A/N: This is the last chapter everybody! I thank everybody that has been with me on this with their reviewing or just plain reading it. Thank you everybody!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I will never own it.

Chapter 9: A Funeral

Cody could hear all the bangs from the phone. Fear gripped him. What was going on? He gave Junpei the signal quickly. The hostages were in danger. He hoped that they'd all be able to get there in time.

Koichi and Koji could hear the gunshots and began to think for the worse. Were they all dead?

Dr. Kido gritted his teeth. Those kids that he had taken care of for the last several months were now hurt or possibly dead. The stress was killing him. He felt liable for the situation.

There was a gunshot followed by a scream. Now it was imperative that they get there quickly. From their end, they could hear something fall to the floor and a threatening voice say, "Time to die."

"Takuya!" shouted Zoe's voice, as soon there was a bang. They all sat in anxiety.

--

Everyone gasped as Hunt fell down on top of Takuya. He pushed him off and backed away from the body. "Is everyone alright?" asked a strong voice. They looked through the door's window. Relief filled them all when cops filed into the room.

Several of them helped them to their feet. "We need a doctor!" shouted a cop. "Two hostages wounded. I repeat two hostages wounded."

--

It was an hour and the wounded were rushed to the emergency room. Rin was in less danger of death than Kari was. After the other kids were checked out, they were reunited with their crying families. Takuya was given new crutches and Yolei was back in the wheel chair.

Shinya hugged his brother and cried, "I knew you'd be okay!"

Satomi, a man that was the twins' dad, and Tomoko, their biological mother, hugged them and thanked God they were okay. Mr. and Mrs. Kanbara stood around their son. Tears were in Mrs. Kanbara's eyes and she hugged him so hard that he couldn't breathe. His father was hiding tears.

"Thank God your alright!" shouted Mr. and Mrs. Orimoto as they were reunited with their daughter.

Yolei's parents and sisters as well as the Ichichoji's had arrived when they heard that their children were all right now.

The parents wanted to take their children home but they all refused to leave. They wanted to be sure that Kari would be all right. They weren't the only ones who refused to leave. Tai, Mimi, TK, and their parents had sat in the blood stained lobby where all the horror had taken place only a few hours before.

Takuya sat next to Zoe who looked down at the floor worriedly. Tai paced and Mimi watched him with concerned eyes, ready to jump when he seemed like he was about to snap. TK sat next to her with tears in his eyes. TK's brother had come with his girlfriend to check on his friend's sister.

"How is she doing, Tai?" Matt asked.

"I don't know," he said in a stressed voice.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"What do you think?" he snapped, waving his arms around. "I'm fine."

"More like a mess," Matt muttered. "She'll be alright. Kari is a tough girl." The others nodded in agreement.

Takuya saw that Zoe was on the brink of losing it herself so he spoke up. "Hey, does anyone something to drink?" he asked. Not many of them answered. He took Zoe's hand and brought her with him to get drinks.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah," Zoe said in an unconvincing voice. Takuya saw she was a complete mess.

"No, you're not. We just went through hell and Kari's fighting for her life, so I really doubt that you're alright," he said calmly. "Out of all of us, you, her brother, and his friend are the most devastated. If you want to talk, I'm here." There was a silence.

Takuya broke the silence again. "Hey, Zoe. After all of this is done and has settled down, I was thinking . . ." he trailed off. "Do you want to go get dinner sometime?" Zoe glared at his horrible time to ask her out on a date. "O-of course once we know Kari's going to be alright," he added quickly.

Zoe thought about it for a minute. "Maybe," she agreed.

--

Weeks passed and Kari had gotten better. Takuya was released from the hospital and Yolei was now able to get around better. Koichi was finally able to take off the bandages and was able to go home. Though this would separate the others, Takuya volunteered for the rest of the summer and the twins visited them, Yolei, and Kari everyday. Even against what the others would have said, Zoe visited Rin a couple of times through out the weeks. Rin and Zoe weren't on speaking terms. Zoe acknowledged her existence for an actual human but Rin just seemed to ignore her.

On one of the last Fridays, Zoe came in and walked towards Kari's room. Kari was sound asleep and attached to a heart monitor. Over the past couple of weeks, the trauma had taken a toll on her and she steadily became worse. "Hey, Kari," she said softly.

Kari opened her eyes groggily. "Hi, Zoe," she answered weakly.

Zoe went over to sit by her. "So how are you feeling?" she asked.

Kari seemed scared for some reason. "Am I going to die?" she asked. Zoe was taken aback by what she had asked. Kari had stood well under hearing that she had leukemia. What would scare her into asking that?

"Of course you're not going to die," said Takuya encouragingly. "You're going to beat and live on!" Takuya had just walked into the room with some peonies and a banquet of red Chrysanthemums and pink roses in his hands.

"Who are the flower's for?" Zoe asked, eyeing Takuya with a grin.

"Well, this is for Kari," he said, taking the peonies and putting them into the glass vase next to her bed. "These mean 'healing'," he added.

