Plot summary: Takeru and Ken fought some school delinquent who were harassing Hikari. Hikari scolded Takeru for picking a fight. Takeru confessed in a desperate attempt. Possible OOC-ness.

Genre: Romance (Takari), Friendship (Takeru-Hikari-Ken), Drama (on a soap opera side), Humour (mainly at the end)

Cameo: Taichi and Yamato teasing and blackmailing their younger siblings.

As usual, I recommend everyone to read in 1/2 page size to get the feeling of reading a book.

'You're an idiot.'

Takeru just rolled his eyes. 'Geez, thanks, Hikari-chan. That makes me feel so much better.'

'You're an idiot and you know it.' Yagami Hikari, owner of the said voice, stated that firmly while pouting, her hands on her hips as she stared at the blond sitting in front of her dangerously. 'Seriously, I would have expected something…something like that from Daisuke-kun, and not you.' Takeru whined and made a face at the chestnut-haired girl.

'Com'on, Hikari-chan. Is this the best way to comfort someone who just protected you?'

'You just fought another student! And not just one, but five! And they are all in hospital now, thanks to me and you! What do you expect me to say?' She almost yelled at him, wondering which part of his foolish act that he did not understand was plain stupid. Takeru had known Hikari long enough to know that very seldom did she raise her voice, but this time he was not willing to step back from this argument. He knew very well what he was doing and he did not regret it at all.

'He was touching you! Do you expect me to just stand there and do nothing?'

The small room known as the infirmary of the school was now filled with an uncomfortable silence. It was nice that the school nurse had gone with the deeply injured boys to the hospital, so no one was there to listen to their vivid conversation. Ken had previously, wisely, escaped from the room when he felt the death glare Hikari send to Takeru, and decided that he should not be there when the girl attempted to strangle her best friend.

Takeru decided to ignore Hikari's slightly guilty expression and examined his wounds. He had received a blow on his face, and some scratches on his arms and stomach, but they were nothing major. He thought back to his opponents, whom Hikari had just mentioned. Indeed those guys were in a much worse condition now. If Takeru could remember correctly, the leader of those five, Suga, had two black eyes, a broken nose, and some very apparent bruises on his arms, chest and stomach. He didn't remember much about his gang, who thought they could help their leader in fighting him, but failed miserably. Just thinking about his distorted face made the fourteen-year-old smirk.

'What's so funny?' Hikari crossed her arms and looked at him accusingly. She had guessed what he was thinking, and did not look amused at all by his smug expression.

'Just wondering if Suga and his gang would still be breathing if you had not stopped me.' Hikari rolled her eyes in desperation, giving up on refuting his logic that made no sense to her. 'Boys,' she muttered, 'always thinking that their fists can solve everything.'

Takeru just laughed, and Hikari sighed, wondering why her best friend would act like her childish older brother back when he was in junior high.

'I mean, it's very sweet of you to stand up for me, Takeru-kun,' she said as she nervously glanced at her shoes, 'but fighting like that because of me…you know I don't like that.' She finished, her cheeks turning slightly pink now, and she turned away to avoid looking at the young blond.

The fourteen-year-old looked at her with a blush of his own. 'You know I don't like fighting too,' Takeru spoke softly as he also refused to make eye contact with the brunette with bright crimson eyes, 'but I have to when…well, when I have to.'

'You do realize that after this fight, you'll be suspended for the upcoming basketball game. And in case you have forgotten, that is the championship game of the season.' She took a glance at him, trying to read the emotions in his ocean blue eyes that she was so attracted to. 'I hate it that you are not allowed to play the most important game of the season because of a silly fight over me.'

The echo of the ringing bell signified the end of the school day as students began to rush out of their classrooms. Some hurried to go to their respective club rooms for extra-curricular activities, while some just slowly packed their things and prepared to go home.

Yagami Hikari belonged to neither group. In her last year of junior high, she decided it would be best for her to drop her club activities and focused on preparing for the senior high entrance exam. Her grades had been decent, but she wanted to make sure she could get into Obaida Senior High without trouble. Besides, she was weak in English, and she couldn't get into senior high without a decent grade in that subject. She just had to wait for a certain blond to tutor her today.

That certain blond was, of course, Takaishi Takeru, the basketball team ace and vice-captain, her best friend and 'Prince Charming of Obaida No.2', as Miyako used to say before she graduated from junior high (since No.1 belonged to her boyfriend, Ichijouji Ken, who now lived in Obaida). Takeru was unbelievably fluent in English, which Hikari reckoned was due to his passion for literature. Unlike the typical sporty guy anyone knew, Takeru was actually very enthusiastic about writing, and even aimed to be a writer in the future. That said, he was also frightfully hopeless in science subjects, which Hikari was good at. Thus it became a convenient practice for them to study with each other. Hikari smiled at the fond memory of the blond poking fun at her English pronunciation, and her teasing his lack of understanding on how to read the periodic table. The startled and confused expression on his face always brought a warm smile to her lips.

