Valse crépusculaire
Disclaimer: Even if I do live quite close to Japan, with only Russia, India and China between me, I'm still not Yukiru Sugisaki, the creator of D.N.Angel. Any similarity to original characters is purely intentional and only the storyline itself is my alone. No characters were harmed during the production of the fiction.
Takes place around the mid-point of the anime series, some time after Dark has rejected Risa and she has found out about Rika. So Risa plays the piano. Dark listens. What else is there to say? Except that I tried to steer away from too much romance, but I'll let you be the judge how successful that was. Try not to mind the slight timeline twists.
"Risaaaa!!"
The yell of the older twin cut through the quiet Harada mansion like a knife through soured yogurt, the tone of which caused a shock of unpleasantness to run through her mirror image of a sister. That yell never purported anything enjoyable to come.
"Yes, what is it?" came the slightly irritated answer.
"Did you close the window in the music room?" the short-haired girl asked as she popped her head through the door.
"No. I haven't been there today, so I wouldn't even know if it was open or not. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I was just wondering if you could go down there and see, and then possibly close it, if it's open."
'Ah, here we go again,' Risa thought. 'Just because she's a couple of minutes older than I am and knows she has better stamina, she thinks she can just push me around to do this and that. Honestly, if it bothers her so much, why doesn't she just go down and see about the stupid window, as if I didn't have anything better to do... which I do!'
"Why me?" she said aloud, "I'm in the middle of sorting out my hair ribbon collection, which I'm sure I don't need to remind you the importance of. You go see about the window."
"Me? But I'm asking you... and I'm doing it nicely, too."
"And just what are you doing that is so important that you feel the need to pester me about these things you obviously care much more about?"
Riku blushed a bit, retorting back "I just have some more pressing things on my mind... like making a couple of phone calls and stuff... not that it's any of your concern..."
"Right... I guess calling Niwa-kun is a more "pressing" matter. What's the matter; he's not answering again? Enjoying making you all anxious and contorted with wait? Niwa-kun can be such a brute at times..." Risa grinned back at her sister who seemed like she was about to grow a little volcano on her head.
Ever since she had discovered Riku had gotten together with Niwa Daisuke, she had to her immense pleasure found out how easy it was to taunt her sister with the subject, the results providing endless hours of fun and made Risa feel not a little bit elated that for once she had something on her sister she could torment her with rather than it always being the other way around.
In the mean time Riku had already reached close to her wits end, to the extent that sentences were becoming hard to structure. "You... you... if you weren't my... I'd... grinch... doppelganger... totally different... WILL YOU JUST GO CHECK ON THAT WINDOW!!" she finally yelled and stomped off as if her body was filled with angry bees.
"FINE!" Risa yelled at her retreating back, replacing ribbon no.38 to its rightful place in the corner of her ribbon case.
– O –
The music room at the Harada mansion was a fairly spacious area with parquet floors, cream coloured walls and a cartoush lined ceiling that sported a magnificent chandelier, all of these being more or less the creation of one Harada Rika, a devout patron of music. Lined all over the walls were paintings of famous composers and pictures of musical ensembles; different instruments were scattered all over the place in tasteful arrangements and, sitting in the middle of the room in all its regal solitude, was a shining, black grand piano, immaculately finished and maintained.
Risa entered the room in a huff of indignation and amusement over her sister's behaviour just before, plotting different ways of getting back to her at some future date. Stepping in, she immediately noted that indeed, the window was open. But at that moment, something a lot more interesting captivated her eye: the grand piano.
Now many people don't know this... in fact only her very immediate family was aware of Risa's special talent, but she was actually very skilled at the piano. Her grandmother Rika had been a world class pianist and one of the most celebrated during her lifetime. It was she that had taken Risa into her tutelage, very much because Riku never was interested in such "frivolous shows of exhibitionism," and Risa had proved to be more than a satisfactory pupil. Her advancement had been meteoric and by the time she was six, she could already perform some of the most complex pieces written for the instrument (she always used the Grand Galop Chromatique as a warm-up piece with no effort at all).
But there had been a change. When Rika died when the twins were only eight, so did Risa's interest wane when she no longer had anybody to play with, and with the commencement of school, friendship engagements and other things of the sort, the piano slowly fell silent. Only on the very few occasions of when the mood got her did she go down and play to her own satisfaction, the feel often helping out to ease whatever was bothering her at any given time.
