"I wonder, how many wishes have come true?
How many tears have been shed?
The answer is still
Waiting in the future."
Sora Takenouchi—"Shiny Days"
(Translated by tiara)

With Broken Wings
Chapter Eleven: "Shiny Days, Part Two"

Izumi looked at Kouji in shock for several minutes. The downpour of the morning let up a little to a gentle shower, but they were still getting soaked. Realizing his only answer was going to be complete silence, Kouji continued walking along the path, eventually hearing footsteps from behind as Izumi splashed through the puddles to reach him.

"That wasn't all that happened, was it?" she questioned.

"No," he answered. He momentarily stopped and turned around to face her. "Izumi, what I'm about to tell you, I haven't told anyone—not even Kouri. Only Mom, Dad, and Satomi know because they had to, and it was Dr. Tenshi who told them—I didn't. I want you to keep that in mind."

"What are you talking about?"

He began walking again. "When you were bandaging my wounds that time, did you happen to notice any scars on me?"

"There were a few, but they were hard to make out because of all the bruises and cuts. Why?"

He sighed, realizing that he could not make this any easier. If she hadn't seen them, then he had to show them to her. He held out his hands to her, palm side up. For a moment, she stared at his hands in puzzlement, but soon she was able to see faint white scars on his wrists and the lower part of his palms. These scars were not simple slash wounds that hadn't entirely healed, but deep, violent hack marks that would never have been able to heal correctly.

"How did you get those?" she asked, bewildered. He sighed again and began the second part of his story:

He woke up to a splitting headache sometime at twilight of the day after meeting Dr. Tenshi. He rose into a kneeling position, finding he'd been lying in some sticky liquid. He didn't know why, but his shirt, jacket, and bandana were missing, as well as the three lanterns he'd filled with Fox Leaf Arrowheads. And how he'd ended up lying in the middle of the cell instead of in a sitting position in a dry corner was something else unaccounted for.

He stood up, only to fall right down again due to dizziness and a slight weakness in his legs. His hands were shaking uncontrollably, and the already cold temperature in the room had seemed to drop significantly. Carefully, he rose again, trying not to slip on the liquid as his shoes sloshed through it. He'd gotten used to Kouichi hiding his things under a veil of darkness, so he began feeling for his light source. When he heard a crunching sound underneath his left foot, he got down on his knees and began searching for scattered arrowheads. Eventually, all the arrowheads were gathered, and they led to the hidden lanterns—one of which was obviously broken. He held out his digivice to the darkness and allowed the tiniest beam of light to exit, shattering the shadows. But by the combined light of the three lanterns, he found that his whole upper body and the right side of his face were covered in his own blood, and there was a large puddle of it where he'd been lying. His serene complex a thing of the past, he frantically checked for the source of the blood: hacked blade marks in both of his wrists.

Immediately, he grabbed a handful of arrowheads and ran to the sink, turning on the faucet and running his wrists under the cold water. The warmer he was, the faster the bleeding would be, so he had to lower his body temperature or at least his wrists' temperature. How he'd known that, he'd never know. He'd been bleeding for several hours, allowing enough time for his blood to start clotting, but he still needed to cut off the flow. After drying his wrists with toilet paper, he removed his sneakers and used his socks as bandages to halt it. Next, he grabbed the soap and began washing the blood off his body, removing his hair tie so he could wash his hair more easily. Blood was so thickly matted in it that he had to scrub roughly in order to clean it out.

Once that was finished, he fought to regain his composure so he could think of what to do next. A loss of blood meant a loss of oxygen. He had to stay calm and keep breathing. There was no point in asking Kouichi to keep him inside; it was obvious that the young Kaiser had taken his own blade to slit Kouji's wrists, so he wouldn't waste his victory on his twin brother. He had to find some way of sustaining himself until dawn at the most. So he stuck his head under the faucet, taking a long drink of water. In Cell 24, that method was the most sanitary way of getting a drink as he had no cups and his hands had been bleeding for about twelve hours. But as he drank the cold water, he didn't hear the door hiss open or Kouichi and Reiyama walk up right behind him.

