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Chapter 1
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Taichi stormed down the hallway, attracting some curious onlookers as he moved towards his dorm room. He fumbled with his cardkey for a moment, then slashed it through the scanner and waited impatiently for the light to turn green. Once it did he flung the door open and slammed it shut behind him, startling Yamato out of his mind.
"T... Tai, God! You scared the hell outta me!" Matt gasped. He was sprawled out on his bed, half-reading a textbook.
"Good," Tai mumbled in return, earning a surprised glare. He sat down on the bed next to his blonde friend and stared directly into his eyes. An angry brown met chilling blue, and Matt knew what was coming. Tai had brought it up every day for the past three days now.
"I don't want you going to that party tomorrow night."
Matt snorted. "And I don't want you playing mother for me."
"Yamato, this is serious! For once in your life, accept the fact that I am very, very serious! They're no good, you hear me?! You'll end up getting sucked in, willingly or not! Remember what happened last time there was a party?!"
Somewhere in the back of his head he was thankful for the concern, because he knew that was what it was; Taichi was worried about him. But right now, he was more worried about defending the honor of his friends and fellow band members, and he glared at him.
"Tai, shut up. How many times have we fought about this? We weren't all involved. They're not all like that."
"Yes they are! Okay, I'll grant that our group doesn't go completely insane at parties, but it's our group ALONE, and even they can be crazy sometimes! As for the rest of them, they're all drugged-up, fucked-up raving lunatics, and you'll be..."
"Hey!" Matt hollered, launching up off the bed in his fury. "God, you burst in here, start a fight right off, and now you're crossing the line already, you bastard!"
"What'd you call me?!" Taichi growled, standing up after him.
They locked eyes again. What was wrong with him? Yamato thought, infuriated. Tai never did like the guys in the Frat... it was the real reason why he left it in the first place to become an independent, though he lied and said it was to "give himself more freedom"... but he never attacked them like this, and he never insulted the group!
"Why the sudden freak insults, Taichi?" he snapped. "You haven't been this loose with slamming everyone before."
"Yeah, well, I was on my way back from failing a pop quiz when I heard some guys joking about this next party blowing away the last one. I was already pissed off, and reminding me of what happened last time was enough to push me over the edge. Besides, I've already told you I don't want you to go, and I've already tried being nice. If your defense is our group, then I'll have to say it's not much of a defense. It's the only way I can convince you at this point."
Yamato glared back into his eyes with just as much defiance. "Oh? Well, if you're using strategy, then so will I. Fine. I'll admit a few of the guys in the frat are crackheads. So what? There are some in every fraternity in the school. It's not like I'm close to them; in fact we rarely even look at each other. None of our guys do drugs, and none plan to. You know that."
Taichi grumbled something under his breath. Yamato got madder.
"And as for the last party, yeah, the juniors and seniors did get carried away with the beer, but that was just once, and I didn't even do it! We're not getting drunk tonight, and you KNOW we'll stick to that!"
Taichi grunted. "Gojio probably won't."
"Oh, now you're being immature. Even if he DID drink, he'd hold it just fine."
Taichi grumbled under his breath again, which was the wrong thing to do; Yamato never liked that at all.
"Hell, everyone drinks everywhere, and I'm jaded enough to refuse... what's the matter, think we can't 'Just Say No?' I thought I was supposed to worry about YOU in that department," he added in anger, though his subconscious immediately regretted it and the final word caught in his throat.
Tai's eye twitched, and he broke away from Matt's gaze and glared at the bed.
"You'll never live that down, will you?" he growled after a pause. "I get drunk once and it's against me the rest of my life."
"To remind you," Yamato said firmly. Taichi's grousing expression suddenly changed to a weaker, upset frown, and Matt's throat closed on him suddenly. He wished he HADN'T reminded him.
Tai finally said something. "Trust me, I remember everything that happened that night, even if it was almost a year ago... which is why I'm never going to drink like that again."
There was a silence between the two. Matt wished he hadn't brought it up altogether; he hadn't seen the whole disaster, but he remembered full well what he had walked in on, and it was enough to keep both of them from touching a bottle ever since.
They'd been quiet for a while, and it seemed the two would settle things peacefully. Tai eventually shook his head briefly and found it in himself to look back into Matt's eyes.
"It's not that I don't think you can't take care of yourself. You and the gang. It's that I think you guys won't be able to handle it when the sorority comes over."
