Version 2.0 (May 15, 2007): Yeah... Here it is.

Disclaimer: Sugah, I don't own Digimon, so why don't y'all just give a gal some space?

Old Demons

Chapter 5: Here We Go Again

The game of life is the game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds, and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.
-Florence Shinn

Beowulfmon stood on an empty plain, sword drawn and waiting to be used. Both hands tightened, waiting for an enemy, a friend, someone. The air hung unnaturally still around him, thick with predawn mist. Turning slowly, the Warrior scanned his surroundings, ears pricking anxiously for any noise.

A terror-filled scream broke the silence, and Kouji, finding himself devolved, spun around to find the source. The mist dispersed before him, creating a tunnel of sorts to another being, who was suspended in the air.

'Kouichi!' Kouji cried, staggering forward. Beowulfmon's sword weighed him down, but in his current state, he didn't dare abandon it. While his right side was so burdened, his left hand was straining forward. Facing Kouichi, Kouji reluctantly lifted his D-Tector to scan his twin's corrupt Spirits.

Fractal Code appeared around the Warrior of Darkness, whose scream seemed to be contained in a small area around him, only dully reaching Kouji's ears. But wait… Kouji faltered, trying to focus on his brother, whose form wavered in and out of sight. Where are his Spirits?

A low laugh reverberated around him, growing alternatively louder and quieter as if carried on a faltering wind. Kouji turned, but, instinctively knowing he had been deceived, continued until he had completed a full circle.

The wind picked up, whipping cold rain into Kouji's face as he searched the trees for his brother. The change of scenery registered, he supposed, in that he knew it was different. While that was true, though, he didn't react; the urgency was too great. He had to find Kouichi before – before something happened. He knew what would happen, he was sure of it, but he couldn't put the knowledge into words.

'Looking for this?'

Even before Kouji turned, he could sense the environment changing once more. He now stood in a corridor built of emerald bricks, which stretched farther than he could see in either direction, unbroken by any doors or side passages. Lacking any form of illumination, it was lost to gloom, though far later than Kouji would have expected. It took three revolutions before he saw anyone, then suddenly they were there: the other Warriors.

'Whatcha lookin' for, buddy?' Takuya asked.

'Kouichi,' Kouji answered warily, glancing between the gogglehead and the other three children.

Zoe frowned. 'Who?'

'Who!?' the black-haired boy cried. 'Kouichi! My twin brother! Your friend!'

Tommy and JP exchanged a confused glance. 'What's with you today, Kouki?' JP asked.

'Kouki?' Kouji scowled. 'What's going on here?'

'We were walking,' Tommy explained.

Keeping his mouth closed for a long moment, Kouji glanced among his friends (if they were, in fact, his friends) and down the corridor both directions. 'Walking,' he stated, voice saturated with impatience.

'Yep,' Takuya beamed. 'That's right, buddy! Walking.'

'Where?' Tommy and Takuya pointed one way, while Zoe and JP pointed the other, though none of them bothered to look the direction they were indicating. They merely grinned at Kouji, whose brow furrowed. 'What's that way?'

Takuya laced his hands behind his head. 'Nothing.'

Tommy cocked his head to the side. 'Everything.'

Snorting, JP rolled his eyes at the other boys. 'Questions.'

But Zoe, locking eyes with Kouji, grabbed his hand in hers and stepped forward. 'Truth.'

-(--)-

Kouji woke slowly, pushing long, problematic strands of his black hair out of his face as he struggled to make sense out of his dream. It didn't take a genius to figure out why he had dreamt of searching for Kouichi, but the last part had him stupefied. Never in his life had Kouji been one to believe in a greater significance in dreams, but even he had to wonder. Why were they walking, apparently for no reason? And what was with "Kouki"?

Shrugging off the answerless questions, Kouji shuffled to the bathroom to prepare for a tortuous day of school. In a daze, he brushed his hair and teeth before returning to his room to change. Even before he walked to the stairs, he could hear his parents in the kitchen. He trudged down the stairs, running through a mental checklist of things he couldn't forget to take to school, putting off facing his parents.

"Kouji?" Satomi asked hesitantly.

The boy cringed unwillingly, turning at length to face his step-mother, who stood on the far side of the table, hands clasped at her waist. Kousei stood behind her, a hand on either shoulder to comfort her. Both stared at Kouji with tired eyes.

