Notes: been a while, eh? Sorry about that. Work situations did not permit any further ficcage and my previous home computer was being a pain in my ass. I have a new computer now though, and my boss is out at meetings. So, on with the fic!

Warnings: oh come on.

Disclaimer: again- oh come on!

Glass Statue- 4

Thinking was a strong suit for Takeru… on occasion. However, as he pondered over the possible excuses he could use to get out of work early, he was discovering that, perhaps, he was a blond at heart and not merely in hair color. "Damn," he muttered. "If Kari were here she'd know what to do."

He pouted again. Iori had long since departed on a mission to track down Miyako and find out just what the hell was going on. Chances were seventy to eighty-five percent that the Child of Light was with her Jogress partner. Takeru sighed. At least he knew where his girlfriend was. If she could even be called that…

Their relationship was something of a mystery to him. They went out to dinner and stuff and they kissed a lot, had sex on a fairly regular schedule… But neither of them had dropped those three words. Or any words on the subject really. It was beginning to irritate the blond. Along with thinking up excuses to leave, he was trying to think up ways to approach the subject with his… er… friend.

When his cell phone rang, he caught yet another dark glare from his manager before answering. "Moshimo-"

"TK?! TK are you still at work?" It was his brother. "You need to leave twenty minutes ago. Something's come up and I'm calling in my Family Emergency Excuse." There was a pause. "TK…?"

"Yama, just calm down and tell me what happened." Perfect. An excuse had come to him instead of him having to think it up.

"Ooh, you're good. Putting on your game face for the manager. Should I start wailing about family tragedy?"

It took every ounce of willpower Takeru had to not laugh. "No, don't worry about that. Just tell me where you are."

"You're way too good at this. I bet you aren't even smiling. Look, give me a call back after you leave, okay?"

Nodding, Takeru put the finishing touches on the conversation. "It's not a problem, Yamato. I need the money, but just stay where you are and try to remain calm. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"So, you'll call me back in, what, five minutes?"

In answer, Takeru snapped his cell phone shut and headed over to his manager with a practiced look of familial concern in his eyes. However, since he had been loud enough for everyone in the store to hear he didn't have to say a word. The manager just rolled her eyes and let him go.

It was almost disappointing. Walking out of the mall, Takeru mused that he would have to use his "my grandmother is on fire" excuse at a later date.

***

"All right, let's go over this one more time," Taichi still had one eyebrow up, looking suspicious. Well, as suspicious as possible considering his nose was still itchy. "You were expecting us… why, again?"

Sora raised an eyebrow in turn. However, being female, her brow won the contest because she knew the patented look of women everywhere. "Miyako called. She and your sister told me a few things." With utter satisfaction, she watched the bushy-haired young man back down. Her eyes darted quickly to the redhead in the party of four. "Some of the things they mentioned you may wish to discuss in private." As subtle as a sledgehammer between the eyes.

If Tai had been the sort to embarrass easily, he might have been concerned about the gentle flush across his cheeks. Instead, he nodded and grabbed Sora's arm. "Righty then! Back in a jif, kids." That said, he hauled her into her bedroom and shut the door.

Left in the living room, Koushiro, Yamato, and Ken blinked at the rapid shift of mood. It took a good five minutes before any of them managed to speak. When a voice broke the silence, it was Koushiro's- to absolutely no one's surprise.

"What the hell is she talking about?"

Yamato and Ken glanced at the redhead, at each other, at the redhead again, and finally at each other one last time.

Blue eyes narrowed as the blond put his hands on his hips. "And just how do you know about that?"

Ken gulped and hoped Yamato was in a forgiving mood and that he didn't want to play Twenty Questions like The Inquisition did. "Party two weeks ago?"

Fortunately, Yamato was a quicker thinker than his brother. "Oh shit, you heard all of that?" When Ken nodded, the blond flounced over to the couch and slumped down onto it. "You were supposed to walk away after the Daisuke part."

"From Miyako's reaction to everything I gathered that." Ken began studying his fingernails and tried to act as nonchalant as possible. "And your brother is on his way here isn't he? You realize he didn't know about The Project either."

Yamato went very quiet. "Shit," he muttered. Glancing at Koushiro, who looked completely lost, he tried to be hopeful. "So, where did you say Jyou was again?"

"Class," the redhead supplied, voice clipped. "What the hell are you two talking about? Someone better start telling me something before I call Miyako myself and leave you three at her mercy." For one of the good guys, the Chosen of Knowledge could be awfully vindictive sometimes.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Yamato yelled, "Tai! Get your ass back out here now!"

***

"I still can't believe that little booger had the nerve to run off!" Miyako was furious. No one- absolutely no one- walked out on her. Especially not when on a mission. Ken, whether he knew it or not, was in some very deep trouble. Not the kind of trouble that would get him grounded. Not the kind of trouble he could get out of by being cute or smart. The kind of trouble that he would have to get a new identity for. But then, Miyako would probably find him and kill him anyway. "That little son of a co-"

"Children," Hikari called out. "Children nearby!"

"Oh fuck the children!" Miyako was too enraged for decency. But at least she was being sincere. While she was at it… "And fuck Ken too!"

Kari sighed and offered a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. Looking up she squinted at the familiar figure headed their way. "Well, here comes Iori. Maybe he knows something? We can always hope."

"Stop talking about your boyfriend," Miyako muttered darkly, not caring whether her label was accurate or not. Two seconds later she had rounded on their younger friend and completed a full interrogation, only to find out that he knew absolutely nothing.

"Hey, I'm just as out of the loop as anyone here. So, stop taking your frustration out on me." Shoving Miyako's poking index finger away, the youngest of the Chosen gave a smirk trying to cover up his feelings. If he kept them tucked away, just deep enough, she would never have to know.

