Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A/N: If you're thinking this'll be just like Reputations to Maintain, it's not. RTM was about high school pressure and difficult obstacles Yamato had to face. This one is completely twisting and a lot more dramatic. And please remember it's in no way connected to RTM.

Prologue is short. Chapters will be long.

Enjoy : )

Prologue

I can see right through people. I don't know how, but I can.

Like my best friend, Sora, was such a pushover. Her friends would always start yelling at her while she stood there and took it. I think it was because her parents were always arguing so much that she promised herself she would never make her kids go through that. Maybe that was why Sora had had such horrible boyfriends.

And Mimi, my high school boyfriend's best friend. She went through guys like she went through clothes in her closet. I think that was because she didn't have a dad, a guy to depend on, so she thought she'd need a boyfriend at all times. Poor girl.

I can see right through my sister. These two guys back in those days had such a big crush on her, but she pretended not to notice. I knew she was just flattered and loved seeing them argue about it. She's a bitch like that.

The football and soccer players, too. I always knew they were just a cocky bunch of jerks who lied to girls so they could get laid. Even though I was Mr. Soccer-Captain-To-Be, I wasn't like that. Maybe because I'm gay…who knows?

I could see right through my high school boyfriend when he broke up with me, even though it was on the phone. I knew he was just doing it because he thought I was too perfect.

You must think I have a damn amazing talent. Well, he told me that. And I still don't know what he meant.

It was because of that phone call that my senior year was completely fucked up. Some people call it fate, some people call it destiny…some even call it back luck. I didn't really realize what I had until I lost it. I lost everything, and it wasn't fair. Nothing is.

I was sitting in my bathroom, lighting a joint when Yate, my roommate, was telling me to get my life together before I ended up some homeless person. All I could think about while looking at him, though, was how worried he was that he was gonna get expelled for letting me smoke in the room. He wasn't really selfish-just nervous.

All I could really think about was my senior year. It ruined everything. Ever since that fucking phone call, when I answered it, expecting Yamato to ask me to the movies.

But he had something else on his mind.

"Hey!" I had greeted happily, only to get a muttered "hi" for a reply.

"Uh oh. What's wrong?"

I listened carefully for an answer. Yamato eventually said, "We have to break up."

The smile on my face faded as quickly as a candle's flame could. Break up? Like not see each other anymore? As in not being a couple? As in being…single? No…I couldn't do that. I didn't want to.

"Why?"

"Listen, Tai, we've been through with this before. Do I really have to explain again?"

"Yeah, I think you do."

Yamato groaned. "I love you. You know that. I'm just going through a really rough time right now, and the last thing I need is watching my perfect boyfriend win a perfect game of soccer."

"If you're going through a rough time, wouldn't it be the time you need me most?"

"It normally would be…but it isn't."

Stop talking, my mind had demanded, but I couldn't get the words out of my mouth. It was so unexpected…We weren't even fighting! Why would Yamato just go and drop such a big bomb on me? And why would he not have a good enough reason?

Without saying anything, I flipped the cell phone shut. Moments ago I hopped I could hear Yamato's voice talk to me.

Now every time I think about the phone call, it makes me sick. It really did change everything.

"I strictly forbid it."

"Hey! Come on, K.T.! It's not like I'm putting any of it on your sandwich."

"It's T.K., and watching you eat is gross enough. Having mustard included is just making it ten times worse."

"Mustard isn't that bad…"

"Davis, mustard is the most disgusting substance known to man!"

I groaned and dropped my face into my pillow. Was it really necessary for Kari to invite Takeru and Daisuke over everyday? Normally I didn't mind it, but that morning, Takeru was reminding me of his older brother. And his older brother had broken up with me the night before.

"You two!" Kari snapped. I wished our apartment wasn't so small. Even in a bedroom with the door shut, you could hear those three making lunch.

With all the strength I could get a hold of, I pulled myself out of bed and wandered into the kitchen.

"Hey, Tai!" Davis called when he saw me. "Trying out for the soccer team on Tuesday?"

I laughed. "Obviously. Who else could take my role of the school's captain?"

In all honesty, I wasn't too worked up over me and Yamato breaking up. We'd probably get back together in a few days or something. Last time we had gotten into a fight we made up the nest week. There was nothing to worry about.

Suddenly, there was something that sounded like glass breaking. Then I heard, "Daisuke Motomiya, you clean my floor right now!"

