Digimon Adventure: Connections
Chapter 7: Realizations
The sound of pencil lead scribbling against notebook paper filled the silence of Tai's bedroom as Skyy kicked her legs back and forth absent mindedly. She lay on her stomach on Tai's carpet with her notebooks and textbooks splayed around her and headphones lodged in her ears. Tai sat slouched over his desk and by the scratching movement of his own pencil Skyy assumed he was doodling instead of actually doing his homework. As Skyy finished writing the last character in a sentence Tai's door creaked open and his mom's head poked in. Both teens looked at her and she smiled warmly and held out a tray of some brown looking lumps. Cookies, maybe?
"Hey guys, are you hungry? I made some oatmeal cookies," so they were cookies. Strange looking cookies, but cookies nonetheless. Skyy perked up and took out an earphone but Tai made a disturbed face.
"No thanks mom," he said and turned away. Skyy frowned at him and pushed herself off of the ground.
"Don't worry Mrs. Kamiya, I'll have some!" Skyy said brightly and Tai's mom happily handed the plate over to her after sending Tai a glare. When his mom left, Tai gave Skyy and incredulous look.
"You seriously gonna eat those?" he asked. Skyy nodded.
"Why not? Your mom made them, it's not like they're poisoned," Skyy argued. Tai just raised his eyebrows.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," he said, slouching in his chair and crossing his arms. He watched expectantly as Skyy picked up and decently sized lump and took a large bite out of it.
Now Skyy was just as normal as any other person, so she liked sweets. Especially cookies. She enjoyed almost all types of cookies; rarely did she ever dislike them. So she took a large bite expecting nothing more than a very yummy mouthful of oatmeal cookie goodness. Sure they looked funny, but she didn't judge books by their covers. Besides, most home-made oatmeal cookies came out looking like monstrous lumps anyway. But when she took that bite of that one cookie, it was unlike anything she'd ever tasted.
Skyy was quiet and Tai waited for her reaction. She blinked a few times as the taste registered in her mouth.
Then she leaned over and spat the contents of her mouth back on the plate and made a very displeased choking sound. Tai grinned triumphantly.
"Told you," he jeered. Skyy found a tissue and furiously wiped at her tongue.
"What the hell did she bake these with? Tar!" Skyy spat as Tai laughed at her misfortune. He spun around in his chair with an air of righteousness.
"I told you my mom isn't as good a cook as you think, Kari and I have adapted, but you my dear, are still new to this," he said sarcastically. Skyy glared at him.
"Who else have you let her poison?" she asked and she threw out the cookie bits into Tai's trash can.
"Not many, Izzy experienced it once when she made us some beef jerky shakes, but most others were pre-warned and avoided it," Tai said, "and don't throw those there, they'll make my room smell funny."
"Well, I've been warned, I won't make the same mistake," Skyy rolled her eyes and leaned down to continue her homework. Tai picked up his soccer ball with his foot and balanced it on the top of his toes bordly, avoiding returning to his own homework. After a minuet he lightly kicked the ball onto his bed and spun around to face his desk. He slumped over for a bit before sighing dramatically and leaning back in his chair. Skyy grinned to herself, she knew what was coming.
"Hey, do you wanna go out for a bit? Take a breather and walk around, my brain hurts," Tai asked hopefully. Skyy smirked to herself and dropped her pencil.
"Yeah, I'm sick of this, let's go," she said and swiftly leapt to her feet.
They snuck out of Tai's apartment quickly and wandered down to the piers close by. Their apartment building was a part of a group of buildings called the Searea Apartment Complexes in Odaiba that were located between the big Ferris wheel and the beaches to the bay. If one walked down to the beaches across the road they'd reach some piers eventually. Tai and Skyy wandered down and sat themselves at the edge of one empty pier with their legs dangling down over the dark water. It was nighttime now so there was a cool breeze but was warm enough to not have to wear a jacket. The lights of the city danced on the surface of the water and the lone lights on the pier shrouded them in a light spotlight, their silhouettes distorted by the water. Tai had grabbed an handful of stones before and was trying to skip them across the water.
Skyy had thought a lot about telling Tai about her past. And when she realized how close to her he really was she decided it was safe to trust him and tell him what happened. The subject always seemed to worm its ways into simple conversations and every time she'd avoided it. She suspected that Tai had gotten suspicious of her but had decided not to ask further. Skyy knew she had nothing to lose by telling him, and maybe having one person understand would give her some slight weight off of her shoulders. This was mostly the reason she had asked to come over to Tai's house and do homework, because like hell she did it because she actually thought he'd be able to help her with her schoolwork. She'd planned on bringing up the subject but wasn't quite sure how. She wasn't one for starting serious conversations and still had trouble maintaining them. She ran over a bunch of scenarios in her head to bring it up but all seemed for naught and ultimately, just silly.
Skyy kicked her legs back and forth lightly and took a deep breath of the fresh air. They sat quietly for a moment, lost in their own thoughts until Skyy could feel Tai's gaze on her. She heard his voice before she turned to look at him.
"Do you remember when we first met?" he asked. Surprised by the question and a little taken aback, she thought for a moment before a wry smile cracked onto her lips. Her amusement was more for the content of the question then the actual memory. It was a funny question, she thought.
"You mean at school?" she asked. Tai shook his head and looked out at the water thoughtfully.
"No, when we were 11," he said. Skyy winced, trying to remember. Had they met when they were 11? She could only remember meeting him at school. He had been staring her down all period, and then ignored her after. But if they had met before, it would've explained why he'd been staring at her so intently when they met in the classroom. Skyy raked through her brain. 11, when she was 11…a lot had happened that year. She didn't remember meeting anyone. Though speaking of when she was 11, this would be a good chance to bring up what happened to Tai.
