Okay guys, you've reviewedlike hellwhile I left my Dai-Muse in charge, he's currently hiding somewhere in Gaia and refuses to come out. So I guess I'll be handleing reviews.
Be nice and he might come back.

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon.

Through the Eyes of Friendship
Chapter 3

Takuya sat on the end of the CAT scan bed listening to the sounds of medical staff going about their business. He felt edgy both from the dull ache emanating from his forehead injury and the, what he hoped was temporary, darkness created by the bandaging around his head. The had left him for a moment to check the latest scan results, adding them to the other tests he'd be running that morning, and Takuya was hoping that this would be the last one. He heard the door to the room open, someone enter and then Doctor's voice quietly dismissing the other people.

"Takuya" he spoke his name with a clipped, unemotional tone"I've run all the tests I can and although your head wound is healing fine, I'm afraid..." His voice wavered as he found it slightly hard to finish his sentence. The rest of the kids had decided to pick up something to drink. Hoping that the Doc would inform them when he had heard something. But Zoe didn't go. She remained in front of room 473, and faintly hearing a deeper voice from inside the closed door, she peered inside and looked at Takuya.
So young, so enthusiastic, so dependent on his senses and here he was about to be told that he probably lost the one most important to him. But zoe waited in scilence as she, herself awaited the news also.

Takuya turned his head to face where the doctor's voice was coming from. He could feel his stomach knot in fearful anticipation of what the Doctor was finding so hard to voice. He waited.

The doctor swallowed hard in a vain attempt to speak naturally and rationally. "I'm afraid..." He started. "Your optic nerves are permanently damaged."
No. No. No. No. No. No. No!
Zoe felt sick inside, all over inside. As the words of the Medical Professional echoed loudly inside her head.

But to Takuya, it felt different, it was as if someone had slapped him. Slapped him so hard, he was in shock. His mind refused to process the words he'd just heard and their implications. He tried to find his voice, but the words came out as a shaky whisper "What are you saying?"

The doctor reached out and, wordlessly, started to remove Takuya's bandage, tears in the corners of Zoe's eyes. The crepe fell away revealing the carefully stitched tear across the young man's forehead and two taped circles of cotton wool pad over each of his eyes. For a second, he looked back at Zoe, who he realized heard the entire conversation. Then he reached up and carefully removed the two circles.

Takuya held his lids shut for a moment, afraid of what would come next. He took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.

Nothing.

He could feel panic rise from the knot that had settled in his stomach.

Nothing at all.

Oh, god, no.

Total darkness.

Bile rose in his throat and he clamped his hand over his mouth in a bid to control the urge to throw up. Zoe walked up and put her hand on his arm.
No! His mind screamed. He shrugged off her touch and, dropping his hand, he whispered "Leave me alone."

"Takuya." Zoe started simpaticlly.

He could hear the tears in her voice. "Please, leave me alone" he begged.

Zoe, who now had tears flowing down her face, hesitated and then turned and left, telling herself he needed time. The doctor followed behind her.

At the sound of the door closing behind the footsteps, Takuya lurched across the room in the direction he hoped was the right one, and banged into the edge of the sink he'd been looking for. He bent over and emptied the contents of his stomach into it.

(o)o(o)o(o)

"I'm sorry Miss." The doctor apologised. "I wish..."

Zoe's tear filled voice interrupted"Yeah. I know."

The doctor just nodded and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

The rest of the kids entered the short corridor that led to the hospital room to find their friend Zoe, standing outside.

"Zoe"

Zoe looked up at Tommy and then across at the Room.

"In there"

She nodded and said"He told him..." Her voice trailed off.

Both Koji and the rest of the guys could clearly see the anguish in her eyes and guessed at its meaning. Both Koji and Tommy stepped up to the door"Let me talk to him first." Koji said with no emotion in his voice. Tommy couldn't tell what he was thinking.

He opened his mouth to argue but closed it and nodded his agreement, his stomach forming its own knot as the long haired loner entered the room, shutted the door behind him.

"Takuya"

He was standing over by a sink on the far wall of the room, his back to the door.

Koji walked over to stand beside his friend"Hey, Takuya."

Takuya didn't turn around, ignoring his best friend.

Koji tried again"Takuya"

"What" Came the petulant reply.

"You okay"

"What do you think"

"Alright, so it was a stupid question." Koji sighed. "I'm not very good at this you know." Then he tried a different track.
"Do ya' wanna get somethin' to eat? The doctor said your free to go home. You know, after all the..."

Takuya whirled round to face his friend. "No, Koji" he shouted. "I want ya' to leave me the hell alone. Okay"

Koji was struck by Takuya's eyes. Those once expressive, bright brown eyes now appeared dull and lifeless. He suspected he was imagining it, yet, they haunted him. He swallowed and replied"Look, I know this is tough for you but..."

