The Truth Part 4
by Cybra
A/N: We're either at the last part or next to the last part. I'm not sure which. For your information, in total, this is the longest dang fic I've ever wrote! Unless you count my other series...
Disclaimer: Let's think about this for a second, shall we? Why on earth would the owner of Digimon be writing fanfiction?
Professor Joseph Carlson froze up, eyes wide. Matt had frozen up as well, not believing what his eyes told him. Izzy? Holding a gun? At somebody's HEAD?! Unreal!
Izzy's eyes narrowed. Matt saw the pent-up rage in those dark eyes lighting them up, making them appear like fiery gems. Izzy's arm never wavered, but he didn't shoot. Matt didn't care. The older boy knew that the second that Izzy fired was the second the younger boy's life would be over.
'I've got to talk him out of it...' Matt realized, seeing the cold, unflinching look his friend was giving his real parents' murderer.
"Izzy! Put the gun down, I'll knock this guy out, and we'll get the cops. Okay?"
"No."
That single syllable seemed to hold all the emotions of a rock. Professor Carlson was practically wetting his pants. If the boy's finger slipped, his head would be blown off. Judging by the look in the child of his hated rival, that was EXACTLY what the boy wanted to do.
"C'mon, Izzy. Don't scare me here," Matt pleaded. "Put the gun down and we'll get the cops. Okay?"
Izzy only moved his eyes to look at Matt. "And then what? Somehow he'll get off; he has a large amount of influence. Then he might come after me again. I'm not afraid of that, Matt, but I'm afraid of what he'll do to my parents. What if he decides that they knew something, huh? Then he'll go after them exactly the same way. I WON'T let that happen!"
"If I may say something...?" the tiny voice of Professor Carlson said.
Izzy turned his eyes back to the mathematician in front of him. The scientist had inched his way up towards Izzy in the brief conversation with Matt.
"If you let me go, I'll do anything you want. Anything! Just name it!"
Izzy's face, what used to be a mask of non-emotion, suddenly seemed to twist and distort until it was the perfect description of pure and unbridled hatred.
He hissed at the scientist, "Before anything happens, I want to know why you thought my father had to die."
The mathematician gulped, but obliged. The holder of the gun may have been a child, but he STILL was holding the gun. By inching forward, Professor Carlson was now in point-blank range.
"Your father...he and other scientists rigged the results of all those prizes he stole from me! It was supposed to have been ME as the shining star of science!!!"
Izzy gave a bitter laugh. "Not from what I read about you. According to my father's journals, your methods were sloppy, your results were highly questionable, and you only cleaned that stuff up after you lost the Nobel Peace Prize." He raised an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, my father also found out that you were diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic." He paused before he added a sarcastic, "Everybody was out to get you, weren't they?"
Professor Carlson looked pleadingly at Matt. The boy felt sympathy for his fear, but not for what he had done. Still, Izzy had to be stopped from pulling the trigger, but the blond wasn't going to stop the younger boy for Professor Carlson's sake. Matt was going to stop Izzy for Izzy's own sake.
"Izzy, just put down the gun and everything will be just fine," Matt told him soothingly.
Izzy didn't answer this time. He wanted to see Professor Carlson dead, buried, and rotting away to nothing. He cocked the gun. The scientist in front of him visibly trembled.
Matt didn't know what to do. Talking Izzy out of it wasn't working. He needed to snap him out of this, but what?
That's when Matt remembered one time when Tai had gotten so fed up with Izzy's calm demeanor, he'd actually punched the shorter Digidestined. (A/N: Okay, think of it this way: it's the infamous Tai-punches-Izzy scene from "The Crest of Light" done in front of the others which will be written in a future fic by me. The reason Tai punches Izzy is because...well...you'll see...)
~~~~~~
7 MONTHS AGO...
Matt looked up to see Tai having a heated debate with Izzy (well, heated on Tai's part). Izzy was trying to get the older boy to calm down and think things through, but Tai wasn't listening.
"I still think that we should go through the mountain pass!!!" Tai shouted at the smaller boy.
