A/N: Let's make this straight to the point. I haven't written anything for a loooong time .. Haha, and I mean LONG time. I think that the last thing that I posted on was last summer or the winter before that, or maybe even earlier. What a sad little girl I am. ):

I've lost a lot of my writing knowledge, but hopefully it'll come back to me in the process of writing this fiction. And hopefully, some of my imagination will return to me as well. (: Sorry if this starts off really dull, folks, I'll try my best to make it up to par. I'm just trying to get my groove back! Ahaha. (:

Anyways, for those who want to know, this is Satoshi x Risa, for those of you who are familiar with my coupling taste for D.N.Angel. Haha, waaai, they're so cute together. (: Flames can be taken elsewhere, merci beaucoup. Constructive critism is much more appreciated.

I haven't watched or read any D.N.Angel since last summer, so bare with me .. This is my effort to put me back on track, writing-wise, and also D.N.Angel knowledge-wise.

WARNING: A/U. Romance, Fantasy. SATOSHI X RISA. Nothing took kinky. Same people, same personalities, different place, different time.

SECRET: Do you sense two different writing styles? I spy (; By the way, their personalities are a bit .. over-dramatized, if that's what you'd like to call it. Don't worry, they'll seem more normal in chapters to come. Thumbs up!


STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

CHAPTER ONE


"Hikari-kun .."

An unseen voice was calling him. It was sweet, almost angelic. It was as if the paroles that were coming from her were of the lyrics of an unsung melody, filling up one's heart with such a strange sensation. A feeling that was rare and pure.

"Eughh .. Who are you?"

Time felt solid, unmoving, as if every breath took would make no different to the future happenings that lay ahead.

"Come find me, Hikari-kun."

Hikari Satoshi found himself sprawled out against the ground, cheek brushing against it's frosty glow. He lay still for a moment, unaware of the place that he had stumbled upon. His body was weak, but his mind was rushing. He put a strong effort into moving his mouth again to make out a question that he knew that the mysterious voice would not answer.

"Tell me, who am I speaking to? Where do I find you?"

Slowly, he pushed himself onto his knees, looking down upon where he lay while rubbing the side of his flustered cheek. It felt numb, a dull, sickening feeling overcoming half of his whole face. He could only touch it gently with the tips of his fingers, and slowly, they came to touch the sole of his weight.

Pushing the rim of his glasses up towards his nose to study what was before him, he found that he was completely surrounded by ghostly enchantments layering the glass floors. They glowed and dimmed, as if the lyrics were breathing themselves, but the meaning of the mysterious scrawls were unknown. Satoshi could not recognize the origin of the language that they were written in, but he studied the precise hand that they dragged the golden pen marks. The design of the letters were completely elegant, as if a piece of art themselves, almost breathtaking.

"Where am I ..?"

Beyond those words seemed to be a bottomless amount of thin, cotton clouds. As Satoshi got himself onto his feet, he could feel his stomach churning. He had a strange sensation that he was floating, high above ground which he was used to stepping upon. He took a deep breath before he took another step, but to his fascination, gravity kept him stable upon the transparent glass.

Breathing a sign of relief, Satoshi regained his composure as he pulled down the ruffles in his shirt. It was not until then, that he realized that he was dressed in an entirely alien outfit, one that he knew he did not own himself. He was all in ebony, from head to toe, down to the soles of his leather shoes. He found that he was fitting smugly in a pair of black dress pants, accompanied by a silk-lined cuffed blouse and tie in a similar shade.

As his bangs brushed against the top edge of his glasses, he sensed that something was amidst. He raised his arm to pluck off one of his hairs from his crown, only to realize that it was also a shade of deep, dark black. He studied it questioningly, knowing that he had only ever had it to be a shade of pale blue.

Satoshi once again touched his face, examining if there were any other foreign objects riddling his body. As the top of his finger glided to the side of his face, he felt something ridged pasted from his ear. As histouch swept over it's design, he sensed the texture of a diamond earring. Satoshi did not even recall having a piercing his whole life.

