*Disclaimer* - I don't own the characters, never have done, never will do. Sueing me will earn you all of $5.36 and if you're really that desperate for cash then you can start saving money by getting the hell off the internet. Unless you have a completely free server of course. In which case I envy you greatly. Anyway, on with the fic...

A Love Born of Hate (Part Seven)

Yielding

"MATT, DAMMIT, WAKE UP! DAMN YOU, ISHIDA, OPEN YOUR GODDAMN EYES!"

"Ow... quit slappin' me, man..."

"Matt, are you okay?"

"Yeah, Gabumon, I'm fine... Tell Tai to cut it out."

"Okay, Tai, Matt's awake now. You can stop slapping him."

"Stop? Man, I'm gonna slap him black and blue! I'm gonna tear his hair out! I'm gonna give him a shiner that won't fade until his seventieth birthday which, if I have anything to do with it, he won't live to see! I'm gonna -"

"Tai..." My head was going round in circles and it felt like it was stuffed with the whole of Japan's last week's garbage, and here was Tai trying to add to my problems. "What did I do?"

"What did you do? What did you DO? You ran, that's what you did! We were all worried sick about you, especially Takeru, and now -"

"TAKERU! Oh my God..." I did a quick scan of the people around me. Gabumon, Tai and Agumon, Jyou and Gomamon, Sora and Biyomon, Koushiro and Tentomon, Mimi and Palmon... no Takeru, no Angemon.

"Yeah, that's right!" Tai yelled. "Takeru went out looking for you with Patamon, and now we don't know where they are either! You jerk Matt, you total -"

"All right, stop." Sora's voice rang out over Tai's and he fell silent, scowling sourly. "Matt, if you're feeling okay, I think we should keep looking for Takeru. We can argue later."

I hung my head. "I know what happened to Takeru," I said quietly. They looked at me expectantly. "You're not going to like it, but..." I launched into the full story of everything that had happened since Gabumon and I had come across DemiDevimon for the first time, right up until the last thing I remembered before passing out. "She's coming back for me," I told them finally, referring of course to Kelimon. "If I'm here when she gets back, I'm dead."

"Good," snapped Tai. "Maybe the world will be a better place without you."

I swallowed and closed my eyes, so nobody could see the tears forming. "I'm sorry," I said thickly. "I just... didn't know what else to do. I had a reason, it wasn't a very good one but..." I was scared. That's what had happened, but I couldn't say that.

"So what was this not-very-good reason then, huh?"

"Look Tai," Sora interrupted. "Kelimon may be back at any moment, and I for one don't want to to be here for that. Can we just get out of here?"

Tai scowled at me. "Right. Let's head for those trees."

"Well, we've got our digimon, haven't we?" Mimi pointed out. "I should think that all six of them will be more than a match for one, even if it is someone like Kelimon."

I shook my head. "You don't get it, Mimi. I think Kelimon may even be controlling Myotismon."

A murmur ran through my audience. "You should have seen the way he was drooling over her," I told them solemnly. "Wrapped round her little finger. Complete control. She's making him love her."

"Pff," snorted Tai. "In control of Myotismon? Not likely."

"If you were there," I began heatedly, but Sora cut in.

"Enough! I have had it up to here with your petty arguing. Let's just GO."

We headed into the trees and kept walking. "We should head for Myotismon's castle," I spoke up. "That's where Takeru will be."

"I don't know why you care," muttered Tai. "If you gave a flying fox about Takeru, you'd never have left in the first place."

"Shut up, Tai," I growled through gritted teeth. "Just shut up."

We didn't see Kelimon at all on the way to Myotismon's standing, which worried me. I'd rather have seen her so I knew where she was, but like this... she could be anywhere. We kept plodding.

"There's the castle," Jyou whispered eventually, stopping short. We all halted; we could see it through the trees. Having come to look for me when I ran away, the rest of the DigiDestined had already gone a good way back in the direction of Myotsimon's castle, so it had taken us barely more than a silent, miserable hour to reach it. All I could think about was Takeru, and how I would never forgive myself if he was hurt. Some big brother I am. Some oniichan.

"What's the plan of attack, then?" asked Mimi. "How're we gonna rescue Takeru?"

"We'll sneak round the -" Tai began, just as I said "We're gonna have to..."

We broke off and glowered at each other. "I'm the leader here, not you, *Yamato*," spat Tai, deliberately using my full name. "Don't forget that." His narrowed eyes shot pure hate at me, and I quailed under their unflinching stare.

