corner of the street. Cars zoomed by; people walked down the sidewalk, exercising
themselves or their dogs; children ran down the street in a game of street tag. All of the sounds of the city surrounded Taichi, but he could only think of what would happen to Sora.
He closed his eyes, careful not to wince at the thought. I can't go out with Sora. She's my friend. My best friend. That's all she ever is, and that's all she ever will be. That's all I want... he opened his eyes. But....
Taichi had a flashback. In his head, was the vivid image of the time in the
Digiworld where Sora had been captured by Datamon. He had taken her away. Taichi tried to get to her, but his own cowardliness had stopped him from doing it. It was the force field. He didn't know it could do as much harm to him in the real world as is would do in the Digital World. I just stared at it.... And while I stared, Datamon took her away... He squeezed his eyes shut again.
I need to get her that birthday present... that butterfly, he thought, half-listening to Yamato tell Koushiro, Shigeru, Li, and him about his upcoming gig. I have to show her how much her friendship means to me, and that I'll always be there for her. Just friends. Nothing more. Taichi then felt a warm feeling flood over his heart as he thought about the word. Friends. If we break up.... he amended what he thought. When we break up, we can still be friends. Nothing can change that.
"So, I look in my gym bag, and my soccer ball is deflated!" Li said, making
everyone laugh. Taichi managed a half-hearted smile, even though he had been lost in his own thoughts. He had no idea what they were talking about.
"Well, there she is," Shigeru finally said, suddenly stopping. They were at the
tennis courts where Sora was having her practice. The small, yellow tennis ball bounced back and forth between her and one of her tennis friends. Sora showed the power in her arms as she whacked the ball, sending it to fly over the net. Her friend showed equal strength. The guys waited patiently until their practice game was over.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Shigeru asked Taichi when Sora finally stopped to get a break. She jogged over to a bench, little beads of sweat forming at her forehead, and took a long sip of water. Shigeru gave him a little push.
Yamato grabbed Taichi by the sleeve. "Taichi! Are you crazy?" he hissed. "You
can't use her for money like this!"
"Come on, Taichi," Koushiro said, giving him a long stare. "Let's just get out of
here."
Of course, they wouldn't know, Taichi finally realized. They didn't know about
the gift he had seen for Sora. He didn't tell them about it. He already knew that all of his friends had bought her a present already. He was the only one left. For some reason, he really wanted the butterfly necklace for her. A sense of power was drawing him to it. And he really wanted it.
Gently, he pulled his arm away from Yamato, and walked toward Sora. the four
other guys walked away to wait outside of the courts. But something was wrong. Taichi glanced down at his hands. They were shaking.
Sora glanced up from the bench, her water bottle in her hand. She smiled. "Hi,
Taichi!" she greeted him.
He managed to grin back. "Hey, Sora."
He walked over to her and sat down, noticing the bright gleam of her crimson
eyes. It was the exact color of her Crest of Love. He tried not to wince. I'm being
anything but lovable now...
"So, what brings you here?" she asked, taking a sip of water.
"Oh, n-nothing. Nothing much. Nope. Nothin' much goin' on with me today," he
stammered while absentmindedly cracking his knuckles. "Just wanted to see you play, that's all. You know, since you stayed for a couple of minutes to watch my practice yesterday."
"Oh, cool," Sora replied. "Thanks! Um, well, anyway, I gotta get to practice
now, so I have to go." She started to stand up when Taichi noticed Li's head pop from the side of the entrance to the courts. His facial expression immediately asked Taichi if he asked Sora yet. Taichi was about to forget the whole thing and walk away, but the flash of money entered his head. And with the money was a necklace.
"Wait! Sora?"
She turned around.
"Um... Do you.... Do you want to go to a movie or something on Saturday? Like,
and maybe, like, um, somewhere to eat afterward?" Taichi asked, sounding nervous. He figured nervous was good. He needed to sound nervous; exactly what a normal boy would act like when asking a girl out on a date.
Sora nodded. "Sure. Who else is coming? Yamato? Mimi? Hikari, maybe? Or
the whole gang?"
YES! Taichi wanted to scream. Yes, everyone else is coming. Yup, yup! Yamato, Mimi, Hikari, Takeru, Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, Jyou, Koushiro, Ken, the whole Chosen Children gang. Yup, yup! All of us! It's not going to be a date, just a get together! Yup, yup!
But Taichi knew that he needed the money. He also knew that if he said that, then he'd be acting like Piximon.
"Well...well, no one," Taichi replied, shifting from one foot to another. "Just like, the two of us. Out on a sorta-date. Not really a date, just a sorta-date. Just a..... kinda-sorta outing with just me and you."
Sora blinked. She wanted to smile, but she knew she had to keep a straight face. "Sure!" she replied casually. Taichi.... asked me out? He likes me?
"Great," Taichi said, taking fast steps backwards, facing her. "Well, um, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yup, I got to get back now, Taichi. Bye!"
"Bye Sora." With that, he turned around and raced to the entrance of the courts where his friends were waiting.
"So, did you do it?" Koushiro asked as Taichi leaned against the wall to breathe
for a moment.
"Yes.... I did it.... We're going to a movie on Saturday. Maybe somewhere to eat
afterwards." He took a deep breath. "You so totally owe me, Shigeru and Li. I don't want my best friend as my girlfriend. We're friends."
Shigeru nodded. "We'll pay you after the week is over. Next Saturday. Then, the money is yours."
Taichi knew he should've been happy because of the butterfly necklace. But he
didn't. Instead, he felt completely empty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Piximon is kawaii, ne? ^.^
A/N again: Yes, I know this chapter is short. The next one will be longer o.o;