Ichijouji Ken stood on the balcony outside of his room and
calmly watched the birds as they fluttered along the railing. The sky was a dull iron gray and the clouds
hung low and heavy to meet the earth.
The air smelled of rain and heat.
It was getting late and he knew that he should study before he left, but
when was the last time the infamous boy genius actually had to study?
He smirked. It was
an expression that his face rarely bore these days, but all things considered,
that was probably for the best. The
Digidestined didn't trust him as it was, far be it for him to actually give
them a reason. That whole Kaiser thing
notwithstanding, of course.
With the cigarette butts
From the mouths of all those little sluts that want me
A bird landed in front of Ken cocked its head, regarding him
with apparent fascination. He returned
its gaze coldly.
Go away, he willed silently. Go away.
Don't you know who I am? I am a
monster who wears a man's face. Go
away.
His lips tightened into a thin line. "Go away," he hissed in anger. He smacked at the bird and it only hopped
closer.
Ken bit back a growl. A pale hand snapped out and grabbed
the bird. He raised the creature up to
his face and looked at it with a terrible intensity. For its part, the bird merely watched him, unafraid.
"Don't you know what I am?" Ken whispered to it. He paused as though he expected an
answer. "Don't you?" he repeated
impatiently. "I am the Prince of
Fools."
I'm lying here with the negative thoughts running my brain
Over again look where I've been feel me try, feel the sky
Feel that your able to do what it is you need to when
This city life is dragging
This city life is dragging us down
His fist unintentionally tightened around the little
bird. He could feel its heart begin to
beat wildly.
"Now you are afraid?"
The bird began to struggle, faintly at first and then
wildly. It's small, clawed feet
scratched at the boy's wrist and it tried to peck at him. A shrill cry left its lips. Ken squeezed the bird a little bit
harder.
It wasn't a lot of pressure, really just a little bit, but
it was enough. Ichijouji Ken was very
strong. There a faint popping noise as
the bird's neck snapped in the boy's hands.
The frantically darting eyes stilled and glazed over and the heartbeat
faded to nothing. Ken didn't move.
He stared at the dead bird without comprehension for a long
time. It was stiffening in his
hand. Blood coagulated, flesh gradually
hardened, beak froze open, wings fell to rigor mortise—all in his clenched
fist. He sat like that for nearly
fifteen minutes.
Don't push me
Don't push me
Don't push me
Anyway, well I can barely face the day
Then, as though the horror of what he had done had suddenly
hit him, the slender boy threw the bird away from him and jerked backwards as
though he could escape himself. The
dead bird rolled clumsily to the edge of the balcony and stopped, limp head
dangle over the edge at a crazy angle.
Ken was breathing hard.
He had to get out of this place—he needed to leave. Flipping his purple hair away from his eyes,
the youth tore the sliding door open and stumbled into his room, nearly
smacking his head on the bottom of his elevated bed in his haste.
He jerked on his gray Tamachi jacket with shaky arms, trembling
fingers scrambling over buttons.
Wormmon sat up on the bed and looked down at his partner in sleepy
confusion.
His small, round head tilted slightly to the side. "Ken?" he asked between a yawn. "Ken, what's wrong? Why are you shaking?"
"We're going to be late," the child replied, evading his
partner's eyes.
Is it already a quarter to ten?
How can I drag my body from this bed again
When I feel so heavy
From the weight of nothing
"Late?" The small
virus type puttered over to the edge of the bed and climbed down the
ladder. His magenta pods made odd
popping noises as they attached and re-attached to the wood. "It's rainy out, Ken-chan."
"I know. We need to
meet Daisuke and Demiveemon at the field."
"Demiveemon?"
Wormmon perked up and he eagerly clambered over to Ken's waiting book
bag. He pulled it down on its side and
slipped inside. "Hurry up, Ken-chan!"
A weary smile crept over Ken's lips as he regarded his
over-anxious partner. He carefully
zipped up the bag and shifted it onto his shoulder. Almost as an afterthought, he picked up a soccer ball and tucked
it underneath an arm.
*~*~^~*~*
A walk, bus ride, and another walk later, the dark-haired
Child of Kindness was standing on the soccer field of Odaiba Elementary. Wormmon was waiting for his jogress partner
on the sidelines and Ken walked the length of the field with his head down and
his hair in his eyes. An umbrella had
been set up over the rookie digimon in case of rain and the little creature
appeared quite content to rest in the dark.
"Hey, Ken!" a familiar voice called. "Ken!"
