WARNING: None. =]

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this marvelous universe; it all belongs to Toei Animation, I believe.

Dedication: The Digital Typhoon. For being a great reviewer, part of the minority that is a guy writer on FF (More guys, people!), and for writing awesome fictions. :D

Reviewers: N/A

Author's Note: None.

Rating: T

Poll – Located above my profile. Please take!

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Tai's head spun as his feet robotically carried him to the boy's bathroom. He paused briefly when he reached the entryway, but shook his head and thundered in. Tai closed his eyes in concentration and tried to listen for signs of the blonde.

His head snapped up when he heard heavy breathing coming from the inside of the back stall. The brunet felt his heart clenched in pain and he shook his head, trying to make the feeling go away. 'I don't even know why I'm here,' he thought to himself bitterly. 'And why do I even care that Matt's upset? It's like Mimi said; he deserves to be upset.'

No matter how Tai tried to convince himself, he still walked slowly towards the back stall. When he finally stopped just beside the stall that he knew Matt was in, he felt his hand's start to sweat from nerves. He hadn't spoken to the blonde in two years and now he was just going to barge in to comfort him?

'I'm out of my mind,' Tai thought to himself as he knocked lightly on the bathroom door.

"What do you want?" Came the snarled voice from within the stall. Tai smiled sadly at the door. 'Matt always acts angry when he's trying to be tough.'

Tai opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He shook his head determinedly and said, with a clear, steady (albeit soft) voice: "I just wanted to see if you wanted to talk . . ."

Inside the stall, cerulean eyes widened in recognition. 'What's going on? Why is Tai - of all people - here?!' Matt thought to himself. Matt closed his eyes in anticipation, but slowly let his pale hand unlock the door and push it slowly open. Matt kept his eyes glued to the tiled floor, not willing to look the brunet in the eyes.

Tai carefully kneeled down next to the blonde and paused for a few seconds. "A-are you alright?" Tai finally stammered out, not sure how to talk to a person who used to be his best friend.

Matt closed his eyes tighter at the concern in his ex-best friend's voice, but he willed his voice to stay icy. "I'm just super," Matt growled dimly, "What are you doing here, anyway? You haven't talked to me in two years, so why is today any different?"

"Matt . . . that wasn't my fault. I was mad at you; heck, I'm still mad at you. But that doesn't mean I want you to suffer." Tai bit his bottom lip uncomfortably as he played nervously with a loose thread on his jeans.

"R-really?" Matt's voice stuttered out, genuinely surprised. "I always thought you hated me . . . or wanted me to die. I deserve it," Matt whispered to himself. Tai's eyes widened as he saw a small drop of liquid hit the tile floor, coming from Matt's downcast head.

"Yeah," Tai nodded, "You kind of do." He paused. "That's beside the point. Why are you upset?" The brunet inquired calmly.

"You," Matt stated simply.

Tai blinked and leaned back on the stall door. "Me?"

Matt brought his hands up to his face, muffling his voice somewhat. "Yeah, you. That stupid idiot, Heather, was talking about it again."

Though Matt didn't specify the event, Tai knew automatically what he was talking about and his muscles stiffened.

"Why do the keep bringing it up, Tai?!" Matt exclaimed angrily.

Tai spoke harshly, "Because it was a big accomplishment. It was your big accomplishment."

Matt shook his head quickly from side to side. "You don't understand, Tai! I didn't want it to happen! I wasn't a part of it!" Matt snapped his head up suddenly and the brunet flinched back slightly at the intensity portrayed in the blue eyes.

"But it did happen, Matt," Tai stated, softer than before. "Just . . . just stop making excuses about it. It was two years ago. I'm over it - mostly. What you did because of it . . . what you did to Mimi . . . that I will never get over."

Tai glared back at Matt with the same intensity reflected in his deep, brown eyes.

Matt's face grew shamefaced. "I know it was wrong, Tai. You don't know . . . you have no idea how many nights I've spent thinking about it. What I could have done . . . what I could have said differently that would have made a difference! I was mad, I was upset, and I was drunk. I didn't mean it! You know I would never intentionally hurt her!" Matt snapped.

