Couples of the digiworld, unite!
If you are here because of the summary/couple brodcasted on the story summary, please proceed straight to the very last chapter. Please note;
-each story is a oneshot
-each chapter has the couple in it (Mimato, Takari, Taiora, ect.) placed next to it on the chapter title
-each chapter has its own summary in it.
I'm sorry, I know this is long, but please read it before you start the story. Thanx.
YAY! So, have any of you ever noticed how many couples there are in digimon? Yes, it's because of the amount of main characters, but you normally wouldn't be able to find so much… wow. In this fanficiton, you will find a series of several, separate, stories, each containing a different couple pairing. Yes, you heard correctly—Mimato, Taiora, Jyoumi, Koumi, Takari, Kensuke, Sorato, Yakari, Taito… yes, For once I will be doing a Taito… (Cringe), Dakari (another cringe…) Sora x Izzy (is there a word for that?) and many more.
If you have a certain preference, you can suggest which kind of pairing you want for the next chapter. I'll do my best to hit them all, but I might get bored and not write some, like Mimi and Davis together. Odd… anyway, if you review and give me your preferences, I'll try to make one for you, but don't get discouraged if I don't do it right in the next chapter. :P I've got some sort of order in my head, you know.
I might be doing one pairing twice or however I see fit because of how frequently it's requested in the reviews (by different people, not the same person over and over again.) Also, now that I'm going to write things like this… Well, I can't exactly say I've read a whole lot of good Dakari's or Taito's, and if you want, you can tell me where I can find something good that'll give me some sort of insight of that kind of relationship. Just make sure they're good and that they're short. (And if you're lucky, I might do some from the fourth season as well…)
One thing I would like to say before I start is that FLAMERS WILL BE DELETED. Since this is a fanfiction that revolves around couples, I will ask for this one time only that the flamers stay away. I mean, can you imagine what the reviews would look like? "God, you're perverted! Joe is too old for her!" or "Tai and MIMI? How could you do that?" or "Fuck all persons who love Yakari!" it would get really old really quick. So, if you absolutely must say something like that, please don't put it in your reviews… email me. I'll take out any criticism you give and might even reply. However, if you give me cussing for half an hour's worth of text, I'm not gonna read it, and if I answer your email, and you send me multiple emails that don't even talk back to what I had to say, then I'll have to do something about it… remember that if you email me I get your address as well.
Thank you for reading this long, uninformative bunch of boring paragraphs. Now, on with the show! … I just realized how ridiculously long my entire story is. Oh well.
Summary for 'Can I?': Tai takes Sora out for a day in the sunshine. But the goggle-headed boy has more in mind than just one day with her. Question is, can he gather up the courage to ask Sora to be with him always?
Note: I happen not to own digimon at this time. But I shall, oh, I shall... (Gets whacked on the head) OWCH! What was that for? I just mean that I want to make a corporal take over! (gets hit again)
Can I?
"Come on Sora!"
Taichi Kamiya was dragging Sora Takenouchi down the sidewalk of a less-than-crowded neighboring city at seven in the morning. He was bouncing up and down, pulling at the half asleep girl by the wrist. Sora was busy rubbing her eyes and trying to keep up with her friend so that he didn't pull her over in his excitement. "Why are we here again?" she asked unenthusiastically. "I'd rather be in bed for a while. I wasn't even aware that train stations were open at six in the morning…"
"Sora, you didn't know that six in the morning even existed on Saturdays. Give me a break here! There's no way that you can be that tired. We wake up at six every day!"
"Every day but Saturday!" she protested.
He just ignored this and kept walking. Pretty soon he found a café, which he led Sora into. He pulled her up to a table and ordered them two hot chocolates and Sora a mountain dew. Handing it to her, he began to sip his drink. She dully took up the Mountain Dew and drank it dully.
In a few minutes she was wide awake and looked as though she would bounce off the ceiling if not for the law of gravity. "Ah, yes. Caffeine. The true fountain of youth. So, are you ready?" Tai asked sarcastically.
