I'm back everyone! And I've returned with a shiny new chapter to whet your appetites for a while. I feel I should address my absence first. I know I said there may be odd gaps between chapters but a month is a little ridiculous, even by my own personal standards. I do apologise as I was engrossed in preparing for my Natural Sciences interview at Cambridge University and it would have been rather complacent of me if I had spent my entire time writing fan fiction instead (though I was sorely tempted - I resisted). Incidentally, Cambridge went...ahem...er...let's just say that I hope there is some sort of cosmic balance scale out there...my first interview was rather dismal while my second was fantastic - however, it is in the laps of the Digimon Sovereigns now.

However, enough ranting (there will be more at the bottom), on with it!


Ken's POV

I slammed the front doors of the hospital open which banged off the walls and drew the attention of everyone in the foyer. I didn't care. I had gotten over denial and grief. Anger shone through like a bitch.

'How could I go through hours of not knowing? Everyone else is either here or on their way.' I stormed through mists of confused faces, many irritated as I dismissed the usual apologetic bows on carving my way through the masses. 'Did they not think I deserved to know? I'm his fucking lover! I could have been here hours ago and he surely must have needed me?' Imagining Daisuke's weak cries for me was enough to bring a sting to my eyes, but I ploughed on nonetheless. 'And of all the people who finally told me, it was my fucking mother? ARGH!'

My inward frustrated scream managed to make it to my vocal cords as I stopped. I had reached a dead end. My thought path had served only to incite a greater rage within me rather than actually fuel me to reach my goal. I was confused. I was disoriented. I was lost, perplexed and...still angry. I growled as I turned on my heel, storming past my mother whose look of sympathy and sadness I did not care about acknowledging at the time. I vaguely noted that the sign for the A&E department pointing to the right; like a lamb I followed.

My journey happened in stages, both on the way over to the hospital and through the corridors themselves. Negative emotions clouded my memories. I only vaguely remember snapshots of each journey – metaphorical scrapbooks of the worst travelling of my life. Take the rest of the journey for instance. I remember smashing through the doors of the emergency department, mother at my heels. I remember seeing Iori, grabbing him by the arm, forcing him to tell me where my Dai was. I remember Iori's face: a mixture of pity, sadness and understanding. I remember wanting to hit him, to hit someone. I remember punching the lift buttons in a blind fury. I remember feeling like the Kaiser, just with so much more depth and emotion – a Kaiser mark 2.

Then I ground to a halt at the door of the MRI room, my hand inches from the handle. This was it. He was going to be in there, so weak, so helpless...so Daisuke-less. Recollecting myself, I forced the door open. Takeru and Hikari, both wearing white lab coats, jumped at my loud entrance. They both rushed towards me, pushing me out of the room. I only got a small glimpse of Daisuke on the retracted panel of the MRI before I was pushed behind the door. At least he was still here, still earthbound.

"What the hell Ken?" Takeru said, more pitifully than forcefully, arms outstretched in a questioning pose, "The magnet could have been on! You would have been screwed!

That was it, my anger boiled over, "8 HOURS SINCE HE'S HAD THE SEIZURE AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS WHAT THE HELL! DID NO-ONE EVEN THINK TO CALL ME? All the time they tried to get words across but I wouldn't listen, I couldn't, I needed this – blissful irrationality. "I WAS IN THAT EXAM ROOM FOR THREE HOURS KILLING MYSELF OVER HOW NO-ONE CARED ABOUT ME ON MY EXAM DAY. THE GUILT I FELT IN THE CAR JOURNEY OVER HERE WAS IMMEASURABLE AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU TWO ALONG WITH JYOU ARE HIS DOCTORS AND I'M PRACTICALLY HIS NEXT OF KIN! YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER!

I said the last part with a snarl. They were no longer trying to interrupt, just looking at me with a sort of defeated come sorrowful demeanour. I looked at them both expectantly, breathing heavily.

"Well?" They still remained silent. They just stared at me, matching their breathing with my own. My train of thought stopped and sadness began to overwhelm my anger, the latter ebbing as the other flowed. Their faces were slowly softening my resolve.

