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I just realized that for the past 5 chapters I never did any disclaimers. So here it is:

I do not own digimon or any of it's characters, I just own their leashes. I do own Ryan, Dan, Chase, and Shawn, though . . . and if anyone wants to sue me, they'll get nothing because I don't have shit in my pockets . . . actually these jeans don't even have pockets, but whatever. ^_^ This chapter was written in a hurry, so pardon if it's crap.

Er . . . enjoy . . .

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I burst through the swinging doors of the hospital and all but screamed. I took in deep breaths, but they weren't helping much. I rubbed my temples and shook my head again to get rid of the images stuck in my mind.

No. It can't be happening.

I definitely hadn't been expecting this. After I had said good-bye to Taichi, I found Joe outside on his break and talked to him for a while. He was happy to see me, but told me stuff about Taichi, stuff which wasn't too far away from what Sora had told me. He then looked at his watch and said he had to go back, but not before telling me a room number and a code: 3648. I thanked him as he ran off, assuming that it was the room that Tai and his friend would be in.

I thought about not going inside, but decided against it as I wanted to meet this 'Ryan' that Tai obviously thought very highly of. But when I searched around the main floor and found the room, I punched in the number and found myself surrounded by computers.

My first thought was to turn back; Joe had obviously given me the wrong room number, but then I saw a blur of brown on one of the screens. There on the computer screen, was Tai, sitting with his friend Josh and Ryan, who was bandaged and currently . . . blushing?

I made a mental note to thank Joe later. Security cameras. Brilliant.

Intrigued, I first checked the hallway to see if anyone was coming, then closed the door and sat in front of the computer, and put on a headset that was attached to the machine. And I listened . . . and watched, hoping to get some answers for me and my friends. I knew I was snooping, and that it wasn't very nice, but somebody's gotta do it.

And now, standing outside, I wish I hadn't. Oh god, how I wish I hadn't.

I didn't know what I was feeling. Surprise, anger . . . jealousy. A whole lot of jealousy. And the worst one of all . . . heartbreak. A single tear trailed down my cheek. I had hoped at the most that Tai might be gay, and that I might have a chance with him . . . but now . . .

Pain, hurt and confusion overcame my senses just then and a sob suddenly wrenched its way out of me, causing me to collapse in a small, trembling heap near a tree. Passers-by gave me questioning looks, so I hid my face, but I had to let this pain out somehow. In the back of my head was that voice I've always had telling me not to show any emotion, but I knew I had to let this out. And my legs weren't exactly working properly, so getting up wasn't an option. I wished Tai could help me snap out of it . . . but with the current circumstances . . .

I was just calming down a little and getting up to go home when I saw Tai exit the hospital with his buddies. The feeling came back into my legs instantly and I jumped up, hid behind the tree, and strained to hear what he was saying.

"Yeah, I'll be okay walking, need some fresh air anyway . . . I think I might try to make some money tonight . . ."

I furrowed my eyebrows. Since when does Tai have a job? And why would he be working this late, anyways?

I watched Tai. He stood by the guy's car talking for a while, then when they drove off he sighed and started walking in the opposite direction. Once he had turned the corner, I rushed up somewhere behind him, then waited until he turned another corner, and so on. Again, I knew I was snooping, but I was genuinely curious. I knew somehow that Tai wasn't gonna tell me anything if I asked him. He was hiding something, I was sure of it now. The way he kept looking around, as if to see if anyone was watching him . . . thankfully, I had worn a black hoodie that day, so even if he did catch a glimpse of me, he wouldn't recognize me with my blonde hair covered. So anyway.

I started to hear some kind of musical rhythm in the distance. As I kept 'stalking' Tai, I found myself on a street buzzing with activity. There were dance clubs lining practically the entire road and people pouring in and out of them, with too many dressing styles to count. I pretended to be reading a sign on the wall nearest me, but kept shooting glances at where Tai was. But what he was doing confused me. Didn't he say he was going to work tonight? And as what, a bar tender? He was under age. But Tai didn't seem to be heading anywhere. He was just leaning against the wall of a club casually, talking to some guys. One of them handed him a bottle . . . a beer bottle? Since when does Tai drink?

It seemed as though he was waiting for someone. What's going on?

