Hi everyone, it's been a while. I've been incredibly busy the last few months and I've only just come across some free time in the last week. That unfortunately leaves this story with less progress than I had planned by this point, but it's by no means dead. Hopefully I can pump out some more chapters while I'm still on holidays. I will be going on a trip for three weeks, so don't expect an update too soon (I'm going to Japan, though!). Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this chapter, even though we aren't really at the action yet.

Thanks to cutey-azn for following this story.

It was a muggy day that Sunday. The heat was a blanket that seemed to cover you, sapping your energy ever so slowly and insidiously. The clouds had also thickened since the previous day; not overcast and the sun still burned through the gaps, but there was a distinct tinge of grey in amongst the pillowy white. As a bead of sweat trailed down her face, Sora reached into her sports bag to retrieve her water bottle, unscrewed the lid and took a long, enduring sip from it. Wiping her mouth before closing the bottle and replacing it in her bag, she continued on her walk home.

Having been kept up for half the night with her thoughts plagued by the coming meeting that afternoon, she had thought she would blow off some steam and try to relax by going down to the local tennis courts and having a hit with some of her friends who played for the same club. Unfortunately, when she arrived she discovered that all others had considered the conditions too harsh to turn up and play that day. Annoyed, but not wanting to have walked for twenty minutes for nothing, Sora had paid to hire out a court and a ball machine and had spent almost an hour working on her ground strokes before her body had screamed 'enough'. She was a sweaty mess by the time she finally walked off the court at midday, her hair so matted with perspiration it looked like she had just taken a shower. She could use one at that moment, she thought to herself.

Despite the heat, which still beat down on her as she trudged onwards, Sora could not help be dwell upon the absence of her tennis friends. In truth, she had gone there partly motivated to spend some time with them before going back to the Digital World, for she knew that once in that other dimension it would be quite a while before they would return. There had been no planned meeting and given the weather she could not blame them for not showing up. But, as was common on Sundays past, Sora had hoped that they would simply be there and they could have a friendly game. Now she may not see those people until the next school year began or, depending on the how the digimon situation panned out, even later than that.

Sora silently cursed herself for her lack of foresight. Of course this would be the one day no one would turn up. If she had just called around instead of assuming they would be there she could have saved herself a grave disappointment, and possibly the sunburn she could feel beginning to ache dully on the back of her neck. She remembered having pondered whether to do just that the night before, but she had held back, thinking there was no need to bother anyone over something she had presumed would happen anyway. She had been proven wrong on that count.

While on this train of thought, Sora continued to walk along, trusting her feet to know the way home. As she persisted on her inner musings the world around her blurred into a meaningless wash of colour and sound. She had stopped paying attention in detail to what was going on and everything before her eyes may well have been an amalgam of cubist or impressionist artworks for all she could tell. Only the most basic features broke through, reaching her in the well of her mind and provoking a response; lampposts, passersby she had to dodge, rubbish bins. However, catching the sight of a particular hair style off in the distance brought her rushing fully back to reality and her pace momentarily slowed.

A little over fifty metres away and on the other side of the road, Tai Kamiya could be seen bustling past other pedestrians, no doubt headed in the direction of his own home. Sora's heart jumped at the sight of her friend and a grin formed quickly on her face. She had lost the opportunity meet with friends earlier, but now it seemed as though her luck had turned. With a scowl, she briefly recalled how she had not had time to spend with him the day before, all because of her shift at the flower shop, which for the record she did not enjoy. Catching herself quickly, she also reminded herself that it was all to help her mother, which softened the agitated twinge in her head at the memory. But that was yesterday, she resolved, and at that she quickened her pace to catch up with Tai.

As she gained slowly on him from across the road, Sora tried to remember exactly when the last time was that she had had a chance to properly talk to him. Saturday surely didn't count; they had scarcely spent two minutes talking to each other. Before that there was a gap where she knew they had not even seen each other. When she thought about it, they had not had a good conversation in more than a couple of weeks. The realisation took some of the spring out of her step, but she continued on nevertheless.

