Sora paid the cops no respect, when they arrived. The ambulence arrived, and carried Taichi and Mark in a stretcher into their car. Sora and Yamato insisted it was best if they could be in that car with their friends.
*******
In the ambulence, Sora sat next to Taichi's bed, holding his cold hands in hers, repeating the same things over and over in her mind. 'He's alright. Taichi is alright. He's gonna make it. He's not dead.' Yamato looked at Mark groaning in bed from the severe wound. Yamato looked over at Sora, and sighed, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Sora was about to smack it away, but sighed and said. "Back there, you said you were my friend 'Yamato.' Okay, I'm giving you a chance right now to prove it, just because I'm feeling generous." She sighed, looking back at her dying friend, then back at Yamato's crystal blue eyes. "I'm all ears." She grinned. 'Yamato my ass. I thought he died. It's going to be interesting seeing what this son of a bitch can think of.'

Yamato grabbed Sora's arm. Sora tried to pull away violently. "Hey, watch it asshole." She yelled. Yamato pointed to the little symbol on her arm. "This." He said.

"What about 'this.' " Sora mocked in a rude tone.

"You're friend carved it in your arm. Back in the eighth grade. You showed it to me, and I said. "It's a free world, right?" Sora joined in with him, in disbelief. "Ya..m.." She started believing him. "Nice try. You really had me going." Sora muttered, still refusing to believe him. "Tell me. What does the initials on my scar mean? ' L.F.A.D.' And also the ' S.T.' " Sora said. 'Faker won't ever get this one.'

"Live free and die. And you told me, 'S.T' was Sora Takenouchi. You're initials. Sora.." Yamato said.

Sora's eyes shimmered with shock, and disbelief. 'Could I really trust him?' Sora took a deep sigh. "Good job, you earned my trust. Now tell me. Truthfully. Who, are you?"

"Yamato Matt Ishida." Yamato said proudly, beaming the same smile that triggered a fading memory is Sora's mind.

"Y..Oh my gosh. It's really you?" Sora finally let go of Taichi's hand, and took a few steps toward him. "Yamato. I..I can't believe it. My mind is telling me that I shouldn't trust you, but my heart says I should. I..I missed you.." Sora admitted. It felt good to get burdens off her chest. In the back, she could hear Mark confused about how the two would know each other.

"Yamato..?" Sora said, with breathless words, and quavering fingers. Sora extended her arms, moving closer towards him. "Is it, really you?" She said, still with disbelief, touching the medals on his uniform. "I..I missed you." And she embraced him, crying. 'It's really him. I know it. Whenever I'm around him, I tell him all my troubles, and he understands it so well. And he always knows what to do, to make me feel better.'

Yamato stroked her brown hair, and placed hand under her chin, lifting her face up so that his eyes matched hers. "Hey. You can tell good ol Yamato here everything. Shh..Calm down.."

Sora wiped the tears from her face, quite embarrassed about the little scene. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me. It's just...things had been...so hard for me. I just had to get it out.." And she looked over to the side, slipping away from his grip. "Yamato I--" The hault of the Ambulence made her pause, and she realized she had forgotten about her dying friend. "Taichi!" The doors opened, and the two stretcher beds were pulled out and quickly rushed into the hospital, with Sora and Yamato trying to catch up. When they entered the hospital, the employees wouldn't allow them to stay with their friends in the emergency room. Sora threw a fit.

"Goddamn it, Let me go!" She shouted hostily, pulling free of their grip as she tried making her way towards the E.R. "My-friend's-in-there!" Sora screamed, punching the security officers. More and more kept on coming, as she tried straggling free of their grip to reach her friend, wheeling away in the hospital bed. Sora felt a tight grip on her arm preventing her from moving. She turned around, with a balled fist which released when her eyes met the pure, blue eyes of someone elses.

"Sora, Taichi'll be fine. You're acting like everyone is your enemy. Stop getting yourself into more trouble, and just come with me." Yamato sighed. Sora tore her eyes away from his, obeying his words, following him silently as he released his strong grip from her arm. Yamato told the officers he had everything under control, showed his badge, and they left him alone.

Yamato lead the way out of the Hospital, knowing it was not good to pressure surgeons. He would look to the corner of his eye, occasionally seeing if Sora was alright. She was in a foul mood. Boy, she was easily pissed off. And he stopped right in his tracks. "You know what cheers me up?"

"What?" Sora replied bitterly. She crossed her arms, glaring into his deep blue eyes.

"Icecream Sundaes of course!" He tried changing her frown to a smile. It didn't really work. Her face was still quite sober, and stern. 'Ookay...That didn't work out like how I hoped..'

"So take me already." She said suddenly.

"Say wha?" Yamato was surprised.

"To the icecream shop. Surprise me. Change my 'mood.' " Sora replied with a bit of a teasing and sarcastic tone; but still, ever so serious.

'What's she up to?' Yamato thought.
********
The two sat down, at a wooden table. The coolness of the parlor relieved some of the stress in the air. A plastic bowl, filled with multiple scoops of vanilla icecream, with whipped cream ontop of the scoops, topped off with a red, sweet cherry.

A spoon in the right hand of the two, silent, waiting for the other to take the first scoop. Ice cream melting, forming a slightl puddle at the depression in the bottom of the bowl.

'What the hell. God, I hate this silence. It's driving me crazy. Who cares. As they say, ladies first.' Sora thought, gripping to the plastic spoon in her hand, dipping it into the scoops of vanilla, scraping it upwards until a good bit of the icecream rolled into the spoon. She took the spoon and placed it in her mouth. Why didn't they talk to each other? Was the two shy? Or were they simply embarassed, maybe even ashamed.

Yamato waited until Sora took a couple more bites of the sundae before he gorged himself in sweet, vanilla icecream. A smile slowly spread across Sora's bitter face. Lips opened, letting a slight sigh escape, she said a bit uneasily, "I'm feeling better already." She had enough of being silent, dark, and pessimistic. Once or twice in her life, the thought of being loved had crossed her mind. It was easily discarded when reality knocked her off her feet, leaving her in sorrow, and pain.

Yamato smiled also, feeling relieved. He thought she might have held some old grudges against him for some odd reason. He could remember her yelling at him sometimes over such little things. He thought Sora as a person too complicated to understand, but if you really knew what she was going through, you'd feel the same way about life too. He noticed the goosebumps, and the slight shivering she was showing. "Feeling cold?" He asked gently, taking notice of her cold hands.

"Just bad circulation.." Sora always said. "Happens all the time." Sora sighed, placing her spoon down, trying to keep her hands warm.

Yamato unzipped his uniform jacket, taking off the navy-blue Police uniform he wore so proudly, revealing a collared-button up T-shirt. The ice cream shop, wasn't the only cool place. The season was about, early Autumn in Odaiba, where the leaves of trees begin to change colors, the birds began to leave, and the weather begins to chill. He scooted out of his chair, and gently covered the shivering girl with his navy-blue jacket, letting the collar of the jacket rest around her neck, and the rest cascaded down her back. "Thanks.." She blushed. Thoughts crossed her mind. 'I think I'm falling in love. Is there really still hope for me? Or is this another situation I expect too much out of?"

Yamato could only smile, his heart feeling with warmness, as her soft voice flowed through his ears--the exact softness and gentleness he could remember from when he first met her. He felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach, no it wasn't the icecream, but it was the same exact one he felt, before he decided he was going to ask Sora to the tenth grade dance. 'I think I'm falling for her, again.'