You Promised
The day school ended, three eighth graders ran down the streets full of energy. In their hands was a piece of paper… their report cards. While the sun shone brightly and gave off its warmth, they raced each other past the cars and other students. The feisty looking brunette was always in the lead, followed by the blonde who was tailed by the shortest, a redhead.
"Come on already, Koushiro," the first teased to the red-haired child, "you're slacking behind!"
"I'd rather challenge you to a geography bee other than a race, Taichi!" he shouted, trying his best to get ahead.
"Why are we running anyway?" the blonde questioned. The leader stopped in his tracks and both of the other two bumped into him, falling onto the ground.
Taichi turned around and shrugged, "It's the last day of school… Why shouldn't we run?"
"If we get overheated we can't enjoy our first week of summer vacation," Koushiro asked, "uh, right, Yamato?"
The blue-eyed blonde half nodded, "Sure. So uh… let's just walk."
"Whatever," shrugged Taichi. "What'd you get on your report card?"
"A's," Koushiro said proudly, "what else?"
He rolled his eyes in reply, "I wasn't asking you."
"I got uh," Yamato glanced at his report card, "two A's and the rest are B's."
Taichi's face turned a bright red. "You all have been sucking up to the teachers."
"We just studied for the tests," Koushiro retorted.
"Shut up," he snapped.
Yamato chuckled, "What'd you get?"
"A couple A's, a couple B's," Taichi coughed out the words, "and one C."
"How many A's? B's? C's?"
"Three-two-two," Taichi said quickly and added, "would you look at that bird!"
"Two C's? In what classes?" Koushiro reached for the paper and he raised it above his head. No matter how hard he tried, the short genius could get a hold of that report card.
"Come on!" he begged, "it's not like we're going to make fun of you."
"You already do!" he whined and waved the paper higher.
Yamato snatched it away and glanced at it, "Lucky for you, Koushiro, you have a tall friend. Ah, a C in history and a C in math. Math is understandable… And a B in art? You took art? Since when did you have art?"
Taichi blinked and looked at his paper, "I had art?"
The other two boys hung their head from embarrassment of their air-headed friend.
"I remember why we were running," Yamato brought up a whole new topic.
"Why?" Taichi asked with Koushiro repeating.
"Hikari and Takeru have that play to perform. It started five minutes ago!"
"Their school is back…" Taichi turned to the west, "that way…"
"What are we doing all the way over here?" Koushiro asked.
"Beats me," Yamato shrugged.
There was a second of silence before they all took off in a sprint towards the school with Yamato yelling, "Last one there has to smell Taichi's gym socks!"
The school play went wonderfully. Though neither of the siblings had the main part, they made a major impact on the plot. Their brothers were proud of them and Koushiro was impressed. While the actors took their final bow, they were the only three standing up and applauding for them. Everyone thought they were insane; Takeru and Hikari just laughed at them.
It seemed like a zoo when everyone began to exit the auditorium. There were the normal parents who lingered to take pictures, then there were the older brothers and sisters who wanted to get out of there as fast as they could. Koushiro followed the two taller friends to get out, but it wasn't long before he was swept away from their sight and was pushed back in.
"Great," he muttered and crossed his arms. "They'll forget about me and go on home without me."
He sighed and waited until the doors were free to walk through and left the school building. Many cars were leaving the lot and the sun was beginning to set. Placing his hands in his pockets, Koushiro prepared for the long walk home. As he stepped off the sidewalk, a hand rested on his shoulder. Curiously, he looked up.
"You weren't thinking of leaving us behind," Taichi smirked, "were you, 'Shiro?"
"I thought it was the reversed, Taichi." Koushiro grinned.
Replied the brunette; "I would never leave you like that. Never."
"You never should have doubted us," Yamato nodded towards the exit area, "let's go home."
On the walk back, they talked about the past year: the fieldtrip to go whale watching, the three-day camping trip over the weekends, and the dilemmas with girls, grades, and goof-ups. Then they came across the topic of the upcoming year. They all agreed that they were looking forward to it and couldn't wait to get high school over with. College would be more fun anyway--they would be able to move out by then. And better yet, they could drive!
