Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Fine Art ❯ A General Lacking ( Chapter 10 )

Just another day in the life of Dai ^^

~*~

Once a week Takeru came to my house to hang out until his mom came home. She was a journalist or whatever, and she had strange hours of work. So, Takeru stayed with me until about seven at night once a week, and the other days he'd spend with Hikari, Iori, Miyako, his brother, or Taichi. Basically, he got to be over someone's house everyday, the lucky bastard.

When Takeru first started coming over, my sister would sit him down and get as much information about Yamato as she could. The harassment had lessened considerable since the first days when Takeru was over our apartment, but if she could catch him before we ducked into my room, she'd still demand information.

Walking home with Takeru was fun. Despite the fact that he was my archenemy and that I hated him, he was still a cool friend and I enjoyed hanging with him. Sometimes we'd play basketball or soccer, sometimes we'd do homework, or sometimes we'd go down to Miyako's family's store and bother either her or her siblings. It was fun having a friend to do evil, devious deeds with.

Takeru was a lot different from Ken. Comparing the blondie to Ken was like comparing an ant to a butterfly, or a pony to an unicorn. It didn't make Takeru any less cool, but spending time with him was not the same as spending time with Ken.

"So Yamato's all bent out of shape because he has some massively huge and important concert coming up and apparently no one in the band is taking it seriously." Takeru sighed and shook his head. "I know that they'll be fine and I've been telling Yamato that since forever, but he still frets over it. He hasn't slept in days. My dad's really worried about him."

"Mmm." I agreed politely, although I didn't give a damn about Yamato's problem. Yamato's issue couldn't hold a flame to the crap I had to deal with everyday in my life. Clearly my dilemma with my relationship with Ken and Hikari was a thousand times worse, and then my new found skills in drawing was a giant headache, and then there was that tiny little thing about the fact that I had a biology test in three days which I hadn't really been studying for. Yeah, my life was better off dead.

"Anyway," Takeru's blue gaze slid over to me, "How has your life been? Had any sibling problems lately?"

I rolled my eyes. "Takeru, I live with Jun. Everyday is a living hell."

Takeru chuckled. "Surely she isn't that bad. Even Yamato says that she isn't as annoying as she used to be."

"Well, Yamato knows nothing. And don't call me Shirley."

"Huh?" Takeru blinked his big eyes. "Nevermind, I don't want to know. Changing the subject, how'd you do on the last math test?"

I shrugged and looked away. I had just barely passed, even with all the hours that Ken had put into teaching me algebra. When I told Ken my grade, he was angry, then regretful. It had annoyed me that he had blamed himself for my failure, but I had known that I'd never be able to change his mind. I had made some kind of lame joke to get a smile out of him, and when he did finally give into my antics and break into his perfect grin, I knew that all had been forgiven.

"Well?" Takeru prompted. "Come on, you couldn't have done that bad with all of Ken's help."

I gritted my teeth. If I had done well it would have been because Ken had helped me. Would I ever succeed in life? Apparently only if I had someone leading me.

Or whatever.

I wasn't even making sense anymore. The idea was there, but clearing it into a logical thought was too hard for me.

I began to think that everything was too hard for me.

Or whatever.

"Eh, the usual," I said in a normal voice. "I heard that Hikari aced it."

"Yeah, she was pretty happy about it." Takeru said with a small laugh.

I knew that he wanted to continue the conversation, but I definitely did not. "Hey, we're at my complex, so let's hurry. I have to go the bathroom like there's no tomorrow."

