Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Never Be The Same ❯ One-Shot

Author's Note: I did mean to finish this story absolutely ages ago, but just lately I haven't really felt like writing. But at long last here is the third and final part (at least for now) of my trilogy of Digimon stories - which also includes Funny Break and Waiting For You - is finished and as promised it involves Kelly Osbourne look alike Jun Motomiya as one of the main characters. Also, keep an eye out for my forthcoming Digimon/Doctor Who crossover The End Of All Things To Come, which will be published in the 'Doctor Who' section of Fanfiction.Net in the (hopefully) near future. Please read and review, but flamers will receive a visit from a very drunk Raging Speedhorn.

Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to Toei Animation Co., Fox Kids, Saban Entertainment and Bandai, and is used without permission.

Never Be The Same

By Jack of the Pelt

Can I break away

Push me away

Make me fall

Just to see

Another side of me

Push me away

You can't see

What I see

The other side of me

Downfall, Trust Company

"I'm through with younger boys, older ones are much more mature... Jun Kido... Has a nice ring don't you think?"

Jun Motomiya, Digimon 02 - The Dark Gate

A young girl with spiky brown hair in her late teens gulped down air as she tried to catch her breath after her dash from the tube station, sweating slightly from exertion. She prayed that she wasn't too late to see the object of her affection, and her prayers were answered when a blonde youth stepped out from the door of the warehouse she was standing outside a few moments later, bass guitar slung over his back, muttering something she couldn't quite hear.

"Yama-kun!" cried the girl as she saw him.

The boy - Yamato Ishida, to give him his full name - gave her a double take. "Oh, Jun!" he said, sounding quite surprised to see her.

The girl, Jun Motomiya, bounded up to him with a smile on her face. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to see you after your band practice just lately," she said apologetically, "but I've been busy with all my schoolwork, so I had to wait for the August holidays."

Yamato scratched the back of his head. "Well, uh, it's nice to see you and all…" he trailed off.

"Yamato?" asked a rather melodic feminine voice from the doorway of the building. "There you are!" Jun blinked in surprise as an exceptionally pretty girl walked out of the warehouse and placed a kiss on the boy's cheek. "I wondered where you had got to!" The girl had soft looking brown hair with matching eyes, and her pale skin gave her the complexion of a delicate porcelain doll. Jun had to admit that this girl was quite beautiful.

"Wha…?" Jun muttered, confused.

The girl suddenly noticed Jun. "Oh!" she exclaimed. She turned her head to the boy standing beside her. "Yamato, who's this?" she asked.

"Uh, Jun, I don't think you two have been introduced," Yamato said, taking the new girl's hand in his, slightly embarrassed, probably expecting Jun to erupt into anger at any moment. "This is Mimi Tachikawa, my new girlfriend."

But the spiky haired teen just stood there, staring at them with look of horror. She just couldn't believe her eyes. Jun had been completely unprepared for this. She looked from one of them to the other rapidly, screwing up her hands, and she looked like she was about to explode in anger. But instead she suddenly burst into tears, turned around and ran off.

***

Mimi blinked. "Who was that?" She asked Yamato a short while later when Jun had disappeared from sight.

"Uh, that was Jun Motomiya," he replied sheepishly, trying not to look her in the eye.

"That girl who used to follow you around?" Mimi inquired. She raised an eyebrow. "Did you actually tell her about us?" Her voice had become slightly more harsh. Only a fraction, but it was enough to tell Yamato that she absolutely furious with him.

"Well, er, I haven't been able to find the time," Yamato said nervously, trying to placate his angry girlfriend. "What, with all the time I've been spending with you and band practise I couldn't find a spare moment to tell her."

"Well, you should of found the time!" she shouted. She then span around on her heel and angrily walked away from her boyfriend.

"Mimi! At least let me walk you home! It's not safe!" he called to her retreating form.

"Hmph!" was the reply he received from her.

Yamato was about to chase after her when voice spoke up behind him.

