A/N: Second chapter! Ah, let's see how it goes. (grin)

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Digimon. Wouldn't that be amazing?! Sigh.


Beating Hearts

Chapter Two


"Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." – The Bible, Isaiah ch. 1 v. 5


"Kari! Are you sure you don't have a fever?"

Kari's mother hovered over her bed nervously, face flushed with worry and regret. Her father was at the foot of her bed, the same expression clearly written over his face.

"I'm fine," Kari mumbled, her eyes fluttering closed briefly before she willed herself to open them again. "Honestly! I'm…all right…"

"Doctor," she heard her mom mutter to her dad. "She needs a doctor."

"Mooom!" Kari groaned, hating how heavy her body felt. Twinkling lights blinded her vision, and her arms felt like lead as she raised them to tighten the quilt around her. "I'm okay, honestly."

"Kari, you're red! You're heating up and…and…"

Kari knew what her mom didn't want to say. "Your eyes! They're filmy and…scary. Lifeless. Like before, when you were so little…"

"Okay, okay. I'll stay home." She managed to blink an eye open. "But Tai has to get my school work. And…and…you have to make sure that my teachers know I'm sick, and not skipping. And art! I have art today, and I need to help…with sets…"

TK.

"Honey, you'll be fine staying at home," she finally heard her dad say. His tone was tense, and she knew why. She hadn't been hit with a strong fever since…well…a long time. It was odd to feel like this. She remembered many days at the hospital, the white walls and white people, with their white instruments and white beds. It was horrible, but in this state it was all she could remember. The food had always been good though.

"Well…okay…" And then she heard her parents hustling out of her cramped bedroom, murmuring quietly. The door closed with a snap, and all Kari wanted to do was rip her window open and jump out, just so she could feel the cold wind rushing past her as she flew down to the sidewalk below. She was just so hot.

Creeeak. "Kari?" Tai's voice, muddled with worry.

"Mhm," Kari managed to mutter, eyes not even bothering to open.

"Hey, are you okay?" His socked feet padded across the hardwood floor of Kari's bedroom. The bed squeaked as it sank at the foot where Tai seemed to be sitting. She glanced over to see him watching her with worry.

"Tai, I'm okay."

"That's not what Mom and Dad say."

"Then they're lying."

"Sleep?"

"Definitely."

"Eat?"

"Okay…"

"I'll get your work."

"Thanks."

"Hey…you're better though, aren't you?" The urgency in Tai's tone scared her. "You got better, remember?"

Voices, voices, voices…those horrible voices that itched at the back of Kari's mind. Squeaking, pulling, grabbing…

"Yes, Tai. I don't—you know—hear anything," said Kari, not the least embarrassed about confessing she had heard voices before.

A sigh of relief escaped Tai before he could stop it. "Oh, okay. Good. Well…goodnight?"

Kari managed to let out a quiet laugh. "Goodnight."


Sick? She isn't sick. You're lying!

Ma'am, your daughter is severely sick. No doctors can trace exactly what's wrong with her, but…it's something with her mind.

Her mind?! No! Kari is perfectly fine! My daughter isn't sick!

Sir, she seems to have a disease of some sort.

No disease! What are you talking about?

Kari is OKAY! Stop YELLING!

Tai, please, this is not the time.

She's FINE! There's nothing wrong with my sister! Leave her alone!

I'm sorry, but she complains of hearing…I don't know…voices. Does that mean anything?

Silence. Echoing, bulging, swelling silence. A sneeze from the little girl in the arms of the woman. Everything is hazy, misty, as if covered with rain.

No.

Maybe she should see a psychologist. I know a very qualified man—

She doesn't need mental help!

Kari is very stable!

The smartest girl at her daycare!

Yes, of course, but that doesn't mean she isn't hiding something in her brain.

Children have the capacity to hide things if they subconsciously know their parents won't approve. I'm afraid you two will have to be more open-minded if you want to save your daughter.

Shifting feet. Murmurs of a doctor and a patient in the next cubicle.

Voices?

A sigh of relief from the doctor.

