Chapter 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That one tear turns into many, and all of his friends rush over, Matt almost missing grabbing Takeru's shoulder before his brother could fall to the ground. Taichi turns to the wreckage. So much broken glass, and metal everywhere. He looks past the torn apart vehicle, to the body. Blood is everywhere, and there are huge gashes all over the body. He turns back to Takeru slowly, just trying to take all this in.

"I can't believe she was drunk! Why?!" Takeru screams out, falling to his knees, and looking down at his bleeding hands, arms, and chest. His shirt is torn down the back, and diagonally down the front from his left arm to his right side. There are cuts through his pant legs as well. Small, but they're still there. Where is he supposed to sleep? How's he supposed to survive now? No more Takeru Takashi.

"I want to change my name to Ishida." Takeru proclaims, standing up with the help of his brother, and wiping the tears from his face. He walks half angry/half depressed down the street towards Matt and his father's apartment, just wanting to leave behind the gruesome pictures of riding home from his father's, with his absent-minded mother driving, and how he got out right before the front end of the car slid right underneath the rear of the semi in front of them. He just wants to wake up from this nightmare. How could his mother drink behind his back? How could she have been like that driving down the road? She's always been the one there for him, when his friends weren't around. She's always been the caring parent, but now she's gone! Life changes too quickly, to easily, too willingly.

He's up to a run now - a sprint to the door of the apartment complex, and by the time his friends get inside the apartment, Takeru's already crying on the bed in his older brother's room.

Drawings of all the Destend and their partners are hanging on the walls - some with tape, others as colleagues and hung in frames. All of them Matt drew. He's hoping that he'll be a professional artist someday, maybe after his band wears down to nothing. The spots on the walls that aren't filled inch for inch with artwork have signed guitars by all of Japan's most famous rock groups, and even some that Mimi sent him from America.

"Oh come on!" Matt yells toward the figure. "If she was drunk, then it doesn't matter this much! You couldn't have done anything about it. It's over Takeru. It's time to move on."

Takeru sucks back his tears. He's always been the baby of the family. Matt never cried. Just Takeru, always Takeru. He always could get his way, even when no one else could. Now it's been cracked like ice and melted away. From now on, he's not going to cry. He's going to be like his big brother. Not one tear.

"Fine." He says. "How about we go to the Digital World?"

Everyone agrees to go, and they're soon walking down by the Nomoto Creek.

"How can things change so fast?" Takeru asks. "How is it that one day your mother seems like the best one in the world, and the next day you find out she was just drunk?"

"Aw, it'll be ok." Hikari says to Takeru, kissing him on the lips. "At least you found out before she died, and at least there's still all your friends, and your brother, and your dad."

"That's true. Thanks, Hikari." Takeru replies. He then puts one arm around Hikari's waist, holding her close. "And there's still you."

Takeru doesn't really feel like complaining anymore. Instead, he walks silently along the creek with his arm around his girlfriend. He's at peace now, knowing the worst is behind him. Nothing else can possibly go wrong.

As they walk along, they come up to the lake. Hikari runs ahead, slipping out of her sandals and trudging into the wet sand. Takeru watches her for a minute or two before joining in. Hikari notices, and playfully pushes Takeru further into the water, making him slip and fall backwards. Then, Takeru trips Hikari, making her fall in as well. They laugh as they splash water on each other and let the current sweep them away from the shore.

As the current moves them further out into the lake, they look from each other's drenched hair to the yellow-red sky. It's getting late, and the sun's setting. Takeru and Hikari swim to the shore and lay on the ground next to each other. They look up to the sky, watching the sunset, and the stars as they appear one by one in the night sky. Eventually they fall asleep to the waves rolling on the soft sand.

Takeru wakes up in the morning to a blonde-haired girl looking him in the eye.

"Aaaaahhhh!" He screams, jumping backward away from her. "Who are you?"

"Are you Takeru Takashi?"

"Uh, yeah. Is this the Digital World?"

"Yeah, it should be. At least, last time I checked, there were Digimon everywhere." The little girl says sarcastically.

"Who are you?" Takeru asks again.

"I'm Nemoriku!" She says with a giggle. "I live here now! A Digimon came up to me in the streets of Kyoto and showed me this Digital World two weeks ago! You're the famous Takeru from the television show? You're a hero!" She says, hugging Takeru. Takeru pats her on her back.

"Don't you have a home to go to?"

"No. I've lived alone the past year. My adoptive parents threw me out because they hated me." She says, starting to cry. "They said that they'd be there for me, but they weren't. I was only four!"

"So, um, you're five now?"

"Uh-huh."

"And you were out on the streets for a year?"

"Not the whole time. I was a orphan for most of the time, and I would go to a different house every few weeks. Most of them did bad things, and some of them sold something they called pot. The last ones did that, and I ran away when they were put in jail. I got free food and everything. And then Tsumon came up to me. (Tsumon looks like Umpamon, only with kitten ears, and black stripes.) She changed everything for me! And now I live here and I get everything I need and it's wonderful!"

"Wow. So you love living here?"

"Yeah, but I wish I could have a family that doesn't throw me out."

"Maybe you could stay with my father, my brother and me."

"Mr. Takashi and Matt?"

"No, Ishida. I changed my name to Ishida because my mother died in a car accident yesterday."

"Oh wow. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"That's ok. Not many people do. Come on, let's get you back to the Real World. I'm sure it'll be ok for you to stay at my place, and if not, you could stay at Hikari's."

"Wow, you know Hikari, too?"

"Yeah, of course. The whole gang as you know them in seasons one and two of digimon on t.v." Takeru says, walking to the Digi-Port with Nemoriku skipping next to him. She might get a home with an actual family. ^_^

~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~

So, how do you like the story so far? Review please! Constructive criticism is always welcome, and I enjoy complements too (^_-)