Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon
Savior
She stared at the food that had been placed in front of her with the blank recognition she gave all things. She didn't move to touch it, purely out of unfamiliarity of the food in front of her. The clothes she wore were pink, blue, and white; a white long sleeve button shirt that sat over the pink shirt he had given to her a few weeks prior to this day. Dark blue pants clothed her bottom half, with the legs rolled up three times over to fit her. Both the shirt and pants had been liberated from his closet, both being items he had out grown.
Color lacked her face and dark bags pooled under her eyes, despite her insistence that she felt fine, just confused. Her brown hair fell untamed around her face; no burettes or ponytails to hold it back. She wasn't coordinated enough suddenly to fix her hair.
"Hikari," he called, trying to pull her from her thoughts. When she didn't respond, he touched her hand. "Your Hikari, remember?"
She met his eyes. The bronze orbs that occupied the space in her head seemed empty almost, just barely flickering with life. "I'm sorry," came a whispering apology. "I'll try to remember."
The presence in his mind, sneered, furious at her present state. Pathetic. "Its okay," he spoke up, sincerely grateful he had control of his mouth. "It may take some time to get use to." She didn't respond, just stared at the plate full of food in front of her. "You can eat that, you know. Its very good." She stared at him with unblinking eyes. He took a bite off from his plate just to reassure her.
They ate in silence for a few moments. "M-master?" He looked up at her. Her hands rang her ripping napkin in nervousness. Or maybe it was to keep her hands busy and from shaking. They had a tendency to do that lately.
She didn't say anything. "You were saying?"
She looked up at him, looking confused at what he was talking about. Then said, "Um…do-do you think you could tell me who I am? I still can't remember."
"Yeah, I can. Eat first, then we'll talk." Her hands continued to ring the napkin. He grabbed her hands. "Eat."
"Yes master," she nibbled at the rice on her plate.
'Stay with the same story as before,' the presence ordered. 'Imprint it in her mind. Maybe she will remember it this time.'
'Have you figured out what's wrong with her?' He asked.
'No, but I have a plan.' On of the many drawbacks to having the presence in his mind was that all his thoughts were open to it, but it didn't work both ways.
A sliding sound pulled him from his thoughts. She was pushing her plate away with half the food uneaten. "I don't want anymore."
"Are you sure?" She nodded and he waved his hand for the two Gekomon that stood to the side to clear the table.
"I ate, will you tell me now?" Her hands shook for unknown reasons.
"Yeah, what do you want to know?"
She thought. "I don't know. What are people suppose to know?" Gripping the table with both hands, she sat up straight. "Do I have family? Where am I from?"
She didn't ask about her last name like last time. "You're an orphan from Japan."
She looked at him funny. "What's Japan?"
He laughed then stopped. "Are you serious?" She knew what it was before. "Its an island country on earth."
"What's earth?"
'She doesn't know,' the presence laughed. 'She's getting easier to manipulate. Don't divulge into this. You are not apart of that world and now neither is she. Leave it where it is, forgotten.'
"Forget about it," he dismissed. "Forget I mentioned it. It's just a place from a long time ago. Full of bad memories."
"Okay," she nodded. Then silence. "So…I'm an orphan?" He nodded. "What happened?"
"Your parents died when you were little in a…" 'Stick with the story!' "Car accident."
"Oh, is that when I came to live with you?" She asked.
'Here's comes the best part,' the presence snickered. "No. You lived with your brother before you came to me."
"I have a brother?" The way she asked sounded like a cross between hope and discontentment. "Where is he?"
"I took you away from him. He used to hurt you." He made his voice sincere. Lying to her the first time was bad enough. The second time around seemed like an opportunity to make things right. But he was too spineless to say no to the presence. The Kaiser.
"He hurt me?" She asked, distressed. "Like how?"
"I'd rather not say," he said honestly. The Kaiser sneered. 'I leave one thing for you to figure out and you can't even think of anything to say! Your useless!'
"Why'd you take me?"
"Because your mine," he replied cryptically. In her current state he knew she would be satisfied by the answer. And the Kaiser was in no mood to unveil more.
"Ken," she started. He looked up at her with dull eyes. "M-master," she corrected. "I'm tired, can I go to my room?"
"Of course," he permitted with another wave of his hand. The Apemon guard brought his attention to the two and started to walk over. He got up as the Apemon helped her out of her seat. As they started to leave the Kaiser took over and grabbed her arm. "Rest up," he whispered and kissed her on the mouth. She stiffened under his lips, but kissed back. When he pulled away he brushed her cheek with his lips as he leaned into her ear. "You will have dinner with me tonight. I will send for you later."
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He twirled the black ring on his finger as he watched two mojimon drag in the limping and mute red headed DigiDestined. The older boy struggled silently, resisting going forward and trying to pull away from the mojimon. The mojimon brought the DigiDestined, Knowledge, to a stop before him. Ken separated himself from the Kaiser and slipped into the farthest corner of his mind.
"Hello Knowledge." The DigiDestined continued his useless struggle against the mojimon. "You know, it is impolite not to respond when spoken to. Oh right, I remember. One of my slaves almost destroyed your voice box. That'll take weeks, maybe months to recover from." He stopped twirling the ring and clutched it tightly in his hand. His violet eyes burned into the DigiDestined. "I would have enjoyed hearing you scream."
Knowledge stopped struggling and stood there, defiantly. His charcoal eyes locked with the Kaiser, refusing to break the lock. The Kaiser snapped his fingers and the Apemon kicked Knowledge's feet from under him. He fell to his knees with a grimace of pain. The Apemon grabbed a fist full of his hair and yanked his head back. He ground his teeth to keep from crying.
"You're strong willed. I could slit your throat from here." He touched on side of his neck. "To here." Tracing his finger along Knowledge's neck, he triggered a shiver, and touched the other side of his neck. "You know that. And if you feel fear, you don't show it." A small smile surfaced on his face, as if he were a small uncertain child who was receiving a gift. The Apemon offered out his arm.
Koushiro watched in horror as the Kaiser pushed up his sleeve and clamped the dark spiral on his upper arm. 'This is it. I'm going to be a drone like Kari,' he thought,. The Kaiser held up the digivice. 'Don't show fear. Don't show fear. Don't show fear.' "Dark spiral activate!"
