Y/N: Kurayami and Koushiro. I was excited a bit by writing this, even if I don't remember exactly what went on during it. I hope you enjoy it!
U/N: This is the final chapter until the hiatus, or break or whatever you want to call it, sorry, again, but i hope you like this one and, I hope that the dramatics of it will leave you wanting more for when the break is over :P
Title:Digimon Adventure 05
By: Yukira and Urazamay King
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters.
Part 1: Targets Unknown
Chapter 10: Speculations and Accusations
Kurayami:
"W-who are you?" I asked slowly as the trees around me seemed to wither and die, the leaves falling like lead, straight down toward the ground. The skies turned dark and the air was cold. I could hear a voice, a loud, angry voice.
"Why are you here?" The voice asked in a low voice. "Who are you?"
"I'm Kurayami sir," I gasped, "Kurayami Higorashi! And I'm looking for my mother." I looked around to all of my Digimon friends that I'd gathered during my search. There was a gust of hot air, rushing past me suddenly, and I clutched to Fangmon, my first sighted digimon as Porcupamon growled and tried to protect me from the voice. Even Flybeemon slowly drifted into the air around me to protect me.
"Why are you in my land?"
"I told you!" I insisted, "I'm looking for my mother. She's been gone from home a real long time. I think she is in this place!" I tried to smile. Every digimon I'd met so far had some good in them. Even Fangmon, who at first had tried to chase me and hurt me. But I didn't let him, and of course I was protected by Bakomon. But this time I had lots of friends to protect me as I tried to make the digimon a good guy.
But he was just so scary.
"Kanashimi." The voice said.
"That's my mother's name!" I said quickly, "You know where she is?"
"No," The voice said, "But you do. You've already seen her. She rejected you, and she doesn't want you."
Fangmon and Porcupamon looked to me in surprise, unable to find the source of the sound.
"But... I know someone who does want you." The voice said.
"Really? Who?" I asked excitedly.
"Me."
My excitement drained completely as I stared in horror toward the sky as lights flashed above me. I didn't know who this digimon was, but it was time to make him a good guy, but the more he talked the more I knew he'd never change. He was so evil, and his voice was making its way into my brain.
"Who are you...?" I asked slowly.
"My name is Fanglongmon,"
"There you are sweet-cheeks!" A lady said, pulling me from my thoughts as she spun my chair around. "What do you think?" I stared into my reflection and smiled at the bright purple streaks hanging down in the pigtails hanging from my head.
"I love it." I told her with a smile. I slipped out of the chair and followed her toward the desk. She pressed a few buttons and turned to me with a smile. I handed her the money she was asking for and then tried to leave.
"You miss someone, don't you?" She asked me. "I know the look. I get a lot of people coming through here, and a lot of gossip. You're a quiet one, but your expression says it all."
I turned to her and nodded, "I do. My mother." I didn't want comfort though. She wouldn't understand my situation, and so I turned and I left the salon, stepping into the hallway of the mall where, not far from where I was Daisuke was sitting on a bench, back to back with Hikari, talking as they waited for me.
"There she is!" Hikari grinned. "Your hair looks amazing!" I bit my lip, trying not to smile as she leapt through the air and came to play with my hair. Daisuke whipped around in his seat and smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back then. Every time he looked at me my heart tugged and warmed up, wiping away any fear or sadness I had. He winked to me and then jumped to his feet.
"You look awesome." He said. "Now can we please go get that video game?"
Hikari laughed, "Fine, let's go get your silly game. But then you have to come clothes shopping with us."
"Do I have to?" He groaned.
Hikari nodded simply. Hikari loved shopping as much as anyone else, I didn't like it so much, but she was good at it, and I needed new clothes. I felt bad for calling her from America to help me shop, but she was always happy to help, and I missed seeing her all the time... it seemed kind of selfish and... well, it was.
As we were walking towards Daisuke's store we passed a woman carrying a large load of groceries. She smiled kindly at us so I smiled back, but as she was passing us she dropped a few cans of food.
I moved quickly and picked them both up, and chased after her.
"Here ma'am. You dropped these." I smiled at her as she thanked me with much enthusiasm. I'd been getting so used to doing nice things and smiling instead of walking around glaring while trying to destroy everything. These good deeds at first seemed like such a chore, but I honestly thought I was getting the hang of being nice now. Which was a relief—I hated the old me... and the others should have too. But for some reason they didn't... I hoped they'd like this me too.
I ran back to the others and slipped my hand into Daisuke's. He looked to me shocked, he knew I didn't really like public displays of affection.
"Where did you go?" He asked me.
"Oh you know," I said, with a wave of my hand, "Just had to beat off a rabid dragon. No big deal." Daisuke laughed at me and rolled his eyes.
"Oh the sarcasm again?" He asked, "I can play that game too."
"Oh I'm well aware of your high levels of sarcasm Daisuke." I told him with a wink. The three of us walked toward Daisuke's gaming store where he ran in alone as the two of us waited by the door. I knew it wouldn't take long. He knew his way around that place as well as Takeru knew his way around the candy store.
I was watching the people walk by as Hikari started telling me in great detail about how her best friend was running around the globe with some French girl. I'd heard the story at the same time as her, she didn't need to keep bringing it up, but I supposed it always got longer with each telling, and I wasn't sure if Takeru was actually telling her things that she could add, or if Hikari herself was just embellishing the story.
