Well, now that summer here I should have time to be writing more fics, right? Actually… Besides all the different Digimon stories I'm doing, and my Sailor Moon Otaku Senshi website, and the million other things I do, I've also got a new passion now. Yu Yu Hakusho! *cuddles Kurama plushy* giggle…I've gotta have something to think about besides Digimon, now don't I?

This chapter is lame. L. A. M. E. I've been having problems with it. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, never have, never will.

Once Was Blind…

Chapter 4: Mistaken Identity

Ms. Takaishai heard her son enter the new apartment, but he never so much as called to say he was home. He was much earlier than he should have been, why, he'd been looking forward to going back to that Digital World place with the others all week!

She checked the hallway. Yes, his shoes were right there, neat in the little row. She came to his bedroom door and knocked on it, quietly. "T.K.? Honey? Are you in there?"

There was no direct answer, but she could hear a few muffled sobs on the other side that he probably hadn't wanted her to hear. She considered this permission to let herself in, and found him lying stretched out on the bed, face buried in his pillow and black glasses hanging out of his hand.

She came to his side and knelt by the bed. "T.K., sweetie…" she cooed down, soft and gentle to sooth him. "What's the matter? Is something wrong?" No answer, just a pause in the sobs. "You're home early. I thought you were going to that Digital World place with your friends…"

"They wouldn't let me." he croaked, face still buried.

Nancy was startled. "What?" she asked, leaning down to hear him better. "What did you say?"

"They wouldn't let me go." T.K. sniffed, turning on his side. The sightless blue eyes were rubbed red, filling with tears that occasionally escaped down his cheeks. "Davis and the others…they wouldn't let me go."

Nancy gently lifted him up by the shoulders so that he was sitting next to her on the bed. He continued to cry quietly, giving her the story. "They made me stay here…" he whispered to her. "They said it was too dangerous…Why can't they just tell me the truth?"

"Truth?" Nancy whispered. "What do you mean, truth? They wouldn't lie to you…"

"They probably thought I'd still go if they told me." he gulped. "They could've just said it…Without my eyes, I'm useless…"

"Now, T.K., don't you ever say that!" Nancy snapped, "You're no different, and you never will be! You're still the same wonderful person you always were."

T.K.'s head dropped, and the dark look on his face made it obvious that he didn't believe a word she was saying. Nancy brushed the hair back from his forehead and kissed it gently.

"Don't you worry, sweetheart." she whispered to him, running her fingers through his hair like she had when he used to run to her with nightmares back years ago. "I still love you, and so do your friends. They're only worried about you…They just don't know how to help."

T.K. nodded half-heartedly. Nancy smiled, standing. "I'll tell you what. How 'bout I call Matt and have him come over for dinner tonight?"

T.K. smiled a bit. "Could we have goulash?"

"Sure thing!"

~ * ~ * ~

Kari hurried through the half-empty halls, looking for T.K. He hadn't been near the computer room all week, and he never talked to the others, always getting to school too late and leaving too early for them to find him.

She spotted him out the window, making his way down the path to the school's front gates. She hurried down after him, sliding past the gates just as he went around the corner. "T.K.!" she called, running after him. "Wait up! T.K.!"

He didn't stop, didn't turn, didn't even act like he heard her, except for the fact that he went slightly rigid at the first note and seamed to pick up the pace. "Stop ignoring me!"

T.K. felt himself be yanked around by one arm, and although he couldn't see her, he could hear her breathing just in front of him. She'd spun him around to look her as close as in the eye as possible.

"…Kari…" he muttered quietly. "Let go."

"No." she snapped. "Not until you talk to me."

"Whattya want to talk to me for?"

"What for? T.K., you're my friend!" Kari exclaimed, amazed that he'd ask her that. "You've been avoiding us all, and we're worried about you."

"I'm not avoiding you." he sighed, shifting like he was about to make a break for it.

"Yes you are!" Kari insisted. "None of us have seen you all week long, you won't talk to us in class…and you're trying to run from me right now!"

"So what if I am?" T.K.'s ears were turning red with a kind of contained rage. "It's not like you guys want me around…"

"Of course we do!" Kari cried. He had taken it the wrong way! Why couldn't he see? "It's just that…"

"I know, I know, you're 'worried' about my safety." T.K.'s voice was uncharacteristically mean. "Is that why you've pushed me out of the group?"

"We'd never do that!" Kari exclaimed, feeling the tears prick up in the corners of her eyes. He pushed away from her, stomping back down the street. "T.K., wait! Please!"

"Just leave me alone!" he snapped. He could hear the shakiness in her voice and it hurt, partially from anger and partially from guilt, but he couldn't take it anymore. "Just go away, go hang out with Davis or something!"

Kari stared after him a moment, then anger and sadness collided. "I guess…I was wrong!" she shouted at his back as the tears came streaming down her cheeks. "You really have changed!"

She spun on her heels and ran away, sobbing as she went. T.K. had stopped, hands clutched to his sides and head cast downward. "Damn…" he whispered viciously to himself. "Now you've done it. She'll never talk to you again."

Slowly, carefully, he began back down the street as a tear dropped to the sidewalk from his sightless eye.

Okay. Lame chapter. I need a bit of help here…what should I do next?! What?! Review, e-mail, whatever, just HELP!!!!