*******Kamiya residence*******
The phone rang, T.K. ran to pick it up, "Hello," he greeted, "Kamiya residence."
"T.K.?" Matt replied unsurely.
"Yeah, hey Matt."
"What are you doing there?"
"I slept over here, I had to settle a bet with Tai."
"Oh really, what was it?"
"Don't get too excited, there was no money riding on it. Good think too, I lost."
"Well, what was the bet?"
"Tai was always complaining about his mothers cooking so I agreed to try some."
"Oh, poor boy, you should have asked me about that."
"You've tried it before then?"
"Yeah, a while ago, but how can you forget tandoori chicken with a peanut butter topping and potato shakes to wash it down.."
"Gee, I thought I had it bad, all I got was tofu meatloaf and cheese sauce."
"Well, Mimi and I are going to the beach and thought you guys might wanna come, you know take our minds off the digital world and all."
"Good idea, I think the digimon could use it too, they're a bit pent up here."
"Do me a favour, get Tai to call Sora, then meet us there."
"Sure, cya later."
"Bye." T.K. hung up the phone and re-entered the lounge.
"Who was it?" Kari asked.
"Matt, he wanted to know if we felt like going to the beach," T.K. replied.
"Sure, great idea," Tai replied enthusiastically.
"Good, call Sora and invite her, Matt's trying to get the whole group there."
"I'll go some food," Kari said leaving the room, T.K. followed her out, giving Tai some privacy. He nervously picked up the phone and dialled Sora's phone number, it rung four time and a voice appeared at the other end, "Hello," it answered.
"Hi Ms Takenouchi," Tai replied.
"Oh Tai, hello, sorry I didn't recognise you," she said.
"That's okay."
"How are you, Sora told me about your accident."
"I'm fine, just a bit bruised, but I feel a lot better."
"That's good, did you want to speak to Sora?"
"Yeah."
"I'll get her for you," she said putting the phone down on a table. Tai waited a few seconds before Sora answered.
"Hey Tai," she greeted.
"Hey," he replied.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, no headache, nothing."
"It's nice to talk to you, I was really bored here."
"I'm glad that I can entertain you. It's kinda why I called, do you want to got to the beach?"
"Sure, I'd love to.'
"Great, I'll pick you up. No that I'm driving though, both my parents are here so they have the car."
"I suppose everybody's coming too?"
"Yeah,"
"Well good, we can finally have our second group meeting."
"Yeah, I forgot about that in all the commotion."
"Hopefully we don't receive any ominous messages this time."
"Yeah, well, I'd better go or we'll never get there,"
"I suppose, but hurry."
"Don't worry, I hate being away from you as much as you do from me."
"Well, I'll see you soon."
"Bye." Tai hung up the phone. He went to his room and put on some swimming trunks and a shirt, then grabbed an old stereo and shoved it in his bag. It was nothing flash, just an old two-speaker stereo with a tape deck and CD player. He turned and looked to the side of his bed and found Agumon was digging around in some dirty clothes for some thing, "Whatcha looking for?" Tai asked.
"A cookie," Agumon replied.
"Why would I have a cookie down there?"
"Because I dropped it there."
"Well hurry, we're going to the beach."
"Great, I love the beach."
"Well find that cookie and meet me in the kitchen." Tai left his room and went into the bathroom and grabbed some sunscreen and a towel then went to the kitchen. T.K. was helping Kari with the snacks, "I'm going to pick up Sora, then we'll go straight there," Tai announced.
"Okay, see you there," Kari said.
"Bye," T.K. said.
"Come on Agumon, we're going," Tai called. Agumon walked over to him and the two left. T.K. and Kari finished up the snacks and packed a large bag. They got some towels for themselves and got changed into some swimming gear. T.K. had to borrow a pair of Tai's trunks even though they were two big for him. The walked into the lounge, "We're going to the beach,"
"That sounds like fun," Patamon said depressed.
"You're coming with," T.K. replied.
"Oh good," he replied. He flew over to T.K. and landed on his hat.
"Alright, I'll come, but don't expect me to swim," Gatomon said walking over to Kari.
"We'll see," Kari said picking her up. T.K. took the bag and they left for the beach.
*******Takenouchi residence*******
Tai approached the door to Sora's apartment, he knocked twice. He had decided that Agumon had better not come to the door so he was waiting around the corner. "I'm coming," a voice bellowed from inside. The door opened and Mrs Takenouchi stood before him.
"Hi," Tai said politely.
"Hello Tai," Mrs Takenouchi greeted.
"Is Sora here?"
"Yes, she's in her room changing."
"Okay, just tell her I'm here."
"You can come in and wait if you want." Tai took the opportunity. He entered and just then Sora came from round the corner. She was wearing a purple top and a pair of small blue shorts.
"Hey," Tai greeted.
"Hi," she replied, they were both smiling.
"Let's go," Tai suggested.
"Okay. Bye mom," Sora said. They walked out of the apartment and out onto the street. It was a warm sunny day, there weren't many people out because it was a Wednesday and everybody was at work. Biyomon flew down to them. "Why did I have to do that, it's really high up there?" she questioned.
"Well, we don't want our parents to worry about us. If they saw you they might think that we were having to save the digital world again and worry about us," Sora explained.
"Isn't that what is happening?"
"Yes, but we really don't want our parents to worry, especially what happened to me."
"So you'll have to bear with it," Sora said.
"I'm glad your parents weren't home, because I can't fly and it's a long way down," Agumon said worriedly.
"Don't worry, if it was an emergency we could always use my bag."
"Although the fresh air would be lovely," Agumon said in a positive tone.
"Ha ha, very funny, maybe I will drop you out the window," Tai said sarcastically.
"Alright, it was just a joke."
"Hey Tai, what beach are we going to?" Sora asked, trying to change the subject.
"Odaiba central beach," Tai replied.
"Good, that's not far," Sora responded.
"Yeah."
"You know, we should set a date."
"For what?"
"Sora, will you go out with me?" Sora looked confused, she looked at Tai.
"Well, what do you say?"
"Um, sure, I'd love to."
"Great, let's say tomorrow night at eight, I'll pick you up."
"I'll be waiting." They returned to silence. Tai moved closer to Sora.
