"Excellent. I'll help you win Sora back, and you'll help me get set up with Hikari. Excellent," a wicked grin slid across the teen's face.
"You're like the brother I never had, Daisuke," Taichi chuckled heartedly.
"But, Taichi, you never know, that wish may become reality," Daisuke said.
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During the days following the visit to the beach, Takeru was lighter than air as he re-enacted in his mind over and over again the images and accompanying sensations of being alone with Hikari. He pictured her in his arms as they stood in the seawater near the cliffsides, closer to each other than Takeru ever thought was possible. In fact, as soon as they had returned back to Sora and Yamato's apartment from the beach, Takeru took a shower with the excuse to his brother that he had to get the salt off, when in reality he stood in the showerhead's spray and imagined that the smell of Sora's strawberry shampoo was actually from Hikari's slices-of-strawberries lips. But Takeru stopped there: he didn't attempt to taste Hikari's lips by kissing the shampoo.
Emerging from the bathroom after the refreshing fantasy, Takeru immediately ran into his brother. Takeru yelped in surprise, but Yamato merely grinned. Then the elder Ishida son poked the younger's chest with his fingertip.
"I thought you had a thing for Hikari," Yamato smugly said.
Takeru scowled and pushed past his brother, "Shut up."
But Yamato followed him down the hall, "I knew it! All along! You're in love with her!" he immaturely taunted.
It was Takeru who tried to be mature, though he was younger, "Be quiet and leave me alone. Or I'll knock you down."
"Ooooh! You think you can beat me up, do you? Well, take that!" Yamato socked the back of Takeru's head with a pillow he had grabbed from the teen's couch-bed as they entered the living room.
"Bastard!" Takeru immediately recovered and grabbed the second pillow, wheeled around, and smacked Yamato in the side.
"Little weakling!" Yamato teased as he hit his brother back.
Takeru was about to get Yamato at his knees, but suddenly a girl shouted.
"Hey! Knock it off!" Sora's head poked around the corner of the doorway to the kitchen. "Or I'll beat you both up!"
Both young men stopped, but then turned back to each other. Yamato smirked down at his younger sibling, and Takeru glared back. Then Takeru turned back to Sora.
"But he started it!" Takeru whined as he pointed at Yamato.
"I don't care who started it! But you, Yamato, have to come here and lick this."
Both Ishida males' eyes grew wide.
"...lick what?" Yamato asked coyly as his tongue slipped out the side of his mouth.
Sora gave him a disgusted look. "This, you pervert," she said as she held up a stirring spoon covered in chocolate.
"Mmm! Brownie batter!" Yamato sprang up to go to the kitchen, but before running off, he slammed Takeru with the pillow one last time.
"Hey!" Takeru shouted in protest, but Yamato had already disappeared into the kitchen. Beaten, Takeru dropped down onto the couch and sighed.
Sora strolled over and sat down beside him, Yamato having taken the spoon from her and staying in the kitchen to enjoy it and whatever else was leftover in the mixing bowl. Sora put an arm comfortingly around Takeru's shoulders.
"Chin up, Takeru," Sora consoled him. "This is just his way of encouraging you."
"Encouraging me to what? Feel even more depressed?" Takeru sulked.
"Stop that," Sora scolded him, "you must realize that there's going to be many obstacles besides fear of rejection that are going to try to turn you away from her." As she paused and glanced up to the kitchen doorway, "Yamato being one of them."
"I heard that!" was the return shout from the kitchen.
Sora giggled, "But Yamato actually does support you going for Hikari, it's just that he has...other ways...of encouraging you."
"Teasing is encouragement?" Takeru sarcastically asked.
"You expected something different from your older brother?" Sora incredulously responded.
Takeru looked away, "Sort of..."
Yamato bounded in from the kitchen, the last of the brownie batter hanging from the corners of his mouth. "Hey, little brother, I'm just kidding around when I tease you like that. I didn't know you'd take it so seriously."
"Well, if you felt as seriously as I do about this, then you'd realize how much I do take it," Takeru spat back as he glowered back at his brother.
Yamato was taken aback, "I'm sorry..."
"Forget it," Takeru tried to smile, "I'll just remember not to listen to you from now on."
Yamato smiled heartily back, "It's a deal."
Sora clapped her hands, "Good! A truce!" and jumped up to head back to the kitchen. But looking at her boyfriend, she noticed something and stopped. "Yamato, there's something on your face."
"What? Where?" Yamato crossed his eyes to try and see.
"Right here," Sora grinned as she leaned into him and licked some of the brownie batter from the corner of his mouth.
"Ooh," Yamato understood, "is there any more?" he smirked.
