We Belong Together

2 -Taichi's Day -

It was a warm sunny day in Odaiba and Taichi was walking through the shopping district. He was talking on his phone, into his Bluetooth headset, slowly making his way back to his apartment. He was shirtless and his bronzed skin glistened with sweat. He was a sight to see, and he knew he had eyes on him. He just smiled his cute boyish smile and continued down the street, carrying on his conversation.

"They should have gotten back last night. And I'm going to start phase one of the plan. I'm calling Sora after I get off the phone with you, Meems." He talked with confidence over the phone, but his face faltered. The smile shrunk and he began to toy with the shirt he was carrying. He was nervous. But he had promised himself he'd at least try. He would get his second change with Sora and he would take it and get the girl in the end. If he could just settle his nerves enough to call her.

Over at Mimi's apartment, she was in her very feminine room, searching in her closets. Pulling out shirts, skirts, jeans, and skimpy underwear, she placed them on her bed, trying to coordinate outfits. The phone was cradled under her chin as she held up two hangers at a time. She was smiling through the whole process.

"Ooh, good luck, Taichi!" She cried, throwing down a pair of pants, only to dig a skirt out of her closet. "I'm going to see Yamato today, after a photo shoot. He and his record label are doing a search for the next big pop star from Tokyo. It's not a publicized search. It should be mainly girls like me, who have some sort of agent who want to try their hand at singing. I just put my portfolio together…" Taichi could hear her smirking.

"Oh, and is my favorite photo shoot picture in there?" he asked, trying to sound innocent. But he knew that photo was anything but. She had posed in an ad for a tanning salon in the shopping district. They had given her a spray tan and a skimpy white bikini. Wearing stilettos and only the bikini bottoms… it was a hard on waiting to happen. She was turned away from the camera so all you could she was a quarter of her profile. She made it look like she was pulling up the bathing suit bottoms. And she was wearing only the bottoms. There was side boob and the way she looked over her shoulder at the camera… To top off the ad, they had written, 'What tan lines?' across the bottom of the ad. The photo was not only displayed all over the tanning salon, but in local magazines and catalogues. Yes, there was yet a photo hotter to show up in Mimi's portfolio.

"Of course it's in there. It's one of my biggest shoots." Mimi replied. Another outfit was thrown on the bed. She then turned her attention to her shoe collection. Taichi had arrived at his building and began to climb the stairs to his door.

"What do they have you singing?" Mimi stopped looking at shoes and bit her lip. Honestly, she loved to perform… but not in front of people. She could pose for the camera no problem, but for some reason, singing and acting freaked her out. One of the reasons she hadn't pursued music until now. This was her chance to be on Yamato's radar. Taichi listened to her silence for a moment before speaking again. "You're nervous, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I kinda am." She took a deep breath and forced a smile. "But I'll be ok! We'll be ok. The song doesn't look too hard. It looks like something they have already written and will probably be the first single if all goes well." Taichi fished his keys out of his short's pocket and unlocked his front door. He walked in and threw the keys on his dining room table.

"Sounds good! Good luck to you."

"Thanks, Tai."

"Hey, I'm home now. I need to shower and think what I'm going to say to Sora. I'll call you later?" Taichi walked into his bedroom. He kicked off his shoes and pulled off his socks.

"Awesome. Good luck to you too. I'll see ya then, Tai."

"Bye, Meems." He ended the call and placed his Bluetooth headset and phone on his bedside table. He pulled off his shorts and boxers all in one swift movement and walked to the bathroom.

Sora walked to the linen closet carrying a laundry basket full of clothes. Opening the closet, she revealed the small washer and dryer hidden behind the door. With a sigh she started to unload the basket into the washer. At least, until the phone rang.

Sora put the laundry basket down and ran to the kitchen and picked up the phone. At least she should have, had their phone been hung up in the proper place. Frantically, she ran out into the living room, looking around. Sticking her hand between the cushions of their light blue sofa, she finally found the phone.

"Damnit, is it so hard to hang up the phone, Yamato?" She cried to no one out loud before answering. "Hello?" She sounded a little breathless from all the running around.

