Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
A/N: Mimi never moved.
A Changed Destiny
Sora sat silently in the waiting room of the East Odiaba Memorial Hospital. Tai was pacing back and forth as he waited nervously for news on Kari. The entire scene of earlier played repeatedly in both of their minds. Tai's was driving too fast. Kari passed out. She stopped breathing.
"She'll be okay, Tai," Sora tried to reassure him.
"I should have made sure she took her meds. If I hadn't rushed her out the door we wouldn't be here," he argued.
"Darn it, Tai! Stop blaming yourself! She needs you! You have to stay strong because she can't!"
He collapsed into the empty seat beside her. "Why'd you have to say it?" He asked, sobbing into his hands.
"Say what?"
"Say I was courage?! Say I was still part of the team?!" He yelled and she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I don't have courage! I ran away from the fight! I left my friends to fight without their leader! I left the team!"
"Yes, you did. You're going to have to tell them why you left. No one knows."
"They wouldn't understand," he replied bitterly.
"Give me a break! They'd understand! They're going to be angry no matter what, but they deserve to know what happened! You're their friend; you're their leader!"
"Mr. Kamiya." Tai looked up and say a man in a long white lab coat. It was Jim Kido, Joe's older brother, Kari's Japan doctor. "Your sister's is heart is slowly collapsing. It is very weak at this point. I realize that coming back to Japan may have caused some untimely stress and I think it is increasing the rate of the collapse."
Tai jumped out of his seat. "But you said we had to bring her back! You said she would get better if we brought her back to Japan!"
"Yes, I did say that, but I hate to say this; your sister's getting worse. Almost to the point where it's untreatable."
Tai squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't want to hear this. I want to see my sister!"
"Alright, follow me." Jim turned and started to walk towards a door mark 'Medical Personal Only' with Tai and Sora close behind. He stopped and glanced back at Sora. "I'm sorry, only family is allowed in here."
Sora's heart fell. "Alr-"
"She is family," Tai interrupted.
"Okay." Jim pushed open the door and walked down a long hall. They came to a door and Jim opened it for Tai and Sora.
Tai walked into the hospital room and saw Kari sitting up, staring out the window. She had an IV going into her arm and somewhere behind her a heart monitor beeped quietly. She looked up in alarm at the sound of the door closing. "Tai!" She cried. He ran over to the bed and hugged her carefully, trying not to mess with any of the millions of wires running in and out of her. "Can we go home yet?"
Tai glanced back at Jim. "I'll start on the release papers."
"Yeah, we're going home," Tai replied as he sat down on the bed.
Kari looked down at her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry you had to bring me down here. When we go home you should go back to school because you shouldn't have to take care of me. I'm sure your sick of doing it."
Tai pushed back a piece of brown hair from her eyes. "No. Don't say that. That could never be true! Your going home and so am I. I'm not leaving you by yourself."
"Are you coming too, Sora?" Kari asked, quietly.
"Um, I don't think so. Its up to your brother. I should really-"
"You can come if you'd like," Tai interrupted. "I could use the help."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sora opened the door to the Kamiya's apartment and stepped back so Tai could carry Kari inside. She closed the door and took off her shoes before following Tai deeper into the apartment. She looked around and found the living room to be pretty bear. A TV, a blue couch, and a small coffee table. On the wall to the left were two closed doors and on the other side was an open door that Tai slipped into.
"Sora, can you help me out?" Tai called to her. Sora walked into the room and saw Tai standing with Kari in his arms next to a neatly made bunk bed. "Could you turn down the bed?" Sora did as he asked so Tai could set down his sleeping sister. "Could you go get a blanket from the closet on the other side of the living room?"
"Yeah, no problem," she replied as she walked out of the room and to the doors on the left wall. She paused as she tried to decide which door to go into. She decided on the closest which happened to be the left one. Opening it she looked around in confusion. Instead of being a closet with blankets it was a bedroom. But it didn't have a bed for Tai's parents like she would expect. It was pretty empty except for a two suitcases and a small box.
