A/N: Hi all! Hope you enjoy this chapter! They seem to be getting longer and longer don't they?

Warning: Catherine/Tai/Sora/Matt square. Be warned!

Spring Ranting

chapter seven - Matt's Turn

A terrible depression was looming over Sora's usually amused features as she sat slouched on the roof over her room, watching the sun settle comfortably between the valley of the mountain tops as a cumbersome fog began to drift overhead. A gloomy ending to a sunny day. She gave a heavy sigh, reminiscing on that afternoon's events. The bad memories of her deceptive, hurtful past came back like a viscous allergy flowing with annoying and deliberate indolence. And to her unfortunate dismay, it continued to play over and over in her mind like a nightmare.

Her slender arm lounged lazily on the protruding bricks on the roof where she sat, her fingers tapping anxiously, but only for the sake of anxiety. She just wished she hadn't seen her mother and that stupid jerk that day because once the image of the two holding each other registered through her brain, her entire day suddenly became bleak and gloomy—just like the impending weather.

Not even losing Tai's special soccer ball to that bratty kid, or getting slapped around by that kid's mother was anything too bad. In fact she rather enjoyed her day until those two stepped foot in that convenient store. That single moment just ruined everything…

Then the humiliating recollection of clawing at Tai for comfort made her want to slam her head on the wall of her bedroom. Well she wasn't clawing-and being comforted by someone wasn't anything bad-it was just the fact that she and Tai had this unspoken understanding that despite their agreement to be friends, they still had to keep some sort of image up when they were around each other. She was embarrassed that Tai had seen her moping and blubbering like a baby over her damn mother.

He probably thinks I'm pathetic…Sora thought dimly, fondling with the tips of her auburn tresses.

Still…somewhere in the back of her subconscious, it felt nice being held by him. She recalled standing there numbly, clutching that gray sweater he had on with her two small fists, feeling the warmth of his body against hers as he brushed away strands of stray hair that stuck onto her flushed cheek. He was whispering things to comfort her-she couldn't remember what-but at that particular moment she just felt safe.

No more mom. No more past. No more worries.

Tai…she thought with another heavy sigh.

The sun had finally dwindled down with only a petal of highlighted brightness peaking between the mountains. Sora looked across the street and watched as a pregnant woman walked out to her backyard holding a basket under an arm to take down the clothes hanging from her line. Sora closed her eyes.

"Hey Onee-chan, what are you doing out here?" called a soft voice from one of the windows.

Sora turned to the voice and smiled half-heartedly. "I was considering whether I should jump on that old guy walking across the street, or just go cow-tipping at that farmhouse by Sukiyama's Bar."

"Whatever excites you Onee-chan," Kari giggled. She climbed out of the window and sat next to the older girl, looking straight ahead to where the sun had once been. There was a calm silence between the two girls as the evening wind drew invisible fingers through their hair. Kari closed her eyes.

"I was just thinking about my mom," Sora whispered, finally breaking the silence.

Kari nodded. "I figured."

Sora gaped at her with wide eyes. "What do-Do you know?"

"Yes. Of course I know! I've been living here in this house for years now! Tai doesn't really because he's a little dense. But even my mom kind of knows. And you know I can be nosy when I want to be," she answered.

Sora gave the younger girl a soft smile and a little nudge. "Yeah, you always were a sneaky little brat."

"But I think you should ask her what really happened before being so harsh on her," Kari replied, looking up into Sora's ruby eyes genuinely.

Sora looked down at her lap. Maybe there was some sort of explanation for all this lying, fighting, cheating and unadulterated behavior. She just never gave her mother time to explain because she was always running away…

"Kari! Sora! Dinner's been ready for almost half an hour! Where the hell are you two?" Tai shouted through the hall.

Kari and Sora looked at one another and chuckled. "Coming!" they chimed, rushing off to the window.

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Dinner was silent that evening. Tai and Kari's mother finally showed up after a few days of being suspiciously absent. Her excuse was that she had just been leaving early and coming home late for a couple days because of work. But Tai and Kari knew there was more to her story than just "leaving early and coming late." Besides that, Sora had decided to take dinner to her room so Mrs. Takenouchi was being unnaturally snappy toward everyone.

Even breakfast was easily avoidable. Her mother was not the type to barge into rooms demanding the presence of the person she was looking for (probably one reason why she never saw the appalling condition Tai's room was in). Instead she would mope around, snapping at everyone and everything that got in her way.

Sora's schedule for the first couple of days flew by quickly. Sunday: woke up, showered, brushed teeth, stole a wrapped onigiri from the refrigerator, and sped off to the train station to head to downtown Tokyo for the day.

Monday: woke up early, went to school with Kari just to avoid mother, hung around with some old friends around the city then came home late.

