Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or the original characters in this story. They are owned by Toei Animation and Saban. I don't see any reason to sue me so there's my piece of saying.

Parenthood - By: Lady Lara Croft

1: Meet the Baby

"Tai wake up! I'm suppose to meet TK at the bus stop in less than 15 minutes and you take a really long time wrestling with your hair!" Kari Kamiya boomed in her brother's ear. She was a thirteen-year-old girl, four years younger than his brother Tai was. She wore her usual outfit with a camera hanging from her neck. She walked out shutting the door behind her complaining to her mom how Tai wouldn't get up.

"Taichi Kamiya, wake up or I will pull you out of your bed. Now!" Her mother said gripping her son's left ear with her face smacked in front of him. Tai twitched and released himself from his mother's grip.

"Ok, ok. I'm up." He immediately sat up hitting his head on the metal of the bunk bed. He grunted watching his mother leave. 'Stupid bed. My head is always sore in the morning' he thought to himself. He went to the bathroom to get his necessities done. He strangled with his hair; or rather his hair strangled with him while applying gel but gave up after ten minutes. It was no use trying to keep it neat when it won't in the first place. He stepped out of the bathroom and went back to his room to get dressed up. He wore his usual khaki pants finishing off with his white polo shirt and a green blazer.

"Mom, where's Kari?" he questioned grabbing an apple from the counter. His mother had told him that Kari went ahead of him downstairs and had been waiting for almost ten minutes. He kissed his mom good bye and headed out the door. He ran into Mr. Nagasaki, his neighbor, who greeted him a good morning and he, replying a hello. He waited for the lift to ascend and as soon as it hit the fourth floor he stepped in as the door opened. He waited some seconds and got out meeting Kari with a look on her face.

"Tai, what took you so long? I told you to cut your hair. You always have trouble with it every morning and I have to suffer waiting for you," she said taking him by the hand rushing down the block away from their apartment.

"Don't run too fast! I'm eating an apple. You have to call the emergency if I choke," he joked sticking his tongue out at her.

"Don't worry about it. We learned the Heimlich Maneuver in class. I'll save you if I have to, even though I don't want to." They reached the bus stop and sure enough TK Takaishi, a friend of Kari and Tai, was waiting for Kari. Tai left them when he was sure that both kids boarded the bus safely. He rushed to his school, coughing up some seeds that had gone down his throat. He went straight to his first class room way up in the second floor on the other side of the building. The flight of stairs he usually takes has another set of flight after the one reaching the second floor. He didn't know why there was an unfinished stair that led to no where. He didn't bother examining it as he had done some weeks ago so he ignored it and sprinted for his first class.

He barged in the room and went to his seat.

"Nice of you to join us Mr. Kamiya," said a female voice with a cultivated English accent. Its owner was Ms. Vynne, a glamorous British woman at the age of twenty-eight. She came from Surrey, England to Japan after her husband's death. She liked visiting other countries but decided to stay permanently in Japan because she wanted to get away from British class sophistication.

"Sorry ma'am. I had trouble waking up this morning. And I had to make sure my sister got on the bus safely," he said hoping she would accept the excuse he had given. Ms. Vynne nodded rhythmically not believing a thing he said.

"I have a wonderful surprise for all of you which I think you will find quite interesting. It's a project worth three hundred points and I do expect to pass everyone, but I will fail those who do not even try. From this day on and for the next two months, all of you will become parents. Hence you are here in parenting class. I expect you to do your job well," she said walking towards the back of the classroom pushing a cart up to the front.

"Sora," Tai whispered, "do you want to go on a date tonight?"

"Sure. Let's talk later," Sora Takenouchi responded. She was Tai's girlfriend for three years now. They shared their adventures way back when they were in the Digital World and have bonded strongly since then. She had brown eyes with light auburn hair that shone brightly when the sun settled on her hair. Her smile was beautiful as Tai recalled.

"Students, pair up as a couple. What I have here before you are bags of flour. Its purpose is to replicate real babies. My few rules for this project are as follows: Don't drop it, wet it, puncture it, kick it, punch it, or destroy it in any way. Treat this baby with care as you would with a real live kicking baby. If it's crying, find the problem and fix it. When it needs changing, change it," Ms. Vynne said passing out the flour bag to each couple. "Your parents have been informed with this and they are to be the voice of the baby or any other people capable of helping you with the project. All should keep a log and each parent should switch off every week."

With that said Tai and Sora started arguing who should take the baby on the first week.

