First, a tremendous thanks to everyone who reviewed the first part! Even if you reviewed the 1st, I'd still really appreciate it if you'd review this part too, so I know it lives up to the other. (:
"Hikari-chan?"
My parents are waiting for me when I come back up. I'm cold, wet, and really tired, but I know I have some explaining to do. I wrap up in a blanket and sit down on the couch.
"We're not mad at you, Hikari-chan," says my father, sitting down as well. "We just want to know what happened."
I cough, trying to give myself a few more seconds to plan what I'm going to say. "Mi--Miyako found him."
"Found him? Where?"
"At the middle school."
"What was she doing at the middle school?"
"She was there with Iori," I say quickly. "He's 11." I study their eyes carefully, wanting to know the instant they don't believe me. Going pretty well so far, and I continue. "He was just lying there, so she called me and Yamato-kun picked me up and drove me there. Taichi-kun was there and, um, he was really hurt, so we had to wait until we could get him into Yamato's car, and then he wanted to walk up to here and.…" I'm a little off topic, but I'm talking and filling the gap. With some effort I manage to make sense and--stop.
My parents are quiet. I close my eyes for a moment, and nearly fall asleep in that short amount of time. "Can I go lie down?" I ask, not entirely sure of what they said, about not being mad at me.
"Sleep well," my mother says.
I trudge off to bed, but as I wash my face, I start to feel lightness on my shoulders and in my heart. Not much, but enough to notice. Taichi is back, I think to myself. We'll take him to the doctor's tomorrow, but he's okay. He's okay.
A day passes, and I feel like I'm in a haze. Taichi is okay, says the doctor. His wrist is fractured, he's wearing a patch over his weak eye, and has bandages in numerous other places to keep his cuts and gashes from getting infected. He was in the newspaper this morning, and people keep coming by to see him. Especially Sora. In fact, I haven't gotten to talk to my brother much at all.
I am thinking all this as I sit on the roof, not as blank and distant as I was a few days ago. The sun is starting to set, and I try not to look directly at it. This sunset is spectacular, the colors waving through the sky and dyeing the clouds a darker shade.
My train of thought is broken when I hear footsteps behind me. "Taichi-kun? What're you doing up here?"
He smiles. "Looking for you. Koushiro called, he wants to meet and figure out what we should do."
I sigh. Can they meet without me? I don't feel like going."
"I'm sure they can." He is quiet, watching the sunset like I am. I can't tell you the relief I feel, now that he's back. But I also feel that I will not be completely at ease until I know what's happened to my friends.
"I have to go back there, you know," Taichi says, as though he's reading my mind.
Go back? I think. What do you mean, exactly? "Please tell me what happened," I say, even though he's been avoiding the subject.
He is silent for quite a while, but I know he hears me, so I let him be. When he finally speaks, his voice is so soft I don't even think, for fear I'll miss a word.
"There are things we didn't tell you, Hikari," he says. "But I know you're smarter than you're pretending."
So what if I am? I think. Playing dumb can be the easiest way out sometimes.
"Didn't you wonder why us three went, when we were up against the Numemon, for pete's sake?" Now he sounds almost angry, and I feel like I've let him down. "Weren't you suspicious?"
"Yes," I say, tearing my eyes away from the beautiful sunset. I stare at my hands. "I wondered. But I didn't think you would keep anything important from me."
That must sting, because Taichi changes the subject some. "We started out, and everything was fine. Then we stopped to rest and eat--it was nighttime by then--and somehow, I still don't know, Takeru and Daisuke convinced me they could handle this alone. It was like I forgot about the real danger, the reason all three of us went, and the reason we wouldn't let Iori come, and just remembered the Numemon. What's more, I think I started off in the completely wrong direction, and they didn't do anything." He stops to rub his forehead with his good hand. "I don't remember much after that, except…." He sighs. "The danger followed me, Hikari. I almost died. I don't know how I survived, and then even made it back. But I left them, left them all alone. And if it found me, it probably found them too. I hoped that when I returned, they would already be here, but…."
I give my brother a hug, and hold him so tight, like some bird's just going to swoop down from the sky and carry him away from me forever.
"I'm so glad you're safe, Taichi-kun."
"I'm glad to be safe, my little sister." He stands up. "Come on. Let's go back inside."
The telephone rings, and I answer it. "Hello?"
"Hikari?"
"Yes, who is this?"
"Yamato."
"Oh, hi." He sounds different on the phone. "Sorry, I didn't recognize your voice."
"It's okay," he says. "Where were you yesterday? Everyone else met at Koushiro's."
I shrug, even though he can't see me. "I didn't want to go."
"Well, I'm supposed to update you and Taichi. We want to move out tonight, so tell your parents you're at Miyako's or something, okay?
Tonight? Why so soon? I wonder. "What exactly are we planning to do?"
He pauses. "Iori hopes that now that Taichi's back we can find…them."
"Taichi is determined to go back, does Iori know that?"
"I think he's anticipating it."
I stop to absorb all this. "Okay, We'll be ready after school. Will you pick us up?"
"Okay. But Hikari…."
"What?"
"…This mission…it's different from all the other ones. I can't say how, but…be careful."
"Don't worry," I say, trying to soothe my fears as well as his. "All together, we can handle anything, right?"
Taichi takes the bus to the high school, and meets me outside. Yamato picks us up as promised, and he starts driving us to…where? I guess he knows.
I know they've been keeping something from me, it's obvious now. But am I the only one who doesn't know about this? Taichi and Yamato know. I guess Daisuke and Takeru do…or did.
