Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

Welcome back everyone! I hope you are enjoying your time with this story. : )

As Lilfoc pointed out to me, I might have gotten the ages a little off. Sorry if that threw anyone for a loop. I figure that Tai and Yama are eighteen while Takeru and Hikari are sixteen for this story. Hope the age difference doesn't bother you guys too much.


Now that there were four confirmed travelers, a few parts of the plan had to be shifted to fit the changes. Instead of borrowing my father's personal two-door car I had been left to try to convince him that we needed to borrow one of the studio vans. He hadn't been to excited about the idea and I really didn't blame him. What parent wanted a bunch of teenagers driving a company car across the country? None. The answer to that question, was none at all. Unlike the other teenagers across Japan, I had a little more on my side then just a desire for the van.

Takeru's present of a 'normal' family dinner hadn't produced much in the means of family cohesion, but it had given my father a heavy dose of guilt. He had been late to the restaurant, which my mother commented on. And he had left early to fix a crisis at the station, which my mother also decided to offer her two cents on. I'm not sure when it occurred, but according to Takeru there had been a rather epic phone call to my father. It seemed my mother was determined that I get at least a proper congratulations from the old man. I couldn't help but wonder if she would have been as helpful if I had failed my exams. Really, it was a little twisted, but it felt like passing my exams had proved to her that I might be worth something.

Once the guilt mobile was secured, I turned my attention to Sora and her offer to lend us some extra camping gear. The great thing about Sora was that her family always seemed to have an extra of anything you could possibly need. Everything from mechanical pencils to spark plugs lived in that house and thankfully the Takenouchi family was more than willing to share.

"Yamato-san, welcome." Sora's mother greeted me at the door and waited until I gave her a proper greeting before continuing to speak. "Is Taichi-san not with you today?"

Takenouchi Toshiko and I had never been that close, but she had always been very polite when I visited her home. When Taichi came for a visit, on the other hand, there had practically been a parade. For some reason, she seemed to have a natural desire to spend a great deal of effort trying to impress Taichi and cajole him into spending time with Sora. Sora and Taichi's break up, almost a year and a half ago, had never really set well with the elder Takenouchi. Of course, it also didn't help that every time the subject of Taichi's romantic life came up in conversation he would tell her he was not seeing anyone. It was a snowball's chance in hell that we were going to have the bisexual discussion with Sora's mother. Sometimes, though I knew it would never be worth the trouble it would cause, I silently wished that we could just tell Sora's parents to stop hinting that Tai and Sora should get back together.

"Not today. He had a few appointments he couldn't get out of, so it is just me this time." I figured it wouldn't help anyone to mention the appointment in question, was actually checking out various cram schools in the area. I wanted Toshiko to stop trying to put my boyfriend with her daughter, but was not willing to embarrass Tai in the process.

"Yamato?" Sora joined us in the entryway and seemed very aware of the fact I was more than ready to leave her mother's side. She offered me a smile and looped her arm around mine; "I have the gear set out for you in the other room. Why don't you look it over before we pack it up for you?"

As she pulled me away from the main section of the house, I couldn't help but wonder if this was the way she had held Taichi's arm when they were a couple. That time period hadn't been the best in my life and was somewhat blurry in my memory; most likely due to a few poor choices. It had been too hard to be near Sora and Taichi when they were an item. Every blood vessel in my body would flow at record-breaking speeds when I saw them merely hug, let alone kiss. Sora was my friend but, during those years, I had been so torn between my need to be near Taichi and my unjustified anger towards her that I had chosen the only path available. I had run from them, the situation, and every fiber of my being that wanted nothing more than to have Tai look at me the same way he looked at Sora. Back then I thought running from my problems had been the hard part. It wasn't until the moment of truth came that I realized the actual hard part was coming back to those problems, finding the courage to fight them, and accepting the realization that your own feelings did matter in the big scheme of things. I hadn't perfected the lesson by any means, but I could see the start of that path. Wasn't that enough?

"So, Tai said Hikari is coming on the trip too. It is in Hokkaido, right?"

I nodded my head and looked through the sleeping bags and boxed tents taking up residence on Sora's bed, "Wakkanai, to be exact. It is supposed to be the biggest city in Hokkaido, I think."

