Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ By My Decision ❯ Mornings and Misinterpretations ( Chapter 2 )

[Notes:

This is going a lot…slower than I had originally thought. Oh well. It kind of inspired some other happenings to come around in future chapters. I already have big plans for the festival chapter, and it shall please slash fans and het fans alike, so whee! This chapter seems to be more of an introspective one, giving more thoughts on everyone else's view on their friends, not just Takato's. Hopefully I'm still staying in-character!

Are the triangles becoming apparent yet? Are they? Are they? Yes, I'm trying to be confusing on purpose. I'm evil like that. Let me know if you ARE confused. It's somewhat one of my fuels for writing. That, and when I can tell I can just give it up and officially list the pairings. XD Just enjoy or something.]

[ POV - Nobody ]

It was a miracle how Jenrya even managed to come to school the next morning. Much less 30 minutes early. Nonetheless, he was able to pull it off. And he succeeded into getting to school at his normal early time; something a top student like him felt necessary to keep as a habit. Even if your best friend calls you at 3:00 in the morning and makes you lose 3 hours of sleep…

"Looks like somebody stayed up too late on the chat lines last night…"

Jenrya opened his eyes to see his fellow classmate pointing at him. Kitagawa Kenta.

"Not this time, Kenta-kun…"

Kenta just shook his head in disbelief. "Don't lie to me, Lee-kun. I know how late you were on last night. I still had our IM convo box up from last night, and when I glanced at it, it said you didn't get offline until 4:58."

Jenrya couldn't help but smirk a little. "So, what were YOU doing on the computer at 5?"

"I wasn't," Kenta claimed. "I checked it when I woke up this morning, duh."

"Whatever you say," Jenrya said with a sigh. He had only met Kenta through Takato, and just because Kenta was in some of the same advanced placement classes as he was, they were by no means very close friends. And unfortunately, Jenrya was in no mood to be social today. His body was demanding a good nap before school had to commence; he wasn't about to let Kenta take that away from him.

"Really, what were you doing?" Kenta asked, peering down at Jenrya. "Going on hentai sites?"

Jenrya responded by burying his face into his crossed arms on the desk. "I'll tell you later," he mumbled. "Just let me get some sleep, Kenta."

Kenta blinked, and looked utterly baffled. "Gee, you're really tired, aren't you? That's just not like you… I mean, we've got a test at noon and everything. You usually don't pull something like this and NOT study before school starts."

"We do?" Jenrya hadn't given a single thought about the test he'd have to take in History since his sensei announced it last week. "Oh, god… we DO…"

"It's okay, it's okay!" Kenta assured, waving his hands. "We can cram during lunch, you'll be just fine! Still, all you'll probably make is an A- if you don't study at all…"

"I really don't wanna think about it," Jenrya groaned as he buried his face deeper into his arms.

"Right, right," Kenta said with a quick bow, and moved away from Jenrya. "I'll let you sleep now. If you took the test half-asleep, that'd definitely knock you down to a B…"

"Kenta…"

"Of course!" Kenta was already halfway out the door. "I'm leaving you alone, now!"

With that, Kenta was out of the room. Jenrya relaxed himself in preparation to get in some of his long-desired rest. Still, even as he slept, there was still a thought picking endlessly at his mind. Why did Takato go through the trouble of calling him 4 ½ hours ago? Jenrya could exactly recall the tone of his best friend's voice at that ungodly hour of the night, and he could tell Takato was being troubled over something. Something… but what? What if he had hurt Takato's feelings over the phone? The last thing Jenrya needed was a strain on his friendship with Takato. If that was lost, he could kiss all his other social relations goodbye, because his only other friends were pretty much in the same group as Takato was. And had it not been for Takato, he never would have met Hirokazu, Kenta, OR Juri.

The half-Chinese Tamer could admit to himself that he wasn't the little social butterfly he could have been. Before Terriermon came into his life, Jenrya didn't have anyone except for his relatives. Growing up with a bad reputation after his incident with using his karate moves on a neighborhood kid had left him with no kids his age to talk to. Even to this day, Jenrya would never tell anyone about the day that had later served as a basis for his pacifistic ways. Call it paranoia, but he couldn't risk losing even more friends. True, he could appreciate the company of Hirokazu and Kenta a little more, and, yeah, he was still uptight when it came to being civil to Ruki, but Jenrya, after all these years, was still a little shaky when it came to having friends.

