Author's Notes: Hiya! Back home as you can tell. Anyways. This chapter goes out to my readers who wanted the evolution of the Taiora relationship. Hope you enjoy.
Oh and by the way. For those of you who noticed... and didn't notice: I changed my name. For good this time. Oh.. and the way you pronounce it is in my profile. ^_^.
A Devil's Halo: Part Six
'Meeting Mom'
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"Wake up," said an annoyingly familiar voice, over Tai's head.
He groaned, then sat up on his bed and stared blankly at his puppet. "What the hell do you want?" he asked, obviously angered at her intrusion on his wonderfully comfortable sleep.
"I'm only a normal average human who needs education and money in order to survive, and well... If I can't work and get paid I might as well have you kill me because I couldn't support myself... and pay for my college tuition fee-" Sora began blabbing.
"Just get to the point," Tai quickly said, before she could recite the whole unedited version of 'Romeo and Juliet'.
"I have to go to work," Sora said, quickly.
"So...?"
"That means that I can't do any 'dirty work' for you...sire."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear the last part, and ask you why the hell you told me this?" Tai asked. He just wanted more sleep.
"I just thought that you might think that I would have to... Eh eh.... Ahhh... Well it was just a little warning that I thought I should tell you before I leave... Just in case you pester my mom for my whereabouts-" Sora began again, slowing walking backwards out of Tai's room.
He suddenly smiled and looked up at her. "I'm coming with you then." He caught on to what she thought he would do... her mistake. Now he would just have to annoy her even more and follow her around.
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"Where exactly do you work?" Tai asked, as the pair walked down the sidewalk.
Sora was still in a gloomy mood for letting her mouth run off like that. She promised herself to never, ever let that happen again. "Hmph!" was her reply.
"Do you really think it's wise to ignore me like this?" Tai asked with a cocky tone of voice.
Sora kept her eyes ahead of her, restraining herself from yelling and slapping him.
Just then, he poked her. "You didn't forget that I can kill you, now did you?" he asked.
Sora turned away from him, and crossed the street to the next block.
Tai poked her again. He was just about to pull a double, when Sora suddenly grabbed his hand, and squeezed. "Do that again. Go ahead. I dare you," she said menacingly, her eyes full of contempt.
Tai smiled, and wrenched him hand away from hers. He poked her again. Everything else happened so fast. Sora looked up into the sky, and mouthed 'sorry', before she raised her fist. Tai was knocked backwards on to his behind.
"Shit! Why you little-" Tai said, standing back up, and advancing towards her. When she wanted something to stop, she meant it.
"We're here," Sora interrupted. She had a smile plastered on her face for what she did.
Tai just rubbed his injured cheek, and followed Sora into a building called 'Cre Oe'. He shrugged. What the hell kid of place was this? Who calls buildings Cre Oe's? How do you even say that? He sighed... 'Oh well... at least that's five sins now.' he thought happily.
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When the two walked through the rusted double doors, Sora walked over to the counter, pointed over at Tai, and disappeared into a room.
Tai sat down on a chair that must have been about a thousand years old. There was hardly a cushion. In fact, it was just mostly the sponge that stuck out. Practically the rest of the couch was missing. In place of the parts, were huge holes. Tai shifted uncomfortably, noticing the musty smell, and the dust as he flopped down on it from the start. He stood up quickly, dusting himself off. 'What kind of a shit hole is this?' he thought.
"Wear this," Sora said, as she handed Tai a white garment.
Tai jumped in surprise. He didn't even see her come out. He then quickly calmed down... a little. "What the hell's this?" he asked, staring blankly at the clothing.
"It's just so the workers won't ask you to leave the building. Just put it on... unless you want me to go free for today?" she asked hopefully.
Tai grabbed it, and Sora pointed to a grubby little room that he could change in. He read 'En's'. He supposed that it was meant to say 'Men's'.
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As the two walked through the building, the thought about what the building was called, crawled back to him. 'Sora should know.' he thought. "By the way..." Tai began.
Sora looked over his way, and paused her walking.
"What does... uh... 'Cre Oe' mean? Did I say it right?"
Sora smiled. Her smiled turned into a light, amused laughter. For some odd reason, Tai wasn't angry that she was laughing at him. In fact, he was surprised to admit to himself that he seemed to enjoy the sound of her laughter. 'Might just be the dust.' he thought, and brushed the feeling of enjoyment away.
"It's supposed to say 'Care Home', but the 'a', 'h', and 'm' fell off years ago."
"Why didn't anyone bother to fix it? And what's up with this place? If it's a care home, why don't the workers care for the people in the home? If they did, they would bother to clean this place up. It's almost as bad as hell," Tai said, as he looked around at the pale sunlight, trying to shine through the blinds that were still shut, although it was a beautiful day outside.
Sora just shrugged, and the two continued on.
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The door Sora opened was one of very few rooms with newly painted doors. When Tai walked inside, he instantly caught a whiff of what smelled like roses. The smell was all too familiar. The room wasn't all too shabby. In fact, it could have been the best room in that whole building. It had fresh wall paper, and there was a neat little bed at the corner. There was a woman seated near a sliding glass door, leading to a porch.
