SlippingSanity : Thank you readers and reviewers! Here's the next chapter! Oh, and I might change the summary. A friend of mine suggested it (now if only I knew what to write for the summary...) I just wanted you all to know.
To daily : Thank you for reviewing my last chapter, and yes, this will be a Taishiro. -
Disclaimer : I do not own...
Chapter Three
A few hours earlier...
"You want to open up the search for that mistake? But it's been put to rest!" A female scientist in a long white trench coat on, a mask over his mouth, and safety goggles over their eyes yelled at the other scientist who'd given the order.
The room fell silent at the scientist's outburst, the repeatitive beeping of many different machines hovering in the air like dust blown from a book that hasn't been touched in ages. No one spoke to the scientist for a while, until another scientist, the one who had given the order, began.
"I don't care if it's been put to rest, Maida" She glared at the other, "That 'mistake' is still out there, right? We have to find it and repair it."
"But Madam," a different person spoke, a clipboard in their gloved hands, the person flipping rapidly through the pages, "what could possibly be accomplished by reopening the search? Experiment Alpha X 00-00-01 hasn't been creating havoc sence it escaped."
"Ah, but therein lies the problem." The she began, removing the mask from his lips, a smirk on his features, "It seems Alpha X is more flawed than we thought if it hasn't served it's purpose, correct?"
"Are you crazy!" the female, Maida, demanded, pounding her fist on a nearby machine, "Do you even know what that abomination was created for? Are you trying to start a war? No one in any state, not even in this one, will accept you searching for the Alpha X 00-00-01! When that thing left and disappeared from every trace radar around, everyone was brought peace of mind! It's better off where it is now!"
The woman glared heavily at Maida, but she did not relent. Why should she? This ignorant person stood before her, spouting off nonsence! Did she not know the dangers of what she was searching for?
"Do you not crave greatness?" the female scientist spoke, not wanting the chance to have such an experiment as Alpha X 00-00-01 slip through her fingers, "Do you not wish to acheive the highest medals in life? To take this wild lion in, and create a harmless kitten to the eyes of others?"
"'To the eyes of others'? What do you mean?" Maida asked, taking a small step away from the other.
The female scientist walked towards Maida, stopping a few inches away from her shoes.
"As it sounds, dear." She snapped, and Maida's arms were instantly grabbed by two other scientists, "We don't plan on just finding Alpha X 00-00-01; we plan to activate it!"
Maida gasped, then struggled to get free from the two people holding her.
"You're sick!" Maida yelled as she sturggled.
"Take her out of here, and make sure she keeps her mouth shut. She knows to much."
"Mam," the two men saluted, dragging a screaming woman out of the large room.
A few seconds later a shrill scream pierced the air, followed by a dull thud that seemed to echo around all that stood in the room.
"Heh, dead man tell no tales."
Inside of the ventalation system above their heads, however, crawled an oddly colored cat of blue fur. Golden Yellow eyes widened slightly before glaring at the people below him. The cat turned around, and began to run out the way it came in.
Present time...
The roar of the crowd light into the air like a match, people standing from their seats and cheering as a brown haired, brown eyed boy shot a black and white ball through into the net, further creating a gap between his teams and the opposing teams points. The boy then ran for the ball as it was thrown back out, landing infront of an opposing team member, their shoes kicking the rolling ball over the green grass towards the goal. As the other was running, however, the ball was stolen from his lead, into the lead of a boy with shimmering dark purple hair and blue eyes. The spotted ball was then kicked between the legs of a boy who tried to steal it, towards a boy with wild red hair and goggles on his head.
"Over here Dai!" Taichi called, running along with Daisuke, though he was more off to the side.
Daisuke shook off a boy standing in his way, faking a pass to Taichi, and running past the boy in the opposide direction, leaving him to enjoy the tangy taste of grass. Daichi then kicked the ball over to Ken, who'd run close to the net. Ken kicked the ball, the goalie missing the block, giving them another score.
Taichi gave Daichi and Ken a thumbs up and a wink, recieving a grin fron Daisuke and a smile from Ken. The two of them definately earned their spots on the soccer field. Their attention was grabbed back to the field by a ball passing over head.
Koushiro sat in the middle of the crowd, watching as the game of soccer was played. He loved watching the sport being played, ever since he'd watched Taichi practicing. Of course, it wasn't on the very first time he saw Taichi practice that he came to liking the sport, heck, it probably wasn't even the second, but he had come to love it. Koushiro mainly watched Taichi practice for the pleasure of watching that ball bounce and roll around, but Koushiro soon began to enjoy the sport for more than that. The way Taichi would roll the ball between his shoes, when he kicked the ball into the air a distance and caught it with his knee, bounching it up and down and passing it to the other, kneeing the ball to the air, catching it with his head and boucing it up and down before letting gravity have it's way with the ball, and restarting again.
