Finally. This took a while to finally get out; about a month. Seriously, I've gotta get some kind of brain-storming done or something for the next one. I hope you enjoy reading anyway! :) (and yet again, the poem Moroamon quotes wasn't written by me)


Chapter 2~

I barely had an idea of how long I'd been racing across the water—which took a lot of practice to be able to get right let me tell you—but I was starting to grow exhausted from all of it, and that's how I could tell I'd been at it for a while now. I knew that I had enough willpower to be able to keep on going until I got to Japan, but certain parts of me—including my feet, which, despite the soft, cool water—were beginning to second guess such a thought.

I'd never been as joyful as I was then to see land, and only a few miles away at that. Ignoring the nagging want inside me to stop and rest—that wouldn't exactly work too well anyways—I kept running, inhaling the salty ocean air; I'd really never gotten to see the ocean like this before. Most times Master would command me to take the human transportation in order to possibly find another DigiDestined I may've overlooked. Sometimes I'd ignore him and just run, but that never went over very well; I was still tender from the last time that had ended badly.

I shuddered; that had been the worst out of all the 'discipline' I'd ever had to take. I may've been too injured to really remember it much, but I knew for a fact that it had gone on. I didn't get wounds and bruises from a DigiDestined child or just any ordinary Digimon. And besides that, Devimon had seemed to be more pleased with me than he usually was that next morning. That was a big red flag that he had done something that may make me want to leave the Digital World without a command from him. But I knew better; that would only gain more punishments.

Devimon's punishments always made me wonder about the human children and their parents. How did the humans go about teaching their children lessons on how to do certain things and what isn't acceptable to the household? Were they struck time and time again, hit by evil's touch whenever running just didn't come to mind? I'd never seen it before, but then again, most times I never really looked into a window that wasn't owned by a DigiDestined child.

I hit land soon enough, and stopped to look around at what I knew had once been my home. Or, at least I could only figure; there really wasn't that much to go by to learn if that was actually true or not. But it was nice to have the feeling of coming home to something you actually wanted to. The Digital World was no home to me; it never had been, and not matter how long Devimon forced me to be there or act like it was, it never would suffice.

But me wanting more wasn't exactly abnormal nowadays; Devimon and the data used to be enough to satisfy my spirit, but it just didn't seem to be enough for my being anymore. I couldn't help but wonder to myself now if it had really ever been enough, but I'd just been too blinded by my rage and thoughts of revenge that I still plotted about even now to realize that I'd been becoming sentimentally and physically suffocated by Devimon and his commands, his expectations, and his idea of perfection. I knew, without needed to have thought for a second about it first, that our thoughts on perfection and rightful justice were completely different, but never did I bring such a discussion up with him. It was begging to a backhand across the face, or worse.

I shuddered involuntarily; it's not that something wrong with you…even though, truth beheld, there is a lot that shouldn't be but is about you…He has never seen the sun for real. Just a reflection of its beauty, just a wink of an eye, but never the love he is needing so hard. The pain, the anger, they all fill space in his mind. But empty the heart bit by bit. Every day he hopes and prays, every day the gap gets bigger. Every day more lonely, every day more hidden. Every day a piece of him died, until his heart was empty and his head fully loaded. That was the day he could die no more…And yet he keeps on living…But you mustn't damn him for something you are just as guilty for. I can't make myself become a hypocrite by condemning someone who is just like, or somehow better, than myself, but has done the exact same crimes over and over again just like I have.

I knew that I had to accept that this was just going to be my fate: Going around the world wherever Master commanded me to go, killing and stealing the data of innocent DigiDestined that didn't even deserve to die like that, to take such a painful and undeserved blow to the heart that didn't even kill them instantly to prevent the pain. I knew. I'd tried to find a way to make it fast, filled with effort so I couldn't do it very often, and as painless as I could possibly make it. But all of those things that I'd strived to work towards accomplishing just seemed to backfire the more I tried it. It was always…Slow. Easy. Agonizing.

As I walked through deserted streets, I glanced with uninterested-ness at the ground, thinking that I'd seen something that somehow struck my memory. But it was nothing; I'd just been smacked in the face by a torn up trench coat that someone had to have either lost quite a while ago, or had thrown out. It was a very pale brown, almost like that of the seal Digimon that one girl had been the master over. What had her name even been…I knew I remembered it…It…it had been…Suzie.

I didn't believe that I knew someone named Suzie in my past life, had I ever truly had one to begin with. But I had to hope that I could go back to being something, and a life as a mortal human would be better than being an immortal, destined-to-be-lonely-forever Digimon like I was becoming. I hoped that I hadn't been pen-pals or something with that little girl; if I had been in that life…I hoped she would forgive me when she was in her own afterlife. Be thankful that you were not destined as the devil Moroamon. At least you do not have to stoop to the lowest point of inhumanity to be able to steal the very souls of humans and Digimon, sentencing them to the fate of hell's gates. That is Master's level.

