Disclaimer: Digimon, its plots, characters and concepts are not mine. They're belonged to such people as Toei Animation, Bandai and Saban. All are being borrowed and will hopefully be brought back as they were. No profit is being made, so please don't sue. Any quotes from the Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux aren't mine either. The Ghost Roads idea was borrowed from the Buffy Trilogy, The Gatekeeper I think. It's not mine either. Any original characters and this fic are mine.
Note: This was for Nemesi's Kensuke Contest. If you haven't already guessed, this is a Kensuke fic which means two guys are going to eventually wind up together. Also, there's hints of Taito/Yamachi and Mimari If it's not your cup of tea, then don't drink it. Any flames will be ignored. Hope you all enjoy it, especially you Nemesi!
Begun: 30th April 2001
Finished: 8th August 2001
In its prison of cold earth and old magic, it stirred. Eyes slid open, as it hissed angrily. The horrifying sound rasped over the rocks and crevices, heightening in pitch until any who heard it screamed in pain and agony, as their ears bled.
It yanked at the ancient chains bonded by metal and power, which in turn bonded it to this miserable place. It had been held captive here for so long it could only dimly remember what it had felt like to be free. It hissed again, fangs aching. The chains would loosen eventually and it would taste freedom once more.
To be free... the possibilities were endless... so many delicious victims... so many... It threw back its head and laughed, the sound painful and strangled.
Soon it would be free. Soon.
But for now, it planned. It waited.
It waited.
It hungered.
Oh, it hungered.
Soon...
He was insane to be doing this. Completely and utterly insane. And he was beginning to realise that he didn't care. Despite the many disadvantages (the most obvious being that this guy was his enemy), the lessons were sometimes fun and they were great for wasting time. Not that the other saw it like that. He saw it as work.
"No! No! No!"
Daisuke Motomiya fought not to roll his eyes as Ken Ichijouji a.k.a. the Digimon Kaiser growled in frustration and stomped over to him. A gloved hand reached up to whip off his violet shades and Daisuke looked up to find a pair of sapphire eyes glaring at him. Rather beautiful ones actually.
Daisuke blinked. Where had that come from?!
"Why," Ken said, his teeth clenched tightly, "do you insist on making my life so difficult?! I should just throw you out now and return to my plans of dominating the Digital World!"
"You won't though," Daisuke replied immediately. "If you do you know you'll regret it. That's why you put up with me after all," he added.
"I'm beginning to wonder if I'm insane," the dictator muttered under his breath and Daisuke grinned broadly. Then he sighed as Ken straightened and returned to business. "Again," he ordered. Grumbling, Daisuke cupped his hands together and closing his eyes, concentrated. Sweat formed at his brow and he grimaced as it began to trickle down his face. Damn. His breath came in short, quick gasps and his back started to ache. But he didn't stop.
Finally he felt it, the warm tremor of a hesitant flame. He opened his eyes to see a flickering orange flame in his cupped palm. Brown orbs widening, he continued to pour strength into the spell, building up the flame. Unfortunately he was a little too enthusiastic about it and he discovered too late that he had spun it out of control. He was only able to utter a pathetic yelp as the flame leapt out of his hands and careered towards Ken.
However it was then proven that Ken was able to take very good care of himself. Without even batting an eyelid, the Kaiser simply reached out and swatted at the flame as it neared him. It went out with an abrupt hiss, leaving only a few tendrils of faint smoke. Daisuke blinked a few times in astonishment.
"Er... that went well?" he ventured after a few moments of silence. Ken only glared hard at him. The Keeper of Courage chuckled nervously.
"Let me guess... do it again, only this time don't try and kill you?"
"That would be preferable," Ken growled, still very annoyed. Daisuke sweatdropped, before resuming the correct position for the spell. A faint light washed over his face as the flame began to grow once more. "Put it out this time," Ken ordered, watching the process carefully.
