Argh…I hate it when people put that kind of pressure on me. I don't mind ideas and suggestions, or people yell 'GET IT OUT ALREADY!!!' but I really hate it when people say 'make it your own and do this'. If its your idea, why would it make it my own? Argh…
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. You think I do? You're wrong.
Once Was Blind…
Chapter 3: The Black Glasses
"Hey Kari!"
The girl turned. Davis was running up to her, all smiles. But it was Monday so it wasn't exactly the time of day you'd expect him to be that excited.
"Hey Davis." she smiled as he ran up to her. "What's up? Why so happy?"
"Didn't you hear?" he panted, reaching her side. "T.J.'s back in school today!"
"Really?!" Kari gasped, not even noticing that he'd gotten their friend's name wrong on purpose yet again. "Is he here yet?!"
There was a big reason to be so excited. T.K. had been released from the hospital the week before, but he'd had to keep going back for some sort of rehab. This wasn't so bad, but for some reason he'd been hiding the whole time. They didn't even know where his new apartment was located, he hadn't wanted any visitors at all. There'd been phone calls, sure, but none of them had seen him, or tried to ask about it over the phone.
Kari started to run, to search around the schoolyard, but Davis grabbed her by the arm. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "What're you doing?"
"I've already checked." Davis sighed. "I don't think he's arrived yet. We really should wait by the front gates."
Kari stared. Davis had defiantly gotten…well, smarter, in the past year since MaloMyotismon. More strategically that academically, sure, but it was something through his thick skull.
"You've been hanging out with Ken too much." Kari muttered, but followed after and took a seat on a large rock by the school gates. Davis sat on the grass, cross-legged, next to her.
"Speaking of Ken, is he coming today?" Davis asked, not taking his eyes the gates.
"You mean to the Digital World?" Kari tried to keep up conversation. "Yeah, I think he is."
"Good." Davis sighed. "It's been a while since we've all gotten together for a nice, normal trip."
"'Normal'?" Kari laughed. "Our lives are never normal."
The bell rang. Both kids looked up and around. T.K. was no where in sight. "Is…Is he…" Kari asked, looking around. "Did he…sneak in past us?"
"Why would he?" Davis asked. "First day back…why would he not stop to talk to us?"
"Maybe…" Kari thought a moment. "Maybe, since it is his first day back, he had to go talk to the principal about his makeup work! Yeah, and then he went straight to class, he got here before we did!"
"I guess that makes sense…" Davis agreed checking his watch. "But we better hurry, or we'll be late!"
Just as they crossed into the classroom, they saw a welcome sight: T.K. was sitting in his normal desk, staring down at the table top in thought. "T.K.!" Kari cheered, coming to him.
Their friend looked up. Both Kari and Davis were surprised when, instead of shining blue eyes, they were looking at a pair of black glasses that hid those pools of color completely. But his face smiled, despite strange head gear. "Hi guys." he grinned. "What's up?"
"Hi T.K." Kari sighed, happy to see him. "We were just looking for you."
"What's with the glasses, T.A.?" Davis asked laughingly. "They're a little dark, aren't they?"
T.K. adjusted the glasses a bit self-consciously. "Well…" he admitted. "They are kinda dark, I guess…"
Before their conversation could go further, the teacher entered and they had to scrambled to their seats. The slick-brown-haired head of their 9th grade teacher entered in, looking pleased.
"Good morning, everyone." he said cheerily.
"Good morning, sensei." the class chorused.
"You sound cheery…" he looked among them. "But I'm afraid none of you are going to like this very much. We're having a pop quiz!"
A group of moans rose up from the class. T.K. gulped, not that anyone noticed. "Now now, don't fuss." the teacher began handing out the papers. "You all know the material! Including you, Mr. Takaishai, with all the make-up work I've been sending! You may all begin as soon as you get the assignment."
Soon the room was filled with the noise of pens on paper. Kari quickly answered the first question, a history problem, easy as cake. She looked up at T.K., wondering how he was doing, since he was never very good at history, and was a bit surprised when she saw him.
