WARNING: None.
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this marvelous universe; it all belongs to Toei Animation, I believe.
Dedication: My family. Even though sometimes you make me want to rip my hair out. I love you all the same. :D
Reviewers: N/A
Author's Note: So . . . yeah. I'm editing the chapters so the whole story will flow better. I'll leave alone the last three or so chapters, but I'm revamping some of the early ones. You never know: I may just fix some grammar or editing problems or I may be adding small bits in. Nothing big will be added, but the characterization of everyone will be more thorough. Sorry this isn't a "real" update, but I couldn't help myself!
Rating: T
Poll – Please take the poll located above my bio. I'm just curious, really. :D
xXxXxXxXxXx
Sora finished placing her books in her locker and grabbed the few she needed before turning around to see an anxious Joe.
"Are you okay?" She asked, while readjusting her books into a more comfortable position. Joe quickly dropped his worried expression and plastered a smile on his face.
"I'm fine," he answered quickly, smiling widely. Sora repressed the urge to roll her eyes.
"I'm serious, Joe. What's wrong?"
Joe's smile fell and his face grew worried again.
"It's nothing serious," he hastened to assure her, "it's just we're pretty late - even counting first days. I guess we talked too long," he laughed and scratched the back of his head. Sora raised an eyebrow and Joe blushed slightly. He slowly removed his hand.
"S-sorry. I guess, I'm hanging out with Tai too much."
Sora smiled, "It's fine. But," she frowned slightly, "if we needed to hurry up, you could have just told me."
"I know," Joe admitted, his shoulders slumping slightly, "but I really wanted you to have a stress free first day. Which is going to be hard since we have Mrs. Nicoski for first period."
Joe started walking down the hallway and Sora followed leisurely. "I'm sure she'll give us a break, though. I mean, it is only my first day."
"You would think," Joe muttered. He spoke louder, "She's really mean, but she does get her point across. I just hope she doesn't scare you off."
Sora laughed slightly, "I'm sure I can take care of myself. I have been in High School for two and half years already."
"Oh . . . yeah. I know that." Joe blushed slightly.
"I know what you mean. I'm new here so it's basically like I lived on an alien planet for most of my life."
Joe nodded, "Pretty much."
"Well, I didn't. I only moved because my mother got a new job."
Joe frowned, "What about your dad?"
Sora bit her lip. Joe hurriedly spoke again, "No, no! Don't tell me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. What's your business is your business. Sorry."
Sora smiled again, "It's not a problem. It's just . . . I don't see my dad a whole lot, so it's kind of a rough subject for me."
Joe nodded, "I can understand that. One of my . . . well, old friends, I guess."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Well, he's not really my friend anymore, but . . . Anyway, he's not very close to his mother because his parents got divorced when he was really young."
"That's so sad . . ."
Joe nodded glumly. "Yeah . . . it really is. But enough of that!" He perked up. "Let's get going to class. Hopefully, Mrs. Nicoski will give us a break."
"You don't sound too confident about that," Sora replied.
Joe shrugged, throwing his large, black backpack over one shoulder. "I'm not really. But that's okay."
Sora smiled and nodded. "I hope everyone's like you in this school, Joe," she said softly.
Joe stiffened for a moment in surprise before breaking out in a grin. "I don't think so. But I'll always be here."
Sora resisted the urge to throw her arms around the slightly erratic boy. She briefly wondered when she had become such a softy before responding to the blue-haired boy. "Thanks . . ."
They walked in companionable silence down the corridor until Joe sighed and turned around to face the red-head. He gestured towards the door slowly.
"There it is."
"Wow . . . ?"
Joe smiled widely before becoming serious and putting his hand on the door handle. "Here we go," he muttered to himself. Sora had a smile plastered on her face, but she really doubted this Mrs. Nicoski could be so bad.
Every noise in the room stopped and all the people (including the teacher) turned around to look at them. The students stared in interest while Mrs. Nicoski looked like she was going to blow a casket.
"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Kido."
Joe dropped his head in shame and Sora felt an unexplainable burst of anger well up in her.
"Miss . . . ?" The teacher asked, her gaze softening only slightly as she looked at Sora.
