So Close, So Far
By Firenze
Part 2: 'Emotional Frenzy'
The pair of them had lightened up and relaxed after some time, still walking down the street in the heavy rain. Taichi had tried to offer Sora his jacket, but she refused, saying how cold he would be. She won their argument, but in the end, he just took his jacket off and threw it around her. They were still holding hands too.
"If they didn't know any better, someone would think we were a couple," Sora stated.
Taichi couldn't figure out the emotion behind her voice. Either he hadn't been around Sora for so long that he had forgotten how to perceive her feelings, she was being a complete deadpan, or most likely, both. 'Have I forgotten my best friend?' he thought. He looked at Sora's pretty face, studying every curve and contour, the shape of her nose, her soft pink lips, her ruby eyes that could be either gentle or fiery. It was odd the way every part of her seemed so familiar, and yet, so completely alien. The question that was in his mind: when did Sora become so pretty? 'I really don't know my own best friend! ...Well...my old best friend, anyway. Are we still friends now?' Then he suddenly realized he had just been thinking Sora was pretty. 'What's gotten into me?! It isn't Sora, I think I've forgotten *myself*!'
"Taichi. Taichi? Taichi!" Sora yelled, waving her free hand in front of his face. When he finally snapped out of it, she rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Are you daydreaming or something?"
"Yeah," he said automatically, not quite paying attention. Seconds later, after thinking it over, he shook his head vigorously. "I mean, no!"
She giggled, her eyes and entire face lighting up. "Now you're the uneasy one. What's the matter?"
"I was just thinking... Not daydreaming!" he added hastily. "But...I dunno. I just can't shake this weird feeling. Like I've forgotten you."
Sora clasped Taichi's hand a little more tightly. They walked on more, and then she looked up at him. Her eyes met his own, and they stopped. The intensity that came just from looking into each other's eyes was frightening, and she looked away quickly, her face red. "What do you mean you've forgotten me?"
"I dunno..." No matter how he tried to rephrase it, nothing sounded right. He just couldn't put into words what he felt. How could you explain color to someone who had been blind their entire life? "Just...never mind." And surprisingly, she didn't protest or beg him to go on. The rest of their walk was in silence, until they reached Sora's home.
Sora pulled out her key and put it in the lock. Just about the turn it, she looked at Taichi. "I don't think my mom is home. She's probably still at work."
"Your mom never liked me anyway," he said, and Sora gasped.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, surprised. Her eyebrows were raised, and her expression was one of unmistakable shock. "She doesn't hate you!"
"Seems like it," he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets.
She left her key in the keyhole and took both of Taichi's hands away from his pockets and into her hands. "Trust me, my mom does not hate you. If she did, I wouldn't let her hate you. But I don't have to convince her otherwise, because she doesn't hate you, all right? I mean, if my mom hates any boys I hang out with, she hates Yamato--" The grin faded from her face as quickly as the noise died. Her hands flew to her mouth, and then she whipped around and concentrated intensely on the simple task of turning the key and opening the door. Because of manners, she let Taichi in first, but seemed to ignore him afterwards.
She kicked off her shoes, handed him back his jacket, and bustled into her house, leaving a trail of water on the floor. Taichi remained on the doormat he was making sopping wet, not wanting to wet anything or ruin the Takenouchi home. So he was stranded there like he was marooned on an island, as Sora disappeared into the depths of her house. She came back a while later, wearing a pair of dry clothes, her hair neatly combed, and looking refreshed. But she hadn't been thinking entirely about herself. In her arms were towels and a pair of extra clothes.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," she told him, panting. "I've forgotten all my good hostess etiquette. But here, I brought you some towels. You can take a nice hot shower if you want, you're probably really sick. And I have some clothes here -- I'm sure they won't fit you at all... They're yours, actually... You left them the last time you were here..."
"So those are probably from sixth grade or so," he said.
Sora nodded uncomfortably. "Well yeah, it has been a long time since you've been to my house."
There was a very pregnant pause.
"Well, I'll see if it can't fit," he offered anyhow, shattering the stillness. "I mean, it's been a few years and I've grown a little--"
"A lot," Sora said simultaneously as him.
"--But I guess I could just try..."
