Litanya: Hi again. Sorry that this chapter is late, but I have been very busy getting ready for university, which starts on Tuesday. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I don't own Digimon. Oh, and whilst I remember, I use the Australian way of spelling things- as in I spell colour like that, and not color. So please, if you use the American way, please don't tell me I spell things wrongly, unless it really is wrong in both Aussie and American.
The Island Holiday
Chapter 3: Old 'Friends'
The Eiffel Tower had been amazing to see up close. Although Sora had seen pictures of it before, she had never really believed that it was all that magnificent. But when she had actually seen it up close she had quickly changed her mind. She knew now why Tai loved it so much. Their trip to the Eiffel Tower had been very quick- well; they could have stayed longer that is. Sora wanted to wait in line to go up the Tower, but Tai refused.
"I hate lines," he had complained, "Besides; it's much prettier at night. Why don't we go up then?" She had ended up agreeing with him. She wasn't sure if she had agreed because she wanted to see it when the city was all lit up or if she had just wanted to stop Tai's complaining. She thought that it could be a mixture of both.
"Hey Sora," she snapped back to the present to a sight which… it didn't shock her, but it was pretty surprising. Tai was awake watching the television. That seemed normal. But the fact was that Sora had just woken up herself. It was eight in the morning on their first full day in Paris. She had thought that she was up early, but by the looks of things Tai had been awake for quite a while.
"What time did you wake up?" she asked him as a way of greeting. He shrugged, his eyes only leaving the screen in front of him for a second.
"I don't know… probably around six, six thirty," she frowned as she realized what she thought could have been the reason why Tai had woken up early.
"Are you sure that couch is comfortable? If that was what woke you, then at least let me take a turn at sleeping on it," the night before they had had a small 'disagreement' on the sleeping arrangements. Sora had argued that they were friends and had shared a double bed before, and so they could share it now, but Tai had pointed out that that had been when they were smaller and that now they were bigger, it just wouldn't work. Sora had then suggested that they take turns sleeping on the couch, but Tai had just explained that Matt would kill him if he didn't sleep on the couch and that the couch in question was almost as comfortable as his bed at home anyway. And so Sora had grudgingly agreed to allow him to sleep on the couch every night. Now she wished that she had kept arguing.
"As I said last night, this couch is comfortable. I always wake up early so don't worry. Besides, this way I can wake up and watch some cartoons before you get up," Sora glanced at the screen and saw a big green blob talking to some children. She didn't understand a word that the blob was saying, but it was still a cartoon. She rolled her eyes and flopped down on the couch next to him.
"So what is this… show anyway?" she wasn't really in the mood to have an argument with him as to what they should watch. Tai shrugged.
"I have no idea. I found this a few minutes ago. It seems to be a show which teaches little kids things… you know; one of those kids shows that teaches kids to count and stuff. At least I think it is. As I have told you before, I don't speak fluent French, I just understand some," she nodded absently, her eyes following the green blob on the screen. The blob seemed to be almost hypnotizing. It said something on the screen, and Sora found herself repeating what it said. Tai blinked. Was Sora being controlled by a cartoon blob? She didn't even seem to notice. He changed the channel and Sora blinked and shook her head.
"What on Earth was that show?" she demanded to know as a couple of newsreaders appeared on the screen. Tai burst out laughing, unable to control himself. Sora's face had been so funny. She was not amused. She glared daggers at him as he struggled to control his laughter, "I do not find this funny Mr. Kamiya. Tell me what that was, now!" He couldn't answer. The laughter was getting the better of him. Without giving any warnings, Sora suddenly flung herself at him, anger burning in her eyes. She attacked him with a cushion from one of the couches and he quickly stopped laughing as the zip on the cushion cover struck his eye.
"Hey! Ouch, that really hurts. I've already told you what that show was. It's not my fault that you are easily manipulated by green blobs!" she stopped hitting him and when she saw that his eye was really red, she rushed to apologise.
"I'm really sorry Tai! I guess that it's just too early in the morning or something. Here, I brought a first aid kit with me. I'll go get it and then I'll fix your eye up for you," she started to move but he quickly stopped her.
