Even the Purest Light Creates a Shadow.
Chapter Two: By Avalon Merquise. ********
Davis stepped out of bed quietly. It was around 2:30 AM, but he was still wide awake, and he'd been lying in the dark for hours. He'd been having the worst trouble sleeping. All week he'd gotten a total of about 7 hours of light, restless sleep.
The harder he tried not to think of Kari and TK, the more it tormented him. He'd try to distract himself and think of other things, soccer, school; he'd try reading boring books, but nothing worked. His mind always found its way back to Kari and TK. and how his whole world was ruined.
'She's gone.' a horrible, tormenting voice told him. 'You've lost her.'
And it made him feel. well, he didn't even know what he felt anymore. It was a mixture of anger, sadness, hurt, hate, hopelessness, and general darkness that left him feeling cold, numb, and empty inside.
Why hadn't he just acted on his feelings earlier? Everyone knew he liked Kari, even Kari herself. He had nothing to lose by simply asking her out. Who knows what it would've led to.
'But now she's with him. Unreachable.'
Moreover, she was mad at him now. He remembered the fight they'd had, he yelled at her, she yelled back, and now she hated him. He would never stand a chance again. God, what an idiot he was.
Another vision of this afternoon entered his head. Kari and TK at the mall. him kissing her. He could tell she liked him, liked being with TK. Kari was TK's now.
'That asshole better feel *damn* lucky,' Davis thought. But he knew TK wouldn't appreciate Kari. He knew that he didn't love Kari as much as Davis did, because no one can come close to loving Kari as much as Davis did.
He sat in his office chair and stared ahead blankly. All was quiet and still inside his house. Outside his open window, streetlights were lit, but the streets were basically quiet. Once in a while a car might drive by. Most of the windows in the houses around Davis's were dark, but here and there a dim light would still be lit for whatever reason. The moon shone faint light through Davis window, and as he made even the most minuscule movements, shadows would dart about the darkened walls.
He turned his head and caught a glimpse of a picture framed on his wall above the bookshelf, the glass illuminated by the moonlight.
It was from last summer. The day of their junior high graduation. It was a perfect and beautiful picture of Kari. She looked so beautiful that day, all dressed up in a glittery pink dress that looked like it was made perfectly for her and her only. It brought out the sparkle in her eyes. Atop her head was a crown of pink roses and white ribbon Davis had made her as a graduation gift. He had spent hours on it, bending the wire, wrapping it in white silk ribbon, inserting the small pink silk roses, and tying long, curled strands of ribbon to the end. It was for Kari, so it had to be perfect. She deserved nothing less than perfection.
He would always clearly remember the moment he gave it to her. Her face lit up with her angelic smile. He set it on her head. She told him she loved it and gave him a huge hug. At that moment, warmth spread throughout his entire body. He would never forget that warmth, and as he thought about it now, it came back to him. He held her close, squeezing her tight. It felt so. right. So perfect. It was wonderful. That was the moment he knew he was truly in love with her, and always would be.
But suddenly, that blissful image shattered. TK entered his head, and the warmth he felt turned to ice, then dark emptiness. TK's obnoxious smiling face mocked him. 'Ha! She's all *mine* now, and there's nothing you can do about it!' he seemed to say. Then Kari came up beside TK and wrapped her slender arms around his neck. TK cupped her face in his hand.
'That should be *me*, Davis thought miserably. *He* should be the one to hold her and feel her warmth, to feel her petal soft skin in his hand, to be the one she loved and cared about and was excited to see every day.
The images in Davis's head decided that they were not done torturing him yet, as, in slow motion, Kari moved her face closer to TK's. closer. closer. his lips brushed her's. and then suddenly they were locked in a passionate kiss, and Davis almost cried out in both physical and emotional pain as he felt his heart being crushed. It was just as bad as the first time he saw it. It was like burning spears being thrust deep into his heart. His blood turned frigid. He couldn't breathe. He felt dizzy.