Her bag clunked as her gear knocked together inside. She continued to hurry on, proceeding just slower than jogging pace. Another minute and she would have caught up. As Sora drew closer, though, she noticed what it was that Tai was actually doing. Down by his sides were plastic bags, two in both hands and each laden seemingly with groceries. He must have been taking care of some shopping for his parents, she guessed. Given that he seemed to be hurrying slightly, Sora also supposed that he was expected back home soon, that or he was carrying ice cream or something of the sort.

She felt her legs begin to slow, like pistons on a decelerating train, while some unknown force felt as if it had grabbed her around the chest, pushing on her heart and lungs, and was pulling her back. He was in a rush, she told herself; he did not need her to interrupt him and it would be rude to do so, she decided. Sora continued to mentally repeat that to herself as she finally watched him turn a corner and disappear from her sight. Disappointment set in, but she told herself that it had not been a good time. After all, she could clearly see he was in a hurry, or at least he kind of looked to be from where she was. Besides, there was a meeting that afternoon; they would all be there and she would see her friend then.

Ignoring a subconscious tug that disagreed with such thoughts, Sora nodded to herself and continued home at brisker pace than before. For some reason, moving faster felt better, it giving her a more direct focus. Getting home was her goal at that moment. Home and a shower, she corrected herself. A good cleansing from a morning of tennis in the sun would be good. Hitching her bag higher on her shoulder, Sora again wiped her brow and hiked onward, back to the comforts of home.

"You still haven't told me what it is this is all about. You don't want to tell me, do you?"

T.K. grimaced as he watched his mother turn to close and lock the front door of their apartment. The problem with having a journalist for a parent was that they were particularly good at asking the right questions, as well as persistently posing said questions after most would have given up. Even with her back to him, he could feel her sizing him up, working out exactly what he was hiding from her. Nancy Takaishi was nothing if not a devoted mother, though as safe and warm as that often made him feel, T.K. was well acquainted with the downsides of such an attitude; downsides for him, anyway.

"I guess I'll find out soon enough. C'mon." she said impatiently, beckoning him to follow her.

The boy caught a glimpse of his mother's cerulean eyes as she turned to head to the end of the hall. The look she had in them made him remember just how intimidating a stare from his brother could be at times, which raised questions about himself, though he gave these little thought. The woman pushed a lock of her neat, mid-neck length hair behind her ear, more a brown-blonde than his own rich yellowy shade. She looked and sounded irritated and T.K. could not blame her. He hated hiding things from his mother, and he felt guilt in the pit of his stomach every time he did. The fact that the circumstances were about as exceptional as they could get was not lost on him, however, and he merely chose to stay silent while he followed her to the elevator.

It was an anxious ride down and it remained such as they climbed into Nancy's car and drove off. T.K. constantly fidgeted in his seat, unable to get comfortable, and the seatbelt for some reason felt like it was tighter than normal. If he could see his own face, he guessed he would see a boy looking like he was sitting on a jagged rock, small points poking into him no matter how he arranged himself. He kept his eyes downcast, focused on the carpet and his white and blue trainers.

"T.K., can you at least tell me one thing?" his mother suddenly asked, exasperated.

Her voice was coloured by frustration, though underneath it he could detect an air of something else. Screwing his courage to the sticking point, he turned his face to his mother, but found her still with her eyes firmly on the road. From what he could see, though, she had her jaw clenched and her breathing was heavy; not laboured, but far from calm.

"What is it, Mum?" he questioned carefully, not daring to look away.

"Am I going to like what I'm going to hear when we get to the Takenouchi's?" she shot back a little too quickly, betraying a waver in her voice.

T.K. paused, though it was not to think about his answer. There was only one he could really give.

"I'm not sure. Probably not, though." he answered heavily, his voice barely audible over the putter and hum of the engine.

"Right." was all Nancy said in response.

The two fell back into silence for the rest of the trip. For T.K.'s part, he could hardly remember the last time he had found being around his mother so awkward. For a number of years, after the divorce, she was all he had. Now, seated wordlessly side by side seemed such a perverse and unfamiliar thing, like gravity had been reversed or the sun failing to rise in the morning. And, as they finally pulled up near the Takenouchi apartment, T.K. could only feel it getting worse.

