Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon or Dream Street's songs. For those who thought I did, one word: DUH! I do own Wakoki Records, Jack, Sakira, Kevin, Corey, and Corbette. Oh, yeah, and I don't own the American (well, technically Swedish) band that the boys meet.

A/N - Wow, I haven't updated this in a long time. Sorry about that. School kept interfering, then I got writer's block, you know the drill.

Chapter 8. The story's been a long way, but the boys are only on the third day of the tour. Tonight they eat dinner with a famous American band, tomorrow morning they move to Yuzawa, and tomorrow Jack makes a big mistake dealing with his problem.

Shout outs to Dreamer4, Dark Gamer, Light Gamer, EeyoreP, Knight, SaturnsChild, EvilTenchi, Galassos Gal 124, PhoniexChild, Wolfie, TogetherAgain, ArchangelUK, Arylwren, Digicowboy, Blackout12, Phire Phoenix, Authormon, Insane Friend 02, alfogamer2, Takari's Baybee, Immia, AlexPG13, and shadow2k. Dedication to, of course, DJ Clue for getting and keeping me motivated for this fic.

The Ishida Brothers

By: Hopeful Writer

Chapter 8 - A Major Problem

The boys and Sakira met in Corey and TK's room at precisely 5:45. They were all dressed for a casual yet slightly fancy dinner. Corbette wore a pair of blue jeans with a simple white button-down shirt. Matt had on baggier black pants with a T-shirt that read, "Odiaba's Kids Care." It was from a cleanup committee he'd been part of. TK had black jeans with a plain blue T-shirt and a black vest over it. Kevin and Corey were both in tan slacks. Kevin wore a dark brown button-down shirt, and Corey had a black sweatshirt on. Sakira was wearing hip-huggers, with a plain white T-shirt and a denim jacket.

Jack knocked on the door at six. "Hey, guys. Ready to go?" There was a collective nod. "Great. We've got a limo that's going to take us to the restaurant."

Corey beamed. "Talk about traveling with style. I like it."

Jack laughed. "Wait until you hear the rest. But that's a surprise for dinner."

"What is it?" Kevin demanded immediately.

Jack chuckled. "I can't tell you yet." Kevin groaned.

* ~ * ~ *

Matt had to admit it was pretty cool to be traveling in a limo. "Can I stick my head out the sunroof?" he heard Corey beg.

"No," Jack replied.

"Please?"

"No!"

Corey took to pouting for a while. "Who's the band we're going to meet?" he finally asked.

Jack decided it was time to finally answer that question. "Their name is Play. They're a girl group, four girls all between the ages of 12 and 13. They're names are Anais, Anna, Rosie, and Faye. They're actually a Swedish band, but they've been mostly in the US recently." Matt and Corbette groaned. "What?" Jack asked.

"They're too young for us," Corbette explained.

"Me, too," commented TK quietly, not really concerned.

"Not me!" Kevin piped up. Sakira smacked him on the arm and he grinned and blushed.

Corey didn't speak, but his mind was reeling. 12 to 13? They wouldn't think he was just a little kid. He hid his smile. Maybe he had a chance, a chance his brothers wouldn't have.

* ~ * ~ *

The arrived at the restaurant ten minutes early, but the girls were already there. "Laila!" Jack called. An older woman turned around and immediately rushed over to hug him.

"Jack, good to see you," she said with a thick Swedish accent.

The boys stood at his side awkwardly, but Sakira moved towards the table that four young girls occupied. "Hi," she greeted, trying to break the tension. "I'm Sakira."

A redhead smiled. "I'm Faye. Pleased to meet you. This is Anna, Rosie, and Anais." She pointed to each one in turn.

"I'm Kevin," the blonde added, appearing at Sakira's side. "That's Corey, TK, Matt, and Corbette." He echoed her actions by pointing out each one of his brothers.

Faye looked at the twins nervously. "Which one's which again?" she asked, blushing.

They laughed merrily. "I'm Corbette," they chorused. The real Corbette glared at his counterpart. "No, I'm Corbette," he repeated. "That's Matt. Although he wishes he was me."

"No way!" the other sputtered. Kevin, TK, and Corey grinned and snickered.

"Sit down, please," Laila instructed, indicating the seats. The six obliged.

