Bond of Hope and Light: Name's Takeru Ishida Chapter 8: Closer to France, a digimon fanfic

Story by Green Garden

Bond of Hope and Light: Name's Takeru Ishida
Chapter 7: "Closer to France"

The feeling of the heart - Love? I know it is... - All I want... - Is your company, to be there beside you that's all... - I won't hesitate in my answer I do to you - But it's more complicated than that! - Am I worthy to be yours? - Or are you worthy to be mine? - Are there others? - Hope? I always have it... - The question is the matter of choice... - In the end the option is completely mine... - Who would I choose?

Previously on Name's Takeru Ishida:

I talked with my mother and father about returning to Japan in the kitchen, but it was there that I found out that it was one of my mother's dreams to come to Australia. The Sider Family visited us and Yamato played his guitar for the first time since we got to Australia. As for Daisuke, he went along with my plan, and he eventually went out with Hikari to an Amusement Park out of all places! There he told her in summary what he and I had discussed, but it didn't end all well.

Now it's back to me! On with conclusion...

A plane flew off into the sky, out of sight. Catherine sighed, from inside the airport. She was carrying one of her luggage and just staring off. Australia? Was it really better than France? She was going to find out and she wasn't alone, which she relieved about. Floramon silently walked up beside her.

"There you are Catherine. Come on. A cab is waiting for us, to bring us to the hotel." Scarlet Fournier, Catherine's mom, informed.

"Coming." Catherine replied.

She walked away with Floramon. With her mom, the three walked out of the airport and towards the cab outside, where Antonio Fournier, Catherine's dad, was waiting. With everyone and everything ready, the cab driver drove off towards the hotel...

Takeru quietly knocked on Yamato's room. No reply returned. Takeru glanced at Patamon, who shrugged in response. Takeru sighed and carefully opened the door. He silently crept into the room, careful not to wake his brother. Patamon flew in behind him. After closing the door carefully behind him, Takeru had a good look at Yamato's room. Yamato was sleeping in a mess on his bed, snoring loudly. Gabumon yawned, staring at Takeru and Patamon.

Patamon shook his head silently from the site of the room.

"This room is even more in a mess than yours ever was." He whispered.

Takeru chuckled and Gabumon sighed.

"I bet Daisuke's room is more of a mess than this." Takeru whispered.

"Maybe." Patamon agreed.

Without opening his eyes or turning to his brother, Yamato threw a pillow at him to silence the noise. Takeru easily avoided it. It harmlessly hit a wall. Takeru got the hint though.

"Sorry for waking you up early, but I need to talk to you about my plan." Takeru explained.

"When I wake up." Yamato muttered under the pillows.

Takeru sighed and shook his head. He left Yamato's room with Patamon behind him. His mom and dad were already up. He headed towards the kitchen and took a seat at the small table with Patamon sitting on one of the counters. Takeru sighed and supported his head with his hand.

"Please don't mention about heading back to Odaiba now." Natsuko commented.

"I'm not in the mood to mention it." Takeru muttered.

Hiroaki blinked, staring at his son. He raised an eyebrow.

"... Good. We're going to have guests over in a few hours. I think you do know one of them at least." Hiroaki smiled.

"If you put it that way, I don't." Takeru replied.

"You don't know Catherine? That's strange." Natsuko muttered.

Takeru's hand lost balance and his head fell on the table. He moaned, lifted it up and rubbed his forehead.

"From France?" He asked.

"So you do know her." Hiroaki giggled.

"Is Floramon with her?" Patamon asked.

"I would guess so. You know them too." Natsuko smiled.

"Are they staying here?" Takeru asked.

"In Australia? Yes, for a few months before heading up to Japan." Hiroaki replied.

"We met her and Floramon with Tai and Agumon in France, when we were touring the world. I and Tai ended up in France." Takeru explained.

"Catherine had told her parents and they mentioned it to us on the phone so... We know son." Hiroaki informed.

