The Dream that You Chased

A/N: Disclaimer is in the first chapter. Thanks to those who reviewed. I've been told I need to put an AU label on this. So…this is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, people! – I'm trying to keep the characters in character, but maybe more mature as people change over time. (Also, I'm sorry that I didn't keep Odaiba as a suburb of Tokyo…really, if I had known…) Also, who knows what you'll do if you're desperate, right? And Sora was desperate. Hopefully this helps clears up that misunderstanding/any other questions anyone might have. Thank you.

~*~

~* We told each other about countless dreams at that time

We can't go back, anymore, but still…*~

~*~

Chapter Three: Now That I Found You

"Sora?"

They were the same blue eyes that had haunted her dreams for the past three years. The same blue eyes her son had. The blue eyes she had seen every time she remembered that night.

That night. How many times had she relieved that night in her mind? How many times had she wished for things to be different? She'd wished so often, prayed so hard – for another chance to make everything right, for Yui to know his father, for a chance to go home. She'd wished so often that she'd lost hope. She'd also prayed to see him one more time.

She didn't think that it would hurt like this.

She'd seen him a number of times. It wasn't particularly hard to see him – not when you were as famous as Ishida Yamato was. There were posters, CDs, television and magazine interviews. No, it was harder to avoid him. But all that had been different. The man on the screen hadn't been Yamato. It was just an image, not the Yamato she had known.

But now here he was. Standing right in front of her. If she reached out she could touch him. It was surreal.

"Sora?" She snapped back to reality, looking into those blue eyes she wanted to pinch herself to see if this really was real.

"I-" There were no words, nothing that could describe this moment, the emotions rushing through her, "Yamato…" A single tear slipped down her face. Stupid, weak tears! She cursed herself for appearing so helpless. "Th-thank you."

He reached up and brushed the tears away, causing more to fall.

There were so many questions that he wanted to ask, all of them crowding on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to ask her what she was doing here and why. Why had she run away? None of that seemed important now though, all he wanted to do was take her away from here. To hold her close to him and never let go. He couldn't lose her again.

She pulled away from his hand, "Thank you." Her voice was stronger now; she was getting her emotions under control.

"Anytime," he whispered softly.

An awkward silence descended on the pair, broken only by raucous laughter coming from the bar down the road. He studied her, reddish-gold hair – longer now – hanging over her face. She was looking at the ground like it was the most interesting thing on earth.

"Sora…"

She looked up at him with kohl ringed eyes, reaching up a hand to push the hair out of her face.

"Wha-what are you doing here?"

A shrug, she forced a smile, "Well, what does it look like? I'm working."

Working. There was only one occupation for a woman on this street. He closed his eyes, trying to control the tidal wave of emotions – hurt, disbelief, but most of all, anger – that washed over him. He clenched his fists, wanting to him something, but knowing nothing would suffice. His nails dug into the palm of his hands.

"Why? Why would you need to-"

She cut him off before he could get any further, "Why? Why else?" Sora bit back a bitter laugh, "Money, of course. But you wouldn't have to worry about that, would you? You just get up on stage and sing. The money comes rolling in. Some of us have to take desperate means to survive, Ishida!"

He hadn't expected the anger. The bitterness and the hurt that lay under it all. He could tell she was holding her tears back, and doing a pretty good job of it as well. Yamato reached for her hand, "Can we go somewhere? Just to talk. I-" he paused, trying to find the right words, "It's been so long, Sora."

Those eyes again, she couldn't say no to those eyes. But she had to work, if she didn't, there'd be no money, no food for her son, for her. "I-" She was about to say no, she wanted to say no, but she'd dreamed about him for so long. She'd wanted to see him every day of the past three years, and now here he was, standing in front of her, fingers clasping her wrist gently. Maybe this was the closure she'd prayed for. "Just for a little while."

"Great," he smiled, unable to hide his happiness, "Where can we go?"

~*~

She took him to her place. There was nowhere else to go, they couldn't exactly go out. He was Ishida Yamato and she – well, she was dressed for her job. He couldn't exactly take her back to his hotel. And quite frankly, he didn't want to. There were too many explanations involved; he wanted her to himself, if only for a little while.

"I'm warning you, it's nothing much."

Yamato stumbled over a bottle in the darkened hallway. It smelled damp and he could see the paint peeling off the walls under the light of the single bulb. It was looking pretty bad from where he stood; he didn't know how she managed to live in such a squalid place. But as long as she was there, he'd follow. He said nothing, just flashed her a quick smile.

The apartment was tidy at least. The paint here was peeling too and the couch was a little threadbare, but overall it wasn't too bad. "There's a pair of guest slippers over there," she called over her shoulder, "Make yourself at home. I'm just going to – uh…put on some comfortable clothes."

"Okay," he replied softly, not even sure if she could hear him.

He took his shoes on and slipped his sock-encased feet into the slippers. They had a flower pattern on them and he grimaced slightly but decided it was probably better not to complain. The normalcy of the action was comforting to him. She'd been so quiet on the walk over here, it was so unlike her. He wasn't sure if she was happy or angry to see him.

The whole situation was so surreal. All of a sudden, the girl who had been on his mind almost constantly the last three years had shown up out of nowhere. It wasn't like he could just exchange phone numbers and call her in the morning. He didn't want to risk losing her again, and there was just so much he wanted to know. His blue eyes studied his surroundings carefully, hoping that they would tell him something about the woman who lived here. The woman he knew but didn't, the woman he had fallen in love with.

Few photos on the walls, a clock and a chipped vase sitting on the coffee table in front of him. An empty coffee cup sat on the kitchenette counter. Papers stacked in the corner – bills, he guessed. It was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing unexpected, but it also told him nothing about her, nothing about who she was now.

She came out of her room dressed in a baggy shirt and jeans, "Sorry about that. Do you want something to drink or eat?"

He said yes more to fill the silence than anything else.

"What would you like?" She was so polite. "Tea? Coffee? I don't think I have any soda…but I have water if you want something cold to drink."

He got up and followed her into the kitchenette, "Anything sounds fine really. I'll have whatever you're having."

"Tea, then."

There was a calendar on the counter, the photo showing Mount Fuji in winter. He smiled at her, wanting to ease the awkwardness in some way. "Sounds great." Why was this so hard? It was like she was completely closed off to him.

It was the colour, really, that caught his eye. He found his attention drawn to the photo, stuck to the fridge with magnets. It was nothing much, nothing that would have normally made him look twice. But he did. It was a photo of a baby, that, in itself was nothing spectacular. Just a baby who was grinning at the camera goofily, his red-gold hair sticking up at weird angles. A baby with bright blue eyes.

He swore his heart stopped.

"Do you take sugar and milk?"

She must have seen the question in his eyes, there was no way she could have avoided it. Her eyes flew to the picture on the fridge, realisation dawning on her face. Oh, crap. She hadn't wanted him to find out, not like this anyway. She hadn't been thinking when she offered to bring him home. She hadn't been thinking at all.

"Yamato, I can explain…"

His cell phone started ringing.

~*~

A/N: You all must be thinking I'm pretty evil. Where will I go from here? Who really knows? Will I even update? (Yeah, I know I'd better right? – Some people might come hunt me down or something) Truthfully, I don't even know where this is going. So it'll be a surprise for both you and me. I just have a vague outline in mind. ANYWAY – R & R please…as you see, when you review I actually get stuff out faster, or something like that. Criticisms are always welcome. Thanks again.

© 2003-08-08

Abi