He was feeling the page with his hand, head bent like trying to read something in the dark. But there was no way he could have seen anything, his hand was covering it up! His face looked anxious, somehow, feeling the flat surface.
Finally, he raised his hand. "Mr. Namura?" he called in the quiet of the classroom. "I…can't read this test…"
Mr. Namura looked up, annoyed. "Is it smeared, Mr. Takaishai?" he asked curtly.
"No sir." T.K. muttered quietly. "But I…"
"Then why can't you read it, Mr. Takaishai?"
"Because I…" the boy stuttered. "…I can't!"
All eyes were on them now. T.K. was always such a well-behaved student, sitting quietly and only disturbing the class if needed. He'd never try to whittle out of a test like that.
Mr. Namura narrowed his eyes. "Perhaps is you took of those glasses, you could see to read the paper, Mr. Takaishai."
T.K. stiffed. "N-No, sir…"
"Take them off, Mr. Takaishai."
"B-But sir…"
"Take them off, Mr. Takaishai!"
T.K. sighed, defeated, and silently removed the glasses from his eyes. When he looked up, everyone in the room gasped in either horror, surprise, or a combination of the two.
They all remembered his eyes had been blue, but now they…They were murky and foggy, completely void of life. Even the pupils themselves were missing from those haunting blue pits. They didn't look like eyes anymore, just…disks…
"Oh my gosh…" Davis muttered under his breath.
"T…K…?" Kari whispered, shocked.
Mr. Namura froze a moment, then nodded in thought. "Ah…I see…" he muttered under his breath. "The Principal warned me about this, but I'd forgotten…" he looked up. "Bring your test, Mr. Takaishai, I'll write you a pass."
Slowly, uncertainly, T.K. rose from his desk. He picked up something no one had noticed, because he'd hidden it with his legs: a short gray cane, just tall enough to hit the ground when he held it at an angle, as he did now. It moved automatically back and forth in his hand, guiding his way past the objects in the room.
Mr. Namura handed him the yellow slip of paper. "Go down to the office." he instructed. "We don't have the tools at the moment to help you do the work by yourself, so the secretary has arranged to read your tests orally for you to answer. You'll still be in this room for lectures, but your classmates will have to help you with schoolwork papers. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir." T.K. whispered quietly. He moved out of the room slowly, not making eye contact with anyone, not that it would have mattered.
Kari took a deep breath and glanced back at Davis, who was just as stupefied as she was. Both of them thought the same thing when they locked eyes: "T.K. is…Blind?"
~ * ~ * ~
"Hey guys." T.K. sighed, entering the computer room, all smiles after a long day. "How's it going?"
"Oh…" Yolei sounded nervous, gulping like he'd entered in on something they didn't want him to hear. "Hi, T.K.…"
T.K.'s head turned, a natural reaction when he felt like something was wrong, a desire to glance at each one in the room. "What is it?" he asked cautiously. "What's going on?"
Ken took a deep breath, and for a moment there was silence before T.K. heard his chair slide back. "T.K.…Listen…" he said slowly, shifting his weight nervously. "There's…something we need to talk about."
"Okay, what?" T.K. asked questioningly.
"T.K.…" Cody sighed, also standing. "We…We don't think you should…go to the Digital World for a while. We…We'd like you to stay here, in the Real World."
T.K. stiffened, throat tightening. "W-What?" he croaked out.
"Please try to understand, T.K." Kari urged gently, touching his hand. "It's just that…if you can't…can't see the dangers in the Digital World, how could you make it out alive? Even when its quiet, there could still be a grumpy Digimon or two lurking around…It's too dangerous."
T.K. gulped a few times, trying to control himself, and pulled his hand away from hers. "Y-Yeah…" he forced out, though it wasn't what he wanted to say at all. "I guess… Y-You're right…I'll just…head home, then…"
He turned away from them and left the room, Patamon following quickly after him. Davis stared out the door a moment, watching him go. "Do you think…he took it the wrong way?" he asked quietly.
"I don't know…" Kari whispered. "I just…don't know anymore…"