Litanya: Hi again. I am sorry that it has taken so long for me to update this, but I have had exams and I am sick with the flu. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. There is only one major time jump left in this fic, and it occurs near the start of this chapter, so after this time ill progress more… normally. I don't own Digimon by the way!

The Island Holiday

Chapter 12: The Escape

Five and a half years had now passed since they had ended up on the Island. Tai waded into the ocean and stopped when the water reached the back of his knees. The water was refreshing in the humid summer's heat. They were testing their raft. Yes, after five years of procrastination, they had finally figured out how to make one. Neither of them had discussed why it had taken them so long to get about building it. Tai knew the reason he had built it so slowly. He loved the Island. It was almost as if all of his hopes and dreams were right there in front of him there. He was scared that if they got back to reality they would fade. He and Sora had gotten so much closer because of the Island. He had finally come up with the courage to tell her how he felt about two years ago…

Flashback

It was another night by the fire, but this time both of them were sitting as far away from the flames as possible. The night air was warm around them and mosquitoes buzzed as they flew around their prey. Sora and Tai were swatting the mosquitoes away absently. They were used to flying bugs and insects now. It could not have been too late into the night because the sky was still light. It often was light until very late on the Island, and the Sun rose very early. Sora was seated on the rock she usually leant against, and Tai was sprawled on the ground off to one side. There were no stars to stare at, so he contented himself to staring at the flames. He preferred to look at the stars- they reminded him of his little sister- but the flames would do. Sora looked lost in thought as she stared off over near the horizon. He watched the flames carefully, reminded of the time he had saved Sora from Datamon. He had walked through a wall of fire for her then. He had been scared, but the thought of getting her away from that evil Digimon, of making sure that she was okay, had kept him going. At the time, he hadn't even thought that it would be cool to save her. He had been scared to death that he might lose her. And yet here he was, sitting there with her silently. What would happen if they were rescued right at that moment, and she went straight back to Matt when they got back to Japan? She had said that she didn't want to, but was she serious or was she just trying to be noble? His head started to hurt.

"Are you okay Tai?" he jumped as her hand landed on his shoulder. When had she moved? The fire seemed to chuckle at him. He put a hand up to his head. Maybe he was sick. Fires were not alive.

"Uh… I was just thinking, that's all," she jumped off her rock and sat down next to him. She didn't look convinced, but he ignored her skeptical look.

"What were you thinking about?" she was obviously in the mood to talk. He sighed to himself. He wanted to be alone so he could figure this out (like he hadn't been trying for most of his life about this!) but he wanted to talk to her. He wanted to tell her too.

"Umm…" he cursed himself. Why couldn't he form a sentence? He needed to make her stop being suspicious! She laughed at him. He wondered what was funny.

"I'm sorry for laughing but… you just look so… dumb-struck!" Sora shook as she tried to stop laughing. He raised an eyebrow and her shudders began to slow down, "I'm sorry… were you thinking about that girl?" She laughed again as his cheeks heated up.

"As a matter of fact I was. I'll bet that you were thinking about that guy when you were sitting on that rock before. Your face was so red that you could boil an egg on it," so it wasn't the best comeback, but at least she stopped laughing.

"Aww… come on Tai! You promised that you would tell me who you loved. We promised in high school, remember. Before I fell for Matt," he did dimly remember a promise like that, but he wondered why she had never brought this point up before. He strained his memory to find out why she wanted to hide it from him. The only thing he could come up with was that they were lying on the soccer field after playing a practice match when they had made the promise. Why were girls so confusing?

"I did promise you that, but I never told you when I would tell you," she stuck out her tongue before continuing a little nervously.

"Do you remember the next thing we said, after that promise?" now he had to REALLY strain his memory. How was he supposed to remember something that they had said eight years before? They had only been 14 at the time after all, and he had never thought that he would end up in this position.

