So, I had a Takari fit a bit ago and decided to make them get together after the "epilogue" at the end of Adventures 02. Beware, this is going to be a lot more dramatic than anything I've written before, and there will more than likely be some lemon in later chapters. In any case, I hope you enjoy this!

Takaishi Takeru would note, years and years later, that he could still remember the silence of that night. There was no thundering storm, no tornado-like winds, nothing that would ever make him think that what was about to happen would happen.

His son, Takuo, had just gone to bed. Takeru could hear his soft snores from his bedroom, just down the hall, so he knew it was safe to pull the picture out. He reached into the drawer of his bedside table and pulled the old, dusty frame out, blowing on it slightly to get rid of the layer of grime. The woman in it was beautiful, with long, curly black hair and seemingly endless blue eyes. She was wearing a simple pink sundress and a white sun hat, because she was very pale and sunburned easily, Takeru knew. She was sitting on a white bench that was surrounded by rose bushes, and she held a bundle of white blankets out of which Takeru could make out the blonde locks of a baby Takuo as she smiled at Takeru, who was taking the picture.

Looking at Tetsumi, Takeru couldn't help but feel guilty.

Takeru sighed and put the picture of his late wife back in the drawer, rolling over in the bed to face his partner, Patamon. The little orange Digimon was sleeping as soundly as his son down the hall, but sleep seemed to be eluding Takeru that night. After a few moments of tossing and turning in the dark of his bedroom, he decided that maybe a glass of water would cure his insomnia, so down the stairs and into the kitchen he went.

Takeru was silent as he nursed the water, suppressing the urge to continue on the draft he was currently writing. He'd stayed up until nearly four the past three nights, and Takuo could hardly fend for himself in the mornings. He sighed. Things had been so much easier before Tetsumi passed. Back then, he could stay up as late as he wanted, knowing that she would wake up early in the morning to make breakfast and usher their son along as he readied himself for school. Alas, he was a single parent now, and being a single parent was a tough job.

Takeru felt a shot of victory course through him as his eyes started to droop. Water worked, after all. He emptied the glass and put it in the sink with the dinner dishes and began his ascent up the stairs.

Halfway up, an urgent knock came at the door, waking Takeru up once more. He groaned and trudged back down the stairs to answer, never expecting who his visitor was.

There, on his doorstep, was his first love and her son.

"Hikari-chan?" Takeru asked, all thought of sleep thoroughly flushed out of his system. It had been a few months since he saw her last, but she was just as lovely. Her long, straight chestnut-colored hair was shiny, but slightly ruffled, and her brown eyes seemed...scared, for some reason. Her hands trembled as their grip remained firm on her son's shoulders. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm sorry for just showing up, but can we come in?" she asked, a slight tremor in her voice. The tremor was so slight that only someone who knew her as well as Takeru did would be able to pick up on it, and pick up on it he did. He silently stepped aside, allowing the two into his home.

Hikari and her son came in and Takeru directed them to the living room, where they sat on the comfortable couch. The son leaned on his mother's shoulders, obviously dead tired. Takeru kneeled in front of the two, putting on his fatherly face. "Hey...Yuuji, right? I bet you're tired. You can go lay down in the guest room, if you want."

Hikari smiled gratefully at Takeru as he gave Yuuji the directions and ushered him up the stairs. Once that was done, he went into the kitchen and made up some tea for the visibly shaken woman. "Thank you so much, Takeru," she said, cradling the cup in her hands like it was a precious jewel. "I'm really sorry about just barging in like this..."

"It's fine, Hikari-chan. You're always welcome here. Now, what's wrong? And where's Tailmon?"

Hikari sighed. "She'll be here soon. She doubled back to get some clothes for Yuuji and I, and my wallet and IDs and the like."

"You didn't answer my first question."

Hikari looked up then, and Takeru was rather shocked to see the tears brimming in her eyes. "I...I came home late tonight, because I had a meeting and then Yuuji had a club event. When we got home, I saw...Hijeme..." She paused and took a deep breath before finishing, "I saw Hijeme in bed with another woman." Then she couldn't help the choked sob that escaped her mouth, and Takeru couldn't help his arms instinctively wrapping around her shoulders. She relented, then, allowing herself to cry and cry and cry into his shoulder as he held her. "I just...I couldn't think of anywhere else to go! Onii-chan's in the Digital World on business, and it's Sora-nee and Yamato-nii's anniversary, so I wouldn't want to intrude on them, and Miyako and Ken have a full enough house already..." Her little hands, those hands he'd held so many times before, both in childhood when it was innocent and in those hormonal teenage years when they weren't quite so innocent, clutched at the fabric of his pajama shirt as she bawled, but Takeru couldn't bring himself to care.

He had to take care of Hikari, just like he'd promised Taichi he would all those years ago.

"You and Yuuji can stay here as long as you want."

Hijeme=Hikari's husband

Tailmon=Gatomon (for all you English viewers)