Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. And, thanks to this chapter, I must also admit that I do not own Harry Potter either.
Author's Note: And so the excitement begins! I hope you all enjoy this installment of BB. You see more of some of the OCs that I've already semi-introduced throughout the story. There's also a lot of romantic shipping details brought up in this chapter that Takari fans will hopefully enjoy. Also, I hope you all like the image I chose for the story. I figured a simple picture of the Crest of Hope was simplistic and perfect enough without giving anything away.
Anywho, enjoy!
Chapter Seven
"Tag! You're it!"
The small creature's words echoed through TK's head as he stared at his retreating back. The light-haired teen let out a frustrated noise and hoisted himself to his feet to start after him again.
The World of Dreams. He said that I was in the World of Dreams, but this looks nothing like the World of Dreams where we faced off against MaloMyotismon. Maybe it's not the same place?
It seemed to TK that the only thing he could take from that answer was that he was dreaming and not dead, which was good, but he was also further convinced more than ever that this was something beyond just a normal dream. The digimon lookalike running away from him was the key to getting some answers; if only he could get the little creature to stay still. Chasing after him was going to get old real quick if he kept this up.
Calumon disappeared around a particularly large oak, and TK let out a frustrated sound again. Yeah, this was definitely going to get old. He felt like Alice in Wonderland chasing after the white rabbit. He made a face at the mental analogy. Comparing himself to Alice was another thing that he was definitely not going to tell Matt if he ever woke from this. The sudden sliver of doubt nearly made TK stumble to the ground, but he managed to keep his footing as he rounded the same oak.
"Will you please stop? I don't understand what's going on! I need your help! Hey!" he called out ahead of him, hoping to guilt the creature into stopping.
The digimon lookalike didn't stop running.
"Calumon!"
TK broke through another line of trees and staggered at the sudden change in scenery. Gone was the almost feudal feeling garden. The grass gave way to paved streets and sidewalks, and buildings and housing that stood side-by-side. He half expected to see busy cars and people roaming around, but there were none. He and Calumon were still the only ones around. Speaking of the digimon, the little white creature took a sudden turn into one of the buildings.
The same strange feeling of familiarity overcame TK as he looked up at the building. He was certain he had seen it before somewhere. He found himself walking at a much calmer pace as he approached the building, staring at it with confused eyes. Something told him that he knew which apartment Calumon was running toward, but how he knew, he couldn't say. He stepped beyond the front doors and into the lobby, his gaze moving to trail along the mailbox listings immediately inside the foyer. Most of it was in gibberish that didn't make any sense to TK, some sort of dream made-up language that he wasn't meant to understand. However, on one of the name plates listed a name that TK could read quite clearly:
Ishida.
TK froze. That couldn't be right, but the name was as clear as the colors on the walls. This wasn't Matt and Dad's apartment building, though. He could tell that just by looking around at the lobby even if the outside structure hadn't already given him that clue. He walked up to the mailboxes and gently ran his fingers over the name plate as if that would change what it said. It didn't.
Yeah, I'm dreaming, he thought as he dropped his hand, and this just seriously got a whole lot more confusing.
He turned away from the mailboxes, allowing his eyes to trail over the elevators for a moment. Somehow, he knew that they wouldn't work without even trying them. He didn't question this sixth sense, figuring that it was best just to follow his instincts at the moment rather than worry about things too much. He already had enough questions to deal with. Instead, he headed toward the stairwell and began to climb.
Whether it was because he was in a dream or the world was just set up in this way, he reached the sixth floor in no time at all before he even started to feel winded. He didn't even have to second guess which apartment he was heading toward either as he walked toward the third door on the left and walked in. The door was unlocked, and he found that he wasn't surprised by that fact. The door naturally swung closed behind him, leaving him standing in the foyer of a rather nice looking family apartment.
No lights were on, but that didn't overcast the apartment with shadows. Instead, the same omnipresent light shone throughout the rooms here as well, lighting everything around him. He could feel the same strange sensation of eyes everywhere watching him, but he was starting to get used to that. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
"Calumon?" he called cautiously as he stepped further into the apartment.
There was something eerily familiar about this place, just like everything else he had seen so far, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to keep his guard up. Too many questions still existed for him to simply calm down just because he might be having a mere dream. He heard a childish giggling coming from one of the far rooms, and his head turned in that direction before his body followed.
He pushed open the door and found himself in a boy's bedroom. The room seemed to be going through a stage of mistaken identity, as it was filled with an assortment of childish baby toys and teenaged possessions. Baby blocks and the newest game system sat side-by-side. Baby books were on the same shelf as tossed about sporting magazines. A basketball ball was placed next to a basket of teething rings. The adult sized bed had a baby mobile hanging overhead of cartoon-shaped animals. And Calumon was in the center of the room, playing with the little games and gadgets attached to the child's play table where high school textbooks were piled, forgotten, underneath.