And then it was gone. Davis found himself back in his room, facing the picture of Kari. He must've dozed off into a dream-no, a nightmare. Sadly, he wished that's all it was. He wished he didn't have to *live* the nightmare.
Rage boiled up in him, and spread through his entire body into his head. Then something in him snapped. He could not take this anymore. He jumped up out of his chair, stepped over to the picture and smashed the glass with his fist. It slid off the wall and face down onto the top of his bookshelf. Davis stood panting, as the rage boiled away. He stared at what he had done in horror, and then slowly sank down into his chair again.
He gave in. Tears started to stream down his face as he watched beads of blood form from the dozens of tiny cuts on his knuckles. But he couldn't feel the pain from the cuts. The pain from Kari and TK, the pain from his life was too strong.
Davis felt sick. He couldn't be here anymore. He couldn't stand to be around his friends. He couldn't take their pity. And he knew that they wouldn't just stop hanging out with TK and Kari. If he hung out with his friends, he'd have to hang out with them, and see them together.
And now he couldn't even be in this world. He needed to get away. He didn't know how long, but he had to go. He had to take a break from all this, and to sort things out.
Davis whirled around to his computer and picked up his D3.
"Digiport open." he whispered.
-----
"He's been gone for two days. At first I thought something came up and he had to go to that digital world, but now that I see the rest of you are still here." Daisuke's mom trailed off. The worry was evident in her voice. She woke to find Davis gone, and he'd been missing without a trace all day. She'd called Kari, and she, TK, Ken, Yolei, and Cody had convened at the Motomiya house.
Kari looked around Davis's bedroom. It was messy at the best of times, but now it looked as if several had ransacked the place. Davis's family had turned it upside-down and inside-out, desperately searching for clues; a note, something, anything that would tell them where their son was. and why.
"There's no evidence at all that he was kidnapped, and no one heard anything in the night."
"Do you think he might've gone to the DigiWorld on his own?" Yolei asked.
Kari was silent. Her right hand was held by TK's, but her left was in her jacket pocket where she fingered Davis's shattered goggles. She felt guilt and worry creep up on her. She felt bad about fighting with Davis. He had taken her and TK's relationship a lot worse than anyone expected.
"Why would he do something like that?" Jun asked.
"Well, he has been acting a little stranger than normal lately. Quieter, and spending more time in his room alone." Davis's mother said.
Again, silence encompassed the group of DigiDestined. Kari shivered. TK squeezed her hand. She looked at her boyfriend out of the corner of her eye and smiled.
Jun eyed this exchange between Kari and TK. 'Aha.' Jun thought. She knew her brother had a big crush on that Kari girl. She also knew Davis hated TK.
"Hey," Jun spoke up. "Why don't the 5 of you go and look for Davis in the DigiWorld? You know, just in case something was bothering him. You know how Davis overreacts. He probably just went to take a little vacation. You guys can go make sure he's not in any danger. And you're his best friends. If anyone can get him to come back, you guys can, right?"
The DigiDestined nodded, but they were doubtful. Davis had been avoiding all of them since he found out about Kari and TK. Would he even listen to them?
Kari let go of TK's hand and walked around Davis's room, carefully stepping over the clutter. She stopped at his bookshelf. There were no books in sight, just soccer trophies and other soccer paraphernalia. Kari smiled inside. 'Typical Davis.'
She started to move on when she notice shards of broken glass on the top of the bookshelf, and a picture frame face down. She picked up the frame, turned it over, and gasped. It was a picture Davis had taken of her last year at graduation. She could tell by the way the glass had shattered that Davis had smashed it. "Oh Davis." she whispered inaudibly.
Suddenly she felt arms wrap around her waist and TK's head rest on her shoulder. TK looked at the picture. "Wow. He must've just been insanely jealous," TK said, with a bit of a laugh in his voice.
"Mmm." Kari mumbled.
"But then, who wouldn't be? I mean, it's *you* after all," TK whispered in her ear, pulling her tight against him.
