Leaving
By: Kazzma
Leaving"TK! Tai! Anyone! ," Mat shouted. Sora picked up TK. "We're going to find Mat, I know we will," Sora told TK reassuringly. "TK," they heard Mat yelling in the distance. "Over here! ," TK yelled. Then Sora blacked out.
'Where? How?' were the first things that ran through Sora's mind when she awoke. Her eyes fluttered open. "She's awake! Mat, she's awake," TK yelled excitedly. "You've been out for at least three hours. It's about time," Mat smiled. Sora sat up. "Yeah it's too bad these things don't have clocks on them," Sora said, picking up her digivice. "I'm so glad you're okay Sora, I was so worried," TK said and hugged her. Sora hugged him back. Mat handed her a cup of something.
"You never cease to amaze me. You can always cook something good, anywhere," Sora said and drank it. "I'm tired, Sora," TK said. The cave was rocky and she figured there was only one way to keep him from getting hurt. Sora slid off her yellow tank-top, leaving just the white one, and laid it down on the floor. She put her arms loosely around his neck and sang softly to him as he fell asleep.
"Are they true?" Mat asked, whispering. "What?" Sora asked him. "The rumors that went around camp that you and Tai liked each other," Mat explained. "Heck no. He's a friend, a good friend who has treated me nicely, that's all," Sora said. "Oh," Mat said, and they both went to sleep.
In the morning, TK was still asleep when Sora woke up. Mat was trying to restart the fire. Sora gently laid down TK's head on the ground. "Let me get that for you," Sora said walking over to the fire "pit." She pulled to shiny rocks from the floor and sparks began to fly, pretty soon a fire was blazing.
"Whoa! Where'd you learn to do that?" Mat asked.
"My mom taught me that, once, when we were camping and we forgot the matches and lighter."
"I wonder where everyone else is?" TK asked when he woke up.
"How come this stupid thing won't work!" Mimi shouted as she threw the lighter on the ground. Tai picked it up and flicked something. "Now try it," he said, handing it back to her. She flicked the switch and lit some twigs and logs on fire. "What was wrong with it?" Mimi asked. "The child lock was on," Tai explained. "Oh," Mimi blushed.
Joe and Izzy woke up to the sound of the lighter flicking.
"Hmm, that's odd. I didn't know that a storm could be so intense. Hey, where are TK, Mat, and Sora?" Izzy said.
"We can't find the others, but we've got the lighter," Tai said.
"It's so cold," TK shivered.
"We'll find the others soon, and look! There's the hot springs. We can stop here, and get in," Sora suggested. They turned separate ways until they were in the hot springs. Matt stared at Sora's profile. She had her head thrown back with her eyes closed. Her hair was wet and wasn't spiky anymore. TK splashed some water at him to get his attention. "Watch this," he said as he dived under the water. Matt smiled at TK.
Sora looked as if she were listening to something in the distance. "Sora, what are you listening to?" TK asked.
She put her finger up to her lips as she smiled. They heard voices off in the distance. "That's Biyomon!" she almost yelled.
"Biyomon! Biyomon!" she called almost jumping out of the hot springs.
They heard the patter of feet coming toward them. "Sora! TK! Matt!" Biyomon called excitedly as soon as they came into view. Sora relaxed into the water. Finally she wasn't so tense.
"Let me get this straight, in the storm you were separated from the others?" Matt questioned the digimon.
"Yeah, that's how it happened. ," The digimon all nodded in agreement. Biyomon looked over at Sora. She seemed quiet and distant. "I'm going for a walk," she announced and left the dimly-lit clearing in the forest. She walked a while through the trees before stopping to sit on a cliff by the ocean.
She looked over the calm sea and threw a rock as far as she could. It glided through the air until landing with a splash in the blue water. She didn't realize how long she'd been gone. Thinking. That's what she had been doing. Thinking. She heard footsteps coming toward her, but just sat still.
Matt stopped running when he saw Sora. Her hair hung down just below her shoulders, and she wasn't wearing her hat. She sat on the side of a cliff, her legs dangling down.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hi," she said, turning around to face him. He helped her up, and they stood there, facing each other. Their faces leaned in, and they kissed.
