Hey everyone! I'm happy to finally be able to post my brand new multi-chaptered story! I have been working in this one for about four months and I'm loving how it's turning out! This story will be told from both Yamato's (odd chapters) and Sora's (even ones) POVs. It's slightly different than the canon, but I hope you like it anyway. Leave a review with your opinion when you finish reading.

Chapter 1: The First Day

My way to school is filled by Sakura trees like every first day of the school year. I look down at my uniform with a frown. I honestly can't understand who the hell though this tone in my green suit would match grey pants. The lack of fashion sense annoys me. I'm not a fashion expert by the way. I only have a vague notion of which colors and tones match with each other, but I guess that's enough to be a considered a guy who dresses well. At least that's what I hear some of the girls whispering to a group of friends whenever I walk by. Or maybe they just are whispering because they like blond guys with blue eyes and I fit that stereotype. I don't think any of these girls knows me at all. I shake my head to get away of these thoughts.

I casually slipped my hands in my pockets as I continued walking to school. When I looked up, something caught my attention. Well, someone actually. It's kinda hard to miss her red hair. It always stands out, though it's something that she feels rather uncomfortable with. I began to walk faster so I can catch up with her, and soon I was right behind her. My hand reached out for her shoulder and I couldn't hold my laughter when she jumped with fright.
"Yamato! You scared the hell out of me!" Sora said angrily, but I knew deep down she was laughing as me. It surprises me she still gets scared every time I do that to her.
"I stopped by your house so we could come to school together, but your mother said you left earlier than usual today."
"Yeah, I have to clean the class this week."
"Do you need any help?"
"Thank you, I'm good." She replied with a smile. "Besides, I think you have to cook this week, don't you?"
I slapped my forehead in disbelief. I had completely forgotten I was supposed to do the cooking. I can't help but feel grateful for having Sora in my life. She's the best friend I could ever ask for.

Sora and I have been friends since babies, to put that way. Our mothers are teenage friends, so we basically grew up together. Sora is an only child, so I think she considers me and Takeru, my younger brother, her own brothers. It goes both ways, by the way. I also consider her my sister, though we have the same age. She was the friend I could confide into when my parents got divorced and Takeru went to live with my mother. She's the only one who knows I chose to live with my dad because I didn't want to keep my brother away from our mother, since he was so little. Also, I'm the only one who knows how much she misses her father when he's away for months. These things only tightened our already strong friendship even more. I can't imagine my life without Sora. I have other friends, but none of them share with me the same close bonding as she does. Our mothers often make comments like how they would want us to date each other and get married. Both Sora and I shake our heads at such things, because the idea seems weird to us. We're only best friends, that's all. I really don't understand why they say those things, but I guess it's a mom's thing?

"Yamato, are you okay?" Sora waved her hand in front of my eyes and had a confused look in her face. "You zoomed out once again. It's becoming quite frequent recently. I'm starting to get worried."
"I'm fine." I blinked a few times then stared at her cinnamon eyes. "You don't need to worry about me."
"You know you're asking me something impossible."
I let out a soft laugh. She's right though. Asking her not to worry is the same as telling the sun not to shine, it just can't happen. "You think we're going to be in the same class again this year?"
"I hope so." She answered with a smile. "We've been in the same class for about three years now, so I really can't imagine us being in different ones."
"Me too." I couldn't help but smile back. "Have you thought of which extra class are you going to apply this year?"
"Hmmm I'm thinking maybe tennis. I want to try something new and tennis might make me feel closer to my mother. What about you?"
"I'm considering giving it a try on music. I feel like I'm ready for it now."
Music has always been a party of my life. My dad gave me a harmonica when I was five or six years to help me deal with the divorce and the absence of Takeru. I still own it and often play whenever I feel lonely or sad. Sora has seen me play several times and thinks I should be a professional musician, but I don't know. It always seemed such a huge deal and I thought I wasn't good enough for that.
"I think you should. It's a shame you don't realize how talented you are. But I'm glad you decided to go for it. I have no doubt you'll be amazing at whatever you decide to play."
"Thanks." I said as coolly as I could, though I felt my cheeks burning slightly. I prayed they weren't too pink for Sora to see. "But you're exaggerating."
"I'm not." Sora said as we stopped by the lockers, so we could store some items we would need for the second period. "Even your parents say the same thing. Do you think they are overreacting too?"
There she was. She had caught me off-guard once again. I really had no answer to that. I wasn't angry of her or anything. It's just how Sora works around those she's very comfortable with, I believe. I rolled my eyes in a playful way. "This is a low move."
"Just admit I'm right already."
"And feel your big ego?" I said between laughs. "Never."
"Whatever." She stuck her tongue at me and suddenly it felt like we were eight years old again. "Let's just go to class. I have to clean it before the other students arrive."

