Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, as much as I wish I did.

Title: A Friend Worth Dying For

Genre: Friendship

Summary: Matt finds out about his friend and something horrible they tried, leaving Matt to think about the choices he's made and what he's been doing to them, without even knowing it.

Dedicated to: JBObsession

This is a one-shot

By the way, I have seen the Japanese version of Digimon (personally I like it better than the English Dub because it's not as corny), but I saw the English first so I will be referring to all the characters by their English Dub names.

'How did this happen? Why would he do this? I don't understand.'

To Matt, the world suddenly seemed a lot duller and quieter. He did not understand it fully. Why would his friend attempt suicide? Tai wasn't that kind of guy. He was athletic, popular, good-looking...he had a good future in soccer and was the leader of the Digidestined, he had a perfect destiny. Then Matt decided something must've happened to Tai. Had he been blackmailed into this? Maybe it had been aided. And how did it happen? Drug overdose? Matt shook his head. That didn't sound right. And besides, Matt saw Tai everyday. Most days. Three or four days. They didn't share any classes, so lunch was the only time, and most times, Matt went and practiced with his band.

The phone rang. Matt picked it up quickly.
"Hello, Ishida residence.
"It's Kari. I was wondering, in the past few weeks, have you noticed something off with Tai?"
"Uh...not really. He seemed fine..."
"You don't sound very sure."
"I'm a busy man, Kari."
"Sure you are. Well, just wondering. I've just been talking to Tai."
"He's awake?"
"Duh. That's how we know its' attempted suicide. Sora's here. He told her."
"Well, they are best friends."
"So are you and Tai! Have you forgotten that, Ishida! You saved Tai from Piedmon and swore nothing would come between your friendship! Yet you don't even acknowledge him as your best friend!"
Matt then assumed Kari had hung up on him, because he heard the dead tone. He leaned against the wall in disbelief. He thought he'd done everything a best friend ought to do. He talked to him occasionally, had a hangout once every couple of months and watched movies and marathons, one of them would eventually fall asleep after barely paying attention, they'd sleep, wake up, and one would leave for home. That's the way best friends were. Right?

But something inside Matt told him that best friends meant more than that.

Tai sat upright in his bed, reading a book Kari had brought him. Sora and Izzy were sitting in the chairs next to his bed. His friends had never been more worried about him in their entire time knowing each other. What worried them more, though, was that Matt hadn't shown up.

"He's busy;" Sora had spat. Even though she was dating the blonde bass player, she saw him as much as the next person.

Tai shut his book with a sigh.
"I think you're putting too much on the line for this, Tai." Izzy said. Sora nodded.
"I agree. Matt's a good guy, but if he won't say you're his best friend and do what you're doing for him, then he's not worth that title." she said. "Would Matt sacrifice himself for you? Would he try to kill himself so he's out of your way, out of your mind, so you don't have to worry about putting serious time aside?"
Tai looked down. "If I'm no longer around, he doesn't have to worry about me."
"He didn't even realize something was wrong with you!"

The three older kids looked to the doorway where Kari was standing, clenching her cellphone. Obviously she had just gotten off the phone with Matt.
"Don't break that, Kar', mom and dad spent a lot of money on that." Tai warned her.

"I don't care about the bloody phone!" Kari exclaimed. "I care about you and your life! If he didn't notice anything, he is not your best friend."

"..."

"What are you looking for in life?"
Tai inwardly rolled his eyes. His parents (who had been away during the suicide ordeal) made him see a psychiatrist upon discovering what had happened. And the psychiatrist was an idiot.
"Taichi?"
"Parents who don't think I'm mentally ill, a sister who doesn't spazz about my friends, and a friend worth dying for."
The psychiatrist sighed. She asked this every day, and got the same reply.
"Tell me about your parents."
"They were away when I tried to kill myself. It was the perfect opportunity. I love them lots. I didn't want to do it while they were in town. They were going to be away for a week. I wouldn't put them through that misery of finding out straight away."
"What about your sister?"
"She's the best little sister ever. She used to get sick often. I wanted my parents to take her with them, but she refused. I didn't want to be too conspicuous, so I didn't push. I think she suspected something."
"Your friends?"
"I need one who will be worth dying for." Tai replied bluntly. The psychiatrist sighed again. This patient was stubborn and tough. She had a feeling that he attempted suicide due to lack of attention. He wasn't attention-seeking, he had told her, totally truthfully, he hated attention. But his 'best friend' always talked to other people, got sidetracked when they hung out, and would change the subject whenever Tai had tried talking to him.
"Doctor Sayuki?"

Sayuki was still lost in thought. Maybe it would be worth talking to this friend of his.

"Doctor Sayuki?"
"Oh, sorry, Tai. You can go now. See you next week?"
"Sure."

"Don't go jumping off any bridges."
"I'm not that retarded."
Sayuki smiled. Tai smiled back, and headed out the door. She sighed. He was a good kid. She wondered what kind of friend his best friend was, for him to think he was worth dying for.