"Hey…" TK whispered, afraid of sending the digimon lookalike running off again.
Calumon stopped moving one of the beaded blocks along the track that it was attached to so that he could look up at him with curious eyes instead. The little creature tilted his head to the side as he watched him, as if trying to work out a puzzle or decide what to do. The open window behind him, where a soft breeze was blowing the baby blue curtain lightly in the wind, suddenly looked very dangerous. TK wasn't sure how physics worked in this world, but he had a good idea that Calumon probably did. So, if he decided to jump out the window, the blond wasn't sure if he would have enough guts to simply follow and hope for the best.
TK moistened his lips and raised his hands in a passive gesture. "Please don't run away again."
"You're still here," Calumon pointed out.
Something about the statement made TK pause as he knew he didn't imagine the touch of worry that crept into the digimon lookalike's voice. The creature seemed to have lost some of his playful fervor upon seeing TK again, and the blonde realized that his being here was another oddity that was not normal in Calumon's world. Just more questions to add to the lack of answers.
"Why are you still here?" he whispered, obviously talking more to himself than TK.
Either way, the basketball player decided to respond. "I don't know," he said bracingly. "I don't know much of anything about this place. That's why I followed you, because I need answers and because I don't know what else to do."
Calumon frowned at him. "You shouldn't still be here. You should have left by now. Time moves differently here than in your world."
"What do you mean?" TK asked.
Because it looked like Calumon actually wanted to talk now instead of just play games, TK found himself relaxing as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed. The little creature was watching him with those jade green eyes the entire time, his ears retracted into little stubs that made his worry and uncertainty even more prominent. The Child of Hope tried not to let the sudden contrast in mood get to him.
"You just don't make sense," Calumon said bluntly. TK found that he didn't know whether he should be offended by that or not, so he just kept his mouth shut. "Most humans just come here for a few moments at a time before going back to their normal dreams. Did you leave already and come back?"
"I haven't gone anywhere," TK said slowly. "What do you mean by normal dreams? I thought I was dreaming. What's the difference?"
Even though he had already come to the conclusion that this was no normal dream, it was still a strange affirmation to actually hear Calumon say it aloud. It wasn't exactly a comfort to know that one of his theories had actually panned out to be correct. It also still didn't explain how he got here or where exactly here was, as he still wasn't convinced that this was the World of Dreams as he remembered it.
"All humans can enter the World of Dreams, but most people only enter it for moments at a time, when they are in their deepest of sleeps. But it's just another dream. Most people aren't aware that they've slipped into another realm for even just a second, and they certainly never see me or remember being here before!" His words were thoughtful as he tried to explain.
TK found himself shaking his head. "I went to a place called the World of Dreams three years ago, and it looked nothing like this." He gestured around them vaguely.
Calumon blinked. "And you remember this?"
"Yes."
"But… how did you get there?" he asked, watching him curiously.
TK hesitated in thought for a moment before starting, "It's hard to explain." He took a breath. "I… I mean, my friends and I opened a gate to the World of Dreams from our world and entered that one. We weren't trying to get there, but there were other things that happened that made us end up somewhere that we never meant to be. And it was… a very strange place. Hard to describe."
"Well," the digimon lookalike began, "were you awake when you went?"
The blond nodded slowly. "Yeah. We all were."
That brought another grin out across Calumon's face. "Well, you didn't expect to see the World of Dreams's real form while you were awake, did you? It's called the World of Dreams for a reason, silly!"
"So, you're saying… that this is its real form?" he asked.
"Yes and no," Calumon answered cryptically.
"Yes and no?" TK repeated, bewildered. "What does that mean?"
"This is the real form as you see it. Everyone else that enters the World of Dreams while sleeping will see their own world, their own dream," he explained. "All of them are the true forms of the World of Dreams, because that's what the World of Dreams is all about."
Unable to resist the temptation, TK stood and walked over to the window to look outside at the world that he had apparently created. That would explain why everything looked so familiar but at the same time not really. If what Calumon was saying was true, he must have visited this world a hundred times before while sleeping, and he just never could hold onto those memories.
"How come it feels so real, then?" he asked, pressing his hand to the glass. "I don't remember dreams feeling like this. I can… smell the flowers, feel the wind… I could even feel pain when I pinched myself. That's not normal dream behavior." He turned to study the digimon look alike.
