A/N: I think I was on drugs when I first wrote this, I messed up the verb tenses, and the word order was all over the place. So I decided to fix it. Enjoy.

Disclaimer- I don't own Digimon or much of anything else, really.

Chapter 2 :Mixed Feelings

Edited:August 18,2009

Sora's POV

I turned the stereo up. Loud. Way loud. The vibration caused my bed which was next to the desk, to rumble slightly. I didn't care. I stuffed my head into my soft pillow, hearing the singers muffled voices.

Sudden anxiety over not understanding one's self,

it's always aiming for us

We were deluded by secondhand information and useless commonsense.

If everyday is tinged with boredom like this,

do you even want to go along today?

Instead of pretending to be something we don't know,

let's find our reality

The one thing we can't give away,

our pride, hidden in our hearts.

Tears blurred my vision. I tasted salt as I started to sing along. This was Matt's song, the song he and his band had practiced mercilessly after school. Tai and I were the first ones to see it performed, and when they got famous we went to their concert. The truth was that I was the first one to hear it. Matt had sent it to me hoping it would cheer me up when I had eye surgery the previous year. He was always thinking about others.

Tai had in his own way, left a good amount of get well presents with my mom. Both of them were great guys. Which is why it hurt that our friendship could dissolve over something so simple.

Let's start running, not for anyone else,

but because it's better than stopping

Cutting through the clear air,

turning toward the bright ocean

Oh keep on running keep on running

Find out your reality.

There's no time to hesitate in front of the new door

Just run up, jump out there, and kick the door down

If its you, you can definitely do it.

I sang out louder to the chorus. My throat burned and the tears kept coming.

Stop crying Sora.

I do admit I was feeling strangely nostalgic. This song was a memory more or less of a time when things were easy. Matt was only about fourteen when he wrote this song, and we were all young when we went to his concert.

Hard to believe almost three years had gone by. And now Tai had to ruin everything, and put our friendship in such a difficult position. Well it wasn't entirely his fault. It was mine as well, for being such an idiot.

I stopped singing when I heard pounding coming from outside the door. Then my mother's voice drifted through. "SORA!!!"

"WHAT?" I shouted over the blaring solo of Akira's acoustic guitar.

"OPEN THE DOOR!" I opened the door and let my mother in. She didn't seem too pleased.

Mom walked over to my desk looking for a way to turn off my stereo. After a few amusing attempts, she pointed to me so I could do it for her.

Silence ensued.

"What did you think you were doing? I could hear you from down in the shop!"

I didn't say anything. I knew from experience that you didn't speak to my mother when she was in such a mood unless you wanted to get grounded.

My reflection in the full length mirror showed that my tears had dried. Which was good because I didn't feel the need to have to explain why I was blasting the stereo and crying.

"The customers at the shop were complaining…"

"I'm sorry."

"Seriously Sora," she said calming down a little. "I don't know what has gotten into you lately. Is something wrong?" She sat on my bed, which meant she wasn't going to leave until I told her what was going on.

"Nothing's wrong. Well nothing I can't handle anyway. I just need some time to myself," I said, knowing it sounded rude.

My mother sighed. "Well Sora if its something you believe you can handle then I'm sure you can. Just remember you can tell me anything."

"I'm fine, really. I just…want to lie down."

My mother got up from the bed, looked at me curiously. "Well then I will give you that much, as long as you don't put that stereo back on." She smiled. "I'm giving you the day off in the shop, but I expect you to be down to dinner at 6pm.

She left the room leaving me in a comfortable silence. A few years earlier my mother and I would have probably had a shouting match and I would have been grounded. Lately, however, we had come to this unspoken agreement to try our best and not hurt one another.

Before the trip to the Digital World we didn't so much as speak. But when I came back home, she told me she didn't want to feel so distant from her daughter. She had kept her promise, and so had I. It was hard to believe that until that point I hadn't realized that she really did love me, and I felt the same towards her.

I guess that in the end just I'm not that great at understanding deep feelings. Whether I'm the bearer of the Crest of Love or not.

I sighed, and went back to thinking about the current dilemma. As soon as I had arrived home I had instant messaged Tai, trying to tell him how sorry I was for getting angry, but how I felt so hurt he couldn't tell me his feelings up front. We would fight all the time but this time I didn't think we would get over it so easily.

