Kidan (part 1 of 6)
There were times when Yagami Hikari wished she'd stop wearing things
about her neck. First there was the whistle and the pink scarf, which
could not escape teasing. Taichi managed to teach Hikari how to ignore
the jeers from the other eight-year-old children. After the Digital
World, Hikari gave away both the whistle and the small scarf. The
whistle was given to her dear friend and digimon partner, Tailmon. The
scarf, though, Hikari never planned to see again.
During her time in the Digital World, Hikari had fallen dreadfully ill
and was nearly killed by rampaging digimon looking for her and the other
Chosen Children. To her fortune, someone had rather foolhardily slipped
into the building the girl had been hiding in when Takenouchi Sora and
Takaishi Takeru ran outside to greet Taichi and Izumi Koushiro. Just
before the building was set aflame, Hikari, barely conscious, had been
carried out of the building.
When she next awoke, Hikari found herself lying on concrete, the sound
of water rushing all around her. Still weary from illness, she looked
about and was shocked to see dark blue eyes watching her. Shazaki
Shinji had rescued her, and not but three minutes after Hikari's waking,
saved the younger girl's life again. A very peculiar digimon by the
name of Warumonzemon had attacked them in hopes of pleasing his master
Machinedramon.
It was then that Hikari began to understand why Shinji never smiled. In
a blur, Shinji stood, drew her straight ninja to, and rushed the Viral
bear creature. The human cut through the digimon, dancing around his
attacks with indolent ease. With his options limited to death or death,
Warumonzemon had turned about and slammed his paw into the ground.
The resulting eruption of concrete lifted Hikari from the ground and
threw her into a nearby underground river. Shinji sliced off the bear's
head, sheathed the sword, and dove into the river after Hikari. She
managed to catch up with the smaller girl, grabbing her round the middle
with one arm and grabbing at the side of the river with her free hand.
Her hand caught a jutting pipe, but it was rusting away and would not
hold them for very long with the rushing water pulling them. Despite
the water's strength and her own weariness-she later confessed to Hikari
that she had not slept in five days, as she was wont to-Shinji did not
let go of Hikari. Just as the pipe was about to break, a flash of red
light whipped out of the shadows and wrapped around Shinji's left wrist.
Automatically, the hand released the pipe and Shinji and Hikari were
dragged back onto the solid ground.
Vandemon's "rescue" saved both of them, but tore into Shinji's wrist.
It bled slowly, the veins scorched shut from the heat of the energy.
Hikari consequentially took the soaked scarf from her neck and carefully
tied it around Shinji's wrist. Shinji did not smile, but thanked
Hikari, her eyes a bit kinder than Hikari had seen them before.
It had been eight years since Hikari's first soirée into the Digital
World. Four years after the first excursion, she, Takeru, Motomiya
Daisuke, Hida Iori, Inoue Miyako, and Ichijouji Ken battled in the
Digital World to defeat a corrupted copy of Vandemon's programming.
Hikari found herself hoping that, because Vandemon was involved, his
partner would appear. She did not emerge from her departure.
Eight years after the first battle for Earth, Hikari began to wish she
had stopped wearing things on her neck. At the time, she had started
her third year of high school and chose to take part in a photography
class. She wore a small digital camera around her neck and took
exquisite pictures when she found them. Not everyone was thrilled with
her hobby. A few boys in their final year at the school took to
taunting Hikari about the camera and why she carried it everywhere.
Though she tried desperately to ignore the boys, Hikari realized that
she was no longer eight years old, and neither were the taunting boys.
The tactics that Taichi had taught her were not up to the challenge of
daily mockery and the occasional game of throwing Hikari's camera about
dangerously.
It was one day such as this that Hikari received a surprise.
----------
"What d'you need this stupid hunk-o-junk for?" the largest of the boys
questioned, harsh laughter in his voice. "Come on, my grandma has
better tech than this crap!" Hikari would have informed the boy that
jokes involving a person's grandmother were quite old and ineffective,
but she was a bit too concerned with praying that they wouldn't drop her
camera. The ground was covered in grass, but it was still warm from the
end of summer and the ground beneath the grass was hard.
