I posted this once and after an anonymous reviewer gave me a good suggestion, I decided I should try and make this better. So I took it down and rewrote it.
Disclaimer – Disney owns Digimon.
A/N – "Thoughts" , This is set in the fall after 02 ended.
Tai sat in the school library agonizing over his math homework. "Who the hell cares what x equals?" he swore to himself as he flipped his pencil onto the table and leaned back. Hearing a girl giggling, he turned around and saw a girl with shoulder length brown hair and wearing glasses watching him.
The girl blushed when she realized he caught her. "I'm sorry," she said as she tried to stop laughing.
Tai looked at her for a moment, recognizing her but not being able to place the face. "You're Yolie's sister right?"
"Yea, Chizuru," she said as she slowly walked over and trying to keep the stupid grin off of her face. Glancing at the open text book in front of Tai, "I'm taking algebra too. Umm, do you want some help?"
"Sure, I'll take all the help I can get. I have to get a C on my test tomorrow in order to keep my eligibility for soccer."
Chizuru grinned slightly as she sat down next to him.
After working together for about a hour, Tai need a break as the words and numbers on the pages were starting to blur. Leaning back in his chair, Tai ran a hand through his wild hair. Closing his eyes, he arched his stiff back and heard it crack.
Opening his eyes as he sat back up straight, he glanced over at Chizuru and caught her watching him as she bit her lip a little.
Realizing he was looking back at her, she quickly looked away, trying to hide her blush. Tai chuckled to himself, "She's kinda cute when she blushes like that."
"Can I ask you something?" Chizuru turned to him and nodded. "Why do you wear glasses and not contacts?" Tai asked her.
Chizuru self-consciously touched her glasses. "I tried them once but the contacts really irritated my eyes. Plus, I didn't want to be bothered waking up early and jabbing myself in the eye. So I decide to just wear glasses." "Now he's gonna think I'm a complete dork." "Why?" she asked as she touched her glasses again.
Tai just shrugged, "I was just curious. I think you look better with them anyway."
Chizuru blushed even more and smiled a little. "Th…Thanks. Uh, we should get back to work," she said pointing to the book.
When Tai groaned, she rolled her eyes. "Come on I promise I won't kill you and it'll only hurt a little." she teased.
Tai snickered and for a moment, they grinned at each other. "Ok but I'm holding you to your promise."
She laughed a little at his antics but they quickly got back to studying.
-The Next Day-
It was after school and Tai was rushing towards the classroom where his math teacher was grading the tests. "Mr. Teconagi," he said as he walked into the classroom.
The older man looked up from his desk, "Ah, Mr. Kamiya. I did your test first," he said as he handed Tai his test face down.
Slowly turning it over, he saw a red 85 at the top of it and almost fell over.
"Congratulations Mr. Kamiya. I'm very impressed with your improvement, I knew you were smarter than you let on."
Tai grinned sheepishly "Thanks Mr. Teconagi."
Once he was out in the hall, he pumped his fist, "Yes!" Tai quickly walked down the halls, searching for Chizuru. When they were leaving yesterday, she had casually mentioned that she'd be staying after school again today. He wanted to thank her and show her the test.
During his search, he came across Yolie, who was now in High School, and Izzy walking towards him. "Yolie!"
"Hey Tai. What's up?" the lavender haired girl asked.
"Do you know where Chizuru is?" he asked as he jogged up to them.
She looked at him puzzled, wondering why he was looking for her sister. "Yea. She's in the computer lab, we just left her. Why?"
"I wanna tell her something. Thanks." With that he took off towards the computer labs.
"Did he just ask you where your sister was?" Izzy asked her confused and a little surprised.
"Yea, strange." Yolie just shrugged and smiled at Izzy, "Come on, I still want that soda you owe me." Izzy shook his head as Yolie practically dragged him towards the main doors of the school.
Tai quickly jogged towards the computer labs but when he reached them, no one was in either lab. "Yolie said she'd be here. Maybe I missed her." Just as he said it, someone suddenly tapped his shoulder. Tai jumped in surprise and spun around.
