Title: Always Follow the Rabbit
Author: Mrpointyhorns aka Blemery
Rating: R
Status: In Progress
Part: 4
Pairings: Taichi/Koushiro, Augmon, Tentomon, Kei, Hikari, Mimi, Michelle
Warnings: Slash
Spoilers: Season 1 and 2, plus some of the movies (nothing blatantly but there)
Summary: Taichi's has started to settle in his life, and while that can be quite nice, he and Koushiro have never been better, it can also be a bit disappointing, especially his dead-end job. The only thing interesting that ever happens is when he has to babysit his nephew. Until Koushiro detects a disturbance that is about to give Taichi the adventure he craves.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by someone else. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: Just so you know, no bashing is intended! I'm not sure I hundred percent like all of this chapter, but I believe it is necessary though it looked different in my head.
The next morning Taichi found his sister running out the door. Taichi grabbed her wrist stopping her from leaving. "Where are you going?"
"I have to find, Kota. I have to apologize for my rude brother." Hikari used Taichi's hand on her arm to balance so she could put her shoes on. "I can't believe you kicked him out last night."
"He hit Koushiro!" Taichi shook his head. The reason for throwing Kota out was not really important, because it was true that he was so drunk that he probably had no idea what happened. Taichi knew people acted poorly when drinking as he was guilty of bad behavior himself. However, he had every right to throw the guy out after his behavior. It was in no way rude. However, at the moment Taichi couldn't care less about that kid. He was more concerned with Hikari. "What about Kei? You just can't leave him here?"
"You'll take care of him, won't you?" Hikari asked, barely.
Taichi glared at her. He would always take care of Kei. He was just a little boy and he was so adorable too. He deserved to be happy and loved. Hikari knew that and was taking advantage of that. "He's your son. Kou and I don't mind watching him. We don't. But you could at least give us a little warning! If I hadn't woken up you'd leave without telling us! And we've had him for three days already! You didn't even call to check on him."
"I knew you were taking care of him. I told Mantarou to drop him off here." Hikari sighed.
"That's not the point! You can't just assume we can watch him every week! We might make plans!" Taichi swore. He knew that they would be unlikely to make plans when it was Hikari's week with her son because they knew how much she relied on them. At first, she took full responsibility of Kei, but lately it had gotten worse. Then, over the last few months, they had started taking care of him the majority of the time.
"I'm sorry Tai! I want to live my life. I'm young, okay? And it's your fault I had him so early anyway. So you should take responsibility." Hikari tried to pull away from her brother, but he held on. "Tai you're hurting me."
"My fault?" Taichi looked bewildered. He let go of Hikari more because of the shock than her whining.
"Yes. If all of you hadn't been so keen on me and Takeru getting together, then I wouldn't be so messed up. I thought it was normal to go through a relationship where the guy doesn't touch you or even kiss you! So I wasn't prepared when Mantarou started treating me like a real woman!" Hikari yelled. "So it's your fault and I have to go."
Taichi watched her storm away from him and slam the door behind her. "That was my fault? Hey wait Kari! I never…" He followed after her, but was cut off in the hall when he ran into Mimi and Michelle.
"Mimi!" Taichi forgot that Mimi and Michelle were coming over so that Mimi could show off the designs that she had for their apartment.
"Did you forget that I was coming?" Mimi put her hands on her hips. Michelle did the same thing.
"Hey don't give me that look. This is why I'm dating a guy!" A joke on how guys didn't care if you forgot an anniversary or holiday. Though Koushiro was more likely to do that than Taichi, Taichi had been bad at that sort of thing when he had dated girls in high school. Taichi opened the door to their apartment. "Did you see Hikari?"
"She ran by us. She stopped and said hi, but then you started yelling? What's going on?" Mimi took off her coat. It really wasn't cold out, but the coat looked nice. "Since you're not ready you can make us breakfast."
"Fine." Taichi laughed.
"Mr. Tai can I play with Augmon and Tentomon?" Michelle asked.
