Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, Tera, or Adrian. Drat it all!
Jenashu: Yay!!! I hope everyone liked the last chapter.
Izzy: I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jenashu: *sweatdrop* Yes, I know...
Yama: It was BORING.
Izzy: I didn't think so!
Jenashu: Umm, boys? Can we just start the chapter?
Yama: Whatever. Here's chapter 13.
Jenashu: Say it with feeling!
Izzy: Er...
Jenashu: Enough of this! Time for chapter 13, everyone! Enjoy!!!!
******************************************************************************
A Boy That's a Friend
The next four days in Austrailia were very uneventful for the Digidestineds. They watched all of the swimming contests (and placed in two of the five, conquering one), the Culinary Challenge (no luck), archery (they won one of the four) , and basketball (no luck). However, they did get to watch The Teenage Wolves make "Lobster Brain Surprise" with the leftover ingredients from the Culinary Challenge. The worst part was that there was no seafood left. You figure that one out.
The next big thing for everyone was that they were going to...China! The perk that the teens were looking forward to was a kite-flying contest. However, when they got there, they found out that the catch was...
"You must build your kite with a student from another country," the announcer person said. Jen looked around the building. It was full of all the people that could be her partner. She almost asked Tera, but she knew who the green-eyed girl would prefer to work with. Before she could ask Mimi, Sora did, and Michael asked Izzy. Suddenly, she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder.
"Garu!" Jen cried, looking up at him. How did I forget him? she asked herself.
"Did I startle you?" he asked with a smile. "Sorry. Can we work on this together? It would be just like old times."
"I don't know. The last time we tried this, it took us two hours to assemble a kite from a kit, and when we did, you got it stuck in a tree. Remember?" Jen joked. Garu blushed.
"Well, we'll do better this time," he said.
"We're not allowed to even use kits!" Jen teased.
"Give me a break!" Garu requested.
"Okay!" Jen said. She had been waiting for an excuse to have a little chat with Garu, anyway. Izzy, however, was not pleased with the arrangement. He kept it to himself, though; he didn't want to upset Jen. Besides, she might just want to tell him to back off, Izzy told himself. Yeah, that must be it...
**************
"Pass me the glue," Garu said to Jen. She put down her pencil to hand Garu the paste. "Thanks. How's it going?"
"Looks good, doesn't it?" Jen asked, holding up the heavy piece of paper that was going to be
the kite's face. It showed the image of a flying phoenix with flames dancing behind it.
"That's awesome!" Garu exclaimed. Jen smiled. The two of them had agreed that Jen would make the kite look good and Garu would make it work.
"Thanks!" Jen said before looked around the common room. She and Garu were in their own little corner. Lots of other groups were all around them, but none of them had ventured close enough to hear their conversation.
The girl twirled her pencil around, as she was starting to get a little bored. Suddenly it slipped out of her fingers and fell near Garu. Without really looking up, Jen reached for it. Her hand touched Garu's.
"Oops, 'scuse me," Jen said while she started to pull her hand back. Garu laced his fingers between hers. Jen looked up into his baby blues. "Garu...please," she said as she tried to wiggle her fingers out of Garu's strong (but gentle) grip.
"What?" Garu asked softly, gazing back into her eyes. Jen swallowed hard, remembering the effect that his beautiful eyes had on her. Garu slowly scooted closer to her.
"Stop, Garu. I can't. Izzy's my boyfriend. Please don't do this to me," Jen requested, trying to stare him down, but failing spectacularly. It seemed to take Garu a moment to comprehend what Jen had told him, but when he did, he turned his face away as of he'd been slapped.
"Garu, I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you!" Jen said, pouring all of her heart into her words. Garu was silent for a moment before he said:
"But you did."
"I didn't want to!" Jen repeated. Garu refused to meet her eyes. "Garu...Listen, I...I want to be your friend. Remember? We were always together when we were little, and I remember how much fun we had together. Can we still be friends? Please, Garu?"
Garu was silent for another long moment. He finally released Jen's hand and picked up the kite's face. He attached it to the kite's body, attached the tail, and held the finished kite up. He handed it to Jen before slowly walking away without looking back.
