Y/N:Haruki was different. He was more thoughtful than I expected. I thought he'd end up more like his dad, and make some funny jokes here or there, but really, he took after Kurayami a lot more than I expected. I like him. I hope you like him too.

Title: Here Comes Santa Claus

By: YukiraKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Chapter 08: Opportunities

Haruki Motomiya:

I was babysitting. It was exactly what I wanted to be doing with my free time so close to finals. I couldn't even study, because I was too afraid to leave my seven year old little brother with his friend of choice: Izumi Fujimoto. She acted super sweet, and nice, but I just knew there was something lingering under the surface. It was the only explanation for why Yukai hated Iris and Madlyn so much, but couldn't get enough of Izumi.

The three of them were inseparable—well, except when Izumi was gracious enough to let two seven year olds hang around her instead of her usual nine year old twins.

"Wow, really?" Yukai asked in awe as Izumi regaled him with stories of the last trip she and her dads took. They were always travelling the worlds, finding new adventures to be had with just the three of them. I knew that Yukai was jealous, and often complained to Mom and Dad that we never did enough as a family. But I knew that would be a train wreck in the making. We couldn't handle half the things that Hideto and Kiyoko got up to. None of us were adrenaline junkies like Hideto—and now Izumi—was. I threw up on roller coasters, and Yukai couldn't even go on the merry-go-round without getting motion sickness. Mom literally freaked out at the sight of mosquitoes, and Labramon couldn't go swimming without spending hours grooming himself afterwards, for fear of smelling like wet dog. Dad was annoyingly excited about everything, but didn't know the first thing about camping, and Veemon, DemiVeemon and Chibimon just liked to make nuisances of themselves.

And that was only our last family vacation when we went camping for a single night before giving up and spending three hours the next day at an amusement park before packing everything up and giving in. I couldn't imagine spending a week away from our cozy home and routines. It was safer to just stay at home.

Yukai wasn't old enough to realize that yet though, and still thought any time spent crammed into a car listening to whatever radio station was available was the best thing ever.

I was more than pleased that Mom and Dad had decided that we didn't need to take a day trip this year, because our big outing would be for Louisa's Secret Santa event. She was making a big production of it, and had managed to talk Taichi and Rei into letting the younger generation have their home for Christmas Eve. The only adults would be Emiko, Azura, Mai and myself—unless Renjiro and Kana counted. It was going to be great. It was a fantastic idea, and it really lent towards the general Christmas feeling of togetherness. We would all eat and sleep and share presents together. It was kind of the most exciting thing that had happened all year.

Granted, I was taking business classes at college, and they weren't nearly as interesting as I'd thought they'd be. But someone needed to understand business, since Dad just decided to start one up back when he was my age. He still didn't understand a lot of the business aspects. He could figure it out, given enough time, and he was really good at faking his way through things, but I wanted to be there for him, and to understand what helped a business to continue to be successful. The last thing I wanted was for Dad's business to crumble under him. I had heard it happened once before when I was a baby, but he'd had so much less to lose back then. I wanted to be sure that his noodle-carts would continue to be prosperous throughout the worlds.

It might not be the only thing I wanted to do with my life, but since I'd grown up hearing about how I would take over the family business, I figured the least I could do was give it a shot. Yukai was still hung up on the idea of being a soccer star, so he wasn't even jealous or annoyed that I was the one that was being handed the reins. He didn't even like noodles—which for Dad was practically blasphemous.

"Izumi sure has lots of fun," DemiVeemon said with a happy sigh, flopping down on top of the textbook I'd been reading. I smiled and looked at him. He winked at me, and took the edge of the page I'd been reading, and folded it up over himself like a blanket. "I think I'm going to take a nap."

"I think you're going to find somewhere else," I told him. He laughed, and wiggled until his head was under the paper blanket, even if that did leave his feet dangling out in the open. I went in for a stealth attack, ticking his sides and he screamed with laughter, letting go of the page, and I uncovered him, tickling him all the while.

"I give!" he cried, roaring with laughter. I stopped, because I'd won, and there was no reason to continue. "Don't you think it would be fun though, to see lots of different places?"