Without admitting to anyone, Hikari knew she was in love with 'Prince Charming of Obaida No.2' (or No.1, in her opinion, as much as she also liked Ken as a good friend, but she was not going to argue with Miyako on this issue). In love. With Takeru. Fondly, certainly, undeniably. They had been best friends since their first adventure together in the Digital World, when she was eight and did not know much about digimons and evil deeds. But it was during their second adventure, when she was eleven, that she realized she saw Takeru as more than a friend. She knew the blue-eyed blond who had rescued her countless times in the Digital World was the focus of her heart, ever since he miraculously responded to her plea when she was trapped in the Dark Ocean. He was her light, and he gave her hope.

She remembered the look of pure concern and relief on his face when she, Miyako and Ken had just returned from the Dark Ocean, when he said he thought he had lost her again. She wondered if he cared about her like she did for him, but she was too afraid to ask. What if he just saw her as a little sister? What if he did not return her feelings? Their friendship was so strong that she was fearful of the slim chance of sabotaging it. That's why she had stayed quiet over the years. Even on Valentine's Day, she would give him her homemade chocolate, despite specially made for him, and said 'thank you for being my best friend' without confessing. She was too scared of the possible rejection, and Takeru usually had an unreadable expression when she said that line before smiling and accepting the gift. Once she asked Sora and Mimi about it, and they looked at her as if she was an alien from another world, ready to eat digimon alive. They shook their heads and facepalmed, although Hikari did not really get what that meant and they never answered her. Not as helpful as they claimed to be, she thought.

'Earth to Hikari.' A snap of fingers in front of her startled her.

'Huh?' She jumped back, only to find Ichijouji Ken standing in front of her with an amused look on his face. 'I've called you a few times and you did not respond at all. Are you alright?' Concern was evident on the Child of Kindness' tone.

'Oh, I'm fine. Just thinking about…stuff.' Hikari did not feel like explaining her thoughts, so she decided to change the topic. 'Anyway, what were you saying?'

Ken hesitantly let the subject go. 'You're going to watch the basketball team practice right? I figure we can go there together.' In their last year of junior high, the digidestined did not get to be in the same class. Hikari considered herself lucky that Ken was in her class, while Takeru and Daisuke were in separate classrooms. Although their proximity gave rise to rumours that the 'Prince Charming of Obaida' was going out with her, they pretty much just ignored it, for the digidestined already knew Ken was involved with Miyako, who was a year older than them. They just kept their relationship secret, though, for Ken did not want any extra attention from people. They all knew that he was a reserved person, so they respected his decision.

'Sounds good.' Hikari gathered her things and put her books in her bag, and left the classroom with Ken. 'Where's Daisuke-kun? I thought he would come along as well?'

'Detention.' Ken simply replied and grinned. Hikari giggled, as she remembered how Daisuke had broken a window when he was playing football this morning. 'Just like Yagami Taichi', she recalled a teacher's comment after Daisuke frantically apologized for that. Those two really were alike in many ways, Hikari thought, including the troubles they gave to teachers.

They were making normal conversation in the corridor when they ran into a figure that both wanted to avoid. 'Hey, isn't that Yagami-chan?' Both Ken and Hikari winced as they heard that voice, and saw a tall figure approaching, with four boys following closely behind.

'What do you want, Suga?' Ken warningly asked, and he stood protectively in front of Hikari. Suga Yuzan was an infamous delinquent of the school. He was very muscular and always picked fight on people he didn't like. On the other hand, he and his gang always cornered the girls and harassed them. With his spiky black hair, golden earrings and untidy uniform, plus his threatening tone and his stern face, nobody wanted to get near him, and even some teachers were afraid of him and his gang. Recently, Suga and his gang got interested in Hikari, and had been harassing her since, following her and trying to get her on a date with them. Hikari, being the nice person she was, rejected their offer as polite as she could, but that did not stop them from continuing to torment her previously peaceful school life. That's why Ken, Daisuke and Takeru took turn to watch over Hikari recently, just in case any of them was occupied with other stuff.

'I'm not talking to you, genius boy.' Ken rolled his eyes as Suga stepped forward. 'Now, Hikari-chan, how about a date now? I know some good places nearby that would be good for us to be…alone.' He smirked and Hikari shivered.