"No you take it. I already have enough trouble with tennis and flowers, what makes you think I can handle more jobs? I'll take it next week," Sora protested handing Tai the "baby".

"Uh-uh. No way. Not this week. I have a soccer game. I need to practice. I'm not taking IT."

"Ahem. This IT should have a name Mr. Kamiya. As parents, your first job is to name your baby rather than not identifying ITS gender. Are we clear on that?" the teacher interrupted, her hands on her hips. At some points she wondered why she even became a teacher. But nevertheless she loved teaching and challenging her students.

"Uh..won't it be a good idea to just make this flour into cookies? That way all of us would be a lot happier Ms. Vynne. We could turn this class into a cooking class and surprise my mom I actually learn something!" Tai vigorously said smiling at her. She smiled back at him and shook her head.

"I don't think it's ethical to eat a baby Tai. Be thankful your mom didn't think of that when you were young," she finished walking away.

"Oh boy...this is going to be two weird and crazy months."

"Tell me about it," Sora agreed. Meanwhile, behind them, two couples are also arguing about the flour babies. Tai and Sora turned around to see Matt Ishida and Mimi Tachikawa argue. Both were their best friends.

"Matt, how can you be so mean to our baby?" Mimi sang in a high pitched voice, cradling the flour in her arms.

"Our baby? Uh excuse me. Last time I checked I was enjoying my life without even thinking about diapers," Matt responded leaning back in his chair.

"Lauretta is upset right now," Mimi said.

"Lauretta?" asked Matt, Tai and Sora in unison. Mimi simply nodded happily.

"You already gave it a name? For all I know my mom would be opening the bag and use it to bake cookies," Tai cried out.

"Well I'm all ready for this. Lauretta is obviously a girl, she'll be wearing a pink bonnet, and pink baby boots, with mittens. She'll be sleeping next to me at night and.."

"Ok Mimi, that's good for you. So we agree you take the baby the first week ok?" Matt insisted.

……………………………….

After school, everyone went to the park. Tai, Sora, Matt and Mimi were there, including the two flower babies. Tai sat on a bench near the swing, Mimi beside him a few feet off to the right, Matt leaned against the pole of the swing and Sora stood beside Tai.

"Tai! You're squishing Melody! Get off," Sora yelled yanking him out of the bench.

"Since when did we decide a name for it? For all I know if I break it we can just buy a new one."

"No you can't. Because this time Ms. Vynne will give you a water balloon rather than a new flour bag," Matt said imitating Ms. Vynne's British accent.

Sora took the baby into her arms just like Mimi was doing. She thought it was actually a good idea to practice while young. It's a good experience. She set the baby down and took a notebook out from her backpack and started logging.

February 29. Log # 1 Melody

My husband, Tai, and I have gotten our flour baby today and took it to the park. Tai unfortunately sat on Melody, which made me a bit mad at him because he wasn't taking it seriously. I decided that he should take Melody for this week after sitting on her so he can be more responsible.

[Sora]

"You think I'm irresponsible?" Tai asked after reading the entry. "How you can say that really puzzles me."

"You sat on Melody. Isn't that enough?" Sora shot back.

"Geez. Stop upsetting Sora," Matt cockily said.

"You're no better than him Matt! You're making me do all the work and all you think about is your stupid band," Mimi said shooting daggers at him. Sora and Mimi agreed that the boys were not doing anything so both Matt and Tai are responsible for the babies. The girls decided they wanted to get some ice cream so they asked their boyfriends to kindly take care of Melody and Lauretta. With a few grunts and groans both guys took the baby in their arms. Now, when the girls left, three little kids in their bikes stopped in front of Tai and Matt and started laughing.

"Is it just me, or are they such losers carrying around two flour bags dressed up!" the first kid taunted.

"Yeah. Or did they get lost when mommy asked them to buy some flour for mommy's baking class!" laughed the second kid.

"Nah. I think they're one of those kids from mental hospitals and this is how they start their life," boomed the third kid.

"You three are gonna get it if you don't leave," Matt said threatening the three youngsters.

"Or else what?" asked the first kid and grabbed Matt's baby. The first kid started passing it to the other two kids playing monkey in the middle with Matt. Matt got steamed playing around with Lauretta, or what seemed to be the flour's name. Tai was laughing teasing Matt to do this and that.