Suddenly I realized something: This coat was even better than running to the shadows for a solace. This way I could go outside in the daylight without having to worry about knowing where a place to hide was—sure, I'd still need to be aware of said haven, but I wouldn't need to be constantly eyeing it. I ran the tips of my fingers over it, making sure to be careful that my claws didn't snip anymore holes or tears in it than there already were, thinking to myself that maybe it was possible that I would be able to shroud my face from the eyes of others with, or…maybe sow on some kind of a hood or something.

Glancing around with suspicion again, I slipped the height-length-of-a-freakin'-giant coat over my arms and wrapped it around me tight enough to hug my cold frame, but not enough to show the bulge that my tail made. Suddenly I was glad it was far too long to fit me properly; there was enough length left for me to be able to swing it over to cover my head—there were no humans to be seen so far, but that could change in an instant (I learned quickly).

I pulled the fabric up, tucking my ears into the barely warm but still satisfying my frozen-sensing body that just never seemed to feel warm anymore, even in pain I didn't feel it. Friction was like ice; snow like room-temperature ice. But some kind of heat was better than none, even though this felt no more than none itself, yet I felt something…different.

Not heat, no warmth to my skin. But…it was…it was like…I knew how this jacket felt before I'd even let its strings, frayed and torn as they were, touch my skin. I was no ESP fanatic whatever one may think; Master hadn't made me with such a power. For whatever reason, wherever I went…it would always rain. And when it did, it just seemed to storm forever…That is, until I left said place.

As if to prove that to myself, the clouds began to darken all around my view of the sky, and the cold-hearted rain began to pumble me on all sides again. Just like always. You'd think I'd be used to this by now, but it feels so different every time…I just don't get it. Rain is just like humans. But I didn't know about the coat; I didn't think I'd ever seen it before, but maybe I'd seen a human who worn it before. Who was there to know for sure?

I shrugged off the feeling and pulled the coat snuggly around me before tying it in place with the band, and heading off in a forward direction. The rain made it hard to figure out if I was really going in a generally straight path, but there really weren't that many cars that had a possible chance of hitting me, and even if one did, I would probably be able to do more damage to it than it ever really would be able to do to me in the final outcomes.

I knew I couldn't be in Odaiba if I'd just come from the great pond itself just a few minutes ago at the most—that, and I saw a sign that made me fully aware I was nowhere near where I needed to be. So, letting out an exaggerated and slightly tired sigh (Interesting. I hadn't felt the sensation of being actually in want of rest in a very long while.), I continued on following signs, until finally I convinced myself that I didn't know a rat's hat from a subway in Japan anymore, and forced myself to go and ask a human for directions. Something I'd never exactly done before.

In the end, I could find no one except for a homeless man hiding from the wetness of the rain in the 'shelter' of a cardboard box, though it was already beginning to leak through his bombarded 'roof' and not make much of a difference to whether he was directly in the rain or trying to get away from it. His lightly unshaven face was almost a pale, icy blue—like a paler shade of his chin-length hair—with the growing feelings of a frozen cold, and the fabric of his coat, shirt and ripped jeans were soaked through to the skin, maybe even going on through to the bone, and did nothing but freeze him to death even more. He didn't look like someone who was really homeless; maybe he'd just gotten mugged. But either way, I'd have to assume he must be homeless. But with those glasses…it was hard to tell.

When I approached him, he didn't even open his eyes to look at me, nor did he turn his head to even try to seem like he noticed I was there in the first place. But I hadn't come here to be acknowledged; I only had come for something I needed to find the DigiDestined I'd been searching my whole Digital life for. The longer I looked at the empty shell of the human that this was my mind began to contemplate bringing him to someone who might be able to help him. But my thoughts could hatch on their own for now.

I bent down next to the open side of the box, the side the man was most visible from, and making sure that no part of my body or face that would make his blood run cold with fear was visible, I addressed him, quiet at first, feeling frightened at the thought of what Master might think of me inquiring for a human's aid in my own mission-concerning affairs, "Sir," I reached out with a hand, being sure to first hide my fingers, claws, and palm in the longs sleeves of the coat, and gently shook his drenched shoulder. "Wake up; I must speak with you."

My whole hand was shiny with the dew and rain that was on the man's clothes; I hadn't known that such a thing could become so drowned in something I conjured by my presence. Despite my efforts to still try and awaken the man with another few shakes of his arms and calling out to him with a hushed, serene tone to my voice as not to frighten him, he did not wake up. He was not dead, I knew that for a fact: I could still see his chest moving up and down as he breathed, though it was a barely noticeable movement, and I'd already wondered if he was one of the passed, and had checked his pulse. Faint, but still thriving.

Letting out a sigh that would've told anyone listening that I was getting tired of having to keep on compromising and changing my plan for the day and the operation, I consented to my mind's contemplating. Untying the trench coat's waist band, I pulled the surprisingly light-weight man into my arms, and wrapped him up in the coat as best I could to keep him out of the rain. Standing back up, I turned from the continuing alleyway and started back out of it in no real idea of what I was going to do with this man.

I knew there had to be hundreds of people without homes in this place, there were those kind of people everywhere you looked in New York (that was the very last place I'd been when in search of DigiDestined kids; there are many of them in that general area I'd come to be aware). Why did I feel such a strange, unusual compassion on this one out of all the others that there were to choose from? And why did he look so…familiar to me? I hadn't been here in search of data in so long…how could I remember a face for that long of a section of time?

