Title: A Helping Hand
Characters: Izumi, Junpei||Pairing: N/A
Word Count: 500||chapters: 1/1
Genre: Friendship||Rated: G
Challenge: Digimon Flash Bingo #400, assist; Diversity Writing Challenge, A99, less than half dialogue; Word Count Set Boot Camp #9, 500 words
Summary: Izumi likes helping Junpei with his magic act. Not only is it fun, but she's learned a lot. Not just about her friend, but a little about herself, too.
Junpei pulled the rings apart, then slid them back together with an ease that could only have come from long years of hard practice. Izumi could easily remember when he wasn't nearly this good at it, but those days passed some time ago.
"And for my next trick, I'll need my lovely assistant!"
That was her cue! Izumi stepped up, a grin teasing the sides of her mouth. Helping him out wasn't all that bad, she'd learned, especially as she got to know him better and he improved his act.
Seeing the thrilled faces of all of the kids as Junpei performed helped even more.
This is why he does it, she knew. He enjoyed his magician's tricks but what he enjoyed more than that was how happy it could make other people.
Junpei had always wanted to make other people happy. He knew how to do it much better now than he had when they'd first met one another.
Today's trick that he needed her help with was the usual 'vanishing person' trick. The kids oohed and ahhed as she stood there with her practiced smile and Junpei declared how he would make her vanish and then reappear. Even in this modern age, there could be an element of magic in the world.
Especially for them. She could see the frown of concentration between Junpei's eyes and wasn't surprised when a roll of thunder rumbled out, followed by the white flash of lightning.
There hadn't been a storm predicted for that day. When anyone looked outside, they would find no trace of one. Nor had there been one.
Just the former Warrior of Thunder, calling on an old friend for a little razzle to his performance.
He wasn't the only one who could do that. As he waved his hands to complete the 'incantation', she reached out to the wind, which whipped through the school auditorium at just the right moment. To all of their eyes, she vanished.
When Junpei called, she'd be back up where she could be seen again. For now, she leaned back and caught her breath and took a quick drink from the water bottle she'd left down here for moments like this.
If it hadn't been for their trip to the Digital World – as dangerous and life-risking as it had been – she would never have known Junpei or any of the others. She couldn't imagine her life without them in it, and didn't really want to. She knew other people, had other friends, but they remained the ones she knew best, and who knew her best.
Another wind played over her fingers and she turned her hand to catch it. She would never have had the wind, either, without that trip, and that too she couldn't imagine being without.
A small light glowed, the sign that Junpei was about to 'bring her back'. Time to get ready.
Time to see some smiles and hear the applause.
She really did understand why Junpei did this.
The End
Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.