The DigiDestined boy slumped over, still being held up by the Apemon.
His mind felt numb. He could no longer see or hear. He wasn't even sure he was still breathing. Then, loud and clear, a voice rang in his hears. "Slave, stand!" His legs moved to stand, but not by his consent. His basic consciousness was pushed to the back of his mind. His eyes opened and he could see everything bathed in red. "Speak, who am I?"
"You are the Digimon Kaiser." He was surprised to hear his own voice. Stern and monotone, he could speak again. "You are the master of the Digital World and everything in it."
The Kaiser smirked. "Correct." He began to pace and waved the two Apemon off. They stepped back and Knowledge stayed in place. This was a good sign. "And who are you?"
'Please don't make me do this,' Koushiro begged. "I am your slave." He couldn't control his words, nor could he control any movement in his body. He couldn't even blink on his own.
"On your knees!" The Kaiser ordered. And he fell to his knees with his head to the floor, bowing before the Kaiser. A merciless smile washed over his face. He could only imagine the horror going through Knowledge's mind. "I have a job for you Slave."
"What is it you order, master?"
"There's something wrong with the child of light."
'Kari?'
"She is the host of a dark spore, but it hasn't affected her the way it did the Child of Kindness. Instead of advancing her, it is deleting her mind. Well, her memory. I want you to figure out why."
"As you wish master. But what's a dark spore?"
"All the information you will need is on the computer I have set up for you. And if you want the girl, tell your guard. He will fetch her for you." He turned away from his newest slave and stared at the computer screen that floated above his throne. On it it had the profile of Koushiro Izumi, the holder of Knowledge. Behind that screen were other screens with the profiles of the other DigiDestined. "Rise." There was a scraping sound behind him. "Remember, slave, if you fail," he laughed, "You may find it quite unpleasant. I want her fix. Be gine."
"Yes master." The Apemon lead her out of the room.
Ken sheltered himself from the pride swelling through the Kaiser. He rocked himself in a corner of his mind prison, trying to forget the horror and fear the DigiDestined of Knowledge, Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi gave off before losing himself to the dark spiral.
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The yellow and white Apemon pulled her from her room and told her to follow him. She fell into step with hi, despite trembling with fear. Her master had told her to stay into her room. She didn't like disobeying him because he would hit her. He would get angry, yell and then hit her.
But then, usually while she was crying, he would hold her and kiss her, saying it would be okay. And then they wouldn't talk about it. He'd hold her and everything would be okay.
It had already happen twice this week.
The Apemon came to a stop in front of a large wooden door. The Apemon knocked on the door and a loud voice replied with enter. The Apemon opened the door and shoved her inside, slamming it behind her.
The room was white. White walls with tall windows at the end. The carpet underneath her feet was blue and sunk under her weight. A bed was pushed up in the corner of the small room dressed in white sheets and a deep green blanket. To her left was a small book like contraption sitting on a desk. Although it had no pages it, but on the inside of one cover it had buttons and the inside of the other glowed. A red haired boy sat at it, tapping at the buttons. He looked up at her with red tinted eyes.
"Hikari I presume," he stated as he stood up. She nodded. 'Kari,' Koushiro cried out, locked in his mind. 'Thank god your okay.' "How are you feeling today?" She didn't answer. "Its alright to speak. I know the master probably told you not to, but you can when you're here with me." She nodded in understanding. "My name is Koushiro."
"Its nice to meet you," she whispered in reply.
'She really has forgotten,' he thought, sinking away from hope.
"What did you want, Koushiro? Does the master know you called me, because if I'm not in my room I'll get in trouble-"
"He knows, he knows," Koushiro reassured her. "He said I could call you if I wanted too. He probably won't even know you're gone." He guided her into the chair he had been sitting in. "I wanted to talk to you, that's it."
"Okay, I wouldn't mind talking. I usually just sit by myself in my room. Or in the library."
"Do you like to read?" He asked, making conversation.
"No. I can't read," she answered. "But I like the library. Its warm and bright in there." He nodded.
He watched her hands fold and unfold in her lap. They shook if they stayed still for too long. "Why do you keep moving your hands like that?" He asked.
""I'm not sure. They shake and I can't help it."
He pulled a chair from the table where he ate and sat down in front of her. Taking her hands into his, they stopped shaking. "Can I do something?" He asked.
"What is it?" Her eyes were locked onto his hands. They were warm and soft, unlike Ken's who were usually cold.
"I need you to lean over so I can flip your hair. I want to look at the back of you neck."
She pulled away. "M-my neck? Why? I-I really would rather not," her shaking increased.
"Hikari, please," he beseeched her softly, grasping her hands again.
She nodded, "Mmmkay." She leaned over and her hair fell around her face like a veil.
"Oh, my god…" he whispered, shaken.
On the back of her neck was a large purple and black bruise. It was a large circular imprint, looking ghastly and painful. He bit his tongue to keep from being sick. "Hikari, does that hurt?" He touched the spot lightly. She jerked in surprise and let out a small whimper. "I'll take that as a yes. Don't move." He went to the bathroom and soaked a cloth in cold water. He returned to her side and laid the cloth on the contusion. Her body jerked again, this time more out of surprise. "How long has that been there?"
She wrapped her arms around her legs, hugging them to her chest as she continued to sit leaned over. "Four as long as I can remember." Her voice shook.
He rubbed her back. "How long has that been?"
"Four days."
"Does the cloth help?" She nodded. "Well, do it again before you go to sleep, okay? And from now on until it goes away." She nodded again. Her body gave a harder shake and she cried out. "Hikari?"
Her head perked up. "I-Izzy?"
The door opened and the Apemon who was his guard entered. "Hikari, the master wants you."
She pulled the cloth from her neck as she up righted herself. "Alright, I'm coming."
She handed the cloth to Koushiro, but he grabbed her wrist instead. "What were you going to say before he came in?"
She blinked, looking befuddled. "I don't remember. Must not have been important."
He pulled out a paper from his pocket. "Listen to me. There is a door four doors down from your room. It has this written on the door." The letter PRISONERS was written on the paper. "Go to that room and tell the other's to keep up faith. Izzy's working on it." She nodded, wide eyed. He shooed her away and she turned and walked out.
"Apemon," he called. The digimon looked up. "What does the master want with her? He hasn't…you know?"
