Chapter 21
Protection Plan
Sunlight once again poured in through the windows of the Kamiya's apartment signifying that the long night, longer for some than others had come to an end and a new day was beginning.
This morning Kari was the first to rise, she did so with a little yawn and a delicate stretch. Kari then sat up and did her best to slip over the edge of her bed and drop to the floor below without making a sound. As soon as her feet hit the floor she was greeted by a voice that made her heart beat faster.
"Good morning Kari." Takuya yawned.
Kari slowly turned around to see Takuya lying on the bed with his hands behind his head quietly taking in the beautiful sunrise.
"Good morning to you too, Takuya. Did you sleep well?" Kari asked as she took a seat on the bed next to Takuya. He seemed to be enjoying the sunrise so she wanted to enjoy it with him.
"I slept pretty well but I don't really remember falling asleep or how I got in here." Takuya shrugged.
"Same here." Kari laughed.
"You two feel asleep in the living room so Tai carried both of you in here so you could sleep in peace." Gatomon answered the two in-between her own morning stretches.
"That was nice of him." Kari smiled.
"…" Takuya said nothing and continued to watch the sunrise. If you paid closer attention you could see hints of embarrassment in his facial features.
"Don't you think that was nice of my brother to do that?" Kari nudged Takuya in the stomach wondering why he hadn't said anything about it.
"I guess so…" Takuya mumbled after Kari's prodding.
"What's with that reply?" Kari asked a little concerned about the boy's attitude.
"Well it's just that I'm only two years younger than your brother and that's twice in just a few days he's had to carry me somewhere in his arms after I passed out." Takuya moaned.
"Hehehe." Kari quietly giggled, entertained by his complaint.
"It's not funny. This isn't how guys are supposed to form friendships with each other." Takuya complained with a mixture of depression and sarcasm.
"Hahaha." Unable to hold back Kari burst out laughing.
"How can you just laugh at my emotional suffering like that?" Takuya asked mockingly.
A sarcastic "Wussy" was Kari's only response.
"Ohh, that's nice." Takuya laughed.
With that the two of them began to laugh, unable to continue with the little back and forth routine they had fallen into. The stress from the day before, which hadn't gone away with a good night's sleep, began to slip away while the two laughed.
As the laughter died down, the two returned to watching the Sun in its final few minutes of rising over the horizon. Takuya's attention however was drawn away from the window when a shimmer from his side caught his attention. It hadn't come from any of the reflective surfaces in the room but had instead come from the sunlight illuminating Kari's silky brown hair. Light seemed to travel along each soft strand and sparkle at the tips. This made her face glow beautifully.
Takuya continued to gaze at her hoping that Kari wouldn't turn to look at him. If she did she'd see him staring at her face, which he doubted he'd be able to look away from even if she did spot him looking.
Soon the Sun finally rose above the horizon replacing the soothing light of dawn with the bright light of the day. Takuya who was finally able to break her unintentional control over him sat up and began to do his own stretches to wake his body up after a long sleep. After he finished the two agreed that it was time for breakfast so they left the bedroom; leaving Gatomon to get some more sleep.
When they entered the living room they found Tai still asleep on the couch in a position that could only be described as uncomfortable. Kari made her way to his side and prepared to wake he older sibling up; however that was before Takuya stopped her.
"He still looks pretty tired. We should probably let him sleep some more." Takuya suggested as he looked Tai over. Takuya didn't want to say anything to Kari until he heard from Tai but he was sure that Tai had been worn-out by a fight; his warrior instincts told him so.
"Your right, but that means we can't cook anything in the kitchen." Kari whispered.
"Good point." Takuya replied in a whisper.
"I guess we could find a place to eat breakfast out. Like a café or a morning diner." Kari added quietly.
With a nodded from Takuya they grabbed their coats and Kari made sure to grab some of the money that her parents had left Tai and her to spend on food while they were out of town. Soon the two were out the door and off to a nice breakfast at the same café they had eaten at with Chikao and his mother.
After an early morning walk they arrived at the café and placed an order. As the two waited for their meals to arrive they talked about things of no real importance, but to them each word was as valuable as the one that had come before it.
For Kari she felt completely free to do or say whatever she wanted when she was with Takuya. Somehow she knew he wouldn't judge her or make her regret telling him something. But most importantly deep down she felt that he would listen to the real her even if what she said wasn't perfect, nice, positive, or reserved. She knew that she could drop all her fears and fronts when she was with him and he would still accept her; she had already said some pretty out of character things when she was around Takuya. Even though Kari felt these things so strongly she still hid a part of herself from view, so much so that she didn't even realize that part existed.
