Another friendship story up today, with a bit of a different pairing. Was inspired by a scene in Tri.
Hope you enjoy it!
"Izzy I swear to god, I'm going to lose my mind because of those two!"
Sora Takenouchi stormed past her younger friend, straight into his apartment.
The red haired boy closed his eyes, sighing slightly. With a small smirk, he closed the door to his apartment and turned to follow the girl who had just invited herself in. Reaching the end of the hall, Izzy leant against the corner of the wall. With crossed arms and a barely supressed chuckle, he observed his guest for a moment.
Once again, Sora was pacing up and down his living room like a mad woman. Her open blue jacket swayed rapidly from side to side as she moved. With each step she took, her undone red bow-tie bounced up and down. Her normally well-kept hair had a frazzled look to it, clearly showing that at least one, if not both of Sora's hands had been rubbing her head in recent minutes. Her maroon eyes looked drained and bloodshot. If he didn't know any better, Izzy would have thought that Sora was in great personal distress.
However, there had been dozens of occasions where Sora had come to him in such a state. He knew when she was upset about her own life compared to being fed up with other people's problems. She rarely came over to rant so quickly after school though. Izzy hadn't even had time to change out of his uniform himself. Loosening his tie slightly, and pulling off his green jacket, Izzy moved away from the wall and plopped himself down on the couch next to him.
He raised his eyes to the girl before him, waiting for her tirade to begin.
After several more seconds of pacing, Sora finally stopped and threw herself into a chair opposite Izzy. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and finger, closing hr eyes in annoyance. Heaving one more sigh, she finally began.
"I mean, what do they expect me to do? Do they want me to just make all the decisions for them? How in the world is that my responsibility? I mean, obviously I want to help as best I can but I have my limits! And right now, those limits are being tested! I barely have ten minutes for lunch today, and I get barraged by text messages from both of them. Everyone knows I don't have time to talk on Tuesdays, but that doesn't stop them. Ever! Even in CLASS they're bothering me. I'm amazed they're not constantly in trouble for not paying attention and using their phones! But apparently needing to bother me is more important than being disciplined."
Sora paused for a fleeting moment to take a breath before she continued.
"And they have other people they can talk to! They have siblings! They have you! They have Mimi and Joe, despite one being in America while the other is always busy with school. They have dozens of other friends from various sports teams and social clubs. But no, it's always me they need to talk to! 'Do you have time for a phone call?' 'Can we meet for lunch tomorrow?' 'It's really important, I need to see you asap!' I mean, even today I got a text from Kamiya saying, 'I'm positive he's interested in at least one other girl. We HAVE to talk.' I mean honestly, chill the hell out!"
"Well what do you expect?" Izzy asked, an eyebrow raised. "TK and Kari are young. They're in the first year of junior high school. Not only are they starting to consider entering the world of dating in general, but they're both infatuated with their best friend! They've got to turn to someone for advice!"
"I know," Sora groaned, "But why ME?!"
"Well," Izzy began, "Let's look at the list logically. Obviously, they can't turn to each other. You can't really confide that you love someone, to the person you're in love with."
"Yes you can," Sora interrupted bluntly. "It's called confessing. Also known as 'Making Sora's Life So Much Easier'."
Izzy rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. Anyway, so instantly, their best friend is out. Then, considering that knowledge of their pre-existing friendship would be crucial in offering advice, that really cuts down the list to just the DigiDestined. Davis they can't talk to for the obvious reason of him being in love with Kari. Yolei, well I'm sure Kari has at least discussed this a bit with her, but TK certainly couldn't, otherwise Yolei would have already forcibly made them a match. Cody's still a little too young to really understand, or even care, about relationships. Ken would be comforting to both of them, but probably too apprehensive to offer any real advice, for fear of someone getting hurt."
"Okay, but there's still the rest of the older guys!" Sora argued.
"I know," Izzy nodded his head, "And you know that since they started attending Junior High with me this year, I've talked to TK a fair bit about this. For whatever reason, he seems to think a third year might have some answers for him. But we all know I'm not the most socially well equipped among our friends, and I have enough issues dealing with girls I like myself."
Sora let out a loud cough that sounded oddly like the word "Mimi". Ignoring this, but with a slight blush appearing on his face, Izzy continued.
"While TK and Kari could go to Joe for some things, he's usually way too busy for them to want to bother him. The fourteen-hour time difference between us and Mimi makes it difficult to be able to turn to her for advice on a consistent basis. Which you obviously know because you're talking to me, not her right now. And as for talking to their brothers, could you imagine how Tai and Matt would react? And could you imagine either of them being able to keep quiet about it?"
Sora looked away thoughtfully for a moment, an amused smile on her lips.
