When We Remember

In the cool autumn winds of October, a tall apartment building stood in the middle of Odaiba. In the complex on the fourth floor, a young boy stood in front of a closed door, his hand inches away from knocking on it. He turned his head, brown eyes looking once again over the letters of the name plate, as if confirming it again before turning back to the door.

Takuya Kanbara was never nervous. Afraid once and a while yes, but never really nervous. Usually by now he would have knocked on the door, but here he stood, ten minutes since he had arrived at the Kamiya residence and he had yet to even get close to knocking on the ten minutes Takuya had raised and lower his arm to knock multiple times.

C'mon Takuya. He thought to himself. The longer you wait, the harder its gonna be... Once again, he raised his arm to knock.

It had been over a week since his sudden adventure of the digital world, getting knocked out by the corrupted celestial Cherubimon during a battle, regaining the memories of his friend Kari Kamiya and the others. The very next day after Shinya's party, he confronted his parents on the memories, trying to figure out why had himself had forgotten about them and why he didn't remember until now. Shocked that he remembered at all, they gladly told him what had happened to him.

Surprisingly, it wasn't all that fancy. He was at the top of the stairs, tripped on one of Shinya's baby toys and fell down the stairs headfirst. They rushed him to a hospital, and when he had awoken the younger version of himself just couldn't remember them. The doctor had explained to them that they weren't sure how long it would last, so they didn't say a word about them, focusing on their new home rather than their old one.

Seeing as it had been several months, and he hadn't remembered, they told him about what he had forgotten once (abit half-heartedly, to their own grimace.), and they stopped talking about them all together, and the pictures they had of their Odaiba friends being drowned out by the newer ones taken in Shibuya. It wasn't intentional, it just eventually happened.

After that, it took him a week, but he finally got permission from his parents and was able to go to Odaiba and find his old friends for himself. Takuya's parents had wanted to go with him of course, but he talked them out of it, saying it was something he needed to do alone. So, since his school was out due to a power outage, this morning he got on a train to Odaiba, and went for a trip.

Leading back to where he was currently. Truthfully, he did know why he was nervous, and the reasoning of it quite scared him. He hadn't seen them in seven years, and that was a long, long time; people can change in seven years.

What if they didn't care about him, or forgot about him like he did, becoming a short page in their lives books? What if she was angry, mad that he never came back?

If I do this...will I be forgiven for forgetting? For waiting a long time to complete a promise? He thought, subconsciously drawing his hand back once again. Shaking his head clear of those thoughts, he took a deep breath, and finally knocked. No, I have to do not about being forgiven...Its about completing my promise. Takuya Kanbara doesn't break his word!

Silence claimed the empty hallway once again, leaving Takuya alone with his thoughts. He took a loud gulp of air as the floor in front of him creaked, and the sound of footsteps shuffling behind the door entered his ears. There was a fumbling at the door as the person inside attempted to open it, before swinging it open all the way, the brown eyes of Takuya meeting a muddy brown ones. It was a teen who answered the door, with a fair tan and a wild dark brown mane of hair, a blue headband resting on it doing absolutely nothing to tame it.

Flashes of memories, moments at the park to a soccer field before the identity of the male struck him like a bullet.

"May I help you?" Tai Kamiya asked him, looking down at the shorter, younger boy. He looked around Kari's age, with a familiar looking pair of goggles...

Takuya smiled nervously, not expecting Tai to answer the door before giving him a small wave with his hand. "Hey Tai, its been a while huh?" He greeted, all while holding in a small shred of fear. He had taken a long time to keep a promise to this teens sister, who he was very protective of.

Hearing the familiar sounding voice, Tai looked at the boy a bit longer, trying to connect the dots in his head. Backwards hat. Goggles. Brown hair and eyes, knows me- Tai's thoughts stopped instantly, finally realizing who was standing right in front of him. No way..

"T-Takuya?" he asked, getting a familiar grin and a nod of confirmation. "The one and only!" He said, jabbing his thumb towards his chest.

Tai openly gaped for a second, before his face sprouted a full-blown grin, stretching from ear to ear. "Man, is it good to you!" He patted the surprised boy on the back, gesturing towards the inside of the apartment as he pulled him inside. "Its been what, seven years? You gotta shorten the time between your visits!" He joked.

Takuya smiled, relaxing ever-so slightly as the older boy treated him like he had been only gone a day. It was comforting to know that Tai hadn't changed all that much. Still the same as before, with his lax personality and natural kindness. "Its good to see you too!" Takuya said, walking along with the teen.

