Disclaimer: For all the love that I have for Digimon, it is not mine.
A/N: Finally, the conclusion of the Digital World arc! Updates will be a little more sporadic after this chapter cause I need to figure out what happens next. Also, there's a long-ish author's note at the end of this chapter that I encourage everyone to read. It'd help clear things up. For now...on with the story!
The group travelled largely in silence as they followed Wallace's tracker to where Natsuhi was. Yamato quietly urged Garurumon to go faster, he couldn't bear the thought of something happening to Natsuhi, not after what happened to Taichi. But the situation looked glum, according to Wallace's tracker, she was surrounded by swarm of virus digimon, one of which was a mega. He could only hope that the two mega level vaccine digimons held out for her till they arrived.
"I see it! Over there!" Sora declared from her vantage point on Birdramon.
At that, everyone raced towards the gaping hole in the forest; hearts heavy with pessimism as they saw the level of destruction in the area. "NATSUHI!" Yamato all but yelled, Garurumon's howl echoing his sentiments as the digimon pounced between her and the Royal Knights, causing the fight to come to a stand-still.
It was then that everyone realized there was something off with the scene. There was Natsuhi and Beelzemon, standing back to back, fending off attacks from Crusadermon and Dynasmon. Had they missed something? Dynasmon was the first to recover.
"Digidestineds, our business is not with you, get out of the way," The royal knight gestured. Yamato could feel Garurumon tense, muscles itching to obey the order, but he stood his ground. Yamato stroked the fur on Garurumon's back as thanks. It no doubt hard to disregard his instincts and stand up to the high-ranked digimon before them.
"Listen to my partner, digidestined, we're just taking out the trash. Things may look bad, but we are here cleanse this place of virus digimon so that the digital world will be pure again!" Crusadermon announced with his usual dramatic flair. But the twisted expression on his face had Hikari shrinking back into the arms of Angewomon.
"But…they're just babies," Came Mimi's weak protest. The digidestined, along with Leomon, Ogremon and Gennai turned to look at where Mimi was pointing to. Although the baby digimons were still safely within the barrier, the walls of the playing blocks have long since given out from the barrage of attacks. Through the translucent shields, everyone could see the large swarm of baby digimons and digieggs, cowering in fear. There was no denying these digimons' attributes, their discoloration alone gave them away, but an unspoken question was still rang among the group. Was this right?
As if sensing their doubts, Crusadermon spoke up again. "You may find them small and cute now, but they're virus digimons, They'll grow up to become evil digimons, just like that demon lord over there," he waved an arm in the direction of Beelzemon, as if to prove his point. "So really, we are just doing everyone a service."
The argument seemed sound, and the group lapsed into uncomfortable silence yet again. Fortunately, one person thought different.
"Doing everyone a service my ass," Natsuhi hollered viciously. "These babies didn't choose to get infected by viruses, they didn't choose to be born this way. But they were, and now they're just trying to make a good, honest living like all the other digimons in this world. What right do you have, as knights, born into knighthood, to decide that they don't deserve to live! You could have been one of them, you just got lucky! These babies haven't done anything to deserve your prosecution!" Natsuhi finished her angry rant, panting.
That seemed to have knocked sense into all those present, and Leomon and Ogremon chose this moment to step in.
"Sir," Leomon began respectfully. Ogremon cut him off.
"Sirs, I am a virus digimon. I used to be one of the evil digimons you talked about, but I have seen the errors of my ways, and now I work alongside Leomon to protect new born digimons. I believe that I am proof that these baby digimons deserve a chance-" Ogremon stopped short when Crusadermon suddenly appeared before him.
"Ah yes, a repenting one. You have done much good to redeem yourself, what say you if we realigned your attributes and turn you into a proper vaccine type digimon, hmm?" Crusadermon asked with a deceptively sincere smile.
Apparently, Ogremon had never thought of this as a possibility and was caught completely off guard. "I…this..is tha.." He stuttered to get his reply out.
