Khgirl08: Hey everyone! I've been really busy as of late, packing for college and shopping for college and getting loans for college, but I decided to write a Digimon ficcy, as well. Hooray, now I will be juggling classes, band and three different stories on top of trying to lead a semi-normal life. -le sigh- Anyhow, I am a die-hard Takari fan, and I also support Taiora, Mimato, and Kenyako (most of the time…), so these are the pairings that will be appearing in my little world, as well as any others I randomly come up with. :D I would also like you to take note that the points of view aren't all happening at the same time, so it might get a tad confusing. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: (I think everyone has used this one at least once) I don't own Digimon, but if I did, there would have been a whole lot of changes in the epilogue…

A sixteen year old girl with waist length badly dyed black hair and half closed crimson eyes sat in her trigonometry class, listening to the elderly teacher ramble on about isosceles triangles and struggling to pay attention. Her gaze kept drifting to the window right beside her as the steadily darkening clouds threatened to unleash their full fury on the small town located in the heartland of Japan's countryside. The teacher had already managed to knock out the other six students in the advanced mathematics class, and the girl knew that when she finally succumbed to boredom and fell asleep, Mr. Konari would have every reason to write her another detention. It was like the man was out to get her or something.

BRINGBRINGBRING! Saved by the bell… she thought as she collected her books and pencil and exited the room as quickly as possible. Just two more days of this before summer break… I wonder if I'll get to see that boy again?

Finally reaching her locker, she twisted the lock and opened it, only to have it be slammed in her face by the kid next her. "Hey, Hikari, I have a question. How can you remember your locker combination if you supposedly can't even remember three years ago?" His friends burst out laughing.

"Shut up." Hikari reopened her locker and stuffed her books inside for the weekend. "I don't need this right now."

"Aw, poor baby Hikari!" A girl walked up and blocked her against her locker. "Are you being picked on again? Too bad you won't be able to remember their names by the time you get to the principal to tell!"

Hikari shoved past the small group of onlookers that had accumulated and ran down the hall and out the doors. They just don't understand how much that hurts…

As she jogged down the road to her small house, the rain that had been threatening to arrive all day began to fall in sheets. Just as she reached her sidewalk, a car sped by, splashing up the puddles that had already collected in the road and soaking her through. Hikari moaned and shook herself off, trying to get rid of as much water as possible. "This is ridiculous!"

"Is that you, Hikari? Get yourself in here, right now! Don't stand out on the street looking like a little-"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Hikari walked up her front walk and past the heavy man standing in the doorway. His pallid complexion was reddened with anger and alcohol, and his dark eyes were wild, as was his black hair.

He slammed the door behind him and turned on her. "Hikari Kurayami, when are you going to start getting home on time?! You've been somewhere for three hours after school should have let out, you stupid brat!"

"I think you need to reset your clock, Nobunari, because school only let out fifteen minutes ago." She knew it was useless to be telling her drunken father this, because he would just forget once he passed out, but she had reached the end of her patience. "I'm going to do my homework now."

"Don't you dare call me by my first name, young lady! I am your father!"

"Of course, father." Hikari turned on her heel and disappeared down the hall and into her small bedroom, ignoring her father's obvious anger.

The small room was usually tidy, but she hadn't felt like cleaning recently. Piles of clothes were strewn everywhere, and old papers and wrappers lay on every surface. A thin layer of dust was beginning to settle on her desk, covering her small collection of photos. Sighing at the mess, she fell onto her bed and stared at the ceiling.

The image of a tan boy with spiky brown hair appeared in her mind's eye, and she closed her eyes to get a closer look. He was grinning and laughing with his friends, whose faces she could never see. His joy emanated over everyone around him, and the sound of laughter filled Hikari's ears. She couldn't help but smile at this memory, faint though it was. As much as she dug around in her mind, she couldn't think of anything else about him. She had only seen him twice in living memory, and the last time it was from a car window as he ran to her, tears streaming from his chocolate eyes as he screamed something indistinguishable.

