States of Existence
Taken
Akari was exhausted. She hated midterm week at her school, she really did. While there was three unofficial weeks scheduled for midterms, all of her teachers insisted on doing them in the same week. She studied like mad, and she felt like she was about to fall asleep. Nearly everyone was annoying to her right now, even the girls that she considered her friends. It was times like this that she really wished that she could transfer to Taiki's junior high school. It was where she intended on going in the first place, but then her parents insisted that she go to the all-girl's school in the neighbouring town. Her school was a fifteen to twenty minute drive away from her house (her family hadn't moved, she just went to a different school), and on the days when she didn't have after school activities, she could catch an earlier bus, which would allow her to get to Taiki's school to see him before he left. She had his basketball schedule and the things he did regularly embedded in her mind, and always knew when she could visit. Sometimes he would volunteer to help others in different sports, but she was good at tracking him down. His tendency to go off to the DigiQuartz with Tagiru and Yuu sometimes got in the way of her visits, but she understood why it was important for him to go.
She sometimes thought about what it would be like if she did go to the same school as Taiki, Yuu and Tagiru. She was sure that it would be a hell of a lot more interesting than her current school life. She would have been there for their adventures, and she would have been there to take care of Taiki when he got exhausted. He would also be there to give her a hug when she needed it (with a highly amusing blush on his face, but that mostly happened when other people were around), and she really felt like she really needed a hug at the moment. In the very least, if Akari went to the school she expected to go to (how excited she'd been when she first thought that she would be going to the same school as Taiki again), she'd probably get some sort of laugh out of Tagiru and Yuu's antics.
Akari thought about it for a moment. She knew that they had a basketball game that day, so she knew that, odds were, they wouldn't be hunting in the DigiQuartz (though sometimes it happened anyway). She pressed her lips together in thought, wondering if it would be a good idea to go over there and visit. Tagiru would tease Taiki about her presence immensely, always getting amusement out of the way the older boy was so flustered around her. It amused her a little bit too. A year ago, Taiki wouldn't have reacted that way, only stuttering slightly in surprise when she would hug him. Now though, he would turn bright red and stutter quite a bit, sometimes even when she just stood a little too close to him.
It wasn't lost on her though that, never once did he actually deny the accusations of liking her or her being his girlfriend. He would try to change the topic, or just repeat what the person said, sounding stunned, or comment on the teasing itself, but not once did he deny any affection towards her.
It gave her young, teenage heart a little bit of hope.
Akari made her way towards her locker, grinning slightly at the picture inside of it. A few girls asked her about the picture, specifically the cute boys in it. The picture was one of Taiki, Zenjirou, Yuu, Nene, Kiriha and herself all standing together on the beach. They all seemed so happy and relaxed, but her favourite part of the image was of her and Taiki. She jumped onto his back seconds before the picture was taken, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck so that she wouldn't fall, while he held onto her legs to keep her steady, both of them with huge smiles on their faces.
Most people who saw it assumed that it was a picture of her and her boyfriend, and she had to correct them. Most people didn't believe her. She couldn't blame them, because she and Taiki certainly looked a little more than just friendly. It wasn't the only picture in there, there was one of her moment of victory when she demolish a rather stunned looking Kiriha and Zenjirou at a video game, one of her and Nene looking at something in the sky, and one with Zenjirou, Kiriha, Yuu and Taiki trying and failing miserably to set up a tent. The one with all of them was still her favourite, though she had some pictures of just her and Taiki that she really liked, but was a little to shy to put up for other people to see. There was nothing wrong with the pictures, she just knew what people would assume.
A warm blush stained her cheeks and a smile appeared on her face as she glanced at the pictures while getting the books that she'd need to do her homework. When they were younger, she and Taiki hung out with one another all the time without anyone else, but now it felt a little different. If they were just playing video games or doing some other mundane task on their own, things they'd normally do, neither really thought anything about how things were changing between them. It was the times when they would find themselves eating together in both slightly fancier places (or sometimes, just normal restaurants), leaning on each other during movies, sitting a closer together than someone usually did with a friend, and many more small things like that. It felt so different, like there was some sort of spark or charge between them, and it made her want to stay close to him. It was a little strange, but she wasn't scared about the changes happening. Maybe a bit nervous, but not scared.
