Okay, I still don't own jack.

This may seem a little confusing, but basically Matt and Tai have both been kicked out from the Digidestined. Matt for being vampiric and Tai for defending him.


CHAPTER NINE- Tai's P.O.V

Well, shit. Things were bad. Really, really bad. Most of the time, if I was apart from the other Digidestined, it was voluntary. This time, they'd flat out ditched me. Those prejudiced, overly heroic bastards!

Oh, right. Excuse me. They flat out ditched us, not me. They left Matt, too. This was a real pisser. I would forever hold a grudge against them for this! They had to go and make it even worse by not letting Agumon and Gabumon stay with us. That's right, they kidnapped our partners and left Matt and I stranded in the middle of nowhere in the Digital World. Pricks.

All this, just because I can look past the pale skin of my "vampire" friend and see clearly enough that his heart is still pure and human. Matt always was, still is, and always will be, the child of Friendship. I don't think the crest of courage had anything to do with this, but I was willing to stick up for my friend, even if the others would not.

Now, sitting next to my pale and sulking companion, I couldn't think of anything to say to him to make him happier. He knew that it was his fault. He knew that, if he hadn't ran off in the woods and gotten mutilated by the Kendra wench, we would all be together still- like a big, happy, multi-species family. He knew that they would have abandoned him anyway, but he didn't say anything when I stood up for him and got kicked out too. I wanted him to know that I understood. I do blame him, I mean, it really was his fault, but I still didn't hate him.

I almost love him. Yeah, that's weird, but that's how it is. He's my best friend, and maybe some day he could be something even more special to me.

I chewed my lip, thinking. Sure, it was nightfall now, meaning it was only a day and a half until Matt would vamp out on me. That should have scared me, but it didn't. It really didn't. For one thing, I still couldn't believe that he was turning into a vampire. A real, honest to God vampire. For another thing… if he really was turning into a vampire, that would actually be sort of cool. I'd only watched a billion vampire movies, and I always found myself rooting for the vampires instead of the slayers.

The sun had set only half an hour ago. I still wasn't tired, even though I was still bruised and beaten up. The clouds were clearing slightly, exposing a very elegant sliver of moon. The blue light from one side, and the orange glow on the other, gave Matt's hung head a glow. It almost looked like he had a halo. Pfft… vampire. Whatever. I could hear him crying softly. Vampires don't cry. Abandoned children do.

"You know, Matt, you haven't been completely abandoned." He didn't look up at me, so I gently grasped his hand and held it. I looked away, expecting to be slapped, but I felt nothing. Wait, why was I expecting a slap? Oh yeah, a few days ago, in the woods, he was gonna hit me for trying to hold his hand. Why hadn't his hand met my face, anyway? I couldn't remember. This time, he really needed somebody to hold his hand, I guess. His fingers squeezed mine for a moment, and then he relaxed and held still.

"Why did you stand up for me?" His voice was broken from stress, but any fool could tell it had once been beautiful.

"I dunno. They accused me of being hypnotized, what was I supposed to say? I was anything but hypnotized. How could they even think that?"

"Maybe they thought it because you were crawling all over me and practically begging to have sex with me. You don't normally act like that."

"Well, I didn't deny the seduction charges, but I was not hypnotized!"

"I didn't try to seduce you!" The blond snarled, actually baring his teeth at me and whirling to fix me with an icy glare. I shivered and shrank away slightly. His teeth were just a little pointy. "I'm actually really, really disgusted with you. Why the hell did you find it so damn exciting to see me tied to a tree, you sadistic faggot?!"

Ow. How was I supposed to answer that? "I-I… I guess it's because I liked the idea of being able to hug you without getting slapped. Like you normally do. I'm just a glompy person." He looked away, practically melting into shadow by only moving his head.

"Well, you should have settled for hugging Mimi or Sora. Or maybe even T.K. He likes hugs." He was bitter about being ditched by his brother, which I understood, but I still didn't understand why he was so mad about being hugged by me. I know he enjoyed it more than he says.

"Hey, you enjoyed that hug! I know you do! If your face turning red wasn't enough, know what I felt moving underneath me?"

"You shut up, Tai!"

"What, do you hate me or something?"

"Most of the time, yes!"

"Than why are you holding my hand?" I heard a mortified gasp from him, felt his hand wrench away from mine, and-

SMACK. I heard my jaw crack and cried out from the sudden pain as I fell over sideways. I hadn't even seen his hand move, it was so fast. My eyes were flinched shut and my teeth were gritted. Ow. Had I ever been hit that hard before? Maybe once or twice, but not by somebody that close. With a groan, I rested a hand on my freshly damaged cheek. I was alarmed to feel a sticky substance on my fingertips.

I turned up to Matt with apologetic eyes. After all, it was really my fault, I said the wrong thing. But he wasn't looking at my eyes. He was looking back and forth between my cheek and his hand. There was blood under his nails. Jeez, not only did he hit me, but he scratched me, too. Thank god for his short fingernails.

"Tai, I… I didn't mean to hit you." Before I could even think of moving away, he pressed his thin and shirtless body lightly against mine, cupped my chin with his right hand, and gently caressed my cut cheek with the other hand. I winced and nearly whimpered. His finger was heading the wrong direction, it had ripped my skin open a slight bit more. "I'm sorry. I'm so stupid."

"Could you get your hand off my face?" I cried. I didn't mean to sound like I was panicking, because I really wasn't, but that's what it sounded like. Okay, maybe I was a bit creeped out. But that was all. Matt closed his eyes, looking very worried, and he leaned toward me. This is where it got creepy.

He gently kissed my scraped cheek, like a mommy kissing a boo-boo on a baby. I tried not to blush, but I failed fast enough. Of course, that meant there was only a little more liquid dribbling out from my head. Damn him and all his hotness! Damn him for not liking me the way I like him! But when he leaned back a couple inches to pull away, he froze.

And he leaned forward again.

And he started licking my cheek. I was too startled and nervous to say anything. What was I supposed to do, hit him? I was just frozen in place, shivering and trying to ignore the fact that his tongue actually felt pretty nice on my skin. I don't normally freeze solid, but this was probably the weirdest situation I'd ever been in. It was freaky, but I wasn't sure I wanted him to knock it off just yet.

After about a minute, I finally sputtered out the first thing that came to mind. "Um. What are you doing?" He jolted away from me, staring with alarm at my cheek. There was a red smear on his lower lip, and I knew exactly what that was. It was also a little hard to not notice how his eyes were slightly bloodshot.

"I'm turning into a vampire," the blond quaked, shaking his head as if to tell himself that it couldn't be true.

Well, after that freaky display, I finally believed him. And I told him so. He turned away, hiding his eyes from me in shame. Of course he was ashamed. Matt is a very proud guy. I almost expected him to get up and run away from me in his shame, so I grabbed his hands and held them tightly.

Then I got one of my patented crazy ideas.

"Matt? I want you to make a me promise."

"I can't promise not to hurt you," the soon-to-be vampire whimpered. He still didn't look at me.

"Not that kind of promise, silly! When you turn, I want you to make me your first victim!"