"I'm afraid I don't," he replied in a gruff voice. "But if you're asking if he's going to hurt her, then no. In fact, the master is quite taken with her." With that he left and locked the door, leaving Koushiro standing there alone.
'She remembered me name,' he thought, hope swirling through him. 'And Ken has fallen for her…'
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Izzy never returned. It had been three days since the two mojimon and four apemon had come in. The mojimon had dragged him off, while the apemon held the other DigiDestined back. Izzy never came back afterwards.
The situation was getting bleaker. Two DigiDestined were gone, disappeared, whereabouts unknown. Two more were completely out of commission, fighting death instead of the Kaiser. And the rest had so many injuries they probably couldn't fight, let alone stand half the time.
On the full size bed Joe sat up against the headboard with Mimi sitting between his legs. Tai sat cross-legged in front of them at the foot of the bed. They had been talking quietly for a long time, not about anything specific, just different things, mostly to keep Tai from going nuts. Often they'd talk about escape, but nothing seemed plausible.
Beside them Sora and Matt had both fallen into a fitful slumber. Matt had not yet awake and Sora being awake became more of a godsend. Things were looking up for the star-crossed pair. Everyone knew what was happening to them, but they refused to talk about it. Because they were going to die.
The younger DigiDestined beside TK sat in the same corner as they did every day, quietly discussing issues of their own. TK had separated himself from them into the furthest corner of the room, just to be by himself. He sat there, hour after hour, with his knees to his chest and his head on his knees. Now and then he would get up and walk over to Sora and Matt, looking for any signs of life, then sit down and sob.
The way they separated themselves made it obvious that what the Kaiser had said about them leaving Kari was true. Joe didn't want to believe it, even after Kari had said it. But now it was impossible to ignore or overlook and it had taken both Izzy and Joe to keep Tai from beating TK and Davis into a bloody pulp.
But now Izzy was gone and it took Joe to beat the crap out of Tai to keep him from killing Davis after he had opened his big fat mouth earlier.
But Joe didn't know how much he could take before he couldn't take the fighting anymore.
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She stared at the paper and counted the doors that led away from her room. One…two…three…four. She stopped and began to match the letters on the doors to the ones on the paper. P…P R…R I…I S…S O…O N…N E…E R…R S…S Everything matched up. 'I wonder what that word means,' she thought.
She pushed into the room and six pairs of eyes looked up at her. A brown haired boy, who had been sitting on the bed jumped up. "Kari!" He yelled and began to run toward her. She stepped back toward the door and he stopped. "Kari, what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Why do you keep calling me Kari? My name's Hikari." Her widened eyes looked at the blue haired man and pink haired girl getting off the bed and then to the other side of the room where two guys and a girl stared at her. "Who are you?"
Tai blinked in surprise. "Kari, that's your name. And it's me Tai, your brother."
"My brother?" Her eyes expanded in fear and she took another step back.
"Kari, what's wrong?"
"Stop calling me that! And stay away from me," she yelled.
Tai felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Joe. "She's scared of you. Stop." Joe stepped forward and extended a hand to her.
"Do you know me?" She asked, her face stressed and scared.
He tried to reach out to her again, but she pulled back in reflex. He stopped. "Yeah, you don't remember us?" She shook her head, eyeing the door. "My name is Joe. I'm one of your friends."
"My…ffffriends?" She sounded like she was testing the word. "What's that?"
Joe gapped at her. "You don't know what a friend is?" She shook her head. "Ka-Hikari, come here."
She only took a step back. "I-I'm not supposed to be here. I h-have to go." She was breathing hard and hyperventilating.
"Tai!" Joe called out. They both tackled her, grabbing her feet and arms and clamped a hand over her mouth. "Mimi, close the door." His pink haired girlfriend did as she was told. They carried Kari to the bed, crying and struggling and laid her down. They held her there.
"Now what, smart guy?" Tai snapped. His hand was secured over her mouth while holding both her wrists in one hand. The way she was crying and sobbing made him want to let her go and hold her like he did when she was little. The way she stared at him, her eyes wide and flowing with tears, with terror made him want to curl up in a hole and die. Is this what she had become?
Joe leaned over the girl. "Hikari, we're not going to hurt you. If you stop struggling we'll let you go. It's as easy as that. But you have to promise to listen to us." She tried to pull away again, but Tai pushed down on her harder. "Hikari, look at me," Joe pressed. Her eyes matched his. "Good. Now we're not going to let anything happen to you. Will you listen to us?" Her eyes locked with Tai's before looking at Joe again and nodding. "You gotta stay quiet and you can't run like you did, okay?" She nodded again. "Let her go Tai." Tai let go of a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding and released her. Joe pulled her into a sitting position and wiped her tears with his thumb. She tried to pull away, but he held her still. "There, all okay, right?" She nodded, as if just to be obedient. "Do you remember what I said my name was?"
Her eyes went to the pink haired girl behind him, then back to the blue haired boy talking to her. His hair was the same color as the master's. "Your Joe."
"Right," he nodded, his voice encouraging. "And his?" He jerked his chin toward the brown haired boy watching her with big brown eyes. She liked they way they looked softly at her.
"Tai," she answered. "He said his name was Tai."
"Do you know who he is?" She shook her head. "Me?" Again she shook her head. He looked over at Tai. "What do we do now?"
"I dunno," Tai whispered, feeling his throat tighten as he watched Kari. It took everything he had in him to not run over to her and hug her.
"Hikari, would you like to meet our friends?" Joe offered.
"What's a friend?" She asked, her voice genuinely puzzled.
"Well, it's a person who…uh…cares a lot about you. They know everything about you and are there for you when you need them." She was tempted to ask 'Like the master', but decided against it. Joe offered his hand to her and he pulled her off the bed toward the pink haired girl. "Hikari, this is Mimi. Mimi, this is Hikari."
"Its nice to meet you," Mimi replied, trying to keep her voice light and normal. Kari nodded in reply.
Joe dragged her over to the three younger DigiDestined in the back, watching her every facial expression, looking for any sign of remembrance. There were none on her soft features. "This is Yolie." He pointed to a girl with bandages around her arms and cracked purple glasses hiding behind purple hair. "This is Davis." This was a boy with spiky maroon hair and broken goggles around his neck. "And this is Cody." Another boy, this time smaller then the rest with a bowl cut for his brown hair.
