DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. I just like to torture them. Please don't sue.
A/N: This chapter's the longest so far, nine pages with no disclaimer and authoress's notes. But the opening scene actually has some comic relief! Wooohooo!
Also, I want to just thank everyone who has been reviewing...I knew when I sat down to the computer to write what I thought would be a 20-page fic and churned out 108 pages I had done something I could be proud of...but I had no idea it would go over so big... *authoress looks at people with happy tears welling up in her eyes* Thank you!!!
At breakfast, Yolei was not herself. She was silent, and didn't look either T.K. or Cody in the eye when she did speak. It was hard, though--since Davis and Kari no longer sat with them, T.K. still sat at the end, but now Cody and Yolei sat across from one another.
Cody noticed that something was going on, and he wanted to know what. He wanted to help if he could. "Yolei, what's bothering you?"
She looked up in shock. "What?"
"There's something wrong," Cody insisted.
T.K. watched the two, keeping his thoughts to himself. He'd noticed that Yolei had been a little off ever since Ken had made his debut, but he'd never imagined that things could affect her this deeply. He knew she and Kari had been having a lot of heart-to-hearts. He was just as worried about her as Cody, but Cody had known her a lot longer than he had, and he figured Cody could probably handle it better.
Yolei nodded. "Yes, there is something...off...but not wrong...or maybe it is wrong...but I really don't know...I don't wanna talk about it." She went back to picking at her food.
Cody sighed. "It has something to do with Ken, doesn't it?" He had always been perceptive, and six years of prison had not changed that in him.
He stared at Yolei with his deep green eyes until finally, she had to look back up at him. Of course that made her see his confusion and the questions in his eyes, and she could not look away without giving him a satisfactory answer.
She took a deep breath. "You're going to hate me, and you'll never understand why this is happening to me." She had known that sooner or later, she was going to have to tell the three guys (or at least two of them, and have Kari tell Davis).
"I could never hate you, Yolei. We've been friends for too long." Cody grinned impishly. It was true. They had been friends ever since he'd been born. Yolei's parents had given his parents a casserole--compliments of the convenience store--on the occasion of his birth. All of Yolei's siblings had been in school at the time, but Yolei was five years old, and her mother had brought her to see the new baby. For some reason, she grew attached to him, and as he'd gotten older, they'd become friends.
"I don't know about that, Cody."
"The only thing that could make me hate you is if you were to keep whatever is going on a secret."
Yolei sighed. "You're going to regret this."
"Maybe not. Tell me."
"Fine. If you're gonna be stubborn, I'll tell you. I'm falling in love."
T.K. and Cody glanced at each other.
"That's not terrible, or bad, or anything to be ashamed of," T.K. said, "But there are only three of us and one happens to be happily married--oh, you have *GOT* to be kidding me..."
If looks could kill, T.K. would've been in cardiac arrest. Yolei stood up, bracing herself on the table, and started yelling. "Are you insinuating that I'm falling in love with Davis? You pervert!"
T.K. stood in defiance. It actually intimidated her, now that he was finally the taller one. "Well, then, it's either me or Cody! I don't think it's me, and unless there's something between you two that I don't know about--"
"No!" Cody said, leaping to his feet. "Best friends don't fall in love with each other!" Then he jerked his head towards Yolei. "Do they?" he asked, almost scared.
"No! At least, not me and you! Cody, you need to spend a little less time around Davis. Maybe both of you do. Perverts." She sat back down and sighed.
The other two took their own seats. T.K. sighed and slumped backwards. "Well, Yolei, there's only one other person..."
~He finally got it!~
"And I know you're going to probably going to call me a pervert again, but I thought that Davis and Kari were pretty happy together--"
"I told you it's not Davis!"
"I didn't mean *Davis*."
"Huh?" She looked at him in confusion until it dawned on her. "You big fat HENTAI! That's just SICK!" she yelled, standing up so fast she tipped her chair over.
Cody rolled his eyes at T.K.. "I *think*," he said, slowly and carefully, trying to stop the arguing, "That Yolei means that she's falling in love with...*him*."
She sat back down.
"Him *who*?" T.K. asked.
Yolei and Cody both sweatdropped. Cody's drop disappeared a few seconds before Yolei's and he explained. "The Digimon Kaiser *him*, that's who. Am I right, Yolei?"
Yolei nodded, eyes on her plate.
T.K. sighed. "This is going to make things difficult on everyone."
"What's going to happen?" Cody asked, reaching across the table and putting a hand on Yolei's.
"I wish I knew," she whispered. "I thought maybe that if I let him go on--he's falling for me, too, I think--I could convince him to let us go."
Cody frowned. "Do you really think that you love him, or are you just doing this so we can get away?"
"I care about him," she admitted. Cody had a point, though. The way she was going about this made it seem like she didn't love him, that she was just using him as a means of escape. ~But I do love him.~
Love. She hadn't let herself use the word in connection with him before. Care, like, fall for, sympathize with, but never love. But suddenly she knew it was true.
It was going to be hard. It would be different. She had fallen in love--or thought she had--as a teenager, but she wouldn't be able to do with Ken the kind of things she had done with other boyfriends. No pictures of him in her room, no dates, no writing Mrs. Ken Ichijouji on the inside of a notebook cover.
She was not embarrassed or ashamed of her feelings, but she could not display them in the same way. She also knew he would not treat her the same way her other boyfriends had.
The situation was going to make loving him very hard, but she was willing to try.
