Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Izumi no Hikari ❯ Brothers and Sisters, Insects and Dragons ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Izumi no Hikari
Chapter 6: Brothers and Sisters, Insects and Dragons
by Wannabe Koushiro

A/N - This chapter is approximately three years after the last one. And is
completely lemon free, but there is a reference to lemony activities, but
nothing graphic. Ha!
***************************

Ever have one of those dreams where you're wandering around a place that you're
not really familiar with and you're not quite exactly sure what you're looking
for? I was having one right now. I was alone, and wandering in a place that
seemed to be made of pure light. "Hello?" I called out. "Anyone here?" I didn't
get an answer. I kept walking. It felt like a desert, I was getting so thirsty.
"Nika? Izzy? Tentomon?" I called out. I didn't really enjoy this feeling of
being alone. I really wished I could wake up, but I just couldn't.

I was really feeling nervous. Am I really...all alone? I looked up at...well,
whatever the sky in this place was made of. Then I saw what had to be a mirage.
In the distance, I saw what seemed to be a decorative fountain. "Someone has a
bit of a warped sense of humor." I mumbled. "Either that, or they're taking my
name way too literally..." Rolling my eyes, I started walking towards it. I
finally got to it, and sat down on the edge. I put my hand in what I thought was
the water. "There's...nothing there..." I said out loud, confused.

"And nothing is the only thing that is real." A deep voice said. I looked in the
direction that the voice had come from. I took a step back. For one moment, I
was almost scared of what was speaking to me. Then I realized it was a digimon.
Unfortunately, it was one that I had never seen before.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Lots of things are real, not just nothingness." I
said.

"You're confused. You're wondering if your life has meaning, and if everything
you know is real or if you've been dreaming for the past 20 years." It answered
me.

I was shocked. The insect like digimon landed in front of me. It was larger than
even MegaKabuterimon and gold in color. "Who are you?" I asked. I got the
feeling it would have smiled if its mouth was able to.

"You'll know soon enough." It answered me. "If you don't already know."

I sighed. This is worse than the nightmare that got Tai and me together. At
least that could be explained. This is just weird.

"Why would I think I've been dreaming for 20 years?" I asked. "I know who and
what I am. I'm not that confused." I said. "Am I?" I added quietly.

"I can't tell you that. I'm just a manifestation of your worries to make you
realize that you're feeling this way." I can't even get away from what I know in
my dreams. "That, and I'm here to warn you. My presence will soon be needed to
save the Digital World once again. You and Nika will be there to release me. I
don't know anything more than that." That was unexpected.

"Nika?! She shouldn't have to be involved at all." I protested.

"Without your digimon being able to reach ultimate, she and her partner might
the only thing that stands in the way of this." It told me as it took flight
again. I sighed.


A persistent buzzing brought me around to the real world. I grumbled something,
then threw my pillow at the alarm clock.

"That's the first time I've ever seen you get violent towards the alarm clock."
Tai's voice came through the fog in my head. I didn't answer, I just stayed
where I was, thinking about that strange dream. "You are going to get up, aren't
you?" He asked when he saw that I wasn't making much of a move to get up.

"Yeah. Just thinking." I told him.

"You do that too much." He replied, smiling down at me. I sat up.

"You're probably not going to like hearing this, but I just had the strangest
dream." I told him.

"You're right, but I have to get going." He told me, as he leaned down to give
me a kiss. "Tell me about it later, okay?" I nodded as he walked out the door.

I finally got out of bed and checked to see if I had damaged the clock.
Apparently I hadn't, and I had about an hour before I had to be anywhere. I
looked to see if Tentomon was awake, but he was sleeping pretty peacefully, so I
figured I'd leave him alone. That was kind of sad because he just knows what
kind of digimon are what just off the bat. I wanted to ask him about the strange
one in my dream. Of course, it just may be that I dreamed it and it's not really
a digimon, but I think that it really is. Okay, now I'm confusing myself.

