I do not own InuYasha or Digimon Adventure in any way!
Speech Key:
"The" – Oral/Normal Speech
'The' – Thoughts
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE BEGINNING!
AN: This'll probably sound a bit choppy, but I'm sick and I'm a little out of it…So please forgive me if there are any errors of any sort!
Oh and there's going to be a little something with Kagome and Mimi towards the end and it probably won't make too much sense (it sounded waaaaaay easier in my head). Anyway, I'm trying to make it so that Mimi's personality is slightly altered to where she's not much of an airhead, though she seems to have mellowed some. Anywho, my brother gave me an idea and I decided to incorporate it in, and hopefully I did his suggestion justice.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
Review, but if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all!
-The Ninth Child-
xX-Time Off-Xx
-Hamasaki Academy-
Kagome sat quietly in class taking notes as her teacher spoke about Japan's Feudal Era to review for their next quiz.
After what had happened the other day with her visions about Gabumon, Matt had made sure to inform everyone, the new and old DigiDestined about what had happened so that if any of them were near, they could at least help her.
Tai wasn't too happy to find that his sister had been and would be in pain from the visions that had helped them, but knew there wasn't much that anyone could do but be there for the raven-haired girl.
'I wonder, though,' Kagome thought as her pencil continued to move across her notebook paper, 'how on earth is that Digimon Emperor able to be in the Digital World without making anyone, least of all his family, suspicious of his absences? I just hope nothing bad happens today…I really need some rest…'
Unfortunately, as if on cue, Kagome sat up straight, her pencil falling from her fingers, when she felt a violet jolt pass through her body.
Matt looked over at the raven-haired girl worriedly and watched as her eyes grew wide with shock before she fell to the floor, unconscious. "Kagome!"
"What's going on back there?" Mr. Jirou Matsumoto asked sternly.
"Kagome's collapsed!" Matt told the teacher, going down on the floor to rest the girl's head on his lap.
"What?!" Mr. Matsumoto looked alarmed as he rushed over to where the blonde and raven-haired teens were. He took Kagome's wrist and placed two fingers on it, feeling for a pulse.
"Her pulse is weak," Mr. Matsumoto frowned, "And she's out cold…" He looked at Matt. "Do you know what could have happened?"
Matt shook his head, not bothering to answer; he was too worried about Kagome's condition to do so.
"All right," Mr. Matsumoto nodded. "Matt, go on and take Kagome to the Infirmary, but don't dally around in there."
"Right," Matt said as he carefully picked Kagome up bridal-style and took her bag from another student that had packed up her things before going out the door.
'It must've been another vision,' Matt thought as he looked down at the girl in his arms, his feet moving towards the Infirmary. 'But she's not crying out in pain like last time, why?'
However, Matt it seemed had that thought a moment too soon because it was then that Kagome started twitching in his arms, whimpering in pain, giving an occasional cry now and then. "Me and my big mouth…" Matt muttered as he quickened his pace. 'How the heck am I supposed to explain this to the nurse?' He glanced down at Kagome and frowned. 'Hold on just a little longer, Kagome…'
Luckily, by the time they'd reached the Infirmary, Kagome's cries and whimpers had died down and the girl was presently shivering in his arms, face flushed slightly.
"Oh my!" the nurse, Mrs. Akiyama, exclaimed. "What on earth happened?!"
The~Ninth~Child
The nurse was a kind-looking slightly plump woman. She had light-peach complexion, and light-auburn hair with strands of grey running through it, and a pair of bright hazel eyes.
She wore a standing white lab coat over a knee-length floral printed dress, a pair of nude stockings and practical black flats.
The~Ninth~Child
"She just collapsed in class," Matt explained quickly.
"Well set her down and I'll take a look at her," the nurse ordered, bustling over to her work station to gather a thermometer and whatever else she'd need.
Matt did as he was told and set Kagome down in the nearest empty bed there was before taking a seat in a chair beside it.
The blonde watched as the nurse pried open Kagome's mouth and stuck the thermometer under her tongue before taking her wrist in her hand and, as Mr. Matstumoto had done, took her pulse.
"Weak pulse," she muttered just as the thermometre beeped. She took out the device and glanced at the number before shaking her head. "High temperature," she looked down at Kagome's trembling and unconscious body, "signs of shock?"
"Just what has this girl been doing?" the nurse asked Matt.
