Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Presents And Promises ❯ Chapter 1

Presents and Promises: Gatekeeper Patience
By Archangel Bloodraven

"Kari's gone!" Mimi exclaimed. "Sora too!"

"Oh no!" Tai said racing to the foyer. "Their snow suits are gone."

"Gennai, we've got to talk to TK. I have a feeling he may know where they are." Matt said.

"I've already thought of that." Gennai said climbing into a protective suit and entering the quarantine zone. "Hello TK."

"She's gone, isn't she?" He murmured thickly, gazing at the old man through half lidded eyes.

"If you mean Kari and Sora, yes. They're both gone."

"Didn't know Sora was going too." TK said with a hint of surprise. "It doesn't matter though. She'll be back, because she promised me and she'll keep her promise." He whispered closing his eyes. "So I gotta wait for her to come back, because I'll keep my promise."

"TK did Kari say where she was going?"

"Just that she had to go and I had to promise to wait for her and I did and I will." He said wearily.

"All right TK. You get some rest." Gennai said moving towards the door.

"She's got it, you know."

"What did you say?"

"Kari kissed me, so whatever I've got, she's got too." He mumbled as sleep overtook him.

Gennai shed his suit and rejoined the others. "From what I can tell, Kari came to see him and made him promise to wait for her until she came back and she kissed him."

"She's gone for the cure, hasn't she?" Matt said as the realization of what happened hit him.

"And Sora probably saw her sneak out and followed her." Izzy said.

"But isn't the map still here?" Gomamon asked.

"It certainly looks like it to me." Tentomon said.

"Looks are often deceiving." Joe said unrolling the piece of parchment.

Hey Guys
Gone to Protectorate Mountain for the cure. Sorry about sneaking out like this but I have to do this, for my own reasons. Please don't follow me. I have the Blood Fever.
Kari

A little ways below the first was another note, equally brief.

Guys
Gone after Kari. Will bring her back safe.
Sora

"Come on Gabumon." Matt said heading for the door.

"Matt wait." Gennai said. "There's something you need to know about this journey."

***

"How are you doing, Kari?" Gatomon asked.

"Too hot." She mumbled stuffing her coat into the backpack she carried and filling her handkerchief with snow before tying it around her head.

"Better?" Gato asked as she padded along on all four paws. Kari nodded as she trudged along in her snowshoes. "You know I could digivolve and -"

"You'll do no such thing!" Kari snapped. "We're going to need Angewomon to get that medicine back to TK."

"All right, no need to go viral about it. It was only a suggestion. Why are you so testy anyway?"

"It's the fever." She said tersely. Why am I acting this way? She thought. I've been worse than a mother hen ever since TK got sick. It's almost as if…

"KARI!" Gatomon shouted. Kari came back to reality in time to realize they were in a blizzard and her arms were starting to turn blue. Gatomon helped her back into her coat as Kari scanned the landscape and spotted the lights of a cabin nearby.

"This way!" She barked, trudging towards the house. The weary pair had just reached the door of the cabin when it swung open and a young woman pulled them inside.

The cabin was small, yet comfortable. A fire was blazing in the hearth, and a cauldron like pot hung over it simmering merrily. Kari turned to face her rescuer. "Thanks. I'm-"

"Kamiya Hikari, the eighth digidestined child, bearer of the crest of light. I've been expecting you." The woman said adding some herbs to the pot over the fire. "I'm Nintai, by the way."

"You knew I was coming?" Kari asked leaning heavily against the door.

"Oh yes. I know much about you. I know you're traveling to Protectorate Mountain in search of the Golden Tamashii flower to cure your friend, the hope bearer, of the Crimson Blood Fever, the same fever you yourself have. And I know that five gatekeepers await you. And I know that you don't know what the entirety of your quest is about. Please make yourself comfortable. I'm making some broth that will hold off the worst of the symptoms until the next stop in your journey, but it will still be several hours before it's ready, and by then it'll be too late to travel. Will you be staying?"

"We really should keep going." Gatomon said to Kari.