Cody sized up her words, and the feelings behind them. Was there a right answer? "Well, Yolei," he said, choosing his words with caution. A fight with Yolei could be disastrous. She was going to need support, and Kari alone could not give her enough. "You know I can't like him. You know that I don't know what you see in him. But if you're happy, I'm not going to try to get in the way. I'll be here for you, just like always. And if you should happen to set us free, it'll be a side benefit of seeing you happy."
Yolei's eyes were burning. "Thank you, Cody." She quickly left the room before the first tear had a chance to fall.
T.K. and Cody sat in silence for several minutes.
"You know, Cody, you said that really well. In another lifetime, you would have made a good lawyer."
Cody glanced up. "You really think so?"
"Yeah, why?"
"In another lifetime, I was hoping to become a lawyer."
"Oh," T.K. said, quickly. He knew that he'd said something that had struck a chord in his friend and embarrassed him. He kept quiet before going on to another subject to take Cody's mind off what might have been.
Ken had gone to bed late, gotten up early, and was back working on his latest project.
~This is harder than I had thought it would be...it's taking longer. But it'll be worth it.~
Finally, after several more hours, he called for Wormmon.
"Yes, Master?"
"Bring me Hawkmon."
"Hawkmon?"
"Yes, Hawkmon, as in Yolei's Digimon."
"Now?"
"Would I have asked you to get him *now* if I didn't want you to bring him *now*?"
"I'll get him, I'll get him!" Wormmon scampered out of the room and ran to find Hawkmon--who was supposed to be cleaning the kitchen. He went into the kitchen, walked past an enslaved Digitamamon and found Hawkmon scrubbing the floor with several Vegiemon.
"Come with me."
Hawkmon, with the Dark Spiral wrapped around his leg, had no choice but to follow orders. He followed Wormmon to the Control Room.
"Ah, Hawkmon. Such a pleasure to see you again." Ken smiled. If this worked, Yolei would know he truly cared. "Come here and sit on this table."
Hawkmon did as bidden, sitting on the table as indicated. There were two enslaved Pagumon, one on either side of him. Wormmon watched in silence, full of curiosity.
Ken came and stood before him, and...what was this? He started to remove Hawkmon's Spiral.
"Master..." Wormmon said, cautiously. "Might I ask--"
"No." Ken continued to toy with the Spiral until finally it came off. Quickly he took hold of Hawkmon's wings to hold him down, and the Pagumon came to his side to help in the effort.
Suddenly Hawkmon, who had been sitting rigid as a fencepost, came to life. "Where am I? It's the Digimon Kaiser!" He struggled against the three, but they had the upper hand that time. "What do you want with me?"
"Sit still. I'm not going to hurt you," Ken said, coldly. "As a matter of fact, you'll thank me when I'm finished."
The look in Hawkmon's eyes said "Not likely," but he sat. "What do you plan on doing?"
"I'm upgrading your Dark Spiral. I have a special model I'd like to test on you."
Hawkmon frowned, but bit his tongue.
Ken started placing the special Spiral on his leg.
"There. Done. What do you think?" He stood back and grinned maliciously.
Wormmon frowned. The Pagumon let go.
"Does it take a few minutes to kick in?" Hawkmon asked. "I should be going under by now, but I feel normal."
"Try your attack," Ken ordered.
"Master..."
"Shut up, Wormmon. I'm giving him an order. Try your attack."
Hawkmon blinked, but reached up for the feather on the back of his head, anyway. "Hawk Beeeaaaaah!"
He fell to the floor, curled up in pain.
"Good. It works." Ken smiled. ~Yolei's gonna love this!~ "Pagumon, fetch Yolei. Bring her here. If she asks questions, tell her I have a gift for her." There was no taunt in his voice. The "gift" was not a "trap".
Hawkmon noticed that, even though a few places ached--places that he didn't even know he had. "What is this gift, if I may ask?" he asked, straining. He got himself out of the fetal position and laid flat on the floor. The pain was disappearing.
The two Pagumon had disappeared, going after his Digipartner.
Ken shook his head. "I honestly don't know what she sees in you, Hawkmon. My gift to her is you."
"Me?"
"Have you noticed your attack doesn't work?"
Hawkmon replaced his feather. A sarcastic frown crossed his brow. "It's been called to my attention..."
"Well, you can't digivolve, either. Not that it matters, since I have all the digivices. Other than that, it's like you don't have a Dark Spiral at all."
Hawkmon blinked. Yes. He could recall all his memories. He could move on his own without being ordered. He could think of insults toward Ken, although at that point he didn't use them. "Yes...so are you saying..."
"I'm doing this for Yolei, not you. You're going to stay with her now."
Hawkmon blinked again.
Wormmon blinked. "Master--"
"Stuff it, Wormmon, I don't want to hear it now." Ken knew Wormmon was going to say something about this unusual softness, and then, he really *didn't* want to hear it.
T.K. was the one in the living room when the Pagumon arrived.
"We are here for Yolei," one of them said.
~What? No rhyme?~ he thought, remembering his first encounter with them, back when he and the older kids had first traveled to the DigiWorld. "She's in her suite...I'll get her." He got up and tapped on her door. "Yolei? You've got company."
Yolei jerked her head up at T.K.'s voice. "Coming!" She wondered who it might be. Maybe Wormmon again, or Ken himself... ~Is it possible? It's two hours until noon!~
She came out, and was surprised to see the two Pagumon in the doorway. "You two?" she frowned, wrinkling her nose. She pushed her glasses back into place.
"You are to come with us," one of them said.
"The Digimon Kaiser wants to see you," the other one supplied.
Yolei blushed. T.K. said nothing, gave away nothing in his expression.
"Did he say why?"
"He has a gift for you."
T.K. cocked an eyebrow at that.
