Author: CChan
Chapter: 1 - An Expected Emotion
Couples: Takuya x Kouji, Kouichi x Takuya, Junpei x Izumi. Kou1x2 brotherly love.
Note: This conveniently takes place after the kids defeat Cherubimon. The Royal Knights haven't made an appearance yet, so of course no one knows about Lucemon either. Kouichi's past is speculation on my part. Since this is me writing, a sorry excuse for a writer at that, his past is most likely really really off from the canon version. I also can't remember most of what the Digimon Frontier series was like, since I've been semi-drifting towards other shounen anime. If I've made a mistake, please tell me. ^^ Also, even though I love them, I've never been too emotionally connected to a character. I may have made them OOC... I dunno.
Dedication: To the fruits of the Digital World... you can interpret that any way you want. XP
Disclaimer: Check profile.
It was too far away to see anything, but Kouichi Kimura knew the battle between Cherubimon, KaiserGreymon, and MagnaGarurumon had ended. This knowledge came suddenly to him, like waking up on the day of your best friend's birthday and realizing you didn't have a gift, or pulling your finger away quickly when you've touched something scalding. It was like a jolt in the stomach, a coldness in the hands, a quickening of the heart that left a shadow of a mark on him even though the initial shock passed and was gone.
What he didn't know was how to act as he squinted at the sky, his eyes trailing the path of a distant Digital Egg he lost sight of in two seconds. A part of him felt triumphant, of course, that the Dark Lord who had controlled him was, at last, defeated. He should have been whooping out loud in glee, kicking up his heels, fiercely joyful that he, the one who had suffered, was alive to dance a jig over Cherubimon's grave, so to speak. Death was all he deserved...so I should be feeling all relieved right?
The sky did not answer him. His gut twisted in something similar to agony.
"Look! It's Takuya-oniichan and Kouji-san!" Tomoki shouted excitedly, shooting towards their general direction on his short legs. Kouichi followed him, and soon the others joined in a race to reach the two heroes: Takuya carrying a seemingly unconscious Kouji on his back. Bokomon's eyes filled with theatrical tears as he approached the goggled boy and his counterpart.
"My deepest utter gratitude to you both, you've saved the Digital World, Takuya-han, Kouji-han!"
"Sugoi," Neemon said languidly in his nasal tone.
"Desu!" Patamon chirped.
"Kouji," Kouichi said, immediately rushing to his twin's side. He placed a hand to Kouji's cheek, but pulled away when he saw him grimace with pain.
"He'll be fine once he rests, just has some scratches and such," Takuya smiled lightheartedly. "Oi, help me out here Kouichi? He's kinda heavy..."
"No I'm not," Kouji mumbled into Takuya's back, his face pink. Opening both eyes painfully, yet able to glare, he pinched Takuya's arm in retaliation. "Put me down, I can walk by myself."
"Are you sure?" Izumi asked. "That seemed quite a fight you guys put up..."
"Cake. I'm fine," Kouji grunted. He grinned lopsidedly at his brother standing next to him before pinching Takuya again.
Liar. "Oi, quit it," Takuya said, then jumped in place unexpectedly, forcing Kouji to yelp and hang desperately onto Takuya's neck. Tomoki tried to hide his giggles as Kouji turned a deep red, while the other three Children thought Takuya had finally lost his mind, the stress of leadership had broken him. "You're forgetting who has the upper hand here, Kouji," the goggled boy said smugly.
"Bastard, put me down!"
"No way! Actually, I've decided. I'm going to walk over to that comfortable looking rock way way over there before we can talk about anything involving you moving," Takuya said, passing by the others briskly, obviously expecting them to follow.
"Stop running you doofus, I'm on your back!"
"Aww, is widdle Kouji afwaid to fall? Hold onto me tight then."
"They're so carefree," Kouichi mumbled as he stared at the retreating two, never having moved from his spot. Especially after a life-or-death situation...I would probably have been going fetal if something like that had happened to me...
"It's expected. Takuya's resilient, and Kouji's a strong one, physically and mentally," Junpei said, then he put a hand to Kouichi's shoulder. "Personally I think you need to loosen up a little yourself. We've just won a big victory, haven't we?"
"...Un."
"There you go then... ah, Izumi-chan, wait for me!"
Bokomon sighed, grabbing Neemon by his pants, as the bunny Digimon had taken the opportunity to stare blankly into space. "Some things just never change."