He felt something dangling from his wrist after this, and found a silver plated wristwatch, encrusted with diamonds around the front. He suddenly noticed that the hand that measured the second was not moving, continuously ticking back and fourth to the same second.

"What the ..?"

This could have been one of the most paranoid incidents that Satoshi had ever encountered in his entire lifetime. He felt so confused, and for once, he had the strange sense of a little child, lost without a parent to guide him. Entirely bizarre.

"Do you hear me, Hikari-kun?"

Satoshi arched his eyebrows as he looked around to his sides, only to find solid doors that were bolted with locks at the absence of knobs.

"Hai .. I hear you."

The whole hallway that he stood in was narrow and bleak, dimly lit by lights of afluorescent shade. As his eyes rested dead ahead, it seemed as if the corridor was endless. As his focus zoomed in and outbefore of him, he caught a quick flash of light in the distance. Satoshi's heart jumped.

"Come, find me .."

Unquestioningly, Satoshi began to dash across the countless amount of doors, flashing past the corner of his eyes. He could feel his arms brushed against himmetricallyina desperate effort to find the source of the voice that was familiar to his name. He needed to find out who was calling him, he just couldn't leave it atrest, not with determination.

As Satoshi grew nearer and nearer, he managed to draw out a glowing orb, color much similar to the writing that riddled his entire surroundings. It shone much brighter, though, and levitated in rhythmic glory. If only he could reach it ..

"I'm here, Hikari-kun. I'm here."

Satoshi leaped forwards and pulled his arm out in an effort to touch the orb. As he soaredforward for what seemed like an eternity, he found himself resting still in mid-air. The hallway was dissipating around him, quickly becoming transparent to make visible the clear sky. The orb remained solid, focused, but much too far from Satoshi's grasp.

Suddenly, Satoshi's chest leaped as he found himself falling fast. The wind was rushing through him, hitting him on all sides. He was coming closer, closer to the ground, and there was nothing he could do to stop it .. Falling faster, faster ..

An ear-splitting screech stunned Satoshi's brain into conscience. The alarm clock continued to scream until, at last, the boy dragged out his lazy arm to hit the snooze button. He lay awake, staring at the ceiling with sleepy eyes. What was that, he thought, trying to remember the happening thatquick-started his mind only moments ago. A dream?

As Satoshi rolled onto his side, he studied the digitalized numbers that were displayed on his alarm clock. 7:30. Almost time to get ready for school. As he covered his mouth to stifle a yawn, he blinked wearily up at the ceiling once more. He felt a weird sense of deja-vu. Wasn't I falling?

Satoshi stretched his arms out and swung his legs over the side of his bed, fitting his feet into a pair of fuzzy, cotton-like slippers. They reminded him of the clouds that floated gracefully in his dream. He grabbed his bathrobe that was hanging from a hook against the wall and swung it over him, tightening the rope at the waist. Dragging his feet against the floor, heheaded towards the washroom, getting ready for another eventful day at school.

&&&.

"Hiwatari-kun, watch out!"

Too late. Satoshi, who was innocently sitting on a bench, reading an innocent book on dream philosophy, was about to be violently attacked. He was in the middle of minding his own business until an unidentified flying object came swooping in behind him, catching him off guard.

The boomerang hit him square in the back of the head, and all that could be heard was the loud clap of the wooden blade striking Satoshi's skull. Dare we say, the impact was numbing.

Satoshi bent forwards, a disgruntled look of pain made obvious on his face. He reached his hand to the back of his cranium, rubbing it deeply, trying to pat away the throbbing of the blood pumping through his brain.

"Boy, do you look sour!" Harada Risa ran up to him from the centre of the field, looking slightly embarrassed and sheepish. She leaned down in front of him, trying to catch a glimpse of the look in his eye, whether it was jokingly thankful or completely outraged. She hoped that it wasn't the latter, if any at all.

Satoshi slowly regained his composure and ceased the rubbing motion against the back of his head. He looked up at Risa with an unreadable expression, the girl looking back at him questioningly. They stood there for quite some time, not mouthing a word, awaiting for someone to make the first move.