"I don't know," Matt shook his head, trying not to let it show that he was lying through his teeth. "I think her brother mentioned something about her not getting enough sleep lately…"
"Well, that shouldn't have been enough to cause this!" Mrs. Akiyama shook her head. She fetched a bowl of cool water and a cloth. She dipped the cloth into the water and placed it over Kagome's forehead to reduce the raven-haired girl's temperature, even if a bit.
The blonde teen sat by his friend, watching worriedly as the nurse treated the girl. Only when Mrs. Akiyama left to her desk did he hear what Kagome seemed to be mumbling unconsciously.
"Gizamon…Gomamon…hurt…Emperor…" was all Matt could hear.
"Man oh man, this is bad," Matt shook his head. He glanced around to see if anyone was watching before taking out his D-Terminal and punching in a message to send over to Joe as it was his partner that Kagome had mentioned. 'Garurumon was right…But if these visions keep going on like this, what'll happen to Kagome?'
"Here," Mrs. Akiyama came back with a small slip in her hand. "Give this to your teacher; it'll excuse her from class for today and tomorrow. Her parents will just need to call in if she's going to be out for any longer than that." She looked worriedly at the teen. 'And I have a feeling it'll end up being that way…'
"Okay," Matt nodded, taking the slip and getting ready to go back to class.
"You mentioned she had a brother?" The nurse stopped the blonde.
"Yeah," Matt answered. "He's the same age as her, but in a different class."
"Name?" she asked.
"Tai Kamiya, and that's Kagome Kamiya," Matt answered.
"Thank you," Mrs. Akiyama nodded, going back to her desk. "You may return to class."
Matt only nodded before looking down at the unconscious girl and squeezed her hand before leaving the room altogether.
"Kagome…" Kudamon whispered, sticking his head out of his partner's sleeve just a bit, before retreating back before the nurse saw him.
Not even ten minutes later saw Tai Kamiya bursting into Infirmary. "Where is she? Is she okay? What's wrong with her? Can—"
"Young man, you calm down this instant!" The nurse scolded.
Tai went silent immediately.
"Now, your sister's got a bit of a fever and she seemed to have gone into shock, but that's passed by now," Mrs. Akiyama reported. "I've called you down to alert you of the situation and to tell you that your parents should be by to pick her up in a bit."
"Can't I go home with her, too?" Tai pleaded.
The nurse's eyes softened. "I normally wouldn't do this for any student, but I'll excuse you from class today to go home with your sister. In the meantime, why don't you get the work she'll be missing today."
Tai nodded and cast a glance at his sister before leaving to do as the elder woman ordered.
"It's rare to see that nowadays," Mrs. Akiyama whispered, "One sibling so protective of another to the point where he'd do anything to stay by their side." She looked down at Kagome. "You're a very lucky girl, my dear…"
-Kamiya Residence-
"Where am I?" Kagome said hoarsely, looking up at the pale-blue ceiling.
"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty," a voice chuckled.
Kagome glanced in the direction of the voice and saw Tai sitting at the desk, books and notebooks open, indicating that he'd been doing his homework before he'd spoken. "Tai? What happened?"
"Here," he handed his sister a glass of water to clear her throat. "You collapsed in class and Matt brought you in to the Infirmary." The brown-haired teen adopted a serious look on his face. "You had another vision like the one with Gabumon the other day."
'I did?' Kagome blinked as the images slowly came back to her. "I guess I did."
"The nurse said that you went into shock at first," Tai whispered angrily so their parents wouldn't hear. "Shock! Do you know how worried Mom and Dad were? Do you know how worried I was? How worriedKari'll be?"
"Enough," Kudamon spoke up, "Kagome never planned for this to happen! She must have Seen something that caused such a reaction!"
"What did you see, anyway?" Tai asked, calming down slightly.
Kagome spoke quietly so as to avoid bursting into tears as she had the last time. "The Digimon Emperor, he was working the poor Gizamon so hard! Gomamon was only trying to help, but he got hurt when he did! The last thing I saw was the Gizamon attacking Gomamon and Gomamon padding his way through the snow…"
"That guy is really starting to get on my nerves!" Tai clenched his fists tightly.
"I'm home!" the siblings heard their younger sister from the hall before hearing a quick thudding, signaling that the young girl was now running, and towards them at that.
