Disclaimer-Me? Own Digimon? Why thank you! Well, that was a nice dream. I don't own Digimon.
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Kouji's After Christmas Sale Special
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As soon as Kouichi didn't come home by 9:45 that night, I knew something was wrong. Had I had the chance, I would have gone out and looked for him myself, had it not meant that I would have to be...serious.
Yeah, I'm faking this whole 'stupid Kouji' act. It's all Takuya's fault, but I can remember every single word as if it were yesterday...
---------FLASHBACK---------
"Kouji why are you so worried?" Takuya asked. You could tell he was getting annoyed. Usually, he sleeps during train rides. But as we headed home from visiting Kouichi in the hospital shortly after we had our digital adventure, he was wide-awake, even standing up and glaring at me.
I just sighed. "But Kouichi's...I just don't know. He looks and says he's okay, and they're letting him out tomorrow, but...but I just..."
Takuya twitched. "You're way too worried."
"No I'm not." I was kind of surprised at why he said that. I thought it was my natural attitude.
Whatever it was, he was so determined to change it.
"I bet you couldn't go four years without being serious!" he declared, exasperated.
My weak point: dares. I can't stand not accepting a challenge. So I grinned and asked, "What's in it for me?"
"A hundred dollars. From me."
"That's not much...but I'll do it!" It was then that I realized I didn't want to ruin Kouichi's time out of the hospital just yet. A frown appeared on my face. "A month from tomorrow. That's when it starts."
Takuya nodded. "Remember, then. A month from tomorrow."
-------END FLASHBACK-------
And so I can finally return to normal this summer. It sounds stupid, but that's the situation. SO half the things I do to torment Kouichi, I don't really mean. I want him to smile. I want him to play along.
I'm not stupid. I know he likes Kako. I know the reason he's upset. He's my twin. I know.
And I finally decided to make my 'Master Plan' today. You see, since yesterday night, Kouichi's had a cold. It's his fault for being out in the rain and never drying off. So if I worked on my plan with Takuya and Junpei, he'd never know.
Glancing at the clock, I realized they were both fifteen minutes late. But then again, we could all care less about punctuality. Kouichi says we'll be late to our own birthday parties and funerals, too. Though, I always misinterpret it so that it means we live longer...for the funeral part, anyway.
A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. Being crazy makes me have weird thoughts. Meaning I don't really think anymore, unless it's something like a test. Or, in this case, 'Master Plans.'
"Well there's Tacky and JP," I muttered, opening the door. "Bring any brilliant ideas with you, Mr. K?"
"Ehh...some that need to be revised first, Mr. M," Takuya replied in the same hushed, spy-like voice we developed.
"I still don't get the need for codenames," Junpei grumbled, walking inside after Takuya. He's just too grown up for us now...it's so sad. "Now, where do we start?" Did I mention he's a Kouichi wanna-be?
I just grinned. "At the base of the problem!"
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"So you're saying you're going to request Kako's help?" Takuya asked for clarification for the tenth time, raising an eyebrow after I explained matters to Junpei and him the third time over. Seriously, their brains aren't as brilliant as mine!
Then again, they're the ones who want to get revenge on Kouichi. I just wanna play videogames.
So I'm not as innocent as I look. Okay, I want a bit of revenge.
Happy? Going back to what was happening...
I nodded, still grinning.
Junpei snorted. "She'll blow your head off first, you know."
That just made me smirk. "Oh, but I can be extremely persuasive..."
"I find that hard to believe," the older boy remarked dryly.
Meanie, I thought. But I still continued, ignoring Junpei's comment, "Especially considering Kako's in love with my dearest twin brother..."
The other two were shocked. "WHAT?"
"Yep! So all I have to do is go out with her until the dance on our birthday, our meaning Kouichi and myself, then put her in a room with Kouichi and-"
"How does this ensure our revenge, though?" Junpei growled.
It amazes me how stupid Junpei can be when it comes to these things...and he's smarter in math! "Kouichi is scared of girls. Kouichi and Kako like each other. Make Kouichi jealous, then get him a girlfriend and our revenge is complete," I explained, rolling my eyes at his stupidity.
