Hi Guys! Sorry for the wait, I went camping for a few days and it took me a whiule to figure ot how to word this right. Now, I got a review with a list of suggestions which I will take up after the opening climax of this story. Sorry for the crappiness of ths so far, and I guess some of my readers are a little confused from the view switches. Once again, I'll fix that at the opening climax, until then I'll tell you which POV we're at. Kay?
Please enjoy!

(Kari's POV)

The next morning, I woke feeling utterly miserable. It as if someone had gone and dug a scythe through my heart. I was thinking about what had happened to T.K. the night before. Matt and I had taken him to the hospital, but were ushered away as they took him to the infirmary.

We would visit him later today to make sure he was doing okay.

I sighed and cuddled into my pillow, hugging it close to me. That's when I felt something hot under the pillow, like hot metal. I pulled it out and looked at the object. It was a golden five pointed pentagram with a red jewel in the center. It was surrounded by a gold circle that was embroidered with smaller red jewels. It glowed a hot red for a moment, then settled back to normal temperature. I looked at it, bewildered.

What was this? How did it get here? It certainly wasn't mine.

I couldn't draw my eyes away from it. It felt as though a power was emitting from the star. I tilted my head in curiosity, staring at the jewel in the center and blinked.

I shook my head. I would figure this out later, so I got up and walked to my dresser. I felt terrible again today, so I dressed in my darker clothes again.

I wore a black rocker shirt with blue denim jeans with gold chains fitted on the front and the sides. Looking at the pendant again, I put it around my neck and clipped it together. I liked the way it looked around my neck. I then walked out of my room, dreading what the day had in store for me.

As much as I like certain days and times of the year, I hate Tuesdays. Things had a tendency to happen on Tuesdays. School, work, chores, groceries….

"Kari, Come here! There something on the news!"

Stuff on the news….

I walked over to the couch with Tai and looked at the T.V. screen there was a special report concerning a 'brutal abuse case'.

'Awe man.'

"Last night, a brutal beating occurred in Heighten View Terrace. Seventeen year old Takeru Takaishi was savagely beaten by his mother in their apartment around ten thirty in the morning."

I knew, All over the city, the other digidestined were standing in front of their TV's; gaping, staring, or speechless.

A shot of T.K.'s mom came on the screen. The police were holding her in handcuffs and dragging her to the cars. The cameras were trying to get close-ups of her face while she just looked embarrassed.

"Nancy Takaishi, Takeru's mother, was found with Methane and other drugs and several empty bottles of vodka in her room. Officials say that she was under the influence of these drugs when beating her son."

"Oh my God. I can't believe it." said Tai, obviously in disbelief.

I never told him about T.K., so of course this was a shock.

The only thing I was surprised about was that she was actually being taken into custody. I thought that she would have talked, bought, or slept her way out.

"Takeru is at the Obieda Saints Hospital in critical condition with a broken arm, hip, and fractures in several of his ribs. We will return when we have more information. This is Suzie Maine with Channel Four news."

Tai turned off the screen and sat back in the couch.

"I really can't believe it." He said and looked at me.

"Why aren't you freaking out right now? Were you listening? T.K.'s in the hospital in critical condition!" emphasized Tai.

I rolled my eyes.

"I know, Tai. Matt and I were going to visit him later." I said.

Tai blinked.

"How did you know about it?" he asked me.

"We were the ones who took him to the hospital. We were there." I explained.

"You were there when she went nut on him?" said Tai, jumping up in alarm.

"Not quite. I showed up sometime afterward." I told him.

Tai sighed.

"Kari, I'm really sorry about T.K." he said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"It's alright. You have nothing to apologize for." I said and looked at the clock.

I groaned and ran to my room to find my wallet.

"I'm gonna be so late!" I shouted.

Sometimes, I just hate work….

---

(T.K.'s POV)

"T.K? How are you feeling?" asked the nurse when she saw me open my eyes.

"Sore. Where am I?" I asked.

"You're in the Obieda Saints Hospital." She answered.

I tried to sit up, but felt a sharp pain in my sides. She lay me back down.

"Don't try to get up. You were hurt pretty bad." She said.