'She's not going anywhere with you.' Ken stated firmly as he grabbed Hikari's hand. 'Let's go, Hikari.' He wanted to turn and get away from the gang, but he quickly found himself being pinned against the wall by two of Suga's gang members. Other students just stood near them without approaching. Many of them knew Ken and Hikari, but were too afraid of going against the will of the delinquents. There had been various rumours of what they were capable of doing, and none of them wanted to be the next victim.

'Ken!' Hikari exclaimed as she tried to rush to her friend's side, but was stopped by the tall figure again. Suga eyed her lustfully and Hikari, intuitively, crossed her arms in front of her developing chest. As a teenage girl she was aware of the physical growth of her body, and she knew that boys in school sometimes looked at her…rather differently. But she did not like it at all.

'Hikari, get out of here!' Ken yelled as he struggled to get out of their grasp, but to no avail. Ken knew that Hikari was one of the most popular girls in the school for her physical appearance and personality, but being targeted by Suga was not a good thing at all. It only spelt trouble. Ken had heard rumours about him sexually harassing some girls from school. Although he could not prove the validity of those rumours, he knew that the sixteen-year-old was fully capable of committing such act.

Suga reached for Hikari's hand and grabbed it tightly, causing Hikari to yelp in pain. 'Now, aren't you popular with guys here, Hikari-chan? They are always around you…Ichijouji or that Motomiya…oh, and that blondie as well, right? Takaishi?' Hikari flinched at his voice as she continued to struggle, but he was too strong for her. 'I bet you are just sleeping around with them to play with them, right? Don't worry. I can show you what a real man is like, unlike those boys. You'll be satisfied, I promise.' He hissed as he licked his lips, and put his other hand on her hips.

Hikari could not think of anything else but slap him hard on the face.

With her free hand, without thinking, she thrust her palms towards the tall man's face and left a red mark on his cheek. A loud slap was heard and everyone stopped whatever they were doing to watch the girl in awe. Even Ken and Suga's gang were surprised by this.

'Don't you dare insult me or my friends like that.' Hikari's fiery tone was steady, with no hints of hesitation. She was mad that he basically touched her, called her a slut, and that her closest friends were her toys. Even if she could tolerate outrageous comments directed at her, one thing Yagami Hikari could never stand was people making false accusations against her friends.

Suga's hand retreated and he looked shocked for a moment, and then his eyebrows tensed as he glared at the petite figure in front of her. Never in his life had someone disobeyed him like that. He felt totally humiliated, especially with that many people watching, and the girl would pay for that.

'You little bitch!' He raised his hand to hit her, and Hikari was sure she could not escape in time. His fist looked bigger by every split second to her eyes, and when she blinked again, a loud sound echoed in the corridor, and Suga was on the floor, his eyes raised in surprise.

Before Hikari could fully comprehend what had happened, she saw a twist of blond hair flashed in front of her, and a guy with blond hair was now holding the collar of Suga's uniform. He held him up and spoke in a dangerously cold tone. 'What did you call her?'

There was no mistake in that voice. Out of nowhere, Takaishi Takeru, 'Prince Charming of Obaida No.2' had appeared and come to her rescue, protecting her from harm.

Just like he had always done so.

'I dare you to say that again.' Takeru's tone was firm, and he threw Suga onto the wall. The student spectators quickly moved aside as the huge figure was tossed to their side, but Suga recovered quickly to see who had attacked him.

'Takaishi…it's not a good time to fight me, you know.' He smirked, and Takeru took a couple steps back to stand in front of Hikari, looking at her carefully. She gave him a nod to show that she was alright and not hurt, and he smiled at her briefly in return. It was one way of nonverbal communication that the two had managed to maintain, much to the surprise of the other digidestined. Suga ignored their brief exchange and continued, 'the basketball match is in a few days, right? If you fight now, then you'll be suspended.'

Ken gritted his teeth. That was the main reason he asked Daisuke not to fight Suga before, for he knew that if they got involved, they would be suspended from playing for the football team as well, even if they were just trying to defend their friend. The school teachers simply wouldn't care if they were actually the victims here. But now, Suga was seriously tempting the Child of Kindness to engage in violence, after witnessing what he did to Hikari. Even though Ken was known as the kindest person around, he knew his patience had its limit, and this Suga affair was not helping in that manner.

'After seeing what you did, do I look like I care?' Takeru spat as he rolled up his sleeves, so that his arms could move freely later. Hikari noticed it and clung to his arm, urging him not to, but Takeru shoved her off. 'Stand back, Hikari, or you'll get hurt.' Hikari knew that tone. It was the kind of tone Taichi or Yamato used when they got serious over protecting their younger sibling. A few of Hikari's friends managed to pull her away, afraid that she would get hurt, while she only eyed Takeru carefully and hoped that he would not do something stupid, as to get himself kick off from the championship match in the coming weekend.