Takuya shook his head slowly, interrupting Koji's words"You...have...no...idea...what I am feeling...Koji." He turned away"Just leave me alone...please."

Koji stared at his friend's back, unsure what he should do or say. Maybe someone else would have better luck.

(o)o(o)o(o)

"I couldn't..." Koji trailed off.

Tommy took this as his cue. And the slightly nervous 14yr old walked into the room and Closed the door behind him.

Takuya was sat on the floor, his back against the far wall and his head bowed down to rest on his drawn up knees. He had his arms wrapped around his legs and was remaining motionless.

Without a word, Tommy sat on the floor beside him and placed his hands on the floor scooting his back agaist the wall.

"Um- Hi Takuya." He saw him flinch away but he persisted,

"We were all so worried about you buddy." He said, cracking a fake smile.

Takuya resisted him, burying his head into his curled up arms and legs.

"Stop it Takuya" Tommy finally broke down. "We're only tring to help you! We're friends! You just can't keep pushing us away like this! We know this is really hard for you now, but how do you think the rest od us feel"

Slowly Takuya relaxed and allowed himself to uncurl and sit upright, his head moving wanderinling to the direction that Tommy was talking from.

They sat like that for a while in silence for a few minutes and then Tommy stood and took Takuya's hand. He coaxed him to stand"Let's get you home." Takuya hesitated for a moment and then nodded and followed his lead.

Tommy watched Takuya as he got to his feet, the vacant look in his normally lively eyes a chilling reminder of his disability.

"What's taking so long" J.P. asked. still tring to comfort the crying Zoe.

Koji pushed himself away from the wall that he'd been leaning on and raised a questioning eyebrow at Tommy, who was assisting his slightly taller friend out the door. "Takuya"

"Let's just get him home guys." Tommy suggested.

Koji looked across at the doctor who was walking down the hallway. "That'd be best. Here's the release forms." Then, addressing Koji, the obvious one in charge, he added"You'll need to come back tomorrow so that I can check the stitches."

"Yeah. Okay." Koji replied. He glanced at Takuya who was being assisted by the rest of the team, towards the exit of the building.

Koji watched the five walk slowly down the corridor, concerned that throughout their short exchange Takuya had not said a word or even looked in his direction. Alright, so maybe looking in his direction was a little wishful thinking, but his young friend had not acknowledged his presence at all.

As they turned the corner and disappeared from view, Koji hoped that Takuya would be okay. He would give him time, well, he'd give him until they came to the hospital again tomarrow.

And then I'll do whatever I have to to get the real Takuya back. Koji thought as he followed them to his car.

-(o)o(o)o(o)-

Takuya had spoken barely more than a handful of words during the journey back to his apartment and the subsequent hours he had spent simply slumped on the couch staring into space.

Scaff, Koji's German Shepherd, sensing Takuya's sadness had immediately hopped up on the couch and laid down next to his friend, his head resting on Takuya's lap.

The rest of the kids had left him to himself, recognising that now was not the time to talk, now was time to wait and be there when he needed them. There was one other significant difference in Takuya's behaviour: his need for background music. It was as if adding silence to his dark world would be just too much to bear.

Zoe checked her watch. Nearly eleven. She glanced out of the kitchen window as she waited for the tea pot to finish and watched the rain run down the glass, the dark, cloudy night sky a reflection of how she felt inside. The soft whistle of the kettle drug her back and she turned away from the outside world to fill a mug with the hot liquid.

"You guys should go home, and get some rest. I'll stay here with Takuya." Nodding in agreement... the rest of the kids quietly crept out the door. Koji, thought it would be a good idea to leave his dog there for Takuya's conpany.

He loved Dogs, but never had one of his own, that was the reason why Scaff was there at Takuya's apartment, visiting.

(o)o(o)o(o)

Zoe carried the mug into the lounge and was halfway across the room when the whole house was plunged into darkness and silence. "Aw, man" Zoe exclaimed. It appeared that the electricity supplied had tripped out, dropping all power to the lights and the audio system. "The lights have gone out"

With the night sky hidden behind rain clouds and the street lights out as well, the darkness Zoe found herself in was complete, and scary. Instinctively, she stepped forward to reaching out for something to reassure her she was still in her lounge. Her shin impacted with the coffee table"Ow" The jarring collision caused some of the hot coffee to spill from the mug over her hand"Ouch"

A small sound escaped Takuya's lips, a sound that at once caught Zoe's attention. Although the sound itself warmed her heart, she couldn't help her mouth engaging before brain"Hey! What are you laughing at" She tried to put the mug down on the table she'd encountered earlier but only managed to spill more and crunch her other shin on the piece of furniture.

