I hope ya'll like this…but I've
to tell you something before you'll go on… ::coughs:: there are some hints
of one-sided ::coughs:: Miyasuke… ::ducks flying object:: No, no!!! Don't
shot!!! It's one sided and I needed to put those hints in to make the story
work… ^^;; Don't
worry, Daisuke doesn't like her more than as a friend…
…
…
at
most you could start to worry 'cause he is beginning to like the Kaiser… o.O
Warning
= I wrote this when I was feverish…beware of what my brain could have gave
birth to… ^^;;
Ken took and uncertain step
on the sidewalk. He moved forward experimentally, testing his own strength.
Placing a second, hesitant step forward, Ken grimaced and rested his sweaty palm
against the cold wall, interrupting his heavy panting only to lick his lips.
His vision was blur, and his
mind was fogged by a thick, dark mist that slowed down his usually sharp mind,
forcing him to think over every single movement, even the simplest ones. Blood
pounded in his ears, and in his mind resound the maddening sound of broke bells,
merged with one of hammers falling down rhythmically.
He took a shaking step forward only to nearly fall to
the ground when his leg gave up on him. Bringing a trembling hand up to his forehead, he
wasn't surprised to find it burning. He swallowed, and squinted his eyes
closed, trying to gain enough strength to move forward another step. Cracking
his eyes open when he felt the soft pat at the side of his leg, his eyes linked
with a pair of sad blue ones. They blinked up at him with worry and sadness
dancing within them. A soulful look that left Ken shocked for a moment.
The boy tried to smile down
at the poor digimon, but all he could manage was a faint hint of a smile which
only made Wormmon's worry increase. Ken looked forward again, focusing on the
blurred shadows that just a few seconds before were the street and the houses.
His lids drifted slowly and he took another step forward through mid-closed eyes.
His hand slid through the cold marble of the wall as he, at a snail's pace,
dragged himself along toward his house.
Neglecting to answer
Wormmon's persistent cries of worry, Ken kept on drag himself along for
several blocks, until in front of him loomed the blurred vision of white which
was the apartment complex where he lived. Regarding the blurred vision in front
of him with a small smile, the purple haired boy slowly made his way inside the
building and to the elevator. When he reached it, he rested all his weight on
its door, thoughtlessly pushing the 'call' button. He turned around, so that
is back was against the elevator's door, and whipped his head backward,
inhaling air through ragged breaths.
With a buzzing sound the
elevator reached Ken and when the door opened, he stumbled backward, immediately
rolling over one side and clenching his stomach, curling in a foetal position.
Wormmon, being the over-worried digimon he was, rushed to his human partner's
side, patting him gently on one side as he started to cough wildly. Frantically
looking around for any kind of help, the green worm spotted the button filled
panel that loomed above him.
He remembered seeing Ken use
that 'thing' to make the elevator move and so, with a surprisingly agile
jump, he pressed the '8th floor' button. The door closed, and
with a tremble the elevator started his slow journey toward Ken's salvation.
His home.
Tumbling backward and
rolling over to Ken, Wormmon jumped up, patting the purple haired boy's back
as he started to moan. It was getting worse, and the poor digimon didn't know
what to do at all. His big blue eyes were shining for the unshed tears and he
could ear his heartbeat thump wildly in his own ears. And as the irrepressible
fear slowly inundated his heart, he couldn't help but remember Chibimon's
words.
//A Goodbye// he had said. //For a while//
After experiencing that
goodbye, the digimon didn't want to say goodbye to anyone else. He didn't
want to be parted form people he loved. And he couldn't bear to be parted from
Ken.
"Ken-chan…" he
whispered, his voice husky for the tears.
Ken opened his eyes a
little, smiling softly at his digimon. "…don't…worry…Worm…mon…"
he managed in a ragged breath. Then, all of a sudden, he hunched over, holding
his stomach and moaning in pain.
"KEN-CHAN!" the little
digimon was getting scared. His friend was in pain and all he could do was watch,
unable to help him at all. When finally, a glowing '8' appeared on the
elevator's display panel with a soft 'twink', Wormmon's head shot up and
he did the first thing that came in his mind.
He screamed for help.
* * * * *
Chibimon scuffed over the
dark marble floor, approaching quietly his human partner. He was sitting on a
corner, his legs up to his chest and his arms around them, hands on his feet.
His chin was placed on his knees and he was dandling himself back and forth, his
narrowed eyes fixed on the black shadows in front of him.
He was muttering something
that Chibimon couldn't make out, not even by moving closer to the boy.
"D'suke?"
"Damn me."
"What?" Chibimon's
head jerked backward and he blinked quickly his scarlet eyes.
"Damn me." He repeated, tilting his head to give his friend a
distant glare. His eyes were rimmed with red and his face was flushed, juts as
he had been crying. "I'm such an idiot." He looked forward again , gazing
intently at the thick shadows he was facing, as if there was something playing
trough them. Chibimon followed his partner's gaze and blinked, seeing nothing
special in the darkness. Then, tilting his head sideways, he placed his eyes
back on the tan skinned face, blinking again.
He didn't even need to
open his mouth that the boy was already answering his question.
