Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, and all other copyrighted content is property of Disney.
Please r&r. This is my first fan-fiction.
And here we go! Lots of things introduced, wrapped-up, etc…in this chapter. This was one hard chapter to write. Emotions run high.
Chapter 9 Confessions
"Eep!" Kim blurted and they shot apart like two high school students that had gotten caught making out on the couch.
"Well Miss Possible, it seems your vision has improved." The doctor was chuckling. "Now, if I can persuade you to get back up here on the examination table, we can see just how much." Kim returned to the table and proceeded with the eye exam in the darkened room. She stole a few glances at Ron here and there, and he looked…we'll like she felt: Confused, conflicted…and ecstatic.
"Your eyes will be sore, and fatigue quickly for the next few days. You might also have a hard time focusing on anything for a while, but I think that you are well on your way to getting your vision back one-hundred percent. As I said before, avoid strong light, and rest your eyes often. We will need to do your next check-up in three more days, and then you should be ready to go home."
Kim only half-listened to the doctor as he told her what she needed to be doing, at the moment her mind was occupied with all the different reactions that Ron could have as soon as they were alone again. He least favorite, of course, is that he would be angry again. After their argument a couple of days ago, she was afraid if she got him mad again that it would all go to pieces. There was also the chance at a positive reaction. He could break down and tell her he loved her and needed her…that was unlikely though, he would properly never want her to be more than a friend now, with what she had put him through. More likely was that he would just play it off, or not even mention it at all…avoiding any conflict.
The doctor soon released Kim, and she found herself behind some hideous dark sunglasses (Garnered from the hospitals lost and found since she did not have any or her own.) walking towards the car. The trip was quite, Ron had not said anything to her since they had pulled apart in the room, and Kim was getting a little worried. As soon as they were seated in the car he finally broke the silence.
"Kim…uh…I…" Kim could tell he was trying to apologize for something he should NOT be apologizing for, at least in her opinion.
"It's OK Ron; I just got caught up in the moment back there. Sorry about that." Ron could not help but notice the disappointment laced in Kim's voice. Did she plan that? Or was it the 'moment' like she said? At any case, he might as well try to get things back to a 'normal' state…we'll at least as normal as all this was going to get.
"Don't be sorry KP. Now, I know you don't like those sunglasses, and I happen to have a couple of hours before work, so lets go to the mall and see if we can't find you a new pair!" Kim grinned…same ole' Ron. Address the subject, and then change it.
"Ron you can't buy these for me! They are much too expensive, I won't let you." She protested as Ron headed towards the cash register of the little sunglasses booth they were at in the mall.
"Hello...KP…multi-millionaire here. I don't think two-hundred dollars is going to be a strain on my pocketbook." She blushed, she had actually forgotten all about that. Ron did have money, but what was more is that he did not flaunt it or go crazy with it…he acted normal…completely out of character for him. Ron handed her the small bag with the brand new pair of designer sunglasses in them.
"Thanks Ron, but you know your really did not have to get these for me."
"Sure I did." He said grinning. 'It's so nice to see him smile again.' Kim thought. "I don't have anything or anybody else to spend my money on! Besides, you could use something nice after the past few days. Is there anything else you want to get while we are here? It's two now, and I don't have to be at work until three."
"Ron that's only an hour. It will take you thirty minutes to get home, change and then get out the door walking to work. Besides, now that I can see again we can come back some other day and then we can take our time shopping!" Ron groaned, shopping, oh yeah…Kim's favorite pastime other than kicking butt. He was a guy, he hated shopping, yet Kim loved to drag him along.
