"Since Mr. Disclaimer isn't here, then I guess it's my job to say that-"
"Idon'townDigimon!! Later!"
"Wha...YOU SNEAK!! Get back here!"
Digimon - Second Chances For Sora
Chapter 5 - Meeting Again for the First Time
Tai Kamiya couldn't believe his eyes. There she was, innocently sitting at the table, staring back with the eyes that held a substantial amount of amazement, happiness and...love.Sora Takenouchi held her breath as she tried hard to realize that HE was here. Her best friend in the whole wide world, whether it was on Earth or the Digital world, was HERE. Four long, lonely years spent without seeing him might as well have been an eternity, but she still immediately recognized him. Sora slowly stood up and walked over to Tai, who cautiously took a half-step back.
But the answer to one simple question evaded the both of them. Why were they hesitant about...reaching out? Sora decided to break the ice and make the first move.
"T...Tai? Is...is it really you?"
"Uh...y-yeah...yeah, it's me. I mean...who else would I be?" he said somewhat weakly, giving off a nervous laugh.
As of now, Sora could no longer control her emotions, or her physical actions. Tai gulped as she continued to stare at him. Her eyes, now full of warm, joyful tears, wasted no time in streaming down her soft cheeks.
"TAI!!" she happily cried out, moving quicker than any rabid wild animal Tai had seen.
Sora grabbed onto Tai, wrapped her arms around him, and gave him a bear hug, burying her teary face in his chest. Needless to say, Tai was pretty surprised, going wide-eyed but at the same time, lightly and loosely putting one arm around her, and using his other hand to tenderly pat her head.
He almost yelled in shock, as he slowly realized that Sora closed her eyes and was attempting to give him a soft, affectionate kiss.
For months he deeply longed to feel the lovely bittersweet taste of her lips willingly pressed against his, but the "incident" at Christmas changed all that. And considering the way Sora felt about him now (as well as everything else she'd done to inadvertently hurt him), he forced himself to resist the girl's advances.
"S-Sora, what are you doing??" Tai almost sputtered.
Naturally, Sora was somewhat taken aback due to the fact that the love of her life just resisted her ever so strongly, but she tried to remain calm, and make sense of the situation.
"Well, I was trying to kiss you, that's what!" she said, still with a certain amount glee in her voice.
"Look, I-"
"C'mon, Tai...it's been four years since we've seen each other!" she cried, through tears of joy. "You can't tell me that you haven't missed me!"
"I-it's not that, Sor...it's just, well...until a little while ago, I had no idea you even existed!" Tai protested.
At first Sora thought that he was joking, but she quickly understood. Yet, she still maintained her grip on him, though loosening it a little.
"Oh, Tai..." she nearly sobbed. "I almost completely lost hope that I'd see your face again...it's dreaming of this moment that's kept me going. I missed you so much," she finished with a sigh.
"Sora..." Tai said firmly. "Please let go of me."
"Wh...what's wrong?"
"There's...something you should know."
"There it is!" Izzy hollered to Joe and Ken.
"There's what?" Joe asked.
"The signal inside Etemon's pyramid. I've caught it again. And it's stronger now...more intense."
"Still don't know what it is yet?" asked Mimi.
Izzy sighed and shook his head.
"No...but that's not exactly what I'm worried about. What bothers me is that this is the second signal I've discovered today."
"So?"
"So, Mimi...that's too odd to be a coincidence. I'm concerned that our little 'friend' from the Digital World isn't quite what she appears to be."
"But you see no evidence of that so far..." Ken noted.
"True, I don't have any concrete proof, but I'm still worried..."
"Well, until you do find something incriminating..." Mimi gently mocked, "...we should forget about it for now."
"Even so, you should keep an eye on her, Mimi," Izzy suggested.
"I will do no such thing!" she replied almost angrily, putting her hands on her hips. "Sora was...I mean, IS my friend and I will not go snooping around, pumping her for information!"
"All I'm saying is be careful."
