New A/N: Nothing to say except this is the revised version of Chapter Two!



Taichi sipped another mug of coffee. If he was correct, that was his tenth cup.

He had felt so horrible about what he had said to his sister that he had been unable to sleep. Something had just come over him.

He practically dropped his cup when he heard a terrible scream come from Hikari's room.

"What the . . .?" He sprinted over and threw open the door.

The sheets on her bed were unmade, and she was nowhere to be found. Wind howled sinisterly as it blew through the open window. Open window? It hadn't been open before; he had shut it himself earlier.

Taichi went over to it and peered over the sill. His breath caught in his throat when he saw Hikari laying on the sidewalk three stories down.

Blindly, he left the room and ran outside. In a reckless manner, he dashed down the staircase and onto the street. There were absolutely no cars and no people to be seen. Even the city nearby seemed to be silent. Taichi knelt by his sister's side. Don't move an injured person. That was the first thing that came to his mind. Tears frozen in place midway down his cheeks, he took her pulse. Faint. But there was one.

A sigh of relief left his mouth. Elevate her legs above the heart . . . or is that for people in shock? I don't know!  He felt desperate. Call nine-one-one!

"But the phone's inside!" He wailed to no one in particular.

Cell phone . . . shit! He left it in his coat pocket, which was in the apartment. He saw two glaring eyes shining from down the road. Wait a minute . . . not eyes! Headlights! People! They might have a phone! He waved wildly, trying to flag the car down. Thankfully, it stopped.

"What's wrong?" A weary-looking businessman asked. Then he saw Hikari facedown on the sidewalk. "Oh, my."

"Do you have a cell phone?" Taichi's voice sounded squeaky.

"Why, yes, yes," the man said, and took it out. "Should I call an ambulance?"

"YES!" Taichi roared.

Taken aback, the businessman quickly dialed the number. "Yes? Hello. We have an injured girl here."

Go faster! Go faster!  Taichi wanted to shout, glancing at his comatose sister. Soon, the wail of an ambulance siren could be heard in the distance.




"She suffered a punctured lung, three broken ribs, massive bleeding, broken nose, and a slight concussion," Doctor Enna murmured, expression giving away his exhaustion and grief for seeing similar cases all the time, sad stories of suicide attempts, and the even sadder ones when the patients were beyond help.

Mr. and Mrs. Yagami had been contacted, but hadn't arrived yet. Taichi felt like he'd been run over by a train multiple times. "Will she . . ." Taichi swallowed. "Will she be alright?"

Despite the late hour, he had also called Takeru, Yamato, and Miyako. The others wouldn't answer the phone call.

"Ms. Yagami is a very lucky girl," said the doctor. "She'll live, but she'll be in the hospital for around a week or two."

 "A week?" Taichi sighed. "Wow."

"You don't look too good yourself, Mr. Yagami," Doctor Enna told him. "You should get some rest."

"No, I'm alright. Can I see her now?"

"Not yet. She's undergoing surgery. I'll tell you when you're allowed."

"Okay," Taichi murmured.

"Take care of yourself." The doctor walked off.

Takeru and Yamato both burst through the doors, startling the desk clerk. "Is she okay? What happened?" Takeru cried, looking stricken. Taichi rubbed his temples tiredly and repeated what the doctor had said before. It was going to be a long night.




Like the doctor said, Hikari was in the hospital for a week and a half, but was removed from the Intensive Care Unit after the first night. Hikari was home now, and despite her begging her family to let her go about her normal activities, they refused.

One good thing did come out of the entire ordeal--the dreams stopped. Hikari felt more rested than she had in months. After awhile, she was allowed to go outside and hang out with her friends, for which she would be eternally grateful.

It was back to regular trips to the Digital World, shopping at the mall with Miyako and other girls she knew, checking out guys, (mostly one in particular), and so on, so forth.

One day, Miyako ran up from behind Hikari and grabbed her hand excitedly. "C'mon, Hikari! Let's go." Although Miyako didn't specify where she meant by "go", Hikari knew.

It was a beautiful day, and the time was right to have a picnic! So they took off towards the school, where already Takeru, Daisuke, and Iori waited.


"So . . . hot." Daisuke complained as they trudged along a grassy path, searching for a good spot to eat.

"Shut up, Dai," Miyako snapped. "It's perfect weather."

"It's comfortable," Hikari chimed in.

Daisuke blushed. "Hikari, you're exactly right!" He exclaimed.

Takeru sighed. Eventually, the group situated themselves under a large, elderly tree whose exact species was unidentifiable. The thick trunk sprouted upwards almost to the point where the top was beyond sight. The huge blue leaves shaded the people eating happily, for some limbs leaned down strangely far.

