Author's note: You guys are great. I don't deserve a fanbase, lol. But I'm so glad so many people are enjoying this story (36 reviews last time I checked!), certainly more than have ever followed my fanfics before. I mean, it sort of confirms my suspicion that fans (myself included) are a bit sadistic towards our favorite charries, but the good news is that there is a sort of happy ending! I mean, I love bittersweet as much as the next, but this has too much angst to end on a dreadfully negative note. I can't be THAT cruel to the Chosen... nor to the amazing readers who have actually been willing to put up with my sporadic writing, as well as PM me coercing me into not abandoning my projects. A special thanks goes out to takaishi hikaru this time around, for although the update you asked for came around chapter five, I still smile that you sent me a PM begging me to update. Literally. Consider this my apology for making my last update wait so long.

Oh, and by the way, any nicknames used from the Chosen (I don't know if/when they'll come up, but they probably will) come from when I used to role play Digimon Adventure. It's pretty easy to follow: Taichi and Yamato are Tai and Matt, predictably. Kou is a nickname for Koushiro, Dai for Daisuke, Kyo-Kyo for Miyako (If you've seen the Japanese, you remember how she introduced herself to Takeru.), and so on and so forth. If you need clarifications, request it in a review. I respond to those just as dutifully as I do PMs... probably more so, actually.

And without further ado... I don't think I do Daisuke justice. But I'm trying!

He dropped the phone. Like, actually dropped the phone. Daisuke dove down to catch it before his mother could come in to investigate the clatter, but Takeru on the other line was already suspicious. Daisuke could hear his friend's voice over the line before he even held his cell phone back to his ear.

"Daisuke? Dai, are you there? You okay? Daiiiisuke," Takeru called, but by then Daisuke had recovered just enough to unstick his throat. Sort of. It still felt kind of like something was fighting its way through, but the throat was designed to be a one way road. Sorry, dinner, but there was no turning back now, even if he did feel like throwing up. He wasn't so sure that Takeru wouldn't just hang up on him if he heard the sounds of retching, but that was only fair. Daisuke had done just that the night that Takeru thought eating the thing with the white stuff in the fridge at Yamato's place would be okay. Seriously, even Daisuke thought that was stupid, and the only class he ever got an A in was Phys. Ed.

"Yeah. I'm here." He ignored the last question, because although he had a feeling Takeru thought he meant okay because of whatever had made the phone fall, Daisuke didn't feel like he could answer that question truthfully right then, but he didn't feel like he could say "Not really", either. Not with Hikari-chan, his beloved Hikari-chan hospitalized, and his idol in a right state, because Takeru had told Daisuke how everyone was kinda nervous about Taichi barely speaking a word or anything since talking to the officer in the lobby. Like Daisuke had any right to complain about how he was. The only thing he could think to say was, "I can't believe I blew my allowance on comic books."

Obviously, that was not quite the reaction that Takeru was waiting for. I mean, he'd already gotten the pouting "Why didn't Taichi call me" response, and the "I better not be the last to know" vibe. But maybe, Daisuke thought, he had been expecting something more along the lines of: "Hikari? Hikari?! Is she okay? She's alive, right? TELL ME SHE'S ALIVE". But Takeru would sound way more upset than he did if Hikari was... Daisuke couldn't even think the word. But he wasn't ten anymore. He could control the jealousy... for now. He knew it was because Takeru had been with Yamato, and Sora and Taichi had needed Yamato for a ride. Takeru had told him about that, when Daisuke asked how he knew. It had been a sort of desperate question, hoping Takeru didn't have a story. He could have been pranking him. It would have been a horrible joke, and he would've been flipping pissed, but it was better than the alternative that was their current reality. Stupid reality.

"Um. Excuse me?" Takeru sounded completely baffled, but of course, in Daisuke's world, the fact that he was pissed he bought the comic books already made sense. One would have thought that after like, five years or whatever it was (Daisuke was kinda bad at math, you know?), Takeru would have learned. But apparently not.

"I don't have money for the subway," Daisuke mumbled, and Takeru grunted in a way that Daisuke took as a sound of empathy.

"There's not much to come out for," Takeru said dully, and he sounded almost... disappointed, but Daisuke thought he could figure out why. If Hikari was awake, that would be a good thing, an exciting thing worth the drive. But it was sort of... depressing to go out there, and not be able to say hello to her, or anything. And Taichi probably didn't care if everyone assembled or not. Takeru seemed to share that opinion.

