Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Also nicked some lines from Daughtry.

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A/N: An update that didn't take half a year! Thanks for all the reviews; they really encourage me to keep writing!

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"Taichi! Yamato!"

The door to my room burst open again, and in came a frantic Sora. She had startled us so badly that we had both shot up into sitting position from our slumber. Seriously, couldn't we get more than a few hours of sleep before being rudely awoken by one of my crazy female friends?

"Quickly!" Sora was at our bedside, yanking on my arm. "The Count's guards are here, and they'll be searching the whole house!"

My eyes widened and I looked into Yamato's equally wide blue orbs. We shot out of bed, Sora pulling on my wrist, me pulling on Yamato's.

Sora led the way to the dining room, intent on hiding me and Yamato in the bomb shelter. Her grandfather had had it built ages ago, when the town was in danger of being attacked by the neighbouring ones. The threat of war was long gone, but the well-hidden shelter had remained. I would have forgotten its existence had Sora not brought it up when we were planning Yamato's rescue. She and Koushiro had figured that the guards would come looking here; they were bound to do their research and find out where I lived. I had never been more grateful for their strategic thinking.

Sora fiddled with the latch in the corner of the room, where it was hidden from anyone that didn't know it was there.

"Go!" She shoved us in as soon as she had the door open wide enough for us. She closed the door without another word, plunging Yamato and me into darkness.

After about a minute of sitting silently in the dark, I started fumbling around. I was trying to be as quiet as possible, least I give away our location. It was pointless, as the room was soundproof, but it made me feel less anxious if I kept the noise to a minimum.

At last I found the candles and accompanying matches we had placed into the room. I lit the two candles, bringing some light to the darkness.

The orange glow of the small flames fell upon Yamato. His eyes held fear and sadness.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, just barely loud enough for me to catch it. "This is all my fault; I've done nothing but cause you and your friends trouble. I'm sorry."

"Yamato," I reached for his hand, placing my palm over his fist. "If anything, this is my fault. But I won't apologise; I wouldn't change anything, not if it meant giving you up."

"I wouldn't change things either. But I can't not apologise."

I let the topic drop.

We were quiet for a while, trying to pick up any noise from the outside. Obviously it was futile.

I watched Yamato staring at the small flame of one of the candles. He seemed completely entranced by it. Of course, it was quite hypnotising to watch fire dance, so I, too, started to stare at the same flame. We spent a few minutes like that, in silence, but my mind had started wandering, and I glanced at the blond.

"Um…"

He didn't look up, the flame still holding his gaze.

"You know, it started bothering me…" I hedged, biting my lip lightly, whilst his eyes flew up, blinking rapidly. "Why did you think that I was selfish for sleeping with Sora?"

He blinked a few more times, probably trying to get rid of the lingering image of the flame.

"It just made it sound like you were using her; like there were no feelings involved. It shouldn't be like that for the two of you. For someone like me, sex is jus sex. It doesn't matter who you do it with. But you two are close, and have been close for ages, from what I can tell. If you wanted her, then you should have taken the time to form a proper relationship with her."

I thought about that for a bit before replying. "Well, there weren't feelings involved, really..." His eyebrows shot up. "We had both lost our families and were just looking for comfort. The only feelings were sorrow and grief. We just both used each other, but we spoke about it before and after, and we're fine with that." I grinned at him. "She was being just as selfish as I was."

"I guess…" Yamato said slowly, looking down. His eyes didn't stay down for long, though, as he lifted them to look me in the eye. "I'm sorry for accusing you of being selfish."

"It's okay." I assured him, but added: "I was, though, with you at the tree last night—this morning, whatever. And I'm sorry."

"It's—" He shook his head, dropping his gaze once again to his lap. "It's okay; it's not like I didn't enjoy it…" He finished his sentence with a mumble and blush.

I smiled, deciding not to put him on the spot and let yet another subject drop. I did still feel guilty for what I did, but, to be fair, I hadn't had any action for the longest time, so… Not that I was trying to pin all the blame on my hormones and pent up frustration. Just some of it.

"Wait a sec!" I turned to him, realising something we had spoken about earlier. "I thought you didn't know anything about normal relationships."

"It's not like I don't know about them." He rolled his eyes, but then blushed lightly. "I just never really believed in them. I never knew any two people who would be able to care for each other like that. But now, with Sora and all your other friends, I can see that having a loving, caring relationship is possible. It exists."

It seemed like he was talking more to himself than to me, so I kept quiet, letting him mull over his own thoughts.

His eyes suddenly shot to mine. "Do you think we'll ever be able to come back?" He whispered.

