Disclaimer-I don't own Digimon.
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Part 3: Flowering
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Too many colors, Kouji thought, gazing sadly at the vibrant hues of yellow and orange. In the other side of the shop, there were dozens upon dozens of red roses. I can't decide...
"Hi, need help?" he heard the clerk ask, walking up to him.
NO! Furiously, he shook his head.
She continued relentlessly, "Is it a girlfriend-no, Mother's Day, am I right?" She didn't even bother to wait for his response. "That's right, you bought those roses twice today. So what is it now? More roses?"
"I can help myself thanks," Kouji said. He sounded rude and he knew it, but at the moment it didn't matter. He sent a final glance through all the flowers. "I..." How much money do I have with me? He pulled out his wallet and discovered just enough money for his plan. Biting his lip, he mumbled, "I'll take..." Breath hitched in his throat, he squeezed his eyes shut and told the girl what he wanted.
He was going to have a lot to carry.
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He was late.
Either way, he was late.
There's no way I can get there in time like this, Kouji told himself, scowling at the flowers in his hands. He had bought a dozen roses, and six of the special Mother's Day assortments the shop had.
The sky was turning a dark blue now, and the streetlights were turning on. Slowly, the crowd on the sidewalks thinned out, and cars became less frequent. Kouji gave up two blocks from the store and would have hung his head in shame, had it not meant eating flower petals.
Eventually, the people just stopped passing him. Passers-by were rare, and Kouji was still unsure of what to do. If only Takuya were here, I could dump this onto him and not have to worry, the boy thought with an inward groan. Come on, what would Junpei suggest...? He bit his lip at that thought, imagining the boy telling him to stuff the flowers up his sleeve. Don't think my jacket can take that. What about Tomoki? Izumi? He imagined skipping around and handing passers-by flowers. Scratch that. Kouichi? Oh, wait...I know this. 'Who cares? Come no matter what it takes!'
"Yeah, well I can't!" Kouji yelled, kicking the metal pole of the stop sign. He let out a loud curse and began hopping on one foot.
In the distance, he heard someone-an old man's voice-yell, "Shut up!" and it didn't take much to guesshe were talking to Kouji.
Angrily he replied, "If you don't like it, move!" He didn't have time for this. It wasn't the Digital World, where time didn't matter unless you were trying to beat up idiots like Cherubimon or Lucemon. And when you came back, time in the real world wouldn't have passed.
Lobomon would be disgusted with my lack of brain, Kouji realized, shaking his head and placing his injured foot on solid ground. He nearly fell over. Wait-LOBOMON! Nearly cackling with glee, he moved a hand to get his D-Tector out of his pocket, but the bouquets shifted in his hands. Kouji froze.
"NO," Kouji groaned loudly, and ignored the heated swearing of the man at the window.
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Kouichi swallowed nervously and cast a desperate glance at Yutaka. "Time?"
"Eight o' two," came the answer.
With a groan, Kouichi allowed his head to fall on the wooden bench table with a dull thud. Everyone fell silent at this motion out of sympathy, save Izumi. "What happened to 'He's my brother,' and 'Trust him, Izumi,' and-" Her voice grew more shrill with each passing accusation.
This continued for several more seconds until Takuya cringed and interrupted loudly, "Izumi, you can't blame us for a sudden change in his character. This wasn't our choice." He lowered his voice. "Besides, I'm sure Kouji will pull through," he added. This came hastily, and his eyes shifted to gain support from Tomoki, Yutaka, and Junpei, all three deciding it was time to gaze at the darkened sky.
Izumi stood stubborn, hands moving from her hips to fold reasonably in front of her chest. Her voice rang out as she stated in cold and unforgiving voice, "He won't come."
"He will...he has to," Kouichi said softly, picking up his head and staring at the table top in front of him. His voice faltered when he continued, "He promised me, and he can't break our promise. Not Kouji, he wouldn't-"
The doubt began to sink into everyone's heads.
"He won't come," Takuya repeated bitterly.
"He won't come," agreed Kouichi, voice soft. It came out as a sigh.
Izumi did her best to ignore the pang of guilt that ran through her, but it was too much to ignore. "Please," she cried angrily, "you aren't supposed to give up so easily!"
All the boys looked up at her with dull eyes. Yutaka sat down beside his brother and began to drum his fingers on the table.
The girl did her best to control her temper, but with the drumming and Takuya's occasional mutterings, she felt control slip through her fingers. "Come on. Think rationally," she told them.
"We are! Who are we kidding? He's Kouji. Since when has he cared? We're being perfectly rational," Junpei insisted.