The Takenouchi household was simplistic, quaint and homely with natural light filtering in and cloaking the room in a soft, pleasant brightness which declined gradually as one stepped away from the windows. There were pots with varying flora smattered around, flowers on the dining table, a bonsai tree on the oak coloured chiffonier near the front door and a small fern in the corner. The seemingly idyllic surrounds, however, were not matched by the air surrounding the people within.

The atmosphere in the room was as relaxed as it was calm, fluctuating with each person like the flipping sides of a coin tossed in the air. T.K. and his mother, both seated in the corner near the short potted plant, both appeared tense, each having barely spoken since they had arrived. On the other side of T.K., on the other hand, Matt sat blithely next to the boys' father, Hiroaki, who also appeared to be quite at ease, in stark contrast to his ex-wife. This inconsistency was mirrored by the other families, with the Kamiyas and the Kidos appearing to be at least somewhat unsettled, the children more so than the parents it seemed. The Izumis, conversely, were quite calm, though it was rather evident that Izzy's mother and father were not exactly in the highest of spirits.

Sora took in the sights of her friends and their families and sighed to herself. Her own parents were split it seemed, much like their guests appeared to be. Her father Haruhiko, on leave from teaching at Kyoto University, was his normal affable self, smiling brightly at his daughter when she caught his eye. Perennially looking like he had not slept with dark rings constantly hanging under his eyes like poorly applied, week old eye shadow, combined with his greying hair would have led most who did not know him to believe that he was a grumpy or impatient man. Not so, as even his dark eyes sparkled with excitement, a by-product no doubt of his anthropology research, a field which fascinated him to no end.

Conversely, her mother, Toshiko, was far more suspicious of what was going on. What truly bothered Sora, though, was not anything her mother had said or done since the meeting was arranged, but rather the fact that she had offered sparse resistance to hosting the gathering and, even more surprisingly, had scarcely even asked any questions about it. Since the others had first begun to arrive, Toshiko had been eyeing Sora almost constantly; the Izumis had arrived first with their guest, so she understood why. She did not sense any harsh mistrust, but there was something behind her mother's hazel eyes that was off-putting.

Everyone had been there for a good few minutes now, T.K. and Nancy Takaishi being the last to arrive. There were only just enough seats in the Takenouchi household to cater for everyone, and if not for Toshiko's recollection of two fold up picnic chairs they had stored in the closet some would have been sitting on the floor. They would have already started, but they were waiting on Izzy to set up a video call with Mimi and her parents, which was why he was still fiddling with his omnipresent laptop. Sora had asked Tai as soon as he had arrived whether he wanted to lead the discussion, which was the norm although their meetings had never involved the families of the Digidestined before. He had agreed after a short debate on the matter, not before suggesting that Sora herself should act as the chair so to speak, on account of the fact it was her home they were gathering in. She had refused though, more automatically than consciously, but she was at a loss when she thought to herself afterwards what she would have had to do. Anyhow, she felt tired after her rather active morning and was in little mood to lead anything.

Even with all the hustle and bustle going on inside the apartment, Sora had still taken a moment to reflect on her decision from earlier. It looked increasingly likely that there would be no time to catch up and chat with anyone, Tai specifically. She felt stupid, and how she had talked herself into letting him go, she was not sure. But it was quite clear that if they were lucky, at the very least everyone was going to need some private family time after the discussion had finished, or at least that was how it appeared to her. Sora knew that she probably looked sullen while sitting in a chair they had brought over from the dining table, but she noted that, fortunately, no one appeared to be paying her any attention, besides her own parents at least.

Glancing back over in Izzy's direction, she saw him motion to Tai before placing his laptop next to him on a small table. From where she sat, Sora could see the screen darken briefly before lighting up with the image of Mimi and her parents: the dark haired and ostensibly unassuming Keisuke and the ginger-haired and bubbly Satoe, one on either side of their daughter. Glancing back at Tai, he had risen to his feet and was ready to start.

"Uh, hi… everyone." he began awkwardly, "Since the Tachikawas have joined us-"

He was interrupted by a flurry of greetings thrown in the direction of Mimi's laptop by all of the parents and, after seeing that focus had been temporarily broken, the Digidestined themselves. After this had all subsided and everyone returned to silence and attention, Tai began again.