"That's because this is a real world, TK," Calumon answered, moving to plop down in one of the toddler chairs. "This might be the World of Dreams, but it's just as real as the waking world. In regular dreams, you can dream of falling and nothing happens. But if you enter this world at the wrong moment or something happens while you're here… The effects are felt in the real world, too."
Blue eyes stared at the white creature in shock. "Are you saying that if I die here… I die in the real world?"
Calumon nodded solemnly. "It can happen. That's why humans aren't meant to stay here," he continued. "They're only meant to be here for moments at a time, because it's dangerous."
TK swallowed thickly, suddenly feeling a bit more paranoid about everything around him. The feeling that he was being constantly watched suddenly didn't seem as innocent, and he found himself needing to sit down to catch his breath. Die in his sleep? That's essentially what they were talking about here. If he died here, that's what everyone else back home would assume happened. He just died in his sleep. Of course, there was the slightest possibility that the little creature was making this up, but TK's instincts were telling him that he was telling him the truth. He knew to trust those instincts.
"What about you?" he finally asked.
"Me?" Calumon repeated. "I live here, like I said! This is my home."
"How long have you been here?"
"Hmm…" he started thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. Time passes differently here than in your world, so there's really no way to tell it. But my whole life just about sums it up!" He stopped and then went back to studying the blue-eyed boy again. "But you really should have woken by now. Even if you were having a really extra long dream or were in a really deep sleep, you should have been able to go back to your normal dreams already. I don't know why you're still here."
TK sighed, looking off for a moment. "I don't know why either, Calumon."
x X x
The ride back to the Ishida apartment was one filled with tense silence. Davis, always one to prefer noise and talking to simple silence, was grinding his teeth together by the time they pulled into the parking lot. Nobody else seemed to be feeling his pain. Kari sat next to him in the backseat, her head resting against the window, her thoughts obviously a million miles away, even too far for Gatomon, who sat in her lap, to reach. Ken sat in front of him in the passenger seat in an almost identical position as Kari. Minomon had said nothing since the ride begun.
Davis was starting to regret more than ever not taking Sora up on her offer to ride with her, Mimi, and Yolei. He knew that at least the girls (minus Kari) would have preferred joking and talking to this insufferable silence. He'd also had the choice of riding with Joe, Izzy, and Cody or even Matt and his parents, but he'd thought riding with Tai was a safe choice. He had been wrong. Even DemiVeemon seemed to decide that silence was the best course of action and kept his mouth shut.
He turned to look at Kari. Tai's car was small enough that he could actually reach out and grab her hand if he wanted, and he wanted to if only to offer her comfort. He could tell how worried and crushed she was over this. The lack of pangs of jealousy just reaffirmed what he had known for over a year now; he didn't love her anymore. Well, that wasn't exactly true. He would always love Kari, like the way he would always love Yolei or even Ken, but he wasn't in love with her. Not the way that she was in love with TK, and not the way that TK loved her back.
Now, if only the two of them would stop being so stupid and just say something already. Maybe this would push them toward that, if TK ever woke up…
Davis leaned his forehead against the cool glass of the window and desperately tried to block out the dark thoughts. This was another reason that he wished he had ridden with the other girls instead. They all seemed to have come to the conclusion that hoping for the best was the better route, and Davis wanted to do the same, but it was hard not to soak up the uncertainty that was practically exuding from Kari and Ken.
Really, Davis loved both of them dearly; he loved all of the digidestined. Having such a close knit, large group of friends was wonderful. Most of the time, he loved it, even with all of the teasing that tended to be thrown in his particular direction. Had he not been as sleep deprived, cranky, worried, and upset as he was, he would have simply ignored the tension and taken this time to nap away.
"Will someone just say something?" he attempted, unable to keep it in anymore.
Tai didn't seem to hear him. Ken shifted in front of him but said nothing. DemiVeemon looked up at him with concerned eyes but seemed unable to know what to say. Kari was still for several moments before she finally lifted her head off of the window to turn to look at him.
"Sorry, Davis," she whispered. The tremble in her voice showed just where her thoughts had been during the silence.
"Don't be sorry," he said immediately, feeling guilty for having said anything. "Just… don't be so sad. He'll be alright."
He turned toward her, hoping that his words might have left some sort of impression, but she just swallowed before turning her face back toward the window. He gave a sigh as he leaned back and crossed his arms across his chest. More insufferable silence followed. He saw Ken looking over the back of his seat at him, and they stared at each other for a moment before the ebony-haired boy gave a helpless shrug and turned back around. Silence. Suffocating silence accompanied them the rest of the way to the Ishida apartment.