"SEE!" Izumi pointed towards the boy. "You aren't. If I'm the voice of doubt, are you going to let me win so easily?" No one said anything but stared morosely at the ground. "Oh, come on. You guys are just-"
"Hey!" someone yelled out in the distance. Heads turned.
Kouichi allowed his head to fall on the table again. "Hah. See? I'm so caught up in my thoughts that I'm imagining that Kouji's right over there...walking towards us with a bunch of bouquets in his hand," he muttered in annoyance.
A growl sounded. "If no one is going to help me, I'm going to drop everything here and now!" shouted the boy.
"It's Kouji!" Takuya cried out gleefully, jumping out of his seat. As he pulled out his right leg, however, his ankle got caught and he was sent sprawling forward, luckily landing in a grassy area. Not the least bit deterred, he rose to his feet and ran to meet up with the bandana boy.
Kouichi sighed and shook his head as he looked up to gaze in front of him, still not thinking to look back. "Takuya's lost it. Kouji's not going to be here."
Izumi bit her lip to keep a hold of her patience, which she was quickly losing. Junpei and Tomoki giggled and snickered, unsure of whether they should tell Kouichi or not. Before they could debate the matter properly, they heard Takuya say something, and a very loud smacking sound follow the comment. The yell was overpowered by the hit.
Finally, Kouichi turned around, eyes wide in disbelief. "Oh...my..."
"Takuya!" Izumi blurted, running up to check if the goggle boy was okay.
As Kouichi rose to his feet, he caught sight of Shinya charging towards his fallen brother, letting out a fierce battle cry and stopping when he realized Takuya had already fallen. His shoulders drooped in disappointment.
Letting out a relieved sigh, Kouichi walked up to his brother and glared accusingly. "You," he snapped. "You had us worried for a second!"
"For an hour," Yutaka corrected, taping his watch. Tomoki just beamed proudly, getting across the message, 'This is my brother. He's actually very smart, despite the fact that he may look incredibly dumb.'
"Not to mention several minutes," Junpei added for a good measure.
Kouji just rolled his eyes. "Hey, Shinya, kick up your brother, would you?" he asked the little boy.
"Okay!" Shinya walked up to Izumi, who was kneeling by his brother. "Izumi, can you move? I need to kick Takuya," he said earnestly.
Finding the entire situation absolutely hilarious, Izumi nodded, and managed to hold her laughter back through pursed lips. Not wanting to get kicked, especially by his brother, Takuya scrambled to his feet. "But it honestly looks like it!" he insisted to Kouji.
Kouji's eyes narrowed dangerously and Takuya blanched. The bandana boy shoved the flowers forward. "Someone else take them," he said in a weary voice. "I've got to go-"
"No!" Kouichi shouted, grabbing his brother's left arm while Takuya took the flowers, handing one bouquet to Izumi, another to Shinya, and the rest to Yutaka and Junpei to split. "Uh...that is...why don't you stay for a few minutes?" he suggested, leading his brother to the picnic tables. "I'm sure mom would love to talk to you." He added this out of haste and so as to not sound too suspicious.
Eyes wide, Kouji shook his head. "No, really," he insisted, "I think I'm-"
"Come," said Kouichi through gritted teeth. He was no longer dragging Kouji by the arm, but instead clenching his hands by his side, occasionally unclenching them to wipe the sweat off. What was more was that he had no need to, as everyone else had Kouji surrounded by all sides.
Suddenly, Yutaka muttered in confusion, "Why am I joining in?"
Shinya's enthusiasm made up for his. "Yeah!" the boy exclaimed. "Let's go! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" He began jumping up and down in front of Kouji, brandishing the bouquet until Izumi confiscated it with a gentle reprimand because the petals were falling.
"We need them," she reminded the boy with a wink, and Shinya grinned in understanding and began bouncing up and down again.
"...fine..." Kouji gave in to the inevitable, because with them it really was inevitable. He was lead to the picnic tables and told to wait there while everyone else spread out, talking to their parents or each other, but just having a good time.
He watched his brother with great jealously as Kouichi walked over to their mother and handed her his baseball cap for safekeeping. It just didn't seem fair. Kouichi was always with her, and he was full of surprises and presents...
Kouji could do nothing. He felt useless. Not one single gift had ever left his hands, nothing other than flowers. What were flowers to him but the easy way out?
He folded his arms on the table and rested his chin there. I'll never face her, he realized. A panicked dismay overwhelmed him. I can't talk to my own mother! This is her special day and I can't give her anything...
"Kouji...?"
"Not now, Dad," the boy groaned, shutting his eyes. This just isn't fair. I have to be able to do something.
