Disclaimer: Juri and Ryo are still alive. From that you can see that Digimon still doesn't belong to me, but to TOEI Animations, Saban, Bandai, FoxKids and others.
Takato opened his eyes. Small white snow flakes were dancing and whirling through the air, eventually melting on his clothes and skin. He had no idea where he was, but he could feel that he was bedded on soft grass, and his gaze was fixed on the huge blue moon in the sky, which faintly illuminated the scenario. Realizing that he was still on the ground, the boy got to his feet and wiped the snow off his pants.
"Why am I here?"
An unexpected noise in his back made him spin around. Bewildered, he eyed the person who had caused it.
"Ruki?"
"No gogglehead, the Easter bunny." Ruki watched the startled boy in amusement, showing off a smile so broad even Takato's trademark goofy grin would have looked only like a small smirk in comparison.
She wasn't clad as usual, but had replaced her Full-Heart-T-shirt with a black sweater which looked unfamiliar on her, but still absolutely cool- in Takato's opinion at least. Without hesitation, the girl approached him.
"I've seen much from you, but lying around in the snow is weird even for you, goggles." Even though it seemed impossible, her grin became even wider. All of a sudden, something inside Takato's mind snapped at the sight. He couldn't explain why, but he grabbed hold of Ruki's right hand with his left and puller her closer.
"Wanna dance?"
The puzzled look Ruki gave him in response regained Takato's rank as the unchallenged king of grinning instantly, but only for a second or two. Then, Ruki nodded in agreement and pressed her body against his.
"It's about time you asked me, gogglehead," she muttered, and then, barely audible, "I've been dreaming of this moment…"
Takato ignored the incredible blush appearing on his cheeks and, almost instinctively, placed his free hand on the girl's slender waist, as they started to rock back and forth in some kind of slow dance, which more looked like a strange combination of waltz and the movements people tend to make when they have the urge to go to the toilet. Amazingly, despite their seemingly uncoordinated dancing, they moved in perfect harmony, totally synchronous, as if they were just two different mind phenomena of one and the same person.
Which in fact, they were.
Takato groaned in sheer displeasure as the alarm clock sounded and abruptly ended his dream. The stupid thing had the weird habit of screwing the alarm time up terribly when it got disconnected from the electric supply only for a few seconds, as it had happened during a brief blackout at the Matsuki bakery the day before. Needless to say he had as usual forgotten to check on or at least deactivate it, and equally needless to say it woke him up at exactly the wrong time now. A quick glance told Takato that it was 23:05, but that wasn't of much interest to him. Instead, his fist collided with the beeping annoyance with such a force it could have probably split a Veemon's head in two, and effectively stopped the noisemaker- probably for ever.
'Note to self: Ask my parents about a new alarm clock, and make up a damn good excuse.' Then, Takato's mind drifted back to his dream that had just been so rudely interrupted.
'Actually, scratch that.'
He sat up in his bed and stared out of the window. It was rather dark outside, since the street the Matsuki bakery was located in was only dimly lit by street lighting. Only the full moon grazed Tokyo with its beautiful rays of light, as it was not yet covered by the cumulus clouds announcing the long expected snow shower. Now that the excitement of the dream and the fury towards his alarm clock were slowly subsiding, he tried to analyse the whole thing.
'Why did I dream of Ruki? Not that it wouldn't have been great, though…' He looked over to his desk, where a picture of him, Lee and Ruki was placed in a frame completely made of small clams. Minami had taken it shortly after the Tamers had defeated Gulfmon, as she had obviously thought of the look to be too amusing to not ban it on celluloid: After swimming back to Okinawa beach after the final battle, the Tamers were wet all over, Takato's precious goggles having shifted to a hilariously weird position on his head, and Ruki had lost her hair-band while swimming, which caused her soaked hair to fall into her eyes. Still, you could perfectly well see the death glare she shot at Minami, who had unexpectedly pulled out a camera out of Lord knows where. Takato had asked her for a copy- cautious that Ruki didn't overhear it, of course.
