Title: Time

Genre:Romance, Angst

By:Nikki (Chibi-Inu13)

Pairings:Taichi/Sora/Yamatto

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Digimon because if i did, Tai would've ended up with Sora and Matt with Mimi

---

Can you feel your heartbeat racing? Can you feel it, the thump, thump, thumpingof your heart against your chest –threatening to burst at any second now? How it beats harder, faster, louder –so loud in fact that the sound reaches your ears. Your pulse is racing, blood running quickly through your veins that you feel a little light-headed. You can hardly breathe –your breath coming out in short pants, through clenched teeth. You feel helpless, lost –lost to the torrid emotions brewing inside you. Fear, happiness, anger, joy, love, rejection…nervousness.

You're nervous, an odd feeling settling at the bottom of your stomach. You've never felt this way before, and it feels strange –leaving a bitter taste in the back of your throat. Pathetic really –you can save the world from huge, deadly and killer monsters and yet you can't gather up the courage to ask a girl to dance?

Grabbing a flute of champagne from a passing waiter, you gulp it down in one go, hoping that the alcohol would give you some courage. You lick your chapped lips and casually start walking towards her. Left, right, left –almost there –left, right, left –just a few more steps to go, you can do it –left, right left –have faith. You are just a few feet away from her when she looks directly at you, her crimson eyes piercing through yours –so you turn around and quickly head back towards your table.

Coward

You drop down into your chair with a defeated sigh, sparing one last wistful glance at Sora –who's currently talking to your sister. Why is this so difficult? You haven't been this nervous since that time when you threw up in her hat and forgot to tell her after she put it on –boy was she pissed after that. She's your friend –your best friend for god's sake. You've known her since you were a little kid so why is asking her such a simple thing so hard.

You see her laugh, a look of pure joy and happiness on her face, and you feel that familiar tug at your heart –that painful little ache you feel whenever she's around. It hurts, a lot, not being able to tell her how you really feel. Well, actually, you did once, but that backfired on you terribly. You remember it well, you were standing in front of her, wearing your heart on your sleeve as you asked her to go out with you. You asked her, your heartbeat racing, just like it is right now, hoping with all your heart that she would say yes. And you knew; you knew that if she said no, that you would die, die because it would hurt too much.

So you waited with baited breath, hoping, praying and waiting for her to answer. You were so sure she would say yes, so sure that when she said no, you didn't realize it until a few seconds after. You didn't realize it, even when you felt your heart breaking into a thousand pieces, or felt the icy cold feeling of sadness slowly creeping its way up your body. You were dying –well as close to dying as you can ever get. You couldn't breath, you couldn't speak and so you just stared at her, and tried to act normal while deep down all you wanted to do was scream. And as you watched her walk away from you, walking to him after promising to bake you some special cookies, you stood silently in the cold, hating yourself for ever feeling this way in the first place. Hated yourself for ever falling in love with your best friend.

You hated him for a while, hated him for taking her away form you. Hated him for being the one to kiss her, to hold her, to be the one that she loved. But then you realized that it was your own fault. It was your fault that she chose him and not you –you had waited too long. You had made her wait too long, and you knew that she couldn't wait for you forever. But you were afraid, afraid that if you overstepped that line –the one separating friendship and love –that you would some how lose her in the process. So you waited patiently, waited for one year, two years, three years until you were sure that she loved you back, that you wouldn't lose her. You knew she did, you could tell in the way she would look at you, the way that she spoke and acted towards you. You were sure that she loved you. But when you made your move, when you finally decided to tell her how you felt, it was already too late. She moved on, she got tired of waiting so she left you behind, left you to wallow in your loneliness. And it was your fault.

Coward

You close your eyes in pain, trying to keep your emotions in check, and rest your head against your folded arms. It hurt then and it still hurts now. She may have moved on but you couldn't –and you aren't sure if you ever will. Damn it…this is suppose to be a happy day, you remind yourself that right now is not the time to be feeling sorry for yourself. Today is suppose to be the day when your two best friends become man and wife and you're suppose to be happy –even if you're not.

You are so engrossed in your thoughts that you nearly topple out of your chair when you feel someone lightly tapping at your shoulder. Lifting your head up, you turn to look at the person who disturbed you and find yourself staring into a pair of concerned crimson eyes.

'Are you alright?' she asks worriedly.

'I'm…I'm fine,' you answer. 'Just a bit…tired.' You sigh and pinch the bridge of your nose. 'It's a bit loud in here don't you think?'

