Chapter 1

Taiki walked silently with his head down. His mind was to lost in thought for him to really grasp his surroundings. He was worried... to worried... about Kiriha. Just the other day, they both set out on a scouting trip together to check out a new Digi-land they had teleported to, and neither of them noticed the edge until Kiriha tripped over a stone and almost plummeted to the bottom of the gorge. Luckily Taiki quickly caught Kiriha and dragged him away from the cliff. Once they were a good few feet away, he started to feel Kiriha's hand getting hot and sweaty in his own and when he turned to check on them, he noticed their face was beat red and Taiki could have sworn that Kiriha was very ill.

When Taiki tried to question Kiriha about it, he vanished the second Taiki turned his back.

A load shriek from a bird was heard echoing from the distance which abruptly shook Taiki out of his trance and his awareness returned to his surroundings. When he got a look around, he noticed straight away that he was lost and all of Xros Heart members were gone, save for the few still in his X-loader.

"Shoutmon! Ballistamon! Beelzebumon! Dorulumon!" Taiki stopped to listen for a response but all was quiet. "Anyone...?" Taiki sighed and slumped down onto a tree stump. 'What now?'

"Taiki." Taiki jumped back onto his feet in surprise to the voice calling his name.

"Who's there?" He called out nervously. A rustle in the bushes behind had him spinning on his heels to quickly which caused him to stumble over a tree root and crash to the ground.

"Chill out! It's only me dofis." Kiriha stepped out into the light and held out a hand to Taiki, who graciously accepted the help.

"Thanks! Do you know where the others might have gone?" He asked hopefully.

Kiriha shock his head, face carefully masked behind his typical stoic expression. Taiki looked down with frustration at himself for being so careless and getting separated from the others.

Holding out his X-loader, he called out more of his Digimon partners, "Starmon, Pickmonz, Deputymon, ChibiKamemon reload." With a flash of light, the Digimon appeared.

"What is it Taiki?" ChibiKamemon asked.

"What do you need from us?" Starmon added.

"Well…" He scratched his cheek feeling embarrassed, "I hate to admit this but..." His head drooped at the confession, "I'm lost."

"Not to worry general! We'll find you the way out!" In a flash, the little Pickmonz were all scattered and gone except for the golden star Digimon, Starmon.

"Oh Starmon, can you also tell the Pickmonz to keep an eye out for the others? You see, I ended up not only getting myself lost... but I also got separated." The Starmon nodded his head and closed his eyes to relay the message to the others.

"All done! Is there anything else you need general?" Taiki shook his head and sat down to wait for the Pickmons to return with good news... hopefully.

"Hey Starmon, do you mind scouting out ahead for us?" Kiriha finally said after a few minutes of silence.

"Sure... I mean... that is if master Taiki wishes it?" Both Starmon and Kiriha turned to look at Taiki for his response. He was caught off guard by the sudden request. Kiriha wasn't usually the type to rely on or ask for help from others.

"Uh... I guess that would be okay? Just hurry back if the others are found."

"Roger." Starmon bowed his head before disappearing into the bushes, leaving Taiki and Kiriha standing alone in the vast forest. They sat in awkward silence for an uncomfortable length of time until Taiki could no longer take it.

"Should we also start looking?" He waited for Kiriha to answer but when he received no response, he turned to look at them. Kiriha stood completely motionless. with eyes narrowed and staring intently at the ground. His blank expression suggested he hadn't heard a word Taiki had spoken.

"Kiriha?" Taiki waved his hand in front of Kiriha's eyes. The blonde blinked in surprise and snapped out of his trance before slowly turning to look at Taiki.

"Is there anyone else in your X-loader?" The question dumbfounded him and he just stared back blankly. Kiriha's strange behavior was puzzling to say the least and he was beginning to worry. 'Is he still sick or something? I haven't ever seen Kiriha act this way before...'

"Well yea... just the few who are always inside of it." At the mention of the X-loader, Taiki slipped it out of his back pocket and brought it forward. Kiriha stared down at it for a second before snatching it out of Taiki's hands. Surprised, Taiki tried to grab it back but Kiriha moved it out of his reach and jumped back away from him.

"Kiriha! What are you doing?"

"You were wondering where your friends were right!" Taiki nodded his head. "Well they're right here." Kiriha help up his blue X-loader. The brunette stared at it confused until understanding dawned on him.

"Wait... so... you had my friends this whole time?! Why didn't you say anything?!" Kiriha didn't respond nor move, so Taiki continued, "well... then let them out!"