"Tai, if we go through that pass, we'll be setting ourselves up for an easy attack, you KNOW that."
"It's the quickest way to get to Gennai's place! Besides, Kari and TK are too sick to go over the mountain by any other route!"
"IF YOU WOULD JUST..." Izzy took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "If you would just listen, Tai, you'd see what I'm trying to do."
Matt frowned. TK had picked up whatever Kari had from some time when they'd played together. Now the both of them looked terrible. Another thing that worried him was that usually it was he and Tai fighting, not Tai and Izzy. Izzy was doing his best to keep Tai from exploding, but it wasn't working well. From the look in Tai's eye, he was ready to make the fight physical.
"IF YOU'D LISTEN TO ME FOR TWO SECONDS INSTEAD OF GOING ON YOUR STUPID COMPUTER...!!!" Tai yelled.
Izzy winced at the volume of Tai's voice. However, the computer thing had also been a low blow. Kyra began to walk up to them, but Tai shoved her back.
"Izzy, I can't believe you would risk TK and Kari!!!" Tai snarled.
"I'm trying NOT to put TK and Kari at risk!!! Seiya and his group are still out there! If you would just listen..."
"I'M SICK OF LISTENING TO YOU!!!"
The whole group watched in frozen shock as Tai quickly pulled back his fist and punched the smaller Izzy in the eye. Izzy stumbled back, his hand covering his wounded eye. Tai ran forward and began to trip the younger boy, letting out all of his frustrations on Izzy without even realizing it. Junpuu's jaw dropped to the ground as Tai kicked Izzy's legs out from beneath him.
"Stop it, Tai!" Sora shouted.
Matt finally unfroze himself as he ran forward to try and stop the angered Tai. He didn't make it in time to prevent a painful blow to the stomach.
"Tai, knock it off! He's trying to help!!!" Matt snapped as he grabbed Tai, pulling him backwards.
That brought Tai back to his senses. He'd managed to land more blows than he'd thought on Izzy. The younger boy was holding his stomach, his face twitching in pain. Cybra looked madder than Hades. Kyra and Junpuu looked about twice as mad. Tentomon looked like he wanted to fry Tai.
Tai immediately looked remorseful. He leaned over to help Izzy and look into the boy's face. Izzy's dark eyes were tightly squeezed shut as he tried to control the pain, but not succeeding at all. Tai used his hand to get Izzy to look at him.
"Izzy...man, I'm sorry. I..."
Tai didn't finish as Izzy opened his eyes. Those dark eyes gave little testimony to the great agony the redhead must've been feeling.
"It's okay...Tai...I...guess my plan...wouldn't have...worked...anyway..."
Tai bit his bottom lip, then said, "No, Izzy. I'm sure it would work. I'm sorry I hit you..." Tai seemed to come to a decision. "Izzy, I want you to hit me. Right now."
Izzy's eyes narrowed. "No way...I won't...sink that low...Violence has never solved...anything. I'm not...gonna hit ya, Tai."
"I'll hit ya, Tai," Cybra growled.
"I'll help," Kyra added.
"It would make my day," Junpuu snarled.
"I wouldn't mind taking a few swipes myself," Tentomon commented, green eyes glaring.
Tai only gulped.
~~~~~~
PRESENT DAY
Matt thought about Izzy's words as time seemed to stand still. Who knew when Izzy would pull the trigger? Instead, Matt decided to speak up.
"Izzy, you once said to Tai that violence never solved anything. Shooting this guy will only bring on more problems. Are you sure you want that?"
Izzy's aim wavered for a moment, then he lowered the gun, handing it to Matt who had slowly inched his way up beside his friend. When Professor Carlson looked like he was going to jump for the gun, Matt punched him in the face, knocking the scientist out.
At the same time, Izzy turned his head away from Matt, his shoulders shaking as he cried. The older boy rubbed his back soothingly, telling him that everything was all right. That's when the calvary finally arrived. Never mind the fact that it was late. There were also paramedics there in case someone had gotten hurt. The Izumis' car pulled up with the police vehicles and two very worried parents hopped out.