"Sure. I think they're in the living room playing video games." Taichi glanced down the hall and could just make out the corner of the television, it was on. Michelle ran down the hall and into the living room.
"She loves digimon. Betamon told her next summer that we could visit the nursery and see if there are any partners for her." Mimi smiled.
Koushiro stuck his head out of the computer room. "Is she gone…oh hi Mimi." Koushiro rubbed at his eyes. His eyes were bloodshot, one was black from where he had been hit, and he had bags under both of them. Taichi frowned he probably should have made Koushiro stay in bed with him that morning. He had gotten up before dawn and began working again. He had barely disturbed Taichi, but it was enough that Taichi could have pulled him back to bed.
"We're going shopping today." Taichi explained.
"I remember." Koushiro yawned. "I'll just get dressed."
"Great I'm making breakfast." Taichi smiled. He still had to get dressed too, but he could do it later he didn't want to be rude to their guests. Koushiro stretched and shuffled into their bedroom closing the door. "Okay breakfast."
"Okay now I want to know what's going on. Why did Hikari leave in a hurry? Why is Koushiro a walking dead?" Mimi asked.
"Hikari brought her date over last night and had s-e-x on our couch. We found them laying there. I went to put Kei down in our room, and that guy hit Koushiro. Tentomon was pissed. I sent the guy packing. Now, Kari's mad that I kicked him out." Taichi explained. It was the truth and enough of a story that Mimi would think that there was nothing else too it. So he was able to completely leave out the fact that Cherubimon showed up in their mirror too.
"She's mad that you kicked out a guy who punched your boyfriend?" Mimi looked shocked and angry. "I would kick out a guy that punched Michael!"
"Well he was drunk, so I can understand the hitting, especially because he was startled out of a sleep. Though it still pisses me off and believe me I haven't forgotten it. However, that wasn't what why Hikari was leaving in such a rush. I sort of grilled her on what she has been doing for the last three day." Taichi lowered his voice. He blushed Hikari's actions typically made him upset, but when he had to explain them to other people they embarrassed him. He didn't share such details with very many people, and he didn't go out of his way to tell Mimi about what was going on with her either. However, he wasn't going to blantly lie to Mimi about it either. She was a good friend to all of them and he trusted her.
Taichi let out a breath of hot steam. There was nothing he could do about it now, so he just wanted to drop the conversation. He could worry himself into the grave or he could get on with the day. "Ok so breakfast. Scrambled eggs or fried?"
"Oh Tai did you forget how I liked my eggs?" Mimi pouted.
"No, I didn't. I just wanted to make sure." Taichi pulled out the ingredients and the pan. He started heating it up.
"We actually don't have to go out. I brought all the designs here. You have to approve them. If you need to see a color scheme in real lighting, then we can take a trip and have a look-see," Mimi said she paused and made a face. "What is that sound?"
Taichi stopped what he was doing and tilted his head trying to listen.
"Kei what are you doing?" Koushiro's voice came in from the hall.
"Uh…" Kei said. He was still too young to know how to lie, but it was obvious even though Taichi and Mimi couldn't see him that he had been caught doing something. "I'm moveding!"
"Moving? Where are you moving to?" Koushiro sounded puzzled. Taichi and Mimi looked at each other and Mimi waved him off to the hallway taking over at the frying pan.
In the hall, Kei had a rather large suitcase that belonged to Hikari, but stayed in their spare room most of the time. It had clothes hanging out of the zipper. Kei having been caught had guilty tears in his eyes. He was wringing his hands. Koushiro wasn't scolding him, so whatever Kei was doing, it was something that he thought was naughty. So that made Taichi suspicious and curious. "Daddy moveding away from home cause grandpapa and nana were shouting at him. I moveding away from here cause Uncle Tai was shouting about me."
"Uncle Tai and I don't want you moving away." Koushiro knelt down beside Kei. He pulled Kei's hand from the handle off the suitcase. "Hey let go for a second." Kei let go taking Koushiro's hand. Koushiro squeezed it. "Tai, do you have something to say?"
