I do not own Digimon or am associated with anyone who does.
So, I hope this is as fun to read as it was to write. I apologize in advance if I misconstrued the basketball game in anyway. I don't watch sports and for a fic I didn't feel like doing the appropriate amount of research to ensure all my facts as I normally would for my stories. So, this is based loosely off of things I remember from movies and tv shows featuring basketball.
The rush of adrenaline that coursed through T.K. as he sped across the gym was the high he needed to get his mind off everything. His team had been split in two for a practice match and the half on T.K.'s team stopped and watched him in awe as he went full force against the other half. Barely needing to make a move they merely admired his skill and exceptional speed.
Panting and moaning everyone fell to the gym floor in exhaustion from trying to keep up with T.K.
"Damn Takaishi!" one of his teammates laughed. "You beat us all, even your own team!"
T.K. was having a hard time catching his breath when he finally stopped, his chest heaving up and down heavily as he leaned forward, trying to fight the wash of nausea the exertion had forced on him. "Sorry." He managed to say after a few seconds.
The coach walked up to him and gave him a quick, firm pat on the back, which didn't help him any as he coughed and took in a shaky inhale. "You're a damn good player Takaishi."
T.K. nodded and smiled at his coach. "I try."
His coach laughed. "We can all see that."
T.K. and the others hit the showers and soon everyone had dispersed leaving T.K. alone in the locker room. He had just finished packing his belongings into his locker and slipped on his grey sweatshirt when he heard the locker room door swing open. He expected it to be his coach, turning he swung his pack over his shoulder and looked toward the door.
Nothing.
T.K. frowned and glanced around, seeing no one. "I could have sworn…" he spoke lightly, unsure of himself now. He walked around and looked down the other couple of rows of lockers and even looked in the showers, finding himself completely alone. He shook it off and told himself he hadn't realized someone was still in there with him before and it must have been someone leaving, not coming.
Walking home directly afterwards, he had completely avoided seeing any of his friends the whole day. Tai's words repeating over and over again in his mind.
"I haven't seen her this upset in a long time."
T.K. cringed and slowed his pace, he was barely even paying attention to his surroundings. Mindlessly making his way down the streets T.K. stepped off the curb into a crosswalk, a loud honk and screeching breaks snapping him from his daze. A car nearly hit him as he looked up. He looked up seeing the stop signal on the crosswalk sign, the person in the car yelling at him as he quickly stepped back onto the curb.
Inhaling deeply T.K. clenched his fists to keep his hands from shaking. "Get it together." He spoke to himself, waiting for the green symbol to pop up telling him he could cross safely.
T.K. took extra care walking the rest of the way, until he made it to his apartment. He let out a sigh of relief seeing Matt was still gone.
He had just got into his room and closed the door when he heard Matt come home. He grimaced and set his pack down on the floor. Sitting at his desk he rummaged through his pack for his textbook, pulling out his homework. After about twenty minutes T.K. heard Matt knock on his door lightly. If he hadn't been waiting for it, he probably wouldn't have heard it.
"Come in." he called.
Matt opened the door a little, but didn't come inside. "Just wanted to let you know me and Sora are going out to eat tonight."
T.K. turned to look at Matt, smiling lightly. "Oh. Have a good time. Tell Sora I said hi." He tried to sound more like himself.
"You need money for dinner or something?" Matt asked, not looking at his brother. T.K. could tell Matt was upset, not mad, just hurt.
"Nah." T.K. shrugged. "I got it. Mom keeps a little money in my bank account, so I'm covered tonight."
Matt gave T.K. a quick nod. "See you later." He turned and closed his door as he walked away.
#
The buzz of excited conversation echoed through the locker room the next day, as he and his teammate finished their last practice before the game that night. He had tried to stay out of the spot light during practice, but after the day before everyone was passing the ball to him at every chance they could. He obliged and took the shots when he could, but fairly passed the ball to others who had better odds of scoring to draw the attention away from himself, despite knowing he could make the shots easily.
His coach gave them a hearty pep talk before leaving the gym and everyone was still pumped from his speech. It was their first game of the school year, but everyone was confident they'd win.
