Hello, long time no see for me, eh? ^__^ Well, I'm back with a new series, maybe only two or three chapters long. I know it might seem confusing at first, but if you bear with me, it'll all come together at the end. Just imagine what is going on with Tai, don't worry about place or time or how or when or why. You'll understand near the end. This is the only chapter that should have confusion though, don't worry.
So please read? T.T Please? I'd love a review too, and a special request granted to the first person who can guess what Sora's confession to Tai was! Good luck minna, and please read! Thanks all, enjoy my crappy writing, LoL I'm out for now, until I finish the next chapter. And I can't wait to get this all down, I'm so excited. Yes, my ending is already done. ~_^ -peace sign-
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Tai could do nothing.
It was towards the darkest dark, and Tai couldn't see a thing in front of his equally dark eyes. The cold wind whipped past him, turning the darkness into a cold hell, waiting to suck Tai down into it eternally.
No.
That couldn't happen.
NO!!
Tai thrashed about, tearing away whatever he could squeeze his fists onto. But he was no match for this synthetic hell created in the digital world.
He had to keep going. Sora would need him to, he knew she wouldn't give out on him.
He would never do that to her.
Tai's face darkened, his expression becoming that of fury, his brows knotting, his eyes flaming red deep within the dark pools of brown. The reflections were gone, and all that was left was determination.
He was determined to reach his true love.
Sora.
Takenouchi, Sora.
The one who would have become a part of him forever in the bonds of marriage, in the near future, if things had gone his way.
They will go his way! That much he can be certain of!
Tai's limbs kicked excruciatingly, desperate to get through the endless black, the well of darkness. It seemed to be an ocean filled with tar, tar thick and restraining, but Tai would not let it get the best of him. He would keep pushing through, struggling to reach Sora before it was too late.
Too late for what, he wasn't sure.
But he wasn't going to take a chance.
Not with Sora's life on the line, of which he was certain it was.
He couldn't let her slip away into this darkness forever, not like what was happening to him right now.
So he struggled to see past the darkness, squinting his eyes to catch a glimpse of his only light, a light he was sure waited for him, if only he could rescue her, stop her from penetrating into this black ocean with him.
Sora...
His vision blurred as he moaned, his brown high school uniform tearing to shreds as the angry black lashed out at him. It was vengeful, wanting to hold Tai Kamiya back with it, but the salvation of the light beyond the dark was not far now. As a result of Tai's endless fighting, his endless courage, he had reached the soft, warm glow, just inches, yet miles ahead of him.
It didn't matter.
Tai could feel its grace no matter the length to which he had to go. He could still fight. There was much left that was still strong and kicking within him. And Sora was right at the edge, waiting for him with a wonderful, beautiful, motherly smile, her brown uniform skirt wavering in a soft, nonexistent wind, her eyes a crystalline, ruby red, sparkling in the distance. The light about her made her almost into an apparition, but Tai knew she was really there. The whiteness, it was so bright around her, it blurred the edges of her silhouette, and the stars glittering around her were no exception.
She wanted to come to him.
To reach out and help him, to pull him up into her soft arms, to cuddle him into her breasts, breathe in his wild, swept-up hair of the most beautiful brown, the color of warm cocoa on a day where only the snow was present.
Tai wanted her touch.
His exhausted features brightened as much as they could, his eyelids drooping halfway and his smile weak. His limp arms, heavy like lead, reached as far out as they could, and right then, it somehow seemed as though he were only within centimeters of her stretched out arms, her quivering fingertips, so soft to the touch of his...
Wait.
Something was wrong.
Tai was slipping back. There was more he had to fight. Yes, Sora was there, but her eyes had been deceived as well. A look of worry appeared on her delicate features, twisting them so that Tai became terrified once more for her safety. The look of horror on her face was not normal, and it scared Tai.
It scared him...
No! Have courage! Go back to her or you'll lose her! Now, Tai!
Tai strained again, squeezing his features in concentration as they darkened, as the darkness pooled around him.
A slow voice followed him as he unwillingly slid into the black abyss.
