Digits :: Chapter Two

Along the Gyre

A/N: Thanks to first chapter reviewers ^^ This chapter pushes the plot along a little towards the end, but everything's not crystal clear yet. All prior warnings apply. Daikeru and Kenari ahoy! (yes, Levii IS a great big weirdo)

.::.

After Miyako went back to napping, Hikari went back to looking at Ken. The seat next to him WAS empty, after all, and he'd just been drawing this whole time. She shook the idea from her head. She'd get yelled at by the teacher or the bus driver for swapping seats. And even if she didn't, Ken would probably just ignore her. He didn't even talk to Miyako, and she seemed like an easy conversationalist. Hikari didn't feel she had the knack to start up a conversation with anyone, let alone someone quiet like him.

"And here we're approaching…" The bus driver's remarks were becoming more sparse. It was just the trip to the host's house after all, how much could he come up with to say? It was impossible to hear him over the chatter in the front of the bus, but no one in the back seemed to care. Hikari checked her watch. Only about twenty more minutes. She sighed heavily and leaned back. Joining the others in their naps might be a better idea then talking to Ken anyway. She started to close her eyes when she heard a voice.

"Excuse me, do you have the time?" She opened her eyes to see "Goth Boy" peering over the seat at her. Had he just asked her that?

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"The time?" Ken repeated timidly, pointing to her pink wristwatch.

"Oh right!" Hikari said, sitting bolt upright, suddenly flustered. She pulled back her sleeve to look, "Ten till two," she answered, looking back up. Ken looked thoughtful, leaned over to get a better look at her then sank back into his seat.

"Thanks," she heard him say, then there was some scribbling.

"Sure," she responded. Must have gone back to drawing… She looked over to Miyako, then to her watch again, then to Takeru when a piece of paper fell in her lap. Blinking, she smoothed out the creases and looked at it. It was a sketch of…her? She looked up to see Ken leaning back over the seat. He blinked at her with his normal calm expression.

"Want it?"

"Why…did you draw me?" she inquired. He shrugged.

"Cause you're interesting?"

"Am I?"

"Sure."

"Mm," Hikari looked at the paper again then up at the boy. Was he wearing eyeliner or was that natural? She racked her brain for something to say. Silences were awkward. Especially when the other party didn't care. Ken seemed perfectly content just watching her. She pushed her hair back self consciously.

"Everyone else is asleep," she said. He nodded.

"Do you draw?"

"Do I what?"

"Draw."

"Uhm, yeah I guess…"

"Draw me something," he said, holding up his sketchbook, open to a new page.

"In a moving bus?"

"Yup."

"Isn't that hard? I mean if we hit a bump it could screw up everything…"

"Please," he held out the book again, a pencil tucked under his thumb. She frowned, but took the book. And the pencil. She brought it down to the page and began a sketch. Ken was watching her.

"Don't watch me," she told him, then to soften the remark, "Its distracts me," Ken sank down to the seat again, but before Hikari could draw another line, popped back up.

"This hurts my knees," he explained.

"Oh," she said, hesitating, "Do you want me to…" she gestured to the seat next to him.

"Yes."

"O-okay," she nodded, looking up the aisle then quickly sliding into the seat next to Ken. Now they were face to face. He didn't look much different up close. Still cute and…mysterious? She laughed internally at the thought.

"So…?" he prompted her, pointing to the paper. She nodded quickly, motioning for him to look out the window then continued her sketch. At the time she didn't know what to draw. But she settled on a flower. Girls draw flowers, right?

"There!" she said, holding it up for him to see. He nodded.

"Nice," he said, then cocked his head to the side, "Do you always draw flowers?"

"No," she explained, "But flowers are a girls forte. So I drew you a flower," That's when it happened. Until that moment, she hadn't seen him break his calm expression. But just then, he smiled.

No, he didn't smile. He grinned. His whole face broke into a grin, his eyes closing, and the corners of his mouth raising up in their direction. And it looked like the most natural thing in the world. Hikari couldn't help but brighten a little herself. It was a beautiful smile.

"You know, I really like you," he remarked(laughing!), "You're just so funny!"

"Funny? I wasn't trying…I didn't mean…" she said quickly, her cheeks pinking.

"Sign it," he said, pointing to her drawing with the grin still on his face. She silently obeyed. He picked it up.

"Yagami Hikari? I like you Yagami Hikari."

"T-thank you," she said.

"Call me Ken…Ichijouji Ken to be exact," he said.

"Alright, Ken," she said, eyeing him with interest. He was strange…even stranger then he'd seemed at first, but he was certainly interesting, "I'm not very popular, you know. Its nice to have someone say that."

