DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. I just like to torture them. Please don't sue.
A/N: Huh. I like this chapter. There's a little flashback/commentary during a Davis/Kari scene on their relationship that I really like.
Ken came for lunch, and Yolei was right beside him--although Hawkmon was there as well, watching. T.K. and Cody hurried through the meal, as had become their habit, to leave Yolei alone with him. They could linger over breakfast and dinner.
After they left, Ken glared at Hawkmon over his glasses. "Is he going to sit there the whole time?" he demanded.
"Why shouldn't I?" Hawkmon challenged.
"Guys, please," Yolei cut in. "Hawkmon, please, it's not even going to be an hour...by tomorrow the rest of the digimon will be there to keep you company...just this once, would you mind being by yourself for a little while?"
"Is that what you want?"
She bit her lip. This required tact, something she had always found hard to come by. "I'll be spending twenty-three hours a day with you. We can be apart for one."
"Well, all right. But if the rest of the digimon aren't here tomorrow, I'm staying." He got up out of his chair with an indignant look towards Ken and left the pair alone.
"Is he always like that?" Ken asked her.
"Like what?"
"Protective."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess so. Isn't Wormmon protective of you?"
"I don't know. He's never had a need to be." Ken frowned, but let the thought dismiss as he turned his attentions to Yolei. "So...how are you and your present getting along?"
"I didn't realize just how much of my life he'd been missing until he had it back. I don't know what I've been doing without him."
"Can I take that as a yes?"
Yolei was tempted to bonk him over the head with a spoon, but she didn't. ~He needs to be treated nicely and with respect or he'll never want to give up this Kaiser stuff.~ "Duh," she said.
He smirked. "I wouldn't have done that for just anyone, you know."
"Yeah, I know." She smiled at him beatifically. "So...why me?"
~What? She doesn't get it?~ "Well, Yolei, I...I have come to...like you...over these past few weeks."
"Like me in what way?" ~I love being a woman.~ (A/N: Ain't it true, girls, ain't it true?)
He sighed. ~She's pressing it...but at the same time, I want to tell her...~ "You know...like you. Like...*like* you."
Yolei tried to hide her laughter. Who would have known that the Digimon Kaiser, the once-boy genius, knew so little when it came to women? "Like...as in...dating? As in...love? As in...long-term relationship?" She tried to act embarrassed, but she wasn't embarrassed at all. She was actually having fun, teasing him, watching him squirm in his seat like a five-year-old.
"...maybe..." he confessed in a squeak. Then, in his normal voice, "Probably?" He sunk noticeably lower in his seat.
She giggled like a schoolgirl. "Oh, Ken!" The name came so easily now that she had used it once. She blushed, almost more from reflex than from actually being flustered. Then she sobered. "But it'll never work."
"Why not?" ~*Kaisers don't fall for peasants,*~ he remembered. He wished he hadn't said that to Wormmon.
"Because...the others won't like it...Hawkmon doesn't think much of you...and...I mean...you're the Digimon Kaiser. I shouldn't even be in the same room with you, and here I sit, all crush-y over you..."
Ken jerked his head up. "You care about me, too?"
She nodded. "But...like I said, it isn't meant to be. It wouldn't work."
"The offer stands unchanged. You need never know about my daytime doings."
She turned away. "Are you deaf? As much as we both want it, it won't work. There's too much going against us." She hadn't planned for things to happen this quickly, but the emotions were there, and there was no stopping them. A tear ran down her cheek. "I'm sorry."
"Aren't you willing to brave it? I am."
She looked up at him. Between her wet glasses and her tears, she got a fuzzy image. She wasn't ready for this. Marriage was not something she was going to decide on after only a few weeks. "Aren't you willing to let things go on like they have been for a while? Until we can both sort out exactly what we want?"
That smarted. "Is that what you want right now?" It was an odd feeling, letting her reject him for the time being to gain her acceptance in the future. Just plain letting someone else's feelings interfere with his own, to care about her more than himself, was a new sensation.