"Sometimes," I said, thinking that it would be best without my family along with me though. "I had an idea once, of traveling to different worlds and countries to see what culinary treats there are out there waiting to be tasted. I want to know how fruit from Sidhendor might work well in an upside down cake, a recipe originating on Earth. I want to experiment with blending flavours of the worlds."

"Can I come?" he asked.

"I'm not going to go," I said with a sigh. "I've got too much schooling left."

"Go after," DemiVeemon suggested. "I might be bigger then."

"Don't hold your breath," I warned him. I had the Crest of Love, and it was the hardest thing in the world to figure out. How was I supposed to deal with something so multi-faceted? I remembered that it hadn't been easy for Sora either though, and that made me feel better about the whole thing.

"I feel like I'm being unfair to you," Sora said, as she sat next to me on the bench at the park. I'd fallen over and she'd put a bandage on my knee. I wanted to go out and play some more, but Sora's words confused me into staying still. I quirked my head at her, urging her to explain herself. "I'm giving you my Crest one day. You're not ready for it yet. Or maybe I'm just not ready to give it to you. But it's not fair either way. I had so much trouble with it."

"Love isn't hard," I said, shaking my head. I loved Mom and Dad, and I loved DemiVeemon. I loved Mai, because she was my bestest friend in the whole wide world, and she loved me too. What else did I need?

"There are so many kinds of love you need to understand," Sora told me seriously. "I overlooked that for a long time. There is more than just romantic love."

"What's that?" I wanted to know. My five year old brain refused to understand it without further explanation.

"It's when you love someone in a way that is different than you love friends or family," Sora explained.

"Like Mom and Dad?" I guessed.

"Like Mom and Dad," she agreed. I crinkled my nose and stuck out my tongue in disgust. I didn't want tokissanyone. That was gross. She laughed. "There's more than that, don't worry. You've got to figure them out for yourself though. I'm probably not supposed to explain it all to you."

She didn't explain anything. But Takeru did, unwittingly. I read his books, and learned the things that Sora learned through his words. She learned that romantic love isn't everything, and that there are so many things that deserved her attention. The only problem for me, was that I did love myself, and I love my family and I still loved my best friends—Mai and DemiVeemon. There was nothing but romantic love left, really, unless patriotism counted, because I still didn't know what world to call home.

And I still didn't have a love life worth writing home about.

DemiVeemon had never digivolved even to Rookie yet. I didn't know what that said about me, but I figured I wouldn't be finding the answers in Takeru's books. The Crests, I had decided, worked differently for each person. While Sora needed to focus on love that wasn't romantic, I assumed I probably would have to go the opposite route, which would have been great, except I didn't have a lot of options open to me.

No.

That wasn't entirely true. I wasn't the most popular guy on campus or anything, not by a long shot really, but it wasn't due to lack of options that I didn't have a girlfriend. It was because I already knew who I wanted and I'd blown it with her. No one else was as lively or as spunky as her, and so they paled in comparison. It was wretched, but it was fair. I'd hurt her first.

"Taro likes that game too," Yukai said loudly. "Maybe we could all play it together?"

"That sounds fun," Izumi agreed.

"Taro likes a lot of games, but he doesn't get to play them at home, because Josei always gets the TV. How mean is that?" Yukai said, shaking his head. "I wouldn't steal the TV from Haruki like she does, that's not nice."

I snorted, remembering when he was just a toddler and was so fascinated by that channel on TV that just shows a picture of a burning fire all day, every day. He spent months wailing if the fireplace wasn't on the TV. It was torture. And he was so lying to Izumi.

He was literally always talking about Taro though. I was starting to question the limits of his vocabulary. It was absolutely ridiculous just how many things I knew about Taro without ever knowingly sitting down and talking to the little guy.

"Taro likes pumpkin pie, isn't that weird?"

"Taro told me that vinegar makes baking soda explode...wanna try it?"

"Once, I heard from Taro, that there weren't any Hawkmons other than Miyako's, how weird is that?"

"Sometimes, I wish that you would take me and Taro camping, just the three of us, wouldn't that be fun."

"Haruki, Taro wasn't at school today. Do you think he's sick? Can we make him chicken noodle soup? Will you help me?"

