Title: Light & Hope

Author: Atariel Tsukai

Date: November 26, 2015

Summary: Darkness is always the strongest when there is Light to attract it. Sometimes you just need a little Hope to get through the deepest of Darkness.

Rating: T

Authoress's Note: I am back at writing! If you follow my other stories, please don't be mad that I'm starting yet another new story! I started writing this quite some time ago, but had a major inspiration to finish up this first chapter last night! Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, but I am so very glad that Digimon Tri Reunion has been released! It's hard to find, but I've watched it twice so far!

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Chapter 01: Nightmares That Lead To Sweet Dreams

There were a lot of things that child might consider to be scary. Fortunately, most of them were fake. At least, that is what parents would say in order to get their worried children calmed down and back to sleep in the middle of the night. Hikari Kamiya, however, had almost always known that it was not true. There were such things as monsters. Some were good, but others were truly horrifying.

At the age of four, she and her brother, Taichi, had met their very first Digital Monster. Late on night, a DigiEgg appeared to them through their computer and their lives had never been the same. They witnessed a battle between a friendly Greymon and an evil Parrotmon. Years went by and, although he seemed to forget about their Digimon encounter, Tai had always promised that he would never let any bad monsters hurt Kari. That was the only way to get her to fall back to sleep after nightmares, not by writing them off as make-believe.

At eight, Kari was supposed to join Tai and some of their other friends for her first year of summer camp. Unfortunately, she caught a cold and had to stay home. This kept her safe from the strange occurrence of being pulled into the Digital World for the first time. While her brother and their friends were off fighting to save the parallel universe, she was on her own, waiting for him to return from camp. It was not long before the DigiDestined came back to Japan, searching for the Eighth Child before the very evil Myotismon could get to them. As fate would have it, she was the child the vampire-like Digimon was searching for and would stop at nothing to get. Even after they had worked together to defeat him several times, along with countless other enemies trying to take over either world, she could not get over the nightmares. Not even with the support of her brother and the rest of their friends.

Chestnut orbs peered passed auburn bangs as Hikari was led through the communications tower by Phantomon. The courage she had displayed when turning herself in as the Eighth Child had been quick to fade. She did not want people to remain captive or hurt by Myotismon and his minions, but now she was terrified beyond belief.

'Tai, where are you? I'm scared. . I know I turned myself in, but I don't think I can do this on my own. . . ' she thought, even though she knew that her brother was far away.

By the time she was brought to Myotismon, she was shaking. Icy blue eyes studied the young girl's face and a smirk came to the blond's lips. "Such a good little Chosen One, sacrificing yourself to keep your family, friends, even total strangers safe. At least, for now."

A soft gasp escaped Kari's lips. "Wh-what do you mean, for now? You wanted me here and I came. Please leave everyone else alone," she whispered, her voice shaking.

Myotismon just laughed. He took a few steps towards the girl, who backed up out of fear. "I don't need any of the humans in this world. Now that I have you the rest of those annoying children will come to the rescue and I will destroy them all before I do the same to you," he told her, barely above a whisper.

"KARI! Get away from her, you creep!"

Chestnut orbs widened as Hikari heard Taichi calling out to her. "No!" she cried out, trying to grab Myotismon as he turned on her brother, their friends, and their Digimon. A dark aura began to glow around the man's body and she was afraid it was too late. . .

"TAI!"

The door to her bedroom burst open, revealing an older brunette male. As usual, his chocolate hair stuck out in every direction imaginable. The thing that was odd was that he was already dressed and seemed ready for the day. Normally, Kari would be the one to drag Tai out of bed every morning.

His warm chocolate eyes studied her face while she breathed in and out heavily. Before she could say anything, he was at her bedside, pulling her into a gentle hug. "Bad dream?" he asked softly.

She gave a weak nod, some tears falling from her wide hazel orbs. "It was so horrible, Tai. . I had turned myself in to Myotismon just like I did back then, but everything else was different. You and the rest of our friends came to save me, but he. . . " A shudder ran through her petite body as she thought of the aura that had been shot at all of her really good friends.

