Digimon Adventure: Connections

Chapter 5: Curiosity

Tai's house was a lot different than Skyy's, despite having the exact same layout. Skyy and Tai had already figured out a while ago that they lived on the same floor in the same apartment building. Skyy just happened to live two doors down from Tai so their apartments had the exact same layout on the inside.

But Tai's house was different to hers. It had different furniture and different decorations and paint on the wall. But that wasn't it. The feeling was different. Tai's house felt much nicer, more lived in and just, happier. Skyy's house seemed a bit more dull and empty, even when there were people in it. She hated it.

Time had passed quickly since Skyy had first gone to the Digital World and had received her digivice. She almost didn't realize it. Everyday she's go to school and see Tai and Izzy, Matt and Sora. They became familiar and she no longer avoided contact with them as much as she used to.

By nature Skyy was anti-social and avoided dealing with people in general. But as soon as she broke the barrier and started talking with people, and spending time with them, she became more open to them and didn't shut down.

Almost every day Skyy would stay behind at school to either watch Tai practice soccer, or she would go out with everyone to go shopping, or to the café, or the local arcade to spend all of their recent allowance. She started eating with them at lunch, and they would all work together on homework in groups. A few days when Matt brought his bass guitar to school he would happily teach her some chords whenever she showed interest. Sora became her closest female friend. Though whenever Sora tried to go all out girl mode on Skyy, she would get uncomfortable and avoid the girly subjects, like crushes and romance related stuff. As interested as Sora was in it, Skyy didn't care about those things and it bugged her to talk about them.

Kari would take endless pictures of all of them whenever they went out together. Skyy had gotten to like the little girl and loved it when the cute brunette dished out dirt on her brother. That way Skyy could use it to tease him later.

Out of the entire group Skyy most familiarized herself with Tai. They had the most in common and didn't even need to try to get along, it was just natural. After a while it almost became like they had been friends since childhood. Though the only area they disagreed on was art and sports. Skyy was as lazy as could be, whereas Tai thrived on a good workout with his soccer ball. Skyy loved painting and anything with artistic value, but Tai would get bored and didn't comprehend at all what the true sense of art was. Though whenever he saw Skyy painting or sketching something he would make the forced effort to say something good about it. Skyy appreciated that much.

Tai was an open guy and never judged anyone, he openly accepted everyone for who they were which also probably made Skyy feel closest to him, because he didn't ask any questions and accepted her behavior as a part of her.

Izzy had once told her that the only reason he knew Tai, and had gone to summer camp so long ago in first place was because he had to join the school soccer club to fulfill a physical education requirement and Tai had invited him to go. He had noted that Tai treated everyone equally and without discrimination, and this was why Izzy looked up to Tai and valued his opinions so much. Skyy had immediately agreed with him.

So in the end, before she knew it she stood in front of his apartment door, seeking an escape from her parents. She had gotten into a small squabble with her mom when she had gotten home and barged out of the house. When the cheery bushy haired boy answered the door Skyy didn't have to say anything before he gladly let her in. It was the first time she'd been there yet he'd let her straight in without question. It was a little odd to see Tai in a casual setting, yet it comforted her a lot more than being around her own family.

Though, it was a little creepy how his mom kept looking at her all throughout dinner. Tai was laughing and talking loudly with his dad and didn't notice, but Skyy and Kari sure did. Kari would keep laughing under her breath and give Skyy sympathetic looks. She would also try to keep up conversation with her so that she wasn't so aware of the woman's eyes on her. When they had all finished eating Skyy was only too happy to get away from Tai's mom's gaze.

"Hey, Skyy, my room is this way," Tai said as he scooched from his chair and pointed to a door on the other side of the kitchen. Skyy nodded and began making her way over. Tai followed but was then pulled to the side by his mom. Skyy stopped at the door and listened curiously.

"Tai, how long have you known this girl?" his mom whispered excitedly. Tai sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"For a while now, why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, it's just the first time you've had a girl over, is she someone special?" his mom said more eagerly. Tai turned bright red and his jaw dropped.

"What! God no! She's just a friend! Mom!" Tai stuttered in embarrassment. A grin broke out on Skyy's face.

"Well sorry, she's just the first girl you've had over, like I said, plus you invited her into your room," his mom said, obviously disappointed. Tai tried blocking his mom from Skyy's view, as if it would help for her not to hear them.

