Tai's little Secret Alternate

by Demino

AU, alternate version of Tai's little secret. After a seven year absence, Tai returns to Odaiba with his father. Only, this Tai got a deep secret, and just who is Taiko Aida?

1. Two new faces around town

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, I never had nor will I ever likely end up owning it, so, basicly, it's not mine.

Summery: Au, Taichi Kamiya has just returned to Odaiba for the first time in seven years to start going to school there again, at the same time, a messy haired girl named Taiko Kamiya shows up. Looking so similar and yet claiming not to know the other one, both of them grabs the attention of the kids around the school for various reasonons.

AN: Hiay everyone, this isn't the first time I write a story like this. Think of it as an alternate version of the first "Tai's Little secret" I wrote, it also doubles as an somewhat usable excuse for not writing the promised pair up endings I promised to write, for those who have waited this long for them, I'm sorry the promised endings haven't been written yet as I got distracted by just about everything else.

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Tai's Litttle Secret (Alternate)
Part I
Two new faces around town.
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Odaiba. 7 years ago.

The Judges room was a quiet and elegant room, giving whoever stepped into it a lot of warm and inviting feeling and a small idea that the one who had designed and built it years ago, had been suffering from a fondness for western designs. Sitting before a large wooden desk, a young women and a slightly older man were sitting quietly, a great deal of distance between their chairs and a look of anger over having to be so near the other as well. Sitting in chairs next to them, two elderly men holding a briefcase each were looking at the person behind the desk with a look of concern.

Looking up from his papers, the person know as Judge Daishi sighed as he put down the rather heavy files and took off his glasses to rub a small tissue over the lenses to calm down his rather strain patience over the case he was currently working on. Looking from the rather young women to the slightly older man he felt like shaking his head at what he saw. "Mr. Kamiya, Mrs. Aida." The words sent them both to full alertness as he stood up. "As you know, this is the final meeting in this case, and I must say that it has been one of the most difficult cases of divorce I have ever had to judge in" Standing up and motioning to the large stack of paper and photos on the table he shook his head. "You two have been fighting about everything in my court, from the money you had to the wallpaper on your walls, and the last matter is what I think was the worst." Noting that both of the people he was speaking too looked a bit shameful at the words, he sighed and sat back down in his chair. "Well, as much as I hate it, both of you can't support two children with your current income, so in agreement with local experts on this matter, I am giving custody of the oldest to Mr. Kamiya and the youngest one to you Mrs. Aida." Slamming a small hammer down on the block on his table, the man stood up and looked at them with a tired look. "That was all, your lawyers will help you fill out the forms, and try not to fight before the kids." Leaving through the side door, he didn't look back at them.

Glaring at each other, the man and woman stood up and walked over to the door, hateful glares on their faces as they stared at each other, their lawyers following behind them and going over the case with one another in a friendly way. Stopping right outside the door, the man turned and shot a dark look at the women. "About time, I can't believe he would leave Kari in your hands Yuuko."

Glaring back at the man as he spat out the words, Yuuko could feel her own anger rising at him. "Just shut up Eisen." Walking down the hallway, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder. "And don't you dare try to keep me from seeing my little Tai." Walking faster down the hallway, she stopped to look at a small bench with the sleeping children on it. "Come on Kari, time to go home."

Looking up with a looks of complete tiredness, a four-year-old girl with short light brown hair matching her mothers yawned loudly and rubbed her hands over her eyes. Then, she lowed them and looked a bit more awake up at her mother. "Are we going home?"

Next to them, the man had reached down and shook the eight year old child to get it to wake up as well, failing this and earning nothing more then a loud yawn and the sight of the child turning over in its sleep, his eyes took a bit annoyed expression before reaching down and picking the child up. "Goodbye Yuuko, Kari." Turning, Eisan walked down the hallway, not looking back at the sudden cry of protest from his former wife.

Standing up in alarm, Yuuko reached out a hand in shock at the way her former husband had just refused to let Tai even speak to Kari or let her say goodbye to Tai. "Eisan, at least say something to Kari, let her have a last minute with Tai." Starting to move after him, she blinked as her lawyer reached out and stopped her from moving any further. "Let me go, I gotta say goodbye to my little Tai!"

On the bench behind her, the four year old Kari blinked at her mother's outburst and then looked after her father with a look of confusion on her face, her eyes staring more closely at the messy haired child who had just started to wake up at all the noise. "Mommy, where is daddy and Tai going?"

Looking back at her daughter, Yuuko sighed and sat down to hug her, her eyes letting out tears of pain and hurt as she tried to think of a way to stop Eisan from doing something stupid to them all. "They're going away, for a while, but don't worry, you'll see them again soon, I promise you."

***************

7 years later.

Dropping his bowl into the sink and turning on the cold water, 15-year-old Taichi Kamiya stared at the sight of the remains of his breakfast swirling around before getting washed out through the drain hole in the sink, his eyes moving away from the sink to stare out the kitchen window of their apartment. "A new place, and a new home, but the same old tiresome secret."

