Author's notes: 1. Tk and Ken are two of my favourite charters so I may delve into their friendship a bit. I know it's supposed to be Ken and Davis that are really close but I still think Ken and Tk have a better friendship. I think they would understand each other more.
2. ~*~ : a change of scene. ~Flashback~ is obviously a flashback.
3. I have subconsciously added a bit of Taiora and Mimato. I won't add much of Mimato, just a few hints. But I kinda did the Taiora parts without thinking. I can't change that now but my main focus will be the Takari and Kenyako.
Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.
The Crests Within. Chapter Two.
Tk Takaishi readjusted the strap of his bag as he walked back to the dorm which he shared with Saka and Ken. He pulled his keys out his pocket and shoved them into the lock, opening the door he dropped his bag to the floor and slammed the door shut. He sighed and went over to the fridge, grabbing a carton of Orange juice. He pulled a glass out and poured the drink absentmindedly. The juice spilled over the side of the glass and onto his gloves. Tk hissed and pulled away, growling he dumped the glass and carton into the sink. Turning his back he pulled his glove off, he grabbed a towel and dried his hand then looked back at his sodden glove. It was black and fingerless, he didn't appear to need fully fingered gloves. Maybe it was only the palms of his hands. He looked back at his hand, it looked normal. He bit his lip, how he wished it was.
~Flashback~
"Oh if it isn't the little runts."
"Ignore him." Ken whispered and the pair carried on walking.
"You not listening to me eh?"
Tk tuned out Benjiro's words and concentrated on Ken. Benjiro was what one would call the school bully. Ken and Tk really didn't know how he had gotten into their school, he really wasn't that smart. He didn't like that many people. But he hated Ken and Tk. It was probably because of the time he was harassing Saka. She had come back to the dorm crying with finger marks on her arms, she had dropped into their arms and sobbed her heart out. Saka never cried, she prided herself on being tough and fearless. She hadn't cried since she was nine and she hadn't planned on doing so ever again. She had told them that he had pinned her against the wall and whispered disturbing thoughts into her ear. She managed to get away when a teacher came down the corridor. After begging them not to go up to him because he would find a way to deny it and get them into trouble they had agreed. But they promised they would stop him as soon as possible. The opportunity arrived at Lunchtime the next day, he had pulled her away, Ken and Tk followed. They had yanked Saka out of his grasp and yelled at him, screaming at him for hurting their friend. He had then attacked, but Binshou school taught the boys self defence. And Tk and Ken were very good at it, probably because of all their times in the digital world, they didn't know. But they knew enough to take him down. A crowd had gathered by the time they had thrown Benjiro to the ground and so had some teachers. They refused to listen to the pair, and had given them two month's detention. But they had achieved their goal, he never came near Saka again.
Ken's phone went, he gave Tk an apologetic look and flicked it open and walked away to a shop corner.
"I asked you a question. Answer it!" Benjiro screamed, Tk ignored him. The bully threw himself at Tk. The two landed on the ground. Like most bullies Benjiro was well built and a lot heavier than the blonde. They scrambled around on the ground for a while before Benjiro managed to get Tk pinned. Holding the squirming Tk down he proceeded to punch him, again and again. Tk could feel the side of his face swelling as the brunette continued to attack him.
"When I've put you and your friend in hospital I'm going to go after your precious Saka. I'll get her and you won't be able to stop me!" He hissed in Tk's ear as he raised his fist to punch again.
"No!" Tk yelled out and he wrenched his arms free and grabbed Benjiro's fists as it came flying through the air. Benjiro froze, as did Tk. His eyes rolled to the sky fixing on it as his body began to shake. Ken ran over after hearing Tk's yell and pulled the bully off Tk, Benjiro collapsed as Tk pulled himself into a ball rocking backwards and forwards.
He wasn't sure what happened next, he just remembered a great hate swelling inside of him. It wasn't his hatred, it was Benjiro's.
"Tk are you alright?"
The blonde had looked up and Ken had hissed a lot of swear words under his breath.
"What happened to your eyes?"
They had gone from a bright blue to a dull hazel, a hazel just like Benjiro's. The hatred inside of him swelled, taking control of his body and mind. He launched himself at Ken. His hands landing on the boy's bare arms. And once again he had frozen, feeling a new emotion swelling inside of him. Kindness. It overtook the hatred and anger, causing him to revert back to his normal self. He had pulled away and collapsed on the floor, barley hearing Ken's voice because of the ringing in his ear.
