Litanya: I found the beginning of this fic in a collection of writing that I had done whilst I was on exchange in Germany at the end of 2003. When I found it I was hit by inspiration and I'm going to write it all now! Yay! So without further ado, here is my fic! Oh, and I do not own Digimon.
This fic is based a few years after 01, so Ken, Davis and all of the others are not in it. Oh, and I made up the disease… that's why it doesn't have a name.
Only a Favour
"Tai, concentrate for once!" Sora, his red-headed best friend snapped, hitting the brunette on the arm to get his attention. She was over at his place, trying desperately to tutor him in Maths.
"I didn't ask you to do this Sora, you decided to drop in and help me. I'd rather be grounded to tell you the truth," he did not want her to be there. He did not want to see any of his friends, but having her there was extra bad.
"Fine then; I give up! You are impossible!" she packed all of her books into her bag, angrily slamming them around.
"No, you're impossible! I told you that I didn't care about my grades, but no you have to come over here anyway. Have you ever thought that I am sick of you coming around here, offering to help? Just leave me alone Sora, and never come back here!" those were the hardest words he had ever had to say. It was true that he did not want her there, but that was because he did not want her to be hurt when he… Sora's eyes flashed with anger. His words had deeply hurt her, but she would never show it whilst he was around.
"You could have just told me that you didn't want to study you know. I don't enjoy being around you much either; I was just being a good friend. Don't worry; I won't be back to visit you anytime soon!" she stormed out and Tai relaxed, banging his head against the back of the couch. Sora had sounded so sincere when she had left and that hurt him deeply. He knew that he had probably hurt her, but he liked to think that he at least had a good reason for it. She would benefit from his lies now when he died. He was very sick, and the disease he had was slowly killing him. He had to take medication otherwise the disease would kill him more quickly. His sickness had started out with 'normal' symptoms. He had suffered from weight loss, dizzy spells, exhaustion and a low immune system. His disease itself often did not openly affect his life. There would be moments of pain, but they would pass. It was his medication that was the problem. It made him vomit, he could barely stand light of any sort, and he hallucinated. He could no longer go to school because the side-effects of the medication made him too sick to attend. He had not told his friends the real reason why he had dropped out of course. He had just told them that his grades were so bad that his parents had decided to hire him a private tutor. He had also told them that he was grounded, so that he wouldn't be asked out of his apartment. His sister Kari gave him all of the news from his friends now.
"Did you have a fight with Sora?" he jumped as his little sister popped up from behind the door. He nodded, too upset to reply properly, "Did you fight on purpose?" He nodded again.
"I hate this. Just as Sora and I were getting closer, I have to push her away. And I think, no I know that she hates me now," tears came unbidden to his eyes and he brushed them away angrily. He was supposed to be strong, especially in front of Kari. His sister sympathized with him.
"You don't have to push her or anyone else away you know," she pointed out, "You could just tell them the truth."
"I don't want their sympathy Kari, and it's easier for everyone if I do it this way. Please don't say anything to Sora, okay Kari? I-I wouldn't be able to handle it. It's bad enough that I'm dying physically. I wouldn't be able to handle an emotional death as well," she was struck by the emotion and pain in his voice. He took a deep breath, as if he was going to continue, but instead he winced and grabbed his stomach.
"The medication is kicking in again, isn't it?" he closed his eyes and nodded, trying to keep her from seeing the amount of pain he was in, "I'll go then. I know how much you hate it when I see you in pain." She turned and left the room, her sorrow almost radiating from her being. Tai only half-watched her leave. His immediate attention was on the pain. He stared up at the roof and frowned as he saw a giant spider. It was slowly crawling along the roof, as if it was just taking a good look at the view. He ignored the spider and tried to block out the pain as he drowned in misery.
It was about an hour later and Kari had just returned from a walk around the park. She threw her jacket down on her bed and flopped on top of it. Matt had already found out about the fight that Tai and Sora had had, and he had questioned Kari until she had lost it with him. She knew that he was just worried, but she could not betray Tai's trust. She frowned as she realised that the apartment was too quiet. As she was about to investigate, her mother knocked on her door and entered without waiting for a reply.
"Mum, what's wrong?" her mother was crying, pale and shaking.
"It was spiders this time. He thought that he was covered in spiders. He said that he could feel them biting him. He-he sounded so scared. I don't know how long I can take seeing him like this!" she buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Kari's eyes filled with tears as she gave her mother a hug.
"It's okay Mum, he'll get better soon and-and then we can all go on a holiday to the beach and everything will be great! We can play beach volleyball and soccer and…" she broke off. Both she and her mother knew that Tai was never going to get better. Although they pretended that the medication would completely heal him of his disease and everything would be okay, they all knew that it was just a pretense. Tai was the only one of them that did not pretend. He tried to hide the pain, but he did not lie when they caught him out. His hallucinations were worse. He could not hide those from them, even though he tried.
"He-he tried to get the spiders off of him, but all he was doing was hurting himself. He truly thought that they were there," the experience of watching Tai's hallucination had almost made her lose her grip of reality for a moment. When she remembered what had happened, she shuddered uncontrollably.
"I did it again, didn't I?" the two females whirled around to find Tai standing in the doorway, "I… I'm sorry Mum. I didn't mean to upset you." These words only made Mari cry more.
"Come here," he obeyed and soon he was being squeezed by his mother, "It's not your fault that any of this happened, okay? Now are you feeling okay? You almost drew blood before." He smiled a small smile.
