"Hey, guys!" Miyako said as she and Ken sat down at the table across from Hikari and Takeru.

Hikari blinked at them in surprise. "How did you know we were here?" she blurted out, in her shock, forgetting to greet her friend back. She and Takeru had stopped at an ice cream parlor on a whim on the way home from school that day to commemorate the end of exams. It wasn't something they did fairly often or something they had ever really mentioned to the others, hence Hikari's honest confusion on how Miyako had found them.

Miyako got that glint in her eyes that Hikari recognized so well. It usually meant that she was about to gloat about something she had "brilliantly deduced". Hikari suddenly regretted her question and wished she had just accepted that somehow Miyako was there and said "hello" back. "Well," Miyako said. "I came to your school after it let out to congratulate my darling Ken," she said and Hikari tried not to smirk at how bright red Ken's face went at those words. "Since he finished his exams today, you know. I wanted to tell you something, but Ken told me that you two had already left. Since Takeru walks you home most every day, we walked towards your apartment. Luckily, my brilliant Ken," she said with emphasis, causing Ken's face to turn bright red again, "saw you guys sitting in here, so we dropped in."

"When we saw this shop on the way home, we decided to buy some celebratory ice cream, even though we still have to go to school for half of the day tomorrow," Takeru explained after a moment of silence once Miyako was done talking. He sighed dramatically, causing Hikari to roll her eyes, knowing she was about to get teased. "I honestly think Hikari's crazy, since it is freezing cold outside and she still wants a dessert that's frozen."

"It is rather odd that some people still enjoy eating cold things with the temperature as low as it is," Ken added quietly.

Hikari's mouth dropped in indignation as Takeru started to laugh. "Are you teasing me, Ken?" she asked incredulously. He ducked his head shyly, but Hikari smiled. It was a vast improvement on both their parts in their friendship. Ken was too kind of a person to tease her while she had been mildly depressed for so long without Takeru, not to mention he had turned more hesitant and shy after his Digimon Emperor days, and she, in her sadness, had not taken teasing as well as she had used to. "You have been hanging out way too much with Miyako," she said laughing a little.

Miyako huffed. "I could say the same of you two," she said. Clearly she was miffed about something, but Hikari was at a loss of what it could be.

"What do you mean?" Takeru asked, which was the very question that Hikari had on the tip of her tongue.

"You and you," she said pointing to each of them in turn. "You have spent way too much time together. You so need to get out more. Which is why you are going with me and Ken on a date this Saturday, since it has come to my attention that we have yet to do so." She glared at them, as if daring either one of them to challenge her.

"Sounds like fun," Takeru said and Hikari glanced at him to find him grinning in amusement.

Hikari rolled her eyes. She loved her friend; she really did. It was hard not to like the cheerful, fun-loving girl, once you got past the initial loud/weird first impression she usually gave off. Hikari knew it probably hadn't really occurred to Miyako to actually ask if they would like to go (obviously she hadn't run this past Ken yet or else he would have reminded her). She just smiled in resignation. "We'd love to go," she said. "Where would you like to meet?"

"I'll call you later with the details," Miyako said smiling brilliantly. She pulled Ken out of his seat as she said, "Come on, Ken. I've got to get home before Mimi gets to the TV first." She marched to the door, half dragging Ken along behind her as he called out a hasty good-bye to Takeru and Hikari.

"That was…interesting," Takeru finished after a pause as if he was searching for the right word.

"Life with Miyako usually is," Hikari said.

"You know you might have asked them, Miyako," Ken remarked quietly as they quickly walked toward the girl's apartment.

"What do you mean?" Miyako asked, truly confused on what Ken was talking about.

"About the double date you have planned," Ken replied. "You could have asked them."

Miyako stopped and turned to face her boyfriend. "But I did ask them," she stated firmly, but she could hear the hesitance in her voice. Ken usually wouldn't bring something up if he wasn't sure of what he was saying.

"No, Miyako," he said, sighing that sigh she knew so well. He usually did it when he was about to explain to her exactly how she had just been rude to the customer or salesman or anyone else for that matter. "You just told them they were going with us on Saturday. You didn't ask."

Miyako paused, her eyebrows furrowing in thought. She thought back on the conversation she had with Takeru and Hikari and realized that Ken was right. She had just told them…okay, demanded that they go on a date together this Saturday. She had just been miffed that Hikari had implied that she spent too much time with her boyfriend (though really, she wasn't one to talk), when in Miyako's opinion, she couldn't seem to spend enough time with Ken. "Oh," she said somewhat contrite about the situation. "I didn't mean to. I just sort of popped out that way." It wasn't like she didn't want to go out with the two of them; she really had been looking forward to the prospect of it ever since she had thought of it. She had been waiting to go on a double date with Hikari for years now (she had almost given up hope that it would ever happen, since her friend was firmly on the path to spinster-ship before Takeru reappeared; Miyako almost could not believe all the good-looking, nice guys her best friend kept turning down).

