…I recently realised that 'Soshite…Promise' makes an interesting example of the three basics of storywriting. Plot, climax, resolution. This here sets the plot…
Part One. A short, media res-eqsue fic from Jyou's POV, also known as 'It Was Obvious She Had Never Intended to Keep Her Promise' (1997 O'level compostion question)...this thing was just supposed to be practice for my English finals. It got a bit out of hand.
Soshite…Promise
[From the eyes of Jyou]
By Djinn
"Please," my voice was barely a whisper, but the horror and desperation in my eyes was enough to carry the meaning of my words over. "Don't tell him. I can't let him know…I can't."
She studied me intensely, her obvious indecision stabbing at me from where she stood.
"It's not fair that way, you know," she, too, was quiet, "not just to Yamato…Jyou, it's not fair for you either."
"Sora…" I could feel the hot tears burning in my eyes as my vision started to blur, "You know what he would say if he knew."
"Do I?" She asked cryptically, "Do you? Why are you so sure that he would reject you? Jyou –"
"Look at me!" My voice rose involuntarily as the tears spilled over, and I couldn't see her anymore. "Just look at me! Do you think anyone would want me? Do you think he would?"
"Jyou –"
"Just –" I swallowed, trying to get a grip on my emotions. "Just promise, okay? Just promise me not to tell. Please."
She stared at me again, and I wondered what she saw. A clown? A whiny, wimpy worrywart who couldn't even take care of himself? Or just what I really was, a failure who couldn't do anything right. Who couldn't even confess his feelings to the one he loved.
"Please." I said again, blinking blindly through the tears.
She looked down, bit her lip. When she looked up again, she nodded, though her reluctance was clear.
"I promise."
"Thank you." I whispered, almost collapsing with relief. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, she was gone.
She didn't say anything about it again, not the next time I met her, when we gathered when the campfire for dinner. And she didn't say anything about it either when we all turned in for the night. It was almost enough for me to forget the way she had accidentally come upon me by the riverside, as I was whispering confessions of a love I would never publicly admit.
"Yama-kun…if
only you would love me back…"
"Jyou
–"
"Sora?!
What! What did you hear?!"
"Jyou…why didn't you ever tell him?"
To think that he that if he knew…at best, he might laugh it off, and the others would be pointing at me and smirking behind my back for days. Stupid Jyou. To think Yamato could ever love him. Like a toad after a swan, as the old saying goes.
…At worst, he might never want to speak to me again. I don't think I could handle that. Not just rejection, but the disgust…
It was such a relief she promised.
The incident was almost completely out of my mind as the next few days passed in the flurry they always did in the Digiworld.
Then I came back one night after a wash in the nearby river, to find Yamato staring at me in shock and astonishment – and Sora beside him looking like a deer caught in a car's headlights.
Of course. It was obvious she had never intended to keep her promise.
I didn't know what to say. I could barely breathe as a crushing horror gripped my heart. All I could see was the disbelief in his bright blue eyes as he came up to me and asked, "Jyou…is it true?"
"I'm sorry…" I whispered as the familiar tears rose, and the world began its fade, "I never meant for you to know…"
A stunned realisation crept into those blue eyes at my words. He took two steps back, and I thought I might die from the heartbreak. Oh, how those two steps spoke volumes.
Dimly, I heard Sora mutter a vague excuse, and hurry away from the clearing. Then it was just him and I, the campfire, and the two steps distance between us.
It seemed like eternity had passed before he spoke again.
"Jyou…I –"
" – You don't know what to say." I completed the sentence for him woodenly. "You never thought that I might feel like this. You're sorry, but it's impossible. I know."
And before he could utter another word, I turned and ran, ran away, fled back to the river with its rippling reflection, and salted the fresh lake-water with my tears.
I knew. Oh, yes, I knew. And the knowing somehow seemed to make it hurt all the more.
I couldn't bring myself to go back that night. I think I heard them call for me, even him. But I huddled behind the riverside's rocks, staring miserably at the moon's reflection, trying to pretend I couldn't hear the worry in their voices.
…It would have been so much easier if she'd just kept her promise…
To be continued…
…And *there's* the prerequisite
topic line! ^_^