Tell your friend a lie; if he keeps it a secret, tell him the truth.
-Portuguese Proverb
Yamato woke up a short time later, about an hour or so after Tai and Daisuke left. He rolled over onto his side and opened his eyes all the way. He blinked slowly and found two brown eyes blinking right back.
"Ah!" Yamato screamed, as did the person with the eyes. Tai sat back while Yamato scrambled as far away from him as possible.
"What in the hell…do you think you're doing?" Yamato yelled at Tai. Tai merely smiled at the blond.
"You need to settle down," he replied.
"Go away," Yamato growled and tried to push Tai off of the bed.
"Why?" Tai asked, moving closer.
"Because I said so. Now go away," Yamato said once more.
"You still haven't said why."
"Because it's bad enough that I have to share a room with you, but having you this close to me is too much!" Yamato exclaimed. Tai looked down and realized what sort of position they were in with his hands placed on either side of Yamato kneeling on the bed, Yamato's legs between his knees. Tai gave him a goofy grin and bounced off the bed.
"Dinner's ready, by the way. I came back up here to get you," Tai told him, leaning against the doorframe.
"That's okay, not hungry," Yamato said quickly, sitting up on his bed.
"You're not one of those eating disorder cases are you? Because I had to room with a bulimic last year, and trust it, it is not all that fun listening to somebody toss their cookies after every meal," Tai rambled on.
"No, I do not have an eating disorder. I just don't feel like eating," he snapped back, wishing that Tai would just leave him alone.
"Why?" Tai asked him again.
"Just because. Now go away!" Yamato jumped up suddenly. He stormed over to Tai and pushed him out the door, locking it behind him. Tai stood on the other side of the door, blinking in surprise. A small smile crept onto his face as he headed back downstairs. He walked back into the dining hall and plopped down at a table with Daisuke, who was currently tackling the mountain of food in front of him.
"He didn't want to come down?" Daisuke asked him around a mouthful of chicken. Tai shook his head and sighed.
"Nope. Looks like we've got another tough one on our hands," Tai concluded, smiling slightly at Daisuke.
"Oh really now." Daisuke looked up with interest, setting the chicken aside to show Tai he was listening.
"Yup. Stubborn, hotheaded, mouthy, a loner. The works," Tai replied.
"Sounds like you have your work cut out for you then!" Daisuke chirped and began working on his potatoes.
"Oh yeah, just a little," Tai responded. Daisuke nodded and chomped on his food silently while Tai sat still, thinking about something else.
"So, what are you going to do, Chi?" Daisuke asked as he swallowed the last bite of his dinner.
"Fix it. Once he realizes where he is, he'll have to change," Tai said and stood up.
"Aren't you even going to eat?" Daisuke asked, running after his friend.
"Nah, I have other things to deal with," Tai responded and bounded up the stairs towards his room, leaving behind a rather confused Daisuke. The other boy merely shrugged and walked into his own room.
Meanwhile at the other end of the hall, Tai stood in front of his door and knocked lightly.
"Yamato, open the door," he called out quietly. There was no response on the other side. Tai sighed and leaned his back against the door.
"Yamato, please open the door," he tried again.
"Don't you have a key?" Yamato's voice questioned softly from the other side.
"Yeah, but it's most likely buried in my book bag," Tai answered. On the other side, Yamato was sitting on his bed, watching the door. He contemplated whether he should let this guy in or not. Okay sure, it was his room too, but why should he let him in? Yamato needed his alone time. Of course, he never understood why, it was just another quirk that made him Yamato Ishida. Or rather Ishida Yamato now in this case. With a heavy sigh, he heaved himself off of the bed and walked over to the door. He unlocked every lock and flung it open. Tai, being on the other side, didn't realize Yamato was going to open the door. Due to his position, he fell backwards upon the opening, right into Yamato's arms. Yamato raised an eyebrow, looked down at the weakly-smiling Tai, and dropped him on the floor. He turned around and walked back into the room, sitting on his bed again. Tai propped himself up on his elbows and glared at Yamato.
"Thanks," he said dryly and pushed himself off of the ground.
"Whatever." Yamato was already reabsorbed into his book. Tai closed the door and walked over to his side of the room. With a dramatic sigh, he plopped down hard on his bed.
"Are you always this quiet?" Tai asked Yamato after sitting in the silence. Yamato didn't reply, but simply pulled something out of his book. He held it up and showed it to Tai.
"Shh…I'm trying to ignore you?" Tai read aloud off of the bumper sticker. Yamato nodded and placed the sticker back into his book.
"Well, somebody's a smart ass aren't we?" Tai commented. Yamato sighed and turned the page of his novel. Tai sighed as well and rolled onto his side. He propped his head up with his hand and intently watched the blond boy. Feeling eyes trained on him, Yamato looked up and glanced at Tai. Mud brown met cobalt blue. It was silent between the two boys, each lost in the other's eyes, trying to read each other's soul. Yamato licked his dry lips and looked away.
