After the final bell rang the students piled out of the front double doors to the freedom that was outside. The three boys joined with Jyou outside their pre-calculus classroom, the senior looking about ready to pass out. Blue-haired Sakura was giggling mirthfully inside her basket.
"Guys," he said curtly. "I suggest reading the book before trying to change your baby's diaper." A trace of a glare escaped his eyes towards the little girl.
At hearing this, Taichi and Yamato paled. Koushiro, on the other hand, smiled knowingly.
"Have either of you seen Mimi?" asked Jyou, looking around the halls.
"Why?" replied a high voice. Mimi, followed by Sora, was walking towards them from the opposite direction. "Do you need me? How's my little Sakura?" She totally ignored Jyou and went ahead with cuddling her baby.
"Okay, Sora," said Yamato. "You get to keep Kenji for the night." He held out the basket and baby bag to the red-haired girl. Jyou followed his friend's actions towards Mimi.
The girls did not take the baskets, instead putting their hands on their hips.
"Oh no, boys," Sora replied, smirking. "We called our parents and made special arrangements." At this both boys raised an eyebrow. "They gave us permission to sleep over at your places every other day. You guys sleep at our apartments on the rest of the days."
At this the boys' eyes widened to three times their size.
"Yeah," Mimi said, the same menacing expression taking over her features. "We don't want to be doing all the work, and we'll make sure you guys do your fair share." She crossed her arms. "I hope you find the couches comfortable."
The blonde and bluenette paled and were speechless.
"Koushiro," Sora faced the redhead. "I think you should set up the same plan with Taichi. With you being much more reliable with Yumi, he'll probably get lazy." Taichi stuck out his tongue at the tennis star.
Koushiro laughed and agreed to it. He left with Taichi towards the school parking lot, leaving Yamato and Jyou to be dragged away by Sora and Mimi. They made their way through the maze of cars to Taichi's old red Toyota. The computer genius always hitched a ride with his older friend to and from school. He lived only about two blocks away from him, so he never hesitated to drive all the way to Koushiro's apartment building to drop him off.
"Maybe we should get a car seat for Yumi," the younger partner suggested. He carefully set the basket in his lap in the passenger's seat at the front.
"I think my mom might have one," Taichi piped. "She might have still kept it after Hikari outgrew it." He received a nod of approval from his friend.
"So where do you think we should stay tonight?" asked Koushiro after finally getting on the road.
"You're actually going along with Sora's idea?" Taichi's eyebrow rose.
"Well sure," the young genius shrugged. "It seems like a logical proposal, don't you think? It's probably better that we stay at your house tonight, since your mom probably has more of the proper equipment for handling young children." He looked over at Taichi, who nodded his head in agreement. Yumi was watching him, smiling, her chocolate-brown eyes shining happily. They headed to Koushiro's apartment building, so that the redhead would pick up sleeping clothes, an extra outfit for the next day and a toothbrush.
While Koushiro was gone, Taichi peered over at Yumi, who was looking around mystified at the interior of the sixteen-year-old's car.
"What do you think Yumi?" he asked the baby in an animated voice. "It's not much, but it gets me places." The baby girl looked at him, eyes widened and confused. She looked up slightly and reached her hand upward as if trying to grasp something.
"What?" asked Taichi. "Do you want me to make funny faces or something?" He took the little girl's pleading expression as a 'yes'. "Okay then." He proceeded to contort his face into a number of odd faces, some requiring the crossing of his eyes or the jutting out of his lip. Each one received the same response; Yumi reaching upward, trying to catch hold of a seemingly invisible object on the inside hood of his car.
He was trying to imitate the expression of a bunny by wiggling his nose and making whiskers out of his fingers, not even noticing Koushiro opening the door to the passenger's side of the Toyota. The redhead's giggle took him out of his sheer concentration.
The brunette put down his hands and looked up at his friend, who was how wearing khaki shorts and a T-shirt and sandals in place of the green and gray that was required of him at school. A backpack carrying his sleepover gear was on his shoulder. His trusty Pineapple laptop was under his arm. An air of relaxation surrounded him.
"Should I even ask what's going on?" giggled the younger digidestined.
"She wants something," Taichi tried to explain, fristrated that he couldn't figure out what on earth she could be asking for. "But I have no idea what. I tried giving her every expression I know, but she still reaches up for something." Yumi was still trying to grasp the invisible object above her and began to whimper for not being able to reach it.
