Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this fanfic unless I created it myself. Anything that I did create was inspired by something owned by someone else. This is done for fun and entertainment, not for profit.
Fandom: Digimon Tamers
Title: Sweet Temptation
Characters: Asanuma Nami, MarineAngemon
Word Count: 2,084
Genre: Friendship, Humor||Rated: G
Notes: This takes place three years after Digimon Tamers.
Challenge: Digimon Friendship Challenge: Round 5
Summary: She's being tempted. So very tempted. She has to be strong. She has to set a good example.
No. You can't do it. If Asanuma Nami's life had borne any resemblance to that of an anime character, then she would have had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other as she stared into the store window. The angel shook a finger at her. You have to set a good example for the children at all times.
The devil lounged back. She was clad in a skimpy negligee, with the wickedest of wicked grins on her features. They're not around to see if you do this, you know. It's just a little indulgence. After everything you've been through lately, especially because of those brats, you deserve this!
Nami wet her lips and glanced around. No one appeared to be watching her. If she went in and went out, she could tuck her prize under her jacket, go right home, and never have to worry about the staring soul-less eyes of children. They wouldn't know.
That's right. The devil agreed, swishing her forked tail. What's it going to hurt? You're not on a diet.
The angel's wings fluttered as she lifted up to stare Nami in the face. They should know better and so should you!
She started to shift away, though she couldn't have said if it were toward the door or to go down the street and avoid temptation entirely. Even as she did, the door opened and an aroma as of heaven itself floated past her nose. She breathed it in and sighed in rapture. It had been far too long since she'd indulged like this.
Come on. Go on inside. The devil nudged her a little. Just look around. You can do that, can't you?
Nami wanted to say no. She had to go home and work on lesson plans. Those were important. If she didn't get them done, then her students wouldn't be able to learn, and that would not reflect well on her.
Exactly! The angel nodded in approval. You don't want that to happen, do you?
The devil snorted. You shouldn't even be a teacher. She stifled that line of thought at once, tempting as it was. At least the other temptation was more manageable. Go ahead, try that too. Leave nothing unexplored!
At least if she did this, it would get it out of her system for a little while. And it wasn't as if the kids didn't do this whether she herself did or not.
Ah, rationalization. Makes my job so much easier. The devil lounged even more and smirked. Well, go on. Do it.
Nami went inside. Everything was even more delicious to look at and smell up close than it had been from outside. Cupcakes, éclairs, cakes, cookies, fudge, steamed cakes, rice cakes, pocky, sweet bean jello! Hiding in a freezer was ice cream of every description. Her attention fastened at once on the green tea flavor. It had been so long…
"Can I help you, ma'am?" It was a friendly young female voice and Nami froze for a brief moment. Then she turned toward the register, trying not to reveal how tempted she was just to order one of everything.
"No, I'm just looking. Thank you."
The clerk nodded and Nami began to browse the aisles. She wasn't going to buy anything, she promised herself. She was just looking. That was all. Looking.
Yeah, sure. Hey, doesn't that fudge look good? Nami refused to look. Much. Peanut butter fudge. Imported, too. The price tag was high, but it would be so worth it. Yeah, that's right, it would be. Go on.
She refused this time. The ice cream freezer wasn't that far away and she hadn't had green tea ice cream in forever. Her stomach rumbled; she shouldn't have stopped on her way home. This was going to be very bad for her.
"Asanuma-sensei?" The voice was very familiar, though she couldn't place the name right offhand. She drew back from the freezer and turned toward said voice.
Dark green hair. Glasses. It took another moment, but the name clicked into her mind. "Kenta!" If this moment had happened three years earlier, she would have made some excuse to leave at once. A teacher shopping at a sweet store with one of her students watching? Heaven forbid!
"I thought that was you." Kenta smiled; in the three years since he'd left her class, he'd grown a little taller and a lot more confident. "How have you been?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine." She didn't think about some of the hooligans in her class. She could handle them. At least none of them had brought monsters from another world to class or run off to that other world or participated in saving the world.
Yet.
She glanced around, the thought of monsters having brought something else back to her mind. "Where is your little friend?"
No sooner had she asked the question than a trill sounded and something bumped into her shoulder from behind. Despite her previous thoughts, there wasn't a demon or angel there (for which she was grateful, because explaining that would've been much harder for her than explaining Digimon had ever been to her students). Instead, one of the most adorable bundles of data that had ever become solid floated behind her.
"He's right there." Kenta said with a smile. "Hey, MarineAngemon! Say hi to Asanuma-sensei!"
MarineAngemon shook himself a bit, tilted his head back, and thrilled gleefully at her. She guessed that was his way of saying hi. She'd never understood that creature. "Uh, hello." She fidgeted; talking to Digimon made her nervous. Especially the ones she couldn't understand at all.
"He said that it's nice to meet you," Kenta supplied. "And he recommends the fudge." He hefted up something she hadn't seen before: a container of the same fudge she had been admiring just moments earlier.
