It's been a while, hmm? Well, I'm not surprised if someone thought I had hung up myself. All I can offer is "sorry" and a story to make up for it. Can't remember what inspired me to write this one. Oh well, who cares?
Koromon's disclaimer: Digimon doesn't belong to Red. No matter how much can be paid. That sucks...
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Someone said life is a journey
Someone said life is a journey. We're traveling through time…
But that someone never said… where this journey has started., nor when this journey would end.
Would it?
Would it ever?
Journey of a Life by Redvind
The golden ray of sunset shone through the windowpanes, and also over the sleeping still figure sitting on a windowsill, almost blended him to the shadow of the very quiet local library. Everyone would have missed him if they walked pass him now and the boy wouldn't even stir at their presences. However it's time to close the door and everybody had to go home, so a librarian woman walked over to him as she remembered seeing the brunet taking some big, heavy books to read over there. She gently shook his arm.
"Taichi kun, wake up. It's time to go." The woman said.
The brunet didn't instantly wake up at the call. Apparently, he tardily opened his eyelids, looking drowsy and somewhat confused about where he was. Taichi blinked once, then yawned, stretching himself to alert his body. Large brown eyes sleepily caught a sight of the old librarian who politely covered her mouth to hide a giggle. When the woman looked back at him, he grinned sheepishly, still in the sleepy state.
"Gomen na, Ayu chan."
Ayu chuckled a little more. She was a close friend of his mother and had known her kids since they were born. She was very fond of them and told them not to respect her with 'san', so the Yagami children settled for calling her Ayu chan. "It's quite alright. You just followed the library's rules. You didn't make any noise at all."
The brunet gave her a lightly small laugh before he swung his legs on the floor. They were wobbly for a moment he stood. The old woman eyed him worriedly.
"You alright?"
He waved it off, smiling. "Just still sleepy. I'm fine." He was about to gather books on the nearest table to place them back where they belonged, but Ayu stopped him.
"I'll do it. Just go home and get more rest. You really look like you need it."
Taichi didn't argue. He smiled thankfully at her and nodded his farewell. Ayu watched him until his back was finally out of sight. She then turned to look at the boy's choice of books, smiled sadly, shaking her head a little before took them back to medical section.
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He opened his eyes, only to see the darkness like when his eyelids were closed. For a moment he was confused whether he was awake or asleep until a bright gleam lightened up in front of him. With a curious mind, he walked to it, determined to find out what's beyond the light.
As he put the first step through it, he was hit by a strong sharp of wind, blowing so hard that he had to cover his eyes for a moment. When everything stilled again, he slowly, carefully re-opened them. And surprise caught him off guard.
The sky was clear blue, decorating with a group of white shiny cloud every here and there. The sight before him was wide and enormous. The air smelled like fresh grasses mixed with new dry hay after the rain in the morning. The brunet was standing on an earthy road, greenish meadows on its each side as far as one's eyes could see--or maybe more than the eyes could see—and nothing else, no houses, no building, on big trees, no crowd, no animals, no nothing. It was a simple road that led from no where to nowhere. He couldn't see where it started, nor could he see the end.
It's like being in another world.
Apart from the clear surrounding, there's no sign of life beings. Looked like he was alone.
What a strange place to stay. Not that he was freaked out or any thing, but Taichi, making up his mind, kept walking.
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The brunet opened his eyes as the sun ray got through the curtain, warming his room. He slowly sat up, thinking over what his dream was about. He remembered most of it, except the part how he got there…was there any reason? It was just a dream after all. A far too normal dream, but surprisingly familiar.
The brunet turned to look at the clock. The digital device showed the number 6:33. The usual time he got up for morning soccer practice before school. The hobby that he must give up. Now there was nothing to do and he was unable to go back to sleep again. He sighed tiredly, somehow missing how vast the dream was.
There was a nock on the door and his mother's voice followed. "Taichi, are you already up? Breakfast is ready."
