Author's Note: I'd like to thank all my reviewers thus far!! I'm glad to see you guys like the fic! I'm minimally surprised that my fans of Home Away From Home haven't seen this, heh, especially since one of the reviewers requested this ^_~.
Thanks Dark N' Dreary for being my first reviewer for this fic, Miracles for being supportive, BeautyLiesWithin I'm glad to have gotten you hooked on the show ^_^ and thanks for the review! Anthony as promised the next chapter, same to Samanda Hime-Sama. To Sir Lead of the Pencil, Kari knows she won't be able to see Takeru for
a year and the fact that one of her best friends was fine the day before would worry her. At least, that's my opinion. Kari's a caring person and doesn't like see her friends upset, but yes, in a way your right, she probably would be a bit more in tune to wanting to see T.K. However, this fic is really to be based on Kari and Davis's friendship ^_^. Thanks for the review!
With no further ado, I present the second chapter of The Trouble Causing Letter! Enjoy!
~*~
Chapter Two
"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you to school?" Tai asked with a piece of buttered toast dangling from his mouth as he tried shoving his feet in his black shoes.
"No, it's okay. Davis should be here soon." I replied with a smile. "He probably overslept."
"What if you're late?" Tai countered now shoving some papers in his bag.
"We won't be." I replied casually. "Besides, wouldn't you be twice as late if you walked me to school?"
"Well, yeah, but-"
"Then you'd be in trouble. Don't worry, if he doesn't turn up in five minutes I'll walk to school by myself."
"Kari..." Tai said somewhat imploringly.
"Tai." I expressed with finality. "I'm a big girl, I /can/ walk to school by myself." My overprotective brother sighed defeated.
"Okay, you win. I gotta go."
"Have a good day, be safe." I replied lovingly.
"Yeah you too." He mumbled as he proceeded to the door. "Don't let anyone kidnap you..." I sighed as he shut the door and ran down the stairs.
He did this almost every morning. Wake up late and then offer to walk me to school if Davis wasn't already here. I guess he thinks I'm incapable of taking care of myself, but I know he only does it because he cares about me. I'm so lucky to have a big brother like him.
I glanced at the clock on the stove. It was getting late and still no sign of Davis. I frowned. I know he's not the most punctual person, but he's not normally too late when getting to school. He doesn't like getting stuck in detention with Mr. Kuragura, our boringly strict math teacher. I cleared my plate and went to get my bag before heading out to school. I didn't really have time to stick around waiting for Davis, I couldn't afford to be late...
I said good-bye to mom (dad already left for work) and made my way to the door. I was running down the second flight of stairs when I saw Davis walking up the sidewalk to our house a bit sulky.
"Hey Daisuke!" I called with a smile. He looked up kind of startled. I ran down the rest of the steps and over to him. I noted he didn't have his precious goggles and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. He never went anywhere without them, Tai had given them to him. "Where are your goggles?"
"I left them at home." He replied unenergetically. He was having trouble meeting my eyes as we made our way to school.
We were now almost near the school doors and Davis hadn't made any progress in cheering up. At first I just thought he had a rough morning and was having trouble waking up, or maybe he didn't go to bed until really late last night, but either way he should have cheered up by now. Even the sight of his other friends playing soccer didn't seem to faze him any...
"Daisuke-kun? Is something bothering you?" I asked a bit quietly.
"Huh?" He looked up startled again, like he had been earlier. "Oh...no, it's nothin'." I didn't believe him, but would pushing the subject help any? Maybe he'd talk to Ken and Ken would be able to cheer him up.
We stood together in the middle of the walkway that lead to the entrance in an awkward silence. Never in all my life that I had known Motomiya Daisuke had he been this cheerless. Something bad must have happened to make him this upset, but what?
"Davis?" I was going to try and ask again.
"I'm going to play some last minute soccer. I'll see you in home room." He replied with a hearty smile.
"...Alright." I replied a bit unnerved by his behavior. I knew that grin of his was a fake. Something that he'd done to try and make me forget about his unnatural conduct.
Had it been something I'd done to make him act this way?
