Y/N: Wow. It's so weird to be back writing these characters. But they're not the same either. They've aged quite a bit since the end of 05, and I think that having that year between writing them will hopefully show the difference in their "Voices". Fingers crossed anyway! I'm kind of glad to be back with these characters for one last story. But I'm also glad that we'll finally be giving them an ending. This story will cover the time between 05 and the original epilogue on the show that took place in 2027. So there's a bit of ground to cover. And it wouldn't be one of our digimon stories if it wasn't chocked full of drama. So much drama. I hope you like it, and I hope you'll drop us a review. We've missed hearing from you. :D
U/N: Firstly, I'll start on an apologetic note, I do realize this is about a year and three months late, and I'm so very sorry for that. There really isn't an excuse other than that the epilogue wasn't working and we eventually just stopped trying. We came back to it though, and I re read 03, HIMTM, 04, HCTB, 05 and every moment in the collection as well as re watched season 1 and I'm now working on season 2… I'm on digimon overload! Which actually brings me to point two…
Happy 15th anniversary to Digimon stuff! :D Isn't that exciting? I dunno, it's good timing for our epilogue to go up—the day they celebrate the anniversary. I think it's cool anyway.
Anyway, onto the actual story, it was originally going to include Davis, Ken, Tk, Michael and Tai, but since we included Kurayami in HCTB we decided to include Neo, Hideto, Kiyoko and Mari in this one, so the story became longer, which means you'll get half of it today, and the rest on Wednesday—which sucks, sorry for the prolonged wait—but these chapters are pretty long anyway, I'm sure they'll do for now… well I hope they do.
Title: Happily Ever After
By: Yukiraking
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters
Chapter 1:Epilogue
Daisuke Motomiya: 12:00 pm
"Why did we have to come through at the Temple, dad?"
"It's to regulate the comings and goings of people in the Digital World," I told my son. I was pretty sure I'd told him hundreds of times in the past when he asked the same question, but it never seemed to stick with him. Kurayami never had this problem. He hung off of every word she said. Huh. I guess he takes after me in that regard. I swear she's just gotten more and more interesting over the years. It's lucky I guess. Some couples don't have that. Most couples haven't been through what Kurayami and I have been through, both separately and together. There's a lot of evil, digimon and saving the world in there that loads of other people can't claim to have experienced. I was grateful for that though. It made us unique. Not that we really needed all that much help in that department.
"It would just be so much easier if we could just show up at Uncle Taichi's house."
"I know, Haruki. You only suggest it every time we visit. But, as I've said before, there's just the one key to open the gate. We don't have D3's to open gates wherever and whenever we want anymore. If the gate was open to Taichi's house, he'd have people coming through all the time. It's not just digidestined anymore. Koushiro's got a research team, Jou's got his staff, Taichi's always talking to politicians. It would just get messy. And Katsue's always trying to get her next documentary series filmed. If she wasn't monitored, who knows what she'd reveal about the Digital World," I said shaking my head. "It's safer for both Taichi's family and the digimon if everyone has to check in at the Temple upon entering."
"That's too complicated, Dad," Haruki groaned.
"Yet you can talk philosophy and psychology with your mother for hours," I said rolling my eyes. "Have I ever told you how happy I am that you got your mother's brains?"
"Only all the time, Mr Noodle King," he teased. He pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and straightened it up. It turned out to be the cover of a food magazine. The one that had my face plastered across it with Veemon standing next to me, both of us with a bowl of noodles in our hands (totally prop noodles too, they were terrible! Not fit for eating) and crowns on our heads. The magazine pronounced me the "Noodle King" and the article went into detail about my expansion to North American locations. It was pretty cool stuff, but I'd be lying if I didn't find all of the attention a little embarrassing. More so now that I found out my son was carrying the cover around.
"Why do you have that?" I asked, trying to snatch it from him.
"I get so few chances to really brag about my dad," he said. "Between Uncle Takeru Takaishi: bestselling author extraordinaire, Uncle Yamato Ishida: rock star and astronaut, Aunt Sora's got the Takenouchi clothing line, Uncle Taichi runs this place, and Aunt Mimi and Aunt Mari both have their own television shows. And that's not even mentioning the award winning actors and Hollywood's favourite power couple: Michael and Tatum Washington!" He said all this as though he were introducing the next contestants of a televised game show. It was a little over the top.
"Koushiro and Jou's jobs are pretty cool," I pointed out.
"They're boring," he insisted.
"Historic," I corrected. "The first official researcher and doctor of the Digital World. Not to mention that Momoe and Miyako literally are the ones that do the monitoring of all travellers to and from this—and subsequently all—of the worlds. That's pretty cool."
"But too top secret for me to know anything about," he said grumpily.
"Not so top secret as Willis. I still don't know what it is he does."
"At least you're not trying to compare rock star to elementary school teacher," he said. "Or a guidance counselor."
"Yeah, yeah," I said. "Do you see Veemon yet? He was supposed to meet us ten minutes ago. If he doesn't come soon we're going to have to leave without him, and I really don't want to do that."
"He's training the Knights, right?" Haruki asked excitedly.
"No," I said, sorry to disappoint him. "He's just doing finishing some report or something about their progress. Word is that they're doing really well. He won't tell me much though. He wants me to be surprised."
"Can I come see them train?" Haruki asked.
"Someday, sure," I said with a grin. "Maybe DemiVeemon will grow up to be a Knight one day."
"That would be so cool!"
I whipped around and saw that Veemon was headed our way. He was wandering through the courtyard (which I was proud to say had one of my noodle carts in it, manned by one of Digitamamon's employees; it was one of many different carts and stalls that made up the market place) toward us. We'd been waiting at the tall entrance gate, hoping he'd be able to spot us. It isn't hard to do, we were some of the only humans present at the time—and while Gennai's clones looked quite human, they all managed to look the same—and Haruki was like a miniature version of myself. DemiVeemon looked to be napping on Veemon's head. It was kind of adorable. It also reminded me of all the rides I'd given Veemon over the years. It was weird to think of us back then, though we'd all read Takeru's books as they'd been published, just to see if he took any creative licenses we didn't care for of course. It just seemed like a lifetime ago. So much had changed in my life since then. In all of our lives. And sure, I sometimes get nostalgic for the times when we'd save the world from certain destruction, and then I remember Haruki, and how I'm glad we don't have to do that anymore. I don't know how Jou ever did it with Emiko around and all. I'd just die if something happened to Haruki. And it's not that I didn't think he could handle himself, it was just...that no I didn't think he could handle himself. He didn't have the training we all did, and the battles always got harder, not easier. If something worse than Yggdrasil or Arkadimon happened...
But I didn't need to think like that. We'd defeated all but one of the great evils, plus the glitch, plus the master of all of the worlds. And from what I gathered that strange D-Reaper attack was meant to be the final great evil. That meant we were all in the clear.