Yamato came in whistling, fresh as a daisy so to speak. Gabumon's lips were trembling, walking beside his DigiDestined. Yamato took a seat next to Takeru.

"Catherine? Is she the chick from France that you told me about Takeru?" Yamato asked.

Gabumon rolled his eyes and was alert upon hearing Hiroaki slapping his hand on Yamato's head. Yamato held onto the back of his head and looked confused.

"What?" He asked.

The family sighed, with Gabumon and Patamon joining them.

"Anyway, she and her parents are coming over in a few hours, after they're settled in their hotel." Natsuko informed.

"A chance for me to meet her." Yamato grinned.

"You. Stay. Away. From. Her!" Takeru hissed, glaring at Yamato.

Yamato raised his eyebrow. "Say, what's it to you? I thought you were with Hikari." He informed.

"What about Anna?!" Takeru exclaimed.

Yamato sweat-dropped. "Geez. I guess I forgot about her." He muttered.

"Well, I haven't forgotten about Hikari. I never will. I would prefer Dai to have Catherine, rather than you having her! Look at you. You forgot about your girlfriend. Geez." Takeru shook his head.

"She's just more than a girlfriend to me!" Yamato snapped, standing up with a jerk and knocking the chair back.

Gabumon; Patamon; Hiroaki, and Natsuko just stared at them from where they were, dumbfounded. Takeru snarled.

"It doesn't look like that to me." He stated.

"Consider it what you will; I'm not arguing with you brother." Yamato relaxed.

He walked out of the room, leaving Gabumon behind him. Takeru turned his sight away from the door and sighed deeply.

"What was that?" Natsuko asked, whispering.

"I don't know, but it seems that both are in love, from what I can see from here." Hiroaki replied, whispering.

"Who with whom?" Natsuko asked.

Hiroaki shrugged. "I really didn't get it." He replied.

Natsuko sighed. "Well, after the Fournier visit, I and you need to have a talk about returning to Japan. This is really affecting Takeru." She decided.

"And Yamato." Hiroaki agreed.

He blinked and turned to his wife. "Are you serious? What about your goal?" He asked.

"I've came to Australia and that's more than enough. I'm glad that I had a chance to see Australia... Let's talk about this later please." Natsuko requested.

Hiroaki nodded. "Sure."

"Now, you two young men mind your manners with the Fournier family." Natsuko informed.

"Sure thing mom. Yamato is the one to be worried about." Takeru stated.

Yamato grinned.

"Try to hit on Catherine and I'll start an ugly scene in front of them." Takeru whispered.

Yamato raised his eyebrow. "Like a fight?"

"Sure thing T.K." Yamato nodded.

The doorbell rung and Natsuko was the first to open it. Catherine was the first to appear, with Floramon. She smiled. Behind her was Antonio and Scarlet: her parents. Takeru smiled and Natsuko made way.

"Come on in." Natsuko greeted.

Hiroaki came out just in time, with his formal uniform on. Antonio shook hands with Hiroaki and Hiroaki invited him into the living room. Catherine only reached Takeru and stared at him. Yamato rolled his eyes and followed both couples into the living room. Gabumon followed him. Patamon was on Takeru's head, staring down at Floramon, all four were quiet and silent. Takeru moved towards the front door and closed it.

"Mom, dad, we're going into my room." He informed.

Hiroaki and Natsuko turned to Antonio and Scarlet. They both shrugged.

"Catherine knows better and can handle herself pretty good with boys." Scarlet explained.

Natsuko turned her head and nodded her approval to Takeru. Yamato just stayed with the couples, with Gabumon with him. Takeru went up the stairs, with Patamon holding onto his head and Catherine and Floramon behind him. Takeru let Catherine and Floramon walk in his room, and Takeru closed the door behind him. He took a seat beside Catherine on his bed and Patamon flew down onto the bed.

"There's something I wanted to show you." Catherine started.

She took out a necklace, which had a red string and a cut ruby. Some symbol was in the precious jewel. Catherine dangled it from her hand and Takeru stared at it with Patamon.

"A necklace?" Patamon asked.