"I can go look and see if we have any other clothes here that would fit you, if you want," she suggested, "while you take a shower. If worst comes to worst, we can always just dry your clothes."
"What would I wear then?" he asked before thinking that over in his head. Both of them turned a brilliantly bright shade of crimson.
"Well here's your towel," she said to end the mortifying moment, and handed Taichi the towel. His hands brushed hers as he took it, and it obviously wasn't inadvertently, but Sora did her best to pretend not to notice. "You gonna take a shower?"
"No, I'm fine," he said. "I'll just dry myself off."
"You sure?"
His teeth had been chattering; though not as noticeably until now, so he clamped his jaw down. "Fine," he said through clenched teeth, clutching the towel tightly and trying not to tremble. Where he had so easily hid his worsening cold earlier, he now found it impossible.
"Taichi, you're shivering!" she cried out, dashing to his side. She took the towel back and tossed it around his shoulders. Without realizing what she was doing, she began to dry off the beads of water on his skin. Her actions were gentle and compassionate, and not in any way romantic, but it was rather awkward between them. Again, if any unknowing bystander witnessed this, it would seem like a very idealistic moment the two of them were sharing. It was one of those conditions that would seem very uncompromising if a parent or significant other appeared. But neither of them tried to stop it from happening.
Soon the only sounds left were their heavy breathing, as Sora brought a portion of the towel up to Taichi's face. She dabbed carefully at his cheek, swiped the towel across his forehead, and tried to rid his skin of any droplets. Their faces were only inches apart as she inspected closely to make sure there were no more wet spots... She hurriedly started to dry the area behind his ears to move further away, but in doing so, she had only moved even closer. Taichi, who was becoming increasingly nervous, closed his eyes, not believing at all what was happening between the two of them. It seemed like some surreal fantasy...but it was indeed reality. Sora started to move to his other side, when their noses bumped into each other.
Sora froze, leaving their faces still almost pressed together. "What am I doing?" she whispered to herself. However, their close proximity made her hushed tone just the right volume for speaking to another person literally only millimeters away.
"I wanted to ask the same thing," Taichi replied, as their lips brushed. He moved forward one centimeter, and their lips were pressed against each other. Nothing further happened at the time being...as both weighed out the consequences of this action in their heads. Neither could fully decide.
'I want to do this... Look, I'm so close to doing it, I might as well... But Sora--' He broke off his thoughts and struggled to clear his mind, not wanting to think about what he almost had. He had to keep a clear mind and just act, like he often did in bursts of courage, but frantic second thoughts kept popping up. His bravery had faded through the years, even if in danger he could still become his lion-hearted self. But when it came to moments of romance and passion...he drew a complete blank, and was more nervous than Wormmon in the presence of the former Digimon Kaiser.
Sora faced the same problem, but there was something more, something deeper, something that left her entirely committed... Her reaction should have been to push Taichi off her and refuse, so why wasn't it? She found this one of the hardest decisions to make in such a short allotted moment of time.
"I shouldn't be doing this," she said, trying to sort out her thoughts aloud, but she still found her mind arguing with her heart. After all, in her heart, she genuinely wanted to do it. But her mind, her conscience kept telling her otherwise. She couldn't do it, she just couldn't... Of course, like any girl, she'd kill to kiss Taichi... But she knew she would deeply regret it. Well, it wasn't like they hadn't kissed before, she reasoned... But at that time, it didn't mean anything. They were just two naive, curious kids who had always wondered what it was like. There was no love behind that kiss...but it did make their relationship develop into something a little more.
If high school hadn't caused them to split, they would have definitely been going out. And there was nothing wrong with that at all. But that fact was, it hadn't happened that way. It wasn't that way at all. They were not together, though they might as well have been a couple by the way the sparks flew and fireworks went off when they were together -- today, for example, they just came onto speaking terms after four or five years, and suddenly, less than an hour later, their faces were against each other and their lips touching, their minds made up, just about to kiss...
When the phone rang.
Sora chose not to answer it. She and Taichi had backed up a little bit from each other, but she did not make any attempt to move closer to the phone. She had no idea who it could have been, but honestly, she didn't care, only at the fact that whoever it was ruining her and Taichi's meant-to-be romantic moment, right as they had just made their choice. After some time, and many annoying rings, the answering machine picked it up. Sora held her breath and crossed her fingers -- but it was the exact person she hadn't wanted it to be.
