Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or it's characters.

Aside from this, I always wondered how a confession scene would play out between Takeru and Hikari. I knew it would never be direct, and, I believe that it had to do justice to both their characters and their entire journey till this point. Yes, Takeru is still a bit of a coward, but we love him anyway. And Hikari is always so neutral with her emotions. Something had to give. Eventually we all find the parfait of our heart. Digimon can keep that quote to.

Chapter Eight: The Contract

Hikari came back home that night in a bit of a happy daze. She kept reflecting on her date with Takeru. The wanting hopeful look in his eyes for her. The indirect confession of his, the sadness that had taken over him, and, the fact as he started walking away from her she realized she could not live without him. She loved him just as much as he heard loved her. Then their passionate kiss and the feeling of her lips on his. It made her feel a bit warm. But even so, she was so happy she nearly forgot to take Tailmon home with her.

"You're awfully chipper," Tailmon said stretching on the bed. "And you did not have that much of your parfait."

"Oh that's all right," Hikari said humming to herself. "You can have all my parfaits from now on."

"Really?!" she said, her fur standing on end. "Wait, wait, wait, no something's up. Tell me what happened."

Hikari smirked slightly. "Ok."

Tailmon's face lit up in shock. "He kissed you? That things human do in romance flicks?" she asked.

Hikari nodded.

"Seriously, like the ones in the movie theater? That kind?!"

"Well, nothing as intense as that," she said her face turning red, "But yes, we did."

"Oh Hikari," Tailmon said shaking her head. "Your brother is going to kill him."

"Well," she replied, "That is if his brother does not kill him first so no one has a chance to tell my brother," she sighed.

"Oh, wait," Hikari said checking her phone. "Just great," she smiled showing Mimi having sent her a message saying 'It's about time!' with their picture.

"No Hikari," Tailmon snickered. "Taichi is really going to kill him. Hope that was not your last goodbye kiss," she teased.

"Don't even joke about that!" Hikari said scrunching up her ear, Tailmon laughing from the ticklish touch.

"Maybe you should go somewhere else until this dies down," Tailmon suggested. "Trust me, your brother and Mom are not going to be happy."

"Yes," Hikari said. "Sounds like a good idea. But with who?"

She received another text this time from Sora. It said 'I am so proud of you!'

"Digital devices to the rescue," Hikari quipped starting to text her back.

Takeru laid down on his bed, his forearm over his eyes thinking about Hikari earlier. Her gentle face. Her smooth lips and then that kiss he wanted to give her for so long. He stretched out his hand towards the light above him lighting the room. He could not wait to see her again.

All of a sudden Yamato appeared in the doorway.

"You finally did it," he smirked approaching Takeru. "Who would have thought my kid brother could pull himself together like that? I am just in shock."

"Are you still against me seeing her?" Takeru said staring up at the ceiling placing his hands behind his head.

"Your business is your own," he said. "She's a sweet girl, but she is still unstable. I thought you were more responsible than that Takeru," he said sounding disappointed.

He smiled. "I'm not the same Takeru I once was," he said. "I'm not afraid anymore. No matter what happens I know that Hikari loves me," he smirked.

"Well," Yamato said, "You'll have to prove it to Taichi that you equally love her. I would not want to be in your shoes bro."

"Or her mom," Takeru sighed. "She's against me to."

"Ouch!" Yamato said bringing his hat down over his head. "You've really put Hikari in a bad position. She's going to have to choose between her family or you. Can you live with yourself having to make her go through that? She's not going to handle it well."

"Maybe Taichi will come around," Takeru grinned.

All of a sudden the door to his room opened.

"I sincerely doubt about that!" Taichi yelled appearing, cracking his fists.

Takeru immediately sat up surprised to see him so soon. He thought it would have been at least another day before they talked things over. He turned towards Yamato for an explanation, but the way Yamato looked at him coldly it was as if he had to take responsibility for his selfishness.

Yamato stared at Takeru shaking his head.

"You made this choice," he said firmly. "So now you have to see it through and be fully committed to it. If you truly care about Hikari you will. I warned you," He said glancing at Taichi and leaving the room.

Takeru stared into Taichi's eyes, boiling with unusual rage. Even if Taichi had been mad at him for what he did there was no way he was acting like himself. Something seemed off.

"After everything I said," Taichi said through gritted teeth, "You still ignored me. I told you I never wanted you to be near her again!" he shouted.

Takeru stared at Hikari's brother. Taichi held out a picture of the phone sent from Mimi towards his face. It said 'Your sister's growing up.'

"It just pisses me off you did this behind my back! You and your brother are exactly the same!"

Takeru could not take much more of this. He was tired of constantly being criticized like he was some corrupted knight that stole the pure, virtuous Hikari away.

"I never meant to fall in love with Hikari being her protector," he confessed, "But I can't lie that I feel that way about her. And she feels that way about me. I don't understand why you can't just be happy for her."

Taichi stared at Takeru and to Takeru's surprise slammed his fist against his face into his bed. The pain shot up straight to his cheek. His strength surprised him.

