Digimon 1. The One in Which I Explain a Few Things

Hello everyone. It's been quite some time since I last uploaded something to this site. Please forgive me if my writing skills have deteriorated and such. It's been a while.

I hope you enjoy. Though let it be known that just because one chapter of this story is written in a certain way it doesn't necessarily mean that the entire story will be written in the same manner. I do plan on writing most of this story in third person as a narrator's point of view. I just wanted to write this first chapter in Yamato's view just to establish some aspects of the story. I may do this periodically for other characters to give greater insight into what said characters are thinking and whatnot as the story continues.

Also let it be known that some chapters might be out of order and I might do flashback chapters to flesh out the characters back story a bit more. Think of it kind of like One Upon a Time's way of storytelling.

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon or any of it's wonderful characters.

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I remember. On that day it was raining. I remember walking down the streets of Tokyo, my dark blue umbrella clenched in my hand, trying to keep me dry as the rain pounded me from above. I remember thinking that the wind was trying to rip my umbrella from my hand by any means necessary, like it was a toy and the wind was an angry toddler. I also remember how sore I was from work that day. But the thing I remember most about that day was him...

Come to think about it, if I hadn't have taken a shortcut through that alley in an effort to get home faster, I probably would have never have met Taichi Yagami. There he was just lying there in the middle of the concrete alleyway. All bruised up with shaggy brown hair, dressed in rags save for a large brown trench coat, and completely and totally unconscious. Now if anyone else would have stumbled across him in this situation I have no doubt in my mind that they would have just taken him for a homeless person drunk in the streets and just ignored him and kept walking along minding their own business. Myself on the other hand instead picked him up and took him home with me. He looked injured and I couldn't just leave him there where anyone could have found him. When I got him into my condo I layed him down on my couch, he groaned slightly which in a weird way gave me a sign of relief that I didn't just bring home a dead body.

What came next no one could have prepared me for.

When I came back from my kitchen after soaking a cloth to make my pseudo-guest more comfortable I was met with with a gaze from my couch. Half-lidded eyes looked at me from their position on the couch. He could barely lift his head and I could tell he was struggling to even keep his eyes open.  
"Hey there..." I said in just a bit of a whisper, warily looking back to meet his gaze, unsure of what this person was thinking or how he would react to being talked to by a stranger in their house. He was proably really confused and looking around for answers. He didn't answer for a while. All he did was look at me with those half-lidded brown eyes. "What's your name? My name's Yamato Ishida." I said quietly again, it seemed to startle him a bit when I spoke again which caused him to jump a little which was quickly followed by a low groan of pain. He must have been through a lot given his state.

"... What happened?" he managed to get out in between more groans.

"I found you. You were unconscious in the middle of an alleyway. You were badly hurt and you seemed like you needed help so I brought you back to my place." I explained cautiously to him. I didn't want him to freak out on me and think I had abducted him or something. While in retrospect that's probably exactly what had happened. No. That's definitely what had happened. No matter how you put it, my explanation seemed really sketchy at best so I figured I may as well just tell him what happened the best I could. He took the news really well actually.

"I see..." I see. I see? That's his reaction? "Thank you for your help..." he said while trying to sit up, which was apparently extremely difficult for him seeing as he clutched his side the entire time, wincing in what seemed like a lot of pain. I tried to help him up but he just waved me off.

"I'll call an ambulance for you... wait here..." I said worriedly as I leaped up from my position on the couch, before I could go however, I felt a grasp at my elbow.

"Please don't... I'll be fine..." he said through even more pained groans. As he continued to hold onto my arm, I looked back at him. His eyes seemed to be begging for me not to call for help and that he would be fine. I slowly resolved to sitting back down on my position on the couch.

