Hi again! I'm so sorry for taking such a long time to update, I've been sidetracked then hit with a serious case of writer's block et cetera. You know how it is.

I'd like to especially thank ElveNDestiNy for her awesome review. You really inspired me to continue writing this! I never thought that anyone would say that about my story, I'm really flattered. And, of course, I would like to thank everyone else who's read and/or reviewed this, there wouldn't be a story if it weren't for you guys.

Standard disclaimers still apply.

I hope you all enjoy reading the sixth chapter!

Chapter Six: Secrets

"Why'd he have to come with us?" Risa asked irritatedly as she packed her bags haphazardly for their trip to one of Dark's client's resort a few hours from the city. Riku sat on her bed, already having finished fixing her clothes and other necessities the night before.

"Maybe because it would have been rude if we hadn't insisted that he comes along?" Riku asked back, rolling her eyes for about the fifteenth time in the past two hours. Her sister could be so…stubborn sometimes.

"But he already said that he would back out! What is wrong with you?" the younger of the two almost screamed, her hands tightly clenched at her sides, ready to hit her sister. She stopped trying to finish packing, who cared about clothes when Satoshi Hiwatari was involved?

"He only said that since you stormed out of the café like he was some kind of plague. Risa, he isn't such a bad guy. I'm sure if you gave him a chance, he'd apologize for whatever it is he did to you when we were younger."

Risa lowered her head in fear that some sort of forbidden emotion would show in her too openly expressive eyes. If she could help it, she didn't want to remember her childhood with that blue-haired genius. 'He can try but it's not like it'll make me feel any better…' she thought forlornly before throwing herself on her bed.

In the past week her mind had been filled with Satoshi Hiwatari—each and every minute detail of their rivalry came back to her full-force, unrelenting and powerful. Now that they were older and she wasn't blindly lashing at the young prodigy, she saw just how bigheaded and self-centered she had been. If it was possible, her enmity with Hiwatari was worse off than Dark and Riku's. At least her sister never tried to sabotage one of Dark's final projects to make hers look better…nor did she spread awful rumors about him around campus to let people believe he wasn't as perfect as they thought him to be.

"I know…that's the problem." Risa turned to her sister, a small defeated frown on her lips.

"What?" This was the first time her sister ever admitted to being at fault with Satoshi.

Risa nodded her head slowly, carefully choosing her words before voicing them out to her elder twin. "I've been thinking of…when Hiwatari and I were…still in school and I…realized that he never really did anything….wrong to me during those times…he was just…fighting back, I guess."

She paused, allowing the image of Mio Hio and Hiwatari kissing in that blasted after party to form in her mind and the feelings of betrayal, hurt and anger to return. "But that doesn't change the fact that he did fight back! He's such a jerk, thinking he's always the best, showing off his paintings to everyone as if there weren't better in the world! If I could go back in time I would make sure he'd get what he deserved, not the pathetic things I thought of!" She stood up defiantly from where she was lying comfortably and started pacing around to release some of her rage.

Riku stayed quiet through all of this, allowing her sister to vent out all her unspoken emotions. What happened? One minute she was saying that he wasn't such a bad person and now she's ranting on how a jerk he is.

"Um…Risa?" Riku called out tentatively, standing up to stop her sister from bringing herself to hysteria.

"Tell me what's really wrong," Riku held her sister's arms tightly in her hands, noticing the tears glazing Risa's eyes.

Risa was almost tempted to tell her sister everything. How she wanted to apologize to Hiwatari! But she knew he'd never listen to her much less accept it after her display in the café. Every time she was close to calling him and asking him to meet her somewhere to talk, she'd always be reminded of the day he kissed Hio right in front her then all she'd want to do was wring his neck for being so…unlike him.

This was giving her a headache.

"I hate him so there's nothing wrong," Risa replied brusquely, slipping roughly out of her sister's grasp and exiting her room without another sound.

--

"I don't know what's wrong with her!" Riku cried out in greeting, taking a seat in front of Dark and Daisuke, partially ignorant of the tension between the two friends who seemed to have their tongues cut off. They were currently at a new restaurant at the Upper East Side that only accepted exclusive customers—and their bribes.

Dark cleared his throat before making the effort to look normal. "With Risa?" he inquired with a raised eyebrow, making sure they were on the same page.

"Of course with Risa! Do you know any other girl I have to live with who's been so out of it lately?" Riku screamed at him, already feeling as if they'd been such close friends for the past year.

Daisuke shook his head. He was clearly trying to get rid of the distant look in his eyes and that did not go unnoticed by Riku. "Maybe she's just rattled up with Satoshi and Mio still dating after that incident during his graduation," he suggested, trying to calm the elder Harada's strained nerves.

"Hey, did she ever find out what happened afterwards?" Dark took a sip of his drink, turning his piercing gaze to the young woman in front of him.

