Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, the characters, etc, etc.
Author's notes:
-Well, I wanted to finish A Million Pieces before I started this story, but it was inspiring me so much that I ended up working on it instead of finishing the next chapter of Million Pieces... So here's the prologue!
-Taichi and Yamato are 16 at the beginning of the prologue; Takeru and Hikari are 13.
-02 characters (particularly Daisuke) are mentioned and may show up, but this is an AU in which the 02 storyline didn't happen. Also, Yamato and Takeru's parents remarried before the start of this story.
-This fic contains some Taito... If you don't like male/male pairings, don't read it!
Oxygen
Prologue: Stranger Things Have Happened
"You're coming tomorrow, right?" Yagami Taichi asked.
"Of course," his best friend, Ishida Yamato, responded. "I wouldn't dream of missing it; you know that, Tai."
Taichi grinned. He had already known the blonde's answer, but he had asked anyway, just as an excuse to hear Yamato's musical voice. Tomorrow marked the fifth anniversary of their final battle to save the Digital World. Everyone had agreed that they should visit the Digital World in celebration, and they'd been planning the trip for weeks.
"Good," Taichi said. "I'd hate to have to beat you up and drag you there."
Yamato laughed. "Who says you'd be able to beat me up? Maybe you'd lose this time."
Taichi's grin widened. "Is that a challenge?"
"Bring it, punk!" Yamato retorted, a grin appearing on his face as well.
Taichi pounced on Yamato, trying to pin him down. The blonde boy valiantly fought off Taichi's many attempts.
"See?" Yamato bragged during a lull in the struggle. He currently had the upper hand; Taichi was pinned down under him. "The mighty Taichi is conquered!"
"Oh? Confident, aren't we? Eat this!"
Taichi reached up and grabbed Yamato's sides, tickling him. Yamato burst into laughter, and Taichi rolled him over so that he was now straddling his best friend.
"How d'you like that? Not so confident now, eh?"
"S… stop it!" Yamato managed to say between laughs. "Can't… breathe…"
"Do I win?"
"N… no."
Taichi redoubled his tickling efforts. "That sounds like a call for more!"
Tears started to form in the corners of Yamato's eyes from laughing too hard. "F-fine! You… you win!"
"Goody," Taichi said. He immediately released Yamato from his tickle-torture, but he didn't move from his position on top of the blonde. A faint blush appeared on Yamato's cheeks.
"You can get off me now," Yamato said, looking to the side to break eye contact.
"Don't wanna."
"Tai, you're gonna make me late! I can't be late for my own concert!"
Taichi glanced at his watch. "It doesn't start for two hours."
"But I gotta help set up. The guys'll kill me if I don't get there soon," Yamato said. He began to squirm, trying to free himself.
Taichi gazed at Yamato, smiling. He looks so cute like this…
"Yamato?"
"What?" Yamato stopped moving and looked up at his friend.
He also looks so damn sexy, and very kissable, Taichi decided, his face moving closer to Yamato's until he could feel Yamato's breath on his face. Yamato swallowed slowly, but made no motion to stop the brunette. Taichi's lips brushed against Yamato's, the ghostly contact sending a shiver down his spine. After a moment's hesitation, he pressed their lips together into a more real kiss, though he pulled away barely a second later. Taichi looked away from the blonde, afraid of what he might see in those deep blue eyes.
After a long moment of silence, Yamato asked, "…Tai?"
Taichi swallowed. "Yeah?"
"…What was that?"
"Don't know," he said, blushing. Maybe Yamato would accept that answer and remain his friend… He'd kissed Yamato out of impulse, and now he was scared that he had destroyed their friendship because of it.
Yamato fell silent for a moment before asking, "Want to do it again?"
Taichi looked at Yamato in disbelief, convinced that he'd heard the blonde incorrectly. The look in those blue eyes, however, told him that his dreams had just come true.
"Yeah," he whispered in reply, leaning down to kiss the blonde under him again. This time, the kiss was more passionate, more desperate.
"Yama?" Taichi asked when they had pulled apart again, using the secret name he had only ever called the blonde in his dreams. Yamato smiled at the nickname.
"Yeah?"
"What about your concert?"
