Challenge
Title: Challenge
Anime: Digimon Frontier
Fandom: Kouichi x Takuya
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summery: Something was off and for all his effort, Takuya could not put his finger on what.
Notes: Written for Burbs' amazing pictures. AU.
Given the circumstances it should be entirely understandable how it all resulted the way it did. It shouldn’t have surprised any how much pain it caused, it shouldn’t have even caused a single moment taken aback.
It was predictable.
The most predictable things are sometimes the most painful.
“I’m Kimura Kouichi, it’s nice to meet you.”
Takuya froze a moment, trying to figure out why the face in front of him was so incredibly familiar before shrugging it off and holding out his hand to shake Kouichi’s.
“Kanbara Takuya, same.” Takuya gave him a careless grin.
Kouichi smiled hesitantly in response, shaking Takuya’s hand and excusing himself to finish unpacking.
The Kimura’s just moved next door and Takuya already had a fairly good feeling for the matter. There wasn’t really anything he could think of that wasn’t fun about the idea of new neighbors, specifically one his own age.
It was definitely gonna bug him that he couldn’t place where he recognized Kouichi from though, it left a sort of tossing feeling in his stomach to not know.
There was a moment, just as Takuya shook his hand, that Takuya had a dreadful feeling of déjà vu that left him uneasy as well but he was pointedly ignoring that in favor of pondering over where he might have spotted the other boy before.
Summer vacation was ending in a few days and Takuya had yet to do much more than hang out with his brother and play videogames, to be honest he found it kinda of pathetic that he seemed to have no life outside of his brother currently but his closest friend was on vacation with his family and Takuya didn’t really care to go and investigate the wonders of summer vacation alone.
He still couldn’t help but find it sad that he was starting high school with virtually nothing exciting happening. Takuya was the sort that enjoyed an adventure, he was athletic and fairly intelligent, there was really rarely a task that truly challenged him and when something did he enjoyed conquering the challenges with his headstrong powers alone.
With a shrug towards what ever is left of his pathetic excuse for a social life Takuya made his way back inside. Maybe Shinya would want to play that new fighting game again; Takuya could use an ego boost after the chills he got earlier.
It took a significant amount of self control, but he didn’t glance at the house next door again before heading inside.
“Takuya? Is that you?”
He bit back a groan, he was hoping to make it past the kitchen without getting strong-armed into helping out with dinner, “Yeah?”
“Could you help me a minute? I need someone to cut the onions.”
Of course it’d be onions.
“Don’t groan and help me out, you’re too old to be acting like a child.” It was one of the biggest mysteries of his life how his mother always managed to have a ‘no-nonsense’ tone while still sounding endearing.
It was a bit embarrassing so he just slumped his way into the kitchen, retrieved a kitchen knife from the drawer closest to the sink and proceeded to stare down his new enemy.
We meet again onion. You may have bested me once, but now, now…
It wasn’t very long at all before his eyes started stinging.
His mother hummed softly from the other side of the kitchen, “If you’d cut them how I ask you to, you wouldn’t be suffering.”
He pouted, he’d never understand how she made it work, she’d make several quick cuts and it would be over barely before it started with no tears. He wasn’t in the least bit jealous… just… miffed.
He could hear her chuckling at his pain too, the cruelty he endured.
It all brought a sigh to his lips, he wanted this to be more dramatic than it was. He wanted to onion to be some evil cruelty to overcome, to have some quest to complete, some journey he must conquer.
He wanted this to be more than the sweet kitchen scene it was.
His mother shot him a slightly worried look, “So you met the new neighbors?”
Takuya shrugged, “Just the son. He seems nice enough, a bit reserved though.” The onion wasn’t cutting the way he wanted it to at all, he was most of the way done and it was an uneven massacre of onion.
Why was it always onions?
“That so? I met him earlier today too, along with his mother. They seem really sweet, I invited her over for tea tomorrow.”
Takuya nodded absentmindedly, paying no mind to the fact that it was unlikely his mother could see the action. She practically had eyes in the back of her head anyway.
There was a rustle outside and he jumped to attention, cutting his finger and staring out a window into the bushes that yielded no evidence of any foul play.
