Author's Notes:  Ah one month and a half.  Not as long as I've gone without updating before but damn long all the same.  Gomen ne.  I hope I can take advantage of winter break to get this updated more often.

Thanks to Angel Ran, Evangeline, Shadow, *i n c o h e r e n t*, SrPositive, Kelly, ToriS, IchigoPocky

Big Arigatou to Aeris Tsukiyono (lots of questions.  Um, I hinted at Taichi having feelings to Yamato before the incident, sorta, but they left off at a fight so...  You know, the Daisuke idea is really great; I never thought of that.  I think I'll use it somewhere).

Dislaimer:  Don't own Digimon, some big network of global entertainment companies do.

Reoccurrence

Chapter 8:  Transition

"That's ridiculous, they'd never believe that."  Sora scowled at Mimi who was currently proposing some half thought out idea.  "I mean really, Mimi, spaceships?"

The pink haired girl rolled her eyes, brushing away the skepticism.  "Well, it sounds ridiculous now, but then we take some pictures of the digimon and pass them off as aliens...."

Taichi looked utterly lost, feeling the strange sensation of his brain trying to escape his head through any available orifice.  "Um, why don't we think of something that doesn't involve abduction?"

"I'm just saying," defended Mimi.

Koushiro spoke up, not taking the time to remove his eyes from his computer.  He had been thinking about this for the past week, using his extra time to craft a plausible excuse and explanation.  He felt he was close but couldn't quite get the dynamics right.  "I came up with an outline.  We need to do three things here.  We need to give an explanation why Taichi left.  Then we need to explain why he didn't return home for four years and where he was during that period."

Jyou's face brightened with an idea.  "That's easy; he doesn't remember.  If he doesn't know where's home, he can't go there right?"

Koushiro nodded.  "Okay, so how did he lose his memory? I was thinking of the regular head trauma amnesia case."

"Sounds okay; that's probably how I lost it in the first place right?"  Taichi leaned back against a cushion watching the others construct a pseudo life for him.  They were in Gennai's living room, all having met a week after their first reintroduction.  Here, at least Taichi noted, he could let himself relax a little among the familiar furniture and the knowledge that Gennai was only a few rooms off.  The younger digidestined had gone off to fight Ken, leaving the older ones to give Taichi a new life.

"So where was he for the past four years?"

No one had an answer.

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"How about he got lost?"  Yamato slumped his head back onto the armrest of the couch.  They'd been going over this for the past two hours and every idea seemed to lack a plausibility much less a contingency plan to cover the four year absence.  "He could've gotten separated in the 'earthquake.'"

"True, but that would still put him in Odaiba.  If anyone found him, they'd have reported it."  Koushiro yawned.  "We need to have him be far away from Odaiba, the best idea would be any of the rural parts of Japan.  But how could he get away from here…"

"Train?"  Sora suggested.

"No, they weren't running for two weeks after the earthquake.  If we say he took a train, we'd have to explain where he was for that unaccounted time."

"Taxi?"

"Sorry Mimi, he'd never had that kind of money to afford to take a cab."

The pink haired girl wailed softly in mock tiredness.  She was draped over an armchair, her head lolling from right to left.  "This is ridiculous.  Airplane, bus, boat, spaceship, let's just pick one.  I'm too tired…"

"Mimi…"  Yamato warned.  "This isn't something that we can just bullshit our way through."

"Precisely, your suggestions don't fit what we need.  Taichi couldn't get a flight on a plane and the boats were all anchored remember?  And the buses…"  Koushiro trailed off.  Then punched a few commands into his laptop and scanned the opened dialog box.  A small triumphant smile appeared as he reached the bottom of the document.  "Prodigious, Mimi you may have just given us the answer.  The regular buses weren't running for a month after the 'earthquake' but there were government buses helping to transport tourists away from Odaiba during cleanup.  Taichi could've gotten onto one of those buses and ended up on somewhere else, Hokkaido maybe."

Taichi shrugged, struggling not to die of boredom.  "Sounds good," he slurred. 

"So then he was taken in by a family up there?"  Jyou traced out the logical solution.  "And he lived with them for four years.  But then why did he leave?"

"I was bored senseless?"  Tai quipped, pulling himself up into a sitting position.  Koushiro rolled his eyes at him.  "Or maybe they were moving away and I wanted to find my real parents?"

"Could happen.  You might have remembered Odaiba and decided to come back and look for your parents."  

"Yeah, that's right."  Taichi sighed, the lake much darker blue than when the meeting had begun.  "Well, better than aliens I guess."

"Hey!"

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Yamato looked at the group crowded around Koushiro's computer, getting all the details from the younger digidestined about their mission.  He'd have liked to read TK's responses, but he was currently on a mission of his own.  "Taichi?"

The unruly head popped out of the kitchen.  "Yeah?"

"Uh…"  Yamato carefully smoothed his hands over this shirt and headed towards Taichi.  "Um, just wanted to ask how you were doing, that's all."

"Um, good?"  Silence stretched on between them for some time before they both started at the same time.  A small, shared laugh broke between them.  "You were saying?"

"I uh…"  Yamato was decidedly nervous.  It was strange to be trying to make friends with someone who was only resurrected a couple of weeks ago.  Even stranger when he considered he had no idea how to apologize for acting like a jerk when Taichi didn't even remember what he was talking about.  Rome wasn't built in a day; wasn't that what people said?  "Just that uh…well, we never really got along back then."

