Digimon Adventure: Connections
Chapter 6: Closer
Skyy was getting better at landing after coming through the digital portal that was for sure. She'd happily landed perfectly on her feet when they'd all arrived back in the middle school computer lab. Everyone stretched their sore limbs and yawned loudly. It was almost dinner time by now. Today it was just a few of them that had gone to the Digital World. Skyy, Izzy, Tai, Joe, and TK managed to get rid of about 15 seekers since that morning.
They'd been following this pattern of defeating seeker digimon for about 2 and a half months now. It was slow, but every time they defeated more and more seekers. It showed up on the map that Izzy was monitoring as well. Their enemy seemed to be slow when it came to reinforcing lost numbers in seekers. The Digital World used to be covered with hoards of seekers in every district. But the more they visited the more the numbers diminished and the black blobs on the map disappeared.
With every visit they got a little bit closer to the main enemy in the middle of the Digital World. But it was hard because the closer they traveled to the main enemy's base, the more seekers there were, and they just weren't strong enough to defeat that many seekers all in one go. So they had to just keep visiting and slowly get stronger by defeating a little more of the seekers each time.
Another thing was that Pleomon could only digivolve to Hotarumon. According to Izzy, there was more levels she could digivolve to, but somehow she hadn't been able to do it yet despite all the battles they'd been fighting. He said the key was in her crest virtue but Skyy didn't understand. Izzy had concluded that if Skyy could get Hotarumon to digivolve one up, they might have a better chance at defeating even more seekers. But Skyy had absolutely no idea how to do that. She had told Hotarumon to try, but she just couldn't do it. No matter how bad Hotarumon had tried she just couldn't digivolve further. It annoyed Skyy. Was there something wrong with her? Why couldn't she make Pleomon get stronger?
Pleomon curled up into a ball in Skyy's arms and snuggled into the cloth of her white and purple shirt. The digimon was snoozing lightly and her tail flicked in her sleep. Skyy looked at Pleomon worriedly. Why couldn't she help her digimon?
Tai yawned loudly and scratched his head. "Man, that was tiring, I'm gonna go home and eat a horse if you don't mind," he said sarcastically. TK laughed.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," he said, patting his empty stomach.
"Well, until next time then guys? I need to go home and study," Joe said cheerfully, raising a hand in goodbye. Izzy looked at his watch and made a worried sound. Skyy looked at him curiously.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Izzy just shook his head once.
"Nothing, I just promised my mom I'd get groceries for tomorrow, she's holding a dinner party with some of her old high school friends," Izzy sighed, rubbing the back of his neck to massage the sore muscles there.
"How much do you need to get?" Skyy asked. Izzy frowned.
"A lot, but I'll manage," he said again and waved his hand for her not to worry. Skyy thought of going home right now and an unpleasant feeling grumbled in her stomach. She bit her lip. If she came home late, her mom and dad would fuss over her even more. Ever since that time they'd become so overprotective. They fussed whenever she went out or came back in. Actually they fussed about everything she did. Over time it made her dread being home, not wanting to deal with her parents behavior. She glanced at Izzy and thought of an idea.
"Hey, do you mind if I come with you to help?" she asked hopefully. She'd still have to go home at some point, but at least she could avoid it for a while. Izzy looked at her surprised.
"Oh, but why?" he wondered. Skyy plastered a smile on her face.
"Just because it'll be hard for you to carry all the food back home yourself right?" she said. She gave him a hopeful look. He looked skeptical and for second Skyy thought he would decline, but instead he smiled back.
"Sure, I could use the help," he said happily. They walked out of the school together and Tai gave Skyy an odd look as she left with Izzy instead of with him. But he seemed to shrug it off, waving a lazy goodbye back at her.
As she walked Skyy had to rest Pleomon in an old over-the-shoulder bag so she wouldn't look so conspicuous in Skyy's arms. Skyy didn't exactly want it to look like she was carrying around a stuffed animal. She was 13, it would be embarrassing to be caught wandering around in public with a kid's toy.