"Huh?"
I slapped my forehead. I really wonder how I can win those one hundred dollars if this keeps up. "I date Kako, Kouichi gets jealous, get that?" I asked, gritting my teeth in an effort not to strangle Junpei.
He nodded. FINALLY.
"Now, once he blows and turns completely miserable, there's a dance on February fourteenth, our birthday, Valentine's Day."
"Okay..."
"We stick those two in a locked room and go out to a movie to eat popcorn!" I cheered, not so loud as Kouichi was in his room and could possibly hear.
Takuya and Junpei exchanged glances before bursting out into laughter.
"You're taking this dare way too far!" Junpei told me between fits of laughter.
And Takuya agreed. "There's no way you could get Kako to go out with you!"
"Actually," I said smoothly, "I plan to do that today."
Their jaws dropped. "What?" the two chorused.
"Right now. Yes, I'm serious," I muttered, rolling my eyes in annoyance. With them around, it's a constant habit.
"Now? Kako? Gir-what?" Junpei blabbed, unable to believe his ears.
I just grinned, having yet another great plan in mind. "First, let's check up on my dear older brother."
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Kouichi can be pretty weird. Especially when he's sick. He gets grumpier than usual and starts ranting about...well, I never listen long enough to figure what about. Usually, I guess it's me.
So, I suppose I sort of got worried when he didn't rant when I walked into his room. It was a good thing Takuya and Junpei were waiting outside because they're afraid of 'sick Kouichi' as they termed the state he was in, otherwise, I would have lost the bet. I wonder if it's worth it, sometimes.
"Hey, Kouichi! Guess what?" I asked cheerfully.
He just turned away as soon as his eyes met mine. "Go away."
I glared at his curled up form that lay in the bed, blankets lying everywhere, and asked, "Why?"
"Because."
"Yeah...?"
"Because, I said so."
I could tell he was getting pissed off. Maybe I shouldn't have pressed the point further, but usually he doesn't get so mad, and he's usually too weak to do anything.
Guess I wasn't lucky this time.
"And because you said so...?" I asked, a grin back on my face.
Kouichi sat up in his bed, pushing the blankets off of him. He had changed out of his wet clothes in the morning when Mom threatened to do it for him, but his clothes didn't seem any drier than before. He stared at the wall in front of him before getting out of bed and punching my jaw. "That a better reason?" he growled.
Yeah, Kouichi has different forms of violency. Gotta remember that.
I tried laughing it off as I watched Kouichi slump back into bed and lie down on his back to stare at the ceiling endlessly. Obviously, he was lost in thought. After ten seconds, I realized he wasn't paying any attention to me and walked out of the room, closing the door behind me. I really need to learn how to not piss him off.
Rubbing my jaw, I looked at Takuya and Junpei, who looked at me in askance. In reply, I merely said in a grave tone, "He punches really hard." Even when he's hella weak.
Both let out snorts and rolled their eyes.
"Now what, Mr. I-think-I'm-The-Leader?" Takuya snapped. He's just jealous because he can't be the leader this time around. Humph.
"Ka...er..." I looked around hastily before whispering, "Kako's house."
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Uhhh...yeah. Kouichi's semi violent, but in the few months that I've gotten to know Kako...
Let's just say, my kendo skills are the only thing keeping me alive.
"Takuya, why don't you ring the bell?" I suggested slyly, making my way behind my two comrades, if you could call them that. Just kidding, you two. You really are my friends...in one way or another.
Takuya laughed uneasily and joined me as I edged behind the clueless Junpei. "Er, nah, Junpei, you do the honors."
So Junpei rang the bell. Yeah, he was that clueless about Kako's total personality. Both Takuya and I squeezed our eyes shut and turned around, preparing to run off, screaming, if need be.
The door creaked open.
"Uh...who are you and...?" A boy-okay, he wasn't a boy. he was Kako's brother. So what? I consider 25-year-olds as kids! Well, Hideki, anyway.