Sighing, Daisuke obediently put the flame on his left hand, before placing his right hand over the orange fire. With a deft motion he extinguished it. Neither of his hands were once burned. That was the beauty of having magic. Unless you did something disastrously wrong (thankfully almost burning your teacher didn't count) it never backfired on yourself.
He still remembered how this had all happened, and without realising it, his mind went back along the strange road of memory...
It had been over a month since he had found Ken in the Digital World - or more correctly since he had almost barrelled into him - and had managed to drive the dictator into a rage. A fight had automatically ensued, and it was then Daisuke had realised that the Kaiser had a very big advantage over him - he had magic! It was then he had also realised that he was very out of his depth.
He had been singed twice and had nearly caught fire four times before Ken had made the mistake of nearly hitting Veemon, whom Daisuke had refused to let Armour Digivolve. That had made Daisuke see red and it had caused his own anger to spill over... with a result none of them had expected.
He had caused fire to rain down on Ken! The boy genius had only barely leapt out of the way in time, staring at him with his jaw hanging open. For his part, Daisuke had collapsed onto the ground by then, going into shock. He had been denying everything until Ken had staggered over to him, firmly telling the parts of his mind that could still think that he had just not done that. His mind had not been convinced though and neither had he. He had caused the fire to rain down and there was no denying that.
It was then he realised that Ken was standing in front of him and, to put it mildly, he looked as mad as hell. Daisuke, naturally, had gulped hard, as he slowly met the purple shades of his enemy, that wouldn't bat an eyelid if he just killed him right there and then.
His first thought was that he had got himself into a very bad situation. His next thought was to run and to run fast. He had actually stood up by that time and was preparing to run. However, Ken had reached out, his arm a blur, and had gripped his upper arm, ensuring that he would not be able to run. It hadn't made him feel any better.
For some reason, the thought to apologise had crossed Daisuke's mind, a thought that had quickly ran away again. Ken was his enemy. He didn't apologise to him for anything. True, he had almost killed him somehow, but Ken had tried to kill him and Veemon first. The childish logic had seemed okay to him right then.
So, when Ken opened his mouth to say something to him, Daisuke spoke first. "I'm not sorry!" he declared, eyes flashing and chin jutted out in proud defiance. Ken had stared at him before slowly letting go of his arm to reach up and take off his shades, so that Daisuke was then staring at eyes the colour of jewelled sapphires. After blinking a few times, Ken had finally answered.
"If it helps, neither am I. You deserved to be burnt." Then, without skipping a beat, he continued, "Do you know how you did that?" His voice was enquiring and curious. Daisuke felt like he had been cornered and had no choice but to walk into a trap. But... it didn't seem like Ken wanted to hurt him - much. What harm could there be by simply answering his question?
"I don't know," Daisuke answered sheepishly, not pleased as Ken stared incredulously at him. "Hey, I'm not a boy genius like you!" he snapped, trying to put as much scorn as he possibly could into the sentence, trying to offend him. But the Kaiser didn't offend easily.
"Of course you're not," he replied offhandedly with a dismissive wave. "If you were I'd be competing against you. So you have no idea how you did that." His expression turned thoughtful, as he tapped a finger against his chin absently, blue eyes glazing over in thought. He remained like this for the next few minutes and Daisuke consequently became very bored. He sighed and began to fidget, until Ken muttered in an irritable voice, "Stop that." He stopped.
He jumped as Ken jerked out of his thoughts and looked at him directly. "Do you realise how powerful you are?" he asked him without changing a beat. Daisuke stared at him, wondering how exactly to answer that question. Up to a few minutes ago he hadn't even known he'd been able to do that.
He shook his head mutely and Ken ground his teeth together. "Fine. Well, you are powerful. More powerful that I ever imagined." He made it sound as if he'd always known Daiuske'd had magic. "If you practised you could nearly become as powerful as me." Daisuke gaped at that, and Ken added, "Nearly as powerful as me, remember."
