Disclaimer: DN Angel is not mine.

Pairing: Satoshi x Risa.

Synopsis: No matter how hard they try to avoid each other, their fates seem to intertwine.

Word count: 2758 words.

The place was in a mess.

Her hair wasn't done, half of her dress was on her shoulder while the other one hung loosely on her side and the ceremony was about to start in less than fifteen minutes. All the maids had run away after the young lady of the Harada family burst into her panic mode. Taking a deep breath, she now kind of regretted her action. She didn't think that she could make it on time without making herself looked like she'd run for miles. Pretending like the evening ball was nothing was a suicide. Riku would kill her if she missed her twin's engagement party. Among many things that she loves about her twin, being punch by her super strong hand wasn't one of them. If only Riku was as relaxed as Daisuke.

Yeah…if only.

With little time left, she finished up with the simplest make up; tied up her hair in a messy yet cute pony tail and ran down the stairs with one hand holding her shoes while the other one grabbed her snow white dress in an attempt to make sure that she wouldn't fell.

Guessed lady luck was still on her side tonight as she arrived miraculously on the same time Riku turned to look for her. She was then introduced to some people who— through Risa's well trained observation— were her candidates of possible future employer. She kept smiling and talked with them with a fake yet adorable smile. Most of them were related with entertainment industry and art; the areas which she had an interest and talent in. This revelation made her glared at her twin. In times like this, she really wished that Dark was still around and stole her away from the crowd. She then grabbed her twin by the arm and the two shied away. The action didn't pass through Daisuke's thief radar. Whenever Riku and Risa had some sort of a fight, he'd instantly notice.

"I'm sorry," she started. "The last time I checked I'm invited to my sister's engagement party, not my job interview."

"This is my engagement party— though this kind of party is so not my thing," Riku answered, looking at her dress which was made exclusively by Niwa Emiko. "And so does this fluffy dress," she whispered; fully aware of Emiko's super human hearing.

"Then stop trying to help me to find a job! I can find a new job of my own, Riku. I can stand on my own feet."

The older twin didn't answer. Of course Risa could tell that she's helping her. They could read each others' minds perfectly; as if they shared a same brain. Just like she could tell that Risa had some sort of trouble with her previous jobs— or the fact that Risa was almost late for her party— or the part of Risa which still thinking about that perverted thief after these four years.

"Then why did you quit your last job?" she finally asked her younger twin.

"Do we have to talk about it now?" Risa challenged back.

Being the older one, Riku knew that the fight was meaningless. "Never mind. I'm just nervous. Hey, can you pretend to be me later on and make the speech?"

This time, it was Risa's turn to be the rational one. "Are you going to let Daisuke-kun panicked alone?"

Speaking of the red head, the mentioned guy stood behind the twins, blushing furiously upon eavesdropping their conversation. It's not everyday that he could distinctively hear the two talked about him.

"Hey, Daisuke-kun," Risa called, gaining his attention instantly. "Your tie's crooked."

Being Niwa Daisuke, his typical respond would definitely be immediate panic and trying to redo his tie. Unlucky him, Risa was just teasing.

"It's not funny, Risa," Riku warned while adjusting Daisuke's tie to its original state. "Just get yourself a boyfriend and stop teasing mine."

Ouch. That hurts, she thought. Didn't she notice that her fiancé was once the host of my crush?

"But mine is now engaged to Daisuke-kun," she joked, making Daisuke blushed even more.

Riku held out her tongue playfully and went to greet other guests along with Daisuke. Risa did the same, except that she had no one to talk with. Ok, so some people tried to talk with her but the only thing she needed right now was to escape. Seeing all the guests were happy with their dates didn't help either. To think back about it, the last time she willingly attended this kind of occasion was during her school time where Riku had switched place with her. She had always believed that it was the day where the two lovebirds really knew that they belonged to each other.

"I'm always yours alone," Dark had said affectionately, and took her hand in their endless waltz.

She stared at the floor, suddenly feeling sad upon remembering those words. That night was also the first and the last time Dark had unexpectedly reappeared and danced with her before everything started to fall apart; before the secrets finally revealed; before her first love disappeared; before Satoshi disappeared.

Speaking of the bluenette, she had hoped that he wouldn't come tonight. She didn't dare to meet him face to face after she'd learned about the main cause of his food poisoning. Of course, she'd sent an apology card, together with a vase of snowdrops and a short phone call to show how sorry she was. It's not that she really thought that she's the only person to be blamed. Her cooking skill had improved; Daisuke had confirmed it for her. Maybe Satoshi's bad eating habit was the actual contributor for his condition. Some people just love to over exaggerate things.

