This was a short chapter the first time around, but this time it became much longer. Originally, it was a heavy Natsuko chapter, but now that is even more of the case. I expanded quite a bit from her point of view, and I'm glad that I did so. Anyways, I shall go continue on this journey. As should you.

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon.

Edit: 7/22/12 Came and revised a bit. Will continue to do so for later chapters. Cleaning up grammar mistakes, and certain wording or phrasing that I've come to not really like all that much. Just minor changes, nothing too serious. Just trying to improve the writing style, and experience for the reader.


Takeru was unsure of what to think about the day that lay before him. He had no doubt that it would be at least partially awkward, this awkwardness being something that he had found to be unavoidable throughout all the scenarios that he had run through his mind, and as he looked at the envelope and the package that lay on his dresser in his room, he ran a hand through his hair since he was tired from his lack of sleep. He had spent the better part of the night trying to think of what he was going to do, and he wondered how obvious it would be to anyone else that saw the bags under his eyes. He stared at the envelope, and the package; the two gifts, and thought about the two separate girls. Takeru sighed, dreading the fact that it was already March 14th, which was unusual for him since White Day was usually a day that excited him.

In spite of the Valentine's Day fiasco that Takeru had to go through the previous month, he had debated with himself the possibility of just getting Hikari chocolates instead of spending a lot of time and money searching for the 'perfect gift' as he did with most years. It had been earlier that morning, at two in the morning since he had found himself unable to sleep, when Takeru found what was now Hikari's gift; tossed somewhere in the back of his closet. He was cleaning out his room hoping to make it presentable for when he had Ayano over later, assuming she even wanted to hang out anyways, and he had frowned when he came across the object that he was now gifting to Hikari.

In truth, the package was meant to be given to the girl a long time ago, but after Takeru was rejected by Hikari he decided to hold onto it for a little bit longer. What was meant to be a short amount of time became indefinite, because following the first rejection were the ones on Valentine's Day and the one at the pier, and accompanying those rejections were Hikari avoiding him and awkwardness respectively. Looking at the package, Takeru became annoyed because he remembered how much money he had spent buying the gift for the person he thought was going to be his girlfriend. This annoyance was replaced with a bitterness knowing that he didn't care that the gift had cost him the combination of his birthday and Christmas money, but that he never had the opportunity to even give it to her. Shaking his head quickly, quickly enough where he almost decided to not give the present to Hikari, Takeru knew that he was going to hand her the boxed present later instead of the chocolate bar he had managed to take from Patamon's stash the previous night as was his first plan. For Takeru, giving Hikari the present wasn't so that it could fulfill it's original intent, but instead he simply wanted the gift to finally be out of his house. He didn't want to look at it anymore, or at the very least, he didn't want to ever stumble on it by accident again.

When he finally finished getting dressed in his uniform, him for once deciding to completely follow the dress code by surprisingly not wearing his hat, Takeru put on his backpack and grabbed the envelope and the package as he left his room. He smiled when he saw his mother typing away at the computer, all the while Patamon sitting at her side watching as she was writing. Had he been a girl he would have thought that the sight was a rather cute thing to behold, and Takeru wondered if the chubby little monster even knew how to read.

"Mom?"

Natsuko made no indication that she had heard her son other the 'hmmmm' noise she made with her pursed lips. It was an interruption to her humming one of Yamato's songs that was secretly one of her favorites, but other than that, them woman just kept on with her typing. Patamon on the other hand, turned his head and grinned wildly at his partner.

"Are you busy tonight?"

The clicks of the keyboard died down as Natsuko swiveled around in her chair so that she could be facing her son. She wondered why he wasn't wearing a hat, it was the one school rule that Takeru seemed to always break, and why it looked as if he had tried to style his hair that morning since that was more Yamato's territory than her younger son's. The wondering then became acknowledgment when she saw the gifts that her son was holding. Natsuko couldn't but smile a bit when she realized that this was about a girl, but her smile lessened as she hoped that it wasn't about Hikari.

"Was there something that you needed, Takeru?"

The boy fidgeted under his mother's gaze, it had always been something piercing and a look to which nobody could lie to with the possible exception of Hiroaki, and he could tell that she was trying to figure him out. His mother had always been smart like Ken or Koushiro, if not smarter, and Takeru would have been surprised if she didn't already somehow know what he was going to say. Feeling the package in his hand, he wished that he was as smart as his mother so that he could have avoided all the undesirable circumstances that he had been put through lately. Yamato had already inherited their father's cool demeanor, so why couldn't he have inherited their mother's intelligence? It seemed only fair.

