(another author's note – dated October 31, 2003: This chapter is revised, to change some of the mistakes that I made when I started this and to tie together some ends that will be explained way later on in the sequel. So enjoy. There will be revisions in a few other chapters too, including one deleted scene that will be included… *oh, the intrigue…*)

AN: Hello! This is my first Digimon fic, so be nice! =D It may not seem like a Takari at first, but don't worry, it'll get there soon enough. Everything will be explained as the story goes on. For now… just read, enjoy, and review! It is a Parent Trap-esque kind of story, but with lots of twists. So yeah. Go on and read!

Together Again: Prologue

-New York City-

            "Mom? I'm leaving now…" Aaron Kamiya knocked softly on his mother's door, but when there was no response, he pushed open the door to see his mother listening to her headphones, obviously liking what she heard. She looked up at the sudden movement and took off the headphones. "You're leaving already?" she asked.

          "Yeah, Mom, it's already two-thirty."

          Hikari Kamiya looked at her watch and half-smiled. "Oh, you're right. I had no idea of the time." Then she looked back at her almost 18 year old son and said, "So you're all set to go, right?"

          Aaron nodded. Kari smiled and with somewhat of a heavy heart—Aaron's trip to Colorado would be the longest the two had ever been separated—stood up and gave her son a big hug. "Have fun, and don't forget to call me, okay?"

          "Okay. I promise, Mom. And good luck with Angela, I think she's going to be a great addition to the label."

          "Only because you think she's cute, huh?" Kari asked.

          "Mom!" Aaron protested. "Can I just go now?"

          Kari smiled at her son and nodded. "Be careful, okay? Call me as soon as you get to the airport."

          "I will. I love you, Mom."

          "I love you too, Aaron. Take care." She gave her son one last hug and watched him walk to the elevator. He turned and gave his mom a wave and a smile before he stepped in, and Kari was forced to turn back to their small apartment. She sat down on the couch and sighed. She hated the thought of letting Aaron go by himself, but she didn't really have a choice—while he was growing up, she'd had to work long hours to support the two of them, and although Kari had gotten a high-profile job as a talent scout for the biggest record label in the country, it still took her away from her son. She wished she could be there for him more often… they were the only person each other had. Sighing again, Kari pulled a small briefcase out from underneath the couch and opened it, taking out a picture frame. "Aaron… you look more like him every day."

-Santa Monica, CA-

          "Hope? Are you all set?"

          "Almost, Daddy," fifteen year old Hope Takaishi called from her room. Desperately trying to zip up her suitcase, the zipper would not budge until she sat on her suitcase and pulled it. Grinning triumphantly, she then attempted to move it… which was a whole other story.

          "Need any help there, Hope?" her father asked, sticking his head in the door.

          She smiled sheepishly. "I think so."

          Takeru, also known as T.K., Takashi walked into his daughter's room and lifted the suitcase off the floor, feigning difficulty. "My goodness, what did you pack in here? Did you bring your whole closet?"

          "No!" Hope protested. "There's still five outfits in there, see?"

          T.K. just shook his head and took the suitcase out to their car.

          Hope's long blonde hair flew out behind her as the two of them cruised up Highway 1, with Hope singing at not quite the top of her lungs. T.K. interrupted her mini-performance by saying, "So while you're up there, I don't want you coming back with a boyfriend."

          Hope rolled her eyes. "Dad, it's not like there's cute guys up there anyway."

          T.K. laughed. "You never know who you'll run into."

          -Denver, Colorado-

          "Welcome, everyone, to this two-week session of the academy. While you're here, you'll learn how to hone your art, as well as meet new people and have a bit of fun, if we have any say in the matter. Now, for an icebreaker, I'm going to split you up into two groups and we'll tell you what your activity is from there. Thirteen to fifteen year olds, go to that side of the room…" with this statement, the 'counselor' directed them to the right side of the spacious room, "and sixteen to eighteen year olds, go to the other side."

          Hope stood up, and with the new friend she'd made, Danielle, wandered over to the left side of the room. While the rest of the people in that category congregated there, she bumped into a guy and quickly apologized. "Sorry."

