New Year Tricks

Chapter nine

Kouji looked down at the porcelain cup he was holding. It was painted white, and was warm to touch. Inside, was Mrs. Wong's steaming jasmine tea. He brought the cup to his lips.

Mmmm...that was good.

Letting out a contented sigh, the boy laid back, unusually calm. From where he sat on the squishy green couch, Kouji could hear the soft pitter-pat of the raindrops, landing on the rooftop of the Wong residence.

Gusts of refreshing wind blew in from the half-open windows, as Sun-Li, the errand girl, brought in another six servings of tea.

The raven-haired boy closed his eyes for a moment. Without opening them, he could tell who was seated where, in the living room, and what that person was doing.

To his right sat Izumi, their hands still bound, of course. The blonde girl was talking happily to Alice Wong, the goth-like wife of Terriermon's Chinese Tamer. The woman was telling Izumi about the "old days," when a mere handful of children rescued the suburbs of Tokyo, from a terrible monstrosity called D-Reaper.

Kouji sighed. It might not have been evident, but he had managed to read about that from before. D-Reaper, Takato Matsuda, and a brown-haired girl named Jeri. It all seemed so ridiculous, like a fairy tale cooked up in a far-off land.

But still, his own escapades as Lobomon, with the others, in the Digiworld could seem just as unreal to anyone else.

"Hey! That's my dumpling!" a loud and irked voice protested.

"No way! I saw it first!" another obnoxious tone shot back.

"Oomph!"

"Argh!"

Sounds of a scuffle over the delicious shrimp dumplings made it obvious that Junpei and Takuya were, once again, fighting over the food. Kouji rolled his eyes inwardly. Those two would never cease to be morons.

"Cut it out, you guys!" Izumi's bossy attitude was kicking into gear.

"Look at the mess you're making on the rug!"

Kouji's eyes shot open. This, he had to see.

Takuya was on the floor, his stomach pressing flat against the rug. Junpei was sitting on his back, twisting his leg. Both held on to the last shrimp dumpling, which looked like it was going to explode in a burst of seafood and bread-like material.

Kouji sensed that something was wrong. Usually, when the stakes involved food, even Tommy would try and stake his claim on whatever was being fought over. Kouji blinked. Only the younger boy wasn't there.

He thought of asking Izumi about it, but thought better of it, and kept his mouth shut.

The boy's doubts were washed away, however, when Tommy skidded into the living room, carrying a pair of chopsticks, ready to strike.

"AHA!"

In one swift movement that would rival a ninja's grace, the eleven-year old snatched the dumpling from both the grips of Junpei and Takuya.

"Gulp!" Tommy rubbed his stomach triumphantly, as he flashed a victory smile.

"Thief." Muttered Junpei, under his breath.

"Brat." Added Takuya, seething.

Kouji shrugged, and said something that he probably shouldn't have said.

"Well, at least it shut you people up."

Glaring at him, Junpei's eyes were red with fury. They practically read 'Shrimp dumpling'. Knowing not to interfere with an angry Beetlemon, Izumi inched away from Kouji, as far as the cloth snake would permit.

The guy's face remained unemotional, as he stared up at the fat one, challenging him to go on ahead and try...juuust try...

As Junpei was about to tackle Kouji like a Sumo wrestler would tackle a decorative plant, the loner vanished from the couch in a matter of seconds.

Junpei went white with shock.

"WHAT THE—"

"THOU SHALT BE PURIFIED, WITH HOLY LIGHT!"

Kouji had summoned his attack, and would have blown Junpei to bits, until he realized three things.

One: He didn't have his digivice.

Two: He hadn't digivolved into Lobomon.

Three: Shouting attack phrases in the middle of a living room make you look like a complete idiot.

Everything was silent at the moment, as Takuya tried to hold in his laughter. Izumi, uncomfortable with having her hand jerked in the air, as Kouji went into Digimon-mode, just glowered at her friend miserably.

It was Tommy who first broke the silence.

"Well, that was embarrassing."

---------------------------------------------

"Kouji—"

"No."

"Oh come on..."

"No."

"Please?"

A frustrated sigh.

"Pretty pretty pleeeeeaaaaaaase, with sugar, strawberries, and maple syrup on top?"

Agitated now, Kouji shot a warning glance at the girl.

"Izumi I told you, I can't..."

"Aww, but Kouji! You said!!"

Fifteen minutes later...

"See, isn't this fun?"

"..."

"Don't give me that, you icicle."

"..."

"KOUJI!"

"What? I didn't say anything, did I?"

"Humph. You're hopeless."

"You're annoying."

"And you think you aren't?"

