Chapter 9: Admissions and Apologies

After saying goodnight to Yui, the foursome meekly surrendered their medical outfits to the orderlies and returned back to the hotel via a taxi. Aoki was babbling the whole time. The rest were silent.

Back at the hotel lobby, Iori announced that she was starving. So was Aoki. Inaba excused herself, having eaten earlier at the café. Taichi said he wasn't hungry either.

Taichi slid Iori some money for the rather expensive restaurant. She discreetly accepted the palmed handoff without a word, then she quickly whispered some words to him. Inaba didn't see it.

Iori then grabbed Aoki's arm and escorted him (although 'dragged' might be a better description) to the hotel's restaurant. She was acting as if they were on a date, which completely flustered the poor man. Inaba had to bite her knuckle to keep herself from laughing at the sight of the large panicky man being pulled along by the pixie girl.

And so the newlyweds rode up the elevator together alone, and in silence. Some muzak played in the background.

And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson, / Jesus loves you more than you will know. / God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson, / Heaven holds a place for those who pray / Hey hey hey...

They continued upward without speaking a word to each other.

Inaba and Taichi were now sitting on the huge bed, back-to-back, each facing the opposite direction.

They remained in that position for several minutes in complete silence.

He finally glanced behind himself and spoke. "I like that dress you're wearing. It looks really good on you."

Inaba continued to stare off in the other direction. She said matter-of-factly, "I need to return it to Reika Nagase."

"Oh, I see."

Inaba was gazing at the evening skyline through the large windows of the honeymoon suite. The city glittered in the night as the red lights of glowing illumination dotted the spires on the rooftops. She saw the running lights of a commercial jetliner slowly crawl across the sky.

He said, "Your clothes are still in your suitcase."

She caught the implication. He would not stop her if she left.

But instead, she merely continued to look out the window at the majestic city-scape that lay before them.

After another minute passed he spoke again. "Inaba, you know, you did really good back there. You were great."

"I blew it. Stupid stethoscope."

"It was a good plan."

"I biffed it. At least you had the presence of mind to ask for the floor number before we went all Mission Impossible."

"Yeah, heh. But, look, we would not have gotten anywhere near Yui's hospital room without you. I'm so glad we all got to see Aoki and Yui back together. That was.. that was magical."

He touched her hand without turning around. "Thank you."

She allowed herself to smile a bit. "Eh, you weren't bad yourself, Doctor Yaegashi."

He smiled too. "We looked pretty good both dressed up as doctors, right?"

"Yeah, totally. You'd be a great doctor."

"That was fun."

"It was, heh."

More silence.

She decided to be candid with him.

"Taichi, why am I such a bitch?"

"You're not."

"Yes, I am."

"No you aren't. You're just high strung."

She sighed.

"Please don't do that."

"Do what?"

"What you're doing right now."

"Doing what?"

"Patronizing me."

"I'm not. I'm telling you the truth."

"No, you're just telling me what you think I need to hear."

He frowned. "No, I am not. I am being honest with you."

He glanced behind himself. "You want to hear more?"

"Sure, Doctor Yaegashi, give it your best shot."

"Fine. For starters, you don't have the world's greatest social skills."

She shrugged, "Can't argue with that one."

"Right. And you know why you're such an asocial misfit? It's because you've been a loner your whole life. Back in school you had no real friends until Iori formed the StuCS. You're always been like that. Totally alone."

Those statements surprised Inaba. Wait, This isn't like him. He's normally not so brutally honest with me. What's with him?

He went on. "And I know it's not your fault. It was how you were raised. Your father had divorced your mother when you were too young to even remember her, and then he goes and re-marries some socialite who barely acknowledged that you even existed. So you were raised in isolation by a bunch of nannies. And you hardly ever saw your older brother."

"That's because Father disowned him."

"I know that. Anyway, the point is that you never had a chance to socialize with anyone, with other kids. And no, the Internet doesn't count.

This isn't like Taichi at all. I mean, he's right of course, but what gave Mr. Wimp the courage to talk to me like that? Where did that new spine come from?