Junpuu, Tai, and Joe were the first three to make it down to the dock from the bridge. Junpuu went over to her friend and pulled him close to her. Izzy didn't pull away, not like he normally would've. He just wanted to cry.
Matt handed the gun to one of the police officers. Officer Tsukino examined the gun. She shook her head.
"You kids are lucky he ran out of bullets."
'Ran out of bullets?' Matt wondered.
When Officer Tsukino had finished asking him questions, he turned back to Izzy who looked totally drained. His tears had been shed and his anger had fizzled out, leaving him completely empty. Matt bent down a little to look into Izzy's eyes.
"Izzy? You knew the gun wasn't loaded, didn't you?"
Izzy nodded silently.
"Then...why'd you act like you were going to shoot him?"
"I wanted him...to know what it's like...to be toyed with."
~~~~~~
Two weeks passed and the day of Izzy's birthday arrived. Mimi arrived at the Izumi apartment with Sora. Both of them were running late.
"We're sorry, Mrs. Izumi! Did you cut the cake without us?" Mimi asked.
Mrs. Izumi shook her head, a worried look in her eye.
"Junpuu, Kyra, and Izzy haven't come back yet from wherever they've gone."
Junpuu and Kyra had taken on the job of keeping Izzy out of the house until everything was ready. They were supposed to have returned at 5 o'clock, about 10 minutes ago, but they were still nowhere in sight. What had struck Mrs. Izumi as odd was that Izzy had put a bit of money in his pocket before he left. As far as she knew, her son hadn't taken up shopping as a past time.
"That is weird," Sora commented. She smiled. "I'm sure they'll be back soon!"
That's when the phone rang. Mr. Izumi picked up after the 3rd ring when everybody had quieted down.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Mr. Izumi? It's Kyra."
"Where are you three?"
"We're at a cemetery up on the east side of Odaiba. Izzy finally found their graves."
Mr. Izumi's face fell. He'd been hoping that wasn't what his son had wanted to do when Junpuu and Kyra said they'd do anything with him for the day. Izzy had been somewhat obsessed with finding his real parents' graves after Professor Carlson had been tried and convicted of two counts of murder and at least one count of attempted murder.
"Can you get him back here?"
"Yeah, but it'll take a bit to get over there. Sorry."
"It's not your fault." Mr. Izumi sighed. "Just hurry."
"Roger. Will go." Kyra hung up.
Mr. Izumi turned to the group and sighed.
"He should be here in at least thirty minutes."
Dr. Hotaru frowned. "He went to visit them, didn't he?"
The shorter man nodded, then asked, "Did you tell him...?"
"No. I didn't. He found them all on his own."
~~~~~~
Junpuu and Kyra exchanged worried glances as they saw Izzy standing there nearby two graves joined by one tombstone. A bouquet of roses had been lovingly placed in the holder designed for that purpose but never used. In fact, it looked as though nobody had cleaned the gravestone in 10 years.
The tombstone read: "Kojiro and Ami Izumi, Together 'Till the Bitter End".
Izzy closed his eyes and thought, somehow knowing his parents would hear him, 'Mother, Father...I'd call you "Mom" and "Dad", but I know you understand. I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner. I hope you're satisfied...knowing that Carlson is finally behind bars, where he should be. I just wish...I knew you...in person. Father, your journals are helping me piece together what you and Mother were like, but...it's not the same. I know that wishing...is illogical...but I just...want to meet you...just once.'
Kyra's voice gently cut into his thoughts.
"Izzy, it's time we get going home now."
Izzy opened his dark eyes and nodded. Junpuu put an arm around his shoulder before he could protest.
"Izzy?" she began.
"Yeah?"
"You know that your parents are proud of you, right?"
"Right."
Kyra smiled, catching on to what Junpuu was getting at. "Well, Junpuu and I both know that Kojiro and Ami Izumi are both VERY proud of you."
Izzy clenched his hands into fists, forcing back the tears. All three children were silent on the way to the Izumi apartment.
