-1
"Boss," a woman knocked. "I'm coming in."
A man turned around to see her. "What's the news?"
"Another failure."
The man smacked his palm to his forehead. "That incompetent fool."
"That's why you should have sent me in the first place, you oaf!" the woman lectured. "You're wasting time by sending him."
"And time is exactly what we don't have," he swallowed hard. "Fine, Arukenimon. You can go, but be swift."
There was no stopping Taichi as he gathered his things to leave the castle, his mind bustling about, worried about Hikari. Daisuke was pained to watch him, but put more faith in Hikari to be safe. A part of him was glad that Hikari was finally being let out of her shell. As much as it would hurt her to find out about the outside world of digimon, it would hurt her more to be in the dark about it.
As soon as Taichi took his leave, Daisuke's flustered guests came to his side. "You're not going, too?" Wallace asked. "After all, she is your fiancé. Aren't you worried?"
"Of course I'm worried! Bad things happen to digimon and their partners out there, and they aren't prepared at all for it."
"No," the blue-eyed foreigner smiled. "I meant, aren't you worried about some other guy sweeping her off her feet?"
Daisuke was ready to shout "no" at him, but paused, held his breath, and turned away with an attitude. "I don't have to answer that."
Wallace laughed.
"I wish I weren't in such a high position sometimes," the young lord mused. "If it weren't for my responsibilities here, I would have gone after her in a heartbeat. I wish I could go have big adventures like you, Wallace."
"It's not all fun and games," he replied. "But hey, you already sent V-mon to go look for them, right?"
He nodded. "V-mon's just as worried."
"If it'll calm your nerves anymore," Wallace continued. "Captain Micheal and I could go look for her, too."
"Really? You'd take on a mission?" Daisuke raised his eyebrows.
"Of course," he made a quick Western-style salute. "I pledge allegiance to the feudal lord!"
Micheal, observing his actions, did the same, but wasn't entirely sure what his gesture was making him agree to. "I didn't know the Japanese saluted each other."
Daisuke wasn't sure what the gesture meant, but followed the suit. "Okay, got it!"
Taichi wasn't sure where to start searching for Hikari, considering she could have gone in any sort of direction. Subconsciously, his feet carried him to his favorite spot in the whole city- the entrance of the flower arranging school.
In that little sheltered doorway, he and Sora had shared many long and tender conversations. In fact, their first kiss was at that very spot he was standing.
His nerves settled as he took a deep breath and remembered that moment. That took place when he was still so sure that Sora loved him. After she had been visited by Yamato, however, everything had changed.
"Taichi?"
His eyes shot open as he spun around to look Sora face to face. She blinked in surprise to meet him outside again, rather than have him storming in.
"Sora," he smiled in momentary relief. "I'm glad."
"Really," her glance wandered down to the ground as she causally kicked at it with her foot. "Why are you here?"
At first he felt a little defensive. Did he have to have a reason for visiting his fiance? The question still jogged his memory back to where it was a few minutes before hand. "It's Hikari. She just took off, and I have to find her. Have you seen her here?"
Sora shook her head. "You better get going and find her."
"You act as if you're trying to get rid of me," his face became stern. "What is wrong with you lately, Sora?"
"I've actually been thinking for a long time now," she looked at him eye to eye. "That I can't marry you."
Immediately, his face grew cold. "You've already said that, and I've already asked you to wait until--"
"I was already thinking that before he came," she raised her voice a little. "There's things you don't even know about me, Taichi!"
"Why are you doing this to me, Sora?"
"Because I don't want you to get hurt," she hushed her voice again. "I'm sorry, Taichi. But this is the last time I'll say it… I can't marry you."
Taichi's eyes stung, but he refused to show her any tears. "Fine. Be that way. I have to go find Hikari." Turning away and stomping off was enough to break the hold he had on his tears. He didn't care if anyone else saw… just not Sora.
Sora bit her lip and watched him for a few moments, before heading back inside.