Hikari opened her eyes and sat up. "I will remember something more about him, I have to… He's been running through my mind so much recently. Maybe if I remember him, Nobunari will let me visit him so I can see if he remembers me, as well."

She knew this could possibly be the most difficult thing that she had ever attempted. She couldn't remember anything before she was almost thirteen, nothing at all. Hikari Kurayami had amnesia.

"I won't let that stop me, I won't let it hold me back anymore. I can't…"

Tai Kamiya sat in his best friend's living room, blankly staring at the television screen before him. Today was his nineteenth birthday, but he didn't feel like he had much to celebrate. On this day, four years previously, his world had completely shattered, leaving him completely and utterly alone. Well, almost.

"Tai, are you still here? If he left with the TV on again, I'm going to…" Matt Ishida walked into the room and stopped at the sight of his best friend. "Oh, you are still here. Hey, are you okay, man?"

"I'm fine."

Matt shrugged and looked at the TV. An old video was playing on the VCR, and suddenly Matt understood just what was ailing his friend. "Oh…" A much younger Tai was running around the city park, kicking a soccer ball back and forth with his dad. The shot suddenly changed to Tai and a little girl slurping ice cream cones and smiling at the camera. Matt cracked a smile when the girl suddenly frowned at something Tai said and pushed the remains of her cone into his hair, causing Tai to scream and wipe his hair frantically with a napkin. "Happy Birthday, Tai."

Tai sighed and looked over at his friend, who was staring at him. They couldn't look less alike; Tai was tan, with brown hair that stood off of his head in long spikes and dark brown eyes, while Matt was pale and blond with blue eyes that sparkled with sadness under his long hair. "Thanks. I can barely believe that it's been four years already, you know?"

Matt nodded and joined him on the couch. "I know exactly how you feel, dude. We all miss her…"

Tai nodded as tears began streaking down his cheeks. "Maybe they'll finally let me see her again someday. I wonder if she remembers us yet…"

The words sent him into a flashback. It feels like yesterday… Tai had just kicked the winning goal of the championship soccer game, giving him even more reason to celebrate turning fifteen. When he finally left the locker room, he saw his sister shouting and waving to him from his parents car. He had broken into a run to hug her, knowing how happy she was for him, when the car behind her exploded into a ball of flame. Kari's face turned from joy to terror as she flew through the air, eventually landing on the pavement about thirty feet from where she had been standing moments before. He screamed something and tried to run to the car, but someone had grabbed him by the wrist, dragging him out of the parking lot while he screamed in terror.

The next couple of days were a blur, even now; his parents were dead, and his sister was almost there. She had fallen into a coma when she was thrown from the car, and the doctors didn't think she would make it. No one seemed to be able to decide exactly why the car had blown up in the first place, except for Tai's friends. The Digidestined were convinced that the Digital World and Digimon were somehow involved, but they couldn't run around announcing that creatures from another were responsible for the horrific deaths of Tai's parents. Three days after the funeral, however, she woke up and seemed to be fine. Until Tai had run into her room, sobbing and laughing at the same time.

Her politely confused words would ring in his mind for the rest of his life. "Hello, sir. Who are you, and who exactly am I?" She was still the same Kari, always kind, sometimes to the point of annoyance, but she couldn't remember anything about herself or anyone else. The room had immediately become very quiet before one of the doctors surrounding her had ushered Tai out of the room, eventually banning him entirely from the hospital.

Less than a week later, he had gotten the phone call that Kari was being adopted. He and his new guardian (Hiroaki Ishida, Matt's father) tried to fight the issue, but some psychologist had decided that it would be easier for Kari to just start over. Tai had never been allowed to say goodbye to her, and he would never forgive himself for not trying harder to see his baby sister.

"Tai… Tai? Are you there?"

"Wha- Oh, yeah… Sorry about that, I was just thinking…" Tai stretched and pressed the Stop button on the remote in his hand. The TV screen turned to static, and he quickly pressed the Power button to get rid of it.

"As I was trying to say, the rest of us are throwing you a party over at Davis's new house. Are you able to come this year?"

