"You have to do it."

"Yeah, Sora. You have to."

Sora stood with her hands on her hips and regarded the two boys in front of her. "I don't have to do anything."

"Yes, you do!" Taichi repeated and Sora narrowed her eyes at him.

"Well, you don't have to," Yamato added, seemingly having realised that this was not the way to convince her to do anything. "But we'd really, really appreciate it if you could–"

"They're both responsible," Sora interrupted. "And I'm sure they were paying attention in health class so they already know all they need to."

Taichi scoffed. "Sex Ed with Mr. Fujiyama? How informative do you think that was?"

Yamato pressed further. "Look, it's not that we don't trust either of them–" he chose to ignore Taichi's small dissenting snort, "–but we'd feel better if you just talked to them before things get too serious."

"And give them these," Taichi said, snatching up a packet of condoms from the table and hastily pressing them into Sora's hands.

Yamato regarded him with a smirk. "Haven't you ever seen a condom before?"

"Of course I have! I just haven't held one that my baby sister and her boyfriend might actually use in the very near future!"

Yamato visibly turned green.

It was then that Sora decided that she had had enough. They were being so incredibly immature. "Both of you used to go completely insane when either of your siblings was in danger in the Digital World. You'd go on and on about how you had to protect them and that nothing was more important than keeping them safe. Well, they need you now, just with a different set of problems. And while before you would drop everything to help them, you've both become perfectly content to shirk off that responsibility to someone else!"

Yamato spoke quietly. "They've always thought of you as an older sister."

"That's not the point," she replied in exasperation.

He shook his head. "Sora, you know that... I just... I'm not very good at all this... I can't..."

"Please," Taichi added when it was obvious that the blond had run out of compelling arguments.

"Please," Yamato repeated.

"No."

"But what if they've already started thinking about doing... things?" Taichi protested.

Well, Taichi Yagami had certainly come a long way from locking his sister in her room for three days when finding out about her dating Takeru. It had taken a considerable amount of effort on the part of everyone involved – Takeru, Hikari, Yamato, Sora and even his mother – to convince him that she was old enough to make her own decisions. While he'd warmed up to the idea of Takeru and Hikari as a couple and accepted that he couldn't control everything, he frequently experienced a freak out every now and then.

Sora regarded the foil packets in her hand. If they really were going to dump this responsibility on her, she was going to have a little fun before she decided whether or not to agree to do it. "There might be a problem though."

"What?" Yamato asked, sounding incredibly alarmed.

"Once when we were sleeping over at Mimi's, Hikari said that they might need a bigger one than this."

Taichi's response was instantaneous. He turned towards Yamato, his eyes blazing murderously. "Why the hell does my sister have any reason at all to have an opinion about the size of Takeru Takaishi's–"

"Taichi!"

"He's been flashing at my sister!"

"Takeru has not been flashing at Hikari!" Yamato replied hotly before Sora could intercede.

"Yes, he has!" Taichi hissed.

"Well, I'm sure it was consensual flashing!"

"There is no such freaking thing as consensual flashing!"

"There is if she wanted to see it too!"

Taichi threw up his hands in panic. "Oh my Lord! This boy used to be so innocent as a child!"

As Taichi continued to rant about how Takeru was going to be single-handedly responsible for turning his sweet, innocent Hikari into a sex-addict, Yamato approached Sora and intertwined his fingers with hers. He regarded her intently the entire time.

Uh-oh. Nope. Not happening.

Sora knew exactly what he was going to do.

He was going to turn on The Ishida Charm. His eyes would soften and he would look at her as if she was the only girl in the world. Then, he'd oh-so-casually make his request in that gentle, soothing voice of his in a way that she couldn't possibly refuse. As soon as she'd agreed to whatever he wanted, he'd reward her with a quiet sparkling smile which still had the ability to make her weak at the knees.

"Yamato," she warned as she stepped away from him.

But Taichi hastily shoved the blond aside. Ignoring his cry of protest, Taichi cupped Sora's face with his hands.

"Sora, if you... if you do this for me, I'll... I'll..." Taichi looked around wildly, as if expecting some sort of flawless rationale to magically fall out of the sky. He swallowed heavily then he looked at her more intensely than she had ever seen him. "If you do this, I will go for long walks in the rain with you. I will write poems about the weather for you. Hell, I'll even travel to another freaking dimension to gather up thunder clouds and find a way to keep them here. I will come to every single one of your tennis matches and cheer you on until my throat is sore and I have no breath left. I will do all my homework and spare you from having to pester me about it. I will even listen to your nagging and not complain when you're not around. In fact, Sora Takenouchi, I will love you. I will love you from the depth and core of my soul. I will love you more than anyone has ever loved their best friend, and then I will go on loving you until the very last drop of my infinite supply of cross-dimensional thunder clouds has dried up."

Sora was stunned into silence. Her eyes transfixed by his fierce, frantic gaze. Her face felt like it was on fire and she knew it wasn't just because of the warmth from Taichi's hands on her cheeks.

It was only Yamato's voice – a deep growl laced with barely controlled fury – that broke the spell. "Get the fuck away from my girlfriend."

Taichi had the sense to take a hasty step back.

From the way Yamato continued to scowl at him, Sora knew that this matter was far from over.

"Yamato," she said, trying to prevent this from escalating into a fight. The fact that she was still pretty flushed and embarrassed probably wasn't helping matters.

Yamato glanced from one to the other, torn between wanting to strangle Taichi and continuing to press Sora. Surprisingly, he turned back to her fairly quickly though.

"Stop looking at me like that."

But they'd both returned looking at her again. Taichi was hopeful and expectant; Yamato, grim and desperate. Each of them waited for her to respond.

Sora sighed in defeat.

Fifteen minutes, a lot more bickering and two lectures full of (un)helpful advice later, the trio marched out of Taichi's room and into the lounge where Hikari and Takeru were waiting for them.

Curiously, both the younger siblings were sitting on opposite ends of the couch as far away from each other as possible. They were looking down at the floor with their faces bright red.

Sora cleared her throat to try and get their attention.

Before she could say anything, a small chuckle from the kitchen distracted her.

Yuuko was stirring something in a huge pot. The smell wafting from the stove was an early indication of how inedible the meal was destined to be. She raised her eyes to meet Sora's, her amusement clearly evident.

"Mom," Taichi said in a strangely strangled voice. "Please don't tell me that–"

"You do know that we could hear every word from out here, right?"