(A/N: Well, I finally got chapter one out. Man that was hard. Hopefully I will get another chapter out soon and insert my muses. I also intend to email everyone who asked me to or reviewed the original story. My email account deleted a lot of emails so if I missed anyone please forgive me.)

Please note: This story is a sequel to my previous story Bad, Bad Miyako. While this story will hopefully stand on its own, it might be easier to understand if you read the original first. ^.~

Ken Ichijouji sat in the window seat of the Elvedale infirmary, a book propped on his bent knee, and his other leg was stretched out in front of him. He leaned lazily against the wall; for once his mind was not racing furiously about, proving and trying a hundred theories at once. In fact, his mind was not focused on the book either. He was staring dreamily out the window.

Miyako watched him from her bed wondering what he was thinking about, her, their enemies, a butterfly flitting through the garden outside, or his newest fascination-Stingmon.

Apparently, it had never occurred to him that such a weak rookie could become such a powerful champion. Almost as soon as he was strong enough to walk, he had taken Wormon outside and asked him to digivolve. Much to his delight Wormon had done so, and after several weeks of practice and training, had been able to hold his champion form for almost a week before dedigivolving. Ken was certain that with a little more training he would be able to hold his champion form permanently.

Miyako smiled at his enthusiasm, glad that he had finally taken an interest in his partner. Of all the harsh thing he had done as Kaiser, his neglect of his partner had been the one that worried her the most.

Her mind slipped back to the day she had awakened in Elvedale.

^^^^^^^^

Her eyes fluttered open momentarily, then closed tight to block out the brilliant light of the room. She heard a slight chuckle, "So, you're finally awake. I was beginning to wonder if you would wake up at all."

She opened her eyes a crack. Standing over her bed was one of the strangest digimon she had ever seen, he looked like a floating orange ball. He wore a stethoscope and a lab coat which dragged on the floor, five feet below him. (A/N: He also wears one of those big round things strapped to his forehead, you know like you see in old bugs bunny cartoon, but I don't know what it is called.)

She moaned and turned her head away.

"She's always been a heavy sleeper. When I first found her she slept for almost four weeks straight." A soft familiar voice answered, full of laughter.

She opened her eyes to see Ken. He was lying in the bed next to hers; his shirt had been removed to reveal the heavy bandages wrapping his rib cage. The cut he had received when he fell from the tree was gone; it had been totally lost in the three long scoring cuts Flamedramon had made when he cut the control ring away from Ken. The cuts had been stitched closed, but she could see the pinkness around them where Flamedramon's claws had burned him. How dare he hurt Ken!

"How do you feel?" Ken asked her.

She thought for a minute, there was a dull ache in her side, but other than that, she did not feel anything.

"My side hurts a little. How about you, you look like you're hurt pretty bad. Once you heal up you're going to look like an awful rogue though, you're face will probably scar."

"Yeah," he agreed, gingerly touching his face. "But I won't be the only one."

He grinned at her, then winced at the pain it caused.

She wondered what he meant and lifted a hand to her face. Her fingers brushed a deep but small cut, almost three inches in length, on her cheek. How did that happen? Oh yeah, Darkangewomon hit me with her bow.

She sat up slowly trying to judge the damage she had sustained. Her ribs were tightly bound and her left arm was in a cast. Other than that there did not seem to be anything more than a few bruises.

She looked at Ken and worried how much damage he had sustained. The orange ball digimon was now floating over him and had pulled the blanket down to reveal his legs. Ken was dressed only in black silk boxers, the thigh of his right leg was wrapped in bandages, but blood was seeping through them.

"Com'on Docmon. Give me a break."

"Humph," replied the orb-digimon. "You're lucky to still be alive. You'll just have to accept the fact that it may take you a while to recover."

Ken swore, but it was light, and sounded more as if he was teasing. Narrowly escaping death had apparently affected him emotionally. He seemed a little more happy and carefree. Maybe it was just because he did not have anything pressing to think about.

Docmon removed the bandages from Ken's leg revealing the deep wound. Miyako's breath had caught in her throat, the wound seemed awful.

"I wish I could get it to stop bleeding," muttered Docmon as he examined the wound. He floated across the room to get more bandages, "You may not ever regain full use of that leg."

"I will." Ken's voice had been determined, but not necessarily hard.

"We'll see."

Docmon returned and began to clean and rebinding the wound. Ken leaned back and closed his eyes, trying not to let on how much it hurt, but Miyako noticed his face got a little paler than usual, and the muscles of his lips were pressed together so tightly they were tuning white, as if he was fighting to keep from exhibiting his pain.

He did this for me. She thought in wonder. He got hurt trying to help me with my plan.

Docmon finished tending the wound and left the room. Miyako watched Ken worriedly, but he opened his eyes and winked at her. "Don't worry. I'll be OK."

"How long has it been?"

"Three weeks."

"What? I can't believe I slept that long."

"You were in a coma for almost a week. I was worried…" his voice trailed off. It was the first time he had ever admitted that he would actually be bothered if anything ever happened to her.