Crusadermon did not for his reply however. "Actually, it is like that human said, you have been protecting these eggs and infants, why don't we…realign your attributes, and turn you into a proper vaccine digimon?" Beelzemon was about to retort when Crusadermon cut him off with the remaining half of his monologue. "Oh wait, sorry we can't. Because you're a demon lord who is beyond redemption." Satisfied with his jibe, Crusadermon descended into a bout of shirll, maniacal, laughter.
Anger like no other coursed through Natsuhi's veins. "So he should change who he is just to fit into your perfect little box? You disgusting piece of shit!"
Dynasmon glowered at the direct insult at his partner, but even before he could move, Crusadermon had appeared in front of Natsuhi, face mere inches from hers. Feeling the chilling breath of the knight on her face, Natsuhi knew she should be afraid, but she was honestly just too angry to care.
Crusadermon had no eyes, but perhaps it was for the better as his mouth alone, was expressive enough. The killing intent Crusadermon was leaking now was immense, he obviously did not appreciate the insult at all. But instead of stabbing Natsuhi with one of his blades, the pink knight tilted Natsuhi's chin with one sharp finger and brought her face to eye level. Seconds ticked by as the eyeless digimon attempted to stare into her soul. Then he let out a sharp, shrill laugh. "Are you sure you can mock me? You, who cannot become a digidestined because your heart has been painted black with darkness and your hands are covered in blood?" He taunted gleefully, every word dripping with venomous honey.
It was then that Natsuhi decided that the disgusting excuse of a creature before her needed to die. Yamato had only ever seen Natsuhi truly angry once, and he knew that when she was truly angry, her anger ran cold. The furious aura Natsuhi was emitting just moments ago instantly died down. Instead, her eyes darkened to steel grey.
"I'd take darkness over your twisted light any day." Natsuhi spat, and with all her might, she threw an uppercut in the knight's face with Beelzemon's gun. Anger and adrenaline fuelling her attack, the punch actually sent the mega level digimon stumbling.
Then two things happened simultaneously. A furious Crusadermon readied to drive his pile bunker through the girl. At the same time, a column of red light shot up from where Beelzemon was. Amidst the bright light, nobody could see what was happening, all they heard was the obligatory evolution cry. "Beelzemon, Blast Mode!"
The guns in Natsuhi's hands flew out of her grip and merged with its master. When the light died down, all everyone saw was Crusadermon with the barrel of Beelzemon's blaster plastered to his face. And there was Beelzemon, black wings spread open protectively before Natsuhi like a fallen angel from hell. Natsuhi barely had time to register how Beelzemon's have changed from blood red to green when he turned to shoot her a grin before he blasted off, taking Crusadermon and Dynasmon with him.
And then, fireworks commenced. There was nothing the two Royal Knights could do besides getting their asses kicked as Beelzemon flew circles around them and pummelled them with every attack he knew. What seemed like an eternity was really only 5 minutes and at the end of the one-sided battle, a battered Crusadermon and Dynasmon laid on the ground with Beelzemon towering over them, ready to finish them off with a final blow.
Because everything happened so fast, no one had any time to react. One minute, Beelzemon was charging up his Death Slinger and the next, a surge of white light washed across the scene, freezing everyone and everything.
Qinglongmon descended upon the scene, his ginormous form blocking out the skies. "Stop this nonsense this instant!" The dragon thundered.
Gennai immediately bowed at the presence of the Sovereign. Crusadermon and Dynasmon who had previously accepted their fate also perked up at the appearance of their potential saviour. "Qinglongmon!"
"Demon Lord Beelzemon, could I trouble you to spare the lives of my rebellious subordinates?" Qinglongmon asked politely. Beelzemon quickly weighed his odds, as powerful as he felt right now, he doubt he could take on one of the Gods of the digital world.
"Che, you guys got lucky today," the virus digimon growled and powered down his blaster.
The holy dragon digimon nodded his thanks and then shifted his attention to the two knights. "Crusadermon, Dynasmon." The two knights struggled into a kneeling position. "Your intentions were just but your minds have become twisted and warped by your extreme ideals." The two knights looked up, stunned. This was not what they were expecting. "May you both be reborn a wiser and more compassionate knight." And before any protests could be made, one of the orbs on Qinglongmon's body glowed a brilliant white and the two Royal Knights disintegrated into shining white dust.