The night that started it all back before Skyy had moved to Canada. The night when Skyy had gone to her bedroom alone once again, and the night that her parents got the call from the doctor and rushed out in a flurry. It was the night when her house became forever empty, no matter how many people were inside it. She may have been young, but that hadn't meant she didn't know what was going on.
Then suddenly a memory flickered to the fore front of her mind and she let out a little gasp. "On the balcony! Were you that boy with the garbage bag?" she asked. As she thought of that night she did seem to remember a boy with ridiculously big brown hair pass her when she had wandered outside. A wide grin spread across Tai's face.
"I thought you were such a weird girl, and then when I talked to you, you started bawling," Tai laughed. Skyy smiled.
"Wow…that was you? Well it makes sense, since we moved back into the same apartment we'd lived in previously," Skyy mumbled, "what a coincidence."
"I have to admit though, you scared me a bit, I had no idea what to do so I ran back inside. Then when I saw you come into our classroom a couple months ago I was so sure you were the same girl! But I was still a little weirded out so I didn't think to approach you," Tai laughed nervously. Skyy nodded. Suddenly feeling cold Skyy brought her knees up to her chin and rested her arms around her legs. Tai glanced at her hesitantly. She could instantly guess what he wanted to know.
"You want to know why I was crying?" she asked quietly. Tai hesitated before answering.
"Yeah, but I didn't know if I should ask," he said cautiously. Skyy gave him a small smile.
"It's okay, I planned on telling you anyway," and instantly he perked up, giving her his full attention. She almost wanted to laugh at his obvious eagerness. "I was crying because my sister was sick."
Tai frowned, "sick with what?" Skyy paused before mentally preparing herself to speak.
"Leukemia, she was diagnosed with it when we were in grade 3," Skyy began. "That night, my parents got a call after putting me to bed, she had already been admitted to the hospital at this time, and the doctor told them she suddenly wasn't doing well. I could hear them through my bedroom door and I heard them rush out of the house. After they left I suddenly felt empty and I knew something was wrong.
"Before I knew it I was standing outside the front door, I wasn't even thinking. I didn't know what to think. It was until you talked to me and brought me back to reality that the weight of the situation truly hit me and I just started crying," Skyy spoke softly, and Tai listened quietly. Skyy's eyes flickered to the water as she continued. "I think I knew, somewhere inside myself, I knew she was going to die."
Tai looked at the ground. He looked like he wanted to say something. Apologize or comfort her, but when he didn't she continued, "I kept crying until the cold forced me inside. The next morning my parents came home crying and told me what happened. I lost half of myself that night and even now I'm incomplete," Skyy breathed. The silence of the city night filled their ears after Skyy finished and it somehow seemed surreal.
She waited in silence and let Tai fully understand her story. Several minutes passed before he took a deep breath and asked his next question.
"What is her name?" he asked, almost a whisper. His voice was full of caution and apprehension. He didn't want to tread on any sensitive ground. Skyy just smiled fondly and tears finally stung at her eyes.
"Yuki…her name is Yuki," her breath hitched in her throat as she answered and she suddenly felt like bawling her eyes out. Even her sister's name still had this much affect on her emotions. Skyy took several deep breaths to calm herself and keep herself from crying in front of Tai. She should have known she'd turn out like this if she talked about this with him. She'd told herself she wouldn't become a bumbling idiot but now she couldn't help the large lump that was stuck in her throat. Tai glanced at her before passing an arm over her back and rubbing it fondly, helping her to calm down. "We were twins; we two were exactly the same." She choked.
Tai looked down sadly. "You're sick too aren't you?" he said and Skyy shot her head up to look at him in surprise.
How did he know? Skyy instantly felt a little scared. She hadn't told him, how did he know? "…H-…how?"
"I heard…I heard from some old women after you left that you were sick as well, that's why you moved?" he asked. The conversation was foggy in his brain, but he did remember hearing those old ladies talking about how Skyy's sister had died, and that they moved suddenly. Skyy nodded slowly, gulping down her shock and re-organizing her thoughts.
"Yeah, I was diagnosed with the same disease as Yuki about a month after, just before our 10th birthday. I wasn't as bad as Yuki so I got to stay home. But ever since I had been diagnosed as well our parents wanted to move to a country with better medical resources, so they had been planning the move whilst Yuki was in the hospital. But, she died right before we were to leave," Skyy explained. Tai bit his lip and his face was pinched. He looked…worried? Then Skyy smiled before ruffling his hair reassuringly. "Don't worry; I'm in remission now, which means I'm stable. If I stay in remission until mid September…I'll be cured," Skyy said, her voice getting quieter near the end.
Tai breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, giving her a soft expression, "that's good." Another rush of wind hit them and Skyy shivered. Tai gave her his jacket which took her by surprise but she snuggled into it for warmth anyway. She couldn't help but notice it wasn't as warm as Izzy had been when she sat next to him on the ferris wheel. But she quickly pushed that thought from her mind.
"Is that why you came back? Because you're better?" Tai asked. Skyy made a nonchalant hand gesture and shook her head.
"Sort of, we wanted to come back. As nice as Canada was, we wanted to come back to Japan. I grew up here and I guess my parents thought I would find more comfort here then there," she said. Tai grinned and suddenly reached over to give her a noogie. Skyy yelped and pushed his hands away frantically. Tai laughed when Skyy glared at him and rubbed her sore head.
