Disclaimer: I do not own DNAngel…. except for in my dreams…sigh

Okay, I've been playing around with this idea for DNAngel for a while. Since the English manga has not been coming out regularly for the last year, this fic takes place after the ANIME. I know this chapter's a little weak in sequence, but I'm trying. I think next chapter will be better, so please bear with me.

Chapter 1

"Niwa-san"

No response

"Snap out of it Niwa-san"

Rika woke up with a start as the bell rang. All of the other students were already hurrying out of the room or were gone. The teacher had also left already.

"Geez Niwa-san. Do you sleep at night or what? You've been so spacey lately, and now you're falling asleep in class," Nakajima Kana said to her friend. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concern.

Rika sighed and gathered her books as she got out of her seat. "I just haven't slept well lately, that's all. I'm fine Nakajima. Honestly," she told her friend as they left the classroom. Kana looked at her with a smirk.

"Up late thinking about Fujioka-senpai again?" she taunted.

Rika blushed a crimson red. Her silence was answer enough for Kana. "Are you going to tell him?" she asked.

Rika froze where she stood. Mortification was evident on her face. Despite her nervousness she answered "No" very firmly.

"Aww, come on Niwa-san. How's the boy going to know you like him if you don't spell it out for him?"

Rika looked down at the ground and said sheepishly "Because there's no way that he'd like an underclassman like me. There's nothing unique about me, I'm just…"

"There is absolutely no reason that Fujiwara would not find you physically attractive Niwa-san", she interrupted her, "besides, you should stop fishing for compliments to bring up your self esteem. It's not very becoming," she added to lighten the mood.

"But there are so many girls that like him. Compared to them…"

"For the last time, stop wallowing in your self-pity and talk to the guy" Kana snapped. Rika was her best friend, but sometimes her insecurity got on her nerves. She was serious, if sometimes sardonic, whenever the topic was not about herself.

Rika looked at Kana with envy, "Maybe it's easy for you. All you have to do is batter your eyelashes, and half the guys in our grade level flock to you like lost puppies". It was true; Kana was a bit of a flirt. She had a different boyfriend for each week.

"For god's sake Niwa, if you would actually make eye contact with them you could easily get guys to go out with you" Kana was shouting at her now. Kana had a short temper, and the two girls were polar opposites personality wise, so the other students weren't surprised that the two were arguing. However Kana could never stay made at her for long, she felt too guilty. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?"

Rika just nodded weakly. Kana sighed in exasperation. "I said I'm sorry Niwa-san. I shouldn't have yelled at you okay? I just wish you would have a little more confidence in yourself."

"I'm sorry too. I just can't help it," Rika offered a weak smile, which was as close to "I'm fine" as Kana was going to get. Rika was still only keeping half of her mind on what was happening at the moment.

"You're a million miles away. You must really like this guy, huh?" Kana said. Rika blushed again and ducked her head. "You know" Kana checked her watch, "kendo club should be letting out soon. We could go by and say hi to Fujioka-senpai".

Rika shook her head. "I couldn't. I wouldn't possibly know what to say to him. I'd end up stuttering and just embarrass myself, not to mention make him feel awkward" she rambled.

Kana sighed, "Then I guess I'll have to take matters into my own hands," she told her. "I guess I'll have to ask him out for you," she gave Rika a wicked grin.

"Don't you dare" she threatened Kana.

Ignoring her, Kana proceeded to walk towards the gym. Rika protested the entire way. She tried to drag Kana away, but Kana was determined. Rika was seething with rage when the club members started coming out. When Kana spotted what she was looking for, she shoved Rika and ducked around the corner. Rika stumbled and started to fall when hands gripped her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked.

Rika looked up in horror, face still bright red. "I'm sorr…ry," she stammered. She could feel curious eyes on her. To give herself something to do, she scurried for her books. She was going to get out of there as fast as she could.

"Here let me help you" he offered and started gathering some scattered papers.

"Thank you" she finally managed to spit out when he handed her the books. As she stood up, she noticed two other guys watching with interest. Rika made a mental note to kill Kana in the immediate future.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" he asked.

She nodded her head, "Sorry to have troubled you". Rika turned heel and started walking off, still feeling eyes following her that made her uncomfortable.

"Come on Yojii, let's get out of here" one of his friends said. She heard footsteps going in the opposite direction.

Humiliated, she kept repeating, "I'm going to kill her, and it's going to be slow and painful". Kana, of course, had already gone home.

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"I'm home," Rika shouted out as she stepped through the front door. She slipped off her shoes and let her book bag fall to the floor with a thunk. "Grandma? Daichi?" she called out. No answer. "Must be at the market," she thought to herself.

As she started to walk down the hallway, she felt her foot trip a taught string. "Not again," she thought. The floorboards underneath her gave way as a trap door. Rika jumped just in time and rolled out of the way. The collapse of the trap doors also triggered another trap. Rika had to roll rapidly to the end of the hall to avoid the falling kitchen knives that were being dropped from the ceiling. Knives were still dropping when she got to the end of the hall. Rika tried the door, but it was locked. She slipped a lock pick out from her sleeve and got the door open.

