KnH: I'm back and guess what, I brought along a second chapter n____n. Sorry that it took me this long to update, but I had the worst case of writers block you could ever imagine, anyway I'm glad I've got this off my harddrive, it's been lying arround here for far too long!
Once more, I wanna thank Cqueen for beta-reading my fics, domou arigatou gozaimasu u____u!!*bow*
I don't really feel like doing the disclaimer, so I'll let Pu-chan take care of that. Take it away Pu…
Pu-chan: Arigato Hiki! *Ahem*clears throat*
Disclaimer: Digimon, digital monsters, Digimon is not mine
If you sue, I bet you wouldn't even get a dime n_____n
KnH: Well, that was very,……..original o____O?!
~*~
Suspence filled the air as everybody waited for the results to be announced. Had Ruki made it this time again? Had she broken her record and triumphed over herself yet another time, or had all her efforts been in vain?
Surely that "interruption" was very very distracting and it could have cost her her victory.
~~~
"Sekiguchi Kairi 16,39; Makino Ruki …………………. 15,28!
New record!!!
The whole croud cheered for her, as she had just beaten her own self.
It took a while for the news to sink in on her that she had just won the race, and while the cheerfull uproar of the crowd broke the silence which was caused by the suspence, Ruki couldn't join the chorus and instead faltered and fell on her knees, utterly flabbergasted by the fact that she had won.
Yes she HAD won, won the race, beaten Kairi, beaten herself and managed to escape the whole world for a full 15,28 seconds but she didn't feel like cheering, not at all, her pride had just been badly hurt, she had taken off a bite too big for her to chew and now swallowing seemed hard.
Ruki who desperately turned over to look at Kotomi, her eyes wide in shock and begging for help (something she truly hated) met her mischievous smile which was more than just suspicious.
Now this was getting to much even for Ruki, the last thing she remembered was 'Someone hold her' before everything went black.
~*~Several Hours Later~*~
Atashi wa doko desu ka(1)???
Was the first question that shot through her mind when she opened her eyes and found herself lying in a sterile bed surrounded by blinding white walls while the sickening smell of desinfectant that filled the entire room reached her nose.
"You're in the sickroom, thank God you finally woke up, Ruki"
Kotomi who sat on a chair next to Ruki's bed emitted a sigh of relief, thanking the deities above that she had recovered her consciousness.
"What happened and why am I here?"
"Don't you remember anymore?"
"The last thing I remember is that I won the race, broke my own record and then…?" Rukis voice trailed off as she tried to remember the recent occurrences and there seemed to be a hole in her memory.
"Well, we were all chearing for you 'cause you won, but it seems like you overstrained yourself and then you blacked out and Hajime and Satoshi carried you in here."
"WHAT?" all with a sudden, strenght regained, she sat bolt upright in her bed, the name Satoshi ringing a bell.
"Satoshi Tajiri carried ME in here???"
"Well, yeah, when he saw you drop like a stiff log, he was the first one to get to you, he was very helpful and he looked so worried."
"Why was HE worried? What the hell's wrong with that guy, I've told him time after time that I don't want anything to do with him, I'm not Kasumi."
"Oh Ruki, now don't be too hard on the poor guy, he was only concerned about you, besides I think he's sweet, what's your problem with him?"
"OH if you think he's so cute, then why don't you date him?" she commented with a cynical sneer.
"For heavens sake will you stop trying to find me a boyfriend, I told you like a gazillion times that I'm not into such things, besides I'd never want to be the girlfriend of some freak who sees someone else in me!"
"Uuuh, harsh words there Ruki-chan." she said, playfully stressing the -chan.
*glare*growl*
"Speaking of love and relationships, I hope that bump on the head you took on your way "down", didn't make you forget that we've still got a deal running, now did it?" Kotomi threw her a knowing smile and her response was an icy glare.
"After all this, you still have to rub it in, don't you?"
"A deal's a deal!"
"But I acctually WON the race, remember? I beat Kairi fair and square"
"Yes but we bet that you'd make it in 15 seconds and under, remember? What you scored were 15,28; see it as it is Ruki," then she took another deep breath before hammering home the message.
"You lost!"
*death glare*growlll*
"This is so pathetic! Ack, me and my big mouth" she slapped her forehead and groaned.
Flexing her fingers before luxuriously stretching herself, Kotomi continued her victory-rant apparently enjoying the way she was pushing Ruki into a corner she wasn't comfortable with, making her do and say things she'd never really want to say, Kotomi had her right where she wanted.
"So, Ruki do you want to buy your own copy or borrow mine, I'm through with it anyway, so you can have it as long as you wish!"