          "It's okay," he assured her. "We're all bumping into each other anyway." To prove his point, suddenly a girl who wasn't watching exactly where she was heading walked right smack into Hope. Instead of getting mad, she and the guy just laughed hysterically, while the girl gave them weird looks and walked somewhere else. "So, where are you from?" she asked him, who looked to be a bit older than her, and somewhat familiar…

          "New York City," he replied. "You?"

          "I'm from California. Santa Monica, to be exact. It's near L.A."

          "Cool. I'm Aaron."

          "Hope." She stuck out her hand and they exchanged the friendly handshake. Before they could talk some more, one of the counselors began to address them. "Hi, everyone. My name's Dawn and I'm one of the counselors here, and I will probably be one of your guys' counselors. Now, to start off, we're going to have everyone introduce themselves and tell us how old they are, where they're from, and what their name means. For example, I'd say, 'Hi, my name is Dawn, I'm twenty-two, I'm from Florida, and my name is pretty self-explanatory.'" This brought a few laughs. "Oh, and if you don't know what your name means, don't worry about it. Instead, tell us what you'd want to have your name mean."

          "Dawn?" a voice piped up.

          "Yes?"

          "Can I just tell you you're cool?"

          Everyone laughed. "Sure, thank you."

          "No problem."

          "So, are there any volunteers to start?" Dawn asked, after the commotion had died down. Hope raised her hand and Dawn smiled. "Okay, young lady. You have the honors of starting us off."

          "Cool. Hey everyone, I'm Hope Akira Takaishi, I'm really fifteen—shhh!—but I'll be sixteen in a few days, so I figured I'd stay in this category… anyway, I'm from Santa Monica, California, and like Dawn, my name is pretty self-explanatory." Hope grinned and Aaron knew he'd seen that smile sometime before in his life. She continued, "However, my middle name, Akira, comes from my Japanese descent and means 'anchor.' My father said that I was the anchor of my family." Her smile faded somewhat and became more subdued, like remembering that fact brought her sadness.

          "Oh yeah, tell us what you are here for," Dawn interjected.

          Brightening, Hope proceeded to tell them that she was here for music. "Singing, to be more specific. I love it more than anything."

          This proceeded to continue around the room—with a few interesting things for the name meanings—until the last person was left. "Hey everyone, my name's Aaron Taro Kamiya, I turn eighteen in a few days, I'm from New York City, I'm here for writing—screenwriting, actually—and my name means 'light-bringer.' I think it has something to do with my mom—she loves light…" Aaron shrugged. "It's just a hunch. As for the middle name, I don't know what it means, but I know it's Japanese."

          "Thank you, Aaron," Dawn concluded, just as the other group noisily finished up. "Now's the part for all the boring stuff, but I promise it's important, so listen up, okay?"

          As the long lecture of what to do and what not to do rambled on, Hope leaned over and asked Aaron, "So when's your birthday?"

          "July twenty-one. I'll be celebrating it here."

          Hope's eyes widened. "Oh, my gosh, you have the same birthday as I do."

          "Really? That's so awesome!" Aaron's blue eyes twinkled and Hope saw a familiar glint in his eyes, but couldn't figure out where she'd seen it before.

          "So… you said your mom likes light?" Hope asked, curiously.

          "Yeah… I've never figured it out, but light is very special to her."

          "Same thing with my dad, except it's with hope. I mean like hope itself, the 'virtue' or whatever you'd call it. I think that's why he named me Hope… and I've seen this weird design on his desk that says 'hope' underneath it… it's weird."

          "You know what… now that I think about it, my mom has a weird design on her desk with the word 'light' underneath it, too. It's like a light pinkish crystal thing."

          "My dad's is a light green one… whoa, that's weird, I thought no one else had something like that."

          "So, what does your mom do?" Aaron asked, trying to piece these strange facts together. He was starting to get an idea, and if he was right, Hope would answer that she didn't have a mother. Or at least, she hadn't seen her mother in a while. And sure enough…

          "My parents are divorced… I don't remember my mom. I was really little when they were divorced," Hope replied, with a sad look on her face.

          "If it makes you feel any better, my parents are divorced too, and I don't really remember my dad," Aaron confessed.

          "I'm sorry," she said, a note of sympathy in her voice.