Sora smiled shakily, "Takenouchi. Sora Takenouchi."
She blushed faintly when she heard one of her classmates start humming the James Bond theme song, but mostly contained her composure.
Mrs. Nicoski glanced down at a few papers she had neatly stacked in her hand. "Ahh, yes. Since it's your first day, I'll cut you a break for being so late." She smiled slightly, before darkening. "Just don't do it again, please."
Sora nodded vigorously. "Yep. I mean, nope. Not going to happen again. You can count on me, Mrs. N!"
She held her hand up as if to high-five her, before growing red in the face and slowly retracting her hand.
Mrs. Nicoski looked slightly amused. "Joe, you can take a seat." Joe nodded and sent a sympathetic look towards Sora as he made his way to the middle of the classroom.
Mrs. Nicoski glanced around the room. "Miss Takenouchi . . . you can seat with the . . . err, green-haired girl."
Sora looked slightly puzzled, but smiled slightly as she saw a short, pale girl waving her hand energetically. She walked to her seat in the back, trying to ignore the whispers that her classmates were exchanging. 'No doubt about me,' she thought anxiously.
She took a seat and the green-haired girl smiled at her.
"Hey, Takenouchi, Sora Takenouchi."
Sora laughed out loud. "And you?"
The green-haired girl's face lit up. "Ohh, I'm Carleton. Allie Carleton."
"Nice to meet you Carleton, Allie Carleton."
Allie smiled as she slipped an arm around Sora's shoulder. "I think this will be the start of a beautiful comradeship."
Sora laughed, "Me too."
xXxXxXxXxXx
Meanwhile, in room 702, Davis, Ken, and Yolei exchanged notes as the teacher prattled off information they had already learned. Their regular teacher was out today, so they were stuck with a substitute who was stuck with yesterday's notes. Needless to say, not many people were paying attention. Davis looked around and stuck a crumpled piece of paper into Ken's hands.
Ken!! Ken, answer me! I NEED TO TALK TO U!!
Are you trying to yell at me in a NOTE? We really should be listening, Davis.
Oh, plz. Even u kno its pointless. We already learned this.
Still . . . shouldn't we be respectful to the substitute?
Yea, probably. But we wont.
Fine. What is it that you need to talk to me about?
If u really don't kno u shdn't be able to call urself my best friend. U kno what im talking about!!
Well, I don't! What are you talking about?
U realy shouldn't steal things, Yolei. This was a PRIVATE convo.
You know you would have told me eventually. So, spill. And stop using chatspeak. It's infuriating.
Fine, fine. Ken and I were going to talk about my new (drumroll please) OPERATION!
No, we were not.
Yes, we WERE.
I don't really care either way. Who is the innocent girl you're targeting this time? And did you already pick an operation title? Because, no offense, you suck at it. Ken and I are much better.
I do NOT suck. And yes, I do have a operation title. Operation: Make The Girl Fall Wildly In Love With The Irrevocably Handsome, Always Charming, Amazingly Awesome, Davis Motomiya. Or MTGFWILWTIHACAADM for short.
For short?
. . . Yeah. As I said, leave the operation titles to me or Ken. You didn't answer my question, though. Who is the unfortunate soul this time?
Kari Kamiya. Correction: The amazingly hot Kari Kamiya.
Idiot.
KARI KAMIYA?! ARE YOU FRIGGEN' CRAZY, DAISUKE?!
Hey! What's that supposed to mean?! And don't call me DAISUKE!!
It means, hello, Kari Kamiya is SOOO out of your league. Plus, she's dating.
WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP SAYING THAT?!
It's kind of important Davis.
No, it's not. Minor technicality.
Davis . . . you should really consider dating girls who are actually interested in you.
Girls? Interested in Davis? . . . Okay.
KEN! I'M GONNA KILL YO -
I was just kidding, Davis.
Yeah. I knew you were, Ken. Honestly, though, Dai. You should consider it.
Why? Do you know a girl who's interested in me? Is she hot?
Because I know a girl who might like you. Yes. Matter of opinion.
Way to get straight to the point, Yolei.
Cool!! Who is she? Who is she?
Are you still going after Kari?
Heck, yes! Why?
It doesn't matter . . .
