A/N: Got it up in just shy of a month… that's pretty good for being so busy I could hardly remember the days. I nearly got up at 6:30 am to go into work at my M-F job on a Saturday… that's how hectic my weeks have been.
Story status- things are going by better than last time you stopped in. I was encouraged by the people who really enjoyed the fic so far, so this chapter is for them. Thank you so much to the reviewers! Not much fluff, but it looks to be next chapter that things will really start to heat up… but heat up for who is the question... Tai/Sora, Sora/Matt, Tai/Matt…. Um no, please see other fics for the last pairing… and even the middle pairing for the most part. Although I like to see readers squirm a little… shall I be evil?
Anyway- enjoy!
The next day Tai was up early. Not by his own will of course. After being called to get up by Kari, Tk came into the room and had to wake Tai up.
"Sora and Matt already left, we better hurry up. Kari has some breakfast for you- oh and don't worry about showering... you'll only need to take another one after the run."
Tai silently followed him back into the kitchen after getting dressed in the complicated uniform given to him yesterday.
When they finished their quick meal, the still sleepy man once again followed TK over to the headquarters main building. It wasn't long before the two met up with Davis and Ken from the other day.
"Hey, if it isn't the man we were just talking about." Davis smiled brightly as he hit Tai on the back in greeting.
"You mean you were talking about. I don't recall saying anything." Ken replied to the energetic man beside him. "Commander Takenouchi has been awaiting your arrival in the field room. We are to prepare you for the training. If you will follow us please."
"Um... sure." Tai said leaving Tk to go to work and walking with the other soldiers. "So what all are we doing?"
"We are getting you fit with a weapon and other tools you might find useful." Ken said with little emotion.
"You guys really should have come drinking with us Tai. Matt even showed up for a little while after work. But then he said he had to go home... Next time my friend we'll set you up with some cute girl. I figure a man as important as you needs some girls..."
Tai didn't really listen too much of what Davis was saying. The man was quite unique, hyper and happy. But Tai was just not feeling it at the moment. In truth he didn't feel like doing anything today. He had stayed up way to late last night just thinking.
The walk to the training room was short, yet amusing. The way Davis would keep talking even if he knew it annoyed Ken made Tai chuckle. The future sure was strange, but the people here were just like those from his time.
As the large doors swished open after Ken put his hand on a monitor, Tai's attention went to the group already in mid practice.
There on a large mat surrounded by a large group of people was Sora already working up a sweat. Wearing an old looking jacket and camo green pants, she was the model looking military person. It surprised him how similar her attire was to things of his time; however his thoughts quickly went back to the action on the mat.
One man charged her and she flipped him easily over her back in some sort of martial art style move. The next had the same outcome- flat on his back. The third and fourth went at her together. Tai's first reflex was to go to her aid, but he was stopped by Ken.
"They are all hologram like programs. They can't hurt her to bad." Ken said as they entered and waited for Sora to finish.
"Are you sure?" Tai asked looking at the real looking figures. One landed a hit to her stomach and to Tai's surprise she groaned. "They hit her."
"It's a system of pressurized air that is actually landing punches, or giving the fighter the appearance of a solid body. Sora and Izzy came up with the technology to help train fighters on the front line. Although there isn't much of hand to hand combat anymore…"
"Why's that?" Tai asked not able to take his eyes off the sparing woman. She recovered from the hit to put the other fighter down quickly.
"Well, you've seen those bugs… there's not much a human fighter can do. They have a complex defense system…"
"What brainiac means is that those buggers are strong. Huge shells protect the things. Hand to hand was taught in case we ever went to war with the outsiders." Davis interrupted.
"Oh…"
"She's going to kill us for being late… I wish she was that fierce in other departments…" Davis' smirk gave away his other meaning. "Hey, you are staying with her- did anything interesting happen last night?"
"What… umm…" Tai blushed thinking of how warm she was when she fell asleep on his shoulder.
"Something did happen! Spill it!"
"I don't think this is the time for personal displays of stupidity you call hobbies. We are here to help the commander train…"
"But I'm doing this for her benefit too. Come on, let loose a little… have fun… play with women."
