Chapter Seven - The Grass isn't Greener

The concept and characters of Digimon belongs to Toei Animation
and Akiyoshi Hongo. They are used without permission or the intent of profit.

Who's who:
Taichi is in Sora's body, Sora is in Taichi's, Koushiro is Miyako,
Miyako is Koushiro, Hikari is Jyou, Jyou is Hikari, Mimi is Ken,
Ken is Yamato, Yamato is Iori, Iori is Takeru, Takeru is Daisuke, and Daisuke is Mimi.

Reminder, I will be referring to the characters per the body they
are in. For example, if Mimi in Ken's body thinks about Daisuke
in Mimi's body, then Mimi thoughts will regard that body in the
masculine possessiveness, that Tachikawa's body is HIS real body
since Mimi is currently male and will be referred to as such. When
Hikari, in Jyou's body, is talking she will be referred to as Jyou.
The only exception is dialogue where the characters are the ones to refer to each other.

-----------------

While Ken was facing the difficulties of becoming a rock star with
help from Yamato and Mimi was dealing with Ken's nightmares, Iori
and I were having our own issues with becoming someone else. And
to say that Daisuke wasn't taking being a girl very well would be an extreme understatement.

-----------------

Mimi let out a groan as she woke up. The first thing she did was
to grab one of her breasts and squeeze. She then muttered, "Damn, I'm still a girl."

Mimi lethargically pulled herself from Daisuke's bed and shambled to the bathing room.

"Hey, little Sis," Jun greeted with a smirk.

"Eat shit and die," Mimi snapped.

"That's no way for a 'lady' to speak," Jun mockingly scolded.

"I'm not a fucking lady!" Daisuke yelled before slamming the bathing room door.

"Now, Jun, stop teasing your brother," Mrs. Motomiya ordered.

"But it's so much fun!" Jun retorted. "Besides, Daisuke's got less
than a week left of being stuck as a girl, right?"

"At least he hopes so," Mrs. Motomiya replied. "It could be permanent.
Think of how you'd react if you were suddenly a guy."

"I'd yank myself all two weeks I was guy," Jun replied off-handedly.

"I bet Daisuke would've said about the same thing if you had asked
him that two weeks ago. And yet he's so disgusted at being a girl,
he hasn't touched 'herself' at all," Mrs. Motomiya said with a smirk.

"Whatever." Jun waved it off.

----------------

"Iori!" Mrs. Hida called out.

Takeru yawned as he entered the room. "Yeah, Mom?"

"Didn't I tell you to get milk yesterday?"

Takeru blinked. "Um, sorry, I forgot...."

"How can you forget milk? You never forgot to do anything before!" Mrs. Hida retorted angrily.

Takeru looked down. He wanted to explain why he forgot wasn't his
fault, but because of Takeru's faulty memory. But it wasn't right
to point out another's weakness, even if it was now his as well.

"You're going to go and get everything I told you to get yesterday,
right NOW!" Mrs. Hida ordered. If there was one thing she could
not forgive, that was someone interfering with her morning cup of
coffee. And she would be damned if she had to drink it black.

Takeru flinched. "Yes, Mom." He took a step back and paused. "Can
you tell me what I need to get?"

"I already told you! How can you forget milk, toilet paper, and
dish soap?" Mrs. Hida questioned angrily.

Takeru walked off dejectedly. He didn't want to upset his mother.
The first thing he did when he got to his room was to write the
items down on a piece of paper. Then he went to change out of pajamas
and into fresh clothes. He tried to put on one of Iori's shirts,
but belatedly noticed it was too small. He shook his head and finished
getting dress properly. He then left to get those items.

Takeru returned to the apartment five minutes later to get the shopping list.

----------------

Ms. Takaishi frowned. It was almost noon and her son hadn't woken
up yet. When she opened his bedroom door, her face tightened into a scowl. "Takeru!"

Daisuke sat up with a jolt, still dressed in the clothes he had worn yesterday. "Yeah, Mom?"

"I thought I told you to clean up your room?" Ms. Takaishi pointed
at all the junk spread out everywhere.

"I did clean it," Daisuke retorted. "I just got it dirty again after I finished."

Ms. Takaishi glared. "Riiiight. Clean up your room. Now!"

Daisuke flinched as the door slammed. He then looked at the room.
Part of him did agree it was messy, while another part didn't care
about the room being like this. Well, his mother wanted it clean, so he'd do it again.

