Ruki was quite comforted with the way this turned out. They'd most likely be able to take this thing down in five minutes. And she got to lean against him that whole time. On this matter, Ruki had given up telling herself that she did not need anyone, did not want anyone near her. Sure, she had never experienced before what it was like to really need someone, but it was pretty obvious that the warm and save feeling anywhere close to him and the violent sting in her chest whenever she thought of him dying -again- weren't caused by her morning coffee.

Still in the circle, still in her weird robe and still in his tight embrace, she was almost automatically blocking the arrows now. Then she turned her head back, looked at her object of passion questioningly.

"Attack now or not?"

He grinned at her. "Operation Broken Arrow successfully going on, on to stage two!"

"Oh, shut up, will you?"

"I told you you shouldn't, didn't I?"

"Well, rather hearing your pointless crap than seeing you die again. Although the choice was tough."

He grinned, knowing full well that she didn't mean a bit of her irritated platter. "Well, what attack?"

"The Destroying Claw?"

"Nah, not enough. We'll have to take her down quickly, I'm afraid we can't hold this stage of digivolution for long."

"Oh my god, you're THINKING! What happened?"

He smirked. "Oh, all sarcastic again, now aren't we? Okay, deal: You come up with something useful - I shut up."

"Hmm. The Magic Shield?"

"Okay, that's a good one."

"I know. Are we on?"

"Bet on it."

She turned around again, looking at the evil thing in front of her which she knew was getting pretty pissed at her smirk. It was announcing that Aradmon had lost, and all five of them knew it.

"Let's get to it."

The Magic Shield was some sort of. well, in space you would call it something like a black hole. It was actually nothing, a dangerous nothing that absorbed all energy around it. And sending it against a living being, whether it be a plant or an animal or a human or a digimon didn't matter, made sure that you'd never see a sign of it ever again. Because of the ongoing exchange of all sorts of energies in all sorts of places, it would simply get absorbed, the whole thing would vanish into nothingness. No data pieces, just not being there nor being anywhere anymore. And that was exactly what was happening to Aradmon. But it was slow and it took a lot of the ones sending it, meaning Renamon, Cyberdramon, Ruki and especially Ryo who was still slightly troubled by the after effects of the other digimon's venom.

Aradmon was only a shadow of her former self when Ruki suddenly felt Ryo's grip tighten painfully on her hip and then loosening dangerously. Also, she saw how the Shield lost most of its power by the second. She spun around, just in time to see Ryo faint. In reflex, she caught him and steadied him. Then, she let him slide to the ground softly and looked up at her opponent.

"Renamon?"

"Yes, Ruki?" responded her friend in her own voice.

"We have to break this up and bring Ryo to Soulmon. He's ill again."

"Alright."

As soon as the digimon let the Shield fade away, the enemy collapsed to the ground without further movement, so Ruki chose it would be alright if they left the fight for now. The four of them separated and once again, she plopped down and scooped him up in her arms. Cyberdramon lifted them off the ground and the quartet took off.

Renamon looked at Ruki. The girl wore a frown, a deep one. And she knew it. But as she looked down, she discovered that her own expression was only a sorry mirror of Ryo's. He looked so pained that it almost seemed to radiate on to her, too.

°Why is it that death seems so impatient about getting to him? Isn't it enough that I'm all crazy and affected?°

As much as she hated that confession, even to herself, the thought of losing him forever caused her an incredible pain, especially when she didn't tell him her true feelings yet. The only problem was that she still wasn't sure what exactly she felt, what she would do if they'd both make it back to normal again. What would life be like with him by her side? What would it be like without him? She was way too used to his closeness, she realized. When they'd return, the lack of his presence would surely nag at the back of her mind. Well, if they'd return.

Cyberdramon set his feet on the ground just seconds before Renamon followed suit. Ruki let go of the boy's head and hopped down.

"Soulmon! Are you in there?"

No answer. She looked around. Damn, why hadn't they asked where to find the thing if there was an emergency. At the moment, there definitely -was- one.

"SOULMON! Get your bloody fat ass here!"

"I'm here, Ruki. What happened to get you that worked up?"

She didn't respond, just took a step aside to let the digimon see what miserable state Ryo was in. Again.

"Oh my god, what happened?! He's nearly dead!"

"I don't know, okay! He- he just collapsed!"

Ruki was sure, if he had been able the digimon would have frowned as well.

