Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to some company I dunno the name of. The song is "Acoustic #3" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Re-uploaded because I couldn't find it ANYWHERE!
No One's Listening
~They painted up your secrets
With the lies they told to you
And the least they ever gave you
Was the most you ever knew~
"Yamato, this is my father, Takenouchi Kenji. Tou-san, this is Ishida Yamato, one of my best friends."
I bowed respectfully, earning a smile from the man. Sora's father-- tall, serious-looking, obviously a scholar by the book in his hand, but with a hint of mischief in his eyes. Kind of like his daughter... But fidgety, oh so fidgety. Like he couldn't sit still for those two hours he was to spend with his family after nearly a year of not seeing them.
Yeah, I recognized that restlessness right away. It was the same restlessness I had seen grip my mom when I'd been eight. Back then, I hadn't known what it was. Now I knew too well.
But Sora was so obviously happy, and her eyes, usually a quiet ginger, were a gleaming cherry with excitement.
"Guess what?" She whispered in my ear when the adults disappeared into the kitchen. "He says he's staying for a few weeks instead of only a couple of days. Isn't that great?"
I nodded, smiling slightly, while inside, I felt my heart break for her. Because I knew that before long, hers would be broken too.
~And I wonder where these dreams go
When the world gets in your way
What's the point in all this screaming?
No one's listening anyway...~
He did stay for a few weeks, much to my surprise. And for those weeks, the girl who had always put everyone else's happiness before hers finally seemed to be content with her own life. It made me smile to see her laughing so easily.
But I had to warn her. Just a little. Just in case... just in case.
And there was no way to put it gently.
"What do you mean?" She wasn't listening too closely, her attention instead on the strawberry ice-cream cone in her hands. Ice cream in mid-January with snow still covering the streets... natural for her.
"I'm just saying you shouldn't set your hopes too high, Takenouchi."
That caught her attention. I hadn't called her that since the Digital World, when we'd only been acquaintances instead of friends. She knew I was serious.
Her eyes focused on me and she leaned back against the store wall, mirroring me.
"What are you saying, Yama?"
"I'm just reminding you that he *is* a Professor at the University in Kyoto." I shrugged and tried to act like it had only now occurred to me. Never mind that it had been plaguing me since I met him. "He might wanna go back to his life over there, Takenouchi-chan."
She stayed silent for a long time, and I didn't dare look at her. Not until she touched my shoulder.
"Arigatou, Yama-kun," she whispered seriously, "for warning me."
But by the small smile curving her lips, I could tell she wasn't really listening; didn't want to.
~Your voice is small and fading
And you're hiding here unknown
And your mother loves your father
'Cos she's got nowhere to go~
Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was worried.
"I don't want her to be heartbroken," Mimi told me once while we were walking home. Sora was ahead, out of earshot as she chased a laughing Taichi, who had swiped her knitted beanie and had run off with it.
"Neither do I," I muttered, running fingers through my spiky hair in frustration.
"Takenouchi-san seems worried, too."
"She does?" I don't know why that surprised me.
"Yeah, I can tell. When I went over, Sora had gone to the store with Takenouchi-sensei, and she was quieter than usual. Concerned, if you ask me."
I thought about that. Who would know Takenouchi-sensei better than his own wife, ne? She had always been a strict one, as far as I can remember. Cool, too. Intimidating, as Taichi had once quipped. But she had seemed happy at that first dinner, her face softening enough to smile at her daughter and husband. She seemed to have loosened up a bit. Sora was able to be out later, without having to call Takenouchi-san all the time. But maybe it was because she called her dad instead of her mom...
It didn't surprise me how bad things were with her when Takenouchi-sensei took Sora to the carnival.
I remember the tone of Sora's voice when she told me; embarrassed because she was nearly thirteen and felt too old, but excited because he hadn't taken her since she'd been nine.
And the phone call later brought back a lot of not-too-sweet memories.
"I don't understand her, Yama," she said, her voice oddly angry. "I come home and the first thing she does is berate him for ruining my dinner with all the cotton candy and popcorn he bought me. Then she said he should've brought me home sooner, since I have school tomorrow. Like I haven't been out later with you guys on a Wednesday!"
Hai, I remembered those pointless fights my parents had had. Pointless to them, and me but there was a reason behind them, nonetheless.
~And she wonders where these dreams go
'Cos the world got in her way
What's the point in ever trying?
Nothing's changing anyway~
When she came to school, her eyes shadowed with worry, I knew things where unraveling.
"Daijoubu desu ka?"
"Daijoubu, Yama-kun," she assured when I approached her.
But when the smiles faded, and the telltale signs of worry were darkening her eyes and quieting her voice, I knew things weren't all right.
"I thought things were gonna be different," she said once.