Today was Tuesday and Mrs. Takenouchi was disappointed to find that her daughter missed breakfast YET again. Everyone tried to avoid her as best they could that week because the more Sora missed breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the angrier and grumpier the woman got. (And unfortunately, this is where Sora got her temper from.)

Earlier that morning…

"Where are you headed off so early in the morning?" Tai's loud, teasing voice nearly echoed through the house, surprising Sora from her initially successful, silent tying of the shoe at the dinner table.

Sora looked up with a glint in her eye as she finished lacing the shoe, stood up, and snatched her bag from the table.

"You're not here to lecture me about how I have to talk to my mom, are you? Because I don't have time for this bull-" Sora began.

Tai held his hands up in defense. "Whoa, whoa Sora, my dear child, we mustn't be so aggressive!" he teased.

"Well then I'm going somewhere that isn't important to you or my mother," she replied, walking passed Tai toward the door.

"I'm not your mom's spy if that's what you think," Tai responded, his expression becoming serious. Sora turned to him, noting this change in his voice. She decided to give him a chance to speak. "I…just thought I'd tell you to be careful and come back before it gets too dark because there are a lot of psychos out there and, you know, they're capable of doing bad things to pretty girls…" he trailed off.

Sora looked at him with glimmering eyes and an amused smile. "Is Taichi worried about little old me?"

Tai scoffed. "Pfft…hell no." He began walking back upstairs. "It's just that those parents put me in charge of you and I don't want to get blamed if 'little old you' gets eaten or something. See ya."

Sora's face curled with an indignant expression. "Ass…" she muttered before shutting the door tightly behind her. She grabbed her bike by the side of the house and headed straight to Seaside Park.

She passed the trees and their shapeless silhouettes in silent awe as a deep strawberry color painted the morning sky. She felt like such an introvert, craving so much alone time recently. Odaiba had always made her feel like being alone because the island was just filled with drama and past and present frustration. The only way she believed she could get away from it was if she went somewhere to be alone. She gave a helpless sigh and found a bench, resting her bike next to it as she stretched her body across the bench, staring up at the sky.

"Taking a nap so early in the morning?"

Sora bolted up and found a pair of azure eyes staring down at where she was sitting. He had an amused smirk on his face as he tightened his grip on the backpack slung lazily over his right shoulder. His hair was slightly disheveled, as if he'd woken up that way. She never realized how attractive he had become. Well…back in junior high school he was still a cute kid, but she never imagined he'd be so beautiful-yes, beautiful-at this age. As she discreetly examined him, she thought about all the girls who probably threw themselves at him in anxious desperation, hoping that one of them would get chosen by the mystical unicorn of a blond musician.

Unbeknownst to Sora, Matt had never actually had an actual girlfriend-and by actual, he really did have several, but none of them were genuinely looking for a relationship with him. His relationship past was actually deeply depressing because of the mistreatment he received from his so-called "girlfriends". He just wished there was one girl out there who wasn't all about looks and popularity.

"No. I'm just admiring the scenery," she replied matter-of-factly. She furrowed a brow. "Aren't you supposed to be heading off to school right now Mr. Ishida?" she inquired suspiciously.

Matt continued to hold his smirk as he slouched down next to her. "I had the sudden urge to ditch. What's one lost school day?"

"Oh…I don't know…let's take a wild guess—detention, lecturing from teachers, grounding from parents, and possible spanking for bad behavior?" Sora replied rhetorically.

"The spanking doesn't sound too bad, depending on who it's from, but the other stuff—you don't think I've gotten out of all of those before?"

Sora giggled. "Why are you ditching anyway?"

"You really wanna know?" Matt asked. Sora nodded slowly. He sighed. "Okay…well I had a fight with my mom. We're not speaking to each other right now and I didn't think I could face people at school…somehow, despite my attempts, people can still tell if I'm depressed. Plus you know Tai, he'll find a way to get it out of me," Matt confided.

Sora smiled sullenly. "So you know what I'm going through. I'm fighting with my mom too. But I have no school so I'm allowed to be here," she said, giving him a pseudo-accusing look.

Matt laughed. "Hey let's just keep that between us okay? I was never here."

"So where were you headed?" Sora asked curiously.

"Just around."

"What do you mean, 'just around'?"

"I don't know. I'm just going to walk idly around town until I find something that interests me."

"So you're really ditching school?"

"Yes. You know, you ask a lot of questions," Matt told her.

"I'm just curious," Sora replied with a shrug. "Does it make you uncomfortable?" she teased, scooting closer to him.

Matt gave a short chuckle. "You wish," he returned. Then he turned to her, his smiling blue pools staring into her scarlet ones. "So do you want to come with me?" he asked her.