"Thank you...I will. But don't go accusing her of anything until you have proof! Now...since just about everybody else has left, I'm going home, too. Later, boys!"
Izzy watched as she left, then turned to his two friends.
"Okay, guys...we all agree that girls will be the topic for our next science project?"
Back at Mimi's, Tai and Sora had calmly sat down. It wasn't easy at all, but Tai had successfully managed to explain the existence of two Soras, and also...the exact reason why he had pulled away from Sora.
Sora was stunned at the fact that her double would even consider falling in love with someone other than Tai.
"So Matt's her boyfriend now?"
"Uh huh," Tai nodded, without displaying much emotion on his face.
"So that's why he hugged me so tightly when he saw me...!" Sora concluded.
"Anyway, that was about six months ago, during Christmas..."
Ouch, Sora thought. That's GOTTA hurt.
"...but I've gotten over it all now," he lied.
Being Tai's friend, Sora could always detect his lies the second they exited his mouth. But as curious as she was, Sora was hesitant to press Tai for answers.
"Oh, have you?" she asked suspiciously.
Tai put on his best fake smile and nodded.
"I mean, it could be worse...she and I still friends-"
"And you're completely okay with this?" Sora interrupted.
"Things...things are fine the way they are right now."
Everything Tai said so far made Sora uncomfortable, among other things. But what he said next nearly broke her heart...
With a somewhat sad smile, he finished her off by slowly (and painfully) saying...
"It's simple, Sora. I just don't...really feel much for her anymore...in 'that' way, I mean."
Sora's eyes opened further than they ever had before. She was absolutely, positively, and completely speechless. She couldn't...and wouldn't believe it. Despite that, the poor girl was still shocked into silence. The only thing she could do was to continue reaching out to her beloved...
"But...I still do."
Tai shook his head. Sora took this as a sign that she was quickly losing this debate, but she'd never been one to give up easily.
"I have feelings for you, I always have..." she argued. "Doesn't that count for something?!"
Tai stared into the wooden surface of the table they were sitting at. Hesitantly, he placed his warm hand on Sora's shoulder.
"Look, uh...you've had a long day, so I think I'll just, um...let you rest for a while..."
The only response Tai got back was a pair beautiful eyes staring into his, piercing his state of mind with their fixed and unchanging expression of sadness and extreme confusion.
As Tai got up out of his seat, he started towards the front door. But he took one more look at Sora. It was getting harder and harder to look at her these days. But he had to make sure of one more thing...
"Are...are you...mad at me?"
Sora wouldn't look at him. Still sitting she had turned her head away from him.
"I could never be mad at you, Tai..."
Tai reached for the doorknob, but stopped in his tracks when she continued speaking.
"...I love you."
Tai's eyes exhibited a very worried look, but he had to leave now.
As the door closed, Sora just sat there in sadness, not wanting to reveal her eyes to anyone or anything. And something in the back of her mind was telling her that she wasn't alone in that respect.
Sora wandered around in sadness, not wanting reveal her eyes to anyone or anything. Her mind was so lost in thought that she barely noticed the hand that firmly placed on her shoulder.
"Sora?" asked the gentle voice.
"Hi, Matt."
The blonde was clearly taken aback that she already knew that he was there. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath and tried to comfort her in what had happened.
"Are you okay? After you left Izzy's, I couldn't find you. And when I called up your mom, she said that there was a call from the tennis courts saying you never showed up."
"I know, Matt...I...I skipped tennis today. I needed to take a walk..."
Matt out his hands on her shoulders and tried to look into her eyes.
"Sora, please tell me what's wrong...does this have to do with Kari?"
"Y-yeah..." Sora said with a partially broken voice. She immediately looked away from Matt and slowly put her hand against her red, bruised cheek, which still stung with raw pain. In her opinion, that stupid Kari did not know her own strength.
"Does it still hurt?" he gently asked.
Sora nodded, like a young child who had just been bullied to the brink of tears. And Matt knew that she might start crying or shouting if he didn't act soon.
