Days later, a happier Kari glared at a television remote.
An odd thing it is, that all televisions work fine, apart form the ones that are put into schools. Kari was finding that this particular one was no different.
'And to think, I used to LIKE Panasonic…' she thought to herself angrily. The kids were being surprisingly obedient today, and sat at their desks watching the TV with great interest as it buzzed between various channels.
"No, no Miss! You have to press the thingy, and that should make the other menu thingy appear..." said a particularly smart boy named Keitaro. Kari cast him a brief look, and said,
"Which thingy?"
"That one! The- no, the other one!"
She sighed in frustration as Mrs. Horaki moved from her seat at the back of the class and came to the front. She took the remote with a smile.
"Confusing machines, aren't they?" she said, and began to fiddle with the accursed thing.
"I know. I could never get them to work, I always get Takeru to do it, he's much better with that stuff-"
As Kari spoke, the TV became clear as it tuned into one of it's many channels. Both women looked at it absently as it showed the world news, not really paying attention.
"An incredible story of survival was concluded today, when a man who was long thought dead…"
"-so I don't really understand it."
"...for over six years was found in the Pacific Ocean yesterday evening."
"Six years?" Horaki said, suddenly focusing on the screen. "Wow."
"Taichi
Kamiya was found..."
Kari's jaw fell.
"...floating on what appears to be a crudely built raft. Reports are
sketchy at the moment, but we believe he is sporting various wounds. More on
this as details come in."
For a long time, she didn't move at all. Horaki looked at her, wondering... Kamiya? Wasn't that her name before she had married?
The younger girl appeared to be shaking as she continued to stare at the screen, until in a very small voice, she said,
"Tai...?"
Clearly, she was in no state to continue the lesson.
Horaki quickly took her out of the room. Kari blankly followed, as though she was in a trance.
"He's... Alive?"
"Takaishi, the boy on the news, do you know him?"
She stared at her for a long time, before finally whispering,
"He's my brother..."
----------
In the east, a young man leaned back on his cabin bed.
He couldn't believe it- his plan had worked. He was alive, and back in civilization. He was certain that he was going to die when the storm had destroyed his raft, but by some miracle, a ship had appeared and lifted him -literally- from the water.
He had done it. He had survived for God knows how long on an island by himself. He had hunted, he had made shelter, he had made fire, and managed to make quite a mess of himself in the process.
'But, I'm alive,' he reminded himself.
The cabin he had been given wasn't flashy. It was small and cramped, but it was still a great deal better than what he had been in for the past few years- a cave. But when you are forced to live with only the bare necessities and less, you learn to appreciate such things.
His cave, which had served as his home, was dark and often cold. It had been roughly cut, more of a crack really, burying itself deep into the tall jagged 'hill' that had formed one half of the island. Most certainly, not the nicest of places, but he made do, and it did at least provide shelter against the wind and rain.
This room was a stark contrast. Tai found the clean crisp lines of its décor quite interesting and strangely hypnotising... The layout too, was quite amusing. A simple box, with a door to one side leading to a small bathroom. A set of draws stood near one corner by the front door, with his bed opposite. To anyone else, it would be boring, but not to Tai; he found it fascinating. He'd thought of places like this for so long, they had become close to myth in his mind.
He heard quiet footsteps, then the front door opening. He made no move to acknowledge the presence of whoever had come to see him.
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, until he slowly moved his eyes to face the dark haired aging man at the door.
"How are you doing?" the crewman asked.
He made no response other than continuing to look at him.
"Look, I know you aren't very chatty, but we need to know if you have anywhere to stay once we get into port. Do you have any relatives?"
He remained quiet for a little while longer. Speaking... It was a strange notion for him now. He had hardly said anything in three years. Before that, it had been to imaginary friends, a tactic he had read was useful to ward off boredom. It had worked, until he had realised quite how futile such an idea was.
Words seemed pointless… But he wasn't on his island anymore. He was back in civilization. He had to go back to his old ways.
"Yes," he said. His voice was deep and held a quiet strength, seeming ill suited to someone of his stature. "Two parents..." he paused, "...and a sister."
"Okay, so the Kamiya family... How old is your sister?"
How old was Kari? Well...
"How long have I been gone?"
"Well... The plane went down... About six, six and a half years ago? About that. I don't know exactly."
Six years? Had it really been that long?
Tai's right hand twitched.
"She will be... Twenty..." he said slowly, moving his gaze to the ceiling. The crewman looked at him sadly.
"Alright. We'll try and get in contact with them. Get some rest, we'll be reaching Japan tomorrow morning, so you can see them again soon. Oh, here are some clean clothes, so you can get out of those rags and get warm."
Tai remained silent as the elder man placed a pile of clothing and boots beside his bed and left. He was caught in a swirl of emotions- anger, shock, fear... Did he want to see them again? Would they cast him aside again?