Akari snapped her locker shut. She made up her mind then and there to go and visit Taiki (and the others). Even if they were busy, she knew that Taiki would take the time to cheer her up. Maybe she would even get a hug out of him, though she knew that she'd only be giving Tagiru more ammunition to tease his mentor with. In the least, Cutemon would cheer her up; she could count on that.
Akari glanced at in them mirror in a another girl's locker as she passed by, and instantly came to a stop as a wave of horror came through her. She looked horrible!
Akari quickly made her way towards the closest bathroom, and peered inside to see if anyone was in there. She found it a little eerie that the room looked completely clean and practically unused at an all girls' school, but she wasn't all that surprised. Lately there were silly rumours that girls were vanishing in the bathrooms. Of course, she thought that they were completely insane, because if something was happening and people were disappearing, surely the administration would have been doing something about it, even if it meant sending them home for a few days to investigate. Not a single teacher uttered a word about it though, so she wasn't that worried about going into a bathroom on her own.
She hummed slightly as she placed her backpack on the counter, opening it and pulling out her brush. She took her hair out of her normal ponytails and started brushing it out, wincing a bit as it pulled a few knots and tangles. She set her brush down, and went in search of her lip-gloss. She didn't wear much makeup yet, but she was starting to wonder if she should. She wondered what Taiki would think about that.
She eyed herself in the mirror, wondering if she should do something different with her hair. Taiki once mentioned that he thought girls who tried to change themselves for boys weren't the brightest people around. With that thought in mind, she took a deep breath and decided to just put it back like normal. If she wanted to change her looks, she'd do it on her own accord.
"What a beautiful thought."
She jumped, her brush falling to the floor as she looked around the bathroom, thoroughly alarmed. The fact that it was a male voice in an all girl's school, and not one of one of the teachers or administrators, was the first thing that set off some alarms, but the tone of the voice was what really frightened her.
She took a few steps towards the door.
"Your heart burns with purity, beauty, and so much of the early stages love for another. It's so sweet."
Fear spiked through her. That voice was not normal. It was soft, but incredibly creepy. She backed towards the door, pushing against it, but it wouldn't budge.
"Such a pure heart."
A glint in the corner of the room caught her eye. She saw a glowing green square in the corner start multiplying, and what looked like dark smoke started to seep out of it. Instantly, everything clicked, and she realized that the rumours about the disappearances were probably true. Of course they were. She should have clued in from what she learned about the DigiQuartz from Taiki, Tagiru and Yuu to piece together what was happening. She wasn't all that surprised either that no one noticed, digimon had an odd way of messing with people's minds.
Akari quickly pulled out her phone and pressed speed-dial one, trying to push the door open in the process. There was no answer the first time, so she hung up quickly and dialed again. Again, no answer, and the darkness was almost in front of her now.
Taking a deep breath, she dialed one last time, and instead of hanging up when it got to his voicemail, she started talking quickly. "Taiki! I need your help! There's a Digi—"
"Sorry sweetheart, he's not home," the voice said, and a pair of blood red eyes appeared, staring at her. The digimon's clawed hand shot at her, and she let out a scream, dropping her phone to the ground, and her world went black.
...
"I win again!" Tagiru cheered loudly. He grabbed a basketball and tried to spin it on his finger, but ended up dropping it. That still didn't seem to quail his good mood though.
"Basketball's a team sport," Yuu said with a frown while crossing his arms in front of him. "And we only won because of Taiki-san. You're a ball hog, and you almost made us lose because of it."
Tagiru glared at him and said, "You're just jealous because of my mad skills. Right Taiki-san?"
The teenage boy in question didn't even notice that he was addressed. He was sitting on the ground beside his pack, a bottle of water in his hand as he dug through the bag with his other one. Taiki felt like he was going to burn out and collapse like he used to. It was something that he hadn't done in a long time (since the baseball practice when Akari and Tagiru first met), but he was starting to think that it was going to happen again.
"Right Taiki-san?" Tagiru tried again.