"I've had other girls over before!" Tai said quickly.

"But not at this age, you were little then," his mom argued.

"So! I'm only 13! She's just a friend!" Tai said and rushed away before his mom could accuse him anymore. He rushed past Skyy with a bright red face and she laughed as he barged into his room. His mom watched curiously as Skyy wandered in after him and Tai quickly closed the door behind her.

"Aww, too embarrassed to have your mom see us?" Skyy teased. Tai glared at her.

"Shut up," he said, the pink of his embarrassed blush still tinting his cheeks. Skyy smirked when he collapsed onto his bed and groaned loudly. Skyy sat down in Tai's desk chair and smoothed her skirt over her knees. She still hadn't changed out of her uniform, unlike Tai who was wearing a T-shirt and sweat pants.

"Sorry, my mom's….she gets weird ideas sometimes," Tai said. Skyy grinned and leaned her elbow on his desk.

"I see," she said. She noticed a small toy sat close to her and started absent mindedly playing with it. Tai sat up and kicked the air.

"So what's up? You just bored or something?" he wondered. Skyy shrugged.

"You could say that," she hummed. "Anyway, what are we going to do? It's been 2 months already," Skyy said. Tai frowned and his eyes slipped to his sock clad feet.

"Yeah, we've been fighting the seekers off, but nothing much has really happened so far," Tai grumbled, watching as he stretched his toes back and forth.

"We're not getting anywhere," Skyy said in annoyance. She was actually surprised how annoyed she was. She wanted this to be over quickly.

"I wish we could just go and maul them all in one shot," Tai said punching the air as if he was beating an opponent. Skyy perked up; lifting her eyes from the toy she was playing with.

"Why can't we?" she asked. Tai lolled his head around in a circle, his gaze stopping on his spinning fan on the ceiling.

"We can't, it's too rash. Izzy knows what he's doing, he's spent a lot of time planning out things for us so we can do this is easily, plus, we've told you before that we've all lost our crest's powers, so our Digimon can only evolve to Champion level…" Tai sighed as if he'd heard it from the maroon haired boy a hundred times. Skyy pouted angrily. But she remembered how Izzy had been in the computer room just about every day when they didn't go to the Digital World. He had been tapping away on his laptop and the portal computer with his face always pinched in concentration. Sometimes Skyy would go bother him, but also she would sometimes watch him working for a few minutes in secret until she decided not to bother him and went home.

"Bummer," she muttered. Tai chuckled.

"Tell me about it. It's so frustrating. But Izzy's been thinking a lot about it and he's a lot smarter than any of us," Tai laughed. Skyy grudgingly agreed. He was smarter than them. "Also, he's thinking a lot about you too," Tai added. Skyy stopped playing with the toy and looked wide-eyed at Tai.

"W-what?" she stuttered. Her chest felt light all of a sudden and her face got slightly warmer as she registered her reaction to Tai's comment. Tai didn't notice her blush though.

"Well, he doesn't want you and Pleomon fighting too many battles too soon, you'd get too tired out, and you're our ace player," he said simply. Skyy immediately felt stupid.

"Oh," she said in a disappointed tone. Weird. Why was she disappointed? There wasn't anything to be disappointed over. What was she expecting? Something she hadn't gotten apparently…but she didn't know what it was. She quickly scowled. Tai's mom's food must have been bad if she was getting funny feelings.

Tai didn't notice her disappointed tone and continued. "Yeah, we need you for pretty much every battle so we have to go slowly for your sake, that's what he said," Tai said and lay down on his bed with his hands behind his head. Skyy resumed playing with the toy before finally getting bored and tossing it away.

"I've always wondered, why does it have to be me? I mean why am I so special compared to you guys?" Skyy asked. Tai looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Apparently you have a power that none of the rest of us has. With Pleomon you can purify the seekers, which allows our digimons' attacks to work after," Tai explained. Skyy remembered hearing something like this from Izzy, but he had explained it using a lot more scientific words and she hadn't really understood. "They have some sort of darkness in them that gives them these weird barriers," Tai grumbled. Skyy tilted her head.

"What power is it…?" she asked. She had also heard a few times that she'd had this 'special' power. Even when that big evil darkness came when she first went to the Digital World, it said she had some sort of power that it wanted. She still didn't know what this amazing power was and why it made her such a desirable item to their enemy. She didn't feel any different. She didn't feel like there was any special power inside of her. Tai scratched his nose in thought.

