What 'Love' Means to Me
Bytheladyknight
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, any of its characters, or the song "Why Don't You and I" by Santana featuring Chad Kroeger.
A/N: I HATE my freaking computer! I had a good chunk of chapter 7 done and suddenly it lost it! So here's chapter seven, a little different then the first version I wrote, and Yama and Tai's comical shopping trip, the goodbye party, and Yama's attempts of saying three little words...Enjoy and R/R!
Yama-sama: Chapters 2-5 dealt with Yama trying to figure out through his memories of her, if he does love Sora or not. He figured out he does and now is trying to tell her. Chapters 2-5 were in flashback mode; with the narration being real time but chapter 6 on up are in real time happening in the present, if that makes any sense. Thanks for the review and I hope you update Angels, Friends, Love and the War of the Worlds soon. I LOVE it!
Sorato4eva: He's gonna try…
Peachgirl1608: Thanks for the review!
Chapter 7: Why Don't You and I
I somehow made it back to my apartment feeling like I was walking on air the whole way. I had made Sora's day perfect. Me! Maybe she feels the same way about me as I do about her!
Thoughts of how fantastic our day had been, especially the part when she kissed me, danced in my head, and before I knew it, I was asleep in my bed.
My alarm rang at 7:30 waking me up. Today the others and I were meeting at Mimi's place to get everything ready for Sora's goodbye party. We still had a day before the party, but Mimi had a BIG house, and there was a lot to be done. I climbed into the shower singing, the events of yesterday still fresh in my mind. I was in a great mood.
When my shower was finished, I climbed out, dried myself off, and got dressed, gelled my hair and looked at the clock, realizing it was time to go.
Taichi's mom had volunteered to give the two of us a ride over to Mimi's house. It was a good thing too. Mimi, who was the leader of this project, assigned each of us to bring something different for the party. My job was to bring ice. Lots of ice. Taichi was assigned cups. Lots of cups. We had planned on going and buying the things before we left for Mimi's this morning.
I arrived at Taichi's house only to be greeted at the door by his mother. "He's not up yet," she said shaking her head. "He's really lucky Hikari's not here, or she would really let him have it."
"Where's she at?" I wondered.
"Already at Mimi's. She called shortly after we got home last night and asked if Hikari could spend the night so the two of them could get started right away on last minute party plans."
"I see." I answered.
Mrs. Yagami ushered me in and told me to take a seat on the sofa while she attempted to wake her son up. Muttering something about him being able to sleep through anything, she knocked on the door three times, before recklessly walking in and shouting at him. I covered my ears. It's obvious to see where he got his loud voice.
I heard the sound of running water, and Taichi appeared five minutes later yawning.
"Hey Yama." He said through a couple yawns.
"Early morning or late night?" I asked, cheekily. I really must be in a good mood if I feel like antagonizing Taichi when he's grumpy.
When he was sure his mother wasn't watching, he flicked me off. He really is quite a morning person. Taichi grabbed some breakfast bar, got money from his mother, and we headed out to Inoue's convenience store to buy our ice and cups.
Miyako was working in there once again. "Hi!" she exclaimed ecstatically. "Can I help you two with anything?"
Seeing as Taichi was still not fully awake, I took over. "We need ice and cups. Lots of ice and cups." I repeated with much emphasis.
"Just how much is a lot?" Miyako asked curiously.
I looked at Taichi. "How much ARE we supposed to get?"
He shrugged. "Don't know. Mimi never really specified. How much money do you have?"
I fished through my pocket, amazed I still had money left after last night. "Fifteen bucks."
"Mom gave me twenty." He took our money and handed it to Miyako. "Whatever thirty five bucks can buy." She looked at us like she had never seen us before.
"Okay…" she began slowly. "What kind of cups would you like?"
"You mean there's more than one type of cup?" I asked bemused.
Miyako sighed. "There are the plastic cups, Styrofoam, clear, opaque, neon, red, blue, green, large, small…" Miyako continued naming all the cup types they had in stock.
