Stay Tuned As Life Continues

A week had passed since Ken’s visit with Yamato. It was a week filled with heart strings being pulled every which way with every thought that Yamato had. Understandably Yamato’s heart didn’t want to be separated from the one it longed so much to be with, but Yamato’s brain was telling him that Takeru would be better off without him. Torn between the two, Yamato had been thinking on the issue, but after that week he was still sitting on the fence. That was until a phone call late one morning pushed him to a side.

Yamato’s cell phone ringtone went off. Yamato looked at the clock, wondering who would be calling him at that time of day. He picked up his cell phone and saw the picture of the culprit, Hikari. ‘Incoming Call: Hikari’

Yamato picked up the phone, “Don’t you have class right now?”

“No, this is my lunch period. I just was able to convince my teacher to let me go to it a little earlier than the others.” Hikari said innocently.

“I don’t know how you do it Hikari. I was never able to get a teacher to let me out early, I always just had to sneak out.” Yamato said.

“That’s because you and my brother were trouble makers and slackers, where as I am innocent and the class vice-president.” Hikari admitted.

“You mean, If Taichi and I actually went to class and did our homework we would have been teacher would have just allowed to skip class?” Yamato asked.

Hikari giggled, “It doesn’t really work that way.” She paused and started talking excitedly, “Anyways Yamato, the reason I’m calling you is that I have some great news.”

“Listen, If you just aced a test and your calling to show off, the better people to talk to would be Jyou or Koushiro.” Yamato said.

“You really are dense aren’t you?” Hikari asked with a sigh.

Yamato stared off into space, {I know I can be dense sometimes, but what does that have to do with Hikari skipping class?}

“I would typically make you guess what it is, but I know you really want to know this, so here it goes.” Hikari took a deep breath and quickly blurted out. “Takeruisbackatschool.”

Yamato raised an eyebrow, “What was that? You spoke to fast, you need to slow down.”

“Takeru is back at school.” Hikari said normally.

Several emotions ran through Yamato. “Why? How? When? How is he?”

“I don’t know much but he was in my second class, and this is his first day back.
And I have no idea how he was able to come back.” Said Hikari.

“How is he Hikari?” Yamato asked more urgently.

“I didn’t really recognize him at the first glace. His uniform is barely within the limits for bagginess, and his hair is pretty short, and without his hat it’s even harder to recognize him. He hasn’t talked to me yet but that’s because Miyako kept him away from me.” Told Hikari.

Yamato was stunned,“ Your joking me.”

“I wish I was. Miyako has him in a totally different crowd than he used to be in, and he’s going along with it.” Hikari was not longer able to keep the emotions from coming out, “She’s making me so angry Yamato. Coming back to school was supposed to help him come back, not push him deeper into this new life of his. And what Miyako is doing isn’t helping any.”

There was silence coming from Yamato.

“Hello….Yamato? Are you still there?” Hikari asked.

“Sorry, I just don’t know what to say. I guess try and talk with him.”

“I’ve tried but Miyako won’t let…”

“TRY HARDER!” Yamato shouted. Yamato quickly realized that he had shouted when he didn’t mean to. “I’m sorry Hikari. I didn’t mean to shout.”

“It’s okay Yamato. I’ll try to talk to him again and let you know how everything goes.” Hikari said quietly.

“Thanks for letting me know Hikari.”

“No problem.” Hikari said before hanging up.

Yamato stared up at the ceiling. Perhaps there was reason to keep his hopes alive now after all, and the way he snapped at Hikari showed that he still had some emotion left invested in it all.

Weeks went pass and Hikari had filled Yamato in the best she could about what was going on at her school. She told him that Takeru had been fully pulled into one of the cooler groups in the school. How she could only talk with Takeru for a couple minutes a week. And that had stopped because the guys in Takeru’s new group of friends teased him about talking with her and now Takeru didn’t talk with her. Which was much to Miyako’s pleasure.

Hikari walked into the living room of her weekend residence, and found the blonde she was looking for curled up in his chair bookmarking recipes in a new cookbook. Hikari stopped and watched him for a moment, thinking how the best way to go about a conversation with him.

“Hey Yamato, will you do me a favor?” Hikari asked.

Yamato looked up from his cookbook “Trust me you don’t want me to write a paper for you.” Yamato then turned his attention back to the cookbook.

Hikari giggled, “It’s not that. I wanted to know if you would be a chaperon at a school dance in a week.”

Yamato kept his eyes in the book, “Don’t you think your brother would be a better choice. He’s better with people than me and he’s your brother after all.”

“I have, he’s going. I need one more.” Hikari said,

Yamato closed his book, “Don’t parents usually chaperon those things?”

