Dance Steps
By Chiharu Tanaka
A/n: Holy! The number of reviews is astounding! But that wouldn't have happened if it weren't for you guys! (:D) Here you go, Chapter 7, after long long days of waiting…and since you guys are so nice, I'll answer each review!
Jasmine – Thank you SO much! I feel so flattered. (:D)
Black Mistress– Yeah! MUAHAHAHA! (Very Sephiroth, haha)
Lems – I'm so glad you like it! I like sweet stories anyway!
Cleopatra2 – Well, sorry for the cliffhanger, but I'm glad you're enjoying the stories as much as I do!
Angel Gunner Lenne – You watch Cardcaptor Sakura too? Heh heh, it is kawaii, I guess…
Starian Princess – You'll find out here – in this chapter!
Raya the angelalchemist – I will, I have…
Sawamura Suoh – Actually, no, but I like the idea of Risa keeping Krad's feather in that one episode, so I thought Satoshi should have extras (little change: the feathers do NOT disappear after the anime.)
Baka'sAngel – Ahh, I'm not good at making people un-OOC. Pleh. Anyway, the next chapter is here!
Kat – PLEASE DON'T MURDER ME! NOOO! (hands Kat a glass of water and some aspirins)
Rayearthann - Aww, c'mon, don't tell me this makes you cry? (hands a hankie)
Echo of Rain - Thanks for the fav! I love Satoshi/Risa stories too (duh)
Hamano Ayumi - Nyuk nyuk...sorry for the cliffie, but ah...
Destiny - Yes, yes, dear - the next chapter is here...(that rhymed...)
Disclaimer: I own…my computer. That's about the only thing I own that connects to DNAngel.
Chapter 7: Closer To You
All of a sudden Risa felt like there was slippery grease on the ground, and she had soap suds on the soles of her shoes. She nearly fell down and held onto the bridge railing for support. Her eyes widened like saucers as she faced Satoshi, red streaked all over her face, nervousness clutching her stomach.
"What did you say…?" she muttered slowly. She couldn't believe her ears. She could hear herself screaming, 'This isn't real! Wake up, Risa, wake up!' Satoshi looked down at her, face still calm and stoic, though he had just said what the Satoshi Hiwatari wouldn't have even mentioned.
"I said what I said. I've fallen for you. Or do you have hearing problems?"
Risa's eyes twitched slightly as she slowly let go of the railing and back on her own two feet. "You…have fallen…for me? A…Are you sick or something, Hiwatari-kun?" she asked, still refusing to accept what he said for the second time. He walked closer to her and pulled her chin closer towards his face as he lowered down to her eye level.
"Don't play dumb, Harada. You're smarter than that."
Risa blinked a few times, still in shock, as she felt his breath against her face. 'Breath mints,' she thought, as she stared into his eyes once more and noticed the minty fresh breath from his mouth.
"You…can't be serious…I mean, you're…"
She closed her eyes in fear as Satoshi inched closer towards her. Too close. His lips were only millimetres away from hers. He slowly withdrew with hesitation and looked at her.
"Open your eyes, Harada-san."
Risa slowly did what he told her to do and looked at him face-to-face. "I won't repeat this until you answer me back," he said. Risa bit her lower lip as he opened his mouth to say the four words her ears weren't ready to hear.
"I love you, Risa."
She clasped her hands together and covered her mouth. "Hiwatari-kun…" she could only muster up to say, as she was to shocked to question him.
"Don't think about it too much. We're still too young, after all. Let's get you home," he said, changing the subject. Risa just stood there as he left and walked towards the direction of her house. She just stood there, watching him, before finally following in pursuit.
"Risa, aren't you hungry?"
Risa was sitting up on her bed as she cuddled her legs together. "It's okay, you can go ahead and eat," she answered back to Riku who was at the door. 'What am I to do? A guy that I totally have a crush on dumped me, and now – Hiwatari-kun has a crush on me! Am I really that attractive?' she thought in confusion as she groaned loudly and lied down face first on the bed.
"Can I come in?"
Another groan. 'The my-younger-twin-is-having-problems meter must be kicking up again…' she thought miserably. "Sure, whatever…" came her answer from behind a pillow. Risa turned her face away from Riku as she faced the pink wall.
"Is there something bothering you?"
