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Love Knows No Bounds
Bind 9: Beginnings

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"What about her?" Takeru demanded angrily. His blue eyes flared angrily with just the mention of the girl's name. BlackTailmon slightly winced at the harshness in Takeru's voice. His bitterness bit with every word.

"I thought she cared for you," BlackTailmon whispered softly, not wanting to offend Takeru anymore than she already had. Her connection with Takeru was critical at this point: she could not afford for him to push her farther away.

The young man sighed despairingly at BlackTailmon's words. Why was he always continually reminded of that cruel siren? What did Takeru do to be tortured like this by that vixen of a Yagami? He could not escape her in any way or form; always she remained in his thoughts and memories. Takeru folded his arms and collapsed tiredly beside a black tree, feeling extremely cross. "Hmph. You mean Hikari? As if she would care for something like me," Takeru spat, leaning his back against the ice-cold tree. His voice echoed hauntingly through the lifeless forest.

"What about your brother, your father, mother, or Taichi? The other Chosen Children or the other Digimon: didn't they love you?" BlackTailmon asked, trying her hardest to summon compassion and care from Takeru. If she could somehow drive away his doubts, BlackTailmon knew that her partner would escape Darkness' clutches. She put her gloved paws on Takeru's knee and tried to break the frigid stare in his cold cerulean eyes.

"They never cared." The lad scowled even more at the mention of those people. They had also betrayed him—his brother had abandoned him, his friends had no heard his pleas for help, and his family did its best to tear him apart. To Takeru, love represented pain and loneliness.

"What makes you say these things, Lord Takeru? Why do you feel so much hate toward the other Children?" BlackTailmon asked worriedly. Why could she not reach him? Why did she still misunderstand his feelings? What was it that she missed?

Takeru's face showed anger and pain, but his eyes cried out in sadness and abandonment. He was lost; Takeru had forgotten who and what he was. So now what did he have to continue? "BlackTailmon, why do you care for me? Everyone else hates me, but why is it that you don't? Why is it that you're still here beside me?" Takeru asked in an exasperated tone.

BlackTailmon smiled, her blue eyes basking in the warmth of her expression. "Because, I know you are kind. You never seemed evil or cruel to me, Lord Takeru. I knew you were the Chosen Child of Hope, and I have faith in you. And right now, you need a friend." She purred gently and continued grinning at her master.

"I was kind," Takeru murmured quietly, "Once upon a time, I was. Before the Dark Ocean took me."

"What do you mean?" BlackTailmon asked, fear and sadness taking over her cheerful expression.

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"What do you mean Hikari's in the Digital World? That's impossible!" Koushiro exclaimed in a shocked tone. "After our battles with the monsters all over the world, Gennai left only possible port open--and it's impossible for Hikari to have reached that port." The other Chosen Children agreed with the computer expert. Taichi and Yamato scowled and felt disappointed that their friends did not believe them.

Presently, everyone sat in Takeru's forest green bedroom for their emergency meeting. The Chosen Children had decided to meet in the Takaishi apartment, where Hikari and Takeru had last been seen. "I know it sounds crazy, but that's what she and Takeru did! Maybe we didn't see Takeru disappear into the port, but we sure as hell saw Hikari disappear into there," Yamato argued with exasperation, throwing his arms in the air. The Children stared at him, surprised by the Bearer of Frienship's sudden action.

"They used their powers," Taichi muttered mostly to himself. Everyone turned and stared at the leader, an awkward silence filling the small room. Taichi appeared different, but no one could name the particular subtle change. His appearance, although solemn, seemed ordinary; his expressions remained the same; but why did his surrounding air seem dark?

"Taichi, what are you talking about?" Daisuke questioned. "What do you mean 'they used their powers'?"

"You, Miyako, Ken, and Iori wouldn't know what I'm talking about, Daisuke. It happened seven years ago in the Digital World," Taichi replied immediately. "But the rest should remember about Hikari and her abilities." The older Children's faces darkened as they recalled their past memories.

"Are you talking about her relationship with the Dark Ocean?" Ken asked.

"Sort of," the older Yagami said enigmatically, "it's a little more than that. When we were younger and first came the Digital World, Hikari had this power to summon this light, a light that was just completely amazing. She had used the light many times to save our lives, and because of her crest and powers, Hikari was a little more in-tuned with the Digimon and Digital World. The same was with Takeru. I don't know how, but he seemed to know how to control Hikari's powers and his own. It's strange, really." Taichi held his chin thoughtfully but gravely.

Giving the young Children a bleak smile, Koushiro continued, "We don't quite understand the extent of Hikari and Takeru's powers. All we really know is that they and their Digimon are connected somehow and they're vital to the Digital World. Out of the eight original children, Hikari and Takeru are the strongest."

