Chapter 9
Sora's Story
Sand crashed all around Matt and the only thing he could think of was to protect TK. He clutched TK against his chest, desperate not to lose him.
They couldn't breathe. They couldn't see. The sound of the wind was so loud they could hear nothing else.
Someone grabbed onto Matt's arm. He couldn't tell if it was Tai or Gabumon. They were going to die. They couldn't survive this forever.
Then as suddenly as it had started, it stopped and all was dark.
Agumon was buried in sand.
He could see nothing.
He could hear nothing
He could smell nothing.
But he could sense up from down, and he could feel Tai's hand. Making sure, Tai was still holding onto him, he clawed his way to the surface.
When his nose broke free, he gulped in the cold desert air, and yanked Tai free.
"Tai, are you okay!?" Tai doubled over and started hacking up sand. Agumon waited until he was done. Tai rested against him, breathing heavily.
"Where are the others?"
Gabumon broke free from the ground, sand clinging onto his fur. He started to dig fiercely, then grabbed onto the scruff of Matt's shirt and pulled with all his might. It was harder than pulling Tai up because Matt came in a package with TK. The first thing Matt said when he had the air to do so was his little brother's name.
He pulled free TK's limp form from the sand, laying him on his back. For the briefest second, Matt was sure he was dead, but then TK started the sputter and cough.
Matt rolled back on the balls of his feet, face pointed to the sky. "Thank God," he sighed.
Once Tai saw everyone was still alive, he sank to the ground and concentrated on breathing.
"Wait," said Agumon. "Where's Patamon?"
TK shot up from the ground. "Patamon!" He called out. When only his echo answered, he screamed his name "PATAMON!"
"TK," Matt started, but TK took off, in a random direction, stumbling as he went. "TK, wait!" Matt went after him. TK didn't go far. He was too tired. He fell to his knees, hands clutching at the ground; a sob racked through his body.
Matt put a hand on TK's shoulder. "TK, come on."
" . . .TK." His head whipped around at the faint sound. A little ways off, a white dot lay on the ground. TK got up with a cry, dashing to it, kicking sand behind him.
He sank to his knees beside the weak digimon. "Tokomon!" Patamon had de-digivolved, his small white sides rising and falling.
"Are you okay, TK?" TK took Tokomon into his arms and stood up. Mat smiled and they went back to Tai.
Tai stood, staring at nothing. He didn't move a muscle. Agumon looked up at him, not knowing what else to do. Matt came up behind Tai. "Tai, what's the matter?"
"Where is it!?"
"What?"
"The black dot! The forest! Anything! Everything's gone!"
Matt looked around. There was nothing. The storm had carried them off course. They could see nothing, but sand and the night sky.
"We're lost!" Tai screamed out to the sky. TK stared at them with red eyes, holding Tokomon close to him. Matt swallowed. What were they going to do?
"Matt!" Tai turned to him. "Call Mimi." Matt took a deep breath. Right. They still had the cell phone. He stuck his hand in his pocket, which was filled with sand, and dug it out. When he opened it up, sand fell from its crevasses. It didn't turn on when Matt pushed the button.
"Tai, the phone's dead."
"No!" Tai grabbed the phone from Matt, looked at it once, then threw it on the ground and stomped on it till it was nothing but tiny pieces.
"Like that's going to help," Matt muttered.
"What was that?!" Tai spun around to glare at Matt.
"You didn't have to break my phone."
"It was dead! You said it was!"
"Well, maybe we could of fixed it."
"How do you think we can do that?!"
"There's we just sand in it. Maybe we could of gotten it out."
"Oh that's a brilliant plan, Matt! Thanks for telling me that afterwards!"
"This wouldn't be a problem if you would stop to think about your actions, and ask others for their opinion instead of doing it right then and there."
"Well, it's better to act quickly than waste time thinking all the time!"
"Well, at least I know how to think."
"If you're so smart, what do we do now, All Great One?!"
"I don't know, I thought you were the 'leader'."
"I'm going to find Kari!"
"We all want to find Kari! It's not just you! This whole thing isn't about you! When are you going to stop being selfish and think about others for a change!? Do you know how they feel, Tai?"
"Apparently I don't, because I'm too stupid to think!
"Well what if you try asking them?! . . .Or taking a hint!?"
"I don't need to know what everyone else in the world wants!"
