Title: Always Follow the Rabbit
Author: Mrpointyhorns aka Blemery
Rating: R
Status: In Progress
Part: 8
Pairings: Taichi/Koushiro, Augmon, Tentomon, Kei, Hikari, Mimi/Michael, Michelle, Daisuke, Ken, Junko, Joichi, Jimon, Julia, Jyou/June, Shuu/Momoe, Hayato, Susumu, Kurou, Miyako, Yamato, Takeru, Shin, Shuu, Chizuru, Mantarou, Sora, Hikari/Kota, Iori/ Noriko
Warnings: Slash
Spoilers: Season 1 and 2, plus some of the movies (nothing blatantly but there)
Summary: Taichi's has started to settle in his life, and while that can be quite nice, he and Koushiro have never been better, it can also be a bit disappointing, especially his dead-end job. The only thing interesting that ever happens is when he has to babysit his nephew. Until Koushiro detects a disturbance that is about to give Taichi the adventure he craves.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by someone else. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: I was going to post yesterday, but my mouse is a little weird and it took me forever to highlight the portion I wanted from the main word document, just so I could paste it into my upload doc. I'm not sure why it does this. I think it might be the old word program because highlighting isn't a problem on other programs. It drives me crazy! Anyway thanks for reading
Taichi was surprised that his little sister actually showed up at Jyou's. Everyone was over at Jyou's and that day his best bet on who wouldn't show up had been his little sister (typically Mimi was the least likely to show, but she lived in another country). As of right now he wasn't sure he could count Koushiro and Ken as being over. They had been gone a while. Everyone else had arrived and though everyone was still chitchatting, it wouldn't be too long before dinner would be served and Miyako made her big announcement.
He chewed his lip. He looked over to the laptop that was on the dinning room table. He was sitting in there because his sister had shown up, but she was drunk! And she had brought her date over from the night before! Taichi saw red, but instead of knocking the guy's teeth out he had retreated to the dinning room. He had alternated picking at his finger nails and looking at the laptop. So far the laptop was silent and his nails were looking thinner than tissue paper. Takeru was in there with him avoiding everyone. He hadn't said a word to Taichi for a while, but the fact that he was sitting in his company meant that Taichi was still considered a safe refuge for the other man. Takeru would have found a different room in the house or left, but he stay with Taichi from around the time that Mimi had told them that Sora was coming over.
When Iori arrived he stopped by the dinning room to say hello. He also took the time to introduce Noriko as his fiancé. Taichi took the time to look at her ring and praise both of them. Iori blushed and smiled so much that Taichi was glad to do it. He didn't know Iori that well, but he admired the youngest of the group. He was strong willed. He was smart and he never backed down when he fought for something he cared about. Which was difficult when he had to deal with Daisuke, Miyako; he had even let Ken have it once or twice. Plus, Koushiro liked him and spoke highly. Taichi could not argue with Koushiro's judgment though he didn't need to. He didn't announce the engagement to Takeru because Takeru already knew. Iori said hello to Takeru, but was cut off by his fiancé as she and Takeru started talking jumping into a conversation that they must have left off before. They talked for so long that Iori excused himself, saying that he had just come in and hadn't yet found the hosts or thanked them.
Taichi listened to them a little bit hoping that he could join in, but the relationship that Takeru and she had was very strange. They seemed to both play some video game and they were talking about what they did on their game. Also, Noriko sometimes worked with Takeru because she was also a writer. So they may have been talking a bit about that. Yet, Taichi just could not follow them.
Noriko left when Miyako and Mimi came in to look at her engagement ring. They gushed for a little while and then dragged Noriko away to look at bridal magazines with the other girls.
Yamato came in a one point and complaint to Takeru that he was being rude and antisocial. Takeru gave Yamato the silent treatment. Taichi tried to stay out of it and didn't even glance at either of them while Yamato was complaining. Though when he couldn't get a reaction from his brother he turned on Taichi. "And what's with you?"
