Home at Last

Prologue:

She didn't quite know exactly what he was pulling her into, or whether she really wanted to be pulled into it. But the way he smiled at her, his eyes shining like beacons in his head, his glasses slightly askew. He held out his hand and she took it, for no other reason except he wanted her to.

There were several things on her mind at that moment as the computer screen flared and his hand engulfed hers. Admittedly they weren't all focused on Daisuke, as they should have been. She was selfish by nature and even when his life hung in the balance she could spare a thought for herself. Of course naturally it would be obligatory for guilt to follow, but again she was selfish by nature and she knew for a fact he was too. It was a Motomiya thing.

Then again the thought wasn't just centered on her. Her partner also had precedence in her thought. How could he not? He was no Yamato Ishida but he liked her and that was fine enough. In fact it was more than fine enough, if there were any better way to win her heart she didn't want to know it.

With a jolt and what sounded a lot like a scream from her partner they were landed so very ungracefully at their destination. The digiworld. She didn't want to open her eyes in fear of what she'd see and she was sprawled none too charmingly on top of him. After a moment of careful consideration she peeked open one eye then let the other follow.

As she imagined her face to be his was covered with a thick red blush and a smudge of dirt. He was smiling again, or he hadn't stopped, either way it was doing to her insides what Yamato had never accomplished.

"Uhm, could you please get off?" He asked meekly the blush thickening until it reached his ears.

She felt her face grow hotter than it had previously been as she rolled off him and carefully climbed to her feet. He lay on the ground a moment longer, his eyes strangely glazed. When he finally stood up he nervously patted his pants as if removing imaginary dirt, his neck had gone red as well as the rest of his face.

"I guess we'd better be off then." He said without looking at her.

"Do you know where to go?" She asked in reply brushing the dirt off her tee-shirt.

He glanced at her shyly, shrugged and started walking in the opposite direction. This was not the romantic vacation she had envisioned. It was then she realized just what they were in here for and another, guiltier blush spread across her cheeks.

"Osamu!" She called after him, jogging slightly to catch up with him, "I'm sorry, where's Ken?"

"Why do you apologize?" He asked innocently letting his eyes lock onto hers and smiling that charming smile of his

            She couldn't help but smile back, it was infections and she was so vulnerable. Lost and confused as she was at the moment, he was the only stable- real- thing in her life. He took her hand in his and his eyes searched hers. She could feel her pulse quicken, was he going to kiss her? After a moment he let go again, the blush once again creeping up on his cheeks.

            "I'm sorry." He whispered and away he went.

            "Why do you apologize?" She asked jogging once again to catch up to him.

            He stopped again but this time only for a moment to wait for her.

            "I've planted a tracking device on that little green digimon that follows my brother around," He pulled a small bleeping gadget out of his pocket, "We're in luck, it's close. I only hope it's with him at the moment or we'd be in trouble."

            Jun studied the gadget for a moment idly wondering why she hadn't heard it before. There were three bleeping dots on it, one green one (she surmised that was the digimon) and two red ones. Neither of them were moving.

            "How can you tell how close we are?" She asked leaning in closer to Osamu. She was satisfied with the result, he stuttered for a moment before speaking.

            "Well… it's on a scale; every millimeter on the screen is equal to one kilometer."

            "How does that make us close?" She glanced at the screen once again; it suddenly looked a lot bigger than before and the dots looked a further apart.

            "Well consider yourself lucky it's only a scale of one millimeter, we could have landed a lot further apart than this."

            "I suppose you're right, but you can't possibly mean to say we have to walk all that way?" She indicated with her finger on the screen to emphasize her point. Neither of the dots had moved yet and they were still walking, "That'd take days and who's to say it couldn't have moved by then?"

            "It won't take that long, you're over exaggerating, it's probably only a day's walk."

            "But it's getting darker every moment, I don't want to have to stay here over night, imagine what kind of creepy crawlies they have here."

            Osamu looked like he was going to speak but thought better of it. Instead he sighed, grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her so their faces were only inches apart. Again her pulse quickened and the blush returned to her cheeks. Was he going to kiss her now?

            Without looking at her he said:

            "Jun you know you didn't have to come, and it's not too late to turn back. Understand this though; I'd walk to the ends of the earth for Ken."

