Author: Chapter 7! Enjoy!

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Osamu was surprised by Gennai's appearance, but Ken, Wormmon, V-mon, and I took little notice. Gennai glared at me and said, "Akiyama Ryo, you are in a lot of trouble."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. I said, "What did I do now? Piss in the local watering hole?"

"You know damn well what you did," Gennai said, obviously not in the mood for my usual heckling, "You did the exact opposite of what I told you to do, you went against the will of the powers that be, You left the digital world in a very vulnerable position, AND you failed to deliver Ken to the chosen children. And that's not including the fact that you told Ken not to listen to me or the powers that be."

I wasn't really interested in listening to that old man babble on. It had been quite a long day. I said, "Care to sum it up, old man? I'd like to go home soon."

"You are a strand away from a treason trial," Gennai said, "Be out of line one more time, and you could be executed."

That surprised me greatly. All I could do was stare at him. After the initial shock wore off, I cast a glance to my friends. Ken and Wormmon were clueless as to what was going on. V-mon looked as if he might know, but I think he was still trying to process what Gennai had said. Osamu understood, though. I sighed and said, "Aw, come on. It can't be as bad as you say."

"It is," Gennai said, "You were gone for over two days. That is years in the digital world. Years. Years where too many things went wrong. Years where evil grew too strong, and the chosen children almost lost. It was your duty to keep some of the evil down and lighten the work load for the chosen children, and you failed."

This was bad. Vary bad. But, I didn't have time to say anything. Gennai continued on, "As a matter of fact, the only reason that you aren't dead know is because of the fact that you're the best tag tamer we have. If you were any other tag tamer, you would have been tried and executed before the chosen children defeated Vamdeon. You made the choice to be a tag tamer, Ryo. You and you alone. You can't go back on that choice now. You can't choose to be a tag tamer some days, and to not be one other days. We don't have that luxury, and neither do you. You have to be ready at ALL times, and you must do EXCATLY as we tell you, without exception! Do you have any idea how close we came to losing everything?! We barely succeeded! Can you even imagine what would have happened if the chosen children had failed?! Both worlds would have been lost, and it would have been due to your lack of responsibility!"

Gennai's voice had gotten steadily louder as his speech had gone on. Ken had hidden behind Osamu, and the digimon were cringing against the harsh words. I said, "Well, what did you want me to do, huh?! I couldn't just leave Ken here on his own! And I sure as hell couldn't trust those chosen children to take care of him! He's almost like a brother to me! What would you have done if you were in my shoes?!"

"What would you have done if you were in mine," Gennai asked, his voice soft, but the malevolence still present. I stopped to think about that. After all, I had put him in a tough position. I was about to say something when Gennai said, "No, Don't both answering. Just come with me. You have a lot to do in the Digital world."

Gennai turned and began to walk away. I said, "Hey, wait a minute! What about Ken and Wormmon?"

"Ken stay here," Gennai said, "Ken is a chosen child, not a tag tamer. The work of the chosen children is done. Wormmon has to come with us, though."

Ken then cried out and ran to Wormmon. He said, "No! Why can't Wormmon stay here with me?"

"He belongs in the Digital world," Gennai said without stopping or turning around, "Ryo, V-mon, Wormmon, come on. Let's go."

I sighed and followed him. I didn't really have much choice. V-mon and Wormmon came as well. Gennai opened up a portal in front of him and stepped into it. I was a bit surprised, but nobody besides me, the digimon, Osamu, and Ken seemed to see it. It must have been some kind of magic. I looked back to Ken and saw that he was crying silently. I smiled and said, "Hey, no worries. I'll take good care of Wormmon."

"You promise," Ken asked, tears still running down his face. I nodded, then said, "See you around. Both of you," And stepped into the portal."

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I wasn't returned to where Ken and I had been before. I was returned to a desert. Gennai was waiting for me there. He said, "You only have one chance to redeem yourself. There is an evil digimon in this desert that was never defeated by the chosen children. It is known as Milleniummon. Defeat that digimon, and you will be redeemed in the eyes of the powers that be."