************
"Hello?" Izzy asked while he knocked on the door to Jen, Sora, and Lulu's hotel room. Sora opened the door a moment later. "Have you seen Jen? She didn't come to dinner."
"She locked herself in the bathroom," Sora said. "She looked really upset. We tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't answer us..."
"What?! Do you know what happened?" Izzy asked. Lulu shook her head.
"Not a clue. But it's a good thing you came; she may talk to you." she said. Then, loudly, "Jen, Sora and I are going down to work on out kites! See ya!" Sora and Lulu left the room, closing the door softly behind them.
"Jen?" Izzy asked, leaning on the bathroom door. After a moment of silence, he got an answer.
"Izzy?" said a very upset voice that was only a ghost of the happy voice Izzy knew so well.
"Yes. Can you open the door?" Another silence, then a click sound. The door slowly swung open, revealing a sad-looking Jen. Her bright brown eyes were brimming with unshed tears. Izzy slowly walked over to one of the beds and sat down. He patted the quilt, telling Jen to sit next to him. She obeyed his unspoken command and stared at the floor.
Izzy put two fingers under her chin and gently tilted her head up. Their eyes locked. "Tell me what's wrong," he said softly. Jen tried to speak, but all that came out was a sob. She threw her arms around Izzy and pressed her face against his shoulder. Izzy felt hot tears slipping down his neck.
Lulu and Sora didn't know what was wrong, Izzy thought, so that must mean...
"Is it Garu?" Izzy asked while he stroked Jen's hair.
"Y-yes," Jen said between sobs. Izzy's body tensened.
"He didn't do anything to you, did he?" he asked sharply. If that jerk laid a finger on her...Izzy told himself.
"N-no!" Jen choked out. Izzy sighed in relief.
"Then what happened?"
Jen tried to answer him, but she couldn't get more than one or two words out. "Stop," Izzy said, silencing Jen's attempt to speak. "Go ahead and cry it out, love, I'll wait," Izzy said softly. He gently rocked back and forth and continued to stroke her hair. Eventually, Jen's sobs were few and far between. Izzy gently grasped her shoulders and pulled her back so he could see her. Her face was red and wet, and her eyes were puffy.
Izzy frowned. Just seeing his goddess looking so sad was enough to make him cry. Instead, he decided to do something more productive. He leaned forward and gently kissed the tears off of Jen's cheeks.
Jen was practically shocked out of her sadness when she felt Izzy's lips (and sometimes his toungue-it seemed that Izzy couldn't resist) brushing against her cheeks again and again. She squeezed Izzy hard, feeling a hundred emotions all at once.
Izzy had tasted his own tears before, and he knew that they were bitter. However, he thought to himself, Jen's tears are almost sweet...
When Izzy was done, Jen sighed. Izzy heard an edge of happiness and smiled. He hated to make her think about what had happened, but he needed to know.
"Are you ready to talk yet?" Izzy asked. Jen repositioned herself in Izzy's arms and nodded.
"Well...Umm, what happened was..." Jen started. She explained everything that happened. Izzy listened attentively until she was finished.
"If he did that, then why do you still want to be his friend?" Izzy asked. Jen sighed.
"Izzy...have you ever had a friend that you could tell anything? A friend that was like family to you? Someone that you never want to leave?" Jen asked.
"Besides you?" Izzy asked. Jen blushed.
"Alright...If I just walked away, would you cry over it?"
Izzy looked at her and realized that she had a point. "I...I would," he admitted.
After a moment of silence, Jen gently broke out of Izzy's embrace. She walked into the bathroom, and when she came back, she was carrying the kite.
"It's prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed. Jen smiled and sat it down on the floor.
"It is neat, isn't it?" Jen asked. Izzy noticed a touch of sadness in her voice.
"Don't worry, Jen. Maybe you can patch things up at the contest," he said.
"I hope so," Jen replied before climbing onto Izzy's lap and embracing him again.
