A/N: All righty… I'm updating a little quicker than last time. Here's the next chapter…

Disclaimer: You should know by now…

Is it so hard? (Chapter 4)

Later that morning, Matt was sitting at the campfire. The other digidestened had awoken too, and now they where having breakfast.

"Yamato, what's wrong? You've been awfully silent this morning…" Sara was looking at him, worry evident on her face.

"Oh… It's… Taichi, he… He woke up when you guys where sleeping…"

Suddenly, everyone's attention was on Matt.

"What happened? What did he say? Why didn't you wake us?"

Matt held up both his hands, and motioned for them all to be silent.

"I know you all want to know what happened, but I can't understand you guys if you're talking all at once…"

"Yamato, why don't you just tell what happened?" Izzy said. Matt nodded.

"Okay…" He sighed, and stared into the fire. "When I went to check on Taichi this morning, he woke up. He was a bit confused at first, wanted to know what had happened. So I told him he'd been unconscious for hours…"

"How did he react?" Sora wanted to know.

"Well… he didn't really… He turned his head down. So I told him Joe examined him, and that I saw what he'd done to himself. I asked him why he didn't take care of himself…"

Matt looked up, and saw the digidestened staring intently at him. Matt swallowed.

"He uh.. he started to cry…" he whispered. He saw the eyes of the others widen. "It's all my fault… He said he didn't want to make me mad… said I was right, that he was a worthless leader…"

Matt cursed himself as guilt overwhelmed him, and tears started to burn in his eyes. He blinked them away furiously, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It isn't your fault Yamato…" Sora said. Matt shook his head. "It is! He said he didn't want to make me angry. After the last fight he tried even harder, giving everything away, and forgetting about himself. He thought I hated him…"

Izzy shook his head. "Yamato… You weren't the only one who made it hard on Taichi. We all did…"

It was silent for a while. Then Kari walked over to Matt and sat next to him. Matt looked at her and she smiled.

"Yamato… did you know my brother really likes you?"

Matt shook his head. "I didn't… I knew he didn't hate me, but I never knew he valued my words so much…"

Kari smiled sadly. "He told me once he wanted to be your friend, but that he was afraid of how you'd react."

Matt smiled sadly, and turned his eyes back to the fire. Suddenly, Kari spoke up again. "Yama, you'll take care of my brother, right?" She looked at him with hope shining in her eyes, and Matt nodded.

"Of course, I owe it to him."

Joe coughed, and everyone looked at him. "Uh, well… Taichi should really drink and eat something now." Matt nodded.

"I'll wake him. Sora, can you get Taichi something to eat?" Sora nodded, and Matt walked over to Tai. He sat down next to him, and ran his hand through Tai's hair.

"Taichi, wake up…"

Tai's hand twitched, and a few seconds later, Tai blinked his eyes open.

"Yama?"

Matt smiled. "Good morning Taichi… You really need to eat something, and the others are really anxious to see you awake."

Tai nodded nervously, and slowly sat up. At that moment, Sara walked towards them with some soup, Kari walking beside her. They where closely followed by the rest of the digidestened. Taichi smiled shyly at them.

As soon as she saw her brother was awake, Kari ran to him. "Taichi!" She hugged him fiercely, and he smiled.

"Hey sis…" Kari let go of her brother, and looked at him worriedly. "You feel really hot…"

Matt, who was still sitting next to Tai, raised his eyebrows. He reached over and placed a hand on Tai's forehead. Then his eyes widened slightly.

"Shit Taichi, you're burning up! Why didn't you tell?" Tai shrugged, and didn't answer.

"Taichi…" Matt pleaded, "…please tell me when something is wrong. You have to get better." Tai looked up at him, and nodded.

Matt smiled, relieved. "Great! Now, you have to eat a little…" He grabbed the bowl of soup Sara had brought, and looked up at Tai.

"Can you eat by yourself, or do you need help?" Tai blushed slightly. "I don't know…" He answered softly.

Matt saw Tai was trembling slightly, and made a decision. "Let me help…" He picked up the spoon, and held it in front of Tai's face. Tai's blush deepened, but he let Matt feed him.

When the bowl was halfway empty, Tai groaned and shook his head.

"No more…" Matt frowned. "But you need to eat, gain weight…"

Tai shivered, and turned pleading eyes on Matt. "Please Yama… No more. I'm starting to feel sick…"

At that moment Joe, who had been watching them, kneeled down next to them, a bowl in his hands. "It's okay Yamato. We have to take it easy. His stomach isn't used to lots of food right now. We'll give him a little more each time."

