Chapter Four: Because it's nothing

"Where is that girl?"

"She's up on the roof again." Sora's mother sighed.

"Goodness!" One of her aunts laughed. "I'll never understand what she does up there, all by her lonesome!"

"That makes two of us."

They'd never get it. The woman sitting on the rooftop was still Sora, but she was a very different girl than her thirteen year old self that had taken to sitting on her roof.

Why did she sit on the roof? Because of the sky of course. The sky led to freedom. It was the best place to either drown yourself in deep thinking, or just release all of your worries in one breath. Coming up here to think was a habit she'd picked up after their adventure in the Digital World was over.

But this was different. There was something that was not at all relaxing about Tai's roof. It wasn't like the roof of her childhood where sometimes she'd just sit up there for hours, listening to the din of her mother's flower shop.

And it wasn't the roof of her adulthood. The roof on the house that she and Matt shared was peaceful because of the quietness. Sora loved the country; your thinking wasn't constantly being interrupted by honking horns and hurrying, cross people. You didn't get pointed out to by hundreds of passerby.

Sora enjoyed the quiet peace her house gave, but she would much rather be here. As much as she loved the country, she'd grown up in a place buzzing with activity and perhaps it had been a terrible mistake to leave it. She had a feeling of belonging whenever she was in a city for even a short amount of time.

Besides, she couldn't remember the last time her house had truly felt like a home. It was like a shelter for her and a temporary rest stop for her husband.

Tai was inside, setting up the guest room. Because that's what she was... a guest. Sora sighed... would she ever find a place where she truly belonged?

...

Not five minutes after their conversation was over and Kari had migrated to the next room to see what else was left to be done about their wedding, T.K.'s phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey, T.K. How's the wedding planning going? Kari must be ecstatic."

"Oh hey Matt! Yeah, everything's going great. Are you busy?"

"I think tonight's the first break we've had in our schedule since sometime last week." he laughed.

"So what's up?"

"Well our next concert is in our old hometown stadium. How great is that!?"

"That's awesome!" And he meant it, but it only took a second for T.K. to stiffen up. His thoughts had unwillingly gone to Sora. But he shook his head, forcing the thought out. There's was nothing going on between Tai and Sora... he decided. She was just visiting an old friend!

He'd missed some of what his brother had said, but it ended with: "Our tour should be ending right in time for your wedding."

"That's great." But his voice must have lacked a noticeable amount of enthusiasm because Matt picked up on it.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah it's just... all this planning is tiring, you know?"

"Yeah. Believe me, I know! I never want to go back to those days! I can't remember ever being so stressed! It made defeating Piedmon seem like a piece of cake!"

"Well for you it was!" T.K. laughed. "You didn't actually do anything!"

"Sorry to tell you, bro, but turning back and forth from keychain to human isn't my favorite thing in the world."

T.K. grinned. It was a joke commonly used between members of the digidestined. But he had something else nagging at his thoughts.

Matt didn't want to go back to the pre-wedding days... but what if what came next were divorce days?

...

Sora looked over as Tai slid the hatch that led up to the roof from the ladder in one of their closets over. He stuck his head up and grinned at her, pleased with himself. "Room's ready."

"Thanks." She grinned at him back. Tai had that effect on people. His laugh and smile had always been infectious.

But she didn't leave his roof until after another good ten minutes. She'd hoped there'd be a sunset to watch tonight, but it looked like it would start raining again soon.

She rose more gracefully than she had when she was a kid. She wiped off the seat of her pants to no effect. The roof had been damp and now so was she. Yolei would've freaked out. Mimi it would've bothered. But Sora didn't really care.

She headed back down the ladder. This wasn't done quite so gracefully, because it's hard to find a graceful way to climb up and down a ladder.

Everything in the guest room was surprisingly neat. Her suitcase lay on her bed, waiting to be unpacked however she liked. Tai had really dusted his heart out in here....

But Sora quickly spotted the one place he'd missed. The top of the handle to the door of the closet was still thickly-coated with dust.

She got up a bit excitedly and headed for the door. Sora's sense of adventure hadn't been anymore diminished as the days went past than Tai's childishness had.

The dust left a print on her hand but she took no notice. The closet was frighteningly close to empty. There would've been to reward to her eagerness... if she hadn't noticed the wooden box in the corner.

...

In the background of Matt's phone was a shout. "Hey Matt! You still part of this band or not?!"

Matt chuckled. "Sorry, gotta go. I think they're planning something for our next performance."

"Sure. Bye."

"See you soon, kid."

T.K. clicked his phone off seconds after Matt did.

When he turned around he found Kari standing in the doorway. "You didn't tell him, did you?" She asked in a quiet, almost disappointed voice.

"Of course not!" T.K. winced at his own harsh snap. He tried to make his voice reasonable, at the least, but it still came out a bit cool. "We decided that nothing whatsoever is happening, didn't we?"

T.K. left and Kari walked to the window.

Her face held a sorrowful, defeated expression.

Oh... but what if something is?

...

A cloud of dust puffed off the cover as Sora lifted it away and gently set it down.

In it seemed to be a bunch of letters.

This is none of my business she thought suddenly. She quickly chased these thoughts away. What was so bad about going through a box of old forgotten letters anyway? For all she knew, this was a box full of all the love letters Tai had gotten in their junior high and high school years.

But after reading the tone of the first one, it became apparent that these letters held something much more serious than a schoolgirl crush.

Tai,

How could you've let this happen? Sorry, I know this is hard for you. Mom just came home, sorry.

Talk to u soon.

- Kari

The response read:

Please Kari, don't say anything yet!

I just need some time to straighten this out!!!

-Tai

You could have all the time in the world and if she really is it won't matter!

Just remember, I'm always here for you.

Your loving sister,

-Kari

"Sora!"

Sora spun around. Tai stood in the doorway with a stricken, almost panicky expression on his face.

"Tai..." she responded almost inaudibly.

He came in, almost cautiously and sat down a few feet away. "How much did you read?" he managed finally.

"Just the first three." But she could see that that was enough. "Tai," she started again. "What happened? Who were you and Kari talking about?"

"Sora..." he murmured and looked down. When he looked back up his face was stricken. But the determined look stated that he'd made up his mind to just come right out and say it. "I only married Jalissa because she was pregnant with Tia."

Review please!

And so the drama continues!!!

I don't own Digimon.