Sitting down on the couch in the living room, the older brunette sat in front of him in a recliner. "So," he stated, looking over the boy. "What brings you here after so long?" He asked. Contrary to popular belief, Tai wasn't completely clueless; his adventure in the digital world taught him some skills he still used to this day; reading peoples emotions and intentions was one of them.

Takuya froze, a frown creeping across his face. He turned his gaze downwards. "I...wanted to complete a promise I made." Takuya stated, twiddling his thumbs nervously. Tai nodded.

"To Kari." It wasn't a question. He nodded, and the older brunette grinned once again. It was nice to see that his old friend hadn't changed. "Well, Kari's out right now with some friends, so you'll have to wait. But better late than never right?" Tai said, letting Takuya smile again as all his nervousness faded away. "Y-yeah. I was worried she would hate me if I waited any longer-"

"Of course not!" Tai interrupted, his mouth moving faster than his brain could process. "You mean way more to Kari than that. The fact that you appeared after so long proves she was right in believing in you." The brunette finished, crossing his arms in annoyance at Takuya's assumption. His sister was far above that kind of petty hate, mind you!

"So..what have you been up to lately?" Tai asked, changing the mood. As this, the hat-wearing boy smiled, and began conversing with his old role model, an hour passing by as the two caught up with one another.

Had Tai thought ahead, he would have realized that today Kari was coming back with the other young digidestined after their control spire hunt that afternoon. The thought probably passed through his head, but for now, he just wanted to converse with an old friend.

One and a half hour later after Takuya had entered the Kamiya household, the current digidestined were walking towards the Kamiya apartment, walking quite slowly, as they all were very tired after a longs day work in the digital world. Usually they hung out in the computer lab afterwards, but since it was a Friday,the school was closed and they were heading back to Kari's place instead.

"That was a good hunt!" The current leader of the digidestined, Davis Motomiya exclaimed, stretched his arms behind his head. "Yeah, we got a ton of control spires today didn't we? Soon we might have cleared half of the server continent!" Yolei said, readjusting her shoulder bag, which contained an exhausted, sleeping Poromon. The small in-training digimon had exhausted itself today, as being the digimon partner of a digidestined was tiring work.

From behind her, the thirteen-year old Kari Kamiya nodded, moving at a slow pace, as to not disturb the resting Gatomon in her backpack. "Its actually a bit shocking how easy it is..usually Arukenimon and Mummymon would have done something by now." She said slowly. Ever since their first encounter, the duo had been popping up everywhere on server, planting control spires like they were uncontrollable weeds.

While for now their intentions seemed to be no more than planting control spires everywhere they went, it worried Kari that they knew how to make them, as well as their creepy ability to fuse the spires together, creating dark digimon with them.

While Ken had explained they they weren't actual digimon, and that deleting them was doing no real harm,but it was still unnerving to deal with them.

Wiping her head of those thoughts, Kari moved at a slightly faster pace, getting ahead of the group to let them in to her nearing apartment. "I think we still have some soda left in the fridge, and if we're lucky, my Mom hasn't used all the food for another one of her healthy experiments."She shuddered for a moment, thinking of her Mothers last experiment...Tai was sick for three days.

While reaching for the door handle, Kari froze, a strange wave of uneasiness washed through her, as if something was waiting for her on the other side of the door. Shaking her head slightly to let the feeling subside, She slowly twisted the handle and opened the door.

As the group of teens walked in, the sound of laughter rang through out the apartment, one voice being the oh-so familiar tone of her older brother Tai, but there was another, a higher, younger sounding laugh as well. Kari walked slowly into the rest of the apartment, the group following quietly, as if they were to disturb something sleeping at the slightest noise.

Tai was visible on the couch, laughing his lungs out as his companion was hidden in the nearby chair, not visible unless standing directly in the living room.

Tai's snickering subsided, if only slightly. "I-I can't believe you made t-that...!" He spoke in between his non-stop laughter, trying to reign it in. "S-so, what did this 'meaty-meat burger' even taste like? Was it good?" Tai said, continuing to laugh at the visitors tale.

"Well, what do you think a burger made with all different kinds of meat would taste like? It tasted like meat on top of meat, on top of even more meat!" The boy replied, snickering on his own as well. Kari stopped at the sound of the boys voice. That voice...it sounded so familiar to her. Just who exactly did Tai have over?

