Author's note: I wrote this story 2 years ago for a fanfic contest on the With the Will forums, the second one i participated in. The conditions this time were 3000 words and a story about a minor character. I chose to write for Jun Motomiya. The story was a draw with another story.
A Woman Scorned
"I can't stand boys!" she screamed so loudly into her pillow that even the muffled sound of her voice could be heard from her brothers' room; where he was sleeping until she gave him a rude awakening.
He shouted from next door "Hey, would you mind not being mental while I'm trying to sleep?!?"
Jun Motomiya was lying in bed feeling sorry for herself, trying to convince her doubt that there must be some part of Matt that loves her and that Sora must be manipulating him somehow, possibly using a love spell. She couldn't believe for a second that he'd fall for Sora, "she was quite obviously mismatched for him" she thought. "And just look at how lame she dresses" she added as an irrelevant side note.
"Why are boys always so stupid?" She didn't give the subject much thought, but she was certain the Y-chromosome was to blame. "Can't he see that Sora is just a fling? Matt and I are meant to be together. We'd be the perfect couple; if only he'd give the chance he'd see that for himself." She hugged her pillow tightly, wishing she'd hurry up and fall asleep to escape reality. "Face it Jun, you're never going to fall in love again. Nobody is going to appreciate you; you'll die an old maid."
She pictured her depressing future, with all her friends married with children, while they threw stones at her shouting "old maid, old maid!" with her walking on in shame.
"I'm not an old maid" she whispered into her pillow, crying to herself. After having cried her last tear some twenty odd minutes later, and becoming emotionally overwhelmed from all the stress, she finally nodded off to sleep, temporarily escaping her trivial problems.
She found herself in a peculiar dream where a Rubik's Cube told her the secret to life, and how a potato is actually a fruit. But come the morning, she would forget the Rubik's Cube's words. It's questionable whether it actually knew anything at all, as it was a Rubik's Cube left mostly unsolved, and as a precaution, you should never trust a Rubik's Cube that cannot even solve itself out.
When the break of day had passed, she woke up feeling hungry enough to eat a horse, sparing not a thing but its shoes. She gazed into the mirror, which revealed unkempt brown hair; bags under her eyes from crying, and a newborn pimple under her chin; the typical morning horror show. She fiddled around at the mirror a bit, fixing herself up, and got dressed in her casual home attire consisting of a brown shirt and a dark blue skirt, and then went out into the living room and sat down at the table where Davis was already eating breakfast, unusually awake before her. He sat there staring at the wall in a daze, his body was awake and eating while his mind wasn't totally alive.
"So, what are you doing today?" she said; pouring herself a cup of tea and spreading jam across her toast.
Davis doubted she actually cared. "Just soccer, hanging out with my friends, and-"
"How lovely." She interrupted him, as she sipped at her tea. "It must be nice to be so careless and naive, not having any adult concerns." She said sarcastically.
It was clear to Davis that she was in the mood to argue with him. "Naive is thinking Matt ever- oops" he realized the subject would turn nuclear, so he retracted his words a bit "I mean naive is…"
"What were you going to say something about Matt, Davis?!" she slammed her fist down on the table, so hard that half of her tea spilled out onto the saucer.
He thought of what else he could say instead "I was just going to say that naive is thinking Matt ever was good looking. Just look at him! Those sparkling blue eyes… that, perfectly styled hair …" he realized he didn't have anything bad to say about him to make her feel better so he changed the subject. "But what about TK? Don't get me started on him! He thinks he's cool because he's been a DigiDestined longer than me, and what's up with that hat? Can you say 'premature baldness?'?"
"Shut up about TK!" she wasn't interested in Matt's younger brother from Davis' class. "Did Matt tell you something about me?" she leaned over at him demanding answers. Davis pictured the room around her getting darker, like she was a lamp shining in his face and he was being interrogated by the police. "You're my little brother - as much as I hate it sometimes - if he told you something about me you'd tell me, right?"
"I don't know, it's not like I'm not close with him." He said while taking a huge bite of his toast, he continued talking while chewing "Just go talk to him for yourself, if you've got questions… I'm not a mind reader, or your therapist."
She had a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "I know just what to do!" she said and left the table. Davis had no idea what that was, but he was sure it probably involved some kind of obsessive compulsive stalking.
She got dressed into her black jeans, a dark green long-sleeved shirt, and called somebody on the phone to make a time to see them while spiking her hair up even more. After finally slipping on her shoes and socks and grabbing her purse, she left home so fast that Davis was still sitting at the table eating.
