Angel of Light: I SPENT A WHOLE FREAKIN' HOUR AND A HALF ON THIS STORY, AND MY COMPUTER DELEATED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *hyper ventilates* Okay, I'm fine now…no I'm not, but I'll have to live………I am SOOO sorry about the whole mix up with this fic. Please forgive me!

Nancy Takaishi looked down at her son, "It's been a while."

"Yeah", he replied.

This was followed by an awkward silence. Kari fidgeted nervously in her chair. She wasn't sure what to do. Her fiancé didn't really talk about his mother all that much. All she knew was that he lived with her when his parents split up, and that his brother went with their father. Kari also knew that she was more of a workaholic than anything else, and wasn't home all that much. She also knew that when he left his home, she faded away from his life.

"So, how've you been?" Ms. Takaishi asked, breaking the silence.

"I've been good, except the fact that I was injured in war, but other than that I'm doing just fine."

"That's good. Is this where you came after you left?"

T.K. really didn't like this '20 questions' type thing, but complied with it anyways.

"…………No. I was more of a wanderer, until I stumbled upon this little town. I wasn't planning on staying, but I met some people, and they seemed to accept me. I figured that I may as well stay." He was of course, referring to the fact that he had fallen in love.

She nodded. More silence followed.

T.K. was uneasy in this whole situation. He didn't know why that his mother, whom had never really been a part of his life, would all of a sudden show up and pretend to care. He wasn't sure if she was acting and she wanted something, or whether she actually did care. He hoped she did. He decided that he would find out.

"So, what brings you here?" He asked.

This question disturbed her slightly. She knew that he was suspicious of her showing up all of a sudden, but that was expected.

"I, I just realized what I was missing, a little too late. I know that I didn't to a very good job of raising you, as I was never home. I know that I was never there for you, and only cared for my work. I also know that you didn't leave while we were on good terms. I know it's taken me a long time, but I've realized that I was a bad mother. I know that you're suspicious of why I'm here, too. I'm here because I wanted to make it up to you. I know it sounds stupid, and you probably think that I should have just left it, but, I guess you could call it one of those Mom things." she smiled lightly as she said the last part.

"No Mom, It's not entirely your fault. I'm to blame too. I guess I could have been a little more understanding, but I was under a lot of pressure…"

"I guess we're even, then."

A small smile crept up onto T.K.'s face.

Kari sneezed. She looked at her hands in her lap, blushing furiously.

"Bless you." T.K. said.

"Sorry for ruining the moment….."

"Don't be", he told her.

"I hear that this nurse is a friend of yours. Is that correct?" Ms. Takaishi said.

"Yes, she is." T.K. motioned for her to come to him.

"She's also my fiancée." he said this with a little caution. He wasn't sure if that was too fast, or not.

Nancy's face was emotionless, and she was quiet. T.K. and Kari exchanged worried glances.

All feeling of worry disappeared when Ms. Takaishi smiled. "I'm proud of you."

"You know, it would be really nice if you could come to the wedding." Kari told her.

"It would be my pleasure. When is it going to be?"

Both their faces fell. "Well, we're not sure. It all depends on whether…..on when my brother and his wife get back." Kari told her.

"Oh? Where did they go?"

"Like T.K., Tai, my brother, was sent off to fight in the war. T.K. was injured badly, and couldn't fight anymore so he came home. Tai, on the other hand, disappeared. The news devastated his wife, Sora. She snuck out one night to go find him. No one has heard anything from or about either of them." The brunette explained. There was a small hint of sadness in her voice.

"I'm sorry", was all she could say.

*~*~*~*

Sora stood, frozen. Time itself seemed to stop. Tai hadn't noticed her yet, as his eyes were closed. He was resting his head on the pole.

Tai was thinner and messier. His hair was matted and clogged with dirt. His body had gotten darker since she had last seen him, caused by the countless hours of work in the sun. Though he was food deprived, the muscular frame still managed to show through. He was dirty, and looked like he hadn't bathed in months. He probably smelt like it too. One of them probably had some sort of knife of scissors on them, as they all, in this group anyways, managed to keep their hair from getting too long. They also managed to keep their beards at a stubble. Tai looked tired, and worn. His back was stripped from the whippings and beating, and he had calluses on his hands and feet. All he wore was a pair of army pants that he had ripped off. Sora guessed that it was because of the heat. All the same, he was still her Tai.

Still, Sora couldn't bring herself to move. She was still in shock, and this was still all a dream to her.

Matt opened his eyes, and saw her standing there. He was slightly confused, but didn't mind the attention. He couldn't help but smile. She looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Uh, can I help you?" He overlooked the fact that he was in chains and bound to a pole.

The sound of his voice startled Sora. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

Matt looked at her expectantly.

"Uh……"

Tai opened his eyes at the sound of her voice, but convinced himself that e was dreaming. He'd been doing a lot of that lately.

"Matt, who are you talking to? I'm trying to sleep." he grumbled. He was tired, and couldn't be bothered to turn his head around. Also the fact that he was on the other side of the pole helped him to not see her.