"Me?" Taichi looked up when Yamato turned to him.
"Why are you sulking?" Yamato asked putting a hand on his hip.
"I'm not sulking. I was just sitting in here. There are so many people over." Taichi shrugged his shoulders, okay so he was lying. He couldn't tell the truth because then he'd have to explain what was going on. Though he wasn't sure he could at this point. Also, he was too worried about Koushiro and Ken at this point. Before he had been trying to avoid Hikari, now he just couldn't muster the focus to pretend to be social. All he was thinking was where are those guys? And he knew he wouldn't pass anyone's test if he tried to interact with them. Takeru looked at Taichi secretively; Yamato couldn't see him at the angle.
"You're sulking. You came over to visit, right? Well, stop acting childish. When do we get together like this as a group?" Yamato asked.
Taichi returned Takeru's look. "Well, maybe I'm not that interest in talking to everyone that showed up." He met Hikari's date, but he immediately realized that Yamato thought he was referring to someone in the group. Though Taichi didn't know who Yamato thought of, he couldn't even think of one person in the group that he was on bad terms with. His rocky relationship right now was with his sister, but that had nothing to do with the group dynamic. It was a family issue. The group was generally good with staying out of family matters, though it was getting harder since a lot of the group were family now. Jyou and Daisuke was brother in laws. Miyako was Kei's aunt. Also, Miyako's nephews from her sister were Jyou's nephews too.
Yamato glared at Taichi for a while. Then he said in a low tense voice. He was obviously more emotional right now, but he was pushing the frustration and angry to the surface. "Tai when was the last time you've been over to Jyou's? A lot of us are over here every weekend."
"That's not true. I mean some people are here sometimes," Taichi shrugged. He knew that he and Koushiro hadn't come as often to dinner this year as previous years, but it wasn't like they intend for it. Things would happen and they would take care of it. They had lives! Jobs! People that depended on them! They could always visit Jyou's and so it was easy to skip sometimes.
"It hasn't been that casual for a while. Miyako and I come over all the time. Sora comes with us often. Iori and Noriko are here whenever Daisuke and Ken come over." Yamato took a few breaths and visably calmed. He then sat down next to Taichi. He leaned forward putting one elbow on the table to his left. He looked at Taichi with concern before he spoke again. His voice this time was just as quiet, but with more concern than, tense anger. "You used to come over more often, but you've been hiding."
"I haven't been hiding. Koushiro and I are just busy, I guess." Since Yamato calmed down Taichi followed without even realizing. His shoulders fell and relaxed. Yamato's concern made Taichi reassess his earlier thoughts. Taichi looked at the table. Had they really been gone that much? He couldn't remember. With everything that had been happening with his job and Hikari it was really stressful for him. He was never sure if he was going to be watching Kei. Also, when they had a free weekend Taichi and Koushiro liked spending it with each other.
"Well, some of us think that might be the problem." Yamato replied. Taichi snapped his head up. He couldn't have heard what he did. "Izzy isn't really as social as you are Taichi. Maybe you haven't noticed that he's holding you back."
Taichi temper flared in a moment. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What are you saying?"
"Tai, we're just worried about you. Everyone knows how hard work has been for you. At first you handled it well, but you've been really distant lately." Yamato explained, clearly he was back tracking his words, because Yamato looked away. He was obviously more truthful when he first spoke, though Taichi believed that Yamato and his friends knew he was unhappy with how his career life was panning out.
Taichi looked at Takeru. "Do you agree with this?"
"Nope. When was the last time you went to lunch with Yamato?" Takeru asked. He took up a smug when Yamato started protested. Taichi had lunch with him only on Tuesday. "And didn't, I see that, you and Koushiro went to visit his family two weeks ago?"
"Yes we did." Taichi put a smug look of his own and glanced at Yamato.
"And the week before that didn't you go out with some of your college friends. I saw the pictures Koushiro put online." Takeru smiled looking even smugger.
