Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Izumi no Hikari ❯ Killer Bugs and Hair Spray ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Izumi no Hikari
Chapter 3: Killer bugs and Hair Spray
by Wannabe Koushiro

*******************************
A/N: Lemon alert!! This chapter is okay up until after the thing in the digital
world. Oh, yeah, this chapter introduces my original character. You'll meet her
in about the second paragraph. This chapter covers at least five years. It
starts just about where season 2 does. I'm going by what grades they're in in
the Japanese version. And it ends up with Tai and Koushiro in high school. Tai's
in his last year. And, unfortunately, this is the beginning of the cofusion. :)
Oh, there is no hair spray mentioned anywhere in this chapter, but I couldn't
think of a better title for this chapter. Just read the story.
*******************************

Gee, another school year has gone by. Thankfully, I'll be in middle school next
year. I haven't had any nightmares for almost a year. Tai and I have tried to
stay in contact, but he was in middle school this year. We had the weekends, of
course, but it was hard to try to get together very often. After the school year
ended, we were actually able to pick up where we left off. That was great. I'm
glad we'll be going to the same school next year. There's been one really big
change in my life though.

I'm now a brother. Every time I look into my little sister's eyes, I have this
strange feeling, like I've known her for a lifetime. I can't help but think she
may be the reincarnation of my real mother, after all that I went through the
past year. She can't quite talk yet, but I seem to know when she wants me. I've
gone to actually going by my right name, and the closest she can come to saying
it is "coo-coo." It's actually kinda cute, if not annoying somewhat.
Unfortunately, I get to baby-sit, so I get to say good bye to my weekends.

She also seems to be a digi-destined. Something wierd happened when I first saw
Nika. That's not actually her name, it's a nickname. Her actual name is Hikari.
Yes, like Tai's sister. But I didn't want to get confused, so I started calling
her Nika. I orginally thought let's call her Hika, but it sounded wierd, so I
changed it to Nika. Oh, back to why she's probably a digi-destined.

When she came home, my digivice did something strange that I had never seen
happen before. It seemed to split into two, seperate digivices. Of course, I
have to hold on to it until she's old enough for it. I wondered what digimon
would be her partner, but until or unless we can go back, we wouldn't be able to
find out. That night, I called a digi-destined meeting. Well, we were one down,
as Mimi had moved to New York. Lucky her.

I introduced everyone to Nika, then showed them the two digivices I now had.
"Nika has to be digi-destined. What else would explain this?" I asked as I held
them out. Mine was still purple, the one that had split from it was clear. No
one had an answer for that. Of course, I was the one that should have the
answers.

"I wonder who her digimon is..." I heard Kari say.

"I'd like to know myself, actually." I said. "Too bad we can't go back, but I
wouldn't take her with anyway, at least, not until she's older. For one thing,
Mom would probably kill me." I had a sudden thought. "I wonder what happened to
Tentomon when the digivice divided. I hope he's okay." I could tell that some of
the others were having the same thought.

"I'm sure he's okay." Sora said, trying to be comforting. Everyone else nodded
in agreement.

"Thanks, Sora." I told her. It was quiet for a few moments. That was broken by
Nika's crying. I sighed. "When will this end?" I asked.

"Soon." Matt and Tai said in unison.

"At least, that's what I was always told whenever I'd ask my mom when T.K. was a
baby." Matt said.

"You'll survive it." Tai told me. "At least summer vacation is starting. The
worst of it should be over by the time we go back to school."

"Thanks guys." I told them. It was getting late, and almost everyone left. Tai
and Kari stayed for a bit longer.

"Another digi-destined, huh. Do you think it's some sort of sign?" Tai asked me
quietly as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I don't know. I hope it isn't." I sighed as I leaned into his shoulder. "I had
hoped Nika wouldn't end up involved in this. It's bad enough that we are."

"You're just feeling what all older brothers feel. It's called being protective.
And, sometimes, you have to know when not to be." Tai told me. I let it go at
that.


