A/N: I started writing this last year sometime after Soushitsu was released but never got around to finishing it until today (yay me). It's a confusing-ass crackfic where Sora and Taichi switch bodies, so proceed with caution.
Set somewhere in between the first 3 tri movies, take your pick. Reviews are always appreciated.
Frankly, there are quite a few things in this world that are completely unexplainable. You might try your very best to use logic and be rational, but there are some problems that just can't be solved by using one's brains. These strange problems appear out of nowhere and just when you start getting used to them, they vanish. Having travelled through dimensions into a world different than ours, we usually assume that no matter what happens now in our normal lives we would rarely ever be surprised by it. Unless the problem is related to the said different world, also known as the Digital World, we don't really pay that much attention it. Could there really be anything more important or interesting than having a digital monster as your best friend and travelling through uncharted territory to fight other digital monsters? I bet you tried to oppose my statement, but the truth is, there isn't.
Unfortunately that's the mistake the eight of us made too. We were so concerned about our Digimon and all the commotion the infections etcetera were causing that we forgot to pay attention to our normal lives. What follows is a story which can only be termed as bizarre and you may not believe it, but I assure you, we eight chosen children stand witness to this strange occurrence. There might even come a day, when we might forget certain things about Digimon and Digital World but I doubt we'll ever forget this day…
The brightly lit room was filled with just the sound of fingers furiously tapping on the keyboard, the occupant of the room was a lone high school boy diligently analysing some new data that he had recently acquired as he waited for his friends to arrive. Lately, with the sudden comeback of the problems of the Digital World, it had become a custom for the eight of them to meet at Koushiro's office after school. Sometimes they were even joined by the newcomer, Meiko, but usually it would just be the usual gang. Koushiro was looking forward to share his newfound information with Taichi and the others. He took his role as the decoder and the information gatherer of their group very seriously and every time he figured out the right answer, he'd a feel a little proud of himself.
He glanced at his wristwatch and then again at the empty room in front of him. His friends sure were taking their time coming over today. A scowl appeared on his face suddenly, when he wanted peace and quiet they'd all hang around annoyingly, messing the whole place up and now when he actually wanted to talk and interact with them, they were all late. Koushiro sighed and wondered if he should just play with the Digimon while he waited when the door to his office opened and in walked Takeru with Hikari right behind him.
"Good evening!" Takeru chirped, grinning.
"My brother and everyone else isn't here yet?" Hikari asked, looking around the empty room with a quizzical look on her face. She took a seat on one of the sofas and Takeru came and stood next to Koushiro behind the monitor.
"I thought we were the ones who were late." Takeru stated, chuckling.
Just then, a flailing and heaving Jyou entered the room apologizing for being late, the other three smiled courteously as Koushiro pointed out to their senior that in retrospect, he was actually on time. Jyou sat down next to Hikari, having not being able to keep in touch with the others because of his busy schedule, he decided to utilize this time to chat and catch up with her. Some time passed, as the four friends talked casually about school and other things happening in their lives. Koushiro was just explaining to the others, a new idea he had for a phone app when the door to his office burst open and there stood a red-faced Mimi, looking nervous.
"It's terrible!" She exclaimed, "Taichi-san and Sora-chan fell down the stairs and lost consciousness. Yamato-san and I need help carrying them back here." She shouted hurriedly, and dashed out as quickly as she had entered leaving the other four completely stunned with their mouths hanging wide open. Takeru recovered first and grabbing Jyou by the arm he followed Mimi out of the room swiftly.
Hikari paced around the room, and Koushiro nervously fidgeted in his seat as they waited for everyone to return. After some excruciatingly long minutes, Yamato and Takeru entered his office carrying a knocked out Taichi, and right behind them was Jyou carrying an unconscious Sora in his arms with Mimi hovering around them. Hikari gasped and a concerned look clouded her face as she watched Yamato and Takeru set her brother down on one of the sofas, Jyou did the same with Sora on the other side. All of them crowded over the two unconscious friends, observing them closely.
