A/N: I'm on a roll!! Yes, new chapter in just two weeks!! Oh and sorry about the changes of the line breaks. Fanfiction won't let me put some of my line breaks so I had to use actual letters instead of symbols. I hate that! Anyways, read on!!

Disclaimer: Digimon. Me. No.

Voguish Fib

chapter sixteen - Stake Through the Mind

"Takato? What is it? Where's the princess?" Taichi asked.

"That's....that's....I'm....she...I...the tree....lost...I can't..." Takato managed to breathe before he fainted at their feet from exhaustion and fear. Yamato picked up the poor boy and sat him down on a rock.

"Takato, wake up. What happened to Princess Sora?" Yamato asked, slapping the boy lightly on the cheek. Dazed, Takato looked up.

"She's in trouble."

"Again!?" Taichi growled. "She always manages to get herself abducted by everything..."

Yamato glared at him. "Taichi, there's no time to be acting like a kid, we have to save your princess. Now if little Takato here would just wake up, maybe he could tell us what he saw."

The two boys stared at Takato eagerly. Takato's heavy eyelids stared at them. "What's wrong with him?" Taichi asked. Yamato examined the boy as he almost fell off the rock. It seemed as if something had not only scared the poor boy but also made him consume or inhale something without the boy knowing. Now if Yamato only knew...

"It's familiar...like Angemon blood...but it's not Angemon blood...it's artificial but with the exact same results. The only thing that seems off is that it takes a longer time to work," Yamato concluded sniffing Takato's clothes.

"It might be those Furugawa monkeys again. I should stick their heads inside the butt of that disgustingly rancid cow in our farm and make them eat its--"

"Whoa there...calm down Tai! It's not them. They live in a rich society. They don't need faux Angemon blood to get a job done. I believe this is a different creature...someone, or something trying to hide its own demonic power with the use of a deceptive method of using counterfeit gas or some weirdo who just needs to get laid. You know, Princess Sora has a lot of people on her tracks especially now that the fact that she has powers has come out."

"I should have been watching her..." Taichi said softly. He looked towards Yamato who gave him a half-hearted look. He looked away as soon as Takato began sliding off the rock.

"Look for her. I'll watch Takato," Yamato said, readying a dagger.

Taichi nodded. What was wrong with him? Why did he have to get angry at her when she said that they should forget it? Maybe she was right...maybe it was best for the two of them not to be together. No matter how much--

A piercing scream shot through the forest, causing birds to shread through the thick petals of the luminescent cherry trees. Even in the darkness they could be seen flying towards the ebony sky. Taichi ran toward the scream. He had to save her. He had to keep her in his sight. He had to make sure that he never believe her when she says she could take care of herself, especially out in the darkness of the forest. Not that she couldn't take care of herself. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The girl kicked ass. He just couldn't afford to lose her again...

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Sora looked down and saw what looked like the face of the devil himself. His face was contorted in a sort of childlike manner yet it made the whole appearance more horrifying. It had fangs as razor sharp as his nails--or claws more likely. They were callous and yellow yet they seemed rough and difficult to penetrate. His cheeks looked as if they were sliding down his face, and his lips...those gray lips were as dark as the violet of a grape, distinguished and pursed. The thing had eyes like a bloodthirsty murderer. When she stared into them, images of death and merciless murder filled her mind. They were images that came from those eyes...those piercing eyes...

Her eyes widened and she couldn't help but scream. She knew it was a wrong move in her subconscious mind but she did things on impulse, and upon being impulsive, she screamed with what her lungs could give her. By the time she managed to rip her eyes away from its eyes, she found that she was not on the branch anymore but on some sort of path. It was a dark path with chipped rocks and fog that made all signs of the living vanish.

"Taichi? Taichi, Yamato? Takato? Where are you?" Sora called. "Sora?" Sora turned toward the voice. Her hair flying back in a slower manner than what Sora was used to. This place seemed more like a nightmarish fantasy than a real place. Once her eyes were turned in the direction of the voice, she jumped slightly back. There stood a man about five feet eight inches tall. Well, it was more like the silhouette of a man. She took a step closer and squinted.

"Who are you?" Sora asked.

"I'm your father..." the man whispered. His voice was deep but only as deep as an alto and very gentle. (A/N: Sorry for going all Star Wars on you...)

"Is this some kind of joke?" Sora scoffed.

"My father's at home--" The man came out of the shadow.

Sora's entire body went into shock. He wasn't lying. The man had the same auburn hair, the same nose, the same eyes, the same--everything. She never did look like her mother...and she wondered why her 'father' never really had the same appearance as she. She froze. There was no way...

She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't. "If you're my father, why are you here now? Where have you been for the past decade? The past years when my other father was here bathing me, feeding me, watching me grow? Where the hell were you?"

"I was dead. I am dead. I died two days before you were born. Your mother needed a father for you so she went to her old friend in Furugawa..."

"Dead?" Sora choked. She couldn't understand what was happening right now. She took a step back.

"Sora, please. I only want to tell you that you must come with me. This Taichi that you are with...he will not help you in this mission. I will."

"If you're dead...No. I can't just leave Taichi. He's my friend. Yamato and Takato are my friends."

"They are nothing!" the man yelled. Sora took another step back.

"No...I'm not stupid! This is some sort of trap. You're not really my father! My father's at home in Furugawa!!"

"DAMMIT! Listen to me you little brat, you're coming with me whether you like it or not!!!" Her "father" grabbed her arm and dragged her with him to a door. Sora stared at the door with anxiety and fear as she tried to release the man's death grip on her. That door wasn't there before...

