After we piled out the car, I was feeling pretty impressed with myself. It was obvious that Yamato and Taichi had some unresolved electricity between them, and I was glad to have brought it up. For all of six and a half seconds, when Taichi started to kiss Sora.

"What the hell?" I queried.

"Well, they were destined to be together." Yamato commented before strolling into the resturant.

I stood and gawped for a couple of seconds. "C'mon Willis." Miyako prompted as we made our way in. I sat opposite Sora, Tai and Yamato. In that order. Sora had this dazed look on her face, resembling a gutted fish actually, whereas Yamato looked ever-so-slightly pissed off. Taichi didn't seem to have the foggiest idea what was going on. The meal dragged in awkwardness, with Yamato hitting his bottle of vodka very early on.

"Don't worry about it." Takeru whispered, catching my anxious look at his brother. "Yama drinks alot. He can handle tonight a hell of alot better with it than without. Anyhow, it'll take him another bottle at least before he starts to get drunk."

"He does this regularly?" I asked.

"Yeah." Takeru sighed. "Although it's better than him slashing his arms or starving himself...."

"He did?"

"Uh huh. He's a little bit messed up. I think that the whole thing in the car just tipped him a tad."

"I'm sorry..."

"Hey, don't worry. You weren't to know. Only, please don't mention it to any of the others. I only told you this cause you looked like you were about to put your foot in it with him."

"Does Taichi know?"

"I highly doubt it."

Yamato glanced across the table at us, seeming to know what we were discussing. He stood, walked round to whisper something in Takeru's ear and then sauntered toward the bar. We all watched as he proceeded to chat up the barmaid and within two minutes had a triple shot of Archers in one hand and her in the other.

"How does he do it?" Daisuke marvelled, eyes wide as the girl planted a kiss on Yamato's nose. "Everywhere we go..."

"Yeah, do you remember the time he managed to get picked up as a prostitute? We were only what, twelve?" Jyou added.

"Eleven." Taichi corrected absentmindedly. "I'd forgotten about that."

"'At least my cat's not stuck in a tree'." Hikari reminded her brother.

"Oh, so that's where the line comes from. Always wondered." Ken looked pleased. "There's so many 'in' jokes I just don't get."

I smiled over at him sympathetically. At least he wasn't stuck out all on his own in a completely different country. But then again, his eyes seemed to say, at least you didn't try to kill everyone sitting around this exact table. Okay, so maybe he was winning in the sucky life stakes.

The barmaid got up reluctantly as her boss headed over. Yamato decided to chat her up too, and succeeded in convincing the fifty year old woman to part with a pint of Guiness and allow him to kiss her on the cheek. Then he went back to the barmaid.

"What is he trying to prove?" Taichi growled.

"Nothing Tai. He has no alterior motive. Calm." Sora said, twining her fingers through his. Taichi yanked his hand away and stalked off to the bathroom, throwing Yamato a glare for good measure.

The others all began to finish up their coffees and the girls' taxi arrived. I glanced over at Sora, feeling infinitely sorry for her, but Izzy had been quicker and was quietly comforting her.

Daisuke was feeling a little reflective. So he decided to share it with the rest of us. "Wow, Tai's been weird tonight. First that whole 'involvement' thing in the car-"

"What 'involvement' thing?" Miyako asked Daisuke. I could feel the tips of my ears going red and both Takeru and I attempted to kick him under the table. No such luck.

Dai took a large swig of his cappuccino and carried on oblivious. "Oh, Willis was askin' loadsa stuff and he an' Yamato ended up seeing what they kissed like."

Sora balked. "He-my..Taichi?!?" She asked incredulously. And off she flew, Mimi, Hikari and Miyako hot on her heels. We had a front row view of Sora slapping Yamato. Hard. "You little slut!"

"Is this your girlfriend?" The barmaid asked. "Girl, I wouldn't. He's a hottie."

"I can't believe you, you, you harlot!" Sora screamed, slapping him again.

Yamato eyed her coolly. "Wow Sora. I'm impressed. Never been called that before. Ten points by the way."

"Is that all you can say? You've ruined my life! You've corrupted him!"

"Hey, steady on sweetheart. I haven't corrupted no one." The barmaid interjected.

The girls had hustled Sora into the taxi but the shrieking, flailing girl had attracted the attention of a couple of the drunks, who decided to come and 'avenge' Sora. Or at least, I think that was what they were doing. All fourteen of them. Anyhow, it resulted in Yamato being dragged outside in the resulting chaos and by the time any of us had realised exactly what was going on he was pretty beaten up. I hadn't thought it possible to do that much damage in just a few short minutes, but these guys knew what they were doing. Profesional thugs.

Taichi ran out of the resturant as we were trying to get the boozers off Yamato. He went completely mad, throwing punches and generally scaring the hell out of them. They slunk off, partly terrified by Hurricane Yagami and partly because the bouncers from the club next door decided to come sort it out, thanks to Ken.

Yamato himself was just propped up against the wall, staring blankly back at us with blood trickling down from his forehead and nose. He gave Takeru a small smile. "Are we going home now?"

"Oh yeah, Oniisan." Takeru reached down and handed him his jacket. "Come on. Far too much trouble for one evening."

Yamato began to get up, and then thought better of it. Taichi sighed and helped him to his feet. "Come on you." He led Yamato back to the car, arm looped around his shoulders.

We all clambered back into the car, Iori squishing between me and Takeru in the boot so that Yamato could sit properly. But Taichi wouldn't let him go. He held the blonde in his arms as Jyou set off, wiping the blood off his face and stoking his hair out of his eyes.

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