"You know what Takeru?" Yamato growled. He looked between the two. Then held his hands up in a seize fire sign. "Look, I'm just telling some of our concerns for you."
Taichi frowned he hadn't heard these complaints from Yamato before. So our must be from someone else, it was just Yamato was always honest with his friends. Especially, if he was concerned, or he thought that the honesty would help his friends. Yamato had been annoyed with Takeru too and that didn't allow him to be very tactic like he may have been. Also, he might have been trying to take a small jab at Taichi since he hadn't been able to get a reaction from this brother. Still it hurt to know that people were talking about them and they thought that Koushiro was holding Taichi back. Yamato left them shortly after that obviously not succeeding with his brother and making Taichi angry. He retreated back into the main part of the house.
"He means Sora you know?" Takeru smug look didn't faulter.
Taichi still remembered their conversation from earlier. He wasn't going to hear it. He knew that Sora had grown up since high school. It maybe that Sora was concerned for Taichi and he knew that if it was so that her concern was real, at least from her point of view. Taichi wouldn't accept anything else. He wouldn't be friends with Sora if she was still acting the same way she had in High School. "Leave it."
It was silent between them until Daisuke wandered. "Hey have either of you seen Ken? Is he still with Koushiro?"
Taichi glanced at the laptop. "I haven't seen either of them since I got here."
"I'll keep looking." Daisuke wandered away.
Takeru sat up a little straighter looking more closely at the computer he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I didn't even know they were over here."
"Wait, are you saying that you thought I came over here without Koushiro?" Taichi asked.
"No, Mimi and the kids were with you right? Just thought he was working like Michael." Takeru looked even more suspicious. "Tai is something going on."
"Umm…"
"Just tell me this, Daisuke isn't going to find Ken or Koushiro in this house is he?" Takeru asked.
"Not right now," Taichi admitted.
"Do I need Patamon?" Takeru asked.
Taichi was saved when Miyako walked in the room. She interrupted them without even pausing to notice the stare off. Though, according to Koushiro the girl didn't miss much, she was just really good at keeping a poker face. "Oh there you two are. Can you come into the living room? I have a big announcement. I want to tell everyone at once. Hey do you know where Ken is?"
Takeru glanced at Taichi and turned to Miyako. "I think he's with Koushiro"
"Izzy's here?" Miyako seemed surprised. She led them out of the dining room. Taichi brought the laptop with him and set it discretely back on top of the entertainment center.
A few people were already gathered in the living room. Mimi and Michael were sharing an arm chair. June and Julia were in a rocking chair. Miyako's brother and sisters were on the couch. Taichi sat down on the floor there were still a few chairs, but he knew other people would want them. Takeru leaned against one of the walls.
People trickled in slowly. Even the kids were rounded up and brought in the room. Kei sat down beside Taichi. He hugged Taichi, silently. Even though, Kei had been happy to have his Mom and Dad together in one place earlier he return to Taichi. It was really sweet, but it frustrated Taichi a little bit. Sure Daisuke's nephews loved him, but that was because he rough housed with them. He was a true Uncle not a surrogate parent.
Once everyone was settled in the room Miyako made her way to the center. "Okay I want to make my announcement, but I can't find Ken or Izzy."
"Just make your announcement Sis." Miyako's older sister, Chizuru was annoyed.
"Oh let Miyako have her spotlight." Momoe brushed her off.
"She's always doing this." Chizuru sounded put out still, but seemed to relax at their eldest sister's words.
"Well it shouldn't be hard to find those two if the rest of us are all in one place. We probably couldn't find them before because people kept moving around." Sora suggested. She was sitting with Hikari and Hikari's date on one of the small couches.
Mimi caught Taichi's look. She nodded her head at him. He knew she was telling him to talk or she would. Still, he wanted to think of something to give them more time. Only, he couldn't. He was the leader of the group so it was his job to step up. He wasn't going to make Mimi do it. Taichi sighed. "I think, I know where Koushiro and Ken are."
