"Hi Momma, I'm home." Sora announced as she closed the door behind her and Matt, both taking their shoes off, Sora helping Matt with his.
"I'm glad Sora… Oh, hello Matt. How are you feeling now?" she asked with concern etched into her forehead.
"Much better, thanks Mrs. Takenouchi." Matt replied as he followed Sora to the kitchen table.
"Do you mind if Matt stays for dinner Momma?" Sora asked, her voice pleading, "His dad's staying with T.K. for the next week and he's…"
Sora stopped when her mother held up her hand, a bright smile on her face,
"Matt, you're welcome to stop for dinner any time you want. Alright?"
Matt smiled back at the older woman and nodded his head,
"Thank you."
The brown haired woman told the two that dinner would be a little while and to relax, Sora dragging Matt into the living room.
"I can't believe this, two meals today that I didn't have to cook." Laughed Matt as he saw Sora's confused face.
"Why? Who did you charm this time?" She demanded.
"Just Ken and his Mum." The blonde replied, yawning and laid his head on his friend's shoulder with a lazy smile on his face.
"Why did you go all the way over to Ken's?" the young woman asked, curious as to why Matt would go all the way over to the other side of town in his condition.
"I ran into him in town while I was walking. And I mean literally." And with that he groaned as he remembered the pain that he had felt. At this Sora giggled and ran her fingers through his bangs,
"Oh, my poor baby." She cooed, "But you still didn't tell me why."
Matt looked away to the T.V. and pretended to be watching the show that was on, he just didn't feel like dealing with death twice in one day and especially with Sora.
"Matt… please." Her voice quietly pleaded as she brushed blonde strands out of Matt's deep blue eyes. The singer's heart almost broke as he heard the desperate tone of his best friend and sighed deeply,
"He wanted to talk, so we talked." he replied cryptically.
"What about?" came the inevitable question, Matt shaking his head.
"Why are you doing this?" he whispered, turning his head to look into cinnamon brown eyes, his own conveying more sadness than the tennis player had ever seen.
"Because I love you." Was whispered into his ear before Sora captured his lips with her own. Matt was shocked for a second before returning the kiss with as much passion as he could muster in his depressed state. The blonde mourned the loss of Sora's warm lips as they parted, gasping for breath,
"Matt, just tell me…… I need to hear it from you."
Tears started to form in the corners of his blue eyes as he looked at Sora before a sob escaped his throat,
"I don't wanna die." He sobbed, letting his love wrap him in a loving and comforting embrace not even noticing the tears that were now falling from Sora's eyes as well.
"I know." She whispered as her hand rested on his cheek, her thumb caressing the dark skin under Matt's eyes and wiped the tears that were starting to fall. As the blonde felt the wetness on his cheeks, he quickly turned away from Sora, refusing to let her see him cry.
"Matt…" the red head's voice haltered, causing Matt to at least move his head to look forward not fully allowing a clear look at his face, "You don't have to be ashamed in front of me. I'll never hurt you."
The heartache that was evident in his heart also came through his voice as he replied,
"Don't make promises you can't keep Sora, it just hurts everyone involved even more."
Shifting towards him even more, the redhead moved her head so that she could be seen in the singer's peripheral vision,
"Mat, I'm not your parents. We Digidestined all stick together, tell each other our problems. We don't hurt each other and I am not going to start now." Came the determined words. Matt simply shaking his head before getting up off the couch,
"I know you aren't my folks Sora but none of the Digidestined really know my problems. Not even you, my best friend… and 4 years ago you did hurt me and I nearly gave up then." He told her, his voice a deathly quiet in Sora's ears. Her whole body was frozen as she took in his honest words, not noticing that the young man turned to the kitchen and made his apologies to her mother about not staying for dinner. It wasn't until the door closed behind his now frail frame that the holder of the crest of love snapped out of her trance, realizing that she may have just lost her heart forever.
