Alright this update is a bit early, but I just read the latest chapter of cyclone5000's fic and it's late but I'm kinda excited right now! So I thought I'd update, then once the 'boring' stuff is over with maybe that'll encourage me to write.
But it's also 'cause it's my best friend's birthday too so I wanted to update this as a small gift :) (Tai-chan I would've updated Unknown if the next chapter wasn't so damn long and I didn't want to rush checking it through! Anyway it's sad...)
So Happy Birthday to cyclone5000! お誕生日おめでとう太ーチャン～！Anyone who hasn't checked out Language of Flowers please do now 'cause it's awesome and it just flows like an anime and it's also set in a fantasy AU with Demons and Princes (well, Prince Taichi) and inspired me to write Another World and you will make the one who crafted Yuujou (see story pic) happy and you won't regret it! Right.

And to Bibi: Thanks for reviewing, this and Unknown! Yeah maybe Yamato is falling for Taichi ;) But yeah I adore Yuujou and Yamato's interaction too, haha Yuujou is practically Gabumon in mythical creature form ;) Gabumon's my favorite digimon and dragons are my favorite mythical creatures. I read your review for Unknown and I don't mind that it's long at all, in fact I love long reviews so keep them coming! Haha. Alright I spent a lot of time on that chapter and I had to refer to the movie and check this and that so it was tedious, so to see someone really appreciate it made me smile. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks of Taichi's and Agumon's relationship on a deeper, emotional level regarding his feelings for Yamato. The part where Agumon called him from the computer in his Dad's room is from Taichi's Drama CD before 02, I didn't make that up. Taichi did say Agumon is the other him. Oh and did you manage to recover your password? It'd be more convenient for me to reply you 'cause I can do it anytime I want.

What else...oh yeah I noticed only 5 people checked out the cut version of Butterfly piano for the last chapter. Sigh. How disappointing. I won't force anyone to do anything they don't want to, but I took the time and effort to cut it for a reason - for readers to hear the effect of music on the scene. To enhance the scene. And I took the time to scavenge for the damn password to my account (which I haven't accessd for years or at least a year, thank god for search function in email) so I could login and upload it. So, yeah. Check it out if you can.

Same with reviewing. I recently read a Harry Potter fic which is longer than the Goblet of Fire/Order of Phoenix (Can't remember). But it was written for four years and had many reviews, I know it can't compare, but seriously, reviews are what encourages an author. You notice most completed fics have many reviews. I'm not going to threaten to stop updating if I don't get enough reviews. But the updates are naturally going to be slower. I'm sometimes lazy to write or even update and procastinate 'cause I feel people may not be so interested after all, I can wait a while more and do other stuff. These are my honest thoughts. Every review counts (I get reviews by email alert), because everyone will have different thoughts about the story. If you like this story, then do show me and review. Even if I do want to write sometimes I lack the motivation and all, so yeah. That's just me, my confidence falls, I don't feel like writing even when I want to. I said it on one of my fics but I'll say it again here; one of the main reasons I write is 'cause I want people to enjoy reading, just like I did in the past. Reading brought me out of depression over...family issues. So do review to let me know you enjoy the story, and if there's anything you didn't like, and what would you like to see next :) I do take your thoughts into consideration and I do reply them when I can.

"T-Taichi!" Yamato yelled in surprise as Aijou gave a triumphant cry and descended swiftly to the ground, carrying the warrior of Fire on her flaming back.

Taichi grinned as he hopped off the phoenix, brushing his wild hair back, "Sorry," he said as Yamato and Sora stared at the singe on his arm, "I got careless. I was focusing too much on parting the flames that my immunity failed me for a while there."

"Whew, that is some hot fire!"

"T-That's all you can say?!" Yamato said incredulously, clenching his fist and glaring at the brown haired fire warrior, "What took you so long?!"

Taichi blinked in surprise, then smiled, "Well, I was practicing my new skill! It'll be useful to us in the future!" He said cheerfully, grinning slyly at Yamato, "Why? Could it be, you were worried about me, Yamato?"

Yamato flushed, averting his gaze. He sighed, then turned back to Taichi, smiling wryly, "You're an impossible idiot, you know that?"

