Chapter Eighteen: Picking a Fight
(Kari's P.O.V)
I yawned slightly as I glanced over at the girl who was lost in her own world. When I had split from Takuya, Koji, and Koichi I had ended up bumping into Chrono. It was odd how we kept bumping into her, odd enough that I was starting to wonder if she was connected to us somehow. I had to wonder if she might play some part in what will happen in the near future. The Demon Lords have been far too quite so I'm starting to wonder what they had planned not to mention I'm starting to get antsy. They were going to start moving soon and once they did I don't know what'll do.
"Hey, won't your parents worry if you don't call them?" Chrono stopped doing whatever she was doing, I think she was drawing, and glanced up at me.
"My parents are on a business trip; well this is part of a business trip in truth they won't be home until next week." She sounded rather sad but really worried, something told me there was something hidden behind her words.
"Well actually not parents, it's just my father and me. I've never known who my mother was or my father was in truth." She leaned back and looked up to the sky but her words confused me.
"You said it was only you and your father but you didn't know who your father was? How is that Chrono?" She shook her head and closed her eyes.
"I'm adopted; I see the male I live with as my father whereas I never knew who my real parents were they gave me up when I was born. I've been with my father since I was a baby." She looked at me and she had a soft smile.
I gave her a small smile, I don't know why but I felt safe right now. I don't know why since the threat of the Demon Lords still hung over me but I didn't seem to feel that fear right now. I also couldn't figure out why I smiled so easily around her but I did. She tucked her white hair behind her ear when it fell into her face.
"Did you ever get teased because of your hair?" I hadn't meant to ask it out loud but she didn't seem offended by she nodded.
"Yeah I did get teased, I get teased now actually. I guess you're considered a freak if you have white hair." She sighed and quickly shook her head.
"There's one good that came of it though, it showed who my real friends would be." She smiled after that I was surprised.
When you're teased and treated like a freak no one likes you. Everyone's mean towards you and once you aren't deemed a freak then everyone will be your friend. That's what I learned. I looked at the table and I bit my lip. If I think about what she said I think of Davis, how he became my friend even when I got teased. He stood by me the whole time and after him it was Takuya, Koji, and Koichi. They're all true friends, people who would stick by me through thick and thin. I smiled slightly, maybe she is right.
"Maybe you're right Chrono." She laughed and I looked at her, this was the first time I've heard her laugh.
"There is no maybe Kari, I am right. When you're on the outside no temporary or situational friend will cross the line and befriend you, it's those people who cross that line and befriend you who will be your real friends." The shyness was gone in that moment, she sounded so confident.
"I'm gonna use your friend Koji as an example. He seems scary and intimidating when you first meet him and unless you get to know him he's like that. I know from seeing you two interacting, he's a loyal friend who wouldn't abandon a friend even if it meant that he would die. Takuya, the boy who everyone is friends with, he crossed the line and befriended Koji and now those two are best friends despite their differences." I was actually shocked that she could see Koji's real self from just what she witnessed between Koji and me.
"From what I've seen and heard Koji's gentle with you and he's protective of you. From what I've heard he kept himself separated from everyone but since you came around he's become a bit softer and nicer if only in those moments when he's with you. I'm not the only person who's noticed it either." She makes it sound like I'm important or special.
"Wait, what do you mean 'since you came around'?" She smiled slightly.
"I've heard that before this year you never attended the same school, I was talking to a teacher and they let it slip by accident." I was confused before her smile turned soft.
"Hikari Kamiya." My eyes went wide, she knew.
"I know you're only Takuya's adoptive sister but from the way he acts you two are siblings, you're secret is safe with me Kari." I wanted to deny it but something told me I could trust her despite not knowing her.
"You tell a soul you're gonna regret it." She smiled even though I had let the dark side of personality slip through but she didn't seem scared or surprised, it was as if she had expected it.
"That's good, that strong will is still there." She sounded a bit different in that moment but seconds later the tension wasn't between us.
