Disclaimer: blahdee blah blah. Not mine… dur.
"Takeru?" I breathed, disbelieving that he would just show up in front of me on a whim. What was he doing here?
"Hi Matt." He smiled nervously at me, calling me the name he always used to call me when he was younger, when he couldn't fully pronounce my name.
"What are you doing here?" After all those years of relative silence from each other, it was a shock to see how much he had grown up.
His eyes still held the look of naïve innocence but his face had matured, giving him the appearance that he was older than he really was. His hair had darkened somewhat; before, it had been the same color as my hair. Now it was the color of brown sugar. He was taller now, his head was level to my shoulder and he no longer wore that dumpy little helmet of his. Instead, he left his hair uncombed and tousled, as if he had just gotten out of bed and the style softened the sharp features on his face. His voice had deepened but I knew it would crack sometimes. His body was lanky, as if he'd been stretched too much and he walked with the awkwardness of a baby duckling. Still, it was good to see him, no matter how awkward he may have been.
"I'm dating Kari and she asked me to come over," was the simple reply and then something in his face changed. His voice became anxious and he grabbed my hands. "Matt? You know that I missed you, right? You know that I wanted to see you, right? Cuz I did. I tried to see you but you were always busy. Dad said that you thought I didn't love you anymore, that I'd forgotten about you but I didn't. I love you, Matt, you're my older brother. I just couldn't see you anymore. He wouldn't let me." I couldn't swallow the lump that had appeared in my throat so I hugged him.
"I know, Tk. I know. He wouldn't let me see you. I so wanted to see you."
"What happened, Matt? Dad always said you were grounded."
"He just didn't want you to see me." I answered, my heart was beating uncomfortably in my throat. We were treading dangerous waters and I didn't want him to know exactly what was going on between dad and me.
"What happened? Why aren't you living with him anymore? Kari said you're staying with them." He sounded so innocent and once again, I found myself loving him so much it hurt. He was and always would be, my baby brother and I would always do my best to protect him from the harsher elements of the world. "Matt?"
"I can't tell you, Tk. I just can't." I gulped. I didn't know how he would react when he found out and there was no way I was going to risk losing him.
"Please, Matt? Please?" He hugged me tighter. "Tell me. Please?" I hated it when he used that tone. I could never resist. Even then, I felt my resolution cracking and I sighed. Dammit, I can never say no to the kid.
"Fine, I'll tell you." I ruffled his hair. "Mrs. Yagami, we'll be out in just a bit." I led him to Tai's room and closed the door. He sat down on the bed and I sat down next to him. "Ok, where should I start?"
"What happened to make you run away?"
"He was hurting me. So I ran." I was only giving him short, concise answers that told the truth but left out all the gory details.
"Hurting you? How?"
"He was abusing me." I shrugged, trying my best to look nonchalant about it. As if the abuse was nothing more than limited use of the internet or the phone, as if I had merely run away from the "dictatorship" of my father.
"Matt, I'm not five," he snapped, "Tell me exactly what he was doing to you." He probably had a good idea about what had been going on but I guess he wanted to hear it from me. Nevertheless, the thought of revealing all my shame to my younger brother was disconcerting and I shrank from the thought. He nudged me and nagged and whined until I was frustrated to the point of snapping. I jumped up and faced him, anger flaring in my eyes.
"Dammit, Tk, that son of a bitch raped me. There, are you happy now? That fucking bastard raped me every night for over five years," I shouted, leaning in so my face was barely an inch away from his. He stared at me in shock over my outburst, innocent sky-blue eyes wide open.
"Matt? I- I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me?" His voice cracked and I smiled indulgently at his self-consciousness.
"Because I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want you to know about any of it." I sat down again and ran a hand over my eyes.
"Why not?" he pressed. What's the use? He knows too much already. Might as well tell him everything. He has a right to know, doesn't he?
"Because- because I thought it was my fault, okay? For a while I thought it was my fault that he hated me so much that he would feel the need to punish me in such a way that it destroyed me mentally and emotionally and physically." Tk stood and wrapped his arms around me. He was no longer a child. The realization hit me that my little brother, my Tk, was no longer someone who needed to be looked after constantly. He could take care of himself and didn't need to be protected from everything bad in the world, didn't need to be sheltered from reality. I loved him. My eyes watered but I brushed away the tears impatiently. I'd had enough crying.
"I'm sorry, Matt. I didn't know. I figured something was wrong but I didn't know. I wish I had." He whispered sorrowfully. I chuckled.
