Sorry for another side-story so soon, but the episodes are all messed up and I need to occupy myself somehow.

This takes place when Loaño was 9, and another whole episode with Yosyua happens too. Yes, this is about the fire and crap.

Side Story Three:

Blaze of Hatred: The Promise Kidd Kept, and the Promise He Didn't

I was pacing. Duh, I was impatient, I was mad, I was basically a rolling blast of something that I didn't even know. My claws scraped up the hardwood floors and with each pace, I swear I could see Biyomon's 'Kidd's Making Me Crazy' meter go up one notch.

Finally, Loaño spoke up. "Kidd, what's wrong?" she asked.

It was such an innocent answer, but I couldn't reply to it. I just threw her a apologetic look and looked away.

I lashed my tail, almost knocking over something. It hit, but I caught the picture frame before it shattered on the ground.

The compact frame fit in the palm of my hand, it was so small to me, but to them it wasn't. I looked at the picture, just a bunch of the humans bunched up so that they could fit into one shot.

I set it back down and sighed.

This time, Mr. Ishida aired his concerns. "What's wrong, Kidd. Don't lie."

I flicked my ears. "I'm…upset." I said.

Mr. Ishida raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he said superficially.

"Yes." I growled.

"Is it the fact that Yosuya called you over to babysit, or the fact that you're just mad." He asked.

"Both." I replied. Earlier in the week, Yosuya had called to ask me to babysit her son, Ryou, on this day. I didn't really want to, but if I was ever gonna patch things up with that crazy woman I'd have to do it.

"Maybe you should just head over." Mrs. Ishida suggested.

"Yeah, in what? A sweatshirt? I'm no Ditto, that's for sure." I replied.

Loaño laughed. She jumped down off of the couch and grabbed my hand. She began to pull me to the front door.

"Kid, what are you doing?" I asked, when I didn't move an inch.

She grunted. "You gotta go outside! You can't stay cooped up here forever!"

"Lo, I obviously ain't going anywhere. Not unless you gain the strength of a…" I trailed off, feeling the anger well up again. I pulled the kid up to eye level. "Fine kiddo, let's go. After all, you've only got one life to live…I guess…" I opened the door and walked out.

NNNNN

It was about evening when we came back, and Loaño was dressed up in her PJ's and ready for bed.

The knock on the door made my fir prickle. Mr. Ishida opened it, revealing that crazy DATS scientist, Kurata.

Mr. Ishida looked him up and down, then said: "Get the hell out of my house."

Kurata looked confused. "Why, I'm just here to --!" he stopped when Mr. Ishida thrust a Digi-Soul charged fist into his face.

"Kidd, get Loaño upstairs. Now." He ordered.

Against the kid's wishes, I grabbed her from under her arms and went upstairs. I flopped her onto her bed and tucked her in, complete with her little toy that she loved so much.

It was then I realized that her floor was above the kitchen. I focused my hearing to penetrating the thin floors.

"Kamm? What's up?" Mrs. Ishdia…

"Mol, you know what was going on!" Mr. Ishida responded angrily. "I should've seen it when he even took an interest in her. He didn't even like Loaño until now! And then, with all of the tests and the…"

"Honey, what if it was for what he really said? To get her a part of DATS someday, with Kidd?" Mrs. Ishida suggested.

"Molly, you know that wasn't what he was planning. I hacked his files. I saw what was really happening." Mr. Ishida now sounded defeated, tired.

"I don't want to believe it either…but you know what he said…" Mrs. Ishida said quietly.

"I know…we've just got to brace ourselves…let's go say goodnight…" Mr. Ishida murmured something unintelligible, and then I heard the patter of their footsteps.

I quickly stretched myself on the floor, acting as if I was asleep.

I heard them come in, and they went towards her bed. I heard Mrs. Ishida begin to cry softly.

"Goodnight…and goodbye…" she said quietly.