"What will we do when we get to college?" asked Koushiro, "we might end up in different places."
"We all know were you're going," Taichi said, nearly hurt from his own words, "you'll be the one travelling sixty ka-jillion miles away to go to some fancy shmance college. Then you'll become a famous person with tons of money and you'd forget about us."
"And Yamato would start up his own band," Koushiro looked at the ground, "you'll be travelling all over the world and you'll get so caught up on reading your fans' e-mails, you'll ignore ours. He'd be more famous than me if I ever become known."
"Taichi…" Yamato chuckled. "I have no clue of what you are going to become."
"Hey!" the brunette growled, heavily insulted.
"No, no! Don't take it the wrong way," he laughed again, "you just have so much potential, you can't possibly sit down on one thing. Heck, you could be a soccer player one day and an actor the next! If anyone's going to be famous, it'll be you and your multiple personalities."
Koushiro scratched the back of his neck, "No matter what happens… will we still be friends?"
"Of course!" Taichi said quickly, "no one can separate us."
The redhead stopped and looked at the two, "Promise? Do you promise to never leave me?"
"If you promise not to leave me," Yamato answered.
"Same with me." Taichi agreed.
They held out their hands, one piled on top of the other, and said, "We hereby make a promise to never leave each other--"
"Even if we become rich and famous," Taichi added.
Yamato nodded and said, "Or if we become something we're ashamed of, we'll still be friends."
Koushiro thought for a moment and said, "Friends forever?"
"Friends forever," they echoed and dropped their hands. Each of them looked down separate roads leading to their homes.
"See you guys tomorrow," Taichi waved.
"Yeah," nodded the Ishida.
"Okay," Koushiro bobbed his head. They grinned and turned around, then walking down their separate paths.
(Four years later)
"And now, your class valedictorian, Izumi Koushiro."
The not-so-short redhead stood from his seat, wearing the graduation gown in his school's colors. He heard the applause of the school and audience and felt his face turn bright red. Only once had he been the center of attention before this day. And that was when he lost a bet to Taichi and had to stand up in the middle of the lunchroom and sing "You Are My Sunshine" aloud and try to get others to sing it with him. On that day, he received seven girls' phone numbers and became one of the four class clowns.
"See that microphone up there, ol' buddy?"
"Taichi! You can't possibly be serious!"
"Oh but he is, he is."
"Yamato! You go sing! You have the talent!"
"But
you lost the bet!"Koushiro cracked a grin when he remembered how scared he was of standing in the lunchroom, speaking into the microphone in hopes it wouldn't work. And when all eyes focused on him, his cheeks were the brightest of red. The memory of ever singing in front of every single boy and girl of his class was awful and embarrassing. Even if he did get a few numbers…
"You are my sunshine," he had began to sing… quietly. "My only sunshine. You make me happy--"
"Louder, Koushiro!" Taichi had yelled, causing everyone to look up at the stage. "Start again!"
He hung his shoulders and started again, only a little louder. "You are my sunshine my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away…"
"Hey Koush', no one else is singing…"
"Everybody now!" Koushiro glared, getting angry at what his friends were doing. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray! --"
"You'll never know, dear, how much I love you…" Yamato stood up to encourage his friend. "Please don't take my sunshine away."
"One more time! Come on everyone!" Taichi called, also standing up.
During the third repetition, half the lunchroom was singing. Some of them were making a mockery of Koushiro while the others simply joined in for the fun of it. Koushiro never forgot about that day. Despite his embarrassing moment… his friends volunteered to make a fool of themselves, too.
He stood up behind the podium and glanced down at his speech. It took a whole week and a half to plan for that speech and he still wasn't sure if it had turned out okay. His eyes scanned the large amount of people, but only two stood out the most. Yagami Taichi and Ishida Yamato, his two best friends. They were waiting patiently and nearly choking anyone who wasn't.