"I don't care if you were sober or totally wasted! You hurt her and that's enough reason for me to turn around and never look back." Tai's voice dropped and his face grew stormy. "You hurt us, too. On purpose. What do you think you've been doing the past few years, huh?!" Tai growled, becoming angrier and angrier the more he said his feelings aloud.

Matt shouted, "It just happened, Tai! I meant to be nice . . ." Matt's voice grew softer, "I really did. I couldn't help it. Every time I saw one of you, every time I thought about it . . . all these hateful things spewed out of my mouth!"

"For the love of God, Matt, stop making excuses! I thought maybe you had become a better person over the years . . . that you'd finally be able to own up to your mistakes! I guess I was wrong," Tai snarled as he pushed himself gruffly off the tile and started walking towards the exit.

Matt jumped up as well and he grabbed Tai's wrist tightly, spinning him around so that he was looking at him. "Wait, don't go, Tai! I'm sorry. I've never said it before, but I'm sorry! I'm really, really sorry, Tai. For all of it," Matt said, his voice filled with regret.

Tai's eyes widened and he stared at the blonde. "W-what did you say?" He finally managed.

Matt shrugged as he tried to look indifferent. "I said I was sorry," he mumbled.

"I never . . ." Tai stopped for a minute, before starting again. "I never thought I'd see the day that Yamato Ishida - the Yamato Ishida - apologized."

Tai blinked twice and he looked as if his brain was still trying to compute everything that was happening.

"Are you okay, Tai? You look a little funny," Matt said unsurely.

Tai blinked again, but he slowly grinned at the blonde. "I'm fine. I'm better than fine! This changes everything! We can finally be friends again," Tai said excitedly.

"Just like that?" Matt asked incredulously.

Tai shook his head. "No, not 'just like that'. It's going to take some time for me to get completely over this. I can forgive you, but . . . I'll never forget what you did," Tai admitted.

Matt nodded vigorously. "I know you can't, Tai. I will make it up to you one day. Just give me some time . . ." Matt stopped, looking unsure of himself.

Tai smiled slightly at the blonde, before his face became serious again. "Listen Matt . . . is it okay if we keep this on the down low for awhile? I just think that some of the others will be slightly . . . less forgiving then I am. I don't want anything to blow up. Not yet," Tai added wryly.

The blonde nodded, though his eyes showed a hint of disappointment. "Yeah . . . you're probably right. That's fine. I want to be their friends too, but these things - especially something like this - will take time, I suppose."

Tai glanced at the doorway leading back to the cafeteria. "So," he said awkwardly, "I should probably . . . you know . . . be getting back now."

Matt nodded to Tai. "Yeah, you're right."

The brunet suddenly grinned and a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. "So Matt . . . manly, tough guy handshake or awkward hug?"

Matt smiled slightly as he saw the person he had known all those years ago shine out. He pretended to contemplate. "Heck . . . I haven't seen or spoken to you in years. How about we go for the awkward hug?" Matt raised his eyebrows teasingly.

Tai's grin widened and his dimples became visible. He cleared his throat in overly tough manner. "Yeah, I mean . . . if you want too."

He shrugged, looking at the light in the bathroom theatrically as Matt and he hugged briefly. Matt laughed as he pushed him off and dusted off his shoulders.

Tai turned to go around, but paused and turned around. "Well . . . see you around. Call me tonight, if you want. Unless you've forgotten my number," Tai added on.

Matt grinned. "Shut it, Kamiya." He whacked Tai on the arm as the brunet grinned childishly at him.

Tai turned around and made his way back to the table. Matt waited a few minutes and exited as well. Things might have started to work out between the two, but neither thought the school was ready for the shock that two previous enemies would walk out the bathroom door together. The school kids would have been talking about it for weeks.

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Tai sat down at the table tiredly and he reached lazily for his soda, drinking greedily.

"What'd I miss?" Tai inquired with his mouth full of the sweet, bubbly pop.

Joe glanced at up at him, looking as if he wanted to ask what had happened with Matt, but instead replied causally: "Mimi asked Izzy out."