"Yep, right there. Hold still and I'll get it for you," she licked at the other corner of Yamato's mouth.
"Ooh, that's nice how you're cleaning me up. But I think there might be a mess inside too, if you don't mind," Yamato took Sora's lips in an open-mouthed kiss.
Meanwhile, Takeru had fled the livingroom, grabbing his coat and Sora's apartment key, and leaving the vicinity before he could see anymore of Sora and Yamato's foreplay.
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The next day parted Sora and Yamato, as Yamato had to go to work. A relieved Takeru was free to spend the day relaxed in the comforts of the apartment, while Sora had various errands to run. Takeru spent the time lounged on his couch-bed, reading and thinking about Hikari, dreaming that the pictures of the sexy ads in the magazines were of he with Hikari and not some impossible model pair.
Finally, Sora returned to the apartment to stay for the day; all errands were complete. She seemed harried to Takeru when she walked in.
"Busy day, Sora?" Takeru drawled.
"Yeah," she answered. "But I got everything I had to do done. The funny thing is, everywhere I went I had the feeling that I was being followed," she uneasily glanced over her shoulder as the door to the apartment shut closed.
"Really? Was someone stalking you around town today?" Takeru seriously inquired.
"I didn't see anyone..." Sora shrugged her shoulders. "Must be just my imagination. Anyways, I'm going to go take a shower before I start on dinner."
Takeru stood up and stretched. "I think I'll go for a walk around the block, just to stretch my legs," he decided.
Sora smiled, "Sounds good. Here's my key. See you later," and she wandered off down the hallway towards her bedroom.
Takeru pulled on his running shoes and stepped out of the apartment, turning the knob to ensure that he had locked it. He grasped the knob to pull the door closed as he left, and he turned to leave down the stairwell that was right next to the apartment. But then he heard a scuffle down the hall in the opposite direction. He whirled around to look, but could see no one. Just the elevator doors closing and a huge decorative plant that was shaking a little. But since he could see no person, and he assumed that the plant's movement was affected by the air conditioning, he chuckled to himself as he headed to the stairwell.
As he walked he released the doorknob, assuming that the momentum would shut the door. He didn't realize that there wasn't enough momentum, and as he hurried down the stairs the door stopped moving and failed to be closed.
At that moment, as soon as Takeru had disappeared, a figure emerged from behind the huge decorative plant near the elevator doors. The person rushed down the hall, towards Sora and Yamato's apartment, but slowed when he realized that the door had not shut.
The young man laughed to no one as he grasped the doorknob and pushed the door open. A tall man, his head of bushy brunette hair just touched the top of the doorframe as he stepped inside the apartment. He could hear a shower on, and a sweet feminine voice singing softly. Again the person chuckled to himself as he turned around and ensured that the door was completely and securely locked closed.
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"...I never thought I'd change my opinion again...but you moved me in a way that I've never known...you moved me in a way that I've never known..." Sora sang along to the tune carrying on in her head. She didn't care how loud she sang: she knew no one was in the apartment to sarcastically applaud her efforts.
As she sang away she rubbed body wash all over her supple, naked flesh, reveling in the rough feel of the water nailing down from the showerhead. She remembered she heard somewhere that a cold shower doesn't hinder arousal, but amplifies it, and mused that hot water was even better. She moaned and heard the rhythm in her head pick up again, so opened her mouth to sing again.
But then she started, as she thought she had heard a door shut. Nervously, she looked over her shoulder, then reached out to draw back the shower curtain. She recalled how during her errand run she had felt like someone was following her, and felt that feeling now.
"Takeru? That you?" she called out as she stared at the slightly ajar bathroom door that led to her and Yamato's bedroom. She reached to turn off the water, but as silence only greeted her question, she laughed to herself and shrugged the uneasy feeling away. Thinking she was just being foolish, and that Takeru had already left as he said he would, she drew the curtain closed again and resumed her shower.
The song in her head had continued without her, so she sang the lyrics that accompanied it, "...but straight away you just moved into position again...you abused me in a way that I've never known...you abused me in a way that I've never known..." she started to lather up her face and kept her eyes closed.
Then she heard another strange sound, and made the song she was singing flee from her head. She heard a creak, which was a familiar sound to her. The sound was one which had, times before, alerted her that Yamato was trying to sneak into the bathroom to join her in the shower. It was the bathroom door opening. And, like times before, she assumed that Yamato was again going to attempt to join her in the shower.
"Yamato, I thought you had to go to work," Sora confidently scolded as she ignored him and continued lathering up. "Did you lie just to surprise me?"
She heard a low throaty male-voiced growl in response, and smiled that Yamato was playing predator again.
