Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Presents And Promises ❯ Prologue

Presents and Promises
By Archangel Bloodraven

"Ow!" TK cried.

"You okay, bro?" Matt asked from farther up the line.

"Yeah. Somethin' bit me, that's all." He called back. He knelt and rolled up his pant leg to reveal two small bleeding puncture wounds spaced about a quarter inch apart.

"They don't look too bad." Kari said dabbing at the blood with her handkerchief.

"Thanks Kari." She's pretty cool, for a girl. TK thought.

Gatomon peered at the wound a moment before moving away to talk with Tai, who in turn called Matt and Joe. Soon all the digidestined were gathered around.

Except for TK and Kari.

"They're doing it again." She snarled. "They're treating us like we're little kids."

"Well, technically we are." He said with a sheepish grin.

"Well, I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind." She said starting forwards.

"Kari, wait. I don't feel so good." He murmured sitting down. "Stay with me a while?"

"You do look a little rough around the edges." She admitted crouching beside him. "Tai can we rest here for a while?"

"We're going to Gennai's house." He replied. "Will you make it until then?"

She looked at TK who nodded feebly. "All right." She said.

As the group's conversation degenerated into another argument, TK lay back and stretched himself out in the grass.

"How ya doin'?" She asked.

"My tummy's upset and it hurts," He put his hand on his chest. "here, when I breathe, and the light hurts my eyes."

Kari folded her handkerchief into a slim strip of cloth and laid it over TK's closed eyes. "Is that better?"

"A little." He said trying to smile. "Thank you."

She lay beside him, holding his hand in her own. He had always seemed so strong, but now as she looked at him trying to be comfortable, she realized how small and vulnerable he really was. Yet this same fragile boy had made a promise. She could still hear his words ringing in her memory.

I promise I'll do everything I can to protect Kari.

He was only eight and she just a few months older, but they had seen much more than people two or even three times their age. She looked up as Gatomon left the group and started towards them. She moved to stand up but TK squeezed her hand.

"Please don't leave me Kari." His voice had a barely concealed hint of panic in it.

"I promise you TK, I'm always going to be with you, and if I do leave, I'll always come back to you. I'm going to talk to Gatomon and I'll be right back. Okay?"

"Okay." He said. Like her, he knew the value of a promise.

"What's going on Gatomon?" She snapped quietly.

"We're going to Gennai's. That's all you need to know right now."

"Gatomon stop treating me like a baby! You don't have to protect me from everything."

"That's my purpose in life Kari, to protect you. Knowing why we're going to Gennai's would only hurt you, and I can't let that happen." The cat digimon purred smoothly.

Kari was about to reply when TK began to vomit violently. She shot her digimon a scathing look as she hurried to help her friend, rolling him onto his side.

"Not doing so hot?" She asked as he finished in a series of dry heaves that left his small frame convulsing in agony.

"I feel hot." He mumbled wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve.

"You are hot." Kari said placing a hand to his forehead. "You're burning up. Gatomon, do you have enough energy to digivolve?"

"Yes."

"Do it. We're going to fly to Gennai's house."

"GATOMON DIGIVOLVE TO... ANGEWOMON!"

"We shouldn't split up." Tai said worriedly as Angewomon scooped the children into her arms and rose into the air.

"Then keep up." Kari snapped, crimson eyes flashing. "Or keep arguing. It doesn't matter to me." She said as Angewomon flew towards Gennai's house in the lake. Only TK does. She thought.

"Shouldn't we wait for the others?" Patamon asked from where TK held him in his arms as he dozed.

"There's no time." Kari said, surprising herself with her own vehemence as they flew though the rapidly cooling air. "TK's really sick and Tai wouldn't have diverted us to Gennai's house if he didn't think he could help, but some 'mons know more than they're telling." She explained glaring at Angewomon. What's happening to me? She wondered. Why am I getting so worked up about this? TK's just a friend.

Isn't he?

"Look Kari, it's starting to snow." Angewomon replied effectively dodging the accusation.

Kari frowned at her, but smiled at TK as he sighed as the crystalline snowflakes landed on his face cooling his burning brow.

When they landed at Gennai's house, the flurries had become a proper snowstorm and the two young children hurried inside, Kari supporting a barely conscious TK into the house in the lake.

"Gennai!"