"What happened to you?" I asked him as I wiped the dirt from his forehead. He sat in silence, apparently not wanting to say. Whatever the case, we sat there for a while. "... if you aren't going to tell me anything then I have to call the doctor..." I said almost threateningly. With a shocked expression on his face the brunette boy looked at me. Another moment of silence. We looked at eachother for what seemed like forever, almost as if we'd done it before. Like we were an old married couple having a fight. Eventually though, I made a move and broke contact with his eyes, I turned and started to rise from the sofa. I began walking towards the phone but once again was stopped by the brunette stranger.

"Taichi Yagami." he said hotly from his position on the couch. I turned back to him, a bewildering look on my face. "My name...? It's Taichi Yagami." he looked away from me. From my point of view it seemed like he was blushing slightly too. But that could have been the bruise marks on his face. With a sigh and slight hesitation I sat back down and looked at him.

"Well then. It's nice to meet you Taichi Yagami..." I offered my hand to the injured brunette. With a dumbfounded look on his face he looked at my hand. Warily, he raised his arm, despite the pain it brought him and grasped his hand in mine.

"Are you always this nice to people you barely know?" he asked as we shook hands, his face getting slightly pink from embarrassment.

"Not particularly no. You just seemed like you needed help is all." I said. "Now then... is there anyone I CAN call for you?" I asked him, finally letting go of his hand.

"No... I have no one..." he answered almost immediately while looking away again.

"... Well then... you are welcome to stay here for as long as you like..." I said instantly.

"How could you trust me so easily like that? Why would you just let a complete stranger into your home like it was nothing?" he said skeptically.

"Well... you said yourself that you had nowhere to go and no one to turn to... You haven't given me an indication that you're a homicidal maniac either... so why not? Besides, you said your name was Taichi Yagami. That means we're not strangers anymore."

"... Thank you..." he said with a great exhale. He seemed somewhat comforted by my explanation as evidenced by the fact that he outright hugged me while immediately pulling back, not in embarrassment this time but in pain. Afterwards, he layed back down and we both looked at each other again. Eventually we both couldn't help ourselves and laughed together.

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I know this first chapter is pretty short but please do give me a review on what you think I can do to improve upon the story. I usually write out the entire story line before uploading but I want to hear some feedback for this story to give me inspiration. A review would be much appreciated. Thank you for reading. -Leekit


	2. The One in Which There is Embarrassment

Hello everyone and welcome to chapter two of my story! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! This chapter takes place a few days after chapter one. So far I'm going in a chronological order but I think next chapter might be either a continuation of this particular story segment or it might be a flash-forward chapter. Let me know what you think in the reviews!

Disclaimer: Still own nothing related to this series.

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_'__Mmmmph...'_ Taichi groaned as he tossed around on the couch. His body was still recovering from whatever mysterious circumstances he had gotten into beforehand. He could walk on his own now and only winced slightly when eating as opposed to the first day when Yamato had to literally put the food right up to his mouth so he could eat, much to the dismay and embarrassment of both related parties. Interestingly enough however was how quickly both of them seemed to adjust to this new living arrangement. After just a couple days of living with one another it felt as if they'd been doing it for years and had known each other for quite some time. As he was recovering from his injuries, Yamato would stay near him and they'd just talk with one another. About anything really. It didn't matter the subject. They just seemed to talk about those random things everyone talks about then forgets soon after the conversation ended.

Taichi groaned some more as blanket wrapped around his waist even more than it already was. He was a restless sleeper in all sense of the word. He would go to sleep one way and by morning he'd be halfway off the couch with only his feet still on the sofa and the blanket draped around his chest. Either way it was ridiculous how Yamato seemed to find him in many different positions when he awoke. Yamato had taken some of his vacation time from work so that he could stay home and take care of his newly found and injured friend. He didn't want him to hurt himself even further and have no one there to help him.