I must have been napping on the couch for hours before the door swung open and in came Sora, a concerned look on her face.

"Hey, Tai. I was thinking we could do something. Were you sleeping?"

"Did you hear about me and Yamato or something?"

She sighed. "Yeah, Mimi called me this morning. She's at his place right now."

Go figure, I thought. Mimi and I had never really known each other enough to hang out outside of school, yet she and Yamato were inseparable. I guess it made me a little heated up because I'd always remember the many times my own boyfriend would ditch our plans just to watch movies with her. Maybe he felt the same way about Sora.

"So you're feeling okay?"

I nodded. "It won't be permanent. It'll probably last a week or two."

Sora sat on the couch beside me and smiled. "Well, soccer tryouts are coming up, so you won't have to be thinking about it this week. Are you excited, Mr. High School Captain?"

I laughed. "I guess I am. Who else is trying out?"

"I have no idea. Oh! You know Terry, the girl on my team? She told me her brother was. I don't think that's a surprise-that whole family is on every team the school has. You're friends with him, aren't you?"

My cell phone rang. I stared at it and read the screen.

"Who is it?"

I looked up at Sora. "Yamato."

"Are you gonna answer it?"

"I don't know," I smiled. "Should I?"

We both sat in silence, listening to my ring tone. Sora shrugged and started laughing.

"I guess I'll just talk to him on Monday," I said, tossing my phone away from me.

But I didn't talk to him. I ignored him, sticking my nose up to the air and laughed when I saw the hurt expression on his face. I didn't hear a word about him until history fourth period.

"Guess what happened to Yamato at gym class?"

I looked up. Mimi was suddenly sitting beside me and I could've groaned. Unfortunately, thanks to teachers and their seating plans, we had to sit together.

"What happened?"

"The teacher told him to try out for the soccer team."

I burst out in laughter. Yamato, doing a sport? No way. I had always wondered why he picked Phys Ed for one of his senior classes. He hated sports. In all the years I had known him, no teachers ever even talked about school teams to him. There was a reason he hated them-he just sucked.

"The teacher actually thinks he's gonna make it?"

Mimi punched me. "You can be so rude sometimes, Tai! I think he will."

"Of course you do."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't you feel weird, though? You and your ex-boyfriend are going to soccer tryouts. I think it'll be so awkward…"

"I don't think he should go," I said flatly.

"Why not?"

"Because he's gonna make a complete fool of himself. There are a lot of really athletic guys that I've been playing with since freshmen year. Yamato just…doesn't fit in with us. At all."

"You know what?" She smiled. "I bet you ten dollars he'll make the team."

I stared at the hand she was presenting and shook it with pride. "Deal."

I can't say I wasn't excited when I noticed Yamato was calling my cell phone after school. Sora wasn't there, so it was the perfect opportunity to answer it. I dropped the sandwich I was making and flipped opened the cell phone.

"Hi," I answered in a bored tone.

"Oh! Tai…I didn't think you'd pick up."

"Yeah, well, I did. What do you want?"

He didn't immediately reply. "Well, if you're gonna be like that, then never mind."

"Why are you calling?"

"I…I don't know," he said quietly. "I guess it was just a hard day and I really, really wanted to talk to you. I always do. You know that."

I let out a laugh. "You always did? You remember we're broken up, right?"

"Yeah. Okay, Tai, I get it. I just didn't think it'd be so fucking hard to see you at school. I just…"

God, I love revenge. "What are you suggesting, Yama?"

I listened carefully, expecting the "Let's get back together." I kind of felt like a jerk from the way I was talking, but seriously-two days must have been some kind of record.

But he just replied, "I don't think we should talk for a while. Maybe a month or something, you know?"

I completely froze. "What?"

"I think it'd be good for us. I mean, having us still being friend would-"

"I don't get it! What's wrong with just getting back together?"

He groaned. "I don't know, Tai! I'm really messed up right now. Both of my parents are really going crazy and my dad fucking hates me, so my-"

"I don't have time for this! I've put up with your shit for such a long time, Yamato. I'm in the mood to just be thankful I don't have to anymore."

"Excuse me? And I suppose you never complain, right?"

"At least I have stuff to complain about!"

He laughed. "Like not winning a soccer game? Like getting in an argument with your sister? Tai, at least you live with your fucking sister!"

