Author's Note: I wouldn't really say this is my absolute first Digimon fic, because it's not. I have a strange history with the TV show, both the Japanese and English version. In fact-- I was the biggest fan in the world, and then got hypnotized by a certain movie… and never watched the show again. But, I'm back to grace you with my presence! Don't ya just love me?! (people can be seen fleeing) …I see how you stay…

Unnecessary Disclaimer: I don't know why I even bother with this stuff. I mean, you know I don't own Digimon or anything closely affiliated with it. So why must I bother saying it so many times?

MINOR notes: I'm using the Japanese names. Why? Because I can. I'm also mixing in a few of the 02 characters, for reference and maybe some references to other characters. Why? Because I can. Also, because if I just used plain Frontier people, Izumi would have no friends that were girls. Odd, isn't it? So… I think that's about all you have to know-- OH! This is a Takumi fic, btw. It ends up that way, no matter what you seem to think. It's also slightly AU. They're in high school. I don't know where they live, but I used Odaiba because it was the first thing within reach =) And… I made up Takuya's family for the fun of it.

It Might Be You
Chapter 2
A Walk to Remember

Maybe this whole walking home thing with Izumi wasn't such a good idea. She'd been rambling endlessly about nothing, or so it seemed. Takuya was slowly getting hungry. Should've taken the granola bar. Izumi sighed and continued rambling, "…I so can't stand that Ruki Makino! I don't know what she wants with my Koji. She's such a... god, I just hate her. Last week, me and Koji were talking and she comes up out of nowhere and asks to talk to him in private. I should've said no, I feel so bad… but he never did come back. They left for the whole lunch hour and it was just me and Hikari alone. Oh, I haven't called Kari yet, she's probably gonna wonder where I am…" she sighed, tiresomely. "Do you mind?" she asked, turning to look at Takuya.

He looked back at her blankly. He hadn't been paying any attention at all. "…what?" he mumbled.

"Oh, sure," she smiled, slightly to herself. She flipped out her cell phone and began to dial numbers. She brought the phone to her ear and waited. "…hi Tai. Is Kari there? …I don't care, where is she? …why aren't you gone yet, by the way? …whatever. Where did you say she went? …somewhere with Takeru? …whatever you say. Tell her I called, and not to call back." She smiled. "See you later." She clicked off her phone and turned back to Takuya. "…you didn't mind, did you?"

"…what?"

"Good," Izumi beamed, shoving her cell phone halfway down her purse. "…so." She sighed. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay." He answered, uneasily. "You done talking about boyfriends and things I don't care about?" he asked, with a slight edge.

"You were ignoring me, weren't you?" Izumi asked, testily, her voice slowly rising. "You should've told me if you didn't wanna listen-"

"Well, Izumi, I never really wanna listen…" he muttered. Crap. I shouldn't have said that. He looked back at her, if only for a second. She was turning a bright red. "Don't get so worked up over it."

"Hmph," she huffed, turning away from him. "Takuya Kanbara, you're so inconsiderate."

"You're one more person who thinks so," he smirked, childishly, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking down at the ground as he walked. Izumi flashed him a concerned look, but didn't want to show it. She didn't want to show that she actually cared about his feelings. After all, he didn't seem to care about hers.

Neither one of them spoke as they passed the convenience store by Kotae Road for the fifth time. Takuya noticed, but only looked back as they passed it. "What the hell?" he muttered, turning to look at her. "Do you not know where you live? That's the fifth time we passed that store."

"I figured we'd take a detour." She told him. "I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to talk more."

"Why would you want that?" he asked, in a confused state.

"Well," she began. "We only talk whenever I need someone to… um, talk to."

"I'd call it complain. Go on."

She tried to ignore him, as she continued. "I don't think we're on… friend terms."

"What ever gave you that idea?" Takuya asked, with a fake-concerned expression. Izumi glared at him, and he merely just smiled.

"Well, I heard you talking to Daisuke and Ken telling them how much you think I'm a whiner and all I ever do is whine about Koji and the whole friggin' world!" she snapped. "What makes you think I had no reason to believe that?"

"You did have a reason to believe that, I guess," Takuya told her. "It wasn't supposed to be offensive… well, it was, I'm lying."

"Is that all you can't stand about me?" Izumi asked, crossing her arms and stopping dead in her tracks. Takuya stopped too, and sighed tiredly.