"We're sorry Ken," Hikari muttered in her softest voice, "We wanted to call you, we really did."

"He's been slipping in and out of consciousness," Takeru interjected, "and we've only been able to get one thing out of him." I looked up hopefully, meeting Hikari's steadfast gaze, bolstering me for what she said next:

"Don't tell Ken."

Oh...oh my. I couldn't control it anymore. Tears gathered and fell like a waterfall, shrouding both vision and thoughts. In his hour of need, he cared more about me than about himself. He cared more about me passing a stupid little test than about his own health. It was that, the act of putting everyone else before himself that made him so wonderfully amazing. Imagine if that was taken from this world, from me. Oh God, I would rather die a thousand times than experience that grief. My hands covered my face as every bad emotion I had ever felt came at me in droves. The sadness, grief and sorrow overwhelmed me as Takeru pulled me into an embrace. I made his shoulder soggy with saline and mucous, but he didn't care, and quite frankly, neither did I.

"It's all my fault Keru," I whimpered, "I was so wrapped up in my exam I forgot about him. I forgot about my Dai. How the hell could I do that? What if I lose him? I swear I'll go with him if I do. I mean it. If he dies, I die – metaphorically and literally. I love him. I love him so much. Please save him Keru, you, Jyou and Hikari, save him please." Takeru didn't respond. In retrospect, how could he have? I ranted for what seemed like hours, nonsensical drivel about my love for Dai and how much I didn't want to lose him. All the time Takeru just rubbed my back and hugged me tighter, whispering the occasional, 'I know,' and, 'don't be silly.'

When I finally let go I looked at Takeru, wiping my streaming nose on my sleeve. His pitiful expression had changed to a sympathetic smile.

"I'm sorry," I uttered, slightly embarrassed.

"Don't be," he said empathetically, "Do you wanna come in and watch the MRI? Hikari and I will get you up to speed."

I suddenly filled with need, "YES, I want to see him."

"Ok," Takeru held out his hands, "give me anything metal you have."

Searching around I found my phone, iPod and, reluctantly, my belt. I began to pass these to Takeru but jumped when a voice startled me from behind.

"It's ok Ken dear, I'll take them." Oh God, my mother, she'd been there the whole time. Of course she had Ken you idiot, where else would she have been? I turned around sheepishly, objects outstretched, not meeting her gaze. Before she took the objects, she brushed the hair that I had never shortened in length to this day (that was how Daisuke liked it) out of my wet face and cupped my cheek. Giving a small choked cry, she swept me into her embrace as a whole new wave of sadness crashed over me. Needless to say it was a few more minutes before she let go of me, put my things in her bag and took off towards the cafe to meet Daisuke's family who were recuperating with strong coffee. I watched her walk away from me with sad eyes. She had taken a fair amount of shit from me this morning. I'd let her know I was sorry later; right now however, there was only one person I wanted to see.

"Come on Ken," said Takeru, making me jump yet again today, "let's go join Kari in the exam room." At some point, presumably during the extended hug Takeru and I had shared, Kari had gone in to the MRI room and started Daisuke up in the machine. As I entered the room an extra glass booth was set up to monitor Daisuke. Hikari was sat at the desk, eyes glued to the monitor. She had barely flinched as Takeru and I had entered. Both she and Takeru took their jobs very seriously. It was two years since Jyou had employed the two of them, creating a diagnostics team that was not only known nationally, but continentally and even across the world. A 99% success rate wasn't too shabby and if there was anyone I wanted on Dai's case, it was these three - just as long as Daisuke wasn't one of that 1%.

Sitting down next to Hikari, I could see Daisuke on the camera that was fitted to the inside of the MRI to monitor the patient. I was speechless. There was my Daisuke – so weak and helpless. Even when he slept he kept his normal exuberance and extroversion. Now he was just laying there, eyes closed. He was lost – so shell-less and vulnerable. I wanted to go and sit with him, hold his hand, hug him and tell him everything was going to be alright, even though the worst thoughts were swirling their way through my mind. However, I couldn't move. Takeru had taken over looking at the scans and Hikari was clasping my hands with as much force as she could muster, sorrow filling her eyes that were trained steadfast on my own. Nonetheless, she conjured a smile out of nowhere.

