Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Akiyoshi Hongo, creator of the Digimon concept, as well as various broadcasting networks. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: Thank you for those returning to another chapter of Under the Surface – your continued support has been phenomenal in helping me resist any ideas of abandoning the story – as well as any newcomers to the audience. Enjoy!

Under the Surface
Chapter X: The Meaning of Protection

After lunch, Kohei had convinced Taichi to join the rest of the guys for another game up pick-up soccer. And though Taichi had haltingly agreed, only his body was in the game; his mind wandered elsewhere.

Because, in many ways, Taichi blamed himself for what happened at lunch.

It didn't matter what Yamato insisted; even if the WOLVES weren't a 'real' part of the Chosen, the band's effect on the rest of the Chosen made them every inch a part of Taichi's responsibility too. Aside from making decisions and guiding the way for everyone else when they were actually in the Digital World, it was also Taichi's duty to protect the others and keep them safe, both in the Digital World and in the human world.

Safe. Taichi snorted to himself in frustration as he mechanically recieved Koushiro's steal and made a sharp turn toward the opposite end of the field with the soccer ball safely in his control. That turned out well… not.

It was easier with the younger Chosen Children to be on guard for trouble and to step into their business if Taichi thought that he was needed. He'd always had a protective streak, if somewhat laid-back for all other people besides Hikari, and that particular trait of his came to the fore naturally in dire situations. But when it came to the older Chosen, Taichi was more hesitant to get involved because he wasn't sure how his interference would be received.

And because of that hesitation, everything got screwed up.

Taichi grit his teeth as he dodged Kohei's attempt to steal the ball from him, weaving through the defense that the other team had hastily constructed in an attempt to stop him.

It was all Taichi's fault. Maybe if he had warned Sora beforehand about the WOLVES, she would have been better prepared to see them and deal with Yamato's latest desertion. Sora could have been with him now, eagerly participating in the soccer game to kick butt by Taichi's side. Maybe if Taichi had taken a stronger stance against the WOLVES' coming to camp, Yamato wouldn't have brushed him off so carelessly; at least then he would have had the decency to feel bad for leaving Sora behind yet again.

But now, thanks to Taichi's reluctance to take matters into his own hands, the both of them were probably going to have another period of icy silences (for him) and heartbreak (for her). The cycle had already begun: Sora was hiding away with the other artists again, and Yamato was probably practicing happily away with his band, oblivious to the hurt he had just dealt to Sora.

Taichi growled, spotting a direct opening that the goalie left unguarded and viciously kicking the ball into the goal, not even paying attention to his teammates as they came up around him afterwards to quickly slap him on the back and compliment him.

Yamato had the reputation of being sensitive to the emotions of others amongst the Chosen, making him a natural and necessary counterpoint to Taichi's reckless, more instinctive leadership. When it came to Sora though – someone who Taichi assumed Yamato would take the most care to be aware of – Yamato just brushed aside her feelings as if they were nothing to him. And whatever else, Taichi just couldn't stomach that kind of blatant disregard for someone else's well-being. It pissed him off.

"Whoa, man!" Kohei grabbed Taichi's arm, jolting Taichi out of his thoughts and back into the present. Kohei looked at Taichi, concern plain on his features. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay," Taichi scoffed in annoyance, ripping his arm out of Kohei's grasp roughly and crossing his arms. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Kohei subconsciously mirrored Taichi, crossing his arms as well in response to Taichi's hostility. "Just wanted to know why you were acting all moody on the field," he responded coolly, though frowning slightly. " You've always been big on teamwork and cooperation, but you've been hogging the ball ever since we started the game whenever you get the chance."

"So?"

He paused. "I never pegged you down for a hypocrite, man."

Taichi opened his mouth to snap back but caught himself before he ended up saying something that he'd regret later on. "Never mind," Taichi said finally with a shake of his head, walking past Kohei to the benches where most of the spectators of the soccer game were sitting. "I'm out. Just replace me with someone else."

"Whatever you say, Taichi," Kohei called to his back as he strode to where Hayate and Kiku were sitting together. "Cool off and come back once you clear your head, all right?"

He only waved his hand carelessly above his head in response to let Kohei know that Taichi had heard him. When he reached the bench, he grasped his water bottle and chugged it down, sighing in relief as it soothed his dry throat. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and closed his eyes as he capped the bottle and then stretched his arms over his head. "What?" he asked aloud without opening his eyes, knowing that Kiku and Hayate's gazes were on him.

"We know that you're upset," Hayate began hesitantly, "about what happened at lunch."

"But if you, like, feel that bad about it, you should just talk to Sora, you know," Kiku finished earnestly. Taichi opened his eyes slowly to look at the pair of them, and though Hayate looked away awkwardly, Kiku stared back at Taichi knowingly. "You're no good to anyone if you just, you know, spend all of your energy on, like, kicking an inflatable ball around."

"She has a point," Hayate agreed timidly.

Taichi didn't answer them directly. He took another long drink from his water bottle. "Damn girls," Taichi muttered finally, knowing very well that it was Kiku who was the mastermind behind this particular confrontation. He looked at her again and she had a self-satisfied smirk on her face. "How come you and the rest of your gender are so good at figuring out why people are upset but can't be smart enough to avoid being upset yourself?"

"Because," Kiku said without missing a beat, "we'd rather help other people and pretend that we're invincible than, like, think about our defending our own weaknesses too."

He rolled his eyes but otherwise didn't comment.

Kiku stood up and patted Taichi on the shoulder. "You're her best friend, y'know? I think that, right now, you need to be there for her. More than, like, anyone else here."

Taichi frowned at Kiku, rolling the water bottle back and forth between his hands. "And what the hell would I say? 'Yamato hurt you again? Oh. That's too bad. I'm sorry'?" Taichi snorted. "I doubt that that will help her feel any better about what happened. Besides, there's nothing I can tell her now that I haven't already said before."

Kiku regarded Taichi for a moment. "Well, do whatever you want," she said finally with a shrug. "Since you're best friend, I can't really, like, say that I understand where's Sora's coming any better than you. But, like, I know that, if I were in Sora's shoes, I'd talk to my best friend about it." When Taichi didn't respond, Kiku turned to her companion. "C'mon Hayate, let's move over to that spot with more shade. I'm, like, totally burning up over here."

"Okay."

Hayate stood up and nodded at Taichi before following Kiku over to the grove of trees, leaving Taichi by the side soccer field by himself. But with nothing else to take up his attention, Taichi found that he couldn't avoid thinking about what he was supposed to do – because there was no doubt in his mind that he was supposed to do something… he just wasn't quite sure what it was.

