They raced up the steps and burst through the hospital doors, and a young male doctor ran up to them as he saw the girl in one of the boy's arms and the five's worried expressions.

"What happened?!"

"I'm not sure. We were walking to school when she suddenly collapsed on the sidewalk. She won't respond, and her older brother told me she had a weak immune system when she was younger, and it got even weaker four years ago. That's all I can tell you about her condition, though. Her name is Kari Kamiya, and she's twelve-years-old. She lives in the apartment complex a small ways away from here, and she has two parents and an older brother in high school. We're her friends. Please, you've got to help her, I'm begging you. Do everything you can." The doctor nodded and then turned as he called a gurney over, along with a few doctors, and softly laid Kari on the rolling bed. He twisted back to them and looked into each of their eyes, silently telling them that they'd do their best, as they then rolled the gurney through the double doors that cut them off from the waiting room in which the third generation of the Digidestined now stood. They quietly found vacant seats and heavily sat down, their spirits being weighed by their grave hearts. Well, at least for T.K., since he was the only one who really knew what was going on. The silence remained until Cody thought of something rather important.

"Hey, T.K.," The boy lifted his head from its position of resting on his legs, which were currently brought up to his chest, and waited for the smaller to continue. "You should probably call Tai and tell him what's happening with his sister. He deserves to know. Then you should tell us what's going on, since we're part of the team as well."

"Right." The taller boy got up and strode over to a vacant pay phone, where he called Tai's cell phone number after depositing the appropriate change, praying the high schooler had left his phone on during class again. He was in luck. A few seconds later the boy picked up, sounding a bit agitated.

"T.K., do you realize you just got me sent out of the classroom? This had better be important,"

"It's about Kari. She's-"

"What? Did something happen?" He interrupted.

"Yeah, something did happen. She collapsed on our way to school. She wouldn't wake up, and we, meaning the new Digidestined and I, are here at the hospital. They took her in just a few minutes ago. They haven't given us any news yet."

"All right, I'll be over there as fast as I can. Don't worry about calling my parents, I've got that part covered."

"Good, thanks. Should I call the rest of the team, too?"

"No, better not. I'd rather they yell at me than you. You don't deserve it; you didn't put them in danger with your stupid plans countless times in the Digital World when you were younger, like I did. Thanks for calling me, little buddy." The younger boy smiled.

"No problem, see you when you get here."

"Yeah, bye." He hung up the phone slowly and walked half-heartedly back to his chair as he resumed his earlier position of his head on his knees.

'How could I let this happen…?' He asked himself again, but was not given the chance to answer his rhetorical question as Cody timidly spoke up.

"Uh…T.K.?" Said boy looked up and gave a minute smile to the small twelve-year-old in front of him. Cody returned it and peered up at him shyly. "Um…well, since we don't know what's going on, could you tell us? It seems that you know the situation inside and out." T.K. smiled a bit wider and nodded.

"Sure," The others were silent as T.K. began his story. "It was four years ago in the Digital World when I overheard Kari talking with Joe and Izzy about her immune system, and how she knew that it had gotten dangerously weaker since she was younger, and the doctors had been fooled because her immune system had allowed itself a break to rejuvenate its white blood cells for awhile. I remember her begging them not to tell Tai, that it would crush him if he learned that his little sister could die from a common cold, because they'd both been down that path another time when they were younger, and it had been Tai's fault. He'd had her play soccer with him while she was sick, and she collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital, and they almost lost her. He'd been scarred from that, and she couldn't bear to hurt him again from reopening those wounds. So, you see, Kari loves her brother so much that she'd rather suffer through tremendous pain than put him through so much grief like she did back then, at least, that's how she sees the situation. She can't let that part of herself go, but I know Tai would rather it if she did." The group was silent for a long time after he refined, and they all stared at their laps absent-mindedly in wonder, trying to decipher how such a small girl could hold so much grief and fear in her heart, and yet be as loving and gentle as she was.

Suddenly, the hospital doors burst open again, breaking the silence that plagued the dismal room. The younger Digidestined looked up from their thoughts to see a very out of breath family of Kamiyas, as well as every other older Digidestined, standing in front of them. Matt immediately went to his brother's side and hugged him tightly, knowing how hard this must be for him; he'd known all along how T.K. felt about Kari, and he knew the pain his brother was going through. T.K. held on strongly to his protective older brother, needing his comfort and love now more than ever. The newcomers patiently found non-occupied chairs and waited for the brothers to end the embrace so they could get down to business. However, Tai was in mental turmoil, much more so than his parents beside him. He stared down at his tightly clasped hands in supposed concentration, but everyone in their Digigroup knew that he was thinking of his sister. Who wouldn't at a time like that? He slowly peered up at the blond-headed, hat-wearing boy across from him, who was currently being nurtured by his brother.

"T…T.K.," He quietly began after discovering his voice. The siblings separated and T.K. peered at him solemnly.

"Yeah, Tai?"

