Happy Birthday, Ken!
By Carter Quetzi Tachikawa
(It's been a while since I wrote another Kenyako, hasn't it? Well, this one is sort of after "When Love and Hate Collide". A few years, to be exact. You might need to read "WLAHC" to understand this, which is in "Vegetable Soup for The Digi-romantic's soul" as the fifth chapter but it's not necessary. Well, I don't own Digimon as always. Since there's talk about birthdays here, I might as well give you the birthdays I made up for the DD:
Kari- January 30
Sora- February 11
Matt- March 4
Izzy- April 10
Ken- May 14
Mimi- June 29
TK- July 1
Tai- August 17
Davis- September 9
Cody- October 12
Joe- November 20
Yolei- December 23
Twelve (main) Digidestined, twelve months ^^. I tend to use the same birthdays whenever I mention anyone's birthday. *Makes note to buy a Ken a birthday present when May comes around and Izzy, a late one* Anyway, let's begin.)
"All right! Let's see if we have everything!" TK Takaishi said holding out a piece of paper. "Balloons?"
"Check", Kari Kamiya said.
"Streamers?"
"Check", Yolei Inoue nodded.
"Cake, ice cream, and other food items?"
"Check. I even convinced my mom to make those brownies of hers", Cody Hida mentioned. "They're always a hit at parties."
"Music...check!" TK said happily. "You don't know how many times I begged and pleaded Matt. I promised to kiss his feet every morning if he did this for me. He agreed...but he didn't want me to kiss his feet. Instead I have to do some of his housework. Oh well! Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Let's see...where was I? Oh yeah! Davis, did you send out the invitations?"
"Yeah! I may be dumb at times but I don't forget things!" Davis Motomiya said.
"Um...why do I have thirty invitations to Ken's birthday party?" Kari asked holding up all the envelopes. Davis smiled sheepishly and scratched his head.
"I...forgot everyone else's address except for Kari's?" he tried to explain.
"I don't think that's the reason." Yolei shook her head. "I'll take care of the invitations, TK." She grabbed one and opened it.
YOU ARE INVITED!!!!!!
TO WHAT: Ken Ichijouji's 14th birthday party!
WHEN: Sunday, May 13th
WHERE: Ichijouji Residence
FROM: 11:30 AM TO: 5:00 PM
PLEASE RSVP!
"You forgot the telephone number", Yolei pointed out. "How's anyone going to RSVP if they don't know what number to call?"
"So sue me! I'm not perfect!" Davis crossed his arms.
"No duh", Cody smirked.
"Anyway, isn't his birthday the fourteenth?" Davis asked.
"Yeah, but the fourteenth is a Monday", Kari said. "It would be bad to hold a party on a weekday. I remember one time I had my birthday on a Thursday. Oh, it was awful! It snowed and snowed and no one could come! Guess that's the problem with having a birthday in January, huh?"
"Or in December", Yolei added. "It snows on all my birthdays! Plus people go on vacations and since my birthday is so close to Christmas, no one is ever there!"
"I know the whole problem with birthdays during vacations. I used joke around, saying that they made summer vacation because of my birthday." TK said. "I get jealous of Matt sometimes. His is at a perfect time."
"Well, me and Cody have no problems with our birthdays!" Davis said stretching. "Ken's gonna get the surprise of his life!"
"Speaking of Ken...where is he?" Cody asked. "I still..."
"Dude! You have to trust him now!" Davis interrupted. "You mean to tell me that you still think Ken hasn't changed?!"
"Calm down, Davis. I was about to say 'I still think we need more balloons for our party.'"
"Oh." Davis calmed down.
"I wonder where Ken is too", Kari said. "I tried calling him...but he wasn't there. Have you heard from him, Yolei?"
"Me? Oh no! No, I haven't heard from Ken", Yolei said with a sigh.
She wasn't thinking about the party anymore but of a similar incident two years ago...
TWO YEARS AGO, May 14...
"Say you want me, Yolei!" The Digimon Emperor looked at her.
