Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Distortion ❯ Do You Know Why They Hate You? ( Chapter 1 )

( ^.^ Just felt like writing something weird... and I realized I don't have ANYTHING Digimon on here, though I am planning about... four stories or so. ^^; Takes place five years after Digimon Adventure 02. A note about the Japanese school system - Junior high is started at age 12, and high school at 16... ^^; It's kind of screwed up in this story. Just tolerate it. ANYWAY! =D I FINISHED THIS CHAPTER IN ONE DAY!!! AREN'T YOU PEOPLE PROUD OF ME?! ::gets stared at:: ::coughs:: WELL!! I don't think I've ever finished a whole chapter in one day... ^^; Call me pathetic... anyway, I'll start on the next one right away. ^^; For once I don't have Writer's Block! Yes, that deserves capital letters. :P So... uh... read! ::waves you off:: )

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Do you know why they hate you?

It was a gray, boring day in the middle of March. Everything seemed to echo the weather, the colors dulling, every sound taking on a muted, softened tone. It was one of the filler days: a day in which nothing important was supposed to happen.

Thirteen-year-old Hida Iori happened to be walking home on this particular day, from an bad day at school. Not that any of them weren't. He had been waiting for YEARS to get to junior high, so he could join his friends - all of which were at least three years older than him - in the same school. Last year HAD been better - Daisuke, Miyako, Takeru, and Hikari were still there with him, and helped him out a lot with - everything, actually. They had the time. This wasn't true of the current year, however - Miyako had gone on to high school, and his other friends, as the year began to draw to a close, were studying hard for their finals. Iori understood perfectly - failing to graduate junior high didn't really give you a good head start on the "future" that the teachers droned on about - but that didn't help him much at all with his own problems. Sure, he was smart enough... but he didn't seem to get along with any of the other students. ANY of them. Well, some probably pitied him... though that really wasn't any better. Iori was definitely not the junior high type - and he suspected it would be even worse in high school.

Don't start worrying about that yet. He had to survive this year before worrying about those that would follow. Sighing, he dug his hands into the pockets of an oversized green sweatshirt reading "Odaiba Junior High School" across the front. He had had to wear gym clothes almost all day - causing him to attract even more unwanted attention than usual. He had been tripped in the locker room right after changing back into his uniform, right when the gym teacher happened to be passing with a cup of coffee in hand...

Well, it hadn't been pretty, anyway. And, judging by the way he had been grinning at him, it had probably been Nakamura Yasuhiko that tripped him. This particular boy was new to the school, and seemed to inherit an instant disliking of Iori from the other students... not that he wouldn't have ended up hating him on his own, eventually. They all did.

But...

"Iori-kun!"

Iori jerked visibly at the sound of his name, and took a few seconds to register the owner of the voice. Yagami Hikari. She was sixteen, and beautiful - even Iori, who had showed no real interest in girls or boys his entire life, had to admit that. She ran up to him, clad in a school uniform the same ugly green as the one he had discarded, and smiled. "I've never seen you around here before... are you walking home a new way today?"

"No... not really. Is Takeru still at school?"

Hikari laughed. "Yeah... I think he's trying to read the whole library before the end of the year."

Iori felt a rare smile escape his face. "Well... he is going to become a writer... I guess he should read everything he can."

Hikari tucked a strand of glossy brown hair behind her ear, her expression thoughtful. "That's right; he lives in the same building as you, doesn't he? Don't you usually walk home together?"

Iori shrugged. "Usually."

There was a silence. Hikari watched Iori curiously, and the said boy stared at the ground. Making up her mind, Hikari placed a gloved hand on Iori's arm, smiling. "I'll walk you home, if you want."

He stared at her. "You - you don't have to..."

Hikari sighed. "Think of it as a sort of ... I don't know, act of kindness. I understand you haven't been getting along with some of the kids in your grade..."

Iori stared at her. "How...?"

"Takeru-kun," Hikari said simply. "He saw you being bullied by some of them about a week ago." She tightened her grip on his arm. "You can say whatever you want, Iori-kun, but I'm walking home with you. Do they ever go after you... when you're not at school?" She gently, yet sternly, pulled on his arm, forcing him to walk with her. He obliged, and she let go. Feeling better now that he had someone to talk to, he followed a little behind her. "Not usually. They would only do that if they had nothing better to do."

Hikari slowed, then stopped. "Iori-kun..."

"Hmm?" He drew his hands out of his pockets and hugged himself, suddenly cold. He noticed a small rock by his foot, and kicked it, sending it flying into the grass.

"Do you know why they hate you?"

Iori stared at her, taken aback. "I... no, I don't."

Hikari turned around. There was an odd look on her face, a mix of anger and sorrow. "Tomorrow... do me a favor. Ask them."

Not sure exactly what to say, Iori nodded. Hikari gave him a shaky smile. "Are you cold?"

"Not really," He lied. "Just my hands."

Hikari pulled off one of her gloves, and took Iori's hand in hers. "Do you need to go home right away?"

"No..."

"All right, then. We'll go over to my house and have some hot chocolate."

Iori decided to attempt a joke. "With little marshmallows?"

Hikari laughed. "Sure. I like mine with little marshmallows, too." Both of them already feeling a little warmer, the two Chosen Children made their way down the street, already feeling a little warmer than before.

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No, this is NOT the only part I'm going to write. Far from it. ^_^ This story will get strange later on... I dislike writing anything that has probably been written a million times before. PWEASE R&R!! I likes "constructive criticism". Also flames. I use flames for my burning pile. >:)