I don't own Digimon Adventure 02.

A/N – ok, been a while, but like I've proven with a certain Dragon Ball Z fic recently, it takes more than a few years between chapters to keep me from continuing a fic.

So here it is, hope y'all enjoy it.

Love Headache

–

"Morning, Iori-kun!"

Miyako cried out happily as she jogged up to her friend, joining Iori just as he was passing the school gates on his way to class.

"Morning, Miyako-san."

"Drop the suffix, Io-Chan, I'm hardly your equal, let alone your superior."

"Says you."

"Says me."

They continued on in silence, throwing "Good Morning"s as they went, saying little but. Eventually she tried to break the silence, but just as she opened her mouth to speak, the reason for said lack of talking passed by them, in all its blonde glory.

"Morning, Miyako… Iori."

"Takeru."

The girl replied, trying to sound neutral. The shorter boy at her side glanced at her once, letting her know it was not her fault before running off. Takeru sighed at that, offering an apologetic smile to the purplette.

"Sorry, it's my fault he…"

"I know."

She replied coolly, giving him a dangerous look.

"What I don't know is why you keep at it like this."

He was about to reply when the girl was caught from behind, lifted into the air, and spun around.

"Dai! Puh- Put me down, or, or so help meeeeEEEeeee!"

"Mi-Ya-Ko-Chwan!"

Came the cheerful voice, dripping gaiety and glee. The girl managed, between spins, to catch a regretful, longing look in deep blue eyes, but by the time she was let go and could see straight again, Takeru was long gone.

"You sure are… cheerful… this morning…"

Daisuke grinned at her, his eyes bright. He was downright glowing! His friend blushed, wondering exactly how far had her best friend gotten with his boyfriend.

"Sorry I didn't answer your phone yesterday, but you could've at least left a message instead of a second of nothing before hanging up."

He said, snapping her out of a disturbing train of thought and into an equally unpleasant reality.

"Eh?"

His cheeks reddened as he continued.

"I was over at Ken's place. It was so much fun! His mom's great! Can also cook like hell!"

A pang in her chest caused an almost physical pain.

"You could've said so… I wouldn't have called you."

"Why? Was it something important?"

She looked away.

"Even if it was, too late for that now, isn't it?"

His eyes widened.

"Oh man, Miya, I'm sorry, I didn't…"

He bit his lip.

"What did you call for?"

She sighed, tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"I just… wanted to hang out with you. Been a while, you know, since we last…"

But just as soon as the mood was changed, it reverted back into the smile and carelessness Daisuke often found mirroring his own on his friend's face.

"No biggie."

"Miyako…"

"Look, forget it. The important thing is that you had a good time with Ken."

She turned to head to class as her eyes fell on Hikari, who was watching them in return. Daisuke blinked as for just a moment he could've sworn Miyako's face went pale, but she dashed to school too quickly for him to do more than blame it on his imagination.

–

–

"So what gives?"

Miyako asked during one of the breaks when Iori was out of the class. Takeru glanced around and, upon spotting Daisuke leave the room, answered.

"Iori and I broke up."

She raised an eyebrow and brought her ear closer to him, indicating she didn't believe what she was hearing.

"You mean… on a break… right?"

He sighed.

"Nope. The real thing. And over the dumbest reasons, too…"

"I wouldn't call you fawning over Daisuke while involved with Iori a dumb reason, Takeru."

He chuckled bitterly.

"I know, I guess I got used to getting away with it… guess Iori's patience with me has finally ran out."

She crossed her arms, looking at the ceiling. He continued staring at his desk.

"I won't say you didn't deserve it… because you did…"

She found no pleasure in watching him wince.

"…but isn't this a bit too much, especially after, like you said, having said nothing at all about this to you? Don't you think this is too extreme?"

Blue eyes looked at her questioningly.

"Had Hikari loved someone else…"

He purposefully looked away, trying not to see the blood rush out of her face.

"…what would you have done?"

The awkward silence this brought on lasted for several seconds which seemed like an eternity before Miyako answered, and even then, he had to strain his ears to hear her.

"She… wouldn't have done… such a thing…"

"Of course not… neither of you would…"

Her hands curled into firsts in her lap.

"You care too much. You're both too good to do such a thing… to love…"

Slamming her fists against her desk, she stood up, catching unwanted attention from random classmates as well as Takeru's.

"You don't know anything… about me… us! Don't act like you do! We're too different, our relationships are too different…"

"Are you talking about us… or…"

"Why aren't you fighting for it?"

He honestly wondered if she even heard him.

"Iori… he loves you so much… how can you give up on him so easily!"

By the time Takeru gave up on trying to realize whether she was talking to him, to Iori, or to herself, the girl ran out of the room, in tears. As murmurs broke out around him, he continued sitting, fists clenched, gaze lowered.

"Fight for it, huh?"

And as for the first time in years he felt tears sting his eyes, he wondered if there was anything left to fight for… and if there ever really was.

–

–

He found her sitting under a tree in the school's yard, blankly staring as the rest of their peers made their way home. He bit his lip as he took another step towards her, contemplating more than just his words; he didn't want to disturb her…

"You came all this way just to stand there?"

She asked suddenly, catching him by surprise. He gasped, wondering how she knew. He was quite a bit away from her, and her gaze was still averted from him.

Nonetheless, she knew. Somehow, she always did.

"Come sit down, it's nice over here. At least it's better than standing."