"Ready for what?" Sora asked, trying to slow down a touch. "I'm ready for anything. Ready for what?"
"Broken record…" Tai joked.
"Broken broken broken broken. I'm a broken record. Yay!"
Tai rolled his eyes. "Ok, maybe you could've done without the extra hot chocolate. I just didn't think you'd go this crazy." He teased.
"At least it's not you…" she teased back. "If you'd had my soda then you'd've probably broken the table. Or the chair. Or the window of someone's shop. Or- oh well. It's just that you are so clumsy when you're hyperactive." She laughed. "Sometimes…"
"Oh, hush. You're no better."
"So where-where-where are we going? Where? Where?" Sora jumped up and down on her heels.
Tai rolled his eyes and smiled.
"To the forest."
This made Sora stop, but only for a second. She soon ran quickly after him to catch up. "The forest?"
"Well, here we are!" Tai announced triumphantly. They were standing in a clearing that was rather large. Trees made a rough circle around the area that they stood on. In the distance Sora could hear a faint sssshhhhhhhhhsssssshhhhssss… of what she imagined must have been dry leaves blowing in the wind.
"Have… we been here before?" Sora asked suspiciously.
Tai smiled. "What, don't you trust me?"
"No." she replied flatly.
"Well, you shouldn't, I suppose. But anyway…" he put a hand in his pocket. "Don't you remember this place?" He asked in an uncaring voice, letting his eyes sweep the trees and open area surrounding them.
Sora looked around as well. "Field trip?" she asked. Tai shook his head. "Stargazing?" He shook it again. "A time when we hosted a party? A police chase? A hunting crew? No?" she sat back on her heels and thought for a moment. Finally she snapped her fingers. "The first place aliens have been known to land." Tai started laughing.
"What?" she asked, smiling at her own joke.
"You really don't know?" he smirked.
She shook her head.
"You Really, really don't know?"
She shook her head more violently.
"You really don't, truly don't, absolutely don't…" Sora hit him in the head.
"Would you just tell me already… wait…" She had come to a sudden realization. "This is… really, truly, absolutely…" her eyes flashed. "Not…"
Tai Laughed out loud. "YES!" he exclaimed. "You do remember!"
(Flashback)
"Dear, are you sure you don't want to go back to that town?" Sora's mother, Terra, asked. "I'm sure that we could… find a place to stay. It's pretty dark out…"
"Yeah!" Tai's mother, Yuko, came up beside Terra, talking to her husband, Susumu. "Let's go back and stay at that lovely hotel back there! It would be a lot better than wandering around here! I wanna go back!" she demanded.
"Ah, come on. We're almost there!"
"WHERE are we going, exactly?" Tai's mother asked suspiciously.
Sora's father, Hiroki, just laughed. "The falls! Or have you forgotten?"
His wife blushed. "Y-yes! Of course I knew that, but this isn't right! We should go back!" she stammered. "I-it's just not… the right way! I'm sure of it!" Her husband looked at her skeptically, to which she stood tall and hit her chest. "Woman's intuition! Not the right way! … besides, don't you remember how bad your sense of direction is?"
"No." the men replied flatly.
Sora and Tai walked with each other, far to the right of the adults. "What're they doing, you think?" She asked her friend. "Aren't they supposed to be relaxing? This is vacation!" she muttered.
"They're just bickering. Mum and dad do it all the time!" Tai said happily, skipping along.
"Over what?"
"Oh, dinner, lunch, breakfast…" he picked up a twig and poked at a giant caterpillar on a tree. "Food, Kari, school, taxers… lossa things." He concluded. "But they always laugh afterwards. I think they just don't make sense to each other. Dad remembers some things when mommy doesn't, and mom remembers some things when daddy doesn't. Like how bad daddy is at following instructions, for example."
"Dad's never here to argue. I think Mom's sick of him." Sora whispered in Tai's ear. "Are we going the right way?"
"No." Tai answered.
"How can you tell?"