"In life there are several brilliant accomplishments a student makes in his life," Koushiro started, "some were more difficult, such as preparing for the Scholastic Aptitude Test, facing your parents with the truth, or learning how to use the bathroom instead of diapers…"
The audience laughed some. As Koushiro continued with his speech of achievement, Taichi remembered the speeches he preached to him and Yamato in the past years. Just shy of about a ten years ago, this short, redheaded genius was informing them of how the new world they 'discovered' worked. This Digital World confused the hell out of Taichi, but with Koushiro there, pointing to the examples and examining the loopholes, he understood what he and seven others had stumbled upon.
Years afterwards, Taichi's best friend also played an important role for the new Chosen Children. From that sudden growth spurt of the mind, Taichi had found out that this short computer nerd, who spent most of his time asking questions rather than answering them, would be drifting away because of such intelligence. Several times they argued, half because Taichi didn't want Koushiro to be twice as smart, and half because he didn't want to realize it. Now he wanted to argue because Koushiro wouldn't leave until it was solved. If he would argue with Koushiro right about now and refuse to solve it… that meant that Koushiro wouldn't leave him for the college.
Taichi felt himself jerk in his seat and he realized that everyone was standing to applaud Koushiro. He rose out of his seat quickly, clapping his hands together loudly. It died down as the valedictorian took his seat three rows ahead of him. Yamato squirmed in his seat and eventually turned around to see the brunette.
"Are you crying?" he asked, almost jokingly.
He shook his head faintly. "Nah, crying is for girls."
"Yeah," he gave the Ishida chuckle and turned back around. Slouching, Taichi rubbed his knuckle against his eye then turned to look back at the speaker.
Just before the seniors reached the point of receiving their diplomas, Yamato was called onto the stage to perform his solo act--the senior graduation song that was written just for the day. Taichi watched his friend sit onto the stool and strum his fingers on the fine strings of the guitar. He purposely fiddled with the keys to make it sharp and flat before looking up.
"It's no speech of achievement," Yamato stated, "but it's something for us as the graduates to think about when we're getting those pieces of paper that mean so much."
The brunette glanced at Koushiro who was fiddling helplessly with his shirtsleeve. It brought a smile to his face when he realized that his eyes were trying to restrain tears from falling out. He could tell that Koushiro was holding it in because of the way his bottom lip quivered. It quivered just like the day he fell from the tree limb that he and Yamato were climbing when they were in the eighth grade. No matter how many times Taichi said it was okay to cry, Koushiro refused because he told them that they once said crying was for girls. Then he promised that he wouldn't cry.
"Everyday, you see that sun rise high," Yamato's voice echoed sweetly throughout the auditorium, "but please don't forget… to say good-bye."
The short two and a half minute long rhyme ended silently and Taichi watched several of his friends lose their cool and bow their heads into the palms of their hands. Yamato excused himself from the stage and nearly fell into his seat in tears. His legs began to tremble, from excitement, anticipation, and curiosity, as their principal made his way to the podium.
The first row of students stood from their seat and made their way to earn their diploma. Several students started to forget about the tears and gripped the end of their seats for their name. Taichi watched Koushiro and Yamato's row rise and a wide smile grew across his face. Once Yamato's name was called, his row stood. The entire auditorium cheered for their family, students, friends…. It was graduation day…
"Smile, Taichi!" Taichi's younger sister, Hikari, glanced through her camera.
"Kari! Come on!" he groaned.
"Nah, come on, Taichi," Koushiro nudged his arm, "it's just a picture."
Yamato pushed down on the redhead's shoulders with his hands. "A picture taken by Taichi's love-a-ly sister Hikari. Say, wasn't she the same little sister Hikari that little Koushiro had a crush on?"
Koushiro's face turned bright red. "Let's go."
Before he could take a step forward, Taichi pulled him back between him and Yamato. They posed casually and waited for the girl to focus the camera. Her muffled "Ready?" made them stand straight. Each of the graduates grinned instantly as they held up their diplomas and a memorable flash filled their minds.