Admitting this in public was hard, though; being pacifistic already had Jenrya labeled as a wuss to the likes of Ruki and Hirokazu. But he knew he could probably tell Takato. Jenrya's best friend, the only best friend he ever had, the friend he could tell anything to, and Takato would return the favor by spilling his guts out to him. Takato wasn't the type to spread secrets and inane gossip to the crowd, especially if they were about his best friend. He was above that kind of immaturity.

Jenrya could tell from the phonecall he received that Takato's in his time of need. He definitely has a problem, and everyone needs to be there for him to help see him through it. No matter how big or how small the problem, Jenrya promised to himself he wouldn't let a little thing like lack-of-sleep get in the way of his concern for Takato. After all, he had to prove to himself and everyone else that he wasn't a wimp; that he can be there for his best friend when he needs him. Jenrya decided he had to prove to the world that Takato WAS his best friend, and HE was Takato's best friend. Not Ruki, not Hirokazu, not Ryo. But himself, Lee Jianliang. Or Jenrya.

Jenrya smiled to himself in his sleep… 'It would be nice if Takato could say my Chinese name,' he thought.

[ POV - Nobody ]

It had been near dinnertime when Juri had called the Makino residence, so already Juri felt she had done this at an inappropriate time, and Ruki might be a little mad at her when she saw her again. But hopefully not too mad. Then again, Juri remembered that Ruki would be late coming home anyway, so maybe it wasn't TOO inappropriate. Still, Ruki didn't have a lot of time to accept the invitation… the festival would be coming in a couple of days.

Juri didn't want to feel too reliant; after all, Takato was probably going to ask her out to the festival later today anyway. Still, things to her weren't the same without Ruki around. It was strange… she hadn't known Ruki nearly as long as she has known her friends who actually go to school with her. Ayaka, Miki… however, they both had dates now…

"Kids really do grow up too fast these days," Juri said to herself as she walked inside the school, and proceeded to head for her locker. It was 7:45, and school would begin in 15 minutes.

Nonetheless, Ruki stood out from the rest of her friends. She was definitely the most unique girl Juri had ever met. And, frankly, it nearly broke Juri's heart when she learned how much Ruki didn't get along with anyone else. Having already heard about her reputation as the Digimon Queen from her other group of friends, namely Takato, Hirokazu and Kenta, the would-be aspiring rivals to Ruki as far as the Card Game was concerned; Juri was already excited in getting to know Ruki.

She knew not any old schmuck could just waltz into a competition, defeat every participating boy and take the championship title just like that. Of course, now that she learned that Akiyama Ryo's absence was a huge factor in Ruki's victory, it didn't seem nearly as special, but Juri didn't care. From the moment she saw Ruki, Juri could tell Ruki was suffering inside. She could immediately tell the Lone-Wolf Tamer needed a friend. And she was right; Ruki was in dire need of a good friend, even if she wouldn't admit it.

No one had broken through Ruki's icy cold barrier as well as Juri did, and it was easy to tell. Takato and Jenrya were very surprised how Juri could make Ruki seem like any other girl in just a matter of minutes, and turn Ruki into almost an amiable teammate. Hirokazu and Kenta were in total disbelief; both believing Ruki was as emotional as a rock. And about as pleasing as Hitler. Through all the hardships they suffered in the Digital World, Juri and Ruki had gotten progressively closer as time went on, and all of a sudden, out of the blue, Juri had considered Ruki now to be her best friend.

And somehow, Juri thought, she didn't have any doubt in her mind that Ruki felt the same way.

So why was she worrying about Ruki just because she had called her a little later than she normally would? Of course she'd want to come. If Ryo and Hirokazu had BOTH called her and invited her out on a date to the same festival, she could tell Ruki would practically jump at the opportunity to come with her.

This made Juri giggle. Ruki was so funny sometimes…

"Oi…! Katou-san!"

Juri looked up from the floor, seeing Hirokazu and Kenta from the end of the hallway, waving to her. With a warm smile, Juri waved back to them, put her things away in her locker, and walked over to them.

"Konnichiwa," she greeted sweetly. "You guys are early today…"

"And by your standards, you're later than usual," Kenta said with a smirk. "You weren't online all night like Jen was, were you?"

Juri looked blank. "What do you mean?"

"Kenta-kun here found Jenrya in the classroom SLEEPING," Hirokazu informed in his casual, laid-back tone. "Instead of studying or writing or something. How about that?"