Tai laughed a little for the first time that day; the previous year he hadn't shown up, because he was trying to get a judge to grant him visits to Kari. "Yeah, definitely. It might have helped if you had actually told me about the party…"

"Yeah, well, you usually show up to Sora's house when she calls!"

"Excuses, excuses…" Tai lightly punched Matt on the shoulder and stood up. "I'm going to go shower, 'kay?"

"Alright, man. Don't use up all the hot water, either!"

Tai waved as he went around the corner to show that he had heard. Matt slumped farther into the couch and breathed a loud sigh before picking up the phone.

"Happy Birthday!" Tai froze as he came out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel. All of his closest friends, the other Digidestined, were standing in Matt's living room, which had gained streamers and confetti. Yolei, Sora and Mimi, the only girls remaining in the group, turned bright red and covered their eyes, and Matt was laughing hysterically along with the rest of the guys in the group.

"Matt!! You said we were going to Davis's house!" Tai shouted. Matt, who was doubled over laughing, didn't answer him as he dashed into his bedroom to pull on some decent clothes.

When he reentered the living room, wearing a blue t-shirt with an unzipped orange jacket and cargo shorts the group had basically calmed down, though Sora was still blushing fervently. "Thanks a lot, Matt."

"Sorry, you usually take clothes to change into. How the heck was I supposed to know that this time would be any different?"

Tai grinned and scratched the back of his head. "I guess I just had a lot on my mind. Thanks for the party, guys."

Sora Takenouchi, Tai's girlfriend and one his other best friends, stepped over and put her arms around him, her carrot hair brushing her shoulders and her brown eyes sparkling. "I'm glad you're able to laugh this year, Tai, I really am."

Tai kissed her cheek and hugged her back. "Me too, Sora."

A burgundy haired boy with goggles and skin almost as tan as Tai's grinned. "Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's party!" He pressed a remote and music poured from the speakers that surrounded the room.

Tai laughed. Davis Motomiya sure knew how to break a moment, but he was right. Tai looked around at his other friends and grinned. Mimi Tachikawa was sitting on couch below Matt, her brown eyes shining happily at her new boyfriend as he joked with Davis. Izzy Izumi, the short red haired genius who wasn't really short anymore, was actually talking to a young brown haired kid, Cody Hida, instead of typing away on his laptop. Yolei Inoue was twirling her long purple hair around her index finger as Ken Ichijouji tried to talk to her, blushing but smiling. The boy genius was also blushing, his straight blue hair shining even in the semi-dull light as he tried to explain something to Yolei. Joe Kido, his blue hair slightly less shiny, was half listening to Izzy and Cody and half trying to finish an essay for his med school application, looking stressed out as usual.

Only one person looked like they really didn't want to be there. TK Takaishi, Matt's younger brother, looked almost as miserable as Tai felt. The handsome blond was sitting on a chair in the kitchen, away from everyone else, staring at his hands and frowning.

"Sora, I've got to go talk to TK. Look at him…"

Sora did so and let out a little murmur of despair. "I agree, Tai. He looks like he'd rather be driving off a cliff than celebrating."

Tai nodded and left her side. When he sat down at the table beside his younger friend, TK looked up at him with tears in his eyes. "Happy Birthday, Tai…"

Tai smiled and put his hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, TK." TK had been Kari's very best friend since they were only eight years old, and Tai knew that he had been affected by her memory loss just as much as he had. Sometimes he seemed like himself, the kid who always had a smile on his face and laughter in his voice, the bearer of Hope, but sometimes he moved around like a shadow. "I know how you're feeling, TK."

The blond shook his head. "I know, but I shouldn't be like this today. We should all be celebrating your birthday, and instead I'm just sitting here crying about her… I'm sorry."

Tai pulled the boy into a tight hug. "Come on, Teeks, you know that you don't have to apologize about something like that. I told you already, I understand."

The blond boy pulled away and smiled, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "Thanks, Tai. I just… I just regret not telling her so much…"

Tai looked at the blond suspiciously. Not telling her what? Shaking his head, he pulled the boy out of his chair and dragged him into the living room. "Come on, TK, you aren't going to sit over her by yourself all night!"