"It's okay, Kari. It was just a bad dream. We defeated him a few times. You and Gatomon are both a lot stronger now than you were back then. We all are. If he ever comes back, we'll just beat him again," Taichi said reassuringly as he sat on the edge of Hikari's bed, gently ruffling her short auburn hair. "Anyway, I think you have something even scarier to think about today. Are you sure you're ready for your first day of high school?" he asked jokingly. His fingers brushed over her forehead for a moment and he frowned a bit. "You have a fever. No wonder you had a nightmare."

Kari pulled away and managed a small smile. "I'm okay, Tai. I need to start getting ready for school now," she said softly.

The older Kamiya eyed the younger a while longer, then nodded. "Just promise you'll go lie down in the infirmary if you start to feel sick during class."

"But, it's the first d-"

"I'm serious, Hikari." Tai rarely used his sister's full name. "I'll let Davis know that you aren't feeling well and he'll constantly bug you, if you don't," he warned, only teasing slightly.

A soft sigh of defeat escaped the girl's lips. "Alright, Taichi, I promise to lie down if you get off of me right now," she said with a pout. The smaller brunette ducked her head as the other ruffled her hair again before they both got up from the bed. "I'll be out in a little bit to make breakfast, okay?"

The older sibling nodded and headed out of the room. Kari waited until Tai closed the door behind himself before she grabbed her school uniform and headed for the bathroom connected to her bedroom. Slowly, she removed her light pink shirt and bright yellow pajama pants, followed by her undergarments before getting in the shower. She turned the water on and breathed in deeply. "It was just a dream. . a really bad dream. . . " she whispered to herself as the warm water hit her body, helping her stay calm.

"Hikari, I heard you calling for Taichi. Is everything okay?"

Chestnut orbs blinked a few times and the brunette poked her head out from behind the shower curtain, seeing her Digimon partner coming in through the cracked open window high on the opposite wall. "Oh, good morning, Gatomon. I'm okay now. I had a bad dream, that's all," she told the cat-like creature with a tiny smile. With that said, she ducked back into the shower so she could rinse off her body before getting out and wrapping a towel around her petite frame. "Preparing for high school this past month has been a bit stressful, so I guess it's finally catching up to me," she admitted as she reached up and gently scratched behind Gatomon's ears as she laid in the early morning sun. "I'll be fine," she said reassuringly, though it sounded a little like she might have been trying to convince herself.

With a gentle shake of her head, the brunette then turned her attention to the mirror. She grabbed the hairdryer and turned it on high, glad that it did not take long with her hair being so short. She pinned it back with one of her usual hairclips before carefully pulling her uniform shirt on over her head. Next was her skirt before she gave a small twirl, the green skirt flying up just slightly. "What do you think?"

"You look purr~fect, Kari," Gatomon replied, earning a soft giggle from her human partner. "It's almost time for you to leave and you still have to eat breakfast," she then pointed out.

"Oh! Right," she said, though the thought of food started to putt her off once again. "Well, let's go see what there is to make for breakfast."

With that, Hikari and Gatomon made their way out of the bathroom and bedroom. Stepping into the hallway made several voices audible. Chestnut orbs blinked a few times and Kari strained her hearing.

"Yolei, you're a genius! Best first day of high school ever!"

A tiny smiled came to her lips as she immediately recognized the voice belonging to one of her friends, Davis Motomiya. He was a lot like Tai, with spiky maroon hair and chocolate eyes, though he was even more obnoxious. Of course, he always meant well.

"My parents said that I could take as much food as I wanted from the store so we could all eat breakfast before we start school today. I'm glad T.K. and Cody live in the same apartment building as me, so I had plenty of hands to help me carry everything hear," a second, equally unmistakable, voice said matter-of-factly, causing Kari to smile even more. Yolei Inoue was her best girl friend, being the female DigiDestined closest to her in age. The purple-haired girl was never afraid to speak her mind, and that was one of the many things the brunette liked and admired about her.

