Chapter 2: The Other Half
Hikari barely had time to process everything that was happening. She got her partner and immediately found herself in a fight in a matter of two days. Now she was in a completely different world with unknown creatures in a mission to save it and Earth as well. She was sitting by the lake embracing her knees and looking up at the night sky above.
"What are you thinking?" Tailmon approached her and sat down.
"I'm just taking a moment to process everything that's happened today."
"It was too much for you to take at once, wasn't it?"
"Yes, but I'm fine." She smiled. "I hope I can to help the others the best way possible."
"You will, don't worry." The Digimon looked up at the sky. "It's okay to be lost at first. You've been thrown into this without being asked and…"
"It's alright. The same thing happened to my brother and the others. I believe they can help me through this."
"Hikari?" Sora came from behind some bushes.
"Oh, hey Sora."
"Is everything okay?"
"It is." Hikari replied with a soft smile. "I was just looking at the sky."
"It's dangerous to be alone at night here. You never know when an evil Digimon can show up and attack. The Dark Masters are too powerful."
"I know, I was just going back. Has Taichi looked for me?"
"No, he's sleeping like a rock." Sora laughed and sat down beside her. "So, how are you feeling about all of this?"
"It's… scary."
"I know. I was scared when I first came here. All of us where, actually. We didn't know what to do or what to expect. We were simply brought here and had to deal with it on our own."
"Wow… that must be so traumatic."
"It would be more if I was alone. But we all helped each other through this and that tightened our friendship. You may have joined the group recently, but the same works for you. We can help you through this too."
"Thanks, Sora."
"You're welcome. Also, you can come to me for anything you need, okay? I'll be more than happy to help you."
"Thank you." Hikari smiled kindly at her.
"Alright." Sora stood up. "Are you going back now?"
"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute."
"Okay. Don't take too long, it's too dangerous to be alone, especially at night."
"I won't. I promise."
"Good." She began to walk away and turned around. "Oh and Hikari?"
"Yes?"
"Don't push yourself over the edge for this, okay? I know it's a very serious responsibility, but if you don't want to do this that's alright. No one is going to force you."
"I know. But I want to help any way I can."
"I didn't expect any different." Sora smiled. "Don't take too long to go back. Taichi will kill me if he wakes up and doesn't see you there."
"Don't worry, he won't wake up." The young girl laughed. "I'll go back soon."
"Alright."

.

Hikari didn't think it was possible to feel this overwhelmed. She felt relieved that she was finally going to be able to help Daisuke, Miyako and Iori in their task of protecting the Digital World from the Digimon Kaiser. She had found her digimental and it allowed Tailmon to have an alternate form of evolution, different from the one she was used to. She grabbed the camera hung on her neck and brought it to her eye level to take a picture of Nefertimon before she regressed to Tailmon.
"I'm so glad we can be useful now." Takeru spoke beside her and their eyes met. "I was starting to think it would never happen."
"I know." Hikari grabbed her newly changed digivice and stared at it. "I guess we can officially call ourselves part of this team, right?"
"Yeah." He followed her suit and examined his brand new digivice intently. "I like this one, but I'm gonna miss the yellow one I used to have."
"It's strange that it changed its color, don't you think?"
"I do, but it's to be expected since Iori got the yellow one."
"Hikari!" Tailmon exclaimed as she ran towards her partner.
"You did it!" Hikari stretched her arms so she would jump up. "You finally got to armor-evolve."
"We did it!" The Digimon corrected her. "It's all thanks to you."
"Takeru!"
"Patamon, you were amazing." Takeru embraced him as soon as he landed in his arms.
"You really think so?"
"Absolutely." He smiled and then turned to Hikari. "We should go home."
"Yes, let's go."