Then, Gennai disappeared, leaving V-mon, Wormmon, and I alone to fight this evil digimon.

Many months passed, during which time we learned how truly difficult our task would be. As it turned out, Milleniummon was an uber-powerful ultimate level digimon with an army of minions following him. We never got anywhere near Milleniummon, but we did defeat a lot of his army. During which time, V-mon and Wormmon both had digivolved to champion level. Wormmon's evolution surprised me greatly. After all, he wasn't my partner. I think it was just a lucky break when we needed it. Anyways, we were preparing to go up against Milleniummon, when he returned to the Digital world.

About two years after I had left, The two digimon and I came upon a village of young digimon. They were in a danger zone, but they couldn't leave until some travelers arrived to escort them away. The travelers weren't due to arrive for about a week, so we all decided to stick around and protect the village. That was a good thing, too, because a lot of young digimon were there, and quite a few of them were important digimon who had been reborn.

The young digimon adored me. They affectionately called me "Ryo-nii-chan" or "Our protector." And I cared about the little digimon, too. Who couldn't love such cute little things? I thought that all would be well, and that I'd stay there until the travelers came to escort them to safety. Then, something happened.

We found Ken wandering around the digital world. I knew that this wasn't good, so I asked him why he was here. He said that he had missed me and wanted to see me, but I could tell that wasn't the only reason. He was acting kinda shifty and wouldn't make eye contact with me. I said, "Ken, you are a horrible liar," and proceeded to head to the nearest portal. I had to take him home, after all. I was sure that the young digimon wouldn't miss me for a couple hours, now that the time flow was back to normal.

I took Ken home, promising myself that I would only stay for a couple hours, then I would go back to the Digital world. We ended up coming out of Ken's computer again, and a worried looking Osamu was waiting on the other side. As soon as we came through, Osamu said, "Ken! Where have you been?! I've been looking for…"

Yup, he laid eyes on me at that exact moment. I smiled sheepishly as I blushed slightly and said, "Hey, Osamu. Long time, no see."

Osamu just stared at me for a moment. Then, he looked away, a look of resentment plastered all over his face. I cocked my head sideways and said, "What's wrong, Osamu? Aren't you glad to see me?"

Osamu still wouldn't look at me. Instead, he said, "Ken, do you think you could take Wormmon and V-mon into the other room?"

Ken nodded and took the digimon away, shutting the door behind him. I said, "What's the big deal, Osamu?"

It'd be wrong of me to say that I wasn't at least a bit confused. I had expected Osamu to at least miss me a bit. We might not have known each other well, but Ken and I were pretty good friends. I thought that Ken might have at least asked about me when I was gone.

Then, Osamu looked me in the eyes. His eyes were full of pain and sorrow. He looked like he might even cry. I was a bit startled, and I took a half step back. Osamu said, "Why couldn't you just stay away?"

"Stay away," I said, "Why?"

"Because," Osamu said, "You hurt me. Each and every day you hurt me. Nearly two years went by without even as much as a friendly 'Hi! I'm fine,' and I was worried sick about you! You could have been dead, and I never would have known!"

I took a step back. Osamu was starting to scare me. I looked back into hiss deep blue eyes, and I could feel the tears tugging at my eyes as well. I said, "I couldn't…I was being watched so carefully…I'm taking a big risk by just being here now…"

Osamu shook his head. In a sarcastic tone, he said, "Oh, of course. We can't forget about your reputation now, can we?"

Osamu took a step towards me, and I stepped back, running into the wall. I said, "Why are you saying these things, Osamu?"

Osamu was now right in front of me. He was so close that I swear I could almost taste him. It took a lot of effort to resist kissing him right then. He said, "Because, I love you."

Then, he kissed me. Not one of those passionate I-want-to-shag-you kisses, mind you. It was gentler, and it was inviting. It was more like he was afraid of how I would react, so he didn't want to press his luck. I put an end to those fears by wrapping my arms around his waist and kissing him back. He then wrapped his arms around my neck. It did feel kinda weird, but I was enjoying it.

Damn the human need to breathe.

