The True and Hidden Tale (Just Revealed!!) About the Death and Mystery of Sam Ichijouji
By Broadwaypoetess
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She had wavy purple hair. She said she loved him. She said that they should lie about their ages at the clubs. She said get a few fake IDs. She thought he was at least fifteen. She was fourteen. She said pot was fun. She said that the beer wouldn't kill ya. She said her name was Magenta, and Osamu was her love.
She said that she would love him forever. She said that they could run away. He believed.
Ken was having nightmares. It wasn't about him being the Digimon Emperor, a ruthless, vile, abusive master over all Digimon, but it was about a horrible accident. He kept dreaming that he somehow made the car spin out of control. He dreamt that he flew through the windshield.
Osamu was getting irritable. He said he was going to read in the local library. His parents would have told him to be safe, but they thought he knew better. He remembered her silky windblown hair and the book that she read. The Hunchback of Notre Dame. They talked, but he didn't remember what of. It turned into something. He went to the library more. It somehow evolved into going to a little Cyber Cafe. He would surf the Internet, she would party in the back. He didn't remember what she did, but he soon stayed away from the books in the library and the computers up front.
Mrs. Ichijouji heard the phone ring.
"Ichijouji residence."
"Osamu," the voice choked out.
"Excuse me?" she asked, her heart pounding.
"Osamu..."
"Who is this?!"
"I knew... them."
"What do you want from us?! Please, we've gotten past that!"
"I can give closure. I ... knew... I know... You will too..."
"Leave this family alone!!" she slammed the phone into its receiver.
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It was a sleazy little place. Strobe lights. Marijuana. Beer. And the musical waves crashed in your head, threatening to tear the eardrums. It was so wrong it seemed so right. The smell of it all screamed forbidden for his age, but, that's what made it worthwhile. He embraced it.
"Mom? Mom?! Mom!" Ken heard bits of the conversation, and he wanted to know what had happened. His mother sat there, pale.
"Mom! Mom!"
She broke free, and turned her head about, looking like a dazed bird.
"Yes, dear?"
"What happened? What's going on?"
"Nothing, dear. Nothing. I would just like it if you didn't go out with your friends today..."
"Why?"
Ken didn't like this. He explained to his parents what the DigiWorld was, and he was a freshman in high school, he could go out alone. Besides, he was going with the Destined (as they called themselves still) to one of Matt's concerts. And he was hoping to sit rather away from the group with Yolei. (heeheehee!)
The smell wouldn't leave his nose. Or his clothes. He thought he would be dead before he stepped two feet into the doorway at home. Magenta reassured him. She said he would be fine. His clothes were plain, and in a drawer for such occasions she pulled out a dark green t-shirt and a pair of jeans that were almost exact. She walked him home and gave him a kiss. When he got home, the parents thought that nothing was amiss. So, he went into his room with hidden bliss. (ah! must... stop... rhyming...!) No one noticed at first how distant he was.
About a week later Ken grumbled, groaned, and moped around the house. He was mad that he couldn't go to the concert, and now his parents didn't want him to leave unattended. He was close to threatening that this imprisonment could make turn into a copy of Sam, or worse, the kaiser again. But, that would send his parents over the edge. His mom would cry and his father would turn the same shade of blue as Ken's hair. Thankfully, the gang would stop by, and the world was close to normal.
Except...
The phone would ring, and the voice would speak of closure. Closure, closure, closure. A reviled word in every tongue if you were the Ichijoujis. They stopped wanting closure. They moved on. The voice didn't seen to think that. Closure, it thinks they need it!
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He noticed that he snapped at Ken more. He didn't deserve it. Sam led him outside and they blew bubbles. But, he couldn't stop his anger at home. He was a rabid dog. He had to get away... Something came out of the computer a while ago. Ken was playing with it. The rabid dog was loose. He locked- whatever it was- in a small drawer. He went out again to "the library." Maggie said it would have been a healthier escape, if the drugs weren't there. But, who really cared about health when they were free?