"We said that if we were both single by the time we were thirty we would marry each other, right?" it had been something vaguely like that anyway. At least he hoped it had been. If he had just made up something like that then he was so dead. Luckily for him, she was nodding.

"Do you reckon that we're going to have to get married here on the island?" there was a hint of something in her voice. Hope? It could have been hope. He stared into the flames. She was hinting at something. He had put his life on the line for her once before; could he find the courage to put his feelings out in the open? The fire told him to speak. He would have to talk to the fire later about speaking when it didn't have the right to lecture, but now was not the time.

"You know that girl I'm in love with? The one who I won't tell you I love?" he waited for her nod before continuing, even though he knew that she knew what he was talking about, "Well… that girl is you." He didn't look at her, but continued to look at the laughing fire. He really needed a word with those flames. He was distracted by a laugh. He looked at her to see a very wide and happy grin on her face. It almost would have rivaled his own grin.

"You have no idea how long I have waited for you to say something like this. I knew that you would find the courage one day. Now, all you have to do is kiss me," he must have stared at her with a confused look because she sighed and began to explain, "Every girl… well, most girls dream that when a guy tells them that he loves her, he will kiss her if she returns the feelings. So now you have to kiss me." Her grin turned a little mischievous, "Matt kissed me when he told me he loved me." That caused an immediate reaction. If Matt had done it, then he would just have to do it better, wouldn't he? The flames agreed. At that point he almost hesitated. Why was he talking to a fire as though it was real? But he couldn't let Matt beat him. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds, but Tai felt like he was in heaven. Was he really alive and stuck on an Island with Sora, or was he dead and in his own sort of heaven? He really couldn't tell at that moment.

"Uh…" he had just told the girl he was in love with that he loved her, kissed her even, and all he could say was 'uh'? Sora quickly put a hand on his forehead, a light frown on her face.

"Well, that served two purposes. It demonstrated that you are a better kisser than Matt, and it also told me that you have a fever," Tai stared at her as though she was speaking a foreign language. She wondered what he was thinking, "Are you alright Tai?" He blinked.

"It was the fire's fault! He laughed at me!" as she struggled to contain her laughter she jumped up and grabbed the rock containing the water. Although the situation was slightly funny, she also knew it was a little serious too. He was sick, and they had no medicine. At least he had finally told her how he felt. As she returned to where she left him, she overheard him shushing the fire for being too cocky. Yep, she was in for a long night…

End of Flashback

He hadn't remembered the rest of that week, and when he had finally become aware of the world again, he had almost fainted when she had told him that she knew he loved her. And now they were testing their raft. He really hoped that it worked. He bent down and tightened one of the ropes made from tree bark. They weren't planning to escape on it that day because they still had preparations to make, but it needed a test run first.

It was the buzzing noise which finally distracted him from the raft. At first he had just dismissed it as an insect, but instead of being a muted disappearing buzz, it began to get louder. Sora was still on the shore, struggling with their fishing stick. It had been decided that he would prepare the raft before lunch whilst Sora got the food. They would test it fully after they had eaten. Whatever that buzzing was, Sora either hadn't heard it, or she was ignoring it. His eyes swept over the ocean ahead of him. All he could see was the natural rise and fall of waves moving in a sinusoidal motion. He bent down to finish the raft again when the noise continued. He sighed, feeling rather irritated. Whatever it was, it had better get ready to- he cut off the curse in his head when he looked up. It was a boat, or something which looked awfully like one. He let the raft go, suddenly not caring about whether or not it would float away. The white boat was heading towards the Island. Tai couldn't see it very well, but he knew it was headed their way.

"Sora, look over there!" she dropped the fishing stick as his call startled her. She looked about ready to yell at him for spoiling her fishing when she looked where he had told her. Her mouth dropped open. She forgot all about the fishing and ran out into the deeper water where Tai was.

