Disclaimer: I still don't own Digimon.
A/N: So I was planning for this to be a two-parter, but I don't know if it's gonna work out that way. I know I've kept you guys waiting for this a long time, and I figured that what I'd written so far was long enough to be its own chapter. So...hopefully you'll enjoy, and I'll try to have the next chapter out sooner.
Warnings: Some language, some kissing. Nothing as major as the last installment.
And So We Meet
Chapter Two
Ken watched Daisuke disappearing through the fire escape, and managed to wait until the other young man was completely gone before he followed suit, going back to his apartment. Once he was safely there, he pulled out his D3. And it wasn't long before he was standing in his control room, the monitors in front of him illuminating the area with a familiar, almost comforting glow. He had arrived dressed as the Kaiser, as he always did, but decided to remove the glasses covering his eyes. Throwing them to the floor, they evaporated in a burst of data. He glanced around.
As expected, Wormmon was snoozing quietly in some dark corner. Ken had tried to get his partner to break this habit, which was a reminder of Ken's less enlightened days. But Wormmon had become accustomed to it, apparently, and it was almost always where he chose to sleep, even though Ken had offered his much more comfortable throne as an alternative. Walking over to the small digimon, Ken picked him up, cradling him in his arms.
Wormmon's eyes fluttered open. "...Ken-chan?"
Ken didn't respond, slumping against the wall nearby and sliding to the ground. Once sitting, he collapsed to the side, resting his head on the cold, unforgiving stone beneath him. He curled into a fetal position, and hugged his partner as tightly as he could without hurting him.
"What's wrong, Ken-chan? You're only ever like this when something really bad has happened."
Ken began to shake, and, unable to hold it in any longer, tears leaked from his eyes, rolling wetly down his cheeks.
He stayed like that for a while.
___
It turned out that, no matter how much Daisuke was supposed to be the brave one, he couldn't bring himself to confess to his friends the next day. He tried to rationalize it to himself: This doesn't change anything, we're still enemies, I'll never let it happen again. But what it really boiled down to was that he couldn't bear to see the looks on their faces when he told them. Daisuke was a bold, abrasive person by nature, and it had always alienated him from others, be they peers or elders. Even now that he was older, more athletic, and arguably better looking, he still had trouble making friends. When he'd been eleven, it had been easy to convince himself that he was awesome in spite of what everyone else seemed to think, but even Daisuke's natural optimism couldn't shield him from reality forever. He may not have been a genius like Ken or Koushiro or Miyako, but he wasn't stupid. Not really.
He was reluctant to jeopardize the friendships he had made with the other Chosen Children. How was he supposed to tell them that he had basically fucked their enemy? How was he supposed to make it sound like anything other than what it was: a betrayal? How was he supposed to look them in the eye, knowing that they knew? It filled him with shame, but this was one thing that he just couldn't bring himself to reveal. Not now -- not when he needed them not to hate him.
That was what really bothered him about what was going on with Ken, who kept asking whether or not Daisuke hated him; Daisuke had never once asked the same, because he was almost certain that he knew the answer. And, for all that the two of them were enemies, and that Daisuke couldn't decide whether or not he wanted to the punch Ken half of the time, Daisuke knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he couldn't deal with knowing that Ken hated him.
When he actually met up with the Chosen Children the following day, Daisuke knew from the way they were casting him strange looks that he was giving himself away. It was an unfortunate fact that Daisuke was a terrible liar, even if it was with something as simple as withholding information. Thankfully, the only one who actually asked about it was V-mon, the others perhaps sensing the fact that it would make Daisuke feel even more uncomfortable. And V-mon had been satisfied, if confused, by Daisuke's answer of "girl troubles". When they went to the Digital World, they encountered no resistance - not even the usual contingent of ringed Digimon. And, by the end of the day, Daisuke had managed to push the guilt to the back of his mind, at least enough that he was no longer fidgeting with every damn thing he could get his hands on.
The next day, the guilt had become something like a memory. Still there, but flitting in and out of his consciousness, mostly harmless. In its place, however, there was something infinitely worse.
He wanted to see Ken again, so badly that it almost scared him.
______
"I think it's time to end this, Wormmon."
The small Digimon scuttled up to his partner, baby blue eyes trained on the design taking shape upon the screen. "What is it, Ken-chan?"
The Kaiser's expression was unreadable. "I need an incentive for them to surrender. Up until now, I've been too cautious. If things continue the way they're going, the Chosen Children may very well put a serious dent in my network of Dark Towers." Even more of the object was revealed in a flurry of assembling data. "This is an Evil Spiral, Wormmon. I'd considered creating them when I first arrived here, but, after I realized the truth, I no longer saw any need."
"...What will it do?"
