Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Love Is A Battlefield ❯ Phase III: Battle- Breathing ( Chapter 6 )

Love is a Battlefield

Phase III- Battle: Breathing

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Disclaimer: Digimon and all related characters are not mine. The title comes from the song sung by Pat Benatar, written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight so it doesn't belong to me either. No money, don't sue.

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So I didn't hear from him for two weeks. Jerk.

Like I decided, I'd waited a week to give him a chance to respond... nothing.

No calls. No e-mails. And no one else had heard from him either since the Tuesday following our... outing. (I didn't ask. Jen told me later.)

On Monday of the second week, I decided to call him. Not only was I annoyed at him for being dense, but I was also vaguely worried. The only thing that stopped me from calling him was the fact that I'd misplaced his phone number. Grrr...

It took until Wednesday for me to swallow my pride enough to ask Jen for it. (That's when he told me that he hadn't been able to get a hold of Ryo either.) That increased my worriedness from 'vaguely' to 'kind of.'

So, I called... and there was no answer. Nor was there one either of the times I called on Thursday... or the three times I called on Friday. He hadn't responded to any on the e-mails I'd sent him in the last week either.

I called Jen again Friday night. He checked around with the others and found out that nobody else had heard from him either. Jen seemed a bit worried too.

I spent that night and Saturday morning alternating between worry (I could just feel that something was not right) and extreme annoyance. (You would think that if he was going to ignore his friends' phone calls, he would at least have an answering machine.)

By Saturday afternoon, I'd had enough of waiting... so, I decided to go see him. I headed out with the fish pictures in my bag... in case I got to his apartment and everything was fine. Though, in that case, I would probably be too angry to give them to him... but at least it afforded me an excuse for going (it was lame but better than nothing.)

As I got on the train, I knew Renamon was following me... even though I couldn't see her. It comforted me to know that she was there as I was going into this unknown situation.

The train ride gave me a very long and nervous hour and a half to ponder the situation. A good portion of that time was spent staring at that stupid picture. I couldn't think of anything I'd done to make Ryo ignore me for two weeks... and even if I had, he wouldn't ignore everyone else. He could have gotten really busy with school and work... but he still would have found time to answer the phone or respond to _someone's_ email. Ideas of what could be going on ran through my head along with ideas of how I could react.

...

The entire situation was driving me nuts! I'd been obsessing about this all week... I'd never asked to be attracted to anyone so why was it that when I tried to pursue the one I was attracted to, nothing went the way I wanted it to? Was it worth all of this trouble?

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I recalled how I felt when I was with him... nervous but happier, stronger, more energized. Being around him both excited and calmed me. He matched and challenged me every time we met and it made me feel alive. I felt good. And I wanted... really wanted... more of that. Glaring at the pictures in my hand, I realized that I wanted to not need an excuse to call or visit him.

And I wanted him to feel the same way because it was really annoying to think that he could affect me like but for me not to have the same influence in return. This was not something I wanted to be alone in.

So, I guess it's worth it.

The train finally pulled into the right station and I began the final leg of my journey. I walked quickly... I just felt like I needed to be there _now_. Practically running to his building, I sprinted up the stairs.

Catching my breath and about to knock on his door, it opened before I got the chance. Ryo was standing in the doorway poised to go out. He was dressed in a very beat up pair of those khaki pants he always wore, a long-sleeved, dark gray shirt with a red bandana around his neck, and carried a large hiking backpack. I stared at him and he looked very surprised to see me.

"What are you doing here Ruki?" he asked nervously.

"Visiting you," I responded in an even tone.

"Oh... I was just on my way out."

I looked him up and down again and replied, "I can see that."

Seeing that I was not planning on moving out of his way, Ryo sighed and motioned for me to come in.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked as soon as he closed the door.

"I'm going on a trip with Cyberdramon," he responded flatly. I'd never seen his face so closed.

"He evolved again? I thought that was why you had Monodramon battle practice with Renamon."

"It was... and that postponed it but he still had too much pent up energy."

"Were you planning on telling any of us about this little trip? It's not like we haven't been trying to get a hold of you."

He looked down and wouldn't meet my eyes. "I hadn't thought about it."

"So... you were just going to disappear and go off training."

"That's what I've always done before."

"Did it occur to you that you didn't have to? That maybe one of us could have helped?" I was starting to get angry and my voice was starting to rise.

"I did ask for help... and Renamon helped postpone it but he still evolved... so I was doing what has always worked before." His face wasn't as closed now and a little bit of desperation had crept into his voice.

"... You know, I've gotten mad at you many times since we first met but I don't think I've ever been this annoyed. Don't you think that any of us would be willing to help you? We could evolve our digimon to Perfect level and tire him out more quickly. What were you expecting to do... leave your classes, your job, and everything for a few weeks while you go who knows where? I'm not an expert on friendship but I _know_ it includes helping _and_ asking for help." I'd all but shouted my last point at him and I was breathing hard.

Ryo sighed, leaned against the counter next to the refrigerator, and stared down toward some indistinct spot on the floor. I could tell that I'd struck some sensitive points with my tirade.

