Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Author's Note: I wrote this before I knew that Matt started a band in season 02. Also I didn't know what Mr. Kamiya's first name was, so I made it up. Enjoy!
Young Memories: Prolouge
Tai, Matt, and Sora were sitting in the park and talking amongst themselves. It was a partly cloudy day, providing plenty of shade from the sun. "So, do you think you can make it to the concert?" Tai asked Matt "It'll be our first performance and it just won't be the same without you there."
"I don't know if I can, Tai. I'm supposed to visit my mom, tonight." He replied, apologetically.
"You visit you mom every Saturday?"
"Every other Saturday. I stay at her house for the weekend."
"Does TK ever stay with you and your dad?"
"Sometimes, on rare occasions. My dad's house isn't the best place for him, you know."
"That must suck not being able to live with both of your parents and not getting to see TK every day. I'd go crazy if I didn't get to see Kari everyday!"
"Well, you get used to it."
"I don't think I could ever get used to it." Sora said "But then again, I only have my mom. She can't divorce herself, so I guess I don't have to worry about that."
"I KNOW that I could never get used to it!" Tai said.
"Well, it's not that bad," Matt said, trying not to have his friends feel sorry for him for no reason. "I actually like the solitude."
"But you're alone for so long! Don't you ever get lonely?" Tai asked.
"Naw. I guess I'm just one of those loner people. It's rare that my dad has to work late, so when he does it's nice to have the house to myself. Don't get me wrong, I love my dad, it's just that I kind of wish he'd work late more often so that I could get more solitude."
"That does sound nice, but I'll tell you this, Matt. Flying solo is highly over rated. I'm sure it's perfect for some people, but people need other people around, even you."
"Hey, I never said that I wanted to cut off all contact with people period. Just a little more time to myself. Besides, what do you know about being lonely? You live with three other people!"
"It wasn't always that way, Matt. I've had a lot of shit happen to me."
"Oh, c'mon! What do you know about misery?! You didn't have to go through your parents fighting every night! You didn't have to go through your parents' ugly divorce. You didn't have to go through the horrors of…."
"Stop it, Matt!!!" Sora yelled loudly. "Tai's past isn't as perfect as you think it is!"
Matt looked up at Sora, surprised. He then looked at Tai, who was just as surprised as him. The three of them exchanged glances in silence, then Sora continued. "You think that just because your parents got divorced and Tai's didn't that he has lead a wonderful life? Well, think again! Tai's past isn't as perfect as you think it is, and neither is mine!"
Matt sat there, staring into space with a slightly opened mouth. It was only then that he realized that he didn't know the first thing about Tai and Sora's pasts. He only knew the present. He looked at the ground, ashamed of himself. He was being such a jerk, he had no right to judge them. "I'm sorry, Tai. I'm willing to hear your story, if you're willing to share it." He said softly. He then looked Tai in the face with a slight, apologetic smile on his face. Tai smiled back, then looked at Sora, who nodded for him to tell his story. Tai took a deep breath and exhaled. "Okay, here we go."
Young Memories Part One: Tai's story.
"It all started," Tai began, "when my mom was about sixteen years old. She had a boy-friend at the time, some guy named Houjin. Anyway, Houjin seemed like a nice guy. He was very caring and was always right by my mom's side, no matter what. My mom was deeply in love with him, and she trusted him with her body. Of course, they being normal teenagers at the time, they didn't think about or expect what consequences would come with their actions.
"It was about a month after my mom and Houjin started making love when she discovered that she was pregnant. Pregnant with me, that is. As I said before, Houjin SEEMED like a nice guy, but I emphasize on the 'seemed'. When my mom revealed to Houjin that she was pregnant, he coldly turned his back on her. My mother was heart broken. That, unfortunately, was not her only shock of the day.
"She decided that the best thing to do was to tell her parents about her pregnancy. Now, needless to say, this pissed them off. She was expecting them to be mad, but not as mad as they got. Just as Houjin did before, her parents turned their backs on her and kicked her out of the house. Because of this, my mother, who had an academic scholarship, could no longer attend school.
"She had no choice but to rent a small apartment in a crappy neighborhood downtown and she had to get a job to pay for it. She got a job at a super market handling the inventory or something like that. She barely had enough to pay for rent, so in order to survive, she had to steal food from the store.