"Will I be coming back?"
"The Kaiser said nothing in regards to that."
She grimaced. "Well, all right..." Yolei took a step towards them. Then another, and another, ever so slowly. One stood on each side of her, and she went in step with them out the main door. It clicked shut.
She noticed how much less menacing of a sound it was from the outside.
T.K. let his book fall to the floor and ran to the Motomiya's door. "Davis! Kari! Cody!" He banged his fists against the door. He ran over to Cody's door and banged on it, too.
The three ran out. Davis was shirtless, Kari was blushing. They'd been busy. Cody was just confused. "What's the matter?"
"Two Pagumon--just came and--took Yolei!" T.K. said in a rush, paused by shortness of breath.
"What?" Kari cried. "What just happened?"
T.K. rolled his eyes. "Two enslaved Pagumon came and asked for Yolei. I got her, and they said that the Kaiser wanted to see her. They said he said that he had a gift for her. And she bought it. She walked right out of here with them."
Kari was in tears. "No...no...no, no, no, no no no nononononono..." She turned to Davis, who immediately put his arms around her.
"Shh...it'll be all right...she chose to go..."
"I know...but what if the gift is something bad? What if we never see her again?"
Cody gasped. "No." He looked at his three fellow DigiDestined. "I don't care how long it takes, I am sitting on that couch and I am not moving until we know what happened to her."
Davis, still cradling his wife, looked up. Cody sat on the couch, and T.K. was too stunned to move now that he'd informed everyone. "Guys...it may be nothing. Maybe he just wanted to spend time with her. He's egotistical enough to call that a gift. And don't tell me to speak for myself."
Kari giggled through her tears in spite of herself.
"Or maybe he is giving her something for real. I think we should give it an hour or three before we really panic."
T.K. nodded. "I don't think any of us are going to get any rest until then. I'm with Cody." He plunked down next to his friend.
Davis sighed. "You too?" he asked Kari.
She nodded.
"Well, come on." He picked her up and carried her over to the couch, and sat at the other end, next to T.K.. Kari settled into his lap, laying against him. He ran a finger through her hair, and she just sat.
"How long do you think it'll be?" T.K. asked.
"Does it matter?" Cody retorted.
Yolei tried to see everything, but the Pagumon were going fast, and if she lagged behind they got onto her. ~It's so weird that all this has been just outside the door for six years and I've never seen a most of it.~ She tried to recall what she'd seen six years ago, on that fateful day, but things had gone so fast. She had watched the floor a lot. They'd tried to hatch escape plans, but even with the five of them telling what they remembered, it was impossible to get enough of the layout to find an exit.
"How much further?" she asked.
"Quiet! We're almost there!"
Yolei jerked back, but kept walking. Sure enough, they rounded the corner, and a door came in sight, marked "Control Room". If nothing else, they were close.
She was mildly surprised when they led her through that door, through the Control Room, and into a little alcove off the main room.
The first thing she saw was Hawkmon sitting on the table.
"Hawkmon!" she cried, forgetting about the Spiral. It dawned on her just as the word left her mouth, and it brought pink to her cheeks.
So she was completely floored when Hawkmon turned towards her--still wearing his Spiral--and cried, "Yolei!" jumped down off the table, and ran to her to hug her. He leapt up into her arms and she barely caught him.
"Hawkmon?"
"Can't you see what a tremendous favor the Kaiser is doing us?"
She just looked at him in utter shock. "Uh, what's going on?"
"Can't you see? He's given me a different Dark Spiral. I can't attack, and I can't Digivolve, but other than that it's like there's no Spiral at all!"
Shifting her weight to hold him, she reached down and touched his leg. Sure enough, there was still a Spiral there.
"Oh my...I didn't know that that could be done..."
"Neither did I until he experimented on me--" Hawkmon frowned at that-- "But I don't really care, because now he says I can come stay with you!"
Yolei started to tear up. She looked up and spotted Ken for the first time. "You're doing this--for me?"
"Yes. Do you like your present?"
She smiled. "It's one of the kindest things I've ever had done for me...but I'm afraid I can't let you do this."
Hawkmon gasped. "Yolei, my dear, I hate to interrupt, but if you don't let me come with you I'll go back to being a slave--I don't mind being one, mind you, it's better than being deleted, but if I have the choice I'd rather not--"
"What's the matter?" Ken asked her.
"It wouldn't be fair for me to have Hawkmon when none of the others had their digimon. I'll only take him with me if you promise to make these special Spirals for Armadillomon, Veemon, Gatomon and Patamon, and let all of them stay with us." Yolei blinked back tears. She'd rather not let Ken see her cry.
Hawkmon blinked. "I hope you have a good way out of that if he says no," he hissed at her.
"Don't worry," she whispered back.
Ken watched the pair. ~She'd be miserable if her friends could not share in what would otherwise be her happiness. Interesting. Damn loyalty.~ He considered for a few minutes, more to build up tension and drama than to really decide. He knew what he would do--whatever would make Yolei happy. "Well...you know, Yolei, if anyone else asked, I would just let them go without their digimon."
She nodded. "I know."
"But, since it's you asking me, I'm going to do it."
She let out a sigh of relief, as did Hawkmon. "Thank you," she whispered.
"You're...welcome. The digimon will be brought to your prison as their new Spirals are completed. They should all be there within twenty-four hours. Hawkmon's Spiral took me all day today and most of yesterday, but now that I've perfected it, the rest should be easy to manufacture."
There was an awkward silence as they stood there, her staring at him, gratefully.
