Author's Notes: I know I left some parts unexplained, but I'll leave it up to you readers to fill in the blanks as you want. As for their ages, all I can say is that they're old enough for Jou to be an actual doctor…so mid-twenties-ish for Takeru and Hikari. Apply the rest from there.
She fears if she cries that first tear, the tears will not stop raining down. ~ "Stand in the Rain" by Superchic(k)
Her cheeks were not dry, but that was because of the rain. Her eyes burned, but she was afraid that if she let one tear—that first single tear—fall then she would not be able to stop. Though, it was possible that her despair and sorrow went beyond tears.
Her fault. Her fault. Her fault.
She was shivering, she couldn't control that, but she also couldn't blame that all on the rain. She'd been shaking for so much longer than that, far before she had even gone outside. The sound still played in her head; the loud, penetrating single long screech. The image of his body remaining unresponsive as the charge ran through him flashed in her mind. She had run away at that moment, unable to bear watching it any longer. She couldn't stay there. She didn't want to see the pity in his eyes as Jou turned to look at her. When they had arrived, she'd been hysterical, thrown a fit, and wouldn't let anyone else see to him. She couldn't trust anyone to take care of him but Jou. But it hadn't made a difference. He was still gone.
Yamato and Taichi had arrived, and that should have helped. They could do anything, but they hadn't made a difference either. They hadn't saved him.
He'd been fine. That thought caused her heart to clench in her chest. He'd been stabilized. She'd been holding his hand and thinking of everything she'd say to him once he opened those wonderful bright blue eyes. Then the sirens and beeping had started without warning. Jou had run back in with two nurses. She'd been ripped from him, pushed away as if she didn't matter, and she'd felt her heart torn apart.
When it happened, Taichi and Yamato had been looking at him and she'd escaped without their notice. She hadn't cursed the rain once she stepped outside. She thought it was rather appropriate. As if the world were mourning her loss with her. She was tired and cold. She didn't know where she was, but that didn't matter. She didn't want to be found, not by anyone…but him. They'd live without her. She wasn't sure she could live without him. How they could live without him. He was gone. Gone.
And he would never know. Never.
Everything had gone wrong. She was planning on telling him everything tonight. She was planning on watching the light in his eyes shine as bright as she had known it would. She was planning on sharing their joy forever. So many plans…so much happiness lost…ruined in a single moment of inanity.
She was at the river's edge—somehow, she would always find herself here. The ocean breeze and briny smell held so many memories for her…both good and bad. She unhooked her D-3, stared at it for a moment, and then flung it out into the water. She watched it float away for a minute, and then turned in the opposite direction and walked down the beach. When she came to an over-passing bridge, she crawled up the small incline underneath it and sat down. She curled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. The first tear finally trailed down her cheek.
Takeru was dead.
It was her fault.
Hikari let her head fall to her knees as the tears rained down.
He had to find her. That was his only thought as he came to another corner. Taichi clenched his teeth as he looked down at his Digivice again to check which way he should go. They hadn't yet called anyone else with the news. Taichi was sure the only reason he knew was because of Hikari's near frantic phone call earlier to him.
He didn't even finish his greeting before she interrupted.
"Taichi, you have to help me!" Hikari's voice was panicked as her first immediate words shot straight to his soul and ripped it apart. He had to fix it…whatever it was that caused his sister to use that tone.
"Hikari, what's wrong?"
"It's my fault, Taichi. It's all my fault! He was trying…there's just so much blood…" Taichi felt as if a cold finger had trailed down his spine at those words as he knew exactly who she was talking about. "He's…he's…what if he doesn't…what am I supposed to do without him?" She was near hysterics and crying—he could tell.
"Hikari, you have to call an ambulance. You have to hang up and call for help," Taichi said, keeping his voice level and calm. "You can call me back right away, but you—"
"Someone else is—I just need you…please," her voice was quiet and pleading.
"I'll be right there," Taichi assured her. "I'll meet you at the hospital with Yamato, okay? It'll be alright."