"We're going to be rescued!" she cried out joyfully as she threw her arms around him. He noticed that she kept her eyes on the boat at all times, as though she was afraid that it might disappear. Her next question confirmed that, "It is there, isn't it? You can see it too?" He nodded and couldn't help grinning. As the boat came closer he realized that there were four people sitting in it. They were all staring at him and Sora. They didn't look like a rescue party, but at that time the couple just did not care.

"Excuse me, can you tell us what country this island is?" one of the guys in the boat called out as the boat came nearer. Tai and Sora exchanged puzzled glances. The man had spoken in English, and neither of them had been very good at that language. It didn't help that the man's accent made it hard to hear the words.

"We don't speak much English," Sora managed to say slowly in the language, "We are from Japan. We speak Japanese and French." She hoped that that was what she had said anyway. Her English really was very dusty- she hadn't spoken it since she had been in her final year of high school. A woman in the boat spoke up now. Luckily it seemed as though she spoke French.

"Where is this place?" she asked, gesturing to the island. Tai and Sora both shrugged at the same time. They were finding it a little overwhelming to be able to talk to people other than each other. These people were strangers and they didn't know if they were going to rescue them, or just leave them there. It was all rather strange.

"We have no idea. We were on a plane around five and a half years ago from Paris to Tokyo. The plane crashed near here and the two of us managed to escape to this island. We have no idea where it is," Tai told her after pausing for a moment. The woman's expression changed to one of shock. The three others in the boat immediately seemed to demand a translation. When the woman had repeated what she had heard in English, they started to throw questions out at the couple.

"How long have you been on this island?" the woman translated. Tai and Sora looked at each other in confusion. Hadn't they just answered that?

"Five and a half years. We have seen no one else for that whole time. We built a raft recently and we were going to try it out tomorrow, to see if we could get anywhere, but then we saw you," that answer didn't stop the questions from coming. Once they had finally told them everything they had eaten, how they had lived and the details that they could remember from the crash, the woman who translated offered them a hand up onto the boat.

"My name is Alison. I am very sorry about the questions, but it is not every day that you find survivors from a plane crash five years ago on a deserted island. We are here because we are looking for an island to shoot a show about survival in harsh conditions. Pretty ironic, isn't it?" she smiled and the boat began to turn around, "What are your names?" The other three people in the boat were talking quietly between themselves. They seemed pretty upset that they couldn't understand what they were saying.

"My name is Tai Kamiya and this is Sora Takenouchi. Uh… where will we be heading now?" it was all well and good that they had been rescued, but they had absolutely no idea where they were, or where Alison and her friends were from. For all they knew, it could have been a trap.

"We're heading towards the Northern Mariana Islands. They are a bit closer to Japan than here and there is a resort there. That is where we are staying. We will arrange for you to go back to Japan from there. You guys are going to be famous!" they didn't look very enthusiastic about it. The truth was that the presence of the four strangers was beginning to make both Tai and Sora feel uncomfortable. They had been living on an island for five years- they were used to quiet and spacious places. Even though they desperately wanted to see their friends and family again, they were terrified. The boat seemed to be very confining, even though it was a rather spacious boat for what it was. At the Northern Mariana Islands they were going to have to face small groups of people. That thought, strangely enough, scared the living daylights out of both of them.

"Umm… Alison, can we ask you a favor?" Sora asked quietly, her thoughts still dwelling on the fact that they would have to put up with people again. The curly-haired brunette looked a little surprised.

"Of course you can! As long as I can ask for one back," Sora nodded as though she had been expecting that. After all, Alison and her friends hadn't needed to rescue her and Tai.

"Can… Can we wait for a while before announcing who we are? I mean… do we have to tell the world that we survived the minute we get back? We're not really used to people anymore… we have only had each other to talk to and even being on this boat is a little scary. We promise that you and your friends can tell our story… we would just like a couple of weeks to settle back into our lives with our friends and family, to get used to being with people again, before we say anything. Is that okay?" Alison was quiet for a moment, a considering smile on her face.