"What happened?" I asked her. I tried to remember myself, but everything was a little fuzzy.

"You got in a fight with your mother apparently. You came out with a broken arm, hips, fractured ribs, and internal bleeding. Your diaphragm was badly damaged." She informed me.

'Oh yeah, I remember now.'

I put my hand to my stomach, feeling it wrapped in bandages. I looked down at myself. My arm and torso were covered in bandages and I had stitches in my hip.

Due to the severity of the fracture, we had to surgically pin your hip back together." explained the nurse, changing the IV.

"But, she only kicked me. How did it get so bad?" I wondered out loud.

"She must've hit you in the hip with that bat. It was all messed up when you were brought here." The nurse answered.

She finished changing the IV and looked down at me.

"Do you need anything sweetie?"

"No, thank you." I answered and she nodded, leaving me alone in the room.

I lay my head back down on the pillow and rested for a moment.

I tried to remember everything that had happened after we left the apartment.

Kari and Matt took me to the car, we drove to the hospital, and I was carried inside where a bunch of guys in white put me on a stretcher. They were racing me through the hallways, and then I blacked out.

I couldn't remember anything after that.

I looked at the wall clock across the room. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon.

'I must've slept through the day.' I thought. Right then, the doors opened to reveal my brother looking all tired and worn out.

"T.K? You're awake!" He shouted happily. He ran over and gripped the side of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm a little sore, other than that I'm okay. How are you?" I responded. He laughed and smiled at me.

'He must have been really worried.'

"Well, they arrested mom. They took her into custody this morning.

"Really? So late?" I asked. Actually, I was surprised they took her in at all.

"Yeah. The police said that they were tied up with other issues before they got there." Matt answered.

There was silence between us for a while. I stared up at the ceiling, thinking about my situation.

"Well, there's a debate where you would stay." said Matt, breaking the silence.

"Oh really?" I said.

"Yeah, I guess because dad's never at the house the place is a biohazard, you can't stay with him. Social Services said you can't live with me either, for some weird under-age-laws reason." said Matt.

"Well that's stupid." I said.

"I know. I'm your brother! It's not like I'm gonna molest you in your sleep!" he laughed.

I smiled up at the ceiling.

"Well, what do they want to do with me?" I asked him, smile fading.

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out later. Social Services said they were going to send someone over to work out the housing issue."

I sighed.

There was a knock on the door and we looked over to see Kari standing in the doorway.

"Hey there." She said, smiling.

She walked in and stood beside the bed.

"How are you feeling this wonderful Tuesday?" she asked humorously.

"I've been better, but not that bad." I responded

She sighed and smiled softly.

"Well I see you're doing just fine then." She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

Matt smiled, too.

"Well, did I miss anything?" I asked, breaking the small silence.

"Everyone saw the special report on you mom. They were calling us and freaking out about it." explained Kari.

Matt nodded.

"Yeah, I was on the phone with, like, four people at once." He said.

I lay my head back and sighed.

"They're not going to barrage me are they?" I asked them.

Right then, Davis, Cody, Ken and Yolie all burst through the door and ran to the bed.

"T.K! Are you alright? Did she hurt you very bad?" asked Yolie. Ken took her hand.

"Oh Man! I can't believe this could happen to one of us." muttered Cody.

"Huh, so that's where your bruises came from." Remarked Davis, as though he had only just figured it out.

'Oh man.' I groaned inwardly.

"Yeah, Well I'm just fine now, so no need to panic guys." I said, trying once again to sit up. That's when I felt a sharp crack in my ribs and I barked in pain. I fell back on the bed, clutching my ribs.

"Well no duh. You're ribs are still broken." said Kari, fixing my pillow. She wore a worried expression on her face none the less.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Yolie.

I stared at her.

"It's not like I'm dying, Yolie. It's alright; you don't have to do anything." I said reassuringly.

She smiled weakly. I looked up at Kari. She was smiling, but she still held a worried look in her eyes.

Right then, the nurse came in with vials and syringes.

"Okay everyone, T.K. needs his rest. Off with you." She said gently, holding up a syringe.

I groaned inwardly again.