The bowed head snapped up and the pale boy's eyes crinkled
with a smile that hi friend couldn't see.
Daisuke was running with Demiveemon held tightly in his arms. The goggle-wearing soccer player grinned a
goofy Daisuke kind of grin and deposited his partner and book bag next to
Wormmon and Ken's things. He paused a
moment to set up another umbrella next to Ken's and Wormmon emerged from the
shade of the first one to meet his friend.
"Hello, Dem," Wormmon greeted placidly.
The little blue in-training pounced on Wormmon with a
grin. "Worm-kun!"
Daisuke smiled and turned to his jogress partner who stood
several feet away. "Hey." He paused, regarding his best friend with a
slight frown. "Ken-chan? What wrong?"
"Wrong?" Violet eyes
blinked with cat-like calm. "Nothing's
wrong. Why do you ask?"
"You're shaking, Ken."
It's not about you as I said
Now it's a quarter to two, another night run through
Without connecting
To anything
With a slight frown, the taller boy extended his hands and
looked down. Sure enough, small tremors
were running through his arms.
"Ken?"
Ignoring Daisuke, he kept his arms extended and watched with
clinical interest as the tremors increased until his hands were shaking
violently. He dropped his arms and
raised his eyes to look into Dai's brown ones.
"It's nothing, Dai. Let's play
soccer."
The gray clad boy ran away from the Child of Courage and
Friendship, dribbling the soccer ball ahead of him. Daisuke, never one to be outdone, grinned and conveniently forgot
about Ken's tremors as he pursued his best friend and eternal soccer rival
across the field.
The two boys played each other mercilessly, Daisuke's
boundless energy compensating for Ken's inhuman speed. Twenty minutes into the game, it began to
rain softly. The children continued,
defiant of the rain and the world that would try to force their fun to end. The rain whispered against the earth and
dropped thousands of kisses on the opponents.
The ground grew slick and muddy as their feet churned up dirt and grass.
This city life is dragging us down
Don't push me
Don't push me
Don't push me
Anyway, well I can barely face the day
Suddenly Dai dove forward, knocking Ken down with a familiar
move. The boy genius's eyes widened and
he tripped over the other's feet, falling down into the mud. Daisuke's slide continued beneath Ken and
the two became entangled in one another as they struggled to free themselves.
"Okay," Ken grunted as Daisuke elbowed him in the hip. "This—ouch!—is not working. Quit squirming, Dai!"
The dark boy immediately stilled. You did just didn't argue with Ichijouji Ken when he went all
imperious and stuff on you. He grinned
sheepishly. "Sorry."
Ken twisted slightly so that the two of them were face to
face and shifted his legs until he was straddling his jogress partner. He stopped moving suddenly, startled to find
himself so close to Daisuke.
I'm already so far away from where I need to be
I'm already so far away
The other boy had also frozen, the compromising nature of
their position suddenly dawning on him.
"Umm . . ."
Ken flushed but remain where he was. "Umm . . ." Move! His mind shrieked
in panic. Move, move,
movemovemovemovemove!!! But his
body was enjoying itself far too much.
Dai licked his lips uncomfortably. "Uh, Ken . . ."
He paled and began to shift again. "Oh . . . um, yeah.
Right." The purple-haired genius
pulled his left leg over his opponent's body and fought hard not to groan when
he felt his hip rub over something hard and conspicuous. He failed.
He was now laying with his legs next to the goggle boy and his chest
over the other's chest.
"No," breathed Daisuke, his arms locking around the other
boy's slender waist. Ken struggled to
pull away from him, uncomfortable with the suddenly reduced distance between
their faces. He was surprised, and more
than a little pleased to note that Dai had absolutely no intention of letting
him slip away. The smaller boy was
incredibly strong for his size.
Violet eye latched onto chocolate brown eyes and two sets of
pupils dilated with lust and adrenaline.
Let me go, Ken willed silently.
He could feel Dai's heart fluttering as he pressed his hands against his
chest in resistance. Let me go. It was like a little bird . . . Don't
you know who I am? I am a monster who
wears a man's face. Let me go.
Daisuke's grip tightened.
Ken felt so small in his arms he feared he might break the fragile boy
in two. Ken relaxed slightly, their
lips almost touching as he was forced to lower his head.
Daisuke could taste the breath that left Ken's lips as the
other boy whispered in an almost desperate voice: "Let me go."
Daisuke inhaled the taste of it. "Shh."
