Another Path

AN: Takes place back in "The Insect Master's Trap". What if Ken did run out of air? Kensuke applies ^_^ Oh yeah, if I did own Digimon I certainly wouldn't be writing this fanfic about it, it would already be part of the show! So don't sue me, in the long run it's not worth it.

Iori gasped. He noticed Ken and Stingmon had fallen into the washer. He summonded Submarimon and went after him.

"You guys need a ride?" Submarimon quipped. Stingmon grabbed hold of his tail.

"Hurry, Ken's running out of air!" Stingmon said.

Ken gripped onto his digimon as hard as he could and closed his eyes.

I'm not going to make it, Ken thought. Wormmon, Daisuke, Iori, and all of the others, I hope you forgive me.

He barely heard Iori's voice telling him they were almost free.

Stingmon could feel Ken's grip loosen. He held onto him tighter and looked down. Ken's head rested against his digimon's side, his eyes closed.

"Ken? Ken please hang on, we're almost there!' Stingmon said.

Iori looked back and saw Ken wasn't looking very good. "Hurry up Submarimon!" Iori urged.

"On it." Submarimon said.

They finally got out of the water. Iori jumped out of Submarimon and he went back to Armadillomon. Stingmon gently laid Ken down. His wet hair hung limply on his tightly shut eyes. Iori slowly went over and stared down at him.

"He's so still," he whispered.

"Hey guys!" Daisuke called, running up to them. X-Veemon was close behind. "Iori! Iori? Hey, what's going on?"

Daisuke stopped short and stared.

"Ken, he, he," Iori stammered. Daisuke ran the rest of the way to them and kneeled down next to Ken. He put his head low to check if Ken was breathing.

"Iori, take Armadillomon, Stingmon and X-Veemon and keep a lookout for the others and more bad digimon. I'll take care of Ken." Daisuke said quickly.

"What?" Iori cried. Daisuke was never this commanding. At least not in the way where his planing made sense.

"I said go, I can take care of Ken." Daisuke said. "Go now, we don't have the time."

"Right. Come on you guys, you heard him." Iori said.

The three digimon nodded and they went off.

Daisuke looked back at Ken's unconscious body. He bit his lower lip and with some hesitation, he reached over and brushed Ken's hair out of his eyes. He didn't stop there either, his hand traced over his face, wiping off drops of water that began to slide over his pale skin. Daisuke shook his head, snapping out of the trance he'd gotten himself into.

"Don't die on me Ken," Daisuke murmured. "Come on, I'll get you through this."

Daisuke took off his jacket and gloves, folded them up and placed them under Ken's hed. He tilted his chin up and forced his mouth open. Daisuke covered Ken's mouth with his and forced air in. He put his ear to Ken's mouth, listening for breathing. There was none. Again Daisuke tried breathing life into the other boy, but still no effect. Her tried again, nothing again.

"Ken, no, don't die on me," Daisuke pleaded.

He began pushing on Ken's chest. He made a small choking sound. Daisuke pushed down harder and water began dribbling out of Ken's mouth.

"Come on Ken! Breath!" Daisuke said loudly, almost angry and he put all his weight onto one more push.

Ken's eyes snapped open and he coughed up what felt like a gallon of water. Daisuke ignored his wet clothing and helped Ken sit up.

Ken coughed some more, feeling sick to his stomach. He sat up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, trying to force himself to breath normally. It was hard, his lungs had water in them very long and it felt like he never breathed before.

Suddenly, there was a hand on Ken's cheek. He flinched and quickly turned to find the owner of that hand staring at him, big brown eyes watering.

"Daisuke?" Ken murmured. "Hey, what's up?"

Daisuke' voice cracked and stammered as he spoke. He was trying to keep from crying in front of Ken.

"You nearly drowned," Daisuke forced out.

"You saved me?"

"No, it was Iori, Submarimon and Stingmon, they're off keeping guard and-" Daisuke turned away and cleared his throat. "And that's all I suppose,"

Ken stared at his companion's back. "But you made me breath again. You did CPR,"

"Sorta,"

Ken stared, dumbfounded. Never once since meeting the boy had Ken felt close to him, except when their digimon had digivolved together. Ken would never admit it, but he liked feeling close to Daisuke, and frankly the feeling scared him. His fingers touched his lips and instead of wanting to be close to Daisuke, he knew he needed to be close to the object of his affection.

