Some Things Are Best Kept A Secret…

By Kawaii Kitty

Chapter Ten

Morning After

Miyako's eyes opened when the horrible creak of the jail cell door opening. Ken had been in a bad mood the previous night and sent her to sleep in her cell. He did, however, allow her to have a sheet from his bed to sleep under. Miyako sat up and rubbed her eyes, grabbing her glasses from beside her and placed them on her face and looked toward the door to see Wormmon standing there with an innocent look on his face.

Miyako gave a smile. "Good morning, Wormmon." She said cheerfully.

Wormmon blinked and gave her a kind look. "Good morning." He said with a small bow. "The Kaiser is waiting in the dining hall. He awaits your presence." He said very formally.

Miyako gave him a giggle and looked to the large array of clothes she had designed for herself in the ample light of her cell in the night. "Thanks. If you would just avert your eyes so I could dress…"

Wormmon found this human custom odd, but closed his eyes and did an about-face. "Alright."

Miyako picked a dress that she had spent long hours devising the night before. The dress had a dark violet top and a long black skirt that sat just below her ankles. The top was made of silk and had no sleeves, but had a high collar. On the back, where her shoulder blades were a fine embroidery of a pair of white wings. She picked a pair of long black crushed velvet gloves for her arms and the boots she had worn the day before and then smiled at Wormmon, proud of her new look. "Alright! Let's go grub!"

Wormmon lead Miyako through the halls and up to the Kaiser's dining hall. As she entered the room, she noticed Ken sitting in his normal place, looking none too happy. He hardly even seemed to notice Miyako's extravagant clothing choice.

He sat up straight and glared down at Wormmon. "It's about time. I'm starving over here."

The green worm nodded. "F…Forgive me, master. I shall go and prepare it now." He scuttled off to a door on the far left to prepare breakfast for the both of them.

Miyako watched and gulped, walking to her chair and sitting in it. "Is everything alright, sir?" she asked him politely.

He scoffed. "Why does it matter to you? I'm pretty sure you'd rather see me dead anyhow."

"That's not true! I…" Miyako silenced herself before she could continue.

Ken raised an eyebrow, intrigued by her answer. "Yes… I'm listening."

Miyako shook her head and sighed. "It's… nothing. No need to worry." She sighed and looked down at the floor. It had been too long. She missed her friends terribly.

Iori awoke in the forest covered with Daisuke's jacket. The light leaked through the treetops onto his small, shivering body. He winced a bit and sat up, noticing the weight of Armadimon across his lap holding him back. He groaned a bit and looked around, the morning sunlight hurting his young, green eyes. He heard a gasp and a few footsteps. "Takeru! Iori is waking up!" More footsteps followed and revealed Hikari and Takeru to Iori's line of sight.

"Iori… are you alright…?" Takeru asked him, his face showing concern.

Iori looked up at him for a moment before looking away shamefully. "Hai…but… how did you know I was here…?"

Hikari gave him a gentle smile. "Armadimon sent us a distress call soon after you fell asleep… we spent the night here…"

Iori's face flushed brightly. "You… you waited all night for me?" Hikari nodded. "Why didn't you take me home…?"

Takeru laughed and put his white fisherman's hat on Iori's head of short brown hair. "Your mom would have gotten just a little suspicious if we appeared at your front door with her son in our arms."

Hikari gave a small giggle and leaned in, kissing Iori's cool forehead as gently as a flower petal grazing his skin. "He's right. We couldn't risk it. And besides," She stood up and brushed some of her honey brown hair from her eyes. "We promised to look for Miyako first thing in the morning, didn't we?"

Iori nodded and smiled, reaching out a hand and running it along Armadimon's smooth shell. "We did…thank you so much for coming out here…"

Takeru was about to say something when he heard the voices of Daisuke, Tailmon, Hawkmon, Patamon, and V-mon approaching. The three of them turned toward the advancing group.

"I still say that the purple ones woulda been the sweetest!" Daisuke's voice called.

Patamon's high voice called after him. "Sure, if you like being poisoned!"

Daisuke sighed softly and looked at the shiny green fruit he had collected in the basin of his shirt. "But green's such an ugly color. It's just bound to kill us."

Hawkmon sighed softly and shook his feathery head. "The Digital World is much different from your human one…"

Daisuke shot Hawkmon an odd look "Gee, ya think, featherbrain?" Daisuke rolled his eyes, then spotted Iori and smiled. "The young prince is awake!"

Iori blushed softly and smiled at Daisuke. "The young prince thanks you for your jacket, Daisuke." The group had a nice laugh for a few minutes before Iori's expression turned grave. "Excuse me… everyone? I…want to say something."

Miayko's Digimon, a small eagle-looking monster set his pile of fruit down on the ground. "Yes? And just what is it that you wish to say, Iori?" he asked.

