(May 13th, 2010)
WOW thanks so much for all the reviews! You guys are freaking awesome! Since I love you guys so much, I'm giving you my longest chapter yet! PLEASE REVIEW

Disclamier: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters. As well as any other brand name (such as Apple, Mac etc), magazine name, people, celebrities etc.

CHAPTER 11: Game Day

~TPOV~

To say Takeru was nervous was a bit of an understatement; all day he'd sat in class not paying attention to a word the teachers said to him. In the class before lunch Takeru sat next to Hikari as usual, his knee bounced so frequently it looked like it was vibrating; it drove Hikari insane when she was actually trying to learn about the hemispheres of the brain to see his constant movement from the corner of his eye. She put her hand firmly on his knee steady his jiggling leg; she leaned on and hissed into his ear.

"If you keep doing that I'm going to have to cut off your leg, and I sort of get the feeling you might need that today." Takeru stopped and looked apologetically at her; she took his hand and squeezed it gently. "You'll be fine, just breathe. You've done this before, this isn't any different then any other game okay?" He nodded, smiling weakly at her, grateful that she was there; everyone else had tried their best to calm him down with no luck, only Hikari seemed to exuberate the calm feeling he so needed. Something about her voice was soothing and mixed with her raspberry scent he almost completely forgot about their exhibition game and pictured her lovely body he had witnessed two nights ago; but only almost. Surprisingly the day after that night it wasn't at all awkward, in fact it made them that much closer, much to Daisuke's dismay; they both felt like they could tell each other anything. The only topic that was dicey ground was Hikari's relationship with Daisuke; it had gotten to the point that they would have yelling fights about it. Takeru was worried about Hikari being treated badly and Hikari couldn't understand was he was so adamant about making Dai such a bad person. As he expressed his concerns, in her mind she was starting to doubt herself, she knew she loved Dai but he had been progressively become more aggressive and forceful; she had chalked it up to him being nervous about the upcoming game and figured he'd be back to normal soon enough.

Lunchtime hit and it was time for the basketball team to get changed and have a team meeting before the game started promptly at one o'clock. Takeru got up from his desk gathering his books intently, going over every play and every move he knew. They walked in silence to the game locker room stopping just outside the door, Takeru's eyes danced with both excitement and dread. She grinned at him encouragingly and stretched up on her toes to kiss him lightly on the cheek.

"God TK! Stop worrying already! Good luck! I'll see you after the game." She winked at him then strolled away; dumbfounded he watched her until she turned the corner, disappearing from sight. When he turned around he saw Daisuke standing there, face red with fury; before Daisuke could open his mouth Hudson came behind Takeru and clasped him on the shoulder.

"Ready to go kick some Hiroshima ass?" They both chuckled and brushed past Daisuke like he wasn't even there; the change room was completely silent. Their team mates mentally focusing for the game, emptying their heads of all personal and school problems, thinking only of the game ahead of them. Coach Hounsou entered the room a few minutes later dressed smartly in a black suit with a moss green tie; he cleared his throat indicating for the team to gather around.

"Okay boys, we've been waiting for this for a couple months now; I know that most of you are resentful for losing to Hiroshima last time but I ask that you don't take your anger out onto the court. I want this to be a clean game. No matter how much they foul you, you're not to reciprocate; do you understand? If you foul don't you think for a second that I won't put you on the bench. I know that all of you are capable of defeating this team; if we do, then we go to the next level. If we not then we have to play Osaka and win before we can advance. I want you to put whatever feelings for each other aside, good or bad, and play as a team." He as he spoke the last sentence he glanced from Daisuke to Takeru and back. "There is no I in team, I want you all to play your best and trust each other. Now let's get going!" The players scampered around the room grabbing towels and water bottles then exited into the gym.

When Takeru entered the gym looked completely different; the bleachers were jammed packed with students, either from Hiroshima or Odaiba. Banners flew in the crowd, when they noticed the team come in they screamed wildly and air horns blew loudly. Takeru couldn't help but grin in response, his heart racing with excitement, and all nervousness evaporated. They made their way to the benches on the "home" side, observing the "guest" team across the gym. As far as Takeru could tell they all looked big, well over six foot, except for a couple that we're less then six feet. The latter we're being pointed at by some of his fellow teammates, but Takeru knew better then to judge a player by height; the smaller ones tended to be nimble with the ball and fast on their feet. Hounsou motioned for the team to grab balls and start warming up with some shots on the hoop in threes; they had ten minutes before the game started. Hudson, Takeru and another player named Ozuru took their place in line as they waited their turn to dribble and shoot. The buzzer rang ten minutes later signalling the end of warm-up; everyone gathered around in a circle placing their hands in the middle. Daisuke, being the captain of the team led the cheer with