"Well I'm glad you came back, it's no fun without you here," Tai teased and punches her shoulder lightly. Skyy rolled her eyes and brought his jacket closer around her, fighting down a smile. Tai chuckled again and Skyy rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
"So er- if you don't mind me asking," Tai started, Skyy opened her eyes. "Why do you never want to go home? You always stay behind at school, or stay over at my house until late. Not that I mind or anything, your cool to hang out with, but, don't your parents worry?" Skyy's face drooped a little.
"It's….hard being at home," she sighed.
"Why?"
"My…parents…ever since Yuki they're just so….over protective. It's suffocating!" Skyy said. "And because they're so busy being protective of me they don't take the time to actually get to know me. The other day my mom bought be grape juice because she said it was my favorite, when it isn't, I don't even like grape juice. Just little things like this, they don't know. No one does because they're too scared to deal with me because they think I might break or something."
Tai listened as Skyy got slightly more heated with her explanation. "Only Yuki knew that stuff, I'm sure my parents understood us more back then but it's gotten to the point where I don't remember them being any different just because they've treated me this way for so long now. Dinner is always silent and awkward and I never talk to them anymore because it's frustrating dealing with them. I know they care, but it's too much and I really wish they'd just stop looking at me like some weak, sick thing that they are scared of yet feel the need to fiercely protect," Skyy huffed. "So in short, I just avoid them because that's the easiest way to deal with them…"
"Oh…well your still free to come over whenever if you feel too, uh, suffocated," Tai grinned. Skyy gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Thanks Tai."
Suddenly she felt a weight lift off of her shoulders. He had taken it well and didn't end up annoying her with too many questions. Though she had assumed he wouldn't which was another factor to why she had decided to talk to him about her sister. She felt at ease, she felt she'd done the right thing. Leaving him in the dark for too long would make it awkward if she'd told him a lot later down the road. Skyy slowly looked up at him, he was looking out at the water calmly. Skyy frowned.
"You won't tell anyone, right?" she asked in a small voice. Tai grinned and winked at her.
"Not a chance kid," he smiled boyishly which caused Skyy to smile in reaction. She nodded in response and put her head back on his shoulder. He may not be as warm as Izzy, but it was still comforting.
Was this what it was like to have a brother? She wondered.
Skyy smiled.
She didn't mind the feeling.
Tai stared at his white ceiling as he pushed his soccer ball up into the air only to catch it, and then throw it up again continuously. Skyy had left about half an hour before and he was left to contemplate that night in silence. His mind ran over what Skyy had told him about her sister but somehow, things didn't seem to click. He sighed and frowned.
He had already known she'd had a sister who died, and that she was sick as well, though he admitted that information had always been at the far end of his thoughts. And it was nice to hear it all in detail from her own mouth. It told him that she was comfortable sharing this information with him. And she also trusted him enough for him not to tell anyone. And he wouldn't. It wasn't his business to tell. He was just glad she'd told him out of choice instead of him dragging it out of her unwillingly.
But even with all the detail in her story, there was still something off, he felt. He had been a little concerned with Skyy's behavior since the first time they met. It was only occasionally, but it was like she gave off warning signals and they told him to back off and not butt in. He couldn't help but be worried.
Things like how she'd freaked out when she'd first gone to the Digital World. Why had she said she couldn't do it? She said there were circumstances in her life that she had to consider. She said she couldn't get into anything "too deep right now", well what the hell did that mean? The story she'd told him didn't answer that question.
Also, when they had been talking about her crest virtue, she had reacted oddly when he'd told her she had the crest of life. She'd said that she didn't want such a terrible power and then she'd gone on about it being better to die quickly. Living in this twisted world was terrible, she'd said. Also when she had been talking to him tonight, he'd had an feeling that she wasn't telling him everything. There was something she was still keeping to herself and he wondered what was so different about it that it meant she couldn't tell him. He didn't like it. None of this related to one another and Tai still had a bad feeling in his gut.
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. She wasn't telling him something. Something that needed to be known. It wasn't that he was butting in or trying to pry, but this seemed to be something much bigger then she let off and Tai just didn't like it. He wanted to know. He wanted to know what was going on in her head. Otherwise this dirty feeling in his gut would plague him. He bit his lip and shoved his ball a little too hard and it slammed loudly into the ceiling. Tai caught it and gripped it tightly for a second before allowing his hands to fall slack and letting the ball roll off on to the ground. He heard footsteps and then Kari softly opened his door.
"nii-chan, Is something wrong?" she asked, a hint of worry in her voice, "We heard a loud banging sound."
Tai sat up and smiled softly at his younger sister. "It's nothing, Kari. Don't worry, I'm fine. I just threw my ball too hard." He reassured her and she hesitated before nodding once.
"Okay," and she closed the door again. Tai lay back down and closed his eyes. He didn't even want to comprehend what it would be like if Kari had died from a disease, or from anything. He didn't even want to think about it. He thought he'd go crazy with grief and become deranged or something. Then suddenly something clicked in his brain. He bolted up and stared blankly ahead of himself.
Skyy had been like that. She said she'd lost apart of herself and it has never come back. Could this strange feeling he had about her be related to her sister's death in some way? Tai suddenly felt scared. Somehow he got a gut reaction that he wouldn't like what Skyy was hiding. He got a strange and cold sensation and it made him feel scared.
He needed to know.
Now.
Skyy had never been out for a "girls day", as Mimi described it, before. But from what she gathered, it consisted of continuous walking and perusing through shops accompanied with countless incompetent gossiping.