"The symbol looks like some crest. But I've never seen it before." Takeru explained, with the crest looking strange.

"That's what I figured too. I guess it's my crest. If it is, do you know what it means?" Catherine asked, eyes beaming.

Takeru blinked. "That Floramon can get as high as ultimate."

Catherine nodded. "I found it in France. It was in the airport there and it was glowing when I and Floramon were close. I picked it up and kept it with me since then." She explained.

She put the necklace around her neck and let it dangle. Takeru took a closer glance at the cut ruby and looked closely at the crest. In the middle was two ovals inside each other. On either side of it was arched bows. On the top right of the left bow was a small circle connected to the bow. On the bottom left of the right bow was a small circle connected to the bow. The colors were the same as the Crest of Love.

"Why didn't you want to stay in France?" Patamon asked.

Floramon snorted. "Catherine was harassed a lot by the French "gentlemen" too much. It was apparent though that she knew had to deal with them." She smiled.

Catherine nodded. "Not only that, but I figured out that my soulmate wasn't in France, but rather in some other country and region. I was the one who initiated this idea to my parents; to come to Australia for a few months, then head to Japan and live there. No need to mention, but from my experience in France, I'm mature and wise enough to know which young man is my soulmate." She blushed.

"Is she hitting on you?" Patamon asked, whispering.

Takeru blinked. "Probably. I don't know." He replied.

"... Listen Catherine: I'm not interested. I'm with Hikari and I'm not going to forsake her, even though we're an ocean apart." Takeru stated.

Catherine laughed. "I was just sharing some of my ideas with you! I'm not flirting with you. I know about you and Hikari and I respect that. If anything, I'd just like to be a friend, that's all." She requested.

"Friends? First of all, where's your French accent?" Takeru asked.

"It's her accent now, own unique one." Floramon grinned.

Catherine shrugged. "I like my accent now. I guess I unconsciously trained on my own accent, that my French accent vanished." She replied.

Takeru rubbed his chin. "A friend? I'm fine with that." He shrugged.

"What about you? When are you and your family returning to Japan?" Catherine asked.

Takeru sighed. "At the moment, I don't know." He replied.

"Ah. I remember something. My digivice changed right after I picked this necklace up." Catherine commented, showing her digivice.

Takeru noticed that it was basically the same, except that there was a deep carving of the initials C.F. on the lower right of the digivice. He looked up.

"C.F. would stand for Catherine Fournier I would presume." He informed.

"I figured that out too. Now it's different from all the other digivices, because of my initials." Catherine smiled, staring at her digivice...

Yamato was silent throughout the talk between both couples and when he heard the doorbell; he was the first one towards it. He opened the door and Derek Sider was there to greet him, with Crabmon. Yamato sweat-dropped.

"Hey Derek. What are you doing here?" Yamato asked.

"Just between you and me, I was informed that a young beautiful lady was here. I just wanted to see her with my own eyes." Derek replied, whispering.

"Her name is Catherine Fournier and she's from France. She's upstairs with Takeru in Takeru's room. Both Patamon and Floramon are with them." Yamato explained.

"O.K. would you mind if I waited down here?" Derek asked.

Yamato shook his head. "Not at all. Come on in." He welcomed.

Derek nodded and walked into the house with Crabmon.

"Mom, dad. It's Derek Sider and Crabmon, coming over for a quick visit." Yamato informed.

"Oh. Takeru is upstairs." Natsuko stated.

Derek shook his head. "No need. I'll wait down here." He replied.

"Suit yourself." Hiroaki welcomed.

"Matt, your guitar." Gabumon whispered.

Yamato raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"What the heck? I do need practice to keep my touch." He agreed.

"Guitar?" Crabmon asked, whispering.

Derek took an empty seat and he picked up Crabmon, putting him on his lap.

"Yamato was and still is part of a band Crabmon." Gabumon replied.

"Did you forget so quickly Crabmon? He played the guitar the last time we were here." Derek reminded.

"Yeah." Crabmon nodded, remembering...

