Imaginary World

Disclaimer: Well waddya know? I don't own Digimon!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was half expecting something that looked more like an ambulance than an ordinary car, but when we got outside the only car parked by the sidewalk was in fact something similar to a taxi. I was seated in the backseat and one of the men in white sat beside me. The other one took place by the wheel. Soon Dr. Ichino came and took place in the front seat.

"There, that wasn't too bad was it, Miss Tachikawa", Dr. Ichino said and smiled. I didn't answer. I just couldn't believe what was happening. It had to be a nightmare! The thoughts in my head were speeding and tumbling, I couldn't get a single one of them straight. And the only thing that kept replaying before my eyes were the cold eyes of Yamato. It all felt like a nightmare. Maybe I would wake up soon, lying in my bed with Yamato's arms wrapped snugly around me. Or maybe not. But it still felt like a nightmare.

"Yeah, a nightmare indeed", I muttered to myself and kept my arms crossed under my chest. The man sitting beside me glanced at me and then smiled widely.

"Aw, come on sweetie! Don't look so down. See, it's not really as bad as you think. Our institute is one of the best ones around! You'll feel like you're on vacation or something! And we have great food as well, I'll tell you. It's wonderful. And the garden is particularly nice at this time of the year." I snorted in a very unfeminine way.

"I don't care if it's like the most expensive hotel in whole Japan, I wont be happy! My whole life has fallen apart and you talk about food and gardens? Idiot!" I heard my own voice rise at every word and when I was finished I was huffing loudly.

"Calm down Miss Tachikawa. Even if you wont be happy you can at least show us some good manners. Yelling and kicking isn't exactly the best way to show us that you're sane, is it", Dr Ichino said calmly and threw a glance at me over his shoulder. I wanted to punch him in the face more than anything, but he was right. If I wanted to prove to them that I wasn't insane I had to keep my cool.

I was silent for the rest of the journey thinking about my friends and Yamato. Yamato... He had kept an icy attitude the whole time when they told me that they were putting me in the loony bin. But in the end he was close to crumble. What was up with the façade? Why wouldn't he at least show me any compassion? Maybe it made it easier for him to hurt you, baby. I nodded.

"Probably", I muttered and bit my bottom lip. The sceneries we passed had changed drastically. At first we drove through town, then out on the country. At first there had been some small villages here and there but now we barely saw any buildings at all. Oh great, I bet this place is like in the middle of nowhere and no matter how loud I scream no one will hear me.

"We're soon there, Miss Tachikawa. No need to worry. Are you feeling carsick maybe", Dr. Ichino asked me as if he really was concerned about me. I grunted something as an answer and kept watching the sceneries we were passing by. "Want something to drink?" I declined. I wasn't intending to accept anything from them. What if I would refuse to eat anything at all? Maybe they would let me go or... "How about a candy bar?" My head snapped up and I stared at the candy bar he was waving in front of my face.

"Heck, why not", I mumbled and snatched it away from him and gobbled it down greedily.

- - - - - -

Wait a second. Is this the place? We had stopped on the huge driveway of a large building. It looked pretty old, but was still in good shape. It was surrounded by a beautiful garden, and for some reason it really didn't remind me of a psychiatric clinic. More like an old school.

"It's an old school", Dr. Ichino said with a happy smile. Go figure... "It had been abandoned for a long time before we got here. We have restored it and now it's even better than when it was built the first time!" I nodded silently and surveyed my surroundings. The whole place was delimited by a large brick wall, maybe two-three meters high. Still seems like a prison to me, I thought skeptically and quickly dropped the thought of escaping. The building was formed like a large 'U' and was three, maybe for floors high. I wonder where I will be placed. "In the west wing we have the more severe patients", Dr. Ichino said as if he had read her mind. "But, of course, that's not the place where you will be going. In the east wing we have the more sane persons, and the ones which we can't really tell how bad their insanity is." I swetdropped and closed my eyes.

"So what you are saying, Doc, is that I can be eating dinner with a homicidal maniac without even knowing it?" Dr. Ichino didn't answer right away. First he corrected his clothes, swiped off some imaginary dust and coughed loudly.

"Yeah, well, what you don't know won't hurt you, ne", he finally said, looking a bit embarrassed. I felt my right eye twitching. This isn't good Tachikawa, make a run for it! I rolled my eyes inwardly and crossed my arms. Are you mad, have you seen those walls? And that gate? It's like a fucking prison! I'll never get out of here until I've proved to them that I'm completely sane and don't hear voices and that kind of stuff!

