Koushiro listened to Takeru's story, as did Mimi. Koushiro only interrupted twice, once when Takeru mentioned the pillar of black and white and the second time when Takeru mentioned how Hana had attacked him, though Mimi thought those had been in surprise most than anything else, because he only asked for clarification before allowing Takeru to continue. "And that's it," Takeru said after he had finished.

Mimi looked at Koushiro to see what he would say, and his eyebrows were furrowed adorably in thought. "Well, despite what Gennai said, I'm going to have to agree with you, Takeru. She has to be a Digidestined." Takeru nodded, not saying anything, but allowing Koushiro to continue. "Furthermore, I believe that she probably has a Crest as well."

Mimi was so surprised that she blurted out, "What?"

"Well, we know that Takeru's powers come from his connection to his Crest," Koushiro explained. "If Hana has powers as well, it would only logically make sense that she would have a connection to a Crest as well."

"That all makes sense," Takeru said. "Though, I do rather think there is a 'but' coming."

"You're right," Koushiro said. "The only solution that I could think of for her being a Digidestined without Gennai knowing about it would be if her D-3 came from someplace such as the Dark World, like where Ken's came from."

"That is not possible!" Takeru said emphatically. Mimi was happy to see him jump so quickly to Hana's defense. "Hana is not evil!"

"I didn't say that," Koushiro said, but didn't get to say much else as Hana opened her eyes wearily and lifted her head off Takeru's shoulder.

She looked around at the people around her before she picked a pencil and wrote on a paper: What's wrong?

"Nothing," Takeru assured her.

"Look," Koushiro said, packing up his computer and standing up. "I'll talk with Gennai again and see if we can come up with some answers. I'll call you tomorrow."

Mimi followed him to the door and let him out, but not before telling him she'd call him sometime to go out again, if he wanted to. He agreed and left out the door. Mimi came back into the living room area and asked, "So what are you guys going to do now?"

Takeru glanced down at Hana for a moment, before looking back up at her. "I'm not really sure," he said with mild frustration underlining his voice. "I guess I could go over to the guys' apartment on the off chance that one of them might be able to recognize her." He ran a hand through his hair. "It just doesn't make any sense," he muttered.

"I'll go pack some things for you to take with you for Hana," Mimi said before walking back into her bedroom. She picked up the things she had thrown out of her closet earlier and folded them neatly into a bag. She went into the bathroom and picked out an extra comb and other things that she thought Hana would need and packed those into the bag.

She went back out the bathroom and handed the bag toward her friends who were standing idly in the hallway. Takeru took the bag and reached for the white beanie that Hana had been wearing when she arrived. Mimi laid her hand on his arm to stop him. "No way are you putting that on her and messing up her hair that I spent so long on," she told him firmly. "Wait right here."

She ran back into her room for the items she was looking for. She came back with an elegant long white coat with matching gloves, a pair of white earmuffs, and white fur boots. She handed Takeru the coat, who helped Hana into it. She handed the gloves to Hana for the girl to put on herself, before carefully placing the ear muffs over her head, careful not to mess up the bun that she had made. She'd rather not have her wear them, but Takeru probably would have put up a fuss about the girl getting cold. Boys just did not understand that sometimes you had to suffer to pull off a good look. But Takeru had an overprotective streak in him, which Mimi had sort of found amusing, giving how much he used to complain about Yamato's hovering.

She handed Hana the boots, which the girl pulled on. Hana gave her a small smile and nod. "You're welcome," Mimi said, interpreting the look and guessed she got it right when Hana brightened a little more.

"Thanks, Mimi," Takeru said, adding his gratitude. "Do you mind if I come back for this later?" he asked, pointing to the extra coat that Hana had worn over to the apartment.

"Not at all," Mimi said, smiling brightly. "Don't be a stranger now," she added. "You can bring this darling girl over any time you want." Hopefully, they would come and she could further "the plan". Takeru and Hana left the apartment, hustling out back into the cold December air, leaving Mimi to come up with more ideas that she could use to get them together.

Yamato answered the door to his apartment to find his brother and a rather elegant-looking pretty girl standing outside it. The sight and idea that his brother was bringing a girl that Yamato didn't know over to his apartment kind of stunned him for a minute. Takeru smiled, a sort of amused understanding in his eyes, and asked, "Are you going to let us in?"

Yamato shook off his shock and, with a shake of his head, said, "Yeah, sorry."

Takeru stepped inside, with the girl following him. "So, I'm guessing you don't know Hana, right?" he asked as he took off his coat and then helped the girl out of hers.

"Who?" Yamato asked.

Before Takeru could answer, Sora walked up to them and said, "I thought I heard your voice, Takeru." She looked at the girl, who was carefully removing the earmuffs from her head and added, "Since that outfit has Mimi written all over it, I'm guessing this is what you needed help with this morning."

"Yes," Takeru said, smiling a rather strange smile, one Yamato hadn't seen on him, as he looked at the girl. "This is Hana. Hana, this is my brother, Yamato and his girlfriend, Sora."

