Chapter Five

Beauty Of Oneself

You little whore! -smack- Tramp! You'll never feel love! You're just like your mother! A slut! -thud- You make me sick, you little bitch. Run along to your new little boy toy. You're just like your mother, whore.

You slut! I knew you'd never love anybody! I was stupid to think you would. I bet you were with some other guy the whole time, am I right? WHORE, WHORE! -hands ripped at her clothes and fingers yanked her hair-

"No, no I'm not. I'm not like her. No, no! I'm not!"

Whore, whore, whore, whore, whore...

"NO, no!"

"Moto, wake up, wake up Moto!"

"Oh my god, Motoko, what's wrong? Motoko!"

"Yukina?" Motoko mumbled through the sticky darkness that echoed the word that sliced her soul. I have to help Yukina. She sounds frightened. I have to help my best friend.

"Thank god, Motoko." sighed Melina heavily and worried. "What's wrong?"

"She probably had a nightmare. That's what it looked like. Maybe from yesterday's attack." Said the voice of her new friend Iori.

"No. Memories, they were memories," she whispered groggily. She felt a burst of fire in her cheek and let out a cry of pain. She felt it flow into her mouth and she choked as it dripped down her throat. Suddenly, it was gone and she was wide-awake, clutching her throat.

"Motoko?" whispered Yukina.

"I'm fine Yukina, if it wasn't for you I would probably still be trapped in that nightmare. Thanks." Motoko said as Pawmon climbed awkwardly with his overgrown claws unto her lap. She brought him to her face snuggled against his warm fur, fighting back shudders.

"You said it was a memory, memories. What kind of memories would make you cry and convulse in your sleep?" Iori asked her eyes worried and slowly heating up in anger at what she might have been remembering.

"What? I did? You must have been hearing things. I was dreaming I was in a room full of giant tarantulas, like yesterday." Motoko said with a puzzled look.

"I doubt you would cry for something like that. And you kept on repeating, 'I'm not like her. I'm not. No.' What does that have to do with spiders?" Melina asked.

"I have no idea! I'm going to find that river! My teeth feel dirty! I just wish I had a toothbrush." She looked expectantly at the sky.

"What are you looking at?" Miyako asked looking upward too.

"My toothbrush. This world is so wacky I thought one would fall from the sky when I wished for it." She sighed sadly, "I guess I was wrong." Everybody laughed and Melina pushed her towards the river.

"Come on girls. Let's all bathe. We'll clean our clothes too. It's so nice and sunny, it'll be dry in no time, and we'll stay warm. You boys go down river some, okay?" Miyako said racing after the other two girls.

"Oh, that's a great idea!" Yukina said with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I feel like I have a years worth of dirt on me! Come on, Tsubaki. What are you doing?" Shizuko stretched.

"Taichi emailed me." She said simply, closing her D3.

"Oh, looks like Tsubaki has a crush." Touji teased. She walked past him with a toss of her hair.

"Looks like Tsubaki doesn't like someone." Iori muttered under his breath walking down a ways and then cutting into the woods to bathe. He was feeling pretty grimy himself.

"Hey, wait up, man! I don't really feel like being eaten by a fish all by my lonesome." Touji joked racing after him. Iori ignored him and turned away to pull off his shirt. "If this was about yesterday, can we just forget and forgive? I made a mistake. My temper runs in the family. I try really hard to stop it, but it's hard. I've been to the counselor at school sometimes, but it doesn't really help. The stupid prick just 'hmm's and hum's' the whole fucking time. Please? We are the only guys, we need to stick together." Touji pleaded tugging off his own clothes. Iori sighed. The guy seemed sincere.

"All right. But I would appreciate it if you'd refrain from cursing so much." Iori gave in sliding into the cool water and picking Upamon up off the bank to clean him too.

"Yeah, deal!" Touji grinned scrubbing on Circusmon.

"OW! Touji! That hurts!" Circusmon cried painfully.

"Sorry little buddy! We haven't got any soap and you're dirty!" Touji laughed.

"We could always wish for some soap and wait for it to fall out the sky with Motoko's toothbrush." Iori suggested scrubbing Upamon with equal ferocity as Touji. Touji blinked surprised, dunking his digimon in the water, and then laughed.

"You do have a sense of humor!" Touji teased. Iori raised his eyebrow.