Kouichi shoved Kouji down, keeping his head under the running water and pressing his foot on the younger twin's back. Kouji then felt someone grab his wet hair. He faintly remembered shouting for his brother to let go and get his foot off, but Reiyama kicked his ribs, forcing him to be silent. Using the blade from his whip, Kouichi hacked away at his brother's hair, severing ties of their past as allied brothers just as the ancient emperors of Japan had done to cut away their childhoods back in the days of their rule. Finally, he was finished and Kouji sat up, coughing as he tried to breathe. Kouichi tossed the missing shirt, jacket, and bandana at him while Reiyama stared menacingly.

"Get dressed," the older twin ordered. "We'll be back for your evolution." As he walked away, Reiyama snorted and spat on Kouji's head before leaving, slamming the door behind him.

Kouji calmly placed his clothes aside and placed his head under the water again, now trying to remove the saliva and mucus. Never before had he used that much soap to wash any part of him, including his hair. Turning off the water, he dried off with the (now gray, as he'd predicted) towel and rinsed the blood off one of the sharp arrowheads with the water on the floor. With it, he began to saw away at the uneven ends of his hair, cleaning up the job Kouichi had performed. If there were any ties to sever, Kouji was cutting them himself, just as the boy emperors of old. No longer could he let Kouichi decide his fate, and yet he was not angry about anything that had happened.

It was then that he realized that even in the Digital World, no matter how mature he'd acted, he'd been nothing more than a child, a weak child who let his anger provoke him. He was never going to let that happen again. The next time he fought, it would be under his rules, not Kouichi's. The ties to childhood, to the weak child who had mysteriously managed to help defeat Cherubimon and Lucemon, were gone and lying on the floor as useless garbage. Unofficially, Kouji was a man now, a grown adult. And with that sudden maturity, everything seemed to be a lot clearer. He'd come to a decision that day, the first of many: Reiyama was, if possible, worse than Renamon.

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Even in Wolfmon's form, Kouji couldn't fight the shaking in his muscles as they screamed for oxygen. Whatever blood he had left wasn't enough to deliver oxygen to all of his muscles, and a slow suffocation was overtaking him. Now that he was in their place, he wondered what it was that killed other people who'd lost a great deal of blood; was it the blood loss itself, or was it the lack of oxygen? His Black Ring continually beeped, as if to inform the world about his vitals.

"Keep walking," Renamon ordered. "This area's empty." She then observed his lethargic, uncoordinated movements. "It hasn't even been an hour. Keep moving." He paused momentarily, feeling as though if he didn't get enough air, he would die. But Renamon didn't see it that way. "I said keep moving! Wisteria Punch!"

Both of her fists struck him over and over, making his death seem more and more inevitable. With one good blow to the face, he hit the ground, striving to maintain consciousness. She grabbed the back of his head—by the hair as was her signature—and felt the silver helmet fall off his head. Turning him around to face her, she was able to see his adult-like face, even in the darkness. Blood was running down his face from a broken vessel in his nose. His blond hair was plastered to his scalp with sweat, even though temperatures were just above freezing. He looked weak, but he didn't look scared at all, not this time around. Showing his fear of death was something the old Kouji would do, not the reborn one. He simply tried to keep breathing, even though he coughed a few times, causing some of the precious blood to spill from his nose, and stared back at her.

"How does it feel to be the one without an advantage?" she asked, releasing his head and causing him to fall on his back. "Get up. You're not hurt." But he didn't. He didn't move in any way. Briefly, his breathing stopped, and then started with a deep gasp, as though he was forcing himself to breathe. Actually concerned, she turned and shouted, "Kaiser!"

Dr. Tenshi had just begun to try and convince Kouichi to allow Kouji time to leave for an "examination" when Renamon teleported in to interrupt them.

"Kaiser, Wolfmon is lying on the sidewalk next to the library, and he doesn't appear to be moving," she alerted.

Immediately, all the workers on the nightshift dropped what they were doing and ran to help their hero. In the midst of the human and Digimon stampede, Kouichi whistled for an Airdramon, allowing himself to cut everyone off at the pass while Dr. Tenshi pushed his way through to the injured Digimon.