" 'Nii-san, come over here and help me away from this idiot!" Kouji called out, turning back to face his twin.
" 'Idiot, idiot,' calling me that all of a sudden," Takuya muttered, continuing to walk. "Don't make me jump again."
"Do that and I'll make sure you don't ever have children."
"Please, I know you're enjoying riding me... oh look, you're turning red again. Don't try to bleed all over me, ok, blood's hard to wash out in clothes."
"S-Shut up!"
Personally I think you need to loosen up a little yourself. Kouichi squared his shoulders and rushed forward in order to stop his twin and Takuya's argument. Junpei was right. Even Kouji might agree. It was time to let the past lie. No one had cared at all when it was revealed that he had been the murderous Duskmon, living only to kill them, especially Kouji. Kouji didn't blame him for what he did anyway, and that counted so much.
Starting today, it was a new beginning. Everything he did wouldn't just be for his sake, but also for his otouto and his friends.
"Hah, I have your goggles hostage Takuya! Now let me go!"
"Give those back! Tomoki, grab them for me!"
Yakusoku. Promise. A simple word, its form derived from some simple strokes of the pen. Kouichi had learned it when he was in first grade. His teacher made the class copy the word over and over in their notebooks until he could do it with his eyes closed. She also provided them with the definition, and told them to write it next to the copied word: a declaration, a vow. An expected commitment.
Promises were tricky things, they were very fragile. They could be shattered in half a second, formed in the next second before being ripped apart again. The person could have no true commitment involved in it whatsoever.
Promises made seemed to give the holder a certain light, a certain knowledge that they wouldn't be alone in a situation; that someone could be depended on because they shared the same promise, that someone they trusted felt the same light and would, should, cherish it as much as he did.
He had made promises. They were crushed to glass bits. He had always been alone. In the end, he'd learned not to make any at all since he couldn't afford to.
Only a day after they had left the Land of Darkness, Bokomon, Neemon, and Patamon took a different Trailmon.
"We want to see our friends again, catch up on old times, you know?" Bokomon had said as he'd patted Worm. "Besides, I want to show them my lovely musuko-musume-chan!"
Saying their goodbyes, with Takuya promising that they would meet again, the Children entered Burgermon's Town to get decent food. Mama and Papa Burgermon exclaimed over them, Kouichi was introduced, and in gratitude, the six Chosen Children were invited to stay in the Burgermon's apartment above the restaurant.
"You can stay for as long as you want and don't have to pay rent..." the Torikara Ballmon said breathlessly, eager to provide the human warriors they admired with necessities. "Since there's so many of us, there are enough bedrooms for even three times your group... The restaurant is stocked with other foods besides buns and burger meat, you know that... 'Tou-chan's also recently filled all our shelves, so you won't be running out of food in awhile..."
Of course the Chosen had agreed.
Ever since the marketing of the Pure Burger ("Like a taste of Digi-Paradise"), the Burgermon family had become the proud owners of a chain of enterprises across the Digital World. The Burgermon Town was certainly livelier than when the original five Children had seen it last, with Burgermon swarming in many directions, other Digimon mingled amongst them. Almost everyone bought a burger each day, although it certainly wasn't necessary considering the Burgermon family's growing income. Because the Burgermon had employed other Digimon as their cooking staff, the Chosen decided to show their gratitude at being able to stay by waiting on the customers.
"It's better this way, Kouji and Takuya won't be able to get their hands on those burgers," Izumi had whispered secretly to Junpei, Tomoki, and Kouichi.
"Why, does he cook badly?" Kouichi had asked.
"Kouichi-san, let me just say that we wouldn't have needed the legendary warriors powers to defeat Petaldramon, we could have just force-fed him your brother's Seafood Special Burger."
An old, gray-mustached Burgermon had overheard their conversation.
"Speaking of Petaldramon, young 'un, did you know we owe this store for the revival of our town?" he had asked Tomoki, as he'd insisted on another foil-wrapped burger. "Petaldramon and his Chamelemon destroyed almost everything while they were here, and our town gained such a bad reputation that other Digimon were still too frightened to settle here even after Petaldramon died. It is because burgers," and here he took a large bite from the one already in his paws, "It is because burgers are so popular in the Digital World, they're attracting other Digimon with various work experience to slowly settle in our town."
Tomoki had wondered if Burgermon ever got sick of eating burgers.