"You...you really like me?" Yolei stood dumbfounded. The enemy was in love with her? Unbelievable!
"I've always noticed you and I keep thinking about you. I have a feeling you think about me too. Am I right?"
"Um..." At this moment, Yolei wished Hawkmon were next to her. She wasn't feeling anything but fear. "Listen...I don't know why you..."
"Why I love you so much?"
"Whoa! What's this about love?! I'm only twelve! So are you!" (Note: I'm guessing Ken is as old as she is. I can't remember off the top of my head)
"And?"
"And...we're not meant to be", Yolei stuttered.
Ken just chuckled. He looked at her through his dark glasses. "You're just saying that because I'm the Digimon Emperor. You're only afraid."
"But...I don't love you! I love Ken!" Yolei pulled away angrily.
"I...I'm better than Ken! I'm all you want and need!"
"You don't know what I want and need! I want you to stop terrorizing the Digital World! I want you to surrender! I want you to leave me alone!" Yolei screamed. "Would you do that?"
"Yolei..."
"I'm sorry", Yolei looked at the yellow roses he'd given her. Thrusting them back into his arms, she ran off into a forest. She needed to be alone.
Yolei ran as far as she could from him. She knew it was wrong to leave Ken behind like that but...what could she do? She didn't even look back. What if he was chasing her? He had some nerve to propose love to her! Ha! Did he actually believe that she would succumb to him so easily? Fat chance!
Yolei ultimately stopped and turned around. He hadn't followed her. She sat down and tried to think about what had happened. She wanted to kick herself in the head. That was Ken Ichijouji, the boy she planned to marry! Like a fool, she ran from him and yelled words that made no sense.
"It's not your fault", she told herself. "That wasn't Ken. That was the Digimon Emperor. You did the right thing by running away."
Still, she felt unsure. Yolei stayed in the forest for a while and then decided to come back. To her relief (or was it to her disappointment? She couldn't tell), he was gone. Deciding to sleep away from the rest of the Digidestined, Yolei fell asleep a foot away from the rest.
The next morning she found herself covered in yellow rose petals. She was clutching the crumpled bouquet he'd given her.
* * *
BACK TO NORMAL TIMES...
"Yolei, are you okay?" Poromon asked. Everyone else looked at her with concern. Yolei snapped out of the daze.
"Oh yeah. I was just worrying about Ken", she said.
"Yolei and Ken, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Cody sang. This time, Yolei didn't mind. In fact, she stayed silent. Now the other kids were worried.
"Yolei, what's wrong?" Kari asked. "Why are you worrying about Ken all of a sudden?"
Yolei didn't want to but before she knew it, she blurted out the whole story. The rest of the Digidestined listened patiently but no one said a word.
"I see. You and Ken had some kind of...romantic moment", TK said. "Only you weren't feeling romantic, but scared."
"I honestly think I hurt him. I ran away that night..."
"Yolei, there's nothing you could have done! That wasn't Ken. That was the Digimon Emperor. He was probably lying to you about the whole romance thing", Davis said.
"Davis is right. The Digimon Emperor wasn't the trustworthiest person in the world. You had every right to run", Cody said.
"I don't think he lied to me..." Yolei became silent and tried her hardest to forget about the night.
* * *
"Ken? Is something wrong?" Wormmon asked his partner. Ken Ichijouji was sitting on the roof of his building, way over in Tamachi. The sun was about to set...and in two days he'd be fourteen.
"I'm not sad, Wormmon. I'm just thinking..."
He'd been thinking about Yolei. How he'd confessed his love to her as the Digimon Emperor. How she'd run away in fright and disgust from him. How he shuffled back to his base, rejected and hopeless. How he cried...a tyrant never cries. But he did. He cried for her the way he cried when Sam was gone.
Sam...another person who made him feel miserable. Not that he hated his brother, no. It wasn't Sam's fault that things happened. But why did it all have to happen...tomorrow? Why a day before his birthday?
