Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or any characters in digimon. I also don't think this is a kid's show either.

On a separate note Digimon has entertaining moments in it for sure, and, some offhanded ones that make everything twice as corny, but also hilarious. One of them I will share with you is in 02 when Takeru introduced himself to the class. The teacher, who is more monotone than anything, tells Takeru: 'Please sit down next to the girl with the...camera around her neck.' I don't know why, but that part had me dying. I mean why the dramatic pause? Is something wrong wearing what looks like 5 pound cameras around your neck? Talk about some serious neck pain. No wonder Hikari ditched the look in Tri.

Chapter Two: Daybreak

Takeru found the strength to wander around doing his best to ignore all of the images of digimon plaguing his mind. He felt like his stomach might burst, but even still it did not help him. He felt exhausted, but also helpless.

"This is exactly what price I paid for Homeostasis saving my life," he said closing his eyes. He remembered when he last saw Hikari what had happened to him, and the weirdness of seeing Homeostasis in Hikari's body made him feel frightened for her.

Now that he did not know where he was, he had no idea of how to get back. He was sure if he was more physically able he could return, but, somehow just being around so many people made him feel sick.

"If that's the case," he said, feeling in his pocket for his digivice, "maybe I should go back to the digital world. "With that, he grabbed his digivice and headed for the nearest internet cafe.

Hikari followed Tailmon straight to the nearest digiport inside a small cybernetic cafe. She ignored some people wearing head visors and tattoos and sat down to the nearest port. Some of them gave her odd looks as if she completely stood out out, and she nervously smiled hoping none of them would approach her. "I know you Takeru," she said as if convincing herself she was doing the right thing. "If you are really a hold of yourself then I know you will be in there somewhere."

With that, she waited till nobody was looking, lifted up her digivice and her and Tailmon vanished in a light into the digital world, no one around her paying any attention minding their own business.

When she had returned to the Digital World the air felt surprisingly relaxing. Hikari breathed in feeling a breeze of cool air, very much free from the hustle and bustle of the city.

"I don't get it," Tailmon said as they walked across the cool ground. "What makes you think he is here?"

"It just seems," Hikari said looking all around her at the trees, the water, and the air with the mountains lining the horizon, "That Takeru and I belong here. I don't know how to explain it Tailmon."

"How can that be?" She asked. "You're humans. You aren't from the digital world."

"It's the influence of Homeostasis," she said. "The first time she ever possessed me I felt a special connection to the digital world. Now that Takeru is a part of it I just have this feeling that he understands that to."

"But where exactly are we looking?" Tailmon suggested as they approached a tranquil lake.

"Up there," she said, pointing at a hill. "I think he's over there."

Her and Tailmon hurried up closer to the beginning of the hill, but a digimon appeared and blocked their path.

The digimon looked vaguely familiar, but upon closer inspection as they approached she recognized the digimon as Jessmon.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hikari asked approaching him. Jessmon had his sword resting his hands on the hilt of the sword with the point sticking in the ground. She felt him stare at her as if he had expected her to come.

"Humans were never meant to be a part of Homeostasis's plan for balance," he said completely still. "They were only meant to be vessels to channel her power for digivolution. But in time, after failures, sacrifices and the lack of a suitable vessel she created the digivices which helped with the digivolution process using a person's strongest attributes. Only I served as her guardian to enforce her will then."

"What is your point?" she asked. "If Takeru is up there I need to go see him."

"Much like yourself Hikari Yagami, Takeru is undergoing a change," he said, his eyes staring directly into hers. "You are the vessel for Homeostasis, a seal for life, and, now that your life force is merged with his Homeostasis is using him as a vessel to create a new digital record, a record that contains this new testament after the summoning of Arch Angemon. With this information she is seeking to establish a blood line of vessels to serve her."

Hikari did not know exactly what Jessmon had told her exactly, but it was not the time or place to get those details. She had to find Takeru more than anything.

"Regardless," Tailmon said as if she had been thinking the same thing, "If Hikari wants to see him then you won't stop us. You wouldn't dare harm the vessel of Homeostasis would you? Homeostasis would not be happy with that."

Jessmon closed his eyes. "I did not come to prevent you from seeing him. I came to tell you that Takeru's body may not be able to handle all of the changes happening to him. If the information he is uploading is too severe or too much for him his mind could shatter."

