hey everyone! Sooo sorry for the delay, I've been truly busy lately, work and uni are consuming all my time! I'm not gonna say much here, this chapter was supposed to be much longer but due to my lack of time I decided to make it a little shorter than expected but yet have something posted than have nothing posted for another 2 months... I really hope you enjoy it anyway, don't forget to review, your reviews make me happy! Forgive my spelling and grammar mistakes, I actually didn't revise it before posting it up...

Chapter 4 – Solitude Sometimes Is The Place I'd Like To Live

(Solitude sometimes is the place that I would like to live
Solitude sometimes is when nothing really seems to fit
If black were truly black not grey
It might provide some depth to pray
To black out all the worlds of men
And demons too, but not even then
Solitude sometimes is life that no longer exists
Solitude sometimes is
When there's nothing left to give)

Taichi was nervous when he got out of his dad's car at the school's doorway on Monday. He hadn't spoken to Yamato since last Friday night when that weird episode occurred, and he had no idea how he would face him now. The truth is that he had spent the whole weekend thinking of his friend and what would have happened if he hadn't left in one particular moment...

He walked slowly and silently to his classroom which luckily was still empty. He took his place at the back of the room and waited patiently for Yamato to show up. The desks around him were taken one by one, and when the bell finally rang Matt still hadn't shown up to take his place by the window. Tai wondered what could have happened to him that made him late for class, but when at the third period he still wasn't there, he started to believe there was a special reason why he hadn't gone to school. He suddenly remembered how sick Matt looked the last time they met.

*-*-*

Yamato had no intention to go to school since the time he got up from bed that morning. He was late on purpose, and when his angry dad left him at school half an hour later than usual, he waited until the car disappeared on the avenue and started running at the opposite direction. He turned left on a corner and kept running through the next blocks, until he believed to be far enough not to be found, and then slowed his pace, regaining his breath.

He wasn't sure why he was so scared to go to school, he thought it was the fear of meeting Jango after having broken his nose, but he also felt his stomach churn when he thought of the idea of meeting Taichi... He had tried hard to ignore the sensation the memory of him brought, but during the past two days it took over his mind completely.

Matt stopped walking when he arrived at Odaiba Central Park, considering it would be the perfect place to spend the long hours he was supposed to be at school. He sat on one of the stone banks and closed his eyes, surrendering to the memory of the sensation Taichi's hand had caused on his own. He stayed in that trance for long minutes before a violent bashing on the back of his head made him fall with his face on the ground. A giant foot smashed his head against the soft earth making him choke. He stretched his arms and legs desperately trying to get up to take some air, but the foot pressed him more violently against the ground. Matt could hear loud laughter around him, and in the back of his mind he knew to whom it belonged to. He tried every possible way to get rid of the enormous foot that smashed his head but soon other pairs feet reached his body, kicking him hard on the belly and back, at one moment someone hit his injured leg.

Yamato couldn't tell how long that torture lasted, he soon got dizzy with the lack of breathable air and slowly let his consciousness leave his mind. He woke up with the sound of laughter around him, the brightness of the Sun directly on his face made him temporarily blind until his eyes got used to the light. He felt every part of his body aching terribly, and it took him several minutes to find the strength to sit and look up to the boys surrounding him. He wasn't wrong, it was Jango and his group.

Jango approached him with his blackened and swollen nose, and keeled down to look Matt in the eyes.

"You fucked me off you know" his tune was dangerously calm. "Take a look at what you did to me you little fag." He grabbed Matt by the collar of his shirt and got up, making him stand in front of him, he then pushed the blond towards a tree. Matt didn't know what to do: if he ran Jango would certainly get him, if he stayed he would be beaten to the ground anyway. He had no time to think nevertheless, Jango quickly approached him and punched him straight in the face; Matt fell off again, his hands covering his face. Before loud laughters filled Matt's ears once more, Jango kicked him several times again, while the others watched in awe.

After a long time hitting Matt on every possible part of his body, Jango said: "I guess I've had enough fun with this creep, let's get outta here."

The four left, laughing aloud, his voices dimming as they moved farther. When Matt couldn't hear them anymore, he decided to stand up.

Blood covered his face, all his body was aching, his hands were shaking and his head was pounding. He touched his own face and concluded relieved that his nose wasn't broken, despite the strength of Jango's punch. He stood up with difficulty, his injured leg was still and hurt desperately. Resigned and with no other option, Yamato slowly started to make his way back home.

He hadn't taken ten steps yet when he heard a familiar voice beside him. Terrified, he looked over his shoulder to see Koumi leaning on the wall right next to him.

"I know what you need now" he said. Matt looked at him with a raging anger. He had no idea what Koumi was talking about until he took from his pocket a little package that Matt recognized as the same drug he had taken two days ago. Matt stretched his hand instinctively to grab the heroin, but Koumi stepped back.

"You have to pay for it" he said.