"Yeah, just like you don't need to know what Sora wants!"
"What?" Tai voice got dangerously quiet.
"She doesn't want you anymore. Start leaving her alone!"
Wham!
TK winced as Tai punched Matt in the jaw, sending him crashing to the ground.
"This has nothing to do with Sora! I don't want anything to do with her!"
Matt looked up Tai, a drop of blood running from his mouth. "Oh yeah, Tai? Then what happened yesterday?" He got up. "Sora came back in tears when she was with you! What did you do to her!?"
"Nothing! You weren't there! You wouldn't have understood!"
"Yeah, it was a good thing I wasn't there. I'd probably kill you if I was!" he said as he tackled Tai to the ground. Tai rolled over so that he was on top, and gave Matt another punch to the head. Matt kneed him in the stomach.
Agumon and Gabumon stood next to TK. They didn't know what to do. The digimon didn't even know the full extent to the reasons of the fight. TK buried his face into Tokomon. "Oh man," he whimpered.
"I love Sora!" Tai cried when he was again on top of Matt. "I've always liked her! And when she was finally my girlfriend, you come along and take her from me! You were suppose to be my friend!"
Matt pushed him off of him, and slammed his back onto the ground. "I didn't take Sora from you! She wasn't yours! You threw her away! And I would've been your damn friend, if you'd let me!"
"I don't make friends with back stabbers!" He flipped them around again, punching this time at Matt's side.
"Stop being so damn stubborn!"
"You've always been on my case, Matt! Everything I do is never good enough for you! Is that's why you took Sora?! Am I not good enough for her?! Well I'm sorry, Matt! I'm sorry I can't be cool like you! I'm sorry I'm not perfect! I'm sorry I don't have a band, or a million girls that want to be mine, or this apparent great compassion for others or always thinking of the right thing! I'm sorry I'm not you!" He slammed both his fist to the ground at either side of Matt's head.
Matt stared up at him. "You idiot." He pushed Tai away. Sitting up, he glared at him, jaw clenched as he tried to keep his emotions in check. "How can you be so freakin' stupid!?"
"What the hell are you talking about!"
"I WAS JEALOUS OF YOU!"
"What?"
"Dammit! I always have been! You have a family that isn't so freakin' messed up. You're mom cooked you dinner every night! You got to see you're little sister every day! You never came home to find your dad drunk on the floor! You also had a billion friends! People liked you! They listened to you! Even TK used to look up to you more then he did to me! You made them laugh! They loved you! Soraloved you! And when you lost her, I . . . the selfish, horrible, disgusting person I was . . . was happy." His voice started to crack. "Because Sora was with me. She chose me over you and I felt that I had beaten you in some . . . stupid contest!" Tears started to leak at the corner of his eyes. "I'm a horrible person, man. You don't wanna be like me."
Tai got up and stared down on Matt. "If you're such a horrible person," Tai said, then swallowed. "Then why does Sora love you?"
Matt looked up at Tai, surprised that he would say something like that.
"She told me. But then again, I'm not very good at understanding people . . . and Sora's one crazy person to try to understand for anyone, but . . . I think she meant it."
Matt cracked a grin. "She's a wonder."
Tai looked out into the horizon. "Matt . . . I don't . . . know why Sora left me. I just assumed it was because she liked you better . . . but . . . is it something else?"
Matt didn't say anything at first. "She didn't want me to tell you . . . though a lot of people know. Kari might even know . . . but if she does, she didn't tell your parents or you would know."
"What?"
"Sora's mom died, Tai."
"What?!"
"That's why she didn't make your soccer game. She wasn't with me. She tried to tell you, but you were so mad . . .and she wasn't ready to talk about it. That's why she broke up with you."
"How can Sora's mom have died, and I not know about it!?" This was shocking. You don't miss something like that. How could Mrs. Takenouchi be dead? She wasn't sick.
"Car accident. Happens every day where we live, Tai. You stopped talking to people around then, remember? 'Sulking'?"
Tai felt like he was just stabbed in the chest. One of the most horrible feelings to happen to you, is to find out you've made a mistake, and it's to late to fix it., to realize he'd been acting like an asshole all this time, and not noticed. He wanted to start over, but he couldn't do that, so then he just wanted to die.
" . . . But Sora . . . she . . ."
"She's been strong, Tai. She acts like nothings happened. . . . It worries me."