If only TK was here, Davis thought as he watched the scenery passing by, he'd know what to say to make her feel better…
x X x
"Feel better, Davis," Kari said with a smile as she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the soccer player's cheek.
The burgundy-haired boy smiled but was mostly distracted by the bag of chocolates that his friend had brought for him. He selected a candy and popped it into his mouth as he leaned back against the pillow on the hospital bed that he was currently propped up on. His leg was suspended in the air with a cast around his foot, restricting movement at the moment.
He caught sight of Kari moving to leave and spoke with his mouth full, "Bye, Kari!"
She shot an amused glance toward him before walking out. He turned back to the candies and was moving to select another one when he caught Ken's curious glance toward him. His best friend was sitting in a chair next to his bed; he had been suspiciously quiet during Kari's visit, but it was obvious now that he wanted to say something. Davis lowered the bag of candies into his lap.
"What?" he asked.
"That was different," Ken observed quietly as he looked from Davis toward the door.
"What was?" he said, confused.
"Kari kissed you on the cheek, and you didn't freak out. In fact, you didn't flirt once that entire visit," he pointed out.
Davis just smiled and shrugged easily. "No reason to."
"What do you mean?"
He abandoned the bag of candies on the food tray in front of him before throwing his arms over the back of his head and leaned back comfortably. "I don't really like Kari like that anymore," he admitted.
Ken's eyebrows shot up. "Since when?"
"I'm not exactly sure, but…" He smiled a bit to himself. "Do you remember the Valentine's Day Dance last year?"
Ken nodded, still watching his friend a curious expression. "TK asked Kari to dance," he said when Davis didn't continue right away, "and then you demanded to dance with her after they were done."
"While they were dancing," Davis began with an easy smile, "I realized that I didn't care. I mean, I still care for her, but not like that. And when I was dancing with her, I didn't feel anything. It felt nice, but it wasn't right. You know what I mean?"
The ebony-haired boy smiled softly. "I think I do," he said. "But why do you still flirt with her then? And why not now?"
"It's for TK," Davis said as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. "He's never going to say anything unless somebody makes him. I'm trying to make him by making him jealous, and I think it's working. Slowly."
Ken blinked. "So, if he's not around… No reason to flirt," he realized.
"Exactly," Davis said.
A knock on the door made them both look up, and a second later, the subject of their conversation poked his blond head in. TK smiled at them as he stepped in, and Davis and Ken smiled innocently back.
"Hey, Davis," TK said, walking up to the foot of his bed. "How'd the surgery go?"
"Good," he answered. "They said I should be out of the cast in six weeks."
"Eight weeks if he doesn't stay off of his ankle," Ken added.
TK grinned at the quieter boy before turning back to the patient in the bed. "I brought you some real food. I know you eat anything, but…"
He shrugged and held up the fast food bag. Davis's eyes widened, and he greedily grabbed it before moving to immediately dig into the french fries. TK laughed as he moved to take the seat on the other side of the bed.
"Kari came by earlier," Davis mentioned after swallowing.
"Is that where the candy came from?" TK asked as he moved to steal one.
"Hey!" Davis protested. "Those are mine! And yes. She even gave me a kiss."
He grinned broadly at his golden-haired friend, deciding not to clarify where the kiss was located, as TK pretended to suddenly be very interested in the candy wrapper.
"That's nice," he said nonchalantly.
Davis rolled his eyes and turned toward Ken. 'See?' he mouthed at him. 'Hopeless.'
Ken brought a hand up to his mouth to stifle his laughter.
x X x
The car pulled into the parking lot and took the space next to the one Matt's parents had just pulled into, and Joe pulled into the one next to them. Davis knew that Sora, Mimi, and Yolei were on a food run and would be joining them shortly. The burgundy-haired teen jumped out of the car quickly, finding the need for fresh air suddenly necessary. The others all started to head up toward the apartment, but Davis hung back.
Feeling eyes on him, he commented to whoever was listening, "I'm going to go for a walk."
He started toward the sidewalk, giving a bit of a sigh. It wasn't that he wanted to be alone, but going up to the apartment where he knew everyone would probably be quiet out of respect for all of the worried ones in the house was almost more than he could take. He would just wait for Sora, Mimi, and Yolei to return with the food. That seemed like the safest bet.
"Davish, is everything okay?" DemiVeemon asked quietly, looking up at him.
He looked down at his digimon with an uncertain smile for a moment before giving a shake of his head. "I don't know, DemiVeemon," he admitted. "It doesn't seem like it, does it?"
The in-training digimon gave a shake of his head. Davis paused in his step when he heard footsteps behind him, and he turned to see Ken following him with Minomon in his arms. Upon getting caught, Ken hesitated for a moment before moving to join him. Davis smiled at him to show that it was alright before they started walking again toward some unknown location.