Takeru was the sensible one, right? He would not be as irrational as Taichi sometimes was, right?

'I saw you touching Hikari-chan with my own eyes. And you also tried to hit her.' Everyone noticed the increasing tension between the two, particularly the frighteningly icy voice of Takeru. It was the first time for the basketball ace to directly confront the biggest delinquent of the school. When the tall teenager started to harass Hikari, he would try his best to control his temper and leave without making a scene. But now it was different. He touched her. He tried to hurt her. Her. Pure and innocent Yagami Hikari. His Hikari. 'No one can touch my Hikari-chan like that.' He wasn't even aware of the way he phrased that sentence, or the gasps from some female students nearby, or the gasp from Hikari herself.

'I was merely being friendly, you know? Besides, who are you to decide whom Hikari-chan can be friends with? It's not like you're her boyfriend or something.' Suga fought back. The whole school knew that Takeru and Hikari were close, but they never admitted they were a couple, even if they acted like one and had turned down multiple confessions from boys and girls alike.

Takeru could feel his temper rising, and his cheeks now flushed with anger. He never liked Suga from the day he set foot in this school. He always meant nothing but trouble to him. Now that Hikari was involved in his mess, he could not stand back and do nothing.

'Unless you two are really sleeping around, like the rumours go…' Suga was clearly provoking him to hit him, Takeru thought, as he clearly wanted Takeru to raise his fist, then the blond would be out of the game on the weekend. Suga had always been the expressive kind of people, saying words that were plain obscene and offensive to others. Takeru's fists were shaking now.

'Takeru-kun, don't.' Hikari pleaded from behind as she could feel the dark aura surrounding the Child of Hope. As Iori once said, Takeru possessed two sides of him. One was the bright, cheerful side that would bring a smile to everyone's face; the other was the dead serious, live-or-die side that frightened even Ken when he was the Digimon Emperor. Now that the latter side was beginning to surface, she could only hope Takeru would turn and walk away from the scene. She knew how important the match was going to be, and she certainly did not want Takeru to give up the match because of a fight, because of her.

'Just curious, Yagami-chan was pretty loud when she yelled at me. Is she as loud at night too? You should know, Takaishi.'

That did it. Takeru could not hold back anymore. He ignored Hikari's cry and dashed forward, throwing determined punches at the tall figure at full speed. While Suga knew that he would strike, he did not expect the blond to be that quick, and he was thrown to the ground again. Takeru was not done yet. He kicked him in the stomach and evaded an attack from Suga's man. Ken took this time to break from his gang's grip on him and engaged in the fight as well, throwing one boy aside and kicking the other away.

As Suga was down, Takeru and Ken now dealt each dealt with two of his men, who were not as intimidating as their leader was. In less than a minute, the four gang members were lying on the floor, moaning in pain, to the cheers of the students watching the scene. Two of them had their arms twisted, and the other two were beaten pretty badly as Takeru and Ken repeatedly hit them in the face and stomach without mercy. Takeru quickly turned his attention back to Suga, who just rose from his spot and was holding his stomach and looked at Takeru with hatred.

'You're a dead man, Takaishi,' he muttered dangerously and lunged towards Takeru, hitting him in the face and grabbed his arm to throw him on the floor. After that he sat on the blond and clutched his neck, trying to suffocate him. With a punch, Ken shoved the tall figure aside, and Takeru quickly rose from his position and attacked the delinquent again. They exchanged punches at each other, and while Suga successfully landed some punches on Takeru's stomach and caught his arms sometimes, it was clear that Takeru's strong will prevailed over Suga's childlike tactics. Suga was now pinned to the wall and Takeru kept throwing punches at his face and stomach. Suga tried to resist by grabbing his wrists and kicking his legs, but Takeru quickly broke out of it and hit his nose again. Blood was streaming out of his nose and he could barely stand now, and his vision blurred. Finally, the tall delinquent sank to the floor as Takeru was about to give him one last strike, only to be pulled back by Hikari, who had been too shocked by the scene to do anything before. She grabbed Takeru's arms and screamed, 'stop it, Takeru-kun! You're going to kill him!'

Ken also approached the blond while patting his shoulder. 'Hikari's right, Takeru. It's enough.' Ken found it amusing that Hikari would still be thinking of others in such situation, especially when the one lying on the ground now was the one who harassed her just minutes ago, but then that was just in Hikari's nature to care for any single human beings out there, no matter what deeds they had committed.

