A very interesting chapter awaits you, if I do say so myself. A lot gets explained and more questions pop up. Oh, and there will be angst here, lots of angst. I hope you enjoy.

The Meeting of a Lifetime.

Taichi exhaled nervously as that shocked blue gaze left his and turned to his coach as they were introduced by the CEO. Taichi took the opportunity to turn away and get another drink from the table.

Once again, it was removed from his hand by Ryotu.

"Give it back," Taichi growled, not caring how rude and gruff he sounded. The situation was way to stressful for him to deal with without some sort of strong liquor.

"Taichi, you don't drink like this, don't start now, it won't help you any."

"Ryo, don't push me. This is not one of the best days I've had."

"Drinking won't help." Ryotu was firm in his resolve. Taichi glared at him then gave up. Ryotu was right, drinking his problems away wouldn't help. Taichi took a seat and Ryotu sat by him, making sure he wouldn't try and get another drink.

"Can I at least have a coke or something?" Ryotu shrugged.

"Sure, but I'll get it."

Taichi rolled his eyes and nodded. Ryotu watched him carefully then walked a little way away to grab them both a drink.

Taichi sighed and leaned his chin on his hand and settled for staring at the gorgeous blond from afar greeting the rest of his team.

He's hardly changed at all, Taichi felt a smile appear slowly on his face, but he didn't try to remove it. He's still as beautiful as ever. Yamato was smiling politely as he greeted the Kyoto captain, his blue eyes twinkling with mirth as he shared a joke with him. Taichi felt a slight pang of jealousy and the smile on his face disappeared. He shook his head to rid himself of thoughts of the blond, but his mind, as well as his gaze, kept drifting back to the tall figure that had captivated him so many years ago.

He looks a bit thin, Taichi commented to himself, a slight frown coming to his face. It was true, the tight black jeans were hanging a bit loose and his black dress shirt was a bit too billowy, as though it was a size too big. But Yamato still looked very fine. The smile returned as Taichi stared at Yamato's face. He finally got the 'perfect' hair he wanted too. He's probably even more fanatical about it now than he was before. It certainly looks well cared for. A few long strands of blond hair had escaped the neat ponytail at the nape of his neck. Taichi's smile grew bigger as he caught sight of the slightly annoyed look Yamato gave the strands before he pushed them behind his ear. Yep, he's as bad as ever.

Taichi's musing was interrupted by a hand waving in front of his eyes. He started up from his introspection and glared at Ryotu, who just grinned back. "Looks like someone has a bit of an obsession."

Taichi shook his head and grabbed his drink from his friend. "No, not an obsession."

"Well, I've only ever seen fan-girls stare at him like that." Ryotu sighed. "I must admit though, I keep thinking I'm dreaming. I mean seriously, Ishida Yamato and the Wolves. I never thought I'd ever meet them."

"Yeah, it's a shock," Taichi mumbled and sipped his drink.

"Shit!"

"What?" Taichi looked up at Ryotu in concern.

"They're coming this way."

"Oh." Despite himself, Taichi felt his heart beating faster as the two people approached. I guess the CEO must have had more important things to do than hang around for more introductions, Taichi thought as he watched his coach leading Yamato in their direction. The two of them got up from their seats and met them halfway. Yamato's eyes flickered in his direction and Taichi felt his heart beat faster.

"Mr. Ishida, I'd like to introduce our forward Utira Ryotu." Ryotu bowed slightly and Yamato smiled at him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Thank you Mr. Ishida. It's an honour to be meeting you."

Yamato smiled again. "Please, call me Yamato, Mr. Ishida seems too formal to me still." Ryotu grinned and nodded. Yamato turned his attention back to the other player.

Coach cleared his throat. "This is our centre-mid, vice-captain and star player —"

"Yagami Taichi." Yamato grinned.

"The one and only," Taichi replied offering him a small smile.

Those deep sapphire eyes were brimming with emotion. "How have you been Tai?" Taichi heard the intake of breath and saw the looks of shock on both Ryotu and his coach's face.