Her mouth watered at the sight of it. Was it really that good? Before she could stop herself, she'd asked the question out loud. MarineAngemon trilled, bobbing up and down in the most cheerful manner she could have ever imagined.
"Does that mean yes?" Her gaze flickered back to the fudge display. Expensive, but yes, it could be worth it. She paid no attention to something that sounded a great deal like a demonic version of her own voice snickering in the back of her mind.
Kenta nodded without hesitation. "I got this for my mom. She loves fudge, and it's her birthday next week."
"How sweet." The demonic laughing only intensified in her mind, and she shoved it aside to stare at the fudge once again. "I don't think I want any though."
MarineAngemon stared at her, large eyes peering into her soul. Then it trilled again, in a somewhat different tone this time. She glanced to Kenta.
"What did that mean?" With any luck, she wouldn't need an exorcism. Isn't that a Holy Ring around its neck? She thought she remembered one of her students mentioning that, before she'd given him detention for playing cards in class. Of course, she didn't have a real demon in her. But that look just made her nervous.
"He said you could use some rest." Kenta stared at her with as much intensity as his partner had. "MarineAngemon's almost always right about when someone's hurt or not, Asanuma-sensei. You should get some rest."
She shook her head without a moment of thought. "I can't. I have lesson plans to work out." Truth to be told, sitting home yet again hunched over her plans wasn't as appealing as taking home a container of fudge and catching up on the soap operas. She didn't need them done this early anyway.
MarineAngemon shook his head-or his entire body, actually- and nudged her toward the fudge. He wasn't very large, but there was enough strength in what he did have to get her to move a step or two. Or maybe that was just her desire for the fudge itself.
I do not desire that fudge!
Her shoulder demon was back again. Sure you don't. That's why you're drooling.
She didn't answer. She wasn't going to make a spectacle of herself, especially not in front of one of her former students. Where was her shoulder angel? Shouldn't she be there to try to keep her from making bad decisions?
Oh, come on, it's buying some fudge! And the kid and the other thing say it's okay! It'll help you! How is that a bad decision? Shoulder Demon rolled her eyes. I probably shouldn't even be telling you to do it, that's how much of a good decision it is.
"Asanuma-sensei?" Kenta leaned closer toward her. "Uh, I think you need this." He offered a handkerchief, which she took at once, groaning within as she did.
"Thank you." She would maintain her calm. She wasn't really drooling, after all. She put the handkerchief to use and handed it back before she made up her mind. She might as well do this. Her inner demon wasn't going to leave her alone until she did, and there weren't any current students around. Kenta would be polite enough not to say anything, and no one else could understand MarineAngemon in the first place.
Peanut butter fudge. The aroma teased at her nostrils and she reminded herself that she should really at least do something right and get home before she started trying to eat all of this right here in the store.
MarineAngemon butted into her once again and she stared down as he trilled. "What's he saying this time?" For a panicked moment, she wondered if he were going to suggest that she quit her job. There would be nothing of the kind happening!
"He thinks you could use some time off," Kenta provided, his brow furrowed as he spoke. "Get some more rest before you burn yourself out."
Now that was easy to avoid. "I'm fine. Thank you for being concerned about me, MarineAngemon." More than one of her students' parents had said something on a similar level, usually in reference to how much stress their children could put on a person. She was very good at getting around this question.
Of course, none of those parents ever gazed at her with eyes that were so large and so full of warm concern, either. Most of the time they'd said it with a laugh that told her they didn't mean it. But MarineAngemon, even through Kenta, was different. He nudged at her again, but said nothing else this time.
"No, really. I suppose I could use a vacation-who couldn't-but I just don't have the time. I can wait." Summer break would come in due time. She could be patient. She would have to be patient.
She lifted up her free hand and touched the top of MarineAngemon's head. Maybe, now that she thought about it, she could squeeze in a day or so at the beach. Or at least not working so hard. As long as they didn't see her, it would be all right, wouldn't it?
"Thank you." She thought she'd said that before, but what did it matter? MarineAngemon trilled at her once again, and this time, she thought she understood him. You're welcome, he'd said.
Fudge in hand, she went right to the register. The clerk only smiled; she'd probably seen more than her fair share of people who claimed they were only there to look walk out after purchasing something. It was a sweet shop, after all. Who could go into one of those and come out with nothing?
Once she was outside again, she breathed in a deep breath of fudge-scented air. Shoulder Demon and Shoulder Angel were both gone now, either satisfied with their work or just disappointed in her. She heard the bell over the door tinkle as she started down the street and looked back to see Kenta and MarineAngemon emerging.
Mind your manners, Nami. Shoulder Angel was there for a moment, and Nami knew what was meant.
"MarineAngemon! Kenta! Thank you!" She waved, her heart lightening at the prospect of having a little fudge and relaxing for a while. She didn't have any plans for the weekend that she couldn't postpone, really. As long as she got her work done, everything would be all right.
Kenta waved back at her, and MarineAngemon trilled, sending her heart rising even higher. "You're welcome, Asanuma-sensei! Enjoy your fudge!"
"I will!" And with said fudge tucked under her arm, she went home.
The End