"Can we stop now?" Joe complained.
"Look up ahead. There's Matt, and Sora. They're . . . " Tai dropped of in mid-sentence.
"Kissing," Mimi finished. They could only see silhouettes in the twilight, but all four of them could see it quite plainly. They were kissing. "That is highly unlikely," Izzy commented and squinted. But he knew, just as the rest, they were actually kissing.
They followed the two from a safe distance back to camp, and acted like they were still looking for them.
"Sora," Matt whispered when they thought the others were asleep. "Hmmm?"
"Come on," Matt said and pulled her out of her sleeping bag. Tai was still awake and followed them.
"What about Tai?" Matt asked as he and Sora sat down on the cliff. "What?" she asked lying her head on his shoulder.
"I always thought you had a "thing" for Tai," Matt said.
"No, no, no. He's always been just a friend," she explained. They leaned in for a kiss, or two, or some more. Tai returned to camp and fell asleep. In the morning he felt like a zombie. 'Just a friend'. Her words echoed through his mind. He had actually had kind of a crush on her. And now look, she was with his new best friend.
Matt and Sora never even showed the simplest sign of what had happened between them. But the only ones who didn't know were TK and the digimon. Much good it did hiding it from them. Tai was so angered that he decided to tell them.
Tai found the opportunity when Sora and Matt went out for a walk. He gathered TK and the digimon.
"You guys, I have something to tell you," he said in a hushed voice. They all looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Matt and Sora are in love." The group laughed. Tai turned around and started walking in the direction Matt and Sora had left. He turned and gave them the 'come on' signal. They followed out to the outer edge of the woods. They all looked at the sight before them. Matt and Sora kissing.
TK burst out of the forest crying. "Is it true?" TK cried. Sora pulled away from Matt, alarmed. "Is what true?" Sora said kneeling on the ground to face TK. "Are you and my brother, in love?" Sora smiled faintly and looked up towards Matt. He nodded, a little shyly and his face turned red.
He'd never let anyone close to him, in that way. "Does everyone know?" Matt asked Tai, as soon as he saw Tai's figure in the trees. "Yes," Tai answered. Matt could only guess what had happened.
"Why!?" Matt demanded angrily.
"Because! Because of something Sora said." She turned around.
"Hmmm?"
"She said that, that I was just a friend. And there you guys were, kissing. Something I'll probably never do. Especially if we stay stuck in this world."
Sora walked toward Tai. "Tai, I. . . I'm sorry. I'm sorry for hurting your feelings," she said reaching for his hair. She brushed it back, out of his face.
"But when two people have strong emotions, sometimes they can't hold them back. I guess I'd been trying to hold back my feelings for Matt so long that I. . ." Sora couldn't finish.
"Snapped. I know the feeling. And I guess, I can't hold this back," Tai said and stole a quick kiss from Sora. She looked at him in awe, wondering how this had happened so fast. She ran away, into the darkness.
"Don't just stand there Matt! Go after her!" Tai yelled.
"Let her go. She needs time to figure all this out. You do realize how quickly this has happened?" Matt asked, watching Sora disappear. Tai nodded. Sora kept running.
She came to a stop on another cliff. She took a peek over it at the water. The deep blue water, crashing gently over the gleaming silver rocks. The shallowness at first, then it grew deeper and deeper. Like her emotions. She always thought of herself as shallow, but now she was discovering that she was very deep.
Why couldn't she just be home? Safe and happy with her family. Instead, instead of out here. In this 'digital world' with the people she knew. This world full of unmasked evil and hatred. Right now she hated her own self. But why? Why was she here? Who should she be with? Tai, sweet naive Tai, or Matt, the courageous one. Tai had someone whom he loved, and loved him. Or did everyone just pretend to think he was so great? But Matt, all he had was TK, and that was the only one he ever smiled at. Until now. Everything came crashing down into those two words. Until now.