"What…happened? I don't-"

"Um, pardon me," Tai was interrupted mid-ponder as a young man shyly walked over to them, and T.K. instantly recognized him as the doctor that had taken Kari. He leapt from his chair and demanded,

"Is Kai all right?! Do you know what's wrong yet?!" After discovering that this doctor was the one that had handled his sister, Tai stared at the man intently, waiting for an answer. The doctor saw the family of three and his face showed the smallest hint of a greeting as he turned a few pages on his clipboard and replied,

"You must be the Kamiyas, yes? Kari's older brother and parents?"

"Yes, sir. These are her parents, or rather, ours, and I'm her older brother, Tai. Now, is she all right?" Tai asked forcefully, and the doctor's eyes softened as he gave them a grave smile.

"My name is Dr. Hiro Kayo, and I…I think it would be best if you came with me. You may rejoin your group later. These are family matters alone, after all. And you may want this time to come to proper terms with something yet to be explained to most of you in words. Particularly, three of you." He eyed Joe, Izzy, and T.K. before leading the family down the hall to one of the private conference rooms, leaving the three flabbergasted.

"But what…could he mean by that?" Joe asked, and he looked to Izzy for an answer.

"I don't know. Maybe he's been staying late at the hospital; did you see the bags under his eyes? He appeared to be exhausted." They both looked over to T.K., who'd been silent the whole time. Abruptly, the boy gasped and peered at them with wide eyes.

"'Something yet to be explained in words' means what we've been keeping inside all these years! Don't you understand? It's what we've failed to tell Tai!" Every original Digidestined stared at him like he was nuts.

"What are you talking about, T.K.? We've never kept anything from him!" Sora cried, believing that what she said was true.

'If only she was right…' T.K. thought as he peered guiltily at the door Tai and his family has just passed through.

"Actually, Sora, there is something we've kept from him…and it has something to do with Kari's condition." Joe replied, his voice also heavy with guilt. He didn't have a chance to explain as the door to the room Tai and his family had entered opened, and out stepped a hysterical Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya (mostly the Mrs.) followed by a silent Tai, his face portraying shock at its highest level. Dr. Kayo led them back to their chairs, that grave expression still plastered on his face as he watched the family take their seats, quiet as ghosts and numb as petrified wood. He sighed, and then turned to the rest of the 'family' that was seated in front of him, silently wishing he didn't have to be the one to deliver this news.

"I…I'm afraid I have some sad news for you all…on behalf of your friend, Kari Kamiya. We have confirmed her condition as, not quite AIDS, as it is called in America, but something very similar. Even so, hers is…a much faster spreading and ten times as deadly a branch of AIDS, and it is called HDIRD, otherwise known as Human Deficiency to Immune Recovery Disease," Attention then shifted to Joe as he began to speak.

"That condition is one I've read and heard about, but I've never had to face it personally before. This disease is…a condition that can take, at maximum, five years to take effect, but when it does, the results are disastrous. As you know, AIDS is a disease that attacks the white blood cells that protect the immune system, and when all of the white cells are gone, the immune system is vulnerable to anything you throw at it. It can take several years for this disease to kick in, but the steps are so painful that many times, all people want to do is die rather than deal with it. Some take their own lives, it gets so bad. With HDIRD, it's even worse. It takes a shorter amount of time for it to kick in, and before the person infected even has it, it can kill them within a week, at best. Dr. Kayo, is there any way that Kari could have contracted this disease? Normally, I mean?" Joe asked, being the doctor-in-training.

"Well, as it is a virus, she could have gotten it anywhere, really, from the store, to school, and even from a very close friend. The possibilities go on for ages. I can say we ran some tests, and she did contract it in that sort of situation. Now, I must leave to gather more information, but I will come back when I have some sure fire news, I promise you. However, for your sake, I will relay the news we have so far," He turned to Tai and his family, as this was news they'd not heard yet. They peered up at him and nodded for him to go on. "Kari is currently in the ICU, and she has not yet woken up from her slumber. Her breathing is a bit below normal limits, and her heart rate has slowed down a fair amount as well. She is not on death's door yet, but that's all we've gathered thus far. I'm sorry. I'll leave you now." He despairingly walked back through the double doors, leaving the close-knit group crumbling to pieces behind him. Soon, though, the attention was brought towards Tai as he muffled a whimper into his sleeve and wiped a tear from his eye. He again stared down at his tightly folded hands in his lap, his face contorted with pain, worry, fear, and one more emotion not one person in the room recognized. His eyes were filled with those same emotions, and everyone could tell he was trying not to lose his cool and cry in front of them; he was trying to act like the tough leader he'd been four years ago, and still was. Yet, when he felt a gentle, loving hand on his shoulder, he lifted his head to peer into beautiful eyes, eyes that could only belong to Sora. The tomboyish beauty stared at him and smiled softly in that tender way of hers, and he knew then that it was all right for him, their leader, to cry; it was natural in this circumstance, and everyone would still love him afterwards. So, he did. Sora pulled him close to her and held him firmly as he began to shake as the tears erupted from his eyes, and he hugged her back as her own tears started to fall.