Mimi had come to Japan from America for the week to visit and not having seen Skyy in a long time she insisted on having a day just for girls along with Sora. Kari would have come as well but she was on a school trip to Kyoto. Skyy walked to the sounds of heels clacking against the pavement next to her and Mimi's obnoxious voice filling most of their conversations for long periods of time.
Skyy didn't have anything against the bright, pinkette haired girl, but she sure could talk. "Oh! We just have to go in here I haven't been in this store in ages!" Mimi squealed, stopping mid sentence when she recognized a store. She sped inside before they could discuss it further and Sora laughed as they followed her in. it was a clothing store, no surprise there, and had a lot of Japanese branded fashions. They must not have had them in America, Skyy assumed.
Skyy wasn't really partial to shopping. She was the kind of girl who only went shopping when she desperately needed to and didn't spend much time doing so. She went in, found what she needed and got out of there. After about half an hour she'd start to get cranky. But obviously Mimi was the opposite. She seemed to live in clothing stores and would spend several minutes with one outfit going over all the different aspects about it and inspecting every inch of it to make sure it suited her and looked good from every single angle imaginable. If it didn't, it was off in a second and the next one was thrown on. And when Mimi shopped she liked to try on many clothes.
Skyy slumped in a chair as she waited and tried her best to give feedback for Mimi. It was mostly Sora who paid attention and would help Mimi to figure out whether the outfits she tried on were a yay or a nay. As Sora leaned up against the closed change room with a few shirts draped over her arm she eyed Skyy as the blonde sat with her head in her hands, not trying at all to hide her bored expression. Sora smirked and snorted a small laugh.
"If you're bored you can just say so Skyy," she laughed and Skyy looked up at her as if she'd been snapped out of a deep train of thought.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize I was being obvious," Skyy said wryly. Sora shrugged.
"Don't worry, some people just aren't the shopping type, we can go get some lunch after this," Sora offered. Skyy perked up at that.
"Oh! Can we go to that small café down the street! I haven't been there in ages!" Mimi piped up from inside the change room. The two girls outside laughed.
"Sure, whatever you want Meems," Sora rolled her eyes. Skyy eyeballed the pile of clothes that was in Mimi's to-buy pile.
"Why are you buying so many clothes Mimi, do you really need this much?" Skyy asked, lifting up one shirt only to drop it back onto the pile.
"Of course! I need to be up with the latest fashions to impress the boys, and to make girls jealous of me!" Mimi said dramatically like it was her job. Skyy raised her eyebrows. This girl definitely wasn't a modest thinker.
"Mimi's addicted to boys, she must always be dressed to impress," Sora joked. Skyy nodded. "For me though, I prefer the friendly approach, the best way to get a guy is to become his friend first right?" Sora said as a fond smile splayed over her lips. Skyy looked at her curiously.
"Is that so?" Skyy muttered. Mimi suddenly popped her head out over the door.
"I know a couple of really cute American guys! I can introduce you Skyy!" Mimi said excitedly. Skyy scrunched her nose. Sora made a distasteful sound.
"Why would she want to date someone who lives on the other side of the planet?" Sora scolded and Mimi shrugged her shoulders, going back to changing. After a few more minutes Mimi changed back into her regular clothes and brought her haul to the counter to pay for it all. Sora leaned on the counter casually as they waited and looked upwards thoughtfully.
"Now if we were to get a guy for Skyy, he'd have to be cool. What kinds of boys do you like Skyy?" Sora asked. Skyy almost groaned. Did they insist on continuing this conversation?
"I don't care about relationships," Skyy sniffed and Sora frowned.
"That's no good," he said as if she had a bad taste in her mouth. "A good boyfriend means the world to a girl. The feeling of being in love is priceless," she said dreamily. Skyy almost gagged.
"Why do you two care about boys so much anyway, love can't be all the great," Skyy muttered. Sora held up and finger and gave her a serious expression.
"Oh but it is!" she insisted. "Love is a very extreme emotion! And one of the best! Sure it can cause pain, okay extreme pain, but when you're in love, nothing else matters except you and the one you love and you can't begin to describe the feeling of being a part of something so special and deep with someone else who feels the exact same!" Sora explained with her hands clasped together. Mimi whipped around as the cashier bagged her purchases.
"Yes! To be in love and be loved back is the spice of life! We're given these emotions to feel more alive right? They drive us to dream and do things we wouldn't do otherwise and therefore we are given countless opportunities to taste what it feels like to be truly alive! Doesn't it just get you excited? Love is what every girl drives for!" Mimi added passionately. Skyy stared at them with wide eyes. They were hopeless. Skyy shook her head.
"You guys are crazy," she said. And Sora shrugged.
"You'll understand one day dear," she sighed and patted Skyy's shoulder. Skyy raised an eyebrow and folded her arms.
"Oh? You say that like you've experienced it, or are experiencing it?" she asked slyly and Sora turned pink. She coughed and removed her hand.
"I'm not saying anything," she said tersely. Skyy grinned. Oh, what Tai would do if he was the one Sora liked? But Skyy wouldn't pry, she didn't see any reason to if Sora wasn't going to say it anyway. As Mimi grabbed her bags and pulled them off the counter Sora suddenly gasped as if she'd just had an epiphany. Skyy and Mimi looked at her expectantly.
"What if Skyy was to date Izzy!" she squealed. Mimi looked confused and Skyy's jaw dropped. What the hell! How had she come to that!
"Wait, didn't you just say if Skyy was to date someone, he'd need to be cool?" Mimi asked. Sora nodded.
