Author's Note: Oh geez, I'm horrible. Yet again I had shit prewritten yet I was far too lazy to upload it onto ff.n, sorry folks! But anyways, as you can tell, I have updated and that's all thanks to my new buddies american idiot 101 and Chiban-chan! Thanks for getting my ass to update!
Disclaimer – I really hate these."Sh-Shuichon!"
If the younger girl had a reaction to his shock she didn't let it be known. Ryo suddenly got the feeling that he was in trouble. Seeing Suzi narrow her eyes didn't help his cause any. But being a smart guy did. Seeing that Suzi had some stuff she probably kept bottled in for a good few years, he let her speak without interrupting. She sighed.
"Man oh man, I never thought I'd see you again. Now you're here and I have no clue what to say. Ryo, I've always respected you. You were the only person to really acknowledge the fact that I, although very young, was a tamer. I'll never forget that. To some extent I still do have respect for you. But I guess the point of this whole shpeal (my own happy word) is to ask you a question. I have no desire to figure out WHY you left. I just want to know if you had any idea how much it impacted us; how much it impacted Ruki?"
Suzi didn't fail to notice the flicker of pain that crossed his eyes when Ruki was mentioned. She also didn't fail to notice the look of regret and sadness that came next. So, she thought, he really doesn't have a clue. She sighed as she realized that she would wind up being the one to fill in all of Ryo's blanks.
"No, Suzi, I don't know. Do you think you can help me out there?"
"Sit down, Ryo... oh sorry, Aoshi. I've got to cram 4 years into your head and its not gonna be fun."
Jazelle smiled to herself. She had noticed that Ruki and Aoshi had been hitting it off. And throughout the day things only seemed to get better. It's kind of annoying, she thought, that she had nobody to share the news with. She had tried Yamaki, but he had made it crystal clear that he didn't give a "holy piece of shit" about what she was "blabbering on about." Hahaha, she was discouraged to say the least. Hooray! Ruki was coming back!
"Hey. I'm on break, Reika took over." Yamaki just nodded.
Ruki sat down and noticed that Jazelle kept giving her these weird smiles. At first she had tried ignoring it, thinking that Jazelle was being a regular ditzy cheerleader. But after the next few minutes she was just about ready to snap. Damn cheerleaders and their stupid ways.
"Ok. What the hell are you smiling at me for?" Silence.
"Well?" More silence... and then.
"Aoshi's been talking to that chick for awhile." Facefault.
"What's your point?"
"Well, you can't really see her anymore due to the crowd, but I caught a good glimpse of her earlier. She's cute. I think you have competition." Hearing this, Yamaki chuckled.
Both girls turned to face him, amazed that he had made a sound. But, in true Yamaki fashion, he had already turned away. Ruki chuckled as she noticed Yamaki's hands shaking a little bit. He had one hell of a nic-fix going. Damn, now that she thought about it, she was craving a cancer stick as well. Trying to ignore it, she went back to Jazelle. But suddenly the thought of a cigarette was empowering and all of Jazelle's odd attempts to get her jealous of Aoshi were just starting to tick her off. Seething in her seat Ruki just kept repeating in her head that Jazelle was just doing what she thought was right. Somehow, it wasn't working.
"Ruki. There's some things I need to discuss with you concerning tomorrow. ALONE."
What do ya know? Saved by Yamaki. She looked his way and nodded. The two of them making their way through the crowd to a place where they could talk in private. Humorously enough, Japan's two most icy and composed celebrities took off at a dead run the minute they were out of the public eye.
Unbeknowst to them one person saw. This person happened to be looking out the window and saw Yamaki and Ruki literally jump into the limousine outside. Raising an eyebrow he turned to the person sitting next to him.
"Jenrya! Dude! Are you SURE that there's nothing going on between Yamaki and Ruki." Without even looking up he replied
"Yes Kazu, I'm sure."
Back in the Yamaki Limo our favorite two mean people were smoking (AGAIN). Huzzah to cancer. Ruki looked over at Yamaki and, to her suprise, she noticed that something was on his mind. Why just a month ago she knew that she'd never had been able to read Yamaki like he was Jenrya or something. Weird, it seemed as if they're time smoking together ended up with them starting to understand each other (And take it from me, an actual smoker, you really do get to know people this way).
"So, uh, what's on your mind?"
Yamaki barely heard her. BARELY. But seeing as he did, he abruptly lifted his head. And somehow Ruki just knew that his eyes had widened underneath those shades of his. Yet he seemed kind of reluctant to answer. Odd... very odd. Yamaki was pretty well known for being quite blunt whenever he had anything to say. So, why would he suddenly be hesitant? The answer to that question wouldn't become clear to Ruki until the following day, though.