I sighed and went to take a shower. That didn't take too long and I felt much
better, not to mention awake now.

"Good morning!" I jumped.

"Tentomon! Don't do that!" I exclaimed, gasping for breath. "You scared me."

"Sorry." He apologized. I smiled.

"I probably needed that anyway." I told him. "I have a question for you. Do you
know of any large insect type digimon that's gold in color?"

"Hmmm... Only one." He answered.

"What is it called?" I pressed on. He shook his head.

"It's only a legend." Tentomon answered. "Why should it matter?"

"Because I had a strange dream last night and the digimon that I described told
me that the Digital World is about to be in danger again, and that Nika and I
and our partners might be the only thing that can stop it. What's the legend?" I
asked.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure. It's something about a dragon and an insect. That's
all I know about it."

"Well, that's a lot of help. Are you sure you don't know the name of that
digimon?"

"I won't say for sure."

"Thanks a lot, pal." I said sarcastically. "Why don't you try to find this
legend for me while I'm in class? And speaking of that, I've got to go. See you
later." I ran out the door so maybe I wouldn't be late.


That part about the dragon and the insect just wandered around my head through
out the day. I was so curious to know what it was all about. But I couldn't
worry about it just yet. I survived classes, now I have to survive work. It
wasn't a very glamorous job, being a convience store clerk, but it helped to pay
the rent. It was also pretty easy, not to mention Nika showed up everyday after
school with her friends, so it gave me a chance to see her.

I looked at the clock. There was a bit of a slump, but I was glad for the chance
to think. Of course, that didn't last long as Nika and her friends walked in.

"Hi, Koushiro." She greeted me.

"Hey, Nika." I answered her.

"You're bored already?" She asked, grabbing some candy that I knew Mom would
never let her eat in a million years.

"It's been a slow day." I shrugged. "You know Mom wouldn't let you touch that
stuff." I said as Nika gave me the money.

"I know. But you won't tell her, now will you?" She asked me slyly.

"I probably won't." I agreed with her.

"Hey, come on, Nika." One of her friends called after her.

"Oops, gotta run. See ya!" She said as she ran after her friends. I shook my
head. I wish I could be her age again. Well, maybe not, but it must be nice not
having a care in the world.

The sun was almost set by the time my shift ended. I walked out and headed for
home. Or rather, I should say my parent's home. I needed to talk to Nika and,
besides, it would be nice to have something good to eat for a change.

On the way there, I kept wondering about that legend that Tentomon told me
about. The dragon and the insect... It just didn't make sense to me. Of course,
I didn't have enough information for it to make any sense.

I knocked on the door before I walked in. Something smelled great. "Anyone
home?" I asked.

Mom peeked around the corner. "Hello, Koushiro. What brings you home?" She
asked.

"I think the smell led me." I joked. "I need to talk to Nika. Though if I can
stay for dinner..." Mom laughed at me.

"Well, Nika isn't home just yet, but you know you can stay for dinner."

"Great." I said. "Any idea when Nika will be home?" I asked.

"Should be any time now." Mom had just finished saying that as the door opened
and closed.

"Hi, Mom." Nika said as she bounced into the room. "What are you doing here?"
She asked me.

"I need to talk to you about something." I told her.

"What?" She asked.

"I'll tell you after dinner." I said.


"...And that's what Tentomon told me." I finished telling Nika about what had
happened today.

"Koushiro, that's the strangest thing I've ever heard." Nika said. "Though it
does sound interesting."

"Interesting isn't the word." I said. "I want to know what that digimon was and
what he meant."

"How come you dreamed up an even scarier bug?" She asked.

"Beats me." I said. "I'd like to know why I dreamed him when I've never met him
and why you're still scared of bugs." I teased her.

"Maybe you have met him." Nika's purple tentomon, Izzy, commented.

"That's the dumbest thing I've heard, Izzy." I said.