"Right now. Unless something drastic happens." ~Like you giving up this Kaiser stuff. Like letting us go home. Like...like...~
"If that's what you want, I'll let things go slower, then."
Yolei nodded. There was an awkward pause, neither one sure of what to say.
"Gatomon!" Kari's voice echoed from the main room.
Yolei looked at the door, which was open just a crack. She grabbed Ken's hand. "Come on!"
"Give them a few minutes alone," Ken said. In truth he wanted a few more minutes alone with Yolei. "I want to ask...would you mind coming down to the main part of the base sometimes--I mean, my personal space? There's plenty to do...and...we could...date. Properly. *You* know."
~Is it just me, or is he *blushing*? Wait 'til Kari hears *this*!~ "That sounds like...fun. It's been a long time since anyone asked me on a date."
"So, yes?"
"Yes. Yes. Let me know, whenever."
He smiled. Not grinned evilly, not smirked, not laughed, but honestly, truly, smiled. It was a new look and Yolei liked it on him. "I will. I think I have some free time tomorrow." He liked seeing her blush at that. The truth was that he had quite a bit of free time almost every day, but he didn't want to sound too eager. "Now, let's go see how Gatomon's Spiral is doing."
They went out into the living room. Yolei was as happy for Kari as Kari was happy for herself, but Ken stood against the wall, feeling out-of-place. He kept silent, and left at the stroke of one in his usual tight-lipped manner.
That night, Kari and Yolei sat on the couch out in the main room. It was completely dark except the light from the TV on which they were watching a movie. Davis was, apparently, in the shower, and Kari had chosen not to join him right at that moment. Their two digimon were already asleep--Hawkmon on Yolei's bed, and Gatomon on the couch in the Motomiya's suite.
"Davis and I will want the bed...to ourselves..." Kari had explained to her digimon.
"You don't have to explain. I get it," Gatomon had told her. "I'll be fine as long as Veemon gets his own couch to sleep on."
Kari had laughed. "We'll work something out. It might mean taking turns on the couch and the floor."
But, Veemon was the only digimon who had not showed up that day. The Piximon escorting Patamon--the last one to arrive--had only been able to say that Veemon would probably get there the next morning.
Yolei glanced at her friend, who seemed kind of bored with the movie. "It happened," she said out of the blue.
"*What* happened?" Kari asked sleepily.
"We both admitted that we care about each other. And suddenly, he wants to date formally."
Kari raised an eyebrow, turning down the volume. "Go on."
"Of course, the only place we can go is what he called his personal space. I don't think he meant his bedroom. He probably has an entire amusement park inside here."
Kari laughed. She knew Yolei was exaggerating, but she knew that Ken probably did have a lot of things intended to keep himself busy when there was nothing to do. "You go, girlfriend."
Yolei laughed. "I'm going to. I'll take Hawkmon the first few times. That way he'll feel better about where I'm going and what I'm doing."
"And he'll probably be good to have around if Ken tries anything..."
Yolei blinked. "I thought of that, but I honestly don't think he will. He's too formal, too...cultured. And if he does, I will backhand him so hard he'll land in next Tuesday..."
Kari laughed. "That's saying a lot, considering it's Wednesday."
"And the other thing...*I* made *him* blush."
Kari started laughing too hard to say anything else. When she was finally breathing normally again, she stared Yolei right in the eyes. "When you blush over a guy, it's no biggie, but when he blushes over you, it's love."
This sent Yolei into her own peal of laughter.
Kari raised an eyebrow. "What? It's true! Davis used to blush--he still does--all the time! T.K. never blushed."
Yolei just shook her head.
A door creaked open behind them, and there was no doubt as to which one it was. "Kari-chan...I'm finished..."
Kari turned and looked over the back of the couch. Davis was wearing only a pair of shorts and had a towel around his neck. His hair was all wet. And he just looked so...dang...oh boy... "Um, Yolei, if you don't mind, I...uh...have to go..." Kari stood and headed for her beloved.
