Litanya: Good'ay again. I see that I have managed to confuse many people with this fic. Do not worry, after the next chapter everything will fall into place.
I do not own digimon, so yeah… this fic is only written for fun and to entertain others (or at least it tries to) with no benefit coming to me except for your reviews and personal happiness.
The Reason
Tai's Story
Before he even opened his eyes he knew something was wrong. Something just did not feel right. He tried to remember what had happened, but all he could remember was panicking because a car was heading straight at them and…
"Tai are you awake?" it was Kari's voice, but it sounded strained. It sounded as though she had been crying, and from the sound of it, she had been crying for days. He slowly opened his eyes, noting how hard it was as he did so, "Tai I'm so glad that you are awake!" He was in a hospital room. There was a machine humming on his right and he vaguely registered that there was a thin plastic tube that joined the machine to his arm. Kari was seated on his left, and there were two empty chairs that were positioned next to her. On one of the chairs he recognised his mother's jacket.
"W-what happened Kari?" he was confused. If only he could figure out what was going on, then maybe he could feel better. Kari's eyes were red and puffy from crying. She looked like she had not slept in days and she was literally drooping in her chair, although she tried to pretend that she wasn't.
"It does not matter what happened, all that matters is that you are awake. You scared me for a moment there," she avoided the question, and he knew that she was hiding something.
"I remember that I was driving Sora home and then… there was that car. It went straight through the lights but… I don't remember," it was like a jigsaw puzzle that was missing a piece. He knew that it was important, but he did not know why.
"It's okay, I'm sure that you will remember later, but now it is important for you to get better," she evaded his eyes and tried to smooth over her subject change, but Tai knew her better than that.
"What exactly is wrong with me anyway?"
"You were in a car crash. You- I'd better let the doctor explain, he knows more than I do."
"Where's Sora? If I was in a car crash, then that means that she was too, right? Is she okay?" Kari looked away, at the ceiling; anywhere she could to avoid his gaze. She did not want to be the one to tell him the news. By the way Kari tensed up; Tai knew that something was wrong. Kari would never hesitate to tell him good news, but she always tried to hide the bad things from him. Luckily for Kari at that moment their parents returned from getting some coffee.
"Tai you're awake! How are you feeling honey?" Mari put down the coffee she was holding and rushed to the side of the bed, her eyes anxious and worried.
"Umm… fine I guess. I just can't remember what happened and Kari is hiding things from me," Tai replied, although he was not very sure. He had not really thought about how he was feeling. It had not occurred to him before because he had been too confused. Now that he thought about it though, he wished he had not. His right side ached dully, as though it had been aching for a long time and was too stubborn to stop. His right arm was also throbbing a little, though that was not what was worrying him. He could not feel his legs. It was a horrible feeling. He did not mention it to his parents though, as he knew it would worry them. That was if they did not already know.
"Are you sure? There's nothing out of the ordinary?" his mother pressed. That was when he realised that they did know and they were worried about him.
"Maybe there is, but you guys seem to know about it already," they looked a little embarrassed at his blunt statement. They knew that they had no reason to hide the extent of his injuries from him, but they did not want to tell him about Sora. It would destroy him.
"You're right Tai, but we just want to make sure that you are okay before we tell you anything," Alexi told his son, sitting in the chair next to Kari. Tai just raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I'm fine. That means that you can tell me what happened to Sora now," his parents exchanged glances.
"Maybe we should get your doctor here to check that you're okay," she ignored his question, not wanting to upset him. But by avoiding the question she told him the answer.
"She died didn't she? Why can't you just tell me?" he asked quietly, looking the other way. He didn't want them to see his face, as if that could show them what he was feeling.
"We didn't want you to get upset. We knew that you would get really upset and we just wanted to make sure that you were okay before you found out," Kari tried to explain, seeing that her brother was trying to keep his emotions away from them, "It was a serious accident. Sora was killed but you were badly injured too. We didn't want you to just give up because you knew that she wasn't okay. We were afraid that we would lose you too."
"Tai please understand. You were hurt and we didn't know what to do. Please understand. We want Sora to be alive just as much as you do," Mari told him somberly, obviously distressed at the situation she was facing. Tai still did not look at them.