"Er, you're Hideki, right? Hi! I'm Kouji! Is Kako home?" I asked, laughing and look around to cover up the reason that Takuya and I had been turned around.
Takuya whacked the back of my head and cleared his throat.
It took several minutes before Hideki answered us. "Kako's at Taekwon-Do, but she'll be back in five minutes or so. Anyway, since you're here, mind staying and watching the house while I go out?"
"Uh...we...uh..." Junpei stuttered, looking to me for lack of an answer.
I didn't see how it could hurt. "Sure, why not?"
"YES!" Hideki quickly fumbled with his keys before handing me the house key and running off with no explanation.
Now, what did I tell you? Total kid. I headed to the door and motioned for Takuya and Junpei to follow as I opened the door. As soon as the door closed, we headed immediately for the TV, seeing the PS2 out, but quickly decided against touching it. Junpei nearly reconsidered, and it took a while to calm him down. And so, we sat down on the couch.
And waited.
And waited.
"And waited, and waited, and waited..." At this point, Takuya whacked my head again. Too much Izumi-influence. "Did I mentioned that we waited?" I asked Takuya, cringing as he prepared to whack me again.
It was twenty-five minutes later that Kako came back home. Junpei had left after ten minutes of waiting, claiming he had better things to do with his time. Takuya fell asleep eighteen minutes into waiting, and I stretched and yawned just as Kako opened the door.
"Stupid idiot. I stop by to-WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE! HIDEKI!" she screamed, throwing her backpack at me.
It's a good thing it wasn't filled with books, because it hit me square in the face. A muffled, "Ow" came out of my mouth as I fell back on the couch.
"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!" Kako yelled, snatching an umbrella and aiming it at me.
Before she could throw it, I got up and grabbed the edge of the umbrella. "Hold on, Ms. Feisty! We just wanna talk!"
"Get OUT!"
"Okay, we'll do it the hard way!" I sang happily, tearing the umbrella out of her grasp and tossing it aside. Unfortunately, she slapped me. "Ow," I grumbled, "Takuya! HELP ME OUT, HERE!"
Takuya was asleep until Kako kicked my head. She kicks not only high, but also hard. Must be all that Taekwon-Do training. Gotta remember to ask what belt she is, I thought as I got hit. So as I stumbled over to the couch, I kind of...
Sort of...
Fell on top of Takuya.
Which resulted in more screaming and kicking and...
Let's just skip this part.
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Eventually, we all calmed down and Takuya and I sat on the couch with ice packs practically suffocating us. I assume they have that many ice packs because Kako beats up Hideki a lot. They have a huge house, too. More space. Space is ideal in beating people up. Anyway...that's just an assumption.
"What are you two doing here?" Kako groaned as she walked out of the hallway, changed into her normal clothes. She looked funny wearing all white. It would have been amusing, had she not been too busy whacking us with an umbrella...
I raised an eyebrow as I questioned, "Not even a sorry?"
"NO. Especially not to you, Kouji! Takuya, I'm really sorry about whacking you...Izumi's going to murder me..."
OH, I see the way it works. She apologizes to Takuya, but not me, I thought grumpily as I asked, "So...went to see Kouichi?"
I was honestly kidding. So I was kind of surprise when she started sputtering and turned red.
"NO!" Kako finally snapped, glaring at me. "What gave you the idea?"
Cringing, I brushed off the five ice packs and placed them on Takuya, who didn't feel like talking, then moved into a more comfortable position. "You mean other than the fact that you were beet red and blabbering nonsense second ago?" I coughed slightly, then added, "Oh...nothing."
"Well, so what if I did? It's not like he opened the door or anything!"
Takuya opened his mouth and I elbowed him. The situation was just too perfect. "Yeah, he said he plans to ignore you." I ignored the goggle boy as his jaw dropped. A smirk complimented my comment.
Kako fell silent, looking out the clear balcony doors. I didn't exactly hear what she said, because she was really quiet, but it sounded something along the lines of, "I deserve it." I nearly stopped smirking.