~~~~~~
A young boy with red hair stayed up late that night doing something other than typing away at his yellow Pineapple laptop for once. He had a blank notebook (a gift from Dr. Hotaru) in front of him as he continued to write in it. Finally, he stopped, amazed that he was able to write more than three pages of his thoughts, hopes, and dreams.
The boy set his new journal aside and picked up one of the battered old journals of his father. His parents had gone out for a while so he was alone. He began to read out loud to himself to fill up the silence.
"' I have never seen such a small child! I think he's absolutely perfect! Koushiro already has a small amount of red hair on him, much to Ami's disappointment. She had hoped he'd have her brown hair. So had I, but the bright red hair made him stand out against her as she held him close soon after he was born. Never mind the fact that he was born about a week early. I guess he really wanted to make it on time...'"
The boy's voice trailed off as he heard an unfamiliar voice say in sync with him "'...he really wanted to make it on time...'"
Izzy looked up to see a figure of a man with bright, wild red hair and dark eyes before him. The man wasn't very tall for what his age appeared to be (which was about 25). Next to him, a bit taller than him, was a strange woman with long brown hair that fell to her waist. It was tied back into a French braid. Both of them looked like they were ready for a night on the town.
That's when Izzy realized it. He could almost see right through them.
"Who are you?" the boy whispered, afraid.
The man frowned. "I knew you wouldn't recognize us, but it still hurts."
The woman elbowed him and leaned forward to stroke Izzy's hair. He could feel the warmth in that touch even though he shouldn't have been able to. Her deep blue eyes looked into his own dark eyes.
"I'm your mother and that's your father."
Izzy had never seen a picture of his real parents before in his life, but knew that the specter was telling the truth. The Crest of Knowledge, still hanging proudly around his neck, was glowing slightly for some reason. But it was them. It was really them.
His father leaned forward and smiled a warm smile on him. "Look how you've grown." He gave a slight chuckle. "You're about as short as I was at that age!" The ghost glanced at the clock. It was 11:58. "One minute to go before you're officially 11."
Izzy nodded, but gazed in wonderment at his parents. "You guys...really heard me..."
His mother nodded and reached her ghostly arms out to hug him. He tried to hug her back and was surprised when he found something remotely solid there. His father joined in. Izzy wanted to bury his face into his real parents' clothing and feel flesh and blood, but knew that it didn't work that way. A few stray tears fell from his eye.
"It's okay, Koushiro..." his mother whispered, using the name that she was used to calling him by. "It's okay...We'll always be there for you..."
"Really...?" he whispered back, his voice hoarse.
"Even though you don't see us, we're always watching you," Kojiro Izumi agreed with his wife. "And don't forget that Osamu and Junsa are there for you as well, Koushiro."
Even though Izzy wanted time to stop just for a little while, time moved on just like it always did. It was now 11:59 PM, the exact time of his birth.
"Happy Birthday, Koushiro," Ami Izumi told him.
"Happy Birthday, son," her husband said happily.
"Thank you, Mother, Father." He gasped when he saw them beginning to fade. "NO! Don't go yet!!!"
"We have to, son. I wish we could stay longer, but we can't..." Ami told him sadly as she faded away to nothingness.
"Goodbye, Koushiro! And remember, we're always proud of you!" Kojiro told Izzy, meaning every word he said.
Izzy watched as his father continued to vanish, his Crest of Knowledge still glowing slightly. When Kojiro finally disappeared, the glow had disappeared as well.
When Izzy held it up to his eye, something that sounded like Cybra's voice asked in his head, Was that what you wanted for your birthday, Izzy?
"Yes."
And are you happy, Izzy?
Izzy's bottom lip quivered as he remembered all those memories of sadness, loneliness, and heartbreak, then the recent memory of meeting his real parents.
"Yes..." he whispered. "I'm happy."
THE END...
A/N: I don't know about you guys, but I got all teary-eyed writing the ending. And let me tell you something, I didn't cry when Bambi's mom got shot when I was about 5 years old! I DON'T usually cry at stuff like this!
by Cybra
A/N: We're either at the last part or next to the last part. I'm not sure which. For your information, in total, this is the longest dang fic I've ever wrote! Unless you count my other series...
