Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Strange ❯ Part 7 ( Chapter 7 )

 

Title: Strange

Rating: R (for language)

Warnings: OOC, angst

Pairings: Kensuke and Kenyako on the side.

Summery: When nature is overruled by nurture the sins of the family can be devastating. Maybe the wrongs can be righted. Maybe Ken and Daisuke can help each other, if they get over their own problems first.

Disclaimer: Digimon and the characters within belong to their respective owners. No profit is being made.

. Comments and criticisms are more than welcome. If anyone has further questions about what's going on here, feel free to ask in a review or comment and I'll try to answer it in the next chapter posting or in the story itself.

 

Part 7

 

Daisuke sat up like he had been doused with a bucket of ice water. He had been so sure Ichijouji had been about to…. He could still Ichijouji's weight on his chest and feel him on his lips; he had been nearly shaking with the effort it took to lay still while Ichijouji touched him. It nearly scared him how much he had wanted that to happen. Who the hell had interrupted them? He looked him just as the kid that was standing in front of them turned his attention towards Daisuke. The kid looked familiar from around school but he had no idea whom the kid was which made the interruption that much worst. He opened his mouth to yell at the kid or something, but he was interrupted.

 

“Did you find him, Iori?” Miyako called out as she came around the path. She squealed in delight when she saw Ichijouji, Iori was standing in precisely the right place to block Daisuke from view. It wasn't until she ran in front of Iori that she spotted Daisuke. She stopped dead in her tracks.

 

Daisuke, who moments ago had been ready to kill that kid was now very glad he had come around when he did. He realized how they must look; covered in grass, grass stains and dirt, not to mention how tousled they both were. If it looked bad now he couldn't imagine how it must of looked a couple of seconds ago, how bad it would have looked if Miyako had found them and they had been doing what Daisuke sincerely hoped they had been about to do. Not that he cared about Miyako's feelings, he just thought that Ken would be pretty pissed at him.

 

They stood up and started to dust themselves off while Miyako stood there trying to wrap her brain around what she had just seen.

 

“Were… you two… fighting?” she asked carefully.

 

“No, nothing like that,” Ichijouji answered innocently. “Our soccer game just got a little out of hand.”

 

Daisuke resisted looking at him, feeling that a look of pure shock at Ichijouji's words might give them away. Instead he looked at the kid, who stared back with a completely inscrutable look. If he was shocked at Ichijouji's lie or by anything he had seen when he walked up, his face did not show it. That made Daisuke wonder exactly how long the kid had been standing there.

 

Miyako didn't look too convinced by Ichijouji's answer. Her eyes slid from Ichijouji, to Daisuke, who was avoiding her gaze, to the soccer ball, which was several feet away, they must have rolled away from it during their tussle in the grass. She looked back at Ichijouji then glared at Daisuke, definitely not convinced.

 

Or at least she wasn't until Ichijouji walked over and kissed her. Daisuke looked down and started to rub a spot of dirt on his knee furiously, he didn't want anyone to see how absolutely pissed that made him. That should have been his kiss! Nevertheless Miyako looked happy and life went on.

 

“Do you guys come here everyday?” Miyako asked once they had pulled apart. Daisuke paled, the last thing he wanted was for Miyako to hang around them all the time, he really wasn't supposed to leave Ichijouji's alone for most of the day, but if that meant he had to deal with her…

 

“I heard them make plans to come out here today. I see them in the library most of the time, though,” the kid answered.

 

It was true that they spent a lot of time in the library but not nearly as much as the kid made it seem like, even so, that still meant that this kid was spying on them. First he had warned them that Miyako was coming, then he hadn't said anything about what he'd seen when he walked up, now he was actually lying on their behalf. Daisuke couldn't stop himself, “WHO ARE YOU?”

 

“Oh, Davis, you two haven't met?” Ichijouji answered. “This is Iori Hida, he's Miyako's best friend. Iori, this is Davis Motomiya.”