She giggled lightly, airily, and decided to play his game, "Why don't you come join me?" she said sexily, and immediately the sounds she heard were of clothes rustling and a loose belt buckle crashing to the tile floor.
She laughed again, "If I were you, I'd have already stripped down. Then again, I am already stripped down. And very wet," she sighed suggestively.
She heard another animalistic growl, this time right outside the shower curtain. She opened one eye and saw a very manly silhouette formed against the curtain. Then she shut her eye tight again, like the other one, so as to tease her lover further. She knew how much he liked to see her eyes when he was ministering her, and decided to taunt him until he made her get off.
"...so? Come on in," Sora demanded, her hand reaching out to find the curtain edge. But suddenly the curtain was dragged urgently open, and just as quickly was closed again. The only difference to the bathroom environment now than before the invitation Sora made was that she was not alone in the shower.
Sora smiled as she smelled the intensely male musk that had joined her under the water. "Mmm, that's nice, isn't it?" she asked her manly shower companion.
She heard a throaty sound, weak with desire, as an affirmative. But he didn't even attempt to touch her.
"Come on, now, don't be a stranger. You've done this before," Sora reached out and her hands touched lean torso muscle. "Touch me," she ordered.
Immediately a pair of callused hand seized her shoulders, then slowly slid down the front of her chest, around to her ribs, over her hips, to her thighs, and another turn brought them to rest on her butt. Then the hands pulled her towards their master, pressing soft feminine breasts to toned masculine chest.
Sora moaned, "My, aren't we horny." She could feel a male member, half-hard, prodding her inner thighs.
Another throaty grunt of approval. But no other movements.
"Silly, do I have to tell you how to do it? Well, if that's your game...kiss me."
Thick lips descended on Sora's mouth, and hungrily nipped at her lips for a second before parting.
"That's even better. Do that everywhere on me," Sora commanded.
He didn't need to be told twice. She could feel suction and hear suckling sounds emitted along her jaw, on her neck, against her collar bone, on top of her shoulder, at the edge of her elbow. The place she liked best where he kissed her was her earlobe, which he had drawn into his mouth and worried with his teeth. At least, she thought she liked it best, until he discovered her taught nipples. Between every searing hickey she moaned or sighed and ground her body against his. And this encouraged him.
Away from her chest his lips drifted, and she heard thumps and felt the fiberglass shower vibrate as he kneeled down. Her eyes continuously squeezed shut, she could still find arousal in the sensation and sound of him kissing her abdomen. A hickey against her navel, one planted right on her hip, another in the crease of her leg to her stomach. Then nothing, though those huge hands soothingly caressed the backs of her legs.
He was waiting for her order. She was starting to dislike this game where he got her all bothered but then stopped to hear for her go ahead. But she figured that this would deliver in the end, and so continued to play along. "Kiss me there."
And she thought she'd lose her mind over all the pleasure he was redeeming her between her legs. Instinct made her raise one leg and throw it over his shoulder as he knelt before her, while her hands raked though his great mop of thick wet hair. Thick lips nipped and pecked and smooched and Frenched her, and she realized that Yamato had never been this inventive before. Between moans she managed to gasp out, "Where've you been getting your ideas, that Sex Diaries magazine?"
A throaty growl of response, as manly as it was, pushed her over the edge, and she screamed out as she climaxed. She wondered if he could taste her over the continuous shower water spray.
"Oh, that felt so good," Sora panted as she came back down, and her leg was pushed off his back as he stood up. She was still shuddering with the aftershocks of her orgasm when he crushed her body between his and the shower wall, and used one hand beneath her bottom to lift her up off her feet, Sora instinctively throwing a leg over his hip, while a finger of his other hand plunged deep inside her.
"...more..." Sora moaned quietly as she dug her fingernails into his shoulders, deep enough to leave little crescent moon-shaped marks there tomorrow.
His lips sought her neck again while her hands moved down to squeeze his butt. Then she felt him near her entrance, and smiled that he had taken this move without waiting for her order. Just as she felt his tip against her folds, she decided to do something for him.
"Wait," Sora demanded, and pushed him away from her.
He grunted in disapproval, but she only laughed.
Still with her eyes shut tight, Sora knelt on the shower floor, her hands gripping his hips to aid her descent. "Now it's my turn," and one hand slid around his leg from his hip and gripped the arousal that stood out from space between his legs.
He started to groan in disapproval, but mid-moan he changed his mind, and ended with a very pleasurable noise in his throat. Sora merely smiled as she, blind to his state as she had her eyes closed, used one hand to pump him and brought the other to cup his sack.