Taichi leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Isn't a cup a cup? All these descriptions are making me feel like we're clothes and shoe shopping with Mimi and Hikari!" I laughed.
"What do you have for ice?" I interrupted, not wanting to hear what other types of cups the Inoue's had.
Miyako looked at me. "Well, we have ice cubes, ice hunks, ice pellets, shaved ice, crushed ice…" Taichi and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. How many freaking types of ice are there! Mimi gave Taichi andme the easiest things to shop for and yet here we are, up to our ears in ice and cups.
She was still rambling about ice, and I knew I would go crazy if I heard another word about it. "We'll take an assortment of both the ice and cups!" I exclaimed after looking at my watch and realizing we were already late.
Miyako gave us an odd look but nonetheless got out from behind the counter and started stacking cups and ice. Soon the only things we could see were the silver glimmers coming for the ice and a mountain of colors coming from the cups. Finally Miyako returned to the counter and took our money. "That looks like about thirty five dollars worth," she said breathlessly.
Taichi and I thanked her and had one fun time bringing everything back to his place. (A/N: Anyone remember the Friends episode when they're throwing a party for Rachel and Phoebe is in charge of the cups and ice…) "Hopefully this'll do." Taichi said as his mother opened the door to see the two of us weighed down with bags.
"Do I get any change?" She asked as we set the last of our bags down.
Taichi rubbed the back of his head. "Um, you expected change?" His mother sighed and again muttered something under her breath, which sounded a little like "I need a vacation."
We loaded the ice into the four coolers the Yagamis and I owned that I'd brought over a few days before. Taichi and I, always known for arriving fashionably late, pulled into Mimi's huge mansion at 9:00, half an hour late.
We were greeted by an angry mob of people, with one pink-haired girl leading the way. "What took you two so long!" She exclaimed. "You are late, just like always!"
"He overslept." I said, pointing to my best friend.
"Yagami Taichi!" Mimi roared. I snickered. Boy was he in for it. Jyou, Koushiro, Takeru, and Hikari had never been on the other end of one of Mimi's rants andall had their mouths hanging to the ground. They'd never seen Mimi like this. Me on the other hand; well, let's just say I've been in Taichi's spot before. I borrowed a cd of hers once and in addition to using the case and a drink holder, kind of scratched it, making her favorite song skip. It was an accident, I swear, but I got my ear chewed off badly for a whole week!
"You would rather sleep in then help prepare a goodbye party for one of your two best friends? You have known Sora longer than the rest of us yet you value your own naptime more than her friendship! Wait till I tell her!" Mimi didn't get the crest of sincerity for nothing…
Taichi gave her one of his famous lopsided grins. "Well, Meems, if it's any consolation, we got the cups and ice just like you asked us to!"
Mimi and the others looked down at the large bulks we had brought. Hikari and Takeru began to laugh. "Did you buy everything the store had?"
"We only spent thirty five bucks on it." I said sheepishly. The minute I let that out, I realized it was a mistake to mention.
"Thirty five bucks!" Mimi exclaimed.
"You've obviously never been shopping for these things!" Taichi put in. "Do you know how many varieties they come in? And you never told us how much we needed to buy!"
Koushiro shook his head. "How imprudent, incoherent, and farcical!"
"What!" I responded. I had absolutely no idea what he had just said.
Jyou took over. "He means you two are stupid! Why didn't you just pick some and get here!"
Takeru, being the voice of reason, finally stepped in, though I could tell he was enjoying our argument. "How about we just get started with our jobs!"
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Hikari responded, pulling a list out of her pocket. "Okay, here's the game plan. Jyou, you are going to be on the riding lawn mower, mowing the yard. When you've finished that, you'll need to trim the bushes and trees. Koushiro, you are in charge of wiring the sound system and hanging all the lights, all of this on the patio. You'll be in charge of making the decorations and getting the tablecloths and table settings ready, Takeru. And you two," she said, pointing to her brother and me, "are going to be carrying everything to the places the things need to go."