"I didn't need to hear that." Takeru mumbled as he followed me into the elevator.

~~~

"Hey Jun-bug, we're home!" I led Takeru in, and we threw our shoes at the wall as we entered. "Takeru's here!"

Jun was in the kitchen, a spoon of icecream in her mouth. "Hey little bro. And hi Takeru. What's up today?"

I wasn't sure to whom she directed the question, but I answered. "Eh, the usual. You know what? We have to do a leaf collection for Biology. How much does that suck?"

Jun nodded. "Mmm. I did that. Got an A. It was easy. If you actually do it, you'll probably get a good grade for once."

"What, me? Are you suggesting that I could actually pass Biology? It could never happen." I opened my fridge and pulled out two cans of soda. "Here Hat-boy, catch."

"Thanks." Takeru, being the sport ace that he is, caught the can in one hand.

"Not a problem." I sat in the seat next to my sister and peered into her bowl. "What kind of icecream is that?" I stuck my finger into it, and tasted it carefully. "Chocolate?"

"Super Chocolate Lover's Dream, actually." Jun said as she licked her spoon clean. "And you guys can't eat any of it."

"What?" Takeru and I exclaimed at the same time. "But-"

"Nope." Jun spooned another glop into her mouth. "It's all mine. Now," she waved a sticky hand at us, "Be gone. You are dismissed form my presence."

"Fine." I motioned to Takeru. "Come on Takeru, let's go to my room and let Miss Piggy finish her icecream."

"See you later," Takeru called to my sister before he followed me down the hall. "Hey Dai…"

"Huh?" I pushed my door open. "What?"

Takeru closed the door behind him and gave my a strange look. "Was it just me, or was Jun less crazy than usual? I mean… is something wrong?"

I raised an eyebrow. So, I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Takeru, misinterpreting my reaction to that of disbelief, doubt, and overall disgust, kept babbling. "I mean, she didn't even ask one question about Yama! I find that… odd. You don't?"

Chibimon had scurried out of my backpack leaving it free for me to rummage through. I let Takeru wait for my answer until I found my goggles. I had had physical education last period, and my teacher had made me take them off. We were playing on the high bars and he said that if I got caught on one of the bars, I could choke myself. It didn't make any sense to me, but when he threatened with detention, I had complied. "There!" I slid them back into place and turned around to face Takeru. "I find you odd."

"Oh."

"Just kidding. Yeah, I agree with you. Jun's been all spaced out lately." I pushed my bag off my bed and flopped onto my soft blanket. "She won't tell me about it though."

"Oh." Takeru looked concerned. Takeru seemed to always look concerned, so I didn't pay it much mind. He seemed to get upset about everything, like he was amazed that not everything in the world worked in perfect harmony. Takeru was definitely a strange little boy.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," I hopped over Chibimon (who was playing a game of tic-tac-toe with Patamon), "Nature calls."

I plodded along to my bathroom, and after dealing with that call from Nature, proceeded back to my room. Jun was still seated at the kitchen table and still slurping her icecream. "Hey Jun-bug?"

I must have startled her, because she dropped her spoon right into her bowl. "Huh?"

"It's just me, relax. I… wanted to know…" Why exactly had I called to her? I had a feeling that we were both holding in something (well, I knew that I had some deep dark secrets that I was hiding) but I couldn't blurt out and ask her what was wrong. She wouldn't answer, just like I wouldn't answer if someone asked me. All Motomiya's are alike. It drove my mother nuts. "When… Mom and Dad are coming home?"

Jun shrugged and picked up her spoon. "Probably around eleven. Why?"

"No reason." I started back to my room. "Just curious if I'd ever see my parents again." While it was true that my parents worked a lot, it wasn't like they had abandoned us. Both of them only worked half days on Saturday, and both had Sunday off. It was nice not having them breathing down my neck all the time, but sometimes I sort of wished that they were at home to take care of me.

Or whatever.

Back in my room, Takeru was losing to Chibimon in a hard-core match of tic-tac-toe.

"Go Chibi!" I cheered as I slammed the door behind me. "Kick blondie's butt!"

Chibimon squinted hard at the piece of paper. After scratching down an X, he threw his tiny arms in the air. "I win! Yay for me! Three in a row! Tic-tac-toe!"

"Yay!" I cheered with him. "Awesome job! You rule." I picked him up and swung him in a circle.

"Humph." Takeru grumbled from his seat. "I think he cheated."

Chibi and I stuck out our tongues at him. "Face it Takeru," I said as Chibimon continued to gloat, "You suck."

"Bite me." Takeru returned the gesture.

I grinned. Another reason why I liked Takeru was because it felt like we were on the same ball field. It was like we could be friends because we didn't have so many differences. He was a boy, like me, in my grade, liked sports, and was a Digidestined… the kind of things that I was. Of course we had a thousand different differences, but that was okay too. I didn't need to worry about impressing Takeru and that's why I liked him.

Or whatever.

"I think that Chibimon deserves a prize." I said thoughtfully. "And I think that you should buy it for him." Chibimon squealed and giggled in my arms. "What do you say, Chibi? Should Takeru buy you some candy?"

"Candy!"

"What?" Takeru pretended to be shocked. "Why should I fork over my precious money?"

"Because you lost." I said, matter-of-fact. "Come on, let's go to Miyako's store."

Takeru shrugged his agreement. "Sure. I'm game."

"Cool." I grabbed a wad of money off my floor and stuck it in my back pocket. "Come on hat-head, let's bust out of this joint."

"Yeah," Takeru grinned with me and pulled his hat tight on his head. "Let's blow this Popsicle stand."

So we did.

~~~

"May I help you?"

"Yes." I cleared my throat and did my best snobby British accent. "I'd like you're finest caviar, and don't go lightly on the goo."

Yukio leaned on the cash register. "It gets funnier everytime you say that, Dai. It really does."