Risa, being a brave and naive child, could not hesitant any longer. "Are you alright, Hiwatari-kun?"

"..."

Ouch. Silence.

Risa arched her eyebrows in disdain. "Did you hear me? Are you alright, Hiwatari-kun?"

"..."

Still no go.

Risa wasbeginning to look irritated, a vein pumping through her skull. An emotionally displeased look became her new best friend. "HIWATARI-KUN, are you listening? I SAID, are you alright!"

Satoshi's expression remained unmoved. His voice remained calm and quiet, although quite frank. "No need to yell, Harada-san."

She sighed heavily, holding the top of her head with the side of her hand. "You don't need topretend to actdeaf, you know."

"Sorry, I was thinking." Satoshi could find no better excuse for the long silence that delayed his communications. Maybe it was that harsh blow to his head that stalled the progression of his thoughts and actions, or maybe there was another reason that he just couldn't think of at the moment.

"Geez, from all that nagging, I think my head hurts more than yours now," Risa complained while she pouted, giving Satoshi a 'I-don't-like-your-attitude' look. Satoshi averted his eyes away from her. Risa, in turn, looked completely exasperated. "Well, anyways, are you okay now?"

"Seems so," Satoshi answered as he looked back down at his book, licking the tip of his finger. He set the finger against the thin page of the novel, turning to the next. As a few moments passed, he could still feel the presence of Risa standing in front of him and looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "I appreciate that you're acting as my shade, but don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Hiwatari-kun!" Risa gasped, looking as if the words that he had just proclaimed wounded her emotionally. She lifted her clenched hands up to underneath her mouth, staring at Satoshi with glossy eyes. "Why must yoube so rude!"

"Rude?" His voice remained cool and questioning. He leaned back against the bench and let his arms hang against the top of it, giving an 'I-don't-really-care' aura. Satoshi stared at Risa, waiting for her to give an answer, seeming unmoved by the emotional display that was suppose to make him break down. Bad luck for her that he wasn't the type of guy to fall for thosedirty littletricks.

"You don't even appreciate my company, do you?" Risa's voice went quiet and light, sounding like one of a child. She closed her eyes and seemed as if she was holding in sobs, her chest heaving inwards and out. "Really, I'm just trying to be nice .."

As she covered her head, her hands pulled away to reveal a completely ecstatic drawing on her face. It even came down to her eyes that were smiling gleefully. Satoshi sensed that she had brainstormed an idea to make them even, and indeed, his prediction was correct. Risa replied in a sing-song voice, "You know what you should do? Walk me to my locker!"

Satoshi felt dumbfounded. Simply, if there was one thing that he could never understand, next to his dreams, it would be the female species. "Why must I walk you? You can easily do that yourself."

Uh oh, Risa looked irritated once again. Her eyes looked fiery and a menacing frown formed across her mouth, her hands on her hips, much like a mother's posture. "Hurumph! I don't like your attitude, Hiwatari-kun. You know what? You owe me!"

"What on earth do I owe you for?" Inside, Satoshi felt like his stomach was bubbling, which he expected was from the annoyance he had to restrain. He was aware that Risa could, at times, get on his nerves, but he never knew that it wouldn't become such a strongpeak that would make his stomach do back flips. Or, wait, wasn't it bubbling just a second ago? He had a feeling nausea would take over soon.

"You owe me for .." Risa paused mid-sentence, her expressionfaulting, somewhat. This made Satoshi feel the least bit better. Never lower your guard. ".. For being a big meanie! After all, didn't I come all the way here just to make sure that you're okay? See, I'm a good person! Now please, will you come with me?"

Satoshi gave Risa a blank stare, as if he was contemplating whether to cooperate with her or not. His outcome? Beep, beep beep .. Negative. Satoshi was always one to play hard to get. His eyes focused back downwards on his book, and his eyes began darting across the pages once again. "Your mentality is working the wrong way.I believe that youowe me forknocking my head in. You could've quite possibly inflicted brain damage on me."

