A/N: It's done! It's done! This chapter is finally done! And here you all thought I'd dropped off the face of the earth! Actually you probably didn't care enough to wonder if I'd dropped off the face of the earth, but whatever. It took me forever to get this chapter written, so I hope you like it. Enjoy!
Yamato looked up from his guitar as he heard a shout. Carefully placing his guitar against his bed he walked out into the hallway. He quietly knocked on Daisuke's door before cracking it open. Daisuke was sitting straight up in his bed, staring straight ahead and breathing heavily. Yamato knocked against the door a little louder. Daisuke quickly turned toward the sound and widened his eyes at the blonde's presence.
"Yamato!" he exclaimed. He shook his head and seemed to wake up a little more. He rubbed his hands over his face and muttered, "Thank God."
Now very curious, Yamato cautiously stepped in. "Are you okay?"
Daisuke nodded and looked down at his bed. "Just a bad a dream."
"Want to talk about it?"
Daisuke opened and closed his mouth a few times, before answering. "Not really," he finally said.
Yamato nodded. "Okay. Would you like some tea then?"
"Actually," said Daisuke looking back up, "that sounds great."
Yamato led them into the kitchen and put the kettle on. He sat down across from Daisuke at the table. He thought carefully about what his next words would be. It wasn't often he got to play big brother anymore, but he still remembered helping Takeru after his nightmares. As Takeru got older, he was more and more reluctant to share, but Yamato usually dragged it out of him. Of course Daisuke was not his younger brother. He couldn't just force it out of the younger boy. Besides, he didn't think Daisuke was used to talking about the things that bothered him. Yamato prepared himself for an interesting conversation and then cleared his throat.
"That must have been some dream," he said carefully.
Daisuke shrugged. "I really don't want to talk about it."
Yamato nodded. "I used to have bad dreams a lot. Especially right after my parents' divorce."
This caught Daisuke's attention. "But you were so much younger. You remember that?"
Yamato snorted. "Of course I do. It wasn't exactly a forgettable experience. It still bothers me sometimes, even now."
"Doesn't it ever get better?"
The blonde thought about his answer. "It does," he said slowly. "After a while you get used to it and it doesn't suck quite as much. But I don't know if you ever really get over it. Especially me and Takeru, we were so young, and I was a special case. Takeru had it better since he was with our mom; but I was stuck with our dad."
Daisuke looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean? You're dad's cool!"
Yamato smiled. "He got better as I got older. But before? Now, don't get me wrong I love my dad, but he wouldn't exactly win an award for fathering skills."
"Sounds like my dad," Daisuke muttered, but Yamato wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear it.
The tea kettle whistled and Yamato got up to pour it. He came back to the table with two cups of steaming green tea. Daisuke took it with a soft thanks. He seemed deep in thought.
After a few minutes Daisuke broke the silence. "I'm sorry if I woke you up."
Yamato shook his head. "I was practicing, so I was up anyway."
There was another long silence. "What was it like, being with your dad?"
Yamato nearly choked on the sip of tea he'd taken. He had not been expecting that question. He slowly lowered his cup to the table and stared at the green liquid, buying time to think about his answer. He'd only ever told Taichi about everything he'd been through with his father. Did he really want anyone else to know? He finally decided that if he wanted Daisuke's trust, he'd have to trust him in return. After all, his crest was friendship. And friendship wasn't just about being there for someone, it was about letting them be there for you too. Taichi had taught him that.
He took a deep breath, and prepared himself for a very difficult story.
Takeru walked through the empty streets of the late night. His mother would kill him if she found out he was walking around alone at midnight, but she was away on a business trip. Honestly, he'd tried to go to bed, but the information Hikari had given him weighed heavily on his mind. After tossing and turning for over an hour, he had decided to get up and go to his brother's place. Yamato was living with him now, he deserved to know everything that was happening with Daisuke.
He climbed the steps to his brother's apartment. He was about to ring the doorbell, knowing Yamato would still be up, when he remember Daisuke might be asleep. He knocked gently, hoping Yamato would hear it from his room, and was surprised to hear shuffling soon after. He heard the lock click open and soon found himself staring into his brother's wide eyes.
"Takeru!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
Takeru decided to calm his brother's nerves before he gave himself a heart attack. "Everything's fine, calm down. I just came by to talk to you." He paused for a second. "Can I come in?"
Yamato laughed with embarrassment and let the younger blonde in. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that, I was just surprised to see you here."
