Ninth Blessed By Samantha Gold
Disclaimer: I don't own
Digimon. I wouldn't have to write this if I did, now would I? And I
certainly wouldn't have ended 02 like they did. *sniffles*
Author's Note: This is a
Ken-fic. There's more Takari in it than I had originally attended, but
it's not the main theme, and even Daikari, Kenkari, etc. fans should be able to
stand it.
Ninth Blessed
By Samantha Gold
I didn't understand what they
were talking about at first. When they finally explained, I didn't understand
what difference it made. So the dark digivice wasn't my first. How did that
change anything? I still don't see how it changes anything.
The subject came up when
Daisuke-kun, Takeru-kun, Hikari-chan and I were studying in my room for a unit
test the following day. Since the dark spore stopped growing, my IQ had dropped,
unfortunately. I could still keep up at my old school if I was to work myself
very hard, but then I would have no free time to spend with my friends.
Friendship, I've learned, is very precious. Besides, I enjoy attending school
with my friends. But I digress.
After about an hour of studying
that day, Dai-kun announced that he had to go home. Personally, I think that he
just couldn't stand studying anymore! That would be typical of him…
His leaving left me alone with
Hikari-chan and Takeru-kun, and after another hour of studying, we were all
ready for a break. We had a snack and then headed back to my bedroom. We'd
just sat back down again when Hikari-chan asked, seemingly out of nowhere:
"Ken-kun, do you think I could see your…crest?"
The questioned confused me a
little bit, especially the hesitant voice in which she asked, but I nodded and
went to retrieve it. She took it gently when I passed it to her, then stared at
it oddly.
I looked at Takeru-kun
questioningly, hoping for some sort of hint to explain her fascination with my
crest. He smiled at me.
"You'll have to excuse
Hikari-chan," he said cheerfully. "It's just that we all used to
have crests before, too, and I guess we just miss them sometimes."
"ALL of you had
crests?" I asked, wondering what had happened to the crests.
"All of us original
digidestined did," he agreed.
"Your crest is very
beautiful, Ken-kun," Hikari-chan broke in after a beat had passed. "My
crest, I remember, it was the prettiest pink…I haven't ever seen anything in
that exact colour; I haven't seen anything in the exact colours of any of the
crests." She smiled, passing the crest back. "Take care of
yours."
I nodded once. "What
happened to your crests?"
"Apoclamon destroyed them
all," Takeru-kun said simply, then added at my look, "It was the final
battle for the eight of us together and he obliterated them so that we'd be
helpless." He paused again, and this time I waited patiently for him to
continue, curious. "It didn't work, we kicked his butt, the end." He
grinned.
Hikari-chan smacked him
playfully. "It was a little less anti-climatic than that," she said to
me. "But even though we beat him, we didn't get our crests back. We kept
our digivices though!" she added, pulling her pink and white one out.
"I like the new model better."
"They are much
sleeker," I agreed. My mouth curved upwards into a small half-smile as I
remembered the day Osamu-oniichan and I had watched it fly out of the computer.
He had thought it was his, but it was really mine. It had always been mine. I
pulled my dark digivice out of my pocket, murmuring, "I was so excited when
I realized that original digivice was mine…"
"You had an old digivice
too, Ken-kun?" Takeru-kun asked, his face scrunched slightly – either in
concern or in thought, I couldn't tell.
"Yes, why?"
"Um, no reason,"
Hikari-chan said cheerfully.
Takeru-kun nodded his
agreement. "Oh, by the way," he attempted casually, "do you
remember when you got your digivice?"
I was on to him, sort of, but I
played along anyway, and nodded. "I was in Osamu-oniichan's room. I was
eight-years old and we were playing and it just flew out of the computer."
I shrugged, as though it hadn't been one of the most important events in my
life.
"You were eight?" she
asked quietly.
"Yes."
"Hey, um, you weren't
supposed to go to a summer camp by any chance that day?"
I frowned. "I was,
actually. I was looking forward to it, but onii-chan decided that he didn't
want to go at the last minute, and I wasn't allowed to go without him. I
wouldn't even have remembered it if it hadn't been the day I got my digivice
though…Why?"
Takeru-kun didn't answer, but
looked to Hikari-chan. "Gennai never said a thing about it! He said,
"eight tags!' 'Eight crests!' he said. And, of course, 'Eight of
you! Eight children!' Why didn't he tell us?! I'll bet so much could've
been prevented!"
I narrowed my eyes at
Takeru-kun, surprised more than anything, at his outburst.
"It's Gennai, 'Keru-kun,"
Hikari-chan deadpanned. "He's old. He can't remember a thing! …Or
count. You of all people should know."
"I guess you're
right," he muttered smiling sheepishly, a sweat drop forming on the side of
his head.
Naturally, by this time I was
more than a little confused. So I asked them what in the world they were raving
on about, and added that Gennai didn't seem that bad when I met him.
"He's changed,"
Hikari-chan laughed.
Takeru-kun nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, he used to be an old man who could never keep ANYTHING
straight!"
"You really should've
met him before."
Then their eyes caught and they
started laughing again. I groaned. This could take a while.
"What were you ranting
about before, Takeru-kun?" I interrupted.
He and Hikari-chan exchanged
looks, then putting on secretive smiles, they turned back and chirped:
"Nothing!"
