Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Don't own. Sowwies.

"Riku! It was amazing! After we got ice cream we explored Waikiki! There was a guy with a couple of parrots sitting on his shoulders, and he actually let me hold one! They were tame, so they didn't try to bite me or anything. Then we went to the beach again. It was so romantic! Then we went to the mall and both of us got a tattoo!" She smiled at the dried henna on her upper arm. The henna was beginning to flake off, revealing the brown stained skin underneath. It was going to be very pretty.

"Cool. What type of tattoo did Hiwatari-kun get?"

Risa smiled.

( - Flashback - )

"You won't . . . pick anything out that's gross or mean, right?" Risa asked, glancing up at the list of options for tattoos. There were some cute ones, like a rose or a teddy bear, but there were also flaming skulls, snakes, and lizards. She couldn't believe she was allowing Satoshi to pick out which henna tattoo she was getting.

"What qualifies as gross?" He asked, looking at the options.

"Anything remotely related to amphibians or reptiles."

"Really? What about the snake coming from the skull's eye? That's one's kind of-"

"Satoshi! Never mind I'll pick it out myself!"

"No no no!" He grabbed her arm, smiling. "I'll make sure to pick something you'll like."

" . . . Promise?"

"Promise." He said. She smiled slightly and they approached the guy at the henna station. Satoshi spoke with him for a moment while Risa covered her ears, wanting it to be a surprise. The tattoo artist then motioned for her to sit down.

Risa watched nervously as the tattooist did his work. While he applied the henna, she tried to figure out what he was drawing, but she couldn't see. She had elected to get it on her left shoulder, and it hurt her neck as she strained to see what he was drawing. Finally she gave up and sat back, allowing him to work. Satoshi smiled down at her, then leaned down and gently kissed her on her lips. She smiled, trusting him.

"All finished." Their tattooist said after a while. She looked down at her shoulder and laughed happily.

"A butterfly! It's beautiful!" She stood up and kissed Satoshi on the cheek. "I love it!"
"Are you getting one too?" The tattooist asked casually. Satoshi nodded.

"Yes. She'll be picking mine out for me." He said. Risa already had in mind the tattoo she wanted Satoshi to get. There was a really interesting tribal armband, and a flaming skull, but Risa didn't think that Satoshi would like anything so gaudy.

"Hmm . . . how about this one?" She asked, picking out a decorative cross. "I like it. It would look good on your shoulder."

"What is it?" He asked.

"Nu-uh!" She smirked. "You can't know until after you get it. That's the way it was with me."

"Oh . . . alright then. It's nothing . . . horribly embarrassing, is it?"

"No . . . not horribly." She smiled at him. "Don't worry, you'll like it. At least . . . I think you will."

He sighed. "Alright. Let's get this over with then." He sat down in the chair and put his chin in his hand as the tattooist started working. "So . . . what color is this going to be, anyway?"

"It depends on your skin type. Henna shoes up different on different people Sometimes it's dark brown, sometimes it's so light it's almost yellow. You never know, really."

"I hope mine's dark brown!" Risa said happily. "I want it to be really noticeable . . . wow! That looks nice!" She said, looking at Satoshi's tattoo. It was nearly done - the henna guy was just adding the final touches. "You're really good at this."

"Thank you." He said, adding the last line of decoration inside the cross. It was amazing how much detail he could go into considering he was working with goo. "All finished."

Satoshi looked down at his shoulder, then back up at her. "Any particular reason why you chose this one?"

"I don't know. It just seemed the most . . . Satoshi-esque . . ."

"You're right. It's probably what I would've picked out."

( - End Flashback - )

"Aw, that's sweet. You and Hiwatari-kun make a cute couple."

"I know." Risa said with a smile. Riku rolled her eyes, but didn't deny her sister her happiness.

"Are you going to be spending the day tomorrow as well?"

"Yep! He said he'd be by to pick me up around noon - he knows I like to sleep in . . . isn't that sweet of him? " She giggled.

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The next morning, however, Riku was shaking her awake by 10:00. "Risa . . . Risa, wake up."

"Uhn . . . No!" She turned over and closed her eyes. Riku sighed.

"Risa . . . get up. It's Hiwatari-kun."

"Wha?" Risa sat up abruptly. "Is he here already?"

"No, but here. I think he left this under the door for you." She held up an envelope with Risa's name on it. It had already been opened. Risa looked up at her sister.

"You read it?"

" . . . I wanted to see who it was from." She said, smiling. Risa rolled her eyes.

"You knew who it was from."

"Yeah, well . . . I just wanted to see what he had to say."

"I don't get it. Why didn't he just call me?"

"He's just weird."

"Don't say that about him!" Risa said. "He's not weird!" she snatched the letter out of Riku's hand and read it. "Wow . . . his penmanship is terrible! But then . . . I think I heard somewhere that all geniuses have messy handwriting, so I guess it makes sense." She looked down at the barely legible handwriting. "It says that he has something to talk to me about . . . and he wants to meet me in the lobby at . . . eleven?!" She gasped and looked at the clock. "But that only gives me an hour to get ready!" She jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, grabbing the outfit she had picked out the night before on her way.

She took a "quick" (thirty minute long) shower, then blew her hair dry, deciding to leave it down again.. She was glad she had brought her green summer dress - Satoshi had said green was her color. It was slender around her waist and had a white belt to accentuate it. It also left her butterfly tattoo visible for all the world to see. It had turned out really pretty - a light tan color.

"Okay, Riku! How do I look?" She did a quick spin for her sister.

"Fine." Said Riku. "You're going to be late."

"Ah! You're right!" Risa grabbed her purse. "I've got my phone if you and Niwa want to meet up with us later."

"Alright. We really should double date sometime now that you two are officially a couple."