Prepared to treat a Digimon, he was surprised to see a young human lying on his back as if dead. It took a while, but (thanks in part to the Black Ring) he finally recognized Kouji, even with the dramatic haircut. Kouichi got down and handed over a large Japanese flag, and the doctor placed it over Kouji, the red sun covering most of his body.

"I need to get him to a hospital," Dr. Tenshi informed quietly. "But the doctors won't treat prisoners. Is there anyway you can remove that ring from his neck?"

"All right," Kouichi complied, not entirely happy with the concept. It had to be done, even if he hated the boy entirely as he did. He'd never actually intended to kill Kouji, not after the incident on the beach, but he had underestimated the Kaiser's power over him once more. The Black Ring was carefully removed from the dying slave's neck and held for safekeeping. With everything taken care of, Dr. Tenshi scooped up Kouji (and just as Kage, he was surprised by how little effort it took) and placed him over his shoulder, keeping him wrapped in the flag. Other slaves tried to get a glimpse of their hero's face, but Kouichi and the Imperial Guard made them think otherwise.

Carefully, Kouji was placed in the back of Dr. Tenshi's car. The doctor got in the driver's seat and drove off.

"Kid, don't pass out," he warned. "So I know you're awake, I want you to answer all my questions, okay?"

"Okay…"

"What's your name?"

"Kouji… Kouji Minamoto."

"How old are you?"

"Eleven. Almost twelve."

"How are you able to become a Digimon?"

"I have the Spirits of Light, opposite to Kou—the Kaiser's Spirits of Darkness. He uses his digivice to force me to evolve."

"You mentioned your family last night. Can you name them?"

"My dad Kousei, my mom Tomoko, my stepmother Satomi, my half-sister Kouri…and my brother Kouichi." It sounded to Tenshi that Kouji needed to think about the last one for a while before answering, almost as though he wasn't sure.

"Why did you pass out back there?"

"The Kaiser slit my wrists."

"How long were you bleeding?"

"I don't know. I woke up in a pool of blood."

"How is it that you couldn't feel the Kaiser cutting you?"

"Some time after I went back into my cell, he came in and injected some blue foam into my arm."

"A blue foam? Like a serum of some kind?"

"Yes. He injected me with it once. He said it was non-addictive and was like an opiate. The first time, it only numbed my pain from evolving, but this time he used a whole syringe full, so I was unconscious the whole day."

"That blue foam was an experimental animal tranquilizer," the doctor informed with a rather angry voice. "I saw it in the Kaiser's study. He explained that he needed it to tame an unruly animal." Kouji's face grew hot with anger at the knowledge that his own brother thought of him as no more than an animal. Those ties to the past really had been severed. Hearing the silence, the doctor continued. "What's your blood type?"

"I don't know. I think A, maybe."

"Haven't you ever needed the information?"

"Not that I know of. My family sometimes kept secrets from me; I guess my blood type was one of them. But I know I have the same blood type as the Kaiser, if it helps."

"How sure are you on that?"

"Very sure."

"When's the last time you ate, aside from yesterday?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"I noticed how thin you were yesterday, and you were too light for someone your age when I lifted you."

"What day is it?"

"Sunday, the sixteenth."

"What month?"

"February."

"I last ate on the fourth of January."

"That long ago?" Dr. Tenshi was furious. Inside the flag, Kouji winced at the raise in the man's voice as it echoed in his eardrums. The doctor pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car, pulling the flag down to reveal Kouji's face. "Drink this," he instructed, handing over a bottle of soda. "I know I shouldn't be giving you sugar when you haven't been eating in days, but hopefully enough glucose can be produced to keep you going until we reach the hospital."

Kouji's hands shook as he took the bottle and sat up. The sweet, fizzy liquid made him feel sick as it entered his stomach. As the car drove on, he finished the soda and lay back down, resisting the urge to vomit.

The car suddenly stopped in front of the emergency room of the hospital. Dr. Tenshi carried Kouji out of the car and practically ran inside the E.R., startling several attendants as he took command. No one asked why the boy was draped in a flag; they must have assumed he'd been caught off-guard that night, perhaps by the Resistance.

"He needs a transfusion now," Dr. Tenshi explained once they'd gotten to the trauma unit.

