Title: Of Consciences and a Crazy Colleague
Chapter: 4 » Run! It's the attack of the killer fangirls!
By: Authorless

Author's notes: Me writing this at midnight. Don't you just hate it when your muse decides to come back when you're lying awake in bed? V-V;; Maybe I just feel guilty for making so many awful cliffhangers without meaning to, so here's what some of you requested. Chapter 4. So uhhh… Hope you like the fic! Yeah… Right…

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. But I'd be more than happy if you'd give them to me. ^^;

"Yamato?!"

"Oh my God! It's Ishida Yamato!!! I think I'm going to faint..."

"That's the famous lead singer for the Teenage Wolves!"

Kuso! I've been found out! Stupid brat! Did he have to go pull at the scarf and send the hat and sunglasses flying too?! Damn it!!! I am in so much trouble… Right now I wish the ground would swallow me up. I could feel stares boring holes through me like knifes. But the one stare that bothered me the most was the one Taichi was sending right at me. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost.

With you gone so long, you might as well have been dead.

Don't you ever shut up?

When hell freezes over.

Ugh… You're of no help.

All you should do is ask.

Over my dead body.

Fine. See if I care when you get run over by your fan club.

Bah… Forget you. Forget the annoying voice in my head. Concentrate on the cute looking brunette with the unruly hair in front of you. Taichi… He's just thoroughly stunned to see me. He looks so adorable even with his mouth hanging wide open. I wonder what he'd taste like if I…

Earth to Ishida. Come in, Ishida. This is your conscience speaking. Beep. Beep. If you value your life, it is suggested that you get your head out of the gutter and run before all hell breaks loose. Over and out. Beep.

"Yamato, grab Taichi and get out of here. Now."

Natsumi murmured in exasperation and sending death glares to the boy who looked rather scared at the moment. Natsumi looks like she'd tear him apart at any moment. Too bad she couldn't do anything to him yet and tried to stall the crowd. I blinked stupidly for a moment and finally remembered where I was and shot my dazed Taichi a mute apology before scooping him up in my arms and running out the door as fast as my legs could carry me. Heh. How many times have I dreamed of doing that? Sweeping Taichi off his feet. I like the sound of that.

He's so warm… It's just so hard for me to not try to cuddle up to him. And he still has that irresistible smell of… Autumn leaves? I don't know... But Kami-sama, I'm practically floating on air! I sneaked a peek at him and found him still gaping in shock, possibly because I just whisked him out of the auditorium in front of a huge crowd. Literally.

Speaking of huge crowds. I hear girlish screaming... Natsumi couldn't hold them all off! They're following me!!!! Run feet. Run. Don't fail me now.

Scurrying quickly pass classroom after classroom, I searched for the appointed hiding place and came skidding to a halt in front of one of the teacher's rooms. The words hanging on the door was like a sign from heaven. Digging through my coat pocket while trying to hold Taichi up with one arm was difficult. I could hear thundering feet headed this way. Where are those damn keys?!

"Yes! Found them!"

Pulling the keys out of my pocket and basically stuffing each one of them into the keyhole. After trying a couple of keys, the door unlocked and I hurried inside, still holding Taichi as close as possible and locking the door behind us. After making sure the door was carefully bolted, I leaned my back against the door in ease and tried to catch hold of my breath. I've got to remember to thank Natsumi for having this whole thing carefully planned out from the start…

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I'm sure about this. You are not going to back out on me after all the planning I did for you. You'd have to knock me out cold and shoot me in the head before considering it."

I sighed, trying hard to hide the worry out of my voice like I normally did which wasn't so hard. Trying to seem like the cool, levelheaded one was simple for me. I tugged slightly at the scarf that was slightly suffocating me and nodded solemnly. I wanted to see Taichi desperately and if I back out now… I wouldn't get another chance to see him. Just thinking about it makes this painful throbbing in my heart. Ishida Yamato has heartache. I can see it now on the headlines. What a laugh…

"All right. Then you wait here while I get consent for you to get in."

She was about to turn and leave, before a thought struck me and I quickly grabbed the sleeve of her shirt in my haste. Natsumi just sighed and turned around to face me with a weary look.

"What is it now?"

"What if something bad happened?"

"What could possibly happen?"

She interjected pointedly and crossed her arms over her chest with aggravation written all over her face. I just bowed my head in embarrassment, though she couldn't possibly read my expression with my face covered up.

"I don't know… It's just that I-"

I was interrupted by a loud jangling sound and looked up to find Natsumi fishing through her pockets and coming up with some keys on a tare panda key-chain. She tossed the keys to me, which I easily caught as she started to walk away.

