Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Summary: Fourth part in the Series. Expected to be around four chapters + prologue and an epilouge. AU everyone, Taichi has a little secret, okay maybe it's not that little.
Last time on Tai's little Secret, Tai revealed to the other digi destined that she was a girl and not a boy. Sora didn't take the news very well and ran off. Now Tai is faced with explaining to the other kids why she has been dressing as a boy for the last five years, and finding Sora so she can explain why she even lied to her best friend..
Thoughts.
A few words before the fic starts. I've counted up the suggestions for a couple in this fic, and the result can be found right after the Authors Notes.
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Tai's little Secret
Part IV
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"Well?"
The word hit her right in the face when she stepped out of the door. Looking up, Tai stared at the waiting eyes of her friends, eyes demanding her to give a very good explanation. Taking a deep breath, Tai gave a small jump when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Slowly turning her head, she looked into the eyes of Mimi.
Kari looked up at her big sister and smiled. "Come on Nee-san. You stood up to Myotismon and the Dark Masters. You have the courage to get through this."
Tai nodded and then looked back at her friends. "Well, it's a long story… It all started five to six years ago back in Highton View Terrance." Tai sat down on the couch in the living room as she told the story of why she had spend so many years dressing as a boy, and her fear to tell the others what she really was. "I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner, but I was scared." Looking away, Tai cursed her sudden fear at facing her friends.
Matt looked from where he sat and stared at the brunette. "Tai… I… You should have told us sooner." Matt snapped as he shook his head. "I can't believe you would think something like that."
Joe nodded and stood up. "We're your friends." Walking around the table, Joe grabbed her shoulders. "No matter who or what you are, I respect you." Smiling, Joe stepped back. "I still respect you. You held us together in the digital world." Looking at the others Joe nearly grinned. "I must admit I somehow expected it. After all, it was strange how you were always more edgy and more angry at the end of every month."
Tai blinked her eyes, and then blushed madly. "Can we talk about something else then that?" Glaring over her shoulder, she looked at the pink loving girl giggling behind her. "Sure, wait until it's your turn to suffer that."
Mimi slowly stopped laughing and then wiped away a tear from her eye. "Sorry, it was… you should have seen your face." Laughing again, Mimi walked over to sit down next to Kari.
Izzy looked around the room and then looked at Tai. "I agree with Joe. You're my friend. It's going to take more then this to break that." Returning to work on his laptop.
Matt stood up and looked at Tai. "So what was up with Sora?"
Tai looked up at the blonde and felt her heart clench at the memory of Sora's hurt look. "I… She were hurt by it, she was so angry about… I didn't mean to hurt her." Tai slowly curled up and felt a crying fit coming. "She said… She said that she hated me."
Matt looked at her, and then out the window. "Tai, it was the shock speaking. Sora doesn't hate you." Looking at the brunette, he clenched his hands as he made up his mind. "Look, Tai, you wait here, and I'll go talk with Sora about this. She needs to know what you told us."
Tai mutely nodded and looked up when she felt her little sister hug her. "It's okay Tai. Matt knows what he's doing."
*******************
Away from the Yagami apartment, and in the comfort of her own bedroom, Sora wiped away the last tear from her eyes. "Damn you, do you even know how I felt?" Lifting the picture frame, Sora stared at the eight years old boy with the baggy clothes posing for the camera, then her eyes slid over to herself standing next to him. "How COULD YOU LIE TO ME!?" The picture shattered as it smashed into the wall. As the glass fell down over her desk and carpet, Sora curled up into a ball again. Crying her eyes out.
Ignoring it at first, Sora didn't lift her head up until she heard the doorbell ring for the sixth time. Slowly standing up, she opened the door to her room and mutely walked out to get the door. Looking up as she opened it, she felt a frown form when she recgoniced the blond hair and the blur eyes of the boy outside. "Did Tai send you? Cause if h… She did. I don't want to talk with you."
Matt blinked at the harshness of the words, and barely managed to stop the door from closing. Looking at the puffy red eyes of the digi destined of love, Matt cringed. "Look Sora, Tai is just as hurt as you. She over there crying her eyes out."
