A/N: Prompt for this chapter is looseleaf

Dripping Water
Chapter 9 - dues ex machina (Shoutmon)

Taiki was supposed to be occupied with the kendo club all evening, which was why it was a surprise to have him slip into the computer room not even half an hour after dropping them off there.

'Taiki?' Shoutmon asked. 'Are you feeling okay?' He looked pale… paler than he'd been that morning, anyway.

'Yeah, fine.' But the way he plopping himself onto a chair suggested it wasn't. 'Hey, Shoutmon. What are we doing here?'

Cutemon crept onto his lap. Taiki didn't fight it. 'Hanging around until you and Zenjirou are done helping with the kendo team?' Shoutmon tried.

Taiki leaned back and stared at the ceiling, as though there was the answer to something written there. 'Kiriha's here,' he commented.

'Oh?' That meant he had the other piece of the Code Crown that opened the gate to the human world. 'Wisemon can take a look at that.'

Indeed, Wisemon did look eager. But Taiki didn't look particularly enthused. 'That Kiriha… He sure did his research…'

The digimon looked at each other. 'Is there something you wanted to keep secret?' Shoutmon tried. If there was, it was something they weren't aware of themselves.

'No, not really,' Taiki sighed. He dropped something on the table. A scrunched up piece of paper. It was neither permission nor anything else. Just an act of being tired, Shoutmon thought.

Cutemon, curious, crawled out of Taiki's lap and onto the table. Taiki rubbed his forehead and ignored the sound of crinkling paper as Cutemon straightened it out. Dorulumon came over, ready to scold.

Shoutmon was half-curious and half-concerned, but it wasn't like Taiki couldn't say something if he didn't want them reading it.

So they read it. And they learnt absolutely nothing, because the article seemed to have nothing to do with Taiki at all. It was about some other kid, and it was old, on top of that. A few years old. But maybe it was something they, as digimon, couldn't see because their worlds and cultures were all inherently different. Maybe it was a human thing. Or maybe it was just something for some humans.

Sure, Taiki was the kind of guy who'd be upset at other people's hurts, but this was old and, as far as Shoutmon could tell, unrelated. 'I don't get it,' he admitted. 'Is he someone you know?'

'Knew,' Taiki corrected. Then he sighed. 'I guess I should tell you guys the whole story.' But he sounded like he didn't want to.

'You don't have to…' Shoutmon began – hoping the others didn't interrupting, yelling "story-time" or something similar, like they sometimes had a tendency to.

They didn't. But Taiki told the story anyway.

.

Later, the other digimon busied themselves again, as though sensing that Taiki and Shoutmon needed some time to themselves. Or maybe Taiki just needed some alone-time, but Shoutmon figured he was getting more of that than he really should have been, all things considered. Studying for exams was alone-time even if Shoutmon tried to stay up with him. So was sleeping time. And class-time. Maybe not lunch times, though, since he pretty much always spent that with Akari.

'What do you want to do?' Shoutmon asked. 'Just hang out here?'

Taiki looked around. 'I really should be helping the kendo club –'

'Nope.' That wasn't what he asked, and he was starting to pick up the vast difference between the two, at least when Taiki was concerned. 'What do you want to do?'

'Want?' Taiki was still looking around. There was something odd in his eyes. Like he wasn't focusing on anything. Like he had nothing to focus on. 'Go for a run, maybe?'

Inwardly, Shoutmon groaned. That was going to be tricky to do with Taiki. But when they got to the course, it was empty. Thank goodness.

It was good training too. Some of the other digimon followed them down and they had a great time running laps and tumbling over each other and then laughing helplessly when Taiki and Shoutmon lapped them.

Shoutmon just tried to keep up with Taiki. And Taiki just kept running in circles, looking like he was having the least amount of fun of all, despite having been the one who suggested it.

.

Kiriha left at some point. Zenjirou manned kendo practice, and then found Taiki still running laps while Akari searched the school. It took Shoutmon pointing him out, though, for Taiki to notice. It was like he'd become preoccupied with his feet: preoccupied with putting one leg in front of the other.

'Hey,' Zenjirou said quietly, as Taiki came over. 'Sorry about bringing that up.'

'Well,' Taiki shrugged, 'it was Kiriha who really brought it up.'