The door suddenly slammed closed making Sora jump back in surprise. Tai stood there with his hand on the door. "Don't go in there," he ordered. Tai walked over to the other door and opened it to reveal towels and blankets. He pulled a blanket from it and closed it before rushing back to Kari's room.
Sora sat down on the couch and waited for Tai to return. He walked over at sat down on the couch, not bothering to say anything or look at her. She looked at him though. "Where are your parents, Tai?" She asked. "Don't lie to me! I saw the empty bedroom and these are only two room apartments!"
"My parents are still in the states," he replied looking out the sliding glass window.
"Then why are you here? And why is Kari here?" Sora asked.
"Because a doctor in America said that we should bring her back to Japan. He said that there was equipment or something here that she would need."
"Why aren't your parents here?"
He finally made eye contact with her. "Because they've given up! They gave up that Kari would ever get better! It took me a year, but I saved enough money to where I could take Kari and come back to Japan. I wasn't about to give up and I'm not going to now!"
"I'm glad, Tai!" Sora told him.
"She's the eighth child," Tai said from out of nowhere. "You know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know. We all know. Gennai told us," Sora replied. She looked over at him. "What happened?"
"You really want to know?" Tai asked. Sora nodded. "Good, because I need to tell someone."
~~**Flashback**~~
Tai stood behind Izzy, the red headed computer expert of the Digidestined, as he placed each of the cards to open the gate. He would say the logic behind each card as if someone would fight him on it, but the cries never came. Everyone trusted him, and everyone trusted Tai's decision to believe in him.
The large gate before them opened and the Digidestined stood up praying that they were preparing for their journey home. They all jumped through the doors just as they began closing once more.
~~**Reality**~~
"We got back to the camp and I was all set. Ready to find the eighth child and defeat Myotismon. And I was so excited to see Kari, but I was also worried about her. She was so disappointed about not being able to go to summer camp," Tai said. "The whole bus ride home she was all I thought about, but I never would have dreamed she would have been the eighth child."
"How and when did you find out?" Sora asked.
~~**Flashback**~~
Tai walked into his apartment and pulled off his shoes. He put a finger to his lips to shush the pink digimon in his arms. "I'm home!" He yelled.
His mother walked out of the kitchen. "Tai, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be a summer camp."
"It got let out early. Something about snow," Tai mumbled.
"What's that thing in your arms?" She asked pointing to Koromon, Tai's digimon.
"Uh, this? Its um.... a present for Kari!" He replied. "Where's is she?" He ran off toward his room that he shared with Kari and threw open the door. No one was in the room.
"Tai." Tai looked back and saw his mother with tears in her eyes. "Kari, in the hospital. Her heart stopped again."
"NO!" He cried. "We have to go! I have to be there with her!"
~~**Reality**~~
"I remember you calling me from the hospital. You said you couldn't come to any meetings or look for the eighth child. You were crying," Sora interrupted.
"Yep, I was," Tai nodded. "I got to the hospital and she was laying in the bed, pale and fragile. She looked almost angelic though, but being the stupid jerk I was I woke her up. She nearly had a heart attack, and she would have if she hadn't already had one.
~~**Flashback**~~
Tai ran into the hospital room and saw his sister lying in the hospital bed. A dozen tubes ran in and out of her, carrying blood or helping her breath or whatever else they were used for. He ran up to the bed and looked down at the pale girl. "Kari !" He yelled.
Her eyes flared open and she erupted in to a fit of coughs. Mrs. Kamiya ran into the room and grabbed Tai's arm roughly. "What do you think your doing?" She yelled. "Get out of here, Tai! Get out of the room!"
Tai felt as if he was on the verge of tears. He turned and started to walk out of the room. When he reached the door way he glanced back and saw his mother looking away from him and holding Kari in her arms.
Kari was watching him as he left and when he looked back she reached out her hand, hoping he'd come back. 'I can't,' he mouthed to her. Her eyes filled with tears, but she nodded and waved goodbye. He waved back before walking out of the room.
