Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Searching
Sora sat in the living room of their hotel room flipping through the 400 channels of the TV. Tai, Matt and Izzy had already left for their 'guys day out', leaving her alone to wait for Kacey and Connor.
There was a knock at the door. Sora flipped off the TV and got off the couch. "Coming!" She called as she walked to the door. She opened it to reveal the face of the hotel's tired looking and wrinkled cleaning woman. "Yes?" Sora asked with a smile.
"Sorry to bother you miss," the woman said politely. "But a young woman came by right now and asked me to give this to you." The woman held out a folded piece of paper with Sora written on it in small letters.
"Oh thanks," Sora said as she took the paper.
"Have a nice day miss," the woman parted.
"You too," Sora replied as she shut the door and went back into the massive and cool hotel room. She opened the note.
'Dear Sora,' it read in blue pen. The writing was small and neat. 'I'm sorry that I didn't call you or stop to see you, but I can't. Some things have come up and I can't see you. At all. Please, you just need to leave and go home to Japan. I'm sorry I'm leaving it like this, but you need to tell Izzy because I can't. I'm sorry. Kacey.'
Sora crumpled the note in her hand and ran out the door of her hotel room. She passed the cleaning woman and her cart as she dashed down the plush, brightly lit hotel hall. She passed the elevator and wrenched open the door to the stairwell, too much in a hurry to wait for the elevator. Two floors later, in under a minute, Sora burst through the door of the stairwell into the lobby with the hotel's stuffy staff staring down on her just as Kacey walked out the front doors. Sora pumped her legs harder and threw the front glass doors open, only to get hit with a blast of hot, humid air. "Kacey!" She yelled over the roar of traffic. The red head glanced back looking distressed by Sora's pursuit of her. For a second she looked like she was debating whether to run away or not, but they both knew Sora could catch her even if she tried.
"Kacey!" She stopped at the other girl, panting. "What happened? What does this mean?" She held up the note. She met her eyes. "What happened to your face?!" Kacey tried to look away to hide a nasty looking black-purple bruise, but Sora grabbed her chin and pushed it up to look at her face.
"Its nothing," she whispered in a shaky voice. "Connor and I were playing. He threw something at me." Her voice was raw and hoarse and her black eyes kept darting around the street at the faces of passers.
Sora would have laughed had the situation not been so grave. "There is no way your THREE year old could have enough strength to throw something hard enough to make half your face swell up!" Kacey looked away, releasing a discouraged sigh. "Kacey, look at me!" The shorter girl met her eyes in obedience. "Did Victor do this?"
Kacey snorted as if the suggestion was completely absurd. "No! Victor loves-"
"Kacey," Sora interjected. "Did Victor do this?" She closed her eyes and nodded. "Where's Connor?"
"A-at my friend's house."
"Good. Come on, we'll go back to my hotel room and-"
"No!" Kacey yelled, her voice thick with fear. "I have to get home."
"Kacey, I'm not going to let you go home with him. Come back to the hotel and I'll put some much needed ice on your cheek." She shook her head and tried to back away, but Sora caught her arm. "Kacey."
With a sigh of defeat she nodded. "Okay, but I can't stay long," she consented.
Sora took her arm and gently led her back to the hotel. When they were inside Sora sat her down on the couch and filled a washcloth with ice. "Here," she said as she held it to her swollen and bruised cheek. Kacey withdrew in pain. Sora pressed it into her hand. "Here, you hold it there. I'm going to call to call Izzy."
Kacey jumped to her feet. "Sora, no! Please I just have to get home."
"I'm not letting you go home, Kacey! I'm calling Izzy." Sora dialed Matt's cell number as Kacey collapsed onto the couch in defeat, holding the ice filled cloth to her head.
"Hello?" Matt greeted in a sugary voice.
"Hey, where are you guys?" Sora asked instantly.
In the background she could hear Izzy and Tai talking. "Its Sora," Matt whispered to them. "We're down in China Town. About half an hour away."
"You guys need to come back." She looked up at Kacey to see her waving her arms and shaking her head no.
"Why?" Matt snorted.
"Kacey's here. Victor beat her up."
"He what?!" Tai and Izzy were laughing noisily in the background. "Shut up!" Matt snapped. "We'll be there in twenty minutes." The line went dead as Matt hung up.
Sora set the phone down. "They're on their way."
Kacey looked at her sourly. "He didn't beat me up! He hit me. Once, only once. You didn't need to call Koushiro. This isn't his problem."
"It is," Sora replied calmly. She sat down on the couch beside her. "Kacey, what did you think would happened when we found your note? Did you actually think we'd leave?"
