Author Notes: My first Digi-fic, I haven't read any that are Taiora yet, so this is probably pretty cliched, I wouldn't know. Second, Sora's about 23 in this fic, so just base everyone else's ages by that, okay?
~The Corsage of Courage~
She never really had that much interest in flowers. They were pretty and some smelled nice, but that was about it. Sure, she knew a lot about them, that came from her mother being a florist, of course, and her idea that Sora would follow in her footsteps. It didn't happen quite that way.
A year or so after graduating from University, Sora still hadn't found a job in her field of expertise. After swallowing her pride, Sora relented and used the knowledge of flowers her mother had taught her and took a job at a flower shop, and so not to take business from her mother, the same shop.
"Rush order, honey," Sora's mother said, poking her head in the back room where Sora stood, putting together a corsage of baby's breathe and violets. "A young man just came in wanting a dozen long stemmed red roses. Not ordering ahead, he wants them now." Sora nodded, and after putting the corsage a side, pulled out the paper that she would wrap the roses in.
As she choose the best roses from the shops supply, Sora sighed. She bet the guy was getting roses for his girlfriend. Maybe it was their anniversary, or her birthday. "No guy would ever get roses for me," she grumbled. Sora had a bit of a problematic history with guys. Her first boyfriend, Taichi, whom she dated her first year of high school, had a particularly messy brake up. She refused to let that get her down and continued dating afterwards, but it was never as much fun as the time she spent with Tai.
No other guy ever took her to a soccer field in the dead of night when it was completely deserted so that only they could play. Playing every position at once, braking just about every rule with no one but the two of them there to get angry, showing off, and laughing the entire time. No other guy could be her best friend and be her only love at the same time. No other guy, save four that she could never look at in a romantic way, knew so much about the trails of her childhood. Most people would probably look at her as if she needed to be committed to a mental institution if she told them one of the closest friends she ever had was called a 'digimon.' Of course, people still remembered when the Digital World invaded the 'real' world, but it was not widely spoken of, and the Digidestined were not well-known, thankfully.
So, Sora supposed it was, at least partly, her fault that she never found her Prince Charming, or even a sweet guy to just have fun with, afterwards. Her heart just wasn't in it, ironically, considering her crest of that of love, she should be the least likely to have romance problems.
Now, she was 23, without a job in her chosen field, without a boyfriend of her own, building a bouquet of expensive long stemmed red roses. Once she completed her work, Sora stepped away from the counter in front of her with the roses and held them as if she had been given them.
Another call from her mother prompted Sora out of her reverie and she carried the roses to the front of the shop.
"Here," she said, holding the bouquet out to her mother, who just completed the payment portion of the transaction. Sora would have given the flowers directly to the young man to bought them, but he stood on the other side of the shop, admiring the vases, with his back turned to Sora. Also, she was anxious to get resume work on that corsage. Almost immediately, Sora ducked back into the work room to finish it. A few seconds later, the door to the back room opened, and another person popped in.
"You in a hurry?" the new occupant asked.
Sora gasped and turned around. "Taichi?" she asked her eyes wide. She hadn't seen him since she graduated high school, and even then, they hadn't been on good terms since their brake-up.
"I didn't even get a chance to give you these," Tai said, holding the roses out towards Sora.
"Th-thank you, Tai," Sora stammered. "But why?"
"I'm sorry, Sora. I always meant to apologize, but after we broke up, you had new boyfriends, and I thought you were happy, I didn't want to ruin it. And then you went to University. And...now...I'm sorry Sora, please. I won't lie, I've had other girlfriends, too, but none were as much fun as being with you. None have gone through what we have. No one understands me as well as you do, no one knows me as well as you do."
"What about Agumon?" Sora asked, trying to lighten up the mood, and keep herself from bursting to tears at Tai's speech.
"I'm talking girls, not Digimon!"
Sora laughed and sniffed the roses. "You're forgiven, Tai. And I'm sorry, too."
Tai smiled. "So, can you leave now, or what?"
"Well, since Mama is my boss, and this is special occasion, probably, just let me finish this corsage."
"Sure."
"Tai?" Sora asked, her gaze since directed at the counter.
"Yeah?"
"It took a lot of courage to come here," she said, looking at him with tears in her eyes.
Tai chuckled and wiped them away. "You expected less?"
~Owari~
AN: Yeah, I know, Tai and Sora are OOC, but 1)it's ten years after 02 and 2)I've only seen eight episodes of 'Digimon,' three of which were 02 and Tai and Sora were barely in them.