Finally he lowered his glasses and looked her in the eyes. "I'll see you at lunch, Yolei. Please tell the others about their digimon. Pagumon! Escort Yolei and Hawkmon to their quarters."
The Pagumon came and started to lead her off.
"Thank you, Ken," she said over her shoulder. She had never called him by his name to his face. She tried to avoid addressing him directly so that it didn't become an issue, and now she addressed him by his right name, with no honorific. She was being bold indeed.
He was rather surprised to hear his own name. "You're welcome," he said, forcefully, trying to cover embarrassment he didn't want to feel.
After they disappeared, Wormmon looked up at him. "Master, why did you do that?"
No answer.
"Master?"
Ken went and sat in his chair, looking at the different monitors but seeing nothing.
"Master?"
"I'll explain it later, *okay*?" Ken asked tersely.
"Yes, Master."
The door to the main room started creaking open, and the four occupants of the couch sat up in suspense.
When the door opened, the was Yolei, none the worse for wear, and she was carrying Hawkmon!
"Yolei, are you all right?" Cody asked, standing to his feet as the door closed behind her. "And...Hawkmon?"
"We're fine," she said. "Nothing bad happened." She set Hawkmon down. "Why did I carry you? You're heavy, and you have your own two feet."
"You didn't carry me. You squeezed the life out of me."
Yolei frowned at him, and then looked up at her friends. "Well, ask."
Davis, of course, was the one to let out a barrage of questions. "Where were you? What did he do to you? How come Hawkmon is okay if he's wearing his Spiral?"
"The Pagumon took me to the Control Room, where Ken presented me with Hawkmon, who is wearing a special-model Spiral. He can't attack and he can't digivolve, but everything else is okay. All of our Digimon are getting them, and they're all coming to stay down here."
Davis just had more questions. "When? Are you sure he can't attack? Did you try?"
"Yes, I did," Hawkmon said, "And let me tell you, it hurts like heck." He rubbed his arm to emphasize. "Every muscle gets tight, and you curl up, and you fall over in pain and you can't move for a few minutes until it goes away."
Yolei blinked. "Are you okay?"
"I was fine by the time you got there, and I've only been wearing this thing for thirty minutes, tops."
"If you insist. And as to when, guys, they'll be coming one at a time, and they'll all be here within a day, he said."
"Yolei, aren't you going to tell them that you had to ask him to do everyone else's?" Hawkmon said, poking her. "He wouldn't have decided to do that unless you'd spoken up." He turned to the rest of the group. "She was going to do without unless Ken made special-model Spirals for all of your Digimon as well."
Yolei blushed. "Hawkmon..."
"Oh, Yolei..." Kari came over and hugged her.
"Please...don't make a big fuss."
Kari stepped back. "Yolei, even if this didn't extend to the rest of us, do you know what this is?"
Yolei cocked an eyebrow.
"Your first present from your new boyfriend!" Kari laughed.
The three guys sweatdropped, and Hawkmon poked Yolei again. "Would you care to explain that?"
Yolei's eyes widened. Hawkmon didn't know! "Uh, guys, I have something I need to discuss with my friend here..."
Kari nodded, speaking for the group. "Go...talk...explain. Remember that your Digital Partner is more likely to understand you than anyone else, so if *we* understand, *he* will, too."
Yolei smiled. "Thanks. Come on, Hawkmon."
Hawkmon followed her into her room and she quickly had him sit on the couch. She sat on the floor, facing him, so they were on eye level with each other.
"Now, what's all this about a boyfriend?" he asked.
"Well...Hawkmon...this is...very hard for me to explain."
"How so?"
"Hawkmon...Ken and I...well, we..."
Hawkmon sighed and settled back into the couch. "Yolei, my dear, if you mean that you are in love with the Digimon Kaiser..."
"Yes! " she cried. "I am." She hung her head. "I know you must be so disappointed in me."
"Well..." He wasn't sure how to answer.
"Oh, Hawkmon, please don't hate me..."
"Yolei, I could never hate you. I can't say that I know what you see in him, though."
"I don't either. But, I see it. And he sees something in me, too."
"Well, his seeing something in you I can understand. So...just how close are you two?"
Yolei sighed. "He gave you back to me. He's giving the others their digimon because I asked. Over the weeks since Kari's wedding we've come to a few understandings...but we still have a lot to work out."
"Like the whole Digimon Kaiser thing?"
She laughed a little, blushing. "Well, yeah. Actually, I got the chance to talk with Wormmon, and he said that Ken was really sweet once upon a time. I'm hoping that something can be done to change him back. That's why I'm letting things go on."
"He might give it up for you."
"Maybe. Not likely." She sighed. "Things were so much easier when we thought Ken and the Digimon Kaiser were two different people."
Hawkmon just sat and stared at her for a while.
"What?" she asked.
"You forget, I may have not changed, but I haven't had time to really observe you now that you've grown up. All my memories of you are from back when you were fifteen. I wish I could have been there all this time."
"Oh, Hawkmon, I missed you too!" Yolei couldn't resist the impulse. She sat up on her knees and reached over and hugged him.
"Yolei--please--remind me not to get so sentimental anymore--"
"Sorry." She set him back down on the couch. Then she stood, and pretended to model, turning around in front of him, blowing kisses, acting like she was in front of a camera. "So...how do I look?"
"Absolutely wonderful, my dear."
She laughed. Something that she'd had a hard time doing ever since Ken walked back into their lives.
A/N: Well, well, well. Tune in next time. I repeat that a lot, don't I? But I like the way it sounds. At least I don't say, "Find out on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters!" (Although it sounds a lot cooler on 03 now that Davis seems to be doing it on a regular basis...I mean, he did the first four eps...)
