"Don't mention it, kid. Clairice, will you show him the way to Miss Kamiya's room?"

"Yes, sir." The woman stood and motioned for T.K. to follow her as she led him through the double doors to the ICU. They came to room 207, and Clairice told him to wait as she entered the room, and then came out again a few minutes later. She put a hand on his shoulder and he peered up at her with respect. "I told her nurse that you would be in, and I said you might want some private time with her," She winked and he blushed brightly. "So she will be watching through that sound proof window in case something goes wrong," He frowned at the last statement, but allowed her to continue. "I'll be right outside the door to take you back to your group once you're done, okay?" He nodded. She lightly pushed him towards the door, and he cautiously opened it to see a large room with Kari in the middle, connected to several machines beside her through IVs and he saw that the respirator tube had been taken from her throat and laid on the table beside her bed. He quietly tiptoed inside and took a seat in the chair that rested beside her, and checked her over. Numerous IVs had been poked into her veins, and he noticed that she had been changed into a white hospital gown; he also saw that there was still that smudge on her cheek from when she'd fallen on the sidewalk yesterday morning. He shivered; that scene still sent chills up his spine. Then he suddenly had the urge to think back to just before she collapsed, when that skateboard gang almost ran him over. He thought particularly about the way Kari had pulled him to safety, how softly she'd touched him… Then, it hit him.

'She was trying to save me, but she was also trying to grab on to me as a support when she began to fall! That should have told me right then something was wrong! Why didn't I see that sooner!' He breathed heavily and tears came to his eyes as he looked at the pale girl. 'I could have helped her faster had I realized what was happening! How could I have been so blind?!'

"I'm sorry, Kari. I'm so sorry. If only I'd-" Suddenly, he stopped as the twelve-year-old before him began to stir. She scrunched her eyes tightly and seemed to stretch as she lifted her chest towards the ceiling, and then calmly lay down again as the boy watched on hopefully. "Kari?" The girl's eyes opened slowly, and the moment her fiery amber eyes came into his view, and her brilliant smile touched his heart, he jumped from the chair and called Clairice and Kari's nurse into the room. They bundled into the room with joyous smiles on their faces, and continued to stare until Clairice suggested that she tell the doctors immediately. Kari's nurse went to her charge's side, and asked her quietly,

"How are you feeling, dear? Can you breathe okay?"

"It's…a bit hard at times, but I'm all right. Hey, T.K.?" The boy stepped up as she smiled and looked him in the eyes.

"Yeah, Kari?"

"I know you're probably blaming yourself for what happened to me, but you have to know that none of this was your fault, nor will it ever be. It was my choice not to tell my brother, to only let Joe and Izzy know; I didn't know you were watching us back then, so I didn't know you knew what happened… It was my own fault for keeping this a secret; I know I should have dealt with the pain of destroying my brother rather than let it get this far, but I couldn't do that! You know how much I hate hurting people I care about, especially the Digidestined, in particularly you. I don't want to hurt you either, but," Tears suddenly made their way down her precious face, and T.K., though very worried, let her speak. "I can see it in your eyes; I've already broken your heart," Abruptly, she stopped as the door to her room opened and Tai and her parents walked in. The nurse smiled at them, and they in return, and then left the room to give the group some privacy. Tai and his parents took seats on one side of Kari while T.K. remained in the other, and the room was silent for a long time. Then Kari moved her head around, peering into each of their eyes as she did so, wanting to decipher the emotions she saw in them. She barely held back a sob as tears flowed even more rapidly down her face, and the gang suddenly began to worry.

"Why are you crying, sweetheart?" Her mother asked as she grabbed her hand, and Mr. Kamiya put his hand on top of his wife's. She opened her previously tightly closed eyes and stared at them as she shook her head, eyes filled with an incredible amount of grief and burning.

"I…It's all the same. All of you have that same look in your eyes…"

"W-What look, honey?" Her Father asked.

"The one that's burning a hole in your heart at this very moment, the one that you have right now, as you're seeing me in this state. I hate this! I hate causing you pain like this! It would have been better if I'd told you right off; then at least you wouldn't have to be going through what you are now! How could I be so selfish?!"