It was exhausting, it was also embarrassing, because I knew I'd been the exact same way with Mai when I was his age. She was the best person to ever have been born because she was my best friend, andnothing trumped best friend back then. Now, we were both completely bombarded with school work and becoming real adults, and we didn't have nearly as much time together as we might have liked, but it was okay, because she was bringing Taro over, and everything was going to be awesome.

"I'll be big someday," DemiVeemon said grumpily, crossing his arms, before dashing off to taunt Chibimon with the fact that he was an In-Training, instead of a Baby.

The sound of the doorbell rang through the room, and was immediately followed by the sound of the front door opening. Mai had long since gotten over her need to wait for someone to answer the door. She'd gotten over it when we were six, around the time she'd gotten her first notepad and wanted me to be her first interview.

She still had that interview in a drawer back at her place, and she got it out about once a year to have a good laugh at all the stupid, childish things I had to say about...well...everything.

"What's your favourite food?"

"I hafta say noodles, cause Dad makes 'em," I said dutifully.

"What do you wanna be when you grow up?"

"Taller than my dad," I said with a proud grin.

"What's two times two?"

"Seven or something, I don't know," I said, wrinkling my nose.

"What's your favourite thing in the whole wide world?"

"DemiVeemon," I said quickly, without needing to think about it. "Duh. He's my favourite ofallthe worlds."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Ew, who wants one of those? I wanna new soccer ball instead. Can I have one? Is that my prize?"

I was an idiot, but to be fair, her questions were random and out of left field. I mean, she didn't have a common theme at all, and I was six—of course I was an idiot.

"Haruki?" Mai called, waltzing right into the living room, and dropping her bag on top of my textbook. I knew I wasn't getting any more studying done anyway. Taro trailed in behind her, looking embarrassed by Mai's bold behaviour, and was looking carefully around for Yukai, while holding his partner, Leafmon. His face came to life when he spotted my brother, and he suddenly lost any sense of shyness as he ran towards him.

"Yukai!" he cried.

"Taro!" Yukai replied excitedly, looking like Christmas had come early. I hoped he could channel that much excitement when Christmas actually did come. I didn't want him to make his Secret Santa upset just because they weren't Taro, and the sun didn't rise and set at their command the way he seemed to think it did for Taro.

"Izumi!" Izumi called half sarcastically and half enthusiastically. It was an odd mix, but then again, she was an odd girl.

"Hello, Izumi," Taro said, when he realized she was there. She looked mollified by the attention. "Should we play the new zombie game?"

"No," Izumi said, shaking her head.

"What's up?" Mai said, picking up the tennis racket I left leaning against the wall. She gave it a few experimental swings—nearly destroying the lamp in the process—and set it back down again. "You practicing to be the next superstar?"

"I haven't practiced in weeks," I admitted guiltily.

"But your scholarship," Mai gasped. "You don't want to risk losing it."

"I know," I said, sheepishly. We were attending the same school, both on scholarships. Mine was obviously for tennis, but Mai had a whole slew of scholarships she needed to upkeep. I wondered how she managed it, because just tennis was hard. "I'm hoping not to. But my heart just isn't in it right now."

"No, there wouldn't be enough room in there for anything more than you-know-who," she said teasingly. "Have you called her yet? You should totally call her."

"I don't want to talk about Louisa," I sighed.

"We're totally going to talk about her," Mai said with a snort. I knew I had no choice but to give in. She was quite nosey, but she always got to the point, and I always came away feeling as though I had a deeper understanding of myself. It was strangely therapeutic. It was also dangerous. Not for me, but for the people she would one day interview for her hard hitting journalism career.

"Oh, I know what we can do," Izumi decided suddenly. "We can play that new zombie game."

I paused. Hadn't that suggestion justbeen turned down? I couldn't keep up with Yukai anymore. I kind of felt old, and that wasn't a good feeling for me. I wasn't even at the prime of my life yet! Sometimes, the age difference between Yukai and I seemed bigger than it was. Rarely, the opposite was true. Yukai wasn't the worlds' most mature seven-year-old by a long shot.

Mai sighed, when Taro said "That's a great idea!" before the three hurried off with their partners, Poromon and DemiVeemon. Yukai looked confused as they headed off, but he followed after Taro when Taro grabbed his hand and dragged him along. Izumi was leading the way with a sassiness to her walk that was terrifying."I don't understand that girl," Mai muttered.