"Why so serious, Daisuke?" Veemon asked when he reached us. Haruki was quick to pick DemiVeemon off of his 'bed' and hug him tightly. "Aren't you excited? It's the twenty-eighth year celebration. For the original eight anyway, and that means it's your..."
"Twenty-fifth!" Haruki jumped in excitedly. "Wow you're old."
"I resent that," I said with a laugh.
"Are we waiting for Mom too? Or can we get going," Haruki wanted to know.
"We're not waiting, but I have something to give you before we leave," I said. I pulled a small package out of the duffle bag I'd been toting with us. It was full of food for the picnic—and no there weren't any noodles in it (it's amazing how sick Haruki was of noodles, I didn't think it was possible! And that's not even taking Kurayami into account. She threatened to destroy me if I didn't bring something, and I quote "Edible" to the celebration. Granted, for her "edible" is currently sauerkraut with diced pickles and canned tuna, so I didn't take too much offense). I handed him the gift and he ripped the paper open like nobody's business, juggling DemiVeemon, trying not to wake him.
"Wow," he said, his eyes going wide as he realized just what he was holding in his free hand. "Shouldn't Nikko—"
"I talked to Taichi," I told him. "He said he wanted you to have them. You can give them to Nikko when he's older. Everyone looks up to you right now. They wouldn't take Nikko seriously if he were to wear them."
"But these are..." he said. "These are the goggles. Like in the stories."
"Yeah," I said. "I haven't worn them in years. Haven't needed to."
"This is—Dad this is huge," he said. "What if I break them?"
"They're stronger than you'd think. They got us through five major adventures. And Taichi and I both totally wore them for day to day activities if I'm being honest."
"And you always should be," Haruki said teasingly. He sobered up. "I can really have these? To wear and everything?"
"I'd be honoured if you wore them now actually." He wasted no time in getting them on his head, handing DemiVeemon to me so he didn't risk breaking them. I can't even begin to explain how proud I was to see Haruki wearing them. He looked like I did when I first got to wear them, like it was the most important moment—putting them on—in the entire world. I was awestruck when Taichi gave them to me. And I was just as awestruck when he suggested I give them to my son, instead of his. "They go to the leader," he'd said. And with them resting on the top of his head, Haruki really looked the part.
"Are you crying," he asked me sounding horrified at the very idea.
"No," I said. It wasn't technically a lie. My eyes were only misting. There weren't any real tears. Not yet anyway.
"Good," he said. "It would ruin the whole bragging thing if you were a cry baby."
"Whatever," I told him, ruffling his hair. He was quick to protect the goggles, but seemed happy. I handed DemiVeemon to him and we headed off. We weren't the last to arrive at Taichi's place, but we were close. I could see that Taichi and Ken had started up a soccer game with some of the kids. It was, honestly, most of the boys, but I could see that Aika was out there too, keeping up with the best of the older kids. I mean, she was pretty little—only six—but she had game. I was itching to join in, but it looked like there were enough adults out there. Ken looked to have wrangled Osamu out onto the field, which had to have been quite the feat. Nikko was going head to head against his father, and Taichi really wasn't holding anything back. Hiro was out there, though he seemed to be on Takeru's team, rather than against him. Neither was doing well. It appeared as though Makoto managed to rope Koushiro into playing net for his team (from what I could tell, this consisted of the two of them, Aika and Taichi). Tenshi rounded out the players, making the teams odd, with five players to four, but Haruki was well on his way to correcting that, having placed DemiVeemon on a chair where he could sleep peacefully before running out into the field.
"Nice goggles," Taichi shouted.
"Thanks!" Haruki said excitedly. This caused a brief lull in the game as all the kids wanted to check them out. Haruki didn't even feel the need to show off the magazine cover, which I was grateful for. I grinned at the scene, before searching for a place to put my food. I saw Kana and Renjiro talking to one another in low voices under the digital equivalent of a weeping willow. To my left at a picnic table, I saw their fathers mimicking them—knowingly or not. Iori and Jou were debating about something that held little to no interest to me, so I moved on. I laughed at the sight of Yamato being interviewed by Mai Ichijouji: reporter in training. I did not envy him right then. She was always asking tough, hard hitting questions. And since Yamato had been all around the world—and off of it—he was the perfect candidate to test some new ones.
"No way! These are gorgeous," Mimi gushed. I saw she was looking through Sora's latest sketchbook. I had a few doubts about the quality of the designs—Mimi's not very fashion conscious.
"I can't wait to see one of these finished. They're perfect," she told Sora with a grin.
"You think so? I didn't want the comparison to be too literal this time. I wanted something more subtle. These would be for the general public, not for just us, so I wanted to be sure," Sora said.
"Definitely," Mimi squealed. "This Fridgimon dress is adorable!"
"I'm so glad you think so," Sora said happily.
Huh. It looked like she was planning another digimon line, and this time it wouldn't be closed for us based on our digimon. Cool. Maybe I could convince her to design some digi-baby clothes? I'd have to catch her later...
"Can't you just lie still?" Miyako pleaded. Taro was rolling around on the blanket she was trying to use to change his diaper. He'd just started rolling, and wasn't about to lie still anymore. He wanted to explore. It would've been funnier if I wasn't about to go through the same thing again though.
"You sure?" Shouta queried.
"Uh huh," Chika was telling him. "I heard about it in a musical that Grandma took me to in New York. The girl really said that's how grass grows!"
"I no like bugs," Shouta said.
"I didn't really like them either, but now they're so cool, tuggin' on the grass and makin' it get big," Chika said happily. "I can't wait to tell Daddy all the stuff I learned. Did you know that sparrows are just baby eagles?"
"Wha's a spawwow?"
"Uh...I dunno. But we eat them at Thanksgiving and Christmas apparently, the girl said so," Chika explained.
"Wow," Shouta said. "Wha's thanksgiving?"
"Um... It's when we eat the growed up sparrows, silly," Chika said with a giggle.
"Oh ya!" Shouta said laughing too.
I did not envy Koushiro. He was going to be taught so many strange new facts. Chika sure had a wild imagination. She was practically Koushiro's opposite, but she had him wrapped around her little finger anyway.
I finally reached the house, and slipped inside, hoping to find someone that knew where to put my stuff. I found that person in the form of Rei. She snuck up behind me and gave me a hug.
"What did you bring us?" she asked.
"Food not fit for consumption," I said sagely.
"Excellent," she said with a grin. "I was worried we'd have nothing Kurayami would eat."
"Nikko's getting big," I commented.
"You don't need to tell me twice," she said with a laugh. "He's been shooting up like a weed these last few months."
"And looking more and more like his dad," I pointed out.
"Don't remind me. With each extra inch, he loses what little he had of me in him. He hardly looks like me at all these days. He'll be a carbon copy of his father before too long," Rei said. "But at least he won't be the only one. Haruki's looking more like you too. I saw him through the window. He's such a sweet boy."