            Simple, concise and to the point. Osamu had never really had a knack for conversation, or over exaggeration. Not that it really called for it at the moment.

            "I'm not turning back Osamu my brother is out there somewhere too," She replied, scooping his hands up in hers, "We can do it together, right?"

            Osamu blushed again and wrestled his hands out of hers. He cleared his throat in an embarrassed manner and began walking again.

            "So what do you suppose we do if Ken and Daisuke aren't with the green thing?" Jun asked in a conversational manner as they walked together

            "We'll keep it hostage, if Ken doesn't retrieve it we'll make it tell us where he is."

            "How do you suppose we do that?"

            "It shouldn't be too hard, a little bit of creative lying couldn't go astray."

            Jun nodded distractedly. She was already beginning to feel tired and they had been here no more than five minuets. Of course Osamu's presence made the walking that tiny bit better, unfortunately not better enough to make it enjoyable. She could see their shadows lengthening against the hard packed dirt they marched across.

            She took this moment of silence to take in their surroundings. It was nothing but barren wasteland on every side of them, dotted now and again by large black obelisks. So this was the digiworld? Wasn't much to look at that was for sure, she didn't understand what the fuss was about. There weren't even any cute things here. The only point of merit she noticed was the sunset was strikingly beautiful. And Osamu looked striking against it.

            "Osamu, isn't the sunset pretty?"

            Like her Osamu hadn't noticed their surroundings either. He was too busy studying his bleeping gadget to take too much notice of anything else. Distractedly he removed his attention from the gadget to look at her.

            "Sorry?" he said innocently searching her eyes, she felt so vulnerable when he did that.

            "I said the sunset sure is pretty isn't it?" She said refusing to break eye contact with him.

            It took a moment for what she had said to sink in, when it did Osamu turned to look the other way. The sunset didn't seem to impress him that much; he grunted and once again returned his attention to the gadget. Jun sighed, so romantics weren't one of his good points she could get past that. He was cute and smart and he liked her, at least she hoped he did.

            They continued on a while longer in silence. The walking was becoming more and more tiresome each step she took. She didn't want to be here, even if it was for Daisuke. He could take care of himself, right? He wasn't a baby anymore. Well he tried not to be a baby. Who was she kidding; this was Daisuke she was talking about. If big sister Jun didn't come to his rescue what would he do? She wasn't fully aware of the power he possessed at the moment, and she didn't really care. She was older than him therefore she held the authority.

            "Jun?" Jun glanced over at Osamu, the sun had nearly disappeared and the twilight was quickly becoming much more beautiful than the sundown, "It's getting dark, I don't know if we should continue in the dark, it probably wouldn't be very wise. There are a lot of dangerous digimon that come out at night, maybe we should stop for now."

            "Best idea you've had all day Osamu." Jun agreed stopping and falling to the ground in an exhausted heap.

            "Oh b-but… I mean… do you really think its best we set up camp out here in the open, shouldn't we find some shelter should it start to rain?" Osamu argued straining his eyes to the horizon

            "Don't be silly, how often does it rain in the desert?" Jun replied studying him from her vantage point on the hard packed and vastly uncomfortable dirt.

            "Well… we would be open to predators like this; I think I can see some cliffs over there. It's not that far." Osamu point out across the horizon where Jun was sure it was just as barren and desolate as this. They would be walking all night in the wrong direction for no reason.

            "Osamu, sit down." Jun ordered and without another sound Osamu obliged, "We'll sleep in shifts, that is if you think there's really any reason to. I don't know about you but I haven't seen a digimon since we came here. In fact I've seem more digimon in the real world than I have here."

            Osamu blushed, stuttered then fell silent. She wanted to kiss him he looked so cute at the moment but she restrained herself. She didn't want to seem like she was coming onto him too strong. He had a lot of admirers that's for sure, but she wasn't sure he'd actually ever had a girlfriend.

            "We're going to need a fire; it'll start to get cold now that the sun's gone." He stated simply standing up again, "I'll go look for fire wood, you stay here."

            Jun couldn't argue he really was a gentleman wasn't he? She sighed, picked up a nearby stick and started digging a hole in the dirt. She hoped he came back soon, she could still see his silhouette against the green twilight but each step he took further away from her she became more and more afraid that something would jump out and eat either him or her. He had also been right about it becoming cold once the sun set, as there were no trees or any foliage to keep the heat in it all escaped into the air once its source was gone. And she hadn't packed a jumper.