"Should we use Type O?" an attendant asked.

"No. I believe his records are here somewhere," Dr. Tenshi replied. "Allow me to search for them."

"All right," another doctor agreed finally. "We'll try and keep him stable for now."

"Be sure to feed him," Dr. Tenshi instructed. "He hasn't had anything to eat all day."

"Anything else?" the other doctor checked.

Tenshi was silent for a moment. There were so many things that were wrong with the boy that he didn't know where to begin. But it dawned on him that in the two times they'd met, Kouji had been speaking in a low voice.

"Yes," he finally answered. "Examine his throat and vocal cords. I suspect strain or damage."

Chaos seemed to overtake the E.R. that night. Kouji's clothes were removed to be washed and sewn, and he was placed in a hospital gown. His bloodstained socks were thrown away and his wrists properly bandaged. The correct blood type was found, and the transfusion commenced immediately. But the surroundings were beginning to take their toll on him as he kept squinting and trying to block out the various noises that found their way to his sensitive ears. Everyone around him tried to force him to eat, but when he tried, he was unable to keep anything down. After an hour of the same results, the other doctors and nurses gave up, leaving Dr. Tenshi to figure out this patient's problems on his own.

Remembering how Kouji had needed sunglasses the night before, the doctor turned off all the lights in the room. Light was allowed to enter from the hall, but that was it. Already, the young patient was heard breathing a little more easily, although a weak, pathetic, yet body-shaking cough occasionally escaped him.

"Calm down," Dr. Tenshi coaxed. "I've taken care of everything."

"I'm a lot calmer right now," Kouji answered.

"How up-to-date are you on your vaccinations?" the doctor asked.

"I think I last had them before third grade. Why?"

"I might as well give you them now. Seeing as you can't pay, they'll be free of charge. And because your wrists were bleeding, I'd prefer to inject these into your legs so not as much of the vaccines will leave your bloodstream. However, these will make movement painful, and they'll affect your coordination." What he wasn't saying but Kouji caught onto anyway was "If I inject these into your legs, you won't be able to walk and will therefore have a legitimate excuse for not working."

A few shots went into his legs and his clothes were returned. He put them on before they headed out to the car. A straw mat had been placed in the backseat while Kouji slept in the front passenger seat. When they reached the base, Dr. Tenshi was directed to Kouji's cell. All the other people on this part of the cellblock were asleep or still working, so the other guards didn't need Kouichi to form a veil of darkness around them. The minute the cell door was opened, the sharp tang of blood exited the dark prison. The doctor only got a brief glimpse into Kouji's life to that point, and he didn't like what he saw. A large pool of blood was in the center of the room, and a new set of shackles was attached to the wall, disproving the notion that the torture racks were just for scare purposes only and never used. Upon seeing those inhumane conditions, he didn't want to leave his patient in there.

"Dr. Tenshi," Kouichi addressed. "The boy won't be staying in there. I've decided to leave him with his family for several weeks." He led the doctor down the corridor, past the exit ramp between Cells 6 and 18, and to the farthest cell on the right side: Cell 11. Once his job was finished, he left. Inside, two women and a man waited patiently while a tiny baby slept.

Dr. Tenshi entered the cell and laid the mat on the floor by the wall between Cell 11 and Cell 10. After that, he placed Kouji on his right side in a recovery position: his right arm and leg outstretched, the left leg bent and positioned above that, and his left arm draped toward his shoulder.

"He hasn't eaten in over a month, but don't pressure him to," the doctor informed. "We tried in the hospital and he threw up for an hour. Also, expect him to be more sensitive to light and sound. He's been in dark isolation since his arrest."

"Thank you," Kousei replied. But the doctor didn't leave. "Is there something else?"

"Kouji mentioned having a brother. Does anyone in here have the surname Kimura?"

"I do," Tomoko explained.

"Very interesting," Dr. Tenshi answered before exiting. "I'll be back to check on him in the morning. Until it is no longer necessary, I'll request for someone to remain nearby in case of emergency."

"Thank you, doctor," Satomi replied. He bowed politely and left.