"What are you and Mimi going to do while we are doing all this?" Taichi asked.
Mimi and Hikari beamed at each other. "Supervising!" We soon realized they weren't supervisors. They were slave drivers!
By the end of the day, we the guys realized how much we hated the word supervising. To the two girls, supervising meant sitting in lawn chairs, drinking lemonade, and comparing what their outfits for the party while we all did backbreaking slave labor in the hot sun!
I guess only Taichi and I were doing the actual slave labor. It seemed Hikari and Mimi had given the other three boys easier tasks. Jyou looked quite peaceful on the mower, Koushiro was right at home working on the sound system, and Takeru was making a banner for Sora. Meanwhile Taichi and I were stuck lugging heavy boxes up and down stairs all day. And by the afternoon, these boxes had gotten much heavier.
I arrived home and nearly collapsed in my bed. One way or another, I managed to find the shower and for the second time that day, let the warm water drench my worn out body. Only this time, I could feel the water stinging every ache and pain in my body. There is no way I'm going to be able to get to sleep tonight. I thought back to why I was forced to be a slave all day but soon remembered the ruby-haired girl. It was for Sora. I could force myself to do backbreaking labor for her any day if it meant her last day here would be one she'd never forget.
Surprisingly, I did manage to get to sleep. I woke up the next morning to the ringing phone deciding to let the answering machine take it. If it was someone important, I'd call them back. But if the world could go on without me making a call, I would definitely go back to bed. I could feel every ache and pain from the previous day in my body as I listened to the machine pick up.
"Hello, Yamato. This isOkina Makino. I'm calling to let you know I was able to reserve the recording studio for you this afternoon from twelve o'clock noon till three p.m. If you have any questions, feel free to call me back, otherwise I will see you there. Bye!" The machine beeped, signaling the call was over and I leaped out of bed. That definitely was an important call.
Ms. Okina is the TV executive I was talking to a few weeks ago. She had called back last Friday, informing me the band would get some sort of live televised show sometime in the near distant future. Ms. Okina also expressed interest in listening to the guys andme or just me by myself actually going into the recording studio and putting together a few pieces. Because she was so high up in the entertainment industry, she had some close friends in the music business.
I decided to take her up on her offer. I had called her back almost immediately after she gave me the initial message and asked a favor. Pleading my case yet again, I told her I had a friend who was moving away, and I wanted to record a few songs and put them on a cd for her.Makino immediately opened up to the idea and told me she'd she what she could do.
Since I phoned her, I had been patiently waiting, hoping and praying I'd be able to get a time at the studio before Sora had to leave. This was going to be my present to her. I wanted my gift to be special and from the heart, showing Sora how much she means to me.
The only problem with this little plan of mine was that I had chosen almost twenty songs and found the guitar music to go along with them. I would only have three hours in the studio, and I sure as hell bet that I wouldn't be able to get them all done. In order to get more details and maybe some advise on how many songs I would be able to do, I called Ms. Okina back.
She was really nice about it, explaining I would most likely be able to get three songs done per hour, which meant I'd probably be able to do a total of nine songs.
Choosing which ones I wanted was a very hard decision. Each song held a different meaning, with a powerful hidden message in their wonderful lyrics. I had to make the perfect choice, and finally I came up with nine songs I believed were the right ones.
I opened my guitar case and dug through it, finding the music to the nine selected songs. I had been practicing all twenty of them in what little free time I had, and luckily the nine songs didn't contain difficult guitar instrumentals. I sat down at my desk and decided to practice until it was time to go. The time flew by, and before I knew it, I was walking out the door to the studio. Hopefully it all goes well!
Three long hours later, I walked out of the studio grinning, guitar in one hand and freshly made compact disc in the other. (A/N: Sorry, I skip a lot in this chapter!) My recording session had been a huge success. Ms. Okina gave me nothing but good compliments and hinted something about sending some friends of hers to our first really big concert. I was ecstatic. The songs all turned out fantastic. I figured it probably came to be that way because I was singing from my heart with one subject in mind the whole time. Ms. Okina commented about that too. Something like she'd bet the girl who received this cd would be in love with it from the very first track.
