I do not own Digimon nor am I associated with anyone who does.

Hello all! I apologize for taking so very long to post this, and it's not even that long! Forgive me. Not to bore you all with my personal life, but things have been a bit crazy over the past few months. (I found out I'm pregnant!) So between the normal life things getting in the way, fatigue and other things have been contributing to my lack of writing, and not just with my fic, but also my actual books. But I've finally found a little time and energy to get the next chapter out. I will admit that I'm in a tricky spot with this chapter... I didn't want it to be boring, (but maybe it is?) but it's leading up to a big plot point and I wanted to make sure I didn't mess it up by doing something I couldn't change later. So that being said, I hope you enjoy and please do look forward to another chapter much sooner than this one came. Again, I apologize for the long wait and I appreciate your patience with me!

Cody pulled the passenger door open and slid into Yolie's car without a word, his face contorted with a frustrated expression as he avoided looking Yolie's direction as she got into the driver's seat.

"You were so worried about him before, you caught me off guard yelling at him like that." She didn't look at Cody, just stared out the front window at the darkening golds and reds shimmer in the fading sunset.

Cody pursed his lips and closed his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh. "He's always been like that."

Yolie finally looked over at Cody with a sympathetic frown. "But Cody, T.K. wasn't even there when it happened and Patamon did what he had to in order to protect you and Davis, didn't he?"

"That's not the point!" Cody hissed. "It's because T.K. sees things in black and white. He holds so much anger toward the darkness he can't see that he's not any better than the enemies we face."

Yolie pushed herself back in her seat slamming her palms on the steering wheel. "First off!" she spoke unnecessarily loudly. "That's going too far. T.K.'s only ever done what he thought was best for everyone—even if that isn't how we see things, he's not doing anything near as terrible as some of the digimon we've faced in the past."

"But—" Cody started but was quickly interrupted.

"I'm not finished!" she turned to face the boy who was growing a concerned look on his face. "Second. You're taking out all your pent up anger towards T.K.. on an unrelated situation. That digimon tried to hurt our friends just a few weeks ago and by the sounds of it, was ready to kill both you and Davis today. If anything warranted Patamon's actions that was it."

"Pent up anger? What are you even talking about?" Cody glared at Yolie.

"You're still mad at him for never responding to your emails!" Yolie threw her arms up angrily, accidently smacking them on the roof of the car. "Ouch." She murmured angrily shaking her hands.

"That isn't…I don't even care about that. He's back and everything's been normal." Cody struggled. "We all had things going on. He just…"

Yolie's expression darkened. "I tried to tell you something happened. That T.K. wouldn't abandon us like that for no good reason."

"Then why? I thought—!" Cody cringed. "I thought we mattered to him. I thought we were his friends."

Yolie leaned forward, resting her forehead on her steering wheel. "It's complicated."

Cody frowned at her. "What? Did he tell you why?"

Yolie straightened, shrugging. "More or less I got the truth out of him."

"Then why?" Cody shouted, a look of desperation on his face. "What was it? Did we do something?"

Yolie looked over at Cody. "You should try talking to him about it."

Cody looked away from Yolie angrily. "It doesn't matter. I decided not to care."

"But you cared today, didn't you? You were worried about him and scared." Yolie gave Cody a light smile.

Cody closed his eyes again and nodded. "I was. And I was happy to see he was fine. But then all that worrying…the worrying I did before and today." He looked up at the ceiling of Yolie's car. "I was worried about him when he left. I was worried when he stopped responding to not just my emails but yours as well. And then out of the blue he shows up, just fine, acting like the last year never even happened. It was so frustrating."

Yolie saw the hurt in his expression. "Cody…"

"And then it happened again today. I was so scared something had happened to him and then he just shows up, a few bruises and that's it."

"Would you have preferred he'd been seriously injured?" Yolie asked sarcastically, knowing the answer.

"Of course not! But he's just…" Cody trailed off staring out Yolie's front window. "…what?"

Yolie looked up to see what Cody was staring at, her eyes widening as she saw Ken and T.K. walking out of the school, T.K.'s arm over Ken's shoulder for support. "That's…"

They both held their breath watching in silence as T.K.'s pained expression stared awkwardly at the ground, holding his side tightly. Cody grabbed for the door handle and then stopped. Glancing back up he watched the two slowly walk towards Ken's parked car around the corner, oblivious to their presence. "He's not okay." His voice shook.

Yolie swallowed hard, looking at Cody. "Maybe he wasn't okay in Hokkaido, either."