“How’d you manage that? Goodness, get it washed and bandaged, quickly!”
Takuya nodded numbly, still wanting to stare out the empty window.
It gave him the creeps.
Everything gave him the creeps today.
It was like he was missing something big and had no way of figuring out what he was missing.
It was like he was helpless.
Safe to say, he hated the feeling.
--
“I challenge you.”
--
The evening air was chilly and not altogether unpleasant but Takuya’s sure that it was part of the reason he jerked awake. He couldn’t for the life of him remember whatever he’d been dreaming about so he assumed it was probably also an aspect.
His window was open and he honestly had little recollection of leaving it open but it didn’t surprise him. It wasn’t too late, not too early, and all he wanted to do was get out of his room.
It might have had to do with the way his heart was still pounding after waking up so suddenly, but he felt the need to get out. Get out and run.
With an only slightly calming breath, he decided it might do him some good to take a walk. Maybe he’d go to the nearest Family Mart and pick up some snacks.
He could hear his parents still awake watching TV in the living room and he was pretty sure that Shinya was finishing his summer homework in his room, so Takuya sent his parents a half-hearted good-bye and headed out the front door.
The immediate chill that stuck him as he walked outside startled him. It scared him a bit too, but he wasn’t often someone that succumbed to fear of any kind so he disregarded it with the same shrug he did for most unexplainable things.
He still couldn’t help but feel this was all too familiar.
The convenience store is close and a route he’s used countless times, it took only a few steps before he calmed a bit. It was the weather getting to him; it shouldn’t be this cold in summer, even towards the end.
That was all that bothered him.
It wasn’t until he was roughly halfway to his destination that anything else occurred to him, it was strange how sudden and shocking it was but he knew where he’d seen Kimura-kun.
It was all because there was a fruit fallen from a tree and he really couldn’t say why that gave him the answer to the question he hadn’t even known he’d been pondering, but he recalled that there was a boy that looked nearly identical to Kouichi in his Middle School, he’d never talked to the guy (seemed to uptight for Takuya) but he was two classes down if Takuya recalled and Takuya would see him around here and there.
It was a sudden, vivid memory of something mundane and meaningless.
It shocked Takuya somehow.
There was a fruit rotting and broken on the ground and there was a boy that may or may not have resembled his new neighbor at his old school and the air was chilly.
And it wasn’t strange. It shouldn’t be strange. He was probably remembering most of this wrong in the first place; at most Kouichi probably had familial resemblance to the guy.
And why was he so sure that Kouichi wasn’t the guy? It wouldn’t be too strange, Takuya didn’t know anything about their situation or where they’d moved from.
It wasn’t a big deal.
And yet, every shred of Takuya wanted to run and hide from these simple, stupid things that meant nothing and had absolutely no relation to one another.
It was like he could feel something bad was going to happen.
It’s just the weather. It’s just the fruit. It’s just the neighbors…
And there had been something outside that window.
The shadows shifted and Takuya broke into a run. If asked he couldn’t have told you why he ran but he ran as fast as his feet could humanly carry him the rest of the way to the stupid convenience store.
There was nothing to be scared of and Takuya did not get scared.
Reaching the Family Mart was oddly one of the most relieving things that had happened to Takuya in longer than he could really rightly recall but he attempted to brush it off. He knew he was just being ridiculous. He knew that there wasn’t anything really wrong.
It was with some distress he realized he’d left his cell at home.
Taking a mildly shaky breath he entered the store and started browsing the isles for the snack of his choice, preferably something with chocolate. He was man enough to admit he could really use the stuff in his condition.
He might be being absolutely nuts but that didn’t change that he felt shaken.
As if to resent the too cold for summer air outside, he also made his way to the popsicles. Nothing could deter him from their tasty chill goodness, not even his mortal enemy the onion.
Well maybe the onion, but that was another story for another day.
Significantly calmed, Takuya made his way to the register without a slump to his step and even a bit of enthusiasm.
The cashier, also known as Kimura Kouchi, his brand new neighbor, greeted him with a that same hesitant smile from earlier that day.
And that would be the rough estimate by Takuya’s account as to when all hell broke loose and the clues started to make, if possible, less sense.