"Miss Tachikawa?" I jumped in my place and stared at the doctor. He didn't have to scream at me like that, geesh! I'm not deaf or anything.

"What", I asked with a huff and avoided eye contact.

"It's time to check you in." My breath got stuck in my throat. That wasn't exactly the words I wanted to hear. At least not at this place. But with a loud sigh I followed the doctor. Not like I had any choice. The hands of the two large gorilla warders was resting on my shoulders, leading me in a very persuading way. We walked in through the large double-doored entrance in silence and came into what looked like a reception. At a desk a tall woman with glasses and a ponytail sat scribbling on some piece of paper.

"Miyako, we have a new patient here. I would like you to help her settle in." I tensed up. They were leaving me with her? That would mean that I would have a chance to get away. But then again there was that wall... The gate we passed through on the way in had closed almost immediately behind us. With a sigh I slumped my shoulders again. I was stuck in this place. Dr. Ichino was still talking to that Miyako person so I decided to take a look around. The reception was pretty large, considering that there was only one receptionist. It was high in ceiling and the walls were covered by beautiful paintings. The floor, on other hand, had this disgusting green color that I couldn't stand.

"Miss Tachikawa?" My head snapped up again and I stared at Dr. Ichino who had spoken to me. "I'll leave you with Miyako here and I trust that you will behave. Please remember that to show that you are very much sane you must act like it." With a last unnerving look at me he turned around and left with the two warders. I stared at their disappearing backs and shuttered.

"I really don't like that man", I muttered to myself.

"Well, you're not alone sugar." I turned my head to the left and looked at the young receptionist. Her long hair had a strange purple color that you didn't see too often. Her glasses were huge and almost covered her whole face. Seriously, where do they find all these people?

"What now", I answered, ignoring the fact that she was agreeing with me on Dr. Ichino.

"Now, you have to fill in some blanquettes and then I will take you to your room. But since you don't have anything to unpack yet I guess I'll just continue the tour from there. I guess you would like to know where the dinner room and bathrooms are, etc." I stared at her.

"Bathrooms? Does this mean that I don't have a bathroom of my own? In my room?" Miyako shook her head with a face that was supposed to look sympathetic. It looked like she had a bad tummy or something.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. But maybe I can cheer you up with the fact that your room is really close to the finest bathroom we have here on the east wing", she said cheerfully and placed a pile of papers on the opposite side of her desk. "Please sit down, this might take a while." She handed me a pen and then continued with whatever she was doing before I got here. I looked down on the paper in front of me.

"What is this", I asked suspiciously and glared up at her.

"That is you information papers, after that are your health papers and then there are the papers with the more important questions." She continued to write but when she noticed that I was still glaring at her instead of getting to work she continued. "The once that will help you show that you are sane." That set me to work. As she had said, the first papers were pretty normal. Name, age, height, weight, where I lived etc. The next stack of papers had questions about my health life, like what I ate, if I did any kind of excercise, if I took any medicine and so on.

Now, the third type was different.

"Have you ever heard something that other people can't hear", I read out loud with a skeptical voice. "Are you kidding? That is so stupid, any people with just a little sanity left would answer no on those kinds of questions, even if they have heard things." Miyako looked up at me with a calm look.

"Just answer the questions, Miss Tachikawa, and please don't talk anymore." I growled and started doing the last questions in a rapid speed. They were all just as stupid, I just couldn't believe it. Have you ever felt like you were being watched? I frowned at this one. I pondered a while on how to answer it. Of course I had, all people have some time, have they not? Then I quickly scribbled down something and continued. When I finally was finished my wrist hurt and I had to go to the bathroom.

"Oh, are you done? Great, then lets get going", Miyako said cheerfully and collected the papers. I got to keep the pen.

We walked through a narrow corridor with the same ugly green floor as in the reception. The ceiling was still very high, which felt like a relief. It took away some of the prison feeling. Then we came to a large set of shiny white marble stairs with wonderful banisters. My first thought was that these stairs belonged in some kind of castle, not here. We climbed the stairs all the way to the third floor, which probably was the top floor as well.

"As Dr. Ichino might have said already, this was an old school for a couple of decades ago. It had been abandoned for about twenty years when we moved seven years ago. It was quite a ramshackle"

"Have you worked here for seven years", I asked, not really interested but I really wanted to prove that I was sane. That I could keep a normal conversation.

"No, I came here two years ago. Before that I worked on a clinic on Hokkaido." I nodded and kept looking around. The furniture looked pretty old. Not in a bad way, more like antiques from an old mansion. Some of them were quite beautiful. Guess it's not like a prison after all.

