Part Three: Their Secret

Chapter Ten: Stay

After yesterday's lunchtime spat with Matt and discussion with Izzy, Tai Kamiya had been in a bitter mood when eventually he arrived home. However, like a soothing balm, his sister's embrace when he stepped through the apartment door had quickly mellowed him. By the time her sweet lips were tasting his own, all thoughts of the other DigiDestined had slipped from his mind as he settled back into what had become the norm; Kari and himself alone. They'd eaten dinner, did homework while listening to music, used breaks to beat each other up at Killer Instinct and then shared a passionate yet relaxed make-out session before bed; their lust having started to settle down.

Today he had been woken by the soft touch of her lips against his own as she'd coaxed him out of bed and into the shower. Pancakes for breakfast had then followed, after which he had left her with a goodbye kiss and a promises to come home as soon as he could that evening. Indeed, by the time he arrived at school that morning, all thoughts about his conversation with Izzy and any idea he'd had about talking to Sora the previous day, had been completely forgotten. That was until he saw the red-head, her cheeks stained with tears, run past him down a corridor at morning break.

Tai's head swivelled around as he watched Sora dart past him. The sight of her distraught features hitting home exactly what Izzy had said about her the previous day; she was having a very bad time of things. Feelings of friendship and regret started to outweigh those of bitterness and hate in his heart at the sight of her so clearly upset. While this sort of situation usually wound up with him falling into a metaphorical pit-fall trap, Tai set off after her. At least in this instance, he had an advantage. For whatever had upset Sora, he could be certain that, for once, it had not involved him.

Tearing up a set of stairs the surprisingly quick girl almost evaded him before he eventually caught sight of her slipping inside an art supply room. He slipped a hand between the buttons of his shirt and gripped at his crest of courage pendant; he'd taken to wearing it again after his date with Teiko. His other hand found the door handle. Here goes nothing… Tai opened the door outwards to behold the sight of Sora huddled on the floor in the dark. When the light from outside touched her face, the red-head glanced up at him.

"Hi," Tai said softly as he reached out a hand to find the light switch. "Can I come in?"

The overhead strip-light flickered into life but he received no response as Sora turned her face away. Taking the initiative, he closed the door behind him and crossed the short distance between them. Without asking for permission, for he doubted he'd get it, he sat down beside her, back against some floor to ceiling shelving. He could not help but see the parallels between this situation and when Kari had told him her secret. If he could navigate his way through that bombshell, surely he could do this.

Electing to forgo the traditional but inappropriate, 'are you ok', he decided to lead with, "do you come here often?" Izzy had suggested she'd been avoiding people so it was a reasonable assumption that this is where she'd been coming.

Sora said nothing but gave a slight nod of her head.

Tai gave the small room a cursory glance, "I suppose it's quite quiet in here. A good place to go to cool off after an argument…"

When her head turned to face him, it dawned on him just how stupid that remark had been. Hastily he tried to retract it, "not that I'm saying you've been arguing with anyone. It's just this place gives off a very after argument vibe you know. Somewhere calm you can come to let off steam…" oh crap, "…not that you need to let off steam or anything…"

His own grave digging ramblings were cut off when Sora unexpectedly started to laugh.

"What's funny?" he asked in alarm. He'd practically blown it out of the gate and she found it amusing?

"You," Sora replied in-between laughs, "you were always terrible at this sort of thing."

I wasn't with Kari, he thought hotly. However, his brain quickly reminded him that, like with everything, his sister was the exception to the rule. "I suppose some things never change," he admitted with a warm smile.

"I guess not." The look of amusement suddenly faded and she turned her face away once more. "What are you doing here, Tai?" she then asked in a flat, sombre voice.

"I thought you could use a friend," he replied. While Izzy may have suggested it to him yesterday, it was now a genuine feeling he had inside.

"But we're not friends… not anymore…" after the words left her mouth she turned her back on him. "Just leave me alone, Tai."

At that moment, he found himself facing a choice. Either he could do the easy thing, stand up and walk away, or choose the difficult road his sister had and attempt to rebuild a bridge. He reached out a shaking hand only for memories of the hurt and pain he had suffered at the hands of the red-head to engulf his mind. He froze. The day Sora had chosen Matt over him he had felt as though she had shoved a knife into his back and through his heart. He'd sworn afterwards that he would never forgive her for it. Indeed these few lines of conversation had been the first they'd shared since.

He motioned to pull his hand away, only for Kari's soft voice to whisper inside his head, "you're not in love with her, Tai. And I don't think you ever were." He had thought about what she had said on Sunday evening and come to the conclusion that she had been right. He didn't love Sora, for he was in love with her instead. And all his short-lived relationships had failed because the girl in question was not his sister… any relationship he might have had with the red-head would eventually have been doomed to failure for that very same reason. In the end, though it had hurt him terribly at the time, he found that he could no longer blame Sora for her decision. For ultimately, he would have been able to offer her no more than Kari had TK.