Takuya on the other hand had never felt this relaxed when talking to someone. It was true that he wasn't the type to act differently than his personality dictated or tense-up during a conversation, but this felt different somehow. When he was with her he felt awash in a gentle aura that eased his troubled mind and body. She allowed him to say and think things he normally wouldn't or share due to his position as leader. But something about talking with her scared Takuya in the back of his mind; he also worried about how much she could distract him with her mere presence. He knew something was going to change because of her; this made him hide something deep within his subconscious.
The two were moving towards something great together; but for now they were just a boy and a girl having a friendly chat during breakfast.
"Then we had to…" Kari trailed off noticing that Takuya seemed distracted by something over her shoulder. So much for that part about him always listening to her.
While Kari was talking Takuya still keep his highly trained senses active and on the lookout for things of interest. That's when he had noticed the police car that had driven by; well as it drove by for the seventh time since he had first noticed it. If Takuya was right that meant it was performing sweeps of the area and not just patrolling. The incident with Darcmon could have pulled this much attention; but it was unlikely for the level of the destruction they had caused.
"Something else most have happened." Takuya thought out loud.
"What must have happened?" Kari asked unsure of whether he was talking to her or not.
"By now the police should have been finished checking the area surrounding the scene, but it seems that instead of wrapping up they've increased the search radius all the way out to here." Takuya replied as his eye's followed the police car until it turned a corner.
"But weren't we only able to eat here yesterday because it was far outside the police's containment area?" Kari stated.
"Yes, which is why I think something else must have happened. Something much bigger than a few tiny blast craters" Takuya rejoined as he finished his meal.
"Should we check it out?" Kari asked noticing that Takuya was very interested in the current situation.
"Yeah, it could be important." Takuya replied as Kari stood up and went in to pay the bill. Watching her Takuya felt a pang of regret and embarrassment. He felt that he should be the one paying for his and her food, but without money from this world it was a moot point.
Two hours later Takuya and Kari walked back in through the front door of the Kamiya apartment and were greeted by Tai who had just stepped out of the shower.
"Hey you two. Where'd you go so early in the morning?"
Unless Takuya was misreading Tai's face and vocal expressions he was sure that Tai seemed worried that they were gone and relieved to have them back home. Tai's reaction only helped confirm what Takuya had expected earlier.
Two hours ago Kari and Takuya had decided to investigate the reason for the increased police presence when they were stopped by a police barricade keeping them a couple hundred feet from the park. Takuya had tried to get some information out of one of the officers watching the barricade without raising any suspicions; but after a few minutes the officer began to ask his own questions so Takuya stopped trying.
These were the times that he really missed Koji. Takuya had always been really good at reading people and figuring out what they were thinking or feeling; but getting important or secret information out of people was difficult for him. Koji on the other hand might not have been the best at dealing with social situations or people, but he was the master of putting things together and getting to the truth of the matter. He would have been able to get all the information out of the police they needed if he had been there.
After being turned away from a few other police barriers they had decided that the only way they were going to learn anything was by getting above it all. They had found an office building near the police line and went up to the roof. From up there they could see the freshly mangled field where Takuya had fought Darcmon the afternoon before; only it now had areas of erupted ground, a few more craters, and a very large hole blasted into the ground.
When Takuya saw the field he was finally able to tie together Tai's worn-out appearance, the new destruction to the park, and the increased police presence. There had been a big fight with an evil digimon last night and he had slept right through it; which made him feel worse about his current state.
"You looked tired so we didn't want to disturb you by making a lot of noise in the kitchen while we cooked up some breakfast. So we went out to eat." Kari explained.
"Thanks I really needed the extra rest." Tai smiled.
"No problem." Takuya replied with his own small smile.
"Okay you two should get showered and dressed before everyone gets here." Tai told the two as they prepare to take a seat on the couch.
"Why is everyone coming over?" Kari asked surprised by the sudden call for a meeting of the Digidestine.
"This has something to do with your fight in the park last night and my current state of health; doesn't it?" Takuya retorted.
"Wait!? What fight last night?" Kari inquired her voice full of confusion.
"Yes, and I'll explain when everyone gets here in an hour." Tai said making his way towards the kitchen to cook himself some breakfast.
When the time for the meeting had arrived the apartment's five occupants were dressed and ready. Takuya and Tai wore the same thing as they had the other day, only Kari was forced to change her outfits look thanks to them getting damaged by Darcmon.
She now wore the same pair of bright yellow pants with pockets big enough for the things she needed to carry with her; like her D-3 and D-terminal. She changed to a light pink spaghetti strap shirt that ran right down to her waist and a pair of pink shoes with white laces. On the back of one of the chairs hung a small white jean jacket which she would put on if she had to leave the apartment.
"They should start arriving any time now." Agumon stated. He had recently evolved back to his rookie level form following a good breakfast.
"Your right." Tai replied just as the doorbell rang for the first of many times to follow.