"I can't complain. How about you Yamato?" Taichi saw the slight flicker of hurt when he used Yamato's full name, but it was quickly masked.

"I've been doing good. As you can see I've made it big in the music area."

"I noticed," Taichi replied dryly, eliciting a laugh. "You always did like attention."

"If I recall correctly, you were more of a spotlight hog than I was."

"I guess things change." Taichi's smile faded slightly.

Yamato nodded, understanding what the comment meant. "Yeah, I guess they do." Yamato was about to say something when he heard a yell.

"Yagami!"

He turned around to find the source of the yell and shook his head. He turned back to Yamato. "You kept this bunch of losers?"

"Hey, who are you calling a loser?" Hiromi Seiyo squawked indignantly. "I happen to be the most sought after drummer around these days!"

"Yeah, cause you're on the police's most wanted list," Feruni Urinto, the lead guitarist for the Teenage Wolves, snorted. "'Mato here is the one they're really after though. I think everyone found out about a certain incident that happened in senior year."

Yamato looked horrified. "Who spilled?"

"The terror twins over yonder. They're with Ji and Kiromi." Yamato craned his neck and sure enough he found Daisuke and Ken chatting with quite a large group of people, including Shinori Ji, his rhythm guitarist, and Raiori Kiromi the new bassist. The group seemed to be highly amused about something. Yamato glared.

"Damn, I knew I never should have trusted Davis and Ken with a secret like that." Yamato looked furious.

"Hey, well I tried to tell you that when you did it, but you didn't listen." Taichi smirked. "Of course you thought the prank would work much better if there was a genius there to help out and of course if Ken was in Davis was too."

Yamato glared. "You're as incriminated as I am. You were in just as deep."

"I know, but I was never found out." Taichi grinned. "My plans were always more subtle than yours, that's why I never got caught."

"Well I didn't get caught on this one until someone talked," Yamato gave Taichi a pointed look and he had the decency to blush.

"Well how was I to know what the principal was really talking about? I wasn't there when you pulled it, I thought you'd been found out already, I hadn't heard from you all week. You know how I worried Yama."

Yamato was about to say something then stopped, realising what Taichi had just said. Taichi waited for him to reply, glancing at Yamato curiously. "I haven't had anyone call me that in a while," he said softly, his voice not showing any kind of discernable emotion.

Taichi gazed at him confusedly then his eyes widened as he realised that the endearment had just slipped out without him being aware of it. He turned away from Yamato. "I imagine not," he replied somewhat coldly.

Yamato stared at him sadly. The band looked upon the two of them curiously, not quite understanding why there was so much tension between the two old friends.

Taichi finished his drink quickly. "I have to go now. I've still not called Kari and my parents. I didn't want to shock them too much when I showed up tomorrow."

"Why should it shock them? I mean, everyone's known that Kyoto had made it to the finals for a while now, shouldn't they be …" Yamato trailed off as he realised why Taichi's family wouldn't know he was in town. "Oh, right." Yamato held out his hand, hesitantly, as though he was unsure of what he should do. "Well, it certainly was nice to see you again Taichi."

Taichi hesitated as Yamato had done before he gripped the proffered hand. "Same." He nodded and gazed directly into Yamato's eyes.

Pain and emotion surged through him with that look and he drew back with a sharp intake of breath. "I really have to go now." He pulled his hand away and left so quickly that he was close to running out the door.

Seeing his strange behaviour, his teammates gawked at the band standing with Ryotu and their coach in curiosity. Ryotu was staring after Taichi, surprise at his friend's actions written on his face. Their coach appeared a bit flustered at everything that had happened and the band were talking curiously among themselves.

Yamato, however, was staring at his hand, still feeling the warm tingles that had run through him when he touched Taichi again after so long. He closed his hand and looked away, his pain filled eyes starting to tear up.

Damn, I thought maybe … gods, this hurts so much. How could I let this happen? Why does it have to hurt like this?