"Oh well," he said, shrugging and putting away his sketchbook for the first time that bus trip, "I'm not exactly leaking charisma myself."

"Oh well," she agreed, with a smile. Today had started out so awful. But it was slowly becoming one of the best days of her life. She almost fit in! Takeru…he had been nice. Daisuke had been sweet too. And Miyako put up with her at least. And now Ken! He liked her! He wanted to be her friend! She felt like singing. The bus ride was suddenly wonderful.

~

Hikari had, once again, got the honor of the bedroll in the corner. The "dorm" room was quite a bit larger than she had expected, which meant more roommates. Which meant, on a universal scale, more girls that didn't like her. She was smoothing her sheets when she felt a pair of eyes boring into her back. She had a knack for recognizing things like that, sort of a sixth sense, as her brother always called it, but annoying as it was, she ignored it.

"Hey," said a voice, not at all friendly like Takeru or even Miyako. Hikari turned her head slowly. A taller girl with black pigtails stared back at her. She wore a green shirt and a scowl.

"What's wrong?"

"You're hanging out with that Motomiya guy, aren't you?" she said. She was obviously chewing gum, because she snapped it, causing the smaller brunette to blink in surprise.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked, pinning back a piece of the huff she felt inside. The pigtailed girl sneered back.

"Do you social outcasts just flock together or something? I'd think even someone like you would be better than THAT queer."

Hikari opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. She lowered her eyes slowly. She could feel the other girl's satisfied smirk. Say something, she urged herself, Talk back, shoot her down. She looked back up, her jaw set in determination. But by that time, another girl was already approaching the pair at a rushed pace. Miyako Inoue tooo the rescue!!

"Hey, Yagiko," the bespectacled girl said, leaning an arm on Yagiko's shoulder, "Know what I think?"

"Yeah?" she sneered back, popping her gum again, Hikari almost forgotten now that that insolent hacker girl was leaning on her shoulder.

"I think you're just jealous. Because Daisuke would rather lay Takaishi than YOU, Yagiko." The dark haired girl gasped, then a scowl crossed her face, but she showed no intent of responding. Miyako looked smug as she linked arms with Hikari and pulled the shorter girl with her towards to door.

"Let's go, Hikari."

"Oh…ok," Kari responded as she was dragged out the door, "Where are we going anyway? Miyako?"

"Main room," the other said shortly, "She didn't say anything too bad, did she?"

"Who?"

"Yagiko, stupid."

"No, nothing."

Miyako flicked a glance in Kari's direction and released her hand, "Good," She said, and she sounded serious. But her tone changed in a second, "So, you were talking to Goth Boy on the bus, huh?"

"Yes, I was. He's nice, you know."

"I know. He's great."

"Hey Miyako!" the extra voice belonged to Daisuke, who jumped in front of the pair as a welcome to the 'main room', as Miyako dubbed it, "Hey Kari!"

"Daisuke," the brunette greeted brightly, looking over to the couch, "Hey Takeru!"

"Oh hey," the blonde acknowledged looking up from what was probably a school book, "You two done unpacking already?"

"We had a pest control problem," Miyako responded, flopping down on the couch with her legs wide spread. Hikari noticed she had changed into a short skirt after the bus ride. Daisuke did too.

"So you're wearing the BLUE undies today?" he chirped, throwing wink in her direction. She stretched lazily.

"Yup, just for you," she responded, but crossed her legs anyway. There was a silence. An uncomfortable one, Kari thought. Daisuke might have thought so too, because he pulled a candy packet out of his pocket and opened it loudly, letting the wrapper crinkle to the point where it was annoying.

"Stop messing around and eat it already," Takeru finally said, looking up from his book with disgust. The other boy smirked.

"Make me."

"You're just being difficult."

There was another silence. Maybe it was just paranoia, but Hikari felt that, well…her presence was causing them. If she hadn't been there, would Takeru have reacted differently? Miyako? Would they be talking about something completely different? She glanced at the silent trio. On the outside looking in, right? As usual. She suddenly though of Ken. Was he still unpacking? Where was he?

"I'll be back," she said quickly, taking a few steps towards the door, "I forgot to do something. Nice talking to you." Then she left. The three remaining teenagers glanced at each other, then at the exit.

"Wonder where she's going," Miyako said. The sound of Hikari's quiet footsteps faded. When she could no longer be heard, Daisuke leaped up from the couch and pulled the goggles (which were around his neck) up over his head to rest in his mop of burgundy hair.

"Okay," he said, in the same serious tone Miyako had taken while discussing Yagiko, "You know we have to do something about this."