"You having woman trouble again, Yamato?" When the blonde turned towards the familiar voice he saw that it was Takahashi, The Teen-Age Wolves' drummer, with Akira, the band's guitarist, both of them standing at his side in the warehouse's doorway.

"You haven't lost another one, have you?" asked Akira, smirking slightly.

Yutaka, the key board player, appeared behind them both. "Hey, he hasn't done it again, has he?" he inquired.

Yamato scowled at them, and without another word ran after Mimi in the direction she had gone, hoping to make it up to her somehow.

His band mates watched him go and then walked back to their various instruments. Yutaka sighed and shook his head as he started to back up his keyboard. "Girls are just too much trouble sometimes," he muttered to no one in particular.

"How the hell does that guy do it?" Akira remarked as placed his guitar inside it's case. "I mean why does he get all the girls throwing themselves at him? Life's just not fair sometimes!

"Yeah, well that's the power of the lead vocalist for you" agreed Takahashi, sitting behind his drum kit. A smirk then formed on his face once again. "It just a pity he doesn't know how to keep hold of 'em!"

***

"WAAHH!!!" Jun cried into her pillow. "All boys hate me! They all think I'm ugly!"

Her best friend, Momoe Inoue, who was sitting on a chair, looked over the top of the magazine she was reading and rolled her eyes. Jun had been like this ever since she had found out that the object of her affection - namely one Yamato Ishida - now had a new girlfriend. She felt sorry for her friend, but she thought that Jun was overreacting, which seemed to be a characteristic of her family. "Jun, for goodness sake you are not ugly!"

"Yes I am!" she wailed. "It's obvious why he prefers that slut over me!"

"Oh, that's rubbish, Jun," her friend said to reassure her. "Perhaps you're just not his type."

"Maybe I'm not anyone's type!" she cried.

Momoe sighed. Sometimes she despaired over the fact that her best friend was so over-emotional. When Yamato had started to go out with that Takenouchi girl, Jun was so angry over the fact that he had 'cheated' on her that she had just forgot to be upset, but she had soon gotten over that when she had caught sight of Shuu Kido and developed a crush on him. But that had soon came to an end when Jun had discovered that he had already had a girlfriend, and had been completely devastated that she had been rejected twice in row. Jun, the resilient girl that she was, managed to pick herself up and get on with her life.

A few months later gossip had soon spread across their school that Yamato had split up from Sora Takenouchi (who was now dating their school's star soccer player, Taichi Yagami), and so Jun had redoubled her efforts in trying to attract Yamato's attention. But now this had happened, the crushing blow to Jun's self esteem, the provably straw that broke the camels back, the fact that the blonde bass player had found a new girlfriend.

"Look, perhaps your just having a run of bad luck," Momoe said after a few moments of thought, hoping that she could cheer her friend up. "Maybe a change would do you good."

Jun almost immediately stopped crying, and looked up from her pillow. "A change?" she asked, intrigued, sniffling slightly. "Like what?"

"Um, I don't know," replied Momoe, putting a finger to her lips. "Why don't you change your hairstyle?"

Her friend subconsciously reached up and touched her spiky hair. "My hair? What's wrong with my hair?"

"Uh, nothing," said Momoe, trying to avert another crying fit from Jun. "It's just that, well…"

"Well what?"

"You've had that same haircut for what, five years now?" she said. "It's about time you changed it."

"Hmm, a new hairstyle?" Jun murmured, as she got to her feet and went over to her dressing table mirror, looking at her reflection. She turned back to her best friend. "What do you think would suit me?"

***

Jyou sighed as he saw a young couple pass him in the street holding hands. Most of the older Chosen Children had paired off by now; Taichi and Sora, Yamato and Mimi, even Koushiro was finally showing an interest in girls - one Miyako Inoue in particular. All except him. It wasn't because he didn't want a girlfriend, quite the opposite in fact, it was just that he could never find the time to socialise, what with all the exams he had to take.

