AHH! I'm still in shock from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! If you haven't read it yet, I STRONGLY suggest it! oh...Snape... why... faints

King of Hearts

By Moonlit Eyes

"Just one more thing."
"Why do I wanna throw up every time you say 'just one more thing'?"

--Izzy (Koushiro) and Tai (Taichi) (in that order), Digimon Adventure

Chapter Seven

Suiyoubi

Wednesday

Technically I can now say that I died on Valentine's Day. That's a strange thought, isn't it? To be able to tell people that I died on the supposedly most romantic day of the year. I can't stop thinking about it, really. 'I was dead for a whole two minutes.' It's probably the only thought that I've allowed to go through my head since I've woken up. If I were to ponder the other thoughts coming into my head I'm pretty sure I'd go insane.

Like the thought that somebody tried to brutally murder me.

Or even the thought that the experience had been so traumatizing that my mind forced me to forget the past three and a half months.

February 17

The day he woke up finally went as slow as molasses for Taichi until visiting hours hit. Then it went even slower. His friends all came to visit him (exception being Yamato) but they were acting funny, like something was off. After being unable to force answers out of them, Taichi decided that it was the fact that no one was used to seeing him with his hair limp around his face instead of spiked like usual. That had to be reason, and not because he had tubes sticking out of him and his voice was hoarse and old sounding.

Then his family came. That experience was as heartwarming as it was never ending. Hikari was on the verge of tears the entire time and Taichi felt completely guilty because of it. He really hated seeing his little sister cry, even though she rarely did. Then his mother had tried her best to be strong but Taichi couldn't remember ever seeing her look so...old. Finally his father had been…well, like he always was. The man tried his best to be comforting but his business attitude got in the way. Not to mention that there was something not quite right with the way he was acting.

Then Unkei and his wife came by bearing cards, flowers, and gifts courtesy of The Theater and its employees. Taichi swelled with joy at being treated as such, but the joy quickly deflated when he remembered why. His uncle and aunt didn't stay for very long but they certainly brightened his day. Until, that is, when Unkei told him that it had been Kohaku who had found him and that the green haired nineteen-year-old had promptly quit as he felt unable to return to that particular area. Taichi had been distraught at the news and felt the need to sleep and never wake up.

Sleep, however, didn't come easy when one just slept through two days and so Taichi had turned on the television to see what was on. Then he abruptly turned it off after realizing that the now unfamiliar Heart Murders on the news were referring to him as the recovering fifth victim.

Needless to say, Taichi Yagami was fed up with February, St Valentine's, hearts, and poker, and he couldn't wait to get out of the hospital.

February 18

"I love being in the hospital!" Taichi proclaimed after finishing the last bite of jello, a part of his wondrously balanced breakfast. "I get fed food that's not some weird new nutritional thing my mom makes."

"Really? You realize you're the first person I've ever heard say that right?" A nurse by the name of Yumiko laughed before adjusted the blinds on the window. She took away his tray and gave him a look over. "Need anything else?"

"Nope." Taichi winked at her before resting his head back. "When does visiting hours start?" She left the room a second and came back in time for his question.

"In fifteen minutes, but I think it'll be okay if I let your first guest come see you?" She smiled at his enthusiasm and went out into the hallway. A second later a familiar shock of green came into the room.

"Kohaku..." Taichi's voice trailed away. The nineteen-year-old just nodded and stood awkwardly at the door. Taichi rolled his eyes at the sudden shyness and patted the open spot on his bed. "Sit down, Melon Head," and the other did, his steps timid and his eyes taking cautious glances at Taichi as if looking too much may break him. Once he sat down, Kohaku began to play with the decorative strap on his mobile. A nervous habit, Taichi knew. They sat like that for a few minutes before Taichi leaned forward as much as he could without feeling the ache of his shoulder where a stab wound was scarring over. "Kohaku, they told me."

"Huh?" The colorful male looked at him with suspicion.

"They told me, y'know, that you were the one who found me," Taichi took away the mobile out of annoyance.