"Hi," came the small chorus.
They walked back over to the bed where Tai and Mimi were watching them. "Do you remember us?" Joe asked.
But she wasn't paying any attention. Instead she was looking behind him, at a figure curled up in a corner. "What about him?" She asked.
Joe looked up. "Oh, that's TK. I'm not sure you'd want to meet him. Leave him alone, okay?"
She nodded. "Then what about them?" She pointed to Matt and Sora in the bed, Sora curled up under Matt's arm.
"That's Matt and Sora. They are very sick so we can't wake them."
"What's wrong? Why are they sick?"
"We don't know," Joe answered honestly.
"I'm sorry," Kari whispered, fumbling on her words. She could feel the back of her neck burn. She looked up to see the blond boy, TK, staring at her. He looked pained to look at her face, but he didn't make any movement to look away. "I-I have a message for you. For a boy named Koushiro."
"K-Koushiro?" Joe stuttered out, relief racing through him. "What does he say?"
"He said…" She scratched her head in thought. "Keep up faith. Izzy's working on it." She stared down. "I'm not sure what that means, so I'm sorry I can't tell you more."
"No, no," Joe said shaking his head, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Its perfect. We know what he means." He took her hands, which he noticed to be shaking, and squeezed them. "Thank you." She nodded. She could still feel the blond boy staring at her. She tried to pull away from Joe. "Hikari, we want to be your friends. But you have to let us, alright?"
"You want to be my-"
The door slammed open and the Kaiser stood in the doorway, his face red with anger. Two Apemon and a Red Veggiemon stood behind him. "You," he pointed on long finger at her. "Come here now!"
She took a step towards him, feeling heat from embarrassment in her face and fear from getting in trouble with her master. Joe grabbed her arm. "Kari-Hikari, no!" His fingers dug into her arm. "Don't listen to him! He'll hurt you!"
She tried to pull away. Her master began to stomp toward them, but Tai stepped in his way. "Back off Emperor Boy. She's not going anywhere with you," Tai growled with confidence strong in his voice.
Hikari stared at hi back, trying to figure out why he was protecting her. The master wouldn't hurt her.
The Kaiser momentarily smirked before landing an unseen punch to Tai's stomach and a second to his face. He kicked the brown haired boy's legs from under him before he could recover. "You back off," he muttered to the downed boy. He moved his eyes to Kari. "Come here!" He ordered.
She felt Joe wrap his arm around her neck and hold one hand behind her back. 'I'm sorry Kari,' he apologized in his mind. "Kaiser, let us go or else!"
The Kaiser put his hands on his hips and smirked, his eyes malevolent and mocking. "Or else what? You'll hurt her? What will that accomplish? She's just my slave, what would I care if she gets hurt."
Joe opened his mouth to reply but something around his neck tightened and pulled him to the floor, taking Kari down with him. A Red Veggiemon vine/arm tightened around his neck, forcing him to let Kari go. She scrambled off the floor to the Kaiser and stood/hid behind him. "Let that be a lesson to you." With that said he grabbed her hand dragged her out of the room.
The Apemon closed the door and he turned back to her. He struck her across the face, sending her to the floor. "What did you think you were doing going in there?" He demanded. "Didn't I tell you to stay in your room?!"
She curled up into a ball onto the floor. "I'm sorry! Koushiro told me to go to the room. I was just doing what he said!" She sobbed, covering her head with her arms.
The Kaiser didn't speak after that. His breathing got hard and he grabbed the wall to steady himself. Inside his mind Ken was fighting back, trying to keep him from beating her up. This happened every time he lost his temper.
He turned to one of the Apemon. "Take her to her room now. Don't let her out!" The Apemon nodded and rushed to scoop the sobbing girl off the floor.
Ken watched them go, momentarily pushing the Kaiser to the back of his mind. 'How the hell is that DigiDestined fool able to tell her to talk to them? He shouldn't have that type of control!'
Ken could have smiled. He had sabotaged the dark spiral so that Koushiro could break through it.
For once he knew something the Kaiser didn't.
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When he walked in she was just sitting on her bed, staring at her hands. She didn't notice he had come in until he closed the door with a soft click. She jumped to her feet, panic on her soft features, but he pushed her down gently. "Its alright, its alright," he eased. "I'm not mad." She relaxed and he sat down beside her.
They sat in silence after that. She was not inclined or encouraged to speak without his permission and he didn't have anything to talk about. Talking was over rated. The insolent fool called Ken just enjoyed being in her presence. It was enough to keep him from fighting back.
Ken laid back on the bed, his head on the pillow and his hands under his head. She laid down beside him, one hand rested on his chest and her head in his elbow. Her breath was warm on his cheek as he stared at the ceiling.
"Who were those people?" She asked suddenly.
"Don't you worry about them," he dismissed.
"But they were all hurt. And…and two of them are really sick. Can't you help them?" She begged.
"We'll see," he dismissed again.
"Master, please?"
He turned his head to look at her. Her brown eyes met his rose colored ones. "Why?"
"They wanted to be my friends," she replied in a whisper.
"Okay," he whispered. The Kaiser in his head growled in anger, but Ken ignored him. "Tomorrow I will see what I can do."
"Thank you," she whispered. She moved in closer and rested her head on his chest. Her breathing steadied and he listened to her fall asleep. He smiled as he pulled one of his hands from under his head. He ran in through her hair, which she was leaving down now. He too fell asleep with his hand rested in her hair.
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Whimpering jolted him from a light, dreamless (his favorite kind) sleep. He opened his eyes, trying to figure out where he was. He looked down to see Hikari with her head on his chest. She was crying and shaking.
He moved his hand from her hair and shook her lightly. "Hikari, Hikari! Wake up!" Her shaking intensified and his eyes widened in confusion. "Hikari, come on, please! Wake up!" Her hands grabbed at his shirt tightly. "Hikari!"
And she stopped.
She just went still and silent. The tears stopped rolling from her eyes and her hands released his shirt. "Hikari?" He whispered, his voice shaking.
Her eyelids pressed down tightly before jerking up to reveal brown eyes.
"Who are you?"
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I hope you enjoyed this, it was a fun write. Please review. I'm exhausted so I can't think of anything witty to say to you people! So later dayz!