"No, it's fine. I brought my own first aid kit- well, Kari slipped it into my bag when I wasn't looking- and so I can look after it myself. I'm not letting you anywhere near my eye!" and he quickly took off to find his suitcase and get the things that he needed. Sora flicked the off switch for the television and the picture faded away. It was then that she realized that she was still in her pajamas, and that she was hungry. Tai was now in the bathroom, so she couldn't get changed, but she decided that she could choose her outfit. Once she had chosen what she wanted to wear- it didn't take her very long because she wasn't really trying to impress anyone- she waited impatiently for Tai to finish fixing his eye. She wanted to go and help him- it had been her fault after all, but she knew that he would decline her help. She didn't really blame him, but she knew that she would fix it faster, and she really wanted to go and have breakfast. When Tai eventually emerged from the bathroom, he saw Sora flash by and within seconds the bathroom door had been closed and locked behind him. He just shrugged. He had decided a long time ago that girls were just plain weird, and he was sticking with that theory.
Matt tried to hide a yawn as the record company dealers explained some sort of contract with him and the members of his band. The dealer who was speaking had a dry voice, and he only seemed capable of speaking in one tone. He was going on and on about some figures that the company had received in the past few months, and Matt could see that he was not the only one who was struggling to stay awake. He couldn't help sighing quietly to himself as he remembered that he could have been in Paris at that very moment. He missed Sora. He had been looking forward to the holiday for so long, and now that she was in Paris, he was extremely jealous as well. And the fact that this meeting seemed pointless did not help his mood.
'I'm here for the band. Once we get this deal we will be able to hit the international markets and after that… we could be making the millions. Then I can take Sora to Paris and have a proper holiday,' he told himself firmly, but it just didn't seem worth it. The man was still droning on and Matt swore that his drummer was asleep. He hid another yawn and tried to concentrate on what the man was saying. After all, he didn't want to lose this record deal after everything he had given up to earn it.
Kari hated Mondays. Mondays meant that the weekend was over, and that school would start again. And today was Monday. She sat in her Maths class, eagerly awaiting the bell. Once the bell rang, she would be free. It wasn't that she hated school, it was just that… on Mondays she had only one class with T.K. And that was Maths, a class in which the teacher was so strict that Kari barely dared to even glance at T.K out of the corner of her eye. So basically… it was as though she had no classes with him.
"…and so if you differentiate both sides with respect to 'x' you can easily solve this problem. Now, are there any questions?" not one hand appeared in the air. Most of the class seemed to be asleep with their eyes open. There were a lot of glassy stares and blank looks. The other part of the class seemed to be staring at the clock, eagerly awaiting the bell. Kari considered herself to be in the latter section of the class. A quick glance at T.K found him to be in the first group. His cerulean eyes seemed to have a layer of darker blue covering them. She quickly looked back at the board, but her eyes soon drifted back to the clock, which was positioned above the board on which five equations were written. Kari was about to believe that the bell would never ring and that they would be stuck in Maths forever when a loud siren-like noise filled the air. The entire class breathed a sigh of relief. The bell had rung and they were free to go. The teacher began calling out exercises for them to do for homework, but everyone was busy packing up, and no one was really listening.
"Thank the light that we actually managed to get out of there alive!" T.K exclaimed once they were a safe distance from the Maths classroom, "I thought that I was half-dead by the end of the class. Why does he have to make calculus so boring? It almost felt like a funeral speech." Kari laughed.
"You mean that you actually listened to what he was saying? When I saw you in class you were half-asleep. Don't deny it- I saw your eyes and they don't usually have a dark blue layer. Who taught you to sleep with your eyes open?" he opened his mouth to deny her accusations, but he was cut off when another male voice joined in the conversation.
"It is physically possible to be asleep whilst awake, but the chances of someone like T.K pulling it off are very slim," an amused Ken Ichijouji contributed as he and his girlfriend approached them, "Although if he was in Mr. Chang's class then the chances of T.K doing it are raised by a factor of one hundred."
"Yeah, I love Maths and even I have found it impossible to pay attention in his classes," Yolie Inoue, Ken's girlfriend, added. Ken and Yolie were in the class above Kari and T.K, but the four of them were close friends. Ken was practically a genius and Yolie wasn't far behind him in terms of intelligence. Ken had at one time been their enemy- he had tried to take over the Digital World under the name of the Digimon Emperor- but now he was a firm ally. He held the crest of Kindness and once he had realized that he was being foolish and mean in his goals to control Digimon, the other digidestined found that he was indeed kind. He and Yolie were often together, either debating about some new equations or helping out at the Computer club.
"Hey guys, where are Davis and Cody?" Davis and Cody were the missing part of what was called the '02 digidestined,' or 'the younger digidestined.' Davis was Kari's other best friend besides T.K, and he was also best friends with T.K as well. He reminded Kari a lot of Tai, but at the same time she could spot a lot of differences between the two leaders of the digidestined. But Davis was a lot of fun to be around, usually, and so she did not care what faults he had. Cody was a serious young boy- much more serious than Ken was- who, although he was the youngest of the group, tried to protect them. He was very reliable and he used this trait of his to make sure he was there for his friends.