Patamon and Floramon heard footsteps rushing up the stairs and passing the room, figuring out that it was Yamato. Patamon reasoned that Yamato headed to his room for his guitar. Takeru blinked, suddenly coming up with an idea.

"You know, I think you'll like Daisuke, or as we call him, Dai." He informed.

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting that he might be suitable for me?" She asked.

Takeru shrugged. "That's a strong possibility." He replied.

"Yeah Floramon, you'd love Veemon." Patamon commented.

Floramon blinked. "Veemon?" She asked.

"Davis' Digimon partner." Patamon smiled.

Floramon nodded. "I'll find out." She decided.

"Does he have good qualities?" Catherine asked.

"Well, yeah. He was the leader of the second DigiDestined group. The second DigiDestined group consisted of me; Dai; Hikari; Miyako; Iori and later on, Ken. Along with our Digimon of course." Takeru replied.

"What about Taichi?" Catherine asked.

Takeru sweat-dropped. "Oh... From what I know, he's with... some young lady named Joy Islanamin." He replied.

"The older sister of Teresa Islanamin: a DigiDestined from Algeria. The Islanamin family moved to Japan after that whole Armageddemon event." Patamon added.

Floramon noticed some papers on Takeru's study and went over to them. She took a seat and looked through them.

"Writing some story?" Floramon asked.

"Ah?" Takeru asked, turning his head towards Floramon.

His eyes widened and he jerked out of bed towards his study. He snatched the papers away from Floramon.

"I'm just starting to. It's the story of the adventures we had the first time we went to the Digital World and afterwards." Takeru replied.

"No need to be upset." Floramon muttered.

Takeru chuckled. "I'm not upset. I just don't want people to know about it until I publish it." He replied.

"When are you going to publish it?" Catherine asked, from her place on the bed.

"In a few years, after I've finished writing it." He replied.

Catherine sensed that Takeru didn't want to talk about his writing, and she was fine with it. Besides, she was more interested in another issue.

"Is Dai interested in anybody now?" She asked.

Takeru blinked and lowered his hand. He put his papers back onto his study and pointed at Floramon.

"Leave them where they are and don't touch them." He advised.

Floramon shrugged. Takeru walked back to his bed and sat down beside Catherine.

"Now, he's looking out for Hikari, from a personal request of mine. He had a crush on her and it turned to love towards her. He explained it both to me and her: finding out that he was serious in his feelings. I don't know if Dai had talked about me, telling her to look out for Hikari while I'm in Australia to her." Takeru explained.

The two DigiDestined and Digimon heard Yamato's footsteps passing by, with some musical notes coming out from his guitar, vanishing down the stairs.

"... The crest you have is obviously different from ours. When you and your family leave to Japan, contact Koushiro Izumi and ask him about it." Takeru suggested.

"Koushiro Izumi?" Catherine asked.

"The computer genius of the group." Patamon replied.

"Yeah. He was with us during our first Digimon adventure." Takeru added.

"Isn't Ken better at computers than Koushiro?" Floramon asked.

"Ken Ichiouji? Well, he was controlled by some evil spore that made him a genius in... Basically everything." Patamon replied.

"Why do you think Ken is better at computers than Koushiro?" Takeru asked, turning to Floramon.

"He's very popular worldwide. There was some report about him that we both saw in France." Catherine replied.

"... Oh. Well, he's normal now I guess. Still somewhat a genius though." Takeru commented.

There was silence between the four for some time, all four in their thoughts. Takeru was thinking of Odaiba; his friends, and of Hikari. Catherine was thinking of Daisuke and what a kind of person he might be. Floramon was wondering why they all suddenly were quiet and for someone to speak. Patamon was thinking of Gatomon and his Digimon friends back in Odaiba.

"... What are you planning to become?" Takeru asked.

Floramon mentally sighed.

"You mean like a job?" Catherine asked.

Takeru nodded. Catherine shrugged.

"At the moment, I'm not sure. I just want to get to know Daisuke and I'll see what'll happen from there onward." She replied.

