Okay, I finally update Landslide. It took forever to do this. Sorry.
It's kind of short, but it's a start. Anyway, here we go.
Tai and the Izumis went to visit Dr. Makoto the following day. He led them back into a comfortable room and closed the door behind them. Tai watched Koushirou sit down, obviously more frightened than he would ever begin to let on. Tai wanted to grab a hold of him and never let him go but restrained the urge.
"I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but we haven't, so I guess we should just get right into it," Dr. Makoto said, breaking the short silence.
"I agree, Dr. What are we going to do?" Mara asked.
"Well, unless I'm wrong, your doctor likely gave you a mountain of things to read about leukemia and you likely read them all from cover to end, right?" Mara nodded that she had. "Let me start by saying that having caught Koushirou's leukemia this early gives him a very high chance of beating it. You are very lucky, young man," the doctor said, nodding toward Koushirou. Koushirou didn't reply. He seemed to have lost his voice the second they walked through the door.
"What we are going to do is put Koushirou on the standard rounds of chemotherapy." Dr. Makoto went on to explain all the possible side effects of the chemo and answered the dozens of questions from Mara. About an hour later they left the office, having made and appointment at the hospital for the beginning of the next week. The drive home was one that was much more animated than the drive to the office. Mara was singing and Tai was busy talking like normal. Only Koushirou was quiet. He spent the drive looking out the window, lost in his world. Tai and Mara attempted to get him to talk but he really didn't feel like it.
The fact was that Koushirou was scared. More scared than he'd ever been in his whole life, short as it may have been. All the days in the digital world were nothing compared to this. Devimon? Bah. Etemon? Yeah, sure. Not scary. Cancer? Now that was scary.
The heart of the matter, Koushirou had decided sometime during his ride home, was that in the digital world he could rely on himself, his partner, and his friends, all of whom he trusted implicitly. With this, he had to rely on doctors and the imperfect science of medicine. Also, as dangerous as the digital world had been, there wasn't anything that made him feel mortal. After all the challenges that the Digi-Destined had been through they felt like they were bulletproof. Now came cancer. Koushirou now felt quite mortal.
Sometime during the ride he had fallen asleep because he awoke to a light tapping on the window of the car. Koushirou groggily opened his eyes and looked out the foggy window to see Tai standing outside it with that goofy grin on his face. Tai motioned for him to get out of the car already and started walking away, back to their building.
Koushirou slowly woke up. He didn't really remember feeling all that tired when he had gotten in the car, but during the long drive home on the highway the rhythmic sounds of the tires had put him out like a candle's flame on a windy day. He stretched and opened the door and stepped out into the lovely frigid weather. Koushirou trudged after Tai and his mum and followed them to their apartment.
Mara started fixing lunch for the two of them, since she herself was too nervous to even want to consider eating at this point. After a meal of sandwiches and orange juice she excused herself and walked back into her bedroom and closed the door, presumably to take a little nap.
"Koushirou, are you feeling bad right now? You've hardly said a single word all day. In fact, I don't think you said anything at the doctor's office at all."
"I don't know Tai, I just feel scared, I guess."
"You don't have to be afraid, Koushirou. We're all here for you. You'll beat this thing by summer, you just wait and see," Tai told him, wrapping the boy in a huge, enthusiastic bear hug.
"Thanks, Tai," Koushirou smiled and relaxed against him. After a little while Koushirou got up. "I think I'm going to go take a little nap, Tai. I just got incredibly tired all of a sudden."
"So I'm not comfortable enough?" Tai asked jokingly. "Go on, Koushirou. I'll see you in a little while."
"You're pretty comfortable but your ribs are poking me in the head. How do you eat so much and still be skinnier than I am?" Koushirou grinned at him and walked back into their bedroom. Tai heard the door close and his eyes filled with tears. He buried his face in his hands and cried.
Tai eventually composed himself and started flipping through the television channels to try to take his mind off the current situation. Not surprisingly, nothing was on except garbage. He flipped it off and tried to read through a soccer magazine but found that equally unentertaining. He looked over at his coat and decided to go take a stroll to the mall to get his mind cleared. Nothing was better to distract oneself than watching all the weird people at the mall.
Tai scribbled a quick note to Mara and Koushirou and quietly closed the door. He soon decided that it was quite cold but he picked his pace up and made it to the mall before his ears went completely numb. As he entered the stream of humanity he felt a little better. He grabbed a soda from a little stand and took a seat and watched the people roll by. He sat in the same spot for a good half hour, losing himself in the throngs of mothers and little children scurrying to and fro.
Tai grinned as he watched a little boy throwing coins in a fountain. He finished his soda and walked over to the fountain after tossing his cup away. He reached into his pocket and fished out a coin himself. He looked upward, through the skylight that lit the fountain, and made his wish. The coin flipped through the air and landed in the water with hardly a splash. He smiled faintly and walked away. His mood was markedly improved and he soon left the mall and made his way back to the Izumi household. Even the bitter wind didn't seem quite as cold on his return home.
Sorry this took so long, but my little notebook that had all my notes for this story as well as a few others has completely vanished from the face of the earth. I've given up on finding it now so I'm just going to write this story as it comes to me. I can't guarantee that it will end up the same way as I had planned originally, so it might not be quite as sad as I was intending for it to be. Who knows? Maybe Koushirou will beat the leukemia after all... There will be a lot of emotions coming up, I do know that much, so get ready.