~*~
I banged my head against the cool metal that was my locker. What is wrong with me? I keep pushing everyone away! Kari's worried about me and doesn't know why I'm upset, but you know, /I/ don't even know why I'm upset! I banged my head against the locker again and closed my eyes. I don't want Kari or the others to worry about me. Ken, I think caught on yesterday and hasn't questioned me on my behavior, but the others are sure to be curious. I mean, I /am/ the happy-go-lucky guy around here and something must be wrong if I'm not happy.
Gimme a break. Everyone has their off days.
This is so not my day and I have no one to blame. I can't even put the blame on myself because I thought I was nearly over her! I didn't think it'd be such a big deal! I went to bang my head against my locker again, but someone grabbed my hair.
"Ow!" I yelled clutching my head. A pair of unaffected dark blue eyes met mine.
"If you keep doing that you're going to loose more brain cells than you can bare."
"Shut up Ken." I implored angrily. He shrugged and waited for me to open my locker and grab the few books I needed for the rest of the day.
"You're taking this worse than you expected you would?" He asked casually, but there was at least a bit of concern in his voice.
"I guess so..." I sighed exasperated. "I really didn't think it'd be a big deal. I mean, I didn't even like her that much anymore!" Ken nodded understandingly.
"I knew something was up when you said you had to go help Jun. I didn't think she got over that whole bra-in-freezer prank so suddenly." He smiled a little at the memory. Who'd of known our lil' Kenny boy liked pranks?
I gave him a weak smile. "No, first thing she did when she saw me was throw a shirt at me."
"What are you going to do?" He asked now referring to Kari. I dropped my books carelessly in my back and slammed my locker.
"If I knew I'd tell you." I replied setting off to class. "I'll see you at lunch."
"Later." He replied to my back.
~*~
The day seemed to drag on and I couldn't concentrate on my lessons. All I could do was think about my letter. Had it been real or a dream? I couldn't decide. I couldn't decide if I wanted tell someone yet, even though they'd find out sooner or later. Probably later since Takeru wouldn't be coming back home until next year.
Math was starting to become unbearable. I just couldn't tune into Kuragura-sensei's lessons. I looked down at my notebook and all I could see were little spirals with a few vague notes here and there. I could see Kuragura-sensei's mouth moving, but all I could hear was "blah, blah, blah". I wonder if this is what Davis hears every class. The thought makes me laugh. I look to the seat in front of me and find that Davis is surprisingly awake. I straighten to look over his shoulder to see if he was writing a note to me. He usually did around this time of class.
He was writing something, but it wasn't remotely anything interesting. They were Sensei's notes. I blinked. He had almost a full page filled neatly with math notes. This was very uncharacteristic for Motomiya Daisuke. I'm not saying he's not smart, but when it came to this subject he didn't do anything but sleep and daydream.
Now I knew something was wrong.
~*~
Mr. Kuragura dragged on, talking about Pie and quadrants and other nonsense that makes up math. I was so bored and exhausted. I didn't exactly know why I felt so drained and it irritated me. To keep myself from self loathing, I decided to record Kuragura-sensei's notes. As complicated as they were to take down all at once it'd be worth it. My mind would be free of negative thoughts.
I had made sure to arrive as late as I possibly could manage without getting a detention so I wouldn't have to talk to Hikari. Now I have to be the first one out the door. I'd have to make up an excuse about early soccer practice or something. I sighed. I didn't like lying, especially to her, but I really didn't want to be around her at present, which was a very hard task. She lived relatively close to me, she's in all my classes, and we're suppose to be the best of friends. Best friends don't try to avoid one another.
I kept looking at the clock as the class dragged on. Twenty minutes... Ten minutes... Five minutes.... The bell sounded the end of school. I jumped from my seat and hastily threw my stuff in my bag.
"Daisuke?" Kari asked from behind me. I froze for a split second before putting what I thought was a convincing smile on.
"I gotta go to an early soccer practice. Sorry I can't walk you home." I replied zipping my backpack up. I could feel Kari's frown on my back.
"It's okay..."
"Bye." I speed off to the door and down the hall. Soccer really didn't start till another hour. What could I do?
"Hey Motomiya, where's the fire?" Someone called to me as I pushed through the crowd of students.