"Sorry if I confused you there, I just wanted to officially start our relationship."
"Oh, you didn't have to."
"I know, but I thought I'd rather start it with a good memory, rather than a tragic one."
"But I think what you did was really brave, and sweet."
"Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets. I just felt we should have a normal start to our relationship with all the weird stuff that has been going on," Tai was sounding really self-conscious.
"Don't worry Tai, I think it's really thoughtful of you. But why now?"
"Because I really wanted do this," Tai said, he smiled and took her hand. Sora looked at him and returned the smile, she squeezed softly.
"But you know the down side this," Sora said.
"What?" Tai asked.
"I have to let go," she replied.
"Well, we don't have too, but it would make lots of things very, um, interesting," Tai said.
"I know what your thinking Taichi Kamiya and it ain't gonna happen," Sora said sternly. Tai looked over at her sheepishly. "Well not for a while," she said audaciously.
"Mmm, I think I like this side of you."
"Well, maybe you'll see it more when we've been together longer."
"I'll be there."
"Come on, maybe we should walk a bit faster," Tai suggested.
"Yeah, we have kind of slowed down a bit."
"A bit, we're almost at a standstill," Agumon said.
"Well why didn't you say anything?" Tai asked.
"We didn't want to interrupt you guys," Biyomon started.
"Yeah, you seemed kind of into it," Agumon continued.
"Thanks guys," Sora said.
"Hey, we're almost there," Tai pointed out. They continued on to their destination. They walked through the fence and sown onto the sand. About a hundred meters away T.K., Matt, Mimi and Kari were standing around waiting. Kari waved them over, they were setting up the area. Matt had a beach umbrella set up in the ground and there was a big cooler underneath it. Tai, Sora, Biyomon and Agumon walked over to them, they greeted each other.
"I see something's changed with you," Matt said looking at Tai's hand on Sora's.
"Yeah, it sure has," Tai said. Mimi was smiling profusely at Sora, who was smiling back. They let go of each others hands, Tai walked over to T.K. and Sora joined Mimi.
"What did you guys bring?" Tai asked looking at the size of the cooler.
"Well we thought we might need something to eat today so Mimi and I scrounged for food at my place and then went over to T.K.'s., there's all kinds of things in there," Matt explained.
"We had the same thoughts so we packed some snacks," Kari added.
"Gee, it looks like I was the only one unprepared," Tai said.
"You had other things on your mind," T.K. said grinning, Kari hit him softly with the back of her hand.
"We're gonna go for a walk," Mimi said.
"Okay, I'll see you later," Matt said.
"Don't be too long," Tai added. The two walked off down the beach, they left Biyomon and Palmon behind. They waited till they were a fair distance from the others until they began speaking. Mimi looked at Sora, she was still smiling, "So, that's new," Mimi said.
"I know," Sora replied.
"When did he make his move?"
"Today…"
"Well, come on you can't leave me hanging."
"He um… nah, you don't really want to know," Sora joked.
"You're killing me girl, spill it, what did he say!"
"Okay, I'll tell. It was kind of weird, we were walking here and we weren't saying anything. Then out of nowhere he says we should set a date. I had no idea what he was on about, to be honest I thought it was just another one of his silly jokes, but then he says really innocently, do you want to go out with me?" Mimi was hanging on every word.
"WELL! What did you say?"
"What do you think, the guy I've wanted to go out with since fourth grade asks me out and I refuse?"
"No, but WHAT did you say?"
"I said I'd love to."
"And then what?"
"Well here's where it gets weird, he said he'd pick me up at seven tonight."
"TOMORROW! We're gonna have to do some serious preparing," Mimi interrupted, "Oh, sorry Sora, carry on," she apologised realising Sora wasn't finished.
"Well, he just returned to the same old Tai he always is. But then he says that he's sorry if he confused me."
"Why? I mean I'm glad he did because I'm really confused, but what was his explanation."
"He said that he wanted to officially start our relationship and that he wanted it to be a good memory rather than a tragic one. I feel kinda bad because I was kind of chasing him in circles with his reasoning. I mean I understood what he meant but I kept asking questions, he was really self conscious."
"Don't worry, but what happened next?"
"Then I asked him why he did it just then. He said that he really wanted to do this, then he took my hand."
"Oh my… Sora, that is SO sweet."
"I know, I didn't expect it at all. I hope I didn't make it hard for him, I mean I must have sounded so put off and scared…"
"Sora stop now. You can't think like that."
"Sorry, I just get the feeling I was making it harder for him."
"You shouldn't, he looked so content, I could see it on his face."
"Now that you mention it, he seemed more relaxed."
"See, even you could sense it."
"I just can't help thinking about what comes next."
"We'll find out tonight, but in the mean time we'd better get back."
*******Back with the group*******
T.K. and Kari were sitting under the umbrella, Patamon, Gatomon, Biyomon and Palmon were with them. They were sitting enjoying the pleasant weather. T.K. was sitting with Kari resting her head on his shoulder, they weren't really talking. Matt and Tai were just away from them, Agumon and Gabumon were with them.
"So you finally asked Sora out eh?" Matt said.
"Yeah, but hoe did you know?" Tai replied.
"You forget how well I know you Tai. You two were holding hands and you would never make a move like that on Sora without asking her out first."
"Yeah, I really care about her."
"I know what you mean, I've never seen you this hung up on a girl before."
"I guess we're suckers for love."
"We sure are."
"It's nice that you two like girls we already know, I have no idea what they would say when they met us, if we were even introduced," Agumon said.
"Of course we would introduce you to them, come on you're our best friends," Tai replied.
"Yeah, it wouldn't be right away, but you would be introduced."
"That's reassuring."
"Let's change the subject, I don't want to talk about other girls," Tai said.
"Well, you can go talk to yours if you want, she's right over there," Matt said pointing to the group. Sora was currently standing next to Kari, Tai walked over to her, Matt followed with the digimon in tail. Tai came from behind Sora and gently took her hand and whispered in her ear, "Hey there, missed you."
"Missed you more," she whispered back. The others were just watching them. They noticed they were being watched and stopped.
"Sorry," Tai said.
"Don't be sorry, it's nice to see you finally together," Kari said.