"Isn't it better if we take them to the Nurse's office?" Hikari asked worriedly, gazing over her brother's expressionless face.
"It's closed. We already checked." Yamato muttered in reply, his blue eyes fixed on the unmoving body of his best friend.
"Well then what are we supposed to do?" Koushiro questioned no one in particular as he shifted his gaze from Taichi to Sora.
"Wouldn't throwing water at their faces work?" Mimi wondered out loud, having seen that trick work in countless movies and dramas, she figured it would work in real life as well.
The others were at a loss so they thought there was no harm in trying her idea out. Hikari sprinkled a few drops of water on her brother's face and Mimi followed her lead and did the same to Sora. The six of them waited, intensely staring at the unconscious duo's face, hoping to catch some kind of reaction, but there was none.
"I've heard making them smell something stinky works too…" Takeru suggested, unsure if anyone would actually pay attention to it.
"Okay, I'll take one for the team." Yamato smirked, as he took off his left shoe preparing to put it over Taichi's nose.
"No, wait!" Hikari shouted, "His eyes twitched!" She wasn't sure if she was seeing things in order to protect her brother's nose or if they actually twitched but Mimi also shouted excitedly at the same time about Sora moving her hands, and relief washed over Hikari.
Six pair of eyes intently observed as the two people lying on the sofas slowly started to stir. Taichi and Sora's eyes twitched and slowly opened at the same time. Relived sighs and happy gasps covered the room (Yamato dejectedly put his shoe back on) as they moved and slowly sat up straight. However, the other six were still unaware of the real problem that now, slowly unfolded before their eyes.
Taichi and Sora turned around to look at each other and their eyes locked. Silence fell over the room as everyone else was confused by the sudden staring contest happening between the injured two. But as they paid more attention, they noticed that their faces were no longer holding blank expressions but that of disbelief, terror and desperation.
"What the hell? What the hell? What the hell?!" Taichi was the first one to move, shouting maddeningly.
Confused looks dawned the faces of the other six as they tried to understand what was wrong, they turned towards Sora who was still sitting normally and sort of looked like she was spacing out.
"Onii-chan, are you okay?" Hikari asked reluctantly, not sure of what to make of her brother's actions.
Taichi faced her, still looking terrified, he shook nervously as he tried to answer, "I'm…I'm…I'm…nnno-"
Very abruptly Sora stood up and everyone's attention immediately went back to her. She looked herself over once and then glanced at Taichi, suddenly she grabbed her own chest with both her hands and grinned, "Sora your boobs sure have grown in these past few years."
A different kind of silence enveloped the room. The sun had set long ago and the scenery outside the window was dark and sinister, just like the changing atmosphere of the room. For who knows how long, nobody moved a muscle. They just stared open mouthed, at the auburn haired girl standing in front of them fondling her own chest. As the situation slowly settled in their minds, Hikari, Takeru and Koushiro turned red as they continued looking at Sora. Jyou covered his face with his hands and turned away as Mimi leaned in closer, a glint in her eyes indicating that she was probably interested in figuring out her friend's size. Yamato's head swivelled from Sora to Taichi as he tried to make sense of what was going on. Taichi sat there white faced and trembling, from embarrassment or rage, no one could tell just yet.
"I still think mine are a little bigger though." Mimi muttered thoughtfully.
"That's what you're concerned about in this situation?" Yamato shot a furious glare in her direction.
"The situation is quite obvious isn't it." Mimi replied, scowling at the older blond.
"What is so obvious about this, please do tell Mimi-chan." Yamato dragged the out suffix in a sickeningly sweet voice.
"Taichi-san and Sora-chan have switched bodies." Mimi stated simply.
"Eeeehhhhh?!"
The disbelief, surprise and at some level, maybe even fear, was evident in everyone's voice as they continued screaming and turned their heads from one side to the other, trying to understand what exactly was happening.