Yes, voices. She says that whenever she gets a fever—which seems to be often—they don't seem to leave her alone.

Is there—there anything we can…we can…

The woman's voice breaks and tears start to flow. The soothing voice of the husband, handing the small girl over to the older brother, who immediately toddles over to the toys and makes sure she doesn't hear anymore of the conversation.

Please…calm down…something may fix her, don't worry…there is always hope…


"Asleep?"

"I guess so."

"Should we make her…I dunno…food or something?"

"TK!"

"Y—Yes?"

"Go find soup."

"Um—okay."

"Hello?" Kari murmured feebly, her eyes thick with sleep. She had fallen into a heavy and deep sleep, and was surprised the hissing voices at her door had aroused her into awareness.

"Kari! Look Tai, you woke her up. Nice one."

"Hey, it wasn't me, Sora! Geez, don't have a cow…"

"You okay?"

That voice. The voice that sent her fevered heart into convulsive shivers. "Matt?"

"Yea, that's me." The voice was right near her bed. It seemed that he had moved closer in.

"You might get sick," she muttered, grinning weakly.

"I'm sure I can risk it," he said, tone completely serious. "How're you feeling?"

"Truthfully?"

"Yes."

Kari tried to crack her eyes open. When she did daylight screamed in her face, causing her face to twitch as she tried to get used to the light. "I feel terrible."

"Kari! We're all here to visit you!" cried a voice: Mimi's (she had arrived back in Japan earlier this year).

"School's done already?" Kari tried desperately to sit up, fear jumping down her throat. "I can't believe I slept that entire time!" She still felt hot, but she had to get up. "Tai! Did you bring my…home…wor…" Her sentence drifted off as her head slumped down to her shoulder. She couldn't lift it, as hard as she tried. Matt's muffled voice echoed in her ears, and she desperately wanted to wake up, open her eyes, see how close he was…but all she felt was searing pain throughout her body and a voice screaming I want to die already!

And then all went black.


"Water," was the first word that escaped her dry, cracked lips. She licked them slowly, blinking her eyes feebly. Her room was filled with half-darkness, and she knew the sun was just beginning to set. She didn't register who was in her room until a small squabble broke out about who should get the water.

"Me!" TK finally cried, jumping up and running to the kitchen. Kari blinked again, trying to focus. She saw Tai and Sora sitting at the side of her bed, and she found herself looking for Matt.

Idiot.

"You're up!" Sora cried joyfully, smiling at her. "Thank goodness! We've been watching, just in case…you know…" Sora's eyes crinkled with concern, and Kari knew what she was thinking.

In case you collapse again.

"Thanks," she muttered, lifting a heavy hand to rub at her eye. She glanced over at Tai, who was leaning off of his chair at a precarious angle.

"You okay?" he asked softly in that brotherly tone of his that made Kari feel warm inside.

"Yea," she replied softly, grinning weakly. "Better, anyway."

Just then, TK burst into the room, panting with a glass of water in his hand. "Sorry there's only half of it left," he apologized, walking over and setting the glass in her outstretched hands, "It kind of sloshed out on my way back."

Kari grinned at TK, feeling a light blush creep into her cheeks. "Thanks," she replied softly, and TK gave her a small, yet adorable smile.

"Geez Teeks, way to screw up," muttered a voice from the doorway. Kari almost spit out the water she had just begun to drink, but managed to hastily gulp it down before having a coughing fit. Matt? Matt was here?

"KARI!" shouted Tai, jumping up from the chair and towards her. The others all gasped and ran closer too, but Kari just wouldn't stop coughing now that it had begun. She felt her lungs aching and screaming for air, but she just…couldn't…stop…air…she needed air…now…

"YOU IDIOTS!" snapped a voice, and Kari managed to realize through her oxygen-lacking vision that Matt was now beside her, having pushed Tai out of the way. He grabbed the glass of water and poured it down her throat, where she proceeded to half swallow it and half choke it back up. She felt like a baby, feeling water spill from her mouth, but some of it trickled down her throat, soothing the burning. It gave her a millisecond to breathe, and then she managed to get a longer breath, cough, longer breath, cough…

Finally she slumped down again, breathing raggedly. "Kari?" asked a voice hesitantly from the side of her bed. She opened an eye bleakly to see Matt watching her with concerned eyes. Normally she would have started blushing, but all she felt now was pain.