"I don't even try to," I admitted with a soft laugh, even though we both knew it wasn't true. We'd figured her out mostly. We just didn't want to accuse her of anything unless we were sure. Mai and I were pretty confident with our deductive skills though and were pretty sure she was dealing both sides of the war between Yukai and Taro, and Iris and Madlyn. Both pairs seemed to think the other hated them, and that Izumi was their spy. It sounded ridiculous when voiced out loud, and we could never be sure when Izumi was listening, so we always played up our clueless nature when she was around, just in case. It was pointless, and stupid, but it was fun.

Mai grinned at me, and didn't hold her laughter back one bit. It was good to see her so happy. She'd been so stressed with everything lately. It looked like she'd figured most of it out. "Have you told anyone?" I asked, lowering my voice, just in case there were any lingering ears listening.

"No," Mai said shaking her head. "I'm not ready yet."

"Take your time," I said encouragingly. "Don't rush anything. Once you say it, you can't take it back—not that you'll want to."

"I know," she said with a wry smile. "Why else would it be taking me so long?"

"So, how's the hunt for the perfect Secret Santa present going?" I asked, sensing she didn't want to talk about it anymore than I wanted to talk about Louisa—probably less even.

"Renjiro's too worked up about school that he won't even want a present anyway," Mai said grumpily, angry that she still had absolutely no ideas for the guy. We obviously had no plans to tell Louisa that we were sharing information. It was against the only rule she'd set for us, and I didn't like making her mad. "Earth to Haruki? You in there, or are you lost in Louisa-land?"

"There's no such place," I said moodily.

"You should just talk to her," she told me, patting me on the shoulder.

"You should talk to her," I snipped back, before my eyes widened and I was taking it back. "Nope. You are forbidden from talking to her for me. Not in a million years can you do that."

"I know," she said with a laugh. "You need to do this on your own. I still don't understand why you didn't accept her offer last year. You could be happy right now."

"I am happ—I'm relatively happy," I said just to be contrary. "I'm working to get a degree that I'm not sure I really want, and my partner can't even become a Rookie because I can't seem to understand what sounds like the simplest of Crests, but really isn't. But other than that, I'm happy."

"You could be happier," she protested.

"It's complicated," I lied. It really hadn't been all that complicated at all.

"How are you and Megumi going to make the transition from high school to college?" I asked my friend. He laughed and shook his head.

"We're not," he said. "We just started dating. There's no way we'll last long distance. We're not even going to try."

"Seriously?" I asked, because he'd been going on about her for weeks leading up to their first date. They seemed to hit it off, and they really cared about each other. That was worth taking a chance for, wasn't it?

"Dude," he said. "I could be in love with her, but it won't matter. We can't go to different schools and still expect to work. We'll be different people after only a few months. There's no point dragging out the inevitable. I'd say you should just give up on that girl. If Megumi and I can't last, there's no way you've got enough time to make something stable. Save yourself the regret, man."

"Yeah," I said hollowly.

"Un-complicate it," Mai told me simply.

"I was graduating, she's only a junior, there's an age difference that needs to be dealt with, and the long distance thing. We're in different schools," I said lamely, wincing when she snorted. I knew it was stupid, that's why I didn't want to tell her.

"You've never gone to the same school," she pointed out. "It always would've been long distance—sort of. Louisa's over here almost every day to hang out with her friends. Seriously, you missed out. She really cared about you and you hurt her."

"I know," I said, feeling like even more of an idiot for listening to a friend that I didn't even talk to anymore. He wasn't right. Louisa and I might've been different than him and Megumi. Louisa and I both had Crests, and our parents were friends, so we would've seen each other all the time. We still could see each other, if I hadn't been trying to avoid her, due to embarrassment.

"Now, what are you getting Elliot for Christmas, and is there a way to swing it so that your gift impresses her, even though it's not for her?" Mai asked, starting to scheme.

"No," I said with a scoff. "They've got everything they've ever wanted."

"Fine," she said, holding her hands up in defense. "If you don't want my help, don't ask for it."

"I didn't," I argued. She smiled and started laughing again.

"I know."

Featured Evolution Line: Haruki: Chibomon—Demiveemon—Gumdramon—(Gold) Veedramon—Magnamon—OmegaShoutmon