Something happened to him. He's changed somehow. It's like he's really letting himself show through.

"What happened to Kari?"

Ken quickly filled her in on the his defeat at the hands of the digidestined, leaving out all but the most important details.

He stopped at the point where Tai was rushing towards him after he had collapsed. He seemed to be lost in thought.

"Ken…what happened?"

"I thought I was going to die."

Miyako was shocked to receive such a frank statement about how he felt.

"Were you afraid?" She could not see Ken being afraid of anything, but something seemed to have deeply affected him.

"No. I was too hurt to care anymore. I was just sorry that you would die to."

He was silent again, and she found herself surprised again at his mention of his worry over her.

She finally broke the silence, "Wha-how did you escape."

"Wormon. He stood up to them all. Just when I thought all hope was lost, and he would die too, he digivolved. When he became a champion, it scared them off just a little, giving him the time he needed to grab us and get out. It was incredible."

Miyako looked away, smiling at the confusion and wonder in his voice. He was finally beginning to realize that Wormon would be there no matter what. That he really cared for Ken.

She turned to ask him something, but he had fallen asleep, his hair spread out over the pillow. He was exhausted, perhaps his wounds were worse than he had let on.

Around midnight she heard the door open and something small creep in. She turned to find Wormon sneaking in. It was the first time she had seen him since she had awakened. Hawkmon had been up to see her but she had not seen any sign of Wormon. She had opened her mouth to ask Hawkmon where he was, but a discreet nod warned her not too.

"Wormon, what are you doing?" she whispered, not wanting to wake Ken.

The little insect jumped at the sound of her voice, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I'll go now."

"You didn't wake me. I was just thinking. Please don't leave."

"OK." Wormon crept silently up to sit in her lap.

"Where have you been? You didn't come see me today. I thought maybe you would."

"I'm sorry. I'm worried about Ken. He didn't want me to ever digivolve. He'll probably try to punish me the next time he sees me and I don't want him to hurt himself trying to hit me. I'll wait 'til he's feeling better before I let him see me."

"Wormon. I don't think-"

"I gotta go."

Wormon hopped out of her lap and dashed for the door.

"Come here!"

Wormon turned around slowly to look at his master, who was sitting up in bed. His blue eyes burned through the darkness straight into Wormon. Wormon gave a resigned sigh, he had never been able to deny his master, especially when he looked into his eyes. Ken knew this of course and took advantage of it.

Wormon crept across the room again and warily looked up at Ken.

"Come up here."

He climbed effortlessly up the bed and stood next Ken. He flinched and closed his eyes, expecting a blow. Ken swept his arm out and gathered Wormon onto his chest as he lay back down.

"You were wonderful," he whispered as he fell asleep again. Wormon sat there in shock. Ken was acting more like himself than the Kaiser. He laid down, losing himself in the steady sound of Ken's heart, and the slight intake of breath as his chest rose and fell."

Miyako watched in surprise but shortly after lay back down and fell asleep.

^^^^^^^

That had been almost three months ago. Ken had recovered amazingly quickly, although certainly not due to his obedience to the Docmon's orders. He pushed himself far too often and often impeded his healing, but still he healed very fast.

Faster than Miyako to be sure.

Stingmon flitted past the window, shaking Ken from his reverie. He turned his head back to his book, and Miyako quickly diverted her head away, in case he should look up and catch her staring.

^^^^^^

Six, seven, eight, nine, BANG.

Kari mumbled angrily under her breath. She was not swearing, but if she had translated her anger into words, it would have shocked the Kaiser himself.

"Kari, please take it more slowly," Gatomon complained worriedly, from some place over her head.

"I won't let this beat me."

"I can understand that, but your legs are all bruised from walking into things."

"You think I don't know that?"

Kari's hand fluttered out, trying to determine where Gatomon was sitting. A flat board, her hand traveled along it and came across a small glass figurine, a ballerina, her favorite. It always sat on the bookshelf, so Gatomon was probably on the top shelf.

She heard the front door open and several people walk in. She walked around the chest that had tripped her and made her way to the door, counting her steps. She missed her count somewhere and walked into a wall. She felt along it until she found the door.

Walking into the hall, she called out, "Hello, who's there?"

"It's me and Joe," replied Tai.

"Joe and I," corrected Kari automatically. Recently she had taken to correcting Tai's bad grammar for some reason.

"How are you feeling Kari?" asked Joe.

"Pretty good. But I keep walking into things."

It had been almost three months since their battle in the digital world. Kari had been in the hospital for a month of that time, but none of the doctors could tell her why she could not see.

The digidestined had told their parents that they had been camping and she had fallen and hit her head, but the true reason for her blindness remained undetermined.

"I brought you something that might help," said Joe. He placed a long cane in her hand. "You can use it to feel the ground in front of you so you don't trip so much."

"Thank you Joe. I'm not going to let this beat me."

"I know you won't. If anyone can pull through this, it's you."

Kari nodded her head in determination, reaffirming her own conviction.