 

Iori bowed slightly, “Good afternoon, Motomiya-san.”

 

“Um… yeah,” Daisuke said. He was more confused than ever.

 

“Ken,” Miyako said, drawing his attention back to her. “You said you were going to take me out today after school.”

 

A look of complete confusion crossed Ichijouji's face and for a moment Daisuke was sure Ichijouji had no idea what she was talking about. Then, slowly, Ichijouji said, “You asked me if I would take you out three weeks ago…”

 

She beamed, “Yes! So why didn't you wait for me after school?”

 

“I'm sorry, Miyako, I forgot. Why didn't you remind me?”

 

She pouted then play punched him in the arm, “You should have remembered! It's the first time in weeks I haven't had to help my parents at the store. You promised.”

 

Daisuke wanted to be sick, watching her flirt with him. He wanted to turn away but he felt compelled to watch Ichijouji's reactions.

 

“Ok, we can go out now. Where do you want to go?”

 

“Well, It's too late for a movie, but I saw the cutest little ice cream parlor on the way here. That would be perfect. Let's go there.”

 

This time Daisuke was glad he hadn't looked away, he would have missed when Ichijouji had turned to look at him briefly. A look crossed his face, pain or regret or something. Daisuke had just enough time to wonder what it was about before it had disappeared.

 

Ichijouji nodded, “Ok. We'll go there.”

 

Miyako gave a little jump for joy, and then she started to pull him back towards the path.

 

Daisuke watched them walk away a few steps before he noticed Iori was looking up at him, as if waiting for instructions. He didn't know what Iori was doing, but he supposed he ought to follow them; it was his job after all.

 

He tried stepping around Iori but the younger boy made it unnecessary but stepping out of the way. A second later he fell in step with Daisuke a few yards behind the couple. Daisuke was just starting to find him very annoying when he said something that made Daisuke forget to take his next step.

 

“Ken said I should talk with you, while he wasn't there to listen.”

 

Daisuke nearly fell on his face but he caught himself by turning to face Iori. “You know Ken?”

 

Iori just looked at him.

 

A second later he realized how stupid he was being. Of course Iori knew Ken, he knew Ichijouji. Daisuke had almost literally beaten the truth out of Ken before he had admitted there were two of them; he doubted anyone else knew the truth. After all, even Miyako didn't know, so why would her best friend. Now the real question was had Ichijouji been the one or had Ken really told Iori to speak with him.

 

He cleared his throat, “I mean, do you know what he wanted us to talk about.”

 

“We should probably keep moving,” Iori pointed ahead to the empty path. Miyako had dragged Ichijouji out of sight. Daisuke sighed, Iori was right, they needed to catch up before Miyako changed her mind and dragged him off to places unknown.

 

They started walking again so the kid decided to answer the question. “He said you would need help with the project you're working on, the things he can't help you with or when he's not around.”

 

It must have been Ken, but when had he had time to talk with Iori? “What project?”

 

“The school, Motomiya-san.”

 

“Oh yeah. Umm, could you not call me Motomiya-san.”

 

“What would you like me to call you?”

 

“Dai… Davis, Just Davis is fine.” They had managed to catch up with Ichijouji and Miyako; they seemed to be having a slight disagreement. Daisuke was close enough to hear snatches of the conversation.

 

Miyako was pulling him away from the direction of the ice cream parlor and saying something like, “But … promised me. …mind. …Coffee… is much better.”

 

Daisuke snorted, looks like he was right about Miyako trying to ditch them. At least Ichijouji was putting up a bit of a fight. Still, it was his job to save Ichijouji, or something like that. When he was in hailing distance he shouted, “Change of plans?”

 

Both of them turned around, Ichijouji looked relieved, Miyako looked like she wanted to spit at Daisuke but at least she'd stopped pulling on Ichijouji's arm. It was enough to make Daisuke smirk.

 

“Miyako wanted to go to a coffee shop a couple of blocks away.”