"My compliments to the chef," Iori said quietly as he bit into a sandwich.

"It's delicious," Takeru agreed. "But . . . uh . . . What's in it?"

"Why, raw sardines and relish, of course!" Miyako cried. "With a hint of jalapeno, for flavor." The others stopped chewing.

She laughed at their reactions. "I was just trying something new."

Hikari felt her stomach lurch. "Uh, I'll be right back."

"I'll go with you." Takeru stood up at the same time she did.

"I wanna--OW!" Daisuke almost got to his feet but was pulled back down by Miyako and Iori as the other two disappeared into the bushes.

Once out of an earshot, Hikari groaned and mocked gagging. "I can't believe I ate that."

"I think the raw fish is catching up to me," Takeru mumbled, a little pale.

She felt nauseous herself. "There's a lake over there. C'mon." They both made their way to the clear, running water. It sparkled like thousands of precious gems as it ran over the rocks. The light noise calmed Hikari and Takeru, who now sat side by side at the edge of the water. "So . . ." Hikari trailed off.

"So, what?" Takeru asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Just thinking."

They lapsed into silence once again. Hikari jumped thirty feet into the air when something wet and cold splashed against her nose. She looked up. "Rain clouds?"

Indeed they were. The once blue and happy skies were turning gray with perspiration. It began to pour in a heartbeat.

"Geez," Takeru murmured, and pulled Hikari under the thick canopy of trees. "We can stay here, I guess, unless it starts to thunder."

On cue, lightning illuminated everything, and was quickly followed by a heavy cracking noise. They both groaned.

"As long as we stay away from the trees, we'll be okay. I think . . ." Hikari trailed off doubtfully.

"Yeah. Let's get out of here."

The storm was right overhead. Hikari suspected there were two fronts moving in, for the amount of lightning was too great for just one to produce. That's when, with a brilliant flash, the huge oak next to them was struck down the middle by a bolt of lightning and split in two. One side fell towards Takeru and Hikari.

"Jump!" Takeru shouted, and together they barely managed to roll to safety. The burning wood landed, but the sound was drowned out by another roll of thunder.

"That was too close," Hikari said, as they saw a small group of Koromon bounce to shelter.

"We have to contact Daisuke and the others on the D-Terminal!" Takeru shouted. The winds were now wailing heavily as they whipped past their faces and through their hair. "Do you have yours?" Hikari hollered back. "I left mine at home!"

"Yeah!" He gripped the grey device carefully, and typed in a message. They now were both running wildly back to where they had set up their picnic only a half hour ago.




Miyako, Daisuke, and Iori stood by the nearest portal to the Real World, desperately searching for Hikari and Takeru, but not daring to go too far off. "If we don't find them soon, we have to go back without them!" Iori shouted over the roar of the wind.

"We can't leave Hikari!" Daisuke cried.

"Iori's right!" Miyako told him. "Dai, this storm doesn't look like it's blowing over. I'm sure they'll find shelter. As much as I hate to leave them here, we have to, or else we won't be much good to them dead!"

"But we're not gonna die, you baka!" Daisuke yelled, but his argument seemed weaker now. A lightning bolt struck the ground right next to him, making him yelp.

"Let's go!" Miyako shouted, and grabbing Dai and Iori, the three of them went through the portal. It closed behind them.




The rain seemed to just bounce off his head, leaving no trace of dampness. His eyes scanned the area, looking for whom he was planning to kill. Then he saw them. But wait . . . they were running. Did they know he was there? And why were there two teens? Was he supposed to kill the blonde- haired boy, too? He didn't think so . . . but if he got in the way, he would have no choice. With the swiftness of a cat and the stealth of a cheetah, he leapt through the trees along side the girl and boy unnoticed.

"How much longer, Takeru?" Hikari cried, feeling tired and weak.

"We're close. But I . . . " Takeru trailed off. He didn't want to tell her that his D-Terminal wasn't working. He pulled her under the cavernous protection of a slightly uprooted tree.

Meanwhile, the man glanced down at them. 'Now?' He thought. 'Now,' came the whispered reply. He jumped down from the limbs in clear view of them. Hikari was the first to see him. "What?!" She cried in disbelief. "It can't be you . . .how did you get here?"


Original A/N: Eh, relatively short chapter. (So what else is new?) Don't know how long it'll take me to get the next one uploaded, but I'll try my best. e_e Oh, and if you can guess who the strange man was at the end of the chap, I'll give you. . . ::dramatic pause:: . . . a cookie!

~Momiji Wa Baka, formerly known as Momiji-chan