"And you're going to kill your partner." Iori replied when Touji forgot about Circusmon while laughing, still a little surprised.

"Shitake mushrooms!" He cried pulling Circusmon up.

"I'm going to drown you now and see how you like it!" Circusmon yelled bouncing up and down on Touji's head. Iori and Upamon laughed loudly as Touji sputtered and tried to grab his vengeful digimon.

"It sounds like they're having fun." Shizuko sarcastically pointed out listening to Iori's laughter floating on the wind. It sounds so nice. I wish he would laugh more often. "I don't really recall him smiling, either. He must look adorable." She blushed when she realized she said this out loud.

"Oh my god! Shizuko's falling for the little guy!" Motoko laughed. Shizuko opened her mouth and closed it too embarrassed to talk.

"Oh, how cute! She's speechless." Melina teased.

"That's not cute! She looks like a fish out of water!" Motoko laughed tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

"YOU! You BRAT!" Shizuko cried abruptly coming back to life and leaping through the water at Motoko.

"EEP!" Motoko yelped swimming furiously away while the girls laughed and cheered on Shizuko. Yukina heard her D3 beep and automatically opened the screen without thinking, still laughing.

She opened her eyes to meet black ones staring back at her widely. She froze staring at the screen. The one of the cutest boys she'd ever seen was staring at her with flaming cheeks. He had black eyes like the night sky and blue hair the color of an artic ocean bay. Glasses framed his face and he had on a blue school uniform. Her whole body turned red in embarrassment. She was leaning over the bank, half out of the water. Her actually good sized breasts -the one bodily feature she actually was able to flaunt, but never did- were pressing against the purple grass and the older guy had a clear shot at them.

"AH!" she screamed, blushing madly. She slammed the screen down and sunk into the water, humiliated. The other girls wondering what she had seen on the screen curiously opened it up to see the flabbergasted Jyou still staring wide-eyed at the screen.

"AH!" the girls screamed fleeing back into the water. Just then, the boys came crashing through the undergrowth with only their boxers on, just as Yukina popped up to the surface gasping for air. Everybody froze, stared and then all hell broke loose.

"PERVERTS!" Digivices, D3s, clothes and shoes were flung at the two hapless boys, while poor Jyou had to run to the bathroom for some tissue for his nosebleed. When everything calmed down and the girls were low in the water to hide anything and boys had gone back to bathing, sulking, Jyou came back into his bedroom.

"Um, should I call back at a more appropriate time?" Jyou called timidly from somewhere in his room where the girls couldn't see.

While Yukina had been mortified, Jyou had been shocked witless by the appearance of a very pretty girl laughing with the most, in Jyou's mind, beautiful laughter in the world. What he saw was a vision with brown hair turned dark and heavy with water and brown eyes full of happiness. Her face and eyelashes were dotted with sparkles of light from the water, and her skin reminded him of cream. Let's just call Jyou a romantic, shall we? But whatever he saw, it wasn't a mousy haired shy girl, who was a four on the scale of ten in looks compared to her friends, not a raving beauty, but not hideous, just normal. Of course, Yukina didn't know this. She thought he saw a half-naked girl, who wasn't really the girl he wanted to see half naked, and was too startled to speak. That was the reason he couldn't stop staring at her before she'd closed the screen. That was half-true. He was pretty damn shocked. But he couldn't keep his eyes off her face because he thought she was beautiful.

"Oh, no! I know you're busy, Kido-san, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Jyou."

"Well, I'll just get up and get dry and then we'll introduce ourselves properly." Yukina said hurriedly, and blushing.

"Remember to put clothes on when you dry off." Melina advised wisely. Yukina turned redder as her friends and the digimon laughed loudly. Yukina blushed harder as she watched Jyou run out of his room holding his nose.

"Oh, poor Jyou, he got another nosebleed!" Miyako giggled watching the screen from behind Yukina.

"Shut up all of you! I've been waiting forever to meet Kido-san! And the whole thing just backfired on me! He saw me half-naked!" she cried, turning redder and bursting into tears.

"Hey, don't cry!" Came the voice of a concerned Jyou. "It was my fault. I should've emailed you with the others. I just had to go to this seminar." He said angry with himself. "I knew I should have emailed you instead. I didn't really need to go. Will you forgive me?" he begged with a cute -in her opinion- smile and a handkerchief pressed to his nose.