"This isn't exactly what I would call 'fun'."

Izumi waved her hand in the air, as if dismissing Kouji's complaints. She smiled at him, causing the loner to freeze for a nanosecond.

Poking him playfully in the ribs, the blonde jested him on.

"It's our last day in Beijing! Besides, everybody needs a little shopping once in a while!"

"Didn't you do any shopping at the Great Wall? Before we were kidnapped?"

"Yeah...but I NEED MORE!"

Laughing, Izumi smiled, and would have put thrown her arms in the air, dancing around, if she were not stuck to Kouji by that dratted snake.

Kouji sighed, and tugged at his bandanna, like always. There were a lot of things in this world that he didn't approve of, and shopping with Izumi was one of them. She was dragging him along now, but naturally, the boy didn't really have a choice.

The cloth snake, remember?

The loner grumbled at his unfortunate luck. Izumi was too preoccupied to notice. As the two walked along the sidewalks, nearing the Hong Xian pearl market, two things happened.

A gust of strong wind blew at the both of them. The girl tried to push away all the hair that was getting in her face, and the boy just blinked, to avoid the stinging sensation that the cold wind brought to his eyes.

Another thing, was that a strange looking old man appeared out of nowhere, seeming to be carried by the frosty breeze. He had a long, almost white beard, which looked like it was combed to straight perfection. Twinkling, humorous eyes looked upon Kouji and Izumi with amusement, as well as satisfaction.

With a sweep of his long crimson robe, the elderly man began to walk towards them both.

Izumi blinked at him for a few seconds. A glint of recognition flashed in her green eyes, as she realized that he was...

Wait a minute! STOP!! Her mind screamed. STOP RIGHT THERE!! That guy's the Chinese Merchant?

As if reading her mind, the old man stopped in his tracks. He looked at Izumi, and his lopsided smile grew.

As the Italian girl looked at him with pained confusion, Kouji, on the other hand was getting very, very annoyed. Well, he was annoyed most of the time, but never as much as this. The loner was about to say something rude, but Izumi beat him to it.

"Who the heck are YOU?"

Kouji raised a brow, and looked at Izumi. The Chinese man grinned some more, like some retarded idiot. Then, he got all wise and calm, like most wizened old men usually were.

"Don't you remember me, Miss Orimoto?" His tone was clear and concise, as was his English. To a normal person, it would have sounded like the old man was trying to hold back laughter. A lot of laughter.

"Hey! PEOPLE!"

"Izumiiii!!!"

"(pant) Takuya! Wait up!"

"Oh look! Candied strawberries!"

Just then, five people came running towards Kouji, Izumi, and the Chinese guy. Of course, as you may have already guessed, they were none other than Takuya, Junpei, Tommy and Kirschey.

Upon seeing them, Kouji did a double-take.

'Wait. Who are those two other freaks?'

"OOHH DEAARR BROOTHER!"

"Aha! I told you that snake would still be there! Face it Kouichi, you owe me three thousand yen!"

Oh no. No, no, no...why did they have to be here?

Looking away from them as inconspicuously as possible, Kouji tried to ignore the irritating presences of those two maniacs, Kouichi and Hannah. Well, maybe his twin wasn't THAT much of a maniac, but then Hannah most certainly was. Eech. The photographer from hell.

Izumi, of course, wasn't paying as much attention to Kouji, as to the newcomers. First of all, she was delighted to see Kouichi and Hannah there, although the blonde had no idea whatsoever as to how they had gotten to China.

'Maybe they grew sick of playing UNO...'

"Hey, guys!"

Reaching the two, the teenagers stopped, and caught their breath. Hannah was the first to speak, as was usually the case.

"Hey, aren't you the merchant dude?"

The old man didn't care who asked the question anymore; he was just glad that one of those brats had actually paid attention to him, this time around. Clearing his throat, the merchant replied cordially.

"Yes, Miss Kamei, in fact, I am."

Silence.

The merchant blinked. All the people were staring at him now, especially that goggle-head.

"You are?"

"Yes."

Tommy interrupted. "Great! Now you can get that thing of Kouji and Izumi!"

Upon hearing this, the two mentioned people looked up at the old man expectantly. Kouji looked hopeful, and Izumi's expression brightened.

The merchant shook his head.

"Sorry, no can do."

Silence.

"What? What do you mean?" This time, it was Kouichi's turn to complain.

Kouji on the other hand, felt like he was going to explode.

"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO CAN DO?!?"

In a few seconds, the boy would have pounced on the old man, and punched the living daylights out of him, had not the cloth snake been there to restrain him.

"Calm down, Kouj!" said Izumi, holding his arm, strangely enough, the loner did calm down.

