Hedo! ^-^ Thank you so much for the kind reviews!
To Terrie: Yes, I am kinda ignoring the puns they made on the 2nd season. Sorry if that was an inconvenience. And about the school days thing, Takato asks about the same thing and Ryo answers it for him in the previous chapter. ^^;; I'm sorry if it was really confusing...
On with the story! ^-^
~*~*~*~
Disclaimer: Anything you know or see that isn't mine, it isn't mine! So that means anything relating to Digimon isn't mine! So there! The only thing that's mine so far is my story! Don't copy! ^^;
NOTE: If the text appears in reallie weird symbols and everything (xX; I hate it when it does that), just right click, and then click "Encoding". A list should appear next to it, and click "Unicode." It should look better after that. ^^; If it doesn't, please tell me in the reviews, okaie? :D
~*~
(Review from last time)
Keisuke walked up slowly to the monitor, and reached out a hand to touch the screen. The screen glass had melted already as bluish-black ooze slowly dripped out of the monitor. At once when he placed his fingers on the so- called "screen," the dark blob poured out rapidly, enveloping him altogether in the bluish-black glop. Unearthly light of the same color of the goop streamed out of the apartment for only a few seconds, when all of it disappeared unexpectedly all together... the light, the blob, and Ryo's father.
~*~
Chapter 2
~*~
Juri fell to her knees. She clutched her heart as it throbbed unbearably like it had done two years ago. An uneasy feeling washed upon her as she slowly got up once more.
"Juri!" her stepmother exclaimed as she ran towards her. "Are you all right?" she asked, concerned as she gently helped Juri up.
"I'm fine," she replied with a smile. She still clutched the front of her baby blue shirt and had to lean on her stepmother for support. "I just had a slight shock. That's all."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Please don't tell Papa. I don't want to get him worried," she replied.
"If... that's what you want..." her stepmother said uneasily as she led Juri into her room.
"Thank you..." Juri replied with the same warm smile. But the smile soon faded when her stepmother was gone out of the room. She lay down on her bed and faced her digital clock, which just changed its number to 7:06.
'What was that...? So familiar... so horrid... so...' She shivered as she turned towards her window. The skyscrapers blinked as lights turned on and the city streets twinkled as the street lights came on. She gazed outside fondly at her hometown, and then turned her back on her window.
"Whatever it was... I get the feeling that something bad is going to keep on happening... something really bad..."
She fell asleep only a few moments later, forgetting everything in the morning about what happened last night...
~*~
Jenrya hummed as he fixed on his tie for his uniform. The morning sun streamed in from his window as it lightly reflected off of the mirror he was facing.
"Bleh, it's all crooked... but I guess it will do..." he said as he tugged as his collar. "But this is really uncomfortable..." he muttered as he loosened the tie once more.
"Where did they get the rule of junior high wearing uniforms...? Don't they know it can cause people to go insane?" he asked as he tugged at his collar again while reaching for his school bag. He checked his watch as he went out of his room.
"Better go wake Shuichon up..." he said as he went into her room.
A few minutes later he was preparing breakfast for himself and his sibling as she slowly came out of her room with her clothes all on the wrong places. Sock on her hands, jacket turned around, shirt inside-out, but at least she got her pants on correctly.
"Oh, Shuichon..." Jenrya said, exasperatedly as he came up to his half- asleep sister.
"Wha..." she murmured, sleepily as she vaguely saw her brotherly fix her clothing. She felt herself being picked up and placed onto a chair. She smelled food, and opened her eyes immediately when she smelled the scent of pancakes.
"Nii-chan! You made these?!" she exclaimed happily. Jenrya smiled and nodded as he watched his sister gobble down the treat he made for her. He sat down in his own seat and also ate his meal in a much more collected way than his sister. But then again... seven-year-olds will be seven-year- olds...
Soon... a yell was heard from outside the apartment.
"Lee! Where are you?" a familiar voice cried out.
