Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Harsh Memories ❯ Birthday surprise ( Chapter 23 )

A/N: for those of you who didn't know, Pocky is a Japanese sugar treat. It's a stick covered in frosting (the stick is made of wheat I believe)

Iori shook violently as he approached his apartment. He hated this kind of thing. Iori had never been good at social situations. He lowered his head in resignation as he turned the key, and stepped into the blackness. It took him only a few seconds to pick out the bodies within the shadows of the darkened apartment. < Takeru's laying on the couch, shaking... probably with laughter. Miyako is hiding behind the drapes... with her shoes sticking out. Those are Jyou's sneakers beside her. Taichi and Koushirou are ducking behind the couch that Takeru is laying on. Ken's in the hallway pressed against the wall. Daisuke is a little ways away from him, hiding in the kitchen's alcove. Yamato is by him, crouching down. Hikari is standing a few feet away from the dining room table, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. O-Kaa-san is just sitting in her chair, and Sora has taken up a perch near her. > Iori slowly walked over to the light by the door, trying to paste a look of surprise on his face for his friends' benefit. < God I hope I can make it through this, > He thought sullenly as he flipped the light switch.

A scream of surprise rocked the small apartment as all of his friends leapt from their hiding places trying to hug the small boy. Takeru clutched Iori tightly as they where surrounded by their friends. Iori's face began to flush a deep crimson. He struggled futilely to escape, but was pulled back into the group hug. He squeaked as his body was crushed under the pressure.

Finally Iori was freed and allowed to move away from the throng of people. He nodded numbly at the many congratulations, while slowly making his way towards the large couch. He flopped down, trying to catch his breath as Taichi strode over, carrying a small box. Tai pitched the package at Iori who caught it easily. "This is from me and Hikari. We decided to go dutch on it," Tai said simply while walking over to sit beside Iori. Iori shook as he carefully unwrapped the box. Iori pulled out an oddly shaped book and set it down gently on his lap. He looked up at Tai in confusion as Hikari came forward and sat next to him. "It's a photo album Iori-kun. Open it up," She whispered softly.

Iori opened the book slowly, dreading what might be inside. He envisioned a thousand different things, from a scrapbook from his few tournaments, to a series of shots that Hikari had taken in the digital world. He was greatly shocked however when he read the dedication in the upper corner. It read, "In Loving Memory of Hida Chikara." Iori looked down at the first page and shook gently. Inside was a spread of photos from his O-Jii-sans youth. He recognized around half of the photos as being ones his O-Kaa-san has taken down after his death. Iori blushed gently as he thought of what Hikari and Taichi had to have gone through to get these. "Takeru mentioned a few days ago that you had wanted something to remember Your O-Jii-san by. I thought this would be the best way to remember him," Tai placed a strong hand on Iori's shoulders as the younger boy began to tear up.

Iori managed to fight down the tears, as Taichi and Hikari leaned in to hug the young boy. He smiled softly at both of them as he placed the book off to the side, ensuring that it was flat on the couch. Iori looked up as Jyou approached him slowly, carrying a small box. Jyou placed the box on the younger boy's lap, and then moved back to allow Iori some space. Iori managed to unwrap the small box, and lifted the lid. He pulled a very small furry object out and was shocked when it gave a soft "nyuo" noise. Iori stared at the small kitten for a few moments before releasing it to run around on the floor. He smiled up at Jyou and thanked him for the small animal. "Don't worry about it Iori-chan... I already got it cleared with your O-Kaa-san. I thought you could use the company," as Jyou said this, Miyako and Ken moved forward and placed three small boxes at Iori's feet. The smaller boy moved off the couch and crouched down next to the boxes. Each one held another item for the cat, including a litterbox, the litter for said box and a food/water dish combo. "Jyou told us about his idea so we thought we'd make sure you had everything the little bugger would need," Miyako explained as she noticed Iori's curious stare. Iori nodded once before beginning to measure out some food for his newfound friend.

