"I'm leaving!" Mizumi snapped excitedly, her long hair flowed behind her like a cascade.
In the past year, Mizumi had changed a lot. From the beggining where she was dark, trustless, suspicious of everything, and obsessed with the search of her father. Now she was a happy, normal person, with a relatively normal life, since she had to stay away from electronic objects. Luckily she had learnt to control it a bit, such that she could still make her computer work. Also, she had changed in appearance. Her hair was now below her shoulders, a cascade of flaming red, and her eyes were always shinning with life in them. There was hope and illusion in life glimering inside her eyes.
"Where are you going?" inquired Kenji curiously, trying to get the tie's knot right.
"I'm off with Takeru." Mizumi explained, slapping Kenji's hands off the tie and knotting it herself.
"With Takeru? You spend a lot of time with that boy, don't you?" Kenji commented suspiciously, staring with mischievous eyes at Mizumi.
"Well, he is a good boy, and I have fun with him. He has helped me a lot as well. I could say he is my best friend." Mizumi said smiling while she gave the last tugs at Kenji's stripped tie.
"Best friend? Are you sure it's not more than that? Because I have a feeling that you like this boy." Kenji commented with a smile, straightening his shirt.
"Like Takeru? Heck, no!" Mizumi looked animated, and alarmed at Kenji's statement, "Any relation between us is impossible, what makes you think that nonesense?"
"Well, just staring at the way your eyes glow every time you speak about Takeru." Kenji said very seriously, yet wearing a gentle, understanding smile.
Mizumi looked sideways as a strange sensation spread through her veins. There was this curious feeling, as if a butterflyy had just hatched in her stomach and had ddecided to crawl and flutter all about it. It was also that annoying feeling that made her head doubt and contradict itself, the way Takeru's gentle smile and warm, blue eyes flashed so lovingly in her mind every time she thought about him. It was almost as if she had idealized him in her mind.
"Anyways, I'd like to meet that boy one day." Kenji said while putting on his coat and picking up a handbag where he carried his laptop.
"What for?" Mizumi inquired alarmed, staring at Kenji as a slight blush crept up her cheeks.
"Relax, Mizumi-chan. I just want to thank him for all he has done for you. He has returned you the will for living, and I'm truly happy about that." Kenji said, placing a hand on Mizumi's shoulder and smiling lovingly at her, "Well, see you later." He finished placing a kiss on the girl's cheek.
Mizumi was bewildered about what had happened. It was true that she had changed a lot, but she believed it was all due to the fact that she discovered she was a Digi. Now, as she checked in the past, back to the very first time she felt happy after her father's disappearance. It had been during the party, feeling the peopple's aceptance, dancing with Takeru. Ever since that time, she was more and more eager each day of going training. Takeru had become her best friend, doubtlessly, but now she wasn't so sure about that. What if Kenji was right? What if she liked Takeru? It was impossible since, although his appearance didn't say so, Takeru was forty two years old.
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
A can, a glass bottle, a shoe, and a tiny pin were all blown out by Mizumi's ball of fire. Takeru was sittin under a tree, his hat shading him, protecting him from the rays of sun. The boy was apparently bored, and his eyelids were falling slowly.
"Mizumi, you are a master with that, you are even better than me! Why don't we leave the daily practices?" Takeru inquired, lifting his hat with one finger to stare at Mizumi.
"You think so?" Mizumi inquired, walking next to Takeru and sitting next to him.
"Yes, I think you are really good already. You will kick those Agents' butts if they come close!" Takeru said smiling brightly at Mizumi.
"Thank you." Mizumi said shyly, suddenly remembering her conversation with Kenji that morning.
"What? Are you all right?" Takeru asked sitting more straight and leaning forward to observe Mizumi's face with concern.
"Yeah, why?" Mizumi inquired, staring at Takeru as if he was a madman.
"You look flushed. Maybe it's too hot or something?" Takeru asked gently, moving forward to touch Mizumi's forehead.
"Are you sure you are forty two?" Mizumi inquired, thinking for herself that this boy was such an innocent that he was an idiot.
"Sure, why?" Takeru answered, offended, realizing Mizumi's thoughts.
"No, nothing." The girl said innocently, "that reminds me, why do you look so young?" Mizumi dared to ask that question that had been roaming around her ever since she met Takeru.
"I'd rather not talk about that." Takeru said looking away, his voice was dull and there was this note of intense sadness in it.
"Oh, come on. We have been friends for more than a year already. I want to know!" Mizumi moaned like a child, knowing that, by making him speak, Takeru would feel better.
"Well, all right!" Takeru said surrending to Mizumi's brief insistence, "Come." He said standing up, and offering a hand to Mizumi.