"What do you want of me?" he asked softly, gazing intently at his bedspread.
"I just want to be your friend. That's all I ask," Tai replied, still watching the blue-eyed boy.
"Why?" Yamato raised his defenses once more.
"You seem like someone interesting to know," Tai said with a casual wave of his hand. Yamato sighed and returned to his novel, acting as though Tai had never said anything at all. The brunet shook his head and read the cover.
"Lord of the Flies?" Tai questioned.
"Yeah, it's a novel I started to read for school back home," Yamato replied, not taking his eyes off of the text.
"Didn't you get kicked out of your school back home?" Tai questioned. Yamato merely nodded and turned the page.
"Then why bother reading it still?"
"Because I think it's a good story, and I would like to finish it," Yamato justified himself.
"What's it about?" Tai asked, feeling a bit defeated that he couldn't bring Yamato out of his reading.
"It's about this group of English schoolboys, about 12 and under and they get stranded on this deserted island on the way home from a trip. It's set during World War II so a bomb shot down their plane. Anyway, so there's this kid named Ralph. He's just around, and he meets this other kid named Piggy. They find this conch shell thingy and Ralph blows on it like a trumpet and all the boys come. Then there's this other boy named Jack who's the leader of the choirboys. He's a strong leader, but kind of bossy and dictator-like. So everybody takes a vote on who they want as chief between Ralph and Jack. Ralph wins and makes Jack the leader of the hunters." Yamato stopped to take a breath shortly but began talking once more.
"So for the first while, they're pretty happy with being on the island and are just enjoying themselves. Then this one kid says something about a beast on the island and they all get freaked out. In the meantime, they are also trying to keep a signal fire going. So as time goes on, things start to deteriorate and they start fighting with eachother. Once, a plane went by and the fire was out because Jack and his hunters were out hunting. And even though they caught a sow, they missed their opportunity to go home. So they fight and Jack decides to go off and start his own tribe. A lot of them go off with Jack, leaving Ralph with only Piggy, the twins Sam and Eric, some little guys, and Simon, who's an epileptic. Anyway, so Jack and his tribe decide to go investigate this part of the mountain where some of the boys said the beast was. They see something and they freak out and run away," Yamato explained, eyes dancing in delight.
"Sound like a bunch of wimps," Tai snorted. Yamato smirked and nodded.
"Yeah, pretty much. Anyway, later that day, Ralph's boys, minus Simon, decide to go talk to Jack's tribe, who is having a feast at the time being. Simon during this time is up in the mountain looking around. He comes across the "beast" only to discover it was a dead parachutist. With this newfound knowledge, Simon takes off and runs back to where everybody else is. By this point, the boys are all dancing around and recreating the scene of their hunt, using one of the boys as the sow. Suddenly Simon's in the middle trying to explain about the parachutist. However, the boys soon change it to a tale of killing the beast and they start beating up on Simon, just stabbing him and killing the "beast." In the end of that, they kill Simon, leaving his body to wash away to the ocean," Yamato told Tai. Tai nodded briefly to make it look like he was listening to the novel-babble, but in all reality, he was focused on something else.
All the while, Tai was focused on Yamato's actions completely. When he was telling his story, his whole face seemed to light up with energy as his hands were flying and making all sorts of gestures. Tai smiled to himself, realizing the key to getting Yamato to calm down and open up was to keep him talking.
"Weird…" Tai trailed off, realizing it would be stupid of him to just keep nodding.
"Yeah, kind of. But it's so cool," Yamato said, jumping off of his bed and standing in the middle of the room with Tai's eyes still trained on him.
"Anyway, so then everybody just avoids the whole subject about Simon's death. Ralph's going nuts trying to figure out how to get them all back together and how to keep a signal fire going and he's all worried about Simon's death, convinced that they murdered him, which they did. So then later one night, Jack and a few of his boys sneak to Ralph's camp. It was really dark, so the other boys couldn't see much. One of Jack's boys hit one of Ralph's causing them to start a big fight between the four of them, Ralph, Sam, Eric, and Piggy anyway. They were just kicking and punching eachother with all their might." Yamato imitated their fighting with his own play punches and kicks.
"So, while they're distracted, Jack steals Piggy's glasses, which are the main source of the fire. The next morning, the boys walk over to Jack's camp, determined to get the glasses back. Piggy's got the conch in hand, ready to stand up to Jack. According to the book, if somebody had the conch, they were allowed to speak with no interruptions. Piggy was one of those guys who always was walked on top of," Yamato continued on, darting around the room in random directions, picking up the book as the conch.
"So they go up to Jack and Piggy demands for the glasses back, which were already busted in half from a previous time where Jack smacked Piggy in the face. While this is going on, the boys of Jack's tribe are throwing little rocks at them, trying to get Piggy to shut up. Piggy stands tall and continues to talk." Yamato suddenly pounced on Tai's bed, towering over the other boy and watching him intently.