"Oh yeah," she mumbled. Skyy frowned, suddenly feeling defensive. She wanted to argue back but instead she remained silent and just waited for Sora to continue. "I just thought because you two usually hang around each other a lot," the red head said airily.
"We do not," Skyy said quickly. Sora laughed.
"Well, you hang around him much more than the rest of us, I'm feeling left out," Sora feigned being hurt and Skyy rolled her eyes.
"I didn't know my presence was of such high value to you," Skyy said sarcastically. Sora grinned. Mimi put a finger to her cheek in thought as she listened to the two of them.
"Y'know, that's not such a bad thing," she said. Both Skyy and Sora looked at her. Realizing their confusion Mimi quickly perked up and explained. "I mean, well Izzy's not the most popular guy I have to admit. And with his personality he's a little hard to understand at first," Mimi began awkwardly. Sora nodded.
"Yeah I guess. I hate to say this but I probably wouldn't have ended up being his friend if it wasn't for what happened to us in the Digital World. He was just another really smart kid and because of that he seemed hard to approach. So most never really tried," Sora said a little sadly. Mimi looked sad too.
"Yeah, I probably wouldn't have given him a second glance…but once you get to know him it's really different!" she smiled brightly. "He was so smart and independent that it sort of warded people off, but now he's really changed! He's a really honest guy and he's nice to everyone," Mimi went on. Skyy raised an eyebrow. When did this turn into a conversation about Izzy's personality? But as she thought about it, what they had said about him seemed true. If she hadn't first gotten to know him because of the Digital World, she probably would have avoided him since on the outside he seemed intimidating because of how smart and straight forward he was. Skyy thought about how she acted with him now and vice versa and smiled to herself.
"I can see that," she piped up and Sora and Mimi turned their heads to look at her. Skyy jumped slightly under their gaze but continued. "Well, you said he was hard to approach and alone a lot when you were younger, so I think now that he's changed, when feelings do arise, like anger or joy, he's able to express them a lot more openly and honestly. And I feel like he would never hide or lie about his feelings, he's a very genuine person," the words tumbled out of her mouth as she spoke even though she had personally never thought about Izzy in such detail before. But as her own words registered in her mind she found herself wholly agreeing with them. Not that she was an expert in analyzing people, most likely the opposite if anything, but she felt most certain that her opinions of Izzy were correct. Lost in her thoughts Skyy didn't realize the silent and sly looks her friends were giving her. When Skyy finally looked over at them she jumped at their curling smiles.
"Ah, you must know him well then?" Sora asked and she flashed her teeth at Skyy in a grin. Skyy felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. She huffed and crossed her arms.
"Think nothing of it, it was just an observation, that's all," Skyy quipped and Sora poked her side annoyingly.
"You're very observant then aren't you?" she grinned. Mimi nodded in agreement. Both girls where grinning like Cheshire cats and Skyy glared at them with all her might. Sora finally sighed and waved her hand in the air as if to toss the unsaid accusations from the air.
"Well anyway, it's not like Izzy's ever paid much attention to girls anyway, always on his computer," she said, shrugging. Immediately Mimi pointed a finger in the air.
"But, I have noticed, since the last time I saw him, or should I say, since Skyy has joined the group, he's become a lot more alert and focused," she said. Sora quirked an eyebrow.
"And he wasn't before?"
Mimi shook her head, "that's not what I mean," she said. "He's become a lot more, I don't know, involved or something. He's been participating in a lot more social events with us then before, I don't know if Skyy did something but it's like he seems more eager to leave his computer and spend time with us then before," she explained and Sora nodded.
"Ah, I guess so, when I think about it I guess he has changed a little since Skyy joined," Sora said brightly. They both looked at Skyy expectantly as if she had some sort of opinion on the subject. Skyy just looked at them for a moment before shrugging.
"It's just because I'm some special key to saving the Digital World, that's the only reason he cares," she said bordly. Though she knew it was true, this seemed to truly disappoint her. She couldn't help it and didn't know exactly the source of the disappointment. But she felt almost hurt by her own words, as odd as that was. Both of her companions frowned is disapproval.
"I don't think so miss," Sora said wryly and suddenly her cell phone began filtering a popular Japanese pop song and she quickly rummaged through her purse to get it out. Mimi and Skyy waited patiently to see who was calling their friend and Sora's face lit up when she heard the recipient's voice.
"Matt! What's up?" she greeted brightly. Mimi and Skyy leaned a little closer to see if they could hear what Matt was saying but his voice was muffled and hard to hear. Sora leaned her phone away from the girls, scowling at them as if she was scolding them for eavesdropping with her eyes. Then her scowl disappeared.
"The computer room? Now?" she asked. She paused as she listened before replying. "Ok sure, we'll get there as quick as we can, don't leave without us!" she sang and shut off her phone. Mimi and Skyy looked at her curiously before she relayed what Matt had said. "He wants us all to come to the computer lab at school. Izzy found a cluster of suspicious seekers and he wants to get rid of them quickly. There are a lot so he needs a lot of us, are you up for it Skyy?" Sora asked, looking at Skyy. Skyy nodded in reply and Sora put her phone away.
The three girls quickly changed route and traveled towards the train station. They were in the Harajuku district so they took the train as far as they could until they had to take a taxi to go across Rainbow Bridge and into Odaiba. When they finally reached the computer lab in the elementary school they were the last ones to arrive. Mimi dropped all of her shopping bags onto a desk and slumped into a chair, fanning herself.
"Remind me not to buy so much next time," she breathed in a tired voice. Sora raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"Would that stop you from buying more?"
Mimi grinned, "Probably not."