Before we knew it, we had to stop and take a breath. As we caught out breath, I couldn't help but notice how damn sexy Osamu looked. If we were a couple years older, I probably would have shagged him in a heartbeat.

Damn the fact that I was only 13.

I held him close and he said, "I've loved you for so long. Ever since that day I first saw you, I loved you. I just couldn't admit it, at first."

"Same here," I said, "I thought that you would hate me forever or something if I told you. I guess I was a jerk for not saying anything. Then staying away for two years. Do you hate me?"

Osamu smiled at me and said, "Nope. I'd never hate you."

I laughed and said, "Did you have that whole speech thing all planned out or something?"

"Up to the 'I was worried sick about you' part," Osamu said slyly. I sighed and said, "Can you forgive me for being such a jerk?"

"Only if you change your clothes. No offence, but you don't exactly smell good."

"Ha ha."

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Osamu ended up lending me a set of his clothes. I now had a purplish/bluish shirt, green pants (I kept my old ones, but Osamu had them washed for me), new socks, the same shoes, and white gloves. I must admit, they were pretty spiffy.

After I had changed, Osamu and Ken filled me in on what had happened since I had left. My disappearance had been reported, but it had become old news fast. Also, all data about the digimon attack two years ago had mysteriously disappeared. Of course, that wasn't public knowledge. Osamu was just a really good hacker. Apparently, almost nobody knew about digimon anymore.

I completely lost track of time and before I knew it, it was already dark. Osamu convinced me to stick around until tomorrow. He told me that he was going to show me something cool the next day, and then I could go back. I kept pestering him to tell me, but he wouldn't. Of course, my curiosity got the better of me. I agreed, and after a make out session (Hey, just because we were too young to make whoopee didn't mean we were too young to make out), I fell asleep in Osamu's bed, holding my dear Osamu close to me.

The next morning, I was almost discovered by Osamu's mom. Luckily Osamu always locked his door, so I had a few seconds to hide. Osamu managed to get her to go away, and our secret was safe.

We went out after breakfast. It was Sunday, so Osamu and Ken didn't have school. We walked down the street, Ken running ahead, and Osamu and I walking a little ways back. Wormmon and V-mon were there as well, but they were hidden in a gym bag I was carrying. Ken made sure to stay in eyesight as he ran up the street, calling for us to keep up. Osamu called out, "Be careful, Ken."

I smiled and took Osamu by the hand. I said, "Aw, let him have a little fun. He's only a kid, after all."

Osamu sighed and relented. He said, "Alright, if you say so, Ryo."

We all came to a street corner. As we waited for the light, we saw a van speeding up the road. The guy didn't look like he was paying attention to the road, for he was looking at a map while he drove. Osamu and I exchanged glances, and we knew that we'd have to wait until that guy passed.

Ken didn't know, though.

He ran out into the street as soon as the light changed. I noticed him at the last moment, and tried to grab for the back of his shirt, but I missed. Just as he reached the middle of the road, he noticed the van and froze in place. Osamu cried out Ken's name and took a couple steps to go after him, but I was faster. I dove out and knocked Ken out of the way. I sighed, thinking that everything was alright.

Then, I heard the squealing of the brakes, and I knew something bad had happened. Apparently, the guy in the van had seen me run out in the road and had tried to swerve. But, in the process, he had not seen Osamu until it was too late. Ken and I looked up just as the van hit Osamu.

I felt my heart shatter into a thousand pieces at that moment. It was as if the van had hit me rather than Osamu. I wanted to go help him, but I was frozen in place. So was Ken, apparently. Even when the ambulance came, we couldn't move. I couldn't. I was stuck, kneeling on the side of the road, Ken standing next to me. Even as Osamu's parents showed up, and even as they took Osamu away to the hospital, I stayed in place. I felt the tears begin to run down my face, but I still didn't move. Ken didn't move or say anything, either. Well, except for one word.

"O..Onnisan?"

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Author: Man, that was a hard scene to write! I get sappy at times…… oh, and Oniisan means "Older brother." So does Nii-chan, but Nii-chan is more like saying "big bro" or something.