"To where?" Sora asked with an arched brow.

"Let's drive to Kyoto."

"Are you nuts?" Actually, it sounded extremely tempting. Sora looked at Matt's serious face. Did he really want to go there? It was so far for just a one-day adventure. (A/N: From what I heard, and not from actual research, Kyoto from Tokyo is equivalent to San Francisco to L.A.; something like a six to seven hour drive.)

"Okay, okay, we'll take the bullet train. Just pick something!" Matt replied, doubtlessly assuring Sora that Matt was serious about going.

She smiled and stood up, causing Matt to follow suit. "Let's take the train then!"

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Sora's heart skipped a beat as she stepped onto the train. Matt was behind her and suddenly crashed into her when she stopped half-way inside.

"This doesn't seem right," she said, giving Matt a skeptical look. Matt put a comforting arm around her as he pulled her into the train.

"Don't worry. It's just for today. We'll go back before we get into any real trouble," he reassured her.

She didn't want to leave Matt to go off to Kyoto all alone, so she sighed and nodded as she allowed the enthusiastic blond to lead her to a seat near the window. People were rushing around the train, hurrying off to seats, talking on their cell phones, and tapping at laptops. Sora was a bit nervous but she knew Matt wouldn't drag her to do anything that would physically harm her. She smiled and sank into the comfortable seat.

"This isn't bad…" Sora commented as she felt the train stir and proceed forward. This would be a good trip. No one to pester her about her mother.

Speaking of parents…

She wondered why her dad still hadn't called her.

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Matt had fallen asleep during the trip with his head against the window, his hair sweeping backward as his head fell forward. Sora watched him with an amused smirk, wondering what she could possibly do to him that would cure the boredom in her. She moved closer to his sleeping face, and lifted her fingers to his nose, pinching his nostrils so that he couldn't breathe.

She suppressed a giggle when his lips parted, his warm breath escaping his mouth this time. Sora, being the bored person she was, grabbed his lips and pinched them together too, causing a strange grunting sound to come from the back of Matt's throat. It was like the distinct sound of a dying lamb.

When she felt him stir, she quickly pulled back and shut her eyes, pretending to be asleep as Matt awoke, shaking his head in disconcertment. He softly mumbled something incoherent and took a glance at his surroundings. Sora snuck a peek behind her lashes as the slightly confused Matt slowly reverted back to his sleeping position.

She smiled. Playing with the comatose was fun…

.

Matt was dealing with an inner turmoil.

He didn't know whether to scoot away from Sora's sleeping head and let it fall against the seat, or wait until they reached the train stop and wake her up. He had begun to feel slightly uncomfortable with their current position when an elderly lady had passed by and smiled at them.

"Is that your girlfriend? She's very pretty," the gray-haired woman commented, gesturing toward Sora's sleeping form.

"Oh no…she's just a-a friend," he said, giving a nervous laugh.

"What a waste," the woman said, walking off toward the back of the train before Matt could respond to her. He watched with a tilted head as the woman scurried off and took a seat in the next car.

There was definitely nothing wrong with Sora. She was pretty, as the woman said, and it wasn't just that. She was funny, witty, smart…different than all the other girls at school who seemed to suck up to him for no reason at all. He just wanted those other girls to be themselves and talk with him like he was an actual person, not stare at him as if there was nothing else interesting about him but his looks. With Sora, she seemed to ignore his looks all together and chatted on and on about mindless and mindful things, making him feel like a person again. He adored talking to her; their conversation seemed to flow so naturally, especially since they were pre-teens the last time they had seen each other. Sora had no problem with being herself around him and that was what was so attractive about her. He wasn't sure how Tai felt about her now, but he knew right there that he wanted her to be his. Sora was unlike any girl he'd ever encountered and he met a lot of girls. Traveling with his band to do gigs gave him the opportunity to meet so many women. No matter where he went, he felt as if they were all the same. He looked down at the red hair spread across his shoulder, tickling the side of his neck.

Tai should've made a move when he had the chance, he thought. It certainly is a waste…for Tai.

He sighed and returned to dealing with his inner turmoil. But before he could make a decision, he realized the next stop was where they got off. He had no choice but to call her attention.

"Sora…wake up. We're in Kyoto," Matt whispered awkwardly to the sleeping girl. Sora's lashes fluttered as she raised her head from his shoulder, unaware that she had been laying against him for the better part of the hour. She jolted up and flushed when she realized what she had done.

"Sorry…" she apologized, dusting his shoulder of some invisible Sora-dirt. "I didn't mean to sleep on you like that."

Matt cleared his throat. "No problem. No problem at all." The train finally came to a complete stop. There was a pause before a small "ding!" was heard, and the doors slid open. "Let's go."

