Chapter 10: Parent Visit
----------
"Tomorrow night, we'll be having a reunion party with family and friends!" their father said.
"So invite everyone in!" their mother said.
"Yehey!" Risa cheered.
"No way." Riku whined.
----------
"Riku, I'll make you the best-looking girl in this reunion," Risa said.
"Really? But I don't really feel that way," Riku said, not believing what Risa is telling her. Riku is thinking Risa is putting on too much make-up on her.
"Risa..." Riku said. "I think I'll just handle myself. Thank you very much for being so caring, and thoughtful, and all." Riku said escorting Risa out of her room. Riku sighs. She looks at herself in the mirror. She sweatdropped. The make-up on her left side and right side are not complementing.
"What did you do to me, Risa?" Riku said.
Riku freshened up her face by washing. She took off the uncomfortable clip on her hair, letting her hair down. She brushes her hair a little and took a little powder and gloss on the lips and curled up her eyelids a little...well, hurting her a bit.
She didn't choose to wear the night outfit she once tried. She thinks she'll look plain with it. Riku decided to go on the casual green blouse and a pleated skirt.
----------
"It's just a dinner for goodness's sake," Riku murmured, drinking her glass of punch. Riku turns to look at her relatives and her parents' friends and acquaintances. Their sons and other young men are all perking at Risa.
"Why does this happen to me all the time?" Riku sighed.
"First..." Riku remembers the opening of the party wherein her relatives gave more compliment on Risa instead of her.
"And now..." Riku turns to look at Risa, who's laughing and enjoying her time around the young men around her. Riku sweatdropped. She immediately turns her back.
"This is one great party. I really enjoy it." Riku said, taking another drink of her punch. "Really," Riku sighs.
Dark's smiling face suddenly flashed into her mind.
"If he was here, he would flirt around with me. Telling all those flattering non-sense to me, just to make me blush; such non-sense...Really," Riku thought. Riku sighs.
"But I kind of like it when he does that. I am flattered when he does that," Riku murmured. "Maybe it's because Niwa-kun don't tell me those things so often. He's very precise and sincere to his words."
"What 'that'?" A young man, standing at least 8 paces from her side, asked.
Riku turns to look at him.
"'That' thing you're saying seems to really make you happy," the young man said.
Riku tries to look closely at his face but it's shadowed by the hat he's wearing.
"Do I know you?" Riku asked.
"I'm no one. Really." He laughed.
"You should mind your own business, mister. You may have heard a lot just by standing there but that doesn't mean you now know a lot about me," Riku said.
"I'm not really invited here and that makes me out of place already, but I don't mind...well, until now, because..."
Riku is looking at him with a brow raised. The young man turns to look at her and letting lights reveal his face. Riku gasps.
It's Dark.
"...the way you reject me really hurts," he ended.
"Dark?" Riku called, checking up her eyes.
"Yo." Dark smiled.
Riku walks closer to him. "What are you doing here?" she whispered.
"What? You're the only one who can party?" Dark said, turning to face the crowd inside.
Riku gasps. She grabs his sleeve to turn him. "Are you crazy? What if someone recognize you?" Riku warned.
Dark is smiling at her. "Wow, Riku. I didn't know you'll look even more beautiful tonight. That was really touching; you made yourself beautiful on our first date," Dark said.
Riku is surprised. "What?" she claimed; she holds her mouth. "Don't change the topic now! I'm telling you something!"
Dark laughs.
"And I never said that I'm going out on a date with you!" Riku argued, whispering.
"A date doesn't need to be outdoors. It could be indoors, too. You know. Like what we're in now," Dark said.
"Nani?" Riku blushed.
"You really amuse me a lot." Dark smiled.
----------
Riku sighs. She stares out to the beach view.
Dark is watching at the people getting intimate inside. "The mood inside is improving," Dark said.
"What?" Riku looks at the people inside. The couples start to romanticize. "What do you mean im-" Riku blushes seeing Dark is staring at her.
Dark moves closer. "You want to improve ours, too?" Dark asked.
Riku steps backward. "No." she said, turning her back on him. Riku is shaking.
"Riku!" Risa called.
Riku and Dark look at her. Dark lowers his hat.
Risa approaches them.
"Why don't you come inside, Riku?" Risa asked, and turns to look at Dark.
Dark smiles at her.
Risa smiles back.
Riku felt uncomfortable with the sight.