"I accepted the Kaiser's
offer to help, then betrayed him and helped my friends, and now I've trapped
both of us there…" he sighed, placing his forehead on his knees.
"D'suke?"
"Hm?"
"What do you think of the
Kaiser…?" Daisuke's head jerked up for a brief moment, before fall down
once again.
"I…don't know." He
shook his head slowly, the brown spikes tickling the skin of his knees. "At
first I thought about him as Ken…then as a new enemy…then he has been my
saviour…" Daisuke sighed, shifting his feet and tapping the toes on the dark
marble. "Then I hated him for hurting Ken…But now…" the cinnamon haired
boy's eyes flickered up focusing on a huge crack that run through the pavement,
just a couple of centimetres at his left. "as he can read my heart I can read
his, Chibi…he is so alone…so lost…so desperate…"
"You don't hate him
anymore?" Chibimon twitched his ears, cocking his head to a side. "Do you
like him, then?"
"…"
Chibimon blinked, big ruby
eyes focused on a pair of rich brown ones.
"…I…I don't know."
Daisuke shook his head slowly, resuming his slow dandle. "…but I think I do,
in a way."
* * * * *
Ken half opened his eyes as
he felt being moved. He looked up through his eyelashes at his mother's
worried face, and shifting his gaze around he was surprised to notice he was in
his bed, his parents' worried faces hovering above him and Wormmon at his
side, laying limply on his bed as a stuffed tool.
"…mom…?" he tested
his voice, triggering a strangled yelp from his mother.
"Ken-chan! Dear!" She
lovingly ran a hand through his features, cupping his cheek with unimaginable
sweetness. "…How are you feeling?"
Ken weakly mouthed a
'fine' and blinked tiredly. His father smiled warmly down at him, nodding
slightly his head. "Hai. You *do* look a little better. Did you have a good
sleep?"
"…Yes…" Ken
whispered sleepily, his words slightly mispronounced because of his tongue
feeling thick and dry.
"…do you want to go back
to sleep, darling?" his mother whispered, her voice dripping that kind of
caring and concern that just a mother's voice can express.
Ken nodded slightly and
shifted into a more comfortable position. His lids slowly dropped, hiding his
eyes halfway, but they squinted closed as a sudden fit of coughs racked his thin
body.
"Ken-chan? Ken-chan?"
"I'm…fine…m-mom…"
he said between coughs.
"No, son…it doesn't
seems to me you're fine…" his father's eyes became solemn as he placed a
hand on his son's forehead. "You're burning up…"
"I'm…I'm…fine…"
he moaned, before starting to cough harder.
His eyes softened a little.
"You need to rest, Ken…"
Ken finally agreed with a
weak nod, and then let loose of soft moan of pain. He gasped in some ragged
breaths, but air seemed to not to go down. The thin body shifted a little, so
that it was now facing the ceiling again.
Ken's whole form was
racked by hard shivers and his cheeks were even paler than usual. His parents
shared a worried look and then his mother's caring hands grabbed the corners
of a blanket and pulled it up to cover the shaking boy.
"Ken-chan…?" his
mother asked, her voice cracking a little.
"…hm…?"
"do you want something to
eat?"
He shook slightly his head,
mouthing a silent 'no'. His mother smiled and traced his features with her
fingertip.
Reaching his chin, she
noticed at last the broken goggles hanging down the thin neck. She reached out
to touch them but Ken jerked away. Blinking cluelesslly, the woman wrapped her
fingers around the broken item and tried to pull it away.
"…what's this thing,
darling? You can't sleep with a broken glass near your neck! It's dangerous!
Wear it off…"
Snowy white finger curled
over hers, and the woman gasped, surprised by the force of the iron grip those
skinny fingers could manage.
"…Ken?"
"…no…" he sniffled,
then coughed. The coughs shook hardly his body, but his vise-like grip on his
mother's hand didn't even soften. "…don't take it away from me…"
he managed to cry out between sobs. His thin body, already shacked by the heavy
shudders of the fever and by the tremors of his heavy coughs, was now shacking
out of…fear. And his chest was heaved by mournful sobs. On his face, was the
shimmering trace of streaming tears and in his eyes, so lost and far before, was
now a blinding sparkle.
A flash of fear and
determination rimmed with pure rage, an emotion that, into those kind eyes, was
out of place. But even if the rippled rage didn't belong in those usual clear
eyes, it was making them shine with a force she had never seen before.
She didn't know that those
goggles were so important to her son, but obviously they were.
He seemed to care a lot for
that old, broken item and she couldn't take it away from him.
And deep inside, a far as
possible form he conscious thoughts, she was *scared*.
Scared by how those enraged
eyes could react if she tried again to take those goggles away.
"…all right,
Ken-chan…" she loosened her grip around the goggles and immediately her hand
was free again. She looked down at the goggles and took a better look at them.
Suddenly, she remembered those goggles…weren't they…weren't
they…Daisuke's?
She murmured her question
softly, quietly…so inaudibly that she herself couldn't hear her own words.
The woman cleared her throat, ready to ask again, but when her son threw himself
on her arms, sobbing uncontrollably, she had not only the certainty she had been
heard, but she had her answer as well.
