Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Harsh Memories ❯ Hide and seek ( Chapter 27 )

~~~~~~~~~(Takeru's nightmare)~~~~~~~~~

Takeru couldn't move. He was forced to watch with terror as his Digimon was cruelly beaten, then deleted before his eyes. He shivered as he realized who had attacked Patamon as the creature came towards him. He gave out a hoarse scream as his O-Kaa-san advanced on him.

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

Takeru's eyes leapt open as the dream began to fade back into the recesses of his mind. He sighed bitterly as he checked the time on his watch. The dim light revealed that it was 5:15 in the morning... nearly thirty minutes since his last nightmare had awoken him. Takeru shifted slowly, still cradling Patamon gently, attempting to keep from brushing against the smaller creatures hind legs. He gently stared at the small digimon as he remembered all the times he had come close to losing his partner. He remembered the battle between Devimon and Angemon and the battle with Peidmon. He also remembered the more recent battle with Blackwargreymon over the destiny stone. Takeru sighed as he tried to settle in for one more attempt at sleep.

---------(Four hours later)---------

Iori ran down the sidewalk franticly, still searching for his koibito. He had covered most of Odaiba last night and with Ken's help had also managed to cover most of Tamachi. Iori moved stealthily as he dodged out of the way of the morning traffic. As he ran, he continued to scan all of the benches and rest areas, desperately searching for any sign of Takeru. Iori's hopes began to waver as he still hadn't found any sign of Takeru in the last two days.

As Iori rounded the next corner, he came into sight of Yamato who was also running down the various streets searching desperately for Takeru. The older Digidestined waved Iori over. "Find anything yet?" a breathless Yamato managed as he doubled over, trying to force more air into his lungs. "No.... I'm really starting to worry, Yamato-chan... I haven't seen anything and he's been gone for a whole day... he could be frozen to death by now," Iori began as he slowly began to break down. Yamato immediately pulled Iori into a tight hug, trying to calm the younger boy down. They stood there for another ten minutes before Iori pulled away and proceeded to run down the street, still searching franticly. As Yamato stared after him, he remembered back when he and Daisuke had gotten together. He recognized the caring that Iori seemed to show for his brother and he was inwardly glad that Takeru had wound up finding someone like Iori.

---------(Park)---------

Takeru moved stiffly as he walked away from the pipe. He still couldn't move very fast, because of his injuries and the fact that he did not want to jar Patamon. He scanned the park for a few moments, making sure that no one had yet arrived. <Thank god it's a weekday, > Takeru thought as he wandered over to a particularly thick strand of trees. Takeru collapsed onto the hard ground as he finally reached an area with enough cover to conceal him. He began to pant horribly as his lungs fought for breath. He cuddled Patamon to his chest as his vision slowly faded into black.

---------(About fifteen feet away)----------

Iori rushed through the park, searching throughout the large area. He had forgotten entirely about searching here and now he was sure that he would find Takeru here if he tried hard enough. As he ran, he suddenly noticed a few small dots of red making a path towards one of the large play pipe's that surrounded the area. Ducking down, Iori felt the dot and noticed that it was both still warm and was undeniably blood. Iori began to shake gently as he thought about what could be happening to Takeru as he rose quickly and rushed towards the metal pipe structure. He slid in hurriedly, banging his head on the side of the pipe in his rush. This caused the small boy to slide uncontrollably forward as he slide down the pipes surface. He stopped about midway and lay their, fighting to remain conscious.

Iori groaned as his vision slowly came back into focus. He shifted his weight slowly, testing his range of movement in the confined space. Due to his smaller size, he found it easy to stand on all fours in the tunnel. He decided to stay still for a few more moments so as to insure he wouldn't black out from the pain/concussion. As Iori sat there, he began to observe his surroundings, looking for any sign of Takeru. As he scanned the area he finally saw something that might be helpful. Crawling carefully forward, the small boy finally reached the exact center of the pipe and found the object that he was heading towards. It was a small blood stained piece of cloth.

< This is Takeru's.... I'm sure of it! He's the only one I know that wears this color combination... but that still doesn't tell me where he is, > the young boy thought as he pocketed the material and began to slowly exit the tube. He managed to make it a few feet before he stopped and considered the trail at his feet. < If the trail was leading to the tube.... Takeru would have been inside it since the blood was still warm... that means if I reverse the trail; maybe Takeru is...> with this, Iori sped towards the small trail of red dots. He followed the trail about sixteen feet before he was lead to the same screen of trees that Takeru had entered a few moments ago. As Iori crashed through the brush he heard the sound of someone breathing heavily.

Iori burst into a small, well concealed clearing. He shuddered with the exertion of breaking through the heavy underbrush and was forced to double over to catch his breath. As he gasped for breath he could feel someone moving nearby. Fearing for his safety, he looked up, searching for the movement. What he saw nearly forced him to break down. Takeru was staring up at Iori from the ground. He was covered in bruises and one arm hung limply at his side. Takeru groaned softly as he tried to recognize the shape before him, as the blurry figure rushed forward. Takeru put a protective arm around Patamon and shifted his weight so that he was shielding the small digimon with his own body. As he shivered, expecting his O-Kaa-sans blows to be repeated in this new dream, he was surprised as two smaller arms wrapped themselves around his midriff.