Hikari covered her mouth with both of her hands the thought of losing Takeru more than she could bear. She felt the weight of his loss as she collapsed on her knees. "What can we do?" she said falling on her hands in front of him. "Isn't there anything I can do for him? I would do anything for Takeru," she said desperate to help him.

"Then stabilize him," Jessmon commanded. "The only thing you can do is calm his mind as these changes happen. But just be warned. Any outside trauma, whether mental or physical that happens to him will only accelerate this process, and if it's too severe it could break him. And, if it does break him Hikari Yagami, what do you think will happen to you? You will be an empty vessel and Homeostasis will occupy you forever."

Hikari looked up at Jessmon sure of his words, but unsure if he was her friend or enemy. If she became Homeostasis's vessel permanently it would be all over for her and Takeru, and, if Takeru could not last, then, because their life forces were merged together Homeostasis would have control of their bodies forever. She realized then no matter what she did going on forward she had to be very very careful, otherwise she would lose Takeru whom she cared for so deeply.

Tailmon placed her hand on Hikari's shoulder and nodded her head as if encouraging her. She did not smile back, but realized then that she could not be the same person as before, nor was she. She was no longer the sickly helpless little girl that relied on her brother. Nor was she the preteen with a camera and email fascination doting on her brother and relying on others to bail her out in her times of weakness. Now she could no longer be just the lost and helpless Hikari at the whim of Homeostasis. She had to find a way to be strong. For Takeru. For herself. For Tailmon. Even if it meant putting herself in danger. She had to cast away her weakness and become the reliable young woman she always wanted to be.

"I understand," she said, putting two fingers over lips and standing up determined to help him. "Let me go to him. I won't let him fall."

Takeru lay underneath the shadow of a familiar tree, the very tree he had been staring at the horizon at when he first started to take a look for any irregularities in the digital world. He only knew because the digital record's information had transmitted the information to him. The tree that had been knocked down had germinated from the digital seed planted there and had regrown even stronger than before.

He remembered how he had been searching for the oddities in the digital world from the fallout with Meicoomon, and, he saw Hikari staring down at him, her face scolding him. He wished he could jump down from the tree into her arms feeling her compassion and love for him. But then, he shuddered wondering if he did, he would only see her digital information fall apart in front of him and he would collapse himself into digital dust. Oddly he was the one that was the oddity now.

He covered his eyes with his arm trying to blot that thought out seeing digimon after digimon being put together and then disassembled. "Is it more than just data?" he wondered panting thinking about all of his encounters, and the digimon that were his friends reduced to data fragments. "Do the digimon when they are disassembled really feel pain? Are they even killed?"

His stomach lurched forward and he nearly felt like puking. He looked at his hand as if he was nothing more than data himself. Yes, this was the nature of all things digital. To be reduced to bits and pieces of senseless information scattered to the digital winds until one day being reborn having no memories of the past with certain exceptions. "Maybe it's easier this way seeing myself as data," he said. "I would not have to deal with such an empty trivial existence. There's no hope for anything digital, even me," he said quietly accepting everything, but harboring a deep sadness, as if acknowledging the truth he would no longer be from his world. If it was not for Hikari or my friends this would seem ideal," he smirked.

Information flowed through his mind like a salve as he saw Patamon appear. That sweet chubby fluffy flying preangel. He smiled seeing him, but then shivered as he watched piece by piece he started coming apart.

"Patamon!" he screamed. He stretched out his hand trying to save him, but like chasing the sun he was helpless as he disappeared in front of him. Seeing him dissolve like that brought back the tearful memory of Angemon's fight with Devimon and his sacrifice.

He felt like he would literally go insane doing his best to save his friend, but in the end could not do anything. He started to feel numb, his fingers tinging his body shaking as if he was undergoing a physical transition. "Just how much more," he swallowed wondering about Homeostasis, "do you expect me to receive?"

He wished for anything to have Hikari there, and Patamon, and all the others to encourage him and tell him everything would be ok. He breathed into the cool air trying his best to keep his mind sane. He tried to fight the flood of images storming his mind bringing up the memories he had as a digidestined. As they converged like two unstoppable forces, he desperately tried to supplement all of them with more, but desperately realizing he was losing the only images that kept popping up were the images of his dear Hikari. Whether she was smiling happily or gloomy and depressed or laughing at his corny jokes and puns she was always there as if she had always belonged there by his side.

"Hikari..." he wheezed clenching his teeth. He would do anything just to see her smiling face.

"It's ok," he heard a soft voice answer as his neck was lifted up and placed onto smooth skin. "I'm here."