In reality, Takeru was eager to speak with Mizumi about this. There was something that had been nagging him lately, something that was chaging in him, making him grow in a way he hadn't expected, nor wanted. Although he was still fighting against it, Takeru had been acting more and more like his age, his body's age, not his theorical age. In the intensity of survival, the young adults found time to refresh themselves from the constant race, and live a full life. The strange feeling in his stomach, the way he adored being with Mizumi. Takeru still denied it to himself, but he couldn't see Mizumi as a daughter, or a niece any more.
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Kenji was working hard in a large office full of informatic ingeneers. As much as he had gotten to hate computers, he had to admit he had inherited a gift from his father, Izumi Koushiro. Typing like crazy, his eyes red and itchy, concentrated on his work. It was close, it was almost done. The last few codes, and...
"I did it! It works!" Kenji exclaimed, his voice excited upon seeing the results on the screen.
The boy's hands were sweaty, and the telephone was slipping through them as if they were covered in oil. A loud alarm was echoing in the depths of the large complex, but Kenji ignored it knowing it wasn't part of his section. Finally he managed to call the boss, and informed him of the results.
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
The screen from one of the library's computer flashed bright white, before fading to materialize Takeru and Mizumi. The boy smiled at Mizumi, seeing how nobody was around. Takeru motioned for Mizumi to follow him, and they began to walk silently past shelves and shelves full of books. Finally, they reached a room which contained newspapers from all times and kinds.
"Let's see... ah, here it is!" Takeru said, drawing out of a rack a very old, yellowish newspaper.
The two children walked towards a table and Takeru placed it on the desk. The boy flipped rapidly through the pages, skipping things that had happened and that today lacked importance. Bill Clinton, may be the next president of the USA. The iberic goat is extict, the last one, a female, perished. Jurassic Park in the cinemas, promises to gather a lot of money. Boy disappeared misteriously.
"Wait a minute!" Mizumi snapped, staring at a chirpy, young face, staring at her in a black and white page.
Still, those gentle, blue eyes were still shinny, still hopeful, and still glanced at her through that loving, caring gaze.
"Takeru Takaishi, 23 years old, licensed in journalism, and worker of this very same newspaper, has disappeared misteriously, leaving no trace." Mizumi read looking bewildered.
"It's you!" the girl gasped with shock, lifting her black eyes from the yellow paper and staring at the boy accusingly.
"I know..." Takeru answered, his blue eyes looking at the floor, his face saddened at the memory, at the events.
The boy raised his eyes all of a sudden. Something warm, gentle and strong was trapping his hand. Upon watching forward, he saw Mizumi's long fingers engulfing his own. The girl's black eyes were sparkling, her lips curled in a gentle, friendly smile. There was this light engulfing her, this trust she evocated in everyone.
"What happened?" Mizumi inquired calmly, smiling at Takeru and mouthing her words softly, gently.
"I changed. The same as you, I was summoned into the Line. It was afraid, I didn't know what had happened to me, I thought I was back... in the Digiworld. I wouldn't go near the shinny doors, I was afraid they would drive me away, somewhere else." Takeru lowered his head and clenched his fists, trying to stay calm. "After two days of roaming through the Line, I decided to give it a try and jump through a door. I was hungry and thirsty, and I hadn't found nothing in which to feed." Takeru's voice strangled at this point.
"Relax. I'm here." Mizumi said softly, listening intently and caressing Takeru's hand.
"I walked out, and appeared back in Odaiba, close to my home. Fourteen years later. I had been fourteen years away. My beloved, Hikari, was married and with a child older than me." Takeru said weakly, holding back tears.
"Chiyo." Mizumi snapped understandingly.
"Yes." Takeru said nodding, staring at Mizumi with crystal eyes. "I had lost my life, my whole life because, in reality, I was 37, although I look like I'm twenty five. I had lost my friends, everything." Takeru was on the verge of tears, his feeligs flowing through them.
"No!" Mizumi snapped standing up and gripping his hands. "You didn't loose your life, Takeru. You can still live your life, from the point where you left it. Maybe a paper says you are a hundred and twenty years old, but it's just a paper. In reality, you are twenty five years old!" her worlds said squishing the boy's hands comfortingly.
"But it doesn't work that way. The Line works this way, if you spend a certain time inside it, time passes differently." Takeru said desperately, standing up and moving away from Mizumi.
"And if the line had boosted you seventy years in the future, would you alk around with a kane and speaking about old battles?" Mizumi said angrily, placing her fists on her hips and looking defiantly at Takeru's back.
