A Promise…and the Hairclip to Remember It
Originally Written by: Sarika Kamiya01 (Sari)
Edited & Posted by: Mamika Takashi01 (Mika)
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, Angst

Mika: I have a question, what on earth made you decide to write this when you were writing your Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince fanfic?

Sari: I wanted to. I'm not a fan of Digimon anymore but hey it's a cute show and I still think Taiora is really cute

Mika: You know you want it

Sari: As much as a hole in the head

Mika: Yeah, well I thought you weren't writing anymore, you said school and work are enough for now

Sari: I wrote this months ago stupid before I had a job or cared about my marks

Mika: Oh

Sari: Yeah well you guys have to put up with my stupid cousin for now on (haha). Anyways this fic takes place foring the Prisoner of the Pyramid episode in season one and just after the second part of the Digimon movie, I think it might be called Our War Game, I'm not sure…well enjoy this! BY THE WAY MIKA IS TERRIBLE AT EDITING! SHE HAS EVEN LESS ABILITY THEN ME TO SPOT TYPOS AND MISTAKES!

Mika: HEY!

A shooting star shot quickly across the darkened sky. It was bright and stood out against the other dim stars and to a single girl sitting on the cold ground it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

She wanted to scream loudly but nothing left her throat when she opened her mouth. She closed her eyes tightly before opening them again and letting diamond tears streak down her cheeks and onto the ground. Looking back up at the full moon quickly she cursed its cheerful look, as if it was mocking her.

More tears fell from her crimson eyes and a small sob escaped her lips. She wanted to cry for so long now, but she had to be strong for all the others. She had never really cried in front of anyone anymore. There was only one person with the group now that had actually seen her in tears. Now she honestly didn't know what was wrong. She just knew there was something that wasn't quite right.

'Crests…'

She snapped her fingers quickly and thought, "That's it! The crests! Stupid thing…"

TK had found his crest that day. The little boy had been so happy. Sora remembered looking at everyone else, each with a golden tag and a coloured crest around their necks. Then looking at herself and just seeing the tag. She hadn't mentioned it to the others but she could feel it in her veins, finding her crest would be the hardest to get and something bad was going to happen while getting it.

A shiver passed through her skin, which made her smirk in return. It was funny how they were in the desert yet it was still cold enough for them to need a fire.

Picking up a stick she poked the flames in front of her and looked at the cave where everyone else slept peacefully. She had asked Biyomon to stay in the cave; she knew she could take care of herself.

More tears fell from her eyes onto the ground as she pulled her legs up to her chest. Sora brought her fist into the air and slammed it onto the sandy ground. Pain shot through her arm but she ignored it. She did that a couple more times, slamming her fist into the ground while letting her bitter tears spot the golden sand with dark, ugly blotches of brown.

She never wanted to cry but she felt the need to. A quick wind picked up and she shivered again. She thought she heard a twig snap but shoved it to the back of her mind as her imagination. Once more she brought her fist into the air to slam it into the ground but it never came back down. Someone had grabbed a hold of it and brought it gently back to her side, she could feel a light pressure on her hand which, somehow, made her realize all the pain she was in.

She let out a light whimper of pain and cradled her injured hand in her other one. A pair of arms wrapped around her and she saw a pair of white gloves on the hands. Part of her was glad that of all people Tai had been the one to find her like this yet the other part of her screamed at her that he would think she was weak now. More tears fell.

Tai brought his hand up and wiped them again. Sora felt her cheeks heat up at his touch but she still said nor did anything.

Tai leaned his chin on her shoulder and said, "It'll be alright Sora."

"No it won't," she said after a moment of hesitation.

Tai stood up, bringing her with him. Once they were standing he made her face him. He felt his heart break when he saw her tearstained face and her watery eyes. He took her hands into his and on instinct Sora leaned forwards and started crying onto his chest.

Tai wasn't about to claim that he was the best person in the world when it came to girls in general. But if you pin-pointed it to Sora then he could tell you how to make her happy, things that made her sad and so on. He knew when Sora got upset that it was best to let her cry herself out. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned his head on the side so his cheek was touching the side of her forehead as her sobs died down to whimpers then just heavy breathing.

She looked up at him and got a confused look on her face as she asked, "When did you get taller then me?"

He gave her an odd look and said, "Now I don't think that's the reason you're upset."

A small smile appeared on her face and she shook her head no.

"Well what is it then? Is my hair style making you cry? Is it Matt's snoring? Come on, give me a hint," he said while tilting his head slightly.

