Author's Note: Hi critics, long time no type! Well, not a LOOOONG time, but long enough, ya know? Anyways, yeah. I was having a really bad week and just didn't wanna do anything. So sorry sorry, and I'm (more or less) back. Geez, it's been a long week.
Ok, moment of truth. Who will be (bum bum bum) my favoritest reviewer??? Bah, I guess it would be ShadowedLight, thanks for telling me to get off my lazy ass and get back to this. So yeah, I'm back. Happy? Happy?
Disclaimer – Nutritious and Delicious… tastes like Chicken! Line was stolen from Fern Gully, one of the best movies EVER!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today was the day. Today Jenrya would be attempting to get his blackbelt. He was standing in front of the dojo. Where is she, he thought, she promised she'd show up. He kept looking around and was about to give up when he heard her yelling in the distance.
"Jen! Hang on, ok!!!!" she ran up to him.
"Hey Ruki, I was afraid you wouldn't show." She cocked her head to the side.
"Never. I've been waiting to see this."
"Thanks Ruki." He said gratefully.
The two of them hugged. Then they went inside the dojo, Ruki quickly wished him good luck and they split. Jenrya went with the rest of the students while Ruki went over to the spectator area.
"Ruki!"
Before Ruki had a chance to react she was tackled by the 10 year old Shuichon. Ruki looked to where Shuichon had been a moment ago, she saw the Lee family waving at her. Ruki was eternally grateful for the Lees. They knew how crappy her home life was, and they were always there for her. As she walked over to them she ignored the people that were commenting on her.
"Isn't that the Digimon Queen?" one guy asked.
"Yeah, wonder what she's doing here." Ruki ignored them.
"Hey Mr. Lee! Don't you have a flight to catch?" Ruki asked.
"It got postponed." Janyuu replied.
"I see." Ruki took a seat.
Jenrya looked around him. There were about 9 other people that were going to take this test, they all looked as nervous as he felt. All the chattering around him stopped as the sensei walked into the room.
"Hello. For the 10 of you this will be the final test, the test to see if you are worthy of wearing a blackbelt. The test is simple, all you have to do is break the pile of bricks. If you can not break all the bricks you shall fail. Good luck to you all." He said.
Jenrya sighed, how hard can it be to break some bricks? His eyes widened as the pile was unveiled. The pile consisted of 20 bricks, one on top of the other. To prove that it could be done, his sensei walked up to the pile and chopped them as if they were nothing. All the students blinked, then blinked again.
Jenrya was brought out of his trance state when some dude came up to him and told him to draw a number. He drew "4." Well, Jenrya thought, I guess I'm 4th. Jenrya paled as he watched the first dude, all he succeeded to do was break 7 bricks. The dude walked away dejectedly. As Jenrya watched he noticed that the other three didn't do any better. They broke more bricks, but so far no one had suceeded in breaking all 20.
"Lee Jenrya." Jenrya sighed.
He walked up to the bricks, they had just been restacked. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his thoughts, it didn't work. He opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
"You can do it, Jen!" a voice rang out.
He looked up at the stands, Shuichon and Ruki were each giving him a thumbs up sign. He smiled and once again closed his eyes. He took a deep breath…
"HYAA!" He yelled.
His hand hit the bricks. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer. He heard the thunk of brick hitting floor and opened his eyes. His face fell as he looked at the bricks. He did some quick calcultions, 19 bricks were split. He sighed and walked away.
THUNK!
Jenrya abruptly spun around. He almost fainted at what he saw, the last brick had clunked to the floor. Jenrya looked to his sensei for confirmation, he nodded. Jenrya did something of a victory dance as the spectators clapped in appreciation. Jenrya Lee had just passed his test!
"Dude, we made it!" someone yelled.
"Shhhh." His companion tried to shush him.
A few people looked at who just walked in. There was a guy with goggles on his head, and then there was his loud friend, some dude with a black visor. Ruki looked at them and shook her head.
"Now you know why I don't carpool with them." Shuichon smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jenrya sighed in contentment. After getting his belt his dad treated the family to dinner. Though he couldn't pronounce the name of the restaurant (some fancy smancy French restaurant, ya know, the ones where you have to have reservations and stuff) he thought it was pretty cool that his dad knew the owner of the place. He now officially had a place to bring a girl on the first date. They hadn't ordered yet but Jenrya was already happy, the waiters attended to his every need. The only complaint Jenrya had was about his attire, he was wearing a tuxedo.
