"I think I hear someone!"

"Is it…"

"Come on!"

Takato could hear the others on their way in. He'd sat in the dirt, just cradling the D-Arc for a while. He wasn't sure entirely how long. This face was a mess of tears, snot, and mud, and every once in awhile he'd grip his hair like he could pull his sadness right out of him. It hadn't worked so far.

"Takato?"

That was Ruki's voice. He still couldn't see her, he hadn't looked away from the D-Arc since he found it, but he was pretty sure.

"Takato," She said again, more forcefully this time. "Get up."

"C'mon Ruki, let him cry. Jen's… missing," Hirokazu said.

There was a hand on his shoulder now. Takato wasn't sure, but it felt like Kenta.

"It's alright Takato," Kenta said. "We'll find Jen-kun. I promise."

Takato didn't move.

"I said get up!" Ruki shouted, pushing past Hirokazu quickly.

"Ruki!" He shouted.

She looked to the visored boy with a glower. "No. I know Jen's missing. But Takato crying isn't go to help anything. We need to think, so we can find him!"

"We know that!" Kenta interjected. "And we will, but—"

"HOW?!" Takato shouted suddenly.

He stood, throwing Kenta aside as he did, and glared at Ruki with a flame in his eye.

"How are we going to find him?" He cried. "How?! He's not just wandering around the city! He's trapped in the Digital World! All alone! How are we going to find him Ruki?! Tell me what to do so I can stop crying and FIND HIM! If you've got all the answers then just tell me what to do! Tell me so Jen'll be safe! Tell me why Jen left! Tell me what I did to make him hate me! Tell me what to do if we can't find him! Huh, Ruki? Can you do that?! Can you?!"

The other ex-tamers had stepped back at his out burst. Takato was never this angry and… when he was… but the brunette never even noticed their reaction. He screamed, pounding against the wall as turned his back to Ruki and the others.

"Can you tell me what to do? Please?" Takato pleaded. His voice had dropped to a whisper, and he slid to the ground as his volume fell. "Tell me how to live with out Jen, how to live without my best friend, without the person I care about most in the world. I already lost Guilmon. I don't think I could survive losing Jen too. Not Jen… I… I love him too much. If I didn't have… if something happened to him. I-I… I wouldn't be able to live with myself. If we can't find him… I don't… I-I can't… I can't…"

"…Takato," Kenta whispered.

He crawled up beside the sobbing boy and gathered him into his arms.

"I swear Takato. We will find Jen no matter where he is," Ruki said. "And if he's in the Digital World, then great, we've already pulled off that rescue mission. A second one won't be any harder."

"Yeah! Last time we saved the whole world! Saving just Jen? This'll be a piece of cake," Hirokazu added.

Takato coughed, the closest he could get to laughing in his state. As difficult as their last mission had been, Ruki was right, they had done it. And they would do it again. Takato looked up at his friends and wiped at his eyes.

"Yeah?" He managed.

Kenta nodded. "Of course."

"How do you know your boyfriend's in the Digital World, anyway?" Hirokazu asked, Ruki and Kenta glaring daggers into him as he did.

They'd both caught Takato's confession, but tensions were high and Takato was a mess. The last thing they needed was Takato freaking out about his feelings as well. Which is why, of course, that's exactly what they got.

"M-my…? H-he's not… I mean, I… uh," Takato stuttered, facing coming alive with color.

"Have you not told Jen, yet?" Hirokazu continued, still completely clueless. "I know he's been distant lately, but he's got to love you too. I mean it's obvious."

"O-obvious?" Takato repeated.

Kenta wanted to smack himself in the face. The goggled ex-tamer's eyes were the size of saucers, his face redder than his eyes. Ruki just wanted to smack Hirokazu.

"I mean, yeah," Hirokazu said. Ruki could feel a vein on her forehead about to burst. "You're always together. I mean, always. And when you see each other, I dunno, there's like… a look. Kind of screams, this is the love of my life, if you ask me. And Kenta! Kenta agrees, don't you Kenta?"

Takato's head whipped around to stare at the spectacled boy beside him. "Y-you…?"