"Aw, does the little baby girl need her camera back?" the second of the
three boys cackled. "Maybe she's got some hot photos of her and her
boyfriend Takeru on here!" Hikari felt no embarrassment from the
remark. She and Takeru had never become anything more than good
friends, and neither wanted it to grow past that.
"Or maybe she's got some kinky shit with her, Takeru, and Daisuke!" the
third boy guffawed. "That's probably why she's so desperate!"
"I'm trying to get it back because I need my camera!" Hikari snapped in
reply. "Give me it back!" The first boy caught the camera once more,
twirling it menacingly on his index finger by the strap.
"Fat chance, Yagami!" he said with a sneer. "You're not getting this
back in a million years!"
"I need it for my class!" Hikari protested. "Please, I need it back!"
The three boys continued to laugh at Hikari's pleas and her hopeless
attempts at grabbing it from the leader's hand. The boy hopped
backwards from her, still twirling the camera, and jumped right into
someone standing behind him. He whirled and bared his teeth at the
person.
"Give me the camera," the person, a young woman, murmured. "Hand it
over now and I won't break your nose." Hikari paused, her eyes widened
in shock at the woman's voice. She could barely remember the voice she
heard, but it did strike a chord in her mind.
"Go to hell, bitch!" the boy shouted.
"Fine, your nose," the woman replied. "Not my problem." In a
heartbeat, the boy let out a shout of pain as the woman's palm crashed
into his nose. It cracked immediately and began to bleed heavily. The
camera flew up from his hand, but the woman snatched it easily.
The two other boys looked at the woman once before grabbing their leader
and dragging him off, shouting curses and threats over their shoulders
as they ran. The woman watched them go, her blue eyes rather detached.
She turned and walked to where Hikari stood stunned.
"I heard him say Yagami, and I wondered if it was that same little
Yagami Hikari girl who gave me this scarf," she said, still not smiling.
"From the look of it, I'd have to say you're still the same girl, but
not little anymore. Here." She put the camera in Hikari's hands and
turned to leave. "You had better hurry to your school or you'll be
late." She turned and started away. A pink scarf was tied around her
left wrist. Hikari paused for only a moment before hurrying up to the
woman.
"Shinji?" she questioned. "By the gods, is that you? It's been eight
years since I've seen you! How are you?" Shinji paused and looked at
the girl.
"Alive," she said with a faint shrug. "Looking for a steady job. You?"
"Well, it's been so long since I've seen you," Hikari answered with a
smile. "Where do I even start?" Shinji raised a brow at her.
"I have a feeling that this might take a while," she muttered. "Come
on. You can have some tea with me."
"But I'm already late for school," Hikari protested. "Should I meet you
somewhere later?" Shinji shrugged at her.
"If we don't talk now, I'll probably forget after looking for a shop
today," she said. "You can come with me, if you like." Hikari looked
at the ground, considering what Shinji said. When she did not reply,
Shinji turned again and started away.
"I guess one day off won't be too terrible," Hikari said quickly, taking
a step to catch Shinji by the hand. "Where should we go?" Shinji's
lips twitched for a moment and her frown lessened.
"My house should be fine," she responded. "Come on."
----------
Hikari couldn't help but smile. It had been a very long time since she
had ridden with someone on their bike. She had her arms around Shinji's
waist as the other young woman pedaled steadily towards their
destination. People barely gave them a second glance as they passed,
even though Hikari was wearing her uniform.
Some time later, they had crossed over the Rainbow Bridge, passed the
Tokyo Tower, and went by the Prime Minister's residence. Shinji stopped
in front of a traditionally built two-story home and waited for Hikari
to slide off the bike. She wheeled the bike to the single tree by the
right side of the house and locked it to the tree before returning to
Hikari.