Suddenly a ruckus was heard outside. Since the Lees were seated by a window they had an oppurtunity to see the events unfold firsthand. They all gasped at what they saw. Jenrya burst out laughing at the scene.
A limousine pulled up (No, not the Yamaki Limo) and out came some good-looking famous guy. The reporters swarmed him in a moment. But that wasn't it, the next person to come out was, none other than, Rumiko Makino. She started posing for all the cameras while her boyfriend was busy soaking up the interviewers.
But the both of them got upstaged by the third person who exitted the limo. Ruki Makino was the last person to walk on the red carpet. She looked stunning in a simple black dress. It was backless and had spaghetti straps for sleeves; Ruki looked as if she was in pain in the 5-inch heels she was wearing. The media didn't care about that, though.
"Ruki! Are you going to be defending your title this year?"
"Ruki! Is it true that you're taking up modeling?"
"Ruki! I've heard that you have a thing with a blue-haired boy, is it true?"
"Ruki! Can you lift your skirt a little higher?"
"Ruki! What do you have to say about the disappearance of Ryo Akiyama?"
Ruki had had enough. She rudely shoved her way through the crowd and into the restaurant. She was just getting her head cleared when she heard her name called.
"RUKI!" she heard from 3 sides. She looked to one side.
"Ruki, me and Fabio will be sitting over here, you can get home on your own right?"
"Yes mother." She replied. She looked to another side.
"Ruki, what are you doing here?" It was Jenrya.
"Hey, my mom's on a date. I'm here for the food." Ruki looked to the third person.
"Ruki, how's it going." It was Alice.
"Great. What are you doing here? In THAT, not to mention."
Alice looked down. Her and Ruki's dresses were practically the same, the only real difference was that her dress wasn't backless, and her heels were different. Oh, how she pitied Ruki. She saw the performance that went on outside.
"My dress is awesome, I know." Alice smirked.
"Yeah yeah. So what are you doing here?" Ruki asked again.
"Oh, Yamaki was treating all of us tounament makers to dinner. Ryu and Felix didn't go, so I was stuck with Yamaki and Reika. Can you say third wheel?" she noticed Jenrya.
"Oh, hello Jenrya." He blinked.
"Hey Alice."
The three of them talked for awhile. Ruki joined Alice at her table, she had moved to get away from Reika and Yamaki. About 5 minutes later Jenrya joined them as well, the table was only two booths away from the Lees table so they were easily within seeing range. The trio ordered their food and it was eventually brought to them. At one point Alice excused herself to the ladies room.
"So Ruki. How'd you make it to the dojo?" Jenrya asked.
"Mom excused me from class today because of her date." Ruki replied.
"Oh." He opened his mouth then shut it.
"What's on your mind?" Ruki asked.
"Nothing. It's just Kazu was telling me about you and this guy called Felix." He trailed off.
"Let me guess, you want the dirt?" He nodded. She filled him in on the details.
"Well, I like him but I dunno if he likes me back." He nodded thoughtfully.
"Ruki, what about Ryo?" he asked.
What about Ryo? That question rung in Ruki's ears. What about him, she wondered. Did she look like she'd just wait around for him 'til the day she dies?
"What about him?" she responded stubbornly.
"Ruki, don't be immature. You don't leave him letters for nothing, you know?"
"Listen. This year was the last one. No more." She mumbled.
"Ok then. Be that way. But you can't just brush aside what happened at the graduation."
Ruki almost started crying as she remembered what happened that day. That one day that will haunt her forevermore.
13 year old Ruki looked in the mirror. She was going to be graduating from Junior High this year. This day, to be exact. As she looked at her dress she sighed. No doubt the papparazzi would be there to get pictures of the Digimon Queen graduating. She sighed again.
"Ready to go, dear?" Ruki looked up.
"Yeah. Do you think I can do this Grandma?" she asked.
"I'm positive. You look lovely." Ruki hugged her.
"Thanks. Let's go." Her mom was waiting outside with the car.
At the school Ruki had already been cornered by 3 reporters, she was pissed. She swore, the next person who asked for an interview would be socked.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Ruki's fist went back. Then she noticed it was Juri.
"Sorry about that. I'm just frustrated by all the reporters." Juri smiled.
"They aren't." She pointed to some random guys.
Ruki looked at the two of them; she had beaten them at the championships a few months ago. They sucked ass. But, look at them now.