Matt took Sora in his arms, not wanting to hear the unbearable sound of a girl's sobs. Sora's sad-looking eyes were wide open (but full of tears) as he held her close. Emotionally, Sora didn't have the strength to hug him back, all the while leaning more and more into Matt's warm chest, letting her tears stain his shirt and her arms droop at the sides.
Matt closed his eyes, sighed and sweetly kissed the top of her head. That was enough to cause Sora to summon the strength to lift her heavy arms and grip onto Matt for more support.
After a few more sniffles and tears, the two teens loosened their grips on each other. Matt used his hand to wipe away some of the tears that were creeping down Sora's cheek.
"I'm sorry that she slapped you," was all that Matt could think of to say.
"That's not the main reason I'm sad," she replied, shaking her head.
"It's not? Then what-"
"It's just that...after I fell to the floor when she slapped me...I looked up at her face..."
"Uh, huh…"
"And when I saw the look she gave me...!"
"Go on..."
"All I could see in her eyes was...hatred. Pure hatred that was directed...at ME."
"I hate her! I hate her! I HATE HER!!"
T.K. covered his ears briefly at Kari's outburst. It took a few nervous minutes of searching, but he finally found her. After Kari stormed out of Izzy's place in a huff, T.K. did his best to locate her. And he did. She had been in a park, sitting on a bench, crying. And judging from the undeniably monumental and heated circumstances between her and Sora, it was reasonable to assume that her tears wouldn't let up anytime soon.
"Kari, please...don't say that about Sora," T.K. gently said, trying to look into her eyes. "She's your friend."
"I DON'T CARE! I hate her...!" Kari replied, strongly maintaining her words.
"You dislike her," corrected T.K.
But Kari just buried her face in her hands.
"C'mon, I find it hard to believe that you could ever truly hate Sora...after everything all of us have been through together, it would take a lot for us to go at each other's throats."
"Oh, T.K.! What's happened to all of us?"
"I don't understand..."
"It feels like we've all grown apart and drifted away from one another..."
"Whaddya mean? We're still a team! ALL of us! And we're still friends-"
Kari shot her head up at T.K. Though her eyes were still overflowing with tears, she had a look on her face that said-
"Oh, come ON."
T.K. exhaled deeply.
"Weeeeell, most of us, anyway," he said rather hastily.
"I'm sorry...but I can't help the way I feel right now," Kari complained.
T.K. sadly sighed hoping thwe worst of this coversation was over, but Kari finally released all of her negative emotions at once...
"T.K., it's not fair! Sniff...I...I want...I WANT MY BROTHER BACK!!"
"Shhhhh...it's okay, Kari...we'll fix this somehow...I know we will..."
But Kari couldn't say anything else after that, considering the fact that T.K. pulled her in closer for a caring, loving hug. T.K. hated to see a girl cry, especially this one, but it was the only way he knew to console her. She sighed a little and let herself ease into his embrace. She closed her eyes, and for a little bit – in the short, sweet eternity that they were together – Kari forgot all her troubles.
Mimi slowly peeked her head into the door of her apartment. She wasn't quite sure as to how this meeting between Tai and Sora would play out, but she figured it'd be best to enter her home quietly. To her great surprise, Tai wasn't there. All she saw was Sora, still sitting at the table with her back turned.
The long-haired girl quietly tiptoed over to where her friend was, and bent over slightly to try to get a look at her face. But Mimi still couldn't see it.
"Um...Sora? Is everything-"
"Don't look at me..."
"Sora...please…"
Slowly and reluctantly, Sora turned her head upwards and Mimi was flabbergasted to be greeted by her friend's tear-stained face. Sora had indeed been crying hard. This could only mean that her "reunion" with Tai hadn't gone according to plan, whatever it may have been.
"Sora, what happened?!"
Through tears and sobs, Sora did her best to explain what had occurred before Mimi returned.
"I saw Tai..." Sora hiccuped.
Mimi nodded.
"And I was so happy to see him...but when I reached out...he..."