"Right, so um, thanks everyone for coming even though we only decided on all of this yesterday." he started off, a little shakily, receiving deadpan stares from some, polite nods from others, "Now I know that… some of you might have already been told what's going on…"

"Wait, what?" Nancy Takaishi spoke up suddenly, a sting of offense in her tone as she rose to her feet on the opposite side of the room from Tai, "I couldn't get a word out of T.K. about what this is all for and now I hear not everyone's had the silent treatment? I'm sorry, but what the world are you kids playing at?"

"Mum, it's not-" T.K. tried to speak to her, but was not allowed to finish.

"No, I want to hear it from your friends. After all, I could tell from your voice it wasn't your idea." his mother stated firmly over the top of him, causing him to cast his face downwards to hide from her.

"Well it was kinda…" T.K. began, but before he could get far he noticed Matt leaning forward in his seat.

"Mum, it was a group decision." he stated calmly, but looking straight ahead and not at her, "We didn't discuss it with Mimi til after the meeting, so she told her parents and Izzy had to tell his parents."

"Why?" was the blunt response from across the room care of Yuuko, Tai and Kari's mother.

"Because of someone you have to meet… the person who we called you all here to meet." Tai responded robustly, taking back command.

Receiving only confused looks from the uninformed, Sora watched him motion to her with a look and nod of his head towards her own bedroom door. Standing quickly, without paying any attention to the other looks she was receiving from around the room, Sora made her way over to the door and opened it. Standing aside from the opening, she allowed Gennai to saunter out and, without ceremony, take a place next to Tai. Now regarding the faces of those around the room, specifically the adults, the Kamiyas, the Kidos, Ms Takaishi and Mr Ishida all gazed at the little old man with expressions ranging from confused and disbelieving to warily curious. Words would clearly have to be chosen carefully.

"Greeting, how are you all?" Gennai said calmly and jovially, grinding uncomfortably against the tension of the room.

No one responded. The silence was an unsettling break from the commotion of before. At least so far, Sora noted, Tai would not have to fight for everybody's attention.

"Everyone, this… is Gennai. If you remember, he's the person who helped us four years ago." the Kamiya boy announced, remaining steady as all eyes in the room returned to him.

Still there was no real response, though several of the parents took the opportunity to throw sideways glances at their sons and daughters, Sora's included. She noticed that Tai as well as the other Digidestined were scanning the room, each of them anxious to see the reactions. After a few seconds without a sound from anyone, Sora motioned to Tai to keep going, not wanting to get bogged down. Having quickly caught his eye, he did so.

"As you all seem to have guessed," Tai began again evenly, reading the awkward stillness for what Sora had figured it was, "Gennai isn't just here to say 'hello'. Things… things have changed since we were last in the Digital World."

"Indeed." the digital man said with a nod, taking over as he sensed his moment, "No doubt your children have told you stories of what happened four years ago. They were the saviours of my world, and I and all digimon owe them a great debt. But the peace your sons and daughters fought so hard for has tragically come to an end, and war is threatening to cast our world into darkness and domination. The fighting has raged over continents and there is very little left of our free world. The Digital World needs help."

This time the silence did not last. Several of the adults were either on their feet or moving around actively in their seats within seconds of Gennai's last sentence. They did not need to hear any more explanation, it seemed. In the resulting melee of sound there was little that was possible to make sense of. For a few moments it was more a wall of white noise than anything intelligible, though a disbelieving, even angry overtone was more than evident in amongst it all. Sora bit her lip and had to consciously stop herself from chomping down too hard while she felt her mouth go dry. She had hoped, albeit doubtfully, for a better reaction. Yuuko Kamiya was eventually heard over the rabble.

"Oh no, this is not happening again! It's just a little convenient that this is the first time we ever meet you, isn't it?! Do you only turn up when you need something from our kids?!" she fired accusingly at Gennai, her eyes narrowing contemptuously.

"More importantly, why do you need our children for this? Why can't you digimon solve your own problems?" Nancy Takaishi posed gruffly, while still seated cross legged, arms folded with a scowl on her face.