However, I just shook my head a bit and tried to forget about that; the real problem I had right now was what to do with him now that I'd actually picked him up. It just felt wrong to think about setting him back down in the melting cardboard box now, and I just didn't like the way the thought settled and froze like a cup of water in a freezer over my soulless heart. I had to find someplace that was at least a little more than halfway decent to place him, at least until he woke up.

With that buzzing around like an angry hornets' nest inside my brain, I wandered aimlessly throughout the streets of whatever city this was. I only knew I was supposed to be in Odaiba right now, but wasn't because I'd taken a pitiful, heartfelt emotion and let it loose upon some human that would've frozen to death out here in the downpour. I could hear Master's voice droning inside my head even now: Put the human back where you found it, and get to Odaiba after those children. I thought that was all you'd wanted all along? At least take the man's life and data to make up for the time you've lost already.

But I'd started this act of charity to a human, something I knew may never happen again, and I persuaded my whole being to continue on with it even if it brought both of us to the next city and onwards until I found a place for the man to be that was safe from the cold I would bring each place's atmosphere. And if we ended up in Odaiba by the time I found someplace for this man to be able to stay until he was well enough to go about his own affairs without much difficulty, it would just be like a bonus to this deed.

So far however, no such luck had shown itself to be easily sought and captured. I knew—and had counted—that I'd walked up and down the same ten and three quarter streets at least twenty times each (don't ask why, I just thought I must've missed something if I'd found nothing over this much time). But even after all of that, there was still nothing—except, that is, for the fact that I found the subway station. Apparently it only took me a couple hours of walking around with a stranger in my grasp while in a heavily pouring rainstorm. Who knew?

I looked around me once more; still no place that was suitable for a person such as this to be located while resting up his strength. I suppose that meant he was stuck with me for the trip to Odaiba. Hear that Mr. Whoever-You-May-Or-May-Not-Be? You're going to be going on a train ride with a murderous Digimon hybrid to a city you may never had been to so she can kill a few very special kids. And if you're lucky, you'll get away with your life. Now doesn't that sound wonderful?

Keeping the human tight up against me—and now that we were no longer in the rain, I was holding him saddle-style—and hoping that no other humans would notice the completely brown-fabric covered 'person' carrying another and think it strange enough to go and investigate. That was one predicamid, another ten thousand would be the fact that I had no money to buy any tickets with; but that could be solved with a bit of quiet slinking around the officials and others of the sparse crowds. If I was incredibly careful and diligent with certain choices that needed to be made, I knew there was a very good chance I could sneak both of us onto the train I needed to be on without so much as an eyelash batted in our direction.

Staying as silent as un-humanly possible, I crept amongst the sparse people of the station's platform, and without even a glance at or from the guards and officers all around the trains and their little stationary little spaces, I walked just like any normal humanoid would through the opening slide doors, and into the first train car I locked my eyes on. No one stopped me. No one even looked at me with a curiosity-inspired stare. It was as if everyone knew I was supposed to do something in Odaiba that they couldn't keep me from. So they didn't even try. I'll give it to them: That was an excellent decision if they wished to remain alive here. But then again, I wish someone would've challenged me, so that maybe they could've brought my damned soul with them, place it where it must've always belonged so I harm no others.

Well, I guess that will have to be for another day. Because no one's coming to take you down to the abyss of sulfur today apparently. Suddenly I remembered the man, who I'd recently placed opposite me on the cushioned bench of the car we were now in—the train jerked with a heave before beginning to move. I couldn't change my mind and just bring him back to the alley I'd found him in anymore now. Or will you be the one to finally give this world the aid it must be seeking from my terrors? Or do people even know about the children that have been being kidnapped and murdered before their families' eyes? I wish you would awaken so I might have that chance to ask you these questions. Master would never tolerate his temper with them. I couldn't not risk even attempting to question him such things. But…I need answers from someone.

I sat there on the bench in the most human-like way I could get while still being at least halfway-decently comfortable—which wasn't very easy when you hadn't been inside one of these monstrous machines in a very long time, an amount of time shorter than forever, but longer than a minute. I stared at the man with curiosity-filled eyes; he had to be about…a specific age was undeterminable, but anyone could've assumed that he was in college. You could tell by the build of his face, or at least that was where I got my facts for assuming such a thing.

There was a young woman sitting on the bench opposite us, but she hadn't looked up from the newspaper she was reading. I glanced at her out from underneath the hood that the overcoat was making around my frame; to more specific, I gazed directly at the headlines of the page she was about to turn to. In large, black bold print they all read, 'Mass Murderer In United States; All Countries Advised To Be On Look-Out'. I knew exactly what they meant by that. I haven't stolen the data of that many Digi-Destined…Have I?