Iori began to sob as he felt Takeru's body stiffen at the contact the small boy was applying. He buried his face into Takeru's back as he continued to sob uncontrollably. Slowly, Takeru turned his body around to face Iori and drew in a sharp breath at what he saw. Iori's body was covered in small cuts from rushing through the underbrush and his hair was not only tussled, it also had a few leaves sticking out here and there. Iori continued to sob as Takeru maneuvered Patamon onto his side so that the small Digimon could continue his nap. He flung his arms around the smaller boy and shuddered violently as he forced his own tears away. The two boys remained in each others arms for a few moments as both fought to control their emotions enough to speak.

"W-where have you been Take-kun? I thought I'd lost you when I read that note on your apartment door,' Iori asked quietly as he finally managed to stop his tears.

"What note Io-kun? I never left one... I had to run away before O-Kaa-san did anything else to us."

"Us? What do you mean? Was she the one that hurt you? I can't believe she would do anything like that..."

"She was, but she also attacked Pata-chan. I don't know why she snapped but I had to get away before she did anything else. She said that Tsuneko-san told her about us. How did she find out? Did you tell her?" Takeru asked as he gently reached over behind himself and pulled the small Digimon over and placed him into the small crevice in between their bodies. Iori finally saw what Takeru had been talking about as he noticed the two homemade splints around Patamon's hind legs. Iori gently stroked the small Digimon's back, trying to give it some form of comfort. "I still don't really understand what happened Taka-kun... could you tell me what happened?" Iori asked softly. Takeru took a long breath before starting into the tale.

---------(Ten minute later)---------

Iori shivered softly as he thought about what he had just heard. He began to slowly move closer to Takeru as he noticed the tears threatening to break through the older boy's eyes. He was impeded however by the small body of Patamon. The sudden pressure on Patamon's legs forced the small Digimon to awake with a pained groan. He looked at Iori for a few moments before smiling softly and moving stiffly out of the two boys way. Iori immediately leapt into Takeru's arms and held the older boy tightly. "W-where can I go now Io-kun? I mean what's going to happen? I don't think I can go to O-Tou-san`s... I think he'd probably react the same way, " Takeru managed to choke out before he began to cry again.

Iori began to slowly stroke Takeru's hair as he hugged the older boy. He could tell that Takeru was near a total breakdown now. As he continued to comfort Takeru, Iori began to formulate an idea. Slowly he moved one arm from around Takeru, and fumbled in his coats pocket for his cell phone. After finally freeing the object, he quickly dialed Yamato's number, and waited through the three rings it took for him to answer. "Yamato here... have you heard anything about Takeru?"

"That's an odd way to answer the phone Yama-chan... but yes... I have Takeru right here. You need to call Jyou and both of you need to come down to the park near Takeru's apartment building. You'll see a small grove of trees near a pipe-like structure. We are inside that grove and at current we don't know where to go," Iori whispered softly as he continued to hold Takeru with one arm. The older boy began to sniffle as he realized that Iori was talking to someone.

"Is O-Touto-chan okay, " Yamato asked worriedly.

"He will be fine if we can get him somewhere safe... I was hoping that maybe we could crash at your place til I am sure I can go home without O-Kaa-san blowing up at me. Apparently she's the one that told Takahashi senpai about us. I don't think it would be very wise for me to go home yet," Iori spoke as he moved closer to Takeru. He softly handed the phone over to his older Koi. "I think you two need to talk, Take-kun. Don't worry though... I am not going anywhere. I'll stay right here till they get here," With this Iori rewrapped both of his arms around his love and proceeded to cuddle into the older boy. Takeru sighed happily as he put the phone to his ear and began to relate his story to his worried O-Nii-san.

---------(Several hours and several bandages later)---------

Takeru turned over on the small futon he was laying on. He stared at the smaller boy next to him as he thought about how the last few days had gone from a horrifying fight with his O-Kaa-san to being reunited with his love. Slowly, so as not to wake his koi, he pulled the smaller boy closer to him and curled his body around Iori. He sighed happily as he began to slowly fall asleep.

Unbeknownst to both of the boys, Daisuke continued to watch them from his place on the couch. The boy sighed happily as he saw Takeru finally drift off. He was jolted out of his thoughts as Yamato flopped down next to him. Yamato smiled as he considered the boy next to him for a few moments. "So he finally dropped off, ne? "

"Yeah, I thought he would take forever but I guess Iori is a good influence on him," Daisuke said as he slowly snuggled closer to the elder blonde. Yamato wrapped his arm around the younger boy and leaned back against the couch. He sighed happily as relief filled his body. Over the past two days he had been going insane trying to figure out what had happened to Takeru. He was only glad now that his O-Touto-chan was safe and sound in his apartment.

A/N: No, this is not the end of the story yet. There will be at least one more chapter about how Iori, and Takeru confront Hida Tsuneko. As for Natsuko... I believe I will let her make a clean break. Although I am sure those of you that have reviewed will send your personal demons out to find and destroy her ^_^. Also, I have been thinking about creating a side story to this fic, which would talk about Iori and Takeru's adopted son. It would probably be a long fic that follows the boy from adoption through his first days of collage (plus I might do a chapter on here about Io and Takeru's first days at college). Anyways, tell me if you guys would like to read that.

Yoshiki.