Hikari nodded, “Yeah, but we had trouble getting parents to volunteer last time, so I thought that I would see if you would do it. Besides helping me, there is another reason why you should do it. I know some of Takeru’s friends are going, so chances are he will be there too.”

“I don’t know if I should Hikari, what if…”

“Everything will be fine Yamato. It will give you the chance to see your brother again. Besides, you’ll want to see him that night anyways.”

“Why’s that?” Yamato asked.

“It’ll be on his birthday.” Hikari said.

Yamato’s face lit up.

“November 6th, 8 pm at the high school’s gym. Don’t forget.” Hikari said with a large bright smile before going to her brother’s room to work on homework.

****

Yamato stared at the wide selection of caps in front of him. He knew none of them would work for the gift he intended to give Takeru.

“May I help you sir?” a young man around Yamato’s age asked. He was shorter than Yamato and his long black hair was pulled through the back of the cap he wore.

“Yeah where are the rest of your hats?” Yamato asked.

“This is all of the hats we have. We have over 200 kinds of hats to choose from.” The salesman said pointing to a wall filled with caps.

Yamato had grown annoyed hours earlier of salesmen, this was the third shop he had been to, and they all said the same thing. “No, you have one kind of hat. That is a baseball cap, that one kind of hat is in 200 colors and designs. I want to know if you have any other kinds of hats.”

The young salesman looked confused, like Yamato was speaking another language. “Uhhh….we have over 200….”

Yamato quickly turned and left the store before the urge to deck the idiotic salesman grew to dangerous levels.

****

Yamato handed Hikari a wrapped object. Hikari took the present and it was soft and it sagged in her hands. “Ummm Yamato?”

“It’s a hat….for Takeru. I get him one every year.” Yamato explained.

“Why are you giving it to me? You’re going to be seeing him tonight.” Said Hikari trying to hand the gift back to Yamato.

“ I know, but I can’t give it to him in person.” Yamato said.

“Why not Yamato?” asked Hikari.

“I just can’t okay. It’s all I can do to convince myself to actually go there.”

Hikari looked at the tall blonde in front of her, he looked shook up. “You’re really nervous about tonight aren’t you?”

Nervous didn’t begin to touch on what Yamato was feeling. His heart still ached over the last time he talked with his brother, he was also worried about who Takeru had become, and the dull pain in his arms reminded him that he still needed to iron one of his long sleeve shirts.

“How do you want me to give it to him? Want me to walk up to him and give it to him?” Hikari asked.

Yamato shook his head, “No put it in his locker. Don’t let him know it’s from me.” Hikari looked like she was going to object but Yamato stopped her, “Just do it for me please. I know you’ll find a way.”

Hikari sighed and ran out the door to catch the bus.

Before Yamato knew it, it was almost time for the dance to start. Taichi was standing next to him at the punch table, and within a ten minute stretch Taichi had already confiscated three flasks from students trying to spike the punch. Taichi was dressed in grey pants and a white short sleeved button up shirt. Yamato on the other hand wore a grey turtleneck shirt, with a light brown leather jacket and black pants. Both of them trying to look like the chaperons they were supposed to be, and perhaps in the darkness of the room their attire may fool someone for a second until they saw the youth still in their faces.

The gym was slightly decorated with streamers and balloons, the rest of the room was taken up by darkness. Various colored lights shown about the room moving and flashing as the songs went by, providing just enough light for Yamato to watch his brother and Taichi and a couple parents to watch the rest of the students.

When Takeru walked in with a few friends, they had started making their way to the punch bowl. However as he grew closer to the table, Takeru made eye contact with the blonde behind the bowl. Takeru quickly looked away and lead his friends on to the dance floor where they had been spending most of the night dancing away with girls that barely met the clothing percentage requirements.

As the night wore on however more and more of Takeru’s group wound break off and head to the darker parts of the room with a girl on their arm. Yamato watched how his brother walked, moved and danced. As well as the way he presented himself with his clothes and hair. If Yamato didn’t know every inch and bit of his brother so well he could have easily believed that the short haired blonde he had been watching all night was someone else. But as shocking as seeing his brother like this was, there was more to come.

Once again there was another slow song, and just like all the others, Takeru was holding a girl close to him. Too close. Yamato once again found himself fighting back the urge of barging out there onto the dance floor and breaking them up. He was jealous of the girl dancing with his lover, even if hadn’t been able to call him that in such a long time. Yamato’s heart also pained at the sight of them dancing so close, could it be called cheating if Takeru didn’t even know that they were together? Yamato had to look away, he knew if he kept watching them, that some skinny bitch was going to be snapped in two.