…What does it feel like to lose someone close to the heart, if humanoid-beings have one in the first place? Does it hurt you like it does the person who is being harmed? Or is it just…something…else? I glanced up at the woman, and caught a glimpse of her face when she flipped the page of the newspaper to the side that had that threat-to-my-currently-unknown-presence headline. Her hair was a dried bark brown; it was pulled back into an ordinary ponytail; her face was surprisingly kindly, though there was no one beside her speaking to make it that way. She didn't really look like the type to be reading the paper while on a subway train, but apparen—

"I just can't believe that some people are just that cruel to go around killing little children like that. And how their parents can just sit by and wait for the police to do something…" I caught my breath when the woman suddenly started to speak; her voice was gentle, soft, just as nice-seeming as her face looked, but…who was she speaking to? I tried to keep my eyes from reflecting the lights in the train, and attempted to keep them steadily staring at the floor. I hoped to high heaven—the one that shouldn't even be paying any attention to my soul anyways, but anything could hope for the best despite what they'd done—that she wasn't talking to me, that there was someone in this train that was conscious, someone that I hadn't noticed before. "I know that if something ever happened to my two children, I'd never even sleep until I found whoever had taken them away from me…"

I tried to pull the coat tighter around me, just to be on the safe side and make sure that nothing of my person that would make it pain-stakingly obvious that I wasn't anything ordinary was in the bright clearness of the lights. When I looked back up at the woman, she'd folded the paper almost exactly at the folds again, and had set it down beside her on the seat. She was looking directly at me; there was no one besides the sleeping man and us in the train. She had to be speaking to me.

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, turning her face away from me as she did. She must be embarrassed to be leaking poison from her eyes without having used an attack. She made a sniffling sound a few times here and there before replacing them with another smile and a wave of her hand, assumedly dismissing the sad thoughts from her mind. "I'm sorry; I'm usually not this emotional. It's just that there's just not that many times of the year that you hear about something big enough in the news that even other countries hear about it.

"And between you and me," She leaned closer to me, and I instantaneously pulled the coat around me tighter and made sure my head was ducked in enough so she wouldn't see my unnaturally tan-hued skin or anything of me really. I was pretty much just a breathing lump in an oversized trench coat. "I have my own theory about this 'new' murderer.

"Do you remember those killings a few years ago, right here in Japan? Believe it or not, they took place only a few towns away from that last stop, where you first got on with him," The woman gestured to the man with a wave a her hand; her voice was growing quiet with anticipation of spreading the word of her thoughts. I didn't know what else to do but just sit there and nod along quietly to her words. She didn't seem to mind that I wasn't saying anything about myself, or the man laying awkwardly on the seat beside me. "But anyway, according to all of the police reports, the suspect isn't your usual kind of killer, if you know what I'm saying.

"You see, the reports of the murders have all been the same: A strange creature comes swooping into the house, as nimble as a little fawn, but not to be taken lightly by its swift, airy little movement-tricks. Sometimes the family was right there in the room when the thing just crashes in through the doorway, or sneaks through the window, curling and twisting through the smallest of spaces like a snake, or a weasel-ly ferret-thing. Nobody knows how to react to it, so, like any other scared person, what else can they do but sit and stare?

"And the thing doesn't even go for anyone else in the room; it's like it's blind to anything but that one child, just as if there's a deeper purpose behind the killings that it's making, not just because it's psychotic, or is crazy, or just because it can. It's as if there's something about the child that it knows, that it needs to have for itself, or for something else…"

I sat there in fear; I'd never been so frightened of a human before in my life. I was tempted to just come up out of the depths of the suffocating coat and just take out the woman with a slash of my claws. She was smarter than the average cop, though I could see by her kindhearted nature that there was no way she could handle that kind of a vocation. And because of that…she knew far too much for me to be so close to her in this confined of a space.

Just as I was about to pull my hands out from the sleeves of the coat when the woman continued to talk, and something about the way she was talking made me stop immediately and listen as intently as I could manage while my thoughts were rushing like they were. "Hey, are you okay? You're…you seem a bit…Oh! I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be so talkative. You're probably just not used to people coming up and talking to you on some train, are you?"

She laughed sweetly, politely raising a hand to her mouth like I'd seen most females do when they laughed like that. But I'd never actually been this close up to one when they did, or been the one they were laughing with, though I wasn't exactly laughing along. I tried, just to make it seem like she wasn't bothering me, but all I could do was try to smile, but even that was a bad idea; the light might reflect off my teeth, showing how white and sharp they really were. But I did smile a little, and I was even able to make myself utter out a little snicker; everything I thought might happen did.

The woman before me stopped giggling instantly, and I closed my mouth, averting my eyes back down to the floor as I did, hoping that she had only seen my canine fangs, not the spark that tinted in my eyes whenever the lights hit them just at the right angle. I hoped that I was just being paranoid, that she'd only stopped laughing because she was surprised that I had…But that, it appears, wasn't the case.

She seemed to force a smile in my direction as she stated calmly, though I could see in her eyes that inside she was everything but collected, "My, you have very white teeth, don't you? Have you…been in to see the dentist lately—" Suddenly she stopped, and I looked at her once again, a fearful confusion deep within my eyes. Why did she keep pausing?

I looked down to see if maybe my feet were showing through the bottom of the jacket, but noticed instead that my hands had both slipped from the sleeves that had been concealing them from sight, and were now in the open. She had to have seen them, and there was no way for her to explain them logically. She couldn't blame the dentist humanoid on this one. Since I knew that she'd seen them, I figured that there was no use in trying to dismiss it and attempt to cover them within the coat again.

