Kari sat in her room with her head down. After gatomon had been rebooted, all the chosen had made their way home.
Kari was distraught though she couldn't help feeling like there was more to what was going on inside her. Her lack of appetite and increased fatigue was raising suspicion inside her mind. She shook her head and stood.
She walked out of her room as the phone rang. She heard her mother answer but Kari paid no attention to what was being said. She sat on the couch and stared up at the wind chimes that were on the deck. The wind softly glided through them and the metal clanged gently together.
"Okay, yes. We are leaving now." Kari vaguely heard her mother hang up the phone but was startled when her mother was standing directly in front of her
"Kari grab a sweater we need to go." Kari was slow to process,
"go? Go where?" Her mother shook her head, "let's go."
Kari eased herself off the couch and followed her mother. She plucked a small jacket off the hook by the door and slipped her shoes on.
Once outside the apartment. Kari's mother moved so quickly she neglected to lock the door.
"Mom? Shouldn't you lock up?" Kari asked but her mother waved a hand and ignored Kari's inquiry "come on Kari!"
Kari followed and soon was sitting in the passenger seat of her mothers car. She put her seat belt on and her mother started the engine.
"Where's Tai?" Kari looked at her mother seeing panic on her face.
"Izzy's" Kari answered softly.
She felt uncomfortable with her mothers behaviour. The woman was acting stressed and it worried Kari. She wished she could take the stress away from her mother.
They didn't speak as they made their way through the busy streets. Kari gazed out the window at the water and was reminded of gatomon waiting with the other digimon under the over pass. They drove over the bridge and Kari scrunched her nose starting to wonder just where her mother was taking her. She looked at her Mom with her mouth open, the question on her lips. Her mother gripped the steering wheel and looked like something Kari couldn't recall ever seeing. The girl closed her mouth thinking better of asking her mom any further questions. They drove on until her mother pulled into a parking lot.
"Let's go." She instructed and Kari slipped out of the car and followed her mother. She stopped when she looked at the building. It was the hospital. Kari's heart started racing she quickly ran to her mothers side,
"mom was dad in an accident? Is Tai okay?!" Her mother shook her head, but said nothing. Kari felt lost and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She quickly sent a text to Tai
where are you?
She then pocketed the device and followed her mother inside. Her mom stood in front of the parking ticket machine and her finger shook as she started pressing the stall number into the machine. Kari was worried her father or Tai were in there and so she gently grabbed her moms hand and took the money that was clasped in her palm into her own,
"I'll do this." Her mother nodded and then stopped. She looked at Kari and suddenly kissed her on the temple. Kari smiled slightly and then her mother turned to enter the building. Kari was quick to enter the information. She deposited the money and then pocketed the receipt. She went inside and saw her mother standing at the counter talking to one of the nurses. She walked over to join her.
"Uhmm I'm not sure..." Kari's mother stopped talking and looked at Kari,
"Kari? Do you know how much you weigh?" Kari tilted her head and shook it. Her mother looked to the nurse who nodded.
"That's okay we can do a full physical with her when we get her set up for treatment." Kari's mouth opened slightly,
treatment?
Kari felt her phone buzz and she held off on asking any questions to attend to it. She flipped it open and saw she had a text from Tai
Izzys, everything okay?
Kari paused, she looked at the nurse and her mother who were filling out paper work. Kari had been convinced something horrid had happened to her father or Tai. She thought about the digimon and tai and the others. They were all torn up and desperate to find a way to reverse it. She stared at her mom. The woman was calm though kari could see the stress in her eyes as she nodded along with what the nurse had to say. Kari made a decision, whatever was going on could wait. No one needed to be stressed or bothered by what was going on with her when there was already a lot going on. She quickly typed a reply
right sorry, everything's fine. I'll see you later.
She pressed send then put her phone back in her pocket.
"And the Dr. Is excepting you so you can follow the blue line and put your chart in the bin. You should be first called." The nurse smiled and Kari watched her mother scoop up the clipboard and her keys off the counter.
"Thanks" she then turned and Kari had to slightly jog to keep up with her mothers quick pace. She licked her lips wanting to ask what was going on. They turned a corner and Kari swallowed remaining silent as her mother quickly put the chart in a bin and gestured for Kari to sit. The waiting room was quiet and Kari looked around trying to figure out what section of the hospital they were in.
"Kamiya, Kari." She heard her name called and was surprised how quickly a doctor had come. Her mother stood and greeted the doctor who smiled at Kari.
