Friends this long has to mean something's strong,
So if your old friend's wrong,
Shouldn't an old friend come through?
It's us, old friend. What's to discuss, old friend?
-Stephen Sondheim, Merrily We Roll Along
Yamato still hasn't stopped scowling, Gabumon thinks sadly. They've been back at Yamato's house in Shimane for a few days now, and there's been no improvement. Yamato even scowls in his sleep.
Worse still, he won't talk about it. Gabumon sighs. Yamato has always been difficult, but it seems he's being particularly cantankerous these days. Takeru and Patamon had stopped by yesterday and Yamato had been just plain rude until they'd left. Gabumon had yelled at him a little and he'd even seen a flash of guilt cross Yamato's face at one point. But it hadn't lasted, and Yamato's as cold and closed off as ever today.
Gabumon doesn't understand why Yamato's upset in the first place. It had been pretty obvious that it had to do with Taichi - they'd been glaring at each other the entire time, after all, and both he and Agumon knew that there was something off about their jogress - but what exactly what Yamato thinks Taichi's done Gabumon doesn't know. If it hadn't been for Taichi's breakdown, Gabumon is sure he'd be pretty mad at him right now.
Takeru and Patamon hadn't known much either. They had said it had something to do with Sora, too, but that's not much of a surprise either. After all, Yamato and Sora used to live together.
Gabumon has no clue what to make of human relationships. Yamato and Sora had seemed all right together, but they'd never needed each other in the way that Takeru and Hikari do. Gabumon had always been a little confused by Yamato and Sora, to be honest, because in the Digiworld the two had never been close friends. But he had gotten quite used to Piyomon's company.
Perhaps Taichi and Sora are together now? That would upset Yamato, to be sure, but why would it upset Taichi?
Gabumon sighs and gives up. The best he can do is be here for Yamato when Yamato's ready to talk to him. He knows Yamato appreciates his presence, even if he doesn't show it.
Gabumon's not sure that Shimane's the best atmosphere for Yamato right now, really. The house is nice enough - well, actually, it's stunningly beautiful, and the tree-covered world outside provides quite a retreat. But isolation and retreat are exactly what Yamato doesn't need. When Yamato's left alone, he festers like an open wound.
Before Takeru and Patamon had left, they'd told him that he was a good friend, but Gabumon can't help but wonder. Is he? Or would a really good friend confront Yamato, like Taichi used to, instead of comforting him? Instead of doing his cooking and cleaning up after him like a worried mother hen?
What an uncertain thing life is, Gabumon reflects. And friendship, that's pretty uncertain too.
Later, Gabumon's carefully putting away the dishes he's served a silent Yamato lunch on when a knock comes on the door.
"I'll get it!" Gabumon yells, not because he thinks Yamato will even try to answer it, but rather because he wants Yamato to know he can't just ignore the outside world until it goes away.
Sora, Piyomon, Koushiro and Tentomon are outside. Sora looks nervous, Koushiro looks businesslike, and Piyomon looks glad to see him.
"Hello, everyone!" says Gabumon in his most cheerful voice. "Come on in."
He leads them to the sofa, calling over his shoulder, "I'll get Yamato."
Yamato's lying on the bed in the back bedroom, staring at the ceiling. Gabumon makes sure to close the door behind him.
"It's Sora and Koushiro," he tells his friend.
"I don't want to see them," Yamato says automatically.
"Too bad," says Gabumon. "They came all this way to see you. You can't expect me to tell them to just go home."
"I can do whatever I want," Yamato says in a petulant, childlike voice.
"If you don't come out and talk to them, I'm leaving with them and going back to the Digiworld," says Gabumon matter-of-factly. He doesn't like threatening Yamato, but it's not an idle one. He knows Koushiro is here to set up that computer for Yamato so that he can go to the Digiworld and rejuvenate once a week. No computer, no Gabumon.
"You wouldn't," Yamato says dismissively, but Gabumon detects a note of hesitance in his voice.
"I wouldn't have a choice," Gabumon reminds him. "Now, get up."
This is half his life now, he reflects as Yamato sits up slowly. Ushering Yamato into the shower in the mornings, dragging him out the door to go grocery shopping, pulling him into the kitchen for dinner. It's quite tedious, really.
"Ah, Yamato," says Koushiro when they re-enter the living room. "I've brought one of my extra computers. I'm here to set it up and get you connected to the internet."
Yamato looks extremely worn out, like a toy that has been played with one too many times and then thrown aside. "Oh. Thanks."
"Where do you want it set up?" Koushiro prompts after a minute.
