Glass Slipper by liahime
Disclaimer: liahime doesn't own Digimon. If in doubt, please see previous chapters, all stating the obvious stuff. If I owned Digimon, there'd be no word disclaimer here.
8 Slippers of Memories
Am I dead? It's so bright... Thousands of tiny lights...
If I was dead, it wouldn't hurt this much, though. My arm feels like it's on fire.
Is that my blood? That can't be my blood. There's too much of it...
Wildcat, why are you screaming? I'm not dead...
just dying.
"RYO!" Was he dead? He could not be dead. He couldn't be dead. Ryo Akiyama, one of the constants in life, was not dead. Yet there was his body, lying limp on the road, with a puddle of blood - that couldn't be his blood. She ran toward him.
The driver of the car rushed toward her. "Is he OK?"
Rika turned on him. "Does he look OK? He got hit by your car! Do you actually think he's so perfect that he'll stand back up after getting practically run over by a car to save me? CALL A HOSPITAL, NOW!" She was kneeling next to Ryo, tears running down her face. "Did you hear me? CALL A HOSPITAL!" The frightened driver ran away, frantically pushing the buttons on his cell phone.
"Rika..." There was a long pause as Ryo shifted his arm. "I think you scared that guy." He winced as he tried to move his arm up.
"Don't move. You're going to be fine, OK? An ambulance is coming, and then you'll get your arm fixed." Rika was babbling. "Ryo, you can't die. Don't die. I am going to kill you personally if you die, Ryo Akiyama." Tears streamed down her face. "Don't die." Sirens wailed in the distance, their mourning cry screaming.
Ryo faintly whispered something.
"Rika... gomen..." The sirens were getting closer, the red and white lights were flashing through the trees, frantically rushing.
"Gomen nasai..." Would they get here too late? He was fading away, dying before Rika's eyes. He closed his eyes.
"Wildcat... I never meant... to make you cry."
The emergency room light had been on for a long time. Was Ryo dead? Were they afraid to tell her? Rika sat in the waiting room, flipping through a magazine. She looked at the 'Featured Picture', some photographer who specialized in couple shots. Two people ran after each other, the girl chasing the guy, caught in an eternal golden light. And yet, something about it was oddly familiar. She looked closer. It was her. It was Ryo.
They ran through the streets, chasing each other. A photographer stopped walking down the quiet street and smiled at them, grabbing her camera. She snapped two instant photos and ran over to them.
"Here. You two are such a cute couple! It's free of course. I specialize in couple-shots. Call me if you want a shoot!" Then the photographer had bounded away.
What had happened to that photo? Ryo had them at first, but then... She looked at the photo. If she could just go back to that moment, when things were simple as that day- just running, chasing him in that golden sunlight for her bag... She looked at her bag, dragged in the mud and oil of the street, with tiny drops of dried blood. Ryo's blood. Her stomach twisted, and she was nervous again. The operating light stayed on, glaring with a harsh white glow.
He bowed, and with a flourish he presented Rika her bag. "My princess, Cinderella."
She grabbed the bag from his hands.
"Ah, the princess is such an icy queen to serve."
She picked it up, and opened it, preparing to stuff the magazine in nit, hiding the photo from the future guests of the waiting room. A piece of paper fluttered to the floor, and under her chair. She knelt down to pick it up.
It was the photo. He had put it in her bag that day, while she was distracted. A tear dropped down onto the photo, blurrring it. A solitary tear ran down her cheek. She clenched her eyes shut, determined not to cry. She wiped the tear roughly off her cheek. And fell into memory...
She had burst past the finish line, feet aching, pressed by the hard metal shoes. She had won. She heard someone laugh right next to her. The photographer? It couldn't be. She turned her head, and there was Ryo Akiyama. Who won? He grinned at her? That meant he won? She won? Was he mad? Was she mad? Gone crazy?
There was a flash of a camera as she stood there, breathing hard, exhausted. She had turned away from that perfect, never tired smile to shield her face from the camera, when Akiyama Ryo turned, and kissed her on the cheek.
She felt the tears rising, and tilted her head back, face pale in the florescent lights. They burned, hot and wet in her eyes, but didn't come out. Good.
Why had he jumped? Why had he followed her? Stupid. Stupid perfect hero-boy, saving the day, never thinking about how the people left behind feel. Stupid. He had followed her, she knew for sure- the voice she heard in her head was him, mixed in with his singing. If she had just stopped when she had heard him, instead of running away. She hit her head against the wall behind her. Stupid. Completely stupid. The secretary, bored from sitting on the desk, turned up the volume on her radio. A tinny announcer's voice, blurred by a little static announced the song.
The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful
Stop me and steal my breath
Emeralds from mountains thrust towards the sky
Never revealing their depth
The secretary sang along with the song, off tune and softly, pretending her pen was a microphone.
" Tell me that we belong together
Dress it up, with the trappings of love
I'll be captivated, I'll hang from your lips
Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above"
Rika's memories were evil, she was sure of it now. Every memory of Ryo was flashing in front of her eyes.
"And what if they don't WANT to go away, Ayashi?" Half the girls started to swoon, most of them began to blush. He normally had that effect on people. Ryo Akiyama, the "Digimon King" of the school, continued. "Rika, you ok?"
"I'm FINE."
He ignored her glare. "Great to hear it pumpkin. Jeri, you ok?" She nodded. "Then my work here is done." He paused. "Oh, and wild cat?" Rika looked at him.
"Congrats on getting the part."
She wasn't going to cry. Completely never going to cry. Tears were rising up again, but she kept them in.