"Noooo..... Taaiiii...."
Sora, he thought. Stay there, don't follow, please, for the love of...
But she strained herself beyond the doorway of the light, reaching for him, her arms stretching, wanting to capture him into her heart.
It was then that it hit Tai.
It was Sora they wanted.
The realization washed over Tai like a thousand knives falling over his fragile human body. They were using him as a trap!
He screamed a bloodcurdling scream, his voice producing a sound that was like an animal, a terrifying animalistic sound that vaguely resembled the words for Sora to stay where she was, to not follow him anywhere, for it was her they, whoever they were, wanted to get a hold of.
Sora couldn't hear him though.
She slipped into the darkness, the light behind her shutting violently off, the black becoming intimidating. Now Sora was the only thing of color that Tai could focus on. Just her. And the terrible, painful squeals she produced as the darkness around her filled with rage.
It felt as though Tai were strapped down, upright. He couldn't move. He couldn't kick or thrash his arms about, trying to swim towards Sora. His eyes could only widen in terrific pain at watching the one he loved become the object of horrible, vengeful lashing.
He knew his heart must be ripping in two inside of his chest.
He knew the blood must be spreading like mad inside of him, filling all of his limbs with loose, warm liquid.
That must be what the hot, burning, boiling, fear-stricken feeling inside of him was as he watched his best friend, his lover, his true soulmate being tortured into the painful screaming.
He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, believing this not real.
But he knew it was, and he wouldn't turn his back on Sora like that.
She wouldn't do that to him.
So he kept struggling, he kept pulling, despite the ripping of his ligaments and muscle tissue as he strained to move his arms. The tearing, it felt like a burning hot iron laying onto his skin, but it was nothing, he couldn't even feel it, compared to what he saw happening to Sora in front of him.
Her uniform now lay in ruins upon her body, just as Tai's was. Her peachy flesh peeked between the tears, but her skin was not safe from the flashes of dark lightning lashing out at her delicateness, gashing her skin open in a rage Tai had never seen before.
What did they have against Sora?
A sudden wave of emotions entered Tai, relieving him of his morbid curiosity. It shocked through his skull, giving him a recognition, if not an understanding, of what was truly going on.
The darkness was jealous of love.
You would think light, right?
No.
It was afraid of light. And once all the power supporting light was gone, it would lead to the absence of light. Love had to be the first thing to go.
Then friendship.
Kindness.
Reliability.
Sincerity.
Knowledge.
Courage.
And finally, hope.
Once there was no hope, no light can break through. Light was the center of all of these powers, the top of them, the most powerful. And the living darkness could not stand to be hidden away longer.
But there was an order.
And love was the first to go. Sora possessed great love, and it was jealous of her clean, pure heart. She was the first it needed because she possessed the strongest of the sources, besides hope.
The power of love, indeed.
Tai shook his head to rid himself of the blinding, selfish torture. And the vision before him tortured his soul even more after knowing the cause. It wasn't Sora's fault, she was an innocent bystander, in possession of a great force.
And the darkness was jealous.
Tai's eyes watered, the pain inside his chest was unbearable.
Sora...
How could something like this happen to such a sweet and innocent mind, a person withholding an incredible persona? Tai had to do something. The gashes in her skin now lay open, seeping tremendous amounts of blood, some of it squirting wildly as the veins were torn as well. Her face was one of extreme exhaustion as the lashings kept coming, kept laying across her tender flesh.
Her expression tensed into extreme pain, her eyes squeezing shut in the oncoming force.
The beads of sweat on Tai's skin. Dripping...
The blood pooling around Sora. Dripping...
Dripping...
Tai couldn't stand it any longer.
.............................
.............................
...
And he awoke. The white sheets twisted around him, restraining him in the darkness of his room just as the darkness of the abyss had tormented him with. The sweat did indeed drip down, soaking Tai's bed, the fabric clammy against his bare, tanned and lean chest.
He wrenched the sheets away, tearing them down the middle with a desperate cry escaping his throat.
His breath came fast, panting like he had been holding his breath throughout all of that nightmare. His deep, ashy eyes of brown charcoal widened in apprehension.