Did it even matter?
He stared at the ceiling for quite some time.
----------
As the front door to the apartment opened, TK looked up from his laptop's screen with a small frown on his face. It could only be Kari, and she normally didn't come back until late afternoon, but it was still midday.
But upon seeing her appear from the hallway into the living area, it was quite clear to him why she was home so early.
She looked completely freaked out. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she kept sniffing, as though she was about to break down at any moment. Something had happened...
Immediately, TK was on his feet and moving swiftly to her.
"Kari? What's wrong?"
She didn't answer. Suddenly, the phone rang, startling her. Yet, she didn't move towards him, only looked at the ringing object. Her husband understood the unspoken request, and answered it.
"Hello? Listen, this isn't the best of times... What? Yes, I am... She is, why...?"
He looked at her as he listened to the person on the other end of the line. The more he heard, the paler he got.
"Okay... Tomorrow? All right, thank you… Bye."
He hung up, whilst continuing to hold Kari's eyes. His mouth was dry, and his eyes were wide and staring. He couldn't believe it.
He just could not believe it.
"He's alive..." TK whispered. Kari nodded, and leapt forward, quickly closing the gap between them and embracing him tightly. They both let their tears flow.
----------
It was not long before Sora made contact, shortly followed by Davis, who had heard of the story at their workplaces: Sora, on the radio, Davis on the old TV in the corner of the café.
And, as with TK and Kari, they were rather shocked by it.
It was many things- exciting, terrifying, insane, a relief: to them, Tai had been dead just a few hours ago! It was as if he had just come back to life. They had all immediately taken leave of work and hurried to the Takaishi residence to watch as more information came to light, but as of yet there had not been much new.
All they knew was that he had appeared in the middle of the ocean out of nowhere, holding onto the remains of a wooden raft. The American container ship, the 'Lady May', had spotted him and lifted his unconscious body from the water. No one knew where he had been; apparently he had been reluctant to speak to the ship's crew about it, and as they were the only source to the rest of the world so far, they would have to wait until Tai reached the mainland to know the truth.
"I don't get it!" Davis cried in exasperation. "How the hell can someone float around for a few years and survive?!"
"He can't have been in the water for that long," TK answered thoughtfully. "No one can live through that. He must have been washed up on an island somewhere. How else could he get the wood to make a raft?"
Kari, who was currently latched onto her husband for support, hugged him tighter and said in a wavering voice,
"An island? He was all alone on an island for six years...? Oh God! He, he hated being alone!"
"We don't know if he was alone dear... There might have been natives? Who knows? When he gets back, we'll find out."
Sora had remained silent ever since she arrived. She sat with one hand fiddling with the hem of her shirt, the other clutching a mug of hot chocolate. Her eyes were focused straight on the television, watching for any updates with unparalleled zeal. Suddenly, she spoke with a surprisingly calm voice. It was as if the shock had forced all emotion from her.
"...do... Do you think he's alright?"
TK looked at her sadly.
"I don't know... They said he had some cuts and things, but nothing specific."
"No, I mean... Is HE alright? Emotionally?"
He had his doubts, but Takeru being the oldest male in the group had immediately taken it upon himself to be the support point- just like with Kari, all those years ago.
"I'm sure he'll be fine. I mean, this is Taichi Kamiya! Nothing stops him!"
He didn't believe it, but what else could he do? He felt so powerless, yet as long as they could draw strength from his words, then it was okay.
"Yeah... It's Tai, he can do anything. He'll be okay. ...he'll be okay..."
----------
Tai glared at his reflection.
He stood in the small bathroom of his cabin, looking over the sink and into the mirror. In front of him were various toiletries that the older crewman had brought him an hour ago- soap, scissors, deodorant, shaver, it was all there, and he would need to use almost all of it if he were going to be presentable in public again.
It was not that he was really angry with his appearance -being alone for so long had taught him that there was a lot more to things than just how they looked- it was more of a confusion over who exactly he was looking at. It was an incredibly odd experience. He'd seen himself in water occasionally, but he hadn't paid any attention to it...
It was only now though, that he could see clearly how different he was.
His face was tanned, rough, and coursed, the result of the ocean wind and sun. Dirt and grime filled the creases in his skin, making the lines harsher then they should be, and creating the effect of dark patches around his eyes. And his eyes! So dark, so tired, they stared back him and bored into him, all kindness seeming to have died in the brown orbs long ago.
His expression, though he felt it was at ease, was quite a frown. The far sides of his eyebrows seemed to sag downwards, displaying the sadness he felt, and the grim attitude he had developed over the last few years. This had the effect of making his eyes seem a little smaller, but all the more powerful. It was no surprise that the crew of the ship seemed so frightened of him- he was barely even trying, and yet was even intimidating himself with a simple frown. If he gave it his all, he could probably even freak out 'cool man' Matt now.