I turned on my pink sidekick and saw to my dismay that he hadn't answered back. He must have felt so crushed. I felt awful. How would our friendship survive this?

I got on the computer to see if his screen name was online, however TaiDye87 was idle. His away message read: I'm at school catch me on my cell. So he wasn't home yet.

I had decided to forget about the issue for now and concentration on something else, like the homework due Monday, when a new message popped up.

TeenWolf411: Hey what's up with Tai? Did you guys get into another fight or something?

I slammed my poor hand on the desk in surprise. When did Matt get involved in this? Well I had been stupid enough to accidentally dial his number and asked him about the rumors so of course he should be suspicious.

TeenWolf411: He asked me if I knew what was going on with you. He told me…to tell you…that…he doesn't know why you were so angry but if you don't want to talk to him ever again he completely understands. So….what is going on???

SkyGirl7: Ummm…

I didn't know what to say to that.

SkyGirl7: To tell you the truth I'm not even sure what went wrong. But...

I looked at the clock. 4:32 PM. I really didn't feel like talking about something like this online but I needed to vent. That give me an idea.

SkyGirl7: You know…this type of convo would be better face to face. How about we talk about this…at the park? I need to get out of here anyway. Can you meet me in a half hour?

TeenWolf411: Sure no prob. See you in a few.

I signed off. I got up and took my keys off the dresser, checked my reflection to see if my eyes were still red from crying. All clear. I walked downstairs and told my mom I was going shopping and would be back soon. She nodded her consent and I walked out into the cool afternoon.

Matt's POV

I walked out of the crowded train station and up into the crowded streets of Odaiba. As I made my way to the City Park I thought about the conversation I had with Tai after school. The dude looked really upset and when I asked him what was going on he had snapped at me.

"Since when do you care what's going on?" he had said bitterly.

"Huh?"

"Look man, it really isn't your problem, besides I wouldn't want to keep the Great Ishida from his band practice."

I felt like I had been slapped. This guy had a serious attitude problem. I decided against punching him in the nose and tried a different approach. "Seriously Tai, what happened? It must have been bad if it turned you into such a jerk."

He had this weird look on his face as if he had seen me for the first time. "You're right. I am a jerk…no wonder Sora hates me. Did she say anything to you Matt?"

Okay, I couldn't even pretend that I had understood what he was saying.

"What?" I blinked.

Tai looked uneasy. "Well she, Sora just got mad out of nowhere, and I wondered if you knew why?"

"Umm..." I tried to think back to the last time I saw Sora. That was earlier in the day and she seemed cheerful enough, so I didn't understand where Tai was coming from. Then I remembered the awkward phone conversation we had had a few nights ago. Could that have anything to do with this?

"Look man, I don't know what to say to you," I said at last. "Sora is a girl. Girls get mad sometimes, and sometimes for no reason. What did she say to you?"

"Something about me being an insensitive jerk who doesn't take into consideration others feelings…and then she started crying. I have no idea what I got myself into."

Okay now I was confused. But Sora was a girl, and she and Tai fought all the time.

All the time.

For many different reasons. Like that time that Sora almost killed Tai for throwing up in her hat and not telling her about it, before she put it on. Or the time they stopped talking because he called her a tomboy with a hat fetish. Or the time they didn't talk for one week because he got her that hairpin for her birthday, saying that all she wore was that stupid hat. Or the time he set her hat on fire and refused to buy her a new one.

Come to think of it, all the problems they had revolved around that dumb hat of hers, good thing it was gone. But I digress.

"You guys are always fighting. How's this different from any other time?"

"Yea we fight, but never like this. She was crying, Matt. She was crying because of me. I'm not sure what I said to make her so upset. She hates me now."

He turned to face me. "Do me a favor?"

"Uh, sure man."

"Could you tell her…I understand if she never wants to speak to me again, and that I'll stay out of her way."

"Um…"

"Can you do that?"

"Um…Sure man. But I doubt she hates you. Just give it time."

"Hopefully." He said.

I snapped out of my reminiscing as a redhead in a yellow jacket ran up to me. "Hey, Matt," she smiled.

"Hey."