Silence surrounded both of us like an army waiting to advance and make the plan of the siege a reality, but their generals hadn't instructed them to begin said cordon until either I, or the woman were to speak. With the rate that was going at so far, those armies would be waiting for quite a long time. However, I could see in her eyes that she was trying to say something, maybe trying to think of how to say it, or what to say at all.

Finally she spoke; there was fear in her eyes, and it slurred in her voice like trying to sing while drinking a glass of water, but somehow there was an air to her that told me also that she had herself under mental control, that she wasn't going to freak out about my…my being a hybrid, though she wouldn't know exactly what that was. "You…Your hand…and your…teeth…I-I can see that…that you're different—and different, if you didn't know, has always been better than the average bird…But I can tell that's not all that's 'different' about you…is it—"

I stood up suddenly and unexpectedly; I hadn't been planning on making any kind of movement, or offering the woman any kind of reply until we reached the destination, but it wasn't coming up soon enough or fast enough. By the time it got here, I would've been able to tell her my whole life story that I knew of, but that wasn't acceptable at all, and I wasn't about to. But since I'd stood so quickly and without much thought, the coat didn't follow my movements, and dropped instead to the floor of the train.

As I stood there, my Digimon form visible to the woman before me, I wondered what she would do now. Would she realize that I was that murderer she'd just been talking about, and that there was a thought there in my mind—supported by Master's own whispers I might add—that it would be best that she should die also? Killers were no heroes; it wouldn't matter if one person that was no DigiDestined died because it got in my way. No one would care. Would they? She'd told me she had children—

A scent suddenly hit my nostrils that I hadn't sensed in the atmosphere before; it was the scent of sweet blood, it was always the same, and it was one of the reasons I just had to do as Master told me: I'd learned that he'd created me with a craving for the liquid crimsonness. I licked the tips of my fingers almost instinctively after thinking about the warm sugar; I got nothing from them though, and that only made me want it more. But the smell of a DigiDestined's blood was something that lingered in the air around us now, and I couldn't resist the temptation to drench my whole hand with the humans' only perfection.

I turned slowly as I traced the smell through the compacted, air-conditioned air, feeling the strain as my pupils filled the whole of my eye, as they did whenever I could no longer hold back my need to lap up any human's blood like a stray dog; I didn't care what human, they were just in the wrong place at the perfect time. For Master's pleasure anyway; I didn't enjoy the monster I became when I wanted the liquid-life like someone could want a drug. I didn't like the abomination I was at all times for that matter.

My eyes came to rest upon the man, and the scent became so strong I thought I might go ballistic. It was no out-of-the-usualness scent by any means, but they all were the same when you thought about it. There was never anything new, nothing different; nothing that reminded me of what I was. Maybe Master had made me with that realization to inspire me to kill, because that would make me feel less different because other humans killed. Was that his goal? Was that his sick way of trying to help me?

I turned from the man, no longer wanting to give in to my nagging want for the warm nourishment, and stared like a corpse at the woman once again. Her eyes were filled with a fear that inquired if I was that killer in America, but was afraid of the answer she knew was true. She didn't shake and quiver like others probably would've, and she made no move to get away or call for help. I knew she wouldn't as long as I could control myself long enough to either get out of the train right now, or try to hold off the lust for a human's blood until I got to Odaiba, and find the only Digi-Destined I wanted to torture, that I wanted to lick the blood up off of. But that brought about new questions.

Why was this woman going to Odaiba? I knew that our purposes for the sudden transportation use had to be completely different; she didn't look like the type who could even stand to hear of someone being murdered by some whacked-up, psychotic mutant-thing that no one really knew what was. Those children that the woman had spoken of to me before—Why was the scent of Digi-Destined present on that human? I had to know; there was a certain difference to this smell of Digi-Destined, it was…familiar, like the man still laying unconscious on the bench behind me, but stronger, more vibrant, fresher in my mind than the college boy's.

"…What is your name? I am curious." I stated awkwardly, not having spoken to an actual human in a very, very long time. The only human I recalled speaking to in the past few months was a little non-Digi-Destined boy that had spotted me in a tree back in America. He'd come right up to me, climbed up in the tree, and had simply started speaking to me as if I was an old playmate of his that he hadn't seen in a long while. But this had been my first encounter with said boy, and had barely even known what to say to his multiple questions, besides my name: Moroamon. That was the simplest one to answer, but not without a bad sense coming from Master as soon as I'd informed the child of it. "And your children—you mentioned them, do not lie and say you did not—their names…you never spoke of their name. I beg of you, nothing would mean more to me than if you were to inform me of their titled existences. Now, if you'd be so kind…"

The woman's composure suddenly turned even more visibly vital to a weary nervousness than at first had been portrayed. She began to stammer, her voice uncontrollably wavering in pitch and tone, making it difficult to tell if she was trying very hard not to shriek for someone to come in and see the thing before her, or if she was trying not to sob with her fears of me. Though she should fear not, I felt no obligation of my own will to harm her, however, Master felt differently; I couldn't say no to something Master ordered me to do. Or can I fight against him…? No, how can I think such a thing? It is just a fleeting glance at the clock while waiting for the end of all things. It will never be a reality for you, for me. "…I-I-I don't…think that I should be telling a stranger something so personal—"