"Just DO something, will you?!"

"Calm down, Ruki. You're being hysteric and that won't help him at all. Just go sit over there and I will see what I can do. Cyberdramon, if you could help me get him in?"

The other digimon nodded and lifted the motionless body off the ground again. Ruki turned away and gritted her teeth, a sudden urge to hurt something, anything taking over her mind. What the hell did he do to deserve this punishment? Save the world? Live the wrong life? Love the wrong girl? At that thought she feared her teeth might break of the pressure, so she loosened up as much as she could. And that wasn't much.

She let her back fall against a big oak, slowly sliding down on it. Then she pulled her legs up and drew her knees close to her chest. Renamon appeared beside her.

"Ruki, do you want to be left alone?" The girl shook her head and continued to stare at nothing.

"I know this is hard for you, but be strong."

"Well, it may be hard for me, but if I'm already that troubled, imagine how he must feel. He didn't do anything to deserve this, Renamon. He's a good boy."

"I know he is, as does everyone else."

"Well, I'm afraid I believe somebody up there doesn't think so."

She stood up abruptly, a sudden wave of rage surging through her body.

"Whatever or whoever you are, you bloody god bastard, just GO FUCK OFF!"

"Ruki, calm down!"

"But-"

Before she could finish her objection, Renamon gripped her shoulders and pushed her down, gently but firmly. And Ruki gave in finally. She let herself slide down again and waited. But she was an impatient girl, so she couldn't last long. Soon, she stood up again and wandered to the cave.

It was pretty dark compared to the bright sunny outside. Her eyes adjusted to the light after a moment, and she looked around her. No Cyberdramon, no Soulmon, but most importantly, no Ryo. She panicked. Where had they gone to? He wasn't dead, was he? Without a seconds thought, she stormed out again. And bumped into someone.

"Hey, watch it Ruki, you're gonna kill me one time!" Her head shot up disbelievingly.

"Ryo?! Oh, you idiot!"

"Wow, thanks, nice to see you, too." He replied sarcastically, but his smile was honest. They both lifted off the ground again.

"You scared the living hell out of me! I thought you were lost!"

"Well, as you noticed, I'm not."

"See, I know there'll be times when I wish you were, but let's leave it for a second. Stand still."

"Why?"

"Because I plan to cling onto your chest in less than three seconds, and I don't wanna end up on the floor again."

He grinned and opened his arms. The girl smiled happily and practically flew into them. She didn't dare look up since she knew her expression was a little too blissful for her own good. But for a moment she allowed herself to just be glad to have him. For a moment she didn't think about the consequences, or that she actually didn't need this, or that he was gonna go and hurt her once. She didn't think, she only felt. His warmth, his equal gladness to have her in his arms, his tight yet so soft embrace, his broad chest heaving and falling with every breath. And it was all she wanted.

"Um, hey, guys, I don't want to ruin your emotional moment, but. could you listen for a second?"

They separated a little too quickly, and if Renamon had been able to grin, she would have been forced to try to hide it.

"You see, Soulmon had to go, but he told me that he can't feel Aradmon's energy anymore. That means she's most likely dead. So you two can return back to your world."

"Okay. Then I suggest we pack."

"Alright."

The two humans went to search their stuff while Renamon turned back to Cyberdramon. After a moment she asked thoughtfully:

"Don't you miss him sometimes?"

"That's none of you business."

"Come on, you won't get rid of me. Tell me. Yes or no."

The digimon grunted. "Of course I miss him. He's my friend. But I know that this isn't his world, as his wasn't mine. So the only solution is visiting the other at times. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you don't seem to have much of a relationship when you're Cyberdramon."

"And you seem to have too much of a big nose for my sake."

"Don't start that again. If I get on your nerves, just go." But just like the fox like digimon had expected, he just grumbled and stayed where he was.

"Okay guys, we're done. Let's head to the hole. Will it take long to get there?"

"No, just half an hour or such. But we will have to carry you."

"No problem. Come on, let's go."

"Why such a hurry?"

The young man grinned at Ruki. "I'm hungry, and my father is the best cooker I ever met."

She rolled her eyes and mounted Renamon's arms.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ruki did her best not to cry, but her lower lip had to suffer big time.

"Bye, Renamon. We'll come back next summer, I promise."

"Alright, we will await you."