Now, standing there, captivated by the instrument, she thought she might as well do a couple of rounds with it. So, without more ado she sat down behind the piano, traced the keys gently with her fingers, took a deep cleansing breath, and began to play...
– O –
At the same time, far above the ground, a dark-winged man with deep, purple hair and matching eyes was flying over the underlying town, clutching the "Staff of Lipotrim", the miraculous Hikari artwork that reduced fat right before your eyes to the point of there being practically nothing left. Indeed, the Hikari were an evil bunch.
"Hah, another magnificent victory to the credit of the Legendary Phantom Thief extraordinaire, Dark Mousy, over the evil Commander Hikari and the A-ZZZZ-umano Police of Imbesility!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever" came the tired sound from inside, belonging to Dark's tamer, Niwa Daisuke, obviously getting just a tad fed up with the incessant gloating and self-appreciating of the thief, something that had been ongoing for the past ten minutes now.
"Why, Daisuke. Am I hearing a hint of jealousy in your voice? Because I can perfectly understand your apparent feelings of inadequacy regarding how awesome I really am. It's really okay! I can perfectly appreciate your appreciation of me and attempts at somehow live up to the great example I am providing you, no matter how pathetic such an attempt..."
"WILL YOU SHUT UP! I can't take much more of this," came the very irritated voice again.
"Well, if you're going to act like that, then I may just have to go and tell dear Riku how her golden boy has a bad temper... In fact, there's the Harada mansion right there. I'm starting to think this is a pretty good idea..."
"DAAAARRKKK!! Don't you dare go there, particularly after the commotion you caused with Harada-san a couple of weeks ago," Daisuke whined.
"Hmh? I only told her about my real feelings like any gentleman would... I wouldn't want to lead her on, now would I?" Dark stated rather more seriously. "Besides, I thought Riku-chan would be only pleased that I broke up with her sister. Or am I missing something?"
"Well, yeah... but on the other hand, if there is one thing Riku-san is more vicious about is somebody hurting her sister, and now she hates you sixty times as much, or more if possible," Daisuke said with a bit more of a grin.
"That's it! Now I'm really going down there whether you like it or not. Can't let her live in total misconception about me," Dark declared and dived down. "And there's a fittingly open window."
"No Dark!"
– O –
Setting softly down on the grass behind the open window, Dark was prepared to jump in without hesitation, until the soft tones of a piano emanating from within caused him to hesitate.
"That melody... I know it," Dark whispered to himself. "It's..."
Peeking inside, a rush of memories flushed over him. Sitting there at the piano, lightly moving her fingers on the keys, was a brown-haired girl in her pink nightgown, playing a delicate and sad, yet understanding piece of music Dark knew very well. A sudden image of a very similar girl playing that very same melody came to his eyes as if he had just stepped back in time by whatever strange timewarp.
"Rika..." Dark let out a sigh. "The song you wrote for me... Valse crépusculaire... The Twilight Waltz"
Mesmerised, he quietly noticed the nostalgic music drawing to its close, like the disappearance of a morning mist in the advancement of sunlight, and then saw the young girl give a long sigh before getting up and somewhat wistfully walking out the room, turning off the light and closing the door behind her. In only a few seconds the magical scene was gone. Feeling a sudden sense of melancholy overtake him, Dark decided to jump in through the open window, which of course had been habitually forgotten open by Risa.
"Dark, what are you doing? You still going inside?" Daisuke panicked.
"I'm just going to meditate a bit, if that's okay with you," Dark said with slight irritation at the nagging voice he had to put up with.
– O –
Upstairs Riku was almost unable to contain herself anymore. She had tried calling and calling and calling and... no response. Now she was hoping that Daisuke would at least notice that she had been trying to catch him and call back.
"Really, where does he always stalk off to? And this late at night, you'd expect him to be home. He's almost as unreliable as Risa..." Riku grumbled with deep displeasure, betraying her more feminine habits of wanting to not be ignored by her boyfriend.
It was then, as Risa climbed up the stairs, that she tried to distract her teeming mind a little bit at least from the problem at hand.