"Huh? Sure," he answered distractedly.
"Ha!" Tagiru exclaimed to Yuu, causing the blond to look at him oddly. Anybody, even someone with limited intelligence, should have been able to pick out the fact that Taiki didn't even know what the question was. Then again, he knew that Tagiru really didn't care.
Taiki finally found his phone in his bag and a surprised sound escaped him as he stared at the screen.
"What is it?" Yuu asked curiously.
"Akari called," he said. "Quite a few times in a row, actually. And she left a voicemail." He quickly punched the buttons to access the message, and put the phone to his ear.
Tagiru grinned teasingly at him and said, "Uh-oh Taiki-san, are you in trouble? Did you forget a date with your girlfriend?" Yuu elbowed him in the stomach, frowning as he watched Taiki's face go from curious, to blank, and then anger started to bubble up.
Tagiru noticed this too, and said, "Taiki-san?"
The elder teen shot to his feet, grabbing his bag, and rushed out of the basketball court. Yuu and Tagiru exchanged confused looks before running after him.
"Taiki-san, what's wrong?"
"Something took her. Something took Akari," he said, not slowing down for anything. "She was calling because of a digimon, and it took her. She would have been at school at that point of time."
"Awesome, a digimon hunt!" Tagiru exclaimed, trying to see an upside.
Taiki came to a sudden stop, and the other two almost ran into him. He spun around and glared at Tagiru darkly, saying, "We are going to save Akari. If you're going to treat this like a game, then stay here."
Tagiru was stunned with Taiki's sudden aggression, since he was normally so calm and collected. He didn't know how to deal with it, but he didn't have to think on it much, because Taiki quickly turned and kept running.
"Tagiru," Yuu said, his voice soft. "Taiki-san really cares about Akari-san. More than he admits. Don't take that to offense."
He nodded and they once again rushed after Taiki, catching up to him just outside of the subway station, where he was reading the schedule. He groaned and hit the sign with his hand before he turned to the road, hailing a taxi. He looked back at the others and said, "Come on."
They piled in, splitting the cost of the cab as it took them to Akari's school. If Taiki wasn't in a hurry, he could have easily walked walked the distance without getting really winded, but he was in a hurry, so he wasn't even going to contemplate that.
When they got there, and Taiki walked up to the gate outside of Akari's school and stared up at it.
"Aren't we gonna go in?" Tagiru asked, sounding almost hesitant to speak.
"No," he answered, pulling out his red Xros Loader. He dropped his bag, holding the device in front of him and called out, "Time Shift!"
They moved in to the DigiQuartz, and Taiki instantly noticed how dark and cold it was. He always found the DigiQuartz grim, but never this much. This felt dark, foreboding, and reminded him a lot of the Digital World when Baguramon was in complete power.
They approached the DigiQuartz version of Akari's school, Taiki's attention focused only on the door leading inside.
"I'm not sure you want to go in there."
Looking around, they saw Ryouma, Ren and Airu standing behind them. Beside him, Tagiru bristled and asked, "What are you three doing here?"
"Yeah," Gumdramon agreed as he appeared beside his partner. "This is our hunt."
"We've had tabs on this digimon for days now," Ren said carelessly with a shrug. "If anything, you're barging in on our hunt."
Taiki processed that quickly, and almost instantly felt a very uncommon rage starting to bubble up in him. He took a step towards them, and must have looked angry enough to startle them, since all three took a step away from him. "You knew?" His voice started out dangerously low before rising. "You knew there was a digimon here, and you did nothing?"
"We couldn't make a move on it," Airu said. "It's tricky, so we decided to just observe it."
"Just...can you not feel out dark this thing is? It took my friend! I'm betting she's not the first, am I right?" He watched her face shift into one of surprise. "That's what I thought. This is just a game to you, isn't it?" He suddenly looked defeated. "That's all digimon are to you. I hate to see what it's going to happen to make you all realize what it really means to have a Xros Loader." He shook his head, his determined look appearing once again.
