Well, here's the first of several dramatic stories I have lined up. Itsy bitsy PG language. Not too big of a deal... I hope. And as we all know, I don't own Digimon. It'd be cool, but no dice. So please don't sue.

Always With Me
Chapter 1: First Visions

" 'The Past will catch up and lives will change forever.'-

A line that is true to the story that takes place; two years after the turbulence and the madness of the threat of a conquered world, a prophetic vision is all that stands between the life of one and the lives of all. The foretelling of future-less lives is enough to drive a person to madness; to place all the responsibility and the blame on one's shoulders, a burden carried in the psyche of one alone: isolated.

One, young Takenouchi Sora, lived a life of happiness; filled with loving friends, a loving family, and the promise of two whole worlds opened up to her young heart. The carrier of the power of love, that is all she ever gave to everyone she knew and even met. And such a powerful emotion love is: not so perfect, and yet, no soul can live without it. It is the greatest ally, and yet it is the greatest enemy. Love can either save, or destroy.

But, for Sora, life went to hell."

---

"Heads up!" "Pass it here!"

These were the sounds of a heated soccer game in progress. Tai had the ball while running as hard as he could. He was one step ahead of everyone else on the field. He had a clear shot at the goal. He let back his leg and swung it forward and fired a rocket past the bewildered goalkeeper. The team cheered and crowded around Tai. He laughed with an air of domination. He stopped when he saw Sora jog tiredly to finally join the group. He pushed his way through to Sora.

"Hey," he laughed. "Wasn't that great?"

"Yeah," she panted, giving a weak smile.

They sat on the bench together, drying off their sweat.

"Takenouchi," the coach said as he stood in front of her. "You don't look so good out there. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," she answered, smiling innocently. "I'm just a little tired that's all. I've had a lot on my mind."

"Well, if you say so. But if your condition continues like this, I'm going to have to bench you. I can't have you getting sick and having to rush you to the hospital."

"Yes, sir," Sora answered as he left. She stared down at the grass at her feet. Tai that entire time sat there unnoticed.

"You're not having trouble sleeping again, are you?" he asked.

"Of course not," she smiled. "I've just been studying too much."

"Sora, it's the beginning of summer."

"It's never too early," she stuttered, trying to keep up her defense.

"You're lying to me Sora," Tai asserted while standing up. She looked back down at the ground, ashamed. "You've been lying to me a lot lately. Is there something you don't want me to know? Is there… someone else you…"

"Of course not!" she answered, almost in tears. "It's just that…I can't tell you. You can't do anything about it."

"That's your problem. You won't let anyone help you."

"No one can help me," she muttered. "Lots of people can help you. There are your friends, your family, psychiatrists…"

"Tai! How could you!"

"God forbid that it should get that far, but I'm just saying that you're not alone on this." There was a moment of silence as Tai stood and watched Sora sit and stare down at the ground. Tai knew that something was going on in her mind, something that was tearing her apart. He held out his hand to her. "Come on. Let's go home," he said, with some cheer. She looked him over for a moment to see what his intentions were, and decided that there was no danger. She trusted Tai more than anyone else. She gently took his hand and stood with his help. They grabbed their bags and walked off the field together.

---

That night, Sora lay barely awake in her bed. She thought of what Tai told her, about not wanting help. It wasn't that she didn't want it, but that no amount of help or support could stop the madness that was growing inside of her. It was indescribable and unbelievable. At that time, the dreams she had were weak and easily forgotten, but were always frightening, and were always growing in strength. She finally grew so tired that her eyelids instinctively shut and her body fell into immobilization. The first few minutes were peaceful and dark. Everything was fine when suddenly there was a flash and a terrible piercing scream. Sora's eyes flew open. She sat up quickly. There was nothing but peace and darkness. The room was still. A chill ran down her spine. She felt a terrible presence around her. She quickly plopped back down and hid her head under her pillow.

---

Morning was miserable. Sora was a tired wreck. It took all of her power to keep herself from falling over. She sat at the counter in the kitchen while the portable television was droning the comedic sounds of "beep beep, vroom, and kaboom." She paid no attention to it as she moved her cereal around in circles in her bowl. She sighed as she looked up. It was no use. She was too tired.