"I'm sorry for not saying anything in the car," Ken finally said.
"He's going to be fine," he repeated what he had said to Kari.
Ken didn't look convinced. "He didn't look too good," he said quietly.
"He's going to be fine."
But even as Davis said the words, he wondered how much he truly believed that. He remembered the bandages around his head, the bruising on his face, the beeping of the heart monitor, the tube down his throat… All of it nearly made him shudder, too.
"Look," Ken said, suddenly.
Davis looked up to see a blue clunker car coming toward them. It pulled over against the curb next to them, and a second later, a short, skinny kid with baggy overly comfortable clothes and glasses climbed out through the window. Ataru shot them a wave as he moved around the car to stand with them.
"I went by your place first, Davis, to see if you were there, but your mom said something about you being at the hospital. Just happened to see you two on my way over there," the scrawny and somewhat scruffy teenager said, moving to sit on the hood of his car, his legs dangling over the side. "You both look like crap."
Davis blinked. "So do you," he offered, a little grumpily, before moving to pull himself up onto the hood with him.
Ken simply moved to lean against the passenger side door. DemiVeemon and Minomon remained perfectly still in their arms. Silence fell over them for a moment before Davis turned to study their fellow soccer player. The boy's usually shaggy red hair was, at the moment, cropped into a very short buzz job. Davis raised an eyebrow.
"What happened to your head?"
Ataru Kai ran a hand over his short hair and scowled. "My dad's new girlfriend happened to it. I'm thinking that I might have to skip school for the next two weeks before it looks presentable."
Davis leaned back on his elbows and just nodded in response. Ataru looked between Davis and Ken uncertainly. He had expected at least a crack of a smile from one of them. The redhead gave a small sigh.
"He's that bad, huh?"
Ken offered a response in the form a short nod, his eyes focused on his shoes.
Ataru was a senior. He had been on the soccer team with Tai Kamiya, and when Tai had put in a good word for both of them, Ataru hadn't questioned it. He had just taken both boys under his wing without batting an eye. His guidance, especially following Davis's injury, had been very helpful these past few months, and the two digidestined knew that they could trust him. It was no surprise that Ataru had shown up to see how they were doing personally despite not knowing TK very well. He knew Tai, and he knew Davis and Ken, and all three of them vouched for the blonde, so he liked TK by reputation alone.
"I was worried when I didn't hear from you guys this morning. Almost gave in and called Shinji," he paused at his another attempt at a joke, but then continued when he realized he wasn't going to be getting much of a response today, "but I figured you guys just needed space."
"Thanks," Davis said sincerely.
"How bad is it, really?" Ataru asked.
"They're keeping him in the ICU," Davis answered, staring up at the sky. If he concentrated enough, he could make pictures in the white puffiness. DemiVeemon had slipped off of his chest when Ataru wasn't looking and settled himself comfortably on the hood next to him. "He had to have surgery, and he hasn't woken up since the ambulance ride to the hospital."
"My offer from my message last night still stands," Ataru said.
"As much as I would like to focus on soccer and kick some balls at some oversized egos, no offense, instead of being stuck worrying about who will breakdown next or what's going to happen," Davis said, speaking half to Ken as well as to Ataru, "I don't want to leave. I need to be there in case something happens, in case someone hears something. Plus, I'm running on empty, and who knows what that will do to my game."
"And you shouldn't be playing again for a few more weeks anyway," Ken offered quietly, managing a half-smile. "That's what your doctor said."
Davis waved him off, but Ataru nodded, understanding completely on both accounts. Another car was making its way down the street, and it began to slow down as it neared them making Davis sit back up. This car was much newer, and a gleaming, red Nissan. Two people were riding in the front with a third hanging out in the back. Ataru glanced over and winced as he saw it, before sliding off of the hood and gestured for Ken to move so that he could reach into his car through the passenger door window. Ken raised an eyebrow and then cracked a brief smile at the baseball cap his teammate pulled over his head hastily.
"What?" Ataru asked as he looked between the two other soccer players. "I don't want the basketball dorks to see my new do. Might make them jealous."
Shinji Yoshida's car pulled to a stop on the opposite side of the street, and the teenagers hopped out. Davis jumped off of the hood of Ataru's car and gave a short nod to the trio. Shinji, Kira, and Masato returned with their own nods as they joined them on their side of the street.
"Shinji, Kira," Ataru muttered in greeting and gave a nod to the third teenager who he obviously didn't know.
"Ataru," Kira repeated in kind, "Davis, Ken."