He tossed his empty water bottle into the nearest waste can and sat down in Kiku and Hayate's vacated space on the bench. What am I supposed to do now? Taichi questioned himself. He had no answer for that. Was he supposed to go after Yamato? Perhaps interrupt the WOLVES' practice? That would have been satisfying to do, Taichi admitted to himself. The idea of sabotaging their session would have been ample revenge on Sora's behalf, at least in Taichi's mind.

Then he remembered the look on Sora's face, before she all but ran away to go sit with the artists. Taichi sighed and shook his head. No. This wasn't the time to go and confront Yamato. Taking matters into his own hands and giving Yamato the payback that Taichi thought he deserved wouldn't do any good; things were more likely to explode back in his face later if he did that. He heaved a frustrated sigh. Maybe Kiku was right - maybe he should go to see Sora first. But that mere train of thought made him shiver in apprehension. If he was going to be honest with himself, he was nervous about going to talk to her.

Taichi knew with almost absolute certainty that he had disappointed Sora. They had been best friends for so long, and he knew that she had trusted him to keep her secret of Yamato and her being together, well, a secret from their new friends. If he kept up this rate of idiocy, he was going to end up running out of things to screw up in his friendship with Sora. The most damning part of it all, though, that this entire mess was because of his misguided attempts – for what? To get her back together with some guy who didn't care about her?

Yeah, real genius planning there, Taichi, he scoffed at himself. If he still had his empty water bottle in his hands at that moment, he probably would have used it to hit himself in the forehead several times from sheer frustration. Seeing as how he'd thrown it away already, though, Taichi settled with kneading his forehead to release the tension building in his head.

It galled him that it was so hard to do the right thing nowadays. When they were all little kids, if Taichi inadvertently did something insensitive to Sora, she'd go off and ignore him for a couple of days until he sucked up his pride long enough apologize, and that would be the end of it. It was easy to forgive and forget (although that was something that Taichi simply had to assume, since Sora was usually the one who had to do the forgiving and forgetting). Taichi was still straightforward in pretty much the same way, even now.

But somewhere along the way, Yamato and Sora became… complicated people. And Taichi couldn't understand it at all. In his mind, it was a simple equation: Yamato was a good guy who cared for Sora a lot, Sora was a girl who pretty much still only had eyes for the Chosen Child of Friendship… really, could it get any simpler? In Taichi's mind, they would have gotten back together months ago by now – hell, they wouldn't have broken up at all. But they weren't, and that's what threw him off. If you liked someone a lot and you were both attracted to each other, why couldn't a relationship work out? How complicated could things possibly be? He just didn't get it.

Taichi shook his head to himself. And people thought that the hardest part of liking someone was just getting them to like you back… Well, at least he knew now, from watching his best friends, that it wasn't the 'liking each other' part that was hard. It was the 'making-it-work' part that was the big headache.

Taichi watched the soccer game play progress for a while longer, though the feeling of dissatisfaction stayed with him all the while. He was never one to simply sit during times of stress, and though he was still wary of going to see Sora face-to-face, it was the only thing that he could think of to do that would be even remotely productive. "Damn it, Kiku, why'd you have to be so reasonable about this?" he muttered aloud with a scowl, finally giving in and standing up. Hopefully, he'd be able to get Sora away from the mural long enough for him to be able to clear the air between them. And then maybe – just maybe – she'd forgive him for not hiding her secret better from their camp friends.

When he entered the dining hall, his gaze swept over the team of artists working, combing the groups of people carefully for that flash of familiar auburn. When he failed to find Sora directly, Taichi settled instead for searching the faces of the artists for someone who he might have seen hanging around with Sora during the camp breaks. Just when he was starting to feel a little desperate, unable to recognize any of the faces, one of the artists noticed Taichi and made his way over. "Hey," the brown haired stranger said to Taichi in strangely accented Japanese and a puzzled tone, "Aren't you one of Sora's friends?"

"Yes," Taichi said, both a little wary and relieved at the forwardness of the stranger. "I'm Taichi, her best friend." He paused as he sized the stranger up. "And you are?"

The stranger offered his hand to Taichi. "I'm Paul. I work with Sora a lot in class. "

Taichi nodded, firmly shaking Paul's hand. "Nice to meet you. Listen, I'm looking for Sora. D'you happen to know where she got off to? I thought she would be working in here with the rest of you."

Paul glanced at his watch. "She should be back soon. She just went back to the art studio rooms to get some more paint… we're running low again, see."

"Oh. Okay." Taichi shifted the weight of his body from one foot to the other, unsure of what else to say. They were silent for a moment. "The mural's coming along cool," he offered awkwardly.

"Thanks." Paul studied Taichi carefully for a moment before saying, "Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"What happened at lunch today? To Sora?"

Taichi blinked and raised an eyebrow while he tried to come up with an answer that would close the subject. "We just had a small disagreement at our table that Sora feels passionately about. That's all," he ended up saying.

"Hmm." Paul seemed to be dissatisfied with the answer, but he didn't ask anything else, for which Taichi gave a small sigh of relief. He didn't want to be rude to Sora's new friend if the artist attempted to pursue the issue further. "Well, I hope you can help her feel better, whatever it was about," Paul said at length. "She's taking it pretty roughly."

Taichi glanced at the artist again. He didn't feel comfortable with this guy's blatant curiosity in Sora's personal issues, especially if Sora apparently hadn't bothered to tell him the truth herself. He wondered if this Paul guy was interested in Sora on a level that was more than friends and instinctively narrowed his eyes but remained silent, not wanting to encourage the topic.

Eventually, Paul got the hint. "I'm gotta get back to the mural, so just sit tight while Sora gets her stuff. She should be back soon."

"Yeah," Taichi said, not feeling the need to add anything more to his reply. He sat down after the artist left, staring anxiously at the door, unsure of how much longer it would take Sora to get back to the dining hall and how she would react to seeing him there.

After a few more minutes (which felt like hours), the doors to the hall opened and Taichi saw Sora enter the room behind a few other people. All of their arms were full of painting cans and other supplies, so Taichi automatically stood up and went straight to Sora's side. He scooped some of the larger cans into his hold. "I got it," he reassured her when she blinked in surprise and her mouth fell open in shock at his sudden appearance. "Take them up to the front of the room?"

"Yes," Sora responded, still recovering from his unexpected presence. Together, they walked up to the mural wall and desposited the supplies on the floor. Then, Sora surreptitiously pulled Taichi by the elbow out of the artists' hearing distance. "What are you doing here, Taichi?" she asked quietly, a little bit apprehensive. "I thought you'd be at the soccer game with Kohei today for break..."

"I didn't feel like playing anymore. So I thought I'd come to see you."