"I'm home!" Kari finally made out, getting her still laughing brothers attention. When his face turned to hers, you could almost see the happiness radiating off her smile. "Welcome back!" Tai grinned, turning back to the now silent boy, and then back to her. "You have a...guest waiting for you." He said, smiling now not one of his goofy, contagious grins, but a soft, knowing smile instead. "I think you'll enjoy his company."

Kari was really, really confused. Who was there? And why did Tai look so smug about it?

Her confusion was interrupted at the sound of a shuffling chair, then the soft pats of footsteps as the boy approached. Her heart suddenly raced. Why was it racing? What was going o-

All thoughts running through Kari Kamiya's head abruptly stopped when the boy slowly walked into view, leaving her gaping, and dropping her bag from her shoulders, letting it hit the wooden floor in a dull thud. Upon impact of the ground, Gatomon was knocked unconscious, having not been expecting that to occur at all.

She knew him. She knew those soft, chocolate brown eyes and that old, tan hat with the large goggles over the top. She knew that spiky brown hair and his smiles that were ingrained into her mind. She knew this boy and she thought she was never going to see him again. Kari Kamiya was, after seven years, seeing Takuya Kanbara, her childhood friend.

The brunette girl's mind went right into overdrive as soon as it kick-started. No way can't be thought he was gone he came back how why now Takuya its Takuya that's TAKUYA-

Takuya gave a small, sheepish smile at the girls response."...hey." He waved slowly. The goggle-wearing boy was nervous. Very, very nervous; she was having a much different reaction than what he had thought would happen in his head.

Very quietly, she murmured. "...hey."

Gulping slowly at her response, he continued. "Its..been a while..eh?" He chuckled, scratching the back of his head in nervousness. His heart was racing a mile a minute and he thought it literally would leap out of his chest.

She got really cute...He mentally slapped himself. He was here to make amends, not to ask her out on a date!...yet.

At his last response, Kari laughed lightly as well. "It has..seven years, that's a really long time." he flinched slightly, realizing his own fault. "Yeah...I had a...problem I needed to deal with before I could come back..." He replied, his eyes never breaking contact with her own.

"But I'm here now-" It was like a blur, one moment she was standing in front of T.K and the others looking lost,and the next she was in front of him, glomping him in a death grip hug for all his worth. He stumbled a bit, surprised at her actions and the new weight before returning the favor, wrapping his arms around her waist to support the hug. She rested her head on his shoulder, her face and mouth getting nothing but the fabric of his red jacket. Very slowly, she began to cry.

Takuya, feeling the tears the girl was leaking on his shoulder panicked slightly, not one-hundred percent sure on what to do in this situation. Following his guts, he went with her as her legs gave out and she dropped to the floor, taking the brunette with her. Her crying turning into soft sobs, Takuya held her tighter and closed his own eyes, whispering the same few words over and over.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.." Takuya said, rubbing small circles on her back. "I've made you wait a long, long time haven't I..." As he said this, Kari shook her head in his jacket, turning to see him with tear-filled eyes.

"I..I t-thought.."She let out in between sobs, trying to cling onto her very first friend, as if he would disappear the moment she let go. "I thought you hated me...I thought you never wanted to see me again.." Kari stated, giving him a tear filled smile. "B-but now your here and I'm such a wreck and I don't know what to do.."

It was what her younger self had assumed what had happened to Takuya. Since she never saw him again, even after he promised he would come back and visit what was she to think? She thought the younger boy was happy that he had to no longer be nice to her and finally got away. Apparently now, this wasn't the case at all.

Takuya, hearing the first part stared right into her own brown eyes, a color similar to his own. "You thought I hated you?" At this, he slowly starting chuckling, laughing ever so slightly as the concept became more and more clear to him. The young girl in his arms looked at him strangely, wondering why he was laughing at her statement before he turned to her with the warmest smile she had ever seen on anyone..It made her heart flutter ever so slightly at the action.

"Kari, I could never hate you." He stated, bringing her into the hug once more. "You're my friend. First friend, to be precise, but c'mon, how could I ever hate you?" His tone was slightly teasing now, making Kari pout half-halfheartedly.

"Well, what was I supposed to think? You kinda just vanished on us you know." She said,lighting the mood slightly and watching as Takuya grimaced at the accusation. "Yeah...about that..I have I pretty good reason, if I do say so myself." The boy moved back a small bit, giving Kari some room and him to reach up to his cap.