As if on cue, the door to the bedroom slammed open as Kari ran in, a frantic look on her face. "Oh no, what happened?" She ran over to sit by Kagome and looked to her siblings for an answer, Gatomon right beside her.
"Do you remember what Matt told us the other day?" Tai asked. "About Kagome's vision?"
Kari nodded slowly, not understanding at first. But soon, her eyes grew wide when she realized just what had happened. "It was another vision, then?" Kari said quietly.
Kagome nodded.
"What was it about?" the young girl asked hesitantly.
Tai told his sister of the vision, not wanting his sister to stress herself over what she'd seen. By the end, Kari was just about in tears.
"What happened today?" Tai asked.
And with that, Kari relayed the day's events of how Joe had come with them to the Digital World and how they'd destroyed one more Control Spire after a few bumps along the way.
Before anyone could respond, Kagome's mother came in with a tray of food. The fox-like Digimon quickly zipped under Kagome's covers to avoid being seen.
"Oh thank goodness you're awake!" Airi Kamiya placed the tray onto the now clean desk, Tai having rushed to put everything away when his mother came into the room. She sat on the bed and placed a hand on her daughter's forehead. "Your fever seems to have gone down a bit, but you still look a bit peaky…"
"I'm sorry for worrying you like this, Mama," Kagome smiled weakly.
"Don't you dare apologize," Airi chastised. "You're not at fault for getting sick, so you shouldn't blame yourself! Now, Papa and are going to sign you out of school for the rest of the week, okay? So you're going to be doing nothing but resting this week!"
"But—" Kagome tried protesting.
"No buts," Airi held up a finger to shush her daughter. "You are going to rest and that's final, do you understand? Tai's offered to bring your homework to and from school so you can keep up with your classes."
Kagome sighed and gave a nod. "Yes, Mama."
She helped the raven-haired girl sit up and put a smaller tray with a bowl of broth with some noodles in her lap while Tai and Kari each got a bowl of rice with some salmon and stir-fry Airi had cooked for dinner that night.
"Good," Airi left a small kiss on Kagome's forehead before going out the door.
The siblings ate in silence all the while giving some of their food to the two Digimon in their room.
"How long do you think it'll take to get rid of all the Control Spires?" Kagome asked, breaking the silence.
"It's a little hard to tell," Kari shook her head. "The map Izzy showed us that there was a lot of the Digital World covered in those Spires. Tackling them all one by one won't be easy, so we don't know how long it'll take to get rid of them all."
"And then there's the brat," Kagome spoke up, her voice no longer raspy, but sounding a bit sore.
"Brat?" Tai blinked at his sister while Kari, Gatomon, and Kudamon laughed.
"She means the Digimon Emperor," the fox-like Digimon clarified.
"You call that guy a brat?" Tai looked at his sister with wide eyes before bursting into laughter. "Oh that's priceless!"
"She even said that to his face," Gatomon added proudly.
"What'd he do?" Tai asked excitedly.
"Sent a bunch of Tyrannomon after us after saying that he was the only child that could possibly be one of the DigiDestined," Kari replied.
"Say what?" the brown-haired teen looked at his sisters in confusion.
"The Digimon Emperor thinks that only perfect beings can be the DigiDestined," Gatomon elaborated. "And he says that since he's the only perfect person, he's the only person that's allowed to be one of the DigiDestined."
"He does know that there's technically no such thing as perfection, right?" Tai asked.
"You want to try and explain that to him?" Kagome retorted. "Go ahead, then, be my guest. I already chewed him out once, but it probably didn't do much."
Before another word could be said, a knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," Tai said loudly.
The trio was pleasantly surprised when Joe Kido came through the door, still dressed in his school uniform.
"Joe?" the siblings blinked at the older boy.
"What are you doing here?" Tai asked.
"Matt e-mailed me about what happened with Kagome and I wanted to check up on her," the blue-haired teen explained. "Mind if I have minute?"
"Yeah, no problem," Kari nodded, dragging a protesting Tai out the door.
"But my food!" The brown-haired teen whined as his youngest sister pulled him out of the room. "My delicious, precious stir-fry and salmon!"
"It's not running away from you so it's still be there when we go back in," Kari said patiently, not heeding to her brother's struggles.
"But—" Tai tried again.
"No buts," Kari cut him off.
The two teens in the room only sweat-dropped at the scene. 'He'll never change, will he?'
"Checking up on me wasn't the only reason you came, was it?" Kagome asked when the door closed behind her brother and sister.