Stepping past the doorway, a more older Eisan stopped to stare at his precious son staring out the window, an indifferent look on his face as he looked closer at the scene before he stepped further into the room and walked over to right behind the oldest child he had gotten from his blasted marriage with that wrench Yuuko. "Boy, Taichi!" Frowning, as he didn't respond, he reached out and pulled the brown haired boy around to face him, a blasted pair of brown eyes the color of Yuuko's looking right into his with a look of fear and confusion. "Boy, sit down."

Scrambling to sit down in the chair, Taichi looked across the table and right his father's eyes as the older man sat down in the only other chair in the place, his eyes closed as if he was deeply thinking about something. "Taichi, can you remember what we talked about?" The tone in the voice left no mistake that unless he got the right answer to his question; something was going to end up broken or hurt.

Taking a deep breath, Tai lifted his head up and looked at the stern face across the table, the light brown eyes daring him to say something wrong, anything to prove that he was a failure. "Stay to myself in school, work hard and only answer the others when I'm spoken too." Closing his eyes the hated words he had just repeated, he almost shook with anger over things being this way.

Nodding to himself, Eisan stood up and pushed his chair back to where it had been before, his eyes showing no emotion but a deep annoyance at something, what it was Tai had no idea about, but it still seemed to bother him. After a few tense seconds, he turned to stare right into his son's eyes. "Stay out of trouble, I don't want a repeat of what happened in Nerima you hear." Watching as his son nodded, he waved his hand at the door behind him. "Now get out here, School starts in less then an hour."

Nodding in replay, Tai took the chance to escape and rushed over to pick up his book bag, forgoing the school uniform, as he still didn't have one yet. Instead, he would have to settle for a baggy blue shirt and black pants, his trademarked worn out sneakers and the trusted goggles he had gotten two years ago from two very close friends. "Daisuke, Jun, I miss you two so much." Sighing deeply at the pain in his heart from missing two rather good friends, Tai stood up from tying his sneakers and unlocked the door. "Later pops."

Not waiting for a response to the hasty farewell, Tai brushed out the door and breathed out deeply in relief of getting away from his rather distrusting and control freak of an old man. It hadn't been easy living for the last seven years, still, right now he was all he had, and for all the old mans faults, he was still able to put a roof over their head and provide them with a daily meal.

Stopping as he reached the elevator, he lifted up his head and eyes from staring at the floor and looked at the rather boring metal door before reaching out and punching in the button to get the damn thing moving. Waiting and tapping his foot in annoyance, Tai gave a groan of frustration and stared as the white numbers began to count upwards at last, the faint sound of the metal box starting to climb all the way up from somewhere down in the building, still, with the speed it was moving with, he could feel himself losing his patience, he didn't want to be there, he didn't want to go to a new school, he wanted to go back to Daisuke and Jun, be a part of the group again, no matter how bizarre it had been.

"Oh, you're the new kid?"

Snapping out of his daydream and turning around in shock, Tai stared at the surprised girl standing right behind him, her caramel colored eyes staring at him in a look of curiosity as she held her school bag in front of her. The most noticeable thing about her was the pink hair with the darker red stripes through it. Other then that, she was wearing the same awful green colored uniform as he was, well, a t least he would have a chance of finding the school before the first class started, no matter how much he didn't want too. "Yeah." almost spitting out the answer at her and regretting it as soon as he saw her eyes cross and the sound of a huff could be heard.

Crossing her arms while glaring at the messy haired boy, the pink haired girl turned her eyes away from him and settled for staring at the elevator door, well, if he was going to be a jerk, then it was fine by her. "Hmph." Stepping up to stand next to him and not behind him, she did take at least two steps to the side to show that she didn't know him, and had no intention of doing so.

Eyes narrowing at her behavior towards him, the messy haired boy frowned as he refocused on the glowing display above the silver color metallic doors, the light taking a whole year to move from one number to the next. "Come on." Growling out the words, he repressed the urge to kick the damn elevator for taking so damn long, well at leas tit was only two floors before he could get on. Slowly moving his eyes away form the door, Tai settled for staring at the girl standing slightly angrily next to him, okay she was standing a bit away from him. Hmm, not bad looking. {Gah, bad Tai, no ogling the angry girl, don't want a slap, still it couldn't hurt to just look at her.} "Stop staring at her you idiot."

Eyes and head moving around rapidly at the words, she caught the messy haired boy as he snapped his head around to look at the metal doors like he had passion for it. Smirking a bit, she slowly took a step to the side, grinning as she notice him getting a bit uncomfortable. "Hi, I'm Mimi, Mimi Tachikawa, I live across from your place."

Gulping a bit, Tai mentally slapped himself silly and alternating between willing the elevator to hurry up, and forming an answer to her introduction, sadly, since he had to try an do both things with a brain already halfway to meltdown from his rather jumbled thoughts earlier, he settled for just blurting out the first thing. "Uh, um, well, I'm Taik..." Stopping in the last second, Tai stared around the hallway before getting his thoughts back under control. " I mean I'm uhh... nice to meet you Mimi." Looking up as a loud ding alerted them to the elevator finally arriving, he stepped forward, even before the door had fully opened. "Oh look, sorry, I have to go, bye." Hammering in the button for the ground floor, he watched the rather confused look on Mimi's face.