"Tk!"
"What's the matter with you Tk?"
"Don't you recognise me?"
"Tk!"
"Wormmon where are you? I need help!"
A door slammed snapping Tk out of his memories. He looked up at Ken, who in turn gave him a soft smile.
"How are you?"
"Fine." He answered and he turned around, his back facing Ken. The boy reached out and Tk jerked away, waving his glove in Ken's face.
"Put it on the radiator."
Tk obeyed setting his glove down before he went back to pouring his drink. He sat down on the sofa turning the TV on. Ken sat down beside him, a packet of crisps in one hand, a drink in the other. Tk tried to listen to the TV, but all he could hear was a buzzing noise.
"You going to ignore me forever?"
"I'm not ignoring you."
"Seems like it to me." Ken commented as he raised an eyebrow at the blonde. Tk didn't reply, simply locked his eyes on the TV.
"See you are ignoring me."
"Ken would you stop it!" Tk yelled turning to face his friend.
"What is ignoring me going to achieve Tk?"
Tk's anger vanished replaced by a very pained look. He turned away from Ken, not meeting his eyes. Ken placed a hand on his shoulder, "Come on Blondie. What are you hiding?"
"I don't want to hurt anyone."
"You won't."
"I will, I hurt you last time."
Tk's blue eyes held such a great amount of pain and guilt that Ken nearly pulled away when Tk turned his eyes towards him. Ken bit his lip, last night had not been good.
~Flashback~
"Wormmon where are you? I need help!"
Ken whispered as he shook Tk's limp form. He growled and checked his pulse, he was fine. He crawled over to Benjiro, he wasn't. His pulse was slowly yet surely slowing down.
"Tk what happened?" Ken murmured, as the pale boy pushed a lock of hair behind his ear. He felt incredibly weak. He was ready to collapse but he knew he couldn't. Something had happened, something important and he had to find out what. He shook the blonde again and this time received a reaction. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes, Ken did a retake. His eyes were slowly fading from the dull Hazel back to blue.
"Tk what happened?"
"I . . I don't know. I think I absorbed his hatred."
Ken frowned, placing a finger to his cheek. How was that possible.
"I think I also absorbed some of your Kindness."
Ken blinked and looked at Tk.
"What now?"
"I might be able to give it back."
"How?"
Tk dragged himself over to Benjiro. Somehow he knew what to do. It was like being an expert at riding a bicycle and then not bothering to do so for a year. And when you get back on the bike you think you're going to fall off, but somewhere deep in your subconscious knows and tells you what to do. His subconscious knew what to do and as it he obeyed it. He held his hands above Benjiro and closed his eyes. A golden glow spread out from his palms, the air below them seemed to sparkled and glitter. And quite suddenly Benjiro snapped his eyes open.
"You." He hissed at Tk, getting ready to fight again when a police officer walked down the street.
"What are you boys doing."
"Nothing Sir." Ken called out grabbing Tk by the arm and pulling him away. Just before he rounded the corner Tk called out to the bully.
"Do you hate us?"
"Of course I do."
Tk smiled and nodded, he quickly held his hands over Ken's chest. The same effects happened. Ken immediately felt as if a part of him had been given back. He felt completely whole again. He had looked over at Tk and smiled, they had turned and walked home.
~End Flashback.~
Ken had given Tk the gloves when they had gotten back, they had then spent hours discussing what happened. They had come to the conclusion that Tk could somehow absorb people's emotions. The reason Benjiro had started to die was that your emotions were a part of your soul, and you couldn't live without your soul. So he had started to fade away. Ken had been slower as Tk had only taken a small part of his emotions. But enough to kill him over a certain amount of time.
"Tk, with the gloves you're not going to hurt anyone. But what you have to understand is that we have to find out what is happening to you. We should call the digidestined." Ken decided as an after thought, standing up and heading for the phone.
"No." Tk grabbed Ken's arm, careful not to let the bare skin on his hand touch Ken's. "Not yet, I can't face them now."
Ken nodded and instead pulled his laptop open, "I'll e-mail Gennai, I'll make sure that he doesn't tell the others. Okay?"
Tk nodded and watched as Ken furiously typed away at the keyboard. Things had just got a lot harder.