Joe smiled softly as he sat on the chair Tai had vacated. "Caught me. Besides checking up on you, I wanted to thank you; if you hadn't Seen that vision of Gomamon, I wouldn't have been as prepared as I was today."
"You're always prepared, Joe," Kagome shook her head. "You've always brought supplies and things that could be useful. Mimi told me about how you helped Ogremon with your rolls of toilet paper four years ago, you know."
"A little mediocre," Joe chuckled, flushing lightly, "But it got the job done. But seriously, I really did want to thank you; Gomamon wanted me to pass on his well wishes to you, too and a cheeky comment or two, but I don't really remember what they were right now… Anyway, when Matt told me about your vision and what happened to you, I panicked. I don't think I've ever said this to you, or I probably haven't said it enough, but in the time I've known you, you've become more than a friend and a lot like a little sister to me. So you can see why I was worried…"
"Joe…" Kagome trailed off. 'Okay, now I'm feeling really guilty!'
He bent over and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Make sure to get lots of rest and don't stress out over anything, okay? But remember, if you ever need to talk, I'm here; heck, you have a lot of friends that are willing to listen!"
Kagome smiled and gave a nod. "Okay!"
Joe nodded. "Good, now if you don't mind, I should probably be getting home before my parents start throwing a fit."
"Bye!" Kagome grinned.
"See ya!" Joe winked.
For the rest of the week, Kagome rested up as promised while Tai brought her assignments to her from school, after which he would deliver them the next day to her teacher. Of course, that didn't mean that she slept or stayed in bed all day every day. The raven-haired girl kept herself occupied by going on her laptop and working on something or another. Unfortunately for her family, Kagome wasn't so forthcoming with exactly what she was doing.
However, it was on Sunday that Kagome's disposition brightened noticeably.
-Sunday; Kamiya Residence-
"You seem cheery today," Airi commented as she bustled around the kitchen, shooting glances at her daughter now and then.
"I guess I am," Kagome giggled giddily as she finished her breakfast.
The~Ninth~Child
Today instead of going around in another pair of pajamas like she had been while she was on bed rest, Kagome wore a pair of black-knee-length tights under a mid-thigh-length denim skirt with a fringed hem, and a grey tank-top under a thin plum-hued crop-jacket.
Her hair was pulled into a low ponytail that rested over her right shoulder.
The~Ninth~Child
"Why do I get the feeling that you know something's going to happen?" the older woman looked at her daughter, fist on her cocked hip.
"Because I do~!" Kagome sang.
"Any chance that you could tell me?" Airi asked.
"She'll be here any minute now," was all the raven-haired girl said.
'She?' the older woman looked at her daughter curiously. 'A friend, maybe?'
As if on cue, a knock sounded on the door.
Kagome squealed and dashed to open the door. Airi listened as the door opened and two loud squeals and a pair of giggles erupted.
"Kagome!" Airi called. "Who is it?"
Kagome came into the room with a pink-haired girl that seemed her age. "Mama, this is Mimi Tachikawa; she lived her in Odaiba before but moved away with her parents to America after that incident four years ago."
'So she must have been one of the ones involved…' the older woman's eyes widened. She smiled at the girl. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mimi."
"It's very nice to meet you, too!" Mimi bowed in greeting.
The~Ninth~Child
Mimi wore a pair of faded denim short-shorts and a red and white checkered button-down whose bottom was tied into a knot just above her bellybutton. There were several thin bracelets hanging from each hand and a pink messenger bag was slung across her body.
Her dyed hair was up in a high ponytail with two locks hanging down to frame her face.
The~Ninth~Child
"We'll just be in my room, Mama," Kagome said as she pulled her friend into the room she shared with her siblings.
"Teens," Airi chuckled.
The~Ninth~Child
"It's so great to see you after so long!" Mimi said as she hugged her friend once more.
"Definitely," Kagome agreed as she held onto the pink-haired girl just as tight.
"Hi, Kudamon," Mimi said when the two girls pulled away, "How've you been?"
"As well as I can be with Kagome determined to make me worry," Kudamon replied easily.
"Worry?" Mimi looked at the raven-haired girl. "Kagome…what haven't you been telling me?"
"Well," Kagome laughed nervously as she threw a small glare at her partner Digimon. "It's actually a funny story…"
"No it isn't!" Kudamon cut in. And with that, the fox-like Digimon spent the next ten minutes telling Mimi about what happened with the Digimon Emperor and Kagome's visions.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Mimi scolded her friend lightly.