"Because I can't stand you! You're just going to hurt her again! And again! And again!" he roared.

Takeru looked up at him weakly completely shocked Taichi could display this much anger at him. "But what about Hikari?" he asked wincing, holding in the pain. "You can't talk to me like I haven't known her all these years. I know her heart. And I would never do anything to hurt her on purpose," he said gritting his fist. "Even if you are her brother you can't stop me from seeing her. I won't let anything get anything in the way of our relationship. Can't you understand that?" he said trying to reason with him.

"Taichi!" he cried out trying to get his attention.

Somehow he had been so fixated Takeru could not get through to him. He felt Taichi's hand push him onto his bed knocking his hat off of his head. He struggled to believe Taichi could harbor such rage. His imposing posture stood over him as if he would never get up again. There was such malice and even tearful emotions all over his face.

Takeru tried desperately calling out his name, one more time, but to no avail. He watched in horror as his murderous stare made his blood grow cold., a familiar shiver running up and down his spine.

"I will never EVER let you see Hikari again!" He screamed in a fit of rage grabbing onto a CD player sitting overhead Takeru on his dresser and slamming it down on his head.

"This can't be...happening," Takeru stammered too late as he was powerless to stop the weight from crashing down onto him, his hands falling limp.

Hikari looked around Sora's room admiring it. On one wall she saw a picture of Yamato in his band with Yamato's signature on it. In the center of the room she saw a canvas of flowers and a few flower pots. Hikari knew Sora had recently taken in interest in flower arrangement, but did not know she had been taking it to seriously. Despite the room looking like a miniature art studio though Hikari felt welcomed.

"I don't think I've ever been to your place before Sora," Hikari said unpacking a backpack full of clothes and personal items.

"Your always welcome!" Piyomon said. "Except when Yamato comes ov-"

"-Okay Piyomon!" Sora said interrupting her smiling. "Why don't you and Tailmon go grab a snack while me and Hikari talk?"

"Any catnip?" Tailmon asked, Hikari watching them walk away.

"Nope! Plenty of birdseed though."

Hikari smiled grateful for their friendship and hospitality.

"Well?" Sora said coming over to her helping her unpack her stuff. "Tell me how it happened."

Hikari felt her face flush red. "Do I have to?"

"If you want to stay," Sora said obviously with the upper hand.

Hikari smiled as she unpacked her things.

"I guess you could say it all started out with him giving me his sweater," she said taking it out and holding it to her chest. "Then from there, he got hurt, I got a fever, Taichi and Yamato both got mad, and somehow Takeru texted me before we had the big meeting that he was treating me to ice cream. When I arrived things seemed normal enough. He asked me how my fever was and from there I don't know he seemed so indirect about everything. I knew he was worried about me but then after I told him how frustrated I was at my brother."

She paused, reflecting on his next words. "He was so...shy," she said adoring the memory.

"How so?" Sora asked.

"He told me that he was going out on a date with a girl. I honestly did not know how to react. I was happy for him, but also incredibly sad at the same time. I could not explain it. So when I kept asking him questions it dawned on me after he said randomly her favorite parfait is hyper chocolate strawberry bomber," she said getting into the details of his questions.

"So let me get this straight," Sora said intrigued. "If I have this right he called you indescribably beautiful, gentle and kind and he knew you better than you knew yourself."

Hikari felt her face redden. "No one has ever called me that before. I've been told I look pretty, but it just makes my heart swoon a bit."

"Well don't daydream now! Continue!" she said as if she was watching a really good movie.

Hikari put down the sweater and kept taking some of her clothes out. "He looked incredibly sad and got up to leave because he knew it would be the last time he could get away with seeing me outside of normal social activities because of our brothers and my mom. So when he told me this was the best he could do I knew then what he meant. It's not like he could just tell me 'I like you.' To him it meant so much more."

Sora clapped her hands together delighted. "That's exactly what I meant. Childish fancy blossoms into tender romance. "

Hikari nodded her head agreeing with her. "When Takeru was about to leave for good I had to make a decision. My mind wanted to stay safe to just rationalize everything would be ok and that I would see him in class tomorrow, but..." she said feeling her heart beat, "...My heart would not accept that. I ran over to him and caught him from behind. It was difficult also confessing in my own way. We never even said the words 'I like you or I love you," she said smiling shyly. "But when he bent down towards me that way, it just felt like I was meant to be with him and I wanted him to be with me."

She saw Sora swoon next to her. "That's a beautiful story," she said. "So after that you came here so Taichi and your mom can cool their heads right? I don't see what they have against Takeru."

"I don't think my brother's rage is so much against Takeru. I just think...he's a very bitter person right now. He doesn't let things go easily."

Just then their was a knock on the door.

"Strange, I was not expecting any company," Sora said getting up. "You better go in the other room."

Someone knocked harder on the door as Hikari scampered into the other room peeking her head from behind the corner.

It was her brother who looked exasperated and remorseful.