Takeru waved off the apology and stepped through the door, immediately meeting the eyes of the very person he'd come to talk about. "Hey Daisuke," he greeted with a smile, hoping he was hiding any indication that he might know something.
"Hey," Daisuke grinned back. "Do you normally make a habit of walking around town in the middle of the night?" he asked playfully.
This seemed to shake the rest of Yamato's surprise. "Just what are you doing walking around so late? Does Mom know you're out?"
Takeru rolled his eyes and scrunched his nose at Daisuke before turning to face his brother. "She's out of town, it doesn't matter."
Yamato narrowed his eyes. "Just because she's out of town doesn't give you the right to break her rules," he said sternly.
Takeru rolled his eyes again. "Please tell me I'm not getting a lecture on rules from you!"
The older blonde crossed his arms. "There are good reasons those rules are in place. Anything can happen to you walking around alone, especially at night. And if nobody knows where you're supposed to be it'll be a while before someone realizes something happened to you."
"I'm not ten anymore Yamato! You can stop treating me like I am!" He turned back around and faced the table. Daisuke was hiding what he was sure was a grin behind a hand.
"Sorry kid," said Yamato, stepping forward to drape an arm around Takeru's shoulders. "As long as you're my younger brother, I will treat you as such."
"I should've been the oldest," Takeru grumbled. Yamato simply raised an eyebrow and Takeru blushed lightly, remembering everything Yamato had been through, especially for him. "Okay, maybe not."
Yamato shook his head in amusement. He dropped his arm and turned to the kitchen. "Do you want some tea?" He called over his shoulder.
Takeru didn't bother answering, knowing he would be getting tea either way. Instead he turned his attention back to Daisuke. "Having a tea party?" he asked with a smirk.
Daisuke returned it with his own. "Oh of course. Sorry we didn't leave you any crumpets. Yamato's such a good chef you know?"
Said chef chose that moment to return to the table. He looked between the two. "Do I even want to ask?"
Takeru shook his head and Daisuke chuckled. "Your brother was just jealous that we were having a tea party without him."
Takeru glared at the other boy as Yamato watched in amusement. "You two…" he trailed off, smiling at his own thoughts.
Takeru and Daisuke shared a look. Daisuke pretended to clear his throat. He leaned over toward Takeru. "He looks like he's in love," he said matter-of-factly.
Takeru nodded. "He does indeed."
Yamato blinked. "What are you guys talking about?"
They shared another look. "So who is it?"
"It's not even like that!" the older blonde protested.
"Who were you thinking about, Yamato?"
Yamato made a frustrated noise. "I was just thinking about me and Tai," he answered. Daisuke choked on his tea and Takeru raised an eyebrow. Yamato went red at the implications of his previous statement. "Not like that!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in protest. "I was just comparing us and you two!"
Daisuke looked at Takeru seriously. "No offense Takeru, but you're not exactly my type."
Yamato groaned and dropped his head onto his arms. Takeru got up and moved over to his brother. He threw an arm around him and said, "There, there Yamato. Don't worry, we won't tell him." He looked over at Daisuke, who grinned in reply.
"Of course not," he said, stretching out an arm to pat Yamato's arm. "Everything's going to be okay. Why don't you have some tea?" Takeru snorted.
Yamato looked up and glared at both of them, then decided to just pretend the conversation never happened. "So," he said, turning sharply to face his younger brother. "What did you want to talk about?"
Takeru paused and blinked at him for a moment. "I…ah…um…," he stumbled over his words.
Daisuke got up and stretched. "Well, I think that's my cue to leave." He picked up his cup and put it in the sink. "Goodnight guys." He walked toward the hallway and stopped for a moment. He turned slightly and looked at the older blonde. "Thanks for the talk Yamato, it really helped." He then turned back around and went into his room, closing the door behind him.
Takeru looked at his brother and was surprised by the soft smile on his face. "Yamato?" He turned to him. "What talk?"
Yamato sighed. "He couldn't sleep so we were just talking over some tea, right before you came over." There was a pause. "So what's up?"
Takeru shook his head. "Let's go for a walk," he said.
"It's that serious?" Yamato questioned. They walked toward the door to put on their shoes. "The coffee shop then?"
Again Takeru shook his head. "This is beyond mochas." He stepped out the door.
Yamato frowned and followed him out.