"Gato we've been traveling nonstop for the last day and a half. It won't do anyone any good if collapse from exhaustion in the snow." She replied. "We both stay until we've rested agreed?"

"All right." Gatomon said. "But I'm not doing this for you." I'm doing this for my Pata.

"Wel then make yourselves comfortable." Nintai said, gesturing to a pile of quilts, pillows and blankets with the end of the spoon she held before stirring the broth with it. The pair hung their snow suits neatly by the door, then Kari arranged the ragtag assortment of bedding into two tidy mats before the fire.

"I'm just going to rest my eyes for a little while, Gato. Don't let me fall asleep okay?"

"Okay." She chuckled as the young girl immediately fell asleep. Gatomon carefully readjusted her body to make her more comfortable and adjusted her covers. "Heh. Rest your eyes." She murmured more to herself than anyone. "Good one kid, but you said it yourself. We've been traveling too long without sleep. Pleasent dreams." She whispered as Kari turned in her sleep. As she nestled down in her own bedding. "You'll wake us when the soups done right?" Nintai nodded as Gatomon peacefully dozed off.

"Dream little ones," Nintai said adjusting Gatomon's covers around her. "and know what's in your hearts."

Kari dreamt she was sitting by a lake when TK came and sat beside her. "Can you help me Kari."

"I can try." She replied. "What do you need?"

"Can you teach me how to tie my shoes?" He asked gesturing helplessly at the tangle of cloth and string on his feet. "I can't do it too good."

"Okay. That shouldn't be too hard." She said as she began to untangle the knotted cord.

Meanwhile Gatomon was dreaming of herself as Angewomon. "Come fly with me Angemon."

Angemon gave a nervous chuckle. "No, that's okay. I'll just stay down here."

"You're not afraid of heights are you?" She asked.

"No. I don't mind the heights. I mind the fall." He confessed. "I don't really fly that well."

"I think you fly just fine."

"Well, yeah, when I'm close to the ground."

"All right Halo boy. Welcome to Flight Instruction 101. I'm going to be you're flight instructor slash drill sergeant for the day. So get up in the air. NOW!" She bellowed startling Angemon straight into the air. He promptly fell straight back to the ground.

"This could take a while." He moaned.

"You ain't just whistlin' digi, kid." She sighed.

While Angewomon was trying to get Angemon above the five thousand mile mark, Kari sighed and waved her hand in front of TK's face. "TK."

"Huh?" He blinked coming out of his daze. "Was I staring again."

More like drooling, Kari thought. But you're still cute. Aloud she said, " Yeah."

He flushed. "I'm sorry, Kari. It's just that you're very pretty."

Now it was Kari's turn to blush. "Well TK if you don't get the serious stuff out the way, you can't do the fun stuff. So let's get these shoes done, and then we just sit together and you can stare at me all you want."

"You mean it?"

"Sure do. I got nothing better to do." She said. "So are you ready to tackle those shoelaces?"

"Sure am!"

"Okay." She said. "First you take one lace in each hand…"

Meanwhile as Angemon made his fifteenth crash landing, although to all concerned it felt like his fiftieth, Angewomon sighed. "Angemon."

"Huh?" He said dusting himself off.

"Take off your helmet." She said untying the flowing pink sash that ran around her costume. Puzzled he did as she asked, and she carefully tied the sash around his eyes. "Can you see anything?"

"No."

"All right. Now I promise you nothing is going to happen to you. Just hold onto my hand and trust me."

"Okay." He said nervously groping for her hand, which she comfortingly wrapped around his own. As he relaxed she slowly flew into the air.

"You doing okay?" She asked. When he nodded, she said, "Okay." and let go of his hand and flew backwards a few feet.

"Angie? Where are you?"

"Not far. Just fly towards my voice. You're doing wonderfully, Angemon! Just a little further. There." She said taking his hand and removing his blindfold. "Look down."

He did and felt a moment of fear, quickly replaced by awe and wonder as he gazed over the vast landscape of the digiworld. "Is it always like this?" Angewomon nodded. "How high are we?"

