A/N: Just a renewal of my disclaimer here: I own nothing. Literally. Anything and everything in this story belongs to Disney. Anything in my mind belongs to the mythical creatures who dreamt me up. Independant quotes will have small citations.
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Ron was having an amazing time with Kim and Tara. Kim didn't seem to want to release his arm, and if he was truly honest with himself, he realized that he loved that feeling more than anything else he'd ever felt. He knew that Tara still nursed a crush on him, but he hoped that the shock of seeing him as so different a person would help her to get over him, especially when coupled with the fact that he had not seen her since their high school graduation, which had been three months before his unexplained disappearance. The thing that worried him the most about this outing was that Tara was treating Kim so coldly. It was almost as if they didn't exist to each other.
Kim was having the most fun she'd had since that horrible mistake she'd made. She was genuinely enjoying herself. It didn't escape her notice that Tara was being extremely cold to her, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She felt her arms wrapped around Ron, and thus, she was content.
Kim knew about the attempts to estrange her by the largest part of her senior class. She did not blame them. How could she? She had chased off the best man who had ever lived, or at least the best any of them would ever come to know. She had truly crushed his heart, if not his soul, at a point when she not only didn't want to, but didn't have to. She'd stabbed him in the heart from behind and twisted as he dealt with the first voluntary murder he'd committed, as he relearned who he was and felt his memories return to him.
She had been appreciative of Bonnie and her friendship, however unexpected it had been, when the woman had finally revealed the jealousy that had burdened her and coerced her into tormenting Ron so much.
Bonnie had found out early in her life that Ron was a much happier person than she and had began her attempts to make him as miserable as her sisters had made her within a month. She failed miserably. Somehow Kim always seemed to help him through whatever troubles he had.
She took out her frustration by attacking Kim. This time it worked. By attacking Kim into making her say and do things she normally would not have done she managed to succeed. That effectively hurt Ron and fulfilled her goal. She became even angrier when that did not make her happy.
She threw her entire being into making those two miserable, yet deep within her she knew that as long as they had each other, they would be fine. When Ron mysteriously disappeared, she became worried. When she heard about the attempted suicide, she nearly tore her hair out in anxiety. When she heard that Kim had caused it all, her heart and mind shattered. So, at a great cost to her social standing, she decided to try to fill a part of the void that had been left. If the world had lost Ron Stoppable, it would have to survive with just Kim Possible.
Kim had attempted to make everyone understand that everything bad Ron had done in the last couple of weeks was entirely her fault. She could not feel happiness when she learned that no one blamed Ron, but she certainly felt relief. If she didn't think that he would follow her, she would have killed herself to spare him pain long before. As it was, she could only attempt to make the world a nicer place until one of her foes finally bested her.
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Ron sat in a meditation position, floating three feet from the ground. Shego watched in amazement as he called forth the Lotus Blade, the legendary sword that she had not even seen in an entire year of training. If she had not witnessed the fight between him and the Lorwardians, she would not have been able to believe the stories the ninjas told her.
She glanced about and noticed that the majority of ninja had already left to rest for the night. She wondered why she hadn't noticed. Looking over her shoulder she noticed that Drew was talking animatedly with the man who had been assigned to tutor him. Even knowing that it was only because of Shego, he could not help but feel giddy at the honor.
Shego laughed at his ridiculous attempt at a pose. Turning back to Ron, satisfied that Drew was still amused she thought back on the past couple of weeks. Even though Ron had collapsed out of exhaustion several times, he had yet to sleep for a period of more than 15 minutes. She worried that he still harbored thoughts of returning to Kim, and was entirely surprised that she'd said that last bit out loud.
Ron, having heard Shego's accidental comment, opened his eyes. He noticed her shiver as she gazed into their icy depths. "Entertain those fears no longer. I harbor no remaining feelings towards Kim one way or the other."
Shego gasped at the cold and emotionless tone that accompanied the words that would once have topped her list of "Least Likely Words to Leave Ron Stoppable's Mouth," her hand shooting up reflexively to cover her mouth.
Ron looked coldly at the woman who had brought him that horrid news, before forcing his gaze and emotions to soften. He stood from his stance, slowly descending to the ground.
Shego was crying as she felt the arms envelop her, her tears seeping past eyelids held closed as tightly as she could manage. She didn't know the details, but she promised herself that she would never forgive Princess for this.
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Ron, Tara and Kim, not to mention the siblings that accompanied them, were walking towards Tara's home, attempting to give the day a civil end. That attempt failed miserably.
Kim was furious. "How dare you kiss him? Isn't it obvious that we're back together?"
Tara was confused. She hadn't even felt Ron pull away, and now he was standing at least six feet away, holding an obviously pissed Kim back in an impressive bear hug. Finally, latching onto the words that had been shot at her with so much anger and venom, she forced herself to look at the source of this blatant hostility. "At least I didn't rip out his heart."
Tara knew from the looks on their faces that she had crossed the line. The look on Ron's face was worse, but only just so, and considering her attraction to him, that was astonishing.
Kim felt the tears leak out of her eyes, her muscles going limp as she merely convulsed with the power of her sobs. She no longer fought Ron's grip in order to kill Tara. She now fought to escape from Ron, to escape Ron's ever present forgiveness of everything, even those things that were, by all accounts, unforgivable.
Ron was conflicted. Half of him wanted to rip Tara in two for her comment, and half wanted nothing more than to convince Kim that everything was all right. He finally decided that holding Kim close and whispering loving reassurements into her ear while glaring at the woman in front of him was the best option available to him at the moment. He found that his anger waned slightly as he noticed the true sorrow and sympathy in her eyes as she whispered a rushed apology and ran into her house. Her sister and Hana, oblivious to the exchange, hugged. After expressing their wishes to repeat the day's activities in the future, Sarah quickly raced into the house after her sister, giggling something about how the kids at school were going to be so jealous. Ron could not hold back the laugh.
A/N: Before anyone asks, yes reassurements is a neologism. If you can't puzzle out what it means, I'm mildly surprised you've managed to read this far.
I'm sorry about the lack of postings in the last week. Also, I know that this chap is really short, but I figured you guys might like to know a bit more this week.
My next chapter is going to be a bit of a hat tip to Zaratan, but no, no Ron/Bon can be found here. (I tend to think that the love BonBon feels for Ron is unrequited.)
If anyone is still worried at this point, neither Kim nor Ron are murderers, though Ron is a bit fanatical when it comes to the protection of Kim.
Yes, Shego and Drakken/Drew, who now shares his name with another seemingly reformed villain, are together, at least in the flashbacks. Also, I changed Graduation to have Dr. D and not Kim see Ron killing the aliens, making this mildly AU.
No Tara's have been harmed in the making of this story, though I promise nothing for the future. Kim and Ron have safely recovered and are awaiting the next scene warily. Many, many bad guys were harmed. Many, many, many bad guys. = )