Cody looked up at Yolie with a concerned frown. "But…"

"I'm not telling you that you shouldn't be upset that he stopped talking to you. But I think you should at least try and talk to him and let him know how you feel." She tried to smile. "I still think we're important friends to T.K., things just got complicated for him and he didn't want to burden anyone else."

Cody clenched his teeth and lowered his head. "But…"

#

Davis leaned against Kari's shoulder lightly, trying not to put too much pressure against her, all the while soaking in the close contact between them. Glancing over at her he noticed the worry in her expression and sighed loudly, pulling away from her.

She stopped and looked at him surprised. "Can you manage on your own?"

He gave her a look before he spoke softly. "Can I ask you a question?"

She gave him a skeptical look before nodding. "Sure."

Davis hesitated and then looked her in the eyes. "What's going on between you and T.K.?"

Kari frowned. "Davis, we've been over this. Nothing's going on."

"Kari I've been watching you for a long time. I know when you're okay or upset. I can see it in your eyes when something excites you or angers you. I can hear it in your voice when you're happy or when you're sad." Davis inhaled slowly. "I can tell when you're putting on a brave face and trying not to cry."

Kari averted her eyes from Davis' and stared at the cracks in the sidewalk. "Davis, you're just reading into things."

"Am I?" He narrowed his eyes at her, limping a few steps ahead, he turned to face her directly. "Because I'm pretty sure I'm not. I'm not trying to bring up my creepy stalker-ish past, but I've been watching you long enough to tell when something's wrong."

Kari shook her head before looking back up at Davis. She pushed her best feign smile and laughed at him. "You're being silly. Let's go home."

Kari started walking again, reaching up she grabbed his arm to pull it back over her shoulder, but Davis shifted and pulled away from her. "You're lying."

"I'm not." She glowered. "What do you want me to say?"

Davis sighed. "T.K. had a digiport installed on his computer the whole time he was gone."

Kari stared at Davis for a few minutes, taking in the information carefully—she remembered clearly that T.K. declined Izzy's offer to install it on his computer before he left—she never honestly thought about it after that. "He did?"

Davis gauged her reaction carefully. "You didn't know either?"

She shook her head. "No."

"What happened between you two?" Davis hesitated. "Or do I want to know?"

Kari shook her head. "Nothing."

Davis closed his eyes with frustration. "Something!"

"Nothing happened Davis!" Kari shouted, tears stinging at her eyes.

Davis watched as she wiped the tears off her cheeks. "Then why are you crying?"

"I'm not." She glared at Davis.

Taking a quick step forward he reached up and grabbed Kari, pulling her into his arms tightly, hugging her. "Don't cry over him or I might have to hurt him."

Kari let out a forced laugh as more tears came flowing from her eyes. "I'm not crying."

"Okay." Davis tightened his grip on her. "But if he ever does makes you cry…" he had to take in a deep breath to compose himself. "…he'll have hell to pay. Got it?" She only gave a single nod, resting her head against Davis' chest.

#

T.K. winced as he pushed Ken's door open. "Thanks for the ride."

Ken didn't look at T.K. or respond. T.K. glanced at him before inhaling and holding his breath, preparing to heave himself to his feet.

"T.K." Ken's tone made him stop and turn to face his friend. It was dark out now and T.K. couldn't see Ken's expression clearly, but he knew he was angry.

"Hmm?" T.K. glared at his lap.

Ken leaned his head back and exhaled deeply. "So, you don't want to talk about what happened today, I take it."

T.K. shifted his eyes from Ken briefly before looking back at him. "I told you guys everything already."

Ken shook his head. "Right." The sarcasm in his tone was thick.

"What?" T.K. lifted his hands with annoyance. "What do you want me to say?"

"Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow." Ken shook his head.

T.K. pursed his lips. "Don't worry about me."

Ken laughed angrily. "Don't worry about you? Is that some kind of joke?" T.K. didn't move, didn't speak. "You're not alright. You'd have to be blind to see that."

"It's a bruise." T.K. shook his head angrily.

Ken slammed his fist on the steering wheel. "There's blood on your shirt!"

T.K. froze. Closing his eyes in defeat he leaned forward, a slight moan escaping his lips. "I'm—"

"If you say you're fine one more damn time T.K. I'm going to punch you." Ken glared at him.

T.K. swallowed hard and looked up at Ken. "I can't explain. I don't know how."

"Try!" Ken begged.