Koushiro looked at his friend, then down at Yumi, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. He picked up the little girl and raised her towards Taichi's head. She laughed as she grasped a lock of his unruly brown hair. The brunette blushed and laughed with the baby. "Is that what you wanted?" he cooed, tickling Yumi's stomach. She laughed even harder.
"See?" smiled Koushiro. "She likes you, too." He placed his things in the back of the car and settled in the passenger's seat.
In a matter of minutes they were at Taichi's apartment complex. Koushiro unloaded his backpack and laptop, while his friend took Yumi's basket and baby bag. They climbed the stairs toward the apartment, and Taichi opened the unlocked door.
"Hikari's home already," the brunette partner said.
"Taichi?" yelled Hikari's voice from the living room. She appeared from behind the couch and instantly squealed with glee. "Ooh! Whose baby?" She crouched down to cuddle the beaming Yumi.
"Ours," replied her brother. She raised her head and questions swirled in her eyes.
"Sex Ed. project," he shrugged. Hikari nodded, confusion wiped from her face. She took the basket from her older brother's hand and brought Yumi with her to the living room. Koushiro set his things in Taichi's bedroom. Having been to his older friend's apartment countless times, he knew his way around the place like a second home. He slipped his sandals off and placed them with Taichi and Hikari's shoes at the front door. Making his way to the living room, he found his friend's younger sister playing with Yumi, who was thoroughly enjoying herself. The brunette was in his room changing out of his school attire.
Taichi soon reappeared in a pair of loose-fitting jeans and a soccer jersey, along with two sodas in his hands. He tossed one to Koushiro.
"Hey Kou," he began after drinking a large gulp of his soft drink. "How do you think Yamato and Jyou are doing at Sora and Mimi's places right now? I wouldn't be surprised if they were praying for dear life in a corner somewhere!" He laughed, imagining Yamato crawled up into a fetal position after attempting to change Kenji's diaper, then having to endure Sora's screaming.
Sora is usually pretty even-tempered, preferring to stay out of arguments, unless someone provoked her. The key word here is "provoke". You just don't provoke Sora. Let's just say it's frightening when she is.
"I have to say I feel more sorry for Jyou," Koushiro laughed. "I can only imagine what Mimi's room might actually look like if her color obsession is pink." The redhead giggled at the thought of Jyou almost having a heart attack at the sight of Mimi's predictably pink room, posters of American celebrities staring at him as he entered the pink war zone.
"Ms. Nakamura paired up Yamato and Jyou with Sora and Mimi?" Hikari interrupted, her fingers still cuddling Yumi's stomach. "Wow, she did a really good job with the pairs!" She stared off dreamily, but the blushing glare on her brother's face cut into her thoughts. "Except for you guys, of course."
Hikari laughed nervously. "How did you guys get paired up anyway?"
"Ms. Nakamura picked our partners randomly," Koushiro explained. "And there were more boys than girls in the class."
"Ah," the young girl nodded. "I see." She looked back at Yumi, then her eyes widened. Her eyes faced the two boys on the couch, then back at the little girl.
Taichi knew where this was going. "Don't say it, Hikari. We know. Sora spotted it and told us already."
His younger sister raised an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders, dismissing the thought.
Their parents soon arrived home from work, surprised that a baby was in their home. Taichi and Koushiro explained to them their project in Sex Ed. class and that Yumi was to be their "daughter" for the next two weeks. Mrs. Yagami was absolutely thrilled that their son was going to learn about responsibility. At this Taichi rolled his eyes.
His mother provided them with a crib and a car seat for the next day.
The night progressed peacefully. Koushiro showed his partner step-by-step how to change Yumi's diaper in the Yagami bathroom. After a good half hour of practice, Taichi had the procedure known like the back of his hand.
"See, if you had simply read the book," Koushiro reminded his friend, "this wouldn't have been so hard in the first place." He shook his head in mock disappointment. "How on earth did you make it through the quiz on diaper-changing last week?"
"I just cheated off Yamato's paper," Taichi shrugged. "Which, come to think of it, is probably the reason why I failed it."
"No kidding," laughed his partner, picking up the baby with her fresh diaper. "Come on, we have to go prepare another bottle of formula for her. It's about time for her to eat."