Takuya laughed again, a little louder.

"Hey" Zoe said indignantly"Don't laugh. It looks like a power outage and I can't see a thing..." Her voice suddenly trailed off as she realised what she'd just said. "Oh, Takuya, I didn't mean to... I was just... oh, I'm sorry, Takuya..." Once again her voice trailed away and she stood still, staring unseeing in the direction she thought Takuya was.

Standing there surrounded by total blackness, scared and isolated, she began to get a sense of what Takuya must be feeling. She could feel tears burn in her eyes and start to flow slowly down her cheeks. She was afraid. Afraid of the deep, penetrating blackness and the desperate loneliness that the blackness seemed to envelop her with. She could feel her stomach lurch as she thought of Takuya. She was experiencing barely the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what Takuya was going through, for she knew that eventually the power would be restored and with it her sight, but for Takuya...well...

Her tears were flowing freely now but, as she stood frozen to the spot, she felt a gentle touch brush the wetness from her cheeks. "Takuya" she whispered.

Takuya was standing directly in front of her and this time it was he who comforted her.

"Heh." Takuya laughed weakly. "What on earth would you lot do without me"
Zoe cracked a small smile.
"Spill tea all over your place for one thing."

-(o)o(o)o(o)-

Zoe sat staring at the ceiling. Something had woken her but she was not sure what it had been.

Zoe jumped as Takuya moved restlessly on the couch just across the coffee table and muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

He stood once more in the clearing, back in the digital world. He frowned, the strange softness of a dream sequence touched the scene before him, dulling his friends' voices and making him feel isolated from them. He scanned around him in search of Zoe but could not see her. Why was he here? His head hurt and he reached up to touch his scar that was no longer there. Of course, he hadn't hurt himself yet... A sharp relatively loud noise sounded to Takuya's right and he turned his head towards it. It sounded again and he glanced at Koji and Kouchi who seemed oblivious to the noise. He found himself being drawn towards the strange sound, pushing through the undergrowth until he was standing at the edge of a ravine. He appeared to be alone but as he turned to go he felt something brush against him. He looked back to see what could only be described as a wisp of smoke, yet it had a vague humanoid form. He opened his mouth to speak but shut it as a sharp pain seared behind his eyes. He screwed up his face against the ache but was sure that the wisp was reaching out to him. He raised his hands protectively in front of his face as the pain intensified and he took a step back away from the now advancing smoke. The pain increased still further and Takuya continued to back away from what his instincts told him was the source of his pain. Suddenly the ground disappeared from beneath his feet and, as he scrabbled wildly for something to grab hold of, he realised, too late, that he'd stepped off into the ravine. As he plummeted to the ground, he screamed...

At the sound of Takuya's scream, Zoe shook him to try to wake him, calling his name as she did so. "Takuya. Wake up." He stirred under her touch, groaning and rubbing at his eyes. "Takuya, please, wake up."

The power had still not been restored, but the clouds had blown away allowing the moon to bathe the room with a soft grey light that gently lit Takuya's troubled features. His eyes flickered open as he returned to wakefulness.

"Takuya, are you okay" Zoe sat down on the couch beside him as Takuya looked wildly around the room.

Takuya grabbed at Zoe's hand, making her jump. "I remember" he exclaimed.

"Remember what" Zoe asked, confused by his reaction.

"I remember what happened" He pushed himself into a standing position and Zoe followed suit as he turned to look sightlessly at her and tell her about his dream. "Only it wasn't just a dream, it's what happened. I mean, I couldn't remember what happened before, just, one minute I was in the clearing watching Koji and Kouichi, the next I was waking up in the hospital. Now I know it wasn't the fall that messed with my eyes. It was that mist thing. It took my sight from me" He swung around to put hi hands on Zoe's shoulders. "We have to get back to the digital world, find that thing" He stood, reaching out aimlessly for his classic red over-shirt. He stopped, realising Zoe had not said a word during his verbal tirade. "Zoe? You do believe me, don't you" His voice was soft, pleading, for a moment, unsure of himself.

He got his answer in the form of a wadded shirt being pushed gently into his hands. "Of course I do, Takuya" she whispered"but more importantly, I believe in you." Takuya smiled. "And after all, I'm still older than you. So I've gotta' look after you, ya' know" Though Takuya didn't see it, he could sense she was probably winking now.

TBC

-

There are some errors, yes, but not as many as last chapter. I was in a major hurry, inspiration broke and I had only 30min to type it all down.

Here we show a bit of relationship between Zoey and Takuya, but nothing major.

Well, review if you want, but I've got to go.