Okay. So who DIDN'T used to watch Digimon? … No one, that's whom. (Sorry, but I are a English teacher.) Digimon was the sock-rockingest show when I was, like, nine. I think it's about time to bring it back. Get ready; this might make your puke stand up.
This is set post-show, around twenty-eight years or so. The group receive shocking letters about an old friend and reunite for a road trip. Hilarity and drama ensue. Please enjoy.
Darkness Dawn by CU
--
It had been years-- literally, years-- since the Destined Eight Children had been together. After high school they swapped cell numbers and made plans and promises that were completely sincere, but never followed through. They simply got too busy with school, with work, and, eventually, with families-- with life. While most of them still lived in Odaiba, they lived far enough away that they could make the necessary excuses to get away with skipping out on the reunions Mimi perpetually insisted on. With the world(s) no longer in immediate danger (of course there was always the mortal possibility of Yamato's band getting back together and coming out with a third CD-- the horror) they could finally relax and be more than preteen-aged heroes in a digital world. They had grown up, moved away, and grown apart. As much as they still cared for their old middle school friends, they just didn't have the time.
And that was why Taichi was so surprised to find a letter on a not so particular Monday afternoon addressed from a certain Izumi Koushiro.
Taichi still spoke to Yamato and Sora, but he rarely got together with the two. The only reason he saw Takeru so often was because he had married his little sister. Mimi had her family to deal with, and Jyou had his medical profession, and that kept the both of them relatively occupied.
Koushiro had been their class valedictorian and was then accepted to an esteemed private university in Tokyo and left right after high school. Taichi knew his old red-haired friend worked for some big-time computer software company or something, had spent a few years living in America and in Germany (or was it France?), and he was pretty sure he was married…or engaged, at the least…or something.
Either way, Koushiro had been the most detached out of the group since graduation (not because he didn't care, but he had never been the most sociable), and yet here was Taichi holding a letter in his hand, and it was definitely from Koushiro.
Maybe, thought Taichi as he wedged his thumb into the opening of the letter and began prying it open, he's coming back to Odaiba soon. It'd be really cool to see him again. Oh…an invitation…?
Taichi's throat went dry and the breath caught in his chest as he read the handwritten letter, then reread it for good measure.
Dear friend,
It is with regret and remorse that I inform you of the passing of Izumi Koushiro, who lost his battle with cancer at the age of thirty-nine. You have been cordially invited to a memorial service held in Koushiro's honor on the twenty-first of August. Dress is casual, and please feel free to bring any photographs or other memorabilia of Koushiro if you wish. Thank you very much for your patience and support in this time of need.
Taichi nearly dropped the letter, his hands were shaking so much. He didn't recognize the handwriting, and it was not signed. He was stunned somewhat into a state of shock. He was only snapped out of his reverie when his son burst through the front door.
"Yo, Dad. What's up," the boy said, shaking off his jacket and tossing it and his soccer ball over to the couch. He glanced up at his father and realized something was off. "Hey. What's wrong? Report cards come out or something?"
"Toru, I need…um…that, uh…" Taichi trailed off lamely.
"Huh?" Toru went to snatch the letter from his father's hands, but Taichi held it out of the boy's grasp, still not taking his eyes off the paper.
"The phone," he said sharply. "Get me the phone, okay?"
"Sure," said Toru as he picked the cordless phone up from its receiver and tossed it over the couch to Taichi, who quickly dialed the familiar number and waited for someone to answer.
After a few rings, a tired voice picked up on the other end.
"H'lo?"
"Yamato," Taichi said breathlessly. "Look…I…I just got a letter. From Kou--"
"I know," he interrupted. "Mine was waiting for me when I got home from work. Sora got one, too. So did Takeru and Hikari."
There was a silence. Neither knew what to say. It was Yamato who finally broke the pause.
"So. Are you going?"
Taichi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I dunno. I mean, I…" Another sigh. "I just-- I dunno. Are you?"
