Healing Hearts

"She'll be fine in a few days. She's a fighter," Davis said proudly to the group surrounding him. They nodded, happiness and relief filling their faces.

It was the next day at school, and many of their friends had sought out Tai and Davis right away to hear about Kari. Tai smiled at all of them, including Davis.

"We're going to be collecting her homework for her the next few days so she doesn't fall behind," Takeru explained, motioning to himself and Davis.

"Just make sure Davis doesn't try and help her with it. Then she'll really fall behind..." Koushirou said.

Everyone laughed, and Davis let out a sarcastic, "Ha-ha. That's right, I'm so dumb. But you know, I can at least play sports. Soccer, baseball...And of course, tennis. Because you would have to be a complete moron not to be able to play tennis," Davis finished, smiling at Koushirou, who flushed at the jibe.

"Enough with the manly display of name calling, guys," Miyako interjected. She turned to Takeru and Davis and continued, "I'll come with you guys and help Kari."

Iori looked surprised. "You're willingly going somewhere with Davis?"

Miyako gave a grudgingly friendly look and said, "He's not that bad..."

The group started laughing again, but Tai's mind was off of them. There were still three people missing: Sora, Yamato and Mimi. And the problem was, for all three of them, he didn't know what the problem was.

"But Kari's okay now, right?" Sora asked after school. Tai pushed his hair off his forehead and looked up at the clear sky before answering.

"She's fine for now. My mom is angry that she didn't tell us sooner that she wasn't feeling well. She was lucky. We were all lucky," Tai said. The spring breeze blew his hair back in his face and Tai scowled.

Sora smiled softly. "Yes, we are all lucky. Kari means a lot to all of us."

Tai forgot about his hair for a moment and smiled appreciatively back at Sora.

The two teens walked in companionable silence till they reached the field where their soccer club was held. As they stretched out with the rest of the team members, Tai watched Sora with a secret smile.

Sora, in his world, had switched to tennis a few years after the digital world, and Tai never got to see her as often after that. In this world, Sora had stuck with soccer, and Tai found himself happy and pleased with her company again.

"But just her company as a friend," a part of his brain added firmly, stubbornly.

Sora looked up to see Tai watching her, and she gave a huge smile, accompanied by a slight blush. Tai's face heated up in return.

The team started practice, and thoughts of Sora were replaced with moves, plays and strategies in Tai's head. So much so, in fact, that when he finally stopped to get a drink of water, he saw Sora talking on her cell phone and realized he didn't even notice her leave the field.

Even from a distance, Tai could see the mix of anger and frustration on her face as she tried to reason with the other speaker on the phone. He unconsciously started toward her, watching as her temper flared with every second. He was almost to her when she hung up the phone with a violent jab and threw the phone into her bag.

She slung the bag over her shoulder and started to walk away, but Tai put out a comforting hand on her arm and stalled her.

"Sora? What's wrong? Where are you going?" he asked in a concerned voice.

She didn't turn around, but answered, "I just need to leave."

Confusion swept over Tai, "Yeah, okay. But why?"

Sora then spun quickly, wrenching her arm out of Tai's grip. "BACK OFF! It's none of your business, Tai!" she yelled as tears started pouring down her cheeks. "You wouldn't get it! No one gets it..."

Tai was startled by her sudden out burst, but continued, "Sora, I understand more that you think, if you'd just-"

She shook her head violently. "No Tai, you really are blind," she whispered and ran away, off the field. And presumably to the person who made Sora, for the first time in a long time, cry.

Or perhaps she was running away from that person. Because only after talking to him, did she cry.

Tai sat at the kitchen table with his father and mother as the three of them ate dinner, Kari being in her room after a healthy dose of soup. Tai was still contemplating Sora's outburst earlier, and it must have shown on his face, because his mother spoke to him.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked with concern.

"Yeah...well...no, actually," Tai said, poking at some rice. "Sora is angry at me for some reason, but she won't tell me why."

"Tai, let me tell you something..." his dad started.

"Um, no. That's okay!" Tai said quickly, knowing his dad's record with advice.

"Now, now, your old man here is knows the low down on how you kids kick it these days. Just chill for a sec and I'll tell you what you need to know."

Tai looked to his mom, who shrugged. "I'm sure that it will be short, if that is any help."

"Now Tai, when I first met your mother, we dated for a while but we took things slow. You see, we were friends, really close friends, and I was afraid that if our relationship didn't work, everything would be ruined. Your mother, however, started getting edgy a while into our relationship, withdrawing on me and yelling at me suddenly. One day, I figured there was only one thing left to do..." His father trailed off.

"Did you take her to a doctor?" Tai asked in a bored voice, trying to guess what off the wall solution his dad had this time.

"Nope."

"Sing her a song outside her window?"

"No, but that would have been a good-"

"Dad..." Tai groaned in annoyance.

"I told her," his dad said simply, and his mother beamed at him.

"What?" Tai asked, perplexed.

"I told her everything. I knocked down my barriers that had only been there to protect myself, and I let her know. I loved her," he said, smiling at Tai's mother in return. "I love her."

