These Final Days

Heishiro Kiyotaka

-Spartan3500

(A/N: This is my first story with chapters. It may be a bit straight forward. I'd like some constructive criticism after you read too. The next chapter will be up Wednesday probably.)

"Tai... Taichi, wake up. TAI! WAKE UP DAMNIT!" Kari started to shake Tai out of his sleep.

"Kari, why'd you have to be so rough?"

"Wow Tai. Maybe if you got up on time, you wouldn't have had to be woken up. You're going to make me late for school. I still have to do my hair, figure out what I'm wearing, and put my make-up on. And I only have 20 minutes!" He had tuned her out, so she stormed out of his room and slammed her door.

20 minutes? So he had 20 minutes; that'd be more than enough for him. Tai got out of bed and pulled some clean clothes out of his dresser: a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt; nothing special. He went out of his room and into the bathroom to take a shower.

After he showered, he brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and gelled it so it would be as big and poofy as it normally is. He ran back to his room to put on his socks and shoes and glanced at the clock, which read 7:15.

'Wow, I took less time than I thought' Maybe he'd actually eat breakfast today. Picking his book bag, he walked to the kitchen where his mom was. Kari still hadn't come out of her room yet. She was so slow.

"Good morning, sweetie. Do you want some breakfast?"

"Morning, mom. I'm just gonna have some fruit."

"Oh, come on, Tai. You need more than a piece of fruit. Have some cereal or something. I can quickly make some eggs and bacon."

"No, I'm fine. I'm just going to have a banana. Look at the time. I'm going to leave. Bye."

"Aren't you going to wait for your sister?"

"No. Bye, mom."

"I love you..."

Tai could have done the cliché, "wipe the sweat off your forehead." He always hated waking up early to his mom trying to shove food down his throat. That's one of the reason's why he slept in so late.

While he walked to the elevator, he peeled his banana and started to eat it. He finished before the elevator came up, threw the peel in the trash can, and stepped in. It normally took him ten minutes to walk to school, so he was on time. Two blocks down the road, he always met up with Sora, his best friend. When he got there, she was just walking up.

"Early today?" She held all the times he was late against him.

"Yup, let's go."

So they walked the 3 blocks more to get to their high school, talking about what was going on: Tai's soccer games, Sora's tennis games, and the like. This was what they talked about every morning as they walked to school. Maybe the newest movie in the theaters too.

They made it to school just as the bell was ringing, signaling that homeroom was about to start. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways through the corridors. Tai took a left and followed the hall twenty feet, and was about to take a right. He rounded the corner and collided with some kid. Tai was pushed back, tripped, and fell. The other kid looked a little dazed, but still stood on his feet. Tai got up and was pissed off.

"Wanna watch where your going, loser?

"Who do you think you are telling me what to do? Just get the hell out of my way." The kid brushed on by Taichi, not even looking back.

'What an idiot.' Tai finally made it to his homeroom, where he sat in his seat in a bad mood. Matt, one of Tai's other friends came sat in a seat next to him. He looked at Tai, noticed the expression he was wearing on his face, but didn't say anything. A few minutes later, Matt was about to ask what the problem was, but the teacher quieted the room down.

"Shut up, you kids. The announcements are on. Detentions for anyone who talks." All the students in the room stopped talking to look at the TV. They only wanted to see what day it was, then they continued to talk on.

"Good morning everyone. Today is Thursday, June 1st, 2006. Only six more days of school left. Excited?"

"Tai, what happened to you this morning?" Yamato was sort of teasing him when he said this.

"For lunch today, the cafeteria will be serving cheese steaks, french fries, milk, and your choice of fruit."

"Some stupid kid ran into me today."

"Tomorrow you'll be voting for your student government officers. Get ready, your vote counts and decides how money is split up for activities and dances for your class next year."

"And you fell on your ass?" Matt cracked up at Tai's failure to respond. He slowly calmed down after he got a look from the teacher at her desk. "Who was it?"

"Tomorrow after school, at 3:30 PM will be the student vs. faculty soccer game. Today is the last day you can buy tickets. They will be on sale at lunches today."

"Some new kid..."

"And furthermore, next Friday is Prom. Tickets will be on sale today, and all next week at lunches. They cost $20. Don't miss out! This year the school is giving out a car to one lucky person."

"And you just let him push you around?"

"That's all for the announcements. Study for your finals, and enjoy your day."

"Could you just shut up?" Tai left the classroom right when the bell rang. He left Matt behind, who was still laughing at how lame his friend was. Tai slowed his fast pace down to a stroll. He left his room for his favorite class, Chemistry. The teacher was an idiot, and the tests were hard. He had managed to keep a "B" average this year, which was amazing. He only had to pass this final coming up, and he'd be fine. Luckily, all of his teacher's decided to give their juniors a break. They took off all essays and made all the tests multiple choice. Tai was really happy, and he wouldn't have to do that much studying.

