(a/n) This chapter has been REWRITTEN (o7.11.o6)

Starting from now, all reviews will be acknowledged through Private Messaging. If you don't have a fanfiction account, I'll reply to you in the following chapter.

- X -

My Funny Valentine

Chapter Four

"I turn around…"

His smooth drawling voice sung the final words, accompanied with strumming the final chord on his guitar. The ending notes were overwhelmed with the erupting cheers from the crowd. A false smile sunk on his facial features, directed towards all the fans that had attended the concert. The Teen-Age Wolves bowed, exiting from the stage.

As soon as the lead singer disappeared from the audience's sight, he swigged down a few good gulps. In competition to the crowd's liveliness, his internal state still hadn't settled down. His heart was beating so fast that he felt it would throb out of his chest in any second that it was making him nauseous. His legs felt like jelly and he was short of breath. Yamato had always thought he'd get used to performing in front of thousands of people, but he was wrong. He found that after almost every concert he played, he still suffered from the reverberations of the loud music and shouting people. He used to love it.

He bent down and fastened his electric guitar carefully into its case. His fingers quivered as he buckled the case. When he had tiredly strapped the guitar over his shoulder, the Teen-Age Wolves' drummer strode beside him disgruntled.

"What the hell was that?" he growled.

"What?" Yamato's blue eyes matched him equally in blunt defence, "What, Yutaka?"

"Ishida, you played the wrong damn key!" he said angrily, voice shaking in rage.

"It was only once," Yamato almost replied at once.

"It was more than once. You're the solution to our uprising and downfall," the drummer stood up and jabbed the blond on his chest, "Don't fuckin' screw up! Don't fricken' blow this up for us."

"Yeah, no pressure," the blond grumbled sarcastically in response.

"I'm serious, man."

This time, he chose not to answer. He was never the person to get into unnecessary fights, especially when it wasn't worth the time. He usually preferred to keep his emotions to himself, even though both Takeru and Taichi had told him numerous times that it wasn't good. Perhaps he had gained his stubbornness from being under his father's wing for so many years. Not being raised by his mother had taught him to defend for himself. And he had lived by that ever since…

But in some sense Yutaka had been right. Yamato wasn't going to deny that he went off key…and how he stuffed up 'more than once' that night. But it was a darn concert…it didn't matter. Plus, it wasn't his fault the lyrics weren't good enough and that his band members had lost the true meaning of music. Hell…these days he felt like he was just playing for them – not for himself. The other band members were all way too consumed with their newfound riches and fame of the materialistic world to understand him now. They had forgotten the reason and what it meant to be playing in front of fans, what it meant what they were singing…what they used to love to do.

Performing thoughtless lyrics in routine - over and over again - made Yamato abhor their music rather than praising and enjoying it like his fans. His heart wasn't in it anymore. Though, the band members didn't seem to care. This really ticked him off. To him, they were only his band mates.

They just weren't his friends…anymore.

All the glamour and popularity had gotten to their heads.

He took a glimpse at the band's keyboarder. Over the years his glasses had been replaced with emerald sparking contact lenses and he was slowly turning into skin and bones.

As usual, he didn't speak up. He hardly spoke up these days. Perhaps that was the reason why he had turned to drugs, he had always been the quiet member. It was dismal that Akira was throwing all his talent away…it was sad that Yamato didn't know who the guy had turned into. Yutaka, Takahashi and he had all known that Akira had been taking drugs…but neither had the courage to tell on him or to get him off it because they knew that Akira was already in too deep to become clean (and not that he would even listen in the first place).

"Yamato, don't take him seriously," Takahashi, the bassist of the band, uttered quietly. Yutaka grunted, folding his arms in disagreement.

"That's just like you, Takahashi, always sticking up for him. Stop being his god damn mother!"

"As I said before," Takahashi ignored Yutaka's sly comment, " Don't take Yutaka seriously…because he was off key too."

"I was not fricken' off key, moron. Stop siding with him!" he blurted out angrily.

"I'm not," the redheaded bassist grumbled. "But, yes, Yutaka does have a point."

Yutaka eyed Yamato in triumph. The blond shook his head and gazed back at Takahashi. In some sense, his friends hadn't completely disappeared. Takahashi was probably the sanest out of all them and Yamato was willing to listen to what he had to say.

"And what is it?"

"You're always preoccupied. You've always got something on your mind. Have you lost interest in this…Yamato?" Yamato stared at him silently. He had always thought it was the other way around…or was it he?

"I…I-I don't know."

"Well, you should."