"What?"
"... Lila's gonna be there."
He said the name with caustic venom. Yamato didn't care for the name either, and his face grew dark; he had seen what she had done to everyone that rued night, and to Tai...
He frowned at the bad memories. "...I know that. What of it?"
Tai growled. "Don't play stupid! If she and her pack show up, the whole damn party'll go to hell."
Matt snorted. "I highly doubt that the party'll be lively enough for her to manipulate everything effectively by the time her gang slithers in. Some will be staring at candles, most will be so wasted already they'll be passed out or won't be able to tell right from left, and the rest of us will be playing pool or picking at a guitar half-asleep."
Tai's mind kicked into overdrive. **Lila won't touch the crackheads, and the ones already drunk will just get what they deserve,** he thought with a shiver. **But... he doesn't get it. Tired or not, she'll still...**
"Yamato Ishida, I'm asking you not to go," Tai asked as calmly as he could.
"And I'm telling you I'm going."
"Dammit Matt! This is for your own good!" He hollered, turning the volume up again.
"Who are you to decide what's good for me or not!?"
"I'm your best friend, and third parties have the clearest views on things! You don't know what Lila can do, she--"
"That's bullshit! You think I can't stand up to her, just because you couldn't?!"
If Tai were a dog, he'd be foaming at the mouth at this point. "You think I had a CHOICE?! It's not a matter of standing up to her! She'll slip you something, Yamato, and if getting to you means taking out your defense too, she'll do it! You KNOW she's obsessed with you!"
"The guys wouldn't let her!"
"You can forget that! Your 'GUYS' will be to busy with Lila's whores or staring at candles! Your 'GUYS' won't give a shit about you when they're preoccupied with groping and screaming and getting their brains fucked out! Your 'GUYS' won't..."
Yamato shot a fist out at Tai, and he took the hit in the jaw. He staggered back into the wall, and after a moment of dazedly staring at the floor he brought his hand up to dab at the blood his teeth had drawn from the inside of his mouth. He looked at it, then looked at Yamato with a deadly, icy glare.
When Taichi heard and said "guys," he meant most the group... the group that didn't include his and Yamato's friends. But when Yamato heard and said "guys," he meant those friends exactly. They both realized their mistake at some point in their standstill... but, being stubborn, neither cared. The two merely stared at each other, not knowing if they should release all their feral instincts and beat the living hell out of each other until every square inch of wall and carpet was splattered with something red... or if they should wait it out to see if another solution would present itself.
Taichi, apparently, thought of one.
"Go ahead. Fuck yourself over. See if I care," he hissed as he stormed out the room.
"Go to hell," Yamato called scathingly over his shoulder.
"You'll beat me there," Tai spat in disgust. "Once you've permanently destroyed your life. It'll serve you fucking right."
"We'll see if I break down like you did, you asshole."
Both of Taichi's eyes widened and shook, and he looked back at him with a mixture of hurt and fury swirling in his eyes. For a moment Matt felt sick; it seemed so wrong that warm, lively brown eyes like Tai's were filled with such scorn and pain. He would have begged for forgiveness at that very instant... but his anger had taken control of him, and it refused to give up its stand.
Tai saw no regret for those words in his furious, stabbing blue eyes.
"W... what..." he managed.
Being the holder of the Crest of Courage and the leader of his team, Tai was always good at twisting his emotions to show only what he wanted the others to see. But his skill betrayed him this time, and his voice actually exposed the very core of his feelings, though what they truly meant remained unclear even to him; It's hoarse, nearly-whispered sound revealed that, even through all of Taichi's anger... When he saw the fury in Matt's eyes, the fury that stayed even after he had said those words to him... he felt as though his stomach had been torn apart. He was left slowly gasping for air, swallowing his closed throat, and fighting the tears welling in his eyes.
And it wasn't just his stomach... something else was shredded as well. He was too upset, however, to connect the burning in his chest to anything other than pain.
He shot Yamato a look the blonde had never seen on his face before, no matter how angry he had ever been; it wasn't just a look of hatred but a mix of everything, and nothing altogether.
"Yeah, we'll see... only I won't be there to save you," Taichi croaked out.
And then he was gone, slamming the door behind him.
*~*~*~*
Oh, my... ^^;;;;;;;; Those two... well, if you want to see what happens, then review this chapter and keep on going!