"So finally having enough of this whole situation, one of Jack's main men, Roger, pushes this huge boulder off of the side of the cliff from the top, where he was standing. This rock hits Piggy square on the head, knocking him off of the cliff and he bounced off and down to the beach, where his dead body is washed out into the sea as well." Yamato fell off of the bed, bouncing onto his own 'beach'. He then stood up, and dusted himself off.
"And that's as far as I am. I've still got about one chapter to go," Yamato added in as he climbed back onto his own bed.
"Amazing," Tai breathed out, and he wasn't talking about the book. It was so incredible for him to see Yamato like this. Yamato curled back up onto his bed and pulled a blanket over him.
"Going to bed?" Tai asked him gently, not wanting to break this serenity the other boy seemed to have found.
"Uh-huh. Mind turning off the light?" Yamato said in a slightly drowsy voice. Tai simply nodded and shut out his light. He crawled into his own bed, yawning quietly. Yamato was already sound asleep. Tai once again found himself staring at the other boy. When he was asleep, Yamato lost the cold, hard, and angry look on his face. Instead, it was replaced by a peaceful, comfortable look. Tai smiled and rolled over.
"Looks like I found the crack in his shell," he said to himself before falling asleep as well.
The next morning, Tai woke up slowly, trying to avoid the light. He opened his eyes and found Yamato filling his school bag with papers.
"About time you woke up. It's already breakfast and class starts in 45 minutes," Yamato said sharply and then went back to ignoring him. Tai yawned and raised an eyebrow.
"Grouchy in the morning, aren't you?" he asked in a sleepy as he crawled out of bed.
"Just shut up and go put some pants on," Yamato replied harshly. This reaction puzzled Tai.
'What happened to the Yamato from last night? He just had a relapse and went back to being…rude.' Tai thought to himself as he pulled his uniform on.
"Whoever thought to make us wear green was highly desperate for medical attention," Yamato muttered to himself as he fixed his black tie.
"You always have to find something to complain about, don't you?" Tai tilted his head to one side, still puzzled by the blond's actions.
"I only complain about things I don't like," Yamato simply replied.
"And that would be…?" Tai questioned, feeling more clueless by the moment
"That would be this school, this uniform, and you," the American boy stated and grabbed his bag. He heaved it onto his shoulder and marched out of the room, leaving an even more clueless, not to mention hurt, Tai.
"Jeeze," he sighed and shook his head, stuffing his feet into his shoes. Grabbing his bag, he locked the door and went to find Daisuke.
"So what happened?" Daisuke asked as he shoved another piece of toast down his throat.
"I don't know. It's like a split personality. I mean, last night, yeah he was sort of moody. But then he starts talking about this book and he was so bubbly and happy," Tai explained.
"That sounds kind of freaky." Daisuke raised his eyebrow.
"It was unexpected, that's for sure. But he was really calm. And then he was peaceful and fell asleep. So then this morning, I wake up and he was back to his normal, cold self," Tai finished off.
"There's something else bothering you," Daisuke observed. Tai shrugged, and continued to play with his cereal. Dai reached over and grabbed Tai's spoon.
"What did he say, Tai?" Daisuke asked sternly. Tai sighed and looked away.
"He said he didn't like me, or this place," Tai replied.
"Well you didn't like this place very much either," Daisuke reminded him.
"Yeah but at least I wasn't rude to people for no good reason!" Tai exclaimed.
"Settle down, jeeze. Just remember, you have the charm, Tai. If you can make him become all, 'bubbly' as you put it, then you can fix him," Daisuke reasoned.
"Yeah, I guess," Tai sighed again just as the bell rang. Both boys rose from the table and walked out of the dining hall.
"I'll see you in second class okay?" Daisuke stated more then asked.
"Yeah, see ya." Tai waved and walked down a different hallway. Stopping at the third door on his left, he walked into the room and spotted Yamato just ahead of him. Taking two large strides, he reached his side and grinned widely
"Hey," Tai greeted him. Looking over his shoulder, Yamato groaned and shook his head.
"God, help me," he begged and flopped down into a seat. Tai stopped at the desk on Yamato's right and leaned back against it, staring down at the blue-eyed boy.
"What's that suppose to mean?" the brunet questioned, crossing his right ankle over his left.
"Why won't you go away?" Yamato mumbled mostly to himself, yet loud enough for Tai to hear.
"Why do you want to be alone?" he instantly rebuttaled. Yamato started to reply, but words failed him, which was quite a shock to both of them. The teen was usually full of witty remarks, but this time it was different.
"I know you don't want to be alone, Yamato. I know that you know it too," Tai whispered to him quietly just as the final bell rang. He spun around and marched back to his own seat, leaving a wondering Yamato in his wake.
'What does he know anyway? I mean, I don't care about being alone. I'm used to it. I don't care at all! Do I…?' the blond sighed at the prospect and turned his attention towards the door as the teacher walked in. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, shaggy brown hair shading water-colored eyes and standing at about 6'6".
"Morning everybody," he greeted his class as he kicked the door closed behind him.
