Okay, this was supposed to be the last chapter before an epilogue, but I've still got another to go, and then the epilogue. Something very interesting happens in this chapter. I apologise for the delay in posting, but hopefully this will make up for it. Enjoy.

Astonishing Confessions

Taichi had invited everyone for the party, his team, the Tokyo team (through Daisuke and Ken) his friends, Yamato and his band. He would have invited his parents as well, but this wasn't the type of party you invited your parents to. But obviously more people showed up than that. Everyone brought various dates and friends. It was a good thing that Yamato had helped Taichi hire out a hall of quite a large size, else everyone would have been rather cramped.

As soon as everyone had arrived, Taichi had been ambushed by all of his friends. Takeru and Hikari, being at the game, had managed to catch up to him earlier, as had Daisuke and Ken, but Sora, Mimi, Jyou, Koushiro, Miyako and Iori hadn't had a chance to yell and scream excitedly and congratulate him yet. Of course they all managed to do it in front of Daisuke and Ken, much to the two boy's amusement. As soon as someone tried to apologise for their tactlessness, they just laughed it off, saying they were just glad to have gotten to be in a first division national final.

Taichi knew how happy they were, even just to lose at the finals. When he'd sought them out just before the press caught up with him, he'd passed by a room with a door ajar. Hearing rather strange noises coming from the inside, Taichi decided to investigate, being the curious boy he was. What he found made him grin and blush both. Daisuke and Ken were engaged in a furious battle of the mouth.

Needless to say, Taichi waited before seeking them out again. At the party however, those two disappeared shortly after greeting everyone. Taichi again decided to leave them to their own devices for a while.

Yamato and his band had to leave the party rather early considering they had to attend and perform at the music awards ceremony the next day. Taichi didn't mind, though he wished he could have had some more time with Yamato alone. They had barely spoken two words to each other since Yamato had arrived. They'd been carried away by everyone else and swept up into different conversations.

The party went on for a while after that, into the early hours of the morning until Taichi and Ryotu had finally kicked the last few people out, being Daisuke and Ken, who had been found in one of the back rooms to he hall in a rather ... compromising situation.

The next day, well really, that afternoon, Taichi was awoken by a very loud knocking on his door.

"What?" he growled, looking out nastily at whoever woke him.

Ryotu stood there grinning. "Hey there. You're looking as sexy as ever." Taichi's hair was an absolute mess, he stared out of bleary red-rimmed eyes, standing only in his boxers, his shoulders slumped heavily.

Taichi moved to slam the door in his face, but Ryotu caught it and grinned. "I think you need a bit of air before it gets dark."

"Dark?"

"It's four in the afternoon."

"And?"

"You need to shower and change and get ready before you come out with us tonight."

"Us?" Taichi couldn't ask any more sleepy monosyllabic questions because Ryotu was pushing him towards the bathroom.

Almost an hour later, Taichi was ready and back to his chipper self.

Ryotu was shaking his head in astonishment at his friend. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Change so drastically in an hour?"

Taichi shrugs. "It only takes me about an hour to get over a hangover of that severity once I'm awake."

"An hour? Tai, you drank more than most people there and didn't even look like coming close to falling over. How long and how much drink does it take to get you completely shattered?"

"You should see what Yamato can handle," Taichi grinned in reply.

Ryotu returned the enthusiastic smile. "And how is Ishida?" he asked slyly.

Taichi blushed. "What do you mean? he asked unnecessarily.

"Just curious."

Taichi glared at him and Ryotu caved. "Fine. Yesterday after you left with him, you both returned grinning happily. I figured something had to have happened."

Taichi smiled beatifically. "Yeah, I guess something did."

"Details please ... though, not too many."

"Ryo!" Taichi blushed. "Pervert." He smiled again after chuckling. "Well, he did kiss me. Gods, you would not believe how I missed that feeling. Once you've been with him, there's no way I'd want to be with anyone else. And he still wants to be with me, he said."

Ryotu grinned. "That's fantastic."

"Yeah, I guess it is. Everything is just so suddenly normal again. I know that we've been apart and we've been hurting, but just being here with him again feels so natural."

"It wasn't normal being with us?"

"Not in the same way as with Yama. The way I was acting around you guys was just so distant and so different to what I used to be like. If I'd met all of you a few years ago you'd see how different I was, but now I think I can start to be myself again."

