Saying Goodbye

The weather was getting colder. Thanksgiving was just around the corner, and they were all going to spend it with their families. They wouldn't be having a party. However, they were going to have two days off from school, so they would be able to do something together for those days if they wanted to. Taichi suggested a road trip, and Jyou warned them about the last road trip they'd attempted happening again, but they said they'd talk about it later.

Daisuke and Takeru were not having any problems in their relationship and were enjoying it as much as they could, hanging out all the time and talking about simple things and deep things. Ken had begun to feel ignored by them, and after two Playstation Wars nights were broken for dates, he had started to feel very left out. There was a growing void in his life that his two best friends had once filled, one that even Koushirou couldn't fill, even though Ken was finding himself hanging around Koushirou constantly.

Ken decided to confront Daisuke and Takeru about being left out so much, and they finally made it a date to talk to each other before school. Ken told them about the way he'd been feeling, and about how he felt left out, and they looked truly sorry and arranged for an emergency Playstation War sleepover the next weekend, where they would try their best to put their relationship to the side and just hang out as three best friends again.

Taichi and Yamato had another fight and Taichi was glued to Sora's side for a few days, while Yamato practiced with his band before and after school until he finally had to go home since it got so late. Soon, Taichi and Yamato were shoved at each other by a very frustrated Sora and Mimi, and they worked it out. The next day they were inseparable again, and Sora and Mimi kept their eyes on the boys to make sure there were no further problems.

The girls decided to have a Girl's Night Out that weekend, since Kari and Miyako hadn't tagged along on one for so long, and Sora and Mimi missed them on the last few.

Koushirou finally got it through Ken's head that he wasn't intending to leave him for no good reason and Ken began to trust him and talk to him about his feelings and his past, and Koushirou realized that Ken was slowly falling for him, too. Koushirou finally just threw up his hands and kissed Ken, and he was only half-surprised when Ken pulled back and yelled at him for sneaking up on him like that, only to pull him forward and kiss him back a few seconds later.

Takeru and Kari slowly but surely began building their friendship up again, picking up the pieces and mending the broken shards until they could trust each other again, just like the old days. Ken finally started actually listening to Kari's apologies, and he finally accepted her and counted her as a friend once again.

One afternoon, Daisuke decided to visit Jerry again. He met him outside on Jerry's bench and sat down with him.

"Hey, haven't talked to you in a while," Jerry greeted him as he sat down.

Daisuke grinned back. "I know."

"So, how's school, Takeru, your friends, and your life? Any improvements?"

"School's the same, Takeru's great, my friends are all happy again, and my life is getting a little better by the day. Take and I are realizing now that we aren't including Ken in activities as much anymore, and I feel so bad about that...I mean, we used to be inseparable, you know? We used to be as close as Taichi and Yamato were, and they are attached at the hip. Then we just started drifting apart, after...you know...and now I feel crappy for treating Ken like he wasn't one of us anymore. I'm going to try to include him on stuff again, and we're going to have another Playstation War this weekend, so I'm looking forward to that."

"That's good. Is he still sad and sleepy?"

"He isn't as sleepy anymore, and he's still very sad, but he isn't that depressed anymore, you know? He actually smiles sometimes now, especially around Koushirou, since Koushirou is constantly trying to make him smile because he says Ken's smiles are precious or something like that..."

"Do you think he loves him?"

"I think he might. His feelings for Ken are huge, you know? I know that much. As for love...I can't tell."

"Does Takeru know much about you?"

Daisuke thought for awhile, then smiled. "Not much, no, but he's finding out more every day."

"But there's still a lot he doesn't know."

"Of course. There are some things I can't trust even him with knowing. Remember I told you that there is stuff I promised myself I'd only tell the person I fall in love with? That stuff I can't tell him."

"Because you don't love him."

"Well...no."

"Are you ever afraid he might love you?"

Daisuke looked down at the ground and moved his feet around. "Yes."

"Do you get scared that he might like you a lot more than you like him?"

"Yes."

"And that you might not be able to return those feelings?"

"Yes."

Jerry smiled. "I got scared that same way when I first met my wife. We began going out as boyfriend and girlfriend, and one night she told me she might love me, and I got scared shitless. I didn't think I loved her. I thought about it for so long that I hardly slept at all, and I finally came to the conclusion that...I didn't. It took me a few years to realize I did."