The dream, everything that had happened...
It wasn't real.
But what if it was to become so?
Tai shook his head, leaped onto the floor and raced across his room to the bathroom. He stopped at the sink, the faucet turning, the cold water pouring over his wrists, the water coming up to his face, sliding down it in cool rivulets onto his bare shoulders, and going further, down past his tight abdomen to the elastic rim of his jogging pants.
It felt good.
He felt relief, yet terrible apprehension, ominous foreshadowing.
He needed to protect Sora, he knew that much. And then he thought about what he had been told earlier that evening.
He had gone to see Sora at her apartment. She had been acting distant lately, and he wanted to know why, wanted to know of any problems she may have had, because if there were any serious ones existent, he could help her get through them. They could get through them together. That's how much he loved her.
As it turned out, there was a serious problem facing the young couple. To Tai, it wasn't really a tremendous problem, but definitely something that would change their lives for good.
And Sora was scared Tai would think differently, think negatively about what she had told him.
He hadn't.
He came through happy, elated even, but worried as well. And that somewhat discouraged Sora. She began to cry, and Tai did his best to comfort her before coming home to get some sleep.
Sora had been comforted.
She was relieved, but still a bit concerned about what would happen to her and Tai now.
Tai was concerned about that as well.
But after staring long and hard into his mirror at himself, and after that horrifying dream, Tai had no more restraints. He knew what to do. Hell, he and Sora were adults, nearing the end of their senior year in high school. They can afford to do this.
Tonight.
Tai had to do it now to assure their future together.
To assure the protection of his love, to assure the safety of her hopes, dreams, emotions, and feelings.
Her personal confidence in herself and Tai.
Her life...
He needed to protect that all. He knew it in his heart. It was what he was told...
Tai grabbed a light sweater-jacket and pulled it on without a shirt, grabbed the keys to his jeep, snuck out of the apartment without making a noise, without awaking his sister, mother or father.
The night air was moist, cool, as Tai sped quietly through the streets in the direction of Sora's apartment building, the wind whipping wildly through his long, equally wild hair, the fierce determination set deep into his entrancing eyes...
So please read? T.T Please? I'd love a review too, and a special request granted to the first person who can guess what Sora's confession to Tai was! Good luck minna, and please read! Thanks all, enjoy my crappy writing, LoL I'm out for now, until I finish the next chapter. And I can't wait to get this all down, I'm so excited. Yes, my ending is already done. ~_^ -peace sign-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -=+†+=- -------------------------------------------------------------------
Tai could do nothing.
It was towards the darkest dark, and Tai couldn't see a thing in front of his equally dark eyes. The cold wind whipped past him, turning the darkness into a cold hell, waiting to suck Tai down into it eternally.
No.
That couldn't happen.
NO!!
Tai thrashed about, tearing away whatever he could squeeze his fists onto. But he was no match for this synthetic hell created in the digital world.
He had to keep going. Sora would need him to, he knew she wouldn't give out on him.
He would never do that to her.
Tai's face darkened, his expression becoming that of fury, his brows knotting, his eyes flaming red deep within the dark pools of brown. The reflections were gone, and all that was left was determination.
He was determined to reach his true love.
Sora.
Takenouchi, Sora.
The one who would have become a part of him forever in the bonds of marriage, in the near future, if things had gone his way.
They will go his way! That much he can be certain of!
Tai's limbs kicked excruciatingly, desperate to get through the endless black, the well of darkness. It seemed to be an ocean filled with tar, tar thick and restraining, but Tai would not let it get the best of him. He would keep pushing through, struggling to reach Sora before it was too late.
Too late for what, he wasn't sure.
But he wasn't going to take a chance.
Not with Sora's life on the line, of which he was certain it was.
He couldn't let her slip away into this darkness forever, not like what was happening to him right now.
So he struggled to see past the darkness, squinting his eyes to catch a glimpse of his only light, a light he was sure waited for him, if only he could rescue her, stop her from penetrating into this black ocean with him.