"On the count of three: one, two, three, GO JAGS!" Everyone join in on the last part yelling at the top of their lungs. The crowd screamed as the first five players from each team ran onto the court to take their positions. Crouched low Takeru got ready to take the jump ball, on his left was Daisuke and on his right was Hudson, flanked by two defence players behind them. Everything was quiet as people waited for the whistle to blow; the referee looked around making sure everything was set and blew hard, throwing the ball into the air. Takeru and the opposition across from him shot up attempting to hit the ball onto their sides, but Takeru got to it first pushing it over to Hudson. He ran down the court weaving in and out of players attempting to block him, Takeru sprinted a head and motioned for Hudson to pass once he reached the key. He obeyed and Takeru leapt up avoiding his check and sunk the ball through the net. The crowd cheered enthusiastically as the team slapped the duo on the backs and jogged back to their positions. The Hiroshima team looked pissed off as they got the ball, their forwards darting and passing quickly until thirty seconds later they had evened the score again. The three quarters went like this; Odaiba was in the lead with thirty-two points and Hiroshima had thirty.

It was a tough game so far, Hiroshima started to play dirty after Daisuke got another basket; they tripped, pushed and grabbed their jerseys trying to throw them off their game, but for the most part Odaiba stayed strong and didn't loose their tempers. Through the entire game Daisuke refused to pass the ball to Takeru, which made the play more difficult and gave Hiroshima way too many opportunities. Then at the beginning of the final period Hudson and Takeru were making their way up to court when a particularly violent player labelled number 43 slammed into Hudson, forcing him to fall back and hit his head. The whistle was blown and everyone stopped, 43 looked furious as the referees came over and ordered him off the court. Takeru rushed to his friend's side to find that he was blacked out; he shook him gently by the shoulders.

"Hudson? Hudson! Can you hear me?" Hudson stirred his eyelids fluttering open, his gaze was unfocused and blurred.

"Whaaaa?" A groan escaped his mouth as he reached up to clutch the back on his head; Takeru realized that he was trying to sit up and helped him by the shoulder, steadying him.

"You alright man? How's that head of yours?" Takeru's forehead creased with concern; Hudson smiled goofily at him and rolled his eyes.

"A little more empty then usual, although I don't think there was much to begin with." Takeru sighed with relief and gripped his hand to pull him back up. The quiet gym erupted with cheers as Hudson got back up to his feet rubbing his head warily. Coach Hounsou came over with a bottle of water and some Advil, guiding him over to a chair on the sidelines. He signalled the ref for a time-out; two-minutes appeared on the board and started to countdown. The team huddled around, listening intently for instructions.

"Alright, I'm sorry to say that Hudson is out for the rest of the game now. We've got seven minutes left, defence: you need to stay strong, we're in the lead right now but I'm guessing that won't stay like that for long. They're going to put their full-force into shooting. Takeru, you'll take Hudson's foul shot. Dai, you're going to be Takeru's wingman." Daisuke opened his mouth to argue. "Look I don't care about your personal vendetta against him; you guys need to work together. You've watched their play, do you know how it works?" He nodded, a frown still on his face. "Alright on the count to three: one, two, three, GO JAGS!" They broke apart and Takeru walked into the top of opposition's key taking long, deep breaths. He was mad, there was no doubt in his mind that if he didn't calm down soon, he'd cause a violation and be called of the court. A referee handed a basketball to him; both teammates and opposition lined either side of the key waiting for his shot.

He bent down low bouncing the ball against the floor then jumped into the air releasing the ball into a perfect arc. It swished through the net and there were both screams and boos from the crowd. Takeru was handed the ball again, he looked around the crowds and spotted Hikari sitting courtside next to the rest of his friends. She beamed at him and waved, giving him a thumbs-up; his mouth curled up as he grinned back at her. He turned back to the net, catching Daisuke's eye; he looked even more pissed off then the opposition did, his eyes gleamed with hatred. Takeru shook his head trying to clear images of Hikari out of his head as he crouched down to take his final shot. He leapt up aiming for the net, but it bounced off the clear backboard; the players around him scrambled for the ball. A tall opposition in yellow snatched it up and raced to the net, Odaiba was too slow and they scored another basket. The Hiroshima fans roared with delight as a defence player passed the ball to Daisuke; he hurried towards the basket, moving around players, not even bothering to pass to the other forwards. Takeru moved to an open spot and signalled him for a pass, Daisuke ignored him and went for a three pointer shot. A player a head taller than him blocked him mid-air, and then they passed back down to the Odaiba half where they made another basket. Takeru was livid; he walked over to Daisuke and shook him by the arm.