"Anyway, this went on for months until I was born. Even though my grandparents were still mad at their daughter, they were there at the hospital to help her through the delivery. She told me that, even though she had to go through horrible conditions during the time she was pregnant, when I was born, it was all worth it for her.
"Once my mom was out of the hospital, her parents once again abandon her and she had a new problem. She had no idea how she was gonna take care of me at the time or who was gonna take care of me while she was at work. She was thinking of putting me up for adoption, but then everything she went through would've been for nothing. It seemed selfish to her at the time; keeping me and forcing me to live in horrible conditions and depriving me of a possibly better life with foster parents, but she was entitled to something too. After all, she DID give me life and she thought that it would be in my best interest to live with my real mother.
"Things went well for the first few weeks. She had gotten a raise at work and a neighbor said that she'd look after me, but then they found out that she'd been stealing food at work and was fired. On top of that, the neighbor who was looking after me moved away and my mom was back where she started. No job and no baby sitter. She had no choice. She had to go back home.
"Her parents did feel sorry for her. She was their daughter after all, so they decided to make a deal. They'd baby-sit me and give my mother money, if she'd work at my great aunt's pet shop. Once again, things were going well, until my mother was being verbally abused at work. My great aunt would call her a 'slut' and things along that line. My mom couldn't talk back or do anything about it. This was the only way she could provide for us. She became very depressed and turned to alcohol when I was about two.
"My mother quickly became an alcoholic and I was thrown into a love/hate relationship. Most of the time, she would tell me how much she loved me and be really affectionate, but late at night and sometimes during the day, she'd get drunk and abusive. At first, it was just neglect. You know, she'd forget to feed me or something. But then it was verbal and finally, physical. She didn't really beat me that much, she'd just scream all sorts of profanities at me and smack me a few times, but she'd always apologize to me like a mad man when she sobered up. I was too young to understand any of this and I wasn't sure whether she loved me or hated me. This went on for about a year or so, until we met someone special.
"I had just turned three when my mom took me to the park. She wanted me to make friends with the other kids there since there weren't many kids where we lived. I was a little shy; my mother had gotten drunk and beaten me a bit the night before and I had a few bruises on my face. My mom, who wasn't paying to much attention at the time suddenly collided with a man who was reading a book and walking. "Hey, watch it moron!" she screamed quiet loudly. The man apologized and put his book away. He asked if she was hurt and she coldly replied 'no' then stormed off, dragging me behind her.
"After about an hour of walking around, we sat down on a bench. My mom took out a book and started reading. She told me to go talk to the other kids. I was still feeling shy and my mom said 'that's fine' and continued reading. All of a sudden, the same man that my mom ran into earlier sat down next to me. He recognized my mom and apologized again for not looking where he was going. My mom accepted his apology this time and he asked if I was her little brother. She looked at him and said 'he's my son' flatly. The man was surprised and asked how old she was. My mom was a bit offended and told him that her life was not on trial. The man apologized once more and said he didn't mean to get personally or anything. My mom was really irritated at the guy. She looked straight at the guy and said 'I'm nineteen. There. Ya happy now?' The man just looked at her, confused for a while and my mom apologized. They talked for a while, I don't remember what about, but at the end, they shook hands and the man walked off.
"When it was lunch time, we went to this place by the park. I can't remember what it's called, but we went there a lot. On the way over, she was talking about how she was disappointed that I didn't even talk to any of the kids and I apologized. She said it was okay and when we got to the restaurant we ran into the man again. He offered to by us lunch. Anyway, while we were eating, or rather while I was eating, my mom and the guy kept talking. I don't know where the conversation had taken them, but the next thing I knew, the guy was inviting us to stay with him. His name was Akio Kamiya."
"You're dad?! Um, step-dad?" Matt asked, surprised.
"Yep!" Tai said.
Matt was shocked by all this. Sora, on the other hand, seemed un-nerved. She had obviously heard the story before.