***************
Jen held her kite close to her while she searched for Garu on the hill. The day of the contest had finally arrived, but he was no where in sight. All of the others had made their kites. Tai and Tera's was much like Jen's, except it showed a tiger's face. Sora and Mimi had a very odd-looking pink-and-blue kite. Jen doubted that theirs would actually fly. Izzy and Micheal had a traditional Chinease kite (you know, the box-type kite), but the paper was covered with Japanease symbols. Jen supposed that only the Chinease and the Japanease would notice, anyway. All of the others had choosen a person to be their partner at random (although most of the Teenage Wolves asked the first pretty girl they could find).
"Excuse me?" Jen asked of one of the French boys. "Have you seen Garu?" The boy nodded and pointed towards a bunch of trees. Jen walked over and saw Garu laying on a tree branch. "Garu!" Jen called.
Garu looked down at her. "Hi!" he said before he could stop himself. Jen smiled and held up the kite.
"Come on!" she said. "I can't fly it without you!"
Garu seemed to be considering things. The night before he had thought about all the times he had been over Jen's house. How often she helped him escape his father. How nice she was to him. In the end, he knew that he would have to get over his crush on her. Expecially since he didn't want to lose her completely. Finally, he started climbing down the tree. He took one end of the kite from Jen and smiled at her. "Let's go," he said. Jen's face lit up.
"Okay!" she said happily.
"I'm sorry, Jen." Garu said while they walked towards the top of the hill. Jen looked down. "I made you cry...didn't I?"
"...yes..."
"...was Izzy there for you?"
"Yes..."
"Then...then he has my gratitude. I'm sorry...will you still be my friend?" Garu asked, holding his breath.
"Yes," Jen repeated. She patted Garu's shoulder and smiled. "I'll always be your friend."
"...Thank you," Garu said. Simple words, thank you. But one can put their whole heart in them, and that's what Garu did.
*********
Garu and Jen didn't win the contest, but they had a lot of fun flying their phoenix kite around and trying to avoid the trees. The only people who won that Jen knew was Tai and Tera. To Jen's surprise, Tai knew how to make a kite do all kinds of tricks. Sora and Mimi never did get their kite in the air, and Izzy and Micheal got chewed out by almost every person who could read Chinease or Japanease symbols. It turned out that there was some kind of misunderstanding. Izzy had asked Micheal to use Chinease symbols, but he thought he said Japanease, and because of his sloppy handwriting, Izzy couldn't read it, and since he didn't know Chinease, he figured it was right.
By the time the contest was over, the sun was setting. Jen held her kite up to the orange sky before she handed it to Garu. "I want you to keep it," she said. Garu gawked at it.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "If I had made it myself, it would just be white and no one would want it. I think you should keep it."
"I'm sure. It's...I guess it's...you know, like a symbol of our friendship," Jen said, hopping that what she said didn't sound cheesy.
"...I wish I had something for you to have," he said. Jen's shook her head.
"No, no! It's not really a gift because it was half yours anyway. It will probably be better off with you because we're stopping at France next. As long as one of us has it, it will hold its meaning."
After a moment of silence, Jen spoke up again. "Are you ever coming back to Japan?" she asked.
"Actually, I think my Mom said something about coming back," Garu said with a smile.
"That's cool!" Jen said happily.
"Yeah. If I come back home, then we can take turns with the kite," Garu said.
"Alright," Jen said. Izzy and Micheal walked up to them. "Hey, here comes the confused kite!" Jen joked.
"Very funny. Now everyone's said something," Micheal said.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it," Jen replied.
"Sure," Izzy said, playfully tugging a lock of Jen's hair.
"Heeeey!" Jen cried. She pulled Izzy close and gave him a noogie.
"Stop! Mercy, mercy! Uncle!" Izzy shouted. Jen giggled and released him.
"If you thought that was bad, then you should see Tai and Matt's noogies!" Jen said.
"I can imagine," Izzy replied. Suddenly he noticed Garu. They stared at each other for a moment.
"Hey," Garu said at last.
"Hello," Izzy replied. Jen smiled. Soon she would have her two dear friends talking to one another. Until then, she decided to keep an eye on them both!
*****************************************************************************
Jenashu: Taaa Daaa!!! Yay!!! Chapter 13!!!!!! I wonder how many more chapters I can get in???
