Summary: It came to her in a dream. Yes; it came to her during the deepest stage of her sleep, causing her to toss and turn uncomfortably in the humid summer night air. "Taiki…" Akari murmured, turning in her sleep. "Why?"

Timeframe: This fanfic correlates to the happenings in episode 34 - "Don't Die, Greymon! Shoutmon DX is Born"

Disclaimer: This is called fanfiction for a reason. I do not own any part of the Digimon franchise, not even Xros Wars; if I did, Taiki x Akari would definitely be canon along with Takeru x Hikari and Taichi x Sora. Just saying.

Particularly Special

Akari-incognito

It came to her in a dream.

Yes; it came to her during the deepest stage of her sleep, causing her to toss and turn uncomfortably in the humid summer night air. Terrible images of her childhood best friend Taiki Kudou and her recent friend Nene Amano fleeing from a horde of zombie LadyDevimon filled her dream-vision. That alone was enough to make anybody cringe, but a certain small detail did not go unnoticed by 12-year-old Akari Hinomoto's hawk-like vision: her beloved Taiki was grasping tightly onto Nene's hand as they fought to escape.

"Taiki…" Akari murmured, turning in her sleep. "Why?"

"Now, the American system of currency is obviously different from ours. First off, their lowest whole unit of money is the dollar…"

Akari's thoughts wandered away from today's lesson on American currency to the dream that came to her last night.

Why, she thought frantically to herself, why why why?

The logical answer was so simple: Taiki could never turn his back on anyone. Akari was sure that was the case, but why couldn't she get rid of this sinking feeling in her stomach?

Besides, it was only a drea—She frowned. No, a nightmare, she corrected herself.

Or was it? How could she be so sure that this scene didn't actually happen and some sprite purposely showed it to her to give her an idea of what was going on in the Digital World while she and Zenjirou were forced to carry on with their lives in the real world? (She still resented Omegamon's pitiful lack of power for that.) It was possible, but she quickly dismissed this thought because the sight of Taiki holding onto another girl's hand was too much for her 12-year-old hormones. She sighed, letting her cheek rest on her right hand and stared out the window.

If that were true though…She glared at a bird flying past the window. No! No no no no! Stop thinking like that, Akari!

"Hinomoto!"

Akari immediately turned her attention towards the chalkboard and stood up with a sheepish expression. "Y-yes, Tanaka-sensei?"

"What is the American unit of coin called?"

Akari mentally slapped herself for not paying attention to the boring lecture. Somewhere in the classroom, someone sneezed out a "Sento!" but she wasn't sure she heard correctly. Sentou? Like combat? No, that couldn't be right.

"Uhh…I don't know. I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Hmph! Pay attention next time! If I have to call you out one more time, you owe me a page on the American system of currency!" Tanaka-sensei frowned at Akari. "You may sit down now."

The redhead sat down and almost immediately, her thoughts wandered back to her dream.

If that were true though…

She was always afraid to admit this to herself, but deep down, she knew that she wasn't anyone particularly special to Taiki. Sure, they were childhood best friends and all, but she wasn't that one girl that was special to him. But...he did take care to protect her when they and Zenjirou were stuck in Digital World for a while. Akari smiled to herself as she started reliving her precious memories with Taiki in the Digital World. When the trio had accidentally wandered into MadLeomon's army in the forest, Taiki took her by the hand (like he did with Nene in the dream) and ran with her; he took care to hide her behind that tree (only to be ruined when Zenjirou tried to hide with them). When DeathMeramon tried to attack her and Cutemon, Taiki jumped in front of them to protect them from harm (to which Akari still never forgave herself for being so useless and the direct reason why he got hurt). When everyone was falling through that hole in the Sweets Zone, he clutched tightly onto her hand to keep her close by and safe. He was always impulsively sticking out his arm or holding her close to him in an attempt to shield her from whatever danger that was approaching. Yes; it always made Akari feel all warm and bubbly inside whenever Taiki took care to protect her. It made her feel as though she was the only girl in his life, or at least, the only girl that mattered.

But deep down, she knew this wasn't the case; she knew that if it were some other girl in the same situation, that girl would have gotten the same "royal" treatment from Taiki simply because he could never turn his back on anyone. Her smile faltered. She just happened to be the fortunate one who got sucked into the Digital World along with Taiki; she just happened to be in the right place at the right time. She knew all of this, but was so afraid to admit it to herself.

Seeing Taiki now, acting as Nene's knight in shining armor, only made it worse.

Not only did she have to admit her unimportant status to herself, but she was also forced to witness it firsthand. And what hurt the most was that Nene was her good friend; there was no "Back off, you slut!" to lean upon because Nene was a respectable girl and one that Akari would feel extremely guilty hurting if she ever dared called her by such names.

Ahh. She felt a headache coming on. She squinted up at the chalkboard. Her vision was getting somewhat blurry. No, not because of tears, she convinced herself. Perhaps she needed glasses.

Okay, focus now. The American unit of the coin is the sentou. Like combat. There's really no need to put so much though into a silly little nightmare anyway.

Because after all, she wasn't anyone particularly special to Taiki.

A/N: So uh yeah. Here you are at the end of my fic. It's been years since I last wrote one, so I hope I haven't gotten too rusty! This one is so full of angst I can't believe this came out of my mind… ._.

Okay, so some things to clear up:

-The "sento/sentou" thing: "Sento" is how you spell/pronounce "cent" in Japanese. I guess it's possible to confuse it with "sentou," which means "combat." I totally ripped this off of an episode of Keroro Gunsou, by the way, if it sounds at all familiar.

-YES I DO BELIEVE THAT TAIKI LIKES AKARI. Yes yes yes yes yessssssssss. But Akari supposedly doesn't know that and apparently lacks self-esteem (in this fic anyway lol), so that's why her thoughts are so angsty.

-I am aware that the time flow between the Digital World and the real world is different…but in order to make this fic more dramatic, let's just pretend that the time flow synchronized after the Bagra army took over, okay?

Okay, I'm done spamming with my annoying comments. Hope you all enjoyed this fic and please R/R! (Lol if you hardcore flame like "zOMG u suck go kut urself," I will post it on Tumblr for the lulz and everyone will laugh at you. So even if you didn't like my story, please be respectful :D)