Takeru could not believe it. The digimon appearing and disassembling before his eyes slowly faded away and he saw Hikari's smiling face beaming softly down at him.

"Hi...kari," he said, his mind calming down after seeing so much destruction. Little by little the information did not stop, but slowed down to a slowly seeping pace.

She started caressing his hair bringing him a sense of peace he had not felt in quite awhile. It reminded him of when he was a child and his mother calmed him down the same way whenever he got so upset he ended up passing out. Usually it happened because he missed his dad, his brother, and his friends so much, but, it still felt nostalgically familiar.

"Do you remember," Hikari said as if transitioning his thoughts from then to another memory, "Before you moved when we were reunited that time in the fields? We just sat on our backs cloud gazing. There was just you and me and the grass and the clouds."

Takeru smiled knowing exactly what she was talking about. "I remember," he said. "The night before I cried my eyes out because tomorrow evening I had to leave. My mom was remarried and we were relocating away from you and the others," he said, recalling that painful moment. "But that afternoon, I felt a moment of peace."

He felt her calm voice wash over him. "That time was so unexpected," she said. "I remember being there with my mom watching Taichi start to play a soccer game. I was cheering for him, but I doubt he could hear me. I remembered turning my back surprised at how loud everyone yelled supporting the team, and, I saw you Takeru. You were watching from the bleachers all by yourself. I wondered why your brother or mom weren't there. You seemed so depressed and were so quiet. It just didn't seem fair."

Takeru closed his eyes recalling that time even more."I was honestly scared for the future and sad," he said recalling the memory. "I had never felt so alone before. I had already said goodbye to Patamon and Yamato was already back with dad. My mom was getting everything ready for the move. I just knew that your brother was playing a game that day and I wanted to remember everything I could about everyone before I was forced to go. But," he said doing his best to hold back his emotion from getting choked up keeping his eyes from tearing, "Hikari I had told myself I would not cry anymore. That I would grow up and not become emotional or attached to anything because I never wanted to have to say goodbye. I never wanted to have to say goodbye to any of you."

He felt her hand caress his cheek as if wiping away the tears that had yet to fall.

"I don't know how that feels," she said still holding him. "I almost always had Taichi or my mom around. But you don't have to worry about saying goodbye anymore. I'm with you," she said soothingly . "So don't feel you have to hide anything from me. The things that make you sad. The things you don't like about yourself. Even your tears," she said, as if in this one moment Takeru had saw her more clearly than he ever had before. "I cherish you Takeru."

Takeru could not hold them back anymore. He let his tears flow unable to stop them from flowing. "Even after all this time, that face you saw?" he said becoming more emboldened to open up to her. "The indifference? The smile? I could not tell if I was fooling myself or forcing myself to change. I was always hoping that one day I could see you again, and you would see me for who I am. Not as a child anymore. Not as a whiny useless child who could not do anything," he said. "I wanted to be someone you could depend on, and not have to be depended on if that makes any sense."

He felt Hikari's hands stop caressing him and instead felt tear drops.

"Hikari?" he wondered. More tears fell on his face and he immediately sat up looking at her.

"Takeru, I actually envied that about you," she said, much to his surprise. "You always cried when you felt like it. No matter how small, whenever something made you upset you would just ball your eyes out. I just...I never realized you could make me do that," she said. "And, now you've helped me do that twice now."

"Twice?!" he said shocked holding her shoulders. "When did I ever do that?!"

She smiled wiping her eyes. "That day after staring at the clouds. I got to to know you in that one afternoon more than our entire time together with the other digidestined. You told me you were afraid to move on. You told me your hopes and dreams, and that one day you would write down everything and make it into your own scrapbook so that you would never forget anyone," she smiled. "When you left crying, I felt so helpless, but so inspired by you."

"I-inspired?" he said curiously wanting to know more and more about her story.

She nodded her head. "That evening when I told Taichi, even though you had told me you were going away, he actually explained to me more about it. I felt so stupid," she confessed closing here eyes. "I could not really understand what you were telling me when you said you were going away, and when I finally understood it was too late to say goodbye to you. I cried my eyes out for hours just knowing I would never see you again," she said opening them again."Taichi and my mom both tried to console me, but it was no use. More than a companion Takeru you became a close friend to me. And that friendship carried over into the years."

Takeru said nothing, but listened further entranced by her.