We both turned to look at the new arrival, which had picked up Chrono's book. I narrowed my eyes when I saw Takeru; he reminded so much of the boy who teased me when I was younger. He smirked seeing me glaring at him.
"Oh how I love that look of yours, it brings back so many memories." He laughed slightly but his words made something click within me that made my eyes go wide.
"You just can't leave can you?" I looked to the boy who strolled up beside Takeru, he took Chrono's book, taking a glance at it before he turned and chucked it.
"No!" Chrono stood up and tried to run and catch her book before it went into the fountain.
Before she could even get passed them the maroon haired boy caught her around the waist and I saw him smirk. I stared at them and so many memories bounced around in my head, so many days came rushing back. I was only snapped out when her book hit the surface of the water with a splash. It couldn't be possible could it?
"You're cuter than you were the last time I saw you." My eyes slowly drifted back to Takeru.
"Even if that's so she ain't anything more than someone will just get people hurt." I gulped and I felt small suddenly.
I watched as Chrono sunk to her knees staring at the fountain. Her shoulders shook and she covered her mouth. I don't know why that book was so important to her but it was really important to her. I watched her hang her head and her bangs fell over her eyes and I had a feeling she was crying.
"After all it's your fault that Chrono's precious book just got tossed into the fountain, everything within it is now ruined." I curled my hands into fists, all because she was my friend she got hurt.
"How does it feel that even now you're hurting everyone?" I stared at them as they began to laugh.
They reminded me so much of the boys who messed with me when I was a kid. I couldn't believe the thought that entered my mind but there was no way it was true. The Kari of this world must've been messed with by them right? I mean my world's Takeru and Daisuke messed with me wait no; my world's Daisuke was my first friend. He was the friend that helped me to learn that things can be better, the friend that gave me the courage to become the friends I have now, to cross the line as Chrono had said it.
"It's not possible." I looked in between them, it isn't possible is it?
"Oh it is possible and it is true." Everything came crashing down in that moment.
The two kids who messed with were Takeru Takashi and Daisuke Motomiya but my first friend was Daisuke Motomiya well he goes by Davis now. I had always doubted that my world's Takeru was the one who messed with me since he was a crybaby and really nice when I met him during the Digital World stuff but he had the same name as boy who teased me. Never before, even when Takuya tried to explain it, had I guessed that it was possible that all along the two Takeru's were completely different Takeru's.
"But how?" There's no way that they were there but they're here but the thought of them being the boys who messed with me made sense but at the thought of how it fell apart because it didn't make any sense.
"Aw come on surely you know how after all I know you're no idiot." They really are the opposites of T.K. and Davis then.
"You're working with the Demon Lords." I muttered the worlds but that was the only way to explain it.
"Ding, ding we have a winner!" I was surprised when Daisuke grabbed me by my hair and threw me forward pretty much making me stumble.
"Five years ago we were told to break you, we thought we did but we didn't account for the other Daisuke. We never thought he would be able to mend you enough where you would make friends with the Warriors." They made my life hell growing up.
"His name's Davis, he hates the name Daisuke." The darker side slipped out a bit more.
"Oh yeah I know what'll break you for certain." Takeru laughed slightly and Daisuke took a few steps forwards, I noticed that Chrono had her hands on the ground but she was still.
"Remember when 'Davis' was in the hospital, said he fell down stairs? That ain't what happened, he came after us and tried to make us leave you alone. He was funny, thinking he was strong enough to mess with us when we had the Demon Lords on our side." I felt myself become numb as his words sunk in; I also realized how we were unnaturally alone.
"We were the cause of his injuries you know what he said though when we held him from falling down the stairs or throwing over the railing? He told us that he would make us pay for making you cry. Him making us pay? Ha, I still laugh every time I think about it!" I remembered that day when I heard that Davis was in the hospital.
I had went to the hospital and found him so banged up. He said he fell down a flight of stairs, I never believed him but I let it go. He had a broken arm and he actually had a broken leg that could've prevented him from playing soccer ever again. I remember when I heard that, I had asked him if he would be ok if he never got to play because he loved it; he said he would never regret what he did. Now that I know what actually happened I understand what he said, I understood why he said it.
