Charity of Love, a digimon fanfic

Charity of Love

Tai groaned in disgust as he sat down at the lunch table with his Styrofoam tray. Odaiba High was like any other high school in the world…it served lousy lunches. Teriyaki nuggets, mashed potatoes with the consistency of Play-Doh and runny peas the same color as the tiled floors were not his idea of a meal. Izzy was lucky; his mother packed him a carefully prepared meal every day…no weird foods like his own mother. And Matt? Well, "Mr. Popular" wasn't one to eat much. His diet consisted mainly of a can of soda and something from the nearest vending machine.

"You'd think a rock star like you would be concerned with calories and all that," Tai pointed out through a mouthful of food. Matt wasn't paying much attention, busy scribbling something on a piece of paper.

"Hello? Earth to Matt, anybody home in there?" Izzy questioned, waving a hand in front of the blonde's face. Matt snapped his head up, as if he had been caught dozing off in class.

"The American Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776," he stated, going back to his paper.

"Ha ha, very funny. In case you haven't noticed, this is lunch," Tai retorted.

"Hi everybody!"

Tai and Izzy glanced up from their lunches as a cheerful redheaded girl sat down with her own tray, wisely choosing the school's salad bar rather than the artery-clogging delights Tai had purchased.

"Hey Sora. You mind snapping Matt back into reality? He's a bit out of it."

"What are you doing?" Sora questioned, dumping a light dressing onto her greens.

"Oh, hi Sora," Matt said, taking a sip of soda. "Working on the lyrics for a new song. So far I haven't gotten too much inspiration."

Sora nodded, understanding his situation. "Concert coming up?"

"Yeah, but that's only part of the reason. I was planning on going to the children's hospital tomorrow and spend time with some of the patients. And then the concert next Saturday is to benefit the ICU there."

Tai and Izzy were in a state of shock; Sora had melted into a pile of mush in a green uniform.

"Oh Matt, that's so sweet!"

Tai rolled his eyes, appalled that Sora was showing the symptoms for acute "Yamato Fever."

"There's got to be some ulterior motive for why you're doing this, Matt. What, are they giving you some hefty paycheck or something to spend the day signing autographs?"

"Huh? Tai, have you lost it? I'm not doing this for money or anything, and even if they did offer to pay me I wouldn't take it! I'm doing this because I want to, and to prove that I'm not some conceited musician. Besides, one of Joe's friends is an intern there and they asked if I would come in. So I'm going over there and spending time with those poor kids, my record label is donating CDs to all of them, and I'm bringing my acoustic guitar. Happy?" Matt snapped.

Sora shot a steely glare at Tai, annoyed that he was acting so immaturely. Izzy was concerned only with his lunch and the daunting task of inserting the straw into one of those aluminum Capri Sun pouches.

"I think the bell rang. I've got to get going before Mr. Kimimoto has an ulcer," Matt sighed.

"Wait! I'm going that way, I'll walk with you," Sora cried, tossing her tray into the nearest garbage can.

~*~

"I think what you're doing is great, even if Tai was giving you a hard time about it," she said, walking with Matt down the crowded hall.

Matt smiled, a rarity for such a moody, quiet young man. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

"Hey, I was wondering if maybe I could tag along? I mean, if you don't want the company I can always go shopping with Kari or…"

"No, I don't mind. In fact I'd be glad if you came."

Sora blushed, just a little. It was one of her secret fantasies to be spending time with Matt alone. They were just friends, good friends, friends since they were young. But Sora always had that glimmer of hope that her popular, handsome friend would be more than that. She believed that one day he, bearer of the Crest of Friendship, would clue in to her subtle flirtations. Maybe it was because of her own crest, Love, or maybe it stemmed from long before she ever carried the item.

"Should I bring something?" she asked, fiddling with a loose thread on her uniform.

Matt's brilliant sapphire eyes lit up. "If you could supply dessert…nothing fancy, mind you, cookies will be fine…we can have a picnic on the hospital grounds. Joe says they have this killer garden all the interns sneak off to on break."

Sora was beaming. A picnic for two in a secluded garden with the teenager dubbed "the greatest thing to hit Japan since soy sauce."

"I'll see what I can whip up. Hard to believe, though, that the great Matt Ishida can't cook his own desserts."

"Never had the practice. My cooking credibility is strictly breakfast-lunch-dinner…and most of that is opening a package and throwing the contents into the microwave. Girls generally have more experience in the dessert area."