"Ack!! Shuichon! Let's go!" he said hurriedly as he ate down the rest of his breakfast. Shuichon bit the last of hers in time before she was whisked away by her brother who ran out the apartment with her, his bag, and her pack.
"Got to go, Mom! Dad, you're going to be late too if you don't get out sooner or later! Well, see you!" he cried as he shut the door.
"Darn it... after I woke up early just for the first day of school, I end up being late again..." he muttered as he waited impatiently for the elevator to come. Shuichon didn't mind the time and stayed in her brother's arms as she licked her sticky hands contently.
"Jeez! What took you so long?" another familiar voice cried when Jenrya came out, panting, from his apartment. Four of his friends waited outside. Three being patient, one being very impatient.
"Sorry, guys..." he said.
"Shui!" little voices cried out from below him. He looked down in wonder and found his sister's friends, begging him to let Shuichon be with them. 'When did they ever get there...?'
"Koko! Datane!" Shuichon exclaimed happily as Jenrya placed her on the ground. After an exchange of 'hi's, Jenrya crouched to his sister's height to talk to her.
"Go to school with your friends carefully, okay, Shuichon?" he asked.
"Sure!" they chorused all together. He sweatdropped.
"Ehe... okay then. See you later."
"Bai bai, Nii-chan!"
Jenrya waved at the kids until another one of his friends spoke up dryly.
"You done yet, Lee?"
"Yeah," he said as he got up to join his friends.
"It's about time!" Hirokazu exclaimed. "What took you so long?" he repeated loudly.
"Ah... well... My sister and I were eating kinda slower than usual... So yeah," he replied while laughing nervously.
"Whatever, dude," Kazu said carelessly as he placed his hands on the back of his head. The girl next to him rolled her eyes.
"Would you stop being so thick-headed?" she drawled. "Seriously, you haven't changed a bit since I first met you."
A giggle was heard behind them. They all turned around and found Juri walking up to them. Somehow she looked cuter than usual today. Maybe it was because of her two pigtails or just her cute smile. Whatever the reason might be, Takato turned slightly pink when he saw her, being kindly reminded of yesterday's talk with Ryo.
"Hey, everyone!" she said warmly as she walked beside Ruki.
"Hey," Ruki replied, flashing one of her rare smiles.
"School's gonna be a drag..." Kazu complained as he walked along. "We have to wear these stupid uniforms that you can hardly breathe in, and we get stricter rules, and especially more studying!"
"What's so bad about studying?" Kenta asked, innocently puzzled.
Kazu stared at Kenta as if he was some alien. "What do you mean 'What's so bad about studying' ? Of course, studying is bad! Bad, bad, very bad!!!" he exclaimed with passion.
"It makes my head lose information about more important junk such as cheats and codes for my games! Or the statistics of the latest sports! Or-" he continued, ranting and raving, including extra physical movements for exaggeration. Kenta listened with wide eyes. Once in a while he would try to butt in, but Kazu would just overrun his sentences, cutting Kenta in mid- sentence and finishing his own sentence. The rest just ignored or at least tried to ignore Kazu as they started their own conversations.
"Well, at least half of the things he said are true," Jenrya commented.
Ruki rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised that you're even listening to him."
"How can you not? I bet his voice reaches a radius of at least two kilometers," Jenrya retorted.
"I HEARD THAT!!!"
Ruki grinned at Jenrya who was startled by her sudden smile. He then grinned back at her.
"They were only joking, Kazu. Calm down," Takato said as he managed to stifle a laugh. Kazu pointed his nose up haughtily as his friends laughed at him.
When their laughter had subsided, they found themselves in front of the entrance of their new school. It was similar to their old elementary campus; only about everything was two times larger except for the main building. They walked on, going into another conversation, also noticing a lot of students like themselves: First years.
"So... what classes are you guys in?" Kenta asked as he glanced at his schedule sheet.
The group stood in front of the main building as they took out and looked at each other's papers.
"Hey! You and I are in the same class, Jenrya!" Kazu exclaimed.
Jenrya looked very surprised. "Wha.? Which class?"
