For The Love of a Gatomon
Chapter 2: Fickle-Minded
Veemon woke up to find that Gatomon was actually still there. She was purring contently, still asleep. Veemon felt like he couldn't move for some reason. He pulled the blanket off of them with his right hand and saw that she was cuddling his left one like a teddy bear. Veemon stared at her body. She was still covered with twigs and dirt from her fall the previous night.
"How weird that she'd have so many twigs in her fur from landing on a sidewalk...," he thought silently. Veemon wiggled his arm until it was free. He breathed a sigh of relief as he shook it around to get the blood flow back.
"Veemon....." Gatomon sighed in her sleep, upset that she couldn't feel him anymore.
"Did she just call out my name?" he thought, "Oh well, time to get cleaned up." Veemon tapped her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at her hands. She could see that his arm was no longer there. Gatomon stared up at Veemon who had a big smile on his face.
"....What?" she asked.
******A Few Seconds Later******
"NONONONONONONONO!!!!" yelled Gatomon. She was leaving a trail of claw marks in the carpet as Veemon dragged her toward the bathroom.
"But Gatomon, Mrs. Kamiya will get mad at you if you go home all dirty and I'll get in trouble with Davis if I drag dirt all over the place," said Veemon, struggling, "We *erg!* need to *gr!* take a *mph!* bath!!"
"No means NO!" she yelled back. Veemon, gave up and let go of her legs.
"Okay okay," he said, "We won't take a bath."
"THANK you," she said, dusting herself off.
"Huh?? Did you hear that?" he asked, turning gravely serious.
"Hear what?" she asked.
"That noise," he said, "It sounded like a low growl or something. Wait here, I'll be right back." With that, he ran into the bathroom. Gatomon stared after him, confused.
"Gatomon?" he called, "Remind me to thank you for not wanting to take a b-b-bath! Wahhh!!!"
"Veemon!" she yelled, running in. Veemon wasn't there. She looked around and soon spotted him behind the toilet.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"O-Over there!" he said, pointing at the tub, "I looked down at the drain and I saw an eye staring right back at me!"
"So, a monster in the tub, huh?" she asked. Gatomon turned to the bathtub and grabbed the lever for the water. "Let's see if he can swim!" That said, she turned on the water, filling up the tub. "Something's wrong, Veemon. The tub is filling up but no water is going down the drain." Veemon had come out from hiding behind the toilet and had closed the door.
"Think it has something to do with that weird thing on the shelf up there?" asked Veemon, pointing to the shampoo bottles while walking back toward the tub.
"What do shampoo bottles have anything to do with..?" she asked.
"Waahh!!! There it is again!!" he yelled, pointing frantically at the drain.
"Where? Where??"
"Right there, I swear! Take a look; you have better eyes than I do." She looked down closer.
"I don't see anything there, Veemon," she said.
"Gotcha!" he shouted, grabbing Gatomon's legs.
"What the..?!" was all she managed to get out before Veemon lifted her hind legs off the ground and dunked her in the tub. When she surfaced, he was laughing his butt off.
"And you didn't see this coming?" he snickered out.
"...KILL.....YOU!!!" she said, tweaked out. Veemon smiled brightly.
"Grr! Not unless I get you first!" he said, playfully. With that, he tackled her back down into the tub and splashed in along with her. As she surfaced, he closed the shower curtains.
"There, now we have some privacy," he stated sitting back down with her. Before she could yell any further, he took her head into his hand and began rubbing her through her fur. Gatomon suddenly became like putty. She had a thing for being scratched behind the ears and Veemon had instantly found the perfect spot. She spun backwards and fell against him. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled them both to one side of the tub where the shampoo bottles were. He opened one up and squirted the goo in her fur. Gatomon purred contently as he rubbed it on her scalp.
"See? This isn't so bad, is it?" he said, plucking twigs out of her. Gatomon purred contently in response.
"I'm guessing that means it's not," he said, continuing to massage her scalp. Veemon's hands slowly slid down the side of her face to her shoulders. Gatomon sighed as he expertly rolled and squeezed them. "You're pretty tense. What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing," she squeaked out, too content to say more. Veemon's hands came to a slow stop. He lowered them and wrapped his arms around her waist. Gatomon's eyes opened up. She tilted her head back to look at Veemon. His eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly.
