1: And So It Begins…

Summary: Akari reminisces about the time she and Taiki first met.

Timeframe: Sometime before their adventures started in the Digital World.

Disclaimer (I'll only be saying this once, btw): This is called fanfiction for a reason. I do not own any part of the Digimon franchise, not even Xros Wars; if I did, Taiki x Akari would definitely be canon along with Takeru x Hikari and Taichi x Sora. Just saying.

It was just one of those days that seemed to drag on forever, as if there were too many hours in a day. Bored with nothing to do, 12-year-old Akari Hinomoto flopped onto her bed. Ugh. And this awful heat isn't helping either. She rolled around on her bed. Suddenly, her cell phone rang, startling her in a sitting position.

"H-hello?"

"Hey Akari, what are you doing today?"

"Uhh…nothing much, I guess. Why?"

"Well I was going through some old stuff in my room and I discovered our old time capsule! Remember that?"

The redhead could practically see her best friend's smile over the phone. She smiled herself, imagining what his must have looked like. "Oh yeah, that thing! What about it?"

"Wanna come over and go through it with me? It just wouldn't be the same without you."

"Sure! Hold up, I'll be over in a sec." And she hung up.

Oh wow…it's been 6 years since we made that thing…

She hurried over to 13-year-old Taiki Kudou's house. "Hello, Mrs. Kudou!"

"Ara, Akari! It's been awhile since you last came over. Taiki's up in his room."

"Thank you!" And she scurried up the stairs.

"Yo." Taiki looked towards the door of his room and threw up a peace sign. "What's up?"

Akari grinned in return. "Hey! Where's that time capsule? I wanna see it!"

"Riiiiiight here." He held pointed to a box chock full of things from their childhood.

"Oh my gosh I feel so nostalgic looking at this!" Akari exclaimed as she picked up an old picture frame. "Remember this? This was when you lost your two front teeth." She giggled.

"Hey! Well, THIS was when you fell down on the playground and got that big ol' gash on your knee." He held up a picture of a 7-year-old Akari trying hard not to cry as her mother treated the wound. "Aww. Look how brave you looked!"

Akari's eyes softened as she took the picture from him. "Well, I only learned from the best…"

Yes. I learned how to be brave from you, Taiki. Akari's mind started to wander back from when they first met 6 years ago.

"What's with your red hair? Your parents obviously adopted you."

"Yeah! Go back! Go back to where you came from!"

"Go away! No one wants you here! And you're ugly too!"

Little 6-year-old Akari could do nothing but cry at the base of the giant cherry blossom tree in Shinonome Elementary School's playground as her classmates teased and bullied her relentlessly for her bright red hair—something that no one else had in her family, not even her baby siblings.

I know. I know I'm adopted, but is that a bad thing? Do people with real mommies and daddies not like adopted children? Do I really have to go away? I don't want to go away…

But of course, she was afraid to ask. Afraid to ask, and afraid to know that maybe no one really wanted her around. It was a lonely feeling, and she could do nothing but cry.

"HEY YOU BIG BULLIES, LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Akari looked up, surprised. A small brown-haired boy with a pair of green goggles around his head stood glaring with his hands on his hips. Just who was this kid, defending her instead of making fun of her like the others…?

"Ahhhh, it's Taiki-senpai! Run!" The other kids immediately left Akari alone upon seeing the defiant 7-year-old.

"Wh-who…are you…? And…why aren't you making fun of my hair…" In a state of confusion, Akari had asked a stupid a question and made herself a sitting duck. Oh no, now he's going to laugh at me too…

The young boy only gave her a huge smile. "Taiki. Taiki Kudou! And you are?"

"A-akari Hinomoto. Why…"

Taiki looked confused. "Why what?"

"Why…why aren't you being mean like everyone else?"

Little Taiki looked deep in thought. "Well that's because…I don't know! But I guess I couldn't turn my back on you because you were crying and as long as I'm around, there won't be any crying girls!"

Akari couldn't help but smile a little bit through her tears upon hearing that. "You're weird. But thank you."

"You're welcome! Now please stop crying! Let's go buy ice cream together!" He extended his hand out to her, and she took it.

"T-taiki…kun," she said slowly, "w-will you be my friend?"

Taiki turned around, astonished. "What are you talking about? We're already friends, silly!"

Akari's eyes widened. Already…friends…

"And I'll teach you all about being brave like me! Did you see those kids run away when they saw me? They won't bother you again once you know how to be brave like me!" Taiki turned and smiled at her. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Wh-wha-why are you crying again?"

But Akari simply buried her face into Taiki's red vest. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Oh wow, and remember this—Akari?"

The sound of Taiki's voice snapped her back to reality. "Huh? What?"

"This!" Taiki held up a ragged doll. "Remember when your little sister cut her hair and you cried for days because this was your favorite doll ever? You were so silly, even back then…" Taiki chuckled. Akari laughed along quietly, but remained silent, still reminiscing about the past.

"Oooh, and look at all this stuff…" Taiki shuffled through the contents in the box, but stopped suddenly when he felt an embrace from the back. "Akari?"

"Thank you. Thank you for being my friend all these years."

And so it begins, a lifetime of adventure between two childhood best friends.

A/N: Although these drabbles in no way connect to each other to form a storyline, I purposely put this drabble up as the first chapter as a sort of prelude to the rest of my drabbles. Idk, I just feel like this shows the extent of their friendship.

It is not proven, by the way, that Akari is adopted LOL. That's something I inferred, based on the fact that she really is the only one in her family with red hair haha. Since Akari is a minor character, her background story isn't explored, so I have free reign over it. :D

As always, please R/R! Nice comments (which includes constructive criticism) are appreciated. :D