Looking at the stunned faces of all those present, Qinglongmon chuckled, "Don't worry, I only sent them along to be reincarnated. They will be back a few cycles later, hopefully for the better." Then the dragon's gaze settled on Natsuhi, "Now, to make up for the mess my subordinates have caused." A different orb glowed, this time softly, and a similar warm glow enveloped Natsuhi, healing the cuts that peppered her body.
"Thank you," Natsuhi said earnestly, once her adrenaline started the fade, the pain returned with a vengeance.
Qinglongmon nodded in acceptance and paused uncertainly for a few seconds. "I heard what my subordinates have said, unfortunately, there are no ways to alter the attributes of a digimon," the dragon admitted apologetically at Ogremon and the rest of the baby digimons. The green digimon deflated a little. "But, I would like to point out that a digimon's attribute doesn't decide their path. Even virus digimons can choose to do good things, like Ogremon did."
Ogremon blushed at the praise, but the Qinglongmon's words were clearly aimed at another. Beelzemon looked away under the intense gaze of the digimon sovereign and Natsuhi couldn't help but chuckle. Oh how she wanted to rub it in his face, but she desisted.
That seemed to have concluded the entire incident, but Takeru nudged Wallace who nudged Koushiro who nudged Gennai, who stuttered out the most important question of the day.
"Qinglongmon, is it possible for Natsuhi-san to become a digidestined."
At that the dragon actually froze. Natsuhi and Beelzemon exchanged sad smiles, they already knew the answer to that question. Qinglongmon looked at the digimon and human pair before him and sighed.
"I'm afraid," the dragon started, uncertain if he should be announcing the matter publically. But Natsuhi and Beelzemon nodded at him and so he continued. "I'm afraid the time has passed, once upon a time, there was a digimon waiting for her in this very place. But a data storm came, and swept that digimon into the dark area, beyond my or any other sovereign's control. Digimons who have come under the Dark Area cannot become partner digimons."
Although they both knew that to be the truth, hearing it still hurt. Beelzemon clenched his fist tightly, it was too late, still too late. Natsuhi placed a hand on his shoulder and shrugged with a small simile. 'Things don't always work out the way we want them to,' her eyes read.
Qinglongmon watched the exchange with amused eyes. "But I suppose fate works in curious ways. Human and digimon still managed to come out as parallels, both righteous souls tainted by darkness but seeking good in their own ways." And with that cryptic last word, Qinglongmon faded away, as if he was never there.
"Despite all the shit that went down, things turned out pretty alright," Natsuhi commented from her side of the tree.
Beelzemon, who had reverted to his normal mode, was leaning on the other side of the tree let out a short laugh. Alright was an understatement. After Qinglongmon left, Leomon and Ogremon agreed to take in all the baby virus digimons and infected eggs.
"So what are you going to do now?" Natsuhi asked as she looked at the excited baby digimons from Primary Village welcome their new friends.
"8 years," Beelzemon said out of nowhere, completely ignoring her question. "For 8 years I sat there, waiting for someone. Someone with silver eyes. That's all I knew, that was my whole life, waiting for silver. But silver never came. Instead I got that freak of a storm. And now…now it's too late. I'm too tainted to be anyone's partner anymore." Beelzemon lamented, eyes downcast.
Natsuhi looked down with a sad smile off her own, if her hunch was correct, that data storm that carried Beelzemon away probably happened on the same day as that incident. Beelzemon wasn't the only one to become too tainted. Fate was a bitch, but that doesn't mean they couldn't make the best of it. "It's-" Natsuhi found herself cut off as Beelzemon moved to stand in front of her.
"I may not be your partner anymore but," he passed her one of his guns. She took it and watched in amazement as the gun shifted into a black digivice in her hand. She looked back at Beelzemon, genuinely too stunned for words. Once again, silver met green. "Take this as thanks, for all your help today."