Tai smirked and stood strait, imitating his mother. "Men's intuition, dahling. Men's in-two-it's-on." He pronounced, making Sora laugh. Then to be serious, he became calm. "Listen. Close your eyes."
Sora did as he asked. She could hear something in the distance. Something that sounded like… like…
It was a gentle sound. Sort of like dry leaves being raked or… beans falling out of a sack and onto the ground. She listened to the calm sssshhhhhhhhhsssssshhhhssss of the sound that carried in the wind.
"You hear it?" he asked. Sora nodded. "We're supposed to go that way."
Sora thought about this concept for a moment. "Well, maybe we should, then."
"But I don't want to get in their way…" Tai said, eyeing his annoyed mother.
"We don't have to." Sora smirked. "See, here's what we do…" she whispered in his ear.
"You sure?" Tai asked, uncertain. Then he answered himself. "Yeah. Let's do that. It's a good idea… just hope they don't get too mad." He looked at his parents.
"They won't." Sora said confidently, walking on.
Finally they came to a clearing. Hiroki and Susumu both looked up. Tai's father snatched the map. "Uh, ok, let's see here." He scanned the map. "Left, right, left, then north…"
"Are we here yet?" Yuko came up behind him, and
"Uh, yes!" Hiroki exclaimed, then looked around, blushing. He massaged his neck, as if he had a cramp.
The two older women stared at their husbands, lost for words. It was Yuko who lost it first. "This…" she said, in a dangerous tone. "Is Really, Truly, Absolutely…" her eyes flashed and she picked up a long stick, chasing her husband, Susumu. "NOT THE FALLS!"
"But it could be!" Susumu insisted. "They could've filled it in or something! They just forgot to rename it… now it doesn't have a correct name anymore! AAHHH!" He ran from his wife, who was still brandishing the stick behind him.
"I'll make it right! We'll make sure you fall!" she said, running after him like a madwoman.
"Please, dear, not in front of the childre-… eh? Where'd they go?"
This made the parents look around. "W-where…" Hiroki looked around. "Sora! This can't be good." He muttered.
"They must've gotten lost. Or something." Susumu commented.
"Like US?" Yuko glared at her husband, who flinched. "How will we find them if we don't know where the hell they are? Or where the hell WE are?" she demanded.
"Easy. Just… retrace our steps?" Hiroki exchanged glances with his wife. "So-ora!" they called out at the same time, starting back the way they'd come.
Meanwhile, Sora and Tai walked out of the trees. Before them lay a huge stream and a gigantic hill. The stream fell off the side, forming a waterfall. "You were right, Tai! This is the falls!" Sora giggled.
"Too bad we had to ditch our parents to find it." Tai sighed.
"Just don't worry about it. They won't notice we're gone before our moms take over and find the falls, which is where we are!" she exclaimed back. "Let's go down into the water! There's a cool rock I wanna see." She started walking towards the rocks that were still dry, and when she reached them, she climbed down.
Tai followed suit. "I dunno, Sora. Once Kari got lost. They were looking everywhere for her. They even called the police!" Tai told her. "We're gonna be hunted like criminals by the police!" he sounded worried, and panicked.
"But police are nice peoples." Sora commented. Suddenly something caught her eye. "Oh tai, look!"
A white fish was in a puddle before her. It was a tiny puddle; the water barely trickled in and out of it. The fish swam in circles, which was amazing considering the fact that there was only three inches for it to move. "Oh, it's stuck! Why is it white, do you suppose?" she bent down to get a better look.
"Ok, you try to get it first." Tai knelt beside her.
"Get it first? What for?"
"Don't you think it's lonely in there? There aren't any other fish. And it's gonna grow more. Don't want it to be stuck now, do we?" Sora shook her head.
"But…"
"I could go first…"
Sora looked up. "Yes!" she exclaimed. Tai reached down to try and grab the fish. It slipped out of his hands, splashed him, and dove back into the water. "Oops." Sora commented. "My turn? Neeeh…" she looked at it, worried. Finally she reached down and tried to pull it out. She got a hand around it, and nearly managed to pull it out of the water when it splashed her and dove back in.