"Yeah, we're used to it by now having had Matt and Mimi around us," T.K. added.
"Well we can't help ourselves," Mimi said defensively.
"Give yourselves another few weeks and you'll see what we're talking about," Matt added.
"I wonder where the others are?" Sora said. They looked around and could see no one on either side of them. They looked behind them and saw Davis walking over dune path, Veemon was by his side.
"Hey," he shouted. He joined the group, "Hey," Tai said. He looked at them and noticed Tai was holding Sora's hand.
"Oh, I see," he said.
"Yeah," Tai replied.
"That's cool," he continued. Veemon joined the other digimon who were under the umbrella, which was now very crowded.
"It would be good if we had another one of those," Matt said.
"Well, you're in luck, because I've got one," Joe said from behind them, Izzy was with him. They all greeted each other and broke off into separate discussions. Matt, Tai, Izzy, Sora, Joe and Mimi were talking about finals and T.K. Kari and Davis were talking about school starting the next week. The digimon were with their respective partners regardless of the fact they didn't really have much of a clue what they were talking about.
"This totally bites" Davis," said angrily (A\N ?? would he say that?), "Why do we have to go back to school on Monday?"
"Probably because we don't have finals and finish earlier than they do," T.K. replied.
"If you wanna look at it that way," Davis responded.
"At least we get three months of vacation time after that," Kari said.
"All that free time and nothing to do with it," T.K. commented.
"I know what I'm doing…" Davis started.
"I'll bet he says soccer," T.K. whispered in Kari's ear while he was speaking.
"…Soccer." T.K. and Kari laughed.
"What's so funny?" Davis asked.
"Nothing, don't worry," T.K. said.
"So what are we gonna do, we're all here now?" Davis asked.
"I don't know what they want to do, but I'd bet my life you brought a soccer ball so we may as well play that," Kari said.
"I'm up for a game," T.K. said.
"I'll go ask the others," Davis said. He walked over to their group, "Hey, do you guys wanna play a game of soccer?"
"Sure, why not," Matt said.
"Count me in," Mimi added.
"I'll play," Izzy said.
"I could use the exercise," Joe said.
"How about you Tai, going to join us?" Davis asked.
"You know I'd love too, there's quite a few things I could teach you. But I can't, doctors orders and all."
"That's too bad, What about you Sora?"
"No, I can't just leave Tai on his own, besides, I'm a little tired myself."
"Oh well, let's go guys," Davis announced. They all returned to T.K. and Kari.
"What are the teams gonna be?" Izzy asked.
"How about we bring the digimon into this?" Kari asked.
"How about it guys, you wanna join?" Davis asked. They all wanted to play, excepting Agumon and Biyomon.
"Uh Davis, we have a slight problem, the teams are uneven, or somebody will have to play against their digimon," T.K. pointed out.
"Don't worry guys, Gomamon and I will referee the game," Joe said.
"You don't mind?" Davis asked.
"No, but I'll decide the teams. This one is obvious, it'll be old versus new, that makes the teams Davis, T.K., Kari, Veemon, Gatomon and Patamon versus Matt, Mimi, Izzy, Tentomon, Palmon and Gabumon."
"No problems here," Davis said aggressively.
"Nor here," Matt replied with the same aggression.
"Right then, I'll set up the goals using these bags and we'll get started," Joe said, grabbing the bags, he proceeded to set up the goals. Tai and Sora were sitting under the umbrella that was basically on the halfway mark. They kicked off the game and the group ran frantically around the area. Tai was sitting in the shade, while Sora had her top and shorts off and was now in a bikini. She was resting her head on Tai's lap with the rest of her body in the sun.
"You look good in that bikini," Tai said, Sora looked at him, "I'm not being a pervert, it just suits you."
"Thanks," Sora replied.
"You know that you can go play if you want."
"No, I really need to get some sun, besides, I like to be with you."
"I won't say it isn't nice to have the time alone. How about some music?"
"That would be great, but where from?"
"I brought my old compact stereo," Tai said pulling it out of his bag. He set it out in the shade and lifted the aerial. He turned on the radio, Usher's you got it bad was playing.
"That was some good thinking," Sora said.
"Yeah well I figured I might have to sit out on some things so I decided to bring it." They sat and enjoyed the music until the song changed to Nelly furtato, "Ugh, I hate this song, do you mind if I change it?" Tai asked.
"No, I'm not fond of it either."
"I'll put a CD on, do you like the Chemical Brothers?"
"Yeah, that'd be good." Tai put in the CD and started it, just then the ball came flying towards Tai. In a flash he caught it, "You'll have to do better than that to hit me," Tai said throwing the ball back.
"Sorry!" Mimi shouted. Tai went back to sitting under the umbrella. Sora was sitting up now and was reaching for the cooler.
"Do you want a drink?"
"Sure." Sora passed him a coke and was having a diet soda herself. They looked back to the game and watched as Gabumon intercepted a flying kick for goal, but it unfortunately landed on his horn. The ball burst upon impact, Gabumon looked very ashamed.
"Sorry Davis," he said feeling very guilty.
"That's okay, I have like twelve more at home," Davis replied.
"Well, I guess that's the final whistle," Joe said.
"So who won?" Tai shouted from the sideline. The group moved over to Tai and Sora, "Please wait while I confer with my second referee," Joe joked, he pretended to confer with Gomamon.
"Come on, quit stalling," Davis said (A\N you guessed it) impatiently.
"Upon final tally, we find that the New digidestined have one by a hair with a score of six to five," Joe announced. The old team applauded them.
"Well done, you must have played well," Tai started, "Obviously Davis here has become quite the player, not forgetting T.K. and Kari must have done a fair bit. As for the digimon, they must have learnt from you guys. But don't get too cocky, next time you'll be facing me."
"Alright Tai, down off the podium," Matt said sarcastically.
"How about a swim?" T.K. suggested. They all agreed and decided to venture into the water. Tai joined them because it was low tide and there was no swell. They jumped in the water and dunked each other and played tag for a while. They were in the water for about half an hour until the weather took a turn for the worse. A large cloudbank came in from the east and was threatening to storm.
