Chapter 20

Griff groaned and opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that he was in a bed; a nice fluffy one. The room he was in was small and bright, morning sunlight streaming through the large window on the sandstone wall.

"Hello!"

"Ahhrgh!" Griff fell out of one side of the bed as a bubbly face popped in front of his own.

He heard the bed squeak as a Native American boy draped across it, looking down at his position on the floor. The boy seemed to be in his mid-teens and had shoulder length black hair and a tan headband across his forehead.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, "Lou's the name."

He held out a hand which Griff took and pulled the guardian to his feet.

"Griff," he said, still looking around suspiciously. In was then he noticed someone else in the room, standing quietly in the corner. At a first glance he thought he was some type of digimon. The boy had short, messy silver hair and cerulean slitted eyes along with pointed ears. He was tall, looking like he was in his late teens.

"Josh," he introduced himself in a cool voice.

"Hi," Griff said uneasily, "Um...can either of you tell me what happened? The last thing I remember was feeling really cold..."

"Yeah man! Your soul was totally, like, halfway out of your body," Lou laughed, enthused. The taller one scowled and smacked him upside the head.

Griff was fully awake now, "Huh? My soul?"

"Yup. Those were dementors. They eat your soul! How sweet is that?" Lou continued. He seemed to find the whole situation absolutely fantastic. Josh frowned.

"They do not eat your soul. They just suck it out of you through your mouth. It's called the dementor's kiss."

"Whatever man. You're the wizard, not me," Lou said, waving him off.

"Wizard?" Griff asked. He shook his head trying to focus, "Hold on, where am I? How did you two get in the digiworld? Um...I am in the digiworld...right?"

"You are," Josh assured him, "We were just visiting his Tortomon when I detected the dementors. When we found you, you were seconds from having your soul taken. So I sent out a patronous and they retreated. You've been unconscious since."

"I see," he said, not understanding what a patronous was. "You have a Tortomon?" he asked Lou. The boy nodded, "Then you must be a digidestined."

"Yup, from New York."

"So you're a digidestined too?" he asked Josh.

Josh shook his head negative.

"No. I'm just friends with this loser. Though it's a good thing he decided to drag me along."

"Oh," Griff said, paying more attention his familiar demonic features, "well if you don't mind me asking...are you related to Inuyasha at all? You kind of look like him."

At this, Josh looked surprised.

"Inuyasha? How do you know him?"

"Um, I know him through Tai."

"Who?"

Griff ignored him, "How do you know him?"

"I'm his son."

Griff nearly fell off his bed again. "How many freaking kids does that guy have?"

Josh gave a small grin at that.

"I have two sisters an older brother and twenty four half siblings."

Griff whistled, "I guess he's gotten around."

"Yeah!" Lou said, ever the enthusiastic, "Mr. B is like...so my hero!"

Josh gave him a dry look.

"You want twenty eight kids?"

"No..."

"Then shut up."

As they bickered Griff stood from the bed to walk around. His back moaned in protest and his muscled screamed in pain.

"Man, I am sore. How long have I been out?"

"Three months," Lou said happily, turning away from Josh.

"Three...WHAT?"

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

"Angela! Come get some damn food!"

The eighteen year old blond ignored her best friend as she stared at the picture in her hands. It was of her, younger and jovial, laughing in the arms of a sturdy young man, dark skinned and part metal. A small tear left her eye as she thought a few months back when Griff didn't return from a small mission Tai sent him on. She recalled as afterwards they had split up in search for him, and that's when they realized something was deathly wrong. There were certain areas of the digital world that seemed chilled over and devoid of life. Tai himself had gone nearly insane trying to figure out the problem, soon discovering that there were patches in the ozone of the Digital World that were wearing away. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to get near these parts without provoking the chilling apparitions into attacking him. It didn't take them long to realize what happened to Griff. If Tai wasn't stressed enough after that, matters only became worse when the Tokyo digidestined decided to visit.

:Flashback:

"Damn it," Tai swore, staring at the map Ace had pulled up for him on her screen. There were many dark patches spread across the plains of the Digital World, indicating where the tears in the barrier were.

"What are we going to do about this?" Shiva asked softly. Angela was indisposed at the moment, having cried herself to sleep after the recent conclusion of what happened to her beloved became evident.

"There's nothing we can do," he said frustrated, running a hand through his hair, "Just patch up whatever we can without getting killed by those...things. If we just knew what they were, then maybe we could find some way to destroy them..."

A loud cry from down the hall indicated that Chelsea had awakened from her nap. Tai left the room quickly to his room where no doubt he would be met with the stink of a dirty diaper.

Seconds after he left a bright blue light filtered through Ace's screen.

