~*Project: Moment*~
A Digimon Fanfiction by Bandit
~*Chapter 9- Starry Night*~
An hour or so and three slow dances later, two shadowy figures made their way across the dark complex, by the light streaming from the windows of the few houses with people still awake in them.
"You're sure you know where we're going?" Sora said softly, holding tightly to Tai's hand.
"Positive," he said with a smile, looking back at her. "It's right over the main gate, and that's hard to miss."
Sora nodded. They continued in companionable silence until a stairway loomed before them, part of the wall of the outer complex. Tai led her toward it, motioning for quiet as he nodded toward a small door nearby, also set into the wall of the complex.
"That's the small gate, for foot passengers. The guard locks it up and leaves soon, but he's probably still there now, and we don't want to get in trouble with him."
Sora smiled. "Was that the gate that they brought me in through?"
"Probably not," Tai said, starting to climb the steps with her right behind him. "There's another gate nearer the hospital wing, but only the doctors and field medics have keys to it. This one opens with any master key; we've all got them. One of your rescuers was a medic, so I'm guessing that he brought you through there to save time."
Sora nodded again, and concentrated on not missing her footing in the dark. They reached the top of the steps, and Tai gave her hand a squeeze. Sora's eyes widened as she saw the view, and she looked around herself in wonder.
"Tai, this is amazing..."
It really was. They stood on a bridge-like archway over the main gate, with low walls serving as railings on either side. The sky stretched above them, clear and dark and studded with stars that sparkled like diamonds on blue-black velvet. The land was plains or desert; she couldn't tell in the darkness, but it was made up of rolling, low hills that went on for as far as she could see. A road stretched across it like a black ribbon, past the horizon. The effect was simple, striking, and strangely beautiful.
Smiling at her reaction, Tai settled down to sit with his back against the inner wall. Sora joined him, looking up at the stars in wonder.
"The sky is so clear...I don't think I've ever seen so many stars, except in the Digital world, but the constellations are all wrong for us to be there."
"In Tokyo, the city lights are too bright for the stars to show," Tai said, looking up as well. "Out here there's no civilization for miles...wherever 'here' is. So there's nothing to ruin the view." He sighed happily.
"It's beautiful," Sora murmured, leaning slightly against him. Tai slipped an arm around her waist, smiling.
"I can think of something more beautiful," he said softly. Sora turned to look at him, and then blushed and looked away.
"Thank you..." she said, and changed the subject, a little nervous now that the image of Yuki's sad face was beginning to fade. "Um..." The thought of Yuki reminded her of something she'd said. "The person I talked to while you were off dancing told me that you work as an assistant at Joe's wing."
"Sometimes," Tai admitted. "When I'm not doing something else. Why?"
"When I came here...I mean, when I *first* came here," Sora began, feeling a little awkward, "I heard people talking. There was somebody who sounded like he was in charge, and someone who was worried about me, and someone who wasn't being very nice to the worried person. Were you...?"
"The worried one," Tai said, sighing. "You have no idea what that was like. I was just helping Joe file some records, and all of a sudden this crew of people bursts in with a stretcher, yelling about a Snimon attack. That gave me enough of a scare, but when I went over to help and it was *you* on the stretcher..." His voice trailed off, and Sora realized that he was shaking. "You looked..."
"Dead?" Sora said gently. Tai swallowed hard.
"Yeah," he admitted. "Once I knew that you were alive, I felt better, but then when Joe said that you might not make it after all..."
"I know," Sora said, sighing and leaning her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about that."
"No, it's all right," Tai protested. "It wasn't your fault; it's not like you meant to be attacked by that thing. I don't even know how they knew where to send it..."
The cryptic comment confused Sora, but she let it slide. "Who was the person who told you that you were grasping at straws?"
Tai snorted. "Davis. Why do you think it gave him such a shock when he ran into you in the Arena? He's been feeling guilty about his big mouth for days; he kept dropping by to check on me."
Sora smiled. "After you left, Joe told him that he hadn't grown up at all since we were kids in the Digital world, or something like that."
Tai let out a surprised laugh. "Really? I would have liked to have seen that."