Chapter 1
*~*~*~*~*
Taichi stormed down the hallway, attracting some curious onlookers as he moved towards his dorm room. He fumbled with his cardkey for a moment, then slashed it through the scanner and waited impatiently for the light to turn green. Once it did he flung the door open and slammed it shut behind him, startling Yamato out of his mind.
"T... Tai, God! You scared the hell outta me!" Matt gasped. He was sprawled out on his bed, half-reading a textbook.
"Good," Tai mumbled in return, earning a surprised glare. He sat down on the bed next to his blonde friend and stared directly into his eyes. An angry brown met chilling blue, and Matt knew what was coming. Tai had brought it up every day for the past three days now.
"I don't want you going to that party tomorrow night."
Matt snorted. "And I don't want you playing mother for me."
"Yamato, this is serious! For once in your life, accept the fact that I am very, very serious! They're no good, you hear me?! You'll end up getting sucked in, willingly or not! Remember what happened last time there was a party?!"
Somewhere in the back of his head he was thankful for the concern, because he knew that was what it was; Taichi was worried about him. But right now, he was more worried about defending the honor of his friends and fellow band members, and he glared at him.
"Tai, shut up. How many times have we fought about this? We weren't all involved. They're not all like that."
"Yes they are! Okay, I'll grant that our group doesn't go completely insane at parties, but it's our group ALONE, and even they can be crazy sometimes! As for the rest of them, they're all drugged-up, fucked-up raving lunatics, and you'll be..."
"Hey!" Matt hollered, launching up off the bed in his fury. "God, you burst in here, start a fight right off, and now you're crossing the line already, you bastard!"
"What'd you call me?!" Taichi growled, standing up after him.
They locked eyes again. What was wrong with him? Yamato thought, infuriated. Tai never did like the guys in the Frat... it was the real reason why he left it in the first place to become an independent, though he lied and said it was to "give himself more freedom"... but he never attacked them like this, and he never insulted the group!
"Why the sudden freak insults, Taichi?" he snapped. "You haven't been this loose with slamming everyone before."
"Yeah, well, I was on my way back from failing a pop quiz when I heard some guys joking about this next party blowing away the last one. I was already pissed off, and reminding me of what happened last time was enough to push me over the edge. Besides, I've already told you I don't want you to go, and I've already tried being nice. If your defense is our group, then I'll have to say it's not much of a defense. It's the only way I can convince you at this point."
Yamato glared back into his eyes with just as much defiance. "Oh? Well, if you're using strategy, then so will I. Fine. I'll admit a few of the guys in the frat are crackheads. So what? There are some in every fraternity in the school. It's not like I'm close to them; in fact we rarely even look at each other. None of our guys do drugs, and none plan to. You know that."
Taichi grumbled something under his breath. Yamato got madder.
"And as for the last party, yeah, the juniors and seniors did get carried away with the beer, but that was just once, and I didn't even do it! We're not getting drunk tonight, and you KNOW we'll stick to that!"
Taichi grunted. "Gojio probably won't."
"Oh, now you're being immature. Even if he DID drink, he'd hold it just fine."
Taichi grumbled under his breath again, which was the wrong thing to do; Yamato never liked that at all.
"Hell, everyone drinks everywhere, and I'm jaded enough to refuse... what's the matter, think we can't 'Just Say No?' I thought I was supposed to worry about YOU in that department," he added in anger, though his subconscious immediately regretted it and the final word caught in his throat.
Tai's eye twitched, and he broke away from Matt's gaze and glared at the bed.
"You'll never live that down, will you?" he growled after a pause. "I get drunk once and it's against me the rest of my life."
"To remind you," Yamato said firmly. Taichi's grousing expression suddenly changed to a weaker, upset frown, and Matt's throat closed on him suddenly. He wished he HADN'T reminded him.
Tai finally said something. "Trust me, I remember everything that happened that night, even if it was almost a year ago... which is why I'm never going to drink like that again."
There was a silence between the two. Matt wished he hadn't brought it up altogether; he hadn't seen the whole disaster, but he remembered full well what he had walked in on, and it was enough to keep both of them from touching a bottle ever since.
They'd been quiet for a while, and it seemed the two would settle things peacefully. Tai eventually shook his head briefly and found it in himself to look back into Matt's eyes.
"It's not that I don't think you can't take care of yourself. You and the gang. It's that I think you guys won't be able to handle it when the sorority comes over."
