Koushirou woke the next morning feeling nearly as confused as he did when he went to sleep. A night of unrest had done nothing to clear his mind as he'd hoped. He let out a sigh and rolled over on his back and studied the darkened ceiling.

"Have any breakthroughs in your sleep, Koushirou?" Tentomon asked.

"No Tentomon, not a single thing. If anything, I'm more lost than I was before. The only thing I know for certain that I'm going to do is apologize to Sora for stealing her seat next to Tai during the movies yesterday."

"Well, I guess that doing something is better than nothing, right Koushirou?"

"Maybe. I don't know. Why does this have to happen to me? Why can't I be normal like everyone else?"

"I hate to tell you this, Koushirou, but no one is really normal. Everyone has his or own quirks that makes them different."

"Good point. But that's the thing, Tentomon, I don't want to be different. I want to be just like everyone else. I want to be able to tell the one I love I love her,"

"Or him," Tentomon interrupted.

"Right, and not have to worry about being hit, ostracized, or anything else. I just want to be able to do it. But since I'm the way I am, I can't really do that now, can I?"

"Yes."

"Tentomon, if it were only that easy." Koushirou sat up. "I need to start getting ready. I'll see you in a bit." Koushirou started for the bathroom to get a shower, leaving Tentomon in the bedroom deciding on what to hit Koushirou with to knock some sense into him. A mallet was looking very good. Or maybe a chair. Tentomon sighed and rolled his buggy eyes.

In the shower, Koushirou started to relax while the water fell on him. "Why am I like this?" he asked no one. "why can't I be like everybody else?" He stood there and let the water wash his feelings away. He started to cry after a minute, surprising himself completely. Streams of tears joined the water making its way down the drain. He stood there until he cried himself out, and then turned off the water and grabbed a towel. He left the bathroom and returned to his room.

"Are you okay Koushirou? Your eyes are very red."

"Oh, I'm fine Tentomon, I just got some shampoo in them. I wasn't being very careful," Koushirou lied. He hated lying, but to Tentomon above all.

"Oh, that probably didn't feel very good. If someone didn't know better, they'd think you were crying. You would think that shampoo makers would make their products safer." Tentomon has a way of saying things that makes it very difficult for Koushirou to judge sometimes, and this was one of those times. He might have been telling Koushirou that he knew that he was full of crap, but he wasn't quite sure.

Koushirou got dressed and headed for the door, not in the mood for breakfast, definitely not in the mood for his inquisitive parents this morning. He was burying himself in his warm coat when his mother called out to him.

"Koushirou, you've not had breakfast this morning. Aren't you hungry?"

"Not really Mother, plus I'm getting to school a little bit early so I can help Tai out with his math. He's having a rough time." he just lied again, to his mother.

"That is very sweet of you dear, always thinking about your friends. Are you sure I can't make you a piece of toast or something before you go?"

"I'm sure. I'll be fine. I'll see you later, Mom." Tai stepped out the door and closed it behind him. He leaned against it and closed his eyes for a moment, thinking.

"If I could only quit thinking about my friends, especially Tai, everything would be just fine," he whispered. He pulled up his hood and started off. He shifted the book bag on his shoulder to a more comfortable position and stuffed his hands in his pockets and let his mind break its tether.

"Hey Izumi, wait up! Koushirou, hey, are you deaf?" a voice called out.

"Huh?" Koushirou turned around to see another bundled form running to him. "Tai?" he called.

"No, I'm definitely not Tai, sorry," the voice called. The figure pulled the hood back.

"Oh, TK, sorry. I was sort of spaced out there, I guess."

"No problem. I saw you walk by and you looked sort of sad and lonely, so I thought that you might need a bit of company."

"I look that bad?" Koushirou asked, a bit startled.

"Not that bad, but I can read people sometimes. You just didn't look like yourself. Mind if I walk with you, Koushirou?"

"No, not at all. I could use the company, actually. It might keep my mind from floating so far away."

"Great. Then it's decided. Let's go. The sooner we get there, the better." The two walked in silence for a moment when TK burst out. "So Koushirou, what did you think of the movies that me and Tai picked out yesterday?" Koushirou fought the urge to correct the grammar and just replied normally instead, leaving the grammar to the teachers.

"Well, the first one was pure Tai. Guns and violence. The second was pretty scary-"

"I know! I was scared a few times, but it got you worse! I looked around once and it looked like you were clinging to Tai for dear life." Koushirou swallowed very hard and took a breath and changed the topic to the third movie before TK could say more.