"I dunno," she shrugged. "Yes."
Sora shook her head, not understanding the reasoning. "Why? I thought you and Izzy were getting along really well."
"We were. But, there's just some stuff you wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"Victor and I were fighting last night when he did this to me. He said I can't see you anymore."
"Why doesn't he want you to see us? I know he doesn't like us and all, but there's no foundation for his hatred."
"Because you're a DigiDestined," she replied honestly.
"A DigiDestined? Why would he hate us for that? We didn't do anything wrong," Sora argued.
"I know that, but not everyone agrees with you. A lot of people, especially in the US are opposed to digimon and DigiDestined. They think it's your fault for everything that happened. It was dangerous here for DigiDestined." She sighed. "Victor's one of those people. That's why he hates you."
"Do you agree with him?"
"No!"
"Then why let him tell you what to do like this? Izzy is your brother, it's not his choice!"
"That's what you don't understand. It's not mine either!"
"What do you mean?"
"Its my dad."
"Your dad?" Kacey nodded. "How so? He claimed he hadn't been apart of your life in almost seven years."
"That's true. Sort of." She sighed, "God I hate my dad." Her voice got high as she held her face in her hands. "He's coming. He's going to come to Cali and he'll just show up, go down to University and pull my application. Then he's going to take Connor!"
"What?!" Sora held up her hands. "Slow down and back up! Your dad's coming, correct?" Kacey nodded. "And he's going to take Connor from you and he's going to pull your application from college. Why the hell would he do that?"
"We had an agreement. He wouldn't interfere in my life and pay for college on two conditions. I never went to him, meaning I never exposed myself to his wife and-" She met Sora's eyes. "And I stayed away from the DigiDestined. Meaning Izzy."
"But how would he know?"
"Victor." The name wasn't said with anger or fear, just pain and betrayal. "Victor believes the DigiDestined are truly dangerous. So he'll follow everything my dad will order. But I really can't blame him. He's misinformed and he thinks that he's protecting me and Connor from the threat of the DigiDestined. I can't lose Connor, Sora," she admitted, voice trembling. "But I am scared to death of my dad."
The door opened and Izzy plowed in with Matt and Tai trailing behind him. He ran over to the couch. "Kacey, what happened?" She looked up at him so he could see her cheek. "I'll kill him. Where the hell is Victor? I'll go knock some sense into him."
"Whoa, home boy!" Matt cut in calmly. "Fightings not the answer here."
Izzy whirled around and stared at Matt with fiery eyes. "Matt, how can you say that? Look what he did! If this were TK would you-"
"Bad example! TK can now hold his own! Besides, do you seriously think you could take on Victor? He's a thug waiting to happen! He'd wipe the floor with you!"
"Izzy," Kacey called. Her red haired brother looked up. "Stop it. Matt's right. You getting creamed by Victor isn't going to solve anything." She sighed as tears built in her eyes. "So here's the solution. I can't see you anymore."
"What?!" His mouth dropped. "You can't be serious!"
She bit her lip. "I am. I think it would be a smarter idea if you went back to Japan and forgot I existed." She stood up and walked to the door. "I'm sorry."
"You're a DigiDestined!" Sora yelled.
Kacey's head snapped up. "What?"
"You're a DigiDestined," Sora repeated. "Look." She turned to Tai. "Go get her 'vice and crest." He scrambled into the room she and Izzy shared and came back with the 'old fashioned' digivice and a green-blue crest. She gave them to Kacey, who stared at them with big eyes. "Your one of us."
She studied the items. "What does that mean?" She asked holding up the crest.
"That's sovereignty," Izzy answered. "That's your crest."
Kacey pushed the items back into Sora's hands. "I can't accept these. I think I should just go." She stepped away from Sora, looking unsure before turning and running out of the hotel room.
(Sovereignty means independence.)
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Kacey pushed her silver key into the lock while balancing her sleeping son on one arm. His head rested heavily on her shoulder while his blond hair tickled her neck. She pushed into the apartment and froze in her tracks.
Her father pushed himself off the couch. Victor sat at the kitchen table looking away. "D-dad, when did you get here?"
"This morning," he responded plainly. "Is that your son?" By the question one might think he was interested, but his tone reveal lack of compassion for either of the two.
"Yes," she replied, hugging him closer.
"Perhaps you should go lay him down. You and I need to talk."
"Yes sir," her voice squeaked. She waked past him, with her head down and down the hall into Connor's room. Kicking toys back to get to his bed she laid him down as Victor came into the room.
