Author's Note: Each chapter will focus on one of the Chosen as he/she deals with the situation. Because of that, the days/timeline kind of jumps around a bit. I'll post an updated timeline at the beginning of each chapter.

Day 1: Taichi is paralyzed following a battle in the Digital World. Jyou brings him to the hospital and has to explain to him his condition. Hikari and Sora arrive and Jyou takes them to see Taichi. Hikari faints and is brought to another waiting room. Sora almost faints and has to leave the room for air. When Yamato arrives, he sees Sora waiting outside Taichi's hospital room and they both enter. Takeru arrives sometime later and sees Hikari crying into Sora's shoulder. He tries to comfort her but then she leaves to talk with her parents.

Between Day 1 and 2: Hikari calls the Chosen and tells them that Taichi is paralyzed and will never walk again.

Day 2: Mimi visits Taichi and finds him depressed and angry. She decides to throw a picnic to cheer him up. Sora goes to the Yagami's apartment later and hides as Taichi leaves in his wheelchair. She feels guilty and goes up to the apartment to wait for him. She and Hikari chat and Taichi comes back with groceries. He won't let them help him and Sora notices how distant he is to Hikari. As she leaves, Taichi follows, saying that he needs to go to the electronics store. Sora tells him to stop being so cold and he, almost reluctantly, apologizes.

Day 3: At the picnic, Taichi's still distant. He gets angry when the rest of the Chosen start talking about their future plans. Yamato calls Taichi a baby. Taichi leaves and Jyou explains why Yamato's insult was so offensive. Sora makes Yamato chase after Taichi to apologize. Hikari and Takeru chase after them. Mimi doesn't understand why her picnic failed and Jyou told her that Taichi just needs to remember that his friends care for him.

Day 4: Mimi delivers a present of her homemade pork buns for Taichi, along with a note telling him that she's there for him. Taichi responds later via text to thank her. Yamato continues to try and apologize to Taichi, but Taichi doesn't answer any of his texts. Sora goes to talk to Taichi in person. She gets him to agree to talk to Yamato and then sees Taichi has thrown away his university brochures. He thinks his life is over and Sora argues, getting him to maybe go into politics. Takeru comes over and meets Taichi as he's getting the mail. Takeru gives Taichi some words of wisdom about not giving up hope before asking about Hikari. Taichi doesn't know where she is and Takeru notes that Taichi doesn't seem to care.

Day 5: Yamato finally gets through to Taichi and gets him to agree to a meeting at a local basketball court. Takeru talks to Hikari and they agree to hang out after school. As he waits to cross the street in front of the apartment, he sees the Yagami siblings leave without saying anything to each other. He starts to wonder about the tension between them. At the court, Yamato tries to convince Taichi that he can still do what he wants with his life. Taichi agrees to go into politics and, after some tough love from Yamato, starts to think about joining a physically disabled basketball team.

Day 6: Yamato calls Takeru early that morning and tells him about the game he had with Taichi the previous night. Takeru talks to Hikari at school later that day and she hints she didn't know. Takeru starts to suspect something is going on between the two of them.

Fragments

Chapter 6 of 8

Hikari

Day 1

Hikari filled her lungs with each breath as the oxygen flowed through the mask around her face. Jyou watched her from the chair in the corner of the hospital room. "Feeling better?"

She winced slightly. She was almost fifteen years old; how could she have fainted like a child? She nodded. Jyou walked over and removed the mask. "Thank you," she said, sitting up and letting her legs hang over the edge of the white hospital bed.

"Are you okay to see Taichi?"

She bit her lip and her fingers curled within her green uniform skirt. She remembered how the world spun when she walked into Taichi's hospital room before. She winced again. Taichi saw her sick so many times when they were younger and now when the positions were reversed, she couldn't handle it. She needed to do this. "Y-yeah."

He helped her off the bed and guided her out of the room. As they approached room 512, Taichi's room, Yamato and Sora exited. "Hikari," Sora said, "Are you feeling better?"

She took another breath. "Yeah."

"Do you want to see him? I'll go in with you."

She nodded. Yamato and Jyou waited while Sora guided her into the room. Taichi was still asleep from the pain medication, his body still covered with wires and sensors, still as unmoving as before. Hikari's heart seized, her breath caught and she squeezed Sora's hand. She didn't faint like a child, instead, she cried like one.