We ended up in the same class this year too, 7-A. Our class has 30 students, who are divided in fifteen desks with two students each. Last year I got to be Sora's desk mate, but for some reason in this one all of them were taken already. I couldn't even be able to disguise the disappointment in my face. Luckily, she didn't notice it. Instead, she quickly went to sit next to one of the boys she was close to, Taichi Yagami. He had a huge grin in his face when she approached him and a frown appeared in my face, I had no idea why. I shook my head as I went to sit in the desk behind them. I immediately regretted doing that because I had to witness them chatting happily between classes. What a way to start the new school year. I would have to see that the whole year, as we aren't allowed to switch seats with another student. I had to force these thoughts out of my mind when our English teacher arrived, so I could fully pay attention to the subject. Fun fact: I'm terrible at learning new languages.

I was thankful we only had interesting classes, besides English, so the day went by really fast. The final ring echoed through the hall and the students started packing their things to go home. I poked Sora in her back, silently asking her if she wanted to walk home with me when she turned around. The smile in her face disappeared and then she told me Taichi had offered the same and she couldn't say no. I know she felt bad because she knew it was a tradition we have since we were kids. I slowly packed my things and headed outside.

As I passed through the gate, something on my left caught my attention. Sora was standing there with a worried look on her face. She was also pressing her two hands together, a sign that she was very nervous about something. She immediately turned around when she saw me.
"Yamato, can we talk?"
"I thought you had gone home already." I tried to sound as firm as I could.
"I couldn't leave without talking to you first." She said uneasily. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but I just couldn't say no to Taichi's offer. He's my friend too. I hope you can understand me."
"I do." I replied and stared intently into her eyes. I saw her shifting uncomfortably and looking away. "It's okay. It's not like I'm going to die or something because of it."
"I was hoping you'd change your mind and join us." Her voice was full of hope, and it brought a lump to my throats. "I really don't want to break our tradition."
"You can go with Taichi, really. I should really go now. I'll talk to you later maybe."
"Yamato, please." She instinctively reached for my hand. "We always walk home together in the first day of our school year."
"That's true, we do." I removed my hand from her grip. "Things change, don't they?"
"Why can't we all go together today? Isn't he your friend as well?"
"He is." I shook my head affirmatively. "But you said so yourself. It's our tradition."
Sora stared at me with sadness in her face. I could even see some tears appearing in the corner of her eyes. I swallowed hard when I looked back at her. When did we start to feel so awkward towards each other?
"Yamato…" She said and was cut off by another voice. She quickly looked over her shoulder and saw a cheerful Taichi approaching us.
"Hey, Sora. I found you! Are you ready to go?"
"I am, but…" Sora returned her attention to me, but I was already far from her. From over my shoulder, I could see the disappointment in her eyes and mentally cursed myself for upsetting her. I looked ahead again and continued my way home.

It's not like I hate Taichi. It's the opposite, actually. I wouldn't say we're exactly friends, but he's a cool boy. It's just that the fact Sora preferred to walk home with him in the first day knowing this is something we always do together was like a stab in my back. Of course she's allowed to have her own friends, and I'm happy for that, but… I don't know. To be honest, I don't know why I feel this way. I don't think she would trade me for him, it's not something Sora would do. I know she tried to make the situation better by inviting me to go along with them, but the idea of having someone else joining us after seven years being just me and her is a little uncomfortable. I shook my head as if I was tried to get these thoughts of my mind. I shouldn't be feeling like this, it's just them walking home together anyway. Not a big deal. I won't lose her friendship because of this, I'm aware of that. Besides, we can do it tomorrow. Yeah, Yamato, the school year is only starting. This was just the first day, there are many others ahead. Also, it's not like I feel jealous of them. There's no reason to feel because it's quite clear we are just friends and as far as I'm concerned, so is them. If she were to feel something for him, she would have told me, right? Right. I tried to convince myself, but I'm starting to doubt it. I don't think I would be comfortable enough to tell her if I had feelings for a girl. Maybe she would feel weird talking about boys to me. I couldn't help but sigh. My thoughts were all over the place and so confusing.