"Oi, Harada!" shouted an overly cheerful and energetic Saehara.

When the reporter finally stood in front of him, suspicious looking grinned adorned his now mature feature.

"What?" Risa asked.

Instead of answering her immediately, he put his left hand on her shoulder, while the other hand pointed a thumb. "I always knew there's something between you two!" he exclaimed with his infamous dramatic expression.

"Saehara, I'm Risa. Riku and Daisuke-kun are over there."

"I know!" he said.

"Then why did you say those words for?"'

"Come on, Harada. Stop pretending! My reporter instinct won't fail me! Your dress explains everything!"

She took a quick glance at her dress, "Yeah, I'm wearing a dress that my sister gave me for this party."

"Eh? Didn't he buy it for you?"

"Who's 'he'?"

The reporter stared skeptically, "Hiwatari, of course."

Risa was silenced. A faint blush appeared for unknown reason. "Has anyone told you that you're an idiot?"

"My ex said that on the day we broke up. Why?"

Risa was undecided whether to slap her forehead or just slap the ignorant guy. "Saehara, why would Hiwatari buy a dress for me?"

"You don't know?" the reporter asked; scandalized.

"How would I?"

He looked around and whispered, "He wears a suit that have a similar design like yours."

"He's here?" she blurted. "I have to go."

And so, she walked away as fast as she could; trying not to make her sister, Daisuke, the Niwas and even that Satoshi (if he was here anyway) saw her. But lady luck seemed to have abandoned her now, seeing how hard for her to escape from those annoying people who Riku had introduced to minutes ago. With no other places left to go, her only option was to escape from the balcony, and jumped across toward the other balcony that linked to the study room. It's not that hard. She tried it before, and she saw how Dark did it. All she had to do was to take off her shoes and lift her skirt and jumped to a perfect landing.

Piece of cake— though she hoped that the weird sound she heard just now wasn't the sound of her skirt tearing.

Taking out one of her hairclips from her hair, she unlocked the door and sneaked into the place where she hardly went into. The only people who'd actually spend their times here were her father, his friends and Daisuke (the thief blood of his just couldn't resist to be around some of the old paintings that Harada owned). Putting the thought aside, she was about to go to the exit when she saw a figure stood not far from her; to where her father kept his most valued painting. Her only thought was simple.

"Stay away from the painting, thief!" she warned, using the nearest thing that she could grab— her father fountain pen (she cursed silently)— as a weapon to protect herself in case the thief tried to attack her.

"It's irony seeing you're the one who sneaked into the room like a thief," replied an eerily familiar cold voice.

Hiwatari Satoshi walked towards her, revealing his full torso to the light from the desk lamp. With his bang brushed back, he looked colder, more mature and so different— though she personally preferred his usual hairstyle. And the suit! God, that noisy Saehara was right! The suit really did look like a perfect match of her dress!

"What are you doing in here?" she retorted back, being thankful for the lack of light that hid her blush.

Being typical Hiwatari Satoshi, the guy didn't respond. He just took a glance towards her before resting his gaze on the painting. God, she just hated it when he did that!

"I said, wh—"

"I sensed a presence of a Hikari in this room," the bluenette interjected. "But there's no need to be worried about something from the past."

Hikari.

Dark mentioned that name before. And so did Daisuke. But none of them really wanted to talk about it to her, and for some unknown reasons, she never really felt like asking for details. All she knew was that it's associated with the Niwas and Dark— and that eerie looking blondie who seems to like to spend his time being grumpy and attacked Dark. Besides, who cares about those kind of things when she had a hot thief dating with her? So when the name suddenly reappeared, her curiosity sparked.

Should she just ask him? Or shouldn't? Maybe it's something that he wasn't fond of; judging by the bitter tone he omitted. It's something that's related with Dark; which also meant that it's related with his once tiresome job to end the famous heists in their town. But now that Dark was no longer around, why would he hold that burdensome feature? Why now? Why didn't he say nor do anything in the past? Or within the four years?

"You should be with your sister. She seems agitated," Satoshi's voice, together with the faint sounds from the crowd interrupted her.

That's when she realized that the chief commander was already walking out of the room. The door closed soon after, and Risa stood there silently; staring at her own reflection from a mirror beside her. Riku had prepared everything for her for the night and what had she done so far?

Sighing, she wore her heels and walked for the door. She knew that she'd hate herself for what she's going to do later.

Damn that cold hearted guy!

~oOo~

"Where have you been?" a nervous looking Riku asked.

