Out : Lizzy-chan! -latches to-

O.C. #2 : Hey! I'm half-Swiss! -laugh- You know, you really need to give me an email address or something, so that we don't post our convos on They don't like that ya know. -nod nod-

Chapter 5

Recap : Zoe had a weird dream, Kouji found shelter for him and Takuya, Takuya woke up and found himself injured and Kouji ill, Kouichi and Tommy ate fish, Zoe and J.P. began looking for their friends, and Takuya made breakfast for Kouji.

-

Kouichi trudged slowly through the forest, back upstream. Tommy was napping while Kouichi carried him on his back. Tommy wore two backpacks, but he hadn't seemed to mind much.

After eating the delicious fish Tommy prepared, Kouichi had told Tommy what happened to the others in more detail. The younger boy had jumped up, only to fall back down, and strongly say that he wanted to look for them.

"Kouichi..." Tommy whispered, his eyes still closed.

"Hm? Yea Tommy?" he asked as he kept walking.

"Right now...You're acting like my brother and my protector...In the digital world...that was Takuya's job. He was really good at it too..." Tommy muttered, clinging a bit tighter to Kouichi's shoulders with his hands.

"Yea, I know. I didn't do much good of a job protecting my otouto though." Kouichi looked at the ground as he walked. "He usually ended up saving me instead."

"Yea but...You saved him too. Just by being there...you were saving him..." Tommy seemed to be slipping back into the dream world as he slept.

"Thanks Tommy, that's nice." Kouichi smiled. "But Takuya saved him even more." he nearly laughed. "Takuya saved all of us."

He felt Tommy's tears on his left shoulder.

"I don't want him to be hurt Kouichi...I don't want him to be gone...I don't want-" Kouichi cut him off.

"Everything's going to be alright Tommy...Takuya's gonna be fine. Trust me. He's with my brother." Kouichi assured him, and Tommy fell asleep.

-

"So. We can either stay here and brood and be lost forever...Or we can start walking, taking frequent breaks, and find our friends and a way out of here." Takuya proclaimed suddenly, about an hour after they had finished eating.

It didn't matter that Kouji was sleeping and hadn't heard him. He had been wondering about what they could do now. He didn't want to show weakness to Kouji, or let the blue-haired boy find out about his injured leg.

Oh, and about that. Takuya had decided that no, his leg wasn't broken. It was just...sprained...or something. So he'd made a somewhat splint to hold it and used a walking stick. He was very proud of himself.

"Kouji." he shook the boy. "Kouji wake up."

"What?" Kouji's eyes were glazed.

"We're gonna start walking now, ok? Come on, take my hand." he held his hand out above Kouji's chest and Kouji took it with his right hand. "Great. Now we gotta go."

Takuya helped him stand up and they began to walk extremely slowly. Takuya switched to holding Kouji's right hand with his left and walked heavily on the grand 'walking stick' he'd found. Luckily, Kouji was so out of it, he didn't even notice the stick.

-

J.P. plopped down and put his feet in the cool water of the river. Zoe was nearby, looking at the rapids upriver that suddenly stopped before reaching the two. She thought back, and her dream flowed through her head.

'They were in the rapids.' she mused silently. 'Those rapids go on from just downstream of the bridge to here...It's weird that I wasn't injured.'

The rapids were still a bit away from them, but she could see how fierce the water's current was.

'Maybe because I was already out cold and couldn't fight it? The person I saw was fighting the current though.' her eyebrows knitted together as she thought. 'He was trying to save someone.'

She concentrated really hard on the rapid's white waters and her dream. She saw the blurry figure of the one they were reaching for. It was a boy...Her vision seemed to become clearer, even though in the dream it had not.

The boy was their age. It had to be one of them...She concentrated harder and realized with a jolt that the boy had pony-tailed, blue hair. Into her dream-line-of-vision, she remembered the reaching hands of the one she dreamt being.

Gloves. His hands were gloved. She could feel the rocks and injuring that he hadn't and suddenly, she gasped.

"Zo?" J.P. asked in concern.

"It was Takuya." she whispered.

"What?"

"I remembered the others this morning because I had dreamt of someone falling through those rapids upstream." she pointed. "The were reaching for another person in the water with them and didn't even notice that fighting the rapid's current was making them hit the rocks below them."

"And?" J.P. asked.

"It was Takuya." she repeated. "I was just thinking about it. The one being reached for, the one he was trying to save, was Kouji...I'm sure of it. And I saw his gloved hand when he reached out." Zoe seemed troubled. "He was really getting banged up by those rocks J.P...I'm worried."

J.P. gave her a slightly concerned, slightly confused look.

"We'll find them Zoe. If they were in those rapids up there, then they may have come out somewhere around here, right?" he offered, and she jumped up.

"You're right!" she looked around. "Look for any signs. The storm would've brushed away any initial evidence, but there may be a marking around here somewhere."

-

Kouichi smiled as they broke through the foliage and found the river.

"Water." he whispered, but blinked.

On the opposite shore was a blonde girl and a kinda fat brunette boy. They seemed to be looking for something they dropped.

"Zoe? J.P.?" he asked quietly before smiling and calling out loudly. "Zoe! J.P.!"

He laughed as they looked over at him. He freed one of his hands and waved largely at them. The movement woke Tommy, who blinked.

"What's up Kouichi?" he asked blearily. Kouichi laughed again.

"It's Zoe and J.P.!" he said happily. "Just on the other shore."

They were waving to them too.

"Hey guys!" Zoe's voice carried over. "Try and cross over, the water's calm here!"

Kouichi looked and saw that the rapids ended a bit further up and yes, the water should be quite calm by the time it got the them.

"Ready for a swim Tommy? Sorry about you ankle." he said in advance as he let the boy down.

Tommy walked gingerly over to the bank and kept going, Kouichi right behind him. For awhile, they actually had to swim to get across, but it wasn't long before they were on the other side...Albeit a tiny bit further downstream.

Zoe and J.P. rushed over to them and the blonde latched on to Tommy.

"I'm so glad you're alright." she said softly.

"Have you seen Kouji or Takuya yet?" Kouichi asked. Both faces fell.

"No...No we haven't." Zoe said even softer, sadder. Tommy hugged her tightly.

-

Takuya stumbled a bit in his walk. He looked to Kouji, who seemed about to pass out.

"Alright...We'll uh...We'll stop here for tonight." he looked to the sky to see the sunset just over the tree tops. "I hope it doesn't rain..."

He sat Kouji on the ground against a slight mound of earth as the ground rose to another level at the point on the edge of the road. Kouji seemed to weak right now to even talk. So Takuya spoke for him.

He sat himself down, next to Kouji and held his right leg carefully. He could feel the bandages that wound around it and the strong sticks he'd used to hold it as straight as he could. Kouji was staring blindly at him in confusion.

"Don't worry Kouji, it's alright. You sleep." he patted the wall behind him. "Not a good bed though huh?"

He took Kouji's backpack off (Takuya was wearing it) and took out the cover. It had dried in the sun earlier as Kouji slept. The brunette placed the bag, re-zipped, onto the ground next to him and motioned for Kouji to lay his head on it.

When Kouji was laying down, Takuya placed the blanket over him and then cuddled up next to the other boy.

"It's kinda sad Kouji..." he whispered slowly just after Kouji had fallen asleep. "These are the only times we ever get this close...And now you're so sick...and my whole body is injured..." tears were coming from his eyes. "It doesn't seem fair."