Author's Note: My thank yous go out to Anthony, Miracles, davis4ever, Dark N' Dreary, ssjgokillo, and effect20. I'm so glad you guys are liking the fic!! However, the next chapter may take longer than expected to get out ~_~. Sorry guys!! Hopefully this will tie you over for now though. And with no further ado, I present chapter four of The Trouble Causing Letter!
Chapter Four
"I'm home!" I call throughout the house as I take my shoes off.
"Good news!! We're ordering out tonight!" Tai greets me from the couch with a goofy grin. I cross into the living room and look for a sign of mom or dad.
"Did they go out to pick it up already?" I ask him taking a seat on the couch.
"Dad's not home yet, mom thought it'd be cool to surprise him." Tai replies flipping through the t.v. channels.
"What are you looking for?" I ask him.
"Anything besides the news." He replies tiredly.
"Did anyone call for me?" I ask as he bypasses another news channel.
"Do I look like your secretary?" He asks me, eyes glued to the television.
"Tai..." I implore with a sour expression.
"No, no one called that I know of." He answers. "But check the messages, someone coulda called before I got in."
"When did you get in?" I question heading towards the message machine in the tiny hallway.
"'Bout ten minutes ago. Sora asked me to play a round of tennis with her."
"And of course you couldn't say no." I reply with a sly smile.
"It's rude to turn down a lady." He responds with another grin still clicking through the channels. I roll my eyes and hit the play button on the machine.
There's a few messages for our parents from dad's work and one from Grandma, but it didn't seem like anything for me. As I was about to stop the messages I thought I heard Ken's voice, but there was a lot of background noise, like whoever it was, was at a gym. I wondered if he tried calling from soccer practice. But then why no significant message? I delete it as well as the telemarketer's messages and head back to the living room.
"Anything for me?" Tai asks as I sit down on the couch.
"No, nothing for me either... That I could tell anyway." I reply.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Tai asks having now given up on find anything good to watch and hooking up his Playstation 2.
"Well, I thought maybe Ken called-"
"Ken?" Tai asks surprised.
"Yeah... But all I could really hear was a lot of background noise, like he was at the gym..."
"Maybe he was calling from practice." Tai responds now behind the t.v. hooking up wires.
"Maybe..."
"But why's he calling you?"
"We are friends Tai." I reply. I worry about my brother sometimes.
"I know that, but I mean, he's not really one to call here often." Tai retorts. "No messages from Davis?"
"No..."
"Now /that's/ weird."
"He was pretty distant today." I admitted as Tai turned the game console on.
"Really? From everyone, or just with you?" Tai asked concerned.
"I guess with everyone. He just didn't seem himself." I reply worried once again.
"Then maybe that's why Ken called."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Well, maybe he's worried about Davis and wanted to know if you knew what was up with him." Tai answered hitting the start button on his controller.
That made sense, but I didn't know what was wrong with Daisuke. If anyone were to find out I would've thought it'd be Ken... Maybe I'd call him to see what he thinks is wrong with our usually cheerful friend.
I went over to the front door, where I left my school bag, and searched for my planner. I had everyone's number listed in there and hopefully, Ken's new home number. He moved to Odiaba fairly recently. He use to live in Tamachi about a half an hour away from here. We all still managed to meet up with each other one way or the other when he did live there.
I found the number and went back over to the phone. It felt a little odd calling him even though we're friends, probably because we never call each other.
A female voice picked up. "Moshi, moshi."
"Is this the Ichijouji residence?" I asked.
"Yes it is, who's calling?" They asked.
"Yagami Hikari, is Ken available?" I reply.
"Just a second." They said before handing the phone over to Ken.
"Hello?"
"Hey Ken." I respond. "Did you try calling me earlier today?"
"Hai. It's about Daisuke." He replied.
"I thought as much. Do you know what's wrong with him?" I ask. "He's been avoiding me today."
There was a pause on the line between us. "Ken?" I ask.