A week after the Children had settled in, Papa Burgermon asked to have a word with Takuya.
"We're thinking of setting up another restaurant in Soul Amarik," he said, as he sat on a small green suitcase that Mama Burgermon tried to zip close. "That's a continent in the west, so I'm not sure when we'll get back. In the meantime, think of this place as your temporary home until you can return back to your real one."
"Sankyu," Takuya said gratefully. "We'll take good care of it, promise."
"Ah, I've also notified the rest of the town. Don't worry about having to run the restaurant, it'll be closed until we get back. The kitchen's all to yourselves."
"Really?! That's so cool!"
"We both have got to learn how to cook first," Kouji countered as he appeared and leaned on the frame of the Burgermon's bedroom door.
"Kouji?"
The boy in question pointed a thumb in the hallway. "Lunch. Kouichi's making something."
"He can cook? Wow, he doesn't seem the type..."
"Well apparently he can. Izumi's decided to fangirl his cooking, she was still squealing about how delicious it was when I left. I think Junpei has competition now."
"Junpei has competition with what?" Kouichi had appeared next to his brother, carrying a plate of something in one hand and wearing a pink apron. Takuya immediately snickered.
"Nice apron Kouichi."
"It's all Mama Burgermon had," Kouichi said, turning pink himself. To hide his embarrassment, he hastily picked up the something on his plate with chopsticks and crammed it into Kouji's surprised mouth. "What do you think?" he asked expectantly, as he watched Kouji chew slowly with an unreadable expression.
"It's good," Kouji said after a long pause. "I think the seasoning brings out the flavor of the meat."
"Hey hey, can I try some?" Takuya whined.
"No, you insulted my apron." And Kouichi stuck up his nose in mock-snobbery.
The brunette groaned. "Kouichi! You misunderstand, I said it was a 'nice' apron, a really 'nice' apron, see, I was praising your taste in...err, that is..."
"What did you just feed me anyway 'nii-san? It doesn't taste like any meat I've ever known."
"Hmm," Mama Burgermon sat down on the suitcase next to her husband. "If I remember correctly, that slab of meat I gave for Kouichi to cook came from... a type of perennial plant... they call it the 'Crow Brush,' because it's fruit is black and its small leaves look like the feathers on wings when a wind touches them..."
"So...this...is crow meat? Are you serious? That's just... urrgh..."
Papa Burgermon laughter interrupted Kouji. "No no, don't let names fool you. The food we have here is perfectly harmless and good for human consumption, as far as I can tell. Now you three, let's hurry with preparing the food and help the others set the table. This'll be our last meal together and all this talk about food is enough to make my mouth water."
That night, just like every other night since they had arrived in Burgermon Town, Kouji slipped out of his bedroom, his pillow and blanket in hand, and slipped into the same bed as Kouichi. No one said anything; they'd gotten used to seeing Kouji creep silently down the hall and knock on Kouichi's door, even Junpei. Indeed, Takuya often complained that they should have the same room, Kouji's footsteps against the wooden floor woke him from his precious sleep.
Surprisingly, it was Kouji himself who had started this little ritual; he wanted to know everything about their mother: what were her favorite foods, what music did she like, was work tough on her? Kouichi had felt guilty when he heard his twin say so the first night. He had wanted nothing to do with his father.
That night, Kouji came in as usual, muttering about crow meat.
"Oh, leave it alone," Kouichi sighed as he made room for him on the bed. "It was tasty, wasn't it."
"Do you understand what Papa Burgermon meant by 'harmless' and 'good for human consumption' though?" Kouji asked as he pulled the blanket over him. "That sounded pretty fishy to me."
"Didn't you know? Some of the food in the Digital World isn't good for humans, since we're not a part of this world. Fruits and other plants that look appealing to us could have deadly side effects. It's like what they say happens when you drink water from Mexico... except sometimes the outcome can be more serious."
Kouji was silent for a minute, scrutinizing his twin. "How do you know all this? Not a bit of it was mentioned by the Digimon we met on our travels."
"Well, they probably didn't want to scare you off, you being the legendary warriors saving them from certain destruction. Anyway, it's not a problem for us," Kouichi said, turning on his side to face Kouji. "I learned it all when I was Duskmon... Cherubimon... taught me then..."
A pause. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I'm making you remember things you don't want to."