Taichi felt his face warm at Yamato's warm smile, and blinked as Yamato said, "I'll introduce myself properly. I'm Ishida Yamato, Ice and Lightning Mage." He held out his hand, "Nice to meet you." He shifted his gaze to his partner Ice Dragon, "And this is my partner, Yuujou."

"A-Ah." Taichi said. He smiled and took hold of Yamato's hand, who noticed his hand was warm, "Yagami Taichi, Fire Warrior-wait, you can control two elements?!"

Yamato nodded, and Taichi grinned, "That's too cool!" He shook Yamato's hand, "I didn't know a mage could control two elements! I mean, I've only seen Ice Mages or Lightning Mages, not one who's both!" He babbled.

"Well," Yamato smiled in wry amusement, "I'm predominantly an Ice Mage. Lightning is my second element."

"Oh, well, it's cool anyway!" Taichi smiled widely and took back his hand, shifting his gaze to Yuujou, "Good to meet you, Yuujou!"

Yuujou smiled, "Good to meet you, Taichi." He said genuinely, and bowed, "Thank you for saving Yamato."

Taichi blinked, then grinned at the blue dragon, "Eh, it's no problem!" He said, "I wanted to save him! I mean, I couldn't just let him die!"

"Oh and Yamato and Yuujou, this is Yuuki!" Yuuki let out an eagle cry as Taichi moved over to him, placing a hand proudly on his back, "My partner!"

Yamato smiled, "Nice to meet you, Yuuki." He said, "Thank you for saving me."

"You too, Taichi," he added, smiling at the brunet, who blinked at him. "You didn't have to, but you did. You haven't known me for long and I threatened you. You could have left me in there once you found you couldn't bring me out, but you didn't." He paused, then smiled genuinely at the brown haired warrior, "Thank you."

"I'd like to thank you as well." Sora said, stepping forward, a smile on her face. She looked at Yamato, then turned her gaze to Taichi, meeting his eyes. "You saved Yamato, even though he fought you. You saved my childhood friend's life." The orange haired warrior gave a warrior's bow in gratitude, "Thank you. I really am grateful to you."

Aijou nodded from beside her, "Same here! I was about to go in after Yamato but I didn't know how I would get him out! I needed a Fire Mage's help!" She bowed from beside her master, "Thank you, Fire Warrior Taichi!"

"Eh, I…" Taichi flushed, as Yamato, Sora, Yuujou and Aijou looked at him with grateful eyes. "…Ah, stop looking at me like that! I already told you, it's no problem!"

"He's embarrassed!" Yuuki grinned widely, "Taichi isn't used to people being grateful to him! He gets embarrassed when people thank him!"

"You're blushing, Taichi!"

"Ah, shut up Yuuki!" Taichi blushed, flailing his hands, "You're making this even more embarrassing!"

Everyone laughed, and Sora grinned, "Well," she said cheerfully, "I'm glad you two are on good terms now!"

Yamato gave her a look that said, "Look who's talking" and she grinned sheepishly. He sighed but smiled. "I guess we are." He said. He smiled at Taichi.

Taichi felt heat creep up his cheeks, as Yuuki said in his mind, "Taichi, you're blushing again!"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?!"

The griffin smirked, "You like him, don't you?" He sang, "Taichi's in- eh what's that word?"

"Love." Taichi informed the griffin, then blinked, "Wait, I mean-"

Yuuki's smirk widened, "Taichi's in loooove! Taichi's in love with Ishida Yamato-"

"YUUKI!" Taichi yelled, cheeks red.

Yuuki blinked his green eyes innocently and Taichi glared, "Oh no you don't!"

"What did I do?"

Taichi glared harder. He punched the griffin's head lightly, then sighed and turned to the rest. "Sorry, we were just communicating telepathically…"

Yamato smirked in amusement, "I see." He said.

"Yeah, so anyway, I tried something just now," Taichi said, becoming a little more serious. He held out his hand, palm up, "And I think, this is the source of our power."

He turned towards the fire hurricane, "Let's confirm it." He said.

"Before the fire reaches the town."

He held out his hand, brown eyes narrowed. Concentrating his will into the orange sun symbol, he focused on getting the fire to die down.