Hikari, elsewhere, was wearing a more casual, light-weight kimono, and trudged along with Tailmon beside her. The two of them were enthralled in all the unusual sights and sounds, and finally started to notice how people were backing away from them.
"Why won't anyone stay around us?" Hikari pondered aloud.
"I don't think it's you, Hikari," Tailmon peered at the onlookers. "I think it's me."
"Haven't they ever seen a digimon before?" she grew a little defensive. "Doesn't V-mon get treated with respect?"
"That's what I heard," the small, white digimon nodded. "Maybe they just don't know who we are."
"We're partners, that's what we are," Hikari knelt down by her. "Shouldn't that be obvious?"
"You would think so," Tailmon's large eyes met hers. "But why are they all acting like this?"
"Where are all the other digimon?" Hikari's hands shook as she searched the crowd. "Where are all the other partners?"
"Don't be scared, Hikari," she took her hand. "I'm here with you."
A few other partners, meanwhile, where unaware of how closely they were being watched.
"Where were we attacked again?" Armadimon asked. "All these hills look the same."
"Look for the singed one!" Takeru replied to him.
"Takeru and Patamon," their watcher scratched his chin. "And Iori and Armadimon."
"In this sun, aren't all the hills a little singed?" Miyako whined.
"Oh, shush. You're the one getting a free ride. Would you like to push for a while?"
"No, I'm good, thanks!"
Koushirou smiled slyly to himself. "Just as I hoped. They're with those new characters. Still, it wouldn't work very well for me to intrude on them all together."
Hawkmon stretched his wings out with satisfaction. That nap really hit the spot. As he relaxed, though, something didn't feel quite… steady. Was it the bumping of the cart? No, something else was vibrating… more and more rapidly.
He peered around carefully… it felt like something very swift was moving from beneath them. Finally, his eyes caught one of the silent figures slinking near the path. They were already under some kind of ninja attack.
One of the quick figures lunged towards Miyako, but because he had spied them, Hawkmon grabbed onto her tightly. He wasn't going to loose her this time, too. In a quick motion, they were lifted off the cart and carried away before either one could scream.
Iori and Armadimon, who were walking behind the cart, quickly noticed the disappearance, but couldn't say anything before they, too, were swept away.
Takeru's eyebrows furrowed as he felt the cart get lighter. Patamon squealed in shock. "Takeru! Takeru! They all disappeared! Gone!"
"What in the world!" he gaped at their absence
Koushirou watched Takeru's befuddled reaction with satisfaction. "Never leave home without your handy band of ninjas."
In a fit of confusion, Takeru and Patamon had darted straight back towards the town. Shortly after they had disappeared, two other figures showed up, and looked around.
"Koushirou's been here," Jyou adjusted his glasses.
"Koushirou?" Yamato raised an eyebrow, wondering who the heck that was. "How can you tell?"
"Ninja tracks," he pointed at the light footsteps embedded in the dirt path. "He's really the only one who uses them."
"They have ninjas?" the fair-haired boy's mouth dropped. "I thought having tunnels out here in the countryside was sneaky enough."
"They really only get hired for certain jobs," Jyou replied. "It's not all that often."
"You're proving to be far more useful than I thought you'd be, Jyou," he sent him a wide smile, and Jyou gulped at how much more information he had just revealed about the Yamaki. They looked around a little more, and a small object in the dust caught Yamato's attention.
Carefully, he picked up the small slate with the crest of courage engraved in it, and grew an evil little- no, big and evil- smirk. He knew very well what that was used for.
"What's that you got there?" Jyou looked over curiously.
"Oh, Taichi, you poor fool. Letting this out of your sight for people like me to find?" he laughed under his breath and pocketed it. "It's nothing, Jyou. Let's keep going."
The ninjas had already covered quite a bit of ground before Hawkmon was able to react. Just barely able to move one wing while keeping the other tightly around Miyako, he pulled his head feather off to swipe at the enemy.
The ninja stopped abruptly and dropped them both and put a hand to his wound in surprise. Hawkmon positioned himself carefully between him and Miyako, who was blinking and trying to wrap her mind around what was going on. Wasn't she just on a cart?
