It was exactly a year since Sora and Matt started going out. Tai was still stuck with that fact. It was Christmas Eve again. Tai laid on his bed while his Digimon, Koramon, was bouncing on his sisters' Kari's', bed. Kari came through the door. "Hey Tai, hey Koramon." she said and smiled. Her Digimon, Gatomon, was by her side. "C'mon! Matts' concert is in an hour. Let's go see him before the show." Kari suggested.
Ever since Sora and Matt started going out, all of the other Digidestined knew the last thing Tai wanted was to be near those two. "No, go ahead without me. I'm not going." Tai said. "Tai, can't you let this go? Can't you see they really love each other?" Kari said. Gatomon nodded in agreement. Koramon stopped bouncing on Kari's bed. Tai dug his head full of chocolate brown hair into his pillow. He didn't want Kari to see him cry. He was supposed to be the bearer of Courage. He never cried about anything else. The only time he ever cried was Sora. He tried to hold his tears back. "Fine. I'm heading off. Call me if you need anything." Kari said. "Koramon, do you wanna come?" Gatomon asked. "Tai, can I go?" Koramon asked in a quiet voice. "I mean, it's ok if I don't, I don't mind...""That's ok Koramon. Just go." Tai mumbled and shooed him out the door.
He heard the door shut outside. Great. Now everybody's left me. Tai thought. Everybody he knew was leaving him for Matt. I though he was my best friend. I guess not. Ever since last Christmas Eve, Tai had become more introverted. He hardly left his and Kari's room. He only went out for school, if there was an emergency in the Digiworld, or to play soccer. Tai laid on his bed for a couple more minutes and then got up.
He grabbed his coat, his cell phone, his Digivice, some money and slipped his sneakers on. He left a note for his mom and Kari. "I'm taking a walk." Maybe that'll clear up my head. He walked out the door onto the cold hard cement hallway.
A few minutes later, he was walking towards the TV station. He remembered when all the original Digidestined defeated Malomyotismon just four years ago. Seemed like a lifetime ago since we were all together and happy .He started walking again. His cell phone rang. Tai recognized the number immediately. It was Izzy's, one of his only true friends that stuck with him. "Hey Iz." Tai said. "Hey Tai. Are you going to the concert?" he asked.
Izzy didn't want to call him because he already knew he wasn't going to come. Sora made him call him so she didn't have to deal with talking to him. She was clueless that he liked her. But she knew she really liked him. She didn't know how she started liking Matt. She just sort of said yes when he asked her out. She really wanted to see Tai. "Iz, you know why I can't come. Just leave me alone." Tai said and hung up. "He hung up on me." Izzy said.
Sora wanted to start crying. It's all my fault he won't talk to me. she thought. "Hey Izzy. Hey Sor." It was Matt. He was signaling a kiss. Sora pretended not to notice. "You guys better get seats before they open the doors." He said and frowned. Izzy got the message and left to find a seat.
"Sora, what's the matter? Matt asked. Sora just replied, "Nothing. Nothing at all. I'm just fine." "Oh, go get a seat." Matt said and pushed Sora off to the door. Sora took a seat next to Mimi. She was visiting for Christmas vacation. Mimi saw the sadness in her friends' eyes. "What's a matter Sora?" she asked. "I don't know if I made a mistake or not." She said. I don't know if dating Matt was the right thing. I mean, I ruined my friendship with Tai, my best friend." Sora said and she held back tears. Mimi hugged her friend and said," What does your heart say?" "Well, I'm not sure. My heart is confused right now." She replied. "Then wait awhile. Your heart will show you sooner or later." Mimi said. Sora managed a smile. I hope it's not too late to change all of this.