Yes, Koushiro loved to sit on the roof while Taichi practiced, running around the empty rooftop with the ball on his control. Yes, the ball that was bouncing around on the grass field before him, teasing him, making his black orbs dart around to keep the ball in sight, wanting to chase--
"No," Koushiro spoke to himself, his words drowned out by the sound of people cheering once more, "You will not pursue that ball."
Koushiro stood, wedging through people, determined to leave. He was done with 'doggie Izzy' for today. The instant he'd gotted under the bleachers away from the eyes of others, however, did the sences begin to fill him again. The way the ball moved, the sound of loud bounces as the ball hit the ground. It was hypnotizing Koushiro, telling him to come forth and chase it. Demanding that Koushiro take that ball and run.
And, much to his dismay, Koushiro listened to the ball and it's demands.
A red dog clad in a white shirt that managed to stay on him, though it looked big, and a blue and white baseball cap that seemed to have stayed on him, sprinted onto the field, knocking the ball from it's midair pass with his head, and ran, kicking the soccer ball with him as he did so.
Everyone sat or stood quietly, shocked by this strange dog that has run onto the field, as he continued to run around with the ball, his tail wagging happily from side to side. Soon the quiet sound of shock was replaced with laughter, small protests, and cheers for the dog as he ran away from the soccer players chasing after him.
"Isn't that your dog, Kari?" TK asked the girl standing next to him in the stands.
"Yeah," She nodded, watching as her older brother ran after the red dog, yelling for him to stop.
"Should we help them?" Iori asked with an arched eyebrow as he watched Yolei laughing at the scene before her.
"Don't worry about them," A blonde boy spoke, standing, "They'll be fine."
"Where are you going, Yamato?" Sora asked.
"Nowhere," Yamato shook his head, squeezing inbetween people and disappearing from sight.
A pair of dark eyes gazed slowly from side to side, observing the people in the crowd and their actions. Most people were interested in the field, but others, as he noted, sat in their seats and typed on a floating, neon green device, or the newest laptops.
Jyou rose his left hand, pushing some strands of his blue hair behind his ear. Whispered words were spoken into a hidden communicator in his ear, the person on the opposite end confirming his words and sending a message back to him. Jyou nodded slowly, and removed his hand, ending communication lines. He then reached into his pants pocket and withdrew a small, square, neon item. The second it was released from his fingers, it created a keyboard and a screen. Jyou then began to work.
"You brought your laptop here?" Mimi asked Jyou, a look of disbelief on her features.
"Yeah," Jyou nodded while smiling, "Well, I do need to study more often."
"Yamato to much of a distraction?" Miyako laughed as Jyou blushed at her words.
"Oh! Look!" Hikari pointed at the field, drawing everyones attention towards it.
Taichi picked up speed, eyes wide as he ran from the blue cat who'd came out of, well, nowhere, and began chasing him.
"What the hell, man!" Tai yelled as he ran from the cat, and after Koushiro. He did not like this at all. A dog running with a ball being chased by a soccer player, whose being chased by some stray cat!
"Izzy, stop!" He yelled, though the dog continued to ignore him and run down the block, as they were now no longer on school premises.
"Koushiro!"
Said boy slowed down, comming to a stop. What was he doing? Why was he stealing this ball? This wasn't what he wanted to do. What happened to just watching the soccer game?
He ran into an alley nearby, Taichi not to far behind.
Koushiro sat up against the side of a building, now in his half-human half-dog form, the hat hanging over one ear and over his face, the end of the shirt being tugged downwards to cover himself up. His eyes kept to the ground as Taichi stood over him.
"Sorry," He mumbled, embarassed with himself, "I didn't mean to ruin your soccer game."
"Ah, it's cool," Tai scratched the back of his head, his brown eyes towards the entrance of the one way alley, "They weren't even that much of a challenge. We were ahead of them anyway."
"You shouldn't be so over confedient," Koushiro accidently let slip, a smile now tugging at his lips, "It'll lead to embarassment."
"Says a more-than-half naked boy in an alleyway," Taichi smiled, laughter in his tone of voice.
Koushiro blushed heavily, pulling downward on the white shirt, though it kept on riding up a little in his hands. Hell, Koushiro might as well just let the shirt go for all the good it was doing! (He didn't though. The shirt did cover him up, even if it was starting to get on his nerves.)
