AN: *Tearing up* I have received no greater holiday cheer then from all of your reviews. I am nearly speechless with joy and gratitude, but I am left with a MIGHTY fear that I will disappoint all of you :`(. Immeasurable thanks to Litanya, Ami Ne, Etherelemental, *SE, Taisora Sweets, BudgerigarLT, Anime Master ZERO, heather, "who cares", and yellen for their reviews of chapter 7 and to all previous reviewers :D I shall now try to repay you all with a giant internet group hug:

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGG)))))))))))))))))))))

Thanks, thanks, thanks and happy holidays to all :D

Now for….

Chapter 8

"Hey Taichi," Sora said with a weak smile, heavy bags noticeable under her eyes. She had been up almost all night trying to piece together exactly how she would tell her friend how she felt and was now completely exhausted. 

"You're late," Tai responded coldly without looking up from his work. Sora, too involved with her own thoughts, didn't notice his grip on the flowers he worked with tighten drastically.  She laughed without thinking, sure it was a joke. However, the death-glare Taichi shot her made it painfully clear he wasn't kidding. "Tai!" she said with a disbelieving laugh, "I'm only 10 minutes late!"

"Yeah, well, maybe you would have been on time if you weren't out all night snogging AN: for lack of a better word ;) with Yamato," he spit out angrily. "What are you talking about?" Sora asked, completely stunned and caught totally off guard. "Don't play innocent!" Tai yelled, standing up from his seat. "I saw you two kissing last night!"

Sora's eyes widened, her mind racing back to the previous evening. "Tai, it wasn't like that at all. He- " "Then what was it like Sora?! Because it definitely looked like you were kissing!" Tai shouted.

"Well, yes…but no…It was…Tai, you don't understand…" She said, desperately trying to explain what had happened and calm her friend down. "Oh, I understand PERFECTLY," he growled, "You know, I thought better of you Sora, then to fall for a guy like Matt. But I guess I was wrong. Because apparently you just-" "TAI, WILL YOU JUST STOP IT FOR A MINUTE! YOU'RE NOT EVEN LETTING ME EXPLAIN!" Sora yelled, frustrated he wasn't listening.

 "Why should I listen!? All you ever do is lie to me!!" Tai snarled back at her. "That's not true!" Sora said defensively. "Oh yes it is! 'No I don't like Matt at all, I didn't want to go with him'" he mocked, "And the next thing you know, you're KISSING HIM! MATT! KISSING MATT! YEAH, YOU MUST REALLY HATE HIM!" "Yeah! So I kissed Matt, so what?! Why does it matter anyway!?" She shouted. She was now far too angry to defend herself with silly things like logic or the truth.

 Fuming, Tai ignored the question he had asked himself many times before. "Because Matt's a JERK! But you don't care do you!? All you care about is that he's cute and he's in a band. YOU'RE…YOU'RE… A GROUPIE!" He roared.

" Nice to see what a great friend you really are," Sora snapped sarcastically. "YEAH! Well friends don't LIE to each other either, so maybe, we shouldn't be friends after all!" Tai bit back. "Fine!" Sora retorted in rage. "FINE! And you know what else, I QUIT!" Tai yelled, taking off his apron and throwing it towards her. "I hope I never have to see you again!" he added, in true 3 year-old style, before exiting.

"Yeah…well…I hate you anyway!" Sora screamed loudly after him, but the tears running wildly down her cheeks exposed her lie.

~

It had been a week since the two had last talked. The fact that they could go that long without seeing or speaking to each other was actually a testament to their friendship. Tai knew just when Sora left for work and never went out before then and Sora knew just when Tai woke up on weekends and was far from the apartment by that time.

Sora was so angry with Tai she refused to even try to explain what had happened but it didn't really matter, because Tai was so angry with Sora that he wouldn't have believed her. Both wanted desperately for the argument to end and for things to return to normal but both were too stubborn to give in. They considered an apology a sign of defeat, which, in turn, only lead to a long waiting game to see who would break first. So far, neither of them showed any signs of caving in. In fact, the more days that passed without an apology, the angrier they became, and the least likely it seemed they would ever be friends again.

This fact dawned on Kari as she walked past the couch one morning and saw her brother sprawled out across it, drooling on the pillow his head sat on as he watched TV. In desperation, she did the only thing she knew would get his attention now-a-days.