            Luckily for her Osamu returned not long after he had left carrying a bundle of faggots and something that looked very much like a mini computer. He dropped the sticks and carefully lowered himself onto the ground next to her. He studied the computer for a moment before looking up at her and asking:

            "You wouldn't by any chance have matches or anything would you?"

            Jun stood up and checked her pockets. She did have a lighter; she had taken it off Daisuke before he left.

            "Here you go," She threw him the lighter, "That little punk thought it'd be cool to start smoking, or at least trying to. I showed him, he'll think twice about trying cigarettes again."

            Osamu glanced up at her, smiled crookedly, almost guiltily, then set to work making a fire. Jun didn't really have much knowledge in this area; she always left the piro-techniques up to Daisuke. Luckily it seemed Osamu had been camping often for in less than a few minuets they were settling down next to the happily crackling fire.

            Once again Osamu pulled out the computer and started playing with it. Jun scooted over next to him and leant over to get a better look at the screen. It was hard to see in the dull light but it seemed to be an email.

            "Who's that for?" She asked leaning again closer

            "Daisuke," Osamu replied

            "What?" Jun snatched the computer off him and turned so her back faced the fire. She could see the screen perfectly now, and, as Osamu had said, it was an email addressed to her brother.

            "'Dear Daisuke'," She read out loud, "'Stop being such a cry baby and get your butt back here. You won't survive more than a day in the digiworld without us, now grow a brain and come back. Love Miyako.' Sounds like something I'd say."

            "His friends aren't very nice," Osamu pointed out, "No wonder he didn't go back."

            "Ah they're just kids and Daisuke is the biggest cry baby when he doesn't get what he wants. He'll get over it though; once he gets bored he'll come back and my brother has the attention span of a fish."

            "Okay…" Osamu mumbled taking the computer off her and replacing it in her pocket, "I just hope the same can be said for Ken."

            Jun had to step lightly, this was very thin ice right here. She knew Osamu blamed himself for his brother's mistakes; something she thought was extremely foolish. If she could pull this off right she'd definitely be in the go. She gently took his hand in her own, it was so warm.

            "Osamu…" She whispered softly, he lifted his eyes to hers, brilliant.

            "Jun I… I just feel so helpless. I know its stupid to blame myself for Ken's fate, it's no ones fault really, but I feel so responsible. If I had just been a better brother maybe he would be where he is now."

            "Osamu you have to understand this before you can feel any better. Ken isn't a baby anymore, he has responsibilities and choices to make, ones that only he cam make. Somehow I think no matter what either of us do or could have done would have changed anything. They have their own lives and they can live it how they choose. That doesn't rule us completely out, we still have to look out for them, protect them. But Osamu, whatever you do, do not blame yourself for this, it was inevitable." 

            Osamu looked up at her with those eyes of his and smiled. He looked so incredibly cute in the firelight, but Jun barely noticed. What she had just said had triggered in her something she had never suspected. She felt guilty for letting Daisuke down. Now she knew what Osamu felt like.

            Her words seemed to have the opposite effect on Osamu however; he smiled broader than he previously had his eyes glinting in the orange glow of the fire.

            "Thank you Jun, you're so right," He squeezed her hand lightly before letting it go completely; "I'm hungry how about you?"

            Jun just sighed and leant up against Osamu for warmth. He seemed to take this as a no so he simply wrapped his arm around her shoulders and let her fall asleep.

            When Jun awoke the next morning Osamu had fallen asleep too and she was using his stomach as a pillow. The fire had died a while ago but the morning sun gave enough warmth to sustain them both.

            "So much for sleeping in shifts," She mumbled rubbing the sleep out of her eyes

            Jun dully noticed her insides felt strange, but whether this was triggered by hunger or guilt she couldn't tell. Yes she remembered exactly what was making her heart feel so heavy; the feeling hadn't left her all night. She had even dreamt about Daisuke that night. She got the distinct feeling today wasn't going to be the best of days.