"What the—" Shiva cut herself off as the light cleared and a pile of Digidestined was in front of her.

"Um...hi there?" she said awkwardly as the group before her quickly detangled themselves and scrambled to their feet.

"Hey Shiva," Kari started, "We came by to see Tai's daughter."

"Oh..." Shiva said blankly, "Well now isn't the best of times...we're having a bit of a crisis..."

"Please, we just want to see him. This is the only time our schedules allow us to visit him as a group." Kari pleaded. The other digidestined nodded in agreement. Shiva sighed, caving into their hopeless looks.

"Fine, go wait in the living room and I'll get him."

The digidestined, remembering where the room was, complied.

"I wonder what the crisis is." Izzy said, breaking the silence. Yolie rolled her eyes at him.

"Figures you'd be the one to ask that."

"No, I'm with Izzy," Matt said, "I mean, it probably pertains to the Digiworld, and if that's the case, don't you think the digidestined should be informed?"

"Well maybe it's just between the guardians?" T.K. suggested.

"I'm sure Tai has everything under control, whatever it is," Sora said in his defense. She was very nervous about whether Tai really had a daughter. It was a scary thought; they were only just turning eighteen. It made her really think about her decision years ago. If she had chosen Tai, he would have never gone to Shiva...and then what? Would he still have become a guardian? Maybe. But he probably wouldn't have slept around so much if he were devoted to her...

"Hey guys."

Everyone's attention was directed to Tai, who had stepped into the room, Shiva standing quietly behind him. But what they really were looking at was the young child in his arms, staring at them with wide, brown eyes. Tai shifted nervously under their gazes. Kari stood up from her seat and walked over to him.

"Is this my niece?" she asked quietly. At Tai's slow nod she grinned, "She is just adorable! Can I hold her?"

Tai smiled at her as well, "Sure."

He placed Chelsea in her arms, who put up a bit of a fight until she recognized Kari's scent as family. Tai smiled as Kari tickled the baby in her round tummy.

"Mind her wings," he said. Kari frowned and felt around her back. Sure enough there were bones and feathers beneath her little sweater.

"Aww," Mimi cooed seeing Kari happily cuddling the baby and rushed over, "Tai she looks just like you!"

One by one, the rest of the digidestined came over for a better look. All of the girls wanted to hold her and kept patting her soft head, while the guys were generally a little weary of her.

"Wow Man..." Matt trailed. He honestly didn't know how Tai handled the responsibility.

"It's alright; nothing I can't handle," Tai said, answering his unvoiced thoughts.

"Well Tai, I hope you've learned the repercussions of unsafe sex," Joe began, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"Shut it," Shiva commanded before the boy could get rolling. Tai shot her a thankful look while Joe just looked offended.

Kari snuck away from the group and pulled Tai with her.

"Mum's really upset about loosing her temper with you," she said quietly to Tai as he watched Sora bounce his giggling daughter on her hip, "She really wants to be a part of Chelsea's life and she's starting to like the idea of being a grandmother."

Hearing this actually made Tai feel slightly better, "I would love to stop by sometime..." he trailed off and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Kari asked.

"Kari, it may be a while until I can come home...in fact...I really don't feel comfortable with you all being here—"

"Hey Tai," Davis said suddenly as if he had somehow heard the private conversation, "What's this I hear about a crisis?"

The other digidestined looked up at this, wanting to know as well.

"Don't worry about it," Tai said automatically. Shiva shot him a look as if he were crazy.

"Tai—" she began.

"Its fine," he stressed.

"Why don't you feel comfortable with us being here?" Kari asked loudly, not letting the subject drop. Tai looked from her determined face to the curious and wary faces of his former team.

"It's the barrier," he sighed after a moment, "There's been...problems...holes more like. We'd fix them but there's some kind of apparitions...I don't know what it is exactly, but they surround these holes and stop us from making any repairs."

"And you didn't think of telling us?" Izzy said, outraged.

"There's nothing you can do!" Tai shot back, "Trust me, if there was, I'd ask for help."

"Nothing I can do! Do you know who you're talking to man?" Mimi put a hand on Izzy's arm to calm him down.

"He didn't mean anything by it," she said quietly.

"What do you mean there's nothing we can do?" Davis asked, "We're the digidestined aren't we? It's our job to protect the Digiworld."

There were murmurs of agreement from the digidestined.

"No, it's too dangerous," Tai said, "The barriers are weak and there's nothing you can do to help until we figure out how to beat these thing."

"If you can't do it then just have us and the digimon do it!" Matt argued. Shiva shook her head.

"These aren't digimon that we're fighting so using digimon to fight wouldn't do much. They would be just as vulnerable."

