Chapter Fifteen
A mass of white fur greeted Hikari when she opened the door to her room, the impact knocking her back a step or two, but she was quick to recover and quicker still to wrap her arms around Gatomon and hold her close.
'You're not going anywhere without me again,' Gatomon said. 'Not while the Dark Ocean's after you.'
'It's good to see you too, Gatomon,' Hikari said, holding the cat Digimon at arm's length to take her in after almost a week of being apart. As expected, nothing had changed, and she felt her spirits lift at finally being reunited with her partner.
Behind her, she spotted Taichi, Agumon and her parents stood just beyond the door, awaiting an invitation to enter which Hikari was quick to offer. Soon, she was hugging them all and offering reassurances everything was fine with her, though she left out the part of her and Takeru's argument earlier that day. He hadn't responded to any of her calls or texts, and Hikari couldn't help but wonder if or when he was going to respond.
She sat down on the bed and pushed the worry from her head, her mother sitting beside her, and started trying to explain what had happened to her. The soldier that had picked up her clothes had spoken with her parents, and Taichi would have added his explanation, but she had the first hand knowledge of the events, at least from her perspective, so she could fill in the blanks the others had missed out.
It took the better part of fifteen minutes to go over everything and once she finished, Hikari lapsed into silence and awaited whatever questions her parents might have. Taichi knew plenty of this already, or had enough experience with the Digital World and its quirks to fill in some of the blanks, so Hikari didn't expect too many to come from him.
Her mother was the first to speak up, asking, 'Are you safe here?'
'As safe as anywhere else,' Hikari said with a shrug. 'The troops here are experienced at fighting Digimon, even the Ultimate ones the Dark Ocean has infected. There's talk of moving me to a bigger base with more troops, but I won't know more until Captain Ishida returns.'
'Can't Gatomon protect you better?' her father asked.
'Normally,' Hikari said, casting her gaze downwards. 'But this isn't a normal situation.'
Even Gatomon had to drop her gaze at that, her ears drooping, and said, 'The Dark Ocean can infect Digimon and turn them into puppets. If I become Angewomon or even Magnadramon, it'll try to take over and use me against everyone else. Then they'll be forced to destroy me.'
'And there's a good chance she won't come back,' Hikari whispered, clutching Gatomon closer.
'There must be something you can do to stop that,' her father said.
'We're looking into it, dad,' Taichi said. 'But we're not having much luck. Nothing Koushiro comes up with seems to work, no matter how many different things he tries. Our Digimon can be infected at any minute.'
'But you're still willing to stand up against them,' their mother said. 'If your sister is right, you might lose Agumon forever.'
'Because that's what being a DigiDestined means,' Taichi said. 'Every fight could be the one where I lose Agumon forever. I'm not going to shy away from any of them, because it's my duty to protect others.'
He glanced at Hikari as he spoke and narrowed his eyes slightly, expressing his still ongoing displeasure at her insistence of avoiding the fight, but Hikari pretended she didn't see it and stroked Gatomon's fur.
'There's more than one way of protecting people,' she said. 'Other than fighting.'
'I'm not really one for sitting idly by,' Taichi said.
Hikari had to bite her tongue at that comment, given how for the past two years he and everyone else had done exactly that. Meiko had occupied most of his free time, even though they definitely weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, not fulfilling his duty as a DigiDestined. She felt her brow furrow in irritation, which in turn earned her a glare from Taichi when he noticed it.
'No arguing,' her mother said, sensing the growing tension. 'We're here to spend time together as a family, not bicker over who's in the right when it comes to being a DigiDestined. Both of you are free to do it however you want, and you'll respect one another's decision, or so help me I'll make you'll wish MaloMyotismon had come back.'
'But, mom-' Taichi tried, only to be cut off.
'No buts, mister,' she said. 'You live under my roof, and you'll do as I say. Am I clear?'
'Yeah, mom,' Taichi said, turning away from the scolding.
Hikari suppressed a giggle and caught her mother's eye, who gave her a sly wink as Taichi pouted then said, 'So why don't you give us a tour of your new home? I need to know if it's good enough for my daughter to stay at.'
