Heka: Hello everyone! After a long, long, long, long hiatus, I have returned!

Dark: Yeah, to start another ficlet.

Heka: I stress that this is a ONE-SHOT!

Shigure: Then she goes on and continues it.

Heka: No! Seriously! It's a one-shot! Don't come and ask me to continue it because I don't know how!

Dark: How can you not know how?

Heka: It's easy. Your brain just shuts down at the mere idea of a second chapter.

Shigure, Dark: Wow…

Heka: So here's my newest one-shot! Called Sympathy for the Devil! Someone else took the Sympathy for the Devil title already but I felt that this title suited it.

Shigure: The author is from the Inuyasha section.

Heka: So? I don't like knowing that I copied but I felt that I had to! Oh yes, before anyone says I shamelessly ripped people off or anything, I shall say that this was inspired by a song (rather obvious what song it was), Sympathy for the Devil and the manga, Akuma no Eros.

Shigure: You read that?

Heka: It was a rather disturbing manga…

Dark: Geez. That manga was disturbing?

Heka: Yeah… I skipped all the…

Shigure: PG-13 here.

Heka: The… strange sections. Hence! I now say that I don't own anything! Okay I own the scanlations of D. N. Angel but that's all!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title: Sympathy for the Devil

Pairing: Dark and Riku (duh)

'Pleased to meet you. Can I guess your name?'

The rich baritone of a voice echoed from the bright whiteness that surrounded her, and Riku opened her eyes wearily. Feeling the entire world heave around her, she hurriedly closed them again.

She groaned, her hand moving automatically to her head as she concentrated on stopping the spinning. She was slowly becoming aware of her surroundings without opening her eyes and could instantly feel that she was being supported by a pair of firm arms. Instinct told her to push the hands away and support herself and Riku struggled briefly, only to feel the arm latch onto her much more firmly and now, even a warm wall was pressed close to her back.

'Don't struggle.'

Riku's senses were immediately on high alert. The warm and rather sensual voice had awoken something in her and, doing the only thing she knew to do in a situation when someone was intending to get fresh with her, Riku attempted to crush the pervert's foot. A satisfying groan of agony was heard, and the arms and wall vanished. She managed to stand on her own and opened her eyes blinkingly, adjusting to the light and finally able to see what was around her at last.

She was in a very spacious and well-lit hall of sorts, and there were many people around the yellow hued hall, either walking around or just sitting on the chairs that were arranged in rows in the middle of the hall, talking quietly in whispers. Looking around, she gradually noticed that she knew almost everyone in the hall and that they were all wearing black.

A lump formed at the back of her throat. She looked down at herself.

Riku was wearing a white blouse and a pair of khaki Capri pants. Typical, she thought grumpily, feeling that she should have been decked in white or something, with pretty sandals, but no – she thought bitterly as she checked her feet, she was still wearing her most uncomfortable pair of black loafers. Damn it.

She checked her back, remembering a childish dream. No wings. Damn it again.

'That wasn't very nice,' a low voice purred into her right ear, before a long arm was snaked easily over her shoulder. Riku narrowed her eyes, turning to drop the arm in a mildly annoyed manner. She faced the man with a glare.

'I'm sorry, but do I know you?' she confronted him, taking in his looks and attire.

The man was tall and slender, and as he circled her with a most taunting smile on his face, she could feel waves of a sort of power radiating from him. If what her instincts were telling was right, he wasn't a human and she felt that she should see his face. However, it was mostly hidden by his hair, easily the most noticeable thing about him as it was a rich purple that just screamed of luxurious baths and long hours spent with a specific brand of conditioner or hair gel, to make it look as naturally flyaway as possible. And as he casually pushed the hair out of his face, she saw that he was exceptionally good-looking, so much so that it should have been made illegal or something, and that his piercing eyes were blood red in colour, swirling with a suppressed triumph.

For a moment, his eyes reminded her of something else – a flash of red from her memory.

She hazarded his age to be about twenty-seven and even though he was dressed in such normal clothes – a white shirt over his black long sleeved shirt and a pair of dark green cargo pants, Riku could not help but suppress a shiver of fear which ran down her spine. The man, fully aware of her intense study of his features, took out a pair of tinted glasses from his back pocket, and placed them on jauntily.