"Well, you certainly took your time. So was the window open?" she asked.
At this Risa stopped in mid-pace and blanked. 'Oh, yeah... the window...'
"Ummm... yeah, it's open..." Risa blushed.
Quickly reading her sister's face, it wasn't too hard to jump to conclusions. "It's? Meaning it still is?"
"Ummm..."
"Arh, Risa! I ask you to do one simple thing. Do you do it? Of course not! Honestly, sometimes I think it's a wonder you even remember how to wake up at mornings not to mention actually doing fairly decently at school..." Riku started unloading on her sister.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I'll go and close the stupid window. It's not as if somebody is going to just call you back anyways..." Risa retorted with as much irritation.
"WHAT WAS THAT!!" Riku yelled now aggravated beyond belief.
"You heard me, you witch of a double... totally different..." Risa very quietly grumbled to herself as she headed back towards the music room.
– O –
Sitting quietly in a dark corner of the music room was Dark, eyes closed in a position similar to Auguste Rodin's The Thinker statue, with the Lipotrim weight removal staff perched over the nearby double bass, though there was no discernible difference between the latter instrument's former and current appearance.
In the mean time Dark was going through many memories, he sitting where he was sitting now, always there, with a beautiful girl sitting at the piano and playing magical tunes that always made his heartbeat rise with more heat.
What was different, however, were two things. 1) Nobody was actually sitting at the piano right now and 2) No-one ever barged through the door unexpectedly, huffing like a little pink tornado on its way to tearing up a barn or something with lipstick and ribbons.
"Stupid Riku and her stupid window... what am I, her servant? 'I ask you to do one simple thing...' bla bla blaa... should close her own windows, but noooo... she's too 'high above stuff like that'," Risa quietly grumbled with much indignation, never even noting that this little soliloque didn't go unnoticed.
The window was tall and it was latched from the bottom and from the top. Risa first popped the lower holder off and, in order to reach up to the top one, climbed on the piano stool for added height. Unfortunately, the upper stopper was just ever so slightly too high for her to reach, even when she stood on tiptoes trying to reach it. It was then that she heard a sudden, unexpected cough and the amused words: "Do you need any help?"
Risa squealed and promptly lost her balance, trying to grab onto the window and ending up crashing into it, all the while trying to desperately not embarrass herself by falling on the floor in front of that ever so familiar voice. After a lot of wavering and swinging about, she managed to regain her equilibrium and to stare down at her sudden visitor.
"D-D-Da-Da-Dark-san!" she blurted, eyes ready to burst out and her cheeks involuntarily colouring with a deep red hue. "Wh-wh-what are you d-doing here?"
"If I tell you, will you promise to calm down?" Dark said with a wide grin.
"O-Okay..." the girl said, taking a more assured foothold on the stool.
"Well, I just happened to be flying around... you know, exercise... losing weight... and thought I'd pop down for a bit. Theeeeen... I heard somebody playing the piano and thought I'd investigate."
"You saw that?!" Risa squeeked, feeling just about ready to faint, as she was not exactly that assured of her own playing to show it to outsiders, and definitely not to this outsider uninvited.
"Yes. And it left me wondering... how do you know that song?" Dark said turning considerably more serious all of a sudden.
"Ummh... Ummm... that is... my... ummm... grandmother taught it to me... whom, I believe you know..." she stuttered feeling ever more conscious of the implications of again being forced to discuss Dark's great love with her, a prospect she'd rather avoid.
"I see," was his simple answer.
"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry if I have done something wrong..." she began, somehow apprehending she may have done something inappropriate without her knowing it.
"It's nothing, don't worry," he waved her concerns away. "It just brought back memories, that's all."
"Memories?" Now her natural curiosity was getting aroused.
Looking around the room, Dark suddenly began talking. "You know, I used to come to this room quite a lot. It was kind of like a secret hideaway, where nothing disturbed me, where my heart could be at peace better than anywhere else. And where she would play to me." He's eyes were turning more an more wistful by the moment. "I would sit in that corner, and she would sit at the piano, and nothing else mattered... so many memories... so many regrets..."
