DISCLAIMER*

I don't own Digimon

Forbidden Love - Chapter 4 : First Day At Work

Author's Note: Thank you for your kind reviews; I really appreciate that. I have come to realize that some of you are confused about Takeru being an angel or a human. Well, that answer will be revealed soon! Another thing, I promise that this fan-fic would be a Takari for sure. Oh ya, btw, how do you make italics words appear on fanfic.net? And now, no matter how many times I have entered 'enter' in this story to significant a change of scene or time, it wouldn't appear. Any one knows why? And, one last time, the narrator here is Hikari but sometimes for some scene, there would be no narrator (because Hikari was not present) and some important emotional scenes would be changed to that character's POV, but this case will most likely to only happen like about 5 times. =p

"You will be sharing a room with Taichi, my big brother. It would be a little cramped though but it is definitely cozier to sleep together. Hope you don't mind. Father and Taichi would be back soon. I'll introduce them to you as soon as they return," I spoke as I brought Takeru to his new room. I turned round to face Takeru when I did not get the response, which I was expecting to get. I saw Takeru looking at me quietly, hands on his hips. I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable with the staring. I was about to turn away when he finally broke the silence. " Hikari, you asked me if I were an angel just now," he paused for a long while. This caught my attention and I turned to face him again. "Actually I.." Just as Takeru was about to answer, a loud and happy voice boomed from our main hall. I recognized that voice as my father's.

" That boy doesn't learn. I'm back! Look what I had got today! Hikari! It's your favorite! Come out and take a look! Hikari!" Takeru and I ran out of Taichi's room only to see my father holding a gigantic squid in his hand up high, just like how one would hold a torch, but only that the 'torch' here was facing downwards. When my father saw Takeru, he exclaimed, " My oh my, who have I got here?"

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"Oh.. I see. Takeru, treat this as your home and us your family from now on. Don't stand on ceremony with us, you get it?" My father exclaimed after my mother told him about Takeru's situation. Takeru nodded politely and then, as though waiting for somebody to arrive, began to look at the direction of the door. He must be wondering where my brother was but was too polite to ask my parents or me. I couldn't help but to give a sigh. He must be there.. again.. It's been so long.. why can't he just forget about it.. But again.. who can forget her after what had happened..

"Pa, Ma, Hikari, I'm back!" A young man's voice called from outside. Taichi is back. His hair was still as 'big' and wild as ever as he had never bothered to even comb his hair once in a blue moon. His goggles are still resting on his head as usual. "Great, Taichi, you're home. This is Takeru, he will.." Mother was trying to inform brother of Takeru's stay here when father started to reprimand him angrily. "Where have you been? You disappeared again while walking home! Don't tell me you went there again?"

Brother looked away, obviously trying to avoid answering that question. But that had only incurred Father's rage. "How many times have I told you not to go there anymore?" Father then softened his expression and tone, "Let the past go. Forget about it. You are just hurting yourself, your close ones and the person who is waiting for you." "Pa," Brother finally spoke up, the first time after he had announced his arrival home 'happily', "I tired, really tired. How about we talk about this on another day." And without even waiting for Father's response, he headed back to his room, much to father's anger. "Taichi! Taichi! I'm not done yet!" Father breathed out a few times with a lot of effort, as if he was trying to disperse out all the anger Taichi's attitude had gave him. But father being the man he was, changed his expression by a 180-degree and started back to the dining table. Sensing Takeru's awkwardness to have to witness such a scene on his first day here, father tried to be friendly again to ease his tension.
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"Oh my, you're here so early. It looks like my father has not employed the wrong guy for this job. Very hardworking. You know Daisuke? The one with goggles on his head whom resembles Taichi? You know? You have seen him before? Ya, that guy had once volunteered his help here once a few years back. He said like something so that he could look after 'somebody'," Jyou had deliberately emphasized on the word 'somebody'. I knew that 'somebody' was referring to me but I pretended that I did not get what he was trying to say, much to his amusement sadly. He then continued with his 'Daisuke' story, "Normally, our helpers would be here a few hours after the rooster had crowed. But did you know when that fellow comes? He only did after lunch break! You, Takeru, one look at you one would know that you are a reliable person. Ha Ha!"