We stood for a minute in this awkward silence. The sky was getting darker I noticed, and the honking car horns and traffic and bustling sound of people during rush hour could be heard in the distance.

I felt like an idiot just standing there but I couldn't help it. Sora and I had been friends since 6th grade, but ever since high school started we really didn't see much of each other. She had her tennis practices and I had my band, and for some reason we never hung out anymore even though we went to the same school. Nonetheless I had come here because I cared about what was going on between my two closest friends. I felt as if I owed that much, despite not being around anymore.

Sora had this weird blank look on her face. I'm sure I sported the same blank look. "So…" I said trying to break the silence. "Got into a fight with Tai, huh?"

The confused look turned into one of sadness. "Mm…I don't know what I'm going to do…I think I really hurt him."

"Why not tell me what's going on?" I offered. Between what Tai had told me and what Sora was saying now I was lost puppy.

Sora and I walked over to a nearby bench and she started to tell me everything. She talked about how she felt there was this growing rift between her and Tai, and how she had found out through a girl in her class, and then I confirmed that he had liked her. She talked about how her friends were always trying to get her a boyfriend, and how they tried to hook her up with Tai, whom she considered her best friend. She talked about how was hurt that he never said anything to her about it. How she had liked him when they were younger, but was starting to realize how different they really were. How he was completely clueless. Eventually she had given up on him.

But then a few years later she finds out what he kept as a secret from her all this time. If he had said anything before then, maybe it would have been different but at that point it had made her angry. She had confronted him, and broke his heart when she said she didn't want to ruin their friendship by dating. And how she felt guilty now, and didn't know what she should do next.

I'll admit that most of what she said went right over my head. I am a guy,after all. I don't usually think about such complicated things. It felt strange, to say the least, that Sora would confide in me of all people. We had always been close, but this was the type of stuff she could have talked to Mimi about.

Mimi isn't here. I reminded myself. So I listened to everything she had to say in silence, trying to be as supportive as her best friend would have been in my position.

Eventually her voice broke. "I don't want things to change between us, but after this I don't think our friendship will ever be the same. I…don't…this is all my fault!" she sobbed.

I quickly cut her off. "No Sora, this isn't your fault. Sometimes things like this happen and well, it's not anyone's fault." I ran a hand through my hair, not really knowing what else to tell her.

Then she looked up at me and I saw her wide amber eyes were glittering with tears.

"You and Tai, you guys have this type of relationship that no matter what happens you always get through it, and you have always been close friends. The only way to ruin a friendship is by letting trivial things get in the way of what's important. Tai really cares about you and I'm sure he doesn't want to stop being friends because of something like this."

I stopped talking when I realized her eyes were still on me; there was something in them I couldn't describe. It made me feel a bit nervous, but I was glad to see she wasn't all teary eyed like before.

"You're right," she said. "Tomorrow I'm going to talk to him and we'll figure all this out."

"Thank you, Matt." She said softly. Then without any warning she threw her arms around me. I was surprised, but I hugged her back, her warm frame felt so smile against mine.

Why didn't I ever realize how nice she felt? I mentally slapped myself. Where the heck did that perverted thought come from?

I let go of her abruptly. She smiled at me, apparently not noticing how awkward things were getting and looked up at the now dark blue sky. "It's getting late she said. "I better get going. Thanks for listening Matt.

I scratched the back of my head nervously. "It was nothing, really. I mean that's what are friends are for. Right?"

She nodded and then got up. I followed suit and we made our way out of the park and onto the streets, talking about a whole bunch of things on the way, and making it a point to get the group together to hang out sometime soon.

I waved goodbye at the train station. A strange realization came over me as I watched her fire colored head disappear into the crowd: something in me felt sad to see her go.

Sora's POV

I got home exactly as dinner was being served. My mother didn't question where I had been, so I gave no explanation. I helped set the table.

"I need you to tend the flower shop tomorrow." My mother said as she served rice and stir fried vegetables onto our plates.

"Okay," I said.

I sat down and eating and then a thought occurred to me. "Mom," I said aloud.

"What is it dear?"

"About earlier, I'm sorry if I was rude. I think I figured it out."

She nodded and went back to her stir fry.

End of Chapter 2...what did you think? More to come soon. Stay tuned..