The people walking by were more interesting than the story in any case, having heard it multiple times. There were adorable children who wanted everything they saw, but each of them left with a saddened face, Christmas was just a couple months ago, their birthdays would be coming up I hoped. They would get something nice then.
Then I saw someone walking tall and proud, his hands in the pocket of his white jeans as his scarf hung low, past his sleek blazer, and atop his head was a mop of messy white hair.
"Hey..." I said as I watched him walk past, "Isn't that Neo?"
Hikari stopped telling her story and looked toward him with a nod. "Yeah it is." She waved to him rather animatedly but he didn't see, "Hey Neo!" She shouted. Neo jumped in surprise and turned to us with a smile. He strode across the hallway toward us, almost bumping into an old lady.
"I'm so sorry!" He said, patting her on the shoulders as he slipped past and toward us where he and Hikari burst out laughing. "I almost ran her over!"
"She's fine," Hikari insisted, watching her go. "So what are you doing here?"
"Shopping for Rei's birthday." Neo admitted slowly.
"Isn't that in May?" Hikari asked suspiciously. Neo nodded.
"I'm a failure, I know." He laughed, "It takes me months to find the right present for her. Last year I started in January and I was still late with her gift. I never know what to get her. Everything she's ever wanted is given to her by Mom. Except... walking."
"Neo, Rei loves you," Hikari said, "She'd love anything you give her."
"Exactly." Neo said, "She'll love anything, which is why it's so hard. She can't just love it and pretend it's just something I gave her—which it is. It has to be super special and amazing. Something she'll want to keep forever."
"You're a really great brother." Hikari said with a smile.
"Even better than Taichi?" Neo asked with a nudge of his elbow.
Hikari laughed and shook her head. "I can't say that."
"Alright," He laughed, "Well I'd better go, see you later guys," He shot a smile at me before leaving but I couldn't help but glare. I didn't like him, and I didn't hide that fact even for a moment.
"I don't like him."
"What?" Hikari gasped, "Why? That was so nice and kind of him? Yamato got to you didn't he?" Hikari was sending me a look that I'd never seen etched upon her face. It was... disappointment? I felt so terrible for saying what I had. I didn't want Hikari to be mad at me... I just didn't know what to do—lying was bad. But so was making Hikari mad at me.
"No, Yamato's words are all out of petty spite." I told her simply, hoping she'd understand. "He's just... I can't explain it. I don't like him."
"Okay..." Hikari said, twisting her face up a little, trying to understand as Daisuke hopped between us.
"Special effects like you've never seen before!" He read the back of his game as dramatically as he could, "New characters—new story—new everything! The zombies are still there though. They're not new! And the world still needs you to destroy them!"
"Sounds like loads of fun," Hikari said with a smile as Daisuke hopped onto a nearby bench and held the game into the air.
"Fun?" Daisuke asked, "This is going to be more than fun—it's going to be a very spectacular time of destruction and mayhem!" Daisuke laughed maniacally toward the ceiling and then hopped down excitedly. "Can we go home and play it now?"
"Nope." Hikari said, shaking her head, "We have to shop."
"I promise I'll play with you the moment we get home." I told him with a smile. He wrapped his arms around me and smiled.
"I love you!" I couldn't help but laugh as my face turned red. Suddenly he pulled away. "I thought you were going to camp out with Labramon tonight?"
"He changed his plans." I told him with a sigh.
"Where is he?" Hikari asked, "Don't you usually take him with you during the day?"
"Yeah," I told her with a smile, "Usually. But he doesn't like the mall, too many people stare at him as if he's deranged. He might look like a dog—but he's still pink." Hikari laughed as we hurried toward my favourite clothes store.
"So what have you guys been up to?" Hikari asked, slipping through the aisles toward the section where she knew I'd want to be. "All us Chosen Children have been separated so much in the past few years. I always knew it would happen eventually, but I'm not ready for it. I don't want to grow up yet."
"What do you mean separate?" Daisuke asked.
"Well Willis, Michael and I live in America, and Kurayami is there sometimes too for her dad. Taichi is too busy with work and stuff to hang out with the others, and Mimi has her own restaurant now. Mimi and Taichi used to hang out you know, but I bet they haven't even talked since they got jobs. Jou has a daughter—a lovely one. Miyako and Ken are married and shutting out from everyone, Iori is always secretly busy which I'm starting to get rather curious about, Takeru is travelling the world with his new girlfriend. You know, I'm not sure I like her very much—"
"Yamato's travelling too." Daisuke said, thankfully cutting off yet another one of Hikari's rants about Takeru and his new girlfriend. "Because of his band. Koushiro is still the same though! So am I! Koushiro and I can be buds! And Sora!"
"Sora's always busy trying to create a fashion line." I reminded him.
"So I guess it's just me and Koushiro." Daisuke said awkwardly, "I don't think I've ever had a complete conversation with the guy."
"Exactly." Hikari said, holding up a rather frilly violet top and showing it to me. I shook my head as she continued, "I just don't want everyone to move on. Not yet. I want to stay friends! We've been through so much together, wouldn't you think that would mean something to us? Shouldn't we want to stay friends forever."
"We will." Daisuke insisted.
"I don't mean just getting together once a year to celebrate a random holiday, or just sending cards. I mean actually being friends. I want our children to grow up together."
"Hikari, you're asking a little much..." Daisuke said slowly. "It's not really normal for people to be friends forever."