Ken placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know you didn't," he said with a smile. She also knew that smile very well. It was his smile that he shared when he wanted to reassure her that he knew exactly what her personality was like and that he loved her, though if he loved her for it or in spite of it, she could never quite determine sometimes.

She huffed in frustration. "Why does it always seem like you're the older one in this relationship?" she asked, more in a rhetorically way than wanting a real answer. "It's really kind of unfair, you know."

He laughed softly, the barest hint of a chuckle that she was so used to from him. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, I love your child-like ways," he said, smiling brightly at her. "They certainly make life quite a bit more interesting when you're around."

Miyako's heart began to beat wildly at his words in a panic. Her eyes were instantly misty and her lip began to quiver. "You think I'm childish?" she asked, her voice slightly panicked.

His eyes went wide. "No, no," he assured her quickly. "Child-like, not childish. There's a difference. You have no qualms about getting straight to the point about anything, sincerely saying anything that comes to your mind. You have a caring, loving heart and want to help everyone you think might be in trouble."

Miyako instantly brightened, completely consoled at his words and practically jumped on Ken as she wrapped her arms around him. "You are the best boyfriend ever!" she cried, planting a kiss on his cheek. Ken's only response was to turn a brilliant red and mumble some kind of thanks before Miyako let him go and began to pull him along on the sidewalk again.

They continued their walk toward the apartment. A few minutes later, Ken asked somewhat nonchalantly, "So…when were you going to tell me that we are going on a date this Saturday?"

Yamato was truly content in many ways. He was, at the moment, on great terms with his girlfriend, his best friend, and his little brother. The only complaint he could come up with, at the moment, was that there was a soccer game being portrayed on the television, a sport that, despite the fact that it was one of the most treasured things in both his girlfriend's and best friend's lives, he had never quite managed to come to completely appreciate it. But he couldn't complain too much, as his girlfriend (the person who picked said thing being displayed on the television) was curled up against him on the couch to watch the game. He knew better than to think that she was here just for him, as she had clearly stated upon showing up at his doorstep that afternoon that she was tired of Miyako and Mimi bickering over what to watch (nice as the two girls usually were, you did not want to come between them and their favorite shows).

The door clicked open, followed quickly by an over exaggerated groan from Taichi as the wild-haired boy announced his arrival. Sora chuckled softly at Taichi's behavior (or at least, Yamato assumed it was at Taichi, since he didn't see anything in the soccer game that could have been found amusing, but he couldn't be positive).

"Welcome home, Taichi," he called to his friend.

"I'm telling you, Yamato. I am going to die if she doesn't stop—are you…are you watching soccer?" Taichi asked, stopping mid-sentence when he came into the room. "This is the game I was going to watch when I got home!" He walked past Yamato and Sora to flop down onto the other couch. "You never watch soccer—" He stopped as he finally looked over at where Yamato was sitting with Sora. "Oh," he said. "Hey, Sora. I…uh…didn't see you there."

"Hello, Taichi," she said and Yamato looked down at her to find her grinning in a rather disconcerting way. "Who were you talking about when you came in?" she asked.

Taichi heaved a sigh. "I don't want to talk about it," he said. "Anyway, did I…uh…interrupt something here?"

"No," Sora answered. "I was just escaping my sometimes crazy roommates."

They promptly began a discussion about the players, teams, and soccer techniques that Yamato didn't bother following very closely. He just smiled at that thought that the three of them could still hang out together as friends, despite the fact that this occasion happened to revolve around something he didn't particularly care for. It wasn't that he hated soccer; he just didn't love it fanatically like Taichi and Sora did. Eventually, the game ended and Sora clicked the television off. The three sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, until Sora asked, "Do you think we'll ever be done?"

"What are you talking about?" Taichi asked.

"You know, with the Digital World," Sora said shrugging slightly. "Do you think there will come a time when we won't need to be the Digidestined anymore?"

"I don't know," Yamato answered honestly. "I guess one day there could be new Digidestined to take our place and we wouldn't need to be the Digidestined. But that doesn't mean we'll stop being Digidestined."

"I guess you're right," Sora said. "It's just…sometimes I get tired of things always going wrong, right when everything seems to be peaceful and good." She laughed. "I guess I should be grateful that we get a nice break in between the times when dark Digimon try to take over the worlds."

"Right," Taichi agreed heartily, his voice full of confidence. "We just defeated Daemon not too long ago. Honestly, what could go wrong now?"

When his phone rang that night, it took Takeru a few seconds to become alert enough to reach over and fish the thing off his desk, knocking his pencil holder over in the process, which banged on the wood rather loudly and spilt, from what he could hear, everything it to the floor. Hoping that his father was a heavy enough sleeper and hadn't woken up in Takeru's rather loud quest for his phone, he pushed the button that connected the call and groggily mumbled an almost unintelligible greeting into the phone.

There was a moment of silence, long enough for Takeru to almost hang up the phone on his would-be caller and curse their entire family for interrupting his sleep. But then a soft voice filtered from the phone to his drowsy mind.