"Give him time," Akira's croaky voice intervened. The trio stared at him, bemused. The jet-black haired boy hardly spoke up…but when he did, there was some sort of meaning behind it.

"Hell no!" Yutaka barked. "He doesn't need time to think it through. If he wants to continue this shit, let's continue. If he doesn't…we split up! It's that fuckin' simple. Unless Akira takes over and becomes the lead singer -"

"Be quiet, Yutaka!" Takahashi ordered, yet his face remained calm and unflappable. Though a hint of irritation was shown through his eyes at Yutaka's satirical attitude towards Akira. Takahashi turned his attention back to the lead singer, "You really need to tell us soon, Yamato."

"I will," his eyes studied the ground with false interest.

"Oh…shut-up!" the drummer said bitterly. He shoved his drumsticks into his pocket, heading to the backstage room. As he was about to leave he spun around, " Yeah, he's preoccupied alright. Some slut is waiting for you, Yamato."

He stared at the auburn haired woman and gave a wavering smile.

- X -

He let her slide into the limousine first. As soon as she had boarded on, he climbed in and shut the door behind him. Yamato finally gave into his body's exhaustion, collapsing onto the comfy leather seat, unconsciously burrowing his face into his hands. His fingers ran through his sweaty locks of hair as he closed his eyes.

"Stressed?"

"It's normal, but you could say that," he heaved, not bothering to offer another pseudo smile. He closed his eyes tightly, then opened them feeling somewhat refreshed.

"Being stressed all the time? That's leaning towards abnormal," she replied matter-of-factly. She shuffled into a more comfortable position with her legs crossing over each other, yet her posture still remained perfect.

"What are you…my personal shrink?"

Her lips quirked up, "Well, I did take Psych back in high school…"

"That explains it."

She didn't reply and kept silent. He watched her cinnamon eyes dance around the leather interior of the vehicle, then stare at the blurring scenery from behind the dark tinted windows. He liked that she lightly treaded on the surface of his problems. She wasn't like those interviewers who wanted the deep gossip and complications of his life.

"I'm sorry I missed your concert," she spoke up, interrupting his thoughts.

He gave her a wry smile, "You just walked into the after party."

Her eyebrows arched in concern, knowing that he was referring to the disagreement with the other band members. "Your band's really falling apart, aren't you worried?"

"To them…it's me. I'm the problem. They, apparently, aren't."

"Well…you are their leader. You are the lead singer after all," she commented. Somehow, whenever she spoke…everything made sense. Even with his best friend, he found it quite difficult to talk about these things. Then again, sometimes he found it challenging to listen to Taichi.

Pull yourself together, Yamato…

Instead, he glanced at her attire. Her café uniform was replaced with a casual pair of dark jeans and a silk cream blouse. What she wore wasn't exactly feminine, yet it still made her look attractive. She was simple. But he knew there was something more to her. There was always something else…like why she had agreed to playing as his wife… What did she really want?

"Matt!" a voice interrupted his thoughts once again.

His head tilted to the front of the limousine, noticing that the glass screen had rolled down. He observed the back of the driver's head, which was coloured a messy dark blue.

Yamato exchanged glances with the driver; staring at him through the rear view mirror of the vehicle.

"Hey Jyou," he cracked a smile.

After firing quite a few drivers that were obsessed with his band, Yamato settled with Jyou – someone who did not crave gossip and had no interest in the music business whatsoever.

Jyou was a loyal, reliable trustful worker and friend who drove him around part-time after every gig he would perform. Yamato didn't mind that he worked part-time instead of full-time because the lead singer could pretty much handle driving his own car. He just couldn't afford driving his car after concerts because he had a bad hunch that people would memorize his number plate and stalk him. Plus, it also worked perfectly for Jyou's schedule. Jyou was a full-time university student and worked for Yamato so that he could pay off his education expenses.

Yamato enjoyed his company. Even though he usually drove slowly because he was scared of car accidents. Even though he always made sure to not accidentally swerve into another lane. Even though he always wanted to be, beforehand, three blocks away in the correct lane when turning a corner. The only time Jyou had gotten angry was when Yamato overpaid him intentionally. But Jyou had gotten used to the idea considering every time Jyou protested against Yamato overpaying him, he'd add an extra hundred.

"How are you, Matt?"

"Tired."

"That's nothing new. Who's your new friend?"

"I'm Sora," she laughed, joining the conversation. "Nice to meet you, Jyou."

"Nice to meet you too," in front, the driver gave a polite nod. "Ah, she's a nice friendly one. You'd better keep this one, Matt."

The trio laughed.

"Where to?"