Sora let out a small giggle and rested her head on his shoulder again. She looked down as he took one of her hands into his again and she noticed that his hands felt large compared to hers. Looking back up at him she said, "I…it's just…"

"Come on Sor, let it out," he said to her encouragingly, "You were the one that told me bottling my feelings up was hurting me more then letting them out would."

Sora suddenly found herself unable to look at him and squirmed under his constant stare. She broke out of his grasp and turned away from him. A frown appeared on his tanned face and he said again, "Tell me what's wrong Sora."

"I don't think we should go to the pyramid tomorrow," she blurted out.

His face turned from worry and slightly sad to pure confused. One of his eyebrows raised a little higher then the other as he said, "Why not?"

"I've just got a really bad feeling about this," she said sadly.

"That's what you said when I went to see my dad in Kyoto," Tai replied quickly but silently cursed himself after saying that.

"That's not the best example to use Taichi," Sora said dryly, "I was right. You got in a car accident and nearly died." She shivered at that memory when she had heard that Tai had gotten in a terrible accident. She had comforted his little sister Kari as best as she could and she knew it had hit him hard when he learned that his father had died in the accident. It seemed to have hurt his twin sister, Tar, even more because she lived with the man. After he died she went into a private school in America so she wouldn't have to see Japan and the terrible memories of that day.

"Sora, I promise, nothing will happen," he insisted.

"Don't promise that Tai, you know something is going to happen too, I can feel it," she said sharply.

He sighed and said, "OK then, I promise Sora, if something bad happens I'll protect you."

Despite the nagging feeling in her mind she nodded and then asked, "What if something did happen to me or one of the others? Like if we were taken?

"In all honesty," Tai said, "If it was you, my best friend for as long as I could remember, I'd probably break down crying, be all paranoid and angry while Izzy tried to come up with an idea and if nothing happened within 24 hours I'd say 'screw it' and go after you on my own. But Sora, I'm going to make another promise to you, if something ever happened and any of these monsters ever took you, I'll come and get you myself, not anyone else, me. I promise."

She felt her heart warm up at his words. Her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink and a smile appeared on her face. She nodded and leaned her head on his shoulder again. One final tear streaked down her cheek but it wasn't one of sorrow, it was one of happiness. She no longer feared going into the pyramid tomorrow or being last to get her crest, as long as she knew that Tai would stick with her no matter what she would be fine.

"Scared little Digidestind?" Datamon's mechanical voice said from where he was working busily.

Sora shot a glare at the little silver thing before saying, "No."

The Digimon stopped moving and faced her. His metal face showed no emotion but Sora saw that his one organic eye was confused. "Why not? I could kill you at any moment stupid child."

She closed her eyes and didn't answer him. She wasn't afraid because she remembered Tai's promise; she knew that he would come for her.

Her thoughts turned to the boy. He confused her so much. She didn't understand how one night he can seem so mature and strong and the next morning he acts like an immature little child.

She could feel a soft smile come to her lips and she felt her fear dim a little. She was afraid, but not to an extreme.

When Datamon finally made the copy of her she felt more pain then ever before. One wouldn't think that it would hurt, making a photocopy of a person but it did.

Sora couldn't stop herself; she let out a yelp of pain. Biyomon struggled to try and get free as her friend started crying for the second time in the past 24 hours.

"Tai please hurry…" she thought as she blinked in and out of consciousness because of the pain.

As he walked down the crumbling stairs of the upside down pyramid Tai stopped. His eyes widened as he heard Sora scream in pain. Agumon was talking to him but he couldn't hear him. It was at that moment that Tai realized he had heard her scream in his mind, not aloud where everyone could hear it.

"Sora's in trouble," he said and started running down the steps, ignoring his luck that he didn't fall as the edges of them crumbled under his weight. They had left Izzy and Kabuterimon to fight Etemon upstairs and could still hear the fighting. Normally Tai would have felt guilty about leaving a friend behind but his mind was set on one thing: Sora.

He ran into a room and stared in shock. There was a firewall in his way from saving her once again.

"Damn the person who thought it'd be fun to protect a computer for only letter certain things in!" Tai yelled. He always had a thing against these, ever since he tried to get Tar to send him some pictures from America but they wouldn't go through because of the Firewall.

"Tai, there's only one way through that," Agumon reminded him.

"I know," he said as he walked towards it then paused when he was two meters away, "Agumon, I want you to stay here. I could die, you know that but…if anything happens to me don't do anything stupid."

Tai closed his eyes tightly and Agumon asked, "Why are you doing this?"