"If that's your attitude Davis, then I think I found my next sparing partner to help me illustrate some self defense moves for our guest." Sora's voice came from behind the group of men.
"Commander…. I… yes ma'am." Davis said quickly falling back into military mode.
"Shall we?" Sora smirked as she began the lesson. She was going to enjoy throwing Davis' smart ass around. Maybe it would take him down a notch or something…
Davis was groaning in pain after the first ten minutes of demonstrating basic survival moves. Sora had shown no mercy for the smart mouthed soldier. Tai couldn't help but smile as he saw a satisfied smirk appear ever so slightly on her face.
After releasing the bruised man, Sora worked with Tai to polish the basic moves. He found the movements came easily and soon the group moved to the next stage of his jump start training.
"Our laser guns and high powered shell rounds are our only proven effective weapons against the bugs." Sora began as she opened up a weapon's locker at the far end of the large practice room. It was only then that Tai got a better look at the room and its contents. They had stayed on the large matted area for hand to hand combat practice. However, the room held much more.
Situated in the far corner of the room, an obstacle course was laid out. Ladders, and ropes, block shaped structures and even a small model of a city street. The room was massive. Next to the mats, Sora stood before a doorway next to the weapons locker. Tai assumed there was a shooting range nearby.
"It takes a long time to become accurate enough to pinpoint the weak spot on the bugs and fire consecutively into it." She instructed as she assembled parts of the large weapon. To Tai it looked so strange in her hands. The dark metal of the device against the lightly tanned skin stuck out as an odd combination. Then again the woman before him was all together an odd combination.
Sora Takenouchi. Just who was she? What went on in her head? Why was she constantly running through his thoughts? He wondered as he waited for instructions. When he first saw her she had captivated him, saved him and now as he watched her more and more, he could only feel something well in his stomach when she was openly nice to him.
Yesterday… outside of the temple. He had never felt so peaceful and content, as excited or scared… she was only a woman. Wasn't she?
'The prophet said I would find courage and love here… had he already found her?'
"Now you try." Her voice broke him from his thoughts and he quickly abandoned the day dream he had been running in his head.
"What? Oh, yeah sorry." Tai said as he took the weapon and tested the weight. "It's really heavy…"
"It also packs quite a punch. So I think we'll start you out on something a little easier. Follow me then." She quickly said as she took the weapon back. Slinging it over her shoulder with a strap, Sora began to enter the hallway off of the training room.
"Are we needed anymore?" Davis asked not wanting to stick around for another one of Sora's perfectionist sessions.
"I suppose you aren't… but don't go too far. And no slacking off."
"Ah, no fun…" Davis muttered quietly for Tai's ears only. "I wonder if you can see the stick shoved up her butt."
"For your information soldier, I have nothing up my butt, and if I so much catch you looking at my butt, you won't have eyes and another important part of your anatomy for very much longer."
Tai chuckled at the wince Davis gave before saluting and leaving the room rather fast. Ken simply saluted and quietly followed.
"They get away with far too much." Sora couldn't help but chuckle herself. "Be careful and watch yourself if you hang around with that one. He may appear dumb as a brick, but he has potential. That's why I haven't killed him yet."
"He seems like a nice guy… except the comments…"
"They are all said in fun. And in his own way he is trying to help me loosen up a bit. You see we're sort of a huge extended family here. So no one is really out to hurt anyone… yet I can't say the comments always feel like it at times."
"What do you mean?" Tai asked as he followed her through into a long room.
"The… pressure at times is hard to deal with…" She replied after a little time to think things over. Tai stood there and watched the emotions play out on her face. He had hoped she would go on and confide in him, however he understood why she didn't. He was only a stranger after all. Well not a total one anymore… but still.
Putting her emotions back in check, Sora set the large gun down. Taking off her jacket, she stretched her arms to work out any kinks that came from the self defense demonstration. Standing before him in black halter neck shirt that fitted just right, Sora decided just jump right in and see what the man had in him.
"We'll start you off on a smaller weapon and see from there." She said as she pulled a smaller hand gun from her waist band. "Are you ready for this?"
Tai looked at her as she offered him the gun. It was small. Thankfully smaller than the gun she had carried. On the outside it looked like a regular hand gun from his time. He had seen these things fired all the time in the movies.