"So who made the burgers? They're pretty good."
"Tomoki," the boy mumbled absentmindedly.
An appraising 'ah' escaped Mr. Minamoto. "I see," he said.
"Whatever..." Kouji sank back into his sulking state with a sigh. But I can't do anything...I mean, I can't even fish! Even Dad would-
Kouji's eyes widened. Turning stiff, he looked over his shoulder. Dad.
Kousei smiled thinly and looked fondly at the burger in his hand. "Did you try this?" he asked.
A loud groan escaped him. "Takuya...!" he yelled, understanding the reason the goggle boy had asked for his home phone number of all things.
"Izumi did it!" came the indignant shriek. Izumi just hid a smile and pointed at her father, who was scrutinizing the choices of foods on one of the picnic tables they had reserved.
"What happened to that other party?" Kouji asked seethingly, heating up as he realized with each passing second that he had been tricked.
"This is the other party," Kousei informed his son with a grin. "Oh, come on, Kouji!" He clapped the boy on the back soundly. "Enjoy the party! Live!" he exclaimed.
Hurt and embarrassed, Kouji sent a death glare in his brother's direction. It was one thing to know that he had been outwitted and tricked. It was another thing that this entire scheme had been orchestrated by none other than his brother and his friends.
Some friends, he thought bitterly. They aren't even telling me what's going on.
As if reading his mind in a way, Kousei took a seat beside the boy and murmured, "So why didn't you tell us?"
"Why did you lie to me?" Kouji returned.
"You didn't lie. I didn't lie. We're even, if you ask me."
Kouji's voice rose to dangerous volumes until it cracked. "You lied to me! You said your friend-"
Shaking his head, the boy's father said, "He is my friend. We go back to college, actually. Haven't talked in years. Now about all those outings you had in the past month. You said it was a friend." He waited for an answer.
It took the first few seconds to understand what his father was talking about. "Kouichi is my friend!" he blurted defensively.
"I never said he wasn't."
"And why should I tell you? You're the one who said...who...who said..." Realizing all eyes were on him, Kouji lowered his head and gave up on words. It didn't seem fair to him. No one understood what he was feeling. No one understood his views on the matter.
Then again, he didn't understand theirs.
"Why...don't you care?" he asked in a quiet voice.
His father had been busy eating the burger as was in the middle of chewing. "One second," he said through a mouthful, holding up a finger for Kouji to wait.
Kouji's eyes narrowed. Disgusting. Is he really my father?
"I care," Kousei said, once he had swallowed. "I would have told you when you were old enough. It's bad enough that we divorced, but twins make it double trouble, you know. Do we have any more of those burgers? They're really-"
A growl. "On track, please?" He's not my father, is he? An alien, perhaps.
Smiling at the sight of his son, Kousei exclaimed, "I do care! You're just over thinking things, Kouji. You need to get out more." He left Kouji like that, and went to talk to everyone else.
It was then that he realized what he had to do.
His eyes scanned the park, squinting to better see the darkened areas. He finally located who he was looking for. "Takuya!" Kouji shouted, waving his hand in the air. "Get over here!"
"We're busy!" the goggle boy returned. He was running away from the picnic tables, with the gang, Shinya, and Yutaka at his tail. "You get over here!"
Kouji bit his lip and took a last look at all the adults around the picnic area. Satomi and his mother were conversing, easy smiles on their faces.
Was he really thinking to hard? His father's words came back to him. 'You're just over thinking things, Kouji,' he had said. 'You need to get out more.'
Without thinking twice, Kouji got up and ran after Takuya, still unsure of what was going on.
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"Operation Kazemon?"
"Failed."
"Operation BurningGreymon?"
"Failed."
"Why the ridiculous names?" Yutaka inquired.
Takuya ignored Yutaka. "Operation dress Shinya up as a sugarplum fairy?" he asked, out of any other ideas.
"Fail-hey!" Shinya scowled.
Junpei stared distastefully at Yutaka. "Tomoki, shouldn't your brother not be here...?" he said cautiously.
Angrily, Yutaka snapped, "What?" He clenched his fists indignantly by his sides and stood up at his full height.
"Ignore him, Junpei. Concentrate!" scolded Tomoki, pointing to where the group had huddled.
Tapping his chin thoughtfully, Kouichi suggested, "We could always put them in MetalKabuterimon and shoot them out."
"I can't scatter," returned Junpei. "It won't look pretty."
The boys turned to Izumi. Reddening, she retorted, "Maybe if someone told me ahead of time, I could have practiced!" Her glare was directed more towards Takuya than anyone else.
Shinya doodled in the sand. "I like fireworks," he mumbled absentmindedly. "They're loud..."