Disclaimer: Let's think about this for a second, shall we? Why on earth would the owner of Digimon be writing fanfiction?
Professor Joseph Carlson froze up, eyes wide. Matt had frozen up as well, not believing what his eyes told him. Izzy? Holding a gun? At somebody's HEAD?! Unreal!
Izzy's eyes narrowed. Matt saw the pent-up rage in those dark eyes lighting them up, making them appear like fiery gems. Izzy's arm never wavered, but he didn't shoot. Matt didn't care. The older boy knew that the second that Izzy fired was the second the younger boy's life would be over.
'I've got to talk him out of it...' Matt realized, seeing the cold, unflinching look his friend was giving his real parents' murderer.
"Izzy! Put the gun down, I'll knock this guy out, and we'll get the cops. Okay?"
"No."
That single syllable seemed to hold all the emotions of a rock. Professor Carlson was practically wetting his pants. If the boy's finger slipped, his head would be blown off. Judging by the look in the child of his hated rival, that was EXACTLY what the boy wanted to do.
"C'mon, Izzy. Don't scare me here," Matt pleaded. "Put the gun down and we'll get the cops. Okay?"
Izzy only moved his eyes to look at Matt. "And then what? Somehow he'll get off; he has a large amount of influence. Then he might come after me again. I'm not afraid of that, Matt, but I'm afraid of what he'll do to my parents. What if he decides that they knew something, huh? Then he'll go after them exactly the same way. I WON'T let that happen!"
"If I may say something...?" the tiny voice of Professor Carlson said.
Izzy turned his eyes back to the mathematician in front of him. The scientist had inched his way up towards Izzy in the brief conversation with Matt.
"If you let me go, I'll do anything you want. Anything! Just name it!"
Izzy's face, what used to be a mask of non-emotion, suddenly seemed to twist and distort until it was the perfect description of pure and unbridled hatred.
He hissed at the scientist, "Before anything happens, I want to know why you thought my father had to die."
The mathematician gulped, but obliged. The holder of the gun may have been a child, but he STILL was holding the gun. By inching forward, Professor Carlson was now in point-blank range.
"Your father...he and other scientists rigged the results of all those prizes he stole from me! It was supposed to have been ME as the shining star of science!!!"
Izzy gave a bitter laugh. "Not from what I read about you. According to my father's journals, your methods were sloppy, your results were highly questionable, and you only cleaned that stuff up after you lost the Nobel Peace Prize." He raised an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, my father also found out that you were diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic." He paused before he added a sarcastic, "Everybody was out to get you, weren't they?"
Professor Carlson looked pleadingly at Matt. The boy felt sympathy for his fear, but not for what he had done. Still, Izzy had to be stopped from pulling the trigger, but the blond wasn't going to stop the younger boy for Professor Carlson's sake. Matt was going to stop Izzy for Izzy's own sake.
"Izzy, just put down the gun and everything will be just fine," Matt told him soothingly.
Izzy didn't answer this time. He wanted to see Professor Carlson dead, buried, and rotting away to nothing. He cocked the gun. The scientist in front of him visibly trembled.
Matt didn't know what to do. Talking Izzy out of it wasn't working. He needed to snap him out of this, but what?
That's when Matt remembered one time when Tai had gotten so fed up with Izzy's calm demeanor, he'd actually punched the shorter Digidestined. (A/N: Okay, think of it this way: it's the infamous Tai-punches-Izzy scene from "The Crest of Light" done in front of the others which will be written in a future fic by me. The reason Tai punches Izzy is because...well...you'll see...)
~~~~~~
7 MONTHS AGO...
Matt looked up to see Tai having a heated debate with Izzy (well, heated on Tai's part). Izzy was trying to get the older boy to calm down and think things through, but Tai wasn't listening.
"I still think that we should go through the mountain pass!!!" Tai shouted at the smaller boy.
