---this is my entry for IZZYGIRL's Kenlei contest! I hope I win! And the other part(s) are/is in the works!--



I Want To Love
by Krissy Izumi


"Yolei's been captured!"

TK's shouts were heard long before he reached the other DigiDestined. He finished his sentence, panting, when he got to them. "Ken took her to his tower on the other side of the DigiWorld!"

Wide-eyed, Kari, Davis, and Cody ran after TK.

Ken watched all this on his monitors. He turned to Yolei, who was chained by her wrists to the wall a few feet above the floor. "I will make you suffer," he sneered.

Yolei glared at him. "You don't understand kindness?"

"Kindness is weak! Love is weak! No one ever showed either to me, therefore I can understand their weaknesses!"

She stared him straight in the eyes. "I feel so sorry for you," she said softly.

Ken suddenly jumped nearly on top of her, his nose millimeters from hers, his eyes burning violet flames. "I don't need your pity!" he growled through gritted teeth.

"Well you have it anyway." Yolei wasn't letting him scare her. His eyes narrowed meanacingly, but he calmly unlocked the shackles around her wrists.

Rubbing her sore hands and wrists, Yolei spoke to him yet again. "I think I can help you."

"And I need your help why?"

"Because I know you can't be as evil as you're acting." Yolei grinned, realizing she had rendered him speechless. Unfortunatley, speechless was something Ken didn't appriciate much. He grabbed Yolei roughly by the arm and took her to one of his many dungeon cells.

"And just to make sure you don't escape, I'll stay and keep watch." He struck her once, hard, with his whip. She dejectedly crawled into a corner and cried softly.

For a fleeting instant, he felt his heart ache at seeing her cry...but the feeling didn't last. He pulled up a chair and sat to personally guard his human prisoner.

Hours passed before either of them spoke. Hours that left Ken thinking and re-thinking what he had done. By the time Yolei spoke again, he had convinced himself that he was becoming weak...though he didn't care.

"Could I please have some food?" Yolei begged more than asked in a small voice.

Ken handed her what little food he could find, all the while thinking, 'What have I done? And what are these strange, longing feelings?' He watched her while she ate.

She could feel his gaze. It didn't really bother her; in fact, she wasn't sure what she felt like. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice him walk over to her until he was standing right above her.

"Don't touch me," Yolei choked.

Ken frowned. "I...don't want to hurt you." He crouched on his knees beside her. As gently as he could, he put his hand on her injured shoulder and traced the line of blood from his whip.

She flinched under his touch but said nothing. 'He's like a child,' she thought. 'He seems so awkward with people. It's like he's tried to be inhuman for too long.'

She didn't argue when Ken's hand, suddenly seeming more gentle, lingered at her side.

"You have good thoughts somewhere in your heart." She snatched his glasses from his face. "With eyes as gorgeous as yours, you have to know love. Somehow."

He fingered the hem of her shirt and whispered, "...Help?"

"You do want my help, then."

"Please help me. I--" his voice raised to a shout, "I want to love!"

Yolei smiled. "Then let me leave this cell, for starters."

"I can't."

"But..."

"I told all of my slaves to destroy you if you left this room."

"That...complicates things."

Ken slipped his glasses back on and walked away slowly. "I'll be back," he said. "Please don't leave."

Suprised and intrigued by the sudden change in him, Yolei, sitting alone, began to sing.

In his confortably furnished bedroom, Ken could hear her voice. He felt mesmerized by the tunes she sung so well.

Wormmon sat faithfully at the foot of the bed. He was startled that his master spoke to him, and even more startled that it was kindly.

"I don't get it, Wormmon. I want to be down there with her, or her here with me..."

Wormmon looked up at Ken. "I think you love her."

Ken simply muttered under his breath and crawled under the covers of his bed. He soon fell asleep listening to Yolei's song.


---------------
^^;; More to come before the deadline!
---------------