"Morning, Eiri," most of the boys chorused back.
"He goes by his first name?" Yamato wondered aloud. Eiri's gaze fell onto him at the sound of the new voice.
"Judging by the fact that you're the only blond in this room, I would say that you're Ishida Yamato, right?" Eiri addressed him, looking over him with mild interest.
"Yeah, sure," he spoke in a tone of boredom that he had evidently practiced.
"Okay, gotcha." Eiri nodded and grabbed a history textbook from behind him. "Guys, grab your books and turn to page 174. Today we're learning about…" It was then Yamato decided to tune him out. He could catch up later, it wasn't that hard. History was actually something he was good at. He took out his notebook and turned to a fresh page, idly scribbling random words to give the illusion that he was actually taking notes. However, one thing bothered him, and it was something he never would have guessed would bother him to begin with.
'Why is Tai being so nice to me? I keep belittling, snapping, and fighting him off, but he keeps coming back. What's his motive?' A loud thunk to his left snapped him back to attention. He whirled his head around and spotted Tai with his head on his desk, snoring quietly. Yamato resisted the urge to snicker and shook his head.
'Oh well, who cares? It's not like I'm going to let him get to me anyway.' He nodded to himself and continued doodling in his notebook. However, he couldn't help it when he glanced over to his left once more, just to see if Tai was still snoring. He also couldn't help it when a small smile graced his lips upon seeing the brunet sound asleep.
The bell rang to signal the end of first lesson and to warn students to head to second. Tai bounced out of Eiri's class and down the hallway to his Creative Writing class, feeling fully rejuvenated from his nap session. However, he failed to notice that Daisuke was waiting for him by the door and he crashed right into the younger boy, knocking both of them on their feet.
"Ow," Daisuke said bluntly as he glared at Tai who landed on top. The older brunet merely shrugged apologetically and pulled him up.
"Um, oops?" Tai grinned uneasily.
"Shut up," Daisuke said firmly and dragged Tai into class.
"Don't be like that, Little One," Tai teased him as Daisuke took his seat.
"Whatever," the younger boy replied, taking out a notebook and a pen.
"Dude, Yamato's in my first class." Tai grinned and took a seat next to him.
"This one too apparently," Daisuke shot back without looking up. Tai snapped his head up and looked. Sure enough, there was Yamato sitting on the other side of the room, absorbed in his notebook and attached to his headphones. Tai grinned suddenly, grabbed his bag, and got out of his seat. Daisuke's words from that morning ran through his mind as he confidently marched over to the blond boy. Sliding into the seat next to him, he leaned over and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey," he greeted him cheerfully as if he didn't snap at him this morning. Yamato looked up from his writing and whipped off his headphones, giving Tai a cold stare in return.
"What?" he asked, not caring that he may have come off as rude. After all, it was the boy's own fault for not getting the hint the first time he said to leave him alone.
"Nothing, I'm just trying to hold a conversation. Is that a crime?" the Japanese boy chirped, propping his feet up on his desk.
"It is if the other party doesn't wish to converse with you," Yamato sighed, folding his arms over his chest.
'This guy is impossible! It's hard to tell if he's really stubborn or just really stupid.' He shook his head slightly and looked back to the boy next to him.
"Look, I know you don't like me. But, you never said why and I want to know," Tai said flat-out. He never was one for using tact in his speech.
"Just because."
"Oh yeah, that's a good reason, spectacular in fact!" Tai rolled his eyes and dropped his feet, turning his body to fully face the other teenaged boy. More students were starting to pile in as the final bell sounded off and each of them sent curious glances Tai's way.
"Why do I need to justify myself? Go away!" Yamato finally snapped and stood up, fully prepared to move into a seat far away from the mud-eyed boy.
"Sorry, you can't get rid of me that easily," Tai replied, examining his fingernails in fascination.
"Urgh! Just leave. Me. Alone!" Yamato yelled with all of his might, just as the teacher walked into the classroom. All was silent as the older woman stared at Yamato and the young blond stared right back. The teacher set down her briefcase and stood in front of her desk, leaning against it as she kept her attention on her target.
"Well, you must be Yamato," she observed and smiled what was supposed to be a friendly smile, but it was laced with a hint of amusement. Yamato blinked and forced himself not to crawl out of the room right then and there.
"Uh, yeah, that's me. Sorry…about blowing up…and I think I'll just sit down now," he trailed off and sat back down, feeling rather foolish about his previous outburst.
"No problem, there are days I feel like blowing up too after dealing with Tai," the older brunet woman replied, ignoring all protests from said boy. Suddenly coming up with an idea, she motioned for Yamato to stand up again.
"Look, I know screaming bloody murder wasn't the best thing ever, but it's really not necessary to punish me, is it?" Yamato's hand twitched as he pushed himself out of his chair, walking up to the front of the room. The teacher laughed out loud this time and shook her head.
