Digimon Digital Monsters

Nope: I still don't own Digimon T_T (Disclaimer)

::Hope?::

Val Kamiya stared silently out into the night, out on the porch. The wind swept threw her hair effortlessly. The depth of loneliness she now felt was constant. *My baby. He's gone* Tears glided done her smooth unwrinkled cheeks. Sadness seemed to become her world now. Tai was gone what more was there to look forward to? Her little boy was gone. Never to return.

Coming home that day, three years ago had been horrible. Why hadn't she listened to her instinct? Was she a bad mother? What use was life if Tai wasn't there to make her smile and make laugh and sometimes he would irritate her so!

A small whisper of a smile appeared on her face. It disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Kari and Keiko had become Val's world now. Kari needed her more than ever. Three years of loneliness, having Tai there to protect her and make her feel special that warm bond was now severed.

The wind picked up suddenly, fitting her mood perfectly. Sadness had truly become apart her, her thoughts, the way she functioned now was totally different from before. Sadness had become apart of her very soul.

Coming home that day when the sun was setting into the horizon. The warmth the evening had given made her forget all her troubles. With Keiko and the way he made work such a big deal back then. Now a days he worked from home a lot more than from the office. Whenever a business trip came along he would have Kari go with him. And for that she was eternally grateful to him.

Val did her best to give Kari what ever she needed and or wanted. Tai was gone. Val hated for Kari to grow older and to have the pain of losing Tai on her conscience. Val knew Kari thought herself responsible, that if only she had tried to convince Tai to come with her along with Val to the Market. But it truly wasn't her fault. Life is full of "What if's."

Things have changed and it was not just Val, Kari and Keiko's problem but seemingly Tai's friends from all over cared enough to join a search conducted by the police, which turned out truly unsuccessful. The longing replaced by Tai's disappearance was hard to get used to but some how Val found herself adapting. Slowly but surely she was.

Threw all those years of wondering and waiting, she wondered why would *they* have taken Tai. For what purposes? Had they killed him? Was he still alive? The police had given her no hope. They had said if he wasn't found in the security of seven months it was most likely that he was dead. Gone without a second thought.

*I've done the best I can. Life is just not the same without him.* Val had a horrible sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach, from the day Tai was kidnapped to the moment she had stepped threw her open front door Val knew something had gone down. And those *people* had taken Tai for some reason. Other than ransom. Because money was never an option, they took Tai and that was that.

*But if it's been one thing I've learned threw these past three years and that's been to never give up. And I won't give until I find him. Dead or Alive. At least if the police had found his body there would have been apart of me that would have died to. But he is out there somewhere and I will find him. I swear it I will* Val swore to herself with hidden hope and admiration. That Tai would be found no matter what the cost.

Val continued to watch the stars twinkle in the sky as she did every night since Tai went missing. The frosty air sailing around her and with no coat on it felt as if the wind was sailing straight threw her. "Mom?" a soft voice called. Val barely caught herself from jumping right out of her skin. She hadn't even heard the sliding glass door that opened into the living/family room.

They never entered Tai's bedroom. Not for any reason. With the hope Tai might return, the sliding glass door that led to Tai's bedroom hadn't been opened for years now since his disappearance. No one had dared to go in for the fear of invoking Tai's spirit if not his presence that seemed to still remain there.

"Dinner is ready. Dad and I are going start eating and well, we wanted to know if you were hungry. Mom are you? Hungry that is, Mom? Are you-" Kari was cut off sharply by Val's reply, "I'm fine Kari. Tell your father I'll be out here a little bit longer, okay" Val's voice ended softly so as not to scare Kari. "Well if you're sure.." "I'm sure I'm sure. If its okay with you," Val said turning around and gently wrapping Kari in her warm embrace.

"I think I'll go in right now. Maybe later we can-just the two of us go out and get some Ice cream from that new Ice cream parlor shop. Hmmm what do you think of that. And if your not doing anything with friends this weekend I can clear my schedule and we could go shopping? Hmmm how does that sound a new outfit or two? We can even max out you're dad's credit-card limit?" Val smiled in spite of herself and the way she truly felt she always did her best to let Kari know how much she meant to her.

