ONLY HOPE AND LIGHT TOGETHER CAN DEFEAT DARKNESS

By kathlaida-princess

Summary: Five years after their last battle, the Dark Ocean calls for Kari again. She tries her best to resist, but the calling gets worse and more desperate, and she decides to end the problem once and for all, this time, with the help of her best friend Takeru Takaishi. But they seem to get into a hopeless situation, and only by using the powerful crests they carry for ten years they can find a way out. Major Takari. Rated M for one chapter, and one chapter only.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. If I did, the ending of the second season would be much better.

CHAPTER 1

THE NIGHTMARE

I know you're still there

Watching me, wanting me
I can feel you pull me down
Fearing you, loving you
I won't let you pull me down

She was running, running, running. She didn't know exactly why, but she knew that something terrible would happen if she stopped. Everything around her was pitch-black, but she knew that she would be safe if she kept heading forward. Her heart was beating too fast, and she could hear a terrible voice calling her name…

"Hikari…"

Suddenly, everything around her changed and she saw terrible things, things a young woman her age shouldn't see, things that made her hold a scream up her throat… First, she saw Gatomon, her Digimon and best friend… She was dead, beheaded, her lifeless feline form covered with blood and tentacle marks. She tried to scream, but she wasn't able to… Tears started to fall from her eyes, and she ran towards her digi-partner. What had happened? Who did that to her? She barely knew things were getting worse…

When she stretched out her hand to touch her friend, the image changed, and Kari's heart sank when she saw her dead brother instead…

"No, Tai, this can't be happening… Who did this to you? Can this get any worse! Please, make this end…" the girl whispered, more tears falling.

And things actually got worse… Kari thought the pain couldn't get any bigger, but she really felt the world around her scatter to pieces when she saw the last image.

"No… Takeru…"

She touched his best friend's cheek, her hands trembling terribly. Who had caused all that pain to her? For what reason? His usual warm face was death-cold, his beautiful blue eyes were lifeless, they weren't shining anymore, they had the deepest of fear inside them…

"Hikari…"

Kari couldn't take it anymore, it was too much for her fragile young heart. But there wasn't much she could do… The next thing she knew, she found herself cornered inside a dark room, with no windows and no doors… and blood started flooding the place.

She panicked, but her screams only seemed to increase the blood flow. She quickly found herself totally submerged in that horrible liquid, feeling its dreadful flavor in her mouth, and she waved her arms around in search for air, or she would certainly drown…

Then she felt something grabbing her ankle, holding her down, and she desperately tried to free from its grip.

Let me go, what do you want from me? I want to go home, please, let me go home!, her mind screamed.

But she knew that none of her prayers would be answered, and she'd be irrefutably taken by darkness to a place she had feared for some time now. This time, there was no hope for Hikari Yagami Kamyia…

"Come on, Kari! Don't make me get inside! If we get late again we'll both have detention with dear Mr. Myiamoto!" the most relieving familiar voice said, while seeming to be breaking the front door down.

And a startled Kari sat up on her bed. Thank God it had only been a dream, a really bad dream…

She did nothing else: she got out of bed with a jump and ran towards the front door, opening it enthusiastically.

She had seen that boy so many times in her life, but none of them had been as relieving as that one, and Kari was staring at T.K. with a dreamily look on her face.

"Finally! I thought I had to…"

But he was interrupted when Kari embraced him in a massive bear hug. Still recovering from the shock, the boy said with a smile: "Whoa, I missed you too, but aren't you overreacting a bit?"

At first, she didn't hear him. She was more interested in hearing the regular beating of his heart, interested in feeling the welcoming warmth of his arms. She was so happy he was still there…

"I'm just happy to see you," Kari answered, finally releasing him.

They just stood there looking at each other when Takeru noticed something.

"You're still on your pajamas? Are you aware that unless we get to school in five minutes we'll spend the time we're supposed to use at the movies inside a detention room? Come on!"

Hikari knew her best friend wasn't mad at her, it was just his way to tell her that he had spent a whole afternoon to get that damn tickets and he wasn't willing send all that effort to waste. He tried his best to get his hands on "Friends, the Movie" tickets as soon he heard she was excited about the film. Takeru just did these nice things…

She invited him in, while she went to her bedroom to get dressed as soon as possible. Takeru sat comfortably on the couch and asked his friend through the wall that separated them: "So, what happened for you to hug me like that? I feel like you haven't told me everything about it…"

He could feel Kari's uneasiness through her voice.

"Huh, well… I kind of… had another of those nightmares…" she answered reluctantly.

Takeru got worried at the sentence.

"You sure you're alright? I mean, it's the third one you have this week. I'm starting to get worried about it".

"Oh, it's nothing, really… I mean, me being the bearer of Light and everything. It's normal to have these problems with darkness…"

But Takeru could tell she was lying. "Kari, you know you can tell me everything. I'll be there for you…"

"… Like you've been there before. Yeah, I know, T.K… But you don't need to worry, seriously… I'm fine".

"I sure hope so. I'm not very fond about this whole situation… I hope this ends soon".

"And so do I," Kari answered as she exited her bedroom to the living room. Takeru stared at her from the couch and noticed something was not right… He got up and walked to her. However, he just needed to arrange her shirt's neckband to make things perfect.

With a smile, he took something off his pocket and gave it to her.

"I guessed you'd oversleep, so I brought you breakfast. It's your favorite!"

She unwrapped the small package and took a bite from the delicious sandwich with tinned sardines, lettuce, boiled egg and tomato that laid inside. She couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you, T.K.! Have I told you you're my hero?" Hikari asked with a grin, while they started heading to school, at last.