"Because he spent all night being on the computer?" Juri asked, still not quite following what her friends were getting at…

"I have proof on my computer back at home," Kenta said. "Though it's funny, he didn't even sign on until half-past 3. So maybe he was sleeping earlier or something. Maybe an insomnia attack hit him. But he's sure being more anti-social than usual this morning, so I wouldn't bother him."

"I hope he's okay," Juri said with concern. "You guys have a test later today, don't you?"

Kenta nodded. "Mm-hmm. I'm gonna help him study a bit during lunch, because we have the test right after it."

"Maybe Takato knows what's eating him," Hirokazu suggested, looking at his watch. "But he's gonna be late if he doesn't get a move on. He usually doesn't get here too early."

"Maybe Takato was up all night on the internet too," Kenta said, with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

Hirokazu shook his head. "Now you're just getting ridiculous."

"I don't think he would've," Juri figured, remembering the talk she had with him yesterday. "I suggested for him to keep a journal since he was saying things about how he couldn't find anything to vent out his feelings on certain things. He told me he would try it…I just didn't think he'd be that into it."

Hirokazu and Kenta could hardly control their snickering. "Y-you told him to get a diary?!"

"Yeah, so what about it?" Juri inquired, hands on her hips. "I have one. Why, are they too girly for your kind, 'Kazu?"

"You could say that," Hirokazu sputtered, covering his mouth, and clenching his eyes shut.

Kenta had pinned himself against a set of lockers, near the point of hyperventilating. "Oh my god, can you just SEE Takato with a diary?! I sure could!!"

"Venting out his feelings on 'certain things'!" Hirokazu shouted, by now sounding hysterical. "Sounding like an angsty little girl! That is SO Takato Matsuda!"

"It's not funny!" Juri asserted, glaring at both boys. "Takato might really be having a problem that he can't tell us! How can you two laugh at a time like this?!"

In a sad attempt to calm himself down, Hirokazu pulled himself off the lockers with Kenta, took some deep breaths, but still grinning his grin.

"Juri, I think Kenta and I have a pretty good idea about what feelings Takato's been meaning to vent," he explained.

Kenta nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he's told us before. And it sounds a lot like something he'd put down in a… diary."

On that cue, they both started laughing again.

"If he told you guys, why would he want to put it down in a diary, anyway?!" Juri demanded. She was beginning to lose her patience. She usually got along with Hirokazu and Kenta just fine, but she tended to be very intolerant when anyone spoke badly of Takato.

"Well, sure, he told US," Kenta began, already losing composure. "The thing is, he hasn't told YOU!"

"And why wouldn't he tell me?"

"Why don't you ask Takato when he gets here?" Hirokazu said slyly, as he opened his locker. "Assuming he even gets here on time."

Juri looked at a nearby clock and gasped. It was nearly time for the first bell to ring already. She looked to Kenta and Hirokazu, while not glaring, she didn't give them a smile, either.

"How about we discuss this a little more during lunch?" She said. "When Takato's with us."

"Sure," Kenta complied, grabbing some books out of his locker. "See you later."

Juri bowed in her respective way and headed off to her cooking class. Kenta turned to Hirokazu, who was still mulling around in his own locker.

"Speaking of angsty little crushes…" Kenta muttered. "'Kazu-kun, when are you gonna get over that stupid Ruki Obsession of yours?"

Hirokazu sharply shut his locker door, before Kenta could get a good glimpse of the picture of Makino Ruki plastered inside. "Kenta-kun, there's a huge difference between Takato's thing for Juri and my thing for Ruki."

"Yeah, there's a difference all right," Kenta said, unimpressed. He started walking in the direction of his classroom. "Takato actually likes someone who's good enough for him."

"What did you say?" Hirokazu sneered at his best friend. "Kenta, that's the damned Digimon Queen I'm in love with. And you're saying she's NOT good enough for me?"

"You know how she is, 'Kazu," Kenta said, no longer looking at Hirokazu. "And it seems you always tend to forget how she treated us back in the Digital World just because we didn't have Digimon at the time. She's ultimate Queen Bitch, you know? And you know just as well as I do that she hates your guts, even though you ARE a Tamer now."

"Doesn't matter," Hirokazu insisted, starting to walk the opposite way of Kenta. "If you knew anything about chicks, Kenta, you'd know that she only treats me like garbage because she's totally hot for me! You just don't wanna admit it!"

"Whatever," Kenta mumbled. "See you in Math, Hirokazu-kun."

"Ciao!"

[ POV - Takato ]

Late, late, late, late, late, late, late, late, late, late…

I skidded into my first period classroom, history, just as the final bell rang.