"Gennai said it was the power of eternal life," Tai said. Skyy's eyes narrowed, and she clenched her teeth on reflex. Her eyes snapped away from Tai and her voice sounded like venom.

"Who would want such a power?" she hissed under her breath. Tai looked at her and frowned.

"It wouldn't be that bad," He said, then grinned. "You could eat and sleep and just do nothing all day. And you wouldn't have to worry about school and making a living because you're gonna live a long time anyway, and you wouldn't need to save up for retirement or anything," he joked.

"Living forever is horrible, it'd be better to greet death quickly," Skyy said, annoyed. Tai pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked at her with a concerned expression. "Death is fated to come to everyone anyway, being forced to live in the twisted world forever is terrible," she finished. She looked out Tai's window at the black night that was dotted with many lights coming through the many windows of the apartments and buildings across the way. Tai looked at the floor, hesitating, before looking back at her and opening his mouth to speak.

"Why would you want to die so much?" he asked. Unknown to him the question had more weight to it then he could imagine and Skyy flinched. Her eyes darkened and she pursed her lips together tightly into a thin line. Tai waited for her to give him an answer but she flicked her hand in the air and crossed her legs.

"No reason," she said flippantly and leaned forward. "It's just not that great of a power," she concluded and Tai looked at her silently for a minute, studying her features. Skyy avoided his gaze until he gave up and flopped down onto his back again.

"Well, just because you have that power doesn't mean you're going to live forever, you might be able to make someone else live forever though," he said. Skyy's wandering eyes landed on Tai's small stand up calendar and saw a date was circled in bright red ink on a day the next week from then. Tai noticed her looking at it and stretched his neck to read what it said. "Oh! There's a festival next week," he said finally. Skyy jumped, not realizing he'd been watching her read it.

"I see what festival?" she asked. Tai looked at her like she was weird.

"What seriously? It's the Sanno*festival, duh," he said. Skyy frowned.

"Well sorry, we didn't really celebrate many Japanese festivals in Canada, I'm just not used to it anymore," Skyy said quickly in defense. Tai laughed.

"Well, just remember to wear proper clothes then," he teased and Skyy pouted angrily and nudged his side with her foot.

"Shut up, I will!" she snapped then smiled when Tai laughed as her foot tickled him.

"I don't know if we'll get to see the parade, there are so many people there every time, so we might just hang around the stalls and games they have up, we can go on the ferris wheel too," Tai said once Skyy finally stopped tickling him. Skyy lowered her foot and looked at the ground. Tai looked at her downcast expression and grinned. "You can come with us if you want," he said and Skyy looked up at him.

"Really?" she mumbled, a smile tugging at her lips. Tai laughed.

"Of course, why else wouldn't you?" he said. Skyy smiled fully and played with her fingers. Tai grinned at her obvious happiness. Suddenly she frowned.

"Hey wait, are we able to go out and have fun? I mean, with the current situation in the Digital World?" Skyy asked. Tai sighed.

"Well, like I said, it's not like we can just charge in there. Izzy is still figuring out a weak point in our enemy, and you need a break once in a while right? " Tai said. Skyy nodded.

"Yeah, I guess," she said.

"Just make sure you wear a yukata to the festival, I want to see what you look like in one!" Tai teased. Skyy made a move to tickle him again and he flinched away.

"Jeez, I'll look just like every other girl," she said. Tai shrugged.

"I wanna see you in one anyway," he said. Skyy wondered when the last time she wore a yukata was. Not in a very long time. She assumed her mom still had some. Would there be any that fit her now?

"Hm, I'll have to send Pleo back to the Digital World then, it would be problematic to bring her and she can't stay home alone…" Skyy mumbled, more to herself.

"Hey, how's Pleomon doing anyway?" Tai asked. Skyy grinned.

"I think she has a digimon crush on Gomamon, she talks about him nonstop," Skyy chuckled. Tai snorted a laugh.

"What? Is that possible?" he asked. Skyy shrugged and laughed.

"We'll have to wait and see," she said, smiling.