"I don't know what you're problem with me is, but in this game it shouldn't matter." Daisuke glared and him and threw his hand off of him.

"You know bloody well what my problem is with you and in this game, you don't matter because you don't deserve to be here. You come sauntering in this school, first trying to take my friends, my team and my girl. I'm sick of it, so don't pretend that just because you managed to talk your way onto this team that I'm going to acknowledge you. When I have the ball you don't exist. I saw Kari kiss you before the game, I know how much you want her, well tough luck Takaishi, I don't care how much Kari likes you, if I see you so much glance at her I'll take your arm off." He pushed him off and walked over to his position waiting for the play to start again. This time the ball was thrown to Takeru, he passed it to his fellow forward Ren and they tossed it back and forth, then as the net approached Takeru readied himself for the shot. He reached the top of the key and felt a throbbing pain shoot up his right side as he was bowled over and hit the ground. He glanced up to see Daisuke hurtling into the air and slam the ball into the net, he shook his head and took stock of what hurt; his right arm and shoulder was defiantly the most painful. He winced as he tried to sit up, then a hand appeared in front of him and he looked up to see a black-haired player in a yellow uniform holding out a helping hand. Takeru took it and let the Hiroshima player lift him to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Takeru shrugged then flinched at the pain that flashed up his arm. "I know it's not my place, but that was completely out of line. Even we wouldn't try to play a trick like that You know I think out of all your teammates you have the most talent. Your captain, he's good, but he's got issues dude." Takeru brushed the dirt of his uniform and shook the guy's hand.

"Yeah I know, I'm trying to deal with it. Thanks for the hand, I really appreciate it." The black haired player nodded and they parted ways readying themselves for the final few minutes. Takeru swung his arm around trying to stretch out his shoulder, but as he rotated it he gasped in pain. He shook it off and took his position, waiting for the Hiroshima team to take the ball. The ball travelled up the court, he tried to block his check but hard bump on the shoulder made him lean over his knees in agony; the forward dashed around him and sunk the ball into the net. The whistle blew as the coach called for a time-out; he came up behind Takeru and rested a hand on his back.

"Are you okay to continue TK? Or do you want to sit out for the rest of the game?" Takeru shook his head violently; his breaths were laboured as he tried to will away the pain.

"No I want to stay" Coach Hounsou nodded and signalled Ren to bring his water bottle over. He drank the rest of it, doing his best to ignore his aching arm; then the buzzer ran indicating that time-out was over. He handed back to bottle and straightened up trying not to wince. There was only a minute left in the game; Hiroshima lead with thirty-six and Odaiba was just a point behind. Their defence started with the ball, passing it up his left forward Ozuru, he lost the ball when he tried to toss it to Daisuke. The black-haired player that had helped Takeru up before shot down the court and aim the ball for a shot; it bounced off the rims and straight into Ren's hands. He made his way past the halfway point; dodging players left and right then thrust the ball at Takeru by the three-pointer semi-circle. He caught it tuning out the burning sensation that shot up his shoulder and prepare for the shot; he saw something moved from the corner of his eye and saw Daisuke moving towards him. Takeru let the ball spring from his hands before there was a loud thack and Daisuke body slammed into his bad shoulder. They both collided to the floor, Takeru gasping for breath as pain seared through his right side rendering him blind in agony. All he heard was a roar of sound then three seconds later the buzzer going off putting the game to an end. Daisuke scrambled off of him quickly pretending it was an accident and joined his team, who were hugging each other and whooping loudly. He heard the coach yelling over the chaos.

"Daisuke Motomiya! Get your ass over here! Right now!"

Takeru felt hands touching him gently; there was something cold in them as they found their way under the top of his shirt to his shoulder. They pressed down lightly dowsing the pain and relieving the overwhelming heat. He heard voices speaking around him,

"No he'll definitely need two for it to start working immediately, we'll just have to watch him until they're out of his system." He felt two pills against his lips, he opened and water chased them down; then there was a pause then the older male voice closest to him spoke again, "mm-hm, defiantly a bad dislocation, we'll have to pop it back in." He felt more hands on him to hold him still. "Okay TK this is going to hurt, but it's the only way it'll get better. Alright, ready?" He felt someone rotating his right arm and a sharp push into his body. He yelled out, struggling against his restraints; the pain was unbearable then it started to pulse. His eyes open and strained to focused again, chestnut hair and matching eyes appeared in front of him, she stared at him. Then a small hand pushed back some matted hair out of his eyes and cupped his cheek.

