Kouichi would never understand girls. They were completely different from men, more than just their body shapes. They seemed to be concerned over most things that he didn't notice at all. They also had oddly high - pitched voices and mood swings - more specifically during a certain week of the month.

There was one girl, though, who was nothing like them. She was harsh to those who treated her the same but kind and friendly to younger kids and nicer people, somewhat like him. She was competitive and took orders from no one, unless there was a life at stake. Even then, if she didn't agree with the instructions, she took matters into her own nimble hand and Digivice, calling to the childish Savannah, the arrogant Takuya, or the mean and rude Koji, if a battle was a little tougher than estimated. That wasn't often, though. Caroline Night, 'that's my name, don't wear it out' she would say to being introduced, was the only sane female out of the Digital World. That was saying something with her eyes similar to the green on a rainbow after a heavy storm and long, blonde hair that she used to hit others in the face with while in a ponytail.

It was quite humorous to see how everyone in the room flinched when she entered. He was always the lone person to keep calm and smile, patting an empty spot near him so Caroline could take up the empty space beside him and in his heart. Yeah, she was worth the cheesy jokes.
Kouichi opened the door with his shoulder, the grocery bags in his hands rustling and protesting. He set a bag on the floor to free up a hand so he could hold the door open for his brother. Koji was walking strangely with the bags. Their weight seemed to be unbalancing him. The door closed one Koji's ponytail made it through the door frame. Kouichi retrieved his bag and guided the two to the kitchen through the house that was cloaked in darkness. Their mom had left the lights off when she left for work earlier.

"I didn't think either of you two twigs ate this much in a month," Koji huffed, awkwardly using his shirt collar to flip up the light switch.
The bags made a loud noise as they were all dropped onto the floor, creating a loud sound to echo through the empty house. Kouichi reached down to grab a back close by as to begin the process of putting items away, but a hand grabbed it before him. Koji clenched the plastic bag and pulled it toward him.

"I got 'em. You said you wanted to clean up a little before Mom got home, right? So, get to work! I should know where everything goes by now, since I eat practically everything whenever I'm here," There was a very out of character smile stretching Koji's skin.

Kouichi blinked before he shared the same expression, though his was usual, "Thanks, Koji. When you're done, help yourself, if you're hungry, of course."

The younger twin nodded. He watched his surprisingly older brother leave the room. The light from the kitchen didn't last very long against the darkness, so Kouichi had it feel to find the light switch on the wall. After a minute or two of skimming, his hand hit the hard panel. Though, he didn't immediately turn it on.

"Give it up, I can see you, Caroline. You got pretty close this time, but the Sun shouldn't hide in the darkness. You're too bright for that," Kouichi smirked, sounding rather confident as he finally moved his hand up for the overhead light bulb to vanish the darkness.

"You never let me have me have any fun. But, referring back to you, I'm pretty hot too," A detail he sometimes forgot as that Caroline was also from America, from the South. It wasn't unusual for a letter or syllable to be left out within her think accent, but that also came with growing up and working on a ranch, too.

Her chapped lips were curled upwards, thin, but strong, arms crossed just below her chest once Kouichi turned to face her. Her eyes flickered an uncountable amount of shades of green and other colors alike. Her hair was in a ponytail in the middle of her head - she personally made sure he knew the differences and angles. The blonde bundle was tossed over her shoulder, standing out proudly against her black jacket.

This wasn't anything that fazed him anymore. Caroline popped into his house randomly all the time. She knew where the spare key was hidden - even if he didn't tell her - and his mom was happy he had such a faithful friend. Throughout their Digital journey and time home, the American had created a game from the nickname she gave him, 'Shadow boy'. She would wait for him whenever the opportunity came in the darkness and try and scare him. Though, after many attempts and jump scares, he figured out how to listen for her silent sounds and light breathing. ( He swore up and down that she glowed a little, too.) She was like a friendly assassin.

Basically, Caroline liked to pretend to be his silhouette.

"Of course. You almost burnt BurningGreymon's wings off once, and that's saying something," Kouichi recalled, "Now, since you're hear, would you like to be stuck putting away groceries with Koji or helping me clean?"

"Where's the broom?"

Kouichi swung fluctuately on the swing. He smiled to his side, seeing the perfect female he liked to call Caroline moving her legs and seat in time with him to an unknown, silent, and steady, beat. He blonde hair wasn't constricted into a ponytail, like usual, but inside flowing beautiful out behind her. She was laughing like she didn't care about anything, so he joined in the joy with a happy sound of his own.