As soon as Tai sat on the couch next to Mimi, Izzy's computer began glowing from it's position on the coffee table. "Um… What's with this thing?! Izzy, I think your laptop is going crazy or something, it's shining so much…"

Izzy frowned and opened it. "I have no idea what's going on… WHA!!"

The white light from the computer filled the entire room, forcing everyone to shut their eyes. When the light faded, only Cody, Davis, Yolei and Ken remained, and the only sounds were the music and the fluttering of Joe's essay as it fell to the floor.

"Hikari, open your eyes!" Hikari obeyed her father's loud voice and squinted in the morning sun. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but she had been thinking about remember the boy or anything else, and her brain must have just given up without warning. "Hikari, start packing. We're moving as soon as you finish school!"

"What? To where?!"

"Odaiba. I got a job offer, and I really don't care if you don't want to or not, we're leaving!"

"Yes, Nobu- Father." Hikari sighed in relief when he left the room. "Thank goodness! I finally get to get out of here! I wonder if the new school will have dorky uniforms like this one does? I hope not…"

Nobunari… I mean Father… Either way, he probably wouldn't have taken the job if he knew how much I hate it here. Why do I keep doing that? He gets so angry, but… I can't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that he really is my dad. We look and act nothing alike… Besides, how do I know that he isn't just making that up? He doesn't have my birth certificate or anything, but I suppose that it could have been destroyed when my mother died, like he claims… I guess I just have to take his word for it until I remember who he is…

Five days later, Hikari had finished unpacking in her new apartment and was walking around the nearby city park. "This place seems so familiar… Did I use to live here or something? No, I must be mistaken…"

"Huh?" A boy looked up at her from his bench, and she shrieked in fright. "Did you say something to me?"

Placing a hand over her heart, Hikari laughed slightly. "Oh, you scared me! Sorry, no, I was just thinking out loud."

"Oh. Whatever…"

Hikari looked closer at the kid. His spiky burgundy hair was sticking out everywhere, like he hadn't bothered to comb it in several days, and his mahogany eyes were dull with depression. "Are you okay? You don't look so good…"

The kid shrugged and looked back at the ground. "I guess I'll be fine, I'm just a little confused, that's all."

"Why?" Hikari slipped onto the bench nest to him. "If you need to talk, I'm a good listener…"

The boy looked at her for a moment, then smiled slightly. "Thanks, but I really can't talk about it. All I can really say is that some friends of mine went missing, and I'm really worried about them but can't do anything about it."

"Oh… I understand how you feel. Almost like there's an empty space inside, right?" When the boy nodded, she smiled at him. "I have the same empty feeling. I constantly feel like I'm letting a whole bunch of people down, but I can't remember who they are or why I would be letting them down. My dad is no help, either. He just tells me that I'm stupid and shouldn't think about them."

"Your dad sounds like a real jerk."

"Yeah, well, he kind of is, sometimes."

The boy smiled again and stuck out his hand. "Name's Davis Motomiya."

Kari stared at his tan hand for a moment before taking it in her slender, pale grasp. "I'm Hikari Kurayami. It's nice to meet you, Davis."

Davis's face crumpled slightly as they shook hands. "I used to have a friend named Kari Kamiya who looked a lot like you… I kinda thought that… Never mind."

"'Used to'? What happened to her?"

"She… she moved." Davis resumed his former position of staring at the ground, and Hikari felt almost as if she were suddenly intruding on a very private moment.

"Well, Davis, I'd better get going. Who knows what my dad will do if he comes home and I'm not there?" She waved slightly and stood up to leave.

"Wait." Davis stood up with her and looked closely at her hair. "Hikari, why did you dye your hair black? It would look much better if it were its original color…"

"What made you say that? It was kind of…"

"Random?" Davis grinned for the first time since they had met. "I know. It's just that I usually say stuff before stopping to think it through first…"

Hikari smiled back. "Thank you for the advice, Davis. To answer your question, I dyed my hair because it made me look like I belonged somewhere…" She blushed slightly. "I'll see you around somewhere, okay?"

