A/N: Random idea, somehow spawned by an Osamu is the digimon emperor fic. Starts, just to confuse things, after the Kaiser/Ken's defeat, though we'll be looking back at what's changed earlier at some point or other.

Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, L1 - a multichapter with chapters under 2000 words. The fic in total will be above 100k, so we're looking at at least 50 chapters here. :D

Enjoy!

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The Basics of Being Human
Chapter 1

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The Digimon Kaiser wasn't supposed to have scrambled into a corner of the room, scared out of his mind at the very sight of them.

Or ex-Kaiser, rather. They had won that fight. Finally. The base had gone down. The towers had stopped working. The rings had fallen off. It was the victory they'd set out for, and yet the price that came along with it was something they hadn't quite prepared for. Digimon had died. And though they dragged the only human there aside from them out of it all, they hadn't a clue what to do with him.

They thought they'd figured it out. Let him wake up from the unconsciousness of defeat. Question him: his motives, what needed to be fixed, etcetera. And then make sure they could wrangle their happily ever after epilogue from all of it. The question of justice popped up more than once in their discussions, but ultimately, what could they do? Taking away his digivice and crest would be like cutting off his arms and legs, and not all of them were willing to go to such lengths even at the risk of him regaining his iron-hold.

But now, it looked like they had an entirely different problem on their hands. Because they'd come in to his bedroom, explaining to his mother that they were friends from school and here to have a bit of a chat when all of those were lies. They weren't friends. Or from the same school. And to call their intent at interrogation a "bit of a chat" was a vast understatement. But despite all that, despite the fact that they'd met innumerable times on the battlefield, trying to best each other until, sometimes, it wasn't even a question of right and wrong but which team was stronger, there was nothing in their long and bloody history together that should make him scream and scurry into the wall like he did.

If anything, they had expected a bitter glare. And something along the lines of "come to gloat, have you?" Which they had, kind of. In his view at least.

Instead, he was looking like they'd come in with whips and guns, ready to strike.

They hadn't. And now, they looked at each other in bewilderment.

And then winced collectively when the ex-Kaiser shrieked again.

'Ken?' His mother's worried voice. She'd tried peeking around them, but the second scream made her shove her way through instead, almost tripping over Upamon's round form but not noticing the digimon at all. 'Ken? Are you okay, honey?'

She hadn't kicked them out yet, so either she had temporary tunnel vision (and they wouldn't blame her; after all, her son was curled against the wall and screaming) and would realise they'd done something (which they hadn't really) afterwards, or something like this had happened before and she knew it wasn't their fault.

''kaa-san's here,' she murmured gently, nudging his wrists away from his hair.

The Chosen winced as strands of blue hair came away with those fists. Ken's mother didn't. She just murmured gently: ''kaa-san's here," "there's nothing to be afraid of," and even, once, "these nice children just came to visit you" which cemented the idea that it hadn't been something they'd done. Though they may still have triggered it. She murmured until the boy lifted his head, pupils wide so the eyes looked, instead of their normal blue, almost black. Her crouching form hid the rest of him, and they tried not to stare too hard in any case. Hikari gripped Tailmon tight, wanting to rush over there and help but keeping herself in check. She couldn't do better than Ken's mother, after all, and in any case, as former enemies, he might not take her presence all that well. Takeru was thinking of those eyes: wide black orbs that had darkness swimming behind them and they frightened him, enough so that he would freely admit he was afraid to go any closer if someone asked. They didn't. To an extent, they all shared that fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of eyes that were staring at nothing. Fear at something they couldn't help or control.

They were ushered back eventually, once Ken was unconscious or asleep on a pillow and covered with blankets. 'We…we can help him to bed,' Daisuke offered. He wasn't sure how they'd do that though.

But Ken's mother shook her head. 'The bed's not a good idea.' It was up a ladder, after all.

She led them to the longue, sat them down, and poured each human a glass of juice and a plate of biscuits for all. 'I'm afraid these are yesterdays,' she said. 'I didn't know Ken had friends coming.'

'It's okay; we should have called ahead.' Miyako forced a smile and took two cookies. Iori looked appalled, but food had always helped her relax. Daisuke too, because he followed her lead, sneaking one to Chibimon. At Upamon's longing look, Iori sighed and took two as well.

'Could you tell us what happened?' asked Hikari, after a brief pause. 'I – we've – never seen Ichijouji-kun like that.' Another grey statement. Not really a white lie, but lie enough. They hadn't seem him like that because they only saw him on the battlefield, or on television…and once, in a soccer match before they'd learnt the truth. Not that there was any avoiding that soccer match. Daisuke had been playing in it, after all.

