Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Words of Pride ❯ Chapter 00 - Introduction ( Prologue )

Disclaimer: Toei and Bandai, I guess, own /everything/. I just own Aiyote, Naoyuki, Tarou, Jun'ichi, and Katsunori. Dassit. Beware of shounen-ai and Yamora. *pokes her eyes out*

Words of Pride
Introduction

The sounds that partially roused Kido Jyou from sleep were the pained cries of someone's 'itai!'s that crept in by way of the cracked-open door. Kou-kun probably just burnt his fingers on the toast again.

It took awhile for him to register two things: Izumi Koushirou was -up- before he was, and Koushirou was making himself breakfast.

The first point of interest was strictly impossible. Koushirou spent all night online, and always slept until 10am; Jyou was long gone by then, on weekdays anyhow. The second point of interest was a weekend recognition. Koushirou had a tendency to rush nabbing for something to pass as a light meal before going anywhere. No matter how hard he tried, he was always late for -something-.

He was up at 8:12am, and in a hurry. Jyou moaned to himself and pushed himself to sit up, ignoring his body's screeching to lay back down and forget whatever Kou was up to. He grabbed his robe and more or less put himself in it, shuffling tiredly to the door and simply stared.

The scene before him was incredibly controlled, despite being chaotic. Things that weren't there last night sat pleasantly on the kitchen table, one piece of semi-charred bread still sat in the toaster, the local news channel was on, reporting traffic in the surrounding cities, and then, there was Koushirou, half dressed with the other slice of toast sticking out of his mouth, looking around like he'd misplaced something.

Granted, Koushirou was smart, but he wasn't domestic.

Jyou yawned and lazily strolled over to him, not at all surprised when Koushirou started after hearing his name being called. The red-head laughed nervously, once his nerves calmed down at Jyou's presence. "Aha, o~ha~yo."

"Now when's the last time I ever heard you say that?" he teased, leaning against a counter. And disregarding the fact that his robe was half open; it wasn't anything Koushirou hadn't seen before.

"Sometime last year?" he offered, mumbling just clearly enough around his edible obstruction.

Jyou made and amused sound and let his eyes closed, sleep still fighting consciousness. "So what's up?"

Koushirou began to stuff things into his bookbag, primarily whatever had been on the table. "I need to get to Tokyo to see if I can speak with someone."

"Tokyo??" he inquired, more than a little surprised. "Kou-kun, you're nuts. Tokyo's a bit far, don't you think? What's there that isn't here?"

He shouldn't have asked, and knew Koushirou wouldn't be derailed as soon as Jyou saw his thirst for knowledge no plainer than day in Koushirou's eyes. "A legend."

Jyou blinked, reaching up to scratch his head in confusion. "Now you lost me. What legend?"

Koushirou grinned and woofed down the rest of his faux-meal, then tugged at the material on Jyou's shoulder. "Wanna come with me? I promise, it won't be boring."

"This coming from the guy who dragged me to a computer convention two years ago with those same exact words?"

"C'mon, Jyou! No computers, or electronics of any kind are involved."

Jyou's brows rose high, staring in unconvinced disbelief. Koushirou couldn't go anywhere without his laptop, and died if someplace didn't have a phone jack, let alone no modern day appliances. A quick mental-check of his doings for the day revealed nothing that couldn't be done later, so slowly, he asked, "...Promise?"

Koushirou nodded eagerly, and Jyou wasn't sure if it was that Jyou was virtually agreeing to go with him, or in excitement about...whatever was in Tokyo. The bluenette sighed. "Any time constraints that I should known about? So I don't have to run through a few cities smelling of yesterday?"

"Seven minutes enough?"

"Always. Grab me something to wear?"

"Manatech Corporations?" Jyou gave Koushirou a sideways look. "I thought you said no electronics."

Koushirou smiled sheepishly. "We're not here about their products; we're here to find someone."

"This someone have a name?"

Koushirou nodded, but didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed Jyou's arm and dragged him into the thin stream of people heading for the doors to the skyscraper. Inside was warmer than the cool early-spring day, and Jyou boggled at the possible costs it took to heat and cool all the floors. Or if temperature was reserved for the lobby and the bigger players only.

Koushirou halted them in front of a name bulletin board, reading the kanji-covered plaques. But Jyou had a sinking feeling about what type of person they'd be trying to see, as Koushirou's eyes and finger were trained to the top of the immediate corporate's foodchain. He stopped for a moment, tapped the plaque, and Jyou only caught the last name as they made a humane dash for the elevators. Yoshikazu? It wasn't a familiar one.