"I understand," his voice was calm. That told Mari that he was in some kind of shock. He had just been told that his girlfriend was dead, and yet he was calm. She had no idea that Sora was his fiancée, but she still knew that he was not acting correctly.
"Are you sure that you are okay?"
"I'm fine," his voice was still emotionless, but it had an undertone of something that she could not quite put her finger on. At that moment the doctor decided to pop in.
"Am I interrupting anything?" it was Joe's older brother, Jim Kido.
"No, it's fine Doctor Kido. We'll just step out for a while whilst you talk to Tai," Mari gathered all of her things and ushered her husband and daughter out of the room, leaving Jim alone with Tai.
"So Tai, how are you feeling?"
"A little bit like I've been run over by a bus, but okay," Tai replied a little uncertainly. He didn't really know how he was feeling. He knew that he was in a bit of pain, but that was not what he meant. He had just been told that Sora was dead but he felt... nothing. It was like he was trapped in a bubble, and his feelings were floating around on the other side of the bubble's edge. He was afraid that if he burst the bubble, the pain would get worse.
"It's a stupid question, isn't it? You were just in a car crash and people keep on asking you how you are. I'm not going to sugar-coat anything for you because I know your character. You want to know the worst so that you can deal with it and get it over with, right?"
"I suppose so," he was still in his bubble, and he wasn't really listening very closely.
"Okay… you were paralyzed in the accident. You will never be able to walk again, as far as we can see anyway," there was a short silence.
"I had guessed something like that," Tai finally replied, once he had figured out what Jim had just told him, "I'll get over it I guess." That was the calmest reply Jim had ever received. Usually when he told someone that they would never walk again there was an angry outburst, tears or a stormy silence that seemed to drag on forever. Never before had Jim received such a collected reply.
"Tai, you do realise what that means don't you? It means that you will be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life and you won't be able to play normal soccer or really live your life as you are at the moment. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I do. I'll get over it."
"Okay… if you ever need to talk, I'm here. And Joe's always around too," Jim offered before he left the room. He had other patients to check on. Tai hardly noticed him leave the room. It was hard for him to concentrate on anything. Kari slipped back in to the room, but he didn't notice her at all until she spoke.
"What do you think about what Jim told you?" he shrugged in reply.
"I'll get over it," he repeated, feeling a lot like an answering machine. He was not fully aware of what he was saying, but he knew that it was the same thing over and over again.
"That's all?" she inquired. She knew her brother very well, but she had not expected him to act calm at all. She had thought that he would at least have been angry at the other driver, but he had not mentioned it at all. It was almost as if Tai was in a separate world to where his emotions were. It was scary.
"Why, what else is there to think? I know that you expect me to be upset or angry, but you cannot undo what is already done with anger or tears. That's what Sora always said anyway. And do you know what? She's right. No matter what I want to do to that other driver, it won't get her back and it won't help me to walk. However much I scream or cry I am not going to be able to walk. So I should just get over it and try to move on in my life," he did not believe a word that he was saying. The words were just tumbling out of his mouth without his brain even stopping to think about them. He recognised the advice that Sora had always given him, but the rest was just a jumble. Kari was surprised. He was taking it much better than expected and he even seemed sincere. But she was suspicious. She knew better than anyone that he could say one thing and sound completely sincere, when he meant something completely different in reality.
"I think that you're in shock. I mean, you have just lost your girlfriend in a-
"Fiancée actually," he corrected her without thinking. He seemed to be doing everything without thinking and it was starting to make him wonder what was wrong with his brain.
"You proposed to her?" Kari's eyes went wide with disbelief. She had never thought that Tai would ever have gotten up the courage to do something like that. It had taken him years to gather the required courage to tell Sora that he loved her and Kari had expected it to be a few more years before he would have proposed.
"Yeah, at the beach where we had spent the day. It was supposed to be a surprise for everyone but… only Sora knew before the crash," he refused to say that it was an accident, although he had no idea why.
"I'm so sorry," Kari's eyes began to water again as she realised that she had lost her going-to-be sister-in-law. She had known that Tai would have married Sora anyway, but the fact that they had been engaged just before Sora had died seemed to make the realization hit closer to home. She did not know how Tai could remain so… unemotional. If she did not know him as well as she did, she would have said that he did not care. But she knew that that was not possible. Tai loved Sora with all of his heart, and she knew that he would continue to do so. Just because Sora was dead it did not mean that he could not love her.