Kari smiled. But underneath she felt guilty and worried. She'd never seen Davis act the way he had this past week. She didn't know what he was capable of doing.
'Oh Davis, I'm so sorry! I never meant to hurt you like this.'
But deep down, she knew she *had* meant to hurt him. She knew that both Davis and TK liked her, and she took advantage of that. She was also teasing them, doing things with TK for the sole purpose of making Davis jealous. She really was a selfish brat, wasn't she?
And now. was she really going out with TK because she truly liked him? Or had she taken her game too far? Kari herself wasn't even sure. She told herself that she really liked TK. Of course she did, right? Right?
The guilt ate away at her.
-----
On the sidewalk outside the house, the DigiDestined gathered around.
"Why don't we go home tonight, tell our parents what's going on, get a good night's rest, and we'll head off to look for Davis bright and early in the morning!" Yolei proposed.
"Good idea," Ken agreed, smiling at Yolei. Yolei's heart skipped.
The others expressed their agreement.
"Okay, we'll meet back at my house at 8 AM sharp, okay?" Yolei said.
"Right," everyone nodded, then split up to head home.
"You guys go on without me," TK told Yolei and Cody, who were waiting for him. "I'm gonna walk Kari home."
The group waved goodbye to each other.
Kari and TK set off down the sidewalk.
"You don't have to walk me home, TK. It's not that far away."
"Of course I do. Beautiful girl like you? Anyone would snatch you up!" he exclaimed, grabbing her waist and pulling her to him playfully.
Kari laughed. TK sure was different now that they were going out. He was sweet though. She tried to shrug off the thoughts she'd had earlier. Of course she liked him. Of course she did.
They walked on in silence for a few minutes until Kari sighed heavily.
TK looked at her. "Come on Kari, you're too stressed out. I know you feel guilty, and you shouldn't."
'If only you knew.'
"You don't owe Davis anything for liking you. If you chose me, that's your decision and he needs to accept that."
He was right. Kari smiled. "I'm just. worried, that's all. I mean, I've never seen Davis this upset."
"Kari, this is *Davis* we're talking about, remember? He's probably only doing this because he knew you'd be worried. He wants the attention from you. Come on, he's just jealous cuz I got you and he didn't."
"You *got* me?! I am not a piece of meat, Takeru!" Kari snapped. She stormed ahead.
"Kari! Kari, please! That's not what I meant, and you know it!" He caught up to her and told a hold of her shoulders. "Come on Kari, you're too stressed out." He rubbed her shoulders.
He thought she had only snapped at him because she was stressed. Kari decided to let him think that. She sighed.
"Just calm down, okay?" TK soothed. "We're making a bigger deal out of this than we should. We'll go find Davis tomorrow, get him to come back, he'll get over it, and we'll all go on with normal lives."
-----
Davis wandered around the DigiWorld. After a few hours here, he was already feeling better. Just allowing himself to get away from it all really cleared his head. He didn't have to face Kari, or TK, or any of his friends, or anything. He didn't have to face his life. Life in the DigiWorld was so much less stressful.
Davis walked along a cliff, wondering what he'd do now. He was not at all prepared to go back home, not now, not any time soon.
Suddenly he remembered that Gray kid and his offer. Davis had told him yesterday that he was in, but he didn't really know *what* he was in. 'To keep the Digital world free for its chosen children.'
Davis decided he'd go to Gray, meet him, check him out. Find out what he wanted from him. Find out what exactly he had in mind. Helping him out a bit would be a good distraction for a little while.
Davis pulled out his cell phone and brought up the memory. Gray's number flashed across the screen and began dialing.
Again, the other end was picked up almost immediately, as if Gray had been anticipating the call.
"Gray."
"This is Daisuke Motomiya."
"Ah, Motomiya. I've been waiting for you."
"Sorry. I've been distracted."
"It's perfectly fine. I knew you would come on your own time. Are you ready, Daisuke?"
