Kurayami No Kusari

(Chains Of Darkness)

I don't own any part of digimon except this story. Enjoy! -DQ

THIS IS RATED MA17. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Chapter One: Himitsu!

"Nani? Taichi-chan, speak sense!" came the tall blond's reply. Taichi never made sense half of the time and this time was no different. Yamato-san folded his arms across his chest and glared over at the brunette. "Now, start from the beginning. And for the gods' sake, speak slowly." He added once his friend calmed down enough for coherent speech. "Yama-san! Kiite kudasai! Please listen to me. I don't know what is wrong with me! I can't sleep, I can't eat. I can't even play soccer anymore! Why did she do this?" Taichi howled in dulcet tones. "Uwakimono she is, but I still loved her. I should move on but I cannot!"

Yama-san sighed heavily and sat back in his sofa. He could have told Taichi that Misao was not what her name claimed her to be. A very pretty bleached blonde, she was almost the exact opposite of Taichi-chan. And Yama-san hated her to the very core. He knew she had been unfaithful to Taichi but to leave him for another man on the eve of their anniversary was low, even for her. 'I shouldn't judge her quite yet. Maybe there is more to the story.'

"Tai-san, kurushimi isn't what you should be feeling. You loved her, but she didn't love you. Let her go and wasuremasu. Kudasai." Yama pleaded to the distraught 20 year old. "She isn't worth your anguish." He finished, looking up into broken brown eyes. Yamato knew he could never understand what Taichi was going through. He would never let himself fall in love. But he could be there to comfort and help his long time friend see reason.

"Yama-san, it's not that easy." Taichi responded, looking away from the intoxicating azure gaze. How could he tell Yamato that he knew full well why Misao left him for another? How could he break the secret that had been haunting him for years? He knew what Misao would say: 'All he speaks of is you, Yama-san. I cannot compete with this. I need another man, someone who loves me as I should be loved. First and not second!' It was true. Taichi-chan did love Misao, but second to the man that sat beside him, listening to him in his grief. He had always loved Yamato, first as closely as a brother he never had, until one day he caught himself daydreaming of more romantic situations than simple playfun activities.

"It may not be that easy, but that is how it is. She cheated on you, left you for another guy. Why lament someone like that? You could do better." Yamato said, flipping his hand off to the side with his almost too casual remark. 'Like I would know, I have no interest in women, nor do I know how they think and function.' He thought to himself. Looking up, he caught Tai's eye and held it for a moment. Yamato always marveled at how so alike Taichi's eyes were to the sweetest chocolate. The moment turned into nearly half a minute of silence. Tears stained Taichi's cheeks as they dribbled down from his sad brown eyes. Ocean blues regarded it with a deep sadness of their own. Before he could control his actions, Yama-san reached over and wiped away a cold tear with his thumb.

Tai's eyes rounded in shock as Yama's soft and warm hands came into contact with his wet cheek. "Nakanai de, Taichi." Came a soft whisper from between Yama's lips. 'Shinai…Shinai de kudasai…' Taichi screamed mentally. 'If you touch me, Yama-san…' Time seemed to come back to Yamato and he let his hand drop back to the sofa cushion. "Don't cry, Taichi. She isn't worth it." Yama said, turning his face to the side to block Taichi from seeing the confused look on his pale face. "Wa…Watashi wa ikimasu, Yama-san." Taichi answered back, moving with slow motions away from the couch to Yamato's front door. With one backwards, confused glance at Yama, Taichi left in silence.

Kicking rocks on the way home, Taichi couldn't get the thought of Yama's hand on his face out of his mind. What possessed Yamato to act so sweet to him? 'His hands are so soft, his palms warm. His eyes are like liquid fire. How can he not see what I feel? Can I really hide behind women forever, never telling him what is in my heart?' he thought to himself. With his hands in his pockets and his head bowed, he didn't notice Misao pass him on the opposite side of the street headed in the direction that Taichi just left from. Had Tai lifted his head for a fraction of a second, he would have noticed the furtive look on his recent ex's face as she spotted him. Bowing her own head, tears in her eyes, she sped away from the dejected looking young man. Intent on her mission, she let nothing deter her.

'What was that about, ne? Strange. I've seen Taichi cry before. Hell, I've made him cry before. But not like that. Why would it effect me so?' Yama-san pondered to himself later that night. Once Taichi had left, he busied himself with making dinner (a lonely affair) then washing the resulting dishes. With those actions taking up his concentration, he deliberately made it so he wouldn't have to immediately confront his confusion. Now that all nighttime chores were done and stillness reigned his one-floor apartment, he found himself wondering.