"It was just a suggestion." She said, holding her claws in front of her face in
defense.

"It's okay." I said, leaning down to scratch her on her shell. "I'm a bit
concerned about it telling me that at least me and you are going to have to do
something to save the world. I thought my saving the world days were through.
And..." I trailed off.

"What?" Nika asked.

"I hoped that you would never have to. I've been hoping that since you were
born."

"It's okay, Koushiro. I'll be fine." Nika said. "I've got you and Izzy, and Mom
and Dad, and my friends. I'm sure that everyone will keep me out trouble." I
smiled.

"You're right." I said. "I'm just doing what any big brother would do for their
sister."

Nika grinned and came over to hug me. "And I couldn't ask for a nicer big
brother than you, Koushiro." I just blushed. "Especially as long as you don't
tell Mom that I buy candy." I had to laugh at that.

"How long do you think that will last?" I asked. "I could go tell her right now
what you do after school."

"You wouldn't!" Nika acted shocked.

I grinned. "Nah. I'd be in trouble as well." I said. "Well, it's getting late, I
should probably get going. Anything weird happens to you, give me a call, okay?"
Nika nodded. "I'll see you whenever, okay, Nika-chan?"

"Bye, Koushiro." She called after me. "Say hi to Tentomon for me."


I got home just in time to hear the phone ringing. Tai must not be home yet
because the door was locked yet. "Great..." I mumbled as I hurried to open the
door. "Hold on..." I willed the person that was calling us. The answering
machine had picked up by the time I got in. I mouthed the message as it was
going.

I waited as it recorded the message. Stupid digital answering machines. It
finally indicated that it was done and there was a message waiting for us. I
played it back.

"Tai, Koushiro? It's Kari. There's something wrong with the Digital World.
Gatomon and I can feel it. Please call me back. Thanks."

So, Kari knows it too. I picked up the phone as Tai walked in. "Who are you
calling?" He asked me as he stole a kiss.

"Your sister." I told him. He looked at me weird. "She knows something's wrong
too."

"Wrong about what?" Tai asked. I shushed him.

"Kari? It's Koushiro. Can you explain the message you left us a couple of
minutes ago?"

"Not really." She answered. "Right now, it's just a feeling, but it's getting
more intense."

"Okay. Should we call a meeting?" I asked.

"I don't think that's necessary just yet. Right now, it's you, me, Tai, and Joe
that know." She answered.

"I think Nika knows too." I said. "I was at my parent's home earlier, and I told
her about a strange dream I had where a strange digimon told me that Nika and I
would be key players in this."

"Maybe all of us should get together. Just the ones that know about this, I
mean." Kari suggested. "And then maybe we'll be able to figure out exactly
what's going on."

"I agree. Oh, also, Tentomon told me there was this legend about a dragon and an
insect after I asked him if he knew of the digimon in my dream. He wouldn't give
me a very straight answer." I told her.

"That's very interesting." Kari told me. "Tomorrow, why don't you all come over
here and we'll talk."

"Sounds great. I'll call Nika. Later, Kari." I hung up the phone.

"Okay, could you please explain to me what's going on now?" Tai asked me.

"Kari called just before I walked in the door and left a message that said she
could feel something bad happening to the digital world. And I think it has
something to do with my dream this morning." I said, and proceeded to tell Tai
about that.

"That's freaky." He said.

"Yeah, I know. Oh, I have to call Nika before she goes to bed!" I quickly dialed
the phone. "Mom? I need to speak to Nika." I told her. I waited a bit, and Nika
finally spoke to me.

"What's up, Koushiro?" She asked, sounding a bit sleepy.

"Tomorrow, some of us older kids are meeting, and I think you should be there
when we do." I told her.

"Why?"

"It has to do with what we talked about earlier. I'll come and pick you up from
school, okay? Now let me talk to Mom again so she knows what's going on." I
said. I explained what was going on to Mom and she agreed.

