Who Will Pray For Me?
By Archangel Bloodraven

"You gonna be okay Takeru?"

"Yes mom." Takeru Ishida said. "I'll be fine."

"Don't you want to wear something other than black?"

"No dad." Takeru said continuing the ritual they had performed every day for the last five years. "Maybe tomorrow." 

"Well, have a good day."

"Mom, dad. Thanks."

"What for?" Mr. Ishida seemed puzzled.

"For putting aside your own differences to be here for me." Takeru said. "It really helped me a lot. I love you guys."

"Um. Thank you." Mr. Ishida said unable to produce a better reply.

"That's sweet honey." Mrs. Ishida said sweeping her ex-husband out the door. "We'll see you this afternoon."

They had no idea how wrong they were.

Takeru was about to sit down and savor a cup of tea when the doorbell rang. "Who is it?"

"Three wise men." Yamato called. "Unless you want to leave Taichi out of it, then it's one wise couple."

"Come on in." Takeru said opening the door for them. "Cup of tea?"

"No." Sora said. "We wouldn't have come at all, knowing what today is and all but..."

"We're heading out to the amusement park, and we wanted to know if you wanted to come with us."

"No Taichi. You of all people should know why I want to be left alone today."

"But Takeru, it's been five years." Yamato said.

"Already?" He seemed mildly surprised. "Where does the time go?"

"Takeru, I know what you've been through." Sora said.

"Do you?" Takeru asked, quietly gazing into his teacup. When he looked up it wasn't Takeru staring at them, but the child they once called TK. "I don't think you can. In fact I hope and pray you never do." He said.

"Takeru." Yamato began.

In a flash the carefree boy who answered the door was back. "Don't let me keep you all day." He said. "Carpe diem, tempus fugit."

"Are you sure?" Sora asked.

"Yes." he replied ushering them gently into the hall. "You guys are the best friends a guy can have." He said hugging Taichi and kissing Sora gently on the lips. As he hugged Yamato, he said the last words his brother would ever hear from him.

"I love you Yamato."

Yamato stared at him as thought sensing his intentions. Squeezing him in a tight hug Yamato said, "Goodbye Takeru. I love you too."

"Yamato?" Takeru looked at his older brother.

"'This above all, to thine own self be true.'" Yamato quoted.

Takeru nodded and gazed not at Yamato but at Sora. "First Corinthians 13:13."

"Takeru." Sora too sensed something out of place.

"Farewell." Takeru said closing the door.

Sora went to knock, but Yamato restrained her. "Yamato, he's planning something. We should help him."

Yamato shook his head. "Takeru has to find his own path. I just pray it's the right one."

~*~

Inside the apartment Takeru slammed hi fist into the doorframe. "You two couldn't make it easy for me could you?" He raged storming back into his room. Rummaging among his collection of homemade video tapes he pulled out six in particular then two from those six. He loaded the first into his camcorder and tapped the record button on the remote.

"Sora, don't feel as though you failed me. Seeing a cry for help is one thing, but knowing what to do about it is something else entirely. Ultimately, I don't think I really wanted to be saved, but something made me try. Fare thee well my friend and remember my parting words. 'And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

He stopped the tape and sighed. He was about to drop in into a padded envelope when a sudden urge struck him and he picked up a piece of paper to write his friend a final note.

I'm sorry I broke your heart.

He signed it with a simple sketch of the crest of Hope, then turned his attention to the other tape.

"Yamato, you know I've always looked up to you. Your opinion meant the world to me and I'm sorry if I failed you , but I had to do this. I know you always protected me from everything, but you couldn't protect me from  myself so don't feel like you failed me. You told me to be true to myself and I am. I died five years ago, and now it's time to clean up the loose ends. My final wish to you Yamato, is that you never live in a world without love." He stopped the tape. "May you never live in my world." Before he lost his nerve he dropped the six tapes into the mail tube and returned to his preparations.

Returning to his room, Takeru opened a small safe and produced another video, a small sealed envelope, and two white candles. He was about to close the safe when a picture caught his eye. Curious he reached in and pulled out a long forgotten, tear stained photo of Hikari Kamiya.