"Kacey-"
"Don't even bother, Victor!" She snapped, surprisingly angry. Usually when it came to her father or any other situation of this nature, she laid down and did what he said. But this was too much. "You went too far."
"Kacey, I-" He started, looking guilty.
"Don't Victor! Just stop!" She met his eyes. "Why? Why'd you call him? You knew the consequence. You knew what I'd lose!"
"I was trying to do the right thing," he offered.
"But you knew what he'd do! Victor," she took a breath, trying to calm down. "I have done everything you have told me too. I never contacted my brother; I gave up friendships to suspected DigiDestined! You hit me and I was willing to forgive you and tell my brother I couldn't see him! But what did you think calling my father would do? He doesn't take his threats lightly!"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, just get out. Because the fact is, I can drop you, but I need Connor. And I need my brother. But you've messed both of them up in a matter of hours!"
"Kacey, you can't blame me for everything. You knew what would happen too!"
"I have been in and out of foster homes half my life without anyone giving a damn whether I was there or not! Prior to that I had my father, the damn bastard, and Koushiro. When my brother came into the club I was all ready to tell him to leave. I had yours and my father's voice in my head yelling at me about consequences and other crap! But I couldn't. He's my brother and for once I need someone beside you and Connor." She walked to the door and stopped. "I want you to leave."
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Izzy stood by the window in his hotel room staring out as he rubbed his temples. His head throbbed. Sora was in their room, feeling terrible after driving Kacey away. Matt and Tai went out in search of food.
'This is my fault,' he thought. 'Or maybe its my dad's. Or maybe there's something screwed up with the entire Mizuhara line. I can't believe that's my last name.'
There was a knock at the door and Izzy hesitantly separated from the window. He opened the door and blinked in surprise. Victor stood in front of him.
On first impulse Izzy lunged at him, grabbing him by the neck and slammed him into the wall of the hall. "What do you think your doing here, asshole?!" He yelled as he slammed Victor into the wall again. People are them opened their doors to investigate the noise as Sora came out of their room.
"Izzy!" She yelled.
"Get…off of…me!" Victor grunted. He kicked Izzy in the stomach, sending him crashing to the floor back inside the room. Sora ran to Izzy's side as Victor pushed himself off the wall. "Nothing to see here people. Please don't call the cops." He walked into the room with Izzy and Sora. "Lord knows I don't need that on my record too."
Once Sora helped him to his feet he pushed her away. "I'm alright," he insisted. "What are you doing here? Kacey's not here if your looking for her."
"I'm not," the Mexican man replied sourly. "I know where she is."
"Then why are you here? Come to hit me like you did her?"
He sighed, dejected. "I swear I never meant to hit her and I feel terrible. I never meant to hurt her. I truly love her."
"Answer my question you fucking bastard! Why are you here?" Izzy exploded impatiently.
"Kacey's in trouble. I called her- your father," Izzy's nostrils flared in anger, "and he's here. He's going to take Connor from her."
"What can we do? You told us to stay away from her! Can't you handle it yourself?"
"She kicked me out." Izzy snorted and said something that sounded like 'good' under his breath. "And Mizuhara won't listen to me. You could probably make a better impact then I could."
"Mizuhara doesn't like me. Deal with it yourself."
"Please," he begged. "She refuses to even let me in the house." Again Izzy mumbled 'good' and Sora elbowed him in the ribs.
Izzy reached into his pocket and pulled out Kacey's digivice. He placed in Victor's hand. "Do you know what that is?" Victor shook his head. "That's a digivice." Victor tossed it away and Izzy caught it easily. Victor wiped his hand on his jeans as if it were the digivice left a disgusting residue there. Izzy lashed out, grabbing his wrist and forced the digivice into his hand. He grabbed the front of his shirt; bring the taller man down so they could be face to face. "Hold it and listen!" When Victor didn't give any form of resistance he continued. "That's digivice belongs to your girlfriend. I came here to give it to her. Before I do anything to help you, you need to realize that digimon aren't bad and that DigiDestined didn't cause any of the attacks that happened. We saved your sorry ass and everyone else on the planet. Everything the DigiDestined do is to help people! We would never do anything to hurt anyone. Now, here's the part you might find hard to swallow. Your girlfriend is one of us. She has a digimon, she's part of our team and you have to accept that. And as soon as this whole thing that you created with my father is over, if she takes you back that is, you better not ever do anything to hurt her because of that." He let him go. "Let's go."
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He was pacing back and forth, lecturing and yelling. She just sat on the couch, quietly listening with her head down feeling like the same little girl he used to threaten. Things never changed. He stopped pacing and stared at her fiercely with matching lifeless, shark black eyes. "I warned you Cassandra. I told you what would happen. I hope your ready to face the consequences."