Savior
She stared at the food that had been placed in front of her with the blank recognition she gave all things. She didn't move to touch it, purely out of unfamiliarity of the food in front of her. The clothes she wore were pink, blue, and white; a white long sleeve button shirt that sat over the pink shirt he had given to her a few weeks prior to this day. Dark blue pants clothed her bottom half, with the legs rolled up three times over to fit her. Both the shirt and pants had been liberated from his closet, both being items he had out grown.
Color lacked her face and dark bags pooled under her eyes, despite her insistence that she felt fine, just confused. Her brown hair fell untamed around her face; no burettes or ponytails to hold it back. She wasn't coordinated enough suddenly to fix her hair.
"Hikari," he called, trying to pull her from her thoughts. When she didn't respond, he touched her hand. "Your Hikari, remember?"
She met his eyes. The bronze orbs that occupied the space in her head seemed empty almost, just barely flickering with life. "I'm sorry," came a whispering apology. "I'll try to remember."
The presence in his mind, sneered, furious at her present state. Pathetic. "Its okay," he spoke up, sincerely grateful he had control of his mouth. "It may take some time to get use to." She didn't respond, just stared at the plate full of food in front of her. "You can eat that, you know. Its very good." She stared at him with unblinking eyes. He took a bite off from his plate just to reassure her.
They ate in silence for a few moments. "M-master?" He looked up at her. Her hands rang her ripping napkin in nervousness. Or maybe it was to keep her hands busy and from shaking. They had a tendency to do that lately.
She didn't say anything. "You were saying?"
She looked up at him, looking confused at what he was talking about. Then said, "Um…do-do you think you could tell me who I am? I still can't remember."
"Yeah, I can. Eat first, then we'll talk." Her hands continued to ring the napkin. He grabbed her hands. "Eat."
"Yes master," she nibbled at the rice on her plate.
'Stay with the same story as before,' the presence ordered. 'Imprint it in her mind. Maybe she will remember it this time.'
'Have you figured out what's wrong with her?' He asked.
'No, but I have a plan.' On of the many drawbacks to having the presence in his mind was that all his thoughts were open to it, but it didn't work both ways.
A sliding sound pulled him from his thoughts. She was pushing her plate away with half the food uneaten. "I don't want anymore."
"Are you sure?" She nodded and he waved his hand for the two Gekomon that stood to the side to clear the table.
"I ate, will you tell me now?" Her hands shook for unknown reasons.
"Yeah, what do you want to know?"
She thought. "I don't know. What are people suppose to know?" Gripping the table with both hands, she sat up straight. "Do I have family? Where am I from?"
She didn't ask about her last name like last time. "You're an orphan from Japan."
She looked at him funny. "What's Japan?"
He laughed then stopped. "Are you serious?" She knew what it was before. "Its an island country on earth."
"What's earth?"
'She doesn't know,' the presence laughed. 'She's getting easier to manipulate. Don't divulge into this. You are not apart of that world and now neither is she. Leave it where it is, forgotten.'
"Forget about it," he dismissed. "Forget I mentioned it. It's just a place from a long time ago. Full of bad memories."
"Okay," she nodded. Then silence. "So…I'm an orphan?" He nodded. "What happened?"
"Your parents died when you were little in a…" 'Stick with the story!' "Car accident."
"Oh, is that when I came to live with you?" She asked.
'Here's comes the best part,' the presence snickered. "No. You lived with your brother before you came to me."
"I have a brother?" The way she asked sounded like a cross between hope and discontentment. "Where is he?"
"I took you away from him. He used to hurt you." He made his voice sincere. Lying to her the first time was bad enough. The second time around seemed like an opportunity to make things right. But he was too spineless to say no to the presence. The Kaiser.
"He hurt me?" She asked, distressed. "Like how?"
"I'd rather not say," he said honestly. The Kaiser sneered. 'I leave one thing for you to figure out and you can't even think of anything to say! Your useless!'
"Why'd you take me?"
"Because your mine," he replied cryptically. In her current state he knew she would be satisfied by the answer. And the Kaiser was in no mood to unveil more.
"Ken," she started. He looked up at her with dull eyes. "M-master," she corrected. "I'm tired, can I go to my room?"
"Of course," he permitted with another wave of his hand. The Apemon guard brought his attention to the two and started to walk over. He got up as the Apemon helped her out of her seat. As they started to leave the Kaiser took over and grabbed her arm. "Rest up," he whispered and kissed her on the mouth. She stiffened under his lips, but kissed back. When he pulled away he brushed her cheek with his lips as he leaned into her ear. "You will have dinner with me tonight. I will send for you later."
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He twirled the black ring on his finger as he watched two mojimon drag in the limping and mute red headed DigiDestined. The older boy struggled silently, resisting going forward and trying to pull away from the mojimon. The mojimon brought the DigiDestined, Knowledge, to a stop before him. Ken separated himself from the Kaiser and slipped into the farthest corner of his mind.
"Hello Knowledge." The DigiDestined continued his useless struggle against the mojimon. "You know, it is impolite not to respond when spoken to. Oh right, I remember. One of my slaves almost destroyed your voice box. That'll take weeks, maybe months to recover from." He stopped twirling the ring and clutched it tightly in his hand. His violet eyes burned into the DigiDestined. "I would have enjoyed hearing you scream."
Knowledge stopped struggling and stood there, defiantly. His charcoal eyes locked with the Kaiser, refusing to break the lock. The Kaiser snapped his fingers and the Apemon kicked Knowledge's feet from under him. He fell to his knees with a grimace of pain. The Apemon grabbed a fist full of his hair and yanked his head back. He ground his teeth to keep from crying.
"You're strong willed. I could slit your throat from here." He touched on side of his neck. "To here." Tracing his finger along Knowledge's neck, he triggered a shiver, and touched the other side of his neck. "You know that. And if you feel fear, you don't show it." A small smile surfaced on his face, as if he were a small uncertain child who was receiving a gift. The Apemon offered out his arm.
Koushiro watched in horror as the Kaiser pushed up his sleeve and clamped the dark spiral on his upper arm. 'This is it. I'm going to be a drone like Kari,' he thought,. The Kaiser held up the digivice. 'Don't show fear. Don't show fear. Don't show fear.' "Dark spiral activate!"
