Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Hearts of the Star ❯ Cherrubymon's Treachery 1 ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Four of Cherrubymon's spirits have finally become complete, so Lucemon has begun to force his plan into motion. He can almost taste his freedom!

Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Self Insertion | Uploaded On: 11.11.2007 | Updated On: 11.11.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 4.4K | Visits: 305 | Status: Work In Progress

Hearts of the Star 1 No Longer Friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters.

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Being together in this crazy world can make emotions run wild, a lesson these six friends learned the hard way.

“Kouichi!” I call out as I stumble along. “Kouichi!” I come to a hill that's definitely too steep to try and walk down, but looking around I find a board I can use as a mud board. I hop on and start sliding down the hill. “Kouichi! Can you hear me?” I continue to call out the name of my old best friend of whom I was separated from when we came to this strange world. “Kouichi! Please! Answer me!”

Suddenly I hit a huge bump in the hill and am sent flying. The board goes one way while I go the other, hitting the ground hard and painfully. The slant of the hill causes me to start tumbling, giving me bumps, scraps and bruises everywhere until finally I land in a very deep and wide river with a fast current of freezing water. I manage to surface for a moment and once again call out his name in hopes that he will show up since I can't swim very well.

“Kouichi!”

Then I'm dragged under.

Kouichi, where are you? What happened? Why were we separated? I wonder. I've got to find you. We've got to get home, together. Our parents need us. And we've got to find Koji.

FLASHBACK

It's one of those rare occasions when both Kouichi and I are hanging out together, semi-relaxed. Life has gotten so hectic with everything that had happened to our families, but we are still the best friends anyone can ask for.

“Kiko, why aren't you at school anymore?” Kouichi asks suddenly.

“I'm sorry, Kouichi, but I don't think I'll be returning to school any time soon,” I explain in a saddened voice.

“Why not?” he asks.

“Because I have to work in order to pay for the bills,” I shrug, wanting to get off this topic as fast as we had gotten on it.

“I thought that's what your dad did,” Kouichi comments. “I know how helpless it feels to just watch your parent work so hard and not be able to do anything to help, but you've gotta continue in school. Mom says that as long as I get a good education everything will be fine.”

“It's not that simple, Kouichi,” I try to cut in.

“But you see when I do get older, then I can get a real good job thanks to my education and I can take care of her. So you see, everything will be fine in the end. You can't just drop out of school.”

“I have no choice in the matter, Kouichi,” I interrupt, tears threatening to fall. “I have to drop out of school and work.”

“Why?”

“Because my dad can't, he's in the hospital. He fell ill a few weeks ago. The doctors assured me that he'd be out in a few days, so I didn't think I should worry you about it. But, it's not looking good for him and there's no guarantee that he'll survive,” I spill everything I had been keeping from my best friend for a while. “The doctors say that the only way he'll even have a chance at life is if he goes through some expensive surgery, so I told them I could get the money. He's going into surgery tomorrow.”

Kouichi is silent as he stares at his feet.

“If you don't want to be my friend anymore because I kept this from you, I just want you to know that I understand,” I speak softly, wanting him to hear but not really waning to say it.

There's another long silence in which Kouichi never looks us. I sigh to myself as I turn around.

“I understand, Kouichi, take good care of your mother,” I smile sadly before starting to walk off.

“Kiko.”

I pause in my movements at Kouichi's voice.

“It's all right, Kouichi, I understand,” I assure him. “You don't have to talk to me anymore.”

With that the water in my eyes is hard to hold back. Kouichi and I have been best friends for a long time. We had met in the first grade right after my mother had died. It was hard to think that our friendship was actually over now, after all we've been through, just because of one secret that I had kept from him. Tears threaten to fall as I mount my bike and ride away towards my house.

I enter the house without a sound and close the door. I don't want anyone outside thinking that anything is wrong. However, as soon as the door is closed my bag falls from my shoulders to the ground with a thud. Quiet sobs start escaping my lips as I cover my face with my hands and fall to my knees, the tears falling freely, uncontrollable.

It hurts a lot when your best friend, your only friend, rejects you, a lesson I am now learning for the first time.

“I can't believe our friendship is over,” I sob sadly.

I wipe my tears away, knowing I don't have time to wallow in self-pity over losing a friend, even a friend like Kouichi. I grab my bag and get to my feet, heading for the kitchen. I pick up the phone and dial a flower shop to order two dozen roses: black, white, red, and blue. Once I'm finished I hang the phone up and place my bag on my back once more.

Once again I leave the safety of my home, this time heading for the other side of town where the flower shop is, along with the hospital.

I pick up the flowers and the florist puts the bill on my tab before I take them to the hospital to visit my father. The flowers I had brought just the previous day have already wilted due to the tension of death in the room.

I sigh. “Come on, Dad, I know you can get through this. It's not your time to go yet,” I insist as I walk over to the vase and throw the dead flowers away. I rinse out the vase and fill it with clean water before placing a dozen roses in it once again. “The sooner you're better, the sooner everything can return to normal,” I force a smile as I have a seat next to the bed and grip the hand of my father.

What am I talking about, it'll never be back to normal if Kouichi and I aren't . . . My eyes shrink at the thought, and I shake my head. Stop thinking about that. You have to move on. Dad needs you right now.