He hated to admit it, but he was lonely.

Jyou sighed again and checked though the contents of the bag again. "Let's see," he muttered to himself as he walked along the street. "Have I got everything -"

He never finished the sentence, as someone crashed straight into him and knocking him to the floor, scattering his belongings.

"Oh, I'm soooo sorry!" said the female voice of the person Jyou had walked into.

"No, it was my fault, sorry," he said as got into a crouching position and attempted to pick everything up he had dropped, not looking up at her. "I should have been looking where I was going."

"That's okay, but let me help you with those," said the girl as she knelt down to pick his things up.

"No thanks, I can manage on my -" Jyou blushed a deep crimson when he realized he had placed his hand on top of hers when they had tried to pick up the same book. "Er, sorry," he said as he looked up at the girl. And then their eyes met.

Recognition flashed in the girl's eyes. "Jyou?"

The boy blinked in disbelief. "Jun?!" Suddenly a massive wave of deja-vu struck him when he realized that something like this had happened before…

"I'm late, I'm late I'm late!" cried Jyou as he hurtled down the street hoping that he would be in time for his train to school.

"Aaarrrggghhh!!!" cried Jyou as he crashed headlong into someone as he rounded the corner, both of them flying backwards.

"Oww…" said the voice of the person he had knocked over. "Why don't you look where going?"

Dazed, Jyou looked up to see who he had crashed into, and blushed deeply when he saw it was a girl, a rather pretty one at that, even though she had a rather unusual spiky haircut which reminded Jyou slightly of Taichi's. He leapt to his feet and hurried over to the girls side, all thoughts of the class he was supposed to attend out of his mind for the moment, and he offered out his hand to help her up, which she gratefully took. "I'm really sorry!" he said apologetically as he helped her climb up. "I was in such a hurry I wasn't looking where I was going!"

"That's okay," replied the girl as she was helped up. "My little brother Daisuke is always running into to me back home."

The boy gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, I thought I had injured you just then."

The girl smiled at him, which made Jyou blush and look away. "Where're you going in such a hurry anyway?" she asked.

"Uh, I have a test to take," he replied, embarrassed, as though this was the shameful thing he had ever done.

The girl gave him a look like he was insane. "You go to cram school? Are you crazy?!"

Jyou looked down at his feet. "Well, my dad said that if was going to become a doctor I should take as many classes as I can…"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" the girl said suddenly, making Jyou jump. "I haven't even told you my name! I'm Jun Motomiya."

"Uh, my name's Jyou Kido," he replied.

"You're going to cram school, then?" she asked. "When's your next class?"

Jyou looked down at his watch - and his eyes widened in terror. "OH NO!" he cried, panicking. "I'm going to miss my train!" He looked back up at the girl. "Look, I'm really sorry I ran into you, but I'm already late for my class as it is! See you later!" And with that he darted off.

"What a strange boy," murmured Jun as she watched him go. "Cute though!" she said happily, a smile forming on her face. Somehow she knew this wouldn't be the last time she would see Jyou Kido…

"Hey Jyou!" shouted Jun, snapping Jyou back to the present "Are you okay?"

Jyou blinked a few times. "Huh?" he said.

"Are you alright?" asked Jun, concern written all over her face. "You spaced out for a few moments there, I thought you had gone into a trance."

Jyou shook his head, as if to dislodge those thoughts from his head. "I'm okay, it's just that I had a big attack of deja-vu just then."

"Yeah, so did I," Jun said, grinning. "It's like when we first met wasn't it?" Her brow furrowed for moment as she suddenly remembered something. "Didn't you have a test or something? I've never actually asked how you got on, have I?"

"Well, I passed." he said, shuddering. He remembered that their first meeting had occurred when Diablomon had first made an appearance on the internet (He had almost fainted afterwards when he had found out that a nuclear missile had crashed in Odaiba, even though it had failed to go off). "Only just, though," he added as an afterthought.

"Heh, have you noticed anything different about me since we last met?"