"Actually I was wondering if I could bring someone over for dinner tonight. I want you to meet them."

Natsuko got up from her chair, and eyed her son cautiously while going over his words in her mind. From what it sounded like it seemed that Takeru had found himself a new girl to show affection to, but somehow the woman had a feeling that this new girl was little more than a rebound from the Yagami girl. As she went up to him and straightened out the collar of his shirt, she decided to test her son.

"I already know Hikari-chan."

The agitated blush she expected did not form and Natsuko was unsure of what to make of this interesting development. Before whenever Takeru was teased about Hikari by either herself or Yamato, which until recently was quite often, he would be quick to redden as he would try to make up an excuse to what he was being teased about. Now he made no indication of being bothered, in a way so much like his brother, and Natsuko hoped that her youngest son had not lost the carefree spirit that she had loved since the day he was born. She loved Yamato, he was her firstborn, but she didn't want Takeru to have the same aloofness as his brother did.

"It's not Hikari, Mom."

Natsuko stared her son in the face, watching even for the slightest hint to what he was thinking about, and then into his eyes just looking at the blue of his irises. They had always been happier than his brother's eyes, more hopeful and loving, but Natsuko was disheartened when she noticed that his eyes were starting to become more and more like Yamato's every day. She felt responsible since she had always encouraged Takeru's relationship with Hikari whether it was as friends or as Takeru wanting to be more than that, and Natsuko felt her soul fill with guilt knowing that she had pushed her son towards love, despite not knowing how to protect him from a broken heart.

"Good. You know I don't like you being around that girl anymore. At least not right now."

Takeru looked away from his mother, and he took a deep breath as he let her words about Hikari sink in. He wished that everyone would stop talking about her as if she was some sort of villain who had intentionally led him on with the goal of stomping on his heart, and with that wish he hoped that everyone would stop reminding him of the terrible time that he had gone through. Takeru didn't think that Hikari would do something like that on purpose, he had known her well enough to know that she wasn't capable of that, but lately he had stopped caring since he only wanting to move on with his life. Hikari was not the bitch that only ever wanted to hurt him as Yamato now seemed fond of saying behind Taichi's back, and neither was she a girl that according to his mother and Daisuke, was best if he avoided. She was his closest friend, not a villain or a bitch, but his friend. At least, she used to be.

"It's not her fault, Mom."

Natsuko sighed while she was looking at her son; he always gave Hikari too much leeway when it came to her shortcomings. She knew that her son thought that the Yagami girl was without flaws, a mistake that too many people made when they were young and in love, and Natsuko touched Takeru's face wondering how someone could hurt such a perfect boy. Her son was handsome, and had the kindest and most honest heart of any person that she had ever known, and Natsuko smiled, being proud of her son.

"So what's her name?"

Takeru gave a smile at the subject of the new girl, and Natsuko noticed that the smile was a content one. Not an excited or embarrassed one which would have appeared had it been two months ago with the subject being Hikari, but a simply content one. She hoped that her son wouldn't go through any rejections just like he had with the Yagami girl, but at least it seemed that he wouldn't take any possible rejections as hard as did the ones from Hikari.

"Her name is Ayano."

Natsuko raised an eyebrow at her son, clearly hearing the way that he had addressed the girl without any honorifics. She was used to Takeru being that way with Hikari, the lack of formalities being normal between them, but hearing her son being so familiar with a girl she did not know stirred up the strange combination of curiosity and protectiveness. She didn't want Takeru to be hurt again; she hated seeing him cry, as would any mother.

It wasn't simply a matter of babying her son, but this was a question of honor and pride. Takeru was not her baby anymore, running around with an oversized ridiculous green hat, but he was already starting to become a man. It wasn't up to her whether or not it was okay for a man to cry, over a dumb teenage girl no less, but she had a feeling that Takeru wouldn't think it was alright.

"Just Ayano?"

Her piercing eyes just gazed at him, making him uncomfortable just as she had assumed, and Natsuko wanted a straight answer. The last girl that Takeru had referred to with none of the traditional forms of address had stolen his honor and wounded his pride, and she would eat her own shit, for lack of a more pleasant image, before she would let it happen again.

"Yeah, just Ayano."