His eyes snapped open and without looking at his partner he said, "Behind this wall is something really important to me. If I lose it…her…I'll kill myself Agumon. She's my best friend but…"

"Doesn't sound like that to me. Almost sounds like you care about her even more then you care about your sisters," Agumon said, referring to the stories he had been told about the other two Kamiya's.

Tai smiled lightly before saying, "I guess I do." His eyes once again focused on the wall in front of him. He walked forward and held his hand out. Agumon could clearly see him shaking. When he was an inch away from the wall he let out a yell and shot his hand to it and…it went through. His eyes snapped open again and he said, "I did it." Never once in that period of time did he realize that his Crest of Courage was glowing brightly under his shirt.

Suddenly the wall behind them crashed open and Etemon flew in while pounding Kabuterimon.

"Agumon Digivolve too…Greymon!"

"Go save Sora," the large dinosaur said to his partner as he charged forwards. Kabuterimon changed back into Tentomon just as Izzy ran in and over to him. Izzy looked up and was about to yell at Tai but the other boy ran through the firewall.

"That's impossible!" Izzy yelled.

"What is?" Tentomon asked.

"There's only one way to get through that wall, I check 30 times!" Izzy said, "and the place Tai went through wasn't it."

"What?" Tentomon asked with shock, even Greymon was listening now while fighting.

Without answering Izzy picked up a rock and threw it at the firewall and the rock exploded from the sheer force of electricity.

Tai felt really weird as he ran through the Firewall for a second he blacked out then felt as if something had pushed him back into his body. Once he got through his eyes adjusted to the laboratory in front of him.

The first thing he noticed was not Datamon staring at him with surprise while holding a tag with a red crest in it as well as a Digivice nor was it Biyomon yelling at him from the wall. No it was the fact that there were TWO Soras strapped down to metal tables. Both were looking at him with surprise.

"Tai!" the real Sora tried to call out but it didn't do any good, her copy yelled it at the exact same time.

Tai's eyes moved from one to the other and back. He felt anger flash through him at Datamon cruel laugh.

"Which one's the real one Courage?" Datamon asked. Tai was confused about why he was called Courage but at the same time he didn't really care. "You can choose one and the other will be sent to death."

"Save the sob story," Tai snapped at him with a second glance at the girls, "I know who the real Sora is. I don't even have to look to know who's who."

Datamon was beyond shock when Tai shot forward and grabbed Sora's Crest and Digivice then ran towards the correct girl. When the Digimon snapped out of his shock he pressed a button and the floor underneath her collapsed.

"SORA!" Biyomon and Tai yelled together. Tai shot forwards while knocking a button that deleted the fake Sora, dove forwards, slid on the metal floor while ignoring the pain that it caused his stomach and chest and grabbed her arm.

"NO!" Datamon yelled and shot towards them. He grabbed both their arms tightly and Sora let out another scream of pain. Tai's arm shook from all the pain that was coursing through it and he closed his eyes for a minute when he saw a streak of blood starting to drip down his arm. Suddenly he realized that the same thing would probably be happening to Sora!

His eyes snapped open and they met with Sora's eyes. He felt the rage inside of him rise as he stared at the agony in them. His orbs then turned to Datamon who was smiling with triumph.

"Sora, do you trust me?" Tai asked her.

"Why?" she asked.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

Looking over at Datamon again his eyes went dark as he whispered, "Close your eyes."

She closed them and felt his grip on her arm vanish for a moment. Before she could fall very far or scream she felt his other hand grab her and she felt Datamon's grip on her vanish. She didn't know what happened but soon she heard the Digimon's yell of pain, then what sounded like glass breaking and finally nothing.

A moment later she felt herself being yanked up from the hole and onto the steel floor. She felt Tai's arms wrap around her tightly and some warm drops of water fall onto her.

"I thought I lost you," he said as he hugged her tightly.

"What happened to Datamon?" Sora asked softly while opening her eyes. She looked over to the wall and saw Biyomon staring at Tai with a look of shock in her blue eyes.

"Let's get Biyomon down," Tai said and helped her up. They searched the control panel until they found a button with the tiny word 'release' underneath it. Tai pressed it and Biyomon was free, but then the screen started flashing red.

"Warning, warning, self-explosion set for two minutes…"

"Oh shit," Tai said. He gripped Sora's hand tightly. Tai led the way out of the metallic room when he realized something. The door wasn't in the same place as when he came in, which meant…

"The part of the wall I went through wasn't the right place!" his mind screamed at him but he ignored it. Greymon was still fighting Etemon but Izzy and Tentomon had vanished.

