The Crack in the Mirror

By Chyna Rose

Disclaimer: Digimon = Toei. The breeds = Cynthia Piedmon's Lady. Akio and Midori = the fan community. Everyone else = me.

Chapter Two: Swinging, Swinging

Mrs. Osaka

"Daisuke. Daisuke. Daisuke!"

"Huh?"

I sighed. It was already a long day and it was barely ten. During the break between classes I'd have to step out and take an aspirin or two. Oh how I wish I could go home and put my feet up; maybe take a nap…

After a few minutes, the laughter died down. (Although why Daisuke would laugh at himself escapes me.) Daisuke stared at me with a look of utter confusion. Before I had gotten his attention, he was staring blankly ahead. This wasn't the usual far away stare of a daydreamer, or the glassy eyed one of pure boredom. Trust me on this. After thirteen years of teaching, I know all the stares a student can pull. (Very helpful to in deciding how to handle their inattentiveness.) The stare Daisuke was displaying was the stare of someone just not there. Add to the fact that Daisuke was one of the people who usually couldn't sit still if their life depended on it, yet this time he was still as stone, and you will understand why I decided to let this lapse simply pass. (To be honest, he looked frozen in time. Maybe I should cut back on the sci-fi until after the baby is born.)

"It's your turn to read the poem you had to write for homework."

"Oh. Oh! What's not real has no soul…"

His poem was… different. The other poems were either butterflies and rainbows, anarchy rules, or love is a force. One of the reasons I happen to love giving this assignment, is the insight into my students it provides. I combine it with their stares to judge what's going on in their lives with pretty good accuracy.

But Daisuke's poem didn't fall into any of these categories. It wasn't light and happy, or dark and depressing, and love didn't get mentioned even once. Quite frankly, it was refreshing though odd.

After he finished his poem, (most of the class didn't like it because it wasn't anywhere close to what they had done. I even heard Miyako mutter something about Daisuke messing up again. I really should find out what she has against him.) I made a note to keep an eye on Daisuke; find out if any of the other teachers have noticed anything wrong with him. Maybe even ask the school counselor to talk to him. But first, I have to get through this class. And that means listening to the same poems I have heard in one form or another, year after year, since I started teaching.

~~~~~

Yamato

After Mimi came back to Japan, she decided that, even though we weren't need in the Digital World, we should still get together. Since no-one could give her a reason why not to do this, we now get together once a week. And as long as it's nice out, we meet in the same park we used in the past.

We met in a playground area that was mostly forgotten. This allowed the digimon to wander about freely. By the time I got there, most of the others were already there. Daisuke and Ken were taking advantage of the small swing set. Miyako was setting out a blanket for the food and glaring at Daisuke. Koushiro was relaxing against a tree with Iori. They weren't doing anything; just sitting there. Koushiro didn't even have his laptop nearby. I really should thank Miki for helping him get away from the stupid thing. Mimi and Sora were sitting under a different tree; gossiping no doubt. What is it with girls and gossip anyway?

Tai and Kari weren't here yet. (Joyu had a family emergency and had to cancel.) TK was behind me sulking. He had gotten suspended for a week while Daisuke only got three days, so he was in a perpetually pissed off mood.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Yama. Hey TK."

"Hey."

"Takeru, what happened?"

"I got into a fight with Daisuke at school. It looks worse then it is."

TK wandered over to the others -no doubt to tell them what happened. I found a spot to wait for Tai and Kari near the swings. I watched Daisuke and Ken from behind the pair of sunglasses I had put on before leaving the house. (Sora said they helped with my 'look'. Most of my fans agreed.) They were happily talking despite the fact that they were busy swinging. Daisuke was putting his considerable energy into it, while Ken managed to make the action look graceful and dignified. They both seemed happy. Daisuke had a number of visible bruises, (courtesy of my brother no doubt) but he didn't look like he cared about them.

~~~@~~~@~~~

"Hey Yama." Tai said as he placed an arm around my shoulder. I ducked out of it and took a playful swipe at his head. Even after all this time we still play fight. It's one of the things that defines our friendship. We each know that the other doesn't really mean anything they do. We have an understanding. "You going to Jon's party?"

"Kinda hard for the Teenage Wolves to play without me. Masaharu, Hiei, and Kenji hired us as a joint present. They even have us learning a new song; a translated American one."

"If anyone can do it, you can."

"Hey guys! Since everyone's here and getting hungry, we figured we'd start the meeting already."

Chibimon and Minomon quickly abandoned their game and hurried over to the picnic blanket. Ken slowed down and stepped off his swing. Daisuke, on the other hand, jumped off of his at the highest point. He landed hard, but brushed himself off as if nothing had happened.