"Man . . ." He began to laugh dryly. "I'm so stupid."
"Ah . . . yeah," Matt agreed. "But there's no sense in worrying about it now. . . we need to find Kari."
"Let's . . . rest, for awhile," Tai said., "Most people sleep at night-time."
"Well, that means you'll have to stay out here longer, stuck with your jealous-but-good- looking-ex-best friend and his annoying little brother."
Tai grinned. "I think I can deal with that."
"Are you guys gonna kiss and make up already, because I'm getting sick of watching you people," TK said with a smile. He felt a lot better, now that they weren't hitting each other anymore. It was like the only good thing that had happened in forever.
"TK, go to bed," Matt snapped.
"Okay . . ." Izzy tiredly looked at the paper he'd been writing the messages on. "They say they are in some dimension called the Dark Ocean. It isn't part of the digiworld, but it's linked with it. I never heard of this place before, so I don't know how to get there, but I think, if we could 'attach' ourselves to an email, and reply back to them, we might be able to find Kari."
"How . . . do we do that?!" asked Joe incredulously.
"Well you know how I can get you guys into the internet . . . literally? Then I could attach you to an email, but I can't do that unless you guys have your digivices so I have to wait for Matt and Tai to come back."
"Where are they now?" Yolei asked.
Izzy looked at the screen. The storm had lightened up some and the connection was back, though it would go off and on. "Whoa!"
"What?"
"They're way off course! Mimi, call Matt. I want to make sure they know they were going in the wrong direction."
"Um . . . Izzy?" Mimi tried after trying to call several times.
"What?!"
"It says this number no longer exists, please check to see if you dialed the right number and try again, so I did that and the lady said the same thing."
"That's not good. Let me see the phone!"
Sora chewed on the inside on her mouth and bent her fingers back nervously. It felt like one thing after the other was going wrong. She wanted the guys back now. She didn't know how long she could just wait. What if she never saw them again . . .just like . . . just like . . .
She tasted blood in the inside of her mouth and forced herself to stop chewing. She got up. "Excuse me," and she left the room, heading for her own. She'd get a piece of gum. She can chew on that instead of the inside of her cheek.
She found a piece in her bag and sat on her bed. Her fingers shook when she unwrapped it and stuck it in her mouth. If anything happened to Matt or Tai, she would hurt them.
She remembered the first time she met Tai. She wondered if Tai remembered. It was in first grade recess. She had ditched the other girls. Playing house all the time was boring to her. She saw him with a bunch of other boys with a soccer ball. They weren't playing very well, being only 6-7 years old, but it looked fun and she asked if she could play.
"But, you're a girl," Tai had so-charmingly said.
"So?" she had replied angrily.
"I didn't think girls . . . played soccer."
"I'll show you soccer!" she had screamed at him.
"Okay, fine."
She took off her hat, so that it wouldn't fly off while she ran and left it next to the goal. She had kicked the ball as hard as she had ever kicked in her 7 year old life, aiming at Tai more then the goal. It hit Tai in the stomach, sending the small boy crashing to the ground. As all his friends rushed over to see if he was okay, she felt a little guilty for hurting him. The rest of recess, she couldn't stop thinking about how she had hurt that poor kid. It wasn't unil after the bell rang, and she ran to get her hat and put it on her head, that she forgot about feeling guilty, as something wet a lumpy mixed in with her hair.
She had screamed.
The stupid kid had thrown up in her hat. She didn't care if it was an accident, he could've told her, instead of leaving it like that. At that moment, she vowed she would hate him until the end of time . . . but that night something changed her mind.
She had seen him run out to his little sister when there were two giant monsters fighting outside. He had stayed there throughout the whole fight, even when rubble was falling all around him. It was either incredibly brave . . . or incredibly stupid, but nonetheless, she admired him for it. Maybe even had a small crush. A small one. One that didn't mean anything, especially at their age, but she made a point to hang around him a lot more. They soon became best friends. They were inseparable. They both signed up to play soccer. They invited each other to their houses.
Sora was a lot more comfortable hanging out with Tai and his friends than the other girls. Sometimes the girls would make fun of her. She didn't like getting dressed up, her hair was cut in a boy style and even her name tended to be for a boy. Tai had defended her, said she was a pretty girl, that all the girls were just jealous. She thought she would marry him.
