Disclaimer: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02 and Digimon
Disclaimer: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02 and Digimon: Tamers belong to Bandai and Takato's Light is a story idea belonging to creepingshadow. I merely adopted the story and am currently writing the story for him.
Author's Notes: Hi Everyone! Thanks for all the support in the first chapter. I'm really glad that so many people enjoyed the chapter even though it was my first real attempt at writing a high school romance fic. To those of you who disliked the story and decided to spam my email with flames, I would like to say: FUCK OFF! I will not write a TakeruxHikari just because you don't like the story's pairing. If you really want a TakeruxHikari then go look for some in the search menu. Or better yet, write your own fan fiction. I suggest you learn how to write first since your emails suggest you have a third grade education. To those of you who loved the story, thanks and I hope you continue to enjoy reading this story all the way to the end. Since Takato's Light hit off better than I expected it would, I decided to give the story a monthly update schedule so that it wouldn't conflict with the update schedule for Oyabun. For those of you still waiting for an update from YinYang, please be patient. The story will update after I have resolved some technical issues with my computer's hard drive. Once it is resolved, there will be an update. And now, I want to respond to those of you who reviewed:
Alamodie: I'm glad you liked the story and I hope you become a frequent reader. Yes, lockers do have locks but remember: It was Daisuke's old locker. That's how he was putting garbage in it. Yes it is a weird bell, but I can't say I know how bells work in Japanese Schools, so I made a guess. Yes, I know it is long but I don't really care that much. Just call me: leo.
Theban118: Thank you for your very kind compliments. To be honest, Creepingshadow proposed this story to me a long time ago. I had only watched the first season at the time so I had to find the episodes of Adventure 02 and Tamers to get the characters just right. I don't think I nailed Miyako right, but whose counting?
Creepingshadow: Don't worry about repaying me, I'm just happy to be of help.
Zwig: Well I'm happy you found my story. I'm not familiar with this genre, so I'm happy that people like you are happy with it the way it is. I hope I can write further chapters to your liking and that you will become a frequent reader.
Pokeme: Thank you.
Dapster: I haven't entirely worked out the full details but I can assure you that the story will be centered around their high school interactions. Despite that, these characters are still digidestined and their digimon will still be an important part of the story.
Pokejim: I intend to update as often as I can. Don't worry though, the story will not forget our favorite digi'mon.
Battosai25: Thanks for the review. I intend to focus the story around Hikari and Takato mostly but I may show it from a third perspective depending on the situation.
Charlotte: Wait no more, for your update is here!
Takato's Light
Chapter 2: The First Impressions
(As seen from Hikari's Perspective)
Hikari sat at her desk, viewing the photos she had saved onto her camera. She was intently admiring a photo she had taken during their last day in the digital world several years ago, when there were only eight chosen children. Surrounding the eight children were each of their digimon partners and several other digimon. What got her the most was how much each of the digi destined changed over the years. Each of them seemed to have gone their separate ways now that they were done with High school, and it felt like the last remnants of the Japanese digidestined were herself, Takeru, Daisuke, Iori, Ken and Miyako.
She smiled weakly when she thought about how many adventures they had when they were still the digidestined. It seemed like those days were so long ago, like a long forgotten memory that seemed like a dream. But dreams were the same thing as imagination. No matter how hard you wanted to believe, it would never be real. The only proof of its existence was in your memories. This wasn't a product of her imagination or a dream. That photo was living evidence that it happened. Perhaps the only evidence.
The original digidestined were not as close as they used to be so long ago. Most of them had gone their separate ways, with rare occasions where they would bump into each other or have reunions. It worried her. Would the same thing happened when she was as old as her brother? Would she be so caught up in her own work that she would slowly lose her friends? She whimpered at the thought but was able to bring herself under in time to see Takeru take his seat in the desk beside her. The last thing she wanted was for him to be worried.
"Hi TK," she greeted. TK smiled, "Hey. Are you excited?"