"I'll pay" Matt replied promptly. He remembered clearly of the sensations that drug had caused on him and he was sure it was all he needed at that moment, to relief the pain and rage he felt. He grabbed all the money in his pockets and handed it to Koumi, who gave the heroin right away.

"You're gonna need this" Koumi said handing a syringe to Matt. The blond had no idea why Koumi was doing that but he didn't care, all he wanted was to be able to enjoy the peace of mind that drug could bring to him. "Don't tell anyone where you got it from" Koumi said threateningly, and Matt knew he was referring to Jango, Lee and Ike.

"Can you get me some more?" Matt asked, but Koumi didn't bother answering, he kicked the boy's ankle and walked away. Yamato cursed him aloud expecting he would turn around to fight, a weird anger raging in his stomach again, making him feel as capable of beating people to the ground as Koumi or Jango. But Koumi didn't turn around to respond to the offense.

Yamato took his way back home again, knowing his father would only get home at the end of the day anyway...

*-*-*

Taichi just couldn't concentrate in class that day. His thoughts wandered somewhere far from the school walls, imagining where the hell would Yamato be, or sometimes reliving that magical moment at his doorway two days ago. Tai grew more nervous every hour that passed, as he absentmindedly used the razor of his sharpener to scratch the palm of his own hand.

When the bell rang at the end of the day, Tai quickly ran out of school, taking the way he knew would lead to Matt's place. Something insisted in telling him he would only feel calmer when he finally met his friend.

As soon as he arrived at Yamato's doorway his feet seemed to falter and he took a second thought whether he should knock or not. But the feeling that he needed to talk to Matt was still strong, so he took a deep breath and rang the bell in a quick move. He waited, but nobody answered. When after five whole minutes he still couldn't distinguishany sound coming from the inside of the house, he concluded that there was nobody home and decided to leave. But as he turned away to walk down the stone steps, he heard the door open behind him. He looked back and stared straight in Matt's eyes, his timid smile became a grimace of shock as he approached his friend.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Tai asked looking open-mouthed to the several bruises on Matt's face and bare chest, before his eyes met his friend's, bloodshot and out of focus, making him look like a living dead.

Yamato did not answer right away, he stepped aside and made a gesture that indicated Tai should get in the house. Tai followed him to his room , noticing there was not one light on at the house although the sun was already setting and darkness was starting to take over the place.

Matt entered his bedroom, sat on his bed and leaned his head on his hands. Tai searched for the switchto turn the light on, then he sat on the bed beside his friend. He wanted so badly to touch him, but he didn't have the guts to get nearer, so he simply asked again what had happened.

"Jango" Matt answered with a shiver. Tai didn't need to ask more; at their first day of class he'd seen from the classroom window Jango and his friends beat Matt down, so he could only conclude that they were the responsible for all that shit going on with Matt.

"You didn't come to class today. I was worried, I wanted to know why..."

"Now you know why" Yamato answered rudely. He didn't feel like talking about what had happened, the heroin effects were almost worn off and the pain all over his body had come back with double intensity.

Tai backed down at his friend's bitter answer, and believed he had done wrong in going to look for him, so he got up quickly and headed to the door intending to go away. At the same time they heard the sound of a car coming from outside and Matt also got up quickly.

"My father" he said grabbing Tai's arm firmly, "you must leave now."

"Ok." Tai walked away from Matt's grip, quickly getting out of his room. Matt pointed the back door in the kitchen and Tai obeyed without hesitating.

"You gonna be alright?" Matt asked before Tai had left the doorway. The brunette looked languidly at him and nodded, then turned around and started to walk towards the street.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ishida was entering the house through the front door making a big noise and speaking really loud.

"Is dinner ready Yamato? I'm starving!"

Matt observed his father enter the kitchen. He was slightly conscious that his bare chest presented several black-greenish bruises as well as his face, and his trousers were full of blood stains and dirt. It tool Mr. Ishida's mind a moment to register his son's monstrous image.

"What the hell happened to you?" he approached the boy slowly with a grimace of disgust on his face as if whatever it was that Matt had could be contagious.

"It's not of your fucking business!" Yamato answered angrily. He wondered why the fuck he felt so ferocious and brave in front of his father but had no courage to face Jango and his friends. He obviously wasn't able to find the answer. Before Mr. Ishida could get closer, Yamato left the kitchen and locked himself in the bathroom, wishing badly to have more heroin to relief the pain again as he had done earlier.

"I'm definitely a coward", he thought. With no courage to go out and face his father's questions, he spent the whole night locked in the bathroom.

So that's it, Matt is getting into the world of drugs, do you think Tai's gonna be able to help him out? Find out on the next chapter (hopefully soon!)

I SWEAR our dearest couple is gonna be together on chap 5, the scene is going to be really cute so I must write it when I have plenty of time to dedicate to it!!

Please review and make me happy!! XoXo.