Sora laughed. Matt was quite amicable if you could get past his frosty exterior. That "lone wolf" persona of his didn't phase her for a second.

"So I'll see you tomorrow then? Around eleven?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure! I'll see you then," she replied as they stood outside his classroom door. Then Matt did something unexpected. He leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek.

~*~

Sora unlocked her apartment door, slid her shoes off and set her bag down. The soft clatter of pots and pans in the kitchen was a good indication that her mother was home.

"Mom? I'm home!"

Mrs. Takenouchi came around the corner, her hands dripping from doing the dishes.

"Hello, Sora. How was your day?" she asked, typical of every mother.

"It was all right, Mom."

"Did something happen?" her mother questioned, concerned at Sora's "all right." Mothers generally don't like to hear "all right." "All right" is a sign that something happened during the course of the day that could use motherly therapy.

"Um, sort of. Mom, I need some help."

Mrs. Takenouchi's concern for her daughter grew. "What happened, Sora?"

"It's not like that, Mom. Really."

"What happened?" she repeated, her voice becoming hard.

"I need help making cookies, Mom."

The florist sighed. "That's all? I thought it was something serious!"

Sora grew red in the face, embarrassed and a little annoyed. "It is serious, Mom! I need to make cookies or something! This could affect my whole social life!"

Her mother, a beautiful woman who looked genuinely Oriental (and like Wufei), went into the kitchen and pulled out a hardcover cookbook, splotched with spilled ingredients, the pages yellowing from age.

"Don't be so melodramatic, Sora. Your social life does not hang solely on some cookies."

The teenager started down the hallway to change out of her school uniform, calling over her shoulder, "It does if these cookies have the potential of getting me a boyfriend."

Sora threw on a pair of denim shorts and a celery-colored shirt, heading back to the kitchen. Her mother was already lining up bowls and sheets and whatnot, poring over cookbooks as she went.

"Sora Aoiro Takenouchi, you will tell me everything…and then you'll cream this butter and sugar."

A/N: Because the Digidestined have no middle names, I invented one for Sora. In English, her name would be "Sky Blue Takenouchi."

Sora nodded, taking the bowl and a wooden spoon. Her mother lined up exotic spices and some common ingredients, and greased a few sheets.

"Well, you know my friend Matt, right?"

"Malcolm and Nancy's eldest son…the rock star?"

"Mm. Well, he's spending tomorrow at the Odaiba Children's Hospital, and he wanted me to come with him. I asked if he wanted me to bring something, and he said make dessert so we could have a picnic lunch on the grounds. And then, Mom…and then…he kissed me on the cheek."

Mrs. Takenouchi smiled, tossing a teaspoon of this and a tablespoon of that into the bowl, instructing her daughter to stir.

"I think he's a fine young man. You two have been friends since you were young."

"Yeah, it has been a long time."

The petite woman dropped a little lemon zest and a couple egg whites into the white porcelain bowl.

"Your father and his were good friends. They would take you two to the park when you were toddlers. You were inseparable."

Sora laughed. "I can't imagine Matt being that cuddly towards anyone. But then again, that was before the divorce."

Mrs. Takenouchi grew quiet for a moment, sifting a few cups of flour into a separate bowl. "I have a photo album in my closet, there are a few good pictures of you and him."

"Well, I know where I can get blackmail the next time he teases me then," Sora replied smugly, dipping a finger into the bowl and tasting the batter.

~*~

Several hours and a few burned batches later, Sora and her mother had produced three dozen lacy confections, buttery and lemony and sweet. Sora carefully packed the dessert in layers of tissue paper inside a lacquered box her father had brought home from Beijing on one of his many trips. Neither one hungry for anything substantial, Sora and her mother dined on the leftover cookies.

"I proclaim these edible for consumption by a boyfriend," her mother stated. "Shall I douse them with a little ancient Hindu love potion?"

"Mom, you are not dumping any of Dad's hokey bottles of flavored water on my cookies!"

~*~

Sora glanced at the clock for the umpteenth time. Ten fifty-seven. She started pacing the floor, holding the box carefully. The last half an hour nearly killed her, impatience making her antsy. Sora turned to the large mirror over her couch, tucking loose strands of gingery hair back behind her ears, adjusting her pale pink blouse, fixing the hem of her embroidered denim clamdiggers. When the doorbell finally rang, it scared the living daylights out of the girl, causing her to jump and nearly toss her cookies.

