New Year Tricks

[chapter eight]

Author's note: yes, you all want to kill me with various weapons of mass destruction. That much, I know. Sorry for the late update! Many things have happened during my period of absence. The rest of the story will be left up to Skadi. –Artemis


Yes! There it was! The end of the wall! The end of the adventure! The end of all this rotten manure of a vacation! FREEEEEEEEDOM!!!!!!!!!!

Those were the only thoughts in Kouji Minamoto's mind, as he grappled up the rope, towards the top portion of the Great Wall of China.

How he had ended up in this rotten mess was beyond him, but all that Kouji knew was that it was the merchant's fault, and Hannah's.

The boy grunted, his breaths laboured, as he climbed up the rough fibres entwined into each other. On his back was his friend, and potential crush (yes: CRUSH!!!) Izumi Orimoto.

Recently, the girl had been clutching onto Kouji's arm, blocking off all circulation. Her eyes were slammed shut. There was something wrong with Izumi, at the moment. She was afraid. What? Afraid? Her? The spunky supergirl of Digimon Frontier? Yeah right!

The girl whimpered slightly, as she dug her head into the back of Kouji's black windbreaker, hoping that it would all be over.

Fear of heights, that was what it was called. Something-phobia.

A light breeze swept across their faces, as the rest of China slept peacefully, without having to worry about bandit kidnappers, or bloodthirsty senior citizens.

Ah, well, that's what you get for being a fourteen-year old with a bunch of weird friends that talk too much. Kouji grunted and looked up, spotting a hand reaching out to him, over the edge of the wall. It belonged to Henry. The boy could hear the man's voice. It was urgent, curt.

"Come on, Kouji! The elders won't last much longer!" he yelled, over the howl of the oncoming gusts of wind.

The loner boy nodded, even though Henry couldn't see him. It was difficult to hasten his pace, with a girl's weight dragging him down. Kouji's eyes landed momentarily on the cloth snake that bound them both. He glared at it menacingly.

That was the start of all their troubles. Stupid snake.

He snapped his attention back to the task at hand. From the noises above, Kouji concluded that Takuya and Junpei had succeeded in climbing up the wall. Only Tommy was lagging behind. The boy loosened his grip on the rope, as he reached out with his free hand, towards the stone edge of the ancient landmark. His skin grazed a coarse, rough surface, with several lines and notches cut into it.

Kouji smiled ironically. Even the Great Wall was not immune to Chinese graffiti.

With all the strength that he could muster, the boy grasped Henry's outstretched arm, and tried to hoist himself, and Izumi, over the edge of the wall. Luckily, the eldest Wong sibling provided ample supervision, and the two were helped to safety in no time.

Exhausted, tired, and chilled to the bone, Kouji could not find anything better to do, than to collapse onto the bare ground, and gasp for air. He did just that, without noticing that there was something tied to his arm, by a certain devious curse.

Kouji took several deep breaths, with his eyes closed. The feel of hard, solid ground was welcoming, to a person who had been forced to climb thirty feet with the weight of two people on his back. The boy's eyes flickered open. He felt something warm on his chest. Kouji blinked, and tried to sit up. He only got halfway. There was Izumi, her hat fallen off, her golden hair splashed across him. Her hand was still gripping his, almost blocking off circulation. The girl was sprawled out on his chest. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing steady.

Kouji stiffened.

She was asleep.

'Thank God.'

Izumi was asleep?

Yeah right.

[insert evil grin here]

That was what he thought.

In fact, she was half-asleep. Part of her consciousness had drifted away into dreamland, but the other part was wide awake.

In case you wonderful readers were...uh...wondering, this was what was going on in our brilliant little Izumi's brain, right at this moment, HERE IT IS!!!

She smiled in her false sleep, feeling the calmed rhythm of his heart. There was nothing that she'd trade this moment for, ever. Not even if she was exhausted, tired, cranky, and had a terrible backache. Actually, all that mattered now was that she was safe and sound, her hair wasn't getting any split ends, and that she was with Kouji.

