A Bed Full of Memories

Summary: Letting go is never easy. Taichi thought he had moved on from his first love, Yamato. However, all memories come attached with feelings, and they can't lay dormant forever.

D-Angel: Yeah, I intended to update this about two months ago, but quite clearly I got a bit waylaid.
It's a long ass chapter so I tried to make it as interesting as possible. The last scene was so much fun to write, mainly because I've had it planned out for about two years now, lol. I'll talk about that a little more at the end of this chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Rating: M

Warnings: A little bit of nudity, hehe ;)

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Chapter 4

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I groaned and reached over to the bedside table and pawed around for my ringing phone still half-asleep. Staring blankly at the display screen it took me several seconds to register why my phone was making such a racket. My thumb quickly mashed against the accept call button as I brought the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" My voice was groggy and flat; I made no attempt to hide it. Being interrupted from my sleep was one of my biggest peeves, no matter who did it.

"You didn't call me," Daisuke's voice whined on the other end of the phone. My anger instantly melted away.

"Oh. Sorry, Dai." Shit, I was terrible. I hoped that I hadn't caused him too much worry as I bit down on my bottom lip.

"I suppose I can forgive..." He paused. "Did I wake you?"

"Yeah," I admitted before a well-timed yawn stirred from the back of my throat. A heart-warming chuckle escaped from his lips.

"It's eleven a.m., lazy."

Suddenly I was wide awake and jumped out of bed as best I could while the duvet was still tangled around my legs. I almost tripped as I scrambled over to the window and tugged open the blinds, squinting as the sunlight shone into my face and dazed me. I let out a feeble groan.

"What's the matter?" Daisuke questioned in a higher tone than usual. As much as I wanted to tell him the reason I knew that he probably wouldn't want to hear it. Basically, my plan had been to wake up early so I could prepare Yamato a surprise breakfast, as a thank you gesture for the awesome dinner he had made for me last night.

Unfortunately, the sweet singing from down the hallway and the delicious aroma of bacon and eggs seeping underneath the door were the key tale-tell sign that Yamato was already up and had beaten me to the punch. I would just have to surprise him with my horrendous cooking another day, I decided.

"Nothing, don't worry. I just didn't realise it was nearly midday..."

I slumped back down onto the bed and swiftly changed the subject by asking him what he had planned for the day. Besides running a few errands for his Mum he joked that his day was going to be as productive as a fly caught in a spider's web. I had often lectured him that he shouldn't rely so heavily on me when it came to socialising. It was important for him to know that I couldn't be there for him every second of the day to keep him happy and entertained, which is why I would nag him to spend time with his friends from school every now and again.
This time I spared him my lecture and we continued chattering away as carefree as we always did. The minutes seemed to fly by; despite in reality I had only been on the phone with him for less than ten minutes.

"God I miss you, can't you come home early?" Daisuke sighed as our conversation had started to turn a little sexual. He was probably pouting on his end of the phone and was trying to use some form of telepathic persuasion. Still, my hand grasped the bed covers. I had barely been gone a day yet Daisuke was pining over my absence like a child who'd lost their favourite toy.

"Maybe. I'll try and arrange something, I'm sure Yamato will understand."

I hoped it was enough to reassure him and set his mind at ease. Truthfully I knew I didn't have the conscience to rush back home before the end of the first week. I would've felt just as bad for leaving Yamato so soon as I would've for neglecting Dai's request. Catch 22 much.

"I love you," Daisuke took a deep breath in and held it as he waited in silent anticipation for my reply.

"Me too, and I'll be home before you know it."

A sharp knock against the door almost made me drop my phone.

"One moment!" I covered the mouthpiece so Daisuke didn't get deafened by my shouting.

"Sorry Dai, I need to go get my ass out of bed," I explained while placing my free hand on the back of my neck, where an annoying itch was brewing.

"Ok then. I guess I'd better let you go. I'll call you later, senpai."

I said goodbye to Daisuke and placed my phone back down on the bedside table. I quickly rubbed the sleep from my eyes, then ran my fingers through my messy bed hair and prayed that I didn't look like too much of a mess.

"Come in."