Tomoko sat down and gently stroked her son's hair from underneath the bandana. Surprised by the shortness, she removed the bandana to see his awful haircut.

"Kouichi's handiwork," she realized.

"We're lucky Kouri's asleep," Satomi commented. "She shouldn't see him like this." A baby's cry soon interrupted her. "Speaking of…"

"Two sons," Kousei realized, crouching down to observe his sleeping son. It took him several minutes before he finally used his thumb to gently wipe away the tears Kouji had mistakenly shed from the brightness in the hospital. It was the only way he felt he could touch the boy, and the only way he felt he should be allowed to after the lies he'd told and the pain he'd caused. "It isn't until now that I realize just how different they really are. It was decided that we would name both sons Kou, but the older would be named Kouichi, a name similar to 'first light,' in honor of being the firstborn. The younger was Kouji—'second light'—expected to be the shadow to his brother. How wrong we were… Instead, our first light is the Darkness, and our shadow is the Light. And now, this."

"I guess there's nothing left to do but go to bed and see how he is in the morning," Tomoko decided.

The lights in front of the cell were switched off, and starlight and moonlight entered through the cell window. A thin silver beam of light from the full moon outside struck the stone floor. Looking through it, the family saw the illusion of a faint bluish glow around Kouji, much like the power they'd heard came from his Spirit. Everything was going to be all right

The next time Kouji paused for a breath, Izumi took his right hand and slowly traced the white scars down from his calloused hand. The rough, leathery feel of his hands was only another scar from his hard life. She held his hand gently and momentarily looked into his deep blue eyes.

"What's the rest of the story?" she asked. He took another breath and continued:

He had gotten used to waking up at twilight to three glowing lanterns—the only illumination in a seemingly endless darkness. He'd grown accustomed to nearly complete silence (sans his breathing, heartbeat, and movements, all of which echoed in the cell) until Kouichi entered with an order to evolve. He usually didn't smell anything until he was out of the cell, and the living conditions of the twenty-three families on Cellblock 18 became known to him. If he was lucky, he was able to get outside in time to see the last violet hues of dusk before the rich blue of night set in entirely. But the other extreme, dawn, was the exact mirrored opposite of what he'd come to know.

At first, his ears picked up the sounds of gentle whispering around Cell 11, Cellblock 18. But as more people awoke, the whispers gradually ascended into normal speaking, and before he knew it, orders were being barked out to slaves on the cellblock.

Not knowing where he was, he opened his eyes. All he could see was a bright white blur that burned his vision. He shut his eyes tightly and covered his ears as the assault on his senses continued. The odor of all the people on the corridor was unbearable enough for the few moments it took to get out and down to the exit level, but now Kouji was choking as he had in the hospital, completely unable to breathe. His father grabbed a towel and placed it over the boy's head, trying to offer some comfort.

"Excuse me," called Tomoko to a guard. "We need something to help block the light and sound in here." Underneath the towel, Kouji cringed in humiliation. He could imagine Kouichi found this quite humorous: After all that time in Cell 24, a sorrowful evolution had taken place, causing him to be unable to withstand the lights that gave him his name and power.

A thick black curtain was placed in front of the cell bars, allowing in solely the gray dawn. The sounds outside were muffled somewhat, but still loud enough to put unwanted pressure on Kouji's ears. Satomi walked to him with two pieces of toilet paper and placed them in his ears, blocking the sound even better. Finally, he removed the towel. He squinted to see the people in front of him as his eyes stopped watering and slowly adapted to the dawn light.

"Mom? Dad? Satomi?" he recognized. But just as he said their names, the curtain was pushed away, causing the intense bright lights to burn his eyes again. Dr. Tenshi opened the cell door and, realizing his blunder, closed the curtain again.

"I hate having to do this, but it must be done," he explained, taking out two convex metal ellipses. Each ellipse was made up of some kind of steel netting, like a juice strainer but much thicker and made to filter the light. Carefully, the doctor placed them on Kouji's eyes and used hospital tape to secure the sides of the ellipses to the boy's face. Finally, he wrapped a bandage over the ellipses, blocking all light. "Your retinas are too susceptible to damage," he continued. "Keep the bandage on for this first day, and the ellipses on for the first week, so you can eventually handle the light."