Natsuhi felt like she was the one who should thank him, but she couldn't find the right words. So instead, she did something uncharacteristic, she hugged him. Beelzemon faltered for a moment before hugging her back, through the hug, they could feel the broken bond that tied them together hum in satisfaction. Yes, they may not be partners in the traditional sense, but this works, at least for them, it works.
A loud thrum, not dissimilar to the sounds of a motorbike broke up their hug.
"Nice ride," Natsuhi whistled at the bike that suddenly appeared.
Beelzemon smirked. "This is Behemoth," he said proudly.
Natsuhi hmmed meaningfully as she ran her hand down the seat of the bike. The sentient motorcycle purred at her touch.
"He likes you," Beelzemon said, surprised. "He usually doesn't like anyone."
"Well I'm not just anyone now, am I?" Natsuhi levelled with a smirk of her own. Beelzemon chuckled good naturedly at that. His human was weird. "So where you going to go?" Natsuhi asked again.
"I've been thinking about what you said, that anti-body thing," Beelzemon said as he mounted Behemoth. "I'll go and find more infected eggs and baby digimons and bring them here. And if I run into any maniacal extremists along the way, well, what sort of demon lord would I be without a few notches under my belt?" He quoted her.
Natsuhi laugh at that but then turned serious again. "Wouldn't you need your guns for that then?" She held out the black digivice.
Beelzemon ignored her extended arm and revved the engine on Behemoth a few times instead, "Well then, you better come running when I call for it." And without waiting for her reply, he sped off into the sunset.
Natsuhi shook his head slowly, her digimon was crazy.
The primary village was bustling with activity as the digidestined and digimons ran around preparing for the BBQ to celebrate the new comers to the village. Taichi, the designated patient, sat by the campfire Agumon had sat up, bored out of his skull.
"Mind if I join you?" Gennai asked. Taichi shook his head and gestured to the seat next to him. "Rough day huh," Gennai commented.
Taichi chuckled, "You can say that." Then after a few moments, he asked, "Do we need to step in?"
Gennai turned to look at the leader of the digidestined, confused. "Step in?"
Taichi nodded and gestured at the baby virus digimon who were playing with the original members of Primary Village. "What happened today…"
Gennai shook his head. "All this is part of the Digital World's ecosystem. As far as I'm aware, no great evil is rising, if there is, you can be sure that the digidestined will be called upon."
Taichi nodded, accepting the answer. The digimons can't rely on digidestineds to fix everything after all.
On the other side of the campfire, sat Wallace, Koushiro, Gabumon and Natsuhi. The former were busy analysing Natsuhi's newly received digivice.
"Congratulations," Gabumon said to the girl. Now she can finally travel to the Digital World. Natsuhi ruffled Gabumon's fur as thanks.
"Yup, now I can visit you and ruffle your fur anytime," she teased. Gabumon whined, he hated when people messed with his fur.
Giving the black digivice one last look over, Wallace handed it back to the silver eyed girl. "Looks aside, the only function this device has in common with our digivice is its ability to open the gate to the digital world. You won't be able to use it to locate the other digidestined and vice versa. It also can't be used to digivolve any digimons or repel any powers of darkness." Wallace reported. Koushiro nodded in agreement from the sidelines.
Natsuhi just nodded. She knew all that before they ran the test. "Thanks," she said anyways. "That's more than enough for me," she added.
Both Wallace and Koushiro looked like they had something to say, but they were interrupted by none other than Koushiro's girlfriend.
"Natsuhi-san! Will you come with me please?" The girl asked, eyeing Natsuhi concernedly. Mouthing and apology to the guys, she went off with Mimi to see what the digidestined of sincerity wanted.
The campfire cackled in the distant. Drained from the day's happenings, Natsuhi sat on a log several meters away from the activity. As usual, Yamato was the one who found her. No pleasantries were exchanged as Natsuhi passed the blonde a skewer. Yamato plopped himself down beside her and took a bite of the meat. Chewing slowly, Yamato observed the girl out of the corner of his eye and noted something different about her.
