Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Frontier, in any way, shape or form. Its owned by those wonderful people at Bandai. All I own are my original characters and the idea behind this story.

A/N I would seriously love to get a lot of reviews, so I can improve and complete this story. I want it to be the best it can be. Peace!

My name is Izumi Orimoto.

I am one of 6 'chosen children', who have the power to become powerful and legendary warriors whilst in the digital world. 4 of the other children, though we aren't children anymore, are my friends and we keep in regular contact. The other one . . . I don't like to talk about. The pain is still to near.

In all other respects I am your regular high-school girl. I like hanging out with my girl friends, talking with my other friends, you know regular high school stuff. I'm a pretty good student, I'm on the all girl swim team at school, and my parents and I get on okay.

But that one facet of my past hangs like a shadow over my life. The time I spend with the other chosen is normally melancholy and somber, as we reflect on the sacrifices we made to save our world and the Digital World, the sacrifices he made.

My normal friends are convinced I'm depressed over not having a boyfriend, and keep trying to set me up with guys I don't like. The story of my life. "Here Izumi, what do you think of him?" my friend Michiko asks, handing me a picture of a guy, who by his looks must at least be in college. "Geez Michiko, this guy looks like he's 20. I'm only 16. And anyway I told you, I don't want you to set me up on a date." I respond, as calmly as possible. "Aww, c'mon Izumi, his name's Yorimoto. He's my older brother Taroo's friend. Taroo told me he'd set you two up if you want. You really should at least give him a try, please?" She's giving me that goddamn look again. Everyone knows that look, the one where the person looks like a puppy. I hate that look, Michiko has used on me so many times, in this exact same situation. It's not like I can't resist it, but then she wont shut-up until I give in. So I gave up trying a long time ago. "Alright, one date no more." "Alright! You won't regret it, he's not the same as the other." "17." "What? Oh right. Yeah he's no the same as the other 17 guys I've set you up with." "Yeah, of course. C'mon, class is about to start." I say as I head off to Mr. Kamakura's Friday Biology class. I hate Biology. Why would anyone in their right mind decide to cut up frogs anymore? We can look in a book and see just what's inside of them. And Kamakura is one hell of a taskmaster. But such is life, eh?

Finally the bell rang to signal the end of 6th period, and the start of freedom. Saturday was so close I could practically feel my bed as I slept in. "Okay class before you go, homework for the weekend is to complete the exercise we are working on and to prepare a practical paper for Tuesday's experiment. Good Afternoon." Mr. Kamakura said leaving us to our freedom. I wrote down the homework, and got up to stretch. It was almost summer, and the classroom was hot. Most of the class was trying to cram themselves through the door and outside into the breeze. I couldn't blame them. I was tempted to just go to the library and sit in the air conditioning for a half hour, but the chance to go home was just that much sweeter, so I followed Michiko out into the hall. She was going on about something, and I was only half paying attention, so we kept walking right up until my locker. I twirled the combination and grabbed my books. I was just stuffing them into my bag, when I caught site of Koji standing next my locker. Koji was one of the chosen, and he and I were friends from our days in the Digital World. He'd always been a bit of a lone wolf, one of those dark and mysterious people, but nowadays he was so introverted it was almost scary. He blamed himself for what happened, I guess. We all blamed ourselves. But most of us learnt to cope with it. Still, it was a surprise that Koji was here. We'd been in the same classes for the whole year, and this was probably the 3rd time I'd seen him. "Heya Koji! Long time, no see!" chirped Michiko. "Hi," he said quietly, "Izumi I was wondering if I could have a word," he looked at Michiko, "Alone." "Sure, just give me a second, to grab my books, I'll walk with you." I said, quickly scanning my locker for anything, I needed. Satisfied, I grabbed my bag. "See you later!" I yelled out to Michiko, and we were gone.

Once we were outside, we turned and headed north. Our apartments were both in the North-Eastern part of the city, so we had a way to walk, but Koji sounded like he needed to talk, and that was fine with me. So we walked, and I waited. "It's been 5 years." He finally said. "What has?" I asked puzzled. "It's been 5 years since, since we left the Digital World." "Oh. Yeah." "I should have stayed!" He suddenly burst out, "I should have been there for him! I should have done something!" He stopped walking, and looked at me, "It should have been me, not him." He barely whispered the last part. "No, Koji, he did what he thought he had to do. There was nothing any of us could have done to change things. He did it so we could get home. And he knew the consequences." I said, looking him in the eye. "But, why did it have to be him? Why couldn't have been me that had to do it? He had so much going for him here. Me, I've got nothing. My dad's always away. My mom never calls or gets my calls, and, and Koichi is still in a coma. His family was great. He was the most popular kid in school, even if he was only 11 at the time. Why him?" He looked at me, and I could see his eyes. They were dark, filled with self-loathing and grief. I could see myself in his eyes, and I realized I had tears in my eyes. "I. I don't know Koji! Why did he have to sacrifice himself at all! It's not fair!" I broke down and fell onto Koji's shoulder, crying my eyes out. "Why did they have to take him Koji!? Why!?" I cried into his shoulder. "He said I was his friend. No one had ever said that to me before." Koji told me quietly, as I continued sobbing, "He was the first one who could accept me for who I was. He didn't care that I snobbed him all the time, or that we got into fights. He just laughed and said that they made us even better friends. He was one of a kind." He bowed his head in some kind of memorial. "He gave me these, but I want you to have them, Izumi." I looked up and he handed me a package, "Keep them safe for him." And with that he ran off at full sprint, his head bowed as if he was trying to outrun the past. Who knows, maybe he thought he could. I opened the package, and fell to my knees crying again. It was a pair of goggles.