Takeru raised an eyebrow. "So I made you interested in Daisuke?" He asked, smiling.

Catherine nodded. "Yes. I can use my imagination to fantasize of who he is." She blushed, smiling.

"Personality? Well, for facial features, he has dark red hair with brown eyes and his hair is like-correction, was like Taichi's; all spiked up a bit. He also used to wear Taichi's goggles, but now he has his own." Takeru explained.

"Taichi doesn't have his hair spiked up anymore?" Catherine asked.

"No, he cut it; it's short and smooth now. He's protective of Hikari: his little sister. He's hostile when it comes to her personally, even to me and Daisuke." Takeru explained.

"I'm not surprised. It's natural." Catherine agreed.

"Yeah. I can understand that." Takeru nodded.

The four of them quieted down upon hearing musical notes, coming from downstairs, from Yamato playing his guitar. They kept silent and listened...

Yamato started playing his guitar, while his parents and Scarlet and Antonio all listened. Derek and Crabmon were also quiet. The two noticed that it was a different beat and song. Natsuko and Hiroaki completely forgot to serve anything to Scarlet and Antonio, much less Derek and Crabmon. Antonio and Scarlet both noticed, but didn't mind. They basically were there on a quick visit, because of their only daughter's request.

Being with Yamato most of the time, Gabumon recognized the song almost immediately. It was only a musical song, with no words to it. Yamato played his guitar through it all. When he was done, Yamato was out of breath.

"It sounds much better with the rest of the band." He commented.

"... Thanks for having us. We better be off now." Antonio decided.

"Yes. We should." Scarlet agreed, standing up with her husband.

"Can't you stay any longer?" Hiroaki asked, standing up.

"I'm terribly sorry, but we have to unpack completely and settle down." Antonio replied.

"Catherine dear! Let's go!" Scarlet yelled.

"Of course." Natsuko nodded.

The whole group stood up and Antonio shook hands with Gabumon; Yamato, and Hiroaki. Scarlet just hugged Natsuko. Takeru and Catherine came down the stairs, with Catherine and Floramon in the lead. Patamon was once again on Takeru's head. Yamato glanced at Derek and saw him watching, with Crabmon on the ground beside him. Hiroaki sat down again and Yamato went back upstairs to return his guitar. Gabumon stayed and sat down with Hiroaki.

Natsuko walked Scarlet and Antonio over to the door, just as Takeru and Catherine reached it. Catherine sensed Derek staring at her and she looked towards him. Derek's eyes were widened in amazement: his mouth slightly open, yet speechless. Catherine smiled and winked. Derek blinked and blushed, lowering his head. Natsuko hugged Scarlet again and Antonio nodded to her.

Takeru opened the door and Antonio was the first one out, with Scarlet following close behind. Catherine turned to Takeru and gave him a quick friendly peck on the cheek, before heading out. Takeru blinked and lightly touched his cheek. Derek sighed and walked out with Crabmon. Takeru closed the door behind him, still surprised. Antonio; Scarlet; Catherine, and Floramon all got into the car and Antonio drove off. Derek and Crabmon just walked home.

Natsuko smacked her forehead. Hiroaki turned to look at her.

"What is it honey?" He asked.

Natsuko turned to her husband.

"We forgot to serve them!" She exclaimed...

"The name of my book is The DigiDestined League. I doubt any of you would find it in your world. Besides, the DigiDestined League happens and ends before this. I just need to add a short paragraph to it and that's it. This story would be like a side-story to the DigiDestined League. Quite interesting how my writing started to show and be involved in this story, right? Anyway, the next chapter is back in Odaiba, and is completely on Hikari and Daisuke.

I know of what happened, through Daisuke telling me and leaving some notes of that time. I'm glad I wasn't there or I would have acted more dramatically. I'm glad that Daisuke was there and handled it the way he did. Interested? Of course! Stay tuned for the next chapter."

STAY TUNED FOR CHAPTER 8: PROTECTION OF A FRIEND