Skyy sighed in relief as she walked. Pleomon had fallen asleep in her bag so she didn't fumble around awkwardly inside.
Summer was in full bloom with it coming to the end of June. Summer break would start in a month and Skyy was looking forward to forgetting about school for 6 long weeks. By this point in time, if she had still been going to school in Canada, it probably would already be summer break and she would've just finished her school year. Whereas now that she had returned to Japan, it was just the first term of school that was ending. Second term would start at the end of August. In Japan there were three school terms. The first, which started at the beginning of April and went until the end of June, and then they were off for summer break for six weeks, and then second term would start early September. Christmas break was around Christmas/New Year's time, for a week, and then third term would start and would go until the end of March. Then they got a week off and after that the new school year would start again. It was a lot of time in school, but Skyy was more used to that then the usual two semester schooling system she had in Canada. It didn't seem like enough school to her.
Skyy also had to admit she liked returning to wearing school uniforms. She had gone to an elementary school that wasn't in her neighborhood, so she hadn't gone to school with Tai and the others like she probably would have if she had gone to the elementary school next to her current middle school. Her elementary school had uniforms, but the elementary school her friends had gone too didn't have them. They only started wearing uniforms in middle school. Skyy liked being able to blend in with her classmates, and that people would recognize immediately what school she came from just by her clothes. Tai always complained about them, he always wore is improperly. Like not buttoning up all the buttons, purposely forgetting his necktie at home, or he wouldn't wear it correctly and it would just hang around his neck, untied. Skyy and Sora would scold him about it but it seemed to go in one ear and out the other.
Skyy didn't mind the flow of wearing a uniform skirt, and because it was warmer they had switched to their summer uniform and she got to wear a T-shirt. The fall/ winter uniforms were pretty much the same but the t-shirt was swapped for a long sleeved shirt. Boys were pretty much the same, wearing T-shirts in summer and long-sleeved shirts with jackets in the winter, keeping the uniform pants on all year-round. Skyy didn't like that girls had to wear skirts in the winter so she used to wear leggings or leg warmers to protect her legs from the harsh cold. But since it was summer she'd rather wear a skirt then anything.
Skyy breathed in the fresh air as her and Izzy walked in a comfortable silence, chatting occasionally until they reached the nearby supermarket. They were hit with a blast of cool air as they walked through the sliding doors and Izzy began shuffling in his pocket for his shopping list. Skyy peeked at the paper curiously.
"What do you need to get?" she asked. Izzy twisted his mouth to the side in thought.
"Hmm, she wants to make some summer dishes, Hiyashi Chuka I think she said? And some other side dishes…" Izzy sighed as his eyes raked over the long list of ingredients again. "Also she wants some other foods for the rest of the week's dinners," Izzy finished and he grabbed a shopping cart and wheeled it over. Skyy took the list and read the first item.
"Daikon…that'll be in the vegetable section right?" she said Izzy nodded and they made their way over to the produce isles. They glided the cart around the store as they picked up what they needed and slowly the cart got fuller and fuller. Skyy laughed when she finally noticed how large their food load had gotten.
"And you said you'd be able to handle this?" she teased. Izzy rolled his eyes.
"I would've found a way, but I appreciate the help," he smiled.
"Do you always go grocery shopping for your parents?" she asked. Izzy shook his head.
"No, mom only makes me go out every now and then when she's too busy to," he explained. Skyy clasped her hands behind her back.
"We used to go out with my mom shopping when we were small, but not so much anymore," Skyy almost whispered and a nostalgic expression passed over her features. Izzy raised an eyebrow.
"We? Who's we?" he asked curiously. Skyy almost froze on the spot. Had she said that? 'We'? Skyy bit her lip and her eyes slid to the ground.
"Me…and my sister I mean," she said. Izzy's eyes widened.