Sora laughed. She had forgotten she had thought that when she was seven. She grew out of it, though. Tai and her were friends. He'd help her when she was down, and then say something so stupid she wanted to hurt him. He was something. He'd do something so noble . . . then totally ruin it the next moment. He was her best friend.
It was actually Tai who had introduced her to Matt. It was at camp, before they went to the digiworld.
He had said, "Sora, I met this guy! He's a little weird."
"So?"
"He's always sitting by himself. Maybe we should make friends . . . wanna meet 'im?"
She sighed "Fine." They had found him in the cafeteria, still finishing up his lunch. He was sitting with TK then. When Sora first saw Matt, she had thought his hair and eyes were pretty. She soon got nervous and wanted to get out of doing this. She had tried to run for the door, but Tai had grabbed her arm.
"This way Sora. He's that kid over there!"
"That kid?" her voice had sounded to high.
"Yeah, the blond guy." Tai sat himself casually next to the strange kid, Sora sitting on the other side of Tai. Tai leaned back on his chair. "Hey,"
Matt gave him a sideways glance. "Oh . . . it's you again." He didn't seem all that happy, and Sora wished again to leave.
Tai returned all four legs of the chair to the floor. "Yep." Then he said, "This is my friend Sora! Sora, this is Matt."
"Hi," Sora squeaked.
"Hi . . ." Matt said, as if he was unsure. Sora thought that he didn't like her.
Tai of course, was completely oblivious to this. "Good thing we found you! Now you're sure to be part of the cool crowd!"
"Yeah," was all Matt said.
"Can I be part of the cool crowd too?" asked a small boy sitting next to Matt.
Tai turned his attention to him. "Sure! This crowd needs to grow!"
Matt turned away embarrassed. "That's my little brother." There was no doubt he wasn't. They had the same hair and eyes.
"You know what? We're gonna all be friends. And years from now, we're gonna remember this exact moment!"
"Um, excuse me." Matt got up. "Come on TK." They left.
"I don't think he liked me." Sora said.
"Of course he does!" said Tai. "He acts like that to everyone. You should have seen the way he treated me yesterday! It felt like he was trying to get rid of me."
Sora had laughed.
They had become friends. What happened to them now? She tried to remember where that had gone wrong.
She guessed she didn't realize it right away . . . when Tai started to like her. She didn't notice it at first. Then when she suspected he might, she wasn't sure. He was never serious, and she never knew if he meant it or not . . . and she started to develop a crush on Matt.
Of course, she never thought Matt would ever like her back. He was always so calm and cool. He was hard to be with. Tai was so easy to be with. She secretly wished Tai did like her. That way, she'd know she'd have somebody. Though they fought all the time, they had always made up.
But . . . Matt wasn't scary forever. She started to understand Matt. Matt was having problems with his mother . . . just like her. Matt could understand her when they talked. It had been him that had gotten her out of that black hole when they were in the digiworld. They were all spilt up, like they were now. It felt like they would never find the others. TK, repeatedly asking if they would find the others over and over wasn't helping either. When they found Matt's boat and not Matt, things were hopeless. Sora couldn't help, but think maybe he was dead.
She didn't actually remember falling through the hole. She was too worried about failing to find the others. She didn't think the digiworld could do that . . . create darkness with your feelings.
She was alone.
But then Matt and Joe were there.
"Sora! Matt and I are right here!" That was Joe's voice. "Look at me! Focus!"
"Joe you're really here. I can't believe it. And Matt's with you too." It felt like a dream.
"Just relax. Everything's gonna be okay now." Matt's voice was so comforting, she was afraid she would burst into tears.
"I'm afraid not. I haven't been trying hard enough. I have to get to Tai right away and help him fight, because if I don't, the world will be destroyed."
"Sora, come on. You can't be responsible for saving the world!" Joe said.
"You have to realize how strong your negative feelings are. They produce a powerful destructive energy. Sora, it's the darkness in your heart that has created the cave in the first place, don't you get it?"
"Really, Matt? Is that true? Is that why you told TK not to be scared?"
"Sora, listen to me. There's only one way to make this cave disappear. You've got to reach deep into your heart! And erase all the negative feelings!"
"I don't know if I can!" She felt like she was floating in a dark nothingness. How did she get here? "What should I do?"
"You have to find the answer to that question on your own. Sora, this isn't the kind of thing you do just because you have to. If you're going to do it then it has to be because you want to."