"Oh, yeah..." Kohaku lowered his gaze again. "That's why I'm here, alright? To make sure you--"

"Weren't dead?" Taichi assumed but was surprised when his friend shook his head.

"To make sure you didn't look like that anymore," he whispered and looked Taichi in the eyes. "I had to make sure. The nightmares wouldn't stop until I knew for sure. You don't understand what I saw was something straight out of those cheap horror flicks Unkei likes to show all the time. To see that...scene with your face," and he wasn't able to continue, tears choosing to silence him instead.

Taichi was at a lost. What was he supposed to do now? They didn't exactly have this conversation every day and it took all of Taichi's willpower not to panic at hearing and seeing the other's reaction. Hesitantly, the soccer captain pulled Kohaku close in an attempt to calm his friend down.

"It's okay, Melon Head, I'm fine now thanks to you," Taichi whispered out and Kohaku pulled away with a smile on his face while he wiped away tears.

"I'm sorry for doing that," he chuckled, "I shouldn't have reacted like that." Before Taichi could protest he switched the subject, "so, has Adonis stopped by?"

"Adonis?" Taichi tilted his head, confused.

"You know," Kohaku, now recovered in favor of teasing Taichi, smirked knowingly at the other, "Yamato Ishida. The blonde haired, blue eyed god." The smirk turned into a satisfied grin at Taichi's shock, not remembering when Yamato had come into The Theater to corner him. "And why didn't you tell me it was Yamato Ishida? The leader of one of Tokyo's most popular bands? A singer...my, my Taichi you sure can pick them."

"Shut up," Taichi muttered, wary of the other's foul mouth and what may come out of it next. Sure enough, the green haired male said something that turned Taichi several different shades of red.

"Seriously, you've heard how wonderful that voice is. Imagine it screaming out your name?" Kohaku was instantly the target of a certain flying mobile phone. He laughed before shaking his head. "I wish you the best of luck with him."

"What?" Now if that wasn't expected...

"I mean, you really do love him, don't you?" Kohaku smiled softly. "It's like a fairy tale, especially since your feelings have only grown since... since..." he frowned, "when did you fall in love with him?"

"I can't really say exactly when I fell in love with him. Yama, that is." Taichi ignored the 'well duh' look sent his way and continued. Kohaku watched as the other seemed to go off into a world of his eyes, his eyes gaining a strange look to them. He didn't really pay much attention to what the other was saying till a particular phrase caught his attention. "I hurt a lot of people because I just let it all build up, and then it was too late." Silence reigned the room before the gravity of the last sentence hit both occupants.

"What was too late? Who exactly are you talking about, Chi?" Kohaku asked hastily, a thought striking his mind. 'Does he remember now?' The doctors said that his memory might come back soon when he was ready to cope, sure, but this soon?

Taichi looked at Kohaku like it was the most obvious thing in the world and was about to say just that when he realized, "I don't know. I--I can't remember." Taichi said softly, frustration washing over him at the fact that he still couldn't remember. He mentally went through what he'd just said and had a feeling that he was referring to something extremely important but couldn't remember what. Then the feeling of eyes watching him got to him and he looked up to realized what he'd just said to his former boyfriend.

"Sorry I shouldn't have said that." Taichi combed back his hair with a delicate hand. "And the snowball theory thing was stupid anyway. I mean, I know how you feel about me and then I go and say that. I guess I can be pretty insensitive sometimes without realizing it," he saw Kohaku attempting to protest but shook it off, "No, stop, don't say anything. You know it's true and I know it's true. I have a bad habit of saying exactly what I think right at that moment without realizing how it'll affect others. I've always been like that, y'know. In fact, that's how I got where I am right now." He stopped short. Another reference to a forgotten fact but again he couldn't figure out what.

Yes, Taichi definitely couldn't wait to get out of the hospital and figure out what the hell was going on.

Later on, Taichi was sitting in bed while staring at the ceiling. He'd never felt so bored in all his life. Not even back in the digital world when they'd been walking in the desert with nothing to do but listen to Mimi rattled off all the food she wanted to eat. He chuckled a little at the memory. 'Cheeseburger, French-fries, hotdogs...'