"Why? I always hate it when people apologise for no reason. It was not your fault that the crash happened nor is it your fault that Sora died. Therefore you do not need to apologise. It is as simple as that."
"Tai, what are we going to do with you?" she whispered to herself as she finally sat down, ready to be there when her brother finally cracked…
It was Sora's funeral. All of the digidestined were there, sitting in the front two rows along with Sora's mother. Mrs. Takenouchi had just finished making her speech and Matt was walking up to the front. He was going to make a speech, and then it was Tai's turn. Tai was seated in his wheelchair, his face displaying no emotion. Kari glanced at him from time to time, worried. He had never broken down and cried like she had been expecting him to, but instead he had kept up a calm façade, as though nothing was wrong. It was very worrying, especially due to his circumstances. Matt placed his speech on the podium in front of him and began to speak.
"Sora was a friend to everyone. I remember that even when I first met her I knew that she was a good person. She seemed to care about everyone…" Tai tuned out. It wasn't because Matt's speech was bad, but because it hurt. It hurt to hear people talk about her like she was gone. He knew that she had died, but he did not want to believe it, so he chose not to. He did not believe that she was dead and he did not believe that he was paralyzed. Deep down he knew that this charade could not last for long, but his heart was desperate for him to keep it up.
"She was always ready to help out a friend in need, no matter what time or where they were or anything…" Matt's speech continued. Tai had tried to refuse to speak, but they had told him that they wanted all of the digidestined to say something. He had not been able to refuse after that. He waited until Matt had finished his speech and then he wheeled himself to the front of the Church.
"Sora always used to say that I wasn't good with words, so this will be short. The one piece of advice that Sora would probably give us now is this; you cannot undo what is already done with anger or tears. She would not want us to cry, or to be angry that it happened. That is not to say though, that we won't cry or be upset, but that would be what she would have said. Sora is Sora; she always was and always will be Sora, wherever she is now. She always used to give me that same advice whenever I would get angry at people, and I know that she would say that now," he wheeled himself back to his 'seat' beside Kari, ignoring the confused looks he was getting. He had said all that he was going to say on the matter and his speech was finished as far as he was concerned.
"Are you okay?" it was the question he hated hearing. Kari was looking worried again, mainly because Tai had sounded as though Sora was still alive when he had spoken.
"I'm fine," he answered automatically and he pretended to concentrate on Mimi, who was getting ready to speak. But in reality his mind was drifting. His thoughts were dwelling on one particular thing that Sora had made him promise…
F L A S H B A C K
They were walking through the park. It was a sunny day, perfect for a walk or a game of soccer. But for once something was stopping the teens from playing. Instead they had decided that a walk would clear their heads. Maybe after that they could have their soccer game. So they were idly walking along the black concrete path, holding hands and talking. It was, after all, almost their two year anniversary since the day they had confessed their love.
"What's wrong Sora?" they had been walking and talking for the past ten minutes, but Tai had sensed that something was not right. Even though she was talking and laughing like she usually would, there was just something that was different. That worried him.
"How did you know there was something wrong?" she sounded a little surprised, but Tai knew that she wasn't.
"Well, I have known you since we were four you know. It's easy to tell when something is wrong. Usually you laugh like a hyena at some of the jokes I have been telling," he replied a little cheekily, earning a light hit on the shoulder. He was partly serious though.
"I don't know… I just had this freaky dream last night. It basically showed your life if I died in a few years. I-It really scared me," she shuddered as she remembered her nightmare. She wasn't sure if it was the things that she had seen in the dream or the thought of herself being dead that scared her the most.
"It was only a dream Sora… see you're still here, alive. Do you want to talk about it anyway? Maybe that would help you," he offered, putting his arm around her shoulder as she shuddered. They continued to walk, but they no longer took in their surroundings. Their conversation was the only thing that they had on their minds.
"Not really… it wasn't very nice. I just want you to promise me one thing…" she trailed off as if she did not quite know how to phrase it.
"You've always said that 'm not very good with words, so jut tell me what it is in whatever words you want and I will understand it. I'm sure that I will promise it anyway," Sora still seemed to be hesitating over the wording. For some reason that he did not know, it was important to her.
