Byoki [D/R, Shounen-ai]

[Hikari no Namida]

Chapter 1-The Sickness

"Lan! Wake up!" Megaman yelled. Lan simply rolled over and ended up falling out of bed. Lan untangled himself from the bedcovers and rubbed his head, where he fell.

"Ow…why'd you wake me up, Megaman? It's a Saturday." Lan muttered. "I was having a good dream…" He added. Megaman smirked slightly.

"What? Dreaming about Maylu?" Lan blushed and shook his head.

"No, I was dreaming about C-" Lan realized what he was saying a quickly shut up. Megaman blinked in confusion and then realized who Lan was talking about.

"Oh. Well, you promised you were going to meet the others at the park remember? If you don't hurry up, you'll be late; again." Megaman said and Lan's eyes widened.

"Oh no! I completely forgot!!" Lan exclaimed and ran around like crazy, trying to get ready. Megaman watched this, amused. Life at the Hikari household was never dull.

So a few minutes later, Lan was out the door and at the park. Lan was out of breath when he finally got to the park.

"H-hi!" Lan gasped and tried to greet at the same time. Maylu smiled.

"Hi Lan. You were nearly late again." She said. Lan laughed lightly.

"Uh..yea.."

"Hey guys! Why don't we go to the arcade?" Dex suddenly asked. Everyone turned towards him.

"Why do you want to do that, Dex?" Yai asked. Dex smirked.

"So that I can beat Lan in a netbattle!" He said proudly. Lan's eyes lit up at the idea of a netbattle.

"You're on, Dex!" Lan exclaimed and ran towards the arcade. Lan vaguely heard Maylu and Yai calling after him to slow down, however Lan paid no heed. When they reached the arcade, Lan noticed that no one was using the netbattling machine.

"Sweet! Jack in Megaman! Power up!" Lan jacked Megaman into the netbattle machine. Dex soon followed.

"Hah! Get ready to lose! Jack in! Gutsman! Power up!" Inside the netbattle machine, two beams of light shot into the machine and two navis materialized.

"Guts hope Megaman ready to lose! Guts not go easy on Megaman!" Gutsman exclaimed in his horrible grammar.

"Heh, we'll see who loses!" Megaman shot back. The words 'Netbattle Begin' appeared and vanished. Gutsman let out a cry that rivaled Tarzan's(luv that line) and charged at Megaman. Megaman easily leapt over Gutsman. Once Gutsman regained his balance he fired a rocket Gutsthump at the blue clad warrior.

"Bronze fist! Battlechip in! Download!" Megaman's hand turned into a large bronze fist and he punched Gutsman's punch right back at him. Gutsman got hit by his own fist and ended up logging out.

"Yes!" Lan cheered and punched his fist into the air.

"No! It…it can't be! How could you lose Gutsman?!?!?!" Dex exclaimed, glaring at his navi. Poor Gutsman looked ashamed.

"Guts sorry, Dex…"

"I'm not surprised. Need a better challenge, Lan?" A deeper voice said from behind Lan. Lan turned around found himself face-to-face with Chaud.

"Chaud! I haven't seen you in a while. How are you doing?" Chaud smirked slightly.

"I'm better than ever as you'll see if you do decide to netbattle me." Lan grinned.

"You're on! Jack in! Megaman! Power up!!"

"Jack in! Protoman! Power up!" Both netops plugged their netnavis in. Megaman smiled slightly as he saw Protoman.

"Hey Protoman! I'm not going easy on you!" Megaman stated and Protoman smirked.

"As if you could." The words 'Battle Start' appeared for a moment then vanished.

"Aqua sword! Battlechip in! Download!" Lan downloaded the battlechip and Megaman's right arm turned into the aqua sword. The two navis charged at each other. They were so quick that Maylu, Yai and Dex couldn't even see them. All they could see was a slight burst of light everytime the two swords collided. Finally, Chaud got fed up with the stalemate.