Tai sat in shock. "Dad, that made...sense..."

"Well, of course. I told you I give out great advice. I'm down with it," he said, smiling in self satisfaction.

Tai stood and told them, "I gotta go."

As he sprinted to the door, his father called to him, "Catch you on the flip side!"

"As long as it's before 11 o'clock!" his mother added before the door shut.

"Way to get your words in, hun. You ain't no holla back girl."

"Honey, stop watching MTV, okay?"

"Fine," he said, and grabbed the plates from her hands and took them to the kitchen for her.

"I'm some lucky girl," she said, and followed him in before he broke something.

In the small, quiet garden, nothing seemed to be moving. Tai sighed silently and flipped his body over the fence, landing on a stone path with practiced ease. Tai could not count the number of times he had done this exact thing, sneaking into Sora's backyard to meet her without her mother knowing.

When they were younger, Sora's mother had set aside two days a week where Sora couldn't play with boys, resulting in her being cooped up inside her house learning proper girl etiquette. However, when Sora would go to the garden to "read", Tai would hurtle the fence and keep her company.

He had stopped, though, a few years back when he had hurtled the fence (there were no more play time restrictions, of course, but by then it was habit to do it anyway) and waited for Sora, but she never came. It had stabbed him harder than her choosing Matt, because their friendship had now broken somehow. He never jumped into the garden again after that day.

Weeks ago, in his world, Sora had asked him to come over some afternoon, the implication of meeting in the garden spoken silently. Tai had smiled somewhat emptily, and said he might try, but he didn't. He didn't plan on taking that risk with his heart again.

But he was here now, wasn't he? Tai tried to sort the conflicting emotions in his head. This was different somehow, because in this world, he never had to stop going over the barricade to the garden. Here, Sora had always been waiting for him to make that leap.

Like she was now, sitting on the stone bench that she always did.

Tai sat next to her, but she didn't look up from staring at the ground. Tai could see her eyes were red from crying.

"I hate my mother," she whispered bitterly.

Tai looked at her, startled. "No, you don't."

She sniffled and said more firmly, "She hates me."

Tai put a comforting hand on her shoulder, which she didn't shake off. "She doesn't hate you."

"Well, she doesn't love me!" Sora cried, and looked at him in pain. "I've tried and tried to get along with her, Tai, but I am never good enough. I am always doing something wrong, or making her angry or disappointed, or she's controlling me and making me give up time for sports and friends, she doesn't try to love me or understand me!"

Sora pressed her face into Tai shoulder and he slipped his arms around her, rubbing her back in what he hoped was a comforting motion.

"Sometimes," Sora continued, "I feel so unloved, so unwanted that I want to disappear. It's horrible to realize that no one loves you...that no one may ever love you..."

Tai's heart hammered in his chest and something deep inside him broke, and just like his father had done before him, he'd broken the barrier protecting his emotions.

"But I love you, Sora..." Tai whispered to her.

She jolted backward from his hold, looking at him with disbelief and expression that stated she didn't appreciate this joke.

"Sora, I love you," Tai said looking her straight in the eye. "I've tried to hide it, ignore it, stop it, but... I just can't stop loving you. Probably cause I don't want to. Earlier you called me blind, which is partly true, cause sometimes all I can see is you."

Tai could have laughed out loud at the comical look on Sora's face, but it wasn't exactly the right time. Instead, he brought her back into his arms, and she returned the gesture with force.

"Tai, I...I..." Sora stumbled in confused happiness. Tai helped her out by silencing her with a kiss, like he had wanted to for many years.

As Tai left later, with his curfew in mind, he neared the fence and saw a figure in the window of Sora's house. Her mother stood there, and Tai stopped to look at her. She smiled lightly, conveying a request in her eyes, rather than out loud. Tai nodded and smiled back before hopping the fence.

They both loved Sora, and they would both be looking after her from now on.

AN- Okay, this chapter seemed kind of short ( because it is) and really weird (ditto), so I apologize. About the short part, because I know you guys like long chapters after a long wait. I originally had the next chapter as part of this one, but that was going to be extremely long, so this will do. But you got a lot of Taiora, right? Cheers.

I will not apologize for Tai's dad. I can make him talk whatever way I like, and this entertains me the most, so deal with it. Unless you found it funny, then kudos to you, I really like you.

I'm excited to see if anyone can catch on to a future dilemma. I don't think I made it really noticeable in this chapter, but I guess I'll see.

Only four more chapters to go!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love everyone who enjoyed the Davis/Kari parts. So cute...

BenignUser
Angel of the Night 213
dragen545
digimon-Taiora
Dark Qiviut- I like Daimi too. There aren't a lot of them, are there? Maybe I'll write one...Thanks for reviewing!
Vigatus
Kaye
Marie Darkholme
Litanya
Lady-Azura
ghikiJ- Request noted and stored in head for later use.
blondie121147
Reluctant Dragon
Strawberry'd- I tried to use different names for people who changed noticeably. Davis (Daisuke) in my opinion, stayed pretty much the same. It gets kind of confusing to me too. And Tai.