"Yeah, he gets his looks from me, and everything else from his mother," I grinned.
"What have we got here," Momoe asked, sweeping into the front room. "Food? Why don't I take that to the kitchen? Natsuni and I have things almost sorted out, if you two want to go outside and visit."
"I didn't mean to trap you in my kitchen," Rei said worriedly.
"We're volunteering," Momoe said. "Now go! Mingle!"
We nearly ran into Michael as we opened the door. He had so much stuff piled in his arms he couldn't see us. Louisa, ever the helpful one, was carrying a package of plastic cups and utensils. Slipping passed them, I noticed Elliot had joined the soccer game, and it looked like Koushiro was out, since he was laying spread out on the grass, with Tatum laughing at his side. It seemed as though nearly everyone was here now. I'd missed them all during the two minutes I'd been inside. Ridiculous really.
"Madlyn, Iris, don't wander off, alright?" Willis instructed his twins as he and Hikari set down the things they'd brought with them. "Why don't you play with Izumi? She'd like that."
"Zoomy!" Izumi cheered. "Pway wif me?"
"Otay!" the twins agreed. They started 'running' after one another. It was more like a challenge to see who could run more than five steps without falling on her face. But it was cute.
Neo claimed the picnic table furthest from the house, and put his cooler of water down on it. Kids flocked to it and he resigned himself to being the water boy. Hideto and Kiyoko were hanging out together over by a tree, just kind of watching all the kids as they talked.
"Kurayami!" Hikari shouted. "You're here!"
"I'm here," she agreed.
"I wasn't sure, since you were due six days ago. You could've taken the day to relax," Sora pointed out. It was kind of hard to miss though. I would never say it out loud, because contrary to popular believe I'm not stupid, nor do I have a death wish, but she was big. She was officially over nine months pregnant though, so it wasn't her fault. And not that she isn't totally beautiful this way or anything. It was just obvious that she should really be resting at home. Or at the hospital even. I wasn't picky.
"Just get me a seat, and I'll be good," Kurayami said with a smile.
"Can I get you some water, Mom?" Haruki asked.
"Yes, please," Kurayami said.
"I'll see about getting the food out," Mimi suggested. "You must be famished."
"Indeed I am," Kurayami laughed. Mimi rushed into the house and came back moments later with Natsuni in toe.
"Which of you kids wants to help bring the food to the tables?" Natsuni hollered. All of the kids dropped their water bottles on the ground and lined up to see what they could carry—all except the really little ones, who could barely (or couldn't at all) walk. It didn't take long for the food to be laid out in a spectacular spread. Everyone took a seat in the circle of picnic tables and dug in. It wasn't until she showed up with a guest that I realized we weren't all there yet.
"I'm here!" Emiko shouted. "The party can—begin... You started without me?"
"We told you to be here by noon," Jou said. "It's not my fault you didn't listen."
"I listened, I just lost track of time, since I got some interesting news today and all," Emiko said. I could tell she wanted to make it exciting, and all she needed was someone to ask before she whipped out an over-the-top dramatic performance.
"Is that a Digimon Adventure book?" Hiro asked the guest no one seemed to pay mind to. It was Emiko's friend—best friend maybe—but I didn't know his name.
"Yeah, the latest one..." her friend said. "Emiko told me to read it before I came, but I haven't quite finished it yet. Just two chapters to go, and I would've left it at home—"
"Should've left it at home," Emiko interrupted.
"But there's very little left to the final showdown and really, how could I be expected to put it down...?"
"Easily," Emiko grumbled.
"Why don't you finish it off," Takeru suggested. "And then you can ask any questions you might have afterwards. How's that sound."
"Excellent," Emiko's friend said. "I'm Azura by the way."
I knew that. Oops.
"I already have loads of questions about subplot that didn't make any sense, or was left unexplained," Azura commented.
"You realize it's all true, right?" Takeru asked. "Which means there's no subplots, just smaller schemes of smaller bad guys."
Azura flushed bright red. "I-I kn-know. I j-just f-find it e-e-easier to think of i-it d-different-tly is all."
We ate with gusto, all except Azura who was engrossed in the book. It wasn't until he set the book down, that we slowed down with the inhalation of food.
"So?" Takeru asked.
"I have several things," Azura said. "They all depend on whether this is the last book or not."
"It's not the last book, but it's the end of our story," Takeru said.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"There's still the story of the D-Reaper that needs to be told," Takeru explained. "It's still in the news, but I'll be writing a final Digimon story about it."
"It can't be a Digimon Adventure story though," Hikari protested. "They call themselves 'Tamers'. Isn't that cute?"
"But I got the tell-all interview with Trust on this one," Takeru complained. "And he's a digidestined, no matter what he calls himself, which makes him a part of the Adventure series..."
"Why don't you just stick to answering the questions that are asked of you," Mai said bossily. She pulled a notebook out of the bag at Miyako's side, and found a couple of pens. "I'll write down all of the answers. It can be a tell-all interview too. But with the famous author rather than a twelve year old."
"He might be fourteen—" Takeru interrupted.
"I don't really care, to be honest," Mai said. "I'm just writing it down. I don't have the same insightful questions he will. I'm sure of it. He's old now, so he's got to be smart."
"Old?" Azura questioned quietly. "I just graduated high school. I'm not old."
"Can we get started or what?"
"Fine," Takeru said grumpily.
"It's just that so many questions get left unanswered. You just mentioned Trust for example. You never got into details about who he was. We never learned his identity and weren't told of any potential meetings between him and the digidestined we've come to know through the novels. I trust that you did locate him, or you wouldn't have brought him up?" Azura started. He was speaking rather quietly, and didn't seem to happy to have to speak in front of a crowd of strangers, but Emiko was urging him on.
"Oh yeah," Michael said. "Ken found him a couple of weeks ago."
"You could've told us," Willis whined. "No one tells me anything!"
"That's another thing," Azura said, pointing at Willis. "Are we supposed to assume that Willis and Mari got together after the funeral?"
"We didn't," Mari told him.
"Disappointing," he commented, but then shrugged. "The book really pulled focus onto that potential relationship and caused the fans to hope for such a relationship to occur."
"That really didn't have anything to do with saving the world though," Takeru said. "All my books were about how we saved the world."
"And telling the world all of our secrets and mistakes and romantic pursuits," Sora added.
"I can't even teach using my real name. I have a pseudonym just so my students will do work instead of ask me questions about digimon. As it is, most of my students are obsessed with them thanks to that new TV show," Hikari pointed out.
"You're just sore because you're not their favourite character," Takeru teased.
"Juri likes me," Hikari pouted.
"Do you have any better questions?" Mai asked Azura skeptically.
"Well," he said. "I've been wondering about these secondary characters—sorry, they're not characters, they're just on the side-lines. Well, what happened to Shuu and Jun for example, I assume they were married right away?"