T.K. leaned back in his seat and pulled his backpack up into his lap. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"T.K.!" Ken hissed.

He pushed himself out of Ken's car and shut the door before Ken could say anything else.

#

One Week Later

T.K. opened his eyes and glanced at his clock, an hour still left before his alarm would go off to get ready for school, but he couldn't go back to sleep. The week had been long and tiring, between hiding his aches and pains and avoiding his friends altogether he was ready for the weekend tomorrow, but the events that had taken place in the digital world kept him in constant unease.

"Last day…" he murmured, pushing himself up—his side was still sore, but had begun healing quickly.

Making his way to the bathroom he didn't bother putting a shirt on, the bruise was almost gone and Matt rarely got up before we went to school unless he already had to be somewhere for band. Clicking the bathroom door shut and flipping the light switch on T.K. leaned over the sink and glanced up at the mirror, examining his tousled hair and the dark circles under his eyes.

Straightening he turned slightly to inspect his bruise, satisfied that no one would be able to tell during PE or otherwise—his doctor gave him the okay to go back to practice the next week, but that only left him a week of playing before the final game before summer vacation.

He raised his arms into a stretch and began getting ready for school. "One more day…"

#

Shoving his locker door closed T.K. pulled his backpack up onto his shoulder without hesitation, his shoulder having healed well enough that the pressure of his textbooks no longer bothered him. Turning he almost ran into Cody, quickly sidestepping he pressed his back against his locker door with an instinctual apology. "Sorry!"

Cody looked up a bit surprised, almost dropping the books piled in his arms. He opened his mouth to respond but just nodded and continued walking down the hall. T.K. inhaled slowly, watching Cody's back as he disappeared into the crowded hall.

He knew it'd been too easy to avoid his friends this week and he was beginning to realize that maybe it was because they were also avoiding him. It gave him a twinge of pain in his chest when he thought about it, but at the same time it gave him a sense of relief.

Classes zipped by and the last bell rang, releasing T.K. from the confines of the school walls for two full days. Piling his books back into his bag his teacher called him up to the front. He tried to ignore her calls but she called out a second time, louder and he looked up and nodded.

"Yes?" he asked wearily.

"Takaishi, can you do me a favor?" she asked with a wide smile.

He hesitated and then smiled in return. "What can I help with?"

She glanced down at a fairly small box with some file folders in it. "I am subbing for Mr. Moto with the detention students and I don't have time to run all the way upstairs and back down here. Could you return these files to the student council office?"

T.K. hesitated again, the student council office was just a few doors down from the computer lab. Being it was Friday he knew that he was likely to run into his friends on the way there or back.

"Please?" she smiled again.

T.K. nodded. "Sure."

#

Watching the halls emptying as he made his way up to the student council office, T.K. knew it'd be that much more awkward to avoid his friends in the hall if they met.

Each time a door opened to a classroom T.K. averted his gaze and stared at the floor in front of himself, relieved when no one called out to him or stopped and stared.

Walking past the computer lab he was slightly disappointed to see it empty, meaning that he could still run into them on his way back down.

Finally he was at the student council room, knocking lightly he entered finding it empty. He closed the door behind himself and walked past the cluttered front desks and set the box on the last one, the president's desk.

The room was dim but the sun hit the blinds just right, sending in streams of blinding light throughout the room, dust particles danced in the air and a musky smell emanated from the small over staffed council room.

T.K. held his breath, a weird feeling washing over him, like he was being watched. He released the box and straightened, staring straight ahead he swallowed hard and turned slowly—there was nothing there. He inhaled shakily and curled his hands into fists to stop his hands from trembling.

The feeling of being watched had grown steadily over the past week, paranoia reaching new levels as he shook his head and walked back across the room, reaching for the door he stopped at the sound of something toppling to the floor behind him, papers flying over the floor in a flurry.

He turned at the sound seeing the box he'd placed on the desk dumped onto the ground. He paused, looking around the impossibly small room—he was alone.

Setting his pack on the floor next to the door he walked over and started gathering the contents of the box and putting them back inside as organized as he could manage, unsure which folders certain papers had come out of he did the best he could and replaced the box on the desk, being sure he set it in the middle of the desk so that it would not fall over again.

T.K. closed his eyes and composed himself, trying to fight the voices that echoed in his mind—Wisemon's eerie voice speaking the word "Gate" over and over again.