"Gruhhg," Tai choked. He started coughing and Sora's eyes widened as she hit him in the back several times before his breathing finally returned to normal.

"What?" The brunet asked dumbly.

Joe rolled his eyes as he picked up a piece of his lunch, "I said, Mimi asked Izzy out."

"Like on a . . . date?" Tai pressed.

"Yes," Mimi replied for Joe.

Tai turned to Mimi with a look of disbelief. "But . . . huh?"

She rolled her eyes and made a sour face at him. "Well, I asked Izzy out on a date and he accepted. Is it really that hard to believe, Tai?"

"Yes!" Tai responded passionately. He looked between Mimi and Izzy rapidly. "But . . . you and . . . him. No. No! It's just so . . . not right and . . . no!"

Tai paused from his mini rant and finally muttered, "This must be a dream or something . . ."

Sora leaned over calmly and smacked him on the side of his arm.

"JESUS!" Tai yelled loudly, attracting the attention to their table. He ignored the curious looks that they (or truthfully he) was receiving and stared at Sora incredulously.

"Dude, what was that for?!"

Sora shrugged. "If you were in a dream you wouldn't have felt it."

Tai clutched his throbbing, red arm, but smiled slightly at the red-head. "Wouldn't a pinch be more traditional?" He finally asked.

Sora blushed slightly, but shrugged again. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry."

"It's fine," Tai laughed awkwardly, slightly embarrassed that he had made such a (in his opinion) fool of himself in front of Sora.

Tai turned his attention back to the situation at hand. "When are you two going out?" Tai demanded, eyeing them both suspiciously.

Mimi squealed, "Tonight! Anyone else want to come? We could make it a group date!" She clapped her hands happily at the thought.

"I can't," came Joe's monotone response, "I have to study. I'd rather not to you see make out . . . or grope each other or something, anyway."

Mimi and Izzy both blushed heavily, but Mimi shook out of it quickly and sent a pointed glance at Tai, before turning to Sora.

"What about you, Sora?" Mimi inquired, with a sly grin on her porcelain features.

Sora looked surprised by being asked, but quickly said: "Oh . . . uh, I don't know. I don't really have anyone to go with or anything." Sora glanced back at Tai, but Tai remained oblivious.

Mimi rolled her eyes and not so subtly whacked her friend in the back of his head.

Tai's head snapped up, "Uh yeah. I could take you. I mean, if you want to go with me . . ." Tai trailed off.

Sora smiled excitedly and nodded. "That'd be great," she said, trying to sound casual. "Pick me up at . . . ?"

She glanced at Mimi for a time. Mimi smiled at her, "Seven."

Sora turned to Tai and echoed, "Seven."

"Sure thing," Tai responded smoothly. He grinned goofily as the bell rang.

"I'll walk you to your class," he offered to Sora, extending his hand.

Sora blushed but nodded happily. "Sure," she said, taking his hand.

Joe rolled his eyes. "Those two make me sick."

Izzy nodded understandingly. "Tell me about it."

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Yolei sighed heavily as she slowly trekked to her next class. She had Social Studies with Mr. Dawat. Normally, she looked forward to this class (not only because the teacher was cool, but also because it was the only room in the school that had windows that would actually open) but today she found herself dreading her sixth period.

'A whole period . . . with Davis. And no Ken,' Yolei thought to herself tiredly. 'But gees, look on the bright side,' she told herself sarcastically, 'you'll be able to watch Davis with his new best friend!'

She shook her lavender tresses out of her eyes and walked through the door of her sixth period class with her head held high. She shifted her books to her left arm and took a seat next to the window.

Davis walked in and headed towards her. For a split second, Yolei actually found herself thinking he was going to sit with her. And, truthfully, for a split second, so did he.

"Hey! Davis!"

Davis stopped walking and turned towards the voice. He grinned as he recognized the blonde hair.

"'Suke, over here," TK beckoned.

"Yeah, yeah. Coming . . .'Keru," he added on as an afterthought. He grinned widely as he put his books down to the blonde.

Yolei stared back at them with a puzzled expression on her face. 'They gave each other nicknames? But . . . I never really gave him a nickname,' she found herself thinking.