"Around. Just drive wherever. At seven, drop us off at the main shopping centre because she's got work soon. We've got about half an hour."

"Sure thing," Jyou replied. Seconds later the separating glass window rolled back up, giving the pair privacy.

Her eyebrow raised, face rather quizzical as she studied him from her scrutinizing gaze. "How did you know?"

"I'm a stalker," he taunted. "Nuh, I just guessed. You usually begin working at that café at seven."

It was true. Or perhaps even though his infrequent visits he had acquired knowledge of when her shifts were on – which was almost every night. He wondered whether she got any sleep. Sure, Tokyo was a busy city…but even a city's got to have some sort of rest. She had to have some sort of rest.

After Sora had agreed to take a part in the 'Project Wife' assignment they had interchanged schedules and, astonishingly, her weekly timetable was just as busy as his. Hell, this meeting (or whatever it was considering it only lasted for half an hour) was the only time they were both could slot of free time in their very tight schedules. Yamato was quite curious to why she was unusually busy during the day, but didn't prod her. 'What did a bartender do during broad daylight?' he contemplated.

"And how would I know that you aren't a stalker?"

He had forgotten that her intense eyes were still studying him. He chuckled. "Dearest, people usually stalk me. I don't stalk people…that would hurt my ego."

"Ha," she tittered in derision. "Dearest, I think you'd need more than a hammer to crush yours."

He shrugged, "Maybe."

So she was still stuck in the façade as everyone else. She still considered him as one of those idiot rock stars that craved attention. He didn't blame her. He just wished that somewhere along the line, her perspective would change.

They didn't talk much in the limited minutes they had together. It's not like they could get into a worthy conversation since they knew the arm would soon strike seven. Whether they were conversing or not, with her presence he could not help but feel collected and relaxed. Whatever had happened after the concert had dissolved into the back of his head. Maybe it wasn't jazz music that made him at peace. Perhaps it was she?

Who was he kidding?

Maybe it's just that he found Sora comfortable to be around. How she wasn't fake like many other people he dated or knew. She didn't demand anything from him and didn't want anything either (eliminating the fact that she was probably in this whole ordeal for money). She just calmly spoke her mind and didn't suck up to him. Like that night when she had straightforwardly told him that she disliked his band. Something simple. It had been a while since had spoken to someone 'real.'

God. He sounded like some chummy boy in preschool that was experiencing his first crush. It was just like him to see all the pros in someone or something, discarding all the cons. He could hear Taichi muttering a, 'it's because you haven't gotten laid lately.' He shook his head. Even though Taichi was probably bathing in some pristine beach overseas, his best friend's lunacy still haunted him.

In other words, he was letting his guard down. No, he wasn't going to let it happen again. Whenever he did let his guard down, bad thing occurred. It was just like when he was younger…living an innocent lie…until, off course, the divorce.

It was patently one of the reasons why his relationships always turned into a catastrophe – a clear reason why he never bothered with relationships, these days, anyway. He didn't believe in commitment, especially when it came to 'love.' The only sort of commitment he abode by was his commitment with his band – and now, even that, was falling apart. Not that he hadn't tried at all when it came to relationships. Trust me, he had. Only to find out that his ex-girlfriend had only been after his popularity and money. A gold digger. It reminded him of that song by Kanye West, not that he liked hip-hop in the first place.

In other words, even though Sora seemed the perfect applicant for this exploit, he knew plan 'Project Wife' would backfire somehow.

Damn it, he thought too much. The limousine came to a sudden halt. His azure eyes dropped down to his gleaming golden wristwatch. "It's seven." He placed on his black shaded opaque glassed and tossed a navy beanie over his blond hair.

"Yeah," Sora nodded, putting the bag's straps over her shoulder . "Thanks for, umm…our half an hour of somethin'."

"Our half an hour of somethin'," he repeated in concurrence with her, holding out his hand that she later on shook.

They both knew that instead of progression, their outing was more like a regression. But somehow, it seemed that the both of them didn't seem to mind it at all.

He rose up from the vehicle first, opening the door for her. When she stepped out, the pair began to walk on the footpath through the throngs of people.

"Come on," he said. He took her hand, pulling her through the crowded street. He smiled. "I haven't told you yet…but thanks for doing this."

"No problemo."

She flashed a toothy grin back as she jogged after his larger strides, her neat auburn hair becoming quite deranged against the wind. From a bystander, it would be quite strange seeing two adults holding hands and running like no tomorrow. To Yamato, it felt like he was eight-years-old again…doing whatever he wanted to do with not a care in the world. No band. No stress. Just being random and having a strange tingling sensation of fun. In the spare minutes before Sora's shift would begin, he planned to make it up to her for their rather tedious 'meeting' - Even though if it included making them run like morons. He felt rather guilty that his stress with his band had made their meeting really dull.