"Nah. The past is past," Kouichi said slowly. Then he smiled. "There's a really dull scientific explanation on how Digimon can tell which foods are good for humans, but I don't want you to go to sleep yet."
"That's right," Kouji smiled too. "Tell me about 'Kaa-san. And Oba-san."
And Kouichi's smile would widen as he recalled all the habits of and the experiences he had spent with his favorite adults, which he had never before thought were special; how his mother liked to towel-dry her hair instead of using a hairdryer, how his grandmother liked to crochet on Wednesday nights and always knitted a blue wool sweater for him to wear every winter. How his mother once stayed home because he was sick and the three spent the day playing Monopoly while she bloated him on orange juice. And Kouji would cling to every bit of information, burying it in a special box, listening with a strange sort of smile on his face that stayed even as he slept.
And every time Kouichi looked at his sleeping face and his strange smile, he would always feel incredibly warm inside. He would always think So this is what having a twin is like, what having any sibling is like.
During his youth, before he knew that he was only a half to a whole, Kouichi's mother liked to tell him about her twin sister, Tomeko. Whenever Kouichi got tired of listening to fairy tales and the heroics of dead men, she entertained him instead on stories about her adorable, outgoing sister, Tomeko Kimura, the one who was popular and made friends easily. The one who thought she wasn't as smart as her Nee-san Tomoko, but 'Kaa-san always thought she had the bigger heart. The one who was incredibly clumsy, so clumsy it had cost her several visits to their family doctor and even the hospital, but who amazingly wanted to become a professional dancer. The one whose dreams were treaded on and broken one night when her jealous ex-boyfriend, in a drunken stupor, ran over her with his car and ended up with only a life sentence.
His mother had never cried as she talked about her sister, not even when she'd told him one day that they would visit her grave. Kouichi remembered thinking that it was pretty there. There had been healthy green grass growing around the headstone, and birds were twittering about; like something out of a feel-good novel, a scene only shown in the movies. 'Kaa-san had carefully laid a bunch of cream and coral flowers in front of the inscribed stone: peonies, their favorite flower.
On that first visit, he hadn't understood what death meant. He had said 'hi' to his aunt and had wished aloud that he had a sister, no, a brother just as nice as she.
Kouichi hadn't told Kouji stories about their aunt at all. Really, it had taken him several days before he could admit to finally talking about his dear grandmother with dry eyes, and besides, he didn't want Kouji to feel superstitious.
Throwing one last glance at Kouji sleeping peacefully, Kouichi sneakily pulled away his blanket, which had gotten tangled in Kouji's leg, and slid off the bed. He had done this every night ever since they had arrived in Burgermon Town, when he was sure Kouji had fallen asleep. Maybe it was because he hadn't slept on a bed in a long while and now found it too soft for his liking, or maybe he had been Duskmon too long and had gotten used to sleeping standing up, with one eye closed, but whatever the reason, he sure didn't want his twin to find out and make a big fuss over it.
His safety from Kouji's wrath was also assured in the mornings. Kouji might not have looked like it, but he enjoyed his sleep tremendously. Kouichi often had to poke him awake, or, even more fun, tug off Kouji's loose bandanna and use it to tie his feet together before waking him for breakfast.
Tomorrow he was in charge of making dinner, Kouichi noted to himself as he laid himself down on the carpeted floor next to the bed. I'll make him a dessert he likes...
"But she was a nice little kid!"
"And I'm still saying, you shouldn't go around accepting everything people give you, even 'little kids'!"
It was the next afternoon and Takuya and Kouji had just arrived back to their 'home' after helping an elderly Burgermon couple carry their groceries home. Everyone else had gone off to do errands or something to spend their time, so the lively Burgermon Burger Restaurant was strangely still. Takuya was holding a reddish pink fruit that looked similar to an apple, but it wasn't as nearly as red as Kouji's angry face.
"Kouji, it's not as if she was out to poison me or something," Takuya cried back. "She asked me if I wanted something to eat and gave this to me, as polite as you please."
After the groceries, the two had run into a child Digimon, one of the newer inhabitants of the Burgermon Town. She was something similar to a Tailmon, except smaller and with spikier grey fur. She had spoken to them in urgency, as if in a great hurry to be rid of the fruit in her hands. 'Please, sir, would you like to take this snack?'
Although he had been slightly miffed at being addressed 'sir' ("Call me Takuya, please, I'm not that old"), Takuya had gladly obliged since he was feeling hungry, much to Kouji's chagrin.
