Digimon Story: Rainbow Traverse -- Interlude 2 (Chp 23-24)

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October 6th, 2030. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, yet on that Sunday morning, in front of Malie's house, Al and Renee came to face to face with perhaps their greatest challenge yet: Sergeant Kalama, Malie's dad.

"You're a good kid, Sonson," said the stocky Hawaiian man, dressed in combat fatigues, hands akimbo as he loomed over Al. "That's what Malie tells me, you know. My little ku'uipo, she sees the good in people. Been that way since she was just a baby bouncing on my knee."

Renee stepped forward. "Mr. Kalama," she began, but the sergeant continued.

"These past five years, you've been nothing but friends to Malie. 'Course, you guys being almost done at highschool, things have a habit of changing..."

Al would hold his ground, eyes meeting her father’s before he spoke “I understand what you’re getting at sir, and I promise you that I’d never do anything that would hurt her. Shes… well she’s my very best friend, and I.. we had a bit of a .. not a fight.. but a friend said some things that made me.. not sure if it was okay to be around until Malie had some time to think about stuff.. and me too.” He then looked at Renee for a moment. (“Okay.. I think I’m ready to say this out loud.”)

Al had spent the couple days it took to recover from his burns to do a few things: catch up on school work, get over his fever.. and most importantly really work out how he felt about Malie. He loved Ike, this was true.. but even now he couldn’t say that they were dating. Malie though? It felt so much like how he felt when he was with Rena.. and he finally understood why Kukui got so jealous. But… he couldn’t ignore his feelings on the matter.

“.. But you’re right sir. I.. have been thinking about asking if Malie wanted to be more than just friends.”

A lot more in fact.. thoughts going to their conversation before Kukui ran away.

The soldier's eyes narrowed. "Hmph, that so?" he asked. He then waved a finger between Al and Renee. "And what about the two of you? Could've sworn you were going out with each other already?"

"We're... in an open relationship," said Renee. "If Malie's okay with it, I won't say no."

Mr. Kalama did a double take. "Wait, what?" Glancing back at Al, his brow furrowed. "What is this? Are you telling me one girlfriend's not good enough for you?"

(“I don’t know how to answer that.. we can’t tell him that we’re a fucking supernova of love, libido, and raging emotional tsunamis—“)

Holding up his hands, Al shook his head frantically “N-no, no! That’s not what we mean! We have just been talking a lot and we.. this is embarrassing.. we both have had huge crushes on her for a long time now, and we.. wanted to see what Malie would say.”

"Sonson, you better watch yourself. I've got enough problems to deal with. If your mother hadn't given you an alibi-"

"DADDY!!"

Sgt. Kalama's attention snapped back towards the house as he looked over his shoulder. There, stomping her way out from the front door, Malie scowled.

"Ku'uipo!" said the Sergeant, the hardness of his features vanishing as he rubbed the back of his head. "Hey! Your friends are here!"

"Don't you ku'uipo me! You're picking on them, aren't you!"

"N-no! I would never! I-I'm just telling them about the burglaries we've been getting around here!"

The longhaired girl folded her arms, pouting, her glare intensifying.

Al felt a bit of hardness come into his gaze now at that accusation “I’d never do anything to hurt her, we’ve been through way too much to ever do anything of the sort to her—-“ and then he stopped, seeing Malie as she stared her father down, arms crossed and face set in a scowling pout. Maybe it was because of all his introspection for the past week.. but he couldn’t help but burst into a broad smile when he saw her.. he didn’t think five days would make him miss seeing her this much.. but it did!

And he decided to help the cop out, just this once .

“It’s true, Mele! He was just letting us know what was going down lately.”

It had been some time since Al had called Malie by that name. In fact the last time he did was during her birthday, when her dad had been going through another protective phase and wanted to keep her home on her birthday. He said it then to help cheer her up.. he hopes it would do the same now.

Malie's gaze shifted between the two before glancing over at Renee as the shapeshifter winked her way. "Hmph, well good," said Malie. "Cuz I know where you live if it's not."

"I've... got work to do in my office," said Sgt. Kalama. "Have fun, you three!" The soldier power-walked back into the house with a smile plastered on his face, as if he could feel Malie's eyes boring into the back of his head the longer he dawdled.