"Erm, you've changed your hair," remarked Jyou, and he cringed at how lame that sounded.

Jun smiled, genuinely happy that the boy had noticed. "What do you think?" she asked. Gone was her original spiky haircut and now her soft brown hair flowed past her shoulders. "Do you like it?"

"Uh, it looks really good," he said, blushing.

"Jyou, why is your face going all red?" asked Jun, concerned.

"Uh," Jyou uttered, trying to think of a convincing excuse fast. "I'm just a little cold, that's all!"

Jun blinked. "Um, it's the middle of August, Jyou," she said, slightly confused.

"Er, well, gotta go Jun, see you later," he said, and then he turned around, hoping to leave before the conversation became even more awkward.

But before he could go he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. "Wait a minute, Jyou," Jun said. "Did you want to go get something to eat with me?"

Jyou's blushed deepened. "Um, I don't know..."

"Oh come on!" she said as she hooked his arm with hers and started to drag him along the street. "I know this great place! Follow me!"

"Hey…" he said weakly, but resigned himself to his fate, wondering what on earth he had gotten himself into this time.

***

Taichi, Yamato and Koushiro were walking towards the tube station. All three of them were heading to the nearest cinema to see the new Silent Hill movie.

"Thanks for coming to see this movie with me, you two," he said gratefully. "I really didn't want to go to see this on my own."

"Heh, not that scary is it?" Taichi asked.

Koushiro went red. "Uh, no," he said quickly. "It's just that it's embarrassing to go on my own."

"What you need Koushiro," Yamato said, "is a girlfriend."

"Yeah," added Taichi, grinning. "A younger girlfriend. Maybe one with glasses and purple hair, perhaps?"

"Uh, speaking of girlfriends, where are Sora and Mimi?" asked Koushiro, blushing, trying to change the subject.

Taichi was the one to reply. "Sora is playing tennis with some of her friends and Mimi off shopping with her mom." He noticed that Yamato flinched slightly at the mention his girlfriend's name.

Taichi grinned. "I've heard you aren't in Mimi's good books at the moment, Yamato," he inquired his friend, all innocence. "Did you do something to upset her?"

But Yamato wasn't listening. He had stopped and was looking at a pair of girls across the street who were chatting happily to each other. He was watching them with a puzzled expression on his face.

"What's the matter, Yamato?" asked Taichi. "Things aren't that bad with Mimi that you're looking for another girlfriend?" he added jokingly.

But Yamato wasn't listening to him, and by now the two girls had vanished down the street. "Wasn't that… Jun?"

"That was JUN?" said Koushiro, eyes wide. "As in Daisuke's sister Jun? But I thought she had a spiky haircut?"

"Whoa!" exclaimed Taichi. "She actually looked quite hot with her hair like that!"

Koushiro gave him a sideways look. "If Sora heard that you would be in a lot of trouble, Taichi."

"Oh, but I did, Koushiro," said a familiar voice behind the boys.

"Erk…" said Taichi, eyes wide.

The boys turned around to see a furious looking Sora standing there in regular clothes.

"Uh, S-Sora! W-What are you doing here?" Taichi stammered, surprised to see his girlfriend. "I thought you were playing tennis with some of your friends."

"They had to cancel," Sora said simply, folding her arms across her chest. "Two of them aren't feeling very well so the rest of us decided not to bother."

"Looks like I'm not the only one in the dog house with their girlfriend," whispered Yamato, smirking.

Sora rolled her eyes, her expression softening. "Hmph, if I had a penny for every time I've caught Taichi drooling over another girl I'd been rich woman by now!"

"Not that you would be able to spend it over here!" Taichi laughed.

Sora shook her head at her boyfriend's rather lame joke and joined him at his side. "Hmph, anyway I thought I see if I would be able to catch you up and see the movie with you."

Taichi grinned.

Yamato nudged him with his elbow. "Remember: No heavy petting."

This time, Taichi's face fell. "Awww!" he said.