Ken had the Destined over a few days ago. Yolei stayed longer to save Ken's soul. Now, he was the only one, and he wanted to sleep.
It was the same dream. All misty it began, but it cleared. A little boy was holding a toy as he stood outside, talking to it.
"Sam said that when Momma and Daddy go out that I shouldn't say that he goed out. He said he was going to the library, to be free. Won'er what that means? Sam, Sam please come back or don't come back! Sam why do Mommy and Daddy care about you?! I live here too! Mommy and Daddy and Sam and Ken—Not no Ken! Sam! If you weren't here then it would be Ken and Momma and Daddy! Go away Sam!"
He stomped his feet. He saw a caterpillar on a branch and picked it up.
"Hello. What's your name? Yea... Wormmon. I like that name! I think we should be friends—and no Sam! He'll wanna smush you like I'm gonna smush this leaf! See! I'm not like Sam! And with no Sam... do you wanna ride on my head? I'll be here to feed you! And Momma and Daddy and no Sam! Hey... Heehee! That tickles! No, not my nose! Silly caterpillar!"
He said he didn't want to go back. She agreed. They drunk, they danced, they smoked. Freedom never was so good! He remembered the room with the couch...
The little boy opened up the door.
"Hi Momma! Hi Daddy!"
"Nice, to see you too, squirt!" his father laughed.
"Ken, where's Sam?"
The boy angrily thought of how Sam was always thought of—and now he was receiving his attention!
"Lie-berry."
"And leave you alone?!" his father inquired crossly.
"Oh no! What if something happened to him?!"
Good. The little boy wanted him gone. It was the library, how could you get hurt in a library? You could walk. But, he's not here – and even now he receives attention!
They lay on the couch in happiness, and a small kissing game began. First the face, lightly on the cheeks and forehead, but then, more intently on the lips and a small flame turned into a fire that Osamu wanted to keep alight! This intensity was a sign of freedom that needed to be expressed. He didn't want it to end.
An hour later, and breathless. They cleared their throats and Sam said that they should borrow a car and drive around. Underage and lovin' it!
Speeding around the corners, missed a sign, and right in front of the apartment that the Ichijoujis lived in. Where the captivity began and the freedom ended. A quick, frightened glance with love and concern -- /i
A mother's cry. A father's shout.
"I'm sorry, Sam..." the boy whispered.
The mist came and a blinding white light. A smooth, rounded, ivory casket. Ken looked at it as a boy and a near man.
"I'm sorry, Sam..." a whisper began and died on the Kens lips.
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The calls kept coming and the Ichijouji parents wanted them traced. Ken liked watching the equipment at the station. The little bright lights that flashed, the multicolored buttons, the files upon files filled with cases solved and yet to be solved! He felt a calling here, this detective work.... Wormmon could assist too, once people began to accept the Digimon. Or, maybe, an undercover detective, to add a little mystery, keep his 'mon safe, and, make Yolei and little more interested in him...
(Heeheehee...)
A few days later the police called. Whoever it was, was calling from payphones. Different phones in different areas, obviously not wanting to be caught. The police even suggested that they follow the voice, but bring a cell phone to call if they needed assistance. The Ichijoujis, reluctantly, obeyed.
The voice told them to go to an apartment, on the bad side of town. Ask for a woman who calls herself Djali. She would give the answers...
A knock on the door woke Djali up. She brushed back her bushy green hair with one hand as she slowly got up. Her stomach was beginning to show signs of an early pregnancy, and she didn't even hide it from her boyfriend. He, was sleeping on the couch with a baby boy that didn't appear to be his. The lover had black hair, the babe had a blue violet shade. But, it meant no difference to the lover who the father of the latter was. He loved his girlfriend, he loved his girlfriend's son, and he loved his baby that Djali was carrying.