"I think he's enjoying this bath even more than I am," she speculated to herself, "..Did I just think I was enjoying this?? Oh jeez. This plan is really failing miserably. The whole point was so that he could make some big mistake, I'd dump him for it, he'd realize that even though we got off to a fresh start it wasn't working out, and then he'd leave me alone. Instead I liked sleeping with him, being held by him, and even taking a bath because of him. This shouldn't be what I want! He's an annoying cretin! Hmm.... okay, fine. If he won't screw up on his own, I'll just have to MAKE him." Gatomon smiled to herself and lifted her tail out of the water. It still had some twigs in it so she let in flop back and drape across his shoulder. This caused Veemon to open his eyes. He looked over at her tail and saw the twigs. Veemon plucked one of them out. "YEOWWW!!!!!" she yelled, leaping out of the water, "My tail my tail my tail!!" Veemon almost jumped out of his skin.
"What? What did I do??" he asked, concerned.
"Mrrrgh! My tail is the most delicate part of my whole body!" she said, holding her tail as though it hurt.
"........You're a Saiyan?" he asked.
"A what?" said Gatomon, forgetting that she was supposed to be in pain.
"You know, from DragonBall Z," he said, "Their tails are their weakness."
"Well, then yes," she said, "I guess so.... Oh! OW!!!!" Veemon cocked his eyes at her as she pretended to be in pain again.
"Um Gatomon," he said, "Maybe it hurts because you're squeezing it like that."
"..No.... It's YOUR fault!" she insisted, not very convincingly.
"You know," said Veemon, getting a bit bolder, "I could have sworn I've seen you land on your tail before in some battles we've fought. It didn't seem to bother you very much then."
"That's..... That's because.... That's because you.. I mean I.. well.......... Well my tail doesn't hurt much now anyway.. so you're forgiven," she said, improvising poorly. Veemon stared at her, deadpan.
"Uh HUH. Yeah, well, anyway, let's get dried off and I'll take you back to Kari's," he said, sounding like he might be catching on.
"Okay," she said, smiling nervously. Veemon climbed out of the tub onto the mat and helped her climb out. He plucked a towel from the rail and wrapped it around Gatomon.
"This just isn't working out," she thought, "Now what do I do? I can't just tell him I lied to him. Then I'd just be back to stage one. Even worse, he might think I'm doing this because I secretly like him! ..... Which I don't! I have to change the plan. If it won't work with me dumping him, I'll just have to get him to dump ME. When I think about it, that makes a lot more sense anyway." Veemon hung the towel back up and turned to Gatomon.
"Well, I guess we should head off now," he suggested.
"Uh.. No..... That's ok. I'll just go by myself," she said, still trying to find a good way to make him dislike her. Veemon wrapped a towel around himself to finish drying off. While he did this, Gatomon opened the bathroom door. She glanced back at him and walked out. Veemon noticed that she was gone and dropped the towel.
"Wait for me!" said he, running after her.
Gatomon opened up the front door and was just about to leave. Veemon dashed over to her.
"At least let me walk you home!" he shouted.
"I said I'd go by myself!!" she yelled, slamming the door behind her. A second slam soon followed as Veemon whacked face-first into the door. Gatomon rolled her eyes and bounded off.
******At the Kamiya's******
Kari was glaring at Agumon. He had backed himself into a corner in the bedroom.
"How could you tell Gatomon to do that?!" she yelled, "Don't you know how crushed Veemon is going to be by this stupid plan?!"
"B-but that's the idea. It'll be the final blow so he'll just give up on his own accord," whimpered Agumon.
"I don't care!" said Kari, "When Gatomon comes back, she's going to have a LOT of explaining to do. Where has she been, anyway? I thought she was supposed to come right back after that incident."
"I really don't know," said Agumon, "She should be back by now."
"Oh great," said Kari, "Looks like I have to give Davis a call." Just then, their front door opened and Gatomon walked through. She rounded a corner and was greeted by an angry Kari.
"AhEM," said Kari, obviously wanting an explanation.
"Heh heh, I see Agumon spilled the beans," said Gatomon.
"Explain. Now," said Kari.
"Well......," Gatomon began, quickly thinking up a good fabrication.
"The truth, Gatomon," insisted Kari.
"*sigh* The truth is that I wound up spending the night at Davis's," said Gatomon, walking into Kari and Tai's room. Kari followed her and closed the door behind them. Agumon had taken his chance to flee, so they were alone.
"Are you going to tell me why you spent the night there?" asked Kari, still upset.
"Well if I just walked away after falling off of a building he'd suspect something, duh," said Gatomon.
"Don't get smug with me!" yelled Kari, "You're going right back over there to apologize to Veemon."
"What?! I can't do that!!" said Gatomon, freaked out.
"Oh yes you ... Gatomon, why are you so clean?" she asked, just noticing.