They hugged, then she turned to Ryo and Cyberdramon. They hadn't as much of a scene, but you could still see that it cost them a lot to say goodbye again.

"Okay, I'm going now, and I'm not going to embrace you cause that would be embarrassing, don't you think?"

The digimon nodded. "So, um. I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Alright. We will meet again."

"Sure we will. Bye buddy." He smiled and turned his attention to Ruki.

"Come on, darling."

"Shut up, bug." He smirked and pushed her gently to the hole.

They worked their way through the tunnel. And when they crawled out the hole and into the park, everyone was there to welcome them. The whole crew, Juri and Takato holding hands, Jenrya smiling broadly at them, Kenta, Kazu and Suzy, suspiciously close to each other, Jenrya's dad, Ruki's mother and grandmother and Ryo's father. He looked like he was close to break down. And considering the circumstances, it was pretty sure he was. His son who had been dead for seven years stood before him and looked as alive as ever.

"Um.hey, dad."

"Oh my god. my boy!" The older man pulled the younger in his embrace, not letting go for a long time.

"I've missed you so much... I'm so sorry about all the times I was a bad father. I love you."

"I know dad. I love you, too."

They let go, and soon the big welcoming was over. Everyone turned to go home, though promising they would meet soon. Ryo smiled at Ruki.

Okay, boy, you will just stop seeing her as what you do now until she's ready to tell her feelings. It will only make it worse if you start urging her. Keep control of yourself. No emotions shown, no irrational acting, no expecting anything from her. Self control.

"Well, see you soon, wildcat."

"Yeah..." The young woman didn't know what to say.

°Oh, well, you know, the past months were really cool, I thought I hated you, I thought I loved you, I wanted to kill you, I wanted to save you from death and my momentary state of mind is describable by nothing else but confused. See you.°

That was ridiculous. She looked up to see if he was at an equal loss of words. But immediately, she was worried over him again.

"What's wrong, Ryo?"

He breathed quietly, but a lot too fast and his left hand was clutched tightly to his side. He looked down into her eyes, an almost unnoticeable frown forming on his features.

"I don't know, it just hurts. But it's not that bad, you can go home."

"What happened back in the cave when I wasn't there? What did Soulmon do to heal you?"

"As far as I know, he did nothing. I just woke up and felt as if nothing of that had happened."

"What did it feel like before you passed out? I know it hurt, you held onto my hip as if you wanted to crush it."

"I... I don't know. It's like.a cold fire. Burning, but freezing... Oh, it's hard to explain."

"Do you feel the same now?"

"Not exactly..."

She wanted to turn around again, but she heard him mutter under his breath:

"It's just worse..."

She grabbed him by the collar, unnerved because he didn't want her to know.

"Come on, Akiyama, don't expect me to revive you and then turn away when you're close to dying again. Tell me. Since when do you feel it?"

He pouted. "I won't."

"Fine, then die, but I won't be there crying for you. Not again."

He sighed. "Okay. It's there since... shortly after you kissed me, so I suppose it has to do with that venom I had in my blood. But it wasn't very intense. During the fight it became more present in my mind. It became more forceful every minute. And, you see, finally it was like an explosion, sudden and five times harder than before. And there I lost it, I think. The next thing I remember is Soulmon bending over me with a worried expression. After that, I didn't feel the pain anymore for quite some time, but now I can feel it come back again."

"So. what do you think happened?"

"I think that the venom, as said before, probably had some unpleasant effect on me. You weren't able to heal me completely, so I suspect it has to do with my being dead before. But that's just a wild guess."

"I don't think it's that wild. It's an entirely unpleasant situation, but what's scaring me the most is that we have no clue what this 'unpleasant effect' is and what it will cause later on. Anyway, I think the best is if we just wait and see what happens. Until then, you will have to suffer, sorry."

"Anything for you."

He took hold of her arm and clung onto it like a little child. Ruki rolled her eyes but she couldn't help but laugh. He straightened up and grinned as well.

°Now if only he meant it...°

Now if only she knew I meant it...

"Promise to call me whenever you think it will occur again, okay?"

"Sure I will. Even at three in the morning?"

"Yeah, even then."

She gave him another small smile and, surprising them both, lifted her hand up to ruffle his already tousled hair and spoke in an uncharacteristically soft tone:

"Take care."

"I will."