Sachi sat at her computer and frowned. She refreshed the page on her computer and still found that she had no new messages from Daisuke. She had sent him at least ten emails since school had let out. She was starting to become extremely worried. Actually, she was beyond extremely worried. She had called Tama, Michiko, and Dan and none of them had heard anything from Daisuke either. She tried calling but Daisuke never answered his phone. Dan had told her she was being paranoid, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened to Daisuke.
With a determined frown she closed out of her email and typed in a website. After figuring out how much it would cost and how long it would take to get to Odaiba from her home of Kamakura, she left her room to find her mother.
She found her mother in the kitchen baking. She shook her head. Her mother had this strange habit of baking well into the middle of the night. She didn't understand it; it wasn't like she had a whole lot of people to feed. It was just Sachi and both her parents. She watched as her mother finished pouring the cake mix into muffin tins and placed the pan in the oven.
Sachi cleared her throat and her mother turned to her. "Oh hi dear, I was just putting in some cupcakes. What do you think of marble with strawberry icing?"
Sachi raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't chocolate or vanilla go better?"
Her mother thought a moment with a frown. "I suppose they would. I really just wanted to try this new icing out." She picked up a can of strawberry cheesecake flavored icing.
Sachi kept her face from showing her disgust. She hated cheesecake. "That sounds…interesting." Her mother looked at her expectantly. "Why don't you just put the icing on three of the cupcakes? That way we can all try it but if it doesn't work out we're not stuck with it." Let no one say she didn't love her mother.
Her mother grinned at her. "That's an excellent idea Sachi!" Her mother placed the icing away from the oven to keep it from melting and turned back to Sachi. "Were you looking for me?"
"I want to visit my cousin."
Her mother's eyes widened. "Oh?" She frowned. "Well, I suppose we can call and see when they're available."
Sachi shook her head. "I want it to be a surprise."
Her mother's frown remained in place. "How do you know they'll be able to see you?"
She shrugged. "It's only an hour and a half away. If they're not home I can hang around Odaiba for a while and come back home in the evening."
"That's quite an expensive daytrip."
Sachi rolled her eyes. "I'll pick something nice up for you at Palette Town."
Her mother laughed. "All right then. When are you planning on going?"
"Tomorrow." Her mother stared at her. "Please mom! I have a friend who lives there and I haven't been able to get in touch with him and I'm really worried. Please!"
Her mother sighed, giving in. "Ask your father. Whatever answer he gives I'll agree to."
Sachi nodded, hugged her mother, then ran off to find her father in his study. "Hi Dad," she said as she entered.
Her father put down his book and smiled. "What can I do for you?"
"I want to go to Odaiba tomorrow."
Her father looked at her quizzically. "That quite a far random trip."
"I want to visit my cousin, and check on a friend that hasn't answered any of my emails or phone calls."
Her father nodded, knowing Sachi's loyalty to her friends was legendary. "You want to visit your cousin? So are you planning to stay a couple of days? And have you called?"
Sachi shrugged. "I want to surprise them. And I'll let you know how long I'll stay when I get there?"
Her father sighed and rubbed his forehead. "All right. I suppose you need money to get there and back?"
She nodded and then looked at him through her eyelashes. "I also told Mom that I'd bring something nice for her from Palette Town."
He sighed. "I knew we shouldn't have spoiled you as a child."
She laughed. "Well, it's too late now. The damage has been done."
"Indeed." He took out his wallet. "Here's 3,000 yen for the bus fare." He also handed her a credit card. "Please try not to send us into bankruptcy."
Sachi grinned. "You know me."
"Exactly."
She laughed again and hugged her father. "Thanks Dad!" She walked toward the door. "Oh by the way, I volunteered us to try Mom's new strawberry cheesecake icing."
"I thought you hated cheesecake?"
"Yes, but I love Mom."
He shook his head. "When I get sick from indigestion, you're paying for the hospital bills."
"Of course," she said offhandedly. "With your money." She laughed and ran out the room before he could demand the credit card back.
"Your getting a job!" she heard from the study and just grinned. She walked back into her room to get things ready for tomorrow's trip.
A/N: Yay! I was waiting for one of Daisuke's college buddies to come back into the story. Will she be able to find Daisuke? And who is this mystery cousin? Find out in the next chapter, which will hopefully be out much sooner than this one…
I didn't get very many reviews for the last chapter, so I hope people are still following this story. Don't give up on me! I promise I'll do better! Please review. The more people I know are still reading this the more I'll be motivated to get the next chapter out soon.