Sora felt a moment of pain, but ignored it as she looked at the blond haired boy. "So what, she hurt me first. She told Mimi but not me." Nearly screaming, she glared at the holder of friendship. "I'm her best friend, but she couldn't even tell me something like this. Some friend."
Matt slammed out his hand and stopped the door from closing again. "Look, can I come in. I think you should know something"
Sora stared at the blond boy, and briefly wondered if she should just slam the door in his face and return to cry out her eyes. Then her curiosity won over her. "Okay, but only five minutes."
Sora looked up from where she sat, and shook her head. "She hid her gender because of that?" Standing up, Sora glared at the wall. "I had to deal with stuff like that as well." Sora snapped as she remembered the mocking laughter of the other kids when she had first signed up for the school soccer team.
Matt sighed and stood up. "And who supported you on that day." Matt looked at the face of Sora as she turned around to stare at him. "Don't you remember the practice match?"
"Of cause I do, that was when I first met Tai here in Odaiba." Glaring, she crossed her arms and thought back to that day. "The other kids were teasing me about being the only girl on the team, when Tai turned around and defended me from the teasing." Looking at Matt, she gave a cold smile. "I'm glad she did it, but couldn't she had told me her secret then?"
Matt stood up and looked at the holf of love. "Sora, think about it. That was her first week there. She had just joined the team as well. And she was carrying around this bundle of insecurity and doubt as to who she was." Shaking his head, Matt looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "I know that feeling, it was the same thing I suffered from in the digital world, doubt in who and what I was."
Sora looked up and chewed her lip. "I know, but, I can't face her, I hurt her feelings, I yelled stuff that I shouldn't have." Stepping back, Sora sat down on the coach and shook her head. "I need time to think, to find out if I can forgive her for lying all this time."
Matt looked at her and ten smiled. "Wait, remember the party we all agree to hold?" Matt looked down at Sora. "Talk to her then, that will give you two day's to figure out what your heart tells you."
Sora looked up and nodded. "I will." Hesitating, she smiled at Matt and then stood up and hugged him. "Thank you."
*******************
Tai sat on the top part of the bunk bed and looked down at her sister. "Do you think Matt made any progress with Sora?." Frowning, she looked down at the cell phone in her hand. "I tried to call her, but she didn't answer. And Matt was just as cryptic." Tai mumbled as she mimicked Matt's voice. "She's needs some time alone, she talk to you when she's ready."
Kari looked up and sighed. "Tai, relax." Closing the book she was reading from, she stood up. "Look, no matter what happens, I will always be there for you."
Tai nodded and dropped down on her bed. "Hey Kari, maybe I'll drop by your school tomorrow."
Kari grinned and looked up at Tai's bunk. "Yeah, well then. Who are you coming as, Taichi the girl or Taichi the boy?"
Laughter filled the small bedroom as the two sisters continued to talk and joke about things.
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None of the students or the teachers looked up as the door opened into the school gym. It was quite normal for that door to be used while people were using the school gym. Slipping quietly in through the door, Tai pulled her heavy winter jacket off and looked around the room she had once known as her own pocket. It wasn't all that different from last time she had been there.
In the other end of the room, a lone student looked up and blinked as he noticed the girl who had just slipped in. Looking behind him, he stared at the plate with the school medals and trofies. Looking closer at the soccer medals and trofies, he stared at the picture of the winning team over each of them. Looking back at the girl, the boy blinked before looking back at the picture. "It's him, but why is he dressing as a girl?"
Tai grinned as she leaned back on the bench inside the gym, She may have gotten off from school, but the other chosen children still had one day left before they could sit back and relax. As for Tai, it was either a trip around Odaiba or spending the day listing to her mother talk about fashion and the latest gossip.
Trying to escape the freezing cold weather outside, she had chosen to hide out in the school she had attended last year. Trying to avoid getting kicked out from walking around in a place she shouldn't be. She was spending time in the school gym, checking up on the condition of her old soccer teams.
Watching the boys and girls running across the indoor field, she blinked. If she wasn't completely wrong. Sora wasn't among the student's training for next year's outdoor matches. Pushing the thought to the back of her head for further questioning at a later time, she took the time to analyse just how well the team was doing.
"They're good aren't they?"
