Thanx to everyone who have reviewed my story. Your support means a lot! ^_^ Here's another chapter.

Cry- chapter 3

It was the next morning and Sora was inspecting her face in the bathroom mirror. The red mark was still visible even though she had applied plenty of make-up to cover the evidence of the previous night. She had discovered many bruises when she showered. She could not even clearly remember how she had gotten them. As Sora carefully positioned a few strands of hair to hide the red mark, she heard the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it!" Sora shouted to her mother.

Mrs. Takenouchi was in the kitchen. Sora opened the door and let out a little gasp when she saw who it was.

"Matt! I didn't expect to see you," exclaimed Sora. "Um...what are you doing here?"

"I thought I might walk you to school. You know, `cause of yesterday but I can leave if you want me to," said Matt.

"No!" exclaimed Sora. "Let me just grab my stuff and we can go."

Sora ran inside to the kitchen. Her mother was sitting on a chair. She had a cross look on her face.

"I'm walking to school with Matt, see you in the afternoon!" said Sora.

"You be careful now, Sora," Mrs. Takenouchi's voice was almost a whisper and tears were visible in her eyes.

"I will, don't worry Mama." Sora hugged her mother.

Clutching her backpack, Sora walked out of the apartment and shut the door behind her. Matt quickly took a glimpse at her face as they walked.

"Did you explain what happened to your mom?"

Sora paused a little before answering, "Well, I told her the last time and she told me to break-up with Tai..."

"But you didn't." Matt finished her sentence.

"No. I guess I should have listened to her, huh?" Sora smiled softly at Matt.

`She can still smile after all that's happened, but it's not the same.' thought Matt as he returned the smile.

**************************************

"Riiiiing"

"Hey, Sora!" called Matt from down the hall.

Sora stuck her head out of her locker, "Hi!" she waited for Matt to run over, "Thank God school's over!"

"Ya, another day spent listening to Mr. Sasaki go on about right angles, parallelograms and other math junk. Boring!"

"Tell me about it!" laughed Sora.

Tai had been watching Sora all day. He knew she was ignoring him. She hadn't come to Science, the only class they had together and at lunch, Sora had only gotten an apple and quickly left the cafeteria. He reached into his bag and got out a brightly wrapped box. As he inspected the package for any damages, he heard two people laugh not to far away. One was distinctly Sora. Tai looked back and what he saw, made him fuming with anger.

"What are you doing with my girl?" roared Tai.

Upon hearing Tai's voice, Sora's hand unconsciously went up to the red spot on her face. With her other hand she braced herself against her locker.

"I'm not your girl," Sora said, barely audible.

"She's right. You don't own her Tai," encouraged Matt.

"Stay out of it you son of a bitch!" spat Tai, "Sora, what are you doing with him anyway? I've been looking for you all day."

"Why? So you can hurt her again? So you can just force her to..." before Matt could finish his sentence, Sora stepped between the two guys.

"You told him?" demanded Tai.

"Yes..." she looked embarrassed, "Tai, what do you want?"

"I wanted to give you this," he handed the gift to Sora put she pushed it away. "What, you don't like my gifts now? Come on, Sor. You know I love you."

Sora struggled to hold back tears, "If you truly loved me, you wouldn't hurt me all the time,"

"But I don't hurt you all the time..."

"Yes, you do! You abuse me with your words... and your hands! Don't try to deny it!" Sora was screaming now.

A crowd was beginning to gather. Matt saw this and quickly pulled Sora towards him and away from Tai.

"Come on Sora, let's go,"

"Don't leave me Sora. Not for him." Tai was pleading.

Sora stopped and stared at Tai, "I'm not leaving you for Matt. I'm just... leaving you, that's all."

She then took Matt's hand as he pushed their way out of the crowd, leaving Tai to wonder how he could get Sora back.

Hopefully, the next chapter will have more SORATO!!!! Please review, I need all the help I can get! Thanx!

~*no angel*~