Pulling it backwards, he brushed the large middle bang on his forehead away, revealing a thin, white scar that traced back into his hair. "I...um.." The brunette took a moment to figure out how to say this without sounding ridiculous. "I fell down some stairs and got amnesia." He stated. Kari, seeing the scar giggled slightly, shaking her head. Same old Takuya.

It was at that moment that the conversation between the two of them was broken as T.K from behind them snickered, finally figuring out who it was. It took a bit, but the first friend thing kinda gave it away. "No offense, but that does kinda sound like something that would happen to you." He joked lightly, seeing the confusion on Takuya's face before it gaped in awe.

"T.K?" The blonde nodded in answer, watching as the boys face broke out into another smile. "Man it's good to see you! I see your still into wearing hats." He said, pointing to the teens fishermens cap. Snickering, he pointed to his own brown one. "I kinda borrowed your style." He added. T.K laughed, knowing now that it really was Takuya. "It looks good on you." He complimented.

Talk about a blast from the past..The blonde thought.

Having enough of being left out of conversation, Yolei coughed, getting the attention of everyone. "I'm sorry to interrupt such a heartwarming reunion..but who are you?" She asked. IT was really confusing, seeing the normally composed Kari Kamiya break down in front of some stranger that she had just met, then T.K admitting to knowing him as well.

"Ah.." Seeing as Kari was still in Takuya's lap, the two blushed a tomato red and stood up, earning them a small laugh from Yolei and a knowing look from Tai. The goggle-wearing brunette dusted off his pants, giving a small bow in greeting.

"Hi! I'm Takuya Kanbara, a childhood friend of Kari and T.K's." He introduced himself, readjusting his hat so once again his bangs covered his scar.

Yolei, Ken and Cody had already guessed this, giving their own small hellos and introductions to the boy right before Davis exploded.

"What!? You're Kari's childhood friend!?" He gaped, trying to understand all of this, as well as fight off the waves of jealousy that rolled off of him at the boy. He thought T.K. was the only boy that Kari was friends with when she was little!

"Yeah." Takuya stated, grinning at the memories. "First friend for each other actually." Davis head turned a light shade of red in jealousy. He would have said more, had Kari's bag on the floor not began shuffle slightly, gaining everyone's attention.

Oh no, Kari thought, realizing what was going on. I forgot about Gatomon!

Takuya looked down at the bag, swearing he just saw it move as it shuffled again, this time a part of it bulging, like something was trying to get out of it. Confused, he got a bit closer. "Do you have a cat in here, Kari?" He said, poking the bag twice as Kari's heart leaped up into her throat in fear. Thinking quickly, she pulled an excuse out of nowhere. She didn't want to scare him away with him learning of digimon before she could fully explain it to him. "Y-yeah, I think my cat Miko must have gotten into the bag while we weren't looking. She's probably looking for snacks-"

The young girl didn't get to finish as the bag slowly opened itself, and before anyone could do anything, the tired form of Gatomon snaked out of it. "Sheesh...that's the last time I take the express way to the ground.." She mumbled, shaking her head to clear any cobwebs. The feline champion yawned, stretching her arms as she looked around and came face to face with a unfamiliar boy.

Oh no.Was the only thought that ran through everyone's mind before Takuya's own restarted.

What how who why what WHAT Takuya took a step back, crouching slightly and reaching for his backside, pulling out the familiar shape of his D-Tector into his palm.

The energy powering the device may have gone away with their re-entrance into the human world and being used to heal Kouichi, but the devices remained. Takuya kept his on him at all times, something to remind him that what had happened there was real, and not a mass hallucination experienced by the team.

He kept it behind his back, hidden from view of the others as he slowly said a question. "How did you get here, Gatomon?" He asked, leaving the group gaping.

It was the feline digimon who replied first,shocked as much as the others. "You...you know what I am?" Gatomon said softly, looking over this human. His scent was...weird, like fire and data with a hint of cinnamon.

He scoffed, realizing the digimon meant no real harm. He relaxed slightly. "Of course I know what you are; you are a digimon of course! But how did you get here? The walls between worlds were closed off were they not?" He asked, repeating his question. The group continued to stare at him in surprise. What was going on?

"Takuya..." Kari said,recovering and looking at the boy in confusion. "You know about digimon?" She asked. How could he know? He wasn't a digidestined-he didn't have a crest or a D-3- but they way he talked to Gatomon like it was the most normal thing in the world and then the whole worlds being closed off thing...it made her unsure and confused.

Takuya turned back to Kari, realizing that she knew about them as well. But how? Did she go to forest terminal along with the others, then go home? But the others weren't freaking out-had they gone too?

