Disclaimer: I don't own D.N.Angel, or any of it's characters…they belong to Sugisaki Yukiru-sensei and…all those other people it might belong to? XD but not to me. ;-;

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Summery: So, How do you get your ex-boyfriend (who you still have feelings for) and your twin sister (who is currently going out with a pervert) together while still salvaging enough time to be able to deal with your lingering feelings of unrequited love that keep chasing you around and trying to eat you? That, is what Harada Riku wanted to know…

Pairings: One-Sided DaiRiku, Riku/Satoshi friendship, DaiRisa, One-Sided DarkRisa.

A/N: First off, thanks to Angel Dream Aino, Anna Regina, roxworld and sunsurre for reviewing! n.n

Sorry about changing POVs so many times last chapter…that was just for the prologue. XD As Angel Dream Aino pointed out, three in one chapter is distracting.

So sorry! x.x; The rest of the story will for the most part, be from Riku's POV…for the most part, that is. Though in the future, if I use more than one POV in a chapter, I'll try to make the transition smoother, so please bear with me. n.n

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Chapter 1: the beginning

One, two three.

If only anything could be simple enough to evaporate that easily, ne… However, needless to say whether or not you'd just had your heart broken, you still had to do your homework. You still had to go to school and face the very people you didn't want to see…

You had to keep living, and live as though nothing had happened. If not, your grades would landslide, and your parents would force you to attend some kind of therapy or counseling, right?

Or something like that, anyway, she thought to herself feeling worn out.

After her mom had found her crying the night before, it had taken her hours and hours to convince her that the sky wasn't falling, and everything was really ok. In the end though, the only way she could finally put her mother's mind to ease was to lie and say that it was that time of month, and she was PMSing.

Sweatdropping slightly, she yawned. If there could be anything she hated most about crying besides…just crying in general, it might just be how tired your eyes felt afterwards, as well as the feeling of being on the fringe of a headache and of falling asleep at the same time.

Pushing her cart into a gap between two tables where it wouldn't get in anyone's way, she closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and wished she had something cold to put over them. Sure she'd made sure to wash her face with cold water, as well as ice it last night so that it wouldn't swell up but…still.

Feeling the coolness of the metal cart underneath her fingers, she suppressed the urge to lean over and press her eyes against it, lest people start to stare, or she get some kind of eye-infection.

I wish I could take a nap, she thought wistfully.

But she was currently at her part-time job shelving books at the Library, so a nap was not an option. Sure It was neither the most exciting job, nor the highest paying job...not to mention that it was keeping her from a taking a nap. But it kept her from becoming completely broke, while it's flexibility allowed her the freedom to work it around her schedule instead of vice versa, and that was good enough for her.

Sighing, she took a moment to brush a strand of caramel hair away from her eyes and unconsciously, her gaze drifted over to where Daisuke sat.

Where Daisuke sat under the pretence of studying while he gazed longingly over at an oblivious Risa.

There was a painful kind of lurch in her chest, and she bit her lip, mentally kicking herself.

She didn't have time for these feelings…they just got in the way. Come to think of it, what right did her stupid feelings have to do this to her, anyway?

Scowling slightly, she forced herself to focus on taking the books from her cart and shelving them like she was supposed to be doing. She wasn't paid to do nothing, even if nothing was only 5 dollars and 45 cents an hour.

But it also didn't take much thought, and after awhile, while still working mechanically she found her gaze drifting once more, off to the corner Daisuke was occupying, his text-book laying neglected in front of him while he gazed at Risa like he was entranced.

Risa, in the meantime was sitting around a table with her friends, giggling. From where she was, Riku could hear little bits and pieces of their conversation every now and then. Not because she was trying to eavesdrop, but because her section was right next to the line of tables and chairs they were sitting at, and Risa and her friends weren't talking all too quietly.

"And you know what? Then Dark told me that…"

Riku's scowl, which she hadn't been aware was still on, deepened.

That pervert…of course they'd be talking about that pervert. In fact, this is probably somehow his fault, she reasoned to herself illogically.

And even if it wasn't his fault, he didn't deserve her sister.

Perhaps Risa didn't see it because she was so star-struck with that pervert, but Riku could clearly see and judge and it was obvious that he didn't even care for Risa one-fourth the amount Daisuke loved her.

She sighed, exasperated.

Mou! They're both hopeless…

"Not to mention, confusing…" she mumbled to herself.

"Though you're plenty hopeless yourself…" taunted the little voice in the back of her mind that didn't like to be agreeable.

"Oh be quiet," she grumbled quietly, suddenly feeling irritable. Was she arguing with herself?

"I can't even have a decent conversation with myself anymore," she sighed, and then stopped to wonder at herself.

Maybe I'm snapping, she thought as she sweatdropped.

But then someone smart and sane, she convinced herself, would have disowned both Risa and Daisuke and ran somewhere far, far away.

And what am I doing?

Maybe that was the problem. She wasn't even sure anymore.

But avoiding Daisuke and Risa…one of her closest friends and her twin sister…that was simply not an option. Not to mention impossible.

At any rate, if she were to start acting strangely or differently, Daisuke would worry horribly, and Risa would definitely know something was wrong. That is, if she didn't already.

She needed to keep doing her best. Even if it was tiring as heck.

Sighing, she grabbed the last pile of books from her cart and stepped onto a stool so she could reach the higher shelves more comfortably. Still deep in thought, she was just stretching up with her free hand to make room and place one of the books she was carrying onto the top shelf, when she felt a slight bump from behind her as someone passed.

It was only very slight, and normally it wouldn't have done anything at all. However, the shelves in this section were particularly tall and in order to reach the top shelf, she had to stand on the tips of her toes as well as the stool. It was normally just a bit annoying, but not really any trouble for her at all.

Though normally people didn't bump into her, so it could be said that her day wasn't going as normally as she probably would've liked.

That thought among many, many silent curses floated around her head as she found herself tumbling off the stool and landing on her left ankle awkwardly, while all the books she had previously been carrying fell both on top of, and around her suddenly abnormally unfortunate head.

"Ungh…" she moaned as she attempted to take a step with her left foot and felt a sharp pain that caused her to end up kneeling on the ground on her right knee.

Twisted. She groaned, that was really all she needed right now…

Grumbling, she was just about to get up and yell at who ever it was that had been unfortunate enough to bump into her, when she noticed someone holding a hand out to help her up.

Startled she blinked, and looking up, found herself staring into deep midnight blue gray eyes.

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uhm…cliff-hanger…! O.o not much of a cliff-hanger though…ah well. Sorry things are moving kind of slow…but they'll start to pick up a bit more in the next chapter.

Please review and tell me what you think!

-shuji