"Ma'am," I cut in with a rudeness I couldn't even recognize in myself; I felt nothing as I spoke, it was just like Master was overtaking my mind again, controlling what I did like one of the last time's I'd tried to back out on a mission to retrieve a Digi-Destined's data. "Curiosity killed the cat, and it will have the same pleasure killing you—M-m-m-iss…I-I-I didn't mean…I don't want to hurt you, and I wo—"

"M-my name is Yuuko Kamiya, my children—although I have no idea why my immediate family could interest you, whatever or whoever you are—are Kari, my daughter, and her older brother Tai—" I knew she was going to be saying more, though I hadn't wanted her to speak about her family in the end if she hadn't felt comfortable about telling…a stranger, like she'd said. But she had, and it may've just been the human mistake I'd been waiting to find; a feeling crept through my spine, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end with excitement.

I bent over quickly, snatching up the tattered, dusty-cream trench coat with a hand before wrapping it around myself again. I yanked the collar up over my head again, though the lights shining down from the ceiling panels still reflected like headlights off of my oddly hued, unloving (I'd never felt a true love from Master, only the love of what I'd done to the innocent that were no longer there in the homes they'd once happily lived in with their families; I could no longer recall if I'd ever known love in my unknown past. If I could remember how it may've felt to me, there was that chance I may've been able to show it, and a compassionate mercy to more of the DigiDestined children. But it was too late now), corpse-cerulean eyes.

"Do you know who this man is?" I interrupted her hastily, eager for her to cease her speaking, however nice she may've been to me, I was now too energized by the thoughts of torture I could induce upon those who'd abandoned me to this fate to be around a human who would serve no chance of being able to protect themselves from me. Someone who didn't deserve it might die. "Have you ever seen him before? What should I do with him? I do not know."

The woman looked slowly from me to the man of college still laying awkwardly and unconscious on the cushioned bench. Her eyes lit up with even more worry and fright as her eyes rested on the man; she'd obviously never noticed him there beside me before now, and she reacted in a way that I had never expected. She did know him. "Joe Kido!" She jumped up from her seat on the cushion, and I leapt out of her way as she knelt down next to the college boy, instantly taking his pulse, though you could tell he was alive from a mile or more away. At least I could.

"Where did you find him?" The woman shouted at me, her voice still somehow kind despite her loud vocals now. A hint of compassion but also a large touch of fear for the unconscious boy was stretched out and hidden within her voice. I could tell now more than any other time that this had to be a friend of her son…Tai…This…Joe…he was less familiar to my storming heart than…Tai…but he was slightly recallable nonetheless. He was one of the DigiDestined that had doomed me to life forever as a monster, feared by all, alone forever, abandoned by the love that surrounded and filled all other's universes. But that bothered me no longer now. I only needed to track down this Tai character, and he would be able to lead me to all the others. They would die together, though my human nature, had I truly had one as half of my pain-stricken soul believed, had spiritually, and nearly physically, died alone.

I turned from the woman as I felt the train suddenly lunge to an unexpected halt; a glance out of the window showed that we were now at the station, many people waiting to get on now, trying to see through the windows as they waited. Streaks of rain trailed down the panes of glass like rivers of tears and blood, blurring their sight without cease. No one would see either one of the three beings here until the doors opened; I had to be out of here before then. Though the coat could hide me well, the woman might say that I'd kidnapped the college-goer, and someone might try to grab me. Someone might see something of me that would explain to them who I was, and why I may've picked up the man and brought him along with me.

With a fleeting glance at that supposed Mrs. Yuuko Kamiya, who was still checking for signs of life from the apparent Joe Kido, though it was obvious to me by the smell of the warm blood that he was quite alive, just sleeping, or still unconscious. I wasn't precisely sure, although it no longer mattered to me very much anymore. I had a lead towards the DigiDestined I felt like I'd been waiting my whole life to find, and destroy. That had always been Master's plan for any of my data killings: Search and destroy. No sentiment under penalty of his rage, and that meant the most agonizing thing his anger could think of to put me through. I could no longer stand his torturing me; I had to succeed in getting their data, and just be done with emotions for the remainder of my days. Forever.

Before the doors even opened, I rushed away towards the exit of this car, and took the handle of the door in my hand, my claws quietly clinking against the metal. But before I opened the door and fled for a safer haven, I glanced back at Mrs. Kamiya. I looked away from her with a pain in my eyes as I quietly said to her, "I apologize…for failing to see that something like me is not taken with the greatest of acceptance in this world—"

"What are you talking about?" I let my dead-colored eyes lock with the woman's brown, lively ones, my confusion being let on almost immediately by the expression on my face. It felt strange to have such a facial expression on my features again; I hadn't felt this puzzled in a very long time. I could barely even remember a time when I'd felt like this. "You must not see that you're a hero in disguise. This boy's thought to have been kidnapped, or worse, but you found him. You…no matter what you think of yourself, I believe that…somewhere down inside you, there is a natural hero laying in wait."