The fight with the fish lasted four minutes, when finally Tai grabbed a rock and flipped it out of the hole. "There we go." Tai looked at Sora. "Ok. We're filthy."
Sora just laughed. "Well, at least we got the poor fishy out. I don't think I'll ever forget this, Tai." She thought for a moment, then splashed him with a huge handful of water.
"Wha-? Hey!" Tai splashed her back. They laughed and continued their water fight.
"I win!" Sora cried out, when Tai finally fell into the slowly churning water.
"Yeah, yeah." Tai looked at her for a moment, then tripped her. She got soaked, head to toe. "Now it's a tie."
(End flashback)
"You realize that I won." She laughed. While she'd been remembering, she'd followed Tai back to the waterfall where they'd had the water war.
"You realize that my parents grounded me for two months after that little excursion." Tai remarked back. "And no, it was a tie. We were both soaking wet." He looked down into the river.
Sora looked at him curiously. Finally she kicked him in. "Ok. Now I've won."
Tai was drying off. They were lying in the sun, some ways away from the river. There were no trees; they'd been left behind. Now they sat in the sunlight, long grasses surrounding them in the form of plains and gigantic hills. Sora and Tai were playing tic-tac-toe on a board that was scribbled in the dirt. She put down a giant 'O' and crossed out an entire side. "Ok, ok. You win." Tai muttered. "But I'm pretty dried off now. What do you wanna do?" he asked, glaring at her out of the corner of his eye.
"We could… ah…"
"I've got an idea!" Tai exclaimed, rubbing his palms together evilly and standing. "Let's have a race! Last one down to the bottom of this hill… uh… has to…" he thought a moment.
"You can't be serious! I'm not running down there!" She eyed the long way down. "What if I trip? It'll be all your fault. No way!"
Tai smirked. "Come on. The grass is really soft. If you fall, you just roll!" he tugged at her arm. "C'mon!"
"Ah, no… no Tai! Wait a sec… whoa, whoa, whoa!" she leaned back trying to pull away, and only succeeded in falling backwards down the hill. On the plus side, Tai fell with her. "OH MAN TAI! IF WE DON'T DIE ON THE WAY DOWN, I'LL KILL YOU! WAH!" she exclaimed, her voice echoing off into the distance. They rolled a while, finally coming to a stop at the bottom.
Sora shifted her stance. She lay on her back, looking at where the heck Tai might be. She heard him grunt. "Good grief. That felt like it took hours! That was weird… I'm stuck on my stomach."
"Lookit the pretty flower." Sora said, dazedly. There was a giant blue flower hovering in front of her face. "Tai, lookit the pretty flower." She plucked it from the ground. It had a rather large stem. She took the end, snapped off the roots, and tied it near the top of the flower. Then she put it on Tai's head. "Lookit your pretty crown." She smirked.
Tai was in an awkward position. "Ah, ok… sure, Sora the random." He mumbled.
"Don't look at me, it was your idea, Tai the awkward." She called back to him. "Sorry. Tai the clumsy works much better." She snickered.
"Yeah, yeah." He righted himself. Then he laughed. "Good grief! That was hilarious!" he laughed, and Sora began to laugh too. Tai threw himself back into the long grass, where it hid him from view. Sora did the same. There was silence for a moment.
"Hey Tai?" Sora asked.
"Yeah?"
"You remember how the clouds looked in the digital world?" she asked calmly.
Sora could almost hear Tai's eyes snap open to look at the clouds. "Yeah. Why?" there was a moment of silence again. "You miss her?"
"Who?"
"Biyomon."
Sora blushed. "Well, yeah."
She saw Tai's brown hair through spaces in the grass. He looked in her direction. "I miss Agumon too. I wonder how he's doing? I mean, it's a nice place and all, but they always wanna fight." He sighed. "But I'm glad I met him."
"I'm glad I met Biyomon too. I have lots of memories about the digital world that are good, too. Not just the fighting." She smiled at the sky.
