Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Digimon seasons or any of its characters. The plotline is based off a Manga titled "Penguin Brothers", which has not been licensed in America. I don't own that either.

Shades of Gray: Chapter 8

"She's awake!"

"No… I think she's just mumbling again."

Another voice whispered, "Maybe we should leave?"

"But I want to hear what else she'll say!"

Sora lifted an arm out and smacked someone in the face. "OW!"

"Oh, sorry," the redhead mumbled. "I almost didn't mean to hit you."

"Sora seems to be normal," Mimi rubbed her cheek. "How many fingers am I holding?"

"I'm fine, Mimi," Sora rolled her eyes. "Where am I?"

"My house, since it was nearby," a meek voice replied. "My name's Juri… I'm sorry for Alice's behavior."

"I really don't see why you're apologizing," the girl said sternly. "Alice didn't seem to treat you with respect either."

"But she's always been like that, Sora. Don't you remember in elementary school?"

"Juri, this is the first time I've ever lived in Odaiba, are you sure you got the right Sora?"

Juri felt her heart stung with she heard that statement. "You don't… remember me?"

Sadly, Sora shook her head. "I don't… think so, sorry. To be honest, a few people have asked me, I guess you guys were thinking of someone else."

"What other girl named Sora would have naturally red hair like yours?" Juri cried and ran out of the room.

Sora's cinnamon eyes looked to the ground. "Mimi, why can't I remember?"

"I… don't know," she stammered. "I can't help you with that question."

I need to find the people who want my memory back.

"Koushiro," Sora observed the handwriting on the billboard. "Who's handwriting is this?"

"Uh…" the boy sweatdropped. "Do you really expect me to recognize that?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, I would assume that by the signature on the bottom of the page, Takaishi Takeru wrote it."

Her eye twitched. "Oh… I see. And where would I find him?"

"Perhaps in the gym, because this is a basketball list."

"Right!" she laughed nervously. "Good to see you're on your game!"

"I'm worried to see that you're not…"

This handwriting… Looks like the one from my locker she sweatdropped, wishing she hadn't given Yamato the note a few days ago. I'll go get it first before I jump into anything.

Jyou nearly dropped all the files in his hands when Sora barged in through the doors. In front of her was her target: Ishida Yamato.

"I… need a word with you!" She pointed at the boy, who looked confused. She strolled on over, waving to Jyou before slamming her hands on her desk. "I need my note back."

Jyou slipped out of the room during the brief silence.

Yamato rested his cheek against his palm. "What note?"

Sora nearly lost her balance. "What note? The one I handed you the other day when I ran into you!"

"Oh, I think I threw it away."

"What gave you the idea to do that?" she cried. "I needed that note!"

"Sorry," he said emotionlessly. "You didn't exactly tell me to save it."

She caught a glimpse of something off-color in his hand. Immediately she grabbed his wrist and pulled it down.

"Hey!" he twitched. "Let go!"

A band-aid was placed neatly on his skin. "You were the one who saved me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he snapped and pulled his wrist back.

"Thank you…" she smiled and left the room.

Yamato leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Why do you keep appearing before me? Could it be that you're saving me again…?"

"There's someone I found who might be valuable in converting Grays," Koushiro typed on his keyboard. "This student right here," he pulled up an image and a profile of him.

"Takaishi… Takeru?" she tilted her head. "I thought we converted all the basketball players!"

"Yes, but he hasn't converted from being a White. A lot of people respect him for his skills, and I think he has a female fan club which I'm sure will change if he does. Besides, weren't you asking about him earlier?"

She nodded, and then left for the gym.

"Hey, it's the Gray that's been causing us trouble!" a few students snickered. "It's safer to stay White than Gray. Maybe we should teach her a lesson?"

"You were the ones who agreed that it shouldn't matter what color uniform you were!" Sora argued. She stepped back from the mob and bumped into someone. Crap.

"Now now, you know better than to gang on a girl like that," a young voice said. "Real men would challenge her."

"Takeru!" the boys stuttered. "She was the one who started all this trouble!"

Takeru? "OH!" Sora twirled around. "You're the one I needed to talk to!"

He sweatdropped, "Well, okay… here, let's talk somewhere else."

"Did you um, wrote me a note?"

"I don't recall," he said carelessly. "I'm sure I've written a lot of notes."

"I would show you what it looked like, but Yamato was an idiot and threw it away…"

"That's unfortunate," the boy scratched his head. "Sorry I can't help you."

She sighed, "It's fine… Hey, why are you being so nice?"

"You… really don't remember, huh?" He leaned against a wall. "I guess if you still don't remember, you really messed up your head."

The girl scowled. "That's not very nice… Anyway, so you did write me the note."

"You could say that," he placed his hands behind his head.

"What are you trying to pull? You could answer the question more straight-forward, you know!"

"You used to watch over me," he said sadly. "You used to watch over all of us."