The insane, more maniacal side of her began to yap a little bit louder, earning some good standing in Izumi's field of thought.

[inner Izumi] : Yeah! YOU GO GIRL! Finally! After years and years of chasing that cold-hearted icicle, IZUMI ORIMOTO HAS GOT HER MAN!! Mwahahahahahahahaaa!!!

What more could she possibly ask for?

"Wow, didn't know they were that close." Deadpanned Takuya, letting out a yawn.

Izumi's fist tightened, and a vein pulsed somewhere in her forehead. The cocky leader of their little group gulped, and backed away.

'Now if only that goggle-head would shut up for once...' the Italian thought disdainfully.

Kouji rubbed his eyes, and heard someone suggest that they head back for the comforting hospitality of the Wong residence. It turned out that Alice had phoned the police, and the kidnappers were on their way to that little, lonely space behind cold, metal bars. Now what was it called, again? Oh yeah...JAIL.

Tommy did a little victory dance, despite the fact that the boy was extremely tired, right about now. He sighed, as Junpei chuckled, and picked the 'little guy' up, piggy-back style. Tommy was asleep in no time.

The older boy smiled to himself. 'I wonder what it would be like, to have a little brother.' He mused.

"Damn it, lets get out of here before I drop dead." Grumbled Kouji, as Henry helped him up. The older man couldn't help but smile.

"You know, you remind me of someone." He said. Henry smiled lightly, with memories of the socially elusive Rika Nonaka, now Rika Akiyama, resurfacing in his mind.

Wildcat and Lone wolf. What uncanny similarities, indeed.

The raven-haired loner had to cock a curious brow at this comment, but instead, chose not to say anything.

"Come on, lets get into the car." Said Henry. "You guys must've had a loooong day." He added.

Takuya could only smile weakly. "You can say that again."

Nodding, the rest of them readily complied to the prospect of riding in Henry Wong's safe, bandit-free, air-conditioned car; a stark contrast to the hard, lumpy piece of ground that they had been forced to sit on, watching maniac kidnappers plot to sell them illegally.

Opening the car door to his black Honda, Henry cast a tired smile at the teenagers.

"Alice is at the house right now. She's coming back with my cousin's SUV. I can take three people right about now." He said, looking at the five.

Takuya nodded absently, his mind drifting off to a space in the clouds. This whole vacation had a purpose: to get that damned cloth snake off those two hopeless friends of his, who, by the looks of it, were falling for each other right about now. Instead, they wound up wrestling toddlers, him getting splashed by mud [not to mention a confrontation with his crush's possible boyfriend], and getting kidnapped at the great wall, by insane, tobacco-obsessed freaks, only to be rescued a few hours later by senior citizens, carrying cooking pots for weapons!!!

If ever the world would have spun off its axis, right now was certainly a good time for it to do so.

'Not that it would make much of a difference...' thought Takuya.

Henry's voice broke through his train of thought, a few minutes later.

"So...which ones are going to ride with me?" the man questioned.

Uncertainly, the five Frontier kids looked at each other. Tommy was asleep, his head resting on Junpei's shoulder, Takuya looked awake enough, and Kouji was just there, grumbling like the natural pessimist he was. Izumi was also asleep, or half-asleep, for that matter, resting on Kouji. The latter didn't have the energy to blush, anymore.

"Well..." began Takuya, his hand flying up to his cap. "I guess I can stay..."

"Me too." Put in Junpei.

Henry cocked a brow.

"Are you sure? It can get kind of chilly out here, especially at this hour." Stated Terriermon's trainer.

As if to respond to Henry, a cold wind blew strong, causing everybody to pull their windbreakers a little bit closer to themselves. The uncertainty grew stronger.

But then, a voice rang out, in the distance.

"Takuya!"