I was planning on giving Sora the cd tomorrow before her flight left. There were a few last minute touches I had to add and a letter I needed to write to her. Realizing I still had two hours before the party, working on the letter was my first priority.
Writing the letter was harder than I thought. Putting feelings into words isn't always the easiest thing, but I have always been blessed with the ability to do so. Maybe that's one of the reason I have begun writing songs of my own for the band to use. Who knows. Finally, after an hour of working, I signed my name at the bottom. There, finished.
One hour was just enough time for me to get ready. I jumped in the shower, contemplating my attire for the party. Usually I would go with my normal ensemble, black shirt, black pants but tonight was supposed to be festive. Tomorrow would be the dreary day. After washing and rinsing my hair, I got out and dried off, heading to my closet.
My mother bought me a pair of khaki pants for Christmas, yet I had never worn them. They left me with what I thought would be an easy choice for shirts, so I decided to give them a go. They fit fine and looked decent but finding a shirt was another matter! I looked through the closet, holding shirts up to me and then throwing them onto the ground. Soon my floor was littered with a pile of shirts. Guess I'm gonna have to clean again. I was nearing the end of my shirt selections. Truthfully, there was nothing wrong with any of the shirts on the ground. They just didn't fit the look I was going for tonight.
Finally something caught my eye. It was a baby blue shirt with a collar that was calling my name. This shirt would be perfect for tonight. I pulled it over my head and began the task of gelling my hair and adding some cologne. Fifteen minutes later and quite content with the way I looked, I stepped out of the bathroom and into the living room.
"Dad, are you ready to go?" I called. After Taichi and I had gone on our little cup and ice escape, we were informed the party wasn't going to be as big as we thought. In addition to the digidestined, our families, friends of the Takenouchis, Sora's tennis teammates, and a few others were invited.
"Give me a minute, sport!" He yelled from his room. I tapped my foot impatiently. We still had fifteen minutes to get to Mimi's mansion. My father came out of his room and we set off.
We pulled up to Mimi's greeted by the butler. Must be nice to be rich like that. "Hello, everyone is out on the patio."
"Thanks." I answered as my father and I made our way down. I don't know if I'll ever be able to describe how awesome the patio was decorated. Wow is about the only thing that comes to mind. I spotted Taichi, Koushiro, and the others all standing by the sound system. "See you later!" I exclaimed as my father went his separate way to talk to the Yagamis.
"Hey Yamato!" Jyou exclaimed as I walked over to my group of friends.
"Hey guys." I responded. "Looks like all our hard work paid off."
Taichi got very pissed off. "Yeah the hard work we the GUYS did. You two," he said pointing to Hikari and Mimi, "did n-o-t-h-i-n-g!"
"Taichi why didn't you tell us you passed spelling!" Koushiro exclaimed. We all burst out laughing. It wasn't often the boy genius chose to participate in our jarring matches, but when he did, he could be pretty dangerous.
"Funny," Taichi sneered.
Hikari put her hands on her hips and faced her brother. "Onii-chan, we did the most important part. We made the cake. That definitely wasn't a job for any of you!"We all rolled our eyes. I know for a fact that it's not hard to bake a cake, but I could see where the girls were coming from. The other four guys would not be ones I'd want to do my catering. "Miss Mimi," a voice interrupted.
"Oh hello Larry," she answered looking at the speaker. It was the butler I'd seen before. "The Takenouchis have arrived."
"Thank you. Keep them in the foyer, I'll be right up. Okay, everyone! Attention please! Would you all stop talking!" Mimi tried in vain to get everyone's attention.
"QUIET!" Taichi yelled. He turned red as every voice stopped in the middle of its conversation to the look at the bushy-haired teen. We all snickered as he held his hands up. "Uh, thanks!"