"Yes, of course. Unless you have somewhere you need to go, I'll be right out." Yukina smiled back assuredly. Jyou held back a blush at her smile and sputtered on uselessly.

"NO! You need to take as many baths as you possibly can. You may not get the chance later. You get clean and I'll putter about at home and wait for you to call back." He said.

"But you-"

"No buts, Miss Yukina! Bye!" he shut off before she could protest and she was left staring at the blank screen stupidly.

"That was nice of him." Shizuko commented rubbing her arm viciously to get off an ornery spot of dirt.

"Yes, he's very sweet." Yukina said trailing off dreamily.

"You might want to hurry. You don't want to keep your lover waiting." Melina said swimming past on her back lazily.

"Yes, you're right." She answered absentmindedly. The other girls counted down in their heads expectantly. "WHAT! HE IS NOT MY LOVER! Melina!" the girls snickered quietly, scrubbing themselves and their digimon.

The clothes were lying on the grass in the sun drying from their own scrubbing down and Yukina puffed out her cheeks exasperated.

"I'll never get to talk to Kido-san." She said with a dejected sigh.

"Oh, just put on a shirt, it's okay if it's wet. Just don't put the screen at below waist level." Motoko said lazily stretching cat-like in the sun, drying off.

"It feels weird laying out in the open naked." Shizuko said uncomfortably.

"It's okay. No guys around. Let's dance like chickens!" Miyako said happily dancing around flapping her arms.

"She's crazy!" Melina laughed jumping up to join her. Tsubaki watched them from behind a screen of gold hair and curled up under the tree she was under. Motoko jumped up and spun around and began singing the weirdest song.

"The kitten in the grass is the loneliest! She cries aloud for mother and milk, poor little kitty come on play, dance in the sunshine and enjoy the day. Little kitten, don't be scared I love you always and forever little kitten." She smiled spinning and singing the same thing over again. The others watched her and Tsubaki began to sing too, and the other girls spun around singing the song. Yukina smiled pulling on her wet shirt and then pulled on her plaid skirt and sat in the sun some ways away.

"Hello, Kido-san." She said happily as his face popped up on the screen.

"Hi. I hope you got clean enough. Why are your clothes wet?"

"I'm very clean. We washed our clothes, too." Yukina said chirpily.

"That's a good idea. Who's singing?"

"Well, Motoko's the one who started it, Miyako and Melina are the loudest and Shizuko and Tsubaki are the quiet voices. Tsubaki and I are the only ones not spinning around naked, however."

"Excuse me." Jyou said suddenly. He jumped up and ran to the bathroom holding his nose once more. Yukina laughed clutching her sides. She had the feeling she was going to like a lot more than just his looks.

V V V

It was a couple hours later and everyone was crowded around a fire cooking some strange apples that tasted like meat, besides Melina who was a vegetarian. After dinner the D3's rang and they opened them with lazy grins as they met the faces of their various advisors.

"Hello, koi." Ken said with a small smile, a slight blush on his pale face. Miyako blushed vividly.

"Hello, Ken." She said uncomfortably, but delighted at her new nickname. They suddenly rushed headlong into garbled sentences and then laughed weakly before settling into a more calm conversation about home.

"So, what have you been up to, Melina? Your not scaring poor Iori senseless are you?" Daisuke joked.

"Oh course not, I'm saving all my charms for you. You are my advisor." Melina flirted.

"Yeah, I guess you chose me for my good looks, huh?" Daisuke said with a smug grin.

"Well, yes. But I really wanted Yamato or Taichi. Tsubaki and Touji were too quick for me. How sad." She sighed gloomily, telling a half-lie. Yamato was actually the last one picked, but he didn't need to know that.

"Hey, that's just wrong!" Daisuke whined with tears in his puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, I should get you depressed more often!" Melina squealed with big hearts in her eyes at his expression.

"So, how are you feeling? Are you okay? I didn't get to speak with you." Koushiro asked concerned.

"I'm fine really." Motoko lied, through gritted teeth. Her cheek was starting to make her dizzy with pain and she had been blacking out all day. Pawmon nuzzled her elbow. He knew she was lying and was trying to get her to tell the truth.

"Okay..." Koushiro trailed off, "Iori told me you had a rough time sleeping. He said you were having bad dreams, memories. Why don't you talk to me about them?"