"Like you!" yelled Takuya, aiming to tackle his brother down.
The arrival of Kouji put a stop to this. "Hey!" he snapped, kicking Takuya's side. "Don't pick on your brother. What's going on, anyway?" His gaze fell upon everyone, save Kouichi, and he knew very well the older of the twins realized this.
He was ignored, however.
"We want fireworks," Kouichi said slowly.
Izumi sent the boy a startled glance. "Fireworks?"
Eyes filled with excitement, Kouichi turned to his brother. "Of course! MagnaGarurumon!" he whispered in delight.
Everyone gawked at him. "You're going to blow up our parents?" Takuya asked incredulously, the pain in his side forgotten.
"No!" Kouichi sent Takuya a disturbed look and shook his head. "Listen, if we replaced the explosives in Magnagarurumon with flowers and launched them, it would be like fireworks! At least...I don't know..."
Junpei bit his lower lip and sent Tomoki a look. "I think we might..." Tomoki looked up and nodded thoughtfully. "We'll think about it. In the meantime, we'll require Kouji's utmost cooperation..." They sent him an impish grin.
"What...?"
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"You're lying!" Yutaka shouted, gazing up at MagnaGarurumon. "That's not a machine."
Of course I'm not a machine, the digimon wanted to shout, but kept silent as all the artillery was removed.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Kouichi tried again. "Of course it's not a machine. It's...a digital thing," he explained with great awkwardness. He looked over his shoulder. "Are we done yet?" Trying to explain to Yutaka was putting a great toll on his sanity, something he valued above all other things.
"Let me try," Izumi suggested, placing a reassuring hand on Kouichi's shoulder. Keeping an eye on Shinya and Takuya, who had been misbehaving and deserved a 'time out,' she told Yutaka, "You see, it's like a barcode. We have a fractal code, though, and the D-Tector...uh...scans through that and...reads the information. Then it...the D-Tector, that is, sees if it's allowed to give out the code of the digimon for that person. Understand?" She looked at him now, eyes full of confidence.
"WHAT?" Yutaka bellowed.
"Are we done yet?" Izumi cried frantically.
A short laugh escaped Tomoki. "Well, we could use a Datamon," he joked.
"Some extra hands wouldn't hurt," Junpei added.
Seeing his brother standing there dumbfounded while everyone else rushed forward, Tomoki yelled, "Yutaka, you too!"
"I still don't get it," Yutaka whined.
"HURRY UP," snapped the impatient MagnaGarurumon. "If I shed my artillery, I usually do so after I use it. This just makes me feel..."
"Don't say it," Izumi advised, "unless you want to die."
Wisely, he kept shut.
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Yutaka looked at his watch for the twelfth time that evening. "It's past nine," he told them. "I wouldn't be surprised if they left us here to sleep." He tried to hold back a yawn, but it came out.
"Then help us," scowled Takuya, serious for the first time in minutes. The truth was that he was tired of unscrewing and screwing together the artillery. "One more, and I'm going to-"
"Done!" Tomoki announced, motioning to MagnaGarurumon. "Hopefully this won't go in flames," he added.
It took several more minutes to decide what to do with the artillery. The problem was that Junpei wasn't sure of the safety of putting the artillery back on MagnaGarurumon. "This isn't the Digital World," he reminded them. "If the plan does go up in flames, MagnaGarurumon might not be safe, so who's got some string? We'll make fuses and light then, and if something goes wrong, Kumamon can freeze the fire. Right, Tomoki?"
"Right!" chirped the younger of the two, nodding in agreement.
Junpei nodded, then stopped. "Uh...string...?" he asked again.
Shinya offered a wad of thin and stringy purple embroidery floss. "Will this work?" he asked. When he received no answer, he pulled another wad of string from his other pocket. "Mom's got lots," he told everyone with a grin.
Swallowing, Junpei nodded. "That...should work." He averted his gaze to Takuya. "Agunimon-" he started.
Pulling out his D-Tector, Takuya just grinned. "I've got it covered."
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Deciding Yutaka could take his place in the work, Kouji sat back and relaxed during the minutes it took for them to set up the string. It was all very roughly planned, but it was decided that Takuya would be setting the 'flower fireworks' off.
Kouji felt cheated out of his job. It wasn't fair, he reasoned, that Takuya got the credits for launching them. He wanted his own time to shine. He wanted to do something, not help do something. There was a big difference between the two that he couldn't help but see.
I'm more than just a frequent visitor of the florist shop, Kouji told himself. I can give something more, can't I? He bit his lip and gazed down at his open hands. I want to do something more.