Walking up to where she had told him, Tai took aim at a target on the far wall. He hesitated a little, almost waiting to be corrected if he was doing something wrong, and then fired.
The reverberation of the powerful blast took him by surprise. Before he could compensate his footing to brace for the impact, Tai was sent falling on his butt.
"You'll never under estimate something like that ever again, will you?" Sora said as she knelt down next to him. Checking his hands to see if they were burnt, she couldn't help but laugh at the still dazed expression on Tai's face.
"Sorry." She said after standing up and offering him a hand. "You expression was too funny. Are you ok?"
Tai should have been angered at her actions. Not helping him by warning him about the power of the small gun, and now for laughing at him. However, the sound of her laugh eased all anger from him. Looking up at her as she stood, Tai couldn't help but smile as well.
"I guess I won't… it's just that it looked for small." Tai said as he was helped to his feet.
"Lesson one: Never judge an opponent, weapon… well anything for that matter, by their size. Now let's try this again, but watch my stance first." She said as she mimicked aiming the gun.
Tai watched as she concentrated at the target ahead.
"Notice my legs are spread so they create a better base stance. And my arms are not locked straight… they need to be the ones to absorb the shock, so keep them slightly bent." She instructed without breaking contact with her target. "You try."
Following her example Tai stood ready. Before he could fire, he felt Sora push up close to him. Her arms went on top of his loosening his tight grip and steadying his aim.
"You can't be so stiff. I know it sounds stupid, but you have to relax and think of the weapon as a part of your body. Now before you pull the trigger and that laser shoots out, take a breath... exhale... fire."
Tai did as instructed the best he could with her so close. Finding the push not so bad this time, Tai smiled as she patted him on the back.
"Better." She told him. "Now try it yourself."
Tai waited for her to stand back and took a shot himself. Smiling he looked over his shoulder and saw his instructor nod her head in satisfaction.
"Now all we need to work on is your aim, champ. I'm going to have to get Davis to bring in some puddy and fix the hole in the wall." She smiled as Tai noticed his shot didn't hit close to the intended area.
"Sorry." Tai said a little embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it. By the time I'm done with you, no one will know that the great Taichi Kamiya fell down on his first shot and that he started on that window we always wanted in the firing range area."
"Thanks."
"So let's work on aim then... the easiest way is to get closer. Take ten steps closer and let's try again."
While Tai began to work at his aim his instructor's attention was suddenly caught by a beeping on her wrist communicator.
"Sora here." She answered the beeps. Tai continued with his practice, in fact he was quite proud he was improving. However, his attention was soon taken away from hitting the target to trying to listen in on the conversation going on behind him.
"They are what?" Sora asked with disbelief in her voice. "Just like that, they are bypassing the rule of tribal governance? You can't be serious?" Out of the corner of his eye, Tai saw Sora begin to pace. She looked mad and nervous at the same time.
"They are there? Right now? Where are you? ...I'm on my way." She said as she looked up from her communicator and at Tai.
"Something wrong?" Tai asked not wanting to upset her. Sora already looked on the verge of tears.
"Just the same old shit from a bunch of clueless assholes." She replied and took a moment to calm herself. "We've got to call it a day for now, sorry. But I need to get over to the temple. You're going to have to come with... maybe you can talk with Gennai again."
"Sure..." Tai said as they both left the training room in a hurry.
The duo sprinted to the temple from the command center. Running through the hallways Tai tried to keep up with Sora.
As they turned the corner the two were met with a stone faced blonde man.
"Matt, thanks for telling me about this... how long have they been in there?" She asked as she took the odd looking cloak Matt held out for her.
"Not too long. I called as soon as I was informed the council convened."
"Damn it."
"What's going on?" Tai asked as he watched a battle ready looking Sora being turned into a weird cleric with the strange outfit.
"The hall of council is a place where leaders from different founding tribes or families meet to decide important things about the community."
"Yeah, and those old scaredy cats are trying to keep me out of the decision making."
"Sora, calm down. Going in there yelling isn't going to help them accept you as the leader of the Takenouchi clan."