"The wall... Did you build it to keep in the patients?"

"No we actually didn't build it, it's just as old as this building", Miyako said and started to hum on some tune I've never heard. I found myself liking the young woman walking beside me.

"How old is it then? You said you moved here seven years ago, and by then it had been abandoned for twenty years. That must mean that it's build in the seventies or even earlier."

"Yes that's correct. It's actually build in the early sixties. It was a boarding school for troublesome teenagers. They had to close it down since it was situated on such an isolated place and because of the same reason they had no buyers. Until us, that is." I nodded and glanced at the floor. That green icky color must have been popular on the sixties or something. We turned right into a smaller corridor and soon she stopped outside a door with a sign that said C 24. There were several other doors down the corridor that stretched out into the darkness. I shuttered involuntarily and forced myself to look at the door in front of me.

I've never liked the darkness.

"As you can see you wont be sharing room with anyone. You're one lucky girl, most patients must share their rooms with at least one other person. But your boyfriend was very persistent on that point. He told us that you didn't like sharing room with strangers." I shrugged. Who the hell does?

"It's quite nice", I forced myself to say as I looked round in the room. It wasn't very big, not as big as the room Matt and I shared... I shook my head to get rid of my thoughts of him. Not now, I told myself. There was a bed, probably only 90 cm broad, but it looked pretty comfy. The floor wasn't that hideous green color I realized with a large amount of relief; it was white. There was also a desk, a chair, a komodo and a closet. Above the komodo there hung a large mirror. I reached out to touch my reflection but stopped in mid air and pulled my hand away. How silly wouldn't that look?

"Yeah, well, you've got one of the best rooms there are sweetie", Miyako said and patted my shoulder. "Come now, lets continue the tour." And we continued. "You have to be in your room by nine at night, a quarter past nine the doors are locked. You have an emergency button in your room, which you can use to call for a nurse or warder. You have no phone or TV in your room I'm afraid, just a radio. We have a TV-room where you can watch TV with the other patients and you can make three calls a day on the phones in the main corridor on floor B." I nodded but then stopped since floor B didn't make any sense to me.

"Which floor is floor B?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Floor B is the second floor. Floor A is the first and floor C is the third, the one where your room is. There also is a floor D but we don't use it anymore." I frowned but decided not to ask anything about it. "Here we have the bathroom", she said and opened a door. I came into a shining white room that looked like the dressing rooms we used to have in school.

"Open showers", I shrieked as I saw the shower room. "I don't believe it!" Miyako nodded with a grim smile.

"Yes, I know, but it would cost way too much to have separate showers." I glanced at her. Can't be that expensive, bet they just want us to suffer. There was also four toilet boots and one wall was occupied with washbasins and mirrors. I couldn't believe how clean it was. Well, not matter how clean it is you will still have to shower with all of the other female patients. I grimaced as we left the bathroom. That's when I remembered that I needed to use the toilet. I decided to keep it in; we were already on our way.

"Next up we have the TV-room on floor B", Miyako said and guided me down a stairway, smaller than the one before. "We have bedrooms in all floors, but most of our entertainment rooms are on floor B, while health and food is on floor A. On floor C we only have bedrooms and some offices." I didn't say anything. She got me thinking of floor D again. How come they don't use that floor? Maybe they don't need it; maybe business is going slow or something. I chuckled inwardly. Maybe the insane people are better actors nowadays. Maybe that's why I'm here; there aren't any insane people to take care of so they take sane people instead.

"Here's the TV-room", Miyako said and interrupted my thoughts. "We have the most channels but since we only have two TV-sets you'll just have to fight for the remote control if you want to watch something particular. Not that I believe that you'll have any problems, a cute girl like you", she said with a wink. "We also have a lounge and a game room but I don't find it necessary to show you them. You'll see them eventually. Now, Miss Tachikawa, I think it is time you meet the other patients. The people you are going to spend your time with in the coming weeks." Weeks? Weeks she said? As in, more than one week? She can't be serious. I felt my courage sink as we continued down to floor A.

"Can I have your attention everyone?" All eyes turned towards us. I felt my stomach turn. The other patients. The ones that possibly were sick homicidal maniacs and that would try to kill me at least once a day. Oh joy! I couldn't help notice that one of them, second table to the right, was pretty good looking. He had blond untamed hair and was clad in pretty stylish clothes. Well, at least you don't have to wear hospital robes or a- a-a straitjacket! Or something like that, I thought with relief. To my surprise I saw the blonde turn in his seat to look straight at me. He had deep blue eyes just like... Just like Yamato.