Mimi took over, much to Taichi's relief. "Okay everyone, Sora and her family have just gotten here. We need everyone to hide. Koushiro," she turned to face us, "unplug the lights! When I give you the signal, plug them back in." Koushiro nodded, and suddenly the patio became dark. All around me I could hear the whispers of people trying to figure out who was next to them.
"Ouch! Get off my foot!" Hikari muttered.
"Sorry!" My little brother responded.
"Taichi, don't step over there!" Jyou murmured. "You'll run into the stereo!"
"No I won't!" He answered indignantly. "Ouch!" We all snickered as we heard a bump. "Damn, that's gonna leave a mark."
I turned to face them all. Well, at least I think I'm facing them. "Quiet!" I hissed, "You don't want them to hear you."
We heard Mimi's voice, now causing everyone to finally shut up. "My mom and dad wanted me to show you guys this. Don't you think it's neat?" Mimi asked. I could sense Koushiro getting ready to plug the lights back in. There was a spark and suddenly the patio was illuminated once again. "Surprise!" everyone in the premise yelled.
Standing in front of us was a very flabbergasted Takenouchi family. Everyone was silent for a minute before Sora let out a squeal and ran to us. "Oh my God! You guys are the best friends ever!" She wrapped Hikari in a hug joined one by one by the rest of the chosen children. "I can't believe you did this for me!"
The rest of the people in attendance had stopped watching us and began to mingle again. Our group hug ended and Sora made her way to greet each of us individually. I was at the end of the line, waiting nervously for her to come talk to me. Finally, after giving my little bro a big bear hug, she approached me.
"Yama!" she whispered wrapping her arms around my neck. "Oh, I don't know how I would have made it through the past three weeks without you. I'm going to miss you so much more than you imagine." She finished. I looked down into her ruby orbs quizzically as she bit her lip. Did that mean something…This is the moment I've been waiting for. Here I go…
"Sora…I think I...lo…"
"Sora! Stop hogging her Yamato! Let the rest of us talk to her." Her tennis teammates walked over to us, pulling Sora along with them.
Sora looked at me apologetically. "Save me a dance?" She asked as they drug her over to a corner.
"Of course." I responded smiling though what I really wanted to do was scream. Why! I had half the word out and boom, someone interrupts us!
"Problems, brother dear." A voice asked.
I groaned. "Leave me alone, Takeru."
"Oh, is Yama grumpy today? I wonder why. Spill, lover boy!"
I looked at him sharply making sure no one else had heard. When I was positive, I forced him over next to the stereo. "What are you talking about."
"I saw the way you were looking at Sora, heck I saw the way you always look at Sora. You're in LOVE!" he exclaimed in a singsong voice.
Though I attempted to deny it, I have one very unfortunate blushing problem that always seems to come through at the wrong times. Takeru laughed triumphantly, and I scowled. "Fine. I like Sora a lot. Hell, I think I may evenlove Sora. Are you happy?"
He paused as if thinking. "Yes! So when are you going to tell her, lover boy?" he asked stretching the last two words.
"I was trying to a few minutes ago, but then her tennis buddies had to come and steal her away."
Takeru shook his head. "Yamato, I'm going to give you some advice: TELL that girl you love her before she leaves."
"It's not as easy as it sounds."
"It's three little words! Yama you can do it."
"But what…"
"No buts. Just do it!" Takeru encouraged. It was there I realized how wise my younger brother was beyond his years. "Thanks, Keru. I think I will. And you may want to take your own advice and talk to Hikari."
I walked off before he could say anything. Mimi's voice rang out, "Okay everyone, there is cake, ice cream, and drinks in the kitchen. We'd like to invite everyone in to enjoy it and the music'll be playing out here in the meantime! Make yourselves right at home!" she stopped talking and beamed at everyone before remembering something else. "I almost forgot, there are disposable cameras all around the place. We want you to take pictures and at the end of the night the cameras will all go to the Takenouchis. My friends and I have collected some money for them to get the cameras developed in New York, and they'll have memories of this party."