"Takeru is my brother," I replied shakily. "I... I have to help him."

"When he needed your help, you weren't there," Tai reminded me nastily. "What makes you think he'll even want it now?"

"He loves me," I told Taichi, even more unsteadily now. If I were a lesser person, I'd already have been in tears. But I am Ishida Yamato, and I don't cry.

Tai sniffed. "Don't know why, I'm sure. It's not like you care worth a damn about anyone but yourself, so why should anybody love you?"

"Yeah," I replied coolly, fixing him with a pointed stare. "Makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

His facial expression didn't budge an inch, but his pupils suddenly constricted with dizzying speed. Yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about, I thought bitterly. You might be surprised at what I know about you, Kamiya Taichi. I think he paled slightly as well, and I shot him a sly smile. He changed the subject hurriedly.

"Right, Mimi and Palmon, you can use a Poison Ivy attack to climb to the top of the castle wall and get onto the roof. Jyou and Gomamon, check out the moat to see if there's anything interesting there. Izzy and Tentomon can use the laptop to try and hack into some info about inside the castle, Sora and Biyomon can, uh, look for another way in, I guess. I'll stay here with Agumon, and if all of the rest of you get caught then I'll make a forceful and dramatic entrance. Yamato..." He appeared to be thinking about what to do with me. Sora seized the moment for me.

"Greymon and Garurumon are the most powerful of the digimon. If there has to be a forced entry, they should handle it together. I know you and Matt don't get on well, Tai, but you're just going to have to pull together for a little while. For Takeru's sake." She scowled at us sternly, and I sighed.

"Okay. Tai, please, for Takeru... let's just try to get along... hmmn?"

Tai frowned. "Okay. But don't get pushy." Everyone else tiptoed away on their own private missions, and Taichi and I were left alone with Agumon and Gabumon. Silence reigned.

"Uh, Gabumon..." I began after about five minutes. "Why don't you and Agumon go, ah, um..." I floundered. To my surprise, Tai came to my rescue.

"What Matt is trying to say," he explained, "is that he and I have some differences to resolve. Matters to discuss. And we'd really appreciate a bit of time to ourselves to sort things out, guys. If you don't mind."

"Sure, Tai," Agumon chirruped, and Gabumon just nodded. They left. I swallowed. This was it, I realised. The final showdown. Now or never.

"So... what did you want to discuss?" I asked timidly. I was terrified of the upcoming conversation.

"Would you like one black eye or two?" Tai enquired politely. I blinked.

"Huh?"

"Oh, *please*, Yamato, I don't want to resolve any differences. That was just for the digimon's benefit. What I really want is to rearrange your facial features. So, I repeat: one black eye or two?" He smiled nastily. I closed my eyes.

"Taichi, this has to stop."

"You started it."

"I don't care who started it, it has to stop! Now! People are in danger because of us -"

"You, Yamato, you."

"Whatever, Tai! It takes two to tango, y'know. There's always fault on both sides, I'm not interested in placing blame."

"Because it'd all go to you if you did! I didn't run away, Yamato, remember? You did that all by yourself."

"Because of you!"

"Because of me! Why because of me?"

"Never mind, Tai, it's not important. It's just..." I bit on my lower lip. "For a few short days, we managed to be friends. Can't... can't we be friends again?"

Tai launched himself at me, shoved me off balance and tackled me to the floor. "Friends? FRIENDS?! You think friends do to each other what you did to us?"

"Tai, I'm sorry! I -"

"Oh, you're sorry? How nice for you." He grabbed my collar and shook it so hard my teeth rattled and my vision blurred. "So if Takeru dies, it'll all be okay because Ishida Yamato was sorry. Is that right?"

I got mad. I shoved Tai over and pinned him beneath me with a kind of fury I've never felt before. "DON'T SAY THAT!" I screamed into his face. "HE'S NOT GONNA DIE!"

"How do you know? He could be dying right now! And it'll all be your fault!"

"..."

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Tai demanded.

"It isn't... I... he won't..." I burst into tears. I sat back from Taichi, put my face in my hands and sobbed as though I were Takeru himself, desperately trying to stop and failing dismally. Because everything Tai was saying was the truth. I might never see Takeru alive again, and it was all my own fault.