Risa bit her lip, "You know…somewhere."

"Never mind. Look at this crowd! Please tell me that everything's going to be just fine!"

"Riku, relax. Everything's going to be fine."

The older twin suddenly hugs her tightly. "I'm glad that you're here, Risa. God, I hate making speech, though it's a short one! Stay close to me. In case I ran away, you can pretend to be me."

Risa giggled and hugged her sister back. She could only smile when she saw Niwa looked restless too. The moment he saw Riku, however, he smiled and the anxiety ceased to exist. The two would live happily ever after, no doubt. For Risa, on the other hand, knew that Riku wouldn't need her support that much anymore. She just hated that fact.

It hurts, but it's not something that she couldn't live with.

~oOo~

She walked out to a gazebo in a garden near the hall, bringing along two glasses of fruit punch. The longer she stayed inside, the more guys would ask her to dance. Besides, she felt the urge to follow a certain cold guy who she saw walking out of the room once the two lovebirds made a toast.

"Aren't you going to join them?" Risa asked once she saw her target, handed him the fruit punch, which he took skeptically.

"Are you going to poison me again?"

"I didn't poison you, you idiot! You're the one who has a weak stomach!" she immediately replied.

Satoshi didn't say anything further, and so did Risa. They just stood silently, letting the awkward situation filled with nothing but…more awkwardness.

"I'm not interested in this kind of social gathering," he finally said, answering Risa's previous question.

"Then why did you come in the first place?"

"Because of Niwa."

If Daisuke wasn't engaged with Riku, she'd have thought that the two had a forbidden love story.

"But you're supposed to be with him; inside."

The words seemed to catch his attention, making the girl nervous. He studied her for a short while from the corner of his piercing blue eyes before he closed it.

"It reminds me of Father," he said with cold demeanor, giving her zero information about his actual feeling. "He always forced me to attend this kind of gathering when I was young. And it reminds me of that night."

Risa held her breath. This was the first time Satoshi actually said something about that night; the ball night where everything ended. The night where she was told about Satoshi's other half's attempt in killing Dark; Satoshi's attempt in killing himself. The thought itself brought shudders to her body. How long had he carried this burden?

Before she knew it, her hand was already on the sleeve of Satoshi's suit; shocking both Satoshi and herself. Silence filled the awkward air.

'Now what?' Risa mentally scolded herself.

"I…" she trailed off, letting go of the sleeves as fast as she could. "W-where did you buy your suit?"

Ok, that…sounded lame…and stupid!

Satoshi stared at her with an expression that Risa didn't dare to look. Now she really, really felt like she wanted to dig a hole and bury her head in it. She looked at the hall with the hope that someone— or something would save her from this. But she saw no one and the only sounds that she heard was the music from the hall.

"I mean," she started. "Satoshi, would you like to dance with me?" she continued with a smile.

The Hikari stared at the hall silently; thinking. The view made her heart beats faster. Why did he have to look so cool with that stubborn attitude of his? And when he offered his hand to her, Risa's heart almost stopped.

"Only one dance," he said simply, taking her closer to him.

And the two danced silently. Risa just couldn't stop herself from thinking about her dance with Dark four years ago. Like Satoshi, occasion like this would never be the same to her since that night. Unconsciously, she buried her face onto Satoshi's shoulder, sucking in the smell of cologne of the boy who she used to hate years ago. He was right though. In a way, she's using him to make her forget about Dark.

"Harada-san, I have to go," Satoshi said, unconsciously patting Risa's head.

Risa was startled, "But the song—" ended already, she finished the thought bitterly. "Yea, of course," she said with another smile.

He was a few feet away from her when he turned, "Harada-san."

"W-what?" she replied.

Hurm…was it just her or this felt oddly like familiar?

"Next time," he said before he paused.

Risa could literally felt her heart pounced against her ribcage in anticipation. It's rare for him to look back whenever they departed.

"Don't forget to remove the price tag before you wear a new dress."

He left soon after, hiding a grin from the girl. Risa's face was now as red as tomatoes. And it turned redder than Daisuke's hair when she found the mentioned price tag.

T-th-that idiot commander! Why didn't he say anything about it earlier?

Her scream could even be heard from the noisy hall. But nobody knew who it belonged to; not even a reporter as good as Saehara.

~end~

Honestly, I didn't plan to make this. But the thought suddenly came when I was (indirectly) challenged by Katherine Daystar. And it even turned out longer than I planned.

It's hard to keep Satoshi's cold character. -_-"

As usual, constructive comments are always welcome. ^_^