"We'd better leave, this weather isn't going to hold out," Joe said. They walked back to the umbrella and dried off, then Izzy pulled out his laptop and checked the weather forecast over the internet.
"It doesn't look good guys, that cold front should be here in half an hour," Izzy said.
"We can go to my place, it's closest," Tai suggested. They agreed on that and went straight to Tai's apartment.
*******Tai's building*******
The group darted inside and clambered into the elevator. It was very tight for them to fit but they did. The doors shut and Tai pressed the seven button and the elevator began moving. They reached the seventh floor and fell out of the elevator in much the same fashion as when they arrive back from the digital world. Tai opened the door to his apartment and they filed in, no one was home. As he shut the door thunder crashed and it started to rain severely.
"Looks like we were just in time," Tai said.
"Hey Tai, what's the time?" Kari asked.
"Four," he replied, "Does anybody want something to eat?"
"Sure, I'm starved," Davis replied.
"Yeah, I'm hungry too," Joe agreed.
"Well why don't we have the snacks we packed?" Matt suggested.
"That's a great idea," Kari said. Matt and Mimi took the food out of the cooler and began laying it out on plates on the coffee table. Everyone took plates and they began taking food from the wide selection. The digimon took some as well but they didn't use plates. Tai finished eating first and stood up and went for some glasses, "Who's having what to drink?" he asked. They responded with a myriad of soft drink requests. He got the glasses and poured the drink, "Kari, can you help me here?" Tai asked.
"Sure," she said standing up, she walked over to him and grabbed four glasses. Tai and Kari began distributing the orders, Matt, Mimi, Davis, Izzy, Tai, Joe were having coke, Mimi's was a diet of course, while Sora was having soda water. Kari decided on plain water.
"And finally for T.K., because we know how much you loved my mothers recipes, here's a onion shake," Tai said outing down the glass.
"Oh you're not serious," T.K. said with a horrified expression on his face.
"Don't drink it!" Izzy shouted, showering Joe and Mimi with a little coke from his glass.
"Calm down there Izzy," Tai said.
"Why? The last time I drank that stuff I wrenched out half my stomach and we almost lost the digital world.
"Hey don't worry, it's not the real stuff, it's just milk," Kari said.
"Yeah, we wanted to see if you would drink it, but I guess there's no point now, I'll get you some coke." Tai got up and retrieved the coke. He brought it in and returned to his seat.
"Hey, do you wanna do something?" Davis asked.
"What now?" T.K. whispered to Kari.
"Well, it can't be soccer, so my best guess is video games," she replied.
"Like what," Matt said.
"I dunno, video games," Davis answered.
"Why not," Tai said. He got the console and set it up. They began playing a multitude of mortal combat rounds, but the girls soon tired of that so Tai got out FIFA and set up and eight player game. This was more of a crowd pleaser, especially Davis. They were about to get into the game when the door opened.
"Agumon, you guys have got to hide," Tai whispered desperately but it was too late, Mr and Mrs Kamiya were standing in the lounge looking down at the large group in their house. They looked very confused.
"Agumon isn't it?" Mrs Kamiya said looking at the orange digimon, "And Gatomon?" she continued turning to Kari.
"Yeah that's right," Tai said anxiously awaiting his mother's response.
"Then these must be your digimon, sorry if I don't remember their individual names," she apologised.
"It's nice to see you again," Mr Kamiya said.
"Make yourselves at home, you should know you're welcome here. And to the rest of you, it's good to see you, anybody for a drink?" Mrs Kamiya offered.
"No," they all responded quickly, not knowing what terrible concoction she would make.
"You are welcome to stay for dinner if you want," Mr Kamiya said addressing the room. They then left for their bedroom. Once they had left the room everyone breathed a hearty sigh of relief. They decided to finish the game. After it was complete everybody went home except for T.K. and Sora. Mr and Mrs Kamiya re-entered the room.
"I'm going to be going," Sora said.
"You don't have to," Mr Kamiya said.
"I know but my mom will be expecting me."
"I'll walk you home," Tai offered.
"No you won't," Sora said, "You've been out long enough today, you need to rest."
"Alright, but I'll phone you later."
"Deal, I'll be waiting," Sora said, "Thank you for your hospitality," she said to Tai's parents, then she left.
"Kari, we need to talk to you," Mr Kamiya started.
"Yea, certain things have developed and we need to settle some things with you," Mrs Kamiya finished.
"What is it?" Kari asked. T.K. walked over to her and took her hand.
"We were told a few days ago bye the company that they need us to fill in for the out of town positions permanently."
"What's going to happen now?" Kari asked.
"Well, the company is paying for a rental apartment, but we realised that you and your brother wouldn't want to leave all your friends and change schools and the like so you are going to stay here, and we will come home on weekends," Mr Kamiya explained.
"I suppose that's okay, there's nothing I can really do about it," she said disappointedly.
"Now we realise that isn't really an ideal situation but it will have to do. There is good news though."
"What is it now?" Kari asked.
"A couple of weeks ago we were approached by Mr Ishida, he is concerned about T.K. He said that he doesn't ever really have somebody to look after him. He knows that T.K. really is old enough to look after himself now, but there are still times when you need someone else should be around, so he asked if we wouldn't mind him living here from now on."
"Really! You're no kidding are you?" Kari said excitedly.
"No, they're for real," T.K. said.
"You knew about this, didn't you?"
"Of course I did, it is me that's moving home here."
"This is so great!" Kari said, "When is he moving in?"
"Tomorrow," Tai answered.
"You knew as well, what is this?"
"We thought it would be a nice surprise for you," Mr Kamiya answered.
"I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of each other from now," T.K. said. Kari looked at him smiling, she was almost crying, she grabbed him into a hug, he accepted her in his arms. They looked at each other and he kissed her.
Well that's it for this story. Sorry about the late update but I wanted to finish it off and not just end it abruptly. For all those Taiora fans out there saying "HEY! What about the date scene!!!" don't worry, the begging of the next story will have it in there. All suggestions for that story will be greatly appreciated, especially titles (As you can tell, this one had nothing to do with the story.) I would like to thank everybody for their reviews, I can honestly say I got more than I thought I would. Special thanks to Lilac Kamiya who kept me going in the beginning. Expect the new story in about two weeks, til then CYA.
