Summery: The story takes place few weeks after the season 1 ends. Yamato and Takeru are central characters. The story's about what could have happen if their father's investigation was gone too far. And how would they coup with it.

Disclaimer: Totally unnecessary statement, but all the characters related to the "Digimon adventures" series are not mine to own.

For hope and friendship

Chapter 1

People were starting to flood Odaiba's streets as the dawn was quickly turning into morning. Cars were moving up and down the streets, passing figures of the sleepy pedestrians, rushing to the different parts of the city.

No one paid any attention to the ordinary looking black van that was parked near one of the apartment-blocks. It's windows were tanned, preventing anyone from seeing the vehicle's interior. Inside the car two people were sitting at the front and one man occupied the back sit, playing lazily with the long military looking knife. Their eyes were bound to the building across the street, waiting for something.

Or actually someone. For all three of them tensed when the brown-haired broad-shouldered man walked out the door and went to his car.

"Ok. That's him." The van's driver said, watching as the car sped down the street. "It's time to move."

His two companions exited the van and stealthily moved to the building's entrance.

XXX

Ishida Yamato yawned, stretching a bit. He opened his eyes, looking his room over. It felt weird being home, sleeping in his bad, eating junk food, watching TV… Even though weeks had passed since their return from the digital world, Yamato felt as if that life was more real. Probably because he had some place in it. His help was needed and he was able to provide it. But here, in Odaiba, he was just another kid, who had still the life to build.

Yamato sighed heavily, knowing that he indeed missed their adventures. He admitted, although reluctantly, that it was hard to get to sleep without the soft smell of forest and the silk touch of Gabumon's fur. But what he missed even harder, was being close to Takeru. He had always been protective over his brother but after their parents' divorce, they had rarely seen each other. The time they spent in the digital world was the best he had in years.

Shaking all this sad thoughts off, Yamato stood up, taking fresh towel and a set of clean clothes. His father had already left for his job. Actually the sounds of him, searching the room for the keys and some papers were responsible for waking Yamato that early. It was summertime and the boy could use some more hours of lazy sleep. But since he was already awake, Yamato decided to get up and do something useful. He was going to meet other digidestined later that day and he had plenty of time to clean the house a bit and prepare some dinner. He was used for his father's lack of time. Hiroaki Ishida was a reporter in the local newspaper and had usually been carried away by his job. But he loved and cared about Yamato, so the boy always understood his father, even when his attitude annoyed him a bit.

Through the rushing noise of falling water Yamato thought he heard some scrapping noises. Should it happen few weeks ago, he'd probably thought that it was his imagination playing tricks with him. But the time spent in the sometimes unfriendly environment of the Digital world took it's toll on the boy. Quickly dressing up, Yamato walked out the bathroom, feeling his heart pounding inside his chest.

The noise came again and this time Yamato knew it was real. It sounded as if someone was trying to turn the key inside the lock, but was having trouble… The boy's heart sped up. Someone was trying to break into the apartment! His thoughts rushing, Yamato tried to find the best possible choice of action. Should he call the police? Or try to investigate what was going on? The door knob turned a bit, the unknown man pushing the door from the other side. Realizing he had no time to call the police, Yamato prepared to attack the intruder, hoping to be quick enough to run past the man.

His plan wasn't that bad. Yamato didn't like to fight much, but if needed he could master strength enough to win a battle against an average opponent. But the odds were against him this time. Because there were two well-trained men outside the door. And they weren't there to rob the apartment. They had another goal in mind…

Yamato's nerves were strained to their limits as he waited for the right moment to act. The door opened slowly and the man dressed in a casual dark clothes came in stealthily. Waiting no longer, Yamato jumped into him, using both of his fists to hit the intruder's midsection, doubling the surprised man. The boy started to flee past the stranger, when another pair of arms grabbed him.

"That was a big mistake to make," The first attacker rasped, getting up with lines of pain clearly visible on his face. He punched the boy hard in is face, violently whipping Yamato's head to the side.

The boy groaned almost literally seeing stars. He felt a warm trickle of blood running down his nose. He would have fallen down if not for the arms of he man, holding him. The next blow targeted his midsection, blowing all the wind out of him, giving him no chance to try and get free.

"We should hurry!" One of the attackers whispered urgently right above the boy's ear. "We made to much noise already."

Without answering, the first man drew his knife out, stepping closer to Yamato. The boy's eyes grew wider with fear as the blade came to stop near his face. He wanted to shout for help, but his throat was dry and his lungs were still burning from the lack of air. He wanted to flinch or turn away, but his eyes were following the blade's moves as if under some horrific spell.

"Don't be afraid," The voice mocked from behind. "We won't kill you… Yet."

The knife cut sharply through the soft skin of his cheek, deep enough to let the blood stain the blade. Yamato groaned again, unable to hold the pain under control. He felt the hands, which were holding him, shifting and suddenly a new flash of pain exploded at the back of his head quickly followed by the overwhelming painless darkness.

XXX

"Where's Yamato?" Taichi looked around impatiently. "He's almost one hour late!"

Seven kids were sitting at the grass in one of the park's most uncrowded parts.

"I hope he's alright." Takeru whispered, strange feeling settling in his heart. Somehow he knew that his brother was in some kind of trouble.

"Don't worry, T.K." Sora smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure he's fine."

"Yeah, there are no evil digimons here, right?" Jyou laughed.

Hikari took Takeru's hand silently, but in her deep brown eyes the blond boy could read the same worry that was taking hold over his mind.

"If he don't show up in another half hour, I'll try to call him." Takeru said stubbornly.

"Ok." Taichi knew better then to argue. Despite his care-free appearance, he was becoming worried himself, knowing his best friend far too well. "How about the two of us go and make a call right now?" He asked, smiling at the younger boy. "And the others will wait here in case Yamato shows up?"

"Sure!" Takeru smiled back, jumping to his feet.

"I'll come with you." Hikari said, standing up as well.

The rest of the children watched them going away silently, each starting to feel oddly concerned.

XXX

Hiroaki stopped the car near the apartment block, rushing out of it. He forgot a few rather important documents at home. They were concerning the case he was working on. It was an article about the ongoing police investigation and could have helped in catching the gang responsible for a few murders. He had a meeting with a detective, who led the case, in an hour and was in a great hurry. He called home from the newspaper's office, deciding to ask Yamato take those files to him, but no one answered his call. Remembering that his son had plans to meet his friend, Hiroaki sighed but headed to his apartment on his own, preying not to be late to the meeting.

Running up the stairs he was searching for his keys at the same time. Pulling the bundle out of his pocket, he rushed out to his door. And stopped dead. The door was slightly opened. Surely Yamato wouldn't leave the door opened. Someone must have broken into the house then.

Feeling nervous and slightly afraid, Hiroaki opened the door wider and felt the hair at the back of his neck raising.

On top of the telephone table a long knife was laying, stained with the dark half-drained blood. The same knife that was stolen from the evidences, which the police had gathered at the crime scene few weeks ago. His face ghostly pale, he took his phone out dialing the detective's number.

Waiting for the call to settle, he walked closer, finding a small note:

"That's you son's blood. We shall call."

…TBC

NOTE: First of all, I need to apologize in case I didn't described the characters close to how they appeared in the show. Ever since I watched the series for the first time, Yamato has become my favorite character, so I guess it's no wonder he's the central one in the story. I don't feel that I can write a story about the adventures in the digital world itself (that's one of the reasons I still haven't finished the previous story) so I decided to stop on this plot. Hope it's not too bad.