Even his breath steadily, Taichi closed, then reopened his eyes before he got out of the bed and did the morning routine. He was half way to finish his food, Japanese style—rice, mizo soup, egg and grilled fish—this morning, when Hikari walked out of her room, still in her pajamas.
"Ohayo, Hikari."
"Ohayo, onii-chan." She walked sleepily to her chair and sat down. "Don't you have soccer practice?"
Hikari tried to blink sleep away, and even slapped both cheeks, still not fully awake yet—her upper body swaying slowly and her eyelids were really low. Taichi felt amused.
"I don't. And if you would like to walk to school together, you have, like…" he checked his watch. "…45 minutes left."
"Oh…" Hikari was likely to accept that and almost fell back asleep again, but her eyes were fully wide the next second. Her body sprang up straight and already practically ran back to the bathroom. "Give me a moment. I'll be ready!"
Taichi stared at his sister's rushing back in awe, then tried to suppress his chuckle. He understood why his sister was eager to get ready. It had been a long time ago since they last walked to school together due to his early soccer practice. He was glad, too.
Hikari's moment delayed to be 40 minutes. By the time she was ready, Taichi was watching news on TV. She beamed sheepishly at him, silently apologized for the time she took. He smiled, accepting it. Together, they began to go.
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It was quite strange.
The view didn't change. No matter how much he walked, how long he took.
But he kept walking. He didn't feel tired like he should, so he kept going. There's nothing else he could do.
The screen seemed forever, the big rock over here, the tree over there. Sometimes the road was rough, holes and gaps everywhere, then smooth again. He didn't know why. It just was. He walked pass them all.
The sun was shiny bright most of the time. Like the road, there's when it looked like going to rain, raining, a few times a storm coming. With no shelters, he was blown away, sometimes not, but every time he would be back on the road, and kept walking for more.
Only this time, after a big storm had gone, he noticed a figure sitting in front of the wide, blue-sky lake. The figure was almost swallowed by sparkling light reflecting the sun from the lake. It could be mistaken and unnoticed.
But it was there.
Waiting.
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"Yagami!"
He opened his eyes as he heard someone calling. Looking up, he saw a slightly angry math teacher, Ikuto sensei, scolding at him. Nearby, his friend from soccer club was gesturing apologetically, thinking it's his fault the teacher had caught him. He waved back at his friend.
"Aren't you a brave young man, Yagami? Are you planning to sleep through my lesson?"
Sleepily, he shook his head. This could be a sign as no, he wasn't planning to, but from what it seemed it was like he simply shook himself from sleep. Ikuto sensei tapped his foot impatiently.
"Well, maybe solving a question on the blackboard will wake you better, then."
The boy nodded, standing up. He walked to the front of class unsteadily, not fully awake. When he reached the blackboard, he stared, examining the question.
Maybe he did a bit too long because the class started to giggle, thinking he couldn't figure it out. Ikuto sensei, especially, was about to call him back. Then, to their surprise, Taichi began to write the answer, from the top to the bottom, taking half of the empty space of the blackboard.
"Correct." The teacher said, a bit irrigated and surprised at the same time.
Taking his word as a permission to go to his seat, Taichi walked back. Ikuto sensei waited until he sat down and smacked the brown head slightly with his book.
"Come to see me at the teacher office after class dismissed."
It wasn't long after that. Then, there he was, more awake, standing before Ikuma sensei at his desk in the office.
"That was the third times you slept in my class, Yagami. Usually you'd just space out of the window, but recently you've slept in almost every class. " Ikuto sensei paused, watching his reaction. "What's wrong?"
The teacher was worried about him. The brunet scratched his cheek sheepishly.
"Nothing's wrong, sensei. I've just finished my homework late than usual."
"Really?"
"Hai."
Ikuto sensei nodded, smiling, accepting the answer. "Well, be more careful. Don't exhaust yourself."
"Sure thing, sensei." He took that as a clue to leave. "See you later."
Ikuto was about to begin grading when another teacher walked to him. "Isn't that Yagami kun?"
"Yes. I wanted to have a talk with him because he's slept in my class lately."
"Oh, now that you mention it," she said. "He slept in my class, too."
