In The Defence Of Love

Chapter 6: Torture of the Heart

Sora watched as a wild haired boy made his way towards her, "How is she?"

"Still not eating, she's been in bed ever since...you know. Crying mostly. She going to make herself sick if this carries on." Tai replied, his usual cheeriness lost under a tired, sad shell.

"Tai, she's taking it hard, Kari has known TK ever since they were babies and our mothers had coffee mornings. TK died protecting her, in her arms! If it wasn't for him, Kari may not be here."

"I know, and that's what scares me... remember when we were fighting the Dark Masters? We had TK promise to look after Kari, protect her no matter what? I feel I'm responsible for what happened."

"Don't say that! Even if we hadn't made him promise, TK would have done it anyway! That's the person TK is!...Was." silence filled the space between the couple. It hung in the air for a few moments as they reflected on the past couple of days.

"Sora I don't feel like eating out today, lets go home and i try and avoid the Kamiya curse." Tai said with a forced grin.

Davis closed his eyes, and tried to empty his mind. He tried to focus on a cherry blossom, think of nothing but those pink gentle petals. It wasn't working, his minds eye kept slipping back to the memory of that day... TK going limp, Kari screaming, Veemon being battered by the Monster...

"Cody this isn't working." he sighed irritably "when can i start beating on things?"

"You can't Start 'beating on things' until you learn to control that temper," Cody said, still in his meditative state, "You asked me to teach you Kendo, and I will, but first you must learn to focus. Ignore anger, mastery of the mind leads to mastery of the body. Remember martial arts is 80 discipline, 20 fighting."

Davis sighed again and tried to focus his mind.

It was unusually Quiet in the Ishida household. Matts' guitar sat discarded in one corner. The boy himself, was upon his bed staring at photo albums, lost in his own world. Everytime he came to a picture of his brother, he had to stop himself crying.

In the three days since TK was taken from them, Matt had refused to see anyone. He had heard of Sora and Tai Getting together. Which, he supposed, was a good thing. He couldn't say he was happy for them... how can someone be happy when their little brother just died? No not died. TK didn't just die. He was Murdered... Murdered by that bastard Ken.

She felt weak, incredibly so. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face stained with days of tears. A weariness wrapped her body. Lying down pressed the bruises she had sustained, but their dull ache was nothing compared to the pain in her heart.

Nothing seem to take the pain away, she had cried until she could cry no more. Sleep only brought visions of him, her best friend, her partner... her protector. He was always there to brighten her day.

For days his last moments had plauged Kari, he died saving her life . It wouldn't of happened though if she hadn't been so stupid and gone to Gatomon, he would still be here. Yes, it was all Kari's fault. She had practiaclly killed TK herself

It was then Kari made up her mind. Standing up, she crept past the sleeping Gatomon, and quietly opened the door. She tiptoed to the kitchen, where her release from the pain lay.

Tai opened the door to the arpartment and lead Sora inside. Placing a finger to his lips, he headed to make lunch, when he heard a sniffle. A smile appeared, he turned into the kitchen.

Tai had to double take, Kari looked like she was going to play the violin. she stood with her left arm out stretched, a carving knife in her right hand.

"KARI NO!" Tai screeched grabbing her wrist and yanking it upwards, pulling the blade away from his distraught sister.

The pair struggled for the Knife, Kari in a desperate for her release, "LET ME GO TAI, LET GO!"

"This isn't the way! TK wouldn't want this! He didn't die to save you, just so you can off yourself! He would want you to live!" Tai finally managed to get the blade out of his sisters hand and threw it into the sink.

Kari burst into tears and fell against her brother, feebly punching his shoulders "I miss him Tai! I want him back!" sobbing uncontrollably

Wrapping his arms around her, Tai muttered "We all do sis, we all do..."

Dark Ocean

Like a disturbing kind of music TK's screams filled the dark place. In his mind he saw Darkness covering the worlds, Angemon being destroyed but never coming back. He saw the world, filled with fear and loneliness, where hate and lies were as common as the birds. He saw Tyranny rule and recklessness and irresponsibly.

But most of all he saw Kari die. For over a thousand times he saw the spark of life leave her, the light fade in her eyes. It broke him, he couldn't face the horrors any more. TK saw that there was no hope for the world, only darkness and death.

As despair gripped his heart, a nimbus of black light engulfed the boy his screams stopped. He emerged, the colour drained from his clothes, his blue eyes a dull grey now, and a Crest burning over his heart. But this Crest wasn't the one of Hope...

His captor smiled as he saw this, "Now the worlds are mine and you shall be my agent Takeru, my Angel of Despair..."