"In middle school," she said, "as you know I became quite popular among a lot of athletes, but especially Davis. It felt odd to have boys like me when I didn't even really like myself that much. I did not know what they saw in me. I guess you could say I was an object of their affection, but only Davis came forward about it. He acted like I was his just because he knew me from his class. Yet, in my mind, whenever any one of them brought me up I just thought back to you. I compared them to you as if they were in competition from that sweet boy in my memories and it just felt uncomfortable. In a way, I did not understand it at the time, but I guess that's when I started to really wonder about my feelings," she smirked. "And then, when you came back it was like nothing ever happened. You seemed a lot happier and I just became more lively and active in life. You have no idea how adrift I was."

Takeru wanted to get more insight in all the details, but he refrained from asking. He decided it would be best just to ask a simple question. "How so?"

She looked away a little aways from him as if slightly embarrassed. "I didn't have a lot of friends. I got along with people just fine, but mostly kept to myself about my own personal life and, before I knew it, I had isolated myself from a lot of people. I was depressed with all of the changes happening in my life," she said as if still contemplating remembering those memories.

"I had been having nightmares;horrible ones. About Myotismon, about the dark ocean, which I did not know at the time was the dark ocean, and all kinds of evil digimon that we defeated. They were all after me. I would wake up in the middle of the night wanting to scream, but somehow I kept it all in. I did not want to worry my brother or my mom, but, I felt they would not understand either. Without Tailmon there I had nowhere to go, no one to talk to. So when I lay awake, wondering about everything, that's when I remembered you more clearly, though the details were a bit fuzzy."

Takeru found himself smiling a bit embarrassed himself the girl he loved so much had been thinking about him and he never even knew it.

Hikari laughed a little, as if just thinking about it made her feel better. "I remembered little details at first from each dream which kept me from just wanting to cry out. That first night I had gotten a fever and could not go to school. My mom ended up taking care of me. And, for the next few nights I still had those nightmares, but at the end of them, like a faint glint I remembered someone was always taking care of me even when my brother or my mom was not around. That's when the memories started.

The first time it was when I had a similar fever, and I opened my eyes and you were staring down at me concerned. We were in the metal city and Mugendramon was after us. I wondered who you were as if my own depression had blocked out the fun memories we had together years ago."

Takeru put one hand on her cheek and just stared at her affectionately. He knew exactly what she meant. "I don't blame you for forgetting," he said. "Sometimes we get used to the pain, and, when something reopens that wound, we naturally block it out in order to stay numb."

Hikari nodded her head holding his hand with both of hers. "The next time, it had been when we first met. I just noticed you and was curious. One of the digidestined was a boy about my age. He kind of looked like his brother, and, he seemed really happy. I kept my distance from you though. I did not really have any boys that were friends. It was just girls, but even then I was curious.

Then, lastly, I had one more memory of you. When Piedmon attacked all of us and it was just me and you the others said they entrusted me to you to watch out for me. Even when it looked hopeless climbing that rope and we were falling, somehow I knew everything would be ok as I saw that look of determination in your eyes and Angemon digivolved to Magna Angemon. That night, I felt your determination. I felt hopeful. I told myself I would not let that happen again, to let the nightmares affect me so much. I would be like the you in my dream even if I still got scared."

Takeru felt like turning his head unable to believe she became motivated by that. He had always saw himself as a useless child that could not keep things together and everyone was annoyed at him. Yet, hearing her talk to him like this, maybe he had been looking at it the wrong way. Maybe he had just convinced himself of that because of everything his family had gone through.

Hikari put his hand down, but still did not let go. "That next day I started middle school. When I reflected in that dream the teacher introduced you to the class. You sat down next to me and it was like nothing ever changed. We just picked up as if you never went away in the first place."

He marveled at Hikari wondering to himself why he never heard this story before. But, Hikari for the most part lived in a shell. It took effort to get to know her. She didn't naturally open up to people, but when she did you had to really earn it to get to know her. The fact she still longed to see him even back then brought him comfort.

"Tell me more," he said holding his hand on his cheek staring at her adoring her.

Her eyes looked at him, staring down a little panicking a little bit. "No, no, no," she said flustered. "I can't believe I've been talking this much already," she said her hands up as if telling him to back down. She put her hands over her face, as if embarrassed at herself.

Takeru adored her even more. "But you're so cute Hikari," he said enjoying himself even more. He could literally feel the heat coming off of her face. "Come on, I want to hear more about how I inspired you."

She said nothing, but clammed up as if Takeru had to start all over getting to know her.

