Digimon- Shadows in the Snow
A Digimon Fanfic by Bandit
It had been a long week of fighting the Digimon emperor with all the younger Digidestined...but it was finally Christmas vacation! We'd all been through a lot, and we were glad when Yolei invited us all over to her house to relax for a while. I was happy to be there, and to hang out with Tai, Kari and Yolei. As I sat teasing Tai and eating potato chips, however, I had no idea that the strangest adventure I had ever been on would soon begin...or that it might well be the last time I ever saw my friends!
Chapter 1- Laughter in the Stars
"Hey! Sora, give those back!"
Sora Takenouchi lazily stretched in the overstuffed armchair she was sprawled across, 'accidentally' raising the bowl of potato chips she held over her head. She gave the boy sitting on the floor next to her a bland, innocent look.
"Give what back, Tai? I don't see anything, do you?"
Tai swiped at the bowl, missing by a foot at least. "That's because you've got them over your head, now gimme!"
"Ah-ah-ah, Tai. Don't be rude," Sora said, a mischievous grin on her face as she lifted the chips further out of his reach. "Say the magic word."
"Abracadabra, now give!" Tai yelled, standing up and grabbing for the chip bowl. Sora was ready, however, and stood up on the seat of the chair, laughing.
"Sorry, wrong word," she gasped between giggles as Tai tried to grab her arm to lever the bowl into reach. "Now you have to ask extra-nice." There was a peal of laughter from another chair, where Tai's sister Kari was sitting perched on the arm, Gatomon in her lap, in the middle of a conversation with TK Takaishi, her best friend. TK was sitting in the chair with his Digimon Patomon on his head, and they'd both paused the conversation to watch the older teens' squabble. They were also both in hysterical laughter at Tai's plight. Even Davis, who had been sulking on the sofa because TK and Kari were sharing a chair-and ignoring him-had turned to watch his role model make a fool of himself.
"C'mon, Tai, she's just a girl," Davis cheered, waving his can of soda around. Sora scowled and threw a chip at him; it bounced off his nose, to TK and Kari's even greater amusement. The two friends were leaning on each other at this point, unable to sit up. Davis growled and threw the chip back, but it missed and hit Tai in the back of the head instead. TK and Kari began to cry with laughter.
"I don't see what's so funny, Kari," Tai snapped, making another grab for the chip bowl. Kari seemed to be unable to answer, but waved her hand around as though trying to communicate by sign language, first at Sora, then at the chips, then at Davis, then at Tai, before collapsing into giggles again. Tai frowned, then suddenly grinned and jumped up onto the chair with Sora. Sora yelped and climbed onto the back of the chair, which was luckily large and sturdy, still holding the chips out of reach.
Gatomon leapt gracefully off of Kari's lap, a little miffed because her human's laughter had reached the point where even she could no longer manage a catnap in her lap, and went to stare up at the precarious 'battle' raging on the chair as Tai tried to grab the chips without overturning the entire armchair and its occupants. He grabbed Sora's sleeve and tried to pull the chips down far enough to grab, while she giggled even harder and switched hands so that whichever arm he was holding wasn't the one with the chips.
"Hey! You guys, what's going on?"
Everyone in the room froze and looked towards the door. Yolei, who had gone to get more food, was standing in the doorway with Cody, a plate of chocolate sandwich cookies, and a disapproving expression on her face. She stared up at Tai and Sora, who were staring down at her, Sora balancing the chips in one hand and pushing Tai away with the other, Tai in mid-grab for Sora's chip arm.
"You guys, at least try and set an example for Cody now that he's here. Sheesh, I could hear you in the kitchen. Sora, will you please quit flirting with Tai and just give him the chips already?"
"FLIRTING?!" both teens yelled, just as Sora lost her balance. With a massive crash, the armchair toppled over, landing the two Digidestined in a tangled heap on the floor as chips went flying. The bowl landed on Gatomon's tail, and she yowled and fled behind the sofa, using Davis' head as a springboard. Sora squirmed under Tai's weight; he had landed on top of her.
"I was not flirting with him! And get off of me, Tai, you're heavier than a load of bricks!"