"Well it should be." Hikari said through gritted teeth as she held up a pair of black leather shoes which I grabbed excitedly, unable to hide the smile on my face. I wanted them so bad! "And I mean—" Hikari stopped talking and pulled her phone out of her pocket suddenly, reading it over. At first her face seemed just totally confused, but as she reread the message again and again she eventually formed a look of panic. She flipped her phone around to let me read it.
Hikari, it's time to fight. Get Willis and whoever else you can and meet at Mimi's restaurant. We have some pretty crazy stuff to tell you... Hurry! – Iori.
"Fighting?" I asked breathily turning to Daisuke as he read it over.
"Sounds awesome!" Daisuke grinned, "Whatever fool has chosen to deal with us digidestined is an idiot. We'll wipe the floor with him!"
Hikari looked excited too—though I knew it wasn't about the fight, it was about the peace the fight would bring. That, and the fact that everyone would be working as a group again.
Hopefully that meant that they could do it without me. I wasn't going to fight. Not ever.
Everyone was sitting together, laughing, but I was sitting off on my own. This was almost a full year after Fanglongmon had died, and there was total peace everywhere... it seemed impossible to have gotten over everything so quickly... and that was why I didn't fit in with them just yet. I wasn't over that. I wasn't over Fanglongmon.
I slowly stood up, unnoticed by the others and I ran, a totally different direction from them. I couldn't be part of their group. I didn't belong with them—I barely knew them. Why had Ken and Miyako invited me to their wedding? I was dreading that experience. I knew I would screw up—or be in the way...
I found myself sitting on a Cliffside, crying, when Shaomon scurried toward me.
"Kurayami!" He gasped, "There you are!" He leapt into my arms and I sighed suddenly. He was so soft and fluffy... and innocent and kind. I didn't deserve him for a partner. "You shouldn't run away from me like that. It's not safe—I could die!" He was joking of course, and I couldn't help but laugh as I wiped my tears.
And so we talked for a bit until I heard the sounds of heavy footsteps and a loud roar. I barely had any warning as I jumped to my feet and spun around. It was a large fallen angel digimon, NeoDevimon. One of the remaining Fallen warriors of Fanglongmon's army. He never did like me—jealous I figured of my ranking in the army.
And now he was getting his revenge as he laughed wickedly. A blast of total dark energy was flying toward me. I couldn't move—I was going to be hit... there wasn't time! Suddenly Shaomon jumped out of my arms and began glowing.
What was this?
Was he finally digivolving?
"Shaomon digivolve to... Labramon!" He landed as a majestic white and pink dog just in time for the attack to strike him. I let a scream of horror escape my mouth as he flew through the air toward me. He was hurt!
I tried to catch him, but the force pushed me backward and I lost my footing, sending both of us toppling backward over the Cliffside. I screamed again, but not for long. I was suddenly wrapped in someone's arms. I opened my eyes and saw Daisuke. And upon closer inspection I saw that he was standing on Aeroveedramon's head. His digimon soared over the edge of the cliff and shot toward NeoDevimon, striking him and killing him easily.
As he turned to dust and data I turned to Labramon who was gasping for breath in my arms...
He almost died that day... if it wasn't for Jou he would have too. And I couldn't let that happen. No more fighting. Ever.
"Come on Kura," Hikari insisted.
"R-right..." I nodded, "Just let me buy these shoes first..."
Koushiro:
Mimi had to be mad at me. That was the only reason I could gather for her to subject me to such torture. Visiting New York should not be as horrible of an experience as it was. But having been dragged out here, against my will, and forced to endure hours of conversing with her mother was making it very hard for me to appreciate the wonders of the city.
The only positive—though admittedly it wasn't a very bright positive—was that I had plenty to occupy my mind, so as to keep me from angering Mrs Tachikawa any further.
The Digital World was in danger. We knew that much. And we also knew that a human was behind this danger. Unfortunately, who was doing it, and how they were accomplishing it were still unknown.
I'd thought about it long into the night, making me groan when the alarm clock that Mrs Tachikawa so sweetly set up for me went off at six in the morning. It was much too early to get up. It was even worse, considering I knew Mimi's alarm wouldn't be going off for another hour at the very least. It was yet another attempt of her mother's to get me alone, and then convince me that I didn't want to be dating her daughter, and therefore should break up with her.
I was fairly positive, that mothers were supposed to want to keep their children from heartbreak, not intentionally cause it. And it wasn't as if I was some hoodlum, running around doing drugs and drinking excessively or riding a motorcycle—Mrs Tachikawa hated those. I was a computer geek. I had a well paying job. It was stable too. I could actually help support her daughter in the future, but I wasn't good enough. And it was because I wasn't an actor—no. It was because I wasn't Michael.
"Good morning Michael," Mrs Tachikawa said in a bright and cheery voice as I slipped into the kitchen for some coffee. I needed caffeine to wake up, so I could think on our problem. It was most unfortunate that she was waiting there for me.
"Oh," she continued, her voice now dripping with distain. "That's right. You're not Michael. You're that annoying kid she used to know."
"I've been dating her for over two and a half years," I told her. "I'm glad to know that you can recognize me."
"You have been dating her awhile," she said sadly. "So you know all about her annoying habits. She won't tell you when she's used the last of the milk."
