Changing to remain the same

Title: Changing to remain the same

Author: Strange Music-;

Summary: There is no doubt that they had been changed. Especially now in the face of what might be their greatest challenge. Going back to school. (This is a NP Story with a possibility of later becoming a S/YP )

Rating: G

Sequel: Don't know. Muse does what Muse does. And she does a lot these days. Unfortunately she is only telling my half of tit, and not always early. But the way she is been dictating me it is a chance of 75 % I already started a sequel to this story

Okay...something you heard quiet a few times before. This is my first DM story, to weaken the shock. It is not my first story /period/. Actually around number 40. That don't mean that I am a very good writer. Just that I written quiet a few.

Hope you enjoy this one.

It's Yamato's POV but this should be obvious from the story, Also a slight AU-Alternative Universe setting, but only as much that the people around them do not remember the fight that happened nor do their parents remember what their kids had done. For them it was just another bomb-attack again.

Actually don't know what else to write.

Well no specially hate for any person in here neither Sora nor Yamato's and Takeru's Dad.

Changing to remain the same

by

Strange Music

I can't believe we did all this.

I mean I *know* that we did all this.

But now back in the real world it seems to be so different. So unrealistic.

I can't believe we did all this.

Saving two worlds.

Just by ourselves.

Just ourselves this little group of children that were not even old enough to vote yet. Yet we still made a difference. I mean we went into another world. Sure not by choice the first time. But the second we had at least a moment were we could have said no. Yet we choose to go back again. And we turned around fate.

I ran out of fingers and toes to count how many times during that time our life was so close to being over, even when at the same time each of them is burned into my mind.

And there is something else I can't believe.

I can't believe that after all that. After saving the world as we know it and battling evil monster in another one.

We *still* have to go to school tomorrow.

*~*~*~*

I met with the other after class. It was kind of natural. I think we still have the ongoing feeling that as long as we stick together it could be us against a world and we would win. Only Hikari and Takeru's absents was noted.

The other kids were looking strangely. I assume that our group must have looked that way at them. The big question mark at what connected us was so clear in their eyes that we almost laughed about it. Sure I guess that a football player hangs out with someone out of the band was still understandable in their heads. Also that the pretty rich girl hung around them. But where the hell the tomboy and the 4eyes fit into that one was too much for them. And I guess the rest of them was still trying to get used to seeing Koushirou outside the Computer room in the breaks.

It was easy to ignore them. Somehow it felt like we were to different now from them anyway. Like the time that we had spent in the other world had truly aged us. Not only in the short time more that we spent there but also in every other aspect.

As strange as it may sound. I think we had become warriors . All the time that we had spent over there fearing and fighting for our daily life did that to us. And I actually can't remember life as we lived it before.

I can't remember a time where Taichi was a stranger. Whose name I hardly know.

When Mimi was that ditzy snobbish girl that only caught my eyes when a bright flash of pink blinded me.

When Sora had only caught my eye for a minute because she was a girl playing soccer.

When Jyou was someone I would have never gotten to know. Much less call a friend and I think I never met Koushirou.

I had been pretty lonely back then. Never really getting around for making friends and the only person that I let close enough was Takeru.

But now I have friends like them. As close as Takeru every was. People that are now what I never thought I see them to be. Never thought I needed them to be. Yet needed the so badly now.

Fighting for and saving each others life can do that to you.

And I still have the nightmares to remind me of it.

I used to have nightmares about being late in school or the famous one where you stand in front of the classroom naked. But now my nightmares have death and blood and pain in them.

Loss.

Loss of the people that are close to me. That would never be gone from the place that they had taken in such a short time.

So wasn't it natural that after all this, a English-exam didn't seem quiet as important. I mean once you looked at the wrong end of a sword your priorities kind of shift.

Although my father unfortunately held other option.

And there we came to another situation.

People around here have forgotten. For them all that happened was just another series of bomb-attacks

Which is good since to en extend that means that no one is treating us different. But is bad when it come to our normal life.

Or how would you explain to you dad when he wakes you up out of a nightmare in which you shout for the life of your younger brother.

Because that's the strange thing about nightmares.

They have a very clear and very bad memory at the same time. Or how else could you explain the fact that they show you moments of you life so clear yet twist it at the end. Showing me how it all could have been.

And it scares the hell out of me.

Since sometimes the *might have been* is much scarier than what actually happened. Because at that time we didn't have time to think. We didn't have time to consider what might go wrong. And in the end, when we had once more been the winner we didn't want to think about it.

Hindsight I know that we had a lot more luck than we could possible have.

But I am not complaining. By god I wasn't complaining.

So dad sees that something is awry . And it's not only the nightmares that give him a clue. He sees it in us. In me and Takeru. Somehow he looks at us and see how we have ages during that time. And sometimes he looks like he sees what is missing, what we have left behind in that other world. It wasn't just our Digi-Partner. It was a piece of our youth.

