A/N: I decided to continue with this story because it was the first time I've written in this fashion. I want to experiment with how far I can take a story in short, cut scenes, so here I go. Please review and give me some insight. Thanks so much and please enjoy. )

--------

Risa sat in class, staring dazedly at the chalkboard. Their teacher was lecturing monotonously about the useful ways of innuendo in works of literature and art, but Risa found it extremely dull.

Besides, Satoshi had explained all of it to her weeks ago.

A pen dropped on the floor next to her. She looked down at it.

It was purple with a small charm hanging off the end of it. She looked up and saw Ritsuko smiling helplessly at her.

"Could you hand that to me?" she whispered. Risa nodded and picked it up.

"So Risa-chan, how have things with the project gone lately?"

"Fine."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

"And that's all? Just fine?"

"Yes. Just fine."

Ritsuko took the pen that Risa held out for her. "You know, Hiwatari-san is pretty smart. I bet you two were done with your project weeks ago."

"No. We're still working on it."

They were.

"But you've gotten together nearly everyday in the library to work on it."

Risa shrugged. "It counts for half our grade, plus, it's a big project."

"Oh, right. And you two just work together?"

Risa frowned, slightly perturbed by the question.

"Of course."

Ritsuko glanced over her right shoulder and then back at Risa. "You know, Takeshi told me that you two were getting pretty close in the library the other day." She grinned at her friend but Risa just waved her hand, brushing the comment aside.

"Just a favor, Ritsuko-chan. Sato---...er...Hiwatari-san doesn't like his fan girls bothering him, so I stick around to keep them at a distance. They disturb our studying time."

"Oh. Okay." She smiled and glanced over her right shoulder before returning back to her notebook. Risa leaned back to see what she had been looking at.

It was Satoshi. He was sitting at the back of the class as always, his elbow resting on his desk and his head in his hand. He was reading instead of listening to the teacher.

Risa grinned.

He was always reading instead of listening to the teacher.

--------

Satoshi looked up as Risa set her bag down next to him, her eyes scanning the library avidly.

"Something wrong?"

"I thought someone was following me here," she said. He looked up and scanned the perimeter. There were probably nine other people in the library with them, but of the ones that he could see, no one was looking at either him or Risa.

"They must've gone. Are you worried?"

"No...no." She sat down and smiled at him. "I'm fine."

"Good. We're almost done with everything."

"I know. I just need to finish some of the reading." She reached into her bag and got out her book as he went back to writing.

There was a pause.

"Satoshi, you're not wearing your glasses."

He looked up at her again. "I know."

"Why not?"

"The snow kept fogging up the lenses. I took them off when I left the school."

She frowned slightly, leaning against the table. "Don't you need them to see?"

"No, not really."

She cocked her head. "But you wear them anyways."

"Yes. I don't mind them."

"Then why didn't you put them back on?"

He shrugged. "I didn't think to." He leaned back, his brow furrowed. "I thought you didn't like boys with glasses."

She sighed. "Where are they?"

He reached into his front pocket and handed them to her. Risa took them and cleaned them on the front of her blouse. "Do you always listen to what I say?"

It was a rhetorical question. She gently placed them back onto his face, liking how the lenses made his eyes shine.

"I always have."

She sat back and stared at him. He bent over his notes and didn't say another word.

--------

Satoshi had just laid his head against his pillow when he heard the audible rumble of his cellphone vibrating on the floor next to him.

He had gotten so used to keeping it close that it was a habit that was hard to break. Especially now, when he didn't need Detective Saehara calling him whenever he got a calling card.

Satoshi reached down and groped for his phone. When he found it he flipped it open and held it to his ear, checking the screen before saying anything.

It was one o'clock in the morning.

"Hello?" he asked quietly, closing his eyes and massaging his temples. He really needed to get more sleep.

"Satoshi?"

His eyes snapped open. "Risa?"

"Hi."

He sat up, slightly confused. "Risa, is something wrong?"

"No, no! Nothing's wrong."

"Oh." He squinted his eyes to check the time on the other side of the room. One o'clock. His phone wasn't wrong. "It's one o'clock in the morning."

"Um...did I wake you?"

Technically she didn't, as he had not yet gone to sleep. But he had to admit, he was still extremely tired.

"No. I wasn't sleeping."

"Okay. Good." There was a short pause. "What are you doing?"

He frowned slightly, noting that there was a definite timid tone in her voice. "Getting ready for bed."

She got very quiet. "I'm disturbing you, aren't I?"