"Do you think you could meet me at the park in about an hour?" He suddenly asked. I rose my eyebrows at this at first, but then figured it had to do with Daisuke.
"Sure..." I replied.
"Good, I'll talk to you then."
"Okay... Bye." I hung up and looked over at my brother.
"So... Did he know what was wrong with Davis?" Tai asked not taking his eyes off the t.v.
"Well, he didn't say anything about it... But he asked me to meet him at the park in an hour." I answered. Tai took his eyes off the t.v. to look at me with a mild look of alarm before glueing them back to the t.v.
"And?" He inquired.
"That was it. I think he wants to talk about Daisuke and just couldn't say anything on the phone."
"Oh, okay." Tai uttered relieved. I rolled my eyes and retreated to my bedroom to start my home work. "Mom should be home with the food soon!" He called to my back.
~*~
I unlocked the door to the surprisingly dark and empty apartment. It was just as well, I didn't feel like talking to anyone anyway, nor did I want my mother fretting over me. Us Motomiya's were supposed to be the strong, proud, cheerful folk. I think the parentals would set me up for counseling if they saw how bothered I was by Takeru and Hikari going out.
I was smart enough to know that holding in my feelings wasn't the right thing to do, but I really didn't feel like discussing anything. On top of it I didn't exactly have anyone who can relate to how I feel. My three best friends couldn't help me. Takeru moved (but we never really talked about Kari anyway, we were too afraid it might screw up our friendship), Hikari was associated with my depression, and I couldn't bear to face Ken at the moment. I felt so bad for what happened earlier today. He really didn't deserve that...
I briefly contemplated about consulting Jun, but decided against it. She'd probably laugh at me or tell me to leave her alone to talk on the phone (probably both). Sisters. Can't live with them, can't shoot them.
Maybe I could talk to Tai since he was my role model and all. Oh, wait, scratch that. Kari's his little sister. He'd probably pound me if I told him I liked Kari. Okay... So Taichi's ruled out as well. Maybe I could talk to Miyako? She was good with relationships, that's all she ever talked about...
Nah, I'd just annoy her and she'd annoy me and then the two of us would get into a fight. That's the way our friendship work. Yup, my life in a nutshell all right.
I sighed flopping down onto my bed face first. Maybe I just wouldn't talk to anyone. I couldn't find anyone /to/ talk to anyway. And... It's really no big deal, I'll probably be over it in a few days. I- I'm just hurting now. All wounds heal with time, right?
Then why the hell did this one hurt so much? I've had weeks to become accustomed to the idea. I was the one who suggested the proposal in the first place. I hit my pillow carelessly with my fist in tired frustration.
I closed my eyes. I didn't feel like thinking any more. Just let the sweet blanket of darkness sweep me away and I'll deal with the dream demons as they come.
~*~
It was dark and pretty chilly for an April night. Well, it wasn't completely dark, the sun was just starting to set. Tai wouldn't let me out of the house if it was, especially if it was to meet a guy at the park even if they were only a friend. Mom just told me to be careful and to take her cell phone. With much reassurances to the family I left the house to head to the park only a couple of minutes away.
There were still a few straggling elementary schoolers playing on the play ground. If it was safe enough for them to be out at this time then it was safe enough for me too. I walked towards the center of the field enjoying the cool breeze and sweet scented air. I closed my eyes for a moment and stretched, forgetting for a minute that Takeru was millions of miles away and my second best friend was ignoring me.
"Hey." A voice said from behind me. I jumped a little before identifying the voice as Ken's.
"Hi." I replied before emitting us into a subdued silence, the little kids laughter in the background.
Ken and I had become pretty good friends within the last year. We enjoyed quietude together, sometimes there was no need for talk to just enjoy each other's company. It was kind of odd if you thought about it, but it didn't bother me. I think since he was such an opposite to Davis is why they had become best friends. You know how the saying goes, 'opposites attract'.