Before Yolei could really mull over it, the door swung open. Mr. Dawat walked in and soon class (if you could call it that) had begun. He lectured for a little while as everyone took notes, but with about fifteen minutes left in the period, he stopped and smiled.

"So . . . this was fun," he said, ignoring the loud denials from his students, "but let's do something more interesting. You guys deserve it, anyway."

Mr. Dawat glared until everyone stopped talking excitedly. "Let's do some skits or something. Pick your groups," he yelled out tiredly, taking a seat in his desk chair.

'Oh great. Now I have no one to go with,' Yolei thought grumpily to herself. She eventually joined a group of girls who had gone to her elementary school and who she got along with. She noted, with some bitterness, that Davis, TK, Kevin, and Craig decided to work together.

They had a few minutes to flesh out a premise of their skit, before Mr. Dawat shushed them all.

"So," he called, "who wants to go first?"

"We do!" Davis volunteered, pulling his less than eager group with him as he stumbled towards the front of the room.

Davis coughed into his hand and his voice became deeper than usual. "We will be performing a love chronicle which will - "

" - point out how ridiculous chick-flicks really are," TK stated, grinning widely.

This caused most of the crowd to laugh (mainly the male part).

They four boys started their skit which contained (in their humble opinions, according to Craig) the four people you need for a "chick-flick" movie. The damsel in distress, the knight in shining armor, the person who either wants to kill the damsel in distress or the knight in shining armor, and the person who is in love with one or both of them.

"Well," Kevin explained, "in every chick-flick we've ever seen they've had some variation of these people."

"Granted, we haven't seen many," Craig added.

Davis dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "Whatever. Let's do this!"

Their skit lasted all of the rest of the period and Yolei couldn't help but laugh along with the others at some parts. No matter how much she hated to admit it, those four were hilarious together.

Right after Craig (filling in the role of the person who wants to kill the damsel in distress) died, Davis (aka the damsel in distress) was being cradled by TK (otherwise known as the knight in shining armor).

Davis (who had, at some point, gotten stabbed in the chest) gasped out, "I'm so sorry, TK. I can't hold on anymore." He started to laugh, but quickly got back to being amusingly serious. "T-the pain," he purposefully stuttered, "It's just too much."

The blonde boy shook his head theatrically. "No, Davis! This can't be the end. I-I can't live without you!" He said loudly, eliciting a few laughs from the crowd.

"You'll have to. For me, TK. Live for me," he gasped out, before obtrusively keeling over and falling to the side with his tongue hanging out.

TK jumped up and grabbed his head stupidly. "NO!" He yelled dramatically. "This can't be the end! I never told you, but . . . I LOVE YOU."

TK started fake sobbing and it was convincing until both boys broke out into laughter. Davis jumped up, dusting fake dust off his shoulders.

"Gees," Davis complained, "Why'd I have to be the girl. Dude, I sounded like an idiot."

"Ha. Yeah, well you would make a really ugly girl. No offense," he tacked on for Mr. Dawat's sake.

"Shut up, Takashi! I'd be beautiful!"

"Just like your sister, right?" TK muttered sarcastically.

"Dude," Davis complained. "Too far. You're a dead man, Takashi!"

Davis lunged halfheartedly for the blonde, who darted away to the back of the class.

The ending bell rang a few seconds after Davis had caught up with TK and he pushed himself off the blonde disappointedly.

"Dude, I so would have kicked your butt."

"Sure," TK muttered, smiling widely.

Yolei gathered up her things slowly and watched with a clouded heart as Kari Kamiya walked over to greet them.

'She doesn't even have next period with them, so why is she here?' Yolei thought distractedly.

"Come on, guys," Kari giggled, pulling them both by their wrists. The lavender-haired girl looked away hurriedly and smiled slightly as she saw Ken leaning against the door.

"You coming?" He inquired quietly.

'No matter what I want, this is what I have,' Yolei told herself, 'And I have to deal with it. I'm going to get over Davis Motomiya if it kills me.'

"Yeah," Yolei told him, smiling.

'I just hope I made the right decision,' she told herself as she walked into the hallway.

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Err . . . review? :D