The irate discussion tapered off somewhat at that, and resentful yet searching glances were thrown in the direction of Gennai. The old man seemed to deflate, becoming more sunken and feeble under the weight of attention. Sora was taken aback by what she saw in him, something closer to shame or perhaps even defeat than she had ever detected in him before.

"I'm sorry." he uttered calmly, though the quiet self-assuredness that was typical of him was nowhere to be heard, "But I would not have come here if there was another way. The truth is that the Digidestined are the only hope of the Digital World; nothing else can stop the destruction – only they have the power and abilities to do it."

"And what do you all think? You already knew, right?" Nancy shot at the Izumis and the Tachikawas, both of whom were yet to speak.

There were some uneasy looks exchanged between the two families, though from where Sora was sitting she was only able to make out the Izumis. While the silence pervaded, out of the corner of her eye she tried to discern how her own parents had taken the news. She had heard her father's voice in amongst the rabble before, but for now he simply sat with his hand placed over his mouth looking wide eyed towards the current objects of discussion.

Her mother, on the other hand, was more interested in her it seemed, and Sora's eyes flitted away as soon as she realised that Toshiko was fixating on her. From the brief view she had gotten of the woman, Sora had to admit she did not know what to make of what she had seen. Her mother had been regarding her daughter with pursed lips and a gentler gaze than she would have expected and, unlike her father, she could not remember having heard her when the room had briefly erupted only a minute ago. There was almost a feeling that she was trying to communicate with Sora, though the fact that she had failed so far to say anything was unusual to say the least. The teenager was more than used to receiving an earful whenever the woman had an opinion on something even remotely related to her child's life. Before long, however, Sora's attention was drawn back to the group.

"We can't say we like any of this. We all know how it felt last time..." Kae Izumi admitted with a pained expression, "But at the same time, we can't condemn an entire world when we know our son can make a difference."

"And we trust him to make his own decisions around this. These kids are more aware than anyone what this actually involves, so like it or not they know better than we do about it." Masami added, backing up his wife.

"You both can't be serious!" Susumu, the Kamiya childrens' father, exclaimed.

"We agree with the Izumis."

The voice of Keisuke Tachikawa was heard emanating from Izzy's laptop, drawing everyone's attention to the small screen.

"We don't like it either, but the Izumis are right. We know our Mimi knows what she's doing, and she's braver than we ever could be." Satoe chimed in somewhat wistfully.

"Urgh, you've got to be kidding!" Nancy groaned, running a hand roughly through her hair, "The kids know more than us about the Digital World and the monsters and everything, sure, but that's not the point!"

"Ms Takaishi, I know what you're thinking, but it's not-" Tai tried, diplomatically, to say, but was cut off rather curtly by his own mother.

"Tai we're not gonna hear it. We know it's dangerous and it's probably even worse than you've let us know. Isn't that enough?! What kind of parents would we be if we just… just let you go gallivanting off to fight those monsters?" Yuuko Kamiya jumped in exasperatedly.

He hid it well, but Sora could see from the twitch in his barely parted lips that being cast aside like that by his mother stung. Aside from his lip, there was a twitch in his left hand, moving ever so slightly upward towards his face before he stopped it. Tai was quick to regain his composure, at least to the untrained eye, but for the time being he did not rise in his own defence. She would even have gone so far as to say that, to her, he looked uncertain on his feet, almost aimless as he stood by.

"That may be so, but I believe it is worth considering the other point. It's quite clear that if we don't let them go we're essentially letting an entire world burn and be conquered."

The latest speaker was Shinzo Kido, Joe's father, who had been rather subdued before that point. The esteemed doctor had been sitting cross legged in his seat, surveying the situation and he spoke with a mix of authority and subdued compassion, typical of a person of his station. Joe could be seen sitting next to him with his mother, Emiko, but despite his nods of agreement he looked unlikely to speak, merely shooting sideways glances at his parents every couple of seconds.

"Well… that may be true, but why does it have to be-" Nancy tried to argue, but she was cut off by her youngest son.

"You know why it has to be us, Mum. We've told you the stories and no one else can do what we've done." T.K. said boldly.

