Okay, I just want to say that I REALLY hate fanfiction.net. I doubt that, after I finish The Dance, I'll post the sequel here on the boards. You'll have to go to my private website for that, which can be found on my author profile page. The only reason I'm continuing this sotry on fanfiction.net is that it hurts me too much to leave a story on this site unfinished, and I'm not going to just up and delete the whole thing. So, here goes. I've gotten ahead because of ff.n's delays, so get ready with those reviews!
8:39 P.M.
Wednesday 16 May
Shinohara Cemetery
Ken
I munched quietly on the peanut butter and watercress sandwich I had brought from home, as I sat on the sodden ground before my brother's grave. Beside me lay my bookbag - the one I've had since I was a child, since Sam had died - and the apple slices my cautious mother gave to me. On my other side was the dark blue fuzzy sweater; my mother was right, and it was unseasonably cold, but I wanted to embrace the biting wind as it chilled me, on this night of all nights. I wanted it to envelop my body with cold until I myself felt dead.
I had placed another candle, along with a black-framed picture of Sam, at the foot of his gravestone, the flame burning tall and bright. These ceremonies were like second nature to me; for the four years after it happened, I had always come here, alone, to remember my brother, and to scorn the day I lost him forever.
"Wanna bite?" I asked politely to the tombstone. I held out my sandwich and waited until I was sure there was no reply. I always waited until there was no chance that a voice beside me wouldn't criticize the odd peanut butter and watercress pairing in my sandwich and call me "weird," like Sam had always done. Then, I could be sure Sam wasn't still with me...crazy as that sounds.
Bringing the sandwich back up to my lips, I continued to speak to the wind...or to anyone who would listen. "Mom made me the apple slices," I said. I smiled, and blushed. "She's always so protective of me. Ever since..." The smile faded from my face. I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and a lump forming in my throat. "...ever since you died."
I grew silent; solemn. I had said it; I had said Sam had died. I could probably count the numbers of times I had admitted Sam was gone on one hand. I've heard that it's supposed to be a sign of progress if I do admit it, but whenever I do, it never feels all that cleansing or progressive. My head had dropped, and I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks. I tried to hold them back, but...but it was too much. My brother...this was my brother. In the ground. How did I think I was going to come here and not cry?
"The dance was tonight, Sam," I whispered once I calmed down. I reached up to brush my fingers over Sam's name, and a chilling shudder passed through my body. "Mom didn't want me to go...not that I could blame her..." I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but it just wouldn't go away. "I wouldn't even go if I was forced to."
Talking about going to the Youth Day Dance made me think of Yolei. On Monday, she had seemed to excited when she asked me to go with her to the dance, and I let her down. I didn't feel like I was doing the best I could to win over her confidence as her DigiDestined teammate; on the contrary, with the way I reacted to her asking, she now probably thinks - or even knows - I have something to hide. What was I trying to do? I wanted to convince the rest of the DigiDestined that I could be one of them, but by not going to the dance I was just alienating everyone.
The wind blew past me as I reflected in silence, and I heard the sound of a small boy crying in my mind. My eyes clouded over again. I was remembering myself, five years ago, when I had first heard about Sam's death. I cried for weeks, and no one could comfort me. I had lost more then just my brother, and more than just my friend. I had lost my innocence that one May the sixteenth, when my little world caved in on itself. At that time, I thought life was forever - I would be happy, and healthy, with my brother, and nothing would ever change that. But then that Youth Day came along, and I was suddenly...vulnerable. Youth Day forever puts the fear of death into me...and reminds me that nothing, nothing, is forever.
The memory passed, and I began to reflect on other times - happier times - with my brother, but the faint crying was just not going away. My mind suddenly became alert, and I focused my attentions on the cemetery around me, and not on this one headstone. That crying was definitely coming from a voice in the cemetery, and not in my head. There was someone else in this cemetery with me, and it sure didn't sound like the night watchman.
Looking around with keen eyes, I slowly raised myself to my feet, my peanut butter and watercress sandwich still gripped in my hands. I didn't see anyone near me...but that crying had to be coming from somewhere. I walked around a bit, scanning past graves and mausoleums, searching for the source of the cries. It wasn't so much that I wanted to find this person, mind you; there was nothing I would have wanted more than to ignore the crying and get back to my brother. But the fact that this person's crying made me remember my own pain and despair over my brother's death forced me to find out just who this person was. I was compelled to figure this out, if not for some supernatural feeling I was getting from the cries, which I didn't believe in anyway, then for the sheer curiosity of my mind.
Walking only twenty paces to the right, I saw a flash of purple over one of the cemetery's hills. As I walked towards it, the crying became louder; I was definitely getting closer to the source. As I reached the hill, determined now to figure this out, I discovered the cries were coming from a small boy, kneeling next to one of the thousands of marble graves in the field.
I gasped in surprise behind the boy. This wasn't an ordinary kid.
