"There is no Hope without light and Light can't shine without Hope" - Azulongmon
"The Light inside of our hearts is called Hope." - Takeru

Age 20

Takeru Takaishi was moving out, never an easy experience but a neccessary one. He supposed.

He was going to miss his family home, there were so many fond memories and good times which he associated with it, things that he knew he would find extremely hard to leave behind.

It's all part of growing up, He told himself sternly, and you're twenty years old now, not a child.

He was just in the process of packing his things, which involved going through them first. Never an easy task, he sighed, he had gone through so much junk this morning-

But wait? What the...? Could it be?

He had found a box, tucked away under his bed in the far corner. Dusty and old and almost left behind. A box which he had never expected to see again, which contained things which he had almost forgotten about. Almost.

No, that was a lie, who was he kidding? He had never forgotten and he never could.

He knelt down and picked it up gently, disturbing the years of dust around it and making him cough violently but TK didn't care. He hurried into the moving van with his suitcases and clutched the box to him, holding it on his knee. He could hardly contain his excitement, he was just desperate to open it. But he would have to wait, this was something that was private and would have to be opened in the secrecy of his new house... Home even.

Half an hour later he reached his new house, in Obadaia (A/N - sp?), Japan. The house was actually a bungalow, but it was perfect for TK, a single guy living the bachelor lifestyle. Just perfect.

It was modern and quite dull, with whitewash walls and no decoration, to be honest it just seemed bare, but he didn't mind. It meant there was more space for him to put his own mark on it. Make it uniquely his. Add some colour to those painfully bare walls, a bit of green or yellow maybe? Yes, perfect.

And I can paint the guest bedroom pink...

He pondered this for a while, taking time to plan the perfect colours for this new house, needing to give it a proper personality. But then, as soon as the moving men had left him he headed straight for the box which he had placed straight on the table, and picked it up. He was embarrassed to notice the slight shake of his hands. But who could blame him? Really? This box was his childhood packed away for him, it was remnants of the digital world, of Patamon and of the other digidestined. His cheeks felt warm and his palms grew slightly sweaty as he thought of Kari.

He reached for the lid and cautiously prised it open, peeking inside.

The box was not very big, it was a shoe box, and yet in it was the best parts of TK's past and his childhood. There was his digivice, his crest and a small picture album which was covered in graffitti from the young digidestined, one bit of writing stood out in particular to him. 'TK never loose hope; you are the angel of mine.' It was written in handwriting that was still so familiar to him, the elegant yet bold and eye-catching penmanship of his best friend and one true love, Kari.

The album itself had been a Birthday present from her, and it was with regret and slight pain that he opened it up and browsed throught the precious photo's of the digidestined as they were all those years ago.

There were lots of pictures; Kari had always carried a camera with her and never missed a photo oportunity, of which there had been plenty in their adventures in the digital world. The first half of the album was taken up by these pictures, the gang how they had been in their actual adventure; an eight year old TK and Kari, the rest between 10 and 12.

Looking back now he saw that the older children, Tai, Sora, Joe, Izzy, Mimi and most of all Matt - children who he had looked up to as being old and reliable, were actually nothing more than younsters themselves. Although you'd never have thought it to see them save the world.

This was the first time he had seen it this way, his guardians, the fellow digidestined - they were just scared kids too. He had always seen the independant, protective sides to them, never seen them as children in their own right, but as near-enough adults, substitute parents. How strange to look back now, to stare at those same faces and see them completely differently. Scared, brave little kids. Just like he was, only even more so as they had the added burden of him.

He had always appreciated his brother Matt, and Tai and the rest, but now he valued them even more. They were amazing to have been able to do what they did.

He flicked on the pages, skimming those memories quickly, not being able to face seeing himself with Patamon, who he still missed so much. And so he got onto the rest of the pictures, the ones taken in this world. There were some pictures from each of the digidestined anniversaries, group photos and couple's photos. Him and Kari were on most of them, together. He sighed, We made such a great couple...

Then there were pictures of just him and Kari, from when he got her back after that night at Tai's flat. After their first kiss.

He paused on a picture, his favorite one. It was a picture of him and Kari together, holding hands and gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. Izzy had taken it, and Matt and Tai were in the background, grinning proudly.

He chuckled. They all always thought me and Kari would become a couple, then he frowned slightly, but they didn't expect what happened next, no-one did.

Because a year after their first kiss Kari had left him, and had not come back. And 15 year old Takeru Takaishi had cried his eyes out, and never quite got over it.

Oh Kari, I wonder where you are and what you're doing right now?