Conversation seemed to be a nil between the band members. They ordered quietly, each one waiting for someone else to start talking. Finally Matt looked at Jack. "Um... this is wonderful and all, mate, but what exactly are we doing here? And what's the big surprise that you kept hinting at during the ride over?"

Corey, who had been staring at his empty plate in wonder, looked up quite suddenly. "Yeah!"

Jack smiled at Laila, a secret smile. "We'll tell you over dessert," he replied. There was a chorus of groans from the boys.

Another minute of silence, then... "I'm hungry!" Kevin cried as his stomach growled.

The twins laughed. "How old are you?" Matt demanded.

Kevin started to count, then answered, "I don't know. I don't have enough fingers."

Corbette was snickering behind his hand. "Shut up," Matt retorted. He leaned back in his chair and looked around. "Hey, Corbette, isn't that your girlfriend? Annabelle or whatever?" He pointed to a small brunette.

Corbette choked on his water. "Annabelle? Where?"

"Ooh..." drawled Corey and Kevin in a teasing tone.

"Who's Annabelle?"

Corey turned to look at Faye, who had asked the question. "Annabelle is this fan we met at our last concert who Corbette has a crush on," he told her matter-of-factly.

"Shut up, you dolt!" Corbette smacked him in the back of the head. Corey had to hide his wry smile.

Kevin turned to the girls. "So, what brings you four to Japan?" he asked conversationally.

"We doing a tour here," Anais answered. "Should be interesting, no?"

"A ball of fun, I'm sure."

Meanwhile, Corey and Faye had broken off into their own conversation. "So what's your favorite part of Japan, so far?" he inquired.

It took a moment before she responded. "We haven't really had the opportunity to do much, but I really like the food here." She laughed. "Ugh, that probably sounds so glutton-ish."

Corey grinned. "No way. Most girls won't even admit that they eat food, let alone that they actually enjoy it. It's refreshingly honest."

She smiled back, almost shyly. "Have you lived here your whole life?"

"Well, I live in Onagawa, but I've lived there my entire life."

"How old are you?"

Corey bit back a sigh. This was the question he always dreaded. "Twelve. I'll be thirteen in three months."

"I'm thirteen," she replied with a smile.

The food arrived just then and the two bands began to dig in. The table was mostly silent, although it was largely due to the fact that the boys were eating as much as they could as quickly as they could. "You're going to get sick," Sakira warned as Kevin started on his third roll.

"Myf uh mrng oy," he retorted through a mouthful of food.

"Say it, don't spray it," Sakira told him, wiping his spit off her cheek.

He swallowed and repeated, "I'm a growing boy. I need to eat." Sakira merely rolled her eyes at him.

Corey couldn't keep his eyes off of Faye. While his original attraction had been towards Anna, he quickly realized she was a lot less interesting than the somewhat sarcastic redhead that sat across from him. He was definitely developing a crush on Faye. She caught his eye and smiled at him, and he felt his breath catch in his throat. Definitely.

As dinner came to a close, Jack attracted everyone attention. "Now for the news you've obviously been waiting for," he began. His voice was slurred, and Kevin shot a look at his glass of wine, which had been refilled several times. "Starting tomorrow, Play will be joining The Ishida Brothers for the remainder of the tour!"

"All right!" Corey couldn't help but sound a little overjoyed. He caught Faye's eye and they shared a grin. He had a good reason to be happy anyway.

Next to him, Kevin was singing softly, "Corey and Faye, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

Obviously, Corey's outburst had attracted the attention of some people in the restaurant because they heard a voice say, "Corbette?" The younger twin turned curiously to see a familiar brunette. "It's me... Annabelle."

He grinned, trying to seem cool and collected. "Hey. Enjoying dinner?"

Kevin and Corey burst into not-well-hidden snickers before turning back to their dinners. "Yeah," Annabelle replied shyly. There was an awkward pause. "You?"

"Yeah. Definitely."

Another pause. "I should probably get back to my family."

"Oh, you're here with your family?"

"Yeah. That's them over there." She pointed to a graying man, a very short woman, and two identical little boys. "My parents and my brothers, Ryan and Patrick."

"They look nice." And Corbette really meant that. He loved his family dearly, but his parents didn't ever look at each other the way Annabelle's did – full of adoration and caring. He sighed, almost in a dreamlike state.

"Well, I should probably go." Annabelle's voice brought him back down to Earth.

"Oh, uh, okay. Talk to you soon."

"Yeah."

