(Wow, I have certainly dropped off of the face of the planet, Alongside this I plan on updating Lies of Autumn sometime this week. Sorry about the long wait for fans of that. Lets just say I had issues. I'm not going to moan about it, if you want to know PM me.)

Now Saving Grace is going to be long. I've planned the entire thing out and if I stay on schedule it would be finished by summer. If I get sloppy again It'll be done in fall 2008. I will NOT let it get past that. If it does you can bag on me as much as you want!

Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to it's respective owners, and the songs used in this fic are copyright to me, with exception of the one in this chapter. Thats copyright to Pagoda!

Now enjoy.

"Listen, my new friend, please
And have a sympathetic tender ear
I was born in this junkyard
And it was the prettiest little thing to me
Here's the part in the song
Where you think of me all wrong
And here's the part where I choose
That I got nothing left to lose cause..."

His fingers were dancing upon the frets of his guitar, slowly putting together a gloomy atmosphere. The young man inhaled the air around him, it was laced with traces of cigarette smoke. He felt the acrid taste in the back of his mouth and exhaled. The blond snapped his eyes open and began to sing the chorus to his song.

"Any pain that you could bring to me is nothing comparatively
And I've been so lost and found, I can't smile, I can't frown
Happy song, nothings wrong, it's all fun, am I done?"

The blond was playing open chords now. Humming along with the melody. As he gazed out upon the crowd he saw drunkards. Mentally sighing to himself the blond continued,

"How much can one man stand?
Before he kisses a cold dead street?
This cross bears a billion lost souls
Three times do I fall to my bloody bare feet?
Think again my lovely friend
Don't ask for more you dirty whore!"

He wondered why he played for audiences that were more concerned with getting laid then anything else. Then he would recall exactly why.

"Here's a part in the song where you tell me you don't care
I made you in my head and you don't even care, you don't care
Happy song, nothing's wrong, it's all fun and I'm all done
But now I'm done, this is fun, now I'm done"

At this point in the song he had given up on actually playing and singing. He was screaming out the lines, filled with true emotion. He was beyond thinking about why he did this.

"Here's the part in the song!

Here's the part in the song!

Here's the part in the song!"

Then his voice dropped to barely a whisper, whilst strumming a chord on the guitar he sang,

"Here's the part in the song.

Where you leave me all alone"

He felt his voice shaking as he held onto the final note of the song. Then he closed his mouth, expecting nothing from his 'audience' in return. He took a swig from the nearest glass, not really care who's it was.

Breathing heavily he stared out at the crowd. He didn't see the crowd of drunkards and junkies, he was looking at the same bar, but it was filled with applause and appreciative faces.

He blinked and it was gone. The people he played music for were gone, the only person left in the bar who appreciated the music was him.

"Who took my beer!"

As if his day couldn't get any worse. The blond decided it would be the best for him to not answer this question.

"It was that man over there! The one with the guitar!"

The blond shot a glare in persons direction, he had been hoping to avoid a conflict with anyone today. It seemed fate was against him, but after living on the street for almost two years the blond was certain he could take the almost drunk man.

This was until the mans friends got up as well, and then they pulled out knives.

The barkeep then thought to speak his mind on the situation, "Shit!"

His words accurately summed up how the blond musician was feeling. The blond grinned and spoke, "Guys, why can't we all just get along. Tell you what, I'll buy you a new beer!"

The group halted and began to think the offer over. They judged that the blond couldn't afford to buy anybody a drink. He was wearing shabby clothing and had a look of exhaustion around him.

"There ain't no way yew could afford a drink!"

The blond sighed and raised his hands. His knees were shaking, the palm of his free hand was getting sweaty. The guitar slipped out of his hand and landed onto the floor with a loud clang. Almost certainly detuning it.

"How's about yew give us that guitar!"

The blond picked up the guitar and held it close to him. He grinned at the men and ran! He was out of the bar by the time they realized what he had done. They sprinted after him, and even in they're inebriated state they were fitter then the blond. Soon they had him cornered in an alleyway.

One went forwards and grabbed the guitar from the blond. He then began to walk away, then he halted and smashed the guitar upon the blond's head. Another went forwards and began to kick him.

"Stop!"

The leader of the group came forwards and said, "Stand up, weakling!"

The blond wasn't left with much option to do otherwise. He was hoisted to his feet by the two men near him. His vision was cloudy, but he knew his head was bleeding badly and he had probably broken at least two ribs. An elbow to the stomach set his entire torso aflame with pain.

The blond cried out and spat out some blood. He slowly raised his head, only to see the flash of a knife.

Then there was more pain, he dropped to the ground. He felt another searing pain and then all went black.

Sora Takenouchi was in a panic. She raced through traffic in her mothers car. She couldn't believe her little brother had to go into surgery soon. He was probably her favorite thirteen year-old in the world, simply because he wasn't a pestilence like most of them. Sora loved him dearly and they were close, which is why she was crying as she sped down the road.

"The doctor said they're gonna take my kidney out"

Sora stared at Jason as he spoke in slow Japanese. Her brother went to school in America and wasn't as fluent in Japanese as she was. Sora responded in English, "Everything will be okay, Dr. Kido knows what he is doing."

Jason stared at his sister and he could tell that she was close to tears. So he didn't comment on it, it was more as if she was comforting herself then him.