Kenta stood quickly, grabbing Hirokazu's arm and pulling him outside.

"Let's give Takato a minute," He said jovially, then lowered his voice to a growl. "Now shut the hell up."

Takato could vaguely hear Hirokazu ask what he'd done before the two ex-tamers were out of earshot. He bit his lip and looked up at Ruki.

"R-ruki, I… I mean, I'm sorry…"

Ruki rolled her eyes, grabbing him by the sleeve and hoisting him up with one pull. "Don't apologize, idiot. You love Jenrya. Who cares? Well… besides me, I made a bet with Ryou. Heh heh, that's ¥2000 coming my way."

"Ruki!" Kenta cried as he re-entered the room, sans Hirokazu, thankfully.

"What? Apparently you were talking about it!" She said. "You!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kenta asked, clearly annoyed.

Takato had stood, bracing himself against the wall, but he couldn't focus on Kenta's aggravation or Ruki's gay jokes. He was to busy realizing what had just happened. He'd come out. Two minutes ago, he was 'straight,' or… at least he thought he was. Now… but it was true wasn't it? He loved Jen. He was in love with Jen. He could feel his cheeks getting warm at the thought. How did he not realize this before? Or, a better question, how had everyone else!

But when he thought back, it was obvious, wasn't it? Jen was… Jen was everything to him. He was his best friend, sure, but they went everywhere together. In the summer, they'd spent hours… just lying together in the park. No words at all! Every once in awhile, Jen would look over and smile, and everything had seemed perfect in that moment. And… since he'd really focused on art? Almost every drawing was of Jen!

How many guys would have spent hours just staring at their best friend? Memorizing every detail of his face? Trying to replicate the deep blue of his hair (Prussian Blue), the grey of his eyes that was steely and warm at the same time (he could never find a perfect match)? Sometimes, he'd lie in bed at night and stare at the ceiling, thinking of something to do or say that would make Jen smile. He laughed to himself. How had he not known?

"Takato?" Kenta said, jarring him from his thoughts. "Are you alright?"

Takato blinked. "Yeah. I just… I'd never realized it until this moment."

"Realized?" Kenta asked.

"I'm gay," Takato replied. "And I love Jen."

"Yeah we already knew that, thanks," Ruki said flatly.

"Can I come back in now?" Hirokazu called, still standing outside. "Juri's with me!"

Kenta looked to Takato, an eyebrow raised in question. Takato nodded.

"You can come back you idiot, just keep your mouth shut," Ruki yelled back. "Hey Juri."

The brunette girl waved uncertainly at the group. Clearly she'd missed something bigger then just Jen's disappearance.

"So… what happened?" She asked.

Ruki was the first to answer. "Takato's just realized he's in love with Jenrya, and we found out Jen's in the Digital World."

"W-what?" Juri exclaimed.

"I know!" Hirokazu answered. "How did he not know before, right? It was obvious they were in love!"

Kenta sighed. "Hiro-kun…"

"U-um, well, I'm glad Takato finally realized," Juri said quietly. "But I meant, how did Jen-kun get to the Digital World?"

"Finally?" Takato whispered under his breath.

"Good question Juri," Ruki commented. "And how do you know he's there, Takato?"

"Maybe it's the power of love," Hirokazu posited, and then shouted as Kenta smacked the back of his head. "Okay! Sorry!"

The group sat, and Takato explained what had happened with his computer. He still wasn't sure how he felt about all his friends knowing he'd fallen for Jen before him, but at least they all seemed fine with it. …Now he just had to find out what Jen thought. After he'd finished, Takato looked back down at the D-Arc in his hand, stroking the screen as if it might coax out an answer. It didn't, and Takato realized that whatever his feelings for Jen, if he couldn't get to the Digital World, if he couldn't save Jen, none of it would matter.

"Okay," Ruki announced. "Well now that we know he's in the Digital World, we've got a starting point. I'm going to call Ryou; he was there the longest, maybe he has a clue how it happened. Someone should call Jenrya's Dad and tell him, he created the digimon, and sent them all back before, maybe he'll have some clues."