"Well go get them!" Miyako ordered loudly.
"I can't go get them. I only know where they are. I don't know how to get there." Taichi glanced at Mimi and then to the entire group.
"This isn't good is it?" Daisuke asked he sat with his nephews and their cousins on the floor with Taichi.
"Well I'm not sure about that. You see I don't know how to explain it really, but…"
"There was a bunny in the mirror!" Kei stood up. "It was really scary. Tentomon and Augmon blasted it with their attacks! Then it broke the sink and toilet."
"Wait! That's what messed up your bathroom! Tai!" Mimi cried offended that they kept that from her.
"I'm sorry! Almost two weeks ago Koushiro noticed that there was a disturbance in the Dark Ocean."
"What!?" "This has to do with that place?!" "What's the Dark Ocean!" "Two weeks!?"
"Tai is Ken there now?" Daisuke asked.
Taichi started to answer in the affirmative, but just at that moment Ken's laptop exploded spitting up Ken, Koushiro, Tentomon, WarGreymon, DemiVeemon, and Wormmon.
The digimon looked worse for the wear and WarGreymon looked extremely uncomfortable. The room could fit everyone comfortably before, but now WarGreymon took up a huge chunk of it. He as crouched low, but also trying hard not to move and accidently step on someone or break something. Taichi barely noticed because Koushiro and Ken were both on the ground and unconscious.
Taichi shot forward reaching Koushiro before anyone else. "Tai." Tentomon sounded weary. Taichi waved him back. Koushiro had a pulse, but he wasn't breathing. Taichi knew CPR that was part of his training in school. So he was quick to start compressions. He didn't even have to start breath before Koushiro spit up a lung full of water onto June's rug.
"Shiro." Taichi hugged him tight. Koushiro's arms went around him too. He couldn't believe that Koushiro had come back to him completely unconscious. Even though, he recovered right away, the scare for Taichi was still very real. It was too close for him.
"Tai, Tai hush. It's okay I'm okay." Koushiro reassured Taichi soothing the shakes that Taichi developed. He returned Taichi's hug and rubbed his back gently. If Taichi wasn't still so frightened he might find it weird that Koushiro was reassuring him, instead of the other way around.
"Hey Tai, you did a good job, but how about you let a doctor look at him just in case?" Shin asked. He pretended to be a little embarrassed about pulling the two apart, but Taichi knew that his skills as a doctor would not allow him to be embarrassed about interrupting.
Taichi pulled away from Koushiro, but stayed by his side. Shin sat on Koushiro's other side and didn't mind that Taichi held Koushiro's hand while he worked. Taichi looked over at Ken. He didn't really feel bad that hadn't been worried about him until just then. Koushiro was the most important person to him and so his concern for Koushiro outshone all others. Taichi would not regret or feel bad about that. It's not that he wanted anything bad to happen to Ken, but he couldn't help both men at the same time. So he focused on Koushiro. Maybe that made him more selfish than some other people, but he didn't care. Couldn't care.
Ken was fine though. Jyou was looking at him carefully and June had already gotten him a towel. She handed one to Taichi when he looked over to her.
Jyou stood up. "Ken's fine. And Izzy?"
"He's good too." Shin stood up as well.
"Both a little wet though," Shuu said. Having three doctors in the house was always a good idea Taichi decided.
"I have some clothes in the guest room that Ken can wear," Daisuke offered. "They'll fit you too, Izzy."
"Thank you." Koushiro seemed unsteady when he stood up, but he didn't let Taichi help him too much.
"Tai what about WarGreymon!" Sora stopped him.
The huge Mega was still crouched on the floor to keep from breaking the house. Taichi glanced at Koushiro as he followed Ken into the guest room with Daisuke. He wanted to go with him, but he knew that June and Jyou didn't really want a huge monster in their living room for long. "Hey buddy, are you stuck?"