"If you knew you were gonna end up naked, why did you change form?" Tai asked, now looking down at the redhead.
Koushiro blushed somehow managed to increase under the other boys gaze, though he ran the question in his mind over and over. Why had he changed? He could still talk to the other in his canine form, so it was irrational, and pretty much unnessary, to shift forms.
The redhead closed his eyes, concentratind on shifting forms.
"I-I can't," He breathed, seeing his pale skin instead of fur, "I can't change!"
"What are you talking about?" Tai asked, bending to his knees, his eyes on the other boy as his eyelids scrunched together tightly, his eyebrows furrowing downwards.
"I can't transform into a dog!" Koushiro opened his eyes, unease flowing through him. Sure he wanted to stop shifting forms, but he wanted to be a full human.
His left hand held down the shirt, as his right rose to the top of his head. Yes, on the top of his head still resided dog ears, so shouldn't that mean he should be able to change? Didn't that mean he was still half dog? Didn't that--
"Calm down."
Koushiro blinked slowly, staring at Taichi. Had he said something? If he had, what was up with his voice?
"Listen to me." The voice spoke again to Koushiro.
"Who are you?" He asked the phantom speaker.
"What?" Tai rose an eyebrow. What was Koushiro talking about. He knew who he was.
"Someone who knows you."
"You know me?" Koushiro asked, raising a finger to Tai's lips so he wouldn't answer.
"Later. Just know I was the one who blocked your transformation. Don't switch form for the rest of the day. They're after us."
"After us? Who?"
"Later."
"What? You can't do that!" Koushiro complained, though he knew it was no use. He couldn't explain it, but somehow he knew the presence wasn't around anymore to answer him.
"What's up?" Taichi asked, moving Koushiro's finger from his lips.
The other boy looked up at him, pondering the same question himself. What had happened? Who was that person that claimed to know him, when he himself could not remember a thing about himself? And who was after him - no, them - and more importantly, why?
"Taichi?" Koushiro looked at the other, "How did we come in contact with one another? How did we meet?" Maybe if he was told, he would remember something about his past before Taichi and his family, and figure out who this person whom somehow contacted him through telepathy actually was.
Tai blinked, raising an eyebrow at the boy. He hadn't been expecting that to come out of his mouth.
The brunette sat on the cool ground next to Koushiro, bending his legs up towards his chest, resting his elbows on his knees. Brown eyes rose towards the clouds dotting the liquid blue sky.
"Well, I was out one day with Kari. I was practicing some of my soccer moves in the park, and she watched from her seat on the bench. Let's see, I was about seven years old around the time, and Kari was five."
Taichi bounced the black and white ball off of his head repeatedly, smiling goofily as his younger sister Hikari laughed and applauded the technique.
"If you like that, then you'll love this!" The seven year old boy smiled, letting the soccer ball hit the grass, running around, proceeding to entertain his sister with different ball tricks he'd learned.
"Anyway, I was practicing, and I forgot to keep my eye out for the whether, because it started pouring down like hell! The sky was black, lightning flashed, and thunder echoed in our ears. Kari was so scared, she clung to me like I was a life preserver."
"Here, wear this!" Taichi ordered his sister, placing his coat over her shoulders, pulling the hood up over her brown hair.
"What about you?" Hikari asked with a whine protest. She didn't want her brother to get sick because of the weather.
"I'll be fine!" He smiled at her, though his teeth rattled from the cool wind and water.
Tai took Kari's hand in his own and began running towards their home as fast as their legs could carry them. The wind blew heavily upon them, whipping Tai's unruly hair to and fro, testing the durablilty of the hood over Kari's head.
Puddles splashed loudly under their shoes as they ran through them, Taichi holding tightly to his little sister's hand, slowing when his pace became to fast for her. The two rounded the corner, their apartment building could be seen down the block and across the street.
"W-We're almost t-there!" Taichi called happily over his shoulder, his words stuttered from the cold.
"Okay!" Hikari smiled happily, moreso because Tai was close to getting out of this bad weather. He sounded terrible when he spoke, and was already sneezing as he ran.
The two children were halfway down the block, when a shrill screeching pierced the air, and a car could be seen stopping just before the intersection. Tai sliently prayed, thankful that he and his sister hadn't gotten to the crosswalk any sooner. A loud whining brought him out of his prayer, and his eyes onto a blood red puppy rolled onto it's side on the ground, one paw bent at an odd angle, blood leaking from a sharp scratch on the aminals back, caused most likely from the speed of the car, and the intensity of the animal hitting the moving windshield whipers.