"How long am I going to stay here?" Kouji questioned.

"Two to three weeks. I am thankful enough that he is allowing you to recover in here, rather in that monstrosity on the other side of the cellblock."

"What cell was that?" Satomi asked.

"Number 24, I think," Kouji answered. A stunned silence was the only thing to inform him of his family's horrified expressions.

"A gift for all of you," Dr. Tenshi informed, placing four round objects in Kouji's hands. They had thick skin and gave off a sweet tropical scent. "Oranges, from the tree in my yard. My son and daughter had been picking them before the frost could set in, so I thought I should bring you some." He then slid up Kouji's sleeves to expose the bandaged wounds on his wrists. There were several shocked gasps before the doctor spoke. "Good, no blood is showing through. That means they're healing. Don't remove these bandages. Your wrists are prone to bleed again."

"All right," Kouji replied. The doctor helped him sit up and left, closing the thick curtain behind him.

"Cell 24, no wonder," Tomoko commented, hugging her son.

"What about it?" he questioned.

"There are so many rumors about that place—I don't know where to begin," Kousei started. Had Kouji had the use of his eyes, he'd have seen his father remove his glasses and rub the indents where the nosepiece bit into his skin. "The other slaves say that Kouichi leaves someone in there to die. Apparently, there are supposed to be several torture devices in there. The stories all differ at some point, but it's obvious that the prisoner in there is fated to die from the start—forsaken by everyone and everything."

Kouji nodded. "It really isn't that bad, but… The isolation—it's too much sometimes." Out of instinct, he brought his head down, as though he couldn't look at their faces. Satomi came over and placed her hand on the oranges.

"Let's eat breakfast, okay?" she suggested.

The oranges were peeled and passed out. Each was juicy and sweet from the cold winter carefully bringing forth the flavor. Kouji found he was unable to eat more than three slices, so his orange was put away for later.

"Everyone out," a guard ordered, pushing away the curtain and loudly opening the door.

"My son can't see," Kousei reasoned. "The Kaiser has allowed him to remain inside until further notice."

"I need to get confirmation," the guard replied, grabbing Kouji's arm and pulling him to his feet. "Follow me."

Kouji stood there nervously, his legs too stiff and pained to walk. As the guard kept ordering him to move, Reiyama walked over.

"I heard all the noise and thought I should take a look," he explained.

"This slave won't move. He says that the Kaiser is allowing him to recuperate," the other guard informed.

Reiyama took one look at Kouji and smirked a little bit.

"I don't know what he's talking about," the mercenary answered. "Only the mother and infant are supposed to be excluded from the labor."

And so Reiyama grabbed Kouji's shoulders and forced him to walk out with the others.

"What?" Izumi cried. "Even though you could barely see or walk, he made you do all that?"

"Izumi, I don't want you feeling sorry for me," he reasoned.

"How can I not? There are too many things you were forced to do that you just brush off as nothing. Were the other slaves forced to do the same?" He didn't answer. "Well, were they?"

"No," he muttered.

"Kouji! Now I know how you can get out of a hospital bed and run into battle with the rest of us. Why did Kouichi do all this to you?"

"Kouichi had no idea this happened. He was busy at some big conference. All of this was Reiyama. But when Kouichi caught wind of this, he was furious. My identity had nearly been revealed out of Reiyama's carelessness. Six hours after I was sent out there, Renamon had to guide me back in. That was the first and last time she'd ever done anything to help me."

Renamon opened the door to Cell 11 and carefully escorted Kouji inside. The gentleness she used was astounding, considering that this was the same Digimon who usually joined in torturing him to no end. Once he was inside, she closed the door and locked it.

"The Kaiser will check on you later," she informed. "And he'll see to it that this doesn't happen again." Kouji wasn't sure whether or not to thank her, so he simply kept quiet.

"Are you all right?" Satomi checked.

"I'm okay," he assured, feeling around for his mat. Once he found it, he sat down. "Dad and Mom had to help guide me around. I couldn't do anything without their help."

"Where's your jacket?"

"Mom took it for me. I was too hot with it on."

"Your skin looks a little sunburned too."