The phone rang, T.K. ran to pick it up, "Hello," he greeted, "Kamiya residence."
"T.K.?" Matt replied unsurely.
"Yeah, hey Matt."
"What are you doing there?"
"I slept over here, I had to settle a bet with Tai."
"Oh really, what was it?"
"Don't get too excited, there was no money riding on it. Good think too, I lost."
"Well, what was the bet?"
"Tai was always complaining about his mothers cooking so I agreed to try some."
"Oh, poor boy, you should have asked me about that."
"You've tried it before then?"
"Yeah, a while ago, but how can you forget tandoori chicken with a peanut butter topping and potato shakes to wash it down.."
"Gee, I thought I had it bad, all I got was tofu meatloaf and cheese sauce."
"Well, Mimi and I are going to the beach and thought you guys might wanna come, you know take our minds off the digital world and all."
"Good idea, I think the digimon could use it too, they're a bit pent up here."
"Do me a favour, get Tai to call Sora, then meet us there."
"Sure, cya later."
"Bye." T.K. hung up the phone and re-entered the lounge.
"Who was it?" Kari asked.
"Matt, he wanted to know if we felt like going to the beach," T.K. replied.
"Sure, great idea," Tai replied enthusiastically.
"Good, call Sora and invite her, Matt's trying to get the whole group there."
"I'll go some food," Kari said leaving the room, T.K. followed her out, giving Tai some privacy. He nervously picked up the phone and dialled Sora's phone number, it rung four time and a voice appeared at the other end, "Hello," it answered.
"Hi Ms Takenouchi," Tai replied.
"Oh Tai, hello, sorry I didn't recognise you," she said.
"That's okay."
"How are you, Sora told me about your accident."
"I'm fine, just a bit bruised, but I feel a lot better."
"That's good, did you want to speak to Sora?"
"Yeah."
"I'll get her for you," she said putting the phone down on a table. Tai waited a few seconds before Sora answered.
"Hey Tai," she greeted.
"Hey," he replied.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, no headache, nothing."
"It's nice to talk to you, I was really bored here."
"I'm glad that I can entertain you. It's kinda why I called, do you want to got to the beach?"
"Sure, I'd love to.'
"Great, I'll pick you up. No that I'm driving though, both my parents are here so they have the car."
"I suppose everybody's coming too?"
"Yeah,"
"Well good, we can finally have our second group meeting."
"Yeah, I forgot about that in all the commotion."
"Hopefully we don't receive any ominous messages this time."
"Yeah, well, I'd better go or we'll never get there,"
"I suppose, but hurry."
"Don't worry, I hate being away from you as much as you do from me."
"Well, I'll see you soon."
"Bye." Tai hung up the phone. He went to his room and put on some swimming trunks and a shirt, then grabbed an old stereo and shoved it in his bag. It was nothing flash, just an old two-speaker stereo with a tape deck and CD player. He turned and looked to the side of his bed and found Agumon was digging around in some dirty clothes for some thing, "Whatcha looking for?" Tai asked.
"A cookie," Agumon replied.
"Why would I have a cookie down there?"
"Because I dropped it there."
"Well hurry, we're going to the beach."
"Great, I love the beach."
"Well find that cookie and meet me in the kitchen." Tai left his room and went into the bathroom and grabbed some sunscreen and a towel then went to the kitchen. T.K. was helping Kari with the snacks, "I'm going to pick up Sora, then we'll go straight there," Tai announced.
"Okay, see you there," Kari said.
"Bye," T.K. said.
"Come on Agumon, we're going," Tai called. Agumon walked over to him and the two left. T.K. and Kari finished up the snacks and packed a large bag. They got some towels for themselves and got changed into some swimming gear. T.K. had to borrow a pair of Tai's trunks even though they were two big for him. The walked into the lounge, "We're going to the beach,"
"That sounds like fun," Patamon said depressed.
"You're coming with," T.K. replied.
"Oh good," he replied. He flew over to T.K. and landed on his hat.
"Alright, I'll come, but don't expect me to swim," Gatomon said walking over to Kari.
"We'll see," Kari said picking her up. T.K. took the bag and they left for the beach.
*******Takenouchi residence*******
Tai approached the door to Sora's apartment, he knocked twice. He had decided that Agumon had better not come to the door so he was waiting around the corner. "I'm coming," a voice bellowed from inside. The door opened and Mrs Takenouchi stood before him.
"Hi," Tai said politely.
"Hello Tai," Mrs Takenouchi greeted.
"Is Sora here?"
"Yes, she's in her room changing."
"Okay, just tell her I'm here."
"You can come in and wait if you want." Tai took the opportunity. He entered and just then Sora came from round the corner. She was wearing a purple top and a pair of small blue shorts.
"Hey," Tai greeted.
"Hi," she replied, they were both smiling.
"Let's go," Tai suggested.
"Okay. Bye mom," Sora said. They walked out of the apartment and out onto the street. It was a warm sunny day, there weren't many people out because it was a Wednesday and everybody was at work. Biyomon flew down to them. "Why did I have to do that, it's really high up there?" she questioned.
"Well, we don't want our parents to worry about us. If they saw you they might think that we were having to save the digital world again and worry about us," Sora explained.
"Isn't that what is happening?"
"Yes, but we really don't want our parents to worry, especially what happened to me."
"So you'll have to bear with it," Sora said.
"I'm glad your parents weren't home, because I can't fly and it's a long way down," Agumon said worriedly.
"Don't worry, if it was an emergency we could always use my bag."
"Although the fresh air would be lovely," Agumon said in a positive tone.
"Ha ha, very funny, maybe I will drop you out the window," Tai said sarcastically.
"Alright, it was just a joke."
"Hey Tai, what beach are we going to?" Sora asked, trying to change the subject.
"Odaiba central beach," Tai replied.
"Good, that's not far," Sora responded.
"Yeah."
"You know, we should set a date."
"For what?"
"Sora, will you go out with me?" Sora looked confused, she looked at Tai.
"Well, what do you say?"
"Um, sure, I'd love to."
"Great, let's say tomorrow night at eight, I'll pick you up."
"I'll be waiting." They returned to silence. Tai moved closer to Sora.