As she came into the living room, she could see that all of her friends around her age were there, which she had not been expecting. As far as she had known, Tai was the one walking her to school. Of course, the rest of the DigiDestined always seemed to be full of surprises. "Good morning, everyone," she said with a happy smile. Her chestnut orbs wandered from her older brother, who stood closest to her, around the group. Davis stood next to Tai with Ken Ichijouji on his other side. As usual, Yolei was attached to her indigo-haired boyfriend, her slim arms wrapped around one of his. Next to the couple was Cody Hida, who had received the opportunity to skip his last few years of junior high school because of his perfect grades and therefore would be joining the others in high school. Standing next to him, and quite taller, was Takeru Takaishi.

T.K. had been one of the original DigiDestined, the only one her age when she had found out that she was the Eighth Child. They had both been so young and, a lot of the time, scared, so they tended to stick together. Upon returning to the human world, they continued the trend, ending up in the same classes and spending time together outside of school as well. Their friendship stayed strong even through junior high school, which caused Davis to be jealous.

Azure eyes had been watching the brunette from the moment she walked into the room. Of course, she had not noticed until her own chestnut orbs locked with them. She noticed the expression on his face as one of worry. Her smile dropped for a moment as she wondered if Tai told the blond about her nightmare.

Before she could think too much about that, Yolei had unattached herself from Ken and threw her arms around the smaller girl instead. "Kari! You look so cute in your uniform! Not fair," she said with a pout.

The brunette giggled softly, wrapping her arms around the purple-haired female in return. "You do, too, Yolei. You look good in green," she said reassuringly.

The other girl pulled away and returned to her boyfriend's side. "Thanks. Even if you're just saying that. You're too nice to say that I look weird in a skirt," she said as she pulled at the green uniform skirt in order to hid the cargo short she was wearing underneath.

"I think you look cute, Yolei," Ken told his girlfriend. Kari could not help but to smile. The two of them made a cute couple and it made her glad. They deserved to be happy.

Davis rolled his eyes and made a gagging noise. "'scuse me while I barf. I definitely agree with Yolei, though – you look really cute in the school uniform, Kari!"

Chestnut orbs blinked a few times and a faint pink colored pale cheeks at the compliment. "Oh, uhm, thank you, Davis," she said softly. The maroon-haired teen had been flirting with the brunette since the moment they met, but it still somehow made her nervous. She shifted from one foot to the other before looking around the group once more.

"Anyway – everyone grab some food so we can eat and walk!" Yolei ordered with a roll of her own honey eyes. Davis, of course, did not need to be told twice, quickly grabbing a breakfast sandwich, hashbrown, and drink. The others followed suit.

Hikari waited for everyone else to go before her, but barely had time to react as a sandwich was gently tossed in her direction. She looked up to see Takeru holding a small container of juice out to her. "Did you sleep okay?"

His words struck a nerve. She did not know why it still surprised her when he could see right through the happy face she tried to put on so the others would not worry about her. Reaching out, she gently took the juice. "I've had better dreams, but I'll be alright," she said quietly.

It wasn't a lie. She never wanted to lie to anyone, especially not her friends. Still, she did not want to trouble them either. She carefully opened the juice container and took a sip, feeling her stomach settle down a bit. "Thank you, Takeru."

"Yeah, sure." The blond wore a small frown, but let the topic of the brunette's dream drop. He could at least wait until they were not around the others. Yolei, Ken, and Cody had all tested into Advanced classes and Davis was stuck in Basic ones, while the two of them were in Honors for most of their classes. They, fortunately for T.K. or unfortunately for Kari, would have quite a bit of time away from their other friends throughout the day. And they both knew that he would bring her bad night's sleep back up at the first chance he had.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Cody asked, finally speaking up as he felt more awake with food in his system. The others nodded in acknowledgement and gathered their belongings so they could all head out together.

Taichi came between Takeru and Hikari, draping his arms around both of their shoulders. "I can't believe you guys are starting high school! You're just kids!" he teased.

Kari shook her head a bit. "Come on, Tai. We're only four years younger than you, stop being so weird," she fussed at her brother as he pulled her even closer. The younger brunette then seemed to remember something. "Oh! Can you take our picture?" she asked, pulling her camera out of her school bag and passing it to him. It took a couple of tries before Tai was able to take a clear pictures, always moving the device too soon, but they were then on their way.

