Author Renorin, or RenRen for short. Also remember the horribly annoying Aero who betas. You would all hate me without her.
Challenge One-shots using pairings drawn from a hat. It's been rather fun too.
Disclaimer We don't own Digimon.
One-Shot 3: Music Without Melody
Pairig: Takeru/Hikari
Growing up with Hikari meant growing up with sunshine, with light by your side. As kids, we always knew we'd be together when we were finally old enough.
The day had come.
O-O
"Kari's turning eighteen tomorrow," I stated bluntly and without hesitation. Yamato didn't glance up from the counter top, as if he hadn't heard me. But I knew by the stiffness in his shoulders that he had heard perfectly well and simply didn't know what to say. He knew my plans as well as I did. He knew what we wanted to do.
I continued, "You don't have to say anything. It's our decision so don't feel guilty about it. You don't have to help us if you don't want to." It hadn't been our intention to include my brother in the overall scheme. We were afraid of his initial reaction, which hadn't been good. But as my only sibling he wanted to lend a hand. He paid for the train tickets, promised to defed us if it came down to it. I couldn't say I wasn't thankful.
I had to give him the chance to back out though. Just in case.
A small shake of his head was all the answer he gave.
The one sided conversation ceased there as I didn't know of anything else to tell him. My older brother had supported us as much as an older brother can while trying to sustain a normal life and take care of a small child. The toddler wasn't old enough yet to miss us if we left but we would miss him. We wouldn't be coming home for some time.
As I stood from the table I stared at the empty plate in front of me. Yamato had promised dinner but I couldn't stay.
As parting words I murmured, "We're leaving tonight."
And I walked out of my brother's front door before I could change my mind, before he could change his. Before reason could set in and I realized that this wasn't rationality that I was so focused on.
When had I ever been rational?
This thought surfaced repeatedly in my head as I returned home to my almost empty bedroom, one large bag positioned under the bed and filled to the brim with my things. The old thing couldn't be longer than three and a half feet, a faded navy in color and pretty much falling apart. It had been Yamato's at some time in the distant past, and it appeared well loved. Well used.
A gentle rapping at my window startled me out of a reverie, and I turned on the spot to see Hikari's slender frame silhouetted against the pale moonlight. Clutching at her frail shoulders was a bulging pink back pack that matched duffle settled at her feet. At first I felt uneasy at the expression she held, but it softened into a smile when I pulled open the pane of glass.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah," she whispered back, and I climbed out my window with my bag in tow.
Her backpack held the train tickets from Yamato. They would take us to Kyoto for now, where we would immediately seek out our makeshift chapel, which was no more than a court room.
We were getting married.
"This is exciting," she said while struggling to raise her voice against the light breeze. Snaking an arm around her slender waist for a few seconds I nodded my agreement. Together we set off for the train with our fingers laced together tightly.
As we waited in a short line for our ride I fidgeted with the bags and Hikari worried her lower lip and glanced around every few seconds, as if she were expecting her parents to arrive. To my relief we weren't followed, and stepping onto the train seemed to ease her worries just a bit.
Our car was nearly deserted at this time of night, but mayeb it was better that way. There was almost no chance of running into someone who might recognize us.
Kyoto was beautiful at six A.M. In the beginnings of spring the fluttery form of pink cherry blossoms swept this way and that with the wind that was stronger here. The looming sun in the horizon displayed a myriad of tones and shades with a beautiful intensity, and we couldn't help but gaze upward at the telltale colors as we traipsed through a back street away from the taller buildings.
I could tell she wanted to speak but also didn't want to ruin the moment, and so we walked in silence in search of the small inn we had planned to visit. It would just be for five days, to give us time for a halfway proper honeymoon after the ceremony. We intended to visit a few more places in Japan before returning back home to face the heat. I had to contact Yamato soon and let him know that everything was okay.
As the gentle winds picked up speed and played at Hikari's short tresses, she leaned against it a bit and spread her arms like a bird. The delicate zephyr glided along her slim form, the fiery light casting such a tone over her skin that she was as beautiful as the dawn, her eyes closed and her breathing soft. She murmured soft words to me, her voice a song without melody, and in an instant the moment passed and we were moving again.
"Kari," I whispered just for the sake of talking.
"TK," she returned with a smile.
Ahead of us I could see the tiny break in the multistory shops that allowed room for a traditional style Kyoto house, the yard filled with blooms of various colors and a single cherry tree that shaded a small wooden bench. For half a second I felt biting fear sting at me as we drew closer and closer but I couldn't let Hikari know.
There could be no doubts.
O-O
"You're very young," the man murmured as he inspected Hikari's ID closely. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
His words nearly angered me. It was like we hadn't planned this for so many years, like we were fifteen once more and Hikari was arguing with her parents that I wasn't a bad influence.
It didn't matter what she had said then of course. She was fifteen.