He then produced a wining smile which made Riku's hair at the back of her neck stand. It was too wide, had too many white teeth in it and just looked so terrible that she involuntarily took a step back.

'Here's a hint,' he drawled. He began humming softly. 'I'm a man of wealth and taste… and I've been around here for a long, long year. And yes, you do know me. Pretty well too.'

His reply certified Riku's own conjecture. Glancing around the hall swiftly, she noted again that no one in the hall seemed to have noticed them though they were standing at a rather conspicuous corner of the room. She noted again, that they were all wearing black.

Taking a deep breath, Riku asked the inevitable question. 'I'm not dead now, am I?'

The man clapped his hands a couple of times. 'Well done! Most people take about twice the time you did to realise that. They run around, check things out and most have to see their own bodies before – excuse me? Why do you keep looking over your back?' he asked, dropping his glasses slightly, making him look like a particularly strict teacher. Riku jumped and turned back around, flushing slightly.

'I… I don't want to see my body. I… I know I died a horrible death. And…' she hesitated. 'I was checking for wings…'

'And a halo?' he supplied helpfully. 'You wouldn't have one of those, they're for angels and you definitely aren't one – '

'Hey!' she lashed her foot out at his shin angrily, painfully aware that he didn't have them either. 'Aren't you one?'

'Please,' he snorted. 'Don't insult me, Riku. Look, here comes one now,' he pointed nonchalantly behind her.

Riku was about to ask him how he knew her name but was distracted as a tiny ball of light floated down slowly before her and burst into a brilliant light, causing her to shield her eyes hurriedly. And as she did so, she noticed that the man merely pushed his glasses up absentmindedly and sighed.

'Show offs. They never were able to resist it in front of me,' he muttered to himself, pulling on a pair of black silk gloves from his pocket delicately, at a leisurely pace. Who the heck was he? Riku wondered briefly.

She turned back to the bright being. The initial brightness faded away quickly and Riku soon felt the icy gaze of a blue eyed and blue haired man who looked around her age. He was holding a book in his hands and he pushed on a pair of half-frame glasses as he looked Riku over expressionlessly.

'Name?' he enquired shortly, opening the book. Riku smiled to herself. Her twin sister, Risa, would have gladly died for a boyfriend like this, who was once again, unnaturally good-looking with a voice like liquid chocolate. His face was peaceful and his voice – smooth, low – was a voice that would have made any female sign in foolish abandon.

Remembering his question, Riku answered with her name, and feeling slightly sheepish, added 'Sir.'

The man took a long time to check his book, which was quite thick and large, with an ornately inscribed cover. She stood there and waited, feeling slightly nervous, like waiting for approval from her boss at work. She danced on her balls of her feet occasionally and took to observing (not checking him out, Riku was too strict for that) the man to get her mind off her anxiety.

'You aren't what I had in mind about angels. You aren't wearing a dress… hey, you aren't even in white!' Riku blurted out. There was a loud snigger from behind the both of them, causing the pair to turn and see what the disturbance was. The purple haired man just coughed, choking upon something behind his hand and motioned helplessly for the angel to continue his search.

The blue eyed man merely returned his gaze to his book and replied softly, 'Well, we do have to move on with the times, you know.'

For he was casually dressed in a dark blue loose long sleeved shirt which set off his eyes and hair magnificently, and a pair of beige cargo pants; should Riku have passed him on the streets, she would have written him off as an exceptionally beautiful and intelligent looking college student, nothing more. Definitely not an angel.

'Ah. Here we are. Harada Riku. Saved on the second of April 2001. I believe you were thirteen then?' he asked politely, ticking her name off the list. Riku felt relieved, like she had passed some sort of test. She nodded eagerly.

He nodded his approval. Staring straight into her eyes for the first time, he extended his hand. 'Shall we?'

Just as Riku reached out to take his inviting hand, there was something akin to an explosion from behind her. Turning around in surprise, she saw the other man cut in neatly between the both of them, placing an arm possessively over Riku's shoulder. He snapped the fingers of his free hand, causing a piece of paper to flame into existence before the blue-eyed angel, who merely looked mildly affronted.

'What is it now?' he sighed, casting the furious-looking man a wary glance, as though noticing him for the first time. He plucked the piece of paper from the air and began to read it. The arm around Riku's shoulder tightened convulsively.

