Princess Viv: Yes, the hiatus is well and truly over, thanks to our great new authoress, xxShadowSpiritsxx, who has taken over the role of Sakura2398, who unfortunately has had to leave us for a while. However, we hope she will be back soon. Because of this little mishap, we have therefore decided that Sakura2387 will be given chapter thirteen to if she returns in time.
Thank you to xxShadowSpiritsxx for all her hard work that she put into this chapter. Her role was given at short notice, and we all thank her for agreeing to become one of us!
Thanks also to Queen Cow and Steak for their support. I truly could not have handled this fic as well as I have for the past year if it hadn't been for them. They are my deputies, and have provided me with much support indeed. Thank you guys!
Once again, thanks to all you reviewers – we hope you enjoy reading this story as much as we enjoy writing it. Please review!
Disclaimer: We do not own Digimon.
Kimochi Hakken Suru
Chapter 7: Where Are You?
By xxShadowSpiritxx
The sky was dark and a murky gray-blue colour. The only light left was from the glowing moon and the fading stars. Once as bright as diamonds, they turned dull while being slowly swallowed up by a sweep of black clouds. Despite the faint beat of the music from the disco dance, all remained quiet… only the soft sound of tears trickling down a weeping girl's cheeks and a comforting "friend."
"Akumu…" the blonde girl whispered as she stared at the boy who had come to sit down beside her.
Akumu stared back at her. He slowly brought his hand up to her face and wiped her tears away.
"Don't cry…" he said gently.
Fear struck Izumi as she felt his cold hand against her cheek. She wanted to scream but all that could come out of her mouth was a whimper. She felt even more uneasy as he moved in closer. Her bare legs from the short one-piece dress she wore touched his baggy black pants. She desperately willed herself to look away - run away - from him, but there was something in his hypnotizing eyes that forbade her from that.
Akumu secretly grinned in delight at the fact that everything was going as he had planned. However, he suddenly noticed the look on Izumi's face and he knew what was going to happen: she was going to scream.
Slightly panicking, he quickly grasped her chin and kissed her in an attempt to try to prevent her from both screaming and creating a scene, and for his own evil pleasure. He expected her to struggle, and that she did - but only at first. Almost instantly after, her body fell limp and into his arms.
Izumi sensed a chill rush through her body as their lips locked. Her mind went black and she felt herself go numb, while the rest of the world drifted away…
"Kouichi!" Takeru dashed up to the dark haired boy.
Kouichi stopped at the top of the stairs, just outside of the gym. There, he said, "Back already? That was fast… So what did you find?"
Takeru's eyes looked disappointingly to his shoes. He didn't want to watch as the Warrior of Darkness' heart sank. After about a minute of silence, he finally responded, "I…I'm sorry… I checked everywhere, but there's no sign of Izumi or Kouji."
"…Same here… How can that be? We searched the top of the building, and we split up to search the rest of the school grounds. Where else could they have gone?" He turned in the direction of the gym doors. "I was just going to check in here, but I highly doubt either of them would feel like dancing after what happened, let alone see any other people."
"Yeah…" Takeru sighed. He wanted to believe the right thing to do was find the two, so they could sort everything out, but in the back of his mind he knew the last thing they would want was to be around anyone. They would just want to be alone right now.
Kouji was half way across the soccer field when he stopped to gather his thoughts. He was wearing black pants and a navy shirt, so he knew he wouldn't be seen in the dark. He just wanted to be alone. He always did. The only people he had ever let in were the Frontier gang, especially Izumi. But right now, he didn't even want her around. Of all the people who brought his spirits down, Izumi was the one person who he knew could always cheer him up. But now…it was different.
Kouji sat down on the grass. What had just happened? He asked himself over and over again. He couldn't remember anything at all. But why? He tried so hard to think of what he was doing before all this happened, but the only thing on his mind was…
Images of Izumi flew through his head. She was all he could think of. Why… why did she look so upset? Kouji sighed, saying under his breath, "What…what was it that I did…?"