"I can't believe you live in such a nice house," Hikari murmured
appraisingly. "And such a nice neighborhood."
"You thought I lived in a garbage heap?" Shinji teased, her eyes showing
the smile her face hid. Hikari laughed and shook her head as Shinji
unlocked the door and led her inside. What struck Hikari as strange was
that Shinji did not call her arrival, nor were there any slippers for
more than two people.
"Shinji, do you live alone?" she questioned.
"For eight years now," Shinji replied, leading Hikari to the dining room
off the kitchen. "Why do you ask?"
"You've been living alone since the Digital World?" Hikari inquired. "I
don't understand. You couldn't have been older than twelve back then."
"I wasn't," Shinji answered. "I wouldn't let them put me in a foster
home, and I don't have any relatives."
"Why would you need a foster home? What happened to your parents?"
"You never wondered why I killed Piemon?"
"I thought...you didn't care about rescuing me?"
"That was half of it. The other half I don't even understand." Shinji
sank into a chair and stared at her right hand. "The night before we
all went into the Digital World, Piemon appeared to ask Vandemon what
the hell he was doing, sending all the digimon back. He entered this
world there-" She pointed towards another room with her left hand.
"-And killed my mother and father. I know that most people would go
after their parents' murderer to avenge them, but I didn't.
"I hated my parents, and I still hate them to this very day. I don't
know why I hate them so much, and I don't know why I killed Piemon.
Maybe it was because he did what I never could and killed my parents. I
don't think I'll ever know any of those things." Her right hand closed
into a tight, shaking fist, her blue eyes narrowing in rage and hatred.
Hikari's hand slid onto Shinji's, holding it gently as she wrapped her
other arm around Shinji in a hug. She ran her hand over Shinji's hair
soothingly, the young woman's head on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Hikari said softly. "That you
had to live alone and try to know why you did what you did. And I'm
sorry that I was such a poor friend. I never even tried to contact
you-not to tell you we could get into the Digital World or anything. I
never even made sure you were still *alive* after we came back eight
years ago." Her breath hitched suddenly, and Shinji could feel the
other girl's hands shaking.
"I can remember it so clearly," Hikari whispered shakily. "Piemon had
me by the...the throat and you ran up behind him and you stabbed
him...then he stabbed you in the stomach...and you were bleeding so
much...I was so scared that you were going to die." She let out a sob,
throwing her arms around Shinji's neck and trembling against her. "I'm
so sorry!" It was a long time that Hikari cried against Shinji's
shoulder.
"No one ever said that to me," Shinji said suddenly. "It was always
that they were sorry my parents were murdered. You're the first person
to apologize like that to me. Thank you, Hikari. Come on, stop
crying." She lifted her left hand and dabbed at Hikari's eyes with the
pink scarf around her wrist. Hikari moved away, her eyes still shining
a bit. To her surprise, Shinji gave her the faintest of smiles.
"I'm fine, Hikari," the young woman murmured. "I'm not angry. You're
here to catch up with me and have a cup of tea, not cry because I wanted
to be alone." Hikari sniffed and nodded, smiling at the brown-haired
woman. Shinji stood up and pushed Hikari to sit in a chair while she
walked into the adjoining kitchen.
"Green tea?" she questioned.
"Yes, please," Hikari answered. As she dried her eyes, the water heated
and Shinji brought them both a mug.
"Didn't you say something about getting into the Digital World again?"
Shinji asked. "I suppose that strange old man was wrong about the
Digital World being closed forever, wasn't he?" Hikari laughed at the
comment.
"He never reads every part of his prophecies," she replied. "He skipped
over the part about the other Chosen Children and Vandemon being copied
into a human's mind for evil."
"Say that again?"
"Oh, about four years ago, Takeru and I met with four other Chosen
Children. One of them was trying to take over the Digital World because
he was upset about his brother's death, but he was really just a pawn of
two digimon created by a copy of Vandemon's programming that had
possessed a man named Oikawa Yukio."
