This I Promise You
A Taiora

And I will take you in my arms and hold you right where you belong, Till the day my life is through, this I promise you.

14 year old Sora Takenouchi stood at the gate with

tears in her eyes as her best friend, Tai Kamiya, stood

beside her. He turned towards her and handed her a little

box with a gold locket inside. She opened it and gasped.

Inside was a picture of them together at a soccer game

from when they were younger that she thought Tai had

lost. "Where did you find that picture?" she asked. "In one

of my drawers." he blushed. "But your room's a mess." she

implied. "I know..." he replied, blushing. "I had it the

whole time. I felt bad when you yelled at me for losing it,

because in actuality I kept it. I know we were only 12

when the picture was taken, but...I...had feelings for you

then that I didn't realize were for real, and I..." "What are

you trying to say?" She asked, noticing the tears forming

in his eyes. "I'm gonna miss you so much Sora. I don't

know what I'll do without you." he whispered. "I've never

felt this way about anyone...I thought I was crazy, I

thought that the feelings were just a puberty thing, and

then I got older, and I realized that..." he murmured and

kissed her. She was shocked, but she knew what he meant.

"I really love you. And I'm sorry that I chose now to tell

you this. I know this is goodbye, but I also know that in

our hearts, we'll always be together. I just want you to

keep this promise; Never forget our friendship and

remember that I'll always be in your heart. Will you?" he

whispered. She had tears in her eyes as she heard these

words coming from his mouth. Tai Kamiya, "Mr. I refuse to

show my feelings to anyone" had just poured his heart out

to her. She threw her arms around him crying and he

pulled away. "Is that a yes?" She nodded and kissed him.

"FLIGHT 1516 NONSTOP SERVICE TO WEST PALM BEACH

NOW BOARDING" The loudspeaker blared. "That's me." she

murmured. "I know," Tai replied solemnly. They kissed one

last time and she walked out of his life forever...or so he

thought.

Three years later...(Both are 17)

Sora turned the locket over in her hands as she lay in bed.

She hadn't been able to open it due to a stuck clasp for

two and a half years; and had forgotten what was in it and

who had given it to her. "Sora, are you playing with that

dumb locket again?" her cousin, Jennie, who shared a

room with her asked. "Yes. I still can't figure out who gave

it to me. I remember that it was a guy, and I know that I

must have meant alot to him." Sora replied. "Hmmm, well,

can you quit it for the night, I'm trying to sleep." Jennie

whined. "Okay." Sora answered and turned out the light.

Meanwhile, Tai was fast asleep in Odaiba. Suddenly the

radio turned on, blaring Britney Spears' "Oops I Did It

Again" He jumped up in shock as a giggling Kari stood in

the doorway. "What did I tell you about playing Britney

Spears on my alarm?" he asked half angry/half asleep. She

smiled and ran. He chased after her, still not realizing that

he was wearing boxers and a t-shirt, outside and then went

back inside, immediately going for the refrigerator. He

grabbed a milk carton, cereal and a banana, then sat down

at the table across from his mother, who was reading the

newspaper and sipping at her coffee. "Mom, did she call?"

he asked. "No honey, It's been three years, would you just

move on?" she replied. He shook his head and took a big

gulp out of the milk carton he was holding. "Taichi! I told

you not to do that!" she scolded. He shrugged and poured

the milk over his cereal. "I can't move on mom." he

thought. "She means too much to me." Kari sat down to

breakfast as though nothing happened and Tai grinned at

her, he was going to get her back. He got up and went to

get ready for soccer practice. During the break, he got a

phone call from his cousin Matt, who lived in america.

"Hey man, you know Sora Takenouchi right? I saw her

yesterday, damn, she looks good. Her cousin is my

girlfriend. Dude, my friend likes her, are you two still

together?" he informed. "Sora?" Tai asked. "My Sora?

Redhead, about 5'4, awesome tennis player?" "Yeah, your

ex girlfriend. But, she's a cheerleader now. Jenn

brainwashed her. No prob though, she's actually found her

real talent. She's a flier. Dude, she's almost as good as

Jenn." Matt rambled on. Tai cut him off. "One problem

Matt...We never broke up. Does she think we did?" "I

dunno, she hasn't dated anyone since she got here. So I

would assume that she doesn't think you broke up." Chris

replied. "I have to see her!" Tai exclaimed. "I'm going

there on the next flight. Be at the airport to pick me up!"