"Uhh… Yeah. Yeah, all of us are. I mean, Sora, Takeru, Hikari, and me are. We're taking a train out to Tokyo this Friday afternoon, and staying till Monday morning. …Can you make it?"
Taichi thought delicately. Of course he wanted to go. Well. Okay, he didn't want to go to a friend's funeral, but as long as there was a funeral, Taichi wanted to go to it. He owed at least that.
However, on the other hand, Taichi had a career. He had a wife. He had a son. At this point in his life, Taichi couldn't just drop everything for a weekend.
"Taichi? Hey, Tai?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be there."
--
Phone trees are a bitch. This fact was now made painfully obvious to Kido Jyou as he made the solo effort to contact each of the remaining Digi Destined to make arrangements. That's good old reliable Jyou for you. For obvious reasons, none of the phone reunions were pleasant, but some were more disagreeable than others (Mimi cried for two hours before Jyou could calm her down).
The plan was to meet at two pm at the train station, then they would shack up at a hotel in Tokyo. All of the Destined Eight Children were attending.
Well. Destined Seven, now.
It was very late when Jyou finally crawled lazily into bed. His wife Megumi rolled over, yawned, and wrapped her arms around her husband.
"Do you know what time it is, hon? You've gotta be at work in the morning," she said, snuggling up to nuzzle her face into the crook of Jyou's neck.
"I know, I know. I just wanna make sure everything's set for the trip. You're sure you don't mind running Keiji to his prep classes all weekend?"
"Even if I did, it wouldn't make a difference."
"Right. Sorry."
Megumi rolled her eyes, even though Jyou couldn't see the action in the dark. "Jyou, you're working too hard. I think once you get back, you need to take a vacation. Just take…I dunno, maybe a week. You and Keiji and I could go to the beach or something. Maybe we could even go to an amusement park, huh? Just the three of us?"
"Megumi…"
"Come on, Jyou." Megumi sat up, half-leaning over her husband. She motioned for him to roll over onto his chest, and Jyou complied. She rubbed her hands up his back and began massaging his shoulders. "You're way too stressed. I mean, just look at how tense you are. Maybe we could go to a spa, too. Oh, wait. I'm not sure if Keiji would like that… Where do you think he'd wanna go, huh? Someplace where he can get lots of souvenirs. We'd have to send something to your brother. Speaking of, did you ever call him back? You know he called you today, right, huh? Huh? Jyou? Honey?"
But Jyou had already fallen asleep. Megumi let him sleep in the next day and called in sick for him at work (a doctor calling in sick-- HA!).
--
"You're sure you'll be all right all by yourself, baby sweetness?"
"Mom. I'm seventeen. You're leaving for three days. Did will be home. Somehow I think I'll manage."
"Oh, but you know how your father is, Masao."
"…No, obviously I don't. Look, Mom, don't you think you're overreacting a little? You're taking an awful lot of luggage for such a short trip."
There stood Mimi before her son, gloriously pink as ever, bearing six overstuffed suitcases-- four more parked at her pedicured feet-- a satchel, one little backpack, and a stylish purse. All pink.
"You're insane!" Masao cried, throwing his arms up in the air.
"Masa-kun! That is no way to speak to Mommy! Now gimme a kiss and say sorry," ordered Mimi, grabbing for Masao's face.
"No, Mom-- MOM! Quit it! Let go…Mom, stop! Dad-- help! Save me!"
Fortunately, Kugimiya Shin entered the room at that moment. He watched as his beloved wife placed bright red kisses all over his son's face before he tried to pry himself once again from her grip. Of course, that only angered Mimi, and she attempted to bludgeon her son to death with her pink suitcases of doom. Shin rubbed his temples, feeling another migraine coming on.
"Mimi. Must you torment the boy so?"
"Oh! Shin!" Mimi squawked, before running to pout behind her husband, her heels clicking boisterously all the way. "Shi-in! Masa was being mean to me! He wouldn't kiss me goodbye!"