Yamato pushed opened the door and greeted me with a courteous 'good morning'. He was dressed in a blue t-shirt with the Abercrombie and Fitch moose logo printed on the front, and a loose fitting pair of jeans. His hair was neatly groomed and had a vibrant glow, suggesting he had only washed it a few hours ago.

"Sleep well?" He asked as he took a step into the room. His eyes darted from the window then back towards me.

"Yes, thanks..." Even though he was several feet away, I could smell his aftershave. It was different from the one he was wearing yesterday; the scent was a lot more peppery and sweet and it made me feel somewhat disorientated. I held my breath for a few seconds, trying my best not to look too strange before I swiftly thought of a sensible thing to ask Yamato.
"What's the plan for today?" I slapped my hands against my knees and leant forwards a little. Yamato rested his hand on his chin and tapped his index fingers against his pouty lips and made a small 'hmm' noise.

"Well, I was thinking about showing you around Itami considering it's my home town. It's not exactly the most interesting of places, but it has its charms, somewhat like Odaiba really in my opinion."

"Each to their own," I teased, and Yamato rolled his eyes. "I'll go grab a shower then."

I stood up from the edge of the bed, stretched my arms up and yawned loudly. As my arms dropped back down to my sides I noticed that Yamato's was perving at my toned torso. A small blush burnt across his cheeks when he became aware I had caught him looking.

"I'll, err, go prepare your breakfast while you take a shower. There's a spare towel in the bathroom." Yamato started back up towards the door. "Is an English fry-up ok?"

"Yes that's fine. Honestly, you spoil me." I couldn't prevent the smile stretching across my face as Yamato regained his confidence and slyly winked at me before he disappeared from the doorway.

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Aramaki rose garden was similar to what I hoped Heaven would look like. Or at least close enough. Rows and rows of multicoloured flowers were presented like an artistic gallery of brightly coloured pastel paintings. Landscape gardeners were definitely underrated.

Each type of flower seemed to yield its own sweet yet overwhelming scent which happened to be amplified by the summer sunshine. As Yamato and I strolled along side by side with our arms almost touching, I couldn't help but be reminded of the final time we had walked through Odaiba Park together as teenagers. Back then had been so agonising, my heart shivered just thinking about it. I quickly shook my head as I refused to merge that grey, painful memory with the grace and perfection I was now surrounded by.

"Everything ok? You're unusually quiet." Yamato, concerned as always. Well, when it suited him.

"I'm a little hungry," I replied. It wasn't a lie to some extent. My stomach had growled a few times since we had set foot in the gardens.
Yamato laughed, his eyes sparkling as he spoke. "You haven't changed one bit."

I felt my cheeks flush before I quickly asked him if there was somewhere we could go eat. Fortunately enough, in the heart of the garden, there was a place that sold food and drinks underneath a glass canopy, which we sat underneath with a small plate of mochi and a pot of jasmine tea to share.

"This place is amazing," I admitted. My eyes were still unable to focus on anything for more than five seconds as I gazed around at our surroundings.

"See, Itami does have its charms. I've grown to love it here. There's even a river named after me," Yamato chuckled as he curled his fingers around his cup of tea, "maybe I'll let you see it."
I smiled self-consciously, briefly staring at Yamato before I studied the shimmering interior of the glass canopy we were under, mesmerised. The old and kooky tea shop Daisuke and I occasionally went to- where we would pretty much smoke three or four cigarettes between sipping tea or coffee and catching up with each other- was no doubt inferior to this. Even Daisuke would have preferred it here, he would've been mad not to.

Why have a hamburger when you can have steak?

I automatically patted my trouser pocket before my stomach sunk in disappointment. I hadn't had a smoke since I'd arrived in Osaka, but unfortunately I had left my cigarettes in my bag back at Yamato's house. I knew all I could do was continue to distract myself from my nicotine cravings by chatting about absolutely anything. For me, that wasn't too difficult. We spoke for a while about University; drunken nights out and tedious lectures, and I even ended up revealing to Yamato some of the crazy antics I got up to with my University's football society. Yamato sat back while he listened and occasionally laughed; although after a while I was convinced I was boring him (although I couldn't tell for sure because he had always been excellent at concealing his emotions.).

"If I'm talking too much just tell me and I'll shut up."

