Disclaimer- Digimon is not owned by me.

"Flour, butter, sugar, chocolate chips, eggs... I think I got it all in there," I muttered to myself under my breath as I stirred the gooey mess together. It was December and I was getting ready for Matt's concert at the wharf. I had been planning on making cookies for that special someone and asking him out tonight. I had been waiting for him to do it, but I was sick of that. If I waited too much longer than some other girl might snatch him up.

"Oh Sora, are you making cookies? I can't wait to eat some of them! What a pleasant surprise!" I spun around to find that my 'kaasan had walked into the room. She was supposed to be at the flower shop until after I left and I thought I would be baking alone.

"I, uh, they're not for us," I stuttered out, blushing madly. I did not want to endure the questions that were to be forthcoming. No one knew about this because I didn't want it to blow up in my face and have to deal with everyone's pity.

"Oh? Are they for a boy?" I just shrugged, hoping to avoid any more questions. Unfortunately, 'Kaasan squealed and clapped her hands in excitement. "Is it the Ishida boy? He is such a nice boy and he already has money coming in at fourteen. Fourteen!"

"What? No, he's not-" I stopped myself, realizing what I just said and mentally facepalmed. I had just walked straight into that trap. "They're for Taichi, Okaasan. Yagami Taichi."

'Kaasan shook her head, clicking her tongue disapprovingly. "That's not going to work, Sora. Go and put those in the oven and come sit with me at the table. We need to talk."

I nodded, too worked up from the adrenaline flush to say anything else. I turned back around to the dough that I had just mixed, suddenly wanting nothing to do with it. I knew better than to argue with what I had been told and finished putting them on trays before sticking them in the oven, still hoping that they'd make it to their intended destination when they were done. After washing my hands, I went into the living room, where Okaasan was sitting on the couch waiting for me. I sat down next to her nervously, feeling like I did when Tai and I got caught doing something especially bad. We had grown up since our adventures in the Digital World though and were far more mature, even if we did sometimes have some wild times.

"Sora, a few years ago, after your adventures in the Digital World, your otousan and I decided that we were concerned about your future love interests. Seeing how we no longer lived in the same city, let alone house, we decided that it might be better if you had a miai and started looking to set one up for you."

At her words, I coughed and sputtered, trying to get my mouth to work with no discernible noises coming out.

"A miai?" I finally managed to choke out. "Those are for older women who can't find a husband on their own, not for someone that's young and still has a chance!"

"Miai's can be for anyone of any age. Anyways, we found out that Natsuko and Hiroaki also wanted to look into arranging one for their eldest, Yamato. After discussing it at length, we decided that it might be best for the two of you to be married. Yamato comes from a good family and his band is already so successful too. He's proven that he's self sufficient and you have the flower shop, so you'll be ok. We were hoping that this would happen naturally, but you've always been so attached to Taichi. There's just no way that you were ever going to find your way to Yamato and Tai, well, Tai just doesn't seem to be going far in life, Sora. Once he's done with soccer, he's used up. He'll just be a drain on you."

I sat silently for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts. My brain was moving so fast that there wasn't any way I could form a coherent sentence. Eventually, my anger took over, quieting my thoughts.

"What if Matt and I don't want to be married? Did any of you think about how Matt and I would feel? Did any of you consider that we might want to find our own partners and get married just like everybody else does, including you, 'Tousan, Natsuko and Hiroaki? It may not have worked out for you guys, but maybe him and I could find someone that we really love and go on from there. And Tai, how could you? What have any of the Yagami's ever done to you? Even if Tai doesn't get to the point of going pro, he's going to do something and do something big. He's a natural leader. He can do whatever he puts his mind to!" I yelled at my okaasan.

"Sora, would you please calm down. Yamato is the option that I thought you would have been most interested in. If you'd rather, you can choose from other men that are entering miai's. As for Tai, he's not a bad boy, it's that he's still just a boy. He doesn't see things as he needs to to make you what you need. Who knows where he'll end up." I glared, giving my okaasan the best stink eye I could muster. I didn't really get to employ it much though, my kitchen timer went off and scared me. "Go do whatever you need to to those cookies. I'd like for you to go and give them to Matt tonight, unless you want to take your chances with the other fish in the miai sea that is. I think you'll be better off with Yamato though, so please consider it."