They chatted happily until Skyy finally decided she should leave and return home. They talked about almost everything. Tai didn't bring up the eternal life thing again though. He figured Skyy would only avoid the topic and would just get angry if he pushed it on her. So he kept his mouth shut. But he definitely wanted to know why she was so sensitive about it. Something was going on in her head and he wanted to know what it was, it worried him.

When Skyy finally left he reluctantly watched her sneak into her own house. He waited until her door clicked shut before he walked back into his own house.

Skyy's house was dark and quiet. Her parents had gone to bed.

She crept into her room quickly and saw Pleomon sleeping in her usual spot on the pink plastic computer chair. That was the first place the digimon had slept in when she was in the real world and she seemed attached to it. Skyy smiled weakly and quickly changed into her PJs. She curled into her bed and brought the covers right over her head.

She drifted off to sleep much quicker than she thought she would. Tomorrow she was going to the Digital World yet again. She got a little excited every time she was about to go battle. She always got hyped up watching Pleomon. Skyy smiled to herself.

She couldn't wait.

Skyy blushed in embarrassment at her reflection in the mirror. She spun around awkwardly taking in every inch of her outfit. She sighed and fiddled with the sleeve hem of her yukata.

Her mom had indeed had some old yukatas. She had a really old one from when she was young that luckily fit Skyy. But it was so old fashioned; Skyy was a little embarrassed just wearing it. She was considering taking it off before leaving. It was pretty simple. It was a pale beige with some white flower designs on the edges. She wore a light blue under dress so strips of blue stuck out from her sleeves and neck. There was also a blue sash going around her waist to keep it all together. because summer was almost there the night air was warmer and it wasn't too much to wear a thin yukata. So she couldn't take it all off now… she had promised Tai she'd wear one…

She sighed again and quickly scraped up her long blonde locks into a makeshift bun with the shorter bits coming down and loosely framing her face. She added a small clip at the base of the bun and nodded. She was ready.

She crept out of her bedroom and quickly slipped into a pair of black two teethed geta sandals that went with her outfit. Just as she reached for the door her mom came out of the kitchen.

"Oh! Skyy are you leaving now?" she said. Skyy inwardly groaned.

"Yeah, mom, see you later," she said without looking at her. Her mom stepped forward.

"Wait! Skyy!" she called. Skyy's shoulders slumped and she turned around.

"What?" she almost snapped. She immediately regretted her tone. Her mom looked down sadly, and then quickly looked up at her daughter with determination.

"H-have fun!" she said. Skyy's eyes widened slightly. She paused before nodding awkwardly.

"Yeah," he mumbled then turned to open the door. She slipped out leaving her mom behind and shut the door. She frowned when the door locked behind her and she quickly rushed from the apartment.

It took her a while to get through the crowds to the train and then to get off at the right stop. As soon as she got off she was surrounded by other kimono clad people and crowds and crowds of people waiting for the parade and heading for the stalls. The ferris wheel was all lit up and there was a line of people waiting to get on at the bottom. Skyy made her way to the grounds with all the games and stalls and clutched her purple phone. Suddenly it buzzed and she quickly flipped it open to read the text.

I spy with my little eye, I see a girl in beige and blue!

Skyy grinned and texted Tai back.

Where are you?

It buzzed again.

Look left! Or, look right?

Skyy rolled her eyes and looked around. Suddenly a pair of tanned, rough hands covered her eyes and she gasped. She spun around and Tai waved cheekily back at her. She grinned and crossed her arms.

"Dude, next time just tell me where you are," she scolded playfully, hitting him over the shoulder. Tai laughed and shrugged.

"It's more fun teasing people," he said innocently. Just then the usual gang appeared behind Tai and waved their hellos. Sora and Kari wore yukatas as well. Joe and Izzy were the only boys wearing them, but Tai, TK, and Matt had normal clothes on. Skyy softly said hellos.

"So Skyy, looking good!" Tai teased as he raised one of her arms by the sleeve of her dress to get a good look at her. Skyy self consciously brought her arm away and pouted.

"It's old...but it's the only one I had," she said, as if somehow she needed an excuse for wearing it. Tai just grinned at her. Izzy came up behind Tai and smiled widely at her. she smiled back but it immediately dropped when she noticed the tag along Izzy had seemed to bring with him. She raised an eyebrow.