Daisuke bunched up some papers and tossed them into his overflowing
trashcan. He noticed that his portable Wonderswan game system had
been under those papers. He had been so close to beating that end
boss yesterday. He turned it on and began to play it again. After
all, it should only take a few minutes to get to the next level.

----------------

Shopping. What the fuck had she been thinking when she agreed to
go shopping with her sister? Why the hell had she been so excited
by the prospect? She HATED shopping. Especially window-shopping.
They weren't going to buy anything, but just look around. What was
the point of doing that? It was so stupid. Oh, that looked nice.

"Dai-chan, stop drooling. If you want to try on those shoes, go ahead," Jun said with a smirk.

Mimi turned around and looked at her sister and chirped, "Really?!"

Correction, Daisuke hated shopping, but Mimi loved it. Having been
in the wrong body for over a week now, the line between where Motomiya
ended and Tachikawa began to blur. This whole situation was driving
her insane. Gods, how she wished she had at least remained a boy. It HAD to be better than this.

----------------

Ms. Hida stared at her son as if he was a complete stranger. "Iori!
You got the wrong milk, cheap toilet paper and HAND soap. How can
you possibly mess up getting three items from the store?"

Takeru flinched. "Sorry." His lack of memory was mind-boggling.
How could Takaishi get through the day when he can't keep anything
straight? As much as he admired his jogress partner, he wished he
had been turned into someone else. It HAD to better than this.

----------------

"TAKERU!" Ms. Takaishi yelled.

Daisuke fell out of his seat, still playing the Wonderswan game
he started two hours ago. "Ow. Yeah, Mom?"

"What did I tell you to do?" Ms. Takaishi demanded.

"Clean my room," Daisuke replied off-handedly.

"Yes. Why didn't you?!" Ms. Takaishi growled.

"I started to, but I wanted to finish this game. It'll only take
a couple minutes," Daisuke replied.

"No. You'll clean your room first!" Ms. Takaishi ordered.

"But--"

"NOW!" Ms. Takaishi stomped her foot. Something she rarely had to
do to get him to behave since he was eight.

Daisuke sighed. "Okay, okay." He paused the game and resumed cleaning.

Ms. Takaishi frowned. She wished her son had become someone else.
Daisuke was an okay kid, but he didn't have any real attention span. It HAD to be better than this.

Daisuke didn't care, he just wanted to have fun.

----------------

Mimi began to relax as she ate lunch with her sister at the mall.
She was feeling very schizo. 'Daisuke' wanted to do one thing and
'Mimi' wanted to do the exact opposite. The two personalities were
very confusing and disorientating.

"Mind if we join you?" asked a handsome young man with black hair and green eyes.

"Sure!" Jun chirped before Mimi could protest.

The handsome one sat next to Jun, while the slightly younger and
cuter boy with brown hair and gray eyes sat close to Mimi.

"I'm Jun, and this is my sister, 'Dai-chan,'" Jun introduced with a sweet smile.

"I'm Jonuchi, and that's my brother, Makura," the handsome one returned.

"What brings you boys here?" Jun asked coyly.

"Shopping," Jonuchi replied.

"For clothes, toys, or girls?" Jun questioned with a smirk.

"A bit of each," Jonuchi returned with a laugh.

Jun laughed as well.

Mimi wanted to run. She didn't like this at all. The way the cute
boy was looking at her was really setting her on edge.

"Where are you from?" Makura asked Mimi.

"New York," Mimi snapped.

"Really?" Makura asked. "What's it like there?"

"Very crowded, and a bit dangerous," Mimi replied. "Have quite a
few strong friends there, and I can certainly take care of myself."

"I'm sure you can." Makura placed his hand on Mimi's thigh.

Mimi looked down and stared at the hand for a moment. She then lashed
out with her elbow, smacking him in the face. He crashed to the
ground while she bolted straight to the girl's bathroom.

Jonuchi went and helped his brother up. "What happened?"

"Bitch elbowed me!" Makura held his bleeding nose.

"What did you do?" Jonuchi pressed.

"Nothing. I just put my hand on her thigh," Makura answered defensively.

Jonuchi slapped the back of his brother's head. "Moron! You don't
do that to a girl you just met!"

Jun stood up. "Sorry about my sister, Makura. She's a bit high strung
lately." She then grabbed Jonuchi's hand. "It was nice meeting you."
She then followed Mimi into the bathroom.