"Kitsune, now be honest, why on earth are you doing this, I mean what's the sense in forcing me to read a book of that kind? It just doesn't figure!"
"Simple! When you lose a bet, you get to do something galling, and don't tell me you'd ever pick up that book out of your own free will and read it just for the fun of it?!"
Ruki just pouted and kept quiet, obviously Kotomi had a point there.
"Ok then, I'll give it to you tomorrow, and don't forget you HAVE to read from front to back without leaving out a single page or skipping chapters"
"Hey, what do you think of me, I may have lost but my sense of honour forbids me to stoop so low as to forgo my punishment, I will stick to my part of the deal, and read that damn' thing!"
Apparently Ruki's pride has not been totally broken, if she couldn't defeat Kotomi by running a race she'd at least not let her have the pleasure of seeing her chicken-out on a lost bet.
"Yeah whatever." she said rolling her eyes before adding with a chuckle, "You sound like one of those fighters in these vintage martial arts movies."
As childish as it felt to Ruki, she stuck out her tongue making Kotomi look surprised before bursting out in a fit of chuckles which in return made Ruki join the chorus, two laughing girls.
"Ne, Ru-chan, that face of yours was priceless, can you do that again?"
"Ha, you wish!" a smug smile tugging at her lips.
Sighing heavily they both recovered from their little fit of laughter, when Ruki suddenly noticed that the sun was setting as the flaming red and orange light of the evening sun flooded the enitre room tinting every white surface with it's warm colours.
"Kitsune, ima nanji desu ka?²"
"Ima rokujihan des³!"
"WHAT??? six thirty? How long have I been lying here?"
"Well for about 6 hours now, you broke down arround noon right after your race, and since that you missed out on all of the festivities, I even had to take your medal for you, here! Whoa Ruki you really had us all worried back there, after you made that mad dash through the finish line we were about to carry you off like the champion you were, well carry you we did but not quite as we expected." giggling at her own joke Kotomi reached for the medal which she had put on the nightstand next to Rukis bed and handed it to her while she gingerly accepted it carefully turning it over some few times reassuring herself that it was real.
So it was not real gold, why would it be, these weren't the olympic games after all, but this circular piece of gilded brass dangling from a red ribbon, engraved with the silhouette of a running girl, meant just as much to Ruki as real olympic gold would mean to a top athlete. Kotomi knew that so it surprised her even more, when she saw Ruki putting it back onto the nightstand sighing with a sad expression on her face.
"Why, something wrong with it? You don't seems to be all that pleased, I mean this is gold, you can't achieve more than this."
"No, no it's not the medal, it's just that this-like many other achievments of mine- will go unnoticed by my mother, she'll hand me another one of her fake 'Oooh, well done Ruki' before picking up her mobile and rant with another one of her ten-thousand agents or maybe even return to ponder which hat to combine with which outfit.." the bitter undertonw not pass Kotomi by and she kinda felt sorry for Ruki.
Ruki had always detested self pity and felt disgusted that she had allowed herself to sink so low, especially in the presence of Kotomi, so she shook herself and tried to raise her spirit again.
"I think I'm OK now, I should go home it's getting late,and who knows maybe I will turn sick in the end if I lie here for too long." Admittedly it was a lame attempt to a joke but Kotomi who knew Ruki very well understood and smiled along with her.
Kotomi stood up and went to look through the window to see if all the left over traces of the festival had been cleared away.
Everyone had left, except one shadowy figure which lingered about the school building seemingly staring up at her window.
"Hey, isn't that Satoshi standing down there all by himself?" she turned arround to inform Ruki while pointing out the window,
"Really?" she too wanted to see for herself if he was the one and joined Kotomi but when she looked down, she couldn't see anybody,
"Where?"
"But he was right there just a minute ago, where did he go to this fast?"
"Maybe it wasn't him."
"Maybe he was just in a hurry."
"I don't have the time to worry about him right now, I better get going."
"Ok then, let's go"
They reached the entrance of the school and before Kotomi pushed the door open, Ruki threw her a knowing glance, Kotomi understoood imidiately and nodded. Ruki stepped out of the door followed by Kotomi but if a passer-by would have wittnessed the two girls current interaction after walking through the door, he or she would think of them as nothing more then mere strangers to each other who were by chance exiting a school building at the same time.
It might seem surprising but if you gave it a second thought, it was almost logical, especially from Ruki's point of view. After all she had an image to live up to, what if somebody they knew saw them together outside of school, acting as if they were best friends? Nobody knew that they were such close relatives and nobody should know, she couldn't risk this secret being discovered, hence their little "denial-game".