I sighed. For some reason,
those two had become increasingly teasing as of late…I think that they must be
spending too much time with their oniichan's. This would definitely take a
while. Unless…
Inspiration struck and I did
with it, leaning over and whispering in Takaishi's ear: "I'd recommend
telling me if you don't want me to lean over and kiss Hikari-chan on
you."
"Why should I care what
you do?" he whispered back, but a faint nervous tremor was detectable in
his voice, if only barely.
"Because you like
Hikari-chan…really like her…" I deadpanned.
His eyes widened and he
reddened. "How did you know?" he whispered, while Hikari-chan watched,
eyebrows raised and eyes curious.
I smiled evilly, knowing that I
had the advantage in this situation. So I have a flair for getting what I want.
Sue me. "Give me a little credit here, "'Keru-kun"," I
teased, using Hikari-chan's nickname for him. "I don't need to kiss her
though…I could just tell her about – "
"Okay, okay," he
grumbled, cutting me off as he attempted to stare at me angrily. Of course, the
fashion in which his face had darkened another two shades of scarlet, before
draining of all colour to a sheet-white, was a tip-off that he was more
embarrassed at having been discovered than anything else.
I smiled and sat up straight
again, awaiting my explanation.
Takeru-kun coughed. "Um,
Hikari-chan, I think we've teased him for long enough, don't you?"
If possible, Hikari-chan's
eyebrows raised even higher. "I think that Ken-kun has teased you…what
about?" He blanched and she turned to me, eyes turning inquisitive.
"Share with me and I'll
think about sharing with you," I replied, smiling.
"That's not the
deal!" Takeru-kun cried as his eyes widened.
After teasing each other for a
little while, they finally explained their theory.
"You were supposed to be
one of us, " Takeru-kun began, though I admit he sounded a touch nervous. I
wouldn't ever follow through on my teasing threats, and though I'm sure that
he knew that, he probably feared that I might, on some level. "One of the
original digidestined, I mean."
"There are many
digidestined all over the world," I pointed out.
"There weren't as many
back then," Hikari-chan told me softly. "And none of them have
crests." She shook her head. "Crests…I can't believe we didn't
figure it out when he first got the crest of kindness."
"We didn't really
understand though," he reasoned. "We only found out that only certain
digidestined get crests a little while ago…"
"You're right," she
agreed.
"The crests are what allow
Tailmon to digivolve to Angewomon and Patamon to digivolve to Magnaangemon,
right?"
They nodded. "The kid
really is a genius!" Takeru-kun joked.
"Watch it, Takaishi."
"I was the eighth
child," Hikari-chan said, ignoring our banter. "Gennai said that there
were only eight; he said that I was the last to be found. He must have been
wrong though."
"Yeah, I think you were
supposed to be a digidestined like we were…one of the first."
"Not the first,
Takeru-kun."
"Sorry," he said to
her with a lopsided grin. "But we'll always be the first to me."
She laughed. "The first of
our group, at any rate."
"Hikari-chan, Takeru-kun,
is there a point to all of this?"
"Well, you're the ninth
child, Ken-kun."
"Ninth blessed…"
"Blessed?" I began,
but they intercepted me.
"Yes, before you decide to
hold another pity party, blessed."
"I wonder what would have
happened if Myotismon had found Ken-kun instead of me as the eighth child,"
Hikari-chan mused.
"He couldn't have. He
had your crest, Hika-chan. And besides, we found you first," Takeru-kun
said.
"Actually, Tailmon
did."
Takeru-kun shrugged
indifferently.
She sighed. "I was just
wondering what things would've been like if Ken-kun and I had been in
different positions. Switched."
"The Digimon
Empress!" Takeru-kun laughed, though I saw him cast a careful look at me
out of the corner of his eye.
I laughed with him at the
thought of Hikari-chan in such a position. It had been three years since I'd
become the Digimon Kaiser and then been returned to myself. I could handle the
guilt I carried better now. It was still there; I feared that it would never go
away, but I could manage it and it no longer overwhelmed me.
A thought occurred to me:
"If I have a crest, does that mean that Stingmon can digivolve to ultimate
on his own?"
"I think so,"
Hikari-chan answered with a smile.
"But we're not fighting
now, so it doesn't change anything."
"But we might have to
again."
I shrugged and the subject was
dropped for the return to our studying. After all, whether or not I had a crest
was not going to affect my Chemistry mark. We studied for another two hours, and
when we felt that we sufficiently understood, Takeru-kun and Hikari-chan left
together.
I returned to my room, where I
sit now, quietly. So they think that I am the ninth child with the blessing of a
digidestiny. I am not sure what to make of that, but I don't understand how it
changes anything. Perhaps if onii-chan and I had gone to camp that day, I would
know the truth. If we'd gone, perhaps things would have turned out
differently. I might not have been susceptible to the darkness. I might not have
been the Digimon Kaiser. But I also wouldn't be the same person that I am
today.
I couldn't see it back then,
but I can see now, how everything – including the darkness, including the evil…including
being the Digimon Kaiser – helped to shape my character. I have been
strengthened by all of these adverse times and I'm not certain that I would
trade them, if I had the chance.
Perhaps I really am the Ninth
Blessed.
But it doesn't change a
thing.
-End-
As you might have guessed, this
story's main purpose, more or less, was expressing a theory that I came up with
a while ago and wondered about. I had all of these 'what-if' ideas, but
since I couldn't write all of them, I thought it would be fun to have the
digidestined wonder about them for me :)
Please review! This is my
first complete digimon fic and I'd really appreciate any constructive criticisms
or any comments at all! Thank you! *s*