Author's Note: Each chapter will focus on one of the Chosen as he/she deals with the situation. Because of that, the days/timeline kind of jumps around a bit. I'll post an updated timeline at the beginning of each chapter.

Day 1: Taichi is paralyzed following a battle in the Digital World. Jyou brings him to the hospital and has to explain to him his condition.

Fragments

Chapter 2 of 8

Mimi

Day 2

It was not until Mimi knocked on the door to the Yagami's apartment that her heart started racing. She had not seen Taichi or Hikari since the accident. She thought of what Sora had told her; that the younger Yagami had fainted when she walked into the hospital room. It was so bad, she had to be put on oxygen. When Hikari was finally let back into the room to see Taichi, she spent the rest of the evening crying.

Mimi guessed that was all to be expected. Hikari always put Taichi on a pedestal, always treated him like a perfect hero. What really worried her was that Sora admitted she had almost fainted as well. If someone as strong as Sora could only just hold it together, what was Mimi going to do?

The door opened and Mrs. Yagami smiled. "Oh, good morning, Mimi."

"Good morning," Mimi bowed, heart pounding, hands gripping her school bag. "Um, c-can I…"

Mrs. Yagami's smile weakened slightly. "Yes, please come in."

Mimi kicked off her shoes at the door but did not walk any further. A gift! She should have brought a gift. She needed a gift. She would just have to apologize to Mrs. Yagami and…

The older woman ushered her forward. "Go on. They should be up soon."

Mimi walked into the living room. The faint outlines were all-too apparent in the rug, indentations of wheels in the white fibers. The apartment was so small; how hard was it for Taichi to get around?

She needed to leave.

"Oh, Mimi. Good morning."

Hikari walked out of her room, adjusting her uniform tie. "What a surprise to see you here so early."

Mimi put on a grin. "Yeah, I wanted to see how Taichi was doing." She blinked, adding quickly, "And you too."

Hikari shifted on her feet. "We're, um, doing as well as expected, I guess."

A chill went up Mimi's spine when she heard the door to Taichi's room open, followed by the creak of wheels on the hardwood floor. "Oh, good morning, oniichan," Hikari said.

Mimi turned and tried not to gasp; she knew she failed. Taichi stared at her from his wheelchair, his fingers curling around the edge of the armrests. "Mimi came by to see you," Hikari explained.

"Good morning, "Mimi said, "How are you?"

"Fine," he said, maneuvering his chair around them to reach the table.

"Are you going to join us for breakfast?" Hikari asked, "My dad had to run out early, so there's plenty to go around."

Mimi had packed a hard-boiled egg and a sweet bun to have on the way to school, but the aroma of the meal on the table wafted to her nose. She certainly did not want to be rude. "Thank you, I…"

Taichi grunted as he grabbed his bowl. He reached across the table, straining to fill it with steamed rice and soybeans.

Hikari ran to the table. "I can get that for you…"

"I'm fine," he said, resting the bowel and chopsticks on his lap before wheeling back into his room.

Mimi crossed her arms. "That was rude."

"He's still dealing with everything," Hikari said, a little too quick to defend him, in Mimi's opinion. "We just have to give him more time."

"Yeah, maybe," she frowned. "Well, I need to be going."

"You're not staying?"

"I promised Koshiro I'd look in on him at his office."

She slipped on her shoes and noted how Hikari and her mother sat at the table, with both studying Taichi's empty seat. Had he eaten in his room every day since coming home? He had been moody and grumpy before but never like this.

Taichi needed to cheer up; he needed to hang out with his friends again. A party! That was all he needed, a party.

She grinned to herself as the gears in her mind started turning.


"I don't know," Hikari said to Mimi over the phone, "Taichi's been really, um…I'm not sure he'll…."

Mimi grinned a mischievous smile. "You'll just have to make him, then. Get your Mom involved." A thought popped into her mind, "Oh, invite Meiko too. I seem to have lost her number."

There was silence for a moment. "Um, Taichi hasn't spoken to Meiko in months."

"Oh, really?" She stared at her feet, "I guess it's partly my fault too. We just lost touch, huh?"

She pushed a smile onto her face. "Well, we'll worry about that later. I'm going to get everything ready. Just make sure you bring Taichi to the park Saturday at 5, okay?"

Hikari hesitated and Mimi raised an eyebrow. "Hikari…?"

She grinned. "Yeah, okay. Maybe that'll be just what he needs."

"All right!" Mimi cheered, "I'll see you this weekend."

Day 3

Mimi studied the area beneath the tree in the park. A bouquet of flowers, picked from her garden, held down the embroidered blanket in the center. The food was arranged in a circle around the center; pork buns and sandwiches stacked in a pyramid, cans of soda and water were displayed behind carefully arranged plates and utensils.

