"Quiet"

Disclaimer: This is a short piece of fiction based on the Chihaya Furu universe. Characters not mine. Written only for fun, not for profit. Cooler people get the copyrights.

Warning: I have not read the manga, I have not read related fanfiction, I haven't even been able to get through the whole show :S

"Ooooohhhh! This is just so frustrating!" fumed the girl walking beside him.

"No," he said coolly, his eyes set forward, slightly blinded by the orange sunset. "This is frustrating." He wanted to grab her shoulders and shake some sense into her. Or scream like a child. Anything for her to shut up.

But Taichi was becoming a master at ignoring her tantrums. Or to be more precise, he was mastering tuning her out whenever she got all fired up about—

"You could at least look at me for a change..." she was trying the hurt approach now. Really. He knew she did it without meaning to. Still. It didn't make it right. She was such a brat.

Suddenly, she was no longer beside him. He turned his head ever so slightly, just so he could undo it if she caught him paying attention to her. At this point, his cool was all he had left. She was dragging her bags behind her. Figures. Lazy to boot.

"Here," he mumbled, unaffected. "I'll take this one". He took the largest bag from her. It was heavy. They'd been away for all of five days. And just the two of them, only, not really...

He started walking. A few seconds later, he heard her steps a couple of meters behind him.

Taichi had been moody and sombre since breakfast. It had lasted all though their check out, and all the way to the train station. He'd been moody on their first train, and then on the station where they'd waited for the second leg of their trip. And then it had gotten worse. He wanted to whine, the way she did when she didn't like something. He wanted to be loud and be heard, and maybe even patted on the head for his efforts. Pat. At the very least. It would be nice for a change.

But nooooo. Her world had stopped the very second he had shown up. And Taichi with it.

He couldn't stand the chatter it produced. So he'd been avoiding her for a few days now. Or he'd be giving her the cold shoulder when the former wasn't possible. Which had been often, considering. It was starting to wear on her. It was starting to wear on him, too. Perhaps he should stop, end their trip on a good note. He snorted quietly. Like it would make a difference. It had taken her three days to catch up to the fact that he was ignoring her, after all.

Three freaking days.

And now she just wouldn't shut up. She should be a bit more considerate. Maybe he too had things on his mind that he wanted to focus on. Things other than—

"Ne, Taichi..." he gritted his teeth and continued walking.

Just...

"Be quiet", he grumbled.

He didn't turn around to see it, but he could feel her cheeks puffing out, her lips pouting, offended. But he was not going to talk about it.

He definitely wasn't. It was her own fault after all. She had it coming.

She sooo had it coming... It was so much easier ignoring someone when they didn't realise you were doing it, though.

"Don't blame me, this is all your fault," he said. Shit. So much for ignoring her. And it had been going so well, too. "Because you don't even realise I'm here," he mumbled.

Shit again.

He wasn't even doing a very good job at being cool anymore. He hadn't meant to slip like that. It was her fault. It was the stress. No normal human being should be expected to bear it as valiantly as he had.

"Huh?" he could feel her blinking her big eyes at the back of his head.

He sighed a little.

"I'll listen when it's about something other than Arata."

"You're upset about that."

"You're so dense. Of course I am. And I'm tired and it's frustrating and it makes me upset so just be quiet".

"I don't see how you being upset is my fault."

"Drop it." He said through gritted teeth.

"I don't like it when you're upset and ignore me like that!"

"I said, drop it."

"But, Taichi—!"

Something gave. He turned around, startling her enough to halt her steps.

"Then don't ignore me!" he said, raising his voice.

"I never ignore you! What are you talking about?" she cried.

It startled a few people passing by, but after five days of torture, Taichi was beyond caring.

"Yes, you do, Chihaya!" The bags fell to the ground with a heavy thud. "All the time!" he said, his arms spread out for effect.

"But—how—Taichi!" she was going into whiny mode again. He could hear the desperation in her voice, and see it in her eyes. Oh, son of a... he rolled his eyes.

"Ohhh... just—be quiet!" he cried as he walked up to her, and he quickly trapped her lips on his, his hands cradling her face.

His heart was beating noisily, he could even feel its rhythm behind his closed lids, and he was a bit out of breath, a bit dizzy. Her lips were so soft, moving ever so slowly against his, without any struggles. It was all it took for him to start panicking slightly. But...

"Finally," he said as he pulled away, his hands still cradling her face, "you shut up."

She blinked, her lips stuck forming a very soft 'oh', as if to follow him, or so he wanted to believe.

"You're so dense" he said as she blinked a couple more times, her cheeks feeling hot under his palms.

He dropped his hands, went to grab the bags and continued walking. "I can't believe you've never realised how much I like you."

His back to her, and blissful silence restored to the world, his cool finally returned. He felt relieved, for once. Let her roast and wonder about it. Mull it over. He couldn't care less.

At least for now.

He smiled.

And she'd finally shut up.

Now he could go back to ignore her in peace.

At least for now.

FIN.

Author notes:

Like I said before, I have not read the manga, I have not read fanfiction, I haven't even been able to get through the whole show, but I'm in love with Taichi. I have dreams about him. I'd never dreamt of a 2D character before in my life (except perhaps Terry back in the day, but that's different). I don't care what anyone says :P He's perfect in such an imperfect way. Spoiled and self-centred and selfish, but so naive and innocent and insecure at the same time. I don't know, he vibrates in a very realistic way. Plus, he's cute. And he does things like licking spoons right on Chihaya's face. Swoon. Chihaya on the other hand... She actually does get on my nerves, and Taichi needs a break. Or I can't sleep at night. So this short story popped into my head a while back to help with my insomnia.

This is it for me on Chihaya fandom. I'm still very much hard at work on TCOC. So no worries there for anyone wondering :) Comments very much appreciated.

Thanks for reading!