"And the moral of the story is...?"

"Nothing. Just that you never know."

"You're right, I don't. I don't know if I'll fall in love with Takeru or if I never will. I don't know if I'll break up with him next week, next month, or years from now."

"You never know. I love that about life, it keeps you guessing until the very end."

Jerry smiled to himself. Daisuke looked a bit uncomfortable.

They stared out into the trees and the alleys and the people passing by for a while, and then Jerry said, "Daisuke?"

"What?"

"You don't have to know right now. You're still just a kid."

Daisuke realized he was right. He was just a kid. He didn't have to know any of those things, didn't have to worry about them, because he wasn't supposed to know just yet. Why worry now?

"Thanks, Jerry."

"No problem."

They smiled at each other for a while, and then Daisuke furrowed his eyebrow.

"Did you feel that?"

Daisuke wiped the wetness from his hand and stared at it. Was it raining?

No. No, it wasn't raining. But it couldn't be. Not in twenty years. It hadn't snowed in twenty years. Could it...

Daisuke looked up at the sky. Yes, it was. He stood up, gasping, pulling his hood back from his head to reveal a shock of red spiky hair. Snowflakes got lost in his mop of hair and inside of his mouth. He began laughing happily.

It was snowing again for the first time in twenty years.

Daisuke twirled around and smiled up at the sky, and then he turned and smiled at Jerry. Jerry was smiling back at him, a tired, old-man kind of smile that old people give young people because they know they have something they lost a long time ago. Daisuke suddenly realized Jerry would be leaving home that day.

"You know what this means, right?" Jerry asked him gently.

Daisuke nodded, and then started shaking his head and muttering, "No" over and over. Jerry stood and Daisuke rushed to him and hugged him, as if begging him to sit back down.

"You can't leave right now. You just can't...I need you to be there. I need something to stay in place in my life, and you're the one that I can always count on being there for me."

Daisuke had always counted on Jerry being there, waiting on his park bench, smiling at the sky like he knew the snow was on it's way, that it was just waiting for the perfect moment to fall and surprise him and the rest of the world.

"You can't go, you can't..."

"Daisuke, don't."

Jerry hugged the young boy and Daisuke buried his head in his shoulder, sniffling. Jerry didn't tell him to be a man and hold it in. He didn't tell him it was okay to cry. He just held him until he stopped shivering, and then he let him go.

"Daisuke, I'm going to go home now. She's waiting for me."

Daisuke saw the twinkle in Jerry's eye, and he wondered if maybe Jerry truly did think his wife was still alive and waiting for him to come back now that it was snowing again, which meant she wasn't angry with him anymore.

"Am I ever going to see you again?"

"Maybe. But just in case...let's say goodbye this time."

Daisuke hated the word goodbye in that moment. He hated it with all his life. He didn't want to say goodbye to this man, to this friend of his.

"Goodbye, Daisuke." Jerry tipped his hat to him. The hat had a hole in the side of the wool, but Jerry always wore it anyways. Daisuke gave him a longing look, but he slowly lifted his hand and waved.

"Goodbye, Jerry."

Jerry began walking down the sidewalk towards his house. Daisuke stayed staring in the opposite direction, not wanting to watch Jerry walk away from him, because he felt that if he knew where Jerry lived, he would go search him out, and he got the feeling that Jerry would not want to see him after he went home to find his house empty and his wife long gone.

When Daisuke could not hear the man's footsteps anymore, he began walking off in the direction his was facing, not smiling anymore but knowing it was for the best. The snow kept falling, gently brushing his skin with tears, and Daisuke let it fall on him, wanting its cold companionship to see him home.

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: Bye, Jerry! I'll miss you...bleh. I finally finished this chapter. Yay. That's a relief...I started it and restarted it about seven times, but I finally got it to where I at least think it's decent enough to upload. Blargh. Since so many of you wanted more, here you go. Enjoy. And I'm sorry because I know it's late, but I've been having problems with being sick and too much homework. So tell me what you think of the suggested road trip, and if I should do the family Thanksgiving, the emergency Playstation Wars sleepover, and the Girl's Night Out.