"Why?" Sora frowned.

Taichi glanced at the artists, who were taking no notice of the two best friends speaking quietly with each other. He turned his eyes back to Sora and looked at her intently. "Do you have to stay here and paint, or can I steal you for a bit? Because we need to talk… about what happened at lunch today."

If he hadn't been looking at her carefully while he said the words, he would have missed her reaction entirely. As it was, Taichi was able to catch the brief second where Sora's face spasmed with a mass of conflicting emotions before she finally looked away to view the mural instead. "I don't know. I really should stay. We're sort of tight on schedule as it is, and I'm not even sure if we'll be able to finish on time at this rate."

"I think this is more important," Taichi said quietly. "Not that I'm saying that the mural isn't but there are other people working on the mural. I don't think they'll mind if you took a break. One person missing isn't too much of a loss to deal with."

Sora bit her lip. "Maybe…" She trailed off, deep in thought, before Taichi saw her eyes search the crowd of working artists. "Paul?" she called out, stepping closer.

Paul's head turned over to look at Sora from his place on a step stool, his brush paused in mid-stroke over the mural wall. "Yeah?" he called back. Taichi restrained the urge to roll his eyes at the faint expression of protectiveness and worry Paul had on his face.

"Do you mind if I leave for a little bit? There's something kind of important that I need to deal with," Sora was saying. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

He hesitated, but it seemed like the artist realized that he had no choice but to shake his head. "No, it's all right. Go on. We'll be fine here." He hesitated before adding. "Take your time, okay?"

"Thanks, I won't be too long," Sora glanced up at Taichi. "You want to go outside? I could use some air."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

They ended up meandering through the camp grounds, only stopping once they reached a spot in the forest that was shaded and somewhat off of the regular pathway. They both then lay back on the grass with the type of practiced synchrony that came only with years of solid friendship, built on a shared childhood spent finding animals in the clouds. They didn't say anything for a while though; Taichi occupied himself with turning on his stomach to watch a worm moving bit by bit into the dirt while Sora kept her gaze up at the changing shapes of the clouds in the sky. When he'd gathered his thoughts, Taichi spoke. "How are you holding up, Sora?"

"Honestly, Taichi?" Sora sighed. "I don't even know where to begin."

Taichi rolled onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow to regard her carefully. "You practically ran away as fast as you could from us at lunch," he pointed out. "I think you have at least some idea of how you might be feeling. We might as well start from there."

Sora gave a small smile at his matter-of-fact tone but avoided Taichi's eyes. "I don't like having people pity me," she murmured, looking straight up at the sky. "And you guys were looking at me like I was the most pitiful person you'd ever had the misfortune to meet."

"I'm sorry, Sora," Taichi said, the regret for her and disgust he felt toward himself in every word. "I should have done something… anything. To stop it from happening. I could have, but I didn't. And I'm sorry."

"What would you have done?" Sora turned her head to look at Taichi then. Her words were not challenging, as he was scared they might be, so Taichi relaxed slightly.

"I knew about Yamato inviting the WOLVES to camp," he said slowly, looking down at the ground to avoid Sora's gaze. "I overheard him talking on the phone to the guys this morning. When he got off, I told him that he shouldn't bring the WOLVES to camp, especially since you're not exactly a big fan of theirs. But he didn't listen to me. He just brushed it off, like I was overreacting." Taichi paused and chanced a look up at Sora's face. She didn't look angry or upset, and Taichi continued, "I was going to tell you, but I was hoping that Yamato would have thought about it and realized that I was right – that he would fix it himself." He twisted his body so that he was lying on his stomach again but could still see Sora's face. "But if I had told you, then at least then you would have been prepared to see them, instead of being caught off guard."

"It would have been nice to know that it was coming," Sora admitted quietly, "but it's not your fault, Taichi, to have hoped that he would have changed his mind. We all have some measure of faith in Yamato, whether he deserves it or not. It's not a crime to believe in him, even if he lets us down occasionally."

"Yeah, but," Taichi struggled to find the words to make her understand what he was feeling, "I don't know. I should have done something! Not only as your best friend and Yamato's, but as the leader of the Chosen, and – ugh! I just thought he was finally coming around this time, you know? That things were starting to finally look up. You guys were so much better yesterday after break, so much happier, even with that retarded bruise on his face. And it made me mad when I saw him already screwing things up again this morning."

"Taichi –"

"No, don't try to defend him," Taichi cut her off angrily. "I know that you're going to try to, but don't you get it, Sora? You can't just keep letting him get to you like this. It isn't right! I don't know everything about your relationship with Yamato, I'll admit that, or why you guys broke up in the first place. But I feel frustrated by the way Yamato is treating you – making all these mistakes over and over and getting you upset and angry only to say later that he never meant to hurt you. How can you stand it? How can you just let him get away with it all the time?"

He sat up, too frustrated to lay down while he spoke. "Look, I'll be honest. The reason why I wanted you guys to get back together was because… I thought you guys were right for each other. It just made sense. I never expected you guys to break up – which is stupid now, when I look back, but I seriously couldn't wrap my mind around it, when you guys finally decided to call it quits. It seemed so… out of the blue, you know? Especially since you guys always got along and didn't do the whole shallow-teenage-relationship thing that everyone else does.

"But now it seems like everything's changed. It's as if the break-up changed you guys into different people or something. I mean, Yamato never acted like he was a boyfriend in one of those stupid romantic dramas and stuff, but he was nice to you and stuff. Now, though, he treats you like – like," Taichi struggled to find an appropriate word but failed, "I just can't stand for it anymore!" Taichi growled under his breath. "But you know what else makes me mad? The fact that you let him get away with it! Before, if someone ticked you off, you stood up for yourself and then forgot about them because they weren't worth your time. But after you and Yamato broke up, you spent nearly half the year practically hiding from him. And I don't know what's changed, but now you're defending him and giving him the benefit of the doubt even though he's totally manipulating you – "

"Taichi, would you just drop it?" Sora said sharply, her eyes narrowed in annoyance as she sat up too. "Don't you dare talk to me like I'm an idiot, okay? Because I'm not. I'm not!"

"I know that. But I just don't understand!" Taichi said, well aware of the fact that he was sounding like a whiny five year old but far too upset to care. "Would you please just break it down for me?"

"Fine." Sora's nostrils flared briefly before she closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath to calm herself. "Where do you want me to start explaining?" she said, not quite scathingly but close enough that Taichi realized that he'd accidentally wandered onto thin ice. "Shall I start with the birds and the bees, or are you okay there?"