TK and Kari completely lost control at this, and Kari fell off of the chair arm into TK's lap. She lay sprawled across the chair and him, laughing so hard she was unable to get up, while TK sat with his face in his hands, shaking with laughter.
"Ohhh, I think I'm going to wet my pants," he groaned. Kari leapt to her feet in a miraculous recovery.
"Oh, no you don't!" she exclaimed. "Not when *I'm* in your lap!"
A smile spread across Yolei's face, and she began to laugh right along with the two of them. Even the usually serious Cody was smiling. Tai rolled off of Sora, looking sheepish and a bit red about the face.
"Sorry about that."
Sora blushed. "It's okay. It was my fault anyway." She reached behind herself and picked up one of the scattered potato chips, holding it out rather awkwardly. "Uh...want a chip?"
Tai stared at her for a minute. Then, he burst out laughing as well. The full situation had hit Sora as well, and she began to giggle.
Davis looked around the room at the others, all of whom were laughing, even the Digimon. "Being surrounded by weirdoes really wasn't in the job description for being a Digidestined..." For some reason, this only made Tai and Sora laugh harder. He sighed and shrugged. "Oh well, if you can't beat 'em, clean up after 'em. I'll go get the vacuum."
* * * * *
Later that night, after the potato chips had all been successfully vacuumed away and the Digidestined had said goodbye for the night, Tai, Sora and Kari stopped at the door to Sora's apartment building, which Tai had offered to walk her to. There was a pause as Kari looked from face to face, then she grinned.
"I'll leave you two alone. See you at home, Tai!" With that, she skimmed off into the night. Tai scowled after her.
"Thanks a lot, Kari," he muttered under his breath. Sora blinked at him.
"Did you say something?" Her breath was a cloud of white in the cold night air.
"Uh...nothing, no," Tai covered...badly. "Hey, um..."
There was a long pause. Sora played with one of her sunflower barrettes, trying to get up the nerve to say something. Joshing with Tai in front of everyone was one thing; being alone with him like this was quite another, somehow. At least he was as tongue-tied as she was. That could be a good thing, she thought. Or it could just mean he's bored and doesn't want to be here anyway... She frowned at that thought, and unclipped and reclipped the barrette once.
Tai looked up from where he'd been studying his shoelaces as he heard a clicking sound. Uh-oh, she's frowning...what do you suppose that means? Nothing good, I bet... He blinked, surprised. Aren't those the hairclips I got her for her birthday a few years back? Hey, I guess she likes them after all! That's something good, at least.
Okay, just say something! It's not hard, you know, Sora thought fiercely to herself. "Uhm...nice night, isn't it?" Oh, that was intellectual...great job, Sora. Keep it up and you'll have him running off after Kari at the first chance he gets.
All right, Kamiya, just stay cool. Be smooth. "Yeah...the stars are nice." Ooh, real smooth, that. I'm sure she'd much rather be here than, say, up in her room scraping gum off of her tennis shoes. Tai scowled. Yeah, well it was a lot easier talking to her back when everybody else was around!
To his surprise, Sora smiled. "Mmhmm. It's really clear out for this time of year. You can see millions of them." She paused, and then asked, "Want to see something?"
"Sure," Tai said. She caught his hand and pulled him over to a bench where they could sit down, away from the trees that obscured the sky in front of the apartments. Sitting down, she patted the bench next to her.
"Here, come sit."
Tai sat. Smiling, Sora pointed up at the sky.
"See those five stars up there? The ones in kind of a flattened 'W'?"
He shrugged. "Not really. There's a lot of potential 'W's out there."
Sora rolled her eyes. "Here." She put her head alongside his, so that their cheeks brushed, and pointed again. "See?"
Tai gazed up at the sky, finding it a little difficult to focus with Sora's face so close to his that he could feel her breath on his cheek. Suddenly, he realized where she was pointing.
"I see it!" he whispered. "What is it?"
"Cassiopeia."
"Cassy-what?" Tai exclaimed. "Now there's a long name! And I thought Koushiro was bad!"
Sora laughed. "Cass-ee-oh-pay-uh. The Queen. It's my favorite constellation."
"Oh, okay. Mine's Orion."
"The Hunter. Good choice. Is he up yet?"
Tai shrugged. "Dunno. Want to hear something weird?"
