Lifebitten – A Digimon Fanfiction
A/N: I'm taking a different turn in writing after my piece of shit, Avenir (an FFVIII fanfic) totally bummed me out from writing for a while. This fanfic'll be a bit lighter, funnier (I hope!), and a lot more dramatic. I thrive for drama, really. However, the characters may be a bit OOC, depending on what direction I take this story. However, I'll keep them as in character as I can, and it'll hopefully be pretty damn close. This is a prologue, so it'll be a bit slower and easygoing than the rest of the fic, but hopefully you'll enjoy! D
Anyway, welcome to Lifebitten! This is a drama about the lives of the eleven original DigiDestined (from DA01 and 02) three years after their DA02 adventure. Contains very little reference to the actual Digimon, though.
Rated M because I like to swear. :)
Prologue
The bell rang on that fateful Friday afternoon, signaling the end of another hard week and the beginning of another peaceful weekend. It was a sunny Friday in May, the first in about a week for the rainy region of Odaiba, Japan. These cloudless days, full of light, put eighteen-year-old Taichi Yagami in a good mood, especially as he booked it out of his sixth-period classroom to finally greet the weekend.
When he finally reached his locker, after many a struggle to get up the crowded staircase of his high school, he shoved the books he needed into his bag, locked up, and dashed downstairs and out the front doors, eager to say hello to the weekend once more.
It was bright out. The heat that touched Tai's tanned skin was refreshing, as was the cool spring breeze that brushed against his skin, making Tai shudder slightly to the touch. The day was so fitting for his mood that he couldn't help but laugh. No one else made such a huge deal about the weekend, but Tai just needed the break after all the projects that the teachers liked to hand to him.
Outside the great big school doors, leaned against the large brick wall, were Tai's friends, beaming at him as he ran up to them. Koushiro Izumi, Sora Takenouchi, and his sister, Kari, crowded around the tanned-skinned teen as he made his way up the stairs to greet him.
"Hey, guys," said Tai, looking flushed. He turned his attention to his sister for a bit. "Where's Daisuke?"
"Soccer practice," Kari replied. "We're going to get something to eat after he's done."
Tai smirked at his kid sister. "Ooh, on another date, are we?"
"Oh, shut up, Tai!"
"Just remember..." the older brother grinned. "I'll kill him if he comes within 15 feet of you!" he winked at his little sister and stuck out his tongue.
Kari pointed a finger at Tai with mock accusation. "You leave me and my boyfriend alone! The last time you spied on me Mom got mad because you smelled like garbage when you came home!"
Koushiro couldn't help but butt in. "Well, that's what happens when you hide in the garbage can for two hours spying on the wrong couple!"
"Hey!" Tai said, his face turning a deep scarlet. "That guy looked like Daisuke from the back!"
"But he hit a lot harder than Dai, didn't he?" Sora giggled.
Tai rubbed his cheek. "It still hurts a little." he muttered. The whole group laughed.
Tai, Sora, Koushiro, and Kari spent the next ten minutes recounting memories of past and current relationships, memories in the Digital World, and things that happened recently. When the novelty wore off, and the group ran out of things to retell, they said goodbye to Kari, as she was going to watch her boyfriend's soccer game. With only three members left, they decided to call up Mimi Tachikawa and Jyou Kido to see if they wanted to go to a movie.
After calling Jyou, who said that he would drive Mimi to the Odaiba theatre at 4:15, they decided to walk down to the nearest corner store for some ice cream. Laughing along the way, they made their way down the busy street, through crowds of other teens walking home from school, laughing, talking, and smoking.
They finally reached Kenji's, a small little corner store stuck in between two large skyscrapers – a totally random place to put such a small store, but cozy nevertheless. Outside the building, leaned against the wall, was eighteen-year-old Yamato Ishida, a fellow classmate and friend of the groups. He was smoking a cigarette and had his guitar case propped up beside him as he smoked.
"Hey, Koushiro, Sora," he glanced up as the group passed him, paying no attention to Taichi, who was walking right beside them. Instead, he gave Tai a brief glance, narrowing his eyes in his direction. Tai returned the glance by glaring into Yamato's dark eyes, then cocked his head forward as if he didn't even exist. Yamato went back to smoking his cigarette.
"Hey, Yamato," said Sora after Tai shut the door to Kenji's behind him.
"What's up?" Yamato said quietly after taking the cigarette out of his mouth.
Koushiro smiled slightly at the taller blond boy. "Well, we're about to see a movie, me, Sora, Mimi, Jyou and..." He knew better than to mention Tai in front of Yamato, especially after their fight three weeks ago. "Well, um, you probably wouldn't like the movie we're going to see." Yamato nodded.
"We should get together sometime; do you feel up to the mall at all?" Sora beamed at Yamato.
"Sure, that sounds cool." Yamato managed a small smile. "Tomorrow?"
"You bet!" Sora said excitedly. "You in, Koushiro?"
Koushiro grinned at his two friends. "How 'bout I pick you guys up at four tomorrow?"