I hated shots more than most other things.

The others got up and left through the door, waving at me and saying their goodbyes. I grinned back at them as they left.

Kari stopped at the door post and looked at me.

She was holding her pendant in her hand. Funny, I hadn't even noticed she had it on when she came on.

I didn't see what it was, her palm covered it completely, and I began to black out due to the Morphine that the nurse injected into me.

Soon, everything was black.

The black had soon faded to white abyss that I had seen not so long ago.

I looked around the void, wondering if there was anything besides me here.

"Feeling better kid?" I heard a voice.

I turned and saw the guy with white hair. His back was turned to me and his hands were in his jacket pockets.

I nodded. He turned sideways to look at me. I saw a small pattern design carved under his left eye.

"Well that's good." Turned back around and continued.

"Looks like mom got put up for a while." He said, looking up.

I stayed silent.

"But not for long I'm sure. She'll find a way to weasel herself out of there sooner or later." said the boy, stretching his arms over his head.

There was a distinct crack from his shoulders and he yelled out in pleasure.

He then turned around completely, a content look on his face.

He shrugged and grinned.

"Hey, no worried, right? You'll find a way out of it." He said with confidence.

"Who are you? Really?" I asked him.

"I am God." He said with fake seriousness. He looked at me in superiority for a moment then broke out laughing.

"No, but you can address me as Tojima." He said crossing his arms, his grin still in place.

"Tojima?"

"Yep. Technically, I'm your conscience, the little shoulder angel, your light half, everything good in your heart; yadda, yadda, yadda. What ever you want to use." He said, waving the sentence off.

"My, light?" I asked confused.

"Yeah, I guess you're not the perfect angel that everyone thought you were. You're more immersed in darkness now than Kari is in her current state, but not for long." He examined his nails with fake interest.

I raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean not for long? What's wrong with her?" I asked, alarmed.

"She's sick. That's all I have to say. Kari embodies everything that is good, she is the light. You were becoming engrossed in darkness, thus my creation. I came to into existence to keep you from turning over to darkness." He explained. He looked back up at me.

"Kari, however, has a dark side too. I've seen this darkness, it's worse than anything you've ever come across." He said in a serious tone.

"Kari is light, you are hope, hope is lost without the light, light is taken into darkness without hope. Your light began to slip away when Kari's darkness entered her heart. So I came to protect your heart from that same darkness." he explained to me.

"But, Kari is the pure embodiment of light. It's stronger than any darkness, there's no way she could give in to the dark." I argued.

"The stronger the light, the deeper the darkness. Her light is strong, but it's only enough to cover the dark soul that lingers within her. I keep you in light to protect you from the darkness, so you give Kari hope. Without you and your hope, she would be lost forever." he said.

Tojima's voice had deepened and almost sounded sad. The happy-go-lucky aura around him had vanished and was replaced by that of despair.

I looked at him.

"You're saying that Kari has a darkness in her soul?"

He nodded.

"Will it put her in danger? Is she in trouble? How can we get rid of the darkness?" I asked him urgently.

He shook his head.

"You can't. The only thing you can do is keep her away from the Darkness." He said.

I blinked.

"Don't lose sight of the light, don't let her slip into darkness." He said, then faded into black and disappeared.

I was left alone in the white void.

I felt a cold sensation fill my body. I looked down and saw that I was being immersed in the same darkness. I didn't fight back though, the cold was comforting.

Before I knew, everything went black once more.

(Kari's POV)

I twirled the pendant in my hand. I still hadn't figured out where it came from. It was rather familiar, like I'd seen it before.

The others had parted ways from me and headed back to their homes. That was good, I wanted to be alone right then. I felt eyes following me as I walked, so I stopped and turned. I swore that I saw someone leaning on a wall in the shadows of an alleyway. The figure had long dark dreadlocks and a trench coat. As quickly as I had seen it, it was gone.

I trembled slightly, but shook it off. I was still a little paranoid after the dreams, so I was just seeing things. Right?

I turned and continued walking. I held the pendant in front of my face as I walked. It gleamed in the light of the setting sun.