The next few moments were a blur. She was barely aware that her parents appeared in the hall with Jyou's father. The look on her mother's face only made the pit in her stomach open wider. She tried to say something but all that came out were sobs.

Sora led her down to the waiting room and she spent the next thirty minutes crying into the older girl's shoulder. At some point, Takeru, Mimi, and Koushiro arrived but the next hour or so was a blur. She remembered her mother coming to get her. Her stomach felt like she was doing somersaults as she followed her mother back upstairs to Taichi's room. Her brother was sitting up in his bed and she pushed past her father to embrace him. "Taichi! Please tell me you're okay."

He twisted away from her gaze. "I can't."

She stared. "W-what?"

He pushed her off of him and hit his leg beneath the heavy blanket. Hikari hissed but Taichi's face was blank. "See? I can't feel anything."

Her stomach dropped. "No… No, you don't mean…"

He just gave a short nod of his head. "Yup."

They had to call for another tank of oxygen.

Hikari felt like she was living a movie the next few days like her life wasn't her own. She watched from the doorway to her room as Taichi learned to maneuver his wheelchair within their small apartment. For Taichi to get from his room to the t.v. he needed to squeeze between the table and the wall, and around the couch. The space in the divider sectioning of the kitchen only gave him half an inch on either side of his chair. On the first day home, he knocked into the wall five times before he screamed in frustration.

Things only got more awkward that evening. Hikari was on the couch trying to focus on the anime on t.v., but her focus kept drifting back to the sounds emerging from the bathroom.

"I've got it!" he shouted.

"No, you don't!" their mother snapped, "I'm trying to help you."

"You don't need to! I can do this."

"Taichi, you need help right now! Stop fighting me on this!"

Taichi's protests died away and her mother said, "And you're my son, I've seen it all before."

"Mom!"

Hikari tried to smile, but it fell flat. She wanted to help, but what could she do?

"Hikari!" her mother called.

Her heart jumped. "Yes?"

"Grab another towel from the washroom."

She did as she was asked, and when she darted back to the hall, her mother was waiting outside the door. "Is he okay?"

Her mother nodded, her voice lowering. "Yes, but it's going to be rough for a while. Just give him some time."

Day 2

That's what Hikari told herself after hearing Taichi's answer to Mimi's invite. "No way in hell."

"Don't use that kind of language," their mother said with a scowl, "And you can't spend the rest of your life in this apartment."

"I don't!" he snapped.

"Going to school and the store doesn't count," she retorted, "You need to see your friends again."

"Please?" Hikari said, "Mimi and Sora and the others want to see how you're doing."

He opened his mouth but their mother's scowl deepened. He slouched in his chair. "Fine, I'll go."

Their mother nodded. "Good. I'm going clothes shopping. Do either of you want to come?"

Taichi snorted. "Not a chance."

That would have been his response regardless. Hikari smiled slightly and shook her head.

Their mother headed for the door. "I might not be back before dinner, but if you're hungry, you might need to run out to the store for something. Okay, I'll see you later."

Hikari waited until their mother left before saying, "Do you want to get take-out."

Taichi turned his chair around and rolled into his room. "Nah."

"Or I could make something?" she suggested, "I'm sure there's stuff we can use. "

"I'm fine," he said, shutting the door.

She frowned and walked back into her room. She tried to focus on her math homework when she heard Taichi's door open and his chair wheeling onto the hardwood floor. This was followed by the front door opening and closing. Where did he go?

She tried to avoid the question when Sora came by later. "You don't know?"

Hikari shrugged. "No, but I'm sure he'll be back soon, though. I think he may have been a little annoyed with me and Mom before." She shouldn't have pushed him. That's why he was in a bad mood.

The two girls chatted until they heard Taichi return. Hikari tried not to run out of her room. Her brother was in the kitchen, trying to push two bags off of his lap onto the counter. The counter was close to half a foot higher than his waist. "Let me help you."

"I've got it!" he snapped.

Hikari winced and then smiled. "Sure, Taichi, I know you can handle it." She shouldn't have asked him; of course, he could handle it.

"Where did you go?"

"The store."

She wanted to say that she would have gone with him but then wondered if that would be like her asking him if he needed help.

Once she wheeled back into his room and shut the door, Sora hugged Hikari. "We just need to give him time."