A strangled "Ahh!" issued from his mouth and echoed through the bathroom. Sora paused a moment; the voice sounded deeper than what she was used to of Yamato's cries times before. But she shrugged the uneasiness quickly away, she had other tasks to attend to at the moment. Besides, she figured, it was probably just a trick to her ear thanks to the sound of the shower and the echo the bathroom created.
"You like that?" Sora giggled. "What else do you like?" still playing the game, but this time asking him for orders.
He didn't say a word, instead she felt one of his thick hands gently cup the back of her head, and slightly push forward, giving her a very clear message of what he wanted.
Sora giggled lightly, and heard him sigh deeply in response. He was rock-hard in her hand, and with her eyes still shut she relied on the sense of direction she had acquired a while ago after she had driven home late one night after a few drinks and a policeman stopped her and asked her to shut her eyes and touch her nose. She puckered her lips and inched her head forward, and kissed the end of his cock.
He sighed, hoarsely, earnestly, and she could feel the fingers of the hand on the back of her head curl, digging into her wet hair. She decided to spice things up. She decided to use her tongue. He obviously liked that: he tried to thrust into her.
Sora giggled, "Anxious, are we? All right then," and she opened her mouth wide, and took all of him inside.
He couldn't help himself: he couldn't remain silent any longer. "God, Sora!"
Sora froze. So did her partner. The mood was broken, since Sora recognized that voice of his. But it wasn't Yamato's voice.
Slowly, she pulled off of him, and he gasped when he was free again. Then she rubbed her eyes cautiously, carefully, to get the lather out so she could, when she opened her eyes, see clearly without having to blink. And then she opened her eyes, and screamed at what she saw.
"TAICHI!" she exclaimed, and immediately stood up, gripping the shower's built-in shelf to keep her balance. Then she ripped the shower curtain back, and ran out to grab her towel. Panting, she tightly wrapped her bath towel around her body, and shivering in anger and fear, kept her back to the shower as she gripped the bathroom sink to keep herself standing.
Taichi didn't immediately speak. Instead, once Sora fled the shower, he calmly turned the water off. He could hear her gasping for breath, and nonchalantly stepped out of the shower. He stalked towards Sora, not bothering to find a towel to cover his shame.
"...so you're the kind who deals with the games in the mind...well you confuse me in a way that I've never known...you confuse me in a way that I've never known..." Taichi lowly sang another part of the song he'd heard Sora singing in the shower when he'd first invaded her apartment. He sang the last verse right in her ear as he had come to a stop right behind her.
"You bastard!" Sora reeled around and pushed him. There were tears in her eyes.
Taichi stumbled back, but his feet found floor, so he didn't fall. He stood up straight, confident. He stared back to Sora and smiled. He still had a hard-on.
"That was nice," he said softly, and Sora didn't know if he was being sarcastic towards her pushing him, or talking about what they had just done in the shower. Alone. Together. She took him to meaning the latter, as he had then smiled even more broadly, if that was possible.
"Fuck you," Sora didn't usually swear, but she was so upset at the moment she didn't care for words, only for consequence. "FUCK YOU!!" she screamed as she lunged at him, knocking him to the floor.
Taichi landed flat on his back, and the wind escaping his lungs was audible. Sora landed on top of him, straddling his torso as she avoided his erection. He reached arms up around her, but then she started punching him, and he moved his hands so they gripped her upper arms, to try to push her off. She got him right in the eye before he finally rolled and threw her off of him.
"Yamato taught me that!" Sora spoke of her fighting skills then, panting, she scrabbled along the floor to get away from him, and cowered in a corner while Taichi cursed and tried to get up.
Slowly, deliberately, Taichi got up, and Sora watched his every move. He stood up and went to the bathroom sink, to catch a glimpse of the shiner he'd received from her in the mirror on the wall. It was starting to redden. He chuckled, then grabbed a bath towel from the rod on the wall next to the sink, wrapping it around his waist. Then he turned around and looked at Sora.
Sora gasped, afraid he'd try to hurt her. She was vulnerable. 'If only I was in the kitchen,' she thought to herself, 'I could grab a knife to defend myself with.'
Still smiling, Taichi lazily took a few steps towards her, then stopped when he was a foot away. Then he pointed up to his bruised eye, "Yamato taught you this? I could've taught you better."
"You're a complete asshole," Sora spat at him.
Taichi's fists went to his hips as he threw his head back and laughed out loud.
Nervously, Sora got to her feet, but was shaking all over. She still leaned back into the corner for support. "I should call the police on you."