'Duh, you just noticed?' thought Risa, wanting to say that out loud. "It's nothing, Riku…I'm just not hungry." Riku sat at the edge of her bed. "The last time I left you to hold your problems yourself, you almost DIED of depression!" she said in her know-it-all tone.
"Don't exaggerate, Riku, I'm fine."
"You can tell me about it, I won't tell. I promise."
A puff escaped Risa's mouth before she turned to look at Riku. "You will freak out when I tell you this, you know," she said monotonously. Riku raised a challenging eyebrow at her.
"Try me."
"Well…it's about Hiwatari-kun," said Risa, fiddling nervously with her fingers.
"What about Hiwatari-kun?" asked Riku.
"He…told me…when we were going home from dance class…that he…" Risa paused for a second to swallow her nervous gulp. "…loved me."
"I figured he would say that sooner or later."
Risa's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "What do you mean by that?" she screeched.
"Aw, c'mon, Risa! It's so obvious! I can tell that he really loves you from the way he looks at you."
Risa gritted her teeth. "Yeah, enough to hurt me…"
"Well, if you really think so, you should have seen him at the market three days ago. He looked like he had been through the worst hell in his life," said Riku, looking at the ceiling. "Daisuke got worried and asked him whether he was down with something. I think he was down with lovesickness, really."
It wasn't like Riku to make up stories. She wasn't brought up that way. Risa looked into her twin's golden eyes and blinked once.
"If you say so…though…I'm not too sure about this – I mean, he just said it out of the blue…"
Riku, being the elder sister, placed her right hand on Risa's left shoulder. "Just let your heart guide you. It's not my place to say whether you should be with him or not."
A loud sigh blew out of Risa's mouth. "Still…this is all so sudden…I need some time to think about it. Thanks anyway…"
Riku got up from the bed and walked towards the door. She then turned to Risa one last time before exiting the room.
"I'll leave your dinner in the microwave."
The silent tapping sound of long fingers hitting against the laptop keyboard filled the dark, silent room that cloudless night. The moon shone brightly as the reflection of the sunlight hit against the pale blue walls of a lonely apartment.
Inside the apartment, hunched over his assignments and duties was Satoshi. With his eyelids begging to close, he gave a stifled yawn as he clicked the 'save' button on the computer screen.
'Finally,' he thought, rubbing his eyes gently with the back of his palms. 'The bloody case is finished. Now I can get some sleep…' he thought as he shut the laptop cover and walked over to his king-sized bed.
He didn't even bother to close the windows – and that left the cool breeze of the summer wind to blow into his room. He let himself collapse on the bed and started to sleep as he closed his eyes as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Vivid visions of silky and soft honey brown hair flashed through in his mind. She smelt so good, even if it was only shampoo. The gentle hue of amber soothed his heart, even though he knew he would be burdened by work every day he stepped in the office every morning.
It was only when he walked into the dance floor of the studio that he really felt happy and at ease. Doing marvellous waltzes with the one he loved, his Sacred Maiden. Risa Harada.
The gentle, caressing image of her made him fall into a deep slumber, which he hadn't been doing for days. It was then a startling noise awakened him. His cell phone.
'Bloody shit,' cursed Satoshi as he got up from the bed and reached for the side table to take his phone. He flipped it open, ignoring the caller ID.
"What is it?" he demanded rather angrily on the phone. There was small startled squeak on the other end of the line as reply to his angry tone of voice.
"I'm…really sorry…maybe I'll call you in the morning…"
His eyes widened as he quickly said, "Wait – don't hang up!" On the other line, Risa was just about to end the call.
A splash of crimson red appeared on her cheeks. "Yes…?" she slowly asked, holding the phone tightly in her palms.
"Is there…something you wanted to ask me, Harada-san?"
A strange feeling somehow overwhelmed him. He was washed away by nervousness, yet he felt like soaring up in the sky like an excited bird.
"I was wondering…actually…if you're…free…around lunchtime tomorrow? I thought we could…maybe…have lunch…together?"
His heart started to beat faster as faster with a strange fuel of acceleration. This time, it wasn't pain and sorrow that followed with the transformation into Krad. The blood was somehow rushing quickly towards his face.
"Of course, do you want me to pick you up?"
A smile formed on Risa's petite, chaste lips. "Sure…that's very kind of you…"
"Okay, I'll see you at noon tomorrow."
The phone line went dead with a click of a button. 'Wait, I have a meeting with Saehara and the rest…and father too,' he just remembered. 'Damn it.'