Taichi slowly opened his eyes, staring at the white ceiling of Yamato's apartment. He thought for a moment before deciding to pick himself up from the couch and make his way to the bathroom. He had to go. Now. Thankfully, he was feeling better and could walk without too much discomfort from his sides. As he approached the door to the bathroom he lazily swept the crust from his eyes and yawned audibly. As he reached for the door knob, absent-mindedly turned it and pushed it inwards only to be greeted by a cloud of humid steam that blanketed the cold hallway. As the steam cleared Yamato stood in horror as Taichi looked at him in a dazed state. There he was. Standing there with nothing but a towel around his thin waist and another towel draped over his head, apparently trying to dry his hair.

Almost instantly, Yamato's face went bright red. Taichi on the other hand had a less than expected reaction to this situation. He looked blank-faced. Had he no shame at all? Why was he just standing there in the doorway? Soon, however, Yamato magically got his voice back.

"OUT!?" he said as he slammed the door in front of the brunette's half awake face. The cool air rushing at his face from the door slamming had by this time awakened the brunette and had him realizing the situation. He just got shut out of the bathroom! But he had to go!

"Yamaaaaa..." the brunette whined with childish dismay. "I gotta gooooo..." he whined some more. Over the few days they had lived together, Taichi had loosened up around Yamato so much so that he had started calling him by a nickname apparently stating that "Saying your full name is too much of a hassle." The blonde didn't seem to mind too much to be honest at the time so it stuck.

"Well you'll just have to wait!" the blonde nearly shrieked at him from the opposite side of the door. He was still a bright red and couldn't compose himself after the ordeal and from what he could tell, Taichi didn't seem to really care about having just walked in on Yamato butt naked (nearly) in the bathroom. Taichi seemed to have whined more at this statement and just seemed to walked away from the door. This made Yamato give a large sigh of relief and calm down a bit. How embarrassing... being seen by someone you hardly know (almost) completely naked like that.

Soon enough, the blonde got his composure again and finished drying himself off from his shower and got dressed. He slowly opened the bathroom door to make sure the brunette didn't see him leaving. With a slight cough and a tinge of pink on his cheeks he stood up straight and walked out of the door. Not even a second after he left, a brown blur ran past him in the hallway and closed the bathroom door behind itself. Slightly taken aback from this Yamato just decided to ignore it and keep walking towards the kitchen. He needed some coffee.

Fairly soon afterward, Taichi came back out of the bathroom giving a slight sigh of relief from having emptied his bladder. As he walked into the kitchen he was greeted by Yamato who simply looked away in embarrassment from the previous incident.

"That's much better!" he said with a large goofy grin on his face. This may not have seemed that funny to most people but with the goofiness of his grin coupled with the fact that Taichi was still wearing those rags he arrived in, Yamato couldn't help but laugh. Taichi looked at him, bewildered slightly at the blonde's sudden outburst, only to keep on grinning and eventually laughing too as he realized how ridiculous he looked.

"Alright... haha... I think I have some clothes you can wear in my closet. C'mon..." Yamato said apparently the embarrassment from before had been overwritten by the silliness of what had just happened. Taichi thanked him and followed the blonde to his room. The room was actually pretty spacious, it had a large bed, a nightstand with a lamp on it, a TV on the dresser that lined up perfectly with the bed for late-night movie watching and whatnot. Not a single thing out of place save for a few dress shirts that were laying out on the bed and the occasional sock on the hardwood floor. Yamato turned to face his closet, the doors being made of large mirrors and whatnot. This was the first time Taichi had actually seen the inside of Yamato's bedroom, seeing as he had been taking care of him in the living room for the past few days. After sliding the large mirror doors out of the way to reveal hangers on nice looking dress shirts and a few pairs of slacks, Yamato started looking through them, trying to find something that would fit the brunette. They seemed to be around the same size though Taichi was about an inch or two taller than the blonde. After looking for a moment, Yamato pulled out something he thought would fit Taichi. "Here... try these..." the blonde said, handing him a dark blue dress shirt and some dark brown slacks. "These should fit you. They were a little long for me when I bought them." he said happily.