"It doesn't start for two hours," he replied, pulling Taichi towards him for another kiss.
-x-
Yagami Hikari stole another nervous glance at the blonde boy who sat across from her at the kitchen table. He started to look up, so Hikari quickly averted her eyes, studying the textbook open in front of her.
"Do you get number six?" the blonde—Ishida-Takaishi Takeru—asked. Hikari glanced at him before returning her eyes to the book.
"I'm not there yet," she replied, writing down the answer to her current math problem.
"Oh. Well, let me know where you're there."
"Okay," she said, quickly finishing the next question. She glanced at Takeru again, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. Earlier that day, Takeru had invited her over so that they could work on homework and study together, but neither of them seemed to be getting much done.
Hikari sighed softly.
"Something wrong?" Takeru immediately asked, looking up.
"Ah, no, nothing's wrong," Hikari said quickly. "Just tired of homework…"
Takeru looked down at his book. "Um… Are you going to Matt's concert tonight?" he asked hesitantly.
"He has a concert tonight?" Hikari asked, frowning. Her brother always told her when Yamato's concerts were, and he usually talked the young musician into giving both of them free tickets. "Tai didn't mention that Yamato was having a concert…"
Takeru laughed nervously. "He didn't? That's unusual…"
Hikari's brow creased in thought. Why hadn't Taichi said anything about the concert?
"Um… I've got an extra ticket… if you'd like to go… with me."
Hikari was immediately pulled from her thoughts by Takeru's words. Did he just…?
"Takeru, did you just ask me out?"
The blonde boy turned a bright shade of crimson almost instantly. "…Y-yeah," he whispered.
Hikari smiled, and she could feel her cheeks getting warm. "I'd love to go."
"Really?" Takeru asked, looking at her, his nervousness vanishing. A smile slowly spread across his face.
"Yeah. Really."
"Daisuke's gonna have a fit when he finds out," Takeru said, reaching across the table to take Hikari's hand.
"Let him," Hikari said. "I'm more worried about what my brother will think."
Takeru blushed again, looking down. "Um, actually, he already knows I was going to ask you out," he said sheepishly.
"He does?"
Takeru nodded. "Truthfully, I, uh, asked him not to tell you about Matt's concert… so that I could ask you to go with me."
"How evil of you," Hikari said in a mock-scolding voice. "For shame!"
Takeru ran his free hand through his hair. "Well, it worked…"
Hikari smiled. "Indeed it did," she said, leaning across the table to give Takeru a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you."
-x-
"You're back already?" Hikari asked when her brother entered their shared room. "I thought you were staying over at Yamato's place tonight."
"I was going to, but the band decided to go out and then have a practice session, so we moved our plans to tomorrow," Taichi said with an unusual degree of cheerfulness. He was practically glowing. "And it's not like I'll never see him again. I'll see him tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and the day after the day after tomorrow, and—"
"Enough; I get the point," Hikari said, eying her brother suspiciously. "You seem happy."
"I am happy! Today is a very important day in the history of the Yagami and Ishida-Takaishi households! My little sister is finally going out with Takeru, and YAMATO IS MY BOYFRIEND! Damn, that feels good to say. Yamato, my boyfriend. My boyfriend, Yamato."
"It's about time," Hikari said, rolling her eyes.
"Aw, you're not surprised?" Taichi asked, pouting. "And what do you mean, 'It's about time'?"
"You two have been all over each other for years," she said. "Takeru and I were talking about forcibly hooking you two up if you'd taken any longer to get together."
"Meanie. You were supposed to be surprised."
Hikari laughed. "Okay, I'm surprised. Surprised, and happy for you."
"Much better," Taichi said, grinning. "I'm going to bed now. Sooner I'm asleep, the sooner it's tomorrow, and tomorrow I get to see my Yama."
Hikari laughed again. "Good night, Tai."
-x-
"Sorry we're so late!" Taichi said as he entered Izumi Koushirou's room, followed by his sister.
"Not a problem," Koushirou said, turning away from his computer to face them. "Sora, Mimi, and Jyou went on ahead to set up. Now that you two are here, we're only missing Yamato and Takeru."
"They're not here yet?" Hikari asked, puzzled. "It's not like them to be late."
"Have you called them?" Taichi asked.
