Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Toei Animation does.
Ch. 14 With You
"So, anyway, even without you there we still would have stood a sporting chance against the other team except then Asama got struck down with the flu and—"
"Then you were out of your best striker and goalie," Tai finished with a heavy sigh as lay under the covers of his bed with his back propped up against multiple pillows.
"Hey, don't go getting a swelled head!" Sano mock-warned him. "I turned out to be an okay striker. It's mostly Kitagawa's fault for letting all the other team's balls pass into the net! He needed more time training."
"So'd how Coach take our loss?"
"You'll never believe this," Sano sniggered stifling laughter in his throat as he remembered.
"Come on, what?" Tai urged his curiosity now piqued.
"You know, afterwards, where everyone bows to the other team for a game well-played and the coaches shake hands?" Sano said drawing out the tale as slow as possible.
"Yeah?"
"Well, Coach sucker-punched the other guy under the jaw, snatched the trophy out of the presenter's hands and tried to make a wild break for it across the field! He got tackled by all four refs before he'd gone even halfway. He was kicking and cussing up a storm—they had to sedate him and took him away in a strait jacket, hahaha!" Sano crowed, laughing so hard he started to hiccup.
"You're joking!" Tai exclaimed in amazement. The story sounded too incredible to be true. No, actually, knowing his coach, it sounded too incredible not to be true.
"Hahaha—n-no, I'm not!" Sano managed to gasp out. "Call anyone, they'll tell you the same. Or better yet, read today's Sports section, here!" Digging into his backpack, the boy dug out a newspaper already carefully folded back to the correct page and thrust it into Tai's face.
Should We Be Concerned For The Morals Our Children Are Taught At Odaiba High? School Coach Goes Psycho! the headlines boldly read.
Underneath was a picture of the soccer coach being restrained by four people in black and white striped uniforms and beside him was a medical personnel on his knees administering a thick syringe into the irate man's bulging neck-vein.
"I. Am. So. Framing. This. Whoo, baby!" Tai whooped gleefully, the newspaper in his hands beginning to shake from his excitement. They said every cloud has a silver lining. Well, he had just discovered his from not being able to play for awhile.
"Go ahead and keep that one," Sano offered generously. "All the guys already have their copies. Just thought you'd like to be up-to-date."
"You're the best teammate ever!" Tai exclaimed a wide grin plastered across his face.
Music filled the air as his cell phone went off. Picking it up, his heart skipped a beat as he saw the number.
"Ooh, three guesses who that is and the first two don't count," Sano ribbed teasingly at his friend's complexion that had flared red suddenly.
"Shut up!" Tai glared at him.
"I think I better take my leave now," Sano said rising up from his cross-legged position on the floor. "The saying 'bros before…' well, you know, is so untrue."
"Just get out!" Tai snapped anxious to answer before the caller hung up. They were already on their fourth ring.
"I'm hurt, man, seriously," Sano sniffled, clutching at his chest as he pretended to stagger to the door. "I'm never talking to you again, you friend-shirker—"
Tai nailed him with a pillow to the head on his way out.
"Jun?" he said as soon as he was alone.
"What took you so long?" Jun asked, however he was heartened to hear there was only curiosity in her tone with no shred of anger at all.
"Ah, one of my teammates was here giving me the 411 on Coach's mental break-down at the Tokyo Soccer Stadium," Tai explained looking fondly at the picture again.
"Oh, I saw that in the newspaper too! Someone made copies and wallpapered the whole school with them!" Jun giggled.
"Sano forgot to mention that," Tai said imagining the scene. "I wonder, oh wonder who the culprit bold enough to do that could be?"
"Oi, oi, what's with that suspicious tone?" Jun questioned. "I only use photographs as blackmail when needed. What could I possibly gain from posting a picture already made public?"
"You're so right—it couldn't have been you. There's no profit in that action whatsoever."
"Glad we're beginning to understand each other," Jun said with what sounded like a trace of laughter in her voice.
A short silence stretched between them as the conversation lagged as both struggled to think of something else to say, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. In fact, Tai felt that he would be interested in anything Jun had to say, whether it be discussing the metamorphosis of caterpillars or the hydrologic cycle. He had no idea when listening to the sound of her voice had become his favorite past time rather than J-Rock, but he found he didn't mind the change at all.