Well, after school had started again this year, something strange happened. I
had gotten an email from Tai one afternoon, and of course, before I could reply,
my laptop's battery had died. The closest computer I could get to was at the
elementary school. I was running to the computer lab when I saw Kari and T.K.
Kari had gotten the same email that I had and was doing the same thing. It
turned out the digital world was in danger again. That's not my story, though I
helped them out quite a bit during their adventure. The whole thing was over by
the end of the calendar year. That was quite surprising. Even more surprising
was the fact that after that, digimon started popping up all over. There was now
a permanent gate to the Digital World.

Unfortunately, when all this happened, I had forgotten to ask Tentomon if
anything strange had happened to him a few months ago. I know that, along with
myself, Kari and a few of the others were still curious as to who Nika's partner
is. Well, that answer came about five years later.

I was in high school, and Nika was just starting school. She was about five
years old at the time. The digimon now stayed with their partners, so I was
lucky enough that Tentomon was with me.

"Koushiro?" Nika asked.

"What?" I answered. She was on the floor of what was now our room, playing with
Tentomon.

"Will I ever have a digimon?" She asked.

"Of course you will." I told her as I wrote the essay I had due the next day. I
was almost regretting taking the history classes, but I thought it would be a
challenge for me. I wish I hadn't have been right. I still have the habit of
absorbing myself into my work, though.

"When?" She asked.

"I don't know, Nika." I said as I kept typing. "Done!" I said.

"What are you doing?"

"My homework. Don't you have any?" I grinned as I knew she didn't.

"Of course not, silly." She answered me. I turned around to see what she was
doing. I had to laugh.

"Nika!" I exclaimed. "Did he say you could do that?" Nika had tied one of her
hair ribbons around Tentomon's neck. It looked so silly. I almost wished I knew
where there was a camera.

"There's no harm in it." Tentomon said. Nika giggled.

"He's cute like that." She said.

"He looks like a Christmas present." I said, leaning down to untie it from
Tentomon's neck. The ribbon just happened to be green. "Come here, Nika." She
came over to me. "Turn around." I instructed her, and tied the ribbon back in
her light brown hair. "It looks better on you than it does on Tentomon."

"Thanks, Koushiro."

"Hey, tell you what. This weekend, if Mom will let us, and only if she says it's
okay, why don't we go to the Digital World, and we'll see if we can find your
partner, okay?" I told her. "Just you and me, kid. And Tentomon, of course." I
didn't want to leave him out.

"Really?" Nika really perked up at that. "You're the best brother ever!" She
jumped up and gave me a hug. I just blushed a bit.

"Kids! Supper's ready!" Mom called.

"Come on, let's go eat." I said. "We can ask about this tonight." Nika was so
excited that she was jumping up and down. I was somewhat more calm as we walked
to the dinner table.


Mom and Dad agreed to let us go on Saturday. I was trying to sleep, but Nika was
too excited to. "Wake up, Koushiro!"

"Nika, it's..."I had no clue what time it was, and looked at the clock. "8:30,
on Saturday morning. Let me sleep. Go watch cartoons or something." I told her
as I buried my face in my pillow.

"But today's the day we're going to find my digimon!" She whined.

"Oh, alright." I said, and sat up. She was already dressed. "Gee, you're
prepared."

"Of course." She said.

"Okay, let me get dressed, we'll pack something for lunch, then go, alright?" I
got a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt out of the closet and got dressed
quickly. "Okay, let's go get something to take with us for lunch." I grabbed her
hand and led Nika into the kitchen.

"PB & J?" She asked. She looked at me with pleading eyes. I grinned.

"Sure." I said as I got the stuff out for it. I made two sandwhiches apiece for
us. I didn't know how long this would take. I grabbed a few other things to eat.
"You ready?" I asked Nika.

"Very." She said.