"Yeah..but how do you know?" Realizing this could take a while, Kari pulled the boy over to the couches, letting the rest of the people sit down around her as she took in a deep breath. This would take a while.

It was almost half an hour later that Kari had finished her story, telling Takuya everything and then making the boy do the same to her. Currently, Takuya was wrapping up his own tale, watching as the group listened with awe and wonder. After all, it wasn't everyday you got to listen to someone else's journey in a different digital world.

"So then, we realized that only about five minutes had passed in the real world, yet months had passed in the digital world." Takuya said, looking around at his captive audience. It was a nice feeling, being able to tell someone about their adventure in the digital world and believe him. Of course, it took a while to get them to believe he once was able to become a digimon.

"The first thing we did when we got back, was go look for Kouichi. Kouji for this took the lead, running around desperately in search of his brother. We found out where he was from one of the paramedics that had stayed behind and ran over, finding him alone in his hospital room, a blank look in his eyes. The doctors said that Kouichi was unresponsive but Kouji would have none of it." He smiled, thinking of how amazing Kouji was in those moments, not caring about what others said in order to protect his family. It was truly admirable.

"So, he yelled and yelled at Kouichi, trying to get him to do something, reply at all to him as we cried and cried for our friends. Then, when we all almost found it for naught..we were given one last gift from our friends." At this he pulled out his D-Tector and set it on the table, its blank and dull screen staring out at him. "Our D-Tectors glowed a brilliant yellow light one last time, and small, snow like particles came from everywhere, and then only something that could be called a miracle happened. Kouichi's heart rate burst back to life, and he mumbled Kouji's name." He finished, laying back as his tale was over. "In the end, we all learned something from the adventure and became the best of friends. Kouichi was actually signed out of the hospital three days ago. We took him out to celebrate." He grinned. The group was left startled; amazed that there was another digital world out there somehow, and slightly impressed at Takuya's groups feats.

"Wow...thats quite a tale you got there Takuya.." Tai said, looking at the boy in awe. He had to admit, going through the digital world the first time was hard. But compared to what Takuya went through, and he didn't even have a partner to rely on...it took some real guts to do all of that. Then again, this was Takuya. Things around him just seemed to escalate into something else.

"Yeah, but you guys as well, and for it to still be going on..." Takuya trailed off, looking over the teens who now had their sleeping partners in their laps, minus Gatomon who had been watching Takuya with a careful eye the whole time. The feline digimon had relaxed somewhat during his tale, but was still skeptical of him with a good reason; after all, how many people can say they've been to an alternate digital world?

"Anyway, do you have any questions for me? Because I know I have a lot for you guys.." The brunette added. It was Ken who spoke up first. "I have a lot, but I think I should wait for Izzy to be here to. The fact that there is another digital world out there is an amazing concept in itself." He said, rubbing the top of Wormmon's head as he slept soundly."Who knows, maybe your digital world is a star in the sky of our digital world and we could travel to it one day."

That brightened up Takuya's expression almost instantly. "You think? Because I really want to know how everyone did in the end. It would be great to see them again!" he beamed. The boy knew that it was a small chance, but it was a chance never the less.

Kari, who had finally wiped away the small tears that had gathered during the story, stood up and dusted off her skirt. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but after that day in the digital world, I'm exhausted and hungry. Why don't we go out and get something to eat at that new restaurant down the street? Tai's treat!" She said, giving her older brother the puppy-eyed look before he could protest. He sighed in defeat, nodding in confirmation and glaring lightly at Davis and Takuya, who snickered at his actions.

"Great! Gatomon, can you stay here and watch over the others partners? I don't think bringing them into the restaurant would be a good idea considering how exhausted they are." Kari asked the feline champion. "Bring me back some fish and you have a deal." She said, shaking Kari's hand in a mock business fashion.

"Let's go!" With that, she grabbed Takuya's hand and pulled him to the door, smiling brightly as she did so. Tai didn't miss Takuya's own grin as he was dragged along by the young brunette. Davis fumed slightly but let it go, realizing it was pointless to be mad at the boy. He had only known him for a few hours, after all.

As they all slowly exited the apartment, the older teen watching with keen interest as the two recently reunited childhood friends were at the front of the group, chatting away with each other like they were the only two people in the world.

Tai bet it would take a month for them to start dating.

The End.

In all honesty, I could have kept writing this for about 4,000 more words, but then I would just be blabbering on and on. Watch out for DC now that this is done...and took three months to do...oh dear.

Till next time!