"Program Advance! Cybersword!" Lan's eyes narrowed, as did Megaman's. "…Longsword! Battlechip in! Download!" Protoman swung the huge purple sword.

"Megaman! You know what to do! Cybersword! Download!" Megaman waited until the right moment then swung his sword against the powerful lifesword….



…and cut right through it.

"What?!" Both Chaud and Protoman gasped at the same time. Lan smirked.

"Alright! Go get him, Megaman!" Lan exclaimed. Megaman nodded and charged in. He was about to attack when a beeping from his PET stopped him. It was a new email. Lan read it quickly and jacked out.

"Sorry Chaud. Something just came up." That was normally a netsavior's code for going on a new mission. Chaud, whom was also a netsavior, understood. He nodded and jacked out.

"I understand. I'll just have to beat you later. Good luck, Lan." He said the last sentence quietly so that only Lan heard him. Lan nodded.

"Thanks Chaud. Let's go, Megaman" Lan said.

"I'm ready when you are, Lan!" Megaman exclaimed. Lan quickly ran out into a deserted alleyway. He pulled out his PET and pulled up the phone function.

"What do you need me to do, Mr Famous?" Lan asked.

"Just call me Famous! Anyways, Agent Lan, we've received word that a Dark Loid may try to attack to get access to some more rare metal. I'm sending the coordinates to the nearest source of the rare metal." Mr Famous explained and sent the coordinates. Lan nodded and saluted.

"Will do, Mr Famous."

"Just call me F-" Lan shut off the phone function.

"So let's go!" Lan exclaimed and ran to the place. When he got there, he saw a good four story building with an old style architectural design. Lan stared for a moment before snapping to his senses and walking in. He was greeted not by the owner of the building, but by three security robots.

"Halt! Identify yourself!" They chorused. Lan held out his PET and a hologram of the netsavior icon appeared.

"Lan Hikari, netsavior." Lan said. The security robots stepped to the side.

"You may pass, sir." Lan grinned and walked by. Megaman groaned at the familiar look on Lan face.

"Now, you're going to gloat about how they called you 'sir' aren't you?" Lan's grin grew wider.

"Of course I am! They called me 'sir'!" Megaman sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Once Lan got to the next room, he saw a man with red hair and blue eyes sitting at the desk, obviously doing paperwork. The man looked up from his work when he heard the noise.

"Ah, you must be Lan Hikari. It's nice to meet you. I'm Silus, the owner here. I assume you got our message?" Lan nodded. "Good. Our safe with the rare metal is on the third floor. I'll show you there." Silus stood up and walked over to the elevator. Lan quickly followed. The elevator ride was quiet. The elevator finally stopped and the doors opened. Lan's eyes widened at the sight. A giant safe was nearly as tall as the ceiling!

"Wow…" Lan said in awe. Silus laughed at the expression on Lan's face.

"Yes, it is something, isn't it? Now the email we received said that the Darkloid would be here very soon. This could be a hoax, but we want to be on the safe side. Would you please stay here and make sure the Darkloid doesn't get the rare metal?" Silus asked. Lan nodded.

"Sure, I suppose." He replied.

"Thank you so much!"

"No problem" Lan said. Silus smiled and went back downstairs. Lan sat down in a chair and waited. About ten minutes later, Lan was nearly asleep when he heard four loud 'thuds'. Lan snapped out of his daze and ran to a window. A dimensional area was forming.

"Lan, let's load the battlechips." Lan nodded and loaded five battlechips. Then he pulled out a completely gray chip with the Hikari symbol in the middle.

"Let's do it!" Lan exclaimed. Megaman nodded.

"Yea!"

"Syncro chip! Download!" Both Lan and Megaman echoed at the same time.

"Begin Cross Fusion!" Lan had his eyes closed but he didn't need to see to know what was happening. He could feel Megaman's armor becoming one with him. He could feel Megaman's conscious next to his own, ready to give advice. When he opened his eyes the crossfusion was complete.

