The Courage to Love
Author's Disclaimer: Same news even after all this time. I don't own Digimon nor am I affiliated with Toei, Saban or Disney or whoever may have the licenses these days.
Author's Notes: I'm back after 5 years. I happened to stumble upon this story while looking back on some old data CDs I used to store stuff from my older computer. It makes want to cry whenever I read over it. Some parts are just so cute I can't believe I wrote it. Hahaha, enough from me and on with the story.
Staying the same?
Thin beams of sunlight poured in through the somewhat tattered curtains of Taichi's bedroom. The young man scrunched his nose and shut his eyes tightly in annoyance as the light crept across his face and into his eyes. He turned to his side and ruffled his hair, slightly groaning. Mornings were never Taichi's thing, his disheveled appearance would always give that away.
"Nii-chan"
"What is it Hikari?" Taichi had failed to keep being awake to himself.
"Sora's on the phone"
He turned around, his eyes slowly opening, the look of morning syndrome on his face. His expression changed to being somewhat alert when he received the phone from Hikari.
"It's me, now"
"Sorry to wake you up"
"It's alright you know, as usual"
"You're not grumpy"
"I will be soon" Sora giggled lightly as not to aggravate Tai too much.
"So what's going on? Why are you up so earl...umm" Taichi glanced at his clock, it read 9:30. "That's not early for her" he thought to himself. He returned to the conversation.
"I mean why did you call me so early?" said Tai mid-yawn.
"I have tennis tryouts today. Wanna watch? You don't sound like you'd be too interested I take it, judging by that yawn." Tai laughed a bit.
"Yeah, that yawn was for you, how could you betray me? Leaving soccer for tennis, yuck"
"It's too rough for me now"
"You've gotten soft" Tai smiled to himself.
"Yeah, maybe. So are you going to come or not?"
"Yeah, I'll watch. I want to see exactly what it is that made you leave the field of champions."
"So I can bask in the field of ultimate glory all by myself in singles."
"Oh I see, clever"
"The meet is at eleven okay? See you at the school grounds"
"Sure thing, see you there" Tai hung up the phone. "Seriously what am I doing? Self torture is what I'm doing" Tai thought to himself. It was hard for him resist. Sora's usual upbeat adventurous melody of a voice had now turned into a more feminine and slight but ever so present husky jazz beat tone. To him, her voice didn't ask him to come to her tennis tryout, it commanded him.
"I still can't believe how stupid I was that night." Tai reflected on the night of his graduation day. A few months have passed by. Ever since then he avoided getting into touchy subjects with Sora and stuck to the routine of being a playful jerk but of course still caring in the way a good friend should.
"There we go, or not?" said Tai as he inspected his face in the mirror, stroking his chin in between his thumb and index finger. Tai felt something amiss. His eyes looked upwards. He was in the usual attire minus his trademark goggles.
"I forgot I gave those to Daisuke. Oh well, I have to grow up some time." He headed out of the bedroom to put his shoes on.
"Hikari, I'm going out"
"Sora calls?"
"Yup"
"Be a good boy" Kari chimed.
"Yeah, yeah" Tai gestured a wave to his sister and made his way to the school. He stretched his arms out and yawned, then he blinked a bit. It was surprisingly nice outside. Tai had expected the usual sun blaring weekend mornings but there was just the right sparkle to the morning. The temperature was mild, the air crisp. These awoke Tai's senses and made him feel more awake than usual and somewhat jittery.
"Wow, I might actually want to get up early nowadays if this is what it's going to be like." He walked by some flowers growing on the sidewalk.
"Here you go Sora" He imagined a scenario in his head where he would give Sora the flowers he had seen. He had made the motions as well as he walked along.
"Wow, I'm being kinda corny" Tai thought to himself. "I better stop this now before someone I know sees me" He slowly walked along until he came across the park. He looked at the bench and immediately went back to the night he so clumsily fumbled for the right thing to say to Sora. He took a seat and looked around. Here was where he should have made his move. Here is where Sora was inviting him to make it. Tai just sat there, rethinking the night over and over until a soccer ball found its way to the ground in front of him.
"Hey big kid, can we have the ball?" A group of little kids were playing soccer nearby.
"Big kid huh, not yet" Taichi thought.
"Yeah guys, here you go" Tai kicked the ball straight up and then forward before it landed.
"Cooooool!" The kids exclaimed. One of them asked Taichi if he could play but he politely refused as he remembered Sora's tennis tryout.
"Crap I forgot!" Taichi hurried over to the school hoping he would make it in time. He made his way to the courts to see Sora already playing. He wanted to call out to her to announce he was there but thought against it.