Yolei stopped writing abruptly, turning her head so that she was facing away from her two male best friends. Davis's brow furrowed and he crumpled up the piece of paper they were previously writing on and launched it at her head.
Unfortunately for all of them, the substitute was in the middle of asking questions, so the airborne piece of paper didn't go unnoticed. Yolei whirled around in her desk and glared daggers at Davis. The substitute calmly walked over and picked up the wrinkled piece of paper.
"Hmm. What do we have here?" The substitute asked, smoothing out the paper. Davis's eyes widened and he shared a frantic glance with Ken.
"Nothing," Davis and Yolei answered at the same time while Ken remained frozen in place. Davis and Yolei shared a look of repugnance before turning nervously back to the substitute.
"Really?" The tawny-haired, neat looking substitute asked firmly.
"'Ken! Ken, answer me! I need to talk to you!' Hmm . . . doesn't sound like nothing to me, don't you agree?" He directed the question at the rest of the class who agreed traitorously, not wanting to get on the bad side of the stand-in.
At the look of horror on all three children's faces, the substitute took mercy.
"Alright, alright. Don't get your panties in a bunch. I won't go on. As long as you answer me one question: What is my name?"
Davis stared blankly at the man while Yolei and Ken furiously racked their brains for any clue to the man's name. Davis glanced around the class and found, to his delight, a sympathizing classmate mouthing the man's name to him.
"You're name is Mr. Kiel," Daisuke replied confidently.
Mr. Kiel looked slightly startled and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well . . . you are correct."
"Thanks," Davis said loudly, addressing both Mr. Kiel and the blonde-haired girl who had helped him out.
Davis glanced back at Yolei and Ken who had matching looks of astonishment. Davis flashed them a peace sign.
xXxXxXxXxXx
It was now fifth period and Sora trailed anxiously behind in the hallway. Joe had left at second period because he had a different class and she hadn't been able to catch up with him since. She had made a few friends in class (like Allie Carleton), but it was still a little awkward being the only one not taking as she made her way to her next class.
Suddenly, a red-faced, wheezing Joe Kido propelled himself in Sora's direction. Sora let out a yelp of surprise, but her momentary surprise quickly turned to happiness.
"Joe!"
Joe smiled, "Hey Sora. I'm not in your fifth period class, either, but I forget to mention that one of my friends is. Izzy. I told you about him, right?"
Sora nodded and Joe continued, "Well, he has red-hair and deep, black eyes. Ohh. I can't really describe him." Joe maneuvered his books in one hand and stuck his free hand in his pants pocket. He grimaced, searching around for awhile until he finally pulled out a tattered wallet.
"Can you get the picture? It's kind of old, but you should still be able to recognize Izzy. He's the one of the left."
Sora nodded and quickly leafed through his wallet. She smiled triumphantly when she pulled out a crumpled photograph.
"Here," she said absentmindedly as she handed Joe back his wallet.
Joe smiled at her and stuffed his wallet into his back pocket. He glanced at the clock at the wall. "I'm sorry Sora, but I have to go. My next class is on the other end of the school. Remember, the kid on the left!" Joe explained as he turned around and headed down the emptying hallway.
"I got it!" Sora yelled to him and she glanced down at the photograph in her hands. It seemed to be taken a few years ago. Joe was in the middle, smiling widely as usual. He looked the same as the kid in the photograph, except more mature and his hair was slightly longer now. To the left of him was a red-headed shorter boy. 'Izzy,' Sora thought absently. On their right was a blonde, attractive looking boy with his arm strung around a tall brunet. Sora whistled lowly in her throat. Sure, the blonde was hot, but the other guy was really good looking, too. Bronze skin, dark hair, a great smile . . .
The bell ringing shattered Sora of her thoughts and she blinked slowly. She glanced at the clock then her schedule.
"Shoot," she muttered before running off as she stuffed the photo in her back pocket.
xXxXxXxXxXx
It was finally lunch time and Izzy and Tai were leisurely making their way towards their regular cafeteria table.
"Izzy," Tai whined, "The cafeteria food sucks! Why can't they actually give us edible food?!"