After Tai went missing Kari had felt it was her fault and Val didn't want nor did she need Kari to go off the deep end with grief. Val *never* let Kari see her cry she had to be strong for Kari she had to be. "Well I not really doing anything. Except.."Kari drifted off. "Except what? Too old to shop with your mom? Hmmm" Val said taking a step away from Kari to get a better look at Kari's face in the dim light.

Kari's eyes twinkled reminding Val of the stars that were out tonight. "If Gotamon can come, then of course I can go shopping with my *old* mom," Kari said with a wicked grin that reminded Val painfully of Tai when he got his way which was often less than more.

"Then lead the way. And I'll take that as a yes for Ice cream then. And yes before you ask, oh come its as plain as day," Val laughed half-heartedly at the look she received from Kari. "Of course Gotamon can with us if it's not a big deal with you," Val said as she sat herself down at the table. Keiko looked up at her as began shuffling food into her mouth.

Val wondered, *Just how long was I standing out there any way?* While outside Val hadn't really noticed the cold and had failed to realize how long she had been standing out there trying to relive the past. Memories of Tai were all she had left. Val felt a surge of hope as she looked up into her husband's eyes. His eyes were filled to the brim with love. Val sot safety in those eyes.

Dinner was continued in a peaceful silence. Every now and then someone would comment on something needlessly. How was school going? Fine. Nice winter weather. Couldn't wait till the snow came. But once in a while everyone's eyes would flick toward the lone chair, which know one sat upon. It was Tai's seat he always had been full of gossip of some sort. And without him life just seemed so empty.

**********

Val sighed full with the delicious meal she had devoured earlier and was quite grateful for the short outing she and Kari had gone on for the promised Ice Cream. The parlor had been decorated in the season's colors red and green in honor of Christmas a time to celebrate Jesus' life and to honor what he did for all of Mankind.

Val believed whole-heartedly that God was taking care of her son wherever he was. Val was strict believer in Jesus even though she wasn't an American; Val had never really believed the Japanese National Faith. Worshiping Idols and imaginary Gods just weren't her thing. It never had been and never would be.

Although somehow her beloved husband had talked his way into going on Val and Kari' special outing along with Agumon, to the new Ice Cream parlor. Agumon had come out of the Digital world along with Gotamon expecting after three years of separation from Tai to see him once again. But only to discover Tai wasn't around and hadn't been since that fateful summer. The fight between the Digidestined against a vile MaloMyotismon, with all the Digidestined around the world in fight to save both the Earth and the Digital world alike.

The original digidestined from three years ago were once again united new and old together; were again faced with the fact that Tai wasn't there. Their entrusted leader wasn't there to encourage them and make everything alright. But Val was glad that Kari was now comforted by close friends who knew and felt Kari's pain at losing Tai to this mysterious enemy. Val sighed still caught up in her deeply felt thoughts of losing Tai as she always did, berating herself in a silent way. Maybe it was her fault Tai was now missing. But the more she thought of it; something told Val that whoever had taken Tai away from her had had a very good reason. And would have stopped at nothing to have Tai in their possetion.

The thing that worried Val the most other than knowing that she couldn't have stopped them had she been right along with Tai in his struggle to get away from the kidnappers but not knowing whether they would return him.

And if they did bring him back what kind of person would he be? What would he look like? Would he still be her precious little boy? Val sighed in complete and total irritation. Moving the brush away from her already tangled hair, which she had been brushing unconsciously while in the deepest state of her mind thinking.

Bringing the brush idly back up to her hair, Val started attacking the maddening tangles. All the while humming the same tune she used to hum to Tai as baby and when he got older and would often run into her and Keiko's bedroom full of freight to the cause of his nightmares. Humming him to sleep with her simple yet loving tune had always calmed him.

And where was her little boy now? "Don't worry," Keiko whispered to Val as his arms slowly wrapped around Val's slender form. The warmth of Keiko's body spread threw her like midsummer's storm. Filling her to the brim with love. Keiko was her rock. The one person that kept her sane. "I'm sure that where Tai is God is watching over him. God has made his plans and whether we understand them or not, everything will work out fine. It's all in Gods hands now. Trust him," Keiko's words were soothing but there was a riddle behind them Val sure.