Anime: Digimon Frontier
Fandom: Kouichi x Takuya
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summery: Something was off and for all his effort, Takuya could not put his finger on what.
Notes: Written for Burbs' amazing pictures. AU.
Given the circumstances it should be entirely understandable how it all resulted the way it did. It shouldn’t have surprised any how much pain it caused, it shouldn’t have even caused a single moment taken aback.
It was predictable.
The most predictable things are sometimes the most painful.
“I’m Kimura Kouichi, it’s nice to meet you.”
Takuya froze a moment, trying to figure out why the face in front of him was so incredibly familiar before shrugging it off and holding out his hand to shake Kouichi’s.
“Kanbara Takuya, same.” Takuya gave him a careless grin.
Kouichi smiled hesitantly in response, shaking Takuya’s hand and excusing himself to finish unpacking.
The Kimura’s just moved next door and Takuya already had a fairly good feeling for the matter. There wasn’t really anything he could think of that wasn’t fun about the idea of new neighbors, specifically one his own age.
It was definitely gonna bug him that he couldn’t place where he recognized Kouichi from though, it left a sort of tossing feeling in his stomach to not know.
There was a moment, just as Takuya shook his hand, that Takuya had a dreadful feeling of déjà vu that left him uneasy as well but he was pointedly ignoring that in favor of pondering over where he might have spotted the other boy before.
Summer vacation was ending in a few days and Takuya had yet to do much more than hang out with his brother and play videogames, to be honest he found it kinda of pathetic that he seemed to have no life outside of his brother currently but his closest friend was on vacation with his family and Takuya didn’t really care to go and investigate the wonders of summer vacation alone.
He still couldn’t help but find it sad that he was starting high school with virtually nothing exciting happening. Takuya was the sort that enjoyed an adventure, he was athletic and fairly intelligent, there was really rarely a task that truly challenged him and when something did he enjoyed conquering the challenges with his headstrong powers alone.
With a shrug towards what ever is left of his pathetic excuse for a social life Takuya made his way back inside. Maybe Shinya would want to play that new fighting game again; Takuya could use an ego boost after the chills he got earlier.
It took a significant amount of self control, but he didn’t glance at the house next door again before heading inside.
“Takuya? Is that you?”
He bit back a groan, he was hoping to make it past the kitchen without getting strong-armed into helping out with dinner, “Yeah?”
“Could you help me a minute? I need someone to cut the onions.”
Of course it’d be onions.
“Don’t groan and help me out, you’re too old to be acting like a child.” It was one of the biggest mysteries of his life how his mother always managed to have a ‘no-nonsense’ tone while still sounding endearing.
It was a bit embarrassing so he just slumped his way into the kitchen, retrieved a kitchen knife from the drawer closest to the sink and proceeded to stare down his new enemy.
We meet again onion. You may have bested me once, but now, now…
It wasn’t very long at all before his eyes started stinging.
His mother hummed softly from the other side of the kitchen, “If you’d cut them how I ask you to, you wouldn’t be suffering.”
He pouted, he’d never understand how she made it work, she’d make several quick cuts and it would be over barely before it started with no tears. He wasn’t in the least bit jealous… just… miffed.
He could hear her chuckling at his pain too, the cruelty he endured.
It all brought a sigh to his lips, he wanted this to be more dramatic than it was. He wanted to onion to be some evil cruelty to overcome, to have some quest to complete, some journey he must conquer.
He wanted this to be more than the sweet kitchen scene it was.
His mother shot him a slightly worried look, “So you met the new neighbors?”
Takuya shrugged, “Just the son. He seems nice enough, a bit reserved though.” The onion wasn’t cutting the way he wanted it to at all, he was most of the way done and it was an uneven massacre of onion.
Why was it always onions?
“That so? I met him earlier today too, along with his mother. They seem really sweet, I invited her over for tea tomorrow.”
Takuya nodded absentmindedly, paying no mind to the fact that it was unlikely his mother could see the action. She practically had eyes in the back of her head anyway.
There was a rustle outside and he jumped to attention, cutting his finger and staring out a window into the bushes that yielded no evidence of any foul play.