"Don't give in; if someone challenges you don't be afraid to fight." I raised my eyes from the ground and to them, they were confused.
"What's that supposed to be?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Davis told me that when he was in the hospital after that." He said that one day I would fight back and that I did have the strength to protect my friends.
"So what, you can't protect anyone." Davis wasn't the only one who told me I had the strength to protect my friends, the twins and Takuya have also told me that.
"I must've hung out with Koji too much." My words confused them well until I kicked Daisuke in the side of his knee when served in taking his leg out and making him drop to his knees.
"By now I would think you would know your place." Some kind of symbol glowed on Takeru's hand, it was a symbol I didn't know but I knew for some reason it was Pride.
"Lucemon gave you power and I'm betting Daemon gave Daisuke power." I don't know how I knew I just knew.
"Yeah so what if they did? You don't have the Spirit of Harmony anymore which leaves you defenseless." I noticed something about Takeru; he wasn't trying to fight me.
"So you two are DigiDestineds then?" Takeru was standing back watching things unfold like Lucemon does.
T.K. hated the darkness but this Takeru loved the darkness, he had become an evil DigiDestined. I guess this goes to prove Koji's point about people have flipped personalities or in this case flipped views on things. I glanced at Chrono, she was stood up and her legs seemed a bit unstable and I caught sight of her face, she had really been crying.
"Nah we ain't DigiDestined, DigiDestineds have to either hide behind Digimon or as its seen with Takuya and your other two friends you have to turn into them. We have powers, kind of like you I guess you could say." Chrono looked at them and I saw something, she looked so angry even if you could see traces of tears.
"You ruined my sketchbook." Daisuke laughed and I watch Takeru shake his head.
"Yelp we ruined your sketchbook, it's because your friends with her. All of her friends get hurt because of her. Didn't you even kill someone?" I had to repress the tears when the image of Wizardmon jumping in front of me to protect me flashed within my mind.
"No, that wasn't my fault!" I screamed it at them.
I remember a few months ago, I don't know why but it seemed like Davis almost knew I was going to leave. He told me that no matter what, no matter how far away I was, I had everyone by my side. He said my greatest strength was my friends. He had always told me my friends didn't get hurt because of me; they got hurt because of the people who hurt me because those people are just spiteful.
"Oh really, it's not your fault that he's dead. What about just now? All because of the fact that Chrono is your friend she got hurt." I tried hard, I fought against it because I didn't want to become that person again but I was losing to the other side of myself.
The other side, a side that had awakened soon after I first met Davis. A side that wasn't afraid to fight for myself or my friends. It was the darker side of me, the violent and not so kind side. I hated that side because I didn't hesitate to be selfish, I did what I wanted. I don't know if it was meeting Davis that brought out the personality or just brought me out of that dark place where I hated my life and had even once wished that the teasing would stop even if I would disappear.
"She got hurt because you two are jerks! It's your fault that she got hurt!" When I saw Takeru laugh I finally snapped and I curled my hands into fists once again.
I think Chrono snapped to because she surged forward and she tried to hit Daisuke but he dodged her and he hit her in the gut. Her eyes widened and she stumbled backwards before doubling over, I watched shocked as she coughed and a bit of blood splattered onto the ground. I was shocked but that was soon replaced with anger.
"Ha, you're just as weak as the other Daisuke! You can't do shit against us!" I narrowed my eyes at them and my shoulders shook slightly.
"No she's weaker, she's born early so she gets sick often. I overheard you talking to the nurse you know, you think you can even hurt us?" She glared at them and her red eyes, even though they looked unfocused, I could see that spark of anger.
"You get so many innocent people caught up in the sad tale of your life, why can't you just die like this world's Hikari?" I was surprised by the hateful tone of Takeru's voice and I had to wonder if this world's Hikari had something to deal with why this Takeru hated me so much.
"She's gonna live, she has things to live for now." Chrono was breathing hard; she seemed to be fighting to breath.