The orange sun symbol began to glow, just like it had when Taichi, Aijou and Yamato were trapped in the fire, and the others gasped as the fire began to die down, slowly but surely. The flames became less vicious, descending from the sky, and the fire that had spread died away. Taichi's eyes narrowed even further as he focused more of his power, and the fire hurricane grew smaller and smaller, as Taichi walked forward.

The others watched as he stamped the mini fire hurricane out with his shoe, then turned to face them with a bright smile, "It worked!"

"That's so cool, Taichi!" Yuuki exclaimed admiringly.

"Y-Yeah." Yamato managed.

"What power…" Yuujou said in awe.

"You're really a Fire warrior!" Aijou agreed.

Sora smiled, "I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it!"

Taichi grinned. He walked back to his companions, and held out his hand, "So I guess this really is the source of our power."

"Yeah." Yamato said. He rolled back the sleeve of his silk shirt, and stared down at the blue symbol on his arm, as Sora lifted her fringe to reveal the red heart symbol on her forehead. "Sora, you have one too?"

"Yeah, Aijou can talk now, can't she?" Sora grinned.

Yamato blinked, then smiled, "Oh yeah," he said, as if he had only just realized it. "What's that? Is it a heart?"

Sora shrugged, as Taichi said, "Well, the guy said this is the symbol of our heart- he said mine is the symbol of Courage."

"Yuuki?" Yamato said, turning his gaze to the griffin, "It's Yuuki's symbol?"

"Well, not Yuuki, it's Courage!" Taichi grinned, "But yeah, I suppose it is Yuuki's symbol! Yuuki has one too!"

"That's right, Taichi!" Yuuki grinned as widely as his partner and lifted his paw, showing them his own symbol of Courage, "It's the symbol of our hearts!"

"Then…" Yuujou said in awe, raising his own arm and looking down at the blue symbol, "Does that mean this is my- and Yamato's symbol?!"

"Yuujou," Yamato said. He held out his arm, and smiled. "Friendship."

It was hard to describe the symbol on Yamato's arm. It wasn't of any particular shape or represented anything in particular- the only thing Taichi recognized was the Yin-Yang symbol; or it would have been a Yin-Yang symbol if the two halves were joined together, except it wouldn't be since they weren't black and white- Taichi blinked. The separated Yin and Yang blue halves were enclosed by a circle- no wait, a circle curving at its sides, the left side curving downwards and the right curving upwards, with both curved spikes curving back to join the lower half of the circle, to enclose the Yin and Yang, so close they were almost touching, in the blue circle.

"Friendship, huh?"

Yuujou perked up at his name and grinned, flashing all his sharp teeth, "Really?!" He exclaimed, and lowered his head to Yamato's shoulder, "Yamato has my symbol! That makes me happy!"

Yamato laughed and turned to smile at his partner, "Yeah, I guess I do," he said, smiling, "Kinda cool, huh?"

Yuujou lifted his head and nodded vigorously- or as vigorously as he could, "I feel closer to Yamato now!" The dragon roared in delight.

"And I feel closer to Sora!" Aijou added happily as she nuzzled her beak into Sora's orange locks, and they noticed the red heart symbol on the phoenix's flaming forehead that matched the elemental warrior's – "I love you, Sora!"

Sora smiled and placed her hand on the phoenix's feathers, "I love you too, Aijou."

Taichi grinned and slung his arm over Yuuki's neck, who grinned, "So, that's the symbol of Love," he said, pointing to Aijou's forehead. "Right?"

Sora lifted her fringe to reveal her own red symbol. It was indeed a heart, but it was different from most hearts. Unlike the circle of the symbol of Friendship, the heart wasn't joined together. It had two circles, a small one and a bigger one on the right side of the heart where it curled to the left, but the left side did not form the complete other half of a heart. It curled in the same way as the right side, but to the right and in such a way that it looked vaguely like a curled finger pointing towards the side of the heart with the circles that was complete. Yet, the lesser side of the heart curled down to meet the other side at the centre of the heart, and Taichi did suppose it formed a complete half, though the left curled side wasn't touching the right complete half – leaving a space in between the two sides of the heart, with the bottom of the heart occupied by two straight lines to form an upside down triangle without the base, which almost looked like a spike.