"I'll let you know how the movie ends," Yolei said. ~Those two...I swear...~
Kari was already in a trance beyond breaking and didn't answer.
Yolei sighed and tried to pay attention to the movie.
The minute Kari found her way into his arms, she felt safe. Her breathing was already coming in heavy rasps. "Dai...su...ke?..." she managed in between breaths.
"Yeah...me too..." He brushed a kiss on her forehead, and then a fiery one across her lips.
Oh boy. It was in motion, and it would be practically impossible to stop things now.
The pair quickly made their way to the bedroom, trying not to disturb Gatomon. As soon as the lock clicked shut and the lights were off, the temperature began to rise. Everything might have been a blur, but in its own way, it was an expression of love.
Before marriage, one of the ways Davis had let her know he loved her was by backing off. A few times he had felt himself...well...being a typical hormonal, teenage guy, but he knew that she was proud of the fact that she was saving herself for marriage, so he'd gone into his bedroom, locked the door behind him, and laid on his bed until he was back under control. Of course, whenever he got up and left her abruptly, she knew exactly what was going on. She knew it was hard for him, and she knew that sometimes he just couldn't help himself. Out of respect for the fact that he *had* backed off, she never mentioned it when he returned.
But now, now things were different. They could enjoy absolutely everything the other had to offer with no restraints and no worries. No holding back. And they took advantage of that, every night. A lot of times more often than that.
To pour one's self out completely, to only one person during the course of a lifetime, that was serious business. Davis was glad--now--that her wanting to wait had, of course, made him wait. He saw--now--that it would have cheapened the experience otherwise. This was something he would never experience with anyone but his Kari-chan, thereby making her all the more his, and at the same time, making her so special that he could hardly believe she had chosen him. Of course his "rivalry" with T.K. had ended so long ago no one even thought of it anymore, or remembered it as being nothing worth mentioning, but there were millions of guys in the world. He had asked her one morning before they got up and out of bed if she would have still chosen him if they were not imprisoned.
She had run a finger along his cheek and just smiled. And rolled her eyes. "Daisuke,"--she only called him that in romantic moments--"I know that that's the stupidest question you have asked in all ten of the years I've known you, and probably the stupidest question you have ever asked in all the nineteen years you've been alive."
It was a put-down, but paradoxically, the greatest compliment she had ever paid him or ever could pay him. He had never loved her more than in that moment, and after that moment the thought that she would choose him made him love her more with every passing second.
Forget the fact that they were only nineteen. Being married made you see things in a different light, regardless. He had thought that on their wedding day, he would never love her any more than he did then, but any given moment that had passed since was proof otherwise.
Ken was still, lying in bed, thinking. Wormmon was asleep.
~Why have I become so weak? I haven't felt anything like this since...since...~
He had to literally stop and think about it.
~Since before I became who I am now.~
He considered it a change from who he had been before, and for a fleeting moment that bothered him. Sam might have been the smart overachiever, but Ken had always been told that he was a good boy.
He let the memory wash over the present; clear-cut past covering up the confusing now.
He'd been six years old. Sam had brought home another report card full of A's, and Ken had no more to show than a picture he'd colored in class that day. Of course Mrs. Ichijouji made a huge fuss over Sam's grades, and spent quite a bit of time and attention on him before even looking at Ken.
Ken had waited patiently, and was standing there in his stocking feet in the kitchen doorway. It had been at least twenty minutes, but he had not complained, had not tugged on his mother's skirt. It might have been an even longer wait had nature not called Sam.
"Mama?"
"What is it, Ken?" she asked, picking him up and setting him on the counter. "Are you all right?"
Ken remembered thinking that he was so quiet, his parents thought he only made noise when things went wrong. But he had decided not to say anything. Instead, he had held out the brightly-colored drawing--marker and crayon on yellow construction paper.
His mother had surveyed it with expressionless eyes. It was a typical little boy's picture; a fancy convertible going down an open road.