The Kaiser finally stopped typing, turning slightly so that Wormmon could see his face more clearly. And even though his eyes were shrouded by his customary dark glasses, Wormmon knew from the pinched, downwards slope of the Kaiser's mouth that he was just a hairs-breadth away from crying. "I can use it to evolve a partner Digimon into its ultimate stage while still under my control."
"In that case," said Wormmon, "Please use it on me."
The Kaiser shook his head. "I would never put you through something so horrible." He gave Wormmon a sad smile. "I don't even think I would have been able to do it before, although I would have come up with some foolish excuse as to why."
"I..." began Wormmon, unsure of whether or not to express the sentiment that was weighing heavy on his heart. It wasn't that he was afraid that the Kaiser would lash out, as he had before, but rather that it might cause his partner even more pain. But, after a moment of deliberation, Wormmon finally said, "I wish you would stop hurting yourself like this."
"...This is something that I have to do."
"Why?" asked Wormmon, moving in closer. "Why does it have to be you, Ken-chan? I know you hate this, so...why?"
The Kaiser turned back to his work. "I don't get to do bad things only when it's convenient for me. My hands are already dirty, so the burden is mine to bear."
"But you didn't know it was real! They...they made you forget!"
"Ignorance is not an excuse. I made my choice, and now that I know what needs to be done, I can't take the easy way out." He chuckled bitterly. "It's only fitting that the place I once thought of as a sanctuary should eventually become my prison."
"Ken-chan..." Wormmon felt his vision blurring, and hands circling around his middle, lifting him up.
"Shh," said the Kaiser, resting him in his lap. "Don't cry."
But that only made Wormmon cry harder, burying his face in the Kaiser's midriff. "It hurts, knowing that you're hurting."
For a minute or two, the Kaiser did nothing but pet him. Then, he said, "...I know it's selfish for me to ask you this, Wormmon. But...please be strong. I..." He heard his partner take a deep breath. "I need you to be strong for me, alright?"
Wormmon nodded, and forced himself to stop crying.
_____
Chibimon was confused. "But I still don't get it, Daisuke. What does "girl troubles" mean?"
"Geez," said Daisuke, flopping back on his bed. "You were fine with that answer yesterday."
"Well, I hadn't really thought about it yet. But now that I have, I don't know what it means."
Daisuke slung his arm across his eyes. "I guess...it's not really as simple as that, anyways."
"Like how?"
"Like...'girl troubles' sounds as if I can't get some girl I like to like me back, but...this is way more complicated."
"So...she does like you back?"
"That's not really the problem, Chibimon. It's more that I have no idea what this person is thinking, you know? And I miss the way things used to be between us."
"Who is this person?" asked Chibimon, bouncing up onto the bed. "Do I know her?"
For a moment, Daisuke didn't say anything, as if he was thinking. "...It isn't a girl," he finally said.
"But you said it was 'girl troubles'," replied Chibimon, even more confused than before.
"Chibimon...what I'm about to tell you - you have to promise that you won't tell anyone else, okay?"
"Of course, Daisuke. You're my partner."
"Okay..." he said, taking a deep breath. "It's the Kaiser."
"Oh," said Chibimon.
"...Yeah."
"I guess that kinda makes sense."
"It does?" asked Daisuke, surprised.
"Yeah. You were friends, weren't you?" Chibimon crawled onto Daisuke's stomach. "And it makes sense that you wouldn't want to fight somebody who used to be your friend."
Daisuke sighed. "That's just it - I think that I may like him more than as just a friend."
"You mean like the way you like Hikari?"
"Yeah," he said. "Kinda." He sighed yet again. "...Maybe."
Chibimon still wasn't sure what Daisuke meant, but he had a feeling that Daisuke did, and was skirting around what he actually wanted to say. "So, what do you wanna do about it?"
Daisuke finally removed his arm, looking at Chibimon with a mixture of guilt and determination. "I wanna go to the Digital World," he said.
"You mean now?"
Daisuke pushed himself up. "Yeah." He gave Chibimon another guilty look. "But...would you mind if I went by myself? I promise I'll be back by morning."
Chibimon wasn't all that happy about being left by himself, to be perfectly honest. It happened whenever Daisuke went to school, and being left alone once a day was already too often. The fact that Daisuke was going to see the Digimon Kaiser did not make the situation any more appealing. But he could see how earnest Daisuke was, so he said, "Alright. But only if you get me candy tomorrow!" V-mon paused for a moment, considering his options. "Lots and lots of candy," he added.
Daisuke grinned. "You betcha."
___
Of course, that was easier said than done. It meant that Daisuke had to find a way to sneak out of his apartment -- which was not a simple task, considering that Jun was a light sleeper -- and somehow break into the computer lab at school.