"Anyway," Tai continued again, "He took us to his apartment, which is our current home. I was over-whelmed by all of it. Compared to where we used to live, the place is a palace. My soon to be 'dad' said we could stay as long as we wanted. He was really lonely and was more than happy to have the company. My mom was really happy about all of this. She was finally free to quit her job working at my great aunt's pet shop. She no longer had a reason to drink, but she couldn't stop. Well, to make a long story short, my mom went to rehab which she is still attending and my mom and 'dad' fell in love, got married and had Kari when I was four. My mom, not wanting me to be the only one in the family with a different last name, legally got it changed to 'Kamiya'."
"That's your story? Man, I'm sorry, Tai! I had no idea!" Matt said.
"The story's not over yet. And there's no need to apologize, really." Tai said, putting a hand up. "Where was I? Oh yeah! Things went smoothly for years. It seemed that the worst was behind us, when all of a sudden, he came crawling back."
"Who?"
"Houjin. He found out about my mom's stroke of luck and new family, and he wanted to be a part of it. He came back when I was about six. Wisely, my mother refused to take him back, but then he said she was being selfish. He said it wasn't right for me to grow up not knowing who my real father is and to not have him in my life. Now, have you ever heard the phrase "Hurt me once; shame on you. Hurt me twice; shame on me"? This phrase was not unknown to my mom, but she believed that everyone deserved a second chance. He sounded like he meant it, and they were kids back then, so my mom invited him into her life and home. I remember the first time we met. He walked over to me, knelt down and said "Hey! I'm your dad!" and the asshole expected me to instantly love him.
"Things were okay for a while. Houjin was down on his luck, so mom and dad agreed to let him stay with us till he got back on his feet. Plus it was beneficial to them, because they no longer had to hire a baby-sitter and could go out as often as they wanted. Which they did. Houjin hated me. He said it was my fault that he had to leave mom. Every time my parents left, he'd beat me with his fists and beer bottles. Worst of all, he did it in front of Kari! Poor Kari was dragged into this. With all the confusion in her short life, she might as well have been beaten too. I don't know how he did it, but Houjin was some how able to hide that fact that he was beating me from my parents well. I would've told them myself, but he said he'd kill me if I did. It was horrible. Houjin's reign of terror lasted about a year and a half, until he hit me with a broken beer bottle to the head. I needed stitches and I've got a scar from that."
Tai removed his goggles and sweat back to show his scar to Matt. "That must've been horrible."
"It was! Fortunately, Houjin could no longer hide it from my parents. They took me to the hospital, after my mom beat the crap out of Houjin and turned him over to the police. Good thing my parents came home a little early that night, and that my mom is a martial arts master! Anyway, that's my story."
Matt shook his head in disbelief. "I'm sorry, Tai. I should've snapped at you like that. It's just that, before I met you or Sora, I had it the worst of all my friends. I guess I thought that I had it the worst of all kids."
"Don't feel bad, Matt!" Sora said, slapping him on the back. "I used to think the same way. You know, when ever I feel bad, I think of the old saying 'The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.' Basically, it means that no matter how lucky or rich you are, there's always some one luckier or richer. It can work the other way, too."
"You're right, Sora. What about you? What was your life like?"
"Well,"
Young Memories Part Two: Sora's story
"My life didn't start out bad, like Tai's. My life began like most kids's lives do. I had a mom, a dad, and I lived in a nice apartment. I got into sports and drawing at an early age. My dad was really proud of me. He nurtured my interests and encouraged me to excel in everything I tried. Then, when I was five, he died in a car accident. It was a few months before I was to start kindergarten when he died. I was devastated.
"Even though it had been a while after my father died when I went to kindergarten, I was still in mourning. I couldn't concentrate on anything. All I could think about was how much I missed my father. Ever since he died, that was all I thought about.
"I didn't want to make friends or participate in class. My teacher and mother got really concerned and they wanted me to go see a child counselor. She told me that even though it hurts to lose a family member or a close friend, I had to move on. I was mad. She was practically telling me to forget my father! I pretended to listen to her just so I could get out of there and away from her! Then I started participating so that I wouldn't have to be sent back.
"One day, I was sitting on the ground and leaning up against the wall when a boy with brown hair walked up to me. "Hey. What are you doing?" he asked. I didn't want to make eye contact with him. I just wanted to be left alone, but it was rude to just ignore some one so I said 'Nothing' and hoped he would let the matter drop and leave. "How come?" he said.
"No reason. Just don't feel like doing anything."