"Hey, Sora, it's me... I know you're home right now. Look, I'm really sorry I kept you waiting... I hope you weren't in the rain. Practice just ran extra long... Our drummer caught the flu and we've had a replacement drummer, but we have to practice all the songs we thought we had down perfect... I hope you understand. I don't know how I can make it up to you... I know we were supposed to do something you wanted to do today... I ran over to the soccer field straight after practice, even through the rain, but no one was there but Daisuke and Ken, and they said that you left with Taichi.
"I have to admit, at first, I got kind of jealous... I guess it's just a boyfriend thing. But I trust Taichi. Are you guys talking again? That's great. I'm so sorry about what I said when we first started dating... That I never wanted you to see Taichi again... I guess I was just worried, because you two had always seemed like the perfect couple in the Digiworld... But I know you two are just friends. I'm sorry for being so jealous and a typical suspicious boyfriend figure...
"Well, I think this must be the world's longest message... Can you just pick up the phone and talk to me? I really need to hear your voice... I know my voice sounds weird, but after singing so much, my throat hurts... I'll cut this message short then. Just call me as soon as you get the chance, or whenever you want to...whatever. I'm just looking forward to hearing from you. You know I can't apologize enough about what happened... Well. Love you." 'Beep!'
Taichi stared into Sora's eyes. Chocolate brown and cinnamon clashed together... There wasn't any words the two rekindled friends could say... The ghostly stillness was all around them. Only the faint echoes of Yamato's voice were what could be heard in their minds... The sensation was intense and deep and between Taichi and Sora, making them feel so many diverse emotions all mixed together at the exact same time... Thoughts, worries, regrets, anguish, fury, confusion, and pain were throwing their hearts and minds into an absolute frenzy... They just stared into each other's eyes, the windows to one's soul...and discovered so much more than they ever thought they could from that act... It was a very contradictory lapse in time, as seconds raced by so rapidly, and yet the instant dragged on so slowly; as it was so strangely silent and tranquil, but complete chaos was raging... And time itself stood still.
End - Part 2
By Firenze
Part 2: 'Emotional Frenzy'
The pair of them had lightened up and relaxed after some time, still walking down the street in the heavy rain. Taichi had tried to offer Sora his jacket, but she refused, saying how cold he would be. She won their argument, but in the end, he just took his jacket off and threw it around her. They were still holding hands too.
"If they didn't know any better, someone would think we were a couple," Sora stated.
Taichi couldn't figure out the emotion behind her voice. Either he hadn't been around Sora for so long that he had forgotten how to perceive her feelings, she was being a complete deadpan, or most likely, both. 'Have I forgotten my best friend?' he thought. He looked at Sora's pretty face, studying every curve and contour, the shape of her nose, her soft pink lips, her ruby eyes that could be either gentle or fiery. It was odd the way every part of her seemed so familiar, and yet, so completely alien. The question that was in his mind: when did Sora become so pretty? 'I really don't know my own best friend! ...Well...my old best friend, anyway. Are we still friends now?' Then he suddenly realized he had just been thinking Sora was pretty. 'What's gotten into me?! It isn't Sora, I think I've forgotten *myself*!'
"Taichi. Taichi? Taichi!" Sora yelled, waving her free hand in front of his face. When he finally snapped out of it, she rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Are you daydreaming or something?"
"Yeah," he said automatically, not quite paying attention. Seconds later, after thinking it over, he shook his head vigorously. "I mean, no!"
She giggled, her eyes and entire face lighting up. "Now you're the uneasy one. What's the matter?"
"I was just thinking... Not daydreaming!" he added hastily. "But...I dunno. I just can't shake this weird feeling. Like I've forgotten you."
Sora clasped Taichi's hand a little more tightly. They walked on more, and then she looked up at him. Her eyes met his own, and they stopped. The intensity that came just from looking into each other's eyes was frightening, and she looked away quickly, her face red. "What do you mean you've forgotten me?"
"I dunno..." No matter how he tried to rephrase it, nothing sounded right. He just couldn't put into words what he felt. How could you explain color to someone who had been blind their entire life? "Just...never mind." And surprisingly, she didn't protest or beg him to go on. The rest of their walk was in silence, until they reached Sora's home.