"I have to leave," Tai said, getting irritated by the smell. It was nice, but it brought back memories of his mother. The only family member alive when he committed suicide.
"No. You can't leave this room, until I do, or they'll just kick you out. You may have the clothes, but you don't have the ID. Anyways... what's wrong?" Sora asked, as she lead Tai to a beautiful velvet covered couch. A very familiar velvet couch.
Tai's eyes widened in horror. Was this woman...?
"I'll be right back.. I'll get you a glass of water," Sora said, walking over to a crystal pitcher sitting on top of a chestnut drawer. Sora walked back over to him, handed him the water, and proceeded to the old woman sitting on her lounging chair. "Good morning Mrs. Yagami," she said, bowing for respect.
"Sora." The woman addressed her rather harsh.
"Is there anything that I can do for you today ma'am?"
"No... Wait- Yes. There is," the woman said.
Sora's face showed surprised, probably meaning that the woman hardly gave her anything to do. "What would it be ma'am?" Sora asked, keeping her voice soft, kind, and polite.
The woman turned to Sora with a gentle smile on her face, as she picked up a beautiful crystal glass, filled with water. She brought it up to her lips, but stopped. Instead, she threw the cup towards Sora's direction. Sora had the time to duck.
"Get out! Get out of my face you wench!!!" the old woman spat. Sora crept back towards Tai's end of the room, and she touched him lightly on the arm, motioning him to follow her out of the door.
When the two came out, Tai and Sora heard muffled cries. "He was about your age..." "He died... left me alone..." "I hate you Sora... I hate..." "I want my baby back..."
Tai stiffened, and he strode towards the elevators. "We have to go. You heard the woman, she wants to be left alone."
Sora just stared at the door woefully, before turning her back to it, and walking towards Tai and the elevators.
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Sora couldn't leave her job, until the end of dinner, which was about at seven, so the two walked around the cherry blossom-filled courtyard. It was the second area in that building that wasn't an eye sore.
Sora sat down on a bench, and Tai followed her.
"She lost a son you know," she said, as she intertwined her fingers.
Tai just stared blankly forward. He didn't want to hear this, but if he said something, Sora would be suspicious. The last thing he wanted was for her to know that the woman was his mother.
"He killed himself one night. She lost her daughter first from an incurable sickness... then she lost her husband because of a stupid drunk driver. Losing her son to suicide was the last straw," Sora said, as she pulled her fingers apart from each other, and rested them on her lap. "She tried marrying again, but it didn't work out. She would always yell at her husband, and their marriage was never consummated, so after just a couple of months, she filed for annulment. The rest of her younger years were spent doing drugs. She got pregnant about three more times, but she always aborted the child. After that, she ran away from that life, and she was found wandering the dark streets by cops. When they said that they would give her shelter, she refused, and tried to run away from them. They sent her to a mental hospital for thirty one years. When she came out, she was sent here."
Tai looked down. He did this to her. He did this to his own mother. Now he realized that when he went to hell, it probably wasn't just because of the fact that he committed suicide. It was probably also because he made his own mother live through the worst hell possible. Losing her own family very slowly, and then... living a life filled with booze, drugs, and sex. No more love. "Dammit!" Tai yelled out into the open. He clutched his head in his hands, and guilty thoughts began drifting into his brain.
"Tai?" Sora asked. What was wrong with him now? "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Why do you even care? After what I did to you?" Tai asked, looking up at the girl.
Sora shrugged. She was raised that way, always to forgive and forget. "It doesn't matter right now. What's wrong?" she asked. she moved closer to Tai, and rubbed his back awkwardly.
"Nothing, I'm fine," Tai said. He was about to stand up, when Sora pulled him back down on the bench.
"I know you're a sinner, so you must lie a lot, but I can see right through that lie. What's wrong? I can understand that you don't like me, but maybe just telling me what's wrong will help you."
"Don't even bother," he snapped.
Sora moved up to face Tai, eye to eye. "Look. When people keep all their feelings bottled up, they begin to go through this slow emotional breakdown. If too much guilt and sadness invade, then that person will become depressed. After depression, they think that there's nothing good in life anymore, and no one cares about them, and they just want to end their lives."
Tai stared at her strangely. This was exactly the reason why he killed himself.
Sora searched his eyes for any clue as to what was wrong with him.
"How do you know all this?" Tai asked bewildered. "How could a girl like you possibly know how it's like?"
"I'm only human, I get depressed too," Sora said.
Tai was debating on whether or not he should tell her. She was pretty helpful with that whole speech of hers, but telling someone something secret usually just made the people closer. That was the last thing he wanted. But... then again...
Sora looked into his eyes again. "Well...?"
'To tell her, and risk the chance of getting closer to her, or not tell her and risk nothing?' Tai asked himself.
Somehow, he felt that with either choice he made, he would be risking getting closer to this unique, amusing, caring girl. Great, he even listed three reasons of why he felt he would be closer to her. What the hell was wrong with him?
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Author's Notes: Well. This is your next chapter. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe not. Anyways. Hope you enjoyed. Please Review.