'Well,' Ken's mother hedged, taking a biscuit herself, though she didn't take a bite of it. 'We don't really know, ourselves. Just that this started after he…returned.'

From the digital world, they knew. From wherever he'd gone when he'd run away or disappeared, she meant. Because they very much doubted she knew about the digital world.

'Sometimes he wanders around like a ghost,' she continued. 'He barely remembers us. He remembers almost nothing, except…' Her eyes flickered to the mantle. They looked as well, at a photo of a pre-teen in glasses and a hood in a black frame, and underneath, unlit incense sticks. '…well, except his brother.'

His dead brother, they realised. And they'd never even known…

But Ken had been their enemy, then. There'd been no reason to know.

Except Ken was human. And though they'd known that from the offset, the magnitude of that realisation was only just starting to dawn on them.

'His brother?' Takeru repeated.

'Osamu.' Her eyes shone with newly formed tears. 'Ken thought the world of him. And he was so clever and smart – like Ken became, till recently. And Ken was so sweet and gentle, coaxing birds onto the balcony, blowing bubbles until his cheeks hurt, making cookies for his "hard-working onii-chan" almost every day…'

The Ken they knew wouldn't do any of those things. A boy who used a whip on a digimon couldn't charm a bird. Animals… animals could sense such things, better than humans because they had a complex brain and free will to distract them. And a boy who couldn't appreciate the effort of slaves he controlled would hardly make cookies to cheer someone on.

'And then, Osamu d-died.' She choked on the world and swallowed her half-crumbled biscuit in one gulp, then knitted her hands together. 'We missed him so much, but Ken – Ken was the one most affected. And it's our fault. We'd loved the idea of a genius so much we'd ignored him, and when Osamu was gone and we were crushed, he tried to – tried to – '

'Become Osamu-san,' Miyako finished. Hikari's eyes were shining with tears as well, beside her.

Ken's mother nodded. 'Yes. And he managed it. Became distant. Stopped doing things he deemed a "waste of time", the things he'd loved so much before. He became Osamu – but an Osamu without Ken's innocence to balance him out. And then he just…disappeared.' She stared down at her lap, at her intertwined fingers. 'And then he came back. Slept for three days straight and we almost took him to the hospital but then he woke up. Woke up and didn't know us at all, didn't know anything except Osamu and didn't know where he'd gone.' She closed her eyes. 'But then he saw the picture.' The one on the mantle. The one they'd seen, still saw. 'And he screamed. Just like when you all came in. Screamed and backed away until he hit the table. Curled like someone was hitting him. Shook like he was terrified of something.' She trembled herself. 'Whenever he sees a picture of him – and I don't know what it was about you all when you stood there. Maybe the age?'

They didn't know either. They had no relation at all to Ken's brother. Their relation to Ken was through the Kaiser, through the digimon, through the digital world.

'Dunno.' Daisuke shook his head. The others kept their silence, but agreed. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'We didn't mean for this to happen.'

'Of course not.' She smiled unsteadily. 'Though…perhaps you could try again?'

They stared at her.

'Talking,' she explained, sounding tired all of a sudden. 'Ken really needs friends. He's seen nobody but us and a doctor since he's returned, and even before, it was only Osamu. Always Osamu. He needs friends.'

They looked at each other. The anger, the self-righteousness, was slipping away, though they tried to gripping. Their guard was falling. Ken was still the enemy, or still could be. He had his digivice. A way into the digital world. He hadn't turned away from the path. Simply lost. He could still…

And yet seeing that child quavering in fear, and hearing his mother's story now, it was different. Suddenly so different. Iori's head ached, and he wished it was his father in front of him and not this kind woman with her delicious biscuits and a blood relative to the boy who'd caused them so much trouble. Hikari wished Taichi was there too. So did Daisuke. He was better with people. Knew when they were lying, or annoyed with him, or entirely sincere. And he was stronger too. She really did want to help, but what if it was wrong? What if it bit them later? Like their decision to leave targeting Ken in the real world for another day. They'd lost their window of opportunity like that, and eventually they'd had to wait for the holidays and seize another one themselves. And Takeru and Miyako wanted their siblings too, because they were confused now, so confused.

'We'll come back another day,' they promised.

Ken's mother looked disappointed, but she nodded. 'Of course. You're welcome.'

Oh, if she only knew their relationship to her son…

But they would be back. They said they would, and there were things they needed to hear from the horse's mouth, still. But they needed to sort out their thoughts first.