"Kari, Kari, Kari. What will I ever do with you? You refuse to listen to reason, fight back with your 'Light overpowers Darkness' non-sense, and now it looks like I have to make my point."

The woman's voice drifted through my head again.

I stopped and stared at the pendant.

What if this was a sign? What if something was going to happen? The woman had said that she would have to prove a point, what if this was a signal?

I clutched the pendant tightly in my hands and looked around in alarm.

I had no clue what would happen, or when it would happen, but I had a dreaded feeling that it was going to be bad.

I looked down at my hand. There as a small stream of blood where the sharp edges of the pendant cut me.

And, whatever would happen, someone was going to get hurt.

Bad.

I breathed deeply and looked around again. I had a terrible feeling of fear in the pit of my stomach. I ran through the streets back home.

I flew through the flights of stairs, down the terrace, and through the door of my apartment. I shut the door and leaned against it.

My heart was beating fast and the adrenaline hadn't stopped pumping my veins. I twitched slightly from the adrenal rush and got off the door and walked swiftly to my room I shut and locked the door, resting my head against the wood.

'Okay Kari, get a hold of yourself. You're just being paranoid." I thought to myself. I took a deep breath the calm myself. The adrenaline slowed and dissipated, and my heart beat slowed to a normal steady pulse.

I wiped the sweat from my face and unlocked the door. I looked out and saw tai rushing to the door.

"What's the matter?" I heard you running through the house and slam the door." Said Tai worriedly.

I sighed.

"I'm alright, Tai. I just got a little fraked out is all." I explained.

"By what?" he asked me.

I gulped, thinking about the figure I'd seen and the feeling of dread I had just a moment ago.

I shook my head.

"Nothing. It was nothing." I said. He looked at me skeptically.

I smiled at him in reassurance.

"I'm fine, reaaly." I said and walked past him to the kitchen.

"I don't believe you." He said, following me. I pulled an apple from the fridge and bit into it.

"C'mon Kari. Tell me the truth." He said gently.

I slowed my chewing, thinking whether or not I should tell him.

I swallowed and blinked slowly.

"I've been having this weird dream. I'm always in some black void, and there is nothing but me and one other person there. It's a woman, she looks just like me, but she seems more sinister. She said that she was the Darkness in my soul, and that she would take over sooner or later." I looked up at Tai.

"She said that she would have to 'make her point' to prove she wasn't just a dream. Tai, I have a feeling that something really bad is going to happen." I said, sounding very scared. Scared is probably the biggest understatement for what I was feeling right then. I couldn't find a word to match it.

Tai looked at me gently.

"Well, I don't think you have anything to worry about." He said with a grin.

I rose in eyebrow in question.

"If anything does happen, I'll be right there with you to help you through it. I won't let anything hurt you, Kari. You understand that?" he said, taking my shoulders.

I hesitated, then smiled and nodded.

He smiled back at me and embraced me.

"It'll be alright." He said.

I hugged back, feeling safe and warm with Tai.

At that moment, the door opened revealing mom with a bundle of groceries in her arms.

"Oh! Hey kids! Could you give me a hand?" She asked.

We nodded and went over to help her out.

"Oh, Kari. Matt said that T.K.'s lawyer went by to visit him about the court trials on Nancy. Matt said that apparently you knew more about it than any of them and that T.K. refused to speak about It." said mom.

"Yeah, and…?" I asked, urging her to continue.

"I guess he'll be by to visit some time tomorrow to talk to you about Nancy's behavior or something. I guess T.K. didn't want to talk about the incident, seeing that it was just so recent." She said, putting her hands on her hips and carrying a worried look on her face.

"But I never thought that Nancy would go off like that. I never knew that she was so messed up." She muttered more to herself than to us.

"It's alright. I went and saw him today and he was doing much better. I think he'll be out pretty soon." I reassured her. Mom smiled.

"Yeah, you're right. T.K.'s a pretty tough kid." She said and began to put the food items away.

I looked out the window to the darkening sky.

'Yeah, he is. I just hope I can be as strong.' I thought, mulling over the dream again in my head.

Sorry for the...shortness? and the crappiness, but please bear with me, it WILL get better. Please review!!!