A/N: This chapter's the longest so far, nine pages with no disclaimer and authoress's notes. But the opening scene actually has some comic relief! Wooohooo!
Also, I want to just thank everyone who has been reviewing...I knew when I sat down to the computer to write what I thought would be a 20-page fic and churned out 108 pages I had done something I could be proud of...but I had no idea it would go over so big... *authoress looks at people with happy tears welling up in her eyes* Thank you!!!
At breakfast, Yolei was not herself. She was silent, and didn't look either T.K. or Cody in the eye when she did speak. It was hard, though--since Davis and Kari no longer sat with them, T.K. still sat at the end, but now Cody and Yolei sat across from one another.
Cody noticed that something was going on, and he wanted to know what. He wanted to help if he could. "Yolei, what's bothering you?"
She looked up in shock. "What?"
"There's something wrong," Cody insisted.
T.K. watched the two, keeping his thoughts to himself. He'd noticed that Yolei had been a little off ever since Ken had made his debut, but he'd never imagined that things could affect her this deeply. He knew she and Kari had been having a lot of heart-to-hearts. He was just as worried about her as Cody, but Cody had known her a lot longer than he had, and he figured Cody could probably handle it better.
Yolei nodded. "Yes, there is something...off...but not wrong...or maybe it is wrong...but I really don't know...I don't wanna talk about it." She went back to picking at her food.
Cody sighed. "It has something to do with Ken, doesn't it?" He had always been perceptive, and six years of prison had not changed that in him.
He stared at Yolei with his deep green eyes until finally, she had to look back up at him. Of course that made her see his confusion and the questions in his eyes, and she could not look away without giving him a satisfactory answer.
She took a deep breath. "You're going to hate me, and you'll never understand why this is happening to me." She had known that sooner or later, she was going to have to tell the three guys (or at least two of them, and have Kari tell Davis).
"I could never hate you, Yolei. We've been friends for too long." Cody grinned impishly. It was true. They had been friends ever since he'd been born. Yolei's parents had given his parents a casserole--compliments of the convenience store--on the occasion of his birth. All of Yolei's siblings had been in school at the time, but Yolei was five years old, and her mother had brought her to see the new baby. For some reason, she grew attached to him, and as he'd gotten older, they'd become friends.
"I don't know about that, Cody."
"The only thing that could make me hate you is if you were to keep whatever is going on a secret."
Yolei sighed. "You're going to regret this."
"Maybe not. Tell me."
"Fine. If you're gonna be stubborn, I'll tell you. I'm falling in love."
T.K. and Cody glanced at each other.
"That's not terrible, or bad, or anything to be ashamed of," T.K. said, "But there are only three of us and one happens to be happily married--oh, you have *GOT* to be kidding me..."
If looks could kill, T.K. would've been in cardiac arrest. Yolei stood up, bracing herself on the table, and started yelling. "Are you insinuating that I'm falling in love with Davis? You pervert!"
T.K. stood in defiance. It actually intimidated her, now that he was finally the taller one. "Well, then, it's either me or Cody! I don't think it's me, and unless there's something between you two that I don't know about--"
"No!" Cody said, leaping to his feet. "Best friends don't fall in love with each other!" Then he jerked his head towards Yolei. "Do they?" he asked, almost scared.
"No! At least, not me and you! Cody, you need to spend a little less time around Davis. Maybe both of you do. Perverts." She sat back down and sighed.
The other two took their own seats. T.K. sighed and slumped backwards. "Well, Yolei, there's only one other person..."
~He finally got it!~
"And I know you're going to probably going to call me a pervert again, but I thought that Davis and Kari were pretty happy together--"
"I told you it's not Davis!"
"I didn't mean *Davis*."
"Huh?" She looked at him in confusion until it dawned on her. "You big fat HENTAI! That's just SICK!" she yelled, standing up so fast she tipped her chair over.
Cody rolled his eyes at T.K.. "I *think*," he said, slowly and carefully, trying to stop the arguing, "That Yolei means that she's falling in love with...*him*."
She sat back down.
"Him *who*?" T.K. asked.
Yolei and Cody both sweatdropped. Cody's drop disappeared a few seconds before Yolei's and he explained. "The Digimon Kaiser *him*, that's who. Am I right, Yolei?"
Yolei nodded, eyes on her plate.
T.K. sighed. "This is going to make things difficult on everyone."
"What's going to happen?" Cody asked, reaching across the table and putting a hand on Yolei's.
"I wish I knew," she whispered. "I thought maybe that if I let him go on--he's falling for me, too, I think--I could convince him to let us go."
Cody frowned. "Do you really think that you love him, or are you just doing this so we can get away?"
"I care about him," she admitted. Cody had a point, though. The way she was going about this made it seem like she didn't love him, that she was just using him as a means of escape. ~But I do love him.~
Love. She hadn't let herself use the word in connection with him before. Care, like, fall for, sympathize with, but never love. But suddenly she knew it was true.
It was going to be hard. It would be different. She had fallen in love--or thought she had--as a teenager, but she wouldn't be able to do with Ken the kind of things she had done with other boyfriends. No pictures of him in her room, no dates, no writing Mrs. Ken Ichijouji on the inside of a notebook cover.
She was not embarrassed or ashamed of her feelings, but she could not display them in the same way. She also knew he would not treat her the same way her other boyfriends had.
The situation was going to make loving him very hard, but she was willing to try.
