Disclaimer: The characters and places in this story are not mine. Any similarities to other stories are completely coincidental. Naruto and Digimon belong to their respective creators.
I also want to thank everyone for their amazing reactions to my story.
Difficult Lives
Naruto woke up. He became quickly alert at the memories of previous events and at the unfamiliar surroundings. The white coloring all around the room and the sterile smell told him that he was in a hospital. This knowledge confused him because he was certain none of the villagers cared enough to take him to the hospital. They were more likely to kill him. He was saved from further pondering when a woman dressed as a nurse came in.
"You're awake," she said cheerfully. "We were very worried about you."
"Why?" Naruto choked out, trying to sit up but the effort caused him to black out before he could hear her answer.
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Sara walked into the hospital room of the 4 year old boy she had found near the orphanage. His vibrant blonde hair and odd clothing had surprised her but the wound had worried her more. The large hole in his chest was bad enough that most adults wouldn't survive it, much less children at the age of 4 so she had rushed him to the hospital.
Hearing a groan from the bed, the 24 year old woman headed to the bed where her unexpected find rested. She remembered the rare clear blue eyes the boy had. He had woken very briefly but he was so disoriented that she doubted he remembered. So she was very surprised to see brown eyes looking up at her from the bed upon reaching it.
"Hello, who are you?" the child asked.
"My name's Sara. What's yours?" Sara asked, smiling at him.
"Don't know." The child responded, a frown marring his face.
"You don't remember?" she asked with surprise.
"Don't remember nothing," The boy finally said.
"Not even your parents? Any siblings or relatives?" she asked.
"Don't remember." The boy repeated emphatically.
"Alright," She said and left to tell the doctor.
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Sara looked over at the small child. He was finally being released from the hospital. For some reason, the wound had healed quicker than most but Sara had found a lot of surprises in this strange child. He was a shy and sad little boy who always seemed so cheerful. Sara had seen him in some of his weaker moments when he didn't know she was there yet the minute he noticed her presence, his frown would lighten and she faced a cheerful little boy instead of the miserable child she had seen. He held his emotions close but fooled everyone around him in to believing his unwavering happiness which masked his true feelings. It was suspected that this behavior came from his forgotten past which was likely unpleasant but exactly what it was like, they had no idea. Despite rigorous searching, no one had found any clues about the boy and where he came from. He had no records that they could find. In the end, Sara insisted on taking the child back to the orphanage where he could be adopted and with nowhere else to send him, the hospital discharged the blond haired child into her care.
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Naruto spent barely two months at the orphanage before a loving family came and adopted him. During his brief time there, he had taken the name Davis since no one knew his real one. He had great fun at the orphanage and got along quite well with the rest of its occupants. Despite the happy conclusion, Sara knew she would miss him and she would never stop wondering who he had been and what had happened to cause him such harm. Now, she could only hope he would find happiness.
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A brunette teenager sighed as he headed to the computer lab at his school. He knew that he was late getting to the meeting he had but his soccer practice had run over and his coach wouldn't let him leave until the end.
"Davis, you okay?" a voice asked from the blue book bag on his back.
"Yep, Veemon but I'm not looking forward to an angry Yolei." Davis answered the creature hidden in his book bag. They both knew how likely it was that the digidestined who they were meeting would listen to why he was late. Yolei especially had a bad temper and tended to be insulting when they were late.
"Where is he? He's so useless and he's always late. Why did we have to end up with him as our leader?" he heard Yolei shout.
"Probably taking his sweet time to get here." T. K. answered inside the room.
"Tai chose him as the leader. I guess he thought Davis would do a good job. Wish he did. We need a better leader than Davis. I doubt he even takes his responsibilities to the digidestined seriously." Kari added.
"That's not fair. Davis is a great leader." Ken defended his friend.
"And he takes his responsibilities very seriously. He's saved us and been there for us many times when we needed it. I thought you could see that." Cody finished, reprimanding the rest of the group who had insulted the young digidestined leader.
Davis whose eyes had filled with tears to hear the three children's insults felt warmth grow in his heart when the two remaining children defended him.
Veemon, a blue dinosaur creature who came up to Davis's knees, had wiggled out of the book bag on Davis's back when he heard Yolei. Veemon rarely got angry but hearing their friends insult his partner so badly made him angrier than he had ever been.
"Let's go in, Veemon." Davis said, avoiding eye contact with his partner.
Davis walked into the room casually with the goofy grin the other digidestined expected from him. Usually, Veemon's expression matched his partner's but today he was glaring angrily when the duo entered, specifically at Yolei, a slim purple haired girl.
"Hey, guys. What are we doing today?" Davis asked cheerfully, not noticing Veemon's glare.
"Is everything alright Veemon? Did Yolei do something to you?" the other girl in the room, Kari asked, drawing Davis's attention to his angry partner.
"No. Davis, let's go. You shouldn't have to help anyone who doesn't appreciate you." the blue dinosaur answered impulsively to Davis.
"Veemon?" he asked in surprise.
"Come on, Davis. They don't deserve your help." Veemon answered, unwilling to let them near his partner after their hurtful remarks.
"Do you need my help today?" Davis finally asked with a sigh.
"No, I think T.K., Kari, and Yolei can handle checking the digital world themselves today. There shouldn't be any problems. Right, Cody?" a black haired boy, Ken, answered, looking over at Cody, a boy with brown hair in a bowl style cut.
It took Cody a moment to understand but he finally nodded. Veemon smiled happily as the three humans and partners left, giving the rest of the group no time to argue.
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"You heard?" Ken asked, directing the question to Veemon.
"Yes," Davis answered for them, "but don't tell them."
"Why not?" Veemon asked.
"I don't want to cause any trouble in the group right now. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Davis answered as he turned into his apartment complex with his digimon partner.
Davis's thoughts wondered to what he had overheard as he took the elevator up to his apartment. It hadn't been just the words that had bothered him or even who had said them but something had happened outside that computer lab. He had flashes. For a moment, even as he heard the three children's insults, he also heard a crowd crying out in anger, calling him a demon. He had even sensed the crowd pulling their children away isolating him and he suddenly felt horribly sad and lonely.
"Are you okay?" Veemon asked gently, interrupting Davis's thoughts.
"Yep, Veemon, I'm fine." Davis answered forcing a smile.
"Okay." Veemon agreed doubtfully. They both knew Davis was lying.