They seemed to swing forever, never going higher or lower. Not a single word was spoken, but simple things like that weren't needed between them. Not now, with everything seeming so perfect, as if they were in a different universe, and both of their horrid pasts vanishing from memory.

Heaven doesn't last long.

The bright sun shut off like someone had hit the light switch on their way out of the world. Kouichi looked up, squinting at the place with the sun should have been. Now, a dark, ominous cloud shielded the flaming sphere, stretching the length of the sky. A strange and inhuman wind blew the trees, rustling the leaves. Though, they didn't make a sound.

"What is h-" Kouichi was cut off by a scream.

His head whipped around at light speed, almost breaking his neck in the process. But he ignored the dull pain. Something else was wrong. His breath caught in his throat, his heart practically stopped, his ocean eyes widened, a scream caught in his throat and came out as a mere puff of air.

"Didn't expect to see me again, did you, Dark Spirit?"

A cold chill shook Kouichi's body, even though he was wearing a long - sleeved shirt.

"Ch- Ch- Cheru - Cherubimon!" The black haired boy stuttered, half in shock.

Cherubimon, a protector of the Digital World - it's creator, ruler (alongside Ophanimon and Seraphimon). The kids had purified him before he had been shown to have been a pawn in Lucemon's game and saw him return as a Lopmon on the moon, laughing and playing with Salamon and Patamon. He had seen it with his own eyes, and he had been told of the rebirth of the Digital World once he was home finally. But, Cherubimon was now before him, in the human world. His skin was as black as the night surrounding him with purple marks, when it should have been pink and white like the stereotypical colors of good.

"You can't escape me. You never can or will, even if you kill me. Now, you're pretty little girlfriend, however..." Cherubimon laughed, sounding like a scratched up, broken record.

It was only now that Kouichi realized Caroline was no longer on the swing beside him. He held his breath as his eyes searched around the park. Just as he feared, it was empty, like when they had gotten there, but Caroline wasn't there anymore... on the ground, at least. So... that meant...

There.

Kouichi saw her golden hair first. It was pulled high, not into a ponytail, but between Cherubimon's large, evil fingers. Her forest diamonds were barely visible from how high her captor floated above the trees. He could they were were watering, though. She mouthed something, her desperate measures sounding in the silence.

Help.

Kouichi instinctively reached into his pocket... Aha! It was there! It came back after turning back into his phone in the human world! He almost dared a smile, but a glare crossed his face sharply instead. He leaped out of the seat, holding his digivice and hand out like he had down a million times and would do a million more.

"Execute!" Kouichi shouted it, his voice changing toward the in and deepening halfway through, showing his confidence and how determined he was even better, "Spirit Evolution!"

The process shouldn't feel foreign. Becoming Lowemon was a painless, almost thrilling, process. Though, something felt... different. The armor enclosing and trapping his body, his skin stretching to a new height, his hair growing and changing color... Those weren't familiar. It had been awhile since he had last spirit evolved, but it shouldn't feel so unusual. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

The light that shown from his body faintly faded and vanished in the process of a second. The new Spirit clenched his hands, recalling his memories of being a Digimon. Lowemon's eyes locked onto the ones that were his favorite shade of green, observing them. He looked for hopefulness, excitement, any sign of being relieved in the slightest... Caroline had looked terrified before, but now.. Her fear was different, if that made any sense, blue tears racing down her skin. What was up?

Cherubimon laughed again, but Lowemon felt more confident - stronger. He didn't fear the large Digimon anymore. Even when the evil life form grinned, looking as pleased as a baker with a blue ribbon cake. Lowemon let out a growl he hoped was intimidating, but it was deeper than what he had heard so many times it was engraved into his brain like a catchy song. His opponent must have noticed how Lowemon's guard was down for a split second.

"Like I said, you can't escape me, Kouichi. Or, should I say, Duskmon?"

Lowemon flinched at the name, stumbling back but thankfully catching himself. He looked down, vision wavering. The armor.. There wasn't the familiar lion jumping out of his chest, the large Triceratops shoulder blades, the lion heads growling at opponents on his knees... They were . Instead, large, red eyes took their place. That meant one and one thing only.

Kouichi had digivolved into Duskmon.

Duskmon, the unpurified and evil Spirit of Darkness. His purified and good counterpart was Lowemon, who Kouichi had been expecting. Koji had eliminated that evil spirit in the fight so long ago, allowing Cherubimon's dark clasp on him to disappear so he could fight against the bad side. Or, so he had thought. He was proven wrong now, standing in the dead grass as one of the Digimon that represented it.

"What?... How?"Duskmon's voice was shaky, the courage from earlier draining out completely.