"Tai, if we go through that pass, we'll be setting ourselves up for an easy attack, you KNOW that."
"It's the quickest way to get to Gennai's place! Besides, Kari and TK are too sick to go over the mountain by any other route!"
"IF YOU WOULD JUST..." Izzy took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "If you would just listen, Tai, you'd see what I'm trying to do."
Matt frowned. TK had picked up whatever Kari had from some time when they'd played together. Now the both of them looked terrible. Another thing that worried him was that usually it was he and Tai fighting, not Tai and Izzy. Izzy was doing his best to keep Tai from exploding, but it wasn't working well. From the look in Tai's eye, he was ready to make the fight physical.
"IF YOU'D LISTEN TO ME FOR TWO SECONDS INSTEAD OF GOING ON YOUR STUPID COMPUTER...!!!" Tai yelled.
Izzy winced at the volume of Tai's voice. However, the computer thing had also been a low blow. Kyra began to walk up to them, but Tai shoved her back.
"Izzy, I can't believe you would risk TK and Kari!!!" Tai snarled.
"I'm trying NOT to put TK and Kari at risk!!! Seiya and his group are still out there! If you would just listen..."
"I'M SICK OF LISTENING TO YOU!!!"
The whole group watched in frozen shock as Tai quickly pulled back his fist and punched the smaller Izzy in the eye. Izzy stumbled back, his hand covering his wounded eye. Tai ran forward and began to trip the younger boy, letting out all of his frustrations on Izzy without even realizing it. Junpuu's jaw dropped to the ground as Tai kicked Izzy's legs out from beneath him.
"Stop it, Tai!" Sora shouted.
Matt finally unfroze himself as he ran forward to try and stop the angered Tai. He didn't make it in time to prevent a painful blow to the stomach.
"Tai, knock it off! He's trying to help!!!" Matt snapped as he grabbed Tai, pulling him backwards.
That brought Tai back to his senses. He'd managed to land more blows than he'd thought on Izzy. The younger boy was holding his stomach, his face twitching in pain. Cybra looked madder than Hades. Kyra and Junpuu looked about twice as mad. Tentomon looked like he wanted to fry Tai.
Tai immediately looked remorseful. He leaned over to help Izzy and look into the boy's face. Izzy's dark eyes were tightly squeezed shut as he tried to control the pain, but not succeeding at all. Tai used his hand to get Izzy to look at him.
"Izzy...man, I'm sorry. I..."
Tai didn't finish as Izzy opened his eyes. Those dark eyes gave little testimony to the great agony the redhead must've been feeling.
"It's okay...Tai...I...guess my plan...wouldn't have...worked...anyway..."
Tai bit his bottom lip, then said, "No, Izzy. I'm sure it would work. I'm sorry I hit you..." Tai seemed to come to a decision. "Izzy, I want you to hit me. Right now."
Izzy's eyes narrowed. "No way...I won't...sink that low...Violence has never solved...anything. I'm not...gonna hit ya, Tai."
"I'll hit ya, Tai," Cybra growled.
"I'll help," Kyra added.
"It would make my day," Junpuu snarled.
"I wouldn't mind taking a few swipes myself," Tentomon commented, green eyes glaring.
Tai only gulped.
~~~~~~
PRESENT DAY
Matt thought about Izzy's words as time seemed to stand still. Who knew when Izzy would pull the trigger? Instead, Matt decided to speak up.
"Izzy, you once said to Tai that violence never solved anything. Shooting this guy will only bring on more problems. Are you sure you want that?"
Izzy's aim wavered for a moment, then he lowered the gun, handing it to Matt who had slowly inched his way up beside his friend. When Professor Carlson looked like he was going to jump for the gun, Matt punched him in the face, knocking the scientist out.
At the same time, Izzy turned his head away from Matt, his shoulders shaking as he cried. The older boy rubbed his back soothingly, telling him that everything was all right. That's when the calvary finally arrived. Never mind the fact that it was late. There were also paramedics there in case someone had gotten hurt. The Izumis' car pulled up with the police vehicles and two very worried parents hopped out.