Sora rolled her eyes once again and took Taichi's hand. "He should be so lucky!" she looked Taichi in the eye. "Who were you looking at anyway?"

The brown haired boy cast his gaze upward. "Uh, Jun Motomiya," he replied, a bit embarrassed.

"That girl was Jun Motomiya?" exclaimed his girlfriend, slightly surprised.

Yamato nodded. "Hard to believe that she could actually look attractive, isn't it?" he said.

Sora gave him a glare, and Yamato looked away.

"I wonder where she's going though?" Koushiro said, looking back down the street the way Jun had gone. "She seems to be all dressed up for something."

"Perhaps she's finally found a boyfriend who doesn't run away from her!" said Yamato, grinning.

The ironic thing was that Yamato was totally correct.

***

"Koushiro, dear!" called Mrs Izumi from the hallway of their apartment. "Your friend Jyou is here!"

"Thanks mom!" came Koushiro's voice from his room. "Just come straight in Jyou!"

Jyou walked into his room, but Koushiro didn't look up from his work on his computer. "Sorry, Jyou" Koushiro said before he could say anything. "I'll be with you in a moment, I just want to finish this off. Take a seat." But even before the blue haired boy could sit down, his friend turned around on the swivel chair he was currently sitting on. "What can I do for you then, Jyou?" he asked.

"I can't stay for long so I'll make this quick; I'm about to tell you something that will shock you," Jyou said when he finally sat down. "So please don't overreact when I tell you."

"Very well, fire away," the red haired boy replied.

"Koushiro, I've being seeing Jun Motomiya for about three months."

Koushiro didn't even move. "I knew it," he said simply.

Jyou blinked. "You don't seem very surprised."

"Well, she has been acting very oddly lately according to Daisuke and, uh, Miyako, and Taichi, Yamato, Sora and myself saw her all dressed up for something yesterday," his friend explained. "You do seem to be more… lively just lately as well."

Jyou raised an eyebrow when Koushiro said Miyako's name but didn't press the point, but before he could say he could say anything, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" called Koushiro.

The door opened to reveal Mrs Izumi standing there. "I just wondered if you and your friend wanted anything dear, like something to eat or drink?"

"No thanks, mom," replied Koushiro, shaking his head.

"No thank you, Mrs Izumi," said Jyou.

Mrs Izumi smiled. "Okay, just call if you need anything," she said as she closed the door.

"What do your parents think of it?" asked Koushiro, once the door had closed and he had joined Jyou at the table in the middle of his room. "You having a girlfriend, I mean."

"Well, my mom would probably hyperventilate," replied Jyou, breathing out, "and I think my dad would say she would be a distraction from my studies."

"So you haven't told them yet."

"That's about the size of it." Jyou sighed and closed his eyes. "I wish those two would stop overreacting to everything I do."

"What about Shin and Shuu? Do they know?"

"Of course not," Jyou said. "I'd get teased endlessly from those two if they knew."

"Let me guess why you're actually here; you haven't told anyone yet, but you're dying to tell someone you're dating Jun Motomiya, and you'd you came to me because you knew that I can keep a secret."

Jyou nodded. "Yeah, but wouldn't say dating exactly," he replied. "More like friends at the moment. But I do really like her."

"Why don't you want to tell anyone?"

"Well, Taichi and Yamato talk about her as if she's insane - which she is not, by the way," Jyou said, interrupting his friend just as he opened his mouth, promptly closing it again. "Daisuke can't stand her and Shuu thinks she belongs in an institution."

"Yes, I can see why you don't want to tell anyone," Koushiro said sagely. "You think everybody would avoid you if they knew."

"As always Koushiro you've hit the nail on the head," Jyou said, confirming the young computer expert's theory.

Koushiro shook his head. "Jyou, they wouldn't do that to you, they're you friends! You're too paranoid sometimes," he told his friend sternly.