"I'm okay. It's just the usual stuff… a little dizzy, but I'm used to it now. Why don't we all watch a movie or something? That might cheer us all up," Mari shook her head.
"You guys go ahead. I have to go and pick some things up from the store. Now Kari, you know all of the emergency numbers in case anything happens. Tai… just make sure that you know the numbers too. You never know what can happen. I'll be back in around an hour, okay? Just… just try to forget about everything and enjoy your movie," she left the room, leaving Kari and Tai standing there.
"She's really upset this time, isn't she?" he said softly, so that his mother would not hear.
"It's just that… it's almost April and… we keep forgetting how close it is getting to the…"
"It's getting close to the time I'm expected to die. I know. I make it to be about… twenty-seven days, give or take a few. I'm not stupid Kari. I know that my life is dwindling away. Come on, let's go watch a movie. Something happy, where no one dies. What about… the Yu-Gi-Oh movie? It's hilarious and it will take our minds off of everything… how about it?"
"Sure," she said quietly, wiping her eyes, "That sounds great. Let's go." But inside she knew that one movie would not take her mind off her brother's expected death. Nothing would be able to make her forget it.
It was a week later and Tai was lying in his room, staring out of the window. He had nothing better to do. Kari was out with T.K and his parents were at Kari's parent-teacher interviews, then they were going to a 25th wedding anniversary. Tai was basically going to be home alone all night. His parents had almost turned down the invitation to the party, but he had insisted that they go. He didn't want them to miss out on things just because he was sick. The effects of his medicine were beginning to wear off, but he was still feeling queasy. He closed his eyes and sighed. He was about to go watch the soccer match on television when his whole world spun around him and the floor seemed to disappear…
"Kari, is something wrong? I've been meaning to ask you this for a while but you've always run off too quickly. Ever since Tai got that private tutor you've been… well, quiet. I know that you're normally quiet, but you've been quieter that normal lately and whenever anyone mentions Tai's name, you tense up. Whatever you are worried about, you do know that you can talk to me, right? I am your best friend after all," she looked at the ground and did not reply for a moment.
"It's just that… Tai is going through a really tough time at the moment. My parents won't leave him alone and he's grounded and… they won't even let him go to school for Christ's sake! I know that it bothers him more than he is telling me and… he even had a fight with Sora and now he refuses to talk to her. I guess that his behavior is getting to me more than I thought at first," he considered what she had told him.
"Are you sure that Tai isn't allowed out of the house just once? If you could convince your parents to just let him come to the park with us then maybe he and Sora could patch things up and then he'd feel better, and you'd feel better too. What do you say to that?" she was already shaking her head.
"There's no way that I can get Tai out of the apartment. My parents have decided to set an example and nothing is going to break their resolve. It was a great thought but it'll never happen unless Tai's grades go up," they continued to walk around the park, the stars glittering above them, "But I just wish that I could do something to help him. The other day he told me that he preferred to stay home. He said that he liked the quiet…" she trailed off, a bad feeling settling in the bottom of her stomach. She ignored it and continued, seemingly on a completely different trail of thought, "Here's a hypothetical question. If you knew something about someone that no one else knew, something that the person was ashamed of, but it could help others understand, would you tell other people?" T.K was confused.
"I don't know what you mean. Do you know something about Tai that everyone should know or something?" she sighed.
"No, it's nothing like that, but… I may know something about someone that I really want people to know, but the person that it is about has forbidden it. I don't want to betray the trust of this person, but I believe that these people have a right to know. Tai has been trying to help me sort it out, as well as doing his work, but I just can't figure it out."
"Don't let it worry you Kari. I'm sure that you will choose the right solution in the end," she was about to continue when her mobile went off.
"Hi Mum, what's up? ... Yeah, I can check, I'll go home right away……………. Yeah, I'll call you as soon as I know, bye!" she turned to him, an anxious look on her face, "That was my mother, she wants me to go and check to make sure Tai's at home. She called before, but he didn't answer. I'm sorry about leaving, but I'll see you tomorrow?" Her mother's voice had been frantic when she had called and Kari felt the same sort of panic.
"I'll come with you. It's been a long time since I have talked to him, and it's been too long," Kari would have argued with him, but she was too worried about her brother to take the time.
"Okay, but we need to hurry. My mother is really unbearable when she is worried," she began to hurry home, knowing that it would only take them a few minutes to get home. T.K was puzzled. He did not know why she was almost running to get home, but he didn't say anything. When they got to the apartment Kari quickly unlocked the door and rushed into the apartment, "Tai? Are you here?"
"Of course I am Kari, I'm just watching the soccer," she relaxed as she heard her brother's voice coming from the couch in front of the T.V. T.K watched this exchange cautiously, feeling that he did not have all of the details.
"Why didn't you answer the phone? Mum called me in a panic because she thought that you'd either left or collapsed or something. You scared her half to death!" Kari could see that her brother was very pale and it was obvious to her that he had not been having a good night.
"I didn't hear the phone ring. I guess that I was too engrossed in the soccer. It's not like I collapsed or anything. You go out again and enjoy yourself and I'll call Mum and tell her that I am here and fine," he could see T.K out of the corner of his eye, and so he wanted them to leave. He wanted to be left alone, or just with Kari. He didn't want T.K finding out that he was sick. It had been a rough night. He had collapsed just before the soccer, but he had woken again after about ten minutes. His mother must have called in the time that he had been unconscious, because he had only just made it to the couch before Kari had come in to find him.
