Hey everybody, thanks for the reviews!! People actually like my story, I'm so happy!! And Matt and Leta have a fan base! I think the other characters are jealous! Anyways, this chapter is called Soccer Balls and First Meetings and introduces Ken Ichijouji into the story. This chapter will focus more on the personal relationships more, especially between Rei and Ken, because like Girl-Chama says, that's more fun! Hope you enjoy!
Rei was walking through a forest. She knew she was looking for someone among the tree's and flowers, but she wasn't sure who. Turning around she saw a man leaning against a tree, a careless smirk on his face. "I shouldn't be here." she said to him with a small smile. He reached out his hand and pulled her into his embrace. "I know." he replied, tightening his arms around her. "This is wrong." She whispered breathlessly against his face, not trying to fight his advances. "Then why does it feel so right?" He asked, placing a trail of kisses down her neck. "Why are you doing this to me?" She said softly, crystal tears forming in her eyes. He stopped his kissing and looked down at her face. He wiped away a tear from her cheek and said "Because I love you." She widened her eyes in shock and reached a trembling hand up to remove his goggles. Her hand brushed the cool metal and-
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
Rei rolled over and looked at the clock. 6 AM. 'What the hell is that?' She thought to herself. She leaned closer to the wall, trying to decipher the sound. It was silent for a few moments so she laid back down. Rei rested her head on the pillow and smiled. 'What a good dream' she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and began to fall back into the world of dreams when suddenly-
BAM!
BAM!
Rei sat up, threw her blankets off and turned towards the sound. She slammed her hand against the wall and yelled " Quit with the noise! It's six in the morning!" She flopped back down on her bed and drew the covers back up around her. 'Wonder who I was dreaming about?" Rei questioned herself. 'Well, whoever he was, I wasn't supposed to be with him.' Rei pondered her dream in silence. Silence that didn't last to long.
BAM!
BAM!
"That's it!" Rei screamed, jumping out of bed and walking towards the door. Stopping only to put on her slippers Rei exited her room and went next door. Not bothering to knock she pushed open the door just in time to see a soccer ball flying towards her face. With a shocked cry she dropped to the floor.
Rei heard a male laugh and say "I'm sorry." She looked up to see a man extend a hand to help her up. 'Do I know him' she asked to herself. She let her vision travel up to his face where she met a pair of ice blue emotionless eyes. Eyes she immediately remembered belonged to the genius boy Ken Ichijouji.
She didn't take his offered hand and got up. Dusting herself off she asked, "What are you doing in here? This isn't the world cup!" She got no response. "Just stop kicking that stupid ball against the wall, I'm trying to sleep." Again he said nothing, but an amused smile was playing on his lips. Rei's eyes widened in shock. He was mocking her.
Maybe it was the smile on Ken's face. Maybe it was the fact that it was only six o'clock in the morning. Whatever it was, Rei didn't like it. Allowing herself to act before she thought about the consequences, Rei picked up Ken's soccer ball and threw it at him.
He caught it effortlessly and looked at her. "Now that wasn't very nice." He smiled and offered her his hand again. "I'm Ken." He said to her, "Ken Ichijouji."
"Yeah, yeah." She said, taking his hand. "I know who you are." Ken raised his eyebrows and Rei felt a small blush creep up her face. "I...uh...saw an article on you." she stammered.
"Oh." He smiled . "And who would you be?"
"Rei"
"Rei what?"
"What?"
"What's your last name?" he asked.
"Hino." she told him, inwardly berating herself for her stupidity. "I'm not always like...," she paused, trying to find the right word, "this." she said, trying to break the tension.
"I'm sure your not." Ken said, smiling again.
Rei glared at him and put her hands on her hips. "And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked him.
"Anything you want it to mean." he told her.
Rei once again lost her temper and yelled. "Look, jerk. You don't have to talk to me like that." Ken raised an eyebrow and allowed his smile to broaden. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked him. When she got no response her temper took a turn for the worst.
"Don't you have any manners?" she yelled.
"Yes he does." Sora said from the door, "But obviously you don't."
Rei looked over and saw Sora standing in the hall with the rest of the Digi-Destined and Leta. Everyone wore and expression of either sleep or frustration. "Rei," Tai said, "This is our friend Ken."
"You know," Leta put in, "Rei's not the nicest person on the world if she gets woken up too early."
"Obviously." Matt said, "But I don't think anyone is listening to us."
"I think your right." Leta replied once she noticed none had listened to them.
"I know who he is." Rei said, tossing a strand of loose hair over her shoulder.