"...and tell them what? That a 'stranger' came into your apartment and he pleasured you because you told him to, but then you changed your mind about sex and want me locked away because I gave you a hickey?" Taichi pointed to Sora's neck, where the blood vessels had obviously broken beneath the skin due to his suckling. "Or two?" he took a step towards her, so they were face to face, and moved his pointing finger so that it touched her chest where a love bite was visible just above her towel.
Sora was shivering in fear. Taichi towered over her, and she was looking up at his eyes and struggling not to cry. She swallowed audibly. Taichi's smile was menacing to her. She was afraid that if she tried to fight back again, he would use violence and force her to finish what they had started in the shower, by raping her. Taichi lightly moved his hand, open palmed, to be against the side of her face.
Sora gulped again, thinking 'This is it: he's going to have his way with me, just because I wouldn't when we were going out. He's caught me, and no one's around to save me.' She squeezed her eyes shut, but this time it was in fear and not for foreplay.
But when she thought he was going to start--he had leaned in real close as if to kiss her--he sighed as though exasperated, and turned away. He pulled his hand away and took steps away from her.
Sora opened her eyes, surprised, to see what he was doing. He had walked back to the bathroom sink, and was looking more seriously at the purple ring that surrounded his eye.
Taichi sighed again, his hands on either side of the sink, and hung his head. "Sora, didn't you feel anything?"
"I thought you were Yamato! Didn't you hear me ask him that question about lying about going to work!? I thought you were my boyfriend!"
Taichi turned around and leaned back against the sink, "Even when you asked him if he'd been getting ideas from Sex Diaries magazines?"
Sora at first thought Taichi was mocking her, but the expression on his face seemed so sincere. She didn't know what to say.
"Sora, I want you to know that I've changed from what I used to be," Taichi stood up straight and clasped his hands together.
"I don't call breaking into my home and sneaking into my shower under the guise of my lover as having changed," Sora glared at her former boyfriend.
Taichi chuckled as he ran a thick hand through his damp hair. Sora watched it, and realized that it was the same hand whose fingers had been inside her only minutes before.
"I was immature, I know," Taichi continued as though Sora hadn't even spoken.
"Damn, right! I'd also call what you did just now immature!" Sora fumed.
Taichi took a step forward. "But it wasn't, was it? You could feel how mature I am, couldn't you?"
Sora blushed. No words came except the childish: "Shut up."
Taichi smiled. "But I have changed, regardless of what you want to believe. I've grown up mentally and emotionally. As well as physically."
"Why? Why are you doing this?"
He took another step towards her. "Sora, I want you to know that I still love you."
"Oh, please!" Sora sarcastically sniffed.
Another step forward, "And I came here to talk to you, but--"
"How the Hell did you get into my home in the first place!?" Sora demanded. "What, did Takeru politely invite you in as he was leaving to go for a walk!?"
Taichi sighed as he looked to the floor. Quietly he mumbled, "I've been following you today, and he didn't shut the door completely as he left, and--"
"YOU!! So I wasn't being paranoid! You're stalking me!" Sora became excited. "Oh, this is rich! Now I really DO have something to call the police about!" she bravely emerged from her corner and ran out the bathroom door, racing to the telephone that was on the bedside table in the room beyond.
"Wait!" Taichi raced after her, one hand holding the towel secure around his waist, the other reached out, and grabbed her wrist just as she picked up the receiver.
"Don't touch me!" Sora easily shook his grasp away, and turned back to the phone, reaching to dial the police.
"I said wait!" Taichi grabbed her again, ripped the receiver from her hand with the other hand, and slammed it back down on the telephone base. Then he grabbed that other wrist, and bodily threw her on her back on her own bed, while he still stood on the floor, but was bent over and face to face with her.
She was panting, chest heaving: fear had returned as she believed that this was where Taichi had decided to rape her.
But he was out of breath too, and could not help thinking that Sora looked beautiful when she was angry.
"Sora, I love you. I'm never going to stop loving you. And I'm telling the truth when I say that I've changed! I'm sorry I followed you since it scared you, but what I do is out of love for you! I came here originally to talk to you about all this, but when I heard you singing as I came in..." Taichi sighed forlornly, "...I couldn't help but thank God that you have always been the woman I love. You haven't changed since we broke up."
Sora laughed hysterically, out of disbelief of what he was saying, and fear of what he might to do while she was in this vulnerable position.
Taichi's expression changed to one of concern, and looking into his eyes, Sora thought she saw tears forming.
"And I'm glad that you haven't changed, since I want you to give me a second chance."
"Are you kidding!?" Sora found strength with her anger, and as she moved to sit up she pushed him off of her. "I am happy in this life with Yamato; without you!"
"Are you sure?"
Taichi was speaking of maturity, and Sora recalled how just the previous day Yamato was immaturely teasing Takeru. Exasperated, Sora sought an excuse, "There are no second chances!"