It was Sora's turn to shrug. "Okay."
"You promise not to tell?"
She laughed. "When have I ever told your secrets?"
"Good point. Well...I used to make wishes on him. You know, when I was little. For a new bicycle, or an invitation to a birthday party, that sort of thing. Silly stuff, mostly."
"You're kidding! I used to do that-" Sora turned to face him in surprise, to find herself looking directly into his eyes, their faces only an inch or two apart. "-too," she finished softly.
The moment stretched into eternity, and Tai realized he was holding his breath, half afraid to move for fear of breaking the feeling of magic floating in the air. Sora felt like sparks were jumping between them, her eyes wide as she gazed at him, floating away...
A horn honked a loud rendition of 'La Cucaracha' on a nearby street, and time shifted back into gear again.
Sora broke their shared look and turned away, shivering. Tai frowned.
"Cold?"
She shook her head, but he could see the goose bumps rising on her arms. Shrugging out of his jacket, he draped it across her shoulders, pulling it firmly around her as she protested that she wasn't cold, that he didn't need to do this. Tai snorted.
"You're freezing, Sora. I can feel you shivering. If you catch a cold I'll feel all guilty for keeping you out here like this. Do you want me miserable like that?"
Sora giggled. "No."
"Then think of it as taking pity on me, if that makes you feel any better."
"All right..." Sora rolled her eyes again, but settled against the bench looking much more comfortable. After a minute or two of looking up at the stars together, there was a call from one of the upper windows of the apartment building.
"Sora! You've got a tennis match tomorrow! Come in for bed, sweetie!"
"I'll be right up, Mom!" Sora called over her shoulder, then stood and took a few steps toward the building before stopping and looking back at Tai. She hovered on the edge of decision for a long moment, then hurried back and gave him a hug. "Thanks," she whispered in his ear, before straightening.
"For what?" he asked, half jokingly.
Sora shrugged. "For waiting with me, out here in the cold. For talking constellations with me. For..." She paused, then smiled. "For just being such a great friend...and such a sweet guy." The look on Tai's face was priceless.
"Well...you're welcome," he stammered. He stood up to go and brushed himself off, then looked back at her, as if unsure what to do.
On an impulse, Sora leaned over and kissed his cheek.
Then, stunned by her own boldness, she turned and fled down the sidewalk and into the apartment building.
Tai stood for a long moment, staring at the closed door with the oddest look on his face, as his hand reached up to brush his cheek where she'd kissed him. Then a little smile spread across his face, and he strolled off down the sidewalk, hands in his pockets, gazing up at a particular 'W' of stars...
It was only after he'd gotten home that he realized; Sora still had his jacket.
* * * * *
Sora absolutely floated into the apartment, humming a little tune to herself as she slipped off her shoes and lobbed them into the basket by the door, smiling like a Cheshire cat. Suddenly, her eyes widened.
"Oh, no! His jacket..."
"Whose jacket, dear?" Mrs. Takenouchi inquired, coming into the room. Sora blushed.
"Tai's. He lent it to me, and I'm still wearing it. I should probably go take it back to him."
Mrs. Takenouchi frowned. "It's too late at night, dear. You'll probably wake up his little sister, if not his whole family. You can give it back to him tomorrow." She smiled at her daughter. "Now get washed up for bed. You need your rest for that tennis match tomorrow."
"Right. G'night, Mom," Sora said, and waltzed into her room, tossing Tai's jacket across a chair back and closing the door. She waited a minute, listening, to make sure her mother had gone back to the kitchen, then made a running leap and landed spread-eagled on the bed, giggling. She rolled over onto her back, a huge smile on her face. "I have got to call Mimi!" She reached for the phone, then frowned, running time zone differences through her head. "Huh...hold on, she won't be awake yet. Tomorrow, then." Bouncing out of bed, she grabbed an oversized T-shirt and wriggled into it, then headed out to the bathroom to brush her teeth and all that good stuff, humming again.
Listening from the kitchen, her mother smiled.
"What has gotten into that girl? Oh, well..." She turned back to the cucumbers she was chopping for Sora's lunch the next day with a shrug. "I guess she's just getting to That Age. No biggie, as those kids say..."