He flipped open his cell phone once more and dialled a number via speed dial. "Takara-san? Yes, it's me. I want you to cancel all my meetings tomorrow. I'm taking an off."
The large grandfather clock was showing 5 minutes to noon. Risa, dressed in a simple pink blouse with a Tokyo style - a low-cut, V-shaped collar over a white spaghetti strapped top and a lavender and violet laced plaited knee-length skirt; was pacing up and down the foyer by the front door.
"Risa…will you stop pacing – you're making me dizzy! This isn't your first date, you know," said Riku, with an annoyed tone because Risa's sandals made too much noise for her to enjoy her TV show.
"But…he's gonna be here in – AH! Two minutes! What am I going to do?" she squeaked and paced up and down even faster. Riku, giving up, just sighed and turned up the volume of the TV.
Riku's amber eyes darted upwards towards the grandfather clock. She watched as the second hand reached towards noon.
"Three…two…one."
As the second hand reached twelve and the clock began to bang, Riku just let out an exasperated sigh as Risa's squeaking became louder. "Ahh! RIKU!" she wailed in panic.
"Listen to me. You ARE going to have a good time – and YOU are going to stop screaming – otherwise you are going to the date looking like beef jerky."
Risa kept quiet at her sister's sudden threat. "Hai…" she politely replied. It was then the doorbell rang, and Risa refrained herself from screaming any louder. She gave a nervous smile to Riku before heading towards the door.
"See you at dance class, then…"
With her heart beating like a piston in a car engine, she swung open the large, white front doors of her house. Her golden eyes were mirrored against sapphire ones as a simple sentence reached her ears.
"Good afternoon, Harada-san."
Blood flared up her rosy cheeks as she noticed what Satoshi was wearing. A simple yet elegant cream white button-up, long-sleeved shirt; the two top buttons undone with a simple, navy blue thin blazer over it. He was also wearing a pair of nicely ironed black pants. In a nutshell, he was looking gorgeous.
"Good…afternoon…Hiwatari-kun…"
Her eyes must have betrayed her. She gasped slightly as Satoshi pulled out a stunning bouquet of enchanting red roses that smelt like a aromatic wonderland. Now, how could her wandering eyes miss that? Satoshi was really something to look at, since her eyes were so distracted that way.
"These are for you, my Sacred Maiden…"
Gently, she picked it up from his hand. She looked at the medium-sized bouquet in her arms. She had always loved roses. They were so, beautiful, gorgeous and…everything she was not. She was always the cute daisy. No one would ever think of her as a rose.
"Thank you…they're wonderful…" she said, cheeks flaring up the same scarlet shade as the roses.
"If you will, please leave them inside. Shall we go?"
She flashed a sweet smile at him. Boyfriends who bring bouquets of flowers on dates. Just like her idea of a perfect boyfriend. One that cares a lot about you.
"Okay…let's."
She left the roses by the wooden table that was a centrepiece of the foyer and climbed down the simple steps down to the front porch, where a statue of an angel overlooked them.
He gently took her hand as they walked towards the front porch, where his black limousine was waiting for them patiently. The engine was humming with barely any sound that warm summer noon.
Risa gently wiped her right eye with the back of her right hand. 'Ouch…I knew I shouldn't have used mascara…' she thought with regret. She climbed into the backseat of the limousine and sat comfortably down.
"What's wrong?"
Risa removed her hand away from her eye. "It's nothing…I just got something in my eye…" she said groggily. A simple smiled appeared on Satoshi's fine lips. He dug his hand into his pocket and took out a handkerchief.
"Here. Use this."
Words could not describe how touched she felt. He cared so much about her. Every single bit of his time was spent thinking, caring for her. She fought back the tears that were welling up in her eyes – and that wasn't due to the mascara.
"Thank you…Hiwatari-kun…"
"Wow…it's been a long time since I've been here…"
Risa stepped out of the luxurious limousine and stepped onto the carpet with her pink sandals. She took a whiff out of the rich aroma of expensive perfumes. "Are you sure you want to go in? This hotel isn't cheap, you know…" she muttered, as Satoshi took her left hand.
"I'm positive. My dad knows the owner."
Risa just blinked a few times, before being escorted inside the hotel. The doorman bowed down to the both of them as he pulled the door open for them. Risa looked up at the beautiful chandelier hanging on the high ceiling of the six-star hotel. She looked around at the posh furniture and the walls that seem to be painted out of gold.