She felt her lip start to twitch but she breathed in. Taichi could handle anything. "Yeah, I know. He's just been through a lot."

Day 3

Hikari stretched her arms above her head as she exited her room, a slight yawn escaping her lips. She entered the kitchen but heard a familiar clinking sound from the living room. Taichi was using the weight lifting machine their father bought for him a few days after he came home from the hospital. He heaved with each pull, the sunlight streaming through the bay window reflecting off his face. His shirt was soaked. He had been exercising like this every morning. She wanted to call out to him, tell him to stop pushing himself, but she thought of the last time she expressed her concern. "I'm fine," he had said, "Don't worry about it."

She instead ran into the kitchen, past the breakfast left for her by her mother, and poured a glass of oolong tea from the refrigerator. She returned to the living room just as Taichi was drying his face with a towel. "Good morning. I thought you'd like something to drink."

Taichi released the breaks on his wheelchair and pushed past her to the bathroom. "I'm fine."

A moment later she heard the bathroom's faucet fill three times, then the sound of his cup being placed on the sink. She stared at the glass in her hand; maybe he just did not want the tea. She should have brought him water; next time she would bring him water.

She ate her breakfast in silence until Taichi emerged from the bathroom. He wheeled to the table and grabbed a bowl. "Do you need anything?" Hikari asked.

"I'm fine," he replied, shoving rice and egg into his mouth.

Her eyes lingered on him for another moment; his arms were getting bigger. She opened her mouth to tell him.

"You don't have to watch me, I'm not a baby."

Her face began to wince, but she forced it into a smile. "No, of course you're not."

She hung around her room for the next few hours. She changed out of her pajamas and walked into the living room. Taichi was in front of the television, which was displaying a music video of five teenage girls dressed in cat outfits. Her brother was trying to reach the remote lying on the carpet.

"I'll get it!" Hikari cried.

Taichi's arm whipped back to lay on the armrest of her wheelchair. "I'll just watch this."

Maybe he was getting into pop groups. Yes, that was probably it.

"Um, are you ready to go? Mimi said to be there around one."

He did not even turn to her. "Have fun."

Her heart dropped, "Y-you're not coming? You said you would."

"How am I supposed to go there?" he snapped.

She smiled. "Taichi, don't be silly. It's only at the picnic area, people bring strollers there all the time."

She realized her mistake as soon as the words were out of her mouth. "Oh, and are you going to bring my bottle too? How about a blanket for nap time?"

"Taichi!" their mother snapped as her head poked through the bay window from where she had been hanging clothes, "You're going!"

Taichi grumbled. "Fine!" He pushed his wheels backward.

"I got it," Hikari said, hands grabbing the handles on the back of the wheelchair.

"I can do it," Taichi snapped.

Hikari pulled back, wheels burning through his hands. "Damn it, that hurt."

Her stomach twisted, but a smile broke over her face as Taichi's hands rested in this lap.

The others had set up their picnic area beneath a tree overlooking the park's small lake. Taichi tried to protest that his wheelchair would not let him up there, but Hikari ignored it and pushed him to the others.

Mimi ran to meet them and she threw her arms around Taichi. "I'm so glad you came!"

"Mimi!" Hikari cried. She had to dig her platform sandals into the grass to keep all three from sliding down the hill.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried. She helped Hikari push Taichi to the flat area beneath the tree. The other greeted them, except for Koshiro, whom Mimi had to nudge from behind.

"This is all for you," Mimi said, "We want you to know that we're all here for you."

Hikari hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath until Taichi grunted. "Yeah, thanks." She exhaled and then berated herself. Was she expecting Taichi to yell at them? She needed to stop thinking so badly of him.

Yamato knelt on the blanket and looked at Taichi. "You, uh, need help getting down?"

He shrugged. "I'm all right."

"Are you sure?" asked Hikari, "There's plenty of room-"

"I'm fine!"

She froze and then smiled. "All right then, I'll just grab you something."

She scanned the feast before her before zeroing in on the pork buns. Taichi loved pork buns and Mimi had made them especially for Taichi. She placed one on the paper plate.

"Sora," Taichi said, "Can you get me a pork bun?"

Sora looked to Hikari and then to the young man in the wheelchair. "Um, sure…"

Hikari shrugged and took a bite. "Mimi, this is really good."

