/ \ / \

When they stepped back into the room together, every head turned to them, and Tai began to speak.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I didn't mean to hurt anyone with my words. I was just so angry that I couldn't do anything but watch as my sister grows closer to dying each minute, that I took it out on all of you. That should not have been done, and I'm sorry. I hope you guys can forgive me." He looked at them sadly as no one stepped forward, and when he saw Matt's dark, angry face glaring at him, his happiness went down another peg. The look on Matt's face changed almost instantly, and suddenly he was the old, grinning-like-an-already-famous-rock-star Matt they all knew and loved. He walked over to his fellow fifteen-year-old, and put an arm around his shoulders, as he was pulled to Matt's side in a friendly, guy-like gesture.

"What do you say, guys? Should we give 'Leader Boy' here another chance?" There were numerous loud shouts of confirmation, and Matt, Sora, and Tai all smiled at each other. 'Leader Boy' walked over to T.K., who was still at Kari's side and stroking her hand, the way he'd been when Tai had left. The boy didn't even turn to him; he simply kept staring at the girl in the hospital bed, his eyes glazed as if he wasn't there in the room with them. Tai sighed.

"T.K., I'm sorry for giving up on Kari. I don't know why, but…my grief and pain overcame me again, and I let it control me. I let it control me to the point that I would hurt you; I'm so sorry. I know I cut you deeply; I didn't mean to, really I didn't. I pray you'll forgive me, but if not, I don't blame you for anything." He waited for the boy to reply, but when he turned his golden head, he immediately regretted it. The boy's face was an absolute picture of a waterfall, tears trailing down by the hundreds; his eyes were a painting of purple waves of agony throughout that tortured sea of 'eye water', and, boy, how Tai wished he'd kept his mouth shut.

"How could you say that to me, Tai? You know how much I love her; you knew long before Matt did, and yet you say something that you know would kill me inside? Kari is the most important thing to me in the entire world, and for you to just dismiss her as gone already, or even going to be gone at all, completely tears me apart," He spoke through gritted teeth as he got directly in Tai's face; Matt had to pinion his arms behind his back, just in case his brother went berserk on them. The twelve-year-old sighed, and looked at the boy, the tearstains somehow vanished from his face as his eyes peered at the fifteen-year-old solemnly. "I know you almost lost her as a child, and I know how painful that was for you then, but you can't let your fears from that time drench over us and keep us from hoping either, all right? That's called being selfish, and if you love your sister, you'll stop that right now. If she is to survive at all, which I pray to God she will, with all of my heart and soul, then you must believe in her first and foremost. When she woke up earlier, she told us that she wanted you, all of us, not to blame ourselves for what's happening to her, and I stuck to that. But you keep thinking that this is your fault, and in reality, there was not a single thing you could have done; no matter how much I want to blame myself for what happened, I don't. I want to please her by doing as she says, because I know in my heart that if that truly is her last wish, I want to fulfill it to the best of my ability. And, being her loving big brother, I know you want to do that as well." By now, considering he'd resolved himself from almost charging Tai, Matt had released his brother from his grasp, and smiled at the boy's wisdom, wisdom that had never been shown its true potential until today. Tai looked down at his tightly clenched hand in which his Digivice rested, and stared at it, awareness finally washing over him; T.K. was right.

"You're right, T.K.," The goggle-giving teenager looked at the younger boy sadly. "I was wrong about everything. I was blaming myself; even after I told you it wasn't your fault, that it couldn't have been, in my heart, I continued to feel that I should have known something was wrong, since she's my little sister, but…I didn't. I'm sorry, T.K." The blond-haired adolescent's shoulders drooped as his face softened from its serious look and turned to form a gentle one, one of great understanding and passion for his former leader. He stepped forward and embraced the boy forgivingly, and the boy sighed in relief as he hugged him as well.

"Do you understand now?" T.K. asked.

"Yes, I believe I do." Tai answered, and the boy pulled away and gave the high schooler a teasing, baffled look. The corners of Tai's mouth twitched as he watched, and then burst out laughing, and soon T.K. joined in, quickly followed by the other kids.

"Kari!?" All heads turned as Mrs. Kamiya called her daughter's name frantically, and both Tai and T.K. ran to her side. The twelve-year-old was sweating, if that was even physically possible in her present condition, and an agonized look overcame her precious face, seeming as if she was struggling to stifle a scream embedded within her. T.K. grabbed her hand hurriedly, a terrified expression adorning his face as he also sweated, praying this wasn't what he thought.

"Kari?! Can you hear me?! Please, what's wrong?!" He cried, but the girl didn't even seem to hear him; instead, she clutched both T.K. and her parents' hands with all her might, and suddenly let out the piercing scream she'd been barricading. Tears found their way to Yolei's eyes, and she shook her head slowly in disbelief as she watched her best friend writhe in that much pain.

"I don't think I can watch this!!" She said, slightly higher than a whisper, as she shook her head even more violently, twisting her head away from the scene, her hands almost fists as they pressed lightly on her cheeks. A hand fell on her shoulder, and she opened her tear-filled eyes to turn and see Ken standing beside her, and she looked at him questioningly.