It all seemed so empty. Even though nothing was different about this day so far, a deep loss hung over the family.

Kouji firmed his chin to hold in tears that suddenly threatened. "Yeah?" As soon as the reply was out, the Warrior of Light felt his composure slip away. He turned away, embarrassed.

Slender arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling his body close. Satomi bowed her head, and a few tears dripped onto his forehead. Choking back his own tears, Kouji returned the embrace with a feverish yearning he didn't know he was capable of. Kousei, too, joined the embraced. As the threesome mourned together, they could almost sense each other's thoughts – thoughts almost exclusively of Kouichi.

"It'll be alright," Satomi whispered, as much to calm herself as to reassure her step-son. "We'll find him."

Kousei, the first to back away, nodded firmly. "We won't stop looking until we do."

When Kouji stepped back, he got his first good look at his father. Though he knew everyone in the Minamoto-Kimura family was distraught over Kouichi's disappearance, the extent of Kousei's exhaustion – the dark circles under his eyes, the suddenly pronounced worry lines around his weary eyes and down-turned mouth – took Kouji by surprise.

Kousei smiled painfully. "Kouichi's still my son, Kouji. There's nothing I wouldn't do to make sure he's safe."

Dumbfounded, Kouji stared at his father as Satomi turned and walked to the refrigerator. From the slight tremble in her hands and the quick, preoccupied movement, both father and son knew she was just trying to control her nerves.

"I can't imagine how his mother must feel," she murmured. "I'd be devastated, and she doesn't even have someone to comfort her!" She looked at Kouji. "You should go over there tonight. She needs some company."

Kouji nodded, silently amused at her almost sisterly concern for Tomoko. On some strange, sad level, it reminded Kouji of his own relationship with his twin. I wonder what they would be like as digidestined, he mused, sitting down for breakfast. He quickly abandoned the thought, determined to make it through the day so he and the others could get back to the Digital World. As much as he felt he should visit Tomoko, he knew he needed to find Kouichi first. Better to return her missing son to her than to put off finding him to offer shallow comfort.

Only at the door, where he would have normally met his twin to walk to school, did he allow himself a moment of silent sorrow. Then he was outside, walking, head down, shoulders hunched, through the well-to-do neighborhood.

-(--)-

First period: science. After a brief stop at his locker, Kouji slipped into the classroom and glanced at the teacher. He and Takuya never had finished their homework the night before. Kouji shook his head. If he was going to get an extension, he had to ask soon; there were only a few minutes left before class started. Sensing the teacher's eyes on him, Kouji set his bag down and faced the man.

"Kouji," the teacher acknowledged.

"Mr. Asami." Kouji looked toward the door nervously. "Takuya and I don't have our homework done."

Mr. Asami nodded several times, studying the boy's face. "Because of your brother." Kouji began to whip his head around, but stopped quickly, struggling to maintain his composure. Mr. Asami sighed. "I watched the news, Kouji, and all I can say is I'm sorry. You and Takuya can have all the extra time you need."

"We'll only need one night," the Warrior of Light snapped before he could stop himself. "…But thanks anyway."

At that moment, as Mr. Asami opened his mouth to reply, a trio of students walked through the door, encircling a desk while talking in soft tones. Kouji took that as his cue to end the conversation and retreated to his own seat. He sat down, grabbing a pencil to tap furiously on the desktop. The room slowly filled with students, who clustered in small groups or scrambled to finish their homework. At the last minute, Takuya rushed in, earning a glare from the teacher.

"We didn't finish yesterday!" Takuya whispered as he took his seat next to Kouji.

"Relax," Kouji interrupted. "I already talked to Asami. We can turn it in tomorrow. Hey…something happened last night. I –"

"Pass in your homework and put your books and papers away for a quiz," Mr. Asami announced. Takuya groaned loud enough that he didn't hear Kouji do the same.

"Never mind," Kouji whispered. "Just meet me in the courtyard at lunch." Takuya gave him a strange look, no doubt wondering why he wanted to meet in the courtyard rather than their normal table in the lunchroom. Unfortunately, Mr. Asami came by at that moment with the quizzes, and Takuya had to bury his curiosity for the time being.

-(--)-

The next few classes crawled by, though by the end of second period Kouji had managed to salvage his focus and even finished his homework. After all, there was no sense in compounding the homework he already had to make up. Threading through the hall between classes, he ran through the rest of his classes. Nothing major was happening in any of them, so if he was lucky he could get off without any more homework.