It took Takeru a minute to let rationality control his mind and let his arm fall on the side, as he felt Hikari's arms shaking. He turned to find her sobbing slightly, and caressed her cheeks gently with crossed eyes. He was about to ask her what's wrong, when a loud voice stormed at them.

'WHAT IS HAPPENEING HERE?'

They all turned to find a man in his mid-forties rushing to the scene. There stood Nikaido Otomo, the school's discipline master. He was known for being strict and believed firmly that the rules were everything. Takeru and Hikari had heard much about him from Taichi and Yamato, who were constant visitors to the discipline master and the school principal. To see such disorder in the school would not be permitted by any standard of his.

'What is the meaning of this?' He eyed the four lying figures on the floor, all looking seriously injured, and then on Suga, the head delinquent who was now unconscious, and blood splattered around his face. He then turned to look at Takeru and Ken, whose shirts were not tidily placed inside their trousers and their ties loosened. Both looked exhausted, and it was evident that Takeru had received a punch on the face and some grip marks on his arms. Then, there was Hikari crying as well, who was holding Takeru's shirt. Nikaido looked at them, surprised.

'Ichijouji, Takaishi,' he started, and every student around quieted down as well, 'care to explain?'

Ken looked at his friends. Takeru was still trying to calm down and Hikari was in no condition to talk, so he decided that he would be the spokesperson here. 'Yagami and I ran into Suga and his friends about fifteen minutes ago, and Suga was trying to…flirt with Yagami. Those two then,' Ken pointed at two figures on the ground, 'pinned me against the wall, and Suga…touched Yagami in a rather inappropriate manner, so Yagami defended herself.' The blue-haired boy thought about mentioning Hikari's slap on Suga's face, but then figured it would be better to get Hikari out of this. 'Suga attempted to hit Yagami, and Takaishi was just in time to stop him. Suga went on to make some lewd remarks about Takaishi and Yagami's private lives, which were totally false, but Takaishi felt insulted, and he also had to protect Yagami from Suga's strike, and he saw that I was held against the wall.' Ken breathed and continued. 'We two are fully responsible for this act here. Yagami is the victim. She has nothing to do with their…beaten states.' Hikari was about to protest, but one glare from Ken and a squeeze of her hand by Takeru were enough to shut her up. She knew what their intentions were, but she also noted the consequences of this.

'Well, I expect more from you two, Ichijouji, Takaishi. After all, you two have always been the model students of our school. I'm very disappointed that you two are involved in this fight. No matter which side initiated it, a fight is a fight.' Nikaido stated sternly and looked at the teenagers, who were not surprised by his words. 'You two will be suspended from any extra-curricular activities for two weeks, and I will discuss with the school principal to see how long you will be suspended for school as well. Your parents will be notified about this.' Several protests grew from the crowd, as the students knew that the basketball team had their championship match this week. Besides, they were there to witness Suga's provocation, and they admired Takeru and Ken greatly for standing up for their friend, who was also popular among other students. Basically, they all thought the popular trio did not deserve such punishment, but another harsh look from Nikaido silenced them.

'My decision is final. Now, you,' he pointed at a student nearby, 'go and find the school nurse. We have several patients here that she needs to take care of.'

Takeru smirked at the memory of his fight. It was the first time he had really fought anyone in school, and he felt good about it. He used to hate those teenager fights that took place for no reason, like some that his brother was involved in a few years ago, but this time it was different. And he got Ken on his back too. It wasn't an everyday sight that the introverted, friendly prodigy of the school was willing to raise his fist at anyone.

'It wasn't a silly fight,' Takeru continued as Hikari raised a disapproving eyebrow at him. 'It's worth it.'

'Which part of fighting is worth it, Takaishi-kun?' The blond noticed the change of her tone. She only addressed him with his last name when she was completely annoyed. 'Breaking school rules or getting others hurt?'

She watched him carefully, her arms folded across her chest. Ever since she was young, Hikari had always hated being a burden to others. It pained her to know that someone suffered, in any different kind of way, because of her. Now that Takeru and Ken would be suspended from school and playing for their sports team, she was not amused at all.

Takeru looked at the girl standing next to him, then shifted his glances onto his shoes. Pondering about the best way to answer her question, he finally gathered up his courage and decided to let his best friend know why he didn't care less about the world when he heard about what had happened and rushed to the scene to save her.

'You are.'

A simple reply as he smirked slyly, reached for her hand, grabbed it, and pulled her down to the bed he was sitting on. Hikari let out a surprised squeal and found herself now looking into a pair of ocean blue eyes that sparkled with determination. Takeru leaned down to shorten the distance between them as their faces were just inches apart. Hikari widened her eyes, and was very aware of the position they were in now. Takeru was practically kneeling over her with her back on a bed. Anyone who happened to walk in right now would think they're about to kiss, or worse, and Hikari couldn't help but quiver in that thought as heat rushed to her cheeks.