"History!"
Jenrya groaned silently. Since history wasn't really the liveliest class, Kazu had the huge chance of bugging him throughout the entire period...
"I'm in that same class and that period, too," Takato remarked, grinning at his friend. Jenrya sighed in relief. At least there was somebody who he can actually talk to.
"You, Juri, and I are in the same class, Lee," Ruki pointed out.
"Uh huh. Cooking!" Juri cried happily.
"Darn it..." Takato murmured. "I wanted to be in the cooking class with you guys..."
"Don't worry about it, Takato. Look, we have art together," Juri said as she smiled and pointed at her sheet.
"And we're all in the same class for P.E.! What luck!" Kazu exclaimed once more.
The school bell rang that very moment signaling all the students that they were supposed to be in class now. The group exchanged goodbyes for that moment and headed off towards their own rooms. Ruki and Jenrya went one way while the others went in the opposite direction.
"Do you have the same class as me?" Ruki asked without turning back.
"What class do you have?" he asked, being used to Ruki's usual disposition.
"I have Geometry. The rest have Pre-Algebra. Then again, I think Juri and Takato's in Algebra." Ruki laughed softly. "I think I'm becoming a nerd."
Lee laughed. "I guess we're in the same boat."
"Terrific. Somebody to talk to during all of those complex proofs." she said unenthusiastically as they both went into their classroom.
"I hope we're not the only first years in the class," Lee whispered.
"Wanna come sit next to me?" Ruki asked as she picked out a seat.
"I guess. Since you're the only person I know in here," he said as he sat down next to her.
"Exactly."
"Egh... I'm not going to enjoy this class..." Lee muttered as the teacher came into the room.
"Why?"
"We're going to be surrounded by people who are older than us. Who knows what they might do to us..."
Ruki giggled. "Don't worry too much about that. Who knows? The day after tomorrow there might be somebody we might actually know."
~*~
This Morning
"Hey Takato! I'm gonna wander around town a bit okay? So don't be surprised when you don't find me later on the day in your house!" Ryo yelled as Takato was leaving his house for school.
"Sure! No problem!"
"Oh, and Takato!"
"What?"
"Try not to tell anyone I'm staying at your place!"
"Why?!"
"Just!" Ryo yelled back as he went the opposite direction of Takato.
"Okay. I guess." Takato said as he watched Ryo go off.
/end of This Morning
Ryo wandered around town as he replayed the scene in his mind. He smirked and thought, 'I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they find out that they're going the same school as me... but wait... What if some other people tell them I go there... Egh... Oh well, I guess...'
He walked to past his apartment, not noticing it the first time, but did a double-take to realize that it was his home. He stopped for a moment at the entrance. 'I wonder how Dad is right now... since it is the daytime... I guess it wouldn't hurt peeking inside for a bit...' he thought as he gazed up at one of the windows of his house.
When he reached his door, he hesitated several times, but finally made up the decision to knock on the door. He turned the knob by curiosity and was surprised when the door clicked open. He glanced inside and slowly opened the door as he came in. He widened his eyes in shock. The room was a total mess inside. Dents were on the walls; rugs, chairs, and small tables were overturned; and stains were all over the place. The only things that looked stable were the incredibly huge things such as the fridge, sofa, t.v., etc. Ryo walked and looked around in still in disbelief of what happened.
"Dad couldn't have done all of this... could he?" he muttered. He tried to correct some things by turning the items that were fallen right-side-up, but it was all too depressing for him to fix every little thing. He sighed miserably as he plopped onto the couch.
"Dad..." he groaned. "What's going on...?"
He buried his face in his hands once more as he muttered over and over, "It can't be Dad... It just can't..." He felt as if suddenly a heavy object plunged into his heart, causing it to be a burden to know that his father's condition was just getting worse.