"Dad! Mom's slipping into senility!" retorted Masao.
"No, son," Shin said, patting the boy on his head and smiling earnestly. "Your mom was bat-shit when I met her."
"Ah! Shin!" Mimi scolded and whacked him with her purse. "Now you both have to move all of my crap into the cab. Go, go, go!" She pushed both of them out the door and slammed it behind them. She sighed and leaned against the door, seizing her trademark cowboy hat off her head. She let herself slowly sink to the carpeted floor. She covered her face with her hands to hide the hot mascara that was rolling down her cheek. "I can't do this."
--
The train ride to Tokyo was inexplicably uncomfortable. While they were all happy to see each other again-- Mimi gushed about how cute Hikari's new haircut was, then she gushed about Sora's lack of a haircut, which earned her such a pinch!-- but after all the pleasantries were out of the way, a heavy cloud of awkwardness settled upon the group. No one had yet mentioned Koushiro nor anything about why they were all on this train in the first place. Until, that is, tactful Mimi said…
"So. Kou had cancer? Tch. Anyone expecting that one?"
The rest of the group stared at her. Takeru closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. "None of us were…expecting this, Mimi. But it's something we'll have to deal with, I guess."
"Hey," Hikari interjected. "Anyone else notice something kind of weird about the letters?"
"What, you mean that they were sent…anonymously?" asked Taichi, to which Hikari nodded. "I know. I thought that was weird, too. But, he's, uh…he was married, right? Wasn't he?"
"Well, yeah," said Jyou, "but his wife passed away a few years ago, I think. In an accident." Then by way of explanation he added, "We used to email a few years back."
"…Oh." That shut Taichi up, for once.
"Any kids?" Yamato asked.
"Well…" Jyou began. "I know he had a daughter, but I think she was in the accident, too. I'm not sure though, I haven't spoken to him in years."
The wave of awkwardness was gone, but now a spurge of guilt had moved in in its place, because everyone was thinking the same thing to themselves:
Me neither.
There was no more talking for the rest of the train ride. Everyone's minds were wandering. Hikari was worrying over what would happen to her and Takeru's two boys if they were gone. Takeru was thinking about what would happen if he were to lose his wife. Jyou was doubting his skills as a doctor-- depending on what type of cancer his friend had, he might have shown signs as a child, and Jyou should have known. Sora was trying to remember the last conversation she and Koushiro had. She couldn't. Yamato was thinking about that time their junior year when he told Koushiro that if he came to one of his concerts, Yamato would attend a film festival in which Koushiro had submitted an entry, and Yamato ended up flaking out to see a girl. Mimi was actually smirking a little, but only because she was thinking of their graduation, when she made Koushiro promise to give her a shout out during his valedictorian speech. Just as he was walking away from the podium to take his seat at the front of the class, he darted back and said hurriedly, "Oh, yeah. And I wanna give a shout out to all my peeps in the Digi World." He pounded his chest twice, hard, kissed his fist, and gave a sideways peace sign saying, "Just keepin' it real." When questioned later, he said simply that he would probably never see any of the other students again and didn't care what they thought.
And Taichi was thinking…well, Taichi wasn't thinking much of anything. He was in that stunned/shocked state again. He was a little nervous-- what if he had to talk to Koushiro's parents? He hadn't spoken to them since graduation. What if they asked him to say something? Oh, God, what could he possibly say? Nothing, except for some old stupid stories from high school, like that one time the weekend of prom when Taichi and Koushiro decided it'd be cool if they went and got their eyebrows pierced together and they ended up--
And all too soon the train ride was over, and they found themselves in Tokyo.
--
Hey! Chapter one: DEFEATED. So. I wrote this fic and you read it so you might as well review. I accept flames as usual so flame on, my people. Reviews keep me typing VERY SLOWLY and VERY CAREFULLY when my good wrist is wrapped up because I sprained it scooping ice cream at my second job (shut up; it hurts).