As Daisuke began to walk past a clump of bushes, he stopped. He began searching through them for something. I walked up behind him to see what was going on.

"Daisuke?"

"There's something in there. I heard it moving."

"It was probably a bird or a squirrel. Now why don't we go eat?"

"But…"

"Daisuke, stop being an idiot! Nothing's there, so stop looking."

Daisuke kept looking for a few more minutes before giving up and joining the rest of us on the blanket. This led to a small bout of musical places because some people didn't want to sit near someone and had to sit next to someone else. Once we got settled down, we had to get down to business before we could eat. The Digital World was doing as well as it was last week, and the only threat to this one was war in the Middle East, which we really couldn't do anything about. But then, when wasn't there war somewhere in the Middle East?

~~~@~~~@~~~

"So what are you going as for Jon's party?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to describe. Miki and I are as net runners."

"Net runners?"

"Think of them as the next wave of hackers. It's a combination of cyberernetic implants and wearable computers. Between the two of us, we had enough spare computer parts to cannibalize for the costumes."

"Sound's cool. Sakura's made a bunch of werewolf costumes for the band. There's no way we can get out of it. Not if we want to keep Akira in the band."

"Yama, I don't envy you. I don't know how you can stand her."

"Who said I could? Sakura's an over emotional control freak. She runs Akira's life, and he doesn't care. None of the others can stand her either. It doesn't help that she accuses them of trying to steal Akira from her -even Tori. Never mind the fact that Akira's completely strait."

"So what are you doing Tai?"

"Army general. I thought it would be cool if I could add my tag, crest and goggles. But I can't really find anything the right shape for the tag."

"I could probably make a copy of them for you Tai. I've already got everything I need for my costume done."

"What are you going as?"

"It's a secret."

"All I can tell you, is it involves black hair dye and dark make up. I saw her pick it up when I went to pick up make up for my costume. I'm going as a porcelain doll."

"So Daisuke, what are you going as?"

"Daisuke's going? Why wasn't I invited? I'm way more popular than he is."

"Jon knows Daisuke, and he doesn't care about popularity. He never did, and I don't think he's gonna start any time soon."

As the conversation drifted away from what people were going to do for the party to the feud between Daisuke and Miyako, (I know better than to get dragged into such a conversation) I took the opportunity to watch Daisuke again. Daisuke was currently looking over his shoulder, and I guessed he had been doing that well before Miyako got offended that she didn't get invited to something Daisuke did. I wasn't the only one to notice this lapse in attention.

"Daisuke?" Tai asked.

"Hmm?" Daisuke replied once he finally turned to face us. He threw a desperate glance where he had been looking. Which happened to be exactly where the clump of bushes he had looked through earlier were.

"You've been very distracted lately. Is anything wrong?"

"I think there's a Jeramon following me. But every time, I get close to him, he hides. I don't know what he wants from me."

"Well, there's nothing you can really do until he makes his move. So, do you have a costume yet?"

~~~~~

Masaharu

"A little more to the left… There! Thanks Kenji."

"No problem. Is there anything else you want me to do?"

"Think you can handle placing a few candles?"

Preparations for the party were going great. The party wasn't going to start for about another half an hour or so, and so far things were running smoothly. The band was setting up with the help of Taichi, Miki, and Koushiro. (who had all volunteered to do so.) Hiei and Kenji were helping me and Jon (mainly me) set up everything else. Jon had locked the door to his parent's bedroom (the only place where guests couldn't go) and had left. They weren't going to be back until one. And as long as there was no drug use, we kept the music down after midnight, and we didn't trash the place, they didn't care what happened at the party.

That's one of the things I like about his parents. They're very accepting; more so than mine were, seeing as I nearly got thrown out of the house when I came out. They also told us that this house could be used as a safe house for anyone who's parents couldn't handle their sexuality. Along with Mr. and Mrs. Izumi, Mrs. Takenouchi, Mr. and Mrs. Ikari, Mr. Iwakura, and Ms. Kiryuu, the Mizukis make up a kind of homosexual underground.

People started arriving early in groups of two and threes. Mimi and Sora out did themselves this time. Not only did they look great, they not only looked great, but they also acted the part. By seven thirty, the party was in full swing. Practically everyone invited was there, along with a few people who weren't. I went into the kitchen to grab some food after it finished cooking.

While I was waiting for the timer to go off, I looked out the window. It was bound to be more interesting than looking at the stove and oven.