'She'd probably kill me if she knew I have that picture. And she'd kill me twice if she knew I was dreaming about her. Again!' He smirked as the memory of his dream about Ruki and Renamon fighting Lynxmon came back to him. It slowly seemed to become a habit, and for a second, Takato considered the idea of addressing Ruki as his dream girl again, but then decided he was way too young to be chained to a railway track already. He quickly abandoned the idea about what Ruki might do to him if she came to know what they did in his dream as well. His thoughts trailed back to the dance. At least in that issue, the dream had been realistic. Takato didn't know how to dance at all, and considering the fact that Ruki exploded at the thought of words like "ball" or "dress" alone implied that she didn't either. But that didn't matter, as the dance, even though imaginary only, had been wonderful. Yet it had also puzzled the brown-haired boy a bit. While Ruki certainly was his dearest friend along with Lee and Juri, the dream had aroused some certain feelings other than mere friendship as well. Takato was confused by this, and decided to stroll around in Shinjuku Park a bit. Maybe he could get clearer thoughts there, and possibly even talk to Guilmon. While the dino digimon certainly wasn't exactly what you'd call an expert on the human psyche, it always seemed to help Takato when he was around. He sneaked downstairs and carefully closed the bakery door behind him. If his parents caught him going outside at night time, he would definitely not feel better, but probably never feel anything again. With a slight smirk, he headed down the street, his thoughts focused on a certain redhead who obviously had enchanted him that much.
Ever felt away with me
Just once that all I need
Entwined in finding you one day
Ever felt away without me
My love, it lies so deep
Ever dream of me
Elsewhere, the aforementioned girl was sitting straight on her futon, trying to adjust her eyes to the dark surroundings of her room.
"What a freaky dream," she muttered to herself. "Why would I dance with gogglehead? On purpose?" She let out a deep sigh. Oddly enough, she had awoken for no apparent reason, except that she had heard the alarm clock beeping like mad. Only that she didn't even have an alarm clock.
"Just great. I always knew that hanging around with goggles, visor boy, four eyes and the rest would drive me insane sometime, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon." She sighed again. As much as she hated to admit it, but the dance she shared with Takato in her dream had actually felt… nice, almost comforting.
'You do realize that this makes gogglehead your dream boy now, don't you?' a nagging little voice inside her head whispered.
"Shut up, will you?" Ruki shot back.
'Great. I'm talking to myself. Now I'm definitely ready for the asylum.'
As if on cue, Rumiko's muffled voice sounded through her room's door in the next second: "Ruki darling, is anything wrong? Who are you talking to?"
"Uh… Renamon."
Ruki mentally cursed herself. The concern in her mother's voice had been impossible to miss, so she was going to enter the room to check on her daughter now anyway. Ruki could already see the look on Rumiko's face already when she came in and there was no Renamon in sight.
Sure enough, the door swung open immediately, and the young woman's head popped in. The light pouring into the room from outside where the hallway lights were switched on illuminated the scene more than enough for Rumiko to see her daughter and Renamon, who, unbeknownst to both mother and daughter of course, had phased into visibility inside the room merely a nanosecond before the door had opened.
"Ah, I see. Can't sleep, huh?"
Ruki gave an uneasy smile. "Yeah, I suppose. Listen, mind if I go outside for a while? I need to clear my mind a bit."
Rumiko looked at her watch and frowned. "Now? You must be kidd- OW!" Rumiko turned around to see her mother, Seiko Hata, giving her a meaningful look.
"Oh well, alright. But don't stay out for too long."
Ruki tilted her head in a way that could with some imagination be identified as a nod, got dressed in no time and made her way through the door, mumbling a quick goodbye.
Rumiko turned around, eyeing her mother: "For an old woman you have a rib-cracking punch, you know that?"
Seiko just smiled.
For no special reason at all, Ruki decided to go to Shinjuku Park. Everything was better than having a conversation with Rumiko about why she was dreaming not only of boys, but of Takato, of all! Right by her side was Renamon, smiling warmly at her tamer.
"Thanks for preventing me from looking like a total idiot, Renamon," Ruki muttered, as she noticed her digimon partner's smile.
"And what's so funny, if I may ask?"
"You're welcome," Renamon replied. "And as for your question, I just find the idea that you're dreaming about Takato… interesting."