Jyou was seldom so talkative.

Takeru didn't know how to respond to Jyou's changed of attitude from yesterday. I guessed the image of Jyou being a very conservative person had already been imprinted in his mind. So had mine. I was trying to change the topic when Jyou himself reverted back to 'normal'. "What am I doing? Fancy talking bad about Daisuke behind his back. I really shouldn't have, but I felt so chatty this morning. Maybe it is because I have finally gotten an assistant to share my burden of work. All right, Takeru, I will show you the routines here now. Come with me." both Takeru and I gave a sigh of relieve absentmindedly. Jyou's okay now, or at least. Should he changed his behavior again so suddenly, the two of us would most likely suffered a nervous breakdown soon.

I spent the whole day at Jyou's place that day to keep Takeru company on his first day of work under my mother's wish. Frankly speaking I never knew that the work at Jyou's place was so tedious. I had always thought that the Kido family's work was relatively easy compared to that of my father's but I was wrong. The Kido family had to do a lot of work, which were mostly unknown to us. They had to patrol the village at least thrice a day to make sure that when somebody needed any help, they would be prepared to rush there any moment. At dusk, they would also have to climb Rainbow Hill to look for herbs, where they would try to gather as much herbs they wanted as they could in order to save money. Money doesn't come easily to them. The clinic and the Kido family had lived on the mediocre sum of donation they get from the villagers. They had to go to the older folks of our village's houses to check up on them to make sure that they were okay. One of the most tedious tasks there was to classify some herbs, which looked no different from weeds to me, into different categories. No wonder Kido sensei needed an assistant so badly. I really couldn't understand it in the past. I had really underestimated the job and the amount of work the Kido family had to do.

Finally after a morning's hard work, the three of us were finally able to rest for a while. Jyou had kindly volunteered to get us some clean water to quench our thirst. I stole a glance at Takeru, who was sitting beside me. This guy here was really amazing. Though we had only known each other for two days, but I felt as though I had known him for a very long time. Why was that so? Whilst I was trying to fan myself with my hand in an attempt to lower down my body temperature though I doubt that it would help very much, I noticed that Takeru's expression was not right. He kept looking at me for a while, then to the ground beneath him repeatedly. He seemed to want to ask me something but was hesitating. "Hikari.. I had been wanting to tell you the answer you had as..." Much to Takeru's and mine annoyance, Jyou had chosen exactly that time to come back. "Here you go. One leaf of water for you Takeru and the other for our considerate Hikari, and the last one are for myself! Help yourself. The water at Love Valley is really sweet." Takeru and I took the leaves from Jyou politely. After we both took a sip of the water and had praised the sweetness of the water, Jyou continued with the agenda we had for that day. "Okay, the last task we have for today, is to pay Iori of the Hida family a visit," at the mention of Iori's name, Jyou and I couldn't help but to give out a sigh, "That boy, is rather pitiful. His father was killed by thunder when his boat was caught in a thunderstorm when he was just about two years old. Iori is a very filial, responsible and serious boy, but he was a very unfortunately boy, fate was very cruel towards him. He was diagnosed with a weird illness many years back, which until now is a mystery for everyone. Hikari once had had that same illness and had experienced death for a while but later, she came back to life miraculously. Before Hikari, there was no one in the history of medicine that such an illness had occurred. We are now hoping that Iori is just as lucky as Hikari, to be able to come back to life again. But who knows, maybe this illness will make the carrier experience death for a while before coming back to life completely cured."

Jyou's words had sparked off some of my long lost memories. I remembered being tormented by an illness many years back. Jyou had had asked my family to prepare for the worst. I remembered breathing my last that time. I really did, but a few minutes later, I started breathing again, and I was miraculously cured of my illness, which was till now, still deemed by our village as a miracle. Many had asked me for the happenings of my short-term death when Iori was diagnosed with the same diseases, but tried as I might, nothing came back. The ordeal had been a painfully one. Why must Iori be the one to the disease? Surely I didn't pass it to him? If I really did, why did his illness only surface now? Was it true that good people never get to live long in bliss? All these thought s couldn't help but to stream into my mind steadily. It was Takeru who disrupted my string of thoughts, thankfully.