Taichi smiled wryly. And here he thought his own symbol was complicated! What was with all these weird designs anyway? Why couldn't the symbol of Love just be a normal, joined heart, and the symbol of Friendship be just a Yin-Yang symbol? Friendship was balanced, wasn't it?

"The symbol of Love- or the Crest of Love," Sora smiled, drawing him out of his thoughts. She let her fiery orange hair fall back into place on her forehead, "That's what the guy said. These symbols are the symbols of our hearts manifested onto crests on our bodies."

"Crests, huh…" Yamato murmured, looking down at his crest of Friendship. He sighed, "Why couldn't the guy just drop some pendant from the sky with these symbols? Why must we have them engraved on our bodies?"

"Uh," Taichi said, wincing at the memory, "Maybe he's afraid we'll lose them?"

"Who is he anyway?" Sora asked curiously. She nodded, "But, Taichi's right. Perhaps he didn't want us to lose them in a battle."

"Good point." Yamato said. He withdrew his arm, inhaling, "You guys got struck by lightning too?"

Sora and Taichi nodded, "I thought I was going to die!" Sora said, but smiled, "I was just staring at the red lightning bolt- Aijou protected me, but I got hit by it in the end!"

"Same here." Taichi said. He turned to Yamato, "What about you-" he blinked.

Yamato's face was pale, paler than usual- Taichi cursed himself for not noticing, as the blond swayed unsteadily on his feet, "S-Sorry," he said, averting his gaze, "It's just, the fire-"

"Yamato!" Taichi shouted, and moved forward, catching the ice mage before he fell to the ground, "Are you alright?!"

"I'll be fine…" Yamato muttered, as Taichi gasped.

"Yamato, you're freezing cold!"

"Is that so?" A weak smile spread across Yamato's face, "That's good, I thought I'd surround myself with an ice aura to ward off the heat…"

"Almost dying in a fire and then encasing yourself in ice?!" Sora exclaimed, her orange eyes wide in worry, "What were you thinking?!"

"Sorry…it seemed like a good idea at the time…" Yamato murmured.

"Why didn't you say anything?!" Taichi shouted at the blond in his arms, "We would have flown to the town immediately to get you rested!"

"We can't do that- the people will freak-"

"And you think I care?!"

Now that he was paying closer attention to Yamato, he could just barely see a pale blue aura surrounding the blond. "I-It's so hot…" Yamato said, staring up at him, "Taichi, you're too hot…"

Taichi stared, feeling himself blush, "W-Well, it's not as if I can lower my body temperature!"

Yamato smiled at him, and he felt his heart skip a beat, "It's fine," the ice mage murmured, resting his head on Taichi's chest, "It's not that hot now. It's more warm, the ice aura and the high temperature of your body gives a nice balance…" and Taichi saw the pale blue aura around the ice mage expand slightly, as Yamato smiled, "It's…nice."

"H-Hey!" Taichi yelped as Yamato snuggled closer to him, "W-What are you doing?! Don't fall asleep on me!"

"But you're warm."

"That doesn't mean you can fall asleep on me!"

"Why not?"

"Because you send my heart into overdrive!" Taichi thought frantically as blue eyes blinked innocently up at him, "What if I faint too?!"

"Hey Taichi, your heartbeat's noisy," Yamato said suddenly, "Can't you slow it down?"

"I-I can't! How can I?!"

Meanwhile, Yuuki, Aijou, Yuujou and Sora were gaping at the scene, as Yamato said, "Oh really?" He looked up at Taichi with a sly smile, "I can slow it down for you. If I send lightning into your heart," Taichi stared as a blue spark appeared on the mage's palm, "It'll be less noisy."

"Y-You'll kill me!" Taichi managed, staring at the blond mage incredulously. "Is this guy for real?!"

"I won't, I don't have much energy now…" Yamato murmured, "So it won't kill you, I'll use just enough voltage to slow it down-"

"No!" Yamato blinked as Taichi grabbed his hand, staring at him with wide brown eyes, "No need! I'll slow it down myself!"

He inhaled and focused on slowing his racing heart, and Yamato smiled. "Much better." He said, and closed his blue eyes, resting his head so that his ear was placed next to Taichi's beating heart, "It's a nice sound."