He was brought back from his feelings of self-loathing by a hesitant tap on his shoulder. He glanced up at Urinto who was watching him in concern. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Yamato offered him a reassuring smile. "It's just … weird seeing him again. I really miss him."

"Yeah." Urinto knew that Yamato was hiding something from him, he had been for three years. It had something to do with Taichi, but Yamato never talked about him, or about their relationship. The others had respected his privacy and didn't talk about it. They were still curious to find out what was so terrible about what happened that could cause Yamato, the Ishida Yamato, the man known to the public as the smiling sun god, to revert back to his old depressed self as a teen and bring him to tears.

"Do you mind if we leave now?" Yamato asked calmly, though Urinto knew he was begging silently.

"Sure." He called over Ji and Kiromi. Daisuke and Ken went with them. "We're going to leave," he informed them.

"Seriously?" Daisuke's disappointment showed on his countenance. He gave the band a sad smile. "Well it certainly was great seeing you guys again."

"Yeah." Ken agreed and they shook hands with the band members. Then he and Daisuke were faced with Yamato.

"I'll see you guys around," he offered drawing Daisuke into a hug.

"Sure thing Matt. Don't forget to say hi to Takeru and Kari when you visit." Daisuke smiled.

"I will." Yamato pulled Ken into a hug too, though the blunette looked a bit less comfortable with it than Daisuke had. Yamato let go of him. Ken frowned slightly when he glanced at Yamato closely and the blond looked away uncomfortably from the scrutiny.

"I hope you're able to deal with things Yamato," he advised quietly. "You'll be happier."

"I know and thanks, but I'm not sure that what's troubling me can be resolved that easily." Yamato looked away and shook hands with the Kyoto coach then he walked away, the rest of the Wolves following.

"What was that about?" Daisuke asked Ken quietly as they walked back to their table.

"I think something is seriously wrong between Taichi and Yamato."

"You think that's why they both left?"

"I don't know Dai, but I want to find out."

* * *

Taichi lay on his bed, a hand over his face, the other clenched around a cordless phone.

He'd called his mother who had been so excited to hear from him that she forgot about scolding him for leaving and barely communicating with them. He got Hikari's number and called her. She was as excited as his mother, but she didn't forget to scold him for not calling. She gave him her new address and asked him to call over tomorrow if he had time. He said he would. After he'd called over and seen his parents.

Now he was lying here, thoroughly depressed, thinking about Yamato.

Gods, why did he have to be here? Couldn't fate find some other way to torture me?

Taichi was brought out of his thoughts by a very loud knocking on his door. He groaned and got up, trudging over reluctantly to open it.

"Oh," he said as he saw Ryotu standing there. "It's you."

"That's a nice greeting for your friend," Ryotu snorted and let himself in.

"Sorry, I'm not in the greatest mood right now."

"I failed to notice," he remarked dryly, sitting down on Taichi's bed. He was silent for a while before finally nodding and saying, "So, you know Ishida Yamato."

Taichi winced. He knew that was coming. "Yeah."

"How on earth did you manage to not mention that to me? I'm a huge fan, I have been for a while. You knew that." Ryotu shook his head. "Man, if I knew someone famous, I wouldn't keep it quiet."

"I know you wouldn't, but I'm not like that." Taichi sat down on a chair opposite him and sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"Not much to tell. I met Matt when we were eleven at summer camp. We had a bit of a rocky start, but things happened and we sort of became best buds. We had our fights, but they were more like friendly sparring sessions. By the time high school came around, we were as close as anyone could get. We went through thick and thin together."

"So what happened?" Ryotu narrowed his eyes. Taichi had omitted something important, but he let it slide, for now.

"We graduated. Yamato moved to LA to continue the music career he started here and I moved to Kyoto. We lost touch and haven't seen each other since. I told you, no big deal."

Ryotu nodded, apparently accepting everything Taichi said. "Well if that's the case it seems sort of strange that your first meeting with him for .. what? three years … seemed a bit strained."