Davis nodded. "Bye, Hikari!"

Hikari took off running down the path, knowing her father would be waiting impatiently at home for her but smiling anyway. For the first time in years, she had actually made a friend.

Tai winced as the whip lashed him. His face was pale, bruised and swollen, and he hadn't eaten, slept or bathed in days. "Where is she, pathetic human?!"

"I'm telling you, I don't know! If she was with me, she would have come with us to the Digital World, but she didn't, did she?!"

Another crack of the whip, another stinging bruise. "Tell me where Light is, Courage!"

"I don't know! I'm telling you, I haven't seen her for almost four years!" Wow, this must be the stupidest Veggiemon I've ever met! Most digimon would have believed me after two days of interrogation, especially since TK has been telling them the same thing, but this guy just won't quit!

"I don't believe you. Aren't you that pitiful girl's older brother?" A screen behind the yellow pepper digimon suddenly showed ancient footage of Tai and Izzy as kids eight years ago.

"I'm her older brother, I'm supposed to protect her! That's what I'm here for…" (A/N: I'm not sure if that's the exact dialogue, but it's from Ep. 48 of Season 1, My Sister's Keeper)

The screen went black, and the Veggiemon glared at Tai again. "That is you, isn't it, Courage? Did you just forget that you promised to protect her? We didn't; we know that you are just attempting to protect her!"

Tai closed his eyes as tears began to stream down his dirty cheeks again. "I didn't forget that promise, Veggiemon, I just failed to keep it…"

"Fine." Tai felt the shackles binding him to the wall behind him disappear, and he fell to the floor with a thud. The Veggiemon grabbed his ankles and dragged him down the dark hallway of the prison he and TK were being kept in. "Be good, children. Don't go anywhere, now."

Tai felt a pair of strong arms catch him and gently lay him down after the Veggiemon threw him into the small cell that had been his living nightmare for the last five days. "Hey Teeks… You okay?"

"I'll live. You look awful, Tai. What did that Veggiemon wanna know, anyhow?"

"He didn't believe the fact that I didn't know where Kari was…" Tai pushed himself into a sitting position, wincing at the pain in his limbs and back. "What do you happened to the others?"

TK sat down across from him, his handsome visage stuttered with lacerations from the whips of the Veggiemon. "I have no idea, but I bet they're trying the same thing with them as they did with us… Tai." TK's eyes turned focused and serious, and his voice sounded like chipped ice. "Tai, we've got to get out of here and find our Digimon."

Tai shook his head. "I know, TK, but how are we going to accomplish that? We've searched this entire room several times, and the most helpful thing we found was that crack in this dirt floor that turned out to be the power cord to the room on the other side of us."

"I've spent the last two days thinking about that, and I think I have it figured out. Would you feel up to some good old-fashioned stalling?" Tai nodded, and TK began drawing out a plan in the dust while he explained his idea. "Alright, we'll both have to be ready for anything, because who knows what'll happen? Now, when we hear the Veggiemon or whoever coming, we'll both have to pretend to be sleeping on opposite sides of the cell. Let's say that he wants you. You'll turn the other direction and pretend to be getting sick. While the guard is trying to see if you're faking or not, I'll take off my jacket and hat and make it appear as if I'm still laying there. Then I sneak out and run the opposite direction from the interrogation room, because that must be the way out. Give me about sixty seconds to get up and moving, and then go with them."

Tai scratched his stubbly chin. "Great idea, but there's two massive flaws. First, even if you were to leave your hat and jacket behind, they would still be able to tell that you weren't there, right?"

"Not in this light, especially if we go to the corners where it's almost pitch black. All they'll be able to see is the general shape of us, and the hat, for me, should confuse them. Maybe we can pile up dirt to look like a human."

Tai nodded, but still looked rather concerned. "Alright, but you never said how the second person is going to escape. "

TK grimaced. "Whoever gets out is going to have to go by themselves, at least until they can get help. I know it isn't the best option, but in our position we can't be too picky."