Taichi nodded slowly, the vague hazy recollection of his fist connecting with Yamato's face rose for a moment.  "I sort of remember that."  Another silence.  He shook his head, irritated at himself.  This wasn't being brave.  No, it was shy stupid toddler behaviour and damnit, he wasn't going to have any of it.  "How about we just forget it and start over?"  He thrust out his hand between them, but Yamato didn't take it.  The seconds stretched on until the blonde burst into laughter and a kind of embarrassed fear rose sharply in Taichi's stomach.  Did he do something stupid and inappropriate?  "I…"

It only made Yamato laugh harder.  "A…handshake?  God…Taichi…what are we…thirty?"

Then realization dawned on Taichi who looked between them, two sixteen year olds with him standing rigid and his hand sticking out between them like he was completing a business transaction.  Actually, it was pretty funny.  Soon he was laughing along and had completely forgotten his past embarrassment.  "Sorry, I must look like an idiot."

Yamato coughed out the last laugh and shook his head.  "No, it's understandable, though we're gonna have to teach you a few lessons on acting like a normal person."

"Shut up, not everyone can be Mr. Cool, harmonica extraordinaire."

Another silence with Yamato looking like he was staring at some complex riddle.  "How did you…?"

Taichi looked equally puzzled, sorting out how he'd known it all of a sudden.  "I don't know…  I just remembered I guess.  I wasn't wrong was I?"

Yamato smiled softly, shaking his head.  "No."  He smiled a little more slyly.  "Nope, completely right.  Cool, talented, plays guitar too by the way.  Yes, perfectly on target."

Taichi made to roll his eyes but stopped short and beamed back at the blonde.  "Thanks."

"For what?"

Taichi shrugged.  "Cheering me up I guess."  He turned sharply to the refrigerator.  "Aw hell, I'm getting all mushy, want a soda?"

"Yeah, got grape?"

_______________________________________________

The windows had become black.  Gennai was talking animatedly with Koushiro while the rest of the group were talking amongst themselves.  Taichi sat at the end of the table, eating voraciously and talking a little with Yamato and Sora next to him.  It felt sort of good, sort of familiar.

The red haired girl was currently telling him all about high school and teachers and classes and everything else that could possibly be talked about.  Taichi for one looked like his head was spinning, but he made an effort to follow her along.  Truthfully, he was still somewhere between Mr. Inawa the history teacher and Megumi from Sora's tennis team.  Meanwhile, Sora was already excitedly relaying him the events of last semester's county finals.  "Uh Sora?"

"Then the judges said Seijou was disqualified and then there was this huge argument between their coach and the referees…"

"Sora?"

"Then came the near riot when the parents got involved…"

"Sora!?"

"Yes, Yamato?"

Yamato smiled apologetically.  She certainly could go on like Mimi if the occasion was right.  "I think Taichi's having a hard time going as fast as you."

Sora had the presence of mind to blush before apologizing to Taichi.  "Sorry, I never really ramble on like this, but I guess I'm a little nervous and all…"

"It's okay.  Honest.  I do want to hear about Odaiba, but maybe a little slower?" 

Sora blushed again, deeper.  "Anything you specifically want to know?"

"Why don't you tell him about the time you thought Jyou had a crush on you and you went stalking him for a week."

"Yamato!"  Sora was officially a nice poison apple colour.  "I'll kill you!  And it wasn't stalking."  She lowered her voice a little.  "I was…giving him an opportunity."

Silence.  Then the table burst into a huge fit of laughter.  Then that week became a table-wide discussion with Sora glaring daggers at Yamato for bringing it up.  The laughter would die down until some else remembered love struck Sora hiding behind trees and 'accidentally' running into Jyou on the street.  Mimi was crying with laughter, reciting word for word every e-mail she got from Sora asking advice.  That turned Sora's glare to her best female friend and the table enjoyed another round of laughter.

Taichi smiled at the display as many conversations sprung up at the same time.  Sora was having a heated debate with Mimi about friendship and confidentiality while threatening the pink haired girl about certain secrets that no one else knew about.  Taichi just about choked on his drink when Mimi's face turned a nasty shade of purple and hissed 'you wouldn't dare, Sora-chan!'  He turned to face Yamato's laughter paralyzed figure.  "Are they like this all the time?"

Yamato shook his head, taking a deep gulp of water.  "No, they're usually mellow enough.  There must be something in the air I guess."

"Yeah, though it's nice to have a best friend, even if she is a gossip."

Yamato nodded and took another mouthful of rice.  Best friend…  He'd been meaning to find one.  Maybe more…  He took a measured look at Taichi.  No, too fast; he couldn't think about that just yet.  By the time he swallowed, the table had died down to low level chatter and the table was beginning to look amazingly bare.  The full stomachs and mellowness of the evening seemed a distant departure from the war that raged on in other parts of the digital world.  For a moment, Yamato could almost swear everything was perfect.  A quick look to his watch soon told him otherwise.  "Shit, it's ten."

"Ten?  I've got a test tomorrow.  I didn't get to study; I'm going to so fail!"

"Jyou!  Stop complaining.  You'll do fine like you always do."

___________________________________________________

Yamato waited while the rest of the group disappeared into the computer.  It was pretty strange how comfortable the whole evening went, especially around Taichi when four years ago, they couldn't even be put in the same room together without some huge argument and fist fighting.  He raised his digivice to go, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.  Taichi's hand.  "Something wrong Taichi?"

Taichi smiled a little nervously.  "No, just wanted to tell you good night."

Yamato's heart thumped just a little bit faster.  He flushed a smile back at the wild haired boy.  "You too."  Then he disappeared in a flash of light back into the computer.

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Author's Notes:  Heh, I guess a sort of little interlude like thing.  Next chapter starts Taichi's movement back into his old life, replete with brother sister bonding.