Dedicated to all those who reviewed, it never would have happened without you :)

Now,

Chapter 10!

Tai stared blankly at the wall in front of him, now too horrified to move. Realizing you loved someone wasn't like they played it out to be in movies and TV. There was no jumping for joy or bouncing around happily, there was only fear. Terrifying, incapacitating fear.

Love? He gulped. It was such a strong word. Still, as many times as he repeated it to himself: I'm in love with Sora, I'm in love with Sora, it sounded…right….it made sense. That above all petrified him, so much so that he forgot all about his encounter with Matt and his fight with Sora and continued to sit and stare blankly at the wall.

"Taichi, honey," Mrs. Kamiya said entering the living room a few minutes later, "Not to bother you, but maybe you should get going. The shop closes in an hour, you need leave now if you want to catch Sora." Tai turned quizzically to his mother. "Go on now," she smiled omnisciently. "Uh…yeah…" he said, shaking off his surprise, and got up to leave. Mrs. Kamiya stopped him with a sympathetic expression, "Taichi…first, shower."

~

Fifteen minutes made quite an impact. Taichi was now clean and had firmly decided that the only way to save his friendship with Sora would be to tell her the truth. He realized this also held the risk of destroying his friendship, but it was his only hope, a desperate, last ditch effort, and he had to try it.

He silently wished he had more time to get ready. He doubted Sora would have any problem refusing a soggy pile of stuttering but maybe she would have at least hesitated before breaking him into pieces if he was presentable and prepared. 

As he walked to the shop, his firm resolution to tell her was beginning to fade. Perhaps there was some other way of getting her to forgive him…maybe he could just keep hiding his feelings for her. After all, he had no idea how Sora would take it, if she felt the same way…and if she didn't, it could lead to disaster.

He opened the door to the flower shop and was relieved to see Ms.Takenouchi at the counter. Even an extra three seconds to think about what in the world he was doing was much appreciated.

"Uh, hello Ms. Takenouchi, I came to talk to Sora," he said, hoping his previous employer wouldn't question the terms of his resignation. She smiled, "I'm glad one of you is sane enough to end this fight." Tai looked at her in shock; apparently all mothers were all-knowing. "Sora left early to play soccer at the park, you can probably still find her there." Tai nodded, "Thanks," and walked towards the door.

He couldn't help but wonder if maybe Ms. Takenouchi could help him out on this, or at least reassure him a little…after all, she was all-knowing. He paused, "Ms. Takenouchi?" She looked up from a notebook she was writing in, "Yes Taichi?"

He paused again, trying to formulate someway of asking 'Hey, I'm about to profess my undying love to your daughter, have I gone completely insane?' without actually admitting it. He glanced around the shop and as his eyes fell on the roses, it occurred to him.

 "Remember how you taught Sora and I how to turn the white carnations blue for that one arrangement?" he asked. Mrs. Takenouchi nodded, confused at where exactly Tai was going with this.

"Do you think…" he struggled with his words, finding it hard to admit how he felt even in blurry metaphors, "Do you think….maybe…yellow roses…can turn to red?" He made sure to catch the older women's eyes, giving her a look that made it unmistakable it wasn't roses he was talking about.

She returned a look of understanding and sympathy, "I'm sorry Taichi…but roses don't change their color," Taichi crushed, looked down at the ground. She smiled slyly, "But friendship can very easily turn to love."

~

Sora breathed heavily as she smashed the ball into the goal. She stopped for a second, catching her breath. She'd been playing a game of 1 on 0 soccer for almost two hours now. Not exactly the most productive thing ever, but it helped to take her mind off Taichi. It had been three days since Kari had stopped by the shop, promising Taichi would apologize and this stupid fight would be over.

Sora had held out hope as long as she could, but it was getting a little hard believe that Tai would ever apologize."ER!" She yelled, realizing her thoughts had once again turned to Tai. Quickly she retrieved her ball and charged the goal again.

A few shots later she was stopped by a voice. "Sora," said someone behind her. "Taichi," she answered. She turned and resisted the urge to smile, "So, you've finally come to apologize?"

He laughed awkwardly, surprised that she hadn't nailed him in the face with the soccer ball yet, "Uh…yeah. Sora…I'm really really sorry… Matt told me today, what actually happened…and I know I acted like and idiot but it was only…" Stop it! He yelled at his heart, beating hard enough he thought it might break through his chest. "because… I really care about you."

Sora smiled, "I care about you too Taichi. I'm glad this finally over and we can be friends again." Alright, he thought, she either caught what that actually meant and ignored it, or didn't catch it at all. He breathed in deeply and prayed it was the latter, "No, Sora…you don't understand…" He began to feel a bit dizzy, pounding heart, heavy breaths. Slowly, keeping eye contact, he reached for her hand. I can't, he thought, and allowed his hand to fall back to his side.

Do  it, commanded another voice. He reached once again and this time, held is best friend's hand lightly in his own. Sora glanced down at their hands in surprise but looked up as Tai squeezed a little harder. "Sora…it's …more then just a friendly caring….I think…" Don't throw up Tai. Keep going, just get it over with. He reached a shaking hand to her face and softly brushed her hair behind her ear.

"I think I'm in love with you," At this he leaned forward, still shaking slightly, and gently placed his lips on hers.

As they kissed he mentally slapped himself. That had been an extremely stupid move. This would be the second time Sora received a kiss unwillingly in a period of less than 3 weeks. You should have asked permission Kamiya, he scolded. But she would have said no, and you would have never gotten to experience this, said another, slightly more devious, side of him. Voice 2 was in the right…a possible slap afterwards was a small price to pay for this current state of bliss

"So…" he said nervously as they parted, anxiously and fearfully waiting for her reaction. There was a moment of silence before she grabbed Taichi by the neck, pulled him down to her height, and kissed him forcefully.

"So…can I take that as a…?" Tai asked, blushing slighty. Sora laughed, also a nice shade of pink "You can take it as an 'I love you too, Taichi Kamiya.'" He smiled widely, noting, so this is where the psychotically happy feeling comes in.  He leaned down and kissed Sora one more time.

"Home now?" Sora asked, still smiling, with a yawn. She had had a fairly exhausting day, work, soccer, professions of love. He looked around the abandoned field, soccer ball sat stilly near the center, as if begging to be kicked. "One more game?" he begged. She laughed, "Alright, but you'll owe an ice cream when you LOSE."  "Hah! Yeah right Takenouchi, you're going down."

Running towards the ball, Tai felt something in the back pocket of his pants. "Sora, wait," he said, pausing his friend as he fished in his back pocket. "I'd almost forgotten…this is for you." And he handed her a beautiful (though now somewhat crumpled) red rose.

Fin. (Wooohoo!)

AN: Hurray! FINISHED! :D As always, infinite thanks to every single person who reviewed, this fic would have never gone past the second chapter without all your support ^____^ It's nice to be finished but like Litanya (so many thanks for all your kind reviews! :D) mentioned, I too will be sad to see it go and to no longer get to hear from you all :`( *breaks into tears* Thanks, thanks, thanks again and hope you enjoyed the *sniff* final *sniff* chapter.

Love you all, best wishes, and happy holidays,

Soragirl