Sora couldn't help herself now and jumped forwards, embracing her little brother who loudly voiced his protest. "Oi, gerroff me!"

Sora relinquished her hold on him and giggled at him, he was so cute sometimes! Then he began to laugh as well and their combined laughter rang through the hospital's hallways!

Sora smiled lightly to herself, she was confidant in Jason's survival. Dr. Joe Kido was kind and talented. Having graduated top of his class, she was certain the man wouldn't let her brother die. Sora parked her car carefully and checked her appearance.

She still had that accursed red hair at least, she blamed her father for it. It's what you get by being half-American and half-Japanese. Jason had gotten lucky with their mothers black hair, but not Sora! The nineteen year-old fixed her make up. She looked fine. Smoothing out a crinkle in her shirt she walked into the hospital.

She approached the receptionists desk and spoke, "I'm here to be with Jason Takenouchi before his operation begins."

The receptionist had long brown hair and was very good looking according to Sora. She had a large badge on her chest that proclaimed she was called 'Mimi Tachikawa'.

Mimi flashed her a quick smile and pointed at the waiting area. She then resumed her call with one of the ambulance drivers. After hanging up she spoke, "I'm sorry miss! Your brothers surgery is delayed for an extra hour. It seems there was a scheduling mishap and we're very understaffed here today."

Sora gave the woman a smile, "That's okay, would it be alright for me to visit him anyways?"

Mimi's smile fell, "I'm sorry miss, but I don't think that will be possible."

Sora smiled back at her anyways, "It's alright, I understand! Could I wait here?"

Mimi's smile returned, "Of course umm-?"

"Sora! It's a pleasure to meet you Mimi!"

Mimi grinned and said, "Just wait five minutes and then I'm off shift. I'll wait with you.

Sora was slightly taken aback at this offer, "Oh you don't have to!"

"Oh but you brother is so sweet! I was going to wish him luck myself. He's won over most of the nurses by being so cute!"

Sora rolled her eyes at this comment, it was nothing she wasn't used to! Jason had always had a habit of winning over the female population by acting shy and timid. Sora knew that the boy just loved being pampered by the nurses.

It turned out Mimi worked part-time at the hospital and was still in school, just like Sora. They were both freshmen in colleges only two blocks form each other! After almost twenty minutes of talking the two were as close as sisters.

They're conversation was interrupted by the receptionist who replaced Mimi. She went over to Mimi quickly, "Get Joe, quick!"

Mimi understood that it was a matter of urgency and took off. Leaving Sora quite alone. The receptionist looked at her and said, "Sorry, we just got a call that a heavily injured man will be coming in any second now."

Just as Mimi and Joe whipped around the corner the door burst open. Revealing a man with bushy brown hair supporting a blond. The brown haired man said hurriedly, "He's been stabbed twice and heavily beaten. I found him in an alleyway. I only was able to call when I got around the corner from here!"

Joe furiously asked, "Why didn't you call an ambulance."

The brown haired man looked angry for a second. "Do either of us look like we own a phone? The pay phones were broken. I'm just glad somebody lent me their mobile to give you some warning!"

Sora looked at what they were wearing, it wasn't much but rags. So the men were homeless. She felt a wave of sympathy for the men, it wasn't easy to get money off of the street in Odaiba. Most of the people here didn't give a damn about them, and the only people like them were in South End and they only looked out for themselves. South End could easily be described as the slums of Odaiba, it was not easy living there.

Joe took the blond and laid him onto the awaiting stretcher. Sora stared at the blond, he was deathly thin and his hair was matted with blood. As Joe ripped the mans shirt off she saw he was so thin she could count his ribs, and she could see the dip were they were broken. She gasped as Joe moved. She could now clearly see two stab wounds in the man. Without another second wasted Joe and several other began to cart the man away.

The receptionist stared at Sora. Sora looked at her and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, but that mans arrival will postpone your brothers surgery even more."

Sora's face fell. She was disappointed that Jason's care was delayed further, but she understood that the blond man was in desperate need of immediate surgery.

"I can't be selfish like that now can I? I"ll just hang out with Mimi and ..."

The brown haired man said, "Courage."

Sora stared at him, "Courage?"

Mimi laughed at the mans bewildered expression. "It's a street name Sora dear."

Sora nodded. "Whatever you fancy."

Courage smiled. "I do fancy that."

The group laughed at his stupid comment and then sobered up when Sora asked, "You think he'll be alright?"

There was no need to question who 'he' was. Courage looked at her and said, "I hope so, but he was pretty hurt. I'd seen him before tonight."

Mimi raised her eyebrows in suprise, "Really?"

"Yeah, he plays music on the street and at a bar from time to time. He plays a lot of instruments very well. I don't think he earned a lot of money out of it though if he was also on the streets."

Sora then asked, "Did he have anything on him? Like an ID?"

Courage shook his head, "He didn't have an ID, but he did have this." The brunette dumped the contents of a bag onto the waiting room table. It was a mangled guitar. The fretboard was only attached by the strings.

Mimi pointed at something written in marker on the guitar. "Look at that!"

Here is my gift to you,

From your brother, TK

Oohhh, cliffhanger much? anyways I'm not going to politely ask you to review, because I'm not polite. It wouldn't hurt if you did anyways though. :).