"I know," I told her dryly. "And if that's the worst you can come up with… I'm not going to lie. There are habits she has that annoy me a little. But she's the one that has them, so I can look past them. It's not my fault that you can't stand me. The feeling is mutual by the way."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," she said, plopping a mug of plain, black coffee in front of me before sitting across from me with a coffee of her own.
I stared down at the rich, dark liquid, and tried desperately to come up with a connection.
This person knew we were looking for them. That much was obvious. We weren't being too subtle about the whole thing. The only problem with it was that they knew too much. They knew when we'd be there. They were getting their information from someone. There was no way for them to always be mysteriously missing whenever we were searching for them. None of the digimon were able to catch sight of them either, so this person knew how to avoid them, and therefore knew their patrol schedules.
They were smart.
And possibly had a source from within.
Suddenly, Iori's skepticism wasn't looking so cynical.
Who was it then? If we knew them though…only one of us had to be connected. That left countless options. Jou and Miyako were tied to Momoe, Chiziru, Mantarou, but they'd been around long before these attacks, and weren't particularly clever—Momoe excluded. Yamato had his three band members, his body guard, that young journalist he thought he might have a chance with. The latter two could potentially be held accountable, if they knew about digimon. Takeru had Catherine now, and she was already an established digimon tamer. There was a chance, however small, that it could be her. And if Takeru actually bothered to attend most of our meetings, I might've put her on a list of suspects. But as he spent most of his time travelling the world, I felt it safe to strike her off of it. Other than Catherine, the only new person he'd started being around, was his grandfather. I didn't know anything of Hikari's new friends and acquaintances. There could be so many suspects that I couldn't include, because I didn't know of their existence.
I had to stick with what I did know then.
Willis was now Michael's brother. Between the two of them, I could only add Tatum, Mrs Kennedy—now Washington—and Michael's father to the list. But I knew they were friendly enough. They could also have countless friends, countless unknowns to fit into my equation. Iori had Natsuni. She was still new enough, just as Tatum was. We didn't know much about her. But Iori was a strict judge of character. I doubted I could truly accuse her. That left Daisuke, Kurayami and Ken. Ken was swamped with school at the police academy no less. I doubted he'd have time to bother any of them with details of the Digital World. Kurayami was adamantly trying to turn over new leaf, and Daisuke was busy with her and the noodle-cart. It would be bad for business if he started regaling tales of his past victories and contemplating his future ones.
But each of them had school or a job which opened new doors still that I could not look into.
Taichi on the other hand… I knew he had Rei. She'd been to the Digital World, or at least remembered the few hours when the worlds were combined. She stood to gain a lot from a plan such as this. Literally. She could stand with the influence of the Digital World.
I couldn't make myself accuse her directly—she was so caring and harmless—but I could discount her either.
"You ready to go?" Taichi asked at the end of our meeting.
"I suppose so," I said, my mind still reeling at the new information I'd been provided, and I was trying to put together a valid argument about why we really did need a representative of both the Dark Digimon and the Holy ones.
"Great," Taichi said happily. "I've got to tell Rei about what Marrow said today. She's gonna get a kick out of it."
"Rei?" I asked. "Won't she wonder about who Marrow is, rather than find the humour in the situation?"
"Naw," Taichi said nonchalantly. "She knows more about my job than I do. I tell her everything. Don't tell Marrow though, he'd be furious ifanotherhuman was in on it."
She had a source. A pretty big one. Taichi wouldn't have known when to shut up. And the sweet persona could in fact just be a carefully created façade in order to attain such knowledge whilst going unnoticed.
But she wasn't the only person that had an in like that. She was one of four at the very least—more if you included Tatum, Natsuni and Momoe, who more than likely already knew as much as we did, due to their close friendships and relationships with our members—that I knew for certain knew something.
Mimi talked about Genki all the time. Not in a way that made me in any way jealous—though I was starting to think that might've been her intention—but a way that made me curious nonetheless.
"I was talking with Genki, you know, about the case," she said one night over dinner. "And he said the most interesting thing. He said that sometimes you have to wait."
"Is it really safe to talk with him about this?" Sora asked nervously.
"I don't see why not. He gave me his background information when I hired him. He's an orphan, and grew up in the system. No one ever adopted him, and then he came to Odaiba after reaching the age of majority. He's a sweet kid," Mimi insisted. "And he's adorable. You should see him when he gets talking about something important—or Yamato. He gets this glint in his eye and this wicked big smile. And he's so enthusiastic. I think he's really pleased that I chose him to confide in over all of my other workers."
"And what did he say?" I asked, though I did find it a bit suspicious that he would provide information on his past without Mimi requesting it. The fact that he was an orphan struck with me though, so I didn't enquire any further.
"He said that, like with animals, this might be something we need to be patient for. We can't just scare them out of hiding. They're avoiding us; they know that we're looking. We have to draw them out, catch them by surprise, and just be patient."
It sounded like he knew way more than he should have about the situation. He knew, even before we did, that they were capable of knowing where we were going to strike. It was suspicious. I cursed myself for not catching it at the time. Mimi must've told him plenty of more recent discoveries by now.
"What are you thinking so hard over?" Mrs Tachikawa demanded to know. "Is it about how best to break up with my daughter? Because I actually have a list that I feel is quite thorough. You could take a look if you'd like."
"I love your daughter," I told her quickly. "I'm trying to protect her actually."
"She's in no need of protection," she said. "She's a strong girl that will get over the heartbreak really quickly, and move on to a new man, a movie star this time."