Clung to Izzy's arm was a dark haired girl with thin, black eyes. She had a dark blue yukata on with a black sash. She had pale skin like Izzy and she slightly resembled him. Was she a family member? She was fairly pretty but clung to Izzy like her life depended on it. Skyy got an odd feeling when she eyed the girl's fingers clinging to Izzy's yukata sleeve.

"Hey Tsutsumi! You look really nice today," Izzy said politely, blushing a little. Skyy smiled shyly and fingered her sleeve hem.

"Oh, thanks," she mumbled. The girl looked from Izzy to Skyy then glared. She stomped her foot as if to get attention.

"Not as pretty as me, right Kou-nii?" she said in a sickingly sweet voice. Skyy's smile froze and the weird feeling came back stronger. Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Izzy bit his lip nervously.

"Uh…" he mumbled and the group became silent. Skyy could sense waves of annoyance emanating from all of the other kids and they ignored Izzy and his… friend. The girl's eyes bore into Izzy, waiting for his answer. He laughed nervously under her gaze and scratched his head. "Uhh, Tsutsumi! This is my cousin, Sato Akemi," Izzy quickly said. Akemi gave him a slight glare but straightened herself out.

"My name means bright and beautiful!" she said concededly and flipped her black hair with her fingers. Izzy bit his lip again and Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, right," she said and turned round to face Tai. Akemi flinched and ground her teeth together, fuming at being ignored. She humph'd and held Izzy tighter. Kari glanced from Akemi to Skyy and quickly held up her camera.

"Hey, Skyy let me take a picture of you!" she said nervously and held up her camera. Skyy turned around and smiled lightly. Tai quickly ducked behind her and held up bunny ears behind her head. Kari laughed and snapped the picture before Skyy kicked his shin for ruining it. Kari took another picture of just Skyy to sooth her temper and then the group made their way through the stalls.

Skyy was quiet but the energy her friends had seemed to be contagious. She played a few games but mostly watched. She tried the fish scoop but failed twice. Izzy tried to show her how to do it, and he almost got one to her excitement, until Akemi bounced onto his back squealing "Kou-nii!" really loudly. The scare cause Izzy to buckle forward and the scoop broke, sending the fish back down into the tank. Skyy remembered standing up angrily and Izzy quickly trying to un-stick his cousin and follow after.

Skyy played a game with Tai where you had to knock over bottles with a ball and she happily won, though she assumed Tai let her win because when he did hit a bottle his aim was oddly dead on. But she didn't care; she got a fluffy grey elephant anyways. It was small but soft and she clutched it the whole night happily. She watched Matt and Tai face off in a shooting game and both tied grudgingly, though secretly she'd been cheering for Tai. Kari and Tai played a sibling game one time but lost.

Soon Skyy couldn't help herself and began bouncing around like a kid. She found some traditional masks for sale and she and Tai mischievously bought a pair. They wore them and goofed around, playing pranks and scaring their friends from behind. They found some sparklers too and set them off away from the crowds. Skyy danced around excitedly spelling out her name and drawing pictures with the sparkler. Tai was just pretending to be a wizard and 'casting spells' on people. Skyy had a pretend sword fight with him until his sprinkler went out and she declared herself the winner. She sat with Sora and Joe and laughed as her friends fooled around..

But whenever she tried to talk or do something with Izzy, his cousin would give her death glares and make up an excuse for him to talk to her or to go do something else. And Izzy, being the nice guy, always stopped to help his cousin. Skyy would get annoyed but would quickly brush it off and go find someone else to play with. Kari took so many pictures it was dizzying.

After a while they stopped at a stall and each got some dango. Akemi was trying to get Izzy to feed her but he brushed her off and quickly sat beside someone else. Though that someone else happened to be Skyy and he accidently bumped her arm, causing her last dango to tumble to the ground.

"Aww," she frowned and picked up the dirt covered treat. She pouted and Izzy quickly raised his hands in apology.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry!" he said. Skyy threw her dango into a nearby trash can and shrugged.

"Nah, it was no big deal," she sighed. Though she wanted that last one… Izzy bit his lip and held out his own dango stick.

"Here, take one of mine! Please, as an apology," he said. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" she asked. Izzy nodded furiously. Skyy glanced at Akemi, who was staring them down with daggers in her eyes. Skyy grinned slyly and leaned forward. She bit off one of his dangos without using her hands and chewed it happily. Izzy turned bright red and almost dropped the stick. Skyy laughed and wiped some sauce from her mouth with her thumb as she chewed.