"I really just didn't want to worry you," Kagome told the pink-haired girl. "Besides, there's not even a scar from what the brat did to me and I'm all better after those violent visions."
"Still, you'd better not leave things like that out again when you e-mail me," Mimi waved a finger in the raven-haired girl's face. She turned to Kudamon. "Kudamon, I'm putting you in charge of that; make sure that whenever Kagome e-mails me she writes down everything, and I mean everything. I don't want even one little detail missed, is that clear?"
"Crystal," Kudamon nodded.
"So do you have it?" Kagome asked.
Mimi's eyes lit up and nodded. She sat down next to Kagome on her bed and opened her messenger bag to take out a small disc. "It's perfect! I was a little scared of how it would turn out, but we did a great job in putting it together!"
"Well, your creativity had a hand in that," Kagome insisted.
"But it was you that made up the music," Mimi added.
"And I guess we both did the lyrics!" the girls chorused.
"So what about the cover design?" Kagome asked.
Mimi nodded and brought out a small sketch book. "I've been thinking about that and I've got a few ideas right here, but I'm not sure which one would be okay."
"Am I missing something?" Kudamon asked.
The girls looked at each other for a moment. "Do you promise not to say anything to anyone unless we give you permission?" Mimi asked.
The fox-like Digimon nodded.
"Well, after Mimi moved away we kept in close touch with each other any way we could," Kagome explained. "Skype and e-mailing were what we used the most, though."
"Then about two years ago," Mimi continued, "I got a small music file from Kagome. Izzy got her a really cool computer program installed onto laptop for her birthday. It turns out that the program was actually a music creator."
"So after Mimi listened to my sample track," Kagome picked up, "she created lyrics and recorded herself singing them to my music. She sent me the recording and I put the small bit together."
"We really didn't think much about what we were doing since we were having so much fun," Mimi added. "We kept doing it back and forth for a while; she'd make a track or two and would send over one for me and keep the other for herself while I do the same. We'd make up lyrics and sing to the tracks and then send them back and forth to each other so the other could listen. Little by little the tracks grew longer until we started doing full blown songs. Some of them we'd sing as a duet and others we'd sing solo."
"But how?" Kudamon asked. "Didn't anyone ever notice?"
"Well, Kagome would sign out a private room for herself in the library here and I'd do the same back home," Mimi replied, "that way, no one knew about what we were doing since those rooms are private and soundproof on the inside."
"I think after a few months, Mimi's father found out," Kagome spoke, "he wasn't mad about what we were doing in secret. Actually, he ended up listening to the disc Mimi made of the few songs we completed."
"But that's where Daddy's friend, Mr. Richards, comes in; he's involved with a small recording company," the pink-haired girl chimed in. "Daddy gave our CD to him by accident, but when he heard my CD, he practically ran my door down to ask Daddy who made the music. Of course, since the cat was about of the bag, I couldn't really hide it anymore so I told him everything."
"In the end we had to open a video-chat with me so we could all get everything settled," Kagome resumed. "I let Mama and Papa in on the secret and we all agreed that Mimi and I would keep doing what we were, but we'd only release CDs as an anonymous duet, mo more than that. Mr. Richards didn't like the sound of us staying so secretive about ourselves, but agreed anyway as long as we continued to make our music."
"So Kagome and I kept doing what we had been for the last few months," Mimi continued. "She'd make the music, and we'd both take turns writing lyrics. Kagome would ultimately put the entire thing together with our recorded voices, while I came up with ideas for the cover of our album."
"That was until I made sure to get Mimi the same music program I have," the raven-haired girl picked up, "And after teaching her how to use it, we both started making up our own tracks and the process just continued. We're actually getting around to releasing our second album this year."
"Our first was a hit!" Mimi squealed. "It didn't go as high as number one but it still ranked pretty high for a debut album especially when no one knew who we were!"
"But how are you advertising your music?" Kudamon asked. "And what exactly are you calling yourselves?"
"Well Kagome and I have a joint account on different websites where we've been posting our tracks sample and not; that's also where's we've been advertising our album. Well, that and the mystery of who we were added to people's curiosity," Mimi answered. "As for our name…"
"We're Masquerade!"
Ciao,
TsukiyoTenshi