Luckily, he managed to do the former, although the latter proved trickier. He arrived at the school grounds to find the gate locked, and had to scale the chain-link fence that separated the grounds from the street. He was terrified that somebody would see him and notify his principal; he didn't know what his parents would do if he was kicked out of high school, but it certainly wouldn't be pleasant.
Daisuke ran around the back, where it was harder to see him from the street, only to find that he wasn't alone after all. Standing near the back door was a group of yankees, smoking cigarettes and chatting. When one of the boys caught sight of him, he sneered and notified his companions.
"You gonna snitch, bastard?" asked one of the girls, taking a step forward.
Daisuke plastered what he hoped was an innocent grin on his face. "You kidding? That would get us all in trouble." He swallowed, and moved closer. "Is that door open?"
The group of them - there were five in total - exchanged looks. Then, the girl who had spoken before said, "Yeah. Lazy bastards always forget to lock it."
"So...can I go in?"
The yankees exchanged yet more meaningful looks, then stepped aside to let him through. Although Daisuke could still feel their glares burning into his back as he passed them. Once inside, Daisuke headed straight for the computer lab, all the while wondering if he'd finally gone crazy. Soon, he was standing in the clearing of a forested area, and he found a nice comfortable rock to sit down on. The Kaiser almost undoubtedly had some method of detecting them, and Daisuke knew that his adversary would investigate the minute he was alerted to the presence of a Chosen Child.
That was assuming Ken was even in the Digital World, of course. But Daisuke was willing to wait and find out.
____
The Kaiser did indeed have a means of detecting the Chosen Children, and was surprised to see the alert that popped up on his screen. He was not surprised, however, to discover exactly who it was that had decided to come.
"That fool," he said, a frown tugging at his lips.
"Is that Daisuke?" asked Wormmon. "I thought the other Chosen Children didn't come here at night."
"They usually don't, but I don't think he's here to fight." The lack of Daisuke's partner was evidence enough of that.
"What are you going to do, Ken-chan?"
The Kaiser stood, his frown deepening. "I'm going to give him what he wants."
____
After about half an hour of waiting, Daisuke found himself nodding off, catching brief glimpses of nonsensical dream-world in-between the extended periods of the forest's underbrush. It was during one of these odd dream sequences that he heard the unmistakable sound of an Airdramon's wings, and felt a gust of harsh wind across his face.
His eyes snapped open to see the Kaiser stepping down from his slave, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Um..." began Daisuke, suddenly feeling very awkward. "Hi."
The Kaiser came closer, the grass of the clearing crunching underneath his boots. "Don't waste my time. You obviously came here for a reason, so spit it out."
"I just want to talk," said Daisuke, cursing the way his stomach erupted in butterflies.
"Fine. So talk."
Daisuke followed the Kaiser's lead, crossing his arms. "Not while you're dressed like that."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Not while you're in that stupid cosplay."
Daisuke wasn't sure, but he could have sworn the Kaiser's cheek twitched. "You're being childish," he said.
"Oh yeah?" said Daisuke impetuously. "Well -- you're being stubborn."
For a moment, the Kaiser didn't do anything. Eventually, however, his mouth twisted downwards, and he uncrossed his arms, fiddling with something on one of his armbands. In a flurry of data, the Kaiser was transformed into Ichijouji Ken, that same armband the only remnant of his alternate self.
It was odd how much more innocent he looked, dressed as he was in a rather cozy-looking sweater. Daisuke was fairly sure that Ken's mother had knitted it for him herself.
"Thanks," said Daisuke. His eyes flickered to the Airdramon. "Could you...you know..."
Ken made a disdainful noise, but instructed the Airdramon to fly a distance away. "Are you satisfied?" he asked, glaring.
The question was a harsh reminder of what had happened between them only a few days before, and the memory of it made Daisuke blush. Thinking back, it was more embarrassing than anything. Even so, he found himself walking up to Ken and leaning forward to kiss him.
Ken for his part didn't seem to protest, even going so far as to respond. After the kiss had barely begun, however, he broke it off by pushing Daisuke away and crossing his arms across his chest once again.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, without looking Daisuke in the eyes.
Just like that, Daisuke understood why Ken had been so reluctant to take off his Kaiser getup: now as in the past, Ken was absolutely awful at hiding his real emotions -- at least when it came to things that he hadn't planned for. And right now the young man looked flustered and uncomfortable, but also incredibly sad, and it took all of Daisuke's willpower not to hug him.
"I don't know," Daisuke replied. "I just...really wanted to."
"Have you already forgotten what I've done to you?" snapped Ken, glaring. "Didn't you say that you won't forgive me?"
"I haven't forgotten. And...I haven't forgiven you yet. But this isn't about that."
Ken's expression darkened even further. "Then what is it about?"