~~**Reality**~~
"That doesn't explain how you found out or why you left though," Sora interrupted.
"I'm getting to that. Be patient. You waited the last six years, you might as well wait three more minutes," Tai argued playfully.
"But in the last six years I didn't have a choice in the matter," Sora frowned as she crossed her arms.
Tai almost laughed. It had been awhile since he had bickered with anyone like this. And he had missed Sora more. "Okay, well. I found out that night," he replied.
~~**Flashback**~~
Tai sat in an ugly brown chair in the hallway of the hospital. He stared at the floor as he swung his legs back and forth. He was waiting for the doctors to leave Kari's hospital room so he could sneak in to see her.
"Tai," a strange voice called. He looked up and saw a white haired cat digimon standing before him. It was Gatomon, one of Myotismon's henchmen.
"What do you want?" Tai whispered as he jumped out of his seat. 'Why'd I leave Koromon with Sora?' he thought.
"I'm here to see you. I know who the eighth child is," Gatomon replied.
"Then what are you doing here? Trying to rub it in that you've destroyed him?" He replied angrily. "Or is it that your on your way back to Myotismon with the information?"
"No, I'm not, Tai. I'm here to give the eighth child her tag and crest," the cat replied as she held up a digivice and a tag with a crest in it.
"Light," Tai read the symbol on the crest. "What do you mean give it to him? He's in this hospital?"
"Are you deaf? I said her! The eighth child is a girl!"
"Why are you giving them to her?"
"Because, as shocking as this is going to sound, I am the digimon of the eighth child."
"No way!"
Gatomon only nodded. "I'm sorry about what I have done, but my past is not exactly something I remember clearly."
"Then who is it? Show me where she is," Tai replied.
"Right there." Gatomon pointed to Kari's hospital room.
"You mean Kari?" Tai practically yelled.
"Keep your voice down! Don't call attention to us! Yes, your sister is the eighth child. But I've been watching her for the last couple of days. She seems rather sickly."
"She is. She's dying because her heart doesn't work."
"Then she wouldn't make it in the Digital World."
"Correct."
"Then you have to take her and leave. Get her away from Myotismon." The door to Kari's room and the doctors walked out and Gatomon slinked away into the shadows. One of the doctors glanced at Tai, but all his eyes shown were pity.
"You mean leave Japan?"
Gatomon nodded solemnly. "Yes. It took me too long to find her for her to die in the first fight. Take her and get out of Japan."
"Can I trust you as a friend?" Tai asked.
"Hold out your hand," Gatomon replied. Tai did as he was told. She set the digivice, tag, and crest in his hand. "You can trust me. But I have to go now before Myotismon suspects something." She turned to go.
"Gatomon, wait!" Tai called to her. Gatomon turned back. "Do you want to see her first? Up close, I mean?"
"I shouldn't," Gatomon replied.
"It won't hurt anything, she likes cats. It might make her feel a little better." Gatomon still seemed to be nervous, but accepted his offer. He held out his arms and she jumped into them. Glancing around he made sure no one was coming before slipping into the room.
He walked up to the bed and found Kari half asleep. "Hey kiddo," he whispered, remembering his mistake from earlier and stayed quiet.
Kari smiled. "Tai, you came back!"
"Of course I did. And I brought someone to see you too." He set Gatomon on the bed and she slowly climbed onto Kari's chest.
"You brought me a kitty?" Kari asked as she stroked Gatomon.
"My name's Gatomon," the kitty purred.
"You can talk? Wow, that's cool! My name's Kari." Kari continued to stroke Gatomon softly. Gatomon purred in ecstasy and curled up in a ball on Kari's chest. "I like her, Tai."
"Well, she'll have to go in the morning. She has a job to do," Tai replied.
Kari frowned a little, but she quickly covered it with a smile once more. "When am I going home?"
"Soon. They want you to stay just a little longer for test, but then we can take you home."
"I'm sick of tests, Tai. They hurt and they make me tired. I wanted to go to summer camp with you! Its not fair, Tai!"