"Oh, they were nothing. Did I tell we went bathing today? I made up a cute little song while we were drying off and waiting for our clothes. Shizuko, Miyako, Melina and I were spinning in circles buck-naked singing it. It was fun!" Motoko said happily. Koushiro turned beet-red and gaped at her.

"With Touji and Iori right there?" he cried out shrilly sending his chair crashing to the floor as he jumped up. Motoko laughed outwardly, and sighed in relief inwardly.

"Tsubaki, Baublemon, what's shaking?"

"Nothing's shaking." Baublemon answered perplexed.

"I meant how's it going? Having fun?" Taichi laughed.

"Yes, today we got clean." Baublemon fluttered. "While the girls were waiting for their clothes to dry they starting spinning around without clothes singing. Tsubaki didn't, but she sang. She sounds very pretty." Baublemon rattled off gaily.

"I'm sure she does. I wish I'd been there." Taichi smiled at Tsubaki. "What was the song you sang?" Tsubaki softly sung the words while Baublemon flitted about her head humming along.

"That's a strange song. But you do sing beautifully. Maybe I can record you sometime? I'd love to listen to you every now and then. Are you blushing?" Taichi asked suddenly.

"Iie."

"Yes, you are! You look really cute! I just wish you'd let me see your eyes." Taichi grinned. Tsubaki shook her head vigorously. And began to sing the kitten song again. He grinned and watched her pale pink lips move, enraptured.

"So, Koushiro updated us on the whole spider thing. Are you and Iori on good terms again?" Yamato asked concerned.

"Yeah. I apologized this morning. He actually made a joke, so I think I'm in the clear. I guess he's a real good guy, eh?" Touji cheerfully replied.

"Yeah. He was raised in a real honor bound kind of home. His grandfather taught him kendo when he was a little boy, and he still trains. He's a serious and mature kid." Yamato told him, his eyes still searching his face.

"He's young, right? Maybe in 6th? That Miyako chick was just joking right?" Touji asked.

"Nope, he's a sophomore. He's sixteen. He's just short." Yamato responded.

"WHOA! NO WAY!" Touji shouted shocked.

"Yes way."

"So, what's been going on? Did I miss anything?" Takeru asked sipping a smoothie.

"Well, me and Touji were almost killed by flying objects when we heard the girls screaming and found them fine and naked in a stream." Iori told him wryly. Smoothie splurted over the screen.

"You guys ran in on them naked?" Takeru choked.

"Well, they were screaming. We, fortunately, had on underwear. We thought another attack was happening. We just reacted." Iori explained. "Shizuko is Touji's girlfriend." Iori added darkly.

"I thought you had a crush on quiet girl. I guess I assumed wrong. Of course, I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to have a crush on a taken girl." Takeru chided, grinning, while wiping off the screen.

"What? I don't have a crush on anybody."

"Then why are you whispering?"

"Why are you?"

"Because you were. Caught up in the moment, I guess." Takeru laughed.

"Well, shut up!"

"So, that's what happened! How scary! I'm glad the Miyako got her Crest though. Only seven to go. Have any idea what yours will be?" Sora asked playfully.

"No. Which really sucks. But I can guess the others. Touji- Masochism. Melina- Joker. Tsubaki- Silence. Yukina- Shyness. Motoko- Idiocy. Iori...hmm...his is hard." Shizuko trailed off while Sora laughed.

"Because you don't know him right?" Sora said understanding.

"No, because Miyako has the Crest of Strength. I thought Iori would have that one. He's always calm and collected, and when Touji hit me, he had such a look in his eyes. I knew if anybody could protect me, he could." Shizuko explained vaguely, her eyes wandering to Iori, where he was currently frowning at his screen fiercely. She giggled and Sora followed her gaze.

"You realize you have a boyfriend right?" Sora said with a knowing smile.

"What? WHAT! Sora!" Shizuko hissed blushing. "Not you, too. I am not falling for him. Touji and I are close! Really close!" she said desperately.

"Are you are trying to convince me or yourself that, Shizuko?" Sora asked her smile fading and her eyes saddening. "It's okay to not like your boyfriend anymore. As long as you don't cheat and you let him go, that is. You're only sixteen. You aren't supposed force yourself to be in love and ready to settle with one guy for the rest of your life." Sora advised her softly.

"I know, but Touji already had his heart broken. And I couldn't bear to break it again. Plus, I do love my boyfriend. Maybe not forever, but I do not like somebody else!" Shizuko insisted.