Sam had died on the 13th. Instead of celebrating Ken's birthday the next day, they went to Sam's funeral. The casket replaced Ken's birthday cake and the solemn prayers replaced the birthday song. When they got back, he got a few presents including one from his brother. But he never opened them. His brother was gone forever and no present would ever bring him back. The packages still remained wrapped up and tucked away in his closet.
"I know you miss him", Wormmon whispered. "It's hard losing someone. I'd feel the same way too if Sam was my brother. It was hard for me when I lost you."
"Thanks, buddy. I just wish...this day would never come", Ken sighed. "And I wish my birthday would never come either."
His birthday marked another bad thing. He confessed he loved Yolei...the biggest mistake of his life. He did it as the Digimon Emperor. And she ran away...snapped into reality, she ran away.
Yolei would never see him the same way. Yes, times had changed and he felt more secure. But did they really want him back?
Did he really love Yolei? Yes, of course! There was no doubt in his mind about that. But she wasn't ready to make commitments...not for a while. He could still feel the way she pulled from him, the bouquet of the roses thrust back into his arms. Then came the tears...one after the other. He heard Yolei's footsteps fading away again, moving deeper into that forest. He only came back later to find her sleeping away from the rest. Quietly, almost silently, he placed the roses in her hands. A few petals were falling off so they ended up covering her body. He even left a trail of them leading up to her.
That was how it ended. The Digimon Emperor was defeated and Ken Ichijouji came back. Shy and somewhat scared, he joined up the Digidestined. The incident had been long forgotten...until now.
"Ken?" Wormmon spoke up.
"Hmmm?"
"Do you want to go back downstairs? It's getting dark..."
"Yeah. Come on."
* * *
The next day...
"You guys ready?" Davis asked.
"I sent out the invitations unlike a certain someone!" Yolei glared at Davis who stuck out his tongue at her.
"So sue me! The only address I can remember is Kari's!"
"Gee, I wonder why", TK said sounding a little sarcastic.
"The cake should be here any minute", Cody said. "Mom made two kinds of brownies, nuts and no nuts. Oh yeah, and Grandpa offered us some prune juice. He says it's a real smash hit at parties!"
"That's...nice", Kari said not really meaning it.
"We gotta to thank the Ichijouji's for leaving us the house and taking Ken out", TK said. "That gives us time to set things up and also for the guests to arrive."
"Cool. Let's get cracking!" Davis rubbed his hands.
They began running around...well, four of them did. Yolei stood in one place, frozen and dreaming. Ken...did he remember what his birthday marked? Also, she knew there was something more dark and mellow about the 13th/14th of May.
"Yolei! We don't have all day!" Davis snapped.
"Huh?! Oh sorry!" Yolei helped the others out. The Digimon meanwhile were waiting for the food.
"Is it a chocolate cake, Cody?" Upamon asked.
"Chocolate ice cream cake!" Cody assured
"Oh boy!"
"I can't wait for the brownies!" Poromon exclaimed.
"I don't want prune juice!" Demiveemon added.
"You're not getting any of it unless you work! Now move your digi-rears and help out!"
"Yes, sir!"
For a full hour, the Digidestined worked. Despite a few things (Demiveemon eating all the nachos, ten balloons popping, streamers breaking, etc.), they finished and the place looked incredible. The Ichijouji's living room was covered with different colored streamers and balloons. There was a makeshift stage for the Teenage Wolves to perform in the corner. TK had even hung a disco ball on the ceiling. All in all, it was perfect.
"All we need now is someone to buy nachos!" Kari said.
"I can do that!" Yolei said. "I think we have plenty of bags at my parents store."
"Then what are you waiting for? Go and buy those nachos!" Davis said. "And this time, Demiveemon, don't eat them!"
"It's your fault! You didn't feed me!" Demiveemon accused.
"Ah, whatever!"
* * *
"Mom, Dad, why can't I stay home?" Ken asked.
"You haven't been out in ages, dear", Mrs. Ichijouji said. "We haven't had time together as a family."
"So we're shopping for groceries?"
"We have to start somewhere!" Mr. Ichijouji said cheerfully.
