Blush

"Hey, Sora," She heard someone say, in that familiar singsong voice. She wanted to keep walking down her school hallway, and run into her English class for an escape. Yet, she had English class with him, so instead she grit her teeth and replied in a strained voice.

"Hi, Taichi."

He came up behind her, and slung a loose arm around her waist, and whispered in her ear, "What's going on?"

She pulled away from him with a look of disgust on her face. "Please, Taichi, not today."

He was so familiar to her, yet she couldn't figure out where she knew him from. She didn't know why she pulled away from his affection either. Because he was constantly interested in her, and because she blatantly rejected him every time; she wasn't too popular in school with her peers.

Taichi had girls waiting to be asked out by him, yet he was only interested in Sora. He was tall, and tanned, with wild chocolate brown hair and eyes to match. He had the nicest grin, kind of lop-sided and playful.

"Fine," Taichi responded, leaving his arm around her waist. "What're you doing tonight?"

"Nothing, really." She said shortly. "Listen, Taichi - "

"How many times have I told you to call me Tai?"

She continued on, as if she hadn't heard him. "Why do you do this to me?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Do what?"

She didn't want to say torture, because he would definitely take it the wrong way – him being sick and perverted. Instead she said, "You know – flirting with me and stuff?"

He laughed. "Because I like you."

She sighed. She didn't like this one bit. She was attracted to him, because he flirted with her constantly. Sora had been down that road before, and she didn't want to do it again. He was so damn familiar…like they had known each other some time before. And yet, that was impossible.

"I don't think you really like me like that, Taichi."

Still, his arm was around her waist. "How come you think that?"

She shrugged, as she looked up at him. His eyes were so captivating, and right now they were questioning her. "I don't know, I've never really had any guy like me."

He laughed again, and tightened his arm around her. "That's crazy."

She shrugged again, and found they were at their English class.

- - -

She walked home silently, not really noticing anything around her. She was kind of upset since her talk with Taichi.

She cursed herself, not meaning for it to be said out loud; but she did and received many startled looks from those around her.

It was strange, because even though it was possible that Taichi was playing with her mind, and heart, her heart still raced a bit faster when she thought of him.

He wouldn't be the kind of person to play with someone's emotions; she was almost sure of that. She knew him a lot better than she thought, actually, but she still wasn't going to trust him.

"Sora! Wait up!"

She did, and found herself smiling at him. "Hey, Taichi."

"You never answered my question."

"…"

"What are you doing tonight?" He asked her easily.

"Oh! Sorry, Taichi, I forgot. I don't know. Probably helping my mom in her flower shop." She answered, as they resumed walking again.

"Do you want to do something?"

"I don't know Taichi…we've been over this before…"

"Come on! It isn't a date, or anything."

"My parents wouldn't approve." Sora said, desperate for an excuse.

"I'll talk to them. I'm a nice boy," He grinned here, "I don't do drugs, I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't go from girl to girl…"

"Which is strange, considering how popular you are."

He grinned still. "Thanks. Hey, Sora?"

She looked up at him, and responded, "Yeah?"

"What are you afraid of?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking at him curiously, feeling her face flush.

"Why are you so afraid of me?"

"…I'm not…"

He didn't say anything for the rest of the walk home, but according to Sora, there wasn't any reason to trust him. He may not smoke, or drink and he didn't do drugs – but she wasn't sure about the last one that he had mentioned.

- - -

To Taichi it was clear, and had been for along time. He had been teasing her and flirting obviously with her for a long time now, and he had to somehow gain her trust. He tried speaking to one of his best friends about it, Yamato Ishida.

"You found a girl?!?" Yamato had exclaimed when he first found out. He and Taichi were flipping through TV channels, each one lying on a separate couch, with a Coke in hand.

"Yeah," Taichi muttered, "So what? Why are you so surprised?"

"I didn't think you could stay tied to one girl, that's all."

Taichi punched Yamato squarely in the shoulder. "Thanks a lot."

His blonde haired friend rubbed his shoulder and muttered a quick, "No problem."

"Ah, but there is a problem." Taichi responded. "This girl, she doesn't trust me. She's kind of timid, you know? She blushes when I set my arm around her waist and stuff."

Yamato had to try to keep a straight face. "You like this girl then?"

"Yeah, a lot. But she thinks I'm playing with her or something."

"I don't blame her." Yamato said, cracking open his Coke.

"What? How can you say that?"

"Taichi, you don't really stay long with one girl. And, let's be honest - you flirt like hell. I wouldn't be surprised if she's seen you flirting with another girl."

Taichi was thoughtful. "See, it's funny, because I think that I'm pretty much devoting myself to her."

"You think that. She probably doesn't."

"You're right. So no flirting with anyone but her."

"Right." Yamato said, lifting his Coke to Taichi. "Exactly."

"Damn it, Yamato, I'm going to gain her trust."

- - -

"So," Taichi said, the following day. He was on the phone with Sora, the first time he had called her.

"Taichi, how did you get my phone number?" She said irritably.

