Roses and Thorns

Chapter 1: I need a bride!

Twenty four year old Yamato Ishida awoke and lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. He was still very dizzy from last night. He sat up slowly and ran his hand through his blonde hair. Last night…. It had been one of those many nights but yesterday it had been terrible….. She was not coming back now…. It was all coming back now flooding his memory

"You don't trust me, right?"

"She was here….."

"She had just come to leave a file which I had left."

"And drank coffee."

"As a guest….. She's a friend and nothing more."

"Do you think that I'm blind?"

"Well, then we should seriously break up. If we cannot have trust in our relationship then there is no point of having one."

"Well then bye Yamato"

And with that the girl of his dreams banged the door of my Washington apartment and left.

"Mimi…" Yamato murmured.

They had had many fights regarding this girl who worked with him. Yamato had never loved that girl. He had always loved Mimi. That girl, Clara was just a friend. But Mimi had never liked Clara and was always suspicious that there was something up between Clara and him. And last night it all went one step ahead and they broke up… for good.

Yamato got out of bed and slowly made his way towards the kitchen and began making coffee for himself. He wanted to forget Mimi. He had cried himself to sleep the last night. It could not go on like this. He had been thinking about this and he had come up with a solution….. one that he would not have in the wildest of his dreams thought he would like to try for.

He picked up his coffee and reached for his phone and dialed a number.

"Hello"
"Takeru…"

"Hey Yamato you seem so tired. I can barely recognize your voice."

"Mimi and I had a fight."

"So, what is so serious about that you guys have fights every once in a week. You will make up by tomorrow I'm sure."

"No Takeru. This time it was a really big one and I told her that it is over and it really is over."

"But you loved her since we were in the Digital World. You just can't give up on her like this."

"She was becoming too suspicious and I…. I was just becoming uncomfortable with her."

"Oh!"

"Listen Takeru I have decided something."

"Uh…huh" All sorts of bad thoughts came to Takeru's mind. What was his brother planning to do?

"I need to forget Mimi.. completely. I want it to be like she was never with me."

"Forget a ten year old relationship?"

"Yeah. I want to forget it like a bad dream." Yamato took a deep breath before saying it. "So I want to get married Takeru."

"WHAT!" Takeru almost fell off his chair.

"Arranged…."

"WHAT!" Now Takeru was really off the chair.

"Are you over with the whats bro?"

"But Yamato! OK even if you want to get married why arranged? You can get any girl that you want."

"But I have realized my taste is not that good."

"You only tried Mimi."

"Sora too"

"Well but…"

"Stop the buts… you go to Japan today to Mom and Dad. Get me a girl and I marry her."

"But what if it doesn't work out."

"We'll see about later later"

"You are being too hasty Yamato. It sounds real dumb to me that a girl dumps you and you want to get into arranged marriage."

"Shut Up! Now go get the ticket and be off."

Takeru sighed and the receiver back. A lot had happened in the past ten years. He went to the window of his apartment in London and looked out. All of the Digidestined had gone their own separate ways. Nobody even knew what happened to each other. He was just in touch with Yamato because he was his brother and all through this Mimi and Yamato had managed to get their relationship going but they were breaking up and what more… there was this absurd decision of his brother. What was going on in his mind to have come up with something so ridiculous? How could he just forget Mimi?

Takeru had not been able to forget the girl he loved even though he had not even talked or mailed her for more than five years. Ever since he moved to London. Takeru sighed and picked up the phone again. "Hello. Yeah I need a ticket to Tokyo as early as possible."

2 Days later;

Takeru shuffled uncomfortably in the back seat of his father's car. What had he gotten himself into? His mother was going on ranting about how she had never expected Yamato to do this and he was not that kind of guy and she was so happy that he found them capable enough to take such a big decision of his life and…blah blah blah.

The car stopped in front of a white bungalow. They got out and for a moment Takeru had an uncontrollable urge to jump back into the car and be off. They rang the doorbell. After sometime it was opened by a brown haired woman and Takeru's blue eyes widened on seeing who it was.

"Mrs. Yagami?"

"Yuuko?" His mother said.

