Teary souls

Disclaimer's note: I do not own any of the Digimon characters, I claim no ownership over any ideas or characters other than my own originals.

Prelude:

Ken sat among the others in the audience, Wormmon nestled comfortably under his coat as he beamed as he watched the others in their graduation ceremony. He had of course come to cheer on Davis since Davis' family had to be out of town today. Watching the red head as he walked across the stage he and Veemon were the two who clapped the loudest as he was given his diploma.

" And Davis Motomiya has brought honor to our school by being one of the few students to be accepted by The University of Tokyo, graduating with honors as captain of the soccer team" The announcer stated as pictures were taken and the grinning red head galloped off stage to the shocked expressions of his friends and former digidestined teammates.

Ken stared at the other's back just as shocked. Sure he had studied with Davis for their entrance exams, the other had had a violent shock where he had over heard his father telling his mother that he didn't expect him to amount to anything. That seemed to have lit a fire under the new generation of digidestineds butt. He had buckled down and come over to his house many days to get tutoring in the subjects he had until then let go neglected. Not that he wasn't happy for his best friend and DNA digivolve partner, he was proud and that joy on the boys face made a small smile slip over his own face.

Despite that, Ken couldn't help but think. Tokyo is a long way away from here. Still as the students filled out of the hall and were allowed to join their guests and family he took veemon and wormmon to meet up with Davis. Cringing faintly as he saw Davis kissing Kari-yet another new development brought on by his father's cruel words. Davis had finally given up his fear of being rejected and asked Kari out on a proper date, and surprisingly enough after three weeks of persistent asking and constant rejections Kari had finally agreed. What's more she had loved the Davis that she got to know on that date and they had continued building their relationship.

Clearing his throat to let them know he was there he sighed faintly as Davis laughed gently as he blushed, pulling back spotting him. He was immediately pounced by the little blue digimon, who he hugged and swung gently before settling back onto his feet. Gatomon was curled up in Kari's arms and Ken cast a brief glance at the simple pink dress Kari wore. It was cute and looked good on the destined of light. Then again pink usually did.

"Ken I'm so glad you could make it. I was so nervous. I didn't know they were gonna make that announcement either" Davis laughed as he scratched the back of his head as he beamed and moved to give his friend a bear hug. He turned to face the others as they were swept up in the many of their group that came to express their surprise and congratulate the red head.

Ken just smiled gently and spoke with the others, this was Davis' day after all. Ken had had the others there for his graduation ceremony last month since his mother had caught a flu and been in the hospital, his father at her side the entire time. So he was here and would give Davis all the support he deserved. It wasn't long until the group swept out of the school and made their way to the usual restaurant that they inhabited.

It had been a long hard journey for ken, he was still unsure he deserved friends as great as them. Even with Davis constantly there to pull him out of himself when he started thinking too much on the past, Ken often sat back during these get together wondering on how he had such good friends. Even months after Oikawa had turned out to be Myotismon and he had been defeated and peace had finally been brought to the digital world he wondered.

"You're thinking too much again Ken" This brought Ken out of his thoughtful examination of the table beneath his coffee cup. Looking up to meet Davis' eyes he grinned sheepishly his eyes sweeping around the now empty table a bit dazedly, surprised to find the two of them alone together.

"You know me. I over think things all the time" He joked gently laughing softly as Davis broke out in a gay laugh as he nodded that he did know that. "Tokyo huh?" he murmured swirling the last remains of his now chilled coffee.

"Yeah...what a surprise huh? Even I had settled for just a stupid little noodle stand...but you know...i can do so much better" The red head gave one of those heart stopping smiles that had Ken nodding just to see more of that look and then looked away a little thoughtful as he watched Veemon polishing off his third banana split.

" I'm gonna miss you." Ken blinked as his words were echoed at the same time by the other, the two of them blinking in unison as their eyes met across the table. All tension fled as Ken felt laughter spilling out of him as he and his destined partner laughed together. He was glad to know he wasn't the only one that was going to miss the other. He'd been worried about saying it...and it was very true. No one could read him like Davis, just as no one knew all of the red haired teen like he did. They were rivals, allies, and most importantly, best friends. They had shared their hearts with each other.

"When will you be leaving?" The question left Ken when they could finally speak through their laughter, ignoring the looks a few patrons around them were giving them.

Davis shifted a bit and leaned back in his seat to stare at the ceiling. "The end of the week. I called ahead and can get into my dorm room early, I wanted to start in the summer course part time before swinging into things full time in the winter. I already have a part time job lined up for next week."

Ken stared at him in amazement and then grinned ruefully just shaking his head quietly. Which caused a slight frown from the other digidestined.

"What?" that same childish defensive nature that Ken had prodded at so many times when they had been enemies.

"You've changed so much in the last six months. You're planning ahead now...I'm very impressed" and it was true. They both new it. The smile on his companion's face told ken as much.

That night when they split at the train station with plans for ken to come over and help Davis pack up his things for university they hugged and made their separate ways. It was on the train, as ken stood holding onto the bar with Wormmon in his arm that he saw it. Just a flash in the window, but he was sure he spotted a gleam of familiar eyes staring over his shoulder and the image of spiky blue hair. As he turned his head to glance behind his shoulder however he saw nothing but empty space.

Shaky and a little disturbed Ken hugged Wormmon to himself a little more and chastised himself for his foolish daydreaming. Of course it was nothing, just nerves. That night he slept restlessly, his dreams plagued with the nightmares of when he'd been the digimon emperor. These dreams themselves was nothing new. He'd had them since he'd gotten his heart back and returned to being plain old Ken. What bothered him was that they had been less and less frequent since Malomyotismon's downfall to the point of months elapsing in between them.

Of course Ken chose to say nothing to Davis about his daydreaming on the train or the nightmares as he helped him pack up that next week and they just hung out. Nor did he mention the deteriorating condition of his mother's health as Davis beamed at him as he waved from his car, giving Kari one last kiss and then driving off to make his way to Tokyo.

Ken stood watching the road in which Davis disappeared along for a long time after the red head's car had vanished over the horizon. Long after the last of the group had said their farewells and left to head off to their own lives. It was only Wormmon who stayed patiently at his side waiting for the bluenettes daydreaming to fade and for him to return to the land of the living.

"Goodbye Davis" Ken sighed turning finally from the direction his best friend had gone, and scooping the little worm into his arms, ken wandered off towards home and his own quickly moving life.

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Prelude end, Please read and review . ^_^