"It's a Digital matter," I said offhandedly. If it was Genki, how could I possibly break it to her? She was so dependent on him.
"Now don't you go involving my daughter with any more dangerous battles," she said strictly. "I brought her to New York to get her away from those monsters. I don't want her to fight."
"She doesn't like fighting really," I said. "So I'll do everything I can to make sure she won't have to. But it's her choice. If it comes to down to it, and she's willing, I won't stop her."
"That's better than nothing I suppose," Mrs Tachikawa drawled. "Not that I can actually take your word on it."
"Who's down there?" Mimi called from the top of the stairs, her voice heavy from sleep.
"Go back to bed darling," her mother replied. "Kizmo and I are just having a chat!"
Kizmo?
"Koushiro's down there?" Mimi asked hurriedly. Her voice was more alert now. "With you? And you're alone? That's wonderful!"
I could hear her running down the stairs with a spring in her step.
"Is it though?" her mother asked with distain.
"You're finally getting along," Mimi cheered, bursting into the kitchen.
"If we were getting along," I supplied. "She would perhaps know my name. She's mistaken it twice already this morning."
"You didn't have to come," Mrs Tachikawa told me.
"I didn't want to," I told her with forced charm.
"This is why you're not good for each other," she told me. "She's too vibrant and you're disrespectful."
"And yet you want me to break up with her," I commented.
"Don't be silly," Mimi told me, planting a swift kiss on my cheek. "Momma loves you. Don't you Mamma?"
"With all the world," Mrs Tachikawa deadpanned.
"See?" Mimi said happily. "Now I'm going to throw together some breakfast. I hope your both hungry. Is Daddy still asleep?"
"Yes, I didn't want to ruin his sleep schedule," Mrs Tachikawa said, sending me a wicked smile. I forced back a shudder, and tried to resist putting her on the suspect list out of spite.
But there were others, as loath I was to include them. My newly discovered cousin was one of them. He was an odd fellow. He talked to himself almost as often he did to me. He referred to himself in third person a lot as well—"Who are you talking about?" I'd ask. "Oh, sorry, I mean me," he reply unconvincingly—as if he felt he were two distinct people. And then there was Pie-Pie. His best friend who'd visited only once. It was an awful nickname, yet he refused to share his real name. Gansuko didn't particularly seem keen on sharing anything, now that I thought about it. But he was always eager to learn something new about the Digital World. And I'd been hesitant at first, but he was so insistent, and it did help me.
"It helps to talk about things," Gansuko told me once, while he was visiting. He was sitting on my old bed, leaning against the wall in my childhood room at my parents' house.
"Sorry," I told him, feeling bad for ignoring him. I'd been so caught up with this terrorism issue that I'd been neglecting my guest. My only living blood relative.
"You dwell in your thoughts, don't you?" he asked. "I used to. But I found that talking helps things along. You must find someone you trust inexplicably. They will be able to help, even if they can only listen. Speaking to an outside source can clear up whatever is muddled in your own mind."
"And you do this?" I asked.
"All the time," he told me. "You can trust me to help you, I do."
"You trust me? Or yourself?" I questioned.
"Myself," he said tilting his head. "I trust no one more. I am a very good listener. Sometimes I can even respond."
"O-okay," I said, finding him stranger by the second.
"Is this a big problem?" he asked. "About your friend, whom you've yet to name?"
He was talking about Tentomon. I couldn't tell him about the Digital World, fearing his reaction, but he seemed open to learning. And I did need help.
"Tentomon," I finally said, deciding to throw caution to the wind for once. "And it does involve him. His whole world actually."
"Ah, he is from another world," Gansuko said with a smile and a glint in his eye. "Such as the worlds mentioned in Norse Mythology?"
"A lot like that, yes," I told him, before proceeding to inform him of my issue in its entirety.
Yes. He was definitely a suspect too. He was entirely too eager to learn of this, and asked too many—and too specific—questions for comfort. I shouldn't have caved. But it didclear my head enough for me to see things as they were.
I'd witnessed one other moment, one that drew my attention more than the rest, though it shouldn't. It wasn't nearly as obvious as the others.
Sora was wound tightly that night. Stress was getting to her. Between her designing and our search of the Digital World, there wasn't much time for her to relax. Neo was with her, but she wasn't acting in a way that was normal for when he was.
"What do you want to do?" Neo asked her. So I stuck around, ready to deflect whatever snappish remark she was bound to make. I didn't want him leaving her simply because she was stressed.
"Nothing," she said immediately. I was right. She snapped at him. For his part though, he didn't flinch or move away. "Sorry," she said, before I needed to fix it for her—not that I would've done that great of a job, but she would've appreciated my trying. "I'm just freaking out over some stuff. Like my deadlines. They're coming up and I haven't finished even one design!"
"I don't like seeing you so tense Sora," he said, standing behind her, while she sat on the couch. He reached down and started massaging her shoulders. "It can't be healthy. Is this about your top secret mission?"
Apparently he knew about that. Sora clearly showed more restraint than I did.
"Yeah," she admitted, relaxing completely into his touch. "We're not getting anywhere."
"Perhaps you don't need to," he decided.
"What?" Sora gasped, pulling away from his hands. "Of course we need to. I know I haven't exactly explained what it is, because I can't, but you are entirely wrong."