            Osamu woke not long after she had; it was only too obvious what had woken him up. His little bleeping gadget was going crazy in his pocket and it looked a lot like it was vibrating. The instant Osamu had opened his eyes the gadget was out of his pocket and in his hands. The vibrating had stopped but it still bleeped wildly.

            "They're coming." He whispered.

            "Who is?" Jun asked dumbly. She knew exactly who they were but the guilt was overpowering her and her brain never worked right this early in the morning (assuming, of course, time ran the same in the digiworld.)

            Osamu didn't reply, instead he climbed to his feet and turned bravely to face the horizon. Jun followed suit, straining her eyes to catch a glimpse, anything, of her brother. It was clear Osamu had forgotten her speech from last night because his hands were shaking and Jun was almost sure she could see tears forming in his eyes.

            They didn't wait long before their prey arrived. Jun stomach growled and Osamu let out a snort of laughter. Whatever mirth they had taken from Jun's hunger instantly disappeared as their siblings appeared on the horizon led by two very small and cute digimon.

            At first Jun couldn't see either of them properly but a gut instinct and Osamu's heavy breathing reassured her these people were the long sought after Ken and Daisuke. As they approached their digimon seemed to instantly grow bigger and meaner. If it weren't for that fact alone Jun wouldn't have been able to suppress a snort of laughter at her brothers attire.

            Daisuke obviously wasn't as suited to the bad guy business as his partner. While Ken's dress wasn't exactly normal it was a lot more sensible than Daisukes. Ken wore a slightly baggy suit of grey and dark blue with a long blue and yellow cape that split up the middle. His hair was up and spiky, much like Osamu's, and his eyes were covered by a pair of thick dark glasses. His outfit was accompanied by a very broad smirk.

            Daisuke, on the other hand, was wearing a bowl hat almost exactly the same as the one Yamato's little brother wore, except black. And a basketball uniform. His eyes were also covered with dark glasses and a smirk identical to his accomplices completed the ridiculous outfit.

            Jun glanced over at Osamu to see his reaction to the bizarre couple but he seemed to find no humor in their siblings ill fashion taste. A sweat had broken out on his forehead and his hands were shaking worse than before. He looked like he was about to explode, or run away screaming.

            "Well, well, well if it isn't my extremely foolish genius brother. How did you get here Osamu dear?" Ken asked his voice laced with sarcasm.

            "Jun? What are you doing here?" Daisuke asked in more of an annoyed tone than anything. Almost as if she had just barged in on him and his little friends playing a game or something. Did he even take this serious at all?

            "Daisuke what do you think you're doing?" She asked, not at all impressed by his attitude. He was becoming an uncontrollable adolescent and he was only twelve years old, "Get that silly outfit off we're going home."

            "What do you mean by 'silly outfit?'" He demanded moving in closer, along with his very large and scary digimon, "I'm not going back Jun, there's no way you're going to make me. Not after the way they all treated me. Tell them they can go to hell."

            "What are you talking about Daisuke?" Jun said taking a few steps closer but not close enough to pose a threat, that digimon was very big and very scary, "Who am I telling to go to hell?"

            "Don't play stupid with me Jun, I know they sent you, you and Osamu to try convince us to turn back. Well there's no way, get it, no way in this world. Now hurry up and get back home before you get hurt."

            Jun was fuming, if she had any idea what he was talking about she would have jumped on him by now. Where did he get off telling her to turn back when the whole reason she was here was to tell him off and get him home before he did something he regretted. She was on the verge of jumping and, had Osamu not held his hand out to stop her, she would have.

            "Jun it's not worth it," He nodded to the two digimon looming over them, "Let me try talk to them."

            "Oh I'm afraid nothing you say will sway us Osamu brother, you're words mean nothing now."

            Osamu winced but after a moment of consideration continued forward.

            "Ken," He whispered so softly Jun could barely hear him, "I'm sorry little brother,"

            "Sorry, now you're sorry? I'm afraid that just doesn't cut it! Stingmon!" In one swift movement one of the digimon had swept Osamu right off his feet and taken soaring up into the sky.

            "Osamu!" Jun yelled after them the moment before the second digimon came flying at her. She made to lung out of its way but before her feet had even left the ground its claws were secured around her waist and she, too, was being carried off through the clouds.

**

AN: Okay I know this is strange, I'll explain it in the next few chapters. Just bare with me until then.