Ken had smiled, totally adorable in his very chibi-ness. "See, Mama? I'm driving it!"
She looked up at him. "I don't think so, mister," she said, teasingly. "No keys for another eight years, at least. But it's a good picture, Ken." (A/N: I'm going by my state's learner permit/driver license laws, so if that's wrong, oh well.) She went over to the fridge and put it up with a magnet shaped like a fish.
Ken had smiled at the praise; it was rare in coming to him.
The phone rang and Mrs. Ichijouji had picked it up. "Moshi, moshi, Ichijouji desu...Yes, Osamu is here, but he's busy...Oh, I see. What's the matter, Mr. Yamada?"
In the pause Ken had tried to think of where he had heard that name. Then he'd remembered. Mr. Yamada was the principal of Sam's school. And apparently, something had happened.
"But he has perfect grades!...I see. Things happen during lunch and recess. But, my Sam wouldn't participate in such things..." Mrs. Ichijouji started sniffling. "All right. I will speak to Mr. Ichijouji about it. Good-bye."
After she hung the phone up, she let a few tears roll down her cheeks.
"What's the matter, Mama?" Ken asked tentatively.
"Oh, Ken..." she turned and picked him up off the counter, hugging him. "Promise me you'll always be a good boy like you are now."
"I promise, Mama." It had been the innocent promise of a boy, still just a kid, who hadn't yet seen the wrong side of life and didn't know better. He had been rather upset to see his mother cry, despite how emotional she always had been.
She nodded a bit and set him down. "Go play." She gave him a gentle push toward the door, and he ran off to find Sam.
He and Sam had spent a glorious afternoon together. Sam had been an unusually un-scholarly mood, and played a game with him. He taught small Ken to blow bubbles with a straw and soapy water. For once, Ken was better at something than Sam, and while he didn't brag about it, he delighted in it inwardly.
That night, Ken had been tucked into bed, but he wasn't tired. Of course it was only a few minutes before he convinced himself that he just *had* to go to the bathroom.
As he was walking back to his room, he heard his parents talking in the living room. He flattened himself against the wall and listened.
"Mr. Yamada called today," Mrs. Ichijouji said. "About Sam."
"What about him?" Ken's father asked.
"Well, he said that Sam has been getting into trouble. He's been seen with a few of the school's troublemakers, some kids who get suspended often and things like that. A few pranks have been pulled on a few of his teachers. There's no proof, but they wanted us to talk to him."
Ken peeked around the corner to see his father lean forward and look at her. "Do you really think Sam could be falling in with the wrong crowd?"
Wormmon shifted in his sleep, bringing Ken back to the unrelenting present. He sighed. After that night, Sam had gotten more and more of an attitude. He was too smart to get caught, though.
Unfortunately, the "new" Sam had rubbed off on Ken, and the part that rubbed off was the part Ken remembered when he decided he wanted to be like his brother.
~Is that why I decided to become the Kaiser? So I would be one of the "bad guys"?~
Wormmon moved again, waking fully this time. He glanced up at Ken to find the young man's eyes wide open. "Master?"
"Go back to sleep," Ken ordered in a harsh, tight tone.
"But, Master..."
"I was thinking about the past. I wish I could just erase it all."
Wormmon frowned. "It can't be that bad."
Ken hmphed. "Tomorrow Yolei will coming down here," he said, trying to get Wormmon to focus his attention on something--anything--else.
It worked. Wormmon's eyes widened. "What for?"
"Well, we're going to spend time together, away from the others."
"But--"
"It's something humans do. It's called dating."
Wormmon nodded. "Master, we should get back to sleep."
~Back? You have to go somewhere once to go back to it.~ "Whatever. If you're tired, go ahead." Ken snapped his own eyes shut. Wormmon curled tightly next to him and went back to sleep.
A/N: Aw, they both finally told each other that they care! Stupid peeps, it's about time! Ever notice that even when *you're* writing the story, the people do what they want to regardless? Curious. But anyway, you've read, now review.