Their pose broke immediately after the picture and they echoed each other's laughter. Yamato slipped his arms around his friends' shoulders and glanced towards Taichi. "From the days of disasters to the days full of fun…"
"Don't start this, Yamato," Taichi shrugged the arm off.
"The days of our childhood, the days of the sun…" the blonde continued.
Taichi smirked a little and joined the next line; "There just won't be a way… to keep me coming again..."
"You're my childhood memories… you're my best friend." Koushiro sang along shyly.
The three, now in synchronization, exchanged a few glances before continuing. "Through thick and thin, we'll be together--No matter what happens… we're friends forever. I know you'll be the best friend of mine… From the day we met, to the end of time… "
A crash of thunder filled the dark afternoon. Lightning just briefly decorated the sky and rain poured heavily from the clouds. Outside of an apartment building, the three fresh graduates were leaning against the walls; their hands in their pockets, their right leg bent so their foot was against the wall, and their heads were bowed just slightly. They let the rain fall freely while the afternoon dribbled on ever so slowly.
"So this is it?" Taichi finally asked, bringing his hand up to his neck.
"For now," Koushiro answered. His words were almost hallow; not like they used to be, full of wisdom and curiosity. His eyes weren't full of energy, either. The depths of his eyes were nothing, just a lost soul. Suddenly, the brilliant young man was no longer full of words. He found himself searching for them and coming up empty handed.
The blond folded his arms over his chest and glanced diagonally at the ground. He himself was out of things to say. More or less, he didn't want to say anything. Even more importantly, he couldn't say anything.
Taichi pushed himself off the wall and tilted his head to the sky. Rain rolled off his still-childish face and onto his shoulders. He finally dropped his head to look at the ground and whispered, "I'm going to miss you guys."
"It's not like we're never going to see each other again," Yamato kept his eyes on the puddles, his words filled with tears. "Besides, I'll most likely be coming back around in a couple months…"
"A year," Taichi said coldly. He watched his friend flinch a little.
Koushiro chewed the inside of his mouth. "We'll get together during you know, Christmas, summers, birthdays."
"I-I'll miss your birthday, Koushiro," Yamato murmured, glaring hard at the water. "I-I have a concert then."
"I know," he barely managed to answer.
"We got telephones, computers, and paper," Taichi voiced.
Koushiro fiddled with his jacket sleeve. "We're not going to see each other very often… are we?"
"No--" Yamato started.
"Don't think that way," Taichi snapped. "We'll see each other. Just you wait. Twelve months from now, we'll meet each other right here." He jerked his hand to point to the spot he was standing in. "Right in this damn spot we'll be standing twelve months from now."
"Taichi, I don't know if I can--" Yamato lifted his head.
"Right in this damn spot, Yamato!" Taichi forced his rule out loudly. His finger still pointed in the same exact spot. "You promise me right now, you two. You promise me that on this very day a year from now, we will meet each other right here."
Koushiro kept chewing on his lip. "Taichi, I'll be in college… I'll-"
"Promise me," the brunette almost yelled above the rain. Koushiro could have sworn that tears had slipped out of his eyes, but he couldn't tell if it was that or the rain.
"I promise," Koushiro set his hand over Taichi's wrist.
"I promise, too," Yamato did the same and the leader of the three set his other hand on top.
"Friends forever?" Koushiro whispered.
"Friends forever," they chorused and dropped their hands. Taichi watched Koushiro's bottom lip start to quiver, just like he always did before he cried. Yamato made no noise as he drifted from the two. Nobody murmured a goodbye, but they certainly thought it.
Koushiro's eyes shifted wildly before locking on Taichi's. They both cracked a sad smile and the redhead turned on his heels, then walked away. The remaining teenager finally brought his hands to his eyes and entered the building they were in front of.
"A year from now!" called Taichi before the door shut in front of his face. His eyes scanned up to see the black sky and his right hand fell over his stomach in a pathetic attempt to reach his heart. "Only a year."
