Disclaimer: I still don't own Digimon 02.

Warning: This chapter contains non-graphic nudity.

Revised on: 06/11/2017

Captive

Chapter Two

When she woke up, she didn't know what time it was. After all, there was no daylight in the cellblock - only the glow of luminescent panels. She had never really considered how disconcerting it could be, not knowing whether it was night or day. Was this how people felt in parts of the world where there was no sunlight for months on end? She could see how it could drive a person crazy.

She threw back the covers. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she was pretty sure that the heat had been turned up. Honestly, it wouldn't have surprised her. Trust the Kaiser to change the thermostat once she was already bundled up in heavy blankets and thick pajamas.

Miyako had always been a fitful sleeper, and liked to sprawl her limbs out to take up the whole of the bed. Moreover, her go-to solution for being overheated like this was to kick off her pajama bottoms. She figured that the Gotsumon guard was probably still there, but its back would be turned. And anyway, Digimon didn't really have genders, so it's not like it could get the wrong idea.

So, off came the pajama bottoms. She sighed in pleasure at the feeling of relatively cool air hitting her warm skin.

That is, of course, until she felt the cooler air hitting a rather sensitive part of her anatomy a bit more directly than she had been expecting. And then, a certain somebody cleared his throat pointedly.

Miyako sat up at lightning speed, pulling the covers over her legs with shaking hands. Blood rushed to her face, and she fumbled for her glasses. Sure enough, the Kaiser was standing outside of the cell.

"Were you..." she began, swallowing past the harsh dryness of her throat. "Were you watching me sleep?!"

"Of course not," the Kaiser said, though something in his tone was different from usual. And even with the dark glasses obscuring most of his face, Miyako could see that he was blushing beet red. "I wouldn't-" He swallowed visibly. "That would be completely inappropriate."

"Oh god." Miyako put her head in her hands in order to cover up her own blush. "Please tell me this is a dream."

"I'll...uh...get you some breakfast."

She heard him walking away through the pounding in her ears, and then coming back some time later. She was so mortified that she didn't even care how hungry or thirsty she was.

The cell door opened.

"...You're probably hungry," said the Kaiser.

Miyako looked up, still blushing, and found that he was holding the tray of food himself. "Why didn't you just send one of your slaves?"

He didn't answer as he held the tray out for her to take, and she did so without pressing the issue further. She went for the water first, gulping down most of it within a few seconds. By the time she was finished, she was ready to get started on the food.

But the Kaiser still hadn't left.

"Um..." she began, the awkwardness doing little to make the blush go away. "Is there something you want to say?"

As always, Miyako couldn't be sure of the exact expression upon the Kaiser's face. All she knew was that he appeared to be very uncomfortable. After several moments of awkward silence, however, he finally said, "I'm sorry."

"...Excuse me?"

"Do I really need to repeat myself?"

She frowned. "I guess I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't hallucinating."

The Kaiser crossed his arms. "I should have made sure that you were fully clothed before coming in. I was mistaken in not having consideration for your privacy. So I apologize for my lack of foresight."

Miyako marveled at how he could even make an apology sound so condescending. "Okay, so let me get this straight: you insult me, my friends, and my family. And that doesn't warrant an apology. You sent digimon who fling garbage after me and Mimi-neesan, and that doesn't warrant an apology." Her eyebrows drew together in disbelief. "In the end, what finally makes you feel the need to apologize is accidentally catching a glimpse of me without any panties on?" She shook her head slightly. "I don't know if anybody has ever told you this before, but...you're strange." Being so strange herself, Miyako felt like she was a good judge of such things.

She was half expecting the Kaiser to go into one of his infamous temper tantrums. But all he said was, "Maybe I am."

Miyako couldn't help herself; she began to giggle uncontrollably. The whole situation was so silly and awkward that she couldn't help herself.

The Kaiser, it seemed, did not share her amusement. "I don't see what's so funny."

That only made her giggle harder. "It's just so weird," she said at last, catching her breath and wiping at her eyes. "The Digimon Kaiser just brought me breakfast in bed, and I still haven't put any pants on!" She burst into another fit of laughter.

Once again, the Kaiser blushed beet red, taking note of the grey pajama pants still crumpled next to the bed. "You mean that you're still-?" He cut himself off, turning his head to the side slightly. Miyako guessed that he was averting his eyes.