The goggles were
Daisuke's.
But with this answer,
unbidden, came the answer to another question she hadn't had the force to ask.
Has something happened to
Daisuke?
Yes.
Yes it has.
* * * * *
Miyako Inoue looked around
the lifeless room that had become her last refuge. Her hazel eyes shifted around
before fall back on the ticket she held loosely in her hands. Sighing painfully
she let it slid out her hand and watched fascinated as it fell noiselessly on
the floor.
Her eyes narrowed
perceptively, but the distant look on her face didn't change.
Reaching out a hand, she
switched off the light and was now enfolded in a thick blanked of darkness. This
gave her the illusion to be blind, so that she won't have to see the cruel
torture the journals and television.
It had been two weeks. And
the media still talked about the disappearance of 'Daisuke Motomiya, great
hope of the young Japanese football, dear friend and beloved son.'
Miyako smiled bitterly at
this, her usual kind features twisted in look of hatred and sorrow. How dared
them to talk about him like he was already dead?! If they thought he was, then
*why* they kept on torturing the ones who cared for him like this?! Searching
for him and fanning fake hopes?
He was gone, she knew that,
but because he had trapped himself in another universe. To save them. To save
them all.
//To save Ken…//
Miyako frowned at the little
voice in her head. Yeah…he trapped himself in the digital world to save
Ken…but he would have done the same for *everyone* else, right?
//Right.// the voice replied and Miyako smiled proudly. //He
is that kind of boy…he had sacrificed himself for his friend's sake…not
only for Ken's…// Miyako nodded slightly, trying not to think about what
happened that fateful night when Daisuke saved Ken's life.
Something had happened, she
was sure of this, but Ken wouldn't tell her. He wouldn't tell anyone, for
that matter. But something *did* happen. Something that made his usual snowy
cheeks turn into a rosy pink, and his clear blue eyes sparkle.
Shacking her head clear of
those thoughts, the lavender haired girl slowly stood up, and looked around.
Once she hated the darkness,
but now she could say she loved it. It protected her from all the lies that Ken, the digidestined and the media were all telling her. It provided her
with a private world where she could dream about freeing Daisuke.
She moved forward slowly,
her arms stretched out, and dragging her feet. After five dragged steps, her
palms connected with the cold stone of the wall. Raising a knee experimentally,
she touched it to something soft. Was it her bed?
She smiled.
Yes, it was.
Her knee wandered over it
for a couple of seconds before jerk down and leave the girl free to fall limply
on the soft mattress. She moved blindly her hands up to her pillow and balled
her fist around it, biting her bottom lip.
After Ken's return and
after knowing about Daisuke trapping himself in the other dimension, the digidestined had fight for long, unsure on
how to proceed. At last, they had decided to wait and gather information before
try and save Daisuke.
Didn't they care for
Daisuke enough to rush to the digital lands and free him?
//No…we love Daisuke, but in
order to not waste his sacrifice, we need to be strong enough to beat the Kaiser
at the first fight…//
Were they all so scared?!
//No…we're moving slowly
for Daisuke's sake …//
Lies.
It was all a bunch of lies.
The truth was that they
preferred to sacrifice one to save the others. Plain and simple. Sacrifice one
life to save thousands. Oh yes, mathematically the speech made sense, but…
…how about Daisuke?
His feelings?
His life?
Was this really the right
thing to do?
Miyako was sure not.
Her eyes welled up with tear
and there, in the safety that her shadowed room provided her, the digidestined
of Love and Sincerity wept silently.
* * * * *
Iori knocked softly at
Miyako's door for the third time.
A soft noise was coming from
inside the room. He knocked softly on the door and whispered, "Miyako-san?"
No answer.
He softly rapped his knuckles against the door once again.
"Miyako-san, please open
the door…"
There still was no reply. He put his ear onto the door, hoping he could hear a
hint that she was doing anything and make out what that muffled sound he could
hear was.
Then the dawning realization
hit him.
It was the sound of faint
sobbing.
Sighing, the digidestined of
Knowledge and Reliability placed his fingers round the doorknob and squeaked the
door open.
"…Miyako-san?" He
didn't see anything at first, but he narrowed his eyes, waiting for them to
get used to the thick darkness. Slowly, he could make out the her shape. The
lavender haired girl was laying face down on her bed, head hidden in the pillow.
She looked as if she'd been crying for weeks.
"Leave me alone..." She
said coldly.
"The other are waiting for
us, Miyako-san…" he swallowed, not really sure how to deal with those
seemingly endless tear of hers. Her crying burned a hole through his
heart and he didn't know what to do to stop all this pain. He was at a loss of
words.
And he was supposed to be
the smart and reliable one…
"I don't wanna come…"
"Miyako-san…"
"This is stupid."
A sigh.
"Please
Miyako-san…don't act as a child…"
She glared up at him, hazel
eyes shining with tears. "And why? I *can* act as a child as much as I
want." A pause, during which she took care of a loose strand of lavender hair
fallen between her eyes. Impatiently, she blew at it, with the only results that
more strands fell back into her eyes. She moved them all away with a grunt.
"And I'll definitely *do* it." She slammed her head back on the pillow and
Iori rolled his eyes.