"Now, if you're through, do you mind paying some attention to me?" Tai asked me
teasingly.

"Sorry about that. You know how your sister is." I told him as I sat down.

"I know." He said as he sat down next to me. "I thought this was over though."

"I did too. It just goes to show that we can't let our guard down for one
second, doesn't it?"

"Hmmm...You hungry?" Tai asked.

"You still think with your stomach, don't you?" I teased him.

"I'm just trying to keep your mind off of this." Was his answer.

"I appreciate it, Tai, but..." I trailed off, and Tai leaned over to kiss me.

"You're worrying too much, Koushiro. In case you've forgotten, that's Joe's
job." I sighed as Tai kissed me some more. He was right, and I wasn't about to
admit it. "Now, how about going out for some dinner, then coming back here for
some dessert? You know... you, me, a can of whipped cream..." I grinned.

"Sounds great. Then can I get back to thinking?" I jokingly asked. Tai just
groaned.


I was running. To or from what I didn't know. I just kept running. The
surroundings seemed familiar, but I couldn't place them right at the moment.
Before I knew it, there was a person in front of me.

"Nika-chan?" I asked. It sure looked like her, but I couldn't tell as her head
was bent down and she was wearing a robe similar to the one that the young
Gennai wore.

"I know your secret." The Nika look-a-like said, keeping her head down.

"What secret? I'm not hiding anything." I said. Her head snapped up when I said
that.

"You are hiding something, Koushiro." She said. "It just may not be the secret
you think it is." A large, purple, mythical looking dragon appeared behind her.
"And we are going to expose that secret." With a great leap she landed on the
dragon's back. She let out an evil sounding laugh as they flew off. I felt a
chill go through me as they did.

"Drat. They got here first." I heard a deep voice from behind me. I turned
around to see who it was.

"You again." I said as I saw the same golden insect from last night. "Care to
explain?" I asked.

"I can't." He said.

"You're as much help as Tentomon was earlier." I grumbled. "Then why did you
even bother to show up?" I asked him, bitter.

"I was trying to save you."

I gasped. "Trying to save me? Why?"

"I think you know why." He told me. "Though what just happened should tell you
quite a bit."

"It's just not making sense." I said, shaking my head. I felt so frustrated at
that. Me, the holder of the crest of knowledge. Why isn't this making a
connection?

"I can't really tell you much, but try feeling your way through the situation
for a change instead of thinking it through, Izzy." I snapped to attention. Only
two people still call me that when Nika's partner isn't around. And one of them
was human. The other was a digimon...

"You're...." I couldn't finish my sentence. The big bug laughed.

"You should have known that last night." He said. "In case you haven't noticed,
prophecies and destinies must be fulfilled. And yours is coming very soon." He
flew off.

"Wait!" I called after him. I sighed as soon I realized he was gone and not
coming back.


I woke up after that. For a moment I thought I was in a strange place. Then I
realized I was in bed, everything seemingly normal. Tai was snoring next to me,
Tentomon and Agumon lying on the floor using each other for a pillow. I quickly
glanced at the clock. It was four in the morning. I sighed and snuggled up
against Tai and tried to go back to sleep. Unsuccessfully, I might add. I laid
there awake until the alarm clock went off at 7:30.

I sighed and leaned over Tai to shut it off. I just laid there for a moment.

"Good morning, Izzy." Tai muttered to me.

"Stick it in your rear." I muttered back at him.

"If you really want to." He said. I groaned.

"You're such a hentai. Besides, didn't you get enough of it last night?" I asked
him, swatting at him. "I need coffee." I said as I rolled over. I just realized
what he had called me. "Are you ever going to get out of the habit of calling me
that?"

Tai just gave me an ingratiating smile. "I thought you were a morning person."
He commented, changing the subject. We'd had that argument for years and he just
won't quit. Well, I guess it's a better habit than smoking or drinking. Though
it's a hell of a lot more stupid.

"I would be if I'd gotten a full night's sleep." I said, annoyed.