'Yeah, but…' Zenjirou shook his head, then clapped Taiki on the shoulder. 'Doesn't really matter who to you, I guess. But don't be so hard on yourself.'

'He would've had a few extra years.' Taiki shrugged again. 'He still goes to the track field, you know.'

'This one?' Zenjirou looked around. There was no-one except them… and the digimon.

Taiki shook his head. 'At the elementary school. But I haven't talked to him since.'

Zenjirou looked confused. Shoutmon was confused as well. Didn't he want to talk to the other boy? 'Don't you want to?'

Taiki shrugged a third time, before turning away. 'I think I'm going to head home, now.'

'Wait a sec! What about what Kiriha –'

'Kiriha will do what he wants to do, regardless of if and when we return to the Digital World,' said Taiki.

And that stopped them all short. If?

'There's no reason for you and Akari to go back,' Taiki continued, as though he hadn't noticed the sudden pin drop silence. 'It's too dangerous for –'

They didn't hear the rest of it, talking over each other. Wizarmon's 'I'm working on it' stuck out the most to both Zenjirou and Shoutmon, but Taiki, something else on his mind altogether. Simply knelt down to untie his shoes – and staggered.

Zenjirou grabbed his harm. He put the other on his forehead. 'Just dizzy,' he gasped.

Shoutmon, whose legs were burning more than was pleasant for a long workout, frowned but didn't say anything. After all, hadn't he been the one who told Taiki to do something he wanted to do?

But that boy had wanted to run track, hadn't he? Was that why?

'Taiki…' But, once again, he didn't know what to say.

.

They went their separate ways, after Taiki had sat down for a bit. And Taiki, as Shoutmon was learning was quite typical of him, launched straight into helping his mother prepare the dinner, then eating dinner, and then starting on his homework and studying for his exams.

When Shoutmon asked what he'd wanted to do, he'd gone for a run… but maybe that was something he felt he had to do, after those memories were dragged up.

'Taiki, what are your hobbies?' he asked. 'What are the things you like to do? What are the things you want?'

Taiki set down his pencil. 'I want people to achieve their dreams without it costing them… or other people.'

'And you?' Because that wasn't entirely accurate, as far as he knew.

'Well, I already took away somebody else's dream, so that's my punishment.' His pencil scratched along, the only sound for a while. And then… 'It's not that I've given up on life, or having dreams. I just can't forgive myself for taking somebody else's dream away like that, for something I wasn't even that passionate about. Back then, I'd do anything that caught my interest. I was like a cat chasing whatever round thing came my way. And sometimes it got me or other people into trouble, but that'd blow over real quick and things would be fine. The worst was when I tried to sail the world. Got caught in Tokyo Bay.'

'Where's Tokyo Bay?' Shoutmon asked… though the fact he had to ask did answer that, somewhat.

'Far-ish,' Taiki replied. 'Far for a little kid on a home-made raft. I was gone for two days. My parents and Akari were worried sick.'

Yeah, Shoutmon could see that… kind-of. He was still yet to meet Taiki's father, but his mother definitely fussed over her son. And Akari ran after him with pillows and fruit drinks. And even Zenjirou was joining in on that, manning kendo practices for a team and school that wasn't even his own.

'But then Tatsuya wound up in the hospital. Wound up unable to walk. You know, I was the one who got him interested in track in the first place. It was my fault.'

The pen wasn't scratching anymore. Instead, there was a soft pattering noise, like light rain. Except there wasn't supposed to be any rain.

Shoutmon went over.

No, there wasn't any rain. Taiki's shoulders were shaking. Drops were falling onto his notebook.

Cutemon stirred, shook himself awake and came over. 'Does something hurt?' he asked, crawling into Taiki's lap again.

Shoutmon wondered if that kid had a radar of some sort.

But even as Cutemon's hands glowed and he patted Taiki from top to bottom, Shoutmon thought it wouldn't do much good at all. Cutemon's healing powers only worked on physical injuries, after all. And even then, he had his limits.

But Taiki was staring at Cutemon like something had just occurred to him: his dues ex machine against an enemy he couldn't beat.

But Shoutmon could so it, this time. See it clearly. Taiki, that's… not going to work.

But he wasn't sure enough to say it out loud. After all, every plan Taiki had come up with for them, however unlikely they'd seemed at the time, had worked.