I ignored them, mumbled my sorry's as I ran into people, and continued down the hall with no particular destination. I looked behind me to see Kari about ten feet away talking with a few girls from class. I panicked a little and ran into the boy's bathroom. I felt incredibly stupid, like a second grader who was afraid of getting cooties from a girl. No one was in here, which was good because I would've looked like a real fool had there been. I made my way to a stall and shut the door. I'd just stay quietly in here for a few minutes and then creep back out to the corridors, when there would be no sign of Kari.
After a minute or so of laughing at myself I heard the boy's door open. I scooted farther back on the toilet seat and brought my knees to my chin so it would appear no one was in this stall. Nope, I wasn't hiding in this stall, not at all. I heard the intruder's footsteps on the tiled floor and prayed they were just going to take a whizz and have no need to go to a stall. I was too far from the door to lock it to secure my safety. I cursed myself. Why hadn't I done that in the first place?
Suddenly my hiding place came exposed as the blue door swung open. Alarmed, I jumped. My legs gave from underneath me and slid on either side of the toilet and I flung my arms out in front of me to keep me from falling. I was unsuccessful at doing so and ended up smacking my head against the metal toilet flusher. I pushed my hands against the wall, my eyes closed from the pain of the head blow, and lifted myself up. I was outraged, /who/ dared to do this to /me/?
"I thought you went in here."
It was Ken.
"You bastard!" I lunged at him. The look on his face was nothing but sheer surprise as we fell to the tiled floor. I had his shirt color tightly grasped in one hand, forcing his head to lift from the ground. I rose an angry fist and was going to let it fly when Ken pushed my stomach with all the strength he could muster from one hand. I tumbled off of him and he quickly rolled onto his side and stood up.
I remained on my back on the cold tile with my eyes tightly shut. I was embarrassed, ashamed, confused, and was suffering from extreme guilt. My pride was damaged and I almost kicked the shit out of my best friend. My God, what is wrong with me!? Ken didn't do anything! He just came looking for me and happened to accidently surprise me when I shouldn't have so carelessly left the door unlocked.
I felt a damn of pressure build within me. Tears that never should surface when in the room with others were finding their way through my inner thought's protests. I shot my hands to cover my face as I felt the rest of my body started to twitch, the sign of crying. I silently begged Ken to go away, just leave me on the ground to myself. But he wasn't going to.
I heard him walk over to my right side, his shadow descended upon me. "Davis..."
"Leave me alone." I reply trying to swallow my aching wish to cry. He doesn't move, instead he kneels beside me.
"I know you didn't mean for that to happen. I shouldn't have surprised you like that." He was talking quietly, soothingly. I felt like I was in the guidance counselor's office.
If he keeps talking I'm never going to get rid of the crying sensation that's trying to leap from my mouth. I can already feel hot tears starting to form under my closed eyelids.
"...You shouldn't stay on the floor. It's unsanitary." Ken says quietly. I hear him start to get up and I feel him try to pry one of my hands off my face. I smack it away with the other hand.
My mistake, now I expose my red eyes. I feel liquid start to run down my face. I quickly sit up and shamefully wipe them away with my arm. My chest hurts, like an animal is in there trying to claw his way out. I feel like screaming, or sobbing, something that emits sorrowful noise. I bring my knees back up to my chin and cross my arms around them to hold them in place. I rock a little, trying to calm myself.
Ken sits beside me again, resting against the metal that separates the stall I was in from the one next to it. He doesn't say anything, but I can feel him watching me. If I was smart than I'd have left already, but I'm too exhausted to move. Like anything I do may be potentially dangerous to my existence.
"Davis?" Ken tries to speak to me again, still using that hushed, gentle voice.
"I'm sorry Ken." I manage to whisper. "I-I don't know what's wrong with me." I stutter. The tears are rapidly coming forth now. I feel a few more slip down my cheek.
"You're under too much stress. Go home, take the afternoon off."
"I can't." I reply.
"I'll cover for you." Ken replies referring to soccer. "You need rest." His voice has finality in it and after a moment I reply,
"Okay..." I choke out. "I'll go."
To be continued...