Sora removed her hands from her chest and grinned widely, making victory signs with both her hands she exclaimed, "I'm Taichi."
It wouldn't have been a surprise if some of them would have swallowed a few flies that day as their mouths continued to hang wide open and their eyes settled on the now extremely energetic Sora who was now jumping up and down and giggling happily. The only one who wasn't as surprised as the rest of them was Mimi, who was playing along with this development quite calmly.
"No…"
The morose whisper made the heads turn towards Taichi, who was sitting with his head bowed down and still trembling with what can now possibly be defined as rage.
"You're dead!" Taichi screeched as he leapt at Sora from across the room, his face was flushed and his eyes looked glassy, almost as if he was about to cry. He stretched his arms ahead in order to reach Sora's neck, but luckily for the latter Yamato and Jyou reacted swiftly pulling him back down to his original position as he screamed curses and death threats at the girl while still remaining slightly teary eyed, the other two boys managed to hold their own against him and restrain him and Sora took this opportunity to move backwards so that she wasn't within her raging friend's reach. After securing a safe position she chuckled and replied, "Sora, if you kill me now, you'd basically be killing yourself. It will be like committing suicide!"
"Like I give a damn about that right now, you freaky-pervert-monster-idiot-bastard!"
The other six watched this exchange silently, Koushiro, Takeru and Hikari still looked dazed and it seemed like they still couldn't believe what was happening. As soon as Jyou and Yamato realized that they weren't technically touching Taichi but rather Sora, their faces turned red as they hurriedly let go of him(her) and looked away, embarrassment eating away their voices. The only person who looked like they had something to say was Mimi, her face was filled determined contemplation as she glanced at her two friends and then sighed heavily.
"Firstly, Taichi-san, please apologize to Sora-chan for what you just did. That wasn't fair and it kind of makes me think you're a disgusting person on the inside." Mimi folded her arms across her chest as she looked at Sora(Taichi) sharply. Hearing Mimi's words something stirred inside the little sister of the group as the dazed look vanished from her face and was replaced with one of disgust.
Pointing an accusing finger at Sora(Taichi), Hikari shrieked, "Onii-chan, you're disgusting. I'm so disappointed in you."
Instantly the look of excitement turned into that of regret as Sora(Taichi) started blabbering, trying to explain to Hikari how it was just a joke and she shouldn't hate him for this and that he loves her very much.
"Uhm, you should apologize to Sora-chan first." Mimi repeated, rolling her eyes at the scene in front of her.
"That's right." Hikari added, scowling deeply at Sora(Taichi), though she still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that her brother was currently inside a girl's body Hikari somehow managed to maintain the death glare long enough to turn her brother into a nervous puddle.
Sora(Taichi) clapped her hands together and facing Taichi(Sora), she bowed her head and shouted, "I am really sorry for what I did Sora. Please forgive me."
Taichi(Sora) quietly seethed a little longer before giving up and accepting the apology.
"Well then now that this is settled, we need to figure out how to deal with this situation."
Everyone faced a triumphant and hopeful looking Mimi, internally surprised by the fact that she was being the voice of reason in a stressful situation like this.
"I'm at a loss really…" Jyou murmured quietly, quickly excluding himself from the conversation.
"Same." Takeru smiled and pulled back as well.
"Maybe this is just a dream… That's right I fell asleep on the desk while waiting for everyone to arrive. Wake up me!" Koushiro mumbled to himself as he got up and resumed his position on his desk, behind the huge monitors.
"Dream? This is a freaking nightmare." Taichi(Sora) hissed angrily.
"Get a hold of yourself, Koushiro. You're supposed to be the smart one right?" Yamato glanced at the genius, he didn't want any part in trying to figure this shit out so he thought he might as well put Koushiro in the spotlight.
"Huh?! That has nothing to do with it! I have no idea what's going on or how this even happened!" Koushiro retorted but it was too late, because of the older blond's words everyone was now looking at him with intense expectations in their eyes. He groaned realizing that he wouldn't be able to wriggle out of this one.