Sora pulled out her key and put it in the lock. Just about the turn it, she looked at Taichi. "I don't think my mom is home. She's probably still at work."
"Your mom never liked me anyway," he said, and Sora gasped.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, surprised. Her eyebrows were raised, and her expression was one of unmistakable shock. "She doesn't hate you!"
"Seems like it," he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets.
She left her key in the keyhole and took both of Taichi's hands away from his pockets and into her hands. "Trust me, my mom does not hate you. If she did, I wouldn't let her hate you. But I don't have to convince her otherwise, because she doesn't hate you, all right? I mean, if my mom hates any boys I hang out with, she hates Yamato--" The grin faded from her face as quickly as the noise died. Her hands flew to her mouth, and then she whipped around and concentrated intensely on the simple task of turning the key and opening the door. Because of manners, she let Taichi in first, but seemed to ignore him afterwards.
She kicked off her shoes, handed him back his jacket, and bustled into her house, leaving a trail of water on the floor. Taichi remained on the doormat he was making sopping wet, not wanting to wet anything or ruin the Takenouchi home. So he was stranded there like he was marooned on an island, as Sora disappeared into the depths of her house. She came back a while later, wearing a pair of dry clothes, her hair neatly combed, and looking refreshed. But she hadn't been thinking entirely about herself. In her arms were towels and a pair of extra clothes.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," she told him, panting. "I've forgotten all my good hostess etiquette. But here, I brought you some towels. You can take a nice hot shower if you want, you're probably really sick. And I have some clothes here -- I'm sure they won't fit you at all... They're yours, actually... You left them the last time you were here..."
"So those are probably from sixth grade or so," he said.
Sora nodded uncomfortably. "Well yeah, it has been a long time since you've been to my house."
There was a very pregnant pause.
"Well, I'll see if it can't fit," he offered anyhow, shattering the stillness. "I mean, it's been a few years and I've grown a little--"
"A lot," Sora said simultaneously as him.
"--But I guess I could just try..."
"I can go look and see if we have any other clothes here that would fit you, if you want," she suggested, "while you take a shower. If worst comes to worst, we can always just dry your clothes."
"What would I wear then?" he asked before thinking that over in his head. Both of them turned a brilliantly bright shade of crimson.
"Well here's your towel," she said to end the mortifying moment, and handed Taichi the towel. His hands brushed hers as he took it, and it obviously wasn't inadvertently, but Sora did her best to pretend not to notice. "You gonna take a shower?"
"No, I'm fine," he said. "I'll just dry myself off."
"You sure?"
His teeth had been chattering; though not as noticeably until now, so he clamped his jaw down. "Fine," he said through clenched teeth, clutching the towel tightly and trying not to tremble. Where he had so easily hid his worsening cold earlier, he now found it impossible.
"Taichi, you're shivering!" she cried out, dashing to his side. She took the towel back and tossed it around his shoulders. Without realizing what she was doing, she began to dry off the beads of water on his skin. Her actions were gentle and compassionate, and not in any way romantic, but it was rather awkward between them. Again, if any unknowing bystander witnessed this, it would seem like a very idealistic moment the two of them were sharing. It was one of those conditions that would seem very uncompromising if a parent or significant other appeared. But neither of them tried to stop it from happening.
Soon the only sounds left were their heavy breathing, as Sora brought a portion of the towel up to Taichi's face. She dabbed carefully at his cheek, swiped the towel across his forehead, and tried to rid his skin of any droplets. Their faces were only inches apart as she inspected closely to make sure there were no more wet spots... She hurriedly started to dry the area behind his ears to move further away, but in doing so, she had only moved even closer. Taichi, who was becoming increasingly nervous, closed his eyes, not believing at all what was happening between the two of them. It seemed like some surreal fantasy...but it was indeed reality. Sora started to move to his other side, when their noses bumped into each other.
Sora froze, leaving their faces still almost pressed together. "What am I doing?" she whispered to herself. However, their close proximity made her hushed tone just the right volume for speaking to another person literally only millimeters away.
"I wanted to ask the same thing," Taichi replied, as their lips brushed. He moved forward one centimeter, and their lips were pressed against each other. Nothing further happened at the time being...as both weighed out the consequences of this action in their heads. Neither could fully decide.