In the blink of an eye, they were surrounded. Hawkmon couldn't tell whether it was a ninja duplication technique, or if the attacker had friends. There was no way he would be able to take down them all in his current state. "Quick, Miyako! Make me digivolve to Shurimon!"
"Say.. What?" her eyes were still swirling.
Hawkmon's beak dropped open. This is a bad time for blood not to be rushing to her head right away.
"Not very competent there, huh?" a feminine voice said, as a silver-haired figure appeared in front of Hawkmon. "Reminds me of someone else I know."
"What?" Hawkmon jumped back in surprise.
"I'll handle this, Birdie," she said and readied herself to attack.
Elsewhere, Iori and Armadimon weren't having quite as much trouble with the ninja, once they were able to figure out what was going on. Armadimon was coiling himself up into a heavy ball to knock them over like bowling pins, and Iori was fending of a few more with his wooden stick.
One of the ninja finally brought out a sharp metal weapon, however, and with one blow, made his stick splinter into small pieces. With nothing else to defend himself, Iori backed away with uncertainty.
"Leave him alone!" a boy's voice ordered. Obediently, the ninja scattered. Iori and Armadimon looked around carefully for their savior, and finally spotted a boy just a little shorter than Takeru.
"Are you alright?" he smiled kindly.
They gulped and nodded. "Thanks for your help."
"It looked like you were in a tight situation," the red-headed boy observed. "If you had a proper weapon, though, you probably would have been able to fend for yourself."
"Perhaps," Iori eyed the small, jagged piece of wood he was still holding onto.
"That won't do you any good," the red headed boy continued. "Especially if you intend to defeat Ken."
Armadimon and Iori's spines tingled simultaneously. How could this boy know about Ken, and much less that they had a history with him?
"I was there that night," the boy's expression turned more serious. "I witnessed how Ken brutally murdered your grandfather. It was merciless."
The younger boy bit his lip tightly as he remembered that night. Armadimon pawed at his leg, as a silent show of support.
"You're the only one who would be able to avenge him now, Iori," the boy continued feigning sincerity. Koushirou had been able to dig up quite a bit of information on Iori, and was able to lie very well with it. It wasn't all lies, though. He had witnessed his grandfather's death.
Iori's breathing was heavy as he glanced listlessly at the ground. "I don't have any way to…"
"Ssh, Iori, it's alright," Armadimon tried to comfort him, though his constant pawing was closer to making him fall over.
"It is alright," Koushirou assured him and stepped forward. "Ken is near by. So I want you to have this."
He extended his hands and pulled a cloth off a pristine, new katana, sized perfectly for Iori's small hands. His eyes grew wide as he looked it over in disbelief. "You're letting me borrow this to kill Ken?"
"It's yours," he corrected him. "And yes. Use it to avenge your grandfather."
Back where the other ninjas had previously surrounded Hawkmon and Miyako, they merely looked on in surprise as the ninjas groaned in pain on the ground.
The strange woman was holding one of them up by the collar, and smiled a sinister smile. "Answer my question. Who hired you?"
"Kou… kou..!" he managed to say before passing out. The woman hmphed in understanding.
"This is already worse than I thought," she dropped him flatly. "Those yakuza have really gained on you. Did you even notice?"
"Maybe… once?" Miyako shrugged, remembering Skullgreymon's attack. "Say.. Who are you, any how…?"
"Hold on, Miyako," Hawkmon defensively stood in front of her. "She seems like…"
"You two should come with me," the silver-haired woman turned around to face them and they both gasped. "My boss has been waiting to meet you."
"A-A-A-A-A-Arukenimon!" they both yelled and backed away. "What are you doing here?"
"Perhaps if you just come with me, you'll find out why," she rolled her eyes, not very concerned that they already knew who she was. "We don't have much time. Hurry it up."
"Why should we follow you? We can't trust you!" Miyako yelled.
Arukenimon spun back around to face them, her patience wearing thin. "Do you want to make things right or not?"