Left behind in the hallway, Mimi wondered what had just happened, she was used to guys going short of crazy around her, even having trouble talking when she flirted with them, but. Eyes growing wide, she felt her thoughts focus on one thing as the elevator doors closed before her. "Hey, wait up." Kicking out to make him reopen the door, she gave a loud yelp as the sound of a soft sneaker meeting hard metal in a head on collision sounded throughout the hallway. "Ow!!" Stopping with her little dance of pain when the throbbing in her foot died down, she looked up to see the numbers counting downwards slowly. "You jerk, you could at least have held it for me."

Inside the elevator, Tai leaned back on the wall and closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down, it wouldn't do to blow his cover on the first day, there was no telling how the kids around here would react to his little secret. It had almost a pure hell when it was found out on the last school, the only thing that saved it was his friendship with his friends. "Get over it Tai, it's in the past, you're back in Odaiba like you have wished for in the last four years." Looking up from his brooding, he shot a smile at the ceiling. "Maybe, maybe she's still here after all this time."

***************

The school looked just like his last one, a concrete nightmare of boredom, the same boring gray walls, the same four to five identical floors of classrooms painted in the same monotone color. In fact, if it wasn't for the sign outside on the wall, he would have thought himself back in the Nerima ward again, the only difference being in the lack of two good and close friends to walk with, talk with and just hang out with.

Stepping in through the gate, his eyes traveled over the grounds in the front, spotting the different groups of kids one could always find in a school like this, over there were the snobby kids, near the sports field were the jocks and sports fans, mostly the jocks if it really was anything like his old school.

Passing a group of girls standing under of the few trees on the ground, he gave them a short and quick look over, the few who noticed smiling back at him before returning to the local rumor mill. Great, at this rate everyone would know what he looked like, where he had come from and what he had been doing before coming here, and most likely, ninety percent of it would be completely wrong. Looking forward instead of staring down at the asphalt covering the ground, he looked up to see the anti social kids hanging out around the main doors of the school.

The inside of the building was just a dull as it had been on the outside, and endless corridor with windows on one side and classrooms on the other stretched out on both side of the doors, students were walking down through them or entering the classrooms. "Great, I found the school, now I just need to find the principals office." Looking around the corridor hoping to spot a sign or a map, he was close to Giving up when he spotted a short red haired boy walking out of a room nearby, a laptop strapped to his back. "Hey, you!"

The boy looked up as Tai yelled at him while walking closer to him, the shout having gained a few half caring stares from the other students in the corridor. "Uh, me?" The answer sounded rather stupid when he thought about it afterwards, it was clear from the way this boy was walking towards him, and the fact that everyone was looking at him, that it was in fact him the boy had shouted at, and from the way he moved towards him, things where going to take a turn towards the painful part shortly. "So, uh, what do you with me?" Firing of the question in a tense way, the boy lined up to get a better chance at escaping the beating that looked like it was coming.

Tai blinked at the tense question form the boy before him, and then his mind registered how it might look to everyone else. A taller kid, with a slight athletic build, yelling at a shorter student who clearly seemed to belong in the science or computer club, it was a scene out of school movie, with him as the bully about to beat the stuffing out of the local geek. Feeling like smacking himself for making such a great impression on a fellow student on the first day, Tai waved his hands in a non-threating manner. "Ah, I was kind of hoping, you could tell me where the I could find the principals office."

The red haired boy stared at him for a few seconds, the fact that the conversation hadn't really opened with the standard. "I'm gonna pound your face in geek if you don't tell me what I want to know." remark still hadn't fully reached his mind yet, but when it did, it brought out a highly intelligent response. "Huh?" and an equally intelligent look to follow that response.

Stepping a bit further to the boy, Tai moved a hand free from his pants pocket, reaching it out to the boy before him, politely ignoring the fish like expression he was getting from the red head after his question. "Sorry, I'm Taichi Kamiya, I', new and I'm looking for the principles office." Giving his famed and standard smile to the boy, he waited for a better response then what he had gotten so far.

Staring down at the hand, the boy finally closed his mouth and reached out to shake the messy haired boy's hand, constantly waiting for the moment when the boy would laugh at him and punch his daylight out. As he pulled back form the hand, he noticed the boy getting a slight frown on his face. "What, oh." Mentally smacking him, the red head lifted a hand and pointed to the left. "That way, up the stairs to the third floor, it's the sixth room to the right of the stairs."

Tai nodded and turned around to leave, stopping to look back over his shoulder. "Thanks..."

The red head nodded as he turned around to leave as well. "Koushiro Izumi, and it was no problem."

Walking off, Tai shook his head as he mentally decided to try and put on a more friendly way of getting in contact with people around the place, first that girl Mimi and now this Koushiro. At the rate he was going, he wouldn't have to worry about finding friends at this place, cause everyone would be chased away by his attitude. "Geez, Lighten up Kamiya, you can do it, you made friends with Davis and Jun, or was it the other way around?"