"Well let me explain what happened," Mimi started, still looking unaffected by the bizarreness of it all, "Me and Sora-chan were on our way to your office when we ran into Taichi-san and Yamato-san so we all decided to come here together. We were making our way up the stairs with me in the lead when Yamato-san insulted one of my favourite mascot characters," She paused to glare at the blond who just rolled his eyes in response, "So I turned around to tell him to shut his tsundere trap when I lost my balance and slipped. I was about to fall down but since Yamato-san was right behind me he somehow managed to catch me, despite of how weak and puny he looks-"
"Are you blind or what Tachikawa?" Yamato interrupted her furiously, his ears had turned a light shade of red from feeling rage and embarrassment at the same time.
"But in the process, he accidentally shouldered Taichi-san in the face leading him to lose his balance and roll down the stairs, grabbing Sora-chan along with him as she was right next to him. Next thing we knew they were lying on the ground, on top of each other and were unconscious." Mimi finished, ignoring Yamato's interruption completely.
Everyone quietly processed the information, despite of wanting this to not be real, each of them looked deep in thought as they tried to look for an explanation or solution. In order to clear the awkwardness and make things easier to understand they made Sora and Taichi sit on one sofa and the rest of them took their seats on the opposite one, with Yamato and Jyou standing behind it.
"Okay, so we can assume," Koushiro began maintaining eye contact with the two sitting across him, "That this phenomenon occurred when you bumped into each other." Taichi and Sora nodded seriously, and Koushiro turned to look at his other friends to see if they had a different idea or theory, but it looked like everyone pretty much agreed with him, "So the question now is, how do we reverse this?"
"We should get them exorcised!" Jyou gasped excitedly but he was met with seven clueless looking faces so he explained further, "You see, it's kind of like Taichi's soul is possessing Sora's body and vice versa so we can just get an exorcist to make them go back to their original bodies." The dark haired senior looked quite proud of his idea, but everyone else in the room had already rejected it in their heads.
Takeru sighed and bravely took up the task of breaking it down Jyou, "Uhm, senpai, I doubt we'll be able to find an exorcist nearby. So we should look at more easily accessible options…" he trailed off, smiling politely at Jyou hoping that the older boy would catch his drift.
"Since it happened because of them bumping into each other, why don't you try it again?" Hikari suggested.
"Try what again?" Sora(Taichi) asked, looking puzzled.
"Push them down the stairs? I'll do it." Yamato smirked, earning a glare from both Taichi and Sora.
"What Hikari-chan obviously means is that they should bump their foreheads together again or something like that. But I didn't expect you to understand Yamato-san." Mimi stated, shooting a condescending look in the blond's direction.
"I guess we can try that…" Taichi(Sora) muttered unsurely.
The two then faced each other, jaws set and eyes determined, it would be difficult to put into words what was going on in their heads at that time. Taichi(Sora) balled his fists and took a deep breath, Sora(Taichi) on the other hand looked like she was spacing out, again. There was a long silent pause, in which everyone kept their eyes fixed at the strange couple but neither made a move.
"Okay are you guys going to do it or do we need to push you down the stairs?" Yamato muttererd angrily, losing patience within a minute.
"It's difficult! I know it's going to hurt so my body isn't moving," Taichi(Sora) replied, shooting an exasperated look in the blond's direction.
"Ready, when you are," Sora(Taichi) chuckled lazily.
"Okay, but think about it Sora-chan, if you don't move now you might stay like this forever," Mimi started, "Imagine, living in Taichi-san's body for the rest of your li-" She didin't get to finish her sentence as Taichi(Sora) grabbed Sora(Taichi)'s shoulders by her hands and forcefully banged their heads together. There was a bit of shouting and groaning as the two teens buried their face in their hands and moved away from each other.
The other kids waited with bated breath to see if the two had succeeded in turning back but as Taichi(Sora) raised his head and looked at his hands miserably, it was obvious that the head-banging accomplished nothing except creating the now prominent bruising on their foreheads.