Juri stood, brushing the dirt off her dress. "I'll call him on my way home."

"And then?" Hirokazu asked.

"Then we figure out a plan, we can't do anything just rushing in," Ruki replied, looking pointedly at Takato as she did so. "In the meantime, we should go home and get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll meet early and get started."

She was right of course. Takato knew that. There wasn't anything they could do at that moment. Everyone had been looking for a way back into the Digital World since their partners had disappeared and they never found one. Saving Jen was going to take time. Takato walked home slowly, staring blankly ahead as he thought. He knew Jen was strong. The half-Chinese boy had made that clear throughout their digimon adventures, and Takato trusted Jen with his life. Jen was smart and tough, hell, he was practically a tai-chi master, but… Takato couldn't help but worry. He remembered the Digital World. He remembered the strange rules, the crazy landscapes, and the crazier digimon. They'd gotten through that, but they had each other. Even when the data streams had separated them, Takato and Jen had each other.

Takato bit his lip. Without Jen, he wouldn't have made it. He would be stuck down there, in that underwater cavern, trapped. He never would have thought to just believe he could breathe underwater. And now… Jen was all alone, he didn't even have his digimon with him, how was he going to… no. Takato clenched his fists tight. No. Jen wasn't him. Jen could take care of himself. He could do anything! Jen was safe and well, all Takato had to do was find him and bring him home. He could do that. He could.

When the sun rose the next morning, Takato was already at his desk, his eyes flipping between his computer and D-Arc as he tried to figure out how Jen had contacted him. His parents had understood why he'd disappeared last night, but that didn't mean they were happy about it. As soon as he'd returned, they made him swear he wouldn't run off without telling them where he was going. At the moment, that didn't matter. He had nowhere to go.

"Ugh!" Takato groaned, pushing the D-Arc further along his desk. "How am I going to find a way to the Digital World now when I haven't been able to for years?"

He'd called Jen's dad after Juri did, but Janyuu had no clue how his son might have crossed over. He had told Takato he would head to Hypnos and see what Yamaki thought, but so far, he hadn't received a call. He looked down at Jen's D-Arc. Finding it in Guilmon's old spot meant something, he was sure of it. He just… wasn't sure what.

He'd hoped that Jen might try to contact him again, but his computer had been completely silent. No static. He tried to keep calm, but doing nothing had a way of keeping his anxiety on red alert. Every few hours he had to sit and focus on breathing, telling himself that Jen was fine, that he'd be okay. He wasn't sure how many more self-pep-talks he had in him.

"Maybe Ruki's called," Takato sighed.

His phone was charging in the corner, the volume set on high, but maybe he missed something. He hoped so.

"…kato… p-plea…."

The brunette practically flew back to his monitor.

"Jen?!" He shouted. "Are you there?"

The image was fuzzy and dark, but he could barely make out Jen's form, curled tightly in on himself.

"…n-no!" Jen cried, his voice seemingly frantic through the haze of white noise. "It's not true… doesn't hate… taka…to…"

Takato threw his fist against the screen as if Jen was trapped behind the glass.

"Jen! What happened? Where are you?!"

The picture dimmed further, but Jen's voice and the static grew louder.

"…don't… s-so dark. Why… so dark? Why do… so cold?" Jen said. "T-takato…?"

"Jen, I'm here!" Takato screamed. Why couldn't he hear him? What was the point of calling, if Takato couldn't answer!

"…him? Because… hates me? Why… I feel like this? …Why…?"

"Jen! Who hates you?!"

"…to love …? I just want… s-stop… want everything to… p-please!"

"Jen!" Takato shouted again, but the picture had disappeared and his computer was silent once again.

Jen was alone, he was scared and cold and in the dark. Takato felt tears rolling down his cheeks. What did he mean about love and hate? What did he want to stop? Was something… was he being hurt? He was pleading for something and Takato didn't even know what it was!

His parents were awake now, the shuffling in their room was growing louder, but Takato didn't care. He was no closer to finding a way to save Jen, but now he knew Jen was in trouble. He knew Jen needed him. He had to get there! He had to get to the Digital World! Right NOW!