Sora looked up at him, laughing at some private joke. She circled her arms around his neck and whispered something in his ear. Then she leaned forward and kissed him.
Tai awoke with a start. The rest of his friends were sleeping peacefully. Why shouldn't they be? Tai thought. It's not like they're having weird dreams about their best friends. Tai sat up, careful not to disturb Agumon, his Digimon friend. He stretched, then looked around again. His gaze fell upon Sora and lingered. The pale moonlight washed over her, making her seem vulnerable somehow. She looks like an angel. My angel. What?! No! Sora's just a friend. Think about something else, Tai. Like figuring out how to defeat Myotismon. This train of thought worked as a distraction, allowing Tai to fall back asleep.
Tai's strong arms held her close. She looked into his deep brown eyes; laughed at something she had thought and circled her arms around his neck. She whispered something into his ear, closed her eyes, leaned forward and kissed him.
"Huh?" Sora sat straight up. Biyomon, her Digimon companion, shifted and woke up. "What is it, Sora?" The small pink Digimon asked.
"It was just a bad dream, Biyomon. Go back to sleep." Sora answered, forcing a smile. Actually it wasn't that bad...Stop that! Biyomon snuggled closer to Sora and quickly returned to her slumber. Sora glanced around at her friends to see if any of them had heard her and Biyomon. It would be a shame to wake them up over a meaningless dream. Meaningless...yeah, it was just a dream after all. I've heard that dreams are just really random. Nothing to get excited about. No reason to panic and get everyone up for. Her eyes wandered over to Tai. Especially not him. He's so cute when he's sleeping. Did I just think that? No, that was probably just a remnant from that dream. She lay down and went back to sleep.
Tai thought that he would have forgotten about the dream by morning, but he was wrong. Oh great, just what I need. Now I just act normal, when I shouldn't have to be acting. What was it about that dream? Why am I so...so frightened by it? It was just a dream, after all.
"Hey, Tai, what's the matter?" Agumon interrupted his thoughts. The yellow lizard Digimon's brows were furrowed and he looked worried.
"Huh? What?" Tai snapped out of his brooding and looked at his friend. "What do you mean, what's the matter?"
"I've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes. So what's wrong?" Agumon said.
"Oh, sorry little guy. I was just wondering about the next time we meet up with Myotismon. Four of you have already digivolved up to the ultimate level, but is that enough?" Tai said something that wouldn't embarrass him and that Agumon would believe.
"Don't worry Tai. We'll beat him. After all, you're the Digi-destined."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Tai put on a face of mock disgust. Agumon laughed. Joe walked over, followed by Gomamon. "So Tai, what do we do today?"
Tai scrunched up his face. "I don't know. I'll ask computer boy over there." he said, gesturing to Izzy. Izzy was doing nothing to prevent such a title, as he was furiously typing away on his laptop. Tentomon hovered nearby, occasionally asking questions. Tai got up and walked over to Izzy. "What are you doing?"
"I am currently attempting to further determine the exact connection between this world and our own." Izzy replied without looking up.
"He's been at it since he got up this morning. Very unhealthy if you ask me." Tentomon added.
"OK, that made pretty much no sense to me. Well, you're the genius, Izzy. What do you think we should do?"
Izzy actually stopped typing. "Well, since you asked my opinion, I suggest we take the next several days to find a good food source and recover from our battles."
Tai looked down at the younger boy. "Sounds good to me. I think we all need a break. And some decent food."
Tai presented Izzy's idea to the rest of the group, who readily agreed. They set off after a brief breakfast in search of a lake or river, where there was likely to be food. Tai led with Agumon, followed by Matt, Gabumon, TK, and Patamon. Mimi was next, complaining loudly to Joe, Palmon and Gomamon about how she needed her beauty sleep. Izzy and the hovering Tentomon followed them and Sora and Biyomon brought up the rear. Tai kept looking back over his shoulder until Matt told him to chill.
"What's up with you anyway?" was the delicate way Matt chose to phrase it. "You keep looking back here like you're being followed by Myotismon or something."
"I just have this feeling someone's watching me." Tai lied, praying he didn't blush. He was really looking back to check on Sora. Oh yeah, great job of acting normal idiot. Why am I looking back to her anyway? She's a friend. That's all.
When Tai told Matt he felt someone staring at him, Sora quickly lowered her head and acted very interested in the pebbles she was kicking so that no one would see her blushing. Oh geez. Why was I staring at him so intently anyway? I guess that dream affected me more than I thought. But Tai is just a friend, NOTHING more. But a small voice in the back of her mind told her otherwise. She pushed the small voice even farther back and moved forward to defend Tai. "Break it up, you two. Can you really blame Tai for being paranoid after everything that's happened?"
Tai turned away so that he wouldn't have to look at Sora. Matt shrugged at Sora's comment. "I guess not. But he's making me paranoid too."
"Sorry, can't help it." Tai mumbled, still not looking at Sora. Sora returned to the back of the line and the procession started once more. Sora was lost in thought as she numbly moved forward. Tai…He wouldn't look at me. Why? Am I projecting something left over from that dream? No…that can't be it. He's probably just embarrassed that a girl had to stick up for him. Yeah, that's probably it. I hurt his fragile male ego. Oh…pain…from my…heart? Why, because I might have hurt Tai's ego? Argh! This is not happening to me; Tai is just a good friend!
Tai walked forward automatically as he thought about what had happened. Why did it have to be Sora to break up the argument? Yeah, I mean, it's normally her, but why couldn't it have been Izzy, or Joe, or even Mimi this time? She had to notice that I didn't look at her. She probably thinks I'm a jerk for not even looking at her when she was trying to help me.
"Hey, Tai?" A small voice from behind caused Tai to break away from his thoughts and turn around.
"Yeah, TK?"
"Can we take a break? I'm a little tired." He admitted, although he looked more to the point of exhaustion.
Tai nodded. "Sure. Okay guys, take five." Appreciative sounds came from the rest of the group. Tai sat down on a large rock, more than ready to give his feet a break. A twig snapped behind him. He turned to see who it was. Sora stood there, like a little kid caught doing something wrong. "Uh, Tai? Don't worry, I know what's going on."
Tai's mind froze. She…knows? She knows? Oh man…
"I know you were embarrassed that a girl had to stand up for you, but you didn't seem to be able to get what you were thinking out." Geez, this sounds really lame. Please, whatever powers that be, don't let me blush or do something stupid like that, because that would signal that I like him as more than a friend. Which I don't. He is just a friend.
That's the reason she thinks I couldn't look at her? A wave of relief washed over Tai. That's good. I don't want her to think I like her or anything, just because some dream is throwing me off. I should probably say something to acknowledge her. "Thanks, I'm glad you didn't hold it against me."
"Hey, what are friends for?" Sora raised her head, a genuine smile on her face. It caught Tai off guard. Oh, wow, she's really beautiful when she smiles like that.
Sora stared into Tai's eyes. Whoa, I never noticed Tai is actually kind of cute.
"Yeah, what are friends for?" Tai said with nervous laughter after a moment. Friends…just friends. Sora is just a friend. Of course I'm going to notice when she looks good; I'm not a guy for no reason.
"I just wanted to let you know I understood. I'm going to go see if Mimi has stopped complaining yet." Sora turned around and left the way she had come. What was with me? Did the dream throw me off that much?