"Thanks, Yama!" Taichi said back happily and immediately began undoing his 'clothes' to try them on. This once again had Yamato becoming a bright pink color as the brunette literally started stripping right in front of him. He soon found himself looking away, trying to be as polite as possible this time as opposed to earlier that morning.

"I-I'll just leave you to it then..." the blonde said as he fast-walked out of the room. Taichi stopped slightly as he watched his new friend exit his room, his 'shirt' completely off by that point. He shrugged it off and continued stripping.

Eventually, Taichi emerged from Yamato's room. The blonde, having been tidying up the couch and doing miscellaneous things looked up when he noticed Taichi standing in the hallway, slightly pulling at the collar of his new shirt before unbuttoning the first couple of buttons to make himself more comfortable. The buttons however were mismatched in places so this caused much of his upper torso to be revealed.

"Haven't you ever worn a button-up shirt before?" Yamato asked, trying to hold back some mild fits of laughter. Taichi looked back at him, totally blank-faced.

"No." he responded bluntly. "I've never worn anything like these fancy clothes before." this time he sounded less serious and more like an excited child. Yamato looked back at him, slightly saddened by his statement. With a somewhat worried facial expression, Yamato made his way over to the taller boy.

"Here... let me fix it for you..." he said as he started unbuttoning the other's shirt and fixing it. _'He's kind of like a child or something sometimes...' _ soon enough the buttons were fixed and Taichi looked like... well to be honest he looked **good.** Like REALLY good. Like the suit was specifically made for him or something. In fact, Yamato slightly blushed when he saw him from a distance. He looked like a host from a fancy restaurant or something. All he was missing was the suit jacket with a flower pinned to the lapel.

"So? How do I look in this?" Taichi grinned again. "It's a little tight for me but what can ya do?" his smile grew wider.

"It looks... good on y-" it was at this point Yamato realized something. He looked at the brunette from head to toe and realized. Yeah he realized that Taichi hadn't taken a shower or bath since he moved in with him. He was literally covered with dried mud and dirt on his skin and in his hair. Oh god. "Hey.. when was the last time you had a bath anyway?" the blonde said, forgetting everything else. Slightly taken aback by the sudden question Taichi thought about it for a moment.

"Uhhh... not for a while... heh heh..." he said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head, slightly wincing through some still lingering pain from moving his muscles too far.

"Go take a bath, Taichi..." Yamato said in a blunt yet commanding voice. Taichi looked at him for a moment before putting on a sheepish smile again.

"Only if you take one with me..." he said, bluntly and without batting an eye. The look on Yamato's face almost went entirely purple from sheer embarrassment.

"Wh-what!?" the blonde literally screamed so loud that he could swear later that everyone in the city of Tokyo could hear him.

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So how did you all like chapter two? I decided to leave it on a cliff hanger because I'm evil like that. Like I said before, let me know if you want me to continue with this story segment or if you want a flash forward chapter and I will resume with this scenario probably in the chapter after that one. -Leekit


	3. The One Where Things Get Steamy

Alright here's chapter three everyone! I decided to keep last chapter's scenario going on to this chapter. I hope you enjoy! Please review! I would love to hear feedback on what you guys think should happen next. I write these chapters on the same day I upload them so if you want something to happen let me know and I might be able to make it work with the basic plot I have in mind.

Disclaimer: I do not own Taichi or Yamato. I am only responsible for this story.

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"You really need me to do this?" Yamato sighed as he entered the bathroom. A skeptic look on his face. Now he knew Taichi was injured and he knew he was in pain from the various bruises across his sides and torso but for the most part he didn't hear much complaining on Taichi's side. Only the occasional groan of pain or muffled shriek every once in a while. Most of the time however he would just stay quiet about it and bear with it. The one and only time he really made a fuss was on the first day he stayed when he fell off the couch in the middle of the night onto his face. Other than that completely unhindered. Now he was asking for the blonde's help with bathing. Due to previous circumstances however Yamato was a little reluctant to assist.