Ron was right, his house was nice. Kim could not help but be impressed at Ron's home as they pulled up and entered. She had been staying there for the past two days but now she knew just what Ron was describing. It was not a large house, yet it was very well designed, and the view. The view was just to die for. The architect had taken full advantage of that making most of the south wall glass and angling the house slightly south-west to get a wonderful view of the sunset. The rooms were not huge but they were comfortable, and everything was custom designed for the home. The furniture, the windows, down to the doorknobs. It was fully integrated design, everything fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
In typical Ron fashion, it was surprisingly clean. Kim had always been perplexed at how messy Ron himself could be, his hair, clothing etc… yet how anal he could be about the cleanliness of his living space. Never be normal, was all she could guess. Ron's personal items in the living room were few. There were a couple of very nice original paintings, but only a few pictures gracing the mantel. Pictures of his family, one of his grandparents, and one of him and Kim in their mission gear were the only photos in the room. That brought a smile to Kim's face; he still thought enough of them to put that picture up, at least.
"Alright KP, I'm off to work. I closed all the blinds in the house, and the lights are off, so you should be able to see most everywhere." Ron said as he came up behind her. Kim turned to see him in his 'uniform' and grinned upon seeing him in his Red chef's jacket, and black slacks. It kind of reminded her of his old red and black jersey he liked to wear.
"Alright, I'll see you in the morning." She said as he hugged her. Then he was off to work, leaving a curious Kim Possible standing in his living room. Kim had always been a strong, independent woman, but she was also a curious person. This was her chance to do a little snooping. Maybe some clues could be found as to what Ron was not telling her about his life just yet. She spent a little while poking around the living room, the kitchen; 'her' bedroom, the guest bathroom…and then she came to Ron's room. Maybe she should just respect his privacy and not go through his room…but then again, he did let her in here before, so she figured that it would be Ok.
Ron's room was almost as clean as the rest of the house; his clothes from earlier were strewn on the floor, though. He had a large king sized bed that dominated the room. Two bedside tables were on either side, and a dresser with a tall mirror was near the door leading into the master bath. The furniture was, again, custom built, as well as the tables beside it, but the dresser did not seem to fit. At closer inspection Kim realized that it did not belong at all, it looked like a Japanese piece. In fact she had noticed a lot of smaller Japanese statues, decorations, dining room utensils and cutlery, as well as some artwork throughout the house.
On the bedside table sat a picture. It was the same one that she had kept on her bedside table in high school, the one of them at their first day of school. Ron was beside her with one on around her shoulder and she was standing with her arms grasping a book in front of her, grinning. More pictures were on the dresser. One of Ron and some people she did not know another one of him and his family, and another of him with a petite dark, haired Japanese girl. Kim immediately recognized her as Yori, Ron's friend from the Yamonuchi School. A flash of jealousy crossed her face as she looked at it, but she let it go and continued her snooping.
On his other bedside table she found a couple of books. Ron would read only when a subject really interested him. One was a book on ancient cultures. 'Strange' Thought Kim, the other was a large, worn scrapbook. She sat on the edge of the bed and flipped trough it. There were pictures of him when he was a baby; she had seen them before, much to his discomfort. There were pictures of his family, but most of all there were pictures of Kim. There were pictures of Him and Kim, pictures of just her, pictures of her and her family, and him with her family. Near the end there were even pictures of him and her in college, kissing, and looking like a loving couple. These were especially worn looking.
By the time she was done she was resisting the urge to cry and rub her eyes. She new she had hurt him, but she was getting the feeling it had lasted a lot longer than he had made it sound. It must have been a long road for him to finally pick up the pieces and get back on track with his life, and it was all because of her. 'How he could not hate her?' She put the book down and turned to the page with a large photo of her, her parents and brothers, and Ron all standing there smiling. Her family had been livid when she told them about her breaking up with him. He was practically a son to her parents, and her brothers absolutely adored Ron. They never ceased to ask her every chance they got if she would call him instead of getting updates through Wade. That was the main reason she did not tell them about all this when she called yesterday. As far as they knew she was recovering in Miami at the Global Justice facility there, and would be home for Christmas.