Shinji said nothing. An awkward silence fell over the three soccer players and three basketball players, before Masato stepped forward and grabbed Davis in a tight hug. Davis was too surprised at the unexpected gesture to do anything but stiffen his arms at his sides as the older and much taller boy delivered his embrace. Masato stepped back and rubbed his copper hair awkwardly.
"They benched that guy for the rest of the game. I think his coach was worried that our players might have a personal vendetta against him. We just took it out on the rest of the team," Masato said, breaking the silence.
"This puts us at six wins and one loss, really good spot for us to enter the championships," Kira said, jamming his hands uncomfortably in his pockets. "Coach is gonna try to reschedule so that we don't play again until after Christmas. Just in case, you know, TK might be able to make it…"
Silence fell over the group. Davis knew that TK wouldn't be able to make it to the game, even following Christmas. Even if TK woke up today, that arm would probably keep him out of the game for at least two more months. It was also clear that nobody really knew what to say. The six of them didn't really socialize together in high school, and that much was painfully obvious at the moment.
"We were headed to the hospital to see if there was anything we could do and saw you, so…" Masato said, continuing the uncomfortable and forced dialogue.
"The dance team – well, minus Kari – decided to make a get well soon card while we were over at my place last night," Kira said, pulling an envelope out of the inside pocket of his heavy overcoat.
Davis blinked and then made a face as he caught the strong whiff of perfume coming from the card as he took it. Ken looked more amused than disgusted, but Ataru – who was using the two younger teens as a buffer between himself and the basketball players - wore an identical expression to the burgundy-haired soccer player.
Kira's lips twitched in amusement. "Don't ask me what they wrote in it," he said, "but I really doubt some of it has a G-rating or would be parentally approved."
Davis suddenly had a strong urge to take a peak when he noticed another red car coming toward them. He nudged Ken next to him and nodded toward it.
"Sora," he said.
Ken nodded. "We should head back."
"You guys can come if you want," Davis said, looking from Ataru to the basketball players. "We're just gonna have lunch and then head back to the hospital to sit with TK some more."
"We don't want to intrude," Masato said, "as much as I love free food. Give TK's mom a hug for me and tell our best player to get better. I still need his help on pretty much every essay assigned to me."
"Tell Matt to take care of himself, and all of you do the same," Kira added, looking from Davis to Ken before clapping Ken on the shoulder. "I know you're all worried about TK, but you gotta take care of yourselves too."
"The glory is all his," Shinji said, finally speaking up. "As soon as he's better, he can have his position back on the team, and you won't hear another complaint out of me for the rest of the season. Later."
Davis and Ken watched the three basketball players climb back into Shinji's car and drive off.
"Well, that was awkward," Ataru piped up, giving a slight shake of his head. "I'd better get going too. Call me if you want me or any of the team to come over later. I mean it."
After a hug for both Davis and Ken that was a lot less bone-crushing and awkward than the one Masato had given Davis, Ataru grabbed the roof of his car and used it to pull his legs up so that he could get through the open window and into the driver side. Davis and Ken stared at him funnily as Davis grabbed DemiVeemon off of the hood of the car. Ataru grinned.
"I broke the door; haven't had a chance to get it fixed yet," he explained.
"Two words, Kai: New Car."
"Two words, Motomiya: No Money."
"Later," Davis and Ken muttered together, and they managed to actually find a smile – however briefly – as they moved to start heading back toward the Ishida apartment.
x X x
Lunch was uncomfortably silent as nobody really seemed to know what to say. Even Mimi and Yolei were not making any further attempt to lighten the mood. As much as Mimi hated fighting with Matt, at least that had forced people to actually talk. Well, not people, just Matt, but it was definitely better than this tense, worried silence. But even Mimi knew that going around promising that everything was going to be fine and attempting to force Matt to relax was not something that people needed to hear. It would probably just cause more people to get frustrated, one way or the other, and so the pink-haired girl was left at a loss of what to say instead. So, silence seemed like the best avenue to take.
Yolei had been handed several things by her mother and father when they visited the convenience store as lunch items, and though Sora tried to paid for it, they had been ushered away by the Inoue adults. Mimi didn't question it, and the food actually was rather good, but she knew it would have tasted better if everyone were in better spirits. Not for the first time, she wished that none of this would have happened.
Why couldn't TK have just focused on writing? she thought, knowing that it was a futile and somewhat childish thought.
When the meal was over, most of the kids helped Nancy clean up while Hiroaki disappeared for a cigarette and Matt disappeared into his room. A little bit of conversation managed to spark during the cleaning, but the voices remained hushed and uncertain as if afraid to upset those that still looked beyond dazed.