Daisuke sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You know, I don't get you. You're the one who's been--"
"What? Touching you?" interrupted Ken, his tone derisive. "Did it ever cross your mind that I was simply trying to make you feel uncomfortable?"
"...Huh?"
"You really are a simpleton, aren't you? I've always disliked frivolous contact; I was just doing it to throw you off balance."
Daisuke knew that there was a spark of truth in those words, but he also knew that something about them didn't sit right. He wasn't the brightest, it was true (and he had matured enough to finally acknowledge it), but he wasn't exactly stupid either. "That's not it," he said, because the answer was suddenly clear to him. Why hadn't he thought of it sooner?
"Really," said Ken, smirking nastily. "Please do enlighten me."
Daisuke examined the other boy for a moment, taking note of the slight bags under his eyes. "You were trying to make me think that you've changed," he said. "But I don't think you have -- not really."
Daisuke felt somewhat triumphant at the look of surprise his words earned him. "How can you even say something so absurd?" asked Ken. "Have you not been paying attent--"
Without giving Ken the opportunity to finish his sentence, Daisuke lunged forward and kissed him, more insistently than before. This time, Ken put up more of a struggle, although it didn't last for long. Daisuke allowed his hands to snake their way around Ken's waist, splaying them on his back. He could feel lean muscles working beneath Ken's sweater.
Daisuke was the one who eventually broke it, although he didn't let go of the other boy, pulling him into an embrace instead. "You don't have to do this," he said softly, mouth very close to Ken's ear. "You don't have to fight us."
Was it has imagination, or was Ken trembling? "You're wrong."
"Tell me why, then." Daisuke hugged him tighter, closing his eyes. "The real reason."
"I have already." And yes, Ken was definitely trembling.
"I don't believe you."
"I don't care."
Daisuke pulled back, and contemplated resting his hands on Ken's shoulders. He didn't, though. "Do you hate me?" he asked. Daisuke was surprised to find just how easily the question came.
At first, Ken said nothing; it was then that Daisuke noticed that there were tears in his eyes, calling forth the memory of the day when everything had changed between them. "Why do you have to make this so difficult?"
"Ken..."
Ken's glare returned, though it did little to hide the fact that his tears were now spilling over onto his cheeks. "You and your friends have the moral high-ground. Can't you just be content with that?" He wiped his eyes aggressively with the sleeve of his sweater. "Things are never going to go back to the way they were. We're enemies, Daisuke."
Suddenly, it clicked. "You're protecting us from something," he said, eyes widening.
He could tell from Ken's silence that he was correct.
"All this time, it really was an act, wasn't it?"
Ken smiled bitterly, his eyes now dry. "Believe what you want; it won't change anything."
"Bullshit," said Daisuke.
"I can see that this conversation is now completely pointless," growled Ken.
"Yeah. I guess so." Daisuke was becoming increasingly frustrated. Ken had always been stubborn, but never to this extent. Again he wondered just what had happened in the years that they had been separated. Osamu's death obviously had something to do with it, but Daisuke had a feeling that it was only one piece in the puzzle. And hey, since he was already here, he figured that he may as well milk it. "So...did you ever find out what happened to that Ryo guy?"
It was funny how, out of everything else that Daisuke had said to him, this simple question seemed to affect Ken the most. There were no tears this time, but Ken was so shocked that his mouth was hanging open slightly. Daisuke would have laughed, had he been in a better mood.
"You...remember?" whispered Ken, as if he couldn't quite process the information.
"Well, yeah. I mean, that was the first time you really opened up to me. I'm not gonna forget about something like that."
Ken blinked hard and took a deep breath. "That's not what I meant."
"Okay. So what did you mean?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Yeah, I'm still not buying it."
Ken glared. "I don't care."
"Hey--didn't we already have this conversation?"
Ken shook his head, still glaring. "I'm leaving," he said.
"Wait," said Daisuke, grabbing him by the wrist. "You didn't answer the question."
For a moment, it looked as though Ken was going to pull out of Daisuke's grip and leave, but he didn't. "I..." he began, his glare transforming into a sadder expression. "All I know is that he's somewhere that I can't reach him."
"He's still alive, though?"
"Probably." Ken put his hand on top of the one holding his wrist in place, making it clear that he wanted Daisuke to let go. "Goodnight, Daisuke."
However, Daisuke wasn't willing to let him leave just yet. He tugged him closer and snagged him around the waist, hugging him from behind. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it soon after. And for several minutes they just stood there, not saying anything to one another.
Eventually, Ken said, "Let go." But he made no move to break free of the embrace. "Please...let go."
And Daisuke let go of Ken, very reluctantly. "Will I be able to see you again?" He swallowed. "I mean...alone--like this."
Ken didn't turn around to look at him, but said, "If you swear not to ask any more questions, I'll meet you here tomorrow."
He left before Daisuke could reply.