Koushirou shook his head. "I expected that they'd arrive before you, or with you, at the very least. I didn't think that calling them would be necessary."
Taichi eyed the phone that sat next to Koushirou's computer. "Can I use your phone? I want to see if they've left already…"
"Certainly," Koushirou said, turning back towards the computer.
Taichi picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number of the Ishida-Takaishi apartment. After several rings, the answering machine picked up. Taichi hung up without leaving a message.
"No one's home," he stated. "I'll call Yama's cell."
Taichi dialed another number, hoping that Yamato had taken his cellphone with him. Again, no one answered, and he was connected to Yamato's voicemail. This time, he left the quick message of "It's Tai; call me."
"Maybe they already entered the Digital World from home?" Hikari suggested.
"Maybe… Let's join the others," Koushirou said. "I'll leave a note for Yamato and Takeru in case they aren't already there."
The three readied their Digivices and crossed into the Digital World. Agumon, Tailmon, and Tentomon greeted them and led them to the place where Sora, Mimi, and Jyou had set up a picnic. Hikari and Taichi looked around hopefully, and were disappointed to see that Gabumon and Patamon were without their partners.
"Yamato and Takeru aren't here…?" Hikari asked.
"I haven't seen them at all today," Sora said. "They didn't come with you?"
"No…"
"I'm going to Yama's," Taichi announced suddenly.
"They're probably on their way," Koushirou reasoned. "It's true that you couldn't reach him on his cellphone, but he may have left it at home."
Taichi shook his head. "I'm just getting a really bad feeling about all this. I have to go."
"I'll go, too," Sora said. "We don't have enough chips, anyways; I can buy some more after we find Matt."
"Let's all go," Mimi suggested. "Palmon and the other Digimon can guard the food and wait here in case Yamato and Takeru come while we're gone."
Everyone quickly agreed to the idea and returned to the human world. Twenty minutes later, they'd arrived at the Ishida-Takaishi apartment, barely avoiding the rain.
Taichi stepped forward and knocked on the door. After receiving no answer, he searched his pockets for the key that Yamato's parents had given him because he came over so often. Finding the key, he started to unlock the door, only to find that it was already unlocked. He swung the door open, and the light from outside spilled into the dark apartment. The six teens piled inside, and Taichi switch on the lights as it began to pour outside.
Afterwards, the only things Taichi could remember about their visit that day were Mimi's screams and the bodies of Yamato's parents, both of whom Jyou sadly declared to be dead. And…
Yamato and Takeru were nowhere to be found. They had simply vanished without a trace.
-x-
Taichi looked out the window sullenly. It was raining again…
He hated the rain. Rain always reminded him of the day that the love of his life had disappeared into thin air. It had been ten years, and he was still every bit in love with Yamato as he had been when he was young. He hated the fact that Yamato wasn't there to love him back.
He moved away from the window and picked up the newspaper, glancing at a few headlines before he tossed it in the trashcan. His head was filled with the past because of the rain, so he decided to sleep through the rainstorm. A particularly loud thunderclap sounded as he headed to his bedroom, startling him.
"Sounds like something got hit," he muttered, trudging back to the window. He glanced outside, surveying the area for any signs of destruction. Nothing looked like it had gotten hit…
He started to turn away from the window when a shape caught his eye. Someone was standing in the rain… someone with what looked to be blonde hair.
The next thing Taichi knew, he was outside, running down flights of stairs in order to reach street level. It's not him; it can't be him, his mind told him. Yama wasn't the only blonde in the world. Face it, Taichi: he's gone, and he won't be coming back to you.
The person Taichi had seen was still standing there; he hadn't moved an inch from where he'd been when Taichi had first spotted him. Taichi ran towards the man. He hadn't grabbed an umbrella, but he didn't care as the rain quickly soaked his hair and clothing.
"Hey!" Taichi called out. "Hey, you!" The person slowly turned around, and Taichi's breath caught in his throat when he saw the man's eyes.
There was only one way to describe those eyes: Ishida blue.
Closing notes: I swear next chapter'll be more interesting... probably. I really don't have any plan for this story; I'm making it up as I go. Anyway, leave a comment if you'd like to, and I'll see you next chapter!