"Be glad you didn't. Some funky stuff happened."
"Like what?"
Tai grinned. He couldn't lie to her, but he didn't want to scare her. "Well, first I was sucked into another dimension with lots of monsters that chased me and my friends! And I became the high supreme leader of a group of heroes whose job it is to save the world. And now we're back on earth to fight our deadliest enemy."
Kari laughed. "Your funny, Tai!" She glanced down at Gatomon. "When I get better I'm going to have adventures just like you! Will I get better, Tai?"
"Of course you will!" Tai replied thinking about with he would have to do. 'God Kari, you have no idea the adventures you'd have if you were well,' he thought. 'Someday.' "Its time to go to sleep."
"Will you stay?" Tai nodded. "Gatomon's not going to be here tomorrow is she?"
"Probably not."
"Okay, goodnight Tai. Goodnight Gatomon." Tai lay down next to her and she snuggled into his chest with Gatomon in between the two.
~~**Reality**~~
"The child of light. It suits her," Sora said deep in thought. "So she's met Gatomon?"
"Yeah, but the next morning Gatomon was gone and she thought it was all a dream," Tai replied. "Its been killing me for so long, hiding it from her. But I didn't want her to know that she wouldn't be able to fight. And to know I left my friends to protect her."
"How'd you convince your parents to leave?"
"That part was relatively easy. All I had to do was point out a monster and we were gone," Tai laughed. "Didn't Agumon explain all this to you?" Sora looked away from him. "What?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kari forced her eyes open. The effects of the medication were wearing off and her chest hurt. She turned on her side, brought her knees to her chest and prayed the pain would go away.
In the living room she could hear Tai and Sora talking quietly. She wanted to call to him, but she didn't think she could force out enough sound. Instead she closed her eyes and thought about the dream she had been having. It involved a white cat that turned into a beautiful angel. Instead of the stress and pain she felt when she slept she felt safe and warm. The angel would call her name and say they'd be together someday.
You'd think she'd be scared. An angel telling you you'd be together someday. Your thinking death, right? But for some reason Kari knew she wasn't an angel of death. She meant protection. She seemed to give off a light that made Kari feel better inside.
Something bright began to hurt her eyes. She opened them and saw something shining out of the top drawer of Tai's dresser. She forced herself out of the warm bed and shuffled softly over to the dresser. She pulled open the drawer and shaded her eyes, as the light grew stronger. She sifted through Tai's shirts and found whatever was making the light. She pulled two things out. One was a small digital device that beeped softly. The other was a small pendant with a charm that had the symbol for light on it. It was the thing giving off the light.
Suddenly the computer in the corner came to life and a swirling portal appeared in front of it.
"Taichi!" She yelled as loud as she could.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sora was about to tell Tai what had happened to Agumon and the rest of the digimon when a cry from the bedroom interrupted her. "Kari!" Tai yelled as he jumped out of his seat and ran for the door. Sora jumped up after him.
Tai threw open the door and shielded his eyes from a bright light. He ran in and found Kari standing by his open dresser staring at a swirling portal in front of his computer. "Kari, what happened?" He asked.
"Tai, I don't know what I did! I found these and that thing opened!" She held up a digivice and a tag and crest. Her digivice, tag, and crest to be exact.
Tai glanced back at Sora. "I think we're going back." She nodded in understanding just as the light intensified and the room was drenched in white.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matt paced back and forth. "Where is she?" He yelled.
TK looked up from his homework. He sat on the bleacher at the basketball courts with Izzy, Mimi, and Joe. "I don't know! Be patient."
"Why would she just leave like that? Why wouldn't she tell me where she was going?"
"Cool it, man!" Joe yelled as he pulled away from whispering something into Mimi's ear. "You are way too over protective of your girlfriend!"
"Can I help it if I worry?" Matt asked. Suddenly something on his belt started beeping. He reached down and pulled his digivice from where he had put it. He looked up at the others and saw all their digivices beeping too. "What's going on?" Just then a huge portal appeared above them and they disappeared into a huge blast of light.
