I'm on a Takeru/Iori kick at the moment, I think. Did anyone notice that they were at a BEACH in ep #35? ::claps:: Oh, how wonderful this is for me!

Iori and Takeru are my favorite 02 characters at the moment. I just like them interacting in any way possible -- friendship, brothers, romantic, it doesn't matter, as long as they interact. This is just what I think Iori was feeling after the events of ep. 34 but before ep. 35, and it fits in fairly well, and next week I get to see SHAKKOUMON, and hopefully their HUG, yay yay yay, it's going to be impossible to get me to shut up for the next week until I see it, and anyone who makes fun of my obsession with them will gets their brains smashed in with my frying pan. ^_^

::sings:: Jingle bells, jingle bells, suzu ga naru...^_-

The Right Thing
by Rb

Takeru-san.

I see you. I see you. I wonder what I see.

You're such a nice guy, always kind. Always gentle. You listen, which is important to me, because few people really listen like you do, not only with your ears but with your heart and mind. I admire how you seem to care for everyone and everything, always the peacemaker, always wise.

You don't want to be the leader, and I can understand that, because being a leader is such a terrible job -- but for just that reason, you should be a leader, because you attract people, make them feel good.

With Daisuke-san, it seems like we only followed him around to laugh at him, to make jokes at his poor leadership skills. And it was true, at first. He grew into the job, yes, but...

You, you, I would follow you anywhere, to the depth of the seas and to the highest peak of a mountain. And you know that, because I told you, so shyly.

And you know what you responded? Well, of course you do, but in case you forgot...

"Thank you, Iori-kun. It means a lot to me."

And it meant a lot to me, too, because you meant it, I could tell by the sincerity in your voice and the way your blue eyes sparkled.

You had nothing to gain except my respect, me, the youngest and smallest and weakest member, and you said it anyway, and you meant it, too.

You were once in my place, the smallest and youngest, and you let the memory of how you felt help you become stronger; that's about the best definition of 'wisdom' I can give.

I envy you, for being able to become wise like that, and I wish I was as strong as you.

But at the same time, I fear you. You are one of the kindest people I know, but...you have the potential for such hatred, and you seem unaware of it.

I hear your voice when you see something evil, something wrong, or something twisted, and it's harsh on my ears. I see your eyes, and the kind light has left them, leaving a shell of you, a different you, behind.

You aren't the same, and I don't know why.

And it frightens me.

Daisuke-san and Ichijouji-san, Miyako-san and Hikari-san, they're all jogress partners. They've all had their digimon evolve together. They're the same.

When Daisuke-san spoke of the jogress evolution, he said that his heartbeat and Ichijouji-san's heartbeat were synchronized, beating together. When I asked Miyako-san, she said that she felt like she could see directly into Hikari-san's heart.

The heart is a private place, and to have someone look into my heart frightens me... To have the power to look into someone else's heart, even more so.

When -- if -- we become jogress partners, you'll be able to see into my heart, and I into yours. And maybe I'll be able to see what drives you so, what makes you so rigid in your task to destroy evil.

Maybe I'll see it. Maybe I'll empathize with it. And that thought -- that thought scares me most of all.

I don't like evil, either, Takeru-san. I don't like the thought of it, I don't want it tainting me. But to destroy evil without thought, without questioning the motives...that's like, that's like...

That's like being evil, Takeru-san. It's going down to their level. I don't want to have to go down to Evil's level. I want to uphold justice, not fight evil and become evil on the way.

Justice...my father, my grandfather, his father before him, a long line reaching upwards, all of them were brave warriors, upholding justice and the right way of doing things. I want to be like them, strong and brave...and just, not evil or wrong.

And if this new powerful digimon has a heart, a soul, I can't destroy it. I can't destroy it, I can't, it would be evil to do so. I can't be evil, Takeru-san. I can't kill something with a heart. It's not like fighting those who are evil or those who are controlled, those who have no purpose but to fight. But something with a soul, someone who is fighting for something...?

Would you destroy Patamon, Takeru-san? Armadimon? Tailmon? Would you destroy them if you thought of them as evil?

Would you destroy me, Takeru-san, if you thought I was evil?

Maybe I don't want to hear the answer. Maybe I can't understand you at all.

But I want to understand you so much, it hurts.

I wonder what drives you so. I remember the look on your face when you thought Hikari-san had disappeared, both times. It must be nice, to care about someone to such an extent that you would go off like that to save her. Nice and scary, at the same time.

I wonder what it's like. I wonder if you could tell me. I wonder if you could teach me.

I remember how your hands shook as you gripped your hat and threw it down, as if it didn't matter any longer. I remember the look on your face as you proclaimed that anything evil must be destroyed. I wonder if that look found its mirror on my own face.

And I also remember the kindess in your face and eyes as you slowed down to let me catch up with you.

It can't be possible, to step away from a destiny, any destiny. I'm sure I'm your partner, I know that destiny dictates it. But is this really our destiny, Takeru-san? Is it our destiny to destroy something that's just as aware as you or me? Something that might be able to live normally, if we only give it a chance?

Can it be? I refuse to believe it. I refuse to believe that there's something that has a heart that's so evil it cannot be salvaged. Life doesn't work that way, not with the people I know. I've been wrong before, Takeru-san. I don't want to be too inflexible this time and ruin my chance to save something.

But with you as my partner, how can I have a choice?

Maybe our digimon won't jogress evolve because I'm holding us back, because I'm too afraid. I don't want to hold anyone back. I don't want it to be my fault. I want to see what our digimon would grow and change into -- but if I'm afraid of having our hearts beat as one, then I can't.

If I'm afraid, because I don't want to destroy Black War Greymon...

If our digimon don't jogress evolve, and Black War Greymon destroys all of the Holy Stones, then the digital world will be destroyed. You would not blame me, because you are kind. You would look for the fault within yourself, but comfort me. I know you. I know what you would do.

But the others...the others would blame me. And they would be right.

Why is my heart filled with so much confusion? I just want to do the right thing...

...but I don't know what that is any longer.