"One second. I just have to tell my friends about this," she and her friends began discussing the issue on the other side of the boat. Sora threw a glance back over her shoulder. The Island was almost out of sight now.

"What do you reckon the others will say when we get back? Do you think they'll run up to us and scream and hug and everything like when we got back from that soccer camp we went on ages ago?" Tai asked his girlfriend, a slow grin forming on his face, "Or do you reckon they'll faint? I bet that Mimi will. I'm not too sure about Kari." Sora smiled and put her head on his shoulder. She was exhausted. It was barely lunch time, but she felt as though she had been awake for the past week. She didn't understand. Why did she feel so tired? Tai also seemed to feel exhausted. She could tell that from the way he was sitting. He was pretending to be alert, but she knew that he was on the verge of falling asleep. It didn't make much sense.

"I reckon that we should make them faint. I mean, we can't exactly let them know that we're alive the moment we get back to Japan. If we do then we will probably run the other way when they come up excited to see us. Even though they are our friends, the thought of big groups of people is just scary. If we could somehow come up with a way to surprise them… then they will faint!" Tai's grin grew a little wider, and a mischievous glint appeared suddenly in his eyes. She wondered briefly if she was the only one to ever notice that glint before shaking her head slightly. Tai's mother would have noticed it almost every day.

"Well, we'll need to tell our parents we're back. They can update us on everything that has happened, and when they do that I'm sure that we will come up with a plan," Sora felt a grin of her own coming along. She was about to reply when Alison came back.

"We will agree to say nothing to the media about who you are, as long as we get to release your story. But the details about that can come later, when you are back home. The Northern Mariana Islands are coming up. You'll be home soon after that," they felt so relieved that they were surprised when they didn't sigh.

"Thank you so much for this. We owe you a lot," Sora thanked her and her friends. Alison just waved the thanks away.

"What kind of people would we be if we either didn't rescue you or if we abused your rights of privacy? Anyway, you two look exhausted. I suggest that you sleep when we get to the resort. It's not much further," she left then at a comment from one of her friends. Neither Tai nor Sora moved. They had finally escaped the Island. It was time to go home.

Dr. Joe Kido was about to go on his break (an hour late, but he needed it) when the receptionist on his level rushed up to him with a file.

"Dr. Kido? We need you in examination room one. We have a couple of patients who have had no access to medical care in a long time and they had suffered pretty bad injuries," he sighed and pushed his glasses back up his nose. He mentally swore to buy contact lenses for about the millionth time, before he picked up the file that the receptionist was holding out.

"Isn't Dr. Pong available? I thought that she was helping out in the examination rooms today," he just needed a break. He felt guilty for asking if his colleague could go instead of him however. But he hadn't eaten since breakfast and that had been eight hours ago.

"I'm sorry, but she is in exam room two. Also, the patients asked specifically for you. They said that they knew that you were the best doctor around or something. It was hard to understand them- they speak Japanese, but they have a habit of sneaking in words from other languages in with the Japanese. I did French when I was younger, and I'm sure that some of those words were French, but others just seemed… gibberish to me. Would you like me to get them to wait or…?" she trailed off as he sighed and began walking back to towards the examination rooms.

"Alright, I'll take this one, but after that I need to go on my break. Is that alright?" he winced as he realized that he had been a bit harsh, but the receptionist just smiled understandingly.

"I'll make sure that you are not disturbed," she promised as she hurried away. Joe glanced down quickly at the file. The names jumped out at him. Tai Kamiya and Sora Takenouchi. He stopped dead in his tracks. Was the receptionist playing a sick joke on him? His two friends had died years ago. He turned to see if he could demand an explanation from her, but she had gone. The only thing to do was open the door and find out who exactly was in the room. Maybe there had been a mix-up in the filing system. Maybe Kari had brought the twins into the hospital, and there had been a mix-up that way. After all, Kari's maiden name had been Kamiya, and added to the twins' first names, this mix-up was not unreasonable. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Why did these things always have to happen to him? He completed his journey to the room and, after asking for patience and courage, he opened the door.