A few minutes passed, and still Tai hadn't moved. But then . . . a guy came up to him and whispered something in his ear. The other guys walked away, smiling almost . . . knowingly? I saw Tai smile, but it wasn't the smile I was used to seeing on him. It was . . . seductive . . . and even I have to admit, very sexy.

But what he did next shocked me. Tai grabbed the guy's ass, pulled him closer, and started kissing his neck. I felt my jaw scrape the floor. What the hell?!? This was all too confusing. Did I or did I not *just* see Tai kiss that Ryan guy at the hospital? I looked at the person with Tai again. He looked older than him, by a good 3 years at least . . . and at the moment also looked very hot and bothered. I felt a blush spread across my cheeks, and I shook my head in a mixture of frustration, jealousy and confusion.

I saw Taichi take the guy's hand and start to lead him into one of the clubs. I didn't really fancy clubs, so I didn't follow. But what I did see were the lights in one of the windows above the club go out . . . and an unmistakable figure of Taichi Kamiya closing the curtains.

'Are they doing . . . what I *think* they're doing?!?' I thought, as I stared at the closed blinds. 'No way . . . Tai couldn't be a . . . a . . .'

"Who the fuck are you?"

I whirled around and came face-to-face with a rather mean-looking guy, about 25 or so, with two or three other guys rallied behind him. "Who's asking?" I shot back.

"Uh . . . never mind . . ." and with that, they walked away. I blinked. The guy didn't seem to be willing to share his name with me . . . I could tell by the tone of his voice. Okay, that was weird.

I made my way to a vending machine outside what looked like a beer store and got myself a soda, and then slumped onto a bench. I sipped thoughtfully to myself as I . . . well, I guess I *waited* for Taichi to come back out.

It started to get late. It's been nearly an hour, I could tell. It was almost fully dark now, and most of the neon lights outside the clubs have turned on, nearly blinding me as I sat there. I kept my eyes fixed on the door that Tai had gone through. And soon, he came back out, with the same guy he came in with.

I narrowed my eyes as the guy kissed Tai lightly on the cheek, then pulled out a wallet from his back pocket and forked over a good number of bills. My eyes widened.

It was perfectly clear now. I just saw it with my own eyes. Tai . . . my Taichi . . . had become a prostitute.

I stared at Tai blankly, and nearly jumped out of my skin when he met my gaze. I watched in horror as a look of recognition, then fury flashed across his beautiful face. I reached up to my head and touched my hair. Shit. My hood. What happened to my hood?!?

My eyes widened as I saw Tai making his way over to me, trying to get past all the people.

'Fight or flight, Matt,' I told myself. Flight won out. I jumped up and started running away as fast as I could. Luckily, I was near the end of the busy street, while Tai was somewhere in the middle, so I was able to exit outta there quickly. I ran all the way home, thanking all the gods I knew for remembering which way it was. I didn't look back until I reached outside my apartment door, where I stopped and caught my breath.

Taichi was not gonna like this. 'Not one bit,' I thought, as I banged my head against the wall.

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Tai's POV

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I woke up feeling frustrated. In my half-dozing state, it took a while to remember why I was in such a bad mood. It wasn't until I got out of the shower and saw a few bills on my shelf that I remembered.

Matt. The bastard.

God, he turned out to be just like the rest of them after all. I should've known. In the digital world, he was always the 'reasonable' one. I guess my new habit isn't reasonable enough for him.

But honestly, it's not like it's a big deal. But it really peeved me that Matt followed me that day. If he wanted to know something, he could've just asked. He didn't have to fucking *stalk* me. Actually, any of my 'friends' could have asked. I mean, I know I've changed, but when they saw the change in me they started to avoid me. They never made the effort to ask shit. Honestly, I would have preferred it if nobody knew, but if they asked about it I would've told them. But they didn't. Matt didn't. He figured he had to snoop like a little bastard to see what is ol' buddy Tai was up to.

I looked at myself in the mirror and growled loudly in frustration, grabbing at my hair. This was all so confusing! How am I supposed to feel about Matt now?

'There's Ryan . . .' a little voice in my head reminded me.

Yeah . . . Ryan, with his pretty face and gorgeous body . . . yeah, I can focus on him now. After last night . . . I suddenly grinned to myself. I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing more of him nowadays . . .