"Sorry if I confused you there, I just wanted to officially start our relationship."
"Oh, you didn't have to."
"I know, but I thought I'd rather start it with a good memory, rather than a tragic one."
"But I think what you did was really brave, and sweet."
"Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets. I just felt we should have a normal start to our relationship with all the weird stuff that has been going on," Tai was sounding really self-conscious.
"Don't worry Tai, I think it's really thoughtful of you. But why now?"
"Because I really wanted do this," Tai said, he smiled and took her hand. Sora looked at him and returned the smile, she squeezed softly.
"But you know the down side this," Sora said.
"What?" Tai asked.
"I have to let go," she replied.
"Well, we don't have too, but it would make lots of things very, um, interesting," Tai said.
"I know what your thinking Taichi Kamiya and it ain't gonna happen," Sora said sternly. Tai looked over at her sheepishly. "Well not for a while," she said audaciously.
"Mmm, I think I like this side of you."
"Well, maybe you'll see it more when we've been together longer."
"I'll be there."
"Come on, maybe we should walk a bit faster," Tai suggested.
"Yeah, we have kind of slowed down a bit."
"A bit, we're almost at a standstill," Agumon said.
"Well why didn't you say anything?" Tai asked.
"We didn't want to interrupt you guys," Biyomon started.
"Yeah, you seemed kind of into it," Agumon continued.
"Thanks guys," Sora said.
"Hey, we're almost there," Tai pointed out. They continued on to their destination. They walked through the fence and sown onto the sand. About a hundred meters away T.K., Matt, Mimi and Kari were standing around waiting. Kari waved them over, they were setting up the area. Matt had a beach umbrella set up in the ground and there was a big cooler underneath it. Tai, Sora, Biyomon and Agumon walked over to them, they greeted each other.
"I see something's changed with you," Matt said looking at Tai's hand on Sora's.
"Yeah, it sure has," Tai said. Mimi was smiling profusely at Sora, who was smiling back. They let go of each others hands, Tai walked over to T.K. and Sora joined Mimi.
"What did you guys bring?" Tai asked looking at the size of the cooler.
"Well we thought we might need something to eat today so Mimi and I scrounged for food at my place and then went over to T.K.'s., there's all kinds of things in there," Matt explained.
"We had the same thoughts so we packed some snacks," Kari added.
"Gee, it looks like I was the only one unprepared," Tai said.
"You had other things on your mind," T.K. said grinning, Kari hit him softly with the back of her hand.
"We're gonna go for a walk," Mimi said.
"Okay, I'll see you later," Matt said.
"Don't be too long," Tai added. The two walked off down the beach, they left Biyomon and Palmon behind. They waited till they were a fair distance from the others until they began speaking. Mimi looked at Sora, she was still smiling, "So, that's new," Mimi said.
"I know," Sora replied.
"When did he make his move?"
"Today…"
"Well, come on you can't leave me hanging."
"He um… nah, you don't really want to know," Sora joked.
"You're killing me girl, spill it, what did he say!"
"Okay, I'll tell. It was kind of weird, we were walking here and we weren't saying anything. Then out of nowhere he says we should set a date. I had no idea what he was on about, to be honest I thought it was just another one of his silly jokes, but then he says really innocently, do you want to go out with me?" Mimi was hanging on every word.
"WELL! What did you say?"
"What do you think, the guy I've wanted to go out with since fourth grade asks me out and I refuse?"
"No, but WHAT did you say?"
"I said I'd love to."
"And then what?"
"Well here's where it gets weird, he said he'd pick me up at seven tonight."
"TOMORROW! We're gonna have to do some serious preparing," Mimi interrupted, "Oh, sorry Sora, carry on," she apologised realising Sora wasn't finished.
"Well, he just returned to the same old Tai he always is. But then he says that he's sorry if he confused me."
"Why? I mean I'm glad he did because I'm really confused, but what was his explanation."
"He said that he wanted to officially start our relationship and that he wanted it to be a good memory rather than a tragic one. I feel kinda bad because I was kind of chasing him in circles with his reasoning. I mean I understood what he meant but I kept asking questions, he was really self conscious."
"Don't worry, but what happened next?"
"Then I asked him why he did it just then. He said that he really wanted to do this, then he took my hand."
"Oh my… Sora, that is SO sweet."
"I know, I didn't expect it at all. I hope I didn't make it hard for him, I mean I must have sounded so put off and scared…"
"Sora stop now. You can't think like that."
"Sorry, I just get the feeling I was making it harder for him."
"You shouldn't, he looked so content, I could see it on his face."
"Now that you mention it, he seemed more relaxed."
"See, even you could sense it."
"I just can't help thinking about what comes next."
"We'll find out tonight, but in the mean time we'd better get back."
*******Back with the group*******
T.K. and Kari were sitting under the umbrella, Patamon, Gatomon, Biyomon and Palmon were with them. They were sitting enjoying the pleasant weather. T.K. was sitting with Kari resting her head on his shoulder, they weren't really talking. Matt and Tai were just away from them, Agumon and Gabumon were with them.
"So you finally asked Sora out eh?" Matt said.
"Yeah, but hoe did you know?" Tai replied.
"You forget how well I know you Tai. You two were holding hands and you would never make a move like that on Sora without asking her out first."
"Yeah, I really care about her."
"I know what you mean, I've never seen you this hung up on a girl before."
"I guess we're suckers for love."
"We sure are."
"It's nice that you two like girls we already know, I have no idea what they would say when they met us, if we were even introduced," Agumon said.
"Of course we would introduce you to them, come on you're our best friends," Tai replied.
"Yeah, it wouldn't be right away, but you would be introduced."
"That's reassuring."
"Let's change the subject, I don't want to talk about other girls," Tai said.
"Well, you can go talk to yours if you want, she's right over there," Matt said pointing to the group. Sora was currently standing next to Kari, Tai walked over to her, Matt followed with the digimon in tail. Tai came from behind Sora and gently took her hand and whispered in her ear, "Hey there, missed you."
"Missed you more," she whispered back. The others were just watching them. They noticed they were being watched and stopped.
"Sorry," Tai said.
"Don't be sorry, it's nice to see you finally together," Kari said.