"Miyako-san we've to
go…"
"Don't wanna." She
said, but it come out a little muffled due to the soft cloth blocking her voice.
"And it *is* stupid."
"Every
single one of us will be there, Miyako-san."
"I
don't care. And this is still stupid." The younger boy sighed again.
"Please…"
he paused unsure of what to say. "Do it for Daisuke…" he tried, and was
happily surprised to see that it had some sort of effect.
Miyako's
head jerked upward at this, lavender hair swirling around it in a eclectic
dance. "…I…"
"Please…"
he begged, coming closer and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "This
soccer game was so important for Daisuke…"
He
eyes shifted and she cast a sideway look at the ticket now visible on the
ground. "…I…"
"Please…"
She
sighed, shaking her head. "Alright." She stated quietly as she slowly stood
up. Her eyes focused on the light in the corridor, a shocking contrast with the
shadows within her room. She let loose a soft sigh, pacing slowly toward the
door. "…you'll repay me for this, Dai-chan…as soon as you'll come
back…"
*
* * * *
Ken
sighed deeply, tapping his tiptoe in the mud. He looked around, visibly nervous,
and licked his lips as his eyes fell on the poster that hang down limply at the
entrance of the little stadium.
"Daisuke
Motomiya's memorial game"
His
eyes narrowed into tiny slides and he jerked around, suddenly interested in the
poll of mud at his feet.
'Memorial'
game.
'Memorial'.
That
word made him sick.
Reaching
a hand up, he softly traced the crack that ran across one glass of Daisuke's
goggles, hanging loosely down his neck.
'Memorial'
game?!
'Memorial'?!
Daisuke
was still alive for crying out loud!! But no, his team-mates just *had* to
change the most important game of the season into something to remind him by.
'He was so excited about this game!' they had said. 'He would be so
happy!!" they added. Figure, as if they would happy to have a memorial game
while they're still alive. They would at least be upset. That, to put it
lightly…
Fingers
still dancing across the glass of the goggles, warmed by the sunrays, Ken's
eyes flickered up and he surveyed slowly the whole area. Today, for the first
time in years the Odaiba high school team was playing against Tamachi. Ken's
eyes turned to the poster for a second, focusing on the red capitalised name.
'Daisuke
Motomiya.'
All
of a sudden, he had this bewildering need to run away. To go back home, lay on
his bed and sleep.
Forever.
He
wanted it with all his mind, more than anything else in the world.
Maybe
he wanted it even more than how he wanted to see Daisuke, but the purple haired
boy wasn't sure about that.
Surely,
he wanted to be at home more than how he wanted to be there, in the middle of
the soccer field, wearing his soccer uniform.
Ken
sighed, his heart suddenly heavy.
No,
it wasn't his own the soccer uniform he was wearing. It was *his*.
Daisuke's.
Ken
took in a laboured breath, with the strange sensation that time had bend over
under its own weight. His back burned as crazy and his chest wasn't in better
conditions. And all because he couldn't bear the faint sensation of
Daisuke's oversized shirt brushing his skin. It had his name written on both
the back and upon his heart, and that was were it hurt the most.
It
burned.
It
really did.
It
has been his friends' voices to abruptly bring him back to reality. And even
if he was startled, he was glad to be back to his senses. With a faint smile
playing over his lips, he waved back at the didigestined, who were waving
happily at him from the bleachers. He dropped his hand then, when the wind
started to blow. He stood still just for few moments, hearing intently the sound
of his own heartbeat and the far murmurs of the crowd, then his hands brushed
gently the front of Daisuke's shirt, tracing the printed letters of his name.
D.
A.
I.
S.
U.
K.
E.
His
fingers crawled like a spider over the name and then dropped down and, atrangely
enough, a weird and wonderful calm sneaked inside him, like a fresh torrent of
azure water. His heartbeat increased and -that was really puzzling- seemed to
have developed a twin and to be thumping along with it inside his chest.
Ken's
eyes opened slowly and he turned around, scanning the field to study his former
companions, his opponents in this single game. There was Jude, Hiroshi, Rei,
Takashi…
Ken blinked, when he noticed
there was no one at playing the role he had left vacant. No one was playing
right forward, and the area almost directly in front of him was completely
desert. He curved slowly one eyebrow, casting a quizzical look at one of the
Tamachi's player. Akira –that was the boy's name– shrugged and mouthed
an uninterested "dunno." Ken's other eyebrow joined his twin up and he
looked quizzically at his own team. He surveyed them all and then placed his
eyes on the digidestined, who were shifting uncomfortably in the bleachers.
What was
happening?
Was the Tamachi planning to play ten against eleven?
TODAY of all the days?!
And leaving *his* role free?!
Ken looked down once again,
kicking absent-mindly the ground.
That wasn't fair.
Then he sighed, balling
slowly his hands into loose fists.
But maybe it was better that
way.
He had accepted to take
Daisuke's place in his team, and was looking forward for the game to start,
but he wasn't sure if he could bare to play against someone that wasn't Dai.
Ken's look darkened, shame
showed over his handsome features, and nibbled gently his bottom lip.