"He was trying to save me," she choked out through sobs. He could hear in her tone a plea to understand. To tell Yamato what had happened, hoping he would understand. "It's all my fault," she whispered in desperation.
"I'm coming, Hikari."
And they had come. Hikari had collapsed into his arms the moment she saw him. It had been a while before Jou came and told them he was stabilized and they could see him. But it wasn't long before it had taken a turn for the worse again.
Taichi looked up at the sky. The rain still wasn't letting up. Yamato had stayed behind at the hospital, while Taichi went to find Hikari after they had noticed she was missing. But Taichi didn't know why or when she had run away. He'd been too busy watching Takeru—disbelieving what was going on before him—to notice. It was his fault she was missing now. He should have been paying attention to her, knowing how much more this was affecting her.
When he'd reached the river a few minutes later, he wondered that he hadn't expected it. He took a moment to look at the sky, noting that the rain appeared to be letting up at last. In a useless gesture, he wiped the hair sticking on his forehead. His clothes stuck to him, but he didn't care. Taichi looked around, expecting to find Hikari close by, but frowned when he didn't see her. He should have been within feet of her—if the Digivice was correct—but she was nowhere in sight. Then he spotted it.
Taichi walked over and bent down to pick up the pink device from the ground with dread slicing through him. "Hikari," he breathed, wondering what could have possessed her to throw this away.
Unless she didn't know.
Taichi looked up in alarm, casting his eyes about desperate to see her. Then his eyes fell upon the murky water. He glanced down at the Digivice and back at the water. She wouldn't have.
"It's my fault, Taichi. It's all my fault!"
He pulled out his phone and pushed his number two speed dial. His best friend answered. "Did you find her?" Yamato asked without even greeting him first.
"No," Taichi gritted out. "But I found her Digivice."
There was a pause, before Yamato asked, "Do you think she threw it away?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to call the others to help me find her."
"What about the police?"
"You know they won't do anything for a day, at least," Taichi said. "She hasn't even been missing for an hour. Call me with any changes about the kid."
"I will. You'll find her, Taichi," Yamato said. His tone was encouraging, but the underlying worry in it Taichi could still hear.
"Thanks," Taichi said with a haunted smile. He hung up and pocketed it, staring at the pink Digivice in his hand. He clenched it tight. He would find her if he had to stay out all night.
Yamato hung up the phone and looked up at the figure lying so still and prone on the bed. It had been close, so very close. But the steady heart lines from the machine beside the bed confirmed his brother was alive. Yamato wanted Takeru to wake up, but somehow not while Hikari was missing. Jou had stabilized him again, but he warned Yamato that he wasn't quite out of the woods yet.
And Takeru would not take the news well.
There was a slight change in the machine's readings. Yamato panicked until he noticed Takeru's eyes fluttering. His brother let out a soft moan that sounded suspiciously like Hikari's name.
His heart clenched in his chest. "Takeru?" Yamato asked as he walked over to the bedside.
Then Yamato finally saw those familiar blue eyes open. They were a little bit more glazed and unclear than usual, but they still opened. Takeru looked around, before his gaze finally landed on him. "Yamato?" Takeru looked around once more. "Hikari?"
Yamato hesitated for half a second before he realized that Takeru would be able to tell if he was lying. So, he said, "She's not here, Takeru."
The heart monitor beep in an uneven pattern as Takeru tensed and turned to meet Yamato's eyes again. In a grasp stronger than it should have been, his hand clamped on Yamato's arm as he asked, "She's okay, right? I made it, didn't I?"
Yamato smiled in reassurance at his brother. "Don't worry. You saved her, Takeru."
Takeru relaxed a little bit back into his bed. "Where is she?" he asked, glancing at the doorway as if expecting her to come. As if he thought she was only out at the vending machines or the drinking fountain.
But knowing all too well how untrue that was, Yamato hesitated a second before answering, "We don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Takeru demanded as he tried to sit up. "I have to find her," he added as he began to try to pull the sheets off himself in an effort to get out of the bed.