As he covered himself in self-misery, he didn't know zephyrs of blue wind slowly radiating out of him. They seemed to blow gently or creepily out of Ryo's body and into the computer room. While Ryo sunk deeper and deeper in his thoughts, the winds slowly became thicker and thicker until nothing was visible except for Ryo himself. But to Ryo, he didn't see anything, but the pitiful face of his dearest and closest relative.
~*~
Another immense pain erupted from Juri's chest as she clutched her heart one more time. This time it was more extreme, causing her to take irregular deep breaths. She felt her lungs burning and saw black dots just before she fainted to the ground.
"Hey Juri! What do you think of my-Juri!!!" Takato exclaimed as he turned around to see her lying the floor. The heads of the class turned to see what was going on.
"Juri, what's wrong?!" he asked frantically as he gently shook her.
"Takato? What's going on?" the art teacher asked as she approached them.
"I don't know! Juri- Juri- I- I found her like this unconscious when I turned around to ask her something!" Takato cried, bewildered at the current situation.
"Calm down, Takato," the teacher said as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Take deep breaths. Don't worry so much. She only fainted. It'll be all right."
'ONLY fainted! What!? Are you CRAZY, woman!?'
"Why don't you take her to the nurse's office, Takato?"
"Yeah... sure..." he replied shakily as he somehow got Juri on his back.
"I'll be back!" he said as he rushed out of the room.
~*~
Suddenly, the clock in the room chimed four, waking Ryo out of his thoughts. He looked up slowly, not noticing the blue winds becoming fainter than it was before.
'Oh yeah. School ends at 3:30... Takato and the others must be out!' he thought as he jumped up. "I gotta go see them," he said as he went towards the front door, but stopped as he saw a large dent near the door. He touched it gently and then clenched his fist together.
"I swear... I'm going to find a way to make you better," he muttered under his breath. He glanced at a notepad next to his phone and took advantage of that, writing down a quick message to his father, whether he was actually home or not.
'I'm not sure if you'll read that... but just to let you know where I am...' he thought as he left the apartment, closing the door softly as he had done before.
Ryo walked down the street, going to a familiar area in Shinjuku. He passed by several posters of the famous model, Rumiko Makino... Makino? He stopped for a moment and stared at the poster. 'That can't be Ruki's mother, can it?' he thought. 'They look so different... Ruki...' A scene from two years ago replayed in his mind as he continued staring at the picture.
~*~
"Cyberdramon!" he cried inside.
"Ready!" Cyberdramon replied as he took out his blade.
"Sakuyamon! Listen to me! I want you to send all your power to my blade! Quickly!" Justimon yelled.
"What?! You can't be serious!" Renamon exclaimed.
"Has the fighting gone to your head or something? The force of it could kill both of you!" Rika cried out over the tremendous battle.
"It's a chance I'm willing to take, Ruki! We've tried everything else and we haven't even been able to land a scratch! But with the combine forces of your strength and my blade, we can give the D-reaper something to really howl about!"
"Or you could die! Did you ever think about that, hot-shot!?"
"Well, then they'll be one less person to poke fun at you. Right, pumpkin?" he asked teasingly.
"You big twerp. You're doing all this just to impress me, aren't you?"
"So, is it working or not?"
~*~
Ryo felt himself grow warm in the cheeks.
'Did I actually say that?' he asked himself. 'Oh... jeez...' He turned hotter than ever as he went into the building. 'Manga library... on the second floor... that's right...' he said as he walked up the stairs. 'I called her pumpkin...'
"No! I can't think about... that... now..." he faltered as he passed the shooting studio that was located next to the library. He stopped and stared in utter surprise at the sight before him. Through the glass windows, he saw a familiar reddish-brown hair flowing down the girl's back. Wearing high platforms black boots with flared jeans, she also wore a leather black overcoat with a very familiar shirt with a whole blue heart woven in the middle...
'Ruki?!'