"Yup." was all the response Taichi has given. He made it sound so casual too. Like nothing bothered him about it. Which, granted, it WASN'T a big deal. Yamato had gone to a public bathhouse before when his plumbing broke and had to be redone. So he wasn't shy. It's just awkward when only one party is nude and the other is clothed, hence the embarrassment of being walked in on before. It also wouldn't have been the first time Yamato had to help someone in the bath either. He had helped his little brother bathe when they were younger so he knew what he was doing (not that he wouldn't anyway). "All I really need help with really is my back and hair. It hurts to raise my arms that high." Taichi explained with once again, you guessed it, another wide grin.

"Mmmmm..." Yamato was trying to determine whether or not the brunette was just making excuses for some ulterior motive or something, glaring straight into the taller boy's big brown eyes, unknowingly getting close to the other's face, which didn't seem to bother Taichi at all as he didn't back away from the blonde's advances and instead just looked back at him. Eventually, Yamato had decided that Taichi was telling the truth and relaxed a bit, pulling away again. "Fine then..." he sighed. "Go get ready... I'll meet you in the bathroom."

With a casual 'kay' the brunette walked off back down the hall towards the bathroom. Soon enough Taichi was undoing the buttons to his new shirt and sliding it off his shoulders, this did contort his back slightly and caused him hiss in pain. "AH!" he yelped as the shirt fell to the hard wood floor. The bathroom when you entered it was at first western in design. It contained a large mirror on one wall the was right above a counter top with a few drawers on either side for things like tooth and hair brushes and whatnot. It had a sink in the middle with some hand soap on the side for washing hands, a hand towel for drying them and a towel rack behind that. Going further back there was a step that lead down onto a tiled floor with a drain in it for water. The tiled area was separated with a bathhouse style curtain and a small cabinet where one could store clothing for changing into and whatnot. As you entered the tile area there was sort of an off-shoot that lead to a small basin for water and little stools where one could sit and wash oneself, above that was a detachable shower head for rinsing. A large tub was in the back for soaking and what have you. Another towel rack for drying off was next to it. The toilet was located near the door in the front which was hidden by yet another door for privacy.

Taichi, now shirtless sauntered over to the tub and starting filling the large tub with water, checking the temperature until it was just right. With a smile he stood up and walked away to get the rest of his clothes off and to let it fill up some more. One could plainly see the bruises on his torso, they seemed to be healing somewhat and weren't AS bad as when he came. Experimentally, Taichi poked some of them, wincing slightly when he poked his bottom rib cage. Deciding it best not to do that again Taichi continued to strip and placed his clothes in one of the baskets. He grabbed a towel and walked back to check the water. It was perfect so he turned it off. The brunette smiled as steam filled his lungs. It felt like forever since he had a nice bath. He sat one of the stools down in front of the shower head and had a seat, deciding to get at least somewhat started before Yamato showed up. Placing the towel over his lap for modesty sake he filled the wash basin up with warm water and squirted some body wash in to his hand from the small dispenser next to it, sudsing some of him up. This however only caused pain as he brushed up against his various bruises again. The brunette whined slightly with both pain and frustration at not being able to wash himself.

It was at this time Taichi heard the bathroom door open and foot steps smacking the floor as Yamato came in. The blonde turned the corner, looking to see Taichi in the corner, frustrated with himself for some reason. Yamato started walking towards the brunette.

"You having a tough time?" he asked somewhat jokingly as he grabbed another stool to sit on. Taichi sighed at his comment.

"It hurts..." he said quietly. It was then that Yamato actually got a good look at Taichi's back. It seemed even more bruised than the front, some of them a light bluish coloring and others a dirty brownish color. Most of them were at his sides with a rather large one on lower his lower back. Yamato didn't really know how to go about doing this without hurting him more than he would have if he did it himself.

