Milkshake.
by SugarSpiral.

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Yagmai Hikari just loved chocolate milkshake. Every morning, for as long as she could remember, she woke up craving it. She loved the taste, the smooth and cool texture, the hyped up rabbit on the label. She loved it so much, she even had a special teaspoon for it. Tiny, white-and-pink striped, modest but elegant, it even had it's own special place in the cutlery drawer. Or at least when Taichi wasn't in charge of doing the dishes. The SOD, or "Spoon of Doom" (title courtesy of aforementioned Taichi) had been a gift from her best friend, Takashi Takeru, for her tenth birthday. She'd never forget how worried he'd looked when she undid the wrapping.

He'd woken up late, and had been in a real rush as he'd forgotten to buy her a birthday present. The nearest shop to her apartment block was a fancy cutlery specialists, and he'd dashed inside in a fervent attempt to buy a gift for his best friend. A kind shop hand took pity on the flustered boy and helped him pick out the prettiest, daintiest utensil in the entire shop. She'd even assisted him of the most important task; the writing of the label.

Hikari smiled. She still had the now-tattered scrap of parcel paper with Takeru-kun's message scrawled over it. Somewhere. Probably in her memory box.

Hikari-chan
This reminded me of you.
Pretty, petite, and always shining brightly.
(that's what the shop assistant said- it will always shine, this is stainless steel)
I love you
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx

P.S: I'm sorry for forgetting your birthday.

It didn't matter to Hikari that the "I love you" was supposed to read "Lots of love" and that her friend hadn't realised until after giving it too her. She could still remember vividly his blush and stammered apology… Takeru-kun was so cute when he was flustered…

A sharp snort brought the youngest Yagami back to reality. Glancing at the sofa, she saw a shaggy mane of brunette hair protruding out from under a throw pillow. Taichi had been up all night playing "Midnight Soccer" with some friends. Hikari giggled at the sight of her sleeping sibling. The things that boy did to impress a certain auburn-haired damsel amused his sister no end. It also didn't help that Taichi talked in his sleep, and thus his feelings were by no means secret.

"…Sora-chan… you'd look great in goggles… here…you can borrow mine…"

Hikari bit her lip in attempt to hold in a shriek of laugher. Cute as he may seem asleep, Taichi sure was a grumpy guts if he was unexpectedly woken. Especially if it included his sleep-talking habits. She remembered that time when Yamato-san and Taichi had shared a room… and shuddered. It hadn't been pretty. Taichi had woken up to a glass of warm milkshake in the face… Chocolate milkshake!

The delicate brunette mentally whacked herself in the forehead.

Trust her to forget the reason she got up this morning! Hikari hoisted herself up onto the kitchen surface, reaching into the top cupboard to get a glass and the chocolate milkshake powder before sitting cross-legged next to the microwave. Reaching into the drawer beneath her, Kari groped around for her special teaspoon. Taichi had been on cutlery duty again.

When her fingertips eventually brushed against the smooth handle of the most important implement, Hikari breathed a sigh of relief. When her brother was feeling especially mean, he'd hide her birthday spoon. Last time, Miko had found it in his food dish. Hikari didn't understand what his problem was with hers friendship with Takeru-kun. He'd started acting weird since Hikari had turned thirteen. She sighed. Maybe Sora was right, Taichi was just crazy.

Hikari nearly unbalanced herself from her perch as she attempted to open the fridge with her foot. The magnetic lock resisted at first, but as she managed to prize the door from the frame with her toes, it gave away completely. Inside lay the objective: the milk. Not just any old milk. Not the bog standard, watery, "skimmed" rubbish her mother bought for making "health snacks". Hikari's milk, bought with her own money from working in the Takenouchi flower shop, after school and on weekends. This milk was the real deal. Fabulous, frothy, full cream milk. The red label stood out loud and proud from the dull coloured cartoons of home made potato juice and stale-looking rice cakes.

The young teen sighed as she was resigning herself to the fact she would have to get off the counter and, god forbid, walk the two feet to where the fridge door had swung to a stop. Just as Hikari began to uncross her legs, a green-and-orange-striped glove appeared from no where, and swiped the carton from its niche.

"Tailmon!" Hikari welcomed the feline's surprise appearance with utmost glee. "I thought you were still sleeping?" Tailmon let out a snort of disbelief as she gracefully leapt up beside her friend, her tail firmly entwined around the sacred milk.

"With him snoring so loud? Kari, that racket could wake a deaf Shogunmon!" Kari stifled a giggle as her friend glared in direction of the sofar. The cute, catlike Digimon could be crankier than Taichi when denied her beauty sleep.

Almost automatically, Hikari's nurturing side kicked into gear. Completely forgetting her milkshake for the second time that morning, she slid off the counter with a grace not unlike that of her Digimon partner. This was because, after many years of dance classes, Yagami Hikari had trained her body to such a refined suppleness that now she moved with an unconscious elegance. Many of the local louts may have noticed, and thus her big brother Taichi may also have noticed, but at this moment in time Hikari was absorbed in a most important quest: finding an un-chipped saucer for Tailmon's breakfast. Tailmon waited on the tabletop, tail swishing from side to side in her impatience. But once settled down and lapping up the cool liquid, the cat Digimon became much better tempered.

"Hikari, you sure know how to put the purr back into a prickly Digi-Kitty," Tailmon commented in between glaring at the still-sleeping Taichi and consuming her breakfast. Before Hikari could reply however, her D-Terminal started to squawk from under the tin of milkshake powder. Grudgingly, the small girl reached for the noisy gizmo. She always kept in near her person nowadays. Since the one time she'd left behind Miyako-chan had attempted to message her about her "date" with a certain young man. Annoyed by the lack of reply, the purple haired maiden had punished her younger friend by giving her a second-by-second description of how Ken-kun looked when he was drinking hot chocolate…

She sighed as she flicked the screen open, wondering if she'd ever get her morning milkshake. But scanning the screen quickly, her face lit up into a brilliant smile.

Hika-chan!
I haven't seen you in a week! That's got to be a record or something.
Well, I was just wondering, would you like to meet up today?
I miss you.
Look, I'll be at our café for 11, come rain or come shine.
I'll have your milkshake waiting for you, booth five.
Don't be too late.
See you there.

Takeru.

Hikari glanced at the clock, smiling. 10:43. She could make it… if she ran.

Today was going to be a good day.

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No, I'm not reposting Misunderstandings & Milkshake. There's Dilute for that.
But as I was going through my old files, I found this.
It's the only chapter from that fic that I like, so I wanted to post it up again.
I think it works alright-ish as a one shot.