"Huh?" Sora was taken aback by his sudden change in tone. "Are you sure you have the right Sora?"

"I know I have the right Sora… no one could forget a girl like you," he said affirmatively. "Are you sure… nothing happened to you? Nothing to make you have amnesia or something?"

The girl thought hard. "I did hit my head once," she pointed to the left side of her head. "Right here… a long time ago I fell off a tree…"

The boy nearly fell out of his chair. "Oh, okay… I don't really think you can lose much memory that way…"

"It was a really tall tree."

"You probably almost died, huh?"

"Probably…"

"… I was… being sarcastic."

"I know," Sora smirked. "Well, if you really want me to remember so much… how about we make a deal?"

"Is it really morally right to make a deal with this type of situation?" Takeru sweatdropped.

"I'll try my best to get my memories back, and you convert to a Gray. Not bad, right?"

"I refuse," the blonde boy replied. "It's not really a win-win situation… because I don't know if you'll ever remember anything. Get back to me when you remember who all your friends are…" he opened the door, motioning her to leave. "I'm sorry."

She nodded, accepting his refusal. "You're pretty smart, hm? Well, see you later, then!"

She ran off to the roof of the school, trying to recall anything from her past years. Nothing past 2nd grade would return. But isn't it normal to not remember anything when someone's so young?

"You!"

Sora nearly lost her balance. "Huh?"

"Stay away from Yamato!" the girl screamed. "Why are you so important to him?"

"Jun?" the Gray felt her heart twist as she saw her adversary fall to her knees. "Jun… what're you talking about?"

"I've sent out possibly the best people… First I prompted Ichijouji to do it… then I sent Zack, and then his girlfriend Alice; your rival from elementary school. What went wrong? Why does Yamato always save you?" she cried. "Why are you taking him away from me?"

Sora kneeled down next to the cheerleader. "The thing about Yamato and me… are you taking it seriously? There's nothing between him and me! Is that why… you send me the note?"

"Shut up, you annoying brat…"

The Gray looked out the gates surrounding the roof. "I'm sorry if I caused trouble for you, because I didn't mean it. I'm not trying to stop anything between you and Yamato. I was friends with him when I was little…" Even though I don't remember it.

Jun took a few deep breaths. "Yamato protected me when I was in 6th grade, you know. I was a victim to a group of girls who bullied me. Because a guy confessed his love for me, the girls hated me, and envied me for my beauty."

Has she lost herself again? she sweatdropped.

"Whenever the girls would hit me, Yamato came up and attacked them with a broom, chasing them until they were out of my sight. He was my knight in shining armor." Jun's eyes glittered with stars. "Eventually, I started following him around. During Valentine's Day and his birthday, I gave him chocolates. However, every one he got from a girl he'd thrown away, so I told him to do it at home and not in front of me..."

Why is she telling me this?

"When we entered high school, we started talking normally, but he was still cold to me. I wanted him to open up to me. But you see, Takenouchi, not even you can do it."

"Jun, I'm sure you can accomplish this…" she gave her a reassuring, or so she thought, thumbs-up. "I have… a goal to accomplish too."

/ Get back to me when you remember who all your friends are… /

"Yours isn't impossible, like mine is…" Sora added. "So I believe in you!"

"Don't give me crap like that," Jun glared. "You don't know what you're talking about. GET LOST!"

"I'm sorry!" she stammered, wincing as Jun shut the door.

Jun passed someone as she ran down the stairs.

"I did eat all the chocolates," the boy said coolly. "I didn't throw them away."

Tears began to stream down Jun's face as she came to a stop. "You liar… you didn't eat them…!"

"But you know… I can never look at you that way," Yamato said coldly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Sorry." The sound of his footsteps faded away.

Jun stood in the empty hallway, trying to wipe away the tears that kept strolling down her face. "It would have been better… if you had just been cold to me all the way…"

"Jun seems to be going through a lot," Jyou told Sora. "She seems so distracted."

"Takenouchi!"

"Eh? Jun…"

"Sorry about my temper the other day," the redhead mumbled.

"It's fine," Sora smiled.

How can she accepted an apology to a girl who told her to get lost? Jyou twitched.

The Gray's eyes widened. "Motomiya… no uniform?"

"I hope… we'll get along."

"Yay!" Sora leaped in the air and hugged Jun. "I'm going to tell everyone right now!" True to her word, the girl ran off with a puff of smoke trailing behind her.

"So what made you change your mind?" Jyou inquired.

"It wasn't because Koushiro threatened me when I sent those people after her… I chose myself. Is the school really safe with a simple-minded girl like her leading the Grays?"

Jyou chuckled, "Isn't that her strong point?"

"… I guess."

Taichi looked down through the 2nd floor window, eyeing Jun who was no longer in her white uniform. "They got the Queen of the Whites… that's something." He smirked, pressing away from the window. But not enough, Takenouchi-chan…

To Be Continued…