Sora...
His vision blurred as he moaned, his brown high school uniform tearing to shreds as the angry black lashed out at him. It was vengeful, wanting to hold Tai Kamiya back with it, but the salvation of the light beyond the dark was not far now. As a result of Tai's endless fighting, his endless courage, he had reached the soft, warm glow, just inches, yet miles ahead of him.
It didn't matter.
Tai could feel its grace no matter the length to which he had to go. He could still fight. There was much left that was still strong and kicking within him. And Sora was right at the edge, waiting for him with a wonderful, beautiful, motherly smile, her brown uniform skirt wavering in a soft, nonexistent wind, her eyes a crystalline, ruby red, sparkling in the distance. The light about her made her almost into an apparition, but Tai knew she was really there. The whiteness, it was so bright around her, it blurred the edges of her silhouette, and the stars glittering around her were no exception.
She wanted to come to him.
To reach out and help him, to pull him up into her soft arms, to cuddle him into her breasts, breathe in his wild, swept-up hair of the most beautiful brown, the color of warm cocoa on a day where only the snow was present.
Tai wanted her touch.
His exhausted features brightened as much as they could, his eyelids drooping halfway and his smile weak. His limp arms, heavy like lead, reached as far out as they could, and right then, it somehow seemed as though he were only within centimeters of her stretched out arms, her quivering fingertips, so soft to the touch of his...
Wait.
Something was wrong.
Tai was slipping back. There was more he had to fight. Yes, Sora was there, but her eyes had been deceived as well. A look of worry appeared on her delicate features, twisting them so that Tai became terrified once more for her safety. The look of horror on her face was not normal, and it scared Tai.
It scared him...
No! Have courage! Go back to her or you'll lose her! Now, Tai!
Tai strained again, squeezing his features in concentration as they darkened, as the darkness pooled around him.
A slow voice followed him as he unwillingly slid into the black abyss.
"Noooo..... Taaiiii...."
Sora, he thought. Stay there, don't follow, please, for the love of...
But she strained herself beyond the doorway of the light, reaching for him, her arms stretching, wanting to capture him into her heart.
It was then that it hit Tai.
It was Sora they wanted.
The realization washed over Tai like a thousand knives falling over his fragile human body. They were using him as a trap!
He screamed a bloodcurdling scream, his voice producing a sound that was like an animal, a terrifying animalistic sound that vaguely resembled the words for Sora to stay where she was, to not follow him anywhere, for it was her they, whoever they were, wanted to get a hold of.
Sora couldn't hear him though.
She slipped into the darkness, the light behind her shutting violently off, the black becoming intimidating. Now Sora was the only thing of color that Tai could focus on. Just her. And the terrible, painful squeals she produced as the darkness around her filled with rage.
It felt as though Tai were strapped down, upright. He couldn't move. He couldn't kick or thrash his arms about, trying to swim towards Sora. His eyes could only widen in terrific pain at watching the one he loved become the object of horrible, vengeful lashing.
He knew his heart must be ripping in two inside of his chest.
He knew the blood must be spreading like mad inside of him, filling all of his limbs with loose, warm liquid.
That must be what the hot, burning, boiling, fear-stricken feeling inside of him was as he watched his best friend, his lover, his true soulmate being tortured into the painful screaming.
He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, believing this not real.
But he knew it was, and he wouldn't turn his back on Sora like that.
She wouldn't do that to him.
So he kept struggling, he kept pulling, despite the ripping of his ligaments and muscle tissue as he strained to move his arms. The tearing, it felt like a burning hot iron laying onto his skin, but it was nothing, he couldn't even feel it, compared to what he saw happening to Sora in front of him.
Her uniform now lay in ruins upon her body, just as Tai's was. Her peachy flesh peeked between the tears, but her skin was not safe from the flashes of dark lightning lashing out at her delicateness, gashing her skin open in a rage Tai had never seen before.
What did they have against Sora?
A sudden wave of emotions entered Tai, relieving him of his morbid curiosity. It shocked through his skull, giving him a recognition, if not an understanding, of what was truly going on.