"Oh, Sora!" Tai exclaimed, sitting up and looking at her with exited eyes. "Remember the day we met?"
"Oh my god…" Sora laughed, the long grass around her hissing as she shifted in her spot. "Yeah, I do! It was on the first day of pre-school…"
Flashback
'But mommy!' a mini Sora cried. 'I can't stay here! Take me with you!' the little girl clung to an older woman's leg. 'You can't leave me! NOOOOO!'
Sora's mother reached down and pried her daughter's hands loose from her leg. She held her frail hands together in front of her gently. 'Now listen, honey. This is a nice place, ok?' she brushed away a tear that fell from the little girl's eye. 'I won't be gone forever. Just for a bit. And then I'll pick you up after you're done! Isn't that nice? You can meet new kids here, just your age.'
The little girl rubbed her eyes. 'But there's that kid who lives near us in our apartment. I can meet him! I don't gotta go to school!'
'Don't worry. I'm sure that you'll like it here. Just give it a chance, ok? If you don't like it… then I won't make you come tomorrow.' Her mother frowned at her own decision, but then smiled at her daughter. 'Ok? Promise me you'll try. Try to like it here.' She urged her daughter through the door.
'I… Ok.' The child said, giving up. She walked into the room and sat down in a small chair by the door. Her mother said something to another lady, then blew Sora a kiss and left.
Sora sat in the chair she had chosen and pouted. 'I'm not gonna like it here, 'cuz I don't. I wanna be with mommy!' she muttered to herself. People her age gathered in the classroom one by one, all looking as sad as she was. Pretty soon nearly all the chairs were filled and kids were talking to one another, pointing at the colorful things around the room.
No one sat next to Sora.
It wasn't that no one liked her; it was that everyone else knew other people already. They had friends. As Sora looked around, she realized she didn't know a single person in here. She sighed, and looked at her shoes.
The adult who her mother had talked to stood up in front of the children and introduced herself. 'Hello, children. My name is Mrs. Andrews…' she was cut short by the sound of something loud thudding against the door. The class looked at it as the sound came again.
'Oooh, it's the boogie man!' a boy with black hair taunted from the back. The thudding seemed to get louder and louder. Finally the teacher went to the door and, reaching out with a slender hand, opened it.
A blur of a child burst through the door, running with his shoulder poised oddly. It was obvious that the boy was the one hitting the door repeatedly. His momentum carried him through the now open doorway… right into the desk closest to the door; Sora's.
They collided and fell backwards, into a supply rack behind where she had been sitting. The supply rack, filled with finger paint, dumped on top of them. Needless to say, the action resulted into a resounding mess.
Sora sat up, dazed. She wasn't hurt, just a bit startled. 'What happened?' she asked to no one in particular.
The boy groaned and sat up, massaging his head. The boy that had rammed into her supported large, chocolate brown eyes and equally long, brown hair. Or at least it would have been brown, but now it was mixed with several shades of blue, red, yellow, and green paint. 'He looks funny.' She thought. The paint was on her too, but she didn't mind. This boy intrigued her.
'Hehe… sorry about that. Thanks for letting me in, Miss Teacher.' He apologized.
'Young man…' she started, and then stopped. 'What's your name?' she asked, trying to remember if she'd seen him before.
'Tai… Taichi Kamiya' the boy stated. He stood and brushed off his pants, only succeeding in smearing the paint everywhere.
'Alright. Why were you doing whatever you were doing to the door?' she asked uncomfortably.
'I couldn't reach the handle.'
'You could have knocked.'
The boy- Tai- looked thoughtfully at the ceiling for a moment. Then he blushed. 'Oh, yeah. Guess I could've. But daddy said if you are late you gotta sit in the corner. I didn't wanna sit in the corner…'
'Well, ok. I'll excuse you for this once. Just try to be more careful, ok?' she said.
Tai nodded, and turned to Sora, offering her a hand. Sora looked at it for a moment, then took it with a smile. "Thank you." She said, starting to brush herself off, but then remembered what had happened when Tai had done it.