"No." The vehement no was unexpected, and his stance shifted defensively. 'No? What does he mean no? Why?' Taiki rolled the questions around in his head, hoping for an answer or some clarity. He thought he'd finally gotten through to the other human and they'd become friends. There was a long stretch of time where they just stared each other down. Taiki tried reading Kiriha's expression but it gave way to nothing. He couldn't tell what the blonde was thinking but when Kiriha made the first move and took a step towards him, he backed away nervously. He had none of his friends with him, they were all pent up in Kiriha's x-loader and whatever Digimon he had left were still in his own X-loader, which Kiriha now possessed. He could try yelling for the Pickmonz, Starmon, ChibiKamemon or Deputymon but then he thought better of it. 'If I tried screaming for help, there's no telling what Kiriha might do to the others.'

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" Kiriha laughed, "Because I want to."

"Give them back." Taiki demanded through clenched teeth.

"Nope."

"I said give them back!" Clenching up his fist, Taiki charged Kiriha head on. With swift movements, Kiriha knocked Taiki's fist away and roughly pushing him back into a tree. Slamming both hands down on each side of the brunette's head, he cornered the smaller male in. Taiki shrunk back under Kiriha's hard glare. He felt like a mouse at the mercy of a hungry hawk.

The staring session continued, which brought beads of sweat to Taiki's brow. The blonde was like a blank book when it came to trying to figure them out. He flinched as soon as Kiriha lifted a hand and he closed his eyes expecting to be struck but all he felt was smooth skin on skin as the hand slid across his jaw to gently caress his cheek. He inhaled sharply as he felt both hands cup around each side of his head and he was pulled closer. Kiriha was so close, he could feel the others hot breath trickle across his face. And then, unexpectedly, he felt something soft and a little wet brush across his lips. Surprised, Taiki's eyes fluttered open and only two inches away from his face was Kiriha's determined expression. The sudden closeness and the intensity of the stare shattered all of his coherent thoughts and left him in a daze. Sensing this opportunity. Kiriha closed the distance and crushed his lips into Taiki's. The new sensation sent butterflies fluttering in Taiki's stomach and he almost took a step forward to reciprocate before he halted in realization. The scattered fragments of his commonsense started to reform back together like a puzzle and he paled. 'What am I doing?! Why the hell am I letting Kiriha kiss me?! I mean, we're both guys!'

Stretching out his arms, he softly but firmly pushed Kiriha away.

"Kiriha, stop. This is messed up. We're both guys for crying out loud."

"Like I care!" Kiriha tried to push Taiki's hands aside and step forward, but Taiki only strengthened his grip and tried to push them even farther apart.

"Think about this for a second, don't you find this even the least bit wrong?"

"I already have thought about it. What do you suppose I was doing all this time? Mindlessly following you around? Now move your arms and stop being so difficult!" Kiriha grabbed each arm and twisted them upwards in a painful grip which loosened Taiki's muscles enough for Kiriha to break through his strong guard.

"Kiriha!" Taiki tried yanking his arms free but Kiriha only squeezed tighter and pinned the smaller male's wrists over his head.

"Oww...let go of me!" With his last shred of will power, Taiki jerked up his knee and plunged it sharply into Kiriha's stomach. The blonde doubled over and curled his arms across his stomach with a ragged cough as the air was knocked out of him. As quickly as he could, Taiki grabbed his X-loader and took off at a fast sprint. 'No way in hell am I going back there... Wait!' Taiki skidded to a halt. 'What about the others?'

"Persiamon reload." With a flash of light, Persiamon appeared. 'At the very least, there's no way I'm going back without someone with me.'

"You called my general~" Persiamon wove her arms around Taiki and held him close as she happily rubbed her cheek against his.

"Kiriha captured the others and we need to rescue them!"

"Meeooowwwww..." Persiamon yawned and then nodded her head. "Is Kiriha being a bad kitty?"

"Yea, something like that…"

"General Taiki! We found the way out." Recognizing the voices of the Pickmonz and Starmon, he turned in relief towards the star Digimon as they emerged out of the bushes.

"Thank you! But where are Deputymon and ChibiKamemon?" Taiki scanned the area searching for them but they were nowhere in sight.

"They are still out searching for the other Xros Heart members."

"Do you think you can make one more trip to tell the others that I have already found our friends?"

"You heard him Pickmons. Let's head out!" As the Pickmons and Starmon were about to leave, Taiki quickly spoke up to stop Starmon.

"Wait, can you stay with me this time Starmon?"

"Of course!" Starmon halted in his tracks and bound back over to Taiki's side. He felt much safer having more Digimon with him, especially if Shoutmon were here…

"I wish I could figure out what was going through Kiriha's head…"