Kim put the book down, and then made her way back to the living room where she laid down on the couch. She was getting tired, her eyes were starting to hurt a little, and she thought she might as well take a nap. Kim awoke a wile later to the sound of thunder. It was raining outside, and the evening had faded into darkness. It was around ten o'clock, and while she ought to be going to bed, she still wanted to explore the one place in the house she had not yet been, Upstairs. Her cast made the going a little difficult, but after a while she finally made it up the stairs and now stood in Ron's small office. There were bookshelves lining the walls, a computer on the desk and what looked like order forms beside it. Most of the books were about cooking, and famous chefs, but there were also some about ancient cultures, language books, books on Japan, and even some science books. Definitely a more liberal collection of topics than she would have suspected. Next Kim decided to move into what Ron had described as 'his workout room'.
"My goodness." Was all Kim managed as she stood flabbergasted in Ron's 'workout room'. In reality his workout room was full dojo. Complete with mats, rice paper screens, and simple Japanese woodwork. The room must have spanned all the way over the guest bedroom and master bedroom. On one side were full glass windows, like the reset of the house, leading onto a wide exterior deck, and on the other was a door leading to a small bathroom. The center was an open mat, at one end there was a table and on top of the table, on a stand was a long silver katana sword. Beside it was a monkey statue. Kim finally came out of her state of shock and began to walk around the room.
Eventually she noticed that the screens along the far wall, beside the bathroom looked like they served as doors as well. Behind the first screen were assorted weapons. Bows, practice swords, etc… The second was more interesting though. It contained six sets of uniforms. Two black Gi's. Two completely white Gi's. Two Red Gi's with black pants and a black belt. The white and black uniforms also had face masks laid underneath them. Then it hit her. (She did know twelve styles of Kung fu after all.) The four uniforms with masks were Ninja infiltration uniforms. They were worn when one went on a stealth mission; black for night, and white for bright daylight. The red uniform was his practice uniform….why red? Yet another revelation hit her. In some styles of traditional Japanese martial arts only a Sensei was allowed to wear a red uniform, and the Master Sensei wore a red uniform with gold accents. When Kim had met Master Sensei of the Yamonuchi School he was wearing just such a uniform.
Her head reeled. This was it; she finally put the pieces together. Ron had gone to Japan, trained at Yamonuchi, become and become a skilled Ninja, and returned to finish his education. It was him that had saved her! In the last two years she had made some dire mistakes on missions, gotten caught and nearly killed a couple of times, but every time she had counted herself down and out she ended up being saved. One minute she would be at the mercy of whatever villain she was captured by, the next there was a black blur, then the villains would be out cold, and she would be free.
It was on her last mission against MonkeyFist that she had finally caught a glimpse of whoever was saving her. She had been shackled to a wall. Fist had actually had the piece of mind to remove the power source from her battle suite as well as take her gadgets away. He was about to fry her with some sort of Mystical Monkey magic statue and suddenly he was out cold, along with his minions. She saw a blur then the clink of chains breaking, and was free. As she got up off the floor she had caught a brief glimpse of a person clad from head to toe in a black Ninja uniform, with a long silver katana on his back looking at her from the window. Then he vanished. It was Ron, it had to be, who else would swoop in to save her at a moments notice. Kim finally sank to her knees, clutching the red uniform, and cried.
"Kim….Kim" Kim finally looked up. It was Ron, he was home from work. He was standing behind her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I guess we need to talk, huh?" He said. She nodded, looking at him with red, puffy, emerald green eyes. He had missed those eyes, and was glad that she could see again. This time he picked her up and carried her back down to the living room sofa. He gently set her down, and then took a place beside her.
"I'm guessing you figured out that I trained a Yamonuchi for a while." Ron said his tone was light, but serious.
"Yeah, I figured it out. Are you the one who saved me on all those missions?"
"Umm…Yeah, I guess I am." Ron said, visibly nervous, scratching the back of his neck. Ha had dreaded telling her about this part of his life. She might get mad that he had saved her, or that he had left…there was also Yori. "Listen, before you get mad, let me tell you the whole story."
"I'm not mad Ron…I'm glad that you thought enough of me to come and save me…" Kim said looking down. Ashamed at how she had treated him again.