"No, its okay, I don't really feel like going anywhere. In fact, I just want to sleep. I'm sorry T.K, but can we take a rain check?" she wanted to know what had really happened to her brother, and if he had indeed collapsed like she thought he had, she did not want to leave him alone.
"Why don't you two tell me what is really going on first? I am not stupid… okay, I guess I was pretty stupid to believe the whole 'Tai's grounded because he's getting bad grades' thing, but now I realise that you have been putting on a little show to keep the rest of us in the dark. What is going on?" the siblings exchanged a quick glance, before Tai sighed and switched off the soccer.
"I didn't want anyone to know. It's my fault, not Kari's. She told me to tell everyone the truth but… I just couldn't. You're right. You were pretty stupid falling for the whole 'tutoring' story, especially since as captain of the soccer team I had to be at least getting Bs in all of my subjects," he gave a sad smile, "I guess the whole policy of trusting me has lasted from the Digital World until today. You guys all believed what I was saying without a word. Even Matt didn't pick it up, he who competes with my grades all of the time, just to compete with me. And of course, Kari never lies, so that helped too." T.K felt as though what the older boy was to say next would change everything, but he still had to ask.
"Then why did you drop out of school? Why are you lying to all of us?"
"I'm sick," Tai was sitting now, and he had his eyes closed. He was leaning back against the couch as though he had no strength left at all. T.K blinked.
"What does that mean?" he didn't want to understand what those two words could mean.
"It means that he is dying," Kari answered for her brother, seeing that he was too afraid of telling him the truth, "It was the side-effects of the medication he has to take that made it impossible for him to go to school. Tai refused to tell any of you that he was sick so… we concocted that story so that you guys wouldn't really question us." T.K could hardly believe it, but he finally knew why Tai was so pale. He took a good look at the leader of the digidestined and he was shocked. Tai was shaking, only a little, but still shaking. He was so pale that it looked as though he had not been in the Sun for a long time. There were huge purple bags under his eyes and his eyes… instead of being the fiery, energetic eyes that T.K was used to, they were almost dull instead.
"Why didn't you tell us?" T.K finally managed to ask.
"I was too afraid. I still am. I don't really want to admit to anyone that I have a weakness, and if I announced that I am sick… that is the weakness. Anyway Kari, you should call Mum and tell her that I'm fine before she breaks three million laws to get here," Kari nodded and grabbed her phone and went into the next room. T.K was now alone with Tai, but he had no idea what to say.
"I know that this has been hard on her. I just wish that I could apologise to her somehow," Tai started the conversation off, knowing that T.K was uncomfortable.
"It hasn't made it any easier for her with you refusing to tell anyone of us. She hates keeping secrets and you did make her keep a big one, for several months too," he pointed out. He didn't want to make Tai feel bad, but he knew that Tai knew this anyway.
"I know. I would have done anything to make it easier for her if I could, but ironically, I just didn't have the courage to do it. I know that I was being selfish, but it seriously was not my intention," he paused, as though he was debating with himself whether or not he should say something. He made a quick decision in his head and continued from where he left off, "I… I want to ask you something. When… after… after I die I want you to make sure that Kari is okay. I know that she will be, but… I just need you to promise me that you will make sure," Tai hated saying those words, but he knew that he had to. He knew that T.K would look after her, but he needed to hear him say it.
"I promise you, but you won't need me to honour that promise for a while," Kari came back into the room, the phone in her hand.
"I tried to tell Mum you were fine, but she wants to talk to you anyway," her brother sighed and got up. He grabbed the phone from his sister and left the room. Kari collapsed on the couch next to T.K, not knowing what to say, "I guess that you know why I have been acting so weird lately." She finally muttered.
"Kari… I don't know what to say. I know that this is hard for you and I wish that I could help you. Tai does too. But at least I know about it all now, so whenever you need me, I'll be here. I just want you to remember that. I'm your best friend; and now that I know about this, you can tell me whatever you want, okay?" she nodded.
"I just feel so relieved that someone else knows about this now. I know that Tai didn't want anyone to know and it's his business, but I just wanted to tell someone so that I could talk to them about it. It's selfish I know, but I couldn't help it. It's like with the issue of whether he was going to have medication or not. He didn't want it. It makes him really sick and that was the real reason that he dropped out of school. But my mother and I couldn't stand the thought that he may die earlier. We wanted to postpone his life as long as possible, even though it is making it more difficult for him in the process. He didn't complain though. He takes the medication every day and he feels so guilty whenever my parents or I get upset. I just wish that none of this had ever happened, that Tai had never contracted this disease… whatever it is called. And I feel so guilty all of the time because I want him to stay alive as long as possible, that I want to tell everyone so that I can cope with it. I… I just wish that this had never happened," she began crying and Tai, who had heard her last few sentences, felt his eyes begin to water. She had never told him any of this. He felt so guilty. She wouldn't be upset if he had never gotten sick. It was his fault that she was upset. He leant back against the wall, trying to fight back tears. He could hear T.K comforting his sister and that calmed him down a little.
'T.K will always be there for her. When I die at least she won't be alone and she will be able to share her pain with everyone… everyone. I will tell them tomorrow or the day after. I can't let Kari deal with this herself now that I know how she feels. I just can't believe I let her suffer all of this time. I'm being too selfish,' he managed to win the battle against his tears and he was about to enter the room when Kari spoke again.