"I think so. I evolved because I thought I might need to help protect Izzy and Ken, but we didn't fight anything. We just went for a swim." WarGreymon shrugged.
Taichi didn't know that was an issue. Thus far when a partner evolved they used up their energy fighting. So he wasn't sure what to do. He knew that Jyou and June didn't want WarGreymon fighting in the living room. He didn't want to send WarGreymon back to the Digital World. However, that may be the only safe way to get him out of the living room.
"I have a solution," Miyako came in through the kitchen. Taichi didn't notice that she had left. She had her computer with her. "WarGreymon's extra energy is just data anyway so we just have to capture the energy and use it for a different source."
"You're going to make him charge your laptop?" Jyou asked.
"No, I think that much energy would cause my computer to crash. I will just be sending the extra energy back into the Digital World," Miyako explained. "It might take a while." The group stepped back to let her work. No one had a better suggestion. Taichi looked at his partner sympathetically.
"Okay, it's set up and since the portal is going to be open for a while I'm going go ahead and get the rest of our partners unless someone else has an objection?" Miyako looked around the room, particularly looking at the people that didn't have partners.
"Um, I do," Hikari's date spoke up.
"You don't count." Taichi warned.
"That thing attacked me!" The young-man pointed at Tentomon terror on his face. "I don't want more of those things here. They're a menace."
Everyone turned to look at Hikari, her choice in a boyfriend was just plan odd. "Of course, you should get them."
"Okay I'm on it." Miyako began pulling their partners from the digital world. It wasn't instant because their partners weren't all in the same place.
Ken, Daisuke and Koushiro returned as she was finishing. Daisuke went into the dining room and brought in chairs for himself and Ken. Koushiro declined a seat when asked. He was more comfortable on the floor with Taichi and Tentomon. Kei had moved over to his father's side a long time ago. Maybe right after Koushiro and Ken arrived. He looked shaken, but he wasn't crying or anything.
Once Miyako was finished and all of the digimon partners were in the room Koushiro stood up again. "I think everyone is ready for an explanation, correct?"
"That's right," Sora said.
"Yeah what's going on Izzy?" Jyou asked.
"As all of you know the Digital World and this world run parallel to each other along with the Dark Ocean. I've always suspected the possibility for more worlds, but there was never any proof. However, I noticed a disturbance in the Dark Ocean and I started to run tests. Most of them are still running, but the results I had made me suspicious about a fourth world that had bumped into that world. Over the last couple of days Tai and I have seen more evidence of that…" Koushiro continued to explain what had happened over the last few days and everyone listened, mostly patiently. They knew better than to interrupt Koushiro or ask a question. Then, he explained to all of them what happened in the Dark Ocean. He flinched when he said that they heard screams. Taichi had never seen depression on Koushiro like he did at that moment. He didn't dwell on the screams and Tai wondered if that made it even worse.
"So the portal opens in 4 days?" Mimi finally said when Koushiro was finished.
"Yes, but there is something all of you should know, I don't think this portal is going to be open for very long. It's not an open door. When we go there it could be permanent and even if we can come back someday there is no telling how long it would be. Also, a few months there could be years here. It's very likely that if we returned we would come back to find nothing that we left behind. I feel like I must go and anyone of you are welcome to come, but I can't ask you to join me. For some of you, even a few days away would be too long. Besides, I think it would be good to make sure that some of our team stays here, in case there are minor problems here or in the Digital World."
Taichi looked around the room. He was sure that everyone with children wouldn't consider going, even Hikari wouldn't do that. Iori was newly engaged so it was unlikely that he would want to postpone that. Daisuke had his soccer career, Yamato had his band and Sora was a successful life coach. Would any of them give that up to help a world that they'd never seen before?
"Koushiro, I know that there is no way I can go with you on this adventure, but you said that you have four days, and it sounds like you need to prepare. I'm willing to give everything in the next four days to help with that," Jyou offered. June agreed with a nod.