"You are going to need this." She handed me a sleeping bag with a fleece liner, "When we stayed at my aunt's home in Sarufutsu it was freezing night and day."

"That is an hour away from Wakkanai, right?" I had gained at least a little knowledge about the area. A side effect that was most likely brought out by staring at maps for longer than any human should.

"Yes. You know, since we would have a place to stay right nearby, maybe I could convince the rest of the group to come see your audition? If that is okay with you, Yamato."

As the question left her mouth I stopped piling gear on the floor and looked up to her face. Although my concerts were usually filled with screaming friends, the audition didn't seem like the place for a cheering section. There was something almost sacred about the audition process; just you, your hopes, and a judge holding the key to your success or demise in the palm of his hand. It was terrifying and thrilling all at once and could give any performer an impressive adrenaline buzz.

"Well, I don't think they allow people to sit in on the auditions, but maybe we could do something afterwards? Tai allotted at least three days to explore the city."

"Okay, just let me know which days so I can talk to the others." Sora nodded her head and seemed to be fighting an urge to add something else to the conversation, "How is Tai handling the fact it won't be a special trip for just the two of you?"

The new question felt awkward and pushed me towards going back to work on gathering the supplies. If I let my mind think about it, Sora and I had a good bit in common when it came to relationships. We had both experienced quite a few romantic moments with Tai, but we had never crossed referenced those happenings. I accepted the fact that I wasn't Taichi's first partner, but it didn't mean I wanted or needed to hear the details of his time with Sora. When the relationship had started, Tai and I had talked about our past relationships a little. Honestly, he still didn't know one or two things about my past. I wasn't proud of the fact I had secrets, but maybe the cosmic balance of karma evened out since I never pressed him for details about his exs? The moral of the story, as far as I was concerned, was that I was going to try my hardest not to discuss my relationship issues with Sora.

"Are you okay?" Her voice was nervous as she placed a hand on my shoulder. "Is something bothering you? You have been a little off for a while now."

How weird was it that everyone, besides Taichi, seemed to be noticing this apparently strange behavior? It took most of my energy to keep the disguise up around Taichi and I guess I had failed when it came to the others. As I looked over at Sora's concerned face, I found a small part of my brain considering letting her know that I didn't know what was happening in my relationship. The larger part of my brain retained the belief that telling Sora anything about my personal life with Tai would end badly. For some reason it was growing harder and harder to lie to each inquisitive person. Couldn't they just leave my relationship alone and not remind me that there might be problems in the distance? Was it too much to ask for everyone to just stick their head in the sand and hope the storm blew over? If I could do it, they could too.

"Yes." My head was sticking down far enough to see the other side of the Earth as I chose to blatantly lie once again. "I am perfectly fine. I was just wondering if you had anymore sleeping bags with fleece in them."

A smile graced her lips, giving me more faith in the belief that she had bought the lie, "I think we do. I'll show you where they are if you will pull them off the top shelf."

"Thanks, Sora." I doubted she would realize that thank you extended far past the camping gear.

In order to save time, since his majesty Tai would obviously not be awake before I arrived at his home and honked the horn, Takeru and I had taken it upon ourselves to plan out a few special steps. Since he was the only person willing, or available, to help me pack the car that night, I had agreed to treat him to a nice dinner. When I arrived at his apartment, he was already waiting in the living room with his suitcase and personal sleeping bag. No one could say that Takeru would make them late to anything. Maybe that quality would somehow infect Taichi and inspire him to rise earlier?

"Alright," Our mother shuffled around the apartment and seemed very concerned that her youngest son was not ready for this trip. "Are you sure you have everything you could possibly need?"

Takeru adjusted the backpack strap on his shoulder and retained the patience of a saint. Instead of barking at our mother that she had asked the same question six times in the past hour, he nodded his head softly and gave her a gentle hug. When they broke their embrace a small awkward silence filled the room. They were waiting to see if I was going to hug her too. I was almost positive that it was some kind of test to see if I would make a move towards playing the happy family.

"Yamato," She approached me slowly and before I knew it had her arms wrapped around my middle. I stood in shock and marveled at how familiar her perfume smelled, "Stay safe. Okay?"

I nodded. It was the most I could muster as she let me go and gave Takeru one more hug.