“You know what day it is, Dad? Today's Mom's birthday,” I smile. “I'm going to visit her next. I even made sure to grab her favorite type of roses. I brought you some as well to brighten up your room. The ones I brought yesterday already wilted,” I give a small laugh to myself. “Dad, I really hope you get better soon. I miss hearing your voice. I miss seeing you smile. I'm not ready to be on my own yet, Dad, I need you,” I hold back the tears as I hold his hand. “I can't stay long, but I wish I could. You're going to be fine. The doctor says that this surgery will help a lot. Once you recover from it, you should be able to come home and relax,” I give my dad a peck on the cheek and stand up. “I'll see you after the surgery, Dad, I promise.”

With that, I leave the hospital carrying the remaining dozen roses. I immediately head for the cemetery to visit my mother. It's not a very long trip, and as soon as I reach her grave site I place the flowers in the little vase and fill the vase with water from the bottle I carry in my bag. I have a seat and smile at the grave.

“Hey, mom, happy birthday,” I speak as if she's right next to me. “I hope you're having a great time in heaven, I know you're looking down on us to see how we're doing and as you can tell, it's not going too great. Dad's going into surgery and Kouichi and I are no longer friends. At least I don't think we are, I don't know yet, he didn't really say we weren't. But it's all my fault, if I hadn't kept that secret from him we'd still be friends for sure, and I know that, but, if a secret like that caused so much damage, then how can I tell him the biggest secret of all that I'm keeping from him?” I pause, sensing that I am rambling. “I'm sorry, I can't stay long, but I hope your birthday is great up there, and I have one request to make. Mom, please don't call Dad back to you, not yet, I still need him here and I know he wants to stay. I love you, Mom, and I love him. I at least want to be able to see him smile and hear him laugh before you take him back.”

With that I leave the cemetery, and on my way past the hospital I spy Kouichi and his mother heading inside the building. That's when I remember about Kouichi's grandmother. I head inside after them and follow Kouichi into the room with the old woman. She smiles up at us and reaches her hand up for Kouichi's hand.

“Kouichi, Sakiko, how kind of the both of you to come for a visit,” she smiles.

I look down at my feet, a little embarrassed that I am there; after all, this is Kouichi's grandmother, not mine.

“I'm afraid she doesn't have must time left. This may be the last time you get to see her, I'm sorry,” I over-hear the doctor talking to Kouichi's mother just outside the room.

“Kouichi, you need to know you have a brother,” the old woman suddenly states, shocking both of us. “His name is Koji Minamoto.”

I gasp, Where have I heard that name?I wonder. My paper route! Minamoto is that family on the other side of the city. That must mean that their kid is Kouichi's brother.

“Grandma?” Kouichi suddenly asks, a little worried.

I look over to see the old woman's eyes closed and the line on her heart monitor is straight, Kouichi's grandmother is dead.

My heart sinks in my chest at the sound of the heart monitor. That sound was horrible. I just can't help but feel that it's my mother all over again, or even worse at this point in time, my father slipping away. I want to scream but I can't bring myself to. I can't even bring myself to say anything comforting to Kouichi as he cries for his grandmother's death. I leave him in peace for a few moments.

However, I know that Kouichi will want to find Koji as soon as possible since his grandmother felt it was important to mention it on her death bed. I decide that I'll lead him right to the Minamoto residence and help reunite him with his brother as my last act of friendship.

“Kouichi?” I ask placing a hand on his shoulder. “Do you want to meet Koji Minamoto?”

“What?” Kouichi asks shocked.

“I know where the Minamoto family lives, I go past their house every day on my paper route. So, if you'd like to meet him, I could lead you there,” I explain as I remove my hand from his shoulder.

Kouichi wipes the tears from his face and nods, “Thanks, Kiko, I'd appreciate that.”

So later that day, after Kouichi's mother had gone to work, I lead Kouichi to the Minamoto house.

A boy with an appearance almost identical to Kouichi comes out with a dog. Kouichi pulls me into a hiding position next to a wall as he watches. The dog pulls the boy onto the ground and two adults come running out.

“Koji, are you alright?” the woman asks.

The boy, known as Koji, gets up and crams his hand into his pocket, “Yeah, I'm fine, let's go.”

With that, the happy family walks off. I don't push Kouichi into going up to them and we head back to our part of the city.

“You wanna try again tomorrow?” I ask, hoping he did so I can hang out with him a little while longer.

“Yeah,” Kouichi nods.

“Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow,” I wave good bye and head home.

Kouichi and I meet up and head back over to Koji's house at noon the next day, but once again Kouichi does nothing but hide. We follow Koji when he leaves the house and he goes straight to the flower shop. We hide outside and soon he comes rushing out without flowers. We follow after him and find ourselves in a subway.

Kouichi stands on the opposite side of the subway and I stand at his side. Koji doesn't even notice anything. When the subway stops at Shibuya station Koji gets off and we hurry off after him, but lose him in the crowd. When we spot him again he's in the elevator and the doors are closing.

Kouichi runs forward, but the doors close too soon, and he runs into them instead. I'm right behind him and we look at the floor numbers to discover that he's going down.

“This way,” I point to the stairs and we start running down them, me in front and him right behind.

After a few flights of stairs Kouichi trips and we both fall down an entire flight.

“Koji,” Kouichi whispers and we both black out.

The next thing I know we are in the Digital World.

END FLASHBACK

Kouichi, please be alright, I beg from underwater. Kouichi.

With that I fall unconscious.

“Hey, is she alive?” a voice asks full of curiosity.

“Well, at least she's breathing now, that's a good sign,” another voice answers.

“We'll go see if we can find some herbs or something to help,” a young voice states.

“Good idea, come on guys,” one final voice agrees.

“J.P. give me one of those handkerchiefs before you go,” a familiar voice demands.

Kouichi? I wonder as I open my eyes to a blurry world.

As my eyes focus I see . . .