Binding Hope

Chapter 4

by dragonflysky

Well, I finally updated. Want to hear the excuse I have? ... ... I don't either. Anyway. I don't own Digimon and I do own any other character. Well, you know what to do, R&R. Enjoy

-- --- ---- ----- ------

It was first day of classes. Kari sat patiently in class. Few other students sat around and class didn't start for another 30 minutes. Her mind moved subconsciously to Kero. The constant crashes and falls continued to echo from his room. Every time she went over, he wasn't there.

People started filing, but she barely noticed. She also didn't notice that someone was moving to sit next to her.

"Hi, I'm Takeru Yagaishi, you must be Kari," said the boy happily looking at her. Light brown hair fell over bright blue eyes. He wore baggy blue jeans and a simple green t-shirt. For the second time that year, her mind was blank on what to say. Her mind ran over on thing. 'TK, which one are you?"

The boy stared at her carefully. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked. Kari shook her head.

"She doesn't talk much," said a voice behind her. The boy's smile faltered slightly, but Kari didn't bother to see who it was.

"Well, I thought I'd introduce myself since we'll be sitting next to each other," Takeru continued.

"Well then, I'm Kero Ritsun," said the voice behind her. She turned her head. Kero was sitting at the desk behind her.

"I'm Takeru Yagaishi," said Takeru, the smile from his enthusiasm greatly decreased. He took his seat next to her.

All three fell silent. Most of the class had filed in by now and were chatting away with friends in different groups.

"Take your seats please, and take out your text books," began the professor. The only noise before the teacher began was the shuffling of papers.

-- --- ---- ------ ------

Salamon walked along the halls of the dorm rooms. Her curiosity was overriding her judgment. Humans were slobs, that's for sure. Of course, a party had happened lately. Drafts of different kinds of alcohol faintly littered the air. Disgusted, she moved to another hall.

She continued on like this for a while before heading back to Kari's room.

"Patamon," she sighed wistfully as she saw her reflection in the mirror. The gold collar she was supposed to be wearing was gone. Her strength greatly diminished, she was just above useless in battle. Suddenly, loud screams echoed through campus. Salamon ran as fast as she could to the window.

"Kari," she whispered before she bolted out the door. Useless or not, she wouldn't just sit there.

-- --- ---- ----- ------

The portal was there, one she thought she would never see again. She stared around at her surrounding classmates, but none seemed to see it. Panic rose in her chest. Maybe she was seeing things, maybe she was hallucinating, maybe she was crazy, but that didn't comfort her in the least. Sounds of the ocean filled her ears as her awareness started to slip.

Takeru glanced worriedly in her direction. She started to sway. He didn't dare touch her though.

What if it didn't work?

Kari felt herself fading, if that was even possible. She shivered slightly. If anything, she was willing to admit to it, to join TK. But it was fuzzy, like a badly tuned radio. Something wasn't letting her go, no matter if she was willing or not. Her head jerked up quickly as she became aware of a hand on her shoulder.

"Kari," a voice whispered behind her. She stared ahead of her for a moment, but slowly turned her head.

"Kari, are you ok?" asked Kero. His hand was resting on her shoulder. She nodded carefully, not meeting his eyes.

"No" a raspy unfamiliar voice echoed in her head. "You must come!"

She forcefully tried to shake out the voices, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. A loud scream echoed through the class. The source was a short blonde woman in the front. Others soon joined as a panic overtook the class. Kari opened her eyes quickly.

"Kari," croaked a dark creature from the front. It started crawling toward her as it shoved aside various people heading for the door. Two more came crawling through the portal. The panic had risen as the door swung shut and locked tightly.

"Come with us," they called out together, attempting to grab her. Frozen with fear, she didn't move on her own accord. She was vaguely aware of a hand roughly grabbing her arm and pulling her away.

MOVE!

The word repeated itself over a few times before she realized someone was yelling it to her over the noise. She turned her head to see Kero dragging her over to the window. Her legs started working again as she moved along with him. She examined the room.

The blonde woman who had screamed was backed against the far wall along with many others. She recalled each student quickly in her head. Doing a quick count, one was gone. But her realization was postponed due to the sharp pain that shot up her arm. Everything was fading again.

"Puppy Howling!," cried a voice as the pain stopped. Salamon stood in an attack position. Kari's digivice glowed briefly as Gatomon took Salamon's place.

"Leave her alone," hissed Gatomon menacingly. Kari was aware she was now on the opposing wall, but she no longer cared. Her eyes were trained on Gatomon. She gained control over her limbs again as the Scubamon closed in.

"Lightning Paw" screamed Gatomon her attack hit dead on the closest Scubamon. The class had become silent. The only noise was the heavy breathing of various people. The other two Scubamon turned from Kari and headed toward Gatomon. Two to one were definitely not good odds. The third one moved carefully toward Kari.

Gatomon launched herself around the two closing in, but a strong duo blast crippled her. They closed in to deliver the final blow. Her body fuzzed as she reverted back to rookie.

