Hana heard sobbing coming from a room at the top of the stairs. "Kim? Auntie Kim? Where are you?"

"I'm up here, Han. Come in."

Hana raced up the stairs. She barged into the room from which she'd heard her 'aunt's' voice. When she entered she was surprised to see Kim in a bed surrounded by tissues and tears. "Auntie Kim?"

Kim stared at her for what seemed the longest second in her life. She said merely, "I killed him."

Hana had no idea what Kim was talking about. Instead of trying to comprehend what her best friend had just told her, Hana merely said, "I got a ride here from someone that I think you would like to see." Kim merely nodded, as if she didn't really believe her, but Hana went to find Ron anyway.

"She does want to see you, you know."

Kim didn't even look up as the door opened and closed. It wasn't until she heard Ron's voice that she managed to set aside her depression. "Look, Kim, um-"

Ron could no longer speak as he felt two arms compress his throat to the size of a nickel. He gasped and sputtered. She slapped him. "You left me!" Ron was completely confused. "I thought you were dead! I thought that I'd killed you! You left me here alone, and I thought that you were dead." Ron looked at this obviously distraught woman, sympathy evident in his eyes.

"I thought that if you woke up and saw me you would be worse off. I thought that if I left, you would be happier. I didn't mean to hurt you." Ron wrapped his arms around Kim once again.

"Never leave me again. Never again. I love you."

Ron raised her chin, looked directly into her eyes and kissed her. "As long as you want me by your side I will never leave you." As they kissed again, Ron did not notice that another three bonds broke. "We should probably thank our matchmaker."

Kim looked over his shoulder at the doorway. "I guess we should invite her in. C'mon Hana." Kim and Ron broke their embrace momentarily to envelop Hana in a hug. "Thank you."

"Yeah, Han. Thank you. Now, what do you say the three of us go and see if your friend can come over after school?" Kim looked at Ron lovingly.

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Zorpox felt more of the links between him and his original dissipate. He laughed for the first time in months, not the disturbed 'Booyahahah,' but a normal laugh that could have come from anyone. It felt good.

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Ron, Kim, Tara, Hana, and Susie spent the rest of the day together. They saw a movie, hung out in the mall, and spent their day together. Ron and Kim were happy to find that Tara had done well for herself since high school. She now lived comfortably enough that she could afford to pick her sister up from school each day. She was surprised that Ron had gone into international police work, and when they told her that their decisions had been made independently of each other, she said that it was impossible. Everyone who'd ever met Kim and Ron knew that the only reason Ron did anything was Kim. If Ron was risking his life for the good of humanity, it was a decision made out of a desire to be near Kim in her work. When Tara heard that Ron was a much more powerful opponent than Kim, she could not hold back her laughter. Then she noticed that they were not laughing. She felt fear for a moment as she saw the ice in Ron's eyes, but slowly felt her vital organs restart as his normal warmth crept back into his face in the form of a disarming smile. She knew at that moment that Ron was entirely different from the man that she had fallen in love with in high school. For a moment, it depressed her, but she quickly cast that feeling aside and smiled back. She knew that although he was no longer the same person, this new man could be a much dearer friend to her than Ron had ever been. She felt bad for the thought, but she genuinely thought that, for her at least, his change could be more of an opportunity than a tragedy. She could get to know this new man, a man who might give her the chance that the old one never would have, a chance to become more than a friend. A chance to become what Kim had given up all those years ago.

Tara knew the story. Most of their class did. Some of those who heard about what Kim had done had tried to find Ron, including, surprisingly, Bonnie. Those same students had been disappointed to find that even Wade, Kim's ex tech guru, had no way of tracking Ron. After they'd tracked down Ron's 'chip' to a garbage can in a small Turkish airport. No one had any clues as to his possible location. They searched every Beuno Nacho worldwide, hoping beyond hope that someone might have seen the man who had saved the world from an alien invasion. They'd hoped that Ron would be easy to track after the notoriety of his monumental defeat of evil. Their hopes proved to have no basis in reality.

Flashback

Ron had always had trouble with people forgetting his name and face. His foes called him 'The Buffoon' or 'The Sidekick;' to them he had no real name. He seemed to fade into the background. He was defined as the boy who followed Kim around. When he was abandoned by Kim and forced to grow up, he no longer had an identity. His peers could not find him, because they knew him simply as following Kim. Without Kim to guide him, no one had any idea what he would or could do.

For the few humans who had ever seen his true power, the fact that he no longer had an anchor was frightening. Shego and Drew Lipsky, the only people who were both present and conscious for his final defeat of the aliens entirely gave up their villainous exploits. When Ron disappeared, Shego knew that he had gone to the one place no one could find him. She and Drew both traveled to the dojo that she'd studied in for an entire year. Bowing respectively, they calmly awaited the opening of the doors. When Sensei greeted her, she introduced him to Drew. "Sensei, this is Drew Lipsky, my ex-boss and current boyfriend. We wanted to see him."

"I'm not sure if that would be the best idea, Shego. He is in a very fragile mental state. Seeing you two might further damage his mind. You may just remind him of that which he is running from."

Shego stared at the man who had once told her that the only way to overcome fear and self doubt was to confront it. The man who had helped her to mold her own unique identity. The man who had seemingly given up. She told him as much. "He'll never let go of her if you allow him to run. I'm all for him avoiding things that he knows will hurt him, but if he can't face them..."

"I merely meant that due to his current instability, Ron may attack you. I don't want anyone to get hurt here, Sheila."

"1. I told you not to try to keep me safe. 2. If you ever use that name for me ever again, I will get one of my 'friends' to deal with you."