Hana gave a small shy smile and nodded her head at them. Then she did the oddest thing. She turned to Takeru and pulled on his sleeve and made a strange gesture with her hand, almost like she was writing in the air. Yamato had no idea what she was doing, but apparently Takeru understood it completely as he said, "I'll get you some paper, I promise." Hana nodded, giving a bright smile to Takeru.

Yamato exchanged a glance with Sora and saw that she was equally confused about this behavior. "Takeru, what—" he began to ask, but was stopped when Taichi called loudly from the living, "Why are you taking so long, guys? Bring the kid in here already!"

Yamato rolled his eyes at his best friend as he heard Sora give a long-suffering sigh. Takeru chuckled softly, while Hana glanced around at them looking a little perplexed. "Our leader calls," Yamato said with mild sarcasm.

He turned to lead the way into the living area, but didn't miss that Takeru took Hana's hand before walking behind them. As they came into view of Taichi, his best friend had the oddest reaction when his eyes zeroed in on the girl. He jerked slightly, as if in shock, as his eyes narrowed and he asked, rather harshly, "Who is that?"

Sora went over and swatted his bushy-haired head before she said, "Taichi, don't be rude!"

Taichi rubbed the back of his head and glared at Sora before standing up. He walked over to where they stood, but his eyes didn't make contact, which Yamato found to be extremely odd behavior for their fearless leader. "Sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean…it's just that…" He made a sound of disgust, which Yamato thought was more directed at himself than anyone else, which made sense because Taichi was hardly out of words like he seemed to be right now. "Never mind," he finally said, lifting his eyes and raising a hand towards Hana. "I'm Taichi. Sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to be rude."

Hana glanced cautiously at Takeru who nodded at her before she held out her own hand back to Taichi, who gave it a small shake before turning and walking back to his seat on the couch. She looked nervous as she looked back at Takeru who said, "I promise he's harmless. Mostly, anyway."

"I heard that!" Taichi called out indignantly.

Takeru broke into a laugh, which just shattered the tension in the air. Sora was quick to join in, and even Yamato couldn't resist adding a few chuckles of his own. They all sat down together after Takeru's quick request for a piece of paper and a pencil were fulfilled. He introduced them to Hana and then proceeded to tell the story of how he had found her in the Digital World with no memory and an inability to speak. He told them of the visit to the hospital the day before and how they had let him take her back home to look after her while they tried to find out who she was. "We went to Mimi this morning to get her something else to wear, and I decided to come over her on the slim chance that one of you might have seen her somewhere before," Takeru finished.

"Amnesia?" Sora said, and Yamato could hear the concern in her voice. Sora went over to the girl and surrounded her in her arms. "You poor dear," she said, patting Hana's back. Yamato saw Hana wriggle slightly, but didn't see much else until Sora pulled back and asked, "What is it?"

Hana leaned over to the center table where Takeru had placed the pencil and paper and picked up the writing utensil and began to write. She finished and pointed at it, staring up at Sora. Yamato leaned over to see what she had written. It's okay. I have Takeru now.

Yamato glanced sharply up at his brother, who was smiling at Hana with that same smile he had seen on him earlier and suddenly couldn't stop the smug smile that tugged at his lips as he finally understood. Somehow, his brother, who had never before shown any real interest in any girl before, had inexplicably started to like this girl that he had only just met the previous day.

He exchanged a glance with Sora and saw an understanding smirk on her own face and thought that maybe she had come to the same conclusion as he had. Taichi, on the other hand, was still acting rather odd, almost pointedly ignoring Hana and Takeru, but Yamato caught him giving Hana strange perplexed glances. He was determined to ask him about it as soon as he could.

Sora invited them to stay for dinner, which Takeru agreed to before taking the chance to usher Yamato into the kitchen with her, leaving the other three in the living room. Taichi was still sort of awkwardly not talking, but flipping through some sports magazine, while Takeru and Hana talked, with Hana using the paper and pencil to contribute to the conversation.

"Well, Hana's outfit makes a lot more sense now," Sora said softly once they were in the relative privacy of the kitchen.

Not following where she was going with the conversation, Yamato asked, "What do you mean?"

"Mimi's playing matchmaker, of course," Sora said smiling indulgently at him. "Mimi may love fashion and dressing up, but she wouldn't have put Hana in something like that unless she was trying to make a statement to someone."

"Oh," Yamato said. He thought he might know what she was talking about, but thought he'd be better safe than sorry and let her continue.

"He's smitten with her," Sora whispered to Yamato as they prepared dinner. "At first, I was happy, because you know, it was Takeru and if anyone deserves to be happy, it's him with all the stuff he's been through and still keeping that upbeat attitude of his. But now, I'm not so sure."