The boy tensed suddenly, as thoughts began to run through his mind. Turning around he saw Mizumi glaring at him as if her was an idiot. There was so much truth in her words. How could one creature be so intelligent as to make him see he had been wrong after two years of convincement. It had all been a lie, an excuse to try recover Kari. But Kari was gone, he was still that twenty five years old, naive youth, while Kari was next to her fortys. Watching Mizumi, standing there with that aura of wisdom, that special intelligence, suddenly he realized how stupid he had been. Breaking to a large grin, Takeru pounced on Mizumi and embraced her tightly, making the girl shriek with surprise.
"Thank you!" the boy said, gone all his doubts, gone all the darkness from his heart, gone Kari's love and the shadow her light threw over him.
"You're welcome..." Mizumi said softly, embracing Takeru hesitantly.
What was this? A strange feeling was spreading through her body. It was a rare sensation of peace, of comfort. It was pleasant being in his arms, feeling his warmth next to her, sensing his breath on her hair as the boy inhaled. Takeru's body was tense, suddenly being able to inhale a lovely scent, something between wilderness and warm summer. The way her breath got hold inside the gentle throat. The glimmer of the sun in her deep, dark eyes. The way she licked her lips when they got dry, or how she bit the tip of her tongue when she was concentrated. All those things about her made him smile gently, in a dreamy way. Takeru's eyes oppened wide, as he remembered, all of a sudden, Chiyo's words.
Takeru's ears were alerted by the characteristic, dry sound of various car doors being slammed shut. The boy pulled away abruptly and sstared at Mizumi with a worried expression. Mizumi nodded silently to let him know she had understood the urgency. Glancing at her apologetically, Takeru turned around and headed for the large windows. Outside the traffic was intense, even though the day was threatening snow. A large, black berlina, probably an Audi A8, was parked outside.
"Agents!" hissed Takeru heading straight towards Mizumi.
The boy gripped her hand and dragged her outside the room, leaving the old newspaper sprawled on the table. The two were heading straight for the computer room. Takeru's steps froze right at the base of the stairway. Growling angrily, clenching his fists and holding back the desire to blast them off. Two agents, the woman and a man, were waiting for them, looking proudly at the two Digis below.
"This way!" exclaimed the boy suddenly, dragging Mizumi along, still held tightly.
The two children raced across the library, receiving glares from students and other kind of people. The angents were on their pursue, which only boosted harder glares, full of hatred. Two more agents were blocking the only exit to the windows, perhaps expecting the two Digis leaping through them towards freedom. Surprising everyone, Takeru steered left, towards the main entrance and exit.
"HELP! Digis!" yelled the librarian when her computer's screen rippled as both teens rushed past.
"Attention to all units." The woman spoke through a walkie talkie, "Two Digis heading outside, the trainer from group Betta, and a girl."
Takeru pulled Mizumi along. Right below the library, and in front of them, was an old, victorian castle. There wouldn't be any electronic objects, so it would be very easy to outsmart them inside it. Takeru let Mizumi's hand loose as he motioned at her to cross the road. Both Digis leapt over the cars, receiving a nasty honk from a young woman in a large, wine coloured Berlina. Mizumi stepped on the face of another car, this one a rather impressive, cloudy blue Daimler Benz. This driver was not very glad either.
The Agents didn't stop their pursue. As simple as pointing at a young driver on a red, Renault Megane, with a shooting gun, the traffic had been paralized. Takeru was surprised, and a cold hand extended through his stomach in the form of fear. Sure enough, as the children reached the palace, they were able to find an Agent blocking the entrance, two more at each side of them, and the four agents reaching them from behind.
"What are we doing now?" Mizumi inquired, staring back and forth, and facing the Agent on the door with a look of anger and threat.
"Leave those four to me!" Takeru exclaimed suddenly, glaring at the woman angrily.
Takeru leapt forward towards the group, still facing the woman with a look of pure hatred. There was this painful glitter in the depths of his eyes, the memory of a long, shattered heart. That feeling was half healed, leaving a scar that might never seal completely. Yet, this time, that scar was not of longing, but of betray.
As those feelings bubbled in the pit of Takeru's stomach, his body began to glow and sparkle. Purpleish and blue lightning seemed to run across his body, binding him with chains, allowing him all movement. The whole, slender and manly body, began to glow a pure white, blinding everyone, and calling Mizumi's attention. The glowing star, engloved in chains of lightning, began to grow until it was as long as a small Berlina car, and twice as tall as such vehicle.
"Takeru!" Mizumi shrieked fearfully, staring at the thing that had once been her saviour and one of her closest friends.
To Be Continued...
AN: What happened to Takeru? What is going on? I hope many things have been cleared now. Next chapter, we will know all about Izzy's fate. Keep reading, and please, review. I need to know what you people think, and where I fail. I need to be able to get better at writting, to see all my mistakes. PLEASE!