~*~*~*~
Waddya think? ^-^ Thank you so much for the reviews! It helped support me very much. *^-^* Ryuki fans dun worry. I didn't label in it the Ryuki section for nothing. ;D
IM: Digiberry // E-mail: mika_aka_digiberry@hotmail.com
~*Mika*~
To Terrie: Yes, I am kinda ignoring the puns they made on the 2nd season. Sorry if that was an inconvenience. And about the school days thing, Takato asks about the same thing and Ryo answers it for him in the previous chapter. ^^;; I'm sorry if it was really confusing...
On with the story! ^-^
~*~*~*~
Disclaimer: Anything you know or see that isn't mine, it isn't mine! So that means anything relating to Digimon isn't mine! So there! The only thing that's mine so far is my story! Don't copy! ^^;
NOTE: If the text appears in reallie weird symbols and everything (xX; I hate it when it does that), just right click, and then click "Encoding". A list should appear next to it, and click "Unicode." It should look better after that. ^^; If it doesn't, please tell me in the reviews, okaie? :D
~*~
(Review from last time)
Keisuke walked up slowly to the monitor, and reached out a hand to touch the screen. The screen glass had melted already as bluish-black ooze slowly dripped out of the monitor. At once when he placed his fingers on the so- called "screen," the dark blob poured out rapidly, enveloping him altogether in the bluish-black glop. Unearthly light of the same color of the goop streamed out of the apartment for only a few seconds, when all of it disappeared unexpectedly all together... the light, the blob, and Ryo's father.
~*~
Chapter 2
~*~
Juri fell to her knees. She clutched her heart as it throbbed unbearably like it had done two years ago. An uneasy feeling washed upon her as she slowly got up once more.
"Juri!" her stepmother exclaimed as she ran towards her. "Are you all right?" she asked, concerned as she gently helped Juri up.
"I'm fine," she replied with a smile. She still clutched the front of her baby blue shirt and had to lean on her stepmother for support. "I just had a slight shock. That's all."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Please don't tell Papa. I don't want to get him worried," she replied.
"If... that's what you want..." her stepmother said uneasily as she led Juri into her room.
"Thank you..." Juri replied with the same warm smile. But the smile soon faded when her stepmother was gone out of the room. She lay down on her bed and faced her digital clock, which just changed its number to 7:06.
'What was that...? So familiar... so horrid... so...' She shivered as she turned towards her window. The skyscrapers blinked as lights turned on and the city streets twinkled as the street lights came on. She gazed outside fondly at her hometown, and then turned her back on her window.
"Whatever it was... I get the feeling that something bad is going to keep on happening... something really bad..."
She fell asleep only a few moments later, forgetting everything in the morning about what happened last night...
~*~
Jenrya hummed as he fixed on his tie for his uniform. The morning sun streamed in from his window as it lightly reflected off of the mirror he was facing.
"Bleh, it's all crooked... but I guess it will do..." he said as he tugged as his collar. "But this is really uncomfortable..." he muttered as he loosened the tie once more.
"Where did they get the rule of junior high wearing uniforms...? Don't they know it can cause people to go insane?" he asked as he tugged at his collar again while reaching for his school bag. He checked his watch as he went out of his room.
"Better go wake Shuichon up..." he said as he went into her room.
A few minutes later he was preparing breakfast for himself and his sibling as she slowly came out of her room with her clothes all on the wrong places. Sock on her hands, jacket turned around, shirt inside-out, but at least she got her pants on correctly.
"Oh, Shuichon..." Jenrya said, exasperatedly as he came up to his half- asleep sister.
"Wha..." she murmured, sleepily as she vaguely saw her brotherly fix her clothing. She felt herself being picked up and placed onto a chair. She smelled food, and opened her eyes immediately when she smelled the scent of pancakes.
"Nii-chan! You made these?!" she exclaimed happily. Jenrya smiled and nodded as he watched his sister gobble down the treat he made for her. He sat down in his own seat and also ate his meal in a much more collected way than his sister. But then again... seven-year-olds will be seven-year- olds...
Soon... a yell was heard from outside the apartment.
"Lee! Where are you?" a familiar voice cried out.