"So you don't want to play?"
"No."
"But it's fun! Trust me, it's no fun being alone."
The boy offered me his hand and I took it. "My name's Tai!" he said. "What's yours?"
"Sora." I said to him. I still wasn't in the mood to play, but I decided I'd go along. He was right, though. I had such a good time at recess that I totally forgot about my pain. I was grateful to him. Thanks to him, I understood what the child counselor was telling me. She didn't mean that I should forget my father, just move on with life. His memory is always and always will be in my heart.
"Tai and I have been best friends ever since. I had made plenty of friends on my one and I had become very good at soccer. My mom suggested that I join a girls' soccer team, which I did. My life was happy once more, until my mom started dating.
"It wasn't that fact that my mom was dating; it was who she was dating. Sure, he seemed like a nice guy, and I emphasize on the 'seemed'."
"Plagiarist." Tai muttered. Sora snickered a bit.
"Anyway, he seemed like a nice guy. He had a job, was a sharp dresser, and had morals. Or so we thought. My mom married the guy when I was seven and things were going well until one night. "Shut up, bitch!" I heard him scream from the kitchen. My mom was screaming in terror. I knew I should've just stayed in bed, but I couldn't. I ran out to see what was going on and I screamed. He was beating my mom with a dinner plate. He looked at me with pure hate in his eyes and screamed "What the hell do you want?!" He then threw the plate at me. I used my hands to shield my face. My arms got cut up pretty bad and when I removed them from my face, I looked up just in time to see a fist flying at me. The next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor in pain. I heard my mother scream "Leave her alone!" He easily pushed her of off him and beat her. When he was done, he pushed her against a wall and grabbed me by the collar of my pajamas and beat me. He pushed me against the wall next to my mom and pointed a sharp piece of the broken plate at us. "If any of you EVER tell ANYONE about this, I will kill you both!!" He looked at my mom. "You clean this mess up!" he looked at me "And you get your ass back to bed!!"
"I slowly walked past my step-dad and into bed. Back in the hallway, I could still hear him yelling and beating my mom. 'Why did this have to happen?' I asked myself. 'What did we do to deserve this?' I slowly cried myself to sleep that night as my step-dad continued to beat my mom.
"The next day, I went to school with bandages on my arms and a few bruises on my face. Despite all I was doing to keep people from seeing my injuries, they did not go un-noticed by my friends. "What happened to you, Sora?" Tai asked when he saw me. The words of my step-dad still rang loudly in my ear. "If you EVER tell ANYONE about this, I will kill you both!!" I believed that threat full-heartedly and I was scared to death. I told Tai that I had just gotten into a bike accident, then I noticed that he, too, had bruises on his face. "What about you? What happened to you?" I asked. Tai looked around nervously and said "I, um, got into a fight! That's all! I kicked the guy's ass, too!" I felt a little comfort in that. Though I wasn't sure about it at the time, I had a feeling Tai was going through the same thing I was. Still, that didn't help much. I was still just as scared as ever and I just wanted it to end.
"I walked home slowly that night. I was in no hurry to get home, especially since I had a feeling of what was coming to me when I got there. I slowly walked up the stairs to my apartment when I heard something break. Something in my apartment. My suspicions were correct. I knew I was going to have to face my step-dad's wrath sometime that night, so I decided to just walk right in, get my beating and get it over with.
"I opened the door to see my step-dad holding on to my mom's arm and slapping her silly. He looked at me, then discarded my mom like a rag doll. "Shut the door." He said mechanically. I slowly shut the door and stood ready to receive my beating. I shut my eyes tightly not wanting to see the raging man walking towards me. The next thing I knew, I was being thrown to the floor by the collar of my shirt. The punches came down on me like a meteor shower. Each one had the force of a freight train, or so it seemed. When he was done, my step-dad discarded me just like he did with my mom. I opened my eyes and saw him walking over to her. He grabbed her by the arm and told her to get dinner ready, then shoved her in the kitchen.
"I got up, shaking, and made my way to the bathroom. I looked on the mirror and was horrified by what I saw. My nose and mouth were bleeding and my face was swollen. I washed my face a few time and it did look better. I began to cry silently until I heard my step-dad scream, "Sora! Get in here now!" I washed my face once more and ran out to the kitchen.