"Tai?" A voice flittered in from the door. Taichi looked up to see Sora walk in, a cell phone clutched in her hands. With a smile he waved her into the room before she handed him her pink mobile. "It's Mimi."

"Hey, Mimi," Taichi said cheerfully into the phone before she was bombarded with questions. "Woah, calm down! Jeez, I'm no fluent in frantic American."

"Yeah, yeah, funny Tai," Mimi chastised. "Seriously though, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Taichi adjusted himself as to be able to hold the phone properly and not aggravate the tubes helping him breath on his face.

"Okay, good, stay that way," Mimi said rushed, "look, I gotta go I have school tomorrow I only wanted to talk to make sure you're okay besides my parents are telling me it's too late to be talking on the phone anyway time zones really suck when it comes to stuff like this take care love ya buh-bye!" A definite click was heard before Taichi pulled the phone away stared at it horrified.

"Does she ever stop to breathe?" Sora giggled at the comment before taking back her mobile, the crest of love painted prettily on the back.

"So, Tai, what's up?" Sora blushed at the comment she'd just made before shaking her head. "I meant, um, how're you holding up?"

"What's going on?" Taichi leaned forward suspiciously. "You're acting weird, so that means you know something you think I should know..."

"What're you--" Sora flinched at the snort Taichi gave before sighing. "It's not my place to say anything."

"Really?" Taichi bristled slightly at being left out of something but instantly calmed down since he didn't seem to have the energy to protest. "So where's your boyfriend?"

"I don't have one," Sora replied quietly, suddenly interested in the floor tiles.

"What?" Taichi leaned forward again. "But you two have been together for years! When? How? Why?"

"We broke it off on Valentine's Day. I still love him, but I'm not the one that's meant for him, y'know," Sora smiled at Taichi's concerned look. "It's my turn to understand this whole unrequited thing now." Before Taichi could question her sentence, a young doctor by the name of Usabe came in to check up on him. After a few moments of questioning he nodded at the two teens and left the room again.

"That doctor is so cute, don't ya think?" Sora said as she finished appreciating the doctor's exit.

"Whatcha askin' me for?" Taichi looked at her oddly, however he was unable to cover up the blush that spread across his face.

"He's not your type?" Sora asked with an innocent tilt of the head. After making Taichi squirm a few minutes more she finally smiled softly and said, "you told us a while ago."

"Oh," was all Taichi could say before turning back to the door, "nah, the good doctor's too tall for my taste."

And suddenly Taichi felt he had his best friend back, but wasn't quite sure when he lost her. Now the only question was where was he other best friend?

February 19

Taichi was grateful the second he woke up that Wednesday and was told he'd be checked out. His parents, though they would come to sign him out, had to return to their jobs and so Taichi was forced to catch a ride with a friend. Which was where he was right then. In a car with Yamato Ishida who hadn't said one word since they'd driven from the Hospital to the exact parking spot that they were in right that moment. To be honest, Taichi was a little more that nervous at that moment.

"So, how's it going?" Taichi attempted casually while avoiding looking at Yamato.

"You know..." Yamato said softly before turning off the car and staring ahead at the apartment entrance. A few minutes passed between the two males, but Taichi still refused to leave the car. Instead he sat there, waiting for some sort of response from the other. Finally the athlete, after a solid eight seconds of silence, turned and faced Yamato with a determined look.

"What did I do? Did we fight or something?" Taichi said more harshly than he meant. "I'm sorry, whatever it was, but seriously I don't remember a thing!"

"You don't remember at all?" Yamato seemed to be troubled with something, still not meeting his friend's gaze. "Why don't we go somewhere else to talk?"

"What?" Taichi didn't expect that. Usually Yamato wouldn't suggest to 'go somewhere else.' Usually he would expect the same anger to be reflected back, followed by some more physical arguments, then the casualacceptance of whatever just happened. This was just strange. "Uh, sure, I just," he looked down at the clothes he was wearing. "Can I go upstairs to change? My mom didn't exactly pick out the best thing for me to wear." It was true. Taichi's mother, in her haste to retrieve clothes from his room for him to wear home in, had chosen a mix between his school uniform shirt and some old sweats he used for soccer practice. It wasn't something that Taichi was ready to face the public with.