"Nah, I like hearing you talk." Yamato picked up the teapot and refilled our cups. "Hey, do you still see much of the football team from school when you're in Odaiba?"

I shook my head while I shut my eyes for a second.

"Nah. I haven't really had the time to meet up with hardly anyone from school or college."

It was true, I found it difficult to arrange to see a lot of people I knew whenever I was back home. I either had a ton of coursework to do or was spending time with Daisuke and the gang (Sora, Meems, Izz and so forth).

"What about Haru?"

Haru, oh God, I hadn't seen him since graduating from college. Why did Yamato have to mention his name? As far as I knew, Haru was at Hiroshima City University doing some industrial design course. He had messaged me a couple of times on Msn, but our conversations had only been brief and formal.

"Nope, haven't seen him in a while," I tried not to speak too sharply although I hoped that the bored expression on my face was enough to tell him to steer the conversation away from Haru. However, Yamato decided to play the dumb and innocent card.

"You know," Yamato paused to take a sip of tea. "I always thought Haru would have made his move after I left."

I couldn't lie now.

"You did? Well that's a funny story," I said as I scratched the back of my head. I couldn't conceal my embarrassment and it only took Yamato a few seconds to pick up on it and guess what had happened.

"Oh my God," Yamato stated in English before switching back to Japanese, "you slept with him!"

He laughed melodiously while I tried to protest, explaining that it had just been a moment of drunkenness after we had gone out to celebrate winning a football tournament when I was seventeen. The entire occurrence was now just an irritating haze to me, all I remembered was waking up in Haru's arms and feeling embarrassed, horrifically hung-over, and to make matters worse my Mum had decided to burst into my room to see if I had managed to get home ok.

"My Mum wanted the story once Haru left, but my memory was such a mess..." I explained, placing a hand on my forehead as I recalled the horrific headache I had woken with that morning.

"Heh, so, he was so bad that you couldn't remember?" The corners of Yamato's mouth twitched while he clearly fought back a mischievous grin. I was tempted to throw my empty tea cup at him for teasing me (particularly because he had given me no option but to reveal that secret). It wasn't as if I couldn't remember everything about that night, it was simply the case of not wanting to remember.

"Enough about him," I groaned as I placed my cup onto the tray on the table, "that was in the past. Let's talk about... you."

Yamato arched an eyebrow. He hadn't expected to suddenly become centre of the conversation after cleverly evading it for so long.

"Me?"

I refrained from rolling my eyes. He was good at playing the classic Bambi act.

"I doubt you've been celibate all this time," I tried to be tactful with my words knowing I was treading on delicate grounds. Yamato's eyes were full of caution too, or at least I thought.

"Perhaps not, but I'm no Romeo." He chose this particular moment to do his sexy flick of the fringe thing. Thanks to a combination of his words, voice and his action my guard was now melting. Screw being subtle, I decided.

"Oh come on, Yama. You must get a fair share of attention from the boys at Kyoto."

Yama. I hadn't called him that for so long, it sounded so foreign compared to the other words I had just said.

"Mainly girls actually, but..." Yamato became flushed and he quickly turned his head to the side to avoid making eye contact with me. "I shouldn't be saying this..."

"You've been with girls?" There was a strain in my voice, which I knew Yamato had picked up on when his lips partly opened to form an expression of shock.

"What? No, no, nothing like that," his hands shot out in front of him- with his palms facing me- in a defensive gesture. He lowered them before he crossed his arms against his chest. "I just mean, I don't think you'd really like to hear who I've done what with. It's a bit personal and you may find it weird."

"Oh," I said with a hint of bemusement in my voice as I wondered what he meant by 'weird'.

When Yamato swiftly changed the subject and started to ask me questions about my University degree, I had to swallow a huge bitter pill as the realisation sunk in that Yamato wasn't prepared to take the subject about his private life any further than that, for the time being. After having time to reflect, I could understand why. I hadn't planned on telling him the things I got up to with Daisuke, but without a doubt he knew and it probably didn't make him feel too great.

I liked that he still cared so much that he was being so careful not to upset me.

After another pot of tea and a near enough silent stroll around the gardens we journeyed back to Yamato's house, only stopping along the way at a supermarket to pick up some fresh fish and vegetables for dinner. During that time I tried my best to make small talk and act like the Taichi who he thought 'hadn't changed one bit', yet unwillingly, I was plagued by the conversation in the Aramaki rose garden which had made me realise how much our time apart had changed the both of us.