Although I didn't get a direct, 'I love you' from my mother, she had settled on a broader 'Love you' shout from the apartment door as we walked to the elevator, I felt a strange high overwhelm my brain. How long had it been since she had actually touched me? Three? Five years? No, she had patted my shoulder two years ago when dad had his heart attack. Looking back on it now, I had shoved her hand from my shoulder and refused to allow her to speak to me.

It had seemed perfectly justified at that time, but now, with older eyes, I couldn't help but think I had missed something that night. Between my guilt and terror I hadn't noticed she was trying to reach out to me. That hand on my shoulder had probably been some attempt at running across our burning bridge. Was it possible that it might be my fault we had never reconnected? Then again, when had it become the child's job to make sure their parent was understood? I wasn't, despite how many signs pointed otherwise, her ex-partner who had run away from her and refused to reconcile the relationship. I was her son. I assumed she would have kept chasing me, even if I didn't respond at the first try.

"You know," Takeru hadn't said a word through dinner, minus a few idle pieces of chitchat, but his mood had shifted by the time we started throwing gear in the back of the van. "Maybe you can invite mom to see you after you get settled in the school? I am sure she would be interested in seeing the campus and learning about the classes you are going to take."

I adjusted a poorly shaped box of snack food in our munchy container and shut the plastic lid tightly. While waiting for my answer to his question, Takeru continued to hand me pieces of gear to stuff into the back of the van. Could it be possible that he would let the question drop? I really wouldn't mind accepting it as a random thought and pushing it out-of-the-way for now. There was far too much to get done tonight and the list was not ready to add 'consider your future with mom'. When I spared a glance to his earnest face, I sighed softly and shrugged my shoulders.

"If she wants to come, she can. But you know that I haven't gotten into the school yet. There is a chance I might be rejected."

"Nah," Takeru folded and extra blanket into a tight shape and stuffed it under the front passenger seat. "I have hope in you Yamato. You worked too hard for this not to work out for you."

As he spoke, I found myself counting how many times he used the word 'you'. Anything to stop myself from really listening to his message. Hope was a great quality. In the right person it could do wonders, as Takeru so often proved. But sometimes, when people were really honest with themselves, hope was nothing but a waste of time to excite you before the fall. You could buy into the fact the roller coaster was only going to take you up a straight path to the heavens, or you could accept the fact it was going to drop you at any second. How many times did people lose all hope when they heard that final clink of the mechanical track before it dropped at heart racing speed? Hope was great. It was great for children and people who deserved to have their world protected by those who had no faith in hope.

"Thanks Tak." I assumed the position years of experience had offered me and patted his back, "I'll get dad to take a look at the engine and you should probably head off to bed. Early morning wake up call tomorrow."

I waited until Takeru was safely in the bedroom to try to pry my father from the computer screen. Beside his large pile of papers to examine was the meal I had bought him earlier; completely untouched. There was no real reason to start the eating lecture, so I threw away the container and brought him a glass of water and his pills. I wanted to believe he would remember to take the medicine without me around, but I knew it was more of the false hope. Part of me had wondered, since he suffered his first heart attack, what would happen to him when I left? Even if I didn't go to college, I was eventually going to leave the apartment. My dad had never been on his own before and I figured he was too old of a dog to learn that new trick of self-reliance. His mother, my mother, and I had all fed into his workaholic personality by doing almost everything for him. The only difference was, my mother was able to leave the situation and have no one judge her. How would it look if a parent abandoned their child or a son refused to take care of his respected elder? It was a sticky web that I had tried to escape from for quite a while now.

"Dad?" I ventured as he swallowed the pills in one large gulp. "Did you still want to look over the car?"

Surprised would have been an understatement, when my father handed me the water-glass and actually stood up from his chair to go look at the car in the parking lot below. I had actually expected him to push-off the issue and forget about it by bedtime. That word really didn't apply to the man who never slept, just crashed when his body couldn't take it any longer. Either way, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. My experience with cars was woefully small and Taichi only had a little more than that under his belt. If this thing crapped out on the road, we were in serious trouble.