"Saaaaafe," Hirokazu called out to me, spreading his arms out like an umpire would in a baseball game. "Cutting it a little close this time, ne, Matsuda?"

I straightened myself out and walked to my desk. "Hai…"

"I guess I'll have to commend you for your perfect timing, Matsuda," my history teacher, Seki-sensei said in her usual professional tone. "So you're pardoned. After all, you did at least make it inside this time before the bell went off."

I bowed before taking my seat. "Arigatou gozaimasu!"

"Just try to be early once in a while," Seki-sensei suggested as she went to the board to write out some assignments. "Cutting corners like this can't be good on your nerves."

What is she? My doctor?

"Of course," I said with a nod. I looked to Hirokazu. "I think your habits are starting to rub off on me…"

"Speak for yourself!" Hirokazu blurted, feigning an innocent face. "I was actually 20 minutes early today! Don't go off blaming this on me!"

Somehow I had a really hard time believing that, but hey, he was right. I shouldn't use Hirokazu as a scapegoat.

"Okay, it wasn't your fault, it was mine. I had a really hard time sleeping last night… and somehow I forgot to set my stupid alarm clock…"

"You don't say," Hirokazu's eyes were suddenly all full of interest. "Kenta said he saw Lee-kun earlier today, and he was actually sleeping."

I suddenly felt a lump in my throat. Oh, god… don't tell me I screwed up his resting, too…

"It's not like him, you know? Jen-kun's always been the little prodigy kid of our group, and for him to not get a good night's sleep before a test is well… you know… dumb."

"H-he couldn't sleep either…?" I asked, just to make sure. I wouldn't get to see Jenrya until lunch as it was…

"Yeah, Kenta said he got online around 3:30 last night and then left just before 5. He might've had a nightmare or something, but apparently he didn't feel like talking to anyone right now."

I looked down at the surface of my desk. I felt horrible, now. I just had to be selfish and call him up in the middle of the night just because I couldn't sleep, didn't I? Not only did calling him not help my sleeping problem a bit, now I made JEN unable to sleep for no reason! If he openly won't talk to anyone, then he must be mad…

"So what's your story?" Hirokazu asked me. "How late were you up?"

"Most of the night," I said with a sigh. "I just couldn't relax, something was bothering me…"

A smile crept into Hirokazu's face. "Okay, what were you thinking about?"

"The festival, I guess," Which I really did guess. I was back to thinking about it; it wasn't far away now, I STILL haven't asked Juri out yet, and I'm gonna go with Jen, anyway…

The smile on my friend grew wider. "Thinkin' about Juri, weren't you?"

Almost immediately, a blush had formed on my face. "Don't you think asking her out on a date during the festival is a little too OPEN, 'Kazu?"

"Uh, YEAH? 'Open' is my middle name, Takato-kun. If you wanna snag a girl that badly, you have to let them KNOW you want them!"

"Right," I said, unconvinced. "That's why Ruki's trying to kill you every time you pass by her. She just loves you that much."

"You bet," Hirokazu agreed… and I don't think he was being sarcastic back to me. "I'm telling you, man, the ultimate way to get a chick is to show them just how much you care."

"I can do THAT just fine," I insisted. "Without hitting on Katou-san every 5 seconds."

"Which is exactly why you two aren't an official thing yet," my loudmouthed friend explained. "Because you don't hit on her, she doesn't think you see her as anything more than a friend."

"Whatever," I grumbled, turning my focus back to the front of the classroom. "I'll ask her to come with me during lunch. It won't be a date, anyway. Jen-kun's coming with me, too."

"You're bringing LEE?" Hirokazu couldn't seem to believe it. "Why the hell are you taking him along?!"

"He's my best friend, 'Kazu-kun," I told him. "And he asked me over the phone yesterday. He sounded like he had no one else to go with… how am I supposed to turn him down?"

"Like you would with any of us. Just a simple 'Maybe next time, I'm using this festival as my long-awaited attempt to get it on with the girl I love!' will get Jen off your back and you can sink your claws into your babe, just like-"

"No," I interrupted. Already, I was getting irritated how Hirokazu's tendencies to joke around made him stray from the subject. "Look, I like Katou-san and all, but no matter how much I may like her like that, I'm not going to treat Jen badly because of her. Besides, I don't think I'm even ready for a full-fledged date yet. I should just hang out for her for fun and see if I can even handle that…"

"You won't get much experience if you've got Jen-kun dragging you everywhere…"

"That's not the point," I snapped back. "Look, it's not a date, and it's not anything close to a date, either. It's just a simple outing with my friends. I mean, you and Kenta are coming, right?"