"I don't care," says Yamato, a bit harshly.
Koushiro looks annoyed. "Fine. Do you know where there's a phone jack?"
"Kitchen," grunts Yamato.
Koushiro gathers his stuff and walks out huffily, Tentomon trailing behind, leaving Yamato and Sora in stiff silence.
Eventually Sora breaks it with a question. "What are you so pissed off about anyway?" she asks bluntly.
Yamato can't do anything but splutter indignantly. "What - me - of course I'm pissed off!"
Gabumon is relieved to see that Sora's words seem to have jolted some life into him.
"You have absolutely no right to be angry," Sora says calmly.
Gabumon has a feeling she's trying to provoke him. A look at Piyomon confirms this - she's looking at her partner with that disapproving expression of hers.
Yamato's cold attitude has returned. "I have no right to be angry with the person who stopped talking to me for absolutely no reason and without any attempt at explanation, after being my best friend for nine years?" His voice is flat, almost monotone.
"Did you ever think that maybe he has a reason?" Sora cuts in, her voice soft but still sharp, like a slightly dulled knife.
Yamato glares at her balefully. "Does he?"
Suddenly, Sora's face shifts. "Yes," she says, without hesitating, but Gabumon knows Yamato won't believe her.
"What is it, then?" he shoots back immediately, crossing his arms over his chest. His stance is confrontational, yet still closed off.
Sora sighs. "I can't tell you that, Yamato. It's not my place."
Yamato nods. "He has no reason," he says conclusively, clinically. He is so detached, Gabumon thinks sadly. He is like an empty shell.
"You don't really think that," says Sora dismissively.
"Don't try to tell me what I think," Yamato says flatly.
"Someone has to!" Sora barks, her frustration flashing suddenly across her face. "Look, I know how hard it is for you to deal with your feelings -"
She breaks off, probably because of the look on Yamato's face. Gabumon has not seen Yamato look so angry in years.
"You dare - " he starts. His voice is dark and viscous with rage. "You actually presume - "
"You know Taichi has a reason," Sora interrupts, her voice slightly louder than Yamato's but firm and steady. "You just can't admit that you're scared to know what it is. You can't admit that you're scared that Taichi never really cared about you, that you're afraid that you were never good enough for him - "
"Get out of my house."
Yamato does not yell, he does not shout. Yet there is a finality to the statement, a finality that even Gabumon, who is Yamato's most loyal friend, would be forced to heed if it were directed at him. It is not a veiled threat, nor a command, but somehow a fact. Sora has to leave.
She looks at him, runs a tired hand through her hair, and sighs. Piyomon, next to her, nestles a reassuring pink-feathered wing into Sora's other hand.
"Okay," Sora says finally, resigned. "But just let me say this."
She pauses, as if gathering herself, and gazes momentarily around the room at the sparse and dusty furniture. Her eyes meet Gabumon's for an instant, and she gives him a strained and almost imperceptible smile. Then she looks back at Yamato, her gaze unwavering.
"I know Taichi hurt you," she eventually says softly. "I just want you to realize that you've hurt him too."
Gabumon glances sharply back at Yamato, in time to catch the astonished look that flashes across his face. He does not reply.
"That's all," says Sora. She looks apologetic, now, and the sunlight that slants through the living room windows and flashes off her hair, bright amber and gold, makes her look suddenly matronly and warm. "Please come home to Tokyo, when you're ready. We all miss you."
Yamato does not move, does not even blink. He is still as a statue, immobile in both mind and body.
"Goodbye, Gabumon," says Sora, almost sorrowfully, and then Piyomon detaches herself from Sora's hanging hand and throws herself at Gabumon. Startled, Gabumon wraps his arms around her, carefully, watchful of his own claws.
"You're a good partner," she whispers so that neither human can hear, her beak click-click-clicking next to his ear. "Don't worry, he'll come around."
Gabumon starts, then lets his face relax into a smile. Piyomon knows him so very well - she's guessed exactly what's bothering him, and as always she knows exactly the right thing to say.
"Thanks," he says, "see you in the Digiworld," and then they are both gone in a sudden whirl of pink and blue feathers and red-gold hair.
The door clicks shut, and Gabumon is left alone with Yamato, who immediately collapses onto the sofa and recommences his previous practice of staring fiercely at nothing at all.
Gabumon sighs. He is a calm and well-disposed Digimon by nature, which is probably why he and Yamato work so well together in the first place, but sometimes. Sometimes Yamato and his melodrama is a bit much for even the calmest of Digimon.