* * *
Jun arrived at a small shop called Guiding Star, a speciality store for those interested in spirituality. It wasn't the first time she'd been here. Some people seek therapists in times of crisis, or talk to their friends, but Jun would much prefer to be told about her future with Matt from a trusted clairvoyant.
A woman with long black hair pulled aside a curtain from the back of the store, and waved to Jun. "Hello Jun, come in and take a seat."
"Thanks for seeing me so suddenly, Mizuki." she followed the psychic into a small room, which was really just a curtain hiding the space from the rest of the store. Jun took a seat around the small table, which had only a pack of tarot cards on it.
"How's life been going?" Mizuki asked.
"It was going fine until this witch by the name of Sora came in and stole my guy."
"Yes, Matt wasn't it?" she remembered hearing all about him the other times Jun had visited.
"That's right. Anyway, Sora's really fake, I don't know why he can't see it" and while Jun kept talking on and on about why she disliked Sora, the psychic had her shuffle around the tarot cards, and pull some out of the deck. Jun flipped up a few cards.
"Hmm… I can see another guy – with dark hair - coming into your life within the next couple of months. He may be a bit older than you, but I can see that he will be right for you."
"How can there be another guy?" Jun was a bit confused at the idea of being with anybody except Matt. "Who is this guy?"
"I can't give you a name exactly, but I can sense he will occupy a large part of your life in a positive way, but you haven't met him yet."
"What about Matt? Why don't you see Matt in my future?"
"In time you will get past him, dear. I know it's hard now but…"
"No, in time you will see that you're wrong! Matt and I are solid. Last time you told me Matt would be mine! Why didn't you tell me about Sora coming to steal him?"
Mizuki continued on, choosing to ignore some of her questions. "You will get past this, Jun. Is this boy really worth your time?" She was now in therapist mode "If you can stop focusing all your attention on this one guy, you'll be able to see there are other guys just as good, if not better – ones who will treat you right, like you deserve."
Jun got up and grabbed her bag "I'm sorry, but you don't know Matt. Everyone else is so average compared to him. And frankly, I don't think you've got your clairvoyance tuned in to the right channel." she shoved the curtain aside and rudely left the store without paying for her session.
* * *
"Psychics…" she muttered. "What a waste of time. I bet it's the kind of witchcraft Sora's into. Obviously what's needed is some personal reflection to work things out."
She found a nice place to sit by the bay, while now holding a double scoop of mint chocolate chip ice-cream, a comfort food she impulsively picked up on her way here. She pulled out her cell phone, and dialed Matt's number. No answer, as usual. Scoffing down the rest of her ice-cream, she counted in her head all the calories she'd have to work off later at the gym.
There were kids playing down at the small beach, so carelessly that she longed for that kind of naive innocence from the perils of adulthood. She leaned back and gazed up into the blue sky, pondering what methods would help her get Matt back, except her mind somewhat drifted. "Pretty blue sky… sky? Sora?! Ugh, damn her! She just has to taint everything decent in this world!" She shifted her focus away from the sky, finding anything else to grab her attention. What she found was on the telegraph post near her a flyer stuck to it, there were advertisements for a concert on tonight at the concert hall, one of the bands playing caught her attention: Teenage Wolves, Matt's very own band. She'd somehow forgotten about it.
She failed to deal with this matter on her own. If there was anything left to do, it was time to corner him and make him confess the truth. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! Matt, love turns sour when left unattended for too long!" and she again thought bitterly of her future as an old maid. "Not in this lifetime."
* * *
Outside the concert hall was a flood of teenagers. Jun snuck her way in backstage, knowing this facility well, and peered in through a door. Surely enough Matt was there, with his band, tuning the equipment and getting in some last minute rehearsals.
She clenched her fist, breathed in deeply, and threw herself in there.
"Uh Matt, it's that weird girl again." whispered one of his friends. He turned around and saw the wave of grief coming towards him.
"I want to know, do you hate me?" she said bluntly. The mood for the room was set.
"Can you give me five, guys" he said to his friends, as he stood up to talk to her. They pretended to leave, but were really listening just outside the door. "Jun, I don't hate you, I…"
"Yes you do! You won't talk to me, or give me the time of day! It makes me act stupid sometimes. But if you're hiding from me because you can't just tell me you hate me, then you're no better!"
Matt was hoping another digimon would come barging through here like a few weeks ago when a DarkTyrannomon crashed on stage without even an invitation; anything to escape this torment. She looked mad enough to pummel him into an early grave. "Jun, you've got it all wrong. I admit, I do hide from you… and that's because you can be… difficult." He looked down at the ground, unable to say all this and make eye contact.
