Title: Premorse

Author(s): AppleL0V3R and ZOMGiwantspieNAAOOWW

Beta-reader: ZOMGiwantspieNAAOOWW

Fandom: Digimon Season Four: Frontier

Pairing: Kanbara, Takuya and Minamoto, Kouji

Rating: T

Type: One-shot – Complete

Summary: Izumi stared at her thumb nail, "I can't believe I broke it." Then she looked up just as Takuya and Kouji returned. Red faced.

Theme: Set 409 – Premorse

Word Count: 2,470

Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.

Note: I do change perspective some of the way through in the flashback. It wasn't intentional, but it just seemed easier. Since there's no real defined part that I can say Kouji's Perspective and all, I'm sorry if it confuses anybody. Also, I think Takuya is younger than Kouji, that's just my opinion though and I might not always stick to it.

..:Xx0o0xX:..

Premorse (pre-more-ss)

Pertaining to the end of something irregularly shortened, as if bitten or broken off.

..:Xx0o0xX:..

"Ow." Izumi muttered to herself when her thumbnail tore slightly, just enough to bother her. She made a mental note to clip it as soon as she got her hands on some clippers and perhaps even a nail file. "I can't believe I broke it." She shook her head, sending blonde locks every which way, there were still other things to think about. Such as where two of her friends had gone.

When she looked up though, Takuya and Kouji had both returned. Normally, she wouldn't have thought anything of it, they disappear at the same time all the time. Though Kouji usually has the decency to say that they were going to 'talk'. Sometimes she half wondered what they were usually doing. But when they do come back, one – usually Takuya – looks a little sore and their both glaring out of the corner of their eyes, so her guess was 'talking' equaled 'fighting'. At least they kept it out of public, though she still didn't like it. Boys.

This time though, something was definitely different. First and foremost they were both nearly scarlet in facial color and though they didn't look sore they certainly seemed awkward. And their cloths were slightly ruffled.

Shocked, curious and mischievous, Izumi tried to remember who dragged who off this time.

One hour ago

High school cafeteria, a lunch table

"Anyone ever tell you, you have dog fetish, Kouji?" Takuya asked, not really paying attention to the food he was pushing around on his plate. It was cafeteria food, no way was he touching it passed playing with it. Though seemingly an out of the blue question, Takuya did have a reason for asking it. For one thing, he knew calling Kouji's love for his dog a fetish would tick him off and for the other he wanted to see if he could manipulate it to a certain point.

The raven haired boy, still wearing the same bandana he had for years, turned to him with narrowed eyes. A warning not to push it, "It's not a fetish Takuya."

"Yes it is." He volleyed back simply.

"Oh really, and what proof do you have?"

Takuya didn't miss a beat, "You have a picture of your dog in your wallet. The only one besides one of you and Kouichi and another of our group photo."

Now the other boy was glaring, "What's wrong with that?" Never mind the fact that the above statement meant Takuya knew exactly what was inside Kouji's wallet.

Yep, the brown hair boy concluded, there was a chance that he could push this in the direction he wanted it to go. And his teachers said that he couldn't be persuasive, or smart. "Absolutely nothing. If you have a dog fetish."

Now if he knew Kouji as well as he thought he did, Kouji was going to stand up, grab his collar and drag him away while most likely telling the group that the two of the needed to' talk'. Takuya didn't have any intention of that though, or getting a sore cheek for that matter. Kouji could hit pretty damn hard when he wanted to.

But to his surprise, that's not what Kouji did. Nope, he reached over and grabbed the plastic fork Takuya had been using to make shapes out of his food with. Then the pale skinned teen proceed to scoop up some of the food and shove it in Takuya's mouth. And he immediately spat it back out.

Making a face, he did his best to wipe off all the disgusting food particles that hadn't come off. Well, okay. So he hadn't gotten Kouji to drag him off, that was okay because this was the perfect excuse to do so himself.

So scowling and glaring at the seventeen year old across from him, and stood up dramatically abrupt. Stalking around the table, Kouji followed him with narrow eyes, ones that warned him not to even dare or he'd regret it. The rest of the table was so immune to this happening that no one really paid him any mind. Ignoring the look he was getting, he grabbed the back of his collar and started dragging.

They'd done this so many times it was a wonder none of the teachers even said anything. That didn't mean that Kouji didn't, the one getting dragged never stayed quiet. "Takuya, let go of my shirt right this minute."

"No."

"If you don't, then your going to regret it."

"Really? What are you going to do?"

"Pummel you."

And right on cue, some teacher noticed. Their science teacher, who they had next period. "Don't hurt each other, because if you do, I'll know."

Takuya grinned over his shoulder at her "We won't." He ignored Kouji's growled grumbling.

She nodded and continued on her way and he on his. He dragged Kouji all the way to the park not far from the school put was still off campus, and as per usual in the day was deserted. They tended to use this place to argue since the public didn't seem to pay attention to them there.

He let go of Kouji's collar and quickly backed up to avoid the fist aimed for his face, the raven haired boy didn't make hollow threats. He'd learned that the hard way.

"Umm, Kouji?"

"What?"

"Why'd you just try to hit me?" One of thing that Takuya had also learned early on was that it was fun to start petty arguments with the other boy, though that didn't necessarily mean that it was always the brightest thing to do. This was just part of his experiment, though I don't think it was one the biology teacher would be happy with, more like the chemistry teacher.

His question earned him a scowl and an exasperated look. "What game are you trying to play now, Takuya?"

"Game? No game, honest." Just a curiosity.

He snorted, "Yeah, like I believe that."

Takuya shrugged. "Hey, Kouji?"

He got silence as an answer; perhaps he'd pushed too many buttons today? Oh well, a few more shouldn't kill him, but there was always the risk with a ticked off Kouji.

