Chapter 32 - Distress

"And you just left him there?! Are you crazy?!"

Tai sighed and looked over at me, standing as he lay down on the couch. He looked tired.

"Well, after he ranted at Izzy for a while, we went to try and talk to him about it, but then he just got mean; started throwing things and telling us to 'get the hell out'. That we didn't know anything. So what could we do? We left. Gomamon promised to take as much care of him as he could though."

I sat down on a chair and looked over at him.

"He was that bad?"

He nodded.

"If he doesn't talk to somebody soon, we're holding an intervention. We can't just let him throw his life away like this."

I frowned a little.

"Yes, but there's not much he can do if he doesn't want to let us help him, and even with all of us, we can't watch him all the time."
He closed his eyes and began to massage his forehead with one hand.

"I know that. But I'm not sure what we can say to make him listen. It was like shouting down a well earlier. Every new tactic we tried just made him madder and madder. He said that we didn't know anything. And…"

Tai's eyes were opened at this point, and his arm was down, leaving exactly nothing in-between us as they took on a dawning horror. I spoke softly, not really sure that I wanted to understand what had just occurred to him.

"What is it, Tai?"

Tai looked at me, more than slightly horrified.

"He might be right, Sora. Joe always comes running when we call, playing ol' reliable Joe Kido to a 'T', never judging, never complaining. Has anyone, even you, thought to ask him how his life is? What's going on over there?

"We assume that just because he doesn't say anything it means nothing's going on over there in his life. I… I think that he may have every right to tell us we know nothing about his problems…"

I was right. I didn't want to know. But Tai's right.

He trailed off, and I finished for him.

"And that means everything we say will have even less effect than it would have otherwise. We can't take all of the blame, he might have said something himself, but still…"

He nodded, and lay his head back on the couch, resuming his earlier pose of trying to massage his head.

We didn't say much for a long time after that.

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I was cornered, trapped like a rat, and the predator knew that her prey, namely me, was fast considering flight.

She pounced, making her move before I had the chance. I was sweating at this point, and she knew it.

Oh crud…

Mandy Jenkins had long shiny dark brown hair pulled into a long braid that hung down over her left shoulder. She was wearing a muted green tank top that was leaving little to the imagination.

When Rika found out, and I was sure she would, dimensional barriers not withstanding, I could only pray that my death was quick.

Why does this always happen to me? It's my first day back after an emotional and physical beating, and this has to happen.

Then, to my everlasting relief, there was a polite clearing of the throat behind her, and someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned, and I straightened for a slight look over her shoulder.

Kari…

There was something different about Kari today that I couldn't quite place, but I dismissed it as nothing and concentrated on the conversation.

"Hi Mandy."

"Kari."

"Um, look, can I borrow Takato there? I need a little help with my homework…"

"Look Kari, just because you and TK aren't talking right now doesn't mean you can steal my boyfriend."

Kari got a quizzical look on her face, as I stood back pressed tight to the wall shaking my head furiously. She smiled a little.

"I don't think 'boyfriends' have panic attacks when 'girlfriends' back them into dark corners in rarely traversed hallways…"

Mandy glanced back.

"Takato's just too shy to admit it, that's all."

The moment she glanced back towards Kari I made my move, brushing by Mandy at high speeds managing to shake loose the slight hold she had managed to get on my arm.

I ran like the wind until I was three blocks from the building, thanking myself over and over that I had been doing that extra training on the weekends.

At that point I collapsed on a bench to catch my breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mandy growled.

"Well, look at that. You scared him off."

I wanted to burst out laughing.

I scared him off? Me? That's a good one.

I just snorted at her instead. She blinked, then wandered off.

Wow… This anger is really getting to me.

Oh well…

I shrugged to myself, then hurried off after Takato. TK had really been bugging me lately. First he was just overprotective. Sweet, but highly annoying. Tai's bad enough by himself. Then Saturday's fight. I shivered in rage.

How dare he tell me what I can and cannot do!

Jerk…

I continued on in the direction I thought Takato would go. Specifically, I thought he'd run out the nearest exit and down the street a ways in a panic. I wasn't far off.

Except I didn't count on the fact that someone else being there…

He was cornered again, this time on a bench, by a short haired blonde. I broke up the conversation this time by simply yelling out from a distance.

"Hey Takato!"

They both looked up, and Takato looked relieved again, this time running towards me. He grinned a little sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"Hey Kari. Need help with that homework?"

I smiled.

"Yeah. Let's go."

The small smile turned into a small grin, somewhat grim looking.

"She still looking?"

I glanced over my shoulder back at the bench. The blond whose name I couldn't recall was just staring after us, a weird look on her face. I grimaced.

Great, I can just imagine the rumors tomorrow.

"Kari?"

"Oh, right. Yeah, she's still looking. I'm not sure why though."

He looked over a little quizzically.

"They've been doing that all day. Do you have any idea why? It's like some switch just went off in their heads or something."

I sighed. This was getting a little weird. But at least it made a little sense. Takato had walked into school this morning after what we'd been through in the past few days making him look a little worse for the wear. This of course resulted in the loss of the childish look he usually wore, in turn making him look a lot more mature.

