One More Chance

Here's chapter 2. I hope you guys enjoy it. Once again, I'd like to say that I've dedicated this fic to my boyfriend James. And on another note, I own none of the digimon characters except the characters I created. That said, R&R!

Chapter 2 Soccer, Kids, and Rei

Daisuke rushed around his room throwing items into his gym bag. "What's the big hurry, Daisuke?" asked DemiVeemon.

"I'm going to meet Rei at the park and help her coach some little kids in soccer," answered Daisuke from inside his closet.

"You think you have a chance?"

Daisuke's head popped out of the closet. He frowned slightly. "I don't know really. There's a possibility, but I'm not going to worry about that. I'm just going to go have fun. The last time I worried over something like that, Miyako dumped me three days later for Ken."

DemiVeemon flinched. He knew it had been hard for Daisuke to deal with his best friend going out with his ex-girlfriend. "Yeah I remember that."

"I guess it turned out for the best though. Look at the two now. They're engaged."

"That's true and I just remembered that Ken called and said he wanted you for best man when they do get married."

"Tell him I will be. Now where did you put my soccer ball? I can't seem to find it," called Daisuke.

DemiVeemon blushed. "Your mother took it away because I kept hitting the walls with it."

"Great… Now I have to go ask her for it. Do me a favor and behave while I'm gone okay?"

"I can't go with you?" asked DemiVeemon as he pouted.

"Remember the last time you were around a group of little kids? How you complained so much about your tail and ears hurting from their pulling?"

"Oh yeah…" muttered DemiVeemon, remembering. "But this is different! And I wanna go play soccer!"

"Well you can't so behave yourself and maybe on the way home I'll rent a movie for later tonight okay?"

"Fine, fine. I'll be good. Now go before you're late. It's fifteen 'til four."

"Oh crap. Bye DemiVeemon!" called Daisuke as he rushed out the door.

Daisuke whistled to himself as he power-walked to the park. This ought to be fun anyway. I haven't helped coach kids in a long time. It should be great to go back to the past.

He crossed under the park arch and quickly found the soccer field. He stayed off to the side and watched Rei for a minute. She was holding up a soccer ball and trying to explain something to the little kids clambering around her. Daisuke smiled and then sat down and put on his cleats. He then jogged over to Rei. "Hey Rei!" he called.

Rei looked up. "Ahh there he is. Guys, this is the boy I told you was going to come help out today."

"Hello," chorused the kids.

"What's ya name mister?" asked one little red-headed boy.

"I'm Daisuke. How about you?"

"I'm Junku," he answered with a toothy smile.

"What about the rest of you?" asked Daisuke.

"Mimiru," called a blonde girl.

"Kimoki," answered a black-haired boy.

"Jyou," answered a boy with chestnut colored hair.

"Jamiso," answered another boy with jet-black hair.

"Natyla," answered a girl with dirty blonde hair.

"Takuji. I'm Junku's twin," he called proudly, his red hair tossing in the wind.

"Kotori," answered another dirty blonde girl. She seemed to be the smallest one there.

"And why are you guys here?" asked Daisuke.

"To play soccer!" they all shouted together.

"Right! Now I'll let Coach Rei get back to what she was explaining before I came along. Take it away Coach."

"Uh thanks, Daisuke. Anyway, I thought today we'd just have fun. So we're going to kick some balls into the goals and then we'll scrimmage. Sound good to you?"

"Yeah!" answered the group.

"You guys go wait by the goal over there okay? I'll be over with the ball bag. I've gotta talk to Daisuke, first," called Rei.

"Ohhh Rei's got a boooooooooyfriiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeend!" cried Takuji gleefully.

Rei blushed. "Now Takuji, he's not my boyfriend. I don't have one remember?"

"So? Daisuke can be your boyfriend. Then you'll have one."

"It doesn't work that way, Takuji." Rei looked up and then back down at Takuji. "Now head on over to the goal with the rest of the team. I'll be over soon."

"Fooey," muttered Takuji as he walked away.

Rei gasped as the ball bag suddenly got lighter. She turned to face a smiling Daisuke. "I thought you could use a little help," he answered sheepishly.

"Thanks Daisuke. I only wanted to tell you that sometimes you have to be patient with these guys. They can get off track…"

"Like Takuji did?" interrupted Daisuke.

"Yeah like Takuji did."

"Actually, if his little theory actually worked in real life, I'm sure people would be a lot happier. Too bad though. People like me can only wish for such a thing," sighed Daisuke.

"I thought you'd have girls crawling all over you, Daisuke," replied Rei.

"Sometimes I do, Rei. The only problem is they only want my body, not the real me. I don't want to be loved for my physical self, but for my inner self. If only girls looked for the inner self in a guy and thought that the looks were an extra little gift included. Then I could be satisfied."

Rei smiled sympathetically at Daisuke. "I know how you feel Daisuke. It's the same for me. I feel the same way."

By then they'd arrived at the goal. All of the little kids clambered around the ball bag to grab a ball. Rei shot Daisuke a look that said we'll talk later. "All right guys. First off we need a goalie. Who wants to be a goalie first?" she called.