Ruki froze, turning towards the kitsune.
"Nothing against that telepathic link between Tamer and digimon, but I always thought I should be aware of that too."
"That's not it," the yellow fox remarked. "My senses are sharper than any human's. I just happened to overhear it by accident."
'Note to self: Stop monologising,' Ruki thought.
"Yeah, whatever. Feel free to make fun of me, you won't live long enough to tell anybody."
"I would never do that," Renamon retorted. "But maybe it's your turn to do something."
Ruki eyed her partner suspiciously.
"What do you mean?"
Renamon smiled again, warmly.
"I mean that maybe there's more to this if you start to have dreams about young Takato already. It might prove prophetic, like his dream of you."
Ruki could literally feel the slight blush that crept over her cheeks.
"You're asking for it, right?"
Renamon playfully dodged Ruki's punch, laughing heartily. She obviously hadn't managed to cool down Ruki's temper (as for that, probably nobody could), but she had made the girl think.
'As abstruse as that may sound, but Renamon is right so awfully often, so maybe she has a point this time as well.'
'No kidding, Archimedes?' The annoying voice was back.
"Shut up already, will you?" Ruki shouted. Renamon looked at her, puzzled.
"I didn't say a thing."
"Not you," Ruki responded. "I was talking to- never mind." Involuntarily, she quickened her pace towards the park.
'Why does that gogglehead have to confuse me so much?'
Would you do it with me
Heal the scars and change the stars
Would you do it for me
Turn loose the heaven within
Meanwhile, Takato had reached Shinjuku Park and walked around a bit, his eyes focused on the ground as he was lost in his thoughts.
'I wonder if I ever appeared in one of Ruki's dreams. That would make me her dream boy, then.' A soft laughter built inside of him, accompanied by a sudden warm and pleasant feeling spreading across his entire body. The sheer thought of Ruki being by his side like in his dream suddenly caused a weird sensation in his stomach, and for reasons unknown, he remembered the precious smile Ruki had shown when they literally caught each other heading to fight the D-Reaper on their own after their arrival in the real world.
'She looks so beautiful when she's smiling…' He froze on the spot.
'Dear Lord, please don't say I'm… I'm falling for her…'
But it was no use declining it. Even if his mind wouldn't want to accept it, his stomach and his heart proved otherwise.
'That's just my usual luck… Falling in love with the one girl in the world that will never engage in a relationship…' He sighed sadly, and suddenly he had to fight back the tears welling up in his eyes. She was out of his reach, and that just wasn't fair…
"Uh… gogglehead?"
Alright, maybe "out of his reach" wasn't the proper choice of words.
"Ruki?" He tried as hard as he could to sound totally neutral, but he couldn't fully stop his voice from shaking with emotion as he spotted the girl, accompanied by Renamon.
"No gogglehead, the Easter bunny." Ruki rolled her eyes in annoyance, but it wasn't real. Takato could have even seen the smirk she put on if he hadn't looked down to his feet, shifting his weight uneasily.
"I'm sorry…"
Ruki cocked an eyebrow. She didn't have the slightest idea why Takato behaved so strange, but she didn't intend to make him feel uncomfortable. He was her friend after all, the best friend she ever had to be precise. Her voice softened distinguishably as she continued.
"Hey, it's not like you annoyed me or something- not this time, I mean. But why are you in the park in the middle of the night?"
"Couldn't I ask you the same question?" He dared to look at her now, and his own remark made his favourite grin reappear- but it froze instantly, giving way to an expression of complete and utter astonishment.
"What?" Ruki followed his look and glanced at the black sweater she wore this time instead of her T-shirt due to the chilly temperatures outside. "At least my mother didn't select it, or it would have a pink heart on it. And you still didn't answer my question, by the way."
Takato didn't react right away, since at the precise moment, the first snow flakes had started to float to the ground, baffling him even more. It was as if his dream had been a blueprint for this situation.
"I've seen much from you, but just standing around in the snow is weird even for you, goggles."
"Somehow I had a hunch you'd say something like that," Takato responded, finally recovering.
"So what? I'm still waiting for an answer." Ruki tapped her foot impatiently.
"Uh, right… well, you know, I was…"
'Make something up! Make something up! Make something up!!'
