Yay! Thank yous all around to all you wonderful reviewers! They made me happy. And look! Look! I already have the next chapter out! I was gonna have this up sooner, but wasn't letting me upload. But whatever was wrong finally got fixed! So without further ado…onto the story!
Daisuke awoke as sunlight filtered in through his window and hit his face. He groaned and turned around to put his face in his pillow. He then abruptly sat up and looked at his clock, realizing that he had slept in. He then sighed in relief as he realized it was Saturday. He yawned and stretched. He rubbed his eyes and stood up to use the bathroom.
After finishing in the bathroom he walked out into the living room to watch Saturday morning cartoons. That's right, college student or not, he loved his cartoons. He would have turned on the TV if it hadn't been for the blonde person sleeping on the couch. For a minute he thought Yamato had fallen asleep on the couch until he recognized the blonde as Takeru.
He started as a hand was placed on his shoulder. Yamato spoke up from behind him. "I didn't want him walking back home so late. Hope you don't mind that he slept over."
Daisuke turned to his roommate and smiled. "Of course not." He followed the older blonde into the kitchen. "You're really protective of him."
Yamato glanced at him and turned back to the refrigerator. "I'm his older brother. That's my job."
Daisuke leaned against the counter and watched as Yamato started preparing breakfast. "Can I help?"
The blonde turned to him surprised. "If you want to," he said hesitantly. He laughed. "I guess your cooking lessons don't stop just because you live with me."
Daisuke blushed and cleared his throat. "What are we making?"
Yamato noticed Daisuke was getting embarrassed so he stopped teasing him. "How do omelets sound?"
"Sounds great!" Daisuke grinned. "My mom used to make really good omelets."
"Oh yeah," Yamato asked. He then took a deep breath and decided to do something he had never done before. "What did she put in them?"
Daisuke then proceeded to show Yamato all the things his mother had included in her omelets. Yamato took the brunette's suggestions and showed Daisuke how to put them all together. It wasn't too long before the smell of breakfast woke Takeru up and had him standing in the kitchen.
"I don't know what's more surprising," he said, startling the two cooks, "Daisuke actually cooking something or Yamato actually cooking with someone."
They glared at him. "Out of the kitchen!" said Yamato pushing him back into the living room.
"Daisuke's in there!" Takeru complained.
"He's helping."
"But you never let me help!"
Yamato ignored him and walked back into the kitchen.
Daisuke chuckled as he flipped an omelet. "Sometimes Yamato, you scare me."
The blonde smiled. "Just be happy you're on my good side then."
Daisuke laughed again as he finished cooking the last omelet. "Okay, they're done. Hope they taste as good as they smell."
Yamato swung an arm around the younger boy. "I'm sure they do." He grabbed the plate of omelets and led Daisuke to the dining room. "Takeru grab some plates and come eat!"
Takeru hurried in with three place settings. Just as they had finished setting the table the doorbell rang.
They all looked at each other and Yamato shrugged. He got up from his seat and went to answer the door. As he opened it he found himself staring into a pair of bright green eyes.
"Can I help you?" he asked politely.
"Yamato?" the girl asked.
He kept his face neutral as he looked over the stranger. Only after he'd recognized her did he allow the surprise to show on his face. "Sachi? What are you doing here?"
Sachi smiled. "What, do I need an excuse to visit my cousin?"
"You do when I haven't seen you in three years! Come in!" He was smiling as he led her into the dining room. "Takeru, you'll never guess who's here!"
"Sachi is that you!" Takeru asked and jumped up from his chair. He hugged her. "What are you doing here? Man it's been forever!"
She laughed. "It's good to see you too." She then turned to the third occupant of the room and her eyes widened at the shocked but familiar brown eyes that greeted her. "Daisuke?" she gasped.
Yamato raised an eyebrow. "You two know each other?"
Sachi snorted. "He's the reason I came to Odaiba—not that I didn't want to see you!" she quickly added. "But this boy has not answered one email or one phone call since summer break started!"
"Girlfriend?" asked Yamato as he turned to Daisuke.
This awakened Daisuke from his shock. "Sachi? What are you doing here?"
She rolled her eyes. "Typical. You ignore all my attempts at contacting you and then when I finally get a chance to talk to you, you ignore everything I say!"
He gave her a withering look. "Sachi…"
She sighed. "I've been trying to contact you since school let out!"
Daisuke's cheeks reddened. He laughed nervously. "Sorry about that," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"We were just about to have breakfast," said Yamato, attempting to prevent a potential argument. If he remembered correctly, his cousin had quite a temper and Daisuke would answer with equal fire. "Would you like to join us?"
Sachi recognized the distraction for what it was but accepted it, promising herself that she'd talk to Daisuke later. "Sure, what are we having?"
"Omelets," answered Yamato. "Made by Daisuke."