Jenashu: Yay!!! I hope everyone liked the last chapter.
Izzy: I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jenashu: *sweatdrop* Yes, I know...
Yama: It was BORING.
Izzy: I didn't think so!
Jenashu: Umm, boys? Can we just start the chapter?
Yama: Whatever. Here's chapter 13.
Jenashu: Say it with feeling!
Izzy: Er...
Jenashu: Enough of this! Time for chapter 13, everyone! Enjoy!!!!
******************************************************************************
A Boy That's a Friend
The next four days in Austrailia were very uneventful for the Digidestineds. They watched all of the swimming contests (and placed in two of the five, conquering one), the Culinary Challenge (no luck), archery (they won one of the four) , and basketball (no luck). However, they did get to watch The Teenage Wolves make "Lobster Brain Surprise" with the leftover ingredients from the Culinary Challenge. The worst part was that there was no seafood left. You figure that one out.
The next big thing for everyone was that they were going to...China! The perk that the teens were looking forward to was a kite-flying contest. However, when they got there, they found out that the catch was...
"You must build your kite with a student from another country," the announcer person said. Jen looked around the building. It was full of all the people that could be her partner. She almost asked Tera, but she knew who the green-eyed girl would prefer to work with. Before she could ask Mimi, Sora did, and Michael asked Izzy. Suddenly, she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder.
"Garu!" Jen cried, looking up at him. How did I forget him? she asked herself.
"Did I startle you?" he asked with a smile. "Sorry. Can we work on this together? It would be just like old times."
"I don't know. The last time we tried this, it took us two hours to assemble a kite from a kit, and when we did, you got it stuck in a tree. Remember?" Jen joked. Garu blushed.
"Well, we'll do better this time," he said.
"We're not allowed to even use kits!" Jen teased.
"Give me a break!" Garu requested.
"Okay!" Jen said. She had been waiting for an excuse to have a little chat with Garu, anyway. Izzy, however, was not pleased with the arrangement. He kept it to himself, though; he didn't want to upset Jen. Besides, she might just want to tell him to back off, Izzy told himself. Yeah, that must be it...
**************
"Pass me the glue," Garu said to Jen. She put down her pencil to hand Garu the paste. "Thanks. How's it going?"
"Looks good, doesn't it?" Jen asked, holding up the heavy piece of paper that was going to be
the kite's face. It showed the image of a flying phoenix with flames dancing behind it.
"That's awesome!" Garu exclaimed. Jen smiled. The two of them had agreed that Jen would make the kite look good and Garu would make it work.
"Thanks!" Jen said before looked around the common room. She and Garu were in their own little corner. Lots of other groups were all around them, but none of them had ventured close enough to hear their conversation.
The girl twirled her pencil around, as she was starting to get a little bored. Suddenly it slipped out of her fingers and fell near Garu. Without really looking up, Jen reached for it. Her hand touched Garu's.
"Oops, 'scuse me," Jen said while she started to pull her hand back. Garu laced his fingers between hers. Jen looked up into his baby blues. "Garu...please," she said as she tried to wiggle her fingers out of Garu's strong (but gentle) grip.
"What?" Garu asked softly, gazing back into her eyes. Jen swallowed hard, remembering the effect that his beautiful eyes had on her. Garu slowly scooted closer to her.
"Stop, Garu. I can't. Izzy's my boyfriend. Please don't do this to me," Jen requested, trying to stare him down, but failing spectacularly. It seemed to take Garu a moment to comprehend what Jen had told him, but when he did, he turned his face away as of he'd been slapped.
"Garu, I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you!" Jen said, pouring all of her heart into her words. Garu was silent for a moment before he said:
"But you did."
"I didn't want to!" Jen repeated. Garu refused to meet her eyes. "Garu...Listen, I...I want to be your friend. Remember? We were always together when we were little, and I remember how much fun we had together. Can we still be friends? Please, Garu?"
Garu was silent for another long moment. He finally released Jen's hand and picked up the kite's face. He attached it to the kite's body, attached the tail, and held the finished kite up. He handed it to Jen before slowly walking away without looking back.
