AN: short chapter, but technically, it's not a chapter. It's a HALF chapter.

...pause...

(ducks from flying fruits) Don't hurt me!

Birds 4b: Math and Dinner (the other half of chapter 4)

Risa shivered. When did it get so cold? She wanted warmth but but but... it would be just soo weird if she clung onto Satoshi. What a weird thought. OR, she could FALL into his arms by pretending to trip over something. No, that's such a girly and overused move. Besides, she's tried that once, and ended up falling on the ground and hurting her butt. The guy of interest noticed her on the ground a minute later, right after he was finished talking to another girl. And it was really dark, so she would probably fall in the wrong place and end up hurting herself again. Anyway, it would make her seem desperate. It's better just to keep the distance, and pretend that she wasn't having all these weird thoughts.

"I'll get a flashlight." He voice cut through the darkness.

"Wait, I'll come with you." Risa said, not wanting to be left alone, shivering and jumping at every noise. She hated the dark. It was so cold and scary. Ugly things could just materialize from the dark and pull her into their realm. Her hand quickly reached out to grab Satoshi's arm as an act of instinct, but she drew in a fistful of cloth instead.

Satoshi felt himself yanked forward. He stumbled forward and felt for the wall with his hands. He found the wall, but also found that he was touching hair as well. If it wasn't pitch dark, he would have looked bewildered.

Risa blinked madly as her eyes adjusted to the dark. A sliver of moonlight suddenly slipped through a crack in the curtain. She just realized that her back was against the wall, he...and he was leaning over her.

Oh. My. Gawd.

Magically, and somehow, the curtain fell back down, and all was dark again. What was she supposed to do now? Push him away? Yell "pervert!" and run blindly in the dark? Draw him closer? (Where did that just come from...) Thinking was doing her a lot; they were still stuck in that position.

Risa's thoughts were spaghetti, but they were soon broken by Satoshi muttering something.

"Krad...really gone ..." he muttered.

Who? Did he just say Krad? Five seconds later, the name "Krad" clicked inside of Risa's mind. She remembered him alright. Involuntarily, she shivered again. That freaky, blonde, white-winged ... no, white wings are cool, scratch that...evil Dark imposter who had this sick polite way of talking... Ah, but did Hiwatari-kun just say that he was really gone?

And at this precise moment, the power decided to come back.

The phone also decided to ring.

Satoshi removed himself from the wall and walked over to the phone, looking cool as a cucumber, as if pinning girls up the wall were normal. Risa looked quite stunned but eventually peeled herself from the wall.

"Hello?......Niwa-kun? Yeah, she's here. Yeah." He held his hand over the receiver and said without looking at Risa, "Your sister is looking for you."

How the heck did Riku think to call Hiwatari-kun? And she got Daisuke to do the dirty work for her too! Oh but was it all that surprising that she knew who to call? I mean, she did walk with him down the road to his place in full view. She was just so absorbed that she didn't look at the people around her.

Risa took the receiver from Satoshi, her eyes shyly flitting upwards, hoping to meet his eyes, but she miscalculated, and got a nice view of his hair instead.

"Hellooo?" she sang into the receiver, "Ah Niwa-kun...tell Riku that I'm doing math."

A pause.

"Ehhhhh?! No! Tell her I'll be back by dinner. ... Bye."

Risa hmphed a little, flipped her hair, and plunked herself down on a nearby chair.

"What did he say?" Satoshi tried to resist the urge of asking, but it spilt out anyways.

"Oh nothing important." She said indifferently, "anyway, now that's settled, can you explain the difference between sine and cos functions to me?"

So the two figures sat at a table void of Dark-related material, and did math. Math really was a pleasant thing when a certain person taught it to you.

(divider)

Risa arrived home just in time for dinner.

"How was "math"? Pass the peas please!" Riku chirped, the quotations around "math" evident in her voice.

"What do you mean 'how was "math"?' Risa shot back, but her mouth was full of rice so she didn't get the full effect.

Riku broke out into a sly grin. "You know. Like "math"."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Give me back my peas."

"Oh Risa. Don't play dumb with me! How was it! Details, details! I want it all! It's written all over your face!"

"You're acting very unRiku-like. Did you forget to take your medication this morning? Give me the peas." "Oh, and how was Daisuke?" she added as an afterthought.

Riku grinned again, "So you're implying that you know what I'm talking about! See how Daisuke correlates with "math"? Pun not intended!"

"I ain't implying nothing. That's a horrible pun by the way." Risa said, realizing her fatal mistake of asking about Daisuke. "Eat your food. It's impolite to talk with your mouth full."

"Come on, Risa. Just tell me. I know what's going through that thick head of yours."

"Nothing's going through my head."

Riku started to laugh. "Oh, listen to yourself: Nothing's going through my head!"

Risa scowled. Her head really was in a mess right now. Her words weren't coming out right.

"I don't like him more than a friend if that's the answer you were looking for."

Risa felt empty and cold all of a sudden. Did she just say she didn't like him? But the words were in the air, and she had no way of taking them back.

AN: See? A longer chapter! I'm so proud of myself for getting in more than 1000 words! Sorry about the shortness from before; I had a major case of writer's block, but I really really wanted to continue the story. Anyone think that this is dragging? As in, not much of a plot?

I just realized a huge plothole! I alluded to the fact that it was bright outside when they came into the house, and now it's supposedly dark and there's moonlight. OOPS.