"Oh, yeah sure," Yamato said submissively while still fiddling with the steering wheel. Taichi got a little frustrated.

"What the hell do you wanna talk to me about?" Taichi snapped before forcing Yamato to face him. "Tell me, you bi--" The brunette began to wonder where the hell between 'what' and 'big idiot' did his words get mashed between his mouth and Yamato's.

"That, okay?" Yamato pulled away abruptly, a strange expression on his face, before resuming his fiddling of the steering wheel. "Hurry up and change, okay?"

"Uh...huh? Oh, yeah, I'll just," Taichi tried, dazed and confused, before getting out of the car and almost succeeding in shutting his hand in the door on accident. He took a few steps towards the apartment entrance before the gravity of the situation hit him.

'Yama just kissed me. YAMA just KISSED me!' He quickened his step. 'Wait…does that mean that he wants to kiss me again? Is that what he meant by talking? Did he mean that he wants to make out with me?' He didn't realize that he was running to the elevator by this point. 'Did we hook up? No, Sora said they only just broke up...' Taichi rushed into the newly available elevator and pressed his floor number repeatedly. 'We didn't have some affair with each other, like in those shoujo mangas Hikari reads all the time, did we?' He banged his head against the back of the elevator before gently touching his lips. 'What the hell happened? What am I forgetting?'

Eventually he made it to his room which was, to his immense surprise, the cleanest he'd ever seen it. He dressed in a pair of loose jeans and a long sleeved white shirt that had a German phrase that he didn't know on the back. After reassuring himself that he was dressed to impress for the tenth time in the mirror, he turned to leave only to be stopped by a foreign object on his bed. He stared quizzically at it and was somewhat propelled to investigate it. Something was important about this, he had to know why.

"A photo book?" Taichi asked no one in particular. Inside he found pictures of familiar faces and names. It was the last page that struck a cord of fear in his heart. "What the hell am I doing in here?"

"Why, Darling, because you my King of Hearts," a voice filtered in through the door. Turning around, he discovered the source and was surprised when he knew the strange face standing in front of him.

"Hokichi?"

INTERLUDE: Yamato Got Tired of Waiting…

Yamato was walking swiftly towards the double glass doors of the apartment building when he bumped into them.

"Hey you two," Yamato smiled at Takeru and Hikari, both of which returned the expression.

"Hey, Yamato," Hikari smiled. "Taichi got out today. I just got out of school so I haven't seen him yet."

"Yeah, I'm the one who picked him up," Yamato began walking inside.

"Really? Why are you down here then?" Hikari asked.

"He said he just wanted to change so I decided to wait down here for him," they entered the elevator, "but that was over fifteen minutes ago."

"So, you got worried over him and decided to investigate, right?" Hikari smiled knowingly with Takeru before ignoring Yamato's protests.

A few minutes later, Hikari began to rifle through her book bag for the keys to her apartment only to be stopped by Takeru.

"I don't think you'll need those," Takeru pushed open the door to demonstrate. Hikari was about to question why Taichi left the door open when a crack followed by a loud thud disrupted the otherwise silent apartment. A second later, Taichi Yagami stumbled out of his room, limping on one leg.

"Taichi!" Yamato was instantly at the other's side. "Taichi, what the hell is going on?"

"It wasn't Tamiyo! He framed her! He did it!" Taichi spilled out quickly.

"What are you talking about?" Yamato asked the frantic teen in his arms, his concern increasing each second.

"I remember! I remember everything! It was Hokichi who did it! Hokichi Kyoden is the murderer!"

And then Taichi Yagami's world went blissfully black.

"Darling, how dare you tattle on me," a sweet voice filtered into the room and Hokichi came out a second later, his hazel eyes mad with fatal intent.

"Oh shit," Yamato managed to whisper out into the hallway.

TBC

MUAHAHAHAHAHA! I am the Mistress of Cliffhangers! ahem...time for bed...