Disclaimer - I'm going to hide Taichi from everyone and keep him all to myself--maybe I'll make a profit off of him by making people pay to see him--$5.00 a shot, any takers? In other words, I don't own Digimon. Damn the bad luck, I would make everyone really pay too - unless I really like you. X.x;;
A/N: My email has been doing really funky things the last couple weeks, so I have to go through and read all my reviews individually--just to make sure I got them all. Anyway, thanks to everyone who beat into my head that the cat's name is Miko--I won't forget it now. ^^;; And I'm not sure if it's a male or female, but it's now a male. Ha! AU, baby! I can do that and get away with it... That is, if it's a female. And, it still amazes me how much this story is actually liked--but I'm not complaining.
Imaginary Friend
Chapter.Six
When Taichi walked into his apartment he was greeted by a very ill-faced Hikari. She stared at him, her face pale.
"What's the matter?" he asked, taking off his shoes. She stared at him for a long minute before opening her mouth.
"I think your 'friend' is messing with Miko," she replied, her face finally regaining some of it's color. "He's never done that before," she added, shaking her head.
"What'd he do? He's never done what before?"
Hikari pointed to the cat. He was on the floor playing. What's so weird about that, Taichi thought. He does that all the time.
"Uh, Hikari - he does that all the time." Hikari shook her head.
"Look closer, Taichi. I'm telling you; he's never done that before."
Taichi left Hikari's side and walked over to where the cat was rolling around on the floor. He watched him for a good thirty seconds before looking back at Hikari, shrugging his shoulders. He looked back down at the cat and froze. The cat seemed to be batting up at the air as if there was something dangling in front of him, like a piece of string or something. Then he started pawing at the ground, as if trying to catch a string that was being swished back and forth.
"Now do you believe me? He's never done that before."
Taichi nodded, but didn't reply.
After a few moments, he said, "Cats in general are like that though. Why should Miko be any different? He is a cat after all."
Hikari faced dropped, she stared at Taichi blankly for a few seconds before replying, "Why thank you, Taichi. I wasn't sure if Miko was a cat or not. Thanks for clearing up that misunderstanding." The brunet stuck out his tongue at her sarcasm, and she rolled her eyes in return.
The light-haired girl left the room after that, Taichi could hear her bedroom door shut lightly. He stared at Miko for a few seconds before he looked up at him and meowed.
"Don't do that, Miko - especially in front of mom and dad. It's not funny or cute," he told him, shaking his head. The cat meowed again before Taichi retreated to his bedroom.
#$#$#$#$#$
Taichi woke up to the blare of the ringing telephone next to his bed. There was a quick knock on his door a few minutes later, and his mother's voice could be heard on the other side.
"Taichi? The phone is for you."
"Okay, mom," he replied, grabbing the phone from it's cradle. "Hello?"
"Taichi? It's Koushiro."
"Oh... hey."
"I didn't really find anything. I don't think it's a ghost--sure there are a few things in common, but the majority isn't."
"So? What is he? Did you at least find something that can shine some light on the situation?"
"Yes. Taichi, I think you have found yourself an imaginary friend."
Taichi fell out of bed when the words left Koushiro's mouth. A what!? Imaginary friend wasn't any better than ghost--possibly worse.
"A what?! How--I heard you wrong, what did you say?" he stumbled to get a full sentence out of his mouth.
"No, you heard me right. You have an imaginary friend, that's the only other source that came up when I was searching."
"But, that's worse than just seeing ghosts. At least I could get away with, 'Oh it's just a ghost', but an imaginary friend!? I'll be thrown in a mental institution in a heart-beat."
"Tai, imaginary friends are common--"
"Not for a boy that's 16 years old. Sorry, but for a four year old, sure--but a boy that's sixteen!? I think I'll give myself up to an insane asylum. Let them do tests, because this is so not part of puberty."
"It's not a bad thing, Taichi. It shows you have an imagination. Maybe it's a little over-active, but you still have one."
"Koushiro, are you even listening to what I'm saying? This is not normal."
Out of all the worst case scenarios, this was not one of them. This wasn't just, 'oh, you have an imagination', this was, 'holy shit, you're making up people with your imagination that you talk to'. Taichi had come up with some pretty messed up stuff with his imagination, but never a person that he could see and talk to. Even his imagination wasn't that good.
"Taichi? Are you still there?" But the brunet made no attempt to reply. As a matter of fact he didn't even hear Koushiro's voice. "Look Taichi, I'll keep searching. I could have overlooked something, don't start jumping to conclusions--I think you're overreacting a little."
