A/N: If you sue you'll only get dog-eared paperbacks of The Last Herald Mage trilogy (Vanyel!), so please don't. Warnings still apply.
***
*Final boarding call, ANA flight #545, direct service to Narita International Airport. Repeat, this is the final boarding call for ANA flight #545, direct service to Narita International Airport.*
Takeru was finally going home for the first time in four years. His luggage rested securely in the belly of the large jet, he was belted comfortably in the soft first class seat (being the brother of a moderately famous musician had its perks), and his friend was sitting securely in the seat next to him. Takeru glanced over at Wallace as the American boy packed away his laptop for takeoff.
Wallace, after completing his masters in computer science in a record four years, had decided to move to Japan to work in the tech industry. America's own technology sector never quite fully recovered from the internet stock crash of '01, and besides, Koushiro was offering him a prime position in his own internet startup.
Looking out the window, he was greeted by the sight of normally sunny Los Angeles covered with grey storm clouds. Unlike the drive up to Berkley four years ago, they drove down a day ahead to make sure arrangements were complete for their trip back to Japan. Most of their belongings had already been sent ahead, by freighter, and all that was left to do was to drop Wallace's beloved convertible off at the dock.
Driving back down south was an agonizing trip for Takeru, knowing that he was finally going to have to face what caused him to run away so many years ago. He had not seen any of the other digidestined, with the exception of Yamato and Taichi, since he left. Though every time Yamato had visited, Takeru had been sorely tempted to ask of his wayward ex-boyfriend. But the thought of hearing that they were still together, the chipper happy couple, made him hold his tongue.
No longer would he have to wait. He would go home and see for himself, and maybe get some closure for the heartache that occasionally still plagued him. Takeru could feel the anticipation building within him. There was the possibility that the two had not lived happily ever after. The odds were in his favor that the two had broken up at some point during his stay in America. Of course, the destined children were never average; they always seemed to be able to defy the odds in the face of great adversity.
"Then why couldn't we have beaten the odds...?" Takeru mumbled softly to himself.
"What was that?" Takeru looked up and saw that Wallace was looking at him, one blond eyebrow raised.
"Just talking to myself, you know me."
"I do know you, and you never talk to yourself." Wallace thought about it for a moment, "It's about them isn't it?"
"Them?" Takeru tried to avoid the question.
"You know what I'm talking about."
Takeru looked away from his roommate of four years to focus on the coach passengers walking by, who were giving the first-class passengers dirty looks. He could see one of them holding a first generation iBook, and thought how his own laptop far surpassed the power of that one.
"Takeru, it's been more than time to move on already. It's been five years..."
He turned his attention back to Wallace, "He was supposed to be the one! You can't know what it's like to have that ripped away from you... I just need some closure here."
"Then why didn't you just ask Yamato about them?" Like I did.
"Because… then I would never go back. If it were true, I'd never be able to go back, it'd be too hard." Wallace looked like he was about to protest, "I know I'm the 'child of hope', whatever that means now, but it's been a long time since I've felt any hope at all."
***
Wallace looked up from the bright screen of his laptop and saw that Takeru had fallen asleep. The lights on the plane were dim, as it was 'night,' so most of the people around him were sleeping. Wallace could feel the stiffness in his muscles and decided to walk around the plane before his body really started complaining. Closing the Evangelion dvd, he powered his laptop down, and got up.
Walking aft in the plane, he stopped by the galley to ask for a drink before walking back into coach class. Here too, most people were asleep, though there were a few exceptions. He could readily see two people talking over the aisle way and someone watching something on a laptop. The blond boy started walking up and down the passageway as he arranged his thoughts.
He could remember about two years after the two had settled into Berkley, Yamato and Taichi had visited them. Yamato was kicking off a tour in America, and four digidestined had a little get together at the apartment Wallace and Takeru shared. It was about 2 in the morning, and both Taichi and Takeru had called it quits, going to bed, but other two had stayed, sitting in the small living room drinking and talking. He wasn't sure what prompted him to ask the circumstances concerning Takeru and Daisuke's break-up...
"All he ever told me was that it ended badly with Daisuke."
Yamato groaned and leaned back on the couch, "I guess you should know, seeing as you're going to be caring for his love-life for the next two years." At that Yamato grinned at the American. Wallace chuckled.