"Oh no, this isn't a punishment," she explained. Yamato sighed in relief at this new fact. The last thing he needed was another bad record. However, his celebration came too soon. "I want you to introduce and tell us about yourself!" the teacher finished gleefully, leaving Yamato to stare at her with wide eyes and a slightly dropped jaw.
"…you're kidding, aren't you?" The teacher shook her head and smiled. Both she and Yamato knew that this was indeed a form of punishment…just slightly more embarrassing. Grumbling to himself, Yamato slipped his hands into the pockets of his blazer and stared at the ceiling.
"All right. My name's Yamato Ishida, Ishida Yamato, whatever. I'm 15 and unwilling to be here. My father let my evil stepmother send me here without my consent and I like music so you'll generally see me with my headphones on. If any of you try to bother you, I will simply say to drop dead. The end," Yamato finished and sat down. Tai was sitting on his right snickering behind his hand, quickly receiving a quick kick to the shin to shut up. Blinking in surprise and grinning with humor, the green-eyed teacher nodded in Yamato's direction.
"Thank you. Now, just to be fair, I will introduce myself. I'm Nakuru Seguchi; you may call me Naku-sensei, or even just plain Naku. I'm pretty slack when it comes to how I teach my class and I do my best to keep most of you awake," Naku threw a glance in Tai's direction this time, leaving the boy to grin sheepishly. "This is Creative Writing and I hope that you're going to enjoy it to the maximum. If not, feel free to complain!" Turning her attention back to the class, she grinned and walked around her desk to the other side. Grabbing a piece of chalk, she started writing out a list in swirly handwriting.
"Okay, guys, grab your notebooks and flip to a new page," she went back to speaking to the whole class.
"Are we starting a new assignment, Ms. S?" Daisuke asked her.
"That we are, Dais. You catch on fast," Naku said jokingly.
"Funny, Seguchi," Daisuke said in mild annoyance but grinned in return.
"All right, so what was the last assignment I gave you?" Naku asked her class. Tai's hand shot up.
"Ah, for once Yagami's awake," Naku spoke in mock surprise.
"I'm always awake in this class. I sleep in Eiri's class," Tai grinned at her.
"Makes sense. Anyway, go ahead, Tai," Naku encouraged the brunet to keep speaking.
"Well, the last thing you had us work on was a short story of our choice," Tai replied.
"And did you all finish that?" Naku asked. Most of the class nodded or verbally said yes. "Great, so we can move on. I think today, we'll try something different," she continued.
"How…different?" a boy named Takota spoke up.
"Impromptu, Ritter. Does that answer your question?" Naku countered with another question to the black-haired boy.
"Unfortunately," Takota sighed.
"All right. So, here's what I'm going to do. You have until the end of class to finish. This can be written however you want, and they shall be handed in at the end of the period. This is a challenge, boys," Naku continued as she paced around the room.
"Challenges are always good," Tai interrupted.
"Glad you feel that way, Tai. As I was saying, this is a challenge. The challenge being, you must use certain things in your story. Those things being: the color blue, a nonsense quote, a bagel, mentioning of whatever band you please, a book, someone being sad, the word whatever, a bar of soap, and a fairy," Naku read off of the board and rewarded the boys with a wide grin.
"Naku, you are extremely weird." Tai raised an eyebrow.
"You'd have to be weird yourself to know that, Yagami," Naku replied smoothly, causing Tai to stick out his tongue in a childish manner. "Any questions?" Naku returned her attention to the whole class. One boy raised his hand.
"Mr. Matthews, you cannot just write the words down and call it good," Naku answered without calling on him.
"How do you know that's what I was going to ask?" the boy with light brown hair asked.
"Well then Kayden, what were you going to ask?" Naku questioned him.
"Just that." Kayden smiled, followed by a few laughs from the class and Naku rolling her eyes.
"All right guys that's enough. I suggest you all get started," Naku said, sending all the boys into a flurry of writing. Tai sat at his desk, pen in hand, and staring at his list. His mind was drawing a complete blank. He looked over to Daisuke who was chewing on his pen thoughtfully, before writing down some more words. Tai sighed and closed his eyes, hoping for any ideas. He re-opened them and looked back at Yamato. He watched the blond as he furiously scribbled words onto the paper, not pausing for anything. Tai blinked in surprise and then grinned.
"That's it!" he whispered excitedly. He turned to a new page and started to write.
'Why is it that people try to hide their true identities? It doesn't make much sense to me. But I know of one blue-eyed devil that is like that. He tried to pretend that he's so cool and tough, but truly, I know he's sad. Aren't we all when we first arrive here? He's not any different. He arrived yesterday sometime, from the states I believe. Immediately, he shut me out. If only I had a bar of soap to wash his mouth out with after the string of profanity he shot at me after I woke him up. His favorite words seem to be go away and whatever. He was listening to Linkin Park while I was in the dining hall. The only reason I know this is because I found the CD in my big player this morning. Anyways, so when I did come back, we fought like cats and dogs on a hot December morning over a bowl of pickled beats. He was at first ignoring me, until I noticed he was reading a book. Lord of the Flies, I believe it was called. He started bouncing around the room, telling me everything about the book. It was actually quite amazing, seeing him like that. And then he was gentle and peaceful as he fell asleep. Then today, everything was back to the way it was: rude and cold. As I sat down, eating my bagel, I tried to figure out what was going on. It's almost impossible. I can't take this anymore. He hates me for no reason. I wish there were a fairy godmother around right about now. Then I'd wish that he would just open up and let me be friends with him. Just to break his icy exterior and get to his heart...'