The DigiDestined boy slumped over, still being held up by the Apemon.
His mind felt numb. He could no longer see or hear. He wasn't even sure he was still breathing. Then, loud and clear, a voice rang in his hears. "Slave, stand!" His legs moved to stand, but not by his consent. His basic consciousness was pushed to the back of his mind. His eyes opened and he could see everything bathed in red. "Speak, who am I?"
"You are the Digimon Kaiser." He was surprised to hear his own voice. Stern and monotone, he could speak again. "You are the master of the Digital World and everything in it."
The Kaiser smirked. "Correct." He began to pace and waved the two Apemon off. They stepped back and Knowledge stayed in place. This was a good sign. "And who are you?"
'Please don't make me do this,' Koushiro begged. "I am your slave." He couldn't control his words, nor could he control any movement in his body. He couldn't even blink on his own.
"On your knees!" The Kaiser ordered. And he fell to his knees with his head to the floor, bowing before the Kaiser. A merciless smile washed over his face. He could only imagine the horror going through Knowledge's mind. "I have a job for you Slave."
"What is it you order, master?"
"There's something wrong with the child of light."
'Kari?'
"She is the host of a dark spore, but it hasn't affected her the way it did the Child of Kindness. Instead of advancing her, it is deleting her mind. Well, her memory. I want you to figure out why."
"As you wish master. But what's a dark spore?"
"All the information you will need is on the computer I have set up for you. And if you want the girl, tell your guard. He will fetch her for you." He turned away from his newest slave and stared at the computer screen that floated above his throne. On it it had the profile of Koushiro Izumi, the holder of Knowledge. Behind that screen were other screens with the profiles of the other DigiDestined. "Rise." There was a scraping sound behind him. "Remember, slave, if you fail," he laughed, "You may find it quite unpleasant. I want her fix. Be gine."
"Yes master." The Apemon lead her out of the room.
Ken sheltered himself from the pride swelling through the Kaiser. He rocked himself in a corner of his mind prison, trying to forget the horror and fear the DigiDestined of Knowledge, Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi gave off before losing himself to the dark spiral.
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The yellow and white Apemon pulled her from her room and told her to follow him. She fell into step with hi, despite trembling with fear. Her master had told her to stay into her room. She didn't like disobeying him because he would hit her. He would get angry, yell and then hit her.
But then, usually while she was crying, he would hold her and kiss her, saying it would be okay. And then they wouldn't talk about it. He'd hold her and everything would be okay.
It had already happen twice this week.
The Apemon came to a stop in front of a large wooden door. The Apemon knocked on the door and a loud voice replied with enter. The Apemon opened the door and shoved her inside, slamming it behind her.
The room was white. White walls with tall windows at the end. The carpet underneath her feet was blue and sunk under her weight. A bed was pushed up in the corner of the small room dressed in white sheets and a deep green blanket. To her left was a small book like contraption sitting on a desk. Although it had no pages it, but on the inside of one cover it had buttons and the inside of the other glowed. A red haired boy sat at it, tapping at the buttons. He looked up at her with red tinted eyes.
"Hikari I presume," he stated as he stood up. She nodded. 'Kari,' Koushiro cried out, locked in his mind. 'Thank god your okay.' "How are you feeling today?" She didn't answer. "Its alright to speak. I know the master probably told you not to, but you can when you're here with me." She nodded in understanding. "My name is Koushiro."
"Its nice to meet you," she whispered in reply.
'She really has forgotten,' he thought, sinking away from hope.
"What did you want, Koushiro? Does the master know you called me, because if I'm not in my room I'll get in trouble-"
"He knows, he knows," Koushiro reassured her. "He said I could call you if I wanted too. He probably won't even know you're gone." He guided her into the chair he had been sitting in. "I wanted to talk to you, that's it."
"Okay, I wouldn't mind talking. I usually just sit by myself in my room. Or in the library."
"Do you like to read?" He asked, making conversation.
"No. I can't read," she answered. "But I like the library. Its warm and bright in there." He nodded.
He watched her hands fold and unfold in her lap. They shook if they stayed still for too long. "Why do you keep moving your hands like that?" He asked.
""I'm not sure. They shake and I can't help it."
He pulled a chair from the table where he ate and sat down in front of her. Taking her hands into his, they stopped shaking. "Can I do something?" He asked.
"What is it?" Her eyes were locked onto his hands. They were warm and soft, unlike Ken's who were usually cold.
"I need you to lean over so I can flip your hair. I want to look at the back of you neck."
She pulled away. "M-my neck? Why? I-I really would rather not," her shaking increased.
"Hikari, please," he beseeched her softly, grasping her hands again.
She nodded, "Mmmkay." She leaned over and her hair fell around her face like a veil.
"Oh, my god…" he whispered, shaken.
On the back of her neck was a large purple and black bruise. It was a large circular imprint, looking ghastly and painful. He bit his tongue to keep from being sick. "Hikari, does that hurt?" He touched the spot lightly. She jerked in surprise and let out a small whimper. "I'll take that as a yes. Don't move." He went to the bathroom and soaked a cloth in cold water. He returned to her side and laid the cloth on the contusion. Her body jerked again, this time more out of surprise. "How long has that been there?"
She wrapped her arms around her legs, hugging them to her chest as she continued to sit leaned over. "Four as long as I can remember." Her voice shook.
He rubbed her back. "How long has that been?"
"Four days."
"Does the cloth help?" She nodded. "Well, do it again before you go to sleep, okay? And from now on until it goes away." She nodded again. Her body gave a harder shake and she cried out. "Hikari?"
Her head perked up. "I-Izzy?"
The door opened and the Apemon who was his guard entered. "Hikari, the master wants you."
She pulled the cloth from her neck as she up righted herself. "Alright, I'm coming."
She handed the cloth to Koushiro, but he grabbed her wrist instead. "What were you going to say before he came in?"
She blinked, looking befuddled. "I don't remember. Must not have been important."
He pulled out a paper from his pocket. "Listen to me. There is a door four doors down from your room. It has this written on the door." The letter PRISONERS was written on the paper. "Go to that room and tell the other's to keep up faith. Izzy's working on it." She nodded, wide eyed. He shooed her away and she turned and walked out.
"Apemon," he called. The digimon looked up. "What does the master want with her? He hasn't…you know?"