"There are new beginnings," Taichi had approached the bed again after being pushed away, and sat down on the edge of it.
Sora pulled her legs up, trying to get as far away from him as possible. He sighed, mounting his elbows on his knees, and hung his head as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hands.
Sora couldn't help staring, and reminiscing about what she once had with Taichi. And what she had just had with Taichi. She'd had fun. 'No, stop thinking that way,' she thought to herself, 'you love Yamato...don't you?' her eyes roved the body of her exboyfriend, his skin slightly darker in shade than Yamato's, his arms slightly stronger when lifting her up... 'Stop it!' she slammed her hands over her ears, attempting to drown out her own thoughts. "Stop it!" she shouted out.
Taichi turned to look at her. "I'm sorry if you feel I hurt you, Sora. But in truth, we've done this before: these acts of physical love. And before it wasn't pain. So what makes it pain now?"
"I'm committed to another," Sora explained quietly.
"What, just because you live with Yamato, it's painful to have fun with me anymore?"
"Yamato is my boyfriend now, and you are not anymore!"
Taichi sighed and looked away again. "All I ever did was love you, and want to make you feel as good as was possible. That's all..."
Sora started to drop her guard, "...really?"
Taichi suddenly whirled to face her. "Yes!" he exclaimed, urgency in his eyes.
Sora looked away, quickly feeling shy. "But I'm happy in my life with Yamato..." she seemed to say with much reluctance.
"And you were happy in the shower with me just moments ago..."
Sora was on the verge of tears, "It's not my fault! I thought you were Yamato!"
"But I still made you feel good, didn't I?"
"It's not my fault..."
Taichi reached out and grasped Sora's hand. She didn't pull away.
"All I want is to show you how much of a better person I've become. Just one more chance."
A tear fell from Sora's eye. "...just one more chance."
Taichi smiled gently, and raised her hand to his mouth, planting a sweet kiss on its back. Then he released it to climb further onto the bed, towards Sora, and leaned in close. His head close to hers, his eyes locked on hers. She looked away. He reached a hand up and wiped her single tear from her face, and she looked back to him. And he looked down at her lips and then back up to her eyes, and moved an inch closer. And she stayed still.
Then he kissed her. She didn't kiss him back.
He parted from the kiss and looked into her eyes again, his mouth smiling gently. He moved his hand into her hair. She suddenly threw her hands onto his shoulders, suddenly thinking she had to push him away. But when he moved in towards her again, she didn't force him back. And when he kissed her again, she kissed him back. And it felt good.
Sora moved her hands from his shoulders to around his back, nails scraping up his spine, as she got more involved in the kiss. While Taichi's one hand stayed rooted in her hair, he slid the other across the bed to her drawn-up legs, finding an ankle. He cupped her soft heel, then moved his palm up her calf, over her knee, up her thigh, and beneath her towel.
Suddenly, Sora changed her mind. This was her body, her heart, her choice, but it was on her's and Yamato's bed, in her's and Yamato's home.
"Stop!" Sora withdrew her tongue from Taichi's mouth and pushed him off of her.
"What's wrong!?" Taichi nearly fell off the bed, and nearly lost his towel, in the process. He managed to stumble back to a sitting position on the edge of the bed, and re-tied on his towel: his hardened cock was trying to peek out again.
"...not here. No, not here," Sora nearly sobbed as she glanced around the room, seeing all kinds of possessions that were her's, or Yamato's, or both her's and Yamato's. This was her life all around her; all her life up to this day. This day when she was making love to another man. Another man who was not her boyfriend.
"Sora? I thought...but I told you that I'd..." Taichi was confused.
"No...I need to think..."
"What!? I've told you why I'm here and everything...what else is there to think about?"
Sora stared at him in disbelief, "My life had other commitments before you came here today, you know! I have to think about them over you!"
"But that's not what you want! What you want is right here! Me!"
"Don't tell me what I want! You don't know anything about what I want!"
"I know you wanted me to fuck you in the shower just a few minutes ago!"
"Fuck you!"
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Takeru decided to return to the apartment by going up the stairs: no use in ruining the exercise he was getting by using the elevator. He was hungry, and hoped that Sora had gotten dinner started so he could satiate his growling stomach with the smells while he waited for the actual food to be served. He fished in his pocket for Sora's key as he approached the apartment door.
And as Takeru unlocked the door and entered his brother's home, shouts and yells of an argument resounded throughout the apartment. He could hear a feminine voice, one that sang and was cheery and an advice-giver: it was Sora's voice. But the other voice...Takeru couldn't put his finger on. It was masculine, and confident, and, for some reason Takeru couldn't deduct, made him shiver in disgust. It wasn't Yamato's voice, as though his brother at times disgusted Takeru, this voice he was hearing argue Sora seemed even more horrendous.