'Yeah it is.' she squats down and peers into your eyes. 'Are you sure you're all right? You look a bit…'

Sad? Angry? Heartbroken? Of course you do, because that's exactly how you're feeling right now.

'…Off.'

You turn your head away, unable to look at her straight in the eyes anymore –it hurts too much. 'I'm fine, I'm just…tired.'

She gently takes a hold of your hand. You look down at her hand entwined with yours and swallow nervously. You look up slowly until you're eyes meet her –a small smile at her lips. 'Are you too tired to dance with me?'

Your breath gets caught in your throat in surprise and before you can answer she's pulling you to your feet, dragging you to the dance floor. She stops when she reaches the middle of the floor and places your hands on her hips, her arms wrapping around your neck. She smiles at you and you smile back weakly. It's such a bittersweet moment. Here you are, holding the girl who means more to you than anything in the world, in your arms, something you thought that you would never be able to do and yet you feel nothing. Nothing because you know that this can't last, that this is a one-time thing, even though you wished it would.

She pulls you closer to her, her head resting on your shoulder that you can feel her warm breath against your neck. You close your eyes in content, memorizing this moment, this feeling into your head forever. Your hands begin to shake and she hugs you tighter. 'Relax,' she whispers, 'it's just me.'

'I –I know.' You whisper back. You move slowly in a small circle, holding her close, breathing her scent in. You know that you would do anything for this girl. That you would die, kill and be happy for her even if she's not with you. 'You look really beautiful you know.'

She smiles and pulls away to look you up and down. 'And you look absolutely dashing in a tux Taichi Yagami.' You chuckle softly as she lays her head back down on your shoulder.

'Do you ever wonder what would've happened if you had said yes that day?' You ask softly, not quite sure why you did. You press your cheek against the top of her head, holding her closer –oh so close to you.

At first she doesn't answer, her hand grips your neck tightly as you continue to dance in slow steady circles. 'Yes,' she answers breathlessly –her breath warm against your neck.

'And…?' you ask tentatively.

She pulls away from you, her face mere inches away from yours –you hope that no one sees this. Her eyes search yours and you stop dancing, your hands gently rest on her waist while her arms remain wrapped around your neck. 'I think…' she pauses and looks over your shoulder, 'I think it wasn't meant to be. It just wasn't…our time.' Something flickers across her eyes while she says this, but it's gone just as fast as it was there.

You stare at her stunned. You should've never asked her –you would've been better off not knowing. 'I –I see.' You stammer, your hands dropping to your sides. 'At least now I know. We never stood a chance did we?' You try your best to smile but fail miserably. Your heart is breaking all over again. She never loved you, never felt the same way as you. Not once.

She looks at you sadly and tries to grab your hand, but you step back. Can't touch her, she's not yours to touch. She never was.

She looks crestfallen, her hand hanging limply at her side. 'Tai, please, I'm –' She begins but is cut off when he comes up behind her, a huge smile on his face.

'May I have this dance?' He asks happily.

'Can you wait Matt, Tai and I have to –'

'By all means go ahead.' You say suddenly. She looks at you, trying to catch your eye but every time you would look away. 'She's your...wife, you don't need to ask.' The word leaves a bitter after taste in your mouth. 'Congratulations.' You nod to Matt. 'You're very lucky to have her. She's –she's a great girl.' Your eyes flicker towards her for a split second. 'Take care of her.'

You turn to look at Sora, the pain and heartbreak making it really hard not to look away. Taking her hand in yours you bend down and gently kiss her hand –your lips brushing over her knuckles ever so softly. 'Thank you for the dance.' You say quietly, stepping away, letting her hand fall away from yours.

Before she can call you back, you walk away, losing yourself into the crowd of people. Standing off to the side you turn back and look at the dance floor, having a clear view of the happy couple. She's staring at you from over his shoulder and even despite the distance separating you, you can still see the tears in her eyes. You steel your gaze, trying hard to hide your emotions.

I love you, you mouth to her, not caring if anyone sees or not. You had nothing to lose –you already lost anyways. Besides you already waited too long to tell her and it wouldn't make a difference –she didn't feel the same way. Not waiting for her reaction, you turn away and walk out of the building, hands in your pockets, getting soaked to the bone as rain pours down on you –a thunderstorm, how ironic. She always loved thundershowers.

Good things come to those who wait.

It's just too bad that your time never came.