No matter what they said
about all this being done for Dai. He was doing this for no other than he
himself. If he was there, it was because this reminded him the first time he and
Daisuke played together. He wanted to live it again, and just like he was
playing Daisuke's role he couldn't bare to see anyone else but Dai playing
his own.
He smiled faintly, replaying
that day's events in his head over and over, the sound of his heartbeat still
resounding in his ears. He slowly looked up as he heard soft cried escape the
mouths of the digidestined. Ken looked up, only to discover that a soft black
mist had descended, and was now floating throughout all those who were present,
tugging playfully at their clothes. Ken took a step backward and swallowed as he
realized no one but the digidestined seemed aware of the translucent fog. He
could see it ruffle the hairs of whoever it could reach, tugging at their
clothes and raising soft clouds of dirt; but he couldn't *feel* it. Smell it.
Touch it, or sense it. He could just see it and what it was doing. And no one
but he and the digidestined seemed aware of its presence, either.
It was the same mist that
had surrounded Daisuke when he first fell under the Kaiser's spell.
Eyes widening in
stunning realization, the purple haired boy was ready to rush to the locker room
and grab his D-3when he became aware of a scream coming from middle of the
bleachers. Just where the digidestined were, he remembered as he jerked around.
The scream was
Miyako's. She was up on her feet, hand clasped over her mouth, tears streaming
down her cheeks. But what stunned Ken weren't those tears or the force of her
scream. It was the strange look on her face, a mix of hope and fear that was barely describable.
Following her gaze, Ken turned around once again, his heart still pounding
alongside with its soft echo.
Miyako's scream built up into a fast crescendo, as the form slowly
loomed within the dark fog, but Ken just stood speechless, unable to move at
all.
It was far, and a unfocused for the mist, but it was a form Ken
couldn't stop from recognizing. He would have recognized the one who was
slowly approaching him even in a billions years, even between dozen billions of
people.
"Daisuke…?" he whispered, so quietly it resembles the sound of a
petal falling on the ground.
The boy stepped quietly toward him, his arms dangling at his sides and
his head moving slightly around. He exited the fog hesitantly, tentatively, as
if it was all a dream. His chin raised and his eyes closed, the boy stepped even
closer, his shoulders raising and falling gently and mesmerizing with every step
he took.
Ken swallowed hard as the boy stopped, raising his lids to let chocolate
brown eyes lock on his.
"…Ken…" he smiled. It was a soft smile at first, but then it
developed in a full, proud grin.
He seemed so real. So...Daisuke.
Brown hair, holding a hint of red resemblance to a burning flames
within; deep brown eyes; bronzed skin; dressed up in Ken's Tamachi uniform…
Ken swallowed again as the boy stepped even closer. He looked like him.
Sounded like him. Moved like him. Grinned like him.
The tan skinned boy stepped closer and walked past Ken.
//God, he
even *smells* like him.// Ken thought, closing his eyes in sudden bliss.
The boy stepped almost regally through the field, grinning openly up at
the digidestined in the bleaches. He
silently took his place in front of Ken and waved his hand to the other chosen
children, who were now reduced to silence by their own surprise.
"…Daisuke…?" Ken chocked out at last, and immediately the auburn
eyes were back on him. Daisuke's smile softened for a brief moment and then he
cocked his head to a side. Ken opened his mouth, his mind filled with questions,
when the whistle blew. Ken just had the time to blink, that the flash of green
and white rushed past him. He swirled around as quickly as he could manage, but
when he faced the Odaiba's
goal net, it was just to see the black-and-white soccer ball slam into it. Daisuke was in front of the net, surrounded by the Odaiba's defenders,
a huge grin spread across his tan skinned cheeks.
In less than thirty seconds Daisuke's team was already leading 1-0. The tan skinned boy ran back toward the center field, still grinning as a
fool. Ken stared in stunned silence, unable to
grasp completely what was happening.
"Ehy, Ken!" Daisuke laughed as he
ran past him. "Aren't you going to play, today?"
Ken's mouth hang open and the
muscles of his throat worked soundly as he tried to say something. Daisuke
smirked and swirled around, facing his team-mates.
"We can do it, guys!! Let's win
this!!!" he cried out enthusiastically, and an excited roar answered him.
* * * * *
Chibimon carefully climbed up
the bleachers, his tongue slightly protruding from the side of his mouth. His
ruby eyes were narrowed in the effort to climb up, and his ears twitched every
now and then. He had a intense look on his chubby face, but in the complex he
looked more funny than serious. He squinted his eyes as he reached his target,
and popped down on his stomach, panting hardly. His tongue was completely off
his mouth, wide opened to let air in.
After gathering enough air in,
the ball of digital fur looked up, tilting his head to a side. "Hi!" he
cheered, waving a little hand.
Wormmon's antennas twitched,
and he shifted his gaze from his Ken-chan to the blue ball not too far at his
right.
"CHIBIMON!!!" he squeaked,
completely forgetting he was supposed to be a stuffed toy and rushing toward the
still panting digimon. The caterpillar tackled the smaller creature, placing his
pods round the blue ball. Unfortunately, Chibimon was still sort of tired, so he
fell backward bonelesslly, and they both would have fallen to the ground if a
hand hadn't sneaked down toward them to grab them both.
