"By the way," Wormmon continued as Ken poked around in the fridge, "your D-terminal beeped about an hour and a half ago, and Izumi-san called about half an hour ago."

Ken glanced around the open door of the fridge. "What did Koushirou say?"

"Well, your mother picked up the phone, so I only know what I was able to hear from her side of the conversation." He paused to allow Ken to swallow the food in his mouth before continuing. "Izumi-san mentioned something about wanting to take a look at an electric gadget you have, for some reason I didn't quite catch. I think he meant your D-3."

"And the D-terminal message?"

"From Yagami-san, oddly enough." Ken practically choked on his breakfast.

"Hikari?"

Wormmon shook his head. "Taichi-san. He must have sent the message from Hikari-san's D-terminal, though. He asked if you could pay him a visit, and left his address."

Ken nodded, polishing off what remained of his breakfast. He closed the refridgerator and scooped Wormmon into his arms, proceeding towards his bedroom. "Did mom say when she'd be back?" Wormmon shook his head and Ken sighed. "I don't want to worry her by leaving without telling her..." He changed his clothes, glad in a way that the house was so quiet. Of course, the silence only made his mind turn to the dream again, and he shuddered. He needed to focus on something - anything! - but that dark beach where his destiny had changed so drastically all those years ago.

Yagami Taichi scowled at the phone he held in one hand. "I thought Jyou and his brother would definately be home on a Sunday afternoon," he mumbled. The phone rang twice more before he slammed it down in its cradle. "ARGH! What's the use of having friends who are doctors if they're never around when you need them?!"

"Calm down, Taichi-kun," a voice called from the next room, "breaking the phone won't do you any good. Besides, Jyou hasn't even entered medical school yet. He's still just a junior high school student like the rest of us."

"I know, I know. Anyway, thanks for coming here so quickly, Kou-chan." Koushirou nodded as Taichi entered the room. Taichi's gaze turned to the shivering form lying on the couch. She muttered something they couldn't quite understand as her closed eyelids twitched. "I wish there was something I could do, but I don't know what's wrong with her."

"You're doing the best you can," Koushirou replied.

"Thanks." Taichi ruffled Koushirou's reddish-brown hair. "I just -" He moved away from Koushirou to sit on the edge of the couch. "I still remember the last time something like this happened to Hikari. And that time when we were both little kids -" Taichi cradled his head in his hands. "How can I not blame myself?!"

Koushirou put his hand on Taichi's shoulder. "This seems different somehow, sempai." Koushirou smiled. "I don't mean to disrupt your guilt trip, but the last time this sort of thing happened to Hikari-san, the cause was sunstroke. Also, it could be cured by medicine. I can't quite explain it, but this just seems different." The pair glanced down at Hikari, who lay deathly still. Strands of her brown hair lay plastered to her forehead, and her breaths came in ragged gasps.

"Did you speak with Ichijouji-san?" Taichi questioned, brushing Hikari's hair from her face. Koushirou shook his head.

"Ken was sleeping when I called, so I spoke with his mother. She said she'd tell him I called when he woke up." Recallng something, he glanced around the room. "Speaking of which, where has your mother gotten to? I could have sworn I saw her in the kitchen a little while ago.."

Taichi grinned. "Looking forward to one of her drink concoctions, Kou-chan?"

"Ugh, no. Don't remind me." Koushirou scrunched up his nose in distaste. "Your mother's a nice woman, Taichi-kun, but I just can't stand her cooking!"

"Hikari, dad and I tend to order take-out more often than not." Taichi looked to his younger sister's face, gently brushing her cheek with the back of one hand. "I hate feeling so helpless." Koushirou opened his mouth to reply, but Taichi continued before the other could utter a word. "I called Takeru, you know, and Daisuke as well as Miyako. None one of them were home. Yamato was pretty nice about the whole thing, but he said that the kids were all in the digiworld off chasing BlackWarGreymon. I had to hang up before June rambled me to death, and Miyako's brother wasn't able to get in a complete sentence without one of his siblings interrupting." Taichi sighed.