"Salamon!" cried Kari. Tears began running down her cheeks as she struggled to get to her partner.

A cry echoed across the room as a strong force from the window pushed the Scubamon back toward the portal. Kari, who was in front of the window, was launched toward the opposing wall. She braced herself, waiting for the impact, but it wasn't as hard as she expected.

A soft grunt of pain issued from whatever was behind her. But she didn't have time to see who it was, as a Scubamon grabbed at her leg, digging it's claws into it. Immediate pain shot through her body as she gave a cry. Someone gave it a sharp kick and it released her. The same force came and knocked all the Scubamon back into the portal. A bright golden light encased the portal as it began to close.

Her vision began to grow dark as her adrenaline began to dissipate.

"Kari!" she heard a panicked voice say. She was vaguely aware of being picked up and Salamon being set on her chest.

"Please stay awake," the voice continued, but she didn't hear all of it as she faded to darkness.

-- --- ---- ----- ------

Salamon looked at Kari as she fell unconscious. But Kero kept a tight hold on her. Barely wincing as he walked to the nurse. They both knew she didn't have anything that would wake her up, but at least she could be watched.

"What happened?" screeched the nurse as she hustled Kari into a bed. Kero, finally relieved of Kari, fell to the ground in exhaustion. After a minute, he dragged himself to a bed, before drifting into a blissful sleep.

So there Salamon was. She watched as Kero got up and was excused. Kari would convulse every so often, but didn't wake. Other students from the class were brought in, seen and left. Salamon watched silently under Kari's bed, barely trusting herself to breathe. Eventually, night fell and the nurse turned in for the night. Salamon curled up on the floor and drifted off to sleep.

-- --- ---- ----- ------

The soft click of the door woke Salamon. Her eyes scanned the room before noticing a pair of legs moving toward the bed. A black cloak rustled behind the figure.

"Kari," she heard a male voice whisper as the figure stopped at the side of her bed. Salamon peered out the side of the bed. A tall man stood with a black hooded cloak billowing around him. He placed his hands over Kari before muttering some words Salamon couldn't make out. Her eyes widened as a soft golden glow covered Kari. It only lasted half a minute before fading. She glanced him over quickly, trying to find something to identify him with. Finally her eyes settled on a green and white device clipped to his waist. She knew who it was, but didn't want to believe it. She didn't know what to feel, but that didn't matter. Anger quickly overtook her.

"How could you?" growled Salamon, jumping up on the bed. His eyes shifted to her. Not that she could see his eyes, as the hood blocked his face. But it was him. He didn't answer.

"How could you do that to her?" she repeated slowly, but just as angry.

"It's for the best," he stated quietly. Salamon's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You don't believe that, you don't want that, I know," she said venomously. He sighed and shifted uncomfortably.

"Your..." he hesitated, "your right." But he sighed. "But that doesn't make me wrong."

"Let me see him," she stated simply. He turned his head. "No." Salamon moved even closer to him as tears leaked out of her eyes.

"I love him," she stated simply. He lowered his hood, but it was so dark, she could just barely see the little light across the room reflecting in his eyes. He turned his head the opposite way.

"I love him," she said a little more forcefully. He brought his hand to his opposing shoulder.

"He wears it you know," he said in a monotone voice as he stared out the window, "your ring."

"Let me see him," she pleaded desperately, as the tears increased. He shook his head. "I can't."

Nothing was said for a moment.

"She loves you," said Salamon, barely above a whisper. He turned his head down at her, "I know."

Salamon was never so frustrated. Didn't he care? Didn't he see what he was doing to people?

"Do you even know what your doing to Matt?" said Salamon, dangerously quiet. Her stayed quiet for a moment, "Yes." He moved toward the window and opened it.

"Don't you care?" she said, turning her head in disgust, "Don't you even feel?" He looked back at her, unsure as if to trust his mouth.

"Of course I care," he said quietly, "but I have a job to do, and they would only get hurt." It was obvious he was trying to mask his emotions. His voice was failing miserably. It was so desperate, that it tore at Salamon's heart. He turned once again toward the window and sat on the ledge. His legs dangled outside. She watched him carefully.

"You can't tell anyone," he said simply. She shook her head. "Why should I listen to you, your not even supposed to be alive?"

"I don't want to have to erase your memory," he said softly, staring out at the stars. Salamon sighed. Even if she did tell someone, no one would believe her.

"Is it really worth it?" she asked him. He put up his hood, "Yes."

He jumped out the window in one swift movement. Salamon ran to the window, but he was already gone.

"I hope you know what your doing TK," she said lightly to empty air out the window.

"Salamon?" came a questioning voice behind her. Salamon turned around. Kari was sitting up in her bed giving her a questioning stare. Kari seemed to hesitate, "Anything wrong?" Salamon looked at her for a moment debating. Kari would believe her, she would believe everything, but...

"No," Salamon responded. "Goodnight."

-- --- ---- ----- ------

Well, that was chapter 4. R&R. I hope that the next chapter won't take as long. Again, sorry it did take so long and I hope you liked it.