"Chibimon?" big sapphire
eyes blinked down at the two digimon.
"Hi, Matt!" the little ball
replied, smiling happily and twitching his ears, his eyes curved into to tiny
lines.
"Chibimon?" a voice echoed
behind the blonde, and soon a younger face, where similar sparkling blue eyes
shone, peeped down at the digimon from behind Matt's shoulder.
"Hi, TK!" Chibimon giggled,
finally settled down on the ground. Well, it was Yamato's lap to be more
accurate…
Soon all the digidestined
gathered around him, confusing him with thousands of questions he didn't know
if he could answer, but that surely couldn't answer all simultaneously. He
squinted his eyes closed and raised his shoulders, his ears plastered to his
skull and his little hands pressed over his mouth. They were scaring him,
yelling at him like that, but they didn't even notice his shaking as they kept
on asking.
Then, suddenly, he was safe.
He
was pulled away from the confusing vortex of questions and shouts of the chosen
children, and someone was holding him safe in their arms. Chibimon's eyes
snapped open and he blinked quickly his round eyes, as he realized he was being
hold by Wormmon, who was glaring at the digidestined and pleading them to leave
his friend alone. The smaller digimon smiled, letting himself get wrapped in the
warmness and listening to the now quieter and slower questions addressed to him.
"What
happened? Why are you here, Chibimon?" Iori asked, patting his own digimon on
the head.
"The
Kaiser sent us back home!" Chibimon replied, not moving from Worrmon's
embrace.
"How?"
Chibimon tilted his head to a side, his lids drifting down for a long blink,
followed by two quicker ones.
"With
his digivice!"
"The
Kaiser have a digivice?" Chibimon tilted his head to the other side, so that
he could look at Taichi.
"Hm-hm."
He nodded. "I saw it!"
"And
he used it to send Daisuke back?" Chibimon nodded again, his gaze shifting
from Tai to rest on Koushiro. "Strange, indeed…" he paused, his eyebrows
knitting together.
"Did
he free Daisuke?!" Miyako cried, managing to tear her eyes off Daisuke for a
moment, and Chibimon looked at her quizzically.
"…free?"
he blinked. "D'suke wasn't hold captive…the Kaiser's castle is our
home now!"
Miyako
shook her head. "No, Chibimon…I mean…the Kaiser will let him stay here?
With us? Did he gave up on Dai?"
Chibimon
blinked quickly, nuzzling closer to the green caterpillar. "…no…"
"Why
he send you two here, then?"
Chibimon
shook his head, glancing up at Yamato for a moment. "…dunno…" he looked
away, guilty.
No
one told him that lie would be so painful…
Chibimon
chewed gently his lip and rested his head against Wormmon, his eyes closing
softly. "But it's for Dai-chan…"
* *
* * *
For Ken, the
soccer game was actually similar to fighting, letting his instinct take control,
losing completely the capacity to think clearly. It felt like being back to the
old days in the digital world, when he was the Kaiser and Daisuke was his
'worthy adversary'. That game felt like the first one they played against
each other, except this time he felt fits of happiness instead of rage. That
was…a battle, a some sort of competition…that forced the two of them to
battle both *against* and *with* the other. It was exciting, a spiralling
sensation that rose from deep within them, causing jolts of electricity to run
through every fibres of their bodies.
Daisuke was
laughing hard, his dark skin shining wet with sweat, and Ken himself couldn't
prevent his own lips to twitch in a maniacal grin. Every capacity of thinking
left behind and every need but the one to win long forgotten, the two boys were
battling in the middle of the soccer field.
It was a dance,
what they were performing. Moving at the rhythm of that eclectic dance, that
instinctual fight, their bodies touched, brushed against each other, sang a duet
no one but them could ear.
It was a song of
mute calls, the one their bodies were performing. A song of moans, pants…of
breaths and swallows, of whistles and silences.
Their was a
battle of gazes, of touches. A sanctuary for stealth peers and brushed hands.
For whispered words and mute promises. It was hard and rough, eclectic and
swift, and it didn't admit any pause, any distraction.
It was something
no one of them could understand, yet it was something extremely pleasurable.
Something that was bringing them up to a sweet forgetfulness, where nothing
existed but them.
Stunned,
practically non-existent for the two duellists, the other players stood, mouths
hang open in mute shock and eyes wide in awe and amaze. They couldn't move,
for the game had ceased to be a simple game the same moment two pair of brown
chocolate and sparkling purple eyes met. It had changed into something superior,
more refined, something they hadn't the rights to participate to. All they
could do was stare as the two boys kept on fighting, dancing, singing and
meeting in the misted air of the cold winter.
The rhythm of
their battle slowed down a little and Daisuke started to rush down throughout
the whole field, with Ken at his heels. They resembled two children now. There
were no more angered duellist, skilful dancer, sweet birds singing, or lover
teasing each other. The overwhelming sensations that were before guiding every
action of the two had now faded away, loosening their grips on their minds, and
leaving a blessed exhaustion behind. They were truly back to their childhood
now, playing tag in an endless green.