"Yum! Thanks!" she said and glanced at Akemi, who was fuming with rage. Skyy did a victory dance in her mind and felt oddly satisfied. Izzy sat in shock with a red face, his hands frozen. Skyy laughed and poked his shoulder a few times. He snapped out of it and shyly ate the rest of his dessert without saying anything.

After their snack they wandered around for a bit. The fireworks would have been starting soon but they still had about half an hour to wait. Akemi attached herself to Izzy as soon as she could and didn't seem like she was going to let go for a while. The group found themselves at the ferris wheel soon enough and decided to get in line at Sora's request. They chatted randomly and waited in line, slowly moving forward with each spin of the large, bright wheel. When they reached the front Matt, Sora, TK, and Kari went up in twos and got onto one cart. Skyy watched as the ride operators shut the lift and the four rose up in an instant. Skyy watched wide-eyed as the cart flew up easily and the next one came down to unload its passengers.

The people came off of the next lift and the guys operating the ride waited for the next people to go on. Skyy eagerly stepped up.

"whose coming with me?" she said excitedly as she sat down in the creaking lift. Tai grabbed Izzy wrist and yanked him forward.

"hey look, Izzy wants to go, why don't you go Izzy? It'll be so fun, look Skyy's waiting for you!" Tai said mischievously and pushed the stumbling red-head onto the lift, much to the protests of Akemi. Before Izzy could protest and get off the Tai slammed the door shut behind them and the lift was off into the air in a flash. Skyy quickly grabbed the safety rails at the lurch of the ride and sighed.

"Well, that was unexpected," she said. Izzy rubbed his head and flopped down on the opposite bench.

"Ow, why did he have to grab me like that, I would've just gone if he'd asked," Izzy grumbled, Skyy nodded. She leaned over and looked down out the window. She saw Tai grinning boyishly with a big thumbs up pointed at her. Skyy glared at him through the glass. Way to make things awkward. Jerk.

She slumped back in the seat. Suddenly she realized her predicament and a very light blush tinted her cheeks. She glanced at Izzy and is cheeks were pink as well. Skyy looked out the window again to distract herself from the atmosphere and noticed a very tiny Akemi throwing a fit on the ground. She raised an eyebrow.

"Your darling cousin doesn't seem to like you being away from her for too long," she said. Izzy blushed and frowned. He glanced down at his angry cousin and sighed in annoyance.

"Yeah, don't ask. My parents told me to bring her; she's my cousin on my mom's side. She's rich and my parents don't want to disappoint her family," Izzy grumbled, crossing his arms. Skyy nodded.

"And she likes you?" she said. Izzy turned scarlet and nodded unhappily.

"I can't fathom why, but it's been like this ever since we were little. She thinks we're going to get married someday or something impractical like that," Izzy frowned. Skyy glanced at him, then down to the floor. She put her stuffed elephant on the bench beside her and clasped her fingers together on her lap, fidgeting.

For some reason, that girl annoyed her. She didn't know why, but whenever she was all clingy around Izzy and calling him 'Kou-nii', it really agitated her. She glanced up at Izzy, who was looking outside shyly and then looked back down at her fingers. Why did she call him Kou-nii anyway? She didn't like that she had cute little nick names for him that Skyy didn't know about. The question came out of her mouth before she could think.

"Hey, what's your real name Izzy?" she asked suddenly. Then she froze and clamped her mouth shut. What had she just said? Izzy looked at her in confusion.

"What?" he said. Skyy wanted to take back the question. But then again, she'd already asked it, why turn back now?

"I mean, is Izzy your real name? Cause Sato was calling you Kou-nii…" she mumbled. A look of understanding came over his face and he laughed shortly.

"Oh, that," he smiled. "No, Izzy is just a nick name." Skyy tilted her head curiously. Izzy caught on and laughed at her. "You want to know?" he guessed. She nodded eagerly, leaning forward a bit. Izzy smiled and looked at his hands.

"It's Koushiro, Izumi Koushiro," he said. Skyy couldn't help but smile lightly.

"Koushiro," she tested saying his name. Izzy blushed at the sound of his name coming from her. To hide his embarrassment he quickly straightened up.

"Is Skyy your real name?" he asked carefully. Skyy raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah pretty much. My parents are weird and like non-traditional names…" she said shrugging. Izzy nodded. Skyy kept repeating Izzy's name in her head, then scrunched her face.