"And so," I announced, "I need your help!"
"Go away," mumbled Kako, staring at her feet glumly.
"This way, we both get what we want." Despite the fact that she wasn't listening, I continued, standing up and walking towards her.
"I mean it, Kouji."
"Kouji, let's go," Takuya suddenly said, standing up and heading towards the door. He obviously knew what I was going to do and didn't really care to be associated in any way with me at the moment.
But I just continued walking towards her. I knew I was scaring her, but this was the only way I could get my plan into action. "You know that you still love him," I whispered so only Kako could hear, "But you're afraid, aren't you?"
"Sh...shut up," she gasped, glaring up at me.
"So you're pushing him away so you won't make any mistakes, right?" I was standing right in front of her.
Takuya let out an impatient sigh, "Kouji, dammit, leave her alone and let's go!"
At that moment, Kako rose to her feet, glaring daggers at me. "So what if I am? This is my business. I'll do what I want!" she hissed venomously, turning around in an effort to walk away.
I grabbed her hand, tightly, too. I didn't want to hurt her, but my plan needed to work. "Where do you think you're going?" I smiled as she turned around to injure me, but cried out in dismay when I caught her other hand. Dang, I can dance now! Haha...er...no, concentrate, Kouji. Fool around later, I thought, almost laughing when I realized what a silly situation I was in.
Kendo's made me awesomer than I look, if I do say so myself.
"KOUJI!" Takuya growled, taking a step forward. "What are you doing?"
Smiling, I pulled Kako closer. I was pretty sure I was getting the maniac message across by now. I leaned towards her ear and whispered, "So, then, you've got a couple of choices. Help me willingly, help me against your will, or don't help me and suffer the consequences."
I could tell Takuya was wincing. If anything went wrong, Kako would tell Izumi, and Izumi would murder Takuya for not stopping me. But I was sure it wouldn't turn out like that.
"Consequences work," Kako snapped, struggling to keep calm and get out of my hold even though she was scared out of her wits. "Not like you have anything on me."
I chuckled darkly. "I beg to differ. See, Ai knew Kouichi's secret...and I know yours..." I leaned back to examine the expression on her face. She was pale, her eyes wider than before, and definitely breathing harder.
"What do you want me to do, then?" she croaked, attempting to yank away.
"Pose as my girlfriend until I state otherwise."
Silence. Then, "Fine."
I don't know why, but for some reason I kissed her. And I have to say, she's a pretty good kisser. I let her go as I pulled away from her lips, smiling victoriously.
Smiling...until she kicked my head again.
"JUST BECAUSE I'M POSING AS YOUR GIRLFRIEND, DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN KISS ME WHENEVER YOU WANT TO! YOU'RE REALLY LUCKY THAT WASN'T MY FIRST KISS!" she yelled angrily, whacking my head a few times more.
After recovering, I asked with a grin, "Who was?" And as she turned red, I said the answer for her. "Kouichi. Knew that."
"Only...it was a complete accident," she murmured thoughtfully, then pushed me towards the door. "Takuya, I won't tell Izumi. And Kouji, one step out of line and I murder you," Kako told us in a grave voice before slamming the door in my face.
Takuya turned to me, a smirk on his face. "Congrats, Kouji. I never knew you had it in you."
All I could do was smirk victoriously and say, "And Junpei wasn't even here to witness my greatest victory."
And I thought I labored endlessly on the computer for no reason.
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A/N-
Semi confusing? You'll understand soon enough. Sorry I didn't post last night. I was at a stupid Marching Band social. And I only had two slices of pizza and three cookies. What a waste of two hours of time.
.:Kouichi:. I've finished checking the chapter and...:deletes chapter:.
...Kouichi's jealous. And annoyed that his brother is plotting against him. It's okay, Kouichi. .:pats his head:. .:Kouichi glares:. Kako'll come back to you some day. Unless you really aren't boyfriend material. Speaking of which, this couple I know broke up, and I'm really sad, because it wasn't the boy's fault. .:sighs:. Review or Flame.