A/N: This is the last part my friends. There are no other notes. Thanks for sticking it out to the end.

epilogue.

"You ready to go?"

"Yep!"

It's the thumbs up that makes the woman sigh in low relief. "Do you have your Terminal?"

"Yes."

"Your Digivice?"

"On my belt."

"Has Plotmon eaten her share of the fridge?"

The Digimon giggles. "Just the fruit ma'am."

Hikari laughs. "I've taught you well." She turns to the person on the couch. "Sure you don't want to come? Daisuke-kun will be there."

Noriko waves a hand, not looking up from the paper she is grading. Middle school is more work than the other anticipated. "Please, so will Miyako. Give the kids a hello, okay?"

The woman tuts and shakes her head. Those two will always be impossible, she supposes with a smile. "Tailmon! Let's go!"

"Wait!" Her partner comes racing from the bedroom, a familiar whistle in her mouth. "He forgot something," she says with a smirk.

Kei's face flushes, eleven year old embarrassment always entertaining. "Sorry, Miss Tailmon."

Tailmon chuckles. "Look at your son, Hikari," she says, affectionately swatting his nose with her tail. "He thinks I'm old."

"You are old," Terriermon says smartly from near Noriko's ear and her partner gapes, affronted.

"Not helping, Terriermon," Noriko says drily. "It's not like either of us are young either." He blows a raspberry at her and Hikari sighs, smiling fondly. "Go on, Hikari. I want to see if I can try that new recipe your brother sent me."

"Don't ruin the kitchen, then, okay?" Noriko shrugs and grins at her.

"No promises."

Hikari groans. She gives up. Her son only laughs. "Gee, thanks Kei. See if I pack you a bento for your next adventure."

His face colors. "Mom!"

She grins and opens the Digital Gate. "Only joking Kei."

"You'd better be," he grumbles, stuffing his hands in his pockets as they fall through. "I don't wanna eat Mrs. Jun's skewers again."

Hikari merely titters her appreciation of that statement. Fashion model she may be, cooking expert Kido Jun is not.

The ground they touch is well-worn and familiar and Kei instantly grabs hold of his partner before Plotmon goes plummeting over the edge of the cliff. That had happened once. It wasn't fun. He nods at his mother and looks around. He's not really looking, she knows, more as though he is listening, as she does. He's not quite as good as she is yet, having not had the years of experience at separating one voice from another, but her son is learning.

"Oikawa-san is here," he notes after a moment, patting Plotmon's head. Kei smiles. "He seems very happy."

"Who else," she asks him, watching Tailmon sniff the air experimentally, like the air will be littered with a human's scent.

Her son frowns and tilts his brown head. His hair is short, like hers was, and like she did, he has an obsession with yellow. She doesn't see his father in him, which is a relief. He has stopped asking about him, and she will, for that reason, tell him what happened some day. He is still frowning, straining his ears. "The others?"

"Ye-es," she drags out the word, grinning. "Who else?"

"Umm..." He whines a bit, knowing he should be able to know, but can't just yet. "Shoutmon?"

"Very good!" Hikari laughs a little. She could recognize that raspy singing anywhere now, but it was hard to hear.

"Only that guy can be heard through time and space," Tailmon mumbles into her shoulder as they begin to walk. Hikari agrees silently. She knows what Tailmon and Wizarmon have told her about their adventures without her and is very thankful they found another friend, or group of friends, to call upon.

"Mom, do you think we'll see Wizarmon today?" Kei asks as they walk, still holding a scuffling Digimon.

'He hasn't been home in a few days, so I would like to think so," she replies, mussing his hair. Even now, after quite a few adventures of his own, each with their own suffering and kindness, he still never stops her from doing that.

"Can I drop water on his head if he doesn't come home today?"

"No."

"Yes." Hikari and Tailmon both speak at the same time and laugh about it seconds later. Kei waits patiently for an actual answer and Hikari sighs.

"If you can clean up the water, then yes." Kei grins and she shakes her head. Small price to pay to get that scholar to actually stop researching for a day. He was worse than Koushiro-san, honestly.

"Oh! Hikari-chan, you made it early!"

She waves. "G'morning Ken-kun, Nao-chan." The middle child of the Ichijouji children nods at her brightly and waves at Kei, who smiles softly back. Now that they are in company, he closes himself from being too open, and focuses on everyone else. Only at home does he display quite the amount of mischief and silliness that he does. But the softness is him too. Plotmon waves at Poromon with a grin and the two Digimon go off with their partners, aiming for a chat before it gets noisy.