With that, she turned and went over to her mother's car. Ryo inhaled and closed his eyes, trying to convince his brain that processing that little moment of time couldn't be that hard of a work to do. He was constantly pained by something he didn't know a bit of, it was actually a lot worse than he wanted to tell Ruki, she was really worried over him, he was prepared to die once again and not come back and he didn't give a damn about any of this besides her smile and her gentle gesture, momentarily forgetting about the nagging pain in his stomach.

Ooookay, so much for self control... He got into his father's car.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The group decided that they would go to the movies together, to catch up with the old times. They hadn't seen each other as often as they used to. After Ruki quit, they lost touch. And Ryo had definitely some catching to do... stories that had happened within his absence, and a certain girl's heart.

Woah, slow down, you're starting it yet again. She's not ready. Maybe she'll never be. Just leave the topic and let her take the lead in case she even wants to.

He sighed in exasperation. This was too difficult to be true. And still the disturbing, but by now familiar pain in his abdomen wouldn't go away whatever he tried. He opened his closet, randomly grabbing a shirt and some trousers. His father had bought him a whole mountain of new, fitting clothes. He seemed really happy to have his boy back. Ryo let the damp towel around his waist slide to the ground and pulled on a pair of boxers. He slid the black shirt over his head, careful not to touch his still wet hair, then slipped into his also black skater pants. He never thought he'd wear such things since he'd hardly ever seen a skateboard closely, but as he discovered they were quite comfortable. Fixing them on his hip with his belt, he picked up his money and ruffled through his hair for quite some time. It was the only care his hairstyle needed. His hair was so thick and stubborn that it stood in every direction anyway, so there was no use in trying something else. With that, he headed for the door.

"Bye, dad, I'm leaving!"

"Bye, boy, have fun! And be back at two, okay?"

He rolled his eyes, though not really minding. "Alright dad!"

And the next sound heard was that of a door slamming.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey, Ryo, over here!"

Juri waved her hand like a mad chicken and Takato shook his head at her.

"He saw you, stop acting like a fool." She stuck her tongue out.

"If I embarrass you, I'm continuing. You deserve it."

Ruki rolled her eyes as Ryo made his way to her.

"What's up with them?"

"Some lover's quarrel. I dunno, and I certainly don't care. Why do you?"

"Because Juri's voice is hurting my ears if she keeps it that piercingly high."

"Well, you will have to suffer through it. Speaking of which, how's your stomach?"

"Empty."

"That wasn't what I meant, goon. Hurting or not?"

"Well, a little."

"But it's okay, isn't it?"

He smiled at her reassuringly and she turned. She forgot that he actually didn't answer her. Jenrya and Suzy arrived, Kazu right at their heels. Or rather, on her heels, following her every movement as if he were to start drooling every moment. Ruki made a disgusted face, but the younger girl seemed to like it. Kazu was really low a form of being. He had no self esteem. She looked the other way and saw herself confronted with the only being which she didn't know what to think or feel of. He smiled at her, in his usual, carefree, almost childish way. How cute. He was twenty-one and still managed to look like he was seven. She couldn't prevent her lips from curving upwards as well, and it wasn't like she really wanted to. Kenta stumbled in after the trio and they were complete, free to start the movie session.

They went to watch the about thirteenth teen comedy for this year. It was amusing. Not something that blew off your socks, but oh well... Ruki turned her face to her friends. Without really realizing it, she was so glad to have them back, to joke around and act like they were still ten. Everyone else seemed to be enchanted by the movie. She mustered every face closely, noticing how much they had changed and how much they were still the same to her. Then she turned to see the most important one among them, at least to her. But she instantly grew worried again when she saw his frown. Knowing it to be caused by pain, she shot him an uncertain look.

°Should I ask if he's okay? And when did I learn to guess the cause of his unease just by his way of frowning? And why won't he just speak up if it hurts, stupid pig head?°

"Ryo?"

Although her voice wasn't much above a whisper, his head shot to her.

"What?"

"You okay?"

Again this reassuring smile of his. How many times had she seen it in the past months? And how often did it turn out that she shouldn't have given up on the matter so quickly? No, not this time.

She stood up, pulling him along. She startled him as well as the others and the cinema guests in the rows behind them, grumbling for them to sit back down again which Ryo was actually trying to. But Ruki would have none of this. She struggled her way through all the legs and bags and finally reached the hallway, a confused Ryo still trailing behind her. Then she spun angrily and put her hands on her hips.

"So?"