"Give that back or I will kick your little behinds you little devils!" shouted Matt running after the kids. Obviously the trio didn't pay any attention to him. Matt kept running after them unaware of the lake on his side. He tripped over what seemed to be a rock, but it was a little tree stump and tripped, knocking off one of the kids who held Lauretta and..unfortunately she went flying into the lake. Matt got up as quickly as he could before running into a bicyclist coming from his right. He ignored the man's cursing and jumped into the water looking for Lauretta. It was impossible for her to float since the bag was wet; it sunk to the bottom.

Tai arrived some time later after the water incident. He saw Matt sat near the lake.

"Why are you all wet and where's Lauretta?" he questioned looking around. He surveyed the area to see if the three kids who had taken Matt's baby were still there. There was no sign of them there so he felt relieved that they wouldn't have to come after his baby.

"I had to dive and save it. It's over there drying in the sun," Matt replied bluntly.

"You mean Lauretta." "No I mean IT." Matt corrected Tai.

"You know, the baby's going to catch pneumonia if you don't dry it. And she might get a bit of sun burn if you left her there too long," Tai commented pointing over to where Lauretta sat peacefully. "Ooh, what's that I hear? I think she's crying...Waaahhh...waahhhh!!..waahh!!!!" cried Tai imitating a baby's sound.

"Cut it out Tai!"

"Matt you're baby is crying. Either you be a good father and attend to her needs or fail. You know Mimi will sock you if you fail," he said widening his eyes. Matt realized it wouldn't be such a good idea to fail especially when you're working with Mimi, or else she'll throw a never-ending tantrum.

"Aw there, there, it's ok little Lauretta. Daddy's here for you," Matt said in a caring yet sarcastic tone of voice.

"Waahhh!!!! waahhh!!!!" cried Tai, being the voice of the baby. Matt forcefully took Tai's school blazer and wrapped it around Lauretta to dry. Tai dropped his baby and she started rolling down towards the lake. Fortunately, Matt was there to stop Melody. He stepped on what was supposedly the head of the baby and picked it up one handedly as he has Lauretta on his other arm.

"You idiot. You stepped on her head. How could you be so mean?" Tai announced reaching for her.

"If you hadn't noticed, I actually saved your baby, TAI. Ya think you can be thankful?"

"You stepped on its head! Do you hear her crying right now?" Tai concluded holding Melody with both hands in front of Matt's face.

"Well then make it stop!"

"I guess you didn't know baby's heads are really soft and that's where you should be careful the most. Perhaps you haven't heard of their soft spot on top of their head which is VERY delicate," Tai declared throwing Matt an angry look. Matt kept defending what he did that he saved Tai's baby. Both were still in disagreement as to who was right and who was wrong. After two minutes, they started fighting and each threw the baby on the ground...but...they weren't the only witnesses. Sora and Mimi came back and found them...and SAW how both of them threw Melody and Lauretta to the ground. Sora and Mimi stepped in between the two boys. Simultaneously, both girls gave both guys a slap upside the head.

"How could you?" Both girls cried out.

"It was his fault!" Both guys said in unison pointing at each other.

"Listen Sora I-"

"Tai, c'mon now and be a man, don't you think you could-(gasp)" Sora announced while lifting her baby up. "Is that a dent on my baby's head? Tai what did you do?"

"Matt stepped on her head. I told him it was wrong," he said trying to defend his spot.

"I saved it from rolling down the lake," Matt responded.

"Eww! Why is my baby so wet and now it's a bit hard! Matt what did you do? And look! It's sneezing. OMG! Don't tell me she has pneumonia!" exclaimed Mimi in a high pitched voice...

Tai and Matt got a lecture from Sora and Mimi. After an hour later all of them went home, the babies going home with the fathers.

February 29. Log # 1 Lauretta.

I lost protesting Mimi should take the baby home. Lauretta got wet today after 3 little runts kidnapped it and hurled it to the water. I bravely dove and saved my baby. Now Mimi thinks our baby has a cold and I'm stuck with this bag of flour for a week. I don't think I'll survive with this but I'll try so I better get a nice grade. I saved Tai's baby earlier by stepping on its head. I don't know if that was cool or not but I still saved it.

[Matt]

After writing his entry, Matt went to sleep hoping to live another day.

February 29. Log # 2 Melody

Matt stepped on my baby's head today. I got mad at him and we started fighting but I dropped her. Sora yelled at me badly and almost scared the living crap out of me. There's a dent on my baby's head and I don't know where it should sleep tonight. I was thinking of kicking Miko, our cat, out of its litter box and have Melody sleep there. But then again Sora won't be so thrilled when she smells Melody.

[Tai]

Tai tucked his baby beside him and went to sleep. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

To be continued...