"Since this all began you've all probably been waiting for us to finally get around to having another meeting." Tai opened the assembly with.
"Yes. So do we have a plan yet?" Matt inquired.
"We still don't have a way to get Takuya where he needs to go but that's not why we called this meeting." Tai replied.
"Would this meeting have anything to do with what happened in the park last night?" Matt spoke up again.
"Yes… but how did you know about that?" Tai questioned.
"Remember my dad works at a television station. It's all he talked about this morning before he ran out the door." Matt answered. His father had been in a constant state of moving ever since Takuya had arrived in their world. Who could blame him, news worthy destruction seemed to follow the boy.
"This all started when…" Tai began retelling yesterday's events as those gathered listened.
Half an hour later Tai had reached the end of the story with his return to the apartment. He hadn't really gotten a reaction from Takuya's run in with Darcmon, except for the looks on his friend's faces when they realized that the battles could and would take place in the human world as well as the digital one. But the story about the battle between Wargreymon and Shawjamonhad raised a lot of question; mostly about the fighting style and how an ultimate was able to give a powerful mega like Wargreymon so much trouble.
"I can't believe a digimon like that almost took out Wargreymon." Davis stated.
"Believe it." Tai said plainly. It was hard for him to admit, but it was true.
"So it's just like Takuya said. These digimon are going to be unlike any we've faced before." TK added.
"Yes, and they'll do anything to get what they want and don't seem to have a problem with being noticed." Sora commented.
"It's because they were recruited for their skills. They most likely survived many difficult battles and then sought out something or someone to make them more powerful." Takuya share a bit of his knowledge with the group.
"That's great; so a level advantage really means nothing." Matt sighed.
"Looks that way." Izzy commented.
"Okay on to the next issue; our plan to keep the Sealed Digivice out of evil hands until we can find a way to get it where it needs to go." Tai announced.
"Right." Takuya agreed, even though he felt that he wasn't going to like the direction the conversation was about to take.
"Yesterday Takuya explained to me that he has to keep the Sealed Digivice on him and near his own D-tector to prevent anyone from discovering it. But the problem is that this makes him our enemy's primary target; and in his condition he can't fight them off alone." Tai explained looking towards Takuya.
"So what does that have to do with us?" Davis interrupted.
"Well until Takuya recovers its best if one or more of us were with him at all times acting as back-up." Tai finished.
"So we've got to act as his bodyguard." TK deduced. Hearing it phrased as him needing a bodyguard caused a depressive state to develop within Takuya. It wouldn't last long, but it would do some damage to his ego. But it's not like he could deny that he needed help considering he could barely spirit evolve and had almost been take out by a digimon like Darcmon.
"I guess that's what it's like." Tai said uneasily knowing full well that the last part probably stung Takuya's pride; which is why he had avoided using the word 'bodyguard' in the first place.
"That sounds easy enough since there are twelve of us." Ken noted.
"Kari and I can be with him most of the time, but you never know what might come up." Tai added not noticing the small smile that spread across Kari's face when he mentioned more time with Takuya.
"But what about school? Our short break is over tomorrow. So it's back to class for us." Yolei commented.
"Yes, which is going to make it even more difficult for us." Tai agreed.
"We could always not go." Davis offered as a suggestion.
"We can't skip school or they'll call our parents and tell them we missed. Then we'd have to explain and who knows what'll happen then." TK noted.
"Anyways they worry about us enough as it is. This situation would only make it harder on them." Sora added.
"So what are we going to do then?" Joe asked.
"We'll even though I don't like the idea; I could at least go to school with all of you." Takuya announced.
"Don't you think a teacher would notice a new unregistered student in their class?" Matt commented.
"I wasn't talking about going to class. I was just thinking of hanging around the school." Takuya retorted.
"Do you think you can do that?" TK inquired.
"Of course, all I need is a uniform and to disappear while classes are in session. Some excuses incase I get caught would be good too." Takuya reassured the group.
"That'll have to be the plan for now." Tai concluded and then moved on to the next pressing issue. "Now for the last bit of the meeting. Izzy have you heard anything from Gennai about helping Takuya?"
"Nothing since he told me he was going to check the records at some of the Digital Worlds ruins for something about other dimensions." Izzy answered.
"Then I guess that's it for today." Tai said as he concluded the meeting.
Soon all the visiting Digidestine had left the apartment except for Joe and Sora. Joe had stayed behind to treat and redress Takuya's injuries; while Sora helped Kari cook up some lunch. After having something to eat Joe left while the remaining teenagers enjoyed some talking, games, and movies to pass the remainder of the day. They really needed this down time to help them recover from the day before; they would be better off for it.
After the Sun set, night once again fell. This meant that school would start again tomorrow and that they would find out if their quickly assembled plan would actually work. Only time would tell.
To be continued…