Author's Notes: Whew, finally got the next chapter done. Heh, seems things don't go as we'd like them to. Sorry for the lateness, but yeah, work's really bad. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
Thanks to shadowed angel, ToriS (sorry, I'm building to Taito, can't just plop them together can I? Well I can, but that's not the point), Angel Ran, yamatoforever.
Diclaimer: Not mine.
ReoccurrenceChapter 7: You Can Never Go Home Again
Everyone ended up in a heap on the computer room floor. The sky was dark and cloudy through the windows. "Ugh, get off," someone yelled. Eventually everyone extricated themselves and found themselves bleary-eyed in the single light of one computer. The desktop glowed eight. The new digidestined grimaced and made a few hasty explanations and goodbyes before rushing out the door and hopefully home before incurring the wrath of their parental units.
Hikari snatched her brother's free hand. "Right. Let's go home oni-chan!"
Yamato blocked the way, still stolid as a statue. Finally he gave a slight smile. "Hold it. How's Taichi supposed to explain his disappearance to your parents?"
Kari thought a moment before groaning. "You're right; I can't really say we lost him in some digital dimension and just happened to stumble into him because we were trying to defeat the Kaiser. They'd think I were doped up on something."
"Besides," Tai added, "a lot's happened already. I don't think I'm ready to meet them, I mean I don't even really remember them."
A puzzled silence followed. TK spoke a little later, talking slowly and trying to work something out in his head. "Oni-san…isn't dad working? Late I mean?"
"Yeah. And?"
"We can take Taichi over to your place and we can get everyone else to meet us there. Right?" TK begged his brother's favour with a look.
Matt seemed unwilling but finally shrugged. "Okay I guess, sounds like a plan."
Half an hour found the four of them crossing a street, Agumon on Taichi's shoulder like some oversized stuffed animal. Tai groaned occasionally, shifting Agumon's deceptively heavy weight evenly. "Too damn heavy for your own good."
Hikari elbowed him, smiling prettily to passersby. "Shh. There're people staring."
Tai obediently shut up and let himself watch everything that happened around him. Cars sped by in accordance to the laws of the traffic light. People laughed and strolled down the streets and into lit stores and shops, all abuzz with nighttime activity. They passed a theatre where a long line of people lounged outside, smoking and laughing and arguing. After a few more blocks of strained silence, dodging people's questioning looks, all four were in front of Yamato's door. Tai unceremoniously dropped Agumon onto the floor, massaging his sore shoulders and neck. "Finally; let's get inside before someone else comes by."
The apartment was a little scruffy, some scattered clothing, the air of being lived in heavy. Yamato dumped his green school blazer carelessly onto the couch and 'oomphed' into a recliner. Hikari had already snatched up the phone, fingers agile with practice, dialing numbers with a speed that seemed to be physically impossible. TK had settled on the carpeted floor leaning back against the couch, tipping his head back so his hat partly covered his face. "Everyone's going to have a heart attack when they see you, Taichi."
Tai fidgeted uncomfortably on the couch. He desperately tryied to remember anything about TK or Matt or Kari; he came up with a few disembodied images but then gave up in frustration. He dropped his head back against the couch only to have it jump it and flush when his stomach gurgled loudly. "Heh heh."
Yamato smiled, starting to come back into himself and relaxing back into his chair. "At least some things haven't changed. We can order some pizza when Hikari's off the phone."
"Then we'll probably starve to death."
"I heard that." Kari appeared from the kitchen with a soda; she glared at TK. "For your information, I wasn't on the phone for more than five minutes. Here." She handed Matt the phone. "They're all going to have fits." She giggled and settled into the seat next to Tai.
"What'd you tell them?"
She smiled mock wickedly. "I said it was a really big surprise." She and TK laughed some more while a thick bead of sweat rolled down the sides of Tai's face. He wondered if he should be worried for his safety.
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The scene was even more than either Takeru or Hikari imagined. Sora was hugging the air out of Taichi as was Jyou. Koushiro looked lost for a moment, his mouth gaping like a fish. When he finally stirred, he gave Tai a dazed hug. They listened as TK and Kari were retelling Taichi's story, filling in details of their battle with the Kaiser at the appropriate times.
Matt was watching Tai, feeling something inside him stir. He felt a little more alive now, suddenly…lighter. All could be okay now, right? Taichi was back. And he changed, Yamato noted with half appreciation. He was grown, more mature, and he was different. But he just…seemed wrong somehow. He just sat silently watching them talk, and sunk into the sofa. The old Tai was always sure of himself, loud and could never fade quietly into the background. But Matt's mind backstepped itself again. Tai was nervous because he couldn't remember much. Surely, it was only a phase. To Matt's relief, Taichi's face still held its softness, that element of kindness that inspired loyalty and love. The doorbell rang and Matt got up, happy to stop his thoughts before they led him down some horrible sappy alley.