So they parted and each went her own way in oposite directions, Kotomi could have had her personal chauffeur come over to pick her up but she decided that she'd like to take a little stroll through the shopping streets of Shibuya before she'd go home finally.
The glowing red evening sun hung low in the sky and cast it's flaming light upon Ruki's back which danced up and down her body as she moved while her shadow which was stretched to a considerable length, always moving a step ahead of her. Again she was caught up in her own little world of thoughts, a peeved frown adoring her face when suddenly she saw a shadow, apart from her's flashing up right next to her, only for a short while but it didn't pass her by. Spinning around abruptly to find out whoever was sneaking up behind her, adrenaline rushed through her entire system tuning all her senses on red alert, ready to defend herself if need be.
What she found was nothing, nobody there and it was quiet, left for the far off bark of some dog in the neighbourhood and the calls of its master to shush.
'Hm, strange. I could swear I saw something!?'
She took some few more steps to the corner of a house, when that same strange shadow she had seen a while ago appeared again. This time she decided to observe the shadow for a while, and she was right in her assumption, whatever IT was, it was following her. Ruki stopped dead in her tracks stood still for a second before turning arround. Again it had dissapeared, now Ruki was fed up.
"OK, who are you and what do you want from me?"
No reaction.
"Either you come up here RIGHT NOW and face me or quit following me!"
Her eyes flashing with eagerness she was determined to battle whatever was about to come her way be it man or digimon.
Slowly it peered arround the corner she had just come along, holding it's hands up in a surrendering manner.
"Tajiri???" she had expected any other one but him, even a deva wouldn't have knocked her out of her socks as his apppearance did.
"Pleasedon'thurtme?!" he winced, approaching her.
"What in the name of Kami are you doing here stalking me like that?" shocked, yes but soon relieved to find out that it was somebody she knew, more or less.
"Why, did I scare you?" due to the fact that he had almost nearly perhaps even maybe scared the living bejezuz out of the unshakable Ruki Makino amused him and made him feel a bit securer now as he drew closer.
"No you didn't baka, but why are you following me?"
"Well erm,..you see, after the race you suddenly fell over and I,… I mean -we- had to carry you to the sick room and well you…"
"Yeah I know what happened Tajiri, I was the one who fell, my question is, why are you stalking me?!" impatience evident in her voice.
"I didn't get the chance to see you again, I was worried and wanted to know how you are?"
"Well as you can see, I'm just fine!" Attempting to avoid any further conversation, she spun arround irritated, continuing her original direction.
He stood there in his spot for a moment, perplexity stated all over is face, watching her walk away from him.
'No you don't! Not this time, you walked away from me once and you're not gonna walk away again!!'
All with a sudden his bewildered expression was replaced by one of determination, and he instantly ran to catch up with her, when he got to her he slowed down his pace, adjusting to hers so now they were walking side-by-side.
"What, Tajiri?" she barked harshly, trying to daunt him.
"You can call me Satoshi" he smiled hopefully.
"Hhmm..."
His hands were shoved into his pockets, his gaze fixed on his shoes, Ruki just tried to ignore the fact that she wasn't alone while moments of silence elapsed as they just kept on walking next to each other, the tapping sound of their shoes connecting to the cool grey asphalt echoing along the empty street.
"Anata ga suki des(3), Ruki" he suddenly blurted out into the silence, making Ruki stop dead in her tracks and turning to stare at him,
"Nani?" He had caught her off guard and for a split second she even looked surprised but quickly regained her cool, she wouldn't let him get her that easy, but what actually stunned her wasn't the fact that he'd admited his feelings for her, she had been sensing them for a while now. There was something strange about the way he behaved in her presence, she knew she had it coming someday but not today, not right now.
He pulled his cap deeper into his face, failingly trying to hide his blush and the embarassement, then he continued stuttering.
"W-w-well, you see, I-I've allways liked you Ruki a-a-and….i know you don't feel the same way for me as I do for you, but I just wanted to tell.. let you know, that I really really like you………willyougooutwithmeonsaturday?" that last part was a bit hurried though. One way or the other, you could feel sorry for the lad.
Ruki struggled not to roll her eyes and sighing deeply hated such moments, bad enough to see this mush-stuff everywhere in the media, the last thing she needed right now was a personal experience and she cursed this day to hell. There weren't many things in life Ruki was grateful for inheriting from her mother, her famed beauty, which was putting her in this awkward situation in the first place, being on of them.
Her day had been too long, she had faced too many disapointments and she was tired, Satoshis little "confession" wasn't quite what she wanted to hear at the end of such a day. Now he had it coming.