"Yeah, we're used to it by now having had Matt and Mimi around us," T.K. added.
"Well we can't help ourselves," Mimi said defensively.
"Give yourselves another few weeks and you'll see what we're talking about," Matt added.
"I wonder where the others are?" Sora said. They looked around and could see no one on either side of them. They looked behind them and saw Davis walking over dune path, Veemon was by his side.
"Hey," he shouted. He joined the group, "Hey," Tai said. He looked at them and noticed Tai was holding Sora's hand.
"Oh, I see," he said.
"Yeah," Tai replied.
"That's cool," he continued. Veemon joined the other digimon who were under the umbrella, which was now very crowded.
"It would be good if we had another one of those," Matt said.
"Well, you're in luck, because I've got one," Joe said from behind them, Izzy was with him. They all greeted each other and broke off into separate discussions. Matt, Tai, Izzy, Sora, Joe and Mimi were talking about finals and T.K. Kari and Davis were talking about school starting the next week. The digimon were with their respective partners regardless of the fact they didn't really have much of a clue what they were talking about.
"This totally bites" Davis," said angrily (A\N ?? would he say that?), "Why do we have to go back to school on Monday?"
"Probably because we don't have finals and finish earlier than they do," T.K. replied.
"If you wanna look at it that way," Davis responded.
"At least we get three months of vacation time after that," Kari said.
"All that free time and nothing to do with it," T.K. commented.
"I know what I'm doing…" Davis started.
"I'll bet he says soccer," T.K. whispered in Kari's ear while he was speaking.
"…Soccer." T.K. and Kari laughed.
"What's so funny?" Davis asked.
"Nothing, don't worry," T.K. said.
"So what are we gonna do, we're all here now?" Davis asked.
"I don't know what they want to do, but I'd bet my life you brought a soccer ball so we may as well play that," Kari said.
"I'm up for a game," T.K. said.
"I'll go ask the others," Davis said. He walked over to their group, "Hey, do you guys wanna play a game of soccer?"
"Sure, why not," Matt said.
"Count me in," Mimi added.
"I'll play," Izzy said.
"I could use the exercise," Joe said.
"How about you Tai, going to join us?" Davis asked.
"You know I'd love too, there's quite a few things I could teach you. But I can't, doctors orders and all."
"That's too bad, What about you Sora?"
"No, I can't just leave Tai on his own, besides, I'm a little tired myself."
"Oh well, let's go guys," Davis announced. They all returned to T.K. and Kari.
"What are the teams gonna be?" Izzy asked.
"How about we bring the digimon into this?" Kari asked.
"How about it guys, you wanna join?" Davis asked. They all wanted to play, excepting Agumon and Biyomon.
"Uh Davis, we have a slight problem, the teams are uneven, or somebody will have to play against their digimon," T.K. pointed out.
"Don't worry guys, Gomamon and I will referee the game," Joe said.
"You don't mind?" Davis asked.
"No, but I'll decide the teams. This one is obvious, it'll be old versus new, that makes the teams Davis, T.K., Kari, Veemon, Gatomon and Patamon versus Matt, Mimi, Izzy, Tentomon, Palmon and Gabumon."
"No problems here," Davis said aggressively.
"Nor here," Matt replied with the same aggression.
"Right then, I'll set up the goals using these bags and we'll get started," Joe said, grabbing the bags, he proceeded to set up the goals. Tai and Sora were sitting under the umbrella that was basically on the halfway mark. They kicked off the game and the group ran frantically around the area. Tai was sitting in the shade, while Sora had her top and shorts off and was now in a bikini. She was resting her head on Tai's lap with the rest of her body in the sun.
"You look good in that bikini," Tai said, Sora looked at him, "I'm not being a pervert, it just suits you."
"Thanks," Sora replied.
"You know that you can go play if you want."
"No, I really need to get some sun, besides, I like to be with you."
"I won't say it isn't nice to have the time alone. How about some music?"
"That would be great, but where from?"
"I brought my old compact stereo," Tai said pulling it out of his bag. He set it out in the shade and lifted the aerial. He turned on the radio, Usher's you got it bad was playing.
"That was some good thinking," Sora said.
"Yeah well I figured I might have to sit out on some things so I decided to bring it." They sat and enjoyed the music until the song changed to Nelly furtato, "Ugh, I hate this song, do you mind if I change it?" Tai asked.
"No, I'm not fond of it either."
"I'll put a CD on, do you like the Chemical Brothers?"
"Yeah, that'd be good." Tai put in the CD and started it, just then the ball came flying towards Tai. In a flash he caught it, "You'll have to do better than that to hit me," Tai said throwing the ball back.
"Sorry!" Mimi shouted. Tai went back to sitting under the umbrella. Sora was sitting up now and was reaching for the cooler.
"Do you want a drink?"
"Sure." Sora passed him a coke and was having a diet soda herself. They looked back to the game and watched as Gabumon intercepted a flying kick for goal, but it unfortunately landed on his horn. The ball burst upon impact, Gabumon looked very ashamed.
"Sorry Davis," he said feeling very guilty.
"That's okay, I have like twelve more at home," Davis replied.
"Well, I guess that's the final whistle," Joe said.
"So who won?" Tai shouted from the sideline. The group moved over to Tai and Sora, "Please wait while I confer with my second referee," Joe joked, he pretended to confer with Gomamon.
"Come on, quit stalling," Davis said (A\N you guessed it) impatiently.
"Upon final tally, we find that the New digidestined have one by a hair with a score of six to five," Joe announced. The old team applauded them.
"Well done, you must have played well," Tai started, "Obviously Davis here has become quite the player, not forgetting T.K. and Kari must have done a fair bit. As for the digimon, they must have learnt from you guys. But don't get too cocky, next time you'll be facing me."
"Alright Tai, down off the podium," Matt said sarcastically.
"How about a swim?" T.K. suggested. They all agreed and decided to venture into the water. Tai joined them because it was low tide and there was no swell. They jumped in the water and dunked each other and played tag for a while. They were in the water for about half an hour until the weather took a turn for the worse. A large cloudbank came in from the east and was threatening to storm.
"We'd better leave, this weather isn't going to hold out," Joe said. They walked back to the umbrella and dried off, then Izzy pulled out his laptop and checked the weather forecast over the internet.