"That's no reason to leave us out—"

"Look," Tai snapped, interrupting Matt, "These things are dangerous! We've already lost..." he trailed, realizing he said too much.

"Already lost who?" TK pushed.

"Griff."

Everyone turned to see Angela standing in the doorway; hair in disarray and blotchy red eyes.

"Griff?" Sora said in a hushed whisper, "he's..."

"He's been missing for over a month now..." She broke off, tearing up. Mimi sprang to her feet and wrapped her arms around the girl.

"Why didn't you tell us things got this bad?" Kari asked her brother, aghast.

"I don't want you guys caught up in this. There's nothing you can do to help at the moment and I can't risk anything happening to any of you."

The room was silent after his explanation.

"Fine," Izzy said finally, probably the most burned at not being able to help, "But if you don't mind, I'll be doing my own research on this."

"Alright, just be careful."

:End Flashback:

Of course, much to Izzy's anger and frustration, he couldn't find anything useful on the dilemma.

Sighing, Angela put the picture back on the stand next to the bed she sat on; a bed that hadn't been slept on in months. She stood and trudged towards the kitchen where she would only pick at her food.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

"She's still upset about Griff," Shiva said after calling for the blonde. She walked over to where Tai was sitting on the kitchen counter, a plate of spaghetti in his hands. He swallowed his mouthful.

"She must hate me," he muttered.

"Hey," she said sharply, hating it when he fell into his guilt mode, "You didn't know any better."

"But I knew something was wrong!" Tai hissed "How could I have missed it?"

"It was a slow decay," Shiva reassured him, "Even Azulonmon didn't notice. Hell—you realized before him!"

"I still should have gone instead of him."

"Why? So Chelsea wouldn't have a mother or a father?"

Tai stopped and put his spaghetti on the counter, not feeling very hungry anymore.

"She's right Tai," Angela said walking in. Tai and Shiva both looked at her guilty. "No, its fine. I agree with Shiva. You're probably needed alive the most."

She gave them a sad little smile and helped herself to some spaghetti. They finished their dinner in silence. As expected, Angela had only taken a few bites before trudging back up the stairs once more.

"This has got to stop," Shiva muttered after she left. "We need her help damn it."

"I know," Tai sighed, walking into the living room collapsing on the couch, "We'll talk to her later."

He smiled at Chelsea who was in her playpen, banging the floor with some unknown toy. As if feeling his eyes on her she looked up at him and smiled, pulling herself to her feet and holding on to the edge of her confinement.

"Ada!" she exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet and pointing to Tai, "A dadaaaa."

"Yup, dada," Tai laughed, delighted in hearing her call him that. She loved talking now, with the few words she knew, "And who's this?"

He pointed to Shiva.

"Mmmama!"

Tai and Shiva both sweat-dropped.

"No, no, hunny. I'm Shiva. Shiiivvaaaa," Shiva said slowly. The girl only giggled.

"Well...um...she probably would think that you're...um..." Tai stuttered a little embarrassed.

"Her mother?" Shiva helped. "I don't mind; I mean I would love to be her mother..." her face went red as she tried to continue, "T-that is if you don't mind."

Tai was shocked, but happy just the same.

"You would? You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all," Shiva smiled warmly, "I love her, just as much as I l-love..."

Tai leaned in closer to her, "As much as you love who?" he whispered.

"As much as I love..." Their noses were inches apart now; each could feel the warm breath of the other on their faces. Their heads tilted slightly as their lips drew nearer; Chelsea watched all this with glittering, curious russet eyes. Suddenly Shiva's nose gave a small twitch and she pulled back. Tai pulled back as well, wondering why she would ruin the moment.

"What's wrong?" he asked as she lifted her head to the air and sniffed heavily a few times.

"I smell"...Shiva said sniffing the air lightly once more, "I smell...metal?"

"Metal—?"

"I smell GRIFF!" She screamed suddenly, running out the door. Tai didn't miss a beat running right after her.

"ANGELA—WE THINK YOUR BOY-TOY'S BAAACK!" He hollered as he ran. He vaguely hard the sound of thudding steps down the stairs as he tore through the door. Just ahead he could see the familiar cyborg get hit in a massive hug as Shiva nearly tackled him. He was not one to be left out of a group hug.

"Tai, don't you dare—" Griff called out as he struggled under the weight of Shiva clinging to his side and kissing him soundly on the cheek. Tai of course didn't listen and jumped on him as well. The only thing keeping Griff standing was his unnatural strength.

"Where the hell have you been you tard?" Tai yelled at his friend. Griff was about to answer when he was cut off by a near scream.

"GRIFF!"

Angela had exited the coliseum and ran towards the group faster than anyone had seen the nymph move.

"Girlfriend," Shiva muttered to Tai, "retreat."

