Quote of the day:
"Moments are precious in life; they transform time into timeless dreams."
― sir kristian goldmund aumann
Taichi laughs along with the other boys at his soccer camp when they find out that the captain of the opposing team is a girl with red hair. After he finishes laughing he wonders for a moment if maybe he and his teammates should go easy on her, since his nine year old brain doubts that any girl would choose to go to any kind of sports camp of her own free will. His tune changes though when he sees the look in her eyes that the other boys on his team still haven't noticed. It's a look of determination and purpose. As she is able to outmaneuver him on the field, Taichi has a hard time watching her with anything other than awe. She is magnificent.
As her team wins with a last minute goal, Taichi doesn't join in with the grumbling boys who had earlier been laughing about facing off against a girl. He congratulates her on a well fought game, and she does the same, Taichi studying her for the one moment that the two are face to face with each other. His eyes trail after her as she and her team leave from the other side of the field.
He wonders if his mother was right when she told him that he would one day like a girl.
It isn't until he starts school the very next spring that he finds out that her name is Sora. He isn't sure if she remembers him, but the one thing he does know is that he would never forget her. He plans to introduce himself at the end of class that day, unsure whether or not to mention soccer camp, but by the time that the last bell rings, he just watches her leave, telling himself that tomorrow will be the day.
Two weeks pass, and Taichi still hasn't said anything beyond hello to her. She's annoying like most girls are he thinks, with a laugh that usually ends up being nothing more than shrills or that never ending irritating noise that girls think pass for happiness. He doesn't know why his eyes trail over to her during class time. He's even more confused when he begins to look forward to that annoying laughter.
Class lets out early one day, and he and Sora are the last kids waiting to be picked up. He has a soccer ball and she looks bored, and a sudden surge of courage tells him that tomorrow has finally arrived. He challenges her, and she smiles.
It isn't until their third game that he beats her.
He wonders if this makes them soldiers, being in the Digital World and fighting a war that he's not even sure that they can win. So many friends have already sacrificed themselves in the belief that the Chosen Children are the ones destined to save their world, and Taichi's hands ball into fists at the thought that they still haven't gotten the chance to properly mourn them. He doesn't think that he's ever seen such bravery than in the moments that Piximon, Whamon, or Chuumon gave their lives to protect them. It's a sobering thought, but Taichi hopes that if he has to sacrifice himself as well, that he could die with just as much courage as their fallen comrades.
It's hard to remember sometimes, but he reminds himself that the Digital World isn't just some war zone filled with horrors. It's a place of happy memories and fire forged friendships, and he knows that he and the rest of the Chosen have a duty to be guardians against the darkness, and that it's worth it even if they save just one life. As he turns and looks to his left he sees Sora resting a reassuring hand on his little sister Hikari, and Taichi's face hardens as he makes a promise to himself then and there.
The Dark Masters will take no one else.
He doesn't really like his high school uniform since he's always preferred the color blue to green, but as he and Sora make their way out of school that day, he thinks that maybe she's found the color that suits her best. He thinks about it for a moment, and admits that maybe he's wrong about that and just likes seeing Sora in her uniform since it brings him a sense of familiarity, of warmth, but he shrugs it off when they see Yamato waiting for them across the street, apparently being enough of a bad boy that he ditched school, but not being enough of a delinquent that he wouldn't show up at the end to meet up with his friends.
After he sees Yamato wave over at them, Sora's eyes shining when she sees him, Taichi tugs on her shirt, wanting to say something to her before they crossed the street to meet him. His face reddens as he asks Sora if maybe she wants to go to the movies that weekend, just the two of them, and she raises an eyebrow, usually either Yamato or Koushiro tagging along with them whenever they went out to go do something. His heart beats faster than ever before as she grabs onto his forearm and just holds it there for a moment. He breaks out into a grin when he hears her answer.
She says yes.
He tries to ignore the pain in his chest and his tightened jaw as he watches Sora enter the building where Yamato is having his concert, the girl carrying a tray of sweets for a reason that she wouldn't say why, but that Taichi knew all too well. He forces himself to smile, hoping that he could be happy for his friends, but he doesn't lie to himself to say that it'll be easy. For one guilty second he wishes that he could hate Yamato, that Yamato wouldn't prove worthy of Sora's affection, but it's a wish that quickly disappears, Yamato, like all of the Chosen, forever holding a special place in his soul.
At his side, Agumon tries to comfort him, and Taichi smiles at his Digimon partner, perhaps thinking that maybe the little monster beside him could help him to keep his mind preoccupied. He ponders for a moment whether or not to actually go to Yamato's concert since he had already bought a ticket a few weeks earlier, but Taichi finds that maybe it's still a bit too early to sit and listen to Yamato sing the songs that captured Sora's heart. It isn't until he's alone on his balcony that night, staring out into the city, that Taichi finally realizes something about Sora.
He's in love with her.
End.
Anyways, I've never written anything Taichi/Sora ever before, so this was new to me. Don't know yet if I'll ever revisit it, perhaps with a happier ending, but it's a possibility.
This was written as a response to a prompt in the 'A Novel Idea' challenge in the 'Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs' Digimon forum.
The prompt was a quote from Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk:
"The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person."
Visit the forum.
forum/The-Forest-of-Irrelevant-Road-Signs/141504/