She jumped to her feet. "No, please! Dad, don't take Connor from me. His face gave off no emotion, but his eyebrows rose with surprise. "Please…sir."
"Sit down," he commanded. She obliged, regret written into her face. "Young lady, don't start begging me now. You knew as long as you were under legal age your son was at stake. You have been warned repeatedly. I suggest you prepare his things so we can go."
Tears sprang in her eyes. "You can't."
"I CAN!"
The floor creaked behind him and the pair looked up. Connor stood just inside the room, rubbing his eyes as tears rolled down his face. She leapt off the couch. "Connor, sweetheart, what's wrong?" He held up his arms for her to pick him up and then buried his face in her shoulder. He mumured something like nightmare. "Its okay, baby. Its okay."
"Put him down," Yushiro Mizuhara ordered. She looked at him in perplexity. "Put your son down and get his things."
There was a pounding at the door. She pulled her eyes from him and walked to the front door. She opened it and slammed it shut. He gave her an odd look. "Give me a minute." She walked out of the house. Izzy, Sora and Victor stood in the hall. "What the hell are you doing here?" She growled. "If my dad catches you-"
"Victor brought me here to help you," Izzy replied.
"If he wanted to help he shoulda just left me alone," she growled. "You really want to help, then Izzy you can come in, Sora take Connor and go back to your place. Just hide out for awhile." Sora nodded and took Connor into her arms. The blond child didn't put up much of a fight, but rested his head on her shoulder.
"Go ahead and take the car," Izzy said as he kissed Sora. She nodded and turned to leave.
Victor caught Kacey's arm. "Kac, p-"
"Don't talk to me!" She snapped pulling away.
"Kacey, please." He pressed her digivice into her hand. "I'm sorry. I'm here for you." She stared at him, uncertain, and he leaned down and kissed her.
She pulled away. "My dad's probably waiting." He nodded. She took a deep breath and walked into the apartment. The look her father gave the three, or at least her and Izzy was positively nerve breaking.
"What do you think your doing here?" He asked Izzy repulsed.
"I'm here to keep you from bullying Kacey, you stupid bastard," Izzy snapped.
"Wouldn't that be you? I mean, I did renounced myself as your father," Mizuhara suggested sardonically.
"No, I have a father. He adopted me," Izzy replied. "How could you lie straight to my face like that?"
"I never lied to you. You never straight forward asked me about me being your father."
"Not about being my father, you just danced around the truth! But you lied about not knowing where Kacey was!"
"I had every right!" Mizuhara exploded. "Because otherwise I would have had her mixing with your kind."
"My kind?" Izzy questioned.
"The DigiDestined. Why do you think I gave you up?" He replied. "I saw it that night in Heighten View Terrace. I had both you and your sister; you both lived with me at the time. And I saw the digimon fighting and the light that hit you." He noticed the odd look Kacey was giving him. "You were asleep in the apartment." He began to pace. "The DigiDestined are a natural threat to society. They bring a war to humans through digimon. They're evil." He met Izzy's eyes. "They're freaks." He sighed and looked away. "Your mother was one."
"So she was a freak?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah, she was," he shrugged, nonchalant. "Why else do you think I separated the two of you? I didn't want you around her! You or your damned friends. So we moved to New York, but that damn Gennai found her there. Then we moved to Washington. He came there too."
"Persistent bastard, ain't he?" Victor muttered.
"It was about then when I wrote a virus and sent it into the Digital World. It kept Gennai from ever being able to bio emerge anywhere near Cassandra."
"Is that why we moved?" She asked, speaking up for the first time since Izzy and Victor had shown up. "Just to separate us?"
"Yeah," Mizuhara shrugged as if it were a valid excuse. "Cassandra, the DigiDestined, their not good for you-"
"Oh and you are?" Izzy interjected. "You who threaten her? You who ruin her life to keep her from becoming what I have become. And what might that be exactly? Because I know at least half a million people in Japan alone who would probably defend my friends and myself. Or beat you down for everything you've said about us, you crazy assed old man!"
"I don't need lip from a snot nosed brat with a scrape of data as a pet. I suggest you leave. I have business to take care of."
"No way," Izzy refused.
Mizuhara pulled a black pistol from his pocket. "Get out."
"You're going to shoot me now?!" Izzy snapped, not quite comprehending the severity of the situation. His anger blinded him.
"Izzy! Stop!" Kacey screamed in fear.
"Koushiro, I'm warning you." Mizuhara cocked the gun.
"I don't care."
The gun fired.