"Yep," she answered, "It's been so long since all twelve of us were back together."
She fell silent, not realizing that Takeru was giving her a worried look. This weekend was the planned reunion of the eight original digidestined plus the four new digidestined. Everyone had promised to be there. Everyone but one Yagami Taichi. In truth, she was worried for her brother. How long had it been she had last seen him? How many months had gone without so much as a letter or an email? He made one phone call, apologizing to her and their parents because he had been wrapped in his projects and assignments, but there was no sincerity in his voice. It hurt her. Why was he being so distant? He was supposed to be her brother and even she couldn't understand him. It was like he was trying to isolate himself, to place as much distance between himself and his friends.
"Hikari?" Takeru said. Hikari realized that Takeru's hand was on hers, and that he was looking at her comfortingly, "Don't worry. I'm sure Taichi will be there."
"Do you think so?" Hikari asked. Takeru nodded, "Yeah."
"Hey Takeru!" Miyako said, appearing at the door and taking her seat at the desk in front of TK's. Takeru quickly pulled his hand away from Hikari's.
"So TK," Miyako began, "Who was that guy you and Daisuke were talking to? Is he new? I've never seen him in the school."
"Oh him…I think his name was Takato," Takeru answered, "He's new here so Daisuke was going to give him the grand tour before I showed up. You girls will meet him at lunch. Daisuke invited him to the table."
"He was kind of cute," Miyako said, her cheeks turning a deep shade of pink which made Hikari giggle. Miyako had taken on a good portion of Mimi's personality since the start of the semester, including the part where she ogled all the cute boys in the school. Ken, who enrolled in their school to be with Miyako, was the only person who didn't seem even slightly bothered by it. On the contrary, Ken was perfectly fine with it since he knew many girls ogled him when he wasn't looking. Ken reasoned that since so many girls ogled him that it would be okay if Miyako ogled other boys as long as she never did it around Ken. This proved easy for Miyako, since her eyes were never off Ken whenever he was around her.
Theirs was a relationship no one could ever hope to understand. But at least Miyako had a stable relationship, which was far from what Hikari could say. She couldn't say she really liked anyone beyond the idea of a friend. There was Takeru but that was a long dead crush. Maybe at some point it could have been a possibility, but that was a long time ago. They had been honest with each at the end of junior high but at that point they had become too close. They were almost like and siblings at that time. It would have been too awkward. Besides Hikari was content with things the way they were. She really liked TK, just more as a brother. Like the one Taichi had suddenly become too busy to be.
DONG! DING!
The second bell rang, signaling the start of the first class of the day.
………………
(As seen from Takato's Perspective)
Takato walked into the lunch room, standing awkwardly at the door and scanning the room for any sign of either Daisuke or TK. To his dismay, the mass of students gathered to buy food made it hard to see where they were. Takato decided to wander around the room, hoping to find them. Unfortunately, people were taking their seats quickly and talking with their friends animatedly. Takato panicked. He needed to find them fast or he would look like some kind of idiot. He looked around one last time before deciding they were not in that section of the room. Walking quickly, Takato went to another part of the giant room.
He breathed a sigh of relief, as he saw TK sitting at a table in the center of the room talking with three others:
The first was a girl with short brunette hair dressed in a pink tank top and matching fingerless gloves that ran up to her shoulders. She wore yellow shorts that were held up by a loose brown belt. Perhaps the most distinguishing part of her appearance was the camera that hung from around her neck and the hair clip that held her hair up. If Takato didn't know any better, he would have sworn that he was looking at Jeri with shorter hair. Takato had to rub his eyes to prove to himself that he wasn't looking at her. As much as he wanted to believe that Jeri was sitting right in front of him, he knew it was impossible. When Takato opened his eyes again, he saw for himself that it was not Jeri but was in fact another girl entirely.
