--

"I'm home."

The instant Taichi pushed open the door of their apartment, he knew that something was wrong. The apartment was dark and silent, apart from the blue light flickering from the television and the tinny applause of a gameshow audience. He blinked against the gloom. The curtains were all drawn, but no-one had turned on any of the lights. Stranger still, there was no sign of his sister, who should have been back from her tutoring session an hour ago. She was almost always there to greet him when he arrived home. By now, she should have been asking how the soccer match against Tamachi FC went or complaining about yet another tutorial with Jyou. Has something happened? Did Hikari get sick again and mom take her to the hospital?

Puzzled and a little frightened, he dropped his togbag in the hallway and looked around for his mother. He found Yagami Hiruko* standing in the dark kitchen, her hands resting on the sink, and frowning out of the window.

"Mom?" he asked tentatively.

His mother turned to face him, folding her arms across her chest, "Where is your sister?"

"If she’s not home, Jyou’s probably kept her late," he said with a little laugh he did not feel, "When he gets going on thermodynamics, it’s hard to get him to stop."

Shaking her head, "He’s just phoned to check if Hikari arrived home safely. She left her tutoring session early. With Takeru."

Taichi was so relieved that he missed the odd, ugly note in his mother’s voice as she said the boy’s name. Of the few people he trusted to look after Hikari, Takeru was on the top of the list. He had been there since that day in the Digital World when Hikari had fallen seriously ill and he and Koushirou had had to fetch medicine for her. When he had asked Takeru to stay behind to take care of the girls, he had only been trying to keep him where it was safe, but the kid had taken his duty very seriously. That hadn’t changed over the years. He doubted it ever would.

Confidently, "She’ll be fine. I know Takeru. He’ll look after her."

"I see," Hiruko picked up a gleaming glass and began rubbing hard at it with a dishcloth, even though it needed neither drying nor polishing. Taichi frowned in puzzlement. He had not seen her this agitated since Hikari had been kept overnight in the hospital for observation four years ago. Then, she had been much the same. She had kept walking around the house, picking things up and putting them down, cleaning rooms over and over again, washing dishes that had already been clean. She hadn’t been able to stop and sit, she had said, because then she would have had to think. And her thoughts would have been too much to handle. She would have diagnosed her with a fatal disease. She would have had conversations in her head with specialists, who all would have told her the same thing. Ultimately, she would have worked out how to live without her, and she wouldn’t do that. He could understand that, but he couldn’t understand why she would be as worried now. It wasn’t like his sister was in any danger if she was with Takeru. Still, if it would put her mind at rest . . .

"Do you want me to phone Ms. Takaishi?" he asked, "They might have stopped at his apartment on the way back from Jyou’s."

His mother nodded, "If she’s there, tell her to come home immediately."

Taking the receiver off the wall, Taichi cradled it beneath his chin and checked their noticeboard for the Takaishi’s number. He grinned as he found it in his sister’s neat handwriting with a little sketch of Patamon beside it. Hikari is such an idiot at times. Just as he was about to dial it, however, he heard the sounds of laughter in the corridor outside their apartment. He turned to look at the kitchen window. Through its opaque glass, he could make out a smudge of brown and pink that was probably Hikari. The taller splotch of white, green and blue beside it confirmed his guess. It could only be Takeru and his sister.

"Here are your books."

"Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow."

"See you."

There was the sound of a key turning in the lock, then the door swung open and Hikari entered the apartment. She looked happier than Taichi had seen her look for a long while. She had a smile on her face, and was hugging a bag of books to her chest. Her cheeks were flushed and her forehead was damp with sweat, as if she had been running. She had pink petals in her tousled hair, and there were grass stains on the knees of her jeans.

"I’m home," she called breathlessly.

Dishcloth and glass still in her hands, Hiruko came to stand in front of her. Her eyes scanned her coolly, taking in every dishevelled detail. If it were possible, her expression became even more disapproving.

"You’re late. Where were you?"

"Takeru and I took the...." Hikari began, sounding confused.

"So, you were with your boyfriend when you should have been studying?"

His sister’s cheeks went a darker shade of pink, but Taichi was not sure whether it was from anger or embarrassment, "He’s not my boyfriend."

"What is he, then?"

"My best friend."

"Why do you need to sneak out of tutoring sessions to see your best friend?" his mother said triumphantly as if it proved her point.

"Because you won’t let me see him or any of my other friends."

"You can see them once you’ve finished your exam. You aren’t working hard enough for it. You’re going to fail, if you don’t apply yourself."

"Not working hard enough for it?" Hikari repeated incredulously, "Mom, that’s all I’ve done for the last month. Every time my friends have wanted to do something with me, I’ve had to tell them that I couldn’t, because I’m studying. I haven’t had any fun these holidays. From morning to night, I’ve sat in front of my books. . . ."

"It’s for your own good," Mrs Yagami cut her off. She had spots of bright colour on both cheeks. "If you get into private school, you’ll get a better education and be able to make something of yourself."

"That’s your dream, mom," she spat, "I don’t want to go to private school. I want to go to school with my brother and all my friends. You want me to go. And just because you haven’t done anything with your life doesn’t mean that I have to make up for it. Just because you settled down with dad and had us and haven’t done anything since doesn’t. . . "

The glass that Hiruko was holding shattered as it fell to the floor. Her hand shot out to slap Hikari’s face. The stinging sound seemed to hang in the quiet that followed. His sister clutched her cheek, glaring at her with hate-filled eyes. Through her fingers, he could see the red mark that spread across it, like a blush. His mother stared back her, her arms folded across her chest.

"Go to your room. Now," she said in a horribly quiet voice, "And take your books. You need to study."

Shooting a final, venemous look at Hiruko, Hikari stalked off to her room. Her cheek still burned where she had been slapped. Her back was very straight, and her shoulders very stiff. The door slammed shut behind her. Not knowing what to do or say, Taichi turned back to his mother, and was horrified to see that she had tears in her eyes.

"Mom?", he asked, reaching out a hand towards her.

"You too, Taichi," she snapped, "Go do your homework."

"Yes, mom."

---

* No, Taichi’s mother is never named in the series. I gave her the name Hiruko. It’s a very common name, meaning child of noon.

---

DISCLAIMER: First things first, the characters belong to Toei. I should mention that Takeru and Hikari are both 13 in this series. I should also say that it’s very, very, very slightly inspired by Fushigi Yugi. You’d have noticed it in this part if you’ve read the FY manga. I say the manga specifically, because Miaka’s big fight with her mother isn’t there in the anime. You’ll barely notice it in future parts, though. Anyway, I had a moment of minor coolness when I realised that the same seiyu did the voice for both Hikari and Miaka, so there is a connection between the two series. Unfortunately, I kept expecting Hikari to cry "TASUKITE, TAMAHOME!" after that revelation. :)