Junpuu, Tai, and Joe were the first three to make it down to the dock from the bridge. Junpuu went over to her friend and pulled him close to her. Izzy didn't pull away, not like he normally would've. He just wanted to cry.
Matt handed the gun to one of the police officers. Officer Tsukino examined the gun. She shook her head.
"You kids are lucky he ran out of bullets."
'Ran out of bullets?' Matt wondered.
When Officer Tsukino had finished asking him questions, he turned back to Izzy who looked totally drained. His tears had been shed and his anger had fizzled out, leaving him completely empty. Matt bent down a little to look into Izzy's eyes.
"Izzy? You knew the gun wasn't loaded, didn't you?"
Izzy nodded silently.
"Then...why'd you act like you were going to shoot him?"
"I wanted him...to know what it's like...to be toyed with."
~~~~~~
Two weeks passed and the day of Izzy's birthday arrived. Mimi arrived at the Izumi apartment with Sora. Both of them were running late.
"We're sorry, Mrs. Izumi! Did you cut the cake without us?" Mimi asked.
Mrs. Izumi shook her head, a worried look in her eye.
"Junpuu, Kyra, and Izzy haven't come back yet from wherever they've gone."
Junpuu and Kyra had taken on the job of keeping Izzy out of the house until everything was ready. They were supposed to have returned at 5 o'clock, about 10 minutes ago, but they were still nowhere in sight. What had struck Mrs. Izumi as odd was that Izzy had put a bit of money in his pocket before he left. As far as she knew, her son hadn't taken up shopping as a past time.
"That is weird," Sora commented. She smiled. "I'm sure they'll be back soon!"
That's when the phone rang. Mr. Izumi picked up after the 3rd ring when everybody had quieted down.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Mr. Izumi? It's Kyra."
"Where are you three?"
"We're at a cemetery up on the east side of Odaiba. Izzy finally found their graves."
Mr. Izumi's face fell. He'd been hoping that wasn't what his son had wanted to do when Junpuu and Kyra said they'd do anything with him for the day. Izzy had been somewhat obsessed with finding his real parents' graves after Professor Carlson had been tried and convicted of two counts of murder and at least one count of attempted murder.
"Can you get him back here?"
"Yeah, but it'll take a bit to get over there. Sorry."
"It's not your fault." Mr. Izumi sighed. "Just hurry."
"Roger. Will go." Kyra hung up.
Mr. Izumi turned to the group and sighed.
"He should be here in at least thirty minutes."
Dr. Hotaru frowned. "He went to visit them, didn't he?"
The shorter man nodded, then asked, "Did you tell him...?"
"No. I didn't. He found them all on his own."
~~~~~~
Junpuu and Kyra exchanged worried glances as they saw Izzy standing there nearby two graves joined by one tombstone. A bouquet of roses had been lovingly placed in the holder designed for that purpose but never used. In fact, it looked as though nobody had cleaned the gravestone in 10 years.
The tombstone read: "Kojiro and Ami Izumi, Together 'Till the Bitter End".
Izzy closed his eyes and thought, somehow knowing his parents would hear him, 'Mother, Father...I'd call you "Mom" and "Dad", but I know you understand. I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner. I hope you're satisfied...knowing that Carlson is finally behind bars, where he should be. I just wish...I knew you...in person. Father, your journals are helping me piece together what you and Mother were like, but...it's not the same. I know that wishing...is illogical...but I just...want to meet you...just once.'
Kyra's voice gently cut into his thoughts.
"Izzy, it's time we get going home now."
Izzy opened his dark eyes and nodded. Junpuu put an arm around his shoulder before he could protest.
"Izzy?" she began.
"Yeah?"
"You know that your parents are proud of you, right?"
"Right."
Kyra smiled, catching on to what Junpuu was getting at. "Well, Junpuu and I both know that Kojiro and Ami Izumi are both VERY proud of you."
Izzy clenched his hands into fists, forcing back the tears. All three children were silent on the way to the Izumi apartment.