"What are you smiling about?" Makura demanded.

Jonuchi opened his hand, revealing a piece of paper with numbers
written on it. "I got her phone number."

----------------

Jun frowned as she heard sobbing coming from the far stall. She
knocked on it and called out, "Dai-chan, are you okay?"

"Leave me alone!" Mimi shot back.

"I'm sorry about letting those boys sit with us," Jun admitted,
but she hoped that she would get a date from Jonuchi.

"No, you're not!" Mimi yelled.

"Come on, Dai-chan. I'm your sister. I can help you," Jun pleaded.

"No, you can't! You have no fucking clue what this is like!" Mimi
shrilled. The crying became more intense and she mumbled, "Gods, I'm a perverted freak."

"Daisuke, just because you've been turned into a girl doesn't make you a freak," Jun retorted.

"It does when... when I... I...." Mimi trailed off into incoherent sobs.

"When you what?" Jun pressed.

"When I wanted him to touch me," Mimi admitted weakly, but then
began to yell, "I'm a guy, damn it! I should NEVER like guys like
this! NEVER! When I see Piemon again, I'll rip that fucking clown's
head off for doing this to me and my friends!"

Jun stared blankly at the door. She then leaned against the wall
and slid down it until she was sitting on the floor. She didn't
think Daisuke was taking this change so badly or that it affected
her so much. She never thought that by being changed into a girl,
that her ex-brother would start to like guys. Jun tried to think
about having real attraction for a girl, and the thought disgusted her to the core.

"Daisuke... I'm sorry," Jun began. "I shouldn't have been teasing
you. I wasn't thinking about how this was hurting you. I'm a rotten sister."

A click echoed in the room as the stall door opened.

"You're not a 'rotten' sister. Annoying at times, but not rotten,"
Mimi said with a forced smile. "In a way, you're helping me come to terms with what I am now."

Jun looked at her questioningly. "What you are now?"

Mimi nodded. "I'm a TEMPORARY girl. I'll be a boy again soon enough.
But if I want to pick up a trait, I have to come to terms with this new condition."

"You're not going to date a boy, are you?" Jun asked nervously.

Mimi looked disgusted. "Hell no!"

Jun gave a relieved smile.

"Now let's go get some dessert. I'd kill for a hot fudge-sundae
with chocolate ice cream," Mimi declared.

Jun frowned. This had better be temporary. While she knew her brother's
spirit was in that body, the girl wasn't acting like him.

----------------

"Hey, what brings you here?" Daisuke asked.

Takeru looked over the bedroom, remembering it to be much tidier
in the past. Somehow, it was upsetting both his personalities at
once. "Can't you keep this room clean?"

"It is clean. You should've seen it this morning. Now that was a mess," Daisuke joked.

Takeru sighed. Complaining about the state of the bedroom wasn't
why he was here. "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Daisuke questioned.

"It's about your memory." Takeru pointed at his own skull. "Ever
since the switch, I've been having a hard time remembering anything
for more than a minute. How can I deal with it?"

Daisuke shrugged. "You get used to it. There's all sorts of little
tricks to use to help remember stuff, like writing a journal." He
then laughed. "Actually, it's been kind of nice being in Daisuke's
body. It's helped me remember more of what happened since he doesn't have any memory problems."

"Just attention deficiency," Ms. Takaishi commented at the door.
"Yamato just called. He'd like both of you to attend a practice
concert tomorrow night. He also mentioned not letting Ken know about anyone going there."

"Hey, that's cool," Daisuke cheered. "I'll be there."

Takeru eyed Daisuke carefully. He wasn't sure if that was the real
Takeru or Daisuke. He knew Takaishi was in that body, but his behavior seemed to be mostly Daisuke's.

----------------

"Daisuke!" Jun called out.

Mimi peaked into the living room. "Yeah?"

"Yamato just invited us to a practice concert!" Jun replied excitedly.

"Really?" Mimi squeaked. "Oh, what should I wear?"

Jun sweat-dropped as she heard her brother-turned-sister complain
about having nothing to wear. The switch had better end soon, for her own sanity.

----------------

"I need a freakin' miracle...." Daisuke sighed. He didn't see why
he had to clean the living room today. He could do it tomorrow,
but his mother insisted he had to do it before he left for the concert.