"Hold this." My dad handed me some car part I couldn't name and pushed his sleeves up to his elbows. It was impressive to watch the man tinker with the various car parts. The furrowed brow and steely gaze made him look like he actually knew what he was doing. Was my dad an ex-mechanic in secret or something? I couldn't remember riding more than a bullet train with him, but he moved with such accuracy that I couldn't dismiss the mechanic idea.

"So, the Yagami girl is coming on the trip?" He didn't look at me, but I understood he was busy with the engine and silently appreciated I didn't have to look into his eyes. "Isn't your brother dating her?"

"Yes."

"Hmm…." He held out the noise and seemed to be mulling the idea over in his head. "They aren't going to… you boys are sharing a tent right?"

So that was what he was after? He wanted to repeat the no sex lecture? "We have it worked out."

"I get that he is a teenager, but he doesn't realize how much trouble that stuff can lead to."

"Takeru is a smart kid. He won't do anything dangerous." Why had I ever wanted to stand here with my father? Breaking down on the road seemed much better than talking about Takeru's sex life.

He wasn't done just yet, "I'm just saying that I think it isn't a bad idea to remind him about being careful. One night together and your whole life can change. One minute you are on your way to university and the next thing you know you have a baby and have to settle for something different."

Different? I considered his ramblings and didn't like the mental image I was getting. The main reason being that I was most likely the baby in this story. The baby that had ruined my father's dreams of a big career in the communication field and tied him down to a woman he barely knew. Way to use the subtleties, Pop.

"So you don't want Takeru to take the same path you did? You don't want him to have any accidents like you?" The questions were a little too sharp since he probably hadn't meant to offend me, but I couldn't take it back now.

For the first time since we had started working on the car, he glanced back to my face. I could see the lines around his mouth and eyes were deeper then I remembered. When had he gotten so old? Even the spark in his eyes seemed to have faded through the years of tireless work and effort. Could I really blame him for wanting Takeru's fate to be different? Wasn't he just trying to be the best father he could by putting out the thought that TK deserved to keep the spark in his eyes?

"What about you?"

"Me?" The subject changed slightly and I had to take a moment to catch up, "What about me?"

"I haven't seen you date anyone. Are you seeing anyone here in town?"

When the hell had my father picked up the impulse to explore my love life? It was one thing to try and protect Takeru (the child my parents' hopes and dreams were pinned on), but it was a completely different one to suddenly look into my life. Hadn't it been enough that my mother had decided to reach out that day? I didn't think I could handle attention from both of my parents. After existing off little to none for so long, it felt rather uncomfortable to have them try to clamor for my attention. Especially my father, since he was starting to tread into water he didn't know was shark infested.

"The only person I ever saw you bring over was the Yagami boy."

Fuck. Here it came, the big question. 'Are you gay?' or, the less tasteful, 'Get the fuck out of my sight homo!'

"I like him."

"What?" I stumbled over the word unsure of the context of his statement.

"He seems like a nice kid. I am glad you found a friend like him. You can worry about finding a girlfriend later. It is more important to focus on your studies now."

Yeah, that was Taichi; popular, athletic, a parent's dream for their daughter…but not their son. I trusted the fact my father really had no inkling about the grenade he just dodged and went back to handing him various tools. My heart was still pounding against my rib cage reminding me that someday this talk may not end with my father missing the big picture. What was he going to think when he found out that his oldest son was never going to bring home a girlfriend? How was he going to handle the fact a fag, as he sometimes called people like me when he and his friends had a little too much sake, was the reason he was stuck where he was?

"You know," He wiped his hands on the rag and shut the hood, "You can always come to me for advice about girls or anything else?"

"Sure." I lied through my teeth as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. The touch burned as I realized it might be one of the last times he would ever want to be close to me. Maybe, I was better of soaking up the last signs of affections my parents showed me before the truth inevitably ripped their world apart?

"You should probably get some sleep. It is going to be an early wake up time." He pulled out a wad of money from his back pocket and placed it squarely in my hand, "Save this for an emergency, okay?"

"Will do" I tried to smile at him and for once didn't shove him away when he ruffled my hair.


Okay, I promise they will hit the road in the next chapter! Anyone who has been on a road trip as big as this one knows it requires a lot of planning lol. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it XD. The chapter title is 'Secret Love' by Paul Francis Webster.