"Yeah man, she totally payed me to throw the fight." The media soaked it up.
"Really sir?" the group of reporters asked.
"Totally. I would've beaten her otherwise." He nodded.
Ruki left the room to collect her thoughts. She was extremely nervous about this whole graduating thing, it was all just more pressure to her. To top it off the papparazzi was trying to corner her at every turn, all Ruki wanted was some peace and quiet.
She wished that she had a person to confide in. She immediately thought of Jenrya, but he just wouldn't understand. He wasn't chased by people everyday of his fucking life. Yamaki would probably understand, but she hadn't talked to him since he found her smoking at his building 3 days ago. Their talk would probably be extremely akward anyways.
Who was there? Who knew what it was like? What I need, she thought, was moral support. Someone who would be there to ease her mind and tell her it's ok. Ryo Akiyama. Huh, she thought, why'd she think that?
"THERE SHE IS!!!" Ruki looked up.
"Ruki! Can we get an interview?!?!"
FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*
"Ruki! How does it feel to be graduating?!?!"
"Can you smile for us?"
"Ruki, face this way!"
FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*
"Ruki, how do you feel about Ryo Akiyama's death?" She cocked her head.
"Yes, our sources say that you two were close. What do you have to say on that?"
FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*
"Nevermind that then, but… how do you feel about his disappearance?"
"Yes yes. You two ARE the King and Queen after all."
FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*FLASH*
Ruki couldn't stand anymore of it. She got up and ran as fast as her shoes could take her, the media getting pictures all along the way. Ruki, right now, was physically and mentally unstable. She knew it too; she also knew what usually helped her out. She started having memories of D-Reaper, and the Digital World… and Renamon. She hadn't seen her in 3 years. But right now it seemed as if time was compressing, so 3 years ago was now like 3 minutes ago. Ruki was getting lost in her own mind.
"Ruki? You ok?" Jenrya suddenly appeared.
"Hey Jen. Where's Ryo? I gotta talk to him." Jenrya gave her a look.
"Ruki. Ryo's gone, remember. He's been gone for 2½ years." Ruki paled.
"No. It can't be. You're joking, right." Ruki started hallucinating.
"Ruki, are you ok?" Jen felt her head. She felt normal enough.
"He's gone. But I- But I- Nooo!"
Ruki ran. She heard Takato ask where she was going. She ignored him and went straight to the bathroom. There she sprayed some cold water on her face and shook her head. Then she noticed the tears. One by one they came, next thing Ruki knew she was sitting on the floor crying.
"Ruki? You in here? Wha-? Ruki! What's wrong?" Jenrya appeared again.
"Jen, he's not coming back is he?" Ruki asked. Jenrya knew what she meant.
"I don't know. Maybe he'll return someday." He tried reassuring her. She just cried even more.
"I can't believe he's gone." She whispered. Jenrya hugged her. She got his shirt wet.
"It's ok, Ruki. It's ok."
About 20 minutes later the door started to open. They both paled and Ruki quickly got into one of the stalls. Jenrya went to the door to see Juri.
"Juri! What are you doing here?" She gave him a look.
"You know you're in the girl's bathroom right?" she asked.
"Yeah. Listen, it's all overflooding in here. So tell the other girls to stay out."
"Ok. " she nodded and went off to the nearest restroom.
"Thanks." Ruki got out of the stall. He smiled.
"Sure. Now wash your face off. We still have to go on stage." She smiled.
"Duh! Oh, and Jenrya. If you tell anyone about this I will chop off your penis."
"Point taken." Somehow, he knew she was serious about that.
Ruki was suddenly brought back from her reverie to see Jenrya waving his hand in her face. She quickly composed herself and thought about what he had said.
"You're right, Jen. I can't brush that day away--"
"I told you so."
"--but, you said it yourself. Ryo's gone. I won't wait forever." Jenrya nodded.
"You have a point there." Alice suddenly came back.
"So, did I miss anything?" Jenrya and Ruki facefaulted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryu sighed as he flopped down on his bed. According to Alice, Ruki had been asking questions about him. As much as it touched him he was trying to keep a low profile, well, at least until the tournament, that is. Hell, if it weren't for the whole low profile bit he would be running errands with Felix and Alice.
He looked at his calendar. Hmmm Sunday, he thought. That left only 8 days until the preliminaries… and 10 days more days until his reappearance.
He took another look around him, it's nice, he thought, but it's not home.