Tears fell from his eyes. He started to remember… Closing his eyes so his tears wouldn't pour out any faster, he leant back on the grass and just lay there for a while. He saw in his mind… him and Izumi. Kouji asked her to dance. He saw her face, her lips, felt her touch as they kissed. He watched as she led him outside. And then…
"Okay, so lets go over things one more time," Takeru started. "You saw Izumi and Kouji leave the gym. Then what?"
The dark haired boy focused hard to try and remember every exact detail of what he saw. Then he replied, "Izumi was the one who took Kouji outside. But that's all I saw. I didn't think anything of it though."
"I see."
"Oh, and Kouji and I had made a bet. I would ask Zephyr to the dance and he would ask Izumi. But when we were at the dance, I told him he actually had to dance with her. I don't see how any of this would have an effect on what's happened…"
A wide grin appeared on Takeru's face.
"Uh… What?" Kouichi asked nervously.
"Wow, did you see the colour of your cheeks when you said "Zephyr"? Oh, but of course you didn't! You were too busy looking at your shoes when you said that." Takeru smirked.
"Hey I--"
"But anyways, back to the Kouji and Izumi crisis…" he said, cutting Kouichi off, "I think I'll go on explaining what I saw."
Kouichi sighed.
"I was going up to the top of the building to get some air. Man, was it stuffy in there or what?"
Takeru finished going over what he saw when a girl burst through the doors crying her eyes out. The two watched as she took a seat on the bench behind them. She was all alone, and they both knew they had to do something - they couldn't just leave her there.
"Listen, go round up the others and make sure they're all still there. Tell them briefly what happened - well, don't tell them all the little details because I'm sure Kouji and Izumi wouldn't want them all to know their personal business." Kouichi spoke fast, almost in a panic. "We'll figure out what we'll do after we're sure everyone else is safe. In the meantime, I'll take care of this."
Takeru watched Kouichi point his eyes to the direction of the crying girl. "Okay," He said, and went back into the dance.
Kouichi nervously walked up to the girl. He didn't really know what to say, but he couldn't possibly let her cry there all by herself.
"Hey, hey…" he started to say, taking a seat beside her. "Are you okay?"
"Does it look like I'm okay?"
She peered up, her face no longer buried in her wet hands. Kouichi saw a girl who looked about the same age as him. She was actually quite attractive, with long brown hair framing her face, and soft sapphire eyes.
"Well… what happened? Why are you crying?" he responded, not knowing how to react to her last comment. He looked at her with concern, and she attempted to wipe away her tears on her already drenched sleeve.
"I-I-I w-was at the d-dance and…" she said between sobs.
Kouichi listened as attentively as he could, but with Izumi and Kouji on his mind, that was very hard. The girl told him about how her and some friends went to the dance. They all had dates except her, but she had managed to get in. She had a not-so-secret crush on Akumu. They had all warned her, but she felt like he was "the one."
"So then, I finally w-worked up enough courage t-to ask him to d-d-dance--" she started bawling again. "H-he said…he said so bitterly that he would never even consider me - that I wasn't his type at all! A-and that he already had his eyes on some other girl!"
"…" Kouichi didn't know what to say. He had never been in this kind of situation before. Once again not knowing what to do, he just let her cry in his arms. A friendly hug couldn't hurt, he thought.
Meanwhile, back at the dance, Takeru was rushing through the crowds of people. Finally, he spotted a wave of silver hair with blue tips. He knew instantly it was Zephyr.
"Zephyr!" he called, but his voice was drowned out by the loud music playing in the background. He came towards her, and dragged her off to the side so they could hear each other.
"You've got to be kidding me!" She couldn't believe that both Kouji and her best friend were nowhere to be found. Cautiously, she asked, "Everyone else is okay, right? Where is Kouichi?"
Takeru smiled at this. So she did like Kouichi back. He could see it in her eyes. "I'm rounding up everyone now to make sure we're all here. Kouichi's fine - he's outside the gym if you want to see him. But just don't leave the school grounds, okay? I have to go find the others now."
"Sure thing."
Zephyr edged her way out of the crowds, worried sick about where Izumi and Kouji could have gone. She knew Kouji would never do anything to hurt Izumi, but the fact that Takeru had told her he knew they were missing separately worried her even more. Something had happened, and she had to find out. But for now, she just wanted to see Kouichi.