Tai and Shiva sprang off of Griff just in time as Angela leapt upon him, kissing him feverishly.

"Come on," Tai muttered, dragging Shiva away from the reuniting couple, "Let's leave them alone. I think I need to put Chelsea down for a nap anyway."

"Aw, come on," Shiva pouted, "I want to see them get it on right here in the dirt."

"You're freaking sick, you know that?" Tai asked, staring at her. He grabbed her arm and continued to drag her into the coliseum, ignoring her protests.

It took a while before they managed to get Chelsea to lie down; all the excitement in the air from Griff's return had riled her up. Seeing that she was finally settled, Shiva turned to leave.

"Wait," Tai murmured grabbing her arm, "About earlier..."

"Look, I'm sorry about that—" Shiva began before she was silenced as Tai pressed his lips against hers in a chaste kiss.

"I love you too," he whispered, gingerly tucking a lot of hair behind her ear. Shiva gasped and her heart thudded. She had waited to hear those words for nearly three years. She granted him a brilliant smile before pulling him into another kiss...and another and another until they were sure Chelsea was fast asleep.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Griff had told them where he had been for the last few months (on a remote island a long ways away from where he was) and who had saved him. They were now situated in the meeting room; Angela snuggled into Griff's lap and Shiva and Tai sitting unusually close.

"How many freaking kids does that guy have?" Tai asked.

"That's what I said."

"Oh man...I'd have his kids!" Shiva gushed, ignoring Tai's annoyed look. Angela giggled and nodded.

"And did you know Inuyasha is really a wizard? And most of his kids are too?" Griff asked amazing.

"Really?" This was news to the entire group.

"What about what attacked you? Did you learn anything about it?" Tai asked.

"That's where the wizard part comes into play. You guys won't believe what's eating the barriers away," Griff said.

"...what?" Shiva finally asked.

"Dementors!"

There was silence as everyone stared at him blankly including Ace (if a computer could stare) so Griff continued.

"I don't know what exactly they are, Josh wasn't too clear on that, but only a wizard can get rid of them. They essentially suck your soul out of your body through your mouth after making you relive your worst memories."

"We need to get rid of the rest of these dementors before they destroy the entire barrier," Tai concluded.

"Josh is going around trying his best to drive them back out the way they came, but it's not enough; apparently they patronous things need a lot of power."

"Well I know just the man for the job!" Shiva cried, running out of the room for the phone in the kitchen; it was the only one that could make calls that landed out of the digital world.

"She's not calling...?"

"Yup."

"Snap."

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Shiva practically tore the phone from its cradle and punched in the numbers that she hadn't dialed in what seemed like forever.

"Hello?"

Shiva almost didn't recognize the voice, for it sounded slightly older than she remembered.

"Harry darling?"

By his intake of break she could tell he recognized her by her voice.

"What?" he asked with apprehension.

"How would you like to come to the digital world with me?"

There was a long pause before: "You want to suck me into a computer?"

"Yup."

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever. I've got nothing better to do."

Shiva clapped her hands, "Wonderful! I'll stop by to pick you up."

"Erm...do you even know where I am?"

Shiva's face fell.

"No actually. Where are you?"

"I live with Inuyasha now, in Salem, Massachusetts."

"Really? When the hell did this happen?"

"Er...when I died I suppose."

"WHAT? What the hell do you mean, 'you died?'" Shiva all but screamed into the phone. There was a long, exasperated sigh.

"I didn't die, I just faked a death."

"Oh...well that's ok then," she decided.

"I'm glad you approve," came the dry reply.

"Fine, I'm coming over right now!"

"Alright, bye."

"Tata!"

The second Shiva hung up, Tai came running into the kitchen, wide eyed and breathing hard.

"You!" he cried, looking betrayed, "You left me there with the rabbits!"

"The rabbits..." Shiva muttered, "They're not..."

"Yes! They are! On the table!"

Shiva laughed with glee, running towards the room.

"Oi! Where are you going?"

"I—uh—I need to use Ace!"

"You do not you sick pervert!" he cried running after her.

"Oh, but I really do! I'm bringing more wizards!"

From down the hall Tai saw her barge into the meeting room and shriek with laughter. He shook his head sadly. Of all the girls he had to fall for...

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Oh My God! I updated! (Gasp) I know, my interest in this story has decayed dramatically since I started the demon hunter trilogy. Whoops.

As for Lou—He was only shown briefly so I didn't have much to base his personality on, so I decided to make him super duper hyper (It's how my twisted mind works, ok?). And he referred to Inuyasha as 'Mr. B' because he was using the last name Black then.

Josh is of course much older than he looks; I'm guessing he could be born in the early twentieth century or late nineteenth.