"You're mine, Duskmon. You can never get me out of your head," Cherubimon laughed, "The trigger, little Sun Spirit, worked, as I planned. Now, to dispose of her."

Kouichi's eyes widened.

He lunged forward, but he tripped over air and fell to the ground. He caught himself on his hands and knees, looking up at Cherubimon. He laughed mechanically, moving a handing under Caroline's shaking figure.

She screamed.

He screamed.

Cherubimon's hands glowed black.

Caroline disappeared into the darkness as the black overwhelmed her.

When Cherubimon's hands fell to his sides, she was gone.

Caroline was dead.

One thing happened after another. Kouichi crawled forward, somehow standing in the middle of the process. He was running forward, ready to attack. He had to bite Cherubimon in his face with a face full of Lunar Plasma karma. Next, he fell down - again -, a aching pain overtaking his body. He was just feet away from Cherubimon.

Duskmon was sitting on his knees now, attempting to focus his gaze on the ground to keep it from wavering. His deadly hands held his head, pressed tightly over his ears. There was chaos wrecking his eardrums. Cherubimon's voice was mixed in with it, but he couldn't pick out what he was saying.

"Leave me alone!" Duskmon shouted, his voice sounding like a bad computer program in his ears.

He could barely hear himself. He shouted over and over until the point the chaos grew too loud for him to know what he was saying. He started sobbing loudly, crumbling onto the ground like a wounded child.

"Kouichi!"

A loud voice stabbed itself through the disturbing noises. He listened closely again, forgetting about everything else going on.

"Kouichi, wake up, Shadowboy!"

Shadowboy.

Kouichi opened his eyes he didn't remember closing, the nickname echoing over and over in his head. The noises disappeared in an instant, as if they hadn't been there in the first place. He blinked a few times, seeing how he was surrounded by darkness. Was he still in the park? No... He couldn't be.

A soft click was the next thing he heard, other than his pounding heart. His head whipped to the side, flinching at the new light. He closed his eyes and opened them again.

"Are you okay?"

Kouichi blinked again, not believing what he was seeing.

"C - Caroline?" He stuttered. He needed to try and fix that.

But, he wasn't mistaken. The same blonde hair he could never get sick off, worried green eyes - that was rare, but not a first - watching him, the cute frown directed toward him.

"Yea, it's me. I fell asleep on the couch because it was so late when we finished getting the house cleaned and your mom got home, remember? Your brother is in the recliner," Caroline's voice dropped with dread at the last part.

Kouichi remembered, though. His mom had looked so happy as she hugged the three of the kids when she saw the neatly put away groceries and clean house. Koji refused to leave, as his stepmother had her mother over and he didn't want to have to deal with that. His mom didn't care in the least, of course.

".. A dream... Just a dream.." The dark blue haired boy let out a relieved sigh.

"A dream? Is that why you were screaming and crying? I'm glad that's it, even if I do sound sadistic a bit... Your mom got called in, so you didn't wake her, at least.. Koji sleeps like a freaking rock - he was snoring like a pig when I got up. I'm honestly not sure if you or him woke me up..." Caroline was rambling now, but Kouichi didn't stop her.

He pushed the sheets and comforter back, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He watched Caroline as she stopped talking, raising an eyebrow as he stood.

"The heck are you doing?" She sounded more of her old self now, not the worried person she was around him. Her voiced carried confusion and rudeness with her, whether she wanted it to or not.

Kouichi practically fell forward, embracing Caroline. He hugged her tight, rubbing the fabric of her T - Shirt between his fingers and inhaling the scent of her hair. It was the simple things he would take, considering what he had just witnessed, real or not. He never knew what could happen to the female in a day, or even hour, not to mention the minute she had.. Yea.

"Kouichi?" Caroline had a hint of laughter as she spoke, "Did you roll over and hit your head or something in your sleep?"

"Nah," He smirked, "Just don't ever stop being my silhouette, okay?"

"You betcha."

"..I can see you, Caroline." Kouichi's girlfriend had a habit of trying to surprise him, hiding in the darkness when he walked in the room. Her being Spirit of the Sun didn't make that easy, as he could see her quite clearly. Unlike the mess of a shadow, the gentle flow of a silhouette melted through the room and over to him. "You never let me have any fun." She says. Kouichi's heavily amused... She thinks she can scare him. And she does, one day.. when his silhouette has disappeared. Of course, all a part of her elaborate plan to get a hug and an adorable sound out of him. Ugh, his girlfriend was such a pain...but.. he still loved her and her little silhouette games.

Theme #57 Silhouette

List #3