"Shit!" A man yelled from his car, his eyes wide in panic over the incident.
"Hurry up and get back in!" The passanger yelled to him.
The man hopped back in, the loud sounds of the passenger yelling "Drive, man, drive!" echoing in the tow young childrens ears as it sped off into the storm.
"Come on!" Taichi pulled his sister towards the middle of the street, crossing and leaving her on the sidewalk in front of the apartment building, before running back out into the slick-with-rain streets.
"Be careful!" Hikari yelled out to him as she watched Taichi slowly pick the injured puppy from the ground and run back towards her.
"He's not dead, is he?" Hikari asked lowly, tears threatening to spill over the unknown dog if he were to, indeed, be dead.
"No, he's not," Taichi shook his head slowly, watching as the droopy black eyes of he puppy stared into his brown eyes, and close his own. "But we gotta hurry and do something! He's bleeding badly!"
"Took you upstairs to our apartment, where our parents took us to the vet for your treatment. And, after much begging and crying on Kari's part, you were allowed to live with us," Taichi finished, looking over at the quiet other.
Koushiro stared at the wall of the other building, the information sinking in.
'I almost died?' He asked himself, now no really worried about figuring out who that odd voice belonged to.
"Tai?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks...for saving my life."
Taichi smiled at Koushiro, standing, walking in front of the other boy and lifting up the baseball cap, ruffling the firy hair beneath it. Koushiro gave him an annoyed look, but the wagging tail gave away from the expression.
"You don't have to thank me Izzy," He spoke, replacing the blue and white cap correctly, "I don't need it. Saving lives is the right thing to do, right?" Taichi rose an eyebrow, looking the other up and down, "However, I'll take thanks for saving your social life!"
"What are you talking about?" Koushiro asked skeptically.
"Here," Taichi held out the soccer shorts he'd just taken off, offering them to Koushiro, "Hope you don't mind going commando."
Koushiro blushed and snatched to shorts away, slipping them onto his waist quickly, not caring anymore if Taichi saw anything. He was a boy, so he saw the same things all the time, right? Plus, he did not enjoy the cold pavement on his behind. Not an experience he'd like to go through twice.
"Wait, what about you?" Koushiro looked downwards on Taichi, spotting some tight black shorts on his that stopped a bit longer than mid-thigh, though not by alot. The shorts seemed to almost disappear when he pulled down his soccer jersy.
The two walked out of the alleyway, Taichi asking if Koushiro about the "talking to himself" incident, and Koushiro explaining his theory on what might have happened, and how it may be related to the experiment he went through.
"Okay," Taichi nodded, "but I have one more question for you."
"What is it?"
"When you changed, you weren't wearing any of my underwear that had my name in it, were you?" Taichi snickered, enjoying the blush on the other's face.
"Yes, Tai, I did," Koushiro responded, his facial expression one of seriousness, "It had black permenent writing in it claming "Property Of Taichi Yagami" in it. I made sure of that."
"Y-You're kidding, right?" Taichi gluped, eyes slightly widened.
"So you do have some that have writing in them?" Koushiro asked playfully.
"What? No! I thought you wrote that on them or something!" Taichi yelled at the other, a slight blush on his face.
"Besides, I don't see why you'd ask me that. Remember, you brought me my own to wear when I change forms."
"Oh," Taichi remembered, "Yeah. And that was such a shame, too. I really enjoyed sharing undergarments with you,"
"What?" Koushiro blushed slightly, "What did you say?"
"You heard me," Tai teased, he and Koushiro walking towards his house as he sliently wondered where did that crazy cat go.
"Kari named me Blue?"
"Yes, she did. Said she didn't know anything about your personality, so she chose "Blue" for the name."
"Blue?"
"Well, would you like it if she gave you the name "Fluffy" or something like that instead?"
"I'd choke on a furball and die."
"Really?"
"Yeah, though I'd like to choke on something else," He spoke, claiming the lips of the other, gently pushing him onto the bed. "Wait. Did you hack into their data?"
"As best as I could," He answered, tiltling his neck, giving the other more access to the flesh of his neck.
"I love when you do things like that, you know?" He licked downward on the pale skin belonging to the man under him, running his fangs lightly over the other's shoulders.''
"I aim to please," He moaned, feeling the clawed hands roam under his shirt.
"Then please me," The other groaned, grinding his hips into the other's as he continued to feel him up.
Pants, sighs, and moans were heard from the bedroom door, echoing throughout the house they lived in.