T.K., for once, was one of the first to leave the locker room, running into his coach as he walked through the doors. "Takaishi!" he waved him down.
"Hey coach." He turned to face him.
"Ready for the game tonight?" he asked energetically.
T.K. shrugged. "It'll be good to see how my team plays against people they're not used to."
His coach laughed. "True. But I may end up taking you off bench if things are looking bad."
T.K. shook his head. "I think I'd rather not."
"Oh?" his coach raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you'd be happy to hear you might get some action in tonight."
T.K. shrugged again. "I'm fine either way."
His coach laughed. "We'll see how things go tonight." Patting T.K. on the back as he walked into the locker room. "Get some rest just in case!"
T.K. was a little more eager for the game tonight, either way it would take his mind off of everything for a little while.
#
T.K. hadn't seen Matt all day and ended up having to walk back to the school in the dark—luckily the streets were well lit and there were a decent amount of strangers walking the streets to keep it from bothering him. Normally he wouldn't have minded, but with the encounter with Wisemon the other night he was on edge.
He had hoped Izzy would have gotten back to him by now, but he was checking his email regularly and hadn't received a response. Karma maybe? He had to laugh at the irony.
Walking up to the school he saw the opposing teams bus sitting outside, a small group of them standing on the sidewalk, the rest seemed to be gathering their belongings from the luggage compartments on the outside of the bus—a higher end school to have afforded a fancy bus for their students.
T.K. ignored them, making brief eye contact with the group standing on the curb by the school entrance. They were all seniors by the looks of them, two dark haired boys who seemed too busy chatting to acknowledge T.K. as he walked by, the other three however stared him down. The redhead in particularly gave him a nasty glare before smirking and turning away from him toward his friends. He was slightly taller than T.K. and looked quite fit.
T.K. shook it off and went inside without a second thought. If the boys goal was to intimated him he wouldn't get far—T.K. was too confident in his skills to let someone else shake him that easily.
T.K. was almost to the locker, his backpack with his jersey and hanging off his shoulder lazily when he saw Kari walking down the hall. She smiled at him. "Hey."
Tai's words tightening his chest. "Hey." He slowed to a stop as she walked up to him. "I know you're not playing, but good luck anyway."
"Thanks. "T.K. swallowed hard, smiling back. "What are you doing here?"
Kari's hair was back up in a messy bun, she was wearing dark grey khaki capris, and a pink tee, her yellow hoodie folded over her arm. "Oh we just got back from the digital world. Me and Yolie are going out, I used the girls' locker room to change."
"Oh. I see." T.K. shifted uncomfortably. "Well I better get going." He didn't wait for her to say goodbye and walked past her down the hall.
T.K. had just finished getting dressed for the game and was putting his pack in his locker when he felt his phone vibrating in the front pouch. He knew it was Matt, wondering where he was so late again—he hadn't told him about the game.
He reached in and grabbed it, seeing a text message from Kari. He frowned at the message –"I need you. Please come out front."
T.K. frowned at the message and then looked at the time, he still had ten minutes before the coach was going to come in and give them their pep talk before the game. Shoving his pack back into his locker he slammed it closed and ran out of the locker room, his teammates calling after him confused.
T.K. couldn't imagine why, and he couldn't stop himself. He rushed down the hall, already feeling sweat prickling at his forehead and chest. Rounding the corner, he came to the main doors to the school and stopped, in the far corner near the right side of the doors Kari was talking to the redhead from the opposing team. She had an uncomfortable grin on her face, her back pressed to the wall, the guy's hand pressed to the wall near her face to keep her from moving away.
T.K. felt his face flush with heat at the sly smirk that crossed the teenagers face as he leaned closer to Kari. His fingers twitched and then Kari glanced his way, their eyes locking.
T.K. inhaled deeply and clenched and unclenched his fists a couple times as he walked toward them steadily. "There you are—" he calmly, but forcefully pushed the guy to the side, grabbing Kari's wrist, pulling her against his side. "I was hoping I'd get to see you before the game." His voice was cool and collected.
Kari's eyes widened, but she quickly nodded and played along. "Yeah. I thought I had missed you."