"I'm sorry about that. I hate crying; it always makes Tai upset when I cry. Thanks for being here T.K," she wiped her eyes and tried to make it look as though she had never been crying for when Tai would come back into the room.
"No problem Kari. I'm just glad that I can help you," T.K's voice wasn't exactly stable, as though the boy was on the verge of tears. Tai sighed quietly to himself and after putting on a small smile he entered the room. He decided to ignore Kari's red eyes, knowing that she didn't want him to know she was upset.
"Mum just gave me the thousand questions again Kari. It turns out that she almost had three heart attacks, one stroke and two unexplainable attacks of nervousness whilst waiting for you to call her back. She made me promise that I would never be at home by myself again a million times and she also made me swear to eat a carrot. It turns out that she believes that carrots are good for the eyes, so they will be good for the brain too… or something like that. Maybe I wasn't listening properly," Kari smiled at her brother's attempt at a joke and T.K was amazed at how perceptive Tai was. The old Tai would have questioned her for hours about why she had been crying, but instead he just tried to cheer her up and make her look on the bright side.
"Well Tai, where's your carrot?" T.K asked him cheekily. Tai just poked out his tongue in reply.
"I ate it whilst I was in the kitchen. That's why I took so long. Anyway, I have to ask you guys not to say anything to the others. I am going to tell them either tomorrow or the day after, whenever I can get them all here. I would appreciate it if you didn't say anything until then," the two exchanged glances before nodded.
"Of course we will. It's not our place to tell them," Kari replied, knowing that her brother would keep his word. She was a little suspicious about why he would suddenly change his mind, but she didn't question him. She replayed what she had said to T.K a few moments before and realised that her brother had probably been eavesdropping anyway.
"I promise you too, that I won't say anything. I should go now; Matt will be wondering where I am. He's staying with Mum and I for the weekend and I told him I'd be home early so that we could watch a movie. I'll come and see you guys tomorrow," Tai sank back down on the couch as Kari showed T.K out of the apartment. He was very tired. He was about to go to bed when he realised that Kari would get worried unless he told her that he wanted to sleep.
"I'm going to go sleep now. Are you going to be alright?" she nodded in response to his question. He got unsteadily to his feet, and then as quickly as possible he went to his room. He just wanted to sleep. Kari watched him go into his room, sadness enveloping her. She wanted everything back to the way it was. She crossed over to the video cupboard and pulled out a tape that her parents had made when she and Tai had been very young. She popped it into the tape player and began to watch the tape. The first line made her want to cry. It consisted of Tai reading from a book.
"You don't k-know w…what you have u-unt-until you…" the six year old Tai struggled with the next word, "until you l-l-lose it!" And the six year old version of her brother grinned at the camera. He never had lost that grin.
T.K woke early the next morning. Although he and Matt had stayed up until two AM, he found that he could not just sleep in. Before he had gone to sleep he had prayed and prayed that Tai would be okay, that the doctors would find something that they would help him with. Although he knew that it was near to impossible, he still hoped that something good would happen. So after six hours of troubled sleep he climbed out of his warm bed and shuffled to the kitchen, yawning. His mother was in the kitchen doing some work, and she looked surprised when he entered.
"I thought that you and Matt would sleep all morning! You were up really late and normally you sleep until late afternoon if I don't wake you up," Nancy Takaishi told him and she quickly moved a few files so he could sit down, "Why are you awake so early?" T.K sighed and played with a few of the files on the table.
"It's nothing really. I just found out something yesterday that's been bothering me. I can't do anything about it, but I really wish that I could. I hate being so useless!" his mother looked up from her computer screen, not knowing what to say. Tai's parents had told her about Tai's illness, but she didn't know if T.K was referring to that or something else.
"Whatever's wrong cannot be that bad, can it?" she finally asked, trying to get him to cheer up. He sighed, wishing that he could say that it wasn't that bad, but he knew that he shouldn't lie to himself.
"One of my friends is… dying and no one can do anything about it!" he was angry. Angry at the doctors and angry at himself for being angry. His mother took a deep breath.
"Everyone dies sometime. You're referring to Tai, aren't you?" when she saw his shocked look she continued, "His parents told me when they found out. They were very upset and needed to talk to someone. I take it that Matt doesn't know?" He nodded.
"I found out by accident. But Tai said that he would tell Matt and the others either today or tomorrow. He feels really guilty for lying now. Kari was really upset and… it's just not fair! Why is it Tai? He helped save another world and his reward is this sickness? Why couldn't it be an evil old mean guy that tried to destroy this world and not someone who almost died to save it? Why do innocent people have to die when the guilty live? Why is everything the wrong way around?" he took a deep breath, trying to calm down, "I just don't understand it." He wanted to know why. He knew that it would bother hm for the rest of his life. Someone had to know something that could save Tai. Tai was the leader of the Digidestined, someone who was supposed to be invincible for a long, long time. They had done the world a huge favour, and now… this had to happen.
"The world is an unfair place, and although I hate to say it, sometimes the kind-spirited are the ones that suffer whilst the greedy prosper. But in the life to come… maybe that is when the kind people are treated the way that they are meant to be, and the greedy are left to suffer. The unknown factor…" she trailed off as T.K's mobile phone rang shrilly from the kitchen bench, where he had carelessly tossed it the night before. He had a bad feeling about the call, and his mother seemed to share this sentiment. He grabbed his phone and pressed the button to answer as a feeling of dread rose in his stomach.