Completely lost
in their war game, Ken rushed forward, his lips curved in that kind of grin
you'd expect to see on the Kaiser's face. Or better yet on Daisuke's.
Utterly unaware of his every action, moving only following his deepest instinct,
the paler skinned boy darted forward at max speed, bowing slightly, his mind
focused on tackle the
ball out of the tan skinned boy's possession. Daisuke suddenly stopped and
jumped backward, easily dodging Ken's attack and still grinning like a fool.
The other boy
grinned up at his opponent and bent his torso backward, sliding swiftly toward
him. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, panting heavily. And Daisuke
was on top of him, panting, his eyes glazed with something Ken couldn't
define. Forgotten, the soccer ball rolled away from them, stopping to move in
the same moment the whistle blew, signalling the end of the game. The world
around them exploded in cry of happiness as all the other player rushed round
the field, but the two didn't even cast them a glimpse, instead focused on
each other's quick, yet short and panting breathing.
Somehow they
ended up remaining alone in the field, with the exception of the other chosen
children who were now rushing downstairs through the underpass, both shocked and
utterly happy.
"…Dai…"
Ken smiled, shifting inside Daisuke's arms. He had his hands over each of
Ken's shoulders, his forearms on the purple haired boy's chest. Ken's own
hands were at the sides of his face, palms up, and he was looking at Daisuke
with half lidded eyes. Daisuke smiled back, shifting his arms so that now the
other boy was trapped between them. Then, without a second thought, he softly
leaned backward stealing Ken another kiss.
It was soft and
sweet, nothing more than a quick peck, but that was all Ken's already flushed
cheeks needed right then to turn to a brilliant red.
Ken blinked
quickly, half frowning and half smiling, to keep back the burning moisture that
was welling up into his eyes.
"…Dai…"
he whispered huskily, slowly enclosing Daisuke's neck in a loose hug.
The tan skinned
boy shifted, the same red tone which was on Ken's cheeks quickly creeping over
his. He leaned slowly toward Ken, his lids drifting down.
"Daisuke!!!!!!!"
Daisuke slowly
looked up, and gently freed himself from Ken's tentavive hug as he stood up to
his knees. Miyako. Miyako was running toward him. Ken propped up to his
forearms, eyes not quiet meeting Daisuke's, and slowly turned toward the
lavender-haired girl who was rushing desperately toward them. Ken's usually
clear eyes darkened for a brief moment, shadowed by something that a fool could
mistake for jealousy, but which+ Ken knew perfectly well to be…
To be…
To be…
Jealousy.
Pure and strong
jealousy.
Unclaimed, unbidden and unrighteous, but nevertheless it was
there.
Burning and boiling it was there.
So you could easily imagine how loud that
jealousy-not-jealousy screamed and how hard it twisted Ken's heart when Miyako
tackled Daisuke with a hug. And when, giving
a whoop of joy, Miyako send both of them to fall on a heap, disengaging
Daisuke's legs from around Ken's body. The sudden lack of contact was
maddening and Ken hardly suppressed a little growl, turning away not to see
Daisuke slowly stood up to a sitting position, stroking the back of Miyako, who
was now crying freely on his shirt.
"Hush…" he
whispered quietly, giggling softly. "There's no need to cry!"
Miyako just shook
her head silently, gripping to Daisuke's shirt as if her life depended on it.
Ken looked away, trying to deal with that feeling that couldn't be jealousy but
resembled it so much. Glad to have a distraction, he rolled away from the two
and stood on his feet, greeting with a smile the remained didigidestined as they
approached them.
"Dai's
back!" he said, with nothing but joy sparkling in his eyes.
It was then that
Daisuke tensed up and that Miyako, consequently, looked up at him giving out a
small cry.
Ken looked
around, only to see Daisuke focused guilty on the grass below.
"you're
here…to *stay*, right?" Ken asked, his voice both pleading and desperately
demanding.
"I'm…"
Daisuke licked his lips, looking down at Miyako. She sniffled, but didn't turn
away. "Miyako…" he said softly, ever so softly that Ken's heart ached.
"do you love me?"
The girl tensed,
suddenly looking away. "Miyako…" he pleaded, turning her head so that she
was facing him once more. "Please. I need to know."
Ken closed his
eyes painfully as Miyako gave a little nod and embraced Daisuke tightly, not
able to say anything else.
However, when the
tan skinned boy hugged her back, it was only for a brief moment. Then, he softly
pulled away, looking around at his friends.
"You were
worried…for *me*?"
Hesitant nods answered his hope-filled voice and he nodded back, his
eyes sliding over his friends' concerned faces. He surveyed them all, a rush
of warmth coursing through him. They all looked so concerned for him, so genuine
happy, although he could tell that they were battling some inane guilt deep
inside.
He smiled at the sight, brown eyes dancing and sparkling.
"Thank you. All of you. Thank you." He lowered his gaze to smile at
the girl still gripping his shirt and then he gently pulled away, raising to his
feet. "He truly did it…" he murmured, tears shimmering in his eyes. "He
gave me all I wanted." He looked up at his friend, with a sorry smile tugging
his lips. "He gave me someone who love me and care for me." Suddenly he looked
down, focusing on the soft blades of grass dancing at his feet. "He really did
it." He whispered, his rich brown
eyes glistening. He swiped at them furtively with the heel of his hand, refusing
to acknowledge the burning moisture tingling his eyes.