"You really loved him then, if you'd hurt so much that you changed so greatly."

Taichi fingered his necklace gently. "Yeah, I guess so. He's a part of who I am, when he's gone, I'm not whole."

Ryotu smiled at him and they continued walking to the nearby bar in silence. Just before they entered though, Ryotu grinned and said, seriously, "You know, I really envy you."

Taichi laughed and Ryotu continued as they made their way to their teammates. "Perfect life, perfect love, perfect friends, player of the year. You're so worthy of being the object of my envy. Hell, I'd probably be infatuated with you too if I didn't know you so well."

"I choose to take that as a compliment." Taichi laughed as he sat down with the others, smiling around the table and greeting everyone.

They were there for quite a while before Taichi decided to get and go to the bathroom. Upon returning he passed by the bar and grinned, seeing the new barman coming onto his shift.

"Takeru, come here often?"

Takeru grinned at Taichi, stunning the other workers and a few people at the bar by actually conversing with Yagami Taichi. "Yeah, why? Want to pick me up some time? You know, I get that a lot, you'll need to show me some credentials."

Taichi grinned. "Maybe some other time, once I'm finished with your brother of course."

Takeru's eyes narrowed slightly. "I wanted to ask you about that. Are you and my brother fighting?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

Takeru searched his face and looked slightly confused when he saw no indication of lies. "I don't know. You two were acting kind of weird around us and each other."

Taichi shrugged. "Nope. Best of buds as always."

Takeru smiled. "Guess Kari and I were just being paranoid and imagining things." He suddenly frowned as his attention was drawn away by the sounds on the television. "Hey, why aren't you there?" Taichi looked up at the large television and saw that the music awards had started.

He smiled softly. "Yama promised Meems that when he got famous he'd take her to a fancy awards ceremony. I don't mind, like I told her, she pulls off wearing a designer fitted blue halterneck hip split better than I do anyway. Not to mention the stilettos. Though, with my legs, I wouldn't count it out."

Takeru laughed. "Yes, I seem to recall that, although you can pull it off rather well, Mimi does have a certain flair to her walk that makes her look like a goddess. Look, I'll have to catch up with you before you leave, I really should get to work."

"Sure thing. See you Takeru." Taichi walked back to his teammates and their drinking while continuing to listen to the sounds of the music awards on the television, eventually hearing the faint strains of Yamato's beautiful soothing voice coming over and filling the room.

* * *

"'Mato! Get the hell out of bed!"

Yamato slammed the door to his room open with Seiyo's yell. "What?" he demanded grumpily. He was not a morning person, and the hangover didn't help matters much.

Seiyo ignored his grouchy attitude and shoved something in his face. Yamato blinked and tried to focus on the words of the magazine shoved in front of him then gave up. "Sei," he sighed with exasperation and annoyance, "I'm too tired to read and comprehend. What has you so worked up at this time of the morning that you felt it was necessary to risk my formidable wrath?" He shoved the magazine back with a dark look.

"Yamato, this is serious, for you anyway.' Yamato looked over at Urinto. His expression was not good and Yamato started to worry a bit. "It's everywhere."

"What is?"

"Stories about you. Mags, newspapers, tabloids."

"Tell me what the fuck you're talking about!" Yamato yelled.

"You and Mimi."

"Mimi?" Yamato looked a bit confused before he suddenly grabbed the magazine back and flipped to the article, his eyes widening in horror. "No way!"

* * *

"Tai, did you hear about Ishida yet?"

Taichi and Ryotu looked up from their lunch. So did a few other people from the team who, along with them, decided to stay in for the day. Shurizu was among them. "About what?' Taichi asked with mild curiosity.

Ayoru looked stunned. "You mean you really didn't know? I thought you and Ishida were friends."

"We are. Just what are you going on about?"

"This." Ayoru handed Taichi a magazine.

"You read these things?" Ryotu tried stifled a laugh, but couldn't stop a small snicker escaping.

Ayoru glared at him. "I got it because of the article on page ten. You know, the front cover story."

Taichi had already flipped to the page and was quickly skimming through the article with wide eyes. "Impossible!"

This grabbed everyone's attention.

"I wanted to ask you since when Ishida Yamato and Tachikawa Mimi were an item. You never said a thing about it Taichi." Ayoru looked a bit annoyed.