"Come."
The two trotted upon lush carpets as they walked over to the restaurant. The head waiter bowed at them.
"Monsieur Hiwatari, and Mademoiselle Harada…we've been expecting you. Please, enjoy your time here."
He then summoned a waiter to take the two to their tables. When they got to the table, Satoshi pulled out a chair for her. With a flushed and awkward expression on her face, Risa took a seat on the chair.
"Wow…Hiwatari-kun, isn't this too much?"
The restaurant was filled with the aroma of gentle, relaxing lavender. Around 12 square tables, each with either four or two seats were arranged around the room. The windows were fitted with silk curtains, gently hung open towards the side. In the centre of the room, there was a large piano fitted with ivory and ebony keys.
"It's nothing, really. My dad comes here all the time."
"You can't be serious! I only come here whenever my parents are back from travelling, but usually they take Riku and I on holiday instead…"
A waiter came up to them with a bottle of champagne. "Compliments of the owner, sir. He's glad to hear of you," said the waiter politely as he uncorked the bottle and poured two glasses of champagne.
He then set the bottle in a bucket full of ice and handed two menus to the dating couple. "One 'Set A' please," said Satoshi, and he closed the menu and handed it back to the waiter.
Risa's eyes twitched as she looked down at the price of 'Set A'. It was worth a month of her allowance! 'I knew Hiwatari-kun was rich…but not THIS rich…' she thought.
"Umm…"
"Go ahead, Risa. Order what you like. I'm paying."
Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she heard him call her by her first name – in public. "One 'Set C', please…" she muttered hastily and handed the menu back to the waiter.
He bowed down before walking away with their orders. When he was far enough so that Risa could shout at him (only a few rich people were there), she screamed, "What did you call me?" loud enough to not distract other people.
"Why, Risa, is it wrong to call you that?"
Risa pressed her lips together. True, she had to admit that she liked the way he pronounced her name with his rich accent.
"I…guess not."
"Then you can call me Satoshi. That should be fair enough."
'That's not the point!' she wanted to scream at him. She leaned against the back of the chair and puffed out a sigh. 'Sometimes it's really hard to understand Hiwatari-kun…' she thought, as she tapped the table gently with her fingers.
"Are you bored?"
His beautiful sky blue eyes were filled with loneliness. Just like hers. They have been lonely for so long…all they needed to fill the void was each other.
"No, I'm sorry…if I made you think that way."
He smiled back at her. One of the rarest sights ever. He would usually smirk or grin occasionally, but this time, his smile was different… and Risa had seen it a few times.
"Do you like piano music?"
That question startled her from the thoughts. 'Piano music?' she wondered. "Well, I really like it, but I can't play the piano. I have one at home, but my dad is the only one who can play it."
He just looked at her behind his frameless glasses as she continued. "I really like it when my dad comes home and plays the piano."
A few moments passed by them. Risa blinked a few times as Satoshi abruptly stood up from his seat.
"Ah! Hiwatari-kun, where are you…"
She paused when she saw Satoshi slowly walking up to the piano at the centre of the room. 'Oh God, don't tell me he's going to…' she thought, as Satoshi did what she expected.
He sat on the piano player's seat.
She quickly turned away from him, embarrassed, as people were staring at him, and the waiters were looking at him in disbelief. She hid her face by tucking a lock of her hair behind her left ear.
Blushing furiously, she paid no attention to the other people who were starting to stare at her. 'What in the world is Hiwatari-kun doing? That's it! Risa – you are never going to date this guy, ever again!' she thought in panic.
However, she lowered her left hand from her ear as she heard soft piano music fill her ears. She turned to look at Satoshi. He had a relaxed and pleased look on his face as his long fingers pressed the keys of the piano gently, making sweet, harmonious music.
Butterflies filled her stomach. There was so much more to Satoshi than she had expected. She thought he was your typical genius, snobby, know-it-all rich man's son, but he proved otherwise.
Satoshi Hiwatari had a more human side within him. A side of him who is sensitive, caring, and loving. Risa couldn't help but smile as he played the song.
After all, she liked piano music.
To be continued…
A/n: Baaaaahhh sorry! I've been so busy this week – argh! Chapter 8, 9 and 10 will be done by (hopefully) August. Thank you for all your support! I love you – (muah!) I'll leave you to wonder on from here, nyuk nyuk nyuk...