Sachi turned to her friend in shock. "You cooked?"
"Yamato helped," he grumbled.
"Only a little," the blonde admitted.
Sachi chuckled. She took a bite and her eyes widened. "I am impressed!" she said, looking directly at Daisuke. He blushed.
"Thanks," he muttered.
Yamato smiled. Apparently this girl's opinion meant a lot if Daisuke was acting like this.
After breakfast was finished Sachi asked if she could stay for a while. Yamato explained the current living situation but Sachi just shrugged. In the end it was decided that Sachi could stay for a couple of days and she quickly called her parents to let them know.
"Uh, Sachi?" asked Daisuke. She turned to him. "Where is all your stuff?"
"In there," she said, pointing to her backpack near the door.
Daisuke looked at her in shock. "You fit a week's worth of clothes in there?"
Sachi laughed. "Of course not, I didn't pack any clothes." She got looks of conclusion. "I didn't know how long I was staying and I didn't want to pack a lot if I was going back tonight."
Daisuke looked at her in exasperation before realization dawned on him. "Don't tell me…"
Sachi grinned. "But of course I have to go shopping! I can't wear the same thing all week."
Daisuke turned around and tried to get away. Before he could get far Sachi grabbed his wrist. "And who best to take me but my best friend Daisuke."
After dragging Daisuke from store to store, Sachi suggested eating lunch in the food court. She had given Daisuke enough time to sort out his thoughts. Now she was going to get some answers.
She cleared her throat and Daisuke looked up at her. She took a deep breath, not really sure how difficult Daisuke would decide to be. "Why haven't you responded to me?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You hadn't asked a question," he replied with a smirk.
Sachi groaned. It was going to be like that. "Daisuke," she said sternly, "you know what I'm talking about."
He took a bite of his burger. "No, not really," he answered with false innocence.
She frowned. "I've sent you like a thousand emails and voice messages. Why haven't you answered them?"
Daisuke sighed and put his burger down. "Do we have to do this now?"
"This is why I came," said Sachi stubbornly. "And I won't be able to enjoy the rest of my time here if it's hanging over us."
"You may not enjoy it if you know why."
"It'll be better then not knowing!" she huffed angrily. "Please Daisuke, just tell me. It can't be all that bad."
Daisuke sighed again, knowing he wasn't going to get out of this one. "Well, life has been kind of difficult since I came back home."
Sachi put on her best sympathetic face. "Tell me."
So Daisuke proceeded to tell Sachi everything that had happened since he'd been home, leaving out a few of the details. He started with how Jun had picked him up and the conversation they had and ended with moving in with Yamato. By the end of his narration Sachi was close to tears.
"Oh Daisuke, I had no idea!" she said sadly. "Why didn't you tell me? Us? Somebody?"
He shrugged. "I didn't want to burden you guys with all my crap. Besides," he quickly added, cutting off her protest, "I didn't handle everything on my own. I told Ken about it and eventually Hikari, and even went to Yamato for some help."
Sachi opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it. She would have to think carefully before she said anything right now. Daisuke had never gone off on her, but she knew he could get easily angered over sensitive subjects. She was hurt that he hadn't gone to her, but she tried to look at everything from Daisuke's point of view instead of being selfish about it. After examining everything Daisuke had told her, she finally figured out what to say.
"So you're speaking with your friends again?"
Daisuke shrugged. "I suppose so. I'm living with one of them anyway, so it kind of defeats the purpose of excluding myself from everyone."
Sachi smiled. This was the first time that she knew of where Daisuke had taken full responsibility of everything that had happened with his friends. Before it had always been "they" this or "they" that and how that "made him" do what he was doing. The fact that he admitted that it had been as much his fault as anyone else told Sachi that he was going to be all right.
"So how is that gonna work out when you go to school?" she asked.
Daisuke looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Living with Yamato, I mean. What's he going to do when you're back at school?"
Daisuke's face reddened and he looked down. "I'm not going back," he mumbled.
Sachi stared at him mouth open, sure she had heard him wrong. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
"I'm not going back," he said again, this time more firmly.
The shock wore off and anger quickly replaced it. "What!" she exclaimed, standing up from her chair.
Several people turned their heads to stare at the pair. Daisuke tried to sink into the floor and Sachi blushed as she realized they had everyone's attention. She cleared her throat self-consciously and slowly lowered herself back to her seat. "Sorry," she whispered to Daisuke, cheeks still pink.
Daisuke waved it off. "I guess I can't blame you," he muttered.
Sachi squirmed uncomfortably. "Why aren't you going back?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I can't afford to," Daisuke answered, the red in his face deepening. Money had always been an issue he avoided talking about with Sachi, considering her upbringing. "I figured I couldn't rely on my dad to pay for school anymore when he stopped trying to take care of us. And now that I'm out of the house?" He shook his head. "Even with financial aid I can't afford to go back there."