"…well-"

"There's more?!" she snapped, rather loudly. If not for the cars, you could hear it echoing around the block. Takuya covered his ears and walked over to lean by the wall of the same convenience store. "Takuya…" she walked over to him. "…I never knew you were so cruel. I always thought you were sincere."

"That depends." He told her. She glared at him with strangely hungry eyes. Wait a second… that's not right. He suddenly calmed down. Her eyes aren't supposed to be… wait… "…really."

"On what, exactly?" she asked, testily.

"God, Izumi, I wanna go home. It's getting dark, and it's getting cold."

"And I'm waiting." She replied. Takuya flashed her an incredibly pissed off look, but said nothing. "I wanna know what else you can't stand about me. I wanna know why you hate me."

"I don't hate you." Takuya sighed. "I just get incredibly pissed off…" she arched her eyebrow at him in a disbelieving manner. "…a lot. Hey, just because you're the only "supposed" person who's enduring "supposed" torture in your life, that doesn't mean you're the only person…"

"Hmph," she huffed again, crossing her arms, and looking away from him. She had to admit, he was a really good liar. She almost believed everything he said. …how could she not? His face seemed so innocent, but yet in a way… extremely jaded. She turned her attention to him, directly. She scanned all of his features… and thought. Izumi didn't like being disliked. She thought it was a bit odd, and it wasn't really a feeling she liked. Could it be… she thought.

"What?" Takuya asked, suddenly, breaking her from her train of thought.

"What?"

"…what?"

"What?"

"What?"

"…what?"

"What the hell—why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, fervently. She didn't notice, but she was staring directly at him while she was thinking. It was only then she noticed… what beautiful eyes he—no. She was with Koji. She loved Koji. Takuya might've had beautiful eyes, but Koji had a beautiful… um, everything else. So, she decided not to expand on it anymore than needed.

"Oh," her eyes broke free from his and landed on the ground. The ground wouldn't mind her looking at it. "I've come to a minor conclusion of why you might dislike me."

"I can't believe you even care." He shrugged. "If someone disliked me, I would instantly leave them alone."

"Shut up." She said, stately. Takuya cocked an eyebrow at her but said nothing. Thunder reigned in the background, as storm clouds hovered over the sky. Takuya sighed and shook his head. "Remember the Bat-2-C?" she asked, slowly, smiling.

"…what?" Takuya said, in a low voice. It almost sounded evil. He glared at her, "What do you know about the Bat-2-C?"

"The Bat-2-C…" she said, smiling. "In grade 3, we all got to make things out of clay. I made this really nice slipper that actually fit me… and you made the Bat-2-C. It was a dinosaur, remember?"

"I remember." Takuya grunted. "Don't remind me." Rain began to pour, slowly but surely. Izumi walked over to where Takuya was against the wall, where there was a ledge over their heads. He still didn't turn to face her.

"I was looking at it." Izumi spoke up, ignoring the rain. "Picked it up. Put it back down. It broke the lower left leg, so I sorta just left it alone. But you found out anyway, and got really mad at me." She almost laughed at the thought of it. "…oh, and then it all broke." Her smile faded, to a confused look. "And of course, considering I was the last one to touch it, you blamed me for everything."

"JP broke it." Takuya grumbled. "He was pissed off that you liked my Bat-2-C better than his screwed up container for whiteout." He shook his head. "I mean, come on. What idiot would use their free time to make a container for whiteout—it comes in a container already-"

"Wait a second." Izumi interrupted. "That has to be the reason why you hate me! I mean, there is no other reason."

"Well, like I said, I don't hate you." Takuya replied. Izumi waited for him to expand on it, but he didn't. They stood in silence for quite awhile, not moving, not speaking. Takuya still wasn't facing Izumi, and Izumi still gazed at the ground. The rain poured mercilessly. For once, however, it finally crossed Takuya's mind how he was gonna get home in the rain. Walk, you idiot. He told himself. He soon dropped the subject.

"How am I gonna get home in the rain?" Izumi asked herself aloud.

"Walk." Takuya told her, plainly.

Izumi turned to face him. "But it's raining. And I just got my hair done. And my clothes are gonna be all wet."

"…so don't walk, then."

"Takuya…"

"Well, what do you want me to say?" he shot back. "I sorta don't have a car. Maybe you could call your boyfriend or whatever to pick you up."