"I just want you to promise me that you won't get angry or upset if I ever die before you. I know you… you would want to hurt whoever or whatever had killed me. Just in case it ever happens… humour me if you will… please promise me that you will not get too emotional over my death. Please," she begged. It seemed so important to her that he could not refuse.
"I promise you Sora, that if you ever die in the future before I do, I will not get overemotional and I will refrain from killing anyone that hurts you. Is that it?"
"Cross your heart?" she still pressed. The dream had made her absolutely terrified.
"Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. I promise you," she suddenly smiled, feeling a lot better.
"Good. If you don't keep your promise then I'll haunt you and make sure that you never rest peacefully or do anything… I'd make your life Hell!" she threatened, her whole presence becoming more relaxed.
"Yeah, but my plan if I die first is to haunt you anyway. I don't want you to forget about me," Tai told her jokingly, "But I suppose that you would be in tears for years anyway. I am, of course, such a great person that you would miss me too much." Sora rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, in your dreams crazy guy," she told him, skipping ahead so that she was walking backwards in front of him, "If you died then I'd probably throw a party."
"Humph, fine then. I don't care if you don't love me. I'll go and find another girlfriend then," he mocked being upset, letting her hand fall back next to her thigh.
"I'm really sorry Tai, will you ever take me back?" she grabbed his hand again and made a sad face that could have gotten her a job on any soap opera… or a comedy show. He pretended to think about it.
"I don't know Sora… after all, you did have that affair with that Jason guy before he was hit by that train that was carrying Barbie to Ken..." he was thoroughly enjoying this mock soap opera. It was earning them a few strange looks, but they did not care.
"It didn't mean anything, I swear it! I was only in it for the money… but he gave it to that girl Cocoa instead. It turns out that he was already cheating on me too… anyway, I love you, I really do!" to finish off her character she had changed her voice to sound high like a Barbie doll's voice. It seemed to top off the whole show.
"I suppose that I can trust you just this one last time… but only if you forgive me."
"What would I need to forgive you for?"
"For doing this," and with that he pulled Sora towards him and kissed her, ending their little play. They broke apart after a few minutes had gone by and resumed their walk as though nothing had happened.
"So you do promise?" she checked again, something in her voice telling him that it was the last time she was going to check.
"I promise," he reassured her, "And I always keep my promises." They continued to walk on, their conversation going as far away from sad topics as possible. After all, it was a lovely day…
E N D. O F. F L A S H B A C K
'I always keep my promises,' he reminded himself slowly as the last digidestined spoke. He realised then that that was why he had remained practically emotionless about Sora's death and about his paralysis. It was because of that promise. He must have unconsciously remembered it when she had died. And it was because his injuries had come at the same time as Sora's death, he would not allow himself to show too much emotion at that. It would break his promise. So he had to take everything that was thrown at him in a calm manner. One way or another he had to believe that everything would turn out alright. He had to believe it or he would break his promise.
"I wish that this didn't have to happen," Kari was saying to T.K. They were making their way to the grave site, which was around behind the church and a little to the right. Tai was finding it a little hard to force his wheelchair over the grass, but he did not even bother stopping. If he did then Kari or one of the others would lean over, ask if he was alright and then they would take the handles of the chair and push him. He did not want to feel that helpless and he did not want them to think that he was helpless either.
"Yeah, me too," both of them were in tears. They were very emotional people and Sora's death had affected them both very much. In fact, most of the digidestined were either in tears or looked like they were about to be in tears. That did not, of course, include Tai. He was basically the only one that had remained calm. Ten minutes later Sora had been buried. The digidestined and Sora's mother stayed behind at the grave, whilst the other guests left. Mari and Alexi Kamiya saw that their children were staying at the grave and left quietly, knowing that the pair would get home. Mrs. Takenouchi was the first to leave the grave site, the death of her daughter too overwhelming. Then, one by one, the others slowly left, until only four remained.
"Come on T.K, we'd better go," Kari had given up trying to talk to her brother and she hoped that Matt would be able to talk some sense into him. T.K nodded, knowing what Kari was getting at.
"Okay, I'll see you two later. We won't be very far away," he added, in case Tai needed Kari at any time.