"…I had a weird dream, and decided to walk around a bit to clear my mind."
'Great job. Just great.'
Renamon was a very fast digimon, but not that fast. Even though she teleported out of earshot instantly, her chuckle could still be heard. Takato looked around, puzzled where the kitsune might have gone, and thus missed the look of extreme amazement on Ruki's face. Her mind was racing.
'I can't believe this… Alright, so he had a dream as well, so what? People do that. It's just coincidence, nothing more.' Finally, her curiosity got the better of her.
"What dream?"
Takato's head seemed like it wanted to explode any time, judging from the boy's major blushing. Takato didn't know what to answer at first, but just a single look into Ruki's amethyst eyes made his resistance melt away and enraged the fuzzy feelings in his stomach with renewed fury, so, with many a stuttering and stammering, he began to tell Ruki about his dream.
I'd take you away
Castaway on a lonely day
Bosom for a teary cheek
My song can but borrow your grace
What followed was purest astonishment, going hither and thither. Ruki had told Takato about her dream as well, for two simple reasons, the first being the fact that he was her precious friend who had shown how he cared for her so often in the past, and the second the even more precious look on his face when he got to know he and Ruki actually had had the same dream.
Ruki moved towards the startled boy, since she wanted to enjoy that rare sight from a loge seat, so to speak. Now that her own shock had subsided, it was just too amusing watching Takato dealing with it. It seemed to take an eternity before he could speak again.
"Wow… I really don't have an explanation for this… It's just too weird…"
"For once you're right, goggles." Ruki gave a slight smile, which Takato returned shyly.
"As for why I had that dream, it's not that difficult to explain…" He took a deep breath before he continued.
"…since I care for you a lot, Ruki. And if we have a dream in common, maybe that shows the connection between us, that the relation between you and me is somehow… special" He looked at the red-haired girl, his eyes getting wet again.
"Just as special as you are."
Ruki looked at him in surprise, then narrowed her eyes.
"Is it just me, or do you really appear out of thin air every time you had a dream about me and act like you were in love in me?"
Takato winced, blushing like mad. It was now or never…
"Well, you are my dream girl, after all… so… what if I am…?"
Ever felt away with me
Just once that all I need
Entwined in finding you one day
Ever felt away without me
My love, it lies so deep
Ever dream of me
It seemed like time had stopped for a moment. Takato stared to the ground again. He had said it, had confessed to the Ice Queen in person, but he didn't care if she humiliated or shouted at him now. His feelings for the girl were as true as they were deep, and he just had to try it- or he might regret it forever. Of course, it could very well be that he'd regret trying it as well, but that didn't matter right now.
Ruki still watched him, speechless.
'Did goggles just say he… was in love with me?'
'Someone is awfully smart today, huh?' Ruki ignored the voice now, and just continued to stand there and stare at her Tamer friend in awe. Takato cringed inwardly as he noticed her reaction- or rather, the lack thereof. Obviously, Ruki hadn't ever considered something like this to happen. A single tear made its way down Takato's cheek.
"Ruki, I… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have-"
Ruki interrupted him with a quick movement of her hand before she replied.
"No, it's alright…" She gave him a sad and apologetic smile before she continued, "I hope you know how dead you are if you tell anybody, but it actually feels… nice to have you around." She blushed faintly, barely visible.
"But… I don't think I'm ready for something like this yet…" She looked into Takato's eyes, and the hurtful look in them caused a terrible stinging sensation in her heart.
Takato, however, had known before that it would possibly hurt, so he wasn't too surprised. What surprised him, though, was the intensity of the excruciating agony that washed over his body and mind. This wasn't just normal pain. He felt like he would fall apart any second, and a part of him even wished that to happen to stop the anguish.
"I'm so sorry Ruki… I was expecting this somehow, but I just had to tell you…" Ruki gave him a nod in response: "It's alright…"
'Ohhh, very charming! HE apologizes because YOU rejected him, and your answer is It's alright.'
'Couldn't you tell me something useful for a change?' Horrified, Ruki realized she was starting to cry, and there was nothing she could do against it. But for some odd reason, she wasn't embarrassed to cry in front of Takato.