A/N: Mimi never moved.
A Changed Destiny
Sora sat silently in the waiting room of the East Odiaba Memorial Hospital. Tai was pacing back and forth as he waited nervously for news on Kari. The entire scene of earlier played repeatedly in both of their minds. Tai's was driving too fast. Kari passed out. She stopped breathing.
"She'll be okay, Tai," Sora tried to reassure him.
"I should have made sure she took her meds. If I hadn't rushed her out the door we wouldn't be here," he argued.
"Darn it, Tai! Stop blaming yourself! She needs you! You have to stay strong because she can't!"
He collapsed into the empty seat beside her. "Why'd you have to say it?" He asked, sobbing into his hands.
"Say what?"
"Say I was courage?! Say I was still part of the team?!" He yelled and she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I don't have courage! I ran away from the fight! I left my friends to fight without their leader! I left the team!"
"Yes, you did. You're going to have to tell them why you left. No one knows."
"They wouldn't understand," he replied bitterly.
"Give me a break! They'd understand! They're going to be angry no matter what, but they deserve to know what happened! You're their friend; you're their leader!"
"Mr. Kamiya." Tai looked up and say a man in a long white lab coat. It was Jim Kido, Joe's older brother, Kari's Japan doctor. "Your sister's is heart is slowly collapsing. It is very weak at this point. I realize that coming back to Japan may have caused some untimely stress and I think it is increasing the rate of the collapse."
Tai jumped out of his seat. "But you said we had to bring her back! You said she would get better if we brought her back to Japan!"
"Yes, I did say that, but I hate to say this; your sister's getting worse. Almost to the point where it's untreatable."
Tai squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't want to hear this. I want to see my sister!"
"Alright, follow me." Jim turned and started to walk towards a door mark 'Medical Personal Only' with Tai and Sora close behind. He stopped and glanced back at Sora. "I'm sorry, only family is allowed in here."
Sora's heart fell. "Alr-"
"She is family," Tai interrupted.
"Okay." Jim pushed open the door and walked down a long hall. They came to a door and Jim opened it for Tai and Sora.
Tai walked into the hospital room and saw Kari sitting up, staring out the window. She had an IV going into her arm and somewhere behind her a heart monitor beeped quietly. She looked up in alarm at the sound of the door closing. "Tai!" She cried. He ran over to the bed and hugged her carefully, trying not to mess with any of the millions of wires running in and out of her. "Can we go home yet?"
Tai glanced back at Jim. "I'll start on the release papers."
"Yeah, we're going home," Tai replied as he sat down on the bed.
Kari looked down at her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry you had to bring me down here. When we go home you should go back to school because you shouldn't have to take care of me. I'm sure your sick of doing it."
Tai pushed back a piece of brown hair from her eyes. "No. Don't say that. That could never be true! Your going home and so am I. I'm not leaving you by yourself."
"Are you coming too, Sora?" Kari asked, quietly.
"Um, I don't think so. Its up to your brother. I should really-"
"You can come if you'd like," Tai interrupted. "I could use the help."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sora opened the door to the Kamiya's apartment and stepped back so Tai could carry Kari inside. She closed the door and took off her shoes before following Tai deeper into the apartment. She looked around and found the living room to be pretty bear. A TV, a blue couch, and a small coffee table. On the wall to the left were two closed doors and on the other side was an open door that Tai slipped into.
"Sora, can you help me out?" Tai called to her. Sora walked into the room and saw Tai standing with Kari in his arms next to a neatly made bunk bed. "Could you turn down the bed?" Sora did as he asked so Tai could set down his sleeping sister. "Could you go get a blanket from the closet on the other side of the living room?"
"Yeah, no problem," she replied as she walked out of the room and to the doors on the left wall. She paused as she tried to decide which door to go into. She decided on the closest which happened to be the left one. Opening it she looked around in confusion. Instead of being a closet with blankets it was a bedroom. But it didn't have a bed for Tai's parents like she would expect. It was pretty empty except for a two suitcases and a small box.