Beside her was another girl with long, flowing purple hair that came to a stop at her waist. She wore a white turtle necked sweater over a red dress that ran all the way down to her legs past her knees. She wore a pair of orange sneakers on her feet and purple socks that ran up and disappeared past her legs.
She eyed a boy across the table with shoulder length dark blue hair. The boy didn't seem to notice this at all and instead focused his attention on TK. Even weirder was his attire, which consisted of the gray slacks and white dress shirt of a private school. Despite his misplaced appearance, the boy seemed quite at ease despite the heavy stares he was receiving from the nearby girls. In fact, he seemed completely oblivious to the many faces that were watching him.
Just then, a hand fell on Takato's shoulder. Takato spun around to see Daisuke looking at him happily, "Hey, there you are. Sorry, I forgot to tell you where we sat at during lunch."
"Don't worry about it," Takato answered, relieved to at least see a familiar face. Daisuke scratched the back of his head, "Okay. Come on, I'll introduce you to them."
Daisuke boldly took the lead, with Takato in tow behind him, towards the table. As if his goal was to draw as much attention to himself as possible, Daisuke slammed a hand on the table and said, "HEY GUYS!"
"Way to make an entrance Daisuke," the purple haired girl said rolling her eyes until they came to a stop on Takato. Her eyes lit up and she jumped out of her seat, "Hi, I'm Miyako! You must be Takato."
"Eh…hi Miyako," Takato said, leaning back because of how uncomfortably close Miyako was. She held her hand out to shake Takato's but pulled back instantaneously. Takato raised an eyebrow as she sat back down, her face turning a very bright red, "Sorry about that, I got carried away."
"It's alright," Takato answered sheepishly, while everyone else laughed. The blue haired boy stood up next, with his arm stretched out across the table. The two shook hands before the boy introduced himself, "Hi Takato, My name is Ken Ichijouji."
"You don't happen to mean former boy genius Ken Ichijoji, do you?" Takato asked. The smile of Ken's face disappeared, replaced by anguish, "Sure, if you want to say that."
"Eh…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or anything. I was just asking. You understand, right?" Takato said apologetically, throwing his hands up in the air. Ken shook his head and smiled, "No it's alright. I just don't like being thought of as the boy genius anymore."
"Oh," Takato answered in surprise, "Why not?"
"There are just some things I want to put behind me, okay?" Ken said agitatedly. Takato was taken aback by the tone of Ken's voice. Way to go Takato, he thought to himself, You made him angry on your first day. Some first impression you're making.Wanting to change the subject, Takato asked, "So why are you wearing a school uniform?"
"Well, you see I used to go to a private school before I transferred to Odaiba," Ken answered, "And I was so used to wearing my old school's uniform that I just wear it to school now."
"Wow, that's cool," Takato said in surprise.
"Wait, Ken used to go to a private school?" Daisuke interrupted, which resulted in groans from Miyako, Takeru, Ken, and the Jeri look-alike. The brunette said to Daisuke, "Why else do you think he would have that uniform Daisuke?"
"Oh yeah!" Daisuke said in surprise. He wrapped his arm around the brunette girl and happily announce, "Takato I'd like you to meet my girl, Yagami Hikari."
"What do you mean by your girl Daisuke?" Hikari said through a piercing gaze. Daisuke immediately let her go and said, "Oh…you know, nothing in particular."
"Anyway, it's nice to meet you Takato," Hikari said. She reached out to shake Takato's hand. Just as their hands met, a sudden electric shock forced the two to contract their hands. A numbing, tingling sensation ran through Takato's arm. What was that just now, Takato thought to himself as he slowly regained feeling in his arm. When he finally regained all the feeling in his arm, he realized that everyone was looking from him to Hikari and back.
"What?" Takato asked, befuddled.
"Nothing," everyone but Hikari sang in unison.