 

“Oh, that sounds good.” Daisuke said. He made sure he was looking directly at Miyako. “Lead the way. We'll be sure to stick close so we don't get lost on the way.”

 

She rolled her eyes away, “Actually, I think I'd still like to have ice cream after all.”

 

“Fine, we'll be right behind you.” Daisuke said, totally amused at her anger. It may have been a bit childish, but what did he care.

 

“So what are you supposed to help me with,” he asked Iori after they let the couple get a few yards ahead of them.

 

“Anything you need.”

 

He looked at him briefly, “What do you mean `anything?'”

 

“Anything you want done, anything you need; if I can, I will do it.”

 

“You're kinda intense. Did you know that?” Daisuke said, still not sure what Ken wanted him to do with this kid. “Why are you doing this, anyway?”

 

Iori frowned slightly, “My reasons are my own.”

 

“That's nice for you to say but how am I supposed to trust you with anything. All I know about you is that you are Miyako's best friend, which puts your loyalties in the entirely wrong place. If I don't know if I can trust you, I don't need you.”

 

“I will do whatever you order me to, Davis. You have my word, that is the best guarantee I can give.”

 

“Fine, let's just say I believe you.” Daisuke said, thinking of something he could get the kid to do. Money would be nice but he felt that would be a little out of the kid's depth, at least for a first task. Then it hit him, “What I need right now is to talk to Ken and I need Miyako gone so I can do that. Can you get her to leave and keep her away for the rest of the day?”

 

“How soon do you want her gone?”

 

Daisuke looked at him, impressed. “ASAP… or, well, we might as well have our ice cream first, but she can't hang around us all day.”

 

Iori nodded. They were at the parlor now; Ichijouji and Miyako were just entering. “Is that all you need for right now? Would you like me to continue to warn you if she's coming?”

 

“Well, yeah. Umm, keep her way if you can but… yeah, just warn me a head of time if she's coming. Oh, and stop spying on us.”

 

Iori shook his head. “I wasn't spying on you, I was trying to find a time to approach you.”

 

Daisuke looked skeptical.

 

“There is hardly a second where you are away from him, I was not to approach you while he could listen.”

 

If Iori found it weird that the person who gave him the order was the very person he was supposed to hide from he showed nothing. Daisuke supposed he should take that as a good sign of how well Iori followed directions. “Fine. You've gotten my attention, now stop following us.”

 

Iori nodded again and moved to open the door.

 

“Hey, wait! How am I supposed to reach you if I need you for something?”

 

“Ken said he would tell you.”

 

Daisuke started to argue that Ken couldn't tell him anything if he never showed up, but his common sense overruled his frustration and he said nothing.

 

They entered the parlor just a cute little waitress with bubblegum pink hair was taking the rest of their groups orders. Iori asked for a plain ice-cream cone while Daisuke added a double chocolate fudge sundae with walnuts. The waitress took everything down then disappeared to the back.

 

Daisuke took great joy in telling Miyako to budge over so he could sit next to her. She looked very pissed off until Ichijouji asked her how her day was. Miyako smiled ear to ear and launched in to the most epic telling of a day of high school that ever was. Daisuke busied himself during the first few minutes by making small talk with the waitress, who was a student at the local community college, worked at the parlor for some extra cash and absolutely hated the fake bubblegum pink wig she had to wear for the job. She couldn't stick around though, but she made Daisuke promise to come back sometime soon before she disappeared to help another table. By then Miyako was only at second period so he tried distracting himself with his sundae. He was nearly successfully tuning her out until she said something that grabbed his attention.

 

“Wait, what did you just say?”

 

She turned to glare at him, “Davis—”

 

“No. Seriously. Did you just say Keiko Fumiyaka is planning on breaking up Tina Michaels and her boyfriend just so she can have him? Keiko and Tina are best friends.”