Making girls flock to him like magpies.

I patted him on the arm.

"Don't worry about it. As soon as you're back to normal this'll probably stop. You look a few years older right now. Combine it with what happened this weekend, and you're sporting a 'rugged, mature look' that'll last a few days."

"Great. That's all I need right now."

I smiled then took him by the arm and started dragging him off.

"Where are we going?"

"My house. Homework, remember?"

He blinked.

"You mean that wasn't just a line?"

"Sort of, but doing homework in company's a lot better than doing it alone. Come on."

"… Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat silently on the couch, Joe's words running through my head like a mantra.

Joe wasn't too coherent, in fact he was pretty upset, but…

He might have been right…

Mimi looked over at me, concerned.

"Is everything alright Izzy?"

I tried to smile, to reassure her that everything was fine, but I failed. I ended up frowning instead. That made Mimi frown, and I wanted to hurt myself. I sighed instead.

"Just thinking about Joe…"

It was an evasion, but she bought it. She nodded, and sat down next to me, a little too close for comfort, given my usual reaction to her presence. I tried not to let on.

"It's so sad what happened. Do you have any idea what brought it on?"

I started to shake my head, then stopped myself.

"Well, I'm not too sure, but I think it has something to do with a girl."

Her eyes widened, and she turned to face me fully.

"Joe? And a girl? Together?"

I nodded slowly, and she leaned back a bit, sinking into the couch. She just stared off into space for a while, then smiled a little.

"Wow. I never imagined Joe would…"

I interrupted her.

"I think there was a fight… or something. He wouldn't have broken down like this otherwise."

She nodded, her eyes growing a little watery.

"Can you imagine it, Izzy? Emotion deep enough to make someone react like that when it's taken away…"

I frowned.

"I don't think it's anything to moon over Mimi…"

She sighed a little.

"I know, Izzy, but it's still nice to know that emotions that sincere exist."

"I guess… Oooh…"

I get it. I think. After Michael's 'emotions' she wants to believe that love like that exists… or something like that…

We sat there for a while, staring off into space. After a time though, she stood.

"Well, as much fun as sitting here with you is, I should get going…"

I looked up at her.

"Oh?"

She smiled a little, just the left side of her mouth actually curled upwards, and my heart jumped for a moment.

"I need to find a new job."

I blinked.

"I don't think either of us are exactly strapped for cash Mimi."

The quirky little smile came back and she shrugged.

"I know, but I need something to do or I'll go stir-crazy staying in the house all the time."

I nodded again.

"Whatever makes you happy I guess."

"Thanks! Wish me luck!"

I smiled.

"Sure."

One quick, full, grin later, and she was out the door. I, on the other hand, collapsed back onto the couch and continued thinking. I thought about Joe…

Does rejection really hurt that much? Is that what loosing love does to a person? Tai held up well enough, but Sora was still his friend despite it all, and they're together now…

About Mimi…

I wonder what she thinks of me? Is telling her how I feel even right, what with the things that are happening with a Joe, and even the recent attack be Michael? Will she be put off, or will she be open to the idea of 'us'?

And surprisingly, about myself. I asked a lot of questions of myself. Things like, what exactly are my feelings for Mimi?

Is it just physical attraction? Or is it something deeper?

Is there a real reason why she stopped looking for her own place, or at least not with Sora, or am I just fooling my self?

Say I do actually get up the guts to tell her. What do I say? How do I say it? What's tacky and tasteless given the present circumstances?

I sat and thought long and hard. Few answers came, which was disturbing. I was known for having all of the answers in 'impossible' situations. Not having said answers was almost as frightening as the one answer I did have.

I had to tell her. No matter what else happened, that was a given. Honesty was important, and if I didn't I could loose her friendship as well if I got out of hand.

My train of thought was disrupted by the object of my affections walked in, a slight grimace on her face. She looked at me and blinked.

"Um, Izzy…?"

"Yes?"

"Have you moved since I left?"

I looked around slowly.

"How long has it been since you left?"

She groaned.

"Izzy, do you mean to tell me you've been sitting there for over three hours?"

Wow.

"Apparently so. I'm sorry, I should have realized…"

She shook her head.

"No, no, it's alright to worry about your friends, Izzy, it's just…"

Huh?

"What Mimi?"

She looked straight in my eyes.

"I get worried about you sometimes, Izzy. You sometimes seem like you're going to burst, and I don't know what I can do to help you."

She sighed, then continued.

"It just seems like sometimes you have too much to worry about, and now you're trying to take on Joe's problems too, ignoring your own, but now it seems a little hypocritical, because I'm trying to help you…"

Maybe she's noticed a bit more than I had thought…

I looked over to where she was standing, a little out of breath from her outburst, face a trifle flushed. I smiled.

"It's okay Mimi, I promise."

Then I looked at her more carefully.

"Um, well, there is something that would help…"

She smiled encouragingly.

"Yes?"

I coughed a bit.

"There are some things I need to get off my chest. I don't suppose you'd care to listen?"

She smiled, and sat back down on the couch in her earlier position.

"Sure."

I took a deep breath, and began.