"No need to yell Kari." He said puttering out of the kitchen with a cup in his hand. "The others told me you'd be coming. This will help TK." He said moving towards the feverish boy.

TK was, however, lucid enough to be choosy. "Don' wan' you." He mumbled. "Wan' mommy."

"Shh." Kari said surprising herself with her own initiative. "Mommy's here, and I've got some medicine that'll make you feel better." She whispered as she took the cup from Gennai and guided TK to the couch. They had barely sat down when TK's upper half tipped over into Kari's lap. She lifted his head and tipped a small portion of the noxious fluid into his mouth.

He swallowed and gagged. "Ess yucky! Don' wan no more."

Kari took a sip and gagged. "Can't disagree with you there. Gennai, one for me please?"

"You not sick?" TK said, a puzzled expression on his face, his deep blue eyes glassy and out of focus.

"No I'm not, but if you're taking it, then I'm taking it." She said as Gennai returned with another cup of his vile brew.

It took three hours of grimaced sipping to finish both cups as TK could only stomach small sips. He tried a gulp for her sake and nearly lost all he had taken in already, and Kari wasn't going to let him suffer alone. Now alone on the couch the two children waited for the others as a warm drowsiness settled over them. "Feeling better?" She asked drowsily.

TK didn't answer. He was already fast asleep. Kari smiled and leaned back closing her eyes. I'll just rest my eyes for a moment. She thought.

As it turned out, a moment turned into an hour and a half before Tai shook her gently awake. "Hey Kari. You okay?"

"Mmm hmm." She murmured with a lazy stretch. "How long have you been here?"

"Just got in actually. It's a good thing Garurumon's at home in the snow. It's a major blizzard out there."

"I'm glad you're all okay." She said laying a hand on TK's forehead to check his temperature.

"How is he?" Matt asked.

"He's still warm, but he's a lot cooler than he was." She said pulling her hand away.

It was covered with blood and it took every ounce of courage the young girl could muster to look down at the boy asleep in her lap and not scream.

TK was sweating blood.

"Get Gennai." She whispered her eyes wide with fear. "Now."

"Hmm." The old man said peering closely at TK. "I was hoping to avoid this. "Kari why don't you go- "

"You're not sending me away." Kari said slipping out from under TK and pulling his lower half onto the couch. "I'm sick and tired of everyone treating me like a little kid when I've proven I can hold my own. Now tell me, what's wrong with TK?" She asked in a cold hard voice.

"TK was bitten by a Black Addermon." Gennai said gravely. "Their venom is not only extremely poisonous, but it also causes Crimson Blood Fever. I administered the antitoxin when you two arrived and I'd hoped we caught it before it developed into the Fever, but it seems I was wrong."

"Is there an antidote?" Sora asked.

"Yes. The golden tamashii flower, but it only grows on Protectorate Mountain on the other side of the digiworld."

"Let's go, Gabumon." Matt said starting for the door.

"No one's going anywhere yet." Gennai said. "First I have to see if Kari's sick and put TK and Patamon in quarantine. There's some snow gear by the door, so one of you can make dinner while the others go play. Nerves are frayed right now and the fewer people we have underfoot the better."

"But Gennai-" Matt began helplessly.

"No Matt. It's too dark. You'll be lost before you go a single mile. Besides, Gabumon needs to rest before he can digivolve into Garurumon again. Now you're staying here and that's final." He said.

"Come on, Gennai." Kari said somehow managing to scoop TK into her arms despite the fact that she was hardly bigger than he was. Gennai started to protest but she cut him off. "If I'm already sick, this isn't going to matter, but I'm going to stay with him."

"But Kari why?" Mimi asked.

"Because I made a promise."

***

As it turned out Kari wasn't infected, and after a thorough examination, was allowed to join the others for dinner. TK and Patamon, however, were ushered away into a room with an ill-foreboding red door. Gennai made them comfortable before he withdrew from the room wearing a white protective suit, which he then carefully shed and threw down an incinerator shaft before locking the ailing boy and his digimon in.

The group ate in a morose silence that Matt finally broke, asking the question that lingered on everyone's lips. "How do we get to Protectorate Mountain?"