Yamato pushed him, in a gentle but firm manner, back onto the bed. "No! Taichi and everyone else are out looking for her right now. You can trust him to do it."
"I do…but you know her. By now she's worked herself into thinking it's completely her fault. I can't just sit here when I know what she's going through." He tried to get up again.
"Stop it! There is no way I am letting you get out of here."
"You don't understand—"
"No, you don't understand. You were dead!"
For a moment, Yamato, a little out of breath, and Takeru, wide-eyed, stared at each other. Takeru blinked and choked out, "I was what?"
Yamato's fist clenched as he remembered the moment. "It was close. If Jou hadn't…" he trailed off. For a moment, the sound of the machine and the sight of Takeru's unresponsive body as Jou tried to revive him rushed through his mind again. "You were flat lining. It may have only been for a short time, but you died, Takeru. That's not something that you can just get over!"
There was another pause before Takeru lowered his eyes. "I'm…sorry, Yamato. But…I would do the same thing all over again."
"Yeah, I know," Yamato said, adding under his breath, "That's the problem." Takeru's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Yamato said, "It was right after you…well, it was after that when we noticed Hikari was gone."
Takeru tensed again. "She knows I'm alive, right?" Yamato didn't answer, the thought of Taichi's phone call and the tossed out Digivice coming into his mind. He lowered his gaze because the truth was that they didn't know if Hikari knew that. His silence seemed answer enough for Takeru as he repeated—but in a more panicked tone, "Right?" Still, Yamato didn't know what to say. "I have to find her," Takeru reiterated as he began to struggle against Yamato again.
But then he let out a cry of pain as his arm wrapped around his stomach and he fell back onto the bed. The machines whirled and let out sirens again, causing Yamato's stomach plummeted. Takeru's breathing was ragged and Yamato tried not to panic as Jou and a nurse appeared. Jou ordered something from the nurse, who handed him a syringe a few seconds later. Jou inserted it into Takeru's IV, with a quiet, "I'm sorry, Takeru." He looked up at Yamato and said, "Sedative."
Takeru's body relaxed and his eyes rolled shut as the sedative took effect. Jou said, "If he gets too distressed…" He trailed off the implication of what could happen, but Yamato understood it. Jou continued, "I think it's best if we keep him this way until we find Hikari." When Yamato looked at him in confusion, wondering how he could know, Jou smiled and continued, "I was outside the door. I thought this might happen but wanted to give you some time alone with him."
Yamato nodded in understanding and gratitude. He brushed a hand through his brother's hair. "We'll find her, Takeru. She'll be okay."
Closing his jacket tighter around him, Daisuke rubbed the tip of his frigid nose for what had to be the fiftieth time in the past two minutes. It wasn't freezing outside—it wasn't snowing after all…yet. But cold wind was blowing out from the water, the rain had brought along a cold front with it, and night had fallen. Which all meant that it was as cold as it was going to get today…and Hikari was out here in it. With that thought in mind, Daisuke forged on with determination.
He had come in an instant when Taichi had told him the news; how could he not? Takeru in the hospital…Hikari missing…sometimes he wondered if those two had a death wish. He knew he could be reckless. But sometimes he wondered if he held a candle to those two in the "throwing yourself into the middle of danger" department. They were so reasonable most of the time, though.
He shook his head. Now was not the time to think about that. "Hikari!" he called out, cupping his hands around his mouth. He lowered his hands and stared at them for a moment. Why did someone cup their hands around their mouth when calling out to someone? Wouldn't that muffle the sound? Perhaps it helped throw the sound out in one direction? But what if you wanted to call out in all directions? Wouldn't the hands hinder that?
Giving himself a good shake of his head, he brought himself back to focus. He'd been hanging out way too much with Ken and Koushiro—their curiosity was rubbing off on him. He cupped his hands around his mouth to call out again, but froze halfway there as something caught his eye. He squinted his eyes and looked at the incline under the bridge ahead of him that crossed over the water. It looked like someone was lying up near the top. But in the dim light of the street lights from the road above, he couldn't be sure. As a car drove by, their headlights blazed and cast more light around. He caught a flash of the color pink and that was all he needed to know before he started to run toward whatever was there. Taichi had told them what Hikari was wearing—one of her pink hoodies—before they parted ways to look for her. Daisuke didn't know if it was her, but at this point, he was willing to grasp at straws.
