A/N: Two left! I don't think this was meant to be as short as it was, but something tells me six and seven have a lot to them. Noriko did not just take everything well. She is not Hikari at all, so... I just wanted to peek into the few differences between them. Six has more Kei and her interaction and introduction to this little family and some stuff with Destati.
Read and review and enjoy!
V.
Somehow, staying with Hikari is really fun.
Contrary to a lot of manga out there, she is not constantly thinking of the female's body, or other various things. She's mostly thinking of homework and out-of-class events and Nyaromon suddenly being Terriermon and gosh is that weird or what?
If she thinks of Hikari with more than the casual "let's-pull-an-all-nighter-for-finals-together" idea in mind, she usually wonders where Tailmon is and why the girl has not broken down. Then she remembers Hikari is probably a better person than she is.
And that's cool, if a bit hard to accept.
"Why are math gen eds required for a teaching degree?" Noriko groans one day, slamming her head into the desk.
"Attendance?" Hikari offers, erasing the answer to another make-up quiz. "Salary complaints? Because?"
Terriermon giggles. "That last one sounds more accurate."
Noriko pitches her textbook at him and he yelps, diving behind Hikari's legs. "That wasn't very nice," he whines.
Hikari chuckles. "Well, you aren't a nice person either, Terriermon."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Noriko smirks. "Comeuppance sucks, don't it?"
The girls laugh together and inwardly, Noriko slaps herself.
Okay, so she does think about it once in a while. But nothing seems to want to happen, and she has an education to worry about.
Besides, Hikari is fun in general, always thinking of funny ways to entice children into learning with games, into involving their Digimon. She's kind of made for this, as far as Noriko's concerned.
It's almost worth being jealous over, almost.
At least until she completely flubs up the lines for her play audition. Then, you know, everything is cool.
Not that either of them expected anything from it.
(This is all so domestic and mundane, she remembers thinking at one point and somehow finding that less of a problem than it would have been at one part of her life.)
…
"You're not a clean freak?"
Hikari blinks, perturbed at the question clearly. "Um... should I be?"
Yes, Noriko thinks. Because you're supposed to be angelic and never touch dirt.
This wasn't saying Hikari was a slob or something because really, she isn't. However, the apartment Noriko finds herself standing in is just clean enough to live in but none of that pristine stuff she used to do at the dorms. Then again, matrons were like hawks over that sort of thing.
Noriko shakes her head. "I dunno, your brother isn't, so..."
Hikari giggles. "You get used to messes living with him."
Seeing her smile gets easier, because she wants to see it and not think too hard about why. Hikari is always doing her best to be a bright existence for everyone, including herself... some of the time.
"Eh, I shouldn't be complaining," she decides. "I'm paying half the bills... to Papa's anger."
Hikari rolls her eyes. "He can't let you depend on his pocket change forever."
Noriko snorts. "Tell him that. He's still edgy about the time I stayed at a friend's house all night." Yes, because she and Keiko were just friends now, because she was focused on what and where she needed to be. Probably.
"Sounds irritating," Hikari says, sitting down at the sofa. Noriko joins her, pouring over the newest exam.
Life isn't more exciting or dangerous because they're living together, nor is it going in a straight line.
It just is.
…
"I'm killing him."
"She'll be mad at you."
Noriko glowers at Daisuke. "Can't I grumble about my love affairs in private?"
He snorts. "You're sitting at my kitchen counter, drowning in noodle broth, and talking about Hikari-chan. I'm even letting you use my couch tonight. So no."
She groans and Terriermon snorts from his spot next to Chibimon. They were apparently arguing the merits of smoked pork over grilled octopus. Personally, she doesn't see the big deal. Her situation is much more important. "Aren't you going to be upset with her?"
"You seem to have it covered," Daisuke replies, chopping into a pepper. "Broth all right?"
"A bit too salty and the udon aren't doing too well," she says, taking another slurp. "You trying to distract me?"
"Yeah. It workin'?"
She gives him a half-hearted pout. "You're lucky I'm not off getting drunk."
Daisuke rolls his eyes. "I'd let you if Hikari-chan hadn't called me before you got here. You really scared the crap out of her, you know. Said you were so supportive and all."
Noriko snorts. "Supportive, my ass. I just didn't want her to cry or do something dumb." And what am I doing? Running from her because she's gone and done the stupid teenage thing after being okay with it? Geez.
"I'm such a jerk."
Daisuke grins. "Speaking as someone who went through the pining deal, you're not. You're just jealous."
She snorts and slurps noodles. "No shit I'm jealous. Jealous and all sorts of other things." Noriko thunks her head against the pristine tabletop. "God... I just... I dunno. It ain't the kid's fault, but... he, that guy..."
"Well, since he hasn't bothered to call back and check on her," Daisuke muses while adjusting his goggles. "Assume he's on Taichi-san's shitlist. So he'll kill the guy before you do."
"Now that will make her cry."
"Cry or smile it all away. She's known for that."
Noriko rolls her eyes and goes back to her food. "Hikari's going to have a kid that's not mine."
"If it makes you feel any better, it's not mine either."
Noriko is tempted to dump her food bowl over Daisuke's head for his cheek, but settles for flicking the hot water at his face instead. "Good. I don't want to raise an ugly child."
Chibimon and Terriermon both cackle and the two humans spend another two hours bickering the appearance of any child with Daisuke as the father.
…
Hikari never says the sacred words.
As a teenager, this would have aggravated Noriko to no end because even in her twenties, Hikari keeps a rather unreadable face all of the time and she has no clue what it means to see her cry until she does it in her sleep, murmuring for her Digimon and for people Noriko realizes she can't ever know.
Hikari never says the words, but when Noriko wakes up sick and finds a regulated dose of medicine and a fresh tray of porridge and orange juice with a book, she knows. When she accepts Noriko's idea for a baby name with only a few thoughts and wears a fake wedding ring like it's real, Noriko knows.
When she's holding the newborn in her arms before even Taichi and Takeru and barely after Hikari herself, she cries.
Because not being able to say them doesn't mean not being able to feel them.