"That was different," said Renee.

Shoulders sagging, Malie sighed. "Tell me about it," she said. "I'm just lucky mom's pulling extra time at work today." Her eyes fell on Alemana's bandaged forearms. "How're they?" she asked, gesturing at them. "Still hurt?"

Watching him walk away, Al would give a small sigh of relief “Thanks for the save,” he said as he softly rubbed his arm “They still sting.. but healing. Are you doing okay, Mele..?”

Using that affectionate nickname again

Malie smiled, rubbing her shoulder as she looked away. "Oh yeah, totally. Just been real 'hog-wild' around here." Gesturing to the pair, the long-haired tamer led the way into the backyard, watching the windows. Rather than her usual spot, Malie guided brought Al and Renee to the edge of the property, to a section of the nearby woods where a large bush sat. Behind it was a small sinkhole, deep enough to reach Al's hips as the trio hopped into it.

"Sorry about all this," said Malie, the girl sitting herself down on one of the large rocks that laid half-buried in the ground. "Dad's been setting up cameras everywhere. It's crazy."

"I take it Kamapua'amon's given him a scare," said Renee.

Malie hung her head as she pointed a finger at the blonde. "Bingo! Remember when you called me last time? Kamy was trying to slip into the house again, bull in a china shop-style. And after he ate everything in the fridge and freezer--"

"Wait, slipping into the house?"

"Huh? Well yeah, what did you think was happening?"

“Damn, and he’s still Kama?” Al asked..sitting next to Renee as he looked around “Has he been caught on camera? I’m guessing not but.. well you never know.”

"Nah," said Malie, shaking her head. "Eyesmon's been making sure to check the feeds and edit stuff out."

"Where's he now?" asked Renee.

The tamer shrugged. "Somewhere around here," she said. "Since it's the weekend, I told him he's not allowed near the house. It's just not safe until mom and dad are both out." Sliding back on her rock, Malie groaned, fixing her gaze skyward. "Dummy kept barging into the kitchen to nom more food, which made everyone more paranoid, which means I can't go anywhere without a freakin' escort."

“I see… I’m sorry Malie.” He said as he looked at Renee. “Hey, do you think you can go find him and talk for awhile?” He asked, softly nudging her with his shoulder.

The shapeshifter smirked. "I can try," she said, ruffling Al's hair. When Malie pulled out her digivice, Renee raised a hand. "That's alright. I can find him. Besides, it's more fun this way." Her human disguise burned away in smokeless foxfire before Renamon faded into the background, accompanied by the sound of a distant flute. ("Break a leg,") she thought to Alemana, her presence growing distant already.

"She's in a good mood," said Malie. "Didn't you guys fight an evil clone of her?"

“Good hunting Renamon, don’t be too rough if he gets rowdy.” He joked, watching her vanish. Turning his attention to Malie, he gave a more bashful smile “We did.. it kinda put a lot of things in a new perspective for me to be honest. One of them being us. You and me, I mean..”

Malie threw her head forward again, bobbed it up and down. "Me and you..." Taking a deep breath, she pushed her shoulders back as she stared at Al. "Kinda feels like Kamy already made that song and dance number. So I'll ask you the same thing I did him: what're ya for? I mean, Kamy, the stupid pig, couldn't be honest with me about any of it. He broke down and ran away, made me worry sick and then just so happens to come swaggering back cuz now he's a big, bad porker--like nothing happened!" Smile on her face, she shook her head. "I mean, what the hell! Are you kidding me with this?! It's like he dumped his brain out to make room for the muscle, I swear, I should've saved the fire axe! It understood me! I wouldn't have to worry about losing it, cuz it'd be in my storage space where I can grab it anytime I want! The stupid, stupid pig!" Throwing her hands up, Malie leaped to her feet, pacing around her rock chair. "I want the truth, Al," she said, pointing again. "Did you know about him? Did you have anything to do with why he ran away? He may be a dumb pua'a, but he was sick and emotionally damaged--not that it fucking excuses any of the grief I've had to handle--I just need to know how many fire axes I'm gonna need!"