"You mean that I don't have to do it if I don't want to?"
"Right! It will only work if you want to do it!"
"I'm confused. How will I know what the right thing to do is?"
"When this whole thing started do you think we had any idea what the right thing to do was? Of course not! But that didn't stop us, did it? Maybe we're here for a reason. Maybe we're the only ones that can do it," Joe had said then.
It was like the two of them were glowing in the endless sea of dark."We're the only ones that can make a difference," she said to herself.
"It's working Matt! I think we're finally getting through to her."
"We're the only ones. That's why we're here!" They were the only things that made sense, so she grabbed on to them. Touching them she was all of a sudden back in the cave.
"Huh?" She laughed. "I get it now! You were right Matt. How did you know?"
He pulled her up. "I kinda went through the same thing myself."
Matt had understood. Matt knew how she felt. He was there for her. She really wanted to be with him more . . . but she would always stop herself. Because she knew that Tai liked her. She didn't want to hurt him. Then, she was pretty sure that she wanted to be with Matt. Tai was like a brother to her . . . right? Besides, he was never serious; she couldn't handle him forever.
That one day, at Matt's concert, she had baked him cookies for a Christmas present. At the end of the concert, she was going to tell Matt she liked him. She was so nervous that she hesitate going in to see him.
But then blasted Tai had to come along . . .
"Sora, wait up!"
"Oh Tai." She tried to hide the box, but really couldn't. Gabumon had then opened the door and Agumon had smelled out the cookies.
"Matt's busy getting ready, but I can take those to him," Gabumon had said. Then Biomon accused that he'd eat them all, but Sora wasn't listen. She was more aware of the way Tai was looking at her.
"So um . . . Sora, you going to the concert with anybody? I mean, not that it matters to me . . . uh, just wondering." It must of taken him so much courage just to ask that.
"No, I want to be available just in case Matt is free afterwards." She let out a small laugh. Trying to show that she didn't mean to hurt him, but wanting him to know that she wanted to be with Matt.
"Oh . . . I see. Matt huh?"
She made a noise that was suppose to be a 'yes,' but he sounded so hurt, the words didn't come out right. . . .and then he completely surprised her.
"It's okay."
"You're not mad at me, Tai?"
"No, uh, of course not. Now get in there and say hi to Matt for me!" He pushed her into the door.
"The least you could do is leave us the cookies!" cried Agumon.
"I'll tell you what, I'll make some special ones for you."
"I'll be waiting. Thanks," Tai answered quietly.
He had surprised her then. She never thought he could be so understanding. Because of that, she decided on holding off on telling Matt she liked him. Not that she could. An evil digimon had destroyed the concert, and made them a little busy.
Afterwards though, she did hang out with Matt a lot more. She quit playing soccer a while ago. She and Matt would just hang out, watch movies, eat snacks, talk. She never felt like she would have a real chance with him. He had so many fan girls that were wayprettier than her.
Then Matt had bought home that newspaper . . .
She could tell he was angry when he invited her over. When he had let her into his house he stomped into his kitchen then came back.
"Don't get mad," he said.
Sora nodded, confused.
"Okay." He brought Sora to the kitchen table and showed her the picture on the newspaper. It was one of them walking down main street. The heading said, "Young Rock Star Finds Young Love." Sora looked over at Matt, who was making a face at the heading.
"It's okay, Matt. It's publicity. People won't take it seriously."
He laughed. "Yeah. It's not like . . . we're really going out."
"Of course not."
"We're friends."
"Yep."
"Listen Sora . . ." Matt looked away. "I'm going away."
"What? Where? When? Why?"
"I have this . . . tour thing . . . with the band. I'm gonna be gone for a while."
"Oh."
"Sorry."
Sora's cell phone started to ring. She sighed and picked up.
" . . . I'm at Matt's . . . No . . . Mom no! I already said I wasn't going to volunteer for that thing! No . . . No . . . . Fine." She got off the phone. "I have to go." Her mom had gotten a new boyfriend, and she always tried to get Sora to do things with him. Sora was set on treating him about as well as dirt. He wasn't going to turn into her father. He was just some dirt bag that had fancied her mother. No matter how hard she'd try to tell her mother he was a pervert, she wouldn't listen to her. She had been without Sora's father for too long.