As he reached the bottom of the incline, he realized that it was indeed a person lying up there. He scrambled up and found Hikari lying on her back. With her eyes closed, she looked still as death as her clothes and hair stuck to her, soaked from the rain. Reaching out to find her pulse, Daisuke pleaded, muttering to no one in particular, "Please don't be dead, Hikari…please don't be dead." His whole body sagged in relief as he felt it. It was far too slow and soft, but at least it was there. He felt her cheek, which was cold to his touch. Without hesitation, he shrugged his jacket off himself and placed it over her. He pulled out his phone and called Taichi.
"I found her," he said the instant Taichi picked up.
"Where are you?"
Daisuke told Taichi where they were and about Hikari's condition. Though he wasn't the best at reading moods or situations, even he could feel the tension coming from Taichi's silent end of the call. "And, you'd better hurry, Taichi. She's…pretty bad," Daisuke finished glancing down again at Hikari. She was so still that he put his hand in front of her mouth to make sure he could still feel her breath coming out. He breathed out a sigh when he felt the soft outtake of air from her lips.
"Do whatever you have to do to keep her warm, Daisuke," Taichi said. Daisuke recognized his "leader" tone of voice in those words…or more like orders. He, himself, had never quite managed to get that tone down as well as Taichi had. He'd like to blame Takeru for that—only for the sake of blaming him—but didn't think that would be fair to him at the moment. He made a mental note to blame him after he had recovered. Taichi continued, "I'll be there in five minutes."
Daisuke blinked in surprise. He remembered that Taichi went the complete opposite way as Daisuke when they split up. Before he could stop himself, he said, "There's no way you can—"
But Taichi cut him off as he stated, "Five minutes." And then he hung up. Daisuke removed the phone from his ear and stared at it for a second before he shrugged. It was never a good idea to doubt Taichi when it involved Hikari. He'd cross worlds for his sister—come to think of it, that might be exactly what Taichi was going to do. If he said he was going to be here in five minutes, then he would be here in five minutes. And woe to anyone, man or Digimon, who stood in his way.
Daisuke set his phone aside and turned back to Hikari. He bit his lip, trying to remember anything Jou—or any movie he had ever watched—might have mentioned about keeping people warm. Anything that involved some kind of object, like a thermal blanket was out. All he had on him were his clothes, his phone, and his D-3. And he wasn't going to leave her to go who knows where to find something. Which left only…one…option… Daisuke cringed as he thought each single word as the idea came to him: body heat and friction.
Muttering another silent plea, this time more along the lines of "please don't kill me, Takeru", he reached out to Hikari. He felt the tiniest bit awkward, to say the least. Moving his hands in the air above her body, he tried to figure out the best way to go about the whole thing. "Stop being stupid," he muttered to himself as he finally removed his jacket from over her. First, he took off her hoodie, revealing a tank top underneath, and wrapped his jacket back around her. Then he gathered her up in his arms and began to rub her sides underneath his jacket. He had to warm up her heart; it's what they always did in those movies where people got thrown into icy water or stuck in blizzards. Didn't Taichi and Yamato once tell him they got stuck on a frozen island together? He shook his head again and reminded himself (again) to focus as he rubbed her sides a bit more vigorously.
Five minutes—almost to the dot by his watch—later, he heard Taichi's voice call out, "Daisuke?"
"We're down here, under the bridge," he called back. He saw a shadowed figure coming down the grassy hill to the sand. As it approached, the hair confirmed it was Taichi. A street light illuminated his face for a moment as he climbed up the incline toward them. Daisuke could remember only a few times seeing that grim look on Taichi's face. "How did you get here so fast?" he couldn't help but ask as Taichi reached down and took Hikari from his grasp.
"I had help," Taichi stated.
