Snowdrops Are For Hope

By: pnaixrose

Disclaimer: I don't own DNAngel or its characters.

Chapter 1: Recalling

Flowers: dark blue roses.
Table covers: dark blue.

Two loud knocks echoed through the small, littered office. Yet the woman, crouched over her desk scribbling away, didn't seem to even notice. Working under a single, small lamp shade on her desk, she grew frustrated when her beautiful, long brown locks slipped from behind her shoulder to cover her work. She should really get those annoying things chopped off one day. But she had always had long hair and although she always planned to cut it, she never did.

Seat covering: white with dark blue bows tied to the back of chair.
Centerpiece: large, glass vase filled with water, white and dark blue candles floating on top.
Catering/cake: ...

More knocking - even louder this time - sounded while the woman silently stared at the last thing she had written with a sad expression on her beautiful face. She must have written this list at least a hundred times with only a few changes here and there. Yet whenever she got to the catering, she was always stumped. Of course, she could have easily written down a famous, international catering business but she simply could not. The image of her twin sister always came to mind. Harada Riku. She hadn't seen or spoken to her since eight years ago. She had only been seventeen years old when she left her hometown before moving out here to the big city, Tokyo. The last thing she had heard about Riku was that she had opened her own small catering business. Riku had always been an excellent chef so her sister wasn't surprised. Riku was very successful...in a lot of things...

Suddenly, the young lady was shaken out of her reverie as the sound of the constant knocking finally came to her ears. She jumped in surprise.

"Oh! I-I'm sorry! Come in, come in!"

The door opened and in came a middle aged woman in a very expensive looking silk outfit came in, looking younger than she really was. She had a bright smile on her face even though she had been kept waiting at the door. The woman at the desk gulped nervously as she watched the older woman enter with nervous, brown eyes.

"Gomen ne, Tanaka-san," she apologized. "I was...er..."

The older woman laughed heartily. "Now, now, Risa. I told you that you can call me Akina. Now why are you apologizing? I simply came to see why you're here so late at night," the older woman said with a slight smile. Her wandering eyes caught the paper Risa had been recently writing on and her eyes lightened. "What is that? I thought you hadn't gotten an assignment in a while? Good job on getting one!"

Risa laughed sheepishly. "Well actually Akina-san, it's not really work I'm doing. It's...uh..."

Akina laughed in merriment. "Ah! I see. You're planning your own wedding again?" she asked. "You must have rewritten it a hundred times already! May I have a look?" Before Risa can politely refuse in embarrassment, her swift boss had already picked up the paper and was analyzing it closely, nodding in approval here and there. "Looks nice! Hmm? You still haven't found a catering company? Why, I could suggest some that you might be interested in."

Risa shook her head. "No, no. It's okay. It's just that...well..."

"Ah!" Akina said with a start. "Doesn't your sister own a catering business? Do you want the name of it?" As soon as she said it, she instantly regretted it as she saw her employee's face suddenly turn glum. She silently scolded herself. Risa was never a person who talked about her personal life and she was especially touchy when her twin sister, Riku, was mentioned. But it turned out that hearing her name at here was happening more and more frequently as Riku's catering company, Delicious Delicacy, was slowly growing. Only a few years ago, it had started out to be an extremely small and unknown business but now that a couple of years had past, people seemed to really like the small-town girl's food. No one knew exactly why Risa was touchy about her past life before she had moved out of her old home, but they weren't about to start asking. It wasn't their business.

As the silence ensued, Akina decided to leave and she placed the sheet of paper among the other messy papers on top of her desk. She cleared her throat softly and turned around to face the door once again. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Risa. Don't work too hard. Have a good night."

But the other woman spoke up before her boss could leave the small, cramped office. "T-Tell me, Tanaka-san. Wishing me a good night wasn't your true intention when you came in here tonight. Tell me, are the rumors about me true? Am I...going to get fired?" When she got nothing in reply, Risa sighed and looked down at her cluttered desk. "Not only are you my employer, but we're friends too, aren't we? Please tell me...for old time's sake...Akina-san."

Risa knew that would strike a chord with her boss and it was indeed successful. Akina and Risa had been quite close not so long ago. As soon as Risa had gotten out of college, she was somehow accepted here at this renowned, national wedding planner agency called Endless, in Tokyo. At the time, Akina hadn't been C.E.O. of the agency, and it had been her duty to train the newbie and teach her the whole lot about wedding planning. As soon as the young, excited girl with big brown lovable eyes came bounding in, Akina found herself liking the girl instantly. As months flew by, Akina found the growing potential in her pupil. Risa had charisma, creativity, a feel for colors and tones, a friendly personality, and a whole lot of imagination. It was the perfect package of a wedding planner. Risa had always been known as a quiet girl, but Akina knew that she wasn't. There had always been something about her, like she was hiding a well known secret. Risa was holding back on herself because of some guilt. And although Akina was worried about her, she left it alone, knowing that everyone had their own secrets they didn't want to share.

After a year of working together, Tanaka Akina became the one in charge of the agency after her predecessor retired. She had been the one picked out of all the planners there since she had been part of the company for ages and had done great planning for a lot of important clients. It was time that the mentor finally left her student to work by herself. Usually, Risa would be doing pretty well for a woman her age. She was only twenty-five, and had already done quite a few important, rich clients. But everyone has that time of his or her life when everything seemed to be going wrong. Right now, that was the position Risa was in. And it was a pure shame.

