Disclaimer:
I don't own Digimon, nor do I own Jyou, Yamato, or… hell, you know the
drill. Suing me wouldn't do you much
good (as I own very little of actual value), so I wouldn't bother…
Author's Note: This fits in with "A Friendly Push",
just a little prequel fic I wrote after pondering something Rae-chan mentioned
in an email. You do not have to read
one to understand the other, although it might help.
The relationship between Jyou and Yamato was written
as friendship, but you may interpret it however you like (the same applies to
"A Friendly Push").
Many thanks to: Musouka, Rachel Lynn, and
Shimmercat, who were all kind enough to read this for me and give me their
honest opinions; Everyone at the Jyoriplus ML, who have put up with my
randomness and supported my humble endeavors into the vast world of fanfiction;
and S1ncer1ty, to whom I have to give full-credit for the title. You all are the best.
Comments, Criticisms, and Flames welcome.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ambition's Price
By Rahn Starsnake
"Yama, I don't think I can do this…."
"Jyou, we've been over this. Do you really want to spend the rest of your
life as a doctor?"
"Well, no…"
"Then you have to face your father and tell him
that. I know it's hard, but you can do
it. You've explained it to me at least
a dozen times, this'll be a snap, right?"
"Well…"
"C'mon, Jyou, have a little faith in yourself! You know this is the right thing to do…."
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Yama, I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Well, you know I'll always be there for you. Good luck, Jyou. Not that you'll need it."
"Yeah, right.
Talk to you later."
"Bye."
Click.
* * * * *
A man sat behind a desk in a
darkened study. He was an older man, in
his late fifties; wire-rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, his
dark hair graying at the temples. The
only source of illumination in the room as he worked was an antique green-glass
desk lamp. In the shadows stood tall
bookshelves neatly lined with texts of varying sizes and origins. Behind him hung several frames, their
contents obscured by shadows and the reflection of light on glass. A soft knock
on the door pulled him, momentarily, from his thoughts. He waved his hand distractedly and muttered
a quick "Enter" at the unwelcome interruption standing on the other side of the
door.
The door opened quietly and clicked shut. A young man, perhaps in his early twenties,
entered the room cautiously. He was
slender and tall, and moved with a quiet dignity, waiting patiently for the
older man to acknowledge his presence.
Without looking up from his work, the older man started, "Koishii1, if you have a moment, could you
please—" he gathered a few papers and looked up, surprise touching his features
briefly. "…Jyou. Good evening."
"Good evening, father," the young man replied
respectfully. "If you're not too busy,
there is something I wish to discuss with you." The older man gestured toward one of the chairs in front of the
mahogany desk, and Jyou took a seat, his perfect posture the only visible sign
of his nervousness at confronting his father.
"What is it you wish to discuss, Jyou?" The young
man averted his eyes and self-consciously adjusting his glasses. For a long moment he said nothing. His father was about to remind him that he
had important work to be doing when Jyou leaned forward and looked into the
older man's dark eyes.
"I…" he paused, taking a deep breath and choosing
his words carefully, "I wanted to inform you that I have decided to change my
major. The admissions office is
processing the request as we speak. I
am discontinuing my medical training and, beginning next fall, becoming an
Astronomy major."
Jyou's gaze was steady and, after the initial pause,
his voice never wavered once. Briefly, the older man wondered at Jyou's
composure. Who was this self-confident
young man sitting before him and what had happened to his shy, awkward little
boy? He didn't think it possible that
he had missed that much of his son's life.
"You no longer desire to be a doctor, Jyou?" his
father asked, feigning slight boredom.
Jyou didn't seriously expect him to believe….
"No, father, I 'no longer desire to be a
doctor'." There was a faint hint of
mockery in his son's tone, but he dismissed it. He didn't raise his children to be disrespectful, especially not
to their elders.
"Jyou, this is ridiculous. You've always wanted to be a doctor, ever since you were a little
boy. You've come so far; you can't wish
to stop now. And you're doing so well
in your cla—"
"No, father, you're wrong." The older man's eyes flashed, but his
features remained calm. Nothing
worthwhile was ever achieved by becoming angry. "I haven't always
wanted to be a doctor, you have
always wanted me to be a doctor. And
Shin before me, and Shuu before him.
That's been your dream for all of us, and if we've talked of nothing
else, it was simply because we were afraid to disappoint you.
"And, yes, I am doing well in my classes, but you
wouldn't permit anything else from me.
To keep my grades up to 'acceptable levels' as you once said, I have to
spend every spare moment I have studying.
There are days when I hardly eat and times when I go weeks without more
than one or two hours of sleep a night, just to prepare fo—"
"That's enough."
His father's quiet voice was rich with suppressed anger. "What gives you the right to come to me and
tell me these things? Have you no
respect? After I have been gracious
enough to offer you every opportunity, to pay for you to attend the finest
institutions, you want to come to me and, not ask but tell me that you want to throw it all away to become—what?—an
astronomer?" His voice never rose above
conversational, but his words had a bite to them.
"Yes, that is what I'm telling you. I know that Astronomy is not as prestigious
as Medicine, but for the first time I'll be devoting my life to my dreams, instead of those you have
forced upon me."
"You'll never making it without my help, Jyou." He was furious with his son's audacity and
finding it difficult to keep his anger in check. "And if you continue with this foolishness, you'll get nothing
from me. I'm not going to support a son
who wants to spend the rest of his life stargazing."
"Father, don't you realize that I could never be a
doctor that you would be proud of? I
can hardly look at a dead insect without becoming nauseous, to say nothing of a
cadaver. Organic Chemistry is my worst
subject, followed closely by Microbiology and Anatomy. I just have no interest in any of it. And if there's one thing I have learned in Pre-med, you have to want to become a doctor or you never
survive the training.
"As for your support, I had already assumed that you
were no longer going to be funding my schooling. I am going to be attending college part-time and I have lined up
a paid internship at Nobeyama Observatory.
I no longer need your help."
These last words were the final straw. The older man stood forcefully, his last
shred of control gone. "You think that
you don't want to become a doctor.
Instead, you want to waste your life and your potential gaping at the
sky like a Neanderthal?" He heard his
voice rising in intensity, but at that point there was very little he could do
to curb his fury. "Because of a few
petty, childish reason, you wish to
completely destroy any chance you have at a future? And you don't think you need my help? You're wrong, Jyou. You
do need my help, but that option is no longer available to you. You are to pack up your possessions and
leave my house. Go off to your Observatory,
but don't expect me to take you back when you realize the pure foolishness of
this plan. As far as I am concerned,
you are no longer my son!"
He was expecting the young man before him to give
in. He was expecting his son to hang
his head, admit that he was wrong and beg him to reconsider. He was expecting Jyou to do anything but nod
in agreement and extend his hand across the desktop. His business instincts taking over he returned the gesture,
finding his son's grasp firm. Jyou
shook his hand just once.
"I won't say it was a pleasure, because that would
be untrue. I only hope that you don't
come to regret your hasty decision."
With those quiet words Jyou released his hand and walked from the
room. The door clicked shut and the
older man felt the anger drain from his body.
Suddenly exhausted, he sat back in his chair, removing his glasses and
rubbing his tired eyes.
Three sons.
Three sons and not one to follow in his footsteps. He had worked his entire life to guarantee
them the comfortable existence he had never had as a child. He had given them every possible opportunity
for success and they had each come to him and spit his generosity back in his
face. He only wanted what was best for
them; didn't they understand that? They
each had so much potential, so much going for them, and they all just threw it
away. Returning his glasses to his
face, he picked up his pen and returned his attention to the work in front of
him. They were no longer his
concern.
~owari~