As Daisuke got to his feet, a larger figure—much larger and very familiar—landed on the sand next to the bridge. "Come on, Taichi," an authoritative feminine voice said. "We've got to get her to the hospital."
"You're going to fly her there on Birdramon?" Daisuke asked as his eyes widened. In general, the Digidestined usual tried to keep the Digimon a secret from the world as much as possible. Daisuke thought that someone might notice a giant fire bird landing in front of the hospital.
Taichi nodded and said, "As close as we can get, anyway. It's a good thing it's nighttime. Thanks for finding her, Daisuke."
"No problem," Daisuke said as he reached down to pick up Hikari's discarded hoodie. "Has there been any change with Takeru?" he asked as they walked down the incline toward Sora and her Digimon.
"No," was Taichi's only answer. "Are you coming with us?"
"No, I'll—I'll tell everyone that we found her," Daisuke said. Taichi nodded and climbed up onto Birdramon next to Sora. Hikari remained unresponsive in his arms. Daisuke watched them fly away before pulling out his phone.
They were all things he was expecting as he looked at the report on Hikari. Once again—somewhat against hospital policy—he was treating someone close to him. But Taichi (like his sister; they were more alike than he thought) had insisted that no one else see to her. Jou looked through the pages—chilblains, frostnip, moderate hypothermia. For the amount of time Hikari had been exposed like she had, they were all symptoms he expected. All, Jou was happy to note, were quite treatable and easy to make a full recovery from in usual circumstances.
Except that Hikari wasn't making a full recovery. Her physical symptoms were abating, yes, but she had not woken up since being brought in. The most that could be said was that she wasn't getting any worse. But if this continued…she might very well be dying of a broken heart. If what Taichi and Yamato theorized was true and she didn't know Takeru was fine... Well, losing the will to live was a terrible thing. If only she would wake up! If only they could talk to her!
He continued to walk through the halls of the hospital. He spent most of his time now hopping back and forth between Takeru's and Hikari's rooms. He stopped as a little piece of information on Hikari's chart caught his eye. It was…unexpected, to say the least. Well, not completely unexpected—if he was being honest with himself—given everything. He should have thought of it as he was a doctor after all. In any case, it did change things. He turned full around as he had been on his way back to Takeru's room, but now he had to go back to Hikari's.
He found the occupants in the room exactly as he had left them. Taichi was half-sitting, half-leaning against the window sill, looking out into the night where the city lights sparkled like stars. There was a grim set to his jaw and a tense aura around him that made him appear unapproachable. Jou thought it might be a good thing that he wasn't the one he wanted to talk to. In one of the two chairs, next to the wall sat Miyako. Miyako was fiddling with her hands in her lap, bouncing her knees. She stared down at the ground, but Jou noticed her shooting glances at Taichi and then Hikari every so often. The only other person in room was lying still on the bed with her eyes closed. Hikari was still not awake.
Both of them looked at him when he entered the room. Hope flashing in their eyes that he brought them better news than when he left. Jou's lips turned down as he realized that he wasn't authorized to reveal this new bit of information to them. It didn't matter whether he was their friend or not. In this case, he was a doctor first. Only Hikari (or Takeru…if he even knew) could do that. Coming to a decision, he shook his head at them. "I'm sorry, guys. There's been no change."
There was a definite droop in their shoulders at his words. "How's Takeru?" Taichi asked.
"I haven't checked on him yet," Jou admitted. "I was on my way there when I realized something I had to tell Hikari's nurse." He had been hoping she would still be here as she had been when he left, but now he knew he would have to go and find her. This wasn't the sort of information that you didn't get to them right away.
"What is it? Is something wrong?" As per typical, it seemed Taichi's first reaction to anything we Hikari was to panic. He took one step forward toward Jou.
"No, no," Jou was quick to assure him, waving his hands in front of him. "Nothing's wrong…exactly." He sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. "I'm sorry, but this is something I can't…I mean, it's not really my place…" He sighed again. "You'd think after all these years, I'd have gotten better at this sort of thing. Just trust me when I say nothing else is wrong with her other than what I already told you about."
