed ever so tenderly. Risa had grown to love his pale blue eyes as she looked back to them. She knew that she had blessed with someone who would perpetually love her with all of his life. He promised her that.

As Risa leaned the side of her head on him, Satoshi wrapped his arm around her frame.

In their silent conversation, Risa told Satoshi that his change was the ultimate improvement of his life. He let her in his heart. While she let her selfish love to fade away forever. With him in her life, she must know not to be self-centered… she must know what he thinks and what he feels.

That's love right? It is shared by two people with the same feeling for one another.

Together, they remembered the bittersweet memories about each other…

…About how they grew close in time…

…And eventually, learned to accept one another – a feeling more than friendship and more than admiration.

THE END

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Author's Note: Done in one seating. Wow, it took me less than an hour! I hoped you liked it!