_____
All the usual disclaimers. Etc, etc. You know how it is. M_~*
A Digimon Fanfic by Bandit
It had been a long week of fighting the Digimon emperor with all the younger Digidestined...but it was finally Christmas vacation! We'd all been through a lot, and we were glad when Yolei invited us all over to her house to relax for a while. I was happy to be there, and to hang out with Tai, Kari and Yolei. As I sat teasing Tai and eating potato chips, however, I had no idea that the strangest adventure I had ever been on would soon begin...or that it might well be the last time I ever saw my friends!
Chapter 1- Laughter in the Stars
"Hey! Sora, give those back!"
Sora Takenouchi lazily stretched in the overstuffed armchair she was sprawled across, 'accidentally' raising the bowl of potato chips she held over her head. She gave the boy sitting on the floor next to her a bland, innocent look.
"Give what back, Tai? I don't see anything, do you?"
Tai swiped at the bowl, missing by a foot at least. "That's because you've got them over your head, now gimme!"
"Ah-ah-ah, Tai. Don't be rude," Sora said, a mischievous grin on her face as she lifted the chips further out of his reach. "Say the magic word."
"Abracadabra, now give!" Tai yelled, standing up and grabbing for the chip bowl. Sora was ready, however, and stood up on the seat of the chair, laughing.
"Sorry, wrong word," she gasped between giggles as Tai tried to grab her arm to lever the bowl into reach. "Now you have to ask extra-nice." There was a peal of laughter from another chair, where Tai's sister Kari was sitting perched on the arm, Gatomon in her lap, in the middle of a conversation with TK Takaishi, her best friend. TK was sitting in the chair with his Digimon Patomon on his head, and they'd both paused the conversation to watch the older teens' squabble. They were also both in hysterical laughter at Tai's plight. Even Davis, who had been sulking on the sofa because TK and Kari were sharing a chair-and ignoring him-had turned to watch his role model make a fool of himself.
"C'mon, Tai, she's just a girl," Davis cheered, waving his can of soda around. Sora scowled and threw a chip at him; it bounced off his nose, to TK and Kari's even greater amusement. The two friends were leaning on each other at this point, unable to sit up. Davis growled and threw the chip back, but it missed and hit Tai in the back of the head instead. TK and Kari began to cry with laughter.
"I don't see what's so funny, Kari," Tai snapped, making another grab for the chip bowl. Kari seemed to be unable to answer, but waved her hand around as though trying to communicate by sign language, first at Sora, then at the chips, then at Davis, then at Tai, before collapsing into giggles again. Tai frowned, then suddenly grinned and jumped up onto the chair with Sora. Sora yelped and climbed onto the back of the chair, which was luckily large and sturdy, still holding the chips out of reach.
Gatomon leapt gracefully off of Kari's lap, a little miffed because her human's laughter had reached the point where even she could no longer manage a catnap in her lap, and went to stare up at the precarious 'battle' raging on the chair as Tai tried to grab the chips without overturning the entire armchair and its occupants. He grabbed Sora's sleeve and tried to pull the chips down far enough to grab, while she giggled even harder and switched hands so that whichever arm he was holding wasn't the one with the chips.
"Hey! You guys, what's going on?"
Everyone in the room froze and looked towards the door. Yolei, who had gone to get more food, was standing in the doorway with Cody, a plate of chocolate sandwich cookies, and a disapproving expression on her face. She stared up at Tai and Sora, who were staring down at her, Sora balancing the chips in one hand and pushing Tai away with the other, Tai in mid-grab for Sora's chip arm.
"You guys, at least try and set an example for Cody now that he's here. Sheesh, I could hear you in the kitchen. Sora, will you please quit flirting with Tai and just give him the chips already?"
"FLIRTING?!" both teens yelled, just as Sora lost her balance. With a massive crash, the armchair toppled over, landing the two Digidestined in a tangled heap on the floor as chips went flying. The bowl landed on Gatomon's tail, and she yowled and fled behind the sofa, using Davis' head as a springboard. Sora squirmed under Tai's weight; he had landed on top of her.
"I was not flirting with him! And get off of me, Tai, you're heavier than a load of bricks!"
TK and Kari completely lost control at this, and Kari fell off of the chair arm into TK's lap. She lay sprawled across the chair and him, laughing so hard she was unable to get up, while TK sat with his face in his hands, shaking with laughter.