"So what?"

"So why aren't you telling me that your stomach is hurting again?"

He looked down. "Well, I didn't want to ruin your time and besides, what would the others think if the two of us just disappear together?"

The rest of the crew didn't know of Ryo's pains, and he had a good point. What would they think? But at the moment she didn't care.

"It doesn't matter. But hey, just to have this registered: You are rather suffering a perhaps deadly pain than interrupting me watching a movie?"

"Yes."

The answer made the girl throw up her arms in frustration. "Man, you're stupid!"

But her attention was instantly diverted back to him when a low gasp was heard. His eyes were closed and he held his side again.

"I told you! Now come on, we'll go to the men's room to see what we can do."

Obviously his mind wasn't clear enough to object as she pulled him behind her.

As soon as she entered the room, she pushed him into one of the stalls and ordered him to sit down on the closed toilet. She took a couple of toilet paper pieces, wetting them and pressing them to his burning forehead. He was in a bad condition. And she didn't know what to do, not even where to start. His brows drew together even more, indicating the intense pain he must be feeling. He let his back just fall against the wall of the cabin, sliding down on it slowly and pulling his knees up to his chest. She locked the door, afraid someone might come in and think about what they were doing together at the men's room. Then she bent down next to him and asked softly:

"Ryo, do you hear me?"

He snorted, answering with a slightly pressed voice: "I'm just suffering a little bit of pain, I haven't gone nuts."

"Really? If you haven't, then why are you calling this little? It almost hurts -me- seeing your immense pain."

"Sorry."

"Oh, shut up. What can we do?"

His eyes still closed, he managed to give off a pretty weak imitation of his normal smile. "Don't think I would have a clue."

She looked at him bewildered. He wasn't trying to find a solution at all, it seemed. Okay, then she would have to do the job. How often had he had this pain? Too often, but not often enough in her presence. And as he said, there was nothing known to him that prevented it or made it go away. He just waited until it was over. But Ruki knew, if she'd have to sit beside him the whole evening, looking at his tense figure and tightly gritted teeth, the picture of him dead again would drive her insane. She had to do something. Just -what-? She had no idea.

Wait. He indeed -had- suffered a big pain around her. And she had helped heal it. And if these pains really resulted of the poison , then her... how did the little thing call it... body fluids would help him get better again a big deal.

"Uh... Ryo?"

"Hum?"

"Ah... would you... would you mind if I kissed you again?"

His eyes snapped open at an instant. "What did you just say?"

She cast her eyes down, her cheeks burning. "If I kiss you, it's gonna fade away momentarily, as it did back in the digital world. Remember?"

What a question. He may forget his name, his sexuality, his... everything, but not that moment... his memory of bliss.

"Fairly well. So, you want do to it again?"

She gulped. Well, of course she needed to do it again, but he was right. She also -wanted- to feel like that again. But she decided that she mustn't tell him this, so she just didn't respond.

Instead, she stood up and set herself onto his lap, her back supported by his legs that were still pulled up, her arms steadying her against his tensed up torso. Her fingers grazed the line of his neck and she looked up to his eyes again.

"Be well soon."

And with that, their lips met again, startlingly passionate and needing. They both knew that the other had longed for this moment to happen just as much. Her hands slid up to the back of his head, gliding through his thick mass of hair. His hands went around her waist pulling her even closer and in consequence deepening the kiss. This was already enough to make Ryo forget about all pain he ever felt, but they didn't stop, couldn't stop, even if Ruki had been aware of the fact that his only feeling was intense pleasure now. She wouldn't have stopped as she felt just the same. Their lips parted slightly to invite the other in, and both took the offer quite willingly. Their tongues were dancing, curling around each other like two snakes. Neither of them even noticed how Ruki's hand crept up his hot skin underneath his shirt, her nails softly digging into his heated flesh. Feeling even better, Ryo couldn't stop a small growl erupting from his throat. That brought the reality back. They were sitting in a toilet, kissing someone they loved dearly but didn't dare admit and way too comfortable with it. Ruki looked into his eyes again.

"Everything alright again?"

He nodded and gave a small smile, a real one. "I'm fine, thanks to you."

She lifted herself up again and pulled him along. "You're welcome. Come on, let's go search the others. I bet the movie's over."

°And I see no chance I would switch seeing the end of it with being with you for the past half an hour.°

Ah, wonderful, finally something to make my life livable again. Thank god that stupid thing got me back in that fight. You don't know how much of a favor you did me, dear.