Shoutmon didn't say a word during Taiki's tirade, having appeared as he started, but he moved to Taiki's side, bright blue eyes glaring at the other three Hunters, daring them to contradict his statement. No one spoke, not even Damemon or Gumdramon. The silence was only shattered by an echoing scream coming from the school.
"Akari!" Taiki and Shoutmon exclaimed at the same time, rushing towards the building.
"Who?" Airu asked, her eyes squinting with confusion. She couldn't remember a hunter with that name.
"They're best friends," Yuu said, before he too ran at the building with Damemon at his side, Tagiru and Gumdramon running after them.
Realization passed over Ryouma's face and he said, "I know her. She was the one that SuperStarmon used to get to Taiki-san. She was the one who went with him during the battle with Baguramon."
Ren looked up from his Xros Loader and asked, "So what do you want to do? We know that's a powerful digimon in there."
Ryouma looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "We'll stay. They'll flush it out, and we'll act."
...
Taiki's heart was pounding as he entered the dark building, scanning the hallways for any trouble. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, and Shoutmon didn't try to stop him when he started moving, so he assumed that the coast was clear, for now. He was trying to be silent, because he knew that it wasn't just Akari in this building. Something had to have made her scream.
"Do you know where she was when she was taken?" Shoutmon asked him.
"No," Taiki admitted. "I do know where her locker is though. I guess we can start from there." He sounded frustrated with the idea; because there was no telling if she was even close to her locker when she vanished.
"Gumdramon," Tagiru said suddenly. "Do you think you can try and smell her? Or see if you can smell anything in here?" He desperately wanted to comment on how odd it was that Taiki knew where Akari's locker was in an all-girl's school that boys weren't supposed to be in, but he knew the seriousness of the situation and decided to let it go for now.
"I can try," the blue digimon said encouragingly, and started to sniff the air. After a minute, he started to wander, following a scent up the stairs and down the hall.
Taiki followed the small digimon closely, almost crashing into him when he stopped in front of a closed door.
"I can't smell any digimon, but there are definitely people in there," Gumdramon said, pointing at the door. "More than one."
Taiki pulled on the door, but it wouldn't budge. He angrily kicked at it, though that didn't do any good either.
"Damemon, slice it open, but be careful. For all we know, someone could be right behind it," Yuu said to his partner.
"That would be no good, no good," Damemon said. He moved quickly though, his attack completely destroying the door.
Taiki entered the room first, and immediately stopped, surprise and horror mingling on his features. The others pushed their way in, and were equally as surprised and confused. The desks were pushed together to form larger tables, and each table had an unconscious girl laying on it.
"What's going on?" Tagiru asked, his eyes darting from one girl to the next, looking slightly alarmed.
"They look—" Yuu cut himself off, not wanting to voice the truth about how they all looked dead.
"No," Taiki breathed out, suddenly pushing by them all. He stopped at the farthest table, where an incredibly pale redhead laid. "Akari?" He gently reached out and touched her skin, wincing slightly at how cold it was. "Akari, you need to wake up."
Yuu came over to them, and leaned his ear over her face. He backed up, placed his hand against her cold neck, and after a minute he said, "She's alive."
If Taiki heard him, he didn't acknowledge it. His attention was solely on the girl in front of them. "Please Akari, wake up."
"She won't."
Everyone looked around, trying to figure out where the eerie voice came from. Taiki's eyes darted suspiciously around the room, and he held Akari close to him protectively.
The shadows seemed to warp together, and a tall, menacing figure emerged. It was almost as tall as the room, with fierce glowing red eyes. Most of its features were hidden by the shadows, but it's sharp claws and fangs were still visible, and all of the boys and digimon could feel the darkness rolling off of him.
"Who are you?" Tagiru demanded.
"They call me Akumumon," he said, stepping close to them, his attention focused on Taiki. "Interesting, very interesting. I see now. Your heart is the other side to hers, the matching one."
Taiki stared at him, brows furrowing with confusion, and Shoutmon moved in front of him protectively. The expression on the red dinosaur's face was just daring this Akumumon to make a move.
"You wonder how I know such a thing," Akumumon said, stepping slightly close to them despite Shoutmon's glare. "Their hearts are full of such youth, beauty, purity and love, and that is what sustains me." He looked thoughtful. "Though I prefer the hearts of your female species, I will make an exception for you. All three of you."