"Ohhh, I think I'm going to wet my pants," he groaned. Kari leapt to her feet in a miraculous recovery.
"Oh, no you don't!" she exclaimed. "Not when *I'm* in your lap!"
A smile spread across Yolei's face, and she began to laugh right along with the two of them. Even the usually serious Cody was smiling. Tai rolled off of Sora, looking sheepish and a bit red about the face.
"Sorry about that."
Sora blushed. "It's okay. It was my fault anyway." She reached behind herself and picked up one of the scattered potato chips, holding it out rather awkwardly. "Uh...want a chip?"
Tai stared at her for a minute. Then, he burst out laughing as well. The full situation had hit Sora as well, and she began to giggle.
Davis looked around the room at the others, all of whom were laughing, even the Digimon. "Being surrounded by weirdoes really wasn't in the job description for being a Digidestined..." For some reason, this only made Tai and Sora laugh harder. He sighed and shrugged. "Oh well, if you can't beat 'em, clean up after 'em. I'll go get the vacuum."
* * * * *
Later that night, after the potato chips had all been successfully vacuumed away and the Digidestined had said goodbye for the night, Tai, Sora and Kari stopped at the door to Sora's apartment building, which Tai had offered to walk her to. There was a pause as Kari looked from face to face, then she grinned.
"I'll leave you two alone. See you at home, Tai!" With that, she skimmed off into the night. Tai scowled after her.
"Thanks a lot, Kari," he muttered under his breath. Sora blinked at him.
"Did you say something?" Her breath was a cloud of white in the cold night air.
"Uh...nothing, no," Tai covered...badly. "Hey, um..."
There was a long pause. Sora played with one of her sunflower barrettes, trying to get up the nerve to say something. Joshing with Tai in front of everyone was one thing; being alone with him like this was quite another, somehow. At least he was as tongue-tied as she was. That could be a good thing, she thought. Or it could just mean he's bored and doesn't want to be here anyway... She frowned at that thought, and unclipped and reclipped the barrette once.
Tai looked up from where he'd been studying his shoelaces as he heard a clicking sound. Uh-oh, she's frowning...what do you suppose that means? Nothing good, I bet... He blinked, surprised. Aren't those the hairclips I got her for her birthday a few years back? Hey, I guess she likes them after all! That's something good, at least.
Okay, just say something! It's not hard, you know, Sora thought fiercely to herself. "Uhm...nice night, isn't it?" Oh, that was intellectual...great job, Sora. Keep it up and you'll have him running off after Kari at the first chance he gets.
All right, Kamiya, just stay cool. Be smooth. "Yeah...the stars are nice." Ooh, real smooth, that. I'm sure she'd much rather be here than, say, up in her room scraping gum off of her tennis shoes. Tai scowled. Yeah, well it was a lot easier talking to her back when everybody else was around!
To his surprise, Sora smiled. "Mmhmm. It's really clear out for this time of year. You can see millions of them." She paused, and then asked, "Want to see something?"
"Sure," Tai said. She caught his hand and pulled him over to a bench where they could sit down, away from the trees that obscured the sky in front of the apartments. Sitting down, she patted the bench next to her.
"Here, come sit."
Tai sat. Smiling, Sora pointed up at the sky.
"See those five stars up there? The ones in kind of a flattened 'W'?"
He shrugged. "Not really. There's a lot of potential 'W's out there."
Sora rolled her eyes. "Here." She put her head alongside his, so that their cheeks brushed, and pointed again. "See?"
Tai gazed up at the sky, finding it a little difficult to focus with Sora's face so close to his that he could feel her breath on his cheek. Suddenly, he realized where she was pointing.
"I see it!" he whispered. "What is it?"
"Cassiopeia."
"Cassy-what?" Tai exclaimed. "Now there's a long name! And I thought Koushiro was bad!"
Sora laughed. "Cass-ee-oh-pay-uh. The Queen. It's my favorite constellation."
"Oh, okay. Mine's Orion."
"The Hunter. Good choice. Is he up yet?"
Tai shrugged. "Dunno. Want to hear something weird?"
It was Sora's turn to shrug. "Okay."