'I should come clea…eh?' Yama was jerked out of his musings by a timid knock on his door. With a soft mumbled phrase, he got up and walked to the front door. "Donata desu ka?" he said through the door. "Watashi, Misao." Came a young woman's voice softly back. Unlocking the door, he opened it a crack to make sure it really was her. "Hai, Misao-san?" he said neutrally. "Can we talk, Yamato-san?" she asked. Not looking upset, or even sounding it, instead she looked like she was scared that someone would see her at his doorstep. "Come in." Yama said, opening the door wider for her to enter. "I come here, Yama, not to explain my actions." Misao said, her hazel eyes meeting Yamato's. "Good, because it shouldn't be me you explain them to." Yamato replied tersely. Pursing her lips at his words, she forged on relentlessly. "I came to tell you something that Taichi cannot. Are you really so blind to it, Yamato?" said Misao. "Blind to what, Misao-kun? All I see is an uwakimono, a cheater." He said, letting his anger at his friend's hurt and tears color his words. "If I am not the first in his heart, then he is the cheater! I left him to find a man who can love only me, not his best friend!" she spat, her eyes darkening dangerously.

"The Great Yamato Ishida. The one and only thing that matters to Taichi, besides soccer. Why should I put up with that? I can handle a stupid ball, but not when he wishes it was you beside him in life and not me." She said, mincing no words. Yama-san stared at her in utter bewilderment. Was the girl drunk? He didn't smell liquor on her, nor a freshly smoked joint. "Kichigai! You are out of your mind, Misao. Taichi? Love me? Want me as his partner? Outrageous. If this is the best excuse you can come up with, then you should be leaving." He answered.

"Yamato! He loves you. He always has. He just cannot bring himself to admit it to the world. And you know what? I think you already knew. I think you knew and you feel for him!" she accused, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at him. It was so close to him, he could see the white stripe of the french tips. "It is good that I left him. Now you two can work out this tangle on your own and leave me out of the middle." "You are wrong, Misao. I do not love him like that. He is as close as a brother. His sister and my little brother date. Me and Taichi do not!" he said, his voice raised. His cheeks colored at the accusation of feelings for Taichi-chan, his mind going back unbiddingly to earlier that day and the awkward moment him and Tai shared. He advanced on Misao with misplaced anger, leaving her no choice but to back out of the doorway. "Goodnight, Misao. Don't darken my doorstep with your foolishness again!" he said and slammed the door.

That night Taichi slept fitfully. All his mind played over and over was Yamato's hand reaching for him, his thumb wiping away a tear and the tenderness he saw directed at him. Tossing and turning in his sweat soaked sheets, he awoke with a start. Sitting bolt upright in his bed, his one word exclamation echoed around his small room. "Yamato!" With his bare chest heaving, he turned to the side and sat on the edge of his bed. Resting his head in his hands, he wept for the confusion that tormented him. 'Yamato-san, irimasu anata!' he cried silently. "Why must this go on? I should just tell him. Maybe he will understand. I love him…and it is because of that love that Misao left me." He mumbled to his empty room. He wasn't as upset over loosing Misao as he let Yama-san think and he felt bad for leading Yamato on in his pseudo grief. He was actually relieved to be rid of Misao. When she broke the news to Taichi earlier that day he immediately headed to Yamato's place. 'What a fool I was to expect Yamato to be so sympathetic. How I had hoped that my wish would come true, how I wished he would have taken me in his arms and soothed my pain.' Taichi thought desperately. No more sleep would be had for Taichi-chan that night.

The next morning hearalded just as little rest for Yama-san. 'Uhg, I dreamed of him last…' he stopped abruptly. Lifting his sheets he spotted something that hadn't happened to him since he was 14 years old. Extremely red in the face, he threw off his bedsheets and stared dumbfoundedly at the wet spot shining in the morning light. "Masaka! Iie, not to Taichi…" he said, his voice low in a desperate groan. Getting up, he headed immediately to the shower. 'The dream was so real, more real than any dream I can remember. I could smell his citris shampoo, I could feel his hot hands on my bo…Yama! Stop remembering it! This is wrong, no matter how right you may think it is!' Cold water, a loofah and copious amounts of soap couldn't rid him of the feeling. What feeling, he had no clue, but he tried his hardest to erase it.