They turned a corner into the familiar empty silent alleyway.

"Sorry if tonight went crap for you."

"Don't apologize…it was pretty interesting. Peculiar…but interesting," she remarked. "I'd better get going now. I know that Suzanne's dying for a break. Plus, I need to change into my uniform. Bye-"

"That reminds me…who's taking you home? I could arrange Jyou to-"

"I'm fine, Yamato. You should get some rest."

"So should you," he responded. "Are you sure? Cause we dropped you here…and your car-"

"Yamato, really. Antonio's is giving me a lift home. Don't worry about it. I made sure to catch transport to your concert and I've made arrangements with Antonio to give me a lift home. Don't be stupid. You can't make Jyou wake up at 2am to pick me up."

"Okay," he replied, now reassured. But couldn't help but teasingly ask, "Are you sure?"

"I'm fine!" she said, rolling her eye, knowing that he was now playing with her. "Stop stalking me!"

"Hey, Ms. Sora! I think I do have a right to stalk to you since I'm your husband and you, dearest, are my wife," he winked.

"Real smooth," she sneered. "I really need to go, Yamato. Are you coming in or what?"

"Think I'm going to pass tonight."

She turned around, about to leave. He placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her back.

"Oh, and one last thing."

"What?" she now sounded exasperated. "At this rate I'll get fired!"

He was meant to do this earlier, but he chose not to. It would have been weird if he had, especially considering Jyou was in the limousine as well…not that it wasn't weird already. He didn't even know why he had put so much thought over nothing when it was a phony proposal in the first place-

She coughed.

He let his hand dig into his pocket, retrieving a small crimson plastic oval-shaped object. It was one of those hollow oval-shaped objects that kids would get from machines and find a secret treasure inside.

"Here," he said, laying it onto her palm. "I got it before the concert. It cost a fortune."

"Sure," she smirked. Curiously unscrewing the object open. The prize fell onto the ground.

"Klutz."

"Shut-up," she hit him lightly, and bent down to fetch her treasure. When she found it, she burst into laughter, tears sparkling in her eyes. It was his first time to see her laugh so openly, like this. She appeared like a whole new different person. Someone really –

"Are you serious?!" she exclaimed.

"Well…you are my wife."

He diligently took the (obviously) bendable sterling silver ring from her, placing it on the correct finger. Her cherry red lips curled upwards.

"You're cute."

For once, he didn't object her. Not that he thought that he was cute. He just wanted to accept her first compliment to him with gratification. For the short time he had known her she had never given him any sort of praise. He was used to the 'you're hot' from shrieking fans. 'You're cute,' would probably be the closest compliment Sora had given him.

He exposed his one hand, displaying his ring as well. "Well, we needed a wedding ring since we're married."

"True," she said tersely. She gave on of her nods and a light kiss on his cheek.

"What was that for?" he queried as he watched her back head closer towards the café. He knew it was only a kiss, he just was searching for what comeback she was going to display next. She held a hand up, not looking behind for him to see her face.

"Well…you are my husband."

He watched her figure become smaller and disappear into the café. He chuckled, exhuming his cold hands into his pockets, staring up at the barely visible sky.

- X -

a/n You know what? (You're probably going to hate me) But, again, I dislike this chapter. Sigh. I'm most likely going to leave it…I'm just really not like the interaction with Sora & Yamato. I'm scared and anxious that this story is going to turn into a walking disaster and that I might disappoint you guys.

I hate admitting this, but I'm having difficulties with all my stories at the moment. I've got everything planned out…etc. It's just I'm finding it really weird after 3 months of not updating…so I haven't quite adjusted to this routine with having 'all the time in the world' at the moment. Even though I have now graduated from school and completed my final exams (which I still can't believe), I've been pretty busy. I need to organize a party, assist in helping the Art Exhibition at school and find a job. So much for a holiday. Sigh.

Even though I may have not done much updating the previous months, I've come up with so many new stories, ideas and plans that it's stressing me out!

ALSO, I didn't do a double update because I might take long to write the next chapter…and I've left you all hanging long enough. But, considering I promised you guys, I'm going to update another chapter to this story first before I proceed back to Paparazzi and LimitZ.

Okay, that's enough of my blabbing for now. I hope I didn't ruin this story.

Next Chapter: Be prepared for two more Digidestined characters to be incorporated into this mess! Haha