"Who the hell are you?" the redhead wrinkled his nose at T.K., not taking a step back.
T.K. turned. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt… you are?"
The redhead took a step back crossing his arms. "Amura. Star basketball player of Azabu High."
T.K. smiled politely. "It's nice to meet you, Amura. I'm Takaishi."
Kari was trying to keep herself calm, but with T.K.'s arm around her, her side pressing against his, she knew her cheeks had to be beat red. Her phone started ringing and she shifted. T.K. let her slip out from under his arm and walk toward the doorway, no longer being blocked in my Amura. "Hey, I'll be right out."
T.K. pushed past Amura and walked up behind her. "You all right?" he whispered gently, careful not to touch her as he leaned over her shoulder.
She ended the call and turned to face him, their faces inches apart. "Thank you. I'm all right now." Her voice shook.
T.K. glanced back at Amura who was standing behind them, glaring at T.K. "See you after the game then." He spoke loudly.
Kari nodded, knowing T.K. was putting on a show for the arrogant redhead. Another Azuba High player came rushing down the hall at that moment, hollering for Amura. "Game is gonna start in a couple minutes, dude!"
Amura hesitated before he walked past T.K. and Kari. His snide voice calling out sarcastically. "Good luck out there."
T.K. waved. "Nah, I'm just a bench warmer. But good luck to you." He smiled, watching the boy walk down the hall with a sneer on his face.
T.K. inhaled deeply, glancing outside he didn't see anyone waiting for her. "Is someone coming to pick you up?"
"Yolie is in the parking lot." She cleared her throat to keep her shaking voice from sounding too broken.
T.K. nodded. "You want me to walk you out?"
"No, that's okay." She turned and faced him, looking into his eyes. "Thank you."
"He didn't hurt you, did he?" T.K. was concerned—he held his breath as she paused and looked away.
"No. He was only talking to me." She looked back up at him. "Forcefully…with no value of personal space." She glared toward the corner. "I'm sorry but you're the only one I could think to text for help."
"No that's fine." T.K. shook his head. "How did you have my number? It's different than my old one."
"Ken called you from my phone." She reminded him.
"Oh." He ran his hands through his hair and let out a deep breath. All his muscles were tense. "I'll walk you out, come on."
Kari shook her head. "No. The game's starting and you're still out here."
"That doesn't matter." He rolled his eyes at her. "I'm not good at this. I used to be good at hiding my feelings for you, but right now, after that, I don't even care. I don't care if my feelings for you, upset you. You being safe and is what's important."
Kari's eyes widened at his words, tears stinging at her eyes. "It's not that, T.K. That's…"
"Kari?" Yolie walked up behind them.
Kari quickly blinked her tears away and turned. "I'm coming."
Yolie made a face at T.K., wondering if she had interrupted something important.
T.K. turned and walked away from Kari and Yolie without a word, trying to keep his hands from shaking as he walked down the hall.
#
T.K.'s coach was relieved to see T.K. walk into the gym, the game still a minute from starting. "There you are."
"Sorry, something came up that I had to take care of real fast." He bowed his hand apologetically.
"I'll let it slide this time. Get in there."
"Huh?" T.K. frowned.
"Rashi didn't show up. Mom said something about food poisoning, so you're up."
T.K. was still reeling over what he'd said to Kari. "Put someone else in." he pleaded.
His coach eyed him and shook his head. "Unless you can give me a good reason, you're up."
T.K. didn't want to, or have time to explain his emotional state and closed his eyes in defeat. "Got it."
T.K. walked out onto the court, immediately he noticed Amura staring him down, calling out he sneered. "Thought you were a bench warmer."
T.K. didn't bother responding, instead did what he always did—the buzzer rang signaling the start of the game and he immersed himself in the game.
Speeding down the court he easily caught a pass, fighting off the rather aggressive opposing team, T.K. managed to get the first score of the game within seconds. He saw the look on everyone's faces, his team, the Azuba team and even the student body and their families on the bleachers. He shook it off and focused on the game.