"I like Izzy better, Koushiro is too long," she said. Izzy chuckled.

"That's why Akemi calls me Kou-nii, though I don't really like it," he sighed. Another wave of annoyance hit Skyy and she frowned. Then she suddenly shook her head furiously.

What was wrong with her, why should she care about the relationship between Izzy and his cousin? It had nothing to do with her. She clenched her hands together tighter in annoyance, and then scowled at her reaction. She huffed lightly and kicked her foot unhappily.

A silence filled the car at the end of their conversation and it was replaced with Skyy's quiet fuming. She folded arms over one another and glared out the window. Just thinking about his cousin got on her nerves, and because she didn't know why it made her even angrier.

"Ferris wheels are quite amazing," Izzy's nervous voice suddenly broke the silence of Skyy's agitated annoyance. She jumped and looked up at him.

"What?"

"The original ferris wheel, also known as the Chicago wheel, opened on June 21, 1893, at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. The Daikanransha that we're riding on now was built here in Odaiba in 1999 and is 115 meters tall," Izzy rambled. Skyy looked at her hands. He was probably just filling the air with nonsense to waste the time as they rose higher. The lights and people got smaller and Skyy started to feel more and more aware that she was alone with Izzy in a ferris wheel cart. She became slightly self conscious. It wasn't this way when she was alone with any of her other friends. Why was she so squeamish about it now that it was Izzy. Izzy was…just Izzy. He went on about the history of ferris wheels and some of the world's largest ferris wheels before Skyy interrupted him.

"Why do you know so much?" she asked. Izzy stopped talking and laughed in embarrassment.

"Sorry if I was rambling," he apologized. Skyy shook her head.

"Nah, it's interesting," she lied. Izzy seemed to tell she was lying but didn't comment on it. He shrugged.

"I'm just overly curious about everything, that's all," he said, smiling fondly. Skyy peeked at him as he spoke.

"Why are you curious?" she asked. Izzy chuckled lightly, as if he was thinking of a past memory or an old inside joke.

"The ability to comprehend, and learn is the greatest asset humans have. It's how we've evolved so much over the centuries. And it's my most precious attribute that makes me who I am," he said softly. Izzy leaned his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together lightly. "I live my life happily gaining knowledge and gaining more insight on the things around me. I love being able to answer questions and be of help to myself and others. I love that my life has given me this opportunity to learn," Izzy said. Skyy watched him and her heart stirred slightly.. She leaned forward on her elbows casually as Izzy kept talking.

"When I first went to the Digital World," he laughed, "I cared more about researching the Digital World then about my friends," he said nostalgically. "But my curiosity is what drives me to keep going every day, I love it," he finished. Skyy contemplated it quietly. Izzy faced her brightly.

"What drives you to keep going every day?" he asked innocently. Skyy stayed quiet. Izzy raised an eyebrow in confusion after she didn't answer. Just as he was about to ask her why their cart lurched to a stop and the doors slid open. Skyy's heart dropped oddly and Izzy frowned.

"Oh, the rides over," he said, slightly disappointed. Suddenly Skyy dug for some change and sprung out of the cart. She slapped the change into the employee's hand and dashed back into the lift. She slammed the door closed and sat down. The employee stared at her, dumbstruck, before shrugging and pulling the switch, sending them off again. Izzy looked at her with a slack jaw and wide eyes.

"Wha- hey can you even do that?" he asked. Skyy shrugged.

"Seems so," she said simply. Izzy stared at her in shock for a second longer before slipping into a smile and laughing lightly.

"You really are a puzzle Tsutsumi," he laughed. Skyy frowned.

"You keep saying that…" she said. Izzy shrugged.

"Well you are, you're too hard to fully understand. One minute your laughing one minute your serious, just what are you hiding?" he said, half jokingly. But Skyy stilled and looked away.

"Nothing you need to know about," she said quietly. Izzy grinned to himself and looked at his hands. Skyy bit her lip in thought.

She didn't know why, but she hadn't wanted to get off the ride just yet. Maybe she just wanted some solitude from the crowds for a bit longer, she didn't know. But she enjoyed sitting there chatting with the nerd and she was sad when the lift had stopped. She'd wanted to stay with him longer. Before she'd known it she impulsively paid for another round.