"Of course not." Sora sighed watching Shizuko's gaze rest once again on Iori.

"I've only known him for a couple days. I can't be in love with him already." Shizuko whispered, unable to stop looking at him.

"Hey, tomorrow Yamato's band is playing. Ever heard of the Teenage Wolves?" Sora asked quickly.

"THE TEENAGE WOLVES!" Shizuko asked her eyes lighting up as she spun around. "Oh, man! I had tickets for tonight's concert!"

"THE TEENAGE WOVLES!" the others girls cried besides Miyako.

"You never told us had tickets!" Motoko whined. "The singer is so hot!"

"Yeah, I know! I love his voice! You can totally melt." Melina sighed.

"I went to their concert once. I got the Ishiida-san's autograph." Yukina piped up.

"You did?" the girls asked enviously. Yukina nodded brightly.

"I got his autograph, too. And I get a discount to all of his concerts, I go to their rehearsals whenever I feel like it and I talk to him all the time. We even went on adventures together in the digital world." Miyako said ticking off her fingers.

"WHAT?"

"Well, he is a Digidestined. Didn't you guys read the footnotes on Yamato? Touji's talking to the lead singer of the Teenage Wolves right now." Miyako reminded them smugly.

"Oh my god! I totally forgot!" Shizuko cried slapping her forehead. Suddenly the Tokyo girls looked at each other and then at Touji.

"What?" Touji asked confused.

"Move it, or you're going to get run over!" Motoko cried throwing aside her D3 and running towards Touji.

"Oh crap!" Touji screamed running away, and taking his Yamato with him.

"GIVE US ISHIIDA-SAN!" the girls cried racing after him.

"HELL NO!" Touji yelled back still running away. The others laughed holding their sides. Motoko stopped abruptly and swayed unsteadily.

"Moto?" Pawmon asked worriedly looking up from grooming his claws.

"I...hurt...black..." she whispered shaking her head. She groaned and fell. Iori had luckily risen to his feet when she had stopped and managed to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Hey, what's going on?" Takeru asked from the ground.

"Motoko fainted." Iori said calmly.

"Is she okay?" shouted Koushiro.

"I don't know yet!" Iori snapped. "I'm not a doctor!"

"I wish I was there. I could help." Jyou said worriedly.

"Motoko?" Iori asked suddenly. Her eyes had opened; though her pupils couldn't be seen and her irises were shadowed weirdly. She rose herself off the ground and walked towards Touji.

"You bastard." she chanted quietly and dead-like. "I'll kill you for what you did to me!" she cried out swinging her fist. He let out a whoosh of breath as her fist collided with his stomach.

"MOTOKO! Stop it!" shouted Shizuko grabbing her around her waist. Motoko bit and scratched to get away, running towards Touji.

"I'll kill you." She whispered striking out with her foot, smashing against his ribs.

"What's wrong?" cried out Sora.

"Motoko! Stop it! What happened?" Koushiro shouted, shaking the screen of his computer. "Let me in damn you!"

"Tsubaki, what's happening? Why's Koushiro wigging out?" Taichi asked leaning on his desk to try and get a closer look.

"Motoko's trapped in her nightmare." Tsubaki answered, her eyes widening as she looked towards him. "There's something terribly wrong." Her voice quavered as her eyes shined. Taichi didn't say a word, too surprised to think. Her eyes...he finally was looking straight into her eyes. He couldn't even breathe, and his chest tightened painfully at the emotions surging in those incredible eyes. Tears suddenly fell from her eyes and she glanced away, shielding her face with a veil of gold hair.

"I have to help her." She whispered shutting off her computer. Taichi was left staring at the black screen.

"Wait! Tsubaki!" he said jumping up, finally pushed out of the strange numbness. "Oh, shit!" he snapped kicking the leg of his desk. "OW! DAMN IT!"

"Motoko! Motoko! STOP IT! What are you doing?" Melina shrieked grabbing her arm. She yelped as she was flung some good feet away.

"What's wrong with her?" Daisuke asked, as he watched her hit the ground with a thud about three feet away. Melina winced.

"I don't know. But I have to...do something..."she trailed off helplessly as Miyako was kicked into a tree.

"Ah!" Miyako gasped, her back arched as she landed on the ground in pain.

"Miyako, where are you? Miyako, what happened?" Ken frantically called out pounding on the screen with his fists.