Then he stepped through the door to his third period class. Several seats were still empty, but one in particular caught Kouji's eye: the second one in the third row. Kouichi's seat. Kouichi's second period was just down the hall from this room, while Kouji's was halfway across the school, so Kouichi always beat his twin here. Somehow, seeing it empty stopped Kouji mid-step, causing the girl behind him to huff and shoulder her way past as he stood in the doorway and stared at an empty chair.

Needless to say, third period did not go well.

But he managed to make it through the class and hesitantly asked his P.E. teacher for permission to sit out. If there was anything good about Kouichi's disappearance making city-wide news, it was that all the teachers were more than willing to go easy on Kouji. Normally he wouldn't have accepted their pity, but with a digivice resting in his pocket, he would rather conserve his energy than waste it running around for an hour.

In the gym, he lounged against the wall, idly watching the other seventh grade boys. They were playing soccer again, but for once Takuya wasn't obliterating his opponents. He kept sending Kouji prolonged glances, often only returning his attention to the game when a teammate shouted a warning. In fact, he didn't score a single goal the whole hour.

Takuya changed as fast as he could and shoved his way through the stream of boys still entering the locker room the instant he was finished. Kouji stood out of the way, scanning the hallway and adjusting his backpack.

"Hey." Takuya hurried over, frowning at his best friend's preoccupied mood. "So, wait, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

Before the question was even finished, Kouji plunged into the crowd and strode towards the lunchroom. Takuya hurried after him, throwing out a hand to catch the black-haired boy's shoulder. "Kouji!" he laughed, coming up alongside the other boy.

Shrugging off the hand, Kouji turned his head. "What?"

"I asked you a question back there, buddy! Didn't you hear me?"

"Yeah."

Takuya's grin faded, and he slowed a bit. "And?"

"And what?" Kouji, too, slowed, but he came to a complete stop and glanced back at Takuya, who looked thoroughly perplexed.

"And…what were you going to tell me in science?"

Kouji snorted, stalking over to a pair of doors. Bright sunlight shone through the glass. "I already told you."

Finally getting fed up with Kouji's behavior, Takuya stormed after him, grabbing Kouji's elbow as he reached to open the door. The Warrior of Light sent his friend a withering glare, but Takuya didn't relent. "What do you mean you already told me?!" he hissed. "You just told me to meet you at lunch!"

"Exactly, Takuya," Kouji snapped, wrenching free. "I told you to meet me in the courtyard. So go get the others and meet me back here. Then I'll tell you."

Takuya gave in, standing back as Kouji threw open the doors, but came forward as the twin stepped through. "Kouji?"

"What?" he growled.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?"

"I'm not hungry."

"You sure?" At Kouji's impatient frown, Takuya gave up. It was obvious he wouldn't be getting any answers until everyone was in the courtyard. Subdued, he joined the lunch line, scanning half-heartedly for Zoe and JP until he reached the cashier. As an afterthought, he added an apple to his tray, then paid and resumed his scanning of the cafeteria. Several moments later, he spotted Zoe at their normal table, JP only a few feet away.

"There you are Takuya!" Zoe cried as he approached.

Setting his tray down, JP grinned at the gogglehead. "Hey, Takky! You seen Kouji?"

Takuya nodded, smothering a grimace at the nickname. "He wants us to meet him in the courtyard."

"The courtyard?" Zoe frowned. "Why there?"

"Some secret he won't tell until we get there," Takuya replied.

Zoe and JP exchanged a glance, and as she stood up, she asked, "Think it has anything to do with Kouichi?"

Snorting, Takuya led the others out of the cafeteria. "Well, considering I haven't ever seen him get so worked up about anything else, I'd say yeah."

They found Kouji leaning against the trunk of the only tree, staring up at the sky. Frowning worriedly, the threesome took a seat at the picnic table and glanced over at their friend. He gave no indication that he had noticed their arrival, and had yet to make a move.

"Hey!" Takuya called to break the silence, tossing his friend the apple. Kouji caught it without looking down.

Takuya raised his eyebrows at Zoe, who glanced to JP for an answer. He shook his head quickly, gesturing to Takuya. Sighing, Takuya picked at his food, figuring it would give him something to do until Kouji snapped back to reality. The others followed his example. After a few bites, Kouji joined them, twirling the apple before he bit into it. Once he was finished, he set the core down on the table and reached into his pocket.

