Disclaimer
– I figured I better put at least 1 diclaimer up around here, this covers the
entire series…..I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON!
"Alright, I can do this!" Davis told
himself in an attempt to calm his nerves. He had taken Matt's advice seriously and was about to apologise to
Tai. He sighed when he noticed that the
elevator was broken and began the trek up the stairs. He reached the door to the Kamiya's apartment and knocked loudly
on the door. He paused and shifted
nervously, waiting for a response. When
no one opened the door Davis pounded on the wood once more.
"Damn!" Davis swore as he realised Tai
could still be at soccer practise. He
glanced at his wristwatch and realised that Tai's practise had finished ten
minutes ago, so he should be home soon. Setting his face determinedly Davis sat down to wait.
* * *
"Thanks for walking me home T.K.!"
Kari smiled at the blond Takaishi. Her
crimson eyes looked appreciatively at the way the sun made hair flare like a
golden halo. Kari quickly shook herself
out of her observations, smiling at her distraction.
"Anytime Kari!" he smiled back at
her. Kari waved goodbye to before
turning away and starting to walk up the flights of stairs that would take her
home.
Kari reached her floor with a sigh of
relief. Her eyes widened in surprise as
she caught sight of Davis sitting on her doorstep.
"Davis?" she asked warily. "What are you doing here?" Kari noticed a
hint of anger in her normally cheerful voice; she still angry with him for what
he said to Tai.
"I came to apologise to Tai, but no
ones home" Davis replied sheepishly, staring at the floor. Kari felt her anger melt away easily, she
flashed him a bright smile.
"You can come in and wait if you
want!" she offered generously, pulling out her key to open the front door.
"Thanks!" Davis replied happily. Kari unlocked the door and walked in,
holding it open for Davis to follow. She slipped out of her sneakers and placed them with the other shoes in
the hallway. She stopped dead and
stared at the shoes. "What's wrong
Kari?" Davis asked as she didn't move.
"Those are Tai's," she remarked
frowning, looking at a pair of worn soccer boots and a new pair of sneakers.
"So?" Davis asked confused.
"Tai?" Kari called out, ignoring the
keeper of courage and friendship. A
sick feeling welled up inside Kari, nearly chocking her with its
intensity. "Are you here?" She peered around the empty apartment then
her eyes fixed on the slightly open door of the bathroom.
Davis watched curiously as Kari walked
slowly towards the bathroom, wondering what was going on. He blinked as he grasped what Kari had meant
with the shoe reference. Tai had lied;
he hadn't gone to soccer practise at all. A backwash of apprehension caught him in its grasp as Kari slowly pushed
open the door to reveal a sight he would never forget for his entire life. The horrible sight and the sound of Kari's
scream would haunt him for many nights to come.
* * *
"Can I have my Digivice back now?" Joe whined as Izzy silently typed away on his computer. "Izzy!" Joe yelled in a successful attempt to get the younger boys attention. The red head jumped at Joe's exclamation and turned to glare at him.
"What?!" Izzy demanded irritably.
"Bite my head off why don't you!" Joe
complained.
"Sorry," Izzy apologised hastily. "But all this data is fascinating! It's not like anything I've ever before!"
"Can I have my Digivice back?" Joe repeated patiently, knowing that it was
hard for Izzy to tear his eyes from the computer screen for long when he found
something really interesting.
"Could I keep it over night?" The
computer genius asked eagerly. "The
information this new Digimon is incredible!"
"Sure, no problem," Joe replied
easily.
"Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed. There was a pause while Joe waited for
further comment, when none came he sighed.
"I have to go now," again Joe waited
for a response, but all he got from the shorter boy was the clattering of
keys. "I really have to go; I'll fail
my biology test tomorrow if I don't get some work done," Izzy continued to work
on his computer, dark eyes totally focused on the rush of data that flooded the
screen. "Great, so I'll let myself out
the shall I?" Joe shook his head and smiled at the Keeper of Knowledge, amazed
how easily he could loose himself in that damned computer.