“How’d you manage that? Goodness, get it washed and bandaged, quickly!”
Takuya nodded numbly, still wanting to stare out the empty window.
It gave him the creeps.
Everything gave him the creeps today.
It was like he was missing something big and had no way of figuring out what he was missing.
It was like he was helpless.
Safe to say, he hated the feeling.
--
“I challenge you.”
--
The evening air was chilly and not altogether unpleasant but Takuya’s sure that it was part of the reason he jerked awake. He couldn’t for the life of him remember whatever he’d been dreaming about so he assumed it was probably also an aspect.
His window was open and he honestly had little recollection of leaving it open but it didn’t surprise him. It wasn’t too late, not too early, and all he wanted to do was get out of his room.
It might have had to do with the way his heart was still pounding after waking up so suddenly, but he felt the need to get out. Get out and run.
With an only slightly calming breath, he decided it might do him some good to take a walk. Maybe he’d go to the nearest Family Mart and pick up some snacks.
He could hear his parents still awake watching TV in the living room and he was pretty sure that Shinya was finishing his summer homework in his room, so Takuya sent his parents a half-hearted good-bye and headed out the front door.
The immediate chill that stuck him as he walked outside startled him. It scared him a bit too, but he wasn’t often someone that succumbed to fear of any kind so he disregarded it with the same shrug he did for most unexplainable things.
He still couldn’t help but feel this was all too familiar.
The convenience store is close and a route he’s used countless times, it took only a few steps before he calmed a bit. It was the weather getting to him; it shouldn’t be this cold in summer, even towards the end.
That was all that bothered him.
It wasn’t until he was roughly halfway to his destination that anything else occurred to him, it was strange how sudden and shocking it was but he knew where he’d seen Kimura-kun.
It was all because there was a fruit fallen from a tree and he really couldn’t say why that gave him the answer to the question he hadn’t even known he’d been pondering, but he recalled that there was a boy that looked nearly identical to Kouichi in his Middle School, he’d never talked to the guy (seemed to uptight for Takuya) but he was two classes down if Takuya recalled and Takuya would see him around here and there.
It was a sudden, vivid memory of something mundane and meaningless.
It shocked Takuya somehow.
There was a fruit rotting and broken on the ground and there was a boy that may or may not have resembled his new neighbor at his old school and the air was chilly.
And it wasn’t strange. It shouldn’t be strange. He was probably remembering most of this wrong in the first place; at most Kouichi probably had familial resemblance to the guy.
And why was he so sure that Kouichi wasn’t the guy? It wouldn’t be too strange, Takuya didn’t know anything about their situation or where they’d moved from.
It wasn’t a big deal.
And yet, every shred of Takuya wanted to run and hide from these simple, stupid things that meant nothing and had absolutely no relation to one another.
It was like he could feel something bad was going to happen.
It’s just the weather. It’s just the fruit. It’s just the neighbors…
And there had been something outside that window.
The shadows shifted and Takuya broke into a run. If asked he couldn’t have told you why he ran but he ran as fast as his feet could humanly carry him the rest of the way to the stupid convenience store.
There was nothing to be scared of and Takuya did not get scared.
Reaching the Family Mart was oddly one of the most relieving things that had happened to Takuya in longer than he could really rightly recall but he attempted to brush it off. He knew he was just being ridiculous. He knew that there wasn’t anything really wrong.
It was with some distress he realized he’d left his cell at home.
Taking a mildly shaky breath he entered the store and started browsing the isles for the snack of his choice, preferably something with chocolate. He was man enough to admit he could really use the stuff in his condition.
He might be being absolutely nuts but that didn’t change that he felt shaken.
As if to resent the too cold for summer air outside, he also made his way to the popsicles. Nothing could deter him from their tasty chill goodness, not even his mortal enemy the onion.
Well maybe the onion, but that was another story for another day.
Significantly calmed, Takuya made his way to the register without a slump to his step and even a bit of enthusiasm.
The cashier, also known as Kimura Kouchi, his brand new neighbor, greeted him with a that same hesitant smile from earlier that day.
And that would be the rough estimate by Takuya’s account as to when all hell broke loose and the clues started to make, if possible, less sense.