"That was something I would have done when I was smaller. Shouting without thinking, she'd probably be embarassed" He took a seat on the bench near Sora's bag. He could tell it was her's. The hairpin he had given her a while back was attached to her bag. He smiled and then turned his attention to her game. She had just won the last game in the set, taking the match. She brought her hand up to her forehead to wipe away some sweat. She looked kind of angry but her look shifted as she came towards the bench and noticed Taichi.
"Ah, you were watching the whole time?" Sora smirked at Tai.
"Of course! That was great!"
"Liar"
"Huh?"
"You were late"
"Guess I can't make up for that"
"Well you still showed up so what can I do" Sora brought her hand over to Tai's head and messed around with his hair. She was smiling until she brought her hand down to his forehead. Tai blinked at her.
"What's wrong?"
"Someone's growing up. Where'd the goggles go?"
"I gave them to Daisuke remember? Handing down the leader's legacy you know?" Tai looked at her triumphantly.
"Is that so?" Sora chuckled. "I kind of miss them"
"Too bad for you"
"Whatever Taichi" Sora reached for her water bottle and twisted off the cap. Tai watched as she brought the mouth of the bottle to her soft pink lips. Sora closed her eyes as she drank the ice cold water, letting out a sigh of satisfaction as she brought the bottle down back besider her.
"Want some?" Sora gestured the bottle to Taichi.
"I'm good thanks." Tai gulped.
"Uh-oh, is someone still afraid of girly germs?" Tai looked at her with a slight hint of annoyance.
"Gimme that!" He swiped the bottle from beside Sora and chugged it down, the water cascading down the sides of his mouth. He gasped for air afterwards and held his forehead. Tai couldn't handle how cold it was.
"Baaaka" said Sora.
"Be quiet" Taichi said as he wiped his mouth his sleeve.
"Look, you finished the whole thing, what am I supposed to drink now?
"I'll get you something"
"You better, my next game is up" Sora lifted herself off the bench and grabbed her tennis racket.
"Have fun""
"I'll just pretend I'm hitting your fuzzy head. That should give me some edge" Sora stuck her tongue out at Tai and laughed a bit.
"That's a comforting thought" Tai laughed as well but nervously. He walked across the street to a small convenience store to buy Sora more water. On the way back he contemplated opening the bottle and putting his lips around it so it would be as if he kissed Sora when she would take a drink. In the end he decided against it and took pleasure in the fact that her lips touched the bottle he drank out of and thought to himself that it was like she kissed him. It was these little quirks that kept Tai going without revealing his feelings to Sora. Taichi came back the courts to find Sora already on the bench again.
"You lose or something?"
"That's not nice, why can't you think I won quickly instead?"
"Oh so that's what happened. Hey you must be pretty good at this game, you seem to be breezing through it."
"Yeah, thanks."
"You did look really good out there" An unfamiliar voice rang in. Taichi and Sora looked up to see a dark haired boy in tennis attire.
"The name's Rentaro" the boy put his hand forward and Tai shook his hand. Rentaro quickly ended the handshake.
"I wasn't meaning to shake your hand, It was for the pretty one over here" Rentaro changed the direction of his glance to Sora.
"Oh, umm thank you" Sora brushed some hair out of her eyes and shook Rentaro's hand.
"What are you doing here at a girls' tryout?" Sora asked.
"Scoping out the competition"
Tai laughed, much to Rentaro's annoyance.
"You're checking out girls for competition? Give me a break." Sora began to look a bit aggravated.
"You can't just be about competition you're looking for something else aren't you?" Sora's expression then changed to a calm demeanor.
"Well I am looking for a good doubles partner. What do you say uhh…"
"Takenouchi" said Sora as she put the hairpin Taichi gave her into her hair.
"Oh come on, give me your first name, we're friends right?"
"We just barely met. Sorry but I have no interest in doubles" Sora stated confidently. Taichi looked over at Sora. "I take back what I said about her being soft" thought Taichi.
"Oh so you mean you're taken?" Rentaro looked at her disapprovingly. "Oh well, you missed a good chance."
"I'm pretty sure I can take on much better ones" Sora remarked.
"Tch" Rentaro gave her one last look before going away.
"Well he was a nice one" said Tai. He felt sort of left out of the situation and wondered why Rentaro hadn't thought of him being Sora's boyfriend.
"Hey why didn't he think that…" Sora punched Taichi in the arm.
"Such a good friend you are, you didn't even step in!" She crossed her arms and made a huffy face.
