AN: Yes

AN: Yes! Chapter Two is up! Lots of people reviewed Chapter One less than twenty-four hours after it was posted! Yea! Why am I so happy? It took about a week and blackmail to get any reviews for my first three stories when I put them up.

Disclaimer: I own only the "ancient spirits" and the police officers. Nothing else. Uh… actually, Officer Hida isn't mine. He's Cody's/Iori's father, so he belongs under the heading of "Digimon characters." Sadly, I don't own him. I'm just playing with the lives of the Digimon characters. I don't own them.

Chapter Two

"Where is the Child of Light!" Myotismon roared. "WHERE!"

"The child was witness to the fight between Greymon and Parrotmon," Gatomon ground out, hating and cursing herself as she did so.

"Do you know which one?" the vampire digimon thundered. "There were quite a few who witnessed it!"

"The Light Heir is a very young female, and has a strong aura," the cat digimon replied, keeping her head down as she knelt in front of the throne. "The aura is white, threaded with rose, as were the ones of all her predecessors."

"WE KNOW THAT!" the undead Digimon king shouted, destroying yet another piece of pottery there for just that purpose. "WHAT ELSE IS THERE!"

Knowing that he would know—and beat her as punishment—if she lied, Gatomon told him, cursing her traitor mouth. "She lives on Earth, what the humans call the 'Real World.' To narrow it down, she lives in Japan, a large group of islands, in Heighten View Terrace."

"Good work, Gatomon," he complimented, his rage calming. "I will go rescue her from that world of misfits and imperfects."

Gatomon sneered silently at him, mocking his words. It had become the only form of enjoyment she could get in his service, except for the friendship of Wizardmon. Even that was slowly being denied her, as he kept vanishing to do various things.

She sighed as she left. Wizardmon was only in this because of her. She had saved his life, and thus, he was bound to her until he saved her life or died in the attempt. He would do anything she asked of him, follow her anywhere.

"Where are you, my Chosen?" she whispered to herself, gazing at the stars far above. For she knew that there was still someone waiting for her out there, someone she didn't know but should, who would sink into deep depression if anything were to happen to her. That person was someone whom Gatomon would give her life to protect, though she hoped she would never need to go to that extent.

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"Tai," a small voice whispered.

"What's wrong?" Yagami Taichi asked, his unruly brown hair sticking up everywhere. You're actually talking to me? he thought in surprise. He was still used to the girl from before who had rarely talked, more comfortable to use the whistle.

"A bad thing's coming," Kari said, fear evident in her eyes and voice.

"What's the bad thing?" her brother wanted to know as he crawled under the covers next to her sister. For some reason, this made them both feel better.

"I don't know, Tai," she admitted. "But it's bad and wants to hurt all of us."

"Who's 'us'?" Tai wondered.

"The Chosen Children, the digidestined, name them what you will," the ancient presence inside his baby sister intoned. "But forever and always will they be the Warriors who protect the Worlds. Your enemy is trying to keep you from coming into your strengths, for if you fall to him, so will the Worlds."

"Okay, you're scaring me," Tai said flatly, climbing back up the ladder and back under his own covers. "I'm going back to sleep." Soon his conscience got the better of him as he heard his little sister crying.

Leaning over the side of the bed he heard, "Gatomon, come help me. Gatomon, I'm scared." This mantra was repeated over and over until Kari fell asleep from sheer exhaustion. Tai's guilt had kept him secured firmly in place and many hours later he was finally able to win the battle against his conscience long enough to fall asleep.

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"Tai, I need you to watch your sister for me," Yagami Lily ordered her son as Kari headed off for the park playground.

"Sure, Mom," he responded, inwardly scoffing, I'm going to do it anyway. Why are you even asking?

Then he spotted a group of kids with a soccer ball and began to play with them, keeping an eye on his baby sister.

Suddenly, his 'sister' sense went off, sending alarm bells through his head. Leaving the other kids with the soccer ball behind, he scanned the park for the pink clothes his sister had chosen to wear. Pink had recently become her color. There were many girls dressed in pink, but none looked anything like Kari.

Terror gripping him, he ran over to where his mother sat beneath some shaded trees with a few friends.

"Mommy," he whispered, tugging on her skirt.