'It's great if you can get over some of the people who work here,' Taichi muttered under his breath in reference to Captain Ishida, arms folded across his chest, but nobody seemed to hear him other than Hikari who duly ignored him.
She quickly stood and, with her family in tow, went on a tour of the base once more to discover everything it had to offer. Nothing had changed since yesterday, or nothing that Hikari was able to pick up on, and she pointed out everything she could remember to the others. Her parents seemed happy with it, taking solace apparently in the hundred or so armed troops patrolling the base and their tracked vehicles, and even Taichi had to show some interest in learning about how regular folk adapted to combat powerful beings like Digimon.
How happy would they be if they knew the amount of troops stationed here was barely enough to counter only a single Ultimate level Digimon, or that the Dark Ocean had access to three-thousand of them to send her way? Even if Hikari could call upon Gatomon to protect her, sheer numbers would eventually overwhelm whatever defences Captain Ishida's company could put into place, assuming that they didn't snatch her whilst everyone was otherwise engaged.
This she kept from them, not wanting to burden her family with any extra stress, and eventually they wound up in the mechanical hangar where Hikari immediately gravitated to the back, to the spot Daisuke's suit was maintained and two technicians spent one day in fourteen doing nothing. As expected, the westerners were nowhere to be see and in their place was a pair of Japanese soldiers who barely even glanced up from their 'work' at the arrival of the Yagami family.
This was another thing Hikari kept from her parents and brother for much the same reasons, instead giving her mother and father a rundown on how the suits came to be and how this, in turn, led to Daisuke being the only one who could pilot them.
'Has Koushiro been able to figure out what caused the program to latch onto Daisuke?' Hikari asked Taichi midway through her explanation.
'No,' he said with a shake of the head. 'Not yet. But, there's a lot of coding for him to work through and he isn't finished yet. He might find the reason in due time.'
'That's good,' Hikari said. 'It'd be nice for him to have some backup in a fight.'
'He could have backup in a fight,' Taichi said. 'Us.'
'Nothing's stopping you from joining him yourself,' Hikari said. 'After all, you do want to fight. Right?'
'Yeah, but that officer jerk won't let me,' Taichi said, crossing his arms across his chest.
'Not true,' a voice said from behind them, belonging to the soldier in question. 'I simply advised you of the potential consequences if Agumon becomes infected. You're free to ignore that advice and fight anyway. The only one stopping you right now is you. Not me.'
Captain Ishida seemed to just materialise some way behind them, striding up to Hikari and her family quickly and silently, as though summoned by Taichi's grousing about him. He had changed out of his civilian attire back into his camouflaged fatigues, a pistol strapped to his thigh, and the two technicians scrambled to stand at attention and salute when they heard him. Ishida saluted back and allowed them to go back to their screens, returning his attention to the four civilians and their two Digimon.
'Mr and Mrs Yagami,' he said, bowing slightly as he spoke to Hikari's parents. 'I'm Captain Ishida, of the JSDF. I hope everything you've seen so far meets with your approval.'
'We don't have any major issues,' Hikari's mother said, waving him off. 'It does seem a little basic here, I must admit, when it comes to amenities.'
Ishida offered a faint smile. 'Unfortunately, a base has to be host to a colonel or above before they give you a budget for creature comforts. My troops have to fork over their own cash to buy anything nice, though we'll be moving Hikari to a much larger, much nicer base within the next few days.'
'Is she not safe here?' her father asked.
'Yes,' Ishida said. 'But given her strategic importance, having too many troops around her can't be a bad thing, can it?'
'I suppose not,' her father said.
'Then don't worry,' Ishida said as his smile increased. 'We're doing everything possible to ensure your daughter's safety.'
Her father smiled back and placed a hand on Hikari's shoulder as he said, 'A father never stops worrying about his daughter, no matter what she does.'
'I suppose not,' Ishida said, nodding, then gestured for everyone to follow him. 'I've spoken with the cooks about preparing an early lunch for everyone, assuming you're hungry, or just refreshments if you're not, and I can answer any other questions you might have about Hikari's security arrangements.'