………………
(As seen from Hikari's Perspective)
After school that day, Hikari was walking home with Miyako to pick up Iori who was still in Junior High. Normally, Hikari enjoyed these walks with Miyako since it served as the time when she and Miyako could talk freely about the boys in the school. Unfortunately, today was different since Miyako was bothering Hikari about the incident in the lunch room.
"So why was your face red the rest of the day?" Miyako asked for what felt like the hudrendth time.
"No reason," HIkari answered weakly, "it's just very hot today. That's all."
"Are you kidding?" Miyako responded, "It's spring and we're wearing jackets. Just admit it, you thought he was cute."
At that remark, Hikari's face flushed, "What? I don't like him, Miyako."
"I never said you did," Miyako responded, "I just said you think he's cute. When you put it like that, it looks like you do like him. I mean look at yourself. You're as red as a tomato."
"Can we drop the subject, please?" Hikari pleaded. She really didn't want to think about Takato at that moment. While it may have been a better alternative to sulking about her distant her brother had become, it was still not a subject she was comfortable talking about. What did Miyako care about who Hikari liked? It's not like Miyako needed to know about her love life. That was Hikari's private business. It's not like she butted into MIyako and Ken's relationship.
"Oh come on Hikari," Miyako said, "What's wrong?"
"I just don"t want to talk about it, okay?" Hikari said, not realizingly how angry she sounded. As she kept walking, it occurred to her that Miyako was no longer right beside her. She looked back to see her standing some feet back, "Hikari, is everything alright? I've never seen you so worked up before.
"I'm sorry Miyako," Hikari apologized, "I guess I'm just a little worried about Taichi."
"You think he might not show up?" Miyako asked more than said. Hikari nodded, "He hasn't called in months, he doesn't write us any letter or emails. Its like he disappeared."
"He's probably busy with college," Miyako said patronizingly, "It's waht happened to my siblings when they went to college."
"But Tai was never like that," Hikari pointed out, "You know how he gets. He doesn't like it when me or our parents worry. He would never do anything to let that happen. We've tried calling him, but he never anwsers. He won't respond to our emails. It's like he doesn't want anything to do with us. It's..."
Hikari didn't know it, but her eyes had become wet with tears. Feeling theem about to burst out of her eyes, she blinked furiously to force them back. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her, "Don't cry Hikari. It's not your fault. You have every right to be worried. I'll you what, why don't we head over there tommorrow. It is a weekend."
Hikari didn't answer instead, burying her face in Miyako's shoulder. MIyako patted her gently, "I'll tell you what. The new bakery that just opened up is down the street and Iori doesn't get out of school for another fifteen minutes. Why don't we get some hot chocolate and warm ourselves up?"
Hikari, sounding childish, sniffled, "O...okay."
...
(As seen from Takato's Perspective)
Takato wrapped the apron around his waist as soon as he came down from his room, "I'm back from school!"
"Hi Takato!" his mother said happilly, "Could you give me a hand with the rolls? They were supposed to be in the display case but your father had to run out and get some more ingredients from the dough. We ran out and it's not even our second day."
"Sure thing," Takato said quietly, grabbing a tray of wheat rolls from the counter and walking them to the front of the store to place them in the window case. He started stacking them like a pyramid to add appeal to the bread. It was a trick his parents had taught him when he had first started in the bakery: Image is EVERYTHING! If it doesn't look good, it won't sell. Naturally, from having grown up in a bakery, Takato had learned several tricks to make his parent's bread look more appealing than the competitors. For some reason, stacking the hard rolls like buildings almost managed to draw the crowd's eye a lot better than just placing it on a shelf with twelve others like it. Similarly, using corn meal as topping also worked because of its flavor and granulated nature which gave the bread a light and flaky texture.
It was just another perk of having bakers for parents. Takato's favorite perk, out of all the ones he'd had so far, was the free baked pastries and bread. Of course most of that went to his partner Guilmon because of his near insatiable appetite. Not that Takato complained about it. On the contrary, he thought it was funny that Guilmon almost always seemed to conclude that all food was bread and that it was good. Takato sighed at the memory.