Ah, I see it now.

She turned her head towards him, "I take it you've been talking with Iori?"

That surprised him a bit. "Huh? Well, yes, I have. How did you know?"

She turned back away from him and looked out at the skyline again. "Of course.. that explains it."

He turned his own head towards her. "Look, Iori is our friend. And she is very worried about you. About us. She told me that she thinks she can help us."

"Huh, really? She told you that?"

"Yes. She says she can. And I believe her." He looked out straight ahead again.

"Of course you do." Well, that explains it. I don't think she's angling for him. But who knows with her?

"She really wants to help us. It's not a ploy or anything. She even joked about it."

That again surprised Inaba. "She joked?"

"Yeah. Iori laughed and said it would be child's play for her to steal me away if she really wanted to. She's not."

Inaba swallowed hard. She felt a combination of fear and jealousy bubble up within her. Is Iori so confident that she can grab him away from me that easily? Would she make such an open boast like that?

No, that's not like her. More likely she genuinely wants to help us.

Then she felt that pit of fear intensify in her stomach.

Or what if.. what if it is both? What if she really wants to help us, but unconsciously she still wants him too? What if she just doesn't realize it yet?

Iori admitted that she had worn so many 'masks' in her life that she believed that she no longer had a core personality, that every facet of her external self was merely a façade, that there was no 'real' Iori at all.

I'm certain she still loves him at some level. Then a terrible thought hit her. What if she doesn't understand her own feelings? What if.. what if she is unconsciously setting things up so she won't feel guilty when.. when..

Taichi said, "And we do need her help. She understands us both better than anybody. Especially if Heartseed is back."

Sigh, I'm no match for Iori and she knows it.

She decided to be honest with him. "Taichi, you said it yourself. I'm a high-strung asocial misfit. And you're right."

She looked down. "I'm just a messed up bitch. And you deserve someone a lot better than me."

"Actually, no, I don't."

That caught Inaba off guard. "What? Of course you do. You're Mr. Goody Perfect."

Do I love him? I want him so much.. But.. that's selfish of me. And that's wrong.

"You deserve someone a lot better than me. Someone like Iori." She took a quick glance behind herself to check his reaction.

She saw that he was shaking his head vigorously. "No! The person I truly love is you. And don't you tell me that I merely love the idea, the idea of loving someone. No. Absolutely not. That's [bleep]. I am in love with you, the high-strung brutally honest asocial misfit, you."

What? "Did.."

He interrupted her before she could complete the question. "And no, Iori did not tell me that."

"I don't get it."

He ignored her and went on. "And not only do I love you, I need you. You're many things, Inaba, but one thing you definitely are not is fake. You're as real as it gets. If you have an opinion about something you just blurt it out, politeness be damned. And frankly that is exactly what I need. I need that kind of honesty in my life. Someone who will always tell me the truth."

She smiled, "In other words, you like me because I have a big fat mouth."

"Yes! And I need that."

She turned and gave him an incredulous look. "C'mon, Taichi.."

"Hear me out. You see, when Iori and I were a couple back in high school she had me completely fooled. I never actually knew what she was really thinking about me, or about anything else for that matter. She acted all sweet and nice to me, and I was falling for her, and I thought she was falling for me too. But it turned out she was just wearing one of her personality masks: the sweet happy-go-lucky pixie girl. It turned out that I didn't know the real Iori at all. None of us did."

He looked down. "And she's still a mystery to me even now. That's why I know that if somehow I had ended up with her instead of you, that I would always still feel that way. I would always have some nagging doubts about who she really was, about what she was really feeling inside, about what she was really thinking. And I would always be wondering if she was just wearing one of her masks with me."

He chuckled, "But that can never happen with you, Inaba. You're plain-spoken and blunt with everybody, even rude. And bless you, I need that. If you think there is a problem you let me know flat out, no beating around the bush. And your feelings are always right there, bubbling just below the surface. If you think I'm about to go do something stupid or foolish or dangerous, you let me have it with both barrels."

He turned to glance behind himself again. "I need that. I need you."