"Actually, they weren't," I said. "Soon enough, sure, but there were delays. That was a crazy day actually. Not crazy in a the-world-is-ending-what-do-we-do sort of way, just exhausting."
"Well, tell us about it!" Mai demanded.
"Oh, I bet it'll be so romantic!" Louisa sighed.
"Urgh," Elliot moaned. "I hate these kinds of stories."
"Suck it up," Haruki said with a laugh. "Soon enough you'll be a part of one. You'll think differently then."
"Uh, no," Elliot promised him. "I'm cool all on my own. I don't need romance. It gives me the creeps just thinking about it."
"Me too," Tatum muttered. "He's my baby."
"Aw, Mom!" Elliot cried.
"I'd like to hear a story," Renjiro said shyly.
"Only 'cuz you're a nerd," Nikko said with a snort.
"Don't say that about Renjiro!" Kana snapped at him. "Just because you're not smart."
"Whoa," I said. "I'll tell the story, so long as you don't start fighting here."
"Okay," Kana said happily.
"Alright then..."
Jun realized quite quickly that her Wedding-In-A-Month plan wasn't going to get anywhere. She had so many people to invite. After Momoe's epic mid-battle nuptials, she wanted to go all out and get something that could compare. So she pretty much invited all of Odaiba. Okay, maybe not all, but close to it, I'm sure. All the people and digimon she or Shuu ever interacted with were sent invitations. And of course she needed to wait for the guests to RSVP, or else she couldn't order enough food for them, or book a big enough venue. She'd enlisted us digidestined to do the decorating for her. Our first mission after saving the world. It didn't really compare. But she was happy to order us around.
The planning was slower going than she'd hoped and the wedding didn't take place until seven months after the final battle with Yggdrasil and his armies. It also didn't help that much of Odaiba actually needed to be rebuilt—including her choice venue. She got a discount for renting it because she'd set up a team to help do the repairs.
"Can't you tell a story chronologically?" Azura asked.
"Yeah," Emiko said. "You're jumping all over the place. Don't do that."
"Okay..."
Point is, the wedding was on and Jun managed to not turn into bridzilla, which I was thankful for. She and Shuu had these great plans to have Otamamon and Meramon standing up with them, while Jou and Shin were Shuu's ushers, and I stood up with Momoe for Jun. She couldn't pick anyone better than me for the job, and I refused to be called a bridesmaid. Things went alright during the set up of the venue and the ceremony site. Things did not go so well during the rehearsal. The air was thick the entire time due to tension. Jun wanted the perfect wedding, and that included our father walking her down the aisle. Mom and I were on pretty good footing by that point, but Dad? Forget about it. He wouldn't even acknowledge my existence, he didn't look at me, talk to me, come near me. Nothing.
"Rude," Mai said, rolling her eyes. "Are you going to give me any dirt or not?"
"Preferably?" I asked. "Not."
"Daisuke, darling," Mom said the morning of the actual wedding. "I need your help. Your sister's worked herself up into a dreadful state."
"What's gotten into her?"
"Something about Sora? That's one of your friend's isn't it? I don't know why she's asking about her, so I can't help. Please talk to her?" Mom pleaded.
"He shouldn't be a part of the wedding party at all," Dad told Mom in that harsh way he's always talking. "Not if Shuu didn't ask him to stand with him. Jun doesn't need his failure to rub off on her at such a pivotal moment in her life. I won't stand to have a divorced daughter because of him."
"Just go, Daisuke, please."
"No problem, Mom," I said, ignoring my dad. He said other, meaner things that I don't want to mention in front of children, but let's just say they were hurtful.
"Jun," I called, barging into her dressing room. "What's up?"
"Sora just texted! She said she can't come after all. What am I going to do? I can't go out there. Not without her. She's imperative to my plans. She's the digidestined of love! What does it say if the digidestined of love can't be bothered to show up at your wedding? It means we're doomed!"
"Seems like I caused quite a stir," Sora said apologetically.
"I'll say," Momoe added. "She nearly fainted four times before Mrs Motomiya went to get Daisuke. We just didn't know what to do anymore. And I couldn't help. I had to go wrangle the flower girl..."
"What?" Emiko said defensively. "I was a kid. I don't even remember it."
"You're not doomed just because Sora didn't show up," I assured her. "Sora's not very good at romance. It's probably a blessing in disguise."
"DAISUKE!" Sora gasped.
"I was probably just trying to comfort her," I said awkwardly.
"This is gold," Mai was saying. "Take a picture of his face, Tenshi."
"Okay," he said nodding his head. He pulled the camera from around his neck and snapped a picture of my reaction, and then one of Sora's for good measure.
"You can continue now," Mai informed me.
"You're probably right," Jun sighed. "I just wish she was here. She said she would be, and now she's not. And that's not how RSVPing is supposed to work. You can't change your mind!"
"Speaking about changing minds, are you changing yours?"
"No," she said quickly.
"Then get down there before Shuu thinks you are!"
"Oh my god. He thinks that? Why didn't you tell him I wouldn't? Get out of my way. The bride is coming through!"
"Good," I said. "Wait! I'm supposed to go first."
I chased her down the stairs. She won, but only because I didn't want to push passed her when she was running in heels. I didn't want to be responsible for a broken leg or something. I caught up to her when she was waiting on our father's arm.
"Finally," he said. "You were keeping us waiting. It's your sister's wedding day. Don't pull attention to yourself. She deserves better."
"What?" I asked confused. "I was right behind her."
"Don't talk back. Just get in line," he snapped.
"Will do," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Behave!"
"Dad, calm down," Jun said.
"He's disrespecting me, and he's disrespecting you."
"You're the one being disrespectful," I pointed out in a whisper.
"Are you sassing me?"
"Dude, calm down. Like you said, it's Jun's day."
"I'm not one of your little friends. You don't call me dude. I am your father. I expect to be acknowledged as such."
"Dad," Jun hissed.
"I'm just trying to get him to behave, dear," Dad told her.
There were several things I wanted to say to him in that moment. Instead, I chose to roll my eyes. It might not have been the best decision. Dad reached over and grabbed my arm tightly.
"I don't know where we went wrong, but you are nothing like you ought to have been. I was raising a strong, respectful son. He disappeared once you met those Yagami's. I had hoped that Ichijouji boy would've instilled those desired qualities in you again, but you managed to ruin his future along with yours."
"Get out."
"What?"
"I said get out!"
"You can't kick people out of someone else's wedding," Sora hissed.
"Unless you're Kurayami," Miyako said with a laugh.
"That's the thing," I said. "It wasn't me."
"Jun," I gasped. "You don't mean that."