"I know. Maybe a shower will help," she thought to herself. "That should wake me right up."

---

Warm water poured over her body. It was relaxing. For the first time, she didn't feel so uptight and exhausted. She stood still and let the streaming water message her shoulders. She closed her eyes as she listened to the running water. It was calm and peaceful. She then opened her eyes to look for the shampoo. "Oh my God!" she gasped. She was no longer in the shower. It was dark all around her. She stood in the middle of the broken, torn street. There was rubble and debris in huge piles. There were burning cars; sirens screamed from every direction. Beams of light from the sky moved around on the ground. What was worse, she could make out dead bodies lying all over. She couldn't take it. The scene was too horrible. She covered her face with her hands, crying. Suddenly, she felt warmth again. The feeling of water returned. She cautiously moved her hands away. She was back in the shower. The destruction was gone. There was no noise except for the running of the water. It was impossible to be a dream. She wasn't even asleep.

---

Sora walked through the city streets silently as the rest of the world passed her by. She tried not to think of the horror. Everything was perfectly normal. The city carried on like it always did. But it still felt so strange. The park was no different either. Children played and people sat on benches, walked, skated, biked: it was all normal. Something then caught her attention. A small stone passed in front of her. Some kid was probably throwing rocks, she told herself. But then another one came at her, this time hitting her on the shoulder. She looked over in the direction that it came from. She then gave a scolding expression. Tai was lying on the grass, laughing at her. She crossed her arms as she glared at him.

"Come here," he told her. She only gave him a stronger glare. "Oh come on," Tai chuckled. "I'm sorry." With an amused smile, she accepted the invitation and sat down next to him. He then threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "You're so cute when you're mad," he joked.

"Tai! Stop that!" Sora scolded.

"That's what I'm talking about!" he said as he let her go. She went to give him the "Look of Death," but she relaxed into a sweet smile. He was only being cute. It was just too hard to be mad at him when he was being playful.

"I swear Tai, you're just like a little child," Sora giggled.

"Child? I don't see any children here," Tai jested.

"No but I see two lovebirds!" a voice announced. Tai and Sora looked around to see who was there. They looked up at the tree and saw Matt sitting on a branch. He laughed down at them. "Ha, two little birdies sitting together. How romantic." Sora looked away: her face blushed a bright red and her heart beat like crazy.

"Hey! Who invited you?" Tai shouted angrily.

"You're so cute when you're mad," he mocked in a high pitched voice. "Oh, you're just like a child." Tai's face burned hot. His fist tightened into a ball.

"That's it! You're going to get it now!" he shouted angrily. He jumped up and charged the tree. Matt jumped down and ran off in the other direction. As he disappeared into the crowd, he could be heard chanting. "Tai and Sora sitting in a tree!" Tai watched him run off. Sora sat and looked in that direction, too. She couldn't help thinking. Tai got angry when Matt was saying that. Maybe he didn't like her the way she liked him, or maybe, he just didn't like being teased about it. Tai sat back down next to her.

"That Matt can be a jerk sometimes," he grunted.

"Yeah," she muttered. She looked at him. He was still blushing.

---

The day wore on into the afternoon. After a full day of walking around, the two were growing exhausted.

"I-I'm glad we decided to spend the rest of the day together," Tai stuttered. He had a light blush.

"Me too," Sora answered softly. She, too, had a light blush as she looked over at him. As their eyes met, Tai began to blush a little more. The entire day, he was thinking. He thought many things at the same time. He thought about whether it was the right time to tell her, and if it was, then what could he tell her? He wondered if telling her that he loved her was too strong, or if telling her that he liked her was too weak. And then how would he tell her? He didn't know whether he should tell her while at someplace romantic, or if he should tell her straight out. And then he thought about how she would react, whether she would accept instantly, or if they were to go through some type of romantic drama. But then… what about their friends? They'd never stop teasing them. Tai was lost in deep thought until he realized Sora wasn't by his side anymore. He looked around, hoping that they didn't get separated. He then calmed down when he saw that she was looking into one of the stores. He joined her in looking. It was a nice little retail store claiming to have all the modern styles and fashions.