Tai sighed and ripped out his page, just as the bell rang. He scribbled his name on the paper and handed it to Naku as he dragged himself out of the classroom.
The time was now noon, lunch time. Tai was still in an off-handed mood as he flopped down at a table with Daisuke.
"What's wrong?" Daisuke asked him for the second time that day.
"Huh?" Tai looked up at his friend.
"What's wrong? You've been like this since second class," Daisuke pointed out.
"Nothing important," Tai sighed.
"And you're not eating," Daisuke noted as he grabbed Tai's shoulders. "This is not normal for you!" he yelled, shaking Tai around in the process.
"Dai, let go," Tai protested and yanked the hands off of his shoulders.
"But no, what's going on?" Daisuke asked him again.
"I never thought it would be this hard to get through to him," Tai sighed again and dropped his head onto the table.
"Well, just keep trying?" Daisuke suggested.
"I'm about to give up. He doesn't want to and I guess we should just leave him until he feels more comfortable," Tai replied. He got to his feet and grabbed his bag.
"Where are you going?" Daisuke asked him.
"Just tell Mr. Akiyamo that I wasn't feeling very well," Tai said shortly and walked away.
"That doesn't tell me much!" Daisuke yelled after him. Tai turned around and smacked him.
"Yell any louder why don't you? I'm just gonna go take a nap or something," Tai told him quietly.
"You okay?" Daisuke asked.
"I just said I didn't feel well, Reject." Tai shook his head at Daisuke's obliviousness.
"Oh, right." Daisuke gave him a sheepish grin.
"See ya later." Tai waved and walked away from Daisuke. He walked upstairs and turned the corner to his room, where a surprise sat for him.
"What are you doing, Yamato?" Tai asked him as he stepped a bit closer.
"Well, I wanted to go to my room and wait until lunch was over, but somebody locked the door," he said pointedly. Tai smiled sheepishly, much like Daisuke had a few moments before and started to dig through his bag.
"Sorry about that. I thought you had a key. And it's our room," Tai reminded him as he searched his book bag.
"Nope, didn't think you'd lock the door," Yamato said curtly, gracefully stepping over the last comment. Tai shrugged and shook his head, turning his entire book bag upside down. All contents inside spilled out, scattering in all directions. Tai shifted through his pile of papers and books, and checked every pocket once again.
"Uh-oh," he whispered to himself. However, Yamato still heard him.
"What uh-oh?" Yamato asked him.
"Um…well…" Tai trailed off. It clicked in Yamato's head what had happened.
"You don't have a key?" Yamato asked in disbelief.
"Um, no?" Tai said unsurely.
"You idiot! Now we're both locked out!" Yamato yelled at him, banging his head against the wall. Tai groaned and sank to the floor.
"Sorry. I thought I grabbed it, I really did," he said, hoping Yamato would stop banging his head.
"Well, you didn't, and now we're both stuck out here," Yamato spat out bitterly as he finally stopped banging his head, seeing as how much it hurt. Neither boy said anything, as they were lost in their own thoughts. After an eternity, Tai spoke once again.
"Why do you hate me?" he asked the blond.
"What?"
"Why do you hate me?" Tai repeated, now facing the American.
"Because it's so easy." the blond smirked. Tai rolled his eyes at the typical reply, causing Yamato to sigh and shrug instead. "Seriously though, I…don't," he said slowly, somewhat surprised at this revelation himself.
"Then what's with the 'tude?"
"I'm used to acting like this." Yamato shrugged again.
"You're used to acting like a jackass?" Tai raised his eyebrow.
"Hey, now that is crossing the line." Yamato scowled at him.
"It's true."
"Fine, it is."
"Why? Why do you push everybody away from you? Why…"
"Why is that any of your business?" Yamato stopped him.
"I just want to know. It's not like there's a real good reason behind it," Tai shot back.
"Oh, like you would know," Yamato growled.
"I would if you would take your head out of your ass and explain it to me!" Tai said exasperatedly, getting rather frustrated with the other boy.
"I just like my space."
"And?"
"And what?"
"There's something else. What is it?" Tai pressed on.
"Why am I telling you all of this?" Yamato asked him suddenly, catching the other boy off guard.
"Because until Daisuke decides to come check on me, which will be about another 5 hours by the way, we're stuck out here. So there's really no harm in telling me," Tai said, moving to sit in front of the other boy. Yamato sighed again and ran a hand through his blond mess.