"Yeah," he said, unassumingly.

"Okay, so why don't we just all hang out together, and just do our own thing? Our parents won't be supervising us," I reminded. "I know you've asked Ruki, but I'm sure Katou-san and Ryo already did the same thing, so your chances of getting a big hot date with her are like zero-point-zilch, and that's ignoring the fact that she hates you."

This made Hirokazu frown, of course. He hated admitting the bare facts.

"So let's just forget about dates. Those can always wait for school dances and crap like that. Besides, wouldn't those even be MORE obvious? You like, obvious right?"

"I guess," he muttered. "Look, I'll think about it. And we'll need to discuss this with everyone else, too, when lunch comes around."

"Good," I said, sighing a breath of relief. "I'd better apologize to Jen-kun, too…"

"For what?"

Whoops. Just then I was looking back to the front, where Seki-sensei was staring at the two of us, arms folded, tapping her foot.

"Are we done with our little soap opera, boys…?"

"Hai, Seki-sensei…!"

"I appreciate your manners."

… damn, she must have been in a good mood that day. I'm actually surprised she didn't give Hirokazu and I detention after that.

[POV - Nobody]

"See you after school, Renamon," Ruki shouted out to her partner as she biked off to her private school. "Let me know if I get anymore calls…!"

"Ten-four," Renamon responded, being oddly cheerful. She was happy that her Tamer was giving everyone a chance in the festival this weekend… it was really telling her that Ruki was growing up. Maybe this way everyone, and not just Juri would be generally more friendly to her. She recalled the harder times in times past, where Ruki wouldn't accept anyone, therefore made pretty bad first impressions on Jenrya and Takato. Even later on, bad first impressions on Kenta and Hirokazu. And Ryo, oh dear lord, Ryo…

Speaking of Ryo, he was suddenly there. Next to the gate that lead to Ruki's house. Renamon gasped and leapt to the ground, off her tree. She certainly wasn't expecting any company… especially not just before school…

"Ah, nuts," Ryo said with disappointment, even though he was clearly smirking. "Just missed her."

"Shouldn't you be in school, Ryo?" Renamon asked, and not in a friendly way.

"I got off early," Ryo looked to Renamon innocently. "Dentists' appointment in half an hour."

"So, what are you doing here? Isn't the dentists' office far into the city?"

"Otousan's picking me up here, he knows this place," Ryo explained in his relaxed manner. "I was just hoping to see Ruki before she went off for school."

"Well, you just missed her," Renamon reiterated.

"So I see," Ryo noted as he leaned against a wall. "So, did she get my call last night?"

"She got everyone's calls," Ruki's Digimon clarified.

"And…?"

"She's giving you all a chance. So you won't be getting a date, but you should be thankful that she didn't turn you down." Renamon advised coldly.

"That's right," Ryo grinned. "Heh, now I remember Hirokazu saying something about giving her a call, too."

"While I'm happy that you're all concerned for her welfare and are willing to keep her company, I have to warn you to not cross Ruki," Renamon said. "She's already getting nervous of the outcome of this festival, and she doesn't want to be disappointed."

"Renamoooon," Ryo fake-whined, shaking his head. "You know me better than that! I would never pressure Ruki into anything she doesn't want to do. I don't know who would, anyway, she's a feisty one."

"I'm just telling you to watch your back," Renamon told him, as if trying to be foreshadowing. "You're aware you have competition, and you both promised her that this wasn't a date, so don't treat it like one, are we clear?"

"Crystal," Ryo replied. "But you trust me, right?"

"As much as I would the rest of you," Renamon answered. "I'm not trying to push you away from Ruki… more than anything, I'd love to see her be happy with someone, but Ruki's just not any ordinary girl, Ryo."

"As I'm totally aware of," Ryo said with a smile. "That's why I like her so much."

"Just be careful, for your own sake."

"No problemo!"

"Hope you don't wind up with cavities," Renamon wished jokingly, though she didn't sound any less serious than she normally did. With that, she disappeared back into her tree.

"I always watched Cardcaptor Sakura when I was younger," Ryo snickered. "So I always listened to Kero-chan and brushed my teeth."

He looked up into the morning sky and greeted the new tomorrow, hoping for the best.

[I never listened to Kero, and I didn't get any cavities until I was 14! So, uh…HAH! TBC]