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Searching
Sora sat in the living room of their hotel room flipping through the 400 channels of the TV. Tai, Matt and Izzy had already left for their 'guys day out', leaving her alone to wait for Kacey and Connor.
There was a knock at the door. Sora flipped off the TV and got off the couch. "Coming!" She called as she walked to the door. She opened it to reveal the face of the hotel's tired looking and wrinkled cleaning woman. "Yes?" Sora asked with a smile.
"Sorry to bother you miss," the woman said politely. "But a young woman came by right now and asked me to give this to you." The woman held out a folded piece of paper with Sora written on it in small letters.
"Oh thanks," Sora said as she took the paper.
"Have a nice day miss," the woman parted.
"You too," Sora replied as she shut the door and went back into the massive and cool hotel room. She opened the note.
'Dear Sora,' it read in blue pen. The writing was small and neat. 'I'm sorry that I didn't call you or stop to see you, but I can't. Some things have come up and I can't see you. At all. Please, you just need to leave and go home to Japan. I'm sorry I'm leaving it like this, but you need to tell Izzy because I can't. I'm sorry. Kacey.'
Sora crumpled the note in her hand and ran out the door of her hotel room. She passed the cleaning woman and her cart as she dashed down the plush, brightly lit hotel hall. She passed the elevator and wrenched open the door to the stairwell, too much in a hurry to wait for the elevator. Two floors later, in under a minute, Sora burst through the door of the stairwell into the lobby with the hotel's stuffy staff staring down on her just as Kacey walked out the front doors. Sora pumped her legs harder and threw the front glass doors open, only to get hit with a blast of hot, humid air. "Kacey!" She yelled over the roar of traffic. The red head glanced back looking distressed by Sora's pursuit of her. For a second she looked like she was debating whether to run away or not, but they both knew Sora could catch her even if she tried.
"Kacey!" She stopped at the other girl, panting. "What happened? What does this mean?" She held up the note. She met her eyes. "What happened to your face?!" Kacey tried to look away to hide a nasty looking black-purple bruise, but Sora grabbed her chin and pushed it up to look at her face.
"Its nothing," she whispered in a shaky voice. "Connor and I were playing. He threw something at me." Her voice was raw and hoarse and her black eyes kept darting around the street at the faces of passers.
Sora would have laughed had the situation not been so grave. "There is no way your THREE year old could have enough strength to throw something hard enough to make half your face swell up!" Kacey looked away, releasing a discouraged sigh. "Kacey, look at me!" The shorter girl met her eyes in obedience. "Did Victor do this?"
Kacey snorted as if the suggestion was completely absurd. "No! Victor loves-"
"Kacey," Sora interjected. "Did Victor do this?" She closed her eyes and nodded. "Where's Connor?"
"A-at my friend's house."
"Good. Come on, we'll go back to my hotel room and-"
"No!" Kacey yelled, her voice thick with fear. "I have to get home."
"Kacey, I'm not going to let you go home with him. Come back to the hotel and I'll put some much needed ice on your cheek." She shook her head and tried to back away, but Sora caught her arm. "Kacey."
With a sigh of defeat she nodded. "Okay, but I can't stay long," she consented.
Sora took her arm and gently led her back to the hotel. When they were inside Sora sat her down on the couch and filled a washcloth with ice. "Here," she said as she held it to her swollen and bruised cheek. Kacey withdrew in pain. Sora pressed it into her hand. "Here, you hold it there. I'm going to call to call Izzy."
Kacey jumped to her feet. "Sora, no! Please I just have to get home."
"I'm not letting you go home, Kacey! I'm calling Izzy." Sora dialed Matt's cell number as Kacey collapsed onto the couch in defeat, holding the ice filled cloth to her head.
"Hello?" Matt greeted in a sugary voice.
"Hey, where are you guys?" Sora asked instantly.
In the background she could hear Izzy and Tai talking. "Its Sora," Matt whispered to them. "We're down in China Town. About half an hour away."
"You guys need to come back." She looked up at Kacey to see her waving her arms and shaking her head no.
"Why?" Matt snorted.
"Kacey's here. Victor beat her up."
"He what?!" Tai and Izzy were laughing noisily in the background. "Shut up!" Matt snapped. "We'll be there in twenty minutes." The line went dead as Matt hung up.
Sora set the phone down. "They're on their way."
Kacey looked at her sourly. "He didn't beat me up! He hit me. Once, only once. You didn't need to call Koushiro. This isn't his problem."
"It is," Sora replied calmly. She sat down on the couch beside her. "Kacey, what did you think would happened when we found your note? Did you actually think we'd leave?"