The old man sighed. Takuya glared at him, and so did Junpei. He looked at them, and blinked.

"What?"

Silence. More cold glares.

He sighed again.

"Okay, FINE. I'll take it off...in exchange for one thing."

Izumi looked up. "What?"

"Only one thing." The man continued, looking pointedly at Kouji and Izumi. "If you two agree to do it."

"To take this thing off?" asked Kouji. "Anything!"

"Okay then..." said the merchant slowly. "I want...you both to kiss."

More silence. Kouji's mouth hung slightly open, and Izumi looked at the old man as if his hand had mutated into another head, and talked. The others kept quiet as well, but Hannah did not.

"Say...that IS a reasonable bargain..."

Kouji shot a venomous glare at the girl, but he kept his mouth shut. If the loner said anything right now, all hell would break lose. Besides, he had Kouichi to answer to.

No one said anything for a while, and the old man thought that he would lower the price...

(Artemis: No! Hell no! lower the price and die, you old freak! Gosh! I've been waiting for this moment for so long, now! Kiss, dammit! KISS!!!)

"Well..." he began. "If that's the case...all my work has been in vain."

At this, all the people looked up.

"Your work?" asked Tommy. "What do you mean?" But the merchant didn't answer. Instead, he walked towards the two, and placed one hand on the snake.

Inner thoughts

Kouji- YES! Finally! That eevil merchant's going to take it off...freeeeeeeedom...

Izumi-Yes! Finally! No more being chained to that antisocial poker-face! Freeeeeeeeeeeeedom....

Kouji/Izumi- But it was fun while it lasted. Izumi/Kouji isn't really that bad...WAIT! WHAT AM I THINKING!? Oh well...

-end-

The merchant began to feel the snake, around its green scaly body, as if looking for something. Then, he found the right pressure point. Jabbing his thumb into the thick mass of elastic cloth, the snake fell limp.

Instantly, the two wrists that were once bound together were now separated, their owners relieved, and all the chaos cleared.

But if there were two happy people, there were also some disappointed individuals, who had been looking forward to seeing Kouji and Izumi kiss. Namely, Takuya, Junpei, Tommy, Kouichi, Hannah, and Kirschey. Oh yeah, the Chinese dude, too. But hey, not all clouds have silver lining...and neither do all cakes have icing...

At this, Kouji had to smile. For once, life had been good. Very good, indeed. He didn't have to humiliate himself in front of his friends, and Izumi, to get rid of the snake. The old guy didn't see them kiss, and even though Kouji really really liked Izumi, he didn't have to admit it, and would probably tell her some time during the next ten years. Who knows?

Izumi was happy as well. What girl wouldn't be? After a few horrid days of Kouji-attachment, it would be safe to say that relief coursed through her veins as well. Smiling at Kouji, the blonde could not help but notice her heart skip a beat, upon meeting his gaze.

And as always, the Chinese merchant had to ruin everything...

Winking at Kouji and Izumi, the old man smiled.

"Remember, you two are indebted to me. A kiss for freedom, love, for a snake."

Those were his parting words, because at the next moment, a man in his early thirties came running out of the crowd, yelling something unintelligible. He pointed frantically at the merchant, whose eyes widened in fear.

"You cheated that guy too?" asked Hannah, folding her arms.

"Heh...no, that's my grandson." Was the old man's hurried reply. Gathering the folds of his red robe, the merchant made a hasty exit, with his alarmed grandson nipping at his heels.

The teenagers were left there. They were quiet for a few seconds, but broke into grins, smiling at each other. Even Kouji had something to be thankful for. Kirschey laughed softly, and Takuya slung an arm around her shoulder, his goofy smile growing a bit wider. Tommy handed Hannah her digicam, still in one piece, and the girl snapped a photo of them all.

Junpei was cheerful as usual, on the way back, even buying Tommy a stick of candied strawberries. Izumi smiled all the way, unaware that she was inciting several unusual sensations, on the part of a certain Kouji Minamoto.

Laughing, the group made their way to the Wong residence, where they were greeted with more green tea, as well as rest and relaxation, for the next adventure to come their way.

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Hey guys...that was certainly a long one...or was it? Hmmm...anyways, we all know that the story is coming to an end. BUT WAIT! This isn't the end...I shall be posting an epilogue, or a follow-up chapter. There, Kouji and Izumi will be PAYING the merchant back, if you know what I mean...XD To all the reviewers, I LOVE YOU GUYS! (hugs people) Thank yu very much for staying with me through all my insanely late updates, and such. YOU ROCK!!!! MWAH!

Please review this one! Hehe...

Artemis