"So... how am I going to practise if I keep making fire rain down? I don't even know how I did it!" Daisuke protested. The idea of causing another disaster like that was not appealing. He suddenly realised how normal he and Ken were talking to each other. They sounded more like friends, or tutor or pupil, instead of enemies who hated each other. For one crazy moment the thought that he might actually get used to this had crossed his mind. And had quickly crossed out again. He and Ken - talking like friends? Never happen in a million years.
Ken raised an eyebrow, his expression disdainful. "And here I thought you were smart." He wisely did not continue as he saw Daisuke bristle. He forced himself to remember that he was heavily outnumbered by Daisuke and Veemon - especially since Veemon could Armour Digivolve and that calling a digimon of his own would cost precious seconds. Seconds where Veemon could do serious damage to him.
"What I mean is that the answer is obvious." He fought not to sigh as Daisuke still stared blankly at him. "You need to be taught. By some strange force of God you possess magic like myself. No one else - not even Hikari - possess power like us. So the only one able to teach you is myself." He waited for the reality to sink in to Daisuke. He didn't have to wait long.
"Are you nuts?!" Daisuke yelped, staring at him like he had just grown another head. "You teach me?! In case you haven't noticed you've wanted to destroy me for the past few months! Why do you want to teach me?!"
Simply because with power like that, you could become one very powerful ally, Ken thought, but he knew better than to tell the Digidestined leader that. Instead he said, "It would be a shame for you to remain untaught and lose all that marvellous potential." Close enough to the truth. Too close actually.
He watched as Daisuke thought about it, dark brown eyes filled with conflicting emotions. He could imagine what they were. On one hand there was the promise of getting all that wonderful and yet destructive power controlled properly - but there was still the problem that they were enemies. Think about yourself for once, Ken urged him silently. Don't think about the cause, think of yourself! Although by thinking of himself, Daisuke was also thinking of the cause as well. If his power couldn't be controlled, he would be a danger to everyone and everything.
Finally Daisuke looked up at him, chestnut eyes meeting azure. "I guess I don't have a choice, do I?" he said. "So when does the first lesson start?"
Ken grinned at him, his smile cruel. "Now," was his answer.
"Daisuke? Daisuke?! Daisuke?!"
He jerked out of his memories, looking up quickly to find Ken sending a flaming look his way. He grinned sheepishly, as Ken let out one very long sigh. "Sorry," he said, not meaning it at all. "But I did it, didn't I? You can't yell at me for that!" He gave him a triumphant glance.
Ken groaned wearily. "No," he admitted, "I cannot. Unfortunately." Things were much better when he could yell at Daisuke! The boy was so infuriating at times... which was nearly all of the time, but that wasn't the point. "I suppose that's enough for today," he said, relieved beyond belief that the day's lesson was done. "I've homework to finish."
"'Kay!" Daisuke said brightly, hopping off the table he had been perched on. Grabbing his bag and Chibimon, he made his way towards the exit of the room. "See you tomorrow!" He disappeared out of the room, no doubt on his way to find the nearest port to get back to the real world, one that the others wouldn't know about. They didn't know about the lessons and Ken found it highly unlikely that they would ever approve. The word enemy meant a lot to them. But sometimes it was hard to remember that he and Daisuke were enemies.
Still sighing wearily, he sank into his own chair, rubbing his eyes hard. His lesson with Daisuke had exhausted him, and the prospect of doing homework was not an appealing one. But he had no choice.
Not for the first time, he found himself thinking, I am insane.
Daisuke was in the middle of battling through his Math homework when there was a hammering on his door. Startled, he dropped his pencil, before yelling, "What?!" While waiting for an answer, he dived under his bed, trying to find the lost pencil, grumbling under his breath.
"Takeru is here!" his sister yelled. Daisuke didn't immediately register her sentence until he came out from under his bed, the pencil clutched firmly in his hand. Then he realised exactly who Takeru was. Takeru Takaishi. Yamato's brother. The same Yamato who was Jun's obsession. Jun, who would automatically pump Takeru for information on his brother until the poor boy couldn't think straight. The two of them. Together. That did not sound good.