"Why do I have a strange feeling that Piemon was behind making a copy of
Vandemon's program?"
"Because you're right. I think he wanted to make sure he had a Vandemon
that would listen to everything he demanded. There's really so much to
tell you."
"Then start at the beginning."
----------
"So that's why my digivice was reacting that night."
"Good to know we had one more point of light against Belialvandemon. I
was actually a little worried we wouldn't beat him." Shinji gave her a
small smirk.
"It's destiny, remember?" she said. "Even if the odds seem impossible,
we'll always win."
"You know, I kind of hoped that you would show up when we started going
into the Digital World again," Hikari murmured. She was blushing and
fiddling with her thumbs, a smile on her pink face. "I, um, I wanted
to-to thank you for saving my life...three times." Shinji blinked at
her in slight surprise. "Well, I never did get to thank you for it
before, and I hoped that because we were all getting involved with the
Digital World, you might appear and I'd get to thank you. So, thank you
very much."
"You're welcome," Shinji replied, though still a tad bemused. "I don't
think I've ever had a pretty girl thank me for helping her before."
"How many pretty girls have you rescued?" Hikari questioned, not quite
picking up on the remark.
"Just you." Hikari blushed crimson at the reply, even as a somewhat
pleased smile appeared on her face.
"I, ah, thank you again," she said, stuttering in her astonishment.
"Listen, you know how I told you that there are millions of Chosen
Children all over the planet? All of us-except you-have their digimon
partners living with them. If you'd like, you can come with me to the
Digital World and we can find Vandemon."
"That might have to wait for another day," Shinji replied. "It's seven
eighteen." Hikari jumped in her chair, gasping as she saw the clock.
"Oh my god!" she squeaked. "I missed school! I missed dinner! Tailmon
and Taichi are probably looking for me now! My mother is going to kill
me!"
"I suppose I should have stopped you when I started cooking that beef
ramen at six," Shinji said rather thoughtfully. "I'm glad you liked
it." She smirked a bit at Hikari's frantic mutterings. "I'll give you
a ride back to your home."
"You will?" Hikari asked rapturously. "Oh, thank you! I'd never get
home before my mother made Taichi search with Greymon!"
"Isn't he a giant fire-breathing dinosaur?" Shinji inquired as they
quickly exited the house and got back onto Shinji's bike.
"Yes," Hikari answered simply. Shinji raised her eyebrows before
quickly pushing off and pedaling back towards Odaiba.
----------
"Tailmon, this is just weird," Taichi grumbled. "I called Daisuke and
Miyako when my mom called me that Hikari wasn't home by five, but they
said they didn't see her at school today. It's almost seven thirty.
Hikari's never out this late!"
"I know," Tailmon replied shortly. "We better find her soon, or your
mom is going to make you get Greymon out here. Does your digivice say
anything?" Taichi lifted his digivice up, squinting at it in the
flickering light of the streetlamp.
"Hey, there are two signals coming this way!" he said with a
cheese-eating grin. "Coming up quick from...that way!" He pointed down
the sidewalk.
"Bike!" Tailmon shouted suddenly.
"What does that mean?" Taichi demanded.
"Look out for the bike!" Tailmon cried, jumping to the side. Taichi
looked up to see a bike and its two riders speeding towards him and
jumped aside just in time.
"Sorry, Taichi!" a somewhat unfamiliar voice shouted, fading as the bike
sped off.
"I'll see you at home, Taichi!" Hikari's voice cried as well. Taichi
and Tailmon shared a glance before tearing after the bike. They arrived
at the Odaiba Mansion apartments and the Yagami apartment, panting and a
smidgen angry with the person Hikari had been riding with.
"I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Yagami," the same unfamiliar voice as before
was speaking when the two arrived at the apartment. "I found Hikari
when she was leaving school, and we haven't seen each other in eight
years. We were catching up with each other at my house, and we just
lost track of time. If there's any blame to be dealt, I should be the
one to get the full hand, not Hikari."
"I can understand that, but who in the world are you?" the matriarch of
the Yagami family asked.