A/N: Huh. I like this chapter. There's a little flashback/commentary during a Davis/Kari scene on their relationship that I really like.
Ken came for lunch, and Yolei was right beside him--although Hawkmon was there as well, watching. T.K. and Cody hurried through the meal, as had become their habit, to leave Yolei alone with him. They could linger over breakfast and dinner.
After they left, Ken glared at Hawkmon over his glasses. "Is he going to sit there the whole time?" he demanded.
"Why shouldn't I?" Hawkmon challenged.
"Guys, please," Yolei cut in. "Hawkmon, please, it's not even going to be an hour...by tomorrow the rest of the digimon will be there to keep you company...just this once, would you mind being by yourself for a little while?"
"Is that what you want?"
She bit her lip. This required tact, something she had always found hard to come by. "I'll be spending twenty-three hours a day with you. We can be apart for one."
"Well, all right. But if the rest of the digimon aren't here tomorrow, I'm staying." He got up out of his chair with an indignant look towards Ken and left the pair alone.
"Is he always like that?" Ken asked her.
"Like what?"
"Protective."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess so. Isn't Wormmon protective of you?"
"I don't know. He's never had a need to be." Ken frowned, but let the thought dismiss as he turned his attentions to Yolei. "So...how are you and your present getting along?"
"I didn't realize just how much of my life he'd been missing until he had it back. I don't know what I've been doing without him."
"Can I take that as a yes?"
Yolei was tempted to bonk him over the head with a spoon, but she didn't. ~He needs to be treated nicely and with respect or he'll never want to give up this Kaiser stuff.~ "Duh," she said.
He smirked. "I wouldn't have done that for just anyone, you know."
"Yeah, I know." She smiled at him beatifically. "So...why me?"
~What? She doesn't get it?~ "Well, Yolei, I...I have come to...like you...over these past few weeks."
"Like me in what way?" ~I love being a woman.~ (A/N: Ain't it true, girls, ain't it true?)
He sighed. ~She's pressing it...but at the same time, I want to tell her...~ "You know...like you. Like...*like* you."
Yolei tried to hide her laughter. Who would have known that the Digimon Kaiser, the once-boy genius, knew so little when it came to women? "Like...as in...dating? As in...love? As in...long-term relationship?" She tried to act embarrassed, but she wasn't embarrassed at all. She was actually having fun, teasing him, watching him squirm in his seat like a five-year-old.
"...maybe..." he confessed in a squeak. Then, in his normal voice, "Probably?" He sunk noticeably lower in his seat.
She giggled like a schoolgirl. "Oh, Ken!" The name came so easily now that she had used it once. She blushed, almost more from reflex than from actually being flustered. Then she sobered. "But it'll never work."
"Why not?" ~*Kaisers don't fall for peasants,*~ he remembered. He wished he hadn't said that to Wormmon.
"Because...the others won't like it...Hawkmon doesn't think much of you...and...I mean...you're the Digimon Kaiser. I shouldn't even be in the same room with you, and here I sit, all crush-y over you..."
Ken jerked his head up. "You care about me, too?"
She nodded. "But...like I said, it isn't meant to be. It wouldn't work."
"The offer stands unchanged. You need never know about my daytime doings."
She turned away. "Are you deaf? As much as we both want it, it won't work. There's too much going against us." She hadn't planned for things to happen this quickly, but the emotions were there, and there was no stopping them. A tear ran down her cheek. "I'm sorry."
"Aren't you willing to brave it? I am."
She looked up at him. Between her wet glasses and her tears, she got a fuzzy image. She wasn't ready for this. Marriage was not something she was going to decide on after only a few weeks. "Aren't you willing to let things go on like they have been for a while? Until we can both sort out exactly what we want?"
That smarted. "Is that what you want right now?" It was an odd feeling, letting her reject him for the time being to gain her acceptance in the future. Just plain letting someone else's feelings interfere with his own, to care about her more than himself, was a new sensation.