          "It's okay… it's not like it's your fault anyway."

          An awkward silence fell upon the teens; Hope twirled a lock of her hair around her finger while Aaron toyed with the zipper of his tech vest, intently focusing (or at least pretending to) on the lecture the counselors were giving at the moment.

          Finally, after what seemed like years, the "campers" were released into their dorms and such, and as Aaron and Hope parted ways, he called after her, "Hey, do you want to meet up for dinner?"

          "Yeah, I guess," she replied. "I'll see you then, okay?"

          "Okay!" And with that, it began.

-POV: Hope-

          "802… 804… 806… oh, duh!" I turned around to face the other side of the wall, and sure enough, room 807 was staring me in the face. I can be so blonde sometimes.

          I opened the door to see two other girls sitting on one of the beds. "Oh, hi!" one of them, a curly red-headed girl with an infectious smile, greeted me. "You must be one of our roommates. Are you Hope or Marina?"

          "I'm Hope. And you are…?" I asked them.

          "I'm Rachel, and this is Kendall," the other girl, who had long lavender hair and bright blue eyes, replied. "You can take any of these beds," she instructed, motioning to the bunk beds on her right. I decided on the top bunk and threw my stuff on it. I sat on the bed below it and began talking to my roommates.

          "So… what are you guys here for?"

          "I'm here for dance," Kendall told me.

          "Jewelry making," Rachel said, not too enthusiastically. I raised an eyebrow and she explained, "My parents needed to get rid of me for two weeks, so they sent me here. My dad is a detective and makes a lot of money, so it wasn't a problem for them."

          "Where do you live?" I asked curiously.

          "In Canada. Not much of a change of scenery for me. I wish camp was somewhere like California or something."

          My eyes lit up at the thought of home. "That's where I'm from."

          "Really?" Rachel sat up excitedly. "Do you live by the beach?"

          I nodded. "Yeah. My dad's a writer, so he got this big house by the beach. But we have a pool. I don't know why, when the beach is like 10 feet away."

          Kendall laughed. "Sounds like my dad. You know those commercials that have that guy with the noodle cart?"

          "The guy with the really big hat?" Rachel asked.

          Kendall nodded and I smiled. Those were some funny commercials. "Yeah, him. Anyways, that's my dad."

          "Really?" Rachel and I asked in unison. Kendall nodded and said, "He's weird like that. We just opened up a shop in New York City, but it turns out that it's right next door to another noodle shop. So he doesn't know what he's gonna do." Kendall rolled her eyes. "My dad's weird like that. He likes to wear goggles from time to time, too, for no special reason."

          We all laughed, but our laughter was interrupted by the door opening and a girl, about our age, entering. "Hi… am I in the right room?"

          "If your name is Marina, you should be," I said.

          She smiled tentatively. "Yeah…" She scanned the room with her hazel eyes and said, "There's nowhere to plug in my laptop?"

          Rachel, Kendall and I looked at each other, then looked around the room. "What about behind the desk?" Rachel suggested. Marina put her stuff down in the already cluttered room and looked behind the desk. "Yay!" she exclaimed, and I took it to mean that there was a phone jack there. "That's awesome."

          As she began setting up her laptop, I asked her, "So, Marina, where are you from?"

          "Washington, DC. My twin is here too, but we got assigned to different rooms, so it kinda sucks. Although I think it's awesome to break away from her for a bit, you know? Everyone treats us as if we're carbon copies. It's annoying."

          Kendall nodded knowingly. "Yeah… I have a twin too, but she's not here. I know what that's like."

          "Cool…" She blinked and then said, "I'm sorry, I didn't get your names."

          "Oh, duh," I said sheepishly. "I'm Hope. Hope Takaishi."

          "Kendall Motomiya," Kendall introduced herself.

          Rachel smiled and said, "I'm Rachel Ichijouji."

          Marina nodded, smiled, then said, "I'm Marina, as you already know… Marina Kamiya. And my sister's name is Karina. Leave it to my parents to give us cutesy twin names that rhyme not only with each other, but with our last name, too." Marina rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'm here for creative writing. And can you guys do me a favor?" She looked at us expectantly.

          "Sure." Kendall answered for all of us.