"Well, I would have liked to have seen Kari yelling at you about TK," Sora teased. To her surprise, Tai stopped smiling.
"About all of that..."
"I know it wasn't your fault, Tai. I'm impressed that you got them back here so quickly-"
"No, it isn't that," Tai interrupted, then paused, looking a bit sheepish. "I just remembered...you know how I told you that you weren't the only one who had a near-death experience?"
Sora nodded, not sure what to expect from this new topic of conversation.
"Yes..."
Tai let go of her to pull up his sleeve, and then showed his arm to her. A white scar ran diagonally from about halfway down his right forearm to his elbow. It looked like whatever had done it had been vicious. Sora frowned.
"How did you...?"
"Strike Team had to go collect an Ogremon from a back street of Tokyo. I was distracted, and it tried to squash me with its club. That was a few months after TK's accident, and my heart wasn't in it. I got out of the way, but just barely; one of the spikes caught me, and my group had to rush me back to the HQ. That's just one end of it; the rest is here."
Pulling his sleeve back into place, he traced a line with one finger from the middle of his right side up to just below the center of his collarbone. Sora bit her lip, looking at where it ended. Tai nodded, guessing what she was thinking.
"It missed my jugular by about an inch when it hit, and then cut down from there. If I had been a second later in getting out of the way, I would have been meat for the grinder." He sighed, smiling ruefully. "I've since learned that you need to have your full attention on a Digimon when it's trying to kill you. They're a lot harder to beat on your own..."
"Hang on...you battle Digimon?" Sora said, confused. Tai winced.
"I can't answer that," he said sheepishly. "It's against orders...but I think you already know the answer. I shot off my mouth again, didn't I?"
"I won't tell," Sora promised, but her mind was reeling with questions.
Tai smiled. "Thank you," he said, and slipped his arm around her shoulders, looking wistfully off at the distant constellations. The stars were reflected in his chocolate-brown eyes... Sora's mind stopped worrying about questions; now it was just reeling. She tensed up a bit, but relaxed again, suddenly feeling foolish.
*What am I afraid of?* she wondered. *Nothing, that's what. I've known Tai forever and then some...and I think I'd like to get to know him a little better. Why is that so hard to admit? Why can't I just...say it?* She shook her head, and Tai looked at her, concerned.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, his brown eyes caring and warm.
*Oh, he is so good....*
"No," Sora said softly, and made her decision. "Everything's just perfect..."
She leaned forward, and their lips met. His arms wrapped around her, and Sora felt that sense of utter contentment and joy, and an excitement that hummed in her blood and rang in her ears...the feeling she'd had only once before in her life, a feeling of completion. She reached up to circle his neck with her arms, and gave herself up to enjoying him...
Long minutes later, dizzy and elated, they paused. Sora was sitting in Tai's lap with her hands tangled in his hair, Tai resting his forehead against hers the way he had when they were reunited, looking into her eyes. The sky was reflected in her irises, shining from the depths of brandy-brown happiness.
"I'm half expecting to wake up and find out this was all a dream," he whispered. Sora nodded, her heart full to bursting.
"Me, too...but it feels too right for that."
Tai smiled. "I can't believe you're finally here," he sighed, and kissed her again. Sora kissed back, never wanting the moment to end...and then his words sank in, and she stiffened, her happiness guttering like a candle flame.
"What?" Tai said, pulling back.
"Nothing," Sora murmured, looking down. "Just cold..."
"We'd better go in," Tai said reluctantly. Sora sighed and nodded, and slid out of his lap, standing. She gave him a hand up, and their fingers stayed intertwined as they went down the stairs and toward the door into the main complex. Sora held tightly to his hand as they walked...but her happiness was dying, and a terrible unsureness was taking its place.
*'Finally here'?* she thought with a shiver. *As if I were here to stay... It's a wonderful place, but it's full of danger. I'm leaving, aren't I?* Tai held the door for her as they went inside, and she smiled at him, but uncertainty and fear were growing inside her. *I do have a choice...right?*
She practically fell onto the hide-a-bed as soon as they got to the apartment, and Tai didn't even mention any other 'ideas' for sleeping arrangements. That was one of the really great things about him; he cared, and about much more than just the usual guy stuff. Still, Sora couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned, worrying, long after Tai's light was out and the steady sound of his sleeping breathing reached her ears. He sounded so peaceful...