-Ryo was apparently not listening, just looking at one of the trees.
"Akiyama."
"This isn't funny."
"Augh."
"RYO."
He looked up. "Hm?"
"Fine. I'll call you.." she paused and sighed. "Ryo."
He grinned triumphantly. "See you tomorrow, Wildcat!"-
Wildcat. She hated that nickname. Or did she? She really didn't hate it at all. Maybe in the first place, a little... But now? 'Wildcat' was in her life now, in almost every memory she had. Smiling, pain, tears and all. Along with a smiling Akiyama Ryo...
-was falling now, and she panicked just before she was close to the cement, when suddenly, the cement stopped coming closer-
"Wildcat, you're not really a cat. So don't try it again. You won't land on your feet."
She glared up at him. "Drop me now, Akiyama."
He looked down at her. "I told you, call me Ryo!"
She glared. He sighed. "Don't waste the rest of your seven lives, wildcat." Then he winked at her. "I'm not always there to save you-
Akiyama Ryo, always there... When she needed him there, when she didn't, whenever and wherever- he had been there. Even when she was angry enough to scream at him for hours, he was patiently waiting-
Rika opened her mouth, and exploded.
She wasn't really even mad at him, she was just mad at the world in general, and her entire body was killing her right now, for something she didn't even really remember. Whatever came into her head, she screamed at him. She needed to vent her anger, and he was the perfect target.
Ryo Akiyama, however patient he was, was not a saint. He too was tired, his neck felt cracked. Rika was screaming at him. Whatever patience he had left snapped after she had started screaming. She was always angry at him, so self-centered in that way, never thinking about how anyone else felt. Why couldn't she act a little nicer sometimes?
Shards of glass, shattered, falling to the floor...
And one day, Ryo had shouted. And she realized what he had done- been a human verbal punching bag, letting her pour whatever emotion she had out. And why? He had saved her, angry as he must have been before, jumping in front of the car, catching her from falling to cement. Ryo... Tears were blurring her vision.
"Don't waste the rest of your seven lives, wildcat." Then he winked at her. "I'm not always there to save you-
His last words to her echoed in her head.
"Rika... gomen.."
"Gomen nasai..." She could still feel the cement road under her knees, see the blood pooling up.
"Wildcat... I never meant to make you cry.."
Then the tears came.
The doctor slowly came into the waiting room, early in the morning. "Young lady..." He looked exhausted. "Young lady, you're an extremely lucky human being to have someone make such a huge sacrifice for you. I'm sorry to tell you that-"
Rika drew in her breath, ready for the worst.
"You will not be able to apply for jobs concerning traffic or the automobile industry for the next three years." Rika let out her breath, and started to laugh. The doctor, taking her laughing as a hysterics, patting her gently on the back. "There, there, you'll be fine. Just be more careful now, OK? You can go up and see your boyfriend now." And for once, Rika didn't contradict him. Running up two flights of stairs, Rika burst into the hospital room.
The doctor was right behind her. "He's not going to be able to do much right now... And he'll have one nasty scar on his face when this is over. His leg is sprained, his arm is in a cast-"
The 'young lady' had fallen asleep during his medical explanation, her flame colored hair falling around her as she slept, head on mattress, tears gently fading in the light. The boy, scar freshly healing, slept on, unconsciously moving his body for her head. His arm twisted slightly as he moved. He frowned in his sleep from the pain, but stayed in his position.
She murmured in her sleep. "Thank you... Ryo."
The doctor walked out of the room, eyes smiling. He stopped the nurse at the door. Some moments were designed for two people alone.
REVIEWS:
retasu: - you get to wait the least. I got your review the day I finished!
Kari Minamoto: glad you liked this!
DigiChick: not less than a day, but about.. - so glad you liked the end of the previous chapter!
aNiMeAzNaNgEl: See! I saved Ryo... he just has a broken arm, a sprained leg, etc.. but he's not dead! ;.. I couldn't kill him, but he got hit by a car, so...
Luzr-Gurl13: Yay! Glad you liked it too! Might use your suggestion.. Thank you!
Lil' Lilo: thanks to DigiChick and her wonderful cookie bribe, I worked on this much more than I should.
sk8tergurl12193: Ryo sang I'll Be by.. I forgot. Thank you!
My Dream's Shadow: Thank you! Glad you liked it!
Rachel: Everyone's saying OMG a lot.. I was saying it when I was writing it. Thank you!
GTKari-123: Yay Thank you! You have snow? TT I want snow.. We just get lovely cold and miserable rain and fog and hail...
violetaurora : Ok! Thanx! I will try to make things less confusing.
Sparkling-Ruby Gem: Thanx for reviewing! Aren't you glad I didn't kill him?
shadowcat: I started this a LONG time ago, and then I forgot about it... and then I got internet access, so I started again. Glad you like it!
SSJ-Vegito: I'll take that as a compliment... Glad you liked it (even if not at first...)Thank you!
Authoress Note:
Dearest most wonderful people..
I'm glad you liked the last chapter! I now have a weird habit of getting the ideas for the next chapter at really inconvenient times... like during my science test or in the car to the airport... I wrote the outline for the rest of the story by flashlight pen last night. I was completely stuck on this though! (Personally, not that good, I think..) I mightrewrite this one.. Review and tell me what you think, please! - I hope you like it though... >
This is added later... liahime's been sick (huge huge headache-sorta-fever thing...) so she's really sorry she hasn't updated for as soon as she wanted to...
worry worry worry about this chapter... liahime