"Your clothes?" He asked in between bites.
Natsuhi looked down at the sun dress she was wearing and sighed. "Mimi-san didn't think it was appropriate for me to walk around in shredded and bloodied jeans and t-shirt." Smoothing out the short skirt with a sigh, Natsuhi added, "Don't ask me why she was walking around with a spare dress in her back."
Yamato didn't need to ask why though, it was Mimi, he'd be surprised if she didn't have a spare outfit in that huge bag of hers. At that, Yamato eyed the girl critically again and laughed. "Pink is really not your color."
Natsuhi sighed and took an angry bite out of her own skewer. "You don't say." She deadpanned.
Conversation died off after that, and the two simply sat, shoulder to shoulder, in silence. Natsuhi blamed all the shit that happened during the day for her belated realization, she should have seen it. The faraway look Yamato had as he stared off into the distance, his lethargic body language. What really gave him away though, was constant clenching and unclenching of his fist.
"What's wrong," she asked.
"It's nothing," he replied automatically.
Twirling the now empty skewer in her hand, Natsuhi didn't even think twice before poking the blonde with it. "I mean it, what's wrong." Really, the blonde should have learnt by now.
Somehow managing to laugh and wince all at the same time, Yamato let out a heavy sigh before admitting the cause of his troubles. "I broke up."
"Oh," came Natsuhi's automatic reply as her brain processed the information. "Wait, what!?" She snapped her head to stare at Yamato incredulously.
"I broke up with Sora," Yamato reiterated with a sad smile.
A million thoughts raced through Natsuhi's mind in that moment, but the only one that remained at the end of her mental acrobatics was sympathy. "I'm sorry," she whispered, laying a hand on his shoulder.
Yamato chuckled, and looked up at the sky. Natsuhi knew this action of his well. Even without looking, she knew that he was trying to bottle up his tears in the corner of his eyes. They were similar like that, Yamato and her. Instead of exploding they implode. So although to the untrained eye, Yamato looked like he was merely gazing at the stars, she knew that deep down, the blonde was broken. It hurt, seeing Yamato like that.
"I'm sorry," she said again, strengthening her grip on his shoulders, hoping to at least take away even just a little bit of his pain.
"I thought you'd be happy," Yamato joked. She was in love with him after all, this should be great news to her. A punch to the gut caught Yamato off-guard.
"Baka," Natsuhi uttered under her breath. "When you hurt, I hurt too," she admitted softly as she looked away from him, blushing.
That admission through Yamato for a loop, but he had to admit, that little titbit of knowledge made his heartbreak feel a little bit better. Letting out yet another sigh, Yamato leaned to rest his head against Natsuhi's shoulders. He felt the girl stiffen beneath him. "Just for a little while," his voiced cracked.
Placing comforting a hand on his head, Natsuhi acquiesced, "Just for a little while."
Being in Natsuhi's presence calmed Yamato down enough for him to reply the scene of the break up in his head.
Sora was checking up on Taichi after they were done transporting the digieggs and babby digimons to Pimary Village. Yamato ignored the pang of pain and guilt that shot through him when he asked to talk to Sora, alone. Taichi's alarmed stare followed him all the way, until they were out of sight.
"Lets break up," Yamato blurted out. He didn't know how else to put it.
"E…excuse me?" Of all the things Sora expected to hear, this wasn't it.
"Lets break up," Yamato said, this time a little more firmly.
"What's wrong? If I did anything wrong, I'll apologize!" Dread pooled in Sora's stomach as the finality of the sentence settled in.
"Sora, you didn't do anything wrong…" Yamato began. But then a voice that sounded suspiciously like Natsuhi's snorted in his head. Alright, so Sora did do something, that doesn't mean it was wrong. With sigh, Yamato tried again. "Look Sora, I love you, I really do. But I can't do this anymore." He admitted tiredly.
"What do you mean by this?" Sora was doing her best to not become hysterical. Where was this all coming from?