They headed out for their friends again, both heavily restraining themselves as to not have too many 'accidental' touches. And not too shortly after, they found them waiting in the entrance hall. Suzy and Kazu all over each other, Jenrya shooting them a suspicious and curious look, Juri daring him to say anything and smiling knowingly at Ruki, and Takato and Kenta once again having no clue of nothing.

"So, uh... where'd you go?"

Immediately, Juri transfixed her glare to her boyfriend, wordlessly warning him. And obviously, he knew that look, as he backed away slightly and shut his mouth tightly. And Ryo and Ruki were at a loss of words.

'Oh, well, you know, Ryo has these pains that I fear he might drop dead because of every five minutes, and in the digiworld we discovered I can help those by kissing him. And well, that we did.'

That sounded ridiculous. -Really-.

"Well, I needed to ask him something about our stay at the digital world, and I didn't want to disturb the whole cinema by my whispering."

"Oh, so it's better to disturb the whole cinema by leaving? That's clever, Ruki."

Kazu snickered at his own joke, but one look from Ruki and another, even more forceful one from Juri were enough to shut him up the whole evening.

"So, should we go get something to eat? How about a nice pizzeria? We could talk and get to know each other again, how about that?"

Everyone nodded in approval and they headed out.

As they sat and waited for their order, everyone spoke. Ruki and Ryo telling their stories of their excursion, the others talking about what had happened in the meantime. And they told the two of the past seven years, as both hadn't had any contact to them then. Well, Ryo obviously couldn't, and Ruki had been to busy destructing herself to care.

Just when they had arrived on how Suzy and Kazu had come together, the pizzas arrived. Two pepperonis, two salamis, one avocado, two marguerites and one with mushrooms and ham.

Absently, Ryo reached over to Ruki's plate and took one of her olives. Jenrya, still having that highly analytic mind of his, took notice of the action immediately.

"Hey, what was that?"

Juri's glance came too late. Ruki looked up and asked:

"What was what?"

"He took one of your olives and you didn't say anything. Back then, you would have bit his head off."

The two looked at each other surprised.

°Well, we are a -tiny- bit closer now, you know?°

"Well. I guess we just became accustomed to sharing our food."

"So you don't mind and he knows you don't mind?"

"Exactly."

"Interesting."

"-Jenrya-."

"Okay, sorry."

Ryo's head was as red as Ruki's, if not more. He really hadn't even realized it. And as Jenrya continued watching them closely, he became witness of many other food exchanges, almost unknowingly done. It made them seem pretty close.

They continued on like this almost a month. Meeting again, growing closer, getting an attack and kissing (well, two of them) and then acting all normal again.

But as Ruki sat on her bed one night, just returned from another funny evening and another more or less voluntary snog, she decided she couldn't just let it go on. First because she feared more and more that it was something incurable and she couldn't just sit around and do nothing, second because Jenrya started to get suspicious and third because some sick, sadistic, mostly hidden part of her mind started to actually look forward to those moments.

Okay, it was understandable that a girl wanted to kiss a guy and was eager to have some incident happen that inquired this, but. not if the guy had an inexplicable and absolutely painful throbbing in his stomach. It was logic that she wanted to ease his pain, but now she almost urged it to appear.

That was sick. Really.

So she decided she would go see Soulmon again, tomorrow. She wouldn't let this insaneness go on.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Around three days later, Ryo lay in his bed, just drifting off to sleep. Just as he was hugging his pillow to his chest, willing it with all his might to be Ruki, the phone rang. He groaned miserably and lifted himself off his warm and soft mattress.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, Ryo? It's me. Ruki."

Instantly, his mind was wide awake. Sure, they had come to the decision that HE could call HER at any time in the night, but if she called him... There had to be an emergency.

"What's wrong, pumpkin? Missed me?"

And just in time Ruki caught her tongue. She was dangerously close to saying: 'Of course I missed you.'

"Well, um... We need to talk."

"What, now?!"

"Uh... no, I was just..."

She was just what? She didn't know herself, but she had the excuse of having to process an not all so pleasant piece of information. She just wanted to talk to him, tell him... but she wouldn't do this on the phone. She just couldn't tell him. She knew if she told him, he would never be even half as devastated as she was, but still... she was hesitant. She would be all the way if they... went through with this.