"Forget that monkey Greymon!" Tai yelled. He didn't notice Sora's silence. Her eyes held shock as the images of Datamon is several shreds on the floor. Biyomon hadn't been able to move that that only met one thing. Tai had done that…

"Tai killed him because he took me," she thought with realization.

"Stupid Tai," Sora said angrily as she glared at the hairclip in her hand. She was stalking back and forth in her room just glaring at the tiny thing as if willing it to explode into a million pieces.

Suddenly her D-terminal beeped and a voice said, "You have one new message."

She ran over to the computer and pretty much tackled it out her window. She sat on her window seat and silently read the words to herself. Her eyes softened at the words and she read the last two in a whisper to herself, "Love, Tai."

Sora felt her eyes water and she said affectionately, "Stupid Tai."

Her attention snapped from the email to a large missile in the water outside. Her eyes widened as she saw a small tidal wave pass by and she said, "What in the world?" Something told her that in her attempts to stay away from Tai and punish him by not talking to him she had missed something really important.

Sora spent a few hours thinking of what to say to the boy when she saw him again. Butterflies flew around in her stomach, making her want to throw up. She watched Izzy walk by her house earlier. He had stopped and looked directly at her apartment before shaking his head and walking off. For some reason she wanted to throw something at him, she was sure Tai had told him what happened.

"Sora, I'm going to the flower shop! I won't be able to cook you dinner so I called Mrs. Kamiya and asked if you could go over there. She said it was ok with her.

Sora's eyes widened and her cheeks turn a rich shade of red but had no chance to say some sarcastic remark to her mother before the woman walked out the door.

"Thanks mama," she muttered to herself before grabbing some money and stuffing it in her pocket. She knew Mrs. Sanira Kamiya tried her hardest when it came to cooking but…it's best not to get on that subject so it was always handy to have money when going to the Kamiya's for dinner.

Sora was about to go out the door when she ran back to her room, her sneakers squeaking on the floor. When she walked out again she had a grin on her face and looked quickly at the mirror in the hallway so she could see the clip in her hair before she put her blue (yes blue, not that yellow one) hat on and ran out the door.

Tai sighed as his mother yelled, "Tai! Get the door!" He had been trying to write another email to Sora, assuming that the first one hadn't got through but no, his mother had to invite someone over for dinner!

He walked to the door and pushed it open. His eyes widened with surprise and he said, "Sora?"

She gave him a shy smile before saying, "Hi Tai."

Mrs. Kamiya flew to the door and said, "Good to see you Sora! Your mother told me you'd be here soon. Izzy ate a lot of thing earlier but I'm sure I can make some onion pies."

Tai could see the way Sora hesitated to answer and grinned despite of the uncomfortable air between him and the girl.

"Hey mom," he said quickly, causing both females to look at him, "you said you wanted to go see Aunt Sahara because she's pregnant and due any day now right?"

"Yes?" she said slowly.

"Well why not pick up Kari and go. Sora and I can just get something to eat later. You've been cooking all day and need a break," he insisted.

Mrs. Kamiya smiled and said, "Tai you're such a sweetie, I think I'll do that!" She quickly ran into the living room, grabbed her purse, handed Tai some money and walked out the door, "Bye!"

The two young teenagers stared at each other uncomfortably before saying at the exact same time, "I'm sorry!"

They both laughed until Sora said, "I read the email you sent me Tai."

He felt his face heat up because of a blush and said, "Well I…uh…"

She leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek and said, "By the way, I do like the hairclip." She took her hat off and showed the blushing boy what she was wearing.

Tai grinned, leaned on her slightly and whispered, "and you look good with or without your hat."

They stared at each other for a few minutes, both blushing deeply until Tai cleared his throat and said, "Want to go get something to eat and then see a movie? My treat! You deserve something better then a hairclip for your thirteenth birthday!"

Sora grinned and leaned towards him and said, "Can I choose where we eat and the movie?"

"You bet," Tai replied happily.

"Even if it's this cheesy kid's joint and a chick flick?" she continued.

"Yes Sora any type of movie at all and any place, well…not a real expensive place because I don't think we'd have enough money put together."

She giggled and nodded then said, "Our normal hangout at the pizza place and a horror movie?"

"It's a date," Tai said without thinking.

Sora blushed and leaned closer to him and said, "Yeah, I guess it's a date."