"We love you, Loaño…" Mr. Ishida said, "No matter what happens to us…you gotta let Kidd take care of you…don't be stubborn…" it wasn't long before he began to cry too.

Biyomon sighed softly. "Goodnight, little one, it'll be the last night I see you."

The three left before I could make any sense of what the hell they were saying.

It sounded as if…they were leaving…but that couldn't be possible, could it? For how long? They seemed to make it sound like forever…

And then I realized that this must've been the thing that Mrs. Ishida didn't want me to hear, the day of Loaño's 6th birthday.

These thoughts criss-crossed my mind until I finally fell asleep.

Then I realized that I forgot about Yosuya and Ryou.

NNNNN

First I felt the sweltering heat…then I felt the pain…I woke up, surprised at the feeling of being burned.

My eyes opened and I got a sight of my surroundings.

Holy…the house is freaking on FIRE! I thought frantically. I had no absolute clue what happened. I looked to Loaño, and the kid was still asleep. Coughing a bit, but asleep. And alive, that Yggdrasil.

I quickly picked her up, avoiding the flames. I ripped off a piece of unsigned blanket and wrapped it over her mouth loosely, so that she wouldn't suffocate.

I jumped over a plume to the window, and kicked it open. I jumped out into the cool night, and I figured it was about midnight or one 'o clock in the morning. I set her down carefully, hoping that the heat from whatever caused this fire wouldn't deplete too quickly.

She was still holding onto that damned doll too. Tough kid.

I jumped back into the second-story window. Avoiding the flames, I began to call out names, any names.

"Mr. Ishida! –Kaff- Mrs. Ishida?! –Ghack- Biyomon!! ANYBODY!!" I shouted.

I could feel the heat begin to burn my fur. The smell of burning fur and the roar of the flames started to get to me. I couldn't tell which way was left or which way was right in this place anymore.

Then, something metallicy silver caught my attention. It was a guy…dressed in a freaking flame-proof suit…

The face that I saw through held that of pure disappointment and anger as raw as the flames. I rushed at the guy, slashing at anything I could get.

I felt my claws catch on the mask protecting hi face. It shattered and I felt my claws tear skin.

Then, I heard a massive crack, and the house gave a shudder. I couldn't stay here any longer…debris were starting to fall and either way, Mr. and Mrs. Ishida were probably gone, as was Biyomon.

I jumped out, and watched the place burn.

Tears came to my eyes as I finally realized what they were talking about.

AA, the damned precog…he knew about this…he told them…not me…I could've prevented this, dammit! I could've prevented this!

But inside, I knew I wouldn't have been able to. I never thought I'dve been able to love this crappy family like I do now…but I do. And dammit, I'm not going to give up on the only one kid left now.

'Cause right now, they both needed me.

I picked up Loaño, only to feel my arms rip with the effort of flexing. I took one look at them to see that they were bleeding now, burned to some degree.

Where's the closest doctor? Where, where where?! That kid…Thomas! I picked up Loaño nonetheless and ran as fast as I possibly could to get the hell out of that place before the fuzz came.

NNNNN

I arrived at Thomas's place in a quick, ten-minute rush. My legs were exhausted and hell, I was exhausted.

I pounded the door until the lights came on and a very sleepy, irritated Butler answered.

"Master Kidd?" he said tiredly, yawning. "What is wrong?"

I growled impatiently, "I'm bleeding my life out of my arms, Loaño's house just burst into flames, this kid's got smoke inhalation, and dammit, we need to see an f(BLEEP)ing doctor immediately!!"

Surprised, Butler-man let us in and I howled at the top of my lungs when I set Loaño down on the nearest couch.

"SOMEBODY!"

"Kidd!" Mrs. Norstein came down, in her nightgown, and looked me up and down. Her eyes landed on my bleeding arms, and she pulled up a chair to sit me down.

Shaking, I actually fell down.