He was never more afraid in his life as he moved towards the other boy. But his fear was quickly overcome by his needs. He soon found himself millimeters away from Daisuke, trying to ignore his fear as he wrapped his arms around Daisuke's chest and rested his head on his shoulder.

Ken felt Daisuke stiffen, then his hands reached up and covered Ken's.

"You, okay?" Daisuke asked with a somewhat flat tone.

"You did save my life Daisuke." Ken whispered is his ear. Then he shivered, suddenly very cold, and dropped his arms.

"Hey, you allright?" Daisuke asked, turning to face the other boy.

"I'm okay," Ken said with a sigh. Then he shivered again and felt faint, he leaned over to lie down.

"No, over here, I'll keep you warm." Daisuke said, pulling Ken towards him.

Ken didn't hesitate or struggle. Daisuke reached over to take his folded up jacket and he wrapped it as best as he could around Ken. Then the two boys sat, waiting in silence.

"Hey Daisuke," Ken said softly after a few minutes.

"Hn?"

"When our digimon DNA digivolved, did you feel anything?"

"Yeah, I could feel your heart beating."

"Me too."

"That was pretty intense."

"Yeah,"

Daisuke felt something graze his cheek. He looked down at Ken to see he was staring up at him, and it was his hand on his cheek. They both looked deep into each others eyes, not wanting to look away. Ken's hand wandered down Daisuke' neck to his chest and his hand stopped when he could feel Daisuke' heart pounding beneath it. Daisuke reached out tentively and put his hand where Ken's heart was. They felt each other's hearts beat, their eyes never leaving each other.

Daisuke made the next move. He pulled Ken closer to him and held him tight. Ken was taken by surprise, but before he could protest, Daisuke kissed him hard.

It took Ken a moment to really register what exactly was going on. Here he was, being held close to Daisuke, and very tightly. Their bodies pressed against one another hard enough so their hearts now beat against each other. Ken felt a spark of electricity running up his spine, into his head, back down his chest and into his toes. After a moment, he decided he liked this very much, and began kissing Daisuke back. When he noticed Daisuke had no objections, he ventured further and ran his tongue over Daisuke' lips.

Daisuke pulled away slightly. A wave of embarassment washed over Ken, but was taken away almost too quickly by Daisuke' tongue colliding with his own.

They two boys kissed each other passionately for a few moments. Ken was the one to finally break it off with a sudden gasp for air. They sat, again silent.

"You sure hug tightly," Ken finally said.

"Sorry," Daisuke muttered.

"Hey, um, not to embarass you, but, don't you like Kari?"

Daisuke snorted. "Well, for a bit I did, I've been questioning my preferances for a while now. I doubt Kari's very interested in me anyways, but how can I tell the others I'm gay? I can't even be positive that I am."

"Why did you kiss me then?"

"After you realized your mistakes, you seemed so hopeless. I started wanting to just be your friend, but after we made Paildramon, well, it was like the straw that broke the camel's back. A sign,"

"I see."

"Why did you kiss me back? How long have you known about yourself?"

"For a while. I came to terms with it quickly, but no one knows about it. Well, except for you."

"Well, I'm not afraid to admit I'm attracted to you. Not just because you're a guy either,"

Ken sighed. "I've been in love with you for a while Daisuke. When I captured you, when we first met face to face, well, I didn't want Drimogemon to attack you so severly. When he brought you and Veemon to me, unconscious and helpless, it was as if I couldn't help it. I sat there for quite a while, just staring at you, brushing my fingers through your hair," Ken reached out and tousled Daisuke' head. He laughed a bit. Ken smiled. "Of course, I was who I was back then, not the person who am I now. I could never hurt you."

"I hope so. I still get a headache remembering that day."

"Oh Daisuke," Ken said, tears coming into his eyes. "Daisuke, please, can you ever, ever forgive me?"

Daisuke smiled a rare, warm smile. "Ken, you bishounen, I'll always forgive you."

With a sniffle and a smile, Ken hugged Daisuke. "I'm glad. I don't care much if the others never forgive me. I can't blame them. But if you never forgave me, I'd have no purpose to live."

Daisuke smiled again and kissed Ken. "You'll always have a purpose to live Ken-chan. I promise that."