Taichi slowly shuffled his way over to Yama-san's house. Letting himself in, as was his wont, he made his way to the sofa and flopped down onto it. He heard the sound of the shower but deliberately tried to pay it no mind. "Yama…hurry up and get out of there. We need to talk…" he muttered to himself. Just as he finished, he heard the water shut off. Standing up, he was about to knock on Yama's door when it opened. "Taichi!" Yamato screamed in shock. He wasn't aware that Taichi had come over this early. Usually he was still snoozing in his bed with drool on the pillow. Shock turned into red-faced embarrassment as he realized that he only stood in a black towel that contrasted pleasantly with his well toned but pale body. "Yamato-san!" Taichi gasped, taking an involutary step forewards. "What the hell are you doing here this early?" Yama yelled, clutching at his loosely wrapped towel and moving one back. "Yamato! Gomen nasai…But I had to speak to you…" Taichi said breathlessly. He never fully appreciated Yamato's physique until that moment. He found himself wondering what the towel hid when Yama's still angry voice broke through to him. "Taichi, look somewhere else, please!" he pleaded, trying to shield his body from the intense gaze Taichi was giving it.

Taichi lowered his eyes to the floor, his cheeks as red as the shirt he wore. "Go…Gomen nasai, Yamato." He whispered. When he heard no movement from Yamato, he glanced back up at the face of his nightly tormenter. Blue met brown and for a split second, Taichi saw reflected in those oceanic depths a desire that mimiced his own. At least, he thought he saw it. Gone the next instant, he wondered if what he saw was really there. "Taichi…" came Yamato's soft voice. "Could you please go back into the living room….I need to clean up a…a mess." Yama asked. Nodding once, Taichi retrated to the spartan living room and sat numbly on the sofa. Minutes drifted by and by the time he was reflecting on Yama's bath towel again, the door opened.

Yamato came out dressed in only a pair of silk black boxers and a white cotton shirt. "Excuse me. It seems that I had another 'growing up' dream." He mumbled, rushing by Taichi with a bundle of black sheets. Yama dumped them into the laundry room before returning to the living room. He sat on the sofa, not close and not far from where Taichi sat. Silence reigned. Finally, tension mounting, Taichi spoke. "I couldn't sleep last night. Again." Another moment of silence. 'Is this what he came over so early to tell me?' he wondered, then "I slept…unfortunately." Yama responded with an absent wave towards the room he just left. "At least you slept, even If it did end up in a mess. Who was she this time?" Taichi asked, not knowing the question would send Yamato into blushes. "No..nobody. I can't remember his face." Yama said then winced. He hadn't meant to be gender specific!

"Nani? His?" Taichi yelped. After all these years, he had no idea that Yamato would be from that side of town, the same district, perhaps, as Taichi. He turned so fast to face Yamato that he got a crick in his neck. Rubbing the pain away, he waited silently for an explanation. After a few moments, Yama spoke. "Hai, his, Taichi. It has never happened before. Last night was the first time I dreamed of yo…uh…another man." He said, catching himself before he made another blunder. Tai, however, wasn't fooled. "What other man, Yamato-san?" he asked softly while lowering his eyes demurely to the cushion. He had an inkling of whom. 'He dreamed of me…' Taichi's heart sang. Blood pounded in his veins so loudly he almost couldn't hear Yama's response.

"Nobody, alright?" Yamato said, his voice raised. Taichi stared at Yamato, blinking in an unfazed sort of way. Leaning over, he pressured Yamato into the side of the sofa. His face invading Yamato's personal space, he asked again in a low voice, his eyes narrowed in challenge. "Dare desu ka, Yamato!" he spoke. Yama swallowed nervously, unused to seeing Taichi so intense away from a soccer ball. That thought sent his mind back to the night before and Misao's declarations. Breathing heavily, he looked away from Taichi's piercing eyes. Taichi was done asking. "Yamato-san! Miru watashi de!" Taichi commanded firmly. The moment Yama turned to face Taichi once more, Tai leaned in and captured Yamato's lips with his own.

Shoo ichi owarimashita!

Translations:

Himitsu Secrets

Nani? What?

Kiite kudasai! Please listen!

Uwakimono Cheater(on a spouse)

Kurushimi Pain, misery, anguish.

Wasuremasu forget

Nakenai de, Taichi Don't cry, Taichi.

Shinai de kudasai Please, don't!

Watashi wa ikimasu I'm leaving/going.

Donata desu ka? Who is it?

Watashi I/me

Hai Yes

Kichigai Crazy person!

Irimasu anata I need/want you.

Masaka! No way!

Iie No

Gomen nasai I'm sorry

Gomen Sorry

Dare desu ka Who is it?

Miru watashi de! Look at me!

Shoo ichi owarimashita! Chapter one complete/done/finished!