When Skyy wandered into the room she was surprised to see almost everyone there, minus Kari unfortunately. Everyone looked ready to go and as she scanned all of them her eyes fell onto Izzy sitting in his computer chair with his face pinched in concentration as usual.
She didn't know why, maybe it was because they had been talking about him not so long ago, but a jolt suddenly went through her chest. She quickly hugged her arms around her mid-section as if to smother the feelings by using physical force and she refused to step closer to him. Izzy stood up swiftly and everyone halted their chatters to listen to him.
As per usual he explained the plan to them before they left. This specific group of digimon was on their way toward Primary village and from what Izzy understood they were looking there for eternal life and would destroy the place to ashes until they found it, which he knew they wouldn't. They were to go in and take them by surprise to gain any sort of upper hand right from the beginning. Then to keep that upper hand Skyy was to use Pleomon, who was conveniently already in the Digital World, and launch a series of multiple attacks to hit more than one seeker and break the barriers before they had chances to attack. Then the rest were to attack straight away and get rid of the seekers with a series of continuous barrage attacks. They had to be quick so the seeker digimon would be unable to react and attack back any deadly blows. This was the biggest group of seekers for them to attack to date and they couldn't mess up. And if they pulled this off, then they'd be one step closer to becoming strong enough to defeat the large darkness in the middle of the Digital World.
Everyone understood the plan and in a second the eight of them zoomed through the portal in the computer screen. Skyy felt like she hadn't been to the Digital World in a while so the taste of a battle with Pleomon was a little more exciting than normal. They all met up with their digimon quickly and they digivolved to their Champion levels. They were just outside the range of the seekers and decided to move in quickly to avoid detection. Izzy mapped out the most ideal route and they all mounted their digimon and set off. Skyy clutched on to Hotarumon's fur as she leapt through the air.
Hotarumon didn't exactly fly, like one with wings would, but instead she sort of leapt from air current to air current. She used the currents to leap through the air gaining altitude and riding the winds forward. Skyy got used to the jerky motions when riding on her digimon's back and it almost felt as natural to her now as riding a bike.
The group reached the seekers within the minute and Skyy and Hotarumon were first to make their move. Pleomon leapt up as high as she could in the air and seemed to survey the seekers from a bird's eye view. Skyy counted. About 27 seekers. That was a lot. She felt a little nervous but when she heard Hotarumon's growl of excitement her nervousness seemed to disappear. In a second Hotarumon rushed forward and it almost felt like they were freefalling until she was about a meter from the ground and she suddenly jumped onto a low air current. She sped forward and launched a series of fireballs from her throat at the seekers. As she delivered the attacks she darted straight into the crowd of digimon and darted between them like a fish, making sure each and every seeker got hit with one attack.
Though it didn't do much damage to them individually, their barriers came down with each attack and as soon as each seeker had been hit Hotarumon jumped from current to current back up into the air until she was high enough to be out of range. She completed all of this in about the span of 10 seconds and was huffing for breath as she rode the wind in the air. Skyy sat in shock at her partners speed and her fingers felt numb from clutching Hotarumon's fur so tightly the whole time. If she'd let go or loosened her grip for even a second she would have been screwed. Hotarumon laughed a throaty laugh.
"Didn't scare you there did I, Skyy?" she teased and Skyy frowned.
"You did not! Just surprised me is all!" she huffed in retort and Hotarumon laughed again. Down below the rest if the digidestined had already started landing blows to the surprised and confused seeker digimon and a mass of explosions could be heard as the attacks made contact. When Hotarumon caught her breath she leapt down and helped them with her own attacks.
It was strange though. Skyy had always gotten the feeling from every single digimon she'd ever met that they had souls, that they were alive. And she never doubted that they weren't. But when they fought these seekers, it was different. They didn't seem to have any life in them at all. Almost like puppets. Sure they moved and acted like they were alive, but Skyy felt no soul in them, no spark of life at all. Almost like they were defeating inanimate objects. She always got that vibe from them. She wondered if the others felt like that too.
Skyy gripped on tightly as Hotarumon used up all her strength to battle and it got to the point where her fingers and knuckles had started going white. Skyy bit her lip hard and Hotarumon span around to launch some fireballs at an enemy. Izzy had been right; this was proving to be very difficult. All the digimon tried their best and launched attack after attack without stopping. To Skyy the battle seemed to last hours but then again before she knew it, it was over and all the digidestined stood on high alert with their digimon ready for the defense. They stood silently in a cloud of smoke and the wind slowly blew it away to reveal all eight children.
There were no seekers in sight, which meant they'd all disintegrated. They all paused, just looking at each other before Tai leapt up into the air, yelling gleefully. "We did it! We did it guys!" he cheered boyishly and everyone broke out into smiles and grins. Their digimon de-digivolved and collapsed onto the ground, some falling instantly asleep from how tired they were. Pleomon curled around Skyy's shoulders and lay down, rubbing her cheek affectionately against Skyy's face.
"We beat them!" her digimon sing-songed tiredly. Skyy smiled fondly and patted her on the head. Everyone erupted into cheers and some, mainly Tai, were jumping up and down triumphantly.
"This is great! At this rate we can defeat the darkness in no time!" Izzy said, breathlessly excited. Tai wandered over and slapped Skyy over the back and laughed.
"That was awesome kid! Great work out there!" he said. Skyy smiled.
"I'm hardly a kid to you mister, and it was Pleo, not me," she said rolling her eyes. Tai just shrugged.
"Say what you want, I still think you did awesome!" he said and just then Sora rushed over and grabbed Skyy's hands, followed closely by Mimi.