Taichi didn't realize that Koushiro had seen him. He stepped closer to the pair. Kei turned his head to look at him as he crouched down beside him. "Kei you don't need to move. You're always allowed to stay here even if we're yelling about you or at you."
"Aren't you mad at me?" Kei asked. He sniffed.
Koushiro squeezed his hand and put his other arm around Kei's shoulder. Kei moved closer to him, until he was almost in Koushiro's lap. Taichi smiled. "No. I'm not mad at you. I am sorry you heard me yelling about you, but I don't want you to leave. We don't want you to move."
"That's right. Who would play soccer with Uncle Tai except you and who would listen to my bedtime stories?" Koushiro wiped Kei's cheeks with his fingers. Kei wrapped his arms around Koushiro's neck and wouldn't let go. Koushiro stood after a minute. "Come on Miss Mimi made breakfast."
Taichi stood up too. He felt bad that his nephew heard him yelling. Koushiro would never say anything to Hikari about it that's why Taichi had to. He didn't like fighting with his sister, but Kei was just a little boy. Taichi thought he deserved better from her. He felt like it was his responsibility to say so.
Truth was he would rather have Kei live with Hikari. That would be ideal, but if she really didn't want to be a mom then he wished that she would just let them take complete responsibility. He was sure Mantarou would still want to have his time with Kei, but he and Koushiro would be fine taking Kei every other week. It was just the not knowing that bothered him. It had to be even more confusing for Kei.
Taichi followed them into the living room where Mimi was sitting with Michelle and the digimon. Their plates were on the coffee table. "We get to eat in the living room?"
"Just today." Koushiro set Kei on the floor next to the smallest plate.
"You look better." Mimi smiled at Koushiro. "That is good I want to drop by and surprise Jyou. You'll come right?"
"Of course." Koushiro bowed. He picked up the two remaining plates handing one to Taichi and sitting with him on the couch. The eggs weren't all that great, better than Mimi's cooking had ever been, but she was not the cook Taichi was. Taichi would rather eat his mother's health food than Mimi's eggs. When Koushiro told Mimi it was delicious Augmon gave him a strange look.
"Let me show you what I have." Mimi pulled out her laptop after breakfast was cleared and soaking in the sink. She began running some of her designs. She started talking about color, appeal and resale value. Taichi might have fallen asleep, because Koushiro elbowed him at least once.
"And…hey." Mimi frowned. "What's going on…?" She tapped a few buttons on her computer, but it had stopped working. Koushiro sat up and pulled the laptop out of her hands. He pulled up a dark screen and started putting codes in. "Izzy." Mimi rolled her eyes, but knew better than to try to stop Koushiro from whatever he was doing. At least he had waited until there was a problem before taking over her computer. "Hey there is that sound again!"
"What sound?" Taichi looked at Mimi. He thought the sound from earlier was Kei pulling the suitcase in the hall, but everyone was in the living room.
"Waves and I doubt you can hear the ocean from here!" Mimi looked at the television. "Do you have another TV on?"
"Maybe it's the air conditioning?" Taichi asked.
"Tai it's probably the dark ocean. Isn't that why Koushiro had us come over?" Augmon stood and walk over to Mimi. "I don't hear anything."
"Mimi, be careful," Taichi said looking at Koushiro who hadn't stopped what he was doing. Did he even hear Mimi?
"Ah ha! I knew you guys were up to something else last night! What's going on?" Mimi asked.
"I don't really know. Koushiro barely knows and so far he hasn't been able to explain much of it to me." Taichi sighed. "Maybe it's time that he tries, however can it wait until we get to Jyou's?"
"Fine, but you better…" Mimi grabbed her ears. "It's so annoying!"
"Which way is it coming from Mimi?" Tentomon flew over to them.