How long had it been since he last saw his partner? Two...maybe three years? It had been so long ago that Takato had forgotten. What kind of tamer was he that he couldn't even remember the last time that he saw his own partner? Worse yet that he made almost no effort to find him. Takato had almost instantaneously given up after the battle with the D-Reaper and the seperation of the Digital and Real Worlds. The bell rang as the door came open and, instinctually, Takato smiled at the entrants, "Hello! Welcome to the Matsuda Family Bakery. How may I help you?"
"Oh Hi! It was Takato, right?" said an enthusiastic Miyako, accompanied by a rather down trodden Hikari. Surprise had completely overwhelmed Takato, "Oh, hi Miyako, Hikari."
"Hi," Hikari replied sheepishly. Her eyes were a slight pink, as if she were crying. Takato, who was always sensitive to these kind of things, was compelled to ask, "What's wrong?"
"Oh? It's nothing," Hikari said, her gaze slowly drifting to the floor. Before Takato could press the matter any further, his mom called from within the bakery, "Is everything alright Takato?"
"Yeah mom!" Takato called into the back, "So what can I do for you two?"
"Actually, we were wondering if you guys sold hot chocolate," Miyako pointed out, "It's a little chilly outside so we were hoping to get something that could warm us up a little bit."
"Okay sure, let me just get some from around back," Takato answered, walking into the kitchen behind the bakery to boil some water. As the kettle of water was being warmed, Takato went through the cupboards to find the cocoa mix. After a few minutes, Takato returned to the front with two steaming cups of chocolate, "The chocolates ready."
"Okay thanks," Miyako said, taking her cup and bringing it to her lips. Hikari hesitated at first but finally took her cup although she did not immediately start drinking it. Takato sensed her hesitation and asked, 'Is something wrong?"
"Huh? Oh no," Hikari said rather distantly, "I was just thinking."
"Well if you say so," Takato said. Hikari was avoiding something, but Takato didn't know what. It troubled him to see her like this. Mostly because looking at her reminded him too much of Jeri, which was disturbing enough as it was. In a way, it was heart wrenching, not because she was upset, but because looking at her reminded Takato of Jeri. But no matter how much she looked like Jeri, Takato knew she would never be Jeri. It was ludicrous to even think that way. Jeri was the only one for Takato, and that was that was that. There was nothing more to it. In fact, Takato should hurt himself for even thinking like that. It was ridiculous.
"So what's the total come to?" Miyako asked. Takato, revived from his daze, shook his head and said, "Oh that? Don't worry about it. It's on the house."
"Thanks! If you ever need anything just ask, okay?" Miyako said happilly. The two girls left the bakery, one cheerful and the other slightly uplifted, leaving a rather bewildered Takato. Why would he do that? He had no money to pay for that and money was really tight around the bakery. Was he off his rocker.
"It's nice to see you making friends," his mother suddenly said, appearing at the door way, "So, what do you think of that Hikari? She's pretty cute."
"MOM!" Takato replied, his face turning a bright shade of red. His mother only giggled and walked back into the bakery, 'See I told you you'd make new friends. Who knows? You might even get together with that Hikari girl!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Takato growled. His mother then said something which she would later regret, "Well, you know how far away it is to Jeri's house and your father and I have no time to chauffeur you whenever you want. It's time to move on! Meet new people, make new friends, and find new loves!"
Takato, not wanting to hear another word, ran out the door in a sudden burst of speed. Before he closed the door, he heard his mother say, "TAKATO! WAIT I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!"
It was too late. Takato was long gone.
...
Author's Notes: Alas, I must end this chapter of Takato's Light. But Fear not, the next chapter will appear on Friday August 8th. If you loved the story, let me know in the reviews section. Since this is also a new genre for me, I will accept constructive criticism. Until next time, this is leonardo1123581321 signing out!