(Eleven months later…)
"From the t--"
"Dude, your voice isn't getting any better, Yamato. Let's just rest it out for the night." A young man stood up from his drum set, twirling the sticks around in his palms. He shoved them into his pants pocket and eyed the blonde guitar player who slouched over the instrument.
"We have a concert tomorrow," he whispered, his voice dying out in sound.
The pianist joined the drummer in standing and voiced, "Well, it won't be very good when all your girly girls hear you voice die out. What good will it do to strain it even more?"
"Thanks for the comfort, guys," Yamato sighed and set his guitar on the ground beside his amplifier. "Glad to know you care."
"Sure, sure," the other two murmured and shuffled off the unprepared stage. The blonde lingered for a moment, listening to the silence around him before standing up and walking to the stage. His hands placed themselves in his pockets and he released a sigh.
"A year from now, Taich'. Only a month… Less than a month…"
"Hey, kid!"
"Kid?"
"Kid!"
"…Hey! I'm not a kid!"
"Who cares?"
"I do!"
"Shut up and listen to me--"
Koushiro crossed his arms and frowned. "Look, we made a deal. I find the information, you write the note cards, I finish the project with the essay. I'm not going to let you get off so easy."
"Relax! Relax, little guy."
Koushiro glared.
His roommate grinned crookedly and nodded towards the phone. "A girl called for you."
"A girl?"
"Said her name was Hikari. Yagami, I think."
"Hikari…"
"Also said that you need to call back some time."
"Anything else?" The older, taller, and crueler collage student shrugged.
"I asked her if she wanted to go out some--"
"Sheesh!" Koushiro hissed, "Hit on anything female."
"I'm kidding," he replied. "Listen, I've got to split and tend to my girl, I know I said I'd write the junk on the note cards but you know, girls come first."
"In your book."
"In every guy's book. I'll be back tonight… or tomorrow. Whichever suits me best." The roommate punched Koushiro's shoulder and made another remark of how he was kidding and swiped up his school bag.
The remaining college student sat down on a neatly made bed and pulled out a red-cover cellular phone. Dialing the familiar phone number, he held it up to his ear and waited for a couple seconds. After the second ring, Hikari's voice came across the line.
"Hello?"
"Hello?" Koushiro echoed. He still hadn't gotten over talking to Hikari in a casual way. Whenever he did, the memory of his crush came over and blocked him away from keeping his cool.
"Koushiro?"
"Hikari?"
"Hey!"
"Heard you called… is something wrong?"
"Sort of…"
"Talk to me, I haven't had a good conversation in a couple months. It'd help to have the same level of intelligence floating around."
Hikari's voice remained in its solid tone, "Thanks for the joke--but this isn't a laughing matter. I heard you, Yamato and my brother made a um, a promise to see each other in a year?"
"That's right."
"Taichi…" She whispered, "Taichi just wanted me to tell you that… that he has to break that promise."
Koushiro furrowed his eyebrows and his hand tightened around the phone. "What's wrong? Where's Taichi? Is he ill? Did you call Yamato yet? Why'd you call me first? Why isn't he calling? Where is he?"
"Koushiro," she said, "doctors found a… a cancer in um, Taichi and um… He's been really sick lately. Doctors said he won't make it for next month…"
It didn't take long for Koushiro and Yamato to find the tickets for the next plane back to Odaiba. However, it did take long for the right plane to arrive. A week had to go by just so Yamato could get back into the continent of Asia. He met up with Koushiro in his college and they scheduled for the next plane to Odaiba. It was another week to get a hold of Hikari.
Two days were then spent away from Taichi's home. Koushiro and Yamato arrived at one in the morning and decided to not wake him or his family. Unaware of how tired they were, they slept in until it was three in the afternoon. Even then they received a case of jetlag and decided to remain in the apartment for another hour.
The next day they planned to meet with Taichi, but when they called no one answered. It wasn't until noon when Hikari called again.