"I will. I'll do it!" cried Takuji.

"Now that we've a goalie, everyone else can grab a ball. We'll shoot from back at the 18-yard line. Daisuke, would you like to show us where it is?"

Daisuke jogged back to the 18-yard line. "It's right here guys! Not very far! And I'm sure you are all good kickers!" he called waving his arms wildly.

All of the kids giggled and even Rei had to suppress her chuckles. That Daisuke is something else she thought to herself. "All right guys. Line up!" she called.

Five minutes later, Mimiru collapsed on the ground. "I'm hot and tired!" she cried.

"Me too!" added Kimoki.

Rei blew her whistle. "Break time! Grab some water and rest up!" She walked over to the shade of a tree and sat down beneath its trunk. She grabbed the bag next to her and pulled out a water bottle. Tilting her head back, she drank the cool, refreshing liquid. She didn't notice Daisuke sit down beside her with his own bag and bottle. "They're a nice group of kids, Rei."

Rei jumped, her water bottle flying out of her hand as she did so. It flew up into the air, twirling 'round and 'round and dumping its contents onto Rei and Daisuke. Rei got most of it though. She turned to look at Daisuke, hair falling into her face. "I'm such a klutz," she said to no one in particular, blaming herself.

"I'm so sorry Rei. I didn't mean to. Um…" Daisuke searched through his bag and pulled out a towel. "Here, let me help." He began wiped the water off of her face. He then handed the towel to her so that she could try to dry her clothes.

"Thanks Daisuke," was all Rei could say.

"It's not a problem, Rei. Here, would you like some of my water since yours is spilt?"

"But you need it," protested Rei.

"No, no you don't understand." Daisuke rummaged through his bag again and pulled out another water bottle. "I have an extra one. Take it. I won't need it."

"Are you sure?" asked Rei.

"Positive. I always have an extra bottle, just in case," he answered as he put the bottle in Rei's hand.

"Thanks," replied Rei as she opened the bottle and drank some of the water.

Just then Kimoki ran up to them. "Coach, Takuji said I was a crybaby and…. Hey why are you all wet? And why do you have that towel? And…"

"Daisuke scared me by accident which caused me to spill my water, Kimoki. It's okay now though."

Kimoki, confused by this statement, lost his train of thought. The little boy couldn't remember why he had come to Rei in the first place. "Um…" He dug one of his cleats into the dirt.

"So what is it that you wanted, Kimoki?" asked Rei.

"Um… I forget... I can't remember…" muttered Kimoki as he turned and walked back over to the other kids.

Daisuke softly chuckled. "You caught him off guard. He wasn't expecting that kind of answer."

"Well, I didn't mean to, but I think he confused himself. He does that a lot."

Daisuke stood up. He offered a hand to Rei to help her up and she accepted. "Time to finish up practice," he said matter-o-factly.

"Yep. Scrimmage time. They always enjoy this part of practice the most," replied Rei.

Both of them walked back over to the group of little kids. Rei blew her whistle to call order. Eight heads turned expectantly and chatter ceased. "Listen up everyone. I'm going to divide up the teams. The first team will be Takuji, Jamiso, Kimoki, and Mimiru. The second team will be Natyla, Jyou, Junku, and Kotori. There will be no goalies. Takuji's team will wear the penneys this time. The penneys are in the ball bag so if you will go get them on, we can start our game. Got that everyone?"

"Yep," the kids answered as Takuji's team ran to the ball bag and threw on penneys. Then they all gathered back on the small field.

Rei sorted them out into positions on the field. Then she turned to Daisuke. "All you have to do is run on the sidelines and watch for any misconduct. Basically, I just let the kids have fun. I'll stay on the field and you just yell if you see anything okay?"

"Got ya," answered Daisuke. He took his position on the left side of the field.

Rei took her position at center circle. As she picked up her whistle, a bad feeling washed over her. She shuddered and then shrugged it off. She blew her whistle, allowing the game to begin.

Daisuke watched from the sidelines. There wasn't much running to do since this was a small field made especially for the little kids. Every so often he had to jog a bit, but never very much.

Rei turned to look at him while she was running at one point. She wasn't looking where she was going. Her foot caught on a medium-sized rock and Rei lost her balance. She fell down at an awkward angle and those who were nearest to her could hear a sickening crack. She cried out in pain as she collapsed onto the ground. Tears rolled down her face. "Rei!" shouted Daisuke. He rushed over and knelt by her side. All of the little kids gathered around.

"Guys, stay back. Rei needs room to breathe. Go find your parents and see if one of them has a cell phone, okay?"

The kids scattered without a word and ran off to various nearby places. Several parents had already begun to run over. Takuji ran over with a cell phone in hand. "Here Daisuke. Here's the phone. Will Rei be okay?"

Daisuke looked down at Rei whose face was twisted in pain. Tears rolled down her face and she didn't speak for fear of feeling more pain. At that point in time, he wished he were in her place. As he dialed the emergency number on the cell phone, he found Rei's hand and gripped it tightly. She returned his kindness by squeezing his back.

So? Opinions and comments are greatly appreciated. See ya next chapter! Review!