Despite my desperate thoughts on Ryan to take my mind off Matt, my mood still wasn't the greatest. So I dressed the part - anyway, today was the school's 'Casual Friday' so I could wear whatever I wanted. I put my black cargos on low on my hips and adorned them with metal chains and a studded belt hung loosely and sorta lopsided. Then I pulled on a sleeveless black shirt that has 'Panic. Terror. Chaos. My Work Here Is Done.' written in red gothic letters.

Now for the other stuff. I put on a silver chain around my neck with 'NO MERCY' as part of it, lined my eyes with my usual black eyeliner and repainted my nails black. I spiked my hair up a little with hair gel, strapped some punky cuffs onto my wrists, slipped a fingerless black leather glove on my left hand, and replaced my eyebrow ring with a new one I bought last week. I looked in my mirror, satisfied with my appearance. Dark. Just like my mood.

Looking at my alarm clock, I realized I was running late. So I quickly slipped Linkin Park into my CD player and put the little earpieces in my ears, grabbed my bag with all my homework and headed out, grabbing a piece of toast on the way out and calling a good-bye to my mom. I don't know if she answered or not. The music was too loud.

I didn't bother running to school. If I was late then I was late, so be it, it's not like it's gonna affect my marks or anything. I walked at a leisurely pace, reaching the school ten minutes later. I got a late slip from the main office, then headed to my homeroom.

My music was still playing in my ears when I walked into the classroom and dropped the pink slip onto the teacher's desk. He merely nodded and continued his lesson. As I walked up the aisle between the desks, I noticed Matt and Sora looking at me. I also noticed that there was a spare seat beside Matt. But, considering sitting next to Matt was the last thing I wanted to do right about now, I pretended not to see and kept walking to the back of the class, where my new usual seat was.

The rest of the class was pretty boring. I didn't hear any of it of course, because of the punk and rock beats in my head. The only time when I actually did something besides daydreaming of Ryan was when I finished my homework when the teacher put it on the board 15 minutes before class ended so that we could 'get started.' It was only 10 questions, and it was review. I remember when I had trouble with the entire y=mx+b formula thing earlier in the year, and I mentally laughed at myself. It's not that complex at all. Easy stuff.

I handed in my work to the teacher at the end of class so that I wouldn't have to the next day, and the teacher gave me a rare appreciative smile before I stalked out of the room. I didn't notice a pair of narrowed eyed directed at me.

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Matt's POV

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Okay, so class started like any other day. Of course, my friends were surprised to see me home a day early, except for Sora and Joe, but they were happy all the same. It was good to be back with my friends again.

With my friends . . .

I sighed and stared at the chalk board filled with numbers. How is anyone supposed to know this stuff?

My mind wandered to Taichi. He had come in late today, I wonder why. 'Probably doing his make-up' I thought grimly. When he had come in the teacher barely gave him a second glance, which confused me because he usually picks on Taichi when he's late.

"Okay, class, I see that you had problems on questions one to seven on page 284, so would you all turn to that page please . . ."

I sighed and flipped my text open to the appropriate page. "Okay, so problem number one goes like this . . ." The teacher turned on an overhead projector and put on what looked like a student's work as an example. The work was neat and completely readable, and seemed to be all correct. I squinted to see the name in the corner, so that maybe I could ask this person for help. My jaw hit the ground when I saw it read, 'Taichi Kamiya.'

I turned to Sora and whispered, "Since when does the teach use Tai's work as examples?"

"Since he got good at math and became top of the class," she muttered with a slightly jealous tone. I raised my eyebrows at her, and she shrugged, and turned back to the front.

I twisted my head to see what Tai was doing in the back. He was staring out the window with a slight frown on his face, his head bobbing to the still-playing music which I could hear from where I was sitting, and his body slumped in his seat. He wasn't paying attention at all. How did he get such good grades if he doesn't pay attention?

"ISHIDA! I know it's your first day back, but please pay attention. You missed a lot while you were away."

My head snapped back to the front of the class, where the teacher was standing with his arms crossed. "Yes, sir," I mumbled.

The class went by so slowly, I almost pulled a Taichi and fell asleep. Well, maybe I shouldn't call it 'pulling a Taichi' anymore.