"But you're not!" Everyone turned to T.K., the source of the outburst. He sighed and smiled at her minutely. "You weren't being selfish, Kari, never a day in your life have you been! You wanted to protect your brother and the rest of us from the pain we're feeling now, but…what you don't understand is…it was inevitable. There was no way you could have stopped this or gotten it cured, so either way, whether you told us or didn't, this pain would still have come no matter what you did. Do you understand now? You thought you were saving us, when really…there was no saving that could have been done." He gently smiled and took the hand on his side of the bed, squeezing it tightly as she nodded, a small smile lighting up her face.

"Thank you, T.K. Somehow you always know what to say, don't you?"

"That's the plan!" They laughed and he slowly withdrew a handkerchief from his side pocket and handed it to her, letting go of her hand to allow her to wipe her eyes and face. When she finished, she handed it back and he carefully set it on her bedside table; she gave him a flabbergasted expression. "That's in case you need it again, silly." She grinned gratefully, but was, without warning, suddenly overcome by a frantic coughing attack, with no time to breathe in between. T.K. and the Kamiyas jumped from their chairs when Kari's nurse rushed into the room, along with several of the doctors from last night, and they were quickly ushered out into the hall, where Clairice led them back to their seats.

The remaining old and new Digidestined smiled at them as they reentered the room, but then frowned deeply when they saw their ashen faces and slow movements. After they plopped back down in their chairs, the room was so quiet, only the sound of the wind outside could be heard, along with the typing and scratch of the ward clerk's keyboard and pen.

"Are you guys okay? Is Kari all right?" Joe asked, disturbed at his friends' lack of sound and smiles.

"Kari had some sort of…coughing attack, and by the looks of how many doctors entered the room, I'd say it's pretty bad…" Tai finally spoke up, and those who hadn't been there with them widened their eyes in alarm.

"Is she going to be all right, Tai?" Sora inquired worriedly as she swiftly got up from the floor and sat in one of the chairs beside him, tightly enclosing his wrist in her hand, the other gripping her pant leg so hard she swore she was cutting off its circulation. The fifteen-year-old hung his head and sighed deeply.

"I don't know, Sora…I don't know. No matter how much I wish I did." The high school girl hugged the boy from the side, and then silence reigned again as the depression really began to settle in. The desolate demeanor was interrupted, however, when Clairice's cell phone went off, and T.K. watched as her expression darkened, and she hung up. She quietly stood and said in a shaky voice,

"Would the Kamiyas please come with me to your daughter and sister's room? I have some urgent news you should hear." The family nodded and stood, Sora reluctantly letting go of Tai and giving him an encouraging smile as the family was led back to Kari's room.

"It seems like it's just a recurring of the same thing over and over again." T.K. groaned, and Davis turned to him.

"What do you mean, T.M.? I didn't notice anything like that."

"That's because all you're seeing is the back of your eyelids." Yolei joked, and the room gave birth to small giggles, allowing some of the heartache and hopelessness drift out through the open windows. T.K. turned to Davis to answer his question, but decided against it; they were just getting their spirits uplifted, they didn't need them to be taken down again. Plus, by the looks of Davis's face, it seemed as if he'd forgotten about it anyway. He quickly looked over at Ken, trying to catch him in the rare act of laughing. He was in luck in that category, at least. There the blue-haired boy was, laughing and smiling like a twelve-year-old kid should, not sitting locked in his room with no social life whatsoever to worry about (Except for maybe his soccer team…?) like he had before he joined the Digidestined team. Then T.K. noticed that he and Yolei were really hitting it off, both of them shooting jokes and teasing each other back and forth, and he thought he overheard Ken offering to teach Yolei to play 'Go Fish'.

"Really?! Thanks! Then I won't have to scream and wake up the whole neighborhood anymore!"

"Yeah. I'm surprised the neighbors don't call my house and ask, "'Hey, who was that crazy girl that kept me up until three in the morning last night?'" She laughed and playfully punched the boy on the shoulder, and he chuckled again. The onlooker inwardly sighed as he remembered how he and Kari used to tease and play like that, laughing for endless hours a day. Now he wondered if he would ever get that chance again. He prayed with all of his being that they would, at least for one last time, if nothing else…