"Uh, there's some girl here staring at us. I don't know who she is, and I've never seen her before."

"Tell her to go away. I can't sleep with all this chatter." he growled.

Matt rolled his eyes. 'He thinks that me talking is loud, but when it comes to the people around here that are running around screaming, it's silence to him…" he thought.

Sora didn't hear a word he said, just the sound of his voice.

"Tai….." she said meekly.

Tai whipped around, and looked her over. It took a while for things to register into his mind. Her hair wasn't a neat as it usually was, and she was a little dirtier. Instead of her usual clothes, she was wearing a tattered brown cloak over who-knows-what. She looked like a lost little child.

"S-Sora?" he stammered, "I-is that really you?"

Matt looked at them. "Wait a minute, you know her?"

"Yeah," he said, not taking his eyes off her, "she's my wife."

"Y-YOUR WIFE?!?!" Matt exclaimed.

Tai didn't respond.

Sora finally ran to him. She threw herself around his neck, and pressed her lips to his. Tai accepted graciously. Tears began to stream from her eyes, and se pulled away, but not too far. She looked into his eyes.

"Sora, what are you doing here?" he asked, still in disbelief that she was there.

She buried her face into his neck, and began to sob. "I-I couldn't g-go on not kn-knowing where y-you were. I kn-knew you weren't d-dead. I had to f-find you."

"Oh Sora, I missed you so much." All he could do was sit there, as his arms were bound.

The others were now wide awake, staring in disbelief at the couple.

"She actually came all this way looking for him?" Ken exclaimed.

"She must really love him…." remarked Matt

"Yeah", responded Ken.

Sora pulled away once more. "I have to get you out of here."

"You have to get them out too." Tai motioned to the two men beside him. "There's also Izzy a couple poles down. He's hard to miss, being the only redhead. By the way that Ken, and this is Matt. He's T.K.'s older brother."

Sora looked at him, "I met your father."

Matt looked at her, "Really? What did he say?"

"He wants you to visit him."

They were interrupted by the guards. They were getting ready to sell off the slaves.

"Sora, you have to get out of here." Tai told her.

Sora got up quickly, "Don't worry, I'll find some way to get you out."

Tai watched her as she disappeared in the crowd.

~*~

Sora ran over to where Cody and his grandfather were waiting.

"Did you find him?" the man asked.

Sora was smiling, and her eyes shone, "Yes! I did, I found him!" The emotions were starting to register in.

"Where is he?"

"He's down near the end, but, I think we may have a problem."

"What is that?" Cody asked.

"He's made some friends, and doesn't want to leave them behind. There are four men altogether."

"Yes, that could make things more difficult." the old man mused. "I don't think we have enough money for four. You might have to choose-" He was cut off.

"No, I won't choose. I'll get all of them out. How many could we get with our money?" she asked.

"Well, I'd say we could safely bet on two."

"Okay. How much do those horses mean to you?" the question startled him.

"Why?"

"Because they're the perfect diversion."

"Well, I guess they're not worth as much as your husband…." he said almost reluctantly.

"Don't worry; by the end of his, you'll have more horses than you can count. You got a knife?"

He sighed, and pulled out a small pocket knife. She smiled, and took the three horses.

"You wait here, and wait for a redhead and a blue haired boy about my age to go up. They should be near the edge. Get them." before he could reply, she ran off.

Inconspicuously, she led the man's horses over to where the others were. They were in the stables. She assumed that theses were the enemy's horses.

She let go of the three of them, and found a couple of rocks. She threw them on the ground behind them, just so that they nicked the back of their hooves. This spooked them, and sent them flying every which way. Two of them ran through the stables, attracting the attention of everyone that was there. Sora quickly went in, and freed the other horses, after slipping a halter over each one's head. She grabbed four of them, and led them over to where the slaves were being held. She did he same thing that she had done earlier, and they too went off running and screaming.

She ran over to where her husband was tied. She got their just in time, as everyone else was gone.

"You did this?" he asked her.

"Yep. Now hurry, let's go." she got up, and ran to the stables. She had strategically tacked up two of them, and placed them on crossties. This was for an easy getaway.

Though they were tired, they could still run. Sora and Tai hopped onto one horse, while Matt on the other. They burst out of the stables.

Cody and his grandfather had managed to grab two of their horses. The third was no where in sight. He had managed to get the two she had wanted, but just barley. There was a high price for them both.

As sort of a trick, he didn't tell them that they were being set free. He chuckled lightly at the confused look on the boy's faces.

The old man knew it was time to go when he saw two horses with riders on them racing towards them. Sora had grabbed one more, and there was another that had stopped running. Cody grabbed it, and Sora let go of the other just as they passed. They couldn't stop, as there were guards in pursuit.

To slow them down a little, the man placed the horses in the path of the pursuers, forcing them to go around. There were only two that were actually on horseback. Quickly, he mounted one.

"Get on!" he shouted at his grandson and the two boys, who were still quite dazed. Each hoped on one, and they followed him.

~*~

Sora wasn't sure how long they could keep this up. There only two on horseback, but there were more coming out with some of the heavy artillery.

