Author's notes: My first Digimon fic. Please review, but be gentle…
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Damn.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."
He reached out to touch her orange hair one last time. Almost immediately, she pulled away, as if she had just been burnt by a flame. Silently, he withdrew his hand and smiled. She tried to hide it, but he saw the relief in her eyes, relieved that he had accepted it so easily. As the first snow of winter began to fall, he turned and walked away quickly. He didn't want her to see him shattering.
Taichi opened his eyes. Below him, he could feel Hikari's slow and rhythmic breathing. He climbed down the upper bunk in which he slept in as nimbly and quietly as he could. The old bed creaked anyway. Hikari stirred but remained in her slumber. Her elder brother shuffled across the hallway and into the kitchen. He knocked into a doorframe and cursed. Rubbing his shoulder, Taichi looked out of the window. It was snowing.
Mimi blew at her hands. It didn't do much to keep her warm in the freezing wind. The short skirt of a uniform worsened the situation. Why the hell had she returned to Japan? Gathering her scarf around her, she trudged all the way to school.The classroom door was slammed open as a shivering girl stomped in, her face stony with rage. She announced in accented Japanese, "Tachikawa Mimi, transfer student from America!" Her eyes scanned the classroom even though she knew there was a slim chance of finding anyone she knew. She stopped at a brown mob of hair on the table. This particular student didn't seem to find lessons very interesting. At that moment a friend of his kicked his chair and he jerked up, leaving a puddle of drool on his desk. His brown eyes were still half-closed. Mimi stared at him in disbelief. "Taichi?!"
At lunch, a hazel-haired girl was found lying on a bench, her face hidden from the rest of the world. She was too embarrassed to look at anyone else anyway. Beside her sat three seniors. Those of her age looked at her enviously. It didn't make sense to them. She was new, and yet she seemed to be so familiar and casual with these three older students.
"Mimi, it's not so bad…" said Sora amusedly. The blond beside her stifled a laugh. Mimi glowered at him. Today was her first day in this school and she had made far too many mistakes. Stupid mistakes.
Firstly, she had stepped into the wrong classroom – Taichi's class. The teacher had kindly referred her to the Head of Form who led her to her proper classroom. Secondly, she was wearing her summer uniform, thus she had to go through that cold ordeal in the morning. Thirdly, she had forgotten to bring her textbooks for the day. She groaned as she reflected upon her idiocy.
"Ishida-kun, there's a jamming session on today as well - don't forget to turn up!" another senior called out to the blond sitting opposite Mimi. He nodded back in his usual cool manner. Ishida Yamato hadn't changed at all, since the last time she saw him. Or perhaps he had, as she noticed the twinkle in his eyes that never used to be there even when she had tried so hard to make him happy. Then she saw the similar twinkle in Sora's eyes and she knew why.
A loud snore from next to her broke through her thoughts. Yamato reached across the table and smacked Taichi's head. His eyelids flickered open as his vision shifted into focus.
"Ah, hi Yamato," he said, yawning. The other three shook their heads in exasperation. Taichi hadn't changed either. He was still that clumsy, hot-headed leader they had followed in the Digital World. Well, except that he had exchanged those horrible goggles for a nicer looking bandanna. The blue cloth was drowning in his sea of brown hair. Mimi straightened up. Her back ached from lying on the hard bench for too long.
"Why're you so sleepy?" she questioned Taichi, who was beginning to drift into dreamland again. His expression hardened as he replied that he couldn't sleep because it had begun snowing and the heater at home had broken down. It was then that she saw the way he glanced at the couple before him, and the pain in his brown eyes. Or perhaps it was just the dim lighting.
When Mimi visited Hikari that evening when Taichi was having soccer practice, she noticed that their heater was working perfectly.
Three years. Three years had passed since things had started falling apart for Taichi. Those who had accompanied and lent a hand to him on the quest through an unknown world were scattering. Both Daisuke and Koushirou had moved to other cities. Jyou had gone overseas to further his studies a doctor. Ever since they had graduated to high school, the younger ones seemed somewhat distant and cut off due to different schedules. He didn't even get to meet Hikari much, except during dinner. And Sora, well, she had decided that Yamato was a better choice than Taichi. Mimi never indicated anything, but somehow he guessed that this had caused her to return to America without telling anyone.
He turned the shower tap off and dripped his way into the bedroom he shared with Hikari. The whole house was so empty. His parents hadn't been on good terms for a rather long time already. Three years, he realized. Strange, how bad things seemed to come all at once. Okaa-san was staying at her mother's place, and called back ever so often to check on the siblings. Otou-san devoted himself to work, and was seldom at home. Now he understood what turmoil Yamato and Takeru went through. Perhaps things were better this way; enabling both sides to simmer down and sort things out.
Hikari hadn't taken it as well as her brother. When she learnt that her mother wasn't going to be staying with them for a while, she ran away from home for an entire week. Fortunately, it was Miyako's house she had escaped to, and after much patient coaxing, she decided to return. But she was never really the same Hikari who shone with such brilliance like her crest of Light. Together with this shock came another wave which hit her even harder than the first. Takeru had broken up with her. She consoled herself by saying that they weren't even an official couple in the first place, but everyone knew that they were much more than merely sharing the bond being the youngest of the eight digidestined.
From then on, even Hikari, who always seemed to lighten the mood in the house, began to come home later and later, as if she was avoiding the loneliness of the apartment the Yagami family shared. Taichi couldn't blame her; he felt the same. Thus, the request for extra training. The rest of the team thought he had finally gone crazy, but at least he wouldn't feel guilty about returning home so late. Not that his father cared much.
Even the electric light in his room had blown out, as though the gloom in the house was too much for a mere light bulb to bear. Sighing in annoyance, he stuffed his homework back into his bag. He would just have to copy from someone tomorrow morning. Days without training were so dreary. It was still snowing.
Revised: 16th September 2007