Ken tried to inhale, but there didn't seem to be enough air
left between them. He was unconsciously
drawing closer to Dai. "Don't you know
who I am?" His lips were feather-light
as they brushed against Daisuke's to form the soft words.
"Shh."
We move a mile a minute
Just to keep ourselves in it.
Now I think we've come to far not to win it
What is it?
He didn't even have to lean up to capture Ken's mouth in a
kiss. The taller boy stiffened like a
rod and then melted in Daisuke's arms.
The kiss was neither passionate nor heady, but clumsy: a first
kiss. Dai gently brushed his tongue
against Ken's lip, wordlessly begging for entry. Ken opened his mouth slightly and tilted his head back as he felt
Daisuke slide into his mouth. He moaned
softly.
The smaller boy rolled over so that he was on top of Ken,
his arms still locked in their death grip around his waist. Ken followed his lead willingly, rolling
till his head and back rested in the mud.
It didn't matter to either of them.
Ken tasted like mint and oranges and he smelled like juniper
shampoo. Dai wanted to devour him.
But unfortunately all humans need to breathe. With great reluctance the two boys pulled
away from one another. Ken gasped for
air and licked his lip, savoring Daisuke.
He looked up to his friend's eyes and saw their glittering brown
surfaces swirling with hunger, need, and apprehension.
"Now you are afraid?" Ken purred between breaths.
Daisuke's words were a sigh. "Shut up, Ichijouji."
Ken grinned and leaned up to claim his koi's lips in another
kiss. The rain fell around them in soft
whispers.
If I wasn't here all this shit would just go on anyway
If you weren't here
Everything would just go on anyway
*~*~^~*~*
"Ken-chan?" a voice emerged from his book bag.
"Yes, Wormmon?"
"What was Daisuke doing to you?"
The boy unlocked the door to the apartment. "We were playing soccer."
"No." Wormmon pulled
himself out of Ken's backpack as his partner slipped off his shoes. "You're covered in mud. I was talking about when you two were
wrestling and he was sitting in you."
Ken stood and looked at his partner. He looked . . . flustered.
"Ken?" Wormmon asked.
He had never seen that particular expression on his human's face. "Demi said that you were tasting each other. Is that what you were doing?"
Ken chuckled slightly, a deep warm sound. Of course he just happened to have the
most innocent and naive partner in any world . . . "Sort of."
Wormmon blinked innocently.
"Oh. How does he taste?"
The boy genius pursed his lips to keep from laughing
explosively. "… Good."
"Oh. Okay."
This time Ken really did laugh and Wormmon was immensely
pleased—although more than a bit confused—that he was the cause of the rare
sound.
That's what you learn
Why do you stay
When this city life is dragging us down?
Ken was still chuckling when he went to stand out on his
balcony again. It was nearly dark out
and the rain was falling a bit heavier than before. The damp wind lifted up his shower-dampened hair and tossed it
around his face. He tossed his head
almost absently, his hair had always been prey to the slightest shifts of air
or body, so he was quite used to it getting in the way. Of course I could always spike it again .
. . Hmph—thoughts for later. The
motion, however, drew his eyes to a small form lying on the ledge of the
balcony. It was that bird.
With a grimace of disgust, the boy kicked the little corpse
off the ledge. It fell seven stories
onto the pavement below.
Ken lowered his head and clenched his hands into fists. His previous good humor had vanished over
the ledge with the reminder of his cruelty.
A loud, misplaced chirp made his head snap back up. His eyes flashed to a small bird perched on
the railing of the balcony. He waved a
hand at it, trying to drive it away.
"You've got to be kidding me.
You guys just can't take a hint, can you?"
The little bird chirped at him and hopped onto his waving
hand. "Go away!" he snapped, making a
flipping motion with his wrist. The
stubborn creature held on tight.
Ken raised his hand in front of his eyes and looked at the
little bird with a dry smirk on his lips.
"You're not that bright, are you?
Don't you know who I am?"
The bird chirped and Ken's other hand reached around and
snatched it off his wrist in a flash of skin.
He clenched the little creature in his fist and stared at it in detached
interest. "Don't you?" he whispered.
The little bird twittered.
Don't push me
Don't push me
Don't push me
Anyway, well I can barely face the day
The Ken smiled—not a smirk, but a real smile of
happiness. "No. You don't."
He extended his hand and opened his fist. The bird hopped upright and stood in his
palm. It looked at him for a long
moment. Then, it leapt off his hand and
flew away off beneath the leaden sky.
Ken watched it until vanished.
I can barely face the day.
_______________*~*~^~*~*_________________