"To hell you will," Shoutmon snapped back, glancing at Taiki over his shoulder. "Taiki."
He nodded, holding out his red Xros Loader. "Shoutmon, super-evolve!"
Tagiru, following suit, held out his crimson Xros Loader. "Gumdramon, super-evolve!"
Yuu held out his yellow Xros Loader and called out, "Damemon, super-evolve!"
All three digimon burst into a glowing gold light, their forms shifting.
"Shoutmon, super-evolve to…OmegaShoutmon!"
"Gumdramon, super-evolve to…Arresterdramon!"
"Damemon, super-evolve to…Tsuwamon!"
Taiki picked up Akari with relative ease and said, "We have to move this outside so that no one gets hurt." He nodded to the other unconscious girls.
"He's right, lets go!" Tagiru yelled. All three Digmon tackled the dark monster, and for a second, Tagiru thought that they'd pass right through it. The figure wasn't as much of a shadow as it seemed though, because the four went crashing through the wall and outside.
"We'll come back for them," Yuu nodded to the other girls. "You got her, Taiki-san?"
He secured one hand under Akari's legs, the other on her back, and nodded his head. The three boys moved down the hallway quickly, Tagiru leading the way with Yuu purposely staying behind Taiki, just in case.
The doors to the school blew open with a powerful explosion, causing the glass to shatter. Luckily, they were still up the stairs when it happened. OmegaShoutmon appeared and didn't even give the ruined doors a second look.
"The others are holding him off, including Astamon, Yasyamon and Cho-Hakkaimon. He's not just another digimon that stumbled here by accident, Taiki."
"What do you know about him?" Taiki asked as they made their way out of the building. Tagiru and Yuu ran to their partners, but Taiki moved away from the battle so that Akari wouldn't be physically harmed.
OmegaShoutmon hesitated, and then said, "He's evil. He doesn't just take what he needs to survive. He doesn't stop. Rumour has it that the hearts can be retrieved, but only if he's deleted. I don't know how something like him got here. Well, I don't know how any digimon got here, but it's even stranger in this case. I thought that all those dark digimon were…well, I'll explain later."
Taiki looked down at Akari's pale face, worry and frustration visible on his normally calm face. He took a few deep breaths before saying, "So, if it's hunted, she might as well be dead, since he'll still exist?"
"Yes."
He looked at the digimon almost helplessly. "Can we even delete a digimon here? I know we can in the Digital World, but this place is strange."
"I'm pretty sure I can," OmegaShoutmon said with a nod. "I'm not a normal digimon like the rest."
Taiki was silent before he called out, "Yuu! Tagiru! Come here!"
They both hesitated, but quickly came over once they realized that they didn't need to be at their digimon's side. Taiki stared at them both for a second before saying, "I need you to stay with her. Call your digimon here, you might need them. Don't you dare let anything happen to her, you understand me? If it looks like the others are going to try and hunt Akumumon, stop them, okay?"
"What—" Tagiru started, but Taiki cut him off.
"For once, just listen to me."
Yuu knelt down beside Taiki, and took Akari from his arms, nodding his head silently. Taiki jumped to his feet, look at OmegaShoutmon and said, "Follow me."
He ran towards the battle, but instead of running directly into the fray, Taiki skirted along the edges until he was almost opposite of where the other three hunters were.
"What's he doing?" Tagiru asked with wonder and confusion.
"Better question, where did the King go?" Arresterdramon looked around, trying to see the Digimon King. It wasn't hard to miss him in his golden armour, but he still couldn't locate him.
Taiki knew that he couldn't signal the other three to clear out without drawing Akumumon's attention too, so he hoped that they would be smart enough to get out of the way. "Hey Akumumon! You want my heart? Come and get it!"
"Call me crazy, or dumb, but I don't think that's a good plan," Tagiru said to Yuu.