"They said that they would meet us at the park. Davis muttered something about he had to talk to his soccer coach and Cody has been requested to do a kendo demonstration at assembly tomorrow, so he is arranging that. But they promised that they would meet us at the park by the time we got there," Yolie replied, making a face as she recalled the messages they had given her. Kari decided not to ask what Davis had told the older girl. Yolie and Davis had a bad habit of arguing and fighting with each other, and they also called each other names. Kari thought sometimes that it was a little babyish for their ages, but then again, it was also a part of their personalities, and they never meant what they said.
"Well, we should probably head over there then. It really is a pity that our d3s don't open the gates to the Digital World anymore. I know that it is good that there is peace there but… I miss Gatomon and the others," she didn't know why she had brought up the Digital World. Maybe she had been thinking of her brother too much, or the other digidestined. They all seemed to be on different paths now. They hardly had a meeting now in which everyone attended. They were slowly drifting apart. She wasn't sure that anyone else had noticed. Joe had been the first one to miss meetings. As the oldest he had been the first to enter university, and studying medicine took a lot of work. He had often had lectures when their meetings had been planned. After that, Matt had his band and Sora had tennis. Tai, although reluctant to miss meetings, had his soccer. Mimi had moved to America, and when she moved back she had found an interest in modeling and cookery. Izzy was president of the computer club and he also had to study a lot because of his desire to win a scholarship. And she felt that it would only get worse with time if nothing happened.
"Yeah, if we could meet in the Digital World we could gather the whole team," T.K said, as if he had been reading her thoughts, "But for now the park is going to have to suffice. Maybe we can organize a group meeting when Tai and Sora get back." Kari felt the horrible feeling that she had felt before Tai and Sora had left come back again at T.K's words. She had a bad feeling that something was going to happen, and that she wasn't going to like it. But she just nodded in agreement and continued on to the park. She just hoped that the digidestined survived whatever was coming as a team.
When Sora emerged from the bathroom she found that it was nine o'clock and that Tai was nowhere to be seen. Her stomach was grumbling because she hadn't eaten, but she refused to go and get breakfast without Tai. After all, he had to order for her.
"Tai, where are you?" she felt a little stupid. She could basically see the entire room anyway, but she couldn't see Tai.
"I'm here," she turned to see him emerge from the… closet. He had been sitting in the closet. She raised an eyebrow in an unspoken question, "I was uh… trying to find something in my bag. I finally managed to find it, but I had to climb into the closet to get it. Here." He handed her a pamphlet which was in Japanese. It was a travel brochure which described the Louvre, a famous museum in Paris, and the Tuileries Garden.
"What is this for?" she asked, reading the pamphlet with interest. She had wanted to see the Louvre for a long time. She wasn't all that interested in art, but she knew that the Louvre was a place where some of the best art in the world was displayed. Tai rolled his eyes and practically pushed her out of the door.
"That's where we are going today, after we eat of course."
"Who says that you are in charge of what we're doing?" he just grinned and took the pamphlet back off her.
"I am in charge because I am the leader. Besides, you said yesterday that you wanted to see the Louvre, so why don't we go today? It's not as though you had planned to go elsewhere, right?" she sighed in defeat and allowed him to lead her out of the hotel. They had breakfast in a café around the corner, a lovely breakfast which mainly consisted of baguettes.
"So, how do we get to the Louvre?" Sora asked him as they left the small café. He took the pamphlet out of his pocket and began to study the map on the back of it. He didn't look overly confident though. Sora was about to suggest that maybe he should ask someone at the hotel for directions, but before she could even open her mouth, a blond teenager appeared, her red cheeks glowing in anger.
"Tai, je…" the rest of what the blond girl was yelling was lost to Sora, as the French words were incredibly foreign to her. She watched as Tai seemed to struggle to understand what this strange girl was yelling. Finally, when the girl stopped for a breath, Tai broke in to stop her.
"Catherine, that really isn't fair. And please try to speak Japanese; Sora doesn't understand a word you're saying and she looks kind of scared. I think that she thinks that you are insane," he was being awfully calm about the entire situation, considering the fact that quite a few French people had stopped to stare at the trio. The blond girl, who Sora now recognized as Tai's ex-girlfriend Catherine, took a breath and lowered her voice.
"I am sorry for the uh… misunderstand? I forget that French is not common in Japan," she then rounded on Tai again, "But I am not sorry for what I said. You deserve it." She then turned to Sora and beamed a smile at her, "Sora it is good to see you again. What uh… what doing you in Paris?" Sora smiled at Catherine's attempt to keep in Japanese. She was doing a lot better than when she had lived in Japan.