Even though he knew this was for the better, the tears that were streaming down Sora's face still hurt. Grabbing her by the shoulder, Yamato resolved to do this by her right. Looking the red-head straight in the eye, Yamato let the words that have been hidden away for years pour.
"Sora, I love you. But I'm not blind. This thing between you and Taichi-"
"There's nothing between me and Taichi!" Sora exclaimed, pushing Yamato away, feeling hurt and scandalized.
Yamato sighed and persisted. "Look Sora, I know you don't know how you feel for Taichi, but you feel something for him, and don't lie to me saying you don't. You dove into the river to save him today without thinking twice. That has to mean something," the blonde stressed.
"I love you," Sora said between sobs, but even she knew the words felt empty.
"I know, and I love you too, but," Yamato sighed. Why were things so complicated? "I'm sorry I just…can't. It's not fair for you to string me along while you figure out what it is that you feel for Taichi." With the biggest weight off his chest, the rest of the words came much more easily, "I knew this was a bad idea when I agreed to get together with you all those years ago. I always knew Taichi loves you," there was no point pretending otherwise. It'd be a disgrace to call the feelings that Taichi had for Sora anything but love.
"Yamato, I swear there's-" Sora tried to clarify, but she was cut off.
"Just listen to me k? Please." Yamato begged. Sora was tearful but nodded anyways. Yamato never begged her for anything. "And I don't blame him, you're an amazing woman. It's hard not to love you. But I'm not a good enough man. I can't keep pretending that I don't see this connection you have with Taichi. I can't keep lying to myself and pretend that the glances you guys exchange don't hurt. Maybe if I was a better man, I'd be able to make you love me more, but I'm sorry, I just…I can't. I'm too tired. I'm sorry," Yamato finished. He felt surprisingly light after getting all these words off his chest. Or maybe it's because the pain just hasn't hit him yet.
Sora's response was to cry even harder. Yamato held her to his chest and felt her sobs wrecking through him. "Sorry, I'm so sorry…" Sora repeated during tears. "You're right, it's not fair to you. But..but don't say you're not a good man. You're too good for me," Sora choked out.
"Sh…" Yamato tried to comfort her, shoving his own pain and tears aside for the time being. "It's okay, we still had wonderful times together, and I'll always cherish those memories." Even though thinking of those memories hurt so much right now.
Natsuhi closed her eyes and willed herself to stay strong as she felt Yamato's silent sobs wreck through his body. She didn't need to look to know that tears were flowing freely out of her favourite blue eyes. Yumiko said that it was better if they broke up, but seeing Yamato so hurt and so broken, she wondered if this really was for the better. Taichi aside, Sora and Yamato were happy together. Of course, rationally, Natsuhi knew that regardless of her feelings for Yamato, this truly was the best course of action. Yamato wouldn't have lasted, being stuck in between his best friend and girlfriend, pretending that nothing was wrong when everything was wrong. Still…holding Yamato in her arms as he cried, a side of him that only she was privileged to see, it was hard to feel that way.
The same orange street lights, the same concrete sidewalk. Natsuhi couldn't help but laugh. Yamato, with his puffy eyes, turned to look at her with curiously.
"We've been doing this a lot lately," Natsuhi commented.
"This?" Yamato parroted.
"Walking home together late at night." She clarified.
Yamato thought about it for a moment and laughed along with her. They have been doing that a lot lately. It took Natsuhi a while to realize that she had referred to her apartment as 'home' for both of them, then another moment to realize that Yamato did not contradict that assumption. Or maybe the blonde was just too tired to notice.
July breezes at night were still pretty chilly, and Mimi's dress, short as it was, was no help in keeping out the cold. Despite Natsuhi's best efforts, she still shivered at the passing breeze. Not in possession of a jacket, Yamato did the next best thing. He pulled the girl close to him. Natsuhi immediately stiffened at the contact, hesitation written all across her silver eyes.
"What, are you going to say that this is inappropriate now?" Yamato teased.
Natsuhi glared at him and relaxed into his warmth. It was too cold to argue.
After a while of companionable silence, Natsuhi suddenly spoke up.