"Hey, T.K…" Hiroaki said gruffly, but with a softer edge than he was known for. The man leaned forward to place a hand on his son's arm. "Just let your mother-"

"Dad, we're a part of this conversation too." Matt interrupted, drawing his father's attention as well as everyone else's, his tone cool but demanding, "And T.K.'s right; there's not really much of a choice here anyway."

Sora could see several other Digidestined nodding as Matt spoke. It seemed he was voicing a frustration of much of the group, and she had to admit that she fell into the same camp. She had not wanted to say anything, as she was sure that someone else was more than likely to say it anyway, but the chafing feeling of exclusion had begun to wear on her. Now that their silence had been broken, though, the floodgates began to ease open, as was the case with the others, it became clear.

"We have a duty to the Digital World. It's not something we can just wish away because it's hard or because it doesn't suit us." Tai implored, though not quite as sternly as Matt. As far as Sora could tell, however, he had regained his footing, so to speak.

Sensing a rising chorus amongst the Digidestined, the Takenouchi girl decided to throw her own two cents into the mix.

"Besides, all of us have friends there!" she pointed out beseechingly, "You've all met our partners right? Agumon, Tentomon, Gabumon… Biyomon."

Sora stopped herself as she named her own digimon partner. The little pink bird had never been far from her mind, and mentioning her again, with emotions running high, gave her pause for thought. She seemed to have said enough, though, to strike a chord with her friends.

"Patamon was there for me every day last time, and he helped us save our world from Myotismon. I can't let his home be destroyed and won't have him hurt, not after all that." T.K. argued with a fire in his eyes, one which was most pointedly directed towards his mother.

"The same goes for me and Gatomon. She's my partner, and I'm not leaving her alone through this." Kari affirmed, nodding over at T.K., beaming confidently.

The parents were all quiet after this, with those who had been standing having retaken their seats. The hush that had come over the room made the air feel heavy, almost suffocating, and Sora could feel many pairs of eyes joining hers in scanning the room fretfully. Of the parents who had not already known, most seemed rather distant, no doubt deep in thought. The exceptions were Hiroaki Ishida, who was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and sporting a resigned expression, as well as Shinzo and Emiko Kido, both of whom looked as though their minds were made up. As for the Izumis and the Tachikawas, Sora could not quite make out what the latter were doing, but Izzy's parents were merely sitting and observing, with some visible concern, the others in the room, much like the Digidestined were.

"I don't think… I can't…"

From her left, Sora could just barely hear a new, whispered conversation going on between the Kamiya parents. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Yuuko Kamiya shaking her head as her husband held her wrist with what looked to be a pained expression, his eyes shut tight and his teeth gritted. Facing forward, she kept her eyes locked in that leftward direction, not wanting to see who was on her right at that moment.

"Sora."

Breathing in heavily through her nose, the redheaded girl felt her insides clench. She grimaced, though not without trying to maintain a straight face.

"Sora, look at me."

Pursing her lips and swallowing quickly, she turned her head to look at her parents, and more specifically at her mother who had been speaking to her. She found both staring back at her. Haruhiko was rather transparent, worry written in every line on his face. Toshiko, contrastingly, was rather deadpan. Still, this was not without her giving the impression that she was only just managing to contain herself.

"We need to talk; privately. Can you follow us outside?" the woman asked, though it was closer to a statement than a request.

Not even bothering to nod in agreement, knowing it was not needed, Sora rose to her feet and followed the two away from the crowd, who were too engrossed in their own issues to raise questions. Walking through the sliding glass door out onto their apartment's small balcony, the trio stood apart, the two adults at one end, their daughter at the other. Toshiko leaned up against the railing, though at her height she barely had to bend forward by more than a few inches to rest her elbows on it. For his part, Haruhiko stood facing Sora, his expression the same as it had been inside.

Sora was standing rigidly, facing them. The muscles in her legs, sore as they were from that morning, were clenched, holding tight to her position. Meanwhile, her left wrist was being gripped by her opposite hand and her neck was stiff, pushed back as far as it would allow, putting as much distance between her parents and her face as possible. For all her body was doing, though, Sora barely noticed. The teenager was far too focused on trying to read her parents without looking directly at them, her eyes preferring a blurred view of the background beyond them.