I didn't reply, so he just kept going. "My parents won't even talk to each other without ripping their eyes out! You're parents are still together, living happily and lovingly. Do you know what kind of stress I have? I'm afraid to be home right now, because my English teacher told my dad I'm failing. I don't even wanna know what he thinks of that…"

"Whatever."

"No, don't even say that. I would switch places with you any day, Tai, and you fucking know that."

There was silence. Then, "I'll just see you at the tryouts, okay?"

I chuckled as the dial tone came. There was no way in hell Yamato would actually be on that field Tuesday afternoon…was there?

It was foggy. I inhaled the fall air. I fucking love soccer. I couldn't wait to get on that field and kick that ball. I hadn't played that summer since competitive teams were cancelled, so you could imagine how stoked I felt. Soccer was like my destiny, what I was born to do.

"Hey, Taichi Yagami!"

I turned around and saw Yolei, a girl who was the school newspaper's journalist for sports. I think she wanted to take care of sports just for an excuse to watch guys work out, but I didn't mind.

Yolei had always followed me around the year before for an interview. Even though no one really cares about the newspaper, I breathed in every moment of it. It was like being a celebrity or something.

"Yeah?" I snapped impatiently, like I was too busy for her.

"Mind answering a few questions?"

I kept walking down the hill towards the field. "If you hurry."

She followed quickly. "Are you going to be disappointed if you don't make the team?" she asked, then stuck a tape recorder in my face. She must have taken her role in the school newspaper very seriously.

"Honestly, I'll be disappointed if I don't make captain."

"Anything you'd like to recommend for the boy's freshmen team?"

"Practise."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh…one more thing."

"Sure,"

She stopped. "Are you going to be disappointed if Yamato Ishida makes the team?"

I stared at Yolei. She was pointing to the goalie net where Yamato was kicking balls into the net.

"Are you kidding?" I cried sarcastically, "I'd throw him a damn party!"

As soon as I ran onto the field, the coach blew his whistle. We all rushed over to him and lined up.

"Nice to see you again, Yagami," he said. I grinned.

"Wouldn't miss my captain year, would I?"

The coach smiled and split us up into two different teams. I was on Yamato's, but I guess that was better than being against him.

The team wanted me to be in the center of the field while the ball was being dropped. I had no complaints, though. For the first little while it was going good-people were focused, everyone was passing the ball back and forth, and there was no negativity.

Someone passed the ball to me while I was near the net. While I thought my moment was victory was coming, someone from the other team blocked me. I searched around and spotted Yamato. I kicked the ball to him and if you really want to know, he missed the damn shot. At least he could kick the thing.

I tried to get the ball before anyone else but was beat by Daisuke. He was wearing a challenging smile.

A few people blocked him while running to the other side of the field, so I tried to think of who the best player was. Yate Ownna ran passed me and called Daisuke's name, and after which I made sure to go after him.

I don't know how it happened, but Yate tripped me to the ground. On the way down, my leg was turning, so I landed in an awkward position. Suddenly, my knee was burning like hell.

"Tai!" I heard a familiar voice say, then saw Yamato rush over to me. "Are you all right?"

"Fine and dandy!" I cried.

"I'm calling the hospital."

I looked around and saw everyone standing near me. It made me nervous since I've always had a slight claustrophobia.

"All right, folks," I heard the coach say. "Nothing to see here. Bench for fifteen minutes, okay?"

Yate looked at me with horror. "God, I'm really sorry, Yagami…"

"Don't worry about it," I managed to say, pondering about how I'd kill him later.

Yamato ran back onto the field. "They're on their way," he informed me, as if I couldn't have figured that out.

"Can you stand up, son?" Coach asked, taking my hand.

As soon as my leg moved, I dropped back to the grass. "Nope."

"For Christ's sake!" he muttered under his breath. "That's kid's this school's best player! What am I gonna do…"

"What do you mean?" I snapped. "I'm still playing."

"You can't play with that knee, Yagami. You aren't gonna play for a while."

My mind went blank. I couldn't play? Suddenly, the pain in my knee increased. It felt like the bottom half of my leg was being pulled off or something.

I grabbed his ankle. "Coach, I promise you. I'm still gonna play."

He shook his head at me and faced Yamato. "Are you going with him?"

"No," I answered. "He's not."

My eyes started getting heavy. I closed them tightly as the ambulance sirens came closer.

And that is just the beginning.