For a minute or so, I simply sat there and cried. Cried for Takeru, for Taichi, for the childhood I'd never had because I had to grow up to look after my brother, for everything good in my life that I had somehow managed to screw up, for the happy marriage my parents used to have before I did whatever it was I did to ruin it, for anything and everything and the sheer loneliness and misery that was eating me up from the inside. I had never felt more alone in my life.

And then I felt a hesitant arm curl round my shoulders. "You okay, man?" It was a stupid question, one that I couldn't even answer in my present state. Did I look okay? But then the arm pulled me closer, until its owner was almost hugging me. "Ssshh..." Tai began stroking my hair and I wrapped my arms round him, burying my face in his chest and sobbing all over his tee-shirt. I must have looked like a right prat, but I was beyond caring. I just needed someone to hold me. "It's okay, Matt... man, I'm sorry... that was a really dumb thing to say."

"I-It's o-hok-kay," I hiccupped. Tai shook his head and hugged me tighter.

"No, it's not. Takeru'll be fine, Matt, I just lost my rag..." he paused. Then: "I was just really worried about you, you know? When you ran off, and we didn't know where you were... I was crapping myself worrying about you, man. I just wish you'd tell me why you took off so suddenly." I shook my head, unintentionally wiping my streaming nose in Tai's tee-shirt. "Oh, Matt...! Ick!"

"Shorry," I mumbled, trying to clean it off. Tai starting giggling helplessly, and it wasn't long before I joined in, sniffing between chuckles. "I'll clean it for you, man..."

"Don't be stupid, it's just a bit of snot. It'll come off in the river next time I wash."

"Should be there a few weeks, then."

"Cheeky!" We sat there, with our arms round each other, not paying any attention to the rest of the world at all. It was hard to believe that, two minutes ago, Tai was practically set to kill me. Now he was hugging me and telling me everything would be okay. It felt kinda weird... but nice.

"TAICHI! MATT!" The sound of someone crashing through the forest met our ears as we sprang guiltily apart, me drying my eyes as best I could. Jyou stumbled into the clearing, followed by Gomamon. Agumon and Gabumon entered from the other side of the clearing about the same time. I kept my blotchy face well down. Tai sprung up to help Jyou.

"Jyou! What's wrong?"

"Sora..." the blue-haired boy wheezed. "Myotismon has her and Bi... Biyomon. He's got... her crest... and digivice. And I'm not sure where Koushiro is either!"

"Tai's face hardened. "All right, they know we're here. A sneak attack won't work. Where's Mimi?"

"I'm here!" Mimi waltzed up to us carrying Palmon. "We couldn't carry out our plan because I realised that everyone would be able to see up my dress, and that wouldn't be very ladylike, would it?" The ditz blushed slightly and put on an innocent look. I rolled my eyes.

"All right," spoke up Tai. "This calls for serious action. Almost half our people have been captured by Myotismon now. This means war! Agumon, digivolve!"

We all cried out the same to our digimon, and their calls echoed out through the trees.

"Agumon, digivolve to... Greymon!"

"Gomamon, digivolve to... Ikkakumon!"

"Gabumon, digivolve to... Garurumon!"

"Palmon, digivolve to... Togemon!"

"Garurumon, digivolve to... WereGarurumon!"

"Greymon, digivolve to... MetalGreymon!"

We stood together in a fierce knot - four digidestined children, along with their two Ultimate-stage and two Champion-stage digimon. I think Jyou said it best: "Let's kick some Myotismon ass."

Tai narrowed his eyes. "Yeah," he agreed. "Let's go, people!" *Cue 'Hey Digimon' theme*

We crashed towards the front door and attacked it with all our might. "Giga Blaster!"

"Harpoon Torpedo!"

"Needle Spray!"

"Garuru Kick!" All our digimon battered at the door, but with no effect. It remained impassive as ever.

"Looking for a way in?" came a tinkling voice from above us, accompanied by the high-pitched whining of dragonfly wings. We all looked up sharply. "Enter into me..."

"Kelimon!" I yelled furiously. "Where's my brother?"

"Hello again, Child of Friendship. Your brother is sleeping... wouldn't you like to go to sleep too?"

"NO! Don't look at her!" I slapped my hands over my ears and scrunched up my eyes. "Don't even listen! Run!" Beginning to do so myself, I peeked at the others out of the corner of my eye. They were all following my advice, running into the forest with their eyes closed and their hands clamped over their ears. Jyou ran into a tree.