While the silence had barely hung around the trio for more than a few seconds, it began to grate against her almost immediately. Every instant was punctuated by a sense that she was being pushed down into the ground, every inch of her feeling like it was sinking under a great weight. Her mind raced, attempted to find something to say, passing over dozens of possible sentences, none of which seemed to her like they would make the situation any better if she said them. Mercifully, she did not have to wait much longer for someone to speak.

"Sora, you do understand what it is you're asking us to do?"

It was her mother who spoke, still with her back to her daughter. It was a simply put question, with little in the woman's tone of voice that could be analysed. It was that which really bothered the Digidestined.

"I… what?" Sora stammered in reply.

"Honey, this… this isn't something any parent can take lying down." her father stated shakily, "Last time this happened I couldn't even be here to see it all for myself…"

"No Haru, but things aren't same as they were back then either." Toshiko said more softly, finally turning around and showing her face.

What Sora saw in her eyes was not exactly what she had been expecting. They flashed strongly at her, but not in the way she had been dreading. There was a familiar, but at the same time unknowable warmth in them. They reminded the girl of only one episode in her life, at least that she could remember. Fittingly enough, the emotion she was seeing had not been so clear in almost four years. Sora began to feel her body again, and every inch of her relaxed as she exhaled shallowly.

"Sora, I hate this, I really do." Toshiko breathed, her voice remaining steady, "If I felt I had a real choice I'd lock you in your room and never let you leave."

"Mum…" Sora said weakly, but her mother continued on without wasting more than another second.

"But I know that wouldn't be a real option… or a good one either." she conceded with a slow, grudging bow of her head.

As one parent fell silent, the other took his chance.

"Sora, you're our only child. I know I'm not around as often as we'd all like, but that doesn't change the fact that I love you more than anything else in this world." Haruhiko opined, with more than a little strain borne on his face, "There's nothing worse to me than the idea that an entire civilisation could be wiped out; there's no tragedy more awful. But still, I find myself considering letting it happen just so you don't have to go."

The man was breathing heavily at that stage and his voice was shaking so much that Sora wondered if he might just break down in front of her. At the bottom of her gaze she could see his hands balled up as fists, so tight that his knuckles were turning white. She also saw his adam's apple rise and fall as he swallowed a few times in quick succession. A small, barely audible sound escaped her father as well. If she had to guess, she would have said it was a whimper.

Starting forward and quickly closing the gap between them, Sora embraced her father. In her mind she could think of nothing else worth doing. After a short moment she felt his arms close around her shoulder blades as he returned the hug. His breathing was still laboured but it was consistent, without any sense of panic; he was calm. She could feel her heart beating slowly, but each pump beat against her rib cage and her lungs tightened unison. She refused to move an inch, not daring to break the embrace too soon.

Sora could not see as she had her face buried in Haruhiko's shoulder, but a few seconds later she could feel that her mother had joined them from the side. The family of three stood together for some time, eventually breaking apart. Before they did, though, the teenager felt the smallest spark ignite in her chest, rekindled from times past. They spoke no further words, merely exchanging glances before heading back inside; more words would come later, when there was time.

Back in the apartment, they found many fewer people than when they had stepped out to the balcony. The absence of blond hair signalled the departure of the Takaishis and Ishidas. Izzy was shutting down his laptop, so they were without the Tachikawas as well. The Kidos were also absent, which left only the Kamiyas and the Izumis with the addition of Gennai, who was seated by Izzy. Even then, the room remained tense. As soon as the Takenouchis had re-entered, Toshiko had been pulled aside by Yuuko Kamiya into the kitchen area from which frenzied whispers were soon heard.

Looking back to Gennai, the old man appeared stoic, and again he seemed to lack his old energy, slumped forward in the chair in which he had parked himself. Overwhelmingly, he just looked tired, as though he had not slept properly in days. Sora thought to herself that may well have actually been the case, but instinct was more than enough to tell her there was more to it. But then, when were things ever straightforward, she mused to herself.

"How'd things go out there?" a husky voice came from her left shoulder.

"Better than I'd feared." she responded lightly, flashing a small smile at Tai.

"Mum's gonna give herself a stomach ulcer if she keeps going like she has for the past ten minutes." the brown haired teen sighed, holding his hands in his pockets and staring over at Yuuko as she continued to talk animatedly to Toshiko.