"Now what?" Hikari voiced out what they were all thinking in an unsure voice and was met with uncertain murmurs and more awkward silence.
"There's no other option, we have to kill ourselves…" Taichi(Sora) muttered quietly, his face was laden with disgust as he studied his hands.
"Sora, don't be ridiculous." Yamato rolled his eyes,
"Yes, Sora-san, please don't say such things, you're forgetting something," Koushiro said, he motioned to where Mimi was standing as if she was the answer to everything.
Mimi on the other hand was grinning with excitement, an evil twinkle in her eyes she began "I have waited all my life-"
"For Taichi and Sora to switch bodies?" Yamato interrupted dryly.
"I have waited all my life," Mimi started again, shooting a glare in the blond's direction, "for something like this. Watching all those dramas and movies and reading those countless shojo mangas and doujinshis will finally pay off." Mimi cackled, making everyone move slightly away from where she was standing.
"Get to the point already." Sora(Taichi) muttered.
"Sora-san." Mimi faced Taichi(Sora) with a determined look, and the latter backed away a little further, not expecting anything helpful to come out from her younger friend's mouth.
"There is no other option," Mimi said, and surveyed everyone in the room with a grave look on her face. Jou seemed to be the only one who was still buying into Mimi's flair, returning her intense look.
"You have to kiss."
Mimi's words were met by another shocked silence as everyone in the room processed her statement. Except for Yamato, who rolled his eyes and threw up his hands in a 'I could care less about this' gesture, everyone else turned furiously red.
"Are you crazy Mimi?" Taichi(Sora) shouted, he stood up and put some distance between him and Sora(Taichi).
"I would highly recommend not doing that." Jou nervously piped in.
"But, it's the only way senpai!" Mimi reiterated restlessly, "The pattern is right in front of us, in every body-switch comedy, this is how they always resolve things."
"I don't think you should call this situation a comedy, Mimi-san." Takeru grinned, clearly enjoying Mimi' antics.
"It doesn't hurt to try."
Everyone turned to look at Sora(Taichi), she was still sitting on the couch and rubbing her bruise from before, looking calmer than ever.
"It doesn't hurt to try?" Taichi(Sora) seethed through gritted teeth, "Do you even understand wha-"
"Yes Sora, I do understand what kissing is," Sora(Taichi) spat back fiercely, "I'm a 17 year old boy, what do you think you're gonna find in my search history."
Another long awkward silence followed Sora(Taichi)'s statement as everyone tried very hard to not think about their self-proclaimed leader's search history. Taichi(Sora) was more or less rendered speechless, and was now too tired of the whole situation to actually bother replying to her (ex)-friend's statement. In the past hour nothing had made sense, except maybe Mimi's weird excitement and the fact that everyone else was more or less internally enjoying this mess, but one thing that Sora was sure about was that she would never forgive Taichi for his behaviour in her body, she would hold it against him until her very last breath.
Taichi(Sora) took a deep breath and cleared her throat, breaking the eerie silence that had fallen over the room and grabbing everyone's attention. Mustering all the courage that resided in this body, Taichi(Sora) announced her decision.
"Okay."
"Okay, what?" Sora(Taichi) questioned, tilting her head slightly out of confusion.
"Okay, let's kiss." Taichi(Sora) repeated, his voice breaking slightly at the end.
The squeal Mimi let out over this statement could only be considered unhealthy, but was also currently the only trace of happiness in Koushiro's office. The office's owner himself looked extremely sceptical with his brows furrowed deeply as he feebly attempted to think of a better solution. Jou looked just as unimpressed as Koushiro, shaking his head in defeat and passing a warning look to his two friends in front of him and one of annoyance towards the giddy brunette. Although Takeru did not look like he was enjoying this situation, anyone who knew him could tell from his eyes that the cogs were already turning inside his brain on how to adapt this situation into a fruitful work of literature.