"A couple of times this week. But, of course, I don't mind it. You can just pay me a milk shake later".

Kari didn't know what the hell she did to deserve such a perfect best friend. While they were running to school with the few minutes they had left, she reminded how she got to where she was now…

She had met him when they were eight, when the first group of digi-destined was after the eighth child, which happened to be her. Kari knew T.K. was happy about finally having someone to talk to, and they became the best of friends during their first adventure. She remembered when he looked after her when she got sick, she remembered when they had to defeat Piedmon all by themselves. They shared all their dreams and fears to each other, and helped their brothers to get along better. Now, Tai and Matt were the best friends because of them.

People thought that the three years that they spent without seeing each other would erase Takeru and Hikari's deep friendship, but it just seemed to help it get bigger. They would write to each other all the time, confessing their deepest secrets, searching for a refuge in the other. Kari often wrote him about her old neighbor that used to insult her mother when she was babysitting her. Takeru usually wrote her about the problems he had due to his parents' divorce. They hadn't seen each other for those three years, but their hearts were always somehow linked.

But their friendship only reached the level it had now when the Takaishis moved to Odaiba, near the Kamyias, and the two best friends started to attend the same school.

They couldn't believe how much they had grown up, and they wasted no time, compensating all the time they had been absent. And Hikari found herself swearing eternal friendship to this new Takeru Takaishi.

Already 11 years old, he had grown up to be a terribly handsome golden-blond-haired, sapphire-blue-eyed boy. The star basketball player. The one all the cheerleaders wished to have by their side. But his personality never changed. He continued to be the sweetest person on Earth, the kind of boy that would give his right arm for a friend, that will always try his best to please everyone. No that he needed that much effort. People seemed to fall in love with him by just speaking to him.

But Kari wasn't that bad either. She was now a beautiful, tall, slender, chocolate-brown-haired, crimson-eyed girl that seemed to attract most of guys' attention. She was always quite energetic and funny, caring, brave and reliable, a completely normal girl. Maybe that was why such a perfect friendship brewed between an extraordinary boy and a perfectly normal girl.

The time they spent together in and out the Digimon World on their second adventure only brought them closer. She found in him a shoulder to cry on whenever she needed, someone who always knew what to say in each situation, or when to be quiet and leave. She couldn't tell how many times she would owe him the world just for holding her tight and saying that everything would be fine. But she also got the happiest when he was there, greeting her with a warm smile, whenever she did something right. They went through a lot together, and the bond that linked them was an unbreakable one.

Now, five years had passed since they fought their last digi-battle, and being two 18-year-olds, they decided to move out and live in another part of Tokyo, where they still attended the same school. It was Takeru's decision to leave Odaiba, but since Kari promised she would follow him to the end of the world, she also bought an apartment right in front of his and they spent those next years all by themselves.

They often asked themselves why they had become such good friends. In the end, they knew it had to be because of their crests, the crests of Hope and Light. They were frequently told that Hope and Light completed each other, and together they'd be the greatest power of them all. Probably that was why they still wore those crests as necklaces after ten years: as a sign of their friendship.

With 18 years old, the handsome Takeru only seemed to grow even more handsome and gentle, the young man that owned all the young women's hearts at school. Kari wasn't oblivious to that, as she usually found herself lost in T.K.'s blue eyes and melting under his splendorous smile. For some time now, Kari knew she felt more then just friendship towards Takeru, but she didn't spend much time thinking about it, as she was certain he would never feel about her that way, despite all the warmth and care of his gestures. She'd rather have Takeru Takaishi as her best friend than having no Takeru Takaishi at all. He had done so much for her and she didn't want to hurt him.

Than you shouldn't lie to him like you did before, a small voice inside her head said. You know something is going wrong with you and he was just trying to help you.

And that was the plain truth. Hikari had been having terrible nightmares lately, and she had been feeling someone calling for her… from another dimension. However, she was convinced it would end soon, so she didn't want to bother his brother Tai (who was spending some wonderful vacations with T.K.'s brother Matt and their best friend Sora in Hawaii) and she definitely didn't want to overload Takeru with her stupid problems. But experience along with that last nightmare told her that this problem was far from its ending, and things would still get a lot worse before they got better…

By the time she made herself stop thinking about it, the two best friends had arrived school, panting heavily from the run. But, miraculously, they arrived just in time.

Before they passed the doorway, Takeru turned to Hikari and said with a grin: "Well, since you overslept, I reckon you won't fall asleep during History".

Kari couldn't help but smile too. After all, Takeru's joy was contagious.

END OF CHAPTER

He, he… My first Takari fic, and probably the best fic I'll ever write in my life!

I wanted to write this a long time ago, but I was afraid I'd stop updating my other fic, which didn't happen! So, for those who were wondering why a Takari lover was writing a fic about a clumsy Lugia, I have to tell you it was because I was still brewing this fic!

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, which is the first of many, and I surely hope that you'll R-E-V-I-E-W! Because if you do, you can decide the second couple of this fic! Please review and vote! Should this fic be a Taiora (Tai + Sora), a Sorato (Matt + Sora), or a Taito (Tai + Matt)? Reviewers' decision!

"Friends, the Movie"… Wouldn't it be great? In case you didn't notice, that creation of mine and the part where T.K. and Kari say "I'll be there for you, like I've been there before" were both based on that wonderful TV show that still fills my heart with joy!

I have to say that I was quite inspired by the Evanescence album "Fallen". The song lyrics at the beginning of the chapter is from one of its songs, "Haunted".

Well, I guess I'm not that good at author's notes, but please review and vote, and see ya next chapter! While you're waiting, you can always check out my other fic, The Girl and the Lugia.

kathlaida-princess logging out…