"…Takeru?"

He sat up quickly. His alarm at hearing her troubled voice was pushing alertness into his entire being. "Hikari," he said masking his panic. "Are you all right?"

"I just…I just needed to hear your voice," she finally replied, but it was after a long enough pause that he knew she wasn't telling him everything.

"Do you need me to come over?" he asked, already getting out of bed, stepping on a few pencils in the dark, in the anticipation of running over to her and giving her the true comfort that he wanted to that just couldn't be given over a phone.

"No, it's all right," she answered a little too quickly. "I just had a nightmare, that's all, and…I don't know," she said. "I'm sorry for waking you up. It was really silly of me. I'll let you go back to sleep now."

"Hikari," he said quickly, trying to prevent her from hanging up the phone just yet. He knew he wouldn't get any sleep if he wasn't sure she was really all right. "I'm fine," he assured her. "Do you need me to come over?" he asked again more firmly this time to let her know that he was truly willing to walk over to her apartment in the middle of the night and comfort her if that was what she really needed.

There was a longer pause and if it hadn't been for the lack of a dial tone, Takeru would have thought she just hung up. But finally, she answered. "…Yes," she breathed. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Takeru replied, pulling on his clothes as he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder. "I'll be over in a few minutes. Just hang on."

"Thank you, Takeru," she said.

"You're welcome," he replied. Hikari hung up the phone and Takeru disconnected the call. He grabbed his D-3 and house key from the desk as he pulled his coat on. Wishing Patamon was here since he could have gotten Takeru to Hikari's apartment in a fraction of the time, he walked to his front door, pulled on his winter gear and shoes, and went out the door into the cold. He locked the door behind him before beginning his trek through the brisk night. He was glad that it was still December, since had it been January or February it would have been even colder, not that he still wouldn't have been willing to risk the cold for Hikari.

When he reached her apartment, he found her standing outside it, bundled in her own winter things. When he reached her, he wordlessly opened his arms and she let herself be gathered into them. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"I told you that I'm fine," Takeru replied. "What are you doing out here though? I wouldn't want you to get sick."

"I didn't want to wake up my parents," Hikari replied. "I've only been out for a few minutes," she added. "Besides, I decided that if you're going to get sick by walking through the snow to rescue me, I'd rather be sick with you because otherwise I'd feel really guilty. I'd actually still feel guilty, but probably a little less so if I shared your misery."

Takeru smiled and cupped her face with his hands. He lifted her face up so that she met his eyes. "I'd rather get sick rescuing you, than be perfectly healthy knowing that you are not all right."

She returned his smile and placed one of her hands over his. "Thank you, Takeru."

They walked down to the ground level and stood beneath a tree that was close to the apartments. It was their usual spot to linger after Takeru walked Hikari home from school on the days that Takeru couldn't stay long and had other things to do. Takeru wrapped her back in his arms, partly for warmth and partly because he just wanted to. "Do you want to tell me about your nightmare?" he asked.

For a while, she didn't answer, but Takeru press any further. He was here to comfort her, and if that didn't include listening to her retell her nightmare, then so be it. She would tell him when she was ready to relive it. As it turned out, he didn't have to wait very long this time before she spoke. "It was those shadow creatures from the Dark World," she said. "You know, the ones Dragomon created from the darkness?"

"What about them?" Takeru asked. It had been a while since Hikari had a nightmare about the Dark World. He knew she had a few right after their battle with Daemon, which he didn't blame her. He too had been haunted in his dreams about that dismal place after being taken there with her. About how close he had come to losing her.

He could feel her shudder in his arms. "They wanted me," she said. "I could hear their eerie voices calling out my name, luring me back into their world. When I woke up, I think I called you without really knowing what I was doing. I guess I just needed to make sure I was still here and you were still here and everything was still all right."

"I am here," he assured her. "I will always be here."

"I know," she said.

He pulled away from her just a bit. "Let's get you back inside before we freeze to death," he said, turning away to begin their walk back up to the apartment.

She laughed softly, giving him the assurance that she would sincerely be all right now. "I happen to like the cold because it brings snow," she said.

"Don't I know it," he muttered, remembering being dragged to play in the snow in the Digital World by Hikari in the past previous months when snow was not so readily available in the real world. He had just taken his first step back to the apartments when he stopped as he heard Hikari's voice.

"Takeru?"

The way Hikari said his name made Takeru turn back to her fast enough to almost give himself whiplash. Hikari was standing stock-still; her eyes looked distant, like she was staring at something beyond what lay before them.

"What is it, Hikari?" he asked, reaching out to touch her face. She gasped at the contact and looked up at him with wild, panicked, unseeing eyes.

"Takeru, help me!" she cried.

His heart shattered at her frightened tone. Before he could say or do anything, Hikari faded away, vanishing into thin air, leaving his outstretched hand to comfort nothing but the vicious cold wind.