"One of those keys is the spare key to my office. If anything happens, run down that hall, take a left turn and look for your old Math teacher's office, which is currently mine. I believe her surname was Hasumi."

That said, she walked briskly through the doors of the auditorium and left me standing alone with my thoughts. I eyed the keys carefully and placed them in my coat pocket. I get the feeling that these keys were something I didn't want to lose. But why so many keys? I'd have to ask her about those later.

I leaned against a pillar as I waited patiently and watched students and sometimes teachers, rush by in a hurry to get to the auditorium. Deep down inside, I'm a nervous wreck. What would Taichi do if he saw me? Would he be mad at me for never keeping contact? What if…He hated me for it? I couldn't live with that. I'd probably kill myself if he refused to speak to me again. Sure, we argue more than speaking calmly with each other but…Guess it's mainly my fault.

I always hated the fact that someone could understand me so well and that someone wasn't Takeru. My own brother didn't understand what I feel with all the walls I built around me. And all Taichi had to do was dance right up and tap that wall a little before it shatters to bits. Then I'd recoil momentarily and hit him after that, for even trying to understand how I feel. After that, I get this neurotic feeling that seems to eat me up from the inside. I hated the way I feel about him.

When I found out how much I loved him after we parted ways, I tried avoiding any contact with him and indulged myself in my music. That only made me think of him even more. And day by day, it gets worst. I had this yearning to whisper sweet nothings into his ear and hold my Taichi close in my arms, never letting go of him. Yeah, sappy. I know. I should have considered the saying 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' before I decided to avoid him like the plague.

I must have been thinking for longer than I thought because next thing I knew, Natsumi had skipped back to me in complete satisfaction and had me dragged into the auditorium, whether I liked it or not. I pray this plan goes well or I'm am so screwed…

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Yama…"

I was brought out of my silent reverie by a timid little voice and turned to my Tai-chan. My Tai-chan. He called me 'Yama'! Possibly it was a mistake but who cares! I couldn't stop the smile from coming to my lips as I stared at him in a comforting way. He bowed his head and began twiddling his thumbs nervously and chewing on his lower lip as if trying to say something.

"Ne, Yama… Could you… Put me down now?"

"Oh yeah."

I gave him a sheepish grin and placed him on his feet gingerly. I felt sad at the loss of contact with him. It hurts not to reach out and grab him when he's so close yet so far. Whatever that possessed me to not tell him how much he means to me all these years is now miles and miles away.

You are so dramatic.

You are so vexatious.

Hey, your Tai-chan is talking to you!

What?

"Yamato? Hellooo?"

"Huh?"

"I said, what are you doing here, Yamato?"

A loss for words. What's wrong with me?! Just say something. Anything!! How am I suppose to answer that?! Tell the truth? I can't exactly say, 'I came here because I love you!', can I? Kami-sama… I need help… Evade. Evade.

"I was passing by and thought I'd pay you a little visit. Something wrong with that, Taichi?"

Nice save.

"There's nothing wrong with that, Yamato. The problem is, you were passing by dressed in this getup?"

Ooh… Bad move, Ishida.

"You know with fans all over the place, I need a little disguise once in awhile. Can't I even pay my best friend a visit?"

Taichi looked slightly crestfallen and he turned silently toward the window of Natsumi's tiny office. I didn't get to notice the interior of the room. Shelves on both sides filled with thick books, most of which looked gaijin. [Note: gaijin = foreign] The walls were painted a cerulean blue and in the corner was a desk and armchair. A seemingly new monitor occupied the desk and beside it were piles upon piles of paperwork, half of which were written in the English language. And where Taichi stood by the window, hung a few green curtains which were also new. I continued scrutinizing my surroundings until a Taichi spoke up.

"Best friend? I haven't even heard from you in years. Are we even still friends?"

"Of course we are! I was just busy with work! It isn't exactly easy for me to contact anybody with my tight schedule! Oh please! Give me a little credit for coming all the way here!"

I retaliated without thinking and visibly cringed at the thought of hurting Taichi. He does have a right to be angry with me after all.

"I'm sorry…"

Wh… What? I think I must be hearing things.

"What did you say?"

"I said I'm sorry…"

Tai-chan… Just apologized and he didn't do anything. It was a barely audible whisper but I could hear it loud and clear. I did hurt his feelings by snapping like that. I just want to cry. How could I snap at him? I walked up to him from behind silently and was about to place my hand on his shoulder when the lock in the door turned and it flung open and was shut in a quick second. If you blinked, you wouldn't have caught the movement.

"Am I interrupting?"