It was fake cheerfulness. Both of them knew that today was the day Sam died. They probably get away from anything that reminded them of home and more particularly, Sam. Ken felt his stomach tying up in knots.
"What would you like for your birthday, dear?" Mrs. Ichijouji asked.
"Nothing."
"Nothing? Son, you do want something. I know", Mr. Ichijouji said.
"Yes, I do", Ken nodded. "But it'd be hard for you to get."
"Oh", his parents fell silent. Ken felt bad.
"It's not your fault. Seriously though, I don't want anything but to be with you guys."
And be with Yolei. Anytime I think of her...dear God! She's so beautiful...how come I never noticed it? The way her purple hair bounces up and down her shoulders, her bright eyes behind her glasses, her open personality...I love it all! So intelligent and sweet...she must have been sent from Heaven. But will she ever trust me again?
"Oh look, Ken! Look who's here!" Mrs. Ichijouji pointed to...Yolei. Ken's heart almost hit the bottom.
"Uh...hi, Mr. and Mrs. Ichijouji", Yolei bowed to them. Then she looked up at Ken. "Hi."
It was hard to tell how she felt. But something in Ken told him that she hadn't forgotten about the incident.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm okay", Yolei's eyes were locked on Ken. He didn't notice.
"Well, we're sure glad to run into you, aren't we?"
"Huh? Oh...yeah", Ken said. He took a brief look at Yolei. She had turned back to his parents.
"Well, bye!" Yolei took the nacho bag and went to the register where her father rang it up. Ken watched the whole thing. Yolei turned to look at him. He looked at her for a while.
Finally, he understood what that look meant.
I still don't trust you, Ken. You were the Digimon Emperor. Everything you told me back then was a lie. I'll never trust you for as long as you live.
"No", Ken whispered, misunderstanding everything.
Yolei didn't like him. She didn't trust him.
He was still...a monster.
Ooooh, what's next? I think I'll have the next chapter (the last chapter, might I add) to this soon! What will happen? R & R Carter
Raven_DeLuca@excite.com
By Carter Quetzi Tachikawa
(It's been a while since I wrote another Kenyako, hasn't it? Well, this one is sort of after "When Love and Hate Collide". A few years, to be exact. You might need to read "WLAHC" to understand this, which is in "Vegetable Soup for The Digi-romantic's soul" as the fifth chapter but it's not necessary. Well, I don't own Digimon as always. Since there's talk about birthdays here, I might as well give you the birthdays I made up for the DD:
Kari- January 30
Sora- February 11
Matt- March 4
Izzy- April 10
Ken- May 14
Mimi- June 29
TK- July 1
Tai- August 17
Davis- September 9
Cody- October 12
Joe- November 20
Yolei- December 23
Twelve (main) Digidestined, twelve months ^^. I tend to use the same birthdays whenever I mention anyone's birthday. *Makes note to buy a Ken a birthday present when May comes around and Izzy, a late one* Anyway, let's begin.)
"All right! Let's see if we have everything!" TK Takaishi said holding out a piece of paper. "Balloons?"
"Check", Kari Kamiya said.
"Streamers?"
"Check", Yolei Inoue nodded.
"Cake, ice cream, and other food items?"
"Check. I even convinced my mom to make those brownies of hers", Cody Hida mentioned. "They're always a hit at parties."
"Music...check!" TK said happily. "You don't know how many times I begged and pleaded Matt. I promised to kiss his feet every morning if he did this for me. He agreed...but he didn't want me to kiss his feet. Instead I have to do some of his housework. Oh well! Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Let's see...where was I? Oh yeah! Davis, did you send out the invitations?"
"Yeah! I may be dumb at times but I don't forget things!" Davis Motomiya said.
"Um...why do I have thirty invitations to Ken's birthday party?" Kari asked holding up all the envelopes. Davis smiled sheepishly and scratched his head.
"I...forgot everyone else's address except for Kari's?" he tried to explain.
"I don't think that's the reason." Yolei shook her head. "I'll take care of the invitations, TK." She grabbed one and opened it.