Takuya was the first to see a flash of white and dark blue and promptly choked on his chicken wing. Beside him, JP jumped, quickly pounding him on the back.

"JP, stop!" Zoe cried once the situation registered. "That's not helping!"

Takuya coughed, eventually catching his breath. He gaped at Kouji. "Where…How…What the heck is going on here?" Looking over at the Warrior of Light in confusion, Zoe and JP caught sight of his D-Tector.

"I went to the Shibuya Station last night," Kouji said nonchalantly. "I was walking up the stairs when my cell phone turned into this."

"Really?" Zoe asked.

"It was on the landing where Kouichi fell last year."

"Really?!" she hissed, surprise escalating into alarm.

"I don't like this," said Takuya, voicing her concern.

"Yeah," JP agreed. "It's a little too convenient that you got your D-Tector back on the same day Kouichi disappeared, and in the same place he first went to the Digital World."

Kouji chuckled quietly. "Don't I know it."

Zoe looked around at the three boys, brow furrowed. "I say we get Tommy after school and go back there. Y'know, see what happens."

Kouji nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

-(--)-

Feet pounded on the pavement, half a dozen elementary school students chasing down a soccer ball as it skittered toward the fence. One particular brown-haired boy charged ahead of the others, positioning himself behind the ball and kicking it back down the field. Pausing for a moment, he cheered when a teammate, a girl with two orange pigtails, scored a goal.

"Nice kick, Tommy!" one girl called, wiping sweat off her forehead.

The boy returned her smile, jogging back to the center of the field. "Nice one yourself, Sayaka!" They exchanged a high-five before turning back to the game.

Across the street, four slightly older children shifted uncertainly in the shadow of a large oak tree. Kouji and Takuya stood on the curb, watching Tommy but hesitant to do anything. Meanwhile, Zoe and JP carried on a quiet conversation closer to the tree trunk.

"Are we going to do something, or are we just going to stand here all day?" JP whispered.

Zoe shrugged. "Beats me. I would've thought Kouji would've charged over there ten minutes ago."

"Yeah. I wonder why he hasn't yet."

Shrugging again, Zoe turned her attention to the crowd of kids across the street. "I guess it would be kinda hard to explain why Tommy has to leave without letting too much slip. Still…"

"He looks so happy," Takuya muttered, drawing the pair's attention. "Man, I wish I could forget all this so easily!"

Kouji crossed his arms. "Maybe we should just go without him."

"What?!" Takuya cried. "Look, I know you and Tommy aren't the best of friends, but he has as much right to look for Kouichi as any of the rest of us! And how would you feel if we went back to the Digital World without telling you?"

Fuming, Kouji wheeled on Takuya. "Don't you ever accuse me of not liking Tommy again, Takuya!" he hissed.

"Well, hey! I'm not the one who wants to exclude him!"

"Don't you get it, Takuya? I'm not excluding him; I'm trying to spare him! I don't want to be the one who has to bring him back to reality for something that probably will end up being a huge waste of time!"

Zoe quickly stepped in between the boys, a hand up to keep either from throwing a punch. "Guys, settle down! Look, Kouji, I know how you feel! I wish Tommy didn't have to deal with this either, but Takuya's right! He has every right to know what's going on."

"Besides," JP said as gently as he could. "He's a Legendary Warrior just like the rest of us. We all face things kids our age shouldn't have to face, whether it's fair or not."

Takuya nodded. "The important thing is that we face those things together."

Kouji turned away from them to watch Tommy again. "I know," he murmured finally. "That's why we have to find Kouichi soon."

A melancholy silence settled over the group, and they all stared at their feet, wondering when things had gotten so depressing. After a moment, Takuya shook his head and straightened up. "Right, so what are we waiting for? Let's get Tommy and go!"

Tommy caught sight of his friends as they crossed the street and quickly bid his classmates goodbye. Hurrying over to the older kids, the Warrior of Ice frown at their grim expressions.

"Hey guys…" he started, slowing warily as he approached. "What's wrong?"

Takuya, JP, and Zoe glanced at Kouji, who didn't acknowledge them as he reached into his pocket. Avoiding Tommy's confused gaze, Kouji pulled his D-Tector out of his pocket. For several seconds, all Tommy could do was stare, but, regaining his composure, he grinned.