Pushing away from the desk T.K. walked back to the door and grabbed his backpack, closing the door to the council room behind him. He was lost in thought and had completely forgotten about avoiding his friends when he heard Ken call out his name. He looked up a bit bewildered and stopped to see Ken and Yolie about to walk into the computer lab.

T.K. had actively left school every day before Ken could get there and had ignored all his phone calls over the past week and he could easily tell Ken was angry by the expression on his face. "Hey." Was all T.K. could manage.

He could hear Kari and Cody talking in the computer lab, Yolie gave T.K. a sympathetic smile and waved before walking into the room, closing the door behind her, leaving Ken and T.K. alone in the hallway.

"I don't really know what to say anymore." Ken gave T.K. a defeated look, crossing his arms.

T.K. averted his gaze and adjusted his backpack. "I can't…" T.K. stopped.

Ken shook his head. "What is it? You don't trust me?"

T.K. shook his head. "That's not it."

"Then help me understand." Ken sighed.

T.K. looked back up at Ken, the whole situation with Wisemon, the crest and the things Gennai told him whirling in his mind, making his head ache. "I'm sorry."

Ken frowned at T.K. and shook his head. "I'm done."

T.K.'s chest tightened at his words but he couldn't say anything, how could he? He knew he wasn't being fair to Ken or any of them.

Ken pursed his lips. "If you don't want to talk to me about it, I can't make you. I'm done trying to help." T.K. only stared at the ground. "If you change your mind, I'm still here, but I'm not going to go out of my way for you anymore. I'm done being pushed away. You haven't spoken to any of us in a week and this isn't the first time you've gone silent on us. We don't deserve that, I don't care what's going on with you."

T.K. clenched his teeth and nodded. "You're right."

Ken seemed to regret his harsh words but not enough to take them back as T.K. walked past him and disappeared down the hall.

#

T.K. walked around the outside of the school and pressed his back against the wall, sliding down to the ground. His chest felt tight and everything that had been building up on him all this time was crashing around him.

Had he really pushed everyone away? Was he alone now? He didn't really want to be, but he felt it—the claustrophobic feeling of having no one to turn to if he needed it. What had he been aiming for this whole time? Because this wasn't what he'd wanted. It just wasn't.

"Dude, you alright?" Davis' voice suddenly interrupted the myriad of thoughts crashing against T.K.'s skull.

T.K. looked up, confused why Davis' was there, realizing a second later he was in his soccer uniform—he'd been at practice. "Yeah." He spoke quietly, not sure he could stand if he wanted to.

"You coming to the digital world today?" Davis asked lightly, seeming to take his answer despite it being obvious he wasn't alright.

T.K. shook his head. "No."

Davis' expression darkened. "You've been acting weird, you know?" he knelt down next to T.K. and pressed his back against the wall.

T.K. frowned and looked up at Davis briefly before looking back down at the ground. "Things have been weird lately."

Davis shrugged. "Yeah. But you're always the optimistic one, it's weird seeing things get you down like this. Ken told me that you were hurt a lot worse than you were letting on last week…" he trailed off finally looking down at T.K. "You doing alright? I heard that you're going back to basketball on Monday."

T.K. nodded. "I'm good."

Davis sighed loudly. "Well, that's good. We've been worried." He paused. "Kari's been worried."

T.K. closed his eyes at Davis' last sentence. "Tell everyone I'm fine. I'll try and make time to come hang out next week."

Davis stood. "Do you even care that she's worried about you?" His tone stiffened.

T.K. pursed his lips. "I'm not trying to make anyone worry."

"That's not what I'm asking." Davis growled.

T.K. pushed himself up as well and pulled his backpack up over his shoulder. "What are you asking then?"

Davis glared at T.K. for a few seconds before looking away angrily. "Nevermind."

T.K. almost laughed—he'd really done it, Davis was pissed off at him too. "I gotta go."

"Yeah…" Davis turned and walked away from T.K. without another word, making his way back to the locker rooms to change and meet up with the others upstairs.

T.K. inhaled deeply and headed home—he had to do something about what was going on in the digital world, because eventually, if they were really after him they'd find a way to get him, and he knew that would inevitably put them in danger and he'd already put them through enough as it was, he wouldn't see any of them hurt because of him.

Again, sorry if it was boring. More excitement and perhaps some more insight into the new enemy and their plans in the next chapter. Thank you all for your support! Reviews and favorites are great motivators as well ;)

Also, please check out my original work by googling The Silent Ballad Series! If I hadn't explained before, it's a supernatural, post-apocalyptic series set in Europe.

Thanks again!