YOU ARE INVITED!!!!!!
TO WHAT: Ken Ichijouji's 14th birthday party!
WHEN: Sunday, May 13th
WHERE: Ichijouji Residence
FROM: 11:30 AM TO: 5:00 PM
PLEASE RSVP!
"You forgot the telephone number", Yolei pointed out. "How's anyone going to RSVP if they don't know what number to call?"
"So sue me! I'm not perfect!" Davis crossed his arms.
"No duh", Cody smirked.
"Anyway, isn't his birthday the fourteenth?" Davis asked.
"Yeah, but the fourteenth is a Monday", Kari said. "It would be bad to hold a party on a weekday. I remember one time I had my birthday on a Thursday. Oh, it was awful! It snowed and snowed and no one could come! Guess that's the problem with having a birthday in January, huh?"
"Or in December", Yolei added. "It snows on all my birthdays! Plus people go on vacations and since my birthday is so close to Christmas, no one is ever there!"
"I know the whole problem with birthdays during vacations. I used joke around, saying that they made summer vacation because of my birthday." TK said. "I get jealous of Matt sometimes. His is at a perfect time."
"Well, me and Cody have no problems with our birthdays!" Davis said stretching. "Ken's gonna get the surprise of his life!"
"Speaking of Ken...where is he?" Cody asked. "I still..."
"Dude! You have to trust him now!" Davis interrupted. "You mean to tell me that you still think Ken hasn't changed?!"
"Calm down, Davis. I was about to say 'I still think we need more balloons for our party.'"
"Oh." Davis calmed down.
"I wonder where Ken is too", Kari said. "I tried calling him...but he wasn't there. Have you heard from him, Yolei?"
"Me? Oh no! No, I haven't heard from Ken", Yolei said with a sigh.
She wasn't thinking about the party anymore but of a similar incident two years ago...
TWO YEARS AGO, May 14...
"Say you want me, Yolei!" The Digimon Emperor looked at her.
"You...you really like me?" Yolei stood dumbfounded. The enemy was in love with her? Unbelievable!
"I've always noticed you and I keep thinking about you. I have a feeling you think about me too. Am I right?"
"Um..." At this moment, Yolei wished Hawkmon were next to her. She wasn't feeling anything but fear. "Listen...I don't know why you..."
"Why I love you so much?"
"Whoa! What's this about love?! I'm only twelve! So are you!" (Note: I'm guessing Ken is as old as she is. I can't remember off the top of my head)
"And?"
"And...we're not meant to be", Yolei stuttered.
Ken just chuckled. He looked at her through his dark glasses. "You're just saying that because I'm the Digimon Emperor. You're only afraid."
"But...I don't love you! I love Ken!" Yolei pulled away angrily.
"I...I'm better than Ken! I'm all you want and need!"
"You don't know what I want and need! I want you to stop terrorizing the Digital World! I want you to surrender! I want you to leave me alone!" Yolei screamed. "Would you do that?"
"Yolei..."
"I'm sorry", Yolei looked at the yellow roses he'd given her. Thrusting them back into his arms, she ran off into a forest. She needed to be alone.
Yolei ran as far as she could from him. She knew it was wrong to leave Ken behind like that but...what could she do? She didn't even look back. What if he was chasing her? He had some nerve to propose love to her! Ha! Did he actually believe that she would succumb to him so easily? Fat chance!
Yolei ultimately stopped and turned around. He hadn't followed her. She sat down and tried to think about what had happened. She wanted to kick herself in the head. That was Ken Ichijouji, the boy she planned to marry! Like a fool, she ran from him and yelled words that made no sense.
"It's not your fault", she told herself. "That wasn't Ken. That was the Digimon Emperor. You did the right thing by running away."
Still, she felt unsure. Yolei stayed in the forest for a while and then decided to come back. To her relief (or was it to her disappointment? She couldn't tell), he was gone. Deciding to sleep away from the rest of the Digidestined, Yolei fell asleep a foot away from the rest.