"We're done!" Takuya shouted. "Get going, losers!"
They all made their way back to the picnic tables without Takuya. Kouji lagged behind the rest, trying to think of something. He was tired of the typical Mother's Days, tired of hiding, tired of lying. He wanted to start on a clean slate again. He wanted his family to be rather than not be.
"That's..." Kouji bit his lip and tried not to groan out loud. Of course, he thought, giving himself a mental smack on the head. Picking up his pace, he was now walking alongside Kouichi. A barely audible, "Thank you," left his lips before he continued to speed up and was the first to reach the picnic tables.
I want my youth back.
Biting his lip, he winced as a loud crackle erupted and smoky clouds covered the sky. A rain of flower petals came fluttering down towards the ground. Encouraged, Kouji pushed his way through the small crowd gathering towards the side of the picnic area that faced the field until he reached his parents.
I want to be selfish.
He stopped between Satomi and his mother. Nervously, he bit his lip, wondering what to do next. Kouji stood there, watching the petals fall one by one. The vibrant, bright, lively colors were only illuminated by the darkly orange background. Absentmindedly, he backed between them, and stood there, watching. One hand slipped into Satomi's, and the other grabbed a hold of his mother's arm.
I want...
Tomoko Kimura looked at her son in amazement before looking up questioningly at Kousei, who stood behind Satomi. When he smiled, she relaxed slightly before placing her hand on Kouji's shoulder and looking at Kouichi as he came over. "It's nice, isn't it?" she whispered to no one in particular.
...my family...
"You kids know how to put on a show," Kousei agreed with a chuckle.
"It's beautiful..." Satomi squeezed Kouji's hand in hers and smiled softly at the sight before her.
Kouichi nodded and murmured, "It's thanks to Kouji."
"I..." Kouji started, but trailed off.
...together.
He thought it would take years before he could feel this complete, but time mattered little now. It began to make sense to him from then.
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So being alone does tend to get you caught up in your thoughts. It's a hard habit to break, I'll give you that. No one explained to me what the plan was, and I didn't ask. I just thought long and hard, standing there.
Pretty is a word I usually don't like to use. It's impossible not to use it though...maybe beautiful? It was a beautiful night. Props to Kouichi and Takuya for that. And everyone else. And...
I realized that I had been wrong. I began to see spending time with Mom as family time, not neglecting Satomi. I began to see my father for the crazy driver and weird guy he was, not a scary evil dictator of my life. I began to see Satomi as a member of my family, not just another person. I began to see my friends, I began to see my brother.
I nearly smiled that night.
It wasn't that I didn't see these things before. It was that I saw these things, looked away, and when I returned to find them again, something had cloaked them. My own fear and desperation to keep everything a secret was pointless. We were a family, no matter how split; nothing could change that.
Every Mother's Day I've gone through these past years has been stupid, typical, and pointless. I've done absolutely nothing. I've cloistered myself in the house, done my homework, read, maybe fiddled with the guitar, or stared at the picture of Mom on my desk. But every one of those days were different in their own way.
This one was too, but in a significant way. There was much more to my family than I realized. I've always been friendless, a loner...until the Digital World.
Once I left the Digital World and ran to check on Kouichi, my life sorted itself out. It rolled a ball of string down the path I was to take, and like a cat, I followed it, collecting the string as I went along. Somewhere along, the string stopped, and there was a fork in the road. I panicked and chose the shadier side, worried about the exposal of my 'secret.' Yet the more I think about it, the more I realize it was never hidden from anyone.
Dad knew. Mom knew. Satomi knew. Kouichi knew. I tried to hide it.
Sometimes I feel like a link holding together two chains that broke away. But I was trying to keep them apart, not link them. A link doesn't separate what it's connected to. It joins them together. It's unification. It's...
Family.
I have a family, and I'm proud they're mine. Two mothers...sure, that's hard in terms of attention, but I'll live, won't I? So long as it isn't a fishing trip, I'll be true to them both, because they're my family.
And hey, now that everyone knows, I won't have to suffer Dad's idiocy by myself. Mom and Kouichi are there in case, and I'm using this in my advantage. You don't think I'd suffer another fishing trip by myself, do you?
After all, isn't that what family is for?
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FIN
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A/N-
I. Must. Work. On. This. Any corrections/constructive criticism/opinions/thoughts would work. Why is it that every time I start on a one-shot weeks before I intend to have it finished, it turns out long and icky? Being that it's a one-shot, I might actually look through to fix it, but it's a mighty long one-shot...(thus the three chapters).
Thanks for reading, everyone, and a very Merry Mother's Day to you!
Review or PM or Flame.