"I'm fine...koi..." she whispered, and then winced as a sharp pain raced through her. "Just fine..." she blacked out.

"Touji, why the hell is she after you?" Yamato asked with wide blue eyes as Touji managed to dodge a punch.

"How the hell should I know?" Touji asked. Yamato frowned. Touji was definitely hiding something. "Oh, crap! Sorry man!" Touji apologized as his D3 was sent spinning to the ground as he slid across the grass. "Damn it. She can kick."

"I'll make you regret ever touching me, Miyazawa, Touji." Motoko said, her voice still dead-like.

"Motoko, snap out of it!" Iori yelled standing in front of her. "Don't make me hurt you." Motoko stopped and looked down at him. Her eyes flashed, and she hit the ground on her knees.

"Make it stop." She whispered. "MAKE IT STOP!" she grabbed the hair at her temples and Iori wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"What is it, what do you see?" Iori whispered.

"Him. He won't stop it. I'm not like my mother. But he says I am and he's touching me..." she whispered back convulsing. She flung herself away from Iori, and crawled on her hands backwards and shaking her hand. "Don't touch me. Just stay away." Touji rose up and walked towards her and her eyes, still blank, glanced up at him. "You stay away from me!" she yelled scooting back more.

"I just want to help." He said crouching down on his knees. "Are you dreaming about your father again? Let me help like I did before." He whispered touching her cheek. She flinched and then bit his hand.

"TRAITOR! Don't you dare touch me! Get away!" she kicked at him, and he doubled up and she kicked at him again. He lunged at her with a yell and they went tumbling down the downward slope that led to the river.

"I thought I said I'd kill you if you told anyone?" he whispered in her ear, his hands around her throat. She gasped and scratched at his face.

"Let me go...monster. You're worse than my father." She croaked pulling at his hands.

She heard distantly the sounds of the others following them, than she felt the water surround her. The shock of cold made her gasp and she choked on the water. Touji's hands still surrounded her neck and she couldn't get the water out of her throat. Her head hit a rock and she went limp, her body still flooded with the pain that raced through her veins. Poison...she thought as the river carried her down stream. My blood feels like it's on fire. From my cheek...the poison came from the bite on my cheek...I guess I'm going to die like this. Without telling my friends the truth...without being able to save Shizuko...without telling Koushiro that I truly do love him, even if it has been three days. A dark figure was in swimming towards her swiftly, a person clinging to the horn on its nose.

V V V

Yukina and the others raced to river to see Touji in the water and suddenly rise out of it gasping. Cirusmon jumped up and down agitated.

"She hit a rock! And I couldn't grab her! The river is too swift! I would digivolve but not even Trapezemon would be much help. He's a humanoid digimon." Touji gasped out hurriedly. "Yukina! You have to use Dolphimon."

"I can't, Dolphimon is too small, she couldn't carry both me and Motoko." Yukina said desperately. I'm going to lose my best friend because my digimon can't digivolve past Whamon because I'm not good enough. " Whamon would be too big, she wouldn't fit in the river..."

"And you can't digivolve past Whamon." Melina groaned softly. "Motoko's going to drown."

"DO something! You're going to let her die? She's always helped you! She's always been there for all of us, and you won't do shit!" Shizuko yelled grabbing Yukina by the collar of her shirt.

"I'm not good enough to save even my best friend. I'm just a nobody! I kept thinking every night that I couldn't believe I had friends like you guys, or how Motoko was always there to tell that what makes me special is being a good friend. Every night I would cry because I was the only one who couldn't do anything, I wasn't beautiful like all of you, or my mom. My mom's a model; everyone thought I'd be beautiful like her, or special like my genius dad.

"Motoko helped me realize even if I'm not like them, I'm still beautiful inside. Now I can't even help her, because she was wrong. There's nothing that makes me special." Yukina blurted out, tears streaming from her face. She clutched at the D3 she held against her chest.

"You're wrong Yukina." Came muffled voice. Yukina blinked and held up the screen to see Jyou still there. "Everybody's beautiful, and so are you. I never thought I was worth anything either, I was just going to be a doctor because my dad told me to. My friends taught me that I am worth something. Motoko was right in saying you were beautiful, because you are. You're one of the most beautiful people I know." Jyou smiled. Yukina blinked and then smiled back. She took a deep breath.