"He what?"
"He rejected me...!"
Sora dropped to her knees and began to cry almost endlessly. Mimi held her close and hugged her tightly.
"Look, Sora...maybe...you just came on a little too strong...it might have been too startling to him..."
"I don't know...for the longest time...I was SO sure that he felt the same way I did..."
"I'm sure he does. Just give him a little time to think this through."
Sora sniffled again and brushed away her tears, but a few more were still trying to make their way out.
"Hey, Sora? How about I make us some popcorn, grab a couple of sodas, and we'll watch a movie on the couch? And tomorrow, we'll head out and do something fun...just the two of us, okay?"
Sora slowly nodded and put on an extremely pained smile.
Mimi smiled too, hugged Sora one more time, and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.
Soon the two girls wrapped themselves in a warm, soft blanket and did just as Mimi promised. But while she watched the film intently, Sora found that she couldn't, try as she might. Her mind was too preoccupied with her thoughts of Tai.
This had to be the mother of all disappointing scenarios. It seemed like only yesterday that she was facing danger in the Digital World with her closest comrade. Even though she was only eleven at the time, she had developed an unyielding crush on him. It may have already existed beforehand, but it was then that she had just started to notice these feelings for Tai.
Once the fiasco at Etemon's pyramid ended, she had spent four years wandering the Digital World...alone. She very well might have perished, but one single thought kept her going. The idea that she would no doubt see Tai Kamiya again one day was the only thing that fueled the blazing determination inside of her; fire that gave her the strength to keep on pushing day after day after day. But now this!
After all those hours, days, weeks, months, and years of waiting, he had pushed her away. Her, Sora Takenouchi, the one true friend that he's always known since kindergarten! Perhaps even before that...it just wasn't fair! Years of patient waiting...and all for nothing.
"All for nothing..." her voice sadly murmured.
"Huh? Did you say something, Sora?" asked Mimi, turning her head.
Sora quickly shook her head, and went back to watching the program. But less than five seconds later, her attention quickly drifted away again. Sora went back to thinking about what she would do next.
Maybe Mimi was right, she thought. I guess I did come on a little too strong...but I haven't seen Tai in four years! He's my best friend, and all I wanted to do was...I really thought he...liked me too. Well...maybe I'll try again...tomorrow...
It was then that Sora began to yawn. Tai was right about one thing...it had been a long day for her.
Mimi's eyes tore away from the television, when she felt Sora lean her head against her shoulder. And she knew what that meant.
Aww, Mimi thought. How cute...Sora's already fast asleep. She's resting peacefully like a newborn baby. Poor girl, today's been such a huge roller coaster ride for her...
Mimi slowly got off the couch and shifted Sora's body so that she was lying down. She then placed a pillow under Sora's head, and completely covered her with the blanket.
While Sora slept, Mimi picked up the half-empty bowl of popcorn and soda cans, and headed for the kitchen. She then noticed that there wasn't much food left over from the meal she'd prepared for Sora, who apparently hadn't lost her appetite.
As Mimi put the dirty dishes in the sink, she thought about what the two of them should do tomorrow. Smiling she was determined to ensure that whatever they decided to do...it would be fun!
"Oh, well..." she said to herself. "Hopefully, tomorrow will be a peaceful day...at least things can't get any worse..."
Such a fact might have reigned true for Earth, but Mimi should have been well aware that deep in the Digital World, things are seldom peaceful...
Night fell everywhere, including the desert.
And far into the desert...was Sora's makeshift home, the pyramid that was once Etemon's domain.
And inside the pyramid, no one was there to hear...the echoes.
Echoes of someone's voice.
Echoes of something from the past.
Echoes of evil laughter.
TO BE CONINUED...
"PHEW! I'm finally finished! Sorry it took so long! I've been busy as hell with too many things to list! I'll be brief...please review and see ya later!"
"And I'd like to add that Whose Liner is a big, fat loser who-"
"Hey, just what are you telling them?! I see you! You're TOAST, man!"