"Oh, one last thing. You need this." I told her as I gave her the extra digivice
I had been carrying for the last five years. As soon as it was in her hands it
morphed into a D-3. Hers also turned purple, the same color as my digivice.

"Wow." She said.

"That was interesting." I said at the same time.

"How come mine's different now?" Nika asked me.

"I'm not sure." I told her. "Mine's been the same for a long time. The only
other ones I know have done that belong to T.K. and Kari. Of course, everyone's,
except for the original digi-destined's, are D-3s."

"Oh, well. It's cool." She said. "Let's get going already!"

I laughed. "Calm down, Nika." I told her. "We're going already. At least now, we
don't have to walk so far. Come on." I led her back to our room. "Hold your
digivice up to the computer and say 'Digi-port open.'" I instructed her.

"Why?" She asked.

"Just do it." I said. "I'll explain later." Nika shrugged, and did what I told
her to. The same thing that used to happen did. We got sucked through the
computer into the Digital World.
"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. That was cool." Nika said. "So, what's next?" She asked as she looked
around. I took a deep breath as I tried to think what would be the best thing to
do.

"How about going to Primary Village?" Tentomon suggested.

"How far is it?" I asked him.

"If we fly, we can be there in a few hours." He said.

"You think you're up to it?" I asked him. He nodded. Nika looked at us like we
were crazy. "Go for it." I told him. Tentomon went ahead and digivolved. There
was only one problem though. I forgot my sister was afraid of all bugs, except
for ladybugs and Tentomon. Well, that made sense, since he was a lady bug, sort
of. Well, just think what seeing a bug three times your size would do to you.
She screamed.

"Killer bug! Eeek!" I shook my head.

"Nika! Calm down!" I grabbed her arms. "It's just Tentomon. That's his next
level." I told her. "He won't hurt you. Right, Kabuterimon?" I asked him.

He shook his head. Nika looked at him suspiciously. "You sure?" She asked me,
not taking her eyes off of the 'killer bug' for one second.

"I won't hurt you." Kabuterimon reassured her, as he bent down for us to climb
on.

I lifted Nika on first. "Hold on tight." I told her as I got her settled. I got
on behind her. "We're ready! Let's head for Primary Village."

We'd been flying for I don't know how long. Nika had finally calmed down. "This
isn't so bad, is it?" I asked her. "It beats walking, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. It is kinda fun. How come you didn't tell me Tentomon turns into a giant
killer bug?" She asked.

"Why should have I? We try to keep them at their rookie level unless there's an
emergency. In case you didn't notice, they grow quite a bit." I responded. "Hey,
look up ahead, it's Primary Village." I pointed out the place where we were
heading.

"Cool." Nika said.

"That's what you think about everything." I teased her.

"Well, it is." She said as Kabuterimon circled around to find somewhere to land.
We landed just outside Primary Village. It was within walking distance now. I
helped Nika down, and after we were safely on the ground, Kabuterimon reverted
back to Tentomon. "Hey, I'm sorry about screaming and stuff." Nika apologized to
him, and gave him a quick hug. "I didn't know it was you."

"It's okay." He said. "Can we eat now?" He directed that question to me.

I glanced at my watch. "It's a bit early yet. You don't think there's going to
be some emergency, do you?" I asked.

"You know digivolving takes it out of me." Tentomon reminded me.

"Just wait." I told him. Nika grabbed my hand and leaned against me as we
started walking down a path that led straight to where we were going.

"Koushiro?" She began.

"What?"

"You don't think, that..." She didn't finish her thought.

"Think what?" I asked her.

"That, maybe, there isn't a digimon for me?" I realized what she was thinking. I
stopped where I was and knelt down so I was on about the same level as Nika.

"Nika, you can't think that way." I told her somewhat sternly. "There is a
digimon waiting here just for you, I'm sure of it. You'll see."

"You sure?" She asked, not really believing me.

