Notes: Well this is my first Taiora/Sorato as well as romance. The idea came to me as I was writing the second part of Phases of Life, so I thought why not write it. I honestly didn't mean to make it so depressing. I just wanted everyone in character and such. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Digimon is the property of Toei Animation and Bandai.

A Moment Too Late
By Frozen Phoenix

Valentine's Day was usually a pleasant day for Yagami Tachi. As the star soccer player of his school, he often had several admirers, however he often avoided the holiday. But this year he had plans. This year he wanted to spend the day with his long time best friend Takenouchi Sora.

But the day before Valentine's Day was just as important. After years of beating around the bush, he had finally gathered up his courage and was ready to do what he had been putting off for years.

It's ironic, he thought, to be the bearer of the Crest of Courage and yet be afraid to ask Sora, whom he had known for years, and whom he thought of as one of his best friends, out on a date.

But today, that was going to change.

He had seen her all day in school, and even shared several classes with her, but it never seemed like the right time to speak about something so personal. So he had waited until before soccer practice was about to begin and pulled her aside.

"Sora, I really need to talk to you." He spoke seriously.

Her eyes widened slightly and worry crossed her face.

"Tai, is everything all right? Has something happened?" She asked apprehensively.

Tai almost smiled. The way she was worried about him showed how she unconditionally cared about others, one of her most valuable traits.

"Can you stay for a minute after practice? I need to ask you something. It won't take very long." He coaxed, trying to convince her.

She smiled slightly, the worry easing from her face.

"Of course I'll stay."

Tai felt like a large weight had been lifted of his shoulders. But the relief only lasted a moment until the soccer coach's voice carried over the field,

"Yagami, get on the field, this is a soccer practice not a social hour."

Sora's smile widened. "You should get going Tai, you wouldn't want to keep the team waiting." She said teasingly.

He mirrored her smile. "Besides what's a team without its captain?"

"Yagami!" the agitated coach yelled.

Tai sighed and ran across the field. The coach and the rest of the team were already divided into two teams.

"Nice you could finally join us, Yagami." The coach spoke sarcastically.

"Eh sorry about that." Tai murmured embarrassedly.

He looked at the stands and saw Sora sitting in the front, close to the field. On her left, sat her pink bird Digimon

Biyomon and on her right his best friend Ishida Yamato and his wolf-like Digimon Gabumon. She saw him watching and waved.

"Yagami, the practice is on the field not in the stands." Came a loud voice in front of him.

"Sorry Coach." He said apologetically. The coach merely shook his head and muttered something about teenagers and their hormones.

Tai immediately brought his attention back to the field. He had a feeling that soccer practice was going to be grueling that day.

And it was. The coach had worked everyone, very toughly. There was a game in a few days and they had to be ready.

Tai changed as quickly as possible. After everything that had happened, the last thing he wanted to do was keep Sora waiting.

He found he sitting in the stands where she and Matt had been sitting earlier. Her usually pleasant and serene face was drawn sadly.

Now it was his turn. "Sora, is something wrong?" He asked with concern "Where'd Biyomon, Gabumon and Matt go?"

She smiled slightly. "Gabumon said he was hungry, so they went to get something to eat. They should be back soon." He voice became serious. "You said you had something you needed to talk to me about?"

The moment of truth. For a second Tai felt panicked. Get it together, Yagami. You've practiced this a million times.

"Well," he took a breath, "Sora, we've known each other for a long time and I wanted to tell you, that even though I never really said anything, I've always seen had feelings for you. I know at times it hasn't seemed that way, like when I threw up in your hat and didn't tell you about it, or when I bought you that hair pin. But I've always cared about you and respected and admired the way you care about everyone other than yourself. Even when we were in the Digital World and T. K. was upset because he missed his mother, you immediately comforted him. You held us together even when things got really bad." Tai looked away nervously.

"I know this is all really sudden and everything, but I've been wanting to tell you how I felt for a while. And I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me tomorrow. I'm not sure what we'd do yet. I was so nervous about today, I didn't plan that far. But as long as I'm with you, I know we'd have a great time. " He turned back to her, waiting for her to respond.

Sora bowed her head. These were the words she had wanted to hear for so long, and now she was hearing them far too late.

"Sora?" Tai questioned her.

She looked up, the sadness evident upon her face. "Oh Tai, I'm so sorry. Thank you for telling me how you feel, it means so much to me. I care about you so much and only want you to be happy. But, I can't go out with you."

"But why?" He asked in confusion.

Sora felt her face grow warm and she struggled not to look away. "Because Matt and I have been planning on going out to a concert tomorrow night,"

The silence seemed endless. For Tai it was a shocked silence and for Sora it was a painful one. After what seemed like eternity, Tai finally spoke.