Was he going to…?

There was a reason why Hikari had not confessed to Takeru despite having a crush on him for so long. She was scared. Damn scared. The bond between her and Takeru was so strong that she was afraid he would not return her feeling. What should she do if he rejected her? Takeru was one of the two most popular guys in the school. He could easily have picked any girl in the school to go out with, so why did it have to be her? She was nobody. Just an average student who was helplessly in love with her best friend. She didn't even know if Takeru saw her as a possible girlfriend material or just a little sister that he did not have, or just best friend, with no special feelings. That thought alone haunted her.

Yet, Takeru had never gone out with any girl so far. She knew that he had rejected all the girls who confessed to him, and when she once asked why, he again had that unreadable expression on his face that she hated, before smiling and changing the topic of discussion. She never bothered to ask again.

'I'm sick of hiding my feelings anymore after this, and even if you will hate me later, I am still going to say it.' Takeru said without blinking as he gazed at the girl lying under him, trying to decipher what lay behind her chocolate-hazel eyes. Hikari gulped as she saw how serious and determined Takeru was now.

'Ever since our adventure in the Digital World, I always have this strange, warm feeling in my stomach when you're around. Whenever you smile, I will smile as well for no reason. Just knowing that you're beside me makes me feel happier than ever.' Takeru took a deep breath and continued without hesitation. 'When you were taken to the Dark Ocean, I realized how much I truly cared for you. It isn't just because that you're my best friend, but you hold an even more special place in my heart, Hikari-chan. I know that I have fallen for you. I didn't say anything before because I was afraid that you would not return those feelings that I have. But when I heard that Suga and others were harassing you today, all that was in my mind was that I had to come and protect you, regardless of what I had to do. You have no idea how angry I was when I saw him grab you and attempt to hurt you.'

Hikari was stunned by his sudden admittance of his feelings. The warm feeling in her stomach grew as Takeru's countenance softened when he mentioned the Dark Ocean. He feels the same, Hikari thought. He feels the same as I do. Even though the Dark Ocean was a painful experience for her, it was also in that horrible place that she knew who the focus of her heart was. And that person was now saying that he felt exactly the same for her.

She could have fainted out of joy if not for Takeru's glistering blue orbs mesmerizing her thoughts.

'I understand if you don't return my feelings, that you only think of me as your best friend and nothing more,' Takeru's voice trembled a little, and his previous confidence seemed to be fading, 'but I cannot hide it anymore. I like you, Hikari-chan. Heck, I love you. I care about you too much to let others take you without a fight.'

Iori's words resurfaced in Hikari's mind, about the two sides of Takeru. A minute ago Takeru was still showing his sweet, innocent side as he joked with her, but then his dark side surfaced and was now pinning her on the bed in the infirmary in a thought-provoking position, looking at her with subtle concern in his explicit possessiveness.

They remained in that position for long, with neither parties speaking or moving. They just looked at each other with their eyes wide open. Hikari found that unreadable expression on his face enticing, while her inner self was dancing and screaming words of happiness, his words registering in her mind. She was overwhelmed with a new sense of emotion that she failed to vocalize any words as she opened her mouth.

Takeru seemed to take that the wrong way, though, when he could only see shock in the brown-haired brunette's eyes. 'I'm sorry,' he let go of his hands that had been holding hers, and started to pull himself up from the bed while giving an exasperated sigh. 'I didn't mean to startle…I understand that you don't feel the same, but I hope…'

But he never got to finish that sentence, as Hikari grabbed the collar of his uniform and pulled him down. Takeru widened his eyes as he realized what she was doing. Wordlessly, Hikari brought his lips to hers.

From a close distance, he could take in her strawberry perfume fully, and that was all he could think about, apart from the fact that he was now tasting the lips of the girl he had had a crush on for years. Trapping her head with his hands, he closed his eyes and let his instinct guide him through this, as he really had no idea how to kiss properly. But hell, he was enjoying every bit of it. Hesitantly, but passionately, he licked her lips with his tongue, asking for permission of entry. She obliged, and he could feel her tongue tangling with his, battling with one another fiercely.

Hikari looked nervous too as she was just following his lead. She really had no idea how she muttered up the courage to pull her prince down and engulfed him with a shower of kisses. Frankly, she didn't care. All she could think of was how happy she was right now, knowing that Takeru loved her as well, and her lips' virginity was stolen by the boy she loved dearly. They kept on kissing until she felt Takeru's tongue making contact with her slightly parting lips. Knowing what was coming, she opened her mouth and let him enter, her tongue feeling the sensation and eagerness of his display of affection. Their heads moved around to adjust to their movements and her hands were on the back of his head now, pulling him closer and playing with his messy blond hair without a care in the world.