"Look Satoshi I don't like you, so get lost." she barked her eyes glinting dangerously daring him to go any further and if he was smart, he'd heed her warnings, but it seemed like he wasn't.
"So, is Saturday fine with you?"
" I said GET LOST!" quickening her pace she tried to shake him off.
"How 'bout Sunday? Sunday's always fine with me…"
This was starting to freak her out, she stopped to turn and glare daggers at him.
"Hey you freaky twerp, which part of 'GET-LOST' don't you understand" not at all intimidated, a dreamy expression crossed his face.
"Your hot temper sets your eyes ablaze, burning like the evening sun, oh Ruki, you are so beautiful when you're angry."
Now, he was pushing it, Ruki losing her temper grabbed him gruffly by his collar, ready to make him regret what he had just said, when suddenly a certain jet-black Mercedes C-class limousine caught both their attention and their eyes trailed the car as it lessened its speed and came to a standstill, pulling up at the sidewalk right beside the kids.
Ruki absentmindedly let go of him, staring intently at the car's tinted glass window as it rolled down slowly in a smooth motion, revealing none other than…
"MOM??"
"Ru-chan? I knew it was you. I was just driving down the street when I saw an orange pineapple bobbing up and down, and I asked myself 'Is that not my Ru-chan's pineapple?' and lookie here, it was *giggle* seems like there aren't many bobbing pineapples in Shinjuku, ne?"
Ruki threw her a deadly look for calling her 'Ru-chan' not only in public, but also infront of Satoshi and as always Rumiko would just ignore her warning signals, continuing with her rant. Leaning her right ellbow on the windowframe she tipped the end of her sunglasses on her lower lip, giving Ruki a smug smile,
"Ne, Ru-chan, tomodachi no namae wa nan des' ka?(4)"
"Tajiri, my mother, mom, this is Tajiri Satoshi, my _classmate_!!! (not my friend)"-she muttered barely audible,
"Dozo yoroshiku(5)" Satoshi greeted with a polite bow
"O-genki des ka?(6)"
"Daijobu des kudasai(7)"
"Now would you two cutt the small talk, I wanna go home." Ruki interrupted visibly irritated
"OK then, ne, Sato-kun would you care for a lift?" her mother asked making 'Sato-kun' blush as he didn't expect to be called that cutesy name by her mother
"Than…"
"Yes he'd care, right _Sato-kun_" she hissed, flashing a dangerous glare daring him to accept the offer.
"Thank you for the kind offer Makino-san, but I do not mean to bother you, I live not far away from here."
Apparently Ruki's attempt at intimidation worked; browbeaten, Satoshi declared that he lived just arround the corner, barely five minutes walk from here, so a lift wouldn't be necessary, though it wasn't the truth.
"Are you sure? 'Cause there's enough space in the back?"
Enough space in the back, (maybe not quite alone but nevertheless) was Mrs. Makino trying to tempt him? Who wouldn't want to sit in the back of a car with her gorgeous daughter? He stared blankly through the glass window at the two empty seats in the back of the car, chewing his lower lip. The thoughts racing through his mind at the moment would have surely been rated a PG-13 and nothling less, giving him something to brag about in the day time and dream of in the night for weeks to come.
Noticing that he was totally engulfed in a brown study, she glared at him slightly disgusted and gave him a nudge to snap out of it.
'The creep, what was _he_ thinking of???'
"Back…seat….-- A-a-ah yes, yes I'll be fine, totally fine, no need to worry about me Makino-san, thank you very much". he bowed deeply, not quite trying to show her respect, furthermore it was an attempt to hide his furious blush.
"Ok then, have a nice evening then."
"Konban wa(8) Makino-san"
"So Ruki, you comin' home with me?" turning to face her daughter now.
"Hmph…"
Usually she'd send her mother away, hating beeing picked up by her on her way home, because there was always the chance that she might branch off and go on a wild and spontaneous shopping spree with Ruki or something like that, but this was an exception, she was trying to get rid of Satoshi, and in this case, beggars can't be choosers so she grumpily reached for the car's chromium handle, opened the door and landed in the seat with a thud. Slamming the door she looked straight ahead waiting for her mother to drive off without even waving Satoshi good bye.
And all the poor guy could do was just stand there on the sidewalk waving after them, crestfallen, like a puppy left alone in the rain, watching as the car drove off into the sunset leaving him behind.
After the car was out of sight he let his waving arm drop limp next to his side bowing his head, his shoulders starting to quake and a mixture of chokes and chuckling could be heard as he clenched his fists together. Once again, a girl he'd loved had stepped (better said, drove) out of his life without even saying goodbye, this was unfair so very unfair, why always him?