The next morning she found herself covered in yellow rose petals. She was clutching the crumpled bouquet he'd given her.
* * *
BACK TO NORMAL TIMES...
"Yolei, are you okay?" Poromon asked. Everyone else looked at her with concern. Yolei snapped out of the daze.
"Oh yeah. I was just worrying about Ken", she said.
"Yolei and Ken, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Cody sang. This time, Yolei didn't mind. In fact, she stayed silent. Now the other kids were worried.
"Yolei, what's wrong?" Kari asked. "Why are you worrying about Ken all of a sudden?"
Yolei didn't want to but before she knew it, she blurted out the whole story. The rest of the Digidestined listened patiently but no one said a word.
"I see. You and Ken had some kind of...romantic moment", TK said. "Only you weren't feeling romantic, but scared."
"I honestly think I hurt him. I ran away that night..."
"Yolei, there's nothing you could have done! That wasn't Ken. That was the Digimon Emperor. He was probably lying to you about the whole romance thing", Davis said.
"Davis is right. The Digimon Emperor wasn't the trustworthiest person in the world. You had every right to run", Cody said.
"I don't think he lied to me..." Yolei became silent and tried her hardest to forget about the night.
* * *
"Ken? Is something wrong?" Wormmon asked his partner. Ken Ichijouji was sitting on the roof of his building, way over in Tamachi. The sun was about to set...and in two days he'd be fourteen.
"I'm not sad, Wormmon. I'm just thinking..."
He'd been thinking about Yolei. How he'd confessed his love to her as the Digimon Emperor. How she'd run away in fright and disgust from him. How he shuffled back to his base, rejected and hopeless. How he cried...a tyrant never cries. But he did. He cried for her the way he cried when Sam was gone.
Sam...another person who made him feel miserable. Not that he hated his brother, no. It wasn't Sam's fault that things happened. But why did it all have to happen...tomorrow? Why a day before his birthday?
Sam had died on the 13th. Instead of celebrating Ken's birthday the next day, they went to Sam's funeral. The casket replaced Ken's birthday cake and the solemn prayers replaced the birthday song. When they got back, he got a few presents including one from his brother. But he never opened them. His brother was gone forever and no present would ever bring him back. The packages still remained wrapped up and tucked away in his closet.
"I know you miss him", Wormmon whispered. "It's hard losing someone. I'd feel the same way too if Sam was my brother. It was hard for me when I lost you."
"Thanks, buddy. I just wish...this day would never come", Ken sighed. "And I wish my birthday would never come either."
His birthday marked another bad thing. He confessed he loved Yolei...the biggest mistake of his life. He did it as the Digimon Emperor. And she ran away...snapped into reality, she ran away.
Yolei would never see him the same way. Yes, times had changed and he felt more secure. But did they really want him back?
Did he really love Yolei? Yes, of course! There was no doubt in his mind about that. But she wasn't ready to make commitments...not for a while. He could still feel the way she pulled from him, the bouquet of the roses thrust back into his arms. Then came the tears...one after the other. He heard Yolei's footsteps fading away again, moving deeper into that forest. He only came back later to find her sleeping away from the rest. Quietly, almost silently, he placed the roses in her hands. A few petals were falling off so they ended up covering her body. He even left a trail of them leading up to her.
That was how it ended. The Digimon Emperor was defeated and Ken Ichijouji came back. Shy and somewhat scared, he joined up the Digidestined. The incident had been long forgotten...until now.
"Ken?" Wormmon spoke up.
"Hmmm?"
"Do you want to go back downstairs? It's getting dark..."
"Yeah. Come on."
* * *
The next day...
"You guys ready?" Davis asked.
"I sent out the invitations unlike a certain someone!" Yolei glared at Davis who stuck out his tongue at her.
"So sue me! The only address I can remember is Kari's!"
"Gee, I wonder why", TK said sounding a little sarcastic.
"The cake should be here any minute", Cody said. "Mom made two kinds of brownies, nuts and no nuts. Oh yeah, and Grandpa offered us some prune juice. He says it's a real smash hit at parties!"