"Perhaps you're right, maybe I am too paranoid," the other boy said with a frown. "But it's weird though, I've never felt like this way for a girl before. I'm usually really nervous around them, but for some reason being around Jun relaxes me."

"What about Mimi?" asked Koushiro. "You used to like her a lot."

"Mimi?" Jyou replied. "Oh, I used to, but I realised that she's more of a little sister to me than anything else. I just don't care for her that way anymore."

"Hmm, yes," Koushiro said, placing his hand against his chin. "You didn't particularly bothered by the fact that she's dating Yamato now. You're actually happy for her, and not in the 'I'm-happy-for-you-but-I-love-you' way that Taichi was with Sora."

The boy looked at his watch, then back at Koushiro. "Well, I better be going," Jyou said, standing up. "So what do you think? Should I tell the others?"

"I would," Koushiro said, rising to his feet as well. "They're going to find out eventually. Do you want me to come with you?"

Jyou shook his head as they both walked to the door. "No, I'd rather do this on my own. Thanks for the offer though." He then sat down to put his shoes on.

"Well, good luck,"

"Thanks," Jyou replied, putting on his coat. He opened the apartment's door and turned back to his friend. "I'll see you later, then."

"Goodbye," Koushiro replied as he watched Jyou walk down the corridor. He was about to close the door when Jyou stopped and turned around with a big grin on his face. "So, Koushiro," he began, "when are you going to ask Miyako out on a date?"

His friend's eyes widened and he went a bright crimson. "Uh, bye, Jyou!" he said hurriedly and shut the door.

"Heh," Jyou laughed to himself as turned around and set his mind to what lay ahead.

***

It was around noon when Jyou found the other older Chosen; Taichi, Yamato, Sora and Mimi were sitting or standing around a bench in the park, probably discussing what they were going to do for the rest of the day. He didn't know why, but for some reason he knew that they would all be here. Mentally preparing himself, Jyou took a deep breath, attempting to calm down. Why the hell was he so nervous anyway? These were his closest friends for crying out loud!

Before Jyou could do anything else, Mimi looked in his direction and smiled at him. "Hey Jyou!" she called, waving. "Why don't you come over here with us?"

"Er, hi, guys!" he said, trying not very successfully to emulate the air of one who had stumbled onto his friends by accident.

"Hey, Jyou," Yamato said.

"How are ya?" greeted Taichi.

"It's nice to see you, Jyou," replied Sora.

"Jyou, did you want to come out with us tonight?" inquired Mimi.

"Erm, I can't,"

"Aww, why not?" asked Mimi. "I haven't seen you properly for such a long time!"

"Well, er…"

"What's the matter, Jyou?" chided Yamato. "You aren't seeing a girl tonight, are you?"

Jyou didn't say anything, just blushed and looked down at his shoes.

"You are?" exclaimed Sora. "That's wonderful! Who is she?"

Still looking down at his shoes, Jyou muttered something the others couldn't hear.

"Hmm," murmured Taichi, rubbing his chin. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't catch a word of that."

"Oh, come on, Jyou," Sora said. "We your friends, you can tell us." He then added slyly, "Not somebody we know is it?"

Jyou swallowed hard, and looked up. "I'mseeingJunMotomiya," he blurted out.

Taichi blinked. "Er, I didn't get a word of that either Jyou," he said.

"I'm seeing Jun Motomiya, okay!" he cried, slightly louder than he intended.

Silence as they all stared back at him. Jyou squirmed in discomfort and started to sweat slightly.

"You know I swear I heard you say you were seeing Jun Motomiya tonight," Taichi said, finally breaking the silence.

"He did," Sora said.

"What?!" Taichi replied, disbelievingly.

Silence again. Jyou shuffled nervously.

"You're DATING Jun?" asked Yamato after a few moments, shocked beyond belief.

"Well, I wouldn't say dating exactly…" Jyou said, blushing.

"Why are you going out with her anyway?"