Taichi ignored the jab and frowned as he thought back. "What was up with you avoiding Yamato all the time after you guys broke up?" Taichi asked finally. "There are lots of people who stay friends with the exes, but you and Yamato couldn't even be in rooms that were close by each other…"

Her eyes tightened as she thought in silence, Taichi noticed. "You and the others probably didn't even notice," she began to say reluctantly, "but the last few months of my relationship with Yamato weren't exactly easy ones. I'm not sure when it started, but I'd started getting this feeling, in the back of my head, that he didn't want to be with me anymore. But I refused to accept it – I fought it, even though every day, it seemed like Yamato was slipping further and further away from me. I did everything I could to try to make things better." She stopped, her eyes distant and deep in thought, before she blinked and gave her head a small shake. "But you know… a relationship is two people, not one. And though I tried to ignore it and deny it, the truth was that I'd been the only one in the relationship for too long. When I finally confronted him and we broke up, I was so hurt, so ashamed of the way things had turned out - and I became so mad at myself, at the way I'd acted, to be around Yamato again. So I hid. I ran away. I took the easy way out, because I didn't want to have to face the fact that I was basically in love with someone who didn't care about me at all. And I resented you guys for trying to force me back together with him."

Things were not adding up in Taichi's mind. "You got mad at us, but you just said that you wanted to be in a relationship with him," Taichi said slowly, trying to get it straight in his mind. "But what if we changed his mind and Yamato realized that he did want to be with you? Why would you still be mad at us?"

"Don't you understand, Taichi, how miserable I was feeling then? I struggled so much to stay strong, fighting to keep my relationship him alive for such a long time. Despite the fact that I gave it my all, it wasn't enough. I wasn't enough. I had no choice but to give up in the end because being with me wasn't what Yamato wanted. As much pain as it gave me to realize that, as much as I dreaded my decision to finally give up, I knew it was the right thing to do at the time, for the both of us. But for you guys to try to force us back together… You guys didn't see it that way, but your actions completely disrespected both me and Yamato. You guys made us look like fools – as if whatever we broke up over was just some trivial thing that could be fixed just because you guys wanted it to be." The disappointment was clear in Sora's voice as she spoke. She glared up at the sky as if it had personally affronted her.

"Oh."

"Exactly."

"But I didn't know that, Sora. If you'd just told me all that, we would have stopped."

She gave him a withering glare. "I shouldn't have to tell you to butt out of my business, idiot. That's something that you should have had the courtesy to do on your own."

Taichi looked away, ashamed as the full force of what Sora was saying hit him. "I really am sorry, Sora. You know me, I never really think about things before I act," he tried to joke before turning solemn again. "I never would have gone through with it if I'd realized… sorry."

"Well, it's in the past now." She paused. "Anyway, I would have been an even greater fool to get back together with Yamato if I'd listened to you guys. Any relationship that has to be resuscitated by a friend's involvement isn't worth even trying to salvage."

"But you know… there's still a lot left that you haven't explained."

Her returning look was wary as she lay back down. Taichi copied her. "What else do you want to know?"

"What you said about why you were avoiding Yamato… it makes sense, since you were trying to get over him. And you said yourself; you didn't want to get back together with him after all that crap that went on with you two before the break up."

"But?" she prompted.

"What changed? You spent months avoiding him to get over him, and you were being difficult when we first tried to get you guys to just be regular friends again. But what happened during camp that changed things?"

Her expression was unreadable. "Like what?"

"Ever since we got to camp, you and Yamato have been acting… differently around each other. At first, I thought it was because our stupid attempts to get you guys back together were actually working in getting things going. Now that I think about it though, if you'd given up on getting back together with him, then you guys should be acting like… I don't know, just like regular friends. But you guys are both acting… weirdly around each other," Taichi said finally, unable to put it any other way. "It doesn't make sense."

Suddenly it seemed like Sora was really interested in a particular cloud formation. "Just because I didn't want to get back together with Yamato doesn't mean that I don't have any feelings for him," she muttered reluctantly, avoiding making any eye contact.

For Taichi, it was as if everything had suddenly gone silent in the world. All he could hear was the nervous sound of Sora's breathing and the knowledge he had just heard churning through his mind. He pushed himself off the ground into sitting position again, unable to lie down any longer. "You… still like him? Even now?" he couldn't help but say, disbelief heavy in every syllable.

"Yes." Even though she had an expression of strained shame on her face, she crossed her arms in a subconsciously defensive manner. "We were together for a long time, you know that. And even if the last couple of months were hard for me, it doesn't change the fact that Yamato and I – we were happy together, for a long time. A past like that doesn't just go away."

He couldn't help but notice that she sounded like she was trying to convince herself and him. Taichi shook his head at her. "But are you happy now?"

Sora's head turned firmly away from him. He stared at her back for what seemed to be a long time. "No," she admitted at last. "I'm not."

He sighed, upset that Sora would do this to herself. "I don't know what to say to you, Sora."

"All that means is that you don't know how to say what you think in a way that won't hurt my feelings. Just tell me the truth, Taichi. You won't shatter my self-esteem if you do, if that's what you're worried about."

"If you insist." Taichi smiled briefly even though she couldn't see it. "You're as stubborn as Agumon is on a bad day when you think you're right about something. You don't take it well when things get out of your control, or when someone teases you for the color of your hair, and you tend to get really violent if someone really insults you – "

"Is there a point to all this?" Sora demanded sourly.

"– but you don't give up on the people you care about. Not even if everyone else thinks that there's no hope left for them." Taichi paused carefully, measuring the silence. "But… I think that it's about time that you give up on Yamato."

Her head swiveled back to face him almost immediately again. "What? Why?"

He answered seriously. "I can't stand to watch you get destroyed by him." Sora rolled her eyes at the melodrama of his words, but Taichi continued. "Look. Yamato's my friend, but you're my best friend. I don't want you to sit here and wait for him to change back into the person that he used to be. Because… what if he can't? What if this is who he really is? Someone who only knows how to hurt you, over and over again?" Taichi leaned forward, even though Sora had pulled back. "Sora, you're an amazing person. You're tough, smart, pretty… you shouldn't have to waste your time, waiting for him to become worthy of you again. He's become a different person, and maybe that old Yamato will never come back."

She searched his eyes and seemed to deflate at what Taichi knew was only honest concern. "I wish it was that easy, Taichi. I've tried to get over him – you can't even imagine what it's been like for me, these past months. They've been the hardest of my life. And I get what you're saying. There's nothing that you've said that I haven't already thought of too." Sora sucked a breath. "But, even knowing all of that, knowing that Yamato can't change, knowing that I'm always going to be the one waiting for him… I can't stop myself. Even though I know I can't be with him, I can't stop myself from caring about him, from wanting to be with him again."