"What are you up to?" Val ventured as she slipped from Keiko's loving embrace, feeling suddenly cold at the loss of warmth. Keiko raised an eyebrow to Val's comment. "Come on spill. I'm in no mood for guessing games," Val said sourly as she finished braiding her hair and put the brush in its rightful place among other accessories on the dresser she shamelessly shared with her husband.

Val had cut her hair two and half years into to Tai's disappearance. Val had felt no reason to keep it that way, long almost to her waist like she used to wear her hair quite fondly when Tai was just a baby. He would tug on her braid and smile while making the cutest noises Val always thought way baby-gibberish. Val smiled to her self as she turned to face Keiko who was now standing, a serious look on his usually calm almost disturbingly happy face. That Val was sure his unperturbed happiness was passed directly on to Tai as his only son.

Val forcefully pushed away all thoughts of Tai away knowing they were only bring her into deeper despair. Staring into Keiko's loving eyes. Val felt unworthy, as Keiko tried to wrap his arms around his wife. Val sidestepped and took another agonizing step away from him. Keiko sighed as if sensing Val's depth of loss toward Tai and her feeling of worthlessness towards him. "Please Keiko," Val replied to her husband softly. Wrapping her arms around herself, trying to fill the need for personal comfort.

~~~~~~~~

Keiko paused biting his lower just out of pure habit. Trying to counter attack Val's attempt to push him away. "Well, you know how Charlie has been away to America for the past few weeks?" Keiko paused seeing if Val was still mad at him but to his surprise she nodded. Silently encouraging him to keep going until he came to a point in his story.

"As is it turns out Charlie's gone undercover or so says Macy and you now as well as I, Macy doesn't lie. She says the Japanese Government's top officials were called in to assist the American Government -in other words the C.I.A- with an international kidnapping group. Except this group has been around for years taking children under the age of eleven but they have to fit a certain stature. This group has floated in and out of thin air disappearing when the time is right," Keiko paused letting Val take it all in for the moment.

"What's that got to do with Tai?" Val asked grasping the information the instant he stopped. "Everything," Keiko breathed, feeling as if the easy part had yet come to pass.

"When I said this mysterious group went after children it not for the reasons regular kidnappers go after, no ransom, and not for a sexual appetite either. The kids all went missing the same year Tai did and you want to know the obvious yet most unlikely similarity, their birthdays were all in the same month, March. Tai wasn't the only child kidnapped that year, worldwide almost simultaneously they were all taken the same as Tai was, with no evidence, no fingerprints, not a trace. Val they still have him," Keiko finished softly.

Although he was truly far from finished his heart swelled twice the size at the thought of seeing his son again. Val wasn't the only one that truly missed him, Keiko did to.

"Charlie's met up with him. With Tai undercover of course, but the reports he sends back aren't the best Tai doesn't remember us. Not one thing about the summer he disappeared or anything before that," Keiko stared into his beloved wife's eyes they were filled with hope and not the kind that appears from nowhere and disappears as suddenly as it came but true hope that seemed to bloom in to a realistic thing.

Almost animatedly she collapsed into a surprised yet relieved Keiko's arms. As he enveloped her in a loving embrace he told her the rest of the information that was passed on to him by Macy. "Charlie and another American agent have been able to penetrate into the Phoenix-that's what they call them selves- becoming some form of help to the illegal internationally known group.

"Just a year ago the American C.I.A tried to perform a sting on the Phoenix it was as if they were expecting the government would try to route them out. Only it back fired, three of the undercover agents were found out and killed mercilessly. The reason they've invited the Japanese Government into this is all because of Tai.

"I think it was because he was the only child kidnapped from Japan that and International Nations declared in secrecy to act as one in the upcoming STING. They plan to put in action soon," Feeling his wife's warm breath against his neck Keiko felt three fourths complete without Tai there was hole eating at them a deep hole filled to the brim and over with lost hope, frustration, fear, anger, and sadness so overwhelming it was hard for Keiko to breath in the thought of Tai coming back. Back home to them and no one else.

As Keiko lead his wife to their bed watching her expression of complete bliss, "My baby's coming home," Val repeated the phrase over a few times as if to determine to find out whether she was hallucinating or not. Leaning forward Keiko brushed his lips against Val's lovingly.

Tomorrow Kari would find out the news and so would the other Digidestineds, in a way it was good Tai could be coming home and the on the other hand there was a chance that they wouldn't show and the STING would be a total failure. But it was best in Keiko's best judgment to think in the present of the now. Instead of straying down the path of "what if's".

It was all in Gods hands now.