"…Every day people cry and pray. And if we try, we can survive. But if you can't stand, I'll reach out my hand and show you a light so that you can stand up and fight. Fight for what's right. And for this cause, I want no applause. Because when I do, I do it for me, not you. For you see…I'm not a hero. Simply me." And with that, my first recitation of a poem in Odaiba, I opened the door of the halted train and fled out into the pelting rain, away from Joe Kido, and away from Yuuko Kamiya. I had to get out of there; no matter what Devimon wanted…I would not kill an innocent woman that thought so highly of something I'd done without knowing so.

I weeded my way through the crowd of people, no one thinking it was strange that a teenage-height being had a trench coat wrapped around them and covering their head—if anyone did, they stayed silent and kept their stares away from my impending gaze. I had to lay low now here in Odaiba, otherwise if someone found something of me that could be used as evidentiary support, dragging the name of a murderer along with me from America, I would have no chance at finding the DigiDestined I'd been searching for years for.

I paid no mind as multiple beings bumped into me, uttering out apologies before returning on their merry, or not-so-merry, way. With all truth, I felt that apologies were a sincere waste of everyone's time, and I felt a burning rage with every time they were spent; it wasn't like any of the people who muttered them to any other being actually meant them, even little children could see when gomen meant nothing but to be an excuse to get the other to stop nagging them about whatever evil they had done to whomever had earned the treatment. If one more person said it to me, I knew that I wouldn't be able to control my rage any longer.

I needed to get out of these crowds before I blew my lid, and my cover. If I flipped out over nearly nothing in the middle of this street, everyone would see it, everyone would know there was a monster in their midst. Police, army, navy, every service under the dying sun would be called into action, into locating one broken little Digital hybrid. What other pleasure could there possibly be?

Breaking into a slow run—at full speed, I would've been just like The Blur, Master had made me to be like a superhuman species like him (apparently that was the only thing about humans themselves that Devimon-sama seemed to humor himself with), except he ran at such a speed for a reason other than I; he was a hero, I knew not of such a word—I moved skillfully between small crevices between the groups of people. I had to be weary of the shoving crowds, one false move, and my disguise could become useless to me, one wrong word, and I would become like that of a time bomb. With only 0.01 seconds left till the firework time came about.

I didn't know where to go to escape the now-pelting rain and operation-threatening people. There was no place within my line of current sight that was abandoned, or at least somewhat similar to such a thing. Nowhere was where I had to be to be hidden in the safety that I only ever took for granted when I was what I would remain to be forever. Sheesh, I'm starting to confuse myself just by thinking. This has never happened before; how is this possible? Me…able to…become…different than what is spoken of as 'ordinary' by Master? Impossible…maybe?

I stopped jogging and meandered with a slow walking pace as I came to the gate of some kind of building. I could smell many humans inside, even without having to even step within the boundaries. Looking back behind me, there were many, many more people than there were inside this building before me. And besides that…I could sense the aroma of DigiDestined children within the building's four walls, and I couldn't force myself to walk away even if I'd wanted to try. Master's commands were too overpowering for me to even think about it.

Dashing inside the building's entrance, I pushed the doors closed hesitantly behind me, my feet, despite the lack of shoes, making small squeaking noises on the linoleum floor. It was much warmer in the room than it was outside, so I dropped the trench coat from around my shoulders to the ground, kicking it aside and over to the closest wall. I was about to take a step forward when a strange ringing sound went off, echoing throughout the whole floor, overwhelming my sensitive ears to the point that I had to cover them. What in this world is that obnoxious noise? And is that…talking that I hear now?

My eyes widened as I took my hands off of my ears; that was human conversation. And they were all coming in this general-ish direction, or, they probably would at least cross from the hall ahead of me, and stream down the stairs perpendicular to it like a waterfall. I had only a few seconds, or even less, to find some kind of hiding place. I knew I didn't have the time to actually think and pick a good spot, so, I did the first thing that came to mind: I jumped on the top of the blue lockers, pulled the grated cover off of the air duct vents, and leapt inside with a single bound.

And just in time; as soon as I'd yanked the vent opening closed again, I saw the humans walking quickly, some actually running, but soon earning a strict yelling-to by some of the older humanoids, to their own locker. I tried to shrink back into the dim light of the vent, but the light from all of the openings made it hard to find a hint of darkness. But then something caught my eye, and a fragrance that made me drool like never before hit my nose like a diesel train. Dear Kamisama…what is that…that…perfection…?

My whole body shook violently, my mind beginning to switch into my true slaughtering mode, where all of my instincts and wants were impossible to refuse, impossible to ever ignore, no matter what I tried to do to stop myself. I shifted from my sitting position into a crouch, and stared carefully through the grating at the human that was drawing me in like a fish into a boat. Except this wasn't like hook, line, and sinker. This was a lot more like…like smell, catch, and sink-your-teeth-in.