Kouji rested his head against the wall. "I haven't been in the sun since January. I should have enjoyed it, but I was so weak, I could barely stand up."

Satomi placed a waxy leaf in his hand. "Here. This should help with your sunburn."

"What is it?"

"Aloe. Some of the slaves managed to get hold of small aloe plants and we've been growing them in here. We've also got different cut ointments and medicines for whatever we need."

"Thank you," he replied, rubbing the sticky juice on his stinging skin.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

"No. I'm fine."

"Well you should drink something at least." She got up and grabbed a cup, a bowl, a crude stone-and-wood pestle, and the remainder of Kouji's orange. Taking the handmade pestle, she ground the remaining pulp of the orange in the bowl, and carefully poured the fresh juice into the cup. She then took her stepson's hands and placed the cup in them. "Drink this. It's better than just water all the time."

He took a sip of the juice. "Thank you, Satomi."

"You're welcome. And stop being so polite. It's not like you."

"I'm sorry. It just happens. Is Kouri up?"

"No, she's still asleep. She'll be awake by dinner. She usually stays up through the night—except last night though. It's almost like she knows…" She shook her head. "No, that's crazy. She's only a baby. There's no way she can feel that."

"Feel what?"

"Never mind. Just sometimes, I think she might know what you're thinking, and how you're feeling. But she can't feel that. Only you and Kouichi have that ability."

"That curse could be in our DNA. Kouri would have gotten half of what we have—half from Dad and half from you. Maybe she's just better at feeling these things than we were. Kouichi and I didn't know each other for most of our lives—ten years at the most."

"True. Kouri did get to know you for a while before…before the incident."

"You can go ahead and say it: before that fight on the beach, before that whip closed around my neck, before Kouichi captured us all…"

"I think it would be all right if you took that bandage off your eyes," Satomi interrupted. "Looks like it's going to rain."

"You don't have to change the subject. If you don't want to hear about it, then just tell me. I'd rather not talk about it anyway." He reached back to remove the bandage, but the knot was drawn too tightly for him to untie. Silently, he cursed himself for having bitten off his fingernails when they'd grown too long. But his efforts eventually paid off and the knot was undone, causing the white cotton to drop from his eyes to reveal his stepmother's familiar face. "What are you reading?"

"A Child Called 'It," she replied. "One of the slaves from the Resistance has a shelf full of books he managed to keep hold of when he was captured. I don't think you'd be interested in it."

"Why not? What's it about?"

Satomi sighed. There was no way to lie to him. He'd only take the book from her and read it himself. "It's about a young boy who is abused every day of his life. At the age of ten, he finally escapes, with the help of his teachers. This man, Dave Pelzer, chronicled his life in this book. He was forced to sleep in a cot in the garage—never fed, poorly clothed…"

"How long did it go on?"

"I think since he was five."

"Why didn't anyone help him for five years?"

"It was against the law. Back then, the law in America was to protect the parents, and not the children."

"Can I read it?"

"I don't want you to strain your eyes."

"Then can you read it to me?"

"It's all in English."

"I know enough. You can translate."

She sighed once more. "I really don't want to. This boy, Dave, was completely losing hope in everything. It sounds too much like your life at this point."

"That's where Dave Pelzer and I are different. I'm not going to lose hope."

"All right." She flipped back to the first page and began reading it off to him, translating words from time to time.

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Taiyou sat fuming in the Chiba/Beijing Resistance base. Peng walked out of the lab to see her sitting on a chair, her arms folded and her face covered by a look that could kill.

"I don't think I want to know," he commented.

"Tai started beating up on a friend of her brother's: Kouji Minamoto," Tori replied.

"Oh," Peng answered, realizing what she meant.

"Why doesn't Taiyou like Kouji?" Patamon questioned.

"To this day, she still blames him for her father's death," Tori explained. "To this day, she still holds him responsible."

Reiyama's stuff is mostly from Raines of The Pretender. But the spitting thing was inspired by a kid who hurled a huge one at a wall in front of me, whereas the hair-cutting ritual was from The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibo, only part of which I read. The thing about damage to the retinas was out of one of my favorite episodes of Early Edition, which I haven't seen in years.