Cody sized up her words, and the feelings behind them. Was there a right answer? "Well, Yolei," he said, choosing his words with caution. A fight with Yolei could be disastrous. She was going to need support, and Kari alone could not give her enough. "You know I can't like him. You know that I don't know what you see in him. But if you're happy, I'm not going to try to get in the way. I'll be here for you, just like always. And if you should happen to set us free, it'll be a side benefit of seeing you happy."
Yolei's eyes were burning. "Thank you, Cody." She quickly left the room before the first tear had a chance to fall.
T.K. and Cody sat in silence for several minutes.
"You know, Cody, you said that really well. In another lifetime, you would have made a good lawyer."
Cody glanced up. "You really think so?"
"Yeah, why?"
"In another lifetime, I was hoping to become a lawyer."
"Oh," T.K. said, quickly. He knew that he'd said something that had struck a chord in his friend and embarrassed him. He kept quiet before going on to another subject to take Cody's mind off what might have been.
Ken had gone to bed late, gotten up early, and was back working on his latest project.
~This is harder than I had thought it would be...it's taking longer. But it'll be worth it.~
Finally, after several more hours, he called for Wormmon.
"Yes, Master?"
"Bring me Hawkmon."
"Hawkmon?"
"Yes, Hawkmon, as in Yolei's Digimon."
"Now?"
"Would I have asked you to get him *now* if I didn't want you to bring him *now*?"
"I'll get him, I'll get him!" Wormmon scampered out of the room and ran to find Hawkmon--who was supposed to be cleaning the kitchen. He went into the kitchen, walked past an enslaved Digitamamon and found Hawkmon scrubbing the floor with several Vegiemon.
"Come with me."
Hawkmon, with the Dark Spiral wrapped around his leg, had no choice but to follow orders. He followed Wormmon to the Control Room.
"Ah, Hawkmon. Such a pleasure to see you again." Ken smiled. If this worked, Yolei would know he truly cared. "Come here and sit on this table."
Hawkmon did as bidden, sitting on the table as indicated. There were two enslaved Pagumon, one on either side of him. Wormmon watched in silence, full of curiosity.
Ken came and stood before him, and...what was this? He started to remove Hawkmon's Spiral.
"Master..." Wormmon said, cautiously. "Might I ask--"
"No." Ken continued to toy with the Spiral until finally it came off. Quickly he took hold of Hawkmon's wings to hold him down, and the Pagumon came to his side to help in the effort.
Suddenly Hawkmon, who had been sitting rigid as a fencepost, came to life. "Where am I? It's the Digimon Kaiser!" He struggled against the three, but they had the upper hand that time. "What do you want with me?"
"Sit still. I'm not going to hurt you," Ken said, coldly. "As a matter of fact, you'll thank me when I'm finished."
The look in Hawkmon's eyes said "Not likely," but he sat. "What do you plan on doing?"
"I'm upgrading your Dark Spiral. I have a special model I'd like to test on you."
Hawkmon frowned, but bit his tongue.
Ken started placing the special Spiral on his leg.
"There. Done. What do you think?" He stood back and grinned maliciously.
Wormmon frowned. The Pagumon let go.
"Does it take a few minutes to kick in?" Hawkmon asked. "I should be going under by now, but I feel normal."
"Try your attack," Ken ordered.
"Master..."
"Shut up, Wormmon. I'm giving him an order. Try your attack."
Hawkmon blinked, but reached up for the feather on the back of his head, anyway. "Hawk Beeeaaaaah!"
He fell to the floor, curled up in pain.
"Good. It works." Ken smiled. ~Yolei's gonna love this!~ "Pagumon, fetch Yolei. Bring her here. If she asks questions, tell her I have a gift for her." There was no taunt in his voice. The "gift" was not a "trap".
Hawkmon noticed that, even though a few places ached--places that he didn't even know he had. "What is this gift, if I may ask?" he asked, straining. He got himself out of the fetal position and laid flat on the floor. The pain was disappearing.
The two Pagumon had disappeared, going after his Digipartner.
Ken shook his head. "I honestly don't know what she sees in you, Hawkmon. My gift to her is you."
"Me?"
"Have you noticed your attack doesn't work?"
Hawkmon replaced his feather. A sarcastic frown crossed his brow. "It's been called to my attention..."
"Well, you can't digivolve, either. Not that it matters, since I have all the digivices. Other than that, it's like you don't have a Dark Spiral at all."
Hawkmon blinked. Yes. He could recall all his memories. He could move on his own without being ordered. He could think of insults toward Ken, although at that point he didn't use them. "Yes...so are you saying..."
"I'm doing this for Yolei, not you. You're going to stay with her now."
Hawkmon blinked again.
Wormmon blinked. "Master--"
"Stuff it, Wormmon, I don't want to hear it now." Ken knew Wormmon was going to say something about this unusual softness, and then, he really *didn't* want to hear it.
T.K. was the one in the living room when the Pagumon arrived.
"We are here for Yolei," one of them said.
~What? No rhyme?~ he thought, remembering his first encounter with them, back when he and the older kids had first traveled to the DigiWorld. "She's in her suite...I'll get her." He got up and tapped on her door. "Yolei? You've got company."
Yolei jerked her head up at T.K.'s voice. "Coming!" She wondered who it might be. Maybe Wormmon again, or Ken himself... ~Is it possible? It's two hours until noon!~
She came out, and was surprised to see the two Pagumon in the doorway. "You two?" she frowned, wrinkling her nose. She pushed her glasses back into place.
"You are to come with us," one of them said.
"The Digimon Kaiser wants to see you," the other one supplied.
Yolei blushed. T.K. said nothing, gave away nothing in his expression.
"Did he say why?"
"He has a gift for you."
T.K. cocked an eyebrow at that.
"Will I be coming back?"