"Right now. Unless something drastic happens." ~Like you giving up this Kaiser stuff. Like letting us go home. Like...like...~
"If that's what you want, I'll let things go slower, then."
Yolei nodded. There was an awkward pause, neither one sure of what to say.
"Gatomon!" Kari's voice echoed from the main room.
Yolei looked at the door, which was open just a crack. She grabbed Ken's hand. "Come on!"
"Give them a few minutes alone," Ken said. In truth he wanted a few more minutes alone with Yolei. "I want to ask...would you mind coming down to the main part of the base sometimes--I mean, my personal space? There's plenty to do...and...we could...date. Properly. *You* know."
~Is it just me, or is he *blushing*? Wait 'til Kari hears *this*!~ "That sounds like...fun. It's been a long time since anyone asked me on a date."
"So, yes?"
"Yes. Yes. Let me know, whenever."
He smiled. Not grinned evilly, not smirked, not laughed, but honestly, truly, smiled. It was a new look and Yolei liked it on him. "I will. I think I have some free time tomorrow." He liked seeing her blush at that. The truth was that he had quite a bit of free time almost every day, but he didn't want to sound too eager. "Now, let's go see how Gatomon's Spiral is doing."
They went out into the living room. Yolei was as happy for Kari as Kari was happy for herself, but Ken stood against the wall, feeling out-of-place. He kept silent, and left at the stroke of one in his usual tight-lipped manner.
That night, Kari and Yolei sat on the couch out in the main room. It was completely dark except the light from the TV on which they were watching a movie. Davis was, apparently, in the shower, and Kari had chosen not to join him right at that moment. Their two digimon were already asleep--Hawkmon on Yolei's bed, and Gatomon on the couch in the Motomiya's suite.
"Davis and I will want the bed...to ourselves..." Kari had explained to her digimon.
"You don't have to explain. I get it," Gatomon had told her. "I'll be fine as long as Veemon gets his own couch to sleep on."
Kari had laughed. "We'll work something out. It might mean taking turns on the couch and the floor."
But, Veemon was the only digimon who had not showed up that day. The Piximon escorting Patamon--the last one to arrive--had only been able to say that Veemon would probably get there the next morning.
Yolei glanced at her friend, who seemed kind of bored with the movie. "It happened," she said out of the blue.
"*What* happened?" Kari asked sleepily.
"We both admitted that we care about each other. And suddenly, he wants to date formally."
Kari raised an eyebrow, turning down the volume. "Go on."
"Of course, the only place we can go is what he called his personal space. I don't think he meant his bedroom. He probably has an entire amusement park inside here."
Kari laughed. She knew Yolei was exaggerating, but she knew that Ken probably did have a lot of things intended to keep himself busy when there was nothing to do. "You go, girlfriend."
Yolei laughed. "I'm going to. I'll take Hawkmon the first few times. That way he'll feel better about where I'm going and what I'm doing."
"And he'll probably be good to have around if Ken tries anything..."
Yolei blinked. "I thought of that, but I honestly don't think he will. He's too formal, too...cultured. And if he does, I will backhand him so hard he'll land in next Tuesday..."
Kari laughed. "That's saying a lot, considering it's Wednesday."
"And the other thing...*I* made *him* blush."
Kari started laughing too hard to say anything else. When she was finally breathing normally again, she stared Yolei right in the eyes. "When you blush over a guy, it's no biggie, but when he blushes over you, it's love."
This sent Yolei into her own peal of laughter.
Kari raised an eyebrow. "What? It's true! Davis used to blush--he still does--all the time! T.K. never blushed."
Yolei just shook her head.
A door creaked open behind them, and there was no doubt as to which one it was. "Kari-chan...I'm finished..."
Kari turned and looked over the back of the couch. Davis was wearing only a pair of shorts and had a towel around his neck. His hair was all wet. And he just looked so...dang...oh boy... "Um, Yolei, if you don't mind, I...uh...have to go..." Kari stood and headed for her beloved.