Takeru snickered behind me.

I sighed and pretended to be hurt. "Some people just don't appreciate good humor anymore."

"Anyway Yukio, is your sister around anywhere?"

"Yeah," I peeked over the counter, trying to see into the employers' room (also known as the Inoue home). "We want to bother Miya."

"Sorry guys, you're out of luck." Yukio shook his head, his earring catching my attention as he moved. "She's over a friend's house today."

I wanted an earring. Then everyone would want me. It was simple. Yukio was Miyako's older brother, and he was the same age as Jun. According to my gossipy sister, Yukio was quite the charmer. He had even made a pass on her (for reasons I never understood), but she remained ever faithful to her beloved Yamato. It was sad that Yamato hated her guts. Sad and yet strangely humorous. But even she had to tear her eyes from the glorious Yamato to admire Yukio. He walked around his house without a shirt on and talked on the phone even more than Jun. Girls loved him, guys wanted to be him. I hated that. I figured that if I had an earring that I would inherit some coolness. Then maybe guys would want me.

"Correction," I mumbled under my breath, "Girls would want me."

Of course my parents wouldn't let me pierce any part of my body. My father said that I had enough holes in my head, and my mother said that as soon as I aced all my subjects she'd consider it. Basically I could never get an earring, at least not until I moved out, anyway.

Yukio didn't have to listen to things like that at his house. He was a good kid (as far as his parents knew) and spent three days a week managing his family's store because he knew that (and I quote from the man himself) "responsibility and faithfulness to one's family are the two most important ideals that a man can hold in his heart." He said this one time to me, very loudly and in a very clear voice, so that his parents would hear and love him for it. It worked.

"Don't you guys have anything better to do?" Yukio yawned and leaned against the wall with a bored look on his face. It seemed to me that he could never physically support himself. He leaned on anything that would support his weight. The Inoue family was strange.

"Nope!" I replied cheerfully.

"Actually we probably should be going," Takeru had bought whatever he thought that Chibi wanted as a prize and tugged on my sleeve, pulling me away from the counter. "We just wanted to check on Miya."

"I'll tell her you stopped by." Yukio called out as the glass doors closed behind us.

"So now what?"

"Let's go back to your place," Takeru said as we walked. "It's getting dark."

"What, scared of the dark?" I cooed and squeezed Takeru's cheeks. "Don't worry baby, Mommy will take care of you."

"Cut it out!" Takeru batted away my hands good naturally. "I'm just saying that-"

"Don't worry!" I cut him off, exasperated. "Nothing can go wrong while I'm here!" I bounced in a circle around him. "I am Daisuke, master of all in this world! With my steely stare, ripping muscles, and-"

"His fearless companion Super Takeru!" Takeru jumped in. "With his classic good looks and smooth charm, Super Takeru can seduce and or save any girl in the universe!"

"Leaving Daisuke with the men!"

"Yeah, sucks to be you," Takeru chuckled and shook his head.

I stopped bouncing and fell into pace with Takeru. Being with him only emphasized how wrong I was. Wrong at life. I was a horrible student, I was weird and most of all, and I liked boys. It was no use trying to convince myself otherwise. Being with Ken and Taichi had only made me more sure that I was strange. Queer even. I actually lusted over Ken. Lusted!

Silently we made it back to my apartment. We both waved at Jun, who was still eating icecream, and collapsed, in my room.

"Well, anyway," Takeru picked up his backpack and pulled some notebooks from one of its pockets. "We should probably do our homework. We have that biology test to study for."

It figured that Takeru would start studying days in advance. Stupid perfect smart Takeru. He was perfect too, but in a totally different way. Blue eyes, blond hair, good athlete, good student, good son, good boyfriend, good brother, and just plain old damn good. He was the kind of person that people always smiled at. I could picture him walking around kissing babies. Even on rainy days, I had the feeling that it was sunny around for him. It was like the raindrops never hit him.

It was so damn annoying.

I decided to humor him. I pulled out my science stuff and opened to the chapter that our test was going to be on. My eyes rambled along the lines, tripping over those big words that scientists use, and unconsciously looking for any thing pertaining to sex. (Hey, there are some interesting parts of biology!)

I honestly tried to read, but it seemed like whenever I started to actually learn something, Ken's face would appear and distract me. If he was helping me study… We'd be curled together on my couch -no! on my bed!- sharing the book on our laps. We'd have cuddle together so we both would be able to see. He'd lick his fingers to turn the page but accidentally touch my hand. He'd look up to apologize and right then, with his lips parted to speak, I'd kiss him. Claim him. Have him.

Fuck I was sick.

~*~

Thanks for reading! The next chapter will be better, I promise!