Truthfully she was. Not that he was entirely annoyed. He had noticed that he liked hearing her voice more and more often.

"No, you're not."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Well, er...Satoshi..."

"Yes?"

"Could I ask you for a favor?"

He hesitated only the smallest bit. "Of course."

"Could you open your front door?"

--------

Satoshi tore open his front door, his cellphone still in his hand. Standing there, with only a thin jacket over her nightgown, was Risa. Her hair was wet from the snow falling outside and she was shivering uncontrollably. She stared up at his surprised face, tucking the phone she had been talking on into her pocket. She blushed and smiled feebly at him.

"Thank you."

--------

She knew she had imposed on him. When he had opened the door he was wearing nothing but his sleeping trousers. But even then he had brought her into his apartment, a wide-eyed expression on his face.

Now she sat in his living room, wrapped tightly in a blanket as he made her warm, green tea. She looked around. There was a time when Daisuke had told her and Riku that Satoshi lived by himself in a messy apartment near the shore.

After looking around it was apparent that Hiwatari lived alone, but his apartment was very clean. Now, at least.

"Here."

She looked up. Satoshi was standing over her, holding a steaming mug. She took it in her hands. He frozen fingers immediately began to warm.

"Thank you," she said. He knelt down in front of her so that they were eye-level. The moonlight from the window illuminated the pale skin of his bare chest. She glanced away.

"Risa, what are you doing here?"

She stared at the ground. "I know it's early. I'm so sorry...I'll leave in a few minutes...once my fingers warm--"

"I didn't say you had to leave."

She met his eyes.

"Satoshi--,"

"Risa, what are you doing here?"

She sighed and set down her mug. She held the blanket closer to herself, it's scent surrounding her in the aroma of clean soap and cold wind. The same scent as Satoshi. "I couldn't sleep."

He didn't say anything.

"Every time I close my eyes I see...Dark, and Krad. And they're fighting. And then I see Daisuke getting hurt."

He didn't say anything.

"And then Riku getting hurt."

He still didn't say anything.

She met his eyes then glanced away. "And I see you...and you're in pain."

He nodded once, understanding.

"Nightmares."

"Not just nightmares." She sounded frustrated. "They're worse than that. They're more real."

"Because they're memories."

"Yes."

He nodded again. "But that still doesn't tell me what you're doing here, at my apartment."

"I didn't want to be alone."

"You're alone at home?"

"No." She bit her lip. "My parents are gone, but Riku's there."

"Why didn't you go to Riku then?"

She stood up, dropping the blanket from her shoulders. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here. I'm imposing." She started to walk away.

Satoshi stood up and grabbed her by the arm. "Did you come here on your sister's bike?"

"Yes."

"Then you're not going anywhere tonight." She looked back at him. "It's too cold."

"Yes, it is."

"Did the nightmares scare you?"

"Yes."

"Then stay here."

She stared at him for a long time, wondering why she had never noticed that Satoshi's voice, however quiet and precise it could seem, was also very kind and humble.

She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him, resting her cheek against his collarbone in an embrace. "Thank you."

After a moment she felt his arms encase her.

--------

He opened his eyes. He was sitting on the couch, his cellphone resting on the arm next to him. It was still nighttime, but the clock on the wall read three o'clock. He had fallen asleep for two hours.

He tried to get up but something was stopping him. He looked down. Risa's head was resting against his chest, her legs stretched out on the rest of couch and the blanket he had given her thrown over her small frame. For a moment panic struck him, but then he remembered opening the the door to her face and the fear in her eyes when she told him about Dark and Krad.

She groaned and wrapped her arms around him. His heart beat faster.

As gently as he could he sat up straight and slowly disentangled himself from her embrace. When he stood he grabbed his phone and quickly typed out a message to Riku Harada, telling her that her sister was with him and that he'd bring her home tomorrow.

One thing he could count on was Riku's understanding. Between him, her, and Daisuke, they had gone through enough to gain one another's trust.

He looked down at Risa.

She seemed smaller when she slept.

Hardly comprehending the situation that was before him, he picked her up in his arms and brought her to his room, laying her down as gently as he could. When he laid the blanket on her, her hand clamped around his wrist. She mumbled something under her breath.

Satoshi unhooked her fingers and tucked the blanket under her chin to keep her warm.

He closed the door behind him and went to sleep the rest of the night on the couch.

--------

In her dreams she was never safe.

They were always there, fighting, flying, and killing.