"I suppose I should have known you kids wouldn't just let it go." He said pushing away from the table. Motioning them to follow, he led them to the library where he unrolled an ancient yellowing piece of parchment. "This map shows the shortest route from here to Protectorate Mountain. It's about a 14 day journey." The group surveyed the map in silence before Izzy raised a question that no one wanted to ask and everyone needed to hear.

"How long does TK have?"

Gennai sighed. "Ten days, fifteen at the outside." He said. "After that..." He trailed off leaving the worst case scenario hanging in the air. "You all should get some sleep. I'll make some provisions and tomorrow you can decide who's going for the cure.

An hour later Kari lay in her bed and tossed and turned vainly trying to sleep and rid her mind's eye of the image of TK sweating a pool of blood into his bedsheets. Finally she gave up and slipped out the door. She crept through the silent house until she reached the red door that marked the quarantine ward.

"I knew you'd come here eventually." Gatomon said slinking out of the shadows.

"I was going for a drink of water and I got turned around." Kari lied.

"Digi-oscar worthy, but try it with someone who doesn't know you quite so well."

"Get out of my way, Gatomon. I'm going to see TK."

"You can't do that, Kari." Gatomon said worriedly. "You'll get the Blood Fever and spread it to the others."

"No I won't, because I won't be here."

Gatomon's eyes widened as she realized what Kari intended. "You're going to Protectorate Mountain for the cure, aren't you?"

"Yes and I'm going to do it with or without your help. Now stand aside. I'm going to see TK."

"We'll go together." Gatomon said picking the lock with her claw. "I want to see Pata anyway."

They slipped inside and closed the door behind them. Kari crossed the room to TK's bedside while Gatomon slipped away to find Patamon.

"Hey TK." She whispered, gently taking his hand.

"Kari." He murmured smiling weakly. "You came back, just like you promised."

"Yeah." She said stroking his forehead with her free hand. "How ya feeling?"

"I hurt all over and I'm hot and cold and I wanna go to sleep." He whispered raspingly.

"Look TK, I've got to leave you for a little while." Kari began. That was all the farther she got before TK exploded into howls of misery.

"No! You promised you'd stay with me!" He cried hoarsely. "You promised! You- "

"TK, listen to me." She said hastily placing a hand over his mouth. "I promised I'd always be with you, right?"

"Yeah." TK said, tears flooding his pain filled eyes. "But now you're goin' 'way."

"I want to show you something. Close your eyes." Puzzled, TK obeyed. "Now think of me, the way I smile, the way I laugh..."

"That funny bang that keeps fallin' in your eyes." TK smiled. "It's like you're right here with me."

"Right, and no matter what happens I'll always be with you that way. Now I promised you I'd always come back but you've gotta promise me something. No matter how long it takes, you have to promise you're going to wait for me. Okay."

"Okay. I promise." He said squeezing her hand. They stood in silence listening to the quiet murmurs of their digimon. "You should go now, but I won't forget my promise." He whispered.

"And I won't forget mine." Kari replied kissing his forehead. "Goodbye TK."

"Not goodbye. Just..." He paused, his tiny face screwed up in thought. "until we are together again."

Meanwhile Gato was conversing with Patamon.

"And how's my little pork roast doing?"

"I am not a pig." He protested weakly. "Although I am feeling like one right now. Why is it so hot in here?"

"It's not the room Pata." Gato said solemnly "It's you. You and TK are both very sick."

"Ah. That's why I hurt so much." It was more of a statement than a question.

Gatomon nodded. "Kari and I are gonna get something to make you better, but we might be a while. Watch out for TK and be careful. You better be here when I get back."

"I'll be here, I promise. Besides, who would you pick on without me?"

"That's my Pata." Gatomon said. "I l- "She swallowed hard as the words stuck in her throat. "I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise."

"Come on, Gatomon." Kari said from the door.

"See ya soon." She said giving him a peck on the cheek.

"You're gonna get sick." Pata said weakly.

Gato shrugged. "It was worth it."

"Kari?" TK whispered in the darkness.

"Yes, TK?" She replied.

"Am I gonna die?"

Kari stood in grim silence, her hand on the doorknob. "No TK." Not without a fight, baby.

***

A/N: Well that's the first part of my Christmas Takari. My muses all told me it was too early to start a christmas story. Well, this'll show 'em! As always reviews are welcome, demanded even! I'm a review junkie, man…