Yamato smiled even wider and said, "Sounds great!" before Tai barged out of the store bearing three chocolate cones.
"You know, you guys could have helped me with the fucking cones!" said Tai, frustrated, as he hurriedly handed Sora and Koushiro each a cone, his back to Yamato. "Now hurry up, the others are on their way to the Odaiba Theatre!"
Koushiro and Sora bid their goodbyes to Yamato, then had to literally dash to keep up with Tai, who was running down the street, bumping into angry pedestrians along the way.
Tai was still angry about meeting Yamato at Kenji's. The thing is, they were very good friends since they were eleven, but then something happened and... Tai didn't want to think about it at that moment.
He managed to forget by the time he got to the theatre, where Mimi and Jyou stood. Mimi was jumping, arms outstretched, awaiting a hug from all three new comers. Jyou stood slightly awkwardly beside her, slightly embarassed by the scene his pink-haired friend was making.
"HEY, EVERYONE!" Mimi screamed, dashing toward Tai, Koushiro, and Sora and pulling them all in a group hug, all in the matter of a couple of seconds. Jyou ambled behind his pink-haired friend and joined the group hug, rolling his eyes at his friends after waving to them. When they all split up, Mimi piped up loudly once again. "Jyou had a hell of a time with traffic from his college. I'm just surprised we're not even late!"
"It's a good thing, the movie's about to start!" Sora pointed out. The group hurriedly ran into the theatre, laughing and talking along the way.
"Over here!" Daisuke Motomiya called to his nearest team member. His girlfriend, Hikari Yagami, and their other friends were cheering from the sidelines. Beside Kari were three other people: Miyako Inoue, a somewhat tallish purple-haired girl wearing a blue bandanna; Iori Hida, a small boy who was their age with sandy hair all kept in place; and Ken Ichijouji, a thin boy with blue hair and small blue eyes. Miyako noticed that Ken was averting Kari's eyes at all times.
"I'm sorry if you didn't want to come..." Miyako whispered in Ken's ear.
Ken offered Miyako a small smile. "My breakup with Kari has nothing to do with this. I came to see Daisuke play. And he's really good."
"You know I'm here," Miyako offered, "if you need someone to talk to."
Ken smiled. "Thanks," he said.
For the first time in over four months, Ken looked at Kari, although briefly. She was still very pretty... but she looked different from the angle he was looking at her from. It was the angle of a boy admiring from afar... Oh, how he missed Kari, her soft touch, her sweet kisses, her nice smell...
He shook his head. Having Ken in the same vicinity as Kari didn't bother her, so why should it bother him? He tried to focus on the game, cheering on Daisuke as he neared the goal with the soccer ball.
When Daisuke shot a goal, Miyako, the hyperactive one, yelped from the sidelines, cheering and jumping. The others, slightly embarrassed by her actions, backed away slowly, but still laughing nonetheless.
"He's so cute when he... oh, never mind," Miyako caught herself as Kari shot her a warning glance. Miyako was boy-crazy, and sometimes forgot when a boy was "off the market," per se. Instead, Miyako turned her attention to another boy on the football team. "Wow, that Hiroshi can really play a game... I wonder if I'll get his number after practice. Hey, Kari!" she shook her brunette friend's shoulder violently. "We could go on a double date sometime! How does that sound?"
Kari laughed and rolled her eyes playfully. Miyako's always been like this. She's had more "boyfriends" than anyone else she knew, and she always broke up with them in less than a week. Kari always hoped that Miyako would find the one she would want to be with, but then again, they were only fifteen. They had plenty of time for thatwhen they got a little older. At least Miyako had the sense to keep her virginity, even if some of her dignity left with her past boyfriends.
"Kick it over to me!" shouted Daisuke on the field, waving his arms in the direction of the teammate who had the ball. "I'm open!"
After shooting another goal, the team decided to call it quits for the day. Daisuke marched right on up to Kari and wrapped his sweaty hands around her tiny waist and gave her a sweet little kiss on the lips.
"Ready for that dinner date?" he asked.
Kari giggled. "Only if you shower!"
"I'm on it!" Daisuke kissed his girlfriend on the cheek and ran into the school.
"Yeah, Daisuke, nice to see you too!" Miyako called out, slightly hurt. Daisuke turned around and gave the others a wave before turning back to use the locker room. "That boy," said Miyako to Iori and Ken, "totally ignores us to go for the big prize. Well, he'd better not forget the little people!"
Ken and Iori laughed, although slightly awkwardly. Sometimes it was hard to tell whether or not Miyako was kidding, knowing how boy-crazy she could get. As per usual, Miyako turned her attention to another boy, in fact, it was Hiroshi, the boy she was gawking at on the field only moments earlier. Oddly enough, she did get Hiroshi's phone number and were now in the midst of planning a date. Iori and Ken only watched in a mixture of horror and amazement as Miyako shot one of her flirty smiles at Hiroshi and returned to where they were.
"That was easy," Miyako said simply.