Miyako tried to suppress a grin. "I'm covered up, Ichijouji-kun. You don't have to protect my modesty."

But his head didn't move. "I'm not bringing you breakfast in bed," he insisted.

"I mean, you brought me breakfast, and I'm still in bed..."

"That's just a coincidence!" he snapped. He cleared his throat and turned his head to face her again - though he looked pointedly at the wall behind her. "I actually came here to tell you that I'm setting you free."

This caught Miyako off guard. "...Eh?"

His expression turned sour. "It seems that your friends decided to make a concerted effort to rescue you, and they managed to somehow retrieve your Digivice unscathed."

She was tempted to make some snide remark, but she held her tongue.

"As such, keeping you here any longer would be completely pointless."

"So...that's it. You're just letting me go?"

"Yes," he said.

Miyako still couldn't believe it, though; it was all just a bit too convenient. "This isn't a some kind of sick mind-game, is it?"

She couldn't be sure, but she had a feeling that the Kaiser rolled his eyes. "No. I really am letting you go."

"Um, okay," said Miyako, still not sure whether or not to trust him.

"I'll have an Airdramon fly you down to a Digital Gate. I've already messaged your friends with the coordinates." He pulled out her D-Terminal and handed it to her. It felt strange, taking it from him so easily, especially after the events of the previous day.

He began to leave, and, before she could stop herself, Miyako blurted out, "Thank you." Because, even as ridiculous as she knew it was, she really did feel gratitude.

The Kaiser paused his exit for a moment. "Don't misunderstand - you're nothing but an eyesore, and I'll be happy to be rid of you."

It was almost too cliche - like a line out of an anime. She forced herself not to say anything, though, and the Kaiser finally made his exit.

He kept his word.

The Kaiser's gaze was intense as he watched Miyako fly upon one of his Airdramon slaves. He knew that it was a sacrifice, since she and her friends would no doubt free it once she was with them again. But for some reason he couldn't bring himself to care all that much.

He felt strange.

Memories of the past day kept repeating over and over again in his mind. Not the incident from that morning, which made him blush whenever he thought of it, but subtler details: the way her eyes had flashed when she was angry, in particular. It made his stomach twist with something akin to excitement, and he had no earthly idea as to why.

All he knew for certain was that he wanted to see her like that again. He wanted to make her squirm.

Already, half-formed plans were emerging amidst the scenes stuck on replay, and a sinister smile played upon his lips.

Oh yes, he thought, feeling that odd excitement stir. She thought that it was over, but she had no idea just how very wrong she was.

"Okay, I still don't get it. Why the heck did you go to the Digital World alone?"

Miyako sighed. "I don't know. I was stressed, and I needed to be alone. I..." God, she felt like an idiot. "I wasn't thinking."

"No shit," said Daisuke. "You're supposed to be smart."

Under normal circumstances, Miyako would have started shouting at him. But she felt much too guilty. "I know," she said. "I'm really sorry."

"Maybe you should lay off a little, Daisuke-kun," said Hikari, putting a hand on his shoulder. She then turned to Miyako. "We were all really worried about you, Miyako-san. Please don't do something like this again."

Miyako nodded solemnly, hugging Poromon tightly to her chest. "I've definitely learnt my lesson."

Daisuke pouted, mumbling, "You owe me and Chibimon a million liters of ice-cream."

"Yeah," agreed Chibimon. "A million."

"Right, I get it. Tomorrow, I'll treat everyone to ice-cream."

All the Digimon made noises of approval.

They all left the computer lab and walked to their respective apartments, although Takeru lingered behind Miyako and Iori so that he could speak with Hikari. This meant that Miyako found herself walking home with an Iori who she knew from experience to be in a very bad mood.

"Please don't still be angry with me," she said, once the awkward silence had become unbearable.

"I'm not angry with you, Miyako-san."

"Then why are you pretending that I'm invisible?"

"You're misunderstanding, Miyako-san."

"I'm not misunderstanding; you always pull this routine when you're angry about something. If you have something to say, just say it already!"

Iori stopped walking, his mouth pulled into a thin line. There was an extended pause, and then, "I don't live far from you."

Miyako stopped as well. "And?" she pressed, feeling a little anxious. She hated it when Iori was angry with her.

"And, if you need a break from people..." A frown. "Now that it's just Mother and I, it's been quiet."