"I still want to," Daisuke said stubbornly. Takeru didn't reply. At least, not on that track. It would've been something of comedic relief if he just let himself get caught up in the same stupid arguments, but it seemed like he was a bit too preoccupied to fall into the usual habit of talking Daisuke out of being an idiot, and then calling him an idiot. One might think that Daisuke would get offended by such things, but at this point in their friendship it was merely ritualistic. It was like Miyako calling him and Ken barbarians for fighting over the remote: expected. It was when that friendly trading of insults didn't happen that Daisuke got really worried.

Like now, for instance.

"Hey, can you do me a favor? I got hold of Koushiro, and I think Mimi knows. Um, could you--"

"Ken's over. We've got it covered." Daisuke was in 'mission mode', as he affectionately called it when he actually had something to do and a reason to buckle down and be serious. Not that there was really any other way to feel, but even if it was just making the rounds in the phone book, it was still something to do. It felt like it could be helpful, and maybe they could think of something...

Was there something? Maybe. He didn't know. He hoped so. Daisuke really hated not having anything to do. Yamato was the transport, Sora was Taichi's leaning shoulder, Takeru kept Yamato in check, Jyou was the doctor, Koushiro... he and Jyou balanced out, but Daisuke didn't have any special role. There was no leading role here, and that made it kind of hard to figure it out. So he took his assignment with gusto.

"Thanks. Look, Koushiro is supposed to be showing up. I dunno when, so I'm gonna go."

"She'll be okay. And Taichi. Everything will," Daisuke said. It was a confidence he didn't quite feel himself, but he was determined to make Takeru feel it. Being down didn't help anything, and he couldn't be tired while there was still somewhere he had to be. He hated to admit it, even if by now he was slowly beginning to accept the fact that he and Hikari just weren't going to happen, but Takeru was probably the one she wanted to see first, besides Taichi... and her parents, but let's face it.

Or let's not. Yeah. Um.

"Right." And Daisuke knew, in his mind's eye, that Takeru was doing that stupid half smile he did when he was practically screaming 'I don't believe a word you say, you liar', but didn't want to actually say it because he was too damn nice. And although it was slightly inappropriate, Daisuke felt this strange urge to laugh. He stifled it though. He didn't think Takeru would find it very funny. Daisuke didn't even find it very funny. "Talk to you later."

"Text me if anything comes up," Daisuke added, and then the line went dead. but he thought that Takeru heard him. And he would, he knew he would. Daisuke may be loathe to admit it sometimes (or a lot of the time. Who was keeping track, really?), but he trusted Takeru. They had been team mates, and classmates, and somewhere along the line, they had become friends. Takeru would tell him if something important happened.

But the knowledge that something important would happen, be it good or... not so good, was very sobering, and Daisuke dropped his phone onto his bed before plopping down next to it. The mattress bounced, but it wasn't nearly as amusing as it was when Daisuke was in his usual good mood. He didn't have a lot of time to brood though. Ken wouldn't allow it. He had been watching from his seat at Daisuke's desk (which was the only part of the room that was spotless, purely because he never used it and avoided it whenever possible), and the moment he had let go of the phone, he had tackled him for information. Or rather nudged; since losing the Dark Spore in his neck, he had become rather mellow and sometimes annoyingly insecure. It was like, being evil gave him an edge or something. Weird.

"What's going on? You're pale," he pointed out, and Daisuke rolled his eyes. Of all the observations.

"Hikari's in the hospital." That seemed like the easiest explanation, and in fact it didn't even feel that hard to say.

But of course, Ken wasn't content with just that. He wanted the whole story, and that proved to be a whole lot harder to spit out. Daisuke spent a lot of time at the Yagami residence, be it because he was hanging out with Taichi or trying (and failing) to woo and/or trick Hikari into a date with him. He knew how to dodge the dreaded spinach cookies and mushroom smoothies and who knew what else their mother had tried to pass off to them, and knew their dad was a recovering alcoholic ten years sober and... the point was, their family felt like his family too, and in an attempt to get through the entire story without choking up, he managed to come off as an apathetic jerk (if anyone who didn't know better was present) while he told Ken everything Takeru had told him on the phone.

"I told Takeru we'd get hold of the rest," Daisuke finished, picking his phone up again. Seemed as good a place as any to focus his attention, because he really didn't want to look up to see Ken looking at him like he was worried Daisuke was going to burst into tears. Daisuke didn't cry. He didn't... Well, not most of the time, anyway. And it was a loser move to cry when you were supposed to be strong. Taichi was counting on them, all of them. He might not know it yet, but he was. They were still a team; they were still Japan's Chosen.