"Nancy!"

"Oh! God it has been ages come in"

"So it was Hikari Yagami who we were talking about."

"And it was Yamato Ishida."

Takeru stared at them and slowly made his way inside. This could not be happening.

"Sit down Takeru, are you just going to stand there and gaze into space" Mrs. Yagami said.

"I want to meet Hikari…" He blurted out. Just like that! He just said that.

Mrs. Yagami's gaze suddenly turned icy cold but she maintained her cool and said "Oh! Yes you were her….. very good friend, right?"

Takeru was slightly bewildered. What was wrong with her. The words good friend she said as if she would kill him for being it. The only thing was he had not been just a good friend…..

"She is in her room. First floor, first room to the right."

Takeru nodded and moved upstairs. He realized he was sweating badly. Hikari….. She was the one whom he had loved and she was the one whom he had never been able to forget. And she was also the one with whom he had lost all touch…..

He was outside her room now. Slowly, as if it took all the energy in him to do it, he opened the door. And then he saw her as she turned from the window to face him.

She was still the same. Just the same as she had been when they were sixteen and when he left her. Just as beautiful. The same brown hair which were still the same length. The brown hair with which he had so often played with, though the clip holding them was missing and they were falling over her eyes. Their eyes met and oh! Her eyes. The same eyes into which he had often got lost with their many colors but underneath which there were dark circles now because of crying. And finally she spoke in her wind chime like voice.

"Ta..Takeru?"

Her voice seemed unusually hoarse. She had been crying for sometime.

"Hikari" He said as he closed the door behind him.

And before he knew what was happening Hikari rushed forward and clutched him into a breathtaking hug.

"Takeru" she said when she left him. How did you come here?"

"Yamato wants to get into arranged marriage and well….."

"Oh!" Her sad face suddenly seemed a little happier.

Takeru ignored it and said "So, how come you got into arranged marriage? You were never that kind of girl."

Hikari's face seemed to grow sad once more. "My parents are forcing me into this."

"What?" Takeru said. "But why?"

"Well, you see Takeru after left I started growing more and more lonely because it seemed you did not want to keep in touch."

These words stabbed Takeru in the heart. He had always wanted to keep in touch with her but circumstances had prevented him.

"Then, I started dating again."

Again it hurt to hear that, all these years he had not even looked at a girl and Hikari actually dated but still he could not blame her after what he did to her. She had every right to forget him.

"But I did not actually love anyone. I would changed boyfriends almost every month. And that is how I have been living the past few years. Then, I met this guy Corin. He seemed really nice and I started to actually love him but then one day he took me to this pub saying he was taking me to dinner and there drank too much and tried to….. kill me."

"KILL YOU!" Takeru was both scared and amazed.

"Yeah. It was with much difficulty that I escaped and managed to reach my apartment. I was in a terrible state when I got there and what do I see. Mom had chosen that day to pay me a visit and she saw my condition. And I was so panicked that I told her everything like an idiot! And after that there has been a ban on my seeing anymore guys and she forced me to live with her and Dad. It was all I could do to let me continue with work or they wanted me to stop that also. And now they have dragged me into all this." She sighed. "What about Yamato. He also did not seem this type."

Takeru told her everything about Mimi and Yamato.

"Oh! But now I'm happier. If I marry Yamato then at least it will be somebody I know and not any random guy."

Takeru quietly looked at her. Hikari did not even bother to ask why he had left her and gone or now that he was here consider him over his brother. He had been hoping that she would say that she missed him and wanted to marry him. But well he hoped too high! Probably because he owned the crest of hope. She had not asked where he had been and what he had been doing. She had acted as if he was any guy whom she was telling her troubles.

The conclusion was she did not love him anymore even though he loved her. But he could not blame her. Any girl would hate a boy who just left without any information…

So how was it?. Please do review. You know how much reviews matter if you write! And it is good to know that people are actually reading and your efforts are not going waste! My exams got over today only and after a nice nap I got over here. This idea has been moving in my mind since December. It is based on the Bollywood movie 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhann' (Translation My Brother's Bride)

And again do review!