"You sure got a lot of bruises back here..." he said warily, knowing that the brunette didn't want to talk about their origins. With slight reluctance Yamato grabbed a wash cloth and dipped it in the luke-warm water, squirting some body was in it and lathering it up. "Well here goes... tell me if I hurt you.." he said as he hesitantly brought the cloth to Taichi's tanned skin, trying to avoid the more serious looking bruises.

"Ahhh!" Taichi exclaimed as Yamato brushed over the bruises with the damp cloth. This caused the blonde to retract his hand almost instantly and start apologizing profusely. "It... it's fine... keep going.. the warm water helps somewhat.." Taichi said, not looking back at Yamato, mostly out of politeness but really he didn't want to hurt himself more by turning his back.

"Alright..." Yamato reluctantly started washing again, this time slower to be extra careful. Eventually they reached a pace at which Taichi's pain started to dissipate slightly and recoiled into a dull numbing sensation. Soon enough his back was covered in soapy bubbles. Yamato grabbed the basin and dumped the water over the other, washing it all off and once again exposing the brunette's caramel colored skin. Yamato couldn't help but blush the entire time he washed the other boy. "Okay... all clean back here... let's do the hair now." he said, reaching around for the shampoo, his hand brushing up sometimes against Taichi's leg. Once he had it, he quickly pulled it to him and poured out a decent sized glob of it on to his hand. Truth be told Yamato was getting a bit flustered from the situation.

He tried to shake it off as best as he could, blaming it on the steam in the air right then. Yamato stood behind Taichi so as to get a better angle at the brunette's hair. There was a lot of dirt in it so he gave it a quick rinse with the shower head which seemed to startle Taichi a bit when a bunch of water suddenly rushed over his naked form. He had been daydreaming slightly as Yamato helped clean him.

"Gah!" he exclaimed in surprise which caused Yamato to chuckle slightly to himself. "Hey!" Taichi whined and whirled carefully to face the blonde, only to be met with the other's waist in his face. "Uhhhh... why are you wearing that?" Yamato had been wearing a pair of swimming trunks the whole time he had washed him. The blonde looked down at Taichi, slightly embarrassed at the position they were in at the moment, the other's face so close to his crotch and all. He shook his head slightly.

"I didn't see a reason for me to be naked as well. I took a bath earlier, remember?" Yamato said in defense. While that explanation was true, he also didn't want to have flashbacks of the incident from before. The reasoning just provided for a double defensive strategy is all. To keep avoiding the subject, the blonde lathered the shampoo in his hands and then proceeded to scrub the other boy's hair clean, to which Taichi thought it best to not push the conversation further and let the blonde clean his hair.

After about five or six minutes of trying to get all the dirt and whatnot out of Taichi's hair, Yamato sighed. "Phew! You sure were dirty weren't you?" he picked up the basin again and dumped water over his friend's head. After rubbing his eyes free of excess water Taichi shook his head like a dog trying to get dry, thankfully his muscles had begun to relax during the washing so his bruises didn't cause him too much pain when he did so.

"Yeah I guess I was pretty dirty huh?" he responded.

"Well I think I'm about done then. You need any help getting in to the tub?" the water by this time wasn't as warm as it was when it was first drawn but it still produced some steam, indicating it was still able to get the job done.

"Nah. I think I can handle it myself." the tanned boy said happily as he began to rise from the stool. A tinge of pink once again graced Yamato's cheeks as he turned away politely. He did however get a good look at Taichi's firm buttocks which for some reason made his heart rate go up swiftly.

"Alright then. I'll leave you to it then!" he said as he hurriedly left the steamy room. Taichi watched as he left, having no idea why the other was suddenly in a hurry but shrugged it off and got in to the tub. With a content sigh, the brunette relaxed into the warm water.

In the other room however Yamato was dealing with something else. It was weird. He noticed it more and more as the couple of days with Taichi went by. His heart rate would start sky rocketing when he would get near the brunette. He didn't know why. It felt weird but at the same time felt so good too...