Matt was waiting calmly on the doorstep, guitar slung over one shoulder, wicker picnic basket in hand. For once he wasn't wearing the somber blacks and steely grays he usually did. Instead, a subtle currant color and jeans, the shade complimenting his fair complexion nicely.

"Hey Sora."

"Hi!"

Matt glanced down at the lacquered box in Sora's hands.

"Oh man, Sora, you didn't have to go that far. I told you, plain old chocolate chip would have been fine!"

Sora grinned. "Well, I figured you were going to make some culinary masterpiece so I'd try and outdo you."

He laughed. "Give me a break, it's just sushi."

Matt extended a free hand, Sora accepting it cautiously, unsure of the meaning of the gesture. Somehow, holding his hand felt right.

"Shall we be off, my lady?"

Sora giggled, rolling her amber eyes. "You're too much."

~*~

The garden outside the children's hospital was at least ten degrees cooler than the rest of Odaiba. A host of trees provided shade, and the well-kept grass was an even shade of emerald. After struggling to unfold the blanket, a cotton bed sheet Matt had pilfered from the linen closet, the twosome sat down to enjoy a casual lunch.

"Hmph. 'It's just sushi.' Right. Matt, this is incredible! You must have been up at the crack of dawn doing this!" Sora gasped, staring at the perfect bento boxes that had emerged from the depths of the picnic basket.

"More like up all night. I hope water's all right to drink, I'm not one for carbonated stuff right before singing."

"It's fine. Hear from Gabumon lately?"

Matt shook his head. "And T.K. promised they would arrange another get-together for all of us. I heard Kari talking; she said Palmon's been living with Mimi. And now how fair is that?"

"Maybe she bribed Gennai," Sora suggested, separating her chopsticks.

The blonde young man lifted the cover on Sora's cookie box, stealing one of the confections and popping it into his mouth.

"Sora," he said while chewing thoughtfully, "you are a goddess."

Sora laughed. "Oh come now, they're just cookies!"

"Yeah, but they're incredible. You should sell them at some outrageous price. You'd be rich!"

"Maybe I'll set up a concession stand at your next concert."

Matt poked her in the side. "You do and I'll have to charge you. We can split the profits…sixty-forty."

"Of course…I'm the sixty."

~*~

A kind orderly in spotless white and those nurse clogs that make not a single sound on the gray tiled floors ushered Matt and Sora into a patient's room. A girl of about ten was raising her bed using the controls on the side with one arm, an IV tube strapped to the other. She looked pale and thin, but the child had a huge smile plastered onto her sallow face. Matt and Sora pulled up a couple chairs, the former setting his guitar down and hunting down a permanent marker.

"Hey there, Mia. So, what's a nice girl like you doing in a hospital like this?"

She giggled. "I got pneumonia. Are you really Matt Ishida?"

Matt grinned. "Oh, you bet I am."

Mia pointed at Sora. "Is that your girlfriend?"

The blonde young man winked at the patient and whispered something in her ear, causing her to giggle even more.

Sora raised an eyebrow at her companion in question; Matt merely shrugged and went back to autographing a CD.

"Here you go, Mia. A little something to help you get better soon."

Mia hugged the plastic case tightly. "I'll keep it forever and ever."

Sora glanced over at Matt, who was unpacking his guitar. There was a sparkle in his sapphire eyes that she had never seen in them before, one she couldn't recognize.

"Any requests? Or should I just play a medley?"

Mia shrugged. "Just play!"

His fingers flew over the frets, dancing along the wires as chords sprang from the heart of the instrument. Sora recognized the pattern and grinned. Presently, he began singing one of Britney Spear's bubblegum pop songs, in a falsetto that nearly rivaled the real artist. After a few minutes of joking around, playing everything from familiar Broadway tunes to songs of American artists, Matt grew serious and began playing one of his own songs, Walk on the Edge.

~*~

The visits continued like that for a few hours, some of the patients not old enough to know Matt but happy to have the company. There were a few girls around T.K.'s age who started squealing like typical fangirls. Matt allowed the ones not contagious to kiss him, turning a shade of magenta every time.

"You'll do anything to impress the fans, huh?" Sora questioned as they walked down the hallway.

"Being sick is a bummer, and being scared and somewhat alone in the hospital makes it ten times worse. If I can make a couple kids feel better, even for ten minutes, it makes a difference. And it gives my life meaning, knowing that I did something that made an impact…and I'm not talking about saving two worlds. That doesn't count."

Sora laughed. "I wasn't planning on bringing it up. Hey, where are we going?"