"Of course I would save you. How could you think otherwise? Maybe we should wait till morning to discuss the rest of this story. It's pretty long, and you're going to have questions."
"No, I want to hear about it. No more secrets…I want to know exactly what happened."
"Ok…where to begin? We'll after we broke up I pretty much hit the skids. I quit my job, my grades slipped, and I just could not stand to be in Middleton any longer. I had to get out; there were too many memories there. So, after the semester ended, and my parents let me in on their secret about my fortune, I decided it was time to leave. One day during that summer I and Rufus packed up, boarded a plane and left. No goodbyes or anything, I did not even tell my parents where we were headed. From there I went straight to Yamonuchi. I lived and trained at the school for two years, then one day, Master Sensei came to me and said that he thought the time was right; it was time I leave and return to America. When I returned, I finally got motivated. I decided to go back to school, but this time at a culinary institute, instead of community college, and in a little over a year I graduated with my certification, moved here, and the rest you know about."
"What about this red uniform? And why don't' you hate me? I chased you out of the country for goodness sake!"
"The red uniform means that I am a Sensei of Tie-Shing-Pek-Quar, as well as Mantis style Kung Fu, and Ninjitsu. Master Sensei said it was remarkable, even if I was the 'chosen one' how much I managed to learn in only a two year span. I attribute it to fighting freaks when in high school, and my Mystical Monkey power. As I said before, I could never hate you Kim. If you must know, though, when I arrived at the school, I was an angry, bitter young man. I was angry at you, and myself for letting you go. I was bitter because I thought that I was just not good enough for you. As I meditated, and learned at the school, I slowly learned to control my emotions, as well as let them go. One day near the end of my two years, Master Sensei came to me and said: 'Stoppable-san I have thought you everything I can. It is time for you to go into the wilderness and seek that enlightenment that I cannot teach you. You will leave the school, seek a spot in the wilderness and meditate until you have discovered that which you seek.' I asked him: 'Master, what is it that I seek? Where should I go?' His reply was: 'Only you know what you seek, and where you must go. Follow your heart, it will guide you.' So I left as he instructed. I wandered for two days until I came to the top of a tall mountain. Somehow I knew this was the place, so I sat and meditated. On top of that mountain I confronted my fears, and my doubts. I discovered resolve I never new I had, and I realized things I had known all along. I realized that you were hurting too Kim and that you had only done what you did because you thought it was for the best. I can only ask that you do your best KP, and you had, you were not to blame. I realized that this was something that I needed to do with my life. It took a week on that mountain, and when I returned I had finally released all the emotions that had built inside of me, I was one with myself."
"I'm so sorry Ron, I did think it was for the best, but I was wrong. I drove you away, and then I acted like I could go on without you…I'm so sorry…" Kim was crying now, so He moved in and put his arms protectively around her. She clucked his shirt and cried into his chest.
"It's Ok, Kim. I'm here now; things are as they should be."
"How can you say that, all I did was hurt you for six years?"
"Kim, think about it, things actually worked out for the best. If you had not broken up with me I would not have gone to back to Japan and trained. You could have still joined Global Justice, but what would have happened? I would have a 'general studies' degree from a community college, you would be a Agent just as you are now, but what if you had gotten in trouble like you have? I could not have saved you like I did. I would not be living here, enjoying going to work everyday. Sure things could be better, but our lives are the way they are for a reason."
"What about me. I missed you so much; I was doing worse and worse on missions because of it. I have not been able to maintain any relationship with anybody because they are not you….and…and…what about you. I know you missed me. I saw the pictures..." Kim was crying harder now…so Ron just held her and comforted her till it had passed.
"Kim…you're here now. We have a second chance, I did miss you. I missed you everyday; I wanted to have you here, but I was scared." It was Ron's turn to look ashamed of himself. "I told Wade when I got back from Japan that I did not want to know any updates on you life. If you needed me to rescue you, he could call, but I did not want to know about your relationships and stuff. I was scared that you had found someone new, that I was replaced. Last month he finally convinced me to let him tell me about how you were doing, and what you were up to, but I specifically asked him to leave out anything on relationships." Kim had finally stopped crying now, and was just looking back at him. It was him that surprised her this time by leaning in and kissing her square on the lips, she kissed back…quite passionately…he noted.