"I'm not letting Motoko go without a fight. I am beautiful, just like she said, and I have to thank her for telling the truth and making me believe in myself, just like you have." The water glowed and a symbol rose from the deep. It hit Yukina in the heart and glowed on her chest, her digivice was flashing wildly in her pocket. "FINMON GO!"

digivolving "Dolphimon digivolve to Whamon! Whamon digivolve to..."

"NORWHAMON! The Horned Unicorn of Beauty! Let's go, Yukina! We have to save our friend!" Norwhamon splashed into the water and Yukina dived after her, after giving Iori her D3. She didn't even notice the glowing crest on her chest, the tag and necklace appearing with it.

There she is, Norwhamon! Thank goodness you're so fast. Yukina telepathically sighed in relief, one of the new talents she had with her Ultimate digimon. She held onto her horn as they swam for Motoko's limp body in the water.

My program is based on dolphins and porpoises. I have their kind of skin and therefore move just as rapidly as they can. Norwhamon slowed next to Motoko for Yukina to grab her and then shot to the surface. (The water was pretty deep, and they were on the river bottom.) They rolled onto the grass and Norwhamon de-digivolved to Finmon.

"Is she alright?" Finmon asked worriedly. Yukina said nothing and started CPR.

"GO, get the others, now!" she ordered while pressing down hard on Motoko's chest five times.

"Right away." Finmon said, bouncing away as quick as she could, her tail flopping behind her.

"Breathe Motoko!" she pleaded desperately. If I hadn't faltered back there, she could be alive! But I'm not going to stop! Not until she breathes again. " Oh my god, you're bleeding!" said after breathing into her mouth. "And there are bruises around your neck...finger marks." Yukina's eyes narrowed. She suddenly remembered Iori's words and then what Motoko had said to him and how she was acting towards Touji. "Touji is lying to us. And so are you. But you've never lied...except to Koushiro...but why?" she pressed hard on her chest and Motoko coughed and spit up water. Yukina moved her head gently to the side so that the water wouldn't choke her by going back down her throat and continued CPR, knowing that there was probably more water in her lungs.

"Oh my god! Is she okay?" Melina cried out, racing towards Yukina and Motoko, just as she spit up more water.

"She's unconscious. When I found her she wasn't breathing. Luckily, I was able to resuscitate her. But some of the bruises on her are confusing. Maybe Touji would like to explain them to us." Yukina answered her eyes flaming.

"What are you talking about? Is Motoko okay?" Touji asked bewildered.

"Why do you keep blaming Touji for every bad thing?" Circusmon asked bouncing up and down angrily.

"Let's talk about this later! Motoko needs medical attention quick!" Miyako said quickly.

"Yes, and I have a feeling when Motoko wakes up she'll have a mouthful to say." Iori agreed eyeing Touji. Touji frowned.

"If she does wake up." He snapped stalking off.

"There is something wrong guys." Yukina said panicking.

"What?" the others asked turning away from where Touji had walked away.

"She's alive, but she can't breathe for herself!" Finmon gasped as Yukina bent over to breathe into her mouth once again.

"If I stop she might die!" Yukina puffed pressing into her chest.

"If I was there I might be able to find out what is wrong." Jyou said frustrated. "She needs to be here now!" Suddenly Motoko's body began to fuzz and Yukina cried out startled. "OH MY GOD!" Jyou cried out and they looked at the screen in Iori's hands.

"OH MY GOD!" they repeated shocked. Motoko was in Jyou's lap, blood from the back of her head staining his pants.

"How in the world did she get in here?" Jyou asked shocked.

"WHO CARES? GET HER TO THE HOSPITAL, JYOU!" everybody yelled. He blinked and then jumped up running out his door. The remaining Digidestined looked at each other bewildered.

"How in the world did she get back?" Miyako asked, voicing their thoughts.

"I don't know, but we have to get to Touji. You guys are right, Yukina, Iori. Touji's not telling us something. I think it has to do with their break up." Shizuko said shakily. Iori put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. What ever happens you have me." Iori said with a comforting smile. Shizuko blinked and then wrapped her arms around Iori, crying hysterically, her teeth gripping on of her wrists, trying desperately not to lose herself. He knelt on the ground, holding her around the shoulders, while their friends looked on.

"Koushiro." Yukina said suddenly.

"Oh shit! He's going to freak!" Melina yelped racing towards the clearing where they left their things.

V V V