"Welcome home honey," her grandmother called out to her. She was standing in front of the oven. Next to her, was her younger brother Daichi.

Daichi smiled "Hey Rika-nee," he greeted her, and then turned his attention to the counter. The smell of strawberries and rising bread wafted from the oven. Both her grandmother and Daichi were coated in flour and various cooking paraphernalia lay scattered on the table and counters. Almost hidden by the flour scattered everywhere, a cute rabbit like creature lay, with a bulging tummy. His mouth was covered with red strawberry juice, and he was sleeping contently.

"I hope you didn't give Wiz too many strawberries," she warned, "he doesn't know when to stop eating". At hearing his name mentioned, Wiz twitched his ears, but didn't make an effort to get up or greet Rika.

"Not too many," Daichi said, "we just started, cuz grandma's been working on the traps for awhile. She wanted to change the ones that she made for me," he told his older sister. Rika just shook her head. Her grandmother would constantly fasten traps and locks for her grandchildren to get through. Whenever asked why, she would just say it was out of habit. Apparently she had done the same thing to their father.

"Hey, enough with the grandma business, you're making me feel old," Emiko chastised them. Rika sighed, her grandmother looked fairly young for her age, but sometime she wondered if maybe it was because she paid for it by losing her mind early on.

"Do you want to help make strawberry tarts?" Daichi asked her eagerly. Rika shook her head.

"No, that's okay. You and grandma," she put emphasis on the word to tease Emiko "have fun". She walked into the living room to head up to her bedroom.

"Was everything okay at school dear?" her mother asked. She was sitting on the couch in the living room, with various envelopes, a notepad, and a calculator stretched out in front of her. If it weren't for her, nothing would get done around the house, the chores, the bills, etc.

"Uh-huh" was all Rika replied. Satisfied by this answer, her mother didn't look up. Rika never liked to share the details of her school day. However Daichi would eagerly relay everything that happened to any willing stranger.

She hurried up the stair, taking two at a time. She crossed the small highway and locked herself in her room. She sighed and sank onto her bed, peeling off her socks. She tossed them to a corner in the room, where she piled her clothing. The room was of medium size, not large and not small. There was a desk on one wall, and bunk beds facing the opposite wall. There was a window that had a view of the sea that surrounded the town. Her father used to sleep in the same room when he was a child, and gave it to Rika because of the beautiful view.

She sighed, and crossed over to the dresser. She started to brush out her hair to relax her. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. She turned her head from side to side, growing more and more discouraged with each angle. Finally she threw the brush down in frustration. She plopped down on the bottom bunk bed and pulled a notebook out from underneath the bed.

Pulling the pencil out from behind her ear that always seemed to be attached, for she always had a pencil, she opened to an open page and began to sketch. At first she was just sketching a random design, but as she continued to make more marks with the pencil, she found that her design was beginning to take shape. Absorbed in her work, time seemed to stand still. The only source of light had been from her window (when she started it had been midafternoon) but the sun was setting, taking the light along with it. Finally she finished her sketch was finished just as the sun slipped over the horizon. She reached over to flip on her bedside lamp, but when she looked at what she had been working on, she wished that she hadn't.

A sketch of Fujioka Yojii was staring up at her. He was in his school uniform, laughing, as though one of his friends was standing near him telling him a funny joke. She looked at it for a while, and then flung it back under the bed.

"Rika, are you going to eat tonight?" her brother's voice called out from downstairs.

She didn't answer, actually she didn't hear him. She was too busy replaying what had happened after school in her mind, imagining what she could have done differently. In one fantasy she wittily covered up her trip and her embarrassment, capturing Yojii's interest. In another, she answered him without stammering, and went after Kana. She was still daydreaming when her mother came in.

"Are you sure that you're okay sweetie?" she asked Rika. Her face showed her concern.

Coming back to reality she replied, "Yes mom, I'm fine. Just very tired".

"Do you want me to bring you anything? Maybe some soup?"

"No thanks mom, I'm fine. Really. I just want to go to bed early".

Riku looked at her daughter with concern. She knew better than to hover over her though. She was like Daisuke, she like being alone at times. "Okay, just let me know if you change you're mind" she said gently. As she left, she closed the door, but not before a strawberry fattened Wiz had managed to squeeze into the room unnoticed.

As Rika changed into her pajamas in the bathroom, Wiz waddled his way up the ladder to the top bunk. It took a lot of effort on the little guy's part, but he managed to settle in on Rika's pillow by the time she returned.

As she climbed up the ladder, she spotted him and couldn't help but smile. As if sensing how his presence was helping Rika, he said "Kyu".

Rika just laughed and let him curl to fit the curve of her arm as she lay down. "Good night Wiz" she said to him. Wiz was already asleep though; he had had a tough day eating all of those strawberries. Comforted by the rise and fall of Wiz breathing next to her, she managed to drift off to sleep.

Some hours later her door cracked open. Daisuke and Riku peeked their heads in to check on Rika. Seeing that all was fine, they tiptoed to check on Daichi, and then downstairs.