Their eyes met. "Taichi.."

"Heh, Inaba, you know, sometimes you think you can hide your feelings from me, but you can't. I can tell. You're not difficult to read at all."

Inaba turned back away and folded her arms. The reason she turned away was to hide her face before her growing smile revealed itself to him. "Hmmpf. I think I was just insulted." He loves me. Me!

She allowed that smile to grow on her face as she turned back towards him. "Hey, look who's talking - you're totally transparent yourself, you doorknob. I mean, even for a guy you are so totally Captain Obvious. You couldn't lie to me if your life depended on it."

He smiled as well. "Now look who's insulting who."

More silence. She turned away again.

She pressed her back against his a bit more. "Taichi, you can't possibly forgive me for what I did to you. That was so wrong."

"It's okay.."

"No, it wasn't okay. That was supposed to be our wedding night, and I wrecked everything. And my father is still furious about the whole thing. I need to go back home and apologize to him as soon as possible. He even thinks you attacked me or something. I tried to explain.."

"What, really?"

"Yeah, I know. That's about as ridiculous as anything can get, right?" She smiled to herself again. "Heh, if you actually tried to attack me the way he thinks you did, I'd have broken you in half."

This time they both chuckled. She finally turned around and faced him squarely on the bed. "Taichi, I'm such a screw-up. I still don't fully understand why you love me. I'm so sorry.."

"You don't need to apologize. Look, it's perfectly understandable. Between the wedding and Heartseed's surprise reappearance you were totally stressed out. And don't forget that bastard is back messing with all of us again. We have to factor that in now too."

"That's still no excuse. I'm so sorry.."

"Inaba.."

"And I really do need to apologize to my father. Oh Taichi, I might have put you in terrible danger with him. Would.. would you please come with me? We can explain it together. I know he'll understand."

"Yes, of course."

"This is awful. I messed everything up. I'm so sorry."

He raised both his hands. "It's okay. It's all right. You don't need to apologize to me, but if it makes you happy, then I will accept it. But only on one condition: If you understand that I'm in love with you, Himeko Yaegashi. Not the idea, you. That I am in love with my wonderful wife, even if she happens to have no redeeming social skills whatsoever."

She tried to cover her smile but gave up. "Okay, fine. But only if you, Taichi Yaegashi, remember that I am in love with a husband who is a totally selfless freakazoid who is going to probably get himself killed if I don't ride shotgun on him each and every day."

"Heh, deal."

They moved closer. Their faces were now only inches apart.

She gazed into those deep brown eyes. Her wanting, her longing, was rapidly building. "Taichi.. I love you so much."

She leaned in closer. This had happened so many times before. She knew that at any moment she would lose her self-control and lunge at him. And then..

But no, not yet.

She spoke before things got out of hand. "Taichi, wait. I'm still really worried for Iori." She explained about how she had tracked down and dragged Iori away from her abusive drug-dealing boyfriend.

Taichi was incredulous. "Really? Why is she living with an abusive jerk like that? It doesn't make any sense. She's better than that. She's smart, young, attractive.. there's got to be a thousand guys out there better than him."

"You just don't understand women, Taichi. We're insecure that way."

"But that's stupid.."

"She needs our help too. And we're the only ones who can help her."

He sighed. "You know how complex she is. It probably won't be easy.."

"No.. it won't be."

"Still, you did the right thing dragging her out of that place. I'm proud of you. I would have done exactly the same thing. "

She rolled her eyes. He didn't see it. Great, now you are rubbing off on me.

He went on. "We'll have her stay here for the night." Then he paused and asked, ".. if you agree with me, that is."

"Yeah, I do. And Aoki too."

"Why?"

"Because Aoki doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who does well in prison, know what I mean?"

"Huh? He's out.."

"Nevermind that for now. Look, okay, then it's decided: They both will stay here for the night." She sighed to herself, Well, so much for our wedding night then.

She began to slide off the bed to stand up to get ready for their arrival. And to her complete surprise, Taichi's arm held her back. She took the hint and crawled back towards him.

