Dance Steps
by Chiharu Tanaka
A/n: Okay, if I had made you wait so long, I'm so sorry! X( I have lots of stuff to do, nya XD. (Random people: She's just lazy.) sigh I guess I am lazy. Anyway, enough of me, back to the show…
Disclaimer: I no own this manga/anime. If I did, I'd change the story plot to make it Satoshi/Risa friendly.
Chapter 5: Why?
As the rays of the morning sun hit against the white walls in Risa's room, as well as the entire room itself, she slowly opened her eyes, awakening from her very unpleasant sleep. Even a baby could tell she was unhappy.
She had, you can say, a 'horrifying' dream.
'It's morning…' she thought solemnly, looking past the French doors in her room that led to the balcony.
She got up slowly, pushing her blanket off her bed with her legs. "Risa - are you awake? Risa?" came a muffled voice from the other side of the bedroom door. She stood up and walked towards a mirror, ignoring her sister's voice. Her eyes were red and puffy, as she had expected, from crying the night before.
'How could he affect me so easily? I haven't cried like this since…' she thought, but she stopped and turned to her sister who unlocked the door with a spare key. "Are you okay, Risa?" asked Riku, eyes full of concern. Risa looked at her sister. "I'm fine," she said, lying. Riku, however, looked back at her suspiciously.
"I guess, 'Okay' means 'crying all night over a certain someone' in your dictionary, huh, Risa?"
Risa looked away. 'I guess twins do share a special bond,' she thought. 'Should I fill her in? Maybe not. She will pester me, though…' She walked over to balcony doors and pushed it open, letting the warm air breeze right through her room.
"Well? Care to share, little sis?" asked Riku, walking up behind her. Risa stopped to think again. A debate was going on, Risa vs. Risa's conscience. "You should tell her, you know. She might be able to help," said her conscience. 'Yeah, right, and she'll meddle with my life! No way am I letting that happen!' She heard her conscience chuckle. "Whatever you say, princess. As long as you tell Hiwatari how you feel about him, heehee"
"Uhh…Risa? Are you still on Earth?" Riku waved her hand in front of her sister's dazed face. "Oh, sorry," apologized Risa. "That's better. Now, I won't force you, but I don't want you stressing so much. Is it about Dark again?"
Risa shook her head. "It's not Dark, if you're curious." Riku smiled evilly at her. "Let me make a guess then. If it's not Dark, it must be Hiwatari-kun, am I right?"
'I am going to do a research on this twin bond thing…' thought Risa angrily as Riku got the answer right. She blew a strand of bangs on her forehead. "You're correct. I don't know why, but I was suddenly…" she paused, finding the right word. "…attracted to him."
'Well, he IS attractive,' thought Risa as she reasoned herself out. Calm azure blue eyes, fair skin, and an unusual shade of sky blue hair, why wouldn't he be? Riku smiled at her sister. "Maybe you're getting a taste of real love?"
Risa felt like slapping her sister with a big, smelly fish. The feeling was most probably attraction, a crush is a possibility, but LOVE? Riku was being totally absurd.
"No way! I'm fifteen, dear sister – real love doesn't come 'till we're in our twenties, or even thirties!" she exclaimed, embarrassed. True, she did learn that; the HARD way. "Chill, Risa, chill. I know how you feel. It's ok, since, personally, I think he likes you too," said Riku, patting Risa's shoulder.
"Pfft," snorted Risa. 'Yeah, sure, he likes me and gives me a cold demeanour that made me cry? Some evidence, Inspector Riku.' Riku turned to her and smiled. "Ahh, cheer up, Risa. We've got dance class after lunch, remember?"
Dance class. Suddenly, Risa wished she could just stay at home and call in sick. But no, Riku won't accept that. She doesn't want her sister backing out. Gloomily, Risa let out a loud groan and buried her face in her hands as Riku left her room.
"How can I ever face Hiwatari-kun now?"
Risa bit her lower lip. 'I'm nervous,' she thought. She fiddled with her dress as she hesitantly stood at the doorway leading to the studio. Riku scowled angrily and pushed Risa inside. "Really, Risa; what's your problem! You've been acting strange all day!"
'How would YOU know – you're the one Dark-san had a crush on!' Risa scowled as well and walked off inside. She tried not to look up, but a voice made her look up anyway.
"Good afternoon, Harada Risa-san."
Risa flinched. His voice was so cold and monotonous. As she looked into his eyes, they were the same blue ones she always saw, but it still gave off an icy feeling. She felt like turning back.
"G…Good afternoon."
She fell her heart weigh a ton. 'What did I do wrong? Did I upset him?'
Maria stood onstage, as usual, and gave a clap to call attention. "Okay, students, we're going to do the third line of steps today. But before we begin, I'd like Hiwatari-san and Harada Risa-san to demonstrate the waltz they did yesterday, if you two don't mind…"
Some of the male classmates gave a hoot, while most of the girls giggle away. "Most certainly, Ms. Maria," said Satoshi. Risa bit her lower lip and almost chewed it off. She was hesitant, anyone could tell.
"Ne, Dai-chan?" asked Riku, as the other students backed off to give the two some dancing space. "What's wrong?" asked Daisuke.