The door suddenly slammed closed making Sora jump back in surprise. Tai stood there with his hand on the door. "Don't go in there," he ordered. Tai walked over to the other door and opened it to reveal towels and blankets. He pulled a blanket from it and closed it before rushing back to Kari's room.
Sora sat down on the couch and waited for Tai to return. He walked over at sat down on the couch, not bothering to say anything or look at her. She looked at him though. "Where are your parents, Tai?" She asked. "Don't lie to me! I saw the empty bedroom and these are only two room apartments!"
"My parents are still in the states," he replied looking out the sliding glass window.
"Then why are you here? And why is Kari here?" Sora asked.
"Because a doctor in America said that we should bring her back to Japan. He said that there was equipment or something here that she would need."
"Why aren't your parents here?"
He finally made eye contact with her. "Because they've given up! They gave up that Kari would ever get better! It took me a year, but I saved enough money to where I could take Kari and come back to Japan. I wasn't about to give up and I'm not going to now!"
"I'm glad, Tai!" Sora told him.
"She's the eighth child," Tai said from out of nowhere. "You know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know. We all know. Gennai told us," Sora replied. She looked over at him. "What happened?"
"You really want to know?" Tai asked. Sora nodded. "Good, because I need to tell someone."
~~**Flashback**~~
Tai stood behind Izzy, the red headed computer expert of the Digidestined, as he placed each of the cards to open the gate. He would say the logic behind each card as if someone would fight him on it, but the cries never came. Everyone trusted him, and everyone trusted Tai's decision to believe in him.
The large gate before them opened and the Digidestined stood up praying that they were preparing for their journey home. They all jumped through the doors just as they began closing once more.
~~**Reality**~~
"We got back to the camp and I was all set. Ready to find the eighth child and defeat Myotismon. And I was so excited to see Kari, but I was also worried about her. She was so disappointed about not being able to go to summer camp," Tai said. "The whole bus ride home she was all I thought about, but I never would have dreamed she would have been the eighth child."
"How and when did you find out?" Sora asked.
~~**Flashback**~~
Tai walked into his apartment and pulled off his shoes. He put a finger to his lips to shush the pink digimon in his arms. "I'm home!" He yelled.
His mother walked out of the kitchen. "Tai, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be a summer camp."
"It got let out early. Something about snow," Tai mumbled.
"What's that thing in your arms?" She asked pointing to Koromon, Tai's digimon.
"Uh, this? Its um.... a present for Kari!" He replied. "Where's is she?" He ran off toward his room that he shared with Kari and threw open the door. No one was in the room.
"Tai." Tai looked back and saw his mother with tears in her eyes. "Kari, in the hospital. Her heart stopped again."
"NO!" He cried. "We have to go! I have to be there with her!"
~~**Reality**~~
"I remember you calling me from the hospital. You said you couldn't come to any meetings or look for the eighth child. You were crying," Sora interrupted.
"Yep, I was," Tai nodded. "I got to the hospital and she was laying in the bed, pale and fragile. She looked almost angelic though, but being the stupid jerk I was I woke her up. She nearly had a heart attack, and she would have if she hadn't already had one.
~~**Flashback**~~
Tai ran into the hospital room and saw his sister lying in the hospital bed. A dozen tubes ran in and out of her, carrying blood or helping her breath or whatever else they were used for. He ran up to the bed and looked down at the pale girl. "Kari !" He yelled.
Her eyes flared open and she erupted in to a fit of coughs. Mrs. Kamiya ran into the room and grabbed Tai's arm roughly. "What do you think your doing?" She yelled. "Get out of here, Tai! Get out of the room!"
Tai felt as if he was on the verge of tears. He turned and started to walk out of the room. When he reached the door way he glanced back and saw his mother looking away from him and holding Kari in her arms.
Kari was watching him as he left and when he looked back she reached out her hand, hoping he'd come back. 'I can't,' he mouthed to her. Her eyes filled with tears, but she nodded and waved goodbye. He waved back before walking out of the room.