"Coming!" he yelled at the top of his voice, bolting from his room. He dived into the hallway to see Takeru near the door, talking with a very eager Jun. Daisuke winced softly as he heard the word 'Yamato' in the conversation. Great. He'd been too late after all.
"Hi Takeru!" he said brightly, as he approached the two. Grabbing the blonde's arm, he added, "Bye Jun!" before automatically dragging Takeru towards his room, leaving his very annoyed sister standing there, glaring at him. Oh well. He'd tell Jun where Yamato and his band were playing their next gig to make up for it later.
"I'm really sorry about Jun!" he groaned, as he shut the door behind them. "I knew she'd pump you for something on Yamato!" He sighed and wished, not for the first time, that his sister would get over her alarming crush on the original Holder of Friendship.
"It's okay," Takeru replied, laughing, as he unzipped his backpack to allow Patamon out. The flying digimon immediately flapped out, before going over to join Chibimon who was on Daisuke's bed, having quickly got bored at watching him do homework. The two soon started chatting, giggling and playing. Takeru and Daisuke watched them for a moment, amused, before returning to their own conversation.
"Your sister's not that bad," Takeru continued, going to sit on his bed. "She's only got a crush that'll probably die out eventually. I mean, have you seen the amount of boys that have sighed that T-shirt of hers?"
Daisuke raised an eyebrow. "You've seen that T-shirt?!"
"I've signed it myself." Takeru sniggered as Daisuke openly groaned in despair. "She thought I was cute, I couldn't exactly refuse her!" Daisuke made a strangled sound when he heard this, almost choking. "Anyway, I think she and Yamato would become good friends if she could get over the crush." Takeru sighed as Daisuke continued to chuckle.
"I can't believe she thought you were cute!" Daisuke chortled, as he watched Takeru turn red in embarrassment.
"Shut up!" Takeru cried, finally having enough of the subject. He shook his head, cheeks still an interesting shade of crimson.
"All right," Daisuke replied, still sniggering. "So why did you really come over then?" he asked, sitting down on the floor facing him.
Takeru shrugged. "Just wanted to talk. Mainly about where you go to every evening. You don't come to the Digital World with us anymore. We need you if we're going to beat the Kaiser." He noted with interest and concern, the way Daisuke's cheeks suddenly flushed. What had that to do with where he went?
"I - I..." Daisuke desperately tried to think of an excuse to tell him. He couldn't exactly tell him he was having lessons in magic with the Kaiser every evening! He knew none of them would approve! But... he could use the bare essentials for a good excuse... "I'm being tutored," he explained. With a quick glance at his homework, which Takeru was nearly sitting on, he added, "In Math."
"Really?" Takeru asked, impressed. He had never thought that Daisuke was so determined to get his grade in Math up! Glancing down, he recognised the terrible scribble of figures on paper as Daisuke's actual Math homework. Picking it up, he glanced at it, not noticing Daisuke's dismayed look. "You don't seem to be having much luck with the tutor," he remarked, raising an eyebrow. "I could give you some help if you want it."
"You will?" Daisuke asked, surprised. "Well, I'll call you if I don't have to go to the tutor tomorrow." Fat chance of that happening though, he thought, suddenly depressed. Takeru was really good at Math, one of the best in their class. If anyone could help him get his grade up, it was him.
"I never imagined you'd actually willingly go to a tutor!" Takeru laughed, grinning at him. "You usually run away from anything that even looks remotely like Math!"
I was willing to let you tutor me wasn't I? Daisuke thought. And if your tutor was Ken you'd be willing as well, especially since he could burn you to a crisp! "Yeah, amazing, isn't it?" he laughed in reply, plastering a fake smile on his lips. "But then, life's full of surprises, isn't it?"