"Hikari Izumi, if I hear that tone from you again..." I started. She kinda
started at that. No one ever called her by her real name. And I only used her
full name if she was in trouble. "All you have to do is believe that there is.
Trust me on this, please?" Nika nodded.

We walked further down the road. "I'm sorry, Nika." I began.

"For what?" She asked.

"For getting upset at you. I shouldn't have." I said as I kept looking forward.
"I'm also sorry for calling you by your full name."

"It's okay. I still think you're cool, even though I thought I was in trouble
there for a moment." She told me as we walked into the digimon nursery.

"I haven't been here for a long time." I said. The only time I had been here was
after we destroyed Apocolymon. There still seemed to be quite a few digieggs
here. With digimon being reconfigured and reborn, it's no surprise. Nika's
digivice started beeping.

"Why is it beeping?" She asked me. I wasn't really sure myself. I glanced at
Tentomon. He shrugged in that wierd way he has. We didn't have the time to think
about it as a digiegg appeared at Nika's feet.

"Nika, look." I told her. "I told you that you had a partner. And you doubted
me." I teased her.

The egg had two purple, jagged stripes around the center of it. At one point,
they went out to form two circles, one on the top and one on the bottom. It kind
of looked like my crest.

"I'm sorry, Koushiro." Nika said as she bent down to pick up the digi-egg. Her
D-3 started glowing and so did the egg. "What do I do?" She asked.

"Just rub it gently." Tentomon informed her. She started doing just that.

"How long does it take?" We didn't have the time to answer as it hatched in her
arms. "Oh, you're so cute!" She exclaimed as the little baby digimon popped out
from its shell.

"What is it?" I asked, as I could only see the back of the little, powder blue
digimon. Nika turned the baby around.

Tentomon and I exchanged a glance, then in unison said, "It's Pabumon."

"You know her?" Nika asked, looking up at me. I sat down so she didn't have to
do that.

"It's Tentomon's baby form." I told her. I looked at Tentomon. "You don't
think..." I wandered off.

"It's possible." He said.

"This is going to be wierd." I said. "Hey, let's eat." I pulled out our lunch. I
chewed thoughtfully on my sandwhich. Nika was feeding part of her lunch to
Pabumon. "Hey, don't feed her too much." I said. And then realized what I had
said. "Her? Are you sure it's a her?"

"Why wouldn't she be?" Nika asked, confused.

"No reason." After Hawkmon had been partnered with Yolei, we just never knew
anymore if our partner would be the same sex we were. It was sometimes
confusing. I guess I thought that since Tentomon had digivolved from a pabumon,
that her partner would be a male as well. I need to quit thinking like that.
"She's your partner, not mine."

"Big brothers are quite silly, aren't they?" She asked her little digimon,
giggling. I just smiled. Even though she calls me silly all the time, I couldn't
help but be proud of her.

"Little sisters are just as silly." I told her. She giggled some more.

"How long will it be before she digivolves?" Nika asked me.

"I don't know. It depends on a lot of things. Kari could answer that better than
I can. She seems to be able to...I don't know how to describe it...She can form
a bond with any digimon, not just her partner. She's gotten pretty good at
guessing when they'll digivolve."

"Don't worry about it." Tentomon told her. "Just treat her well and before you
know it, she'll have digivolved."

"There you go, the voice of expierence." I said. "Well, since you've met your
partner, don't you think we should be going home?" I asked. "And of course you
can bring her home." I told her before she could ask. "We didn't come all this
way just to leave her." Nika smiled.

"I knew that." She said. "I'm just happy that I have one."

"Are you going to scream again if Tentomon digivolves?" I asked her. She shook
her head. "You sure?" I asked. I didn't need her screaming about killer bugs again. I
nodded at Tentomon. She grabbed on to my leg and buried her head in so she
didn't have to watch.

She looked after Kabuterimon had announced himself. "You're still a scary bug."
She commented to him as I helped her on to his back.

"I try not to be." He said. I handed Pabumon up to Nika.