Sora let out a scream and covered her eyes as Samara crawled up the well. She and Tai were watching The Ring. She had been scared to hell and back when they saw Darkness Falls and this one was ten times worse. Tai had actually laughed at some of the things that happened in that one but he actually found this one a little disturbing.

Sora gripped his arm tightly and buried her head into his shoulder. He let out a small grin and said, "Scared?"

She shook her head no but then hid her face once again.

On their way back from the movies Sora continually jumped and looked around with paranoia.

"Well you're sure acting like Joe right now," Tai commented with a grin, only to receive and smack in the arm.

They continued walking thought the park in silence until Sora said, "Tai, do you remember back in the Digiworld at Datamon's pyramid?"

He shuddered and said, "Yes." His reply wasn't needed though; his actions were enough for her.

"Well I've been wondering, what gave you the strength to…tear apart metal?" Tai knew what she meant, she meant Datamon's body.

"I don't know," he said honestly, "I saw him hurting you then, I just snapped."

She smiled lightly and said, "I never got to thank you for that. If it wasn't for you I would have died that day, but I have to know, how did you know I was the real one?"

Tai stopped walking suddenly and grabbed her arm so she stopped with him. Looking at him curiously she was surprised to see a dead serious look in his eyes.

"Sora I'd know which one of you was the real one even if you were standing 100 meters away from me when Datamon asked me to choose. It's like I've got a Sora radar in me," he said honestly, finishing with a grin, "But that doesn't top be from being a normal stupid guy and getting you things that you don't want."

She laughed and touched the hairclip that was in her hair and laughed before saying, "Don't worry Taichi, I like it and I know you didn't mean anything insulting."

He smiled at her and said, "As long as you know that. I never like to see you sad and don't tell anyone else this but," his voice went softer, "you scare me more then Mimi does when you're angry."

A laugh escaped her lips and she said, "Really? Wow I'm sorry. I know how scary she can be, especially when it comes to her hair."

Tai laughed along with her and she felt her heartbeat speed up and he leaned closer to her without noticing it. Her cheeks turned red and Tai gave her an odd look. His senses had become much better sense the Digiworld, especially his sixth sense. He could hear Sora's heartbeat speed up and even in the darkening atmosphere he could see her cheeks getting red.

A grin appeared on his face as leaned closer to her while saying, "You're turning red."

She sighed and leaned backwards and found herself against a tree. She hadn't even realized she had been by one.

He grin at her again then stopped and just stared at her. His face got serious once again and she though, "Wow and I thought girl's go through mood swings."

"Sora, I promised you that I'd protect you no matter what right? Even from the stupid things I do," he said while trailing off.

A soft smile appeared on her face as she said, "You did protect me, you always do, not too much where it feels like I'm being controlled or stalked or something like that but I know if I'm in trouble I can call your name and you'll be there. As for stupid things you do, well this time to did protect me, from losing my best friend."

Tai smiled widely at her and before she could say anything he gave her a giant hug. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck while leaning her head on his shoulder. Suddenly she heard a crash of lightning from overhead then it started pouring.

Both looked up at the sky and started laughing as Tai said, "Where did this come from?"

"They were predicting rain for tonight but this is ridiculous!" Sora said with a happy laugh as the fast starting rain continued to pound them.

Tai looked at her again and she felt her face heating up for some reason. It was just the way he was staring at her. "Sora?"

"Yeah?" she asked. They were still hugging each other tightly and Sora was glad, it gave her warmth in the icy water.

"What's a few raindrops between friends?"

She smiled and said, "Nothing, at least not when a fire like we have between us is burning."

"That's a real sweet thought, corny, but sweet," he said with a grin.

"Stupid Tai," she said while shaking her head.

He stared at her again before leaning closer to her and whispering, "But that fire is burning stronger then ever now."

Before she could reply about how corny that was, the miniscule space between them disappeared as Tai leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.

Her eyes widened but soon she closed them and kissed him back. She felt her heart jumping around singing praises while her cheeks heated up even more.

When they parted Sora grinned and said, "It's burning strong and even if it does start to die, Courage and Love are going to make sure it'll ignite again."

He smiled at her and said, "No doubt about that." He held her tightly to him when he saw she was shivering and whispered, "I'll walk you home and stay with out until your mother gets home."

Sora giggled and said, "Don't get any ideas."

Tai's face turned red and he said, "I wasn't!"

She smiled and said, "I know I was only joking."

He smiled quickly at her and said, "Let's go," he said and took her hand. Sora smiled and stared to walk but Tai yanked her back to him and gave her another kiss before walking towards her house hand in hand.