~~~~~~
A young boy with red hair stayed up late that night doing something other than typing away at his yellow Pineapple laptop for once. He had a blank notebook (a gift from Dr. Hotaru) in front of him as he continued to write in it. Finally, he stopped, amazed that he was able to write more than three pages of his thoughts, hopes, and dreams.
The boy set his new journal aside and picked up one of the battered old journals of his father. His parents had gone out for a while so he was alone. He began to read out loud to himself to fill up the silence.
"' I have never seen such a small child! I think he's absolutely perfect! Koushiro already has a small amount of red hair on him, much to Ami's disappointment. She had hoped he'd have her brown hair. So had I, but the bright red hair made him stand out against her as she held him close soon after he was born. Never mind the fact that he was born about a week early. I guess he really wanted to make it on time...'"
The boy's voice trailed off as he heard an unfamiliar voice say in sync with him "'...he really wanted to make it on time...'"
Izzy looked up to see a figure of a man with bright, wild red hair and dark eyes before him. The man wasn't very tall for what his age appeared to be (which was about 25). Next to him, a bit taller than him, was a strange woman with long brown hair that fell to her waist. It was tied back into a French braid. Both of them looked like they were ready for a night on the town.
That's when Izzy realized it. He could almost see right through them.
"Who are you?" the boy whispered, afraid.
The man frowned. "I knew you wouldn't recognize us, but it still hurts."
The woman elbowed him and leaned forward to stroke Izzy's hair. He could feel the warmth in that touch even though he shouldn't have been able to. Her deep blue eyes looked into his own dark eyes.
"I'm your mother and that's your father."
Izzy had never seen a picture of his real parents before in his life, but knew that the specter was telling the truth. The Crest of Knowledge, still hanging proudly around his neck, was glowing slightly for some reason. But it was them. It was really them.
His father leaned forward and smiled a warm smile on him. "Look how you've grown." He gave a slight chuckle. "You're about as short as I was at that age!" The ghost glanced at the clock. It was 11:58. "One minute to go before you're officially 11."
Izzy nodded, but gazed in wonderment at his parents. "You guys...really heard me..."
His mother nodded and reached her ghostly arms out to hug him. He tried to hug her back and was surprised when he found something remotely solid there. His father joined in. Izzy wanted to bury his face into his real parents' clothing and feel flesh and blood, but knew that it didn't work that way. A few stray tears fell from his eye.
"It's okay, Koushiro..." his mother whispered, using the name that she was used to calling him by. "It's okay...We'll always be there for you..."
"Really...?" he whispered back, his voice hoarse.
"Even though you don't see us, we're always watching you," Kojiro Izumi agreed with his wife. "And don't forget that Osamu and Junsa are there for you as well, Koushiro."
Even though Izzy wanted time to stop just for a little while, time moved on just like it always did. It was now 11:59 PM, the exact time of his birth.
"Happy Birthday, Koushiro," Ami Izumi told him.
"Happy Birthday, son," her husband said happily.
"Thank you, Mother, Father." He gasped when he saw them beginning to fade. "NO! Don't go yet!!!"
"We have to, son. I wish we could stay longer, but we can't..." Ami told him sadly as she faded away to nothingness.
"Goodbye, Koushiro! And remember, we're always proud of you!" Kojiro told Izzy, meaning every word he said.
Izzy watched as his father continued to vanish, his Crest of Knowledge still glowing slightly. When Kojiro finally disappeared, the glow had disappeared as well.
When Izzy held it up to his eye, something that sounded like Cybra's voice asked in his head, Was that what you wanted for your birthday, Izzy?
"Yes."
And are you happy, Izzy?
Izzy's bottom lip quivered as he remembered all those memories of sadness, loneliness, and heartbreak, then the recent memory of meeting his real parents.
"Yes..." he whispered. "I'm happy."
THE END...
A/N: I don't know about you guys, but I got all teary-eyed writing the ending. And let me tell you something, I didn't cry when Bambi's mom got shot when I was about 5 years old! I DON'T usually cry at stuff like this!