Author's Note: I think I'm going to try write this in a semi-timely fashion so that I can finish this and move onto finishing some of my other projects around here, as I imagine my profile is growing a bit stale. Thank you so much to the messages and support I've been getting, and continue to get. I might not know most of you on here personally, but your words still mean a lot to me. It's amazing, isn't it, the power that words can have? I think they're horribly underrated in our society today.

I'm actually very proud of this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The hour was getting late: it had been the only time the three of them could get together without work or other commitments getting in the way. The original three of them, Koushiro thought: him, Taichi, and Sora. Nobody else. Excluding Hikari, they were the three he had met first. His parents had wanted him to get into something that normal boys liked, something to get him away from the computer and help him make some friends. He hadn't been very (if any) good, and he hadn't made many friends from soccer that had lasted, either. But he had those two, the ones that had never left. Who had been through more with him than anybody ever had, and probably ever would.

It was hard not to compare new friends to the Chosen. The original Chosen had lived in the Digital World, although to the real world they had only been gone for a matter of mere minutes. They had fought for their lives, quite literally, and had depended more than once on only each other for their survival. The younger kids, with the exceptions of Hikari and Takeru, didn't quite have that… experience, he supposed was the only word he could think of. He didn't doubt that their connection to their partners was just as strong, but they didn't face the same sort of challenges. And he was glad for that. It had been terrifying. Exhilarating and character building, perhaps, but utterly terrifying.

But here, he was back to where his friendships had started: a soccer field at sunset, standing between Taichi and Sora. They looked more at home than he felt. Sora had a look of yearning on her face like she had gone away for a long time but had phoned every day, awaiting the moment when she could return and fling her arms around her beloved field. Taichi merely looked comfortable. He spent more time on this field than anywhere else, except perhaps at school or at work. He could close his eyes and walk to the goal post on the other side of the field, run in circles around it, and probably make a goal. He had a ball in a net that was slung over his shoulder. Sora was still in her tennis gear, and he was still in his work uniform, but they didn't seem to notice or care.

"I haven't been here since soccer camp that one summer," Koushiro admitted. He usually made a wide berth around sports and things that didn't involve computers and intellect. He simply wasn't very good at them, and he felt like he was holding back those who were when he tried to get involved in a game.

Taichi didn't seem bothered by that, though. "I haven't been to this field in a while either," he admitted, tipping the ball out of its bag. It bounced once, then rolled a few feet away before coming to a stop. "I spend most of my time by the elementary school field when I'm not at my own practices. I don't know who uses this field anymore."

"And I don't really care," Sora added cheerfully.

"What are you at the elementary field for," Koushiro asked.

"Coaching the team," Sora answered.

"Assistant coaching," Taichi corrected her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I've yet to see the head coach at those practices," Sora muttered. Taichi allowed himself a rueful smile.

"Up for a game," he asked, nudging the ball towards Koushiro with his foot. Koushiro looked up in alarm.

"I told you I haven't been here in years," he said.

"Yeah?"

"I haven't played since soccer camp," Koushiro said, sounding slightly panicked.

"Really," Taichi asked, eyebrows disappearing into his hair with his surprise. "How the hell did we miss that?"

"Saving the world. Trying not to flunk out of school. The usual," Koushiro said. "There wasn't much time for soccer in my schedule." Sora put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"That's okay," she promised. "We'll go easy on you, right Tai?" He didn't answer. "Taichi?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Huh?" He blinked. "Oh. Yeah." It couldn't have been clearer that Taichi hadn't heard a word. He kicked the ball ahead of them, and Sora laughed before sprinting after it. Koushiro made a half-hearted attempt to keep up, but it was really a race between Sora and Taichi to the ball. Sora reached it a hair before Taichi, punting it out of his reach.

"You got a head start," Taichi accused.

"It was your kick. You should've known where it was going," Sora yelled back, and they were off again.

Koushiro's jog slowed to a walk, then to a total stop as he stood to the sidelines to watch the match. It really was something to watch the two of them play. They had house rules that had been in place for so long that they no longer thought to call them out at the start of a game. Koushiro would have been pummeled, he knew. Sora was a ruthless player, even in a mini-dress, and more than once Taichi got shoved or knocked to the ground as she fought for control of the ball. And he didn't have any qualms about holding back against her, either. Both knew the other's limits, knew what not to hold back. There was a lot of intensity on that field for only two players, one of whom had barely graced the soccer field in seven years.

"Kou-kun," Sora called out suddenly, slowing to a stop and trapping the ball beneath her trainer. "You playing?"

"I, um—" he stammered, alarmed to have been caught not even trying.

"Of course he is," Taichi said before Koushiro could come up with an adequate answer. Soccer's not a spectator sport."

"Actually," Koushiro said, frowning, but Sora didn't allow him time to correct them. She kicked the ball towards him.

"C'mon," she said encouragingly. "Free kick. Scrimmage with us."

"Soccer isn't supposed to have three teams," he argued weakly, nudging the ball forward.

"House rules," Taichi replied promptly.