"Thanks Jyou. That will be a great help. I know you wouldn't let us go without everything we need." Koushiro smiled. Jyou definitely was the reliable one.
"I'll help Jyou too. The Kido family has this covered. Anyone, going with Izzy should spend the four days saying good-bye or arranging affairs," Shin agreed. Shuu was with his brothers too.
"That's great! Anyway, I want everyone to take the time to think about what they want to do. I wouldn't hold anyone to their decisions until the portal closes behind me. So don't worry about changing your mind." Koushiro looked around the room.
No one else spoke up to volunteer or decline. Taichi wondered if they were all taking the decision to heart or if they were waiting to talk to Koushiro in private. Taichi stood up clearing his throat. "Alright, we all have some things to think about. Anyway, Miyako didn't you have an announcement?"
"I did, but it's not a good as Koushiro's." Miyako pouted.
"Oh, I don't think our information is in competition. If you're announcing what I think you're announcing." Koushiro bowed and let Miyako take his place.
Koushiro moved back to his spot. Taichi put an arm around his waist. Koushiro glanced at him with a grateful smile. Taichi smiled back glad that Koushiro was back and safe. He knew that he did not have to think about his decision on whether or not he was going with Koushiro. He would not live the rest of his life without this man beside him. He knew that before he had to perform CPR, but doing so put the last nail in the coffin. Koushiro's smile turned upward even more, as he read Taichi's thoughts on his face. Koushiro turned his attention back to Miyako, but he pressed closer to Taichi's side. It wasn't typical behavior for Koushiro, to be this affectionate around another person, and with this many people the gesture was unheard of. Taichi thought about the flinch that he saw earlier and he wondered if that had anything to do with it. Taichi was leaning on his free hand, but he straightened so that he could put that one around Koushiro too. Koushiro didn't look like he acknowledged the gesture, but he melted heavily against Taichi.
All of this happened in the few seconds that it took for Miyako to stand up at the front of the room. "Okay now that everyone is here…I can finally tell you that Yamato and I are getting married. We're engaged."
Silence.
"Ahhh!" Momoe and Chizuru started shrieking. They were both next to Miyako in a second and the three were jumping up and down and yelling.
Taichi nudged Koushiro. "Did you know that?"
"I thought she was going to say they were dating." Koushiro frowned obviously not okay with the fact that he had made a mistake.
Taichi nudged him again. He looked around the rest of the room none of the digidestine were excited they all looked as shocked at Taichi felt. Yamato had never said that he was dating Miyako. Maybe Taichi had been neglecting his friend, even if no one else knew Taichi should have. Did Takeru? Taichi looked over to where he was, but Takeru had disappeared.
"Let's congratulate them," Koushiro turned to Taichi. "It might be our only chance."
Taichi smiled. "Finally, you say we." Koushiro's dark eyes shined openly with love.
"Okay on your feet." Koushiro stood up and offered a hand to Taichi. "Come on Tentomon."
"Alright, I think I need to explain to Gabumon what this is going to mean for him." Tentomon led the way over to Yamato.
"What does it mean for him?" Taichi asked Koushiro as they went over to see Yamato.
"Well, I know that just today your partner made sure that he evolved as quickly as he could so that he could help protect me. I think both of our partners realize that we come as a package now and protecting one of us means protecting both of us." Koushiro looked over to WarGreymon who was still waiting to de-evolve. "Just like with our parents when we were children."
"That's true." Taichi smiled. "They also get the benefit of being feed by both of us."
Koushiro laughed lightly. Yamato stood up when they reached him. "Yamato." Koushiro hugged Yamato quickly and bowed slightly. "I wanted to congratulate you properly. I think Miyako is an excellent choice for someone like you. She compliments you nicely. Also she is a very genuine person, sure she had many crushes growing up, and though she was not fully committed to them, her love for them knew no bounds. I don't think you will ever have to doubt her feelings for you. There isn't much you have to do in return either, but I know that you will do much more than you have to. You care slowly and cautiously, but when you do you don't hold back or let go."