There was nothing but the muted sounds of the city in the room as Yamato thought about how to tell Wallace. He decided to do it succinctly. "The two had been going out for two years, and I could just see that Takeru was in love with him. I think what tipped me off was all the little things that TK did, how he never seemed to forget to go to a game, how he would worry a lot about getting Daisuke something really special on his birthday, you know that my brother usually isn't one to worry about something like that, it was the little things. How Takeru would always talk about Daisuke... and mind you I'm not imagining this stuff. I wasn't going through the happiest time, and I didn't exactly see the best side of everything, but I saw it for what it was. My brother really loved that boy." Yamato was silent for a moment.
"And I thought that Daisuke loved him too, though not as much. Takeru very much needed Dai... though I don't think the opposite was true. And he strayed a bit too far... I could remember how angry I was at him, for breaking my Takeru's heart. But what scared me was how disjoined Takeru was after that. I stayed at mom's for a while, and I remember how he would just would just walk around the house, and not say a single world. One day he saw a picture of himself and Daisuke that was on buried under the stuff on his desk. It had been taken years ago when they first got together, and he just snapped a bit. He raged around the apartment, throwing things, ripping up pictures of them... I had to restrain him to calm him down. He sort of went back to normal after that, but he was never quite the same. He had this edge to his voice that was never there before, and his eyes didn't quite look right anymore."
"I kinda stopped talking to Daisuke and Ken after that. I love my brother and that boy held Takeru's heart in his hands... and he just dropped it, and wondered why it bled on the ground. I saw how happy he made my brother, and when he took that away, it was too much. It may sound a bit illogical and hypocritical to say this, but Takeru is my brother, and that comes first. Taichi still talks to them though. I don't bother asking."
"Are they still together?" Wallace asked.
"... all I know is that the two broke up soon after Takeru left. You can tell him if you want, though I would ask not to. If they were truly meant for each other, fate will make it right."
"Uh..."
"Ok, that did sound weird. What I meant to say was that Takeru needs to find his own place in life, and if that place is with Daisuke, it'll happen."
"That clears it up."
"Yeah, I thought so."
They had fallen asleep almost right after that, sitting there in the living room. Though he had a hangover, Wallace could clearly remember their conversation, he wasn't so sure that Yamato could say the same. He thought about what Takeru's love life was like over the four years they rooming together. It was usually brown haired boys, with high cheekbones and faces seemingly reminiscent of Daisuke's. A couple dates here and there and Takeru would break it off.
Wallace walked back towards the first-class section of the plane, and as he passed the doorway of the galley into the compartment, he stopped for a moment and admired Takeru. The sleeping blond boy was beautiful, still maintaining a boyish face at the age of 21, his pale skin served only to enhance his bright blond hair. He had shed the short sleeved shirts and shorts of his youth for cloths more suited to San Francisco's cold and damp climate. Jeans, and plaid, vast, vast amounts of plaid, and Wallace couldn't help but think that some of his own fashion sense rubbed off on Takeru.
Back in the day, Wallace briefly entertained thoughts of dating Takeru, but as they grew closer to each other, their bond became one of great friendship, rather than of romance. And it was clear to him that Takeru was till very much in love with the burgundy haired boy who had left him so long ago. As he walked closer he could see that Takeru looked so innocent and carefree as he slept, at least at first glace. Wallace noticed how he was curled up, as if protecting himself from some pain, how his shoulders never quite could completely relax, signs that not all was happy.
He once again reached his seat, and belted himself in. He nestled under a blanket, and tried to get some sleep before they reached Japan.
***
Stepping out into the terminal brightly lit by the skylines was an unnerving experience for Takeru. For the first time in four years he was home again. Wanting to leave the airport as soon as possible, he dragged Wallace along with him as they marched towards customs. They met a representative of the airline there that sped them through the lengthy lines, all the while getting nasty looks from tourists and residents all the same. Once again Takeru thought it was nice to have friends in high places.
Quickly they went through baggage claim, picking their luggage up, and exiting the arrival area. The two blond boys saw the gathered group of family and friends waiting for them anxiously at one end of the massive international terminal. As they approached it was all hugs and kisses for the two, whom they had not seen for years.
Wallace could pick out the entire Ishida family, Taichi, his sister, Koushiro, and all the new digidestined, with the notable exception of Ken and Daisuke. If Takeru noticed their absence he gave no sign of it. Sensing the weariness of the two travelers, the group moved en-masse towards the parking structure.
"We're gonna take your luggage to dad's car, and he'll drive over with us to my apartment. You two can stay with me and Taichi until you get a place of your own." Yamato informed Takeru and Wallace.
As they got to the parking lot, the group disbanded, with promises to get together tomorrow. Masaharu relieved the two of their luggage, and they were all off for their respective cars.
