Disclaimer: Digimon is not mine. I am merely taking a few creative liberties and manipulating them to do what I want.

It had been almost two months since Yama's father was killed. A month since he had come to live with us, a permanent guest in our humble household. He sold his father's house, donating the money to charities since he really didn't need it. Funny how such a short period of time of finally being happy after so much misery can really change a person. His eyes, while they still look a bit haunted, were no longer dead and flat but joyful and twinkling. He smiled a lot and laughed more, willing to share his emotions with the rest of the world. He was still wary about being in public or near a strange man but all-in-all, he was a changed person. He still hated his fan girls, still hated the fact that he had groups of both adoring girls and boys stalking him, still hated being famous but loved being able to do what he had a passion for.

"Hey Tai, whatcha thinking about?" he whispered seductively into my ear. That was another thing that had changed. His hormones hit him full fledged once he had come to grips with the abuse and now acted, for the most part, like a normal, horny teen. He refused to go beyond kissing but I was willing to wait. We didn't need to hurry and I respected his wishes.

"Get off me, you wanker. Mom's gonna be home any minute now." I laughed, pushing his chest and he fell backward onto the floor with a hurt look on his face.

"You don't like me anymore? What, thinking about going back to Sora?" he pouted, trying to do his best impression of a jealous boyfriend and failed miserably. He only succeeded in making himself look and sound ridiculous. I leaned over and pulled him back up onto the couch.

"Don't be such a baby, Yama. You know we're over. And there's no going back." I pressed my lips against his forehead and he closed his eyes happily.

Flashback

"Oh my god, Taichi, are you okay? I heard you were at the hospital and I just flipped!" She rushed over to me and landed one on my lips. My eyes popped open and I shifted away from her. She was licking my lips with her tongue, asking for entrance but I pulled away.

"Umm, Sora? Look, could you leave? I need to be alone right now." I looked away, feigning guilt. She looked at me, then at Yama, then back at me again.

"Well, ok. But then why don't you ask Yamato to leave? I mean, he's here too. And you need to be alone so why don't you ask him to leave too?"

"Because I want, or rather, need him to be here." I answered simply. She made a small noise in her throat, her mouth open in a very unladylike manner.

"And you don't want ME?!" her voice rose in pitch and volume until she practically shrieked the last word. I felt Yama stiffen and out of the corner of my eye, saw that he had covered both his ears with his hands and was glaring at her.

"Well," I stalled, "I just don't think that we're- right for each other. I mean, I'm not right for you and you're not right for me." I met her eyes and they were furious, shooting daggers at me and Yama.

"Are you breaking up with me?" she hissed dangerously, leaning closer. I backed away some more.

"Yeah, I guess I am. Sorry Sora." I bit my lip and watched her sink back onto her knees. She stared at me with shock and rage, all the while babbling incoherently.

"Fine." She got a hold of herself and stood. "Fine. I don't think we're right for each other. So I'm sorry to say but I don't think we should date anymore. See if I care." Her words were fast and sharp and she rose, stalked out of the apartment and slammed the door so hard, I heard the windows rattle. Yama lowered his hands from his ears and I turned to him.

"Sorry you had to see that." I coughed. He only beamed at me.

"That's okay. It only means that you're mine, now." He giggled and jumped on me, his soft lips attacking mine.

End flashback.

"Tai?" I pulled myself out of my reverie and met his gaze. "Tai, what do you think my mom would say if she knew?"

"Oh." I hadn't expected that. "Well, to tell you the truth, I really wouldn't know. I think she would be upset that he had been hurting you all that time and she had no idea and couldn't help you. I- I- I dunno." He nodded thoughtfully for a moment then flashed a wide, toothy grin. Anyone who didn't know him would have been bemused at his sudden change of moods but, having been his roommate for two months, I was used to it. He had these mood swings quite a few times a day; he could go from the happiest person in the world to a raging madman, screaming every insult known to man. Most of the time, however, he would become serious and moody, brooding on things that could not be changed and asking questions that could not be answered. I did my best to help him and had learned that sometimes, it was just best if I left him alone. His therapist said that he was making a lot of progress considering that he had been abused, had kept his thoughts and emotions pent up for so long.