"I took a bath with Veemon," said Gatomon, mater-of-factly.
"A bath?? I've never been able to get you to take a bath," said Kari, "So.. What's the deal?"
"Well I DID get dirty from the fall," said Gatomon, "All I did was sleep with him and take a bath with him. What's the big deal?" Kari was speechless. Her look of anger had been replaced with one of shock.
"......You slept with him?"
"Well, what else was I supposed to do? I had to convince him that I thought he was my boyfriend."
"Still, I mean, isn't that taking things just a tad far?"
"What are you talking about? It's not that big a deal."
".........How was it?" Kari asked, inquisitively.
".....Well.. uh.. not bad I guess," replied Gatomon, never really having given it much thought.
"Was that your first time sleeping with a guy?" she asked.
"Hmm....... yeah, I'm pretty sure that was," replied Gatomon.
"........Did it hurt?" asked Kari.
"Well, it WAS a bit uncomfortable at first, but I got to like it actually," said Gatomon.
"Wow. So Veemon was your first," said Kari, "So, are you gonna have a baby now?"
".....Wah???" said Gatomon, thoroughly confused.
"Well,
you DID have sex with him," said Kari.
"What?! I DID NO SUCH THING! I said we slept together! SLEPT!
As in, we both lay down and fell asleep!" said
Gatomon, angrily, "What type of girl do you think I am?!"
"Sorry! Sheesh! Anyway, I'm just glad you're back home and everything's alright. So, how did you get him to dump you?" asked Kari.
"..Um.. well.. He hasn't actually dumped me yet, so to speak," said Gatomon.
"Why not? I thought that was what this whole plan was for."
"I changed the plan so that I'm dumping him," said Gatomon, a bit upset.
"Well, then, why haven't you dumped him already?" asked Kari.
"I'm working on it, okay?!" Gatomon retorted, clearly miffed.
"Don't blow a gasket, I was just wondering," said Kari, backing off.
"Well um.. it'd look too strange to just dump him right off the bat. I'll just wait a few days and then hit him with it," said Gatomon, walking out of the room, "Piece of cake."
******At the Motomiya Residence******
Veemon appeared completely purple and his surroundings looked like they had all been shaded red. Suddenly they all looked blue, now under a different hue. Davis continued staring at Veemon's slumped form through one eye or the other from behind the pair of cheesy 3-D glasses he had found.
"Hey, Veemon, are you okay?" he asked, bending down to his friend. Yes, Veemon still had his face firmly implanted in the front door. Davis lifted him up and shook him awake.
"Who? What? Where? When? Why?" he asked, slowly snapping back to reality.
"This isn't Nick News," said Davis, "Why'd you smack your face into the door?"
"Ughhhh," groaned Veemon, rubbing his nose, "Devermide, ith's a log thtory, Davishth."
"Between your lisp and your blocked nose it's like you're speaking another language," snickered Davis. Veemon muttered to himself and let go of his nose. Just noticing the glasses, he gave Davis a funny look.
"What's with the specs? Is that the guy version of makeup?" he asked.
"What?! These are 3-D glasses! I use them for reading comic books, not to feel pretty."
"Sure coulda fooled me, handsome!" said Veemon batting his eyes and smiling like a ditz.
"Oh knock it off," said Davis, dropping Veemon back down to the floor, "I got them out to make your story seem more real!"
"Huh? What story?" said Veemon.
"Oh good point, I don't want my mom to hear it," he said, taking Veemon's arm, "Quickly, Weed Boy! To the bedroom!" he shouted, racing away with Veemon in tow.
"Let's do it, Captain Groovy," said Veemon, deadpan.
Davis dashed into the room and placed Veemon on the bed. He closed the door and pulled up a chair. He had next to him a big bowl o' popcorn and a cola in his hand. He straightened the 3-D goggles and stared at Veemon, expectantly. Veemon stared right back, not sure what he was supposed to do.
".....Well?" said Davis, growing impacient.
"Well what?? What story am I supposed to be telling you?" he asked confused.
"Don't you remember? You said you'd tell me all about your wild night with Gatomon when I gave you the blanket last night," said Davis, giddy as ..... well, as Davis.
"Ohhh right," said Veemon, "Well, it was real nice." Davis stayed quiet for a while.
"........AND??" he asked, growing impatient.
"And what?" asked Veemon.
"Don't be so shy, Veemon," said Davis, "Get to the juicy stuff!"
"Errrr," said Veemon, not really sure what to say, "We didn't exactly do anything really."
"..What?" said Davis, shocked, "You had a girl who was madly in love with you on the couch, under a blanket, and NOTHING happened??"