Taichi's eyebrows pushed together as he pieced together the impossibility of her words. "So to sum this up, you still like him… and you want to get back together with him… but you don't want to?"

Sora twined a piece of her hair around her finger, cringing at Taichi's blunt conclusion. "Well. Yeah. I guess you could say it like that."

Taichi threw himself down on the ground again, giving up his attempt to make sense of Sora's thinking. "I am never going to understand you women," he complained. Sora laughed. "What?" he snapped, annoyed that she wasn't taking him seriously.

Sora shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, you say that now. But… I think that once you find someone that you really, really like, and you can finally put yourself into my shoes… you'll know what I mean."

"You mean, if I find someone I hate enough to want to torture them by having a screwed up relationship with them, like you and Yamato do?" Taichi retorted.

"Yes, exactly," Sora said dryly. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a way with words, you jerk?"

"Nah, just you."

Sora rolled her eyes at him. She began hesitantly, "You're in a fight with Yamato now yourself, aren't you? I saw the way you two acted at lunch."

Taichi rolled his eyes own eyes back. "You make it sound like I'm being immature for fighting with him," he said petulantly.

"I don't think you're immature for butting heads with him. It's something that's just bound to happen every once in a while, with the two of you. It's always been like that, hasn't it? You guys are about as opposite as two polar opposites can be." She shook her head. "Anyway, what I meant to say was that I think that the reasons why you're mad at him this time are a bit unfair."

"Unfair? Unfair? "

"Well, yes." She raised an eyebrow at him challengingly. "Why are you mad at him this time? Tell me that."

He grimaced at her. "You know, when you get that tone of voice, I get the feeling that you're going to start lecturing me and make me feel stupid." Sora's lips quirked into a smile but otherwise didn't respond, so Taichi sighed, realizing there was no point in resisting,and gave in. "I'm pissed at him because he didn't listen to me when I told him to keep the WOLVES away from camp."

"And why was that an issue?" Sora prompted.

Taichi resisted. "You know what? You're making me feel like I'm at a therapist's office or something, getting my head checked out because I'm insane. Why don't you just start showing me those wacko ink pictures now and save some time?"

Sora ignored his botched attempt at changing the subject. "Don't be such a baby," she warned, though she smiled outright. "Keep going."

"Because I knew how you felt about the WOLVES, and I knew that he knew that too. It felt wrong," Taichi burst out impatiently, "letting him do something that even he knew would piss you off, especially considering the fact that he hadn't even told you that they were coming. I had to get him to see it for himself."

"So, to sum it all up," she mimicked him, "you wanted to flex your muscles and show your authority over Yamato, all in the name of protecting me from the big bad TEEN-AGE WOLVES."

"You didn't have to make it sound so stupid, but yes, okay, that's basically it, and – hey!" Taichi protested, rubbing his arm vigorously from where Sora had just pinched him tightly. "What was that for! That hurt!"

"That was for ignoring everything that I've been saying this entire time," Sora said angrily. "Really, Taichi, have you been listening to a single word I've been saying, or is this conversation going in one ear and out the other like I'm starting to think it is?"

"What does our conversation have anything to do with you being a physically abusive person?" Taichi shot back.

"I've been telling you this over and over – do you seriously not get it? I hate it when you get involved with my personal business and start acting overprotective. Every time you intrude on my issues and my privacy, you're demeaning me, acting like I'm some damsel in distress who can't take care of her own problems."

"I never said that you were a damsel in distress!" Taichi argued, upset that Sora would think that of him. "Look, Sora, you're like a sister to me – you're practically family. And yeah, maybe I'm being a little bit overprotective of you, but can you blame me? I can't help it! How can you expect me to do nothing when I know something bad is going to happen to you?"

"I don't expect you to do nothing," Sora said, her face strained as she struggled to find the right words to say. "But I wish you would just think about what you're doing before you just recklessly take control of the situation like it's your natural right! I know it's in your instincts to fix everything – I get that, and in certain situations, I completely respect your authority. But Taichi – your protectiveness can go so far sometimes that it ends up hurting the people that you're trying to help. Don't you see?

"I know that you've always been there for me, through thick and thin, ever since we were kids. You know I care about you as if you were my blood-related sibling. But when something bad happens to you, do I try to protect you? If it's not a life-or-death situation, I don't. I leave you alone. I let you deal with things on your own, because I respect you enough to believe in your ability to handle your problems on your own. That's why I feel frustrated with you, Taichi." Her eyes bored deep into his. "I understand why you feel the need to protect me, but when you just step into every single situation to try to be the hero, you're basically saying that you don't trust me enough to be able to handle things by myself. And I wish that you would see that sometimes, I don't need your help at all."

"I can't just stop myself from getting involved," Taichi said, distressed, desperate for Sora to understand his position. "You can't expect me to stay out of your life and just watch things come to hurt you without doing anything about it."

Sora reached out to hold Taichi's hand and squeezed it briefly. "I'm not saying that you have to just stand back and watch me crash and burn, not a all. I mean," she paused, thinking back hard, "even though I resented it at the time, you know how you kept pushing me and Yamato to get back onto speaking terms with each other? That was… well, I appreciate it now, when I look back. It was wrong of me – of both of us – to just ignore each other, to ignore our years of friendship, to ignore how awkward it would have been for everyone else. And I appreciate that you kind of reasoned with us, to show us how wrong it was. When I look back now, I see that you meant well by your actions.

"But there's a line there, Taichi. My friendship with Yamato affects our relationship with the Chosen Children as well, and our duty as the Chosen is more important than personal complications. But as far as plotting to get us back together, just because you preferred us that way? That was completely wrong if you to do. I know you meant well by it, but you basically treated us as if we were your toys. I'm my own person. Whatever Yamato and I do to each other is my choice and my choice alone." She sighed. "Sometimes, you acted like you were so personally affected by the break up that I wondered if you thought you were in the relationship too."

Though he didn't want to admit it, Taichi realized the logic of Sora's words. "I guess I was... wrong," Taichi admitted reluctantly and rubbed his head. He twitched his nose. "I mean, I see your point, even though I don't agree with you completely."

"Don't make me pinch you again," Sora warned. "And this time, I'll be twisting it too."

He winced. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. You're right; I keep butting my nose in where I don't belong. I hope that you can find it somewhere in your generous heart to forgive me for being such a bastard."

Sora grinned in answer. "You're my best friend, Taichi, of course I forgive you. Just promise me something, okay?"

"What?"

She became serious and looked at Taichi intently. "Next time something big or bad is going to happen, I want you to tell me about it." Sora frowned. "Like with what happened this morning. I don't need you to try to stop Yamato on my behalf; I don't want you to try to shield me and keep in the dark from things that you think can hurt me. I want you to promise me – I mean it – promise me that you'll trust me enough to just tell me the truth, so that I can figure out what to do on my own. Okay?"