And I know that he can see the loss. In me and much more in Takeru. My little brother seemed to have grown up a lot while we had been there. He was no longer the same little guy that Mum didn't want to buy a hamster because she had been afraid that he wouldn't be able e to take care of it.

Maybe of all of us that went there he changed the most.

Like all us he lost a bit of his youth. but he also lost a big part of his innocents. He learned early and in a hard way what other takes years for. That you can trust only few, that in the end it them against you, that you can't always trust a pretty face and that life is loosing. He is a lot more mature than his classmates and I know that he sees it too. A reason why I am happy that Hikari is in the same school as he. That way he is around someone that understand.

But Dad is not the only one noticing to change in him. Mum did it also. And I felt bad for not being able to tell her the truth about what happened in that camp that had changed her little baby so much.

The break is over end we part. There is no goodbye and even without spoken words we know that we will meet again in the next break. For some things we no longer need words.

Next class History.

Not really a subject that is high on my list especially with a teacher that would even make detective Novel sound boring.

As the minutes go by I find myself more and more looking out of the window . And as I look at the sky I remember how it was to fly. To seek through the air on the big wings of Sora's Birdramon Or riding through the landscape carried by the powerful legs of Garurumon. Garbumon…a sad smile comes to my face when I think of him., I miss my partner. I know we all do. Even when some of us would never admit it. it shows. I spend a lot more time at the zoo than I ever had. Taichi is now proud owner of a dog and Kari of a cat. Joe owns a aquarium and Mimi went through a lot trouble getting her mother to buy her a cactus. And so did Sora by convincing her mother of a Parrot. Not to forget Takeru who is happy with the puppy that I got him a day before school. Under the scolding eyes of my mother. But she knew that somehow I didn't the right thing. Knew it, at the first loud squeal of laughter since the camp as he embraced the dog. It wasn't Patamon but it was someone that Takaru could show his love for . Non of our animals or plants is. But we feel better having them along. As if somehow it connects us to our friends that can't be with us.

So that we won't forget.

As if we ever could.

As if we ever could forget anything that happened to us.

The memory might fade, already now some of the things that happened weren't so clear as they had been. But a lot of things would stay with us forever.

Still of all the memories our left behind Partner were definitely the best.

We were closer with them than we sometimes had though, although I never found out if it was because of their time they sent with us. Or if some cosmic choice gave everyone of us the right partner. We definitely shared a lot. And sometimes it felt like we all had gained another brother or sister. Another point why leaving them behind had been one of the most painful memories that we carry in us. .

A felt a slight elbow catching me out of my daydreams. And as I look back hazy I catch the scowling eyes of Taichi. Guess I got lost a bit in my memories. "Yamato" he hissed under his breath and from the gaze the teacher threw at me he hadn't been the only one noticing my absents.

"I am sorry" I say trying to say it as if I feel it and whispered a small thanks to Taichi.

He smiles and turns back to the teacher.

In a way Taichi is as much my brother now as TK is. And with Hikari I have now also gotten a little sister.

We spent a lot time together . Playing videogames on the TV or watching some shows. We are contempt to be safe and to have a chance of being a child again. Especially Taichi needs it. All that time in the other world he had been forced to be our leader. He was the one that took the blame and the chances. He was the one that we looked up to When the rest of us didn't know what to do anymore, when we needed someone to make a plan. He, more than all of us seeks the refugee back into normal life. And once in a while he needs to give up completely. Like yesterday when we were staying at his house. Spreading on the couch he relaxed with his head in my lab and for once in a while let me protect him.

After he fell asleep in with me dozing slightly I heard In the background his and my parent talk . Their topic was us and I heard that beside the fact that they were happy about how close of a friendship we had they were also worries that it was too close. That somewhere in the future it might become more...that it might become love.

I just smiled at their worries.

I was 11 I didn't yet think about relationship and problems that would come with them who knows how we would turn out to be. And much more than all this I was a 11 year old who had just come back from a big journey. Right now all of us were doing our best to just being child. knowing that reality would catch up with us soon enough.

So in the meantime I would let our parents worry about our future.

For a brief moment I wonder what they would say if we told them that not so long ago our future plans had been to live long enough to see the next day.

So right now.....we just wanted to live.

Yet there was another thing that made our parents worry . As much as we try to hide everything. The much better physical condition was easy talked of to the camp. After all those days walking and fighting did leave their way. There is one thing left that we can't hide.

The fact that loud noises and sudden movements still get us.

Not that they scare us. But right now for example a breaking bowls has us jumping up from our chairs and looking around in attention, Like it happened last time when we were all dinning with the Tachikawa family.

And sudden tips on the shoulder get up all out fighter instincts, Knowing how our parents could interpret that reaction I know that all of us might have very much seen the last of a camp for a long long time.

