Disclaimer: "Digimon", its characters, and story plot do not belong to me. This plot and any unrecognizable characters, however, are of my creation. I do not write for profit.

Author's Note (30.06.2007): I have revised this story, which is still under hiatus, and can only pray that this version is far superior. I converted the American names to their rightful, blessed Japanese names and have filled in some of holes in this piece. This is an Alternate Universe, so some events and relationships are not the same as they are in the series. I hope you enjoy.


Ashen Kisses
Prologue: First Embrace

Have you ever gazed at the moon and have it gently kiss your face with its pale light?

Well, I have—and more than once.

Years ago, when my friends, my little sister, and I went to a summer camp together, we got lost during a hike through the mountains. Not only did we get lost, but we found ourselves in an alternate, fantastic world. To this day none of us knew how we got there, but it had happened; and we had survived for three months there and found a way home on our own. Add to that, we even saved the other world.

And every night we spent there, as I rested on the ground beside my sister and the others to sleep, I stared up into the sky and had the moon kiss me goodnight whenever it was there.

Amazingly, the eight of us didn't kill each other or get killed during those three months, and we became the best of friends. Mind you, Yamato and I nearly killed each other a few times, but as I said, we became best friends. As our group survived and saved the bizarre magic world, during those three months we learned a lot about each other and ourselves—we became our own weird little family. To this day, we're still close. A majority of us even went to the same high school together: a majority as in myself, Yamato, Sora, and Koushiro.

Jyou entered into a prestigious high school specializing in medicine, which made sense. That high school is famous for its recommendations and alumni doctors—perfect for Jyou and his dreams. Mimi's family moved to the States two years after our adventure, so she attended high school there. Naturally, we visited her a few times when we could afford to do so.

Takeru, Yamato's younger brother, and my sister Hikari went to same junior high school. During the summer of their second year, they went to the same camp from years before and met their own group of friends. Ironically, they disappeared into the same alternate world and saved it in only two months: one month less because of Takeru and Hikari's experience the first time around. So when they returned, four other children joined our funny family. And years and years after, we still cherish each other.

Together, we learned many lessons: courage, friendship, love, knowledge, purity, faith, hope, and kindness. Through our adventures and time together, we saw how our own world needed defenders who would uphold everything that stood for the Light. Darkness became our enemy, and we never lost to it. Always we defend those in need or at loss.

We are like the moon in the night, shining hope and light for those in Darkness. But the moon is not the sun, and night overtakes it from time to time: like humanity.

Now, I am no longer a part of the sun, a bright source of Light.

Now, not even the moon will bless me with her luminescent kisses.

Only the Darkness will love me.

Love me, in its hateful way.