The trip up the stairs offered no changes in the building, the next floor looked basically so much like the last one he had passed, that the only way to tell them apart was the small sign telling him that he reached first the second floor then the third floor one. Turning to the right, he walked down the less crowed corridor, shooting a quick look out the windows, eyes roaming over the buildings and the city beyond the school grounds. "Geeez, everything is much bigger then they did back in Nerima."

Returning to his current task, Tai walked down the corridor casting a look on the signs above the doors lining it. Stopping when he reached the door with the word principal on it. Knocking on it, he waited until a voice told him to enter the room. Pushing open the door he stepped inside and spotted a male secretary sitting behind the desk going over some papers, something that had Tai blinking forma moments confusion. He hadn't been to a school yet where there was a male secretary working.

Not looking up from his work, the man pointed at a bright orange plastic chair in front of his desk, the color sending a shiver down Tai spine as he sat down, the thing were so ugly even he had to admit he didn't like it, not to mention it wasn't built to sitting in, the seat was to uncomfortable and the back part groaned loudly when he tried to lean back against it. "Yes, how may I help you?"

Tai shook himself out of his thoughts and reached into his book bag, pulling out the papers and handing them over to the man who took them without looking up from the ones he already had. "Uh, I'm Taichi Kamiya, I'm new at the school." Tai added as the papers were placed on the desk and giving just a quick look at the front of them to make sure they were still the right ones.

Nodding and handing the papers back, the man finally looked away from his papers and reached into a desk drawer. "Yes, yes, the one who transferred from the Nerima District right." Pulling out some more papers, he placed them on the desk and began to go over them. "This is your class schedule, this is your locker number and code, please keep it to yourself, you lose the code you pay for a new lock." Holding out a small ID card with another piece of paper, he reached back and held out a pencil as well. "Here, sign the card and form for your student ID card." A colored picture landed on the desk next, a list of number on the side of it and the same numbers on the different drawing on it. "Your map of the school. And finally" Dumping the last stack of papers on the desk, he grinned darkly over the desk. "The list of the different clubs the school has to offer, you will be given a week to study them before choosing one, that is, if you want to be a part of a club."

Taking the large pile of papers from the table and dropping it in his bag, Tai looked up as the man stood up and held a hand out over the desk, the same grin back in his eyes. "Welcome to Odaiba high school Mr. Kamiya, hope you enjoy your stay." Shaking Tai's hand briefly, he nodded and reached out for the phone that was dug out from under a pile of papers. "If you will just wait here for a minute, I'll get the teacher to come and get you."

Waiting wasn't his best point, but still, it did beat trying to find the place on his own, even if he did have a map to guide him around the place with. Staring at the tacky watch on the wall, he sighed as the one minute became two, then five and finally a freaking ten minute wait before the door finally opened up followed by the entrance of a teacher.

Staring at her, Tai noted that she was rather average looking, reddish hair that reached the middle of her back, a simple dress and shirt jacket in a pale green color with white flowers on it, and a mixture of red and brown eyes. As he continued to stare at her, he noticed that she shared a bit in common with the red haired boy he had met earlier in the hallway.

Walking into the office, the teacher smiled at the man behind the desk before turning to look at Tai still sitting in the plastic chair and staring at her. "Hello, I'm Mrs. Izumi, and you must be the new student I was told off."

Tai blinked his eyes at the words and quickly looked away from her, his face turned a bit pink around the cheeks as he mentally slapped himself for staring at her like that. "I'm Taichi Kamiya, nice to meet you." Giving an awkward bow as he stood up, Tai still avoided making eye contact with the older woman.

Eyes closing as she smiled at the boy, Mrs. Izumi turned to face the man behind the desk, her eyes opening again to spot him once again consumed with the mountain of paper, then she returned to stare at Tai. "Well, shall we go, it wouldn't be nice of us to distract Mr. Kido anymore." Opening the door as she spoke, she gave a small wave with her hand that for him to leave the room first.

Walking out, Tai gave a quick smile and then waited for the teacher to step out and show him the way to his classroom, even if he would have been able to find it now that he had a map of the place it was nice to have a guide for the day, but first he had to. "Ahh, sorry about staring at you like that before, you just reminded me of someone, that's all."

Mrs. Izumi grinned and waved a hand at him in a dismissive manner. "That's quite alright Mr. Kamiya." Smiling as she began to walk down the corridor, she looked back at him. "Well, come on, I'll show to the classroom, and tell you a bit about the different classes on the way."

A good ten minutes later and a bit of small talk, Tai found himself standing nervously just inside the classroom door, he was very much a where of the fact that every eye in the room was currently burning a hole through him as the students tried to figure him out by his looks alone. "Geez, you would think I would be used to this after the last three times, but no. I gotta act like a kid on his first school day every single time" The words were mumbled and very quiet as he turned to watch Mrs. Izumi giving him the basic speech about being nice and helping him fit into the class.