"Hey," Jun finally spoke up. "I was wondering… if maybe I could come over later…"
"Oh, uh, actually, the Digidest—I mean, my friends are coming over later," Tai said stumbling over the words, trying to find the right way break the news lightly. Jun still got a little rankled whenever he used the term 'Digidestined' or 'Chosen Children', as if she was being shunned or purposefully excluded.
"I see," Jun said stiffly.
"I mean, I wouldn't mind if you came over!" Tai rushed to explain hurriedly. "It's just we're going to try and figure out who or what this unseen enemy is that we're up against exactly and planning our next move and—"
"And I'll only be in the way," Jun finished, the now-familiar sound of irritation creeping back into her tone.
"No! I just know you're not comfortable around them yet and I don't want them to upset you!" Tai cried before he could stop himself.
"Oh," Jun said and now she sounded surprised, embarrassed and… pleased all at once and Tai was amazed he could read all that from one uttered syllable. "Oh, alright then. I'll call you later, then, okay?"
"Okay," Tai said staying on line intending to wait until he heard her hang up.
The click never came.
"Are you still on?" Jun demanded.
"Yeah," Tai admitted smiling.
"Well, hang up!"
"Ladies first."
"You're so annoying!"
"Ditto."
"I'm really hanging up now!"
"Fine by me."
A few more seconds passed.
"Should I hum elevator music for you?"
"You wouldn't dare!" Jun shrieked.
Tai's response was to promptly launch into an off-key serenade of The Llama Song.
"NOOOO, STOOOOP!" Jun wailed. "You're so evil!"
"I do a pretty good rendition of This Is The Song That Never Ends too," Tai confessed.
"Earbud-murderer!" Jun screeched into the receiver, but she still didn't hang up.
So he was unwittingly caught giving a special performance when his friends walked in unannounced. He only noticed them halfway through the seventh repeated verse when a snicker was badly stifled and he jerked his head around to spot the older Digidestined plus his sister standing grouped in the doorway, amused smirks plastered across their faces.
"Don't you guys know how to knock?" he exclaimed embarrassed, breaking out of song and feeling his cheeks burn.
"Oh, are they there now?" Jun's voice drifted into his ear on the phone sounding resigned… and disappointed.
"Ah, yes, call you later, alright?" Tai said turning his face away quickly so the others wouldn't see his face ignite a deeper color.
"Alright," Jun said quietly.
Tai couldn't stop the swell of disappointment he felt himself when the phone's audible click was heard and their connection cut off.
"'Sup, everyone?" he drawled as he snapped his cell phone shut and lay back against the pillows with what he hoped was an air of casualness.
"Wow, Tai, the Otamamon and Gekomon did tell me you about your singing, but I had no idea you sounded like that!" Mimi tittered, hiding her smile behind her hand.
"Yeah, Tai has a great singing voice, doesn't he?" an orange blur cried as it flung itself forward and tackled him on the bed.
"Agumon!" Tai shouted happily as he hugged his partner that he hadn't seen in over two weeks. They had only been able to talk to each other via phone.
"Mmm," the small dinosaur nuzzled his snout into Tai's chest and breathed in his scent deeply. "You should ask Matt to let you sing one of the songs he stole from you. You deserve to get some credit after all!"
"What?" Matt asked, cocking a disbelieving eyebrow at the statement.
"Ahahahaha!" Tai laughed nervously, clapping his partner warningly on the back. "I really don't know what he's talking about. Digimon say the darnest things sometimes, don't they?"
"But Tai, you said—" Agumon started to protest confused.
"Hungry! I know you're hungry!" Tai interjected quickly. "Who else is hungry? I know I am! Kari, go get us some of Mom's delicious pickled beet soufflé!"
"Let the Digimon speak, Tai. I'd think we all like to hear what he has to say," Matt said crossing his arms appearing keenly interested.
"Oh, i-it's nothing, really," Agumon said catching on far too late. "I just think Tai has talent, that's all."
"Oh, he has talent, alright," Matt said dryly, but his expression looked more amused than anything else.