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I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry there wasn't really a lot of lemony goodness in this one but I think I managed to successfully sexualize washing someone's back for them. Please review! I love feedback! It keeps me going! Also don't be afraid to critique the story so far! So long as it's constructive that is! -Leekit


	4. The One Where Back Story Happens

Hello again my readers! I am sorry about the long update period but I have been busy with trying to get a job lately and haven't had much time to write these chapters. It also doesn't help that I was experiencing a bit of writer's block for this chapter. Whatever the case here is chapter four!

Oh! For the record both Taichi and Yamato are 18 in this story. More characters will be coming soon, I promise! This chapter is written in Taichi's perspective.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any characters related to Digimon in any way.

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_'I have been having trouble sleeping lately...' _You know when you have the feeling that your dreams are trying to tell you something important? Sometimes, I feel like that's happening with me now. I don't remember much before **it** happened to me. I don't like to think about it most of the time. But when I am half asleep on Yama's couch late at night, my mind starts to wander. Most of the time it seems to be the same dream over and over again. I'm in a park with someone. I can't see their face. I don't even know if it's a boy or girl. All I know is that I'm playing with them in the sandbox. There's a big slide and a few jungle gyms scattered about around us. A swing set close to the slide. There's no one else aside from me and this person.

The strangest part of the dream is that it seems like I'm legitimately having fun with this person. I can feel the smile on my face when I'm playing with them. The person turns towards me and passes me something. It's a toy shovel of some sort. I try to see their face but the light seems to block it out from me. Nevertheless I grab the offered toy and resume playing with them. Suddenly though, my companion is gone and everything seems to drift away in the wind. The slide, jungle gyms, and the swing set seem to turn to dust and float away in the breeze until I'm left in the sand alone, holding a toy shovel. I try to look around for my friend and can feel the smile on my face turn to a solemn frown. I can feel myself start to well up with tears. Then I wake up. I could feel the tears running down my face.

That's how my nights have been for the past few days now. I've lived with Yama for a few weeks now, and since he has resumed working. Apparently he works at a flower shop in the city. Found that out a while ago. Even so his apartment seems a little too swanky to be able to afford on a flower shop attendant's wage in my opinion. But then again who am I to judge? I don't have a job and he's putting me up in his place for a while. It makes me feel bad when I think about it. I feel like I'm taking advantage of his kindness or something.

As for my injuries they seem to be healing quite nicely. I can wash myself now at least, so that's a plus. I still don't know what I'm going to do with myself. I suppose I should look for a job or something. Anything to help Yama out. I owe him so much after all. The only problem is... I have no experience in doing anything practical. Now that I think about it I don't even really know how one goes about getting a job in the first place to be honest. Something about 'classifieds' right?

No matter how hard I think about it, all I end up doing is getting frustrated with it and fumbling about for most of the day until Yama comes home in the late afternoon. For food Yama usually leaves me some cash on the kitchen counter for something. I did try cooking once, but since then I have been banned from cookware for almost setting fire to the kitchen. How was I supposed to know eggs could spontaneously combust? Nevertheless, I keep myself occupied throughout the day, usually by watching TV or wandering around the apartment. When I say "apartment" by the way, I really mean something like a small house. At least that's what it feels like anyway with how big it seems on the inside. It has a kitchen, a dining hall, a decently sized living room complete with large couch and a good sized TV, a long hallway just off the entryway that leads to Yama's bedroom, the bathroom, and another room filled with old dusty boxes. I've been in there once with Yama a while back. Apparently it was a second bedroom but it's so full of boxes and dust you can't even see the bed that is supposedly in there.

Today though, I intend to help Yama by starting to clean it up a bit. After grabbing Yama's cleaning apron, some rubber gloves and a cloth kerchief to put over my mouth and nose to prevent myself from coughing uncontrollably from the layers of dust in the room, opened the door and went in with duster in hand.