"NO! Let me go! Let me go!!" Sora cried. She struggled until the door opened wide, a gray light seemed to pull the two inside. Sora closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. She was not going with him! She yanked once more and fell back as the man who claimed to be her father was sucked into the door. The door promptly shut as his ruby eyes stared back at her.

"Sora..." Sora stood, her heart still racing with unbearable speed. She turned her body and began to run but immediately crashed into something warm...like a body.

"Sora...Sora...Sora..."

"NO! Leave me alone!! Leave me alone!" Sora shouted, her eyes shut and her fists balled as she hit the figure.

"Sora...Sora stop hitting me! Will you quit, woman!?" Sora stopped and opened her eyes.

Taichi!

"Taichi!! Oh Kami-sama....oh lord...I'm--Taichi...I--" Sora blabbed.

"You were having a nightmare. What happened?" Taichi asked, his calming chocolate orbs staring into her red ones.

"There were...that man...that face..." Sora began. She grabbed Taichi and held on. "I'm just glad you're here. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't woke me up. I'd be..." through that door...

"So is that what happened? You saw a man? Sora...just don't go so far anymore. I'm sorry I was acting like such a moron..." Taichi whispered, stroking her hair soothingly.

"I just wasn't thinking straight..." Taichi helped Sora up. "It's okay Tai. We should head back. I feel...I feel like..." Sora stopped walking. "Wait..."

"So this is all a joke to you?"

"Oh, and apparently, I'm just an 'assignment' to you!"

"Family's important to me!"

"So let's say your father gives you three thousand men, then he tells you to kill off one thousand of them because of financial problems, are you going to do what Daddy says? Is that how important family is to you that you'd hurt others who might have families too?"

Taichi walked up to her silently, the leaves under his feet could be heard crunching softly under the pressure. Koushiro wordlessly stood a distance away, unsure of how to break up the intense argument. All the while, Taichi languorously trudged up to Sora until his nose was just barely touching hers. Sora's wide crimson eyes were frozen on his brown ones, gazing indecisively until the words came out of his mouth.

"At least I have a father."

After it all came back to her, Sora punched Taichi in the nose with everything she had in her small arm and the anger she felt.

For Taichi, everything went black from then on.

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"What did you do to him?" Yamato asked, dabbing Taichi's face with a wet cloth.

"I have to say though, that was a pretty awesome punch--of course, with no disrespect to Taichi-san," Takato commented admirably.

"Thanks, the jerk deserved it. I can't believe he knew and he never told me...he never told me! Ugh, when he wakes up, tell me so I can put his lights out again," Sora seethed.

"That would be a bad idea Sora. Taichi's really good at getting to places fast, until you came along--and he still has that skill. So if you ever want us to get back to the Yagami territories you better keep your fist away from his face," Yamato ordered.

"Hmph..."

Once Taichi came to, he got up and trudged over to Sora. "What in Kami-sama's name was THAT FOR!?" he bellowed and winced once he felt the entire aftermath of Sora's fist in his eye.

"Well, asshole you knew that the man in Furugawa wasn't my real father and you never told me? After all we've been through I thought you'd have the decency to tell me the truth!!"

"Well if you stopped bitching once in a while maybe I would have told you!"

"We don't have to be in a romantic relationship in order for you to tell me the damn TRUTH!" Sora screamed.

Taichi turned red with embarrassment. "That's NOT what I MEANT! Besides Princess your mother should have told you! It's none of my damn business!!" Taichi shouted, making sure everything he wanted to say was emphasized.

"Well if it was none of your damn business how did you know? Why did you even care to know, HUH?" Sora retaliated right in his face.

"Look Sora...." Taichi's eyes softened up and he shrank back. His face looked tired. Maybe he was still dazed from that hit... "I didn't want you to get hurt..." Maybe not. "I really care about you all right? I didn't want to say anything that would make you unhappy. If I could just keep you happy long enough, no matter what the cost, I'd have gladly done it...especially after all the guilt I felt from yelling at you that day and saying that you didn't have a father." Taichi stopped.

Sora stared blankly at him.

Taichi's face turned hard again when he looked back into her eyes. "There's the truth, you happy? Are you satisfied? I told you the damn truth. You can go hit me again if you'd like. I don't give a shit anymore...I'm through. Just thought you should know what's been in my brain before you knock that out along with the eyes in my socket," Taichi added bitterly.

Sora was dumbfounded. From Taichi's point of view, it seemed as if she remained nonplused, but in reality, she just couldn't respond. What was she to say?

He turned and shook his head before walking off into the forest. Sora glanced for a moment at Yamato and Takato. They quickly looked in different directions, whistling and scratching their heads. Then she looked to where Taichi's back was facing her.

What now? she asked herself. She completely destroyed her relationship with Taichi plus she didn't have the courage to go after him. Coward... You stupid idiotic coward!! How could you just... You've been the bad guy all along... she berated herself.

Well she got what she wanted right? Now they were forced to forget their feelings for each other--the feelings that were good. Now all that was left was resentment, guilt, and even anger.

"Hey Sora? Why didn't you use your powers when you were out there by yourself?" Takato suddenly asked. Sora shot him a look. Yamato elbowed him in the noggin.

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In the distance, a heartless laugh sent chills down a kuroneko's spine.

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A/N: Yeah, no real romance, but more fighting. You all must hate me now... Goodbye...