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Love Knows No Bounds
Bind 2: Darkness

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"Hello? Taichi? Taichi, it's me, Mrs. Takaishi, Takeru's mother."

"Huh? Takaishi--Taka--Oh, Mrs. Takaishi! Good evening. How have you been doing?" Taichi asked very politely. His mind hastily began wondering why the blonde boy's mother had called the Yagami residence. No monsters were attacking Japan, so the safe house option was eliminated; Yamato visited the Yagami's often, but Mrs. Takaishi had no reason to worry about him. He knew how to take care of himself.

Was Takeru sleeping over at their house again? Now that Taichi thought about it, Takeru's mother back then would call so the older Yagami could pick a few things up that Takeru could not bring with him from school; however Hikari and Takeru had not planned for a sleep over. In fact, Takeru had not visited their home at all for a while.

"I'm doing fine, thank you. Taichi, have you seen Takeru anytime today?" Mrs. Takaishi inquired with a quivering voice. He didn't come home after school today, and I'm very worried about him. "He hasn't called home or anything, and it's starting to get dark outside."

'That's no good,' Taichi thought, biting his lip. 'This definitely means trouble. They wouldn't have--No, they wouldn't have taken Takeru--would they?' The young man speedily formulated a plan, a story to tell Mrs. Takaishi to ease her worries and buy Taichi and the others some time.

"Oh, I'm sorry I we didn't call you sooner, Mrs. Takaishi. Takeru, well, he's here at our house right now. And from the looks of things, he plans on spending the night. He said that he needed help with something, so Hikari and I invited him over. I guess the three of us got so caught up and excited, we forgot to mention it to you. I would put him on the phone right now, but he's--"

"Taichi."

"Yes, Mrs. Takaishi?"

"You're lying. I have two sons, Yagami Taichi. I know when a boy is lying or not." Taichi inwardly gulped; his story had just been completely washed down the drain by Mother's Intuition. "But that doesn't matter right now. Just tell me that you have a clue to where my little Takeru is," Mrs. Takaishi worriedly begged.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Takaishi. I have an idea where I can find him. I'll find Takeru and I'll inform you right away, I promise," Taichi solemnly replied, "Oh, by the way, Mrs. Takaishi, you didn't call Hikari on her cell phone, by any chance?"

"No, I was going to after I talked with you. Should I?"

"No, no, no! Heh, I mean--Don't worry, Mrs. Takaishi. I'll find Takeru; I don't want everyone else worried over nothing. You know how Hikari would react to something like this. Yamato and I will take care of this," Taichi assured.

Takeru's mother sighed in relief, knowing her youngest son was in good and trustworthy hands. "Thank very much, Taichi."

"Anytime, Mrs. Takaishi. Good night." Tai quickly hung up the phone and then retrieved his jacket from the closet. He bolted out of the Yagami apartment and into the chilly city of Tokyo. Racing through the city, the former leader of the Chosen Children huffed as unforgiving thoughts bombarded him.

'It's starting again--everything is repeating itself. This time, Takeru is involved, and Hikari is tied into it. Agh, what have I done? Why didn't I stop this? I should have ended this a long time ago--A long time ago.'

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"Taichi, what are you doing here?" Yamato demanded in frustration, pushing his friend's face away from his own. Ishida Yamato rested on a park bench, his arm draped around his girlfriend. Taichi gave a nervous chuckle and mumbled an apology. He had not meant to trip and sprawl all over his two friends.

"Why are you here, Taichi?" Takenuchi Sora questioned with just as much frustration. Within a month, Taichi had "accidentally" interrupted five dates; Yamato and Sora were equally peeved with their good friend.

Knowing what the couple was presently thinking, Taichi groaned at his misfortune. He had disrupted another date between Sora and Yamato, which he had not done purposely. Well, he partially purposely interrupted, but the cause was not jealously--Taichi needed some graceful method to capture Yamato's attention. "I'm sorry!" Taichi apologized sincerely. "I didn't mean to ruin your kissing scene!" Oddly, Taichi meant what he said.

Yamato and Sora blushed, somewhat embarrassed someone had nearly seen them kiss; although, they did not know why they were shy because they had been dating for some time now. "Taichi, how did you find us?" Sora inquired curiously, casting aside her embarrassment.

"Oh, that was easy. Yamato always brings the girl he's dating here on the twenty-first of February," Taichi replied matter-of-factly, not thinking about the consequences of his words.

Sora shot a disdaining look at Yamato, who squirmed slightly beneath the glare. The redhead girl felt hurt but furious. "Is that so, Taichi? Yamato forgot to mention that to me."

"Well, I can't help it if this is one of the prettiest places in the park," Yamato laughed nervously. "I would be selfish if I didn't share with everyone, right, Sora?" The blonde young man glared at his brunette friend, Yamato disgruntled that his girlfriend was disgruntled with him. 'Taichi, that big-mouth,' Yamato growled angrily, 'now Sora is mad at me, and she'll probably be mad about this for a week at least.'

Watching Sora and Yamato interact like an old-married couple warmed Taichi's heart, but now was not the time to linger or imagine. "Again, I'm sorry about interrupting you two, but I need your help. Takeru is missing," Taichi quickly explained.

"'Missing'? What do you mean 'missing'?" Yamato demanded loudly, jumping out of his seat. "How can Takeru be missing?" The three young adults were fortunate they were in the park; otherwise, they would have attracted a fairly large crowd.

"I mean I can't find Takeru in the Human or Digital World," Taichi quickly, but calmly replied. Yamato and Sora glaced at each other, the two worried and bewildered.

"If he's not in the Digital World or Human World, then where can he be?" Sora asked. "Where would Takeru go?"

"Well, Takeru is definitely not in the Human World, or he would have called someone by now. He enough common sense to do that. Maybe Takeru is with someone we know and assumed that we know. He could be with Hikari or Daisuke," Yamato suggested hopefully. Ishida knew Takeru was responsible and would inform him or their mother whenever he was out; Yamato knew Takeru was not forgetful or assuming. And to confirm Yamato's fears, Taichi shook his head.

"Takeru is not with anyone else. After I checked the Digital World, I had Hikari and the others call every person he knows, and no one has seen him since after school," Taichi responded gravely. "And your mother said he never came back home from school."

Yamato scowled. "Then where could he be?"

"That's what we need to find out," Taichi muttered, heading off in a direction. "Yamato, call Koushiro and tell him I'm searching the Digital World again. Maybe I missed Takeru my first time around. After you do that, call Hikari and tell her to meet me at Primary Village"

When Taichi was out of sight, Sora gripped Yamato's arm and whispered, "Do you think Takeru is all right?"

"I don't know." Yamato bowed his head. "I really don't know."

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The next day, Mrs. Takaishi filed a missing report, and a few weeks later, investigators concluded that Takeru had run away. However, no one could determine a motive or a location. Takaishi Takeru had just disappeared, vanished into the surrounding Darkness.

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