"Thank you so much Skyy! You and Hotarumon were amazing at the start; because you were so fast we were able to beat them quickly!" Sora said and pulled Skyy into a hug. Skyy squeaked in surprise but lightly hugged her back. She couldn't help but feel they were false complements. Hotarumon was the one who fought and did all the work…she just hung on. Sora giddily squeezed Skyy's hands and jumped up and down like an elementary school kid. Skyy's arms waggled about like noodles but she just laughed at the red head.
Then suddenly, it hit her like a wave. Almost like she had been suddenly submerged in some strange whirlpool and it squished her insides around. Skyy's stomach squirmed nauseously and she felt like she was going to be sick. Her breathing became incredibly shallow and hoarse and her head felt light and empty. Spots clouded her vision and before she knew it she was on her knees and Sora and Mimi and screamed in fright.
Skyy felt like lead and fell to the ground like a rock. She landed on her knees and used her hands to prop herself up. The black and white spots created blind spots and her head began to spin. She suddenly felt a pair of warms hands wrap around her shoulders and assumed it was Tai. But, the hands were so warm…could they be?
"Skyy? What's wrong? Skyy are you okay?" his voice sounded distant and muffled to her ears and she gulped for air. After taking about half a dozen deep breaths she shakily sat up and raised her hand.
"I-I…I'm okay, I just felt a little dizzy," she lied. This definitely wasn't a case of dizziness. She closed her eyes for a minute and the fogginess started to clear about as quickly as it had come. Her nausea slowly faded to a light gurgle and her head became clearer. Izzy's worried face came into view and Skyy couldn't help but turn a bit pink. She leaned a little bit away from him and averted her gaze. "Really, I'm fine," she said. Izzy furrowed his eyebrows together.
"Maybe that was a little too much excitement for you? You should see the doctor just in case when we go back," he said. The way he said it made it seem more like an order then a suggestion though. Skyy just nodded in reply and inwardly groaned at what her parents' reactions would be. But she agreed with Izzy, maybe a visit to the doctor wasn't such a bad idea.
Skyy moved to stand up and Izzy let her use him as a crutch of sorts. She was a little shaky but the lead-like feeling from before had left and she felt normal again. But she stumbled about halfway and Izzy quickly jumped to catch her weight. The force of his grip caused her sleeve to slide up and he froze when the multitudes of bruises on her arm were revealed.
A chorus of gasps filtered around them as everyone saw Skyy's exposed arm. Skyy's eyes widened and she quickly tried to pull her sleeve down, but Izzy's grip was stone cold. Tai then lurched and grabbed her hand with quite a bit of force.
"What the hell is that!" he spat. Skyy bit her lip. Shit. They weren't supposed to see this, she was supposed to be more careful then that. Skyy turned and glared at Tai and yanked her arm away.
"I said I'm fine, it's just a few bruises from the battle. I bruise easily that's all," she said quickly and shoved her sleeve down to her fingers. Tai took a deep breath and looked at her sternly for a moment. The atmosphere became tense and everyone stood silent, not wanting, or daring to say anything. Izzy then straightened up and took a breath.
"Well, we'll have to take better care of you then won't we?" he teased lightly and touched Skyy's back carefully. Skyy felt relieved but Izzy's eyes, as well as Tai's and everyone else's still looked clouded. She looked to the ground.
"Yeah, sorry to be so much trouble, I'll be leaving early," Skyy muttered and walked away from the group. She headed towards the portal they had come through. Pleomon, who had fallen off when Skyy had collapsed, sat in shock on the ground before finally collecting herself and following hesitantly after Skyy. A look of hurt and fright was etched over the small digimon's features.
The rest of the seven kids stood silent, still in shock. Tai's burning gaze followed Skyy as she walked further away. He looked at the ground and clenched his fists tightly, out of anger and frustration. He then nodded to himself and quickly bound after her. He caught up pretty quickly, for having long legs, and caught her shoulder lightly. Skyy turned around and gave him a very disgruntled expression.
"What? I said I was fine," she said angrily. Tai sighed and tried to calm his temper. He paused and looked at her for a moment. He leaned forward hesitantly and whispered to her.
"You're sure it's not…it's not anything to do with you being sick right?" he asked. And then she understood. He was only worried about her. A smile tugged at her lips and she rolled her eyes.
"Well gee, if you were worried you didn't need to yell," she said bluntly and Tai backed up, frowning.
"Sorry, I have a bit of a temper sometimes, but who would be able to stand seeing all those bruises on you? What happened?" Tai asked. Skyy glanced at her covered arm and sighed in defeat.
"I don't quite know, I think I really do bruise easily. These weren't here before, it must have been the battle," Skyy assumed. Tai eyed her arm and grimaced.
"You need to be more careful then," he said softly, and Pleomon piped up in agreement. Skyy just smiled and ruffled his hair playfully. She gave him the most reassuring smile she could.
"I'll be fine, don't let the others worry. At this rate they might think I'm being beaten or something stupid like that," she chuckled dryly and shrugged. Tai nodded in reply. "But I think I will go to the doctor, my parents might faint if I don't," she mused. She then waved goodbye to the worried brunette and trotted off to the portal, zipping on ahead of them with Pleomon. She figured she'd have to call him again to tell him she was fine and there would be nothing wrong with her.
Because she knew there was nothing wrong with her.
She just bruised easily.
Skyy sat with a blank expression on the hospital bed with her legs dangling limply over the sides. She looked at the pale, tiled ground and couldn't seem to think of anything at the moment except, so I'm in this place again, huh?