"Gomen nasai..." Tai said, backing off a bit.

"You're forgiven, I guess. I need to get to work." I finally got out of bed and
got dressed.

"I envy you." Tai said as I pulled on my favorite orange shirt.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you can get away with wearing that." He pointed at my shirt. I shrugged
as he said that. "It just looks horrible on me."

"What can I say? Orange just looks good on me."

"You've been wearing orange forever it seems like." He told me. I laughed.

"Maybe I have been." I leaned down to kiss him. "I'll see you at Kari's, okay? I
better get going. Make sure Tentomon makes it too." I called back as I walked
out the door. "Threaten to make ladybug stew out of him if he doesn't." I think
I heard something to the effect of 'I heard that' from behind the door as it
closed. I just grinned.


Time sure goes slowly when you're waiting to do something. I almost didn't
notice that my shift was almost over. Luckily, the other guy showed up early. He
said he'd take over for me. I was grateful. That meant I could go and pick Nika
up.

I hadn't been waiting very long before she walked out of the building. She was
crowded by her friends. I had to smile at that. When I was her age, I never
really had many friends. Nika made friends pretty easily it seemed. I waved at
her to get her attention. She didn't look very happy, but came over.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Not much." Nika smiled up at me. "I just about forgot about today. I was about
to go home with my friends."

"Oh. Sorry about that, but this is really important." I told her as we walked
down the street.

"It's okay." Nika said, almost tripping over her own feet. I caught her before
she could land on her face. She looked up at me and smiled nervously. "Maybe I
should tie my shoes?" I was about to admonish her, but I couldn't help but
laugh.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea." I told her. "Who keeps you out of trouble
when I'm not around?" Nika just glared at me.

"Silly..." I heard her mutter. "Okay, I'm ready. Hey, can we stop by home?"

"What for?" I asked.

"One, so I don't have to carry my book bag all the way to Kari's, and shouldn't
Izzy be there too?" She asked.

"You're probably right." I admitted. For some reason, that made me wonder if
Tentomon was taking my stew threat seriously. "We'll stop at home." I agreed.
Nika ran down the street, she was so excited. I have no clue why. It must be
that "youthful exuberance."

"Hurry up!" She called back at me. "You're such a slow poke, Koushiro!"

"I don't have as much energy as you do." I told her once I had caught up to her.
Of course, we were right outside the door to the building. "You're pretty quick,
Nika-chan." She shrugged as we walked in.

"I'm just excited." She said.

"What for?" I asked.

"Beats me." Nika answered. She stopped right out side the door. "You smell
that?" She asked.

"Good ol' Mom." I said. "She's been cooking." I paused for a second. "Well, are
we going in or not? We look pretty dumb just standing here." Nika gave me a
look, then opened the door.

Nika quickly threw her school bag in her room and hollered a quick hello to Mom.
"Now, where's the little bug..." I heard her mutter as she went looking for her
partner. I rolled my eyes. Is she this disorganized all the time? I didn't
really have the time to think about as Nika and her strangely colored tentomon
came back to the door. "We're ready."

"Great. That only took about ten minutes." I joked. "Luckily, we won't be too
late."

"Very funny, Koushiro." Nika rolled her eyes as we walked down the street again.

"Hey, what's that?" I asked as I noticed she was carrying something. Nika
grinned at me.

"I'm not telling." She said in a sing-song voice.

"Why not?" I asked. "What did I ever do to you?"

"Let's see....there was that time you....uh...never mind..." Nika trailed off,
unable to think of anything mean I had done to her. I laughed.

"See, I haven't done anything, now have I? So what do you have?" I asked again.

"Still not telling." She said as she started running.

I sighed. "I'm going to get you for this, Hikari!" I hollered after her. I
jogged to try to catch up to her. She was too quick for me though.

"Okay, I give up." Nika said as I caught up to her in front of Kari's apartment.
"You'll know what it is in a few moments." She pressed the doorbell.