"It's not like lying would solved anything" said Tai.
"Lying about what?" Sora smiled slightly.
"About me you know, being your…"
"I didn't say anything about lying. I just said you didn't step in"
"Oh, that's right! Then umm ah I don't know" Tai looked away, embarrassed.
"It doesn't have to be a lie you know" Sora whispered.
"What was that?" Taichi asked nervously.
"It was nothing. Oh well, at least I knew you had a plan of action Mr. Crest of Courage" Sora got up.
"Yeah, whatever"
"One last game and we're out of here okay? Wanna get something to eat?" Sora waited for Taichi to look her in the eyes. Eventually his eyes met hers. She caught the glint in his eye that showed he was interested.
"He's going to say yes" Sora thought. Taichi fumbled.
"I just remembered. There's stuff for me to do at home so, is it ok if I just walk you home after this?"
Sora was a bit surprised by this but retained her composure.
"Oh, sure no problem. Ah, better get to the game!" Sora turned around her eyes folding into sadness. Taichi watched as she walked away and cursed himself for not saying yes. He caught a glimpse of her touching the hairpin he gave her as she readied herself for the game.
Half an hour later and Sora had attained a regular spot on her tennis club team. Taichi congratulated her on her wins and on the way back home, announced he would treat her to some ice cream. Tai ended up being shortchanged and was only able to afford popsicles.
"Sorry I wasn't able to get actual ice cream" Tai sighed. He wasn't liking the fact that he looked cheap.
"Hey it's not a bad thing, remember the first time you bought me a popsicle?"
"Yeah I do. Wait a second, I was even cheaper back then, we got those for free!" Both Taichi and Sora laughed as they ate their popsicles, slowly making their way back to Sora's house. The afternoon was peaceful and a gentle breeze skimmed against Taichi's skin. He reveled in the feeling and decided to take a look at Sora. The breeze made her hair give a small dance as the curls at the ends of her hair made shy leaps. It seemed like her eyes weren't focused on anything in particular as she was finishing her popsicle. She looked like she was thinking of something fondly, which to Tai, made her look dreamy. They approached the front of Sora's place and were greeted by her mother.
"Taichi-kun, you're getting pretty big and you're still so cute" said Sora's mother.
"Ah, thank you Takenouchi-san" Tai bowed and blushed a bit.
"Yeah I guess, but he's cheap" said Sora. Taichi blushed a bit more.
"Hey I could have just kept walking instead of buying anything at all!" Tai was flustered. Ms. Takenouchi pinched his cheek which caused him to be even more embarrassed. Sora and her mother just laughed.
"Say, Taichi. Your mother called earlier on and said there was something she had to give me. She asked that if I saw you I should ask you to deliver whatever it was to me. I don't really want to bother you with such a thing…"
"Leave it to me. I'll be back later" Taichi quickly ran off partly due to embarrassment and to get to his errand. As soon as he got home he saw the parcel ready at the kitchen counter. Taichi decided to eat first and relax, watching a few shows on the television, he after all didn't have the chance to take part in his usual unproductive weekend routines because he was out with Sora. A favorite show of his was starting to come on but he noticed that the sun was already setting outside, the sky being a medley of soft pink and orange. Parcel in hand, Taichi left home and jogged over to Sora's.
"Hello? Anyone here?" The flower shop was empty. "I wonder where they went?" Taichi was just about to leave when he heard light footsteps upstairs. "Oh so someone is home" Taichi thought to himself. The street lamps were starting to turn on outside so Taichi hurried upstairs to deliver the parcel.
"Sorry to intrude but here's the…" Taichi stopped. He gripped the parcel tightly, his eyes wide open. There was Sora in front of him bra-clad.
"Taichi…" Sora looked him in the eyes, a look of surprise on her own.
"Here's the thing, gotta go, bye!" Taichi quickly bolted down the steps and out of the flower shop. Sora just stood there her eyes eventually moving down to the parcel on the floor. She then touched her shoulders and realized herself that the top half of her body was covered with only a bra. She began to blush.
Outside, Taichi stopped to take a breather. Thoughts of what just happened flooded his mind. He worried that Sora would think he was a pervert but at the same time he also wished he got a better look. Taichi's male hormones were starting to kick in.
"You know that was sort of…" Taichi thought to himself.
"In an odd way that was…" said Sora to herself.
Both aloud echoed the word "Exciting".
Author's Notes: There you go Chapter 6, what a warm up. I think I have to keep writing as I sort of have to "fit" back into writing this story. Hope you all like. Until next time which hopefully is soon. Reviews of course, are still accepted, yay.