Jyou frowned. What was wrong with seeing Daisuke's sister anyway? True, she was a couple of years older, but that hardly made a difference, did it? "What's wrong with that, Yamato?" Jyou finally said, a little more aggressively than he meant.

"Well, nothing," said Yamato, rubbing the back of his head. "It just that I'm a little surprised, I guess." He looked around at the others and noticed that both Mimi and Sora were scowling at him.

"What's so surprising?" asked Mimi, in a somewhat dangerous tone, an eyebrow raised.

Yamato sweat dropped and turned back to Jyou. "No, nothing is wrong with seeing Jun whatsoever!"

"Good!" Jyou said, smiling now. "Because I'm going to see her tonight. Bye! See you all later!" He then turned around walked away from his friends.

"See you around, Jyou," Taichi called.

"Yeah, see you later," added Yamato.

"See ya, Jyou!" cried Mimi and Sora in unison as he walked away. "Good luck on your date with Jun!"

Jyou turned bright red and cringed as he walked away, wondering if anyone else in the park had heard the girls. "Yeah, thanks…" he muttered under his breath.

***

"That was a good movie, wasn't it, Jyou?" Jun asked as the young man walked her home.

Jyou raised an eyebrow. "You were watching it? I thought you had your head buried in my arm for most of it!"

Jun playfully hit him on the arm, but he could see she was blushing. It was now late evening and the two of them were walking home after seeing Silent Hill at the cinema. "I couldn't help it if it was scary!"

They walked in silence for few moments.

"Jyou?" Jun said eventually.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

"Yeah, you're really pretty," Jyou said and, and instantly regretted it. It sounded so lame!

Jun laughed gently, noticing his expression. "Jyou, why are so nervous?" she asked. "You don't have to be like that with me."

Easy for you to say, you're not the hypochondriac! Jyou thought and swallowed nervously, trying to calm down. "Uh, Jun, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Uh, well…" he began, but trailed off, fidgeting nervously. What is the matter with me? he thought, It's just four simple words, why can't I say them? Ah, to hell with it!

"Jyou," Jun asked, concerned at his silence, "what's the matter? What did you want to tell me?"

Jyou quickly looked around, as if to see if anyone was around, and then quite unexpectedly learned forward and kissed her on the lips. A minute or so later, the boy withdrew his face from Jun's.

"Jyou…" she murmured.

Jyou looked crestfallen. "That wasn't the wrong thing to do was it?" he asked, worriedly.

Jun shook her head furiously. "No, of course not! No!"

"Well, I know it's not the done thing, but I really wanted to show you that I really for you and…" Jyou trailed off.

Jun replied with a laugh. The girl then hooked her arm with his. "Great! So we're a proper couple now?"

"'Proper couple'?" Jyou questioned, slightly bemused.

"Y'know!" she exclaimed cheerfully. She let go of his arm and clapped her hands together. "Boyfriend and girlfriend!"

"Erm, I suppose so," he replied, blushing even more.

Still keeping her hands together, she close her eyes. "I know this fantastic restaurant we can go to!"

"Restaurant?" Jyou grimaced. "Can we hold that off a while? I really don't have that much money. Have about something a little less low key? Like a picnic or something?"

Jun took his hands in hers, and smiled up at the boy, who smiled back. "That sounds wonderful, Jyou. How about next Sunday?"

"That's fine by me," replied Jyou, all his anxiety now dissipating. "Come on, I better get you home before your parents think we've eloped!"

His joke was rewarded with another laugh from the girl he loved. All his anxiety about Jun rejecting him vanishing, and they resumed their walk to the Motomiya family apartment, this time hand in hand. "By the way, Jyou," Jun said after a short moment of silence, squeezing his hand. "Did you say your friend Koushiro likes Miyako Inoue back at the cinema?"

"Yeah, I did," he replied, and gave her a suspicious look. "Why do you want to know?"

A devious grin appeared on her face. "You know my best friend is Momoe Inoue, Miyako's older sister? Well, I have a fantastic idea…"