Two people awaited him in the room. Both were very tanned, as if they had lived out in the sunshine for many years. He focused on the male first. It looked as though his unruly hair had been chopped with a dull knife. It was a light brown, but Joe thought that he could see evidence of it being darker. That gave another suggestion that this guy had been living in the Sun. His chocolate-brown eyes seemed to light up with a mischievous gleam when Joe entered the room. There seemed to be no obvious injuries on the man, though the way he held his shoulder indicated to Joe that it had been injured at one time. He turned to look at the female. Her hair was cut short and a light auburn colour. Her eyes were a deep brown-red and she too was darkly tanned. A thin scar ran down the side of her face, from just below her left eye to her chin. That seemed to be the only injury that she had to show.

"Hi Joe!" the male called out as he entered the room. It was then that Joe noticed the grin. That was the 'famous' Kamiya grin. He felt his glasses slip down his nose, but for once he didn't push them back up immediately. Instead he pulled off his glasses and pulled a neatly folded cloth out of his pocket. He needed to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him. If he hadn't read the name on the file before coming in, even with the grin he wouldn't have jumped to the conclusion that it was Tai. He looked so different. But after reading the name and seeing it, Joe found himself wondering if he hadn't died somewhere and this was his version of Heaven. Sora seemed to sense that that was what he was thinking.

"Joe, it's alright. We are actually here. We survived the crash. We ended up on an island near the Northern Mariana Islands. We would have called and everything but there was no phone. We were rescued the day before yesterday and we got back to Japan late last night. You aren't dreaming," he finally stopped polishing the lenses and popped his glasses back on his nose. He took a seat across from his two friends, who were seated on the examination table.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were back? Or call when you got to a phone to let us know?" he demanded to know once he could finally find his voice, "We thought that you were dead for five years- we have the right to know as soon as you got back." Tai took a breath and was about to answer, but Sora beat him to it.

"We lived on an island for five and a half years. There were no other survivors that we could find, and the only company we had was each other. We were rescued by a group of four people in a boat. In a way, I think they terrified us both, even though they were nice people. When we got to the Northern Mariana Islands, there was a larger group of people there, and it felt really, really weird wandering around amongst them. It was a rather scary experience. We're not used to a lot of people. The airport in Tokyo was like facing six hungry Skullgreymon for us. The only people who know that we are alive and home are my mother and Tai's parents. We want to get used to being around people again before we meet up with the rest of the group so we don't run away from them when they come up and greet us," Joe listened in silence to her explanation. It made sense. He had felt a little weird after returning from the Digital World, and he had been a child then. Tai and Sora had missed out on five and a half years of the adult world. They had been nineteen when they had disappeared. They probably had little idea about how the adult world worked now. They had been isolated from other people. He felt a little bad for not understanding earlier.

"I'm sorry. I know that you would have told us earlier if you could have. I promise that I won't tell the others you are here unless you say that I can… is that alright?" Tai gave him a thumbs up.

"I knew that we could count on you, old reliable Joe. So what's been happening since we left? Mum and Dad refused to tell us anything before we had had a medical check-up," Joe smiled. So, they didn't know anything that had happened. It seemed that T.K was going to get an extra day of life then.

"Well…" Joe started off as he grabbed his stethoscope, "I'll tell you whilst I examine you." It was a pity that he had to tell them about the twins. He had rather liked T.K, and judging from Tai's reaction, the young blond didn't have much time to live…

To be continued…

Litanya: Well, this chapter was a little longer to try and make up for the fact that I haven't updated for what seems to me to be ages. Please review if you would like to. I hope that I didn't write 'whilst' too many times in this chapter. Anyway, have a good night/day/afternoon etc and all Aussies… World Cup is on tonight at 1a.m! We're in the final 16!