With a slight shrug, he ignored the scars that ran along his left cheek, and returned to the task at hand. He picked up a pair scissors and finished cutting back his beard. It had grown incredibly quickly, and without a shaver there was little he could do to stop it. It was annoying at first, mainly because food kept getting stuck in it, but he had learn to live with it.
He continued to cut it until it was just stubble. As much as he had wanted to rid himself of everything that reminded him of the island, he couldn't bring himself to get rid of his beard completely- so he decided to keep a short one, a trophy, almost, of what he had accomplished.
He'd already cut his hair, short how he'd wanted it to be. On the island, he had taken to cutting it with a penknife, which had become a chore (especially once the blade began to get really blunt), so he had developed a preference for it being about three centimetres long- the shorter it was, the longer it would take to grow back. It was now nothing compared to its old length, before this had all started, but it didn't really matter too much. After all, it still stuck up like it used to, so it pretty much looked the same... Only without it's rather large amount of dramatic flair.
Finally, Tai filled up the basin with warm water (which he considered a very pleasing luxury), and began to use it and the soap to clean the dirt from his many wrinkles. Once he had done so, he looked back up at himself to see a man who did not look so harsh, but still quite intimidating.
A moment later, there was a knock at the cabin door- 'probably that crewman again,' he thought.
He moved to the door and opened it to see his suspicions confirmed, revealing the forty-something year old man's face. The sailor smiled at seeing the ex-castaway.
"Ah good, you've got those clothes on then. Good, they'll keep you warm till tomorrow. We couldn't find your parents, they must have moved or something, but we did manage to get hold of your sister. You will need to go to the hospital first, but once they're finished with you, you can go with her and her husband."
'Husband?!'
Tai's expression must have changed, though he did not feel it. The elder man certainly noticed it though.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Husband..." he croaked, "Kari's... Married?"
"Well that's what we were told. I didn't catch his name..."
Understanding suddenly hit the sailor.
"Oh... You didn't know, did you? It must have happened... Whilst you were away, right?"
Tai numbly nodded.
"Don't worry, Mr. Kamiya. I'm sure he's a nice enough guy. And you'll meet him tomorrow anyway, so if you DON'T like him, you can deck him then."
The young man couldn't help but smile at that, remembering his old protectiveness towards his little sister.
"Yes... Tomorrow..." he said quietly, beginning to wonder who else, if anyone, would bother to show up. His right hand twitched.
"Aren't you going to change those?"
Tai looked down at the old strips of once white cloth that were wrapped around his hand. They extended from his knuckles to halfway up his lower arm, imitating a gauntlet. He didn't really need them anymore, the wound had healed about as much as it ever would, but they gave him some sense of comfort.
"No."
----------
The next morning, the Lady May slowly pulled into Odaiba Harbour. It was ironically graceful for such a massive ship, it's red and white bulk seeming to cut through the water with ease as it sailed towards the port. By the cargo cranes and railway tracks built into the concrete, was the crew access ramp. And at the base of it stood seemingly hundreds of news crews all waiting to catch a glimpse of the boy who had defeated all the odds, and hoping to be the first to hear the story of how he survived. A number of normal people who were simply interested in what was happening were present too, adding to the disorganised mass. Police were with them, sealing off a walkway though them to a patrol car, providing security and a quick way to the local hospital for the returning castaway.
Somewhere in this mass of cameras, reporters and crews stood four young adults, all watching the approaching ship carefully, and reeling in disgust at those who wished to use their friend's predicament to further their own careers and fill their pockets. Still, they watched the ship that carried something far more important to them than the cargo- their old leader. They didn't have to be here, but nothing short of a hurricane was going to take them away, nor deny them the chance to see him again.
To say that Kari, TK, Davis and Sora were nervous was an understatement. They were breathless with anticipation, of seeing him, of hearing him, and of possible forgiveness for what they had done to him all those years ago.
Sora had something else to consider though- hope not only for forgiveness, but a chance to become closer to the one whom she had hurt so deeply. Perhaps she could remedy the mistake she made back then...
Ever so slowly, the ship pulled up to them, with the harbour pilots leading the way. Eventually, it stopped, and was tied to the land by the dockworkers. The boarding ramp was moved into position- a hatch in the side of the container's hull, and a silence fell over the crowd.
The door opened inwards, and a dark-skinned man wearing jeans, a grey sweater and a woollen hat stepped out. He jogged down the gangplank, meeting up with a pair of policemen at the bottom, and began to talk to them quietly.
After a short while, the sailor headed back up the ramp and into the ship, whilst the two officers signalled to the patrol car and six other policemen. They all appeared to tense up.