"Risa, you have a lot of potential in you and you're already very well experienced in planning. I don't know why you haven't been getting clients this year but your records for this year prove that you haven't been able to earn enough. In fact, your year has been the lowest progress anyone has made from the past five years," Akina sighed, painfully recalling the data. She didn't understand why. Risa was an excellent planner! With more experience, she'd be one of the best anyone has ever seen. "I'm sorry, Risa...but if you don't get a client in the next month..."

There was an uneasy silence as the two women avoided each other's eyes. Risa was shaking, horrified at the notion that she might lose her job which she enjoyed more than anything. She didn't understand...nothing was going right for her. No possible clients had called her, so it was obvious that maybe no one had spread the word about her work. Getting good business in wedding planning depends a lot on getting people to hear about you. If people would only spread compliments and news about her...

It was unfair. She had always poured her heart and soul into everything in those weddings whether it had been the dresses, the catering, the color themes...everything! And now, at only age twenty-five, she was going to be fired from the career she loved?

Damn it all! Why did everything seem to tumble out of her reach?

...Just like before.

A flurry of beautiful, raven black wings. A boyish yet sly grin, hiding years of wisdom and strength. Long, lustrous dark hair blowing in the wind. And shady, piercing eyes so captivating and mysterious that someone could just stare at them for hours.

Dark.

A rush of heartbreak overcame her. She hadn't been able to claim his heart. She had loved him so much but even that hadn't been enough. Risa couldn't get him to love her back. And although she knew it was hopeless, she couldn't help but constantly plan an imaginary wedding for the both of them. He'd be so handsome in a black tux and a dark blue tie would match him and his personality perfectly. She'd be in the most gorgeous wedding gown ever known to man. Then, he'd gently smile down at her and...

But it was all a dream, a simple fantasy. Love was really cruel sometimes.

And then her thoughts went to...him. The total opposite of the handsome Dark. Boyish, cute, huge bright ruby eyes, red, spiky hair, a cheerful grin, always ready and willing to help someone out...

Niwa Daisuke.

Even though it had been years since she finally found out Daisuke's hidden secret...it was still hard to believe that the person she desired more than anything in the world had been hidden inside Daisuke, a childish, yet friendly boy.

Her twin sister's first and only love.

Sometimes she wished Daisuke hadn't confessed his secret those many days ago. The painful memories of what happened after the secret was revealed always brought pangs of guilt to her. She still couldn't believe she had done something that terrible to Daisuke and Riku. She couldn't believe she had caused conflict between them...between all three of them.

But luckily, when Risa left, things had slowly patched up again. Daisuke and Riku had eventually seemed to forget what had happened...

...and they seemed to forget about her too. Everyone did.

When she had suddenly left at the tender age of seventeen to attend school in Tokyo, no one seemed to care or notice. It was alright with her. Besides, Riku and Daisuke loved each other unconditionally. They deserved each other and Risa felt awkward and guilty at the thought of interfering with their lives again. She'd probably just screw things up for them once more.

But she couldn't help but think...why was it so unfair? Why was Riku the successful one when Risa wasn't? Why was Riku the one who's first love returned her feelings when...

...Dark never even gave Risa another thought.

Risa sighed aloud, pushing her memories aside. She forced a smile at her old friend and boss. "Alright. I understand." She stared silently as her friend gave her a sad look. "I-I'm going to get going soon. It'll be midnight in just a few minutes."

Akina gave a slight nod and exited the office, wishing with all her heart that Risa would find a way to work things out. It would be such a waste of talent if they were forced to let her go.

Risa, on the verge of tears, buried her face in her hands, trying to calm herself down. She had already lost her family, her friends, her hometown and now she was going to lose her job which she had worked so hard to get in the first place. It was hopeless. It was impossible for her to get a good client within the next month. She was going to lose it all. She was going to be left with nothing.

Choking back her sobs, she reached for the leather journal in one of her drawers. Risa had had it ever since she could remember and it had all her precious, private thoughts about everything in it. Flipping through pages of entries, she stopped when she came to the single thing that could possibly help her right now.

From between the pages, she picked up a single flower blossom. She had pressed it flat, to try preserve it for as long as she could. And surprisingly, it was still in pretty good condition. It had a few drying spots on the blossom, but it was still intact. It hadn't even broken between the pages of her journal. She figured it was weird that the blossom was still in good condition even after eight long years since she had gotten it. Even if you press a flower, it wouldn't last for eight years, right? But the fact that it hadn't withered away made it all the more precious to her.

It was unlike any flower she had ever seen. The stem drooped down when it came to the blossom, causing the white flower to look like a tiny umbrella. She had had it all these years and still didn't know the name of it. And although it wasn't really big or extraordinarily beautiful, she loved and cherished it...

...for this was the one thing that had been left for her right before she left.

She didn't know who left it there on her windowsill that night. For all she knew, it could've been blown by the wind and just landed there. But she liked to think that at least one person had cared. That one person didn't want her to leave. And so, the person, whoever it was, had left it there deliberately.

Risa dreamed and wished with all her heart that it had been left by Dark. She would've been the happiest girl in the world if it had been. But she knew it was impossible. No one would see Dark again in a very long time. Besides...even if he were around, he wouldn't have cared if she left or not.

She also liked to think that Daisuke or even Riku had left it to let her know they forgave them. But Risa knew that the thought was totally out of the question. Daisuke and Riku hadn't forgiven her for what she did...even now.

But someone had left it there. She was so sure of it.

And every time she looked at it, it gave her a surge of strength, a boost of confidence that everything would turn out all right.

It gave her a newfound hope.