Gazing quietly and carefully through the grate, I tried to pinpoint exactly where and who the obnoxiously wonderful scent was coming from. But soon that same sound rung out over everything, and all of the children grew slightly louder as they began to rush quickly back to all of the other rooms through the halls, doors, and up the stairs. But that smell…it was too different, and stuck out too much compared to everything else for me to be able to just let it go and stay in hiding. So I sprung onto all fours and raced through the tunnel-like vent, digging my claws into the thin metal to give my speed the slightest of boosts.

It really wasn't very hard to follow such a strong trail, or to block out all of the others. It was like following someone very, very tall, with bright scarlet skin…and who'd stepped in almost forty cans of red paint. Except this being couldn't have done that, the bouquet of precious scent was too flawless to belong to such an imbecile. There was no way that such a thing could possibly be anything other than impossible. Yeah, crap about the impossible being true coming out of the mouth of a creature that completely describes the word impossible...Interesting…I don't recall speaking like that before…Strange…

I crawled slowly throughout the never-ending maze of metallic surfaces, all of them looking like they'd been polished just so I could see my own face: My eyes growing bloodshot with the sudden want to kill something, the sudden need to feel that crimsonness dripping from the corners of my lips, the tip of my tongue and my fingers; my whole body was trembling like it never had before, no human, absolutely no human had ever made me sense this kind of need, this…this…I didn't even know what it even was to begin with!

I scampered along the 'tunnel' for a few moments longer, before coming to another opening, a fan just a few paces before me, blowing the same succulent scent right back into my nostrils. I couldn't take it, whoever it was, either they had really good soap and cologne (or perfume, doesn't matter, blood and data are going the same place either way), or this was going to be the only human's death that felt as if it were worth it. I wouldn't waste this one; I leaned back for a moment, swearing on Master's honor that I would make this human's blood spill and data-consumption last as long as I could manage. As long as I could control myself, keep away from frenzy.

I could hear Master's fervently severe voice in my head, clear as day he was telling me that under no circumstances whatsoever was I allowed to leave my haven and attempt to take that humanoid's data. There was a shrill fear to his voice that I didn't understand, but I didn't care. I knew Master planned to hurt be badly if I went down there, showing myself to at least sixteen humans, as my senses could tell. But this human would be worth it; somehow…somewhere inside me, something inside me was tingling, telling me that trusting Master would do nothing here, and I was supposed to take destiny in my own hands. Destiny…I don't know who you are…but…s-show me what you got!

I couldn't hold back anymore; I jumped up with a loud bang, my head whacking the top of the air duct I was currently in, and presently getting out of. I slammed down into the grate, tearing it away from the rest of the vent with all of the strength that I had, even though I'd only needed about a quarter's worth of power to move the thing. I couldn't control myself at all; nothing was operating within me like they should be. I assumed this was how someone going mad felt; this, was insanity.

Leaping down into the room headfirst, I made my first mistake instantly: I'd disobeyed Master's commands, I'd gone against his wishes. And for that…punishment was sent out immediately. Like a shock collar on a dog, electricity shot through me like the lightning outside the shuddering windows, making me cry out. Covering my face from the pain that could not be escaped, I wasn't able to support my landing, and crashed into one of the human children's harder-than-expected writing desks.

I hit the white tile-linoleum floor with a slapping kind of sound and a load groan, making my neurons' discomfort quite evident. At first there was silence as I lay there on the ground, struggling to force myself back up onto my feet, or at least something, but that all changed when another wave of static shot through my body, stinging and burning like a fiery bullet-wound. I let out a cry, squeezing my eyes shut tightly as I did, but the pain overwhelmed the sound of the children—and teacher for that matter—shrieking and fleeing the room, the teacher yanking on the fire alarm as she sprinted out of the room along with her class.

Well, actually…all her class…but one.

As a strange blackness I couldn't recognize as nightfall began to fade out the color of my sights, a figure moved hesitantly over to me, a curious caution to each and every single step that made me smile against the hurt. Why was this human so unafraid? What made this encounter less frightful than all the others I'd had with humans? Why was this boy, like Mrs. Kamiya, curious enough to withstand their fears? I'd no idea humans were capable of such an accomplishment…

I felt the being's tender touch on my forearm, shaking me lightly as a soft tone suddenly erupted from his mouth, "Dude…are you some kind of whacked-out Digimon or something? I don't think even Tai has seen something quite as…darn it! Izzy! Where are you when I need a good word? But…uhh, you don't looks so good…" This voice was even more different than the calmness of Mrs. Kamiya, and she'd even known that I was technically a murderer. This was a gentleness that no part of me ever remembered being in contact with before. And the warmth of his hand…how could something feel so…superior to everything—

I let out a loud cry again as he began to pick me up, his hands pressing against the exact spot the pain was still lingering in, making it that much worse. I bit my tongue and let my head hang limply to the side; I didn't feel the strength to hold it up anymore, and the knowledge that more discipline was going to be coming soon didn't help.

But the knowledge and vision of this new, strange being kept me awake and away from the numbness of unconsciousness, and my want of learning who this stranger was kept my eyes somewhat open. Staring at this human, my eye suddenly twitched with a well-hidden excitement; the way this human smelled, the way he looked, and even the way he walked told me that he was a DigiDestined. And the owner of the weakness-bringing scent.