Taichi froze. Damn, I hoped he wouldn't pick up on that. Sometimes Ryo's too damn observant. "We … uh … we had sort of a falling out before we left." Taichi was not a good liar.

"Right."

Taichi eyed Ryotu nervously. Shit, I know he's thinking I'm lying. Damn, stupid friend, caring so much about me that he knows when I'm hiding something important. Taichi sighed. "All right fine. What do you really want to know?"

"Did you ever date him?"

Taichi blushed bright red then he paled and looked away.

Ryotu's eyes widened at the reaction. "Oh my god, you did! I never knew that you were …" he trailed off uncomfortably.

"Gay?" Taichi looked at him icily. "Yeah, I am. Do you have a problem?"

"No, it's just, it explains so many things."

"You mean you've finally found the reason why I never go out with you guys at night?" Taichi shook his head sadly. "I guess you found one reason."

Ryotu felt a bit guilty remembering some of the speculations he'd heard in the locker room. He never knew that Taichi got so upset by it. He reached over and placed a hand on Taichi's shoulder. "You know we would never hate you just because of that. Were you afraid to tell us?"

"A bit. I didn't really care whether or not you liked me. I'm here too play soccer, that's all." That wasn't totally true. Taichi liked people, he liked being friendly and happy. It was who he was. It still felt strange, even after three years, to be so silent and withdrawn from everyone around him.

Ryotu nodded. "Personally, I don't have a problem and I don't think any of the guys will either. Coach certainly won't. He doesn't take notice of anything besides how well we're playing."

Taichi laughed. "That's certainly the truth." He smiled at Ryotu, noticing his friend was still fidgeting slightly. "You've still got something on your mind though."

"Yeah," Ryotu admitted with a sigh.

"Spill."

"That ring … I saw one just like it on Yamato's hand, that's what provoked the question before."

Taichi's heart stilled. "Oh."

"It was really serious, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Taichi's voice was strangely emotionless. It was as though he was trying to keep all his feelings locked away so they wouldn't overtake him and cause him to break down.

"How serious?"

"Two years in high school, my longest relationship and the only serious one I've been in. I haven't dated anyone since." Such a short way to describe something that meant so much to me. But words could never describe exactly what that was like.

"What happened?" Ryotu was being so kind and caring, it was hard to keep everything in when he had so desperately wanted to let everything out for so long. So he did.

Taichi inhaled deeply, the walls he'd kept around his emotions starting to crack, tears springing suddenly to his eyes. "He … he just left without a word. I didn't know what happened, I was so freaked out, but I thought he needed a bit of time. Yamato was like that a lot. So left him alone. I only called three times a day and e-mailed twice a day for almost a week. By that time I was seriously starting to worry. No one else had seen him."

Taichi took a breath, trying to control his emotions but failing. He wiped his cheek and discovered that he was crying, but he couldn't stop even if he wanted to. When he continued, his voice was cracked with pain. "Then Seiyo showed up at my door with a letter from Yama. He gave it, apologised for him delivering it so late then dashed off, saying something about a flight. I couldn't care much about what he said, I had finally gotten some sort of communication from Yama."

Taichi stopped here and put a hand to his head, his emotions overflowing and so painful that he couldn't continue. Ryotu moved over and kneeled in front of him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I opened the letter," he continued after getting himself back under control. "He told me that he was going to LA to finalise the record deal he'd gotten with his band. He was the spokesperson for the Wolves, so he had to go over first. I couldn't help it, I just broke down. He left me, without any word and moved to another country." Taichi started sobbing uncontrollably.

"He fucking left me."

AN: Well, I did warn you about the angst. And you're going to hurt me again, aren't you? I still left so much unanswered. I guess you'll just have to continue reading to find out exactly what happens.

Oh, and btw, I made up the band's names, that's not their real names, I'm not even sure if they even have real names.. I really couldn't care if anyone uses them or whatever, just mention me. I will be referring to them a lot in later chapters as well.

I guess that's all. Until next time.