Watch Who You Trust

Part 3

Ryo Akiyama barely even flinched when the young boy's fist collided with his face, even though it hurt like hell. Ken Ichijouji had the right to be mad at him, and the kid didn't even know half of the things that he had done. He gave a forced smile. "I still can't answer any of your questions, Ken. I'm sorry, but I just can't. I'm so sorry."

Ken stared straight into the eye of the boy who he had once called a friend. He was hiding something, but what was it? He slowly turned his gaze away, tears still streaming down his face. "I know," he whispered angrily. "But I still don't understand."

Ryo gave another forced smile. Why did he care about this kid? That wasn't part of the plan. He wasn't supposed to care. He turned his gaze away from the young boy. "There was a reason why I told you to come back today. Follow me." He turned and walked into the forest, followed by Spiritmon.

'I hope that he follows me,' he thought to himself. 'If he doesn't, things will just get worse. I think that he will, though. It will make things so much easier.'

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Ken stared at the departing figure. He knew that he had to follow Ryo. He took a deep breath and tried to stop crying. He walked over to Wormmon and picked him up gently. "Come on, Wormmon. I guess we have to follow him."

Wormmon looked up at his human companion in wonder. "What you were saying earlier," he asked in his quiet way, "were you talking about your brother, Sam? You said something about Ryo knowing that he would...that he would die." Ken smiled down weakly at his Digimon partner, trying not to start crying again. "Yeah, that's right. He was ki.. was kill... was hit by a car. Ryo knew about it. He knew." He didn't say anything more, and Wormmon didn't push him.

The four of them, two humans and two Digimon, walked silently through the forest for hours. They were all silent for different reasons, though. Ryo was silent because he was thinking about the future and what was going to happen. Ken was silent because he was thinking about the past and what he wanted to have told Sam. The Digimon were silent because their human companions were.

The silence was broken when Ryo spoke. "Spiritmon, Wormmon, and I are going to camp here tonight. Ken, you need to go home so your parents won't worry. Tomorrow, I'll show you what we have to do."

Ken didn't say anything to the other boy, but he did nod his head curtly. He sighed and looked around to see where they were. His mouth almost dropped open in surprise. They were in the same spot where he and Ryo had camped the first night he had came to the Digital World. They were almost back to that seemingly never-ending desert.

"Ken, you had better get home," Ryo said with a wry grin. "You wouldn't want your parents to worry about you. Just be back tomorrow."

Ken smiled coldly at Ryo. He was about to tell him that he wouldn't be back, ever, when he looked over at Wormmon. He gave a sigh. "I'll be back tomorrow, but not for your sake. I'm coming back for Wormmon's sake. And you don't have to worry about my parents, they won't even notice if I'm there or not."

He slowly pulled the Digivice out of his back pocket. He gave another cold look at Ryo. "I trusted you. Did you know that? I considered you to be another onii-san. I would have done almost anything for you. You've lost my trust, though, and you might never get it back." Ken glared at him as he was pulled back into the real world. "How could you betray me like this?"

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Ryo stared at where the young boy had stood. A few tears trickled down his face. Why did what Ken thought of him matter so much? Why did it upset him? What was it about that little boy? Why was it becoming so hard to follow the plan?

Invisible to the young boy and the two Digimon, a dark force watched them. It gave an irritated groan. "This human boy, Ryo, is not as strong as I had thought. He is starting to care for the child, Ken. If he starts to hesitate about following the plan, I guess that I will have to 'persuade' him. Maybe if I show him the girl..." The creature gave an evil laugh as it turned away from Ryo.

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Ken landed on the ground in front of the computer with a thump. "This landing seems to get worse and worse," he muttered with a slight grin. The grin faded as he thought about what had happened the last couple of days. 'That's strange,' he thought suddenly. 'I don't feel as bad about Sam anymore. Why is that though? Was it because I saw Ryo?' He shrugged as he pulled himself off the floor and headed out to the kitchen.

His parents were sitting at the table, motionless. They didn't even seem to notice when he walked in the room. He sighed before turning around to head to bed. He had known that they would be like this. "I'm still here, you know," he called behind him, his voice cracking. "Sam might be gone, but I'm still here." They just sat there, not even noticing that their youngest, and now only, son was even in the room.