Takeru decided to find out what was going on. The fight was going on down the hall, in the owners of the apartment's bedroom. Louder seemed the voices as Takeru approached, but he didn't think it was just because he was closer. It seemed to him that those who were yelling were just getting angrier and angrier.
Finally at the door, which was slightly ajar, Takeru put his ear close to listen. Though he was eavesdropping, Takeru figured that Sora knew he'd be returning at some point, and would realize that not only he could hear the fight, but their neighbours could as well. 'Sora must really be upset to raise her voice like that,' Takeru thought that as vivacious as Sora was, she'd never become so agitated on her own to call for a voluminous voice. It was her male companion who was angering her.
"Don't tell me what I want! You don't know anything about what I want!" Sora's voice exclaimed, wavering as though she would cry.
"I know you wanted me to fuck you in the shower just a few minutes ago!" that male voice was very, VERY familiar to Takeru, and the blond teen shivered again. He had to see who the man was. He gently pushed the door with his hand, to try to open it discreetly.
"Fuck you!" Sora swore. Takeru nearly jumped: he'd never heard Sora use that extreme word before. The door was opened just far enough for him to see that Sora was sitting at the head of the bed, wrapped up in a bath towel. She was staring at something in front of her. Takeru would have to secretly push the door open more to see who she was arguing with.
"The best thing for you would be to act on the emotions you have right now!" the male's voice was irritated and irritating to Takeru. Just open the door a little bit more...
"No, that'd be the best thing for you!" Takeru saw Sora suddenly leap up, reaching a hand out to the man she was fighting with. "You see what I mean!?" Sora fell back to a sitting position against the headboard again, and Takeru saw that she had another bath towel in her hand.
"So you're saying that these are the emotions you have right now? Just like me?" Takeru noticed an arm reached out to Sora, and it was male and muscled and of a darker shade of skin from Yamato's. The voice seemed to mock, and Takeru opened the door more, seeing shoulder and a leg bent and resting on the sheets as the man sat on the edge of the bed.
"Fuck you!" Sora exclaimed again, and she threw the towel in her hand back to the man. Sora crossed her arms and looked away, and appeared to be sulking.
"Come on, Sora, just give in to what you want," the male voice tried to sound seductive, and Takeru didn't have to open the door anymore. Because the man had gotten up to crawl across the bed to Sora, and Takeru saw and recognized the full head of bushy brunette hair.
"Taichi!" Takeru forgot about opening the door quietly and burst into the room, just as it looked like Sora's exboyfriend would try to kiss her. "Leave her alone!"
"Takeru!" Sora exclaimed, a tear or two escaping her eyes in gratitude, as she clambered across the bed away from Taichi and towards her boyfriend's little brother. Sora jumped to stand on the floor, and rushed to stand behind Takeru, a hand clutching her towel around her while she nervously bit a nail on the other hand.
Taichi had stared at Sora as she fled, and once she was safe behind Takeru, Taichi cast his eyes to look at the teenager. Seeing Takeru's unbelievably angered expression, Taichi couldn't help but smirk and chuckle. "She didn't want to be alone moments before, Ishida. She wanted someone to be with her. And in her."
"Shut up!" Sora sobbed.
"Get out," Takeru ordered Taichi, pointing a finger over his shoulder to the open bedroom door.
Taichi laughed out loud as he grasped the towel that was loose on his lap, and secured it back around his waist as he stood up. "Can't," he said simply and shrugged his shoulders, "I don't have my clothes on. They're still on the bathroom floor, where I had dropped them after Sora told me to join her in the shower."
"For crying out loud!" Takeru didn't believe Taichi. He stalked around the bed and into the bathroom and gathered up Taichi's clothes. Then he returned to the bedroom and threw the clothes at Taichi.
Taichi caught all except his underwear. "Oops," he smiled, then he glanced over his shoulder at Sora and winked. When he bent over to retrieve his drawers, Sora looked away and made a noise of disgust, as he had given her a clear view of what was beneath his towel.
"Now get the Hell out," Takeru got nose-to-nose with Taichi, "Before I give you a second black eye to match the one you already have." While Takeru seared with rage towards the invader, Taichi merely smiled triumphantly.
"I'll, uh, leave Yamato's bath towel by the door as I leave the apartment," Taichi mockingly said. Then he chuckled again, and sauntered away from Takeru and around the bed.