Yamato nodded, and reluctantly put away the bowl with the remaining soup. Tai sighed, and lay down again, looking tired.

"So…" Joe said, "I heard Yamato talking about a fever. Let me take a look…" He put down the bowl, reached over and placed a hand on Tai's forehead, like Matt had done. Then he frowned.

"Hmm, you where right. He's having a fever all right. His temperature is way to high. We need to take it down." He turned to Matt, and gave him the bowl he had been carrying, which contained water and a cloth.

"Take the cloth, and use it to cool Taichi off… But don't pull the blankets off of him. He needs to stay warm."

Matt almost had to laugh at that, but he knew what Joe meant and he nodded. Joe stood, smiled at Matt, and then turned to join the others at the campfire.

Matt turned his attention back at Tai, who had closed his eyes. He grabbed the cloth, and placed it on Tai's forehead. Tai opened one eye, and looked at Matt.

"That feels nice…" he whispered. Matt smiled at him, and Tai closed his eye again.

After a while, Tai's breathing evened out. Matt smiled down at the sleeping Tai, and went to get Kari. He gave her the bowl of water, and sat her down next to Tai.

"Call me when he needs something, okay?" Kari nodded, and stroked her brother's hair.

Matt walked back to the campfire, and gazed into the flames, pondering what to do now. Then he remembered he had to check if there was enough wood to keep the fire burning, and he also had to know if there was enough food.

The food was no problem at the moment. They had enough for another three days. But there wasn't enough wood, so he needed two people to search firewood.

He wanted to keep Joe here, in case something went wrong with Tai, and in his mind, Kari and T.K. weren't even an option. So Izzy, Sora and Mimi where left. He quickly made a decision.

"Izzy, Mimi? Could you please search some more firewood? There isn't much left…"

Izzy nodded, but Mimi started to whine. "But Yamato! I'm tired, and my hands get dirty if I have to pick up wood! And my feet are hurting…"

Matt closed his eyes. He wasn't a very patient person, and Mimi's whining wasn't doing any good. "Mimi.." he ground out, "..stop whining and just GO!" He opened his eyes and glared at her.

Mimi blinked in surprise, but then glared back at him. Then she turned, and marched into the woods without another word. Izzy quickly went after her.

When they where out of sight, Sora looked at him. "That wasn't very nice of you, Yamato…"

Matt grumbled something, and then he stood. "I'm going to check the surroundings. I won't be long." He walked away before Sora could say another word.

He stayed away longer than was necessary. He couldn't spot a Digimon anywhere, but he needed to calm down. He was still angry. Was this what Tai had to deal with every day?

He wondered around, kicking rocks away. After about an hour, he slowly walked back towards camp.

When he was almost there, he heard Kari's panicked voice. "Joe… JOE!!"

His eyes widened, and panic settled in his stomach. Something was wrong with Tai…

t.b.c.

A/N: Heh… I'm in an evil mood today. I just read on the net that George Eads and Jorja Fox are fired from CBS… It's not confirmed by CBS yet, but it's pissing me off greatly. CSI needs Sara and Nick…

Anyway…back to Digimon. I hope you guys like this chapter. I tried to update sooner than last time, and I even managed to make a longer chapter. Go me… :P

The sad Blue Demon: As you can see, it wasn't the last chapter. There will follow at least two after this one…

gato-girl09: Heh, glad you liked it!

BishounenSenshiTaurus: ::prods Yuffie:: Yeah, where did you come from?

Redvind: Heh, don't worry… I'm not finished yet…

PrincessSwifty: Yes, yes… they are very cute… I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Tyson FoxFlame: Wow, lot's of glompage going on… wiee!! ::glomps back::

nEo-cHaN: Thanks.

HIKED: The yamachi is coming, don't worry…

kellyQ: Well… here's the next chapter. There will at least be two more.

evilchild666: I updated faster then last time…. I hope you'll like this chapter as well.

Agumon 2004: Thanks. You're making me blush…

DarkMetalAngel of Destruction: The yamachi will be coming soon… and don't damage Yama to badly, otherwise he can't save Taichi again… ;)

Jeweled Knife: Wow… O.o You've officially written the longest review ever on one of my fics… ::hands you lots of candy:: Glad you liked the chapter. Here's a new one!

takuya: Here's another update…

Windfighter: Squall!! ::glomps Squall::

Kumori Sakusha formerly Saelbu: Here's more!

Raku Ozzarian princess: Nope, things aren't always easy…