If it wasn't for Toei and Akiyoshi Hongo, I would own Takeru, Digimon. Because of them, however, all I own is some rather dodgy merchandise. Anyway, this is probably the most traditional Takari I'll ever write. It's very much in the tradition of teen romance. Hope you enjoy it.
AS TOLD BY HIKARI
CHAPTER ONE OF FIVE
'DOUBLE DATE TROUBLE'
I do not love thee! - no! I do not love thee!
And yet when thou art absent I am sad;
And even even the bright blue sky above thee,
Whose quiet stars may see thee and be glad.
~ Lady Caroline Norton
"Just so you know, Hikari, you're going on a double date with Ken and me tomorrow night," Miyako told her friend casually, as they were sitting together in the school cafeteria and eating lunch. The younger girl spluttered on her cola and stared at her friend incredulously. She couldn't have heard her correctly. By definition, a double date meant two couples going to a dinner or a film together. And, as far as Hikari knew, she herself did not have a boyfriend.
"I'm WHAT?"
"Ken asked me if I wanted to see a film with him," Miyako explained, "I said it would be best if we made it a double date with you and some guy, because . . . well, you know me. I won't know what to say him and we'll stand around in the cinema feeling like complete idiots. Or I'll go on and on and on mindlessly about things that aren't the least bit interesting to him, and make him think I'm a complete and utter airhead," she paused to take a deep breath, "Having you there would take a lot of the pressure off. If you're any friend of mine, you'll say yes and tell me who you're going to take."
Hikari knew precisely whom she wanted to take, but the odds of that happening were slightly less than the moon falling on her head. Automatically, she searched the cafeteria for Upperclassman Aki. Her stomach gave an odd, little hop inside her as she spotted him. He had blond hair, gelled in the sort of casual style that she knew took hours to achieve. His eyes were blue, but the dusky blue of evening when the sun was just beginning to set and purple crept across the sky. A stud glittered in his right ear. He was easily the most beautiful boy she had ever seen. He was sitting at his usual table in the corner, demonstrating the basketball shot that had won Odaiba's senior team the last game. Ever since the day she had seen him in the hall, she had known that she was going to marry him. It didn't even matter that he didn't know she existed or that he still thought he liked model-pretty girls with long legs and lipglossed smiles. She was going to be Mikage Hikari one day. (1)
"Why don't you ask Upperclassman Aki?" Miyako demanded, tapping her glass with her fork to get her attention, "A double date would be the most perfect way to get to know him without the stress. I'll go with you, if you want."
Hikari frowned at her. It was one thing to know that they were destined to be together, to have perfect dates with him in her daydreams and plan her wedding day in her diary. It would be quite another to go up to him and actually ask. Besides, she had the secret suspicion that Upperclassman Aki would think a double date ridiculously childish.
"I'll ask somebody else," she said hastily, because it looked Miyako was about to get out of her seat.
"Liiiiiike?" Miyako leaned closer and stared at her over her glasses. Feeling like an insect caught under a microscope, Hikari squirmed in her seat. The problem was that she didn't know whom to ask. The only boys she knew to ask were her fellow Chosen Children. Of them, Iori was too young, and Jyou was too old. Sora wouldn't speak to her for a week if she invited Yamato, while Koushirou would spend the whole evening talking about improvements to the D3 with Ken. Not to mention that it would be cruel, since he had the biggest crush on Miyako. And Daisuke would take it the wrong way, like he always did. He wasn't an option, anyway. He was still smarting from her last rejection of him, which was why he was sitting with his soccer buddies instead of them. That left . . .
"Space at your table for one more, ladies?" a cheerful voice said from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see Takeru standing there with a tray of food in his hands and a broad smile on his face. Three months after they had started junior high, it was still weird to see him without a hat. Ever since she had known him, he had worn a hat of one kind or another. The change in fashion wasn't through his own choosing, however. Much to his disgust, on the first day of school, he had been informed it wasn't part of the dresscode and had been made to take it off. He looked almost naked without it, but not nearly as wrong as Daisuke did without his goggles.
"You know you don't have to ask, idiot."
"Forgive me for having manners," he shot back, dropping his tray onto the table and swinging his legs over the bench. Hikari scooted to the side to give him more room.
Twirling some noodles suspiciously around his chopsticks, "What is this stuff?"
"I'd tell you, but the shock would kill you," she replied in her most ominous tones. Takeru shrugged and began to shovel noodles into his mouth.
"Can we get back to the topic at hand?" Miyako said impatiently, "Who are you going to take on our double date this Friday night?"
"Double date?" Takeru asked, pausing with his laden chopsticks poised in midair. Hikari looked at him with a speculative expression on her face. There was no reason she could not invite Takeru to go with her. Her best friend was a boy. And, if she took the other girls in her class as a guide, he was an incredibly good-looking boy too. All of them kept asking her if Takeru was single, then squealing happily and hugging her when she told them he was. She tilted her head, frowning. She couldn't see it herself. Whenever she looked at him, she saw the eight year-old boy looking back at her with innocent, blue eyes and his sudden, sunshine smile. However, considering she had twenty-four hours to find a date, he would do.