"Hello." Kari greeted us. "You're the last ones to show up. Come on in."

Nika handed what she was carrying to Kari. "This is for you. Mom thought this
might take a while, and thought you might not want to cook for nine people and
digimon." I sighed. That's what she had. That seemed to be a bit of a let down.

"Well, when you go home, thank her for me, Nika-chan. I do appreciate it. Maybe
even Hana will eat it. She's been so picky in what she eats." Kari told us. Hana
was Kari and Joe's two year old daughter. They had gotten married when Kari got
pregnant. "Go ahead and take a seat." I looked around. Tai and Agumon were
sitting on the couch. Gatomon was lying on the back of the couch behind them,
Gomamon right beside her, looking really depressed for some reason.

"Tai, where's Tentomon?" I asked as I sat down next to him. Nika and Izzy took a
seat on the floor in front of us.

"I don't know." Tai answered me. "When I was about to leave, I couldn't find
him. You still going to make stew out of him, Koushiro?" For a change he
remembered to call me by my real name.

"I'm sorely tempted to." I replied. "At least we won't be eating him tonight.
Mom sent a casserole with Nika."

"Yum." Tai said. "Sounds better than ladybug stew."

"I'm going to stew you if you don't shut up soon." I said.

"Why do you two fight all the time?" Nika asked, craning her neck to look behind
her at me and Tai.

"It's kind of like why you and me fight." I explained. "It's because we love
each other."

"That's a screwy way to express love." Izzy told us. The adults in the room
laughed.

"Is everyone here?" Kari asked.

"First, Tentomon isn't," I replied. "Second, where's Joe?"

"He's working tonight." Kari answered my second question. "As for Tentomon, we
might as well start without him. He'll show up."

"I guess that explains why Gomamon looks like a dead seal." Tai said.

"Hey!" Gomamon protested.

"He doesn't mean it, you know that, hon." Gatomon reassured him, running her
claws through Gomamon's mohawk. She smacked Tai in the back of the head with her
other paw. I just let her do it and tried to supress my laughter.

"Thanks a lot." Tai said, rubbing his head. "Anyway," He was about to start as
the doorbell rang.

"Sorry I'm late!" Tentomon said as he flew into the room. "I had to find this."
He had a piece of paper stuck to his claw.

"What is it?" Kari asked as she sat down again. I pulled the paper from his
claw. I read it quickly.

"It's..." I looked at it puzzled. "A poem? Actually, it kind of sounds like a
prophecy." I handed it to Tai.

"What the...a dragon? Ghosts? I'm confused."

"Is that anything new?" Kari asked. I grinned.

"Ha ha." Tai responded, handing it to Kari.

Kari got a strange look in her eyes after she read it. "Kari?" I tried to get
her attention.

"Sorry. I had a flash of...I don't know. It's like, I read it, and I could see
what's going to happen." She said. "It's happening again." Gatomon looked up
from her spot on the couch. Kari handed the paper to Nika, who took it upon
herself to read it out loud.

"The dragon lies sleeping,
the insect meditates.
A little girl waits,
sealing their fates.

A dear brother,
A beloved sister,
Their fates twined together,
One will untie their thread.

False promises are revealed,
Secrets open old wounds;
Tornadoes of fire rain,
Electricity pelts the ground.

Finding strength in love,
Knowledge breaks the spell.
The dragon sleeps again,
Ghosts of youth return."

Nika paused, wondering what that all meant. Actually, I think everyone was
trying to figure that out. Kari was looking particularly thoughtful.

"Koushiro, you didn't bring your laptop with you?" Kari asked.

"Sorry, for a change, no. Why?" I asked.

"I wanted to use the digimon analyzer program." She replied. "Oh, you can't
connect to the
D-3s, can you?" She asked.

"Not directly." I answered. "I can through the D-Terminal though. And I'm
working on a way to connect the D-3s to it. It sounds like you have an idea of
what's going on." I commented.