"Let's go!" Lan exclaimed and ran towards the elevator. But before he did, he heard muttering on the other side of the door.

"This…is too easy…I wish I could actually have a challenge…" The door opened to reveal Burnerman.

"Wish granted!" Burnerman jumped slightly in surprise, but smirked.

"Well now, and here I was thinking that today was going to be boring! Hehe, get ready to be deleted!" Burnerman took to the air and charged at Lan.

"Aqua sword in!" Lan's arm turned into a water blade. Lan used the blade to keep Burnerman at bay. Lan found himself staring face-to-face with Burnerman.

"You…are getting on my nerves Megaman!" Burnerman yelled. Lan winced slightly. Did Burnerman really have to yell so loud right next to his ear?

"You're annoying me too! Geyser battlechip in!" A geyser of water hit Burnerman head on. Burnerman yelled in pain and leapt backwards. Lan's hand turned from a sword to his buster.

"Charged shot!" Lan fired a powerful buster blast that tore right through Burnerman.

"Burnerman, logging out." A computerized voice said in a monotone. Burnerman logged out in a shower of pixels. Lan relaxed from his fighting stance.

"You did it, Lan!" Megaman's voice echoed throughout Lan's mind.

"No, we did it! Together." Lan corrected. He looked out the window and saw the dimensional area fading.

"Yogatta…" He muttered and the cross fusion faded. Lan felt his energy fading, like it normally did when cross fusion ended. But this time, he felt even more tired and vaguely heard Megaman's cries of "Daijoubu?!" before giving into the darkness.

------------

Lan blearily opened his eyes. He blinked twice before looking around, taking in the scenery. He instantly realized that he was in his bedroom.

"Lan, you're awake?" A very familiar voice inquired. Lan looked over by his computer to see who the speaker was. It wasn't a surprise to see that it was Megaman.

"Yea." Lan muttered sleepily. "What happened and how'd I end up in my room?" Lan asked.

"You passed out right after the crossfusion ended. When the officials arrived, they brought you to Papa at Sci-Lab. Then he brought you home. He's waiting for you downstairs." Lan's eyes lit up.

"Papa's home?! Yes!!" Lan quickly jumped up out of bed, but crumpled onto the floor when a sharp pain erupted in his chest. He found himself gasping for breath and clutching his chest.

"Lan?! What's wrong?! Lan!!" Megaman cried.

"H-hurts…" Lan rasped. Megaman's eyes widened as a strange sense of déjà vu flooded through him.

"Please hang on Lan!" Megaman quickly linked himself to the house's computer system and appeared on the TV downstairs. Yuichihiro, who had been watching tv, waiting for Lan to wake up, jumped in surprise. Obviously, the fear and panic on Megaman's face was evident because Yuichihiro became worried at once.

"Megaman, what's wrong?" He asked.

"It's Lan! Something's very wrong with him!!" Yuichihiro's eyes widened and quickly ran upstairs and found Lan unconscious on the floor.

"Megaman, call the hospital, now!" Megaman did so and only a few minutes later, an ambulance arrived.

----At the hospital, an hour later

Yuichihiro and his wife were waiting in the waiting room of the hospital. Just then a nurse came in holding a clipboard.

"Mr and Mrs Hikari?" She asked in a friendly voice. Yuichihiro nodded and stood up.

"Mr Hikari, I need to ask some questions. Do you have any diseases that run in the family?" Yuichihiro hesitated a moment then nodded again.

"Yes…HBD." The nurse took note and wrote something down on her clipboard.

"Please, follow me." Yuichihiro and Haruka patiently followed the nurse to an empty room. Once the two sat down in chairs, the nurse closed the door.

"We've found out what's wrong with your son. There's no easy way to say this but…we believe that your son…has HBD." Megaman, whom was in his PET being held by Yuichihiro, felt the breath leaving him.

"No…"