"Ack!! Shuichon! Let's go!" he said hurriedly as he ate down the rest of his breakfast. Shuichon bit the last of hers in time before she was whisked away by her brother who ran out the apartment with her, his bag, and her pack.
"Got to go, Mom! Dad, you're going to be late too if you don't get out sooner or later! Well, see you!" he cried as he shut the door.
"Darn it... after I woke up early just for the first day of school, I end up being late again..." he muttered as he waited impatiently for the elevator to come. Shuichon didn't mind the time and stayed in her brother's arms as she licked her sticky hands contently.
"Jeez! What took you so long?" another familiar voice cried when Jenrya came out, panting, from his apartment. Four of his friends waited outside. Three being patient, one being very impatient.
"Sorry, guys..." he said.
"Shui!" little voices cried out from below him. He looked down in wonder and found his sister's friends, begging him to let Shuichon be with them. 'When did they ever get there...?'
"Koko! Datane!" Shuichon exclaimed happily as Jenrya placed her on the ground. After an exchange of 'hi's, Jenrya crouched to his sister's height to talk to her.
"Go to school with your friends carefully, okay, Shuichon?" he asked.
"Sure!" they chorused all together. He sweatdropped.
"Ehe... okay then. See you later."
"Bai bai, Nii-chan!"
Jenrya waved at the kids until another one of his friends spoke up dryly.
"You done yet, Lee?"
"Yeah," he said as he got up to join his friends.
"It's about time!" Hirokazu exclaimed. "What took you so long?" he repeated loudly.
"Ah... well... My sister and I were eating kinda slower than usual... So yeah," he replied while laughing nervously.
"Whatever, dude," Kazu said carelessly as he placed his hands on the back of his head. The girl next to him rolled her eyes.
"Would you stop being so thick-headed?" she drawled. "Seriously, you haven't changed a bit since I first met you."
A giggle was heard behind them. They all turned around and found Juri walking up to them. Somehow she looked cuter than usual today. Maybe it was because of her two pigtails or just her cute smile. Whatever the reason might be, Takato turned slightly pink when he saw her, being kindly reminded of yesterday's talk with Ryo.
"Hey, everyone!" she said warmly as she walked beside Ruki.
"Hey," Ruki replied, flashing one of her rare smiles.
"School's gonna be a drag..." Kazu complained as he walked along. "We have to wear these stupid uniforms that you can hardly breathe in, and we get stricter rules, and especially more studying!"
"What's so bad about studying?" Kenta asked, innocently puzzled.
Kazu stared at Kenta as if he was some alien. "What do you mean 'What's so bad about studying' ? Of course, studying is bad! Bad, bad, very bad!!!" he exclaimed with passion.
"It makes my head lose information about more important junk such as cheats and codes for my games! Or the statistics of the latest sports! Or-" he continued, ranting and raving, including extra physical movements for exaggeration. Kenta listened with wide eyes. Once in a while he would try to butt in, but Kazu would just overrun his sentences, cutting Kenta in mid- sentence and finishing his own sentence. The rest just ignored or at least tried to ignore Kazu as they started their own conversations.
"Well, at least half of the things he said are true," Jenrya commented.
Ruki rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised that you're even listening to him."
"How can you not? I bet his voice reaches a radius of at least two kilometers," Jenrya retorted.
"I HEARD THAT!!!"
Ruki grinned at Jenrya who was startled by her sudden smile. He then grinned back at her.
"They were only joking, Kazu. Calm down," Takato said as he managed to stifle a laugh. Kazu pointed his nose up haughtily as his friends laughed at him.
When their laughter had subsided, they found themselves in front of the entrance of their new school. It was similar to their old elementary campus; only about everything was two times larger except for the main building. They walked on, going into another conversation, also noticing a lot of students like themselves: First years.
"So... what classes are you guys in?" Kenta asked as he glanced at his schedule sheet.
The group stood in front of the main building as they took out and looked at each other's papers.
"Hey! You and I are in the same class, Jenrya!" Kazu exclaimed.
Jenrya looked very surprised. "Wha.? Which class?"