As Matt walked into the cold, empty apartment a tear slid down his cheek before he angrily wiped it away. There was nothing that would make him feel better, nothing that could take away the loneliness and hopelessness that he felt in his heart, the fear of dying with so few people who would actually give a damn that HE was gone and not the young pop idol that everyone knew. The feelings just had to be.
Walking slowly over to the large window that showed a spectacular view of Downtown Tokyo, Matt placed his right hand on the pane as he gulped in a mouthful of air, tears rolling freely down his pale cheeks as sobs wracked his body.
"There's nothing here for me… so why am I so afraid of leaving?" he spluttered out as he rested his forehead against the freezing glass. The bright moonlight reflecting off his tears as his anguished cries became louder and louder, all the strength his body had now slowly evaporating as he slowly crumpled to the ground as his stomach emptying itself of the full lunch it had been treated to. The wave of nausea as well as the dizziness that he felt overwhelmed the singer as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
The lights of Tokyo still flashing light into the apartment as he passed out for the night.
Ken Ichijouji idly played with the marshmallow in his hot chocolate as the voices of the other younger Digidestined seemed to bounce off of his ears. Not noticing the worried glances that he was receiving from both Yolei and Cody, he placed the spoon in his mouth and bounced it up and down with his tongue. He wanted for everyone to hold a big Christmas party and for Matt to have the time of his life there but to bring up the reason why would mean he would betray Matt's trust in him and would also upset T.K. possibly beyond repair. So for the moment, he sat and thought.
"Too bad Matt didn't have his place at the Uni anymore, we could have had the party there." Davis complained, "Everything bad always happens to me."
The spiky haired soccer player felt shivers down his spine as two pairs of eyes glared at him. It was Ken who made the first move,
"You inconsiderate bastard!" he yelled, standing up while ignoring the shocked faces of those around him, "There are a lot of other people who are a LOT worse of than you. You think that you've got it bad?! How about having to live everyday not knowing if you or someone you love is going to be the first to die!"
The crest of kindness holder finished his tirade by throwing a punch at Davis, which connected solidly with his cheek before storming out of the ice cream palor.
"You okay Davis?" Kari asked out of necessity, personally she understood Ken's outburst and while she didn't condone violence, she thought that the shorter soccer player deserved it.
"I can't believe he did that!" came the muffled reply, the brown haired teenager holding his bruised cheek with his right hand.
"You deserved it Davis, even I have it better than most people and my father is dying." T.K. told him, the end of his sentence almost a whisper yet it was loud enough for the Digidestined to hear. As Kari hugged the blonde tightly, murmering soft words of support as he broke down in her embrace, Yolei and Cody looked at each other. Both finally understanding partially why Matt was acting even colder than usual, the purple haired young woman piecing Ken's words and the older blonde's actions together to finally realize what was happening. It was only a few seconds before she ran out of the palor as well, intent on finding her boyfriend and getting the complete story from him. If anything was going on with the Digidestined, then they all had a right to know what it was.
"Ken!" she yelled as she spotted him walking into the park over the road. The dark haired young man stopped, yet refused to turn around. He knew that if his girlfriend saw the tears that were threatening to spill then the truth would have to be revealed. The crest of kindness holder sighed to himself as he thought,
'She's going to find out now anyway… damn you Matt.'
"Ken what's going on?" Yolei asked, taking in the slump of Ken's shoulders and the lost, hurt look on his face. As prepared as she was for a shock, nothing compared to the numbness she felt as she heard her boyfriend choke out between his sobs,
"Matt's dying Yolei… and I can't do a thing to stop it."
The colour drained away from her face as she processed the information before wrapping the dark haired man in a tight hug and whispered comforting words into his ear. She knew that Matt was like an older brother to him, there were times when she wished that Ken would just stop talking about the older blonde but the musician didn't deserve what was happening. First of all their father and now his own life was slowly being drained away… there was only so much one person could take and now Yolei was worried that Matt was going to reach his breaking point soon. It was well known throughout the Digidestined that the older blonde would flatly refuse any help that was being offered to him and he was looking after his terminally ill father as well, she had a feeling that what ever was going on that time was quickly running out for the holder of the crest of friendship.