Shots were fired at them, but the shooters were poor at aiming. Grenades exploded on every side of them.

Suddenly, they stopped.

"I guess they figured it wasn't worth it!" Sora yelled over the pounding of hoof beats.

"Yeah!" Tai replied.

"I don't think that's reason guys!" Matt screamed, with panic evident in his voice.

They looked strait ahead. In front of them, there was a line of army men, with gun barrels pointed directly at them.

"Aw man, we're screwed." Tai said.

Sora stopped the horse, as did Matt. Behind them, was Cody, his grandfather, along with Izzy and Ken.

The seven of them stood there, out of breath.

"Would somebody mind explaining what's going on here?" Ken asked.

"Well, the horses were a diversion to get you guys out. Well, two of you. You guys, are free. We were running, because we didn't have enough money for four of you, so we had to break two of you free. However, we got caught. They chased us out, but fell back. Now there's a line of them, ready to kill us." Sora explained.

"Oh, well gee, thanks for the ray of hope." he replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome."

The army began to come closer. Most of them were on foot, but there were a few that were mounted.

They waited for them to come, expecting the worst.

Tai wrapped his arms around Sora, and pulled her close. She was tense, but leaned up against him. It was good to be in his arms again, even if it would be the last time.

They came closer, and they stopped. Only one of them came now. He was on a big white mare. The soldier stopped, not too far away. He was wearing a helmet, and he had his head tilted down so that it was hiding his face. They looked at him, and he seemed to be…..smiling. Pretty soon, the man was laughing. This confused hem greatly.

It wasn't the kind of evil, maniacal laugh that you usually hear when your captors have thwarted your attempts of escape, but more of a 'that look on your face is priceless' laugh.

"Mr. Kamiya. You never cease to amaze me."

"Captain?" he said.

"Yep, it's me! What, who'd you think I was? The other guys?"

"Well, yeah, but, how….?"

"To tell you the truth, I had no idea of the slave trade thing going on. I got a tip from one of the villagers that it was rumoured that the enemy's camp was up in those mountains. We heard some explosions on the way over, and figured that we were right. And then, you showed up!"

"Wow….we thought we were all goners…." Tai said.

"Yeah, you should have seen the looks on your faces, they were priceless!" the captain said. "Now, I think that we should get you back to the base. I'm sure that you'll get some kind of award or something like that. You're gonna be a hero, Tai."

"Well, actually, it wasn't me. It was my wife."

"Really? Well then, you have one heck of a woman, Tai."

Sora shrunk, and blushed feverishly. Tai leaned over, and kissed her, making it worse. She broke away, and hoped of the horse.

"Aw Tai, look what you did, you scared her off."

"Shut up, Matt." He said with a smile.

Sora walked over to Cody and his grandfather. "Thank you o much…you have no idea how much this means to me…"

"Oh, it was no problem. Besides, you were right. I have more horses than I've ever had." he told her with a smile.

"Well, I guess Cody and I'd better get going. His mother's probably wondering where we are."

Each of the others hopped of the horses, and handed them over to him.

"Really, you need them more then I do. I was just kidding about what I said earlier."

"No, you take them. There are lots in the base, and I'm sure that we can get some off the others. Besides, you've given us more than we could ever ask for. You gave us our lives back." Tai insisted.

He sighed, "Oh alright, if you insist. Take care now, all of you!" With that, the two of them rode off back home.

*~*~*~*

The seven of them were taken back to the main base. They spent a week or so there, getting fixed up and cleaned up. (They all needed showers!)

Sora was standing in the courtyard, when she felt a pair of arms encircle her. She sank back into them immediately.

"So, do you think we should let my sister know that we're coming home?" Tai asked her.

"No, I think that we should leave it for a surprise." Sora replied.

"Hey, by the way, I never did get to ask you about T.K. Did he make it home?"

Sora smiled. "Of course he did. He's in the hospital, and I'm sure he's recovering quickly. There was also this other kid who said he knew you….but I can't remember his name.

"Davis?"

"Yeah, that's it."

*~*~*~*

Kari was sitting at her desk, when she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in!" she yelled, not looking up.

"Busy as usual."

"Well, yeah that's what-"

She looked up. "T.K.! What are you doing here?"

He smiled, and walked over to her, leaving the door open. "Joe let me out his morning, and I wanted to surprise you."

Kari stood up, "That's great!"

He smiled, but said nothing. Instead, he snaked his arms around her waist, and kissed her.

The two stood, forgetting everything about the world around them.

"Ahem! If you two would like to stop your little love fest here, maybe you could actually get something done."

They broke apart, and looked at the person standing in the doorway. Actually, there were two people.

"Sora? What- Oh my goodness, TAI!" Kari ran over, and hugged her brother, almost knocking him over.

"It's good to see you too; it's good to see you too."

THE END

Angel of Light: Wow! I'm finally finished! It took a while…..stupid computer……anyways, I'm not sure if I'll do an epilogue. I don't want to make this story any longer than it already is. Anyways…….TtFn!