"Yeah, sure." He led her to the door. "See ya, Sora." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, then closed the door.
Sora stood there. It took her a while to move, and when she did, she was late, her mom was angry.
That was the first time a boy ever kissed her. Then that boy went away. . . for almost a year. He had probably met a dozen girls by now. He couldn't stay single forever. She was miserable. Her mom tried to make her do things, but she didn't understand that Sora didn't like shopping for shoes, or painting her nails, or gardening. She was so lonely.
Then Tai called. "Sora! Wanna go to this soccer game?" His voice had startled her, she almost dropped the phone.
"Um . . . okay."
At the game, Tai talked excitedly about how this team was better than the other because so or so couldn't kick and this one was a terrible goalie. Being with Tai was such a relief after spending all those weeks in her room. She had forgotten how much she had missed him.
"What makes this team so special?"
"What kind of question is that?!"
"Well, it's a game, each team has a chance to win."
"Except in this game."
"I bet your team's gonna lose."
"Fine! Let's make it a bet!"
"Okay then. What are we betting?"
"Whoever wins can make the other person do whatever he or she wants."
"Fine, but nothing illegal."
"And we can't tell the other person what it is until the bet is over."
"Deal."
Sora had lost. She wasn't that surprised. The only reason why she rooted for the other team was because Tai didn't like them.
"Fine, what do I have to do?"
"You . . . have to let me kiss you."
"What?"
He pressed his lips against hers. Her heart fluttered with the excitement of her first real kiss and then he pulled away.
She turned the other direction, her face red. "That could be considered illegal," she muttered.
"How?"
"It was unwanted physical contact and I could charge you for sexual harassment," she said, crossing her limbs and sticking her nose up in the air.
" . . . Oh. Fine. That one doesn't count. I'll make you do something else. Go out with me."
"Fine."
"Really?"
"Yes, really! I lost the bet, didn't I?"
"You're not going to turn that into something illegal, too?"
"It won't be illegal if you don't turn it into something illegal."
"I thought that you were all about Matt."
"Did you!?"
"Are you sure you're not going to make this into a 'This is against my will. You can't force me to do this' kinda thing?"
"Well maybe I want to go out with you!"
"I didn't . . ."
"Well now you know!"
"Friday, then?"
"Sure, call me!" She got up and stomped off home.
She went out with him. Then she did it again, and again and again. She had fallen in love with him. It was like how they were when they were little. They'd play, fight, argue, and Sora loved it all.
Then one night, "He's staying here?!"
"Sora, it's only going to be for a couple of weeks," Sora's mom had said.
"I can't live with him that long! I hate him!"
"Sora, be fair."
"It wasn't fair that you didn't ask me if I thought it was okay that you start dating him!"
"Sora, he's staying here and that's final!"
"Fine, if you love him more than me, I'll leave!"
"Sora!"
She ran out the door and into her mother's boyfriend. "Sora," he said, raking his eyes over her. "You're looking good today."
"Get away from me," she said and she ran away.
The first place she went to was Tai's apartment. She didn't really know what she was doing there when she rung the doorbell and chewed on the inside of her mouth, but when Tai answered the door, she flung herself onto his chest and cried.
Tai had stood there, and let her cry until eventually she had calmed down enough to come in, and they sat in his room.
She told Tai everything.
"I hate him, Tai. One time I even saw him going through my bedroom drawers!"
"Did you tell your mom?"
"Yeah, but she said she had asked him to get something from her room, and he must have gotten ours mixed up. She never takes me seriously, or asks how I feel about things." She sighed. "I don't want to go back."
"You could sleep with me."
"What?"
"I mean-!" Tai face turned red. "I mean sleep here! Not here, here, but like in Kari's room or something! Stay here. That's it. You can stay here."
"Will your parents mind?"
"Naw, Kari's at a sleep over, so we can have one of our own. We used to do it all the time when we were little."
"But we were little then."
"Watch, my parents will be fine with it." They left his room. "Stay here," He left Sora in the hall and went into the kitchen. Sora peaked from behind the wall. His dad was at the table and his mom was making dinner.
"Hey, can I invite Sora to sleep over here tonight?"
"Uh-huh," His dad muttered, looking at a newspaper. His mom, on the other hand dropped a plate, causing his father to look up.
"Sora's the girl," his mother whispered.
"Sora's a girl? Oh! Then . . .well . .."