"I don't think she suspects anything," the girl with glasses (and apparently blue undies) offered.

"I don't know," Takeru responded. He paused to crack his knuckles, "She seems like she might."

"She doesn't," Miyako said firmly, "She can't." Daisuke looked thoughtful.

"Well, as your fearless leader-"

"Our what?"

"No comments from you. I just want to look at the options. I like Hikari as much as the next person, but it breaks the pact."

"Oh right," said Miyako, rolling her eyes, "The pact."

"Its not just a pact!" Daisuke shot back, agitation growing, "Its our safety! Do you REALLY want someone to find out Miyako? Do you realize what might happen to us?"

"Don't yell at her," Takeru said. He sounded cranky as he pulled his knees up to his chest and looked to Daisuke, "Its hard for all of us." Daisuke looked at his sneakers.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I got carried away. I'm just worried."

"Its okay," Takeru said. Miyako managed a smile.

"I don't want to push her away," Miyako finally said, "I mean, maybe if we straight out tell her-"

"No!" Daisuke exclaimed, then caught himself, "No, we can't. What if her reaction is negative? We can't just snuff her, y'know."

"Maybe we should trust someone for once."

"Maybe not!"

"Are you so concerned over your own rep?"

"Its not just my rep, its-!"

"Keep your voices down!" Takeru interjected, looking around, "It isn't exactly private here," he glanced towards the exit again, "Hey wait…why are we the only ones in here? EVERYONE can't still be unpacking?"

"Hm, good point," Miyako said, raising up to her feet, "I'm going to go see. Maybe there's a fight or something!"

"You think?" Daisuke asked, pulling the goggles back down around his neck, "I'll go with you. Coming 'Keru?"

"Sure," Takeru said with a shrug. He stood up, "Nothing much going on here, is there?"

The alleged "fight" turned out to be nothing more than a broken window. The only odd part around it was the fact that no one really knew what happened. The host mother seemed to think it was a prank of sorts, and decided to keep a watchful eye on the students from then on, but there was no direct proof.

Hikari had been the last to find out, as she had seeked out Ken to start up a conversation, and when she did find out, she didn't give it much thought. Stuff like that happened all the time. It wasn't even worth discussing on the evening bus ride to the market square.

"Actually, I'm pretty excited," Hikari confided in the aptly dubbed Goth Boy, as the bus took a rather sharp turn. Takeru and Miyako made a point of squishing Daisuke behind her, "My brother, Taichi, said these evening trips were his favorite part. He said you can just run amok and hang out with your friends," Which I have now, so screw you Yagiko…

"That so?" Ken asked, enjoying the small talk. He had left his sketchbook back at the host home.

"Yup. I'm looking to buy a new hat or something…maybe I'll have some luck here."

"Cool," They smiled. The bus made one more violent turn before stopping short. A cheer erupted from the students as everyone begin to pile out.

"Single file!" called the teacher, but she shortly gave up. At least no one was getting stuck in the doorway. Miyako, Takeru and Daisuke had managed to get in front of Hikari and were pushing towards the door. Daisuke leaned over and whispered something to his blonde companion, who, in turn, turned to Miyako. They grabbed hands, then upon exiting the bus(Takeru tossed the driver a thank you), Miyako grasped Hikari's hand, adding her to the chain.

"Bye, Ken!" she called out helplessly, as they dragged her into the market square. Daisuke was practically running and the chain tagged along at a similar pace.

"This is going to be awesome!" he called back. He begin an exagerated skipping motion which the others followed. The trio was laughing a little to hard now to keep up the pace. Takeru almost tripped and Miyako took the opportunity to break the chain and run ahead of the group. The others followed and continued, hopping along and ignoring the looks from passerbys. Hikari watched them.

"Oh!" she called, finally breaking a smile, "Wait up!" As she followed her friends, that alleged sixth sense tugged at the back of her mind. Something was wrong. But that didn't matter now, did it? She had to catch up. She ran off, ignoring the shadow passing overhead.

~

"Well at least I got my hat," Hikari said, pointing to the pink fishing hat atop her head. It was lined in blue violet felt.

"Looks cute on you," Takeru said with a grin. They were walking arm in arm along the street. Under the lamplight everything looked so pretty. They had lost Daisuke and Miyako to window shopping, and although Hikari was keeping an eye out for Ken, she didn't completely miss him. It was fun anyway. Hikari was about to comment on a shop to their left when two girls from their class ran up breathlessly to the pair.

"Hey Takeru, 'Kari," said the first. Her hair was much lighter than her companion's, but only slightly shorter.

