A/N:
So Spring Break came and went. It also gave me about a foot or so of snow… Ah shoveling in March. God I love MN!
Anyway, here is the next chapter in the fic! A little bit of fluff is added into the mix. Things look to finally be getting interesting.
Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming!
Tai pondered the words of the old lady once again. She was always so mysterious... 'Why is she always so vague and hard to follow at times?' He wondered as he left Gennai's room.
As much as the old lady confused him, Tai was glad she was there. He had felt so lost at first, but his talks with Gennai, all two of them, seemed to help his state of mind. At least it did for a short time.
Walking back to the corridor where he had left Sora and Matt, Tai took a seat and decided to wait for his two protectors. Watching the flow of traffic in the hallway with their entering and leaving the main room was interesting.
Like Gennai had commented the elders in charge were all dull and stiff old men. Sora's spirit would surely scare and even intimidate the old guys. He figured she was going to be ferocious going in there... she was mad when Matt had called her letting her know what they were doing.
Smiling as he remembered her on the mats this morning throwing Davis around, Tai imagined her going in there, throwing off that weird cloak thing she put on and giving those old men the beating of their lives.
Sitting there Tai's attention drifted off the meeting and back to what Gennai had said about finding himself.
'She's right... I can't help anyone until I know myself better. Then I will be able to concentrate on my purpose here.'
Thinking things over some more he must have lost track of time, before he knew it the doors to the main room opened and a large line of similarly dressed people exited. Immediately he could spot Matt out from the rest of the group. He did not have a hood over his head like the rest and he was a great deal taller and younger than the others.
"So, how did it go?" Tai asked as Matt stopped over by him.
"Well, better than expected. Sora only punched one elder..."
"She what?"
"I slapped him, not punched him." Sora's voice came up from behind the two. "And he deserved it. I've never been more insulted in my life..."
"Calm down. You got your way didn't you? They can't act without the input of the Takenouchi clan. You've gotten your point across."
"So, what was so important to discuss?" Tai asked trying to get back into the conversation and ignore all the stares from the others around the hallway. He hated being the center of attention; too many eyes on him and he got uneasy.
"Well, besides the outside clans wanting us to go and get them, and then bring them here so we can have a civil discussion, and the elders being sexist bastards, we pretty much discussed you." Sora said as she began to take off the strange looking cloak and handed it back to Matt.
"I'm sorry Matt, I need some time… I'll see you both back at the house." Sora said as she made a quick exit.
"Wh… what happened?" Tai asked looking from the direction Sora had left and back to the blonde standing beside him.
"They gave her what she wanted but it had a price attached to it. I wish things could go smoothly for her… she of all of us deserves peace and happiness." Matt sighed as he brushed a bit of stray hair from his face. "Well, I'm going back to headquarters for another exciting day, do you want to come along or would you rather I dropped you off at home?"
"I thought I had training today."
"Sora will need some time alone. The decision she makes will affect her entire life."
"What is it?"
"I can't tell you. It's something personal that if Sora wants to share, she will. Forget about it. She won't let it affect her performance; she's got too much pride to do that. I can set you up with another one of the guys if you want to continue training."
"Maybe for a little bit longer." Tai said as he followed the blonde out of the temple. It was a relief to get out of that place. Before it was peaceful and calm, but the atmosphere had certainly changed nearly over night. Things felt stuffy and dark in there now with all the elders and their creepy stares.
Tai tried to shrug it off. He had no reason to hate these men, except for the fact they did something that clearly hurt Sora. What did they do to get her to lash out and strike one of them, he wondered.
Like usual, no answers came to his questions.
"See you're getting the hang of it. Don't tense up so bad when you are about to fire." Tai's red haired instructor gave him pointers.
The shorter frizzy haired man was named Izzy, as Tai recalled. He was the computer guy that everyone kept talking about. Matt was looking for someone with a little extra time to help Tai, the only candidates were Izzy and Davis.
At first Tai was saddened that he didn't get to spend time with the interesting character that was Davis, but then he realized he needed to learn. That would not happen if he worked with the sporadic and loud young man. So Izzy it was.