For the most part the cleaning went well, I managed to clear off most of the dust on the boxes to the point where I could start moving them out and into the hallway. Slowly but surely the room started looking decent. Some of the boxes were heavy but I managed somehow, though I knew I would be paying for it tomorrow. Eventually I fould myself with the last stack of boxes. As I reached for the top box however I had lost control of the box, forcing them to all come crashing down on the floor. Thankfully, they didn't land on top of me. Some of the stuff however did end up falling on the still dusty floor and I could have sworn I heard the sound of glass breaking. I instantly paled with panic. What if I broke some family heirloom or something?!

"OH NO!?" I screamed as I hurried to see what broke. It looked like a picture frame of some sort. "Nnn?" I reached out for the broken frame, the glass on it completely shattered. I turned it around to check on the picture and to see if it was damaged in any way. What I saw really shocked me to be honest. It was a picture of a man, a woman, and two blonde children. The man and woman seemed to be torn out though, at least their faces were anyway. The two blonde boys in the picture however were smiling brilliantly to the camera. The taller one looked a bit like Yama. The picture looked to be taken at some sort of party though I'm not sure what kind. He didn't look much different than now so it must have been fairly recent. What it was doing in a dusty old box I'll never know. Whatever the case it seems like Yama does have a family. He never really talks about them though. Not that I can blame him though. Why would he talk to me about his family? There's no reason to. All I know is that Yama took me in and I am eternally grateful to him for that.

It was then that I heard the front door open and shut.

"Taichi! I'm home from work!" I could hear Yama call out from the entryway. Apparently time went by so quickly while I was cleaning that it was already eight o'clock at night. I picked myself up from the floor and placed the picture frame on top of one of the boxes and headed out the room to greet Yama.

"Welcome home, Yama!" I said happily from the hallway. Yama kicked his shoes off at the door and stepped up onto the wooden floor. He then looked at me for a moment. He was obviously trying to hold back some laughter. I looked at him confused and asked. "What's so funny?" as I cocked my head to the side.

"S-sorry but I don't think I've seen you like that before..." apparently me being in an apron and rubber gloves is amusing. "What have you been doing anyway?" he said, finally composing himself from his laughter.

"I thought I'd try and clean up that guest room a bit or something..." I said nonchalantly to the blonde. After a moment he smiled at me.

"You need any help?" he asked happily.

"No I think I can manage it. All I have to do is take out a few more boxes then scrub the floor clean." I said happily back to him. I did feel however that it was necessary to tell him about the broken picture frame. "Oh... but I do have to tell you something..." I said, scratching my head and looking away slightly from the blonde.

With a confused look on his face Yama questioned. "What is it, Taichi?" now it was his turn to cock his head to the side.

"Well... one of the boxes kinda sorta slipped outta my hand when I was trying to move it... and I kinda broke a picture frame... I'm sorry!" I said desperately begging for forgiveness.

"What picture frame did you break?" he asked solemnly. Afterwards, I lead him to the guest room and gave him the frame. He looked at it quietly for a moment. He was obviously thinking about something serious. It took a moment but Yama eventually spoke again. "Well... at least the picture doesn't seem ruined.." Okay now I'm confused. Wasn't the picture torn?

"Huh? I thought it was torn?" I asked.

"It was. I did that. This is a picture of my family." He explained. Though I kinda already could guess that.

"Then... why did you tear out part of it?" I could feel the awkwardness beginning to surround us as this conversation went on. It took a while for him to answer. Or maybe it just felt that way from the tension in the room.

"I tore out the people who aren't worth remembering..." That was all Yama said to me about it and to be honest I didn't feel like pressing the matter further. "I'm... gonna go start dinner..." he said as he walked away, placing the picture frame back on the box again.

"Yama..." I said quietly and slightly worried. But at the same time I felt that if it was necessary for me to know, he would eventually tell me about it sooner or later.

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Thank you all for reading this chapter! I hope you are enjoying the story so far! Leave me feedback in the review section! I'm not sure when I can upload the next chapter so make sure to follow the story so you don't miss any updates if you are interested. -Leekit


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