"He's going to be ok," she liberally applied these words to my mentality, "We think that it's a febrile seizure – one caused by severe fever. The lack of consciousness and delirium is doubtlessly due to the high fever mixed with the seizure." Hikari could see I was sceptical and Takeru's grimace of doubt did little to allay my fears.

"What?" I snapped at Takeru, making him jump for once this morning. He looked to Hikari sheepishly and then to me with steady resolve.

"Febrile seizures are uncommon in patients over 5 years old," Takeru explained, clearly wary of his wife's scowl and indeed my look of grave concern, "but not unlikely of course!"

"So it's most likely the fever, yes?" I asked hopefully, "He's gonna be ok?"

Hikari nodded, I sighed in relief and dropped my head into my hands, rubbing my eyes. For the first time I registered how drained I actually was. The exam had taken more out of me that I had first thought, though the ability of your lover having a seizure to be emotionally tiring should never be underestimated.

"But why my mum?" I was still perplexed about this, though not enough to bring my head up and actually address Hikari herself. I spoke through my hands, muffled, "Of all of the people to finally tell me, it's my mother?"

"Well Ken, we surmised Dai didn't want to interrupt your exam," Hikari replied timidly, fearing another lash-out, "Takeru thought the best way to let you know as soon as the exam had finished was to leave a message at your mum's house so she could go get you when it was over." I looked up and nodded timidly. "He was only thinking of what's best for you." I looked up at the monitor showing Daisuke's face – gorgeous idiot.

"As for what's causing the fever," Hikari spoke up knowledgably, bringing us back on topic, "It seems to be an extreme case of gastroenteritis brought on by food poisoning. Jyou ordered extra fluids. Do you know if he ate anything bad?"

For the first time in forever I had to fight down a laugh. "This is Daisuke we're talking about; of course he ate something bad." Neither Takeru, Hikari or I could fight the giggles that came thick and fast as we imagined Dai eating all manner of meats whether they had green fuzz on them or not. As if on cue, the machine beeped as we came down from our guffawing high – the MRI had finished. It was good to laugh again.

"Ok," I said, puzzled, "if it was just the fever, then why the MRI?"

"Just a precaution to rule out all other eventualities," replied Takeru, a smirk still playing about his lips, "we did an EEG with a flicker test as well to rule out epilepsy and according to this," he paused, scrolling down through the block of scans, "no neural abnormalities. I guess you and Jyou were right Kari – febrile seizure." Hikari smiled in response. However it was a wider smile than we were used to for Hikari being proven right. It wasn't a grin or smirk, it was a genuine smile. For a moment I was confused, though following her line of sight, I saw a gaping hole where there was once a Daisuke. He was yawning widely, obscuring all other facial features.

I grinned. He was surely gonna be ok. I looked to Takeru who gave an encouraging smile, pointing me towards the door. I leaped up from the chair as the panel of the MRI brought Daisuke towards me. Breaking through the glass door, I ran towards Daisuke's limp frame, leant down beside him and grabbed his soft hand. He smiled up at me tiredly. Everything about him was so silky, so delicate and so...non-Dai. Cocking my head, I looked down at him, matching his beautiful face with my perplexed expression as it let out another wide yawn.

Through all the beauty, through all of the tan, through all the tiredness, I could tell...he was in pain. Confusion turned to worry as he scrunched his face up in pain, grabbing his stomach. If there was one place Daisuke was serious about, it was his gut. I knew something was up. However, ever the selfless one, Dai strained a smile.

"Hey you," he forced, "how was the exam?" I laughed – bloody idiot. I could do little but reply.

"Ha, it was ok. I'm me after all, I aced it!" I held up a victory sign, doing my best to smile – I couldn't keep this up for much longer. He giggled, but soon regretted it as he doubled over. Lurching up from the 'bed,' he wrapped his arms around his midriff gingerly. For the umpteenth time that morning, guilt raged through me unadulterated. It was me doing this – all me. If I hadn't made him laugh, if I hadn't had that crappy test, if I had realised what was important, if those dickheads had told me what was going on.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my forearm. I looked into eyes that swam with nothing but sadness and pain. There I was again – selfish bastard – thinking about me. Ironically, by thinking that, I was still doing it. However, digression aside, it didn't take me long to register what happened next.