Takeru watched as his mother continued to eye him, harder than before, and he wondered what she was evaluating this time.

"So, is she pretty?"

Honestly, Takeru wouldn't have been talking to his mom about Ayano if it wasn't White Day, but as it was he didn't really have any other choice. The topic of the girl's attractiveness however, was not something that he wanted to discuss with his mother of all people, and he felt a bit of relief when he heard Patamon interrupt them.

"She's pretty, Mom. I think she's pretty."

As Patamon flew and landed on Takeru's head, messing up the boy's poor attempt at styling his hair that morning, both Takeru and Natsuko smiled at the way that Patamon had addressed the woman.

"Do you have any pictures of her, Takeru?"

Takeru was about to answer to his mother that he didn't have any pictures of Ayano, clothed or otherwise, but then he remembered that he did have something else that he could show her instead. As he set down the envelope and the package that he was holding, he opened up his backpack to search for what he was going to show his mother. Takeru grinned as he pulled out a slightly ruffled piece of sketch paper and handed it to his mother.

Natsuko didn't know what to expect when she saw her son hand her a piece of sketch paper, but when she saw what was on the paper she was a bit surprised by the detail of it. It was a drawing of a smiling girl, one that was pretty just as Patamon had said, but Natsuko was a bit confused as to why Takeru had a drawing of this new girl instead of a regular picture. Regardless, she couldn't place it, but she saw a sort of elegance carried by the girl in the picture. The way the girl's eyes looked, the way her head was held high, something clicked in Natsuko's mind that this girl came from money. In any case, yes, she was indeed attractive; at least enough for her son.

"She's gorgeous Takeru," Natsuko looked up from the drawing seriously doubting her son's artistic talent, "did you draw this?"

Takeru laughed, while Patamon squirmed on his head, as if his mom had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

"No, Ayano drew it as a self portrait to give to me. She says that it's improper for a boy to have photographs of a girl when he's not dating her," Takeru paused and quickly debated whether or not to add the next statement, "even if he's courting her."

Natsuko once again raised an eyebrow, inquisitively, just as she had been doing all throughout the conversation. It sounded like an odd thing for a high school girl to say.

"Improper? Courting?"

Takeru grunted, but then gave a small chuckle when he heard Patamon try to imitate him.

"Her words, not mine, Mom. She comes from a wealthy family, and she takes manners pretty seriously."

Just as she had assumed, the girl came from money. It was a plus if the girl that was going to be dating her son was rich, but Natsuko was a bit curious as to whether she came from new money or old money. There was a difference, always a sort of pomp or maybe a dash of arrogance, depending on the style of wealth, of course. If nothing else, it was food for thought.

"So are you dating her?"

"Not yet. She says I have to have her father's approval before we go out; that and she says that you have to approve of her in return."

This caught Natsuko's interest. The girl sounded culled, one would expect as much from an ever dutiful daughter, and this meant one of only two things. The first being that Ayano was just as prim and just as proper as she sounded, or the second meaning that that wasn't particularly true. Repressed and obedient girls, just like the ones that Natsuko remembered herself befriending, usually weren't virgins.

"And why is that?"

At this Takeru picked Patamon off of his head and instead held him in his arms like he used to when he was younger.

"She says that every mother deserves to have an opinion on who her son decides to date."

It was an adoring thought, one that earned the girl a lot of brownie points with Natsuko, but the woman decided to still be cautious if she gave the girl her acceptance. She would have preferred a virgin to be his son's first girlfriend, though she had no way of knowing whether or not Ayano was or wasn't, but Natsuko also decided that she would try her best not to judge. If Takeru liked this girl, if she could help him to at least get over this bump with Hikari, then she was okay enough for him to be with.

"Well then, let's see how she does at dinner."

Takeru began smiling and let go of Patamon, who then flew over to Natsuko's arms, as his mother handed back to him Ayano's self portrait. He put it carefully in a folder that he had put aside specially for that picture, and any other drawings that the artist girl might give him in the future, and he wondered if Ayano would win his mother's approval.

Once again picking up the package and the envelope, Takeru said farewell to his mother and Patamon, but as he left his apartment he didn't feel right. For most of his life Hikari had been the main person he thought about, but he knew that slowly, thoughts about her were being replaced with thoughts about Ayano. Takeru felt the familiar heartache rush throughout his body; he was betraying Hikari.


Now, to continue on. Patamon is awesome.