"Hello?" he could hear sniffles from the other side of the phone.
"Tai's in hospital," Kari whispered through the phone. T.K felt his blood turn cold as his brain processed what she had just said. Tai was in hospital. That meant that he could possibly die in the next few days, hours, minutes…seconds. T.K mentally kicked himself. How could he have believed Tai's lies before? Why hadn't he seen that the great leader of the digidestined had been sick? But he kept these doubts to himself and tried to keep Kari, who sounded as though she was about to hyperventilate, calm.
"Just breathe Kari, okay? Which hospital are you at?" he was answered by her sobs as she broke down over the phone, "Kari please… I can only come if you tell me where you are." She calmed down enough to tell him the hospital and the room number before she hung up to talk with the doctors and her parents. Nancy had deserted her work and was already scribbling a note to Matt, and she was holding her car keys in the other hand. She understood that something bad was happening, and she knew that her son needed to be there.
"Which hospital?" was the only question she asked her youngest son as they left their apartment to comfort Kari and hope to high hopes that Tai would be okay…
Kari was scared. Her older brother was lying in a bed in a cold, sterile hospital room, probably taking his last breaths, but she couldn't go and see him. It scared her to see his unmoving form arranged on the bed. He was supposed to be her crazy big brother, always moving and cracking jokes. He was supposed to grow up to be a fantastic soccer player, graduate from school with good grades, fall even more in love with Sora, go to uni on a soccer scholarship… and have a fun-filled and happily long life. She could see his perfect life in her head, and sometimes she would pretend that it was reality, just for a few seconds. She absently pulled her hair back behind her ear and blinked back the tears which were threatening to fall once more. She had called T.K a few minutes ago, and he had promised to come visit. The doctors had been no help; they had just said that they didn't know if Tai would ever wake up. He wasn't in a coma exactly, but a deep state of unconsciousness. His disease wasn't very common, and so they were unsure of what his unconsciousness meant. Her thoughts went back to early that morning, when she had discovered that Tai wouldn't wake up…
Flashback:
She yawned as she sat at the table, her thoughts flying all over the place in the way that they normally did in the morning. Her mother was in the kitchen, cooking bacon and eggs for their breakfast. Kari noticed how deep the bags under her mother's eyes were and she knew that her mother had had trouble sleeping. The way that her mother's eyes kept on flickering to the door to Tai's bedroom told Kari the reason why she had not slept well.
"Mum…" her mother looked up at her, forgetting about the egg that she was cooking, "It'll be okay." Her mother understood. Both of them were having a hard time. Her father walked into the kitchen, stretching his arms and yawning.
"Honey," her mother said to her, finally remembering the egg, "Could you go and wake your brother? It's time for his medication." Kari nodded obediently and left the kitchen, but she didn't go straight to Tai's room. Instead she strained to overhear what her parents were saying.
"Hush, don't cry love or the children will see your tears and feel guilty," her dad told his wife softly. Kari could picture the scene in her mind. Her mother would be leaning in her father's arms, crying against his chest.
"I can't help it! He hardly has any time left. We're going to have to bury our son!" Kari felt terrible. Her mother was in tears and she was eavesdropping when she should have been helping her mother. She wiped her eyes to make sure that the tears gathered there did not fall. She then continued on her way to her brother's room. She knocked and waited for a response, still hearing her mother's anguished words before. She frowned at the door when Tai hadn't answered her for a few seconds. She knocked again, but she still received no response.
'Maybe he collapsed again,' she wanted to discard this thought; she desperately wanted it to go away. But panic was rising up in her chest as she knocked again, louder this time, without getting a response. Bucketfuls of images of Tai dying in his sleep flooded into her head as the room in front of her continued to be silent. Finally she grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open, half-expecting Tai to jump out from the door, screaming BOO! But she entered the room without being scared to death and her eyes scanned the room to find her brother. Her eyes landed on his bed, where her brother lay motionless on the bed. From where she was standing, it just looked as though he was sleeping.
"Tai?" she whispered softly, not wanting to startle him too much. When she received no response, she spoke louder, "Tai can you hear me? Tai? You need to get up now; it's time to take your medication… Tai? TAI?" She was shaking him now, but it was having no effect. She paused for a second and took a closer look at her brother. He was paler than he had been the night before, and his arm felt clammy. He was still breathing- his chest was still rising and falling- but he looked like the living dead. There was definitely something wrong. "MUM! DAD! TAI WON'T WAKE UP!" The alarm in her voice made her parents come immediately. Her father was dialing a number into the cordless phone as he entered the room, her mother was crying. Kari stood back and watched as her parents took over. But even as the ambulance officers arrived and wheeled Tai's stretcher into the ambulance, she knew that she would never be able to forget the pale form of her brother as he desperately hung onto life…
End of flashback.
"Kari, are you sure that you don't want to go and see him?" her mother asked her for the fifth time that day. She nodded absently. She never wanted to see her brother that helpless ever again. She just wanted him back, was that too much to ask?
He was in the Digital World. He had no idea how he had gotten there, or if he was even truly there at all, but he could see Infinity Mountain and other landscapes that he recognised as elements of the Digital World.