Next, Koushirou stepped up, holding a thin package out to Iori. Iori took the item with a short bow (while still sitting on the couch). Iori removed the wrapping carefully, revealing a familiar orange and white object. "I decided since my parents gave me a new laptop I should pass this one down to you. You see it has a certain port in the upper right corner," Koushirou pointed to a small opening on the keyboards layout, "That our 'social group' uses for 'identification' purposes," Koushirou finished while closing the laptop. He gave the item one last affectionate rub before handing it over to Iori. "Take good care of her for me Iori-kun."

Iori simply nodded as he was at a loss for words. He had never expected Koushirou to part with the machine... let alone give it to him.

Yamato and Daisuke marched forward, carrying a rather large box between them. They placed the item in front of Iori, and then retreated a few feet so that they could watch the younger boy open their present. They smiled at each other as Iori began to rip the paper off the box. He revealed a series of books. He looked up at the two smiling boys, asking them silent questions. "We thought you might like this series. We remembered how much you liked that mythology book from the hospital so we went and bought the series. Each one covers another theology," Yamato explained quickly while picking one volume up and showing it to Iori. Iori nodded slowly as he began to remember the book he had read while waiting to be released from the hospital.

Iori placed the books off to the side while he looked towards the two people left. Takeru motioned for Sora to go ahead of him and the older girl smiled in thanks. Sora moved forward, hefting a large shopping bag before her. < Great... clothes, > Iori thought sullenly. "I know what your thinking Iori-kun... that it'll just be some cheesy shirt or something but... When I saw this a few days ago, it just screamed 'Hida Iori'." Iori shook his head slowly as he accepted the bag. The first thing he noticed about it was that it was rather heavy. Iori reached in, and pulled out a small (relatively) trench coat. He stared at it for a few moments before turning to Sora. The girl was awaiting his reaction with her hands clamped in front of her. "Sora-san... I don't know what to say... It's beautiful," Iori exclaimed as he drew the coat over his thin shoulders.

Finally, Takeru moved forward. The first thing Iori noticed was that Takeru did not have a gift in his hands like the others had. Iori looked up at Takeru questionably, as the young blond moved beside him. "Iori-chan... I brought you something special. It's in your room, since I didn't want to have it wrapped. Would you come with me so I can give it to you? " Takeru asked softly. Iori nodded quickly as the taller boy helped him to his feet. Takeru swung an arm around Iori's shoulders, and ushered the now coated youngster into his room.

Iori's eyes widened as he saw what was lying on his bed. Beside Upamon, who was bouncing up and down from the sugar that Miyako had snuck him, was Iori's O-Jii-sans Shinai. Tears began to fill Iori's eyes as he realized what Takeru had done. He flung his arms around the blond who quickly swung the door shut behind them. Takeru kissed Iori softly as the younger boy whimpered in shock and delight. "Wh-where did you find this?"

"You know that pawn shop down the street? Well one day Miyako was heading towards me... and I really didn't want to talk to her at the moment, so I ducked into the shop. While I was there I decided to look for a present for you since it was almost your birthday. I looked all over the shop, till I came to the display case up front... and there it was."

Iori kissed the blonde boy hard as Takeru finished his mini-speech. This forced the breath to leave Takeru, as the younger boy successfully maneuvered the blond onto the bed. (Warning slight lime content...well no, not really but lets just say "more than friendly behavior" warning.) Iori placed his body over Takeru's as he gently began kissing TK's neck as the heat from the other boy rose to meet him. Takeru groaned softly as he ran a hand over Iori's new coat. Takeru began to gently unbutton the garment, trying to rid Iori of it. Takeru quickly moved around so that he was able to pin Iori beneath him. He ripped off his own shirt, and then tossed it and Iori's coat off of the bed. Takeru began to remove Iori's shirt. He got the shirt up over Iori's head when he heard a soft gasp.

Takeru's head whipped around to be met by an extremely shocked Yagami, Taichi. However, Iori's voice broke both of the boy's stares. "T-Takeru-kun... why d-did you stop.... it was just getting g-good," Iori said softly as he struggled to get his shirt out of his eyes. As Takeru struggled to remove himself from Iori, Taichi motioned for the other Digidestined to move forward. By the time Takeru had managed to descend from his "position of superiority" and Iori had managed to get his shirt out of his eyes. Iori's eyes widened as he took in his surroundings and his face flushed a deep red as he realized that all of his friends had seen him with Takeru.

