Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Harsh Memories ❯ Complications and Revelations ( Chapter 11 )

Takeru was extremely worried. Well in actuality he was absolutely terrified. A few moments ago Iori had started to cough violently. T.K. was by his side in moments but he froze when he saw Iori. Their had been blood coming from his coughing mouth. Takeru had screamed and luckily for the two of them a nurse had been nearby and had responded to his screams of terror. The only thing that Takeru could think of doing after they had taken Iori back to the infirmary was to curl himself into a tight ball and sob.

Over the past three days since that morning he had woken up with his young friend in his arms, he had become more and more confused as to just how much Iori meant to his life. He began to piece together memories of the past, looking for anything that might shed some light as to exactly how his young friend felt about him. He continued to go back to the day when The Digidestined had faced BlackWarGreymon at the last destiny stone. He remembered feeling Iori's heartbeat against his chest as his friend had clutched him and buried his face into his stomach. He remembered the feeling of being connected with Iori as the light from their Digimons' joint evolution light up the sky around them. He still remembered how happy Iori had been at that moment... but what surprised him the most was the memory of how he himself had felt. He remembered a feeling of euphoria enveloping him as he held the younger boy to him and a feeling that he was stronger somehow because of it.

Takeru managed to curl even further in on himself as he suddenly saw the image of Iori, mouth covered in blood, coughing horribly. His whole body shivered as he began to break down. He began to cough hoarsely as he felt his already dry throat begin to constrict. Suddenly a soft hand landed on his shoulder... and as he turned to look upwards was faced with someone he dreaded seeing.

Miyako looked disheveled as she stared down at Takeru's form. He guessed correctly that someone must have told her what had happened earlier as Takeru took in her appearance. "Gomen Niasei Miya-kun... I couldn't help him," Takeru managed before another blast of guilt-mixed pain wracked his body.

Miyako slowly lowered herself down next to Takeru's side. She began to stroke his blond hair attempting to calm him down enough to speak. "It's alright Takeru... Iori should be okay. The doctors said that this would be a tricky procedure but that it shouldn't have any complications."

"What happened to him Miya-chan? He was just fine an hour ago. I mean he has been complaining that his chest hurt... but what happened to him couldn't be related could it?"

"Actually yes, Takeru. You see the doctors factored that into Iori's care but they thought it had something to do with the surgery they performed on his chest. Usually when the human body is opened... there is a form of discomfort there. So they suspected that Iori's 'discomfort' was simply post-operative discomfort and not something else," Miyako's voice had taken on a soft southing tone as she tried to cradle Takeru into a more restful position.

"So what is wrong with him Miyako-chan?"

"Well... During the incident you too where forced to lie on the cold street for a while. This coupled with the effect of Iori's stab wounds led to a form of pneumonia developing in his chest."

"That still doesn't explain the blood!" Takeru had become hysterical at this point and whirled around to face Miyako.

"Actually it does explain it. You see while the blood pooled in his chest his body somehow managed to shunt some of it into his lungs where it mixed with the fluids already collecting there from the pneumonia. That's why he began to cough horribly. His body was simply trying to reject the blood and fluids that had already pooled in his lungs." At this point Miyako stopped, and reached out to take Takeru's hand. "You see, the next step is to remove the fluids from Iori-kun's lungs. The only real way to do this however is to place a hypodermic needle into his chest to draw out the blood and then discard it. However this is an extremely dangerous process since the doctors could draw too much from Iori's lungs and end up collapsing them. Similarly if they fail to take enough fluid it will only manage to build up within his lungs causing him even more discomfort and weakening his immune system to dangerous levels. They are going to start drawing the blood in a few moments so we should be able to know how it went soon."

As Miyako finished she drew Takeru into a soft embrace. "I know how much Iori-chan has come to mean to you in the last few days Keru-chan. It's alright to cry but you can't allow yourself to become too weak or you will inevitably end up worse than him. How could I ever face Iori again if I let you get hurt again? He'd kill me!"

"Miyako... I'm sorry I just feel like this is my entire fault. If I hadn't gotten into all of this

he would still be alright, " Takeru buried his face into his hands as he began to shudder once again.

Miyako did the only thing she could think of, pulling Takeru tighter into her arms. Takeru sighed softly as he snuggled deeply into the embraced and continued to sob.

---------(The next day)---------

Takeru was feeling horrible. It wasn't just the fact that he had broken down in front of one of his best friends... but it was also that he had still not heard anything about Iori's condition.

He began to pace the room sullenly, as he fumed about the possibilities. < What happens if Iori dies because of this? I still can't figure out just what's happening to me, and if it involves Iori he also has a right to know! I just don't want to have to think about this anymore, > He sighed softly as he leaned against the side of his bed. Takeru had already been informed that he could not continue to push his body as hard as he had been since the accident but at the moment he really couldn't care less whether he lived or died. His entire body seemed focused on whether or not Iori would be able to pull through this newest operation.

Takeru continued to rest against his bed as he began to drift off into sleep. He had the sense of mind to lower himself onto is bed before going fully unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~(Takeru's dream world)~~~~~~~~~

Takeru woke softly. He must have fallen asleep while playing in the field since he was now leaning against a tree and he didn't remember placing himself there. He stretched, trying to work out the kinks that had formed in his back. He searched the surrounding areas for a few minutes. He sighed softly. < I don't want to be alone anymore... where is everyone today? I thought they'd all be here by now. > Takeru closed his eyes and returned to leaning against what he thought was a tree. As he began to become more comfortable a strange thought came to him. "Since when are trees warm?" He wondered aloud. That's when it happened. Two arms suddenly surrounded him and he gasped. He spun around quickly, trying to escape, thinking that either someone was trying to harm him or that some Digimon had attempted to capture him. As he turned he was suddenly pushed backwards by a small form. As he staggered his lips where suddenly forced into a hard kiss.

Takeru's head suddenly swam as emotions washed over him. The small form pressed harder against him, slumping into his form. A soft moan emitted from Takeru's mouth as the other being continued to kiss him with harder and harder pressure. With extreme reluctance he pulled the now seemingly weak figure from his own body. Looking down he was shocked to see an extremely content looking Hida Iori smiling up at him. Both of their cheeks where flushed as they stared into each other's eyes.

" Gomen Niasei Takeru-kun... but I've wanted to do that to you for a long time. I just couldn't stand it when I saw you out here all alone. I watched you stumbling backwards towards the tree so I slipped in between and... the rest I guess you know, " Iori suddenly began to stare at his own feet for a moment as he considered what he had done.

Takeru suddenly found himself not only happy at the thought of Iori kissing him, but also wanting to do so again. Slowly he reached out and took Iori back into his arms, closing the gap between them, and beginning to trail a soft kiss down his lips. The look of pure shock on Iori's face was Takeru's reward. "Sorry if I surprised you, but I wanted to make sure how you felt, " Takeru whispered hoarsely into Iori's ear.

" Aishiteru Takeru-kun... Aishiteru! "

~~~~~~~~~(Reality)~~~~~~~~~

Takeru's body shot alert as those three words rang in his mind. He waited a few moments so that his eyes could adjust to the lower light in his now darkened hospital room. His chest heaved as he fought to gain control over his racing heart. It was only a few minutes later that he made a realization that would change his entire life.

Takaishi Takeru was in love with Hida Iori.

A/N: well that took quite a bit to write. I would just like to ask what everyone thought of the dream scene since its my first time ever writing a scene like this with someone else's character. Also I would like to mention once again: thanks to my Beta reader. He has made most of this fic possible by double-checking most of my mistakes. Please look him up under Energy.

Yoshiki.