'Food would be nice,' Gatomon said as she looked up at the officer with her big, blue eyes, pleading with him, to which the officer nodded.
He led them back outside for the brief journey into the central hangar where a single table had been set up at the far end, plus a single steel counter on which a selection of sandwich meats and drinks were laid out. Everyone queued up despite being the only ones in the hangar and made up a plate of whatever they wanted, sitting down in three separate groups. Taichi and Agumon had one end of the table, and the biggest piles of food, which they were tucking into with barely contained gusto.
In the middle was Captain Ishida and Hikari's parents, casually discussing what arrangements had been made and what plans were in place should an attack occur over more reasonable piles of food, with Hikari and Gatomon occupying the other end of the table.
Of course, in a display of her innate feline attributes, Gatomon had filled her tray with tuna, salmon and chicken, and had a bowl of milk to drink, and was eating it with more decorum than Agumon was, who seemed to be competing with Taichi for who could either finish their food first or just create a bigger mess.
'I can't believe I'm related to him,' Hikari said as she watched the spectacle.
'Just hope your kids don't take after their uncle,' Gatomon said. 'Otherwise you'll never stop cleaning up after them.'
'Now there's a scary thought,' Hikari said, laughing. 'And if they do, I don't think I'd want any.'
'Then you and Takeru should probably think about using protection,' Gatomon said in a sotto voice so her parents wouldn't hear. 'Given how often you two are together.'
Hikari had the misfortune to be in the process of swallowing a mouthful of food when her partner said that, causing her to choke on it, and she quickly started pounding her chest to clear the blockage as she reached for her drink to help wash it down. All eyes swivelled to her as she coughed and sucked in a lungful of air when her throat was clear, waving off their concerns, then drew Gatomon near.
'Don't say things like that,' she half whispered, half hissed at the Digimon. 'Not in front of my parents, and not Taichi.'
'I'm just saying,' Gatomon said back. 'I know they adore Takeru and all, but I don't think they're ready to be grandparents or an uncle just yet.'
A crimson blush swept across Hikari's face and she was thankful she had been choking only a few seconds ago, her face already flush with colour, but it was soon fading as she thought about the idea of having kids with Takeru some more. If his behaviour earlier in the day was any indication, then their relationship might not make it to the point where they were ready to have kids. She didn't want to be with someone that just blindly agreed to whatever decision she made. She wanted to be with someone that could think and choose for themselves, and had courage enough to speak up for themselves.
She hoped what had happened this morning was little more than a one off, or if it wasn't then she hoped she could speak with Takeru about it in an attempt to assuage any fears or worries he might hold.
'Is something wrong?' Gatomon asked, noting the change in her partner's demeanour at the mention of the teen.
'Takeru and I had our first fight this morning,' Hikari said lowly.
'So? Couples fight,' Gatomon said. 'I've seen your parents argue no end of times, and they're still happy together.'
'It's not that we had a fight, Gatomon,' Hikari said with a sigh. 'It's what Takeru did during it.'
'He didn't call you something insulting, did he?' Gatomon said as she stood up, claws flexing. 'Because if he did, I'll turn him into my new scratching post for you.'
'No,' Hikari said. 'No, nothing like that. He didn't call me anything, or shout at me, or hit me, either. In fact, we barely even got into the argument.'
'So what did he do?' Gatomon asked.
'Nothing,' Hikari said. 'We started to argue, voices were raised on both sides, and then he just stopped and sat down and said he didn't want to fight, and he acted like he was really afraid of us having a proper argument.'
'He did?' Gatomon said. 'That's weird.'
'I know,' Hikari said. She paused a moment then launched into her theory that his parents' divorce had left some psychological scarring on Takeru, and ended with her worries about what impact it might have on their relationship.
'I want to be with him,' she said. 'I love Takeru with all my heart, and I really do see us having a future together, but I want him to be an active member of our relationship. I don't want it to be all me.'
'So make it happen,' Gatomon said. 'Sit Takeru down and talk to him about this morning, and tell him everything you told me. If he wants this relationship to work, he'll put just as much effort in as you.'