"Follow me." Kari followed the woman and her mother a short distance to a small office. The doctor rounded the table in the room and sat on the other side while Kari and her mother sat across from her.
"Alright Miss Kamiya, how are you feeling?" Kari shrugged surprised she was being addressed,
"fine thank you" she said politely. Her mother then shifted,
"I haven't been able to explain to Kari anything." Her mother chocked on her words a little and kari looked at her concerned. The doctor smiled,
"that's alright. Kari do you remember coming into the hospital a few days ago?" Kari nodded,
"yes, I had fainted. But the doctor in emergency took my blood work and said I needed more iron." Kari's mother rubbed Kari's right hand. The doctor nodded,
"yes well we did some further testing and we found a very high white blood cell count in your blood samples." Kari furrowed her brow. She wasn't sure what that meant.
"I'm sorry to say Miss kamiya but from the results we have, it looks like you have the symptoms for leukaemia." Kari was puzzled. She didn't understand. The doctor then nodded
"I see you're shocked and confused and that's okay. We aren't starting anything right now. We are going to run a few blood tests and a quick physical examination. Once we've completed those tests we will book you in for your first round of treatment. That won't be for a couple of weeks though." Kari's head bobbed along though she wasn't fully grasping everything.
"You can take your time in processing this." Again kari nodded. The doctor stood
"alright let's get you into an exam room and we will start on our tests." Kari followed though she felt like she was in a heavy fog.
It was nearly two hours later when kari found herself driving back home in her mothers car. Kari was silent staring at her lap.
"We don't have to do anything you don't want to." Her mother said calmly. Kari looked at her mother who looked a little more calm now they were heading home.
"Does dad know?" Kari asked and her mother shook her head.
"I couldn't get a hold of him. His work has been so awful this week. He keeps saying just until next week then he can finally breathe. I guess a lot of the guys are on vacation." Kari nodded and looked at her lap again.
"Did you tell Tai?" She asked quietly.
"No, I thought it best we tell your dad and tai together as a family when you're ready." Kari nodded.
"That's good." She then bit her lip.
"Can we wait? You know to tell them? It's just if dads stressed with work and I know Tai's been stressed with soccer and school. It's just, would it really make a difference if we wait a week to tell them? It's not like anything will change in a week." Kari looked at her mother who seemed to be chewing on her daughters words.
"Kari..." she stopped and sighed.
"If you want to wait, we can wait. You're right, it won't change although the doctor did warn about fatigue, weight loss and nose bleeds." Kari nodded,
"I know but it's vacation right now, I'm not going anywhere that will aggravate it." Her mother nodded.
"Alright Hun. We'll wait. One week okay?" Kari smiled.
"Thank you mom."
That night at dinner, Kari ate slowly. She paid no attention to her fathers complaints about work. She could feel her mother stealing glances at her and would quickly sit up straighter and shovel a fork full of food to ease her mothers worry. Tai's leg was bouncing beside her and he was eating quickly. Kari raised an eyebrow at her brother curious what was making him so anxious.
"Finished. Can Kari and I be excused?" Tai interrupted his father and Kari stared at Tai puzzled. Their mother slowly nodded
"sure. Put your dishes in the sink." Tai grinned,
"thanks." He then scooped up his and Kari's plate and dumped them into the sink. He then grabbed Kari's arm and hauled to her feet and into their room. He closed the door and Kari cocked her head to the side
"what's up?" She asked and Tai went to the cabinet and tossed a duffle bag to Kari.
"Grab your digivice and start packing." Kari gently placed the bag on the lower bunk,
"what's going on?" She asked while two packed his own bag.
"Izzy and I, we came up with a plan to go back. Remember the first time we went back? After myotismon? We put our digivices out and it connected to the digital word creating a portal. With all the tears, we think we can do it again. We leave tomorrow." Kari smiled proud of her brother and Izzy. She grabbed her digivice off her dresser.
"What about the others?" She asked and she placed the device on her bed and started grabbing items.
"Izzy and Sora are telling everyone. Well go back to the same place tomorrow."
"And Meiko?" Kari asked and Tai stopped. His back to his sister he shrugged,
"I think TK might talk to her but, regardless we're going." Kari nodded. She felt bad for Meiko. She slowly placed her digivice on her bag then stopped. Tai's cell phone rang and he answered and jumped right into a conversation with whoever was on the other line. She bit her lip thinking about what had happened earlier. She wondered how smart it would be to go to the digital world now with what she knew about herself. She then shook her head. This wasn't about her. The others needed her. She couldn't be selfish. She had to help. Whatever the cost.