Yamato listened to Koushiro silently the entire time. His expression was one of gratuity and surprise. "Here I thought we would surprise you today, but you really knew didn't you?"
"Well, I suspected."
"It's true he didn't really know otherwise he would have said so to me," Taichi spoke up. Koushiro only kept things from Taichi when he was unsure or if he had promised not to tell a soul. Koushiro never made that promise.
"You suspected enough to think about whom we are and why we would work well together." Yamato pointed out.
"Yes, I did. When you brought Taichi home a few weeks ago you mentioned that you were staying with someone nearby until your tour started. The only person that lives close enough to classify as nearby is Miyako," Koushiro explained.
"It could have been someone we don't know." Taichi pointed out there was no way that Koushiro suspected them from that clue.
"Well, a few times when I spoke on the phone with Miyako I heard a guy's voice in the background. At first I wasn't certain on who it was, but when Yamato said that it just clicked."
Yamato and Taichi looked at each other, both were surprised that Koushiro had figured that out.
"That's great reasoning, Izzy. I've spoke to Miyako a few times, but I didn't suspect that she was dating anyone. I figured she'd never keep quiet about that." Sora had joined them. Taichi looked surprised. Her presences made him look around the room again. Miyako and her sisters were joined by Mimi, Iori, June and Jyou. Daisuke was sitting closer to Ken and he was talking to him. He had a hand on Ken's shoulder. Was it friendly? Or was it more? How could Koushiro figure out Yamato and Miyako, but not those two? Hikari was getting familiar with her date's tonsils. Mantarou looked like he was paying attention to Miyako, he was sitting near enough to listen to his sister, but he wasn't joining in with the screaming or questioning. Kei was still sitting with him. He was watching his Aunt Miyako with keen interest.
"Miyako knows how to keep a secret. She's more private than you give her credit for," Koushiro disagreed. "If you excuse me, Yamato, I want to congratulate Miyako too."
"If you give her the blessing you just gave me I have no objects." Yamato shook hands with Koushiro.
Koushiro smiled mischievously, "Nuh uh, I'm going to warn her carefully about you. Then, I'm going to give her some tips." Koushiro smiled back at them as he walked over to Miyako.
"Tips? What does he mean by tips?" Yamato looked at Taichi. Seeing the interaction between Yamato and Koushiro, put Taichi at ease from the conversation from early. Now he suspected that Yamato was actually concerned about Taichi and he had looked for any reason behind Taichi's behavior. Taichi knew that his job had made him more depressed and that his sister's behavior was driving him crazy, but he didn't know it was affecting him so much that others noticed.
"I couldn't begin to guess. If I tried I'm sure it would be wrong. The tips he gives it could be anything from wedding tips to wedding night tips." Taichi shrugged.
Sora shook her head. She lightly asked, "What does he mean by warn her?"
"Probably that Matt's a delicate flower that should be handled with car-ow!" Taichi whined rubbing his shoulder where Yamato hit him so hard he had a dead arm. "You are!" Taichi looked at Yamato. "So, what's with the secrets and when did all this happen?"
"It wasn't a secret exactly, but it just happened really fast." Yamato looked around and then moved over to the two-seater couch. Taichi sat on the three-seater, which was in the middle of the room the two couches almost touched at the corner, but not quite. Sora sat down next to Yamato.
"Okay tell us." Sora insisted.
"Remember when I was doing my American tour a few months ago?" Yamato asked. Taichi remembered Yamato had been gone almost 18 months with only two visits home. It had just ended a few months ago. Luckily the next one wouldn't start until the band had a break and after they recorded a new album. Sora nodded too. "Vancouver was one of our last spots and I get this call the day before from Miyako. She was there because the company she works for has a branch there, they want to expand her department to there and they needed her to be there to start it up."