'Oddly enough, that's what I had in mind already,' Hikari said with a smile.
'And that's why we're partners,' Gatomon said.
Hikari laughed as her smile grew slightly, petting the Digimon on the head, and they returned to their neglected meals. Along from her, Captain Ishida was pantomiming something out for her parents using condiment packages and cutlery, a battle maybe, and next to them Taichi and Agumon had started on round two of their competition, whatever it was. She caught sight of a steward watching them with immense displeasure at the mess being created, and when they locked eyes Hikari mimed an apology before suppressing a laugh when the steward showed her two mops and two buckets, lying in wait.
Groans soon followed from her brother and his partner when they finally called an end to their competition and the steward walked over, dumping the cleaning equipment down beside them before they had a chance to gather themselves after gorging on so much food. Her mother further motivated them with a stern look, prompting a comment from Captain Ishida jokingly asking if she could work her magic on some of his more stubborn troops given how quickly Taichi and Agumon jumped into their assigned task.
It took them several long minutes to finish, considering how each time they said they were done the steward would find some patch that had slipped their notice and he'd make them start all over again until at last it met with his approval, allowing them to scurry after the rest of the group as they left the hangar and went back outside to the tarmac apron where a half dozen tracked vehicles stood guard, with twenty or thirty soldiers milling around them.
'Yes, I think this meets with my approval, captain,' Hikari's mother said as they stood and observed the troops, doing whatever it was they were doing.
'I'm glad it does,' Ishida said. 'Once the last few details are finalised, we'll move Hikari to the next base and forward you the necessary paperwork and ID forms to allow you access. That way, you'll be free to come and visit whenever you please, though certain areas of that base will be considered off limits to you all. Is that understood?'
'Of course,' her father said.
'Do you really have to leave so soon?' Hikari asked as they began moving towards a waiting car parked nearby, a soldier at the wheel with the engine running. 'It feels like you only just got here.'
'I'm afraid so,' her mother said, ruffling the hair on top of her head. 'But don't worry. We'll come visit you every few days, and we're always on the other end of a phone if you really need us.'
'Okay,' Hikari said.
She hugged her mother and father, one after the other, and they hugged her back tightly, and then it was Taichi's turn, and then they were gone, leaving Hikari alone on the tarmac with Captain Ishida standing beside her and Gatomon in her arms.
'Guess it's just you and me now, huh?' she said to the Digimon, who nodded in response.
'Yeah,' Gatomon said.
Hikari heaved a great sigh and turned to Ishida, saying, 'Captain, is there anything I can do on base to help out? I think I'd go stir crazy if all I did all day was watch anime and read books.'
'Nothing springs immediately to mind,' Ishida said after a moment's contemplation. 'Most of the work done on base tends to lean towards requiring extensive knowledge in specialised fields, and what doesn't need special training basically amounts to keeping this place clean, and the troops fed.'
'So long as it has a purpose,' Hikari said. 'I want to feel like I'm doing something useful.'
It was Ishida's turn to sigh and think before shrugging.
'I'll check in with the department heads and see if any of them could do with a spare body,' he said. 'But there's no guarantees any of them will get back to me with good news, or in time before your relocation.'
'At this point, I'll take anything,' Hikari said.
'Famous last words,' Ishida said. 'Especially on a military base.'
'I don't care,' Hikari said.
Ishida winced. 'That's even worse.'
But he shrugged and nodded and made a promise to ask his subordinates if they had any work going, and in the meantime he suggested that if she wanted, Hikari could go an examine the previous iterations of the suit Daisuke had worn. It hadn't escaped his notice she always seemed to gravitate towards that particular section of the hangar every time she went wandering, so they had to hold some amount of interest for her, and with the Mark III currently in use almost twenty-four hours a day the older models were the only way she could see one up close outside of combat.
They were kept close by in case they were ever needed again, or the technicians wanted to test out some new software patch designed to let someone other than Daisuke use the suits. If nothing else, it could kill half an hour or more, provided one of the techs were nearby and able to answer any questions she might have.
Not having anything else better to do, Hikari set out to do just that.