Corbette watched her as she walked back to her family. Her father said something to her, probably a little gibe about the conversation, and she turned red. The two boys, obviously twins, began to laugh. Corbette sighed again. Sometimes he hoped for a family like that. Why couldn't his family just be normal like that? They had never gone out to dinner and his parents certainly never teased the children.

"Corbette and Annabelle sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Kevin and Corey had taken up the rhyme now, trying their best to look cute and innocent as they did so. And failing miserably.

"We should probably go," Jack said. He hand Laila some money and smiled. "We'll see you bright and early tomorrow to go to Yuzawa."

"Of course. Good night, Jack. Good night, boys."

"Night," they chorused politely.

TK turned to the girls. "See you tomorrow, then."

Rosie smiled at him. "Right. Bye."

Corey and Faye exchanged one last smile, a smile that he tried to imprint in his memory until the next day. "Night," he whispered, offering a small wave.

"Sweet dreams," she whispered back.

He felt her eyes follow him as he walked away and he grinned. Of course his dreams would be sweet. He'd be dreaming of her.*

In the limo, Sakira leaned against Kevin's shoulder. "Should be an interesting tour, huh?" she whispered up to him.

"Yeah. There are certain things that will have to play out. That's for certain," he replied, keeping his voice low. Corey had fallen asleep nearby and Kevin didn't want to wake him. Matt and TK were talking quietly on the seat across from the couple, and Corbette was next to them, obviously lost in thought.

"Like Corey and Faye?"

"My thoughts exactly."

"We'll see about them, Mr. Ishida. We'll just have to wait and see."

* ~ * ~ *

Jack knocked on everybody's doors at 6:30 the next morning. "We're going to leave soon," he informed them. "Hope you're all packed."

Of course, Kevin wasn't. He dressed quickly and found himself scrambling around the room, looking for random articles of clothing that had been thrown around during the past three days.

Sakira emerged from the bathroom and watched him for a minute before laughing. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"What's it look like?" he huffed. "Looking for my other sock."

"It's in the bathtub," she replied, moving to her neatly packed bags and collecting them cheerfully.

Kevin looked puzzled. "How'd it get there?" he wondered, dashing into the bathroom to get it. He tossed it into his bag and scanned the room quickly. "Okay, I think that's it."

Sakira sighed and threw something at his head. "Not quite."

He pulled the cloth away from his face and found himself looking at a pair of yellow boxers with happy faces on them. He blushed immediately. "Er, thanks," he muttered, stuffing them quickly into his bag and trying to salvage his dignity with a suave smile.

"You know, there are people who would pay good money for those," Sakira informed him. "There's actually an online poll about whether you where boxers or briefs."

Kevin felt his face turn even redder. "Did you vote on it?" he asked coyly, waggling his eyebrows at her.

Sakira grinned cheekily. "I already know the answer, don't I?" She picked up her bags and walked out of the room.

Kevin smiled at her retreating back. "So what's winning?" he called to her, hastily retrieving his own bags and following her out.

He didn't think she'd actually heard him until she replied, "Briefs."

* ~ * ~ *

By the time the brothers were actually ready to leave, it was 8:00. Jack met them in the lobby after he had checked them out. He looked bleary-eyed and his speech was a bit garbled. Kevin suspected he'd had some drinks, but he could just have a hangover from the wine last night. "The girls will be joining us in our bus for at least a little while. They can always get their own bus if that bothers you, but since we're not sleeping on the buses, Laila and I thought we could save gas this way."

"Cool by us," Matt told him.

"Okay. There's also been a little problem. The bus driver got called away on a family emergency. No worries though. I'll be driving the bus."

The girls showed up at that moment so they began to board the bus. Kevin was suddenly feeling very chilled, despite the warm weather around them. There was something very bad about Jack driving the bus.

However, Kevin didn't speak up about it. Instead, he followed his brothers onto the bus, glancing nervously at the driver's seat, but not opening his mouth.

"Ready to go?" Jack called when everyone was loaded. Laila gave him a thumbs up and he pulled the bus into gear.

The first half hour of the trip passed without a hitch, and Kevin let himself relax. Jesus, buddy, you better lighten up, he told himself. Jack would never put you in any danger. That's when he heard a sickening crack and felt himself get thrust into blackness.

* ~ * ~ *

When Kevin woke up, he was lying on his back, staring at the roof of the bus. "What the hell..." he murmured groggily, sitting up. Immediately his head began to pound and he clutched it with a moan.