"Uh," He began, "I looked it up in the phone book."

"Why?" She demanded.

He rolled his eyes. "Damn it, Sora, I don't know. Because I wanted to talk to you."

"Why?" She said desperately, tears welling up in her eyes. "Taichi, I think I have to go now."

"Sora…"

"Later, Taichi."

She hung up, and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She really liked him; but for some reason she just couldn't come to grasp the idea that he might actually like her too. Whenever she thought about it; she struck down the idea; thinking it was absolutely stupid.

There were times when the two of them got along, and they were friends, but that was only inside of school. This had all started when she had been partnered up with him in physics class, and he took interest in teasing her and flirting with her.

He was leading her on. He had to be.

- - -

"Sora, we're skipping English class." Taichi said to her the following week. She had been avoiding him all that week. She had noticed a change though; he no longer hung out with the cheerleaders at lunchtime, and he always wanted to be her partner in whatever classes they had together.

"We can't skip."

"Yes, we can, and we are."

"What? Why?"

"I want to find out why you don't trust me, why you pretend you don't care about me, and why you've been avoiding me for the last damn week."

"Oh."

And so, she allowed herself to be dragged along to some unknown destination.

"Is it okay if we go to my apartment?" He asked, looking at her carefully.

Her eyes widened, and she stopped walking. "Oh, Taichi, I don't know."

"Friends, Sora, as friends. I'm not going to force you to do something, anything."

She blushed, but nodded.

When they arrived, he offered her a drink, in which case she took a Coke and they sat down together on his couch. He flipped on the TV. "See? We're just hanging out."

She looked at him skeptically. "What are you trying to do?"

"Actually, I'm trying to gain your trust by becoming friends with you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"That's a good idea, Taichi." She said softly, taking a sip of her Coke.

They were silent for awhile, until Taichi said, "So, why are you afraid of me?"

"I'm not afraid of you," Sora stressed, "I just don't trust you."

"Thanks."

"Well, it's true."

"Why don't you trust me?" He asked, looking at her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I think you've asked enough questions, Taichi. I want to ask you one: Why do you take so much interest in me?"

"Because, you're so different than any other girl I've met before."

"…"

"How do I know that this isn't just some game to you?" Sora asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"You don't. You just have to trust me."

That could be a problem…

~*~

"I want you to come over for dinner tonight, Sora." Taichi said gently, kind of nervous.

"Oh…well, I don't know." Sora said, noticing how a lot of girls looked at her with venomous looks.

"Come on…you can meet my family, and my mom's cooking isn't that bad."

She laughed, but immediately stopped herself. It was funny how just a couple of weeks back, she had not wanted anything to do with him; but she was nice anyway because that was her nature. Now, she actually found herself wanting to be around him.

"I guess…maybe…what time?" She mumbled, not quite meeting his gaze.

"How about 6:30? Then after that we can go to a movie."

She looked at him, and how his eyes pleaded with her. She felt herself give in. "Sure."

And so, at 6:25, she walked over the Yagami's apartment, clad in loose fitting jeans and a green T-shirt over a long white sleeved shirt.

Taichi answered the door, and welcomed her in, introducing her to his parents and sister. She had seen Hikari around school at times, but had never know that she was Taichi's sister.

Hikari talked to her a little bit, and she was very easy to talk too. She took Sora on a tour of the apartment, and heard Taichi say to his mother, although it was not meant for her, "She's just nervous, so don't do anything to embarrass her, okay?"

His mother nodded. "Does she know how special she is? This is the first girl you've ever brought home for dinner."

He answered shortly, "No, she doesn't trust me all that much."

Dinner went smoothly, for the most part, pausing only when Mr. Yagami said something about being Taichi's new girl. Sora flushed rapidly, and looked down at her plate, while Taichi shot his father looks that could kill.

Other than that, all of the dinner conversation was polite and fun and not at all awkward. Mrs. Yagami wasn't a bad cook either and even went to the trouble to make dessert.

Taichi, Sora and Hikari did the dishes afterwards, eventually leaving Hikari with drying the dishes because they were cutting it close for their movie.

"Thanks, again." Sora said, as Taichi helped her put on her coat. "That was very nice."

Mrs. Yagami smiled, and patted her hand. "Anytime, I look forward to seeing you again."

And then they were out the door, walking to Taichi's car.

"So it went okay?" Taichi asked her.

She smiled. "It was great. Your family is amazing."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Taichi?" She asked, blushing a bit, "Thanks for inviting me."

She had an instinct to link her arm around his, but pushed it aside.

"No problem. They like you," he grinned, "but then again, you're hard not to like."

She shot him a playful look. "Don't even start."

They were silent, for awhile, until Sora said, "Something bad is happening here."

Taichi opened the car door for her, and went around to the driver's side. "What?"

"I'm starting to enjoy your company."

- - -

Wow, another Taiora by me – my list is getting quite long. I don't Taichi, or Sora, or Yamato, or any other character of Digimon. I kind of like this fiction, it is a bit different than anything I've ever written before. Read and review, will you? I would appreciate it.