"I do," she said firmly. "And now I'm angry that you made me say that early. But Daisuke is right. It is my day, and it is you that is acting disrespectfully. You say that Taichi and Hikari started Daisuke on the wrong course, but I see it differently. If they hadn't become friends, none of us would be here right now. They saved us all because of that friendship. And Daisuke did not ruin Ken! He helped shape Ken into the man he is today. And I know that Ken is thankful for that every day. Without Daisuke, Ken never would've married the love of his life. If you care about Daisuke at all Dad, you could see it. And if you care about me, you'd try to at least. But this is to be the happiest day of my life. And goddamn it, I will make it the best day anyone has ever seen. And if you can't behave yourself, then the door is right over there mister!"
"Who would walk you down the aisle, though," I pointed out.
"The best little brother in the whole world," Jun said gently.
"If you feel that way, then I shall respect your decision," Dad said. His voice was cold and distant, but I knew him well enough to hear the heartbreak in his voice.
"I want you to do it," Jun told him. She could hear it too and it was causing her to cry too. Thankfully she thought to wear waterproof makeup. I didn't want to have to tell her she looked like a racoon. "But I also want you to grow up. You're the one that's supposed to be a good example. The guy that your grandkids will look up to. How can you do that when you can't show a little humility? Let go of your damn pride Dad. I love you, but you make it so hard sometimes."
"His pride is his shield," I told her. "Humility is a painful lesson to learn. Trust me, I know."
"You know humility?" Dad asked with a snort.
"If I thought you'd listen, I'd tell you all about it," I said. "It's my destined trait. I'm the digidestined of humility."
"He's kind of saved the world multiple times because of it," Jun bragged.
"And once, I saved it because I dreamed to own a noodle-cart," I said softly. "And I made that dream come true. And it's been a small success so far."
"It would be more successful if you could put your pride aside, and just be proud of your son," Jun said.
"It's successful?" Dad asked after an excessively long moment of silence.
"Small success, I think I said."
"It's getting bigger every day," Jun said. "And you've got to taste his creations. They are fantastic. Mom loves them."
"Haruka does?"
"Yeah," I said sheepishly. "She eats there every Tuesday."
"Perhaps," he said slowly. "For Jun's sake, you could pencil me in for next Wednesday then."
"For Jun's sake, sure," I said hesitantly.
"Thank you," Jun gasped. "This is the best present anyone could ever give me: my family. We'll be whole again if only you two could get along."
"And well, then Shuu became my brother, and they went on to have a daughter, the end."
"You suck at telling stories," Aika pointed out.
"Well, I'm not an author, so I think that's okay," I said forcing a smile.
"It's not," she informed me. "You're a dad. Dad's are supposed to be good story-tellers."
"Well, it's not my strong suit, okay!"
"Daisuke, are you really arguing with a little girl?" Kurayami asked with a light laugh.
"I'm not little. And I'm not a girl."
"My little tomboy," Sora said, rolling her eyes.
"What about the other grown-ups?" Louisa asked. "When did they get married?"
"You mean like the other brothers and sisters?" I asked.
"Oh, I could listen to a wedding story about anybody," Louisa sighed dreamily.
"Mantarou married a sweet girl just a couple of years ago," Miyako said. "And Masa has two younger siblings, you know, you played with them last week. Chiziru isn't married though. But the two younger one's have the same father, and she knows who he is, so you know, progress."
"Shin is still Shin. He's more of a loser than I am, which is, of course saying something," Jou announced. "But he's not seeing anyone. He's too much of a workaholic. He takes after Dad in that respect. My guess is that he'll marry late in life, kind of how Dad re-married. All of my step-sister's are married...but I don't suppose you really care..."
"Nope," Elliot said.
"Yes," Louisa corrected.
"We don't ever really get to know them in the books," Azura commented. "I didn't really feel anything for them. Though I suppose I am quite pleased to hear that they did beget happiness."
"Beget happiness," Emiko mocked, laughing lightly. "You're so weird."
"You said you liked weird," he whispered.
"You're a whole new level," she told him.
"Why don't you tell a story about your wedding Uncle Daisuke," Tenshi requested. "That's good, right Mai?"
"An exclusive look into the wedding of a lead digidestined? Uh, duh!"
"If it's weddings you want to hear about...then you'd want to hear about a party before mine," I remembered with a laugh. "I was freaking out, see, and the guys were trying to calm me down..."
"I can't believe Sora's finally coming home," Taichi said happily. "I can't wait to see her. It's been ages. Years. Practically centuries."
"Calm down," Yamato said, rolling his eyes. It was futile on his part. Everyone—even strangers on the street—could see just how excited Yamato was to finally be seeing Sora again after so long. I was just thrilled she deemed my wedding important enough, since Jun's obviously wasn't.
"I came back for Koushiro and Mimi's wedding, in case you guys forgot. But I was still settling into life at school when Jun's wedding came around. I thought I could handle coming back, but when the time came, I realized that no, I couldn't. You and Kurayami were different though. You guys are such good and close friends. I couldn't leave you guys in the lurch."
"And we appreciate it," Kurayami said. "Really. You don't know how much I needed you that day."
"I think I've got an idea," Sora said with a wink.
"Don't jump ahead of the story," Rei said, glaring at Taichi just a little. "I want to see what went on here."
"Fine," I sighed. "So, yeah, Sora was coming back for my wedding—sorry, mine and Kurayami's wedding—and everyone was just buzzing about it. They seemed more excited about Sora than the actually wedding. But that was okay, because I was excited about the wedding enough for the lot of us. The girls were actually all off having fun watching cheesy romance movies and gorging on pizza and popcorn while the guys took me out for a night of fun before the big day. I was having loads of fun. I was pretty close to dancing on tables that how much fun I was having. And they were all discussing Sora. A lot of it's actually pretty hazy, but I'll fill in as many blanks as I can."
"Why can't you remember?" Osamu asked.
"Except that question," I said grinning embarrassedly. "Any other questions."
"Just tell the story," Kurayami ordered.
I obeyed.
"Guys, guys, guys," I said struggling to get the word out. "Watch me. Watch me. Watch me. I gonna go, go stand, stand on my head. Just watch me. Watch me. Guys, guys, guys, gu—"
"Sit down, big guy," Jou said, grabbing my arm and pulling me into a seat.
"I can do it. Really. I can," I insisted.
"Yes, but we're going to talk for a bit. Here, eat the breadsticks. You need them," Ken said, shoving two baskets of breadsticks into my face.
"Oh yum. I like these," I said, grabbing two and trying to eat them all at once.
"Why?" Chika asked.
"Why not?" I said with an awkward laugh.
"You could choke," Chika said, answering my rhetorical question.
"He was just being ridiculous sweetie," Mimi said. "Just ignore him."
"Why?" Makoto said with a laugh. "Stupid Daisuke is hilarious."
"When is he not stupid?" Koushiro joked—I think. Both he and Makoto seemed to think it was funny, so I assumed I was right about the joke thing. Maybe.
"You know, I think Sora's coming just because she can't bear to miss whatever tries to ruin the wedding," Takeru decided. "She's probably making an account of all the things that have gone wrong so she can prevent them at her own."