Before I could even open my mouth, 'Kaasan had walked away, leaving through the front door. I sat there for a moment, dumbfounded, but then the timer beeped again. Not wanting the cookies I had worked so hard to bake to go to waste, I went and took them out of the oven and carefully put them on cooling racks, no matter how badly I just wanted to trash the place. It would do me no good and just end in me being in serious trouble. It didn't make the want and the anger bubbling inside of me any less though.

How had I ended up as a girl in a miai? They were for older women and men that couldn't find anyone else and wanted to have children. I was young and had someone that, in my heart, I knew was the right man for me. I wasn't going to ever find out though; I had been forbidden and it hurt to even think about.

On the other hand, at least I wasn't being asked to marry some asshole. Matt was a fairly decent guy. Of the Chosen other than Tai, Matt would be my second choice. There were other guys that I would prefer to be with well before him, but it wasn't like I was going to be dating Izzy or something. Matt and I got along pretty well and, since we almost had to, we could probably make things work out. Maybe if I did what Okaasan asked of me and it didn't work out then I'd be allowed to date who I wanted.

With a sigh, I made my decision. It was easier than fighting with both of my parents. Maybe they were right and I should be entering into an arranged marriage. Even if Matt wasn't who I loved, he was someone that I could no doubt make it work with. After wrapping my cookies, I headed out the door to what I hoped wasn't a huge mistake.

"Sora, wait up!" I cringed as I heard the voice, but looked over anyways. My day had gotten slightly better after leaving to go meet up with everyone due to the addition of Biyomon, but it was difficult to see Tai, knowing the cookies that had been in my bag all along were meant for him and going to his best friend. I'd ducked out pretty quickly after that in hopes that I'd be able to avoid him, but he found me anyways.

"Oh, Tai..." I blushed, trying to subtly hide the package from him, but something so large and green was hard to hide.

"Something smells good!" Augumon said sniffing the air, cuing Gabumon to come out of Matt's dressing room, making the awkwardness of this situation skyrocket quickly.

"Matt's busy getting ready, but I'll take those to him. Mmmm."

Biyomon said something after that, but I tuned them out after Gabumon's words, instead focusing on not losing it with Tai right here in front of me.

"So, um, Sora, are you going to the concert with anybody? I mean, not that it matters to me, just wondering."

I felt my stomach drop to my feet. Finally, after all of these years, Tai was asking me out and I had to shoot him down. I opened my mouth, unsure of what to say and had a lie just come tumbling out. "No, I want to be available in case Matt is free afterwards."

I giggled nervously as I watched Tai's face fall and wished that there was some way that all of this could have been avoided. Why Tai had chosen today of all days was beyond me. Yet again, why my Okaasan had to choose today of all days to come home early and block me from dating him was beyond me.

"Oh, I see. Matt, huh?" he said, trying to be brave and not show his disappointment. I brought my hand up to my mouth, my stomach suddenly not feeling so well. Tai took a few steps forward, patting me on the shoulder.

"It's ok."

I looked at him, trying to keep my sadness and tears far enough at bay so that he wouldn't notice that anything was wrong. "You're not mad at me, Tai?"

"No, of course not," he said, grin breaking out across his face as he shoved me into Matt's dressing room. "Now get in there and say hi to Matt for me."

I looked back at him for a second, the guilt and pain of what I was doing sitting on me like a brick, even if it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

"Thanks Tai."

"The least you could do is leave us the cookies!" Augumon said, diffusing the situation slightly and making me smile.

"I'll tell you what, I'll make some special ones for you." The words felt like razors coming out of my mouth, but I was determined not to let any of this get to me. It wouldn't do to let Matt see me crying over all of this. I would need Tai's courage to get me through this. Either that or I needed my sense of when to flee to tell me to get the hell out of there and into the dressing room, which I quickly did.

It was the hardest thing that, in my fourteen years of life, I had ever had to do.

A/n: This chapter was longer than I thought, that's for sure. Anyways, this is coming to you via the holiday season! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and any other holidays that your religion may celebrate (Sorry, I'm not up to date on all of them). Still, I've been wanting to write this for a while and thought that a fifteen day speed write after National Novel Writing Month shouldn't be an issue (I wrote eleven thousand words the last day and thirty five thousand the last week. I was determined to make it and I did.) This chapter isn't my favorite, but i was bound by the show. I will be for the next chapter too, but then I'll be on my own. I should also mention that this is completely canon! I'm excited about this and that Matt isn't a dick in this one. Please, review and tell me how I'm doing and cheer me on!- Dephs