"But if you think about it, Takeru and Hikari's powers are the strongest in the fight against the darkness. So how did Takeru become influenced by evil? And if Hikari's has amazing powers, why doesn't she use it to help Takeru and rid the Digital World of all darkness?" Miyako demanded.

"The world must remain balanced; and for there to be light, there must be darkness," Taichi started explaining, "Hikari can't destroy the darkness because she's connected to it. It's the same for Takeru. They're closest to darkness. Hikari and Takeru are the closest but yet farthest from our enemy."

"So, you're saying that because Takeru and Hikari are the Keepers of Hope and Light, which are a complete opposite of Darkness, and are closely tied to it, they are or can be easily influenced by Darkness?" Koushiro asked.

"Well, that would make sense. Without the Darkness, there would be no Light or Hope; and wherever there is Light, there is Dark. Light has to stay well in-tuned with the Darkness, to make sure there's balance between the two," Ken added.

"And how did you figure all this, Taichi?" Sora asked with amazement.

Taichi shrugged, not out of pride but of insecurity. "One thing about being a good leader is that you have to know your group's weaknesses, strengths, and their limits. You have to know how far everyone can go," he replied as best he could. 'But I'm not a good leader, am I? I allowed too much harm to my friends, and I underestimated Takeru. I'm such a fool.'

"But Takeru—how did Darkness turn him?" Iori asked.

Everyone grew silent, all except Ken. "I know how," he said with gravity. "It was the Dark Ocean. It was the Dark World that turned Takeru. They probably did something to him, something horrible. They turned him against his total will."

"Well, that would explain his sudden disappearance," Jyou murmured grimly.

"Come on. It's a long way back to the campgrounds," Taichi said as he led everyone out the door of the bedroom. While putting on his shoes and rain-jacket, the young man thought, 'Please, Takeru, hold strong. Protect Hikari, and please don't do anything to endanger our future. Please protect her, Takeru, and yourself.'

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"They tortured me, BlackTailmon. They tortured me every day, until I begged for them to simply kill me. It wouldn't have mattered if they had. I had no point to continue living," Takeru explained, blankly staring at a dead blade of grass. It had a lifeless and useless existence, very much like his self.

"Oh, Lord Takeru."

"Then, after I had begged for death, they just let me go, just like that," Takeru rambled on, his mind swimming through his forlorn memories: there were so many of them. "They left me in the Digital World, with only one instruction: to pull the Worlds into Darkness. And I obeyed."

'I did it for her.'

"But, you didn't. You didn't pull the Worlds into Darkness. That means that there's hope for you yet!" BlackTailmon happily exclaimed. "You disobeyed because you willed it."

"What hope is there for me? I tried to pull the Worlds into Darkness, like they had ordered. I had no other point in life, BlackTailmon. It was the Darkness that gave me SOMETHING to live for." Takeru groaned at his words, unable to grasp the reality in them, unwilling to accept them. "I was to live to control the Digital World. Besides, I'm the Chosen Child of Hope! If I can't hope, who can?" His spirit grew farther and farther away from BlackTailmon, Takeru staring with blank and soulless eyes at the trees.

"Lord Takeru, why is it that you refuse to believe that you have goodness? Why can't you see it?" BlackTailmon pleaded. "You're good. I see it, and your friends see it as well."

"What friends?" he snapped.

The feline monster frowned, frustrated with Takeru's hopelessness. "You have friends, Lord Takeru, and you know it. You know the Chosen Children will not abandon you. Why can't you admit that the Chosen Children are your friends?" she demanded with fervor.

"I don't know. Something inside of me—it hurts, yet I feel something, but I can't define it. It's strange, BlackTailmon. I don't know what to think or feel anymore. I don't know if I fight for the right thing or wrong. It's just all too confusing," Takeru groaned as he placed his hands upon his head, frustrated.

BlackTailmon looked at Takeru with a smile. "Lord Takeru, it's all right to be confused about your feelings. At one point, everyone gets confused about his or her feelings; but everyone usually figures them out eventually. You'll figure this out—you just need to give yourself time."

Takeru looked to the ground. "I'm not sure, BlackTailmon. I'm not sure that I can figure out my feelings."

There was a long moment of silence, neither human nor Digimon speaking. A chilly wind blew through the frail body of Takeru, making him shiver slightly. The cruel, biting wind whistled in BlackTailmon and Takeru's ears, piercing the silence with a painful, evil shrill. BlackTailmon then took a good look around her surroundings. "Lord Takeru?"

"Yeah?"

"How did we end up in a cave?"

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