"What?"
"... Lila's gonna be there."
He said the name with caustic venom. Yamato didn't care for the name either, and his face grew dark; he had seen what she had done to everyone that rued night, and to Tai...
He frowned at the bad memories. "...I know that. What of it?"
Tai growled. "Don't play stupid! If she and her pack show up, the whole damn party'll go to hell."
Matt snorted. "I highly doubt that the party'll be lively enough for her to manipulate everything effectively by the time her gang slithers in. Some will be staring at candles, most will be so wasted already they'll be passed out or won't be able to tell right from left, and the rest of us will be playing pool or picking at a guitar half-asleep."
Tai's mind kicked into overdrive. **Lila won't touch the crackheads, and the ones already drunk will just get what they deserve,** he thought with a shiver. **But... he doesn't get it. Tired or not, she'll still...**
"Yamato Ishida, I'm asking you not to go," Tai asked as calmly as he could.
"And I'm telling you I'm going."
"Dammit Matt! This is for your own good!" He hollered, turning the volume up again.
"Who are you to decide what's good for me or not!?"
"I'm your best friend, and third parties have the clearest views on things! You don't know what Lila can do, she--"
"That's bullshit! You think I can't stand up to her, just because you couldn't?!"
If Tai were a dog, he'd be foaming at the mouth at this point. "You think I had a CHOICE?! It's not a matter of standing up to her! She'll slip you something, Yamato, and if getting to you means taking out your defense too, she'll do it! You KNOW she's obsessed with you!"
"The guys wouldn't let her!"
"You can forget that! Your 'GUYS' will be to busy with Lila's whores or staring at candles! Your 'GUYS' won't give a shit about you when they're preoccupied with groping and screaming and getting their brains fucked out! Your 'GUYS' won't..."
Yamato shot a fist out at Tai, and he took the hit in the jaw. He staggered back into the wall, and after a moment of dazedly staring at the floor he brought his hand up to dab at the blood his teeth had drawn from the inside of his mouth. He looked at it, then looked at Yamato with a deadly, icy glare.
When Taichi heard and said "guys," he meant most the group... the group that didn't include his and Yamato's friends. But when Yamato heard and said "guys," he meant those friends exactly. They both realized their mistake at some point in their standstill... but, being stubborn, neither cared. The two merely stared at each other, not knowing if they should release all their feral instincts and beat the living hell out of each other until every square inch of wall and carpet was splattered with something red... or if they should wait it out to see if another solution would present itself.
Taichi, apparently, thought of one.
"Go ahead. Fuck yourself over. See if I care," he hissed as he stormed out the room.
"Go to hell," Yamato called scathingly over his shoulder.
"You'll beat me there," Tai spat in disgust. "Once you've permanently destroyed your life. It'll serve you fucking right."
"We'll see if I break down like you did, you asshole."
Both of Taichi's eyes widened and shook, and he looked back at him with a mixture of hurt and fury swirling in his eyes. For a moment Matt felt sick; it seemed so wrong that warm, lively brown eyes like Tai's were filled with such scorn and pain. He would have begged for forgiveness at that very instant... but his anger had taken control of him, and it refused to give up its stand.
Tai saw no regret for those words in his furious, stabbing blue eyes.
"W... what..." he managed.
Being the holder of the Crest of Courage and the leader of his team, Tai was always good at twisting his emotions to show only what he wanted the others to see. But his skill betrayed him this time, and his voice actually exposed the very core of his feelings, though what they truly meant remained unclear even to him; It's hoarse, nearly-whispered sound revealed that, even through all of Taichi's anger... When he saw the fury in Matt's eyes, the fury that stayed even after he had said those words to him... he felt as though his stomach had been torn apart. He was left slowly gasping for air, swallowing his closed throat, and fighting the tears welling in his eyes.
And it wasn't just his stomach... something else was shredded as well. He was too upset, however, to connect the burning in his chest to anything other than pain.
He shot Yamato a look the blonde had never seen on his face before, no matter how angry he had ever been; it wasn't just a look of hatred but a mix of everything, and nothing altogether.
"Yeah, we'll see... only I won't be there to save you," Taichi croaked out.
And then he was gone, slamming the door behind him.
*~*~*~*
Oh, my... ^^;;;;;;;; Those two... well, if you want to see what happens, then review this chapter and keep on going!