Title: Half in Love
Genre: Romance / Angst
Rating: K+
Pairing: Satoshi x Risa, one-sided Dark x Risa
Spoilers: Anime finale
Summary: If you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with.
Word Count: 1,445
Warnings: N/A
Disclaimer: Not mine. Summary belongs to Stephen Stills.
A/N: I caught brief snippets of this potential relationship sometimes as I was reading/watching D.N. Angel, so maybe that's were it was going? I don't know.
It still didn't seem real to her. She knew there were people who would say the entire thing seemed unrealistic: that a legendary Phantom Thief had loved her, that he was sealed inside a work of art now. She knew there were people who would say that she was crazy. That she was delusion. That she was imaging things.
She had heard her own mother on the phone, saying that Risa was maybe jealous of her sister's blooming new relationship with Daisuke. That perhaps Risa had had a schoolgirl crush on a famous thief and projected a relationship onto him. Like none of it had been real. Like they had not gone on a date to the Carnival. Like he had not rescued her time and time again, not because he could, but because he had to. Because it was Risa. Because he loved her.
He loved her…
But now he was gone. Now she would never see him again. Never see that chiseled profile, skin glowing in the moonlight. Never see those amethyst eyes, amusement and affection both vying for center stage. Never see that pirate smirk, crooked and handsome, never watch it soften until it seemed his whole youthful face fairly seemed to glow with happiness. Never see those black angel wings spread against the backdrop of the moon, never wake to find downy feathers left on her balcony or pillowcase.
Never know what it would be like to really be with Dark.
She was happy for Riku and Daisuke, she was. She had been honest with Niwa, and herself, when she turned him down, it seemed like so long ago. She did not feel for him in that way. To Risa, Daisuke was like a brother. He was her dear, dear friend. And while, for a time, she, and others, had thought he was only with Riku because of her resemblance to Risa, she knew different now. Daisuke saw them as distinct individuals, as different and diverse as Dark and Krad.
Her sister and Daisuke had each other to cope with after the events with The Black Wings. But Risa had only herself, yes she could talk with her sister, but it felt like an intrusion now, with her budding romance so young and new. So she took to wandering the museums, reminiscing on those nights when she would sneak out and try to meet Dark, try and kindle a flame, try for her own happily ever after.
At first she didn't notice the other mysterious, brooding denizen of the museums. She didn't always go to the same one, so it took weeks before she noticed just how many times she passed him, standing in front of the same places she herself was drawn to, staring at artwork with vague, unseeing eyes, eyes lost in thought, thinking about something she could only guess at. But she saw him more often than not, and that was strange in and of itself.
"Hiwatari-san?"
Satoshi turned to face her, light glinting blindingly off his glasses, gaze dark and inscrutable. "Harada-san." Nothing else, just her name, and then an expectant stare.
"W- what are you doing here?"
He cocked his head to the side as he regarded her. "Looking at the artwork." Like that was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh, yes, of course. I mean, why this artwork?" She thought she knew, but she wanted to see if he would say it.
He gave an elegant shrug, an artless lazy lift of one shoulder, and glanced back at the large expanse of canvas, artistically painted to resemble a field of wildflowers. "No reason in particular."
A pause. "I –" She swallowed, suddenly nervous, but quickly smothered it down, and exclaimed, "I come here because this is where Insomnia was." She refused to look at him, though she could feel his eyes on her. "It's where Dark-san saved Riku and Daisuke-san." She spun suddenly, skirt twirling around her. "Hiwatari-san, too, helped save them. They are two of my most important people."
He broke eye contact with her, the lightest dusting of pink brushed high across his cheeks, to stare at the painting again. But he, like her, wasn't really seeing what was there now, but was looking into the past. "You come here to remember Dark."
She felt the blood rush to her face and stammered for something to say. "Um – I – I "
He smiled, soft and slow, and Risa felt her heart lurch at the sight. There was so much Dark in that smile. Sad and pitiful, but charming, amused. "I understand. Life is certainly quiet without him looming around stealing artwork." He must have seen her start to fume, for he continued, "But he definitely made life interesting. I hardly know what to do without him around."
"I – Yes. That's it exactly. I – don't know what to do."
He nodded in a sign of solidarity, then graciously gestured to the display. "I leave this to you, Harada-san. Perhaps we will run into one another again."
Over the next few months, Risa ran into Satoshi no less than a dozen times, each time in front of one of Dark's previous crime scenes, each time they stood in comradery, each remembering their own pasts with the Phantom Thief. Each time, without seeming to notice how easily the silence slipped into conversation, they revealed a little more about themselves to one another.
What were you planning on doing for the summer? How was it being a Police Commissioner? How are Niwa and your sister doing?
"Are you doing anything this afternoon?"
Risa turned, startled, to face the boy beside her. For a moment, he seemed taken aback by his own question, but quickly, more quickly than she, composed his face back into its serene mask, and waited patiently for her response. "Um – no, not really."
"Would you like to grab some tea?" A tilt of the head towards the statue they were standing near. "We can continue our conversation?" A furrow in his brow. "If you like."
She would like the past few months to have never happened. She would like Dark back. But, if she were being honest with herself, she knew that was never going to happen. You can't turn back time. And you can't bring people back once they're gone. Dark was gone. Dark was never coming back. "That would be nice."
Tea after their museum run-ins turned into unspoken agreements to meet on schedule once a week. That turned into lunch after long discussions cut into meal times. That turned into walking together to go from one museum to another so Hiwatari could show her something, prove a point. That turned, somehow, into days where they never went to a museum at all. They went to the movies. They went to the circus. They talked about books and movies and the world.
Sometimes she would catch him staring at her, eyes focused on her smile or laugh, and his cheeks would dust with pink when he knew she caught him watching her. Sometimes she would wait to turn to him, would watch him from the corner of her eye, waiting to see the slow, contented smile bloom across his face, eyes softened and hesitant, surprised by his own happiness. In those moments she would feel her heart skip a beat, feel her breath hitch for just a moment, at the thought that this beautiful boy could maybe like her.
Satoshi wasn't Dark. She knew that. It was hard to forget. Dark had hair like the night sky the moment the sun set, so deep a black it was purple-hued. Hiwatari had hair like the clearest spring sky. Dark's eyes were mischievous glittering amethysts, while Hiwatari's were hard sapphires. Dark was carefree and open and wild. Hiwatari was withdrawn and restrained and almost shy. They were different. She knew that.
But she also knew that Hiwatari-san made her forget, a little at a time, how hard it was to be without Dark, to know she'd never see him again. He made her look forward to the next day, made her look forward to seeing him. He made her heart beat faster, made her blush, made her happy.
She would never forget Dark. And she would never love Satoshi like she had loved her Phantom Thief. But that didn't mean she couldn't love Satoshi.
So she would.