************
"Hello?" Izzy asked while he knocked on the door to Jen, Sora, and Lulu's hotel room. Sora opened the door a moment later. "Have you seen Jen? She didn't come to dinner."
"She locked herself in the bathroom," Sora said. "She looked really upset. We tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't answer us..."
"What?! Do you know what happened?" Izzy asked. Lulu shook her head.
"Not a clue. But it's a good thing you came; she may talk to you." she said. Then, loudly, "Jen, Sora and I are going down to work on out kites! See ya!" Sora and Lulu left the room, closing the door softly behind them.
"Jen?" Izzy asked, leaning on the bathroom door. After a moment of silence, he got an answer.
"Izzy?" said a very upset voice that was only a ghost of the happy voice Izzy knew so well.
"Yes. Can you open the door?" Another silence, then a click sound. The door slowly swung open, revealing a sad-looking Jen. Her bright brown eyes were brimming with unshed tears. Izzy slowly walked over to one of the beds and sat down. He patted the quilt, telling Jen to sit next to him. She obeyed his unspoken command and stared at the floor.
Izzy put two fingers under her chin and gently tilted her head up. Their eyes locked. "Tell me what's wrong," he said softly. Jen tried to speak, but all that came out was a sob. She threw her arms around Izzy and pressed her face against his shoulder. Izzy felt hot tears slipping down his neck.
Lulu and Sora didn't know what was wrong, Izzy thought, so that must mean...
"Is it Garu?" Izzy asked while he stroked Jen's hair.
"Y-yes," Jen said between sobs. Izzy's body tensened.
"He didn't do anything to you, did he?" he asked sharply. If that jerk laid a finger on her...Izzy told himself.
"N-no!" Jen choked out. Izzy sighed in relief.
"Then what happened?"
Jen tried to answer him, but she couldn't get more than one or two words out. "Stop," Izzy said, silencing Jen's attempt to speak. "Go ahead and cry it out, love, I'll wait," Izzy said softly. He gently rocked back and forth and continued to stroke her hair. Eventually, Jen's sobs were few and far between. Izzy gently grasped her shoulders and pulled her back so he could see her. Her face was red and wet, and her eyes were puffy.
Izzy frowned. Just seeing his goddess looking so sad was enough to make him cry. Instead, he decided to do something more productive. He leaned forward and gently kissed the tears off of Jen's cheeks.
Jen was practically shocked out of her sadness when she felt Izzy's lips (and sometimes his toungue-it seemed that Izzy couldn't resist) brushing against her cheeks again and again. She squeezed Izzy hard, feeling a hundred emotions all at once.
Izzy had tasted his own tears before, and he knew that they were bitter. However, he thought to himself, Jen's tears are almost sweet...
When Izzy was done, Jen sighed. Izzy heard an edge of happiness and smiled. He hated to make her think about what had happened, but he needed to know.
"Are you ready to talk yet?" Izzy asked. Jen repositioned herself in Izzy's arms and nodded.
"Well...Umm, what happened was..." Jen started. She explained everything that happened. Izzy listened attentively until she was finished.
"If he did that, then why do you still want to be his friend?" Izzy asked. Jen sighed.
"Izzy...have you ever had a friend that you could tell anything? A friend that was like family to you? Someone that you never want to leave?" Jen asked.
"Besides you?" Izzy asked. Jen blushed.
"Alright...If I just walked away, would you cry over it?"
Izzy looked at her and realized that she had a point. "I...I would," he admitted.
After a moment of silence, Jen gently broke out of Izzy's embrace. She walked into the bathroom, and when she came back, she was carrying the kite.
"It's prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed. Jen smiled and sat it down on the floor.
"It is neat, isn't it?" Jen asked. Izzy noticed a touch of sadness in her voice.
"Don't worry, Jen. Maybe you can patch things up at the contest," he said.
"I hope so," Jen replied before climbing onto Izzy's lap and embracing him again.