"I…'m…okay…" she mumbled, smiling weakly and taking another deep breath. Matt let out a small puff of air and glanced back at TK, Sora, and Tai.

"Shouldn't you guys know this stuff?" he asked. "Especially you, Tai."

"Hey!" Tai cried out. "I was nervous, all right?" But all TK did was give Kari a troubled expression, fidgeting nervously on the spot.

Kari grinned warmly at all of them. "It's okay," she said softly. "It hasn't happened for awhile…"

"Ssh," Matt commanded instantly, placing a finger to his lips. Kari obeyed instantly (of course), and Matt ushered all of the others out. TK gave Kari one last nervous glance, but then Matt shoved him out of the door. He turned around to close the door, and Kari was thankful.

"Hey, Matt?" she whispered quietly and suddenly, so quietly that she was afraid he hadn't heard. But he perked up his ears instantly.

"Yea?" he asked, watching her with the intense eyes that always forced Kari to look away. She did, down to her clenched fists that lay on her stomach.

"The…fever has nothing…to do with the…dancing." She blinked at him, and Matt allowed his face to change to one that was genuinely shocked.

"H—How did you…?"

"Because you're th—the most…worried…" She gave him a wobbly grin that indicated she was starting to feel drowsy again. "I knew there had to be a…r…rea…son…"

Matt smiled his smirk at her. "What, a guy can't worry about you without some sort of hidden reason?"

Kari thought back to her dream and shook her head slightly, completely serious. "No."

Matt watched her, looking slightly troubled as her eyes fluttered shut and she fell into a fitful sleep. A few moments after he was sure she was asleep, he closed the door softly, still thinking over the last few words of their conversation.


"Hey…Tai?"

Matt and Tai were sitting out in Tai's living room; Tai was chowing down on ramen, and Matt was sitting on the couch opposite of him, staring down at his hands that lay face up on his lap. Tai slurped back some noodles and glanced up at his friend.

"Yea?" he asked through a mouthful of food. The others had come and gone (except for TK, who was now sitting outside of Kari's room like an attentive watch dog), and Matt was staying because he had to stay as long as TK did. He didn't know why, but he felt like he had to. Brotherly instinct or something like that.

"Has this happened before?"

Tai looked over at Matt, whose brow was furrowed unnaturally for him. Not concentrating, which was about the only other time it was like that. He cocked his head quizzically, and Matt winced at his expression, immediately smoothing over his face. That seemed to set Tai at ease, because he sat back in the couch and observed for a few seconds before replying.

"Well, a long time ago. When she was little, you know? The Digiworld days. Then it just…stopped." His face was now worried, his eyes and nose scrunched up like they usually were when he began to over think things. "Mom and Dad are gonna freak out if she's not better."

Matt glanced at him. "Why?"

"Because…" Tai sighed heavily, shaking his mop of shaggy hair. "Nevermind. They're just really paranoid."

Matt watched Tai for a few more moments, as if it would cause him to spill more information, but he refused to. I guess he's only quiet when it comes to his family, he mused, clenching and unclenching his fists out of habit as he thought.

"Does it take her long to get better?" he asked.

"I dunno…This seems a bit different then normal." Tai bit his bottom lip and the two lapsed into thoughtful silence. "I guess I should go check on her…"

"I bet TK has it covered," Matt assured, frowning as he realized his statement was probably true.

Tai managed to chuckle. "I'm sure he does. But still. Gotta make sure I know what I'm talking about when the parents get home." Tai hopped up and scurried out towards the hall and Kari's room; Matt listened attentively as his brother and Tai exchanged mumbled words. TK came ambling down the hall as a door in the distance clicked open and then closed again.