Matt quickly got up and headed to the open door with a still-dazed Sora following behind him. It had been a quick ride, but also somewhat awkward. Sora shook her head. These uncomfortable moments seemed to happen with a lot of people she encountered ever since she got back…

"I remember coming here a couple years ago and it was so awesome. They had these musicians that played in the streets that were actually playing good music instead of that crap you hear so often on the radio," Matt told her as they exited the train station.

"I bet you played with them," Sora said, nudging Matt gently.

Matt smiled. "Once. I got to play with this one band. It was so great! And the cool part was that after they finished playing, the lead vocalist told me he was a dentist."

Sora laughed. "Are you serious?"

"I swear, I'm not even making this up! He told me that when he wasn't playing instruments and jamming with his band, he was in some office cleaning teeth. He said it wasn't a bad living. He could support himself and his love of music with a good steady job."

Sora gave him a knowing look. "Hmm. I'm guessing that's why you decided that dentistry was your back up career?" she inquired.

"Yes! Exactly."

"Where are we going exactly?" Sora asked, looking around her unfamiliar surroundings.

"We're gonna meet up with an old friend of mine…and yours. I think you remember him. He used to live in Odaiba but moved here to some Shinto shrine with his uncle because of some…girl issues."

Sora laughed. "Oh, really? All because of a girl?"

"Well…um, it's Davis Motomiya's sister Jun. She was crazy about him…so crazy that she took to stalking him and watching him shower with a hidden camera. They were together for a while because Jyou thought she was interesting, but after a while she became way too obsessive. His family filed a restraining order against her. She followed it for a while but then she just planted hacking devices on his computer and hidden cameras in his house," Matt explained. "I mean, it was kind of his fault. He didn't pay attention to any of the warning signs."

Sora was in shock. Jyou had a stalker? She never would have believed it… "Wow."

"Exactly what I said when I first heard it. Can you believe? Jyou had a stalker? I never would have believed it…" Matt began mumbling to himself, shaking his head all the while as they walked over to a bus station. "Anyway, he lives at this shrine now. He started a rock band and he's taking these exams to become a general practitioner."

"Doctor Jyou? In a band?"

Now this was becoming unbelievable.

"What else changed about that guy?"

What Matt said next made it extremely difficult to believe they were visiting their old friend Jyou. "He has a red mohawk."

Maybe he had a mental break down? Sora thought, giving Matt the most confused look she could muster.

The bus eventually came after half an hour. The two were so engrossed in their conversation that the bus almost left, but luckily Sora realized it and the two chased the bus to the stop sign and got inside. Once they reached their stop, they hopped off and went up the winding dirt steps to Jyou's shrine home. Sora looked around and found two small children chasing one another near a statue of a god. Three bald, elderly men were sitting by the steps of a workshop near the house, chatting and smoking. Matt politely greeted them with Sora following his gestures, and then they headed up to the house where Matt lightly tapped the door.

"Jyou? Open up! It's Matt," Matt called through the door.

"Hold onnn! Let me tie my shoe!" came a muffled voice from inside. The voice opened the door, and out came a very unfamiliar young man with a doctor's lab coat on. His hair was red…

Oh my… Sora thought, staring in awe at the once raven-haired boy.

Jyou smiled at Sora with an unfamiliar look in his eyes. Apparently, he didn't recognize her. "And who's this super hottie with a body that you brought with you today Yama?" he asked with a smile. Sora chuckled at this.

"I'm Sora. Sora Takenouchi. Remember me, Jyou?" she greeted him, grabbing his hand and shaking it viscously.

"Sora…oh! Sora Tak—Taichi's—" he began but instantly shut his mouth when he saw the look on Matt's face. Jyou cleared his throat when Sora gave him an odd look. "Um…of course I remember you! It's nice to see you again!"

"And it's…interesting…to see how much you've changed over these past few years. Nice mohawk," Sora commented.

Jyou gave her a beaming smile. "Come in, come in…oh…um…there's someone else in the living room. I don't know why all of you are ditching school because I know you guys know about the importance of education, but—" He shook his head as he led the two into the living room. "What am I saying? You won't listen to me. But yes…anyways, I have to just feed the dog and the kids really quick then I'll come back for you guys," he continued as he disappeared out the door.

Matt and Sora glanced at each other and shrugged. As they turned toward the living room, they found an extremely familiar boy sitting on the couch, laughing his ass off at something on the T.V. screen, eating peanuts. The boy stopped and looked up at Matt and Sora with blank eyes and lingering laughter on his face.

"TAI!" Matt and Sora shouted simultaneously.

Tai's surprised look transformed into a lingering smile as he chewed the last peanuts in his mouth. "Hey guys…uh…what are you doing here?"

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A/N: Not too many changes =) See you on the next chapter!