Denser Than Metal

By Anime Queen

A/N: Sorry for the delay on this fic. Now that I've finished my first priority fic (a YGO one) this one is my next target. I've just realized how incredibly behind I am on this. So I'll do my best and finish this quickly! Thanks so much for all the support, you guys are my inspiration!! Love you all!

Disclaimer: I never did and never will own Digimon. End of story.

... - thoughts

Chapter 7

TK's POV:

I was waiting for Daisuke and the rest of the gang to show up in front of the school gates, checking my watch constantly.

Where are they? Class let out ten minutes ago! I kept thinking in frustration. Not that I doubted my friends. I just wanted to get out of school as fast as possible today.

Finally, after the crowds cleared up a little, I caught sight of Inoue Miyako's purple hair, and when I looked closer, I also saw Daisuke, Taichi- senpai, Sora-san, Mimi, and when I looked closer, Jou. They were standing around three people who looked out-of-place and not like they were really enjoying the attention. I decided to go over to them – it's not like there was any point in me standing all by myself anyway.

As I came closer and closer, I somewhat recognized the boy with blond hair as a classmate from math. By association I also remembered the girl as the one who solved that problem on the board in today's class period. She was very precise, I remembered, without very much real effort. The third guy struck me as a very shy and quiet type. If only I could remember their names...

I was pretty close to the group now, and Miyako spotted me.

"TK! There you are!" she cheerfully said, adjusting her big round glasses.

"I was waiting for you guys at the gates," I admitted sheepishly, and Daisuke, now aware of my presence, laughed a little.

"You always confuse things," he told me before turning back to talk to Taichi. Senpai wasn't really listening to him, though. I followed his gaze over to the small group around the new students, and found my eyes on Sora. Senpai sure looked at her a lot, and I suspected he had feelings for her, but I never asked him directly, and didn't feel like butting into his private business. I just watched the group for a while.

The three new students seemed a lot more out of place in the group of Digidestined surrounding them. The blond boy was nodding and smiling at whatever Mimi and Sora were talking about, but I could tell there were other things on his mind. He mostly looked at the ground or at his hands crossed in front of him. The quiet guy was nodding and smiling timidly next to him, and seemed to be enjoying the girls' company far more than his friend. The black-haired girl was standing a bit behind them, looking quite impatient with the situation.

I was getting pretty bored with the situation. It wasn't as if I felt like they were purposely excluding me, it was more of the fact that they pretended I didn't know. I couldn't really blame them, though, I pretended like I neither knew or cared. But I was good at pretending, even to myself. I had a bad feeling about what I was seeing unfolding before me. How much three new people could upset the balance of the group's everyday lives.

I'm overreacting! I told myself, They've only been here once day, plus they're almost foreigners. It would return to normal soon

The blond boy's conversation with Sora and Mimi came to a stop suddenly when the dark-haired girl behind them leaned over on his shoulder.

"We've really got to get going, Yama-chan," she said loudly enough for everyone to hear. The blond looked apologetically at the girls, more so at Sora than Mimi, and rubbed the back of his head.

"I guess we should, huh? It's pretty late, and we still need to do some work," he explained.

"All right then!" Mimi smiled cheerfully, "I guess we'll see you all tomorrow then!" she waved a little and then allowed Jou to lead her away.

Sora smiled a little, even shyly.

"See you later."

Looking across the courtyard I spotted Kari and Koushiro, walking hand in hand. I thought about calling out to them, but I didn't want to attract the attention of the people between us.

Even if the gang was still together physically, I couldn't really refer to them as the Digidestined. We still were, but we weren't connected that deeply anymore. The danger has passed. We were normal people now, with normal lives. And everyone adjusted completely to the changes. I didn't know how to feel about it. I don't know if I'm glad to leave the past in the past. After all, it's not really a past to be proud of...

Miyako and Daisuke started pulling on my sleeve, jolting me out of my reverie.

"TK, are you okay?" Miyako asked me quietly.

"Yeah man, you're spacing out on us, that's unhealthy!" Daisuke supplied.

"Sorry guys," I grinned sheepishly, "I was just thinking."

Thankfully they didn't ask what about. I doubted they even knew what we did in our Digidestined days. Who we were.

"Come on, I'm going to be late for my shift at the store if we don't hurry up!" Miyako complained, and Daisuke rolled his eyes at the same time I did.

She takes her job seriously. I guess that's good for her

We walked along the fence outside the school, chatting about random things. I couldn't help but keep thinking about those three students. Did they have something to do with us? Why did they hang out with us? Why bother befriending everyone who was once a Digidestined? I told myself I was only being paranoid. There was no way anyone could ever find out. Our former boss has made sure of that.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Miyako waved as she headed across the street to her family general store. Both me and Daisuke waved to her and then continued on our way.

"Hey, if there's something bothering you, you can tell me, you know?" Daisuke turned to me.

"I know," I smiled a little.

But I can't tell you, Dai-kun

Yulei's POV:

I trudged in front of the guys, sometimes looking over my shoulder to make sure they're coming. I was sick of this dumb plan. It wasn't necessary – we could have gathered all the intelligence we needed without having to deal with crowds.

What was the boss thinking? I shook my head. Stupid Yamato

Hiroke caught up with me and I glanced at him a little before turning back to the road in front of me.

"You're tackling this all wrong, Yu," he said in a hushed voice, "You should try to lighten up and enjoy this."

"Enjoy THIS?" I glared at him.

"Yeah," he smiled timidly, "it's like an all-expenses pain vacation, only you have to pretend to be a student."

I shook my head. I never had any intention of adopting the guys' unserious attitudes. This was a job, not a vacation. What's more, it was a dangerous job. Failure was not an option, not with so much money involved. We could not afford to get caught.

"And try to take it easy on Yamato," he added in a hushed whisper, "he's not as confident as he appears." Hiroke looked over his shoulder and then leaned closer to me. "It's his first assassination assignment."

"I know," I replied, "First time for everything."

Hiroke shook his head once. "Just please... just because you've done it before and he hasn't doesn't mean he can't or won't, you know?"

"Killing people isn't something to be proud of," he jumped a little as I looked sternly at him when I said that.

"I didn't mean – "

"It's not what you think, okay? I just feel like we're wasting time."

I said the last part loudly enough to make sure that Yamato heard me. Even if I said it before, he has insisted on waiting out and gathering as much information on them. I shook my head in disgust.

He's just going to get attached to them and make the job difficult

Yamato was still walking behind us, making no indication that he heard our conversation.

/Chapter 7

Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. TK's pov is sort of the reasonable voice. You're going to find out most of the details from his viewpoint. He's neutral in here.

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