'No way are you going to cheat this one out of me, Gabriel,' the man with tinted glasses smiled. 'The others, fine… but this one… this one I've taken a special interest to. She's mine.'

Riku felt a more powerful tremble along her spine. The piece of paper looked very tattered. What was on it, so important that it was kept till now, in its original form?

Feeling that something had gone wrong long enough without her knowledge, she slammed her foot down on the man with red eyes again and felt a sense of satisfaction as he crumpled again. The blue eyed man, or Gabriel, looked up in surprise from his reading and Riku, who had been tentatively reaching for the paper, stopped and blushed. She hadn't felt like a rule-breaking school girl in almost a decade.

'You're… Gabriel? As in, the Saint Gabriel?' she asked timidly. The man gave her a small smile as he pushed his glasses up.

'Yes. Undeniably. Good day to you.' He bowed slightly and extended his hand again. Riku felt his lips brush the back of her hand before it was pulled out of his grasp with a jerk by a gloved hand.

The other man had recovered and had an outraged look on his face. As he was much closer to Riku now, she glanced at him and noticed with a sudden chill that behind the glasses, his red eyes had slits for pupils.

She gulped in fear. Who the heck was he?

Now truly afraid, she wrenched herself from the grip of the stranger and snatched the paper from Saint Gabriel's hands and devoured it hungrily for herself.

The man with red eyes smiled triumphantly and turned towards the slightly exasperated angel. He put a friendly arm around him and began to talk quietly to the angel.

Riku read the paper rapidly, her stomach dropping at every sentence. Dated on her birthday, it had carried details of a trade of sorts. Apparently, her mother had traded Riku's soul for wealth and her own life at the birth of the twins, when the doctors had given up on her as she lay dying of blood loss and illness.

Riku slumped onto the ground weakly as she saw her tiny bloody thumbprint alongside with her mother's. Saint Gabriel turned around in surprise.

'Did you know about this?' he asked accusingly. Riku shook her head desperately as the other man looked on in interest, mentioning a point of his own.

'It caught me by surprise too; no one had called me for a very long time…'

'I didn't!' Riku exclaimed half in desperation and anger, ignoring the musing man. 'Only now! How did this come about? Isn't there a sort of buffer period? Can't I choose now? It was made when I was baby! Heck I didn't even make the decision!'

Both men eyed each other warily. Riku flicked her gaze between the two of them.

'Well?' she demanded. 'Aren't I right?'

Gabriel was the first to look down. He took the sheet gently from her hand and patted her head kindly. Riku blinked in a confused manner as both men glanced at each other again, as Gabriel straightened, reading the contract. He sighed and took out his book. Riku stifled a cry as he began to speak.

'I'm sorry,' he murmured softly. 'This contract had your thumbprint on it. It means you've agreed to the contract, whether it's of your own free will or not.' Consulting his book, he flipped to the page where Riku's name had been and began to slowly but surely remove her name from what was now unquestionably the Book of Life. Riku's eyes were fixated on the action and every move he made filled her with agony.

'No!' she exclaimed. 'Why? I don't deserve this!' she stretched out her hand imploringly to the angel, who refused to look at her. How did this happen? Why was it so unfair? Why?

'Please… ' she begged softly as tears sprung to her eyes. She had never felt so frightened before. She knew who the other man was now – and to think she actually thought he was an angel! She reached for Gabriel's sleeve pleadingly and tugged gently. The other man looked away as Gabriel turned around and bent down to face Riku.

'Wait,' he said simply, holding her hand to encourage her. 'Wait for the Judgement. He will come for you. It is soon.'

He pressed his lips gently to her forehead. The red eyed man made a loud sound of dissent. Gabriel looked at her with a sad smile and dried her tears with a slow wipe of his fingers. 'You're strong, Riku. Wait for Him, okay?'

Riku nodded like a little girl and pushed the tears away as he released her hands. He moved away as the broodingly angry red eyed man stood over her as she controlled herself, silently asserting his ownership over her. Gabriel fixed him with a piercing gaze.

Lucifer glared right back. Mine, he mouthed clearly.

Gabriel refused to rise to the challenge. Closing his eyes, his unfurled his huge white wings which appeared behind his back and leaped into the heavens, leaving only a few feathers fluttering towards the ground.