"There has to be something else we can do," Ken insisted, but Daisuke shrugged and shook his head.

"Takeru said he'd tell us if anything changes at the hospital. But till then..." He shrugged again. Helpless wasn't a feeling he liked to feel, and he went out of his way to make sure that he didn't feel it very often. But this time, there didn't seem to be an alternative, at least not that he could see. He wasn't the child of hope, or responsibility, or intelligence. He held courage, and friendship, and sometimes being brave simply meant keeping your chin up when you didn't know what else to do, and being a friend was trusting your other friends to tell you when the time came that they needed something. It was hard, really hard, but he thought that he was getting a little better at it over the years.

"I'll call Miyako." Ken stood up to dig his phone out of his pocket. And he was trying to tell Daisuke that skinny jeans weren't a hindrance. Well, he had conceded to the fact that you couldn't play hardcore soccer in those jeans, but he hadn't admitted to any obstacles in 'daily life'. Couldn't even get your cell phone sitting down. Psht. But Ken ignored Daisuke's smugly raised eyebrows; he was much too accustomed to the gogglehead's teasing to care much anymore. Daisuke resisted the urge to pout. What was with people today?

Well, besides the obvious.

There had to be something else... Daisuke grunted when Ken took the phone call out of Daisuke's bedroom. Part of it was a courtesy thing, and part of it was Ken selfishly wanting a few minutes alone to talk to Miyako. It was courtesy, because last year Daisuke and Miyako had this weird... almost-sort-of-thing going on, like a fling thing that could have been more if he hadn't avoided the conversation a lot. It didn't always bother him, but when Ken made it a point to not let Daisuke over hear his and Miyako's finally-blooming relationship, he felt kind of put out. But life went on, right? He'd leave them alone... for the moment, till he wouldn't have to hear Miyako shrieking at him to leave Ken alone and stop being a jerk. Daisuke wasn't sure the other side of his closed door really qualified as "alone", but whatever made his boat float, he suppposed. Snap, that rhymed. He was a poet and he didn't even know it!

Oh, how he cracked himself up sometimes. But it was sort of short lived humor. It seemed like when he found something to laugh about, something normal and regular and every day, that phone call crashed down on him, and he felt like a prick for laughing at anything while Hikari was still unconscious. They didn't know when she'd wake up. They didn't know how much damage was done. There was so much they didn't know, but the one thing they did know for certain seemed to loom over the future like a dark storm cloud threatening the skipper in the water. Taichi and Hikari were alone. Not like, they didn't have friends. But when they went home at night, it would just be them. And thinking about that, the dark apartment and Hikari trying to make Taichi smile when he got too serious, was a very sombering thought. It was just like her: smile instead of cry, because if you cry, Nii-san will worry more. That was how she thought, and it always had been.

She had told Daisuke once that she couldn't date him, because it would be like dating her brother. Did that mean she went out of her way to not make him worry too? Well, he knew that answer. She did that to everyone. But Taichi was always a priority, always the first thought on her mind. It had made him jealous once, in a really weird way that still didn't completely make sense to him. So he didn't tell anyone else. If he couldn't understand his mind, nobody else stood a chance.

It seemed like forever that Ken was on the phone. Daisuke could hear his voice, a soft murmur on the other side of the door, but he couldn't hear the words. He suspected that might be a good thing, but it was still mocking his limited patience. With a growl of frustration, he threw himself back on the bed. He hated sitting still. Absolutely hated it, but there really weren't many other options. Maybe he could e-mail Wallace... he'd want to know, right? But then he remembered Wallace kissing Hikari and Miyako on the cheek, and Daisuke scowled at the ceiling. Yeah, the American blondie could wait a bit, Daisuke thought. Wasn't like he had a lot to tell him, in any case.

The door opened. He only really knew because it creaked kinda loudly, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Ken. Every. Single. Time. He opened it.

"You really need to grease the hinges," he said, and Daisuke raised his head purely to narrow his eyes at him. Best friend or not, he could still be annoying. Daisuke stubbornly claimed that it was because he was spending too much time around Miyako; her nagging was rubbing off on him.

"Really." It wasn't a question, but a statement. Ken let it drop; he obviously had something more important to say.

"Miyako had an idea of how we can help." That certainly got Daisuke's attention. He sat up so quickly that his neck cracked, and he winced and rubbed his neck. Ken permitted him a pitying look before plowing on. "She wants to know if we can go over her place for a few hours." Daisuke hadn't noticed Ken was still holding the phone up, though the mouth piece was covered with his other hand.

