Atsuki: Okay, I decided to write a few one-shots as a break before I start writing chapter 4 of 'You are Mine' and here's the first.
Title: Regrets
Pairing: Ryrya, Ryuki
Summary: A parting conversation filled with regrets and a last memory of pure happiness.
Disclaimer: - I don't own Digimon Tamers
Ryo shivered and clutched the coat closer to his body. Leaning on the railing he looked up at the night sky wondering if he wished really hard on one of those stars that this would all just be one bad dream. He closed his eyes. He wished. He opened his eyes. No, he was still here, he was still getting married tomorrow and still felt liking he was making the biggest mistake of his life.
'I don't want to do this. I really don't want to do this.'
"Pre-marriage jitters?"
Ryo knew that voice anywhere. He looked up to see a familiar bluenette standing only a few feet away from him. The moon's light bathed him in a soft glow making him look almost ethereal.
"How'd you guess?"
Jenrya smiled. "It's written all over your face."
Ryo returned the smile weakly and turned to stare out at the ocean. The younger boy walked forward until he was right beside the other tamer and followed his gaze to the crashing waves. They'd stayed like that for a few minutes, the silence actually quite comforting. Then Ryo spoke.
"That's how I feel. Like all my feelings are crashing around back and forth."
Jenrya said nothing.
"I know I had a crush on her when we were younger and I do love Ruki, she's like the headstrong kid sister I never had but marriage!"
Again, the bluenette was silent.
"Still, it was unexpected for her as it was for me and she was so scared. I had to take responsibility for my actions."
No comment was made.
"Ruki looked so happy when I proposed to her and her family was so excited. Everybody kept saying 'I knew he'd propose sooner or later' and 'You two are the perfect couple'. I felt like such a jerk."
"…"
"I hate this."
Ryo waited. The silence between the two had become unbearable.
"Say something, damn it!" yelled the brunette grabbing the other's shoulders and shaking him. Jenrya turned to look at him.
"Like what?"
Ryo was desperate. "I don't know, anything!"
"There's nothing to say…"
"What kind of comfort is that!"
"The kind of comfort you get when you're asking your ex and marrying the girl you cheated on him with!" replied Jenrya icily.
Then realising what he just said, his eyes widened in shock and he clapped a hand to his mouth. The older boy flinched and turned away. The bluenette went to apologize but Ryo cut him off.
"It's okay, I know I deserved that. It is the truth after all. I've been so caught in my own misery that I forgot I'm not the only victim here."
The younger tamer sighed and tried to smile. "You'll be a great dad and a wonderful husband. I know you'll make them both very happy."
The brunette smiled wryly. "And break your heart in the process."
Jenrya gently took the other's hand in his. "Come on."
As his angel led them over to a bench, Ryo looked down at their intertwined fingers. It felt so right. A deep sense of longing rose up in his chest as he realised these precious few moments he shared with his love tonight would probably be the last.
As they sat down, Jenrya noticed Ryo's grip tighten. "What's wrong?"
"It's all my fault; if I had just listened to you this never would have happened."
"That's not-"
"Yes it is! You were only looking out for me but I ignored you. You warned me not to go to that club and look what happened: I went, got completely drunk and ended up cheating on my boyfriend with one of my closest friends who I also got pregnant."
Jenrya slid his arms around the taller boy's frame. "You were both drunk and it wasn't you're fault. That club puts at least 5 times more alcohol than normal in their drinks. You didn't know."
"Because I didn't listen and I got Ruki pregnant!"
"If it hadn't been you, it would have been some other random guy and that would have been a lot worse."
Tears welled up in cobalt eyes. "I betrayed your trust, broke your heart and shattered your future. How can you even stand to look at me?"
Jenrya leant forward, kissing away his tears. "I love you."
Ryo suddenly reached out and held the younger boy close breathing in his unique scent and savouring the feeling of having him in his arms. Their bodies fitted together perfectly as if they were made just for each other.
"You know I thought this time, I'd actually get what I wanted. We'd become boyfriends, grow up, get married, maybe adopt some kids and spend the rest of our lives together."
It was the smaller one's turn to smile wryly. "But then fate decided to intervene."
"Fate sucks!"
Jenrya smiled and then suddenly remembering took something out of his pocket and handed it to the brunette. "You probably want this back."
It was the ring; the wedding band Ryo given to Jenrya on their first anniversary.
"This is a promise of my love for you. The day I put that ring on your finger will be the day I marry you."
He smiled at the memory and fingered his own matching ring, threaded on a silver chain just like Jenrya's. Taking that ring would be like severing the bond between them completely. He swallowed the lump in his throat.
"No, you keep it…so you won't forget about me."
The younger tamer chuckled. "Like that'll happen."
"Jenrya?"
"Yeah?"
"I know after tonight things will never be the same. You'll go off to America and I'll marry Ruki but…" he hesitated, "Just for tonight, can we pretend that nothing's changed?"
The half Chinese boy sighed. "Ryo-"
Ryo interrupted him. "Just for a little while. I just want to have this memory."
Jenrya's face softened and he nodded. He needed this too. Ryo shifted, lying down on the bench so he could stare up at the sky, his head in his angel's lap. The bluenette let his hands run through his love's hair, occasionally stroking his face and neck. Thoughts about marriage and America went completely out of their heads. All they focused on was now and each other. There was no guilt felt only contentment.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Those words were the only things that interrupted the peaceful silence that had settled over them. They stayed like that relishing this last moment, taking in this familiar warm feeling for the final time.
Hearing the clock strike midnight, they knew their time was up. Getting up, they walked side by side, neither uttering a word. When they reached the crossroads Ryo turned to him and spoke.
"Well I guess it's time for us to part our separate ways. I take it you won't be at the wedding?"
"No." Ruki had actually asked him, since her father was absence, if he would walk her down the aisle to which he politely refused saying his flight would be gone by then but wishing her his best. Jenrya smiled wryly at the irony. He was asked to give the bride away and no-one realised that he'd already given the groom away.
"I didn't think so."
Ryo smiled wistfully one last time before taking the younger boy's face in his hands and kissing him softly trying to convey all his love and longing in that one last kiss. Jenrya kissed back putting all his yearning feelings into the kiss. When they broke apart, the brunette stepped back.
"Someday I'll come back to you. I only hope it's not too late."
With those parting words, he turned and walked away; refusing to look back at the angel he was leaving behind. If he had, he would have seen the one solitary tear that managed to escape, slid slowly down Jenrya's cheek.
Atsuki: Wow…I never thought I'd actually write a fic where Ryo and Jenrya weren't together in the end.
Ryo: (sobs) My angel! Jen-chan!
Atsuki: Hmm…maybe I'll write a sequel; something like ten years on when they finally meet again. R&R and tell me what you think.
Ryo: JEN-CHAN!