Iori looked down, a guilty expression embedded on his young face. "I… want to apologize for the way I behaved yesterday… I was being inconsiderate and not thinking about what was best for everyone else…"

Takeru smiled down at Iori and kneeled next to him. "Hey, it's okay. We all have bad days; don't worry. You were just worried about Miyako. That's perfectly understandable. I mean, if the person I loved was in danger like that, I probably would have acted like you did.."

Iori looked up at Takeru, a small amount of shock on his face. "…Do you mean that, Takeru…?"

Takeru smiled and mussed Iori's short brown hair with his hand. "Sure do… We all know where you're coming from. There's no need to worry. What seems like a bad thing passes, just like a rain cloud." Takeru offered a sweet smile to the young boy.

Iori thought for a minute, and then looked up at Takeru. "But… I like rain clouds…"

In the Kaiser's base, breakfast had already been served and eaten. As soon as Wormmon had cleared the dishes from the long table, Ken rose from his seat, glaring dangerously at Miyako.

"Get back in those disgusting clothes you were wearing yesterday." He said angrily.

Miyako wiped her mouth and looked at Ken oddly. "What? What for? I like this dress."

Ken glared at her, obviously feeling very impatient with her. "Must you question Every Little Thing that I ask you to do? Is it so hard to just nod, stand and say, 'yes master' every now and again?"

Miyako felt a small pang of guilt sock her in the stomach, even though she was doing what she had needed to do, defy the Kaiser. She lowered her head and nodded. "Yes, Master…" she said quietly. She rose from her seat and walked quickly from the room, not waiting for Ken to make a response.

Walking down the corridors that were now becoming familiar, Miyako began thinking, wondering just what she had been thinking when she had obeyed him. Yes it was true that she harbored a mild obsession over him, but when he still lived on Earth, what Tokyo teen girl didn't? She didn't understand why she let herself obey him. She looked to her wrist where her glove rose over the Dark Ring he had placed there the day before. Maybe that had something to do with it. Yeah, that had to be it.

Miyako pushed open the cell door that Wormmon had left open for her and walked to a small pile of clothes, digging out her vest, turtleneck, gloves, pants, boots, and helmet. As she was in the midst of dressing, she heard the familiar clip-clip of Ken's shoes tapping on the floor. Miyako hunched in a corner and quickly got her shirt over her head before he got the idea of creating a repeat of the day before. Miyako was still sore from that experience.

The Kaiser stood back in front of Miyako's cell, watching her pull on the last of her clothes. "Are you quite done?" he asked, exasperated.

Miyako gave a yelp and turned to face the Kaiser behind her. She shot him a defiant glare and fixed her shirt, then zipped up her vest. Fixing her glasses, she stepped forward to the door of the cell. "I am now," she spat at him.

Ken glared right back at her, bringing the back of his hand hard across her cheek as she stepped out of the cell. "You should know better than to speak to me with that tone." He didn't wait for her to respond, but instead made his way quickly and anxiously back down the hall he had come from. After walking a few meters, he stopped and looked back at Miyako, who had not moved. "Come on! We don't have all day, you know!"

Miyako held her cheek and looked to the floor as she began following him reluctantly, unable to help herself. Her mind once again drifted back to what she had said after breakfast. She had said that of her own free will, but this was not. He had her on a verbal leash that may be tighter than he realized.

After a few minutes of sulking behind Ken, she realized that he had come to a stop in front of a door. Miyako looked up and around, remembering this scene from the day before. She looked at Ken as his fingers diligently typed away on the number pad that held the lock to the door. When it slid open, Miyako nearly jumped back a foot.

Ken stepped into the room, looking back at Miyako. "Come in. If anything's going to kill you in here, it's going to be my own hands."

Miyako looked down. "That's reassuring," she mumbled before following him into the room. Once in, the light from the tubes that lined the walls lighted up Miyako's complexion. Her eyes scanned the walls, vaguely identifying some of the Digimon that were in the tubes. "What… What is this place…?"

Ken grinned back at her. "This is the future today." He lifted his arms to indicate either his authority or to show off his handiwork, Miyako couldn't quite tell. "My hands built each and every one of the creatures in here." He gave a soft chuckle and brought his arms back down. "My creations…the real purpose behind the dark rings."

Miyako looked at him with a shocked look on her face. "Wh… What do you mean, 'the real purpose'?" she asked, her voice wavering in fear.

Ken grinned evilly. "You thought the dark rings were just to claim complete and utter control over Digimon, didn't you?" He released another chilling laugh and strode to Miyako, taking her chin into his gloved hand. "Poor ignorant girl…" he said, shaking his head. "The Dark ring extracts a small portion of Digital Code from the creature that it has captured. Once the code is extracted, the data is sent back to my lab and deposited into this room. Here, I take the data from other Digimon and mold them together, after uploading a hand-made virus into their systems, of course."

Miyako listened to his words, her face contorting into an expression of utter horror and disgust. "So… You're creating Digimon Clones…"

Ken raised an eyebrow at her, and then grinned. "Essentially, yes." He said simply.