Meanwhile, Tai sat quietly in a café a couple blocks away from Matt's concert sipping a cup of hot chocolate. He was looking outside the window. He remembered this was the same café he and Sora hung out at last Christmas Eve before everything changed.
A couple girls at the next table were talking and Tai couldn't help but to eavesdrop. "I'm so sad. I couldn't get tickets to the Teenage Wolves concert." "Yeah, me too." "The lead singer, Matt, is so cute!" "Definitely." "Yep."
Tai had enough. He grabbed his cup then stormed out of the café. The girls looked at him like he was some freak. "What's his problem?"
Tai slowed down when he reached the park. He sighed. He knew at the end of the park was where Matt's concert was. He looked at his phone. 6:50. Ten more minutes until the concert was over. He would probably walk home after he saw Kari walk past. He knew it would take about ten minutes to get there, so he started walking.
Ten minutes later, Tai was backstage. He stopped for a moment. He saw Matt and Sora talking on a bench just outside the theatre. Matt spotted him. He grabbed Soras' face and kissed her. Tai stood still like that kiss stopped time. Sora finally broke apart and turned around, but it was too late. Tai was running away, a cup of hot chocolate spilled on the white snow below.
Sora couldn't believe what just happened. Tears finally came down from her eyes. It seemed like she would never stop crying. "Sora, what's the matter?" Matt asked and reached for her shoulder before she swatted it away. "Why did I choose you? You're the RUDEST JERK EVER! We're OVER!" she yelled and started running away "But Sora!" he yelled after her. She didn't hear. People were looking at him. He stood frozen.
By the time Tai got home, Kari, TK, Yolei, Davis, Cody and Ken were playing a card game. It was a tradition now that one of them had to have a Christmas party. This year, it was Kari's turn.
Tai ran into his room and jumped on his bed. He started crying. "C'mon guys. We should get out." Kari said. The others nodded in agreement. They all shuffled out in silence with their Digimon. They all sat down on the couch. Mrs. Kamiya was in the kitchen. "Hey mom? What's wrong with Tai?" Kari asked. Even though she already knew the answer, she could've been wrong.
"I honestly don't know. I was going to ask you the same question." Koramon plopped down into TKs' lap. "Maybe I can help." He said. "No offense Koramon, but I don't think we can do anything. Only one person can help him now. We should just leave him alone for the moment." Cody said.
On the Kamiya's doorstep was Sora. She was trying to clean herself up. She took a deep breath and rung the doorbell. "Oh, hi Sora dear." Mrs. Kamiya said. "Hi Mrs. Kamiya. Um…can I speak to Tai right now?" she asked, trying now to cry ad she said his name.
"Oh…I'm not sure if right now's the right time to talk to him…" Mrs. Kamiya said. "I don't know what's wrong with him. Nobody's been able to talk to him." "Oh, it's urgent. It won't take long." She said. "Well…..ok. If we can't, maybe you can." Mrs. Kamiya smiled.
"Oh my! Kids! I have to leave! The Carman's Christmas party is in a couple minutes! Bye kids!" she said and shut the door behind her.
"Hey Sora." Everybody said. "Hey guys. Yokomon, can you stay here?" Sora asked. "Sure Sora." Yokomon said and bounced towards Yolei. "Good luck." Kari said. Sora managed a half hearted smile. She opened the door slowly and peeked inside. Tai was lying face down on the top bunk. She could still hear him sniffling.


