Summary: Taichi—every time he "uses" magic, his body grows weaker. Can Yamato save him before it's too late? Yamachi/Taito

Disclaimer: splintered does not own Digimon. She's only using the characters for her personal use.

Cursed

By: splintered

An unconscious body lay beneath the trees. Motionless, it looked like a sleeping angel. Even though the messy brown hair was spread across the Odaiba public park lawn had twigs in it. Even though the clothes were dirty and torn as nature played with the sleeves' fabric. The boy himself looked oddly tranquil and beautiful as if he was just resting on this particular summer day. Someone else knew better.

Yamato grew restless when Tai didn't show up at his house on time. Normally, this slight tardiness wouldn't bother anyone else as the brunette was famous for his inability to keep on schedule, but Yamato knew better. The blonde also knew about Tai's condition, and couldn't help the sickening feeling that something was wrong. Grabbing his keys, the blonde left his apartment at a quarter to one...

Although the trees' natural camouflage would have generally made the find a difficult task for any sane or normal person, Yamato easily spotted the comatose brunette at their favorite park, hidden among the greenery. Of course, Yamato was neither sane nor normal. Everything was always different when Taichi was involved and it seemed that the blonde had a special knack for noticing the brunette. It was as if everything concerning Taichi had its own frequency that only Yamato was tuned into. The way that Taichi would light up a room with his irresistible smile and animated gestures. The graceful ease that Taichi would charm the people around him. Yamato noticed it all. In fact, the blond had a hard time not paying attention to the brunette who always seemed to occupy his mind. It was definitely Taichi who made him insane to a point that was definitely not normal. And this particular day was no different.

"Taichi!" he cried as he approached the brunette, shaking him roughly. "Taichi, answer me!" The other's harsh voice eventually forced the brunette to surrender his gaze. The amazed golden brown eyes were greeted by a worried blond.

Yamato was relieved that Tai's beautiful face remained unmarred, but even as the brown-eyed beauty opened his eyes, Yamato had no way of knowing how long the brunette had been out this time. "Tai," the blonde asked more gently this time. "Have you been 'using' again?"

The brunette blinked a couple of times, only returning a blank stare.

Yamato almost cried as he stared at his friend's unfocused eyes. The fact that Tai didn't look like his normally bubbly self was answer enough. "Tai, don't do this to yourself." Don't do this to me, the blonde wanted to say. But Yamato found that he couldn't get the words out.

Meanwhile Tai tried to explain, but it felt like he had a large sock wedged in the corner of his mouth. He knew what he wanted to say, but as always, it probably didn't come out that way. Still, in his own mind, it sounded something like, "You see...there was this little girl at the park. She was being bullied and I just had to..." Although Tai knew that the rest of the explanation was mostly lost between a jumble of words that didn't make much sense, Tai also knew that the blond understood the gist of it. He didn't know why exactly--although Yama said it was because he knew Tai for long enough to understand all his 'Tai-isms' (but then again, his other friends, who have known him just as long if not longer, didn't understand even half as well as Yama did) --Only Yama seemed to understand when the rest of the world didn't.

Yamato tried to remain neutral. He really tried...but somehow, his emotions always got involved when Taichi had something to do with things. "You'll just pay for the consequences later," Yamato accusingly. But Yama didn't know who he was blaming more: Tai for being...well, 'Tai' or himself for not doing a better job at protecting the brunette.

"I know," the brunette said solemnly, "but isn't it better for them to have their happiness than for me to have mine..." Tai let the words trail off, purposefully leaving what he really wanted to say out. ...especially when I know that I'm already a hopeless cause, he finished the rest of the sentence inside his head.

"Taichi—" Yamato's stance was protective as always as he hovered above Taichi's fallen form.

"Don't," Tai protested, wincing slightly as he tried to get up... Only to find that he couldn't. He hated this feeling of helplessness--although he knew he should be used to it by now-- knowing full well that people could never get used to some things. This weakness was one of such things. Although he knew that it would take time for him to regain his strength, he also knew that he would never regain his full strength again. This 'thing'...this 'curse'...this 'disease'...whatever it was... It was killing him slowly. "It's better for everyone else to have their happiness and leave me like this."

Yamato sighed. "Everyone's not Hikari." Hikari-- Tai's younger sister. The one that Tai couldn't save. The one who died. Although that was years ago when it happened, Yamato could tell that the incident still messed the boy up. Not much has changed since then, Yamato reasoned. Tai still tried to hide everything behind a smile-- that seemingly effortless smile that never left his face. Still, Yamato knew full well that that 'effortless mask' took work and years of practice. Nevertheless, Yamato could still plainly see the pain hidden underneath. It was the smile only shown for the benefit of others. And then Taichi's words came tumbling down again-- the words that Tai only admitted to Yama, the blonde knew, even when the words hurt Taichi himself.

"I'm cursed, Yama. Isn't it better for you to stay away?"

And then, the blond would always respond with his usual answer. "You know that I can't stay away from you."

"Still...I want you to at least make an effort to try." Taichi didn't want Yamato to get hurt either. In truth, Tai didn't know what he would do without the protective blond by his side. It would definitely be worse to lose him, Taichi decided as he let the taller blonde wrap his familiar arms around him. Large muscular arms that easily swallowed his brunette's thinner frame.

TBC?

Author's Note: So what do you think? I know that I have to update my other fics, but this was just a little teaser that I had to get out of my head by writing it down, of course. I'm not yet sure on how this connects to anything so I'm sorry for the confusion...Wait, before I apologize, I should ask, 'Did anyone found the above fic confusing?' Any input will help. :)

Well, I'm not sure if I'm continuing this just yet so I won't give too much away, but if I do work things out in my head, I promise that stuff will be explained more thoroughly. And just so you know, reviews work wonders when convincing someone to continue a fic. So thank you for reading and please drop by with a review, yeah? Just click the purple button...