"Ruki, I'm not really sure whether or not I should be asking you this; but what would you do if Ryo ever came back?"
"I... I... well, I don't have an answer to that. Why ask something like that Yamaki?" he noticed her sudden mood change and switched tactics
"I don't know. I've always been curious; you two seemed to be very close. His leaving had to have affected you, so I wanted to know how you would feel if he ever came back."
His closing statement had Ruki thinking. She knew that there was more to Yamaki's "curiosity" then he let on. But she didn't feel like thinking about that at the moment. Ryo... returning. Well, of course his leaving affected her. But his return was something she never really anticipated. It seemed like a lost cause. Had it been a month ago she knew what her reaction would be. Anger. But lately her world had been thrown upside down. With Felix and everything. True, their would've-been courtship wasn't very long, but there was just something about him, something had been awakened in her. When she was with him she had felt whole, like the missing part of her, that left along with Ryo, had been returned. She now knew that she didn't need Ryo to feel that way. The memory of him had been reduced to shreds, truth be told. Now how to put that into words?
"You look like you could use a second." Yamaki broke the silence by offering her more cancer.
"Do you really want to know how I'd feel? It might not make much sense, though." She accepted the cig and lit it.
"That's fine. We've got time."
Hours later the final match had been announced and the preliminaries were officially over. Yamaki was on the stage giving a speech about where the tournament was to be held and the rules and regulations. Jazelle sat listening, giving the occasional yawn. Geez, this was boring. Looking to her left and right she realized that she wouldn't be able to talk to anyone either. Ruki seemed to be caught in her own world; while Aoshi looked downright depressed. She wondered what was going on, those two seemed to have been hitting it off. But now... dead silence. Creepy.
"Hey, um, Ms. Reika?" she seemed to be the only normal one around here
"Yes Jazelle? And it's Reika, no Ms... it makes me feel old."
"Oh ok. Well, I was just wondering if it was ok for me to leave now." Reika nodded
"Yeah sure, go ahead. Thanks for helping, that was really nice."
As Jazelle was leaving, Yamaki came back to the group. After taking a look at the two Tamers he quickly made a decision. Clean up was about to begin, but these two looked like they really needed a rest. So he talked to his limo driver and arranged for the two to be taken home while he and Reika did the cleaning.
"Don't worry about cleaning up. You two go home and get ready for tomorrow. My limo is waiting outside."
Ruki and Ryo nodded and made their way to the exit door. But, much to their chagrin, the entire Tamers group was there waiting. Ryo had totally forgot about making plans with Takato (the arcade thingy) and gave him the "sorry, but how about another time" line. It seemed to work. So the Tamers bid Ruki farewell as she climbed into the limousine alongside Ryo.
"Penny for your thoughts." Ruki grinned. Ryo smiled wanly.
"Keep your damned penny. So, you really want to know what's on my mind?" Ruki nodded.
"Why?" To that Ruki smiled
"You were there when I needed to talk. I wanna repay the favor." Their eyes locked and he slowly nodded.
"Very well. It's about that girl I told you about. I told you I had moved away a few years ago, right? Well, I never got the chance to tell her goodbye. I kinda pulled a disappearing act. Today I found one of my old friends. She told me how my girl had been doing. I didn't realize I had hurt her so bad... God, I'm such a fucking asshole!"
Ruki sat quietly while Aoshi poured his heart out to her. By the time he finished she realized that she genuinely felt bad for this guy. Though he was 18, his tone spoke of a little boy who had just gotten his puppy ran over. She thought she might have been tearing up, but those thoughts left her head the minute she saw the silent tears running down Aoshi's face.
"Hey. C'mon now. Crying's for wussies right? Oh geez, this ain't working. Well, I'm not very good at this kind of thing, so don't blame me if this sucks. Now come on, give me a hug. Shhhh, it's ok."
"I don't deserve this kind of kindness from you." Ruki slapped her head and started shaking Aoshi back and forth
"Shut up! I'll be nice to you if I damn well please. And it just so happens that I think that life has dealt you a tough hand. So guess what? I think you could use some kindness right about now!"
"Thank you." Aoshi smiled and promptly fell asleep
The rest of the ride to Ruki's was spent in silence. Sure, Ryo was passed out and using Ruki's lap as a pillow. Sure, Ruki was blushing like a friggin tomato. But, she figured, there were definitely worse things that could be happening. Looking at Aoshi, she once again realized how much he resembled Ryo. A fact that seemingly refused to die down. God dammit! Stupid Ryo. But thoughts of Ryo were put on hold as the sleeping Aoshi decided to remind Ruki of his presence.
"Ruki... I'm sor... ry."