Author's note: Hey peoples!!!! I meant to update sooner, I really did! But I have marching band three days a week till five o'clock, plus all the games. When I went and saw your reviews, I knew I had to sit down and write this chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and especially to yamatoforever. You guys inspire me to write! I'm sure you don't want to listen to my babbling so on with the story!

Disclaimer: Check other chapters for disclaimer if it would lighten your day and make you happy! ^_^

Jackie's POV

I ran out of the police station, and paused where the road split. Which way did he go?! I quickly chose left. All of a sudden it started raining. I don't mean lightly drizzling, I mean pouring. Everything was soaked in seconds.

"Dammit!" I was wearing shorts! At least Matt's has jeans on. As I thought of Matt, I began to run faster, calling out his name every few minutes. The rain was diminishing my sight, I could hardly see! Where could he be? I have no idea where I am now. I just kept running and running. Wait, there's a little side road that leads up into a forest. He might've gone there to hide… I quickly ran up the path. It turned into a trail, but I didn't care, I just kept racing ahead. I stopped to catch my breath. I just couldn't run anymore. I had a cramp in my side, I must've been running for over half an hour. I was completely lost and soaking wet. Not to mention, I still don't know where Matt is! I was too tired to run, so I walked. The trail ended and there were trees all around. I didn't know where to go! Might as well keep walking straight. After about ten minutes I stopped again. This stupid direction didn't seem to be getting me anywhere so I turned right and started tramping through the forest again. Wait! I hear sniffling. I follow the noise, and stopped short of a tall skinny pine.

Under it sat Yamato Ishida, Chosen Child of Friendship.

His head was buried in his arms and his knees were drawn up tight against his body. His normally perfect blonde hair was matted down and pieces of it stuck up at odd angles. Not to mention it was soaking wet just like the rest of him. I sat down next to him, and put my arm around his shoulders. We sat there for while then I heard Matt muttering something.

"I told they wouldn't listen."

I had no reply to this. It was the truth, they didn't listen. If I weren't there to see it for myself, I wouldn't have believed that it actually happened. The things they said!

"I hate him. I don't care if he's my father, or if it's not right to hate your parents, I do. He made my mother leave me, and my brother with her. If that wasn't enough, he has to ruin my life and hit me."

"I know. But maybe we could come up with another way to-" I started.

"Please don't get my hopes up again. They'll only crash and it'll hurt even more. I'm gonna go back to my dad, and live there until either I'm old enough to live on my own, or he kills me."

"I'm coming with you."

Matt looks up for the first time. His tears mingled with the rain, making it impossible to tell which was which.

"But-" I cut him off.

"No buts. I don't care what happens to me, I'm staying with you. He can't make me leave, because by the law, I'm his daughter."

Matt's eyes fill with gratitude. He says real soft, "Now I know why you're Compassion. I don't think there's anyone else in the world who deserves that crest more than you. Thank you, for everything that you've every done for me." He leans forward and hugs me.

"I love you." I whisper in his ear. We part and stare into each other's eyes. We lean slowly forward and our lips meet in a long kiss. A chipmunk shrieks and we jump apart. We were both blushing madly. It was priceless to see Matt blush like this.

"We better go." I said.

"Yeah. I guess."

"Um, do you know where we are?" I asked.

Matt looks around. "I'm not sure, I can't see more than a half mile in any direction. Damn rain."

"Well, let's start walking." I said. We walked for about twenty minutes with the rain pouring relentlessly down on us. Then Matt started coughing a bit.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"I'm *Achoo!* fine." He said.

Matt's POV

I don't feel so good, but there's no point in worrying her is there? I'm sure I'll be fine later.

We walked for about ten more minutes then…

"Hey look, there's the trail!" I exclaimed. We ran down the trail and the path and ended up out of the forest. I had my hands on my knees, coughing again. Did it get colder, or is it just me? Jackie had her hand on my back, and was looking at me worriedly. I didn't want her to worry.

"I'm alright." I reassured. We started walking again. Dammit, it's frickin cold! I wanted to rub some warmth back into my arms but it didn't want Jackie to think I was cold was I just stuck my hands in my pocket. I also wanted to cough every few minutes, which really sucks. I could prevent the coughing most of the time, but there was nothing I could do about the rain.

"I think we're almost back at the police station." Jackie says.

"I know my way home from there. You don't have to come with me." I say.