"Okay, I'll see you later," Tai seemed totally uninterested in wherever they were going. He did not really know who was leaving this time; the voices had been a buzz to him. The couple walked away, giving Matt a look that clearly said 'you-talk-to-him-now-and-try-to-get-him-to-come-to-his-senses.' Matt gulped as he saw this. He had no idea how to tackle this situation. He thought about it for about twenty more minutes before he decided to breach the silence.
"Tai, we've been here for at least two hours now, maybe we should leave," he suggested. Tai made no movement to leave.
"You can leave if you want to. I'm not really going to stay for much longer anyway," there was an uncomfortable silence as Matt tried to think of a different approach. As he thought about it he realised that everyone had just been skirting around the edge of Tai for the past few days. They had all been worried because he had been injured and he had lost Sora whilst he remained calm, but they had never asked him why he was acting the way he was. Matt knew Tai very well, and he knew that sometimes the best approach was the bluntest.
"Tai, why are you acting like this? It's almost as if you don't care that Sora died at all," he accused, knowing that it would provoke a response from the usually hot-headed leader. This time however, he was wrong.
"But everyone knows that I do care and that is all that matters. Stop trying to provoke an emotional response from me, it won't work. I always keep my promises remember," Matt was confused.
"When did I ever say anything about promises?"
"I promised Sora that if she ever died before me then I wouldn't get overemotional. I always keep my promises. Besides, it's easier to accept something if you don't get emotional over it," Matt had to admit that there was some logic in his reply, but he could still argue.
"But you have to grieve first… you don't have to be overemotional to grieve. What Sora probably meant by that promise was that she didn't want you to go and kill someone," but he could see that his words were not getting through.
"Yeah, and this way it will ensure that I don't kill anyone. I know that everyone is worried, but they shouldn't be. I know that Sora has died and I know that I won't walk again and I have accepted it. It's just that I have chosen to do so this way, that's all. Please tell everyone not to worry; they don't listen to me when I tell them that. Now you were right before when you said that we needed to leave," Tai pushed his chair around, making as if to leave.
"Tai… you do know that no matter what I say, they won't stop worrying, right?"
"Yeah, but at least I'll know that you tried. Now I just need to go home I suppose. This thing can get tiring, as strange as that sounds… especially because I'm sitting down all of the time. Come on, if we're any longer Kari and T.K will die of oxygen deprivation. I know what they've been doing behind those trees over there, and I think it's about time to stop it," it was good to see Tai in a good mood, but he had seemed to be in one ever since the crash. It was creepy.
"I suppose that I will have to agree with you there, but I don't know if they are doing what you think they're doing."
"I know that they're eavesdropping. I just wanted to make them turn red," Tai told him calmly, before wheeling himself over to where his younger sister and her boyfriend were waiting for them, "Now come on Kari and let's go home."
Six years had passed since the accident and Tai still had not cracked. He had remained in his calm state and he had continued to live his life as normally as possible. He had joined a soccer team for paraplegic people and although he did not like it as much as normal soccer, it was still a highlight in his life. He had also taken up the job of coaching his old high school's senior soccer team. It was a duty that he did for free, taking enjoyment out of helping the team win. For the past four years his team had won the school's tournament, and although none of the players made the Japanese team, many of them made district teams.
Kari and T.K were married. They had been gotten married the year before, not wanting something else to happen to the group before they could "be happy" as they put it. Izzy had died of cancer two years after Sora's death, which had made the group even more determined to stick together. After all, they had lost two of their number to death before the oldest of the digidestined had turned twenty-seven. That was the tragedy of the situation. Mimi and Joe were engaged and Matt had married a compassionate girl named Melissa.
"Coach!" Tai sighed and turned his chair around so that he was facing the boy that had called out to him. The boy in question was medium in height and holding a soccer ball under his foot. His name was Taichi, like Tai's own name, but this Taichi was not a very good soccer player. He had only been put into the team because the school said that he had 'poor conditions at home and needed cheering up.' Tai had not been in any position to argue. Ever since Taichi had joined the team however, the boy had done nothing but complain. He blamed his poor soccer skills on Tai and the team was beginning to lose because of the young boy's bad playing. It was not a pleasant situation.