Ken sighed. "Are you even going to call him?" Sometimes Miyako had a habit of getting boys' numbers but never calling them back.
"No shit, Ken!" Miyako looked slightly agitated. Ken sighed again.
When Kari came back to where the group was standing, they engaged in conversation until Daisuke pushed his way into their little circle, squeaky clean. Kari went up to him and kissed him tenderly on his lips.
"You clean up good," she cooed.
"Well, you ain't too bad yourself," Daisuke gave her a wide smile. They kissed again, and the others sighed.
"I don't care how in 'love' you are," Miyako said with surpressed anger and irritation, "public display of affection doesget annoying."
"Miyako," Iori said, "I couldn't have said it better if I tried." Ken laughed.
Daisuke glared at his three friends. "Shit, guys! It's not like I can ever get privacy anyway..." He scanned the soccer field thoroughly. "Hey, where the hell's T.K.? I just realized he wasn't at practice..."
"Just now?" Kari said in bewilderment. "Dai, he's on your team."
Daisuke just shrugged sheepishly and put an arm around his girlfriend's waist.
"Actually, I haven't seen him since third period," said Ken.
"I'm here!" a voice called from across the field, gasping for breath. The voice belonged to Takeru Takashi, known to his peers as simply "T.K." (or to Daisuke, "T.J.," "T.S.," "T.A.," or whatever stupid mispronunciation of his name he could think of).
"T.L.!" Daisuke cried. "Where the fuck wereyou?"
T.K. took a minute to catch his breath, then explained himself. "Well, after lunch, Mr. Tanaka approached me and wanted me to take pictures for the yearbook." He looked at Daisuke. "I'm on the yearbook committee, Dai. Anyway, so I'm taking pictures for the yearbook until school's out, and I was on my way to practice, I really was. But then..." T.K. blushed and Kari giggled. "Layla came up and wanted to hang out, and I took her out for some ice cream."
Daisuke's face was beet red. "You ditched me for your ex?!"
"Ew, I hope you didn't go to Kenji's," Miyako butted in. "They have really shitty ice cream. Their chocolate cone tastes like the milk went bad... last year!"
"Seriously dude," Daisuke said, ignoring Miyako, "your ex? She cheated on you!"
"We were never going out!" T.K. defended his outing with Layla.
"You fucking made out with her at Mimi's birthday party! For two hours!" Daisuke recalled.
"We were drunk..." T.K. lied.
"As I recall, that was the only party so far that Mimi's hosted with no alcohol," Daisuke informed his lying friend. "Nice try, though, dude."
"But..." T.K. began.
"Look, man. No matter how hard you get when you look at her, don't think with your dick. She's nothing but trouble, dude, don't go out with her."
T.K. sighed. "Alright. Promise."
What Dai said, though, was true. What started as a totally uncharacteristic makeout session became an emotional wreck for T.K. Layla played with his every emotion until they were worn out. He thought he could make her happy, but he felt as if he failed, especially when he caught Ricky Tanner's hand up her skirt over two months ago in the janitor's closet. That tore him up for a while after that.
Layla Lynn Rogers was the prettiest girl T.K. had ever laid eyes on. She had bright green eyes and silky smooth strawberry-blonde hair, down to the middle of her back. She always looked at T.K. in the hallways with a playful, flirtacious look, batting her long, dark eyelashes in his direction almost innocently, but at the same time enticing. After T.K. made out with her at Mimi's party, he felt what he thought was love. After the sexcapade involving Layla and Ricky and the janitor's closet, he knew it wasn't love after all, but lust. He wanted her body, not her, and it took him a while to get over it. He had gotten her body once, and losing his virginity to her was at the same time blissful and regretful. Perhaps meeting Layla again wasn't the best idea. But...
"T.H.! We're going to Kari's for some food and a movie! You in?" Daisuke broke T.K.'s thoughts with an aggressive yell.
"Huh?" T.K. looked a little startled. "Oh... I've got some plans. Um, I'll see you later."
Daisuke shrugged. "Suit yourself. Later, dude." And the group left the field, waving at T.K.
T.K. stood alone on the empty field. I'm going to be late for that movie with Layla...
A/N: And I'm done! A hell of a prologue, and I think it's not bad. I'm actually really excited to start the first chapter. :D
So, allow me to recap each character (without giving anything away for later chapters):
Taichi: hasn't changed much, mad at Yamato; Sora: hasn't changed much so far; Koushiro: hasn't changed much so far; Yamato: angry at Tai, is a smoker; Jyou: is going to college now; Mimi: moved back to Japan; Takeru: lost his virginity to a girl at school, is seeing his ex again (a complicated story); Kari: is dating Daisuke; Daisuke: is dating Kari; Iori: hasn't changed much; Ken: hiding the pain from his breakup with Kari; Miyako: super-boy-crazy, some tension between her and Dai.
So, um, yeah. I hope you enjoyed the prologue as much as I did writing it. :)
-Scarlet Lynn Terwiliger