Author's notes:
-First off, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed!
-While I'm not using the Japanese school system (for example, I don't have the kids doing the half day on Saturday thing), I'm trying to keep a few elements. Some schools in Japan don't allow their students to have jobs.
-Slight clarification, because I don't think I've stated it well enough in the story yet: for this story, Digimon was an animated show, and the characters were based off winners of a contest that the producers had held. Although some of the winners also voiced their characters, they never neccessarily met each other. The not-having-met thing is possible only because they weren't ever actual actors/actresses on a set where meeting each other would be required.
-As a reminder, I'm using the American names when referring to the TV show of Digimon, and the Japanese names when referring to the "real people."
-This's almost definately gonna have some Taito fluff... eventually. If you don't like male/male pairings, don't read it! Simple, ne?
The Third Pieces: A Day in my Life
Yamato stood in the darkness. He could not see anything, not even his own hands when he held them in front of his face. He slowly turned around, already knowing what he'd find.
Next to his pitch-black world was a world of dazzling white. The two worlds were separated by a clear barrier that allowed nothing from either world to pass into the other; not even the light from the white world spilled out into the dark one.
A single person stood in the white world. The boy was young, only about eight or nine years old. He was clothed in white, and a miniature pair of white wings floated just behind his back. The light of the white world glinted off his golden hair.
Yamato walked to the invisible boundary and sat on the floor, never taking his eyes off the boy.
"Takeru," Yamato said softly. "How are you doing? I'm doing okay, but it's kinda hard without dad around. Did you know that it's almost been a year since he died? Did mom even tell you about it? I bet she didn't say anything. She doesn't want you to know about dad or me."
Yamato reached out towards the white world, but the barrier stopped his hand from passing through. Once again, he wasn't allowed to be with his brother...
"I want to see you again, Takeru. I bet you've grown a lot, haven't you? You're probably tall now... maybe you're strong, too. Are you shy? Are you popular? What do you do in your spare time? Do you... ever think about me?"
Yamato abandoned his questions that would forever go unanswered and instead watched Takeru silently. The black and white worlds slowly melted away, transforming themselves into Yamato's bedroom as he awoke from the dream. He closed his eyes, hoping to see Takeru again, but he was forcibly pulled back to reality when his alarm went off.
"Taichi! Telephone!" Hikari called, poking her head into their shared room.
Taichi cracked open his eyes and squinted at the clock: 9:38am. Did he really want to get out of bed yet for a mere phone call?
"Who is it?" Taichi asked, deciding to put off his decision.
"Some girl," Hikari responded.
Taichi sat up. The only girl who knew his phone number was Sora, and talking to Sora would probably be worth getting out of bed. "Okay. Thanks Hika," he said, pulling himself out of bed and heading to the door.
Hikari handed him the cordless phone she held and headed towards the living room.
"Hello?"
"Tai! It's Sora. I figured I'd give you a call since you gave me your number and all... I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"No, no, you're fine. What's up?"
"Not much really. I was just wondering if you wanted a tour of our town, since you're new around here..."
"That sounds great, Sora! Mind if my sister comes, too?"
"I'd be mad if you didn't bring her, Tai! It's been so long since I'd last seen you two; I can't even imagine what Hikari's like now!"
Taichi grinned. "Anyway, where should we meet? I don't really know too many places around here..."
"Let's meet at school, right in front of the gate. At, say... ten o'clock?"
"Sounds great. See you then."
"Bye!"
"Later Sora."
Taichi hung up and looked at the phone for a moment before changing clothes quickly and heading to the living room to talk to his sister. Hikari was on the couch, watching television. "Hika, you remember Takenouchi Sora, don't you?"
"Yeah, I remember her. Why?"
"We're meeting up with her, that's why."
Hikari stared at her brother in disbelief. "No way! Sora's here? You're kidding, right?"
Taichi grinned. "Nope, not kidding. C'mon; I told her we'd meet her at ten."
"At ten? I don't have any time to get ready!" the girl lamented, looking at the clock.