"Shazaki Shinji," the person replied, bowing at the waist as Taichi and
Tailmon shuffled around the corner to look into the large, main room.
When they straightened, Taichi jumped in shock.
"The kunoichi!" he gasped. "What on earth are you doing here?"
"Delivering your sister to her home, safe and sound," Shinji answered.
"And you, Taichi? Isn't twenty a little old to be living in your
parents' apartment?"
"I live in my own apartment," Taichi replied tersely. "You almost ran
us over!"
"I was trying to get Hikari home," Shinji replied. "At least, before
you and your dinosaur started to terrorize Tokyo." Taichi frowned at
her, but before he could snap back, Hikari stepped forwards and gathered
one of Shinji's hands into her own.
"It was wonderful to see you again," the sixteen-year-old girl said with
a bright smile. "Don't go hiding for another eight years. Here."
Shinji realized that Hikari had pressed a piece of paper into her hand.
"Call me and we'll go to the Digital World sometime." Shinji gave her a
small smile and nodded.
"Mrs. Yagami, Taichi," she said, bowing to the two. She turned to
Hikari; her slight smile returning as she bowed gracefully at the waist
and briefly took the girl's hand in her long fingers. "Hikari. Thank
you for this afternoon. I'll see you soon." She bowed again and left
without a sound. Hikari smiled after her before apologizing profusely
to her mother, thanking Taichi for searching for her, and walking to her
room with Tailmon.
"Hikari, Taichi said that your friends didn't see you at school!"
Tailmon protested once Hikari shut the door. "Why did that girl say you
were at school when you weren't?" Hikari did not reply. Instead, she
quickly walked to the balcony door and slipped outside. She leaned on
the edge of the balcony and looked down to the street many stories
below.
Hikari saw Shinji walk out of the building, recognizing the blue shirt
and black jeans the young woman had been wearing. She watched as the
brown-haired woman got on her bike and pedaled away into the dark night.
Without realizing it, Hikari let out a content sigh as she watched
Shinji ride away.
"Hikari?" Tailmon questioned. "Why are you smiling so much? Hikari?"
Hikari, however, did not exactly reply instantly.
"I'm glad I got to see Shinji again," she answered. "It's nice to see
her smile."
"Why is it so great?" Tailmon asked somewhat bitterly. She had never
particularly enjoyed Shinji in any way due to her disdain of Shinji's
partner, Vandemon.
"I like seeing her smile," Hikari replied. "I like making her smile."
Tailmon, though she did not have eyebrows, raised a brow in minor
question. She leapt up and landed gracefully on the ledge next to her
partner and best friend.
"You know, Hikari, I've seen some people smile like you're smiling right
now," the cat digimon murmured. "Not a lot of people, but I know what
they're smiling about."
"What's that?" Hikari asked rather dreamily, staring off vaguely at the
place where Shinji had vanished from sight.
"I see Taichi smiling like that when he talks about Yamato," Tailmon
responded with a faint purr of her own. "I see your mother smiling at
your father like that sometimes. I even see Ken smiling at Daisuke like
that."
"Like what?" Hikari queried, still smiling. Tailmon, despite her
carrying opposition to Shinji, smirked at Hikari's lack of
comprehension. She jumped down to the balcony and walked to the glass
door.
"Like you're in love," the white cat purred as she slipped inside.
Hikari blinked, emerging from her trance at Tailmon's words. She turned
to look in question at the cat, but Tailmon had slid the door shut by
the time she turned. The girl leaned against the wall of the balcony,
staring at nothing and wondering about Tailmon's words. After a time,
she turned around and looked up at the moon, still wondering.
----------
Shinji stopped beside the tree, locking the bike to said tree before
climbing up the large plant and leaping onto the roof of her house. She
lay on her back and looked up to the crescent moon. A moment later, she
looked at the folded paper still in her hand. A faint smile quirked her
lips in the gleaming moonlight.
Onwards to Part 2
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