"It happened when I was 8," she began. Yamato looked at the girl in his arms and stopped himself from asking what she was talking about. The glazed look in her eyes told him that she was reminiscing. It didn't take much for Yamato realize that she was going to share something personal.
"It was summer vacation. We were supposed to go to Disneyland, but then my parents, they…they had a disagreement. My dad, he got really abusive, started saying all these horrible things to my mom, calling her names. He had my mom backed in a corner. I don't know what came over me, I was scared, but even more so, I was angry. He was hurting my mom. Then he choked her with one hand and pummelled her with the other, and my mom screamed. I remember asking him to stop, but he just hit her harder. Then I just lost it. I still remember, every fibre of my being just wanted to hurt him." Yamato felt Natsuhi's skin heat up beneath his fingers and knew that she was replaying that anger.
"It was weird, everything suddenly got so clear. I knew I had to stop him, but there was no way I could pull him off. And I such a scrawny kid back then, could barely lift a chair. So I did the only thing I could do, I ran to the kitchen, climbed up the island and got the kitchen knife and ran back and stabbed him in the back. I still remember the resistance of his muscles against the knife. I couldn't get it in very deep because I was so small. He screamed, and he got even angrier. He turned to me, his eyes clouded in anger. He brought his fist up to punch me, so I stabbed him again, in the gut. There was blood everywhere, the knife got so slippery, but I knew I had to keep stabbing him until he stopped," Natsuhi said, her eyes still looking faraway into the distance.
Yamato was at a loss for words, he was not expecting that.
"Oh don't worry, he's still alive, hates my guts now, but still alive. He just passed out from pain and blood loss, I remembered to avoid his heart and lungs," Natsuhi quickly amended, although inwardly she knew that her clarification probably did more harm than good.
It made sense now, Yamato realized, what the royal knights said about blood and darkness. "…You saved your mom," Yamato tried to console her.
Natsuhi laughed at the awkward attempt. "Thanks, but you know what the strangest part is, I'm not sorry. I've thought about it for many years. I probably wouldn't be sorry even if he did die. He hurt my mom. He hurt someone I love. I'd do anything to protect those I love, even if it meant killing someone." She said, conviction in her voice evident.
For a long time, Yamato didn't say anything. To be precise, he didn't know what to say. He knew that what Natsuhi did was horrifying, at least to the average person it was horrifying. But then he thought about Takeru. Yamato would have gladly give a limb to kill Devimon when the virus digimon had the younger blonde under his claw. If today someone was hurting Takeru, even if it was his own father, Yamato knew he wouldn't hesitate to do what Natsuhi had done. Knowing that, how could he judge her for what she has done when he would have done the exact same thing? And wasn't this one of the things he admired about Natsuhi the most? The lengths to which she'd go to protect those she cared about? Besides, thinking back about what he knew about the girl, this sounded exactly like something she'd do. In short, this admission changed nothing. Natsuhi was still Natsuhi, his best friend and woman he loves. Sadly, Yamato could not put all those thoughts into words, so instead, he just pulled her closer and placed a kiss on the crown of her head.
Nonverbal communication always worked best between them anyways, Natsuhi relaxed again, knowing that Yamato accepted who she is and what she had done. Of course, the stubborn part of her mind brushed the kiss off as nothing more than friendly reassurance. Because it'd be completely ludicrous to assume that Yamata felt the same way she did, especially after how he turned her down. Everything sorted, Natsuhi continued her little monologue.
"It's why I was sent to live with my grandparents. My mother couldn't bear to look at me after that, she didn't want to remember her little girl covered in her own daddy's blood," she sighed wistfully. "It was funny, my grandparents said the same things you did. They thanked me for protecting their little girl. Told me that I did a really brave thing and treated me like any other kid. Grandpa didn't even think twice about teaching me to hunt, because hey, why not teach the kid who stabbed her dad in cold blood how to shoot a gun too!" Natsuhi laughed at her own sarcasm. Yamato nudged her playfully. "Sorry. But yea, thanks to them I had a normal childhood and didn't become a sociopathic psychopath. This is why I wanted to study psychology. I wanted to understand how the human mind works, why did my dad act the way he did, why am I the way I am…why can't mom get over that incident…" Natsuhi trailed off. Yamato's fingers brushing hair out of her face brought her back to reality.