"Well, I don't know if I should say this or not, but I'm wondering if the
dragon..." Kari trailed off.

"Is me?" Gatomon asked, finishing Kari's thought.

"You? What are you talking about?" Tai asked.

"Gatomon and Patamon once digivolved to their mega forms." Kari explained.
"Gatomon's mega was a dragon. Magnadramon."

"The one time in my life I leave the computer home..." I muttered.

"It's okay." Kari said. Everyone else seemed strangely quiet.

"Koushiro?" Nika started.

"What, Nika-chan?"

"You don't think that could be us?" She leaned back to see my expression.

"I don't know. Anything is possible." I told her quietly. Though I didn't think
it was. It couldn't be because we aren't really even related. I saw Tai give me
a look out of the corner of my eye. No, Nika didn't know. It just has never been
brought up. Mom and Dad told me it was up to me if I wanted her to know, and I
just didn't know if I wanted her to. She thinks of me as her brother, and I
don't really want to jeopardize that. I had the feeling that Tai was going to
end up talking to me about that tonight.

"I don't think it'd be us." Tai said, referring to himself and Kari. "Kari isn't
so little anymore, for one thing."

I had been thinking. I had just remembered the dream I had a while back. "It is
us." I said. "I've had a premonition, but I didn't think anything of it.
Actually, that was this morning."

"Is that why you were so grouchy?" Tai asked. I punched him in the arm. "I guess
I'm the designated punching bag tonight."

"Sorry." I said.

"Well, are you going to share, or just let us wonder what you're talking about?"
Gatomon asked.

"Fine." I grudgingly said. "I was running, apparently to something. The next
thing I know, there's this girl that looks an awful lot like Nika. She was
wearing a robe, and the first thing she does is accuse me of having a secret. I
told her I wasn't hiding anything, then she said something to the effect that I
was hiding something, just not what I thought they were talking about. She said
that they were going to expose it, she jumped on the dragon and they flew off."
I gave them the quick version of it. I didn't think they needed to know what
happened after that.

"You don't have any secrets, do you?" Nika asked me. Kari, Tai, and Tentomon
gave me a look. Sorry, guys, but I don't think Nika can handle this just yet. I
smiled down at her.

"Of course not." I said. I glared at Tentomon to tell him that if he tells that
purple twin of his that I really would make stew out of them. I sniffed the air.
"Uh, Kari, are you watching that casserole? It smells like something's burning."

"Yeah, I smell it too." Tai said. "You been taking cooking lessons with Mom?" He
asked.

"Very funny, Tai." She said as she got up to go check on it. "It's not totally
ruined." She informed us. "You guys want to eat?" She asked.

"Do we dare to?" Tai asked me quietly. The digimon, of course, wanted to eat.
They'd eat anything. I shrugged.

"It can't be that bad." I said as I got up to see what had happened. "It's just
a bit on the crispy side, that's all." Kari had gone to get Hana. Nika had
followed me.

"That doesn't smell the way it should..." She trailed off.

"It sure doesn't look very appetizing, does it?" Tai asked from behind me.

"Bite me." Kari said sarcastically as she came back in with Hana in her arms.

"We might have to." Tai teased her. I just rolled my eyes.

"You're cruel." I told him. He shrugged.

"I agree with Koushiro." Kari said. "Dig in." We all got a plate of whatever it
was and retreated back to where we sitting before.

I glanced at Tai's plate. "You're the one that complains, then you take the
largest helping of it?" He shrugged.

"I'm hungry enough to eat even Mom's cooking." He replied.

"That's pretty bad then." Kari said, looking up from feeding her daughter.

"Actually, I skipped lunch." Tai admitted. I rolled my eyes.

We ate in silence for a while. I had a feeling that things were about to go
downhill from here. What would make Nika turn against me? What if....Okay, I
don't believe in 'what if.' I'll just wait and see what happens.