"So, did you two have an enjoyable flight?" Taichi tried to make conversation.
"Takeru here slept most of the way, though being in first class was really nice, thanks Yamato."
"No problem, I knew someone at the airline."
Looking out on the city from the parking structure, Wallace remarked, "The roads here are a whole lot narrower than in America."
"Eh, you get used to it." It was the first thing Takeru said in a while.
"Come on, this is it." Yamato indicated a black car.
They all got in and Yamato pulled out of the lot towards the expressway that would lead them back to Odaiba. Takeru stared out of the backseat window at the glowing Tokyo skyline, not really seeing the towering buildings. Instead he thought of Daisuke, the only boy that he ever loved. Thought about how he could not take one precious moment away from his Ken to welcome him home. Slowly Takeru could feel the anger bubble up inside of him. While he was the one that had to leave his home, his family, his friends, and to go to a foreign land, where everyone spoke a different language, he was not the one to screw up!
Takeru became terribly angry at Daisuke for the unfairness of the situation before he realized the anger would not help. It would not bring them back together, not bring him any happiness. Feeling the cool re-circulated air around him, and looking out into the inky darkness, Takeru resigned himself to his fate.
***
The second generation of the digidestined children had agreed to meet at a coffee house the next morning. Yamato had dropped Wallace and Takeru off, with the reminder that they had to go get their tuxedos fitted in the afternoon.
As Takeru saw two people sitting across from each other in the front window of the café, he was assailed by a memory, and stopped momentarily.
"Takeru?"
"I saw them here, a couple weeks afterward. Yamato and I were walking somewhere, and I looked in and I saw them, sitting at that table." Takeru pointed to the table in question. "But anyways, let's go in."
Already Miyako, Iori, and Hikari had arrived, and were chatting quietly at a table. They waved the two boys over, and soon they were settled, and informing Takeru of what had happened in his four year absence.
"Iori here found himself a nice boyfriend." Miyako looked excited as she relayed the details to Takeru, over the protests of a blushing Iori. "He's all so quiet and serious most of the time, but that boy has the dirtiest mind you'd ever find!"
Takeru let the voice wash over him, as he listened to Miyako go on endlessly about the gossip of the digidestined until she casually mentioned something about Daisuke and Ken.
"Yeah, did you hear about them? They got together a little while after you left, and it was nice that they trusted us enough to tell us about it. Though Kari here didn't take the news so well..."
"Don't start with that again Miyako, I'm not homophobic, I've got a gay brother, I have my reasons for not being overenthusiastic about them." Kari gave Takeru a sidelong glance.
"…Anyways they broke up a year after that, and we don't get to see Ken too much anymore, seeing as he lives across town and all. The Takaishi boy showed not much outward emotion at the news, but inside he revived a hope that he thought was dead years ago.
"Daisuke'd be here and telling you this himself, except he's visiting some relatives in the country with his family. And Ken told me the oddest thing..." Miyako tilted her head and gave Takeru a speculative look.
The blond boy remained silent on the issue, waiting for Miyako to speak, thinking about how much Ken would have told them.
"He told me that you two weren't exactly on speaking terms before you left." The table was silent as they waited for Takeru to respond.
"But I guess that's between you two..." Iori tried to be diplomatic.
Miyako, displaying her usual measure of tact, segued into the love lives of the other digidestined. Herself and Hikari were still bachelorettes; Jyou was involved with someone at the hospital -- whom, she had not yet ascertained; after Koushiro broke up with Taichi, the red haired boy immersed himself in his work; Mimi found herself an American boyfriend; and while it was not news to Takeru that Sora was getting married in the near future, it was news that her fiancé was the son of some bigwig at NTT DoCoMo.
They all sat there into the afternoon before Yamato came by to take Takeru and Wallace to get the final fitting done on their tuxes. The group parted with a cadre of hugs and promises to talk more at Sora's wedding, which was going to be held in two days.
As Hikari embraced Takeru she leaned close to him and whispered, "Four years ago I kept my mouth shut, I'm not gonna do it this time. I'll call you tomorrow." She smiled enigmatically, and Takeru was whisked away before he could digest her remarks.
That night conflicting emotions were battling it out in his body. Hope versus despair versus desire versus excitement as he thought about what the wedding would bring. But foremost on his mind was Hikari's odd parting message.
"What the hell does she mean, 'I kept my mouth shut...'?"
But the exhaustion of the day caught up with him, and he fell into a deep dreamless slumber.
to be continued...