"Have we met?" Risa asked.
"I'm really not so sure about that, but I sure feel the same way," Dark said teasingly.
Risa blushes.
"What's your name, mister?" she asked.
"You can call me anything you want," Dark said.
Riku sweatdropped. "What a playboy," she thought.
"Ne, Dark-san." Risa called.
Riku is startled.
"You want me to tour you around the house?" Risa offered.
"Dark-san?" Dark repeated, chuckling.
"It really fits you so well. You look so cool like Kaitou Dark-san," Risa said cheerfully.
Riku frowned.
"Wow, that's really flattering." Dark said.
"About the tour..." Risa repeated.
"Oh yeah." Dark smiled. "You see...I can't leave my date now, can I? So I'll only go if she, too, goes,"
Dark looks at Riku, smiling. Riku blushed, surprised.
"Date?" Risa repeated. "Riku?"
"She wouldn't really want to, but I persisted anyway. This is a party after all. Everyone wants someone to talk to." Dark said.
"Oh, I see." Risa answered. "You only met here?"
Dark just looked at Risa, smiling.
"I see." Risa said. "So Riku, you coming?"
"Huh?"
"Okay. I'll take that as a 'yes'," Risa said. "Let's go!"
"Eh?!"
----------
Risa is busy entertaining Dark while on tour. Riku is just watching them from behind. She doesn't know why but seeing Risa trying to get along with Dark makes her feel uneasy. So when they reached the maze garden...Riku snatched Dark. She takes his hand and sneaks away.
"Eh? Dark-san? Riku?" Risa called out.
Riku pulled Dark down to avoid being seen by Risa.
"Ri-" Dark is about to say something. Riku cuts it by putting her hand on Dark's mouth. Riku is checking up if Risa is still around.
Dark is staring at Riku as she was busy thinking of a way to escape Risa's guard. Only a few inches apart from Riku, he can't help look down to her body and become conscious of their closeness, and her slipping v-neckline slowly revealing her cleavage.
Dark looks away, blushing.
"Good, she's gone." Riku whispered. She looks at Dark.
Dark takes his eyes back on her. And somehow...it made Riku's eyes stick on him, too. Riku slowly loosens her grip on his mouth. She lays her hand over half of his face, only revealing his eyes.
Dark is slipping his hand to her waist.
"Riku!" Risa called again. "Dark-san!"
Riku snapped back in reality. "Crap," she thought. She moves away from Dark and takes his hand again, sneaking out of the maze garden. She pulls Dark to go out of the house gate.
Riku catches up breath as they reach outside. Dark was motionless. Riku is still holding his hand. After a few exhales and chuckles, Riku finally lets go. Dark glances at her, then looks away. He covers his face.
"That made me nervous in some way." Riku said, still catching up breath. "To think...that she's just my...younger twin sister," she chuckled.
Dark, on the other hand, is kept quiet. He had his head turned away from her.
Riku noticed. She takes a deep breath to recover. "Gomene." Riku said. "For dragging you out here unreasonably,"
Dark glances at her, looking serious. He looks away. "It's nothing," he said.
"Do you want to go back?" Riku asked.
"No." Dark answered precisely.
"What's wrong?" Riku asked.
Dark said nothing. He just takes out a feather and places it on his lips.
Riku just watched him, curious of what he's doing.
A few seconds later, a red butterfly came fluttering around in front of them. Dark touches the butterfly with his feather. It freezes it up as the feather lights up and vanishes.
The frozen red butterfly falls. Dark catches it and attaches a cord and hands it to Riku.
Riku gives her hand to him. As Dark places his gift in her hand, he grabs her hand and pulls her close. He holds her face and kisses her cheek.
Everything went so fast; Riku didn't have a chance to budge.
"It's as thanks for a wonderful evening," Dark said.
Riku just looked at him, still in shock. She got surprised when she notices a red shade across his cheeks. "Dark-"
"I'll see you later," Dark said, fluttering his wings open and takes flight.
Riku touches her kissed cheek. "What's that?" Riku murmured, holding on to the butterfly necklace Dark gave her. "He seemed like a different person just then,"
----------
Early dawn. 2 o'clock in the morning.
Riku's window opens. A gust of gentle breeze came.
Dark is standing beside Riku's bed. He looks down on Riku's sleeping form.
He sits on the edge of her bed. He watches her sleep.
----------
NOTE: Review please...(--,)