Miyako suddenly felt the urge to projectile vomit. Her body shaking, she swallowed the desire and glared at Ken, snapping her head away from his hand. "That… That's horrible! That's Disgusting! How could you think of tampering with life like this?!"

Ken reached out and took a more firm hold on Miyako's face. "I can do as I want here, Girl. In this realm, I Am GOD."

"No you're NOT!" Miyako practically screamed into his face. "You're no more God than me or Worrmon, here!"

Apparently, Miyako had pushed a button on Ken. This button, however, was labeled, "Self-Destruct". Ken let go of her face and struck her with an open-palm, pouring every ounce of his anger into it, sending her sailing to the floor.

He snarled and looked down at her. "You little whore… If you want proof of my authority over this world, then I will give it to you…" He turned to a panel that was raised from the ground. He pressed a few buttons on it and grinned as a tube on the wall in front of Ken lifted its glass, thick ooze pouring out from it.

Miyako lay on the cold tile-like floor of this strange lab she had been dragged into. She groaned a bit as she tried to get up but was kicked back down by the Kaiser.

"Stay down there, you unworthy wench." He spat, giving her a cold, uncaring look. Miyako held her stomach and groaned as the Kaiser gave a small grin.

His grin widened as he looked ahead of them. A small creature had fallen onto the floor from one of the tubes on the wall. A thick green liquid was pouring from the direction of the creature. Miyako propped herself up to look at it and gave a small yelp as it came in contact with her bare hands. It was strangely cold, not at all unlike sticking a hand into a bowl of pure evil. Miyako shuddered and sat up, scooting closer to the Kaiser to separate herself from the translucent goo.

The Kaiser noted her presence and sighed a bit. Keeping cool, he gave a confident smile and raised his head. "Awaken, BlackTailmon!"

There was a flash of bright red from the creature before them. The creature stood and made its way toward them. Its eyes were a cool blue color and its body more black than a thousand nights. It had a long tail, which had a dark violet spiral stripe wrapping around it. It had a small body not unlike that of Hikari's Tailmon, complete with gloves and all. Around the tail, instead of a golden Holy Ring sat one of the Kaiser's own Dark Rings.

BlackTailmon lifted its eyes to the Kaiser, speaking in a smooth, rather masculine voice. "What is your wish, Master?

Miyako gasped at the creature, then winced in pain and held her sore ribs. Ken gave a small smile and walked to the damp cat, kneeling down next to it and stroking its head.

"My sweet BlackTailmon… We have a small errand to run, and I require your assistance." Ken said in a gentle coo.

BlackTailmon gave a gentle, appeased smile at Ken, and then bowed his head, standing up on his hind legs with his long tail swishing behind him menacingly. "I will do as my master commands of me. I live to serve, and serve to live."

Ken grinned and nodded, standing up to his full height. "That's excellent... just the type of thing I needed to hear…" He turned to Miyako and glared at her. "Finally… something that shows me a little respect…" He made a disgusting hocking noise and spit at her.

Miyako glared up at the Kaiser and wiped the thick liquid from her face, sighing softly as she got to her feet painfully, then followed him, her eyes set on the floor in front of her.

'What have I gotten myself into…?' she wondered to herself. 'First, he kidnaps me, and then we make love, and now willing obedience? What's wrong with me? He's the enemy… I… can't still feel that way about him… it's just not possible.' She sighed softly. 'This… just isn't making any sense…'

A/N: It took me nearly three months… maybe longer… to get this up and it's finally done! I'm proud of myself… This chapter may suck, but at least it's out, right? *Gets pelted with rotten fruit* Anyway, I'm gonna start working on the next chapter as soon as I can evade my homework and friends long enough to focus. Just so you know… this story is a loooooong way from getting finished. So if you'll all just stick in and enjoy the ride, I know it'll be worth your time. As always, if you have questions or comments, E-mail them to me at Dejimon_Kaizers_Slave@Hotmail.com or my AIM, Otaku Neko Girl. I love you all! Goddess Bless!

Chapter Preview

Miyako looked at her group of friends as they fought fruitlessly against the shadowy killing machine. Miyako couldn't believe how fast the BlackTailmon moved and with how much force it put in. Though it only took the form of an Adult Digimon, it had the force of something incredible, almost godlike.

The BlackTailmon landed on its already bloodstained haunches, his tail flickering dangerously in the air. His eyes shone a dark red, almost the color of blood. As he landed, Miyako noted that Halsemon was the first to slam into the fertile earth, followed by Flamedramon, Digmon, and Pegasmon, leaving the white sphinx in the air. BlackTailmon just gave a small grin as he looked up at her.

Ken snarled a bit and tightened his hold on Miyako's wrist as pure reaction. "What the hell are you doing, BlackTailmon?! Attack her!"

Miyako looked at the Digimon as it looked back at Ken. There was an odd twinge in his eyes that she noticed. Perhaps Ken had made it too much like himself. She could have sworn she saw the little cat grin before looking away, unmoving except for his tail. Miyako gasped as she realized just what the small actions were. The first signs of defiance…