"Well, that sounds like a girly thing to do."
"Don't be stupid, Tai."
Dandelion
Summer break was finally here, allowing for Tai and Sora to spend a day at their favorite spot – a place no one knew of but them. It was a little ways behind the summer camp they both attended years ago (or, rather, attempted to attend until they were whisked off into the DigiWorld). The camp was rather ordinary, but if one had ventured just beyond the little orchard the camp was near, a grassy field that spread for miles would have welcomed anyone with open arms. It was perfect – no buildings, no annoying kids who'd scream obnoxiously, and, most importantly of all, some space to practice some soccer moves in privacy. Sora had discovered it one day when she had run away from home when she was younger.
"I used to come here when my mother and I would fight. I just kept walking and walking until I returned to where our Digi adventures started… but there were people around so I kept walking even further and found this … haven. Now I just come here whenever I want to get away from … everything. You can't tell anyone, okay?"
"I'm going to tell everyone right now."
"Tai!"
"I'm just kidding! It'll be our secret."
And so it was the first day of summer break when Tai and Sora returned to their spot once again. Tai liked the idea of them having a secret no one else knew of, but he'd never tell that to a soul out loud. They arrived at noon, having raced each other by biking. If they had been kids, Tai would have taken their little competition a bit more seriously, but now he always let Sora finish getting there first – only by a few seconds so he wouldn't completely tarnish his reputation – just so he could see her smile (Not that it really matters to me, Tai would always tell himself, but he was never able to resist the urge to smile back when she'd rub it in his face that she was number one).
"Geez, Sora. You must be cheating or something," Tai called out to Sora, pedaling towards her.
Sora turned around, brushing back her hair after a gentle breeze picked up. "You're the one who's too slow," she teased, laughing as he began to rant on about how he was "just tired today" - his usual excuse.
Tai jumped off his bike, reaching over to his backpack to pull out a soccer ball. "Here! Since you're so fast, catch this!" Tai began to dribble the soccer ball away from her, starting out slowly and then transitioning into a sprint as Sora chased after him. "Tai, you jerk! Don't catch me off guard!"
They both laughed as they began to run across the grassy field. The sun was out, but it wasn't too scorching hot – a few clouds peeked over the mountains, but they weren't nearly close enough to be any threat for rain. Butterflies seemed to be following them. It was the perfect atmosphere in the perfect –
"TAI! STOP!" Sora shrieked.
"Huh—What-!" Tai turned around, causing him to lose focus on the soccer ball. He took one large step forward – mistakenly onto the soccer ball – resulting in him slipping sideways towards the ground, pummeling nearly face first. His body hit the ground hard, causing his goggles to fly into the air. His head began to pound, a strange noise was ringing inside – but Tai's first thought was to see what had happened to Sora. He immediately forced himself up, ignoring the pain.
"Sora! Sora, what's wrong? Are you okay? What happened?" Tai limped to Sora's side, panting.
"Tai! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
"Why are you asking if I'm okay?! Why did you tell me to stop?"
"Oh, well, um – there was a dandelion on the ground and you were about to run over it with the soccer ball."
Tai almost fell to the ground once again, flabbergasted. "You mean I almost broke my face just now because of some stupid flower?"
"I know, I'm sorry, Tai. That was really dumb of me," Sora said apologetically. Tai sighed, smiling a little because he knew no one else but her would do something like that in the first place. Too caring as always, that Sora.
"My big hair protects me from all sorts of injuries. It's okay," Tai joked. "I'm a man."
"Are you sure you're okay? I feel so bad." Sora stepped towards Tai, gently wiping some dirt off of his nose, causing his heart to skip a beat.
"Positive! Now mind telling me why this dandelion was worth the trouble of almost destroying me?"
Sora walked over and bent down to the dandelion's level. It was a single dandelion seed head, something rather common and annoying back home and at school. The strange thing was that their secret place had always been spotless from weeds, mushrooms, and dandelions, until now. What was even stranger was that it was the only dandelion in sight, pure white and full of seeds.
"It's really dumb. I don't even know why I told you to stop – it just came to me," she said quietly. Tai followed her lead, bending down next to her and staring at the dandelion.