Daisuke ran through the tasks he needed to do, putting everything
away, tossing out the trash, dusting, and vacuuming. Typically it
took him close to an hour to do it when he was Takeru, but somehow
his rush job got it done in fifteen minutes. He finished by grabbing
the trash and leaving to toss it into the garbage shoot.

Daisuke's task completed, he went to get Iori for the concert. He
got up to the Hida apartment and knocked.

"Hi," Takeru greeted Daisuke sheepishly as he opened the door.

"Ready to go?" Daisuke asked.

Takeru shook his head. "I forgot to clean the living room and I
still need to take a trip to the store."

"Hey, let me know what you need at the store, and I'll get it for you," Daisuke replied.

Takeru didn't know if he should be thankful or worried, but he didn't
have much choice if he wanted to get to the concert on time. "Thank
you. I really appreciate the help."

"No prob.," Daisuke waved it off. "I had planned to stop there to
get snacks for the concert anyway."

----------------

"This is so weird," Taichi commented.

"What is?" Sora asked.

"Seeing everyone here, but they're all acting strange," Taichi explained.

Sora looked over the various Chosen. "It's only strange 'cause they're in the wrong body."

"Then how do you explain Daisuke joking with Jun?" Taichi returned.
"I've never seen them get along before."

"I guess." Sora shrugged. "Do you think we're acting strange?"

"Not at all," Taichi replied.

Jyou frowned looking at Taichi and Sora. From their body posture,
Taichi was standing like a guy, while Sora was sitting like she
was wearing a skirt and didn't want anyone to see her panties despite
the fact that she was wearing pants.

"Something wrong, Hikari?" Koushiro asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, Miyako," Jyou replied.

Koushiro gave Jyou a hard look.

The older boy fidgeted. "It's just the switch is causing us to act
more like the person we've become."

"How do you figure that?" Koushiro replied.

"What you just said is an example. Koushiro would say that, but
Miyako would more likely say something like 'why did you say that,'" Jyou explained.

Koushiro frowned. "The fact you're actually talking about this is more of Jyou than Hikari."

Jyou sighed and nodded. "Are we going to lose ourselves in this
switch? You have no idea how hard it's been for me."

"Oh, really?" Koushiro laughed. "I'm also got turned into a guy
AND I'm literally engaged to myself."

"Sorry. Forgot." Jyou pouted. "Miyako... how do you deal with being attracted to girls now?"

Koushiro blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Ever since I switch I don't find boys attractive, but girls. Isn't
that the same for you?" Jyou asked.

Koushiro stared. "I, ah, didn't notice...."

"How can you NOT notice?" Jyou demanded.

Koushiro laughed nervously. "Well, I was attracted to girls even
before the switch and with the engagement, I didn't really notice
I don't like boys that way anymore."

Jyou looked sick. "Did you like ME that way?"

Koushiro coughed. He then looked up. "Hey, Koushiro!" He then promptly
sprinted off to see his 'finacee.'

Daisuke did a double take as he saw Hikari. The yellow sundress
she was wearing made her look beyond cute. He then tried to stomp
on where his thoughts were going. That was JYOU, not Hikari. Trying
to flirt with her would be BAD. But she was so cute, and the smile.
Hikari smiled like that, not Jyou. He had to say something to her, but didn't know what.

Daisuke was yanked back into reality by someone grabbing his shoulder. "Huh?"

"That would be a very bad idea, Takeru," Taichi warned. "You should know better than that."

"What do you mean?" Daisuke asked nervously.

"Drooling over Jyou." Taichi folded his arms.

"Sorry, but he looked so much like Hikari and was so cute, I couldn't
think straight," Daisuke forced a laugh.

"Get a grip. You treated Hikari as a sister before the switch," Taichi reminded.

"Yeah, well, Daisuke certainly never thought of her like that, and
that's my problem," Daisuke returned.

"Just stay away from Jyou. It'll be better for both of you," Taichi advised.

"What the fuck?" Mimi cursed.

"What is it?" Jun questioned.

"Where'd this stain come from?" Mimi pointed at a dark spot on her white slacks.

Jun grimaced. "Damn. I was afraid of that."

"Afraid of what?" Mimi demanded.

Jun smiled sheepishly. "You're having a period."

Mimi paled. "Aw shit. No wonder I feel like someone took a hot rake
to my stomach. Do you have any pads?"

Jun shook her head. "Sorry. Didn't bring any with me."

