Summary: Taichi—every time he "uses" magic, his body grows weaker. Can Yamato save him before it's too late? Yamachi/Taito
Cursed
By: splintered
--
Yamato thought that he was going to be happy when the brunette finally work up, and for the most part, he was. Years later, Yamato and the boy were inseparable, but then, when Yamato entered the boy's room on one winter's evening after school, he saw the boy laying weakly in a hospital bed. The boy looked sad. The boy looked confused. And those intriguing golden brown eyes were filled with despair.
"Hey," Yamato whispered, quickly running to the boy's side. A multitude of questions were running through his mind. How long has the boy been awake? Where did the boy come from? Did the boy remember who he was? What was the boy's name? Instead, he kept his mouth shut, running his hand through the other boy's soft hair.
The stayed like that for a while in silence, with the boy looking at him curiously while he petted the boy's hair. In fact, it was so quiet that for a moment Yamato thought the boy might have fallen into a coma again. But then, the blond heard a voice—soft and cynical—that Yamato almost thought he didn't hear it at all.
"It's funny," the boy had laughed bitterly. "I always thought Heaven would be different from this, but this is kinda nice."
"Heaven?" the blond wondered, the wheels in his head quickly turning, remembering what he heard and saw on the news broadcasts months ago. He was almost afraid to ask this, not sure of what answer he would get in response. After all, Yamato had never thought about Death before. Death was almost as bad as the D-word. At times before their divorce, Daddy had wished Mommy was dead and vice versa. Heaven was the place you were supposed to go after Death if you were a good little boy, Daddy had explained. The fact that this little boy that haunted him for these past few months thought about such things scared him a little. He hoped the boy or his folks had to go through a D-word. Still, Yamato played along, asking, "Did you think you would go to Heaven when you jumped?"
The boy thought for a while, his face cutely pouting as he did so. (Well, at least Yamato thought the boy was cute, thinking about things.) "No," the boy finally answered. "I thought I would leave Hell. But…but maybe I don't deserve to."
Yamato was more than alarmed with what the boy's response. Not only did the boy say a bad word, but he seemed to really mean it. The boy wasn't like all the other kids at school, laughing at someone who accidently dropped the F-bomb in front of a teacher. This boy wasn't at all like the other boys who said bad words just to taste how they sounded in their mouths. No, this boy seemed to really mean what he said and that look of despair that still graced the boy's delicate features didn't make Yamato feel any less disturbed. Just the fact that for the past months, Yamato thought the world of the boy and the boy didn't think much of himself made the blond incredibly sad.
The boy seemed to notice the blond's tears though. "Hey, don't be like that," the boy whispered. "I'm sorry. You know…forget what I said. Just…just forget everything. I'm Taichi," he said as he weakly reached for Yamato's hand. "And I just say the stupidest things sometimes."
"No, no you don't," Yamato insisted, questions still rolling in his mind. So should I just forget what happened in the park? Should I just forget what you said? Yamato wanted to ask him, but he didn't. Well, not right now. "Yamato," he answered instead. "I'm the kid you saved at the park."
Realization seemed to dawn on Taichi's face as his eyes widened. "I'm so sorry!" Taichi gasped.
"No, don't be," the blond replied, puzzled by the boy's reaction. "Why would you be sorry? I want to thank you."
"I'm sorry. I mean, aren't you here because you feel obligated to me? You know, you don't have to be here if you don't want to be. …You're only going to get hurt if you get close to me."
Now Yamato didn't get angry easily. He was very much a stoic little boy. He neither laughed nor cried easily and he certainly didn't get angry easily. However, even little Yamato was a prideful kid and what Taichi just said angered him. "I did not spend the past five months watching you because I felt obligated to you," Yamato said coldly.
Taichi visibly cringed as Yamato continued.
"I did not visit you everyday after school for five straight months so I could wait for you to wake up and feel miserable about yourself. I am not here because I don't want to be here. I'm here because I care. You intrigued me the day I saw you in the park and since then I can't get you out of my head. Now, tell me what's wrong or you're going to wish you never woke up!"
Taichi tried to smile, but it turned into more of a grimace as Yamato stood over him by the hospital bed, patiently waiting for him to say something.
Again, Taichi didn't say anything for a while, but the silence wasn't unbearable. It was a comfortable silence, Yamato decided, although he did wish the brunette would react to his words. At this point, any reaction would be nice. After all, Yamato just bared his soul to him and Taichi wasn't saying anything!
Quiet sobs, however, alerted the blond to Taichi's presence. Yamato found those honey brown eyes that he had grown to love filled with tears and Yamato felt his heart painfully clench at the sight of the melancholy boy.
"Those are nice words," Taichi mumbled as Yamato leaned closer to hear him. "It's funny, because as much as you say that I intrigue you and that you can't get me out of your head, I can't get her out of my head." Taichi grew silent again, with tears streaming down his face. Yamato found himself dabbing his handkerchief on Taichi's face, wiping away any stray tears. "I keep replying the scene over and over in my head."
"Who's she?" Yamato promoted, once he let Taichi collect himself. Yamato felt a strange emotion run through him as he asked. It was almost like he was jealous of whoever she was.
"Hikari," he whispered fondly. Yamato watched his eyes glaze over and more tears streamed down his face. "She was my sister."
Yamato felt his heart sink in his chest as he was filled with dread. "Was?"
"Yes, Yama. She's dead. I killed her."
TBC?
Author's Note: Whoa, so over eight months and no updates? Where has the time gone! Well, I hope you all had a good year and that this chapter was certainly worth the wait. I know, it's about time I updated, right? As always, I thoroughly enjoy feedback and hearing from you. Thank you krad, Catching Rain, shadowtheo, Shinikan, and LostGriffindorFoundSlytherin for reviewing the last chapter. As always, I really appreciate it. You guys are the best! And thank you everyone for adding this to your favorite, alerts and just for reading! Happy Holidays and thanks so much for reading! If you could kindly leave me a review, I would really really appreciated it. 'Tis still the season, right?