Risa was amazed at the sudden revelations being thrown at her. She was actually more amazed now than when she was having witnessed Riku throwing a real, authentic temper tantrum after coming second in a running competition a couple of years back, an event she was sure could never be surpassed (and Dark didn't count since he was supposed to be unique to begin with, of course). Now, here was the legendary thief himself opening his heart to her in her own home without any real prompting whatsoever, a moment she thought would never be possible to achieve after their last meeting.
"You were happy," she ventured. "How foolish of me to even think I could replace that... I'm sorry... No wonder you hate me..."
"What?" Dark suddenly turned. "I don't hate you, nor am I blaming you. It's hardly your fault. If anything, I'm the one who should apologise. I shouldn't have kept feeding you false hopes. I never wanted to hurt you... but I guess I just came to realise there is no returning to the past. No matter how much I'd want to."
"Guess you're right. The past can be painful when you brood on it too much. But that doesn't mean one has to be stuck in the past, right? Come on, sit down," Risa commanded while jumping down from the stool, pushing Dark back into the chair in the corner. She then turned around and walked off to the piano, placing the stool back at its rightful place and then sat down. "Maybe you can never love me, but that doesn't mean the present can't be enjoyable too."
With that she took a deep breath and started playing Schubert's Serenade, the wistfully romantic tones soon filling and encircling the room with an aura of melancholy hopefulness and a sense of nostalgic comfort that in Risa's fingers turned into a deeply felt, sublime meditation on the beauty of the world. Dark was mesmerised, engulfed in the sweet tones of the piano, making his mind fill with thoughts of the past, the present and the future. 'Maybe she's right,' he thought, 'maybe I can move on. Yes, it can be a definite possibility. Seems she's more perceptive than I thought.' Daisuke discreetly stayed away from his thoughts.
As the music winded to its loving close, Dark grinned and said: "That wasn't the Twilight Waltz."
"Yes, I know," came the smiling response, "but I'm not my grandmother, you know."
"No, you certainly aren't. You are a person all onto yourself."
Risa gently smiled at this, not the least reason being that it felt good to be considered as an individual entity for once, not some inferior copy of her grandmother or sister.
"Well, it's getting late and I still need to lose a few pounds," Dark got up stretching and grabbing the Lipotrim staff. "And I wouldn't want to keep you up all night."
Walking over to the window, Dark paused a moment and suddenly turned to Risa. "Say, I'd like to give you something."
The action was a little too unexpected for Risa who wasn't really expecting anything, but she quickly tried to hide her fluster with a curious look and a smile, almost half-expecting a kiss that would be so habitual of the phantom.
"Here," Dark pulled out a pocket watch, much to Risa's confusement. "It was given to me by Rika a long time ago... in fact she gave it to me when we parted," he flipped the cover open and the watch began to chime with a hauntingly beautiful melody. "It has been a prized possession for me ever since, but... maybe it's time to let go of the past. I'd... I'd like you to have it," he finished.
"I... I couldn't possibly..." Risa started.
"No, I think you are right. I shouldn't be too hung up on the past. And... I think this watch should belong to her family, not to a fantastic and handsome thief like me," Dark assured, placing the chiming watch on Risa's hand.
"A-Arigato..." was the only thing Risa could muster as she gazed at the watch slowly chiming to a close.
"I really liked tonight... maybe we can do this again sometime?" Dark said with a smile.
"Sure, I'd like that," Risa beamed back.
– O –
In the mean time, Riku was still wildly pacing in the upstairs, waiting for the phone to ring. "When I get my hands on you Niwa Daisuke, you'll wish you had never known the name of Harada..."
Suddenly she noted that her sister had not yet returned. "And what is taking up so long with that other chowderhead? Do I really have to do everything myself!" she exclaimed, starting to move towards the stairwell and the music room.
– O –
It was at that very moment of the watch giving that Riku suddenly burst into the room and, seeing who else was in there, was enough for the last of her restraints to clatter off her body. "You... you... you..." she pointed.
"Ah, here it comes..." Dark and Daisuke both quietly guessed.
"PERVERT!! WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING WITH MY SISTER?!
'And here we go...'
"Tsa, nice to see you too, Riku-chan" he said with a wide smile on his face while he jumped onto the windowframe.
"Don't you Riku-chan me! Let me teach you a few things about proper address and social decorum and skirting around my sister like the pervert you are..." Riku fumed.