"Heh, sorry." The brown haired boy blushed deeply. "I didn't mean to run into you. Wanna be friends?" he asked suddenly.
"Uh…" Sora said, caught off guard. "Sure." She looked at him suspiciously. 'Where… have I seen him before?' She thought.
He smiled and righted the desk. "O-kay!" he said enthusiastically.
After school, he left with her. "You walking home?" Sora asked him.
"Yes. It's only a little ways from here."
"Me too! Mommy said I knew where it was. I can see it from here."
"I should walk you! Where do you live?"
Sora was confused. "Walk me? Like a dog? What for?"
"Dad says it's polite to walk girls home. I dunno. I aint got no other girlfriends." He looked at her. "Do you have other boyfriends?"
"Nu-uh." Sora shook her head.
"I gots a sister. But she's always sick. I dunno. She's always crying too. Sometimes she wakes up at night and cries. I don't know why though. It's really annoying."
"We have a baby in our apartment, too!" Sora said. They started walking down the street. "Sometimes it wakes me up, but I don't mind. I think daddy minds, though. Mommy does too."
"That's weird. Where do you live?"
"Here we are." Sora motioned to the building in front of her. "Didn't I tell you it wasn't that far away?"
Tai just stared up at the gigantic building. Finally he shook his head. "No way! This is where you live?" Tai asked. "I live here too!"
"Sora's jaw dropped. "You mean…you're the kid who made everything in the janitor's closet fall down the stairs? Why the heck would you do that?" she asked in disbelief.
"Er…"
They stood there for a moment. "Wanna come in?" Tai finally asked. "You can meet my sister…"
(End flashback)
"You are so freaking clumsy, Tai." Sora laughed. "IT took the janitor three DAYS to clean that thing up!"
"Aw, c'mon. It wasn't that bad. Oh…" he mumbled, looking at the sky. "Look what time it is."
"There's a giant clock engraved in the sky?" she asked curiously, mocking him. Then she saw what he meant. "Good grief. The sun's gonna set soon. Maybe in half an hour…"
Tai looked sad. Then, he perked up with a happy thought. "You wanna watch the sun set from the place we were last time? From the river? It's got to be beautiful there." Tai told her.
"Hm…" she thought it over. "Watching the sunset?" that sounds sort of like… A DATE!" she giggled as Tai blushed.
The sun set around them. The yellow ball somehow seemed larger when it was setting. It gently touched the horizon. The trees in front of them were scarce, and you could see the colors coming from the sky. They stood in the middle of the river, barefooted. 'Never thought I'd be here again today.' Tai had told her, making her laugh so hard that she had fallen in. fortunately, she also carried a towel. 'Where'd she get that?' Finally they settled down and watched the setting orb in silence.
Tai balled his fists up in concentration as he watched Sora take in sunlight. The waters of the river poured around her slender legs. He just couldn't take his eyes off her. He prepared his mind carefully for what he'd been planning all afternoon. 'Courage, courage, Courage!' he thought vigorously to himself. Finally he cleared his throat. "Hey, Sora?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I…" he faltered. "Can I…"
Sora glanced at him, suspicious. "Can you…"
"Can I…" he massaged his neck. "Ask you a question?" Tai said hastily, and then kicked himself mentally. It hadn't been what he was trying to ask.
Sora looked at him, confused. "Of course. Why not?" she replied, facing him.
"I…" Tai's mind was racing. "Uh… have you ever…" Matt would have laughed at him for being so slow, saying he wasn't capable of even relatively quick thoughts. Tai wouldn't have been amused. "Have you ever thought about… you know… 'being' with someone?" he blushed. "I mean, like a boyfriend…"
Now it was Sora's turn to blush. "Uh… well…" she racked her brains for a thought, any thought. "Yeah, doesn't everybody?" she finally choked out, looking at the leader of the digidestined. "I mean, I sometimes wonder if I think about it more than other people because of my crest. The crest of love… but doesn't everyone wonder what a relationship is like?"
Tai looked down into the sparkling waters for a moment, deciding what to say. Finally he looked right into Sora's eyes. "With who?"