Matt shoved her into an elevator. "One more stop on the Teenage Wolves hospital tour."

As they rose up a few floors, Sora couldn't help but wonder what Matt had whispered to that little girl. He had done it a couple other times as well.

"Matt?"

"Hm?"

"What did you keep whispering to those kids?"

Matt grinned, his face rosy with a blush. "Not yet. I'll tell you later."

Five seconds passed. "It's later."

Matt laughed, shaking his head in amusement. "You'll find out soon enough, now quit asking or I won't tell."

~*~

They walked down a hallway, the soles of their shoes squeaking on the tiled floor. Every so often the PA system would chime, paging a doctor to a floor. Matt led Sora to a glass window, pointing at it. She peered in, smiling. The maternity ward nursery, where there were only a few newborns lying in their incubators, looking so small and helpless.

"They're so little," she murmured.

Matt slipped his hand into hers. "A relative of mine is up here. I thought we'd visit her."

They ambled down the corridor, Matt pausing and consulting a slip of paper in his pocket before knocking lightly on a door. A man in his early thirties swung the door open, smiling.

"Hey there, Cousin. Come to meet the newest Ishida?"

"You bet. How's Hana?"

"Fine. She'll be happy to see you."

"Oh, and this is Sora. She's a good friend of mine."

"Pleased to meet you," she said politely, shaking the cousin's hand.

A woman with dirty-blonde hair and blue-gray eyes lay in bed, hooked up to several machines and an IV unit. She smiled at Matt, cradling her precious bundle, wrapped in a terrycloth towel.

"Hello, Matt. I'm glad you came to visit me."

"It's no problem, Hana. I was here anyways. Is that my new relation?"

"Yes, this is Sachi."

"Hmph, 'child of joy.' A perfect fit. Well, I brought a little birthday cheer…sorry it's a bit belated."

Matt winked at Sora and went into the picnic basket, pulling out a cupcake and a birthday candle, setting it on the table beside the bed.

"Hana, this is Sora, a friend of mine since…man, since I was about as old as Sachi."

They exchanged solemn greetings, Sora congratulating her on the new baby.

Out came the guitar again, and Matt played the birthday song for his new family member before playing an American song written from a mother to her children. His cousin nearly started crying.

"It was a beautiful birthday present. Thank you, Matt."

"Aw, no problem, Hana. I'm just sorry T.K. was busy today and couldn't tag along. I'll make sure he sends a card or something."

It was then, as Matt's cousin rocked her newborn, that Sora recognized the look that was in Matt's eyes. It was love.

~*~

"Well, was that a fun little outing?" he questioned wryly as they waited for another elevator.

"It was wonderful. I couldn't help but notice how much older your cousins are than you, though."

Matt smiled. "That's because they're like my third cousins twice removed or something like that. My dad has a pretty extended family."

The elevator doors parted with a clang of steel, like the great jaws of a metal beast. Sora waited for a minute as the gears above started whirring, lowering the car down the shaft.

"Now will you tell me what you said?"

"I think you've waited long enough."

He turned away from the panel of buttons and stared at her, that misty, lovestruck look in his eyes again. Strands of gold fell onto his face, causing him to brush the mischievous hairs back into place with the back of his hand before speaking.

"They all asked if you were my girlfriend, so I told them the truth."

"And that was…?" she prompted.

"Not yet, but I was hoping you would be."

Sora's heart skipped a few beats. He just asked me out.

"You…you…and I…" she stammered, starting to come unglued.

"If you hadn't asked me first, I would have asked you to come today anyways. I love you, and I always have. I'm pretty sure you figured that out, though, because of yesterday."

"That's right…the kiss. I…I love you too. And I'm glad I could be here with you."

Matt wrapped her in a warm embrace, trying not to crack her in the spine with the picnic basket or whack her in the side with the guitar. She kissed him lightly, just as the elevator doors opened.

"If we get married, what relation would Gabumon be to Biyomon?"

"Matt, do we really have to worry about that now?"

"Well, I was just wondering!"

Sora laughed. This was going to be one interesting relationship, but she was certain it would be a strong, loving one.

~*~

See? Inside that hard exterior is a soft, cream-filled interior. Matt's a regular Cadbury Cream Egg!

Great, I'm a cream egg. Lovely.

Don't diss the cream eggs, Ishida. They're super-good.

Uh-huh.

So, tell me what you thought of this lovely bit off fluffiness. I love getting reviews from all of you people…you're so nice to me.