Zoe gave him a sarcastic look. "Wow," she said. "I didn't know you were a flower expert."

Takuya grinned. "Of course not," he answered. "When I was buying flowers, I wanted to make sure I was getting the right ones. The florist helped me on that."

Zoe smiled and shook her head. "Then who are the other flowers for?" she asked.

"Oh, just some girl I know," he joked. Zoe raised her eyebrows. "I mean you! Gez, can't take a joke can you?" Takuya asked, handing her the flowers.

Zoe took them and inhaled their scents. She looked up at him from under her eyelashes. "And what do these mean?" she asked.

"Well," Takuya began. He took a pink rose from the banquet. "According to the florist: the pink rose stands for gentility and grace among a few other things, but here it means 'You're lovely'." Zoe flushed and smiled up at him. Takuya took a red Chrysanthemum in his other hand. "And this has less meanings than the pink rose."

"And that is?" she asked in playful curiosity.

"'I love you'," he replied.

Zoe smiled and took a Chrysanthemum from the pile. She handed it to Takuya. "'I love you', too." She said. Takuya took the flower and wrapped his arm around Zoe. How better could this have gotten? The two went in for a kiss.

Beeep! The sound on the monitor made the two break it off. Zoe and Takuya turned towards Kari's heart monitor to see that the line had gone flat. They didn't need doctors or a diploma to tell them what that meant.

"Nurse! Nurse!" shouted Takuya, rushing into the halls. "Nurse!"

Zoe just went numb. Nurses and doctors with a defibrillator filed into the room. A nurse had the two leave the room. At first Zoe went along with them and tears rolled down her eyes. "No . . ." she said in a low whisper then it became a shout. "No! No! She can't die!"

"Miss, calm down," pleaded a nurse. "Everything's going to be alright,"

"No," Zoe insisted, trying to get into the room but Takuya grabbed her.

"It's going to be alright," he reassured her. "Kari's going to survive."

But she didn't. For what seemed like forever, the doctors tried to fight for her life. "Clear!" Zap. It kept going on for a while, but it was all in vein. Kari's heart refused to beat. Finally, the time of death was called solemnly. Dr. Kido came out to tell them the sad news.

Zoe bent her head down in anguish. Fresh tears rolled down her eyes. Her legs gave out and if it weren't for Takuya keeping a firm grip on her waist, she would have fallen to the ground. Kari, the little girl that she had gotten to know over the past three months had died and there had been nothing anyone could have done to save her.

"I'm sorry," Dr. Kido apologized. Joe Kido walked past the two.

Takuya slowly sank to the ground but kept a tight hold on Zoe. He switched his grip into a hug instead of a restraint. "Shush," he said in a comforting voice. He tried to keep his voice from cracking. Tears, too, had formed in his eyes but she needed the comfort. "She's in a better place now. She's in no more pain."

--

A funeral was held the following week. It had been a cloudy day and began to rain as they began saying how much of a girl she was, replaying fond memories of the now deceased girl. Zoe was in a black dress and held a white carnation in one hand and her stuffed white kitten she had gotten Kari on her first couple of weeks working at the hospital in the other.

It was now her turn to put her items on the casket that held the peaceful girl. Zoe placed the white carnation on it and put the stuffed animal on the casket. "Good bye, Kari," she whispered through tears, hoping her friend could hear her in the after life. She returned to Takuya's side.

As the final prayers were said, the casket was lowered. Tai watched soberly as the coffin was lowered. Mimi held his hand and wiped tears from her eyes with her other hand. TK had been crying buckets and held Matt's hand. Ken had his arm wrapped around Yolei's waist and she let the tears fall. Zoe took Takuya's hand. She rested her head against Takuya's shoulder.

When everything was done, they all dispersed. The family and friends stayed a moment longer and finally left. Takuya went to leave with his family. "See you later," he said. She nodded and he left.

Zoe went on her way to catch up with her parents but stopped when she saw a familiar blond haired and blue-eyed girl. "Rin," she said in a voice that wasn't mad or surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Rin seemed uncomfortable. "About the incident in July," she paused. "Thank you for . . ." Rin trailed off. Zoe understood without Rin saying it entirely. "I'm also sorry about the trouble I've gotten you into."

"Don't be sorry," Zoe said in a forgiving tone. "I'm actually glad that that happened." Rin looked at her in surprise. "If it wasn't for that incident, I wouldn't have met those guys, so I have to be saying thank you for the trouble."

The two girls stood in an awkward silence. "Well, see you in school," Zoe said.

"Yeah," muttered Rin in response. Zoe went off to join her family with a heavy heart. Nothing would ever be the same.

It's over! I swear, if I'm not yelled at for letting Rin live, I'm gonna be surprised. Anyway, thank you Ambiekinz, blackandblood, japaneserockergirl, Kirae-Remi, DigiBleach, Digimon122, and talkstoangels77 for reviewing and everyone for reading. I really appreciate it. And this concludes Hospital Community Service.

~Kaito Lune~