"This has got to stop," she said from her position in front of the TV. "Ur! Kari! Move!" Tai grunted, weakly attempting to move his head to see the television. "No," she responded flatly, "I refuse to stand idly by while you throw away the best thing you had because you're too pigheaded to apologize to Sora for whatever pigheaded thing it was you did."

 Tai, in a very pigheaded manor, wouldn't even consider what his sister had said. "Look Kari, you don't know anything about it! I wasn't the one who…" He stopped, realizing what his sister would do if she found out the reason for the fight. "The point is, it was Sora's fault and I'm NOT going to apologize for it."

Kari growled, knowing she was going to get nowhere with her lump of a brother; it was time to visit Sora. She moved from in front of the TV and Tai went back into his zombie-like state. When she had changed from her pajamas she returned, walked in silence to the TV, and just to spite the awful lump, switched it off. As she closed the door, she smirked, hearing her brother scream "KAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!" from the couch.

~

A jingle of the bells caused Sora's head to jerk up suddenly from her dull arranging, with the hope that it was Tai, finally coming to apologize. She was disappointed yet again as she looked to find Kari standing at the door. "Hi Sora," Kari said, looking quite innocent as she peered around at the flowers in the shop.

Sora didn't buy it for a minute. "Just stopping by?" she questioned incredulously. "Well…actually, I was hoping-" Kari began. "I am NOT apologizing to your brother," Sora stated outright. Kari sighed, "Yeah, I know. I figure it's probably Tai's fault anyway. Can you at least tell me what happened?"

Sora pondered this for a second, and sank down onto a stool. "I'm not exactly sure myself. One second, everything was going great…and then…well…Tai saw Yamato and I kiss and we got into this huge fight and he wouldn't even let me explain! He said he thought better of me then to fall for Yamato and that I was a groupie!" Sora said, trying to emphasize Taichi's injustice. Kari, however, hadn't heard any of it.

"But…did you kiss Yamato?" the younger girl asked, unsuccessful at trying to hide her shock. "No!" Sora responded, frustrated at the recent trend of Kamiyas jumping to conclusions, "That's the whole point! Yamato was the one who kissed me!….He… asked me to be his girlfriend, but I said no because…" she blushed, unsure if she was ready to reveal her real reason to her real reason's younger sister, "…I didn't feel the same way…he asked for a chance to change my mind but before I could answer, he kissed me. So I stopped him, told him my feelings wouldn't change, and then I left."

The girl's auburn eyes were slowly filling with tears. That night she had been so sure everything was going to turn out alright, but everything had turned out wrong. "Why didn't you just tell Tai that?" Kari asked gently. "I tried…he wouldn't listen…" Sora sniffled, "He's being so stupid. He better apologize!" Kari held back a frustrated groan. Clearly, it was Tai's fault but clearly, he wasn't going to apologize, and now, clearly, Sora wasn't going to either. But with everything so clear, there still wasn't a clear solution.

"Well, I guess I should go," Kari said, anxious to do what she could to fix this problem. She looked at Sora, still red-eyed, and tried to reassure her, "Don't worry Sora, everything will work out okay, and trust me, Taichi will apologize." Kari walked out the door with a determined smile; it was time to put her sisterly meddling skills to work.

~

"Come on Takeru!" the small girl pleaded, pulling on her boyfriends hand, "You've got to!" "Look Kari, I can't. Besides, Matt won't listen to me anyway." He said, gently trying to pry her off of him, tiring of the current argument. "You don't know that! Sora's like a sister to you T.K.! Don't you want to help her out?" she begged.

He groaned, surprised Kari hadn't pulled the Sora card until now. "Of course I do, but it won't help. Can't you just tell Tai yourself?" he asked. "No!" she answered grumpily. "It's got to be Yamato, he won't believe it from anyone else. Come on Takeru, just do this one thing for me." T.K., fearing he might cave, looked away. "Takeru," she said, forcing him to make eye contact again. "Plllleeeeeaasssseeee?" she whimpered throwing him the trade-mark Kamiya puppy face that no one could refuse.

T.K. grimaced,

"*Sigh*"

AN: Heh, okay, all done :D I really don't know how to write fights, but I gave it my best shot ;) A lot of reviewers were concerned that Matt's turning into the bad guy, but that wasn't my intention (for once ^_-) and hopefully, he'll be cast in a nicer light in the next chapter so fear not friends :) I somehow foiled my own plans on how this was going to end, so either Chapter 9 or Chapter 10 will be the last chapter, but I'll have to see as I start writing :) Now, to study for my grammar test! Woohoo ;)

Lots of love and happy holidays :D,

Soragirl

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