"How's the pain TK? Is it going away?" he nodded, head spinning as the pain started to fade away but things began to look hazy. She turned away to speak to Hounsou, then back to him. "Are you okay to try getting up now?" He nodded again bracing himself onto his left hand and attempted to push himself, Hikari, coach Hounsou and Hudson pulled him up. He swayed, Hikari steadied him hooking an arm around his waist he placed his left arm around his shoulder and leaned. "No don't worry about me, I'm fine, I've got him." He heard her say to someone, she led him over to a set of doors he didn't recognize and pushed them open. He looked around to see a change room, but not one he had been in before.

"Where are we?" He asked his voice raw from dehydration.

"In the girls locker room." She simply stated as she sat him down on a bench and walked over to the sink with a couple of white towels. She soaked them and rung them out, bringing them back over to him and placing one on his head and wrapped one around his bicep. He looked around, noticing that things looked fuzzier and shinier than usual, the pain had almost completely disappeared; he grinned at Hikari.

"Why does everything look different?" His fidgeted with the cloth on his head, making her slap his hand away.

"Because we had to give you oxycodone for your pain. It'll be out of your system in a couple hours. Just in time for your victory party I promise." He frowned in confusion, his leg bouncing up and down again. She firmly held his knee in place and replied to him.

"Well you were the one that won the game after all; you're a school hero TK!" He was dumbfounded.

"You mean… it went in? We won?" He asked excitedly dragging her face up so their faces were only a nose apart. Hikari's breathing was unsteady as he gazed into her beautiful eyes, she nodded slowly smiling at him.

"I already told you that silly! You made the three-pointer and---" Her sentence was cut off by Takeru picking her up around the waist and hugged her tightly, then he stood up and swung her around in circles. She screamed in surprise at first, but then they turned to giggles as he continued to squeeze her in delight. "You know even though you can't feel your arm it's still injured, maybe you should put me down." He stopped and lowered her to her feet but he kept his arms around her waist; he pulled her closer there were only a few centimetres between their bodies. His thumbs traced circles on her spine through her light blue v-neck sweater; she shivered involuntarily and closed her eyes. He lowered his head and skimmed his nose back and forth along her jaw line, when he spoke his voice was husky and deep.

"You're stunning you know that?" She shivered again as he moved down to her throat; her voice wavered as she tried to put words together.

"You're just saying that… because you're high." He shook his head as he shifted her shirt slightly to rub his nose across her collarbone.

"No, I'm saying that in spite of being high. Since the day that I met you, I knew you were different. Everything about you is stunning, not just your gorgeous body, or your beautiful smile." Hikari blushed as body slowly melting into his, his touch was absolutely wonderful; then for a split-second she realize what was happening and tried to push away.

"TK, we really shouldn't be doing this, I'm with Dai." He continued grazing her skin, this time his left hand moved up her arm; he chuckled.

"You don't seem to be trying too hard to stop me" Which was completely true, her hands as fallen limply on his jersey instead of forcing him back, she was drawing him in. "Hmmmm I'm guessing it's been a while since Dai's touched you like this." She gulped and nodded slowly, her eyes shutting again as his lips found her ear and nibbled lightly on it; she let out a small sigh and wrapped her arms around his neck. Takeru's lips left her ear and trailed to her face where he planted a kiss on her forehead then her cheek; his light stubble tickled her making her giggle again. There was a bang on the door, they both looked up flushed to see Hudson standing there, eyes wide.

"Uhh…. Sorry to barge in, I'll…. Uh… come back later." He turned to go but Takeru yelled after him.

"It's okay Hudson we were just about to head out anyways, what's up?" Hikari was still gripping Takeru her body weak from his touch.

"Coach wanted to make sure you weren't dead since Hikari never came out to update us, but I can see that it was pointless to worry about you." He slid his gaze over to Hikari; she ducked her head into Takeru's chest, her face hot with embarrassment.

"Yeah man we're good, my arm's almost stopped hurting so I think I'm okay now."

"Yeah I can see that." He continued to stare at Hikari then back to Takeru. "So what do you say? Want to go to your victory party now?" Takeru grinned widely, his eyes lit up.

"Hell yes!" He wrapped an arm around Hikari's shoulders and they walked out to the now-empty gym and made their way to the boys change rooms Hikari hesitated before Takeru tugged on her arm. Hudson was already showered and changed, dressed in jeans and a grey t-shirt making his flaming orange hair stand out even more then usual.