"You and Matt. Wow, when did this all happen?"

Sora shifted uncomfortably. " I'm not really sure myself." She sighed. "It just seemed that we constantly kept running into each other in school. And then after school, when you had soccer practice and we were waiting for you, or he would stop by the flower shop and we'd just start talking and…" She stopped seeing a pained look appear upon his face.

"Waiting for me." He repeated. To think, here he was losing the only girl he cared about, and it completely his fault it was happening.

"I'm so sorry, Tai. I never meant to hurt you." Sora was having trouble looking at his face, usually so full of energy and good humor, now looking haunted and even angry.

"You're sorry?" he repeated her once again. She flinched hearing a bitter tone that seemed so out of place in his voice.

As if reading her mind he turned from her. She moved forward as though to take his hand, to make him in some way understand. He moved away from her and stood his back to her face. His eyes scanned across the field as though searching for something, anything that could bring him salvation.

After a moment he spoke. His voice had lost its bitter, defensive tone and seemed beaten, tired. "You shouldn't be sorry."

"Tai," she began.

He continued on as though she had said nothing. "You have no reason to be." He turned. "There's no reason for you to feel bad about caring about Matt. After all we've all been friends for years." He smiled wanly. "I'm glad that you two have become closer and I know that he'll take care of you." Like I should have, he thought miserably.

Sora looked at the face she had known for years. As they had grown older she realized she could always tell what he was feeling by looking at him. And now, despite the smile, she could see terrible pain reflected in his eyes. The pain that she had caused. She felt tears that she had been repressing begin to spill out down her face.

Tai looked at her mournfully. I came to tell her how much I love her and now I'm hurting her. He placed a hand on the side of her face awkwardly. "Please Sora, don't cry. Making you cry was the last thing I ever wanted to do." He stopped speaking.

For a moment they both stood silently musing and wondering about what could have been. Then Tai gently pulled his hand from her face and rummaged in his pocket looking for a tissue. She watched him pull one out and hand it to her.

"It's clean and besides you don't want Matt to see that you were crying do you?" The last statement was spoken without malice, only with pain.

"Tai-"

He raised a hand, cutting her off once again. "I know that I'm barely keeping my eyes from watering, and soon I'll end up bawling along with you. I better go."

Sora knew what he was doing. He was keeping his feelings inside, locked away from her. This was the one time he wouldn't confide in her.

"Sora!" She heard a voice behind her call. She turned and saw Matt walking slowly, with three ice cream cones in his hands, followed by Gabumon with two. Biyomon was flying ahead of them.

Tai's fists clenched and for a moment he actually considered hitting Matt. Not out of anger, merely as a way to relieve some of the pain he was feeling. Before Matt could reach them he spoke again.

"I have to go. I just remember that I was supposed to stat dinner half an hour ago. Mom will probably have a fit if the tofu casserole isn't thawed right."

Sora immediately saw through his cover and sighed, "Tai," She stopped when she saw the look he was giving her.

"Try not to burn the casserole too badly."

After a moment he smiled. "You're talking to the guy who knew how to operate the stove when he was eight years old."

She shook her head. "I know. That's what I'm afraid of."

Silence was present once again, until Tai spoke,

"Sora, I just want you to be happy. And if you're not with me then I'm glad you're with Matt."
With that he turned and began to walk away.

"Tai, wait up!" Matt called finally catching up to them. But Tai didn't turn or respond. Matt looked at Sora's face and knew immediately that she had been crying. He also had an idea why.

The ice cream was immediately forgotten, as Matt let it fall to the ground and wrapped his arms around her.
Biyomon also saw Sora's face and asked worriedly, "Sora, are you okay? Why were you crying?"

Gabumon was focused on Tai. "Shouldn't we go after him?"

Matt shook his head. "No. I think he just wants to be alone."

Sora watched Tai over Matt's shoulder with unyielding sadness, as Tai continued walking away from them. And now he really thinks he is.

Tai was now running. He had no idea where he was going and at the time didn't really care. He wanted to keep moving, to run fast enough to erase the pain of the conversation that had happened mere minutes ago.

How could I have been so foolish, he wondered. Did I expect her to just wait around for me forever? A selfish part of him said yes, but the realistic part of him knew that that was far too much to ask. He had had his chance time and again, and blew it. There was no one to blame for this but himself.

He stopped running and sweat and something he vaguely recognized as tears dripped off his face. Using the back of his hand he wiped his face and clearly looked at his surroundings.

He was on a small bridge, overlooking traffic and pedestrians hurrying to return to their homes after a hard days work. He looked up and saw the sun slowly dulling, beginning its trek towards twilight.

Tai watched everything with silent observation. The only thought on his mind was: What do I do now?
Screeching tires and a honking horn was his only reply.

~To Be Continued…~