"Hey," Matt greeted in his usual lazy way, making sure to slouch back as TK came in. He didn't want to act as if he cared. For some reason.

"Hi," TK replied, taking a seat beside Matt. For a few seconds he sat straight up, but suddenly he let out a breath of air and sagged into the couch. Matt quirked an eyebrow, feeling his stomach bubble with worry.

"What's up?"

"She's not doing any better," TK mumbled quietly, twiddling his thumbs almost nervously. "Kari won't wake up or answer or eat or drink or anything. She just lays there, tossing and mumbling and…and I think she's having nightmares or something." TK shrugged. "It seems to be more…"

"A mental thing then a physical thing," Matt finished in a murmured tone, nodding. "That's what I thought too."

TK looked quickly over at his brother, eyes wide with hope. "Do you know how to fix it?" he asked eagerly: a little too eagerly in Matt's opinion. He hesitated, and then shrugged.

"No idea," he answered, seeing TK's shoulders deflate at his words. "Sorry bro."

TK sighed again. "It's okay," he answered sadly. "I guess we'll just have to wait."

"Hey, Tai has it the worst of us," Matt told him almost sternly. "Kari's his sister."

"…Yea," responded TK absently, picking at a scratch on his palm. "But that doesn't mean I can't worry as much."

I think it does, Matt thought suddenly, but then shook his head. Where did that come from? "I suppose," he answered instead, and that's when Tai came slinking back down the hall and landed on the opposite couch with a soft thud.

"Bad?" TK asked anxiously, the worry lines on his face obvious. Matt decided to keep his expression neutral.

"Not bad," he muttered, his voice muffled, face still planted in the sofa cushions, "But not exactly better." He scratched his head and sat up slowly, yawning. "Now it seems to be starting to turn into the old stuff."

"Old stuff?" Matt asked.

"Yea, you know. The nightmares, the mutters, the…crying and stuff." He shrugged, but Matt could see his best friend was nearly stretched to his limit. It looked like he was going to burst soon.

"I'll take over from here," Matt assured suddenly, standing up without really realizing what he was doing. TK and Tai both stared at him. He felt his brow furrow.

"What? I don't want you two dying from exhaustion or anything on me. I'll be fine." He glanced down at TK who was watching him fretfully.

"If anything happens…"

"I'll tell you," Matt responded automatically, ruffling TK's hair absent-mindedly and in a rare gesture of brotherly-ness. "It'll be fine, don't worry." As he walked down the hall he heard Tai mutter something to TK, but he didn't wait long enough to hear.

"Teeks, you should head home soon," he called down the hall suddenly. "It's late."

"But—"

"I have an excuse. Mom'll explode if you don't go home."

TK mumbled something incoherent and from the lack of noise Matt knew TK wasn't moving. He sighed heavily. Well, he had tried; his parents, although separated, would still join forces to teach him a lesson about being a good brother. Rolling his eyes to the sky, Matt took a seat similar to TK's outside of Kari's room, shuffling down onto the small blanket TK had stolen from Tai's room to rest on the floor. He rested his head against the wall, resisting the temptation to peek into her room. He didn't want to wake her up.

Matt thought of a lot of things while sitting there. He thought of all his friends and how strange and sort of magical it was that even after all of this time, they bonded together to help one of them; after all this time, Matt still didn't know anything about Kari, the girl he was supposedly watching over this very moment; a new song he could fiddle with on his guitar for the band; wondering what his dad would say when he came home late; what Tai's and Kari's parents would say when they got home…

As if to answer his question, he heard the click of a key in the apartment door down the hall.

Before he bolted out of the apartment, leaving the excuse making to Tai (he was such a good friend), he twisted the knob abruptly in Kari's room to take a look in. Just to make sure she wasn't dying or anything.

But she was fine, although he could hear her ragged breathing from where he stood. She lay on her bed with the sun setting through the window and shining like some kind of holy light on her.

Light…

Realizing he was staring (at Tai's sister, no less!), he shut the door quickly, without bothering to be quiet.

She would be okay. She had to be.