"You promise not to tell?"
She laughed. "When have I ever told your secrets?"
"Good point. Well...I used to make wishes on him. You know, when I was little. For a new bicycle, or an invitation to a birthday party, that sort of thing. Silly stuff, mostly."
"You're kidding! I used to do that-" Sora turned to face him in surprise, to find herself looking directly into his eyes, their faces only an inch or two apart. "-too," she finished softly.
The moment stretched into eternity, and Tai realized he was holding his breath, half afraid to move for fear of breaking the feeling of magic floating in the air. Sora felt like sparks were jumping between them, her eyes wide as she gazed at him, floating away...
A horn honked a loud rendition of 'La Cucaracha' on a nearby street, and time shifted back into gear again.
Sora broke their shared look and turned away, shivering. Tai frowned.
"Cold?"
She shook her head, but he could see the goose bumps rising on her arms. Shrugging out of his jacket, he draped it across her shoulders, pulling it firmly around her as she protested that she wasn't cold, that he didn't need to do this. Tai snorted.
"You're freezing, Sora. I can feel you shivering. If you catch a cold I'll feel all guilty for keeping you out here like this. Do you want me miserable like that?"
Sora giggled. "No."
"Then think of it as taking pity on me, if that makes you feel any better."
"All right..." Sora rolled her eyes again, but settled against the bench looking much more comfortable. After a minute or two of looking up at the stars together, there was a call from one of the upper windows of the apartment building.
"Sora! You've got a tennis match tomorrow! Come in for bed, sweetie!"
"I'll be right up, Mom!" Sora called over her shoulder, then stood and took a few steps toward the building before stopping and looking back at Tai. She hovered on the edge of decision for a long moment, then hurried back and gave him a hug. "Thanks," she whispered in his ear, before straightening.
"For what?" he asked, half jokingly.
Sora shrugged. "For waiting with me, out here in the cold. For talking constellations with me. For..." She paused, then smiled. "For just being such a great friend...and such a sweet guy." The look on Tai's face was priceless.
"Well...you're welcome," he stammered. He stood up to go and brushed himself off, then looked back at her, as if unsure what to do.
On an impulse, Sora leaned over and kissed his cheek.
Then, stunned by her own boldness, she turned and fled down the sidewalk and into the apartment building.
Tai stood for a long moment, staring at the closed door with the oddest look on his face, as his hand reached up to brush his cheek where she'd kissed him. Then a little smile spread across his face, and he strolled off down the sidewalk, hands in his pockets, gazing up at a particular 'W' of stars...
It was only after he'd gotten home that he realized; Sora still had his jacket.
* * * * *
Sora absolutely floated into the apartment, humming a little tune to herself as she slipped off her shoes and lobbed them into the basket by the door, smiling like a Cheshire cat. Suddenly, her eyes widened.
"Oh, no! His jacket..."
"Whose jacket, dear?" Mrs. Takenouchi inquired, coming into the room. Sora blushed.
"Tai's. He lent it to me, and I'm still wearing it. I should probably go take it back to him."
Mrs. Takenouchi frowned. "It's too late at night, dear. You'll probably wake up his little sister, if not his whole family. You can give it back to him tomorrow." She smiled at her daughter. "Now get washed up for bed. You need your rest for that tennis match tomorrow."
"Right. G'night, Mom," Sora said, and waltzed into her room, tossing Tai's jacket across a chair back and closing the door. She waited a minute, listening, to make sure her mother had gone back to the kitchen, then made a running leap and landed spread-eagled on the bed, giggling. She rolled over onto her back, a huge smile on her face. "I have got to call Mimi!" She reached for the phone, then frowned, running time zone differences through her head. "Huh...hold on, she won't be awake yet. Tomorrow, then." Bouncing out of bed, she grabbed an oversized T-shirt and wriggled into it, then headed out to the bathroom to brush her teeth and all that good stuff, humming again.
Listening from the kitchen, her mother smiled.
"What has gotten into that girl? Oh, well..." She turned back to the cucumbers she was chopping for Sora's lunch the next day with a shrug. "I guess she's just getting to That Age. No biggie, as those kids say..."
_____
All the usual disclaimers. Etc, etc. You know how it is. M_~*