Tai blinked as she reliesed that someone was talking to her. Turning her head, she stared at what could almost be called a clone of her when she had dressed as a boy. The same if not shorter messy hair, done up in spikes, the kid even had a pair of goggle around his head. Giving a smile in return when she noticed the carefree look in his eyes, she remembered his question. "Sure, but I can take em. I was the best player on my old team."
The boy gave her a very disbeliving look and puffed out his chest. "No way, Davis here is the best there is." Looking back out at the team, he frowned. "It too bad I got a month on the bench for kicking my ball through the window." Glaring at the teacher, the boy snorted. "It not my fault it happened, the ball was slippery and…" Looking to the right, he stared at the very amused look on Tai's face. "What?"
Tai gave a low chuckle and then looked up at him. "Let me guess, it was the window into the teachers lounge?"
Davis blinked his eyes and stared at her with half closed eyes. "Yeah, what if it was?"
Tai shrugged in return and gave a quick look around. "Let's just say that I did the same once. Only the principle was standing on the other side of the window at that time." Looking a bit embarrassed, she remembered the very angry look on the old man's face, as well as the long, really long detention period she had to serve afterwards.
Davis looked at her with vary big eyes and then lifted a hand. "You did that, but I heard that it was a boy named Tai…"
Tai looked around the gym to see if anyone had heard the outburst and then looked at the younger boy who was waving his hands around to show that he needed air. Looking at him, she gave the boy an angry glare. "Look, Davis. Keep your voice down, and then I'll explain it okay?"
Davis nodded and Tai removed her hand from his mouth. Taking a deep breath, Davis quickly moved a bit further away from the older girl. Glaring a bit at her, he cleared his throat. "Man, you trying to choke me?" Sitting in on the bench above her, he looked out on the indoor soccer field. "Looks like it's Hiroshi turn to stand on the goal."
Tai looked up and groaned loudly. "They are putting him on goal. But he the best attacker there is." Feeling her hopes for her old team to make it anywhere in the spring matches fade, she shook her head. "Man, who came up with that tactic?"
Davis rolled his eyes and looked at the brunette with a You-think-so-too look. "Well, it's the new coach." Glaring towards the far way corner of the gym room, he shook his head. "I'm still wondering where they got her. She's supposed to be good though, but she's completely ignoring the play field list the old coach made." Looking at the brunette from the corner of his eyes, Davis waited to hear her answer.
Tai looked from the corner of her eyes at Davis. "Give her a break, She may be checking the list for faults." Tai spoke in a pro players tone. "Most coaches makes the team take a round in every place to evaluate them." Ignoring the stunned look on Davis face, she stood up" I'd better go. It's almost lunch break. I don't think I want to hang around here when they get out, no need to explain things to people I don't want too" Tai mumbled the last as she shot a nervous look onto the team still playing.
Davis stood up and looked at her more closely. "You really are Taichi Yagami aren't you?" Speaking the sentence in a very low voice, Davis felt a lump in his throat at facing his idol from the soccer games. Who cared if the former school soccer star was a girl or not, as long as she was good at soccer and knew how to lead the team, he follow that person anywhere.
Tai groaned again and looked at the younger boy with a feeling of dread. "Look, I don't want this out over the whole school okay." Grabbing the younger boy, she pulled him away from the side of the playing field. "Yes, I'm Taichi Yagami. As for the reason, well it's a long story."
Davis froze and then felt like giving a scream of joy. He had always wanted to meet Taichi Yagami, ever since seeing his first, real school soccer tournament, since then, it had been his goal to be just as good as Tai. Grinning, Davis lifted the goggles up from around his neck and snapped them onto his head. "Want to have a sparing match. I want to see if you're as good as I've heard."
Tai blinked, and then grinned as well. "You're on Goggle boy."
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Dropping the sweater next to the goal, Tai looked at the younger boy as he did some warm up moves. Flexing her legs, she took a quick look around the gym. It wasn't the best playing gear she had on, but the other boy was more likely worse off. Pulling her goggles out off her backpack, she slipped them around her head to keep her hair away from the eyes. Giving a big grin, she looked at the boy. "Ready goggle boy?"
Davis looked up and nodded as he finished his last warm up lick. "Bring it on goggle girl!" Walking up to the line, he stared at the ball on the grass and smirked at the brunette. "Get ready to lose."