Kari glanced miserably at the clock on the wall, she just wanted this day to be over. It was not that she had anything particular to look forward to today or anything, but she just couldn't deal with Jeoff right now. Or the demanding customers, or the other waitresses, or the food, the greasy, smelly, horrid food. She felt clausterophobic working in this same resteraunt day after day, and she was desperate to escape. Just to get out, away from her boss and this whole atmosphere. It was chocking her.

20 minutes until the end of her shift

Jeoff, her boss came over to her and smiled, standing behind her, too close for comfort. Kari's palms began to sweat, praying that he would leave her alone.

Just let him walk by.

No such luck.

He pressed his body closer to hers, she was about to turn around to tell him to back away - politely of course, she needed this job and the money - when he forcefully grabbed her hips and pulled her onto him. There were no customers as the 1.00pm rush was over, and so he had free reign to do as he pleased. She had noticed this quite early, that he was lord in this little food joint. His will was unquestioned and he got away with things because people just turned a blind eye, like they were doing now.

Kari had worked here for four days now, and each day Jeoff had gotten progressively... friendlier.

He had started off by smelling her hair and making suggestive comments, she had found that she could easily ignore this if it meant she could keep hold of a steady job, then he had begun placing his hand on her knee and running it up her leg, which had startled her but she had shakily told herself that that was as far as he could possibly dare go in a public place, and unnerved as she was she had decided that her need for a stable job was so great that she would just have to put up with it until she could find somewhere better.

But now this.

She could feel him stiffening and it sickened her. She tried to struggle away but her squirming only excited him more, and besides, it was pointless. He was just far too strong. She was pressed between a wall and him, she was stuck.

His hands left her hips and moved slowly upwards, reaching under her shirt and grabbing hold of her breasts, making her arch back into him in pain. He groaned with pleasure and began slowly rocking his hips back and forward into her, little moans escaping his mouth as he became more intense.

"No please..." she whispered, hoping that if he knew she didn't want this he might come to his senses and stop.

But this made him more intense, "Oh yes!" he rasped into her ear, "Oh yes, tell me you want this. 'Cause I want you." Then he started panting, "yes, yes, yes," quietly and his hands fumbled around clumsily, hurting her.

If it hadn't been such a horrible situation she might have laughed, Jeoff did sound so stupid with his 'yes's'. But this was awful and she was more concerned with trying to avoid... complications than trying to see the funny side.

His rockings were more like thrusts now, and that was hurting too. He was hard and his thrusts were as if he was trying to penetrate her through their clothes. Then he got more and more desperate, she struggled helplessly and he grabbed her and swung her onto the nearest horizontal surface, a greasy table top. He swept away the cartons of food from the last customers onto the floor and climbed ontop of her.

Oh no, what do I do now? Surely he wouldn't?

She began to panic but he mistook her shaking for shivers of pleasure, and her panicked breathing for sexual panting - wanting more. She wanted to scream at him to stop, but he had already stuck his tongue in her mouth.

He started to unbutton her top and she flailed about madly, trying to scream, to hit, to kick, anything to get him to stop. But he pinned her arms down above her head with his hands and she was helpless. So she became numb and he carried on. He was so wrapped up in his own pleasure that he did not notice the tears running down her cheeks, or the shaking of her hands.

And even if he had done, he would not have cared. Like it of not, she was his.

10 minutes until the end of her shift

A customer chose this moment to walk into the resteraunt, and gasped when she saw a young lady and a thirty something year old man at it on one of the customer tables. He was just in the process of trying to unbutton her shirt while silmultaneously pin the girl down and slide out of his own trousers when she had come in, and she froze to the spot at the unexpected sight.

Jeoff practically jumped off the unfortunate Kari, and she shot up, off the table, shaking. The woman looked even more shocked to see her tear stained face and realise what had happened.

She started to have a go at Jeoff, while Kari stood there motionless, numb from the shock.

Jeoff, however, now that he had recovered from the embarassment of being discovered with an employee in his resteraunt, got annoyed at the lady's lecture and kicked her out. He then turned to Kari with a smile plastered over his face, and was shocked to see her pulling her shirt back on and buttoning it up.

"What are you doing that for?" He demanded pointing at her shirt

"I'm doing it because I'm leaving." She said angrily

He scowled and pointed at the clock, "But you're not done yet, now get back here." He slid his trousers down to his ankle and reached out to grab her but she dodged his grasp.

"No," she glared at him in digust, "when I said I'm leaving I mean I'm leaving. I quit!"

His eyes goggled and he looked at her gormlessly for a second, not quite understanding.