Sora reached down into the clear stream, picking up an eroded rock from the bottom. "Well," she started, rubbing her thumb over the smooth rock. "Some people… like… Matt, for example."
'Son of a bitch.' Tai thought, sighing.
"But it was sort of just a lust thing, you know?" she leaned sideways and skipped the rock downstream, where it bounced three times before making a subtle plunk into the water. "Cuz, you know, he's really… you know… hot." She blushed and rubbed her neck. "But it's just the same with boys, because they want to go out with Jennifer Lopez."
"I want to go out with Jennifer Lopez?" Tai asked, not understanding the allusion.
Sora laughed at his comment. "No silly, just because she's like a model and everything. Like girls wanting to go out with Brad Pitt."
"Girls want to go out with Brad Pitt?" Tai thought it over. "Oh, I get it. I said that wrong. You mean…" Tai's face adopted the confused look again. "Matt looks like Brad Pitt?"
She shook her head, still smiling broadly. "No, silly." She sighed. "You're hopeless. What I was saying was that I tried to picture me with Matt and liked it because he's hot. It's just a lust thing. It really, really doesn't go deeper than that. I'm not shallow. If I have to choose, it will be because of their personality, not because of how they look. I have to really love them, Tai, and I won't settle for less." She smiled, and then blushed. "Gosh, did I just say that? I must sound really corny."
"No you don't. I agree with you…"
Sora smiled and picked up another rock to skip before Tai asked another question. "So, that's all the people? Matt? And Brad Pitt?" he asked, trying his hardest to be serious.
Sora watched the sun, which was setting over the river. "Well…" she sighed, a longing look in her eyes. "There is… one person…" she looked out of the corner of her eye sorrowfully at Tai without knowing she did it. "But I haven't said anything to… to Him… because I think… maybe he doesn't feel the same way… possibly."
There was silence for a while, Tai watching Sora as she looked around without perceiving anything. His mind moved slowly, and they watched the sun set. He thought about the day he'd had, and about Sora. Who was the guy? The guy she…
The guy she…
He felt lost for words, and worse, he felt as though someone had kicked him into a dumpster. Who was the guy? The lucky guy, the wonderful guy, who had captured Sora's interest? Who was it? He closed his eyes, sighing heavily. Lights from the sun played just beyond his eyelids, forming shapes against the darkness he saw. Bubbles, boxes, animals, and objects flitted around his eyes. It was almost as if he could make out…
Matt… was that Matt? He had to be imagining things. Sometimes he felt envious of his friend. He'd felt it when he saw him singing his heart out on the stage, he'd felt it when he'd seen his grades at school, he'd felt it when… when Sora said she'd thought about them being an item. Matt always got the girls. Beautiful girls, smart girls, tall girls, musically inclined girls, chess nerds, goths, cheerleaders… he'd been with them all. Somehow Matt had made it to the top of the food chain in that area of life. And here Tai was, not able to even say a word to his childhood friend.
Tai moved his eyes around behind his lids, trying to make the image go away. Instead, it just got bigger. The light-Matt leaned forward. In his mind, the guardian of friendship put his arm around Tai's shoulders. "So… you gonna?" the Matt-ghost asked him.
"What?"
"Come on. You're such an idiot, Tai. Make your move!"
"I don't know what you're talking about…" Tai thought in his head, and was sincere about it.
The blonde boy sighed. "Don't you understand?" he pointed sideways, and in his mind Sora stood, still looking at the dying rays of the sun. "Sometimes you're so dense. Hello-o?" he knocked against the shorter boy's brown mass of hair. "'There is one person.'? Hello? Didn't you hear her say that? 'I haven't said anything to Him.' Why do you doubt yourself? Make your move!"
"She doesn't…" Tai started, but was cut off by his friend.
"She does. Look at her and tell me she doesn't." he challenged the digidestined of courage. "She does, she does, she does, she does. And if you think that I'm lying, well, that's your fault. But if it isn't you…"
"OF course it's me!" Tai Thought at him, upset. Then he corrected himself when Matt-hologram smirked. "Uh, no. it isn't me."