"Things went like that for a few months. I'd wake up, go to school, come home, and get beaten. It was a seemingly endless cycle of terror and I could see no way out of it. That is until one day at school. "Sora," Tai said as he walked up to me "Are you being beaten at home?"
"What would make you say something like that?" I asked him.
"Well, everyday, you come to school with bruises, and you seem scared of something. They can't all be results of bike accidents, can they?"
"Well, I get into fights, too, you know."
"Sora, I know you're being beaten. You have to do something about it."
"No! I can't! He said if I told anyone he'd kill me and my mom! You can't tell any one, Tai!"
"Who exactly is 'he'?"
"No! I can't tell you! You know too much as it is! You have to promise that you won't tell anyone! He'll kill us!"
"This is no way to live, Sora! Trust me. I know what you're going through."
"How could you know? You don't know what it's like for me! I'm scared to go home at the end of the day, for crying out loud!"
"I do know, Sora. Trust me, I do."
That's when Tai showed me that scar, at the time it was still a wound, he had on the left side of his head. I stared at it with a glimmer of hope in my eyes. I knew that there was a way to get out know, I just had to find it.
"You see," Tai began as he put his sweat band back on, "my biological father was arrested a few weeks ago for beating me. He also told me that if I told anyone, he'd kill me. I thought that there was no way out, but when my mom found out, I was freed from his spurn of anger. There are always people who care out there, and who are willing and CAN help you. You just need to know where to look."
"Where can I find these people?"
"You don't need to, Sora. You've already found one. We'll go file a police report after school, okay?"
"Thank you, Tai."
As Sora completed her story, she gave Tai a quick 'thank you' grin. She was still grateful to him for helping her through her trauma. "And that's my story."
Matt was speechless. He knew that Sora's father had passed away, but he didn't know of all the emotional and physical pain she had to endure because of it. "I guess it's my turn, then." Matt said looking at his friends. They both nodded. "Well, here goes,"
Young Memories Part Three: Matt's story
"It started when I was two. Until then, my parents didn't fight much, if at all. It all changed so abruptly. I'm not sure when it happened exactly, but my parents just started arguing more and more. At first, they'd just get upset at each other and then go to bed, but then they started screaming at each other violently. Some times, my dad would get so mad he'd throw something across the room.
"The started fighting every night. They'd just scream at each other and there was nothing I could do to escape it. No matter what I tried, I could never drown out the sounds of there violent yells.
"My stopped bickering for a while after TK was born. I thought the worst was behind me. In fact, things were actually good then. I had a new little brother, my parents rarely argued, and when they did they didn't shout violently. 'Things can only get better from here' I thought. But I was wrong. Very wrong.
"It happened when I was about six, a little while after the 'terrorist bombing'. "I am so sick off you complaining all the time!" I heard my mom yell from the kitchen. Upon hearing this, I sunk to the floor. 'They're at it again' I thought. Shortly afterward, I heard my parents yelling violently at each other. Their words were so poisoned with hatred that I could barley make out what they were saying. I decided to try to ignore what was happening like I usually do, but I found that to be impossible. They'd never fought like that before.
"I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the sound of a plate crash into my bed room door. This was followed by the sounds of other things breaking and the long stream of profanities streaming form both my parents' mouths. Just as abruptly as it had started, it stopped. All I could hear were the sounds of my parents panting with anger. That's when my mom said the four words that both killed me and filled me with hope. "I want a divorce!"
"Fine with me!" my dad yelled back.
I was shocked to hear my mom finally declare what had filled me with fear for so long. Even though I knew that my family was falling apart, I was kind of happy. Now my parents wouldn't fight. Despite what promised to be a more peaceful future, questions flooded my head. 'Where will I stay? What will happen to TK? How can we make this work?' The questions overwhelmed me. I had had quite a shock and I was getting tired. I decided to go to bed and hope that the whole thing was just a bad dream.