"Besides, this is the quickest way back to where we were." I told her. "Just be
glad that he's a friendly, scary bug." I said as I sat next to her. "Let's go
back." We flew back to the odd TV sets that allowed computers in the real world
to connect to the Digital World that we had come through in the first place.

"Actually, this is fun. I like this feeling." Nika commented.

"What? Flying in the open air? It is a great feeling, isn't it?" I said. It had
been almost three years since I had last ridden on Kabuterimon's back and felt
the wind blowing through my hair. I loved the feeling as well.

"I guess we're lucky." Nika said to me. "Though I still wish you weren't a bug."
She directed that to Kabuterimon. I could feel him shake beneath me with a small
laugh. We finally got back to where we started from. Nika had fallen asleep and
had used me for a pillow.

"Nika, wake up." I shook her gently. She mumbled something I couldn't
understand. "Nika, we have to go home. We promised to be home by six. Remember?"

Nika opened her eyes. "Do we have to?" She asked.

"I'm the one who'll be in trouble if we're not, you know. You don't want your
brother to be in trouble, now do you, Hikari." I called her by her real name to
make my point.

"Okay, okay. How do we get home?" She asked, stretching.

"The same way we got here. Through that." I pointed down at the strange TV set.
"And we don't have to do anything except want to go home. That isn't too hard,
is it?" Nika shook her head.

We got sucked in, and thankfully we ended up back in our bedroom. I had
forgotten that it's a bit rough coming back to the real world. I had to be the
first one out. Nika and Tentomon ended up landing on top of me, and Pabumon had
landed on top of them.

"Uh, do you guys mind?" I asked. Nika picked up Pabumon and stood up. After she
had gotten off of me, Tentomon finally did. I laid on the floor for a moment,
thinking. Nika stood over my face.

"You can get up anytime now, Koushiro." She said.

"I can't move." I said. Nika and Tentomon both took a hand and pulled me up to a
sitting position. "Thanks."

"Kids? Is that you?" Mom called.

"Yeah, it's us." I hollered back. I got to my feet. "You want to show Mom?" I
asked Nika. She nodded. "Come on then." I grabbed her hand, and led her to the
living room. "We found she has one too." I told Mom. "Show her." I told Nika.
She held Pabumon out to Mom.

"It's cute." Mom said, and looked at me. I just shrugged. Mom didn't know what
it would eventually turn into. I didn't know if I should tell her. "Oh,
Koushiro. Tai's been calling all day wanting to talk to you. You should probably
call him back."

I nodded. "I need to call him anyway." I said. "I think I'll go do that now." I
left Mom and Nika to get acquainted with Pabumon.

I dialed Tai's number quickly. Before the person on the other end could even say
hello I asked for Tai.

"He's not home right now. Koushiro?" I heard Kari ask.

"Yeah. Do you know what he wanted then? I have something important to tell him
as well."

"I don't, sorry. Hey, he just walked in. Tai, Koushiro's on the phone." Kari
told him.

"Izzy, where have you been all day?" Tai asked.

"In the Digital World with Nika. That's why I called. She's found her partner."

"Ah." Tai said.

"You don't want to know?" I asked. "Anyway, what's so important that you've been
calling all day?"

"Nothing too important. I've had a bad week. I was just wondering..." He trailed
off.

"If I'd come over and make you feel better?" I asked, knowing that's exactly
what he wanted.

"Exactly." He said.

"Want me to get rid of Kari for a few hours?" I asked him. We'd come up with
this brilliant plan to keep our sisters from us when we wanted to be alone. I'd
convince my parents to go out for the night, and get Kari to baby-sit Nika. She
was good at it too. They almost thought that they were sisters.

"Would you?" Tai asked.

"I'll try." I said. "I can't guarantee anything though."

"I know." He said. "See you later then." And he hung up.

"Don't you ever let anyone say good bye before you hang up?" I muttered as I
hung up our phone. I turned around to see Nika staring at me. "And what do you
want?" I asked her.

