Alrighty, I'm not sure why I have so many fans for this story, but it seems to be everyone's favorite. I drew a blank on the last chapter for Quarantine and decided to update this instead. I have a poll on my page, for all you who know my story 'Perfect' so, go check it out, yeh?
Looking for a Digimon beta, pm me if you're interested.

Read&Reviw&Enjoy, k? :D

PS: Sorry for the delay, I was really sick and ended up in the hospital for a few days.

Taichi

We sat in silence for a few minutes after Kari had tried to explain test results to Yamato...Yama.

"Yamato! I need your help with dinner!" Mr. Ishida calls, causing me to jump three feet out of my skin. I had not heard him come in. It's Kari that jumps to her feet, though.

"I'll go. I want to talk to your dad, anyways." She says with a smile before leaving the room. She didn't even give the blonde time to protest. She does, however, dart back in and steal her pink phone that I had been borrowing. I recall that the blonde's father's name is Hiroaki, and since he doesn't yell for Yamato again, which I can tell we're both waiting for, he must be alright with Kari helping him.

"You are safe now, right?" There's something about the way he says it. Maybe the fact that he whispered, or maybe because he takes a nervous, shaky breath afterwards, that makes me want to tell him everything. Including about my father. I take a deep breath, preparing myself to say 'Yes, Yamato, I'm fine.' But that's not what comes out.

"No." His eyes widen as he looks at me.

"Huh?"

"I'm not." Yamato has never been easy to read. It's even harder, now, with so many emotions crossing his face. He ends up settling with confusion. At least I think that's what it is. I chew on my lip, waiting for it.

"Your dad?" It's whispered. And really, I think he already knows the answer to this question, but he still asked it. I nod my head. Suddenly, the blonde's very close to my face. I hadn't heard him move.

"You have to tell your mom." He says it in a way that won't let me question anything.

"B-but.." I start, but Yamato covers my mouth with his hand.

"You have to tell her now. That way, you can stay here, and don't have to worry about your dad for the night." Spending the night with Yamato does sound appealing, but I can't do that to her. I push the blondes hand away so I can speak.

"I can't do th-mmpf!" My words are cut off by his lips this time. His lips are soft, and for twenty seconds, I am literally in heaven. Then he pulls away, and seems to realize what he did. A soft pink colors his cheeks as he turns away from me.

"Uhm..I'mma...go get my sisters phone." I say, not sure what else I can do. It had surprised me as much as him, I think. I get up and leave the blonde's room, and head to the kitchen. Hiroaki and my sister are deep in conversation about some kind of food, or something.

"Hey, Tai." Kari greets me when she sees me.

"Hello, can I use your phone, please?"

"I already called mom, we're allowed to stay for dinner."

"I need to talk to her about something a little more important then that," Kari nods her head towards her phone, which lays abandoned on a clean space of counter. I pick it up, and dial the number as I head back to Yamato's room. I sit down next to the blonde, whose still on the floor.

"Hello?" My mom's voice comes through the phone.

"Hi, mom." I say. I take a deep breath.

"Oh, Taichi! What's wrong?"

"Uhm..I have to tell you something, about dad." I mumble.

"Oh." Her voice goes flat. God, I hate myself. I look for at the blonde, who gives me an encouraging smile, although his eyes are masked and emotionless. "What is it, Tai?" My mother asks.

"Well..He's been uhm..hurting me..too?" I say. Yes, it came out as a question. Fuck. My. Life.

"What do you mean? He's been hurting you? Hitting you?"

"Yeah." I say, not sure what else there is for me to say.

"You're at Yamato's? Do they still live in that apartment?"

"Yep." I say, confused as to why she'd ask.

"Tell Hiroaki I'll be over for dinner, too." My mother says, hanging up.

"She's coming for dinner, too." I say. Yamato climbs to his feet, and offers me his hand. I take it, and he pulls me to my feet, and together, we head out to the kitchen.

"Their momma's coming, too." Yamato tells his dad. Kari looks at me, confusion all over her face.

"Well..see, I had to tell her that dad's been beating me up, too." Silence fills the room. Nobody really knows what to do or say, so Kari and Yamato's dad keep making dinner, and Yamato stands beside me, still unreadable. I wish I could just ask him what he's thinking. Actually, I wish I knew what I was thinking. There's a soft knock on the door awhile later, and Yamato gestures for me to get it. I do, and it's my mom. She's been crying. I take a deep breath. That's the last thing I wanted. She wraps her arms around me which I return awkwardly. She comes inside and removes her shoes. I take her to the rest of the people currently in the small apartment.