"Sora! You're home! I'm so glad!"

"Oh hey, Taichi." She couldn't help but smile at her best friend's voice. It made her feel calm and comfortable. "Yeah, we got home last night." She couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice.

"You ok? You sound kinda down." Taichi asked with genuine concern. He had just gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed as her talked.

"Yeah I'm fine." Sora walked back to her laundry basket and continued to load the washer. "So what's up?" Tai had just pulled on a pair of tight, faded navy, blue jeans to go with his red polo shirt. They were his favorite jeans because he knew they showed off his ass.

"Well, I was wondering if I could come see you! You could tell me about the trip and I could tell you about work… You used to do it all the time before the wedding. It's still ok… right?" Sora rolled her brown eyes. She hated when he used that tone. She could only picture 4 year old Tai, big chocolate eyes filling with tears, lower lip trembling, instead 22 year old Tai, strong, handsome, and successful soccer player. It made her feel guilty. She hadn't expected Taichi to want to continue their afternoon dates. After all, she was married now. How would that look?

"Of course it's ok. I just put some laundry in, so I'm not going anywhere." Silently she kicked herself for being such a marshmallow. Taichi had already walked out the door and down the street towards her and Yamato's apartment. He had known her answer.

"Awesome! I'll see you in a few Sora!" He gleefully sung to her. He was such a kid at heart. A tall, handsome, bronzed, rock-hard kid. She said her goodbye and hung up the phone. Sora walked into her bedroom and looked in the mirror. She was dressed in sweats and her short red hair was a mess. She didn't have any make up on. Tai wouldn't care. They were best friends. He wouldn't care, right?

Taichi bounded up the stairs to his friends' apartment carrying a small white paper bag. He arrived at the door and took a deep breath. He had butterflies in his stomach. His goal was to be the best guy friend ever. Really get Sora to notice him. Slowly letting out his breath, he rang the doorbell.

"Coming!" Sora cried as she ran through the house, pulling on a pair of white capris. Buttoning them quickly, she stood in front of the door. Licking her lips, she opened the door.

Taichi's heart stopped briefly. She looked beautiful. She had clipped her fiery hair back with a cute little white heart barrette. She had light makeup on, some brown mascara and some peach gloss that made her eyes pop and her small full mouth look so kissable. She wore a baby-blue sweetheart cut tank top to accentuate her small, but perky breasts. It also showed of her tennis toned torso and arms. Her white capris were tight and displayed her curvy hips and shapely legs. And then she smiled at him.

"H-hey Sora." He managed to croak out. His brain was overloading! It screamed at his body to function but his body was in a daze. He just stood there staring at her, big goofy grin on his face. Sora laughed.

"Oh you. Always acting like a dork around me. Treating me like I'm some sort of model like Mimi or something." Tai snapped back to reality.

"Ah, but Sora, you are a ray of sunlight, filling the world with your warm glow." He replied, cheesy smile on his face. Sora smiled again and rolled her eyes. And then she looked at the bag Taichi was still holding.

"Did you bring me…?" She started. Tai smiled widely and held the bag in front of her face.

"Your favorite!" Sora's eyes grew large as did her smile. "Taiyaki. Still warm. Better let me inside so you ca-." Sora snatched the bag out of his hands and ran inside before he could finish. Shocked, Taichi did the natural thing. He ran after her. Sora laughed merrily as Taichi chased her around the living room. It felt so natural, just like when they were kids.

Sora glanced behind her as she continued to run. Taichi was closing in on her after letting her get away a few times. Her heart fluttered as she saw the desire in his eyes. She managed to tangle up her feet and began to fall. Before she hit the ground, she felt warm strong arms grab her. Slowly she felt herself being pulled to Taichi's chest. Sora closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath.

"Are you ok?" Taichi asked into her hair. She smelled like strawberries and vanilla. Sora managed to nod. She could feel the blush creeping up into her face, turning it the same color as her hair. Taichi released her and grabbed the bag back from her. "That's what you get for stealing, Sora!" Sora looked as he stuck his tongue out at her, brown eyes sparkling with mischief. A smile found its way back to her lips and she laughed.