T.K. had riled the opposing team with his aggressive start, making it a bit difficult for his teammates, which resulted in almost everyone passing to him at any available shoot. It was tiring but exhilarating at the same time. The halftime whistle sounded and T.K. heaved over, his chest throbbing as he dumbed a bottle of water over his head.
"What the hell!" one of the younger boys on his team collapsed on the chair in front of him. "They're destroying us."
Another member laughed. "Seriously, we'd be 0 to 30 if it wasn't for Takaishi!"
T.K.'s head was ringing. "Stupid." He hissed under his breath. The things he said to Kari running through his mind over and over. "Stupid."
T.K. straightened, almost too fast, feeling light headed. T.K.'s teammate walked up behind him, putting his hand on T.K.'s shoulder. "You got this."
T.K. nodded, glancing at the scoreboard. They were up by two points, 24 to 22. "We'll see."
As the game started back up, T.K. started doing some passing of his own, surprising his teammates, however he was watching carefully, keeping in mind the advantages and disadvantages of everyone's positioning. It was more difficult than with his team in Hokkaido, who he'd been able to collaborate with and plan things ahead of time—they knew where to be, and the moves to make.
But some of these kids knew T.K.'s play style well enough from before he left and from their few practice matches that it was more effective than T.K. had anticipated. It was frustrating however, as the opposing team consistently kept within a few points of them, mostly due to Amura who was determined beat T.K.
They had less than a minute on the clock when his coach called a time out. T.K. was grateful for the breather, feeling like he could pass out at any second.
"Okay boys. We're tied. We need to score." He looked over the group, his eyes falling on T.K. "If Takaishi can catch his breath and get back in there, we need to get the ball to him." T.K. gave his coach a desperate look. "Takaishi, all I want you to do is get yourself to the best place you can shoot from, they'll be trying to block you, so the most comfortable and natural spot—that's it. Do your best."
T.K. inhaled deeply, taking a big gulp of water before heading back to the court. The cheers from the bleachers and the hot lights that were shining down on them made T.K. slightly disoriented. He could do this—he only had a few more minutes of distraction before he'd have to wallow in the words he spoke earlier.
The game started. As expected T.K.'s position toward the left side of the court was being blocked, while his team struggled across the court against Amura—T.K.'s main concern was him catching the score before they could get him the ball.
Glancing back toward his coach T.K. was surprised to see Davis standing there talking to him, watching the game. He waved at T.K., smiling his cheesy grin with a thumps up.
T.K. had to laugh, turning back to the game he was surprised the ball came flying his direction. Someone yelled his name, and T.K. rushed forward, dodging the two blockers, he gripped the ball and dashed forward, stopping halfway down their side of the court T.K. lifted his hands to make the shot—T.K. heard Davis scream his name, making him look off to the side—three seconds left on the timer. Davis looked horrified, reaching out toward him, stepping out into the court.
As the ball left T.K.'s grip he felt someone collide into his side, shoving him to the floor—his head hit the gym floor sharply. All the cheering and the buzzer signaling time up were suddenly muffled. T.K. felt a throbbing, sharp pain course through his head and his left shoulder.
Opening his eyes everything was too bright, he could barely make out Davis leaning over him, or hear his coaches muffled screams.
"T.K., hey, look at me." Davis' voice came in and out as T.K. tried to focus his vision. "Damn it. T.K. talk to me."
T.K. moaned loudly, reaching for his head he felt something wet and sticky in his hair. There was a lot of yelling, but T.K. couldn't make out any of it at first.
"Someone call for help. The bleeding is pretty bad." T.K. could hear someone yelling, making out random words and Amura's name—he was the one who had ran into him, he assumed.
T.K. felt Davis touching his head and he tried to push him away. "I'm fine." He tried to say, but he wasn't sure that Davis could hear him.
Davis cursed loudly, one of the clearer things he'd been able to make out. "Where's—"
T.K. blacked out.
I have a long work week coming up so it'll probably be next weekend before I can get another chapter out. Please follow, favorite and review! And thanks to everyone who has already! I'm really honored that so many people are enjoying my story. I didn't think I'd get this much feedback. You're all awesome!
As usual, google The Silent Ballad Series to find out more about my original work and help support my writing!