Matt sighed. "When you want to be honest with yourself, you can talk with me. However, you're gonna have to be honest with yourself before you're honest with anyone else. You know that?" he asked his friend, and poked him. "If you don't know your feelings then how will you know another persons? When you can follow your heart you'll find the way. Look at her." Matt was quiet, and then he waved off and disappeared into the sunlight.
Tai watched as he walked away. 'What?' he thought to himself. 'I must be loosing it. Did that really happen?' he sighed again.
Look at her.
He slowly opened his eyes and found Sora looking at the sunset still.
Look at her.
That's what Matt had said. 'What could it hurt?' Tai decided. He looked at her.
She was beautiful; her red-brown hair flowed gently over her shoulders, onto her tank top. She watched the sun set, the energy catching on her face and giving it an unearthly glow. Her eyes half lowered, she watched as night approached. Eyes… he thought. Her eyes are so beautiful… so pure… they're waiting for something. What are they waiting for?
Tai thought to himself. His brain carefully picked apart what Matt had said and what he seemed to believe. Sure, there was something. Sure… she was beautiful in every sense of the word. Sure, she was the girl he wanted to spend his free time with. But what did it mean?
Sora watched and waited. The silence between her and Tai had been there for a while. She was worried she'd said something wrong, and that he wouldn't talk to her, although she knew that wasn't the case. Birds chirped and the forest settled down around them, while the brook became more and more of a gurgle beneath their bodies. The sky turned pink and purple, as the first stars began to show through the atmosphere. They'd been there for the entire day. She didn't feel like going home, but it was necessary. However, she could stay here for a little longer. With Him.
How much did she love the wilderness? Tons. At first, she had thought there was nothing that could surpass it, until today. Until she found she enjoyed it more with somebody.
Tai had been her friend for as long as she could remember. They both would play games in the park together, or in one of their houses. He'd been there with her at camp and when they'd gone to the digiworld. He'd been there when she'd flunked her test in science last year. He'd been there when she'd hurt her knee and her mother wouldn't let her play soccer, causing the team to loose. He'd always been right there by her side when things got tough, or when things were good. A smile and a joke from him always helped to lift her mood when she was down. Just a few minutes ago, she'd nearly told him. She'd nearly said- it. She hoped he'd always be around to help her, or just to be with her. What could she do without him?
She knew that no matter what happened, they'd be able to get through it. And maybe… it would go further… than just friendship.
As if Tai had read her mind, he spoke up. "Hey Sora?" he asked, not for the first time that day. "Do you consider us… friends?"
"Well, duh." She said happily, turning to face him.
"I mean, like what kind of friend?" Sora didn't give him an answer. "A good friend?"
"Of course."
"A best friend?"
"Absolutely…" she wondered where he was going with this.
There was another silence between them. Tai smiled, thinking. Preparing… "Hey Sora?" he blushed. "Can I…" he looked at the water, to his feet. Then he found her face with his eyes again. "Can I…" he noticed Sora's face shining in the water, right beside the moon's reflection. The reflection seemed to be leaning in, listening hard. "Can…" he struggled. "I…"
Sora looked at him, hope in her eyes.
"Can I kiss you?"
Silence.
Sora stepped towards Tai, her face unreadable. All he could tell was that she was thinking. She made several slow, deliberate steps towards him, and then stopped within an arm's length. She gazed into his chocolate eyes with a familiar emotion…
"What do you think?" she asked, taking his hand.
Tai smiled, squeezing it. "I think…"
He leaned forward and made contact… his lips to hers. There was a moment where they drowned themselves in each other, and held onto the one they loved desperately. The scene around them faded away, and there was nothing to the world but each other. Nothing.
They finally pulled apart slowly, breathing in oxygen. Sora fingered lips that tingled with excitement. Her heart was warm inside her. Tai and Sora gazed at each other contentedly. The silence was finally broken by four words that sealed the pact between them.
"I think I can."