A/N: You know these were finished and sitting on my computer for who knows how long? Whoops. :D For the 50_Digifics challenge on livejournal, Prompt: 017. hope: This is set in Ch 13 of the manga where Dorulumon (disguised as a human) asks Akari about Taiki's feelings about Kiriha.
Stand up! Akari no Heart!
Drabble 3: The Price for a Dream
Dorulumon had to ask, she knew, because he didn't quite understand. She doubted even Kiriha understood: understood Taiki's feelings towards him.
No, she's sure he didn't because Kiriha was always grumbling about how soft hearted Taiki was, never realising that what Taiki envied and hates and feared in Kiriha was the opposite: that hard heart that could walk towards his dream without hesitation.
He'd had that heart, once upon a time. That was before Tatsuya's accident, before Taiki lost sight of his dream. She'd known him even back then: that person who could be cold and callous like Kiriha, but kind as well.
And that didn't mean that Kiriha couldn't be kind; it just meant he couldn't understand what Taiki felt, because he hadn't had to pay a friend as the price of his own dream.
But they were both changing, through each other. Akari knew Kiriha would restore Taiki's dream, just as Taiki would teach Kiriha his limits.