Sora grimaced, not liking the look of that conversation from where she was standing.

"Is she, y'know… gonna be a… problem?" she asked carefully.

"No, she's just venting, I think…" Tai answered evenly, though his voice lacked any spirit, simply sounding deflated, "I'm pretty sure I don't want to be T.K. right now, though."

Sora winced and turned her head to face her friend.

"She didn't leave happy, I take it?" the redhead questioned, biting her lower lip.

He shook his head, his eyes glued to the floor. In response she bent forward, trying to get her head under his attract his gaze. The two locked eyes and Sora returned to her original stance. For a moment the two just stood there, watching each other closely. She thought she had something to say, but at that point in time she could not think of what. There was an itch at the back of her head, whispering to her what it was, but she was unable to make it out. Instead, they both stayed silent.

"If it's any consolation, she's the only one we're not sure about."

They both jumped as Izzy snuck up behind them, with Kari in tow.

"Everyone else's parents seem to be on board, so all things considered we've gotten off pretty lightly." the Izumi boy surmised, his tone light and just barely evincing relief.

Both Sora and Tai nodded in reply, though both chose not to comment. The subject was quick to change as well, all sensing a common desire to focus on something less stressful for the time being.

"Where's Dad got to, Kari?" Tai asked of his sister, looking past her and over the brunette's shoulder to the empty circle of chairs in the background where they had all been sitting a short while before.

"Just in the bathroom, I thi-" Kari began before the click of a door was heard to the side and Susumu was seen walking out, patting his hands, which shone faintly with water, on his pants, prompting Kari to simply say, "Right there."

At that moment Yuuko strode back into the living area and approached her husband, saying something to him none of the four teenagers could quite hear from where the stood. The Kamiya father was quick to turn to them after his wife was finished talking.

"C'mon kids, it's time we left." he stated matter-of-factly, though not without displaying a furrowed brow and something of a frown.

"We've got a lot to do when we get home." Yuuko added in much the same way, though her tone was far more obviously disgruntled than her husband's.

Seeing Kari walk over to her parents and Izzy move to join his where they stood over to the side, Sora turned to Tai, who eyed her apologetically. Remembering earlier in the day, Sora reached out and gently grabbed his arm. Though her grip was light at best, she felt an unmistakeable tensing of his muscles and the stiffing of his arm. She opened her mouth to speak, but try as she might no words came to her. Her mind ran blank even as she struggled furiously to think of something. She saw his brown eyes flicker away for a second before returning to hers. Though she appeared calm on the outside, lips pursed with a neutral but searching expression, her heart rate had risen and her breathing, while no heavier, was far more deliberate, her mind acutely attuned to every inhalation and exhalation.

Tai himself appeared momentarily lost. Eyebrows arched to the sides, he looked back at her uncomfortably. Unlike her, however, he was not lost for words, though they came uneasily.

"S-sorry, Sora. I'll talk to you later, I guess…" he said awkwardly, motioning twitchily over at his parents and Kari with his head.

Before she could even think through an answer, Sora responded automatically.

"Yeah, sure." she squeaked quickly before she could catch herself.

Her fingers dropped from his upper arm and came to a rest at her side. Goodbyes were exchanged with the Kamiyas, and then the Izumis not long afterward. With the final click of the Takenouchi front door closing, a weighty silence filled the apartment. Sparse and inconsequential chitchat was exchanged between the three family members, but it was barely five minutes before Sora retreated to her room.

Closing the door behind her, the teenager breathed out harshly. In her mind, she saw herself expelling her frustrations, but even after doing this several times they refused to stop welling up inside her. Giving up, she strode over to her bed, dropped onto it on her side and then let herself fall face first into a pillow.

As she took in the cool smell of her bed, Sora groaned audibly into the material and ground her forehead deeper into the pillow in the vain hope of purging her mind of everything for just a few moments. She stayed like that for several minutes before rising again just to turn over onto her back. Looking up at the ceiling and unable to focus on anything but the awkward goodbye she and Tai had shared, the Digidestined gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, murmuring dejectedly to herself.

"What the heck am I even doing…"