"Hey," Takeru said carefully. The second looked up.

"So anyway I have to know…are you guys going out?" she asked eagerly. Hikari and Takeru looked at each other then back to the other pair.

"Er, nope," he responded.

"See, I TOLD you!" the first girl added, smacking her friend on the arm (who rolled her eyes).

"Sorry," she said, "I just figured you must be going out with SOMEONE, Takeru…"

"How's that again?"

"Well are you?"

"Well um…" Hikari smiled inwardly at the blonde's response. If he said no, the most honest response, the gossips wouldn't accept the answer. He settled on a shrug.

"Ooh, he is!" one exclaimed to her friend, "So tell us, who is it?"

"Someone really pretty," Hikari piped, hoping desperately she was doing him a favor.

"Yeah," he said, "We'll just leave it there." The pair looked expectant.

"So um, nice talking to you guys," Hikari said, giving Takeru's arm a tug, the universal symbol for "lets get out of here before this gets out of hand". But unfortunately, Daisuke chose that moment to make an appearance, bounding up to his two friends.

"Hey guys," he greeted, then threw an arm around Takeru's shoulders, pulling the blonde's face closer to his. Kissing distance, Hikari noted, though she doubted he was actually going to try anything along those lines. Not now, anyway.

"Bought you a chocolate bar!" Daisuke said, flashing a cute smile and holding up a plastic bag. Takeru looked at the two gossiping girls sheepishly. They looked at each other.

"Told you so!" the lighter haired one squeaked, before they took off into a passing crowd. Daisuke blinked at their retreating shapes.

"What was that all about?"

"Please," Takeru said, rubbing his eyes, "Don't ask. Hey, let me pay you back for that, okay? I don't want you blowing anymore money on me."

"Aw, that's okay. I like you. Here, I bought Kari one too."

"You did? Thanks!" she exclaimed, accepting the gift from Daisuke. She tucked it in her purse after scanning the label, "Yum, dark chocolate. Thank you."

"Sure," he said, forcing the other candy bar into Takeru's hand. The blonde conceded.

"Hey, have you seen Ken?" Kari asked Daisuke. He shrugged, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his blue pullover.

"Um…maybe," he said, "I don't know, I wasn't really looking."

"Oh, that's okay."

"You two getting along okay, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, pretty well. He's nice." There was another pause. Kari chewed her bottom lip, "So um…Daisuke, what all did you buy?"

"Uh…" he dug in the plastic bag, "New key chain? It was cheap."

"Hey, its an evil happy face!" Takeru laughed, taking it from Daisuke's hand to inspect it.

"Oh that's cute," Hikari said, looking closely at the item, "Oh…hey! I have one just like that, I think! My brother bought it for me."

"Really? Can I see?" Daisuke asked, pocketing his own. She smiled.

"Sure!" she said, digging into her handbag, "Its right—"

And that's when it happened. She never reached the key chain. Because that's when…IT fell out of the handbag. She had this particular item wrapped up in a scarf of sorts to conceal it, but when it fell (in what seemed like slow motion to her) and hit the ground, it bounced out of its wrappings and lay there on the concrete for all to see. She snatched it up, as quick as she could, but the damage had already been done. Takeru and Daisuke looked at her, wide eyed. She begin to inch away, her bag hugged tightly against her chest.

"I…I…" she tried to say. Her throat felt frozen. They were staring. They had to know. She took a few more steps away. Daisuke came to his senses first, and moving much too fast for Hikari, managed to overpower the girl, grabbing her viciously from behind.

"Don't run," he hissed. She squirmed.

"L-let, me go!" she managed, "Please, its not like you think," if things kept going like this, she would not only lose her newfound friends, she was in grave danger of getting her ass seriously kicked, "Please! Don't tell! Just forget it!" Daisuke was trying to say something, and Takeru was yelling something else, but she couldn't hear them. She was too desperate.

"Just listen!" Daisuke said, keeping his grasp on the girl, "Don't panic! We're not going to hurt you!"

"Hikari! Hikari, listen to me!" Takeru said, forcing eye contact with her, "Hikari!" She calmed down only slightly, making an attemp to catch her breath. He was reaching in his pocket, pulling something out.

"Hikari!" he said again, more sharply then before. She looked at him. He was holding up a matching digivice. A green one.

"There," he said quietly, regaining his usual calm smile, looking very much relieved, "Is that better?"

~

A/N: Yes, it gets more confusing. Don't worry, part three will definitely clear this mess up ^^ And see the lil review button down there? Isn't it cute? Don't you just want to poke it? *coff*