He hung up and ran home to pack. He called his mom at

work and explained his situation, finally getting her to

agree. A day later, he stood in Palm Beach International

Airport. Matt ran up to him. "Hey man!" he said and led

him to the car. "Where's Sora?" Tai immediately asked. "At

my girlfriend's house." he answered. "Can we go there

first?" Tai asked. "Yeah I guess..." Matt replied. "Cool." Tai

replied and threw his stuff in the trunk. They pulled up to a

two story white house and Tai gasped. "She lives

HERE?!?" "No dipshit....she lives in the basement..." Matt

replied sarcastically. "Oh...well, let's ring the doorbell!" Tai

exclaimed. "Okay...." Matt answered and walked up to the

door. A girl who was about 5'2, skinny with blue eyes and

past shoulder length brown hair wearing blue cheerleading

shorts and a white cheerleading shirt answered the door.

"Matt!" she squealed and threw her arms around him. "Hey

babe." he replied and kissed her. "This is Tai, he's my

cousin from Japan." "Hi." she replied with a smile.

"Where's Sora?" Matt whispered to her. "Um,

upstairs...why?" she replied. "This is her boyfriend." he

answered. "No way..." she gasped. "She...but she...That is

NOT her boyfriend. She's single, but not for long since I'm

hooking her up with Mike Lancaster...you know, the

football player." "Jenn...He's her boyfriend. Back when she

left to come here, he asked her out. She hasn't forgotten

him...has she?" Matt explained. "I hope not, I'll get her."

Jennie replied with a smile. "Sora! Sora Marie

Takenouchi!!! HEY SORA!!!!!" she yelled. "Coming!" Sora

called, running down the stairs. Hearing her voice again

was like music to Tai's ears. He just wanted to hold her

close and tell her how much he missed her. She looked

more beautiful than ever. Her hair was the same length it

had always been, but she took more care of it. She had on

very little make up, consisting of a little bit of glitter on

her eyelids and shimmery lipgloss. She was wearing a pair

of cheerleading shorts and a white shirt that said

"Wellington Cheerleader" on the front. It was Tai's guess

that she was on her way to practice because she had on

cheerleading shoes as well, and her gym bag was next to

the couch. "Hey Matt!" she exclaimed and hugged him.

Jennie cleared her throat. Sora immediately looked at her,

considering that this was how Jennie told her that she was

doing something wrong when she was teaching her how to

be a cheerleader. "What?" Sora asked. "Aren't you going to

say hello to this guy over here?" Jennie responded. "Oh,

hey." she turned to him and shook his hand. "I'm Sora."

"You don't...remember me?" Tai asked. "I'm sorry! I'm so

bad with names...was it at last week's game that we met?

Cause if it was I wouldn't remember...you know I'm so

busy all the time." She replied. "It's okay," he answered.

"You didn't meet me last week anyway." "Well, when did I

meet you?" she asked. "A really long time ago. I still

remember it...we were about eight, and I was on the

soccer team at Odaiba elementary. You were on the girl's

soccer team, but was moved to our team due to your

rough way of playing." he explained. "You're from

Odaiba?" she asked. "Yeah, but let me finish; I got paired

up with you that day and we clicked. We'd been through

alot, and then the test of a lifetime came before us...I fell

for you. Not like that dumb puberty thing, but really fell, as

in love. I didn't want to tell you, so I kept it a secret for

two years. I remember your birthday party, in 7th grade,

you kept yelling at me for losing that picture we had taken

together after winning nationals. The truth was that I kept

it. I didn't want you to know because I thought you'd laugh

at me. I didn't think I'd have to tell you, but then you had

to move here when we were in 9th grade. So I made a

copy of the picture and put it in a locket for you. When I

gave it to you, you didn't suspect anything, until you

opened it and saw what was inside. You started to cry, and

I told you that I loved you. Then we swore we'd never

forget oneanother, I kept my end of the deal, what about

you?" he responded. She touched the locket at her throat

and an image of her and him standing in the airport

flashed in her memory. "Taichi?" she whispered. "My

Taichi?" He nodded. Tears came to her eyes and she threw

her arms around him. "Told ya." Matt whispered to Jennie.

She nodded in approval and smiled, Sora had finally found

the part of her that had been missing for so long and Tai

had rekindled the relationship that he knew was still there.