"I'm afraid I don't," he replied in a gruff voice. "But if you're asking if he's going to hurt her, then no. In fact, the master is quite taken with her." With that he left and locked the door, leaving Koushiro standing there alone.
'She remembered me name,' he thought, hope swirling through him. 'And Ken has fallen for her…'
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Izzy never returned. It had been three days since the two mojimon and four apemon had come in. The mojimon had dragged him off, while the apemon held the other DigiDestined back. Izzy never came back afterwards.
The situation was getting bleaker. Two DigiDestined were gone, disappeared, whereabouts unknown. Two more were completely out of commission, fighting death instead of the Kaiser. And the rest had so many injuries they probably couldn't fight, let alone stand half the time.
On the full size bed Joe sat up against the headboard with Mimi sitting between his legs. Tai sat cross-legged in front of them at the foot of the bed. They had been talking quietly for a long time, not about anything specific, just different things, mostly to keep Tai from going nuts. Often they'd talk about escape, but nothing seemed plausible.
Beside them Sora and Matt had both fallen into a fitful slumber. Matt had not yet awake and Sora being awake became more of a godsend. Things were looking up for the star-crossed pair. Everyone knew what was happening to them, but they refused to talk about it. Because they were going to die.
The younger DigiDestined beside TK sat in the same corner as they did every day, quietly discussing issues of their own. TK had separated himself from them into the furthest corner of the room, just to be by himself. He sat there, hour after hour, with his knees to his chest and his head on his knees. Now and then he would get up and walk over to Sora and Matt, looking for any signs of life, then sit down and sob.
The way they separated themselves made it obvious that what the Kaiser had said about them leaving Kari was true. Joe didn't want to believe it, even after Kari had said it. But now it was impossible to ignore or overlook and it had taken both Izzy and Joe to keep Tai from beating TK and Davis into a bloody pulp.
But now Izzy was gone and it took Joe to beat the crap out of Tai to keep him from killing Davis after he had opened his big fat mouth earlier.
But Joe didn't know how much he could take before he couldn't take the fighting anymore.
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She stared at the paper and counted the doors that led away from her room. One…two…three…four. She stopped and began to match the letters on the doors to the ones on the paper. P…P R…R I…I S…S O…O N…N E…E R…R S…S Everything matched up. 'I wonder what that word means,' she thought.
She pushed into the room and six pairs of eyes looked up at her. A brown haired boy, who had been sitting on the bed jumped up. "Kari!" He yelled and began to run toward her. She stepped back toward the door and he stopped. "Kari, what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Why do you keep calling me Kari? My name's Hikari." Her widened eyes looked at the blue haired man and pink haired girl getting off the bed and then to the other side of the room where two guys and a girl stared at her. "Who are you?"
Tai blinked in surprise. "Kari, that's your name. And it's me Tai, your brother."
"My brother?" Her eyes expanded in fear and she took another step back.
"Kari, what's wrong?"
"Stop calling me that! And stay away from me," she yelled.
Tai felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Joe. "She's scared of you. Stop." Joe stepped forward and extended a hand to her.
"Do you know me?" She asked, her face stressed and scared.
He tried to reach out to her again, but she pulled back in reflex. He stopped. "Yeah, you don't remember us?" She shook her head, eyeing the door. "My name is Joe. I'm one of your friends."
"My…ffffriends?" She sounded like she was testing the word. "What's that?"
Joe gapped at her. "You don't know what a friend is?" She shook her head. "Ka-Hikari, come here."
She only took a step back. "I-I'm not supposed to be here. I h-have to go." She was breathing hard and hyperventilating.
"Tai!" Joe called out. They both tackled her, grabbing her feet and arms and clamped a hand over her mouth. "Mimi, close the door." His pink haired girlfriend did as she was told. They carried Kari to the bed, crying and struggling and laid her down. They held her there.
"Now what, smart guy?" Tai snapped. His hand was secured over her mouth while holding both her wrists in one hand. The way she was crying and sobbing made him want to let her go and hold her like he did when she was little. The way she stared at him, her eyes wide and flowing with tears, with terror made him want to curl up in a hole and die. Is this what she had become?
Joe leaned over the girl. "Hikari, we're not going to hurt you. If you stop struggling we'll let you go. It's as easy as that. But you have to promise to listen to us." She tried to pull away again, but Tai pushed down on her harder. "Hikari, look at me," Joe pressed. Her eyes matched his. "Good. Now we're not going to let anything happen to you. Will you listen to us?" Her eyes locked with Tai's before looking at Joe again and nodding. "You gotta stay quiet and you can't run like you did, okay?" She nodded again. "Let her go Tai." Tai let go of a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding and released her. Joe pulled her into a sitting position and wiped her tears with his thumb. She tried to pull away, but he held her still. "There, all okay, right?" She nodded, as if just to be obedient. "Do you remember what I said my name was?"
Her eyes went to the pink haired girl behind him, then back to the blue haired boy talking to her. His hair was the same color as the master's. "Your Joe."
"Right," he nodded, his voice encouraging. "And his?" He jerked his chin toward the brown haired boy watching her with big brown eyes. She liked they way they looked softly at her.
"Tai," she answered. "He said his name was Tai."
"Do you know who he is?" She shook her head. "Me?" Again she shook her head. He looked over at Tai. "What do we do now?"
"I dunno," Tai whispered, feeling his throat tighten as he watched Kari. It took everything he had in him to not run over to her and hug her.
"Hikari, would you like to meet our friends?" Joe offered.
"What's a friend?" She asked, her voice genuinely puzzled.
"Well, it's a person who…uh…cares a lot about you. They know everything about you and are there for you when you need them." She was tempted to ask 'Like the master', but decided against it. Joe offered his hand to her and he pulled her off the bed toward the pink haired girl. "Hikari, this is Mimi. Mimi, this is Hikari."
"Its nice to meet you," Mimi replied, trying to keep her voice light and normal. Kari nodded in reply.
Joe dragged her over to the three younger DigiDestined in the back, watching her every facial expression, looking for any sign of remembrance. There were none on her soft features. "This is Yolie." He pointed to a girl with bandages around her arms and cracked purple glasses hiding behind purple hair. "This is Davis." This was a boy with spiky maroon hair and broken goggles around his neck. "And this is Cody." Another boy, this time smaller then the rest with a bowl cut for his brown hair.