"The Kaiser said nothing in regards to that."
She grimaced. "Well, all right..." Yolei took a step towards them. Then another, and another, ever so slowly. One stood on each side of her, and she went in step with them out the main door. It clicked shut.
She noticed how much less menacing of a sound it was from the outside.
T.K. let his book fall to the floor and ran to the Motomiya's door. "Davis! Kari! Cody!" He banged his fists against the door. He ran over to Cody's door and banged on it, too.
The three ran out. Davis was shirtless, Kari was blushing. They'd been busy. Cody was just confused. "What's the matter?"
"Two Pagumon--just came and--took Yolei!" T.K. said in a rush, paused by shortness of breath.
"What?" Kari cried. "What just happened?"
T.K. rolled his eyes. "Two enslaved Pagumon came and asked for Yolei. I got her, and they said that the Kaiser wanted to see her. They said he said that he had a gift for her. And she bought it. She walked right out of here with them."
Kari was in tears. "No...no...no, no, no, no no no nononononono..." She turned to Davis, who immediately put his arms around her.
"Shh...it'll be all right...she chose to go..."
"I know...but what if the gift is something bad? What if we never see her again?"
Cody gasped. "No." He looked at his three fellow DigiDestined. "I don't care how long it takes, I am sitting on that couch and I am not moving until we know what happened to her."
Davis, still cradling his wife, looked up. Cody sat on the couch, and T.K. was too stunned to move now that he'd informed everyone. "Guys...it may be nothing. Maybe he just wanted to spend time with her. He's egotistical enough to call that a gift. And don't tell me to speak for myself."
Kari giggled through her tears in spite of herself.
"Or maybe he is giving her something for real. I think we should give it an hour or three before we really panic."
T.K. nodded. "I don't think any of us are going to get any rest until then. I'm with Cody." He plunked down next to his friend.
Davis sighed. "You too?" he asked Kari.
She nodded.
"Well, come on." He picked her up and carried her over to the couch, and sat at the other end, next to T.K.. Kari settled into his lap, laying against him. He ran a finger through her hair, and she just sat.
"How long do you think it'll be?" T.K. asked.
"Does it matter?" Cody retorted.
Yolei tried to see everything, but the Pagumon were going fast, and if she lagged behind they got onto her. ~It's so weird that all this has been just outside the door for six years and I've never seen a most of it.~ She tried to recall what she'd seen six years ago, on that fateful day, but things had gone so fast. She had watched the floor a lot. They'd tried to hatch escape plans, but even with the five of them telling what they remembered, it was impossible to get enough of the layout to find an exit.
"How much further?" she asked.
"Quiet! We're almost there!"
Yolei jerked back, but kept walking. Sure enough, they rounded the corner, and a door came in sight, marked "Control Room". If nothing else, they were close.
She was mildly surprised when they led her through that door, through the Control Room, and into a little alcove off the main room.
The first thing she saw was Hawkmon sitting on the table.
"Hawkmon!" she cried, forgetting about the Spiral. It dawned on her just as the word left her mouth, and it brought pink to her cheeks.
So she was completely floored when Hawkmon turned towards her--still wearing his Spiral--and cried, "Yolei!" jumped down off the table, and ran to her to hug her. He leapt up into her arms and she barely caught him.
"Hawkmon?"
"Can't you see what a tremendous favor the Kaiser is doing us?"
She just looked at him in utter shock. "Uh, what's going on?"
"Can't you see? He's given me a different Dark Spiral. I can't attack, and I can't Digivolve, but other than that it's like there's no Spiral at all!"
Shifting her weight to hold him, she reached down and touched his leg. Sure enough, there was still a Spiral there.
"Oh my...I didn't know that that could be done..."
"Neither did I until he experimented on me--" Hawkmon frowned at that-- "But I don't really care, because now he says I can come stay with you!"
Yolei started to tear up. She looked up and spotted Ken for the first time. "You're doing this--for me?"
"Yes. Do you like your present?"
She smiled. "It's one of the kindest things I've ever had done for me...but I'm afraid I can't let you do this."
Hawkmon gasped. "Yolei, my dear, I hate to interrupt, but if you don't let me come with you I'll go back to being a slave--I don't mind being one, mind you, it's better than being deleted, but if I have the choice I'd rather not--"
"What's the matter?" Ken asked her.
"It wouldn't be fair for me to have Hawkmon when none of the others had their digimon. I'll only take him with me if you promise to make these special Spirals for Armadillomon, Veemon, Gatomon and Patamon, and let all of them stay with us." Yolei blinked back tears. She'd rather not let Ken see her cry.
Hawkmon blinked. "I hope you have a good way out of that if he says no," he hissed at her.
"Don't worry," she whispered back.
Ken watched the pair. ~She'd be miserable if her friends could not share in what would otherwise be her happiness. Interesting. Damn loyalty.~ He considered for a few minutes, more to build up tension and drama than to really decide. He knew what he would do--whatever would make Yolei happy. "Well...you know, Yolei, if anyone else asked, I would just let them go without their digimon."
She nodded. "I know."
"But, since it's you asking me, I'm going to do it."
She let out a sigh of relief, as did Hawkmon. "Thank you," she whispered.
"You're...welcome. The digimon will be brought to your prison as their new Spirals are completed. They should all be there within twenty-four hours. Hawkmon's Spiral took me all day today and most of yesterday, but now that I've perfected it, the rest should be easy to manufacture."
There was an awkward silence as they stood there, her staring at him, gratefully.
Finally he lowered his glasses and looked her in the eyes. "I'll see you at lunch, Yolei. Please tell the others about their digimon. Pagumon! Escort Yolei and Hawkmon to their quarters."