Risa's fist was shaking, and she closed her eyes, trying to hold in her aggression. Unforunately, she couldn't keep it in any longer. That was quick.

Shamelessly, she grabbed for Satoshi's arm and once again caught him off guard. She pulled him upwards, and started dragging him towards the school doors. Risa had a surprising amount of strength for a girl her age. "If you don't listen to me, I will cause some damage up there!"

Satoshi's eyes widened a bit as he stumbled to follow Risa's angry footsteps, looking back at the bench to where his book lay, the pages crumpled up as it faced pages down against the wooden cradle. "But my book .."

Risa looked back at Satoshi, giving him an annoyed look, but also gave the sense that she was truly amused. "Book this, book that! Give it up, Hiwatari-kun, you're coming with me!"

&&&.

Satoshi walked lowly beside the cheerful Risa as they passed by many familiar faces in the halls of their high school. The common whisper passed by Satoshi's ear, the recognizable tune of gossip that he knew he wouldn't be able to live down for a long while. He questioned himself as to why people quickly assume things they don't know nothing about.

As they finally got to Risa's locker, Satoshi awaited beside her, leaning against the closed ones beside of her and quickly recognized the perplexed mask that Risa had put on. Satoshi observed her closely as she easily unhooked the lock off of the door, but struggled to open it. She tugged on it hesitantly, but it wouldn't budge an inch. Risa pushed her feet against the sole of the locker and tried pulling it open with all her power, breaking into a sweat. Satoshi could sense the irritation beginning to show in Risa's posture, and couldn't help but chuckle.

Risa looked up at him curiously, looking like a lost infant. She genuinely did look like she was having an exercise, simply from trying to open her locker door. Her eyes went doe. "Why are you laughing?"

"Oh, nothing." Satoshi placed his hands into his pockets and shook his head, grinning widely for the first time throughout the whole day. He was thankful that, for him,Risa could resort to some of amusement from time to time, even with the simplest things that she did. There was a certain charm about her that allured many men, and Satoshi could somewhatrecognize that.

"Hiwatari-kun! You're not making this any easier!" Risa started pouting again and put her arms across her heaving chest, giving up on her earlier efforts. "It's not budging!"

Satoshi sighed deeply and lifted himself off the locker with the heel of his foot. As he straightened the cuffs on his shirt, he motioned for Risa to move aside as he took over the lock.He grabbed a hold of the mouth of the door where he could pull it open, and tried to unbolt it. Surprisingly, it remained locked shut.

Satoshi gave a baffled look as Risa arched her eyebrows, and Satoshi tried pulling on the door more forcefully this time, but attempt after attempt, it would remain the same. He took a deep breath, looking downwards and tried summing up all of his strength and gave the door one last tug. It finally managed to latch open, but in the process, the metal face of the locker hit Satoshi square in the forehead.

He stumbled backwards, trying to catch his breath for the second time. He cradled his forehead between his fingers and arched his eyebrows ungratefully. Why me?

Risa looked at Satoshi sympathetically. "Poor Hiwatari-kun .. Are you alright?"

Satoshi rubbed against his temple and looked at her blankly, although still pained. Not a word came from his mouth.

Risa tilted her head. "No, really Hiwatari-kun, are you okay?"

"..."

Risa gave an extremely annoyed look. Not this again. "Hiwatari-kun, earth to Hiwatari-kun?"

"..."

She sighed and slammed her locker door shut, grabbing his arm again, already beginning to drag him against the floor. "Geez, just take me to class!"


END CHAPTER ONE.


A/N: Sorry of this is lame and of it isn't much of a cliffhanger. I know that some people may be wondering what the whole first deal is about, but I think it will make more sense later on, so just keep on reading, alright? (: Haha, sorry that I changed writing styles in the middle of the whole thing .. I tried doing that on purpose. I wanted the whole 'dream sequence' to have a very surrealistic feel, and for the rest of the story to be more of a light, comedy mood. Like? Review, review, review!