"I'm sorry." Ken mumbled as he pulled away from his girlfriend, feeling embarrassed about his outburst but was reassured when he heard her reply,
"You don't have to apologise." Placing her hands on either side of his face and lifting it so as to look into his eyes she continued, "I suspect you've been carrying this on your own for a while… I take it T.K. doesn't know yet."
His purple hair flew around as he shook his head,
"No. Matt's afraid that he'll ruin everyone's, especially T.K.'s, Christmas if he says anything. I just wish he does so we can all say goodbye to him properly… before he's six feet under."
Kissing his forehead, Yolei nodded,
"I know, but this is his decision to make not ours. We've just got to be ready for when the fallout occurs."
It was lunchtime before Matt awoke from his unconscious state and look around the apartment in a daze. He wracked his brain trying to remember why he was lying on the cold ground of the living room when he had a nice warm bed to sleep in. In a matter of seconds he recalled the events of the previous night and groaned… he couldn't believe that he had told Sora about his secret. He had kept it fairly well hidden for so many years and now that there was the threat of him dying he laid everything out for her to probe.
'Threat? More like its immenent arrival.' He thought before groggily sitting up and scratching his head. The blonde knew he would be too unsteady on his feet to try and stand up, so he resorted to crawling into the kitchen to grab a drink and some food. It was as he pulled himself up into a chair that he saw the blinking light on the answering machine. He sighed as he pushed to his feet, taking wobbly steps towards the black box and pressed the button.
"You have 13 new messages." The automated voice announced and Matt was surprised to hear the time of the first message,
"12:39 am beep Matt, its me. I know you're there… please pick up the phone. Look, I need to speak to you so when you get this give me a call."
Sora's voice was replaced by the second beep. The messages continued to be from the redhead and got more desperate as the night and then morning wore on, finally ending in one from 10 minutes before he'd woken up.
"12:12 pm beep Look Matt, this is starting to scare me… if what you're saying is true then I do need to be punished and forgiven but please don't do this to me now. I need to know that you're alright. Screw this… I'm coming over to your place now so don't you dare think of going anywhere. We are going to talk."
Looking down at his watch, the blonde noticed that he would only have a couple of minutes to vacate his premises before Sora would be at his doorstep. Sighing and resigning himself to the fact that this would be one time when he would just have to put up with the redhead's stubbornness. He unsteadily made his way back to the kitchen table and waited, the stench of yesterday's food on the floor hitting him properly for the first time as he felt another wave of nausea. It was only a few moments later that he heard a key in the lock and saw the top of Sora's head coming from behind the door.
"Matt?" she asked as she brought her hand up to cover her nose and felt her stomach drop. She prayed as she stepped in further that nothing had happened to him yet, that she would still have the chance to say everything that she needed and wanted to say to him. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Matt hunched over the kitchen table and quickly kneeled down next to him.
"You okay?" Sora asked as she stroked his cheek and brushed the blonde hairs off of his forehead, more relieved when he nodded his head; albeit weakly.
"Good. I was scared shitless all last night. How about I clean up the loungeroom while you have a shower or bath then I'll cook something and we'll talk then?"
"Okay." He mumbled as he shakingly got to his feet again and shuffled out of the kitchen to his room. The redhead looked on sadly as she watched him moving like a 70 year old man, not the 23 year old he was before quickly mopping up the mess on the floor and started making a light lunch. It wasn't too long before Matt wandered back in and took his seat again at the kitchen table.
"You feeling better?"
A non-commital grunt was her answer as she turned off the stove and served the fry-up onto two plates, placing one down in front of the singer who proceeded to push the food around his plate.
"Please eat Matt, you need all the strength you can get."
"What's the point when I'm going to be dead in a few days whether I eat or not Sora?" the smooth voice replied, suddenly sounding the most defeated the redhead had ever heard and opened her mouth to respond when she closed it again. What Matt had said was true, he was going to be dead in a few days and there was nothing that anybody could do about it. As the realization hit, Sora's body was wracked with sobs.