I let my hand drop to my side and smiled sympathetically at Natsumi, who looked like she ran a marathon and back again. She had her head leaned against of the bookshelves, panting in complete exhaustion. Taichi promptly ran up to hold her up as she started to fall backward onto the floor. I watched silently as Taichi deposited the worn-out girl into the armchair. Natsumi was starting to talk gibberish and held one finger up, waving it around in circles as she stared at the ceiling.

"I… Never… Want to… Do… That… Again…"

I exchanged glances with Taichi who looked up and explained to me quietly, while indicating to Natsumi who was slurring in English.

"Natsumi doesn't get much exercise. She gets like that when she's tired. I never seem to make out what she says though."

I observed her as she staggered to her feet slightly and grabbed a bottle of water on her desk and downed half of the contents in a matter of seconds. The girl took a deep breath and leaned back into the chair, mumbling.

"Big crowd of fans coming this way. You guys have to get out of here."

"Natsumi, how can we get out of here?! We're on the 2nd floor! [Note: Japanese count the Ground floor as the 1st floor]"

"Taichi. Taichi. I thought you know me well."

Natsumi grinned knowingly and waved a finger at him. Turning to one of the drawers, she took out another bunch of keys and unlocked it. She pulled out a rope ladder and deposited it at our feet before collapsing in her chair once again.

"I've kept that old thing, just in case of emergencies. Just slide open the window and pop it out. I suggest you give me that coat because everyone's going to recognize you in that."

I was staring at Taichi again and a thought must have occurred to him because he looked like he just realized the meaning of life.

"You knew Yamato and you didn't tell me?"

"Not till last Tuesday. No time to argue with me, Taichi."

I vaguely noticed as Natsumi pushed a heavy duffel bag out from behind her desk and indicated for me to open it. I carefully tugged at the zip and found a few hats, shades, a blond wig, and a funny looking mask. I gawked at her in pure bewilderment. How did she have this whole thing planned out so well? You'd think she saw this coming a mile away.

"Give me your coat, put on some shades and climb out of the window. I am going to have to stall your fan club."

With that said, she plucked the mask, wig, and a pair of clip-on dark shades out of the bag and then turned to face the wall. After awhile, Natsumi made a pose that resembled something of a drama queen and turned to face the both of us.

"Do I look like Ishida Yamato or what?"

I don't know about Taichi but I was impressed. There stood an exact image of me, the mask was pretty well made, her black hair tucked underneath that blond wig, shades to hide the color of her eyes and finally a pair of slightly larger shoes to make her seem my height. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought I was staring into a mirror.

"They're coming! Hurry! Give me your coat."

I quickly took off the coat and watched Natsumi slip into it carefully. Lucky thing she made sure I wore a coat over a normal t-shirt and jeans. Saves me the trouble of changing clothes. I made a sideways glance at Taichi while smooth out my slightly crumpled shirt and found him gaping. Guess that there were some things Natsumi didn't tell Taichi about. He kept a placid look as Natsumi tossed me one of her sunglasses and made her way toward the door.

"Now you two, out the window you go and no more chit chats until you reach the park. Sayonara!"

She lowered the shades down her nose slightly, winked at me, and was out the door before Taichi or I could manage a single word. Remembering what she said, I placed the sunglasses onto my nose and grabbed Taichi by the hand, careful not to hurt him and tried to get the window to open.

"Shimatta! The window is stuck."

I attempted to open it when a tanned hand reached out and slid the window open with clever ease. I flashed my Tai-chan a grateful smile and I didn't miss his cheeks flushing lightly. Must be the heat. This room is rather stuffy.

I grabbed the rope ladder and flung the end of it out the window. I turned to that lovely brunette standing next to me and back away slightly to let him go first.

"After you, Taichi."

Taichi just stared at me incredulously as if I had gone mad and was wondering if I needed to see a doctor. I just shrugged off the look he dealt at me and avoided eye contact. I felt more than saw the smile that graced his lips and he started climbing the rope ladder with me, making absolute sure that he wouldn't fall or hurt himself.

In a few minutes, both of us had our feet on the ground and were headed to the nearest park. I was pleased I got out of there alive but I couldn't help feeling a little worried for Natsumi. It was rather brave of her to run straight into heart of the Odaiba High School, looking like me. I hope she isn't torn to bits by now. Those fangirls can be rough.

Forget about her. She's probably doing fine on her own.

Easy for you to say.

Well, at least you have your sweet, adorable, beautiful, sexy, Tai-chan with the cute butt, and you can take him home and-

You are such a hentai.

Speak for yourself, Ishida. Speak for yourself.

Tsuzuku... [To be continued...]

Finished chapter 4! Yes, another cliffhanger. I know. I'm mean. But I'm tired. And at least I got this out within a week. Even though I think this chapter sucks. ^^" I wanna sleep now… I look like a panda… O.O