Taichi sighed in relief when Yamato went to get the pizza, when Yamato no longer had his unreadable gaze leveled on himself. It was strangely upsetting, making Taichi's stomach turn on itself in anxiety. He felt singled out, probably understandable in the current situation, but the fact that it was Yamato staring seemed to imply something different that he couldn't remember. He turned his attention back to the group who were gathered around Koushiro's laptop. Sora beckoned into the group and seated him right in front of the screen.
There was a flash of static and pixilated madness before a girl appeared on the screen, yawning and her pink hair hanging uncoordinatedly from her head. She blinked sleepily, drawling. "You better have a good excuse getting me out of bed this early." She fixed a half eye on Tai's face, and continued to complain. Then she stopped, completely, and then snapped both of them open, tangling her fingers in her hair.
"Surprise!" The group behind Taichi (except Matt who was watching from the kitchen) cheered.
Hikari nudged Tai and whispered in his ear. "Say hi. It's Mimi."
Taichi creased his forehead, startled by the wholly different look Mimi had acquired. He waved and smiled into the screen. "Hi Mimi."
Mimi was frozen, like a popsicle, like a very ungraceful, bedhedded ice pop. "Taichi?" Tai nodded. Without warning, she squealed, startling the group until they all fell backward on each other. "I can't believe it! How did this happen?!"
Tai untangled himself from limbs that were not his and sat back up. He started his story again, someone behind him occasionally interjecting some forgotten detail.
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Everyone was hugging Tai again this time because they were all leaving. The wall clock was a quarter past midnight. "I can't believe you're back." Sora leaned in for another hug.
"He's not back officially yet. We still have to find a plausible excuse for his disappearance for the past four years," Koushiro pointed out rationally. "I suggest we meet up in the digital world and plan Taichi's reintroduction without stirring up suspicion."
Everyone nodded gravely. Jyou shook his head. "And you all call me the downer. Let's go; I've got some studying to do tomorrow."
Sora, Jyou and Koushiro left in an argument over killjoys and workaholics. Hikari stopped on the doorstep, taking a prolonged look at Taichi. She smiled broadly and hugged him close. "I'm so happy you're back."
"Me too." Tai pulled back away, grinning down at her. "Now get home; it's really late."
"Night, oni-chan. Come on TK, the taxi's waiting for us." Hikari and Takeru disappeared down the stairs, leaving Tai staring into the night and the moon. He slowly closed the door and headed back into the living room to sit on the floor among the scattered pizza boxes.
"Well?" Yamato appeared from the kitchen, taking a seat on the couch.
"It was…nice. A little strange, but good." Taichi tilted his head in thought. "It's all so different."
"That's understandable. But everyone's happy you're back." But Matt felt it too, the difference. He was disappointed; he didn't know what his expectations were, but he felt, maybe foolishly so, that Tai would just jump right back into life like he never left. And he felt it all the more bitterly when he somehow knew Taichi didn't fit in anymore, and even worse knowing that there was a long and hard transition period coming.
Taichi yawned widely. "I think I'm late. I better get back before Gennai starts to worry."
Yamato nodded, opening his bedroom door. "The computer's in here."
Tai pulled out Hikari's digivice (she'd lent it to him to get back with). "And thanks Yamato…for not smashing my skull I mean." He laughed a little, awkward in the silence of the room.
Yamato laughed a few breaths too. "Call it even for not strangling me." He stepped forward and hugged Taichi again. There was that same foreign woodenness in his actions, doing what he was supposed to do and nothing more. "Night."
"Night. Come on Agumon." Tai gave Yamato a final smile as he and Agumon disappeared into the digiport.
Yamato rubbed his eyes and yawned, carefully making his way to his bed. This had been a very long day; he was utterly exhausted. The lull of sleep was quick, giving him the barest of minutes to refresh Taichi's face in his memory and give a relaxed sigh into the pillow.
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Taichi sat on his bed in the dark, going all the new faces he met today. He let out a shaky breath and allowed himself to really relax, and not put up a show of naturalness. Stripped of his act, he let himself feel the anxiety and fear in the pit of his stomach that he'd blocked out before. He had taken the step, rejoined the others, journeyed home. It was a scary place, almost as scary as the digital world when he first woke up. The digiworld worked on a different scale, mostly without the strictness he observed in the human world. There was a place of instinct that allowed each digimon to pursue some kind of morality, but otherwise the society worked unregulated and wild. The human world had cars lined up in rows, small rules and boundaries that everyone probably took for granted but seemed wholly alien to Tai. He sighed heavily at the ridiculous thought of having to actually act human. It seemed such a stupid thing to need to learn.
"Tai?" Agumon's voice traveled from the foot of the bed.
"Hmm?"
"Was it good?"
"It was…okay. I'm going to have to learn everything again."
"Everything?" Agumon didn't understand.
"Never mind, just meant the whole memory thing," Tai lied. Unbidden a few scenes in his memory seemed to match up. He was with Koushiro in an underground tunnel searching for medicine for Hikari. He ended up punching Koushiro, something he regretted later. Tai resurfaced back to his room and dropped onto his back. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. "Good night, Agumon."
"Night Tai."
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Author's Notes: So this has been the chapter to my long forgotten fic. Will really try to work more. Drop a review, won't you?