"Are you always this jumpy?" Chizuru asked him with a grin, not being able to hide her amusement. Tai gave her an annoyed look that only made her laugh. "Who are you looking for?" A small part of her wished that he was looking for her.
Tai looked confused for a moment, then his thoughts reorganized and remembered the test in his hand. "You."
Chizuru's mouth went dry and her cheeks started to redden. Tai grinned a little and chuckled, "I was going to thank you for your help," he showed her his test, "but now, I'm not so sure," he teased.
"Oh really," she answered with a fake pout and took a step closer to him. "I think it's only fair you give me something."
They were now only a few inches apart now and a few seconds of uneasiness past before Tai backed up a little and smiled nervously. The last time he had felt this uneasy around a girl was last Christmas with Sora and that didn't exactly go well for him.
He thought Chizuru was cute, and defiantly smart, but he was a little reserved against opening himself up again like that. Letting out a shaky breath, he ran a hand through his hair. "But there's something about her. I can't explain it."
Chizuru was a little disappointed that Tai backed up. She had a huge crush on him; actually half the school had a crush on him as well. Tai was the star of the junior varsity soccer team, he was funny, charming, and cute.
She constantly heard Momoe, her older sister, and Jun talking about Matt; how cute he was, how talented he was. But she was far more interested in the wild haired, soccer star.
Tai saying her name interrupted her thoughts. "Chizuru." She quickly looked at him. "I was gonna watch the Tokyo football (soccer) game tonight and I was wondering if you wanted to watch it with me?" he asked her.
Chizuru just stared at him in disbelief, she couldn't believe what he just asked.
"My parents are taking my sister to our grandparents for the weekend and I have nothing to do till practice tomorrow afternoon."
"You're asking me to hang out with you?" Her head was spinning at the thought of them spending time alone together. "Pull yourself together girl. He's just asking you to hangout, its not like he asked you out on a real date."
Tai nodded. "I owe you, plus its no fun watching it by myself. So?"
"I gotta ask my parents but yea," she answered a little too enthusiastically.
Tai couldn't help but snicker, "I'll get a pizza or something. Come over about seven. You know where my apartment building is right?"
"Yea."
"Cool. See ya tonight," Tai said as he started to walk away.
"Bye." She watched him leave and then leaned against the lockers, sighing happily. Looking up at the clock in the hallway, "Damn, it's already three. I only got four hours to find something to wear." She ran out of the school and headed towards her apartment complex.
-That Night-
Chizuru stood in front of the Kamiya's apartment door and quickly looked herself over. She had decided on a pair of black jeans, sandals, and a plain red t-shirt. Nervously, she reached out and rang the doorbell.
After what felt like an eternity, Tai answered the door. She noticed he was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants with Odaiba in white printed down the left leg, grey socks, and a blue sleeveless t-shirt. "I feel a little underdressed," Tai said as he looked at her with a grin as he checked out what she was wearing. But she wasn't listening, instead she was looking at his toned arms.
Embarrassed, she shook her head, trying to clear her head. "It's alright, you look good," she blushed a deep red, "Not that you looked ugly before, I mean you always look good, uh…"
Tai smiled and laughed, "Thanks for the compliment, I think. Come in, the game's about to start." She walked in and Tai closed the door behind them. "I didn't know what you liked, so I just got plain." he flipped open the lid to the pizza box. "You want a soda?"
"Sure," she said quickly as she felt her mouth going dry again. As he walked into the kitchen and to the fridge, Chizuru closed her eyes and taking a deep breath, tried to calm herself down. "Stop acting like an idiot."
Tai walked into the kitchen area for a minute and came back with two cans of soda. He paused for a moment on the edge of the kitchen and watched her with a grin. "She looks like she's gonna hyperventilate. I wonder what's going through her head, she's blushing like every five seconds."
Just as Chizuru opened her eyes, Tai walked back into the living room. As he handed her a soda, "She does look pretty though." As soon as he thought it, he quickly tried to push the thought aside.
Sitting down on opposite ends of the couch, Tai turned on the tv. Unknown to the other, both were trying to ignore the awkward tension building between them and just watch the game.