"You have a sister? I never knew that!" he said, joyfully surprised. He leaned on the handle bars, crossing his arms and leaning closer to her. "What grade is she in?" he asked innocently. A pained expression filtered into her eyes and Izzy suddenly felt like he had said something he shouldn't have. Before he could apologize though, Skyy whipped around so her back was facing him.
"It doesn't matter," she quipped quickly and walked ahead. Izzy stood there feeling quite guilty with himself and clutched the handle bars tightly. He bit his lip trying to think of a way to ease the situation. He glanced up at her as she perused the shelves of food and decided to just change the subject.
"It's a pain sometimes but I rather like shopping alone, gives you some quite time to just think about anything and everything," Izzy sighed, plastering a fond smile on his features. Skyy sighed lightly in relief at the change in subject. Izzy noticed and brightened a bit. "But I guess in cases like these it's nice to have company," he added.
A smile creeped onto Skyy's lips. "Yeah, I suppose so."
Izzy looked at her for a moment before shaking his head back into focus. "So! What's next?" he asked and Skyy looked at his list again.
"Umm, we still need some chicken, and ham," she said and they made their way over to the meat section.
Skyy inwardly frowned. Why had she said "we"? She shouldn't have said that. At least Izzy had the sense to change the subject though. She did not want to talk to him about her sister. She didn't want to talk to anyone about her sister.
When they picked up some salmon they wheeled over to another isle and as Izzy read out the ingredient Skyy scanned the shelves for it. As she looked she glanced at Izzy who was watching her calmly. He smiled at her quickly and Skyy found herself smiling back before looking up the food racks for some soy sauce.
Suddenly, a group of boys that looked about their age wandered up sniggering.
"Well, if it isn't little Izumi Koushiro from elementary school!" one of the guy's in the group drawled, coming up to Izzy. Skyy looked at them, her eyebrows furrowing together as Izzy stiffened and glowered at the floor.
"Remember us?" another guy laughed and reached out to ruffle Izzy's hair. He ducked away and the guy held his hands up. "Hey, hey, no need to be touchy, we haven't seen you in a while! Still waste your time on that stupid computer of yours?" The guys laughed. Skyy didn't like their tones, and it appeared Izzy wasn't too fond of these guys either.
Skyy hadn't really had much experience with bullying. Back in Canada she kept to herself a lot and really only ever talked to her friend Jeremy. It seemed the children in her school either silently bullied or just never bothered themselves with it. She remembered bullying being much harsher when she lived in Japan. She had never been personally targeted, but she had heard of what had happened to other students in her classes.
The group of boys in front of her now looked like typical student thugs and it seemed from the way they were speaking to Izzy that he had past experience with them. Skyy sized them all up. They were all bigger then her, and bigger then Izzy. If a fight broke out they wouldn't win, that was for sure. Also there were four boys and only two of them. The odds were against them.
"Aww, look he's trying not to look at us," the first guy laughed. "it seems little Koushiro still thinks he's too good to talk to us, just because you got special permission to enter middle school early you think your hot stuff huh?" the guy wrapped an arm around Izzy's shoulders and Izzy tried desperately not to look at him, his fists clenching so tightly around the shopping cart's handle bars that they turned white.
"so Izumi, are you still madly in love with your laptop or have you come off of that high horse you think you're on and realized what a useless brainiac you are?" the guy sneered and Izzy opened his mouth to argue.
"Are you stupid? How can a brainiac possibly be useless? That doesn't make sense," Skyy spoke up. The boys all looked over at her, only now seeming to realize she was there. Izzy looked at her in shock, his mouth snapping shut and his eyes wide open. The guy who had his arm around Izzy's shoulders whistled and his eyes raked up and down Skyy's body non-discreetly. Skyy glared at his lingering gaze and flipped her hair behind her back.
"You should think before you throw insults at people that don't make sense, you wouldn't want us to realize that your brain must be no bigger than baby's fist, would you?" Skyy grinned.
"And what do we have here little miss?" the guy drawled and his friends chuckled. They seemed to enclose themselves a bit closer to her and Skyy grounded her feet to the floor.