Hearing that familiar tone, the goggle-head's eyes widened, as he spotted the lithe figure of Kirschey, getting out of a nearby cab. Her stark blue eyes were filled with relief, although the raven-haired girl looked sort of drained.

She ran towards him.

Not them, Takuya noticed happily, but him.

Him.

"Takuya! Guys! Thank kami-sama you're safe!" she rejoiced, hugging the brown-haired boy, first.

"Kirsch, since when did you get to China?" after recovering from the heated blush that covered his cheeks, Takuya asked the most sensible question at the moment.

"Well, I caught the pla—"

"So, you guys coming, or not?" Henry's call for verification interrupted Kirschey's explanation. [ooh! Rhyme!]

"Um...well..." Takuya looked at his shoes. He had a choice. Go on this trip, and get to comfort, warmth, and hospitality...or stay here for a while, and ride with Alice. But the latter choice meant that he cloud spend a little more time with the girl of his dreams...possibly, even ask her about that obnoxious jerk that had bumped into him, the morning before.

"He's staying. And I am, too." Stated Junpei bluntly. Inwardly, the fat one grinned. He knew well of Takuya's unrequited affection for Henry's niece.

"I guess...that leaves Kouji, Izumi, and Tommy." Said Henry, glancing at the aforementioned three.

Kouji nodded silently, as he always did. Shaking Izumi awake, gently, the boy smiled at her.

Blinking, the girl's green eyes fluttered open, just in time to see her friend's lips curl up in a warm smile. Izumi blinked again.

Wow. It was extremely rare for Kouji the ice cube to smile, to the point that when he actually did smile, it came out sort of unnatural.

The blonde squeezed his hand, still clasped about her own.

"Are we going yet?"

Kouji nodded, looking away. "Yeah, we're going." He finished.

Henry did nothing but put his hands on his hips, and look at them with interest.

"Well, you guys are an interesting bunch, indeed. Now, if you wouldn't mind, Kouji, Izumi...Tommy...let's get going."

Nodding, the boy helped Izumi up, while Junpei carried Tommy to the car, letting him off gently. When all was right and done with, Henry Wong got in the driver's seat, plugged the keys into the ignition, and stepped on the gas.

The black vehicle drove away, leaving a faint trail of exhaust. Still standing at the wall, Takuya, Kirschey, and Junpei looked after the shrinking form of the little black car, disappearing on the horizon.

After a few minutes of silence, the girl was the first to speak.

"So...you guys saw Grandma Mei Li in action?"

A grin formed on Takuya's face. "Yeah...I guess you could say that..."


"AHA! DRAW FOUR! Take that, Kouichi!" Said Hannah triumphantly, slamming down the multicoloured Uno card down, on the ever-growing pile in between her and Kouji's twin.

In response, Kouichi grumbled at his rotten luck, as well as his friend's strange, competitive attitude. He was absolutely sure that Hannah didn't do alcohol, but now...he wasn't so sure anymore...

"What have you been drinking?" he asked sarcastically, putting his own card down on the deck.

"Why?" questioned the girl, putting a draw-two card down.

"Because. I think it's getting to your brain. Or is that just your natural abnormality?"

"shut up, you!"

Playfully, the short-haired brunette whacked Kouichi upside the head.

"OW! What was that for?"

"For being your usual egotistic self."


"Humph."

NOTE: I am SORRY! I have a bunch of excuses for the tardy update, but I don't know if you guys want to hear them...here goes anyway...

1] I have been to China, so I know what's what, and the stuff going on at the Great Wall, Beijing, Shanghai, and all those other places.

2] My computer crashed. Its sort of sad, but at least there are no more viruses, now.

3] Busy working on other stories! Sorry, but I sort of decided to leave this fic on hold for some time.

4] I will be posting another one-shot Kozumi shortly after this. A peace offering to you readers. It is going to be a songfic. Watch out!

Yep...as usual, a review is highly appreciated. Constructive or otherwise, but please, not a flame. :)

R&R!

Artemis