"Agumon!" the orange dinosaur-like digimon was sitting on a rock, as though he had been waiting for him to appear for a long time. They were at the bottom of Infinity Mountain, as far as he could tell, and it looked as though a thunderstorm was about to appear.
"Hi Tai! I was getting worried that you would never show up. Gennai has been waiting for you for ages!" the teenager looked puzzled, but he did not get a chance to ask questions as Agumon quickly started to pull him away from the mountain, "The others are going to be so glad that you came!" The path went downhill and Tai stumbled a lot over the small rocks that infiltrated their path. It didn't help that he was feeling horrible. Sometimes the stones would merge together and he was sure that they were going to crash into a giant rock. At other times he felt as though his legs would never be able to carry him to wherever they were going, but Agumon did not stop.
"The…others…are…here?" Tai managed to pant out after they had been moving for about half an hour in silence. Agumon nodded, and his claws dug into Tai's arm.
"Of course the other digimon are here; they live here. The digidestined aren't here though. But Gennai will explain everything. We don't have much time- we'll have to go faster," and when Tai felt as though he wouldn't be able to walk another step, Agumon pushed them to go faster. Tai could see black spots appearing in his vision and he forced Agumon to slow down.
"I'm…going…to…die…if…we…keep….on…going…so…fast," Tai puffed, as Agumon kept on pulling on his arm, insisting that they speed up again.
"But you have to come quickly. We're almost there. Please, you have to try!" and without letting Tai protest, Agumon quickened their pace until Tai was sure that he had never run so fast in his life. The landscape seemed like a blur to him. Trees turned into deserts and cities, before becoming trees again, sometimes seeming to be cities inside deserts, or deserts inside forests. Finally Agumon stopped at a lake, and Tai felt his knees give way beneath him. But he did not fall to the ground. A pair of arms caught him, and a white angel stood behind him.
"Magnangemon, what are you…" but he trailed off as he felt the sudden impulse to sleep. Sleep was calling to him in a voice of haunting familiarity, a comforting friend.
"Magna antidote!" Sleep screamed and was scared away as a warm feeling spread throughout Tai's body. His muscles relaxed and his vision cleared. His head felt clear, and although he was still tired, Sleep didn't call out to him in that seductive way anymore. He struggled to stand up, but gave up when he found that his legs were still too weak.
"What…what's happening?" he asked groggily, as he sank to the ground, "Why am I here?" Gennai appeared in front of him, and Magnangemon put him safely on the ground.
"You have saved both the Digital World and your own world. Let us just say that Hope was what saved you," the old man grinned, but Tai was still confused.
"What do you mean…by saved me?"
"You were dying, right? Magnangemon saved you. When you wake up, you will be completely healed of the disease that was making your life Hell. Do you understand?" he nodded, suddenly too weary to reply. Gennai sensed that Tai was no longer paying attention, but he knew that it did not matter. They had served their purpose; they had healed him. The last thing Tai saw before sleep took over was Agumon's large grin, and then everything faded to black…
When T.K finally arrived at the hospital, Kari felt relieved. Her parents were sitting next to Tai in the room, but Kari had not been able to stand it in there, so she was sitting alone outside the door. She had found a black smudge on the otherwise perfectly white wall, and she was fascinated by it. How had such a smudge appeared in such a clean and sterile hospital? The other walls were all perfect, but this one… it was damaged. But after ten minutes of staring at the smudge, she felt as if it was taunting her, that it was telling her that she would never find the answers to her questions. T.K's arrival was a wonderful distraction from the smudge's taunts.
"How are you holding up?" he asked as she felt his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes began to water again as she looked up at him. He understood. Within seconds he was holding her as she cried against him. He just let her cry as he tried to blink back his own tears. He needed to be strong for her now, as strong as Tai would be if the situation were reversed.
"They're going to run a few tests… They said that he isn't in a coma, but an 'unconscious state' or something like that. They are confused. None of the doctors here have treated this disease and they have been reading anything that they can find on it so that they can help Tai but… they don't know why he is here now. And that scares me. If they don't know what is wrong with him now… that means that he will die. And I don't want that to happen. I don't think that I will be able to stand it if my brother dies!" he listened carefully, knowing that she would cry again if he said the wrong thing. She was wringing her hands as she spoke, and he gently stopped her by taking her hands with his.
"Tai is strong. He can get through this; I know he can. You can't give up on him yet. If we saved the world from Piedmon and the other Dark Masters, then I am sure that Tai will live through this hospital visit. After that, if it is his time to die, then we must accept that and move on. Tai doesn't want you to sit in a room for the rest of your life, wishing that he had never died. But we won't have to cross that hurdle yet; Tai is going to be fine, I know it," T.K believed the little voice inside his head telling him that Tai was going to be okay. He had a suspicion that he was so trusting of the voice because it sounded a lot like Patamon. Kari bit her lip and nodded slowly.
"I know that you are right but… it's hard to know what to think. I mean… the doctors told us months ago that Tai was going to die in about three week's time, but they have no idea about the disease. I think that they knew he was going to die because of the other people in the past who have had this disease, and looked at how long they had lived. But a voice inside my head keeps on telling me that Tai'll be fine and that I just have to keep on hoping. I'm so confused… do I believe the doctors' guesses or that little voice? The voice sounds so familiar… like Gatomon, but I can't even count the number of doctors Tai has had in the past few weeks on one hand. Why won't someone just let me know that everything is fine?" T.K sighed and shrugged to let her know that he had no idea either.