She burst through the gym doors, just as she saw Kouichi with another girl. She couldn't believe her eyes! Just as she saw them almost kiss, she ran past them, out into the dark night. What the hell did she just see? It couldn't be true! She thought to herself while frozen tears trickled down her face.
Kouichi looked up and saw Zephyr standing in front of him. He realized what it must've looked like, him holding the other girl in his arms like that. When she took off, his heart felt like it had ripped in two.
"Zephyr!" was the only word he could find. After a moment, he then turned to the girl. "What the hell were you doing! It was just a hug - nothing else! You had no right to try and kiss me!"
She clutched onto Kouichi's forearm and didn't let go. He looked at her with utter disgust as she said to him, "Not you too! Don't leave me - not like Akumu did! And for some silver haired slut!"
Now she had gone too far. Kouichi yanked his arm out of the girl's grasp and was about to go after Zephyr when the other girl said something that sparked his attention. But other than that, he wanted nothing to do with that other girl.
"I can't believe you! You're just like Akumu - exactly like him, and what I just saw him doing!"
"What? How am I possibly like Akumu?" What had she said intrigued him. Although he didn't know much at all about the mysterious Akumu, he refused to believe he was anything like him.
"Because! You'll go chasing after that girl and next thing you know, you'll be with her, making out! Just some time ago, I saw Akumu with some other girl! First it looked like he made her cry, but then I saw them again and they were kissing! And now you're--"
"What? What girl! Who was he with?" Kouichi asked, but he was afraid to find out the answer.
"You care more about that other girl than me? Besides, I don't know who the hell she is - just some blonde chick, who's probably new to the school or something…"
Kouichi took off at once, trying desperately to fit all the pieces together. Izumi? With Akumu? Why would she?
He rounded the corner of the east wall of the school when he saw Zephyr. He stopped dead in his tracks. It didn't look like she was crying hard or anything, so he just gave her some space and turned back the other way. It pained him to see her like that, and he knew he should tell her the truth. But right now, Izumi was missing with some unknown guy.
Kouichi searched the school grounds one more time for Izumi or any sign of Kouji, but all he could think of along the way was Zephyr. He hoped she would think that what she saw was all just a misunderstanding, and that she would believe him when he told her what really happened.
"Yes," he said to himself. "She would be stupid to think I liked anyone but her. I would never intentionally make her cry." He reassured himself, as much as he could, that everything would be okay.
And as for Izumi and Kouji, maybe they will come back on their own, he thought. Come back in one piece.
A cloud of darkness surrounded the blonde girl, with no end in sight. Where was she? She tried to move, but something restricted her. A small light flickered on, revealing to her the cold metal chains encircling her wrists, her waist, and her ankles.
The girl squinted her eyes to see if anyone else was there. She saw a figure in the distance. It came closer to the light, and she could see who it was.
"Kouji…" she mumbled.
The boy didn't respond. He gave her an icy gaze, which seemed to last a lifetime. Finally, he turned his back, and disappeared into the never-ending darkness.
"KOUJI!" Her voice echoed as she screamed for his help, but it was no use. He couldn't hear her. A single tear ran down her face. She didn't know why she still cared. She hated him now. But she felt a chill down her spine as she remained there, frozen.
She felt the ground tremble beneath her. When she looked up, tens, hundreds, thousands of creatures came rushing towards her. She looked harder and realized it was a huge herd of Digimon! They came nearer and nearer until suddenly a shadowy figure leaped out of nowhere and saved her. She felt herself being knocked unconscious from the impact, but the last thing she saw before drifting away was a hypnotizing red light.
And then… she awoke. Izumi peered up into the eyes none other than those of Akumu's…
XxShadowSpiritsxx: Okieeee that's my chapter! I'd just like to apologize for the fact that my chapter is rather late (or at least I think it is). I'm really sorry that it took so long, because of the info that had to be gathered and my whole being new to this co-written fanfic and all. Also, where I live, the teachers federation is now on strike, and before we left school, they loaded us up with two weeks of homework, so I've been somewhat stressed out.
Princess Viv: Thanks again to xxShadowSpiritsxx, and please review for her!
Next chapter by animeprincess11