"Just what do you have against Izzy? You have no right coming up to him and treating him like this," she spat. The guy raised his eyebrow.
"Ohh? We were just reminiscing with an old friend," the guy lied. Skyy snorted.
"Sure you were."
"Well, aren't we a fiery little miss? Where'd you land such a cute chick Koushiro? Isn't she a little out of your league?" the guy laughed, turning back to Izzy. Izzy turned and glared at the guy. "What did you do huh? Did you pay her to be your little girlfriend? How much?" the guy said darkly.
Skyy made a sound of disgust and lurched for the guy's arm. She twisted it in the opposite directions which caused it to twist behind his back. The guy yelped in pain as Skyy pinned his arm to his back.
"Izzy is smart, and confident, and honest! He'll have way more success than any of you idiots combined and I'm with him because I want to be!" Skyy hissed. She shoved the guy forward and he fell into his friends, who scrambled to get him back to his feet. The guy scoffed and shook of his friends' hands off angrily.
"What did you say?" he asked, glaring at her. Skyy met his glare with just as much venom. Izzy sucked in a breath angrily and stepped forward, raising his arm.
"Leave her alone," he said, using his arm to shove the guy away as much as he could. The guy grabbed Izzy's arm and twisted it around and out of the way as if it was just an annoying twig, causing Izzy to yelp in surprise and pain.
Skyy quickly snapped to attention and raced forward, kicking the guy in the crotch as hard as she could. The guy screamed out as he fell back onto his friends and Skyy stumbled back onto her feet, huffing in surprise at her impulsive move. Izzy stared wide-eyed at the heap of fools on the floor.
"Fuck! You Bitch!" the guy croaked. They started trying to scramble to their feet and Izzy quickly flinched and grabbed Skyy's hand.
"Let's go!" he said and dragged her at top speed out of the store before the idiots had the time to realize which direction they'd gone in.
They're uniform shoes slammed against the pavement as they booked it down the streets. Skyy fumbled behind Izzy but his hand firmly held onto her own. They ran for what seemed like forever until they finally halted about four blocks from Skyy's apartment building. They both crouched over to the side of the sidewalk and heaved for breathes of air.
They both glanced up at each other, pausing for a moment. They were both tired and had a good sheen of sweat on their foreheads and bright red cheeks from over exerting themselves. Skyy's leg muscles shook slightly as she stood and Izzy's seemed to be doing the same.
Suddenly Skyy's mouth twisted into a smile and at the same time, Izzy smiled as well. They both burst out laughing like maniacs and several people walking by gave them odd expressions and rushed by. Skyy clutched at her stomach and Izzy straightened up, running a hand through his maroon hair and sighing loudly.
Just then Skyy felt her bag wiggling around and Pleomon's angry head burst out. "Just what the hell are you running around for Skyy! I was trying to sleep you know!" Pleomon growled loudly. Many passerby's stopped in shock and Skyy quickly shoved Pleomon's head back into her bag.
"You idiot! People will see!" she hissed and Pleomon grumbled insults from inside the bag. Skyy had forgotten about her poor digimon. She had probably been shaken around quite a lot when Skyy was running. Skyy sighed in relief as the shocked pedestrians began to continue on their way and she smiled nervously at Izzy, who mimicked her expression.
"That was close," Izzy mumbled. Skyy nodded. They continued walking when Izzy suddenly groaned and covered his face with his hands.
"Aw man, that's so embarrassing," Izzy droned. Skyy raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Surely you've had mishaps in public with your digimon before as well right?" she asked but Izzy shook his head.
"Not that."
"Then what? Running away from a fight?" she grinned. Izzy frowned.
"Being saved by a girl," he pouted, crossing his arms. "It should be the other way around shouldn't it?" he sighed shaking his head. It was more of a statement than a question to be answered. Skyy rolled her eyes.
"Oh please, you can't expect me to stand there and not say anything," she grumbled.
"I guess, someone like you would have to say something," he chuckled. Skyy grinned.