Miyako's eyes widened in understanding, and she felt the guilt flare in her abdomen, stronger than before. Iori's grandfather had died of a heart attack the previous year, and the young man had been completely devastated. The funeral was the last time she could remember him showing any kind of strong emotion, and she had become so wrapped up in her own problems that she had completely lost sight of the fact that he was still grieving.

Iori continued. "Better to come to my apartment than to go to the Digital World, even if you want to be alone. Mother works late, so you'd have the living room to yourself."

Miyako bit her bottom lip, feeling her eyes burn with unshed tears. "I'm sorry, Iori-kun. I've been so selfish."

He shook his head. "I understand how much stress you've been under. I just wish that you could rely on me a little more."

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she said, "Of course. Next time, I'll remember."

Iori looked at her directly for the first time since she had been released, and gave her a small smile. "Thank you."

They began to walk again, but, this time, the silence was comfortable.

Miyako was thankful to find that her fellow Chosen Children had taken the liberty of explaining her day-long absence. According to the story, she had gone over to Hikari's place so that they could study together, and had come down with a cold while there. Her parents and siblings had accepted this explanation to an extent, but that didn't mean that they were happy about it.

"Well of course you're going to get sick if you go out in the middle of the night like that," her mother admonished. "I don't understand how you could do that without even asking me first."

Miyako was tempted to defend herself, but she knew from years of experience that it wouldn't do her any good. So she picked up a pillow from the sofa she was sitting on and hugged it to her chest, hoping that it would relieve some of the tension building up inside.

"Your grades have been slipping," her mother continued. "That was fine back in elementary school, but now you have to buckle down." Her mother sighed. "This is probably our own fault, for going so easy on you when you were younger. I mean, you did so well in middle school. I don't know what happened between now and then that's made you become so lazy." She huffed. "High school is expensive, you know, and if you're not going to work hard then I'm not going to keep paying for it. You can drop out and work full-time in the store."

Miyako squeezed the pillow so tight that she was afraid it would split at the seams.

"I don't buy that you went over to that girl's apartment to study. You must think that I'm some kind of idiot - that I don't know that you spend most of your time playing silly games on the computer."

"That's not..." Miyako trailed off. What was she supposed to say? Actually, Mom, I spend most of my spare time fighting some weirdo megalomaniac in another world. Yeah right.

"See? You can't even deny it." Her mother sat down beside Miyako on the sofa, and her anger dissipated somewhat. "Both of your sisters decided to work instead of going to high school, Miyako, and they're both happy. But you say you want to go to university, so it's your responsibility to make it happen. I don't even know if your father and I can afford to send you." Her mother's eyes were weary, but not unkind. "You may have to get a part-time job and start saving, if this is what you really want. It's time for you to start acting like an adult."

Miyako released the pillow, suddenly feeling very tired. "Right," she said. "I need to act like an adult. Can I go to my room now?"

The tightening around her mother's mouth was a good indication that Miyako was in for yet another tongue lashing. But all she got was, "Fine. Make sure that you get enough rest today, because you're not missing school tomorrow."

Miyako padded across the carpet of their living room and into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Walking up to her twin-sized bed, she stooped down and whispered, "It's alright to come out now, Poromon."

The ball of pink feathers shuffled out from under her bed and bounced into her arms. "Was your mother very upset?"

Miyako groaned and stood up, only to collapse backwards onto her bed. "That's putting it lightly."

"I'm not surprised," said Poromon. "You should have heard how frantic she was this morning when she discovered your absence. If not for the others, she may have even called in the police."

Miyako ran her hands through his feathers; they were downy and soft, and made her feel a bit more calm. "That's not the only thing she's mad about."

"Is she still being hard on you for your schoolwork?"

"She's given me an ultimatum: get good grades or get a job." She rolled over, the bedspread rustling beneath her, and hugged Poromon closer. "I don't know what to do, Poromon. As long as that jerk is still in the Digital World, I have to keep on fighting. But I feel like I have to choose between fighting and my future."

"If going to university is really so important to you, then perhaps you should take a break from fighting."

Miyako smiled sadly. "You know that I can't do that, Poromon."

"I know, but I wouldn't hold it against you, and I don't think the others would, either."

Miyako released him from her arms and pushed herself off the bed, rising to her feet. She then walked over to her desk, sat down, and turned on her computer.

Since she finally had the opportunity to get some studying in, she figured that she might as well take advantage of it.