I saw Daisuke walking up in a leather creation. (Don't even think about it; you have Jon. And he may not even swing that way.) Daisuke kept looking behind himself, and I could see why. A-ko, a brown tabby missing an ear who belonged to one of Jon's neighbors, seemed very interested in him. (Note to self: drag Jon into his bedroom as soon as I see him. Maybe I can even convince him to get some leatherwear later. God I'm horny tonight.)

"What do you want?" I heard Daisuke yell at A-ko. A-ko sat down and looked at him. Daisuke glared at her and walked away. He got about four steps before he realized that she wasn't leaving. "Leave me alone! I am sick of your following me wherever I go."

A-ko jumped onto the banister in front of the apartment, and continued to stare at Daisuke; just out of his reach. The timer went off, and I turned my attention to getting the food out and tracking down my boyfriend. I'm sure no-one would mind if we disappeared for a while to spend some 'quality time' together.

~~~~~

Ami

I was glad that my friends and I decided to crash Jon's party. It was worth it. Not that Jon minded us being there, since he's a fan of our work. I quickly spotted Ken, with Miyako hanging off his arm. Ken did not look happy. In fact he looked like he needed rescuing. But how to go about it… Ah. An idea.

"Pink Butterfly and Cupid's Poppy I presume."

"And you are…"

"Brimstone Alpha. And a friend of Kind Cruelty."

"You must be the leader of the Demon Wing."

"The one and only."

"So what brings you here besides the spread?"

"I need to enlist your help in getting Phlying Phreak away from Kind Cruelty."

"What do you need us to do?"

"She's already met me, Shale Gamma, Bloodstone Delta, and Pyrite Chi. I need you to inform Granite Sigma that I'm going to need him to go into Gambit mode."

"Gambit?"

"He's a superhero in an American manga. Pretty much like Touga Kiryuu from Utena. And as long as he keeps

his pants on, he'll be able to distract Phlying Phreak without freaking her out for the rest of the night."

"Why would she freak out?"

"You really don't want to know."

Sora made her way over to where Misato was watching the band (and getting bawled out for checking out one of the band members by some girl in a crepe paper dress) and passed on the mission parameters. He casually made his way over to me, and I briefed him about what I had planed for Miyako. After making a mental note to get one of the wing to help me enact Operation: Nanami's dress on Jealous Girl.

~~~@~~~@~~~

Deep into a conversation with Mika, (best friend and second in command) Daisuke showed up. Miyako was off somewhere with the charming 'Remmy'. (hope he remembers she may not take well to a guy in women's underwear) God Daisuke looked hot in that leather. If I didn't respect Ken as much as I did, I would've been all over him. Luckily, I could take all the photos I wanted without betraying my friend. And I was supremely thankful that I had my camera when Ken and Daisuke saw what the other was wearing. Damn. They just stood there gaping at each other, and I swear both of them were having some obvious blood flow problems. I could always use that photo to set them up if they don't drag eachother into an empty room sometime during the party first. After a waiting a respectable amount of time, I made my way over to Ken in order to be properly introduced to his lust object.

"Hey Ken. Who's your friend?"

"Hello Ami. This is Daisuke."

"Hey Daisuke. I've heard quite a bit about you. Nice costume. I think it looks great on you, don't you agree Ken?"

"Ami…"

"What?"

"That's an interesting costume. Where'd you come up with the idea?"

"Thanks. My friends and I came up with it when we started the Demon Wing. It seemed to fit who we were and what we were doing. Although I seem to be at a loss over what you and Ken are supposed to be."

"Well, Ken came as the Digimon Kaiser, and I came as Daimon."

"I think I remember Ken saying something about a Digimon rpg once, but he never said anything about a Daimon."

"I think that's enough Ami. Why don't I go introduce you to Jon."

"Masaharu dragged Jon off towards the bedrooms about ten minutes ago. I don't think they'll surface for another hour or so. But I'm not surprised that Ken didn't tell you much about the whole Digimon thing. It's something we like to keep secret."

"Thank you Daisuke. You're being very helpful. I like that in a friend. Now tell me"

"Ami!"

"Remember who you're talking to Ken."

"But…"

"Ken, you wouldn't want some of the things I know about you to leak out now, would you?"

"You wouldn't!"

"Just try me. Now Daisuke. Are you and Ken very close? He talks about you all the time."

"Of course we're close. He's my boyfriend."

Have I mentioned that I love my camera? When Ken found out that, not only did Daisuke like him back but was under the impression that they were already dating, he chocked on the soda he was drinking. Perfect blackmail material, and evidence that he should never doubt me when I say someone's going to do something. Daisuke muttered something about not feeling well, and I left Ken to escort Daisuke to the bathroom before he puked on the floor. (not something I envied him having to do.) It was time to make my rounds and gather the reports. It was a good night.