-----
To be continued.
Chapter Two: By Avalon Merquise. ********
Davis stepped out of bed quietly. It was around 2:30 AM, but he was still wide awake, and he'd been lying in the dark for hours. He'd been having the worst trouble sleeping. All week he'd gotten a total of about 7 hours of light, restless sleep.
The harder he tried not to think of Kari and TK, the more it tormented him. He'd try to distract himself and think of other things, soccer, school; he'd try reading boring books, but nothing worked. His mind always found its way back to Kari and TK. and how his whole world was ruined.
'She's gone.' a horrible, tormenting voice told him. 'You've lost her.'
And it made him feel. well, he didn't even know what he felt anymore. It was a mixture of anger, sadness, hurt, hate, hopelessness, and general darkness that left him feeling cold, numb, and empty inside.
Why hadn't he just acted on his feelings earlier? Everyone knew he liked Kari, even Kari herself. He had nothing to lose by simply asking her out. Who knows what it would've led to.
'But now she's with him. Unreachable.'
Moreover, she was mad at him now. He remembered the fight they'd had, he yelled at her, she yelled back, and now she hated him. He would never stand a chance again. God, what an idiot he was.
Another vision of this afternoon entered his head. Kari and TK at the mall. him kissing her. He could tell she liked him, liked being with TK. Kari was TK's now.
'That asshole better feel *damn* lucky,' Davis thought. But he knew TK wouldn't appreciate Kari. He knew that he didn't love Kari as much as Davis did, because no one can come close to loving Kari as much as Davis did.
He sat in his office chair and stared ahead blankly. All was quiet and still inside his house. Outside his open window, streetlights were lit, but the streets were basically quiet. Once in a while a car might drive by. Most of the windows in the houses around Davis's were dark, but here and there a dim light would still be lit for whatever reason. The moon shone faint light through Davis window, and as he made even the most minuscule movements, shadows would dart about the darkened walls.
He turned his head and caught a glimpse of a picture framed on his wall above the bookshelf, the glass illuminated by the moonlight.
It was from last summer. The day of their junior high graduation. It was a perfect and beautiful picture of Kari. She looked so beautiful that day, all dressed up in a glittery pink dress that looked like it was made perfectly for her and her only. It brought out the sparkle in her eyes. Atop her head was a crown of pink roses and white ribbon Davis had made her as a graduation gift. He had spent hours on it, bending the wire, wrapping it in white silk ribbon, inserting the small pink silk roses, and tying long, curled strands of ribbon to the end. It was for Kari, so it had to be perfect. She deserved nothing less than perfection.
He would always clearly remember the moment he gave it to her. Her face lit up with her angelic smile. He set it on her head. She told him she loved it and gave him a huge hug. At that moment, warmth spread throughout his entire body. He would never forget that warmth, and as he thought about it now, it came back to him. He held her close, squeezing her tight. It felt so. right. So perfect. It was wonderful. That was the moment he knew he was truly in love with her, and always would be.
But suddenly, that blissful image shattered. TK entered his head, and the warmth he felt turned to ice, then dark emptiness. TK's obnoxious smiling face mocked him. 'Ha! She's all *mine* now, and there's nothing you can do about it!' he seemed to say. Then Kari came up beside TK and wrapped her slender arms around his neck. TK cupped her face in his hand.
'That should be *me*, Davis thought miserably. *He* should be the one to hold her and feel her warmth, to feel her petal soft skin in his hand, to be the one she loved and cared about and was excited to see every day.
The images in Davis's head decided that they were not done torturing him yet, as, in slow motion, Kari moved her face closer to TK's. closer. closer. his lips brushed her's. and then suddenly they were locked in a passionate kiss, and Davis almost cried out in both physical and emotional pain as he felt his heart being crushed. It was just as bad as the first time he saw it. It was like burning spears being thrust deep into his heart. His blood turned frigid. He couldn't breathe. He felt dizzy.