"Hello." Hiroaki greets her pleasantly.

"Hello. I'm sorry for the intrusions."

"Oh, it's fine. It's been awhile since anyone eaten here, anyway." I notice that Yamato has taken over the actual cooking of food.

"He sucks at cooking." The blonde explains with a weak shrug. "You can use my room," He adds, and then my mother takes both me and Kari and I have to sit in a room and explain to her about how my father's been beating the shit out of me for the better part of three years. It hurts. A lot. Both females cry. I want to cry, really, I do. It just doesn't come out. Guess I have no more tears left. My mom hugs me against her chest and cries and cries. I just sit there, not knowing what else to do. Eventually she calms down, and leaves the room, Kari and I close behind her. She's talking to the Ishida's about Kari and I staying here. Yamato was right. The blonde starts plating and giving out food.

Yamato has no appetite, at all. Which bothers me a lot.

"Why aren't you eating?" I ask him quietly. Our parents are still chatting away, so they don't hear me, but Kari does.

"Just not hungry." He clearly has a lot on his mind. Not that I can say much, because I don't really eat either. Why bother? I never eat anymore. My stomach can't handle it. I normally puke it all back up within a few hours, anyways. For the most part, dinner is silent between us kids. Kari and I eat a little bit, Yamato eats nothing. My mother acts like nothing is bothering her, but by the way she keeps looking at me out of the corner of her eye, I can tell she's making sure I'm still here. Yamato stands suddenly, making me jump.

"I'm not feeling good. I'm going to go lay down." He says simply before walking away.

"Night.." His father says softly, knowing his son can't actually hear him. Despite the fact that I would like to go curl up next to Yamato, and make him kiss me again, because yes, it's on my mind, I can't. I sit and have small talk with my mother and Hiroaki as my mother tries to fill him in on our stupid, crazy lives. My mom doesn't leave until like, I don't know. Eight or something.

"You two can go to bed, you didn't have to stay out here for my sake. It's obviously been rough on you." This is why I love Yamato's dad. Kari and I both give him grateful smiles before heading to the blondes room. When I push the door open, the beautiful boy is on the floor. Clearly, he's given his bed to my sister. She smiles.

"He's sweet. I like him. He's good for you." Kari says before entering the room, and collapsing on his bed without changing. I sigh at my younger sister. She's almost thirteen. Yet sometimes, I swear she's older then me in maturity. She just knows things. It's like a weird sixth sense with her. Thank God she doesn't see dead people. I flop down beside the blonde. His breathing is slow and shallow.

"Kari?" I whisper.

"Hmm?" I barely hear her response.

"I'mma go to school tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure, Taichi." She whispers, almost asleep already. I snuggle into the pillow next to the blonde, and watch him sleep. He's facing me. He lets out a little "Mm" Sound in the back of his throat, and a small smile appears on his lips. I wonder what he's dreaming about. I trace his features with my eyes, which makes me want to touch him. So I roll over. You'd think that now I have some spare time, I'd be worried about my mom confronting my dad. But no. The only thing I can think about is that Yamato had kissed me. Did that mean he liked me too?

As you can imagine, since I had the beautiful boy beside me on my mind when I fell asleep, he's all I dreamt about. I wake up to the annoying ring of an alarm clock. I groan. Yamato is struggling to get out of the blankets. He finally manages, and shuts the fucking stupid thing off.

"Sorry." He says. I don't know if he's talking to Kari or myself. I feel the blonde sit back down in his space behind me. I roll over slightly, and look up at him. His blue eyes are glazed with sleep. He rubs at one of them with the palm of his hand. Then he yawns. And then...he flops down onto his pillows and gives me the cutest "Why am I awake?" look, ever. I smile at him. He gives me a small smile back.

"Yamato, get up." His dad shouts from down the hallway.

"I am up!" He shouts back.

"Get out of bed! Move around!" The blonde groans at his dads words, and gets up. He heads over to his drawers and looks through them, one hand rubbing his eyes. I watch him pull some clothes out before heading down the hallway, to the bathroom to change.

"We should get ready, too." Kari says from beside me. So she had heard me.

"Yeah." I answer, and we get up. We take turns changing into the stuff our mother had brought us yesterday. We use Yamato's room, who finally shows up as I finish getting dressed.

"You take longer then I did, Yamato." Kari says with a little giggle.

"I had to do my haiir." He whines at her. She just laughs again. The blonde stretches, and his shirt lifts a little bit, showing off some of his stomach. My cheeks heat up and I look away.