~~**Reality**~~
"That doesn't explain how you found out or why you left though," Sora interrupted.
"I'm getting to that. Be patient. You waited the last six years, you might as well wait three more minutes," Tai argued playfully.
"But in the last six years I didn't have a choice in the matter," Sora frowned as she crossed her arms.
Tai almost laughed. It had been awhile since he had bickered with anyone like this. And he had missed Sora more. "Okay, well. I found out that night," he replied.
~~**Flashback**~~
Tai sat in an ugly brown chair in the hallway of the hospital. He stared at the floor as he swung his legs back and forth. He was waiting for the doctors to leave Kari's hospital room so he could sneak in to see her.
"Tai," a strange voice called. He looked up and saw a white haired cat digimon standing before him. It was Gatomon, one of Myotismon's henchmen.
"What do you want?" Tai whispered as he jumped out of his seat. 'Why'd I leave Koromon with Sora?' he thought.
"I'm here to see you. I know who the eighth child is," Gatomon replied.
"Then what are you doing here? Trying to rub it in that you've destroyed him?" He replied angrily. "Or is it that your on your way back to Myotismon with the information?"
"No, I'm not, Tai. I'm here to give the eighth child her tag and crest," the cat replied as she held up a digivice and a tag with a crest in it.
"Light," Tai read the symbol on the crest. "What do you mean give it to him? He's in this hospital?"
"Are you deaf? I said her! The eighth child is a girl!"
"Why are you giving them to her?"
"Because, as shocking as this is going to sound, I am the digimon of the eighth child."
"No way!"
Gatomon only nodded. "I'm sorry about what I have done, but my past is not exactly something I remember clearly."
"Then who is it? Show me where she is," Tai replied.
"Right there." Gatomon pointed to Kari's hospital room.
"You mean Kari?" Tai practically yelled.
"Keep your voice down! Don't call attention to us! Yes, your sister is the eighth child. But I've been watching her for the last couple of days. She seems rather sickly."
"She is. She's dying because her heart doesn't work."
"Then she wouldn't make it in the Digital World."
"Correct."
"Then you have to take her and leave. Get her away from Myotismon." The door to Kari's room and the doctors walked out and Gatomon slinked away into the shadows. One of the doctors glanced at Tai, but all his eyes shown were pity.
"You mean leave Japan?"
Gatomon nodded solemnly. "Yes. It took me too long to find her for her to die in the first fight. Take her and get out of Japan."
"Can I trust you as a friend?" Tai asked.
"Hold out your hand," Gatomon replied. Tai did as he was told. She set the digivice, tag, and crest in his hand. "You can trust me. But I have to go now before Myotismon suspects something." She turned to go.
"Gatomon, wait!" Tai called to her. Gatomon turned back. "Do you want to see her first? Up close, I mean?"
"I shouldn't," Gatomon replied.
"It won't hurt anything, she likes cats. It might make her feel a little better." Gatomon still seemed to be nervous, but accepted his offer. He held out his arms and she jumped into them. Glancing around he made sure no one was coming before slipping into the room.
He walked up to the bed and found Kari half asleep. "Hey kiddo," he whispered, remembering his mistake from earlier and stayed quiet.
Kari smiled. "Tai, you came back!"
"Of course I did. And I brought someone to see you too." He set Gatomon on the bed and she slowly climbed onto Kari's chest.
"You brought me a kitty?" Kari asked as she stroked Gatomon.
"My name's Gatomon," the kitty purred.
"You can talk? Wow, that's cool! My name's Kari." Kari continued to stroke Gatomon softly. Gatomon purred in ecstasy and curled up in a ball on Kari's chest. "I like her, Tai."
"Well, she'll have to go in the morning. She has a job to do," Tai replied.
Kari frowned a little, but she quickly covered it with a smile once more. "When am I going home?"
"Soon. They want you to stay just a little longer for test, but then we can take you home."
"I'm sick of tests, Tai. They hurt and they make me tired. I wanted to go to summer camp with you! Its not fair, Tai!"