"Well, I was supposed to come here with Matt, but his band had a meeting, so Tai came along instead. We are here for a week and we are hoping to see a lot of the sites. We are probably going to go to the Louvre today," Catherine nodded, but she had a weird expression on her face. She turned to Tai and poured out a torrent in French. Tai turned red as Catherine continued, and he shook his head a couple of times. Sora could have sworn that she heard her name a couple of times, and Matt's as well as Tai's. She wondered what the French girl was saying. Finally Tai was allowed to reply. His French was slower and he seemed to struggle a little to find the words, but Catherine seemed to understand. As Tai's French was slower, she did hear her name and Matt's as well. When he had finished explaining whatever it was he was saying Catherine bowed her head and muttered something back to him. He grinned and turned to Sora.
"Sorry about that. I guess that we had a lot of catching up to do in a way," Sora understood to an extent. She thought that maybe they had broken up too quickly, and so they had needed to clarify their reasons or something. She was wrong, but she didn't need to know that.
"Ah, I too am sorry Sora. Now I can help you find the Louvre if you wish. I have nothing to do today and so I uh… I can… guide you," Japanese sounded weird with Catherine's accent, but Sora was just glad that she could understand. She hated not knowing what they were saying. Catherine began to lead them down one of the streets, pointing out some clubs and bars which were famous throughout the world and other little things like that. She explained the history of the city as best as she could. Sometimes she would lapse into French and Tai would have to help with a translation. Not that he understood what Catherine was saying all of the time. Once Catherine pointed to a building and explained something in French. Sora glanced over at Tai for the translation, but he just had a puzzled look on his face.
"They killed people in there?" he asked incredulously. Catherine burst out laughing, and tears came out of her eyes.
"No, no, there were many people kept there. I have no idea how you mixed what I said up with tuè. Tuè means killed by the way," Catherine added for Sora's benefit, "I don't know the Japanese word… they were kept there because they were bad." Sora helped her out.
"Imprisoned. They were imprisoned there- they were not allowed to leave. Am I right?" the blond nodded, still chuckling over Tai's translation mistake. Tai himself just muttered under his breath about French girls and stupid timetables, but he was grinning a little too. Sora was enjoying herself very much. When they eventually arrived at the Louvre they had to line up in a long line. Tai added long lines to the things that he was muttering about, and Catherine and Sora chatted about Japan and the Digital World, purposefully ignoring Tai's complaints.
"It sucks how we can't access the Digital World, doesn't it?" Sora said after Catherine had finished explaining how her Digimon had vanished, "I mean, it probably means that the Digital World is safe, but I can't help wondering how Biyomon is doing. I miss her a lot," Catherine nodded understandingly. She knew what it was like to miss a best friend.
"Fleurmon is my best friend and I miss her a lot, but I am glad that her home is safe. And I know that she is with friends, so that also makes me happy. I still uh… talk to other digidestined and so I have a new… circle of friends," they moved forward in the line and now they could see the place where they could buy their tickets.
"It is good that we can still contact digidestined around the world, but aren't you finding it hard to stay in contact? The Japanese destined are falling apart really. The Digital World seems to be our only connection to each other a lot of the time," Sora turned to Tai and frowned. What was that supposed to mean? He hadn't appeared to have even been listening to their conversation, but now he says something about the destined falling apart? She didn't understand what he meant.
"What do you mean? We still talk to each other a lot," she told him, a little annoyed. Was he suggesting that they were ignoring each other? He seemed startled that she had addressed what he had said. He hadn't meant to say that out loud, but apparently he had. He didn't really feel like explaining what he meant- it had been something that he had only spoken about with Kari.
"I was… careless in my choice of words. Anyway, we can buy the tickets now," he was right. They had somehow managed to get to the front of the line. They purchased their tickets and within minutes they were wandering around the large museum. Although he wasn't interested in art at all- every time his art teacher had told them that they were learning about the history of art he had managed to get thrown out of the classroom- he found that the museum was actually quite fascinating. Catherine had been to the Louvre many times and as she led them around she added her own commentaries about the paintings. By the time they had finished looking around he was starting to remember why he had had a lot of fun when he had dated her.
"So, what do you guys want to do for lunch? I know of a good restaurant nearby," Catherine suggested, her hair flying in the breeze. They were back outside the museum. They had only spent three hours there, which wouldn't seem a long time for most museum-lovers, but they had found that three hours was quite enough time to see everything and not get bored. And so now they had the problem of what to do for lunch. Catherine seemed intent on being their guide for the day- if not for the week- and as she seemed to know good places, they had no problems with letting her take them places.