Hikari was lying down on her bed looking at her camera roll. Actually, she has been looking at the picture she had taken of Nefertimon for at least five minutes. A few hours had gone by, but she was still happy about Tailmon finally being able to evolve and be useful in fighting the Digimon Kaiser.
"What are you looking at?" Tailmon jumped on her bed and sat down beside her head.
"I took a picture of Nefertimon, remember? Now I'm just looking at it."
"It turned out pretty good. You're so talented at this."
"Thank you." She smiled widely. "I still have a lot to improve though."
"Well, I think you're amazing at it."
"Thanks." Hikari lifted her camera and positioned it in an angle that caught both herself and Tailmon.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm taking a photo of us. Come here."
"Okay."
"Now make a funny face, like this."
"Is this one good?"
"Yes." She pressed the button to take the picture and then checked it. "It turned out really cool."
"I didn't know you liked taking funny pictures."
"Sometimes I do." Hikari put the camera away and sat down. "I actually happen to have a few of these with Taichi. Do you want to see them?"
"Yes, please."
"Okay." She got out of her bed and went to grab a photo album in one of her drawers. She returned right after and sat down on the edge of it, with her feet on the ladder and opened the photo album on her lap.

.

The warm breeze of summer air brushed Hikari's hair. She was leaning against the Rainbow Bridge looking down at the water. It had been only a couple of days since Omegamon had killed Meicoomon and everything went back to normal. Well, almost everything.
"Are you okay, Hikari?" Tailmon looked up at her.
"Why did it have to be like this, Tailmon?"
"What?"
"Was killing Meicoomon really the only option we had left?"
"You still feel bad about it, don't you?"
"We took away her chance to be with Meiko again. I understand it was a moment of despair, but there must have been another choice. We killed her partner."
"Hikari."
"It could have been you." She said without thinking and slowly slid down until she was kneeling down on the floor. "I put myself in her shoes. You could have been killed too."
"But I didn't. I'm right here."
"I know." Hikari grabbed her and placed her on her legs, immediately stroking her soft white fur gently. "I'm so glad you didn't give up and called my name."
"I would never give up. I waited for so long to find you to just give in the first obstacle."
The girl simply smiled as she continued to stroke her partner's head.
"Hey." Taichi said when he approached her.
"What are you doing here?" Hikari snapped.
"I wanted to talk to you."
"But I don't."
"Well, that's too bad because I'm gonna talk anyway." He sat down beside her. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry isn't going to bring Meicoomon back, is it?"
"No, it won't. But it was either that or let things get worse. We didn't have a choice."
"We could have come up with something else."
"Look, I get that you're upset over this and you have every reason to. I wasn't happy to do this, but unfortunately it had to be done."
"Okay."
"I hope you can forgive me for this."
"I can't." Hikari confessed and sighed. "We took away Meiko's chance to be with her partner for the rest of her life. I don't know how you can be okay with that."
"I can't. I'm not. But if we didn't do that, the whole world was going to suffer. We couldn't let that happen."
"I know." She said very low. "We really couldn't put the entire Earth into that danger. It would be a disaster."
"Taichi is right, Hikari." Tailmon looked up at her. "Nothing we tried before worked. It was our last option."
"You know I wouldn't deliberately kill her for nothing. Meiko is my friend too. It was the last thing I wanted."
"Yes, I do know that."
"So, we can't stay like this forever. I miss talking to my sister."
"I miss you too." Hikari couldn't stop a smile from coming into her lips. "How could I not?"
"Come on." Taichi stood up and held out his hand to her. "How about some ice-cream? My treat."
"Only if I can pick three different flavors."
"Fine." He rolled his eyes and laughed. "I'll let you have it this time."

.