Izzy frowned in thought before answering quickly. "Well, Tai, I suppose they want to save money. As you know, the budget was cut down a few years ago, so I suppose they're cutting down on spending."
Tai groaned. "What could they possibly spend it on? Food is the important thing!"
Izzy smiled at his friend, "Actually, education is. That is the reason we're going to school, Taichi."
Tai waved off his shorter friend offhandedly. "Yeah, yeah. I hear you."
They continued to talk for awhile before Tai turned around and promptly yelled out: "Who is that?"
Izzy looked up from his book (which was in his free left hand) and gave a purr of recognition. "Oh, that's Sora Takenouchi. She's in my writing class. Joe is her student guide, so he invited her to eat lunch with us. Is that okay with you?"
Tai nodded absently, a dreamy look plastered across his features. "Uh huh. Whatever you say, Izzy."
Izzy groaned, rolling his eyes at his best friend. "You've never even met the girl, Tai."
Tai pouted slightly, his lowering lip sticking out. "But I will. And it'll be amazing. You'll see!"
Izzy nodded and walked ahead. "Uh huh. Sure, Taichi."
The brown-haired boy narrowed his eyes slightly. "Izzy!" His friend ignored him and Tai tried once again, "Izzy!"
No response. Tai narrowed his eyes even further. 'That's it,' he thought humorously. Tai flung a piece of his white, dried out mashed potatoes and successfully hit Izzy in the back of the head. Izzy immediately stopped walking and his hand flew to the back of his head.
"Tai," he growled scarily, turning around quickly.
Tai smiled sheepishly. "You, uh, wouldn't answer me."
The red-head grinned ominously. Tai's eyes widened as he saw Izzy pick up a spoonful of his creamed corn and start to bend the plastic spoon back.
"No, Iz," Tai began. Izzy shook his head and let go of the back of the spoon. Tai ducked quickly and the spoonful of creamed corn hit the person behind him. 'Lucky them,' he thought airily.
"AHHH!!"
Almost every noise in the cafeteria stopped abruptly and Tai turned around slowly to see the unfortunate receiver of the flying corn. He flinched as he saw Mimi Tachikawa's outraged face.
"Who threw that?" She asked shrilly, as a few girls around her patted her down with their napkins. Just then, Matt Ishida walked by the disaster scene talking with one of his friends. Mimi's eyes narrowed and she whirled around.
"You!" She said accusingly, holding a shaking finger out at the blonde. Matt groaned barely audibly, but turned around.
"What?" He asked, annoyed.
"What? What?! What do you think?!" She gestured angrily towards her white shirt (which was now splattered with Izzy's creamed corn). Matt stared blankly at her and Mimi shrieked indignatly.
"You pig," she said lowly and slowly and deliberately poured her Diet Coke over his head. Matt's eyes widened under his now wet, sopping bangs. Izzy and Tai shared a frantic glance and just like they rest of the cafeteria, waited anxiously for Matt's reaction.
"I didn't throw anything," Matt answered in calm voice. He tilted his head to the side. "Yet." He abruptly grabbed a piece of pizza off his own plate and threw it at Mimi. Mimi screeched and jumped to the side. The pizza landed in a table of Juniors. Someone yelled 'Food Fight' and suddenly the cafeteria was filled with flying food.
Izzy ducked behind a trash can, "Tai! Look what you did!"
"I didn't do anything," Tai retorted indignantly, skillfully using his (now empty) plastic tray to avoid the flying food. "You were the idiot who wouldn't answer."
Izzy began to retort, but stopped when they both saw Joe flagging them down from below their table. Tai ran quickly, dragging Izzy with him. They dove under the table and Tai grinned when he saw a flash of red hair.
"Hi. I'm Taichi Kamiya," Tai said happily, sticking out his hand at the disgruntled, red-head who was huddled up in the middle. Sora glanced at him incredulously, before she recognized him from Joe's picture.
"So you're Tai," she remarked as she held up her plate to avoid getting hit in the face with vanilla pudding.
Tai grinned and nodded. "Heard of me, have you?"
Sora rolled her eyes, "Joe told me about you. I'm Sora Takenouchi."
"So you're Sora," Tai responded happily, echoing her words. Sora grinned despite herself and found herself enjoying the playful banter between them.