Akumumon turned from the battle, leaping over the three injured digimon and attacking quickly. Taiki was just able to get out of the way, the blast of dark energy destroying the fence behind him. He dodged again and again, leading the monster away from Airu, Ren and Ryouma. Finally, he saw a glint of gold out of the corner of his eye, and stopped moving. Spinning around to face Akumumon, Taiki yelled, "Now!"
OmegaShoutmon seemed to appear out of nowhere, launching himself at the digimon question. "Beat Slash!"
The dark digimon was thrown backwards, crashing into a nearby wall roughly. He struggled to stand up again, glaring heatedly at the digimon King, and yelled, "Hopeless Pain!"
OmegaShoutmon jumped out of the way, and a split second later, he realized his mistake. By moving, he left Taiki clearly exposed to the attack. He could take it, but as tough as his human partner was, he wasn't made of solid armour.
Taiki wasn't the legendary general of Xros Heart for just sitting back and letting things unfold in front of him. He managed to piece together what was happening, and move out of the way as best as he could in the limited time he had. Still, the attack caught his arm, causing him to lose his balance and flip to the ground, rolling slightly.
Taiki grunted in pain, gritting his teeth to stop from crying out from the rough, awkward landing as he fell on his arm. He pushed himself up quickly, pressing his hand to the deep gash on his right limb to stop the bleeding a bit.
"Taiki!" OmegaShoutmon cried out, landing beside him.
Taiki winced slightly and said, "I'm okay." His eyes focused on Akumumon, and without any hesitation, he said, "Take care of him."
"The general of Xros Heart is going to hunt me? How appropriate, since that girl you care about so much is mine," Akumumon laughed wildly.
"Nobody said anything about hunting," Taiki replied, a dead calm to his voice.
"You want what makes up a person's inner heart?" OmegaShoutmon said. "I'm going to show you why no one has stood up against our burning hearts before. It may just be me in front of you, but I have ever last member of Xros Heart backing me up at all times, and that will never include you. Omega the Fusion!"
A glowing image of Omnimon appeared around OmegaShoutmon's body, and then shot at Akumumon.
Tagiru, Yuu, Ryouma, Ren, Airu and all of their digimon had to cover their eyes as the blindly bright attack slammed into Akumumon. They heard him let out a yell of pain, but only for a split second before the digimon exploded into light.
No circle of data appeared around it, though Taiki didn't know why. Shoutmon never laid the final hit on a digimon, he always let the others do that so he could stay out of the hunt, but he didn't see why Shoutmon could destroy them when no one else could. His attacks didn't seem any different. He shrugged it off, not wanting to rip apart a good thing, even if he didn't understand it.
The light hovered in the air for a second before it broke into small pieces and streaked towards the school, except for one brightly glowing piece. This one instead shot towards Akari, and into her chest.
"They destroyed it," Arresterdramon whispered when he realized that the digimon was not captured, but reduced to pure data. He turned back into Gumdramon and looked on in awe.
Ryouma was close enough to hear his awed words. He glanced over at them and said, "In one hit. That is why he's the digimon King. If I were you, I'd set my bar to a little lower than trying to surpass him." He glanced at his team. "Come on. We don't need to be here."
Tagiru was about to protest as the three started to walk away, Airu glancing back at them as she departed, but Akari started to stir.
"Akari-san?" Yuu asked the girl as she stirred a bit on his lap.
Her amber eyes slowly opened, staring up at Yuu, Damemon, Tagiru and Gumdramon with tired confusion. She slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, with a little help from Gumdramon and Yuu, and said, "What happened?"
"Akari!"
Her attention instantly shifted to Taiki, who slowly approached them with Shoutmon at his side. Her eyes zeroed in on his injured arm, and she gasped. "What happened? Was it that digimon that took people? Are you okay?" She shifted to her knees as she spoke in a hurried voice.
Taiki stared at her as if she was the most complicated puzzle he had ever stumbled across. He blinked once before suddenly dropping to his knees in front of her and hugging her tightly.
Akari was surprised for a second, but she quickly pressed her face into his shoulder and hugging him back, not caring if he got blood on her.
The other two boys looked away in embarrassment (which was a surprise, coming from Tagiru), until Shoutmon said, "Go help those other girls. They're probably waking up and freaking out." They nodded and went to the school while Shoutmon stood guard, staring off in the distance to let his friends have their privacy.