"…we got into a fight, re-" she stopped herself, and sighed. "…of course you don't remember. You haven't been listening to me." She resumed staring back at the ground. "So," she began, slowly. "…you're lucky your goggles didn't crack. You got hit pretty bad today. Are you sure you're okay?"

"…I'm fine." He answered, equally as slow. Izumi nodded, content with the answer. "…you never really did tell me." She turned to look at him, puzzled. "Well, you never did tell me why you decided to stay with me after school." He swung his head over to look at her. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered, smiling. "I just thought I'd do something nice for you. After… all the times I wished you'd listened to me." She sighed, her smile fading. "I don't understand why you hate me."

"God," he sighed, walking away from the wall briskly. It was pouring outside, and he was a bit skeptical about walking. He was never really very fond of the rain after all.

"Wait, please don't leave, I promise I'll shut up and we can talk about you if you want." She pleaded, pulling him back to the wall. He seemed incredibly startled by that.

"You wouldn't wanna talk about me." Takuya said, wriggling free of her grasp. "I'm very boring."

"You and your best friends are stars of the soccer team. You can't be that boring."

"You're right," he nodded, sarcastically. "Me and my best friends are stars of the soccer team. That's about all anyone would be interested in."

"Takuya…"

"April 3, I got knocked out by the JP Wiener Ball." He told her. "You can add that to my autobiography."

"Oh come on," she smiled. "What about your family?"

"My parents are crazy. My brother's some math and literature kid who knows everything. My sister's training to be shipped off to tennis camp." He said. "My grandma went back to Oita. When we brought her down here, she went mad because she thought she was in Korea… she has a thing with the Koreans… she's also very crazy."

"Hmm, interesting."

"…you're lying."

"Like you once were." She told him, nonchalantly. Takuya looked at her with a look of thoughtfulness. Izumi didn't notice.

"I didn't know that whole thing really meant anything to you." He told her, in a quieter voice. "With the whole… shut up and listen thing."

"Well, it did," she told him. "You might not care when people listen to you or not, I wouldn't know. It sounds like being a middle child is pretty annoying."

"Very."

"But I prefer people to listen to me." She sighed. "It makes me feel like someone cares, other than myself."

"I don't want anyone to care, that's my problem," Takuya muttered. "I can talk to myself… and I still won't care." He shrugged. "That's just how I am."

"Well, couldn't you try to listen to people when they talk to you?" Izumi asked. "The only reason you're doing this to yourself is because you think no one cares about you, or what you think. So, you tend to not care about what other people think. Am I right?"

Takuya didn't answer. He kept his arms crossed and his eyes far away from Izumi.

"Answer me!" she shrieked.

"Fine, okay," he snapped back. "You probably are right. Maybe I'm used to not being listened to, and I'm okay with it. That's why I usually don't complain. I'm just used to… not listening."

"Well, stop it." She sneered.

"…what the hell?"

"I'm serious." She nodded. "You're acting all stuck-up because you think that you have to be the one people ignore. You're acting like you're invisible, and you act like you like it. But I know you don't." she stood in front of him and grabbed his face. His skin was damp with the misty rain spray around them. He looked at her oddly but said nothing. "You're like a poor little kid, praying for attention silently. Hopefully, someone would pay attention to you, but you're too afraid to ask because you think they don't care about you…" she trailed off slightly, staring into his eyes, and let go of his face slowly.

Utter silence.

None of them spoke. It was only the rain, washing away stones from the roads and sidewalk, which could be heard.

"…how'd you know all that?" he asked, slowly.

Izumi smiled, "Psychology classes, I guess." She blushed slightly, a light shade of pink, and went back to leaning against the wall. The rain was coming down harder then. "You owe me an apology. I'd like one. It'd make me feel better."

"For what?" Takuya asked, edgily.

"For not listening to me when I asked you." Izumi told him.

"If anything, you owe me an apology."

"And for what?" Izumi snapped, also quite edgily. As soon as she said that, thunder sounded throughout the sky. Coincidence, Takuya thought.

"For hitting on me."

"What the hell?" Izumi shrieked, in a shocked and yet very nervous state. Takuya said nothing. "Oh, so is that what you thought I was doing?"

"It was more than obvious," Takuya told her. "Let's put it this way… no one has ever touched my face before." He rubbed on his cheeks oddly. "It's an odd feeling."