"Tai?" she whispered. She closed the door behind her. "Leave me alone." He said, his voice muffled by his pillow. "It's me, Sora. Are you ok?" she asked quietly. She climbed up onto Tai's bed and sat down, her feet dangling below. Tai started getting up. Sora saw his eyes; red and puffy. His hair; messier than it normally was. His pillow; soaked with tears.
"Sor, I'm so sorry I ran off." He said, sadness still in his voice. "It's ok Tai." Sora said softly and hugged her closest friend. She realized she hadn't done this in so long. The door opened a tiny bit, enough for he kids in the living room to see what was happening.
They broke apart and blushed. "Sora….I-I wanted to tell you something since last year but…" Tai started. "No, let me go first." Sora said. "How about this? We both say what we wanna say at the same time. " Tai said. "Ok." Sora agreed quickly. "1…2….3! I love you!" they both said. They both turned as red as a lobster and stared at each others eyes.
"Well…..uh.." Sora said. "Is this why we havn't been talking to each other for the past year?" Sora said. Tai turned even redder. "Well….um…yeah. I just couldn't stand the fact that Matt knew I liked you a lot. As more than a friend, but he asked you out anyways. I was gonna ask you out last year, when we were in that café, remember? But I chickened out. Then you know what happened." Tai said.
"Oh Tai! I love you too! Truth is….I don't know if I ever liked Matt. After I saw you run off, I knew he wasn't right for me. So I broke up with him." Sora said. Tai smiled and they both leaned in for a kiss. They both did.
It was a very passionate kiss. Tai's hand was in her fiery red hair, even more radiant now and the other one on her back. Sora's hand was in his chocolate brown hair and the other one around his neck.
The crest of Courage glowed radiantly in Tai's heart; he had found the courage to tell Sora how he really felt. The crest of Love glowed radiantly in her heart; she had found the one she truly loved. Mimi was right. My heart did tell me how I really felt! Sora thought. After several moments, or it might have been days, they broke apart. They stared at each others eyes for awhile then they both smiled.
The crests of Love and Courage glowed more radiantly. Kari and TK noticed that their crests were glowing too. They knew what happened and smiled to themselves. At Izzy's house, his Jou's, and Mimi's crests glowed. Back at the theatre, Matt's crest glowed.
"Sora Takenouchi, I love you. Will out go out with me?" Tai jumped off the bed. Sora jumped off the bed and into Tai's arms. "Yes Taichi Kamiya! I will go out with you!" Sora said and continued crying tears of happiness on Tai's shoulder. He set her down and hugged her. He kissed her on her forehead.
They held each others hands as they walked out of his bedroom. A couple seconds before, Kari told them to act normal as if nothing happened when they walked out. It was hard to keep their excitement contained.
"Hey Kari? Can you tell mom that I'm headed off to Izzy's?" he said and smiled. Kari wanted to cry; this was the first time she saw him smile as big as this in a long time. The new couple walked out the door. Yolei and Kari screamed. "Oh my GOSH!!" Yolei squealed.

Later at Izzy's, everybody was in good spirits, but nobody was as happy as Tai and Sora. It seemed like they lit up the world with just one kiss. "Tai, I'm so sorry about last Christmas Eve. If I knew then.. " Sora said after finally catching a moment alone. "Sor, it's just fine. None of that matters now. We're 

finally together." He replied.
"Hey guys! Look above you!" Mimi chimed in, back from getting snacks with Jou and Izzy. They purposely left to give them some alone time. Tai and Sora looked up. "A mistletoe, eh? You know what that means…" Jou said and they all smiled. Mimi put it there before Tai and Sora got there. (Kari called them before they got there telling them exactly what happened.)
"Well?" Izzy said. Tai and Sora just smiled and leaned in for a kiss again. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Izzy ran to get it. "Hey." It was Matt. He was frowning because Tai and Sora were still kissing. When they broke apart they blushed. "Well…..just wanted to stop by and say Merry Christmas. Well……I gotta go and get TK now. Well….bye." Matt said and tried to rush out the door before Sora stopped him.
"Matt wait! I'm really sorry for what I said earlier today. I didn't mean to call you a jerk and you didn't deserve it." Sora said. "Sora, just stop. I'm really sorry too. You know I definitely deserved it. I have been a jerk. To you and to everybody, especially Tai. I don't know what I've been doing lately. You're my best friend and I knew you really liked Sora. I was a really lousy friend. So……do you accept my apology?" Matt said.
"Definitely." Tai said and grinned. "So….eggnog anybody?" Izzy asked. Everybody laughed.

5 Months Later………..
Most of the Digidestined were at another one of Matt's concerts. Tai and Sora were at the little café nearby happily sipping a glass of ice cold lemonade.
"Hey Sora?" Tai said. "Yeah?" she replied. "Well, um………" Tai started and blushed. I-I have something to give to you. At this point, he took out a small jewelry box out of his pocket and opened it. "Oh my gosh, Tai, it's beautiful." Sora said and pulled out a gold locket shaped like the crest of Love. It had cost Tai 2 years of his allowance. "I meant to give this to you last year on Christmas Eve as your present but I never got the chance to. So…open it." He said.
Tears of joy started streaming down Sora's face. Inside was a picture of them together that Kari took a couple years ago and an inscription. Your Love led me to my Courage. I will always love you Sora. She got up and kissed Tai. That kiss didn't have the same energy as their first one, but it had the same effect overall. They looked up and saw the cashier crying. They smiled.
"Uh, here. Let me put it on for you." Tai said. He hung the golden chain around her neck. "You look absolutely beautiful." Tai said and hugged her.
I guess my love belonged to the person who had it all along, she thought. A single tear streamed down her face.

THE END!!