"Okay, okay, let's get down to business," Izzy spoke briskly taking the only chair available in the room, the one in front of the computer desk. The others made do with sitting on the floor. The rather, neat and spacious floor.
"Wow, Tai, your room is actually tidy for once," Sora said glancing about impressed.
"I'm setting a new trend for myself," Tai shrugged. "It's my New Year's Resolution."
"Mom cleans it," Kari supplied helpfully.
"Ratting out your own brother, how could you?" Tai scowled giving her a dirty look.
"Don't worry, I had a sneaking suspicion anyway," Sora chuckled.
"It's horrible!" Tai admitted frustrated. "Everything's so in order and perfect and I can't find anything! At least when it was messy I knew where things were!"
"You do realize what an oxymoron that is, right?" Izzy said.
"Hey, I was just making a point! There's no need to insult me!" Tai yelled.
It was when the others collapsed into a gigantic laughing fit that Tai made a mental memo to himself to brush up on his dictionary reading. When even Mimi got a word like that and not him, he knew it was time to study.
"So, where is everyone else?" he asked wondering where the younger members of the team were, hoping to change the subject.
"T.K. and Cody are in the Digital World right now looking for Arukeniemon and Mummymon, while Davis, Ken, and Yolei are searching for them here," Kari said. "They were the ones responsible for the Control Spires popping up all over the world and Ken says he's positive she has something more sinister up her sleeve. He thinks she set the whole thing up as one big diversion to distract us."
"A diversion…" Tai echoed. "From what?"
"From whatever she's really planning," Kari said. "He hasn't said it out loud, but I think he's worried about the one controlling her, the one Azulongmon told us was our true enemy. And… something else happened too…"
"T.K. said that Mom met a man who told her that 'what happened five years ago isn't over yet'," Matt shared, a small frown-line etching its way across his forehead at the disturbing piece of news. "Apparently, they had met before when Myotismon had taken over the city and by the questions she says he asked, it looks like he knew or at least suspected that the Hikarigaoka Incident was no mere bombing either."
Tai really didn't like the sound of all this. "Was he… human?" he asked tentatively.
"That's what T.K. asked Mom and she claims he was," Matt said, the frown-line not disappearing. Maybe Tai should warn him about his beauty complexion in danger of being marred.
"So does that mean whoever is behind the curtain can control humans too?" Tai wondered.
"If they can, that definitely does not bode well for us," Izzy declared. "However, I think we're missing the bigger picture here. What if the human, whoever he is, has aligned himself with the enemy out of his own free will? Worse, what if he isn't the only human? What if there are more out there taking sides against us?"
"But why?" Mimi cried after a few horrified moments of silence. "Why would any human do that? Aren't they usually too appalled and frightened of Digimon to even stick around once they see one?"
"No," Matt spoke up suddenly, his tone hard and laced with a tinge of regret. "No. Some humans are too curious for their own good. And some Digimon… can be very persuasive with their words…" The blond looked up, blue eyes clashing eyes with Tai's brown, before he looked away albeit ashamed and Tai knew he was remembering Cherrymon.
"I don't like saying this, but we may have to fight humans as well as Digimon in the future," Izzy stated grimly. "We might want to prepare ourselves for that day."
It was a dark and foreboding revelation and Tai wondered if everyone else's stomach besides his own was curdling at the thought… although, that could also be his mother's miso soup-in-a-bowl-nine-days-old that he had eaten for breakfast earlier.
"Tai," Agumon murmured. The small dinosaur was curled up against his side with his head in his lap and his limbs sprawled possessively over his partner much in resemblance of a hairless cat. "I understand why Digimon fight each other, but why would humans want to hurt their own kind? All the ones I know are really nice. Do some have a Virus in them too?"
"Yes, Agumon," Tai said, a lump growing in the back of his throat as he thought of the violent crimes broadcasted daily on tv. "Some humans have a Virus in them too."
There really wasn't much left for the Digidestined to discuss afterwards and with only thin speculation for them to go on, they had a difficult time coming up with any sort of plan at all. Their quest for ideas turning up fruitless and combined with the heat of the room made only hotter by the mass of bodies inside only soon created an undesirable, irritable atmosphere.