There was a chorus of awes and sighs from the crowd as Sora ran up to Mimi and gave her a hug. The crowd then split, the majority heading into the kitchen while a few remained out on the patio. I found myself drifting into the kitchen. It was a packed house, and I bumped into someone almost immediately.
"Sorry." I said quickly.
"I never thought I'd find anyone in this crowd." Sora answered. We both made our way to the cake. It looked as though Hikari and Mimi really did put a lot of time and effort onto it. On the front was a picture of Sora, her mom, dad, and a blurry background of Garudamon. The cake was two flavors, chocolate and white. Sora picked chocolate, and I picked white. We each picked up a soda and went out to the patio to eat.
We ate in silence, every once in awhile commenting about the people here or there. "How's the cake?" I asked.
"Pretty good." She answered. "Though yours does look pretty good too. I'm starting to wish I'd grabbed a piece of white."
"Here." I answered taking my fork and putting a piece on it. I reached it over to Sora's mouth. "Open up." She raised her eyebrows but opened her mouth regardless. I stuck the cake in and pulled out the fork. She smiled at me.
"Not bad."
"What, the cake or the service?" I smirked.
"Both." She responded. Here was my chance.
"Sora. I need to tell you something."
"What is it Yama?"
"I l…"
"Sora! Yamato!" What is everyone's problem! Why do they always choose the wrong moment to interrupt?
"Hey guys!" Sora answered. I forced a smile but still glared at them. Takeru saw this and I knew he was mentally hitting himself on the head. He mouthed the words sorry. The others sat down bearing their own cake. Our group of eight reminisced about our favorite memories and took a picture with one of the disposable cameras.
I spent the rest of the night dancing and talking with friends, looking for a free minute to tell Sora what my heart needed to say. Don't get me wrong, I danced with her plenty of times throughout the night, but it's kind of hard to tell the girl you love you love her when rock music is cranked as loud as it can go, and you have to scream to be heard. Then the song "Here Without You" by 3 Doors Down (A/N: I don't own it!) came on. Finally it looked as though the rocky waters were passing, and I would have smooth sailing in my quest to tell Sora I love her.
"Do you want to dance?" I whispered down to her. We were currently sitting at a table with Takeru and Hikari.
"I'd love to," she answered, taking my hand and walking out to the middle of the patio. As the music started, she placed her arms around my neck and rested her head on my shoulder.
"Did you get all the packing done?" I asked, making light conversation.
"Yeah, we finished late this morning. The apartment looks so empty and barren. It's almost too much at some times."
"I understand. What time does the plane leave tomorrow?" I asked.
She sighed and buried her head into my shoulder. "Seven a.m."
"We'll all be there for you."
"I know. Thank you." Okay, I couldn't wait any longer. I was going to do it this time. There would be no interruptions. I made the small talk so it wouldn't seem so weird, me jumping into it and all.
"Sora, what I was trying to say before…"
She lifted her head off my shoulder and looked straight into my blue pools. "Yama…"
Click! A flash went off blinding us both. Once I had regained used of both my eyes I looked over at the culprit; Mrs. Takenouchi. "Sorry!" she exclaimed. "I couldn't resist. The two of you looked so cute!" she looked down at her watch. "Sora, it's ten thirty. We've gotta go. Tomorrow's going to be a long day. You'd better go say goodbye to your friends." Mrs. Takenouchi walked off.
Sora and I looked at each other. "I'd better go say goodbye to the others. Talk to you in the morning?" she asked.
"Of course." I responded. Tell her you baka! Do it now! Sora leaned over and kissed me on the cheek before walking away. Why didn't you tell her? You had the opportunity and it passed.
My father came over and told me it was time for us to go as well. I stared out the van window the whole way home looking at the moon, a tear threatening to fall from my eye. Sora, I love you…
A/N: Please don't hate me! I really didn't mean to be that cruel! Don't expect Yama to be down and out though, there is still more to come. Tell me what you think of this chapter! I'll put up the next chapter soon. Meanwhile, I've gotta go to a softball game! Please review and thanks to all of you who do!