"You know, no matter what this isn't going to be something that is normal. Let it be ghosts, imaginary friends, or aliens--this is not normal."
"The latter isn't even a possibility, Tai. I guarantee that. But, I'll call you back when I find something else, okay?"
"Sounds good... whatever."
Taichi hung up the phone without saying goodbye. He stared at the ceiling above him, contemplating what he should do now.
"Hey, are you around?" he asked out loud to the room. "This would be a good time to go, 'POOF!' or whatever it is you do." He waited a good two minutes before sighing. "Or not. Whichever fits your schedule best, I guess." He didn't really know why he wanted Yamato for company. Maybe he figured since he was going crazy, he at least had someone to talk to--so he was going to use that to his advantage. Or not, because Yamato didn't seem to want to be in the company of him.
"How come we have to go by your schedule? That's a little unfair. You just show up whenever you feel the need, but when I actually kinda... sorta... want you to; you ignore me. How come you can do that? If I was invisible I would beat the crap out of you," said Taichi, continuing to talk to himself. "Listen to me, I'm talking to walls now. I wish you'd just show up so I stop talking to myself."
"Actually, it's more like a ceiling."
Taichi rolled onto his side, propping his head up on his hand. He stared at Yamato for a few moments before speaking, "It's still a flat surface."
"True. So, what will your other two wishes be? You got your one granted."
"I wish you were a genie, that would be so cool."
"Well, sorry but that wish is void... You have to wish for things that I can actually do."
Taichi grinned, laughing slightly. "Do I still have two though? I wish things weren't so complicated inside my head."
"Sorry, no can do on that one either. Looks like you're out of wishes. Man, you just wasted them, didn't you?"
"Hey, I should still have two--those other two didn't count. I wish you weren't so stupid." Yamato laughed, shaking his head.
"You can't keep making wishes... It doesn't work that way." Taichi sat up, staring at Yamato.
"You're not a genie anyway. So it doesn't really matter."
Yamato sat on Taichi's bed, and the brunet stared at him awkwardly. He was about to ask what the blonde was doing, but decided not to. Instead he said, "What did you do all day when I couldn't see you?" Yamato shrugged.
"Nothing. It gets very boring, actually. But, I kind of liked it."
"How long have you been here? I mean, even before I was here?"
"I don't think so, but then again--I only remember vaguely."
Taichi thought about this for a few minutes. He couldn't really tell if Yamato was a ghost, imaginary friend, or alien. He'd decided though, that alien was a complete possibility--it didn't matter what Koushiro said. It's been heard that ghost don't always know that they're dead, and they don't remember dying. Imaginary friends would know they're imaginary, wouldn't they? So maybe he didn't know all that much about anything, all he knew was that it wasn't normal.
"I think I'm going to make something up," Taichi said randomly.
"Make what up?"
"What you are. You don't know, and I sure as heck don't know--so I'm going to make something up." Yamato nodded. "Like, I think you're an alien from outer-space." Yamato couldn't stifle his laughter. Actually, he was laughing hysterically.
"I'm not an alien, Taichi. But, if thinking that will make you feel better, go right ahead."
Taichi shrugged, cracking a smile. "I figured I should go all out, make things more interesting--that way I can't be surprised." Yamato nodded, but didn't say anything. "Do you think you are an imaginary friend? But, was that you playing with Miko?"
"I don't know if I'm an imaginary friend, but yes, I was playing with Miko. Haven't you ever wondered why he acts so weird sometimes? You think he bats at the air for no apparent reason? It's usually me--when I get bored."
Taichi sighed frustratedly. "If you play with Miko then you can't really be imaginary, can you? If you were part of my imagination, then it would make more sense if I could see you and no one else... But, my cat can see you--so you can't be all that imaginary."
Would it be crazy of Taichi so say that he was getting attached to Yamato. Not like he would actually ever say it, but would it be crazy? No matter how much Taichi tells Yamato to get lost, he likes the fact that the blonde keeps coming back. Even the fact that Taichi could be going mentally insane doesn't really bother him when he thinks about Yamato.
"If I'm put in a mental institution will you come with?" he asked, staring at Yamato intently. Yamato shrugged.
"I could always try, couldn't I? Why would you want me to come though?"
"The fact that you were the one who put me there, you'd better stick around so I'm not completely going insane by myself."
Yamato laughed and shook his head. "Whatever, Taichi, whatever."
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Hey, you didn't have to wait as long for this chapter, ne? Don't worry, be happy--and don't kill me if the next chapter isn't out for a month or two... Not saying that's going to happen, but you know. O.o;;