I dropped my gaze, contemplating this; I had thought about it briefly, but had shoved the thoughts away in fear of the answer being no. I could feel his eyes searching my face, looking for any clues as to what I was thinking. I didn't want him to feel bad about tearing me away from home forever, but what else could I say? We could never return; it just wasn't feasible.

I was forced to look up when he placed a hand over mine.

"Someone is bound to kill the Count sooner or later, Taichi. We can come back when he's gone."

I wanted to believe him; I really did, but…

"Taichi?"

I had dropped my gaze again, looking at our hands instead of his eyes. I turned my hand over, my fingers playing with his. He was leaning forward, trying to catch my eye again. I refused to look at him.

His free hand came up to my cheek. I was expecting it to force my face upward, to look into those deep blues. Instead, he moved his thumb gently back and forth, not demanding anything from me.

It was true that the Count had lots of enemies. There were plenty of people out there who wanted him dead. Of course, this had been the case for years, and no one had finished him off yet… Would anyone? Probably not. Yamato and I would forever have to keep low, least the Count catch wind of our whereabouts. The Count was the type of man to bear a grudge. For life.

I was startled out of my musings by Yamato withdrawing both his hands. They went to cover his face, and I heard and saw him take a deep, unsteady breath. He held it for a few seconds, before letting it rattle out of his mouth. He was trying to hold back tears.

I wanted to move forward and comfort him, but I didn't know how. I couldn't make false promises, and telling the truth would hurt.

At least…

"At least we'll have each other."

He drew in a sharp breath, letting his hands slide down his face and fall to his lap. His eyes remained closed, pushing back the tears.

"Yeah." He choked out. "Yeah we will."

I smiled, moving forward, minding the candles, and pulled him into a hug.

"I can't promise that things will be okay. I can't promise that someone will kill him. I can't promise that we will be able to return one day. But as long as it's with you, I'm okay with whatever the future holds."

"Thank you, Taichi." He mumbled into my chest. "And I'm sorry for being so depressed about this. It's just that… I—no matter what you say, I don't feel that I'm worth you losing everything. I'm just scared that, one day, you'll realise that I'm not worth it all and that you'll start hating me for it. Or worse: lie to me and tell me you're fine with it all."

"We'll make it through." I said, petting his soft hair.

"I thought you weren't going to make promises you can't keep."

"There's nothing else that we can do. Is there?"

He pulled back and looked up at me, eyes almost dry. A small smile made its way onto his face.

"I suppose not."

I grinned, pulling him back to me, whilst his arms wound tightly around my torso. We stayed like that for an indefinable amount of time, until the door started opening.

Yamato and I blinked rapidly at the brightness. Thankfully Sora and Koushiro's forms blocked the worst of the glare, and our eyes adjusted quickly.

"They're gone." Sora announced with a grin.

"They left a while ago, but we wanted to make sure they weren't coming back right away, before letting you two out."

"Good thinking." I grinned at the shorter male, standing and offering my hand to Yamato. "Come on, up you get." He grabbed my hand and I hauled him to his feet. We left the room hand-in-hand.

"Koushiro reckons that it's safe for you two to stay here for a few more days, up to a week."

"The guards seem satisfied that you're not here, so they probably won't be looking here anymore."

"Excellent!"

"Are you sure?"

Yamato and I had spoken at the same time. His eyes were on Koushiro, mine were on him. I couldn't read his face; it wasn't exactly blank, but there was nothing there, at the same time.

"I mean, are you sure about me—us—staying here? That it's okay?" He clarified.

I remembered Koushiro's initial weariness of Yamato, and looked at the strategist. He eyed Yamato critically before smiling.

"It's perfectly fine; you're more than welcome to stay with us for a while longer."

Yamato smiled back his thanks.

"What time is it?" I asked Sora, hoping it was dinner time.

Sora smiled knowingly. "Mimi and Meiko are almost done with the food, so go get washed up, and then come back."

"Yes ma'am!" I saluted, marching off and dragging Yamato with me.

When we returned the food was out, as promised, and we took our seats.

"Thanks for the meal!" Echoed around the table as everyone dug in. Well, everyone except Yamato; he was staring at his plate, looking uncertain.

I nudged him, and he looked up at everyone.

"Um." Everyone's attention turned to him. "I just wanted to apologise for causing you all so much trouble." He gave a quick, apologetic head-bow. "It's my fault the guards invaded your house, and I'm sorry."

"Ah, don't worry about it!" Mimi was the first to accept the apology. "It was actually quite fun to lead those guards around on a wild goose chase."

Koushiro hid his smile behind a forkful of food and I made note to ask them what, exactly, they had done whilst Yamato and I had been trapped.

Sora chuckled, nodding along. "It really wasn't a bother at all, so don't worry."

Yamato nodded and started eating. Everyone else followed suit.

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