"All we have to do is hope and something good will happen. I know it will!" he then tried to change the subject, as he could see that this conversation was not helping Kari all that much, "What were you staring at before I came?" She smiled suddenly.
"There is a black smudge on the wall and I was wondering how it had gotten there. Then the smudge started mocking me. I think I have had too little sleep or something. But when you came, it stopped mocking me, so it's all good now," he laughed as she did, and he sensed that his friend was becoming more relaxed. The door to Tai's room opened however, and Kari stopped laughing and looked anxiously at her parents. They were smiling, and yet they looked puzzled at the same time.
"How is Tai?" T.K asked quickly, seeing that Kari was too anxious to ask it.
"I-It's amazing. The doctors said that there was no cure for what Tai had and yet… he's cured. The only reason he is unconscious now is because his body is really tired from fighting off the disease. But he's going to live!" The news was almost too good to be true. It was as though someone had heard their earlier conversation and had taken pity on them. Tai was going to be fine and there was no need for anyone else to know how sick he had been. The world was finally looking good again.
Two months had passed since Tai had been in hospital, and he was now finally allowed to go back to school. He had kept this information a secret from Matt, Sora and the other digidestined apart from his sister and T.K, and he knew that he was going to be yelled at for keeping it all quiet.
"Now… today we have a new student joining us. I hope you will make him welcome," Tai listened through the door to hear his teacher speak to the class. He knew that Mr. Baker, the English teacher, probably had a huge smile on his face whilst saying all of this, because he had taught Tai before, "You can come in now!" Tai grinned, opened the door, and stood in front of his class. Sora and Matt were in the second row, staring at him as if they thought that they were hallucinating.
"Hi everyone, my name is Tai Kamiya. I came here up until a few months ago, when my parents forced me to get a private tutor. But now I'm back again!" there were shouts of delight from members of the soccer team at this statement, and sighs from all of Tai's admirers. The seat next to Sora was empty, so he sat there.
"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back? I thought that you couldn't come back until you got an A plus in every subject, and you told us that that would never happen. Why didn't you tell us?" she whispered angrily, annoyed that she had been left out of the loop. He just grinned at her.
"I like surprising people. But don't worry; you and all of the other digidestined are all invited to my place on Saturday night. We've already asked your mother if you can come. You can get your revenge there," she looked confused, but she had to quickly turn to the front, as Mr. Baker had begun the lesson and he was very strict. She figured that she would have to wait until later to find out what he meant.
It was Saturday night on Tai's and the digidestined were all sitting under in a circle in the Kamiya's living room, relaxing and enjoying the fact that they were all together again. Kari was sitting in T.K's arms, something that was very interesting for the others to see.
"So… when did the two of you get together? And why isn't Tai chasing T.K around with a cricket bat already?" Matt asked first the couple, then the whole group as they munched on some popcorn. T.K and Kari both blushed, and Tai's eyes widened, as though he were in shock.
"You two are a couple? Where's my cricket bat?" he asked, before looking around everywhere to find it. T.K gulped and glared at his brother for bringing him into attention.
"Hey, we should play Truth or Dare!" Sora exclaimed, taking Tai's attention away from finding the cricket bat and onto something much less violent. Kari and T.K flashed her a grateful look as the others all agreed with her.
"I get to ask first!" Mimi demanded, "Okay T.K, truth or dare?" She knew that he would choose truth. T.K never chose dare until later at night.
"Truth," was his immediate reply. Mimi's eyes began to glint evilly.
"Okay… how did you and Kari get together?" this was an answer that they all wanted to hear. T.K sighed and blushed, and Kari turned red too.
"Okay… this is what happened…
FLASHBACK
It was two days after Tai had gone back to school, and T.K was sitting at home on the computer, doing an assignment for History. He was in the middle of writing why the Great Depression had an affect on Japanese politics when he received a new e-mail. He clicked on the e-mail absently, his mind still concentrating on rice riots and farmers selling daughters for money. The e-mail popped up on his screen and he was only half-interested in what it said until he read the lines:
I'm taking Tai out away from the apartment tonight, so you had better take advantage of this opportunity to tell Kari how you feel without getting a cricket bat to your head.
The e-mail was unsigned and had no return address, and T.K was intrigued by it. This person not only knew that he liked Kari, but they were willing to help him out. The e-mail continued on to say that the mystery person had set up to meet Tai at the cinema at 7:30, and also that they had made a reservation at a restaurant for he and Kari to go to. He checked his watch and saw that it was already 5:00 o'clock. He quickly saved his project, yelled to his mother that he was going out, and went and picked some flowers up for Kari…
END OF FLASHBACK
"… and then we went to a restaurant and admitted that we liked each other a lot and now we're going out!" T.K finished, and he looked at Tai to see if there was going to be a reaction. To his surprise, Tai was smiling.
"You're not going to kill him now, are you Tai?" Kari asked her brother quietly, as if that was a possibility. Tai sighed and pretended to think about it for a while.
"No, I suppose I won't…. Matt would kill me and therefore it would not be very pleasant," he joked. It was now T.K's turn to pick someone to choose. He grinned, an idea forming in his mind.
"Tai, truth or dare?" normally Tai would choose dare, but he still wasn't feeling completely 100 per cent, so he went for the 'safer' option.
"Truth," not surprisingly, this answer shocked everyone bar T.K. He had been counting on this.