"This, my ladies and gentlemen", Miyako continued. "Is our newest friend here on Peaceful Rosegarden." Yuck, what a silly name for a mental hospital "Let me introduce to you Miss Mimi Tachikawa."

"Hi Mimi!" I didn't like the sound of the greeting said in a choir. It felt too much like some kind of an AA meeting, not that I had ever been to one of those or anything.

"Uhm, hello", I said hesitantly and waved.

"Come sit here with me", a young woman told me and pulled out a chair beside her. "Lets talk about fashion and whatnot", she urged. I felt myself mentally take a step backwards from the woman. She scared me in a way. She just seemed too eager to get to know me.

"No, no! Come sit over here", a middle-aged man said and tried to pull out a chair too.

"Hey, I'm sitting here Kino", a woman yelled at him and smacked him over the head. "You belong in the west wing you moron!"

"I'll just leave you here and let you settle in", Miyako whispered to me and before I could object she just left me there with several patients fighting over me. I turned my gaze back to the long tables that filled the room completely. Apparently that Kino person was now trying to push the poor woman off her chair. I felt like I was going to throw up. Is this what my life is going to look like in the closest future? Ooh, please someone just shoot me.

"Don't listen to them, they're just nuts", a voice from beside me said. I snapped from my thoughts and was pleasantly surprised to see the blonde young man standing beside me. "Come sit here", he ordered me before I could say anything. He led me to his table and pulled out a chair for me. "I'll go get you a plate, just wait here." I nodded, but I didn't have to since he left almost immediately and didn't wait for me to answer. He seemed a little odd, but he was at least good looking.

"Hi, I'm Lucy", a woman in her early thirties said to me with a smile. "What are you here for?" Now I really started to think I was on some kind of AA meeting.

"Uhm... What do you mean", I asked nervously and fidgeted with my bracelet.

"Well, you know. What are your reasons for being here?" I sighed and looked down onto the table.

"My boyfriend's my reason. My boyfriend and my so-called friends. They accused me for being insane and made a phone call and here I am." The woman gave me a sympathetic look.

"Aw, darling. I see what you've been through. Though I'm sorry to tell you this I feel that you should know that it's not like they can just make a call and the men in white clothes come and pick you up half an hour later. Your boyfriend and friends have probably had contact with the clinic for weeks if not months. These kind of things take long time. What are your symptoms dear?" I flinched. She sounded too much like my mother when I told her that I was sick so that I could skip school for a day or two. Months? And... All the time. They didn't say anything?

"Having hallucinations, hearing inner voices and telling lies. At least, that's what they say. It's not true", I said bitterly. "Oh forget about it, no one believes me anyways."

"I believe you", the blonde said as he sat down again. He placed a plate, fork, knife and glass in front of me and then gave me a warm smile. "You're not the only one who's here because of false accusations. You see Kim over there?" He pointed towards a woman who looked like she could be about forty years old. "Her husband put her here just so he could run around town with other women. Then there's Ryuichi. His wife organized the whole thing very well, just so she could take the children and leave him without any divorce. She hasn't visited him once since he came here. And then there's me, of course."

I felt a slight tingly feeling in my stomach. I knew it! I knew that he had to be sane; he was far too handsome and normal to be insane.

"Really? Who put you here?"

"My mother. She thinks I'm suicidal. That I hear voices that tells me to kill myself and stuff. To be honest with you, I think she's more insane than I am." I laughed and looked down on my plate with a slight tinge of red on my cheeks. God he's cute.

"What's your name", I asked and stole a glance at him again. He had many of Yamato's traits, but I could clearly see that he was younger. He also looked... More positive and open than Yamato was.

"Oh, sorry! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Takeru Takashi. Welcome to Peaceful Rosegarden", he said with a wide grin and held out his hand. Still smiling back at him I shook his hand, noticing how soft it was. For some reason it sounded far more inviting to hear those words from him than from Miyako. Maybe my time here will be endurable after all.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mimato, slight Daimi and now... Takemi? Where's this heading? (To be frank I don't know!)

I'm still unsure of if this is such a good idea. Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see.

I got the idea for this fic from a book called Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes. That's why this has more of an American feel to it than say Friends Forevermore.

And about the genre of this fic... At first I had comedy and drama. Then I switched it into angst and comedy. (Don't know how that would have worked out.) But now I know all the ingredients that will be in here. There's Angst, comedy, drama, mystery and romance. big grin Don't ask. I've got a new idea for this, to explain the mystery part.

Please review and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is always welcomed!