Out of the blue, Miyako gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Concerned, Jou looked at her and said, "Are you alright?"
"Perfecto," she replied with none of her usual exuberance. She looked at Jou with what he could only describe as wonder and amazement. "I mean…oh my…" She looked at little flustered as she waved her hand in a dismissive way at him.
"Well, the hospital would be the ideal place to get hurt. You wouldn't have to go anywhere, would you?" Taichi said with only a ghost of his normal grin on his face.
"I'm fine," Miyako said, staring at the floor again. "You…go check on Takeru, okay?"
A suspicion crept into Jou and he wondered if Miyako could have guessed the situation. "I'll be back soon," he said to them. Miyako nodded at her feet and Taichi gave him a small wave before returning to his window. Jou looked at Hikari again and thought of Takeru in another room like this one. They were his responsibilities and he wasn't going to let them get away from him. Now, to find that elusive nurse...
She couldn't believe it. She could not believe it. Miyako wanted to get up and hit…something. Not a wall (that would hurt) and not Taichi (he didn't deserve it) but she definitely felt the need to vent on someone or something. And the person she usually ranted to was currently out cold on the bed before her. Plus, she was the person she wanted to rant about at the moment, so that wouldn't work in any case. Besides, hitting something would be a surefire way of getting a one-way ticket out of the hospital. And she most certainly didn't want to leave her best friend right now.
But reading between the lines of what Jou said, this was huge. And Miyako had always had a hard time not saying what was on her mind. Yet she didn't want to blurt this out—especially in front of her brother…what if he didn't know? Hikari would be mortified and livid at her. Maybe she could talk to Hikari anyway? Didn't they say sometimes people could hear you if you talk to them even when they're unconscious? But she was going to have to be careful—she didn't want Taichi to hear.
She was about to stand up when she heard the unmistakable sound of shifting sheets. Miyako shot to her feet, but Taichi was faster than her, almost a blur as he raced to the side of Hikari's bed. Miyako wasn't far behind as she ran to the other side of the bed. Hikari was shifting with her eyes clenched shut, but then she gasped and her eyes shot open. Her gaze homed in on Taichi and she reached out a hand to him, which he grasped within his own. "He's gone, Taichi. What am I to do?" she pleaded with her older brother.
Taichi shook his head. "No, Hikari," he said, his voice softer and gentler than Miyako had ever heard it before. "Takeru's going to be fine."
Hikari shook her head and covered her face with her free hand. Tears were streaming down her face without abandon. "You're just saying that. I watched him die. I know he's gone. How am I…how are we…suppose to…" She trailed off, but Miyako did not miss the change of address. So…it was true after all.
Miyako reached out a hand and placed it on Hikari's shoulder, taking care not to injure her further. She looked straight into her friend's eyes and said, "Hikari, I know."
Hikari's hand fell from her face, and Miyako could see a strange sort of mixture of wonder and dismay in her eyes. "You know? How could you…I never…"
Miyako gave her a smile. "Jou came and said—"
"He told you?" Hikari screeched. Her eyes were wide with panic and he face flushed red.
"No, no, no," Miyako almost fell over her own words to reassure her. "You know Jou. Couldn't tell you the time if a watch was strapped to his eyes. It was more in what he didn't say, but that's not really the point. What I'm trying to say that even if Takeru was gone—which, by the way, he's not. They're keeping him sedated, but other than that, Jou expects him to make a full recovery. Anyway, the point is that we would be here for you and help you. I mean, come on, you can't seriously believe that your brother and best friends would hang you out to dry, right?"
"What are you guys talking about?" Taichi interjected, glancing back and forth between the two of them.
"The baby," Hikari whispered. She squeezed her eyes shut against a new wave of tears that trailed from the corners of them.
"The what? Baby?! What baby?"
Miyako gave him her best "are you stupid" look and a condescending tut from between her teeth. "Hikari and Takeru's baby, duh," she said, perhaps a little harsher than she meant to. But she had finally gotten the chance to say what was on her mind. She really shouldn't be expected to bottle things up like that. It was completely unhealthy for her psyche.