"It'll be okay." He gave her the most convincing smile he could muster, and even if she could tell that it was fake, she still smiled and nodded, that dam of tears finally trailing. The Child of Kindness reached into his pocket and pulled out his handkerchief, handing it to the girl.

"I hate it when people cry, especially you, Yolei. You don't deserve to be crying." She stared at him blankly, unsure of what to do, but finally stretched out her arm and took it tentatively. She cleaned her glasses after wiping her face, and handed it back to him, lightly touching the hand that was still on her shoulder. She beamed at the boy.

"Thank you, Ken." He grinned back and answered,

"You're welcome." Their moment was broken, however, as Kari screamed again, and then another time, and Yolei's grip on Ken's hand increased; even so, he stayed by her side, making sure she was going to be able to handle the situation.

"I'm gonna tell Joe what's happening! I'll try to get the doctors in here, too!" Cody cried, and with that, he ran into the hall. "Joe! It's-!" He stopped short, however, as he saw the blond-haired nurse resting her head on the sixteen-year-old's shoulder. He quickly shoved the sight aside as he rushed in front of them. "Joe! Something's really wrong with Kari! I'll go get the doctors; wake up Clairice and see what you can find out!" He called as he started to run for the ward clerk's desk, Joe waking the girl beside him hastily.

"Dr. Kayo! Dr. Fransou!" (I REALLY wanted to put 'Dr. Gensai' in here! I've watched too much Rurouni Kenshin…) Cody shrieked as loudly as he could, considering his naturally small voice, and the doctors turned from their colleagues with slightly irritated faces.

"Cody! What is it? We have a very busy day today, you know. A lot of patients to tend to!"

"I know, but it's about Kari! Something's wrong! Come with me!"

"All right, hold on a moment." Dr. Fransou said, and pressed a button on the side of an intercom on the check-in desk. "All available doctors, please report immediately to room 207!" He then turned and nodded at the tiny fellow in front of him. "All the free doctors will be there as fast as possible. Right now, we must get to Kari." The boy nodded as well, and they high-tailed it to the girl's room, making it there in record time. They quickly entered the room and found Joe and Clairice looking Kari over with heavy expressions. "Have you found anything?" The two teenagers raised their heads to look at the elders of their field, and shook their heads.

"No. We can't find anything. I have no idea what this is about." Joe concluded and Clairice nodded in agreement to what he said.

"Forgive me, sir." Clairice muttered guiltily, and the man merely smiled gently at her.

"It's not your fault. No need to worry. Now, uh, if you could excuse us, we'd like to take a look at her ourselves." The adolescents swiftly moved out of the way, and inched against the wall to stay clear of the men until they were in open space. They sighed, but Joe looked at her Clairice, concerned, as she began rubbing her arm up and down in a nervous habit.

"I-I have a confession. I...I've never actually watched someone die before. When my sister was dying, my Father sent me out to the town to buy some firewood," The boy looked at her strangely, and she chuckled slightly. "We lived on a farm, but there were not many trees around for miles, except for one that my Father swore he'd never cut. He told me my Grandfather, his Dad, was buried under that very Oak. As I was saying, my Father sent me to purchase some firewood from town, so I went. Being seven, I was unaware of the circumstances that were all around me, and because of my ignorance and my hope of pleasing my Dad again, I didn't realize the real reason he'd wanted me to go. After I came home, my Mother was crying into my shoulder and my Father had to explain to me later that evening that I would be an only child from then on…my sister was gone; not on a visit to my uncle's farm or anything like that as I'd thought. She was never coming back because she had died while I'd been gone. Even here, people always thought I was too delicate to witness something as horrifying as death, so they would always give me some excuse to leave, and by the time I would be back, the suffering would be over and done with…" She bit her lip and fidgeted with her hands furiously before she finally felt someone take them strongly and keep them from moving whatsoever. Then, another hand lifted her chin and she came eye-to-eye with a wise-faced sixteen-year-old doctor-to-be.

"They should know that you're stronger than that. I've only known you for two days, and I can already tell that you're not as fragile as everyone thinks. You told us of your sister's death, and something like that takes a lot of courage, especially when that someone had a direct family member die of such a rare disease! That is really special to be strong like that, Clairice. Why are you thinking that Kari's going to die, anyway?"

"I…I don't know, Joe. It's just that with all the previous cases and the statistics running against her, plus what's happening right now," She paused to gesture to the doctors inspecting the ghostly, shrieking child under their stethoscopes, and then turned back to him. "It all just seems so hopeless. I'm sorry for behaving this way; please don't be angry."

"I couldn't be mad at you, silly. All I mean is, stick to what we've been saying all along: if we believe she can make it, she will. She needs us right now; we can't just turn our backs."

"I know." They smiled at one another, but then turned as they heard Mr. Kamiya frantically ask them what was going on with his daughter. Dr. Kayo and Dr. Fransou peered up at the man as they stood upright, tears threatening to plunge in a matter of seconds.

"She's dying."