"Ah… hmph," Izumi scoffed, crossing her arms again. "Well, I'm ready to leave."

"I was ready to leave a long time ago." Takuya said. "Did you find out why I supposedly hate you?"

"No, but I will." Izumi mumbled. "I don't like being disliked. And besides, I never did anything to you, so I don't know why you'd hate me…" she sighed.

"Simply being that I don't," Takuya shrugged, getting away from the brick wall. It was beginning to feel cold against his back as the rain continued to poor. Just as he was about to leave, something in his pocket beeped a few times. He fished out his cell phone and clicked it on. "Hey," he said, vaguely.

"Are you okay, Takuya? You missed dinner…" he recognized Reiko's voice from the instability she had when she mentioned the thought of missing dinner.

Takuya groaned, tiredly, "I'm fine."

"Your dad thought you'd passed out. He's back with Takeyo." Reiko sighed, dreamily. "Your older brother won the math championships. Oh, Takuya, why can't you be good in math? Soccer is just so dange-"

He clicked his phone off. The last thing he needed was a "be like Takeyo" lecture. He hadn't seen his brother for a year, so even if he did, he wouldn't know how he looked like. Probably like his mom.

"Who was that?" Izumi's voice was distant. He forgot she was there. He turned to face her. She had a drained look.

"My mom, complaining why I can't be like elder brother Takeyo…" he grumbled. "You would think they cared about where I was."

"I care." Izumi nodded. Takuya looked at her oddly, but didn't speak. "How about it? When the whole world doesn't seem to give a crap about either one of us, then we have to give a crap about each other."

"…short on friends, huh?"

"Shut up."

"Tch, fine."

"I didn't say we were gonna be friends. You don't have to be friends to care about someone else."

"Right," Takuya shrugged. "You can either be friends or really, really good friends, if you get what I mean." He smirked, evilly. "And we're none of those."

"You can also be lonely." Izumi said, knowledgeably. "The loved don't always have everything they want."

"…why are you so angst-filled all of a sudden? Stop it, it's scaring me."

"I am not angst-filled." Izumi scoffed. "See, if you bothered to listen to me, you'd know that my life isn't all red roses and blue violets. I have some odd suspicion that my boyfriend is cheating on me with Ruki Makino, his ex." She sighed, walking away from the wall. "…hmph. I think we should've left a long time ago." She muttered, walking out of the shelter of the canopy and down the sidewalk.

"…wait a second," Takuya said, following her down the street. Izumi stopped dead in her tracks, as if waiting. She said nothing. "Walk with me," he told her, briefly. "So you're convinced this guy is seeing his ex-girlfriend?"

"…y-yeah." Izumi mumbled, as they both headed down the street. If it weren't for the rain, Takuya would've seen the endless tears streaming down her face.

"And making-out on my locker isn't helping the situation," he told her.

"Not really," she answered, lowly. "I think our relationship is a complete lie. I don't think what we have is real anymore. I feel like…" Wait a second.

"…like?" he asked, semi-anxiously. He looked over at her. She didn't really look like she was able to answer any time soon. "…like?" he asked again.

"Takuya," she began, slowly, turning to look at him. She pulled on his arm so he would stop walking. He looked at her strangely, once again thinking she lost her nerve. She was smiling. "Thank you for listening to me." She leaned closer to him briefly to kiss him. It was awkward. 15 minutes ago, they were arguing over the Bat-2-C, and now, she kissed him. She too wondered what was wrong with herself, and what possessed her to do so. But it was no time to think.

"…hey!" they broke apart instantly. Instead of Koji peering over at them from a nearby car, they saw a man with deep brown hair, like Takuya's, waving at them. Something about him scared Takuya. He had the same annoying smile as his mom did… whenever Takuya refused to eat something. "Takuya! …it's me—your brother!"

"…oh." He said, in a shocked state. Oh yeah, my brother… how much did he see? His eyes shifted around nervously. "Oh! I remember you." He said, walking over to the car, with Izumi close behind him. "You are here to give us a lift home, right?"

"…well, no-"

"My god, my family is so wrong." He muttered.

"So Takuya, who's your friend?" Takeyo asked, referring to Izumi. She was brushing wet strands of hair out of her face. He winked at her; she said nothing.

"Oh yeah, that's Izumi." He nodded. Takeyo flashed him an odd look. "We were just talking."