"Five years?" He said as fresh tears welled up in his eyes. "Has it really been that long, my love?" He asked as fresh tears fell. As his vision clouded, time turned back.

It had been two years since their returned from the digiworld and the eight digidestined were hailed as heroes. While the others were dodging camera's and unwanted attention, the two youngest 'destined were catching up on what they had started in the digiworld.

Takeru and Hikari were falling in love.

Or trying to anyway. They grew to be good friends, but whenever either of them tried to take it a step farther, things became awkward.

But that all ceased to matter on a warm July afternoon when Hikari was struck and killed by a hit and run drunk driver. Takeru knelt in the road screaming for anyone to help, but it was too late. Hikari died in his arms.

Takeru forced himself back to the present and took the photo out to the dining room with the other supplies.

"Almost time." He said setting up the camcorder. He had given this a lot of thought once he had worked past the grief. He could shoot himself but that was too messy. He could slit his wrists but someone could "save" him. He had thought about hanging himself, but his own sense of self preservation might stop him. He had finally decided that the neatest way for all concerned involved a bottle of prescription sedatives and a bottle of scotch. He'd simply fall asleep and never wake up. "So tidy." He mused, setting up the camera and the tripod directly across the table. "Albeit theatrical."

He had done this before, a year ago. He had made it this far when a carrier delivered a package for him. It was a CD of all his favorite songs sung by Hikari with Sora singing background. The CD, called Who Will Pray For Me, had a beautiful painting of  Hikari with Angewomon hovering protectively. Takeru had been so involved with his own grief stricken machinations he had forgotten his own birthday. But Hikari had remembered, even from beyond the grave. Takeru had listened to his gift from beginning to end before spending the rest of the day at her grave. Now he put his gift in and set it for continuous play.

"No last minute saves this year, Hikari." He said breaking the lock off the liquor cabinet before turning his attention to the medicine cabinet. He set the pills beside the chair alongside the bottle of scotch off camera before tapping record on the remote. 

"Well all this is goodbye. It's been five years to the day since my light died. But sometimes...

Sometimes when I sleep
I can see you walking back to me
And sometimes I wake up
'Cause I swear I felt your touch
Then emotions overcome me,
And the darkness is so cold.

I light a candle, watch it burn,
I feel the angels come and fill this room
When you're gone I miss you so much
I do the only thing I can do.
I pray for you.

Every minute of the day
I can clearly see your face.
And every minute we're apart
Oh, you know it just breaks my heart.
I'm so lonely, but It's okay,
'Cause I know we'll be together again. 

I light a candle, watch it burn,
I feel the angels come and fill this room
When you're gone I miss you so much
I do the only thing I can do.
I pray for you.

Please hold her and protect her
Til she's back here safe in my arms again
And tell her that I love her
And I'll be waiting right here forever.
Amen

Goodbye my love." He finished, fading the tape to a stop. He took the tape from the camcorder and slipped into the vcr to rewind. He wrote 'Play me please.' on a post it note and affixed it to the TV. He poured the pills onto the table and threw the bottle into the bathroom waste basket. Sitting at the table he placed the candle on Hikari's picture and took his own picture out of the frame and placed the second candle on it. He lit both of them and swallowed three pills with a swig of scotch.

~*~

Yamato had just come off the roller coaster when his cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Come quickly, Yamato." A slurred Takeru said seriously. "I'm dying."

"Takeru what are you saying?"

"So sleepy." Takeru said. "Just drift off and never wake up."

"Takeru, you're scaring me." Yamato said scanning the area for Taichi and Sora.

"Three more pills, Yamato. Three more pills and half a bottle of scotch and I see Hikari again."

"Takeru, don't do it."

"Too late big bro'. It's already done." Takeru said. "Bye Yamato. I love you always."

"Takeru?" Yamato shouted. Dead air answered him.

"Is something wrong Yamato?" Sora asked as the blond boy came jogging towards her and Taichi, frantically dialing.

"Emergency services? I need an ambulance." He spoke swiftly as he strode for the exit. "I think my brother may be trying to kill himself."

Sora felt her knees buckle as a pale faced Taichi lead her to his truck. As Yamato jumped in, Tai threw it into gear and drove as fast as he could.

It wasn't fast enough.

~*~