Indomitable
In which Satoshi and Risa have an interesting conversation.

"I'm not ready to have sex!" Risa blurted out.

Satoshi peered up at her from the rather heavy book in World History that he had been engrossed in for the past fifteen minutes, his eyebrows raised. Then with a barely-concealed sigh, he put it down and gazed at her solemnly, giving her his undivided attention.

Risa could feel herself slowly turning red (she seemed to do that a lot when it comes to him damnit) under his seemingly scrutinizing gaze. But she had been dying to say that to him since—well. Ok, so this is embarrassing. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to say it in the school library (let alone ANY part of the school), even if they were sitting in a deserted and rather hidden section.

He carefully removed his glasses and slowly leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table and resting his chin on top of his clasped hands. She realized that she had been holding her breath as she waited for a response and quickly exhaled. And inhaled. And exhaled. God, she must be close to hyperventilating now.

"Risa…" he said, then paused. She noticed, with some surprise, that he seemed to be struggling for words. "While I appreciate and thank you for your honesty in that particular subject matter," he continued cautiously, "I would like to know what made you bring it up, seeing as we've never…really talked about it before."

God, she felt incredibly stupid now. Why did she have to go off and say it to him anyway? She stared down at her clenched hands in dismay. How was she supposed to explain that…oh, what the hell. She'd already started, so she might as well go on.

"Um," she began, looking at anywhere but him. "Well…I sort of heard from someone that…college guys expected…their girlfriends to…um, you know…put out."

His brows furrowed, "And?"

God, didn't he get it? "Well…YOU'VE been to college already, Satoshi…so…" She bit her lip and looked at him hesitantly. "…It sort of got me thinking that maybe you were expecting me to…you know."

He made a sound at the back of his throat that sounded strangely like a strangled chuckle. "No," he said simply.

"Excuse me?"

"No, I am not expecting you to have sex with me right now; and when I was in college I was far too young to be thinking of such things, besides which, I'm currently a 'high school guy'—plus add to those the fact that we haven't even reached second base yet," he expounded.

Risa gave an involuntary sigh of relief and then— "Wait, what? We haven't?"

He gave her a look. "No."

"Are you sure?" She tilted her head to one side, thinking hard.

He made that strange sound at the back of his throat again. "Yes, I'm sure. While I would love to bring our intimacies to another level, I'm in no rush." He paused, rubbing the bridge of his nose almost absently. "Because while I love you very much, I also respect you. Besides, we have the rest of our lives to do so."

If it were physically possible to melt into a helpless puddle and drip straight onto the floor, Risa would have done so. She looked into his eyes and—ok, this is cheesy, but she really could feel her heart swelling with happiness and love for him.

"While we've both agreed not to engage in any acts of intimacy besides kissing," Satoshi continued, returning her gaze with his own warm and intense one, "I want you to remember and get used to this: YOU are the only girl I want and the only girl I'll EVER want. And one day, I WILL have you."

Ok...melting into a puddle now.

It might take her quite some time to catch her breath, gather herself and concentrate on her homework again after what he just said.

He picked up his book almost nonchalantly as if he didn't just render her speechless and nearly incapacitated. "And, you know," he said, propping up the book comfortably, "I don't quite plan on being the last Hikari."

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I could use a fresh beginning too
All of my regrets are nothing new

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Fin.

Reen's ramblings: I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all my reviewers (including those who reviewed my other SatoshixRisa fics). You're all wonderful :D