"If there's one memory I wish I could erase from my mind completely, it'd be the custody trial. The realization of what was happening was finally setting in. I might never be able to see one of my parents again, and TK! I sat there, hoping to God that I'd still get to see TK. My parents were yelling just like they did the night they decided to end their marriage. I was kind of out of it to really know what was going on. I didn't want to listen to any off it anyway. I just sat, wishing it would all end. The next thing I knew, my dad was taking me one way, and my mom was taking TK the other. I watched in tears as my mom and TK disappeared from my sight. I thought I'd never see them again, and it was all my parents' fault! It was because they kept getting into fights and could never let the littlest thing go. It was because they couldn't just forgive each other and go on with life. TK and I had to suffer because of their childish behavior. Filled with anger, I broke free of my father's grip and screamed. "I hate you!!"
"I ran off. I didn't know where I was going, but I didn't care. Just as long as I got away from my father. "Matt, come back!" I heard him yell, but I paid no attention to him. I was so angry I couldn't really see where I was going. I ran into a man and hit him with such force, I fell onto my back. I sat up and looked at the guy. "Watch where you're going, you little shit!" he yelled at me. I quickly got to my feet as the man approached me with a menacing look in his eyes. I had never been so scared in my life.
"My eyes went big when the man pulled out a switch blade. I was so terrified, I couldn't move. That's when I heard foot steps behind me. "Stay away from my son!" My dad yelled at the guy. He was about to make his move when my dad tackled him. My dad punched the guy a few times as they struggled with the knife. The guy had a good hold of the knife and slashed my dad a few times. Despite the cuts to his arms, my dad kept fighting. He head-butted the guy when he had the chance and he passed out. As people crowded around us, my dad turned to me and asked my if I was okay. "You're bleeding." I said.
"I know. I'll be fine." He said
"I was speechless. My dad had risked his life to save me, even after I told him I hated him. I was still mad at my dad, but not so mad that I didn't give him a hug. I had mixed emotions from the whole experience, so I decided not to say anything to anyone for a few days until I figured this out. How could someone so childish be so heroic? I wasn't sure who my dad was, I guess that's why I turned out the way I did. I was never really sure what was going on."
Tai and Sora looked at each other as Matt finished his story. "You know, it feels kind of good to get it all out in the open." He said and Tai and Sora nodded in agreement. "It does," Sora said "Before today, Tai was the only one other than my mom who knew my story."
"And Sora was the only one outside my family who knew mine." Tai added. "You know something, guys? Even though our pasts were pretty awful, our lives are okay now. We should be thankful. There are some people who are living in misery as we speak."
"You've got a point there, Tai," Matt said "At least we all have roofs over our heads."
The three friends continued to talk among themselves and they decided not to look back on their painful pasts, but rather ahead to a new future. Besides, isn't that what life is about anyway?
Young Memories: Epilogue
Matt and Sora stood in the crowd as Tai and his fellow band members, Hiroshi and Deshi, played on a stage. Okay, the crowd wasn't very thick, but the band was actually quite pleased with the number of people who showed up. After all, not many people would rush to see the first live performance of an under ground band of eleven year old boys named "The Aristotle Drake Project". The band was actually pretty good and it sounded kind of like a young, Japanese version of Nirvana. Tai was on guitar, Deshi on drums, and Hiroshi was playing bass and vocals.
Hiroshi: (singing) As the blood of another angel,
Drips from the sky and moon,
I sit and think of the future,
And of what will happen now,
I thought of the battle ahead,
And how I was drained of innocents too soon.
"I have to admit, they're pretty good." Matt said to Sora. She smiled back. "Tai looks so different on stage with his guitar then he normally does."
"The grunge clothes and absence of his goggles might contribute to that." Matt whispered back.
"It's not that. It's just something about him, whenever he's playing his guitar. It's weird."
"Well, just as long as it's the same Tai we know up there, I have a feeling this band'll make it a long way with him along."
The End
Yet another author's note: Here are the reasons why I wrote each kids' past the way I did.
Tai: Tai's mom seemed pretty young. I don't know, she just looks pretty young to me. Also, in 'My Sister's Keeper' she was blaming Tai for Kari's condition and she was so upset she slapped him. That could call for her youth and her ability to fall under the influence of emotions much like someone would fall under the influence of alcohol. While Tai's mom was totally upset, Tai's dad seemed a little more rational.
Sora: I don't think I really need to explain this one. We never see Sora's dad. Some people say he died, some say he was abusive and was arrested. I used a little of both.
Matt: Just read my story "Taking a stand"