The darkness was jealous of love.
You would think light, right?
No.
It was afraid of light. And once all the power supporting light was gone, it would lead to the absence of light. Love had to be the first thing to go.
Then friendship.
Kindness.
Reliability.
Sincerity.
Knowledge.
Courage.
And finally, hope.
Once there was no hope, no light can break through. Light was the center of all of these powers, the top of them, the most powerful. And the living darkness could not stand to be hidden away longer.
But there was an order.
And love was the first to go. Sora possessed great love, and it was jealous of her clean, pure heart. She was the first it needed because she possessed the strongest of the sources, besides hope.
The power of love, indeed.
Tai shook his head to rid himself of the blinding, selfish torture. And the vision before him tortured his soul even more after knowing the cause. It wasn't Sora's fault, she was an innocent bystander, in possession of a great force.
And the darkness was jealous.
Tai's eyes watered, the pain inside his chest was unbearable.
Sora...
How could something like this happen to such a sweet and innocent mind, a person withholding an incredible persona? Tai had to do something. The gashes in her skin now lay open, seeping tremendous amounts of blood, some of it squirting wildly as the veins were torn as well. Her face was one of extreme exhaustion as the lashings kept coming, kept laying across her tender flesh.
Her expression tensed into extreme pain, her eyes squeezing shut in the oncoming force.
The beads of sweat on Tai's skin. Dripping...
The blood pooling around Sora. Dripping...
Dripping...
Tai couldn't stand it any longer.
.............................
.............................
...
And he awoke. The white sheets twisted around him, restraining him in the darkness of his room just as the darkness of the abyss had tormented him with. The sweat did indeed drip down, soaking Tai's bed, the fabric clammy against his bare, tanned and lean chest.
He wrenched the sheets away, tearing them down the middle with a desperate cry escaping his throat.
His breath came fast, panting like he had been holding his breath throughout all of that nightmare. His deep, ashy eyes of brown charcoal widened in apprehension.
The dream, everything that had happened...
It wasn't real.
But what if it was to become so?
Tai shook his head, leaped onto the floor and raced across his room to the bathroom. He stopped at the sink, the faucet turning, the cold water pouring over his wrists, the water coming up to his face, sliding down it in cool rivulets onto his bare shoulders, and going further, down past his tight abdomen to the elastic rim of his jogging pants.
It felt good.
He felt relief, yet terrible apprehension, ominous foreshadowing.
He needed to protect Sora, he knew that much. And then he thought about what he had been told earlier that evening.
He had gone to see Sora at her apartment. She had been acting distant lately, and he wanted to know why, wanted to know of any problems she may have had, because if there were any serious ones existent, he could help her get through them. They could get through them together. That's how much he loved her.
As it turned out, there was a serious problem facing the young couple. To Tai, it wasn't really a tremendous problem, but definitely something that would change their lives for good.
And Sora was scared Tai would think differently, think negatively about what she had told him.
He hadn't.
He came through happy, elated even, but worried as well. And that somewhat discouraged Sora. She began to cry, and Tai did his best to comfort her before coming home to get some sleep.
Sora had been comforted.
She was relieved, but still a bit concerned about what would happen to her and Tai now.
Tai was concerned about that as well.
But after staring long and hard into his mirror at himself, and after that horrifying dream, Tai had no more restraints. He knew what to do. Hell, he and Sora were adults, nearing the end of their senior year in high school. They can afford to do this.
Tonight.
Tai had to do it now to assure their future together.
To assure the protection of his love, to assure the safety of her hopes, dreams, emotions, and feelings.
Her personal confidence in herself and Tai.
Her life...
He needed to protect that all. He knew it in his heart. It was what he was told...
Tai grabbed a light sweater-jacket and pulled it on without a shirt, grabbed the keys to his jeep, snuck out of the apartment without making a noise, without awaking his sister, mother or father.
The night air was moist, cool, as Tai sped quietly through the streets in the direction of Sora's apartment building, the wind whipping wildly through his long, equally wild hair, the fierce determination set deep into his entrancing eyes...