Don't think like that! I say angrily to myself. They're going to be fine, you'll see. We'll save them. Tears run down my cheeks, cooling my burning face. I just can't imagine life without two of my best friends….
"Hey," Taichi says, looking over his shoulder at me. "Hikari, are you all right?"
I nod, but he knows I'm not. What if we can't find them? What if they're…dead?
Yamato stops the car and I realize we're already there. "The middle school?" I say in surprise.
"This is where Koushiro said to meet," Yamato shrugs, like it's not his fault.
We walk down the familiar hallways, heading straight for the computer room. I feel a strong sense of deja vue, seeing my friends clustered around that one computer.
"Hello. Are you all set to go?" Iori asks.
"I am," Taichi says.
Sora looks up. "Taichi-kun, you're not going, are you?"
"Of course I am!" he says defensively. "I have to go."
"But you just got back," Sora says. We know what she really means--you're not strong enough.
"Sora, what hope do you have of finding them without me?" His voice is a mixture of anger and concern. "I'll be fine, you'll see."
"The Digiport is open," Koushiro says. "It's time, guys."
I haven't been to the Digiworld in a long time. A month at least. The old stone fortress seems friendly, welcoming even, although it looks no different than it did when we first made it our headquarters. Maybe it's because I know who is inside.
The doorknocker sounds low and loud as Koushiro drops it--four times, pause, two times, pause, five times, pause, seven times. It must be some kind of code, but I don't know it.
We walk around to a small side door, and our Digimon start coming out quickly and silently.
"Where's Agumon?" Taichi asks in a whisper.
"I'm going to stay and take care of him," Palmon says from the doorway. "Hikari, Angewomon asked me to give you this." She hands me a box as big as her, with ragged holes in the sides.
"If you don't hear from us in a week, you contact Mimi, all right?" Sora says.
"Okay. Good luck to you all."
The box is considerable heavy, but I don't open it yet. There's a card on the top that says not to open around every else, so I wait until darkness falls and I can drop back.
Pulling out the paper in the box, the first thing I see is and eye. It blinks at me, and I have the strong desire to close it back up. But Angewomon would never send something to harm me, and next I see a paw. A tail.
"Gatomon!" I whisper. "What are you doing? Why aren't you Angewomon? Shouldn't you be back at the fortress?"
She climbs out and shakes herself off. "I'm not doing my job of ruling the Digiworld being locked up in there. I'm coming with you."
"But all this is to protect you," I say as she crawls into my backpack.
"No, it was to protect the Digiworld. Now it's about finding Takeru and Daisuke. Come on, we have to catch up with the others."
I hurry up, and no one notices I was gone. Angewomon is ruler, and here she is, putting herself in danger with the hope that she can save four friends. She amazes me--not that I wouldn't do that myself, in a heartbeat, but still.
I'm walking a few steps to the side of everyone else, when suddenly my feet slip and I land hard on my back. My feet are hanging over a giant hole--wide, maybe eight feet deep. Maybe more.
"Are you okay?" Miyako asks, coming over. She sees the hole. "Wow."
"I almost fell in," I say. "It was covered with sticks and--" I start to say, but a voice is calling "Help! Hey! Helllllp!"
"Oh my gosh! Someone's down there!" she says. "Everyone! Come quick!"
The others crowd around us, peering into the hole. "Hey! It's me!"
"That sounds like Veemon," says Gabumon.
"Yeah! Get us out of here!"
"Don't worry, we're coming!" shouts Sora.
After and hour of debating, searching and tying, we managed to make a length of rope that will reach the bottom. Daisuke is, according to Veemon, sleeping. When I first heard this I imagined the worst, but Veemon's sure he's only sleeping. Iori climbs down on the rope, and ties it around Daisuke so we can pull him and Veemon up. Then Iori climbs back up.
We're doing everything we can and working hard (especially Jyou), but Daisuke looks worse than my brother did. And I didn't think that was possible. He and Veemon have been down there for weeks, with nothing to eat but the leaves that fell down there with them. He's so thin, it makes me sick to look at him. The dirt he was lying in must have been infested with bugs, because they're both covered with bites and we've had to burn a few off that were still biting. Daisuke is paler than snow.
I touch his hand, and it's so cold. I keep thinking of when Taichi came back. It's so the same, they were both so miserable and suffering. I might even as well be back in that dim computer room at midnight, because I'm thinking and feeling almost the same things. Daisuke used to have a crush on me, but he's past that now. We both are. Instead, he's one of my best friends, like a brother. And here I am, I let this happen to my real brother, and it's happening again. Why didn't I do anything? What could I have done? Something, I tell myself, something. Whose fault is it, if not mine?
"I'm so sorry, Daisuke-kun," I say. "It's all my fault. I don't know what happened, but I should have been there. I should have been smarter and not let you guys keep this stuff from me. I won't let you die, I promise."
"It's not your fault, Hikari," Yamato says, sitting down on the other side of Daisuke. I didn't know he was awake. "Go rest, I'll keep watch."
Instead of walking away to be with the others, I lie down right there. "I promised him I wouldn't let him die," I say. "If he just makes it through the night…."
Yamato looks directly into my eyes, and it's all I can do not to look away. Without a word, he gets up and goes back to sleep.
As I think about him and Taichi and whatever it is I'm not supposed to know. I wonder if I could have just stayed ignorant. But no, it's too much. I wonder if when Daisuke is better, he will tell me something about what happened. Am I supposed to think he just fell into an eight-foot-hole? What about Takeru, where is he?
Takeru…I can only hope he's still alive.