"So who were they anyway? Old classmates with nothing going for them?" she asked. Izzy nodded.
"Yeah, it's kind of lame, but they used to tease me in elementary school," Izzy scowled to himself, trying to hide an embarrassed blush. "They were in the same grade as me until this year now that I've skipped ahead." Skyy snorted.
"They just wish they actually knew shit, people like them have no class," she sniffed. Izzy grinned.
"And you do?" he joked. Skyy glared at him.
"Hey, I have class thank you very much, I don't bully people, that's for losers," she huffed. Izzy just smiled at her, which made her glare disappear.
"I was just kidding," he sighed. Skyy nodded to herself and they began walking casually towards the apartment buildings. They were quiet for a moment before Izzy spoke up. "Hey, did you mean what you said?"
"Hm?"
"When you said I'd have more success and all those things," Izzy asked awkwardly. Skyy looked at him, then up to the sky thoughtfully. She paused before answering.
"Of course I did," she shrugged. Izzy watched her with a slight look of surprise on his face. "You are smart and honest, and you're really nice. All in all I think you're a pretty cool guy, why would I lie about that," she said simply. Izzy blushed self consciously and laughed lightly.
"Cool? Usually guys like Tai and Matt get those kinds of comments," Izzy mumbled, scratching the back of his head. Skyy just laughed at him.
She hadn't been lying. Guys like Izzy were pretty rare. There were many guys in her grade that slacked by and didn't care about grades. It was better to get the grades during school while you still could so you at least have a few good options to live by the rest of your life. Izzy was a rare few who had a good head on his shoulders. Skyy respected that and would stick up for him in any way she could.
She had to admit to herself though that guys who were honest and smart attracted her a lot. Guys who actually had something good going for them and actually cared about the people close to them. Though she wasn't quite sure if she was attracted to Izzy or not. Yes he had a nice face and qualities she admired…well anyway whether she was attracted or not didn't matter. She didn't care about relationships or things like that. She wouldn't worry herself over such things.
They fell back into casual conversations, laughing and chattering away. Until a woman passed by them and whispered to her friend what a cute couple they were. Both of them stopped mid sentence and stopped walking. They looked at each other in silence for a long moment before they both blushed and looked away.
"She said…" Izzy started and Skyy nodded.
"…yeah."
"W-we don't want people getting the wrong idea…" Izzy mumbled quietly and Skyy looked at her hands. She suddenly felt awkward and didn't know quite what to say. Her and Izzy a couple? How on earth had it seemed that way? That was a silly conclusion.
The sound of a ringing phone cut through the thick silence like butter and Izzy perked up, recognizing his ring tone. Skyy watched him fumble for his phone. When he read the name on the screen a look of annoyance flashed over his features. He flicked open the phone and answered.
"Akemi…" he greeted and a sickingly loud and sugary voice filtered through the receiver. Skyy pouted and glared at the ground. She folded her arms and the waves of annoyance that had plagued her at the festival a week ago came back full force. Skyy listened to Izzy quip to his cousin about "getting home already". Skyy kicked at the pavement until Izzy finally hung up. He let out an exasperated sigh and massaged his temple as if to sooth a sudden headache.
"You're cousin's still visiting?" Skyy assumed. Izzy nodded once.
"Yeah, she's leaving soon though, in a few days," he muttered. For some reason Skyy brightened at that thought. Izzy glanced at his watch and frowned.
"It's getting late; I'll have to get groceries tomorrow morning before school…" Izzy said quietly. Skyy bit her lip and glanced around.
"Well, I'd better be going home then," she said and made a move to walk away but Izzy grabbed her arm lightly.
"Don't be silly, I'll walk you home," he said it as if it was common sense. Skyy nodded, giving in surprisingly easily.
"Okay."
The sun was setting as they turned and walked towards the direction of Skyy's apartment building. She felt a little bit bad because she knew it would be almost dark by the time Izzy got home. She would have to remind herself to phone and apologize to Izzy's mother. It was also her fault that they hadn't gotten the groceries. It was the least she could do.
