Litanya: At the moment I seem to be obsessed with comas. Anyway, this fic has been in my head a while… as in years. So without further ado, I do not own digimon because if I did it would be a Taiora, Takari, Mimoe and Kenyako. I also do not own the song 'The Reason'. Hoobastank owns it, not me.

The Reason

Prologue

"So Tai, where are we going?" Sora Takenouchi asked her wild-haired boyfriend as he led her to his car.

"That's a secret," he grinned in reply. The two of them had been best friends since they were four years old. Now, at the age of nineteen, they had been dating for three years. They had been through everything together, from losing teeth to going to other worlds to graduating from high school. And neither of them would have it any other way.

"But I really want to know!" she begged, her crimson eyes pleading with him. He kept up a firm resolve to resist her begging. He wanted the day to be special and full of surprises. If he told her where they were going, it would not have that effect.

"Sorry Sora, you are going to have to wait and see," he opened the car door for her and she glared mockingly at him before poking her tongue out.

"I don't like you," she told him childishly.

"Yes you do, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Now don't worry, we'll be there in about an hour or so," he climbed into the driver's seat and, after putting on his seat belt, he began the drive to their destination.

"Are you going to tell me yet?"

"No, it's a surprise."

"I can act surprised for you if you want," she offered, but he still refused to tell her, "Fine then, I suppose that I will have to wait and see." For the rest of the journey they just chatted happily, enjoying the company of the other. They loved being together and over the past few years in particular, they had spent all of their time with each other, when it was possible.

"How long is it until we get there?" Sora knew that they were near the coast, but she wasn't sure exactly where they were going. All she knew was that Tai had remembered when she had said that she loved the beach.

"Not too long now, only a few minutes in fact. It's just up ahead," Tai replied, stealing a glance at her out of the corner of his eye. He loved her so much, and that was why he had brought her here. They finished the rest of the journey in a comfortable silence.

"Are we there now?" Sora asked as she felt the car stop. She turned to find a grinning Tai.

"Not quite. We just have to walk the rest of the way," they hopped out of the car and took the picnic basket out of the back seat. They had planned a picnic, but Tai had chosen the location. What Sora didn't know was that Tai had something special planned, and it wasn't just the picnic.

"Okay, I guess that I'm up for a walk," Sora agreed, stretching after the hour long car trip. She had the picnic rug in her arms whilst Tai carried the basket. After all, they both knew that Tai ate more food than her, so it was only fair that he carry it.

"I knew you would be," he led her along a trail that almost seemed to have disappeared in the long grass. It was obvious that no one had traveled along this path in a long time.

"Whoa, it's so beautiful here," the path had opened up onto a small section of a beach. The sand was a perfect white and the water was an aqua blue colour that turned green whenever the Sun shone down on the top of a wave.

"Yeah, I know. It reminded me of you and so I knew that I had to bring you here," this romantic side of Tai hardly ever came out, and when it did, it was only when he was alone with Sora. The girl blushed and then began to set the picnic blanket down under the shade of some rocks. Tai set the basket down next to it.

"Feel like a swim?" he asked, knowing that they would both want the exercise after the long trip. Sora agreed, eyeing the waves with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I know, what about a race?" she knew that Tai would never back down a challenge.

"You're on. Where to?"

"Do you see that rock sticking out over there," she pointed and he nodded, "We'll race to there and back, okay?"

"Sure," he agreed and they both stripped off until they were in their swim gear.

"Ready? Go!" Sora called out, running before she said go.

"Hey, that's not fair cheater!" but he chased after her anyway. They hit the water at roughly the same time and matched each other stroke for stroke until they reached the rock. Then Tai began to win. He had the advantage as he had been on the side of the rock that was closer. By the time they had finished their race, in which they had drawn, they were feeling much better. Neither of them could stand long car trips and now that they had been swimming, they felt much better.

"It's not fair, I would have won if you hadn't grabbed me to slow me down," Tai whined jokingly, grabbing Sora around the waist and pulling her closer.

"And I would have won if you hadn't distracted me by claiming that you were drowning," she smiled and he couldn't resist the urge to kiss her. He then picked her up and threw her into the deeper water, ignoring her angry cries.

"There, now we're even!" he called down to her as she spluttered her way to the surface.

"Oh no we're not! You're going down Kamiya!" he laughed and swam away, knowing that she would catch up to him.

"I didn't know we were only on a last name basis Takenouchi," she narrowed her eyes and swam after him, her mock anger filling her with more energy. That started the splashing contest of the year. When they were finally done, it was just past one o'clock and both of their stomachs were protesting loudly that it was past lunch time.

"I think we need to eat now, or I'll pass out from hunger," Tai joked and he opened the basket. He picked up a sandwich and offered it to Sora.

"Mmm… yummy… thanks Tai," she took a bite out of her sandwich and sat down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. She wished that the day could last forever, but she knew that it couldn't. She had to be back home by four as she had to go to work, "It's too bad that we'll have to leave soon." Tai mumbled something in reply, but Sora didn't understand as his mouth had been full of food. He swallowed before repeating what he had said.