"Hey, you couldn't have known. I didn't let anyone know. You never even saw me. Tai saw me every day and he didn't know what was up until just very recently. And it was only because dear old dad started to get sloppy and hit me on the face quite a number of times. Don't feel guilty."
"Where is he now?" Anger tinged his words and I nearly smiled. He was getting hot-headed, reminding me of a certain someone who was waiting for me outside the door…
"He's dead." The words came out so easily, so unemotionally. Tk gasped. "He found me after I ran away and he kidnapped Tai and I went with the police to get him and I guess he pulled a gun on them so they killed him." I felt nothing. No anger, no fear, nothing. It was frightening and liberating at the same time.
"He's dead so he can't ever hurt you again." It was my turn to be shocked. I never expected him to say something like that. "I can't believe he would hurt you so badly. I'm so sorry."
"Hey, little bro. No problem. He's dead and gone and like you said he can't ever bother me again. He can't hurt me. I'm happy now for the first time in a long time I'm happy. Don't be sorry. He was a son-of-a-bitch, anyways. Good riddance to him." I smiled. "Now, let's go eat before Tai passes out. He's been moaning about the rumbling in his gut for an hour." I turned to open the door.
"Oh, Matt? Are you and him-" he blushed, "are you guys- together?"
"Yeah. We are." I replied boldly. He wouldn't care, would he? But my momentary worries were blown away when he returned my smile.
"Good. Took you long enough." He muttered just loud enough so I could hear. I stopped with one hand on the doorknob and stared incredulously at him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded, already half-knowing the answer.
"Well, you've liked him ever since we arrived at the Digital World. And I know he's liked you too. The both of you are just too damn stubborn and blind for your own good." I pulled him into a headlock.
"Are you SURE that I've liked him for that long?" I asked, giving him a noogie and he squirmed.
"Yes! It was so obvious. Blinking, in-your-face, neon sign obvious to EVERYONE, even Kari, except for the two of you." I let go of him.
"Whatever, kid, whatever." I acquiesced, knowing that what he had said was true. Well, on my part, it was true. I opened the door and we walked out.
"Finally," Tai grumbled unhappily as he rubbed his stomach, "I was just about to pass out from starvation. Let's get a flamin-" The rest of his words were jumbled as I'd closed the small distance between us and, in front of everyone, kissed him smack on the lips.
"Tai, my little bug of a brother here thinks that we've had a thing for each other ever since the Digital World. Please tell me it's not true just so I can rub it in his face." I said, reveling in the taste of his lips.
"Sorry love. It's true. That's what Kari's just been telling me. She says it took us long enough and that we were just too stubborn to realize it." I broke our kiss and then threw my head back and laughed. We had been wasting so much time pretending we hated each other and then just pretending that we were just friends.
"Hey Kar, you and my bro BELONG with each other. That's exactly what he said. Great minds think alike, eh?" She nodded and we broke apart. Somehow, unconsciously, we had managed to wrap our arms around the other person's waist and brought our bodies a little too close for comfort, especially since we were in the presence of three other people.
Dinner was great and we had had a lot of fun laughing and talking, catching up on each other's lives. Mrs. Yagami was a little flustered after our quite public kiss and didn't seem to know what to make of it.
"But Taichi," she implored, "whatever happened to Sora? She was such a sweet girl."
"Oh Ma, it didn't feel right with her. Something was missing." He took my hand. "Now, it feels right." She smiled at the gesture.
"Well, I have nothing against your relationship, Taichi," she said, sensing his defensiveness. "You just took me by surprise, that's all. But," and here, a stern look appeared on her face, "I don't want any hanky-panky stuff going on in my house. I trust you boys." But she winked.
Afterwards, we walked around town for ice cream and when Takeru had to go home, I gave him the number to my mobile cell and he gave me his. I was determined this time to stay in touch with him. He would be, after all, my brother, after all my other relatives had died, he would still be there. And now, there was nothing to get in the way, nothing to hinder us from being brothers, real brothers and not just strangers related only by DNA. Life was good.
A/N: I didn't like this chapter too much. But let's just say I have a serious, major case of WRITER'S BLOCK and as I've been working on this for a while now (I pre-wrote everything before I started posting) it's beginning to get on my nerves. So I say "screw it" I'll just post it or it'll drive me insane and pray that you won't lose interest after this. Next chapter will be a lot better (hopefully) and it will probably contain some lemon-ish… fun. grins evilly however, as my writer's block doesn't seem to be going away, I will probably post sometimes next week at the earliest… but review review review… it might make the writing come a bit quicker. nods encouragingly thank you.