"Ruki? You still there?"

"Yeah... I guess I just wanted to talk to you. Dunno. Hey, can we meet tomorrow? I've got something... important to tell you."

Uh oh. Didn't sound good. What could she want to talk about...? He really didn't know, but by the way she was saying it it didn't please her. Just then he realized that they had gotten close. He could tell her mood by her voice now, despite how good she was able to keep any emotions from it. Oh, she wouldn't like this if she knew. Not at all...

"Ryo? Are you sleeping?"

"What? Oh, no, sorry. I was just thinking."

"Frightening." She smiled when she could almost hear him stick out his tongue at her.

"Haha. You can't believe just how much I love your sarcasm at three a.m."

"Ah, don't take me serious, big boy. You know I was just kidding." He could hear her amusement beneath that all too well known mask of annoyance.

"So... tomorrow at noon? At that pizzeria we went to last time?"

"Alright. See you. And sweet dreams."

She put the receiver down before he could reply. But oh yes, he was going to have sweet dreams... and he knew exactly what they'd be about. Sighing contently, he slid back under his covers and settled for a relaxing slumber.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ruki felt her stomach clenching lightly as she grew angrier at herself. Oh, please! The imagination alone was pathetic! She, Makino Ruki, one of the world's saviours, was close to rearranging the items on the table just to calm her nerves! And all this just because of one guy. A very special guy. To the world's safety as well as to her.

°GAH, NOT THIS AGAIN! Bad Girl! Don't think that! Think about...°

But whatever she could think of, her sadistic mind always made an automatic connection to him. She was close to throwing her arms up in frustration when she saw him enter. Instantly, she was nervous again. After all, this WAS pretty... uh, piquant. He spotted her and approached her table.

"Hey pumpkin! What's up?" °You.°

"Uh, well... we have a serious problem. It's about that constant aching in you abdomen."

He playfully raised his eyebrow at her. "We?"

"Well, seeing as I'm the one that permanently has her tongue down your throat, YES, we."

"Woah, no need to go all bitchy on me. Calm down. What was it that got you so upset anyway?"

°Oh, believe me, you will get upset, too.°

"Sorry, it's just... everything's so complicated and all..." She set her head down on the table, lying on her crossed arms.

"I don't really know how to start... see, I was worrying about you." (A/N: Insert hidden but happy grin of Ryo HERE.)

"And... I went to Soulmon to ask if he achieved any new information. Well, he did." She looked up to meet his eyes, but he couldn't make anything out save her so obvious nervousness.

"You remember this fluid thing, huh?"

"Sure."

As one of the most important factors of my current state of mind and body, how could I forget?

"Well, he said he found something... something similar happened already more than a thousand years back. But if I recall correctly, it was about the woman. And well... Soulmon said he found a... cure. And we... uh, I play a very important role in it."

As you do in everything that comes even close to having to do with my life.

She shifted and fidgeted under his gaze, obviously very uneasy and not finding the right words. He grew worried. What about her? What would she have to accomplish that made her such an edgy wreck? He had never seen her like this, it was as much out of character as the sudden confession of her love for Frogmon would be.

"Don't you want something to eat?"

"No! Uh, no not right now, thanks though."

"You're welcome."

He knew pretty well that he was almost frowning at her odd behaviour. And he knew just as well that she didn't even notice because she was so busy with her nails all of a sudden.

"Come on, spill it, Ruki!" She glanced up in surprise. He sounded agitated. And worried. Shit. She cast her gaze back down quickly.

"It's just... kinda tough for me, you know..."

She went on with her nervous staring at nothing until Ryo snapped.

"Oh, come on! I can't sit around and watch you act like you were... Oprah Winfrey! Tell me what the little idiot said!"

She gulped. Then she lifted herself off and stood, making him rise as well. She directed her gaze into his sky blue orbs, once again amazed by their intense colour. She prepared for her escape as she said:

"Well... Soulmon said there's only one way out and even that one isn't completely safe." She inhaled deeply again. "We'd have to sleep with eachother."

And with that said, she almost fled the store, leaving an absolutely dumbfound Ryo to stare at her fast retreating back.



A/N: Look, a cliffhanger! Ah, doesn't matter, nobody reads this story anyway. As for those who did, maybe you liked it. And if you did, there'd be nothing standing between you and the lovely little blue button 'Submit Review' over there on the left.