But, it was normal right? Izzy was a friend and she was having a nice conversation with him, plus she liked riding the ferris wheel. So it was natural she would have wanted to go for another ride. I think so…that must be it

Their lift slowly swung up to the top and suddenly bright colorful lights flooded the small car and loud, splitting cracks filled their ears. Izzy looked up excitedly, getting up on his feet to look out the window.

"Ah! Fireworks!" he said, his eyes sparkling. Skyy looked up at him, then outside. Her eyes widened when she saw the bright fireworks.

"Fireworks are the cause of a bunch of many chemical reactions. Colors in fireworks are usually generated by pyrotechnic stars which produce intense light when ignited," Izzy started rambling. Skyy watched his excitement from the corner of her eyes. A soft expression filtered onto her features as she gazed at him excitedly talking and watching the fireworks. The colours tinted his face and she couldn't help but take in all of his features. He wasn't the best looking boy she'd ever seen. But now that she really looked at him, he wasn't bad looking. He had interesting features that seemed different from every other guy. It was….appealing in a way.

His dark maroon hair, which looked almost inky in the dark light, was a great contrast to his pale toned skin. He was pretty skinny, a little on the lanky side actually. His hands were bigger though, like a boys should be, but his fingers weren't rough looking like Tai's were. They looked delicate and almost like Matt's. Though his hands were probably like that from typing on computers so much. She was surprised he didn't need glasses because he seemed to be looking at bright screens all day. The fireworks sent the reflections of sparkles through his black eyes and a wide grin was on his pale lips.

Wait.

Why was she even thinking about this?

This wasn't like her. Since when did she really pay any attention to boys and how they looked? She never studied Tai, or Matt's features like this when she was with them. She frowned. Just what was going on with her?

She must've eaten some bad dango. Stupid stomach.

It was doing weird things to her and she didn't appreciate it one bit.

Skyy held down a huff and silently watched the fireworks. She was so consumed in her own thoughts she didn't sense the shy gaze that was focused on her. She rested her chin in her hands and puffed her cheeks out as she watched, blowing air in and out of her cheeks to try and distract the odd disturbances in her stomach.

They were pretty high up now and the bright warm lights from all the stalls created a little town below them. The fireworks lit up the sky over the bay and the reflections of the bright colours painted the dark water. She could see their tiny friends crowded at the bottom and the long line of tiny ant people still waiting to get on the ride. A little ways away, past the stalls she could see the grand festival parade going down the streets and she could faintly hear the booming of the drums.

Izzy slowly sat back down and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. His loosely clasped hands slightly brushed her own knuckles in the small cart. Just then another wave of impulsive behavior hit Skyy and she stood up suddenly. Izzy looked up in surprise as she turned and plopped down next to him. She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. She could feel Izzy stiffen and heat radiate from his face.

"U-um…Tsutsumi?" he stuttered. Skyy raised a finger to her lips.

"Shh, I'm tired, so just stay like this," she said and lowered her hand. Izzy was silent and it was a minute before she felt him turn his head to look out the window again. She sighed quietly and relaxed against him. His shoulder was bony but surprisingly comfy. He was warm though, really nice and warm. She almost wanted to hug him just so she could soak up his warmth. But that would be weird…and awkward…and stupid.

She frowned. Being alone with him made her act weird. She didn't know if she liked it or not. She'd never been so impulsive before..

She focused on the warmth coming from his shoulder through his yukata and she blushed lightly despite herself.

Stupid dango.

Fifth chapter :0

Sorry I haven't been writing about them in the Digital World lately. But really, they're just doing the same things over and over, there's no point in writing the same sequences. Not everything can happen in the span of a week. Getting stronger and saving the world takes time people ;P haha

* - the Sannofestival is a festival celebrated on June 10th -16th and it is an elegant festival originally held in 1478 to ensure good fortune during the building of the Edo castle in present-day Tokyo. Unfortunately it is not generally celebrated in Odaiba, and takes place in another district/ward of Tokyo that I don't remember the name of. I know there wouldn't be any parades, booths with games, or fireworks like the festival I wrote in this chapter. But I wanted the festival to be like that and wanted to use the name of a real festival that took place around the same time of the year that the story is taking place in right now. So yes it's not really accurate but whatever.

Please review :) it's much appreciated!