They started chatting but Taichi sat there silently. They got onto the topic of their career plans. "What about you?" Mimi asked Taichi, "What are you going to do?"

He didn't answer. "Taichi?" she asked again.

"What?" he snapped.

Yamato frowned. "Mimi was asking you a question."

He snorted. "Well, there's no point in doing anything, right?" He slapped his leg.

Hikari felt her heart start to race. "Taichi…" She wanted to say something but her mind was blank. Taichi didn't say anything until Mimi asked Taichi about something Koshiro had done for the Digital World.

"Why ask me?" he snapped, "I can't be a Chosen anymore."

Hikari started wringing her hands in the hem of her dress as Yamato shouted, "You still have a digivice, don't you?"

The two boys argued back and forth until Yamato shouted the insult that made Hikari's blood turn cold. Taichi stared at Yamato and then undid the breaks on his wheelchair. He started down the hill without a word. Hikari climbed to her feet. "Wait! I'll-"

"I'm fine!" he shouted as he descended the hill, "Stay with your friends!"

She chased after him and didn't catch up to him until they reached the train station. "Taichi, Yamato didn't-"

"Save it!" he snapped, "I didn't want to go to begin with and you forced me to!"

She winced. "I just wanted you to-"

"I don't care! You're treating me like a baby too! Just-" He bit his lip and turned away from her.

She stood in place and watched him wheel himself into the station. She was certain she knew what he was going to say. Something along the lines of, "Just leave me alone."

She felt her heart start to break.

Day 4

Hikari ate by herself at lunch and then went to take pictures in the park. When Hikari got home from the picnic, Taichi had already sequestered himself in his room. Not that she really suspected he was going to talk to her.

She snapped a picture of a bird as it sang on a branch of an oak tree. She frowned. It was her fault. She was just annoying him. She shouldn't have pushed him. She just should have given him his space.

She took a few more pictures before checking the time on her phone. Takeru's unanswered texts flashed at her. She'd avoided him all day. What was she supposed to say? She then thought of him pacing the school hall looking for her.

She texted him back. Sorry that I missed your messages. I had my phone on silent today. She hated lying to him. I'm taking pictures for photography club. Do you want to talk tomorrow?

When Hikari got home, she saw Taichi in the living room watching the government news channel. She wanted to ask him about it but her voice failed her. She just walked into her room to get ready for her bath.

Day 6

Hikari froze slightly and turned away from her shoe locker to stare at Takeru. "Taichi was with Yamato yesterday?"

Takeru nodded. "Yeah, Yamato told me about it before school."

That's where Taichi had gone yesterday. After Hikari told their mother she was getting ready to leave to meet Takeru, Taichi had practically raced out of the apartment. Anything to avoid being around her.

She stared at Takeru. "Um, Yamato met Taichi at a basketball court. He apologized and Taichi accepted it. Then they actually threw a couple of baskets."

Taichi played basketball? "Well, that's good."

Takeru grinned. "Yeah, Yamato thinks that whatever Sora said to him really made a difference. She was the one that convinced him to go into politics. Great, huh?"

That was why he was watching the National Diet the other day. "Oh, y-yeah, that's great."

Takeru seemed to study her and she felt her cheeks darkening. "Yamato also said that he and Mimi were texting each other too. It looks like he's starting to come around again."

He was talking to their friends again and he wouldn't even look at her anymore. Mimi got Taichi out of the apartment for a little while, Yamato got Taichi to do more than sit in front of the t.v. and Sora helped him find a career. What had Hikari done besides make him feel angry?

She squeezed her school slippers as she pulled them from the cubby. It wasn't like he let her do anything! He just brushed aside any offer of help from her.

She winced and released the grip on her innocent footwear. She deserved it. All she did was make him feel even more helpless and ashamed.

"Yeah," she said to Takeru, "It's great."

She wanted to talk to Taichi that night but he wasn't there when she came home from school and she fell asleep before he came back. She wasn't sure what to say anyway.

Day 7

Since it was Saturday, Sora invited Hikari for a shopping trip and then lunch. They chatted about the weather and the latest anime they were both watching. The conversation, inevitably, turned to Taichi.

"At least he's not hiding out in the apartment all day, right?" Sora asked while examining a yellow blouse

Hikari looked through the rack of shirts. "Yeah, I guess."