Taichi stared, then sighed, "A-Are you drunk or something?" He muttered, cheeks flaming red, "Why are you saying such embarrassing things?"

He looked to Sora, who blinked but said, "I think he's sick," she said cautiously, "When Mages fall sick, they tend to act weirdly, I think it's the magic…" she shrugged, "Since Yamato's an Ice Mage, I guess he's become more open with his emotions?"

Yamato smiled at that, and Taichi turned his gaze back to him. He stared as the staff in his hand disappeared, leaving both his hands free. Taichi freaked as Yamato curled his arms around his neck and leaned in close, golden hair tickling his neck and sending goosebumps down his spine. "Taichi…"

Taichi freaked even more, "Y-Yamato!"

"Shut up, you're noisy." Yamato muttered, eyebrows furrowing, "Didn't you want me close to you?"

Taichi blushed as he felt his chest come into contact with Yamato's, "Not this close!" He exclaimed, feeling the blood rush down to his groin as their bodies pressed together. "GAH! Why are you getting aroused by this, Yagami?! He's a GUY!"

Yamato chose that moment to press his lips against Taichi's tanned neck, and Taichi panicked. "Shit! Think innocent thoughts, think innocent thoughts! Hikari! Hikari! I want to be a fire warrior! I'm a fire warrior! Hikari, Hikari, I wonder how she's doing-damn his body is so slender- GAH! Hikari! HIKARI!"

"Taichi?" Yamato murmured against his neck, "Your body's too hot now."

"…NOT WORKING AT ALL!" Taichi shot a pleading glance at Sora, but she blinked at him and shrugged.

"He needs your body heat."

Taichi stared at her incredulously, "She's choosing this moment to allow me to be close to him?!" He switched his gaze back to Yamato, who had his eyes closed and a contented smile on his face. The fire warrior grimaced," I have to get him to the town before he does anything weird or I do something stupid!"

Without thinking, Taichi placed his arms around Yamato and lifted him into his arms, turning his head and shouting, "Yuuki, come here!"

Yamato's eyes snapped open and he glared at Taichi. "What are you doing?" He said indignantly.

Taichi blinked, then smirked down at his flushed cheeks, "What? I thought you wanted to be close to me?" He countered smugly. "Score one for Yagami!"

Yamato flushed, "Idiot," he grumbled, "First you kiss me and now you carry me. I'm not a girl!"

"I never said you were," Taichi said as he walked over to Yuuki with Yamato in his arms. He smiled wryly, "And weren't you the one hugging me and saying you wanted to send lightning into my heart? Why are you so bothered now?"

Yamato made an annoyed noise, "I can walk on my own!"

"Yeah right," Taichi rolled his eyes. He raised his arms and placed Yamato carefully on the griffin's back, then got on himself as the blond righted himself to straddle the lion back. Taichi smiled and brought his arms around Yamato's slim waist. Yamato turned and glowered at him and Taichi grinned, relieved that the situation was back to normal- or as normal as it could be anyway. "Off we go, Yuuki!"

"Taichi!" Sora called, causing him to blink, "Where are you going?!"

"Yeah!" Yuujou said, ruby eyes wide, "Where are you taking Yamato?!"

"To the town!" Taichi shouted back, "Sorry! You may be fast in the air, Yuujou, but Yuuki's the fastest on land!"

"But-"

"We'll find an inn for him to rest! You guys stay here!"

"Taichi!" Sora shouted, but Yuuki had already set off through the forest with the brunet and blond. She stared, then sighed.

Yamato yawned and settled back against Taichi, who smiled at him in amusement, "What were you complaining for again?"

There was no reply. Taichi blinked, then peered down. Yamato's eyes were closed. The ice mage had fallen asleep.

The warrior smiled and shook his head. "This guy…" he said, tightening his hold on Yamato as the blond's head rested against his chest. Taichi smiled, and reached out his arms around Yamato to hold onto Yuuki's neck when he noticed Yamato's hands had slipped away to his sides. "And I thought there wasn't anyone as reckless as me."

Taichi smiled when Yamato mumbled something inaudible and shifted his body against his chest. He turned his gaze forward, brown eyes glinting.

"This sure is going to be an exciting adventure."