When they finally reached her apartment complex Skyy turned to say goodbye to Izzy at the bottom of the elevator lift. Izzy bowed awkwardly.
"Bye, Tsutsumi," he said quickly. Skyy laughed and poked his forehead when he straightened up.
"You're weird. You can call me by my first name you know, everyone else does," she smiled brightly. She had been calling him by his first name for a while now. Izzy blushed and seemed dazed until he finally snapped back and stuttered out the proper goodbye.
"Ah, well…bye…S-Skyy," he stuttered, blushing bright red. Skyy's smiled widened.
"See? Its better that way," she said and waved goodbye before disappearing into the waiting elevator, leaving Izzy standing there with another dazed expression on his face.
Later that night after helping clean up the dinner dishes Skyy stretched herself out on her bed in her PJs and fanned herself lightly with a paper fan. She watched her ceiling fan spin around with a blank expression. Pleomon was playing with a bouncy ball on the ground which made Skyy slightly wary. She'd get mad if Pleomon knocked over her paint supplies.
Suddenly Skyy thought of something and rolled over onto her stomach. She crawled over to her desk and picked up her cell phone, flicking it open and dialing a familiar number. She slouched and leaned against the desk as she waited for the recipient to answer and watched Pleomon from the corner of her eye.
"Skyy? What's up?" Tai's voice answered. Skyy smiled to herself.
"Hey, I just wanted to ask, when are we going to the Digital world next?" she asked. There was a shuffling sound on the other end before Tai answered.
"Huh? Why ask me, why not ask Izzy?" he asked. Skyy frowned. True. Why hadn't she asked Izzy?
"Oh, I don't know…I thought you'd know," she replied simply.
"Well, as far as I know, it's the same schedule we've been following since we started. Just keep going as much as we can and getting rid of those seekers, we can go after school tomorrow if your both not too tired," Tai sighed bordly. Skyy twisted her mouth to the side.
"Do you think we'll find out the darkness's weakness anytime soon?" she asked.
"No, we can't even get near the guy with all those seekers surrounding him. Bastard," Tai cursed. Skyy laughed.
"And you said I had the bad mouth," she teased.
"Oh whatever, it's just you rubbing off on me," Tai countered. Skyy laughed again.
"Maybe so," she sighed. She stretched out her legs lazily on her bed and snuggled into her cushions.
"Hey, change of subject, what'd you and Iz get up to today? Did you go on a date?" Tai asked evilly. Skyy frowned.
"No we did not thank you very much. I was helping him with some grocery shopping, that's all," Skyy said, trying to ignore sudden scenarios of her and Izzy on a date that floated to the surface of her mind.
"Aw, too bad, that would have been an interesting development," Tai said in a disappointed tone.
"Well, don't get your hopes up then," Skyy said quickly. But then she became quiet. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with Izzy. He would probably make a very nice boyfriend for someone. But like she'd thought before, she wasn't interested in those kinds of relationships.
"I'm not, I've just noticed you've gotten closer to the kid lately, that's all," Tai replied. Skyy sighed.
"Well I can't deny that I guess. I don't mind him anymore," she confessed. She could imagine Tai raising an eyebrow at this and waited for his inevitable next question.
"Oh? And you minded him before?" Skyy stretched her toes out and looked at her ceiling fan again.
"Well, I thought he was just some weird, nerdy kid. But getting to know him he's actually pretty interesting," Skyy tried to keep her explanation simple so Tai wouldn't have any evidence to tease her and Izzy's friendship anymore. Tai made a sound as if to agree with her.
"Yeah, he's pretty cool. We'd be lost without him as digidestined though," Tai laughed which made Skyy smile.
"I can see that, you'd be pretty useless huh?" Skyy teased.
"Hey, don't say that," he grumbled and Skyy laughed softly. "So what are you doing this weekend?" Tai asked casually. Skyy thought for a moment before remembering.