I suddenly became aware of a steely grip on my shoulders as I was lifted into the air. "Let us see if they will keep their eyes closed now, Child of Friendship!" Kelimon hissed in my ear, grabbing my arm and twisting it sharply behind my back. I cried out in pain; I knew the trick she was trying to play but I couldn't help it. WereGarurumon hesitated without looking round, not daring to face Kelimon's eyes but refusing to go on without me. Stupid, *stupid* STUPID Taichi spun right round and gazed dead at us.

"Matt! Are you okay?" He suddenly realised his error and tried to turn away again, but he was powerless to break the link between Kelimon's eyes and his own. "Matt..."

"Tai! No! WereGarurumon, get him!" But the moment the digimon turned back, his eyes too were caught up in Kelimon's hypnotic gaze. Now the other DigiDestined hesitated as well. "Go!" I yelled to them. "There's nothing you can do for us now, work out a plan for later. Just go, now, before it's too late!" They hesitated a moment more, then shot off into the trees.

"Child of Courage," muttered Kelimon softly. "Ultimate of Friendship. How exhausted you both seem..."

"NO!" I rammed my elbow into Kelimon's stomach as hard as I could, and she released me with a little cry. I plummeted eight feet to the ground and landed hard, but I had no serious injuries. "Tai, WereGarurumon, come on! Let's go!"

Kelimon snarled. "Meddlesome child! You shall die first!" So saying, the powerful digimon swooped down and forced my arms to my sides, pinning me to the spot. I closed my eyes. "Look at me, Child of Friendship... Look into my eyes..."

"No."

"Do not resist, you cannot. Look at me..." I could feel my will cracking, irrational and deadly desire seeping through the gaps. "Look into my beautiful pools of blue..."

"Now would be a good time to help me, guys," I squeaked, but nothing happened. God, I wanted - needed! - to see those eyes... No! Yes... No... Oh, God...

"Boom Bubble... Pwafh!" Kelimon grunted and turned away just as my eyes slid open, meeting only the back of the evil digimon's head. Wait a minute... Boom Bubble? Patamon? Takeru!

"METEOR WING!"

"ELECTRO SHOCKER!" Birdramon and Kabuterimon fired upon Kelimon, but served as nothing but a distraction while Sora pushed a very confused me over to the trees. Koushiro was busy slapping Taichi, and WereGarurumon had already come to his senses.

"WOLF CLAW!"

"BOOM BUB -" Patamon's battle cry was cut short as a storm of ice shards flew at him from Kelimon's hands, throwing him back against Myotismon's castle wall.

"Razor Shards!" Kelimon screamed again, this time aiming her attack at Kabuterimon. Koushiro's digimon turned his back on the lethal spray of frozen water just in time, and the fragments shattered as they smashed into Kabuterimon's metal armor. He responded in kind.

"Electr-"

"BLUE STUN!" Kelimon's eyes shimmered and a blue shockwave shot out from them, spreading out around her head for at least twelve feet. As it touched me, the strength drained out of my legs and I sank to the floor in a jellified heap, along with the other DigiDestined. Only Takeru, too short to be within the attack's path, remained standing. Patamon had also escaped the shockwave. Kelimon turned to my brother.

"I don't know who woke you up, little one. So rude, when all you want is to sleep..."

Takeru grabbed his helmet in both hands and jammed it down over his ears, firmly closing his eyes at the same time. "LALALAAAAA... I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" he bellowed. Kelimon smiled cruelly.

"Fine, have it your way... Razor Shards!"

Poor Takeru didn't stand a chance, unable to see or hear the attack coming. The shards stuck in a good few inches all over his body, making him look like some kind of a frozen porcupine. With a choking gasp, Takeru collapsed to the floor, his blood staining the green grass an ominous dark red.

"Takeru," I whispered. "Takeru..." But I could hardly speak, let alone move. Patamon tried to Boom Bubble, but Kelimon dodged easily and swiped him to the ground with one powerful blow. Currently standing with her back to us, Kelimon suddenly bent right over to regard us through her own legs. She giggled.

"Blue Stun," she whispered. A faint blue ripple swept over us all and we passed clean out on the floor, Mexican Wave style.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Was that a moment of Taito I glimpsed? Is there hope for the angst-ridden ones yet? Err... don't ask me, I don't know until I've written it! ^_^ Anyways, until the next part. :p -Kae Ti xx