A part of her heart broke again, as she'd never forced him to tell the truth, and even when she already knew the truth; it's always hurts when it's finally spoken. "Would you look at me when you say that?" she demanded, wanting him to take her seriously. "A part of me believed you did like me and that you're just a bit shy around girls, and I was scraping for reasons why you would be avoiding me, anything that would tell me you liked me." She sighed. "But you were just running away from me because I'm a nuisance, and I was just living in denial."
"I told you already, I do like you… but just as friends. That's all I've ever wanted to be, friends!"
"Then why are you more than just friends with Sora? What's she got that I haven't?" she couldn't, for the life of her, figure out how Sora could be more worthy than she is.
"I'm not more than friends with Sora, I mean…" he slightly shifted around, feeling nervous.
"Stop lying to me! You like her… don't you?" He didn't reply, but he clearly looked uncomfortable talking about this to her. "Matt… I just wish you could say you hated me. At least then, I could get some closure." She'd given up, and in self-defeat, wanted to be let down even more if she couldn't be let into Matt's life.
"I'm not going to say anything of the sort. There really is nothing I can do to help you, nothing I can say that will make this any easier. I just think it's best if you stay away from me for awhile, for your own good."
Her face swelled up with tears. She buried her face in her hands, while a very conflicted boy stood by not knowing how to comfort her without getting close. "Look at me, I may be a singer, but I'm no good with words unless I'm singing." He gave a faint laugh, in a vain attempt to lighten the mood, while she cried even harder. "I never know what to say, when dealing with people's feelings."
"Can't you just say something nice about me… for once?" she sobbed, pitying herself for being so pathetic and desperate.
"Well, you're very… how do I put it? You're kinda…" he wished he could just turn invisible and run off.
"Oh, just forget it!" And for the first time she ran away from Matt, pushing the door open, which knocked Matt's nosey friends onto their backs.
"In my nightmares, surprisingly, she's a lot scarier." Matt shuddered.
She returned to the doorway, stepping over his friends, to make one final request. "Whatever you do Matt, just please don't ever marry Sora." And with that said, she ran off again.
"M-marriage?!" now he felt certain that he'd never understand women.
* * *
Jun ran past the last wave of teenagers, waiting to get into the concert hall. She held her head down low, so nobody would look at how ugly she felt right now.
"Hey Jun… where are you going?" She knew that voice; it had been haunting her mind. "The concert's this way." Sora said.
Jun felt like dying peacefully right about now. "I was… just leaving" she said, staying away from the light so that Sora couldn't see that she'd been crying. "I have better things to do."
"Oh I see." There was an awkward silence for a moment, which felt long enough to be a lifetime of torture for Jun. "Well, it was good seeing you." Sora said politely, walking off. Jun stood there in silence for a moment, until a wheel in her head finally clicked.
"Wait!" she caught up with Sora, and grabbed her cell phone from her hand. Jun punched a bunch of numbers into her contacts list and then handed it back to her. "Call me sometime, if you want to, like, talk or something. I can even help you dress properly." Sora didn't take the last comment as a compliment, but could see that Jun was just trying to be friendly. It reminded her of her friend Mimi in some ways, sometimes too honest for her own good.
"Oh… that'd be great" Sora said, confused at her sudden friendly manner.
"Well say hi to Matt for me… if you see him." She forced out a smile. "Seeya." Jun trotted on home, while Sora went on to the concert, meeting Matt backstage.
* * *
Jun returned home, closing the door gently, so as not to draw attention to her. She held her head down, and made her way to her bedroom door, but Davis peered over the sofa and spotted her.
"Hey, what's up with you? Did you speak to Matt? Is my headache finally over?"
"Yeah" She said.
"Well… alright then." He scanned her face like he was waiting for it to turn to tears, but it looked blank.
"I'll also be friends with Sora from now on, so I don't want to hear anything I've said about her escape your lips. Got it? That's all old news."
"So then… all that Matt stuff is over and done with?"
"What are you talking about? Davis; my stinky naive brother... have the teachers at my old Elementary School failed you in life?" she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind him, pretending to strangle him. "If there's one thing you should know, when you're in that other world fighting god knows what there, it's that you should keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."
"You mean...?" he released himself from her grip, and turned to her in revelation.
"I'll be Sora's friend… for now. She'll need some help once Matt gets bored with her, and as someone who's been there, I know it won't be long from now. I'll be the good friend, and get in close with them both, only to divide and conquer from within. And then I'll win him back!" she walked off to her room, quite happy and certain that her future with Matt is still in the bag.
"Yep" he sighed. "I really feel she's grown as a person."