Matt was waiting outside the Kamiya's apartment waiting for Tai to return from the psychiatrist. He wanted to get the truth from the other teenager. But he wasn't sure how Tai would be feeling. If Kari was pissed off at him, imagine how the actual person felt. Matt looked up when he heard footsteps on the stairs. He saw Tai's hair first, and then said persons' face. Tai was with his mom, who frowned when she saw Matt. Tai's chocolate eyes widened in surprise.
"Tai, can I talk to you?" Matt asked. "In private?"
Tai looked at his mom, who nodded with a sigh.
"Five minutes." she warned. "Then I'm coming back out. Any raised voices, I'm intervening. We are trying to avoid the suicides, not gain any more."
Tai rolled his eyes, and Matt bowed politely. Mrs Kamiya entered the apartment, and Tai leaned against the balcony.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Why did you try to kill yourself?" Matt asked, getting straight to the point.
"I would've thought it'd be obvious, judging from what Kari has said to you." Tai replied dryly. Matt sighed.
"Well, fine. Let's start with small talk. Where have you been today?"
"At the psychiatrists. And I might walk back there."
"Did you really try to kill yourself? How?"
"Yes. With a knife. The old fashioned way." Tai replied. "Doubled back from school. No problem. Was the easiest thing to do. Wanna see the knife? It used to be a stainless steel, but now it's more stainless red. Considering I almost bled to death. Mom's been having difficulty getting the stains out of the kitchen floor."
Matt had no words. A part of him wanted to laugh and tell Tai to be serious, but another part was telling him that Tai was serious. Matt then realized that Kari was so mad at him because it was because of him Tai was suicidal.

He hadn't been the best friend he swore to be.
He had forgotten his promise to not let anything get between them.
The once inseparable pair, the two teachers at their Junior High School struggled to split apart for being disruptive, had been brought apart by Matt's new friends, the ones who he made a band with.
He had to be the most worthless best friend in the world. While Tai had been there through everything for him, after his band kicked off, where had Matt been for Tai?

Matt knew what to do.

"I'm sorry, Tai." he said. "I've been a horrible friend."
Tai nodded. "Yeah, you have. But I never doubted you weren't worth it. So even if you don't think I'm worth it, I think you're a friend worth dying for."

Matt smiled, and held out his hand. "Friends?"
Tai took the blonde's hand. "Best friends."
"I feel like transferring into your class."
"So we can cause havoc once again?"
"I know why I've been feeling incomplete and not motivated to work lately. My partner in crime hasn't been around."
"Dude, you're my partner in crime!"
Matt laughed. He looked at his friend, and frowned.
"Are you sure you're not really mentally ill or anything?"
"I'm fine." Tai smiled. "Give me a few weeks."
Matt suddenly pulled his friend into a hug.
"When Kari rang me, I didn't want to believe her." he said. "Please, never do that again. I'm flattered you'd die for me, and now I know you'd rather die than me if we ever fight another really powerful Digimon. But I'd do the same."
"No you wouldn't." Tai replied. Matt released him with a scowl. "You're too chicken!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!" Tai stuck out his tongue. "I know you best. Now, go over to Sora's. She's dying to go on a date for once."
Matt smiled. "Hang out this weekend? Video games, board games, movies, dares?"
"Sounds better than movie marathons." Tai laughed.

"I won't text through the whole thing. I promise."
"I'm going to hold you to that. I'm going to hold you to every promise you have ever made, Ishida!"
"Me too."

"How'd things go?" Kari asked Tai as he entered the apartment. Her brother smiled.
"I think he's realized what he's done wrong. I must say, Doctor Kido is a really good sport, to help us freak out everyone."
"Yeah, I can't believe they actually thought you would try to kill yourself." Kari said. Both Kamiya siblings cracked up laughing.
"At least you got Matt back as a best friend."
"Yup. All I wanted was to make sure he would be there."
"I think, when it comes to you, he actually loves you. In a non-gay way." Kari said, picking up her book again. "As he loves himself, he loves you."
"Well, considering his ego, he must love me quite a bit."

The End

See, I'm not dead. My inspiration has returned!

I got this inspiration from somewhere, but I'm not sure whether it was good or not. I wanted to make the ending light, and I didn't want the characters to be too OOC. So, making it just a prank to trick Matt into coming back is something I think Tai would do.

In the second season of Digimon I feel that Matt isn't as much of a friend as he could be to Tai. Sure, he punched him to knock some sense into him, but he steals Sora! Matt was obviously not having regular conversations with Tai for him to find out how Tai felt towards Sora.

On the ending note about Kari saying Matt loves Tai, although its' weird for two guys to say they love each other and not mean it in a romantic way, the two are still pretty close, and they really would do anything for each other. I just think Matt forgot that.

Anyway, please R&R. No flames please. I haven't written for several months, so its' going to take a while for me to warm up to writing descriptively.

Thank you all!

~Miss-Stoneflower