Let me know what you all think in a review if you would be so kind.
energy
Tai and the Izumis went to visit Dr. Makoto the following day. He led them back into a comfortable room and closed the door behind them. Tai watched Koushirou sit down, obviously more frightened than he would ever begin to let on. Tai wanted to grab a hold of him and never let him go but restrained the urge.
"I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but we haven't, so I guess we should just get right into it," Dr. Makoto said, breaking the short silence.
"I agree, Dr. What are we going to do?" Mara asked.
"Well, unless I'm wrong, your doctor likely gave you a mountain of things to read about leukemia and you likely read them all from cover to end, right?" Mara nodded that she had. "Let me start by saying that having caught Koushirou's leukemia this early gives him a very high chance of beating it. You are very lucky, young man," the doctor said, nodding toward Koushirou. Koushirou didn't reply. He seemed to have lost his voice the second they walked through the door.
"What we are going to do is put Koushirou on the standard rounds of chemotherapy." Dr. Makoto went on to explain all the possible side effects of the chemo and answered the dozens of questions from Mara. About an hour later they left the office, having made and appointment at the hospital for the beginning of the next week. The drive home was one that was much more animated than the drive to the office. Mara was singing and Tai was busy talking like normal. Only Koushirou was quiet. He spent the drive looking out the window, lost in his world. Tai and Mara attempted to get him to talk but he really didn't feel like it.
The fact was that Koushirou was scared. More scared than he'd ever been in his whole life, short as it may have been. All the days in the digital world were nothing compared to this. Devimon? Bah. Etemon? Yeah, sure. Not scary. Cancer? Now that was scary.
The heart of the matter, Koushirou had decided sometime during his ride home, was that in the digital world he could rely on himself, his partner, and his friends, all of whom he trusted implicitly. With this, he had to rely on doctors and the imperfect science of medicine. Also, as dangerous as the digital world had been, there wasn't anything that made him feel mortal. After all the challenges that the Digi-Destined had been through they felt like they were bulletproof. Now came cancer. Koushirou now felt quite mortal.
Sometime during the ride he had fallen asleep because he awoke to a light tapping on the window of the car. Koushirou groggily opened his eyes and looked out the foggy window to see Tai standing outside it with that goofy grin on his face. Tai motioned for him to get out of the car already and started walking away, back to their building.
Koushirou slowly woke up. He didn't really remember feeling all that tired when he had gotten in the car, but during the long drive home on the highway the rhythmic sounds of the tires had put him out like a candle's flame on a windy day. He stretched and opened the door and stepped out into the lovely frigid weather. Koushirou trudged after Tai and his mum and followed them to their apartment.
Mara started fixing lunch for the two of them, since she herself was too nervous to even want to consider eating at this point. After a meal of sandwiches and orange juice she excused herself and walked back into her bedroom and closed the door, presumably to take a little nap.
"Koushirou, are you feeling bad right now? You've hardly said a single word all day. In fact, I don't think you said anything at the doctor's office at all."
"I don't know Tai, I just feel scared, I guess."
"You don't have to be afraid, Koushirou. We're all here for you. You'll beat this thing by summer, you just wait and see," Tai told him, wrapping the boy in a huge, enthusiastic bear hug.
"Thanks, Tai," Koushirou smiled and relaxed against him. After a little while Koushirou got up. "I think I'm going to go take a little nap, Tai. I just got incredibly tired all of a sudden."
"So I'm not comfortable enough?" Tai asked jokingly. "Go on, Koushirou. I'll see you in a little while."
"You're pretty comfortable but your ribs are poking me in the head. How do you eat so much and still be skinnier than I am?" Koushirou grinned at him and walked back into their bedroom. Tai heard the door close and his eyes filled with tears. He buried his face in his hands and cried.
Tai eventually composed himself and started flipping through the television channels to try to take his mind off the current situation. Not surprisingly, nothing was on except garbage. He flipped it off and tried to read through a soccer magazine but found that equally unentertaining. He looked over at his coat and decided to go take a stroll to the mall to get his mind cleared. Nothing was better to distract oneself than watching all the weird people at the mall.
Tai scribbled a quick note to Mara and Koushirou and quietly closed the door. He soon decided that it was quite cold but he picked his pace up and made it to the mall before his ears went completely numb. As he entered the stream of humanity he felt a little better. He grabbed a soda from a little stand and took a seat and watched the people roll by. He sat in the same spot for a good half hour, losing himself in the throngs of mothers and little children scurrying to and fro.
Tai grinned as he watched a little boy throwing coins in a fountain. He finished his soda and walked over to the fountain after tossing his cup away. He reached into his pocket and fished out a coin himself. He looked upward, through the skylight that lit the fountain, and made his wish. The coin flipped through the air and landed in the water with hardly a splash. He smiled faintly and walked away. His mood was markedly improved and he soon left the mall and made his way back to the Izumi household. Even the bitter wind didn't seem quite as cold on his return home.
Sorry this took so long, but my little notebook that had all my notes for this story as well as a few others has completely vanished from the face of the earth. I've given up on finding it now so I'm just going to write this story as it comes to me. I can't guarantee that it will end up the same way as I had planned originally, so it might not be quite as sad as I was intending for it to be. Who knows? Maybe Koushirou will beat the leukemia after all... There will be a lot of emotions coming up, I do know that much, so get ready.
Let me know what you all think in a review if you would be so kind.
energy