Title: I'll be with you
Summary: A conversation under the stars between Ryo and another tamer while the rest are celebrating the defeat of the D-Reaper. Could be interpreted a friendship or light shounen ai.
Ryo leaned back staring up at the night sky. The stars seemed unusually bright tonight and he absentmindedly wondered if Monodromon was watching the stars too.
"Not going to join the festivities?" inquired a voice.
The brunette sighed and forced his trademark smile. "Just enjoying the peace and quiet of it finally being over."
There was silence and for a minute, Ryo thought his companion had left when someone sat down next to him.
"Is it?"
"Is it what?"
"Is it really over?"
He raised an eyebrow and gestured to the Makino house where everyone was currently celebrating. "Aren't they making the answer pretty clear?"
"I'm not asking them, I'm asking you."
Ryo sat up, dropping all pretences of everything being fine. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"
"You are chances are slim."
They both sat in silence for a moment until Ryo finally answered.
"When you triumph over something you've spent so much time working towards, it's the most wonderful feeling imaginable but…"
He raised his eyes to the moonlit sky.
"…then you realise that the battles you've won aren't over, that they may never be over…and the more impossible feats you accomplish, the more you suffer."
He waited. Waited for the shock and confusion and puzzled questions of his companion.
They never came.
"And the pedestal just becomes higher." It was a statement rather than a question.
"It just gets higher," echoed the brunette emptily.
Ryo knew he should have stopped. He'd revealed too much already but it was too late, the mask was cracking. The walls that had so vigilantly held back all his pain and frustration and anger at the rest of the world came crashing down.
"Why me! I never wanted this! Why should I have to sacrifice my friends, my memories, everything important to me! I don't want to be a hero!"
He placed his head in his hands and continued.
"I just want a chance to decide for myself. To not be manipulated or forced into this mould of being the perfect warrior for the digital world."
He clenched his fists, voice lowered to a whisper. "I don't want to walk alone anymore."
"It's okay." A hand covered his, gripping it gently. "It's enough."
Glancing down he stared at the hand grasping his. It was rough and calloused from numerous previous battles, years of training. Ryo smiled. 'Just like mine.'
"We'll walk with you. We're all on the same path now."
"Sooner or later we'll come to a crossroads and I don't think you'll be able to follow me when that time comes."
"We will." Underneath the sureness there was a tremor of uncertainty.
"You won't." Why would they even want to?
"…I will." This statement held no doubt.
Ryo said nothing.
"I'll definitely be right beside you."
The Japanese boy turned, facing his companion for the first time that night. The person sitting opposite was so different from him but so alike at the same time. His eyes met those of the younger one; saw the turmoil of emotions in those depths. Had the other's eyes always been like that? So void of the childlikeness they should have possessed? The innocence he glimpsed in the rest of the tamers. He vaguely wondered when the younger tamer's eyes had lost that light. Was it during the battle with the D-Reaper or had that light disappeared long before the Digimon arrived?
Replacing it was a burning desire to be strong; the natural instinct to survive; the will to protect. 'To protect me…?'
"Why?"
The other smiled. "Cute."
The brunette blinked. "What?"
"You can't tell from the way your always smiling but inside you're actually so full of uncertainties. It's cute."
The older boy flushed and looked away. He had never been called that before. It was a little unsettling not knowing how to respond. "You haven't answered my question."
"You never gave me a straight answer either." His comrade pointed out.
The older tamer opened his mouth to say something but the other put up a hand silencing him. "It's okay. Those questions don't need to be answered tonight. Besides…"
Ryo watched the younger tilt his face up against the wind.
"…if this really doesn't last then we need to cherish the moments of freedom we have now. We don't know when we'll get another chance like this."
The brunette allowed himself to be pulled up and towards the Makino house.
"So even if it's just for tonight, let yourself be happy."
Ryo's lips tugged into a smile and once again his eyes meet those of his friend, those brilliant silver-grey eyes of the one who looked at him and saw the person everyone else ignored in favour of the legend; the real Ryo.
'Thank you, Jenrya.'
Atsuki: Yay! Finally I do a light shounen ai/friendship fic! This is a thank you to whoever nominated me for the Writer of the Year Awards. I might submit this one or 'You are Mine' for judging but what do you guys think?
Ryo: That you should hurry up and update your other fics?
Atsuki: Oh yeah…oops…