Still slumped on the ground, Riku watched the feathers float down dispiritedly. Picking up one pure white feather, she watched with mild amusement as it curled into ashes quietly.

A warm hand landed on her head and patted her comfortingly. Lucifer squatted down beside her, his glasses slipping slightly down the bridge of his nose as he smiled at her weakly. Riku glared at him as he sat down beside her.

'Hell isn't that bad you know…' he began slowly, shifting his hand on her head to an arm placed gently on her shoulder. Riku shrugged him off, ignoring his remark. This was coming from the Lord of Lies – who knew whether he could be trusted.

She fingered another feather and watched against as it curled into nothingness. Lucifer rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers impatiently, causing all the feathers to burst into little balls of flame.

'There, you've burnt your bridges. Now quit moping!' he snapped, standing up and pulling her arm.

Riku narrowed her eyes in anger before turning around and wrenching her hand from his grasp. 'Excuse me! Can't you bloody well give me a few moments of silence to myself? I just died, for your information! Then I found out that I belong to you because of some stupid contract made before I even knew contracts existed and – what are you doing? Get away!'

He had grabbed her arms and pulled her towards his face, his eyes burning with such intensity that after her initial outburst, Riku was silenced by the power of his stare. Her initial thought had been that he wanted to slap her. However he appeared to be battling something within himself, she thought as she remained trapped by his grip. He looked absolutely terrifying and her face, one twisted by anger before slowly melted into a face of fear, as she remembered who she had been talking to.

'I-' she started. He put his hand on her mouth, releasing her suddenly, as though she burned him.

'You belong to me now. I have the responsibility of taking care of you, and making you content… right?' he said slowly and with great difficulty, looking down at her.

Riku backed away a little and turned away, refusing to look at him. What did he mean? She asked herself. Lucifer wasn't known for his kindness to… his property. He was Lucifer, the Fallen Angel from Heaven, who all the sinners went to when they died. Wasn't he a busy person? Didn't he have someone in purgatory to torture or something? Why was he wasting time on her?

'Yeah, well I have other demons purge them for me. Besides I ought to spend some time getting to know my things right? Especially when they're as pretty as you.'

Riku resisted the temptation to take one of her loafers and hurl it at his face. He was the Lord of Lies after all.

'Yeah,' she muttered instead. 'Then you rape them or something.'

He gave her a withering look. 'I don't enjoy it,' he shot back. 'Only to those who deserve it.'

'Gee, then I wonder if it's a compliment or not, that you aren't touching me at all.'

He was on top of her in an instant. Riku felt the ground below the back of her head, the hands holding her wrists tightly above her head, his knees by her waist and as he bent down with a malicious grin which stopped her breath altogether and his hot breath curling at her throat. She shut her eyes, shrinking away, feeling horribly exposed and trying very hard to stop her overactive imagination from thinking where this could lead to…

'Don't. Push. Your. Luck,' he breathed into her right ear. Riku flinched and tried harder to move away.

Riku let the breath that she had been holding go. Her blood was pumping so loudly into her ears that she almost only felt him speaking, instead of actually listening to his words. She glared back at him as he leant back with a knowing smirk on his face. She bit her lips. She was blushing, damn it, blushing! She knew she was! Damn!

'Don't think too much about your blushes. You actually look quite good, flushed like that. I might want to continue exploring that area,' he mused as he got off her slowly.

She sat up breathlessly the moment his legs left her. 'Don't you dare!' she exclaimed in gasps, as she tried to calm her heartbeat rate. She should have never said anything in the first place! Damn! However, she noticed something.

'Did you just read my mind?' she asked, now much calmer.

He shrugged. 'It comes naturally. Pretty handy sometimes.'

She gave him a dirty look and took to identifying people to amuse herself. She was so caught up in the activity that she did not notice when he shuffled closer to her until their shoulders were touching each other.

He was silently listening to her thoughts, the incessant flow of thoughts lulling him into a slight doze when she suddenly noticed a tall redhead.

The change of emotions in her heart and mind was so sudden and powerful that Lucifer actually jerked his own head up in mild surprise to see what the matter was. Her emotions were so intense, her heart softening greatly, coupled by the fact that she actually felt grieved and a strong sensation of loss. His eyes narrowed.