"Who took arranged to meet you at 7:30 that night?" he asked, referring to the night of his first date with Kari. Tai suddenly seemed to find something interesting on the ground. Kari raised an eyebrow at her brother's strange behavior.
"What's wrong Tai? Are you too embarrassed to answer or something?" Her brother sighed and shook his head.
"The truth is… no one arranged to meet me. I sent you that e-mail," there was a stunned silence. T.K knew what an over-protective brother Tai was. For him to set him up on a date with Kari… it must have been hard to do. And he wanted to know why he had done it.
"Why?" Tai seemed reluctant to answer this one, and T.K soon knew why.
"I did it because you literally saved my life. Well… Magnangemon did, but it was technically because of you, so therefore I owed you one. Besides, you guys obviously like each other, and it was annoying me," he tried to dismiss his first answer quickly, but Kari finally realised why her brother was still alive.
"So that's why! The doctors were so…" she trailed off as she realised that she was saying her thoughts out loud. Now everyone was staring at her except for Tai, who was looking at the floor as though it were the most incredible thing since sliced bread.
"Doctors?" Sora asked, giving her best friend a quick glance, "And T.K literally saved Tai's life? What on Earth is going on here?" Kari cursed herself for saying something. They may not have even realised anything was wrong if she hadn't reechoed Tai's words.
"I guess that I should probably tell you guys the truth, though it's a little late," Tai sighed, and after taking a deep breath, he continued, "When I left school… I never got a private tutor. I wasn't failing school, my grades were fine and my parents certainly weren't angry at me. I was sick- I was dying in fact. No one knew outside of my family, and I just pretended that I had a private tutor."
"So you lied to all of us?" Matt said coolly, his eyes accusing Tai of some horrific crime.
"Yes. When Sora came over to tutor me, I always couldn't concentrate, because of my medication. I won't go into too many details, but the medication was a trial medication, and it was horrible… its side-effects were the main reason that I couldn't attend school. Anyway, that was why I would always make you leave after only half-an hour after you arrived," he told her, "I'm sorry about that, but I didn't want to admit that I was dying to anyone. Anyway, this continued on for weeks, until T.K accidentally found out that I was sick. He had been out with Kari when my mother had called in a panic to say that I wasn't answering the phone. I had collapsed, but before Kari got there with T.K, I was conscious again and I pretended to watch the soccer, but T.K noticed there was something wrong and he got the whole story out of me. The next morning, I was rushed to hospital because I was unconscious and wouldn't wake up. I never really told anyone how, but within hours, I was completely fine, except for being exhausted."
"So what happened? How did you recover so quickly?" Izzy and Joe asked at the same time, Izzy because he was curious and Joe because of the medical viewpoint.
"It was the Digital World. I went there, and Agumon told me to follow him. We ran for ages, and then we came across Magnangemon and Gennai. Magnangemon healed me and Gennai said something which I forget, but it was because T.K knew of my illness that I could be healed. So I am forever in his debt," Tai concluded. T.K felt embarrassed. It was Magnangemon who had saved Tai, not him. He told this to Tai, and the older boy laughed, promising that he had already helped Magnangemon out with something.
"So… Matt, truth or dare?" Tai suddenly remembered their game. Matt laughed.
"I choose truth because I want to stick with the trend," he replied.
"Okay… how long have you been dating June without telling us?" Matt's expression did not change, but his eyes had a wild look in them.
"Six months… how did you know about that?" he demanded to know.
"You need to find better places to hide. When I was out wandering the streets whilst T.K and Kari were out on their date, I happened to see you. I think you make a great couple," he teased, and Matt just threw a cushion at him. Then the blonde got an idea.
"Hey Sora, truth or dare?" the red head was lying on her back, bored of the game just being truth.
"Dare," she replied, sitting up and yawning. Matt grinned. This was working out just like he had planned.
"Okay… I dare you to kiss Tai," her eyes widened. She knew that it had been a bad idea to tell the blonde that she had a huge crush on Tai. A HUGE mistake. Tai was also paralyzed with fear. WHY had he told Matt, albeit it had been a long time ago, that he liked Sora?
"Come on guys, you have to do it now!" Mimi cheered, happy that someone was finally going to make them confess to each other. Sora gulped and looked at Tai, who was looking at the carpet again, his cheeks red.
"Didn't we make a list of dares which were not allowed, and kissing was one of them?" Sora asked, desperately trying to save herself the embarrassment of what she thought would be rejection.
"No, we did not. And if it makes you feel any better, you can kiss in another room or something," Matt said kindly, with a hint of his 'you're-not-going-to-get-out-of-this' voice. Sora took a deep breath, but then Tai surprised her.
"Why are you being such a woos? It's only a kiss!" and before she replied he kissed her. When they finally broke off the kiss, everyone clapped and congratulated them on getting together. After all, one would assume that a couple was together if they shared a kiss which lasted over three minutes and twenty seconds. It was, as Tai put it, 'a rather sweet end to a rather frightening year.'
THE End
Litanya: Okay… so the ending was a bit rushed, but I needed to finish this tonight, because I won't have a social life for the next two and a bit months. I will be half-disappearing from for this time, as I have my exams and yeah… they are important. So I hope you enjoyed this fic, rushed as it was, and I hope to write another fic after my exams! See you later. Please review, I love to read any kind of feedback, although flames hurt because I'm not fireproof. Anyway, Tschüs!