Sitting up in bed, she gazed out the window at the stars, which suddenly seemed cold and uncaring. Homesickness hit her like a sledgehammer, and tears welled up in her eyes.
"I have to get home," she whispered into the pale blue shadows of the room. "I have to leave!" She swallowed hard, remembering the heavy, locked gates... "I never promised anything...they can't just keep me here, can they?" A hint of a whimper made its way into her voice, as she looked out at the constellations above her. The same stars that Mimi might be looking at right now, and Matt, and her mother... Loneliness darkened her heart.
And yet, they were the same stars she had gazed up at that very evening, at Tai's side... A tear of tortured indecision ran down her cheek.
*I just found him again...how can I possibly leave him? But...how could I ever agree to stay here with him? I don't know what this mission is about, or how long it will take…it might even be forever! To never see Mimi again? To never see the baby that's been my life for the last three months? And what about Mama, and Yolei, and all of the others?
*And yet, I feel like I found the other half of my heart here, and I'll never be whole without it. I can't decide something like this! I don't *know* what to decide...I just don't know!!
*Oh, God...what am I going to do?*
__________________________________
Coming soon- Chapter 10: Eclipse Rising
(AN) Why, oh why are there no more reviews? Yes, there are three or four of you who consistently review me, but when you've gotten only 2 reviews a chapter for 2 chapters in a row... What is it? What is it that other writers have and I don't, so that their most grammar-free, misspelled homonculi gather reviews like a sofa attracts cat hair, whereas my precious fics are left out in the cold? Why?!
*deep breath, a few coughs* Okay, I'm all right now. I just...I'm all right. Please, people, review me! *pauses, thinks for a moment* How's this? You don't get to find out what Sora decides until I see some more input here. A perfect plan... T_T So review! Review now! Mwahaha! -a review-starved (read: deranged) Tobu Ishi
A Digimon Fanfiction by Bandit
~*Chapter 9- Starry Night*~
An hour or so and three slow dances later, two shadowy figures made their way across the dark complex, by the light streaming from the windows of the few houses with people still awake in them.
"You're sure you know where we're going?" Sora said softly, holding tightly to Tai's hand.
"Positive," he said with a smile, looking back at her. "It's right over the main gate, and that's hard to miss."
Sora nodded. They continued in companionable silence until a stairway loomed before them, part of the wall of the outer complex. Tai led her toward it, motioning for quiet as he nodded toward a small door nearby, also set into the wall of the complex.
"That's the small gate, for foot passengers. The guard locks it up and leaves soon, but he's probably still there now, and we don't want to get in trouble with him."
Sora smiled. "Was that the gate that they brought me in through?"
"Probably not," Tai said, starting to climb the steps with her right behind him. "There's another gate nearer the hospital wing, but only the doctors and field medics have keys to it. This one opens with any master key; we've all got them. One of your rescuers was a medic, so I'm guessing that he brought you through there to save time."
Sora nodded again, and concentrated on not missing her footing in the dark. They reached the top of the steps, and Tai gave her hand a squeeze. Sora's eyes widened as she saw the view, and she looked around herself in wonder.
"Tai, this is amazing..."
It really was. They stood on a bridge-like archway over the main gate, with low walls serving as railings on either side. The sky stretched above them, clear and dark and studded with stars that sparkled like diamonds on blue-black velvet. The land was plains or desert; she couldn't tell in the darkness, but it was made up of rolling, low hills that went on for as far as she could see. A road stretched across it like a black ribbon, past the horizon. The effect was simple, striking, and strangely beautiful.
Smiling at her reaction, Tai settled down to sit with his back against the inner wall. Sora joined him, looking up at the stars in wonder.
"The sky is so clear...I don't think I've ever seen so many stars, except in the Digital world, but the constellations are all wrong for us to be there."