"Uh.. heh, yeah, that's about it."
"Oh man. What'll I tell all the guys?" he said, depressingly taking off his glasses, "I can't believe I've got such a weenie for a digimon."
"All the guys??!" Veemon thought, panicking, "I'd be a laughing stock!" He gulped silently. "Davis? I kinda lied. It was a WILD night!"
"Really???" said Davis, perking up, "Way to go! So, tell me all about it!"
"Ok, but you have to do one thing for me."
"Name it."
"Don't tell any of this to a SOUL!"
"It's a deal!" said Davis, cramming some popcorn into his mouth.
******Later that Night at the Kamiya's******
Tai climbed into bed and reached for the light.
"Goodnight, guys," he yawned.
"Goodnight!" Agumon, Gatomon, and Kari responded.
Before he could click it off, the new phone they had installed wrung.
"That should be for you, Gatomon," said Agumon, lying eyes-closed up on Tai's bed. Tai gave Agumon a quizzical look.
"Hello?" he asked, picking up the phone, "Uh huh...... Ok, sure. Gatomon, it IS for you. How'd you do that, Agumon?"
"Gatomon," said Agumon, "Tell Veemon yes, okay?" Now it was Gatomon's turn to look at him quizzically. She climbed out of the bed and took the phone from Tai, still looking back at Agumon.
"Yes? Oh, hi Vee," she said, sounding happy, "Really? Bowling? Yeah sure. Oh, I'll ask. Kari?"
"Yeah?" asked Kari.
"Can you take me to go bowling with Davis and Veemon?" she asked.
"Okay," yawned Kari.
"She said, okay," said Gatomon, her tail dancing in the air, "Mhmm, see you there! Bye bye!" Gatomon hung up the phone and skipped toward the bed.
"You sure do throw yourself into a role," said Kari, rolling her eyes.
"Agumon," said Gatomon, deliberately ignoring Kari's remark, "How'd you know that would happen?"
"Easy," said Agumon, "He figured that since I live with you, I'd know the best place to take you out on a date. I recommended bowling so you can see him stink up the lanes and you can dump him because you think he's no good. See? Problem solved."
"..But what if he's good?" she asked, almost defending Veemon.
"He doesn't even know what bowling is," snickered Agumon, "Don't worry, Veemon messing up is like Tai getting strangled by his hair: It's bound to happen sooner or later!"
"Very funny!" said Tai, playfully smacking Agumon with a pillow. Agumon retaliated by pillow-smacking Tai back. They both continued to pillow fight as Gatomon got back in the bed. Kari rolled her eyes, part from how stupid the plan seemed and part from how dumb Tai and Agumon were acting.
"C'mon, Tai," she groaned, "Turn out the light so we can get some rest."
"Awwww," complained Agumon as Tai turned the light off.
It was five minutes later. Tai and Agumon had finally gotten settled down and Kari and Gatomon were down on the bottom bunk resting peacefully. Kari was snoozing lightly, but Gatomon was still wide awake. She was lying on her left side with her back facing Kari. She couldn't decide whether to sleep under the covers or on top of them, finding it too hot underneath and too cold atop. She had finally chosen to sleep on them so she could get up quickly. This made her stop to think, "Why would I suddenly need to get up quickly?" "To answer the phone," kept flashing in her head, but she ignored it. Gatomon let her mind go blank for a few moments. She found her eyes slowly panning down her body. After a while, she became transfixed on her stomach. That was where it felt the coldest. She remembered that Veemon had put his hand right in that same spot last night. She lay still for a few more moments before moving one of her paws down to her stomach, resting it right where his hand would have been. Gatomon frowned. It didn't feel the same. She turned her head to glance back at Kari. Kari's arm was resting on top of the covers too. Inspired, Gatomon gently placed Kari's hand on her stomach, perfectly simulating Veemon's. She closed her eyes to consider how it felt.
"Hah, EXACTLY like his," she thought to herself, "He's nothing special, I just liked the way his hand felt. Big whoop."
"What's wrong, Gatomon?" Kari asked, somewhat awake.
"Oh.. I was just a bit cold," lied Gatomon.
"Ok here, big hug," said Kari, squeezing Gatomon like a stuffed animal, "Goodnight."
Kari promptly fell back asleep. Gatomon frowned, looking down at Kari's hand. It was as though that hug made her notice all the differences. Suddenly, Kari's hand seemed too smooth, it was a little too big, it felt girlish (duh), it seemed too limp, etc. She gently plucked Kari's hand off of her body and placed it back on the covers behind her. Gatomon felt very cold once again.
To be continued...