Djali smiled contently at the pair as she answered the door,
"Yes?"
She saw a family of three, the woman looking nervous and worried, the man seemed to be angry and confused, and the older boy had a distant, almost haunting look, as though Djali has seen him once before at the cafe she worked at.
"Can I help you?"
The father looked around uneasily,
"Can you tell us anything about our son..."
Djali looked at the boy and was about to speak...
"My brother, Sam Ichijouji."
Djali became very pale.
She let them in.
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Djali informed them that she owned the tavern that Maggie and Sam went to. She told them that Magenta was orphaned at a young age, and all of her family was the scum of the streets. Pimps, whores, gigolos, thieves – just bad! Magenta's sisters all became something degrading and died of AIDS and HIV before she turned four. She lived with a teen prostitute known as a sister. But Magenta learned to leave at age five when she saw how the sister was being abused by her pimp.
Djali found Maggie on the streets, cold and scared when the little girl had turned six around then. Djali raised her like a she was her daughter...
Of course, Maggie had to work, and besides, it gave the troubled kid something to do. She would wash the tables down, but at twelve she had a new job....
It was sordid, low, and wrong. But, it was her nature. It was really a fantastic web. She would catch a guy's eye, as Djali said, with the purple hair of hers, the guy would follow, and she would lead him into the back of the cafe. He would tell his friends about the women there. The women would tell their friends about the guys. Meanwhile, Maggie washed the tables. She would slowly bring in guys for business, but soon it became a pleasure. And she was known as "a player." According to Djali, if Maggie hadn't died young and hadn't seen how her sister was abused, she would have prostituted herself.
Djali told the Ichijoujis that Maggie told her one night that she felt something special for Osamu. Magenta and Djali both agreed that it was love.
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She asked them if they wanted anything to drink. The Ichijouji parents politely refused, but Ken wanted a soda. Djali gave him the can as she saw how the parents were coping. They seemed shocked and knew nothing of what their first son had done. The cafe owner didn't have the heart to tell them that she knew what Sam and Maggie did in the back. That they smoked and drank and danced. She promised herself that she wouldn't, not even if they asked.
"I think I should show you something..."
The Ichijoujis looked up. Djali gently picked her baby up from her boyfriend's stomach on the couch.
"Look at his hair. That shade could've been what Maggie and Sam's child had if they ever where old enough, y'know. I named him Ken Osamu. I wanted Osamu to be his middle name to honor your sons. I knew Ken's name from the news. You're lucky, y'know, to have raised such great boys, I'm sorry Maggie... ever..."
Her speech was strained and she held her baby close. Mrs. Ichijouji hugged her like a sister would.
"If Osamu made her that happy, I would have let them love."
The women cried for a moment, and Ken pulled out a picture of Yolei, sensing some similarities in her and Maggie. He put the picture back in his pocket.
"I went to the doctor, he said this baby is a girl. I'm naming her Magenta and the middle name will be Sakura. That's he favorite flower: the Sakura." Djali said as she patted her stomach.
Ken sheepishly asked if he could hold the squirmy little boy. His mother showed him hold to hold the head and cradle the back and bottom without discomfort for the babe or himself. Ken fancied that this was how Sam felt if he ever held Ken. He thought again about this possibly being the child of Maggie and Sam, and this was his nephew. And, last a stirring, delightful and twisting image (that Yolei would surely like) this could possibly be a child out of the love that Yolei and Ken have. That stayed in his head.
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B'waypoetess: Well, THAT WAS FUN!!!
(Kaiser enters)
Kaiser: Why wasn't I in it?
B'waypoetess: I love you, babe—
Kaiser: Don't call me that!
B'waypoetess: -- But it had nothing to do with you!
(Djali looks up)
Djali: You named after THE GOAT!!
B'waypoetess: What goat?
Djali: The one in the Hunchback of Notre Dame!
B'waypoetess: Yeah, howzabout that?