"This is an outrage that they thought they would exclude the Takenouchi branch. Where would they be without my family? This place wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the sacrifice my family gave... why are they doing this?" Sora asked as she finished putting on the cloak and the hood up over her face.
"Calm down. Sora... look at me. Maybe they have a reason to do this without you. You just lost your family. They might not want to..."
"To what? Not hurt me? Remind me I'm the last of my line? Well they don't have to worry. I know that. This is the bigger hurt. It not only insults me, but my family..."
"Sor... take a deep breath. You can't go in there ready to cry." Matt said calming down the now openly distraught auburn haired woman.
"You're right. I can do this. Thanks Matt." She said giving him a quick kiss to the cheek. "I'm going in."
And with that she had entered the room and the large doors were closed.
"So they basically snubbed her?" Tai asked trying to understand the situation.
"It looks that way. But I don't think they did it to be hurtful like she thinks they did... Honestly, I still think she's pushing herself too much. With this added to her already full time job, I don't know how long she can hold up all alone." Matt sighed and rubbed his face trying to work out the frustration.
"But she isn't alone."
"To Sora... until she sees she doesn't have to do this alone, she is alone. We maybe living in the same house but she will still cling to her ideals of doing everything herself, going it alone... strong enough to face everything." Matt explained. "And it's eating her inside. God I wish she didn't have to go through all this..."
"We never want to see loved ones in pain..." Tai added.
"Yeah. So how was morning practice? She didn't have you running laps and the work out from hell, did she?" Matt asked sounding genuinely interested. Smiling he tried to lighten up the mood. "Sora isn't the best at training new recruits. She's quite demanding. I'm lucky with this leg injury I am exempt from the harshest of her torture sessions."
"Nothing that bad so far. But overall not so good..."
"Don't worry. You'll get use to this kind of life. I know it'll be hard, but maybe after all this we'll have our people work on something to get you back home."
"Don't bother. There's nothing there for me. As weird as it sounds, this time has more for me than my time ever would. Besides, Gennai said I was suppose to find real meaning in life here."
"Speaking of the old lady. You want to talk to her some more? This whole process might take some time. I don't even know what they convened for in the first place."
"Sure."
"Welcome again young one." The old woman smiled as Tai once again entered into her cluttered room. "To what do I owe the honor of this visit?"
"Nothing much... I don't suppose you know what I'm able to do to save everyone today?" Tai asked knowing he wasn't going to get an answer.
"A sense of humor. We need that around here. But no, I am sorry, but that is for you to find out. And I know exactly what will help you in that journey."
"Oh? And what would that be, oh wise prophet?" He said in a mocking but not spiteful tone.
"A quest to the center of the forest. By seeing the environment out there you may find something that will guide you in your journey. Beyond the old training grounds, but before the deserts begin, there is a place that many use to travel. It is a meditation place of sorts... the last true paradise we have."
"That sounds nice. Maybe it will help." Tai said as he sat down and waited for the directions to get there.
"It won't be easy you know. Not many have ventured out that far since the bugs began to attack closer to the actual city. I think it was the training fiasco that stopped the travel out that way. Sora carried Matt all the way back to the city after that no one has ventured back there…"
"Great." Tai said in a defeated tone. 'Strike that idea…'
"Now I didn't say it was impossible. Mind you it will be tough, but I think I know of a few others like yourself that are in need of a journey." Gennai smiled as she got up and made her way to a bookshelf. "I think I will have some of the first division accompany you- you are living with TK and Kari, correct? They could use a break from the trials of the city. A few others would do as well... knowing Sora- she won't let you out of her sight, so she'll have to go as the commander. That girl sometimes I wonder what's going through her head... She tries too hard. She's just turning twenty this year and she's seen far too much for a young girl."
"She seems to be having a bad day." Tai told the older woman as she returned to her chair and looked at him.
"I heard all the commotion in the halls. They are only going to make her fight harder... she always was stubborn like that. But don't you give up on her." Gennai smiled a little mysteriously. "Now, where's what we'll do…"
A/N:
A journey to a "paradise" might just be the ticket to get our couple together right? It could also bring disaster for our little group… You'll have to wait and find out.
Spring break is fast approaching, so expect good things from a week off of class and half the week off from work!