This fanfic is a very, Very, VERY late birthday present for The Solar Being, you should all go read her stuff, it's great!

Birthday Dance

Every once in a while, under the rarest of circumstances, you'll find two people who are so alike, and so perfect for one another that you know they are going to spend the rest of their lives together. This was the case for two Odaiba teens, by the names of Taichi Kamiya and Sora Takenouchi, and this is their story.

"Mr. Kamiya!" Professor Yoshida shouted as she threw a piece of chalk across the room hitting Tai square on the forehead "I do not tolerate day dreaming in my class Mr. Kamiya do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal Ma'am." Tai said rubbing his forehead.

Satisfied with his answer she turned around and continued to lecture and write on the blackboard. Tai tried harder to pay attention and managed fairly well, even producing a page of notes. The final bell of the day rang and Tai left the classroom and began walking towards the school's front door.

There he saw two of the three most important people in his life, His best friend and the love of his life, Yamato "Matt" Ishida and Sora Takenouchi. There was a problem though, they were dating each other. He had come to terms with it thanks to the help of Kari, his sister and the third person that made up the three most important people in his life. As much as Tai loved Sora, her happiness was the most important thing, and Tai wasn't going to let himself feel down, especially this week, in two days Tai turned eighteen.

Tai walked up to the pair and said "Hey guys."

Matt turned to Tai and said "Hey Tai."

"You two coming to the big party." Tai asked

"When does Matt ever miss a party?" Sora asked jokingly

Tai laughed and said "Well ask a dumb question…"

"So what do you have planned again?" Matt asked

"Well my parents said that they'd give me the house for the night so I was thinking movies, eating until we explode, and party games. No spin the bottle though, Davis is going to be there and I just know he'd rig it to set him with Kari, and I wouldn't want to watch you two make out either." Tai said in a fairly joking tone.

Matt laughed and said "Well I don't think you have to worry about that."

Sora shot Matt a death look that silenced him instantly, and though Tai didn't notice "So what games were you thinking of?" she asked to keep the conversation going.

"I don't know, I'll figure it out then." Tai said

"That's just like you." Matt said as they left the school

"Well we'll see you Saturday." Sora said

"Yeah, see you then." Tai said

--

It was the night of the party and Tai and Kari were getting ready decorating, getting food ready, and setting up anything else they needed. At the moment they had three bowls full of snacks, a take and bake Pizza in the oven and had moved all the furniture in the house to better suit a party environment. Just then the door bell rang.

"They're early." Tai said walking to the door and opening it. Behind it was Sora with an intricate package in her hands.

"Happy Birthday Tai!" She said setting the present on the table near the door and hugging Tai.

Tai hugged her back and said "Thanks Sor, but I told you that you didn't need to get me anything."

"You can say that Taichi, but we all know you want stuff, besides this is something I really think you'll like." Sora said picking the present back up and setting it on the coffee table.

"Hey Sora." Kari said as she walked into the living room "We're still setting up but feel free to make yourself at home."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sora asked

"Not really, we're just waiting on the Pizza, and Izzy." Kari said

"What's Izzy going to do?" Sora asked

"He said he had some tech that'd be great for watching a movie." Tai said

The doorbell rang again and Tai answered it again, this time it was Izzy and Matt.

"Hey guys." Tai was slightly disappointed to see Matt, he was hoping to have a little more time with Sora before her boyfriend showed up.

"Hey Tai." Matt said "Izzy said he might need an extra pair of hands to set up and I've got some experience when I help set up my concerts."

Tai stepped aside as they brought in a large box and several smaller ones. Tai helped them bring them in and set them up. As it turned out Izzy had brought more than Tai had expected, a flat screen HDTV, a brand new Playstation 3, an X-Box 360, and a PC. Tai stood back and moved things as they needed while the other two set up all the hardware.