"I dunno," she shrugged. "Yes."
Sora shook her head, not understanding the reasoning. "Why? I thought you and Izzy were getting along really well."
"We were. But, there's just some stuff you wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"Victor and I were fighting last night when he did this to me. He said I can't see you anymore."
"Why doesn't he want you to see us? I know he doesn't like us and all, but there's no foundation for his hatred."
"Because you're a DigiDestined," she replied honestly.
"A DigiDestined? Why would he hate us for that? We didn't do anything wrong," Sora argued.
"I know that, but not everyone agrees with you. A lot of people, especially in the US are opposed to digimon and DigiDestined. They think it's your fault for everything that happened. It was dangerous here for DigiDestined." She sighed. "Victor's one of those people. That's why he hates you."
"Do you agree with him?"
"No!"
"Then why let him tell you what to do like this? Izzy is your brother, it's not his choice!"
"That's what you don't understand. It's not mine either!"
"What do you mean?"
"Its my dad."
"Your dad?" Kacey nodded. "How so? He claimed he hadn't been apart of your life in almost seven years."
"That's true. Sort of." She sighed, "God I hate my dad." Her voice got high as she held her face in her hands. "He's coming. He's going to come to Cali and he'll just show up, go down to University and pull my application. Then he's going to take Connor!"
"What?!" Sora held up her hands. "Slow down and back up! Your dad's coming, correct?" Kacey nodded. "And he's going to take Connor from you and he's going to pull your application from college. Why the hell would he do that?"
"We had an agreement. He wouldn't interfere in my life and pay for college on two conditions. I never went to him, meaning I never exposed myself to his wife and-" She met Sora's eyes. "And I stayed away from the DigiDestined. Meaning Izzy."
"But how would he know?"
"Victor." The name wasn't said with anger or fear, just pain and betrayal. "Victor believes the DigiDestined are truly dangerous. So he'll follow everything my dad will order. But I really can't blame him. He's misinformed and he thinks that he's protecting me and Connor from the threat of the DigiDestined. I can't lose Connor, Sora," she admitted, voice trembling. "But I am scared to death of my dad."
The door opened and Izzy plowed in with Matt and Tai trailing behind him. He ran over to the couch. "Kacey, what happened?" She looked up at him so he could see her cheek. "I'll kill him. Where the hell is Victor? I'll go knock some sense into him."
"Whoa, home boy!" Matt cut in calmly. "Fightings not the answer here."
Izzy whirled around and stared at Matt with fiery eyes. "Matt, how can you say that? Look what he did! If this were TK would you-"
"Bad example! TK can now hold his own! Besides, do you seriously think you could take on Victor? He's a thug waiting to happen! He'd wipe the floor with you!"
"Izzy," Kacey called. Her red haired brother looked up. "Stop it. Matt's right. You getting creamed by Victor isn't going to solve anything." She sighed as tears built in her eyes. "So here's the solution. I can't see you anymore."
"What?!" His mouth dropped. "You can't be serious!"
She bit her lip. "I am. I think it would be a smarter idea if you went back to Japan and forgot I existed." She stood up and walked to the door. "I'm sorry."
"You're a DigiDestined!" Sora yelled.
Kacey's head snapped up. "What?"
"You're a DigiDestined," Sora repeated. "Look." She turned to Tai. "Go get her 'vice and crest." He scrambled into the room she and Izzy shared and came back with the 'old fashioned' digivice and a green-blue crest. She gave them to Kacey, who stared at them with big eyes. "Your one of us."
She studied the items. "What does that mean?" She asked holding up the crest.
"That's sovereignty," Izzy answered. "That's your crest."
Kacey pushed the items back into Sora's hands. "I can't accept these. I think I should just go." She stepped away from Sora, looking unsure before turning and running out of the hotel room.
(Sovereignty means independence.)
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Kacey pushed her silver key into the lock while balancing her sleeping son on one arm. His head rested heavily on her shoulder while his blond hair tickled her neck. She pushed into the apartment and froze in her tracks.
Her father pushed himself off the couch. Victor sat at the kitchen table looking away. "D-dad, when did you get here?"
"This morning," he responded plainly. "Is that your son?" By the question one might think he was interested, but his tone reveal lack of compassion for either of the two.
"Yes," she replied, hugging him closer.
"Perhaps you should go lay him down. You and I need to talk."
"Yes sir," her voice squeaked. She waked past him, with her head down and down the hall into Connor's room. Kicking toys back to get to his bed she laid him down as Victor came into the room.