For the next half an hour, Chizuru tried to follow the game but couldn't understand most of it, other than when they scored.
Looking at her out of the corner of his eye; he couldn't help but grin as he watched her face scrunch up a little as she tried to understand what was going on. "Confused yet?" Tai asked her.
"I think we're past confused." she tried to joke as she looked back at him. Chizuru was relieved and happy when Tai laughed at it.
"Want me to explain some of it?" Nodding, they moved from the ends of the couch, where they had been sitting, and got closer in the middle. Tai laid his arm on the back of the couch behind her. Even though she was watching him talk, she wasn't hearing the words he was saying. Instead she was thinking how cute he looked, then without thinking, she leaned in and lightly kissed him.
She pulled back and was embarrassed as she saw Tai's shocked expression. "I'm sorry. I'll leave now," she whispered and tried to get up to run out the door but Tai stopped her.
"Wait." Tai said as he quickly grabbed one of her wrists.
Chizuru lowered her head, "I'm sorry. I should know there's no way you'd like a dork like me like that." she mumbled.
"Dork?" "Chizuru," Tai said as he stood up. Looking at her for a moment, "You're not a dork," he told her.
Sitting back down, he gently pulled Chizuru back down onto the couch next to him. "You're not a dork," he repeated to her, "You're nice, funny, and a freakin genius if you can get me to pass math." he told her with a smile. After pausing for a moment, Tai took a deep breath, "And you're very pretty."
Chizuru smiled shyly, "Thanks Taichi."
"Call me Tai. I'm only called Taichi when someone's mad at me," he said with a laugh.
"Ok, Tai," she said while laughing too.
After a few minutes of watching more of the game, Tai slowly looked over at her. "I can't keep living in the past. Maybe it is time to move on. Chizuru's nice, very cute, and she seems to actually like me." Gordo took a deep breath, "Waiting is what killed you the last time Kamiya. Make a move!"
"Umm…I was gonna go to the Tokyo Yokohama game next weekend with my dad but he had to back out cause he as to work overtime." He paused as he was suddenly uncharacteristically unsure of himself. "Since I now have an extra ticket, I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?" he finally asked.
Chizuru tried to keep the smile off her face. "You…You mean, kinda of like a date?"
Tai grinned sheepishly, "Yea."
"Yes!" she practically shouted a little too excitedly. She cringed and looked quickly at the coffee table as her face went bright red. Trying to recover, "I mean yea, sounds like fun." she said in a voice as close to her normal one as she could get.
Tai laughed softly at her reaction. For the first time in a long time, he had completely forgotten about Sora and was only thinking about the brunette sitting next to him.
Turning their attention back to the game; Chizuru tried her best to keep up with what was happening, with Tai's help of course.
After the game ended and they cleaned up a little, Tai and Chizuru were standing outside the apartment in the hallway. "Thanks. I still have no idea what they were doing but I had fun."
Tai snickered, "It's the least I can do for the girl who kept Odaiba High's star soccer player on the team," he said sarcastically.
"A little full of yourself?" Chizuru teased as a smile formed on her face. She was slowly feeling more comfortable around him and more confident.
"Nah. Its all talent." Tai said with a laugh. "So, uh, the game is Saturday night at like seven. So I'll pick you up, say, about five?"
"Sounds good," she answered. For a few minutes, they stood in an awkward silence, neither really sure what to say next. Slowly turning towards the elevator, "Well, I guess I better go. Bye Tai." she said.
"Chizuru wait," he called just as she started walking away.
A small chill ran up her spine as she heard him call her name. Stopping and slowly turning around, she watched Tai walk up to her.
"I just wanted to tell you that I liked hanging out with you and I had fun tonight too." Than before she could say anything or he could really think about it, Tai leaned in and gave her a small kiss. Pulling back, "Night," he said, his voice a little hoarse.
For a moment, Chizuru just stood there shocked with a goofy smile plastered across her face. Slowly coming to, she watched Tai glance over his shoulder at her with a small smile of his own, right before he walked back inside. Turning and walking towards the elevator, the smile stayed cemented on her face as she started to count down how long it was until next Saturday.