"Mimi is coming to visit so Sora wanted to go out with her and shop around downtown Harajuku," Skyy said. Skyy had met the pinkette once before and her boisterous personality shocked Skyy. But she really was a bright and beautiful girl and Skyy rather enjoyed her company.
Tai coughed nervously on the other end of the phone. "o-oh?" he stuttered. Skyy raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked. Tai squeaked.
"Nothing! Just… um, could I ask you something?" his voice became small. Skyy frowned, what was he going on about?
"Shoot."
"Well, you're good friends with Sora right?" he asked nervously.
"Oh? And why does this matter?" she asked and Tai's breathing became more nervous.
"W-well, you talk about girl stuff right? Like stuff about boys right? Well, has she maybe said anything about anyone in particular?" Tai asked through much stuttering. Skyy grinned like the Cheshire cat and a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes.
"Taichi Kamiya, are you asking me if Sora has told me whether or not she likes you?" she asked bluntly and Tai made another surprised squeaking sound before quickly replying.
"That's not what I'm saying! I was just curious that's all!" Tai said in a flustered voice. Skyy laughed.
"So you like her then?" she asked. The other end became quiet. Skyy thought he'd hung up on her for a second before his voice finally replied.
"Maybe."
Skyy blinked stupidly. He'd actually told her.
She didn't expect that.
Skyy assumed he'd brush it off or possibly change the subject. Had he really trusted her enough to tell her something like this? Had she and Tai become so close that he'd tell her secrets like this so casually?
She visited his house constantly since that first time she went over. He came to her house a few times but not many, for she thought it shocked her parents too much when she suddenly brought people home, let alone boys. She talked to him on the phone almost every night as well, talking about anything and everything until sometimes well into the night. They had a ridiculously large amount in common and both seemed to understand what the other's thought process was. Wherever Tai was Skyy seemed to be as well and vice versa.
Since when had it become that way? She wondered. When had they become so close? It happened without her even realizing. Was she this close with the others without realizing? No, it didn't seem to be the same. Skyy almost made an astonished sound before Tai's voice broke her out of her wandering thoughts.
"Skyy? Hellooo?" he drawled and Skyy shook her head back to attention.
"Sorry, I was thinking about something," she answered. Tai made a huffing sound.
"Geez, I confess to you who I've been crushing on and you're not even listening to me," he muttered sarcastically. Skyy smiled lightly.
"I was listening, I just realized something, that's all," she said. Tai laughed.
"What, you realized your undying love for me?" he joked. Skyy snorted.
"You wish," she said flatly.
"now Skyy, if I wished that I wouldn't be telling you I liked Sora now would I?" Tai countered in a lazy but sarcastic tone. Skyy twisted her mouth to the side thoughtfully.
"True, why'd you tell me anyway?"
"Hm?"
"I mean, isn't that personal?" she asked. Tai paused before speaking.
"You're the only one that knows. Besides, it's not healthy to keep stuff bottled inside, I had to tell someone to make it easier for me," Tai said dramatically, as if it was a physical pain.
"Glad to be your dumping ground then," Skyy said dryly. Tai chuckled.
"No, honestly? If I think about it, you're probably one of the most trustworthy people I know. And I do trust you. If I told Matt about it he'd just tease me about it, or probably accidently end up telling Sora. You're easy to talk to and I know you'd listen if I ever had any problems, just as I'd do with you, and you wouldn't go casually blabbing my business to people," Tai explained. Skyy had to intake a quick breath. He really felt that way about her? Somehow, that statement made her feel extremely touched. She smiled despite herself and hugged her pillow.
"Yeah, same here," she said happily. She could clearly envision Tai grinning on the other end.
"Cool. But you would tell me if something was up right? Like I said it's not good to keep stuff bottled up. So if you have any problems just let me know," Tai said in a brotherly tone. She could see why Kari admired her big brother so much. Skyy's smile became small and her eyes seemed to become unfocused.
"Yes," it was almost a whisper.
"Alright, good. Now let's talk about something else, this feelings stuff is killing me," Tai said as if he was disturbed by it. Skyy grinned.