"I'm going where ever you go." She says determinedly. I sigh and it turns into a cough. We reach the station and walk past it. I wonder what happened to Tai's Mom? She's probably worried about us, but I can't tell her what I'm gonna do. She'll try to stop me and that'll only lead to more problems.

I reach our apartment. I know my Dad's in there waiting for me even without opening the door. I take a deep breath and open the door. Oh, it reeks in here! There are beer bottles everywhere and the kitchen's a mess.

"Why, hello Matt. It's about time you showed your sorry ass here! Oh, look, you brought a friend."

Jackie steps out from behind me.

"You two have caused me so much fuckin trouble this past week, I swear I'll…" He threatens. Oh shit. I'm shaking again and it ain't from the weather. I hate for Jackie to see my at my weakest but I just can't stand up to him.

"You'll do what? I don't know what your problem is. Matt hasn't done a single thing to you. Except maybe clean and cook and everything else you're too lazy to do. You should be glad you have a son like him." She's standing up for me!

"Yeah right. I work my ass off to make sure he has somewhere to live and does he appreciate it? No, he goes off to the police-"

"What did you say to that Mr. Simmons guy anyway? What did you make up so that he wouldn't believe us?" Jackie interrupted.

"That's none of your business. Now I think you should leave. Me and my *son* have things to talk about." Mr. Ishida says menacingly.

"I'm not going anywhere." She stands in front of me with her arms crossed.

"Why you little bitch!" *SMACK* He slapped her. Oh my god, my father just slapped my sister. No one hurts the people I care about.

"I've hated you since the day I met you. I knew you would cause me trouble sooner or later. Now I get a chance to get even with you." He smiles evilly down at her.

"Jackie are you ok?" I kneel on the floor next to her. She slowly sits up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Her hand goes up to her cheek. It's bright red. She stands up.

"I think you'd better go, before he hurts you again." I say.

"No, I-" Too late. My Dad kicks her in her stomach and she flies backwards. I start running towards her.

"I don't think so Yamato. Now why don't you go up to your room and stay there until I call for you." He grabs the back of my shirt and throws me to the stairs. My head hit the railing and darkness begins to fill my vision.

"No Matt!"

Jackie's POV

I run to him and Mr. Ishida blocks my way. "Move!' I scream.

"No, you get out of my apartment!" He yells back. I try to go around him but he grabs my hair. I scream.

"Let go. That hurts!" Tears are pricking my eyes. He pulls me by my hair, to the door and throws my out. He locks the door.

"Let me in!!!" I'm pounding on the door. "Don't you dare touch Matt!" I hear his malicious laugh as his steps retreat into the room. I sank onto the floor.

Matt's knocked out. I'm locked out of the apartment. I failed. I tried to keep my promise, I really did! I guess I'm just not good enough. I draw my knees against my body and bury my head in my arms.

So you're just gonna give up?

You know what? My conscience sounds an awful lot like Matt.

You're gonna quit, just like that? You've never been a quitter, so why start now?

That's right, I'm not a quitter, and I never will be. I'll never give up. There must be another way in… I know!

I go into the elevator and out of the building. Hey, the rain lightened a bit. I run to the side of the apartment. Yes! The window was open. All I need is a ladder. There's one in my garage at home.

I'm back fifteen minutes later with the ladder under my arm. Good thing it's foldable.

I set it up and climb to Matt's window. I can't believe I'm doing this, it's like breaking and entering. It's for a good cause I managed to convince my self. I slipped through the window without much trouble. I drew the ladder in, being careful not to make any noise. I folded it and hid it under Matt's bed. I crept into the hallway towards the stairs. Matt still lay there, coughing ever every few moments. I made my way down the stairs with feline-like stealth. Mr. Ishida was nowhere in sight. I picked Matt up and quickly ran back up the stairs. I put him on the bed and sat next to him. His chest heaved up and down with every cough.

Poor Matt. I think you caught a cold. I hope it's nothing serious. I decided to let him sleep.

"Matt?" I whispered. "I have to go home or Mom will wonder where I went. I'll try to come back as soon as I get the chance." I pushed his hair out of his eyes and squeezed his hand. "Sleep well."

I got out of the apartment the same way I got in. I started walking home.

"Mom, I'm home!" I shout from the doorway. She came out of the den/her office.

"I was worried about you!" She hugged me. "You're all wet! What happened? Where's Matt?"

"I got caught in the rain on the way home. And Matt's Dad came home earlier than expected, so he went home." I make up.