Ken looks at her expectantly. "You're alone today."

The word doesn't hurt anymore. "So are you."

Ken sighs from his spot on a rock. "Our girls think way too alike."

"If it helps, Noriko is destroying my kitchen," she offers, sitting beside him with Tailmon in her once more ever-present place on her lap. He chuckles.

"She's usually destroying your kitchen," he points out. Hikari nods in agreement to this and Ken adds. "Miyako will be here in a little while. Apparently Miyo got in trouble again."

"For what?" Hikari sighs fondly.

He snorts. "It was either for punching Akira in the mouth or throwing his Chibimon out the second-story window."

Hikari groans gently and the two adults share a look that reminds her that she wouldn't be acting this way if Miyako were actually here. "Miyako-san... your daughter has too much of you."

"She'll figure it out," Ken says with confidence. His voice drops. "How is Kei doing?" Ken-kun, Takeru-kun, Koushiro-san, and Onii-chan all know about Kei. At the moment, he is the only one who has gotten a Digivice in their group of kids, but Hikari knows of others, has met them. She actually taught one of them.

Everyone has a Digimon, but not everyone is a Chosen Child.

As for why just they know, well, Hikari thinks that was for the best. If everyone knew, it would cause discord. She had told her brother only because he had to know, and the other three kept things quiet enough to not simply blurt it out to everyone. She almost thinks to tell Daisuke-kun whenever they go out for coffee, but... at the moment, he has enough to worry about with Akira.

Hikari sighs. "As well as he can, being mostly alone."

"The battle is never-ending," Tailmon says gravely, shaking her head until Hikari scratches her behind the ears. "It's a harsh fact for a kid to accept."

Ken agrees with a click of his tongue and sighs, watching the two boys talk about the latest video game."Think he'll be all right?"

"He's my son," she says softly.

Ken grins. "Indeed, he is."

She laughs at him and they sit there, greeting people as they arrive. "Any reason why Daisuke-kun's running late?"

"Same reason we ran early?"

Hikari chortles and doesn't reply.

"Mom! Ken-san!"

They both turn to see Kei, who is running towards them. Carefully covered by his fist is his Digivice, which is glowing a bright gold. Hikari's heart leaps into her mouth and she smiles through it. He stops in front of them, looking anxious. "Should I go now?" he asks, shifting nervously as if expecting a Digimon to lunge out and kidnap either of them any minute.

"It will look suspicious if you do," she tells him. He nods, hiding his Digivice again. "We'll wait for Daisuke-kun to get here, so there are plenty of people to go swoop in for the others, okay?" Once again, Kei nods, expression solemn. "It will work out. Your last one did, right?" She hugs him and he smiles, a little more at ease.

Tailmon swishes her tail as the others appear slowly. She watches Hikari give her brother a hug and exchange a few, low words with Koushiro. If anybody will have a destiny, it is his daughter Rina. She's way too observant to not be roped in to this. Tailmon knows this very well and observes the others for these traits, these signals that she has learned to recognize as destiny.

At the moment, there is only Kei, but the Digital World is greedy. It will need more.

For right now, however, all of the children are in the sanctuary that is their parents, and the Digimon are in the sanctuary that is their partners.

For the time being, Tailmon considers that to be quite enough.

"Daisuke's here," she hears Miyako say cheerfully from behind her, clutching Miyo firmly by the shoulders. "Late, as usual."

"Sorry!" Though he shouts this at the group, he too is holding his son away from Miyako's daughter while the two proceed to act like the other doesn't exist.

Hikari giggles and Kei smiles behind his hand. "They're your responsibility, sempai," Tailmon reminds him from her partner's shoulder.

"That's what we're afraid of," Plotmon informs them with a smirk. The four laugh and Hikari sighs, straightening her hair. Well, it is time to get to work. Everyone is ready to send their children off screaming into the trees.

"Ready to have fun?" she asks her son, who grins.

Kei gives her a thumbs-up. "Mm-hm! Always!"

"You've come a long way," she praises. "You've done well."

"But..." Kei says, as the others begin to run. "This is just the beginning. Bye Mom!"

He's gone then, off on another mission, out of his sanctuary. He is running, laughing, and he is not alone.

Neither is she.

"Shall we wait for him, Tailmon?"

Tailmon smiles. "We must."

They sit with their friends, and when Noriko eventually arrives, they wait together.