It caught me by surprise. I blinked and forced myself to continue staring at my Lit homework in front of me. "How so?"
Her voice was quiet, carefully neutral. "The bitterness is back in her, you know. After years of finally getting her to loosen up, she closed up all over again."
"Takenouchi-san?"
"Hai." She turned the page in her book and continued reading. After a minute of silence, she sighed softly and I looked up.
She was frowning at the empty plate on her desk-- cookies we had eaten earlier.
"Normally, she'd be home right now, taking her lunch-break to give us a snack while we studied and her food cooked." Her eyes glistened and I begun panicking. Not smart, I knew, but I couldn't help it. "Now, she spends every free moment at the shop. I thought things had changed..."
I reached over and touched her shoulder gently when I heard the hopelessness in her voice. She didn't seem to notice. She just blinked rapidly for a moment and swallowed before staring down at her book again.
Takenouchi-sensei wasn't home either, she had told me, preferring to stay out.
The restlessness wasn't going away.
~They press their lips against you
And you love the lies they say
And I tried so hard to reach you
But you're falling anyway~
And he proved it, too, when I found her on the stairs one night, crying bitterly on her own.
"He left, Yamato! They argued and he gave up and he left! Just like the first time! Just like he always does!! He left!!!"
Sometimes, people don't know how to deal...
But she was inconsolable. The bitter tears ran out on my handkerchief, before the heartbroken ones began and completely soaked the shoulder of my sweater. And I could do nothing but comfort her. Nothing. Which was the most frustrating thing of all.
I tried to take her home, but she refused, anger burning in her eyes. So I took her to my place, instead.
And when I walked in with her, my father already demanding where the hell I had been for three hours straight without even eating any of the dinner I had made, I was eternally grateful to him when he stopped in mid-tirade after seeing Sora. Her tears were gone and her small hand in mine was the only comfort she sought, but she still looked pale and exhausted.
And I loved him even more when he didn't ask any questions of either of us. Only brought her a plate of food and some of that disgusting instant hot chocolate that we hated but was the only thing either of us could manage. And when he brought extra blankets and offered her the couch-- his usual bed-- I understood why Sora needed a father.
They were just... something.
But I interrupted and told him she was sleeping on my bed. He, of course, didn't offer *me* the couch, but he did offer to call Takenouchi-san and let her know where her daughter was.
And it wasn't until I was sitting on my desk chair in the darkness of my room, the soft moonlight on her sleeping form and my old futon on the floor, that I felt some of the anger and frustration at her situation leave me.
Maybe she'd finally move on...
~And you know I see right through you
'Cos the world gets in your way
What's the point in all this screaming?
You're not listening anyway~
Things were hard. For all of us. Having Sora gloomy and quiet was unnatural and wrong. But Mimi and Taichi and Takeru helped at cheering her up. Even Koushiro lost attention in his laptop long enough to buy her as much ice cream as possible.
And she began smiling again, laughing at Taichi's antics more frequently. She stopped sleeping and eating and doing her homework at Mimi's so much, finally spending more time at home. With Takenouchi-san.
So, it came as a total surprise to me when she showed up at my door, a flower basket in hand and a determined look on her face.
"For your father," she clarified as she set the flowers down on the coffee table. Then she turned to me, nervously playing with the strap of her school satchel. "Yamato... I'm... I'm gonna go see him. In Kyoto."
I just looked at her, not offering a response, only listening expectantly.
"I want you to go with me. Kudasai Yamato-kun." She stared at her shoes and swallowed, but left it at that.
It hurt. I don't know why, but it did. Maybe because she wanted to go open the wound again. Or maybe because she was still hoping futilely, believing in someone blindly whom I feared would crush her... again.
But I nodded anyway, momentarily thinking of Takeru and that hope he held. One I had lost long ago, but that I didn't dare scorn in him or in her. If it kept her from becoming someone like me, I would go along. And even if she wasn't listening, I could be there when she needed someone to listen to her.
"Hai, Takenouchi-chan. I'll go," I murmured, smiling to ease her nervousness. "I don't know why you asked me, but I'll go."
She frowned at that as I grabbed my house keys and coat.
"You don't know why, Yama?" I shook my head dumbly as she took my hand, seeking comfort again. I accepted it without question.
That is, until she started speaking again, her ginger eyes searching my face.
"Because you're the only one who understands. Because you looked out for me..." She studied the floor. "And because... you're the only one who gives me hope, even if you have none."
That's when I started questioning how innocent her hand in mine was. But I pushed it to the back of my mind as we left my house and began heading for the station.
She needed me in other ways right now, and that's all that mattered.
~Owari~
*A/N: *sigh* The title's weak, and so's the ending. What do you guys think? I'm thinking of a part II, but dunno what song would fit.*