Besides, she added to herself, it would get rid of all of the pressure. If Takeru were there, it would be more like hanging out with her friends than a proper date.
"Uh huh, but I don't have a date. Are you free from seven on Friday, Takeru?"
He nodded, "I think so."
Hikari beamed at him, "It's settled. I'll come to your place at seven."
"Great," Miyako sighed, slumping in her seat, "While we're at it, why don't we just invite Daisuke and Iori, and go save the Digital World?"
"I'll see you tomorrow, Aya, Kasumi," Hikari called to her friends, as she paused at her locker. Balancing her bag on her hip, she dialled her combination and opened its door. As was the fashion, it was decorated with various pictures. She smiled at the one of Upperclassman Aki that she had taken at a soccer-match, officially for the school newspaper and unofficially for her private shrine. He had just scored the winning goal, and was being carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates. He looked so happy, so triumphant, like he had gotten his heart's desire. She wondered if he would ever smile at her like that. Like you'd ever be what Mikage Aki wanted, she thought with a snort, reaching in her locker for her homework books.
As Hikari pulled out her history book, a purple envelope fluttered onto the floor. Her name was written on the front of it in Miyako's large, loopy handwriting. Her friend had obviously slipped it into her locker after class. No prizes for guessing what it says. Probably a long ramble about how I let her down by inviting Takeru on our date. Sighing, she stooped to pick it up, and slit it open with the edge of a fingernail. Inside, on a sheet of matching paper, was written:
Dear Hikari,
I thought about our double-date all through Maths class, and I take it all back. I'm totally glad that you and Takeru are going out with Ken and me on Friday night. You two are perfect for each other, as I've always said, and I'm glad you've finally seen that.
Love,
Miyako
Laughing, Hikari folded the paper and slipped it into her bag. Trust Miyako to get hold of the wrong end of the stick. One of the reasons she was going with Takeru was that he was about the only guy in the school who wouldn't get the wrong idea when she asked him out on a date. They knew where they stood with each other: they were best friends and no amount of dates in the world would - or could - change that between them.
She slammed her locker shut, then hurried home.
"You. Me. Ranma 1/2 marathon. Tomorrow night," Taichi told Hikari, spooning scrambled eggs onto a plate and placing it in front of her on the table. She wrinkled her nose at the food. She had learnt a long time ago that her brother could cook anything, provided it came in a shell and was laid by a chicken. As her culinary skills extended to burning water, however, she suspected she should be grateful he had volunteered to cook when he had heard their parents were going to a farewell dinner. (2)
"Sounds fun, but I have a date."
"Aki came to his senses?" he asked in surprise, taking the seat opposite her and picking up his fork.
"Nope. Miyako lost hers," Hikari speared a piece of egg and put it in her mouth, "'E towd 'e 'at I wash . . . ."
"Talk or eat! Choose one!"
Swallowing, "I mean, she told me that I was going on a double date with her and Ken this Friday."
"Miyako and Ken, there's a surprise," he rolled his eyes, and Hikari giggled. Miyako had certainly never made a secret of her feelings for Ken. The last time Mimi had had a costume party, she had pitched up in a wedding dress and told everyone that she had chosen to be Mrs Ichijouji. Poor Ken had been crimson beneath his Chichiri mask, "But who is the lucky boy who gets to take out my baby sister? More importantly, will I get to meet him and get to give him the 'concerned' big brother treatment? You know, 'if you even look at her the wrong way, you'll be singing soprano for the rest of your short life'."
"Very clever, Taichi. What movie did you steal that one from?" she grinned as her brother made a face at her, "But I'm afraid you're going to have to save it. I'm just going with Takeru."
"Really? That's great, but I didn't think you two were . . . ." he made a vague, fiddling gesture with his hands that Hikari guessed was meant to represent being in love. She sighed. What was wrong with everybody? Her brother knew her better than anyone else, and he was jumping to the same conclusions about her and Takeru as Miyako had that morning. He knew that they were best friends, that they had been best friends since they were all of eight, and he still believed that she could have romantic feelings for him. She hoped Takeru also didn't have the wrong idea about why she had asked him out.
"We aren't," she replied firmly, "We're going as friends."
"Can I give him the speech anyway?" Taichi asked hopefully.
"No!"
"Damn."
NOTES:
(1) Mikage Aki is from Ayashi no Ceres. In English, I think it's called Eerie Ceres or Ceres Celestial Legend. I've only seen it in Japanese. Anyway, I have a picture of him up on my webpage, because I don't think any description does him justice. You have to see him to believe him. To do so, go to http://www.geocities.com/textualchemy/digiomake.html
(2) Ranma 1/2 is an incredibly famous and enormously long manga\anime by Takahashi Rumiko. It's basically about an unfortunate boy who falls into the Spring of the Drowned Maiden, and ends up becoming a girl whenever he's splashed with cold water. Hence, Ranma 1/2. At the same time, his father organises a marriage to this really vicious girl by the name of Akane. If you haven't read it or heard about it, you've probably been in the Digital World.
CHALLENGE:
There are two other references to these shows in this chapter. Official No Prize for the person who can tell me what they are!
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