He made it to Chemistry. He walked into that room and sat in his chair across the aisle from Sora. He pulled out his Chemistry folder and his book and didn't even say "Hello" to Sora. She picked up on this immediately.

"Tai, what's wrong with you."

Tai looked at Sora and said, "Nothing. I'm absolutely fine."

"Are you sure? You know Tai, you're never..." She got cut off as the teacher cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Excuse me, class, today I would like to welcome a new student into our Chemistry class. He will be finishing the year with us. Come on in." Tai watched with disdain as the kid walked in; the same kid who ran into him earlier. "Go ahead and introduce yourself."

"Hello everyone. My name is Heishiro Kiyotaka, and I moved here from Niigata." Everyone in turn said, "Hello," altogether in an unenthusiastic monotone.

"Kiyotaka, you may sit next to Sora, the girl in the black and yellow t-shirt. Now back to business. Let's start our review for the final exams. So, what do you get when you have a covalent bond between and iron ion with 24 electrons..."

"Hi Kiyotaka, my name is Takenouchi Sora. You can call me Sora. This is Tai." She pointed to Tai, who was across the aisle with a total look of contempt on his face. Kiyotaka wore the same thing. "This is Tai, my friend, who will greet you." Tai just looked that other way and pretended to follow along with the teacher's review. "Excuse my friend."

"It's alright. And you can call me Kyo. That's what all my friends call me. I like your earrings. They really bring out your beautiful eyes." A blush. The flirting didn't stop there. It just continued. More blushes, more giggles. Tai did not want to be in the room right now. The teacher didn't even stop it. He was getting hot. Had the temperature gone up? It felt like the walls were moving in on his desk, compressing the air, and raising the temperature. Before he knew it, the bell rang. 'Finally.' Tai made a break for the door. Hell, he wanted to get out of the room as fast as he could. Sora couldn't get to him in time to see what's wrong.

"Taichi..."

Too late, he was out. The room, which had felt as if it were closing in on him, had let go. He could breathe. That didn't stop him from running to the locker rooms. He wanted to get to Gym as fast as he could. Exercising took his mind off of the world. Playing on the soccer field, he only saw his team, the opposite team, and the ball. Everything else ceased to exist; his mind was on the game. Gym flew by. It was too short by his standards. After Gym came Japanese Lit., which went by quickly, as did Math, Lunch, History, English, and French. Soon, he found himself at the entrance to the school, walking down the steps to the road which lead him home.

He had lucked out. That Kiyotaka kid wasn't in any of his other classes. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to ever deal with the kid outside of Chemistry, which was coming to a close next week. Then he was free for the rest of the summer. This thought brought put a smile on his face. 'Six more days.' Once finals were over, he could go to Prom and then relax for a whole three months.

"Tai! Tai, wait up!" Behind him ran Yamato and Sora. Sora saw the smile on Tai's face and was visibly relieved. "Tai, are you alright now?"

"I'm fine, Sora." She still looked a little worried as her friend lied to her.

"Sora and I wanted to get everyone together tomorrow for the movies. Does that work for you if we go around 7:00 PM?"

"Yea. I'm in the student-faculty soccer game tomorrow, which you're coming to?" Two nods. "Cool. That should be over at 5:30-6:00, so I can come. What movie are we going to see?"

"We can pick when we get to the theaters. Listen, I have band practice, so I'll catch you guys later."

Tai and Sora both said goodbye and started to walk home. Sora was still wondering about what happened earlier. "Tai, why don't you like Kyo?"

"Who ever said I didn't like him." Whatever smile and good mood he had mustered from before were gone.

"It was kind of obvious that you didn't like him earlier. You just stopped talking and you had a negative feel. Tai, what's wrong?"

"I just don't like him."

"Why? He's really nice. He was courteous all day long to me. He's smart, and he's funny. What more could you ask for in a friend?"

"I don't like him." Sora was about to continue the argument, but Tai cut her off. "Sora, drop it." So she did. The rest of their walk remained silent. They didn't walk as close together as they normally did, but instead walked with an uncomfortable distance between them.

When they arrived to the intersection where their ways split, Sora stopped and looked directly into Tai's eyes. Tai held the contact for a second before breaking the contact and looking away. "See you tomorrow, Tai."

"Bye."

Tai walked the two blockes back to his house rather quickly. He walked inside his apartment and shut the door, leaning on it while enjoying the air conditioning.

'These last few days aren't going to be as fun as I thought they'd be.'

(A/N: Constructive criticism please, if you have any.)