Tai smirked as well and locked onto the ball. "As soon as my watch beeps, we start." Not waiting for an answer, she clicked the small button and watched as it started to count down."
Both of the two children stared at the watch with an almost hungry look in their eyes. Neither of them wanted to be the one to lose the ball.
*BEEP*
The ball went flying.
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Matt grumbled as he pulled on the gym shorts. If he ever got a hold of the idiot who put him on sports right before his English class, he's give him a black eye for it. Making sure that his hair was sitting perfectly, the blond boy slipped out of the door and into the large gym room, only to smack right into the back of the kid before him. Stepping back, he grumbled and pushed his way past the larger kid.
Staring into the ground as he walked down the row of benches, Matt looked for his usual place among the groups of students sitting on the bench waiting for the teacher to show up. He be damned if he was going to play another game of soccer again today, one time was more then enough for him, couldn't the school place all the soccer freaks in their own class. Now if they were playing basketball, then he was more then willing to join in plus, he had the matter with Tai's secret to deal with, did he even want to deal with it?
"Wow, she's good."
"Yeah, hey isn't that Davis, you know, the new kid that started this summer?"
Matt looked up as he overheard two of his classmates talking from where they were sitting on the bench, just below his usual spot. Great, the local soccer player wanna be, Tosiou. Matt gritted his teeth at the memory of the album block he had gotten from the much large and a little overweight student last month. Stepping up over the first bench to where he sat, Matt prepared to spend the next two hours thinking about the Tai/Sora issue.
"Yeah, now that you mention it, he's actully good at that."
"You know, that girl looks kinda familiar with those goggles."
Broken out of his thoughts at the last comment, Matt head snapped up and his eyes locked onto the two kids on the other end of the room, one of them looked with spiky red brown hair and the other. Matt nearly face faulted at the sight of a still new, but familiar looking ponytail, and those goggles around the girls head. What the #¤%¤% is she doing here? Jumping down from one bench to the other, Matt felt like strangling the goggle wearing girl.
Ignoring the shouts from his classmates and a few class girls as he blocked their view of the two kids, Matt stomped out onto the playing area and marched towards the girl and the young kid playing a game of one on one soccer. "Idiot, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Matt's shout could be heard in the entire room and it had the effect of stopped the two kids. Meaning that the boy missed stopping the soccer ball, and instead letting it make a perfect line right towards the blond's head.
Tai looked at the ball and where it was headed, and did the first thing she could think off. "MATT, LOOK OUT!" Then she started to run towards the blond boy.
The shout was the last thing Matt heard as the round ball of plastic filled with compressed air smacked right into his face with a speed of fifty km's per hour. As his head snapped back, the ball continued right up into the air for a meter or two, then it fell back down and landed on Matt's chest with a slight bump.
Tai looked down at the blond boy and cursed very loud. Then she dropped down on her knees next to the blonde, and lifted his head up from where it had been lying on the ground and looked at the goggle wearing boy. "Davis, Get me some tissues." Looking to her left, she stared at a kid with long brown hair. "Get the school nurse, he might have a concussion." Tai didn't even notice that she had slipped into leader mode. Instead she looked down at Matt with concern on her face.
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Matt head felt like a horde of Etemon's was having a karaoke contest inside his head as he woke up. Wincing at the sunlight streaming in trough the window, he lifted a hand and blocked it. Slowly, the last few moments before his nap came back to him, and his teeth gritted again with the stress he was under. Oddly enough, his right eye didn't really want to open up and it was really hurting a lot.
"Hey, you're awake."
Turning his head, he met the reason for why he was lying on the bed in the first place. Opening his mouth to scream, he stopped when he noticed the look on the girls face, and instantly felt like the biggest fool on the planet. "Tai, ah, what are you doing here?" Smooth, real smooth Ishida, can you sound more like an idiot? "So have you been, uh, waiting here for long?"
Tai fiddled with her fingers and then settled for looking away with a blush on her face. "Look, I'm really sorry about the black eye." Blushing even more, she felt like running through the wall screaming. "And the concussion." Australia sound real nice right about now. Tai looked at the blond boy from out of the corner of her eyes. "I'd better tell the others you're awake."