'Sure,' the voice insider her head replied, suddenly not sounding annoying anymore at all. 'For instance, I could tell you that Takato is not your father. He won't ever let you down, and you know that perfectly well, so why don't you give him a chance? And don't you dare giving me that Ice Queen stuff again. I don't know how often gogglehead saved your life already, I lost count. But it should be more than sufficient a prove for his sincerity.'
Seeing the tears welling up in Ruki's eyes made Takato forget about his own pain for the moment. He inched closer to the girl and, against better knowledge, grabbed her hand. He couldn't help but shudder at how pleasant the sensation was, and the still existing butterflies in his stomach seemed to have turned into fully-grown aeroplanes by now. And unbeknownst to him, of course, Ruki experienced just the same feelings.
"Ruki… What's wrong?" The worried look in his eyes replaced the pain for the moment.
"Stupid gogglehead… baka… I just hurt you so terribly and you're asking me what's wrong with me…" She smiled sadly. "You're just too good for this world."
'What makes you think he's not good enough for you then?'
Ruki sighed deeply before finally answering: "There's nothing wrong, really…"
'…except for the fact that I just kicked my best friend's heart in the dirt, of course…'
"…I'm just a bit… confused." That wasn't even a lie. Her thoughts drifted back to what Renamon had said earlier: "I mean that maybe there's more to this if you start to have dreams about young Takato already. It might prove prophetic, like his dream of you."
Maybe her partner did have a point there. Perhaps Takato and Ruki were just meant for each other. It would make Takato so incredibly happy. And- it was no use pretending the contrary any longer- it would make Ruki herself happy as well.
Ruki averted her gaze, now staring directly into Takato's eyes again. The pain was still there, but now intermixed with worries for his very dearest friend and beloved one. That did it. Ruki carefully took Takato's other hand in hers, and smiled at him. Not a cocky or pitiful smile, but absolutely… true. She lowered her eyes and shifted her weight nervously, just like Takato had done before.
"I'm lousy at this… Gogglehead, I'm really sorry for playing with your feelings like that… I didn't mean to… It's just so confusing… I couldn't think of anything you could possibly love about me…' She finally managed to look into his eyes, which were wet again. Slowly, Ruki wrapped her arms around the boy, leaning her head against his shoulder so her cheek touched his. It was a very warm sensation, as they were both blushing for all they were worth. Again, Ruki let out a deep sigh.
"I don't know where this will lead us, gogglehead… But I'm willing to find out, and I couldn't wish for anyone else but you to make the journey through life with me…"
Takato's eyes widened. Ruki smiled at him again, still shedding tears, which in his eyes however only added to her overwhelming beauty.
"I don't know what to say now…" Takato muttered.
"No words are needed, gogglehead."
They were silent for a few seconds, then Takato's eyes sparkled with amusement as a sudden thought entered his mind.
"Hey dream girl… Wanna dance?"
Your beauty cascaded on me
In this white night fantasy
He had caught Ruki off-guard with that, but she soon recovered and sneered back at him.
"It's about time you asked me, gogglehead. I've been dreaming of this moment…"
She paused for a moment.
"But you knew that already, of course."
They laughed heartily at the comment and started to dance in the park, while the soft white snow flakes were still pouring out of the midwinter sky. Their dream had been definitely prophetic in that aspect as well, for they both more stumbled around than they actually danced, but that didn't matter at all. They were still having the time of their life, since they had finally found each other, as if a dream had come true- which in fact, of course, it had.
"You're one lousy dancer, you know that?" Ruki grinned. "But that's what makes you my stupid loveable Takato, after all."
'…did she just call me Takato? I must still be dreaming.' The brown-haired boy smiled. 'But I don't want this dream to ever end…'
Ever felt away with me
Just once that all I need
Entwined in finding you one day
Ever felt away without me
My love, it lies so deep
Ever dream of me
OWARI
A/N: If you think an alarm clock can't behave like Takato's does in this fic, rest assured that it can. Trust me, I know it. As usual, thanks to all readers, special thanks to all reviewers and RUKATO ITSUMADEMO!
cYa until next time, which hopefully won't be in another fourteen months this time.