"P-Please don't hate me," Iori shouted suddenly as he buried his face into Takeru's chest, sobbing viciously. Takeru placed a protective arm over Iori as he began to move back against the wall. He was ready to fight as many of his "friends" as he could to protect his koi. "You won't touch him!"

"Now look Takeru-kun... we don't want to hurt anyone," Taichi said slowly. "We just want to know exactly what was going on... are you two together?"

"Hai," the two boys said in unison, as Iori finally looked up at his friends.

Taichi ran a hand through his hair as he settled himself down onto Iori's bed. He beckoned Iori and Takeru towards him as he asked Sora (who was closest) to close the door. "Okay... well, I guess it's about time we told you guys about who's with whom, ne?" Taichi asked as he looked around at the DigiDestined. He saw several nods of agreement as Takeru and Iori stared at him. "You see, what your going through isn't exactly new to the Digidestined. Quite a few of us are... that way and we just want to make sure you know that we are okay with you and Iori being together," Taichi began, as Koushirou moved over towards him. "You see, Kou-chan and me really started thing off. A few years ago, about three months after we returned from defeating Apocalymon, I decided I would tell Koushirou how I felt about him. Before this, I had told myself that the feelings I had for Kou-chan weren't real. I tried to hide them from myself and eventually I threw myself into a deep depression. I ended up really close to killing myself over the feelings that I had kept inside. Eventually, Kou-chan just forced me to sit down and tell him what was wrong. I'm sure he nearly had a heart attack when I told him that I had fallen in love with the little guy, but it eventually worked out," As Tai finished he gripped Koushirou's hand gently, seeking a small amount of comfort in the others presence.

As Takeru starred at the two in shock, Yamato slowly walked over to where he was sitting, dragging a protesting Daisuke along with him. "Yama-chan! You don't have to drag me around like a little kid," the younger boy said as he pouted at the older blonde. Yamato merely smiled as he ruffled Takeru's hair. "I guess I should tell you exactly why I wasn't surprised when you told me about how you felt about Iori. You see about ten months ago, I was at a party, when I meet your little friend here," with this, Yamato pulled Daisuke in front of Takeru. "Well, after we got to talking... I realized I had a lot in common with the little bugger, and as we continued to talk with each other over the following weeks, we both began to develop feelings for each other. In fact it was only three days before you told me about Io-chan that I had asked Dai out for the first time," Yamato smiled at his private memory as Daisuke struggled to be free of his koi's grip.

As both Takeru, and Iori allowed the revelations to sink in they stared at the other people within the small room. They watched as Miyako and Jyou drew together, followed a few moments later by Hikari and Ken. They both turned to Sora expectantly. "Yes Takeru... I am in love with her. It's kind of hard with a long distance relationship but... we've managed to make it work," she said as Takeru's eyes widened. The group laughed softly at the absurdity of their situation as the various couples moved out of the room. As they exited the room, they found their Digimon had banded together as well. They watched as a newly digivolved Armadillomon (remember the sugar?) and Wormon played together, wrestling with each other over a small box of Pocky they had found. Off against a far wall, Chibimon and Patamon where talking softly as the other Digimon seemed to ignore them. Gatomon and Hawkmon had managed to nestle together on the couch, resting comfortably together. "What's going on here... Where is O-Kaa-san?" Iori asked the gathered Digimon. "She left about three minutes ago Iori-chan. I didn't think it was too odd," Armadillomon said softly, as he looked up at his partner. Iori was unsure as to why his O-Kaa-san had left, but it left a deep sinking feeling in his chest

A/N: I don't know where the coat came from (other then it was two in the morning and I needed a gift from Sora.) It just seemed to fit Iori. As for the cat... yes it will become a regular. After this chapter the fic will take a darker turn as we examine what goes on once Takeru and Iori's mothers find out about their relationship. Also... I am sorry about the last three couples.... I needed someone to be with someone ^_^.

Yoshiki.