"Look at Risa. She seems…sad; not to mention reluctant," said Riku, worried sick. Daisuke nodded. "I think you're right. Maybe it was because of Hiwatari-kun's sudden change of mood last night…"
As the gentle waltz music blew like a wave across the room, they started dancing. Satoshi's hands felt cold, his eyes only getting colder. Risa's feet moved steadily on the ground, their eyes still locked in a tight bind.
"Why…?" asked Risa, her voice no louder than a whisper. He just looked at her without emotion, his mouth not opening to a reply. In the swirling dance of perplexity, she unintentionally twisted her foot and fell down. Riku quickly rushed to her, while Risa flinched at the pain in her foot.
"Are you okay, Risa?" she asked. Satoshi bent down and held out his hand. Risa couldn't stand it anymore, his cold shoulder had made her heart freeze over.
She gently pushed Satoshi's hand away and stood up. "It's okay, I'm…fine. May I be excused to go to the washroom?" she asked, and ran off to the toilet without waiting for Maria's reply.
Riku knocked against an occupied cubicle three times. "Is something wrong, Risa?" she asked. Risa sniffled from within the cubicle. "Leave me alone," she said between tears. Riku sighed. 'Sometimes it's so hard being the older one…' she thought.
"If it's about Hiwatari-kun, tell me. No one's here except us."
Risa sniffled. 'Looks like the jig is up,' she thought. "Okay…I'll tell you. He was so cold towards me…I don't know; I think he hates me."
"I don't think he hates you – no one can hate you!"
"Then, why was he so cold and unemotional?" she screamed.
"I'm not psychic, you'd have to ask him that."
"I already did. He didn't want to answer me."
"Okay…tell you what. I'll tell Ms. Maria you hurt your leg really badly, and I'll call Tsuboyoshi-san to take you home, okay?"
"…thanks, Riku."
"You're welcome," she replied, before taking out her cell phone.
Risa was slurping down on some chicken soup Riku made for dinner while watching an old romance movie. The hero, a strikingly handsome blond-haired, blue-eyed man was cold as ice, and the heroine, a young, beautiful and chirpy brown-haired, green-eyed lady made him fall for her, but she only died in the end, making the hero very sad, as well as Risa.
She pulled like what seemed the 20th Kleenex she used since the movie started, as the hero buried the heroine to her watery grave (guess what game). To her surprise, her phone rang, and wiping off some of her tears, she answered the phone.
"Hello, Risa speaking."
"I need to talk to you."
Risa looked at the phone in disbelief as she recognized the voice.
"Whatever you want, Hiwatari – don't bother me again!" she yelled.
"My, my. You have such a short temper."
"Shut up. Now go ahead and talk, I wish to put down the phone."
"Do you want my answer?"
Risa raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "What answer?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Harada. The question you asked me in dance class."
She realised what he was talking about. "Yes…I want to know."
A long pause.
"Tell me, Harada. Do you still love Dark?"
"Of…" she paused. "Of course not!" she yelled.
"Then enlighten me, Harada Risa. Why do you keep remembering him, whenever you see me?"
Risa paused for a long while. Then she realised, why Satoshi was so cold towards her. Why she had seen that amethyst flicker in his eyes; why she always blushed when he winked at her; why she always had butterflies in her stomach whenever he was around.
She had seen Dark within him, and she didn't notice.
"How did you know?"
"I was simply testing you, if you were really over Dark."
That line hurt Risa's heart so badly. 'You were testing me? Then you don't love me, do you? All the compliments, the stares, the smiles…those were fake!'
"Well," she said, pausing to hold her tears. "I guess I have now, haven't I?"
"You very well have. I'm…sorry to have caused you pain."
"…"
"Goodnight," he said, before the line went as dead as her heart.
Risa felt so painful when she woke up in the morning the next day. 'Thank God it's Sunday,' she thought. She glanced over to see the alarm clock. It read: 9:54 a.m.
'Oh my God, it's so late…' She groggily got up from the bed. Her hair was in a very bad condition; with split ends and tangles; she looked like a caveman. 'I don't understand…why do I have to suffer like this?'
Groaning, she plopped back down on the bed.
Later when the sun stood high, Risa finally came out, dressed plainly in a white T-shirt and a dark blue skirt. Her face was pale and her eyes were red from crying until 4 a.m. the night before.
'Mental note to self: murder Hiwatari-kun,' thought Riku as she turned off the stove. "Are you hungry?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
"No, thank you, Riku-chan…I'm not hungry," was Risa's monotonous reply.
Breathing out a sigh, Riku looked at her sad sister and prayed, 'Please change Risa back to her normal, annoying self…'
To be continued…
A/n: I KNOW it's crap – don't sue me! (cry) This turned out way worse than I expected. sigh Maybe I'll rewrite it again. You decide. If you're leaving a comment/review – no flames, and yes with the constructive criticism. Not too hard on me, please – I'm like Risa, XD. (now that i think about it, the story is getting seriously K-drama like...)
I think the name of the butler is Tsuboyoshi...correct me if I'm wrong, OK?