"I didn't want to bother any of you," he said in a soft, sad voice. "And I didn't want any of your digimon getting hurt. Cyberdramon is my partner and I need him... and being his partner includes dealing with his difficult parts along with his good parts. Half the time, when he fights an opponent of equal strength, he goes berserk and won't stop fighting until his opponent is deleted. When he gets like that, sometimes even I can't stop him. I didn't want to risk anyone else's partner."

I stepped closer to him and touched his arm so he would look at me. It was then, when he looked at me, that I finally got to see a part of Ryo that he never showed to other people... his imperfections. Even he, the Legendary Tamer, had things that he was afraid of, things he couldn't handle alone, and when faced with them, he didn't always make the best choices. Trying to put a little understanding in my voice, I spoke again.

"Then we send him against an Ultimate or something... Impmon's been spoiling for a fight for months... or we can have MarineAngemon go 'Pu pu' at him. Whatever it takes. Don't be so resigned to dropping your life and nobly sacrificing everything you've worked for when you don't have to."

Ryo sighed again, looked away, and continued in the soft, sad tone.

"But it's the only thing I know how to do Ruki. I don't have many memories from before I first went to the Digital World... but after I went there, that's what I had to do. All of this 'normal' stuff... going to school, working, socializing with people and all of that... it still just mystifies and confuses me. I'm not sure if I can keep it up. The only important things I've ever accomplished involve digimon and fighting... I don't know how to succeed at normal things. Heck, I don't even know why I'm in this world... I was sent here, but for how long? Am I going to be pulled out when this world decides it's done with me? Am I going to have to leave because the Milleniumon half of my partner gains too much control and I can't contain him around people anymore? How long do I get to stay?"

He stopped and looked back up at me with soulful, searching eyes as if hoping I had the answers.

Which I didn't. I was speechless. How do you respond to questions like that? Answering required sensitivity and reassurance... neither one my specialty. I took a deep breath. The truth would have to do.

"Ryo... you've already accomplished 'normal' things... you graduated high school, got into university, and are doing well in your classes. And you will keep doing well... I've never seen you back down from a fight before and you won't now. It may have taken you longer to get here than you wanted but you had extenuating circumstances. And it doesn't matter where you came from... you're here now. We needed you when we fought D-Reaper... alone, Jen and I probably couldn't have held off Shinigami Reaper until the Sovereigns came... and we need you now because you are our friend.... and if you let us, we'll help you with Cyberdramon... whatever problems there are, we'll help you fix them. This world isn't going to decide it's done with you because _I'm_ not going to be done with you... because you're my friend." Another deep breath. "And because... I like you. It took me awhile to admit it but, I like you."

I could feel the heat in my face but I held his gaze.

"Like me? As in, just a friend or...?"

My face turned even redder but at least his face was starting to match. Still looking him in the eye, I responded more strongly. "I. Like. You. I'm not saying it again."

A look of shock spread over his face and I watched him intently for further reaction. The tortuous wait seemed to last for hours. My heart beat faster and it was hard to control my breathing. Painfully slowly, his eyes widened and the corners of his mouth began to lift.

"Good."

...

That's all he had to say!!

"Good!?!"

Then he looked into my eyes very intently and smiled that stupid, perfect eyes, perfect teeth, light up his entire stupid face, and give me butterflies in the stomach smile of his.

"Yeah... because it's lonely sometimes to be the only one doing something."

I continued to glare at him and he continued to smile.

Dork.

But, I couldn't keep my annoyance up for long because his moment of... whatever... was gone and he was happy again. So I rolled my eyes and put on a disgruntled face.

"Whatever."

He smiled even wider and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me over next to him. I stared at the arm.

"I didn't say you could hug me."

The arm dropped but his smile didn't.

"If I can't hug you, can I hold your hand?"

I raised my eyebrow. "No."

"Please?"

Letting myself grin a little, I replied. "...Only if no one else is around."

His hand quickly found mine and soon our fingers were intertwined.

"And do I get to call you 'Honey' now?" he asked, looking all smirky. I rolled my eyes again.

"No."

"Sweetie?"

"No."

"Pumpkin?"

Hmmm... "No."

"Supreme goddess and queen of my world?"

Dork. But... "Maybe."

"And what are you going to call me?"

"I can think of some names..."

Hmph... Things would be good.

Hajimari.

~*~

'We are young, heartache to heartache we stand

No promises no demands, love is a battlefield

We are strong, no one can tell us we're wrong

Searchin' our hearts for so long, both of us knowing

Love is a battlefield'

~*~

Author's Notes: July 9, 2002- This chapter is finally typed up! <Yay!> I wrote this one in three sections... backwards. (So it was the last section of the conversation, the first part of the conversation, and leading up to the conversation.) This chapter is completely done and I haven't finished chapter four yet... ~_~;; I really like this chapter a lot. Ruki is fun to write. And so is Ryo... I didn't know he had so many issues when I started writing this! Poor boy... Ruki will do you some good. They both great. Now on to the epilogue.

Sore ja!

Riah-chan

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ruki_and_Ryo/

...because everyone needs a little R&R.

"Well, then there'll be just one less person to poke fun at you, right pumpkin."

"Tashika ni kimi wa Queen, kedo dattara ore ga King da na!"