"Oh shut up!" I lost the last bit of my control when Daisuke kicked Chrono in her head and that made her tumble back to the ground and she hit her head when she landed with a 'thud' since she had stood back up.
"Don't you dare hurt my friends!" That drew his attention but his eyes went wide, even Takeru was surprised, Daisuke stumbled backwards and grabbed his jaw.
They stood there stunned that I had actually punched Daisuke. Yes I hit someone. Maybe everyone thinks I can't or won't fight but once you push hard enough or hurt my friends I will fight. He crossed a line that he shouldn't have; I fought hard to hold this side in for so long.
"Oh you're gonna regret that you bitch!" Daisuke, finally snapping out of his shock, came at me.
I guess since I knew Davis I expected this Daisuke to favor kicks, like Davis did since he played soccer he was bettering at kicking people, yet that was what got me hit in my face. I stumbled backwards but the instincts for all of those battles I've been in kicked in and even been slightly dazed I managed to narrowly dodge the next punch that Daisuke had thrown at me.
"You know you actually hit pretty good." He managed to get me again since I thought he was going to punch me again but he kicked me in my side.
"You're disadvantage is that you know how the other Daisuke fights so you assume that I'll fight the same but there you are wrong. I am not weak like him; I know how to fight after all I am the tainted for Wrath." Tainted, I'm guessing that's what the people who get power from the Demon Lords are called.
"There's one thing that's the same, you two both have that I-am-going-win-this attitude in a fight." He scowled when I said.
"Looks like you don't being compared to Davis." He narrowed his eyes at me.
"Of course he wouldn't after all that Daisuke is weak and nothing more than a piece of trash." It made em angry but I smirked slightly.
"Davis ain't weak or trash, in truth he taught me something a few years ago." I connected it when I thought about how Daisuke had hit me.
"Daisuke's the one that ain't strong; you had to go to a Demon Lord to get your strength. You're a fake, a fraud! You're nothing more than a poser!" I laughed slightly; this was the darker side of me that I had locked away.
That seemed to piss Daisuke off and I think Takeru realized what I did when Daisuke charged at me. He began attacking in a pattern, a pattern that I liked to call the Rhythm of Rage. It was something that Davis did whenever he got angry enough; he attacked blindly without much thought. He relied on his nature instincts to lead him and so he falls into a basic rhythm that Daisuke had as well, they were the exact same at least with this. It was easy to dodge him because well you see before Takuya and the twins came 'round Davis taught me how to fight while Takuya and Koji helped me refine my skills.
"Daisuke, she tricked you!" I smirked a bit more, Daisuke didn't hear him just like Davis doesn't hear anything when he's like this.
I took one last step backwards and when he raised his fist to strike me I jumped to the side and he was sent off balance and he went stumbling forward. He landed hard on knees while his chest hit the side of the fountain and his head hand over the side of fountain, he groaned in pain. I glanced at Takeru, he was shocked and surprised by what I had managed to do, and I looked back to Daisuke. He stood back up, seeming to have cooled off but he fell on his butt seconds later he must've really banged up his knees falling on the stones that created a circle around the fountain.
"How'd you know?" In that moment I saw a bit of Davis, he seemed awed that I had known about the one flaw that, if he was like Davis then he told no one about that one flaw.
"It's none of your business really but if you have to know Davis told me." I noticed something flicker in his eyes before they hardened again and he was glaring at me, something about his eyes made me feel a little bad for him for some reason.
"Tch, you might be weak but you're smart. Oh well, I saw enough to know how your brain works. You'll become the hopeless girl again if you're cut off from your friends. You're nothing without your friends but soon enough you'll have no friends left." He began to walk away and even though I saw Daisuke flinch when he stood up he ran to catch up to Takeru.
I went to Chrono and I kneeled beside her. She was breathing but it was weak, I was careful as I moved her and even though I was still angry most had fallen away now but it made me a bit angrier when I saw a bit of blood on the stones. I was careful as I tried to wake her up, I couldn't carry her but we couldn't stay here. No there was a high chance a Demon Lord would come here after what went down just now.