Turning to face Tai, she waved a hand to show him that he should come out of the corner by the door and introduce him, something that was also getting painstakingly familiar to him. Holding his book bag a bit too tightly, he walked up to stand by the teachers desk, facing the many students, some of which had already lost interest in him, and the small group of preps already coming up various things to discuss about him in the first break, something that would likely result in a few stupid rumors to float around the school. Watching the few students who actually seemed to care, he stopped when he noticed a red haired girl sitting next to a blond haired one, both of them looked somewhat familiar to him, but he couldn't really place them. Shaking the feeling away mentally, Tai took a deep breath and turned to face the class. "Hi, I'm Taichi Kamiya..."

Getting the introduction over with in a rather fast pace, even for someone who had so much experience as him, he expected to be assigned a crappy seat and remain ignored for the rest of the lesson. But that didn't happen until after the kind teacher had decided that they class could ask him any questions if they had any, and now thanks to the third degree questioning by the preps he was more then ready to just sit down and forget where he was, so dropping his book bag on the floor next to the rather painful look wooden chair, he neatly slid into the seat of it and face the front of the class for a whole second, then his eyes turned to stare at the wall next to him. He had hoped to get a window seat, but a spot three chairs down from a corner wasn't that bad either, teachers rarely ever looked in that direction, but since he was new, he couldn't relax completely yet, teachers had a nasty habit of asking the new kids more then the others.

-----------------

School ended rather fast for him, leaving him with a feeling of having missed something important, he couldn't really believe he had finally gotten out of that stuffed classroom and the crowed hallway's so soon. All day long, it had seemed that so many of the students had done nothing but stare at him all day. Their eyes somehow looking right through him and seeing him for whom he really was. "Forget it Taichi, you came here with him for one thing." Stuffing a hand into his uniform jacket, the wild haired boy pulled out a piece of paper from it, the only thing on it was a simple line messily written across it with a photo near the top. "Yuuko Aida" Moving a finger over the photo, the brown haired boy fought down the urge to cry, it wasn't manly to cry. Still, he needed her more then he had ever had in his whole life. "Mother, were are you?"

Quickly removing the paper and hiding in case someone was watching, the brown haired boy shot a quick look around the school yard, no one seemed to have notice what he said. Pulling his school bag up, he turned in the direction of his home, taking the first step towards a home he always dreading having to return too, but if what his father had said was right, he should have most of the evening for himself.

Behind him, a familiar brown haired and red haired girl walked quietly side by side, both of them deep in thoughts about the upcoming test they had to take, and just what they should be doing over the weekend, Looking up as they reached a crosswalk, the red haired girl blinked as she noticed just who walking up in front of them. "Hey Mimi, you heard abut the new kid in my class?"

Looking up her search through her school had, Mimi Tachikawa blinked as she spotted the rather rude kid she had met that morning, the same messy brown hair moving in the wind as she did and making him look even more untamed then he did before. "Him, yeah, heard he wasn't the most talkative one from the others, but I do know that he and his dad moved into my apartment complex yesterday." Mimi's eyes turned a bit more devilish as she turned to stare at her best friend. "But forget about him Sora, I want to hear about your first date with Matt and don't you dare hold anything back, you owe all the details since you didn't answer the phone at all yesterday."

Soar blushed as she turned her attention away from Mimi, her thoughts drifting back to the rather wonderful date she had had last night with the blond haired leader of the lone wolves. "He was nice." Sora replied as she beat down the sudden remembrance of his lips on hers when they had their first kiss and the following five repeats that came after the first one. "Really nice."

Mimi grinned as she held Sora close to her. "Aww, you're finally growing up." Stepping back to avoid the playful swipe from the red head, Mimi grinned as she turned to stare at the local mall in front of them. "This calls for an ice-cream?" Giving the red haired girl her best puppy eyes, Mimi cheered as she saw Sora give in.

Up ahead of them, Tai stopped and looked back, following the two girls with his eyes as he went over the few words he had managed to pick up from their conversation. "Sora..." Staring at the red head, Tai sighed and turned back to continue home as he once failed to figure out why she seemed so familiar to him, a thought that was followed by another one. "Is it possible, she knows... Where I can find her?" Eyes glinting all of sudden, Tai picked up speed as he began to push his way past the other people on the street, there was one way to find out, but it required a bit of a... risk.

***************

Walking down the crowed interior feeling satisfied after eating a snow cone each. Mimi Tachikawa and Sora Takenouchi smiled as they passed by a few other kids they knew in the mall, stopping to greet them when they waved at them, something that would in Mimi's case lead to at least half an hour of an conversation to hear if they had heard anything new since school let a little under an hour ago. To someone like Sora, it was just a rather boring thing, talking about which guys had that and which girls were not in at the moment and which were didn't really go well with and the only hope right now, was that no one had managed to do anything in the simpel hour that had passes since the school had ended, a hope that was crushed with a squeal.

Looking at her friend, Sora sighed as it looked like the younger girl wasn't going to go anywhere anytime soon, the sparkle in her eyes as she sat down was a clear sign that some hot new gossip had come up. But in this case, Sora didn't really have the patience to deal with her best girl friend's preppy friends and gossip, she had to be home in... Well it had to be before they sat down to eat, and now she remembered about it. Shooting a quick look at her wristwatch, Sora sighed as she noted that the shop she needed to enter was going to close in about an hour. "Hey Mimi." The younger looked up from talking very animatedly with the similar aged Hinako and Nariko. "I just remembered I need to pick up a new tennis uniform, so if you wait here, I'll hurry down and get it, then we'll go look at that shop you always talk about okay."