"The one and only."
Tai smiled at her and Sora gestured towards the chaos surrounding them. "Does this happen often?"
"Oh, all the time. We're a big party school," Tai replied, a smile playing at his lips. Sora beamed and opened her mouth to retort when she was cut off abruptly. Apparently, when Tai and Sora were talking some teachers had come and stopped most of the food fight. Now, standing in the middle of the war-torn cafeteria, was the principal.
"Listen here, kids. All of you - that means you Henze - are going to be cleaning this up after school. Is that understood?"
The students all murmured their agreements. Izzy, Joe, Sora, and Tai crawled out from under the table and Sora brushed herself off.
The principal spotted the four and made his way over to them slowly. He smiled apologetically at Sora. "I'm so sorry this had to happen your first day. Of course, you won't have to clean after school."
Sora smiled shyly at the man, but the principal had already turned to face the three boys. "And if any of you," he looked directly at Tai, "know who started this, I urge you all to come forward. They will be severely punished."
Sora waved him off. "Don't worry, they didn't do anything. They were with me under the table the whole time."
The principal smiled and nodded. "In that case, I suppose all four of you could be excused from cleaning duty. Have a good day."
Tai watched the older man walk away before turning back to Sora. "I love you," he stated plainly. Sora cursed herself internally as a blush sprung up on her cheeks.
"N-no problem."
Tai grinned, touching her shoulder lightly. "No, seriously. My mom and dad would have killed me if I got in trouble again."
Sora smiled again, "It's really okay. I guess we're just lucky it's my first day."
"Yeah," Tai agreed. He looked at her sideways. "Umm, Sora . . . I was wondering if maybe, I could. I mean - "
He broke off, but shook his head and continued. "Can I walk you home? I mean, if that's okay with you!" Tai ignored Izzy and Joe's sniggers and looked at Sora intently.
Sora blushed and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. "T-that'd be great."
"Awesome," Tai responded, smiling widely.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Tai sighed happily as he interlaced his fingers and leaned his head back. Today had been a good day. He had started a food fight (and gotten away with it), met an amazing girl (and even walked her home) and gotten an A on his history paper (which he had written the night before).
"I can't wait 'till tomorrow," he muttered to himself, a smile playing at his lips. On his walk home with Sora, they had talked almost the whole way, and Tai was slightly surprised to find how disappointed he was when they had arrived at the Takenouchi residence. He had wished they would be able to talk more. Fortunately, Sora and he agreed that they would walk to school tomorrow.
Tai grinned as his little sister swung his door open and promptly collapsed onto his bed. "Ugh," she muttered incoherently, burying her head into his pillow.
"Have fun Kar?" Tai inquired, noting the bits and pieces of food still stuck in his sister's light brown hair.
Kari lifted her head to glare weakly at her brother. "How do you get out of everything?"
Tai smirked smugly at her. "Because I'm amazing. Anyway, how was it?"
"Fine. I mean, it actually got to be a little fun towards the end. TK started splashing me with water and - " Kari broke off and waved her hand offhandedly.
"It was fun. Long story short: TK made it better."
Tai scowled slightly. "That's good. As long as he didn't touch you. He didn't right, Kars?"
Kari smiled playfully at her brother's face. "Oh no, Tai. Nothing happened. We just had wild and steamy - "
"STOP!" Tai yelled, jumping up from his chair. "I'll kill him! I'll rip up his internal organs and - "
Kari put her hands up innocently as she shook with laughter. "I-I was just . . . ahaha . . . kidding, Tai."
Tai slowly sat back down in his seat, his arms crossed stubbornly over his chest. "Jeez, Kar. Don't joke about things like that. I'm going to have an aneurism."
Kari laughed lightly, "Calm down, Tai. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."
"I know . . ."
Kari rolled her eyes fondly and pushed her bangs out her face. "Why don't you just go get some muffins? Mom didn't make them," she added when she saw the look on her brother's face.
Tai stood up eagerly. "Cool. Want one?"
"Sure. I have to call TK, anyway."
Kari laughed again at the scowl on her brother's face.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Ehh . . . I don't like that much. Oh well, better than the first. Review please!