"In Tokyo, the city lights are too bright for the stars to show," Tai said, looking up as well. "Out here there's no civilization for miles...wherever 'here' is. So there's nothing to ruin the view." He sighed happily.
"It's beautiful," Sora murmured, leaning slightly against him. Tai slipped an arm around her waist, smiling.
"I can think of something more beautiful," he said softly. Sora turned to look at him, and then blushed and looked away.
"Thank you..." she said, and changed the subject, a little nervous now that the image of Yuki's sad face was beginning to fade. "Um..." The thought of Yuki reminded her of something she'd said. "The person I talked to while you were off dancing told me that you work as an assistant at Joe's wing."
"Sometimes," Tai admitted. "When I'm not doing something else. Why?"
"When I came here...I mean, when I *first* came here," Sora began, feeling a little awkward, "I heard people talking. There was somebody who sounded like he was in charge, and someone who was worried about me, and someone who wasn't being very nice to the worried person. Were you...?"
"The worried one," Tai said, sighing. "You have no idea what that was like. I was just helping Joe file some records, and all of a sudden this crew of people bursts in with a stretcher, yelling about a Snimon attack. That gave me enough of a scare, but when I went over to help and it was *you* on the stretcher..." His voice trailed off, and Sora realized that he was shaking. "You looked..."
"Dead?" Sora said gently. Tai swallowed hard.
"Yeah," he admitted. "Once I knew that you were alive, I felt better, but then when Joe said that you might not make it after all..."
"I know," Sora said, sighing and leaning her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about that."
"No, it's all right," Tai protested. "It wasn't your fault; it's not like you meant to be attacked by that thing. I don't even know how they knew where to send it..."
The cryptic comment confused Sora, but she let it slide. "Who was the person who told you that you were grasping at straws?"
Tai snorted. "Davis. Why do you think it gave him such a shock when he ran into you in the Arena? He's been feeling guilty about his big mouth for days; he kept dropping by to check on me."
Sora smiled. "After you left, Joe told him that he hadn't grown up at all since we were kids in the Digital world, or something like that."
Tai let out a surprised laugh. "Really? I would have liked to have seen that."
"Well, I would have liked to have seen Kari yelling at you about TK," Sora teased. To her surprise, Tai stopped smiling.
"About all of that..."
"I know it wasn't your fault, Tai. I'm impressed that you got them back here so quickly-"
"No, it isn't that," Tai interrupted, then paused, looking a bit sheepish. "I just remembered...you know how I told you that you weren't the only one who had a near-death experience?"
Sora nodded, not sure what to expect from this new topic of conversation.
"Yes..."
Tai let go of her to pull up his sleeve, and then showed his arm to her. A white scar ran diagonally from about halfway down his right forearm to his elbow. It looked like whatever had done it had been vicious. Sora frowned.
"How did you...?"
"Strike Team had to go collect an Ogremon from a back street of Tokyo. I was distracted, and it tried to squash me with its club. That was a few months after TK's accident, and my heart wasn't in it. I got out of the way, but just barely; one of the spikes caught me, and my group had to rush me back to the HQ. That's just one end of it; the rest is here."
Pulling his sleeve back into place, he traced a line with one finger from the middle of his right side up to just below the center of his collarbone. Sora bit her lip, looking at where it ended. Tai nodded, guessing what she was thinking.
"It missed my jugular by about an inch when it hit, and then cut down from there. If I had been a second later in getting out of the way, I would have been meat for the grinder." He sighed, smiling ruefully. "I've since learned that you need to have your full attention on a Digimon when it's trying to kill you. They're a lot harder to beat on your own..."
"Hang on...you battle Digimon?" Sora said, confused. Tai winced.
"I can't answer that," he said sheepishly. "It's against orders...but I think you already know the answer. I shot off my mouth again, didn't I?"
"I won't tell," Sora promised, but her mind was reeling with questions.
Tai smiled. "Thank you," he said, and slipped his arm around her shoulders, looking wistfully off at the distant constellations. The stars were reflected in his chocolate-brown eyes... Sora's mind stopped worrying about questions; now it was just reeling. She tensed up a bit, but relaxed again, suddenly feeling foolish.