A flash of pain streaked by the young
man's countenance as he opened his mouth. "…I…" There was a slight
pause. During which he mouthed something silently, not ready to say anything
aloud. Then, when he looked up and spoke, his voice sounded strangely sad.
"I'm happy." He beamed and then closed his eyes, painfully, as the
mist engulfed him in a glacial embrace.
Ken was looking at him quizzically and was on the verge of replying when
he became aware of a sound coming from behind Daisuke. As a reply to Daisuke's
earlier words, a blinding light had appeared behind the tan skinned boy who
slowly shifted, casting a glance at whatever –or whoever– was behind him,
and then looked forward again, the shadow of a smile on his lips.
"What the hell??" Tai mumbled as he took a step forward.
The now greenish mist behind him began to bubble and shimmer as the
humming that usually issued from a digievolution escaped the now fading light,
escalating into something that resembled a pain-filled scream.
The scream stopped as the light disappeared and the form which had
materialized within the fog took a step forward.
It was a form Ken hadn't seen for two long and yet too short weeks...
"Are you ready child?" The Kaiser's digimon questioned as he
stepped closer to Daisuke.
The tan skinned boy nodded mutely as he languidly turned around. The
huge digimon kneel down to allow him to climb up on his back, and the spread his
white wings, opalescent in the residue light of his apparition, turning slowly
toward the humans and digimon who were looking angrily at him.
Ken licked his lips.
Daisuke's eyes held no longer the fire which used to blind and
fascinate him. His usually open and bright face was now devoid of expression.
And it was with a blank stare that he smiled at them, making him shiver.
"He'll let you go if you won't follow me. He'll let the game
stop here. He had already got his prize."
"What…" Miyako murmured, silent tears streaming down her face, now
twisted in shock and pain. "what prize?"
"He made me happy." Daisuke smiled. "And this will make him
happy."
"What?!" Ken shouted, taking a step forward. Daisuke turned toward
him, his eyes flashing with their usual vitality for a brief moment.
"He gave me what I wanted. Now, he'll have what he wants." He
pointed his chest mutely, before pat gently the huge digimon on his neck.
The gigantic creature nodded back and, casting a last glimpse at the
ones in front of him, he turned around and jumped in the air.
"Daisuke!!" Ken yelled, running after the fading image of the huge
digimon, eaten away by the bright light of the sun. He fell on his knees then,
when there was no sign of Daisuke around.
"…he wanted to make Dai happy…I was right…" Kari whispered.
Eyes wide and shimmering with tears and mouth hanging open in mute
shock, Ken slowly turned around to see the child of light clasp her hands
against her mouth as if she was sick. Her knees gave up on her and she fell
silently in the arms of a over-worried Takeru, who glanced worriedly up at Ken.
"A game?! A prize?!" Miyako wept, doing her best to battle her
tears. "This…this was all a game for the Kaiser? We were all toys for
him?!"
Ken swallowed, suddenly remembering how the Kaiser had always talked
about all this as a game.
And how he had claimed them all as his new toys.
For a moment, a wave of nausea run up his throat, just the memory of
being once one with the monster enough to made him sick. "we were toys…"
"Yes we were." Koushirou's voice made his heart skip a beat. "We
were just pawns in his hands." Big purple eyes danced up to lock in a pair of
cinnamon ones and there stopped, unable to move away. "but…" he said as he
looked around. "…I know the rules of this game." He proclaimed, attiring
disbelieving states upon him.
"He played with Daisuke and Ken's life." He said. "…and used
all of us as figureheads on his play, moving us on his chessboard as he
pleased." He narrowed his eyes then, seeing how the others weren't grasping
what had been done to them.
"Can't you see it?" he spat, spreading his arms around. "first
he gave Daisuke's goggles to Ken, the goggles of the *leader*. Then he left
him to hang down the same cliff were he had already chained Daisuke, the
previous bearer of the goggless. And
now this!" he yelled, balling his fists. "..he staged Daisuke's life using
Ken as the main character!!"
The red-headed boy stopped, taking deep breaths in to calm
down, as he heard everyone gasp. "And now…" he paused, taking his time to
survey all the digidestined. "…it's time to play the final act." He
nodded to Ken, who nodded back mutely. "…Kimeramon's apparition and the
Kaiser's final defeat."
=========================================
To be continued in part 06: Truth
::pants:: wow, I
did it ^_^ I started typing this chapter when I was a little feverish some days
ago and never had the *force* to revise or end it…anyway, we're *really*
near the end. I don't think I'll manage to end everything in the next
chapter, but I'm not sure…however, this will be at max 7-chapter long…
Daisuke = If her
fingers won't start typing whatever they want, without follow what he brain
tell them ::nods::
Ken = and
that's what usually happen…
Nemesi-chan =
::sweatdrop:: what can I do if I get carried away?! That just means I like this
fic!! ::coughs:: I hope ya all are having fun reading it just as I'm having
fun writing it…
See ya in the
next chapter!!!!
Ja-ne
minna!