"You mean…sweet! Let's go!" The others sweatdropped at his eagerness, but shook it off as he frowned. "Oh, wait…I have to go home first. Mom's really overprotective today."

"Let's all stop at home," Zoe suggested, "tell our parents we're going to look for Kouichi. It isn't exactly a lie."

"And get some food while we're at it," JP said, drooling.

"Yeah," Takuya laughed. "Batteries and rabbit food get old really quick. Of course, those meat apples weren't half bad."

"Just as long as you two don't end up cooking anything." Zoe glanced at Takuya, who flushed red, and Kouji, who merely rolled his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Takuya demanded.

"That your cooking stinks!" Zoe retorted. "In more ways than one."

"Would you be quiet!?" Kouji interrupted moodily. "Meet me at the train station as soon as you can."

-(--)-

Kouji was, not surprisingly, the first one there. To any passersby, he would have appeared to be just a normal boy waiting for someone. Even if they had known him, nothing would have seemed out of place: the familiar blue bandana was tied securely around his head, and a light jacket, not an unusual sight this time of year, had been thrown on over his tee-shirt. A knapsack was slung over one shoulder, held in a white-knuckle grip as his foot tapped impatiently.

One by one the others arrived, each with a jacket and a bag. As was the case with Kouji, nothing about their attire was out of place. In fact, they looked almost the same as a year earlier – from Takuya's trademark goggles to Zoe's lavender hat – despite different outfits, the most notable of which was Zoe's insistence on wearing pants. Tommy was the last to arrive, and the large orange hat (now a rare sight) raised a chuckle from Takuya.

"Hey Tommy! I thought you got rid of that thing a long time ago."

Tommy blushed. "I found it in my closet. I figured it'd be nice to have something familiar along."

"Yeah," Zoe said, adjusting her own hat. "I figured the same thing." Tommy smiled shyly at her.

Kouji sighed in irritation. "Can we get going already?"

With several rolled eyes and more than one silent retort, they bought their tickets and settled into the train. An anxious silence settled. Tommy, foot tapping rapidly, was hunched over in a seat next to Zoe, who sat on one foot and stared absently out the window. JP was across from them, and, feeling inexplicably annoyed, he glared at a small group of high school girls who were giggling on the other side of the car.

Takuya and Kouji stood nearby, holding onto the rails. Takuya stared at Kouji, slightly concerned, while Kouji forced himself not to react. Obviously tense, the black-haired boy jerked every time the train shifted. With his left hand shoved into the pocket that held his D-Tector, he held on tightly with only his right hand.

The few minutes it took to get to the Shibuya station ticked by. When they arrived, they filed off, all feeling a mix of excitement and apprehension that forestalled conversation. No one took notice of them as they entered the otherwise empty elevator.

Kouji reached for the elevator buttons, but several things happening at once stopped him. The lights in the elevator blinked off as it lurched down the shaft. Kouji's D-Tector let out a blinding flash of light. Four cell phones rang.

The five Digidestined threw their arms out, flailing to regain their balance as the elevator screamed down the shaft. Even though they had experienced the same thing a year earlier, the sounds of rattling cables and whistling wind unnerved them. Shaking, Kouji's hand flew to his pocket to pull out his D-Tector. A familiar symbol filled the screen.

"Ophanimon." The other four tore their eyes away from the floor indicator by the elevator doors and stared at Kouji, wide-eyed. They all reached for their ringing phones simultaneously.

"It is time."

Four streams of light erupted from Kouji's while-and-blue device, shooting into the phones, which responded by glowing various colors. Seconds later, the lights faded, leaving a black-and-red, blue-and-yellow, white-and-green, and two-tone-purple D-Tectors in their hands. Each one had Ophanimon's symbol on the screen, which promptly faded.

The elevator crashed to a halt while they were still distracted, sending them all sprawling on the floor. One by one they stood up, stumbling through the open doors.

There was one Trailmon.

"Mole!" Zoe squealed, sprinting forward.

"Well if it isn't the digidestined!" the digimon mumbled with a hint of pleasure, blushing as the girl wrapped her arms around him.

"So this is it," Tommy muttered as the others surged forward, sans Kouji, who remained silently by the elevator.

JP heard and stopped, glancing at him. "This is what?"

"We're really going back," he said, looking up at four faces turned toward him in concern. "Another crazy adventure."

"Yeah." Takuya raised his D-Tector as if seeing it for the first time. "I guess so."

-Child of Healing

Word count: 4133