A/N: Prompt for this chapter is #9 - reflect

Dripping Water
Chapter 5 - clarity in dreams (Shoutmon)

Taiki spent a lot of time with a lot of different people, Shoutmon realised. There were too many voices and names to keep track of – except Wisemon, who took notes on everything. Akari's voice was there intermittently, and Taiki's mother, and his homeroom teacher. They were the three main ones, and then others, like Zenjirou and innumerable classmates, who flitted in and out.

Inside the Xros Loader, the digimon talked, or listened, or rested, or did their own things. Most of them trained at some point or either. Wisemon researched, and they rotated through helping him. Ballistamon was roped in more often than not. Something to do with the speakers, Shoutmon understood. Receiving sound, otherwise his microphone would've been useful too.

But no. Shoutmon dedicated himself to keeping an ear out for Taiki, instead. And when he was out of the Xros Loader, keeping an eye on him as well.

Taiki who was too busy with too many different people to keep track of it all.

Sometimes, he'd let them out in an empty classroom. Always, he'd let them out in his bedroom when he was home. Often, they'd fall asleep (except for Shoutmon) as he studied well into the night. Sometimes, they fell asleep waiting for him to come back upstairs after dinner.

In the classroom, they stretched their legs. Cutemon and Dondokomon climbed every surface and touched every instrument they could find… which led to a mess when they'd been let loose in the art room. Sometimes, they snuck out. Always, they were wary of being seen by others. Taiki and the others had explained how they'd only cause panic if they were seen and Dondokomon had caused his fair share already, scaring a pair of girls the day after they'd arrived from the digital world.

Still, Shoutmon wandered out of the classroom more often than not, looking for Taiki. He was in the gym, usually, or out on the courts. He was always moving, too, except when he was studying. He was always moving in the digital world, as well. If it wasn't his body moving, it was his mind.

Most kids his age relaxed under trees or on benches or giggled on their way home after school. He'd watch them from the windows for a little while, sometimes. But Taiki wasn't most people. Even when he walked home with Akari, he'd be having serious conversations. Something about food was the most recent one… and Shoutmon could sympathise. After leaving the village, they'd alternate between being too empty and being too full and it was hard to remember what a normal amount was. Except that hadn't been what Akari had complained about. Something about leaving food in the bento box?

A bento box was what Taiki's mother packed his lunch in for him, it sounded like. Taiki gave them one between them, sometimes. But usually, it was something in a packet instead. It probably took too long to prepare, or maybe they didn't have enough boxes. Or maybe Taiki simply couldn't explain to his mother why he'd need so many lunches packed… and so many dinners.

And humans needed to pay for things, too. Shoutmon wondered how far Taiki's allowance would stretch. Was it a problem, they being in this world? They were a distraction to their exams, to their normal school life, to… what? Their peace? Hadn't Akari said something about a car driving into the tenth floor of a building? The digital world's troubles were affecting this one as well. That was undeniable. Taiki becoming their General would save both of their worlds. But they hadn't really thought about what sort of life they'd borrowed him from, what sort of life they'd borrowed Akari and Zenjirou from…

It certainly wasn't the sort of life they were used to. So many expectations. So many rules… or perhaps they were guidelines, instead. They hardly complained. Maybe about the amount of homework, or study, or the fact that exams were approaching, but they didn't complain about going to school five and a half days out of seven, or about eating three meals a day and sleeping when the sky was black and being awake when it was blue and being home before dark. Of course, there were expectations in the digital world as well, but it was… different. More relaxed. More free. Maybe more simple, as well. Because, as odd as it was to think, Taiki had only two main goals in the digital world: save the digital world (and that was in tandem with making him the king), and getting himself, Akari and Zenjirou home.

Now he had exams and study and helping with various things that didn't seem related to one big umbrella thing like in the digital world. Right now, he was helping in kendo, the one sport they knew a little about because Zenjirou had talked their ears off before. Kendo in the gym. He knew where the gym was; he'd found it looking for Taiki before.

And there it was again. Except Taiki was walking unsteadily to the bench, with Akari and Zenjirou each with an arm over their shoulder.

He wanted to run there: ask what was wrong, and alternate between fussing and scolding – but the last time had seen Akari shutting him out, because he'd been too loud and… well, useless.

And, this time, there were other humans present too. He'd make more of a mess than Dondokomon, who at least looked enough like a set of drums from the music room to be mistaken as such when he wasn't moving.

Akari and Zenjirou were there, at least.

.

Taiki didn't slow down at all. He presumably took a time out and Akari saw him home with orders to not do the paper rounds the next morning, but Shoutmon didn't notice anything else different. 'Shouldn't you rest?' he offered, once they were in his bedroom and Taiki was arranging his study materials.

'No time,' Taiki responded. 'The end of the year's a busy time, you know. Everybody's trying to pass exams and break into competitive fields and open the path to their future…' He pulled pens out. 'It's the time people take a step closer to their dreams.'

'What's your dream?' Shoutmon asked.

Taiki paused. 'My dream? To help other people makes their dreams come true, I guess.'

Shoutmon wondered why he looked so sad when he said that. And so tired. And… 'Aren't dreams supposed to be selfish?'

'They're supposed to be the sort of thing you can sacrifice anything for,' Taiki agreed. 'But sometimes, along the way, you find things that aren't worth sacrificing, and the dream you were chasing all along isn't your dream.'

Shoutmon processed that. It was more than Taiki had ever mentioned about his own dreams before, and it was… what? Telling him of a dream he'd never had, or a dream he'd given up on? 'Taiki…' he began, before realising that, in his distraction, Taiki had started on his schoolwork.

Shoutmon watched him and tucked the comments away for another time. And he'd gotten good at watching Taiki. He watched closer now because not much else changed. It wasn't like the digital world where everything was dynamic. Taiki would shift slightly, or he'd turn a page, or he'd be scrawling notes in his notebook or picking up his calculator and then setting it back down again, or he'd be rubbing his brow or his eyes that looked more and more like somebody had punched him (though he said they hadn't) or pouring coffee into a cup…

'Why is it worth it?' Shoutmon asked, finally.

He knew why his dream was worth the fighting. Because their world was being ripped apart. Because the smiles that their village was named after were too few and far between now, and it would only get worse with Bagramon's rule. Because he knew there'd be no happiness for them if they lost, and so they had to fight, and win. And they'd called out to another world to find a General that would help them do just that.

And they'd found Taiki, and with him came Zenjirou and Akari as well. And Taiki had been perfect, except when he'd collapsed from overworking himself and, then, they'd been working together for the same thing.

Now they were doing so little, and Taiki was doing so much.

'Why is it worth it?' he repeated.

'Why is what worth it?' Taiki asked, spinning around so he straddled the chair instead. 'Studying?' Without waiting for an answer, he continued: 'Well, it's compulsory up to tenth grade, and even beyond that the choice of jobs are limited without some academics. Though the other option is to take up an apprenticeship and learn your trade on the job.'

'That's about your job,' Shoutmon said, after another pause. 'I meant your wanting to help everyone you can. You called that your dream.'

'Ah.' Taiki turned back to his desk… which prompted another red flag in Shoutmon's mind. 'Somebody said once that not everyone in the world can make their dreams come true… because all dreams come with a price. Sometimes, that person pays, themselves. Sometimes, it's paid by other people. And I… don't want somebody else paying because of me again.'