"Perfect," she grinned.

"You've done such a wonderful job," Sora said, adjusting the napkins into a semi-circle, "I hope he likes it."

Mimi's smile grew. "Of course he will."

Yamato reached for a small pastry hors d'oeuvre but Mimi slapped his hand away. "Not until Taichi gets here."

Yamato frowned and rubbed his hand. "Well, when's he getting here?"

Sora rolled her eyes. "Relax, you're not going to starve."

"Besides," said Takeru, "Didn't you just eat at Mom's?"

He stammered a reply and Mimi giggled. She stopped when she saw Koshiro at the far end of the table, staring at his laptop screen. "You're not gonna be on that all day, are you?"

"I think I'm at a breakthrough," he said.

"On what?" she asked.

He opened his mouth but then closed it again. "I'll tell everyone together later.

Sora rushed over. "They're here."

Mimi turned to see Hikari pushing Taichi's wheelchair across the grass. From the look on Taichi's face, his sister must have had to take Mimi's instructions to force Taichi to come. "I'm never gonna be able to get up that hill."

"Yes you can," Hikari said. There was confidence in her voice but Mimi could see the strain as she started up the incline.

Mimi ran to meet them and she threw her arms around Taichi. "I'm so glad you came!"

"Mimi!" Hikari cried. She had to dig her platform sandals into the grass to keep all three from sliding down the hall.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Mimi cried. She helped Hikari push Taichi up the hill to the flat area beneath the tree. The others greeted them, except for Koshiro, whom Mimi had to nudge from behind.

"Oh, hey, Taichi, hi, Hikari," he said, closing the laptop.

Mimi grinned. "This is all for you, Taichi. We want you to know that we're all here for you."

"Yeah, thanks," Taichi replied.

He was still frowning. Mimi would just have to try harder. "I made pork buns!" she declared, "I know how much you like them."

Taichi just grunted. Yamato knelt down on the blanket. "Um, do you need help getting down?"

Taichi shrugged. "No, I'm all right."

Hikari frowned slightly. "Are you sure? There's plenty of room…"

"I'm fine!"

The others stared and Mimi studied Hikari. The younger Yagami smiled. "All right then, I'll just grab you something."

Hikari placed a pork bun on a paper plate.

"Sora," Taichi said, "Can you get me a pork bun?"

Sora looked to Hikari and then back. "Um, sure…"

Mimi turned to Hikari, but the younger girl only shrugged, taking a bite of the pork bun on her plate. "Mimi, this is really good."

Sora took a bite of one of the sandwiches. "These too. Wow, I'm jealous at how good of a cook you are."

Mimi smiled. "Thanks. I'm thinking of going to a cooking university. Are you still planning on studying fashion design?"

"For now," Sora admitted, "I'm just not sure where to go."

"It's great that you already have ideas," Hikari added, "I'm not sure at all."

"I thought you wanted to be a teacher?" asked Takeru.

She blushed slightly. "Yeah but my guidance counselor at school is really making me think beyond just that."

Yamato raised an eyebrow. "Your career plan?"

She nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"When I had to hand mine in, I put musician as my top choice and then just made up two others."

Sora laughed. "Wasn't one of them an astronaut?"

"Impressive," Koshiro grinned, "Especially as Japan's space program is lagging compared to the other nations."

"I wasn't serious!" Yamato protested.

Mimi laughed along with the others and turned to Taichi. He was staring off into the distance. Why was he still frowning? "Taichi, what about you? What are you going to do?"

He did not answer. "Taichi?"

"What?" he snapped.

Yamato frowned. "Mimi was asking you a question."

Taichi turned to her. "Well, there's no point in doing anything now, right?" He gestured to his legs.

"Taichi," Hikari started, but then trailed off.

Jyou said, "Your injury shouldn't stop you from living your life."

He just shrugged. After a long silence, Koshiro cleared his throat. "Um, so since we're all here, we should talk about the Digital World. Tentomon and a few of the others report that things are pretty quiet."

"Nothing major happening on Earth either," Takeru nodded.

"But I'm sure they'll be some problem eventually," Jyou said with a frown, "There usually is."

"Well, whatever happens, we'll handle it," Sora smiled, "Right?"

The others added their approval. Sora waited and glanced over her shoulder, obviously waiting for Taichi, but he was still staring off into the distance.

"Um, anyway," Koshiro said. He pulled out his laptop, "I was working on creating a kind of early warning system. If there are any breaches then we'll know about it right away."

"How?" Yamato asked.

"I've written a program that's similar to facial recognition software. If the cameras see anything that matches up with the digimon database, I'll get an alert."