Koushiro sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright." He shrugged off his jacket – he hadn't had time to change out of his school uniform – and tossed it aside, where he thought it would be safe.

"C'mon, Koushiro," Taichi called.

Koushiro took a deep breath, then threw himself into the game as best he knew how, trying to mimic the intensity and the drive that he saw in Sora and Taichi when they played. He was still mediocre at best, but they waited until he'd driven the ball closer towards them before trying to take it away. He wasn't as rough as they were with the game, unwilling as he was to shoulder Taichi out of the way or kick at Sora's bare legs.

"We're not made of glass, Kou," she scolded him, although the general effect was ruined by her laughter. "Play like you mean it!"

"No holding back," Taichi added. "Give it your everything – the ball is yours, and you're going to take it – or your heart's not in it."

"You don't have to be good," Sora said when she saw Koushiro open his mouth to speak. "You just have to play."

They didn't talk very much after that. They just played; Koushiro played in a way that he hadn't played even when he was a little kid until their legs ached and sweat dripped into their eyes and the three of them collapsed on the field, the ball neglected a matter of feet away from them. Koushiro could hear the others breathing heavily nearby – or maybe that was his own breath. He was more out of shape than Sora or Taichi. But he realized he was smiling.

"Who won," Taichi asked.

"Koushiro," Sora said promptly at the same time that Koushiro said, "I lost track."

"What," he asked, propping himself up on his elbow to stare at her.

"You played harder than we do."

"That doesn't mean I won." He didn't even remember scoring a goal, although the point of their game never seemed to be so much about scoring as keeping the ball away from the other. In the struggle for control, the goals were almost forgotten.

"House rules," Taichi reminded him. Koushiro fell back to the grass with a frustrated sigh.

"Your house rules make no sense," Koushiro confessed. Sora and Taichi laughed.

"We should do this with Daisuke and Ken one day," Sora said. She tilted her head back to better see Taichi, although Koushiro didn't think she saw anything but a mound of hair. "What do you think?"

"One day," Taichi agreed. "A different field though."

"Yeah?"

"This is our field," Taichi said firmly. "The three of us. It'd just be weird."

"I've never played anyone but you here. Well, coming here without a team," Sora said, correcting herself. Koushiro knew that the soccer team that she had been on when they were younger used this same field for practice.

"Me either," Taichi admitted. "We'll bring them to the field where Daisuke tripped Ken."

Sora snorted. "You know how to pick 'em, Tai."

He laughed. It was good to hear Taichi laughing again. It didn't happen often – here, on the soccer field, was the first time Koushiro had seen Taichi laugh often and effortlessly for the first time in a while now – but it made him happy when it did. He never said so, of course. But things seemed a little less bad when Taichi was laughing.

"Where's Agumon," Koushiro asked suddenly. He realized it was the first time he hadn't seen the dino-digimon since Sora and Yamato had the idea to bring him to the real world. They thought he would be able to cheer up Taichi and bring him to himself a little bit during the worst.

"I convinced him to go back," Taichi said, the laughter fading from his voice a little bit. "He was getting weak… Well, you know what happens when they're here too long." Koushiro tilted his head back to see Taichi shrugging his shoulders. "He was always eating and feeling tired. He needed to go back… recharge, so to speak. I didn't want him pushing himself."

"Yeah, I understand," Koushiro said. There was a strange tone in Taichi's voice like he was asking for that: for understanding. He didn't understand why; they all knew the Digimon couldn't live in the real world for very long. It took too much energy, and they could only pull so much from their human partners before it stopped being enough. "He's doing okay?"

"Yeah. Hikari finally gave the okay to get Tailmon. Tomorrow, when Agumon's had a chance to regain his strength." He heard Taichi swallow.

"I'm sure Hikari will be happy to see Tailmon," Sora said gently.

"She should've told her earlier," Taichi admitted. "Though I doubt she's totally in the dark."

"They're such gossips, Digimon," Sora said, though her voice was fond. The boys hummed their agreement.

"I smell like boy," she said after a while. Taichi burst out laughing, and Koushiro finally sat up, painfully aware of the ache in his sides and legs now that they had relaxed long enough to absorb the abuse he had put them through. "Want to go again?"

"Actually," Taichi said, "I really want a hot dog. Either of you game?"

"Race you to the car," Sora suggested. Koushiro groaned.

"More running," he asked, and they both laughed as they helped him to his feet. Taichi picked up Koushiro's jacket and handed it to him.

"No more running," Taichi promised.

"Kill joy," Sora said, although she didn't sound very put out. She stepped in between the two of them and slung her arms around both of their shoulders with a content sigh. "My boys," she said. Taichi kissed the top of her head, but Koushiro just smiled and slipped out from under her arm. She grinned back at him. Dirty and sweaty, she seemed to be glowing despite the fact that the sun had nearly completely dipped beneath the horizon. Beside her, Taichi seemed to glow as well, still breathing heavy and feeling light-headed from the adrenaline rush. He looked healthy. He looked happy.

Maybe there was magic in the soccer field after all.