"I'll let you know how the movie ends," Yolei said. ~Those two...I swear...~
Kari was already in a trance beyond breaking and didn't answer.
Yolei sighed and tried to pay attention to the movie.
The minute Kari found her way into his arms, she felt safe. Her breathing was already coming in heavy rasps. "Dai...su...ke?..." she managed in between breaths.
"Yeah...me too..." He brushed a kiss on her forehead, and then a fiery one across her lips.
Oh boy. It was in motion, and it would be practically impossible to stop things now.
The pair quickly made their way to the bedroom, trying not to disturb Gatomon. As soon as the lock clicked shut and the lights were off, the temperature began to rise. Everything might have been a blur, but in its own way, it was an expression of love.
Before marriage, one of the ways Davis had let her know he loved her was by backing off. A few times he had felt himself...well...being a typical hormonal, teenage guy, but he knew that she was proud of the fact that she was saving herself for marriage, so he'd gone into his bedroom, locked the door behind him, and laid on his bed until he was back under control. Of course, whenever he got up and left her abruptly, she knew exactly what was going on. She knew it was hard for him, and she knew that sometimes he just couldn't help himself. Out of respect for the fact that he *had* backed off, she never mentioned it when he returned.
But now, now things were different. They could enjoy absolutely everything the other had to offer with no restraints and no worries. No holding back. And they took advantage of that, every night. A lot of times more often than that.
To pour one's self out completely, to only one person during the course of a lifetime, that was serious business. Davis was glad--now--that her wanting to wait had, of course, made him wait. He saw--now--that it would have cheapened the experience otherwise. This was something he would never experience with anyone but his Kari-chan, thereby making her all the more his, and at the same time, making her so special that he could hardly believe she had chosen him. Of course his "rivalry" with T.K. had ended so long ago no one even thought of it anymore, or remembered it as being nothing worth mentioning, but there were millions of guys in the world. He had asked her one morning before they got up and out of bed if she would have still chosen him if they were not imprisoned.
She had run a finger along his cheek and just smiled. And rolled her eyes. "Daisuke,"--she only called him that in romantic moments--"I know that that's the stupidest question you have asked in all ten of the years I've known you, and probably the stupidest question you have ever asked in all the nineteen years you've been alive."
It was a put-down, but paradoxically, the greatest compliment she had ever paid him or ever could pay him. He had never loved her more than in that moment, and after that moment the thought that she would choose him made him love her more with every passing second.
Forget the fact that they were only nineteen. Being married made you see things in a different light, regardless. He had thought that on their wedding day, he would never love her any more than he did then, but any given moment that had passed since was proof otherwise.
Ken was still, lying in bed, thinking. Wormmon was asleep.
~Why have I become so weak? I haven't felt anything like this since...since...~
He had to literally stop and think about it.
~Since before I became who I am now.~
He considered it a change from who he had been before, and for a fleeting moment that bothered him. Sam might have been the smart overachiever, but Ken had always been told that he was a good boy.
He let the memory wash over the present; clear-cut past covering up the confusing now.
He'd been six years old. Sam had brought home another report card full of A's, and Ken had no more to show than a picture he'd colored in class that day. Of course Mrs. Ichijouji made a huge fuss over Sam's grades, and spent quite a bit of time and attention on him before even looking at Ken.
Ken had waited patiently, and was standing there in his stocking feet in the kitchen doorway. It had been at least twenty minutes, but he had not complained, had not tugged on his mother's skirt. It might have been an even longer wait had nature not called Sam.
"Mama?"
"What is it, Ken?" she asked, picking him up and setting him on the counter. "Are you all right?"
Ken remembered thinking that he was so quiet, his parents thought he only made noise when things went wrong. But he had decided not to say anything. Instead, he had held out the brightly-colored drawing--marker and crayon on yellow construction paper.
His mother had surveyed it with expressionless eyes. It was a typical little boy's picture; a fancy convertible going down an open road.