Taichi settled Yumi in a high chair that his mother had kept since her pregnancy with Hikari. Koushiro had found some baby food in the baby supply bag and handed a small container to his friend, who sat beside the child in the high chair, the computer genius on his other side at the dinner table. With a small spoon, Taichi tried to feed the child the mush from the container.
"I don't know how you people eat this stuff," he grimaced at the small plastic jar, "but it's supposed to be healthy for you, so eat up!"
Yumi resisted the spoonful of food, keeping her mouth firmly shut and turning her face away from, but finally Taichi shoved the small spoon into her mouth.
However, she didn't swallow.
The digidestined didn't notice though; he was too proud of his accomplishment. That is, until he was sprayed by the little girl and was covered in mashed green peas. She laughed at him, clapping her hands together. His family and Koushiro had joined in the laughter directed at the spectacle at the dinner table. He glared at the gigging baby.
"Finally!" burst Mr. Yagami. "Revenge for you spitting on me every time I fed you as a baby!" He couldn't suppress his laughter. Indeed, as a baby Taichi had been a nightmare to feed, his father having to endure each feeding time, only to have half the baby food on himself and the rest splattered all over the baby's face and chest. "Hope you get used to being covered in food, son. This will be happening quite often."
"Gee, thanks for he advice, Dad," the defeated teen grumbled, scowling.
"Here, Tai," Koushiro offered, trying to keep a straight face. "Let me handle this." They switched seats as he took a spoonful of the baby food. Yumi obediently accepted the mush, gulping it down and waiting for more. She smiled at her redhead "parent".
"Okay," scowled the brunette. "Now I'm convinced that either she likes you more or just likes to watch me suffer." He pouted. "You're just like Jyou's Sakura."
"Well," his younger friend replied. "Yumi does like your hair." Hikari giggled at this.
"Yay. I'm thrilled."
Dinner passed, and Taichi took a quick shower to wash the mush from his body. He found Yumi asleep in the crib beside his bed and Koushiro working on his homework at his desk.
"Oh hey," whispered the younger teen. "I just finished filling out today's log in the packet. I was thinking we should alternate days to fill them out."
"Sure," agreed Taichi, toweling off his hair. Both boys were in sleeping clothes.
A phone ring in the bedroom shattered the silence. The brunette lunged at his phone and picked it up, whispering a harsh "hello" into the receiver. To his relief Yumi had not awakened at the loud ringing.
"Taichi!" cried a cracking voice at the other end. "Thank God you're there!"
"Yamato?" A smile curled onto his lips.
"Yes!" He sounded exasperated. "Please, you and Koushiro need to come to Sora's right now! She and her mom have gone mad with the baby! I can't change Kenji's diaper, and I got slapped for failing the diaper-changing quiz! SORA SLAPPED ME!"
Taichi was holding the phone away from his ear. Yamato's screaming was a bit loud. Koushiro even heard it, judging by the way he had snorted in response to his friend's crying. "Sorry, dude," replied the brunette coolly. "Yumi's already asleep, and I wouldn't want to wake her."
"No! Taichi! You…" he hung up the phone, clutching his stomach in repressed laughter.
Three seconds later, the phone rang once more, Taichi once again picking it up.
"Yes?" He was expecting Yamato.
"So…much…pink…" said the frozen voice. A baby was wailing in the background, as well as Mimi's high-pitched screech.
"Jyou?" Taichi's eyes widened.
"…Pink…get me away from here…" Jyou sounded as if he were on the brink of tears.
"Okay, Jyou, listen to me very closely," he consoled his older friend. "Whatever you do, don't insult the color pink. Whatever you do! Don't. Do. It. Got that? I'll see you tomorrow." Taichi hung up the phone. Beside him, Koushiro was trying his best to stifle his giggles.
"All I can say is poor Jyou and Yamato," he whispered.
The redhead
nodded in gleeful agreement. He set up his sleeping bag on the floor
beside his partner's bed and curled up inside.
"We
should be getting to sleep now," he yawned. "See you in the
morning Taichi. Goodnight Yumi."
"Yeah, goodnight Yumi." Taichi was getting extremely drowsy. "Goodnight Kou." Letting out one last yawn, he took a final look at the baby girl in the crib and his friend on the floor before crawling into bed and drifting into a deep slumber.
That is, until Yumi's wailing was heard nearly two hours later.