'Who's that?' he asked, turning towards her and watching with distaste as her brown eyes grew soft and glistened with unshed tears.

'That's my husband,' she whispered as the tears slowly began to fall. 'And… I'm so… I'm so sorry to have to leave you like that…'

She hastily placed her hand over her mouth as the tears became uncontrollable. The feelings radiating off were so powerful that he was beginning to feel the heat from her love and he felt vaguely repulsed. Damn humans and their pure love, he thought irritably.

Refusing to let something as insignificant as love prevent him from annoying his charge, he placed his chin on her right shoulder and proceeded to watch the redhead intently. He smirked in slight contempt as the man tripped clumsily over the chair and apologised profusely to the people around him. He tilted his head a little to watch Riku's reaction and saw that she was smiling with a kind of fondness and longing. He rolled his eyes, turning back to stare at the man. She must really like him then, to not notice my head touching her shoulder, he mused to himself as he absentmindedly noted that her head was currently full of her memories of her husband.

Theu Lucifer was taken by surprise when Riku turned her head and gently kissed him on the cheek.

He blinked in mild surprise, lifting his head and touching his cheek gingerly. He looked at her in amazement.

No one had kissed him willingly before. Sure there were those kisses, given under the influence of Lust, his personal favourite vice, but those didn't count. This kiss had been different, innocent and light, like the kiss of the sun or wind on your cheeks.

Riku felt the weight on her right shoulder leave and turned to face her husband. Then she remembered who she was with and what she just did.

The slightly disappointed feeling she had been experiencing quickly changed into horror and abhorrence as she realised what she had just done.

'I kissed you!' she exclaimed in horror. Humans always had that habit of speaking the obvious, Lucifer remembered, feeling vaguely annoyed. Was it that bad to kiss him?

He nodded nonchalantly and tilted his head again in slight curiosity as she leapt to her feet and began to explain her actions, actually looking more like she was trying to convince herself.

'I – It wasn't intentional! Daisuke used to put his head there all the time! I'd turn and kiss him and – oh damn it, I forgot!'

She began walking around anxiously, muttering to herself about betraying her husband. He let her continue on this thread for a while before he stood up beside her. She really was very short; he noted with a chuckle and placed a firm hand on her head.

He leant down to face her as he saw her eyes fill with tears again. This one took love very seriously, he noted as he smirked at her, just to annoy her further. It brought out a lovely glow to her cheeks every time she got angry or flustered.

'What is with you?' he drawled. 'It's just one kiss. Besides, like you said, it wasn't intentional!'

Naturally, Riku snapped.

She slapped him hard across the cheek and yelled, 'It's just a kiss to you then, selfish piece of scum! I bet you never loved anyone before right? Never felt the emotions, the joy, the pain, the rush and beauty of just being in love! Never knew what it was like right? Heartless bastard!'

Furious, she turned on her heel and strode away, vanishing around the corner.

He stood there, stunned. This woman had kissed him then slapped him all within moments of her death. No one had done that before. He narrowed his eyes again, as he massaged his stinging cheek. Well, it was time for her to pay.

And he knew just the perfect punishment, especially after her explosion on love in his face.

But, he reminded himself; he had to save her to have her soul to torment in the first place.

'Hey! Don't!' he exclaimed a little too late as he ran after her. He stopped as he saw her reduced to her knees at the entrance of the hall. She was barely able to breathe properly but was still crawling stubbornly towards the exit at the end of the corridor.

He tsked and rolled his eyes, walking over and bending over her. He lifted her easily in his arms and began to walk back into the hall.

She struggled, or at least tried valiantly to do so in his arms but was giving him a rather easy time as she could barely breathe, let alone scream in anger. And as he entered the hall again, she noticeably recovered, becoming better.

He watched her carefully as she coughed repeatedly. He sat her down on a chair at the back row and sat himself down on the chair in front of hers, sitting in the opposite direction to face her. He crossed his arms over the back of the chair and continued watching her.

'Wha – what happened?' she gasped as her coughing subsided. 'Why did I feel so… heavy…?'

He exhaled impatiently. 'You're attached to your body here. Get too far and you'll die. Really die,' he explained curtly.

As she quietened down at his words, he added, 'Stupid girl. It was just a damn kiss. No need to kill yourself over it.'

