The deeps are lightless.

No sun-ray or moonbeam can penetrate the weight of dark water above them. They only skim along the surface, or settle in the silty shallows. They can never reach this place, where only a false phosphorescence glimmers green through the waters, like the eye of the hunter.

Yet, even here, more ancient shadow than fish, shapes ripple through the darkness and seek for a light. . . .

"What do you know about the Dark Ocean?" Taichi demanded, slamming Hikari’s diary down on the table in front of Ken. As loud as a firecracker, the noise echoed hollowly in the silence of the library. Taichi felt a dozen pairs of eyes rest on him and narrow in disapproval. He did not care. His little sister was more important than their opinion of him. With an apologetic grimace to the other patrons for the disturbance, Ken bent his head over the book, running a finger down the columns of watery, grey kanji. Taichi could hear him murmuring the words beneath his breath as he did so. When he looked back up at him, his violet eyes were troubled.

"Why? Do you think Hikari’s disappeared there?"

"I don’t know, but this is the last entry in her diary," he leaned against a shelf, folding his arms across his chest, "And, in an earlier one, she said you had been there with her. She said she was surprised about that. So, spill what you know."

"I’m afraid I don’t know much," Ken replied apologetically, "The first time I went there, I was only a child. My brother, Osamu, had just disappeared, and I believed it was all my fault for wishing that he would go away. After weeks of blaming myself, it happened. I ended up in the Dark Ocean. I was walking in the Digital World, when I suddenly found myself in a place I had never been in the past. It was like a beach, but . . . the sand, the sky, the sea, everything was grey. I was terrified, as you can imagine. I turned and ran, but I couldn’t find a way out of the place. In the end, I stumbled over a rock and knocked myself unconscious. When I woke up, I was lying in the middle of a sunny field and I wondered if it had all been a nightmare," he paused, a distant expression on his face like a child contemplating a dream, "I’ve been to the Dark Ocean a couple of times since, but I don’t know how I got there, or how I got back from it."

Taichi let out the breath that he had not known he had been holding. Ken’s description of the Dark Ocean matched the little that Hikari had told him about it. She had seemed reluctant to discuss the subject with him, dismissing it with a shiver and a false, little laugh. And I let her, because I didn’t want to know how close I came to losing my sister. I wanted to pretend it had never happened. But I should have made her tell me everything. If I had, I might have been able to help her. . . .

Clenching his fists, "So, has anyone else gone to the Dark Ocean, apart from you and my sister?"

"Miyako came with us, but she was more of a spectator. The Dark Ocean had no real pull on her at all. I don’t think she’d be any help," Ken steepled his fingers thoughtfully in front of him, his forehead creasing, "And . . . and Takeru said something really odd, when he found out where Hikari had been. He said he had been scared that he had lost her to the World of Darkness again. I don’t know. Hikari might have told him about the Dark Ocean, but he sounded like he had seen it for himself. He sounded too terrified to have just heard about it."

"I didn’t lose hope . . . . " Taichi repeated in excitement what Hikari had said when he had asked her how she had returned from the Dark Ocean, "Of course! How could I have been so stupid?"

"I beg your pardon?" Ken looked confused.

"I don’t have time to explain," he said, grinning at Ken and snatching up the diary from the table, "I have to get to the Takaishi’s apartment."

Rising from the cold deeps, the seekers find her washed up on the beach. Impossibly, she is sleeping. Her chest rises and falls, like waves on the shore. Her hair is fanned out around her head, as smooth and dark as kelp, and her nightdress spreads about her like seafoam. On her face, grains of sand glitter.

And the seekers of the deeps marvel at finding their light in the same way as they might find whalebone, driftwood or a cowrie. . . .

"I win again!" Takeru gloated as he spread his cards for Yamato to see. Curled up on one end of the sofa, the younger boy was dressed in his pyjamas, and had a woollen blanket draped loosely around his shoulders. Even though his fever had broken, he still looked very pale and tired. Typical Takeru, though He’s still been ridiculously cheerful all afternoon. And it’s got nothing to do with the way he’s been whipping my ass at cards. . . .