"It doesn't look good guys, that cold front should be here in half an hour," Izzy said.
"We can go to my place, it's closest," Tai suggested. They agreed on that and went straight to Tai's apartment.
*******Tai's building*******
The group darted inside and clambered into the elevator. It was very tight for them to fit but they did. The doors shut and Tai pressed the seven button and the elevator began moving. They reached the seventh floor and fell out of the elevator in much the same fashion as when they arrive back from the digital world. Tai opened the door to his apartment and they filed in, no one was home. As he shut the door thunder crashed and it started to rain severely.
"Looks like we were just in time," Tai said.
"Hey Tai, what's the time?" Kari asked.
"Four," he replied, "Does anybody want something to eat?"
"Sure, I'm starved," Davis replied.
"Yeah, I'm hungry too," Joe agreed.
"Well why don't we have the snacks we packed?" Matt suggested.
"That's a great idea," Kari said. Matt and Mimi took the food out of the cooler and began laying it out on plates on the coffee table. Everyone took plates and they began taking food from the wide selection. The digimon took some as well but they didn't use plates. Tai finished eating first and stood up and went for some glasses, "Who's having what to drink?" he asked. They responded with a myriad of soft drink requests. He got the glasses and poured the drink, "Kari, can you help me here?" Tai asked.
"Sure," she said standing up, she walked over to him and grabbed four glasses. Tai and Kari began distributing the orders, Matt, Mimi, Davis, Izzy, Tai, Joe were having coke, Mimi's was a diet of course, while Sora was having soda water. Kari decided on plain water.
"And finally for T.K., because we know how much you loved my mothers recipes, here's a onion shake," Tai said outing down the glass.
"Oh you're not serious," T.K. said with a horrified expression on his face.
"Don't drink it!" Izzy shouted, showering Joe and Mimi with a little coke from his glass.
"Calm down there Izzy," Tai said.
"Why? The last time I drank that stuff I wrenched out half my stomach and we almost lost the digital world.
"Hey don't worry, it's not the real stuff, it's just milk," Kari said.
"Yeah, we wanted to see if you would drink it, but I guess there's no point now, I'll get you some coke." Tai got up and retrieved the coke. He brought it in and returned to his seat.
"Hey, do you wanna do something?" Davis asked.
"What now?" T.K. whispered to Kari.
"Well, it can't be soccer, so my best guess is video games," she replied.
"Like what," Matt said.
"I dunno, video games," Davis answered.
"Why not," Tai said. He got the console and set it up. They began playing a multitude of mortal combat rounds, but the girls soon tired of that so Tai got out FIFA and set up and eight player game. This was more of a crowd pleaser, especially Davis. They were about to get into the game when the door opened.
"Agumon, you guys have got to hide," Tai whispered desperately but it was too late, Mr and Mrs Kamiya were standing in the lounge looking down at the large group in their house. They looked very confused.
"Agumon isn't it?" Mrs Kamiya said looking at the orange digimon, "And Gatomon?" she continued turning to Kari.
"Yeah that's right," Tai said anxiously awaiting his mother's response.
"Then these must be your digimon, sorry if I don't remember their individual names," she apologised.
"It's nice to see you again," Mr Kamiya said.
"Make yourselves at home, you should know you're welcome here. And to the rest of you, it's good to see you, anybody for a drink?" Mrs Kamiya offered.
"No," they all responded quickly, not knowing what terrible concoction she would make.
"You are welcome to stay for dinner if you want," Mr Kamiya said addressing the room. They then left for their bedroom. Once they had left the room everyone breathed a hearty sigh of relief. They decided to finish the game. After it was complete everybody went home except for T.K. and Sora. Mr and Mrs Kamiya re-entered the room.
"I'm going to be going," Sora said.
"You don't have to," Mr Kamiya said.
"I know but my mom will be expecting me."
"I'll walk you home," Tai offered.
"No you won't," Sora said, "You've been out long enough today, you need to rest."
"Alright, but I'll phone you later."
"Deal, I'll be waiting," Sora said, "Thank you for your hospitality," she said to Tai's parents, then she left.
"Kari, we need to talk to you," Mr Kamiya started.
"Yea, certain things have developed and we need to settle some things with you," Mrs Kamiya finished.
"What is it?" Kari asked. T.K. walked over to her and took her hand.
"We were told a few days ago bye the company that they need us to fill in for the out of town positions permanently."
"What's going to happen now?" Kari asked.
"Well, the company is paying for a rental apartment, but we realised that you and your brother wouldn't want to leave all your friends and change schools and the like so you are going to stay here, and we will come home on weekends," Mr Kamiya explained.
"I suppose that's okay, there's nothing I can really do about it," she said disappointedly.
"Now we realise that isn't really an ideal situation but it will have to do. There is good news though."
"What is it now?" Kari asked.
"A couple of weeks ago we were approached by Mr Ishida, he is concerned about T.K. He said that he doesn't ever really have somebody to look after him. He knows that T.K. really is old enough to look after himself now, but there are still times when you need someone else should be around, so he asked if we wouldn't mind him living here from now on."
"Really! You're no kidding are you?" Kari said excitedly.
"No, they're for real," T.K. said.
"You knew about this, didn't you?"
"Of course I did, it is me that's moving home here."
"This is so great!" Kari said, "When is he moving in?"
"Tomorrow," Tai answered.
"You knew as well, what is this?"
"We thought it would be a nice surprise for you," Mr Kamiya answered.
"I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of each other from now," T.K. said. Kari looked at him smiling, she was almost crying, she grabbed him into a hug, he accepted her in his arms. They looked at each other and he kissed her.
Well that's it for this story. Sorry about the late update but I wanted to finish it off and not just end it abruptly. For all those Taiora fans out there saying "HEY! What about the date scene!!!" don't worry, the begging of the next story will have it in there. All suggestions for that story will be greatly appreciated, especially titles (As you can tell, this one had nothing to do with the story.) I would like to thank everybody for their reviews, I can honestly say I got more than I thought I would. Special thanks to Lilac Kamiya who kept me going in the beginning. Expect the new story in about two weeks, til then CYA.