"What would you say if…" He trailed off, realizing he should have planned farther than he did, or perhaps more detailed.

"If you said you were an idiot? Then you should shut up."

"Er, no. More like…" Damn, he hadn't thought it'd be this hard. "Um…" crap, definitely an experiment gone wrong.

"Well?" Kouji demanded, getting really feed up with his friends antics. Did he really feel the need to tick him off nearly every day? Though today he seemed on a completely different track, the Takuya he knew wouldn't have stalled. So question was, what the hell was going through the moron's head?

He found out a second later just after the other had muttered "Ah, screw it." And grabbed his collar. Kouji's first instinct was to push away and defend, but before he could do either he froze in place when he felt Takuya's lips over his.

The moron was…kissing him?

What the hell? Now he really wanted to know what was going on in the boy's mind, because he didn't have the slightest idea. The only problem being he found he didn't want to move. Which meant it was probably best to do so. Not wanting to move away from Takuya's kiss? Did he have a fever? That's the only way that would make sense, unless the idiot did something to him.

Come to think of it, his stomach had been acting weird around the other boy for sometime now. Since the beginning of the year? No maybe a little longer, but since the only times he saw the high schooler was during lunch and walking home after school he always figured he was just hungry. Or something of the sort.

And yeah, it was acting weird now but since he was already thinking about it, it didn't feel like hunger. It felt like it was twisting and doing summersaults, or maybe something was floating in it. Definitely not hunger.

Which meant whatever was going on with him; it was the Goggle Head's fault. He didn't know how but there was no other explanation. All the odd things only happened around him.

"Are you just going to stand there or answer my question?" Finally he realized that they weren't kissing anymore but the younger boy was still way too close for comfort.

In an effort to gain back some semblance of the composure he'd lost, Kouji raised his hands and with a quick shove he took a step back. Then he looked away, his face felt hot for some reason "What question?" Was it just him, or did his voice sound slightly different. And so did Takuya's. Huh, it was probably just his imagination.

He shuffled then. Ha. So he did lose his confidence sometimes, that was always good to know. "What would you say if…I…said I liked you?" The last part of it came out in a rush, but the Minamoto boy had still understood him.

And honestly, it shocked him. It was and it wasn't a Takuya thing to say. Straight forward, but a question as well. Maybe whatever Takuya had done to him, the brunette had gotten first? They were both acting weird, even by Izumi's standards. They'd kissed – well the Kanbara boy had kissed him, but still – for goodness sakes. …They'd kissed. He knew things were always eventful around this particular guy, but still. This?

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it." It was more to buy himself more thinking time then anything else, though it was somewhat adequate payback for kissing him.

"I said: I like you!"

And that. I like you? Didn't Izumi always say that the first boy she kissed would be the one she loved? But then again, she is a girl; they tend to have all those fantasies. Then it sunk in. I like you. What the hell did that mean? As in I like you as a friend? No, then he wouldn't have kissed him. But it is Takuya, he could just be trying out a new prank.

But it felt real.

Which would mean it's the other like?

Oh how confusing. And not to mention that they were both guys. This was why he wasn't as social as the others. "You do realize we're both guys right?"

"Yeah, so? Like is like."

"You sure this isn't just another one of your experiments?" He hadn't even thought of that, he'd merely responded without thinking. Something he really shouldn't be doing in a situation like this. But still, Takuya had hit this weird hobby of experimenting with really odd ideas.

Kouji would know. He was either the victim or the unwilling accomplice most of the time.

And as irritating as the concept was, that was all that was annoying. He found he didn't mind getting caught up in the messes just as long as he wasn't the victim when it involved liquids. That or as long as Kouichi was kept out of it, Takuya could come up with quite the 'unique' ideas when he wanted to. And was usually to stubborn to be stopped, best to go along with it and supervise to make sure nothing got any messier than it should. And all unfortunate bystanders weren't harmed in some way in the process.

"Um both actually."

So he was the victim again, huh? Fine, two could play at that game. Taking only a few steps, Kouji closed the space between them and before the moron could do anything. He kissed him.

Yeah, whatever idiocy Takuya had, Minamoto, Kouji had definitely been infected with. The initially idea had simply been to confuse and agitate him while throwing him off guard because that was always fun to do, not to mention watch the end result of. But he found, that once they once more kissing the urge to move away didn't come just as it hadn't before. So instead he moved forward acting completely on instinct – with, admittedly, all of Izumi's girlish fantasies in the back of his mind without his consent.

He wrapped his arms around the other's waist and pressed closer. Consequently this threw Takuya off balance. This, in turn, caused him to stumble and forced the raven haired boy to lose his balance, too. And somehow they'd ended up on the grassy ground next to the sidewalk in a tangle of limbs.

The brunette pushed himself up to his elbows and Kouji pulled his arm from the other's waist so he could rub his head which had thudded painfully against the ground in the process. Glaring up at the teen on top of him – how'd he end up on top? – with one eye, the one farthest from origin of the ache on the side of his head. "Get off."

Instead he tilted his head, "So is that an 'I like you, too'?"

Dark eyes narrowed and he resisted the urge to huff. Takuya could be so impossible sometimes. "Next time, do me a favor and brush your teeth first. The cafeteria food tastes horrible."

"Then you shouldn't have forced me to eat it!" He exclaimed and then paused and grinned in that mischievous way that made Kouji very wary. "Next time?"

Kouji groaned. He was right, he completely didn't like it. And the worst part was that he had said 'next time'. "Not if you don't get off." And then resisted the urge to groan, he'd done it again.

"Okay." Takuya complied with his grin still in place, pulling the slightly shorter boy up with him.

He knew he should have started thinking what he said through. Now he was just going to try to keep his mouth shut.

And how were they going to explain this to others?