"So you were there at the same time?" Taichi asked when Yamato was silently for a moment.
Yamato nodded. He was looking over Taichi's shoulder. Taichi looked behind him. Daisuke was standing only inches from him. "Whoa don't sneak up on me."
"I wasn't doing that Taichi-senpai." Daisuke sat down next to him.
"Where's Ken?" Taichi asked looking around.
"He said he was more afraid of Miyako so he wanted to speak with her first." Daisuke smiled brightly. Yamato chuckled in agreement. "I want to know what happened too."
"Alright," Yamato agreed. "Anyway, I get this call from Miyako. She said that she was going to explode if she spent one more second at the office and she had to meet with me. So, I invited her to breakfast."
"Is that when it happened?" Daisuke asked.
"Calm down, he's telling us." Sora scolded.
"I guess that's when it started. I've always considered Miyako a good friend, but I guess I really didn't know her as well as I know some of you guys. But, I spent breakfast listening to her talk, incessantly." Yamato shrugged his shoulders bashfully. "Everything she said no matter how mundane it would have been from anyone else seemed amazing when she said it. She's so passionate you know. I don't think I've known anyone that loves everything the way she does."
Sora looked away from them. Taichi noticed a sad look on her face. Sora and Miyako both loved hard, but Miyako's love was zealous and open. Sora had been hurt as a child; maybe she never really knew how to love without being possessive and she held back some of herself. So although similar they weren't exactly the same. Sora was better now, now that she believed that she deserved to be loved, but it was too late for her and Yamato. Sora must have felt Taichi looking at him because she looked back and smiled a little. He returned it.
"I invited her to my concert, the after party, and a more private party." Yamato blushed at that part. "The next morning we both agreed that there was something between us, but I would be leaving for my next tour location and she wasn't going to be in Vancouver for long. So we agreed to meet again when we were home. I honestly did not think I would fall in love with her as quickly as I did."
"Aww that's so sweet, Matty." Daisuke cooed pinching Yamato's cheek. Yamato jumped on top of him and started half heartedly wrestling with him. "You didn't tell us right away just in case nothing happened right?"
"Yes that's right. I asked Miyako if she would be willing to keep it private for a month or so. I wanted to be sure. It's a hassle being famous and dating. Plus, she's one of us; it's always weird when we date, er when we stop dating." Yamato was sitting on Daisuke and he had him in a headlock.
Taichi nodded the dating between people in their close group had been fine, but when they broke up it hurt the entire group. It had taken many years for all of them to get together in a room like this, and Takeru couldn't even manage to stay around for the entire time. Sora and he hadn't even dated, but his relationship with Koushiro at the end of High School had hurt her, though at the time she expressed her hurt as cruelly as possible. Sometimes Taichi thought that their relationship was the domino that fell first and caused all the others to crash.
"Hi, Kei," Yamato said in invitation interrupting Taichi's thoughts on relationships. Kei was standing at the end of the couch that Taichi, Yamato and Daisuke were on. He was staring at them.
When Yamato spoke to him he ran over to Taichi's side. Taichi put one arm around him. Kei look at him. "Uncle Taichi, I have a question."
"What is it?" Taichi asked.
"Susumu said that Yamato is going to be my Uncle, too." Kei looked over at Yamato eying him carefully. Then he looked at Taichi. "Is he?"
"Well he's going to marry your Auntie Miyako and that will make him your uncle so yes." Taichi glanced at Yamato he didn't even think about how this sort of made them related now. Yamato raised an eyebrow.
"What about Uncle Izzy and you?" Kei asked.
"What about them?" Yamato asked. He let Daisuke up and returned to his former seat. "They'll never stop being your uncles."
"Yup, even if you want us to," Taichi agreed. Kei stared at Taichi for a while, and then he let him go and hugged Yamato. Taichi smiled seeing it, but he hurt a little. Koushiro and he were going to be leaving soon, so even though they would still be his uncles they wouldn't be around for him to see it.