Tai smiled. "Alright. You need to be the escapee, because I can't run too well right now. Get into that corner and follow my lead." As soon as he had managed to drag himself over to the darkness of the left wall, he began shouting as loud as he could. "TK! I'm telling you, I don't know where she is! Do you honestly think I would keep something like that from you?!"

TK seemed to pick up on Tai's part of the plan quickly, because he began scraping dirt into a pile as fast as he could and shouting. "Yes! You somehow figured out how much I love her, and you were so worried about me swooning her that you decided to send her away and tell the rest of us you didn't know where she was!"

"You're so stupid, TK! I would never choose to leave my baby sister, even if it meant that you two fell in love!"

"I'm not quite as stupid as you might think, Tai! Matt had already taken Sora away from you, and you didn't want his little brother to get the only love you had left! I'm going to sleep now, Tai. Forget you!"

"Fine!"

Tai lay himself down and watched as TK did the same before closing his eyes tight to wait for the Veggiemon. Sure enough, the yellow digimon soon opened the door and came to Tai's side. "Wake up, Courage…"

Tai looked at him and tried to stand up, but collapsed and fell against the wall, wincing in pain. He could already see TK getting up as silently as he could and spreading his forest green hoodie over the pile of dirt. "Agh! My head… My back… My ankle… I can't stand it! It hurts too much!"

TK looked at him sadly as he placed his beloved fisherman's hat at the top of the dirt pile; he could tell that Tai wasn't only acting like he was in pain. The Veggiemon sighed and brought out his whip. "Come on, Courage, stand up already! We know you're hiding something from us about Light, and we won't let you down until you tell us exactly what it is!" TK slipped out of the door just before the whip cracked down next to Tai's foot, and he decided to give up trying to get out of not being tortured. For now, anyhow…

"Fine, I'm getting up. Stupid TK…" Tai limped down the hall in front of the Veggiemon, praying that TK would make it out safely.

"Father, I'm home!" Hikari opened the front door of her new apartment and entered the spacious living area. The apartment was just on temporary rent from the man who owned it. They would be evicted whenever he decided to move back in. Gosh, that poor man. Nobunari told me that he lost his entire family, and that's why that one bedroom is off limits, because a lot of their stuff is still here. "Hello? Father? Nobunari? Anyone…"

Her cries of greeting echoed throughout the empty apartment. "That's weird… I was so sure that he'd be home by now… Oh well, all the better for me, I guess."

She walked into the bathroom and looked herself in the mirror. Maybe that Davis kid has a point… Hikari's hair had patches of brown still visible, and her roots were showing badly. Her black eyeliner and dark eye shadow did nothing but bring out the shadows under her eyes, and her clothes were way too big and made her appear even skinnier than she already was. I need a makeover…

As she walked out of the bathroom, she saw a bunch of lines on the door. "What on Earth…" Upon closer inspection they appeared to be a homemade growth chart for a boy named Tai. "Tai must be the man who's renting us this place…" As she smiled at the simple sign of a family that she had never known, the brown haired boy suddenly appeared before her, but he was no longer a boy. Instead, a man was before her, fastened to a wall and battered.

"Where is she?! I want to know, this instant! Don't make me get your little friend. I don't think Hope will very much appreciate being disturbed…"

The boy smiled grimly. "You're right, he won't…" His head lolled to the side as he passed out. A whip came from out of Hikari's path of vision and struck him in the knee once, then twice, then a third time.

Hikari woke up on the hall floor, shivering and sweaty. What was that?!

Khgirl08: Yes, that is my first chapter. It's not quite as long as I would have liked it to be, but it's getting there. A few notes:

-I know Kari's real name is Hikari, but in my FANFICTION, her name is just Kari, which is why Davis didn't react to her name.

-I also realize that 'Kurayami' means darkness, and there is a reason for that.

-Finally, I know there are some weird and confusing parts in this chapter, but hopefully I'll tie up any loose ends as the story progresses. Remember one thing: it is a fanFICTION, which means that anything can happen.

-That's really it. I just felt like adding another dash. Review, review, review!