"That's a great idea, Koshiro!" Mimi grinned.

Takeru nodded. "Yeah, we'll be able to hopefully stay a step ahead." He glanced at Hikari, who was playing with the strawberry from her slice of cake. "Hikari?"

She smiled, "Yeah, great idea, Koshiro."

Mimi turned to Taichi. "What do you think?"

He shrugged. "What are you asking me for? I can't be a Chosen anymore."

"What?" she gasped, "Taichi…"

Yamato stared back at Taichi; eyes narrow. "You still have a digivice, don't you? Agumon still your partner?"

"What am I supposed to do? Go through the digital desert in this?" Taichi asked, hand smashing against the wheelchair. "Huh? And how's Agumon gonna evolve with me like this? If he takes half my energy, I'll be in even worse shape!"

"Boys!" Mimi snapped, "No fighting!" She turned to Taichi, "We're here to have a good time."

Taichi snorted. "Yeah, real fun for me! Sitting here, listening to you talk about your futures and the Digital World when my life's turned to shit."

"Taichi," Mimi said, "Your life isn't over…"

"Yeah, how the hell would you know? You have no damn idea!"

"Back off!" Yamato snapped, "You're acting like a baby who needs his diaper changed!

Hikari gasped and Taichi's eyes turned red. Jyou winced. "Yamato…"

Taichi undid the breaks on his wheelchair and started down the hill. "Wait!" Hikari cried, "I'll…"

"I'm fine!" he shouted as he descended the hill, "Stay with your friends."

The way Taichi stressed your was like a knife in Mimi's heart.

Sora turned to Yamato. "Why do you two always make me feel like I'm a mother scolding her kids for fighting?"

He stared at Taichi as he rolled onto the sidewalk. "We've said worse to each other. I get that he's in that chair, but come on."

Jyou sighed. "Yamato, Taichi has paraplegia, usually caused by damage to the T6 to T12 vertebrae. He's completely paralyzed from the waist down."

He let the words hang in the air. Yamato stared at the other boy for a moment before his eyes opened and his mouth dropped. "You mean he can't even…"

Jyou shook his head. "Sadly, no."

Sora slapped Yamato on the shoulder. "Owe!" he said,"What are you doing?"

"We're going after him," she ordered, "And you're gonna apologize!"

Yamato struggled to his feet as Sora pulled on his arm. "All right!" he said, "I'm coming."

Hikari turned to Mimi. "I'm sorry that he said that to you. He's just…dealing with a lot right now." She bowed. "I need to go after him. Thank you for the food."

"Wait up!" Takeru cried, running after her.

Mimi turned to the picnic. "I don't get it," she said to Jyou, "This was supposed to make him feel better."

Jyou sighed. "It's not always that easy. I think Taichi always held a lot more inside than we thought. He can't just be okay with everything all at once."

Mimi stared at her feet. "Yeah…yeah, I guess. I just wanted to help."

"I know," he said, "Maybe in a little while when he deals with everything himself, he'll remember this. I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

Mimi smiled and hugged him. "But, isn't there anything he can do to get better?"

"There are always new treatments being developed, New drugs on the market, new surgeries; things like that but…" He shook his head, "But no, he will never be better."

Mimi sniffled. "Then, there's nothing we can do, is there?"

Jyou shrugged. "I think the best thing we can do is just remind Taichi that we're here when he's ready."

Mimi stared down at the food spread on the blanket. Her frown twisted into a grin.

Day 4

Mimi shifted the package in her arms to knock on the door to the Yagami's apartment. Mrs. Yagami answered a moment later. "Oh, Mimi! You're here again?"

"I just wanted to drop this off for Taichi," she said, pushing the wrapped box into Mrs. Yagami's arms.

"Oh, well, I'll call him for you…"

Mimi shook her head. "No, that's okay. I need to hurry anyway." She waved and trotted down the hall.

A box of her home-made pork buns wrapped like a birthday present. Taichi would love that.

There was the card too, one that she rewrote so many times the words were now burned into her mind.

Taichi, I know that things are hard for you right now. I wish I could do more to help you, but please enjoy these pork buns for now, and just know that I'm here for you for whatever you need. All of your friends are too.

She checked her phone during her lunch period. There were two text messages from Taichi.

The first: I enjoyed your pork buns. Thanks.

The second: For, you know, everything.

Mimi grinned and unwrapped her lunch.

End chapter 2

Author's note: Update Schedule

February 20: Digital Inheritance Chapter 2: Ruki Makino is the strongest Tamer around, but what demons are hiding in her heart?

March 6: Fragments Chapter 3: Yamato tries to apologize to Taichi over what he said at Mimi's picnic, but Taichi is not making it easy.

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Hope you enjoy.