Chapter Five: Hidden Evil
Kay could hardly avoid smiling. What does he think I am? A murderer?
Her attention was quickly drawn to Izzy, who stood beside her, his computer
tucked under his arm and an unreadable expression on his face. "Well?"
he asked, looking at her expectantly.
"Well what?"
"Aren't you coming?"
Kay rolled her eyes. "To listen to that weirdo yammer? Nah."
"But it might be important..."
"Fine." Sighing, Kay stood, brushing the pine needles from her
pants. She looked down at Izzy and grinned. "If you want me to that badly,
I'll go listen to Tai babble."
"Thanks..."
"But remember..." Kay winked at him and slung an arm across his
shoulder. "I'm only listenin' to you 'cause I like ya." Slowly, they began
walking toward the camp, where the fire's light could be seen burning brightly
through the trees.
This is weird, Kay thought. I hardly ever like people, much less
tell them.
"Kay?"
"Huh?" She blinked, and looked down at Izzy. "What?"
"Do you space out like that often?" he asked, smirking. "I've
been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes."
"Nah.. I was just thinking," she mumbled in reply, blushing slightly.
Smooth, the voice in the back of her mind growled. Make yourself look like
an idiot in front of the kid. Go ahead... I dare ya.
"Whatever you're going to tell us, Tai, make it quick, okay? We're
all exhausted."
"I _know_ that," Tai muttered, glaring at Matt. "Actually, that's
what I want to talk to you all about."
"What do you mean?" Mimi asked, frowning.
Tai shrugged, and produced a handful of sticks from behind his
back. "Well... there's eight of us now, and only three tents. I figured
it'd be fairer if we all drew straws to see who sleeps in and who sleeps
outside." From the corner of his eye, Tai could see Kay and Izzy standing
outside the ring of light. It was as if they had arrived just two seconds
ago.
"Forget it, Tai," Kay said, stepping closer. Her voice was tinged
with disgust, and she smirked slightly. "Really, you shouldn't change your
plans just 'cause of me. Besides.... I can't sleep in an enclosed space.
It just doesn't work for me, you know?"
"I... see." Great, Tai thought. _Now_ how am I going to keep
my eye on her? "Well, then.... I still think that since we're an even number
of people, two of us should stay out..."
"I'll do it, Tai," Izzy said, stepping forward.
"I- what?" Blinking, Tai looked at Izzy, surprised that he would
volunteer for something like that. "Are you sure?"
Izzy nodded, stepping closer. "Yeah, I'm sure. It's not a problem..."
This is weird, Tai thought. Usually he's the first one to agree
to stay inside. Oh well... at least this way I get to sleep easy, and there's
_someone_ to watch her every move... "Fine then, I suppose....."
"So do we got to sleep now, oh fearless leader?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Tai replied, trying to ignore the sarcasm
in Matt's comment. "But if I ever hear you calling me 'fearless leader'
again, you'll be on night watch for a week."
"Yeah, whatever," Matt muttered. He sighed and shook his head,
rolling his eyes at Tai's attempted threat. "I hope you're not sharing
a tent with me and TK again... your snores kept me up late last night."
"Don't worry," Tai said dryly. "I wouldn't dream of keeping you
from your beauty sleep."
Izzy watched as everyone entered their tents, ready to turn in
for the night. Soon the only ones still outside were Kay, Tai and himself.
"Well, then... I guess I'll go catch some Zs," Tai said, yawning.
"I think you guys should do the same, seein' as it's been a long day..."
"Yeah, yeah, sure sure. You do your thing, and I'll do mine.
Comprendez?" Kay replied, glaring at him.
"Uh... yeah, I get it," Tai swallowed, nodding. Something about
Kay still struck him as odd... Oh well, he thought. I'll figure it out
eventually. He turned to enter his tent, but he felt someone grab hold
of his arm. He looked down to see Izzy.
"Wait a sec, Tai," Izzy whispered, casting a sideways glance
in the direction of Kay, who was ignoring them for the most part. "I need
to tell you why I decided to stay out tonight."
Tai nodded thoughtful. "Yeah, I was wondering about that. Well,
c'mon, shoot. What's the deal?"
"Well....," Izzy began, face reddening slightly. "I know you
wanted to stay out, just so you could make sure she doesn't try anything.
But the thing is... she trusts me, I'm sure of it. And as weird as it sounds,
I trust her, even though I've only known her for half a day. There's just
something about her... it's like we're already good friends." He pauses,
swallowing hard. "That's why. Besides.... I think she'd be less likely
to try something when someone she trusts is around."
The explanation seemed to make sense. It hadn't passed Tai that
Kay had been more friendly to Izzy than she was to any of the others. "All
right, I get your point," Tai said, nodding. "But be careful, okay? I wouldn't
completely trust her just yet."
So, Kay thought. The kid trusts me. Strange... I thought he was
smart. Then again, sometimes the ones with the brains lack common sense...