"Yes Taichi, what is it?" it was the fifth time that the boy had found a problem with the training for the day. Although Taichi disrupted the practice so many times, he did have a few followers. Many of the boys on the team thought that Tai was not a good coach, mainly because he was in a wheelchair. This belief had only been present in past teams for the first few games before it had disappeared, mainly because the teams in the past had started winning. The present team was not winning and therefore they were blaming the coach instead of looking to the players to see what was wrong.
"I still don't get this drill. Can you show it to me one more time?" he asked cheekily. It was a difficult drill for Tai to demonstrate, but it was easy for the team to do. 'Taichi's gang,' as Tai called them, gathered around to watch. Only two of the members of the team were not in this 'gang' and they respected their coach. They had been on the team for two years now, whilst most of the others were new.
"Okay, it goes like this," he demonstrated it again, but the ball slipped out of his grip. 'Taichi's gang' laughed, but they had to stop laughing when Tai expertly managed to get the ball back. Then it was James and Toms' turn to laugh. They were the two boys that respected Tai's courage at coaching the team.
"Good one Coach… you handled that just the way Taichi does, except that he never gets the ball back," James said cheekily, going out of his way to annoy Taichi.
"Shut up James. You can't even dribble the ball properly," Taichi shot back. James just laughed in reply.
"Taichi, if you ask a question you should pay attention to the answer," Tai told him calmly, ignoring the dirty look he was being given. He demonstrated the drill again, this time getting it perfect. The rest of the practice was uneventful as there had only been ten minutes left. As the boys were leaving though, something happened that Tai wished that he could have avoided. As Taichi was leaving, his father and sister came to meet him. Tai had only been checking to make sure that all of the students were leaving, but Taichi's father caught his eye. It was a man in his mid-forties with curly brown hair. The man started walking towards him, bringing his blond haired daughter and Taichi with him. As the man came closer, Tai's blood ran cold. He had seen the driver of the car that had been involved in the accident, and he had looked exactly like this man, right down to the cold-looking blue eyes.
"Good afternoon, I see that you are the coach of my son's soccer team. My name is Gary, Taichi's father," he reached out a hand and Tai took it a little unwillingly. The anger that he had kept inside for so long, the anger he did not know that he had inside, was starting to rise to the surface.
"My name is Tai, and yes, I am the coach."
"My son has been telling me that the team has been losing a lot lately," Gary stated, sounding as though he was interested in the soccer.
"Yes, we have unfortunately been losing. The past few teams I've coached won their tournaments, but this year there is tougher competition," Tai explained politely, knowing where Gary was trying to lead the conversation. The girl with him was staring at Tai suspiciously, her blond hair falling around her eyes.
"Taichi has told me that you are a bad coach… I just wanted to see if that's true," Gary certainly did not beat around the bush. He was straight to the point. Tai's anger rose again, but he struggled to keep calm, "I mean, maybe you would be better coaching a team where all of the players are in wheelchairs."
"Excuse me but my past four teams have won the school's tournament. And maybe you should tell your son that I might have been a better coach if his father hadn't put me in a wheelchair," and with that he turned around and wheeled off, leaving a stunned Gary standing there.
As soon as he arrived home he went straight to his room, without even realizing that Kari was there for a visit. Kari, who had come out to greet him, was extremely surprised. Normally Tai would at least call out that he was home. The fact that he was silent screamed out to her that something was wrong.
"Is there something wrong with Tai?" she whispered to her mother as she returned to the kitchen, "Because he didn't even say 'hi' to me just then." Mari frowned. She was becoming quite old, but she was happy that Tai still lived there because she knew that he could easily get lonely and bored without people around him.
"He was fine when he left to go coach," she replied, "Maybe you should go talk to him and find out what's wrong." Kari left the kitchen immediately and knocked on her brother's door.
"Hi Tai it's Kari. Can I come in?"
"Umm… I'll be out in a few minutes Kari," was the reply. She did not know what it was, but there was something different about Tai's voice. It almost sounded as if he were… crying.
"Are you sure that you're okay Tai?" she heard a small THUMP and she heard Tai swear under his breath at something before he managed to answer.
"Yes, for the millionth time I'm perfectly fine!" her eyes widened in shock. Her brother had actually sounded angry, pissed off, annoyed, whatever she wanted o call it. He had been mildly annoyed in the past six years, but he had never been this angry. There was also an undertone in his voice that suggested that he was crying. Whatever had happened, it had been serious. She tried the door but it was locked. Tai and his parents had decided that he should have a lock on his door. He was, after all, twenty-five years old and he needed his privacy. At the time Kari had agreed, but now she cursed the lock.