The news crews took this as a sign, and focused upon the doorway. The locals of Odaiba watched carefully. The four Digidestined fixed their attention rigidly on the hatch, waiting for any movement.
First, two sailors (one of which was the man who had spoken to the police a few moments ago) came out and headed over to the dock offices. Then an older man with dark hair appeared, looked around, and began to walk slowly down the ramp.
Once he was about halfway down the gangplank, a tall thin man appeared from the Lady May. He crouched slightly as he came through the door, paused, then came to his full height.
As his piercing brown eyes gazed down upon the crowd with what looked like distain, Kari knew without a doubt that her brother had, indeed, returned.
He wore simple clothing, clearly taken from the ship's crew. His dark blue trousers looked a size or two too big, only held up by his belt. His shirt was a similar dark colour, short sleeved, revealing thin, ropey-muscled arms, developed from a combination of work to stay alive and lack of food. Around his right lower arm and hand were dirty bandages imitating a gauntlet. Upon his feet were a pair of steel-toed brown worker's boots, which, as he began to stride down the ramp, clomped heavily upon the wooden surface.
However, as he got closer, the spectators could see that the most startling part of him was his face. His left cheek looked as if it had been smashed, for it was now pitted with scars which were barely covered by the stubble that ran from his chin to his sideburns. His brown hair was short, though keeping its wild style of when he was younger.
The biggest change of all though, were his brown eyes. They were surrounded by seemingly darker skin and slightly lowered eyebrows, resulting in such an intense gaze that all whom he looked directly at couldn't help but feel unnerved. It was as if he were analysing them, considering them, wondering how he could kill them and use their carcass to extend his own life- which wasn't too far from the truth. After all, everything else he had seen living until recently had been just a source of food.
The spell of silence that had seemed to take the crowd abruptly broke as he reached them. A particularly brave reporter leaned forward across the police barrier, microphone in hand, and said,
"Mr Kamiya! Can you tell us what it's like to be back in civilization?"
There was no time to even begin to answer before the dam broke, and a torrent of questions and noise flooded over him. Tai looked completely bewildered, before his face seemed to darken. Ignoring the cheering crowds and multitude of questions that were being fired at him, he followed the two officers towards the police car.
"Mr. Kamiya! Where have you been all this time?"
"...feel to see people again?"
"...was it like... be alone?"
"Who did you... the most?"
The Digidestined were furious as they pushed their way towards him, desperate to see him closely. Tai didn't like being alone, that much they knew, but being in a crowd all talking about him could be just as bad. None of them cared for him, but judging by the look on his face, he already knew that.
"Taichi! Please, tell the viewers at home, what did it take to stay alive, being alone for all this time?"
This, oddly, caught his attention. The navy blue clad man stopped, glancing at the reporter for a moment out of the corner of his eye, before ambling in an almost relaxed manner towards him with a quizzical look upon his face.
"What do you care?" he asked, surprising his four old friends as they neared. He spoke quieter and slower than before, and by all rights had a voice that could easily be ignored; yet, it held a hidden power that seemed to demand attention. The crowd began to quiet down to hear him.
"Well..." the reporter said, taken off guard by the simple question, "the viewers at home want to know."
"Do they," Taichi answered flatly, giving his… 'prey', a cool and calculating look. "Is that really why you are asking me, why you all want to know?" he said as his voice became louder to address the other news crews. "You don't care, you just want to sell your stories to get rich. You just want drama and action."
"Well... It's always a good thing. We have to get involved-"
"You want to be involved," Tai cut him off.
"Yeah."
"I see."
Tai began to turn away and made as if to continue to the waiting car, when suddenly he span on his heel and slammed his fist into the reporter's face. The man fell back, and a stunned silence descended.
"Aren't you entertained?" Tai shouted out as he backed away from the fallen man, arms apart in a gesture of contempt, excess strips of cloth hanging from his bandaged right hand. "Aren't you pleased?" His voice was aggressive, mocking, dry and frightening. "Isn't this why you are here?"
And still, no one replied.
He spat on the floor, turned, and stalked onwards to the patrol car, ignoring all of the people behind him. Without another word, he got in, slammed the door, and waited for it to set off.
There was a bang on the window.
Tai frowned, and looked up to see what fool now wanted to us his life to gain recognition. He was certainly surprised when he came face to face with a young brown haired girl with tearful eyes. Next to her was another girl, a redhead, also crying, who looked a little older. Behind were two men- a blonde and another redhead...
'Wait a minute…'
Words could not describe what Kari felt as she looked into the tired eyes of her older brother. She could see it, he recognised them, but he did nothing. The image was burnt into her mind, of him not moving, not speaking, just... staring.
Even as the car began to move, he refused to look away.