"Can I ask you something?" Koushirou queried, pulling his standard PineApple laptop from the school satchel he had dropped on a nearby table. Taichi nodded. "Why call Ken? Not that I have anything against him, or anything. Personally, I think he's a good kid and he's trying to turn things around after all that Digimon Kaiser bit, but - "

"You're rambling, Kou-chan."

"Gomen."

"That's alright. It's a decent question. You see, Hikari was like this when I woke up this morning. She kept calling things out in her sleep. About two hours ago, she kept calling out Ken's name. I didn't exactly know what to make of it." He sighed. "I wish I knew what was going on in that dream of hers."

The doorbell sounded and both boys jumped. Taichi took a deep breath to calm his nerves and glanced in the direction of the front door. His mother called from upstairs, followed by a rather loud explosion which erupted from the kitchen. Taichi and Koushirou raced into the kitchen as Mrs. Yagami walked down the stairs. The doorbell rang a second time; upon noticing that the boys were taking care of the smoke billowing from the oven, Mrs. Yagami shrugged and proceeded to the door. She opened it to find a rather startled Ken with his finger hovering above the doorbell. Raising a quizzical eyebrow, she invited him in and closed the door behind him.

"Taichi, there's another one of your friends here to see you." She scooped a rather burnt casserole out of Koushirou's hands and ushered the boys towards the living room. She seemed not to notice the girl lying on the couch in the next room and busied herself with salvaging her casserole. Ken, upon noticing Koushirou, breathed a sigh of relief and entered the room hesitantly. Koushirou waved him over; Taichi apologized for the mess, but Ken dismissed the apology as unnecessary.

"I'm just shocked that you would contact me at all, after the way I treated Agumon..."

"You shouldn't beat yourself up over that," Koushirou replied, "afterall, you've changed, and that really wasn't you. Anyway, we've forgiven you, haven't we, Taichi?" Taichi mumbled something inaudible, so Koushirou jabbed him in the arm with an elbow.

"This isn't about Agumon," Taichi answered, "and I have to admit that I still haven't fully forgiven you for what you've done." He sighed. "I asked you to come here because of my imouto-chan."

"W-what?" A streak of bright red slowly inched across Ken's cheeks.

"She mentioned your name in her sleep," Koushirou explained, lightly elbowing Taichi again. "Also, she doesn't appear sick, but in a way, she does." He paused. "That made no sense, did it?" Ken shook his head. "Well, with Taichi-kun's permission, take a look at Hikari." He looked to Taichi, who nodded.

Ken looked from one to the other, wondering if it had been a good idea to visit the Yagami household. Taichi's mother asked the boys if they wanted to try her casserole. Taichi chuckled, lightly jabbing Koushirou in the ribs. Needless to say, all three boys declined the offer. Ken moved around to the opposite side of the couch and glanced down at Hikari's still form. Her face was deathly pale - an almost gray pallor. Something from his dream nagged at him and he gulped down a rising fear in his throat. Koushirou noticed, but chose to remain silent. He flipped up the lid of his laptop, receiving a satisfactory beep as graphics appeared on the screen. Taichi, watching over Koushirou's shoulder, quietly asked what the younger boy was looking for. Both kept their voices low, as if they knew that Ken needed some time to sort out his thoughts.

"I don't like the feeling of this either, Wormmon."

Hikari turned over in her sleep, mumbling something that none of the boys could quite make out. Her eyes suddenly snapped open and she sat up. Taichi nearly choked; he hastened to Hikari's side. She blinked, her eyes wide. Her gaze drifted from her brother to the dark-haired figure standing at the end of the couch. Ken gulped down the pang of fear in his throat; Hikari's eyes were blank. Why couldn't her brother see that? As quickly as it had happened, it ended and Hikari slumped back against the couch pillows. Taichi turned a questioning gaze on Ken.

"What - what just happened?"

"Her eyes were blank," Ken replied absently, "gray."

"What does that mean?!" Taichi demanded, hooking his fist into the collar of Ken's shirt angrily. Ken blinked several times, his thoughts jumbled.