"I'm worried about him," Sora whispered to her.
The pink-haired girl looked up and followed the redhead's gaze. She was staring at Matt's closed door, and she gave a small sigh and a nod in response.
"Me too," she admitted. "I don't even want to think about what if…"
"Then don't," Sora said sharply before her expression softened and saddened. "I can't even think about that."
"Then it's a good thing that it's not going to happen," Mimi said, not wanting to upset her best friend, "right?"
Sora smiled softly and nodded. "Right."
Nancy left shortly afterward, stating that she had something she wanted to pick up from her apartment for TK. Izzy offered to go with her, and Cody and Yolei ended up tagging along as well, stating that they should probably check in with their families when they had the chance. The four said they would meet the others at the hospital.
Mimi finished cleaning the plate she was working on before she placed it in the dish drainer and turned to head toward Matt's room. She lifted her hand to knock on the door and stopped when she heard Matt's voice from inside.
"…I know there will be other concerts, but I'm still sorry," Mimi could hear Matt saying. From the pauses between his sentences, she knew he was on the phone talking to someone. "…Yeah, I know Takashi is going to murder me for ruining his chance to show off to Nako, but he'll just have to get over it… I know you were just kidding. Don't worry. I know Takashi has a heart. I think. You? I'm still debating that one… I'll tell him for you. Tell the others thanks for being so understanding. I just can't even think about… Yeah, I'll call you tomorrow to let you know how he is. You too. Bye, Yutaka."
When she heard him say bye, Mimi knocked lightly on the door. "We're heading back to the hospital."
Matt had his door open in a flash and was pushing past Mimi to go down the stairs.
x X x
Nancy and Kari were the first two to take their turn going back to see TK once they had arrived at the hospital. As everyone else settled themselves into the now very familiar Visitor's Lounge, Nancy walked with her son's best friend since childhood down the hallway to the set of doors marked Intensive Care Unit. They had a brief introduction with the new shift of nurses on duty and then Nancy stepped into TK's room.
One of the nurses had gotten an extra blanket for him and had seen that he was tucked in properly. They had also removed the endotracheal tube and had replaced it with a partial rebreather mask that was supplying him with a steady flow of oxygen. Patamon did not look like he had moved at all. Nancy moved one of the two chairs around to TK's right side, and she set her purse down on the ground beside it. Before she sat down, she leaned over TK and touched her hand against his face.
"Hey, TK," Nancy said, "I brought something for you…"
Kari was standing silently on the opposite side of the bed from her, looking down at TK with sadness and the weight of the world on her shoulders. Nancy bent down and kissed TK's cheek and then settled herself into the chair before pulling out the book that she had retrieved from home. Her eyes shone for a moment with the threat of tears that she blinked away before she could open the cover.
"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling," she read and turned the page. "Chapter One: The Boy Who Lived."
"Kari?"
She glanced up from the book toward Kari before hesitating. Gatomon, who was in Kari's secure hold still, was the one who had spoken as she watched her partner with concerned eyes. The girl had not moved from simply staring down at her best friend since they had entered the room. She was not even sure that the younger girl was even aware that she or her partner had spoke at all.
"I hope you don't mind…"
Kari blinked and looked up at her before giving a shake of her head. She managed a small smile as she seemed to suddenly realize what book was in Nancy's hand.
"Not at all. I love that book…" She glanced back down at the blonde before adding, "So does TK."
Nancy smiled and opened the book back up. She waited until Kari had settled herself into the other chair by TK's bed before she began to read again. Gatomon settled down onto the hospital bed and moved to join Patamon on the pillow, though the orange digimon seemed to hardly notice at all. Kari lowered the metal bar on TK's left side and carefully took her best friend's hand into her own. Nancy felt like she accomplished something as she noted the bare hints of a smile on the girl's face as she began to read the book in her hand. This was the same book (and its subsequent sequels included) that she would bring out whenever TK was sick until he got too old and began to argue that he didn't need his mother to read to him anymore. But she hoped that maybe, just maybe, there was some healing magic in it, which might help TK recover faster.
"Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.
Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.
The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband was unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.
When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.
None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.
At half past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and back out of number four's drive…"
Nancy continued to read the first chapter of the book to her son, Kari, and the two digimon present to the soft soundtrack of hospital machines.
"He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.
He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.
'The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard—'
'—yes, their son, Harry—'
Mr Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it."