Riku opened her mouth then closed it immediately, she tilted her head to the left when the idea finally registered in her brain. "No…I don't think she does," Riku spoke slowly, as if the words felt foreign to her lips.

This was Daisuke's chance to escape any questioning from his girlfriend's uncannily observant sister. It was hard to squelch the joy he felt at the thought.

"Do you know where she is now? I'll go to her and tell her about it so she'll finally make up her mind about tomorrow." Daisuke stood up from his seat, a little too quickly for Riku to just think of it as normal behavior.

What were Dark and Daisuke talking about before she arrived? She had seen the slight frown on the violet-haired man's face and the anxious way her sister's boyfriend's eyes kept darting around as if he was waiting for someone to call his bluff.

The elder Harada narrowed her weary eyes in suspicion. "Sit down, Daisuke. I know something's wrong so spit it out, I want to know," she demanded authoritatively, challenging the two men across her with her hardest glare.

Dark turned to Daisuke with a hesitant, questioning look on his face. "I told you she would find out, Dai."

Daisuke simply scowled at him darkly before turning back to his girlfriend's elder sister. Why did he even stop to ask? He should just have stood up and left! Dark could handle this without him, couldn't he? "I think you'd rather not know about this."

'Because I fear too much for my life.' He was tempted to add but bit his tongue at the last moment.

"And now I think that I should even more," was Riku's biting retort.

'Dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMN IT ALL!' Daisuke's face had gotten warmer but he knew that if he avoided eye contact or the topic altogether, Riku would only get more aggressive.

"You're too close-minded, 'Ku. You don't want to hear this and I know that you're just going to overreact," the red-head said in his most persuasive lawyer-mode voice. To Dark, it was clear that he was desperate, clutching helplessly at the air.

To say that Riku was insulted would be saying that jumping off a bridge without a bungee cord isn't stupid. Where was this coming from? Riku was sure that it had to do with her sister. She kept quiet in fear of making a scene in this elegantly expensive restaurant. She instead chose to send death threats to Daisuke through her furious eyes.

"Mio Hio's pregnant," Dark interrupted their glaring contest. His red-headed best friend elbowed him and that earned him a serious punch on the arm.

Riku almost wasn't able to hear what Dark had said, too distracted by their show of bodily pain infliction. But when she was sure she had heard it right, she sat rigidly straight in her chair for a moment, hazel eyes narrowed angrily before she lunged unforgiving at Risa's latest ex-boyfriend.

"How could you? After everything that you've gone through, you have the nerve to go around and do this to her? With someone she hates to top it all off! Just who do you think you are? You're a bastard, you know that? A fucking, good-for-nothing son of a bitch!" Before she could hit him though, Dark's arms were around her waist, not allowing her to kill the corporate lawyer just two feet away.

"Dark, let go! I said let go of me! I'm going to get you, Daisuke! What got inside that hormone-driven brain of yours, getting someone who isn't your wife pregnant? I thought you loved Risa! You liar! You lied to me and you lied to my sister! You're never getting within twenty miles of Risa, do you hear me, you jackass? You're not allowed to see her again!" Riku continued struggling, hitting Dark in every place she could, hoping for a weak spot. Daisuke had already run away by the end of Riku's loud tirade, shooting one last, guilty look over his shoulder before exiting the restaurant completely.

When Riku had finally calmed down, Dark put her down and took a deep breath to ready himself for Riku's angry lecture.

But what happened next surprised him. Yes, the younger woman's eyes flashed dangerously under her bangs and her knuckles were so white from her self-restraint for a good ten minutes. But after that, she seemed to become limp. "Thanks," she whispered even if the adrenaline in her body almost painful.

Dark knew what she was talking about but only gave her an apologetic smile. He knew this wasn't about manners or any of that anymore. "Questions? Accusations? Threats?"

She dropped her head onto the table, not paying attention when Dark signaled for a waiter and ordered some food and drinks. "When did it happen?" Riku questioned dully, her voice muffled and dry.

"A month ago at one of Daisuke's clients' parties." The waiter arrived with some tea for Riku, he set it down gingerly in front of where her head met the table.

"How long have you known about it?" she looked up when the smell of jasmine tea reached her.

He looked at his wrist watch, mentally calculating how long he had been sitting with Daisuke before Riku had arrived. "Half an hour, tops."

"Why did he do it?"

"Alcohol," he answered immediately. "Or so he claims," he added cynically, not really believing his best friend but having no other choice.

The cool, light air in the restaurant was such a comfort to Riku's senses. The place was elegant and sophisticated with mirrors making up half of the walls and paintings adorning almost every other corner. Flowers were set as the centerpiece of the room and vases filled with exotic blooms stood in the middle of every table. Riku had always loved flowers, more than even her sister did. If only this wasn't such a stressing day…

This was supposed to be her day-off!

Now, on top of Risa acting so weirdly, she had to prepare for her sister to finally break down. What could she do now? She should have been protecting her sister! Instead she had pushed Daisuke to ask her out…What an awful person she was.