Looking at the older girl as she spoke, Mimi smiled at the suggestion, and she really didn't want to spend time in a sports store if she could avoid it. "Okay, you do that, I'll just wait here for you to get back." Grinning as she saw Sora smile, she turned back to hear the latest story about the soccer captain and his girlfriend.

Turning away from the three giggling girls, Sora breathed out in relief and began a light jog down the Mall corridor, her eyes darting from one shop sigh to the other to keep track of where she was. Ducking around a group of elderly ladies walking out a drug store, she stopped when for a moment she got the feeling that something wasn't right, like someone was following after her. But when she turned around, all she saw was a group of children in different ages standing around the wishing fountain, and the group of elderly ladies walking towards the escalator. "Must have been my imagination." Turning around and continuing, she failed to noticed when one of the children around the fountain looked up at her and began to follow her, this time being a bit more careful.

Moving a bit faster just in case, Sora shut a few looks back over her shoulder whenever the feeling of being followed returned. After five minutes of walking fast only to stop and look back to find none, she nearly cried out in joy when she finally spotted the store she needed to enter. Passing through the glass doors, she smiled and waved at the cashier when he looked up.

Moving down the paths in the shop, she steered straight towards the stuff she need, her eyes darted towards the one thing she somewhat missed playing, but had stopped doing in order to get her mother to stop fussing so much about. Reaching out her hands, she picked up the white ball with the black dots on it and bounced it a few times on her outstretched foot, getting a felling for the ball before giving it a light kick down the isle.

"You're good?"

Spinning around, her crimson eyes blinked as she notice a tanned face smiling back at her from under dark brown bangs of hair, the chocolate colored eyes looking at her with a playful smile as they slowly turned to follow the ball rolling down the isle before it stopped near the soccer uniforms on display. Shaking her head a bit, she ended her stare and stepped a bit back from the closeness of the other person to get some more space between them. "Sorry." Seeing the smile she was giving returned in the chocolate eyes, she giggled a bit at the childish light glowing in them. "Sorry about staring at you, I'm Sora Takenouchi."

Bowing back in response, a high held messy ponytail fell down over the persons shoulder and stopped next to the face. "Taiko Aida, sorry for startling you before." As the girl stood up, Sora gave her a quick look over. A sleeveless blue turtleneck, dark blue pants and black Velcro shoes with red lining. "So, are you interested in soccer as well?"

Blinking a bit at the words, Sora looked up and stared at the girl face for a bit before shaking her head and smiling back. "No, I just came in to find a new tennis uniform, the old one's gotten to small." Turning around and looking at the soccer ball lying on the ground, she sighed a bit wishfully. "I used to play soccer though, but I stopped it a year ago."

Pouting a bit at the woods, Taiko walked over and picked up the ball from the ground, twirling it around in her hands before sending it flying back into the display basket it had come from. "To bad, I was hoping to meet another soccer playing girl here." Stopping to look at the other balls on display, she reached down and picked another one up. "Still, there has to be at least one more out there then me, and I'll find that girl, no matter what." Striking a dramatic pose at the last words, she grinned when she heard Sora give a quick laugh as well.

"Sora?"

Looking back over her shoulder, she sighed when she spotted Mimi walking in through the doors to the shop, a trouble and concern look in the younger girls eyes. "Mimi over here!" Waving her hand to show her friend where she was in the shop, she grinned at the sudden happy look on the younger girls face as she made her way towards her. "Sorry about that Taiko, that was Mimi my best friend and..." Staring in confusion down the isle, she blinked as she failed to see the funny girl with the messy ponytail anywhere. "Taiko?"

Popping up from behind one of the display, the brown haired girl looked back at Sora with a curious expression while holding up a white shirt in her hands. "Yeah, what is it?" Walking to her, she blinked when she notice d the arrival of a panting girl with a ticked off expression on her face. "Uh..."

Glaring at Sora as she stopped, Mimi tapped her foot on the ground before stopped as it sent a small prick of pain back to show just how much it hurt her. "Sora, where were you, I been waited hours for you to come back." Crossing her arms, she sent a look of betrayal at the older orange haired girl.

Smiling in a sheepish way as she shot a quick look at her watch, the older girl sighed as she noted that she had only been gone for more the 45 minutes, and it really wasn't her fault she lost track of time, it had just blown by in the company off, shooting a quick look at the confused brunette next to her, she blushed a bit. "Oh yeah, sorry about worrying you Mimi, I started talking with Taiko here and lost track of time."

Following the hand, Mimi eyes widen as she spotted the girl standing there with a soccer ball in her hands, the brown eyes looking back at her with a look of one trapped in a place they shouldn't be, frowning as she looked more closely at the girl, she blinked. "Have we met before? You look kind of familiar."