"First, that would be their business and second, I wouldn't have said a thing because it's completely untrue." Taichi glared darkly at the page before him and the lies printed. Ryotu and Shurizu both grabbed and read the magazine, the rest of the team hovering behind them.

"That's not what this thing says," Shurizu said, looking fairly stunned.

"Look, since when is anything like this a huge thing?" Taichi asked with a shrug. "You guys don't seriously take that much notice of entertainment tabloids do you?"

"Not usually," Ayoru answered, "but Ishida's appearing on television tonight and he almost cancelled because he was so pissed about all this."

"How do you know this?"

"You remember the girl I picked up last night? She works high up at the television studio. It was in complete uproar when Ishida made such a huge fuss. She was on the phone all morning, trying to straighten things up and find out what was happening. Apparently he's only still doing the interview as a favour to someone."

"Probably his father." Taichi shrugged. "Look, whatever the situation, I'm sure Yama will figure out something to do." He grinned suddenly. "But hey, at least I know it will be interesting entertainment on tonight." Taichi finished his meal and got up. "I was thinking of going for a walk. Anyone want to come?"

Ryotu nodded. "Sure, let me just finish lunch."

Taichi nodded. "I'll just go grab my wallet." He exited the room, leaving the rest of the team staring after him in confusion.

* * *

"Hey, where are we going?"

"To see a friend."

Ryotu sighed and followed after Taichi, completely lost in the huge city on his own. "What friend?"

"An old friend from school. I've known her for a while. She works with her mother at a flower shop and designs clothes in her studio in the back." Taichi grinned. "And she's one of the biggest soccer fanatics I know. I'm sure you'll get along great with her."

Ryotu nodded and continued following Taichi all the way to a small flower shop near the middle of town. A soft bell rang as they opened the door to the deserted shop. There was a sign on the door that had been switched to 'closed'. Ryotu looked around nervously.

"We're closed," someone said as they approached. "I'm sorry for … Tai!"

"Sora." Ryotu looked at the red-haired girl in surprise. She was standing with a huge grin on her face in the middle of the doorway leading to the back, a white rose in one hand and a pen in the other, looking rather disheveled and busy.

Sora looked over at her old friend and her grin faded. She ran to Taichi with a cry and sobbed onto his shoulder. "You've heard about what they're saying?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm here. I figured you'd need a shoulder."

Sora sniffed and smiled up at him. "Thanks Tai. Mimi hasn't spoken to me at all. Her manager said she'd been raging and fuming all morning, she hasn't spoken to anyone except for yelling orders at her manager. I suppose she's trying not to talk to me just in case she lets her anger out on me."

"She doesn't want to hurt you with anything she says." Taichi soothed Sora, gently patting her hair.

"It can't be true Tai, can it?"

Tai looked at her seriously. "Mimi would never do that to you, least of all with Yama. Besides, I know for a fact that Yama is quite happy with who he is with right now."

Sora laughed. "Yes, you would know, wouldn't you. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have doubted, but it was all so convincing, and Mimi hasn't spoken to me."

"Yama's got a live interview this afternoon, I'm sure he'll do something to dispel the rumours. Don't worry about a thing Sora, things will be all right." Taichi smiled reassuringly. "If you want you can call over and see us at the hotel if you want. It's our last day here ... well, I was thinking of staying for longer, but you should really get to know the other guys."

Sora looked stunned. "Wow, are you serious Tai?" She grinned. "I'd love to." She looked over at Ryotu and blushed slightly, looking a bit sheepish. "Sorry, I've been rather rude."

Ryotu shrugged it off. "I've dealt with Taichi, trust me, you're nothing in comparison."

Sora laughed while Taichi glared darkly at him. "Just for that, I won't say goodbye to you tomorrow." He gave Ryotu one last withering look before turning back to Sora. "So will you come see us this afternoon?"

She nodded with a smile. "I'd like that."

"Great. I'll make sure the others are presentable for your visit."

Sora looked at him curiously. "Taichi, I know what guys can be like when they're being lazy. I grew up with you, remember."

Ryotu and Taichi just shared a look. "Trust me, Sora," Ryotu advised her. "Even when he's at his worst, Taichi's neater and dressed more than everyone there put together."

Sora just blushed slightly and nodded.

* * *

"You ready for this Mato?"