"You're right. Tai and Matt dealing with this certainly would be a sight to see. It could go many different ways."
"Exactly. But you're like the older sister neither of them had," Izzy said simply.
"Sounds kind of disturbing when you phrase it like that," Sora laughed.
"Fair enough," Izzy chuckled. "But you really are in many ways. And that's just one of the many reasons that you are the best candidate for them to come to."
Sora let a large sigh escape her lungs as she fell back into her chair.
"I know. And I want to help them however I can. Especially if it means getting them together. But they also need to help themselves a little bit. I just wish they understood that."
Before Sora could continue on, both friends jumped a little as a phone started to ring. They padded themselves down for a moment before realising it was emanating from Sora. Izzy relaxed for a moment as his friend pulled out the small device. She flipped it open and almost instantly, a small grimace appeared on her face.
"Oh hey TK."
Izzy buried his face in his elbow and turned away, trying to muffle a loud snort of laughter. Sora responded by picking up a pillow and throwing it at him, while still talking to their younger friend.
"Uh huh. I know. I know. Well look TK, if you want to go for it then you should just do it already! Find a time when you're walking her home from school. Okay, get away from Davis first, THEN when you two are walking alone then ask her. Well if you're not sure she'll say yes, why do you think it's the right time? Of course I said you should do it soon! I've been saying that for three months! No I can't do that! Because I'm not in the same school as you, we have different schedules, there's no way I could get there in time. Plus, and I can't stress this part enough, I don't WANT to do that. Okay. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Alright TK. Yes, I'm sure even if things were to go wrong, you and Kari would remain friends. As I've said before, Tai won't kill you. Alright TK, you go formulate your plan. What do you mean 'do you think this is a mistake'? Ugh, just shut up and I'll talk to you later. Bye TK."
Sora snapped her phone shut forcefully, "Christ that kid needs to chill the hell out!"
On the other side of the room, Izzy was rolling around on the couch, laughing uncontrollably. With the phone call now ended, the red headed boy was making no effort to try and hide how hilarious he found the situation.
"Of freaking course one of them calls while you're complaining about them talking to you too much," He wheezed, trying to calm himself down.
"Gotta love the irony," Sora groaned. "But at least today the joy is being spread around. TK's gonna call you later today. He wants your help."
"Doing what exactly?"
"Distracting Davis one day so he can talk to Kari alone."
"SORA! Why would you tell him that's a good idea!" Izzy demanded, suddenly sitting upright and alert.
"Because I don't have to do it," she smirked. "I mean, I love the kid, but Davis can be annoying. Plus, getting him to leave Kari alone with TK will be damn near impossible. I don't wanna have to deal with it."
"Well thank you so much for putting me in that position," Izzy said sarcastically. "I guess he'll be calling shortly."
"No. He said he'd call you after he and Kari go shopping. So you've probably got a couple hours."
"What are they shopping for?" Izzy asked.
"I think birthday presents for Tai."
"And it's just the two of them. No one else?"
"I believe so yes."
"THEN WHY DOESN'T HE ASK HER TODAY?!" Izzy roared incredulously.
Sora let out another sigh as she smirked again.
"Because they're young, they're in love, and they're idiots."
Izzy sighed as well and smiled, "They certainly are."
The two friends quiet for a moment, before Sora checked her watch. She frowned as she saw the time before standing up.
"Well, I hate to bitch and run, but I've got a ton of math homework. I probably shouldn't delay too long."
"Understandable," Izzy told her, rising up as well.
"Unless you want to do it for me? Then I could stay longer."
"Keep dreaming Sora," Izzy chuckled.
Sora walked back towards the front door, Izzy following behind. Reaching the door, she opened it, letting in a cool waft of air into the house. Feeling the warmth of the sun on her face, Sora let out a slow exhale as she leant her back against the open doorframe. She turned her neck to look at her friend, and gave him a smile that matched the one he was giving her.
"Thanks for letting me rant Izzy. I know I come over here to bitch a lot but you never complain about me doing it too much. It means a lot."
"Don't worry about it. I don't mind," the boy assured her. "We've put up with a lot from our friends over the years. And let's be honest, if you weren't going to rant about Kari and TK, then it would be Tai and Matt."
Sora's smiled widened, "Yeah. We sure have our hands full with those four."
The two friends laughed one more time before Sora pushed herself off the door frame.
"See you later Iz."
"Talk to you later Sora."
And as Sora turned away and departed, Izzy gently closed the door behind her.
When the idea struck me, I originally had Sora complaining about Tai and Matt, but I'm glad I took a different direction.
I had a lot of fun writing it this way. Plus, I thought it would be interesting to look at how some of the older kids might view TK and Kari's friendship/potential relationship. It was nice to examine it without it being a Takari story.
Anyway, thanks for reading!