The art surrounded them.

Their feathers littered the floor she stood on.

She was always crying.

But she never really saw them; was never able to see their faces or their figures.

But she knew they were there. She knew from the sounds and the sights and the smells. She knew from the hints that they left her.

--------

His landline was ringing but he didn't want to pick it up. He had only gotten to bed a few hours ago and he was definitely not a morning person.

He buried his face into the cushions and ignored it. The machine would pick up the message anyway.

--------

"Hello, this is Aoyama-san from the School District office. I'm calling on behalf of Hiwatari Satoshi...all the schools in the district will be closed today on account of the excessive amount of snow that has fallen over the passing night. I'm contacting all the students on the eastern part of town so, if you have any questions, just give me a call. Again, that's a cancellation of school for today, December the first. Thank you, and have a nice day."

--------

Risa opened her eyes and shivered involuntarily. She blinked a few times. Outside the overcast sky reflected off the falling snow. It was deathly bright and deathly cold.

She pulled the blanket closer to her chin and squeezed her eyes shut. She wanted to sleep for another day.

She inhaled deeply.

Clean soap and cold wind.

Risa screamed and jumped out of bed.

--------

Truthfully, Krad had never left him. He could hear him in his head and feel him in his muscles. His shoulder blades would always ache where the wings would break through, and he swore his eyesight would change on him, from Krad's sight to his and back.

In the mornings he would find his pillow clutched in his arms. It was usually after a dream where he was fighting Krad. Sometimes it'd be a crushing hold, other times it would hardly be an embrace.

It was just the lingering memory of his alter ego; a distant reminder of the burden he had once carried.

--------

Risa stared at the room around her. Bare walls, a clean carpet and a simple bed that was small but comfortable. A pair of glasses were folded on the nightstand along with a clock and a notebook. There was a hamper next to the closet door. There was only one window.

For a moment she panicked, trying to understand why she wasn't looking at her own room. Then it came back to her. A rush of realization.

This was Satoshi's room.

--------

She stood over his sleeping form, unable to find it in her to wake him. She had thought to, but now that she saw him she didn't want to. He was different when he slept.

The absence of his blue, blue eyes changed his face. His skin always looked paler when seen next to the dark azure. His hair was wild and unkempt, and his body, usually tensed in strain and concentration, was now completely relaxed. He had no pillow and now blanket, just his sleeping trousers and his arm thrown over his face. His cell phone lay across his abdomen.

Risa found that she had changed considerably since the first day of their project back in the library.

Back then she did not want him as her partner.

Now she couldn't even stand to be away from him.

He had made her more mature and grown up in her actions. More sophisticated. But, in another way, he had also helped her remain youthful and laidback.

Seeing him serious all the time made her want to act more poised around him to impress him.

And seeing him serious all the time made her want to act more zealous around him just to oppose him.

But seeing him lying there, with his chest rising and falling with every breath, made her want to simply watch him.

She reached down and picked up his phone. She placed it on the floor. She had wrapped herself in the blanket from his room, but now she unfolded it from her shoulders and covered him. He was probably very cold.

She glanced back at his answering machine. She had already played the message back. It was a relief, not to have to worry about school, but she still needed to get home.

She took out her phone and quickly called their manservant who took care of both her and her sister. She hung up the phone. He'd pick her up in a few minutes.

She looked back at Satoshi.

She knelt next to him, tucking her hair behind her ear. His arm fell away from his face.

She smiled. She knew that there were few friends who would take in someone in the middle of the night. She also knew that there were few boyfriends who give up their beds to their female visitors and sleep on the couch.

But she had never really called him her boyfriend yet. She wasn't quite sure.

She stared at him a while longer before leaning forward to kiss him. She had meant it to be quick, but he reacted to her in his sleep and kissed back.

And when Satoshi kissed her back their was hardly a chance of her moving away.

She closed her eyes. His arm hooked her waist, pulling her closer. She giggled against his mouth. He probably had no idea what he was doing. Their first kiss in the snow had been such a shy one. He had blushed and kissed her so gently. Now he kissed her as if he had no intention of letting go.

She giggled again. Cool, quiet Satoshi Hiwatari wasn't so cool.

After a while she broke away, slipping from his grasp. He didn't wake.

Risa looked down at him again and felt her cheeks flush. Then she turned and left the apartment.

--------

Electricity shot through his nerves. Fire burned in his blood. The smell of rosemary filled his head.

It was the sweetest dream he had in a long time.

--------