Gathering up my courage, I found my voice and whispered,
"Cody?"
8:45 P.M.
Wednesday 16 May
Odaiba High - Gymnasium
Davis
I checked my Digivice for the time for the fifth time in three minutes, only to see the disappointing flashing numbers 8:45 and not 10:30, when I would finally be able to escape this hell hole and take Yolei home.
This was worse than hell. I would prefer all the Dark Masters that Tai and the others told us about crashed the party and killed us all, rather than stay here, listening to Matt's band play one corny love song after another, nursing my fourth glass of punch and being labeled as a wallflower.
I thought that maybe, I'd have some fun at this dance. When I saw Yolei looking so nice tonight, I thought that she would at least dance one song with the guy who brought her here...not like I would care, or anything. But ever since we walked into the gym, all decked out in bright streamers and spotlights, she left to go off with some of her friends and I haven't even seen her around.
It was all for the better, anyway. This gave me some time to think...about what the hell was going through my mind about Yolei. I knew what the terms of this date were when I said yes, and I agreed with them wholeheartedly. Yesterday, I would've said that the more time I spent away from Yolei, the better. But tonight...
I didn't know why I was thinking differently now, but I was. Maybe it was seeing Yolei actually look like a girl - a beautiful girl, too - that made me change my mind about her. Maybe it was because I was actually beginning to like her...or that there was the possibility, that spark I saw in her eyes that night, that she might actually like me. I really didn't know, and from the looks of it, it looked like I was never going to know. Not tonight, anyway.
Looking down at my near-empty glass of red punch, I sneered at my own fuchsia reflection. What kind of a pushover was I being tonight? Since when did me, Davis Motomiya, let a girl - especially Yolei - boss me around? Yolei said that she didn't want me around her at the dance if I was to take her here, but since when did I ever listen to what I was told? Actually, I was the one doing the favor for her. It wasn't like she had a date to the dance before me, anyway. And besides, I wasn't here for her. I was here as a favor to Izzy, hoping that he'll keep up his end of the bargain and help me pass trigonometry this year. It wasn't like I liked her or anything.
I sighed, my reflection in the punch glass not even believing me. Yeah, right; if I didn't like Yolei Inoue, then why did my stomach feel like it was doing scissor kicks whenever I glanced over at her delicate face and bare shoulders in the ride over here? Then why was I feeling so bummed about not spending any time with her at the dance? If I didn't feel anything for Yolei, then why did I want to just shoot straight out of my seat, throw the foul-tasting punch away forever, and march right over to where Yolei was standing and...
Before I knew it, my legs were moving, and the sight of Yolei's lavender hair and white dress was getting larger; closer. My mind kicked into a state of panic. Was I actually walking up to her? I tried to get my legs to turn around, and stop what would surely be a death sentence carried out by Yolei if I confronted her, in front of all her friends, but my whole body just didn't seem to wanna listen to me, and in a matter of seconds I had crossed the crowded dance floor, passed the refreshments table, and stood smack in front of Yolei Inoue.
Who looked very, very pissed.
"Davis," she said in an annoyed tone, her eyes narrowing with disgust. "What in the hell are you doing here? I thought I told you -"
"Yolei." My voice was surprisingly stern and strong, and even through the heavy drum beats of the Teenage Wolves, Yolei heard the seriousness in my voice, and stopped speaking. Her eyes widened in confusion and shock, her slender arms once placed sternly on her waist now falling gracefully to her sides. Her friends around her stopped their tittering chatter, and all eyes were on me and Yolei, wondering what I'd do next.
I held out my hand, an informal invitation to Yolei. My eyes never left hers, and I spoke in a commanding voice. "Dance with me," I said. My head was swimming. I didn't know how to dance; I had no rhythm at all. Even with all probability on my side, I'd probably step on her toes if I even tried to dance. But even still, I was serious about this. I wasn't just going to leave this opportunity to go to waste.
My heart nearly stopped beating out of shock when Yolei actually accepted my invitation, placing her ungloved hand in mine, with some hesitation. We both looked down at our hands, now touching (giving off an odd feeling of tingles throughout my body), and then looked back up - our eyes met again. Looking deep into Yolei's eyes, I saw something that wasn't there before - through them, I saw a different Yolei that I never noticed so many times in the Digiworld. Yolei was no longer the tomboy-ish computer nerd twelve year old I remembered when I first met her three years ago; she was now fifteen, almost a woman, and, in my eyes, amazingly beautiful. Why did it take me so long to notice how much she's changed?
Yolei nodded her head once, her mind seeming to be thinking of something else besides the bad lyrics to Matt's latest song blasting through the gym. "Okay, then," she said, blinking, as if in a daze. She wasn't the only one; even I couldn't believe what I had just done. "Let's go dance."
Gently gripping her hand in mine, I gave out the tiniest of smiles as I led Yolei Inoue, the girl I never thought I would fall for, out onto the dance floor.