"Just a moment," she responded, brushing him off.

"Mommy," he insisted. "It's important."

"What is it, Taichi?" she asked, exasperated.

"Kari's gone," he told her. "I can't find her." His brown eyes began to fill with tears.

"NANI!" Quickly jumping up, she grabbed Taichi's hand and began to scan the park for her baby. Kari was not one to run off without telling anyone where she was going.

Fifteen minutes later, she reached the conclusion that her son had come to within seconds.

Yagami Hikari had vanished.

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"I've been concerned about you," a voice said from behind Gatomon. The white cat jumped as the voice continued, "You're worried and scared about someone. Who is it?"

"I thought I asked you not to read my mind," the cat snapped without looking behind her. She'd been having a very bad day. "You know I don't like it, Wizardmon."

"I did not read your mind, my friend," the wizard digimon explained. "I've just been watching your body language. It is amazing how easy it is to read someone just by looking at the way they hold themselves."

Gatomon merely growled.

"I feel we are going to fall," he said after a moment of silence.

"Is that meant literally or figuratively?" Gatomon asked in scathing tones.

"Most likely both," Wizardmon told her seriously. "I do not believe you can keep up this ploy for much longer before it becomes who you are."

"I'm not going to fail!" Gatomon snapped. "I promised Gennai I would do this, and I will."

"Eventually your mask is going to become your true identity," the wizard warned.

"I'll worry about that when that happens," she told him, and stormed off in a considerably worse mood than she'd gotten there with.

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Matt and Takeru had been in the park with their mother when suddenly police cars showed up. Matt wanted to stay and watch them work, but then TK started crying and Nancy towed her two children home in a state of panic, noticing neither Matt's pleading to see the police work nor his little brother's tears. She couldn't help but keep thinking, as many other mother's must have been: Not my babies, thank you God, not my babies.

Once they were home and Nancy calling her husband at work, frantic about what had happened, Matt extracted from TK the reason of the tears.

"The Light's gone," he'd explained through the twin rivers of salt water carving paths down his cheeks. "The voice inside me got really sad. It said it could feel the Light leave. If the Light's gone, then how are we going to win when we fight?" TK asked, appearing to know more than his brother but still expecting Matt to have all the answers. "I want to go find her, Matt. I think I could. She'll be really scared. Please let me go find her, Yama."

"TK, let's get one thing straight right now," Matt told his brother, staring him in the eyes. "I'm not going to let you go and try to find someone you don't even know all by yourself. If she's really gone, the police will find her. Or her parents. We have to stay here. We can't go looking for someone named, 'Light.' "

TK started to cry again, mumbling about how Light needed him as he collapsed into Matt's hug.

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Myotismon was currently celebrating his good fortune as to have the Child of Light, the Destined Queen of the Digital World in his grasp. He could not kill her, no matter how much he may have wanted to, for that would have only meant the Light would pass to another, and that could not be tolerated. However, if could convince her to join his side…

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"Did you find her yet?" This was the first thing that Officer Hida heard when he entered the Yagami apartment at four-thirty the next morning. The little boy, whose name he had learned was Taichi, was standing in his bedroom doorway, eyes red from crying, looking like he hadn't slept at a wink. His parents weren't in much better shape, but from the way Taichi was staying as far away as he could and still hear the news, they had been fighting recently.

"No, I'm afraid not," Officer Hida sighed, speaking directly to the brunette boy. "Believe me, we're doing everything we can. If it's possible, we'll find her soon. Even if we don't, never ever give up. Do you understand me, Taichi? If you give up, that means it'll be even harder to get your little sister back. That's why you can't ever give up on her, even if it takes years. Understand?" Tai nodded. He understood that if he believed that Kari would come home, then she would. If he ever thought, even for a moment, that she wasn't, then he'd lost her forever.

"I understand," he whispered softly. "But you'll keep looking, right?"

"Hai." Then he spoke a few soft words of encouragement to Mr. and Mrs. Yagami, informing of the true chances of finding their daughter after she had been missing for so long. The two burst into tears as Officer Hida left, locking the door behind himself.

AN: Okay, I know these chapters are short, but I don't feel like I can just jump forward four or so years in the middle of a chapter.