"Are you stupid? You just... take stuff from people just like that?"
"Kouji, it's food. I'm hungry since Izumi didn't prepare enough lunch. Thus, I eat."
Now, Kouji turned slightly away from him, a frown of disbelief on his face. "Fine then, just don't come running to me if you have stomach problems or whatever."
Taking a dramatic bite for the sake of his audience, in which Kouji snorted and went to check if anyone was in the kitchen, Takuya sat down on one of the restaurant's chairs to enjoy his gift. The fruit didn't have much substance in it; it was as if it were mostly filled with liquid surrounded in a thin fruit skin, and Takuya had to quickly catch the red juice that flowed onto his hand with his tongue. It tasted faintly like plum, yet smelled like nothing.
Takuya realized something was wrong when his heart suddenly started to pound erratically. His mouth felt dry and hot even though it was mostly covered in juice, and his head throbbed, although not with pain. It throbbed because he seemed to take in everything at once at what was happening to his body, yet also couldn't understand what was happening at all. He didn't realize when he dropped the rest of the fruit, its juice looking like blood as it stained the white tiles.
His veins, his own blood, seemed as if they had caught on fire; it wasn't the same fire he felt whenever he Spirit-evolved into Agnimon, or even the fiery rage he felt as Vritramon, but something more intense, something that consumed him entirely, felt completely alien to his body and cried out at him not to be ignored. The back of his eyes seemed to smolder with the same intensity, and he squeezed them so tightly it forced small tears to leak out and temporarily cool his hot face. All he could see was red, red, red.
What's wrong with me? was the one thought that stood out to him coherently, and he grabbed onto it and asked it over and over. It was the only thing that seemed to keep him sane at the moment. He put his hands to his cheeks. Everything felt unnaturally warm and... was someone calling him?
"...kuya, Takuya, can you hear me? Look at me, open your eyes," a deep voice commanded. Takuya tried to remember where he had heard a voice like that, then when the voice put hands on his shoulders, he remembered the touch.
"K-Kouji...?" the goggled boy croaked, his throat dry. He wondered that he must have said something out loud.
Kouji seemed to collapse with relief. Takuya couldn't tell, he still had his eyes closed. "Thank God, you can hear me. Open your eyes, lemme see you."
Takuya hesitated, the pain in his eyes seeming to rise as he tried to pry his eyes open and finally succeeded. The first thing he became dimly aware of was that the turmoil inside his head seemed to die somewhat. He felt the ghost of his hands still on his cheeks, yet Kouji's hands felt like weights on his shoulders.
Kouji. The first thing he saw was blue, blue, blue, it chased after the red and killed it. Kouji.
Irrationally, Takuya thought, it felt like he himself was insubstantial, while Kouji was there, really there and alive. More alive than he was. Kouji's usually pale face looked peacher, his eyes looked bluer and clearer, his lips looked softer, every bit of him stood out while everything else faded in the background.
"Takuya, say something. Are you feeling okay?" And Kouji put a hand to Takuya's forehead.
He looked worried. Takuya wanted to get rid of his worry.
And suddenly, Kouji had his back to the floor, and Takuya was on top of him, his gloved hands cradling the back of Kouji's head as he fervently kissed that mouth which had appeared so inviting to him seconds before. Every taste to him seemed as if it were electricity, and his face flushed again as he slid off his gloves and touched cold, pliable skin, Kouji's neck, Kouji's jawbone...
When Takuya dared to touch Kouji's unresponsive lips with his tongue, two things happened.
One, Kouji gave a small gasp, as if he suddenly realized what Takuya was doing, and pushed him off.
Two, with a roar that scared them both, Kouichi cried from his position at the front door, a bag of goods in both his hands, "What the hell is going on?"
To be continued
- - - - -
CChan here. Isn't this fic so predictable? Oh yeah. Tomeko is purely my creation. Sorry if Bokomon, Neemon, and Patamon parting were unrealistic... I had to get rid of them somehow. >.>; I hope the plot will get interesting for you guys. I had fun writing this, which is pretty rare. ^^ Give me at least three weeks to write the next chapter, since I have AP and Honors essays and reports to do somewhere within that time range. -_-;
If there is something that confused you, or something I can improve on, please include it in your review. Also check my livejournal for future updates. ~_^