Nancy noticed Kari's eyelids getting heavy as she continued to read. Eventually, she saw them slide over her exhausted eyes and her body slowly slump forward so that she was resting her head on her arm on the bed next to TK's uninjured hand. Nancy didn't stop her reading to disturb her. Gatomon seemed almost relieved to see this reaction out of her partner. She probably had been just like Matt, unable to sleep out of worry and probably intent on stubbornly staying awake tonight as well. She needed rest. Nancy continued to read, turning pages as she verbalized the author's writing.
She got to the part where Dumbledore arrived and began to talk to the tabby cat that turned out to be one Professor McGonagall in which they had discussed the mysterious happenings that Mr Dursley had been noticing all day. She read McGonagall's appalled reaction to Dumbledore's explanation that Harry would be staying with the Dursley's followed by Hagrid's appearance with baby Harry. Finally, she arrived at their tearful goodbye to the baby and the description of the following morning when Mrs Dursley would find the baby on her doorstep. Wizards toasted to Harry Potter, the boy who lived.
Nancy was just about to start chapter two that picked up ten years later on Dudley's birthday where it was revealed how dreadful poor Harry's life had been when the nurse paused in the doorway. Nancy marked her place in the book and set it in the chair. She held up a finger to her lips to indicate Kari was sleeping and stepped out to speak to the nurse. All the nurse wanted to tell her was that the doctor would be by in about an hour to speak to them about TK.
x X x
Kari hadn't stood a chance. Her lack of sleep after an exhausting night that was preceded by an exciting game and dance practice added to the last several emotional hours she had endured had caught up with her. She had tried so hard to keep her eyes open while she held onto TK's hand and Nancy Takaishi read the book.
I bet it's not a real cat!...
She remembered TK saying that the first time Tai had read the book to the two of them when they had been nine years old. She could remember TK's blue eyes shining with excitement as he sat, cross-legged, next to her and enraptured in Tai's words. Matt had looked amused a few feet away while he toyed with his harmonica, and Kari had been torn between watching the boys in the room and actually enjoying the story.
Told ya!
That was the thought Kari dozed off to. Her body slumped forward and sleep washed over her.
"So I just have to stick around until I somehow wake up?" Kari thought she heard TK's voice say as she began to drift towards sleep. His voice sounded clear, like he was right next to Kari, and a warmth that she usually associated with TK's presence wafted over her like a gentle breeze.
"I guess so. You should be safe, unless you start to have a nightmare," Kari heard a young boy's accentuated by its childish qualities say.
She heard TK give a small chuckle. "I'll try not to have any nightmares, though wouldn't that be good? It might scare me awake."
"It might, but remember what I told you, TK? You can die here. If you have a really bad nightmare and you die in it, you don't get scared awake… You die in truth. I don't know how, and I wish I did, but you need to find a way to wake yourself up. What? What is it?"
"…Kari?"
Kari jerked awake with a start and a small gasp and swallowed hard.
"Kari?" Gatomon asked, sitting up straighter to stare at her partner uncertainly.
The chocolate-haired girl pressed a hand to her chest. She hadn't meant to fall asleep. Nancy Takaishi's soothing voice reading that book and her exhaustion had just won out. For a heartbeat there when her eyes had been closed, she thought she'd heard TK talking and him calling her name.
"I'm alright, Gatomon," she answered finally. "Just didn't mean to fall asleep."
Kari gave TK's hand a squeeze and then stood up. Nancy was just outside the room speaking to one of the nurses.
"I'll be back, TK," she promised, "but I'm going to let someone else come see you while I get something to drink. C'mon, Gatomon."
She reached forward and picked up the cat digimon in her arms, sparing a moment to gently run her fingers over Patamon's back in a comforting gesture. Her eyes lingered on TK's face for several moments before she finally left the room. She nodded quietly to Nancy and the nurse she was speaking with and walked to the double doors leading out of the ICU.
Nearly to the doorway, a sudden chill overcame Kari, nearly making her drop Gatomon. She froze, her fingers and toes turning to ice as if she had just dipped them into snow. Her chest grew tight, and she felt like if she breathed, she would be able to see her breath leave a foggy trail. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and she spun around, expecting someone to be standing there, reaching out for her. The hallway was empty save for the nurse and TK's mother.
"Kari?" Gatomon whispered worriedly.
What was that? she wondered frantically.
The sensation faded just as quickly as it came, but she got the strangest feeling that it wasn't gone. It had just moved on. Moved forward. Her amber eyes landed on the door to TK's room. She had a sudden urge to run back and make sure he was alright, but she tried to push it away. She was being irrational. She was just worried.
Get a grip of yourself, Kari!
"It's just hard to leave his side," she muttered back to her digimon finally.
It wasn't totally a lie, but she couldn't help wondering why she felt the urge to make her refreshment break as short as possible so that she could get back to TK's side.