"Sorry, gotta run! I'll take a raincheck on that offer, though" (this line causing Riku to turn bright red out of rage). "Risa-chan, I'll see you around, okay? Bye!" And with that Dark jumped into the air on his wings, but not before snapping the upper windowstopper, causing the window to quietly close itself.
"The nerve of that... that... pervert! When I get my hands on him..."
Risa wasn't really listening, her eyes glued to the pocket watch her hand was fondly holding, giving out a deep sigh.
"And exactly what are you sighing about?" Riku almost deliriously snapped. "What are you still pining after that creep for? He dumped you, remember, and you're still just as bad and encouraging him. Why do you have to be such a balloonhead anyways..."
"Oh will you just lay it off already, Riku!" Risa started, walking out of the room. "I mean, you should be happy the window's closed now!"
"The... the window?" Riku shot an incredulous look at her twin. "Who cares about the stupid window?"
"Well, you did just a minute ago..."
"Risa? Risa! Risa, get back here! I'm not through with you yet."
"Oh, and did Daisuke call you then? Hah, I guessed not! Now I'm going up to sort my ribbons. And don't bother me again with any more windows tonight!!"
"You... you... I'm so going to... pshaw, identical twin my ass... totally different..."
– O –
Oh, and by the way, Dark lost ten pounds on that flight home. And Daisuke ended up getting stuck in a dumpster the following day, but that's another story...
Author's notes
Okay, let's set up a few factoids here you might have wondered about.
1. Risa's hair ribbon collection. Since she always wears one, she must have an extensive collection, meaning she'd take good care of her trademark ribbons and have everything clearly marked down for different functions and combinations. That's why they are all numbered for easy accessibility. A little fun idea I just had.
2. Risa teasing Riku about Daisuke. Surely Riku would like to contact him at times in the evenings, but with his thieving duties I bet it is frustrating he's often nowhere to be found. Just another fun idea.
3. Risa plays the piano. It's just an idea that I think suits her well, being the one more in tune with the finer things in life. And as regards her musical tastes, I can see her listening to classical music, as nowhere in the manga or anime is it ever mentioned that she even listens to music. And in episode 10 of the anime she was quite enthralled to be in the house of a famed violinist. So I used the freedom of the non-canon mentions. Guess it's just cause I've been listening to classical full time since I was 16.
4. Rika the concert pianist. Well, again in ep. 10 we see she was apparently musical and while I'm not really sure whether it was actually Rika in the photo at the Vandembagu house, I'll just say it was. Again there is very little Rika facts to be found, so she's pretty free to play around with.
5. Grand Galop Chromatique. Composition by Franz Liszt, one of the most difficult piano pieces known to man (Cziffra's performance can be found from YouTube).
6. Staff of Lipotrim. The miraculous product that replaces food with shakes, essentially starves you to lose weight. If you were a consumer reviewer at Dooyoo like me, you'd get the joke. I mean, what is the most useless piece the Hikari family has ever created? I'm sure they had weight problems back then, so before TV Shop...
7. The Twilight Waltz. It's actually a composition by Miklós Rózsa for the film Providence, but I just thought to choose something obscure and say Rika composed it. Sorry, Mr. Rózsa, wherever in heaven you are.
8. The double bass with the Lipotrim staff. I couldn't resist it.
9. Dark opening up to Risa. A little abrupt perhaps, but I just thought they have enough history behind them for Dark to be able to open up with little preliminary chatter.
10. Schubert's Serenade. A piano arrangement of Schubert's song "Ständchen: Leise flehen meine Lieder" by Franz Liszt. Beautiful, bittersweet song.
11. The pocket watch. Yeah, it's the same that was in For a Few Dollars More that Indio used in his duels as a count down: "When the chimes end, just try and shoot me." I just wanted to work it in there somehow.
12. And the "totally different" comment? I wanted them to have a catchphrase, is all.
Well, there's my first attempt at writing fiction of any kind and actually finish it. Hope you can forgive the occasional grammatical mistake... I'm Finnish you know. I don't speak English.
So, review if you feel like it and don't if you... don't (though I would like to know if this thing is any good or not so any feedback is appreciated; the longer the better).
© Berlioz II, July 2007