"Tai?" I nodded to show that I was listening. "Tai," he snuggled closer to me, "you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Besides Takeru of course." I smiled down at him and somehow, we ended up kissing, again. His hands were roaming under my shirt, massaging my sore muscles. Bloody hell, this feels good! We were lost in each other when the door flew open.

"Hello? Anybody-" a shriek from Kari brought us back to earth. "Oh shit, I didn't realize you would be home, doing that, no less." She threw a slipper at us; it hit me in the back of the head and Yama stifled a laugh. "Get a room if you're going to make out, 'kay? Seeing my older brother kiss anyone is traumatizing enough. Seeing my older brother kiss the older brother of my boyfriend is even worse. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to my room to gouge my eyes out and hope to God that I can get this image out of my head." She shook her head and disappeared into her room. A second later, she stuck her out again. "Oh, and both of you please remember that we're going out later." Both of us groaned and rolled our eyes at her. She had been reminding us all week; for some reason unknown to us, she was particularly excited about our up-and-coming 'date' although it had become a ritual for us.

Since our mother worked long hours and at night, Kari and I were rarely able to see her at all and we missed the contact with her. So we came to an agreement that one day out of every week we would go on a 'date' just the three of us. When Yama moved in, it became the four of us. We always had fun on our outings, always eating dinner at a cheap diner and afterwards doing something different each time. This week was also going to be different. At Kari's insistence, we would be dining at a nice, relatively fancy restaurant instead of somewhere cheap and fast. Mom was skeptical at first but changed her mind so fast that it made the two of us suspicious. The whole week was filled with meaningful looks from the both of them, looks that taunted 'we know something you don't know' at us.

"Do you really want to go tonight? I dunno, I just feel like their planning something that's either really good or really humiliating for the both of us."

"Well, knowing Kari, it's probably the second one." I shrugged.

"Gee, thanks. That was so reassuring. I have no desire to be made a fool of by your baby sister, thank you very much." Yama sniffed indignantly. We spent the rest of the afternoon arguing about which television show we would watch.

"Let's watch this one!" Yama nearly shouted, pointing exasperatedly at the screen. "Come on, Tai. Let's watch this one."

"No. I wanna watch THIS one." I changed the channel and found the one I wanted. Yama shook his head obstinately and I threw my head back and groaned. It was useless sometimes, trying to get the two of us to agree. We were headstrong, stubborn, persistent, and very unwilling to compromise. I glowered at him and he returned my look with a fierce gaze of his own. Both of us were tugging at the remote but the t.v. was forgotten; now it was just seeing who would back down first. Our battle of wills was interrupted when Mom flew threw the door.

"Hello boys. Sorry I'm late. Are you ready? We're going to leave any minute now. Stop fighting and let's get a move on!" she bustled to her room where she closed and locked the door. I sighed.

"Let's go. Kari'll kill us if we're late." Accepting defeat for both parties, we changed into something suitable for the evening's environment. Outside our door, we could hear the faint sounds of conspiratorial whispering but didn't pay too much attention to it. When we had finished, Yama opened the door and stepped outside, I was close behind. Suddenly, he gasped and stopped short and, not expecting it, I ran right into him. Standing in front of him was his brother.

"Tk?" he breathed, stretching out his hand and touching the other boy's cheek as if making sure he was real and not just a vision. Kari had a knowing smile on her face; this was the reason for her excitement. I made a mental note to thank her later for the look on Yama's face was priceless.

A/N: Ok, I'm leaving it there because I really want to go into how Yamato feels about this… of course, it's a good reaction but… you'll see! Also, you'll notice I skipped a month from where I left off. I didn't really want to go into how Tai's mom and Kari reacted to the fact that he was kidnapped. I dunno if I will at all but I might. It depends on how I'm feeling. My characters are changing, especially Yama. I know he seems to be "healing" faster than in reality but bear with me. Just assume that his relationship with Tai, the loving environment Tai's family has provided for him, and the twice-weekly therapist sessions are REALLY doing magic for him. That's about it, I guess. As always, feedback is appreciated.