"Sora...he said looking at her in the face and then turning away. "I've done a very bad thing. Takeru he's...in the hospital...it's really bad..."

Upon hearing those words Hikari collapsed on the ground and buried her face in her eyes. "W-what did you do Taichi?" she asked tearing. "What did you do to him?!"

"All I can say right now is you better head to the hospital Hikari. I...I don't deserve to even be able to be near you or Sora right now," she heard him say as if he sulking. "I don't know what came over me."

Hikari felt a cold slap as Sora hit her hard. The pain shot up her face stopping her tears.

"If you have the energy to cry you have the energy to go to him. Let's Hurry!" she exclaimed.

"Piyomon it's an emergency!" Sora said opening her window letting her fly outside.

Hikari watched in a red light as Piyomon digivolved into Birdramon.

"Hurry to the hospital!" she commanded as Hikari and Sora got on. They vanished in a streak of red light burning across the night sky.

It had been a good hour since Hikari arrived to the hospital. The doctors were in the emergency room with Takeru, Sora was in communication with Yamato who would undoubtedly be there any minute, and Taichi was nowhere to be found.

Hikari felt sick to her stomach, each minute feeling like a needle stabbing into her stomach. It was the worst feeling in the world.

All of a sudden one of the doctors' came out and put a hand on Hikari's shoulder. He merely shook his head. "I am sorry. The blunt force trauma to his head is severe. He has a 50/50 chance of surviving if his swelling goes down. Otherwise it will interfere with his nervous system and he won't last."

Hikari felt the floor underneath her give way and she collapsed on the floor. She barely heard the words 'Hikari 'by Sora and Mimi who had just arrived as she lost consciousness.

Hikari felt vaguely aware of herself as she felt surrounded by a vast darkness. The air felt moist, her body cool to the touch. It was almost ethereal.

"Hikari..." she heard a voice whisper to her.

She turned around, but no one was there. She realized she wasn't anywhere. She was in the darkness, sitting quietly, lost in her heart.

"...Hikari..." the voice called out again.

"Whose there?" she asked looking around her.

"...The light," the voice replied as a light slowly seeped in to the periphery of her vision.

"I know you," Hikari said recognizing the voice. "You're Homeostasis, the one that's been using me."

"In the past I have used others," the voice said approaching her getting louder, "but none have resonated with me the way you have. You are quite powerful in your own right."

She looked on at the being of light that vaguely resembled her as if she was lost.

"You're eyes tell me you want something," she said as if it could look into her soul. "I see," she said like she was reading the hurt on Hikari's face. "Hope is about to die. And with that hope the one for whom you hold affection."

Hikari felt her legs give out underneath her as she fell on the ground again. Desperately she tried to crawl over to the being and grab what looked like a blinding silhouette of a beings' shawl around her leg. She did not know why, but she felt as if somehow Homeostasis could help.

"What would you have me do?" she asked. "My power can only affect the digital ones," she said, "But you and him are flesh and blood outright. I am no doctor."

Hikari could literally feel tears flood the ground around her. She wanted to scream out, but her voice escaped. Being this close to Homeostasis like this was like being possessed by her. Wherever she was right now being this close to her she could only listen, but no one could hear her voice.

"It is a shame," Homeostasis said looking at her. She walked over in the darkness and made it light up around a figure lying in bed, barely breathing.

Hikari saw her look over the equipment realizing she was by Takeru's bedside.

"Should this equipment have been more effective it could have saved him. It's effectiveness is behind about 7 years too late. The child of Hope is going to die tomorrow at this rate," she observed detached.

The tears would not stop flowing from Hikari's eyes. How could this happen? They had just confessed to each other and now...she was about to lose her hope. She mouthed the words 'Takeru' painfully. She could not bear the thought of losing him.

"There is but one choice of action," Homeostasis said circling around her curiously. "I have a means to save him, but at great cost to the both of you."

Hikari shot up wrapping her arms around her leg crying her eyes out like waterfalls. She would do anything if it would save his life no matter the sacrifice.

"I see then," she said walking over to Takeru as if she could read her mind. She grabbed the palm of his hand and with a piercing ray made a mark.

Hikari noticed him wince in incredible pain, but then slept peacefully.

"It is your turn," she said approaching Hikari, who braced herself for who knows what. She felt a sharp light burn that sliced through the palm of her hand carving it in a unique marking.

"It is done," Homeostasis said. "With this contract complete between the three of us the digital power is yours to defeat any darkness," she declared. "You are now bound to one another forever. Breath for Breath. Life for life. And now you are my eternal vessel whenever I desire it. It is the price for this sin because of your selfishness."

Hikari looked at Homeostasis bewildered and mystified.

"It is the destiny of hope and light to be bound forever," she said. "They go hand in hand completing each other," she concluded dispelling all of the darkness around her.

"Go now. Because you have this power the darkness will come at you like never before," she warned. "Should you fall he will fall. Should he perish so you will perish. Your lives are in each other's hands," she said vanishing along with the darkness.