Sora: well now, I won't be posting thanks to reviews anymore. You guys will have to go to my profile for the thanking. Can't we be polite anymore!

CR: Apparently not. We do not own Digimon. Okie dokie?

Sora: Oh, and thank you Warrior of Darkness for being the greatest beta'er in the world!

Chapter Twenty-three: Blood in time

Leiko sighed, plopping down into a chair. She had just completed her fifth circuit of the hospital's waiting room. Mikomon had carried Davis and her here so that said Gogglehead could get treated for his wound. That wound was a long gash that ran from his right side to his left one. Of course, this meant that he was under.

DEEP under with that much pain.

She sighed once more and looked toward the doors. Back through those doors, Davis was being operated on.

Leiko groaned and closed her eyes. It had been a long night.

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Rika was blushing. She hadn't stopped blushing since she had removed her mask back at the party. Presently, she was trying to get down a street in icy blue heels and an icy blue dress. It didn't help matters that

Gogglehead, HER Gogglehead, was walking next to her. What was really inferring her was when he offered her some assistance. He would hold out his hand when he thought that she was about to fall over. That really boiled her blood. After all, the ice queen just couldn't take any help what so ever.

Takato on the other hand was seeing it a lot more differently. He was still mesmerized by the sight of Rika all dolled up. She looked absolutely beautiful in her light blue dress that sharply complimented her red hair and violet eyes. Takato reacted just in time to keep Rika from doing a face plant on the sidewalk. She turned red at how close he was holding her, almost in a dip position (a dancing position).

Rika stared up into the Gogglehead's red eyes and tried desperately not to blush. She cleared her throat and tried not to laugh at the young man's expression. He quickly aided her to a up right position and carefully avoided her eyes. She smirked at his reaction and continued down the street toward her house. They quickly arrived in front of the place and stood stone still for a few seconds before they gained their wits.

"Well... Good night, I guess." Takato muttered, finding the sidewalk beneath his feet very interesting. Rika smirked at his rosy complexion. She formed a little plan in that cunning mind of her's. She leaned forward and placed a small kiss on Takato's cheek before she entered her house, leaving a stunned Gogglehead.

"Goodnight... Takato..." Rika muttered back as she entered her house. Takato was snapped out of his trance by his Gestalt beeping. It wasn't until later that he realized that Rika had called him Takato instead of Gogglehead.

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Davis groaned, his eyes fluttering open. He had the most vicious headache he had ever had and the bright lights above his head was sure not helping. He yawned and tried to sit up. He quickly laid back down when a sharp pain shot up his torso.

Peering down, Davis noticed that he did not have a shirt on and that there was bandages wrapped halfway up his torso. He quickly determined that he had done something idiotic and had gotten hurt. From those clues, he figured out where he was. Once more he was in a hospital, those dreaded places, and he wasn't happy about it.

Davis turned and looked as he heard the door opening. In came the doctor and Leiko. She looked like she had gone through hell. As soon as the doctor left, she sat down in a chair next to his bed. Raimymon fluttered out of Leiko's haori and landed gently upon his nose.

"Your aunt's coming to check on you." Leiko muttered, a light pink blush spreading across her cheeks. Davis was puzzled by this.

'Why is she blushing? Oh, that's right. I threw myself in front of her, didn't I?' Davis thought, watching Leiko wring her hands. Now that he thought about it, he wondered where he had gotten the courage to do something like that.

"Leiko, look at me." Davis told her, trying not to go cross eyed with that damned fairy sitting on his nose.

Leiko looked up and giggled softly at Raimy, "It was my decision, okay? Don't worry about it, Leiko." Davis told her, a light smirk plastered across his face.

"Davis! The doctor says that your-" Leiko was cut off by Davis as he held up a hand.

"Look, Leiko, what is done is done. Stop worrying about it, okay?" Davis told her, smiling. He cocked his head to the side, hearing something. It was his brother's voice, calling out. He smiled, knowing that Taijin was in the building and rapidly approaching. The door suddenly flew open and in came a running Taijin. He skidded to a halt a little bit from his brother's bed.

"Davis! Are you okay!" Taijin asked, his eyes wide. Davis snickered softly at his brother's expression.

It was one of complete innocence. Davis nodded quietly at his brother, a smile on his face. Raimy fluttered up and landed on one of Taijin's many spikes. The little fairy perched up there, crossing her legs and went into the "Thinker" pose. Leiko smiled at her digimon as Taijin continued to blabber on, "Oh! Yamaki's thinking about sending your Kari friend home!" Davis looked up sharply at that one.

"He's thinking about sending her home? Why?" Davis asked him, blinking rapidly. Taijin gave a half shrug before answering.

"So that she can deliver a message about you and Jun. He wants her to tell your Mom that you guys are alright." Taijin said, pulling up a chair. Davis shook his head slightly.

"She's your mother as well, Taijin. You should start referring to her as such." Davis said, looking at his brother. Taijin shrugged again. Leiko blinked softly before asking a question.

"'Your Mother'? Is there something here I don't know about?" Leiko asked the brothers. The two both blinked, realizing that the girl knew nothing about the eastern quadrant.

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Takato growled softly. He had just ran all the way to the hospital. To say the least, he was out of breath.

He looked up as another person entered the doors. It was his mother, and she did not look amused. Her eyes narrowed slightly when she saw her son. Gulp.