"Why not?" Yamato asked. He'd been planning to bring up the subject himself, but he was really happy for his brother. Sora was right in that Takeru deserved to be happy. They'd all been through things that no kids should really have to (having the responsibility of saving the worlds on your shoulders was not really a choice after school activity after all), but Takeru had been kidnapped, had his partner destroyed, been attacked by dark powers, and so many more things. Takeru hadn't told anyone else, but he had confided to Yamato a few months ago that he really had thought that he was probably going to die when Daemon attacked him rather than just being sent to the binary plane. Yamato had just about blown a gasket, but Takeru reminded him that it was long over with and he didn't tell him just for Yamato to get mad at him. Yamato had held his temper, but he would never forget how close he had come to losing his brother forever.

"We don't have any idea who she really is," Sora hissed.

"Well, if she was in the Digital World, she is a Digidestined," Yamato reasoned. "So she can't be that bad, right?"

"I guess," Sora said somewhat defeated. "I just…I really care about Takeru. For all intents and purposes, he's my little brother, too. He's been through so much in his life. I don't want him to get hurt, if it turns out this girl is really some kind of…psycho killer or something," she finished, waving her hands around.

Yamato smiled at her jilted logic. "I don't want Takeru to get hurt either," he said. "But I doubt Hana's a psycho killer, you know."

Sora huffed. "You know what I meant," she said exasperatedly. "She could be anybody."

They finished making dinner, and everyone sat down and began to eat. Taichi was surprisingly and disturbingly quiet the whole meal. Hana was quiet as well, though she had brought her paper to the table to contribute, Yamato had to admit that it must be harder to communicate when all you could do was write. At some points she seemed to write things without really looking, just staring at no place in particular. Sora mothered her the whole of dinner, making sure that she got enough to eat and drink, trying to make her comfortable around the table.

While Sora was busy having a mothering moment, Yamato leaned over to Taichi and asked quietly, "Taichi, what's up with you? You're acting like Hana is made of glass and she'll break if you so much as talk to her."

There was a pause and Yamato wondered for a moment if he was going to answer. But then he finally spoke. "I don't know," he said. "It's just the weirdest thing. At first I couldn't place it, but then I realized why she was giving me this strange feeling. She looks so much like my mom that it's almost freaky. I've seen pictures of my mom when she was younger and she looked just like her. And I feel like, because of that, I should know her, you know. But I don't. And it's just the weirdest thing," he repeated giving another wary glance towards the girl.

Yamato looked at Hana again and found himself agreeing with Taichi. Hana did look an awful lot like a younger version of Yuuko Yagami. He found himself puzzling over this, but soon Takeru was saying that he and Hana should get home before it was too late. They were all saying their goodbyes to each other and Yamato didn't have a chance to mention this fact to Takeru before his brother and Hana were out the door and on their way.

Yamato walked back into the table, where Sora was already clearing it off to go wash the dishes with Taichi helping her. His eyes fell on the paper that Hana was writing on and he almost dropped the dishes he was holding when he saw what she had written on one empty space. She had written three names: Takeru, Taichi, Sora. Underneath each one, clearly written were the words: Hope, Courage, Love.

"Takeru?"

Takeru rose from his sleep as the voice, somehow both unknown and yet so strangely, heartbreakingly familiar, spoke his name. He glanced at the clock on the wall above the television, noting that it hadn't even been an hour since he had fallen asleep in the first place. He sat up and glanced at his bedroom door where Hana was standing in a pair of pink pajamas that had Princess written all over the pants.

"Hana?" he asked, but then his mind finally caught up with him. "You can talk?" She nodded slowly. "How long have you been able to?" he asked her.

"Since just now," she said and there was impatience in her voice. "Listen, Takeru. I don't have a lot of time."

Takeru stood quickly and walked over to where she was. He gripped her arms and asked, almost frightened of the answer, "What do you mean?"

"I have to go back," she said and Takeru finally noticed that barely dried tears that trailed her cheeks.

Seeing that, Takeru didn't even bother to ask where she had to go back to. "You have to stay with me," he said and he could hear the pleading note in his own voice.

"I don't belong here," she said her voice breaking as she started shaking her head. "Maybe I did at one point, I still don't know, but I don't now. Not anymore."

"Hana, what are you talking about?"

Fresh tears trailed her cheeks. "The darkness, Takeru," she said. "I can feel it in me. It's what I am. I have to go back to the Dark World. It's where I belong." Her eyes took a faraway look as she continued, "I can hear them. They are pulling me. They need me."

"I need you," Takeru said, knowing perfectly well how irrational that was to say to a girl that he had only known a couple of days, but also knowing that it was the complete truth.

A beautiful smile graced her face and she reached up to touch his cheek. "No, Takeru," she said. "You don't belong there. You are too full of light." Her other hand came to rest on his chest. "I can see it," she whispered wistfully. "So bright. So full of hope." She sighed. "I will never forget your kindness."

"Hana," he said brokenly. He was so confused. He had no idea what she was talking about. He only knew that he did not want her to leave him and go to the Dark World. She had to stay with him.

"Takeru," she breathed his name. She stood up on tiptoe and placed a soft kiss on his lips, just for a moment. But Takeru was shocked enough that when she pulled out of his arms, they just fell away from her. She turned away from him and, before his eyes and before he could reach out for her again, she turned gray and fuzzy, like an old television set, and vanished.