"The third one was hysterical. "I want a tuna sandwich!! It was great." TK wholeheartedly agreed. They laughed about a few of the horrible lines in the movie for a block or two. [[A/N--if you ever get to see the parody of Night of the Living Dead, watch it. It IS hysterical. I've seen it a good two dozen times and I still laugh like an idiot through most of it. Anyway…]]

"So, Koushirou, what's bothering you?" TK asked from nowhere.

"What makes you think that something's bothering me, TK?"

"Well, like I said, I can read people quite easily, and you look like you're laughing on the outside, but dying on the inside. So come on, what's up? You can tell me."

"Something is bothering me, but I don't want to talk about it right now, TK. Maybe later."

"Come on Koushirou, I won't tell anyone, and it will probably do you good."

"Not now, TK, but I promise that when I do want to talk about it, you'll be the first one I will tell," Koushirou told him.

"You better. If I hear it from Sora first, I'll be a little upset." Koushirou winced just a little when TK mentioned her name, remembering that he needed to talk to her about yesterday.

"Digi-Destined's honor." TK saw the way Koushirou looked when he mentioned Sora's name, and try as he might, he couldn't stop the gears from whirling away.

"Alright, let's hurry up. My toes are cold." They walked on, TK doing most of the talking and Koushirou nodding and answering in the right places and actually speaking now and then. Finally, the school rose up in front of them, the warm presence calling out to them. "See you later, TK."

"Yeah, later on, Koushirou." They went their separate ways, Koushirou went to the lockers to stow his coat, and TK to meet up with a few classmates. Koushirou was selecting the books he'd need for the first few classes when he heard a familiar voice from down the hall. He looked over and saw Tai and Sora walking down the hallway, laughing.

"Hey, Koushirou, how you doing?" Tai asked him as they were drawing near.

"I've been better," he replied. "Good morning, Sora. May I speak to you for a moment?"

"Sure thing Koushirou, what is it you want?"

"Alone please, Tai, if you don't mind?" Koushirou asked in a real hopeful voice.

"Sure, I'll see you two later on, alright?" They waved him on and it was just the two of them.

"So what's up?" Sora asked him.

"I feel like I need to apologize for yesterday, Sora." She was looking at him with a very questioning expression. He was also feeling worse about it since he saw the two of them walk up together.

"What for?"

"Well, I kept on stealing your seat yesterday during the movies." He paused, trying to figure out how to continue without saying too much. "I didn't realize until later that you might be trying to sit next to Tai, because, well, you know."

"Koushirou, I have no idea what you're talking about. Why did I want to sit next to Tai?"

"Because, you um, like him?" Sora didn't answer, she just stood there. Koushirou thought that she was mad now, and was about to try to apologize for apologizing, when her mouth gave a little twitch and she began to laugh. Laugh her head off might be a better way to put it.

"You, you thought that, I wanted to sit next to Tai because, I like him?!" she managed to get out between brays of laughter. "Oh, Koushirou, no. I don't think I could ever like Tai like that. He is like a brother. Nothing more." she was laughing so hard that she put both hands on his shoulders and had her head hung over.

"Oh," was all Koushirou could get out, he was smiling however. "So I guess I didn't have to apologize after all, then."

"Not a bit, Koushirou. All I was going to do was scare him during the horror flick, but I don't think I needed to, he looked scared enough as it was. You too, actually. You looked like you were about to bug out of your skin at a few points, hanging on to him."

"Ah, I wasn't that scared," Koushirou tried to calm his emotions when she mentioned him climbing Tai like the Empire State Building. He ran a hand back through his hair.

"Sure you weren't, Koushirou, of course not. You climb all over Tai all the time. Sure. Come on now, or we'll be late for homeroom." Koushirou shut his locker and fell into step beside her. He was sweating bullets now, hoping that she wouldn't bring anything else up about him and Tai, and his hopes were answered. They talked about the parody instead, laughing about it instead of Koushirou. He wiped his brow. That was close.

By the time they'd made it to homeroom his blush had receded, and he walked in only feeling a little warm, which wasn't all that unwanted since the walk to school was so chilly.



More to come soon. I have to decide how things are going to go. I have two ideas, one short and simple, the other more complicated and angst-y and darker. Both will have a happy ending, but I'm not sure yet which one I'll do. Any suggestions???? Leave a review.