"Oh, ok. What about his backpack?" She asked.

"I'm gonna bring it to him tomorrow." Yes! This gives me a reason to go to his apartment.

"That's good dear. Dinner will be in an hour. Why don't you go up and get out of those wet clothes before you catch a cold?" Mom smiled and went to the kitchen.

I go up to my room just like she suggested. But before I go to my room, I go to check on T.K.

"T.K.?" I say as I walk into his room. He's playing his video games.

"Yay!!!! I won first place!" T.K. jumps into my lap. "Jackie, what's wrong?" He asks as I smile tiredly.

"The police won't help. Matt's Dad got there first and somehow convinced them to believe him instead of us. Matt had to go home with him." I say.

"But he'll get hurt! Jackie, what are we gonna do?" He hugs me. I hold him with one hand and tucked my hair behind my ear with the other. T.K. lets go of me.

"What happened to your face?!" T.K. asks. I stand up and go to the mirror. Damn, it's still there. I can't put ice on it with out Mom asking questions. Oh well. I put my hair back down to cover it.

"It's nothing T.K. Just don't tell Mom anything, ok?"

"Ok. I didn't tell her anything about what we talked about at Tai's house. Did I do good?" T.K. asks.

"Very good." I pick him up and hug him. I set him down on his bed. "I'm gonna go over Matt's house tomorrow to return his backpack and hopefully I'll find a way to get him out of there." I go to my room, shower, dry my hair, and lay on the bed.

"I didn't call Tai!" I sit straight up. I hope Mrs. Kamiya went home. I quickly dial his phone number.

"Hello? Tai?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"It's Jackie. Did your Mom come home?" I ask.

"Uh huh. She said something about the police not listening and then went up to her room. What happened?" Tai asked concerned.

"Matt's Dad is an asshole, nothing new." I could see Tai's expression in my mind. I have never cursed out loud, ever.

"Jackie!" He's stunned, I can tell.

"I gotta go eat dinner. My Mom's calling me. Bye." I quickly hung up. I didn't feel like explaining. Tai can go ask his Mom later.

"What's a matter honey? You've only picked at your food this whole time." Mom asks me over the dinner table.

"Nothing. May I be excused?" I ask. I wasn't hungry and the fact that he kicked me in my stomach doesn't help things.

"Of course you can. Tell me if your hungry, I'll heat something up for you." She says. I walk up the stairs and go to my room. I fell asleep the instant I lay on the bed.

Matt's POV

"Ugh. Where am I?" My voice sounds like shit. My throat feels kinda sore. I look around. Oh yeah, it's my room. The things that happened last night came crashing back to my memory.

I hope Jackie's ok.

I sit up.

Oh that wasn't smart. My head's pounding. I put my hand on my forehead. I think it's hot but I can't really tell. My whole body feels hot now. I kick off the blankets. Damn, now it's freezing. I pull the blankets up again. I guess it's better to be hot than cold. I start coughing. When I'm done I'm breathing hard. My throat hurts like hell. God what's wrong with me? I close my eyes and try to go back to sleep, hoping that everything will be ok when I wake up. I wanna cough, but I can't, it'll hurt too badly. Maybe some water will help. I try to sit up again. Oh god, everything's spinning. Need water. I stand up, but my legs buckle under me. I crawled to the door. I reach up to open it. Can't reach. I take a deep breath and stand up. I quickly twist the doorknob before I fall back down. I rest for a few minutes before crawling out of my room. Stairs. This sucks. I slowly make my way down. It must've taken me half an hour to get all the way down. I stopped on every step to rest. My head hurts, my throat hurts, my chest hurts. My whole body feels sore.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally woke up." Slurs my father. He's drunk again. I lift my head to look at him. He has a bottle of beer in his hand. I drop my head back down. It hurt looking up like that.

"I'm hungry. Go make some food." He says before collapsing in a chair. He takes another swig of beer.

"But Daddy-" I start. My throat flames up. Maybe I should stop talking.

"Shuttup!" He takes the beer bottle and hits me with it. The bottle breaks and the glass showers all over me. Blackness starts to fill my vision.

"Look what you did. Get me another beer. Hurry up!" I was gonna object, but I can see that he would hurt me if I didn't. I could barely stay conscious now, there's no way I could if he hit me again. I slowly crawl over to the refrigerator. I got a bottle and crawled back to my Dad. He snatched it from me.