"Okay, so can I take my revenge and step on this thing now?" Tai asked. He was only half kidding.
"There's an even better way of seeking your revenge," Sora stated, smiling over at Tai.
"Wait, are you serious? Because if you are, do tell!"
"You can blow it."
Tai looked at her suspiciously, and then back at the dandelion. He did a double take once again, finally focusing on Sora after a few moments. "Okay, you've got me," he said, confused. "What?"
"You've never blown out a dandelion before, Tai?" Sora asked. Whose right it was to be confused was up in the air, as they both seemed surprised at the other.
"No, never. I always liked stepping on them when I was a kid," Tai confessed. Sora rolled her eyes.
"They say," she started, "When you blow out a dandelion's seeds and manage to make all of the seedlings fly off on one try, the person you love loves you in return. It doesn't count if you blow on it more than once, though." She smiled, sheepishly fixating her eyes at the ground. "I liked to make wishes on them when I was little."
"And did your wishes come true?"
"It feels like it."
"And do you think the person you love loves you back?"
"Well, I did blow off all the seeds every time, but I can't answer that just yet."
Tai nudged Sora with his elbows, making her giggle and almost lose her balance. She adjusted herself and sat with her legs crossed on the ground now. She motioned for Tai to sit next to her, which he did almost too quickly. "Oooh, so you liiiiike someone, huh?" Tai teased, continuing to nudge her. "Sora and her lov-er sitting in a tree! Who is it?"
"Oh, whatever, Tai! That secret's safe with me!" Sora exclaimed, tickling him in the stomach, his weak spot. He burst into laughter, pulling her hand away from him. Then, she tugged the dandelion from its root, lifting it up from the ground and handing it to Tai. "Come on, you try."
"Well, that sounds like a girly thing to do."
"Don't be stupid, Tai."
Tai gave in, accepting the little dandelion into his hand, knowing Sora wouldn't let him leave without him agreeing to do this. He was a little curious anyway. What exactly would it mean for him if those seedlings all blew off? He wasn't exactly sure who it was he loved. Okay, scratch that – only one person had come to Tai's mind at first when it came to that stuff. A matter of "who?" wasn't the question. It was more like what to do with these feelings toward that person - that was all confusing to him. His curiosity about the dandelion was tugging his heartstrings.
"Okay. I mean, I guess – just for you, and whatever happens in our secret spot, stays in our secret spot. What if I've got all that I would wish for, though?"
"Then let's see if the person you love loves you back," she said quickly. Upon realizing how intense her tone was, she softened up. "Do you … love someone?"
Tai paused for a moment, avoiding eye contact with Sora, until finally he admitted, "I'm afraid so."
"Oh," was all Sora said. After a few seconds of silence, she added, "That's nice, Tai." She turned to him, putting on a stern face. "Go on! Blow it out."
Tai put the dandelion in front of his face, squinting at it as it were an enemy. "You almost broke my face, Dandelion. Now prepare to meet your doom."
Sora rolled her eyes, smiling. "Come on, Tai."
For a second, he almost hesitated. What if she doesn't love me?, he asked himself, but immediately shook off that thought. This is lame. I won't let a dandelion beat me again. Tai closed his eyes and blew at the dandelion as hard as he could in one breath.
At just the right moment, the breeze picked up again, carrying the strands of dandelion seed heads along with it, until it looked like a tiny hurricane of seeds were dancing in the air, flying to freedom.
Only one seed head remained on the dandelion.
He let out a soft sigh. It was a stupid idea in general, but it didn't stop him from feeling his heart sink a little. Sora didn't say anything. She stared as the dandelion seed heads floated away, carrying all of their thoughts, wishes, and curiosities along with them.
Author's note: This was originally intended to be a one-shot, but I liked how it was going so far and I feel like I would have too much to write to fit it all in just one chapter, so this is going to be a very short story! Possibly up to three chapters at the most, but the next chapter could also easily be the last, depending on how it turns out as I'm writing it XD. x_X I do hope you all like how it's turning out so far, though! Please review! I would appreciate any sort of feedback. You can even tell me if I shouldn't continue with this story, haahha (that'd be an extremely sad ending though, no? :/)