"Is he going to tell Risa about it or will I?" Now, a waitress brought them some French bread with butter and other niceties.

"I think he'll be the one breaking it to Risa."

"How could he do this, Dark? Didn't he always say that he loved her?" Riku whispered more to herself than her companion.

Dark's eyes turned into a deep wine color, a sigh escaping him from his emotional and mental exhaustion. "I don't know. I honestly have no clue, Riku."

Riku brought her head from the table and turned her eyes towards her newest friend. Dark almost gasped, his gut clenching painfully—he had never seen such a look of desperation and…hopelessness in anyone's eyes before.

He swore under his breath.

--

You've reached Mio! I'm busy at the moment so just leave a message at the tone and I'll call you right back.

"Mio, this is Satoshi. I would like to know if you will be joining us on the trip tomorrow. I'd appreciate it if you could call me before tonight." The blue-haired genius ended the phone call and sighed before looking around the park he had somehow ended up in.

Should he really go tomorrow? He knew that one of the party would rather die than spend an entire weekend with him—that should be enough reason not to come. But…

His blue eyes suddenly glanced to his right, noticing a man with shocking red hair walking around a few feet away, whispering into his phone urgently. But that wasn't the reason why he had caught Satoshi's attention—he didn't even recognize the face under the hat the other man was wearing.

It was his tone of total exasperation and defeat.

"What do you mean you're coming? Do you want her to hit you or something?" the highly distressed man asked rhetorically, his hand twitching around the device near his ear.

Satoshi squinted at the early afternoon sun, trying to put a face to the voice. He sounded disconcertingly familiar to be a mere stranger.

"I'm telling her tonight, of course…Well, I was trying to find the right moment to break it to her. Um…yeah, I told them. She sort of threatened him to tell her but that's not the point." The man Satoshi was looking at suddenly threw his left hand in the air, his back still miraculously facing the blue-haired man.

"What am I supposed to say to her, Mio?!" he screamed, completely ignoring—or not having noticed—the other person in the park.

Wait. Did he just say 'Mio'? Satoshi was instantly frozen on the bench, his mind alternatively going blank then into overdrive.

"Risa, I'm in love with Mio Hio, one of your worst enemies and who is currently dating with Satoshi Hiwatari, and she's pregnant with my child. Are you okay with that?" he continued, his tone as exasperated as before.

Daisuke Niwa.

Satoshi thought he saw red as he continued listening to Daisuke's side of the conversation. So that was the reason why Mio had been 'busy' and screening his calls for the past two weeks? He could have murdered Niwa right then and there if he didn't know that Risa could deliver worse blows.

He clenched his fists tightly, forcing to breath through his nose, counting in his head to calm down somewhat.

--

"Riku…" Dark called out, shaking the sleeping woman at his side. They were at the twins' home, Dark staring at the explosions on the wide, plasma-screen TV and Riku, too exhausted to do anything else, murmuring quietly in her sleep, changing her position on the couch.

"Risa…Daisuke…Mio…pregnant…" Dark should have known that Riku's invitation would end up being some sort of baby-sitting job to make sure that she'd get through the first hours after the horror of Daisuke's infidelity. Not that he minded that much…

'She's cute when she's asleep,' Dark thought to himself, tearing his eyes from the movie he wasn't actually watching anyway and smiling softly as Riku twitched then scrunched her nose at something she was dreaming about.

He had long ago resigned himself to the fact that it was useless trying to stop thinking of such unnecessary things about Riku. After the incident at Modern, she was either occupying his mind or filling it with something that was related—whether directly or not didn't really matter to his subconscious.

Dark brought his hand to her shoulder and shook her lightly.

"Dark…don't go…help me…" Riku whispered in her sleep again. Her hands were suddenly clutching at the air beside her, missing his arm in only a few inches. Dark felt a blush stain his cheek momentarily.

'Thank God no one's here right now.'

Another shake, a bit harder this time. Still, the brunette didn't wake up but an annoyed sound did escape her lips though. Dark was tempted to laugh—or take a picture of Riku in her sleep—right now.

He moved his head near her left ear, the pull just too irresistible for him. "Wake up, Riku…" he breathed, a small, amused smile gracing his features.

"Go away, Dark…" was her sleepy reply, she rolled her shoulders a bit to escape Dark's hold.

"I thought you wanted me to stay?" he questioned in mock surprise, aware and thankful that Riku was still fully unconscious.

A sound close to a groan left the back of her throat. "Fine. Just let me…sleep..."

Dark broke away, his shoulders shaking from suppressed laughter.

And here he thought that he couldn't enjoy Riku's company any more than he already did. He seriously needed to bring his camera next time he came to visit.

--

Please review! I would love to know what you think of the story so far.

Do you think I should make some changes in someone's attitude or the dialogues between them? Suggestions and comments are welcome!