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By the fifth day since my arrival Yamato had just about given me an extended tour of the entirety of Itami, and part of a town near to it which I couldn't remember the name of. I somewhat was glad; we had yet to explore the more commercial areas of Osaka, not to mention the traditional landmarks I had always had my heart set on seeing.

While I made my bed, I calculated that I hadn't smoked at all since I'd set foot in Osaka and I was about to congratulate myself, before I remembered that I had snuck out the back garden for a cigarette (after I was certain Yamato was fast asleep). That probably explained why the cigarettes were on my bedside table. The taste of stale cigarette smoke lingering in my mouth made me cringe and mocked my lack of willpower. I desperately needed to brush my teeth and have a shower while I was at it.

Dragging my feet across the floorboard in a zombie-like manner as I made my way to the bathroom, I wondered why no matter how much sleep I got I was still always tired in the morning? My Mum had always said it was a teenage phase but now I think even she was starting to worry. Oh well, a trip to the doctor's was never a bad thing.

As I reached for the bathroom handle I almost jumped out of my skin when the door opened from the other side. There stood Yamato still slightly wet from the shower with nothing but a small white towel wrapped around his slender waist. Shit. He still had his sexy nipple piercing which had always made me shamefully horny. My eyes quickly fell further, to his flat stomach. The towel was hanging rather low of his hips, I noted, and it only really reached mid-thigh. His legs, they were longer than I remember and far more shapely, not in a womanly way, more in a manly 'I've been running to keep fit' way.

Looking back up at his face, I saw that he was staring directly at me and that his cheeks were flushed. I soon became aware that I was partly standing in his way while I'd been stood there gawping at his semi-naked body.

"Sorry." I was still gazing at him as I and stood back and moved nearer to the wall so he could walk out. When he took his first step forward his towel slipped from his body and, well, I saw everything. Worse still, he appeared to be semi-erect. Yamato blushed as he quickly crouched down, flashing a lot more flesh as he did, and picked his towel up and wrapped it back around the lower half of his body, a lot more tightly this time.

My jaw was on the floor, metaphorically speaking, and my thoughts were a mixture of perplexity and disbelief. That did not just happen. Yamato was still stood there in his non-existent towel. Fuck, it did. Now knowing what was underneath that towel I knew how easy it would have been for me to rip it from him and...

I hurried past him into the bathroom, locking the door hastily before I sat on the toilet lid and placed a hand over my mouth to try and calm myself down. I didn't know why my heart was beating so fast, I'd seen him naked hundreds of times in the past. This time was different of course. Forbidden fruit, it was always the most exotic, not to mention tempting in a mouth-watering kind of way. The one thing that bothered me the most was when had he started shaving, and who for? Like it mattered, I told myself, I had Dai.

Yamato's body had definitely matured though; he was still skinny, but now had a hint of muscle tone. And he was shaven...

In the end I had to take a very cold shower and tried my best to recite a few law related articles I had read before the summer break (for an essay if you must know). Fortunately it did the trick and fifteen minutes later I was out the bathroom and rummaging through my unpacked suitcase trying to decide on something to wear.

I wasn't sure what the plans were for the day, I had been relying on Yamato to inform me each day, but I prayed I could etch the image of Yamato's naked toned body out from my mind by at least lunch time. It was a miracle I had managed to resist my urges to pounce on him outside the bathroom. I actually thought that since I managed to handle myself so well in that situation (no, not in that way), maybe I could last another week with Yamato without letting my hormones get the better.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

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D-Angel: So there we go, another chapter. Hoping it was worth the wait, especially that scene at the end. I was giggling to myself when I wrote that, haha. Right, next chapter, already partly written because I couldn't resist prematurely writing the scene everyone's been waiting for –wink-. Hoping there's no obvious grammatical errors in there... I'm sure I'll see them once this has uploaded and I'll sort them out then, lol.

Anyways, Keep checking my profile for update information. Thanks for reading and for all your wonderful reviews, hopefully I can update this soon...

Well, review if you must, and I'll see you all next chapter!

D-Angel
09/01/10