Ken starting walking and I followed him, curious. He's always been a bit mysterious, maybe that's what attracted the girl's at school to him. I sometimes wondered if he was oblivious to their attention or if he had become accustomed to it like Ishida Yamato had. More importantly though, I wondered if he knew what was wrong with Daisuke.
I was about to ask when he spoke. "How was Davis today? I noticed he started acting strange yesterday..."
I frowned, having overlooked the fact that he was a bit out of character after Takeru left. "He was just... Distant. He didn't want to talk to me or anything." I replied. "At first I just thought he was having a rough morning, but as the day progressed he hadn't changed..."
"I see..." Ken sighed. "I don't know if I should tell you this, but we... got into a bit of a fight this afternoon." I looked up at him surprised.
"Why?"
"It was pretty stupid actually." Ken reminisced. "He was hiding in a stall and I just happened to surprise him."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Hiding in a stall?" I murmured remembering earlier today when I saw Daisuke duck into the boy's bathroom. "Why would he do that?"
"He's been under a lot of stress." Ken stated. I nodded, but I was looking for a reason why. Was his home life okay?
"I wish I knew the reason though... I want to help him, he's my friend." I said quietly.
Ken came to a halt before looking straight into my eyes and asking, "Do you honestly not know why he's been acting like this?"
I felt a little taken aback and nervous. My gut told me I knew the true reason, but until someone told me my suspicions were the truth... "No, why has he been acting like this?"
We were silent for a moment searching for the truth in each other's eyes. Please don't say it Ken. I want to stay in my plastic kingdom. Let it be something else, something I can talk him through...
"It's because of you." Ken finally answered. I suddenly felt hollow as he spoke the four cruelest words I've ever heard. I wanted to shake my head in protest and let the dam of guilt leave me. I wanted to believe what he said was a mistake.
I found myself nodding however. Accepting my fate as I choked back tears. I crossed my arms trying to comfort myself as I felt the tear reflexes engulf my body in a shaking sea of sorrow. I stood there with Ken in silence trying to hold it all in. It was my fault that Daisuke and Takeru used to fight, my fault that he didn't want to be around me, my fault that he and Ken got into a fight...
I couldn't hold it in any more and I found a sob escape me, hot tears hitting my cheeks, only to turn cold from the April wind. I turned away from Ken, he didn't need to witness this. I tried to close off the sounds that were escaping my throat, but it made the pain in my chest worsen. It hurt either way. I couldn't escape it. My plastic world fell down around me as the harsh reality took effect.
"Kari..." I heard Ken say concerned. Please don't say anything more, it hurts enough...
I felt his hand grasp my shoulder turning me around to face him. I couldn't look at him. I felt embarrassed and weak. "I'm sorry." I found myself choking out. "I'm really sorry."
"There's nothing to be sorry about." Ken hushed me. "I shouldn't have said that they way I did. It's more like it's his feeling for you that's the cause of his acting this way." He tried to explain. That still didn't change anything, it was still my fault. I shook my head, tears still flowing.
Ken put his arms around me awkwardly and patted my back. "It's okay, things will be back to normal soon... Davis just needs some time..." He told me with nervousness in his voice.
It was the only comfort I had and I found myself crying into his chest. He tried calming me down, telling me everything would be okay, but I couldn't find the truth in that. Could mine and Daisuke's friendship ever be the same? How can I possibly face him?
It started to get dark and as my weeping came to a minimum Ken released me from his hold with a hint of embarrassment. "I'll walk you home. Try not to over think about Davis, he'll be okay. Everything will be back to normal in a few days..."
I nodded and tried to believe it. It was hard, but I'd try. I looked up into Ken's eyes, "Thank you."
Even in the dark I saw the faintest of a blush cross his pale features. "Don't mention it." He replied nonchalant.
I dried my eyes and cheeks to the best of my ability with my sweatshirt as we walked the short distance back to my apartment. I didn't really feel like explaining to Taichi what happened yet. I could only hope Davis would avoid me and decide not to pick me up in the morning. I don't think I can face him now with my suspicions confirmed.
To be continued...