Swallowing a lump in his throat, he nodded, obliging. He took his time setting down, looking her over carefully. It amazed him how every time he looked at her, that familiar face held such foreign expressions and attributes. It was enough to make him hardly recognize her.

It had been a long time since Hida Iori had first met Inoue Miyako. True, all five members of their little gang met at about the same time, but as far as he was concerned, with her… and Takeru, a part of him bitterly added… it was different. They always spent time with each other, having surprisingly little in common yet more than enough to share because of it, and an interest in learning more about the other.

It certainly helped quite a bit that she was willing to speak for his silences.

They always felt comfortable in the other's presence, always knowing who they were and what they meant to each other. She adopted him as the younger sibling she never had; he took her at the time as a mother of sort, teaching him all she could about life and herself. In time, he drifted away towards Takeru, but even that was with her encouragement and support. She on her part had Hikari and clicked instantly with Daisuke. Despite it all, however, they were always there, through Daisuke's one sided crushes which made him forget about the world, and all Miyako had been through with Hikari, and all Iori had been through with Takeru. They never forgot each other, and while she didn't see him as such in return, as least officially, Iori had deemed Miyako, by right and by worth, his best friend.

He always did his best to return the favor.

So why now, after all those years… he couldn't even look at her?

"He's really turn up over you, you know."

Miyako said, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them. Iori looked at her uncertainly.

"Takeru?"

She nodded.

"You really shook him up good there."

"He's just not used to being turned down."

"You'd think he would be, after all those years around Daisuke and all."

He knew better than to think she was trying to bait him into discussing his own situation by angering him.

She was trying to either force the issue, or force him to leave.

He wouldn't let her.

"I… need to talk to you."

She looked at him with enough curiosity to make him look away.

"About… about Hikari… and Daisuke."

At the sound of the first name her eyes widened with evident shock. At the sound of the second, she glared at him for a moment before looking away, hugging her knees closer and burying her face in her hands.

"I have nothing to say to you."

"Then I will at least have you listen to me for a bit."

He said, looking ahead. She curled deeper into herself. Taking a deep breath, he began –

"Yesterday, I got a call around noon. A bit before lunch. The number was unidentified, and it took several seconds before the person on the other end of the line spoke."

As though not paying attention, Miyako stretched out her legs before her, leaning backwards on her arms as she looked at the sky.

"All I could make out were sobs and hiccups. I thought I heard my name but then loud bangs were heard, as though someone in a phone booth was slamming at the walls. It was… disturbing."

He let that hang for what felt like forever before looking at her. Miyako turned to look at him boredly, frowning slightly.

"What exactly are you getting at?"

Iori sighed, shaking his head.

"If you already called, and were that distressed, you could've at least talked to me."

"What makes you think it was me?"

"The fact that I could clearly make out Hikari and Daisuke's names."

She looked away, only giving him more to go on.

"What did you and Hikari fight over now, Miyako-san?"

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He recognized the hostile glare she was directing at him. He was right and they both knew it.

"What makes you think…"

"It's the only thing you react to like that… the only person…"

"You sure know a lot about me, don't you?"

She asked casually yet with a cynical touch to the question, her face turned upwards and her hair like a violet curtain around her shoulders.

"So sure you have me all figured out, so sure you know everything to know about me..."

"I never said that…"

"Good because you damn straight don't!"

She half yelled, turning to look at him angrily. Unfazed, he tried to reason with her.

"Miyako-san, you were the one who called me…"

"Yeah well I didn't so much as say anything to you, did I? It's only because he wouldn't…"

She froze and bit her lip, looking away. Curious, he tried pushing on.

"He? Daisuke? What wouldn't Daisuke do?"

"I don't want to talk about it…"

She said as she got up, her back turned to him.

"Miya…"

"I said I don't wanna talk about it!"

She screamed to his face, her cheeks flushed and her eyes watery.

"What about? About the fact that you always end up in tears because of Hikari, or the fact you constantly refuse to do anything about it!"

He yelled back as he stood up, saying what he always wanted to when the subject arose. He realized he's been doing that a lot lately.

"So what am I suppose to do? Break up with her!"

"That's an option, yes!"

He threw back at her, cursing whatever as she shook her head, muttering impossibilities. He knew it was a dead end now. With a sigh, he began walking away, but then as though remembering something, stopped and turned back to her. His voice was calm and collected when he spoke next, as though for extra effect.

"Did you at least talk to Daisuke about this?"

She fell silent.

"You always cry, but he never knows about any of this. If he really is your best friend, Miyako-san, he has the right to know. And if he's half the friend we both know he is, he'll want to know and to help you. Don't shut him off just because 'his happiness comes first'. If you'd ask him, it'd be the other way around and you know it."

Seeing that nothing more he'd say would have any effect, and in actuality having nothing more to say, he turned away and began making his way through the school gates and onwards towards home.

The girl remained behind, watching blankly as he disappeared from sight, feeling her insides turning colder and number with each step he made.

"Talk to Daisuke, Iori? Talk to him… and tell him what? That I miss him? That I can hardly remember what he looks like anymore because I hardly see him even at school what with me being out of the soccer team? Tell him…"

Her fists clenched and she shook, biting her lips as tears began falling down her cheeks. She did nothing to stop them as she turned to look at the sky, silently asking 'why'.

"Tell him Hikari's happy he's with Ken because that way he's completely ignoring me!"

And as she fell down to her knees and wept, Takeru could only stand still in disbelief from his hiding spot behind that very same tree under which she cried.

–To Be Continued–