Sachi bit her lip. She wanted to offer to help Daisuke, but she knew the offer would not be appreciated. She had learned early on that few people accepted handouts, and those who did were probably using her. A sigh escaped her lips. She hated feeling helpless. "So what are you going to do?"
He shrugged. "I'm gonna continue classes at the community college here." He laughed at the look of relief that flooded Sachi's face. "You didn't think I'd completely drop out of school, did you?" He gave her a stern look. "Come on, you know me better than that."
She blushed. "I know. I'm sorry that all of this is happening, Daisuke," she said softly. "We're really gonna miss you next year. Especially Dan—we're gonna have to hear him complaining about being the only guy." She chuckled and Daisuke joined her. "But seriously, don't lose touch just because you're not coming back."
He nodded. "I wouldn't just forget you guys."
She smiled. She really was going to miss him next year. They'd been through a lot together this past year. But she knew he didn't really have a choice, so she wouldn't complain about it and try to convince him to change his mind. Even if that's what she really wanted to do. She noticed Daisuke watching her.
"What?"
"Are we okay?" he asked, worry clearly etched in his features.
She smiled again. "Of course we are. Trust me, you'll know when we're not okay."
He laughed.
Miyako and Hikari walked out of the latter's favorite store. Instead of the laughter that usually accompanied the girls' shopping trips, onlookers would see a very irritated girl being lectured by her companion. Unfortunately, Miyako had found out that Hikari had admitted she liked Daisuke. Actually Hikari had gone over and told her herself. Miyako had a way of finding out anything and everything—no one had yet to figure out how—and Hikari wanted to make sure her friend had all the facts from the start instead of some mutated rumor. The first hour after had been full of Miyako complaining to Hikari about all of Daisuke's less than attractive traits and how Hikari would be much better off with someone else—like Takeru. Hikari had temporarily distracted her by suggesting a trip to the mall: temporary being the key word. Now the lavender-haired girl was lecturing Hikari on the fact that nothing would happen unless she took some action. Needless to say, Hikari was just a little tired of hearing her friend's voice.
"Look Miyako," she interrupted calmly, trying with little success to keep her growing headache at bay. "Not that I don't appreciate your advice, but this is where our differences in personalities play in. I understand that your strategy with boys is pursue whoever interests you, but I'm just not that forward." She left out the fact that Miyako's way had a greater percentage of failure than success.
Miyako rolled her eyes. She was about to retort when something caught her eye. She grinned. "Look, there's Daisuke now. Come on." She was about approach the brunette when Hikari grabbed her arm. She turned in irritation. "What is your problem?"
Hikari glared at her. "He's with someone."
Miyako looked again and indeed found Daisuke was sitting with someone. A female someone. "Who is she?" she demanded, arms crossed.
Hikari focused on the pair. "I don't know, I've never seen her before. They look like they're having a serious conversation." All she could see of the unknown girl was that she was very pretty with auburn, curly hair. Her face showed that whatever Daisuke was telling her was making her sad and angry at the same time.
She was shaken from her inspection when a strong grip grabbed her wrist. Miyako started dragging her closer. "Miyako, we can't just interrupt them."
Miyako ignored her and dragged her behind planter. "Now we can get a closer look without either of them noticing us."
"Miyako!" Hikari gasped. "We can't spy on them!"
"It's not spying," she argued. "It's investigating."
Hikari sighed and looked around. "Don't you think this is a little conspicuous?"
They were pulled out of their argument by a shout. Both heads turned to see Daisuke's company standing from her chair and glaring at the boy. "Ooh, she looks angry," whispered Miyako. Hikari shushed her and Miyako smirked. They waited to see what else would happen, but the girl seemed to come to her senses and sat back down, embarrassment written all over her face. The rest of the conversation continued in hushed whispers and a lot of blushing.
Miyako made a sound of exasperation. "This is pointless. We're not gonna find anything else out." She stormed away from the planter and Hikari followed.
"We really have no right to snoop into Daisuke's personal life," admonished Hikari, conveniently forgetting that she had been doing so all summer.
Miyako turned and looked at her. "Hikari," she said patiently, as if speaking to a younger child. "They looked pretty close back there. Did it ever occur to you that she could be his girlfriend?"
Hikari rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. He would have said something." Miyako gave her a look that clearly said "yeah right" but didn't speak anymore on the matter. In all honesty, Hikari didn't believe her argument either. But it was much easier to think that than to think about the unpleasant feeling the other possibility gave her.
Once again thank you to everyone who reviewed, and everyone who's still reading this. I'm sorry to say that I doubt the next chapter will be out as quickly. From here til the end of school I've got research papers due in every class that I've procrastinated to the point that my brain might explode from all the research I have to do. So I will try to have this up sooner rather than later, but it still might be a while.
That said, please review!