Matt blinked as Tai rushed out of the room, and then the words of the brunette finally came through. "Black eye, concussion!?" Spinning around in the bed, Matt jumped out of it and rushed over to the only mirror in the nurse's room. What looked back at him in mirror, was a Matt with a big rather ugly blue bruise around the right eye, and a bandage worthy of a mummy around his head.
Mattt lifted his head to the final horror, his presscious hair, it was sticking out in every direction, and even out from under the bandage in a weird spiky way, taking a deep breath Matt looked in the mirror again, praying that what he saw the first time wasn't true. Outside, Tai, Izzy, Sora and Mimi winched as a tortured scream came from within the nurse's room. When the door was flung open. Tai bolted from the room.
A few meters behind her, Matt was screaming at the top of his lungs as he held on tightly to the coat rack.
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The day after in the Yagami apartment, the two sisters were getting ready for the Christmas party, and trying to avoid getting there late.
While they would much rather have been holding the party at one of their own places, it had been Matt's dad who had suggested renting a small place, none of the chosen Children's apartments were really meant for a party. So, in a joint work between the kids and their parents, they had gotten premission to rent a small party room at a small restaurant.
Tai looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. The dress she had gotten the other day was pretty and really looked good on her. Done in an Asian style, and colored a deep red with a black dragon motive on the front, it reached just below her knees and had a small slit on both side ending halfway up her thigh and long sleeves. Turning to look at her little sister, she held out her arms, waiting for the final approval from her.
Kari looked Tai up and down and finally smiled her approval. Dressed in a western style yellow dress that reached the lower part of legs, Kari looked like a small angle. Turning around, she picked up her small bag and reached out to open up their bedroom door, stopping as she didn't hear any footsteps from her big sister, she held onto the handle and looked back at her sister who had gotten that uncertain look in her eyes again. "Come on Tai, Matt said Sora would be there tonight."
The brunette looked away with a small hint of fear in her eyes. "What if she still don't, want to talk with me?" Feeling a lone tear form in her left eye again, Tai grumbled and wiped it away. She had done enough crying for the whole year. It was time to face her fear, it was time to try and patch things up with Sora. If it didn't work out, then it wasn't a true friendship they had had. "Come on, let's go."
The drive over to the place wasn't that long. As they stopped outside the place, Tan and Kari waved goodbye to their parents and stepped inside the restaurant and placed their shoes in the holder and walked over to the headwaiter.
Looking around, Tai noted that it wasn't a traditional restaurant, but more of a western styled one. Hanging down from the walls and ceiling were festive decorations like she had seen from those American movies, and if she wasn't wrong, there was a small Christmas tree over in the corner.
Kari blinked as she noticed her big sister attention shift from the waiter to the decorations. Politely stepping around her, she looked at the man in the very sharp suit and smiled. "Hi, we're with the Tachikawa party. Kari and Tai Yagami."
Looking down on the list, the man nodded and stepped around the small table and held out a hand. "If the ladies will as kind as to follow me."
Tai felt her sister pull on her sleeve and turned to follow the waiter and her sister. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't look up until she stepped into the room the waiter indicated and stopped. Standing a mere meter away, Sora looked at her with a mix of sorrow and fear. "Hi." Tai felt like kicking herself as she muttered the word rapidly. That's all you think of to say? Taichi Yagami, you #¤%"
Sora slowly walked over and looked right into the brown eyes of her former friend. "Tai, we need to talk."
TBC.
AN: Woohoo, another chapter is done. I may even be able to wrap it up with the next chapter. Sorry if some parts of this look rushed. I was busy with redesigning my website, and signing up at a better host then Geocities.
It seems short and rushed to me, what do you think?
I was really having trouble with this, and I also had to turn some attention to Real Life matters. Anyway, The first part with the talk between Tai and the other kids could have been a bit longer, but I'm not really good with emotional stuff like that. Better to make a short and somewhat convincing play, then a long speech in which everyone is OOC,
Don't know if I asked about this before. But if some of you know how to draw, I would love some fan art for this story. My skills with a pencil leave a lot to be desired.
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Couple Status.
Michi: 2 votes.
Taito/Yamachi: 6 votes.
Taiora: 1 vote.
Taisuke: 1 vote.
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