Akari felt something warm and wet on her neck, and moved away so that she could look at Taiki's face. Worry and wonder mixed together in her when she saw the tears silently falling down his cheeks. She'd seen him cry or come close to tears before, even in the Digital World, but definitely not recently. It was slightly unsettling. She pressed a hand to his cheek and whispered, "Taiki?"
"I—I thought you were dead," he managed to get out, visibly upset by the thought. "You were just so cold, you weren't moving, and you wouldn't wake up. I couldn't even think right, and Yuu had to check to make sure you were alive. I thought you were gone, and I've never felt so scared in my life."
Now her own tears built up in her eyes, and she hugged him again, pressing her cheek against his. "I'm here, I'm okay. You saved me, Taiki. You saved me."
They knelt in silence, holding on to one another as if the other would vanish if they let go. Akari looked down, pressing her sleeve against his wound, causing him to hiss in pain. "We need to get you stitches, or have Cutemon look at that."
Taiki drew away from her, staring in awe. "You almost died, but you're worried about me? Akumumon was right about one thing: you definitely have a beautiful heart." He was completely ignoring the fact that he did the same thing on a regular basis when they were in the Digital World.
Akari's cheeks flushed brightly as she stared at his slightly watery, warm grey eyes. She made a split second decision, and without any warning at all, pulled him down to her, pressing her lips to his in a gentle, chaste kiss.
To say he was startled would be an understatement, but he barely hesitated before he kissed her back, holding onto her tightly.
"Did you get them all back?" Shoutmon called out suddenly, presumably to Tagiru and Yuu. He was louder than necessary, trying to signal the embracing couple that their privacy was about to be invaded.
Taiki slowly pulled away from Akari, who stared at him before giggling hysterically. He grinned at her, standing up and pulling her with him. He looked round as Yuu and Tagiru appeared, smiling at them broadly. He didn't think that he could stop smiling, no matter how much his arm throbbed.
"You should probably get that checked, Taiki-san," Yuu said, nodding to his arm.
"Yeah," he said, in a much better mood than before. He looked at Shoutmon and said, "You don't mind switching out for a bit, do you?"
"It's no problem," Shoutmon replied, though from his grin, Taiki knew that he was going to be teased mercilessly about Akari later. Obviously Shoutmon saw what happened, and he was not going to let his friend rest.
Taiki honestly didn't care right now though. He was too happy. "Right. Reload, Cutemon."
…
Arm healed, Taiki led the way back to the real world, Akari carrying a very happy Cutemon, talking to him quietly.
"Where are you going?" Tagiru asked with more than a tint of amusement and teasing to his voice when Taiki started heading in a different direction that definitely did not lead to his house.
His almost viciously-teasing grin wasn't lost on Taiki, who managed to keep himself composed (for the first time in that situation). He knew how much Tagiru loved to see him blush around Akari. Instead, he just gave him an amused stare and said, "You think I'm going to let Akari walk home alone after what just happened?"
Yuu sighed and said, "No wonder most of the girls in our class find you annoying."
"Hey! Take that back!" The two continued to argue as they started walking home, Gumdramon and Damemon following them.
Taiki just shook his head again and turned to Akari, feeling a blush settle on his cheeks again. She smiled almost shyly, and he quickly grasped her hand in his own.
Cutemon seemed to realize what was happening, and said, "I'd like to go back into the Xros Loader now. I want to talk to Dorulumon."
"Sure," Taiki said, holding up his Xros Loader in his free hand.
"I'll see you later Akari, kyu!" In a flash of light, he was back in the red device.
Taiki and Akari walked towards her house hand in hand in silence. It was a comfortable silence, and neither could stop grinning. Halfway there though, Akari stopped, causing Taiki to stop too. He looked down at her curiously, noticing a frown gracing her features, and he asked, "What's wrong?"
"I hate being the damsel in distress," she said while folding her arms in front of her. "I can't believe how stupid I was not to realize it was a digimon!"
Taiki was taken back by her outburst. "It's okay, Akari."