"Hi," came the small chorus.
They walked back over to the bed where Tai and Mimi were watching them. "Do you remember us?" Joe asked.
But she wasn't paying any attention. Instead she was looking behind him, at a figure curled up in a corner. "What about him?" She asked.
Joe looked up. "Oh, that's TK. I'm not sure you'd want to meet him. Leave him alone, okay?"
She nodded. "Then what about them?" She pointed to Matt and Sora in the bed, Sora curled up under Matt's arm.
"That's Matt and Sora. They are very sick so we can't wake them."
"What's wrong? Why are they sick?"
"We don't know," Joe answered honestly.
"I'm sorry," Kari whispered, fumbling on her words. She could feel the back of her neck burn. She looked up to see the blond boy, TK, staring at her. He looked pained to look at her face, but he didn't make any movement to look away. "I-I have a message for you. For a boy named Koushiro."
"K-Koushiro?" Joe stuttered out, relief racing through him. "What does he say?"
"He said…" She scratched her head in thought. "Keep up faith. Izzy's working on it." She stared down. "I'm not sure what that means, so I'm sorry I can't tell you more."
"No, no," Joe said shaking his head, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Its perfect. We know what he means." He took her hands, which he noticed to be shaking, and squeezed them. "Thank you." She nodded. She could still feel the blond boy staring at her. She tried to pull away from Joe. "Hikari, we want to be your friends. But you have to let us, alright?"
"You want to be my-"
The door slammed open and the Kaiser stood in the doorway, his face red with anger. Two Apemon and a Red Veggiemon stood behind him. "You," he pointed on long finger at her. "Come here now!"
She took a step towards him, feeling heat from embarrassment in her face and fear from getting in trouble with her master. Joe grabbed her arm. "Kari-Hikari, no!" His fingers dug into her arm. "Don't listen to him! He'll hurt you!"
She tried to pull away. Her master began to stomp toward them, but Tai stepped in his way. "Back off Emperor Boy. She's not going anywhere with you," Tai growled with confidence strong in his voice.
Hikari stared at hi back, trying to figure out why he was protecting her. The master wouldn't hurt her.
The Kaiser momentarily smirked before landing an unseen punch to Tai's stomach and a second to his face. He kicked the brown haired boy's legs from under him before he could recover. "You back off," he muttered to the downed boy. He moved his eyes to Kari. "Come here!" He ordered.
She felt Joe wrap his arm around her neck and hold one hand behind her back. 'I'm sorry Kari,' he apologized in his mind. "Kaiser, let us go or else!"
The Kaiser put his hands on his hips and smirked, his eyes malevolent and mocking. "Or else what? You'll hurt her? What will that accomplish? She's just my slave, what would I care if she gets hurt."
Joe opened his mouth to reply but something around his neck tightened and pulled him to the floor, taking Kari down with him. A Red Veggiemon vine/arm tightened around his neck, forcing him to let Kari go. She scrambled off the floor to the Kaiser and stood/hid behind him. "Let that be a lesson to you." With that said he grabbed her hand dragged her out of the room.
The Apemon closed the door and he turned back to her. He struck her across the face, sending her to the floor. "What did you think you were doing going in there?" He demanded. "Didn't I tell you to stay in your room?!"
She curled up into a ball onto the floor. "I'm sorry! Koushiro told me to go to the room. I was just doing what he said!" She sobbed, covering her head with her arms.
The Kaiser didn't speak after that. His breathing got hard and he grabbed the wall to steady himself. Inside his mind Ken was fighting back, trying to keep him from beating her up. This happened every time he lost his temper.
He turned to one of the Apemon. "Take her to her room now. Don't let her out!" The Apemon nodded and rushed to scoop the sobbing girl off the floor.
Ken watched them go, momentarily pushing the Kaiser to the back of his mind. 'How the hell is that DigiDestined fool able to tell her to talk to them? He shouldn't have that type of control!'
Ken could have smiled. He had sabotaged the dark spiral so that Koushiro could break through it.
For once he knew something the Kaiser didn't.
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When he walked in she was just sitting on her bed, staring at her hands. She didn't notice he had come in until he closed the door with a soft click. She jumped to her feet, panic on her soft features, but he pushed her down gently. "Its alright, its alright," he eased. "I'm not mad." She relaxed and he sat down beside her.
They sat in silence after that. She was not inclined or encouraged to speak without his permission and he didn't have anything to talk about. Talking was over rated. The insolent fool called Ken just enjoyed being in her presence. It was enough to keep him from fighting back.
Ken laid back on the bed, his head on the pillow and his hands under his head. She laid down beside him, one hand rested on his chest and her head in his elbow. Her breath was warm on his cheek as he stared at the ceiling.
"Who were those people?" She asked suddenly.
"Don't you worry about them," he dismissed.
"But they were all hurt. And…and two of them are really sick. Can't you help them?" She begged.
"We'll see," he dismissed again.
"Master, please?"
He turned his head to look at her. Her brown eyes met his rose colored ones. "Why?"
"They wanted to be my friends," she replied in a whisper.
"Okay," he whispered. The Kaiser in his head growled in anger, but Ken ignored him. "Tomorrow I will see what I can do."
"Thank you," she whispered. She moved in closer and rested her head on his chest. Her breathing steadied and he listened to her fall asleep. He smiled as he pulled one of his hands from under his head. He ran in through her hair, which she was leaving down now. He too fell asleep with his hand rested in her hair.
~~**~~
Whimpering jolted him from a light, dreamless (his favorite kind) sleep. He opened his eyes, trying to figure out where he was. He looked down to see Hikari with her head on his chest. She was crying and shaking.
He moved his hand from her hair and shook her lightly. "Hikari, Hikari! Wake up!" Her shaking intensified and his eyes widened in confusion. "Hikari, come on, please! Wake up!" Her hands grabbed at his shirt tightly. "Hikari!"
And she stopped.
She just went still and silent. The tears stopped rolling from her eyes and her hands released his shirt. "Hikari?" He whispered, his voice shaking.
Her eyelids pressed down tightly before jerking up to reveal brown eyes.
"Who are you?"
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I hope you enjoyed this, it was a fun write. Please review. I'm exhausted so I can't think of anything witty to say to you people! So later dayz!