Her mom and dad stood close together with wary and tired expressions. Skyy had told them about the bruises when she'd returned home with Pleomon and after a bunch of hysterics from her mother they managed to get the bus to the hospital and had a check up with Skyy's old doctor that her and Yuki visited when they'd lived in Japan. He was experienced with their cases and her parents trusted him the most.
So after they'd arrived the doctor took a look at her bruises and prodded her here and there a bit, making a diagnosis. And with the sight of the amount of bruises Skyy's mother went into another fit of hysteria. After she'd calmed down the doctor explained that he wanted to do a few more tests on her because the bruises were a little suspicious. So after Skyy had gone through about four or five physical and blood tests she sat now waiting for the results in the small doctor's office.
She swung her legs back and forth lightly out of boredom and glanced around the bleak room. Suddenly the door clicked open and Skyy's parents were on high alert. The doctor strode in with a pile of reports and silently took a seat at the desk across from the bed. The small family looked at him expectantly and Skyy's face faltered a bit when she saw the pained expression on the doctor's face. The silence was piercing as everyone held in their breaths.
The doctor folded his hands slowly and then glanced up at Skyy, who flinched lightly under the man's gaze. "So we have run the tests and the results…" he paused and Skyy heard her mother whimper lightly.
…
"Are negative I'm afraid…Skyy has come out of her previous remission and new cancer cells seem to have appeared in her blood system." He finally finished. His statement was like a cutting knife and Skyy's mom gave out a cry and hid her face into Skyy's father's chest. Skyy felt frozen and she stared blankly ahead of her, not seeing anything.
"It seems to be a return of the previous cancer, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, now we can start treatments right away with some standard chemotherapy with injections of prednisone, L-asparaginase, and vincristine about every month. As well as some intensification therapy to eliminate any remaining cells," the doctor began.
"But we did all that before! We've even attended the appointments for two years now so she can take the drugs to make sure it doesn't come back! Why is it now that it's coming back after she's been well for so long!" her mother sobbed and the doctor looked apologetic.
"Because she is a relapse case, we'll have to take extra precaution, in which at this point in time I'd offer a chance of an Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant surgery if we are still unable to get rid of all the leukemia in Skyy's body," the doctor offered slowly. Her mother let out a loud wail again and the doctor turned to face Skyy. "What are your thoughts on this Skyy?" he asked. Skyy opened her mouth a crack but nothing came out. The doctor waited and when she didn't say anything he nodded to himself and stood up from his chair. He excused himself to allow them to make a decision and slipped out of the small room.
Skyy's mother collapsed into a chair and covered her face with her hands and was mumbling something over and over again. It was muffled but it sounded something like, "not again, not again."
Skyy stood up shakily. "Bathroom," she muttered and quickly walked over to the small bathroom in the room and shut herself inside. She paused before slipping down the door slowly until she was on her knees. How could this happen? All of a sudden? She had been healthy for so long…she was almost officially cured.
Just… just was was she going to tell her friends?
What was she going to tell Tai?
Her heart lurched in fear.
Her ears perked when she heard her parents talking on the other side of the door. She leaned her face against it in order to clearly make out what they were saying.
"We never should have left Canada," her mother was saying, or sobbing more like it. Her father made a sound as if he disagreed with her.
"You know you don't mean that. Don't tell me you haven't noticed our daughter lately," her father said. Her mother sighed deeply.
"Yes…yes I have," Skyy frowned. What did they mean? What were they talking about? She shifted her position so she was more comfortable.
"She's changed. I mean she cheered up a little when we were in Canada, but since coming back here, she's opened up so much," her father said fondly.
"Yes…she has friends now; she's going out with other girls and studying together with classmates. And she seems close to that Kamiya boy. Who would've known?" her mother replied.
"Yeah, I don't know what they did but it's like…they fixed her. She smiles and laughs now and she talks to us more."
Skyy stood rigid at the door.
"She's becoming the girl she used to be, the bright and happy child we used to know," her father continued. She felt her mother shift.
"Maybe, do you think she's getting over it? Maybe, she's accepting that Yuki died?"
Skyy's body stilled at those words. Her breath caught and all of her limbs turned ice cold.
Accept?
…
Accept?
How dare they. How dare she. How could she ever accept Yuki's death? Skyy sat in shock as a few tiny words whispered in her subconscious.
What they were saying. It was true.
As she listened to them she realized she had changed, she had brightened up. She had made friends.
Skyy almost choked.
Why? Why did she do that? Had she really forgotten? How could she do this to herself? She wasn't supposed to make friends. She wasn't supposed to forget.
She wasn't supposed to make any connections. Yet that's exactly what she did. She'd become close to Tai and his friends and she'd had a good time and forgotten her promise, to herself, and to her sister.
She had been planning everything from the very beginning. She had leukemia, she was going to die, and she had accepted that long ago, before she'd even gone into remission. That's why she'd told herself she wouldn't make any more worldly connections. To see her sister again, that was her goal. And because she was already on death's row, it would only been a matter of time.
So why?
Why had she been so stupid?
She's planned it all out and still she messed everything up.
She wasn't supposed to make friends, she wasn't supposed to become happy and lose sight. She was supposed to die.
This wasn't good.
This had to stop.
Skyy looked at the ground darkly.
She had to stop this silliness. She'd gone too far. If she dropped everything now she should be fine. If she dropped everything, if she left it all, then her promise to Yuki could still come true without any problems. She needed to create distance and fast.
She'd gone too far.
This had to stop.
WHA BAM!
Put that in your juice-box and suck it.
Next Chapter: Breaking Away