"Am I though?" he asked with a shrug, walking around the couch and sitting down next to her. "Have you thought ofwhythese 'people' are doing what they're doing? What is their motivation? Maybe they're doing something worthwhile, but you can't see it yet."
"No," Sora insisted. "They're not. What they're doing is horrible, and they need to be stopped."
"Think about it," Neo said. "Think about it from their point of view. You might surprise yourself."
I left at that point, not particularly wanting to stick around while they started kissing. I didn't really need to know about that, and Sora didn't seem so wound up anymore at least.
Was it enough though, to conclude he was the mastermind? Not on its own. And Sora believed in him so firmly. She cared so much about him, and he made her happy. That was important to me, but something Taichi said once rung through my mind each time I chose to move on to another suspect.
"It's not Neo. It can't be. Rei would know. She tells him everything. He gives her good advice."
She tells him everything. Everything. Taichi was already telling her everything we ever learned about the case. If she went ahead and told Neo everything, in exchange for advice on the matter…
Then, as Taichi would say, we were screwed.
"Could I use your computer?" I asked suddenly, pushing my—now empty—coffee mug away.
"Koushiro," Mimi gasped. "I told you this was for bonding. You're not spending our vacation on the internet."
"I'm not," I said urgently. "But I figured it out. I know who's behind it. I need to tell Taichi."
"If my company isn't enough for him, darling," Mrs Tachikawa said snootily. "Then perhaps you should find another man, preferably an actor, for the next time you decide to bring someone home with you?"
"Shut up mother," Mimi told her. "I'm not doing this today. I love Koushiro, not Michael. Get over it."
"I won't," Mrs Tachikawa said firmly.
"This bickering is quite lovely," I told them. "I'll be using your computer to transfer myself across the world. I'll probably be back in time for lunch."
"You're not going without me," Mimi insisted.
"Then hurry up," I said quickly. "The meeting has already started."
She grabbed my hand and dragged me through the kitchen towards the home office. I had the computer up and running in record time, and we were well on our way to the Digital World in seconds. It took us longer than I wanted to travel from the Continent of Server to File Island, but we made it with a little help from MegaKabuterimon. I thanked him hastily, and we burst through the computer screen back at Mimi's restaurant.
"Koushiro, Mimi?" Sora questioned. "I didn't think you were coming."
"We weren't," I told her simply. "But I've been running over the facts. I think I can pinpoint the mastermind behind our current issues."
"Great," Daisuke said. "Because Iori and some others have just spotted him."
"Really?" Mimi asked excitedly. "See we didn't need to come at all. Now let's hurry back before my mother burns the house down trying to finish what I started cooking."
"Are you sure he's the leader?" I insisted. "Because there could be more than one. There often is."
"You just want to say you figured it out first," Ken said rolling his eyes. "You aren't happy finding things out second hand."
"That is partially true," I allowed—though I spared him a glare for good measure. "But it is not the case today. This is an important matter, and I do not wish for us to take the easy route only to have it turn out incorrect. We are talking about the safety of the Digital World, and quite probably Earth as well."
"Koushiro?" Sora asked.
"And I didn't think of it first, either," I continued. "Yamato did. Sorry Sora," I said with a wince. "But according to my research, it's Neo."
Kurayami:
"Koushiro?" Sora questioned, her voice fading thin as Yamato formed a grin on his face that he quickly hid from Sora.
Koushiro nodded and created total silence in the meeting.
Iori was standing with Ken and Michael at the edge of the table staring toward Koushiro and Mimi who had interrupted their retelling of their trip to the digital world. Ken was glaring at Koushiro, but Iori seemed willing to listen.
Miyako was sitting next to Daisuke staring down at the table, not paying much attention it seemed as Daisuke, sitting rather close to me, held my hand tightly. Taichi was sitting at the other end of the table between Yamato and Sora, and all three of them were watching the two newcomers with much interest. And lastly, Hikari and Jou sat at the end of the table, trying to pay attention to the two people standing directly behind them.
"Sora, I'm sorry." Koushiro whispered.
"I'm not." Mimi said pointedly. "I knew it was Neo all along." No one believed her of course, as far as I was concerned, the only person who truly blamed Neo was Yamato himself.
"Well, why do you think that it is him?" Sora asked, "Do you have any proof?"
"I don't necessarily have actual, solid proof, no." Koushiro said slowly.
"See?" Sora said with a wave of her hand. "It's not proven. I would have thought that you would have more faith in me Koushiro..."
"We flew across the Digital Ocean and you don't even have proof?" Mimi growled, squeezing Koushiro's arms tightly. "Couldn't you have just called them?"
"I feel that any serious matters should be dealt with in person to avoid any conflict or message intercepting." Koushiro said, wincing at his girlfriends vice grip on his arm.
"Why did you blame him then?" Yamato asked, looking a little put out that Neo wasn't under the spotlight as much. I couldn't blame him. There was just something about Neo that irked me. He wasn't a bad person, or so it seemed anyway, but there was more to him than he was showing, and to me, that was lying. Lying was the gateway for me, and so who knows? He could have been evil...
"Taichi is the only one other than myself who knows everything that goes on." Koushiro explained slowly, "The only other one of us who knows all the information and thus holds all the cards."
"Me too!" Sora smiled, raising her hand, "I listen in on the meetings."
Koushiro looked to her slowly and then nodded, "Okay, Sora too." He cleared his throat, "Taichi tells Rei everything that goes on in those meetings. And Rei is Neo's brother. She tells him everything."