"Nothing." She giggled. "Is Kari coming tonight?"

"Ask Mom, not me about it." I told her. "Mom and Dad might not want to go out
tonight." Actually, they were glad to get out once in while. At least, this way,
they wouldn't get too suspicious.

"Mom? I'm spending the night at Tai's, do you mind?" She never did, but I
thought I better ask anyway.

"That's fine. Is Tentomon going with you?" I forgot about him.

"Uh, no. He'll be fine with Nika." I said, as I quickly walked out the door. I
practically ran down the street to Tai's. I rang the doorbell. Tai answered.

"Am I glad to see you." He said, giving me a kiss. "Is Kari going to have a job
tonight?"

"It's up to Nika. She asked me, and I said to ask to Mom. I'm pretty sure that
Kari will be gone within a few hours though." Sure enough, as I said it, the
phone rang. Tai went to answer it.

"Yeah, she is, hold on a moment. Kari! Phone!" Tai yelled.

Kari walked out of the study. "You don't need to yell, Tai." She said as she
picked up the phone. "Hello?....Sure....I can be there in about 20
minutes....Alright. Bye."

"Thanks for the job, guys." She said as she walked past us. "I can use the
money."

"My mom, huh?" I asked. "Nika does good work." I said to Tai.

"She's little, that's why." Tai whispered to me. "When they're still this young,
they can get away with anything.

"Where are your parents?" I asked him.

"They went out themselves. It's just that Kari and I are old enough to take care
of ourselves." He told me.

"Bye, you two." Kari called as she walked out the door. "Don't do anything I
wouldn't!"

"Yeah, right." Tai breathed. "See you later." As soon as the door shut, Tai
jumped me. "I've been waiting for a long time for this." He said as he kissed
me. I didn't say anything as I leaned into the kiss. We stood there for quite a
while.

"Let's go somewhere like the bedroom." I suggested between kisses. Tai nodded,
and we made our way there. We fell down on the bed together.

We were taking a breathing break. "Do you have any clue how much I love you?"
Tai asked me.

"A lot?" I grinned at him, and started kissing him some more. It was getting
really hot and heavy. I thought I felt something brush against my crotch. "Tai?"
I asked.

"Sorry." He said, blushing.

"That was you?" I asked. He nodded. "It felt good. Go ahead." I told him. He
looked at me like I was crazy. Then his hand moved back to where it had been. I
moaned as he felt me. I know it was making me hard, but I didn't care. "You're
good at this." I breathed.

"I practice a lot." He told me. "Especially when I think of you." He told me as
he sneaked his hand under the waistband of my pants. I gasped at the more direct
contact. That made me completely hard. Tai just stroked it. I could barely
think. The only thing I could think of was to get out of my pants to give him
room. I was breathing hard.

"Don't stop." I told him breathlessly.

"How about I do something else?" He gave me a quick kiss on the mouth and moved
his lips down my body. I then felt something warm and moist around my member. I
looked down to see Tai giving me a good sucking, not to mention him working at
his stiffy. I just moaned at how it felt so good.

It didn't last too long though, as I came within a few minutes of him starting.
I surprised both of us. It shocked Tai a bit. "Sorry about that." I apologized.
He grinned.

"It's okay." He said as he wiped the stray bits of cum from his face. He had
jumped away when I had started coming. "Anyway, wasn't the idea of tonight to
make me feel better? It's your turn." He told me. I was more nervous than he
was. He grabbed my hand and led it to his penis.

"How's this?" I asked nervously as I stroked him.

"Good." He told me. "Will you do what I did?"

"You mean..." He nodded. I swallowed a bit, and nodded nervously. I brought my
head down between his legs. I licked the head a bit nervously, then took it all
in. Tai grabbed the back of my head and started bucking in my mouth, which
surprised me a bit.

"Just relax." He told me. "You're doing fine."