"But what if it's something that turns out to be too much for you to handle by yourself?" Taichi challenged before he could stop himself.

Sora rolled her eyes at the reemergence of Taichi's protectiveness. "Then I suppose I'll just have to go crawl in a little dark corner and cry myself to sleep. No, moron, of course I'd ask for your help! I'm not so masochistic that I'd want to purposely make myself suffer. Look, all I'm asking for is that you let me have the chance to decide whether I want to deal with something on my own or if I need your help. Don't make my decisions for me."

Taichi sighed theatrically but gave in anyway. "Oh, all right, I promise. Do you want to do a pinkie promise and seal the deal, or is just my word enough for you?"

"I think I can forgo the pinkie formalities this time," Sora said with a faint laugh, "but thanks for checking."

Taichi spread out over the grass with a groan. "I can't believe you want me to butt out of your business, though. That hurts, Sora, that hurts real deep." A thought struck him then and he lifted his head to look Sora in the eye. "Just so you know, though, I'm still going to keep an eye on Yamato, to make sure that he doesn't try to do anything else. I won't try to sabotage him or anything like that," he said quickly, forestalling Sora's indignant response, "but I'm not going to let him do just anything without me knowing about it too. Just in case. For your sake."

Sora groaned. "Taichi, I don't need you to spy on Yamato for me!"

"Well then, what the heck do you need me for?" Taichi grumbled, feeling more than a little put-out that Sora had shot down his idea so quickly.

But she answered him seriously, after a moment of contemplation. "I just… I need you to just be here for me, when I need someone's shoulder to lean on," Sora said sincerely. "I don't need you to be a… a detective, to follow Yamato around. I don't want you to be my 'knight in shining armor,' to protect me. All I need is for you to just be here for me, when there's no one else I can turn to."

Taichi listened to Sora words and couldn't help but reach out to grasp her hand tightly at the end of it. "I think I can do that."

Sora nodded before they both turned to tilt their heads to the sky. They watched the sun sink, the sky streaking orange and pink across the dusky clouds, and spoke no more.

When the band arrived in the dining hall during lunch, Yamato quickly made his way over to them to take control of the situation. Outwardly, he maintained a veneer of pleasant surprise at seeing his friends so unexpectedly; when he reached their side, though, he used a bit of subtle threatening under his breath to drag his attention-seeking band mates away from the interested fans and to the music cabin for some desperately needed practice instead. Yutaka and Akira were a bit put out with him because of it, but luckily Takahashi was more than willing to help Yamato out. Between the two of them, they were able to get Yutaka and Akira to get back on track and focused on the task at hand: preparing for their performance on Friday.

Of course, that didn't necessarily stop Akira from sulking, or Yutaka from complaining about his lost opportunity for some 'quality bonding time' with the more good-looking female fans who had greeted them. But after years of being in the band together, Yamato had become quite practiced at tuning out the negative attitude and calling them to order.

As soon as they entered the music cabin, he locked them into the largest practice room, where they quickly set up their instruments and dove headfirst into a grinding rehearsal session. Never once did they leave the room, all throughout the afternoon break. With Yamato pushing them and coaxing them, they played hard with gritted determination. Such fervor, of course, could not leave them unscathed: Akira and Yamato's already calloused fingers became raw from their strings and even Takahashi's fingers became slightly bruised from his grip on the drumsticks. But it was a good kind of hurt – one that was proof of their dedication to their craft and their desire to improve their music.

On the rare occasions that Yamato would call for a short break, the four of them would sprawl over the ground and just talk. Yamato listened and chuckled at their anecdotes of what they'd done so far in the summer (some of which had been illegal or outright stupid, but Yamato had grown to simply expect that sort of thing from them at that point in their friendship). He found their loud presence and camaraderie soothing for its familiarity, and Yamato felt relaxed in a way that he hadn't been able to since before the auditions for orchestra had commenced.

Whatever their failings were, the WOLVES at least made music fun again for Yamato. It became exhilarating, refreshing - stress-relieving, even. Maybe it was because being a part of and preparing for the WOLVES was something that Yamato chose to do. Unlike the orchestra – which, although he did sign up for it of his own free will, forced him to practice constantly, whether he liked it or not. And even then, who knew if he'd still be blamed for not practicing hard enough? With the orchestra, Yamato felt like he always had to watch his back and stay on his guard. With the WOLVES, though. He could go at his own pace, find his own rhythm. There was no pressure, no need to compete to be the best, because they only sounded good when they worked together as a team.

But when they weren't on one of their mini-breaks, they were practicing steadily. Yamato made sure that the band spent a lot of time polishing up old material with new tricks they'd learned, as well as working out trouble spots in newer songs that they hadn't yet had a chance to really get a feel for. And once, just when Yamato announced another short break, Takahashi began to play a rough melody line he'd come up with. Yamato played it back to him with a few tweaks, and Akira jumped in, adding in chords to go along with Yamato's harmonization. Yutaka ended up scribbling down a few lines for lyrics, and before long, they found themselves with a new song on their hands and no desire to take a break just yet. It was, in effect, the kind of musical interaction that Yamato had been missing so much.

They had just decided on a possible concept for their performance on Friday and come to a unanimous agreement of sorts on the rough order of songs that they would play when the dinner bell rang. It startled Yamato – had time passed by so quickly without his realizing it? He leaned against the wall, rubbing his fingers against each other to soothe the ache in them from playing almost constantly all afternoon. "Good practice today, guys," he said with a nod, pleased at their overall productiveness. He grinned slightly with satisfaction. "We really got a lot done."

"Didn't I tell ya that this would be a piece of pie?" Akira said with a smirk of his own as he zipped up his guitar case. "We got this down, no problem about it. Friday'll be a breeze, I'm tellin' you!"

He reached over and knocked fists with Yutaka, who had a similarly smug expression on his face. "I'll be surprised if our performance isn't the best of the night," Yutaka said cockily.

Even Takahashi – usually the pessimist of their band – looked comforted by how much they'd accomplished in just a few short hours. He tucked his drumsticks into the back pocket of his jeans and began putting away the drum set. "Yeah, hopefully the entire performance will go off without a hitch. It'd be embarassing to mess up if we're the closing act of the night, you know?"

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Don't jinx it, please."

"Yeah man!" Akira interjected. "Don't be such a downer! We don't need any rain on our parade."

"I can't help it, it's in my nature," Takahasi said, holding up his hands defensively as if to ward them off. Then he changed the subject. "So, Yamato, do you want us to come back again tomorrow? We still need to work on getting the transition between songs done, and since we only have until Friday..."