"You started it."
They chatted only for about another half hour before they said their goodbye's and hung up. Tai's confession though still hung heavily in Skyy's mind. She turned out the lights and snuggled into her bed, bringing her sheets up to her chin. She stared at nothing in particular as she went over their conversation.
But you would tell me if something was up right? Like I said it's not good to keep stuff bottled up. So if you have any problems just let me know.
Skyy closed her eyes. Should she tell him? She hadn't ever told anyone. No one had become close enough to her to know.
Her past. All the secrets she'd kept with her since she was 11. No one knew. But she trusted Tai. Just as he said he trusted her. The thought of telling him didn't bother her.
Skyy rolled over when a sudden pang of pain came from her wrist. Confused she slipped down her sleeve and was shocked to see a small, purple bruise adorning her forearm. When had she gotten that?
Her mind flitted to her encounter with those bullies today at the market. Had it happened then? But none of them had grabbed her. Izzy had grabbed her wrist when they left. But he hadn't been holding it remotely tightly enough for it to bruise. Skyy furrowed her eyebrows together in thought and poked lightly at the bruise. She winced when a flare of pain erupted as a result.
Weird. This was the third strange bruise she'd gotten this week. Was she that delicate? Skyy slipped her shirt sleeve back over her arm and snuggled back into her sheets. She'd have to remember to wear long sleeved shirts for a while. If her parents saw her with bruises they'd go ballistic. She didn't want to have to deal with that. It would only be troublesome. She also made a mental note to be careful. She knew she was sometimes clumsy but these bruises had come out of nowhere.
The last time she had gotten bruises like this…
…
…well that was a long time ago.
Izzy slouched in his computer chair, twisting his mouth from side to side as he mulled over a thought in his head. His laptop was on and humming and he had been in the middle of playing a trigonometry game before he became too distracted to keep playing.
He spun around in his chair absent mindedly and kept glancing at his cell phone. He went to reach for it but then stopped. He slouched back in his chair, crossing his arms and shaking his head. He spun around a few more times before looking at the clock.
10:30.
It wasn't too late was it? But he could always ask tomorrow…or not at all. Izzy frowned. He didn't really like that idea. Suddenly frustrated he groaned and rubbed his hands through his hair frantically until it became a spiky mess.
Would it be weird if he asked?
Yes.
But he still wanted to.
Izzy glanced at his phone again, then at the time. 10:32.
Thinking it over for a few more seconds, he weighed the pros and cons. The cons seemed to be winning but the one pro that he could think of seemed worth it. Izzy eyeballed his phone for about a minute. He was looking at it so intently it might as well spontaneously combust. Finally Izzy nodded to his decision and grabbed his phone. He pressed in the phone number quickly before he got too nervous to back out and he felt his heartbeat quicken as the phone rang.
He hoped she was awake.
"Hello?" she answered. Izzy's face brightened.
"Kari! Sorry to call you like this," he stumbled over his words. The young girl on the other end laughed.
"Oh no problem! What's up, do you need something?" she asked. Izzy blushed and it took a second before he could answer her.
"Um, yes actually, I need a favour," he said in an octave higher than his normal voice. He was nervous. He hoped she would say yes, or else this would be terribly embarrassing.
"Sure, anything!" she replied brightly. Izzy felt his face flush and he took a deep breath to calm himself. Finally he mustered up the courage to ask his question.
"You know those pictures you took at the festival?"
"Yes?"
"Well, that time, you took a picture of Tsutsu- I mean, S-Skyy, in her yukata right?" his voice was getting higher.
A pause.
"…yes?" he could tell from her voice that she was grinning. Dammit. His face got hotter and he closed his eyes so he could focus.
"Um….d-do you have another copy of it?"
"Of course! I can make many copies! How many do you need?" she was teasing him.
He groaned inside his head.
"… J-Just one."
End of chapter 6.
Bahahaha.
Izzy's so cute.
Next chapter: Realizations