Taichi sputtered, "But they haven't got…unless…holy buckets of rice sauce…" Miyako felt kind of bad for him. She shouldn't have sprung that on the poor man all blunt like that. In her defense, really, how could he have not figured that out sooner? Jou practically came out and said it, Miyako had implied it, and Hikari literally said it.
"I was going to tell him tonight," Hikari whispered with slow blinks. Miyako could tell they were running out of time. Hikari wasn't going to stay with them much longer. "Now, he'll never…know…"
Taichi seemed to have thrown his shock off, as he said with urgency, "He will know, Hikari. Takeru's going to be fine."
A haunted smile touched the corners of Hikari's mouth as she shook her head once. "Don't…lie to me…I saw…him…" Her eyes slid shut again as her body fell limp.
Taichi gripped her hand even tighter as he let out a strangled cry of his sister's name. Miyako laid a reassuring hand on his arm as she said, "She's just gone back to sleep again, Taichi. She's okay."
"Why wouldn't she believe me?" Taichi pleaded, still looking at Hikari's face. Miyako shook her head, at a loss for words for once.
"Thanks for the update, Miyako," Ken murmured into the phone. It was late in the morning after they had all received the news about Takeru and had gone to look for Hikari.
"I'll be there soon. I'm exhausted and I don't think there's anything the rest of us can do at the moment," Miyako said. "Taichi, Yamato, and Sora are all going to stay with them."
"All right," Ken said. "See you soon then. Bye."
Miyako returned with a subdued farewell of her own before hanging up the phone. Ken set the phone back onto its cradle and stood still for a few seconds, taking in all that he had heard. "Well?" asked an impatient voice from the couch.
Ken turned and looked at the people gathered there—Daisuke (who had spoken), Mimi, Koushiro, and Iori. They hadn't wanted to overwhelm the hospital with all of them there. Since Ken's place had been the closest, he offered it as a refuge as they waited for news on their two friends. "Miyako said that they both woke up for a few minutes. Hikari fell back asleep, but Jou ended up having to sedate Takeru again."
Mimi shot to her feet. "Why?" she asked.
Ken leaned against the doorframe of the room. "Apparently, Hikari still thinks Takeru didn't make it. She wouldn't believe Miyako and Taichi when they tried to tell her. Takeru woke up some time after Hikari did, and Yamato told him about Hikari and her condition. He…um…well, let's just say he didn't take the news very well," Ken finished.
"What about their condition?" Koushiro asked. His fingers drummed on his knees. Ken wondered if he was missing his usually ever present companion.
"Miyako said that…Jou said they're both deteriorating," Ken answered. He looked away from them and stared and the floor. "And he can't explain it."
Mimi sunk back onto the couch and covered her face with her hands. She was silent, but there was the glint of tears on her cheeks. Combined with her body shuddering every few moments, it gave away that she was crying. "Are they going to let us see them?" Iori asked, finally breaking the heavy silence that hung for almost a minute after Ken delivered the news.
Ken shrugged—he didn't know as he hadn't asked. "Miyako is on her way here. We can ask her when she gets here."
Daisuke let out a cry of frustration. He got to his feet and began to pace around the room. "There's got to be something we can do. There are two rooms in that hospital where our friends are slowing dying for no reason, apparently. There's just gotta…"
"Maybe that's the problem," Koushiro interrupted. They all looked at him and Ken could see the same confused look on everyone else's face that he was sure was on his own. Koushiro had that speculative distant look on his face, staring at no one in particular.
"What do you mean?" Ken asked as he finally walked over to join the rest of them.
"Takeru and Hikari are in separate rooms, right?" he said. "Perhaps that's the problem. I mean, nothing's ever really been proven, per se, but there is some evidence out there that suggests that patients recover at an accelerated rate when they have people they love around them. So, maybe, if we can't get them in the same room…"
"Then they might actually begin to recover," Iori finished.
"They must be so worried about each other and that's why they're not recovering," Mimi added. "So, if they see that they're both fine, they won't be so worried anymore."