"But you're the inheritor of Knowledge, god dammit," Miyako snarled. "You're supposed to know these things." She kept ranting as she grabbed the front of Iori's shirt and pulled him close. "Where are they? Why are they running if they've got nothing to hide? What's going-"

"Miyako, if you don't let me go, I might have to do something drastic," Iori was his naturally calm self. His jade eyes never wavered, he never cringed. When it appeared that his friend hadn't heard he rolled his eyes, heaved a sigh, and looked to Kari for help. She just shrugged at him. All while Miyako kept ranting. Finally, giving in to impulses and the need to shut the Keeper of Love and Sincerity up once and for all, Iori decided to go for broke. He placed the steamiest kiss he could muster on Miyako's open mouth.

Five minutes later they were still kissing passionately while Hikari glanced at her watch, smiled at the gaping passersby, and tried to fade into the background.

***

Daisuke was still sequestered away from the Digidestined shenanigans. He had no idea how many emotional geysers were exploding all over the greater Tokyo Bay Area. In fact, the list of things Daisuke did know was fairly standard.

Point one, and the most obvious, he was almost done with Ken's gift. It had turned out slightly different than expected, but overall Dai was quite fine with that. He just hoped Ken would like it.

Point two, Ken was the Chosen of Kindness. So, even if he didn't like the gift or if he didn't return Daisuke's feelings, well, he had no choice but to be nice about it. Last time anyone had checked the Kaiser regalia had been retired years ago- with the exception of the whip, though no one really dared to ask why.

Point three, his friends readily supported his decision to finally (at long last!) take the plunge and have a Tell-All session with Ken. Now, if they would just listen to their own advice for a change…

Oh sure, Daisuke wasn't the prolific Keeper of Love, Knowledge, Sincerity, Light, Hope, or any of the other highly intuitive crests or tags. But he was, however, the newest declared Chosen of Friendship. And that meant he knew a lot more intimate secrets than the others might have guessed. For example, he knew Iori was in love with Miyako, but had yet to do anything about it. He was also acutely aware of the "relationship" between Hikari and Takeru… and what an unspoken mess it was. For all intents and purposes, they were a couple, but they were both so scared of actually talking about that fact, which resulted in overall mass confusion. Daisuke knew about the strange triangle that was Yamato, Taichi, and Koushiro- in that specific order no less. Yamato had fallen for Tai, who, of course, fell for Koushiro. As far as the blond and the brunette knew, the redhead was either asexual or preferred the comforts of his own hand. Daisuke knew all about The Project, as it had been pitched to him first. What a tangle that was. Lastly, he knew that the others (Sora, Mimi, Jyou, et al) were going to be pulled in no matter what.

Polishing up the last edge on his gift, Daisuke smiled. The Chosen were such an odd lot.

***

"Well, uh, you see… It's like this, um…" Taichi stammered his way through, trying not to vomit from nerves. Luckily for him, Sora swooped in to save his stomach.

"At Takeru's party, Yama and Tai staged a conversation for Ken about Daisuke's love for him." Ken blushed a perfect crimson, and Sora just kept right on trucking. "Apparently, he heard more than he was supposed to hear. Tai and Yama have been working on a project- the details of which are none of your fucking business." Koushiro's jaw closed with an audible 'click', and Sora kept going. "Miyako, Hikari, Takeru, and now probably Iori, are all pissed off that they don't know what's going on. Not that it matters, I'm sure all of that will work itself out in time." Taichi and Yamato paled. Sora paid them no heed. "Honestly, I really don't give a rat's ass about the Moron Twins here." Jabbing a thumb in the direction of said blond and brunette, she smirked at their indignant cries.

"Hey! Fuck you too!" From Taichi.

And, "You are such a bitch," from Yamato.

Sora rolled her lovely chestnut colored eyes and turned to Ken. "What I do care about, is whether or not you," she poked at Ken, "have been able to figure your ass from a hole in the ground."

With four pairs of eyes on him, Ken began to crack under the pressure. This was ridiculous. He was capable of figuring things out for himself. Though, he preferred to figure them out with the only other person the scenario involved… "Um, what?" Smiling hesitantly, he realized Sora wasn't going for it.

She coughed and gave him The Look. Tai shuddered and was glad her gaze was no longer pointed in his direction.

Ken struggled to breathe. Panic was setting in. Why should he have to explain himself to everyone else? Granted, if one of the Destined was effected, they were all… Damn. "Yes," he whispered and hung his head. This was not how he had intended this revelation to go. He had wanted… he wanted Daisuke- to be there, at least, to hear the words. Closing his eyes, Ken tried to make the world fade away.

Sora stepped forward and pushed Ken's hair out of his eyes. "There now. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Ken scowled and sniffled a bit. "Yes, it was." Thinking for a moment, he finally noticed the other three expressions of shock. "I hate you," was the last thing he said to Sora before his cell phone rang. It was a special ring. A song that he had picked out because it reminded him of only one person. Shaking like a leaf, he stood and left the room to take his phone call. The only bit of conversation the others heard was the achingly tender, "Hello."

*************

That should clear up a few things. Hopefully. Wait 'til The Project really gets rolling. That'll be fun. So, Ken's confused, Daisuke's ready to sweep him off his feet, Miyako & Iori are busy making out, Sora's playing den mother, Takeru & Hikari are messed up, and The Trio… well, you'll see. Fear not- more soon, plenty of good times, and the rest of the Destined will be brought in too! Review if you really feel the need.

P.S. I think I'm having too much fun poking at all the names and metaphors for the Digidestined- Keeper, Chosen, Child, Inheritor, etc… It's just funny!