"Guys, guys, can we take this brain-storming fest outside, please?" Tai pleaded finally and received astonished stares his direction.
"Are you… allowed?" Joe asked.
"I'm not a complete invalid, I can walk!" Tai scowled sourly, flinging the covers off him and swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
His attempt to stand up was met with a surge of out-stretched hands that pushed him back onto the mattress along with a flurry of objections.
"Stop! Are you crazy?"
"You shouldn't be moving so abruptly—it's not healthy or safe!"
"Don't be so hot-headed you put your recovery at risk!"
"Guys, it's fine!" Tai shouted, swatting aside their restraining hands. "As long as I wear this brace-thingie, I'm supposed to increase my physical activity! I'm sure a walk around the block is not going to kill me!"
His skills of arguing were becoming very convincing of late going by how he had successfully managed to make everyone back away and eye him over thoughtfully. Maybe he should look into this politician role that Jun had suggested later on… just for fun, of course.
"The doctors said bed rest for three weeks," Kari pointed out. "It's only been two."
"Two and a half," Tai glowered at her.
His sister chewed her lip contemplatively while the others appeared to be teetering on the verge of giving in.
Tai sighed wearily, crossed his heart and raised his left hand. "I swear I won't go rushing off to the rescue if there's a building on fire, an outbreak of plague or any rogue Digimon trashing the city, alright?"
His pledge seemed to have mollified his friends whose faces broke out into smiles. Kari still looked worried, but she relented nevertheless. "Okay, Tai, I trust you," she said before turning to the others. "Just make sure we enclose him in a circle so he won't be tempted."
"Hey, my back is hurt not my ears!" Tai yelled.
oOo
It was quite a refreshing experience to walk freely in the crisp, wintry air. The only exercise he had been getting lately was treading around the apartment from his room to the kitchen, living room or bathroom. He had even taken to counting the exact number he could pace back and forth in his bedroom. It was approximately fourteen paces from his bed to the window and eleven and a half from his closet to the door. He had never thought he would be so sick of seeing the walls of his own room. He had even turned his soccer posters around so he could doodle on the back of them just for a change of scenery. Everything was exciting for him from the gum stuck on the sidewalk to railing fenced around the trees. He would never take anything for granted ever again!
"Tai, are you skipping?" Sora asked incredulously.
"No," Tai said a little too quickly stopping in place to plant both his feet firmly on the ground.
"Those were some great moves there, twinkletoes," Matt snickered.
"Just because my spine is fractured doesn't mean my fists have lost their ability to give you a knuckle-sandwich," Tai growled.
"You really shouldn't be jostling your spine up and down like that anyway," Joe frowned. "You could damage it further."
"Maybe we should head back now," Kari said appearing relieved. "We've already walked two blocks further than we agreed on."
"Well, the weather is turning out to be a little drab," Izzy put in glancing at the late afternoon sky where grey storm clouds had gathered ominously.
"We wouldn't want to get caught out in the rain," Mimi agreed. "It's not healthy. I mean," she continued hastily seeing Tai's annoyed expression. "Our spirits are already dampened—let's not do the same to our hair!"
"God, you guys are such a bunch of Nannymon!" Tai burst out pushing through them not about to let his outing be cut so short. The only way they were going to get him to go home this soon was if they dragged him back kicking and screaming. "I don't know what you're so worried about! I'm perfectly fine on my ow—WHOA!"
He found himself pitching face-forward without warning the pavement rushing up to greet him before he was snagged by a firm grip from behind two seconds before impact.
"Okay, I think I rest my and everyone else's case here," Joe said, his eyes narrowing in displeasure from behind his glasses.
"It wasn't my fault! It was his!" Tai protested pointing at the small boy whose baseball bat he had tripped over to the fact the kid had been using it to run along the bottom of the metal bars of the crosswalk-bridge they were currently stopped. "Hey, kid," Tai snapped at him. "Don't you know better than to play games up here? It's dangerous!"
The boy had the audacity enough to stick out his tongue cheekily at him and blow a raspberry before taking off down the stairwell.