His mother started to pick the shattered pieces muttering, 'oh dear' over and over.
"Son," Tai's father motioned him over to sit in front of him. Tai did so hesitantly; this wasn't going to be good. "There comes a time in every man's life . . . when he . . ." His father tried to think of the right word. Tai sat there with a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about look on his face. " . . . has desires . . . to sleep with a woman."
"DAD!" Tai said between his teeth. "She's right there!" He pointed to the hallway, then clunk his head onto the table.
"Oh . . . hi there, Sora!"
Sora waved back.
"I meant stay in Kari's room," Tai said. "We used to do it all the time when we were little."
"But it was cute when you were little." Tears started to well up in his mothers eyes. "I still have those pictures of you guys in your little PJs! How did you get so big!" She started to cry.
"Uh . . . yeah. Can Sora stay in Kari's room? She's not using it.
"Is it okay with her mother?"
Sora nodded quickly to Tai.
"Yeah?"
"Okay . . . then. Sora, do you like liver sticks?"
"I'd love some, Mrs. Yagami."
When they left to wait for dinner to be ready they could still hear Tai's parents. "How could you not remember who Sora is!"
"He's not the weird kid with the computer?"
"That's Izzy. This is a sure sign that you don't take enough part of Tai's life!"
"He's a teenager, he doesn't want me to be 'part of his life'!"
Sora giggled and Tai brought her to his room.
"I don't know if you're gonna like Mom's liver sticks."
"I'll stomach them." She smiled.
"Listen . . . you know since . . . we've been . . ." Tai stopped and Sora wasn't sure if he'd finished. " . . . going out together . . . a lot, I was wondering . . . if . . . you'd want . . ." then in the smallest of voices that Sora almost didn't catch it. " . . . to be my girlfriend."
Sora flung her arms around him. "Yes!" Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
Tai stopped breathing for a second, then he put her arms around her. They stayed like that for a while, until Tai heard foot steps outside his room, and pushed Sora away. They waited, but no one came to the door.
Then Tai turned to Sora. "Really?"
"Really."
"Because I don't want you to change your mind when Matt comes back. I don't think I could let you go again."
"Tai, Matt has his own fan club. It's not like we'll ever be together . . . I promise I won't go back to him. . . and besides, . . . I really,really like being with you."
"Yeah . . . I'm pretty cool like that. I'm the King of the 'cool crowd'. You wanna be the queen?"
She kissed him. "What's Matt?"
"Huh . . ." Tai was a little taken aback from the kiss. "Oh, he can be the King's right hand man."
Sora kissed him again
"and TK . . . well he can be the dog."
He kissed her back.
Suddenly the kisses got deeper, and Tai's hands went to Sora's back . . .
Then the door flung open, "Dinner's ready!" Tai's mom exclaimed.
Tai whipped around, "Is it?" his voice cracked. "I was just showing Sora my room!"
"Yeah," Sora said. "I haven't been here in a while and I forgot what it looked like."
"Well, Tai's room hasn't changed much. He still has the same junk from forever ago. I told you to clean this room weeks ago!" She left.
Tai stared at the empty doorframe and Sora laughed at his expression.
Sora was in love with him then. She might have been in love with him when he had first accused her of being a girl in the first grade. She forgot she had. How could she have forgotten?!
For awhile Tai and Sora were happy together. They did fight a lot . . . over stupid things . . . sometimes they would forget what it even was they fought about, and still they wouldn't forgive each other. But eventually, one of them would give in. Sora would either just say she was sorry, or Tai would find her, bringing flowers, crash to his knees ans scream "Forgive me!" causing people to stare at them, and the whole thing would makes Sora crack up into laughter. Tai had a talent of doing that. He could always make Sora laugh.
Life got better for her. Her mother broke up with her boyfriend when she found him cheating on her, but she was still dating and Sora was still not that close to her. She spent most of her time with Tai.
"Matt's coming back soon," Tai said.
"Really?" Sora smiled. "Is the 'cool crowd' gonna get back together?"
Tai gave a half hearted smile. "He's going to have a concert here."
"Great! Wanna go out with me?" Sora said playfully. "I just heard there's going to be this concert. They say it's very good. It came from a very reliable source."
"Sora, I have a game that night," Tai said, not playing along. "It's the most important one of the season."
"Oh. . . . Well Matt will understand."