Yamato nodded at Kiromi's question. The others all shared worried glances between themselves and Urinto placed a hand on Yamato's shoulder. "You know we're completely behind you all the way with whatever you want to say or do."

"Are you sure?"

They nodded. Ji grinned. "Hey come on, you got us even more fans last time everyone found out you were gay. Do you realise how much more publicity we'll be getting now?"

Urinto and Kiromi both shook their heads while Seiyo laughed at the rhythm guitarist. Yamato managed a smile for them. "Just as long as you're sure. I can't keep something like this a secret, it's a part of me and I refuse to hide it."

"That's the sort of attitude we're used to from you." Urinto grinned at him and patted him on the back one last time. "Break a leg out there." He pushed Yamato towards the set of the studio. Yamato cast one last look over his shoulder to see the band all grinning supportively before taking a deep breath and walking steadily towards the set.

I can do this, this is no worse than stage fright, only I'm literally putting myself on show to be picked apart. Damn, singing is nothing compared to this.

* * *

"Hey guys, did I miss anything?"

"No, it's just about to start, Dai. Take a seat." Ken smiled at his boyfriend and Daisuke sat down beside him, placing an arm about his shoulders. Hikari moved over slightly to give them more room, snuggling into Takeru.

"Urgh, how disgustingly romantic you four are." Miyako rolled her eyes. "I'm so glad we're not like that Iori."

Iori smiled at her in amusement. "No, we're worse sometimes." He grinned seeing Miyako's blush and gently kissed her hand, keeping it in his grasp. "But I like that."

Miyako blushed again and looked down. "Yeah, me too."

"Shh," Daisuke glared at them. "It's about to start. Where the hell are Jyou and Koushiro?"

"Right here!" Koushiro burst in through the door, Jyou close behind. They were both panting rather loudly and looking a bit haggard. "Sorry, I'd forgotten when we were supposed to meet. We got ... uh ... distracted by something."

Daisuke looked at him suspiciously. "Of course. You know, Ken and I have used that before."

Koushiro blushed and sat down on the remaining couch, Jyou sat beside him. "We haven't missed anything have we?" Daisuke shook his head and Koushiro smiled. "Great. It's too bad we couldn't go see Yamato or Mimi. This whole situation must be terrible for both of them."

"I guess it's the price you pay to be famous," Jyou commented quietly and everyone nodded, then were distracted by the start of the show.

* * *

Sora smiled at Taichi as he opened the door to his hotel suite. "Hey there, sorry I'm a little late. I had to make sure the shop was locked up." She smiled as she stepped in and looked around the room. "I think the others are meeting up with each other. They asked me to come, but I was still in too much of a depression to do anything."

"Yeah, they asked me too, but this is the last time I get to see the guys for a while, I figured I should stay in." Taichi gestured towards the bed. "Dump you coat if you want. I was going to meet the others downstairs as soon as you came." Sora nodded and placed her coat on the bed.

"Oh, I almost forgot." She smiled brightly and handed him a bouquet of flowers. Taichi looked a bit surprised. He was wondering what they were for. "These are for you, a thank you for earlier."

Taichi smiled. "No need to thank me, I was just being a good friend as always."

"You always have been to all of us Tai, even when you weren't here."

Taichi nodded a bit sadly. "I guess I wasn't as good a friend as I could have been then. But I'm here now, and I'm staying for a while, so hopefully things can get better."

There was a hurried knock at the door and Taichi opened it to see Ryotu standing in the doorway. "Come on, everyone's waiting for you!" He saw Sora and grinned. "Hey Sora, glad you could come. Taichi, get a move on!"

"I'm moving." Taichi grinned and he and Sora left the room with Ryotu bustling them along. He was bouncing impatiently. They walked to the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby. As soon as the doors opened to the ground floor, Ryotu burst out, gesturing wildly for Taichi and Sora to follow him. The two of them grinned at his antics.

"Guess he really wants to know what Matt has to say too." Sora grinned.

"Yeah, ever since the others found out I knew him they've been slightly fanatical about finding out more about him." Taichi shrugged. "Guess it has something to do with the fame and fortune thing."

"Guess so." Sora smiled as they reached the room where the rest of the team was. They all looked up from the television and Sora and Taichi couldn't help smiling at the sight.