Looking at his brother’s smiling face, Yamato felt even more rotten about deceiving him. He agreed with his mother that they should not tell him about Hikari until he had recovered. He would be furious at them, of course, but it was for his own good. He had to concentrate on getting better, not worry about her. Not to mention the fact that he would insist on helping them search for her, even if it meant he ended up in hospital. Nonetheless, he had not known how hard it would be to smile and lie to Takeru. He had always prided himself on being honest with his little brother, on there being no secrets between them, so it was difficult to openly deceive him. You have to protect him. If that means lying to him, so be it.

"What is the score?" he asked, picking up the cards and reshuffling them.

"I’ve got six and you’ve got . . . uh . . . none," he laughed.

"Yeah. Well, watch me stage the comeback of a lifetime," Yamato said confidently, as he handed the deck to him. Before he could deal them, however, a knock sounded on the apartment door.

"That’s probably Dad. He said he would stop by this afternoon to check up on you. I’ll go open for him. Don’t deal until I get back," he told Takeru, pushing out his chair and walking towards the door, "And drink some of the soup I made you."

His little brother made a face, but picked up the thermos and took a little sip from it. Nodding approvingly, Yamato unlocked the door and opened it. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Taichi standing on the doorstep. His friend looked even worse than Takeru. His eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, and his hair was even more of a wild shock than usual. His clothes looked like they were the same ones in which he had slept - a baggy, grey shirt and black tracksuit pants. He was clutching a small book in his hand, and Yamato thought he could make out Hikari’s name lettered on the cover.

"Hey, Taichi," he greeted, as he stepped out of the apartment and pushed the door shut behind him. He did not want Takeru overhearing this conversation.

"Yamato? What are you doing here?"

"Mom had a meeting this afternoon with the editor of her newspaper," he explained, "And Takeru’s sick, so she didn’t want to leave him by himself. I offered to play babysitter. And you, Taichi? Why are you here?"

In reply, Taichi leafed through the little book and held it out to Yamato. He felt a shiver pass up his spine as he saw what was written in it. The characters for "dark ocean" had been painted over and over again on the pages in watery, grey ink. The kanji seemed to run into each other, like waves on the sea.

"Hmm, I see," he said, looking back up at his friend, "Takeru mentioned this Dark Ocean to me a couple of years back. He said he had rescued Hikari from some weird creatures that had wanted to take her to their undersea master. He seemed creeped out by the whole experience."

"That’s why I need to see him. I think Hikari might have gone back to the ocean. I asked Ken about it, but he didn’t know how he had gotten there or back. I think Takeru might."

"I’m afraid you’re going to have to come back later," Yamato said apologetically, "Takeru’s a sick kid at the moment. Mom said we shouldn’t tell him about Hikari until he’s feeling better."

"You’ve got to be joking," Taichi’s hands clenched into fists at his side as he took a step towards Yamato, "My sister’s probably trapped in another world, and you’re worried because Takeru has the sniffles! I’m going to see him, if you want me to or not!"

"Calm down, Ta . . ." he moved to place a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

Furiously, Taichi knocked his arm away and rounded on him, "HIKARI’S GONE AND IT’S ALL MY FAULT! SO, DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, YAMATO! YOU DON’T HAVE A CLUE WHAT I’M GOING THROUGH!"

"I’m one of the few people who might, Taichi," Yamato forced himself to reply calmly, "Remember when Devimon attacked all of us at that mansion in the Digital World? When we got seperated, I had no idea where Takeru was, whether he was okay or if I’d ever see him in again. I think I went half-mad with guilt and worry. . . "

He trailed off, as he heard the door creak open behind him. His chest tightening, he turned around to see Takeru leaning against the doorframe. He was trembling, and looked very young and vulnerable in his pyjamas. There was a depth of pain in his clear, blue eyes that he had seen only once in the past, when Angemon had been killed. Shit. He must have heard Taichi shouting.

In a voice that sounded nothing like his own, his little brother said, "Hikari is gone?"