Mimi fidgeted. "What am I going to do?"

"Just relax. I'll go ask a few friends to see if they have any," Jun advised.

Mimi nodded. After her sister walked away, she took off her jacket
and wrapped it around her waist.

The Chosen who had experienced periods before noticed that and kept
a fair distance from her out of uncertainly how the real Daisuke would react to having one.

----------------

"What did you all think of the concert?" Iori asked.

"It was good. Ken should do well at the real concert," Jyou voiced.

"It was wonderful," Ken voted.

"It was the best ever!" Chizuru cheered, causing Iori to frown.

Koushiro scowled at his sister. "I thought it was good."

"It was good, but something seemed off with it," Taichi voiced.

Sora nodded. "It wasn't bad. Just... different I guess."

"What do you mean?" Jyou asked.

"What he means is that was Ken on stage, not Yamato," Jun replied.
"While Ken performed well, the differences in personality came out during the concert."

Jyou blinked. "I didn't notice anything like that."

"Well, you haven't been to many of Yamato's concert, have you?"
Jun returned. "Yamato puts his soul into his music, and so did Ken.
But Ken's soul is different. He danced differently. Stressed different
words as he sang. It was a great concert, but it wasn't Yamato on
stage. Even girls who knew nothing of the switch noticed something was off."

"Ken should've danced like Yamato. We've all begun to really act
like the person we're in the body of," Jyou retorted.

Jun shook her head. "Not quite. While Daisuke has begun to act a
lot like a girl, there are many things that are still him. I seriously
doubt Mimi swears all that often."

Ken shook his head. "Almost never."

"Exactly. But while Daisuke didn't freak out over having a period
like I thought he would, he did curse a few times. He remembers
enough from Mimi's memories to deal with it, even if he never wanted to," Jun explained.

"What do you think about the concert?" Iori asked.

"That's your decision to make, Yamato," Taichi replied.

----------------

Piemon smiled cheerfully as he walked through a graveyard in the
middle of a dead forest. The clanking chains and ghostly howls were
very soothing. The digimon here didn't dare do more than try to
spook the devil clown who stopped upon seeing a swarm of bats.

The bats spiraled around and formed into a human looking digimon. "What do you want here?"

"Ah, hello, Vamdemon. How would you like a little job offer?" Piemon asked.

"And what kind of job would interest me? I have all that I desire
right here," Vamdemon retorted.

"Oh, yes. You have your little kingdom of Bakemon to play with.
How pathetically simple. Out of the few Vamdemon in this world,
only you have no ambition. Why do you settle for one dead woods
when you can rule so much more? You can't possibly be happy getting
your jollies off with a few stupid ghosts. There are so many more
digimon out there to do with as you please. And I can help you get
far more than you ever desire," Piemon offered.

"And just what do I have to do to gain this kingdom you offer?" Vamdemon questioned.

Piemon grinned. "It's simple, really. I just need you to spook a
little girl. Well, a guy right now since I changed her body, but
the point is still the same. You kill the Chosen and I make you a dark master."

"You can change someone's body?" Vamdemon questioned in disbelief.

"Oh, yes. Care for a demonstration?" Piemon held up two cards, one
depicting the Vamdemon and the other a chained Bakemon the vampire had been having 'fun' with.

Vamdemon coughed. "No need. I accept your offer."

"Oh, goodie." Piemon cheered. "Just a couple more guests and I'll be all set!"

----------------

Author's Notes:

Next: Chapter 8 - One Person's Heavenly Dreams is Another's Nightmare
Dreams of what should be love are felt as horror and sadness, as
Sora and Taichi learn things about the other they wished to have never known.

Takeru's faulty memory. I've accentuated the problem display in
Adventures for comedic affect, and that Iori would have a harder
time dealing with Takeru's problem as he was not use to being forgetful
and hasn't remembered nor figured out the tricks Takeru normally
uses. And, yes, Takeru does have a memory problem. The most blatant
incident is Takeru forgetting about Digitamamon's insistence about
being paid in American dollars. Digitamamon had enslaved Yamato
and Jyou over Jyou's 'unpaid' bills. And when Digitamamon fought
Yamato, Were Garurumon evolved for the first time and Takeru was
almost killed by the digimon's waiter, Vegiemon. After all of that,
Takeru didn't remember anything about Digitamamon during Zero-Two
until it came time to pay the bill.