"I know what you mean. I could spend forever in your company Sora. You're just too perfect for me to want to leave you," she blushed at his compliment.

"And you're too perfect for me to ever leave you," this time it was his turn to blush. They finished their food in a comfortable silence, mainly because their stomachs were grumbling too loudly for them to ignore.

"We have time for one last swim before we leave," Sora suggested after they had finished packing up their picnic.

"Okay… in a second. But before we go for a swim, can I ask you something?" he was very nervous, although he tried not to show it. After all, it was his first time doing this.

"Yeah, of course you can Tai," Sora was nervous now too, as she could sense that he was nervous. It was all very confusing. He fingered the small box he held in his right hand before he took a deep breath and got down on one knee. After all, Sora had always told him that she had wanted to be proposed to in a romantic way.

"Sora, we've known each other for forever and I'm sure that I fell in love with you the day I met you. It's kind of hard to remember back to when I was four, but I remember the day I met you clearly. You helped me to beat those boys playing soccer without a thought and since then we've been firm friends and more. I can't really imagine my life without you and I hope that you are with me for the rest of my life. Will you marry me Sora?" she gasped, happy tears in her eyes. She had never imagined that he would ask her that today, but she knew her answer.

"Of course I will! I couldn't ever imagine my life without you either," she accepted the ring and then he stood up and kissed her passionately.

"I'm the luckiest and happiest guy in the world!" he exclaimed once they had stopped kissing to breathe.

"And I'm the luckiest and happiest girl in the world!" she told him right back, so happy that she could hardly remember where she was. She was so overwhelmed by the whole experience. It took them a few minutes to calm down and then before they knew it they had to leave. They came back using the same trail. Tai had his arm around her and she was leaning her head on his shoulder. She was looking down at her ring, still unable to believe what had happened. The ring had a thin, delicate band with a small clear diamond on top. It wasn't big or extravagant, but it was exactly as she had pictured her dream ring.

"Thank you so much for today Tai. It's been the best day in my whole life," she had not stopped smiling since he had proposed to her and neither had he. They were both so happy that they did not think that they would ever stop smiling.

"Same here. I have to thank you for everything too," they packed everything into the back of the car and started the trip home again. Sora cursed her boss for giving her a shift. She just wanted to spend the rest of the day with her fiancé.

"We're so lucky that we have each other, and we have the other destined for our friends. We must be the luckiest people in the world," Sora commented as they pulled up at a set of traffic lights. Tai turned to her.

"I know. And they're all going to be so happy once we tell them the news," Tai knew that the other digidestined had been taking bets on how long it would take before he proposed to Sora. From the last update he had heard, it sounded like Kari had won. Then again, she did know her brother well, and she had known Sora basically all her life. She had the best chance of guessing the correct time.

"Hmm… it looks like Kari won the bet too. Matt was the next closest, then T.K, Mimi, Izzy and Joe was last. Then again, Izzy and Joe had no clue and didn't really want to bet on it," Sora obviously had heard about the bet then. Tai laughed, knowing that Joe would have been last. It wasn't the blue-haired guy's fault that he hadn't had any idea. He was busy with his medical studies and keeping Mimi busy in his free time. Joe and Mimi had been going out for a year and a half now and they still seemed to be going strong.

"I thought that Joe would get last. Then again, Izzy wasn't all that far off being last too. In fact, Kari only guessed… she had no idea either. She just knew me too well because she's my sister, that's all," the lights turned green and Tai turned most of his concentration back to driving. He wanted to get his fiancée back home safely.

"Yeah, I thought so," she leant forward and put the radio on, knowing that their favourite radio show was beginning. They listened to the show, randomly commenting on the things that the hosts were saying and singing along to the tunes they knew.

I've found a reason for me

To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new

And the reason is you

It was their favourite song and they sung it loudly, knowing that no one outside the car could hear them.

I'm sorry that I hurt you

It's something I must live with everyday

And all the pain I put you through

I wish I could take it all away

And be the one who catches all your tears…

They were about to continue with the next line when it happened. They were driving through a set of traffic lights. On their left was a cliff which dropped down to a series of sand dunes. It was a drop of about five meters. The traffic lights were on green and so Tai drove through. A car coming at them from their right at a perpendicular angle drove straight through the lights, even though they must have been on red for the driver. Tai was left with nowhere to go. Sora screamed as the small red car crashed into Tai's side of the car. The impact sent Tai's small blue car over the edge of the cliff. Sora's scream echoed in the air as the car tumbled down, landing with a loud bang on top of a sand dune.

I've found a reason for me… the radio blurted out before it, too, became silent…

To be continued…

End of prologue

Litanya: That's the end of the prologue. Don't worry, it will probably end up being a happy ending, at least with the plot I have in mind. I'm getting a bit bored with writing fics where I kill off Tai or another character. I love to read them, but I'm getting sick of writing them. Anyway, feel free to drop a review and I'll see you around later!