The shorter man seemed to not be one for useless chit chat. Business faced and professional, that was Izzy. Or so he thought. Get that kid talking about simulations or computers and he could talk your arm off.
"The training program allows the computer to judge your progress and we see here on this chart where you are having problems…" The other man continued his lecture on the simulation he had taken Tai to use.
"I'm not as good as an instructor as Sora or Matt, but they helped me write the computer code that allows this thing to do all that for me." Izzy smiled as he pulled out a small handheld device. "Now, let's try a level one bug fight. Keep looking ahead and the room will change appearance again. This is to show you what real combat would be like."
"Can we take things easy?" Tai asked trying to get use to the special harness Izzy had put him in. It seemed that this would monitor blood pressure, heart rate as well as simulated damage to the trainee.
"Don't worry. This one is only a baby and it really can't hurt you. The sensors will make it harder to move if you continue to 'get injured' but that's about it. So should we try?"
"Um…" Tai could only smile at the younger man and how excited he was to use his little toy. 'You can do this Tai, it's just like all those video games you use to play at home… You were a pro at these types of things…' he told himself and then the simulation started.
"How was your day Tai?" Kari smiled as she saw TK and Tai enter the house.
"Stressful." Tai mumbled before sinking down into one of the couches.
"Izzy put him through a simulation… you know how Izzy can get. He forgets there's a person in the thing and likes to tweak things on his end. Not intentionally being mean, but he's always curious when it comes to computers."
"Well, good news, I have dinner ready." Kari smiled as she hugged Tk and returned to the kitchen. "So how was training with Sora? Did you opt out of that and work with Izzy instead?"
"No, Sora had a last minute meeting in the temple. Something about a council and I guess it didn't end well."
'They didn't tell her about that?" Kari asked.
"Those bastards are going to make things complicated for her… they probably want her to relinquish the Takenouchi influence over the council… damn it." Tk cursed getting mad. "You know, she would be the best thing that ever happened to that council. Those old… geezers aren't in touch with the city anymore. They are stuck in the warring period."
"So where is Sora then?" Kari asked looking at the time. It was going to be sunset in a matter of hours.
"She left the temple and that's the last time I saw her… is she going to be ok?" Tai asked as they all gathered around the table.
"Well, let's eat. And if she's not back in an hour we could go looking for her." Kari suggested.
"So how did everything go today then? Aside from the training?"
"It was ok. I got to see Sora throw Davis around this morning for a comment he made." Tai smiled as he recounted the story from earlier. Tk and Kari both laughed. "And then that's when we went to the temple. I talked with Gennai…"
"She's a very wise woman. We're so lucky she has stayed with us this long." Kari smiled.
"But always mysterious." Tk added.
"I'd say so… she knows something. But she isn't going to tell me. She says I should go on a journey to find myself. I agree that I should know myself better, but this doesn't seem like the time to be taking a happy cruise." Tai said picking at his food.
"I'm sure there's a reason she suggested it. So what kind of journey?" Kari asked.
"She said I needed to go to the center of the forest. It sounds dangerous."
"I'd say. The last group to go out there was the academy's class that Sora and Matt were in… that ended in basically everyone dead except Sora and Matt. It was horrible planning on the side of the Elders." Tk explained.
"Great." Tai said not looking forward to trekking through a dangerous place.
"Don't worry. Gennai would not send you on a journey that will kill you. You're supposed to be able to help save us from the bugs. We can't go and have you being killed." Tk tried to reassure him.
Time went on and soon there was noise coming from the doorway. Getting up, everyone expected it would be Sora returning home, but to their surprise it was Matt.
"Well I get some kind of welcome don't I?" Matt said a little sarcastic after seeing the disappointment on a few faces.
"Sorry, we've been waiting for Sora to come home." Kari explained as she set a plate for Matt.
"Have you tried contacting her on the communicator?"
"Yes, no answer all day. She's also turned the tracking device off… no way to pinpoint here location." Tk said.
"Well, I'm going to go looking for her. It's getting cold and even if she knows how to take care of herself, she shouldn't be walking the streets alone." Kari said standing up.
"I'll come too." Tai said agreeing with her.
"Hold up. Let me grab my coat." Tk said as he followed Kari and Tai out of the house.