Ikuma was surprised. "Yours, too?"
"Well, not only mine. I've heard other teachers saying Yagami kun slept in their classes a lot as well."
"Maybe something's really wrong with him. But…what is it?" Ikuto wondered aloud. Another teacher just shook her head, looking helpless.
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It was a boy. Even with beautiful, long silver hair, he still could be recognized as a teenage boy, not yet fully grown, because of his muscular body. He looked like something sent from above. Precious. Great. Beautiful.
Happy to finally find some living thing, he walked closer to the elegant figure.
Sensing his existence, the boy turned around. And Taichi halted at his step.
He looked….familiar.
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Loud noises were around him, but he couldn't tell what they were about, like it was coming from a distant away, so far.
Someone shook him.
"Taichi sempai, wake up! The movie is about to start."
He felt himself stirred.
Daisuke was bending over him, grinning. Taichi, rubbing sleep from his eyes, sat up on the sofa he's laying and looked around. Everyone else was preempting a seat in front of the television, Yamato, Sora, Miyako and Iori bringing snacks and drinks, placing them in the middle of their circle.
"Good morning, Taichi." Sora teased him cheerfully. He simply blinked in respond. The others laughed.
"High school life finally got you, hmm, Taichi?" Jyou joked through his smile.
He shrugged, but also gave a little smile back. "Yeah. You know, being a second year high school student isn't fun. Being the third year student is worse, right?"
The older boy laughed more. "You're right."
"Are you that tired? I haven't seen you running around the soccer field for ages." Yamato stated, tossing a can of soda at his best friend direction.
The brunet caught it with ease, but the can slipped when he tried to open it. It rolled around and stopped at Ken's feet. The younger boy picked it up and gave it back to him with an amused smile.
"Here you go, Taichi san. Aren't you awake yet?"
"Obviously not." Taichi gave him a small sheepish grin, accepting the can. He tried to pick the ring again, once, twice, third…and seemed to fail.
"Well, maybe it would be wise if you leave it for a while. You wouldn't want it to blow up on you, I presumed?" Koushirou said.
Taichi nodded and followed the advice, leaving the can on the floor at his feet.
"Oh, hush! The movie is about to start!" Mimi scolded, shifting to make room for Miyako to sit in the front row. It's an action movie, nothing of their taste, but the girls wanted to watch because of the handsome lead actor. And who were they to disagree?
The room became dark, except the light from television. And everything was quiet, minus the talking from the scene. Every eye was glued to the exciting story that no one paid attention to anybody else, and sometimes even to drinks and snack. Almost two hours passed, then the ending was rolling. Hikari walked over the switch and turned on the light. Everybody started making noise immediately.
All, but one.
"The movie was great, wasn't it?"
"And the music is quite good, too."
"Full of action and mysterious suspense liven up the whole thing. It seems the director did his best."
"He's so handsome."
"See how he dodges the bomb and the bullets?! So cool!!"
"It's just a movie, Daisuke."
"So what? He's still cool!" the boy stuck his tongue out, then turned to the last one who had yet to make sound. "So, which scene do you like best, Taichi sampai? Sampai?"
He received only soft breath in steady pattern as an answer.
Taichi was already back to his dreamland, fast asleep.
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"Err…hello?"
Taichi wasn't sure why, but he suddenly felt nervous. Probably because of those aquamarine pair of eyes staring back at him. The figure smiled kindly.
"Hello."
"Err…"
"Why don't you come and sit down? You're not in a hurry, right?" he invited, mentioning the space beside him.
"…right…"
So they sat, next to each other, in complete silence. Taichi was unsure of what to do next, the boy seemingly not up to any conversation, so he followed the example, enjoying the view as his company did.
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"Wake up you great baka!!"
That was the only warning before a hard smack landed on his brown head. Taichi confusedly raised his head from his nest of arms on the table belonged to the Ishida family. Angry blue eyes greeted him.
"How dare you fell asleep when we're trying to work our asses? Final exams are coming in two weeks and as far as I know you've not studied anything. Are you planning to fall or something?"