"History!"
Jenrya groaned silently. Since history wasn't really the liveliest class, Kazu had the huge chance of bugging him throughout the entire period...
"I'm in that same class and that period, too," Takato remarked, grinning at his friend. Jenrya sighed in relief. At least there was somebody who he can actually talk to.
"You, Juri, and I are in the same class, Lee," Ruki pointed out.
"Uh huh. Cooking!" Juri cried happily.
"Darn it..." Takato murmured. "I wanted to be in the cooking class with you guys..."
"Don't worry about it, Takato. Look, we have art together," Juri said as she smiled and pointed at her sheet.
"And we're all in the same class for P.E.! What luck!" Kazu exclaimed once more.
The school bell rang that very moment signaling all the students that they were supposed to be in class now. The group exchanged goodbyes for that moment and headed off towards their own rooms. Ruki and Jenrya went one way while the others went in the opposite direction.
"Do you have the same class as me?" Ruki asked without turning back.
"What class do you have?" he asked, being used to Ruki's usual disposition.
"I have Geometry. The rest have Pre-Algebra. Then again, I think Juri and Takato's in Algebra." Ruki laughed softly. "I think I'm becoming a nerd."
Lee laughed. "I guess we're in the same boat."
"Terrific. Somebody to talk to during all of those complex proofs." she said unenthusiastically as they both went into their classroom.
"I hope we're not the only first years in the class," Lee whispered.
"Wanna come sit next to me?" Ruki asked as she picked out a seat.
"I guess. Since you're the only person I know in here," he said as he sat down next to her.
"Exactly."
"Egh... I'm not going to enjoy this class..." Lee muttered as the teacher came into the room.
"Why?"
"We're going to be surrounded by people who are older than us. Who knows what they might do to us..."
Ruki giggled. "Don't worry too much about that. Who knows? The day after tomorrow there might be somebody we might actually know."
~*~
This Morning
"Hey Takato! I'm gonna wander around town a bit okay? So don't be surprised when you don't find me later on the day in your house!" Ryo yelled as Takato was leaving his house for school.
"Sure! No problem!"
"Oh, and Takato!"
"What?"
"Try not to tell anyone I'm staying at your place!"
"Why?!"
"Just!" Ryo yelled back as he went the opposite direction of Takato.
"Okay. I guess." Takato said as he watched Ryo go off.
/end of This Morning
Ryo wandered around town as he replayed the scene in his mind. He smirked and thought, 'I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they find out that they're going the same school as me... but wait... What if some other people tell them I go there... Egh... Oh well, I guess...'
He walked to past his apartment, not noticing it the first time, but did a double-take to realize that it was his home. He stopped for a moment at the entrance. 'I wonder how Dad is right now... since it is the daytime... I guess it wouldn't hurt peeking inside for a bit...' he thought as he gazed up at one of the windows of his house.
When he reached his door, he hesitated several times, but finally made up the decision to knock on the door. He turned the knob by curiosity and was surprised when the door clicked open. He glanced inside and slowly opened the door as he came in. He widened his eyes in shock. The room was a total mess inside. Dents were on the walls; rugs, chairs, and small tables were overturned; and stains were all over the place. The only things that looked stable were the incredibly huge things such as the fridge, sofa, t.v., etc. Ryo walked and looked around in still in disbelief of what happened.
"Dad couldn't have done all of this... could he?" he muttered. He tried to correct some things by turning the items that were fallen right-side-up, but it was all too depressing for him to fix every little thing. He sighed miserably as he plopped onto the couch.
"Dad..." he groaned. "What's going on...?"
He buried his face in his hands once more as he muttered over and over, "It can't be Dad... It just can't..." He felt as if suddenly a heavy object plunged into his heart, causing it to be a burden to know that his father's condition was just getting worse.
As he covered himself in self-misery, he didn't know zephyrs of blue wind slowly radiating out of him. They seemed to blow gently or creepily out of Ryo's body and into the computer room. While Ryo sunk deeper and deeper in his thoughts, the winds slowly became thicker and thicker until nothing was visible except for Ryo himself. But to Ryo, he didn't see anything, but the pitiful face of his dearest and closest relative.