*What am I afraid of?* she wondered. *Nothing, that's what. I've known Tai forever and then some...and I think I'd like to get to know him a little better. Why is that so hard to admit? Why can't I just...say it?* She shook her head, and Tai looked at her, concerned.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, his brown eyes caring and warm.
*Oh, he is so good....*
"No," Sora said softly, and made her decision. "Everything's just perfect..."
She leaned forward, and their lips met. His arms wrapped around her, and Sora felt that sense of utter contentment and joy, and an excitement that hummed in her blood and rang in her ears...the feeling she'd had only once before in her life, a feeling of completion. She reached up to circle his neck with her arms, and gave herself up to enjoying him...
Long minutes later, dizzy and elated, they paused. Sora was sitting in Tai's lap with her hands tangled in his hair, Tai resting his forehead against hers the way he had when they were reunited, looking into her eyes. The sky was reflected in her irises, shining from the depths of brandy-brown happiness.
"I'm half expecting to wake up and find out this was all a dream," he whispered. Sora nodded, her heart full to bursting.
"Me, too...but it feels too right for that."
Tai smiled. "I can't believe you're finally here," he sighed, and kissed her again. Sora kissed back, never wanting the moment to end...and then his words sank in, and she stiffened, her happiness guttering like a candle flame.
"What?" Tai said, pulling back.
"Nothing," Sora murmured, looking down. "Just cold..."
"We'd better go in," Tai said reluctantly. Sora sighed and nodded, and slid out of his lap, standing. She gave him a hand up, and their fingers stayed intertwined as they went down the stairs and toward the door into the main complex. Sora held tightly to his hand as they walked...but her happiness was dying, and a terrible unsureness was taking its place.
*'Finally here'?* she thought with a shiver. *As if I were here to stay... It's a wonderful place, but it's full of danger. I'm leaving, aren't I?* Tai held the door for her as they went inside, and she smiled at him, but uncertainty and fear were growing inside her. *I do have a choice...right?*
She practically fell onto the hide-a-bed as soon as they got to the apartment, and Tai didn't even mention any other 'ideas' for sleeping arrangements. That was one of the really great things about him; he cared, and about much more than just the usual guy stuff. Still, Sora couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned, worrying, long after Tai's light was out and the steady sound of his sleeping breathing reached her ears. He sounded so peaceful...
Sitting up in bed, she gazed out the window at the stars, which suddenly seemed cold and uncaring. Homesickness hit her like a sledgehammer, and tears welled up in her eyes.
"I have to get home," she whispered into the pale blue shadows of the room. "I have to leave!" She swallowed hard, remembering the heavy, locked gates... "I never promised anything...they can't just keep me here, can they?" A hint of a whimper made its way into her voice, as she looked out at the constellations above her. The same stars that Mimi might be looking at right now, and Matt, and her mother... Loneliness darkened her heart.
And yet, they were the same stars she had gazed up at that very evening, at Tai's side... A tear of tortured indecision ran down her cheek.
*I just found him again...how can I possibly leave him? But...how could I ever agree to stay here with him? I don't know what this mission is about, or how long it will take…it might even be forever! To never see Mimi again? To never see the baby that's been my life for the last three months? And what about Mama, and Yolei, and all of the others?
*And yet, I feel like I found the other half of my heart here, and I'll never be whole without it. I can't decide something like this! I don't *know* what to decide...I just don't know!!
*Oh, God...what am I going to do?*
__________________________________
Coming soon- Chapter 10: Eclipse Rising
(AN) Why, oh why are there no more reviews? Yes, there are three or four of you who consistently review me, but when you've gotten only 2 reviews a chapter for 2 chapters in a row... What is it? What is it that other writers have and I don't, so that their most grammar-free, misspelled homonculi gather reviews like a sofa attracts cat hair, whereas my precious fics are left out in the cold? Why?!
*deep breath, a few coughs* Okay, I'm all right now. I just...I'm all right. Please, people, review me! *pauses, thinks for a moment* How's this? You don't get to find out what Sora decides until I see some more input here. A perfect plan... T_T So review! Review now! Mwahaha! -a review-starved (read: deranged) Tobu Ishi