Right. So they agreed to come over Ishida house to have a group study. Sora, Koushirou and Jyou looked at him, half amused, half concerned. Taichi smiled sheepishly, drowsily.
Yamato looked ready to smack him again. Taichi acted on instinct, covering his head in a blink of eye, just in case. Sora and Jyou had to hold the blond back.
"You seem to sleep a lot these days, Taichi san." Koushirou handed him a glass of water.
He gulped down in a single stretch. "Maybe. I've been having this strange dream for a while. I was walking down some place I'd never been to. It's a long road journey."
"Sound interesting." Said Sora.
"Was there anything on the road, then?" asked Jyou.
"Umm…a little hole every now and then…rocks and trees…and…nothing else?"
Jyou blinked. "No lives?"
"…don't remember seeing any…well, it's not like you always remember your dream clearly when you wake up."
"That's right. Still, yours sounds a little weird…and almost creepy."
"…not really…oh, wait! I remember now. I met someone! Don't know who. Maybe I can ask…"
"You're going to ask a name of the character in your dream?" now was Sora's turn to blink.
"You probably come up with something yourself. The brain still functions even though the owner is sleeping. That's how it works." Stated Koushirou.
"Are we," Yamato started, eyes murderous, voice icy. "going to discuss Taichi's dream as if it's going to appear on the paper test, or are we going to back to the real thing as we agreed before I provided you the food service?"
Everybody shut up. They all already buried their noses in the books.
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It had been a while. He was getting so comfortable that he would fall asleep at any moment. His head started nodding off. That's when a low chuckle came.
Taichi snapped his head up, watching the other smile at him with amusement. He couldn't help grinning sheepishly back.
"…ee, sorry. I was just…"
"It's alright. Don't worry about it. I did fall asleep myself so many times."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
They just smiled at each other. Until Taichi realized that he didn't know his company's name.
"…eer, sorry, this might be a bit rude of me, but I don't know your name. I'm Taichi, by the way."
For only a blink of moment he saw something that could pass off as sadness flash in those green eyes before it was completely gone. Only the smile remained.
"Riku. I'm Riku."
"…Riku…"
Even his name sounded familiar.
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"Okay, guys! We're leaving. Are you ready?"
A strange struggling noise echoed in the hallway, followed by a thud and the sound of someone dragging a pretty heavy thing along the floor. Yagami Yuuko pushed a luggage in front of her.
"I guess so. Where's Hikari?"
"I'm right here." her daughter answered, carrying her much smaller traveling bag. "All set."
Nodding his approval, Susumu turned to his son. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Taichi?"
He received a small grin in return.
"I wanted to, dad. Maybe next time. When there's no exam wait for me."
His mom looked worried. "Maybe I should stay home with you…"
"No, no, mom, it's okay." Taichi shook his head. "I'm almost eighteen. I'll be fine by myself. Don't worry. Besides it's been a long time since you last visited grandma. She'd been dying to see you and Hikari, hasn't she?"
Finally, she nodded. "Oh, well, take care then."
"Yeah, do your best with your exam." Susumu added.
Hikari smiled at him. "I'll bring back lots of sweet for you."
"You do that." He grinned, rubbing her hair gently.
"See you, Taichi."
"Yeah, see you."
The door shut close. Taichi went back to his room, ready to back asleep.
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Taichi had given up on counting clouds long ago. It was a nice way to relax, but not for his taste. Riku seemed to be in his 'silent' mode and didn't say more word. The brunet wondered if anything was going to happen. He hoped. He was bored to death.
A sound of movement caught his ears. Taichi turned to fully look in the direction. A man was coming their way and gone. He didn't even look at them, as if they were invisible…
"Who's he?"
"Just someone."
Taichi was startled. He didn't expect Riku to answer. He turned to him, confused.
"Why is he here? Why I didn't see him before? Scratch that, why isn't anyone here?"
"Because it's his time. Because he has crossed your line. Because they have yet to come here. Everybody will."