5 minutes until the end of her shift

Kari walked out of the door, glad to be rid of that job. But worried about where she would get another one.

TK decided that it wasn't healthy to stay in all day thinking about the past. He was an adult now, his childhood had been wonderful and he had learnt so much from it, but he had moved on a long time ago. The digimon and the digidestined were all safely stored in the past and there was no use in bringing them all up now.

Yet he couldn't help wondering what the other digidestined were up to now, he hadn't seen any of them for at least four years. Even Matt.

They had had to cancel the digidestined anniversaries due to everyone's hectic lifestyles. Other commitments had swamped the successful youngsters and had ruled out the possiblity of annual meetings. But each of them always treasured that day in August when they had defeated Apocolamon and would keep it as a sacred day, even if no meeting ever did take place anymore.

But apart from that they had all moved on with their lives, Matt with his band The Teenage Wolves, Tai with his scolarship to a soccer college, Sora with her tennis - she now played for Japan - Izzy, who was a millionaire last TK had heard, with his own computer industry, Joe with his medical degree and private 'Kido surgery' - the best treatment in the whole of Asia - Mimi with her fashion brand and her new TV show 'Japan's Next Top Model' and Kari...? Well, he didn't know about Kari.

Was she married?
Did she have kids?
Divorced?
Wealthy?
Healthy?

Happy?

He sighed, perhaps he would never know, but he would never stop caring.

"I Takeru Takaishi, do promise to be best friends with Hikari Kimiya for the rest of my life-"
"I will always be there for her when she needs me, and I will always take care of her even when she doesn't need me-"
"I will put her needs above my own and I will never forget her, even if I don't see her very much. I will always care about her more than anyone else, because she will always be my best friend."

Kari got home at last, Mariah, the young babysitter greeted her followed by Kari's four year old son, Nozomiko (A/N - 'child of hope', can you guess where this is going...?), or Miko for short. (Like the cat lol, but I think the cat was spelt 'Meeko', so maybe not exactly like... but still.)

"Mama, I drew this for you," the small child said proudly, holding up a sheet of paper with colourful scribbles on it, "it's you."

Kari faught back the urge to laugh, the drawing looked nothing like a human, letalone her, but she was touched. Her son was such a sweetheart, she loved him to bits. She took the drawing proudly off him and said thankyou and goodbye to Mariah as she left. Then she scooped her son into her arms and gave him a great big hug, causing him to shriek in delight.

He looked alot like his father, she noted tenderly as she watched him laugh. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, a ready smile and a love of everything and everyone. His favorite colours were pink, yellow and brown, and he could often be seen wearing an old beanie hat, which made Kari think vividly of TK.

In fact, when she wasn't careful everything about her beautiful son reminded her about TK. And her.

Because he was TK and he was her. He was their own son, a mixture of hope and light.

Kari had always known they were a good team, that they went well together and Miko just proved it, she thought sadly. Her regret was that she fled from TK and everyone as soon as she found out that she was pregnant, and without any explanation either.

But she hadn't meant to hurt anyone, she had done that only to protect.

Lord knows she was scared enough finding out she was carrying a baby, but she hadn't wanted that to be TK's burden too, and she knew that it didn't have to be. She could free him of his commitment and leave him to live his life to the full, all she had to do was leave him.

But that was the hardest thing she had ever had to do.

Added onto that the fact that she didn't think she could tell him why, she was sure that if he had known he would have been obliged to stay with her. And the last thing she wanted to do was let TK ruin his chance of a decent life, for her. And her unborn child. The least she could do for her best friend was shield him from this and let him at least live a life that he deserved.

And so she had said goodbye and left, leaving a massive chunk of her heart behind her, with him.

Because she loved him, she always had.

And when you love someone you're willing to do things to hurt yourself and them in order to save them. And even harder, you're willing to let them go if it means they can be happy. Even if it is that they'll be happy without you.

She kissed Miko on his forehead and smiled.

I love you TK, please never forget that. I've always loved you and I always will.

"I Hikari Kimiya, do promise to be best friends with Takeru Takaishi for the rest of my life."
"I will always be there for him when he needs me, and I will always take care of him even when he doesn't need me."
"I will put his needs above my own and I will never forget him, even if I don't see him very much. I will always care about him more than anyone else, because he will always be my best friend."

And one day, she decided, she would find TK and explain to him why she had done what she had done. She just hoped that he could forgive her and understand that it was done out of love, nothing else, and even though she regretted it with her whole heart, she would do it again and again if she had to. To protect TK.

Her best friend.