And then it was gone. Davis found himself back in his room, facing the picture of Kari. He must've dozed off into a dream-no, a nightmare. Sadly, he wished that's all it was. He wished he didn't have to *live* the nightmare.
Rage boiled up in him, and spread through his entire body into his head. Then something in him snapped. He could not take this anymore. He jumped up out of his chair, stepped over to the picture and smashed the glass with his fist. It slid off the wall and face down onto the top of his bookshelf. Davis stood panting, as the rage boiled away. He stared at what he had done in horror, and then slowly sank down into his chair again.
He gave in. Tears started to stream down his face as he watched beads of blood form from the dozens of tiny cuts on his knuckles. But he couldn't feel the pain from the cuts. The pain from Kari and TK, the pain from his life was too strong.
Davis felt sick. He couldn't be here anymore. He couldn't stand to be around his friends. He couldn't take their pity. And he knew that they wouldn't just stop hanging out with TK and Kari. If he hung out with his friends, he'd have to hang out with them, and see them together.
And now he couldn't even be in this world. He needed to get away. He didn't know how long, but he had to go. He had to take a break from all this, and to sort things out.
Davis whirled around to his computer and picked up his D3.
"Digiport open." he whispered.
-----
"He's been gone for two days. At first I thought something came up and he had to go to that digital world, but now that I see the rest of you are still here." Daisuke's mom trailed off. The worry was evident in her voice. She woke to find Davis gone, and he'd been missing without a trace all day. She'd called Kari, and she, TK, Ken, Yolei, and Cody had convened at the Motomiya house.
Kari looked around Davis's bedroom. It was messy at the best of times, but now it looked as if several had ransacked the place. Davis's family had turned it upside-down and inside-out, desperately searching for clues; a note, something, anything that would tell them where their son was. and why.
"There's no evidence at all that he was kidnapped, and no one heard anything in the night."
"Do you think he might've gone to the DigiWorld on his own?" Yolei asked.
Kari was silent. Her right hand was held by TK's, but her left was in her jacket pocket where she fingered Davis's shattered goggles. She felt guilt and worry creep up on her. She felt bad about fighting with Davis. He had taken her and TK's relationship a lot worse than anyone expected.
"Why would he do something like that?" Jun asked.
"Well, he has been acting a little stranger than normal lately. Quieter, and spending more time in his room alone." Davis's mother said.
Again, silence encompassed the group of DigiDestined. Kari shivered. TK squeezed her hand. She looked at her boyfriend out of the corner of her eye and smiled.
Jun eyed this exchange between Kari and TK. 'Aha.' Jun thought. She knew her brother had a big crush on that Kari girl. She also knew Davis hated TK.
"Hey," Jun spoke up. "Why don't the 5 of you go and look for Davis in the DigiWorld? You know, just in case something was bothering him. You know how Davis overreacts. He probably just went to take a little vacation. You guys can go make sure he's not in any danger. And you're his best friends. If anyone can get him to come back, you guys can, right?"
The DigiDestined nodded, but they were doubtful. Davis had been avoiding all of them since he found out about Kari and TK. Would he even listen to them?
Kari let go of TK's hand and walked around Davis's room, carefully stepping over the clutter. She stopped at his bookshelf. There were no books in sight, just soccer trophies and other soccer paraphernalia. Kari smiled inside. 'Typical Davis.'
She started to move on when she notice shards of broken glass on the top of the bookshelf, and a picture frame face down. She picked up the frame, turned it over, and gasped. It was a picture Davis had taken of her last year at graduation. She could tell by the way the glass had shattered that Davis had smashed it. "Oh Davis." she whispered inaudibly.
Suddenly she felt arms wrap around her waist and TK's head rest on her shoulder. TK looked at the picture. "Wow. He must've just been insanely jealous," TK said, with a bit of a laugh in his voice.
"Mmm." Kari mumbled.
"But then, who wouldn't be? I mean, it's *you* after all," TK whispered in her ear, pulling her tight against him.