Now almost fully recovered, Riku's rage returned simultaneously. 'I wasn't going to kill myself over it, idiot. You're not worth it. Besides I really didn't know that this would happen!' she retorted.

She crossed her arm as well, blew the wispy lock from her crop of short hair out of her face and fixed him with a mocking stare. 'You obviously haven't been in love before, haven't you?'

He lifted his eyebrows. That reminded him of something… he smiled as he remembered what it was.

She had turned away after her question, refusing to look at him. The sudden lifting of his head and his grin made her turn back to face him.

'What's with that grin? You look like a wolf!' she spat.

He dropped his glasses again, allowing her to see his crimson eyes in their full glory. She shied away slightly, before controlling her fear and looking straight back at him.

'Yes… I haven't been in love before…' he began, ending on higher pitch to catch her attention. 'And you have been in love before right? Fine, still in love, with Butterfingers over there –'

He stopped as she kicked the back of his chair in retaliation.

'So how's this for a deal? Teach me… how to love, and I'll release you back to oh-so-great Saint Gabriel. How does that sound?' he grinned. What an offer he was giving to her. Her expression was really quite priceless. He was almost going to miss her, especially if she took his offer and finished teaching him.

'Teach you how to love? Are you kidding me?' she asked incredulously. He kind of liked how sceptical she looked at that moment.

He titled his head slightly to the left. 'Yeah. I'm curious. Especially after your reaction to that accidental kiss.'

She stared at him in astonishment as he continued staring at her, not knowing how innocent he looked just then. Riku didn't know how but she could feel honest curiosity radiating from his face, especially his eyes. Heck, even his hair looked vaguely interested.

'What?' she could only say in reply to that strange request. She couldn't help imagining the words Harada Riku, Lucifer's Love Teacher! appearing in a banner above her head in cute pink fonts. She mentally rolled her eyes. That sounded ridiculous, even with the banner and victorious sounding music in her head. He sighed, obviously reading her mind.

'Look. Teach me what love is like. I really want to know. I've seen centuries of people harping on about love even after they've died, too many times until I lost interest. But now, you owe me for slapping me and you've sparked my interest again, so I want you to teach me.'

She blinked. It was amazing how much he sounded like an impertinent, selfish ten year old…

'Besides,' he smirked. 'Weren't you a teacher, Miss Harada? A Physical Education teacher?'

That was it. 'Love can't be taught!' she exclaimed in exasperation. 'You need to fall in love in the first place! Like somebody!'

He nodded seriously, agreeing with her. 'And I chose you,' he said simply, looking remarkably like a child now, she noted wearily.

She stared right into his eyes. 'You really don't know what love is… do you?'

He rolled his eyes, becoming impatient. 'It's just teaching me, what could be so difficult?' he gave her a careless look. 'So what if it can't be taught? You've been in love before, so you know what's it like, so just tell me and show me!'

Show him… Riku felt her insides shrivel in embarrassment and she paled, before remembering the reward. Going back to Saint Gabriel meant going back to Heaven. She really didn't need to show him everything right? Right?

He flashed a triumphant smile. 'So it's settled then? Alright! Let the lessons begin, Miss Harada!'

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shigure: Heka would like to stress once again, that this is only a one-shot and there'll be no more chapters after this.

Dark: She also would like to add that she has been procrastinating like there's no tomorrow and hence hasn't come up with the next chapters of all her other stories yet. She apologises for not continuing and hopes that you'll all forgive her.

Heka: Personally, I had lots of fun with this. Especially the middle, after Satoshi left (yes, Satoshi is Gabriel if you haven't noticed – what a weird combination eh?) and when she kissed him. Ah… such fun!

Shigure: Pfft. And your homework gets done miraculously eh?

Heka: Well…

Dark: You've been reading DNAngel the manga right! I like the manga. I like Riku.

Heka: Yes, well, she made you like Riku; hence you'd like the manga.

Shigure: You know, he sounds almost retarded like that… Suits him really.

Dark: I heard that.

Author's Note: There were like a hellish number of tiny spelling errors and mistakes here. I am so sorry for not checking earlier on! I hope this one is better; and I will try to think very, very hard for a second chapter! Maybe a two-shot. Though I won't know what to type in that two-shot… Thank you for reading!