"Kacey-"
"Don't even bother, Victor!" She snapped, surprisingly angry. Usually when it came to her father or any other situation of this nature, she laid down and did what he said. But this was too much. "You went too far."
"Kacey, I-" He started, looking guilty.
"Don't Victor! Just stop!" She met his eyes. "Why? Why'd you call him? You knew the consequence. You knew what I'd lose!"
"I was trying to do the right thing," he offered.
"But you knew what he'd do! Victor," she took a breath, trying to calm down. "I have done everything you have told me too. I never contacted my brother; I gave up friendships to suspected DigiDestined! You hit me and I was willing to forgive you and tell my brother I couldn't see him! But what did you think calling my father would do? He doesn't take his threats lightly!"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, just get out. Because the fact is, I can drop you, but I need Connor. And I need my brother. But you've messed both of them up in a matter of hours!"
"Kacey, you can't blame me for everything. You knew what would happen too!"
"I have been in and out of foster homes half my life without anyone giving a damn whether I was there or not! Prior to that I had my father, the damn bastard, and Koushiro. When my brother came into the club I was all ready to tell him to leave. I had yours and my father's voice in my head yelling at me about consequences and other crap! But I couldn't. He's my brother and for once I need someone beside you and Connor." She walked to the door and stopped. "I want you to leave."
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Izzy stood by the window in his hotel room staring out as he rubbed his temples. His head throbbed. Sora was in their room, feeling terrible after driving Kacey away. Matt and Tai went out in search of food.
'This is my fault,' he thought. 'Or maybe its my dad's. Or maybe there's something screwed up with the entire Mizuhara line. I can't believe that's my last name.'
There was a knock at the door and Izzy hesitantly separated from the window. He opened the door and blinked in surprise. Victor stood in front of him.
On first impulse Izzy lunged at him, grabbing him by the neck and slammed him into the wall of the hall. "What do you think your doing here, asshole?!" He yelled as he slammed Victor into the wall again. People are them opened their doors to investigate the noise as Sora came out of their room.
"Izzy!" She yelled.
"Get…off of…me!" Victor grunted. He kicked Izzy in the stomach, sending him crashing to the floor back inside the room. Sora ran to Izzy's side as Victor pushed himself off the wall. "Nothing to see here people. Please don't call the cops." He walked into the room with Izzy and Sora. "Lord knows I don't need that on my record too."
Once Sora helped him to his feet he pushed her away. "I'm alright," he insisted. "What are you doing here? Kacey's not here if your looking for her."
"I'm not," the Mexican man replied sourly. "I know where she is."
"Then why are you here? Come to hit me like you did her?"
He sighed, dejected. "I swear I never meant to hit her and I feel terrible. I never meant to hurt her. I truly love her."
"Answer my question you fucking bastard! Why are you here?" Izzy exploded impatiently.
"Kacey's in trouble. I called her- your father," Izzy's nostrils flared in anger, "and he's here. He's going to take Connor from her."
"What can we do? You told us to stay away from her! Can't you handle it yourself?"
"She kicked me out." Izzy snorted and said something that sounded like 'good' under his breath. "And Mizuhara won't listen to me. You could probably make a better impact then I could."
"Mizuhara doesn't like me. Deal with it yourself."
"Please," he begged. "She refuses to even let me in the house." Again Izzy mumbled 'good' and Sora elbowed him in the ribs.
Izzy reached into his pocket and pulled out Kacey's digivice. He placed in Victor's hand. "Do you know what that is?" Victor shook his head. "That's a digivice." Victor tossed it away and Izzy caught it easily. Victor wiped his hand on his jeans as if it were the digivice left a disgusting residue there. Izzy lashed out, grabbing his wrist and forced the digivice into his hand. He grabbed the front of his shirt; bring the taller man down so they could be face to face. "Hold it and listen!" When Victor didn't give any form of resistance he continued. "That's digivice belongs to your girlfriend. I came here to give it to her. Before I do anything to help you, you need to realize that digimon aren't bad and that DigiDestined didn't cause any of the attacks that happened. We saved your sorry ass and everyone else on the planet. Everything the DigiDestined do is to help people! We would never do anything to hurt anyone. Now, here's the part you might find hard to swallow. Your girlfriend is one of us. She has a digimon, she's part of our team and you have to accept that. And as soon as this whole thing that you created with my father is over, if she takes you back that is, you better not ever do anything to hurt her because of that." He let him go. "Let's go."
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He was pacing back and forth, lecturing and yelling. She just sat on the couch, quietly listening with her head down feeling like the same little girl he used to threaten. Things never changed. He stopped pacing and stared at her fiercely with matching lifeless, shark black eyes. "I warned you Cassandra. I told you what would happen. I hope your ready to face the consequences."