"My wedding's gonna be ruined!" I shouted, spitting out the breadsticks. "It can't. We worked so hard! Oh, she'll never marry me now. Oh woe is me!"
"That's not what you said," Ken pointed out.
"We can understand it too well," Takeru laughed.
"I was paraphrasing for the sake of the children," I hissed.
"If you were worried about the children, you wouldn't have told this particular story," Jou said rolling his eyes.
"Only one wedding's been cancelled so far," Ken said consolably.
"And it was really just postponed," Jou pointed out. "For noble reasons, of course. You'll be fine."
"If Ken and Miyako made it down the aisle with everything that went wrong for them, you two will be just fine," Yamato laughed.
"Hey, at least we didn't get attacked by digimon," Ken said defensively.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Jou snapped.
"And then have the world nearly end," Ken continued.
"Uh, huh, at least we were married," Jou said.
"Not legally," Koushiro mentioned. "Not until later."
"At least my wedding wasn't as bad as yours," Jou argued.
"It wasn't...so...bad," Koushiro said, lying through his teeth. "It was the best day of my life."
"You sound like a robot," I pointed out before giggling.
"Mimi went crazy over everybody and everything. I'm surprised you lived through the weekend," Taichi said seriously. "I wasn't sure if I was renting the tux for your wedding or your funeral."
"She was a little high strung is all," Koushiro said, vehemently defending his wife.
"Aww," Mimi and Louisa cooed, much to Koushiro's embarrassment. And Makoto's too, since his friends started teasing him.
"High strung? A little?" Hideto asked. "The girl got twice as bad when her mother showed up. Between the two of them I thought Takeru would get the plot for a sixth book."
"Especially when Mimi exploded and made Lilymon freaking dark digivolve. We could've all died," Michael cried dramatically. "It was one of the most terrifying moments in my entire life."
"And that's saying something," Kiyoko intoned.
"Big word," Kurayami teased.
"Yeah, I got this," I laughed.
"You're embarrassing," Haruki said, shaking his head into his hands
"I think it's a given. We're all cursed to have horrible wedding experiences," Taichi said solemnly.
"We'd have to," Takeru commented. "If they weren't so terrible, they wouldn't be nearly as memorable as some of the other things we've done in our lives. I'd hate to forget an anniversary all because I couldn't remember when the wedding took place. That would suck."
"It really would," Jou agreed.
"I don't want anything horrible at any wedding of mine," Neo said. "I think I'd remember it more fondly that way."
"I won't forget my anniversary," Iori added. "And nothing bad happened to Natsuni and I."
"What!" I shouted. "No way. That's not fair. Now I gotta have all of your bad luck too."
"That's not what you should be focussing on dude," Taichi said. "The kid's married."
"But he's just a kid," Yamato complained.
"He's older than me," Kiyoko said, glancing at Hideto out of the corner of his eye. "And I'm not a kid, right?"
"Right," Hideto said with a grin.
"I guess," Michael said. "But it's still not fair. I've been with Tatum far longer than, well, just about any of you. And she won't say yes!"
"Have you tried asking her?" I asked.
"Well, no," Michael admitted. "But she's sure to say no, just for the drama of it. I just know it."
"You never know unless you try," Yamato said sadly.
"But I don't want mine to fail like yours," Michael moaned.
"Low blow man," Taichi said with a wince.
"It's okay," Yamato said. "I can use the newly opened wound to write another album."
"NO!" Hideto cried.
"Whatever floats your boat," Takeru said. "I'll probably just write it into a book. You don't mind do you? That I intend to make money off of our lives?"
"All the power to you, Takeru," Taichi said, lifting his glass into the air. He'd had far fewer glasses than I did, but they were mostly catching up. That was nice.
"Aren't, uh, aren't you going to ask any questions?" Iori asked. "Natsuni wants me to memorize the reactions for a documentary she's doing about our relationship. Purely for fun, of course, but still. She'll be horribly disappointed."
"Was it a nice wedding?" Kiyoko asked.
"Very nice. Very small," Iori answered. "It was just the two of us, and Jou. And Meiyomon."
"Jou," Takeru pouted. "But I'm your DNA partner."
"Did you tell Fumiko and Dad?" Yamato asked. "They're going to be mad they missed the first wedding."
"I'm telling Mom later. She can tell Mr Ishida," Iori said grumpily.
"Aren't you ever going to call him by name?" Takeru complained.
"Quite possibly not," Iori said. "He's not my father, and he's not my grandfather. I don't need any other male figures of authority."
"Guys, guys, guys," I said before they could get into a full argument. "Guys, listen."
"Yeah, yeah, you can do great things," Taichi said, rolling his eyes. "But what about—"
"GUYS!" I shouted, before bursting into giggles. "Where's Willis?"
"That's what I want to know," Willis said, narrowing his eyes at us each in turn.
"Oops," Taichi said.
"Hah," Yamato laughed once. "Where is he?"
"Oh no," Ken said, his eyes going wide. "I didn't invite Willis."
"Don't worry about it," Michael said. "We just won't tell him. He'll never know about it. It's cool."
"Uh, not cool," Willis complained. "Nobody ever tells me anything!"
"That was a silly story," Chika said with a giggle. "You're silly Uncle Daisuke."
"That's one word for it," Mimi said with a glare. She was clearly still sore about the way her wedding story was told.
"Maybe the next story could have more to do with an actual wedding?" Louisa asked. "Those other stories weren't very romantic."
"I guess..." I said. Why was I the one chosen to talk about weddings? I was sure there were other things I could talk about. Not a lot came to mind...but I hadn't really given it much thought yet. Someone else with a more romantic side to them ought to have told these stories...
"Tell them about your wedding day, not your bachelor party," Hikari suggested. "You won't need to censor it so much that way."
"Sure," I said nervously. My wedding day, huh...
Well, I guess the lead up to the wedding itself was pretty boring really. Kurayami and I decided not to see each other before the actually walking-down-the-aisle moment, so I just got ready with the guys and waited for the wedding to start. It seemed to take forever. And it turned out that's because it was getting late. I kept checking my watch, looking at the door, trying not to look at my father's face—we had a pretty rocky relationship at best by that point, and he was quite prone to relapses. And I knew he would be pretty cruel about the whole thing if Kurayami didn't show up soon. Twenty minutes late soon turned into an hour. I couldn't exactly blame it on traffic anymore.
I paced up and down the front of the church aware that every set of eyes in the pews were following my every move. There was impatience in the air, and I could handle that. What I couldn't handle was the overwhelming amount of pity I could feel. They didn't need to pity me, Kurayami was going to show up. She had to. We were getting married. It wasn't a date she could cancel last minute. We'd talked it all out over a year ago. We continued to talk about it each month leading up to our chosen date. We wanted everything to be perfect.
And it wasn't going our way.