***************
Jen held her kite close to her while she searched for Garu on the hill. The day of the contest had finally arrived, but he was no where in sight. All of the others had made their kites. Tai and Tera's was much like Jen's, except it showed a tiger's face. Sora and Mimi had a very odd-looking pink-and-blue kite. Jen doubted that theirs would actually fly. Izzy and Micheal had a traditional Chinease kite (you know, the box-type kite), but the paper was covered with Japanease symbols. Jen supposed that only the Chinease and the Japanease would notice, anyway. All of the others had choosen a person to be their partner at random (although most of the Teenage Wolves asked the first pretty girl they could find).
"Excuse me?" Jen asked of one of the French boys. "Have you seen Garu?" The boy nodded and pointed towards a bunch of trees. Jen walked over and saw Garu laying on a tree branch. "Garu!" Jen called.
Garu looked down at her. "Hi!" he said before he could stop himself. Jen smiled and held up the kite.
"Come on!" she said. "I can't fly it without you!"
Garu seemed to be considering things. The night before he had thought about all the times he had been over Jen's house. How often she helped him escape his father. How nice she was to him. In the end, he knew that he would have to get over his crush on her. Expecially since he didn't want to lose her completely. Finally, he started climbing down the tree. He took one end of the kite from Jen and smiled at her. "Let's go," he said. Jen's face lit up.
"Okay!" she said happily.
"I'm sorry, Jen." Garu said while they walked towards the top of the hill. Jen looked down. "I made you cry...didn't I?"
"...yes..."
"...was Izzy there for you?"
"Yes..."
"Then...then he has my gratitude. I'm sorry...will you still be my friend?" Garu asked, holding his breath.
"Yes," Jen repeated. She patted Garu's shoulder and smiled. "I'll always be your friend."
"...Thank you," Garu said. Simple words, thank you. But one can put their whole heart in them, and that's what Garu did.
*********
Garu and Jen didn't win the contest, but they had a lot of fun flying their phoenix kite around and trying to avoid the trees. The only people who won that Jen knew was Tai and Tera. To Jen's surprise, Tai knew how to make a kite do all kinds of tricks. Sora and Mimi never did get their kite in the air, and Izzy and Micheal got chewed out by almost every person who could read Chinease or Japanease symbols. It turned out that there was some kind of misunderstanding. Izzy had asked Micheal to use Chinease symbols, but he thought he said Japanease, and because of his sloppy handwriting, Izzy couldn't read it, and since he didn't know Chinease, he figured it was right.
By the time the contest was over, the sun was setting. Jen held her kite up to the orange sky before she handed it to Garu. "I want you to keep it," she said. Garu gawked at it.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "If I had made it myself, it would just be white and no one would want it. I think you should keep it."
"I'm sure. It's...I guess it's...you know, like a symbol of our friendship," Jen said, hopping that what she said didn't sound cheesy.
"...I wish I had something for you to have," he said. Jen's shook her head.
"No, no! It's not really a gift because it was half yours anyway. It will probably be better off with you because we're stopping at France next. As long as one of us has it, it will hold its meaning."
After a moment of silence, Jen spoke up again. "Are you ever coming back to Japan?" she asked.
"Actually, I think my Mom said something about coming back," Garu said with a smile.
"That's cool!" Jen said happily.
"Yeah. If I come back home, then we can take turns with the kite," Garu said.
"Alright," Jen said. Izzy and Micheal walked up to them. "Hey, here comes the confused kite!" Jen joked.
"Very funny. Now everyone's said something," Micheal said.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it," Jen replied.
"Sure," Izzy said, playfully tugging a lock of Jen's hair.
"Heeeey!" Jen cried. She pulled Izzy close and gave him a noogie.
"Stop! Mercy, mercy! Uncle!" Izzy shouted. Jen giggled and released him.
"If you thought that was bad, then you should see Tai and Matt's noogies!" Jen said.
"I can imagine," Izzy replied. Suddenly he noticed Garu. They stared at each other for a moment.
"Hey," Garu said at last.
"Hello," Izzy replied. Jen smiled. Soon she would have her two dear friends talking to one another. Until then, she decided to keep an eye on them both!
*****************************************************************************
Jenashu: Taaa Daaa!!! Yay!!! Chapter 13!!!!!! I wonder how many more chapters I can get in???