Especially Mimi's Parents wonder what has happen to their little girl. The one that only a short time ago had been worried about broken nails and bad hair days. The one that was now happily running with us on the grounds not even caring about whether or not her knees got scraped a bit. And they also wonder about Sora. The girlboy that had of a sudden become their daughters best and closest friends. A girl that she wouldn't even have noticed not so long ago. And now was so inseparably that Mimi even followed her to those soccergames that she used to hate to much.

Same went for Sora's parents, only that they were wondering about the fact that their daughter had finally found a friends that was not male. I guess from the happy smile that her mother had made she was even hoping that she might eventually turn into the resemblance of a lady with time.

And a bit it even worked. we all stood in awe the first day we saw her in a dress.

Okay, we also teased her endlessly, but that's what friends are for.

I guess the only parents that didn't see much change in their son where Koushirou's . With his calm self he stayed pretty much the same as before. Only that now he actually leaves the computer once in a while.

And after they pad called the police in panic when this happened the first time. They made a deal. He would tell them when he would go. And they would try and be not too enthusiastic about it. He still carries his Laptop around where ever he goes. but now he leaves the cell phone and the beeper behind. Maybe that is his parting reminder. I think as much as we needed the computer in the other world I it is actually good to see it. Like a comfy blanket for all of us.

He is giving Jyou Computer lesson now. They both know that if he wants to become a doctor in the future. he might need a lot computerskills. And it was never hurting to start early.

Jyou, I guess he made his decision about his life. I mean he is still a bit unsure but he has improved, so much that you can see the self-assurance growing with each day. I guess finally knowing what you will do in you future can do this to you. And he doe. even when becoming a doctor had been his fathers dreams in the beginning. Now after all these adventures I think he found out that it was his as well. I can see him as a doctor. he is a gentle person that is actually caring about people. A treat rare these days.

Like I said. I would have never thought to make friends like them. And I guess that they though the sae about me.

And now we understood each other ....many time even with....

"Not a singly word." finished Taichi my unspoken thought.

I guess my surprise must have shown on my face for a moment, as close as we had become mind reading was a new thing. At least till he concluded that line.

"You heard not a singly word of what the teacher just said., didn't you?"

The children were slowly rising so I guess it must have rung for the break. Meaning that I had spent last 40 minute dreaming. Well like I said. priorities tend to shift these days.

And as we walk outside to meet with the rest of the group I look up into the sky .

Our sky.

I think of a time where I had though that I would never see it again.

And I can't believe we did all this and won.

I can't believe that even with all that Life is still the same

I can't believe that we actually saved two worlds.

But most of all I can't believe that we survived. All together. But I am grateful that we did.

Very grateful

The End

For all those that know me and know that I am actually spending a lot time writing Slash/Yaoi/Yuri Stories will be wondering why I had been writing a Gen. No pairings of any kind.

Well First of. Call me old-fashioned but not as long as they are still 11 years old..However at later times…

Let's put it that way TAITO forever!!! :)

But there will be sequels and those that wonder what pairing that might be then. Read the text again. The hints are there.

I actually planned that the beginning would have been only a short though part of Yamato, but somehow he didn't stop thinking. Having me sit at work and beside lunch-break write that whole thing in one single bout. and even during the lunch-break all I did was hurry up because my Muse just didn't stop dictating the story.

And considering that only 2 days ago I was chanting that I won't write a story in that Universe. And 4 days ago I could still shush my Muse when she was suggesting idea. well...I think I am in trouble

Okay...I welcome any CCC (Comments Complain Correction). As long as they are no flames. I have only a small small Yaoi reference in this story so writing me I am a pervert will not work That you can spare for y later story when they WILLL be together for real.

And beside. I have to warn you that I am on the FFN-Slashers-Unite list. A list that was solemnly made for the flames that we all get from narrow-minded persons. On this List we take the flame post it and then have a lot of fun with the persons stupidity. So PLEASEEEE flame me.

And please write such Original lines like:

STUPID!!!!!111111 or This SUCKS!!!!!!!!!111111111 (I mean with one word say what you think and that you are no stranger to the shift keys. PLUS I mean we all know what the 1 is the ! so it is not necessary to hold it down the whole time. ) The last line is not mine :)

And not to forget: this favourite one.

That was weird.: Don't bother explaining this line. I mean it would take away all the fun of me guessing WHAT THE HELL you mean.

and last but not least.

"You are a pervert" for even thinking that there might be something as Taito. And for not writing M/F. Well life sucks and we can't all have what we want. Not me and not you. Because if I could have what I want Taito would be canon. And so would be Mira and Jyoushiro and hmmm how do you call a ménage à trois between Daisuke Hikary and Takeru. And much more. There would be no Chandler Monika on Friends just Chandler/Joey. And Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg (The Sentinel ) would be lovers. And there would be no doubt that Xena and Gabrielle are in love.

But most of all. There would be no people around that would call you sick for the things that YOU believe in. And they wouldn't call you pervert just for not writing what in their little narrow mind is right.

So I guess we all can't have what we want.

Neither you nor me.

Cheers

^_~