"That's...nice", Kari said not really meaning it.
"We gotta to thank the Ichijouji's for leaving us the house and taking Ken out", TK said. "That gives us time to set things up and also for the guests to arrive."
"Cool. Let's get cracking!" Davis rubbed his hands.
They began running around...well, four of them did. Yolei stood in one place, frozen and dreaming. Ken...did he remember what his birthday marked? Also, she knew there was something more dark and mellow about the 13th/14th of May.
"Yolei! We don't have all day!" Davis snapped.
"Huh?! Oh sorry!" Yolei helped the others out. The Digimon meanwhile were waiting for the food.
"Is it a chocolate cake, Cody?" Upamon asked.
"Chocolate ice cream cake!" Cody assured
"Oh boy!"
"I can't wait for the brownies!" Poromon exclaimed.
"I don't want prune juice!" Demiveemon added.
"You're not getting any of it unless you work! Now move your digi-rears and help out!"
"Yes, sir!"
For a full hour, the Digidestined worked. Despite a few things (Demiveemon eating all the nachos, ten balloons popping, streamers breaking, etc.), they finished and the place looked incredible. The Ichijouji's living room was covered with different colored streamers and balloons. There was a makeshift stage for the Teenage Wolves to perform in the corner. TK had even hung a disco ball on the ceiling. All in all, it was perfect.
"All we need now is someone to buy nachos!" Kari said.
"I can do that!" Yolei said. "I think we have plenty of bags at my parents store."
"Then what are you waiting for? Go and buy those nachos!" Davis said. "And this time, Demiveemon, don't eat them!"
"It's your fault! You didn't feed me!" Demiveemon accused.
"Ah, whatever!"
* * *
"Mom, Dad, why can't I stay home?" Ken asked.
"You haven't been out in ages, dear", Mrs. Ichijouji said. "We haven't had time together as a family."
"So we're shopping for groceries?"
"We have to start somewhere!" Mr. Ichijouji said cheerfully.
It was fake cheerfulness. Both of them knew that today was the day Sam died. They probably get away from anything that reminded them of home and more particularly, Sam. Ken felt his stomach tying up in knots.
"What would you like for your birthday, dear?" Mrs. Ichijouji asked.
"Nothing."
"Nothing? Son, you do want something. I know", Mr. Ichijouji said.
"Yes, I do", Ken nodded. "But it'd be hard for you to get."
"Oh", his parents fell silent. Ken felt bad.
"It's not your fault. Seriously though, I don't want anything but to be with you guys."
And be with Yolei. Anytime I think of her...dear God! She's so beautiful...how come I never noticed it? The way her purple hair bounces up and down her shoulders, her bright eyes behind her glasses, her open personality...I love it all! So intelligent and sweet...she must have been sent from Heaven. But will she ever trust me again?
"Oh look, Ken! Look who's here!" Mrs. Ichijouji pointed to...Yolei. Ken's heart almost hit the bottom.
"Uh...hi, Mr. and Mrs. Ichijouji", Yolei bowed to them. Then she looked up at Ken. "Hi."
It was hard to tell how she felt. But something in Ken told him that she hadn't forgotten about the incident.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm okay", Yolei's eyes were locked on Ken. He didn't notice.
"Well, we're sure glad to run into you, aren't we?"
"Huh? Oh...yeah", Ken said. He took a brief look at Yolei. She had turned back to his parents.
"Well, bye!" Yolei took the nacho bag and went to the register where her father rang it up. Ken watched the whole thing. Yolei turned to look at him. He looked at her for a while.
Finally, he understood what that look meant.
I still don't trust you, Ken. You were the Digimon Emperor. Everything you told me back then was a lie. I'll never trust you for as long as you live.
"No", Ken whispered, misunderstanding everything.
Yolei didn't like him. She didn't trust him.
He was still...a monster.
Ooooh, what's next? I think I'll have the next chapter (the last chapter, might I add) to this soon! What will happen? R & R Carter
Raven_DeLuca@excite.com