Both teenagers finally opened their eyes and they separated reluctantly after what seemed like hours to them. Their faces were all red now from embarrassment, passion, and lack of air. They were panting hard, and both sides could feel the breath of the other on their necks. Yet the barely noticeable grin on Takeru's face and the small smile on Hikari's, along with the loving glances they sent each other, told the young couple that they were willing to go for another round, once they had recovered from this.

That was, if they were not being watched by a handful of spectators, who were eyeing them curiously and expectantly with stunned expressions.

By the door stood four teenagers in their respective school uniforms. One of them had blue hair and his shirt was somewhat dirty after the fight he had had previously. He left the infirmary immediately after Hikari had walked Takeru in with a pouted expression. His wounds weren't that serious either, so when he saw Hikari sent the young blond a death glare he decided that retreating would be the best option. Given the situation in front of him, he was indeed relieved that he was gone. Standing next to him was a boy of his age with dark purple-red, spiky hair, whose jaws dropped to the ground at the sight of the intimate couple. Behind him stood an older teenager with brown hair in a similar spiky fashion, only that he was taller and was covering his mouth with his hand to prevent himself from laughing to death. His shirt had the school badge of the senior high section, instead of the junior high one the younger ones had. His other hand was holding a camera, recording the whole process as he chuckled. Next to him stood a blond whose appearance resembled that of Takeru a lot, only that he got silver earrings on his ears and looked more mature. Like the brown-haired brunette standing next to him, he was covering his mouth with his hand, preventing others from seeing the wide grin on his face, but his free hand was holding a camera that took continuous pictures of the scene unfolding in front of his eyelids.

This would be the best blackmailing materials ever.

Upon realizing they were being watched, by probably some of the last few people they wanted to see right now, the young couple separated themselves within a split of second and they stood nervously next to the bed, their eyes showing fear and surprise at the four pairs of eyes staring at them with sly expressions on their faces.

'Prodigious' was the word all four had in mind.

'Wha…what are you guys doing here?' Takeru stumbled on his words as he found his shoes extremely interesting to look at.

'Well,' Ishida Yamato, the older blond, looked amused as he tried to hide his smirk, 'the school called our parents that our younger siblings were involved in a fight that resulted in five students being sent to the hospital.'

'Since the probability of Hikari hitting someone other than me is zero,' Yagami Taichi, the older brown-haired brunette took over from his best friend, 'and that the school principal said Takeru would be suspended from school, we figured that prince charming beat the crap out of those give poor souls to protect my imouto-chan, as always.'

'Because our parents are working, they called us to pick you guys up. We ran into Ken here,' Yamato patted the shocked fourteen-year-old on his back, as Ken was also trying his best not to laugh at his friends whose faces were boiling with blood now, 'and he told us what happened. Our deduction turns out to be perfect, if not for the fact that Ken was also involved in it.'

'Then Daisuke came to meet us as soon as he was done with detention, and we decided to come see you guys. But then Ken said he did not stay in the infirmary since sweet princess was about to murder prince charming,' Taichi eyed Hikari playfully and the Child of Light now just wanted to hide under the bed and not face his brother's mischievous glance, 'so we reckoned it would be best to wait for you guys outside the room and retrieve Takeru's dead body later.'

'And boy, thank goodness we got our cameras with us.' Yamato snapped his camera again to take a picture of the two very, very troubled and embarrassed teenagers now. The two finally raised their heads to look at them, now shocked as realization dawned on them.

'YOU WERE TAKING PICTURES THE WHOLE TIME?' They yelled in synchronized manner, knowing that their brothers would haunt them for the rest of their lives about this.

The two older siblings gave each other a knowing look, and smirked. 'Hell, they really are the perfect for each other.'

'Actually, I only took pictures. Taichi filmed the whole process.'

'Starting from the point when prince charming said my little sister was worth the fight.'

'And when Takeru finally got the courage to pin his princess down on bed. You're the man, lil bro.'

Takeru and Hikari just stood there, horrified, and they did the only thing they could think of at the moment.

'GIVE US THE CAMERAS!'

Ken and Daisuke, in a smart move, stepped out of the way as the young couple dashed forward and chased their older brothers in the corridor.

'THIS SHOULD BE SHOWN IN OUR NEXT DIGIDESTINED GATHERING!' They could hear their football senpai yell as he swiftly evaded his sister's advance and ran in the opposite direction.