Hikari raised her eyes to the heavens, praying that when she woke up tomorrow she would've forgotten all about this and never have to face the sleazy side of her brother ever again. But Yamato was the only one who looked truly uncomfortable, the whole conundrum of his best friends switching bodies had already given him a headache of a lifetime but watching them kiss would really take the cake. The blond was sure that the scene would kill his appetite for at least the next week or maybe even months to come.
The whole situation was stressful yes, which is why Taichi was trying to lighten the mood with his antics, attempting to keep Sora from spontaneously combusting in his body from hyper-stress. Suggesting to go along with Mimi's plan was just a teasing remark he made to make her angry and not tense but he never expected her to agree with him. In theory, there was nothing wrong with kissing Sora, but Taichi would have preferred to do that while he was in his own body, and not kiss himself as Sora. This would basically be nightmare material for the rest of his life. But if Sora was desperate enough to try this, it seemed that there was no other option but to go ahead with it. He hoped that when they returned to their bodies they wouldn't retain the horrific memories of the kiss.
"Of course, you all need to leave." Taichi(Sora) added, motioning towards the door of the office.
"Uhm, it's my office?"Koushiro's mutter went unheard as Yamato and Jou heaved huge sighs of relief and started walking towards to the door, Takeru, a little disappointed followed his brother's lead.
Hikari passed a worried glance in her brother's direction but then remembered that that was Sora, shaking her head she sent a feeble thumbs up in the latter's direction who replied with a nod and a nervous grin.
"Okay maybe I should stay behind to make sure that it's a success," Mimi started, folding her arms into a stance that said 'I'm not moving'. Koushiro rolled his eyes and linking his arm with the brunette's, dragged her out of the office followed by Hikari, who closed the door behind them without sparing another glance for the unfortunate souls.
"Okay, then." Sora(Taichi) stated blankly.
"Yes let's get on with it," Taichi(Sora) murmured.
They stood facing each other, with just a few inches of space between them. What seemed like hours but were only seconds passed as neither made any attempt to move. Sora was well aware of what they were supposed to do but it's as if every muscle in the body she was possessing had frozen in that very moment when she locked eyes with her own self. She'd watched enough romance movies to know the fundamentals of kissing but to practice it in reality was seeming much more difficult especially since she was inside one of her closest friend's body and was supposed to kiss herself, she could only hope that she wouldn't puke the minute their lips met.
"Sora, you know how this works right?" Sora(Taichi) asked, raising an eyebrow, an impatient look settling on her face.
"Of-of course I know how it works!" Taichi(Sora) squeaked back, his cheeks now covered in a deep shade of red. Sora(Taichi)'s expression worsened at this, the google-head was not happy to see himself blush and stutter and look like an all-around idiot.
"Well, you're in the taller body so please take the first step," Sora(Taichi) rolled her eyes, and began tapping her foot impatiently, a regular habit of Sora's that her body was now unconsciously performing.
"R-right, I knew that," Taichi(Sora) replied nervously, watching herself do something so normal and familiar as tapping her foot flooded her with willpower, she would do anything to go back, even move this body that felt like it was being pushed down by gravity itself.
Taichi(Sora) started to lower his head, unsure of where to look. Looking into her own eyes was terrifying especially since she knew that the determination cast in them was Taichi's and not hers. Sora(Taichi) also started to raise her head in order to meet him halfway, and it was when their lips were mere centimetres apart that they both came to a halt, their gazes fixed on each other. Just a little bit further and their lips would touch, Sora thought, she couldn't bring herself to look at her own face like this any more so Taichi(Sora) nailed his eyes shut and took a leap of faith.
Neither were sure about the exact moment that it happened.
Was it after their lips touched, or just a second before it?
Taichi was himself again and his lips were still pressed against Sora's.
When Sora opened her eyes, she was on her toes, her lips still touching Taichi's.
They'd solved the riddle, prevented a catastrophe but the only question remaining was who'd pull apart first?
-End-