Ken had smiled, totally adorable in his very chibi-ness. "See, Mama? I'm driving it!"
She looked up at him. "I don't think so, mister," she said, teasingly. "No keys for another eight years, at least. But it's a good picture, Ken." (A/N: I'm going by my state's learner permit/driver license laws, so if that's wrong, oh well.) She went over to the fridge and put it up with a magnet shaped like a fish.
Ken had smiled at the praise; it was rare in coming to him.
The phone rang and Mrs. Ichijouji had picked it up. "Moshi, moshi, Ichijouji desu...Yes, Osamu is here, but he's busy...Oh, I see. What's the matter, Mr. Yamada?"
In the pause Ken had tried to think of where he had heard that name. Then he'd remembered. Mr. Yamada was the principal of Sam's school. And apparently, something had happened.
"But he has perfect grades!...I see. Things happen during lunch and recess. But, my Sam wouldn't participate in such things..." Mrs. Ichijouji started sniffling. "All right. I will speak to Mr. Ichijouji about it. Good-bye."
After she hung the phone up, she let a few tears roll down her cheeks.
"What's the matter, Mama?" Ken asked tentatively.
"Oh, Ken..." she turned and picked him up off the counter, hugging him. "Promise me you'll always be a good boy like you are now."
"I promise, Mama." It had been the innocent promise of a boy, still just a kid, who hadn't yet seen the wrong side of life and didn't know better. He had been rather upset to see his mother cry, despite how emotional she always had been.
She nodded a bit and set him down. "Go play." She gave him a gentle push toward the door, and he ran off to find Sam.
He and Sam had spent a glorious afternoon together. Sam had been an unusually un-scholarly mood, and played a game with him. He taught small Ken to blow bubbles with a straw and soapy water. For once, Ken was better at something than Sam, and while he didn't brag about it, he delighted in it inwardly.
That night, Ken had been tucked into bed, but he wasn't tired. Of course it was only a few minutes before he convinced himself that he just *had* to go to the bathroom.
As he was walking back to his room, he heard his parents talking in the living room. He flattened himself against the wall and listened.
"Mr. Yamada called today," Mrs. Ichijouji said. "About Sam."
"What about him?" Ken's father asked.
"Well, he said that Sam has been getting into trouble. He's been seen with a few of the school's troublemakers, some kids who get suspended often and things like that. A few pranks have been pulled on a few of his teachers. There's no proof, but they wanted us to talk to him."
Ken peeked around the corner to see his father lean forward and look at her. "Do you really think Sam could be falling in with the wrong crowd?"
Wormmon shifted in his sleep, bringing Ken back to the unrelenting present. He sighed. After that night, Sam had gotten more and more of an attitude. He was too smart to get caught, though.
Unfortunately, the "new" Sam had rubbed off on Ken, and the part that rubbed off was the part Ken remembered when he decided he wanted to be like his brother.
~Is that why I decided to become the Kaiser? So I would be one of the "bad guys"?~
Wormmon moved again, waking fully this time. He glanced up at Ken to find the young man's eyes wide open. "Master?"
"Go back to sleep," Ken ordered in a harsh, tight tone.
"But, Master..."
"I was thinking about the past. I wish I could just erase it all."
Wormmon frowned. "It can't be that bad."
Ken hmphed. "Tomorrow Yolei will coming down here," he said, trying to get Wormmon to focus his attention on something--anything--else.
It worked. Wormmon's eyes widened. "What for?"
"Well, we're going to spend time together, away from the others."
"But--"
"It's something humans do. It's called dating."
Wormmon nodded. "Master, we should get back to sleep."
~Back? You have to go somewhere once to go back to it.~ "Whatever. If you're tired, go ahead." Ken snapped his own eyes shut. Wormmon curled tightly next to him and went back to sleep.
A/N: Aw, they both finally told each other that they care! Stupid peeps, it's about time! Ever notice that even when *you're* writing the story, the people do what they want to regardless? Curious. But anyway, you've read, now review.