Thomas came down a few seconds later, with a first-aid kit the size of Texas. He set it on the table and opened it up, pulling out several rolls of white medical tape and a bottle of salve.

He rubbed the salve on me and then quickly wrapped it up with the tape. All the way down to my burning Iron Knuckles. When he was done, Loaño woke up.

"Keep still!" he ordered, and then he kneeled down by Loaño and began to measure her heart rate and check her temperature. He gave her a bottle of honey from the pantry to soothe her throat and dripped a bit of salve on her small burns to help them heal.

Mrs. Norstein came up to me. "What happened Kidd?" she asked quietly.

I explained as best as I could. When she heard about it, she put a hand to her mouth and said three words:

"Oh. My. God."

"That's what I said." I replied gruffly, grabbing the honey bear and swallowing a half-jug of it.

"Will she be okay?" Mrs. Norstein asked. "Does Matt and Sora know?"

"Well, I haven't exactly had time to use a cell-phone!" I replied bitterly.

She nodded, understanding. She walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone, dialing a number.

"Who're you calling?" I asked.

"Franz." She replied. "He's out on business, but once I explain the circumstances he should agree that Loaño needs a place to stay."

I let her do that.

"Thomas?" I heard Loaño asked.

"Yeah?"

"Where's Mom and Dad?" she asked.

"I dunno, Lo." Thomas replied.

"They're gone, aren't they?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah kiddo, I'm sorry…" I said apologetically.

Loaño looked at me with the saddest eyes I could ever imagine on a nine-year-old's face. It hurt just to imagine what could be worse. My hear tore open this night, as Loaño, grabbing her Pandamon toy, began to break down and cry. She jumped off of her seat and limped up the stairs. Thomas followed, helping her up.

This is all my fault…I decided not to stop my own pity-party.

Mrs. Norstein hung up the phone and she came up to me, putting a hand high-up on my shoulder, to avoid the bandages.

"He agreed. And I think that the Flower Festival might cheer her up too, so I'll take her and Thomas to that." She said.

"Did Mr. Ishida ever tell you about those tests that Kurata took on her?" I asked.

"Nope…I just figured that they were just that. Tests." She replied.

I began to sit up, but she pushed me down gently. "Stay, boy." She said with a smile. "Let me make you some tea and something to eat. I think we'll all need it tonight, tomorrow and everyday following…"

NNNNN

Three days later, my arms were feeling fine and dandy. Mrs. Norstein found a tux at Big and Tall for me, which fit nicely, but that I could only wear once.

It was funeral day today. Everyone we ever came into contact with was there, humans and digimon alike.

I'm not gong into details about the whole damned thing, but afterwards, Yosyua came up to me. There was sadness and fury in that woman's eyes.

She twisted my wounded arms behind my back and pulled down.

"GAAAAHHH-WOOOOOOOOO!!"I howled. "What is wrong with you, woman!!"

"You said you were going to babysit Ryou." She accused.

"I was kind of tied up!" I snarled. "My arms are kind of burned to a proverbial crisp right now, can you please leave me alone!!"

She let me go, sniffled, and walked away.

Some things never change.

"Kidd." Loaño's quiet, ghostlike voice came from beside me.

I crouched down. "What?" I asked

She pulled out a abnormally large white rectangle device. Well, it looked abnormally large in her hands, but it was a digivice all the same. Her Dad's, no less.

"Grandpa said Dad'd want me to have it…" she murmured.

I looked to where Yamato and Sora were. The two were bawling their eyes out.

"Yeah, I guess. Can I hold onto it?" I asked.

She nodded and handed it to me. I put it into one of my abnormally large and disproportionate pockets.

"Let's go home, Lo." I said, taking her hand.

"Thomas's house, you mean?" she corrected.

"Yeah…but its home all the same." I said.

This was actually a very sad chapter for me to do…I'm going to skip over traumatic scenes, because you already know what happens to Thomas's mom when they go to that festival…