'I want to do this... Look, I'm so close to doing it, I might as well... But Sora--' He broke off his thoughts and struggled to clear his mind, not wanting to think about what he almost had. He had to keep a clear mind and just act, like he often did in bursts of courage, but frantic second thoughts kept popping up. His bravery had faded through the years, even if in danger he could still become his lion-hearted self. But when it came to moments of romance and passion...he drew a complete blank, and was more nervous than Wormmon in the presence of the former Digimon Kaiser.
Sora faced the same problem, but there was something more, something deeper, something that left her entirely committed... Her reaction should have been to push Taichi off her and refuse, so why wasn't it? She found this one of the hardest decisions to make in such a short allotted moment of time.
"I shouldn't be doing this," she said, trying to sort out her thoughts aloud, but she still found her mind arguing with her heart. After all, in her heart, she genuinely wanted to do it. But her mind, her conscience kept telling her otherwise. She couldn't do it, she just couldn't... Of course, like any girl, she'd kill to kiss Taichi... But she knew she would deeply regret it. Well, it wasn't like they hadn't kissed before, she reasoned... But at that time, it didn't mean anything. They were just two naive, curious kids who had always wondered what it was like. There was no love behind that kiss...but it did make their relationship develop into something a little more.
If high school hadn't caused them to split, they would have definitely been going out. And there was nothing wrong with that at all. But that fact was, it hadn't happened that way. It wasn't that way at all. They were not together, though they might as well have been a couple by the way the sparks flew and fireworks went off when they were together -- today, for example, they just came onto speaking terms after four or five years, and suddenly, less than an hour later, their faces were against each other and their lips touching, their minds made up, just about to kiss...
When the phone rang.
Sora chose not to answer it. She and Taichi had backed up a little bit from each other, but she did not make any attempt to move closer to the phone. She had no idea who it could have been, but honestly, she didn't care, only at the fact that whoever it was ruining her and Taichi's meant-to-be romantic moment, right as they had just made their choice. After some time, and many annoying rings, the answering machine picked it up. Sora held her breath and crossed her fingers -- but it was the exact person she hadn't wanted it to be.
"Hey, Sora, it's me... I know you're home right now. Look, I'm really sorry I kept you waiting... I hope you weren't in the rain. Practice just ran extra long... Our drummer caught the flu and we've had a replacement drummer, but we have to practice all the songs we thought we had down perfect... I hope you understand. I don't know how I can make it up to you... I know we were supposed to do something you wanted to do today... I ran over to the soccer field straight after practice, even through the rain, but no one was there but Daisuke and Ken, and they said that you left with Taichi.
"I have to admit, at first, I got kind of jealous... I guess it's just a boyfriend thing. But I trust Taichi. Are you guys talking again? That's great. I'm so sorry about what I said when we first started dating... That I never wanted you to see Taichi again... I guess I was just worried, because you two had always seemed like the perfect couple in the Digiworld... But I know you two are just friends. I'm sorry for being so jealous and a typical suspicious boyfriend figure...
"Well, I think this must be the world's longest message... Can you just pick up the phone and talk to me? I really need to hear your voice... I know my voice sounds weird, but after singing so much, my throat hurts... I'll cut this message short then. Just call me as soon as you get the chance, or whenever you want to...whatever. I'm just looking forward to hearing from you. You know I can't apologize enough about what happened... Well. Love you." 'Beep!'
Taichi stared into Sora's eyes. Chocolate brown and cinnamon clashed together... There wasn't any words the two rekindled friends could say... The ghostly stillness was all around them. Only the faint echoes of Yamato's voice were what could be heard in their minds... The sensation was intense and deep and between Taichi and Sora, making them feel so many diverse emotions all mixed together at the exact same time... Thoughts, worries, regrets, anguish, fury, confusion, and pain were throwing their hearts and minds into an absolute frenzy... They just stared into each other's eyes, the windows to one's soul...and discovered so much more than they ever thought they could from that act... It was a very contradictory lapse in time, as seconds raced by so rapidly, and yet the instant dragged on so slowly; as it was so strangely silent and tranquil, but complete chaos was raging... And time itself stood still.
End - Part 2