"Which stage is he in now?" Takeru's expression was weird, very weird, as if he was scheming against something. His voice was voided of any feelings, or you could say, the voice he had used to ask the question was dead. His beautiful blue eyes were deadly at that instant. Was it just me, who had been having some stupid thoughts after Takeru had arrived or that the Takeru before me had changed to a person I didn't know? That voice... I had heard it before somewhere... You see! There go the stupid thoughts again! How could I have met Takeru before yesterday? Who can forget such a charming person? Jyou shook his head, as he was replying, "At the stage of dying." I slapped my hand on my mouth in shock. What Jyou had just said couldn't be true! But I recovered quickly to note Takeru's eyes, expression and tone. Perhaps I was so tried that I saw things. "Poor thing. I suppose nothing had been came up with to counter with his illness?" Takeru was sympathetic with Iori's condition. There was nothing wrong at all. I must really be too tried. Jyou walked a few steps away from us, back facing and he shook his head with a lot regret. Iori's illness have must had hurt the Kido family more than anything. Kido sensei was a man with a very strong sense of responsibility. He had firmly believed that as a doctor, it was his duty to save his patients from the clutches of Death. To conclude that Iori was in the last stage of the illness must had been a great blow and painful to him. Even I myself, a simple village girl who had no knowledge in medicine, could not bear to have any of the people of Tsuki to die, how could the Kido family, who possessed medical knowledge, not be hurt that they couldn't rescue a twelve year old boy from the clutches of Death.

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Each and every single step we took to Iori's place was heavy and grave. Come to think of it, I had been so busy with my own work that I had not come to visit Iori for a very long while and for that, I felt so ashamed. To think I had treated him like a brother. Tears came running sown my checks. I allowed them to continue, as I was too absorbed in blaming myself. Suddenly, a finger came from my left side and wiped away my tears gently. It was Takeru. I had never thought that a boy could be so gentle when it came to wiping off a girl's tears. I turned to look at him. His expression was of sorrow, but was it of Iori or for me, I don't know. I only know that I appreciated it. A glow of red appeared across my checks and I bowed my head slightly out of shyness. He was the first boy to ever touch my face. He looked away and continued with the journey, as though nothing had happened.

We arrived at Iori's place without me noticing it. We greeted Mrs. Hida. I then went on to Iori's room while Jyou stayed back with Takeru with Mrs. Hida to discuss Iori's condition as well as to introduce Takeru to her, as Takeru would be coming often to look after him. Iori's room was still the same as before; neat and very empty. Just looking at Iori's current condition brought tears back to my tears. He had grown thinner and paler than I had remembered him to be. He was already quite small for his age and because of his illness, he had seemed to shrink in size. It really pained my heart. When he saw me, despite his condition, he tried to smile which only made me feel even guilty.

"Hikari... you haven come to see me for a long while." He teased. I tried to act as though everything was normal. "Jyou... Jyou told me that you were doing fine. So... how are you doing, bro'?" Iori forced out a faint smile and nodded his head. He was weak, very weak. I tried to cheer him up with Takeru's arrival, " Did you know? There's a new guy here in Tsuki. He's rather good-looking with a great personality. He is now working at Kido sensei's clinic and he's here today. He had a pitiful past. His..." Before I could describe Takeru to Iori fully, Mrs. Hida, Jyou and Takeru stepped in. I quickly pulled Takeru before Iori and tried to introduce him. "Look, this was the person I was talking about just now. He is Takeru Takaishi and he would be in charge of you from now on." I had expected Iori to be happy to have seen Takeru but instead, his expression changed from a faint smile to pure horror.

Iori sobbed, his whole body was shaking violently, "Oh no... I am going to die... I am going to die... You finally came for me...finally... I am dying... I am dying... I am dying..."

Author's Note: Oh Oh... a cliffhanger. Hope you have enjoyed this chapter. It had sure took me forever to write this chapter because firstly, I wasn't in a writer's mood and secondly, there was a part which I couldn't phrase it correctly no matter how I tried. Please do review and tell me if there is still life on this planet... =x