          "Just call me Mari. Kari doesn't mind being called by her full name, and it's actually easier since my aunt's name is Kari and it kinda gets confusing."

          "Okay…" I said slowly, trying to remember where I had heard that name before.

          Just then, Rachel checked her watch. "Oh man… we better head down to dinner. I have to take my medication." We looked at her curiously and she replied, "Allergies."

          "Ah." We all nodded. "Let's go then," I suggested, standing up. In the process, I hit my head on the bottom of the top bunk. "OW!"

          Kendall laughed. "Don't worry, I do it all the time too." As she headed to the door, she tripped over her suitcase and landed on the floor. "I'm okay!" we heard her say. She looked up at me sheepishly and said, "See, I told you. I wonder how I ever made it so far in dance. I'm supposed to be graceful and coordinated." She smiled and got up. We all headed out the door and towards our "lovely" dining quarters.

-POV: Aaron-

          I had just settled in and met my roommates—Raymond Ishida, Steve Kido, and Justin Hida—when we all decided we were going to go to dinner. Steve had to go, poor guy, to get his insulin injection. (He explained to us later that he's diabetic, which really sucks in my opinion. But Steve's a cool guy. He and I, apparently, grew up together in NYC for a while, until his parents moved away.) When we reached the mess hall, there was a huge line already! I heard my stomach rumbling and I knew I had to get in there fast. And Steve had already said that he wasn't feeling too great, so I knew he had to eat. I scanned the many heads of the people in front of us and I saw a flash of blonde hair that had to be Hope's. So I casually walked over there and tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned and smiled. "Hey, Aaron."

          "Hi. Listen… you wouldn't mind if we cut in front of you, would you?"

          "We?" she asked. I nodded. "My roommates and me. One of them's diabetic and he needs to eat right away… he's not feeling too great…"

          One of the girls with Hope nodded. "It's cool." She stepped back to let us through, and when I turned to my right, I found a welcome surprise.

          "Mari? Karina? Is that you?"

          Mari blinked, and Karina peered at me through her sunglasses, then they both exclaimed at the same time, "AARON!!!!" Then they decided to attack me with hugs.

          "Hey, hey, guys, it's just me. You don't have to get all excited."

          "I know, but you're our favorite cousin in the whole wide world!" Karina explained.

          I rolled my eyes. "I'm your only cousin in the whole wide world."

          "That's not true. Dad says we have another cousin," Mari insisted.

          "Really, and you think I wouldn't know if I had another sister or brother?"

          "Well, Dad said so!" Karina jumped in.

          I decided to give in, making a mental note to ask Uncle Tai about that. "Okay, whatever you say, girls. Anyway, what are you two up here for?"

          "Theater," Karina answered with a flourish. She's always been dramatic and I figured theater was perfect for her.

          "I'm here for creative writing," Mari told me.

          I smiled. "Hey, cool, I'm here for that too!"

          "All right!" She gave me a high-five.

          "Hey guys, I hate to break up the lovefest, but… how do y'all know each other, and Aaron, who are these wonderful guys who are standing around looking bored to death?" Hope interjected.

          "Wait, you know Aaron?" Karina asked me.

          "Yeah, and apparently so do you. So what's up?" Hope asked again. I had to laugh at her; she was pretty demanding.

          "Lighten up, Hope. Mari and Karina are my cousins."

          Hope smiled weakly. "I figured that."

          "Their dad and my mom are brother and sister," I explained.

          "Oh."

          "And," I added, gesturing towards my roomies, "these are Raymond Ishida, Justin Hida, and Steve Kido." Ray and Justin waved, while Steve clutched onto the handrail of the stairs we were standing on, as the line began to move. "Hey, Steve, you okay there?" one of the girls with Hope, the lavender-haired one, asked gently.

          "What? Yeah…" he answered.

          "He just needs food and he'll be fine," Justin explained. "It's his diabetes."

          All of us nodded and silently started walking towards the door. Suddenly, Hope burst out, "Ray? Oh my gosh, it's been ages since I've seen you!"

          Turns out I'm not the only one with a surprise family reunion.

          -POV: the all-knowing omniscient narrator [which would be me!]-

          The nine new friends all sat together in the dining hall and were getting to know each other better when a voice piped up, "Can I sit here with you guys?"

