Crown Impulses : Cause (and Effect?) by wallflower

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A/N: GAH! This chapter is really really short. It's a filler chapter And for that, I apologize, oh dearest of readers! Hehehe. Um um um...I don't really have anything to say this time, except that IT'S FINALLY SPRING! Gosh, I love the snow, but I cannot STAND the cold, so I'm happy it's finally sunny out here.

OH MAN! I remember what I was going to say now! It appears that I have made a few, okay, SEVERAL errors in the making of this story. The Sino-Japanese War was not fought over posession of Taiwan and Korea, though that was an aftereffect of the war. The countries were always in posession of the Japanese. Thank you to Roy for pointing that out. Also, thanks to TK Takashi, they had automatics in WWII, so TK didn't have to load his cartridge. Maybe he stole it off a farmer or something o.O; And lastly, Leslie says that Matt couldn't be made a general on the spot like that. My "explanation" is that 1) it works for my advantage in the story, and 2) desperate times call for desperate measures, and a smart and cute guy like Matt can be whatever they want him to be!

The song of the fic is...*dun dun dun* the Aretha Franklin Pepsi Song, because the Britney Spears one is stupid. She always finds some way to rip off her clothes, doesn't she? Hotaru said that, lol. But it's true!

I'm always contactable, joy_fishy@hotmail.com (mail and MSN), sunshine ba ba (AIM), stellar687@yahoo.com (Yahoo!), and 71018292 (ICQ)

Contrary to popular belief, I don't own digimon.

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Mimi silently cursed herself as she jabbed herself with the needle for what seemed like the ten millionth time. She wished that she were anywhere else, but sitting in this room with older women, quilting. Her mother had made her go, telling her it wasn't good that she spent so much time inside, and she should help the war effort. Mimi had never been good with domestics, and after 3 hours of quilting, she wanted to throw herself out a window. But if sitting here poking a piece of metal through cloth was going to help Matt and Japan, she was going to poke a piece of metal through cloth.

Kari sat next to her, quietly and diligently sewing, each of her minute stitches perfectly straight, perfectly even. "Just like her." Mimi thought. Mimi's own were uneven, the work of a rash and impulsive person. Sometimes she wished she were like Kari, perfect, sweet, polite, Kari. But this was one time she didn't. At least she knew where Matt was. TK was…well, nobody knew where TK was. Mimi silently thanked God for Matt and then commenced poking the needle through the cloth.

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Kari mindlessly pulled her needle through the cloth, equally mindlessly staring at the bright patterned fabric. She didn't want to think about anything, because if she did she'd probably go crazy. Everything reminded her of TK. The trees they had sat under, the clouds they had guessed the shapes of, the green that was his and Matt's favorite colors. She realized the piece of material she was sewing was orange: like Patamon. She couldn't help it, she missed him so much and for all she knew, he was lying cold in a ditch somewhere while she sat here listening to the cozy chit-chat of women she didn't KNOW. Sure she knew their names, they knew hers, they saw each other regularly, and they were some of the kindest people in the world, but they just weren't the kind of people she was going to tell her hopes, her dreams, her fears and aspirations to. Not that she had many of anything now. She felt like a rock, devoid of emotion, but she KNEW she was a rock, which was an emotion…she didn't know how she felt.

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TK picked up his woodchip, and threw it at the apple 100 feet away. It knocked the fruit off the post, falling to the ground with a thump where the nearest soldier snatched up the treasure.

"WHOO!" TK whooped. He had been the first person to even hit the apple, much less knock it off. "I AM GREAT! I AM SUPER! I AMMMMM-"

A first slammed into his jaw, and he fell to the ground with the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. He could feel a presence hulking over him. "YOU'RE AN IDIOT, ISHIDA TAKERU! A DAMNED IDIOT!" TK whirled around to see who his attacker was.

"Matt…"

"DO YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME? WHAT KIND OF BAKA ARE YOU? DID YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT MOM, DAD, KARI FOR GOD'S SAKE?!" Matt's eyes, usually tired and worn were blazing with a fire born from the pain and suffering he had seen here.

TK cowered before his brother, and suddenly he was 6 years old again, begging Matt to take him to the park so they could feed ducks. Swinging on the dilapidated swing set in their backyard. Painting the walls with pictures of their family. Matt felt tears build up behind his eyes, but he kept up his tirade.

"THIS ISN'T JUST SOME GAME OF SOLDIERS! THESE ARE LIVING BREATHING PEOPLE! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!?"

Finished, he turned and started to walk away. "I'm going to have to tell our parents, you know."

TK watched his brother's retreating figure with a sullen face. He scornfully spit the blood out of his mouth. What did his brother know, anyway? "I KNOW it's not a game. I'm fighting for JAPAN."

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Matt stormed into his tent and threw himself on the bed. He couldn't believe that TK had actually enlisted without telling him, he couldn't believe TK would actually WANT to come here, and he couldn't believe that Mimi or his parents hadn't written him about it.

How could TK be so happy? The few moments Matt had seen TK before he arrived, he was laughing, LAUGHING, in the middle of this destructive war. He got up and started to pace. The obvious thing would be to tell their parents, send TK home, but that look that he had given him…

"I'll give him a month." Thought Matt. "If he can prove to me he really cares about the cause, is really a man and not just some action-hungry teenager playing Russian roulette…we'll see." He continued his pacing, his heavy combat boots clomping on the floor. A sudden smashing noise snatched his attention. He lifted up one foot, to find his small mirror that he only kept because Mimi gave it to him. It was fractured, and his reflection stared back at him in dozens of disjointed pieces.

"Seven year's bad luck…all I need today." deadpanned Matt, before cleaning up the glass and going to find TK.

Yamato found him sitting by a small stream, skipping rocks. Each one would dance across the surface for a few steps, then fall through the water. Matt quietly picked up a smooth one, and spun it onto the water, where it skipped 8 times before falling. TK turned to see who it was, and then, realizing it was his brother, turned back the other way.

"TK, I know you're mad at me, but just listen. If you give me THREE good reasons why you should stay here; REAL REASONS, I won't tell Mom and Dad. Prove to me you really want to be here, that you really believe in what we're fighting for." He didn't add that he couldn't give three reasons himself.

TK didn't move, and Matt sighed. This was exactly what he would've done when he were younger, ignore the problem while it gnawed on him inside. Stare at the water so you don't cry, clench your fists til your knuckles turn white so you won't move, bite your bottom lip so you won't say anything. Yeah, he knew all the trickes; after all, he was the master.

"Look at me."

"Is that an order?"

Until now, Matt had forgotten he was a general and thus had military authority over his brother. "Yes."

Takeru slowly rotated so half his torso and his head was facing his brother. "Sir."

Matt knelt on the grass by TK, and grasped his shoulders with his own calloused hands. "Think about it." He said before he walked away.

TK didn't want to think about it. Besides, he had only one reason: Japan. That was all you need, right?

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Review? Please? For some reason people aren't reviewing as much on ffn.net, and that makes me sad :( Again, I apologize this chapter was so short, but it was a natural break! I cannot help what happens when the spirit seizes me! *hummmmmmmm* hehe. Please review :) Or contact me, I'm always always on!