Everyone around him seemed to be unconscious. Please don't be dead, he prayed. Sakira was closest. He checked for her pulse and sighed with relief when he felt a steady one. "Anybody awake?" he called. Not receiving any answer, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He called 9-1-1, trying his best to give a location to where they were and the conditions of his friends and family.

The ambulances arrived in less than ten minutes. "Thank God!" Kevin gasped when the opened the door the bus and began loading the others on stretchers.

"You're the kid that made the call?" one of the paramedics asked gruffly.

"Yeah. I'm Kevin."

"Terrence. You can sit up front in the ambulance. How ya feeling?"

Kevin's head pounded harder upon hearing another human voice. "Like my head was smashed through a pile of rocks," he admitted. "Other than, I'm okay."

* ~ * ~ *

Kevin was treated for a mild concussion, but he was by far in the best shape. Sakira and Anna awoke a few hours after they were brought to the hospital in weak condition, and the others followed. By the time Kevin was released, 24 hours later, the doctors were up to their elbows in semiconscious patients.

Laila made the arrangements for the tour to be postponed a couple of days, and the doctors gave Kevin the freedom wander around the hospital – as long as he promised to behave. That's when he heard the doctors talking.

"...stone drunk, Milt. The guy was drunk as a tavern bum."

"No kidding? We ought to report him."

"The guy's a record producer! He's got money. We can always use this little information for benefits later on."

"Sounds good to me. I want to see some profit though, Jeff."

"Don't worry. You will."

Kevin pulled away and rushed down the hall to Sakira's room. He'd heard enough. "Saki! Jack was drunk when he was driving the bus. And the doctors that know want to use their knowledge to get some of his money."

Kevin was lucky that there was no one else in the room. Sakira paled instantly. "We need to do something. We need to... I don't know, get rid of the doctors or something."

Kevin turned to stare at her with wide eyes. "Like kill them?" he asked in a tiny voice.

She nibbled her lip. "I... I hope not."

* ~ * ~ *

Corey awoke to a pounding headache, a very white room, and his older brother watching over him, looking very concerned. "Hi, Kev," Corey muttered weakly, trying vainly to sit up.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Kevin breathed. "You're the last person to wake up."

"What happened?"

Kevin started to answer, but a brawny male nurse entered the room. "I'll tell you later," he replied quickly. "I've got to go check on the others."

"Wait! How is everyone?"

"On last check, Anais and Matt were already released, TK and Sakira are going to be very soon, Corbette had just woken up about five minutes before you, and Anna, Faye, and Rosie were being treated. Oh, yeah, and Laila was already released and Jack was being treated. Everyone's okay." Kevin looked as relieved about that as Corey felt.

"Good."

"Kid, I'm going to have to ask you to leave so I can treat him, okay?" the nurse interrupted.

"Yeah, sure. See you later, Corey." With that, Kevin disappeared from the room.

* ~ * ~ *

When Corey was finally released, two days after the accident, the group loaded a new tour bus that had been rented. Apparently the old one had been wrecked beyond repair. "Wait, just one minute, please!" a voice called.

It was the doctors Kevin had overheard talking. "We'd like to speak to Jack Sanders," one requested.

"Sure." He hopped out of the bus and walked over to them.

Kevin shot a look at Sakira. "Guys, this is a problem. Jack was driving drunk when he crashed. The only people who know are those doctors. They're going to use it to get his money... or they'll report him."

"Let him get reported," Matt retorted harshly. He adjusted the bandage around his head and glared at the retreating figure of his manager. "From what you say, Kevin, he really deserves this."

"No!" Everyone turned to Sakira, who looked utterly horrified. "They can't send him to jail. He... no!"

Kevin wrapped an arm around her and looked imploringly at Matt. The older boy sighed, exasperated, and said, "All right. What are we going to do?"

There was a long period of silence before the five boys all reached the same conclusion: they had no idea what do to.

A/N - Yeah, I know I'm cruel. But that's all for now. If you want to chat, email me at lildreamer12@hotmail.com or IM me at WritinGal73. Bye – HW

* - I so didn't mean to do a corny pickup line. I just didn't see any way around it.

NEXT TIME - They decide what to do, the tour restarts, the return of Fan Girl and Annabelle, and Kevin tries to play matchmaker.