By the time they were done Kari had finished setting up everything else, and the rest of the Digidestined had arrived, except Davis who was expected to be late, and they had all brought Tai gifts, despite that he had told them they didn't need to.

"Why did you bring all of this?" Cody asked looking at the rather impressive setup Matt and Izzy had constructed.

"This way we can watch any movie, no matter what format the disc has been written in, and thanks to the wonders of the Internet, we can even watch a movie we don't have the disc for." Izzy explained

It was about that time that they decided to start the party games rather than wait for Davis.

"So what does everyone want to play?" Tai asked

The question was greeted with shrugs, and they eventually settled on Truth or Dare, generic, childish, and most of all generic, but they (DT: and by that I mean me) couldn't think of anything better.

"Alright," Tai said "but I'm going to lay down some ground rules. Well only one really, clothes stay on, I only say this because we all know Davis would try something if I didn't."

Many of the Digidestined nodded knowing the truth behind Tai's words.

"Who wants to go first?" Tai asked

"Your birthday, your party, your go." Matt said

"Alright." Tai said looking at all of the potential victims 'Using this as an opportunity to hook my friends up is a little childish, but what the hell, we're already playing Truth or Dare…' "Let's start things off easy. Kari, truth or dare?"

Have you ever seen a deer in the headlights? Well that's what Kari looked like 'If I say truth I know Tai will pull out my deepest darkest secrets, but I remember last time we played, his dares are sadistic!'

"Truth" she said picking what she thought to be the lesser of two evils.

Tai grinned and cast a look at Sora, who immediately understood Tai's plan and her part in it, one of the many perks of being friends for as long as they had.

"Who do you like?" Tai asked

Kari turned pale as snow and froze.

"Come on Kar, you picked truth, now answer the question" Sora said.

Kari buried her face in her hands and mumbled something.

"Say again Kari, we couldn't quite hear you." Yolei said clearly enjoying watching Kari squirm.

"I said TK, alright?" Kari said facing the group with a cherry red face.

TK froze in shock as Kari's embarrassment turned to a desire for revenge "Sora, truth or Dare?"

"Dare." Sora said calmly Kari had no imagination for dares so she knew she was moderately safe.

Kari quietly cursed then said "I dare you to… cross-dress in Tai's clothes."

"Alright." Sora said walking into Tai's room before coming out with Tai's school uniform. She struck a Tai-like pose as Kari took a picture, Sora then went back got changed again and came back out.

"My turn. TK truth or dare?" Sora asked

"Dare." TK said

"I dare you to give me your next turn then do a dare from Tai." Sora said

TK sighed and said "Alright."

"TK, Truth or Dare?" Sora repeated

"Dare." TK answered again, might as well go for broke right? At least no one can call him a coward.

"I dare you to tell all the girls in the group how you really feel about them." Sora said

'Maybe being called a coward isn't so bad after all…' TK thought grimly "Well Sora, you're like a big sister, someone I know I can count on. Mimi, you can be kind of annoying sometimes, but your kind, funny and sincere. Yolei, you're a great friend and I wouldn't trade it for anything. And Kari…" TK said with a gulp "Well, you're nice, pretty, smart, amazing, well, a lot of things, but the short version is you're very important to me, and… I like you…"

"Alright." Tai said "Now my dare… Ask out my sister already will you?"

"Wait what?" TK said

"You heard me. Ask her out." Tai said

"Aren't you very protective of Kari?" Cody asked from across the circle

"Yes, and right now I'm doing what will make her happy and keep her safe." Tai said

"It's a win-win." Sora said

"So, uh, Kari…" TK said

"Yeah TK?"

"Do you want to go out?" TK asked

Kari just smiled and nodded hugging the blond haired boy of hope beside her.

There were several congratulations, a few wolf whistles, and many "awwwww"s passed to the new couple. The game soon resumed and eventually Davis showed up with a gift as well. After being directed to what was now being called the "Gift Table" he joined the game as well, though remained in the dark about TK and Kari's new relationship. Eventually it circled around to TK again, who was determined to pay Tai back for the favor he had paid him earlier.