~~~~~~~~~~~

~[~Three years before~]~

Taichi slowly opened his eyes, finding himself laying on the softest mattress; it felt like he was laying on air. Sitting Tai found he was indeed laying on a large bed, a large four-poster canopy bed, colored in blood red. Looking over his own attire Tai realized he was wearing a pair of silk red pajamas the seemed to match the sheets perfectly. They were oh so soft to his skin. Tai had the oddest feeling like he should be wearing something different like jeans. It was an odd feeling that disappeared as suddenly as it had come.

The room that Tai assumed was his, was plush to say the least. A large bedroom containing its own sitting area, the couch and arm-chairs were an orange-red color surrounding a glass coffee table with oak-wood carved legs. The carpet was blood red matching the bed in almost every aspect. The walls were painted a light red in its own way complementing the carpet and the way the light shone threw the window made the room seem to be eternally enveloped in its own sunset. Silently Tai took this all in. Turning his head to the right of the bed were one of his beside tables, Tai assumed to the left of the bed there would be a duplicate of the hand carved tree legs that reminded him of Bonsai trees usually found in Japan. The table was made of a rose-colored clear glass; sitting aimlessly upon it was a clock that read 1:19.

Because of the light shining threw one of the many windows; showing the off- hand scene of the desert the heat outside caused the very ground to sizzle transparent smoke that descended from the ground and disappeared. Tai thought it was 1:19 in the afternoon. Tai shook off the feeling of being watched while gently running his hands threw his hair that seemed to have nothing better to do than hang over his face and irritate his eyes. For some odd Tai could have sworn he had never worn his hair down. As odd a thought as that was.

"I see you're awake," came a voice that didn't seem that far away from him. Turning bodily to the intruder. It was a woman, Japan was her obvious native origin, between her late twenties and or early thirty's so Tai thought. Her hair was a dirty blonde that seemed more brown than anything and cut at an angle right above her slender shoulders. Her eyes a lovely brown although lovely there seemed to be no emotion expressed neither in her eyes nor in her face though in Tai's opinion she was pretty if not beautiful. There was strictness about her just by her very presence.

She looked neither nor happy nor sad to see him. Tai wondered who she was and as if she had just read his mind spoke again, "My name is Peggy. You may call "Mom" or "Mother" if you like," Peggy said to him in a voice that seemed to shower him with affection.

Tai felt the affection expressed in her voice was for real and not an act. Leaning forward she kissed his forehead lovingly while she ran her soft fingers threw his hair. Tai felt love flow from her in waves like the ocean always coming back wave after wave.

"Come along now we have much to do," Peggy commanded in a soft tone. Tai nodded swinging his legs over to the side of the bed, he sat there a moment and for some reason took her in whole as if trying to make the scene last forever well at least in his mind. Standing up Tai followed her threw the door. Feeling strange, nothing seemed to make sense, he couldn't grasp what it was that gave the feeling that he was in danger but he followed her anyway. She was his Mother after all.

~~~~~~~~~

What Tai didn't know was that the moment he stepped threw that door and every day sense then he would treasure the "affection" Peggy had given him. If it could have even be called that. Tai would never experience another encounter that involved any affection or love for the years to come.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Sawii it took me so long to get this out. It's the summer yeah know! And I am kinda on the lazy side when come to getting work done!! LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL!_^

Wait for the next chapter more of Tai's POV Until then hope you in joyed my story!