"Hey guys, this is Sora." Taichi introduced her to the team and Sora charmed them all with smiles and politeness.

"She your girlfriend Tai?" Ayoru asked once he'd been introduced.

Taichi started at him in amazement while Sora laughed out loud at the question. "No!" Taichi shook his head in amazement at Ayoru's suggestion. "Man, we're just old friends."

Ayoru shrugged then grinned at her. "You available then?"

Sora blushed slightly. "Sorry, I'm in a long time relationship."

Ayoru shrugged. "No harm in trying I guess. Shame though, I really like the look of you." Sora blushed again and Taichi cleared his throat, looking at her with some amusement.

"What? Just because I'm in a serious relationship doesn't mean I can't appreciate someone who thinks I'm appealing." She glared at him slightly. "It's not like you haven't done it."

Taichi shrugged. "I guess, but that was a while ago."

"Like you don't feel flattered when people come up to you and ask your name and number." Sora grinned at the slight blush on Taichi's face. "I rest my case."

"Let's just sit with the guys and check out the show," Taichi suggested weakly, leading the way over to available seats in the room.

"Has it started yet?" Ryotu asked curiously.

"Just about to," Shurizu replied. Despite his better judgement, he was just as curious as the rest of his team and wanted to find out more about the whole 'scandal'. As did most of the world who knew anything about the two famous people.

Taichi just shook his head. It was amazing how caught up people could get in others' lives. Yamato wasn't that interesting ... well, okay, maybe he was, but the image and lifestyle he presented and lived was portrayed more interestingly than it really was. Still, he was curious, and slightly anxious himself to find out what Yamato had to say.

"It's starting," Ryotu grinned. Taichi rolled his eyes. Looks like he'd created a fan boy in his friend. He knew it was a bad idea for Ryo to get to know Yamato too well, he should have known this was going to happen.

At least he's not as bad as Jun was. Taichi grinned thinking about this and then turned his attention to the show, a slight smile coming to his face as he caught sight of Yamato smiling slightly stepping onto the set of the prime-time interview show.

"How are you doing Ishida?" the interviewer asked with a grin.

Yamato shrugged and Taichi winced, knowing that inside Yamato was still fuming. Luckily having to deal with public exposure for so long, Yamato was really good at hiding it and holding it back. "Life's life, I suppose."

"That it is. I guess I should start things of with the topic that's on everyone's tongue right now." Yamato sighed slightly but continued smiling at the interviewer. "What is going on between you and Tachikawa Mimi?"

Yamato's shoulders drooped slightly then he looked at the interviewer. "Nothing. We're old friends. A few years ago when we graduated high school, I made Mimi a promise that if I ever got famous and was invited to a music awards ceremony, I'd take her. It was something made in jest, but I count myself as a man of my word."

"Indeed. But surely, you must have had some romantic thoughts regarding Ms. Tachikawa."

"No, actually I haven't. And I doubt that Mimi has had thoughts like that regarding me either."

"Oh? Really? That seems unlikely."

Taichi could tell Yamato was getting a bit pissed off with the questions and line of inquiry. "Well I can't really speak for Mimi, even though I do know it for a fact, but I myself am actually in a relationship at the moment."

Taichi grinned hearing this. The fact that Yamato said it to the world made things seem even more serious to him. Sora noticed his grin and smiled herself. It seemed things were going well, and the rumours were going to stop, hopefully.

But like many media personnel, this interviewer was reluctant to let a story go. "Would you ever consider having an affair with Ms. Tachikawa?"

Yamato looked shocked and very angry.

"Oh no," Taichi and Sora both said in unison. The team looked at them curiously. "Yama's going to blow his top," Taichi muttered, putting his head in his hands. "I can't watch."

The interviewer seemed to realise he'd said something wrong and tugged at his neckline. Yamato continued to glare darkly. "I'm going to ignore the possible insinuation that I would ever be unfaithful in my relationship and give you one simple reason why I would never 'have and affair' as you so politically put it, with Mimi. Not to mention this will probably put an end to your pointless prodding questions. I am gay."

And everyone watching the television program at this moment stared in shock at this startling revelation from the lead singer and front man of the Teenage Wolves.

AN: Hope you all enjoyed that. Next chapter you get to see the after affects of the statement and the almost end to this fic. *sniff* it only gets harder every time you end a fic.

Laters.