"Hey Mum…" she was about to ask her mother for a spare key to Tai's room when there was a knock on the front door of their apartment.
"I'll go and get that. You can just concentrate on finding out what's wrong with Tai," Mari rushed off to the door before Kari could finish her sentence. She sighed to herself and cursed the visitor who had interrupted the conversation.
"Tai please? Can I come in?" silence greeted her. She couldn't hear a sound from the room. She was about to knock again when she heard her mother's voice getting louder and louder.
"Go away! Just leave my family alone! Don't you think that you have done enough, caused enough trouble already? Just leave NOW!" the front door slammed shut and Kari cringed as she heard her mother stomp up the hallway.
"Who was it Mum?" she whispered, seeing that her mother was upset and couldn't handle loud voices.
"Come with me Kari," she followed her mother, a little confused as to where this was going.
"Who was it Mum?" she pressured, knowing that it was important.
"It was the guy who was in the accident. Apparently his boy plays on Tai's soccer team at the high school. He went to pick his son up from soccer and his son was complaining about the coach, so he went and talked to Tai. Then Tai said something and then just left. They came here to find out if Tai was okay and he wanted to apologise," Mari hissed, her eyes burning with a rage that seemed to be unquenchable, "The nerve of that man! He has done enough to our family without coming over here… If you weren't here, and Tai, I probably would have hit him!"
"Calm down Mum, he didn't do anything whilst he was here. Now we just have to figure out a way to get Tai out of his room."
"That's easier said than done," Mari commented and together they began to draw up ideas on how to coax the twenty-five year old out of his room…
He was breaking his promise… well, almost. He was so angry that he had wanted to punch the lights out of Gary, but at the same time he just felt like crying forever. That was the guy that had killed Sora. Her life had just been snuffed out like a candle because that guy had decided to drink and then drive. He was in a wheelchair because that guy had done something stupid. It was no accident, it was a crime. Sora would never breathe, laugh, play soccer or smile ever again because of that guy. It had never seemed so real to Tai as now, when he sat in his room. He took a small piece of paper out from a box at the top of the cupboard. As he was getting it out, another small box fell from the shelf to the floor. Kari knocked on the door, asking how he was, but he could only snap at her. He unfolded the piece of paper and read its contents, cursing the tears that were falling at the same time. He didn't want to cry and yet he could not stop himself. The paper had his proposal speech written on it. He had spent hours working on the speech. Sora had loved it, but she had not really had a chance to cherish it because of that guy… he picked up the small box that had fallen on the floor to distract himself from his thoughts. He opened the box, curious as to what it was.
"Tai, are you okay?" it was his mother this time that had asked the question and he knew that they were only worried about him, but he could not stop himself from snapping at her.
"As I've told you a billion times I'm fine!" he had found out what was in the box. It was a series of newspaper clippings he had collected about the crash. He had not really read them, but he had collected them in case he had wanted to do so later on. They all had titles like 'Horror Crash Takes Young Woman's Life' and 'Drinking and Driving Ends in Tragedy.' He suddenly had a desire to read the articles. He flipped through them all, reading one after the other, ignoring the pleas of his mother and sister to open the door. It was almost as if this crying rage he was going through was making him crazy for information. One line in particular caught his eye it read:
There is one thing that Gary says he would like to say to the two young adults involved in the accident. Apparently they were lyrics to a part of the song that was playing at the time of the accident. They are
"I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with everyday
And all the pain I put you through
I wish that I could take it all away…" Gary says that he hopes that the survivor of the accident reads these words and accepts them…
He blinked as he read those words, the tears still falling. He picked up the box of the newspaper clippings and threw them at the nearest wall, watching with tearful eyes as the papers fell out all over the floor. He had read them all anyway. He ran his fingers through his thick hair in desperation. All of the years that he had kept his emotions inside had made it impossible for him to stop the flood of anger and tears. He suddenly realised why all of his friends and family had been worried about him. They had known that if something happened to force him to crack then he would not be able to be calm again for a long time.
"Tai are you throwing things in there?"