The walk started off pretty uneventful. Davis complained a lot about not being in the same class as anyone, Kari in particular. They all had the same Physical Education and lunch hours, but he still insisted that it was not fair since T.K. got to spend almost the entire day with her.

"Well, maybe you should've gotten better grades and you could have been in the same class as Hikari, too!" Yolei scolded the gogglehead, who just huffed and pouted even more.

"It'll be okay, Davis. We'll still see each other everyday. Nothing is really going to change," Kari said with a smile.

Davis let out an excited whoop and punched the air in victory. "Alllriiight! Let's get going then!" he exclaimed. Both Hikari and Ken smiled softly as they had always admired Davis's enthusiasm, while Cody, Takeru, and Yolei all leaned away slightly.

They reached a major fork in the road and Kari turned to Tai one last time. "You should head to your own school now, Taichi. We're all going to walk together, so there's really no need for you to go so far out of your way," she said softly.

The older Kamiya pouted quite a bit. "Are you sure? It's not really a big deal," he began, still worried about his sister. He then noticed that Takeru was still nearby and paying close attention. " . . .alright. I'll see all of you later," he said, sighing in defeat. At least he knew that T.K. would not take an eye off Kari all day. She would be just fine if he was with her, right?

"Taichi's really worried about you."

Chestnut orbs blinked softly and wandered up to meet with azure eyes. A faint pink came to Hikari's cheeks as she felt embarrassed that Takeru would call her out in front of quite a bit of their friends. A look around, however, showed her that they were alone. When had that happened? Hadn't they just split up from her brother?

"Was I. . . sleepwalking?" she questioned, feeling completely confused on top of flustered.

A slight frown came to his lips. "Were you? You were awfully quiet. Then again, none of us could get anything in with Davis talking a mile per minute." Even with the slight joke, the blond looked worried. He gently pushed away the brunette's bangs with one hand. "Hikari, you're burning up."

"Tak-" she began, slightly annoyed.

'Hikari. . . '

" . . .what?" she breathed out after being cut off.

The frown only grew as T.K. wondered what Kari had been interrupted by. "I'm taking you to the infirmary. If you keep pushing yourself, it won't end well."

A matching frown came to the girl's lips. She knew that her best friend was right, even though she did not want to admit it. "Okay. I'll try to take it easy for the first couple of classes. You have to go to class and take good notes for the both of us, though. We're in Honors classes – they'll be difficult to keep up with if missed," she pointed out.

Knowing that it would be the best compromise he would be promised by his best friend, the blond held an arm out to the brunette. "At least let me walk you there," he said.

She gently placed both hands on the offered arm. "Okay. Thank you, Takeru," she said softly, sounding truly grateful behind all of her reluctance.

A kind smile came to his lips as he looked down at her. "That's what I'm here for," he reminded her.

It only took a few minutes to reach the infirmary. He walked her right over to one of the empty beds, grabbing a clipboard on the way. "Looks like the nurse isn't in just yet. I'll just stay here until they get here," he said as she got situate under the light, cool bedsheets.

Hazel orbs met azure eyes and she fixed him with a stubborn stare. "Takeru, you're beginning to act like Davis. I'm just going to rest. I don't really need someone to watch me sleep," she said before dropping her gaze so she could look down at the paperwork she had to fill out.

Once finished, the brunette passed the clipboard back to the blond. He wore yet another frown, but nodded softly. "Fine. Just text me if you need anything. I'll check back in when it gets to be lunchtime," he told her.

"I won't be here for that long. I'm only going to sleep for a class or two."

The pair of best friends fixed each other with stubborn looks once more, neither ready to budge completely. "Whatever you say," T.K. said in slight defeat. He took the clipboard back over to the desk. He move towards the door, but glanced over his shoulder one last time. A small smile came to his lips when he saw that Kari was already sleeping, her chest rising and falling slowly.

"Sweet dreams, Hikari."

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Authoress's Note: That was actually a lot longer than I expected! I had it all typed up on my phone, but had to retype it all onto my laptop! It took about an hour and a half, which even included a bit of editing! Please let me know what you think and if there is anything you'd like to see in any of the future chapters!