I couldn't say anything, so I just continued what I was doing. I think he was
mad at me for not warning him because he didn't warn me when he started coming.
I came up off of him and coughed a bit.

"Are you okay? I didn't mean to do that." I nodded to confirm that I was fine
and coughed a bit more.

"I'm fine." I told him. "I just choked a bit. You feel better now?" I asked.

"Yeah. Thanks, Izzy." Okay, Tai was one of the few people that could still call
me that. Him, Kari, Nika, and our digimon are the few that can. Though Nika
never calls me anything but 'Koushiro' for some strange reason. I've thought
about calling her Hikari all the time, but I'm sure I'd either get annoyed with
it, or start thinking of Tai's sister. I've called her Nika for all five years
of her life, why start calling her something different. Though I think it'd be
cute if she did call me 'Izzy' just once.

Tai and I snuggled up together. "I really love you." He told me.

"I know." I answered, grinning. "I love you too."

"So, what digimon did Nika get?" Tai finally asked me.

"Pabumon." I answered.

"Isn't that..."

"Tentomon's baby form." I finished for him. "Nika's is a girl though."

"That's interesting." Tai said.

"Her egg had a design similar to my crest on it." I told him. "And her digivice
morphed into a D-3 like T.K's and Kari's did back during the digimon emperor
days."

"Now that's just weird. At least, the part about the design on the egg is."

"I know. I'm glad I'll be moving in a couple of years." I said. Tai and I were
planning to attend university together and living together. "I'm afraid of what
will happen when Mom realizes that Nika and I have the same digimon."

"Maybe they'll look different." Tai suggested.

"It's possible. Her pabumon is blue. Tentomon was green when he was that young."
I said.

"Why didn't he follow you?" Tai finally asked.

"After what we just did?" I asked. "Would you want to explain it to Agumon?
Where is he, anyway?" I asked him.

"You're right. I think he went with Kari and Gatomon." He said. I sighed. Tai
continued on. "At least it got my mind off the last week."

"What happened?" I asked. I know we were both taking history classes, but that
shouldn't have stressed him out that much. Of course, the senior class' work had
to be harder, but it couldn't be that stressful...could it?

"Let's see, first, Kari and I were fighting, then, I had a history paper due,
she deleted it off of the computer, and then..."

"Why didn't you call me? You know I could have saved it for you."

Tai blushed. "I forgot. Anyway, I got yelled at by my teacher for not having it
when it was due and got a big fat zero for a grade. Then, get this, he shows me
a paper from the class behind us. Guess who's paper it is."

"Mine?" I asked.

"Exactly. And I get a lecture from him about why I couldn't be a better student
like you." Tai sighed.

"I'm sorry about that." I said as I gave him a big hug.

"He wouldn't even let me explain about what happened to it."

"Some teachers are like that." I said, and since it was the same teacher we both
had, I knew exactly the one he was talking about. No one liked the guy, but we
couldn't do much about it. "At least at mid-terms you have a chance to get your
grade back up. At least we got into high school. Look at the bright side."

"Yeah, but unless my grades are half way decent, I won't get into college."

"Quit angsting about it. You're depressing me." I told him. "Not to mention, you
sound like Joe used to."

"Sorry. I don't see why I'm depressing you, though. You're the smartest person I
know. I think you've got a chance no matter what happens."

"You'll make it, Tai." I reassured him with a kiss. "I'm sure you will. Hey,
what was your paper about? I mean, before Kari deleted it."

"Warlords of the 17th century. What was the one waved in front of my face
about?"

"Outside influences of Japanese culture in the 19th century and how they affect
us today." I answered.

"No wonder he picked your paper. What was it? Twenty pages?" Tai asked jokingly.

"It was only about 12, not including references." I answered him, and yawned.
"I'm going to sleep now. Good night." I told him as I rolled over.

"Good night, Izzy."

"Don't call me that..." I murmured teasingly as I fell asleep in Tai's arms.