"I'm hungry." I say.

"Me too." Yamato agrees. We all go to the kitchen, where the blonde gives us..cereal. And he's still rubbing his eyes.

"Rough night, Yamato?" His dad asks, watching his son from the table, where he is drinking coffee.

"Yes! Tai moves soo much." He whines. I bite my lip.

"Sorry." I mumble, now upset that I've caused the blonde to be so tired.

"Not your fault." He says in a way that makes me feel like it's true. I eat in silence. Yamato eats two bowls. Kari, always the nice little lady, makes small talk with Hiroaki. When the phone rings, all of us jump. Hiroaki goes to answer it.

"Yamato." He says simply after a few seconds. The blonde looks confused as he goes to answer the phone.

"Hello? Oh, Hi!" Is all I hear. Yamato still hasn't come back by the time I'm done eating. Or by the time Kari's done. When Hiroaki gets up, ready to leave he shouts for Yamato, who ignores him.

"You're going to make Tai and Kari late for school!" His dad snaps. The blonde appears within a minute.

"Sorry. It was Takeru." He says with a soft smile. He glances at the clock.

"Okay, let's go!" All four of us leave the house at the same time. I'm kind of nervous, now that I'm out of the house. What if Justin's there? Yamato seems to feel my tension, because his fingers brush my hand lightly.

"You have my number, right?" Kari asks Yamato.

"I do." He says without looking at her.

"Take care of him?" To me it sounds like a question.

"I will." Yamato says, looking at her. She hugs us both, before dashing away to meet her friends at her own school. I take a deep breath before continuing to walk. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Yamato

Taichi is unnecessarily nervous. 'Cause I'd let anything happen to him. Yea, right. Koushiro greets us at the front gates.

"Hey, Taichi. Welcome back. Justin was lead of school property by the police this morning." He says simply.

"Yea, well, he needs to stop being a jerk." I say. Taichi had frozen.

"He was yelling something about you, Tai. I just wanted to let you know a head of time." He says softly. He'd always been like this, of course.

"Well, Taichi's gonna be fine. Justin's a loser." I say, before walking around Koushiro. Which automatically makes Tai follow me. Koushiro follows us, too. It becomes.. 'us' again. Me and Taichi against everyone. Just like it should've been. Well, not everyone. We have Koushiro, Jyou, Mimi and Sora, of course. And Kari and Takeru. Which, by the way, in case you were wondering, my phone call this morning? He's coming to visit. I'm stoked. I miss my brother. I think through out the day I get 8 million text from Kari making sure Taichi's okay. I answer them the best I can, but I don't actually sit with Taichi in the classes we share. At lunch, the entire group sits together, just like we used to. Although it used to be me using Taichi to hide. Now it's the other way around. Taichi and I deflect all the questions thrown at him surrounding Justin, and his absence the other day. I grow bored pretty fast though. Sitting down at lunch eating..is not what I normally would've done. I'd either be playing my guitar..or causing problems. Story of my life, eh? I always manage to start something. Even if I don't mean to.

"What's the matter, Yamato?" I'm not entirely sure which male asks the question, so my eyes drift back and forth between them.

"I'm bored."

"I didn't think our quiet little friendship would appeal to you." Koushiro says. My eyes land on him. And I stick my tongue out. Yes, it's childish. But I don't really care. Sora laughs.

"I like causing mischief. Makes life more exciting." I mutter. Tai grins at me. He gets it. He used to be my partner in crime. I get up.

"I'm going for a walk. This is stupid." I say. Taichi, Sora and Mimi get up to follow me. The other two stay behind. Whatever. They never were any fun. We walk down the hallways, trying to find something to do, when I spot some kids heading into a classroom, a science classroom, with a bunch of boxes with holes.

"What's the in the boxes?" I ask, curious. Taichi groans.

"Frogs." One of the kids answers. Frogs, huh? I like frogs. Taichi grabs my arm and pulls me away.

"Frogs stay in their boxes, k? They're nasty." He says. I laugh. Taichi. Scared of frogs? Since when?

"Since when have you been scared of frogs, Tai?" I ask. Mimi and Sora eye the boxes with distaste.

"I'm not scared of them. They're just gross and slimy." He says.

"Yea, well, they're going to be all over the school, so go away." I say, although it isin't rude. Taichi ignores me. The girls don't. They scramble as soon as I say it. I head into the science room, Taichi on my heels, and with a simple push, frogs go everywhere.

"ISHIDA!" I grin as I look up at the teacher whose glaring at me.