 

“Not anymore. She found out that Tina's been spreading rumors behind her back so now Keiko and I have an arrangement. If she manages it will finally get Tina off of my back, and I promised to help Keiko with some things so...”

 

Daisuke laughed, “Too bad she'd never do that.”

 

“And what makes you think you know anything about it.”

 

“Well, for one thing Hideki is Keiko's cousin so why would she want to go out with him?”

 

“That… she… That can't… Why wouldn't I know that?” Miyako looked dumbfounded.

 

“It's not common knowledge. Besides, she's hated you since fourth grade. She doesn't want to be your friend or help you out I bet the whole rumor thing is a lie just to make you look stupid.” Daisuke laughed a little, reminiscing, “Keiko used to get along real well with Wallace if you know what I mean. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if she's planning on betraying you and stealing your boy… friend.” Daisuke finished lamely, remembering his audience. Ichijouji was staring at him. In fact Miyako and Iori were staring at him as well.

 

Miyako's jaw was working as she tried to find the proper thing to say. Apparently Miyako didn't know everything after all. Daisuke was a little surprised Miyako would fall for something like that, how did she miss the hate pouring out of Keiko every time Miyako walked by, she seemed to sense it in Daisuke without any trouble. Then again, Keiko was one of the more accomplished liars he'd ever met and Daisuke had never been great at hiding his emotions. Anyway, even if Miyako had been burned it probably wouldn't have been that bad, he didn't think Ichijouji or Ken would dump Miyako for Keiko.

 

Iori broke the silence, “Miyako. We'd better get going. I think you have some things to take care of.”

 

She nodded sharply; it seemed to shake her out of her stupor. “Yes, you're right.”

 

Daisuke gladly stood to let her slide out of the booth. Iori headed for the door and Miyako followed. Just as Daisuke was sitting back down she turned back around.

 

“I hope you're wrong about this, for her sake, because if she….” She looked down at Ichijouji for a moment and Daisuke was actually taken aback by the emotion he saw on her face. A second later she turned back to him, “By the way, thanks.” Then she ran out after Iori.

 

Daisuke turned to look at Ichijouji and froze. Ichijouji had his head in his hands almost like he was crying and Daisuke had no idea what to do. After a moment he started to feel bad; maybe Miyako wasn't the heartless bitch he thought of her as. He thought she was just using Ichijouji for the popularity angle but after the look he saw on her face it was obvious that she liked him. Maybe it was possible that he liked her right back, maybe Daisuke was just in the way.

 

“Umm, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your date.” He said softly, knowing he would still be heard.

 

Ichijouji shook his head, “It's not that.” His voice was muffled through his hands.

 

“Oh…” Daisuke sat for a moment hoping he would elaborate. When nothing came he started to get slightly worried. He reached across the table and put a hand on Ichijouji's arm, “What's wrong? Are you OK?”

 

He picked his head up, he wasn't crying but he did look sad. “It's just that…” He shook his head, “Oh never mind. It's stupid.”

 

“What? If you're worried about Miyako, don't. She can handle whatever's going on, I'd be more worried about Keiko if Miyako gets her hands on her.”

 

“It's not that,” he said looking out of the window at the street.

 

People were moving to and fro but no one Daisuke recognized. “Well, what is it then?”

 

“It's just that… It's your first time here… I wanted to… I promised I would bring you here, just the two of us, so we could like hang out or…” He wouldn't say anymore.

 

Daisuke stared at him, stunned; He really had no idea of what to say to that. Ichijouji continued to look out of the window, like he was purposely avoiding looking at Daisuke.

 

Wisely, Daisuke chose not to look too deeply into his words. “Hey,” he said shaking Ichijouji's arm to get his attention. “Let's get outta here. You owe me a rematch in Halo 2.”

 

It took a moment but Ichijouji smiled, “Yeah. I still have to whup you once and for all.”

 

“Yeah, right.”

 

They paid for the ice cream and left the parlor headed towards Ichijouji's apartment, playfully arguing the whole way.