Sensei looked on in amusement as the fuming woman stormed past him into the building where honored guests were lodged.

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Ron was entirely confused as to why no one had found him. Both Kim and Wade had knowledge of this location because of the final fight with Monkey Fist. He knew that either of them should be able to find him. He could understand that Wade might be trying to give him some time to himself. He could not, however, reconcile himself to the possibility that Kim would not have gone in search of him yet. She was looking for him in order to apologize. She had to be.

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When the light tapping alerted him to the presence of someone at his door, he knew immediately that Kim had come to explain that it was all a misunderstanding. It was all the fault of the moodulators, or maybe she'd been subjected to the attitudinator. Something was making her act like this.

When he opened the door he saw not Kim, but Shego. "Where's Kim?"

Sheila, or Shego as she still insisted on being called, saw the broken look on his face when he asked that horrible question. The only thing that was worse to her was the hope barely hidden behind it. When that question was asked, all of her resolve, all of her drive slowly faded into a crushing and crippling sorrow. "I'm sorry." Shego bowed her head as the question was asked, and Ron knew without a doubt what she was trying to tell him.

"She isn't looking for me, is she? She doesn't care." At those words, Shego's sorrow burst forth from her eyes, as if a floodgate had been opened. Her face moist she noted to herself that Ron's life was unfair. He had always tried to help anyone else, had been as giving as Shego had been selfish, and yet the Princess had crushed his heart while Drew remained faithful. She could not bear to hear the heartrending pain and sadness present in this voice, but the fact that it was completely undeserved was even worse. Until this point she'd managed to hold herself in the neutral zone, wanting to comfort Ron, yet convincing herself that Kim must have had her reasons. Here in this room, however, she found that in her mind nothing could justify the pain that Kim had caused.

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In the aftermath of Shego's arrival, Ron left the room that had been supplied to him for the first time since he'd arrived at the supposedly secret ninja school. After they had shared that touching moment in that room, Ron abandoned it. He found three trees growing near to each other and decided that he would sleep there. When he found that one of the ninja students had brought a bed for him to lie on, he placed it atop one of the trees. He knew that it would be hard for him to sleep while his mind was so full of thoughts of betrayal. He decided that his time would be put to better use if he trained and meditated through the night. With this new decision, he found a small patch of grass at the center of his newly claimed home. With a soft blue glow lighting his body, he sat down, closed his eyes, and slowly lifted off the ground.

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Rufus awoke to find that his master was no longer near. Squeaking his anger at waking up alone, he set off to find his master. When Ron virtually ignored him, though, he set off to find another human to feed him cheese, rapidly chattering the entire way.

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Ron felt sorry that he had ignored Rufus, but he was busy. He could not let his concentration falter. He had to become better, stronger, faster. He needed to become worthy of Kim. He needed to become the man the she'd always wanted, always needed, always deserved. Maybe if he could become worthy of her she would take him back.

Ron collapsed to the ground, crying.

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Yori woke early that morning, hopeful and happy due to the changes in the school's guest. Maybe he would be more responsive to her now that he knew that Kim would not come back to him. She struck up a happy whistling tune as she left the compound she was housed in.

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Shego woke at a ungodly hour. As she glared at the small squeaking rodent that had disturbed her slumber, the events of the previous day flooded her mind. Shaking the fog from her senses, she hurried to grab the small creature some cheese. As he ate, a worried look took residence upon her face, and she headed out of the complex that she was housed in.

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Yori and Shego exited opposite buildings at the same time. For a split second they found themselves staring into each other's eyes. Then they both noticed the man who lay crying on the ground. They both set out to comfort him at the same time. Shego was happy that Ron could count on people other than her at this place. Yori was suspicious and jealous of this new woman.

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Ron spent the next day listening to Shego talk about the people he had known and how they were changing now that he was gone. He was upset to learn that Kim had been ostracized. Even Wade had abandoned her when he'd learned of what she'd done to Ron. The twins would not talk to her at all. Even Monique quit her job at Club Banana rather than work with her. The disturbing fact that Kim had seemed to slip into a depression was nothing to the fact that it had only happened after others had abandoned her in the same way as she had abandoned Ron.

In a surprising twist the person the new Kim relied on most was Bonnie. Ron thought this especially odd when he considered that Bonnie had actually seemed not to hate him after the whole graduation thing. She'd always hated Kim, though. If he hadn't been so thoroughly depressed, he would have laughed at the irony.

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Kim was worried. No one knew where Ron was. What if he'd...? No. Ron had promised that he'd never again try to take his own life. He had to be alive. Kim felt alone though. She hated that man for what he'd made her do. If she ever saw him again, the remains would not be identifiable.

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Bonnie was worried about Kim, as insane as that sounded. Ever since Ron had disappeared, Kim had put on a strong face about all of it. Bonnie knew that it was truly painful for her though. She'd had experience with when Kim did not care about something, and this time she was acting entirely differently. She was genuinely sorry for dumping Ron. Bonnie had no idea what was keeping her from running out into the streets and tearing the world apart looking for him, but it must have been something important. Bonnie hoped that somehow she could help Kim to feel better about the world.

A/N: I think that I'm going to make you find out when the flashback ended. What happened between Ron and Shego? Did something just happen to Ron in real life? Is this some cruel trick to estrange the readers and force them to hate me? Why should anyone care? Why do I love typing to myself so much?

I love to read the names of the countries where people have read and/or continue to read this story. I am extremely satisfied to reveal that I recognized the location of every single country in my traffic page, although I will admit that the abbreviation for the United Arab Emirates had me stumped for a bit.

If you think that you are worthy, review. Otherwise, review. I like reviews.