I was lying on my bed staring at the ceiling. I couldn't help but think about the moments I went through with Takeru, Sora, Taichi and four other kids I barely talk to anymore. We went camping and ended up being transported to another world. There, I met a digital monster called Gabumon and we became best friends during our journey to fight evil forces before the eight of us could return home. I wondered how Gabumon was doing, since I haven't seen or talked to him since then. Today would be a great day to do that. He understood me like no one else ever did. As if my wishes had been heard, the screen of my computer flashed and his image appeared on it.
"Gabumon!" I rushed to the computer and sat down in front of it.
"Yamato!" He exclaimed and was a little shocked when he saw me. Last time I saw him I had spiky hair and now it was a little above my shoulders, so I could understand why he was surprised when he saw me. "Is that you? You look so different!"
"Yes, it's me! I do look different, it's been three years since we've seen each other. I grew up."
"You still look great! I like your new hair."
"Thanks." I smiled happily at him. "You look great too! How are you?"
"I'm great. I miss you so much. I'm happy to see you again."
"Me too. I didn't think I would ever see you again. I'm happy I did."
"Same." Gabumon replied with a grin. "So what's going with you lately?"
"Oh nothing much, to be honest. Today was my first day as an eighth grader. I think I will join the music club this year."
"I'm happy to hear that. It's about time you joined something related to music, you're very talented at it."
"Yeah, that's what Sora told me earlier." The smile immediately disappeared from my lips and I looked away. I knew I couldn't hide anything from Gabumon, especially the reaction I just had. But I tried to, anyway. "My parents say the same too."
"You know, even though we have drifted apart in these past few years, your eyes are still as transparent as they used to. I still can tell when something is bothering you, even if you try to shake it off like you just did. So tell me what happened."
I looked at him as he sat down on the other side of the screen. I sighed deeply, knowing fairly well Gabumon wasn't the type to give up easily on something that was bothering me. "Honestly, it's something stupid."
"Yamato, your feelings can never be something stupid. You can deny to yourself all you want, but I know something is up."
"Okay." I took a deep breath. "Sora and I have this tradition of always walking home together after school in our first day. It's been like that for years. But today Taichi invited her to do it and she said yes. You know she can't say no to people."
"And you were upset about that because she chose to go with him and not you."
"Yeah." I shrugged. "It was our thing, you know?"
"Did she talk to him about it?"
"She did. She said she didn't understand why we couldn't go together. And to be honest, I can't understand her reasons."
"I see. Isn't it possible that you felt a little jealous of him?"
"Jealous?" I raised my eyebrow at Gabumon. "I don't think so. Why would I be jealous of Taichi?"
"Not of Taichi, but of the fact she preferred to go with him and not you."
"I just can't believe she would ignore this, you know?"
"Well, I'm sure she has her reasons. You should really talk to her about it. But actually talk to her, I know how you can be sometimes. You and Sora have been best friends since you were very little. Don't let this ruin your friendship with her."
"Thanks Gabumon." I smiled at him. "I knew talking to you would help me clear things out. I definitely don't want to lose Sora's friendship. I just hope she feels the same."
"I'm sure she does. And remember, it's just them walking home together. It doesn't mean anything at all."
"Yes, I know. I shouldn't feel threatened by it."
"That's the spirit! Promise me you will talk to her about it."
"I promise." I reassured him.
"Okay." Gabumon smiled happily. "How's Takeru doing? I bet he's grown up a lot."
"Yes, he has. You should see him. In a few years he's gonna be taller than me."
"Oh wow!" He exclaimed. "He was just a child when I met him. Do you get to see him more often?"
"Not as much as I wanted to." I said sadly. "He still leaves rather far, so I don't get to go there a lot."
"Well, I hope that changes soon. I know how much you miss him and how important he is to you." Gabumon looked to his side and then back to me. "I have to go now."
"Did something happen?"
"No, everything's fine." He said in a reassuring tone. "I'll try to contact you more often."
"I would love that. I missed talking to you so much."
"Me too. Send hi to Takeru for me."
"I will. And you take care, okay? If anything happens, let me know right away."
"Got it! Take care you too! I love you, Yamato."
"I love you too." I said with a smile.

Talking to Gabumon made my day a lot better. Opening up to him was just what I needed to clear my thoughts and look at things in a different way. I grabbed my phone and looked through my photo gallery. I came across a picture of Sora I had taken last year when she was distracted. We were walking home after school some time during May I think, I'm not really sure. She was admiring some flowers in a fully blossomed tree that was on our way to our building. Sora loves flowers, and it could be seen in her sweet smile and the sparkle in her eyes. I didn't even remember about this photo anymore. I found myself smiling at it, I don't know why. Then, as if she seemed to read my mind, a notification of a message from her popped up in my phone screen. I read without opening it.

Hey! I'm sorry for what happened earlier. I didn't mean to make you upset, I hope you know that. I also hope you don't think I don't care about our tradition anymore, because I do. It still means a lot to me. So can we please talk about this? I hate fighting with you, you're an important person to me. Don't ever forget that, okay?

I smiled at the screen of my phone and fought the urge to reply to Sora right away. I wanted to wait until things cooled down a little more before I did, so I wouldn't do something I could regret later. I have to admit I liked the fact she reached out to me. I left my cellphone on my desk and went to grab my guitar. Suddenly I felt like playing, so I sat down on my bed and started playing some melodies on the instrument rested on my lap.