"Get back here, you little brat!" Tai shouted starting to chase after him… however Joe was stronger than he had realized.
"Tai, don't make me use this," Joe said taking a folded white linen cloth out of his coat pocket and waving it threateningly under his friend's nose.
Tai reeled back from the overpowering, sickly sweet smell, his eyes watering. "D-Dude, is t-that chloroform? Are you freaking kidding me?"
"I'm not joking," Joe warned him. "You may not be taking this whole spinal fracture recovery rate seriously, but the rest of us are. I don't want to use this, but… unfortunately, they still won't allow me access to needles at my internship," Joe finished sadly.
Tai gaped at him in disbelief, then from the highway of cars than ran below them came a chorus of screeching tires and honking horns.
"What is it?" Mimi cried rushing over to the railing for a better view.
"Is it the kid?" Sora asked hurrying beside her.
"No, I see him. He's over there!" Izzy said pointing to the left where the boy with the baseball bat stood on the sidewalk staring transfixed at something in the middle of the road.
Something that had caused a traffic jam in the left-hand lane. A lone figure standing still in the sea of cars that sped past since the person refused to budge. A person with familiar chestnut spiked hair…
Tai's blood ran cold at the sight chilling him to the bone more than the sudden onslaught of rain that poured down from the sky. He ripped out of Joe's grasp with energy he wasn't sure where it had come from and raced like a man possessed down the wet stairwell.
"Tai, stop! Not so fast! You'll slip!" he heard voices call from behind him but he plunged on ignoring their concerned cries.
His heart was pounding rapidly and his stomach felt like it had leaped into his throat. An invisible cord of panic tightened around his chest. There was a wild kind of terror streaking through his veins as he dashed headlong into the oncoming traffic without hesitation.
"JUN!" he yelled, the name tearing itself free from his mouth in a frantic, desperate tone.
Reaching her side, he grabbed the girl by the wrist with one hand and wrapped his other about her shoulder and steered them blindly through the speeding vehicles back to the safety of the sidewalk.
"What in the world were you thinking?" he shouted at her the minute his lungs had begun to breathe normally again and now his fear was quickly cooling off and being replaced by anger.
Jun didn't appear to have heard him. She didn't even seem to be aware of his presence in front of her. Her brown eyes were staring straight through him as if he weren't there, vacant and glassy.
"Answer me!" Tai ordered, shaking her roughly by the arms. "Do you have a death wish or something?"
A tiny gasp was the girl's only sign of response as she slowly drifted out of the numb spell she had fallen into. Violent trembles shook her frame and it was then that Tai realized she wasn't wearing a coat, only a thin, long-sleeved shirt over a short skirt that were now thoroughly drenched by the rain. But somehow, he doubted she was trembling from the wet and cold.
"Jun, you sounded fine earlier… what happened?" he asked softly.
The girl lifted her head up to reveal the hollows of her cheekbones on her pale face. Dark shadows ringed under her brown eyes brimming with unshed tears.
"I-I…" Jun managed to croak huskily, her voice barely above a whisper. "I ran… into this w-weird man earlier… he looked like someone dressed for a c-cosplay party," a weak giggle bubbled out of the girl's throat before she got herself under control. "He asked me if I was h-happy the w-way I am n-now. He s-said… he said he could m-make me s-superior… t-that all my w-wishes would be g-granted…"
A wave of uneasiness swept over Tai at the girl's story. He couldn't help but remember the conversation earlier.
"T.K. said that Mom met a man who told her that 'what happened five years ago isn't over yet'."
"I d-didn't k-know what he wanted f-from me," Jun choked out. "B-but I do know I w-wanted what he was offering… even if it did sound imp-possible…"
Jun may have given up on Matt, but Tai knew there were other things the girl desired desperately.
oOo
"Promise me I can have a Digimon too."
oOo
"Tell me how I can get to this Digital World then so they can find me."
oOo
"Keep your precious monsters all to yourself! You think you're someone special because you have one? You think it makes you a better person? Well, you're not! You're no different than the rest of us! None of you!"
oOo
"I w-was going to ag-gree…" Jun stuttered, her words slurring together as if her tongue was made of lead. "I d-didn't care w-what the p-price was… but then… this woman appeared… she l-looked like a Halloween w-witch…"
Tai's mind jolted in sudden recognition. Perhaps Jun hadn't run into this mystery human after all. Was she talking about Mummymon and Arukeniemon?