Ken gave a soft smile and said, "I'll call Jou." He almost ran back to the phone in his haste.
"We're going to try something different," Jou announced as he walked into the room where Sora and Yamato were watching over Takeru.
Sora exchanged a glance with Yamato. "What do you mean?" Yamato asked.
"I got a call from Ken," Jou said. "Koushiro came up with an idea. I should have thought of it, since at this point I'm willing to try about anything to save them, and they don't pose a threat to each other, neither having anything even remotely contagious."
"Jou," Sora pleaded, trying to remind him that they were in the room and that he actually had a point when he started.
"Sorry," he quipped. "We're moving Hikari into this room with Takeru with the hope that they'll recover faster if they're together."
"Is that going to work?" Yamato asked.
"No idea," Jou said. The bed holding Hikari was wheeled into the room. Jou moved out of the way and stared at the woman in it, lying so still. "But I'm willing to try." Taichi entered the room behind the bed. Sora tried to offer him a smile, but all Taichi returned was a tired sort of grim lifting of the corner of his mouth. He took the empty chair on Sora's other side—Yamato was already occupying one side. Jou gave them a small nod of his head before he walked back out of the room.
"How are you doing?" Sora asked him.
Taichi ran his hands through his hair. "Just about as well as Yamato, I imagine."
"No kidding," Yamato responded with a gruff voice. Sora looked back and forth between them. While she had slept for a few hours in the waiting room, she was willing to bet anything that neither of them had slept at all.
"I guess all we can do now is wait," Sora said, choosing not comment on their lack of sleep.
The three milled about. Every so often, one of them would go to stand by either Hikari's or Takeru's bed to whisper words of encouragement to them. Sora almost laughed when Taichi and Yamato dozed for about an hour sitting back to back on the floor.
And they waited.
Hikari was the one who opened her eyes first, which wasn't unexpected as she wasn't the one that was under a sedative. All three of them were at her side almost at once, though Sora was pretty sure that Taichi beat them both. "Hey, Hikari," Taichi said in a voice that Sora had only ever heard him use when he was talking to his sister.
"Taichi…I…" Hikari said faltering.
Taichi placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and said, "Before you say anything, can you do something for me, Hikari?" When Hikari nodded, confusion flicking her eyes, Taichi continued, "Look over there." He nodded at Takeru's bed.
Hikari turned and Sora could tell her whole body stilled completely as she looked at the other occupant of the hospital room currently lying within feet of her. "Takeru?" she choked. Hikari looked back at Taichi. "You weren't lying?"
Taichi shook his head, smiling for the first time in what seemed like a long time. "Jou managed to save him."
Hikari leaned back over and reached out a hand toward Takeru. Taichi and Yamato looked at each other and Sora smiled at the silent conversation she saw there. With an unspoken agreement, a furtive glance at the door and guilty faces, they moved Hikari's bed over until her bed nearly touched Takeru's. Once she was within reach, Hikari rolled onto her side and grasped Takeru's hand with her own. Tears shone in her eyes, but there was a radiant smile on her face as she whispered, "Takeru, we're going to have a baby."
Sora looked at Yamato, who looked as shocked by this information as she felt. Then she moved her gaze to Taichi, who was beaming. "You knew about this?" she hissed at him.
"Just learned about it last night," he whispered back.
Hikari continued to chatter to Takeru about the baby and what they would do when it came. Sora was sure that she saw Takeru's hand clasp Hikari's for a brief moment. Hikari clasped both of her hands around his after that. Sora led the two men beside her out in the hall to give the couple a few minutes of privacy. Once there, the three exchanged identical brilliant grins. "They'll be okay now," Yamato said.
"Yeah," Taichi agreed.
When they returned to the room, Hikari had fallen back asleep still holding Takeru's hand. But now there was a smile on her face and a healthy rosy tint to her cheeks that hadn't been there before. And Sora couldn't be sure—it may have been a trick of the light—but she swore there was a hint of smile on Takeru's face as well.