Tai reached out and laid his hand upon the girl's shoulder. Exerting light pressure, he turned her around to face him. "I'm sorry for what I said the last time we spoke and I forgive you for what you said and for the decisions you made. Just know that if you need a friend, I'll be here for you."

When after a minute or two she said nothing, he lowered his head and motioned to turn away. He should not have expected anything more. He had been downright nasty to her when she'd told him that she was going out with Matt. While he might be ready to forgive her, that did not mean that she would be willing to forgive him so easily. "I'll leave you alone if that's what you want," he said as he stood up and headed for the door.

He was just about to turn the handle when, in a broken whisper, he heard her say, "Tai…" he turned back to look at her, "…please don't leave."

Tears were running once more down the girl's cheeks and he knew that he could not, in good conscience, leave her. His hand left the door handle and he crossed the short distance to sit down beside her again. Her large red eyes, full of sorrow and pain looked into his own with sincerity. "Will you sit with me?" she asked in a fragile voice. "I could really use a friend right now."

"Of course," he replied, leaning back against the wall once more. "Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"

"You don't have to listen to my problems, Tai. Just sit with me for a bit."

He gave her a smile, "that was always your problem, Sora. You would listen to everyone else's problems and help them in any way you could, but when it came to your own, you would keep them bottled up inside."

She sighed, "I guess there is a brain beneath all that hair and thick skull of yours after all."

He laughed slightly where once he would have retorted with something stupid like, "what's that supposed to mean." Allowing a few moments of silence to pass between them, he eventually said, "So is it trouble with your mom... or with Matt?"

It was Sora's turn to let out a faint laugh. "Guess I was wrong, it's not a brain you've got, rather a more observant friend with red hair and an obsession with computers."

"It's difficult to observe something about someone if you've been purposefully ignoring that person," Tai replied dryly.

"You noticed something today," she countered.

"That's because I decided to stop ignoring you. However, that's beside the point, you're deflecting.

"You caught me," Sora said with a forced laugh.

Tai looked her straight in the eyes, a serious expression on his face, "so which one is it, your mom or Matt?"

Sora turned away from him before whispering, "both."

"Ok, tell me about it."

"My mom's been putting a lot of pressure on me to help out more in the store. So between that and all the school work we've had lately, I've had time for precious little otherwise."

"I take it that's why Matt's been giving you a hard time," Tai said, feeling a pang of hatred towards his former friend.

"It's not just Matt, it's all the girls too." He watched a fresh wave of tears roll down her cheeks as she spoke. "Mom's been at me so much over the past month that I've been ostracized by all the other girls because I can never hang out with them."

"So what happened today? Another fight with Matt?"

She nodded as she broke down and, catching him by surprise, buried her head into his chest. Tai felt an initial wave of awkwardness, but it quickly passed and so he put his arm around her shoulder. Deciding not to press her further, he instead just allowed her to sob. Sometimes just having a shoulder to cry on helped. After a few minutes, she raised her head and sat up. He watched as she reached into her bag, pulled out a tissue and started to dry her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Tai. I don't know what I was thinking there, she eventually said.

"There's no need to apologise. You were upset and in need of someone to comfort you," he replied reassuringly. "Are you going to be ok?"

She nodded, "I'll be fine."

From out in the hallway, Tai heard the chime that signalled the end of morning break. Climbing to his feet, he held out a hand. Sora looked at it for a moment before taking it and allowing him to help her rise. He stooped to pick up her bag then held it out to her.

"If you need to talk some more, don't hesitate to either come find me or to give me a call. I promise I'll be there to listen."

Sora took her bag from his outstretched hand then looked him directly in the eyes. "If it had been roles reversed, I'm not sure I could have done what you just did today. It must have taken all your courage, Tai... thank you."

At the risk of blowing up everything he had just done, Tai took a gamble. "It's not really me you need to thank," he began, however, hastily added, "and it's not Izzy either," before she suggested it for him."

She looked at him, confused. "Who then?"

He took a breath, not certain how she would react when he said, "Kari."

"Kari? What does she have to do with it?" there was a slight edge to her tone, but, given the bad blood between her and his sister, that was a positively glowing response.

"It was her idea that I should try and talk to you. She recently helped me work through my feelings towards you. If not for her, I would probably have just let you go without batting an eyelid earlier."

"Oh..." Sora said slowly, sounding slightly speechless.

Tai took the opportunity to add, "she wants you to know that she's sorry for what she did."

"Thanks for telling me," she replied and walked slowly towards the door. "We should probably head to class."

Tai followed her out of the supply room and the pair made their way back to class without saying another word to each other. While both fate and fortune seemed to have been looking down upon him more favourably than yesterday with Matt, it had perhaps been foolish of him to drop his sister's name into the mix so soon. For he was now far less certain that there would be a second conversation between them than he had been before doing so. He supposed only the passage of time would give him that particular answer.