A/N- Whee! College is hard ;( but fun at the same time. Least I still have FanFiction to keep me sane. Anyway here ya go!
The moons were shining brightly over their heads as they listened to the crackling of the fire. It had been two days since Labimon had defeated Snimon, and two days since Lianamon had collapsed. Takuya was poking at the fire with a long stick, his boredom written clearly on his forehead. JP and Tommy were fast asleep on a bed of leaves, Koji was munching on a meat apple and Koichi and Zoe were busy tending to Lianamon's and Perromon's injuries. Perromon had been hurt badly, and kept slipping in and out of sleep. But, Lianamon hadn't woken up since she had collapsed.
"Hey Zoe," Koichi whispered so only she could hear him. "I don't understand…why did she collapse like that? I thought she would have woken up by now."
Zoe gripped Koichi's hand reassuringly and gave him a tired smile. Her face was a little pale and she hadn't completely recovered from her sudden illness, but she refused to rest until Perromon was tended to. "I don't know Koichi," she admitted. "I'm worried too. For both of them. But, they're both strong and they'll pull through. "
Koichi didn't respond he only picked up the damp rag that sat at his side and pressed it to his partner's face. Lianamon groaned softly, but didn't wake up. Worry was hovering over Koichi's heart so much that it hurt to breathe. If only he were stronger, maybe she wouldn't be like this.
"Zoe? Koichi?" Zoe and Koichi looked up to meet Koji's eyes. His voice was serious, but his eyes were gentle. "We can't stay in one place much longer. It's not safe. I think we should start moving tomorrow."
"Are you dense Koji!"
Zoe looked up in alarm to see Takuya spring to his feet, his fists clenched in anger. Ever since Zoe had fallen ill Takuya's patience was unusually short. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. Zoe hated this side of him; it made everyone feel like they couldn't speak up for themselves. The loud rustling of leaves told Zoe that Takuya's little outburst had woken up JP and Tommy. She looked back in time to see Takuya stomp until he was face to face with Koji.
"We're in no condition to move," Takuya yelled. "We have two unconscious digimon and a sick friend! How can you even think of moving! We have to wait until the three of them are well!"
"Who knows how long it'll take for them to recover!" Koji yelled back. "We'll never find the rest of our digimon partners if we hide in the woods like this!"
Takuya's patience had once again been pushed to its limits. Grabbing Koji by his shirt collar he said quietly, "we're not moving. That's final."
"Koji is right Takuya."
"Perromon!" Zoe cried in relief. "How are you feeling?"
Perromon struggled to a sitting position and locked gazes with Takuya. "We can't afford to wait any longer. You need to find your partner soon. We'll be fine."
"What about Lianamon!" Takuya demanded. "She's unconscious. Do you seriously expect her to start moving on?"
"I'll carry her," Koichi decided.
"Well what about you Perromon? Or Zoe? You're hurt and Zoe is sick!"
"I'm fine Takuya," Zoe insisted. "I'll feel even better when we find the other digimon."
"Yeah Tacky," JP yawned. "In case you haven't noticed only two of us have digimon, and they're both out of the game for a while."
"Hey I can fight," Perromon growled, but winced when she tried to stand.
"Exactly my point," JP said. "We can't let them push themselves to exhaustion. Now if we're moving on tomorrow I want to sleep." To prove his point he settled back on his leaf bed and quickly fell back asleep.
"Takuya," Zoe said firmly. Takuya forced himself to look at her; her eyes were kind but fierce at the same time. "Perromon and I are fine. We'll manage." Sharing a sad glance with Perromon she added, "You can't put my safety above the groups. You know Koji is right, we can't stay in one place much longer."
Takuya grunted his anger at Zoe. He was only thinking of her. What gave her the right to lecture him like that? "Fine," he concluded. "We'll move first thing. And since you're so determined to move Zoe we won't stop all day even if you collapse on the ground," he spat. Determined to not continue on with the conversation he walked to the other side of the fire and lay down to sleep.
Zoe felt tears start to gather behind her eyes, but she refused to let them run down his face. Takuya won't have the luxury of knowing he got to me, she thought sadly. I won't stop sickness or no sickness. Perromon pressed her warm side against Zoe in an attempt to comfort her friend, but she couldn't find any words to say. Koji and Koichi exchanged looks before settling down for the night. Soon only Zoe and Perromon were the only ones left awake in the forest.
"Perromon?"
"Yes Zoe?"
"Do you think Takuya really doesn't care?" Her tears finally escaped her and they started to run down her face. "He has never talked to me like that before. Was I wrong to side with Koji?"
"Zoe," Perromon began carefully. "Takuya cares about you very much. You can't let what he said get to you. He was wrong, but the reason he was so determined to win even though he knew he was wrong was because he's so worried about you."
Zoe folded her hands on her lap and stared at them for a few moments. Sighing she said, "I know he cares Perromon. But, sometimes he scares me…"
Perromon tilted her head in confusion. "Why does he scare you?" she asked.
"He doesn't think about anything else if I'm in trouble. I love that he cares so much, but Perromon the way he gets so easily fired up…I fear the fire sometimes." Zoe's bottom lip started to tremble.
Perromon sighed and laid down, sleep starting to overwhelm her once again. "Takuya cares about you very much Zoe," she repeated. "I may have not known you for very long, but that much I can tell. He'll cool off, don't you worry. Now sleep we have an early morning." Stretching her jaws in a big yawn, Perromon laid her head on her paws and quickly fell asleep.
Zoe smiled at Perromon and started absentmindedly stroking her behind her ears. The fire had died and smoke was rising from it by the time she had fallen asleep. Zoe breathed deeply as she dreamed of soaring on the wind, and of Takuya keeping her warm.
A/N- Just a little drama filler chapter. I'm trying to make more room for writing, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Anyway coming up Tommy's partner! Review or you don't find out ;p