Looking a bit more frighten at the words, the messy haired girl picked up her pile of stuff and began to back away from the other two girls. "No! I don't think so, hey is that the time gotta go bye." Turning around in a hurry, Taiko rushed away from the confused girls and towards the cash register. "See you some other time Sora."

Blinking at the rapid escape, Sora turned to stare at the just as confused Mimi. "What was that about?"

Mimi looked at the red haired girl with just as much confusion as she did. "Beats me." Then her smile turned predatory as she grabbed Sora's arm. "Now comeon, I heard they got some new clothes home today down at Mikoko's"

***************

Looking back over her shoulder as she left the store, Taiko sighed in both relief and disappointment as it became clear that none of the two girls were following her out of the place. Turning away from the doorway, she shot a quick look around the mall she was in, her thoughts alternating between finding another sports store like the one she had just left, and making sure she could be home before her father got home.

Taking a step forward, she froze as she heard two familiar voices heading towards the doorway of the shop, looking around quickly, her eyes fell on the nearest place she could hide, the door into it open. Moving over quickly, she shot a quick look up on the sigh above the doorway. "Odaiba electronics and computer center." Hearing the door open, she stumble in and made a bee line for one of the many isles with computer games. If she had to hide in a boring place like this, she could at least try and get some kind of fun out of it.

Taking up a very good strategic position, she reached out and picked up the first game she could grasp, holding it up backside first, her eyes looking up and towards the door from the corner of her eyes, making it look like she was studying the game closer. "Move it will ya, please." Mumbling the words under her breath, Taiko felt like cursing out loud when she spotted Sora and Mimi stopping to talk with two other girls right outside the store.

"Gee, I didn't know girls liked that sort of games?"

Blinking at the question, Taiko turned her head to stare in the direction of the voice, staring confused when all she saw was an empty isle and a small... Looking down, she spotted another person she most definitely didn't want to be around at the moment. "Izzy?" Gasping out the name, she stopped when she realized that she wasn't supposed to know his name.

Blinking back at her in confusion, the red haired boy stared from her to the game in her hand, and then back to her face, his eyes narrowing a bit as he looked closer at her. "How do you know my name." moving a bit closer, he looked more closely at her, his face nearly ramming into the bottom of hers. "You know, you look rather... familiar."

Reacting fast, Taiko giggled in a nervous and very girlish way as she reached out and pushed the red head a bit back from her, her eyes shooting over to the door to see if the group of girls had left yet, finding it a negative, she sighed and looked back at the boy, who was staring back at her and pointing at her hand which was still pressed against his chest. "Uh, Sorry!"

Izzy blinking as the girl almost jumped a meter backwards at her own outburst, her ponytail moving through the air without losing it puffy look at all, the brown eyes still shooting over to look at the door every now and then. "Are you in some kind of trouble?" Asking in a curious, yet not all to curious way, Izzy frowned when all he could see outside the door as a bunch of girls.

Returning her attention to the boy, Taiko venomously shook her head at the question, the last thing she wanted was for the boy to find out anything or get even more involved with her then just a strange meeting in a computer store. "No, I'm just waiting for someone, yeah, that it, waiting for someone." Giggling a bit nervously and holding on tighter to the game case, she shot a quick look around the place, expecting more of kids that she really didn't want to meet to shoot out and surprise her.

Izzy on the other hand was also starting to think that making contact, with one of the few girls he had happened to see step into the store that day without a guy following with her, was not that good of an idea after all, and if that glint in her eyes was what he was thinking it was, he was in deep trouble. "Umm, miss, are you alright." Stepping back just in case she was a nut case, Izzy wondered if he should try and get the shop clerks attention just to be on the safe side.

Looking down at Izzy and spotting Sora and Mimi leaving along with the tow other girls from the corner of her eyes, she silently began to thank whatever higher deity was out there for that stroke of good luck, smiling as she turned her full attention to the boy before her, she reached out and put the game she was holding into his hands. "No I'm okay, look I gotta go, bye. Nice talking with you Izzy." Waving a bit, she turned and almost ran out of the store, her eyes moving to the giant mall watch planted in the middle of the place. "Gotta be fast in getting the stuff I need, Dad's going be home in one hour and 45 minutes."

Behind her, Izzy was staring after her with a look of confusion, terror and curiosity all stamped onto his face, each of them changing rapidly as he went over them. Looking away from the door, his eyes moved down to the game he was now holding, the same rather underdressed anime girl looking back at him from the cover of it. "Gah." Dropping the game, Izzy cursed as every eye in the story turned to stare at him following his outburst, the look in their eyes as they saw just what isle he was standing in spoke volumes of what they were thinking at the very moment. "It wasn't me who picked that game, a girl gave it too me, I swear!" Running out of the store much in the same manner as Taiko, Izzy hoped that when he returned to it tomorrow, they wouldn't even be able to remember his face.

***************

Precisely one and a half hour later, Taiko Aida was huffing badly as she stormed up the flight of stairs in her apartment complex, her legs protesting against it after the rather long run from the mall to the building, grinning as she reached the floor she lived at, she pulled out her key as she pushed open the door into the main hallway and moved towards apartment number 45, her hands almost stabbing the door with the metal thing several times from her rapid attempts at getting the damn thing into the keyhole.