"I guess about fifteen miles up."

"I wanna go higher."

"Another time. I'm about to revert to Gatomon, and she can't fly." Angewomon laughed starting for the ground.

Gatomon… Gatomon wake up.

"You better go." Angemon said. "We can go flying together later." He said as he faded away.

"Lemme sleep." She mumbled burrowing deeper into the covers as someone tried to shake her awake.

"You weren't supposed to fall asleep." Kari said smiling.

"What can I say? I'm a cat. I took a catnap." Gatomon said stretching as she winced painfully.

"A very long catnap." Kari said pulling herself painfully into a sitting position despite the protests of her aching muscles. "It's a quarter after ten. In the morning."

"Good morning." Nintai said as she spooned broth from the still steaming cauldron. "I hope you two don't mind being fed."

"I can't bend my fingers, I'm so stiff, so I guess I don't really have a choice." Kari said dejectedly.

Gatomon was silent as Nintai spooned the warm steaming brew into her mouth. "This isn't a cure, but it will help you make it to your next destination."

"Thank you." Kari said as the soothing liquid trickled down her sore throat. Nintai just smiled and continued to serve the pair over the next two hours until they could eat no more.

"Thank you." Kari said gently pushing Nintai's hand away. "We really should be going now."

"But you can't leave yet light bearer."

"Why not Nintai?"

"Because I'm Nintai, Gatekeeper of Patience. You and Gatomon have both proven you have patient hearts and that is the first step to proving yourself worthy for the prize that awaits you."

"If we've proven ourselves worthy why can't we leave?" Gatomon said.

"You have to answer my riddle before I consent to your passage."

"Very well then." Kari said. "What is your riddle?"

"My riddle is this: What is no sooner spoken than it has been broken? Think carefully because you only have one chance to answer it correctly."

Kari frowned in puzzlement. What breaks when you speak? Ice, crystal, a heart.

Where did that come from? She thought in surprise as a small squeak shattered the silence.

"That's it!" She cried. "The answer is silence, Gatekeeper."

"Well done, light bearer." Nintai smiled. "That is correct." She crossed to a small table near the door and produced a bag of gold coins. "You'll need these.When you leave, travel east with the sun at your back for four days and three nights. You should reach a seaport by sunset of the fourth day. Your next Gatekeeper awaits you there."

"Thank you for everything Nintai." Kari said scrambling into her snowsuit.

"You're more than welcome. May you find More than you seek." She waved as they set out.

More than I seek? Kari thought frowning. All I seek is the cure.

But why? A little voice in the back of her mind asked.

To her dismay she didn't have an answer. She turned back to ask Nintai, but to her surprise, she wasn't there. Where her cottage had stood there was an unblemished field of snow.

"You didn't expect her to still be there, did you?"

"Not really, because patience isn't something you can hold onto." She said to Gatomon. "Let's go."

***

Matt swung down from Garurumon's back as he reverted to Gabumon and the pair walked towards the cabin.

"Greetings friendship bearer." Nintai said softly as she swung open the door to admit the pair. "You seek the light bearer." It was a statement rather than a question.

Matt nodded. "Have you seen her?"

"She left yesterday morning, though you are not the only one to seek her." Nintai said pointing. There asleep in front of the fire were Sora and Biyomon.

"At least we found someone." Gabumon said quietly as the pair shivered under the thin ratty blankets Nintai had given them.

"True." Nintai said. "Since it is late you should stay the night and tomorrow I will set you upon the light bearer's path."

"I will stay until it's light enough to resume searching." Matt conceded as Sora and Biyomon shivered.

"I have given the last of my bedding to the love bearer and her guardian. The rest is being purged of the light bearer's Blood Fever. Your room is this way."

Matt started to follow her, then slipped out of the long coat he wore and draped it over Sora. "You coming Gabumon."

"In a minute." He said fiddling with his fur. Matt nodded and followed Nintai out of the room. A short while later Gabumon joined him as Biyomon nestled deeper into the warm fur her friend had left her and smiled.