"Lead the way Catherine," Tai grinned, "We trust you, and so we will follow you." Catherine smiled, and Sora could have sworn that she saw an evil glint in the blonde's eyes.
"Do you trust me to order for you as well?" even Tai seemed to sense that she was up to something, even though she looked perfectly innocent.
"I suppose it couldn't do much harm," he didn't sound very certain however. He remembered one time in Japan where he had ordered a 'traditional' Japanese meal for Catherine. She had refused to speak with him for a week. He hoped that she had forgotten about that. Sora nodded too.
"I want to taste some real French food. The baguette is really nice, but I can get that in Japan at the bakery. I want to be adventurous and try everything!" Tai looked at her as if she was crazy.
"If I learnt anything when I met Catherine it was that you should never say crazy things like that to her. She will take you up on your challenge," Tai warned her a little too late. Catherine's eyes were sparkling now.
"I know just what to order for both of you. Here's the restaurant now," they were ushered to a table for three and once they were allowed to order, Catherine spoke in rapid French. She hoped that her ex-boyfriend couldn't understand her. She made sure that she spoke quickly so that he would have less chance. Even so she saw his eyes widen as she mentioned the word frog. Sora was just looking at her curiously. Catherine liked Sora. She was dependable and she had a good sense of responsibility. The only thing that Catherine didn't like about Sora was the fact that the auburn-haired Japanese girl unknowingly held Tai's heart in her hand, and she was unconsciously twisting it. That had been what her conversation with Tai had been about earlier. She had known that he had loved someone else whilst he had been dating her, but she hadn't figured out who it was until that morning. And she understood everything now. She felt a little ashamed at the many times that she had insulted and hurt him now, but at the time she had been upset and angry. She had thought that he had just been using her, that he didn't care for her at all, but that he had wanted to get someone's attention by using her. But it hadn't been like that. Still, she had to get revenge on him for making her eat that 'sushi' or whatever it was called. Once the waiter had taken their orders and left, she settled back in her chair with a small, satisfied smile.
"So, what are we going to be eating?" Sora asked. Catherine just smiled a little mysteriously.
"I'll tell you once you have eaten it," she promised. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tai's face grow a little paler. He had told her that when he had ordered her the sushi.
"Okay," Sora seemed to accept that as an answer and again they just began to chat about whatever they could think of. Tai joined in on the conversation now, but he was still eyeing Catherine warily. Then the food came.
"This is quite yummy. It tastes like chicken," Sora and Tai had received the same meals. The food looked a little strange, but they were both hungry and so they had began to eat as soon as they could. Catherine had an amused smile on her face.
"What do you think Tai?" he didn't answer. He too had taken a bite, and he found it quite nice. But Sora's comment had reminded him of something he had heard in his French class.
"Now frog's legs are a delicacy in France. Many people say that they taste like chicken," there was a disgusted noise from the class. French people ate frog's legs? That was disgusting!
"How can they eat frog's legs? Frog's are slimy creatures!" a girl called out from the front row. The teacher sighed, obviously annoyed at the immaturity of her class.
"It's just like us Japanese eat sushi. Quite a few people find the idea of raw fish disgusting too. But frog's legs are really nice- they taste like chicken, but with an extra something to them."
Tai's fork dropped onto his plate and the two girls exchanged worried frowns.
"Are you okay Tai?" Sora asked. He blinked.
"Why did you order frog's legs for us?" he asked Catherine in way of a response. Sora paled now. Catherine just laughed.
"That was payback for you making me eat sushi. And Sora wanted to try something French. Come on, you guys like it! And it's pretty expensive, and so, as I'm paying, I will be offended if you don't eat it," both Tai and Sora began to eat again.
"You don't need to pay for this- you are already helping by taking us around the city," Tai mumbled as he looked at his plate. Catherine just waved her hand dismissively.
"My father is a millionaire. I'm paying. Besides, you guys have given me something to do this week. I'll be your guide from now until you leave. You can trust me to take you to fun places…" Tai and Sora exchanged glances. They had the feeling that this was going to be an 'interesting' week…
End of Chapter 3
Litanya: Well… there is this chapter. It is slightly longer than the others, so I hope that makes up for the lateness. Anyway, please review- I appreciate reader feedback! My next update will be a little late- probably between Saturday- Wednesday next week Australian time, as university is starting and I have other commitments. Anyway, see you soon (hopefully!)