"Yeah, we should definitely meet up again tomorrow. And you might as well mark Thursday down while you're at it. Just give me a call before you arrive next time, okay?" Yamato shot a look at Yutaka, who only whistled innocently as he tucked his music sheets back into his folder but otherwise gave no notice to the WOLVES' leader. "I'm serious. It's not as if this is the only time you'll ever get attention for being in a band. Besides, thanks to the big entrance you guys gave, people won't be nearly as shocked by our 'surprise performance' on Friday, which kind of defeats the purpose of it being a surprise," Yamato pointed out dryly. "I'm completely expecting Manami or Ran to complain to me later about the TEEN-AGE WOLVES' lack of professionalism, and that's not a conversation I want to go through. You get me?"

"Yeah, man. I guess you're right," Akira said, looking appropriately abashed. "We should've thought of that before we barged in. "

"It's cool. I'm not mad or anything, just… not happy." Yamato sighed before bending down to pack up his belongings. "Man, I can't believe it's already time to wrap up for today. Practice just passed by so quickly."

"That's cause it's been a while," Akira said, standing up and swinging his guitar case up on his back. He stepped forward and leaned against Yamato, his elbow resting on Yamato's shoulder and said dramatically, "Admit it, dude - you totally missed us! Without us, you're just way too heartbroken to be able to enjoy music. Am I right, or am I right?"

Yamato didn't bother to hide his grimace when Akira's elbow dug into his collarbone as the other boy gesticulated wildly. "For once, you actually guessed right on the mark." He pushed Akira's elbow off of his shoulder, leaving the other boy staggering for balance, and Yamato continued seriously, "I don't know guys. Orchestra isn't as fun or as interesting as I'd thought it'd be. It's turning out to be, well… more stressful than I'm used to having to feel with music. Not to mention that, for the most part, the company doesn't exactly help make things better."

The other WOLVES exchanged wordless glances with each other. "That Ito guy does sound like a piece of work," Takahashi admitted. Subconsciously, the drummer began rapping his fingers against the edge of the doorway frame, which he tended to do when he was thinking deeply about something.

"Way intense," Akira added with an uncharacteristic frown on his face. "I mean, obviously we know what it's like to have your life revolve around music… but… that guy is taking things way far. What's the point of doing music if you're warping it into something it's not?"

"I know." Yamato pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the coming headache that always accompanied thoughts about the ambitious concertmaster. "After he got suspended, he's been mostly just leaving me alone. But I know that, with his personality, he's not going to let this affront to his reputation go without any retribution. He's going to want to have his revenge, as melodramatic as that sounds." Yamato smiled wryly. "To be completely honest, I envy you guys a lot right now. I'm learning a lot in orchestra about music and stuff, but I miss the freedom of being able to practice my music the way I want. Hell, I miss the freedom to just do whatever I want."

"Well, why don't you come out with us tonight?" Yutaka suggested. He stretched his legs out leisurely in front of him as he looked up at Yamato from the piano bench. "We're headed to Shibuya for a party after this. Some of the older kids – Ryuu, Minoru, and some of the others, I think – are back from university and wanted to meet up with us to hang out at Itsuki's new club opening. You know Itsuki; there's bound to be awesome music and lots of cool people to hang with. The scene will be just the kind of thing you need to get your mind off this camp stress. What do you think? Takahashi's excited to go, since we'll be seeing our old buddies in person again, and you're even closer to them than we are."

"They came back to visit for summer break?" Yamato said, starting at the news. The last time that he'd hung out with those guys had been practically two years ago, now. Though there had been occasional text conversations and online chats in that space of time, it wasn't nearly enough to be a real substitute for live interaction. He immediately contemplated the possibility of seeing them again. "I didn't know that. When was this planned out?"

"I don't know; we just found out a couple of days ago," Akira answered. "I think that all of them are only visiting for a little bit before they have to head back, so they wanted to party it up while they're still around."

"Yeah, I would too," Yamato responded absentmindedly as he mulled over the prospects of leaving camp for the night. He found himself quite tempted to go with the WOLVES to the party, especially with the promise of fun that Akira and Yutaka's words painted (which really did hold a lot of appeal). He would be able to relax, to enjoy himself – an evening where he wouldn't have to think about the orchestra and its drama. He could get away from all that pressure and stress and hang out with his band mates instead, who had managed to renew his interest and love for music.

And – Yamato suddenly remembered – he would be able to get away from his friends at camp and the drama that he knew he would have to face once he returned to their midst at dinner time.

It wasn't that Yamato was tired of his friends, or angry at them. Quite the contrary, in fact: Yamato had grown quite fond of the group's new friends, even crazy and exuberant Kiku (whose actions, at times, made Yamato think of Mimi). But Yamato was never one to smother people with his presence and company. Sometimes, he inexplicably felt the need to be around other people, to do other things, and now was one of those times. After spending nearly all of his time outside of class with the group, Yamato felt restless, restrained. He needed a change of atmosphere, at least for the night, to recharge his batteries before diving back into the final week of camp.

And as far as drama went… well. That really applied more to Taichi than to anyone else. Yamato wasn't an idiot, after all. He had known from the beginning, from the moment Manami had proposed that the WOLVES should come to perform at the camp showcase on Friday, that if anyone found out beforehand that the TEEN-AGE WOLVES would be coming to camp, it would create a stir, could even bring trouble. For that reason, Yamato had been reluctant to share the news with his friends. He hadn't been able to figure out what would have been the best approach to telling the group about the WOLVES' coming, hadn't been even able to decide whether it was a good idea for the TEEN-AGE WOLVES to perform at all. But Manami and Ran seemed so genuinely interested in having the band come that really, in the end, Yamato couldn't say no. He forced himself to reason that he could not let his personal worries stop an opportunity for the band. So he agreed to the adults' request, though he couldn't shake the feeling that maybe - just maybe - it was all a bad idea.

Despite that though, he knew that he had made the right choice after he called Akira to let the guitarist know about the camp's request. The band hadn't performed in a while, not since the last music competition when the WOLVES lost their nerve and placed fourth in the line-up. When compared to the third place position they had attained the year before, the result only served to damage their confidence as a group. It became hard for them to summon any creativity for new material after that particular episode. So when Yamato called Akira and heard his friend become enthusiastic over the idea of a guerilla performance… well, to Yamato, that reaction justified his decision, especially considering the fact that Yamato too needed to feel excited for music again.

Sometimes, it was his job to put himself on the line for his band. And he didn't regret it. It was his responsibility; he was proud to do it. That they trusted him enough to lead them and do what was necessary was no small feat, and Yamato had every intention to prove his worth as a leader.