"Tai, Truth or Dare?" TK asked

"Dare me." Tai challenged

"Alright, but I'll need a moment, could everyone wait in Tai's room for a little bit? Kari, I'll need your help finding some things." TK said

Everyone complied and piled into Tai's room and after a short time TK walked into the room with his hat in his hands and Tai could see several slips of Paper inside it.

"Alright Tai, your dare is to have a romantic slow dance with whoever's name is pulled out of this hat, there's a slip for everyone except Kari, for obvious reasons." TK said

Kari walked into the room and reached into TK's hat and pulled out a slip then said "And the winner is… Sora!"

"Alright, get out there you two." TK said

"But Sora's dating Matt." Tai said "That's a little close to fooling around with your friend's girl isn't it?"

"It's cool Tai, I know it's only a dare." Matt said

"Besides it was random." TK said

Tai suspected that this was a set up but walked out of the room and grabbed a handful of paper slips from TK's hat reading them while he went. "Matt, Yolei, Ken, Cody, Izzy… Yeah he put everyone's name in…" Tai mumbled

"What are you doing?" Sora asked following Tai into the living room

"Making sure we're not being set up." Tai said "Looks like you get to live Takashi, everyone's name is there."

"Of course they are." TK said 'Sora's name was under my thumb so Kari would know where it is.' He added in his head.

"Get ready." Kari called then pressed a button on the stereo remote control that started the song "Could it be" by Christy Carlson Romano (DT: sorry, it just screams "Taiora" to me).

Kari closed the door to Tai's room giving them some privacy. Tai sighed and extended his arms to Sora, who, after a moment of hesitation, closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around his neck while he placed his hands on her hips. They slowly spun to the song and before long Tai forgot all about the dare, the fact Sora had a boyfriend, and everything else, allowing the moment to envelope him. As the song neared its end Tai looked at Sora as she gazed back at him. Slowly he began closing the gap again and their lips got closer and closer, until the song abruptly ended and Kari opened the door.

They immediately separated and if it had been anyone else they wouldn't have caught the near kiss, but Kari did.

"Well that's enough Truth and Dare for now, how about you open your gifts Tai?" Kari suggested

"Sounds good." Tai said, though truth be told, he probably would have agreed to fight Piedmon with a moldy bit of wood if it meant escaping that situation.

"Let's go from the last person to show up to first" Matt suggested

"That works, it'll be easier that way too." Tai said sitting on the couch and grabbing Davis' gift. In all he had gotten a new Soccer ball from Davis, a brand new custom PC as a joint present from Izzy, Ken, and Yolei, a batch of brownies from Cody's mom, a very high quality First Aid kit in a fancy MASH style bag from Joe, a new Winter Coat from Mimi, an electric drum set from Matt and TK, and because Kari had given him her present that morning with their parents all that left was Sora's.

Tai picked up the box and noticed how very light it was, but saying that out loud would be very rude so Tai kept the observation to himself.

Tai gently tore the paper of the box and opened it and was shocked "Uh… Sora? Not to sound ungrateful, but this box is empty."

"That's because I couldn't think of a way to wrap this" Sora said before she kissed him with all the others watching "Matt and I broke up a week ago, we kept it a secret so I could surprise you."

Tai smiled as Sora sat on his lap "No offense everyone, but I think Sora's was the best present this year." Tai laughed

Matt chuckled and said "Hey Tai, truth or dare?"

"What?"

"Truth or dare?"

"We stopped playing a while ago dude."

"Just pick one."

"Fine, Dare."

"Do us all a favor and ask Sora out already."

DT: HA! Not so late that I need to add a fourth "late" to the list up there! Well I don't have much to say here, except to wish The Solar Being one last belated 'Happy Birthday'. Don't own any of it, so don't sue me.