"Yeah!" She chuckled and gave her sister one last bright smile before leaving for the lobby.

In the elevator, she began to wonder again why Satoshi had written her a letter, rather than just call her. It was sort of romantic to receive letters, but she had grown to like the sound of his voice. She would've preferred that he had called her.

He wasn't waiting for her when she arrived, so she decided to go sit by the fountain to wait . . . and wait . . . and wait . . . she sighed and pulled out her cellphone and looked at the clock. HE was already ten minutes late. That was very un-Satoshi like. The letter had said eleven, hadn't it? She was certain it had . . .

" Hello Harada." Risa turned around to find a group of girls advancing toward her. Oh . . . no. "We were just looking for you."

"Really?" Risa asked, standing up and taking a step back. "What did you want."

"I think you know what we want." The leader of the group, a girl Risa recognized as Nana Ando, stepped forward and poked her on the shoulder. "We know you're going out with Hiwatari-kun, and we don't like it at all."

"How did . . . how did you find out?"

"Oh, we have our ways." She said with a grin. Oh, Risa had almost forgotten. They were stalkers.

"So, what do you want?"

"We want you to stay away from Hiwatari-kun." Nana demanded.

"Oh." She said crossing her arms. "Do you now? Well I'll have you know that he sent me a letter to meet him, and we're going to hang out today . . ." Even as she said it, the truth dawned on her. " . . . You wrote the letter, didn't you?"

"Yep!" The lead fan girl looked highly pleased with herself.. "It took you long enough! It seems like if you really cared about Hiwatari-kun, you would know what his handwriting looks like by now."

"Actually, I care about him enough to know that he doesn't like to be stalked. That's why I don't know what his handwriting looks like." She replied coolly. The fan girls looked toward their leader, expecting her to launch an all out attack. Instead, she just smiled coldly and crossed her arms.

"You think Dark liked being stalked by you?" She asked.

"Oh no! You are not using that one against me again!" Risa put her hands on her hips and glowered at the girl in front of her. "I don't care what you think! Satoshi doesn't like you! He likes me! And there's nothing you can do to change that!"

"You don't really care about him!" The leader of the group took a step forward.

"I care about him more than any of you! You just like him because of the way he looks and the fact that he makes good grades! You don't like him for who he is as a person! You only think about how you would look next to him. You don't care about him!"

"How dare you say that?!" The leader said and shoved her back. Risa stumbled but regained her footing.

"Don't you touch me." She said, her stance turning defensive. They snickered.

"Ooh! I'm so scared! What are you going to do, Harada? Get your sister to beat me up?" The girls giggled cattily, but Risa raised her chin.

"You're just jealous because he picked me over you."

"No, we care about his well-being! We just want to protect him from people like you!"

"What are you, his mother? And what do you mean people like me?"

"People who want to use him! Face it Risa, you're only using him to replace Phantom Dark!"

"That's not true!" Risa flared.

"Face it, Risa, you only care about how it'll look when everyone sees you with him!" She accused. "You never even liked him until he started paying attention to you! You never even noticed him!"

"You -You don't know what you're talking about!" Risa cried, then realized she was shouting in the middle of a crowded hotel. Some people had stopped to watch the drama unfold. She glared at the leader of the fan girls. "He hates you. All of you." Risa hissed in a quieter voice. "Just leave him alone."

"You leave him alone." Nana challenged. "We liked him first."

"Who cares? No matter how long you wait, he's never going to like you. You're not lovely enough for him." With that, she spun on her heel and headed directly for the elevator, signaling that the conversation had come to a close. Nana, however, wasn't finished with her, and hunted her until they were alone in the elevator.

"I'm going to ask you one more time." She said, grabbing Risa by the shoulders and pressing her against the wall of the elevator. "Leave Hiwatari-kun alone. I won't be so nice next time."

"You're not being nice now." Risa said, shoving her back. "Stay away from me. Satoshi can date whoever he likes. You don't own him. You know nothing about him!"

"Maybe not, but I know enough to know that your not good enough for him." Suddenly she struck Risa across the face. Hard. Her eyes clouded with tears as warm pain spread across her right cheek. "You think you're so much better than everyone else, but you're nothing but a selfish, stuck up brat. You know that if Phantom Dark showed up again, you would leave Hiwatari-kun in an instant! That's just the kind of person you are, Risa Harada! Hiwatari-kun was never good enough for you until you had no one else!"

The elevator stopped and the doors opened to reveal a very shocked Riku and Daisuke. Risa looked at them through her tears.

"D-Don't tell Satoshi!" Was all she said before shoving past them. She ran down the hallway to her room, not caring who saw her. She didn't care that she was in a hotel and could get in trouble for running. She just wanted to get back to her room.

"Risa! Wait!" Riku's voice could be heard from back down the hall. She ran harder and almost passed her room.

Once she was inside she locked herself in the bathroom, knowing any minute now Riku and Daisuke would show up. She couldn't very well lock her sister out of her own room, but she could lock her out of the bathroom. She sank to the linoleum floor and stared straight ahead, letting the tears fall.

Her cheek hurt. It wasn't terrible, but it hurt. But that wasn't why she was crying. As much as she hated to admit it, Nana had discovered her weakness. "Face it Risa, You're only using him to replace Phantom Dark!" She shivered. No! That wasn't true! She would never stoop so low as to use Satoshi . . . "You never even liked him until he started paying attention to you!"Nana was wrong! She had to be! "Hiwatari-kun was never good enough for you until you had no one else!"

"Satoshi . . ." Risa whispered, crying. Nana's words were terribly cruel. What hurt worse what the fact that Risa knew they were all true.

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Hello everyone! Thanks so much for the wonderful reviews! I love you all so much! You made me feel so much better! Please review for this chapter, and I'll have the next one up as soon as I can.