She had known everything about herself, until now. Who was she? Why was she here? Why did she need to feel Matt's arms around her again? Why was it so easy to fall in love? She sighed, sorting everything out. She didn't want to break Tai's heart again, but she had a strong yearning for Matt. She wanted to be kissed, to feel his arms around herself, to just plain be with him. She laid down, and fell asleep.
Matt climbed out of his sleeping bag to go find her. He took her neatly rolled sleeping bag along with him. Eventually, he found her lying in a peaceful sleep. The moon shone down and lit her face just so that she looked angelic. He gently placed her in her sleeping bag and carried her back to camp.
When she woke up, she was surprised to see that she was back at camp. She gave Matt a look of confusion, to which he smiled and nodded. This whole relationship thing reminded her of trashy soap opera's her mom used to watch. She was still very confused but decided to accept what was happening.
Considering that everyone already knew, Matt walked over to Sora and gently placed a kiss on her cheek. Mimi looked as if she was surprised. Then giggled in spite of herself. Tai bit his lower lip, from jealousy. And Sora, well she didn't know what to think. She got up, rolled her sleeping bag, and put on her waist pouch.
They were walking, all in silence. Except for the digimon. They didn't know anything about this whole human emotion called love. 'What is love, anyway?' Sora asked herself. She then noticed that TK hadn't spoken to her all morning.
"TK, are you mad at me?" She asked, breaking the string of silence. He didn't answer. He didn't even look at her. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. Without warning, she purposely fell to the ground, landing in a sitting "W" position.
Tears started leaking from her eyes, her lips quivered. "Please Sora, don't cry," Tai said, keeling by her side. He put a warm arm around her shoulders. She turned her head and cried into her shoulder.
Matt's eyes grew wide at her display of affection toward him. He was tempted to yell. To scare Tai away. But then he realized how selfish he was being. Sora was her own person, and he couldn't tell her who to love.
"Does this mean Sora doesn't. . . ." TK asked his older half-brother.
"It doesn't mean anything," he said, not even looking at TK.
The thought of Sora loving someone made TK confused. He had always thought of her as the older-sister type. Meanwhile, Tai put his arms around Sora, stroking her hair.
"Everything is all right Sora. Everything's fine," he comforted her.
Later Matt, Tai, and Sora were sitting on a ledge, looking at the sunset. The sun was just a tiny sliver of light beyond the horizon. Sora hadn't said a word, Tai and Matt just talked.
"A cabin, on the beach," Sora said, breaking her silence.
"Huh?" the boys asked puzzled.
"My family had a cabin on the beach. Every night we were on vacation, I would go and sit on the nose of the boat and watch the sun go down. The ocean would become choppy, and the nose of the boat went up and down. And sometimes water would splash up to my knees."
"You miss home?" Matt asked.
"Well, clearly she does," Tai remarked. Sora got up and started walking towards the firelight in the distance. She sensed Tai and Matt get up to follow her. "Stay here and talk. Sort things out for yourselves," she said and started walking again.
"What is there to talk about?" Matt asked, looking out at the horizon.
"Sora," Tai said.
"She needs time, Tai. I'm not going to make any moves, and if she does I'll just follow her lead."
"I'll do the same."
The next morning Sora became herself again. Laughing and playing with TK, cracking air-head jokes at Tai, worrying about everyone but herself. Tai and Matt were glad to see her like that again.
"Sora, are you still in love with my brother?" TK asked. The question caught her off guard. "I'm not really sure," she replied. There was only truth in that. They kept on walking. Nothing evil had really happened lately. But why? Sora then realized that the normally dark castle was gone. She remembered, blacking out in the snowstorm. Maybe that's what had happened. Her hair swayed a little in the gentle breeze. The yellow colored grass was stale under her feet. And she felt complete.
Even without Matt's kisses on her lips, or Tai's arms around her, she felt complete. She then realized she wasn't really interested in a relationship right then. Her friends were around her. She knew that she was happy just being herself.
After taking a moment to think about this, she ran to catch up with the rest of her friends. Maybe, someday they'd make it home. Maybe that someday would be when she wanted love, or a fling, or whatever it was. But for right then, she had learned what she wanted. And she just wanted to be her own, independent self. And so she was.