She jumped to her feet. "No, please! Dad, don't take Connor from me. His face gave off no emotion, but his eyebrows rose with surprise. "Please…sir."
"Sit down," he commanded. She obliged, regret written into her face. "Young lady, don't start begging me now. You knew as long as you were under legal age your son was at stake. You have been warned repeatedly. I suggest you prepare his things so we can go."
Tears sprang in her eyes. "You can't."
"I CAN!"
The floor creaked behind him and the pair looked up. Connor stood just inside the room, rubbing his eyes as tears rolled down his face. She leapt off the couch. "Connor, sweetheart, what's wrong?" He held up his arms for her to pick him up and then buried his face in her shoulder. He mumured something like nightmare. "Its okay, baby. Its okay."
"Put him down," Yushiro Mizuhara ordered. She looked at him in perplexity. "Put your son down and get his things."
There was a pounding at the door. She pulled her eyes from him and walked to the front door. She opened it and slammed it shut. He gave her an odd look. "Give me a minute." She walked out of the house. Izzy, Sora and Victor stood in the hall. "What the hell are you doing here?" She growled. "If my dad catches you-"
"Victor brought me here to help you," Izzy replied.
"If he wanted to help he shoulda just left me alone," she growled. "You really want to help, then Izzy you can come in, Sora take Connor and go back to your place. Just hide out for awhile." Sora nodded and took Connor into her arms. The blond child didn't put up much of a fight, but rested his head on her shoulder.
"Go ahead and take the car," Izzy said as he kissed Sora. She nodded and turned to leave.
Victor caught Kacey's arm. "Kac, p-"
"Don't talk to me!" She snapped pulling away.
"Kacey, please." He pressed her digivice into her hand. "I'm sorry. I'm here for you." She stared at him, uncertain, and he leaned down and kissed her.
She pulled away. "My dad's probably waiting." He nodded. She took a deep breath and walked into the apartment. The look her father gave the three, or at least her and Izzy was positively nerve breaking.
"What do you think your doing here?" He asked Izzy repulsed.
"I'm here to keep you from bullying Kacey, you stupid bastard," Izzy snapped.
"Wouldn't that be you? I mean, I did renounced myself as your father," Mizuhara suggested sardonically.
"No, I have a father. He adopted me," Izzy replied. "How could you lie straight to my face like that?"
"I never lied to you. You never straight forward asked me about me being your father."
"Not about being my father, you just danced around the truth! But you lied about not knowing where Kacey was!"
"I had every right!" Mizuhara exploded. "Because otherwise I would have had her mixing with your kind."
"My kind?" Izzy questioned.
"The DigiDestined. Why do you think I gave you up?" He replied. "I saw it that night in Heighten View Terrace. I had both you and your sister; you both lived with me at the time. And I saw the digimon fighting and the light that hit you." He noticed the odd look Kacey was giving him. "You were asleep in the apartment." He began to pace. "The DigiDestined are a natural threat to society. They bring a war to humans through digimon. They're evil." He met Izzy's eyes. "They're freaks." He sighed and looked away. "Your mother was one."
"So she was a freak?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah, she was," he shrugged, nonchalant. "Why else do you think I separated the two of you? I didn't want you around her! You or your damned friends. So we moved to New York, but that damn Gennai found her there. Then we moved to Washington. He came there too."
"Persistent bastard, ain't he?" Victor muttered.
"It was about then when I wrote a virus and sent it into the Digital World. It kept Gennai from ever being able to bio emerge anywhere near Cassandra."
"Is that why we moved?" She asked, speaking up for the first time since Izzy and Victor had shown up. "Just to separate us?"
"Yeah," Mizuhara shrugged as if it were a valid excuse. "Cassandra, the DigiDestined, their not good for you-"
"Oh and you are?" Izzy interjected. "You who threaten her? You who ruin her life to keep her from becoming what I have become. And what might that be exactly? Because I know at least half a million people in Japan alone who would probably defend my friends and myself. Or beat you down for everything you've said about us, you crazy assed old man!"
"I don't need lip from a snot nosed brat with a scrape of data as a pet. I suggest you leave. I have business to take care of."
"No way," Izzy refused.
Mizuhara pulled a black pistol from his pocket. "Get out."
"You're going to shoot me now?!" Izzy snapped, not quite comprehending the severity of the situation. His anger blinded him.
"Izzy! Stop!" Kacey screamed in fear.
"Koushiro, I'm warning you." Mizuhara cocked the gun.
"I don't care."
The gun fired.
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