"Now go cook before I get mad!" He opens the beer and drinks. I crawl back to the kitchen. Everything hurts. God it must be a hundred degrees in here! I get a pot and a pack of instant noodles. I turn on the fire as I fill the pot halfway up with water. I set the pot on the stove and lay on the floor to rest. My throat hurts, but I'm too tired to get water. Maybe if I took a quick nap…

"Yamato!" I jump up and hit my head on the cabinets above. I fall back down, and curled into a ball. "Get over here!" I slowly crawl to the living room.

Jackie's POV

I wake up and look at my clock.

"Oh my god! I overslept!" I was eleven o'clock in the morning. I quickly get ready and eat a piece of toast. I grab Matt's backpack and stuff the ladder in it.

"I'm going out Mom!" I call halfway out the door. I run over to Matt's house hoping nothing happened to him. I set up the ladder and get into Matt's room. I didn't bother pulling it in. I had a bad feeling again. I drop his backpack on the floor and I sneak to the stairs. I see Matt being kicked and yelled at by his father. He lifts Matt up by his hair and throws him against the wall. Matt crumples to the floor. I can't beat Mr. Ishida by myself and get Matt out safely. I pull my cell phone out of my pocket. I dial Tai.

"Hello?" Came Tai's voice from the other end.

"Tai - call police – ambulance – Matt's house – hurry!" My brain didn't seen to be working in sentences anymore. Matt was screaming. Matt does not scream. He never did in the Digital World and in all the time that I knew him. Something was very wrong.

His Dad was bending his arm back and it almost made a whole turn. I run down the stairs and kick Mr. Ishida where it hurts. He falls to the ground along with Matt. I kneel by Matt's side. He's clutching his arm and…shivering? I put my hand on his forehead. He was burning up! Oh god, he didn't change out of his wet clothes yesterday! He slept in them… He must've caught a cold or something.

"Oh Matt, I'm sorry. I should've realized that yesterday. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry!" Crystalline tears fell one after the other.

"I hated you since the day I saw you, and now I get the chance to get even with you!" I hear from behind me.

Matt's POV

It's not your fault. Please don't cry. I would talk if my throat didn't hurt so much. I open my eyes and look at Jackie. Oh my god! My Dad is coming at her with a knife! She can't see anything and by the time she does it'll be too late. I can't let something happen to her because of me. I gather all my energy and dart in front of Jackie as my Dad finishes threatening her. The knife plunges down at me and I close my eyes thinking at least she won't get hurt. I feel a searing pain in my shoulder. I fall to the floor and darkness consumes me.

Jackie's POV

I see Matt dart in front of me all of a sudden and I'm wondering why. I turn around just in time to see to Mr. Ishida pull the knife out and Matt fall to the ground.

"Oh my god!!!" I scream. "Matt, no, you can't! Come on Matt, wake up!" I shake up gently. The blood is staining his blue T-shirt black. I turn to face Mr. Ishida.

"How dare you! He's your son! You fucking bastard!" I jump up and kick the knife out of his hand. It goes sailing through the air. I didn't care where. I kick and punch and do just about everything to make him hurt. I only had one thought right now. That he should pay. When he was on the floor, I smelt something burning. I run to the kitchen.

The whole thing's on fire. And it's spreading fast. The smoke was filling the apartment. I couldn't breathe right, and my eyes were watering. I ran back to the living room.

Mr. Ishida was holding Matt with one arm and had the knife against his throat. Matt was unconscious.

"Please don't hurt him. I'll do anything." I fall to my knees knowing that this situation is deadly. The apartment was on fire and Matt was in the hands of a drunken man with a knife to his throat. The smoke was filling the room, we were gonna run out of air soon.

"Stay there and don't move." Matt's Dad says. He throws Matt on the sofa and comes toward me. "You are gonna suffer before I kill you." He drops the knife on the floor where he can reach it easily. "Don't move or Matt gets it." He kicks me in my ribs and I hit the wall behind me. I didn't dare to get up. He grabs my by my hair and pulls me up. I resist the urge to scream.

"I bet you regret messing in my business now, don't you bitch?" He lets go of my hair and slaps me across the face. I stand my ground. He kicks me backwards and I hit the table corner. Darkness fills my vision. He latches on to my T-shirt and throws me against the wall. Before I blackout I see a boy with messy brown hair come running in the room. Then I couldn't hold it any longer. I fall into the realms of darkness.