Together they sat together on the sofa, opening the bag of taiyaki. Tai handed her one fish shaped pastry and then took one out for himself.

"Mmm. I love taiyaki." Sora murmured, taking a bite. Tai chuckled as he bit into his own.

"I know. That's why I brought them." Tai was quiet for a moment, thinking on how to phrase his words. "So… what has you so down? You made it sound like something happened on your honeymoon." Sora immediately stopped smiling. She lowered her head with a sigh.

"I don't know if I should be telling you about it. I mean… Yama and I have to work through our problems ourselves." She replied uneasily. Taichi affectionately brushed her arm"

"Come on Sora. I'm your best friend. And sometimes you need an outside perspective on the situation in order to work this stuff out." Tai felt so smart when Sora lifted her eyes to meet his. Score one for the best friend card. Sora sighed.

"Well, I had told Yamato that I had a surprise for him when we got to the resort. We did the whole carry me across the threshold thing and things started to heat up." Taichi's jam clenched at the thought. Jealousy raged through his mind as he pictured Yamato undressing her. Groping her perky breasts. Kissing her lips- both pair. Sora swallowed and continued. "Well. I told him that I could give him my surprise now. And my surprise was that I went off my birth control and threw away all the condoms…"

Taichi's eyes widened. Sora was ready to have kids. It all made sense. She was married. Had a decent job. It was definitely on the timeline of doing things the "right way". But she was only 23. Most people their age aren't ready for marriage, let alone kids.

"And when I told him. He got really, REALLY, upset. He told me I was being selfish. That we have our whole lives to have kids and right now he wanted to do things with his career. Because it's just starting to pick up…" Sora couldn't help that her voice was trembling and that her eyes were filling with tears again. And she couldn't help it that Taichi had just put his arms around her and that they felt so damn good. Even though she knew they shouldn't. Sniffling, she continued. "It turned into an argument and we ended it spending the rest of our vacation only half enjoying each other's company."

"Oh Sora…" Taichi whispered. He pulled her close and hugged her tight. She hiccupped into his shirt. With a sigh, he ran his hand over her soft red hair. "Hey, things will be ok. Just give Yamato some time. And don't pull any more baby surprises on him." He smiled down on her.

"You really think so, Tai?" Sora asked wiping her eyes.

"Let's put it this way." He answered. "I'm jealous. I wish I could find a girl like you to settle down with. Yamato's lucky." Sora blushed lightly and smiled.

"But what about Mimi?" Taichi rolled his eyes.

"I said a girl like you, not a girl like Mimi. Mimi is like a sister to me. I have her back, she has mine. There is nothing romantic about us." She shrugged.

"Ah, I see." They sat in silence staring in opposite directions. Thoughts swirled through their minds. A loud buzzing sound filled the apartment. Startled, they jumped out of each other's arms. "Ah. The wash is done…." Sora said mechanically. Taichi stood up.

"I better let you finish that then." Sora only nodded. "Sora, why don't you come down to the gym some time? You could work out with me and we could talk… It'd be free."

"I'd like that." She replied with a smile. Taichi smiled back and headed for the door. He paused as he opened it.

"Oh and Sora, don't be afraid to come to me about anything, ok?" He was serious. He'd give her the whole world if he could. She nodded again. Flashing her his best Taichi smile, he walked out the door.

Hey Everyone! Sorry it took so long to write. First I was waiting on at least one review, then I got super busy with work and such. But thanks for reading! And thanks to Tagney and Vigatus for their reviews. I really do appreciate it.

I hope eveyone likes this chapter. it obviously focuses more on Taiora this chapter than Mimato. but I was really feeling the Taiora when I started this chapter last week. Not sure why. It felt appropriate for Sora to tell Taichi her story and woes before Yamato told Mimi his story and woes. Like I said. not sure why. Just how the story was flowing.

Please review and let me know what you think! I really do appreciate it. And I'll try to work on the next chapter ASAP. Until next time!!

Anbaa