He approached Sora casually as she stood by the bedroom door. She shivered under his confident gaze, and struggled not to look in his eyes. Takeru thought he'd have to come between them, but Taichi merely looked at her with a strange possessive look to his eyes. Suddenly he made a low noise that caused Sora to look at him, to see what he was doing. Taichi started to sing again.
"Now don't you know I live with a ton of regret...'cause I used to move you in a way that you've never known...but then I accused you in a way that you've never known..." Taichi murmured when he stopped by the door, his head so close to hers that his breath blew through her hair. Sora's jaw dropped at the implications of the verses Taichi had picked to sing, until he sang the last line.
"...but then you hurt me in a way that I've never known..." Taichi smiled broadly.
And Sora regained her composure as he conceitedly sang the line.
Takeru, not knowing what was happening between the two former lovers, rounded the bed and stood between them again. Takeru's eyes, staring daggers, blocked Taichi's view of Sora, and Taichi merely snickered.
"I'll be talking to you later, Sora," Taichi said in a mocking tone. Then he turned and walked out.
And both Sora and Takeru held their positions as they listened to Taichi put his clothes back on and then leave the apartment with a great slam of the door.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"How could this happen?" Takeru sat in disbelief on the livingroom couch, Sora sitting in the armchair on the other side of the coffeetable between them, sobbing into her hands.
After Taichi had left the apartment, Takeru had immediately whirled to face Sora, and demand to know what the Hell was going on. Sora weakly convinced him to let her get some clothes on first, and once she'd done that, she led him into the livingroom and sat him down to tell him the story.
She explained that Taichi snuck in after Takeru had left without ensuring that the door was shut tight. She clarified that she thought it was Yamato who was sneaking up on her while she was in the shower. She outlined that she had invited him in and played with him until his voice gave him away. She recalled how she had escaped the shower and then fought with Taichi. And finally she summarized that Taichi wanted to go out with her again.
Takeru apologized deeply for not shutting the door tightly. He persuaded her that he didn't need to know every little detail about what went on in the shower. He applauded her that she had tried to beat Taichi up. But he damned Taichi when Sora's face appeared to consider Taichi's want as she told Takeru about it.
"That bastard should be put away for this," Takeru cursed once he'd heard the whole story. But it wasn't the whole story, as Sora hadn't told him that she had let Taichi kiss her and she had kissed him back, even after she knew that it was Taichi and not Yamato who had fooled with her in the shower.
"I don't know what to do," Sora cried as she wiped away the tears on her face with the sleeve of her shirt. She had deliberately put on long-sleeved clothes, despite the warm weather, as she felt quite vulnerable under any man's gaze now. She wasn't sure who to trust, what with Taichi having posed as her boyfriend to make his way into her shower. Furthermore, she was hiding from Takeru all the hickeys and love marks Taichi had given her all over her body.
Takeru's rage subsided as concern for Sora's emotional state built up. "What do you think is best?" he asked her, completely unsure himself what she should do.
Sora sniffed once more, but then a determined look came to her eyes. And then it harnessed her voice as well, "I have to tell Yamato."
Takeru, shocked, quickly looked up at her. He didn't know how his brother would take it once he'd heard. Sure Takeru had grown up under the elder Ishida's watchful gaze, but since Yamato had moved in with Sora, Takeru hadn't heard or known much of Yamato's progression into life. So Takeru didn't know how Yamato could handle the news of his girlfriend having practically slept with another man.
Sora continued, "Takeru, I love your brother, and the best thing for our relationship is the truth. I have to tell him...regardless of how fearful I am of his reaction."
Takeru sat back on the couch, relieved. He respected Sora's sensibility and courage, and hoped that he himself would eventually acquire those skills soon so as to express to Hikari his love for her.
But as Takeru thought, Sora was still speaking. "Takeru, I'm so afraid," Sora sobbed, tears streaming down the sides of her porcelain face. "I'm afraid that what I tell him will break him inside. I don't want him to hurt; I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm afraid he won't understand these troubled feelings I'm having right now, and I'm afraid that he won't give me another chance," she recalled how Taichi wanted a second chance with her. "I'm afraid that Yamato will leave me."
Takeru watched Sora shudder and shake and quiver and quake. He thought that she would suddenly explode into glittering innocent particles of confetti. He got up off of the couch and walked around the coffeetable, to stand beside Sora's armchair and give her comfort. As soon as he got there she threw her arms around him in an embrace as she continued to cry and wail. Takeru could only hug her and rub her back and coo enouragements and support for this awful truth she would have to tell Yamato.
"I'm so afraid. So afraid..." Sora mumbled incoherently as she cried into Takeru's shoulder, and Takeru was softly thinking and worrying seriously how a great accident such as this could ruin his chance with Hikari.