She let out a huff of air and looked at her feet. "I hate being a burden to you."
"What?" He put his hands on her shoulders and she looked up at him. "Are you insane? You're anything but a burden to me. Didn't I tell you that in the Digital World? Remember, just before you cut Lilithmon's face open?" She grinned a bit at that. "That hasn't changed. You're not a burden, because I need you."
Her cheeks turned red and it took every ounce of strength she had not to let out a shrill giggle, though she couldn't stop from smiling broadly. Closing the space between them, she wrapped her arms around his chest and resting her head on his shoulder, hugging him tightly.
If her face was red, Taiki's was probably about the same shade as her hair. His hands hovered awkwardly behind her for a moment before settling on her back and pulling her close.
"Come on," Taiki said, not quite sure how long they were just standing there hugging each other. "It's been a long day for everyone, especially you. Before all this, you were stressing about midterms too, right? It seemed like it when I talked to you yesterday. Akumumon attacking couldn't have helped."
Akari let go of him and took half a step back so she could look up at him. Grinning at his memory, she nodded her head, again trying not to giggle when he, very hesitantly and shyly, took her hand into his again when they started walking. The air felt a little awkward, so she tried to think of something to say. "I was going to come and see you, you know. I had to fix my hair, that's why I was in the bathroom when he caught me."
Taiki stared at her again, tilting his head slightly as he observed her. "You shouldn't worry about stuff like that Akari. I'm always impressed by you, no matter what." He paused thoughtfully. "I won't lie though, your hair looks nice down."
She giggled a bit as he gently tugged at her loose crimson locks, and they once again continued on their walk, neither saying a word and just enjoying their time together.
Taiki glanced down at her again. He never wanted to see her like he had earlier again, but in retrospect, even though he would be teased viciously by Shoutmon (probably all of Xros Heart, for that matter) later, he really wouldn't change a thing.
…
Notes
Note 1: This is slightly AU in the sense that it could easily fit into Hunters as an adventure we never saw happen, kind of like how there had to have been a story when Akari made a cameo in the 'ghost-hunting' episode (wearing his goggles, of all things). However, I'm thinking of maybe having a series of one-shots based in this universe that are kind of like continuations – all in the same timeline after this – but I'm going to try and make it so that they could fit in with hunters too, like between episodes or after. They might NOT be in chronological order after a while. This one takes place after the gathering of hunters but before the ghost episode.
Note 2: It doesn't say that Akari went to an all-female school, but I feel it makes sense. Though she only appears in the anime a few times (in Hunters), there is a bit of a feeling that Taiki does interact with her and Zenjirou a little more than it shows, so I figure she's not that far away. She says she only goes to school in the next town, and I think it would have been a little strange for everyone to move away before Hunters, so I figured, maybe her parents sent her to an all-girl's school.
Note 3: Akumumon is a completely original digimon, based on the word akumu, which, according to a translator, means something along the lines of nightmare. Now, it doesn't attack dreams or nightmares, but this is kind of a nightmare for Taiki.
Note 4: I was playing with the idea that it's possible to actually destroy a digimon if the attacker wanted to, but most of the time they don't push that extra bit to kill it, because then they couldn't hunt it. Also, from reading about it, OmegaShoutmon's "Omega the Fusion" attack is basically supposed to be a super, powerhouse attack, though it was watered down in the anime. Not the case here. Shoutmon is badass, and will be appropriately portrayed as badass.
Note 5: For the record, from here out, they are sort of together. Like an extension of the small hints with get in the anime. Taiki is only 14 and Akari's 13 (for right now, I'll probably skip ages as I get going), and this whole thing is new to them, so they're being a little more shy and sweet than anything else. I actually love how embarrassed Taiki gets around her (when others are teasing him). That was a completely new development from the first two arcs of Xros Wars. It does seem to stem to other girls, since he blushed a bit at Mizuki, but it wasn't nearly the same reaction as with Akari. Never Nene or Airu though. Guess he just like redheads (of any shade).
Note 6: Last one, I promise. I may take suggestions. It depends on if I like them or not, and if I'm able to weave a story I like in my head.
Skylights