Sora hesitated and then looked at her. "We, uh, missed you at the game last night."

Hikari blinked. "What game?"

"Taichi's game."

Hikari stared and Sora frowned. "His physically disabled basketball team had a game last night."

Hikari felt her heart freeze and the world melted away, the only sound coming through was Sora's words. "He said you were at a friend's party."

She was barely aware of herself as she shook her head. "N-no. I was just hanging out at home. H-he's on a team…?"

Sora stared. "Hikari, he's been on a team since Yamato convinced him to join one almost a week ago. We were all there last night and…"

She trailed off as Hikari turned to look back at the shirts. She felt tears start to push at the back of her eyes. "O-oh, that's great."

"Why didn't he tell you?" Sora asked.

Hikari shrugged. "He's mad at me. I guess I was just getting in his way while he adjusted."

She flipped through the blouses and tank tops while Sora played on her phone. "Okay, Taichi's going to meet me in the small café around the corner."

Hikari swallowed. "Oh, okay. Have fun."

Sora grabbed her shoulders and pushed her towards the door. "Well, he thinks he's meeting me…"

Hikari sat at the table while Sora waited by the door of the diner. Her fingers danced on the tabletop. Why was she so anxious? It was just Taichi. Despite what she'd done to him, Taichi didn't hate her, right?

She heard Taichi's voice. "Hey, Sora."

"Hi, Taichi," was the response, "Our table's back here."

He followed her into the dining area but froze upon seeing Hikari. Sora scooted behind him and pushed his wheelchair to the table. "No, you two are going to sit there and talk to each other."

"Why here?" Taichi snapped.

Sora grinned. "So, you couldn't just hide in your room." She glanced at Hikari and then back at Taichi. "Now talk." She gave a short wave and exited.

The two siblings stared at their menus in silence. This was the time, her chance to apologize but the words just wouldn't come.

Once the orders were given, the waitress returned with their soft drinks. Taichi's straw slipped from his hand and bounced onto the floor.

Hikari jumped to her feet. "I'll get it."

"I'll just drink it from the cup," Taichi replied, sipping his soda.

The girl plopped back into her seat. She stared at the table. The words were pushing at the back of her throat. She filled her lungs, ready to burst, but all she could manage was, "I-I'm sorry."

"For what?" Taichi asked, in a tone that was not as angry as she thought.

The damn was now open and the words flooded forth. She wasn't even really aware of what she was saying; she knew was rambling, but everything came out at once. "For being a pain to you since the accident. I tried to help you but I guess I was just annoying. I'm sorry for not doing the right things. I'm sorry I wasn't as helpful as our friends. I want to help you. I want to see you at your games. I want to be able to talk to you again. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

She waited, held her breath for an angry outburst, a calling to accounts of her misdeed towards him. Instead, she heard a sniffle, followed by a sob.

She looked up. Taichi was crying! "Taichi?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and twisted away. "Hikari…" He swallowed and turned back, "Hikari, y-you haven't done anything wrong. It's all me." He heaved and banged his fist on the armrest of his chair. "I couldn't stand being in this damn chair. I couldn't stand having everyone staring at me." He met her eyes, "But I…I couldn't stand for you, of all people, to see me like this. I'm the older one, I'm the big brother. I just couldn't deal with the fact that you were taking care of me."

Tears flowed freely from her eyes. "Oniichan…" She darted around the table and wrapped her arms around him. "You're my big brother, and no matter what, you'll always be my big brother!" She looked him in the eyes, "And I know that, no matter what, no matter what happens, if I'm in trouble, you'll be there for me, just like I'll always be there for you."

Taichi grabbed her in a hug of his own. "Hikari, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I…"

He trailed off as she squeezed him even tighter.

With a lunge of his arms, Taichi grabbed the ball from the air. Hands flew to the wheels of his chair and he propelled himself forward, twisting at the last moment to launch the ball back into the sky. Time stood still as he hovered in the air before sailing through the net. The buzzer sounded and the crowds erupted into cheers.

"And it's good!" the announcer screamed, "Yagami for the win!"

While Taichi high-fived his teammates, the Chosen Children in the bleachers threw up their hands, screams of joy shouting from their mouths.

And Hikari cheered the loudest.

End Chapter 6 of 8.