"She wouldn't tell him the things about the meeting!" Taichi shot quickly.
"You said it yourself Taichi." Koushiro insisted, "She tells him everything."
Koushiro said the final word with so much certainty and force that the entire room fell silent, even Taichi and Daisuke fell silent for the time being.
"But enough of that," Koushiro said, looking toward Iori and Ken, "What were you two saying?"
"Well," Ken said, "Before you rudely interrupted..."
Iori elbowed Ken and then cut across him, "Michael wanted to prove that it wasn't him, so we went to the Digital World and Betamon showed us this Coliseum where the terrorists are holding their digimon."
Michael took over from there, "Then we were spotted and attacked by someone. But it wasn't Neo. This person was blonde and wore a weird mask to hide his face. And he had a partner." Michael finished, "And turns out it wasn't me."
"I already apologized." Iori defended, weakening under Michael's smirk.
"Hm..." Koushiro hummed to himself as he thought.
"Perhaps Koushiro is right then?" Jou asked, "Maybe it is more than one person?"
"You really think that makes sense?" Ken asked, "We can't really assume that more than one person wants to take over the Digital World at once..."
"Why not?" Jou asked, "Kurayami's will was taken by Fanglongmon. Perhaps there is another digimon out there who can control the will of humans. Maybe he's doing that to a handful of them."
There was another short lived silence, overshadowed by the swinging of a door. "I've got your food!" It was Genki, Mimi's favourite employee. He shuffled toward the table with a large tray of the French Fries that Taichi had hastily ordered upon our arrival.
Daisuke and Taichi immediately began eating the food as Koushiro sent Genki a look that said "leave now."
"I think you're thinking too much Jou." Ken said slowly, "Fanglongmon was the God of the Digital World. We defeated him. What other digimon would be able to do something so powerful and insane?"
Everyone turned to me suddenly. Except Miyako of course who was still staring down.
"Kurayami," Jou said in a voice that reminded me of my therapist. He was calm and airy, but weirdly comforting. "Do you know of any other digimon that might have been in league with Fanglongmon? Do you know anyone else that could be a suspect?"
I wasn't sure... I couldn't remember much from when I was under his control. That was the work of my therapist of course. He wanted me to forget all the bad things so we could work them out one at a time... but I did have faint memories of Fanglongmon trying to comfort me... memories of him protecting me from harm, which I now realized was Gennai's people... I remembered that battle so well. So many men had died... so many men I thought had been out to kill me...
But why was Fanglongmon doing what he was doing? I knew that was where I had to look. I had to think about that...
Fanglongmon wanted to take over the Digital World... but he wasn't doing it alone. There were three of them. Dragomon was one of them... Fanglongmon was another... and the third... I couldn't remember the third...
But I listened to one of their meetings once... they weren't in charge... none of them were. It was someone else...
"Fanglongmon was taking orders from someone else." I blurted suddenly, letting my eyes fly open.
The others just stared at me expecting me to come out with more random revelations, or information, but I couldn't. That's all I had...
"Who?" Yamato prodded.
"I don't know." I told them. "I remember hearing his voice. But I don't remember anything more about him." The others looked put out, of course... but even as I pushed further into my mind I had nothing... I didn't have any more information on the subject.
"Well..." Taichi said slowly, "That would have been nice to know about three years ago."
"Sorry..." I muttered.
"Don't be too hard on her." Iori said, moving to take his seat next to me. "She's been through a lot."
Taichi shrugged and then stood up, making room for Mimi and Koushiro to sit down. Ken finally sat down on the other end of the table next to Miyako.
"This is a lot of information guys," Taichi said slowly. "Give me a minute to register it all..." he cleared his throat and then began speaking aloud. "Neo could be the culprit—but the one Iori saw was blonde. And apparently there is a new potential threat that has to do with Fanglongmon."
"We have no proof that the new threat has anything to do with the terrorists." Koushiro said. "So let's put this fact on the shelf for now."
I tensed up at how loosely and openly they were talking about him. Whoever he was... I couldn't remember anything—but I did know that Fanglongmon was scared of him. And anyone that could frighten Fanglongmon certainly frightened me.
I caught Hikari's eyes and she smiled comfortingly, noticing my fear as Iori grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I smiled at him and then turned back to Taichi.
"So what do we do?" Taichi asked. "We can't just go to Neo without solid proof that he's evil. If we tell him he's taking over the Digital World he won't admit to it, and if he doesn't then we don't know."
"And if he is," Koushiro said, "Then when he knows that we know he will be better at hiding it. And then we'll never know."
"Why don't we just ask him?" Sora said, "He's an honest person. He won't lie to me."
"You really think your boyfriend would admit to taking over a different world?" Mimi asked, "You're crazy Sora."
"Well who were the other culprits?" Sora asked. "Everyone who knows anything, right? So it could be... Kurayami's therapist? It could be Takerus' girlfriend Catherine—or, it could even be one of us."
"We would know if it was one of us." Mimi said with a roll of her eyes. "One of us would come clean by now. We'd remember."
"What if—"
"It could be me." Miyako muttered, causing everyone to look at her. "It... It could be me! I don't remember things sometimes. I've been blacking out!"
"Miyako," Ken said soothingly, taking her hand only for her to pull it back, "The boy we saw had blonde hair."