Taichi chuckled. "Five minutes, Hika, and then we're out the door. I suggest you hurry." Hikari quickly disappeared into their room, appearing a couple minutes later with a grin plastered on her face. "Happy?" Taichi queried.
"Of course! I haven't seen Sora in what, five years? I can't wait to see her again!" Hikari said as they headed out. "How'd you know she was here in Odaiba?"
"I'm in some classes with her at my new school."
Hikari started at her brother, a look of mock indignity on her face. "Yagami Taichi, you have classes with Takenouchi Sora and you didn't even bother to tell your little sister? For shame!"
"All right, all right, I get it!" Taichi laughed. "So, what should Yagami Taichi do to make it up to his little sister?"
Hikari considered. "Hmm. First Yagami Taichi should treat his little sister to lunch, and later to ice cream. That should at least start to compensate for the grievous injury caused by his withholding of information..." she said, trying hard not to giggle.
"Ah, very well. I suppose Yagami Taichi must do as his sister commands, lest he get into even deeper trouble," Taichi responded as they reached the school. "Ah, we're here."
"SORA!"
Hikari was gone in a heartbeat, running towards the redheaded girl that stood near the school's gate. "Hikari!" Sora cried cheerfully. "Oh wow, you've really grown! Just look at you! I bet Taichi's got his hands full keeping the boys away from his precious little sister."
"You've got that right," Taichi said as he joined the two girls. "There was this one pest I could never quite get rid of, though... He and Hika stuck together like glue until he moved away. And he still calls her every day."
Hikari stuck her tongue out at her brother playfully. "You know you approve of him, Tai. You would've driven him off if you hadn't."
"Whatever you say, Hika. So anyway, where to?"
Sora grinned and rubbed the palms of her hands together. "Hope you wore your walking shoes, 'cause I've got a lot planned..."
Sora's grand tour of Odaiba proceeded at a dizzying rate until they reached the western shopping district. There, Sora and Hikari proceeded to enter every store... or at least, Taichi felt like it was every store. He was quite thankful when the girls decided that it was time for lunch. After lunch, however, it was back to shopping.
When Sora and Hikari were ogling over more "cute things," as the girls called them, that one store was selling, Taichi spotted a music store across the street. The small shop was easy to miss; it was jammed between two brightly decorated clothing stores, and its sign that declared it to be called "Song for You" was old and faded. A black and white sign in the store's single window stated that it sold CDs, sheet music, and some instruments and equipment.
Taichi decided that checking out the music shop would probably be much more interesting than standing around while he waited for the girls to finish window shopping, so he told Hikari where he was going and left the store to cross the street. When he entered the music shop and saw the clerk who had absentmindedly welcomed him, there was no doubt left in his mind that coming into the store had indeed been a good idea.
"Hello Yamato!"
The blonde clerk looked up slowly. For a brief second, Taichi could see surprise showing in Yamato's deep blue eyes before an expressionless mask clicked into place.
"Why the hell are you here?"
He should have never gotten out of bed this morning. He should have called in sick. He should have gone out to lunch. He should have been doing anything other than standing behind the counter of the store where he worked, staring at the grinning brunette who had probably never even heard of a hairbrush.
Well, maybe the boy had heard of a hairbrush, though it was probably defined in his vocabulary as "the thing that gets eaten by my hair-monster."
"Why the hell are you here?" Yamato asked icily, barely realizing he'd spoken. He had chosen this area to work at because it was far away from his school, so he hadn't expected to ever see someone who recognized him here.
The brunette seemed unfazed by Yamato's tone. "Sora and my sister are shopping," he responded cheerfully. "This store looked a lot more interesting that the ones they were looking at, so I came to check it out. Do you work here?"
Ah, Sora. This kid must be what's-his-name, then. Yesterday, he hadn't minded what's-his-name because he had been blessedly silent, but today the boy was trying to have a conversation with him. Yamato narrowed his eyes.
The other boy laughed a little. "I guess that was a stupid question, huh? Oh, Sora introduced us yesterday, but in case you forgot my name, I'm Taichi. Yagami Taichi."
Yamato looked back down at the list of new inventory he had in front of him. If he ignored the other boy, he'd go away, just like all the others had.