She heard someone walking towards her, but didn't bother looking
up. She knew it was him. After all, it's not like it would be anyone else,
she thought. Something had been bothering her all night and somehow, Kay
knew that the something had to do with Izzy. She had seen him somewhere
before, she was sure of it, even though she wasn't quite sure where or
when. And yet.... there was more to it. There had to be. Something had
drawn her to him. During the nights when she and Dracomon had watched him
and the other Digi-destined, Kay knew that there was something different
about him. And now that she had actually spoken to him, the thought confused
her even more. What was it about this kid?
Kay's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of fingers on a
keyboard. She looked up to see Izzy in front of the fire with his laptop,
typing away. A smile flickered on her face, but it quickly turned into
a frown when she saw him stifle a yawn. Yeesh, she thought. Doesn't the
kid care that it's late?
"Hey, Izz-man," she said, walking over to him. "Stop poking around
with your comp and get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a hard day, so
come on, get some shut-eye. Y'hear?"
"Hmm? What?" Izzy looked up at her, arching an eyebrow. "What
did you say?"
"Were you even listening to me?" Kay asked, glaring at him.
"Umm.. no," Izzy replied, blushing slightly with embarrassment.
"I was kind of wrapped up in my work... the computer makes me zone out
a bit."
"Well, I figured that much," Kay muttered under her breath. Sighing,
she sat down next to her young friend, wondering why geniuses could be
so difficult to deal with. There was an awkward silence which lasted several
minutes. Then, just as Izzy was about to go back to typing, Kay put her
hand on his shoulder and pointed up at the sky. "Look," she said, voice
low and mystical. "All the rays have disappeared. The night is dark and
there's stars as far as the eye can see. Do you know what that tells me?"
Izzy stared up at the sky, as if searching for an answer. "I
don't know," he said after some thought.
"Well, it tells me one little thing..." Kay's voice trailed off
and she paused. Eyes twinkling, she looked at Izzy and grinned. "You stay
up to late, kid. Now shut off that dang comp and get some sleep or I'll
personally smash it into a thousand little bits."
Izzy paled slightly, eyes opening wide. "You wouldn't," he stammered,
clutching at his computer.
Kay flashed a toothy grin. "I would," she said, voice having
an evil tone to it.
"All right, all right! Just give me a nanosecond." Quickly he
saved his file and shut off the computer, stuffing it into his backpack
before Kay could utter any more threats. "Happy?" he asked, glaring at
her.
"Very," Kay replied, grinning. "Though I'd be happier if you
would get some sleep." She yawned and lay back, staring up at the stars.
They were unusually bright.. brighter than she had ever seen them. Maybe
it means something, she thought.
"Kay?"
"Hm?"
"Do you like it here in the digi-world?"
Kay closed her eyes and smiled. "Yeah," she murmured, nodding.
"I do. I'd never go back... not for all the tea in China."
Izzy fell silent for a moment, thinking. "I'm the same way,"
he whispered, sighing. "It's like things are so much simpler here, even
though we have a big chance of getting killed every time we come here."
"You've been in and out more than once?" Kay asked, surprised.
"Yeah. It's kind of hard to explain, but this is the third time
we've been here. The first two times the place was overrun with evil digimon...
but now, it's been kind of uneventful, except for meeting you." He glanced
at Kay and arched an eyebrow. "You wouldn't know anything about it, would
you?"
Kay swallowed hard. He can't know, she thought. He won't know.
"No," she said softly. "I haven't seen anything. A ticked off
seadramon, a greymon with a bad attitude, but nothing like what you're
talking about." She paused, hoping to change the subject. "Don't tell me
you go _looking_ for trouble, Izz-man..."
"I don't... most of the time. But you see... we're the digidestined.
If we don't resolve the problems, who will? So even if we don't want to
get involved.. we have to."
Great, Kay thought. Just great. And they're dragging _me_ into
this? They wouldn't have a chance..
"Well.... I don't know anything for certain, but I've heard that
up north, past my territory there's been some trouble. Not sure what, but
it sounded pretty bad..." Kay paused, nearly choking. What'm I doing?!
she thought. I can't send him... I can't send them up there! It's suicide....
there's no way they'd survive it... The memories of the past digiyear were
still fresh in her mind. The blood, the carnage... she couldn't let it
happen, not to them.
"Kay? Is something wrong?" Izzy asked, looking at her strangely.
She's hiding something, he thought. I don't know what, but she's hiding
something.
"No. Nothing's wrong..." Kay shook her head, silently wishing
she could kill herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
"Are you sure? You seem like something's bothering you..."
"Just forget it, kid. It's not important," she muttered coldly.
"And for the sake of cheese will you shut up and go to sleep?"
Izzy fell quiet. He stared at her for a moment, wondering why
she was so easily angered. "All right," he whispered after a moment's pause.
"Sorry..." Kay began, face flushing slightly. "I just-"
"No...," Izzy murmured as he lay down. "It's all right." Sighing,
he closed his eyes tightly, waiting for sleep to claim him.