"Oh, I know," he said pounding his fist in his hand, "Maybe that was when you started taking pictures with your camera. Or was It cheer leading? Or maybe even started dating?"

She lowered her gaze to him, Takeru unsure if she was mad or just frustrated. "I-I never dated in middle school!" she exclaimed.

Takeru smiled, glad he could cure her of her silence.

"I bet you dated a lot of girls before you came over," she said. "You sure did in High School," she added rolled her eyes.

Takeru really did not like how this conversation had suddenly turned a 180 on him.

"I admit, a handsome young man like myself caught a lot of attention from girls," he admitted, "But," he said tapping his finger on her nose. "My focus has always been on you," he smirked.

He felt Hikari's frustration turn to slight embarrassment, but then fatigue.

"How can you live with yourself?" she said, exhausted, burying her head in fatigue into his stomach.

"That's why I don't have to worry about it," he said, Hikari looking up at him, as he said those words as if something had been wrong. He really should learn to keep his mouth shut. The air felt a bit awkward, for a moment,

He felt her gaze turn to the ground, twiddling her foot.

"Takeru," she said still looking down, "On that day you told me you wanted to record everything in your scrapbook, that, you wanted you to preserve the past that's when I started to see things differently. You left, I cried, and eventually I had to keep moving. I borrowed my mom's old camera and started out taking pictures of Niko, then Taichi when he was eating without him noticing me. And, eventually, I started making it to Taichi's soccer games."

Takeru put his arm around her head and held her. "You're amazing Hikari. Even though we had not been together for so long we inspired each other to grow stronger," he said smelling in the intoxicating scent of her. He could not put his finger on it, but it had a flowery sweet scent. "I feel like you completely accept me Hikari Yagami," he said, seriously, not quite sure why he added her last name. "Even those parts of me I would sooner forget."

He saw her face come closer to his concerned, loving, compassionate...and gave into her kiss. Her outstretched arms wrap around his back and her head press against his heart, Takeru not surprised, but still a bit unfamiliar with such affection.

"Takeru..." she said as if enjoying the moment, feeling his heart beat more calmly. "...Does it seem like destiny we were meant to be together? Is it like Homeostasis said? I wonder if that was her plan all this time."

He wrapped his arms around her back himself a bit warm, breathing out. "Does that even matter anymore? Homeostasis always talked about destiny and using us, but it was our choice to be together. No one could ever force me to be with you. It was my choice."

He stared deeper into her shimmering eyes and kissed her lips once more, her lips returning the kiss, sweeter, kinder, but more aggressively. Before he knew it he felt his tongue slide, pressing into her mouth and hers into his. He did not know how long he had been like that but he realized him and stopped, a rush of adrenaline flowing through him and just looked at her desiring her even more than before. He refrained himself and closed his eyes.

Takeru looked back at hers and notice her amber color reflect wondrously like rubies in the setting sunlight. He then looked up at the sun unaware that so much time had passed since she first talked to him. He saw Hikari also looking at the sun as if she herself had forgotten.

"We probably should go," she admitted. "Taichi will kill me if I stay any longer. He's probably wondering where I am."

Takeru simply nodded his head, enjoying the view with her. "Before we head on back," he said staring deep into the digital sunset, "I just wanted to thank you for helping me calm down. I saw images of digimon including Patamon assembled and reassembled over and over again. Had you not been here with me I don't know what would have happened," he said his face wincing.

"That's so horrible," she replied. "I was worried about what happened to you, but I think you know exactly why it happened right? We did not have any control over it. Homeostasis..."

Takeru nodded, holding up his to stop her from continuing about what happened. "Let's head back to the others," he suggested.

He felt Hikari's hand hold his and smiled. "Okay."

Hikari felt the cool air of night as she returned home; Taichi waiting for her on the couch annoyed. "I got your message you found him," he said. "But boy you both missed out on quite a lot."

He threw his cell phone to her and she caught it seeing a disheveled beaten up appearance of Koushiro. He looked bruised and bloodied.

"What happened to him?" she asked horrified. "This is-"

"-I know," Taichi said looking up at the ceiling irritated. "You don't have to tell me. It just seems like we are being targeted more and more," he said as if uncertain about the future. "First Homeostasis targets you, then Takeru is affected, and now somehow Koushiro get's beat up like that."

"But who did this to him?" she asked.

"Unfortunately," he said closing his eyes, "We did not get a name. But we do know one thing: He is after the digidestined."