"Sure." He shrugged, sarcastically. "Get in—about what?"

"…the Bat-2-C."

******

"Oh Takuya!" Reiko grabbed him as soon as he got home. "Are you okay? Did you finish the granola bar? Where's the Tupperware?" her voice grew menacing.

"Enough, Reiko," Takuya's dad, Tenji began prying him away from her. "Ah, son, I heard about the incident at school with the baseball."

"Soccer ball, actually."

"Lies! He hasn't eaten all day, Tenji." Reiko told him.

"Takuya, is this true?" Tenji asked, in a fake tone of concern. "You know how angry your mother gets-"

"God-" Takuya sighed. "I should've just stayed outside."

"Did you guys see Daisuke?" Tayumi asked, from the living room as she continued to flip channels. She put down the remote and looked over at him.

"He was making-out with a girl." Takeyo spoke up. "I think she was… blonde."

"Oh, it must be that same girl from the hospital room." Reiko grinned. "You never told me you were in a relationship with anyone."

"You and Izumi are going out?" Tayumi asked, shocked. "When did she break up with Koji?"

"Koji? Who's Koji?"

"I'm going to bed." Takuya said, slipping away from everyone. But for once they heard him.

"You never ate anything Takuya." Reiko said, testily. "Are you sure you don't want any chicken? Rice? Fish? Steamed carrots? Corn? Cookies, even? I don't want you to be unhealthy. Look—Takeyo and Tayumi finished their dinner. Look how healthy and strong they look. They don't pass out from a lack of nutrition."

"It was a baseball, Reiko."

Soccer ball, dad. Soccer ball. He sighed, and slipped away into his room anyway. He took off his hat and goggles and rested them on his bedpost. He was searching around for a change of clothing, but surprisingly couldn't find anything that belonged to him. "Mom," he popped his head out of his room. "Where's my… everything?" he asked, noticing his red covers were gone.

"Oh, we forgot to tell you." Reiko smiled. "While Takeyo's here, he'll be taking your room and you'll be in with Tayumi."

"Mom!" Tayumi gasped.

"God, no," Takuya sighed.

"Well, it was either Tayumi or the sofa." Tenji nodded.

***

"Are you sure, son?" Tenji asked, as Takuya unfolded his blazing red comforter on the sofa and dropped down, his head completely lost in his pillow. "It gets cold-"

"And you haven't eaten." Reiko reminded him. "Feel free to have a midnight snack."

"I'm fine," he mumbled. "Good night." He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but noticed the moonlit silhouettes still standing by the hallway. He looked up to see a concerned Reiko and Tenji, and Takeyo and Tayumi peering over their shoulders. "…go away!" he snapped.

"Good night, then," Tenji nodded, as he and the family went off to bed.

Takuya tried not to think. Whenever he thought, it always went back to Izumi, the rain, the- He had to get his mind off it somehow. It wasn't helping to sleep it off. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind… but it came back.

"Takuya, I'm sorry," Izumi said, on the brink of tears. She couldn't hold them in anymore. So to show as much appreciation as possible, she began to cry. "I didn't mean to break it."

"It's okay," Takuya mumbled, still sitting beside the pile of rubble that was The Bat-2-C. "I'll just make another one. It wasn't that special anyway."

Izumi sniffed uncontrollably. Daisuke walked over to give her a hug, but she started to cry even more. "Geez. Girls." He shook his head as Izumi rushed away. "Such crybabies. Right?" he looked down at Takuya. "Right?" Daisuke asked again, as he spotted tears roll down Takuya's face. "…whoa."

"…I loved… the Bat-2-C!!" he cried, rolling around on the floor in a panic. "I want it back!"

"Tch," he heard JP snicker to one of his only friends at the time. "Now Izumi will only love my whiteout container! She'll never love the Bat-2-C again!"

"…what?" Takuya stopped crying to hear JP momentarily. He got up and glared at him. JP backed down. JP might've been bigger than the other kids, but he was a complete wimp. "What did you say?"

"…nothing." JP said before rushing out of the classroom.

"Whoa-" Takuya sat up quickly and looked around. I dreamt of JP… what the hell is wrong with me? He lay back down slowly and pulled the covers over his head. "…JP's a pain."

*******

That's the end of chapter 2!! Review if you liked it, and thanks to everyone who reviewed so far =D See you soon.

- Tears
sunshinie@moonshinehollow.com