"Look. Back in New York, everybody hated me, okay?" he said quietly.
"Why?"
"You ask that a lot, don't you?"
"Because I want to know. Now why would people hate you?" Tai tilted his head in question.
"Mostly because they didn't understand." Yamato bit down on his pale pink lip.
"Understand what?"
"Anything. Nobody understood anything about my family, nobody understood anything about my personality, and nobody understood anything about what I became. More so, they just didn't take the time to understand and just decided to avoid me. So I became the anti-everything, which is what you see today," Yamato finished.
"That doesn't make sense. That's kind of mean actually," Tai remarked, seeing the boy in a new perspective.
"Yeah, I got used to it. No big deal," Yamato said casually, although apparently, it was a big deal. Tai could easily tell.
"Well, stop," he said to him at last.
"Excuse me?" Yamato raised an eyebrow.
"Stop being anti-everything. Anti-social, anti-friendly, anti-talking? Yeah, don't count on things staying that way, pal. In this place, you have people stick to you like glue and everybody's all one big family I guess is the only way to explain it," Tai shared his insight of the school.
"It's hard to change once the damage has been done," Yamato replied.
"You can try…and I can help." Tai smiled. The blond looked at him and contemplated his offer.
'Well, on one hand, I can trust Tai and see what he does. But he might hurt me or be doing this as a joke like all those others. Or, on the other hand, I can ignore him and stay as the cool Anti-Ishida.' He continued studying the other boy, hoping for some signs to tell him what to do.
"Seriously, Yamato. All I want to do is help you and be friends with you. That's all I ask," Tai said, seeing that the boy wasn't making any sudden decisions.
'Must have been burned in the past. Well duh, nobody's born that cynical!' Tai thought grimly. Yamato kept watching the brunette, judging him
'He seems sincere. But, should I give him a chance?' Yamato continued to argue with himself.
"So what do you think? If you want me to leave you alone, I will. But I want to be around you and help as much as I can," Tai said, hoping the other boy would choose the latter. Yamato shifted his gaze to the floor and finally nodded. A small nod mind you, but a nod nonetheless.
"All right," he said quietly. Tai grinned joyously.
"Great. Things will be much easier if we're friends instead of trying to kill each other," Tai joked. Yamato gave him a small smile in return.
"I suppose so," he agreed, looking back up at the brunet. Tai nodded and leaned back against the wall.
"Well, now what?" Yamato asked him.
"We wait until somebody comes along with a key, or we can go to class," Tai replied. Yamato's face twisted into a look of disgust and he shook his head from side to side.
"Let's not," he declared quickly. Tai laughed at his friend's antics. Yes, he now was able to consider Yamato a friend. They were sent back into their realm of silence.
"Well, where do we start first?" Yamato asked, breaking the silence.
"What do you mean?" Tai countered.
"With changing me. Where do we start?" Yamato repeated himself. Tai bit his lip in thought.
"Well, what about a nickname?" Tai suggested. Yamato raised his eyebrow again.
"A nickname?" he spoke in a doubtful tone.
"Yeah, like how everybody calls me Tai instead of Taichi. Got a nickname?" Tai asked, already thinking of one instead.
"Not really," the blond responded. Tai went back to his thinking, the little hamsters racing on their wheels in his mind.
"What about…Matt?" he asked, seeing how it made perfect sense. Yamato said nothing as he thought it over.
"Why didn't anybody else think of that? I mean, it makes perfect sense," Yamato said with quiet realization. He smiled a bit, more like a smirk. "Actually I take that back. I haven't been called that since I was like, six maybe?"
"Why?"
"Mimi moved away when we were in third grade."
"Who's Mimi?"
"Old friend, very old friend. She never could pronounce my name right when we were kids," Yamato said wistfully, losing himself in different memories. Tai nodded and didn't press the issue further.
"So, what do you think, Matt?" Tai asked, using the nickname for the first time in a long time. Yamato grinned shyly and nodded.
"Matt. Sounds great," he said with a slightly hint of confidence, something else that hadn't been used in a long time.
A few weeks had gone by since that day that Yamato became Matt. It was a struggle at first to get him to open up and be sociable, but nothing Tai and Daisuke couldn't handle. Shoving him into awkward situations seemed to be their favorite way of making him socialize. Slowly but surely, a lot of their schoolmates came to realize that the quiet blond boy wasn't some rabid monster that would attack on movement but instead a rather interesting, unique, and well, basically, he was just one of them.
Naturally, it was all thanks to Tai. He had been the only one brave enough (or dumb enough, depending on how you looked at it) to approach Matt and attempt to mold him. Mold him he did. He had created something that no one had ever seen before, not even Matt himself. He had created his true personality. This pleased Matt highly and he began to get closer to Tai, letting him become better friends with him. For the first time in a long while, Matt was beginning to feel accepted in the scenes around him. It almost felt too good to be real and perhaps it was, but he didn't mind, just so long as he didn't wake up.