Yamato still couldn't completely silence the niggling worry in him that the WOLVES would somehow cause a dispute within his group, though. He had his misgivings. But when he first mentioned to Koushiro that the WOLVES would be coming on Friday to perform, Koushiro had only registered surprise and then silent bemusement, so Yamato was lulled into a (what turned out to be) false sense of security. Surely, if Koushiro hadn't thought it was a bad idea, the others would be fine with it as well.

Of course, Taichi had reacted to the news in an entirely different way. To give him credit, Taichi had mellowed out a great deal over the years. Yamato still clashed with him every so often, as two males were prone to do when their personalities were so different. But for the most part, Yamato's friendship with Taichi had grown strong, fortified by mutual respect for each other's capabilities and the years of teamwork they had established behind them, with Gabumon and Agumon by their sides. If Taichi was the figurehead of the Chosen Children, then Yamato was the second-in-command. Taichi was a natural leader, and Yamato acted as a natural counterbalance to the brunet's rash impulses with his own cool reason. At the best of times, it was an ideal, unbeatable partnership.

At the worst of times, however, the two of them were capable of creating terrible conflicts, when the situation was critical enough to warrant such strong emotions from both sides. When Taichi had found out that morning that Yamato's band was coming, Taichi's protective instinct over Sora, which usually walked the line between best friend and older brother in mild strength, had flared out in full force, taking Yamato off guard. Yamato had predicted from Taichi, at most, perhaps disapproval and some strong words. He had not been expecting barely restrained anger and a verbal lashing that stung Yamato in all the wrong places. And it was in situations like that when all their years of friendship became a weapon – because after all that time spent together, working as a team and protecting each other from manipulating foes, who else but Taichi knew all the right words to say to get under Yamato's skin, to get him to rise out from under his indifferent shield and become harsh and cold?

And so, despite the fact that he knew that it would do nothing to help the situation if he lost his tempter and snapped back at Taichi, that was exactly what Yamato ended up doing. He couldn't help himself, not when Taichi flung accusations in every which way at him. The two of them had faced off, both assured that what they were doing was right and that the other was firmly in the wrong. It made Yamato angry that Taichi could simply regard the fact that Yamato had an obligation to his band as inferior to Taichi's responsibility to the well-being of the Chosen. That Taichi could view Yamato's band so callously angered him, given all the years Yamato had spent pouring his heart and soul into his music and the WOLVES.

Instead of agreeing and conceding to Taichi's demands as he would have done normally in other situations to keep the peace, Yamato remained stubborn. After all, what did Taichi know about anything – about the WOLVES, about him? Yamato didn't appreciate his friend's meddling into business that he knew nothing about, and Yamato made his position on the matter clear. With neither one of them willing to back down, he knew that their determined stances on the issue would be a dividing wall between the both of them for a while, creating a cold war that was sure to attract notice from their other camp friends.

But Yamato was too incensed to care. His only concern at the moment of their conflict was to get out of the room, away from Taichi, as soon as possible, before the brunet decided to rehash the past and damage their relationship at present even further.

Yamato was sure that Taichi's worries were unnecessary. He knew that Sora was not nearly in need of as much protection as Taichi thought she did. Taichi overreacted often, when it came to the people he cared about – in fact, it was something that was instinct to the both of them. For Yamato, there was a line. Once someone crossed that line, they were under his protection, and he would go to the ends of the earth and more to shield them from harm. There were only a few beings, though, that were in the protection of his formidable guard: Takeru, Gabumon, and his parents (as well as Sora, though hers was a name that Yamato tried not to dwell on too often when he thought of the people he cared about).

In that sense, Yamato understood where Taichi was coming from. But at the same time, it was that understanding that made Yamato feel like Taichi was making mountains out of hills, creating problems and issues out of thin air. Because despite everything that they'd gone through together, despite the painful pushing and pulling between them, Yamato would never do anything to deliberately hurt Sora. He would never allow anything in his power to harm her. Unfortunately, it seemed like Taichi no longer had faith to believe him on that.

So now, as he looked back at his band mates, Yamato decided that the extra night off would be a good thing – for both him and Taichi. After what had happened, he knew that Taichi needed some space to deal with with Yamato's defiance. In Yamato's mind, at best, Taichi would just be annoyed at him but would get over it by tomorrow morning, once he'd had the evening and some time to sleep on it to view the morning's events more objectively. And in the worst case scenario, Yamato thought that Taichi would maybe give him the cold shoulder for a while, though it would only be a few days at most before Taichi started talking to him again – he never was good at holding grudges.

There was no other choice, really. Not when everything at that moment was conveniently pointing him in only one direction. Yamato made up his mind. "Going out… it does sound like it would be fun," he said slowly, as if he were still reluctant to go along with them.

"Heck yeah, man!" Akira immediately pounced, sensing that Yamato was on the brink of agreeing to go out with them. "We'll have a blast. I mean, dude! How often are we gonna get this chance to hang out with the guys again, now that they're thinking of studying abroad and everything? This could be the last time we get a chance to hang out together, as one big happy family."

"True…"

Yutaka smiled warmly, slapping Yamato good-naturedly on the back, and began enthusing about the possibilities of all the fun they'd have together. "Seriously, though, you deserve the night off. After all the shit that your orchestra's been giving you? You need to relax and unwind, Yamato. You can't make good music if you're stressed out of your mind, you know that as well as I do. You've got to be in the right mindset to make art."

Yamato raised an eyebrow challengingly. "What if I get in trouble for sneaking out of camp without permission? There's no way they'd let me go to a party with this kind of late notice. I doubt that they'd be willing to let me go, especially since if something happens to me, they'd get in trouble."

Takahashi shrugged as he took one last survey around the room to make sure that they hadn't forgotten to pack anything away. "Come on, Yamato. You know as well as we do, we're careful. We're not gonna get in trouble or put each other in danger. It's just a party. We'll listen to music, we'll catch up, we'll have a good time, and then we'll go home. That's all. No big deal."

"Besides," Yutaka pointed out, "with all the students at camp, how're they going to be able to keep track of where you are anyway? There's no way they'll even notice that you're gone. And unless your friends decide that it'd be a good idea to tattle on you, you'll be able to get in and out of camp easily, no problems."

Yamato made a show of sighing heavily, though he only just managed to suppress the smile that he felt. "Well… okay. I guess we could go out tonight."

The rest of the WOLVES pumped their fists in victory, and, psyched for the night ahead, they quickly unlocked the door and left the building. A party in the middle of the nightlife of Tokyo was a temptation that was like a siren's song calling out to them, and it was one that they were all more than eager to answer.