"Hello?" Koushiro nudged his friend in the stomach and motioned for him to join the conversation.
"You guys?" Hikari asked. Neither of them were sure of what kind of tone she had. "Exactly when was your promise made?"
"Five days after today," they both said as if they were one. Again they spoke together; "Can we talk to Taichi?"
"Five days, Taichi… so close…"
"Kari, I don't like that tone your pitching at us," Yamato almost raised his voice. Koushiro, who was too confused to say something, just listened to his friends talk.
"The disease wouldn't let up, Yamato. He tried to fight for the promise…"
Hodgkin's lymphoma… Koushiro thought five days following. Diagnosed for five years and left unknown until now. On and off fevers… coming and going every other week, then every other day. The reduction of food intake, the loss of want to play sports, to take walks, to be social… The loss of energy completely. For five years, his strength was slowly decreasing. And no one even knew about it.
Hikari said he told her not to tell Yamato and I. I don't think I wanted to know. Five years ago… we were freshmen in our high school. Five years ago… we were still together, living in Odaiba. Five years ago… we didn't even know Taichi was getting ill. Five years ago… we were the best of friends. Just a year ago exactly, we made a promise to meet again.
Taichi, we met up… but I don't think this is what you meant. Two of us are in more pain than the other. At least you're away from the pain. That's good. Better than being here, anyway. If you were still here, Taich', we'd be standing in front of your apartment building, saying how much fun we had over the year and how much we missed each other.
Funny how the weather's the same… it's pouring, just as it was the day we had to leave each other. I guess in a sense, we're doing it all over again. But this time, you can't say goodbye. Nor can you promise us to be here in a year. But we'll be back in a year; time and time again, we'll be coming back to check in with Odaiba, your parents, your sister, you… We'll keep the promise.
Koushiro stood beside the taller blonde friend and stared down at the stone in front of them. The engraving on the stone was fresh, deep, and clean. Flowers were strewn around the tombstone giving it a peaceful look. But the stench of death lingered in the air and in the hearts. Warm but cooling rain fell from the dark clouds, dripping onto the ground around the youths.
Because of the pain and sorrow kept within, their adult features turned childish. Their eyes were glossed with tears and their jaws were firm. Yamato finally dropped his head and turned away from the nightmare of a sight.
"Let's go, Koushiro," he whispered, unable to keep a steady tone. Hikari shifted from her position on the ground and glanced at the redhead. He kept his eyes on the grave. "Koushiro, come on," Yamato said again. When there was no answer, he began to walk away with Hikari following silently.
"There just won't be a way… to keep me coming again. You're my childhood memories… you are my best friend," Koushiro began to sing quietly in the downpour. "Through thick and thin, we'll be together--No matter what happens, we're friends forever…"
"I know you'll be the best friend of mine… from the day we met, to the end of time…" Yamato said over his shoulder, turning just enough to see Koushiro rub his eyes.
"See that microphone up there, ol' buddy?
"--"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…"Koushiro glanced up when he felt Yamato's hand on his shoulder. He dropped his head again and whispered lowly, "You are our Taichi, our only Taichi. You make us happy…"
"When skies are gray," the blonde joined. Together they finished; "You'll never know how much we will miss you. Please don't take my best friend away."
Please don't take my best friend away.
"You weren't thinking of leaving us behind, were you, 'Shiro?"
"I thought it was the reversed, Taichi."
"I would never leave you like that. Never."
Eh, I know it's written loosely. I tried to make something worth reading for my 90th story… didn't work out so well. All well… Maybe my next one will be worth it all. Could've been better, huh?
Okay, okay… for all those who have realized I tried to upload this three times already, (the first two times something was messed up, the third was successful,) this is only a short update for my sake of remembering this story is now going into TK Takaishi's contest. (Fine, it wasn't just to put this up… but before, I had the last notes in italics and it bugged the creep out of me. …Go ahead and laugh. ^-^;; ) So… now I'll be leaving this horrid story alone so I don't have to be reminded of how it seems so rushed. X.x