          "Sure," Aaron agreed, making room for the girl, with shoulder-length light brown hair laced with blonde and green eyes. "Hey, I've seen you before," he thought out loud.

          "Yeah… your name's Aaron, right?" the girl asked.

          Aaron nodded slowly, trying to place a name to the face. "Dawn?" he said, at last.

          Dawn's face broke out into a smile and she said, "Very good. And you're Hope, correct?" She turned to Hope, who was mid-bite with her salad. "Yeah. Hey, you're that counselor that we met over at those icebreakers we had!" she exclaimed, then Hope took the bite of her salad.

          "What room are you staying in?" Dawn queried.

          Hope tried desperately to finish chewing and swallowing, since Dawn was looking at her expectantly. Finally, Kendall interjected, "Since Hope is preoccupied at the moment, we're in room 807."

          "Really? That's one of my rooms," said Dawn happily.

          "Your rooms?" Ray asked.

          "Yeah… I'm a counselor here, and I have to watch over a certain number of rooms with my roomie. 807 is one of our rooms. So I guess I'll get to know you guys here. You are?" she began, looking pointedly at the twins.

          "I'm Karina Kamiya, and this is my twin, Marina," said Karina. "Marina's in room 807 with Hope and Kendall, but I'm in room 803."

          Rachel was oblivious to the whole thing and was already flirting with some guy sitting behind her. "That's Rachel," Kendall said, rolling her eyes. "And I'm Kendall Motomiya."

          "Motomiya?" Dawn repeated. Kendall nodded, and Dawn continued, "Um… is your dad's name Davis?"

          Kendall's eyes widened. "Yeah…"

          "Cool! I think my dad knows your dad."

          "Really? I'll ask him. What's your last name?"

          "Izumi. Ask him if he knows Izzy."

          "Izzy?" Rachel suddenly turned back to our conversation, her lavender hair hitting Justin in the face. "Ow!"

          "Sorry," Rachel apologized, then said excitedly (as she usually says everything), "You mean like Mr. Izumi? Wait… Dawn! Hi!"

          "Hi, Rachel. Kendall, you didn't tell me it was THIS Rachel. I know her." Dawn laughed. "Her parents and my dad are great friends." Dawn proceeded to pull out a small, worn, but still clear picture of a group of people. "My dad, he was part of this group called the Digidestined, and these were all his friends that were in the group with him. They all keep in touch, for the most part, except we've lost touch with a few of them. Rachel's parents are both in this picture." Ray peered over her shoulder, and said, "Hey, I've seen this picture before! My parents are both here too!"

          "Mine too!" Mari pointed to a teen, about nineteen, with a head that seemed to have a forest sprouting out of it, whose arm was around a girl with shoulder length auburn hair and crimson eyes. "Look, Kari, it's Mom and Dad… and Aunt Kari!"

          Mari put her finger to the center of the picture, where a young, tired, but pretty girl was sitting, a small bundle in her arms. She wasn't looking at the camera, but instead into the eyes of a handsome young man, who looked extremely happy. The camera seemed to capture a moment where it was just the young couple and no one else around them. "They look so in love," Hope said wistfully, who was now peering at the picture along with everyone else. Then a sudden thought struck her. The guy looked a lot like her uncle Matt, but he was standing off to the side with her aunt Christi. So… who else could it be? Hope gasped in recognition. It had to be her dad, and if that was her dad…

          "Oh, my God, that's my mom," Hope said.

          "What?" Dawn looked up and saw Hope with tears in her eyes. "Hope, what is it?"

          Hope breathed in, trying to gain her composure. "Well, look, that's my dad." She pointed to the tall blonde kneeling next to the centerpiece of the picture. "And… I mean… I know my dad, and whenever he talks about my mom—which isn't often, mind you—he gets this look in his eyes… I know he still loves her… and that look he's giving that girl… it's exactly the same as when he talks about my mom. She even looks like the picture I have of her." Hope smiled, wiping a small tear from her eye.

          The next words to be heard shocked everyone, especially Hope.

          "That's my mom, too."

Oooh… a cliffhanger! hee hee hee… clicking on the review button below will increase your chances of finding out what happens next!