But as the saying goes, a streak of good things must be followed by a streak of bad things. This was even true in Matt's case, even though he wished it weren't that way. It was that one day, a Friday it seemed, that he woke up and realized the truth.
"Hey, did either of you finish your science homework yet?" Daisuke asked both boys at lunch that day.
"Dude, you were supposed to do it yesterday!" Tai replied.
"That's why it's called homework, Dais," Matt added, stabbing at his food.
"Guys, I don't understand it," Daisuke moaned and hit his head on the table, narrowly avoiding Tai's plate. Matt shook his head and got up.
"I left mine up in the room anyway. You coming, Tai?" Matt queried over his shoulder.
"Yeah," Tai replied and got up as well.
"Why do you both have to go?" Daisuke asked them.
"So then we can talk about you behind your back easily this way," Matt joked.
"Mean." Daisuke stuck his tongue out.
"We'll be back," Tai said and both older boys walked away.
"Does Dai ever do his own homework?" Matt asked his tan companion
"Nope. Only for certain classes. But science isn't his strong point, so I don't blame him," Tai replied as he opened the door to their room. Matt walked in and started looking around his desk.
"Hey, have you seen my homework?" he asked Tai. The mud-eyed boy began to open his mouth when something inside his mind triggered.
"Why are you asking me?" he spoke in a cold tone, one that could easily rival Matt's old tone.
"Because you live here too?" Matt replied questioningly, not noticing his friend's odd change.
"Yeah, I do. What are you gonna do about it?" Tai asked as he set up all defenses.
"Um, nothing," Matt said and turned to face his friend.
"That's right. Why are you even here? You shouldn't be here," Tai stated, advancing on Matt slowly.
"Tai, what are you doing?" Matt asked, now realizing that there was something very odd about him.
"You shouldn't be here. Actually, let me correct myself. You can't be here," Tai threatened.
"Tai, what are you doing?" Matt repeated more firmly.
"I'm not going to wait for you to kill me," Tai said and stood right in front of Matt.
"What?"
"I'm getting you first," Tai replied. As fast as lightning, Tai had his hands latched onto Matt's neck.
"Tai, what the hell?" Matt yelled, voice slightly strangled as Tai choked him. Suddenly the door burst open and Daisuke ran in.
"Oh no," he whispered and ran up to Matt. "Tai, let him go," Daisuke instructed him as he pulled his hands off of Matt's neck. Matt gasped as air moved into his lungs again.
"You're no match for me either," Tai snarled as he still tried to fight Daisuke.
"Matt, help me restrain him. We need to get him to the nurse," Daisuke panted as he held Tai's arms down, preventing him from using them. Matt nodded and grabbed Tai's legs, confused about what was going on.
"Let me go!" Tai yelled as the two other boys carried him to the nurse, ignoring the looks other students were sending him. He started squirming around, trying to get out of reach with his limbs flailing in every direction. Daisuke kicked the door opened and they brought Tai inside. The nurse looked up, surprised written on her face.
"What's going on?" she asked Daisuke.
"Another fit. Did he come in to you this morning, Jenatsu?" Daisuke asked her.
"No," she replied and leaned over Tai.
"Why can't you all just leave me alone?" Tai whimpered, still struggling against the two boys.
"We're going to have to sedate him. Run along boys, he'll be fine in about an hour," Jenatsu told them as she grabbed a needle for the sedation. Daisuke and Matt walked out of the office, still able to hear Tai's screams of agony and anger. Neither boy said anything as they walked down the hall. Eventually, Matt couldn't take it anymore.
"What happened just now?" he asked Daisuke.
"Tai just had another fit. It happens when he doesn't take his medication," Daisuke replied as if it were an everyday occurrence. Oh, if only Matt knew.
"What?" Matt was lost beyond belief.
"Didn't he tell you?" Daisuke asked, quirking an eyebrow in surprise.
"Tell me what?" Matt pressed on, wanting real answers. Daisuke sighed and slipped his hands into his pockets.
"Tai's a schizophrenic."
"What?" Matt was shocked at this new discovery, to say the least. Truthfully, shocked didn't even begin to cover it.
"Yeah, surprised he never told you. After all, it's been almost three weeks now," Daisuke said, shrugging off Matt's surprise.
"Dai, where exactly are we?" Matt asked, suddenly fearing the worse. Daisuke's expression became grim.
"Well?" Matt pressed impatiently. Daisuke slowly turned to him, eyes blank of all emotion.
"Welcome to Odaiba Academy, Matt. School for the mental," Daisuke said plainly, leaving Ishida Yamato in complete disbelief and reverence.
Again, I revamped it, so hope you enjoy it! I wish I could individually reply but is evil. So thanks to: Moumoukech, Sakura blossoms4, Redrum, nEo-cHaN, Kurochan, WildfireFriendship, Sillie, Quazimodo, Lil Yaten Fae, Kantomon, Aero-Grrl, Bh, Lil Gold Fishie, shadow-seraph, Angel214, ItsSadYouSuck, and Luna-sky.