Hikari was sitting on her bed folding some baby clothes she had either gotten or bought. She had just gotten through the first trimester of her pregnancy and still didn't know whether it was a girl or a boy, but it didn't really matter to her or Katsuo.
"I thought your belly would be much bigger by now." Tailmon said while she observed her partner carefully pile the clothes and put them in a shelf in the wardrobe.
"It doesn't grow all at once." The woman smiled and absentmindedly rubbed her stomach. She did it so often that it became a habit for her already. It made her feel more connected to her unborn baby, in a way. "It something that happens gradually and it won't take long for it to start to show."
"How long will you have to wait to see him?"
"A little less than six months. A pregnancy usually lasts nine months or forty weeks, as doctors usually count. I'm on my thirteenth week, which means I'm three months and a week."
"Do you have to go through a surgery to get the baby out?"
"Sometimes, yes. It depends on how the situation is or if it will be the best option for both the baby and the mother. Most women prefer the natural way though."
"Is that what you want?"
"If things go well, yes. But to be honest…" Hikari sighed. "To be honest, I'm a little scared to give birth. I'm afraid it will hurt and I won't be able to do it."
"Of course you can do it. You're strong and once you see your child, you'll realize it was worth it."
"You really think so?"
"I do."
"Thank you." The woman smiled widely and bent down to hug her partner. "It would be much harder for me if you weren't here."
"I'm happy to help you, Hikari. But I'm not really sure how I can do that."
"You're already helping me so much." Hikari put two locks of her hair behind her ears. "I know it's a little too early, but maybe you can help me choosing baby names."
"Okay, I can do that. Have you thought of any?"
"Not really. Katsuo thinks we should wait to see if it's a boy or a girl when I give birth but I don't think I can wait that long."
"Do you have any guesses?"
"I would love it if it was a girl, but I would be okay with a boy too. So you can tell I don't really mind which one it will be. I'll love them either way."
"We will." Tailmon grabbed her hands. "What does Katsuo want the baby to be? Did he tell you?"
"I think he wants a boy to play soccer with. But at the same time he's not opposed to a girl either. So you can say he's pretty much like me. Taichi is dying for it to be a girl though."
"Really? It's surprising."
"I know, right? You'd think he'd want to have a nephew to be his videogame buddy, but I was proven wrong. He's probably more excited than me."
"Okay, this is not so surprising."
"It really isn't." Hikari laughed. "What do you think of Yamazaki for a boy?"
"Yamazaki? It's a pretty name."
"Yeah. And for girl, I like Ayame and Megumi."
"Those are beautiful names too. If it's twins, you won't have to decide between these two."
"I don't think I can deal with twins. Only one is enough at the moment."
"You'll be a great mom, Hikari."
"I hope so."

.

Tailmon was hanging on the edge of the crib watching Yamazaki carefully to see if he was breathing because he was sleeping so peacefully his tiny chest was barely moving.
"He's okay, Tailmon." Hikari said softly when she walked into her son's bedroom. "He's just sleeping."
"He's barely making any sound and movement. I'm worried."
"He's fine." She approached the crib to look at the baby. "He's too little, that's why you can barely see when he's breathing while sleeping."
"Are they always this tiny?"
"Yes. I mean, generally speaking. Some can be bigger and some can be smaller, it depends."
"They seem so fragile."
"That's because they are." Hikari stroked his cheek very carefully and could barely hold her smile when he reacted to it and seemed to be waking up. "Hey, sweetie. It's almost food time, huh?"
"It's so strange that he understands you completely." Tailmon stated as she watched Hikari grab Yamazaki from his crib and gently press him against his chest, holding his head with her right hand.
"Every baby has this connection with their mothers. We're the ones who carry them for nine months, it's only natural." The woman sat down on an armchair near the crib and placed Yamazaki in a perfect position to be fed. It didn't take him long to find her nipple, causing Hikari to make a painful face at first. It was the one thing she still couldn't get used to.
"Does it hurt?"
"A little bit in the beginning." She muttered under her breath. "But it's much better now."
"Can't Katsuo help you with it?"
"Not with this part, unfortunately. I wish he could though. It would be great."
"So what does he help you with?"
"He can give Yamazaki a bath, change his diapers, put him to sleep. He's really dedicated too."
"I'm glad you found someone who loves you unconditionally."
"Thanks. I'm glad too. Plus, he's a wonderful father. Both he and Yamazaki are very lucky to have one another as father and son. I'm sure they will be best friends pretty soon."
"Yamazaki is lucky to have you as a mother too. He won't be able to ask for a while, but I can already tell how much he loves you."
"I love him too, so much." Hikari looked at her son tenderly and gently brushed his hair away from his face. "I didn't think it was possible to feel this strongly about someone else like I do him."
"It's written all over your face. I don't think I've seen you this happy before."
"I am. I feel like a completely new and changed person, if that makes sense." She giggled when she noticed Tailmon's expression. "I guess not. Do you want to hold him once he finishes breastfeeding?"
"I don't think it's a good idea."
"Why not?"
"I don't want to break him."
"You won't break him, Tailmon. I'm sure you'll be very careful with him. Besides, I'll be here the whole time in case something happens."
"Okay then. I want to hold him."