To top it all off, Sora hadn't made an appearance at all. Everyone was expecting her—mostly because I bragged endlessly about how she was making time in her busy schedule for us. Not it looked like I was an even bigger fool. Not only was Sora not coming, neither was the bride.
"You're not romantic at all," Louisa cried. "This is a depressing story. I wanted a cute, love story."
"Give it time," Tatum told her daughter.
"I knew she was a bad choice." I could hear Dad, even though he was trying to be quiet. I glared at him anyway. How dare he say that? Kurayami was literally made for me. He didn't know what he was talking about.
"Hush Manabu," Mom shushed him.
"Well she hasn't arrived," Dad said. "She should've been here nearly two hours ago. You can't tell me you expect her to come now."
"I wish she would," Mom said. "Look at him. He's so nervous."
"I'll never forgive her if she doesn't," Dad vowed.
"Don't be that way," Mom said softly.
"No son of mine will me made a fool," Dad declared.
*Ping!*
"Please tell me you did not just imitate your phone's ringtone," Emiko pleaded. "It's just too embarrassing for words. Besides, this story is boring. Can't I tell mine now?"
"No, Emiko," Jou said. "It's Daisuke's turn. You can have one later. I promise."
"I'll hold you to it," she promised.
I looked down to my phone and sighed. And not in relief.
Daisuke, I'm sorry, but I'm not coming.
My life was over!
"And he calls me dramatic," Michael joked.
"It looks like you can all go home everyone," I said forcing a grin onto my face. "Kurayami just sent word that she'll be unable to make it, and that we shouldn't waste your time anymore. Sorry for the inconvenience."
The pity was worse now. But I kept that grin firmly on my face. While my dad was surely not planning on forgiving Kurayami...ever, he seemed to be proud of the way I was handling things. He gently, yet firmly led my mother from the church when it became clear she didn't plan to leave. I sent Ken away, and Hikari, and all the other digidestined that weren't in the wedding party and all of the digimon. Jun wouldn't leave though. She knew I didn't really mean her. I never meant her. She also knew though that I didn't need her coddling me. It was alright for her to just sit in the front pew and talk lowly with Veemon and Otamamon. I didn't realize that I hadn't sent away my officiate until Koushiro sat down beside me.
"It could happen to anyone," he assured me.
"But why me?" I asked. "Why this? Everyone else still got married at the end of their disasters. My bride didn't even show."
"I'm not really good at this thing," he said. "I'm not comforting. It's been confirmed by several sources. What I do know though, is logic. And l know for sure that the only way you'll get the answers you want, is if you call her and ask."
"You're right. Of course you're right, but I don't know whether I really want to know or not."
"If you don't, you'll never get closer," he pointed out. "And there could very well be a logical explanation for it all. Just, give her a call, okay? I'm going to head over in that direction, so you can have a little privacy."
"Thanks," I said thickly. I pulled out my phone and stared at it for a good long while, before I actually tried to press the familiar buttons. My fingers seemed to have moved on their own accord, and the next thing I knew, the phone was ringing and then the ringing stopped.
"Hello, Daisuke," Sora answered.
"You called Sora?!" seemed to be the general response. I ignored them, and proceeded with the story.
"Where's Kurayami? Is she alright? Why didn't she come?"
"She's right here with me. She's just scared that you'll be mad. I came to help her with her dress, and she's just in a right state."
"Stay there, I'll come and get her," I said quickly.
"She's fine. She just...I did the measurements wrong. The dress wouldn't fit, and she wouldn't wear her everyday dress, since it wasn't special enough."
"I don't care what she's wearing! I just want to marry her. Tell her that."
"I heard," Kurayami murmured. Speakerphone then.
"Come down," I pleaded.
"You won't laugh," she wanted to know.
"I might cry, if you're just to beautiful to handle," I joked.
"Thank you."
So Sora brought her down and we got married in an uber small wedding, with Jun and Sora standing up with us and Koushiro officiating everything. It was kind of cute afterwards to think back, but it kind of sucked.
"Really, that's where you're ending?" Willis said. "I want to hear more about the wedding I wasn't invited to."
"There was a small reception with enough food for two hundred people. We'd rented the hall and bought the food. It didn't make sense to just not have a party. We were married, and no one else knew until the throwaway bouquet was tossed. It made for a great surprise," Kurayami explained.
"Small? Two hundred isn't small," Renjiro pointed out.
"No," Kurayami agreed with a soft smile. "But we didn't invite all of the intended guests back. Just our friends and such. Just a small gathering, with all the intended's food."
"Oh," Renjiro said. "Okay. That doesn't really sound like a story though..."
"I wanna know why she didn't want to go to the wedding," Louisa demanded.
"I already know," Aika said. "She knew that it was stupid."
"Not true!" Louisa screamed. "It's beautiful. You'll understand someday, when you older, like me."
"Nope," Aika said. "I'm never gonna grow up. Not if I hafta be like you."
"Girls," I said quickly. "I'll tell the story. There's an explanation in it, but you can't fight. First sign of a fight and I'm done. No more story, no matter where I am in it."
"Fine," Aika said grumpily, and Louisa mimicked it cheerfully.
We called Ken and Hikari—our meant-to-be best man and maid of honour—and had them call everyone for the reception. It took everyone awhile to stop walking on eggshells around me, and to stop ignoring Kurayami—because they felt she slighted me at the alter—and to just have fun. But they did it. Soon the party was in full swing, and everyone was dancing and eating and having punch. Even Emiko was getting in on the fun, dancing on tables and swishing her dress around. Kurayami and I had our first dance as man and wife, and I couldn't be happier.
My new father-in-law came and swept my bride away for a father-daughter dance and I was able to relax for the first time all day. It was pretty stressful to nearly have a runaway bride, you know?
"No, we don't know," Emiko said. "Hurry up why don't ya? I wanna tell everyone my big news!"
"Don't be rude Emiko," Momoe said with a sigh.
"Well, he sucks at story telling anyway," Emiko said in a huff.
"This is great," I said happily, flopping down onto a chair next to my digimon partner.
"What's great?" Veemon asked.
"Oh you know," I said. "Everything. I've got the best friends ever, the most amazing digimon, a father that doesn't really hate me anymore, and now this beautiful, wonderful...perfect wife. Can things get any better than this?"
"I don't know, Daisuke," Veemon said.
"Me either. I'm just excited to be living the good life," I said with a laugh. Something wasn't sitting quite right though. Kurayami never explained why she refused to come to the wedding. And I was damn well going to find out. I couldn't have the best marriage ever if I didn't know what nearly stopped it from happening.
Sora came through the doors then, and everyone stopped what they were doing to watch her walking. No one got up to talk to her, they seemed to be too awed to do anything. She stood there alone, looking from one person to the next, her face getting more and redder by the second, waiting for someone to stop staring and start talking to her.
No one did.