Kari smiled. But underneath she felt guilty and worried. She'd never seen Davis act the way he had this past week. She didn't know what he was capable of doing.
'Oh Davis, I'm so sorry! I never meant to hurt you like this.'
But deep down, she knew she *had* meant to hurt him. She knew that both Davis and TK liked her, and she took advantage of that. She was also teasing them, doing things with TK for the sole purpose of making Davis jealous. She really was a selfish brat, wasn't she?
And now. was she really going out with TK because she truly liked him? Or had she taken her game too far? Kari herself wasn't even sure. She told herself that she really liked TK. Of course she did, right? Right?
The guilt ate away at her.
-----
On the sidewalk outside the house, the DigiDestined gathered around.
"Why don't we go home tonight, tell our parents what's going on, get a good night's rest, and we'll head off to look for Davis bright and early in the morning!" Yolei proposed.
"Good idea," Ken agreed, smiling at Yolei. Yolei's heart skipped.
The others expressed their agreement.
"Okay, we'll meet back at my house at 8 AM sharp, okay?" Yolei said.
"Right," everyone nodded, then split up to head home.
"You guys go on without me," TK told Yolei and Cody, who were waiting for him. "I'm gonna walk Kari home."
The group waved goodbye to each other.
Kari and TK set off down the sidewalk.
"You don't have to walk me home, TK. It's not that far away."
"Of course I do. Beautiful girl like you? Anyone would snatch you up!" he exclaimed, grabbing her waist and pulling her to him playfully.
Kari laughed. TK sure was different now that they were going out. He was sweet though. She tried to shrug off the thoughts she'd had earlier. Of course she liked him. Of course she did.
They walked on in silence for a few minutes until Kari sighed heavily.
TK looked at her. "Come on Kari, you're too stressed out. I know you feel guilty, and you shouldn't."
'If only you knew.'
"You don't owe Davis anything for liking you. If you chose me, that's your decision and he needs to accept that."
He was right. Kari smiled. "I'm just. worried, that's all. I mean, I've never seen Davis this upset."
"Kari, this is *Davis* we're talking about, remember? He's probably only doing this because he knew you'd be worried. He wants the attention from you. Come on, he's just jealous cuz I got you and he didn't."
"You *got* me?! I am not a piece of meat, Takeru!" Kari snapped. She stormed ahead.
"Kari! Kari, please! That's not what I meant, and you know it!" He caught up to her and told a hold of her shoulders. "Come on Kari, you're too stressed out." He rubbed her shoulders.
He thought she had only snapped at him because she was stressed. Kari decided to let him think that. She sighed.
"Just calm down, okay?" TK soothed. "We're making a bigger deal out of this than we should. We'll go find Davis tomorrow, get him to come back, he'll get over it, and we'll all go on with normal lives."
-----
Davis wandered around the DigiWorld. After a few hours here, he was already feeling better. Just allowing himself to get away from it all really cleared his head. He didn't have to face Kari, or TK, or any of his friends, or anything. He didn't have to face his life. Life in the DigiWorld was so much less stressful.
Davis walked along a cliff, wondering what he'd do now. He was not at all prepared to go back home, not now, not any time soon.
Suddenly he remembered that Gray kid and his offer. Davis had told him yesterday that he was in, but he didn't really know *what* he was in. 'To keep the Digital world free for its chosen children.'
Davis decided he'd go to Gray, meet him, check him out. Find out what he wanted from him. Find out what exactly he had in mind. Helping him out a bit would be a good distraction for a little while.
Davis pulled out his cell phone and brought up the memory. Gray's number flashed across the screen and began dialing.
Again, the other end was picked up almost immediately, as if Gray had been anticipating the call.
"Gray."
"This is Daisuke Motomiya."
"Ah, Motomiya. I've been waiting for you."
"Sorry. I've been distracted."
"It's perfectly fine. I knew you would come on your own time. Are you ready, Daisuke?"
-----
To be continued.