"So does that mean you still like me?" Kim asked a little flirtingly. It always amazed Ron that, even without the moodulator, she could change her mood so quickly.
"Maybe…do you still like me?"
"Maybe…but only if you tell me why there is a picture of Yori on you dresser." Kim replied a little teasingly. In the span of about an hour, things had gone from friends to crying confessions to flirting. If living around Ron was this crazy all the time she might just have to forget the whole thing altogether.
"Well….umm…Yori…uh…"
"Come on Ron, it has been six years. Don't tell me you and she did not get together while you were in Japan; you were there for two years."
"Yes, we dated. Briefly, I did not feel like it was right though, so we broke up. We are only good friends, honest." He said, as he blushed.
"No Sex?" Kim mused, with one eyebrow arched at him.
"Not that it is any of your business what we did, but no we did not have sex…actually no sex at all."
"Really! Wow, that must have been hard. Two years and no sex, most guys have a problem with a few weeks."
"Uh..hmm.." Ron grunted. "Actually, as hard as it is to believe…you know me, I have to be in a relationship before, and you know…and there has been no…you know…in six years." He had turned bright red this time. Kim's jaw nearly hit the floor. She had just meant to tease him a little, but a confession like this was beyond her. Six years, and she was still the only one he had ever had sex with. Technically it was possible, but it had to have been tough, Ron was the only guy she knew that would have even attempted that.
"Your turn. Any 'special guys' you have dated?" It was Ron's turn to tease her now.
"Umm….no not really."
"Come on KP…you asked me and I told you the truth, now it's your turn."
"We'll I have dated a couple of guys for longer than a couple of weeks….but no. I have not had anybody, um, like that in six years as well. Actually, over at GJ I knida' have the reputation as a cold fish." It was Ron's turn to be shocked. Kim had always been the…let's say…more forward one when it came to satisfying her needs in their relationship, but six years. He at least had the excuse that he was a looser. He started laughing hysterically at this.
"Now what are YOU laughing at!" Kim said perturbed.
"Sorry KP, I just…that's unbelievable! Maybe Bonnie was right all those years ago. We are both a couple of losers. Here we are talking about how we both can't keep relationships, and the fact that we have not had sex with anybody in six years." Kim had to laugh at that. He was right; the situation was just as described, Bonnie would have a field day with this one if she ever heard. It also helped to relieve the very awkward situation that they were both in. They did not 'talk' about sex when they were lovers, much less as just friends, and now here they were after six years apart talking about it. It was too awk-weird. They both calmed down shortly…then awkward silence retuned.
"We'll umm. Are you seeing anybody?" Kim asked, mimicking Ron's nervous trait by scratching the back of her neck.
"Umm…no, are you?"
"Uh…no…would you like to…"
"Go out sometime?" Ron completed her question, as a hopeful looking Kim stared at him. "Kim, I…uh…I would love to." He grinned. "Let's just take it slow, Ok? It's been six years, and while I'm ecstatic about all this, I don't want to rush into anything."
"I know." Kim said taking his hand. "Thank you Ron. You don't know how much this means to me. When do you want to go on our little date?"
"We'll today is Friday, and if all goes well on Monday, you will be able to go home on Tuesday morning, which is on my 'weekend'….how about Monday night, after your doctors appointment?"
"That sounds good. Now if you'll excuse me, it's late, and it has been one long and confusing day, so I'm going to bed." Kim finally stood up; trying to hide a face splitting smile, then turned noticing she still had Ron's Gi in hand. She leaned down to hand it back to him, and as she did so, she kissed him again.
"Just something to look forward to, goodnight." Kim said grinning and walking away from a, once again, stunned Ron. Ron was startled from his trance a minute or two later by a muffled 'booyah' coming from the vicinity of the guest bedroom.