~*~
Another immense pain erupted from Juri's chest as she clutched her heart one more time. This time it was more extreme, causing her to take irregular deep breaths. She felt her lungs burning and saw black dots just before she fainted to the ground.
"Hey Juri! What do you think of my-Juri!!!" Takato exclaimed as he turned around to see her lying the floor. The heads of the class turned to see what was going on.
"Juri, what's wrong?!" he asked frantically as he gently shook her.
"Takato? What's going on?" the art teacher asked as she approached them.
"I don't know! Juri- Juri- I- I found her like this unconscious when I turned around to ask her something!" Takato cried, bewildered at the current situation.
"Calm down, Takato," the teacher said as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Take deep breaths. Don't worry so much. She only fainted. It'll be all right."
'ONLY fainted! What!? Are you CRAZY, woman!?'
"Why don't you take her to the nurse's office, Takato?"
"Yeah... sure..." he replied shakily as he somehow got Juri on his back.
"I'll be back!" he said as he rushed out of the room.
~*~
Suddenly, the clock in the room chimed four, waking Ryo out of his thoughts. He looked up slowly, not noticing the blue winds becoming fainter than it was before.
'Oh yeah. School ends at 3:30... Takato and the others must be out!' he thought as he jumped up. "I gotta go see them," he said as he went towards the front door, but stopped as he saw a large dent near the door. He touched it gently and then clenched his fist together.
"I swear... I'm going to find a way to make you better," he muttered under his breath. He glanced at a notepad next to his phone and took advantage of that, writing down a quick message to his father, whether he was actually home or not.
'I'm not sure if you'll read that... but just to let you know where I am...' he thought as he left the apartment, closing the door softly as he had done before.
Ryo walked down the street, going to a familiar area in Shinjuku. He passed by several posters of the famous model, Rumiko Makino... Makino? He stopped for a moment and stared at the poster. 'That can't be Ruki's mother, can it?' he thought. 'They look so different... Ruki...' A scene from two years ago replayed in his mind as he continued staring at the picture.
~*~
"Cyberdramon!" he cried inside.
"Ready!" Cyberdramon replied as he took out his blade.
"Sakuyamon! Listen to me! I want you to send all your power to my blade! Quickly!" Justimon yelled.
"What?! You can't be serious!" Renamon exclaimed.
"Has the fighting gone to your head or something? The force of it could kill both of you!" Rika cried out over the tremendous battle.
"It's a chance I'm willing to take, Ruki! We've tried everything else and we haven't even been able to land a scratch! But with the combine forces of your strength and my blade, we can give the D-reaper something to really howl about!"
"Or you could die! Did you ever think about that, hot-shot!?"
"Well, then they'll be one less person to poke fun at you. Right, pumpkin?" he asked teasingly.
"You big twerp. You're doing all this just to impress me, aren't you?"
"So, is it working or not?"
~*~
Ryo felt himself grow warm in the cheeks.
'Did I actually say that?' he asked himself. 'Oh... jeez...' He turned hotter than ever as he went into the building. 'Manga library... on the second floor... that's right...' he said as he walked up the stairs. 'I called her pumpkin...'
"No! I can't think about... that... now..." he faltered as he passed the shooting studio that was located next to the library. He stopped and stared in utter surprise at the sight before him. Through the glass windows, he saw a familiar reddish-brown hair flowing down the girl's back. Wearing high platforms black boots with flared jeans, she also wore a leather black overcoat with a very familiar shirt with a whole blue heart woven in the middle...
'Ruki?!'
~*~*~*~
Waddya think? ^-^ Thank you so much for the reviews! It helped support me very much. *^-^* Ryuki fans dun worry. I didn't label in it the Ryuki section for nothing. ;D
IM: Digiberry // E-mail: mika_aka_digiberry@hotmail.com
~*Mika*~