Daisuke retched over the side of the MRI panel; an almost sarcastic, gentle slapping sound told me that his oesophagus had been successful in dispelling the contents of his stomach. I didn't care however. That may be surprising, but considering I had just removed my hand from Daisuke's hospital robes sporting a maroon gloop on my hand, vomit was the least of my worries. Also, since my strong, vigilant, brave boyfriend was doubled over in pain on the gurney, I was very unconcerned about a little puke.

"Oh God," Hikari stammered, "call a nurse Keru!" It was only vomit Hikari! What's with the pain and the strange goop? Takeru complied nonetheless. What was going on? I thought everything was fine? My tough-ass partner was now grunting readily in pain – fuck me, what did I do to deserve this? He was clutching his torso like there was no tomorrow, practically crying out in pain. He's even forgotten that I was there. Now, not to be arrogant, but that took a fair amount of distraction on Daisuke's part. He always did his best to remember me, the past few hours proved that.

I grabbed on to Daisuke's arm helplessly, trying to force him back onto the bedding. He wouldn't comply. He was a stubborn arse at the best of times. Tears welled at the corners of my eyes as my fruitless attempts to lay him flat went unsuccessful. All of the time one thought was circling my brain, taking the occasional nip at my emotions – What if Jyou is wrong?

"Please Dai," I begged, tearfully, "Stop it please, I need you. Don't do this to me. Fight it, like you told me to – like I did all of those years ago with the spore. Do this for me. I can't go on without you. I need you boy, I need you. I love you."

I looked up at Hikari, pleading. Tears were readily flowing down her face. Not many others would understand. It was just tummy pain. But Dai was so strong, so stubborn, his pain threshold so unbelievably high. He would never let anyone see him like this willingly. The fact that the pain overrode his self control was something none of us had ever seen and I was scared, more scared than I had ever been – big strong Dai had been defeated. My rock had crumbled and my world was on the verge of following suit.

Wait, the issue at hand, what had it been? Oh yes! The vomit and the goop.

I looked up at Hikari – she was tearfully examining the vomit that had desecrated the pristine floor. What was with that? He had food poisoning, of course he was gonna vomit. I tore my eyes away from my love's pained face to seek the object of the female doctor's attention.

My eyes widened in shock. That was no ordinary vomit, it was brown. What the hell was that please? Brown vomit? I looked up at Hikari expectantly. However her eyes were also widened in shock at the goop that covered my outstretched hand. She reacted, reaching out a concurrent hand that pulled back the covers on Dai.

Daisuke, incidentally, retained enough self control to be embarrassed about what he saw he had done under the covers. Crimson-brown liquid covered the sheets. Diarrhoea was embarrassing, unconscious diarrhoea was just unfortunate. Combine that unconscious diarrhoea with blood (what can only be described as full-blown dysentery), bloody vomit and abdominal pain however and we gain something rather worrying.

My anxiety reached new levels that night as events continued to unfold in a snapshot fashion. Takeru burst into the room followed by a bunch of nurses with a stretcher. Daisuke was on the stretcher. Daisuke cried out in pain. Fresh tears fell from my eyes. A new drip was added to Daisuke's arm. Daisuke was wheeled away from me. I was bathed in grief, and for the first time in a long time, I felt alone...

...so very alone.


Ch 3 done and dusted. Don't forget there will be prizes for guessing the [overall] illness correctly. As for the prize, I will likely send you varying levels of good ju-ju over the internet that are proportional to your correctness - nothing physical of course like alcohol or chocolates (incidentally, most of this was done with a glass of red wine in my hand, I feel more comfortable that way - I swear I'm a middle aged man at heart) but I may, and I stress may, write a fic, for the person who gets the closest, theme obviously of that person's choosing.

If you're nice, R&R and I will get back to you with another chapter and hopefully a few things that are brand-spankingly new...personally, I feel a Jenkato coming on.

S-S