* * *
"Davis! Get a grip!" Kari yelled, then accompanied her words with a sharp
slap to his left cheek. Davis blinked
and shook himself back into reality. "Help me!" Kari ordered briskly as she wrapped a damp wash cloth around
one of her brothers wrists: following Kari's example Davis grabbed another from
the side of the sink and pressed it over the other wound. "Here," Kari manoeuvred herself so that
Davis could reach both of Tai's wrists. "Keep the pressure on, I have to call an ambulance!" Still slightly in shock Davis silently
obeyed Kari's order and detachedly wondered how she could be so cool about this. He looked down at Tai, his idol and mentor,
and felt sick. Tai's face was pale and
drawn, the white of his skin made a sharp contrast to the red of the blood
which was pooled around him. In the
background he could hear Kari rapidly giving details to the operator. A moment later Kari entered the bathroom
again and gave Davis a curt nod. "They're on their way," she studied his face carefully for a moment
before casually adding, "If you're gonna be sick, do it in the sink."
Davis hurriedly detached himself from
Tai, letting Kari take over, and threw up into the sink. With a grimace Davis turned on the tap to
wash it away, then washed his mouth out, before turning back to help his
friends.
"I hear sirens!" Davis yelled
suddenly, five minutes after his episode. Kari looked up sharply then smiled in relief as the noise reached her
ears too. Davis raced for the front
door and yanked it open, ushering the medics in. He quickly led them to the bathroom and they entered, efficiently
assessing the situation as Kari filled them in on what she and Davis had been
doing. One of the medics flicked on his
radio and ordered a stretcher to be brought up immediately, while the other
pulled out some gauze and bandages, removed the nearly saturated wash clothes
and quickly bound Tai's weeping wrists. The next few minutes passed in a haze for the two Digidestined. The stretcher arrived, Tai was bundled onto
it, then there was the ordeal of getting him down the stairs. When they finally got him into the ambulance
one of the female medics turned to Kari.
"Hey sweetie, do you know where your parents
are?" she asked kindly.
"They should be home any minute," Kari
replied steadily. "I'm gonna wait for
them and explain what happened." The
medic nodded understandingly, then placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Your brother should be okay now," she
said reassuringly. "You should be proud
of yourself, if it wasn't for you and this young man," she gestured at Davis.
"He would be dead." With another small
smile the woman turned and climbed into the ambulance, which proceed to speed
away, sirens blaring.
"You were great Kari," Davis murmured
after the ambulance faded from sight. "I don't know how you did it! Kari!" Davis called worriedly as the Keeper of Light suddenly collapsed to the
floor and burst into tears. She wrapped
her arms around herself as she sobbed uncontrollably. "Kari? Shhh. Its okay now!" Davis dropped to his knees and wrapped an arm around her
comfortingly.
"He could have died!" Kari cried into
Davis shoulder, her body trembling with the aftershock of adrenaline. Davis held her until she cried herself out;
she pulled away and swiped a hand over face, embarrassed at her behaviour. "Sorry," she mumbled then jumped to her feet
as she heard her parents car pull up. She raced over to them and tackled her mother as she got out of the car,
barely stopping herself from crying again.
"Kari? What's wrong baby?" Mrs. Kamiya asked worriedly, gently pushing
Kari back so she could see her face.
"Tai's in the hospital!" Kari watched
as her mom paled and shot an alarmed glance at her husband.
"Get in the car!" Mr. Kamiya ordered,
already starting the engine. Kari
hesitated for a moment, then looked back at Davis.
"Will you tell the others for me?" she
asked desperately. Davis knew
immediately who she meant and nodded firmly. "Thanks Davis!"
With that Kari jumped into the car and
the Kamiya's sped away to see their beloved son and brother.
To
be Continued…
A/N
– Well I broke the trend of Tai falling into unconsciousness as the end of each
chapter! Sorry this one is so
short! And I want to send a big thank
you out to Renegade, my beta reader, for helping me with this chapter (you can
thank her for Tai being alive!), and to Digidestined of Courage for giving me
the idea for the beginning (Even though I didn't put Sora in like she
wanted). Review!