At the end of class, I asked Sora about Tai again. She said that the teacher had proudly announced the top grade of the class last week, when only one person got perfect on a very long test they'd written. It was Taichi, of course. Weird. Just . . . weird.

I didn't see Taichi for the rest of the day, not even at lunch, which disappointed me because I wanted to talk to him, regardless of the consequences. But when the final bell rang and I saw him at his locker, which was down the hall from mine, I just couldn't do it. I don't know why, but I didn't want to go and talk to Tai. So I left him alone while he chatted with someone on his cell while he shoved books in his locker. 'Probably Ryan or someone,' I thought as he walked past me with an empty- looking bag on his shoulder and still talking on his goddamn phone.

Suddenly, I was angry. No, furious. What the hell was wrong with him, ignoring everyone like this? Did he enjoy the pained looks on everyone's faces? Was he torturing me on purpose? I slammed my locker shut, which made a few people around me jump, and began storming down the hall, ready to give Tai a good ass-kicking.

When I burst outside and looked around in the sun, I saw Tai heading to a red convertible parked in front of the school with a few guys in it. Flames blazing in my eyes, I followed him, but stopped short when I saw Ryan give him a kiss, which was followed by another one so deep that Tai disappeared from my view beneath the top of the car door.

The anger that flared up so quickly inside of me extinguished just as quickly, and a feeling of helplessness overcame me. There was nothing I could do. And I still loved him . . . I knew that the old Taichi is still buried inside there somewhere. I still loved him, despite how he was acting towards me and the others.

'WHY?' I screamed inside my head. 'WHY DO I STILL LOVE HIM?'

A single tear escaped from my eye. "Why?" I whispered.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Sora watching the car drive off silently. When she saw my tear, her expression softened. "You love him, don't you, Yamato."

It wasn't a question. And I knew in my heart that there was no denying that what she said was true. I nodded miserably.

She nodded back. "C'mon," she said quietly. "I'll walk you home, if you want."

I shook my head. "No thanks. But . . . you aren't disgusted of me or anything?"

"Of course not," she said reassuringly. She paused. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, more tears flowing now, but my head was turned so she couldn't see. I tried my best to keep my voice from quivering.

"'Kay," said Sora. "See you."

She waved good bye and I walked home. Alone.

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. . .

LGF: This is the most crappy chapter I've ever written, in my opinion. Ending's crappy, middle's crappy, beginning's crappy.

Tai: -_-;; *shrugs* Why are you putting me with Ryan? I want my Yammie!! *lip quivers*

LGF: *sigh* Taichi, I'm gonna make you go with Yama eventually. Have patience.

Tai: NOOO!!! I want him NOW!!!

LGF: -_-;; That can be taken so many different ways . . .

Tai: *grins* And I mean every single one of them.

LGF: I don't blame you for being such a horny bastard though. I'd want Yama in my bed too.

Tai: Hey, remember, hands off! *glares menacingly*

LGF: I know, I know . . . but that's what fantasies are for . . . but actually, I'd prefer you over Yama.

Tai: *blushes*

LGF: hehehe . . . Oh well you're with Yama though. And once you're done with Ryan, Tyson FoxFlame can have him. *hands Tyson Ryan's leash* ^_^ By the way, thanks to all my reviewers! Sorry if this chapter sucks, but I think my must left me -_-;; Stupid muse. Also, expect longer periods between updates now. I'm posting this chapter at the stupid library. They're charging me $5 a hour to use the internet!! *cries* EVIL BASTARDS!!!

Tai: *snickers* Yeah, cuz her parents are insane and grounded her for three weeks because she was late for school. *laughs* So they unhooked her internet connection. No MSN, no phone (cuz she's got dial-up), no TAITO . . .

LGF: *glares* SHUT UP, OR I'LL MAKE YOU MARRY SORA !!!

Tai: *gasps* You wouldn't!

LGF: I would. I'm the author! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Tai: *waving hands desperately* Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Would you like something? A drink, something to eat, something else . . . ?

LGF: *grins evilly* I think I'll take 'something else' . . .

Tai: *slaps forehead* Shit . . . What have I done . . .

Heheheheh . . . . sorry for that little rant. Too much sugar again. I had a triple chocolate muffin. You know, one of those humungus ones? Yeah . . . yummy . . . anyway, REVIEW TIME!!!!! (and take it easy on me . . . please . . .) ^_^