They didn't say a word as their ride went up, Jyou too nervous with the three other people around, and Koushirou was paying too much attention to the lit numbers above the doors. More people got on, a few got off, and when Koushirou stepped off, Jyou was very quick to follow.

Jyou stuck close to Koushirou, with the insistent feeling that they didn't belong there. Well, /he/ didn't belong there; he was a medical student. Koushirou would probably fit in like a glove in a place like this. So he could only trust Koushirou to not get them thrown out for whatever reason these people decided was wrong with them wandering around.

Down two halls found them in the presence of a secretary, by the looks of it. Your average, I-could've-been-an-actress-but-here-I-am-filing-papers secretary who seemed for all the world insulted by their existence into her space. Obviously, whoever this Yoshikazu person was, he has bad taste in employees.

Koushirou put on his sunniest smile, befitting his role as a non-company tycoon. "Hello. Is Yoshikazu-san in?"

With half-lidded eyes, the woman nodded. "He is. Do you have an appointment?"

"Well.....no."

She turned her nose up, snubbing them. "Then I'm afraid you have no business here. Yoshikazu-san is a very busy man, and he doesn't have time for idle chitchat. And," she continued, flipping through her notes, "if you were sent by.....Adachi Naoyuki, he advises you to turn back around and tell her that his mind is still set and no 'gift' will change it."

Jyou and Koushirou both sweatdropped, not liking the implication in the gift thing one bit. "We...don't know Adachi Naoyuki, ma'am. We just really would like to see Yoshikazu. Please. If you tell him 'Gennai' sent us, I'm sure he'll see us in."

Gennai? Jyou blinked. What does Gennai have to do with this?

The secretary's eyebrow rose, indicating the kinds of things she was thinking right now. That this Adachi woman was sending her boss 'playtoys' and Gennai was probably his drug dealer. Jyou wanted to groan out loud and knock his head into a wall, but he kept it to himself. No need to add, 'cold turkey addict' to her thoughts.

In the moments that followed, she shrugged and decided to amuse the two boys-- yes, boys-- by complying with their silly request and pushed the worn, red button on her desk comlink. "Yoshikazu-san?"

"Yes Aki?"

"Two people without appointments are here, they say they don't know Ms. Adachi and that someone named 'Gennai' sent them to you."

There was a pregnant silence that followed. Jyou held his breath, and noticed a tiny fidget in Koushirou's one visible hand. Koushirou was nervous too, and somehow, that made Jyou feel a little better.

"Please send them in."

The nameless woman now known as Aki seemed to glower, as she buzzed open the double doors behind her. She'd lost a bet with herself, and the two before her unravelled their tension. Koushirou's urge to 'bi-da' the cranky Aki was strong, but Jyou wrapped one arm around his shoulders before he could and led them both toward the doors.

Beyond was a moderately sized office, spacious and comfortable, with the overhead lights turned off. Jyou appraised it to be able to seat all twelve of their Chosen Children with enough roof to spare. At the other end were floor-to-ceiling windows, a symbol of just how high up Yoshikazu was.

Yoshikazu himself was seated at his desk, reclined in his chair, and waiting. His expression was empty, and cast in a silhouette from the filtering light. But his voice was lighter than one would assume, as he portrayed himself to be a no-nonsense type. "Gennai, huh? ..I'd say it's been a while since I heard his name, but then I'd be lying."

He stood up and rounded his desk, walking toward them with his hands in his pockets. He wasn't too big of a man, but he was still several inches taller than Jyou. Which put him a head taller than Koushirou; he had the advantage of height, added to this being his own turf.

A snap of Yoshikazu's fingers turned the lights on...and he was smiling.

Not just smiling. His eyes were foxed, and his disposition one of cheerfulness. Jyou blinked. Hard. But Koushirou took it in stride, and smiled back.

"So I can safely assume you both have been to the Digital World?"

Koushirou nodded like a little kid being promised a treat, and Jyou's own was more reluctant to answer. He was, after all, still in the dark about what all this was leading to.

The smile never went away, and offered his hand in peace. "Let me formally introduce myself then. My name is Yoshikazu Aiyote, appointed leader of my Digi-destined and keeper of the crest of Pride."

Description of my beloved Aiyote? ^_^ Eheh, next chapter.

Note: All names mentioned (with the exception of Aiyote) are real Japanese names. I don't remember how I came up with Aiyote, but I grew fond of it (despite it's fake-ness). So while three other teammates got their names dissected to heaven and back, Aiyote's stayed the same. And so did Katsunori's as well, if that little bit o' trivia was nibbling at your cranium.