"We've already had the pleasure of meeting." Ken said smoothly, walking over to the group and shaking hands with Tai and Matt. " Is she always so-"
"Bitchy?" Sora interrupted. "Yes, she is."
"I was going to say charming." Rei's eyes widened and she once again felt the heat in her face rise. Ken shot her another smile and Tai frowned.
Matt yawned and said, "look, why don't we all go back to bed?"
"I'll tell you why." Rei said hotly. "Because boy wonder here," she motioned to Ken, "is kicking soccer balls against the wall."
Ken nodded in confirmation. "I was practicing." he told them. "I didn't realize that anyone was using that room." he walked over to Rei and put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "But Rei here was nice enough to fill me in." Rei looked at the floor, embarrassed and feeling a little bad for flying off the handle.
"I'm sure she did." Sora laughed. "You'll have to forgive her." She turned to look at Rei with a smile, "She doesn't know how to control her temper."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard what I said."
Rei walked towards Sora with every intention of hitting her, but before she could get anywhere near her Tai stepped forward and grabbed her hands. Rei tried to get out of his grasp and when she couldn't she began to plead with him. "C'mon, Tai. I just want to hit her once." Tai still didn't release her. "Just once, and I promise to go back to bed when I'm done." Tai still held on tight. "You know she deserves it."
Sora took an involuntary step back. "You really should learn how to control yourself." She told Rei.
"And you really should learn how to fight your own battles." Rei said slowly, trying in vain to get free from Tai's hold. "Don't pick a fight unless you know you can win it, and we both know who'd win this one."
"Oh do we?" Sora asked incredulously.
"Who's getting held back and who stepped back?" Rei asked.
Sora's eyes widened in anger, but she knew that Rei was right, so she turned around and left the room. Leta stifled a laugh and Matt turned and followed her out muttering something about damage control. Tai sighed and let go of Rei's hands and she rubbed her wrists. Feeling slightly better about herself, Rei turned to say good bye to the others, but when she did she found that Ken was staring at her with and odd expression on his face. He looked half amused and half... Rei didn't know what the other emotion on his face was but she wasn't sure if she wanted to swoon or slap him. And she didn't like the fact that none of the emotions reached his eyes. It would have been easy for Rei to say that his eyes were beautiful if it weren't for the fact that they held no light, no emotions... no hope.
Rei and Ken stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. Each lost in the others eyes. It wasn't until Tai walked forward and tapped Rei on the shoulder that she broke out of her trance. Looking around she saw that everyone was looking at them, each with a different emotion on their face. Leta looked as if she could fall asleep standing, Mimi looked interested in what was going on, and Tai... well, Tai looked upset. Rei wanted to ask Tai why he was mad, but she didn't trust herself to say anything, so she gave a quick smile and walked out of the room. On her way out she heard Tai say "You'll have to get used to Rei and Sora. They never get along."
Rei tried to run to her room and get back in bed, but Leta was right behind her. "What was that all about?" She asked her friend.
"What was what all about?" Rei asked, trying to sound calm.
"That whole staring down Ken thing."
Rei felt her temperature rise. "I don't know." she said, "I was just kinda...drawn to him. He's very...very....."
"Sexy? Hot? Gorgeous?" Leta asked.
"All of the above." Rei said laughing. "But it was more than that. I felt...something." she blushed. "he's just so....intense.
"Intense?" Leta questioned. "How so?"
"I don't know how to describe it," Rei told her friend, "but it's like when I see him I feel so insecure." she frowned. "I feel...oh, I don't know how I feel, and I'm not sure that I like it."
Leta closed her eyes. "Well, next time your not sure about something, could you please do it a little quieter."
Rei glared at her friend. A moment of silence passed between them "Leta," she questioned hesitantly, "Did he seem familiar to you?"
"No, why?" Leta responded sleepily, crawling back into bed and laying her head down.
"I don't know," she said softly, pausing for a moment. "I just feel like I've met him before....somewhere." she sighed, "but I guess that's impossible, huh?" Rei looked over to see that Leta was already asleep. "I guess you don't wanna hear about my dream then?" she smiled and laid back in bed, with images of the boy in her dream dancing through her head.
Well, chapter 7 is done. I guess we all learned a valuable lesson: Never wake Rei up early and be condescending towards her. But I think someone should have warned poor Ken about her attitude. I can't see them getting along to well, what do you think? I wonder who Rei was dreaming about? Oh well. In the next chapter Sora confronts Matt and Leta about their feelings for each other, Tai tries to confess his feelings to Rei and Ken, Rei and Mimi share another little moment of hatred.
Stay tuned for chapter 8: I'm Sorry, But...