Yamato had just been able to close his eyes and get into the song, allowing himself to get away if not physically than mentally, when he heard some cheering from the dance floor. Yamato’s eyes shot open and quickly found what the cheers were about. Takeru had stopped dancing and had his girl pulled up even close to him, his tongue deeply probing her mouth. Yamato felt a deadness spread from his chest to the rest of his body.

From across the dance floor Hikari watched as Yamato walked across the room and out the doors, while her brother was making a beeline straight to Takeru. Hikari rushed over to her brother to make sure that he wouldn’t do anything he might regret, hoping that the issue could be resolved quickly so she could follow Yamato.

As Yamato hit the cold dark air outside, he didn’t notice as the coldness nipped at him. He felt so hurt, so alone, so dead inside, more than he ever had before. He continued walking to the bus station. He pulled his cell phone out and called someone he knew would help him on his mission to drink his pain away.

The phone rang a couple times, “Damn it Akira quit shooting me I’m on the phone!” Yutaka shouted from the other side of the line. “Hello?”

“Where are you at?” Yamato asked, his voice cold and full of hurt.

“Yamato? Is everything alright?” Yutaka asked, concern filled his voice.

“Where are you at?” Yamato repeated.

“At some LAN thing.” Yutaka asked, “Your turn, Is everything alright?”

“Can you meet me at our bar in ten minutes?” Yamato asked.

“That good of a day, huh? I’ll be there in a few.” Yutaka answered. He then heard Yamato hang up, just adding more to his worry about Yamato.

Yamato was already on his third shot and picking up his fourth when Yutaka ran up to him. “Sorry I’m late. When I told Akira and Koushiro why I had to leave they insisted that they come along. They’re out paying the taxi. What are we on?”

Yamato knocked back the shot in his hand, “Four.”

Yutaka raised four fingers to the bar tender that was busy refilling Yamato’s shot glass. Once the shots were lined up Yutaka sped through them. After the last one he allowed his face to contort, his throat was on fire and his eyes were watering. “All right I’m caught up, now spill.” Yutaka croaked out. He then signaled the bartender to refill his shot.

Yamato took his shot, with Yutaka following right after. That is when Akira and Koushiro found their way to them. Yamato’s eyes didn’t even water slightly before breaking out into full blown tears. “Takeru.”

“He’s okay isn’t he?” Akira asked.

“I don’t know. How about you ask the chick he was dancing with, that is if you can get his tongue out of her throat.” Yamato growled.

Yutaka flagged the bartender down and ordered more shots. “Fuck Yamato. You didn’t kill the girl did you?”

“I want to.”

“What happened?” Koushiro asked.

“I don’t want to talk about.” Yamato said taking another shot, “I just want to forget the whole night.”

The night rolled on and after a few more rounds of shots, Yamato’s friends were able to talk him away from the bar and the shots, to a table where they would instead drink beer.

“Damn it Koushiro, why did you come if you aren’t going to drink anything?” Yamato snapped.

“If drinking will make you happy, fine I’ll do it.” Koushiro answered back, he then got Yutaka’s attention at the bar and signaled that he wanted a drink.
Before long, Koushiro was well on his way to trying to catch up to the others. However since he hadn’t really drank much in his life as well as his light build, Koushiro was soon falling off his chair.

“Okay Koushiro, your done.” Yamato said grabbing the beer from in front of the red head.

“No, I’m…….fine I just…..”Koushri managed to say before zoning out.

“I’ll take him to my place, he can sleep it off there.” Yutaka said standing up.

“No, I can take him there.” Akira said starting to stand up.

Yutaka pushed his roommate back down, “No you won’t. Your still a shot and a beer behind, you better be caught up by the time I get back.” Yutaka then slightly stumbled over to Koushiro and shook his shoulders. “Hey Koushiro, Wake up. I’m taking you to my place, so you can sleep this off.”

Koushiro looked up at his friend, “Yutaka, you didn’t slip something in my drinks just so you could get me to your place did you?”

Yutaka was speechless as Yamato and Akira snickered.

Koushiro smiled at his friend, “Because if you did, that would be prodigious.”
Yutaka’s cheeks ran redder than they already were from all the alcohol he had consumed. He then helped up Koushiro and they stammered their way out the door.
With Yamato and Akira teasing them all the way.

Once they were alone Yamato turned to Akira, “Alright, I’m going to go get your drinks. Wait here.” Akira nodded.