"She c-called the man an i-idiot… she s-said I was too o-old for it to spr-rout p-properly… then they l-left me…" Jun wheezed, her violent trembling grinding to an abrupt stop. "They left me…" she repeated piteously. Her eyes widening as she looked up at him, through him into nothing. "They left me… why?" she whispered in a myriad of chants. "Why, why, why, why, why, why, WHY," Jun screamed as her hands shot out and seized the front of his coat tightly. "WHY AM I NEVER GOOD ENOUGH?"
Tai stared at the girl clinging to him not bothering to mask her heaving sobs that were clawing their way out of her throat with an agonizing conviction.
Footsteps splattering on the wet pavement pulled his attention momentarily away. Glancing behind him, he saw that his friends had reached the bottom of the stairwell and were drawing nearer every second, puzzlement showing clearly upon their countenance.
Tai turned back to Jun whose face had regained some color, even if it was a splotchy red from crying so hard. The girl's gaze had become unfocused once again, her grip on his coat growing slack. He couldn't let them see her like this. Especially Matt. She may have not cared now if anyone saw her, but later, when she was in her right mind again, she would.
Gently, he took her hands in his and pried them off his coat where they fell limp at Jun's side. With one swift movement, Tai whipped off his coat and placed it over the girl's shoulders, tugging the hood down over her face so she was shielded from the rain… and any other unwelcome stares.
Jun didn't seem to have noticed a change in her attire nor the manner in which Tai placed his arms around her and drew her close to his side, carefully leading them away in the opposite direction of the Digidestined.
They didn't try to stop him from leaving this time.
Tai wouldn't have listened to them anyway if they had.
oOo
Tai's Haiku Corner
Courage never knew what
Fear could be until the day
I almost lost you.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Wow, so it's been like a month since I've updated. Whoo! Sorry, guys. Real life, what can I say? Anyhoo, this chapter was going to be longer, but since I need to really polish the next scene, I figured why make you wait any longer? Yes, I'm sure you guys will really enjoy the next chapter, heeheehee!^^ Did you guys expect any of what you just read by any chance? I should state clearly here that no, Jun wasn't trying to kill herself. She just had absolutely no idea of her her surroundings or the danger she was in. Shock will do that to you. Well, someone pointed out that I never said if Jun received the Dark Spore or not. Hmmm, I thought it was obvious, but *glances back at what she has written* it does looks ambiguous! Hahaha! Well, I'll think I'll just let you all fret about that until the next chapter, but if you all recall a certain fact in the timeline where the story is now, you should come upon the correct answer.
Fun Facts:You got it. Title of the chapter shamelessly named after Avril Lavigne's song "With You". It's not my fault her songs fit so well with the scenes! DX I'll have you all know, I wasn't a fan of hers until I started writing this fic! Now I love that artist. Anyway fic stats: IT'S OVER 9000! *spews blood* Holy Shellmon! O.o You guys rock my socks so much! It makes my heart melt seeing how much this fic is loved. *sniffles* ; 3;
Other news: I promised myself I'd tell you all even though it's sort of embarrassing. Yeah, I totally can say by first-hand experience now I understand what Tai went through. I slipped on water on the floor, fell on my back and banged myself good. I had to get X-rays of the spine and my left elbow. I wanted my head examined too since I hit the backside of it pretty hard, but apparently, they decided by reflexes I had no hemorrhaging of the brain. I'm luckier than Tai though. No broken bones or fractures even, just internal bruising of the muscles, but lemme tell you, that even that freaking hurts like hell. Thank heaven for Icy Hot patches! Enough about me. I just wanted to share this with everyone because well, it's pretty ironic that this happened right after I wrote it in a chapter. No, seriously, sometimes I scare myself…
I hope you have enjoyed reading this! Please review and share your thoughts and favorite scenes. I love hearing what you liked best and it's the only reward a fanfic author gets. I like knowing what my readers think and feel. Thank you!^^