The three at first went to the temple and looked for Sora there. It was well known that she loved the garden grounds there. After that they went a few places that she was likely to go to, however somewhere along the way Tai got separated from the couple.
He had fallen behind and maybe spent too much time taking in his surroundings when he noticed he was no longer part of their group.
'Crap… great Tai, just great! What do you do now?' He asked himself as he looked at this location and tried to decide what to do.
'Well this does look a little familiar. Let's go this direction for a little ways.' He decided and began walking slowly. If nothing else, he could just stay put and Tk and Kari would eventually find him…
Wandering a bit, Tai was relieved when he saw a familiar structure. 'Wait a minute… this is Sora's house. I was just here the other day.' He thought to himself. Walking up the steps he knocked on the door. 'If I was to run to anywhere it would be some where I am comfortable and feel safe… she has to be here.'
He wasn't too surprise to find the door open, so he entered quietly. 'She said she loved going to the green house her father built… she's got to be there.'
Tai couldn't help but smile as his deduction was correct. Resting her head on the fountain in the center of the room was Sora. She looked to be asleep, so Tai slowly made his way towards her.
Sitting next to her he could see the rise and fall of her chest, it was a little to erratic for her to be sleeping, but he waited.
"You knew I was going to be here?"
Tai looked over at the girl who had broken the peaceful silence.
"It seemed like the only place you could go and be totally free of other worries. So yes, it made sense to look here." He replied. "Look, I know I'm still sort of an outsider, but I can be a good listener. If you want to talk…"
"I'm being stupid aren't I? Blowing up over a stupid council remark… I don't really have to listen to them… but…"
"Your family pride is on the line. It's only natural to become defensive. Your family's honor is important… I don't really know from first hand experience… my family is well, it's more of a name. I almost envy you and your clan's history."
"Not right now you don't." Sora sat up and looked around. She sighed and fisted her hands.
"You can tell me about it. It does help talking."
"They didn't want to include me with the matter of the outside clans. They thought that I would react badly if I knew that the outsiders wanted to try having a meeting again. The last time the Takenouchi clan lost several of its key members due to a stupid error on their part. I don't really care about that. They are welcome to come and maybe then we'll be able to have a better peace worked out. But…"
"There's more."
"Yeah." She sighed. "I had to make a promise in order to keep my spot on the council."
Tai waited for her to work things out internally. He could tell it was something big.
"They want me to find a husband to help guide me in my role on the council… I was so mad when they said I needed help in making decisions… that's why I slapped him." She stopped and looked at her hands. "Why can't I ever do anything on my own?"
"Sometimes… it's better to have someone there to help you, support you and to shoulder part of the burden." Tai said looking up to the sky through the glass ceiling.
"That's nice and all, but what do you do when there's no one…" She looked at Tai for a moment and realized what she had just said. Here she was with Kari, Tk, Matt and the others when he was more alone than she was… "I'm sorry. I didn't mean …"
"I guess we have something in common then." Tai smiled a sad smile. There was silence between the two as they looked at each other trying to figure things out through eye contact rather than speaking.
"You have beautiful eyes…." She blushed after it registered what she had said to him. "I … I mean…"
"Your's sparkle brighter than any I've ever seen. You're gorgeous in the moonlight…" He too blushed as he replied to her comment. Their eyes didn't move. Locked in some kind of attempt to understand the other, Tai noticed that they were slowly inching closer together.
His hand touched hers and she took her eyes off his for but a moment. When they returned to his, her eyes held a new emotion in them- a slight hint of confusion, fear and yet there was something deeper… Tai didn't have time to figure out what it was before they were a mere inches apart. All thought stopped except for one- I found her.
He took the initiative to close the space and soon his lips brushed against hers. Slowly her eyes slipped closed and the world seemed right...
AN: See the fluff is coming. No worries. Again, sorry for the wait- Knowing how much I hate waiting I should really get these up faster- but I just didn't feel in the mood for writing for a few days.
This actually helped with the stress levels. Nothing like Taiora fluff to make your day a little better. Now if only the rest of my life could be corrected so easily...
Oh well, keep your eyes out for updates. I think I'm on a role with this fic now- the ground work has been set and now its time for the fun to begin!