Yamato walked up to the bar and looked back at his friend. He ordered a shot and a beer, and as he turned around to go deliver them an idea came to him. An idea that seemed to make perfect sense at the time, as most drunken schemes do. Instead of delivering the drinks, Yamato turned to woman standing next to him at the bar. “Excuse me miss, but would you do me a big favor?”

“I’m not going to sleep with you.” The woman said in response.

“It’s not that. I just need you to take these drinks to that guy over there and distract him while I leave.” Yamato said gesturing over to Akira.

The woman smiled slightly when she looked at Akira, “Sure, but what’s in it for me?”

Yamato pulled some money out of his pocket and handed it to her. The woman’s smile grew larger as she took the money and the drinks from Yamato and made her way to her mark. Once Yamato saw that Akira was fully enticed in the woman, he slipped out the door and into the cold night.

A couple hours, a few bars and several shots later Yamato made it to his apartment. He stumbled into the dark apartment. After partly stumbling/partly crawling his way to his room Yamato began to empty his pockets onto his dresser. When he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket he was barely able to read that he had several missed calls through his drunken haze. Before he could see who they were all from, his phone started to ring. He answered.

“He..o” Yamato spoke.

“Thank god! Yamato where are you?” Taichi asked.

“I’mathome.” Yamato slurred.

“You’ve been drinking haven’t you?” Taichi asked, but before Yamato could answer
Taichi continued, “It doesn’t matter. Stay there, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Yamato started to undress himself, he took off his jacket and socks and started on his pants when his phone went off again.

“He..o”

“About fucking time you answer your phone!” Yutaka shouted. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Idon’tknow.” Yamato slurred some more.

“You know how fucking worried I was? I come back from putting Koushiro to bed and I find that you’re gone and Akira is talking some girl out of her pants, and then she tells me that you paid her to do it so you could sneak out. So then I start looking for you, you know how many bars I searched? I even went to the hospital thinking you could be there. Not only that, I called your cell phone who knows how many fucking times, and you just now answer it. ”

Yamato had had enough of his friend’s lecture/rant and hung up. Yamato had just taken his pants off when his phone rang again.

“You hang up on me! Really? If I didn’t know you were going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow I would go over there and kick your ass.”

Yamato hung up the phone and turned the phone off. He really had had enough of his friends, of people, of everything. He just wanted to get away from it all. From his brother, his friends, his emotions, his thoughts. He pulled his shirt off and looked at his arms. Even through all the alcohol in his system he could feel throbbing in his arms. And that slight pain was all Yamato needed to realize the rest of him was in pain as well. Yamato felt himself sober up quite quickly. The pain in Yamato’s chest grew and grew, as memories of earlier that night came back to him. He found that you can only run from yourself for so long, as Yamato stared at his arms. Suddenly all the pain, anger, hate, sadness, regrets, sorrows, and frustrations that he had been suppressing flowed rapidly through him. “I FUCKING HATE YOU!” Yamato screamed as he tossed a book across the room. It made a rough landing against a mirror and shattered it into several pieces. Yamato continued to scream and toss things around his room until Taichi got home a few minutes later.

When Taichi came through the front door and heard a commotion from Yamato’s room he quickly made his way to his best friend’s room. Taichi looked at Yamato, he was mostly undressed and his hands were bloody from some cuts on them from various broken items around the room. Taichi ran up to his roommate and wrapped his arms around him, to keep him from doing any more harm to himself. Yamato began to sob heavily into Taichi’s shoulders. “Why didn’t you let me die Taichi? Why couldn’t you just let me die?” Taichi was greatly disturbed by his friends remarks, so he held his best friend until he settled down. Once Yamato was calm enough, Taichi left to get the first aid kit and by the time he returned Yamato was asleep. Taichi bandaged his friend the best he could. He then picked up as many broken items as he could find before leaving the room.

As Yamato slept, a few feet away laid his cell phone. And if the phone was on, lights would have flashed and a familiar tone would have rang, and the screen would have read, ‘Incoming Call: Takeru’
--------------
Author's Note: And that was Chapter 22! Yet another chapter I've been waiting on getting to. I hope it was clear and rather to the point. True painful heartache is kinda hard to portray I feel. As always Rate & Review.

Special Edition:
To: Kiba~~~~~~ YAY! you get another little section all to yourself, which you have clearly earned. I always look forward to reading what you have to say.I would have to say that my favorite digimon couple changes. It was Taichi/Yamato until I started writing this story. Another one, (and I think the only hetero pairing) I really enjoy is Hikari/Takeru. Other couples I like that are coming to mind are: Tai/Davis Davis/Ken. And to answer your other question........
SEMI-SPOILER: I'm hoping that Yamato and Takeru will actually get to talk in the next chapter, unless if I think of something really good to write instead.