Instead, Taichi walked to the counter. "This place is pretty far away from school," the brunette commented. "Why're you working way out here?"
"So that I won't run into people like you," Yamato spat out before he could stop himself. So much for ignoring the brunette.
"That makes sense," Taichi said. "Our school doesn't allow work, so it'd be trouble if someone found out that you had a job, wouldn't it? Oh, but don't worry; I won't tell anyone about it."
Yamato started at the brunette in disbelief. Did he not get it? Did he not understand that Yamato simply wanted to be left alone?
"Ishida! Come give Suzuki a hand with this!" Yamato's boss shouted from the back of the store. Yamato quickly retreated from the brunette, silently thanking his boss for the interruption.
Yamato's remaining hour of work passed quickly and without incident. If he overlooked the visit from bush-boy, the day had gone rather well. Yamato hummed softly as he headed to the bus stop, but he fell silent when he saw a chocolate-colored blob of hair protruding from within the crowd at the stop. He started to turn around and go to a different bus stop, but it was too late. He'd already been spotted.
"Hey, Yamato!" the bushy-haired boy called. "I'm glad you're here! Sora and Hikari kinda left me behind, and I don't know how to get back home. You're off from work now, right? Think you can help me out?"
"No," Yamato replied tersely.
"Aw, c'mon, pleeeeaaaase?" Taichi pleaded. "Just as far as school; I can make it back home from there."
Yamato silently commanded himself to ignore the other boy.
"Oh, the bus!"
Yamato glanced at the number of the approaching bus. "Wrong one. The number 12 bus goes to school."
Taichi grinned. "Number 12? Thanks! I didn't know the name of the stop, so I couldn't find which number it was."
Yamato looked away, angry that he'd accidentally helped the brunette. The boy seemed to have a knack for getting him to talk, and Yamato didn't like that.
Eventually, their bus came, and Yamato got on silently. The brunette was sticking to him like glue, talking about soccer and television and all sorts of things that Yamato didn't care about.
They both got off the bus at the stop closest to their school, and Taichi bid Yamato goodbye, promising to see him at school on Monday. To Yamato, it sounded more like a threat.
"I'm back!" Taichi called as he entered the Yagami apartment. Hikari and Sora appeared quickly, questioning looks on their faces.
"What was that all about before?" Hikari asked. "Why'd you tell us to go home ahead of you?"
Taichi smiled at his sister. "I ran into someone I wanted to talk to."
"Oh? Who?"
"Ishida Yamato."
Sora caught her breath. "Tell me it wasn't him," she said. "Please tell me that you didn't talk to him."
Taichi's smiled widened into a grin. "It was him, and yes, I did talk to him. And I returned perfectly unscathed, as you can see. He helped me find my way home. Because, seeing as how I'd been left behind, I was lost in an unfamiliar place..."
Sora's eyes narrowed. "Taichi, I told you which bus to take back."
"I know that," Taichi said, his eyes twinkling mischievously, "but Yamato doesn't."
"You want to be his friend?"
Taichi nodded, his expression turning somber. "Yes. He may have said that he doesn't want friends, but I think he needs them, or at least one. I don't care if I'm that one or not, but... It hurts to see people who are like... like Yamato."
Sora shifted uncomfortably. "Fine. Just don't get hurt, okay? I don't want to visit you at the hospital again."
"Don't worry; I'll be fine!" Taichi said, grinning again and lightening the mood. "Hey, Sora, wanna stick around and watch a movie with us? Mom bought a few new ones right before we moved here."
"Sure," Sora said as she and Hikari followed Taichi into the living room. Taichi pulled out some DVDs and handed them to the girls.
"Pick one of those. I'll be right back," said Taichi before he headed to his room. He pulled a thin book out of his desk drawer and flipped it open. Browsing the contents of the list on the page, he made a check mark next to the topmost item on the list. He smiled to himself.
"That took less time than I'd expected. Step one, complete."
Author's notes again: This chapter ended up a little bit longer than the previous ones; yay! I'm still working on making them longer. Anyway, leave a comment, and I'll see ya' next chapter!