"It's not a sob story though, and I genuinely don't feel sorry for myself. I had a great childhood, had many friends…a few friends," Natsuhi rolled her eyes and corrected herself when Yamato eyed her with disbelief. "All in all things turned out well. Life doesn't always give you what you want, but you make the best of it." She concluded with a satisfied huff. "Sorry to bore you with that long story, just thought it was fair," she quickly added.
'Fair'…the word lingered in Yamato's mind for a while before he made the connection. Of course, they had an unspoken pact to share something personal in return when the other had a private or vulnerable moment. Apparently his crying just now qualified. Even so, it warmed Yamato that she was willing to share such a personal secret with him.
"Just so you know, there's nothing you could tell me that could make me hate you," Yamato commented lightly, even though he meant every word of it.
If Yamato had no soul, he'd have teased Natsuhi about the blush she sported for days.
A/N: If you're reading this, thank you for reading this long author's note.
First, Gin-iro means 'silver' in Japanese, which is what Beelzemon calls Natsuhi. Also Beelzemon's eyes are red, but then in Digimon Tamers, when he went into Blast mode, his eyes turned back to green (the same color as Impmon's eyes) because he managed to reach full potential without giving into darkness and all that crap. So in this story, his eyes stay green even when he returns to normal mode because he's achieved enlightenment and can go into Blast mode anytime he pleases.
Second, about the whole Digimon Sovereign and Demon Lord thing. According to the Digimon Wiki, in the Digital World, there are 7 Great Demon Lords, each representing one of the seven deadly sins. (Beelzemon's is gluttony) They are the chief nobility of the Dark Area in the Digital World and are able to subvert the cycle of reincarnation presided over Anubimon. Based on that, I took some liberties and made up the whole 'demon lords can't be partner digimons' thing because..it'd make sense? Also, the infected digieggs thing was entirely made up by me for purpose of this story. - Anyways, the Digital world has 4 Digimon Sovereigns, based on the 4 holy beasts, Byakko, Suzaku, Genbu and Seiryu. The god of the digital world is supposed to be Yggdrasil depending on which season of Digimon you're watching, but for the sake of this fic, the 4 sovereigns are the gods of this world.
Third, trivia facts about Natsuhi's life. Both her mom and dad send her stipends (her dad cause of child support dictated by the divorce) which finances her education (you didn't think her mom was going to let her grandparents pay for everything did you?) and some basic allowance. Natsuhi chose to study in Japan because: 1. Tuition is a hell lot cheaper 2. Living expenses are cheaper 3. Her grandparents were getting old and she wanted to give them some peace and quiet. Because she redirected all her stipend to her rent and tuition (hence the rather nice apartment she lives in), Natsuhi works part time as a freelance journalist to earn her allowance and savings. Anyways, if anyone is curious, her mother is a writer and her dad is an executive at some MNC. Also, Natsuhi wasn't the reason why her parents divorced, they've been having problems even before that, hence the fight which led up to the incident.
Fourth, just anticipating any potential questions. Yes, Yamato loves Natsuhi, but he also loves (or at least has very strong feelings) for Sora. It wasn't as if Sora and Yamato's relationship was abusive, they did have many good times together, and they've been together for 8 years, that's a long time. So it's natural that it'd to break up even though they both love someone else.
Anyways, thanks for sitting through that long author's note. 2-3 more chapters before Natsuhi and Yamato finally get together and then we can see what's Taichi and Sora's side of the story for the past 8 years. Then epilogue and then...FINISH! This would be the first chaptered fic I've ever finished on FF. Anyhow, just some obligatory shameless self-advertising, feel free to check out my other work on other sites. Links are available on my profile.
As usual, reviews are the love! And thank you all who have read the story and reviewed, every single review makes my day (I literally bounce around excitedly when I receive one).
All the love and a merry christmas in advance!