'WAIT TILL MIMI AND SORA SEE THIS!' The famed bassist of the pop-rock band of Obaida exclaimed as he ran away from his younger brother, whose eyes widened in horror as he kept running after his older brother.

The two remaining youngsters just watched with their mouths open as the Yagami and Ishida/Takaishi siblings sped through the school corridor, ignoring the curious and startled glances sent by other students and even teachers. The two just watched in awe as those four acted like the fight, which was the very reason they were in this position now, had never taken place at all.

'You know, Ken, it was smart to leave those two alone before. They needed that push to finally admit their feelings for each other.'

'Not the perfect way, I guess.' Ken just sighed as they could hear the echo of their friends' laughter/anger from where they stood. 'Now Takeru will miss the championship game and we are both suspended from school for at least a week.'

'Hey, does Takeru look like he cares about it at all? Ask him to choose between basketball and Hikari-chan, and he'll choose the latter every time.'

Ken just had a small smile on his face. 'You're right. Not that I regret hitting those bastards who're bothering Hikari, anyway. I don't like seeing my friends getting hurt.'

'Don't say that in front of Takeru though,' Daisuke smirked as Ken looked confused. 'He'll think you have feelings for Hikari-chan too.'

'What?' Ken looked scandalous at his comment. 'C'mon, Daisuke, any one of us digidestined would have done the same thing for Hikari, or others, for that matter.'

'That's true, but didn't you see how possessive Takeru was back there?' Daisuke stated as Ken recalled the look the Child of Hope had and the tone he chose when he confessed to Hikari. Those made Ken think about his choice of words again. 'I guess you are right…'

'TAKAISHI! YAGAMI! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING IN THE CORRIDOR?' They heard the familiar sound of the school's discipline master scolding their friends, from where they guessed was two floors above.

'AND YAGAMI AND ISHIDA TOO! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?' Ken and Daisuke could only imagine the shock and horror on Nikaido's face. Everyone knew that Yagami Taichi and Ishida Yamato were the most famous pranksters in the history of Obaida Junior High, and it was a mystery to everyone how they even managed to graduate, given their poor discipline records. The two younger digidestined just shrugged as Nikaido's stern voice echoed in the whole school.

'Busted.' They said in unison.

The End

Well, allow me to explain a bit about this story.

Basically, it evolves around the idea of a possessive/protective Takeru who will do anything to protect Hikari. I chose the word 'possessive' in the end and used it throughout my story, just because it sounds like a stronger word than 'protective', and I wanted to emphasize on Takeru's emotion and care for Hikari. An antsy Takeru is pretty fun to write, after I had my trial on The Last Breeze of Autumn, so I have this idea of Takeru fighting other guys who were harassing Hikari.

The OC, Suga. Well, I try to picture him as the kind of person that you just absolutely hate but fear in school, like those characters that you see in high school drama/soap operas. I'm not sure if his provocation is the best, since I rarely watch any such kind of soap operas nor have I encountered anyone like that when I was in junior/senior high, fortunately. So, I simply imagine him as an annoying delinquent who pisses off everyone.

I guess Takeru could be considered OOC here. You can kind of imagine a Yamato version of Taichi, if that makes any sense. A cool blond who completely loses his coolness when people he cares about are involved in some sort of incidents. Ken plays a relatively minor role because I like him as a character, and having him and Takeru fighting along sounds refreshing to me. I'm not really good at action scenes, and this is one of my few attempts at writing one, so I hope I did okay on that.

I thought about adding a scene after the ending, maybe an after-chasing talk of Takeru and Hikari or a Takari moment on the day of the basketball championship match, but I couldn't think of any good paragraphs on those scenes. I've attempted a few times, but I was not satisfied with any of the end product, so I just keep it this way, ending the story with a humourous tone (hopefully it's funny enough). I always like the idea of Taichi and Yamato being cheeky pranksters, especially on their siblings' relationship. It's always fun to read stories like that, so I incorporate that element into this.

Partly this fic is inspired by Angel of Hope1's wonderful story "Rain Drops", which I recommend all Takari shippers to have a look. There's a brief mention in that story about Takeru fighting ten guys and leaving the scene with just a black eye, and that brief mention gives me the idea of this story. I'm pretty excited about this story, and it even reaches over my usual rule of limiting a one-shot to roughly 5000 words. But then, I think this is a fine product, and I hope you like it as well. Now that this one-shot is done, I'll continue to work on revising The Last Breeze of Autumn, my 'Hayate no Gotoku' fic La Musica Della Notte, and try to write another one-shot, or possibly a long multi-chapter story. I have a few ideas in mind already and I hope to get them done soon.

Please review and let me know what you think about the story! Until next time.