"We're sure," I stated firmly.
He didn't question us again, simply lead us back into the small building into a sitting room with a long table surrounded by crisp and straight backed chairs. Hikari and I positioned ourselves at the head of the table, still standing, and the man halted before us and began the ceremony.
We had no one to watch us. No one else knew save for Yamato. And of course Taichi.
A visible chill wracked her frail body as she stood there. I couldn't tell if it was fear or excitement or the cold air. Maybe a combination of all three.
The man's baritone spoke with assurance and possibly a little apprehension. He had already expressed his views on our young age, and he had no say in the matter to begin with. He was some guy, some outsider who would play his part and nothing more. We might not even remember his name three weeks from now.
I spoke my vows first with as much confidence as I could muster. For the entire length of time we stood there with our hands clasped and our eyes never parted. I watched her as she spoke her agreement and never once did hesitation surface in her voice.
A beaming smile adorned both of our mouths as we admired the golden rings now circling our fingers. I kissed her for the first time as my wife. Takaishi Hikari. I said it to myself a thousand times before we excited the building, an off-white certificate of marriage clasped in Hikari's fingers.
"Mrs. Takaishi," I said with a laugh and a small tug on our intertwined fingers.
Beaming back at me Hikari squeezed my fingers in response. "I've never felt happier."
"I'm glad."
Together we ambled at a dragging pace back towards the little inn while enjoying the sights and sounds and smells of Kyoto along the way. We had a task to perform. Hikari had been as restless about it as I was, and three months ago we had almost slipped up. Almost. I was glad we had waited.
The simple fact made it that much more amazing, heartbreakingly wonderful and spectacular and all those adjectives I never bothered to learn. Prodigious - Izzy used to say that all the time. That was the word.
O-O
Our first full day of being married began with my wife awaking in my arms. I had never experienced something so fulfilling as to wake up holding the woman you love most.
Because Hikari was a woman now. Eighteen and married. That qualified you to leave behind your girl title didn't it?
Together we left the inn at 11 A.M. and went in search of the small park we had wandered through the previous day. Hikari couldn't stop laughing her infectious laugh that sparked so many different reactions in me. I could die happily with her by my side, smiling that smile of sweet fire if there ever existed such a thing, laughing that laugh of wind chimes and bells and the melody without a tune that seemed to surround her. As if I were the only one who could hear it.
She seemed to glow in the sunlight and bits of her light flecked off on our surroundings and seemed to illuminate everything, absolutely everything. Even the people we passed, even the men who cast each other fowl glances and the women who tugged at their suits as they hurried down the streets in clicking heels. Even the children who seemed to do nothing but cry. Even they smiled.
One day became one night, and again we found ourselves in much the same act as the night before, scarcely resting in place of feeling alive. She smelled like spring, I thought as she laid by my side in the afterglow with her eyes intently gazing into mine. I whispered sweet things to her and this time she laughed like water, like a river, like ocean tides.
I never knew I could be so poetic before.
Her small hands held mine closely that night as she drifted off to sleep.
How many delights could one week hold?
I often questioned myself that as we meandered through the city hand in hand with the sun shining and our rings glistening under it. I thought briefly of Yamato at least once a day. I thought of his son. I wondered what our son might look like.
"Look over there!" she pointed excitedly to a shop the seemed to have receded back behind the other buildings so that only a select few would notice it. The window held an odd display of trinkets I had never seen before. Like jewlery maybe. And so we went.
And we visited every shop Hikari wanted to see because I couldn't love her enough and I wanted her to know every day that I did. Even if we were separated.
On the fifth day, the day we were scheduled to leave, I was marveling at the church bells tone of her laughter as we approached the platform and listened for the sounds of the oncoming train, arms linked loosely as she held shopping bags that crashed against her other side. Along with the luggage she had arrived here with. Her eyes held mirth, resilliance. I remember it perfectly.
Strange, isn't it. How quickly wonderful things can come to an end.
I would never have looked away from her for half a second, and for that I am almost regretful. Almost.
We stood at the forefront of the line of passengers, having arrived at the station earlier with nothing better to do. Someone behind me, a woman maybe, who had glanced downwards for a split second. Maybe less. It had been enough time, for she didn't realize we hadn't yet stepped towards the train. We were already dangerously close, just an inch beyond that warning line.
I heard the train approaching. I heard the person behind me as he or she - I never really cared to know - stepped forward abruptly. I heard the startled gasp as they fell. I heard Hikari scream, her voice no longer bells or cascading water or the sweet sweet music without melody.
Or perhaps she didn't call out at all.
Perhaps it had been me.
O-O
"Yamato?"
"You haven't called all week! I was worried about you guys. Is everything ok?"
"No. I'm not coming back home."
"TK I don't understand. Why not? Did something happen?"
"Yeah. But I've already called Kari's parents."