The Pagumon came and started to lead her off.
"Thank you, Ken," she said over her shoulder. She had never called him by his name to his face. She tried to avoid addressing him directly so that it didn't become an issue, and now she addressed him by his right name, with no honorific. She was being bold indeed.
He was rather surprised to hear his own name. "You're welcome," he said, forcefully, trying to cover embarrassment he didn't want to feel.
After they disappeared, Wormmon looked up at him. "Master, why did you do that?"
No answer.
"Master?"
Ken went and sat in his chair, looking at the different monitors but seeing nothing.
"Master?"
"I'll explain it later, *okay*?" Ken asked tersely.
"Yes, Master."
The door to the main room started creaking open, and the four occupants of the couch sat up in suspense.
When the door opened, the was Yolei, none the worse for wear, and she was carrying Hawkmon!
"Yolei, are you all right?" Cody asked, standing to his feet as the door closed behind her. "And...Hawkmon?"
"We're fine," she said. "Nothing bad happened." She set Hawkmon down. "Why did I carry you? You're heavy, and you have your own two feet."
"You didn't carry me. You squeezed the life out of me."
Yolei frowned at him, and then looked up at her friends. "Well, ask."
Davis, of course, was the one to let out a barrage of questions. "Where were you? What did he do to you? How come Hawkmon is okay if he's wearing his Spiral?"
"The Pagumon took me to the Control Room, where Ken presented me with Hawkmon, who is wearing a special-model Spiral. He can't attack and he can't digivolve, but everything else is okay. All of our Digimon are getting them, and they're all coming to stay down here."
Davis just had more questions. "When? Are you sure he can't attack? Did you try?"
"Yes, I did," Hawkmon said, "And let me tell you, it hurts like heck." He rubbed his arm to emphasize. "Every muscle gets tight, and you curl up, and you fall over in pain and you can't move for a few minutes until it goes away."
Yolei blinked. "Are you okay?"
"I was fine by the time you got there, and I've only been wearing this thing for thirty minutes, tops."
"If you insist. And as to when, guys, they'll be coming one at a time, and they'll all be here within a day, he said."
"Yolei, aren't you going to tell them that you had to ask him to do everyone else's?" Hawkmon said, poking her. "He wouldn't have decided to do that unless you'd spoken up." He turned to the rest of the group. "She was going to do without unless Ken made special-model Spirals for all of your Digimon as well."
Yolei blushed. "Hawkmon..."
"Oh, Yolei..." Kari came over and hugged her.
"Please...don't make a big fuss."
Kari stepped back. "Yolei, even if this didn't extend to the rest of us, do you know what this is?"
Yolei cocked an eyebrow.
"Your first present from your new boyfriend!" Kari laughed.
The three guys sweatdropped, and Hawkmon poked Yolei again. "Would you care to explain that?"
Yolei's eyes widened. Hawkmon didn't know! "Uh, guys, I have something I need to discuss with my friend here..."
Kari nodded, speaking for the group. "Go...talk...explain. Remember that your Digital Partner is more likely to understand you than anyone else, so if *we* understand, *he* will, too."
Yolei smiled. "Thanks. Come on, Hawkmon."
Hawkmon followed her into her room and she quickly had him sit on the couch. She sat on the floor, facing him, so they were on eye level with each other.
"Now, what's all this about a boyfriend?" he asked.
"Well...Hawkmon...this is...very hard for me to explain."
"How so?"
"Hawkmon...Ken and I...well, we..."
Hawkmon sighed and settled back into the couch. "Yolei, my dear, if you mean that you are in love with the Digimon Kaiser..."
"Yes! " she cried. "I am." She hung her head. "I know you must be so disappointed in me."
"Well..." He wasn't sure how to answer.
"Oh, Hawkmon, please don't hate me..."
"Yolei, I could never hate you. I can't say that I know what you see in him, though."
"I don't either. But, I see it. And he sees something in me, too."
"Well, his seeing something in you I can understand. So...just how close are you two?"
Yolei sighed. "He gave you back to me. He's giving the others their digimon because I asked. Over the weeks since Kari's wedding we've come to a few understandings...but we still have a lot to work out."
"Like the whole Digimon Kaiser thing?"
She laughed a little, blushing. "Well, yeah. Actually, I got the chance to talk with Wormmon, and he said that Ken was really sweet once upon a time. I'm hoping that something can be done to change him back. That's why I'm letting things go on."
"He might give it up for you."
"Maybe. Not likely." She sighed. "Things were so much easier when we thought Ken and the Digimon Kaiser were two different people."
Hawkmon just sat and stared at her for a while.
"What?" she asked.
"You forget, I may have not changed, but I haven't had time to really observe you now that you've grown up. All my memories of you are from back when you were fifteen. I wish I could have been there all this time."
"Oh, Hawkmon, I missed you too!" Yolei couldn't resist the impulse. She sat up on her knees and reached over and hugged him.
"Yolei--please--remind me not to get so sentimental anymore--"
"Sorry." She set him back down on the couch. Then she stood, and pretended to model, turning around in front of him, blowing kisses, acting like she was in front of a camera. "So...how do I look?"
"Absolutely wonderful, my dear."
She laughed. Something that she'd had a hard time doing ever since Ken walked back into their lives.
A/N: Well, well, well. Tune in next time. I repeat that a lot, don't I? But I like the way it sounds. At least I don't say, "Find out on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters!" (Although it sounds a lot cooler on 03 now that Davis seems to be doing it on a regular basis...I mean, he did the first four eps...)