"You can go to the concert without me."
"No, why would I go to a concert without a date? I'll go to your game."
"Really?" She could tell that this really meant a lot to him.
"Of course! This is a very important game. All concerts are the same, and besides, we can go together when Matt plays again."
"Thanks, Sora." He kissed her.
But . . . they had gotten into a fight.
Sora couldn't even remember what is was about . . . It was the kind they had all the time, but they didn't speak with each other for days . . . which was unusual. Tai's game was slowly approaching and Sora had always planned on going, even if they hadn't forgiven each other yet. A fight wouldn't make her miss it . . . apparently Tai didn't understand that.
Sora's mom was hit by a car on the day of Tai's game.
She never made it.
Tai had thought she'd had missed the game because of the fight. He thought that she was cruel enough to go to Matt's concert. It must've killed him inside when he thought of that. She tried to call him, but he wouldn't answer her phone calls.
When her mom finally died, and told Sora she loved her one last time, Sora broke.
She hated herself for not spending more time with her mother. She felt so alone. Her grandparents took her in, but they were so deep in mourning. They didn't really talk to her.
She desperately needed someone to comfort her. She wanted her mother to tell her everything was all right, she wanted Tai to hold her, but her mom was gone . . . Tai wasn't.
She went over to his home and rang his doorbell. When he answered he almost slammed the door in her face.
"Tai, wait!" she sobbed. But when he did, she couldn't speak, she was too upset.
"Listen Sora, I loved you, but apparently you were only with me to spend the time until Matt came back! You promised, you promisedyou wouldn't go back to him! I can't believe you'd ditch me to see Matt's concert because of a stupid fight!"
"I didn't mean to miss the game," she choked. She tried to continue, but her throat closed up.
Tai spat, "Go cry to Matt. He's the one you like," and he slammed the door.
Sora stood there, eyes wide. An anger gave her the power to speak when she couldn't a few moments before. She kicked and screamed at the door. "Fine, Tai! I hate you! I never want to see you again! We're over!" And she ran.
The door behind her opened and she heard Tai faintly. "Wait, I'm sorry!"
But she didn't wait. She ran harder.
She was alone again.
She ran to the park and eventually she fell down. She cried in the dirt.
She had lost her mother . . . and no one seemed to care.
"Sora?" She looked up to see Matt standing above her. "Are you okay?"
Matt! Her first thought was to run away. She was in love with Tai. . . . no, wait; Tai didn't care. She hated Tai, remember? She had said that.
Matt bent down in front of her, placing a hand on her red, tear-stained cheek. "Are you hurt?" he asked, and she could not look away from his blue eyes.
She started seeing Matt again. At first, she told herself it would just be a little while, until she got things settled with Tai . . . but Tai never called her . . . and Matt seemed to understand her more than anyone.
When she was at his house, she talked. Sometimes about her mother but mostly about Tai because he was easier for her to hate.
"If you guys fought all the time, why were you going out with each other?" Matt asked.
Sora thought about it for awhile. "I don't know . . . I don't know anything anymore." She held a tissue up to her face, in case she started crying again. She'd done that a lot. It was pathetic.
"Sora . . . I don't like it . . . when Tai makes you cry, so . . . don't think about it, kay? Think about happy things . . . like unicorns or something."
"Unicorns, huh?"
"Don't girls like that?"
"Why, did you get me one?"
"Want one?" he asked.
"Sure, what the hell. It can carry me around when I get too depressed to remember how to walk."
The next day, Matt bought her a stuffed unicorn. On the tag it said, 'Be happy'.
"I can't believe you got me a unicorn! I thought they didn't exist."
"It was looking sad in the window at the store. It reminded me of you because you're always sad, the unicorn was sad, I was sad. There was whole lot of misery."
"You were sad, Matt? Why?"
"Um . . . well I couldn't be happy if you weren't . . . I couldn't do that."
Sora smiled. "That's sweet." She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."
Matt . . . did nothing at first. Then he kissed her back on lips, surprising Sora.
She winded up staying with him longer than she expected. Tai eventually found out, probably from TK who had told Kari.
Now, they were both gone. Tai and Matt were both gone. They were both stuck in the digiworld. What if they never came back? What if they both died just like her mother? She didn't even tell Tai goodbye.
She rolled over, burying her face into her pillow. If they died, she'd die too.