"Be glad you didn't. Some funky stuff happened."
"Like what?"
Tai grinned. He couldn't lie to her, but he didn't want to scare her. "Well, first I was sucked into another dimension with lots of monsters that chased me and my friends! And I became the high supreme leader of a group of heroes whose job it is to save the world. And now we're back on earth to fight our deadliest enemy."
Kari laughed. "Your funny, Tai!" She glanced down at Gatomon. "When I get better I'm going to have adventures just like you! Will I get better, Tai?"
"Of course you will!" Tai replied thinking about with he would have to do. 'God Kari, you have no idea the adventures you'd have if you were well,' he thought. 'Someday.' "Its time to go to sleep."
"Will you stay?" Tai nodded. "Gatomon's not going to be here tomorrow is she?"
"Probably not."
"Okay, goodnight Tai. Goodnight Gatomon." Tai lay down next to her and she snuggled into his chest with Gatomon in between the two.
~~**Reality**~~
"The child of light. It suits her," Sora said deep in thought. "So she's met Gatomon?"
"Yeah, but the next morning Gatomon was gone and she thought it was all a dream," Tai replied. "Its been killing me for so long, hiding it from her. But I didn't want her to know that she wouldn't be able to fight. And to know I left my friends to protect her."
"How'd you convince your parents to leave?"
"That part was relatively easy. All I had to do was point out a monster and we were gone," Tai laughed. "Didn't Agumon explain all this to you?" Sora looked away from him. "What?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kari forced her eyes open. The effects of the medication were wearing off and her chest hurt. She turned on her side, brought her knees to her chest and prayed the pain would go away.
In the living room she could hear Tai and Sora talking quietly. She wanted to call to him, but she didn't think she could force out enough sound. Instead she closed her eyes and thought about the dream she had been having. It involved a white cat that turned into a beautiful angel. Instead of the stress and pain she felt when she slept she felt safe and warm. The angel would call her name and say they'd be together someday.
You'd think she'd be scared. An angel telling you you'd be together someday. Your thinking death, right? But for some reason Kari knew she wasn't an angel of death. She meant protection. She seemed to give off a light that made Kari feel better inside.
Something bright began to hurt her eyes. She opened them and saw something shining out of the top drawer of Tai's dresser. She forced herself out of the warm bed and shuffled softly over to the dresser. She pulled open the drawer and shaded her eyes, as the light grew stronger. She sifted through Tai's shirts and found whatever was making the light. She pulled two things out. One was a small digital device that beeped softly. The other was a small pendant with a charm that had the symbol for light on it. It was the thing giving off the light.
Suddenly the computer in the corner came to life and a swirling portal appeared in front of it.
"Taichi!" She yelled as loud as she could.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sora was about to tell Tai what had happened to Agumon and the rest of the digimon when a cry from the bedroom interrupted her. "Kari!" Tai yelled as he jumped out of his seat and ran for the door. Sora jumped up after him.
Tai threw open the door and shielded his eyes from a bright light. He ran in and found Kari standing by his open dresser staring at a swirling portal in front of his computer. "Kari, what happened?" He asked.
"Tai, I don't know what I did! I found these and that thing opened!" She held up a digivice and a tag and crest. Her digivice, tag, and crest to be exact.
Tai glanced back at Sora. "I think we're going back." She nodded in understanding just as the light intensified and the room was drenched in white.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matt paced back and forth. "Where is she?" He yelled.
TK looked up from his homework. He sat on the bleacher at the basketball courts with Izzy, Mimi, and Joe. "I don't know! Be patient."
"Why would she just leave like that? Why wouldn't she tell me where she was going?"
"Cool it, man!" Joe yelled as he pulled away from whispering something into Mimi's ear. "You are way too over protective of your girlfriend!"
"Can I help it if I worry?" Matt asked. Suddenly something on his belt started beeping. He reached down and pulled his digivice from where he had put it. He looked up at the others and saw all their digivices beeping too. "What's going on?" Just then a huge portal appeared above them and they disappeared into a huge blast of light.