"I- I don't really know how to explain it.."

"You seem to know a lot more than you're telling me, Ichijouji," Taichi stated, hardly any louder than a whisper. "If you know anything at all that could help Hikari and you neglect to tell me, I will make your life a living -"

"Sempai, please stop it," Koushirou said quietly, "that's not helping the situation." Taichi released his hold on Ken's shirt, grudgingly nodding acquietance as he did so. Ken nodded, swallowing the fear that had risen in his throat. Koushirou rotated his laptop to show the screen to Taichi and Ken. "Do you see these dots here?" He pointed to four glowing blips on the screen, each a different color.

"These?"

"Taichi!" Koushirou slapped Taichi's hand away from the screen. "You'll smudge the screen! And I just cleaned it the other day..." Taichi grinned, causing Koushirou to blush slightly. "Erm.. some other time" the younger boy added quietly. Taichi nodded quickly, not the slightest bit embarassed. Ken watched this brief interaction with surprised interest. Were Yagami-san and Koushirou... He shook his head. That was none of his business, no matter how obvious the pair were about their relationship.

"What about them?" Ken questioned, inclining his head to imply that he meant the dots previously mentioned by Koushirou. He hoped the duo wouldn't be too upset that he had changed the subject.

"Ahh, yes." Koushirou's blush seemed to spread to the rest of his face, having realized that Ken was still nearby. "Those dots. Well, those dots are the other destined - Daisuke, Miyako, Takeru and Iori, that is - who are currently in the Digiworld looking for BlackWarGreymon." Ken and Taichi nodded. "Do you know what this is?" Koushirou pointed to a fifth dot which seemed to waver over the other four. Ken and Taichi shook their heads, and Koushirou sighed. "I have a theory that it's Hikari." Taichi's eyes widened.

"Are you sure?"

"I just explained it was only a theory..."

Ken recalled the shade of Hikari's eyes only moments earlier. She had seemed far too distant, as if she hadn't woken at all. She had looked at him - he shuddered. The darker colors of the spectrum seemed to follow him no matter where he went. Taichi and Koushirou seemed to have forgotten about their guest's pressence, so Ken followed the roaming grayish dot on Koushirou's screen with his eyes. If Hikari had truly returned to the World of Darkness, then - then - He closed his eyes. He would have to go there after her. Something jabbed him lightly in the arm; Ken opened his eyes.

"You don't have to do anything that would hurt you," Wormmon said quietly, just loud enough for only his partner to hear. Ken opened his mouth to reply. "You know what I mean, Ken." Wormmon sniffled, his eyes teary. "Don't let me lose you a second time, please."

Ken smiled. "You won't lose me." He gave Wormmon a tight squeeze. "I promise, Wormmon, you won't." he sighed. "But - I have to go back, now. I have to - face my past sometime."

"Is that all?"

"W-wormmon?!" Ken's cheeks flushed. Wormmon snuggled into the fabric of Ken's shirt. "T-that," Ken admitted quietly, "and for Hikari-chan." He smiled at his digimon partnet. "Motomiya-kun will have a fit. But, we're friends, so he won't hold anything against me.. will he?"

"Of course not." Wormmon wondered whether Ken had forgotten of the other prominent boy after Hikari's heart. Neglecting to mention the other, the digimon closed his eyes and made himself comfortable in Ken's arms. All the while, Ken's eyes followed the gray dot on the laptop screen. It was growing fainter every time it moved.

"Not for anyone else," Ken mumbled, his face flushing again. Taichi glanced up, having caught the tail end of the younger boy's muttering.

"What?"

"N-nothing." Ken ducked his head and turned away from the pair. "I should call home to make sure my mother read my note." His face was bright red.

"There's a phone in the next room," Koushirou offered, nodding his head to his left, where a small alcove was located. "Portable."

"Thank you." Ken proceeded towards the alcove, glad for the wall between him and Taichi. "Maybe we'll never get along." He sighed sadly and reached for the phone. "I hope mom's home by now."