Succeeding in her task at last, she pushed open the wood and metal object between her and her home with her foot, her hand moving down to pick up the bag she had almost dropped when she fished around for her key, wincing as the door smacked against the wall with a loud bang before starting to close again, she stepped in quickly and ignored the sound still echoing in the hallway. Moving a bit into her apartments hallway, she reached out and kicked the door from the inside to close it completely, missing the door opening across from her, and the brown haired woman looking out to see who was making all that noise.

As the apartment door closed shut with a loud, but not as noisily as when she opened it, bang, Taiko stared around the simple entryway, the white paint on the bare walls, her winter jacket hanging on the coat rag since it hadn't gotten any further since they moved in, the brown shoes carelessly kicked into a corner instead of placed on the holder for them. Moving further in, she strained to hear any sounds coming from any of the different rooms. Hearing none, she let out a relieve breath of air and carefully moved down the hallway and towards the door into her room.

Opening it quietly and closing it just as quietly behind her, she stared dejected around at the various towers of mess in the place, the books dropped all over the desk, the computer standing where it had been standing since moving in, the same dirty sock hanging down it as always. And her messy bed completing the look of a boy's room, she even had a pile of dirty laundry in the corner. Just like every healthy teenage boy's room should look like, in her father opinion.

Sighing loudly at the thought of it, she slowly stepped over and pushed the covers away from her bed in a quick move, ignoring the pillow flying through the air to land in the mess behind her. Dropping the sheets and blanket on the floor in a heap, she reached down under the blue spring madras and pulled up as hard as she could, the short wooden blanks made to hold the bed together and keep the madras up was next, grabbing one of the bars, she pulled it to the side and gave way to her secret storage space, the drawers under her bed, ever since four years ago she had prevented them from being used by nailing them to the side of the bed.

Stepping back and grabbing her bah, she dumped her various shopping stuff down into the same stuck drawer as she used to, then she carefully kneeled down and began sorting it, dumping the small, very small collection of make up next to the rather large collection of Shoujo comics and the few other things any girl in her age needed, the swimsuit she had dared to buy went into the pile of clothes she still hadn't gotten around to wearing yet, several older swim suits lying in the pile. Finishing with it, she moved the madras back into place and redid the whole bed to look like it hadn't been moved at all, but leaving the sheets and blanket a mess just in case her father decided to look around her room later.

Stepping back from it, she turned and walked over to her closet, opening it to pull out a pair of long, baggy jeans, a baggy white t-shirt with the words road kill on it and a long sleeved blue one from the depths of the many shelves. Dropping the clothes on the desk, she opened one of the drawers and pulled out several pieces of clothes, each one 6 centimes wide and around 4 meter's long. Pulling of her T-shirt and bra, she picked up the bindings and expertly began to wrap it around her chest area, pulling it tight in when the first roll ran out, she reached out and picked up the next one with her free hand, using it to secure the first roll and wrapping some more around her chest. Feeling the second roll run out, she reached down and picked up the lose end, looping it around one cloth warp and tying a small knot on it, letting out the breath she had been holding to give her a clue as too how tight it should be, she winched as she felt the pain from the first breath of air she took.

Finished with the binding, she reached down and pulled up the long sleeved blue shirt, pulling it over her head and down over her, adding in the white T-shirt over it. Pulling of her pants, she reached down and picked up the baggy jeans and pulled them on instead. To finish it, she reached up and undid her ponytail, letting the hair fall down freely, before picking up a headband and the goggles, restoring the hair back into its most common messy hairstyle.

Looking into her only mirror as she finished, Taiko Kamiya gave a small smile to the person she saw in it, the same brown hair and eyes staring back at her, the chocolate brown eyes reflecting the sadness as well. But where she knew she should be seeing Taiko Aida, the reflection showed that she was now the person she was expected to be. "Hello, Taichi Kamiya." At that very moment, the sound of the doorbell ringing could be heard throughout the apartment.

Standing up and making sure that he once again really did look like a boy, Tai walked out of his room, stepping over his shoes lying in the middle of it all and reached out to open the door, mentally smacking himself for the tenth time as he had almost forgotten his fathers very strict orders about not opening the door without checking who it was first, but since it was a little too late, all he could do was shoot a peek around the half open door and out at the smiling woman standing outside it. "Uh, hello."

Tbc: Friendly next door visits.

AN: Yes, the first chapter is finally out and ready for all of you to read. Anyway, now I want to hear you kind folks opinion about the rewrite slash new version of my old hit story "Tai's Little Secret."

Also, don't forget, I will answer any questions you have, as long as they are about the story.

Want to know when the next chapter comes out, then join the list, and I'll give send a mail when it does. Just tell me you want to on the list and this is important leave your mail address, without I'm kind of unable to find out where to send it too. And when the next chapter is ready, I'll send you a mail when I upload it. Are you too lazy to inform me through a review? Then contact me at deminohoyer@hotmail.com.

Signing out for now,
Demino.