Taichi didn't think he understood the explanation Riku provided. It could mean anything or nothing at all.
Ignoring the trouble look on his face, Riku continued. "Even now and before there are many people coming and going. They all follow their own line. You don't see them because their lines don't cross yours. Nothing to worry about."
Riku ended his speech with a pat on his brown head. For a moment he felt like a kid. But it's not that he didn't like it. Somehow, he even waited for it. He knew Riku would pat his head. He just knew.
"What is this place? I first thought it's my dream. But it keeps continuing where it left off…I don't know. It's strange."
Riku's hand didn't stop. "This is your dream. Or kind of."
The brunet frowned. "If this is my dream, what are you doing here?"
Riku smiled.
"I'm waiting."
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Sky roared loudly outside. Then thunder struck hard. Even someone sleeping was awoken with the noise.
Except the dead.
And Taichi.
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"Waiting?"
"Yes."
"For what?"
Riku paused for a minute, staring at him in the eyes all the time, before finally spoke. "For someone."
"Oh," the Taichi stopped to think, finding the right words to say. Riku said that the other guy had come here because he had crossed his line…did it mean…
"In order to meet someone, you have to cross their line…or he or she has to cross you line, is that right?"
The silver-haired man nodded.
"…is that someone you're waiting….has crossed my line? That's why you're here?"
Bemused, Riku nodded. "Partially."
"That's strange. I don't know who you're waiting. Why did they cross my line? Why not yours? That's way you two will meet a lot faster."
"I agree with you here."
Then in a sudden the scene started to change. Instead of the clear blue sky, the sun began to set. The dark is growing and the wind blowing a bit harder. All startled Taichi.
"Wha…what's wrong."
"It's time." As strange as it seemed, Riku managed to keep his calm. He talked in steady voice as if nothing was matter.
"…time," Taichi said, almost tremblingly. "For what?"
Turning to fully stare at the other, Riku kept his straight face, voice barely above a whisper. "To go."
Brown eyes widened.
"Onii chan, we're home!"
He saw the darken sun, the brighten moon and vivid stars.
"Onii chan, wake up! See, I've brought you many sweets!"
He felt the earth shake lightly, the wind blow gently.
"Onii chan? Onii chan!"
Heard the water running.
"Mom! Dad! Something's wrong! Onii chan, onii chan!"
His body heated up.
"What's up, Hikari? Taichi? Taichi! Wake up!"
A hand stretched out to him.
"Call an ambulance! Now! Hurry up!"
"Onii chan, wake up!"
He saw a dream. Two boys. Running. Playing. Heard them laughing.
Always together.
"You'll be fine, son. Hang on!"
He smelled smoke. Heard a cry. Something wet sliding down his face. Pain. Pain everywhere.
A boy was standing before him.
"Riku…"
Riku smiled gently. And at that sight, the pain's gone. His body felt light…and warm.
Riku's here.
"Let's go."
Taichi took his hand.
At the instant touch, the world suddenly become normal again, the sun back, shy clear, light wind, long road.
But this time, there was something at the end.
Riku tugged his hand, the smile still there.
"Come on."
He smiled back.
"Sure. As long as I'm with you, Riku."
They began to walk, laughing, talking. Nothing could stop them now.
"Onii chan!!"
The wind sharply howled, halting his step. Taichi looked back at the road he passed.
Nothing was there.
"What's wrong?"
Puzzled, Taichi mumbled. "Just thought I heard something. Probably imaged it."
Riku didn't say anything. He simply waited until the brown haired company turned back to him, a smile appeared. Only with tears falling on his cheeks without his notice. Riku wiped them off with his finger.
"It's alright."
Taichi nodded. And together they began to walk toward the end.
Fin
Red: Well, probably because I suddenly took interest in Kinfdom Hearts because of the resemble between Taichi and Sora...I wanted to have Riku in my story...Still, I can't say this is a crossover since Riku can be just anybody else...anyway, it took me more than 3 years to finish this.
Koromon: I'm proud of you!
Red: Ha! I'm proud of myself, too!