"Ken," Miyako said, "Do you remember when you were the Digimon Kaiser, and you put those damned glasses on? Your entire appearance changed. You said the boy you saw was wearing a mask. What if that's me? What if the mask changed my appearance?"
"Miyako—" Ken tried, but Miyako had already jumped to her feet and stormed toward the door, pushing past Genki on her way out. Ken and Daisuke hurried to their feet to chase after her.
There was total silence again as we turned to Taichi. "What do we do then?"
"What if Miyako is right?" Jou asked, "What if the mask does change appearances?"
"So you're blaming your own sister now?" Sora growled.
"No..." Jou said, "I'm blaming Neo. That mask could make him look like the blonde boy they saw. It could all be Neo. All the confusing tales and facts—they could all just point to Neo."
"Neo doesn't even know about digimon." Sora argued.
"Has he ever said that he doesn't?" Jou asked.
"No—because he doesn't know what they are!" Sora said loudly, "How can he tell me he doesn't know what they are if he... doesn't know what they are?"
"Sora," Jou said calmly, "I need you to calm down... I'm not blaming you. I'm potentially blaming Neo. Don't do anything rash until we come up with a plan. But we won't do anything until we truly know if it is him or not."
"Okay." Sora nodded, relaxing a little, "Thank you."
"So whose gonna ask him?" Taichi asked.
The meeting ended only ten minutes later after much yelling, eventually stopping with Daisuke poking his head back in the door stating that he was going to walk with Miyako and Ken back to their apartment and that he'd be back. The final words of the meeting itself were spoken by Koushiro who said with a sense of finality, "Neo may or may not be the culprit. But no one in this room has the permission to act upon this notion, or ask him about it until further notice and consideration. Now all of you leave so I can have some time to think."
And so that's what we did. Mimi, Iori, Hikari and I stepped into the kitchen where Genki was cooking as Yamato left with Jou, Sora and Taichi.
"I think everyone is being too serious about this." Iori said quietly, "I mean, I know it's a serious matter, but everyone is accusing each other and it's not okay anymore. We don't know that anyone of us is leaking information to the wrong people. Maybe it's just some random person with a digivice who happens to be smart."
"Kind of like Ken?" Hikari asked.
"Exactly." Iori said.
"That's true," Mimi said, "None of us were leaking information to him, he just knew everything because of the dark spore. There really is no need to blame anyone."
"I'm glad you see my point." He said.
"I still blame Neo though." She laughed.
"Me too." I admitted finally. "He just seems like the problem. Koushiro had lots of good points about why it would be him... and as we all know, Sora has a tendency to drive boys off the dark side."
"She made Taichi crazy," Hikari pointed out, "Yamato joined Fanglongmon... and Kiyoshi turned from a very nice boy to someone who would cheat on her... I guess you have a point."
"None of you see my point though." Iori sighed.
"You're all too focused." Genki said without looking up, drawing each of our attention. "You're looking at all the wrong things. Look at a bigger picture instead of the box that Koushiro has handed you. He may be a smart, good looking guy, but he doesn't necessarily always have to be correct. Maybe he's missing something that all of you should be seeing."
Genki seemed mysterious, and kind of strange, but the way he was talking was so raw and honest... I knew I could trust him at that moment.
Finally he looked toward us and suddenly smiled. "Hello!" His eyes were directly placed upon Hikari. "You're quite gorgeous." He said simply.
Hikari's face flushed and she smiled, "T-thank you..."
"You are quite welcome," He winked. He turned back to his cooking leaving us with a very flustered Hikari.
Mimi giggled and patted Hikari on the shoulder. "Well, I have to get to work on a new menu since everyone hates my octopus salad... so I'll see you guys later, okay?"
"Okay Mimi," Iori smiled, taking both Hikari's hand and my own and leading us toward her office. I caught a glimpse of Koushiro on my way past as he typed away on his new laptop, a very concentrated look in his eyes, and there was a black haired boy standing over his shoulder that I didn't recognize. He looked up to me slowly and when I blinked he was gone.
"Where are we going?" Hikari asked as Iori pushed open the door and turned on Mimi's computer.
"Well," Iori said, "I know it's late, but I'm not done searching the Digital World just yet."
"Why?" I asked him, "You almost died last time—you said it yourself."
"But this time I know what I'm looking for." He said. "We now have a list of culprits. It could be any of them. But what are they doing? What do they want with the digimon and the Digital World? I want to find out."
He turned toward the computer and raised his digivice, and before either Hikari or I could say no he had dragged us along, through the computer.
When we landed and the light faded my first thought was that we were in a different world. It couldn't be the Digital World... because... it just wasn't right. There was nothing here anymore. The trees were gone... the lakes were gone—the sky was gone. Everything was gone, replaced by a set of Digital Gridlines tracking over the world in an endless state.
In the distance I could see a small village though. The buildings were still intact, and as I looked around I began to see that the digimon themselves were as well.
"Well," Iori said nervously, "I think we know what their evil plan was..."
I looked to Hikari who was grinning like a mad-woman. "What are you so happy about?" I asked her.
"Well... remember how I said we'd all been separating?" She asked, "Well... looks like we get to come together one last time!" She clapped her hands together.
"Your priorities concern me." Iori scoffed as I rolled my eyes.
Next on Digimon Adventure 05:After the short hiatus, we'll be back with another five-character arc opener. Stay tuned!