Not until some ridiculously attractive guy walked in stealing the show and taking her by the hand and starting to dance. My eyes immediately sought out Yamato, who was actively not looking at Sora. He was the only one—other than me, I guess—not staring. He was chatting up several cousins of mine, all of whom were hanging off of his every word—and all of whom Jun thought to extend invitations. They kept giggling, and touching his arm, showing their interest in a way that really didn't say much about their self-respect—so I won't go into detail. Sora was definitely trying to keep her eyes away from him too. The tension between them was building up, and Mimi and Miyako were gossiping about who this Adonis—their name for him, not mine—could be. The air was thick and I was getting more and more stressed. I didn't want to be in here if there was a showdown. No. I would just take this time to get to the bottom of the Kurayami mystery.
"Where're you going?" Veemon asked, as I stood up abruptly.
"Outside," I said. "Can you send Kurayami out when she finishes dancing with her dad?"
"Okay," Veemon said. He looked worried. I figured he'd be able to tell that something was wrong, but I forced a bright, happy smile on my face anyway, so he wouldn't worry too much.
The air was cool and refreshing on my face and I slumped down to the ground, spreading out on the damp grass beside a flowering bush. It smelled good. Not too sweet—
"We don't care," Makoto said bluntly.
"Fine," I said with a sigh.
It was then that Sora came outside with that Adonis guy or whatever his name was.
"Thanks for coming," Sora said brightly. "I didn't know how to face them alone."
"It's been fun," Adonis said.
"My friends seem to like you okay. Which is good. I didn't know how they'd react to me bringing someone they'd never met to this small party, but it seems to be going well."
"Sora," he interrupted. "You're fine, I'm fine, everyone is fine. We're having a fun night out, with loads of good food and great music. And the punch is to die for. What is even in that stuff?"
"I don't know," Sora said with a laugh. "I wasn't in charge of anything but the dress...which wasn't even used... But you're right. Why don't we get some of that punch, huh?"
"I'll get it. You stay here," he said. "You wanted some air. I'll be right back."
"I'll be waiting," Sora joked. He laughed and went back into the building. While they were talking, I decided it would be best to crouch behind the bush, rather than just have my body sprawled across the grass. Initially I was going to get up and talk to them, but they seemed to be having a moment or something, and I didn't want to interrupt, and really, how many private conversations had Sora listened in on? I thought it was pretty fair that I listened to this one. I felt a bit guilty though, and I was going to go out and talk to her, now that she was alone—since she knew why Kurayami wouldn't tell me—but then Yamato came outside.
"Sora?" Yamato said slowly. Awkwardly. "Hey..."
"Oh, hi!" Sora said. Her voice was a jumble of mixed emotion. She was happy, surprised, worried, almost scared... Did I really want to be hiding here listening to this?
"YES!" Louisa and Emiko shouted at the same time.
"You should also listen to what I have to say," Emiko said.
"Not now, Emiko," Jou said. "Continue, Daisuke."
I kind of peeked through the leaves and saw them hugging, but it wasn't exactly a friendly hug, but it wasn't one of lovers either. It was just painful to watch. But I managed to watch it.
"So, who...uh...who's that guy?" Yamato asked.
"Who?" Sora asked feigning confusion. "Oh! He—uh..." She froze here. "That's just Samuna. He's... a friend."
"A pretty close friend by the looks of it," Yamato pointed out.
"Oh, yeah, he is," Sora said honestly.
"A boyfriend?" Yamato fished.
"No! No," Sora said quickly.
"Sure he's not," Yamato said sarcastically. "What the hell, Sora?" I thought we agreed that we'd wait for each other."
"Well, actually, you kept saying you'd wait for me," Sora pointed out. "I never said I'd wait for you."
"How could you do this?" Yamato asked, clearly hurt.
The next thing I know Adonis—or Samuna I suppose—came out with two glasses of punch.
"Oh! If I'd known there'd be more than the two of us, I'd have brought more to drink," Samuna said good-naturedly.
"Hey, Samuna," Yamato said stiffly. "Nice to meet you."
"I was thinking we could go sneak some cake," Samuna suggested to Sora. I snorted. Like that was going to happen on my watch. "You could come if you want," he told Yamato.
"Nah," Yamato said. "I have to go do...something else. Maybe I'll find someone to dance with. There's...well, Daisuke and Kurayami have some cousins that have been hanging off of me all night. Maybe I'll ask one of them."
"I noticed," Sora said quietly.
"Well, whatever. Bye and stuff," Yamato said. "I'm off to find a pretty girl to dance with."
"Sora's pretty," Samuna said. "Why don't you dance with her?"
"I don't think that's a good idea," Sora and Yamato said together.
Samuna looked between the two and shrugged his shoulders. Yamato turned to leave, and was almost gone before Sora called after him: "I liked the song!" But he didn't stop to chat about it.
"Well, there's always the cake," Samuna suggested.
"I guess," Sora said sadly. "Let's just go inside, okay? It's Daiyami day. I need to have fun for them."
"Then let's go have some fun," Samuna suggested. He gestured for her to go first, and then sent a wink in my direction. Damn, I thought. How does Sora always do this without getting caught?
"Daisuke, what are you doing behind a bush?" Kurayami asked in a way that meant she really didn't want an explanation.
"Kurayami, hi," I said grinning at her.
"You wanted to talk to me?" she asked.
"Yes," I said, sobering up. "Mrs Motomiya, why didn't you want to be Mrs Motomiya earlier?"
"Are you asking why I didn't come down?" she asked nervously. Her hand moved to her stomach. Was she going to be sick? Was I making her that nervous? I didn't want to make her sick or anything. I just needed to know. Our marriage couldn't start off with such a big secret.
"I need to know, Kurayami," I pleaded.
We were both silent for a long time. Me waiting for her to say something, and her, well, she was thinking things through I suspect, hoping to get the wording right.
"If you don't want to tell me..."
"No," she said quickly. "I should tell you. I need to tell you. I just don't want to."
"Gee thanks," I said sarcastically. "That really cleared things up."
"This is harder than I expected, Daisuke," she said. "Please try to understand."
"I can't unless I know what's going on," I pointed out gently.
"Daisuke... I have a confession to make."
"What a coincidence, I have a confession too," Emiko said perking up.
"Let him finish," Momoe hissed.
"Okay, well, it can't be that bad, I mean you did come down to marry me. So it can't be that big either," I said anxiously.
"Well...it's kind of huge actually," she said hesitantly.
"Oh," I said, my stomach sinking to the ground.
"Daisuke, I don't want you to freak out, but I'm p—"
"I'M PREGNANT!" Emiko screamed.
"Yeah, that's right. How did you know?" I asked.
"I'm not talking about the story; I'm talking about my confession! I am pregnant," Emiko announced.
And my jaw dropped.
Next on Happily Ever After: - Legit—the lamest sounding thing ever. "Next on Happily Ever After Mr Happy will save the world from the mean rainbow fiends" Like actually.
But actually, next time is Neooooooo whaddup!?