"They say that there's some really cool stuff in here," Sora said.

"Well, why don't we check it out," Tai answered.

As they entered the store, their ears were almost blown out by the loud music. Just about everything was black. The teenagers behind the counter had bizarre piercings and tattoos and crazy colored hair.

"How ya' guys doing today?" one of them greeted.

"We're fine thanks," Tai shouted over the music.

"Ask me if you need any help," he answered. Tai and Sora headed towards the back.

"Wow, what a nice man," Sora said. Tai looked around at all the crazy shirts. The names and logos of rock bands were on many of them and many others had hilarious anecdotes.

"'Monkeys steal my underwear at night.' Ha! I should shop here more often," he said to himself. Meanwhile, Sora was looking at the jewelry. Everything was a bit too extreme for her. There were bracelets and necklaces with spikes coming out of them. There were over-sized rings and hundreds of multicolored wristbands. She had just about given up on looking when something caught her eye.

"Oh wow! They have it!" she exclaimed excitedly. Tai heard her and went to see what it was. She held a black leather-string necklace with a small medallion on it. "I saw this at the drag races once, but I didn't have the money to get it," she explained. Tai took it to get a better look at it. It was a small medallion of the ever-popular VolksWagon logo. Sora then looked disappointed. "And I still don't have the money," she sighed. Tai looked at her sympathetically. She went to go look at something else. Tai stared at the necklace in his hand.

They finally left the store as evening began to set in.

"That was fun," Sora said. "We should go there more often." Tai put his hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her to the wall. She looked at him, a little surprised.

"I've got something for you," he said. He pulled a small black plastic bag from his pocket. He reached in and pulled out a necklace. Sora gasped. It was the necklace that she wanted.

"Oh! Tai! You really didn't have to!" she exclaimed, nervously.

"Of course I did," he answered. "You wanted it, and I got it for you." He unhooked it, placed it around her neck, and hooked it again. He stepped back to admire her.

"Oh Tai, thank you," Sora stuttered. Happy tears formed in her eyes. She stepped up to him and hugged him. He hugged her back.

"Anything for you," he whispered.

She felt his arms around her body and it was everything that she dreamed of. She was finally holding him the way that she had wanted to. She closed her eyes to savor the moment. Suddenly there was a bright flash and a strange feeling in her body. She gasped at the sudden pain and fell back against the wall.

"Sora! What's wrong?" Tai panicked.

"Nothing," she gasped. "Nothing's wrong."

"What are you talking about? You're in pain! Something's wrong!"

"I'm all right!"

"Damn it, Sora! Stop lying to me!" he screamed, pinning her shoulders to the wall. She gasped in surprise. "Why do you keep lying? What is your problem?"

"Get away!" she screamed. She pushed him back and slapped him across the face. Her eyes were full of fear when she realized what she had done. Tai looked back at her, his eyes softer. Tears of fear and frustration began to form in her eyes. She was upset and afraid, and Tai saw this.

"Sora, please," he said softly. "You're not just hurting yourself anymore." Sora whimpered. She tried to hold back the tears. Tai slowly put his hands on her shoulders. She shuddered. "You can't live like this," he explained softly. "How are we supposed to be together if you shut me out? Please, let me in." Sora stared at him. She was frozen.

---

She was alone again. The dark night had enveloped her. There was a maddening silence all around her, just waiting to consume her. She ran and ran, but was getting nowhere. She was in the same place. Monsters and ghosts began to appear and dance around her, taunting her. She tried not to look, but she could still see them. They laughed and growled. They surrounded her and trapped her. A large, terrible growling was coming closer to her. Her heart raced; sweat ran down her cheeks. The growling stopped in front of her: a shadow. It roared and released a bright flash. She jumped in her bed with a start. She was once again alone in her dark room.

Well, there's the first chapter. R&R if you want. Just... please don't hurt me (cowers in fear)