"Takato..." She growled gently, "I thought that you were suppose to be watching your cousin!" She shrieked at him, causing Takato to wince at the noise.

"Mom!" Takato cried, rubbing his ears, "How was I to know that he was going to get himself hurt! I wasn't even near him! I was..." Takato trailed off after that, his face going scarlet.

"You were what?" She asked him sharply, giving him time to answer her. When she was greeted by silence she spoke, "Takato!"

"I was walking Rika home..." Takato muttered, going beet red. Mie blinked and broke out into a merrily little grin.

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Leiko sat back, blinking. She had just been informed about all that had happened. After all, it wasn't every day that you learned of a different dimension parallel to your own. She turned and looked at Taijin, who just shrugged.

"I've never been there myself, but I hear that it's a wonderful place to live." Taijin told her, leaning against the wall.

"Wait. If you came from there, wouldn't you have been there?" Leiko asked him, getting even more confused.

She turned, hearing the other Gogglehead chuckling. Davis had a smirk across his face as he chuckled away.

"Taijin is in a way from the eastern quadrant, but he's not. Taijin is a human completely made from data, like a Digimon. What makes him different from a Digimon is that he IS human, just not a organic one." Davis told her, yawning. Leiko paused and thought about it.

"That doesn't explain why he looks so much like you, Davis." Leiko pointed out to the white headed boy. The boy blinked and smirked. The girl really didn't miss a thing.

"That's because he is... Well, I'm not really sure if there is a word for what he is. He has a piece of my soul in him. It's what makes him different from a body made of data and a body made of data with a functioning brain and soul. He is me, in a way." Davis told her, blinking his suddenly heavy eyes.

Leiko smiled at him and stood up from her chair. She turned to Taijin, "So you're him and he's you? That must be rather confusing at times." Leiko said as she leaned over a picked up her haori. Taijin nodded cheerfully as his aunt and cousin entered the room.

"Davis!" They both shouted, rushing over to the wounded Gogglehead. Davis winced at the level of noise.

"You baka!" His aunt yelled at him, giving him a resounding smack to the top of the head.

"Ow!" Davis yelped, his hands flying to the top of his hurting head, "What was that for!" He shouted at his aunt, rubbing the bump that was already starting to form.

"You idiot! You could have gotten yourself killed!" Mie shouted back, her eyes flashing with anger. It was that last part that made Davis calm down, because a mad Mie is a dangerous Mie.

"But I didn't get myself killed. So calm down, Aunt Mie." Davis said in his calmest voice, hoping to sooth the angry adult. Mie took in a deep breath before she spoke.

"You're not going to be getting around any time soon, Davis. The doctors say that your lucky to be alive after all the blood you lost. You lost about half of your blood!" Mie told him as she sat down. Davis in response blinked rapidly.

"You mean I was almost a goner!" Davis asked her, gulping. Mie nodded before she answered.

"Uh, yeah!" Davis gulped at these words, knowing that his brave-but stupid- act had almost cost him his life.

The baka...

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Kari, meanwhile was being ushered out of the bakery. She had been told to pack up what was her and come along.

She did as she was told and soon was in the park. The others were all waiting there, huddled under one of the delicate sakura trees. The first one to look up and notice her was one that was propped up against the tree.

Looking closer at said person, she soon discovered just who it was. It was Davis and he looked like he had seen better days. He had bandages wrapped around the lower portion of his torso and he was absolutely still, leaning against the tree with his eyes closed.

"Davis? What happened?" She asked him, shifting her bag on her shoulder. He opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"Well, I got hit by an attack. Busted me up real good." Davis told her, wincing at the pain in his torso.

Kari walked over to where he was and kneeled down beside him.

"Okay. Then why did I have to pack my bags?" Kari asked him. Davis just gave a weak grin before he answered.

"Because, it's been decided that you are going home." Davis told her, smiling gently at her rather shocked face. Kari looked at him like he had grown another head, "Here, give this to Tai when you get there, okay?" Davis told her, handing over a video tape. Kari took it silently.

She spoke up as she stood up, "Davis, when are you coming home?" She asked him, looking down at the white haired boy in wonder. Davis smiled up at her before answering her question.

"When I want to. Or maybe when Jun drags me home. I don't know, Kari. I came to this place to get away and be myself, not some Tai wannabe. So when I feel that I'm ready, I'll come." Davis told her. Kari nodded and headed for the fog bank that had rolled in. She paused in front of it's misty wall and looked back at the others. They stood there with gentle smiles.

Kari nodded back at them, her eyes lingering on one. She turned to the fog bank and stepped in. Kari practically ran down the long misty tunnel to the other end. She soon exited and stopped. She was on the edge of town. And boy, was it cold!

Kari shuddered, looking down at the clothes that Jun had shoved on her. A short black skirt with a jolly roger belt, above that was a small hot pink tank top with a striped pink and black undershirt. On her legs were something like pink and black striped leg warmers, except that they stopped right below her skirt and went down to her boots, which were clunky and black. The moral of this? Never let Jun dress you.

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Sora: Sorry for the delay, my friends, but I got a new video game.

CR: Shows you what she cares for. She went and worked her butt off, even got straight A's, all for a video game that she can't even win!

Sora: Oh, well. Sorry that I got a bit distracted, but just you wait til the next chapter! It's going to blow your socks off!

CR: It blew my pelt off when she told me about it.

Sora: Please review! (Your thanks is going to be on my profile.)