Disclaimer: I dun own Digimon...So dun sue me...besides, ya won't get any money out of it...Anyways, this is a Kenyako bit. It's what happens when you listen to the Goo Goo Dolls song Iris too much. Dreams can be powerful, and they mean many things...So I dedicate the message that Ken tries to express about Miyako to my Cutie, Veronica...who I'll never stop caring for. You're my shining star.

Perchance to Dream

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP..."Ken, time to wake up! Get ready for school!"

Yes, yes, I know. This is what I hear every morning at 7 AM. I tend to endure the long process of rousing myself from the top bunk, down the ladder to the ground...beside the empty bottom bunk, Osamu's old bed...All it takes is my, imagination that makes me hear with such clarity Miyako- san's gentle voice calling through my bedroom door, at times, that voice coming from right beside me, sounding in the most gentle of whispers. However, it is only a dream, and the lack of verisimilitude is the nightmare.

Oh, what dreams have come to me in my nightly reverie! They are the same every night, and I wonder if I'm still dreaming when I wake up. My alarm clock beeps to punctually disturb my slumber. The clock rests level with a soft, comforable futon, not offset from the tall bunkbed I once shared with Osamu. The same words that call through the door are truly in whispers from Miyako-san's lips, lips that meet my own soon after. My eyes flutter open, straining to see through the brightness...just goes to show how well I thrive in darkness. The sunrise beams behind her, casting a brilliant golden light like an angel's halo, as if in my waking moment I had died and miraculously evaded the demonic clutches of Hell to find myself before the gates of heaven, with an purple-haired angel greeting me here. However, this is only home, yet she still sits beside me as a shining seraphim, lacking only shimmering wings that can carry us to Heaven. She's beautiful in every way, and that beauty brings a smile to my face, something I only experience with her every morning when I awaken. She encourages me out of the comfort of bed, and I walk to the bathroom to bathe and dress for school.

But here is where it all goes so awry. The sunlight drearily fades. Where there was once a gentle humming of a soft, perky tune, there is only silence. I walk into the kitchen, calling out for Miyako-san...never endearing terms, much to her dismay, simply "Miyako-san". There is no answer, and I grow fearful with every moment. A small slip of paper, a note it seems, falls from the kitchen counter to the floor. It's an object that I almost overlook, but I notice it nonetheless, plucking it from the white carpeting. The rustling of the paper echoes as I read the note, which is written in MY handwriting, in perfect Japanese calligraphy that I had learned years earlier. A note for ransom that read clearly such things as threats...Miyako-san...the roof of the school I attend, and the eerie note is signed ominously, "The Kaizer". "The Kaizer"...the name that haunts me still had stripped me of my innocence and made me unworthy of such a benevolent trait like kindness...and of she who is Love and Purity. Now it haunts me once again like a sick, twisted joke.

I pocket the small note with a scowl about my face. I run out the door, towards the school. All the sprinting at soccer practice sure comes in handy here as the brisk run carries me swiftly to my school. Two boys, slightly older than I, block the stairwell that maintenance uses to reach the roof, as if they knew something was going on that I was not to be allowed to take part in. They hinder me from reaching Miyako-san and saving her from myself. I decide that the boys mean nothing, their size mattering not at all, so I fight my way through them, nary a scratch on me. Then the long concrete staircase winds its way before me, presenting the challenges of the laws of nature: Gravity, fatigue, muscle strain. I endure it all, especially for Miyako-san, and I climb those stairs that in their nondescription never seem to end. It pays to play soccer. Daisuke would agree. A heavy, metal door, slightly cracked open, led to the outside world, the top of the school. Of course, the "Kaizer" is not up here with my shining star that he holds captive, perhaps victimizing her in such an irreprehensible manner that would earn nothing but a cruel and unusual death. My school's design is in the form of two buildings that are separated by a large gap between two of the walls of the different buildings. The gap may seem narrow and harmless, but it is still an incredible leap...perhaps for Miyako-san's sake, a leap of faith needed to prove my worth and save her. I take a running start and sprint towards the edge, every last breath becoming so much more devoted to my shining angel of Love and Purity. My speed increses as I put my first and best foot forward with all my weight, gaining altitude, defying Sir Issac's discovery so eloquently. I hang there in the air, my mind thrust into soliloquies about life, death, love, failure, and rapture all in the moment it takes for gravity to take me back down but still an eternity. The uncertainty of life and death falls either way. Then, at last, an impact, a sharp, sudden pain to my chest, and gravity still trying to claim my life. My lower body dangles from the side of the building as I struggle to pull myself onto the cold concrete of the adjacent roof. As soon as I manage this, I see Miyako- san's slender form bound against the door. My vision is soon disrupted by a blur of black, with hints of blue and gold. I regain my footing to stand face-to-face with the person who has always been my worst enemy, a rival greater than Daisuke...the person that haunts my dreams to this very day, he who doesn't have to forge my handwriting and calligraphy...because it is his own as well. That face that looked back at me was my own, topped by wild, spiked hair, hiding behind thick-rimmed, gold spectacles with purple- tinted lenses. The Kaizer blocks my vision. Of this there is no doubt that there was no forgery, no sick-twisted joke behind fair Miyako-san's capture. Hold on, my shining star!

And so, in a vengeful, passionate rage to save Miyako-san, I thrust myself at essentially, myself. Kaizer or not, he is still human, skin deep and easy to prick. We hit the damp concrete in a violent scuffle. With a furious pummel, those infamous glasses are violently cast over the building's edge to meet an unsalvagable end upon the ground below. Like the flickering of a million points of light, the dark one vanished underneath me, as do the bounds that restrain Miyako-san. Thankfully, I tend to her, unharmed and untouched, that beautiful Purity not lashed away at the least.

Her shocked and shaken demeanor started to melt away as she herself melts into my tired arms. My battered limbs, beaten from my scuffles and that incredible leap of faith, struggle but succeed in cradling her in my arms. As I gaze into tearful, golden eyes, she speaks to me in a shaky voice as if surprised by the efforts I made for her.

"You could have died, and it would have still been all for me...Why?" My answer is immediate, coming out of my mouth in a proud tone of voice that surprises even me.

"Why not? You are my shining star and I would die to preserve such an exquisite brilliance...anything for you." She smiles at this, eliciting the embarrassing crimson shade across my cheeks once again.

"Anything, Ken-chan? Really?"

"Yes, Miyako-san. Anything."

"Then...call me 'Miyako-chan'." Before I can respond with a lengthy discussion about formalities and humility, my thoughts are set aside immediately, like they were on a table that would be swept off by a swift swipe of an arm, and my words never make it out of my lips as they're stopped by an incredibly passionate kiss, her lips pressing so deeply against my own that I become dizzy from the sensation. In that instant after it ended, when I came down from the incredible high her lips gave me, I whispered words that, before today, couldn't ever have true meaning. Words that are now priceless and are spared only for Miyako-san, despite how corrupt I am to sacrifice myself to spare her.

"aishiteru, Miyako-chan," I murmur. After the words leap off my tongue, that uneasy feeling of vulnerability weighs down my heart like a heavy burden. At the same time, however, it manages to feel a surprising release, as if my life depended on that ultimately endearing expression. Before my doubts could settle upon my heart, her voice cuts through the silence,

"aishiteru, Ken-chan..."

Miyako-chan, you're so pure...The world may never understand how perfect you are. My purpose for us is not malevolent or thoughtless. I just want you to learn what lies inside a contrite heart, what is held by a soul seeking forgiveness from an angel of love and purity. I just want you to know who I am.

I just want you to know who I am

~owari~