"Okay dude, shower then let's head out, everyone's going for pizza at Kaito's place then let the drinking begin! I'll get my car, we leave in twenty." He swung the doors open to the hallway and he disappeared, leaving Takeru and Hikari standing by his open locker. Takeru strolled into a shower stall and started to run the water then came back out to grab a towel. Hikari already had on in your hand, when he tried to take it she snatched it away.

"Ah-ah-ah, I don't think so, there is no way mister that you're taking off that jersey by yourself, you just dislocated your shoulder, the last thing you need is to do it again." She put the towel on the bench and stood up in front of him motioned for him to lift his hands. "Come on, put your hands up. You heard Hudson we only have twenty minutes." Takeru smiled suggestively at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmmm you can boss me around anytime Kari; but in this instance I don't think you're worried about my shoulder, you just want to see me shirtless again." She rolled her eyes and grabbed the hem and pulled it up over his head; she spoke with heavy sarcasm.

"Yeah TK you caught me, I don't see enough shirtless men so I'm tricking you because I'm so deprived. I'll defiantly like you better once the drugs are out of your system, you're too cocky when you're high." She yanked the jersey over his head and held it in her hand, trying not to stare. But her eyes were glued to his peck muscles, which were hard with a little patch of blonde hair. Her eyes travelled across some of the scars again, which lay on top of a wall of rippled abdominal muscles. As she ogled she felt a rush of blood flood down her body and pool below her stomach. Takeru ran finger fingers lightly down her arm, grinning stupidly; his other hand brushed a stray lock out of her face, placing it behind her ear.

"Even though I'm being cocky, I can tell you're enjoying it." She sighed, paused then took his hands and placed them at his sides.

"It wouldn't matter if I did, now get into the shower so we can leave already. You know Hudson doesn't like to wait when pizza's involved." She gave him a good shove towards the stall and handed the towel and his clothes over the top. She sat on the bench, talking with him with he finished, emerged in dark jeans, a light blue plaid shirt and sneakers. This time she didn't look at him; she closed his locker and placed his gym bag on his uninjured shoulder. They walked to the front entrance where a black beamer was parked in the loading zone, Takeru whistled as he looked it over.

"Wow Hudson, I didn't know you had this!" Hudson shrugged, coming around to stand beside them.

"Well I don't like to stand out when I come to school, I already do with my hair." He tapped his head and frowned. "With my stupid concussion I'm not allowed to drive for another twenty-four to seventy-two hours." He turned and tossed the keys to Hikari she caught them and stared at him like he was a madman. "That's right sweetie, since you're the only one without the head injury or on drugs, you'll be driving." Takeru pushed her to the driver's side, opening the door for her.

"But this car is so expensive, what if I damage it?" Hudson waved a non-chalant hand at her,

"Meh, then my dad will claim it through my insurance saying it was me. Stop fussing and just get in and drive; I'm hungry!" She hesitated, murmured something about "insane idiots", and then got in bringing the seat forward and adjusting the mirrors. Takeru hopped in the back and Hudson slid in the passenger's side, the black doors closed with a silent thud. She surveyed the dashboard, her hands flicking over the various knobs and buttons; Takeru leaned forward, placing his elbows on either side of the front seats.

"Ah Kari? You do know how to drive a stick shift?" She flashed an annoyed look at him, sticking her tongue out.

"Of course I do you dimwit, that's I all know how to drive." She turned the keys and the engine roared to life, she slowly released the clutch and they moved forward. They got out of the parking lot and onto the very busy road. Hudson and Takeru looked at each other, eyeing Hikari with amazement.

"Wow that is so hot!" Takeru nodded in agreement as they watched her move the clutch and shift with ease; the car glided down the road. Hikari picked up speed and Takeru shifted backwards as they turned through a bend.

"Will you please put your seat belt on already? She scolded him, the glanced at Hudson. "Okay now you're going to have to tell me where to go." Hudson guided her until they reached a long pathway that led to a large white maison surrounded by green lawn. Loud music boomed from the house and students filled the house, some still making their way to the front door, cases of beer and alcohol in their hands. The roundabout driveway was packed with expensive cars; Takeru leaned against the window, his mouth hanging open.

"Jesus, are all the students at this school loaded?" Hikari drove into the roundabout, and unable to find a spot close to the house parked the car halfway down the cobblestone driveway. They all got out the car; Takeru offered his elbow, bowing to Hikari.

"M'lady, May I have the honour of accompanying you to the obnoxiously large house?" She giggled looping her arm through his.

"Why good sir, I'm simply overwhelmed with gratitude" Hudson came up beside her, hooking her free hand through his elbow as well; together they marched up to the bustling house.

Author's Note:

Hehehehehe okay there you are! PLEASE REVIEW! I'm loving all the feedback I'm getting! :D

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