Mimi turned her head in a few directions then stood. "Come on, I'll show you." Taichi stood up. Michelle and Kei followed behind Taichi and the digimon, but Koushiro stayed in the living room. They went back into the bathroom, the one with the broken mirror. As they approached Taichi notice water flooding into the hall.
"Shit!" Taichi pushed forward having to shove hard into the bathroom door to get it to open. The water was up to his knees in the bathroom, before it rushed out into the hall. The water was coming from the pieces of the mirror still attached to the wall.
"Tai this is no longer going to be a cheap project." Mimi's eyes widened.
"You think?" Taichi gave Mimi a look. "Tentomon you broke the mirror can't you do something."
"Me! It was Augmon!"
"No, your attack hit the mirror too!" Augmon looked uncomfortable standing in the water even though now it was less then a few inches high. Taichi leaned down to pick Kei up in case it got higher quickly. Mimi took Michelle's hand.
"Um Tai!" Koushiro stumbled into the bathroom. He held up Mimi's computer water was now pouring from it. "My computer is doing it too. The other mirror is probably doing so as well."
"I'll check." Tentomon flew quickly out of the room.
Mimi took her computer. "Good thing all my work it backed up online."
"Don't worry Mimi. I don't think your computer is actually hurt. At least I hope it isn't. The floors in the apartment probably aren't so lucky. I think that if the portal is supposed to open in the dark ocean, than the world might be shifting to make room for the it, and making room means sending the overflow to our world or the digital world. Energy has to move around sort of equally. Water is a very busy element full of energy, so the water coming into our world isn't a surprise."
"If that world has to make room then what about our world?" Taichi asked.
"Oh don't worry about that. The Earth is surrounded by these worlds this is true, but Earth is only one small part of the bigger universe. Our universe is constantly, expanding, pushing matter into places that had nothing! So Earth and the universe will make room simply by expanding just like it always does. I've never been to the dark ocean, so I don't know its laws, but it may not have that option like our world does. The digital world may fair better then the dark ocean more like our own universe, but I haven't done extensive research on the larger universe."
Tentomon returned. "That mirror is flooding too."
"That's it I want Palmon and Betamon here now." Mimi looked at Koushiro.
"You better call Michael as long as our computers are leaking, I don't think we can get them here." Mimi pulled out her phone. "Yes!" Michelle smiled.
"So everyone up to visiting Jyou?" Taichi asked.
"Lead the way," Mimi said.
"We're going to have to tell everyone?" Koushiro looked at Taichi. He wasn't ready to tell everyone about what was going on because honestly he didn't know what was going on.
"We're just going over there for the afternoon. Mimi's in town and they have the new baby and maybe after dinner we'll let them know what is going on," Taichi explained.
They often went to Jyou's on Sunday's for a family meal. Jyou, his brothers and their families were always there. Shuu was married to Miyako's sister and so usually Miyako and her siblings were there as well. Daisuke showed up if he was in town and if he was there then Ken wasn't far behind. All of the digidestine, were always invited as well. So it was possible that at least five of them would be there today. Plus, Mimi was with them so it was a good chance to tell most what was going on. In fact, if enough people were present then the news would travel quickly to anyone left. As the leader, Taichi knew this was important and he also knew that they couldn't keep this a secret anymore. Hikari and Mimi were already aware of too much for them to wait any longer.
Koushiro sighed. "Well I hope that Miyako or Ken is there. Maybe they can help me figure something out."
"True, if either of them is there I'll make sure to give you some time to talk to them. The more information we can give everyone the better!" Taichi promised.
"Are you okay with that Mimi?" Koushiro asked when Mimi was off of her phone call.
"I think you should explain right away, but I know how you are Koushiro. If you need a little time then I will agree to that, but I will make sure that the two of you explain as much as you can by the end of the night," Mimi warned.
"Thanks Mimi." Koushiro smiled. "Jyou will want you to see their daughter and it might be difficult to talk to them right away anyhow."
"That's exactly why I'm giving you time." Mimi stood proudly. "I'm going to be gushing over their baby so much at first that I wouldn't be able to listen to you anyway."