Suddenly the sobbing and chuckling got louder, revealing the shocking fact that he was acctually laughing, not crying. Throwing his head into his neck his maniacal laughter echoed along the empty streets as he mentioned her name every now and then between chuckles.
"Good bye Ruki-chan, my _dearest cousin_ but not farewell, we shall meet again, mark my words."
He hissed like Gollum in Lord of the rings. His fiendish smirk and the malicious glint in his eyes would have made every Impmon in the digiworld turn green with envy.
"MUAHAHHAAHAHAHHA……eeehehehe, oh man, I've definitely seen way too many movies" *sigh* shoving his hands into his pockets again, he continued his way back home.
~*~
"Ne, Ruki, that Satoshi what's-his-name seems to be a very nice guy?"
"Seems!" she scoffed.
"I think he likes you." Her mother winked into the rear-view mirror, knowing exactly that her daughter would see her and catch her dig.
"Peh, I know he does." she snorted.
"How that?" Ruki's mother didn't seem to expect that answer.
"Why, he just told me." she commented matter-of-factly with a slightly cynical undertone.
"NO! Really, he did?"
Instantly paying more attention to her daughter than to the street ( A/N: that would be kinda like the first time in her life) Rumiko was more excited to hear this than her daughter was, when Satoshi told her.
"Aaawww, kawaii(9) !!! And, is he your boyfriend now? Did he ask you out on a date? Where are you going to? Saturday maybe? You'll need a new outfit, I'd say navy-blue hip-huggers and maybe a cerulian neckholder crop-top, a pair of plateau flip-flops, you can put your hair up, but maybe wearing it down wouldn't look that bad either, oh yeah, I can see that, you'll look absolutely dazzling Ru-chan, he wouldn't know what hit him, how 'bout we go shopping right now, shops are still open you know?"
"MOM, would you CUT THAT OUT??? and LISTEN to me for ONCE, HECK!!!" Her countless attempts of silencing her mother seemed to be in vain, once she was on her fashion-rant, there was no stopping her.
Ruki, on the very verge of exploding desperatly tried to keep her cool while a nervous vain popped on her forhead, she hated such moments.
"ONE, Satoshi Tajiri is NOT my boyfriend he's not even my FRIEND"
"TWO, I'm NOT going out on a date with him, even if he were to be the last guy on earth!"
"And as a result to point two, I'M definitly NOT going on a wild shopping spree with you right now! " Totally agitated, Ruki tried to make her point clear to her mother.
She in return sighed and shook her head in that "I-thought-as-much" manner, rolling her eyes the way only Ruki could, which explains where she got it from in the first place.
"Look honey, you're fifteen, it's all normal that kids your age begin to feel things which are totally new to them, emotions start coming up and stuff, and suddenly you see boys in a totally different light, and it's OK, to feel scared, the feelings are still new to you, and you'll be denying them for a while, but don't worry everything's gonna be alright" and winking at her daughter again she ended,"Just Give Sato-kun a chance."
Realising that this conversation was going absolutely no where, she sighed in defeat [A/N:she of all people!!]. Yeah, she could shout back, throw pointy remarks or even have a fit of raving madness, but after 15 years, she'd learned that it was smarter to just give up in such cases, especially when they involved her mother. Groaning heavily she slumped back into her seat thinking of a new subject to talk of, or remain silent for the rest of the car ride.
Rumiko took another quick glance in the rear-view mirror, looking at her daughter for some few seconds, thinking of her.
"Hey, hon' you hungry? How 'bout we go get something to eat at Ucchan's? You like their Okonomiyaki(10), ne?"
"Hm…" which which was Ruki'sh for 'yes'.
1) Atashi wa doko desu ka Where am I?
2) Ima nanji desu What time is now?
3.) Anata ga suki I like you
4.) Tomodachi no namae wa nan des ka What's your friends name?
5.) Dozo yoroshiku Pleased to meet you
6.) O-genki des ka? How are you
7.) Daijobu des kudasai I'm fine thank you
8.) Konban wa Good evening
9.) Kawaii cute
10.) Okonomiyaki a mixture between pancake and pizza.
"Okonomi" means "as you like".
This refers to the ingredients.
(All you Ranma-fans out there, ya
know the stuff Ukyo allways fries for
Ranma-kun n___~)
YAAAAAY, I'm done, hope you liked it, drop me a review, you know the ol' rant, at least five, to get new chap's off my hard-drive.
I know I promised that Ryo would come back this chap, but he just couldn't make it, don't worry, he'll return in chap 3, promise n_____n!!