Ah…I love these stories…They're just so great to write…

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, but this story is mine! Got it? Good!

The Healer's Touch

Chapter 5: The Prisoner

"T.K.'s been…captured?!"

The younger DigiDestined nodded guiltily. They were in Tai's room, being confronted by the older DigiDestined, minus Mimi and Joe. Matt was the one who'd been yelling before.

"We…couldn't stop them…" Ken muttered quietly.

"Why just him?" Izzy suddenly wondered. "I mean, from the sound of it you were all pretty much helpless, he could've taken any of you. Why only T.K.?"

Davis blinked. "What, don't you guys…know?"

"Know what?" Tai leaned over the back of his chair.

"Oops." Yolei whispered. "I guess we never told 'em, huh?"

"Told us what?!" Sora demanded, slightly out of character for a moment.

The younger DigiDestined were all looking to Kari, telling her mental to explain everything. The girl sighed, then began to explain the whole story in complete detail. It took her about fifteen minutes, and when she was finally done the older ones in the room were stunned silence.

"H-Healing?" Tai whispered, sitting down hard. "T.K.…Healing powers?"

"How can…this be?" Sora whispered, shocked. "It seams so…impossible. So completely impossible…"

"I see." Izzy was the only one who managed to keep his head through the whole thing. "So this…Neigamon…Captured him to exploit this power of his. There must be some serious injuries to take care of…"

"But…But he'll be okay then, won't he?" Matt gasped, standing suddenly. "I mean, if they need him, they won't…they won't kill him, will they?!"

"Obviously not." Izzy muttered. "There'd be no good in capturing him if they couldn't use these 'powers'. He'll most likely be fine…"

"'Most likely'" Matt echoed. "That means he could be…they still could."

"Don't think about that now." Sora soothed, patting him on the shoulder gently. "He'll be fine. We just have to find him…"

It wasn't much longer after that when Tai shooed everyone back out of the apartment. It was almost dinner time, they needed to be home. Izzy was going to monitor the DigiPort to try and pick up any unusual energy signals, hopefully they'd be able to home in on the base by the next morning.

When Tai came back into the room he found his sister sitting on his bed, hugging herself and sobbing. He blinked, then hurried to her side. "Hey now…" he whispered, putting his arm over her. "Don't cry. T.K.'ll be fine, don't you worry."

"That's…not…it!" she hiccupped, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes. "We… We didn't mention it earlier…Because Matt could get upset…"

"Mention…what?" Tai whispered, pulling her in so she could cry on his shoulder.

"T.K.…He absorbs the pain…" she sobbed. "Each wound…Adds on a little more…If he gets too much at once, he'll…Tai, he'll die!"

She burst into a new wave of tears, all the time sobbing out the same thing over and over as she clung to her brother. Tai gently ran his fingers through her hair, staying right there next to her until she cried herself to sleep, still lying on his lap.

He carefully tucked his sister into bed and clicked off the lights. Before he shut the door he glanced back, look at her in the darkness.

"Damn it, T.K." he muttered quietly. "If you break her heart, I swear I'll kill you."

~ * ~ * ~

T.K. groaned, struggling to see through the pain, the exhaustion and the gloom of this prison cell. His body ached from a dozen different wounds, the pain ranging from dull aches to sharp, truly painful pain that made body parts not even related to it hurt.

He'd spent a lot of rotten days and nights during his life…the day after his parent's divorce, the day Angemon and Devimon fought, the day they had to leave the Digimon behind…but this past twenty-four hours as Neigamon's prisoner was definitely the worst.

He could still hear the dark Digimon's voice, dragging him out just after his capture. Apparently, several of his most 'loyal servants' had been wounded in battle with the DigiDestined…his friends…and, although they were not live-threatening, they wound be inconvenienced for a few days without his assistance.

"Come on, boy." he'd hissed down to him, standing over a Neiga-Drimojimon with a wounded foreleg. "What are you hesitating for? Certainly your power must be able to handle creatures this big…"

When T.K. had done nothing further, Neigamon grew slightly impatient. He drummed his long, sharp fingernails on the side of the boy's neck, leaning down to whisper in is ear. "Well now…We certainly wouldn't want anything to happen to that sweet little girlfriend of yours, now would we?"

Now T.K. heard his own voice, feeling his body stiffen up. "You…You wouldn't"

"Do it…Now…" Neigamon had hissed. "Or I can't control what my servants will do her, or any of your other friends…"

Those threats pushed him into heeling each of the Digimon that were brought to him. The pained racked his body, but it had faded after a few hours. Now it was rocking back, flowing through his whole body in the relapse that always occurred lately. And his throat felt like a dessert.

A small Digimon passed in front of the bars. It looked like a Gekomon, but it was larger and darker. T.K. knew it was Neigamon's false creation of a Gekomon, a Neiga-Gekomon. But even these created Digimon had their own will…

Neiga-Gekomon looked down at a groan from his left. The Master's newest and most important captive/slave, this strangely unique human boy, reached through the bars of his cell door. His eyes and face held a pitiful, helpless look in them.

"Please…" he begged in a croaking, cracking voice. "Water…I need…Water…"

Neiga-Gekomon glared down at the boy. He was only a human, but…the Master did seam to need him to heel his fellows…And he seamed too helpless to run away…

Neiga-Gekomon pushed a wooden bowl of cold water into the human's hands. T.K. pulled it back in to his cell and gulped it down thankfully, quenching his raging thirst.

"Thank you…" he whispered, pushing the empty bowl back into the corridor. "Thank you…So much…"

Neiga-Gekomon glanced at him. He really seamed…thankful…

"What's the matter with you, human?" he finally asked. "Do these exesive healings weaken your pathedic immune system?"

"It isn't that…" T.K. whispered, leaning back against the cold wall and closing his eyes. "It's just hard…To absorb so much pain…"

"You suffer pain for your healing powers?" Neiga-Gekomon couldn't hide his surprise.

"Something like that…" the boy groaned, and a slight growl came from his empty stomach.

Neiga-Gekomon watched him another long moment, then disappeared without another word. A moment later he reappeared, holding something in his hands.

"Here." he muttered, dropping the hunk of dry, slightly stale bread into the boy's cell. T.K. looked down at it in surprise. "You look pretty hungry, boy. Regain your strength or the Master will never be able to use you properly."

T.K. stared a moment, then smiled. "Thank you…" he whispered, then took a big bite of the gift.

Neiga-Gekomon walked slowly away, returning to his duty. "That boy is more than a tool…" he thought to himself. "The master treats him much too hard…"