"Kari, go away! Please…" he thought that he had broken down before, but he was wrong. If he hadn't been sitting down then he would have collapsed to the ground, but as he was in his wheelchair he could only slump down further. He buried his face in his hands and cried like he had never cried before. As he did though, he heard a key turn in the lock on his door.
"Tai, it's alright," Kari was instantly by her brother's side. She had never seen him cry like this in her entire life and it was scary. Mari wasn't too far behind her daughter and they spent the afternoon trying to comfort him. When he had finally calmed down enough to make sense, they began to talk.
"I-I didn't want to ever see that guy… I would have been fine but he was telling me that maybe I'd be better off coaching a team that consisted of paraplegics and he was accusing me of being a bad coach because his son wasn't a good soccer player! I couldn't just stay around… I would have killed him if I had had the chance. I just felt so angry that I… I came back here and… I just don't know," Kari and Mari kept on reassuring him, and finally it came to the point where he could not cry anymore. He had run out of tears.
"He had no right to do that… especially to tell you that you were a bad coach. You've helped the team win for four years for God's sake! He had no right to even come up to you. He should have orders never to see you again as far as I'm concerned," Mari paced around the room angrily, getting a little overprotective.
"No Mum, I want to talk to him again," that stopped both Mari and Kari in their tracks.
"You what? You have to be kidding!" Kari exclaimed. She didn't know how he could want to see the guy that had damaged his life so much.
"I don't want to hurt him, I just want to talk," the two women looked at one another.
"We'll arrange it for you," was all that they would say.
"I appreciate that you arranged this meeting, but it's going to be very short and you didn't have to come with me," Tai told his sister and her husband as they made their way through the park. They were meeting Gary at the soccer pitch where the high school team usually practiced.
"We had to come for support. We couldn't just leave you alone you know," T.K argued. He wanted to be at the meeting so that Tai wouldn't have a collapse like the one that Kari had told him about, "You're lucky that we talked Matt and Joe out of coming along. Otherwise you'd never get a chance to talk to this Gary dude." They arrived at the pitch where Gary was already waiting. As soon as he saw Tai, Gary jumped up and came over to them, looking a little edgy.
"Good afternoon," he said his voice a little higher than it normally was.
"Okay, let's get one thing straight. I'm not here to exchange pleasantries. I am here to talk to you so that you can get your apologies out of the way and so I can try and get on with my life without you popping up unexpectedly somewhere," Tai's voice was almost as cold as ice and it froze the blood in Gary's veins.
"I understand. I just want to tell you that I'm very sorry and that it was an accide-
"It was not an accident. You had drunk too much alcohol and then you chose to drive. You crashed into us when you were under the influence and therefore it was no accident because you knew what your actions could bring."
"You're right. I-I just want to ask you one thing and then I'll never bother you again," Gary was a little hesitant, but Tai just raised an eyebrow as if to ask him what he was waiting for.
"Could you please hurry up, my brother and I have elsewhere that we would like to be," Kari butted in, seeing that Gary was not going to talk for a long time.
"Uh… of course, I'm sorry. W-What was she like? The girl that died?" Tai sighed. He had known that this question was going to be asked.
"Sora was Sora. I met her when I was four when she helped me defeat a few bullies in a game of soccer. Ever since then she had been my best friend and in a way, she still is. She was a friend to everyone that knew her and she was just the perfect person. She was my girlfriend for just over three years and we had just gotten engaged on the day that she died. She was a good student and she had wanted to be a teacher when she finished University. She was a good person and even though you are sorry, I don't know if I can ever fully forgive you. There, you have your answer and now I never really want to hear from you again. Oh, and tell Taichi that he is off the soccer team because he keeps on disrupting both practice and the games. But I think that he would make a better basketball player than soccer. Tell him that he should try out for that instead," and with that he turned around and left the park with T.K and Kari, feeling a lot better now that he had gotten all of the stress and anger out…
To be continued…
End of Tai's Story
Litanya: There is the end of Tai's story. If you are confused I am sorry. It will all become clear in the next chapter. And sorry for the late update… I've had a lot of things on lately and I've been showing my German exchange student around Victoria and yeah… The next chapter of this and 'An Old Box' will be out when I can get them out… which may be a long time. I wrote most of this chapter when Anke was at another exchange's house. Anyway, I'll see you next time!