"Why?"

"Operation: Stock the Fridge," Ken mumbled. He didn't sound too happy to actually say it outloud, but Daisuke grinned. Miyako was in 'mission mode' too; they'd show everyone who was useless! Or, well, you get the idea, I hope. "I don't know how to cook," Ken admitted.

"So give them canned soup," Daisuke said enthusiastically, sore neck forgotten as he jumped up from his bed and stuffed his feet into his sneakers. "Tell her we'll be right over. Like, right over." He would totally figure out a way to fly if it meant doing something better than sitting around attached to the phone telling the same story over, and over, and over...

"We'll be there. Yeah. Bye," Ken said, and his cheeks were faintly flushed as he hung up the phone and slipped it back into his pocket. "She's telling Iori. So all we have to do is get there."

"Good." Action always gave Daisuke energy. It made him feel better. Nothing was worse than sitting around thinking, and then you jump to conclusions...and let's face it, no matter what the crack job teachers say, thinking gives you a wicked headache. Action isn't nearly as painful... I mean, unless you do something that gives you a concussion, but you still were doing something more productive than thinking. Yes, the triple emphasis was very important. "Let's go then, Emo Kid," Daisuke said cheerfully. Ken glared at him.

"I'm not--"

"Long hair. Skinny jeans. Black dress shirt. E-mo." Daisuke said, sticking his tongue out. The teasing had the desired effect. Ken was up and moving, although Daisuke thought that was only because Ken hoped to strangle him. "So, Miyako's plan is to stuff Taichi's stomach full to overflowing to cheer him up?"

"Got a better plan," Ken challenged, and Daisuke laughed.

"Nope. Can't think of anything better than free food."

They could hear the rain; everytime the wind picked up, it lashed out against the window sill with angry force that made doubt flicker across the boys' faces as they thought about venturing out in the weather. But Daisuke's motivation was easily reinspired; he had a picture of him and Taichi on his desk, and another of the younger Chosen from a few summers ago, on a beach trip. Ken's motivation was a mystery; his expression was rather difficult to read. But Daisuke knew he'd go, once they had their jackets on and all.

"Squirt and company?" Jun. Oi. She was sitting on the couch when they went to leave; their mother was in the kitchen, and he meant to just call out a "be back later" or something on the way out the door, but Jun wouldn't let him go so easily. And he didn't want to tell her the reason, not just yet. She had a crush on Taichi, or at least she used to. She'd want to tag along, and that was just annoying. "What're you doing?"

"Going out," Daisuke replied gruffly. Ken looked at him reproachfully, and he sighed. "We're going to our friend's for something important. Can you tell mom I'm having dinner there?" He thought he felt his eye twitch; being nice to Jun took more energy than thinking, and it caused twice the headache. It was like, a super headache. There was a word for that, wasn't there?

"What's in it for me," she asked, raising an eyebrow. Daisuke rolled his eyes. So much for trying to be nice.

"Fine. Don't then, I'll just call later," he snapped, pushing past her. Ken grabbed his shoes on the way, and Daisuke thought he heard Ken actually apologize to Jun on his way out behind Daisuke. He snorted. She was like, the wicked witch in that American movie. Wizard of Oz, yeah? Oh yeah, Daisuke was movie savvy....Sort of.

"She probably wouldn't give you a hard time if you just told her, you know," Ken pointed out as they waited for the elevator to reach the ground level. Daisuke grunted, but that was his only reply. "What if you were in Hikari's place?"

Well that was low. "I'd be in a hospital bed without a care in the world. Till I woke up," he added in a barely discernable mumble. But Ken heard it.

"And Jun would be in Taichi's place."

"So?" But he already felt like an ass. He knew Jun, knew that even when he pissed her off the most, she never actually would cast him out. It was just, you know, typical brother-sister stuff. At least, he thought so. It was for him; she just irked the hell out of him sometimes. But all families were like that. Right?

"You know."

"I don't know why there's never a level thirteen on the elevator."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look!"

"...Daisuke."

"What?"

"I hope you keep wondering that." Ken smirked when Daisuke blinked, looking baffled. "You'll never beat me to Miyako's if you do."

"You'll never beat me. True story," Daisuke boasted, and Ken chuckled. And once the elevator doors parted, the race was on. It was a good way to clear away unpleasant thoughts, anyways, running through the rain.