Then Taichi started to unbutton her blouse. "You know, I just realized something.."

She fidgeted. "But, Taichi, wait.. what if Iori and Aoki come back from their meal while we are, uh.."

"It's okay. Iori is running interference for us. She promised me that she would keep Aoki distracted for at least another couple hours."

"Oh.. she did?" Ugh, how did I miss that conversation? They must have done it right under my nose! Sigh. Still, Iori, thank you.

He was grinning. "Hey, you know what?"

"Mmm?"

"I've never started it before." He continued to work the buttons down her front.

Her face got redder. Why am I so nervous? It isn't like we've never.. "Oh, sure you have."

"No, I haven't. Never. Not without a clear signal from you first."

She gave him a frown. "Oh c'mon. What about that time in the janitor's closet at your dorm building? You practically dragged me in."

That brought a small chuckle out of Taichi. "I almost forgot that one, heh. But, no, you started that one too. I caught your eye signal. It was unmistakable."

"I did? I don't remember.."

"You did, trust me. You gave me that look."

"That look?"

"Yeah, that I-want-to-rip-your-clothes-off-right-now look. The same look you gave me back in the StuCS clubroom when Heartseed removed all your inhibitions that first time. Glad you didn't do that to me in that closet, by the way. Since we were in public and all."

"Oh yeah, I remember that one now. Wow, heh, that was.."

"Pity we got busted."

"Obviously all your fault. Completely your fault. You're always too loud." Now she was just messing with him.

Taichi was incredulous. "Who, me? You're the one who always makes all the noise, not me!"

"Oh, right, I keep forgetting that, heh."

Then he surprised her.

She gave out a yelp, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"This is a special night, because for the first time I am one taking the initiative. Any objections from the peanut gallery, Mrs. Yaegashi?"

She smiled underneath him. "None whatsoever, Mr. Yaegashi."

Then she batted her eyelashes in mock innocence at him. "But.. please.. I'm so delicate.. Will you be gentle with me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Very funny. Just remember the rules."

"Hey, it was one time! You went to the hospital only that one time!"

To his credit Taichi did remember to close the drapes first.

Three hours later

There was a knock on the door. Taichi opened it. He was wearing a blue silk bathrobe and had a caffeine-free diet soda in his hand. The hour was getting late and he was more than a little tired. And he had to return back to work at 7:30am tomorrow.

He saw that it was Aoki.

Inaba came out of the bathroom while humming a pleasant tune. She was wearing a pink silk robe with yellow flowers embroidered on it. A towel was wrapped around her head.

Taichi quickly peered into the hallway. No one else was there. "Wait, where is she? Where is Iori?"

Aoki fidgeted. "Uh.. she left.."

Inaba ran up. "What!? She left? When?"

When Aoki saw Inaba in her bathrobe and he started to fidget even more. "Uhm, well.. She, uh, left a couple hours ago."

Inaba was getting angry with him. "You idiot! Why didn't you at least try to keep her from leaving!?"

"How? You think I could possibly stop her?"

"And a couple hours ago? Ugh, she could be anywhere by now!"

"I know. I wanted to tell you right away, but.." He was touching his index fingers together like an embarrassed child. "Just before she left she told me that you two were, uh.. you know.. I didn't want to, well, interrupt.."

Inaba ignored him. She was now both worried and angry. "Shut up, you lummox! Just tell us, do you have any idea where she went?"

"Uhm.. yeah, sure. She told me that too."

"Well, I am glad that you still have at least a couple functioning brain cells in that big fat head of yours." She roughly grabbed Aoki's shirt. "So talk, you lunkhead! Where did she go?"

Taichi spoke up and asked, "She go to her mother's?"

"No."

Inaba yelled, "Then where? Tell us!"

Aoki looked at them both helplessly.

"She said she was going where she belonged."

Inaba stopped and simply stared into space as she muttered to herself, "She didn't." Then she did a facepalm. "Wait, of course she did. That, that stupid.. idiotic.. self-destructive..

It was because Inaba knew exactly where Iori had gone.

She went back to the place she felt she deserved to be.

To Goru.