Ken smiled slightly over the rim of his mug as he watched Tk collapse into the armchair. Gennai hadn't replied to their e-mail yet, it had now been a week and the pair were trying to act normal.
"Bad day?"
"You have no idea." Tk declared as he covered his eyes with his hands. Ken chuckled and set down his tea.
"Did the Head Mistress intricate you as well?"
"That was the beginning." Tk murmured from behind his hands, Ken just smirked. The door opened and Saka walked in, she smiled tiredly before dropping onto the sofa next to Ken.
"Can you believe the Head Mistress would think that we put worms in the spaghetti?"
Tk laughed at that point, a twinkle resurfacing in his eyes.
"Well you know we haven't been the best students in the world . . . . ."
"Yeah there was the time we coated her assistant in mud."
"And the time we let the frogs loose in the science lab."
"Or the time we left lots of cheese in the Maths room and opened the cages in the science store room that contained thirty rats."
The three smiled, they were the most loved students at Binshou's boarding school, the three were smart, good looking and loved playing tricks on the teachers. Most people adored them especially after they threw the test papers in the pool and claimed that the window had been left open and they had floated out. Yep, Tk, Ken and Saka were a cheekier version of Tai, Matt and Sora. Weird how the most innocent of people turned out to be the ones that put the itching powder in the washing powder.
"I have to go." Saka said as she walked into her room, they could hear her running around getting ready.
"Where are you going?"
"Meeting the cheerleading squad for ice-cream."
Even though Saka hanged out with them they couldn't say she was a complete tomboy and didn't have any friends that were girls.
"Say hello to the Gal Pals for me."
"Very funny Ken." Saka hissed as she came out, tying her long hair in a ponytail. Tk snorted causing the girl to become even more annoyed.
"I wish the pair of you would stop calling them that. It's not very nice."
"Who said we were nice?" Ken asked, he looked over at Tk, pulling a fake confused face.
"Hilarious." Saka remarked dryly as she grabbed her keys stuffing them in her pocket and walking out the door. The boys smiled, there was nothing that a good dose of Saka teasing couldn't cure.
It was half an hour later that Ken and Tk found themselves wandering round Binshou aimlessly. It was Friday which meant they could stay out as long as they wanted. On most weekdays they were allowed to go out until eight, but at weekends they could stay up as long as they wanted or go and see their families. Ken and Tk went to see their parents every other weekend and usually called them once a week.
"You know after the digital world adventures, I kind of wished there was a disaster again." Tk whispered out of the blue suddenly, Ken looked over but Tk's eyes were fixed on the pavement.
"I wanted to see Patamon so much."
"I understand, I missed Wormmon terribly and I still do."
The two lapsed into silence, their minds on past memories not on the world around them. Maybe if they hadn't been lost so deep within themselves they would have noticed the rocks that were tumbling down from the cliff side to reach them on the beach. But as it was they didn't notice until they were sprayed with dirt and grim, with a huge rock a metre above them. Tk cried out covering his head with his arms. Ken threw his arms into the air, pointing them at the rock. They both shut their eyes waiting fro the inevitable, so Tk was very surprised when he didn't find himself flattened under a chunk of the cliff. He looked up and blinked, Ken was shaking and sweat was dripping from his face. His arms were still outstretched but what really shocked Tk was the fact that the huge rock was floating in midair. He watched as Ken slowly brought his arms round to the right, the rock moved to the right as well. With a sigh he pulled his arms back the rock dropped, spraying the pair in sand. Ken looked over at Tk, a confused expression on his face, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed.
Tk flung back his drink, allowing the cool water to rush down his dry throat. He wiped his grubby hands, desperately longing for a shower but not wanting to leave Ken. Tk had carried Ken back, luckily no one had been around seeing as it was round midnight. Otherwise there would have been questions asked, he had put him on the sofa and covered him with a blanket. That was half an hour ago, he rubbed his tired eyes forcing them to stay awake and watch over the violet haired boy. A soft moan shattered the quietness that seemed to have settled on the dorm.
"Ken?"
"T . . Tk?"
"Yes?"
"Wh . . what happened?"
"I'm not sure. Drink?"
"Yes please." He croaked as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, Tk handed him a glass of water which Ken drunk greedily. The boy wiped his mouth and faced the blonde.
"Now truthfully Tk, what happened?"
Tk looked down guilty, his brows furrowed.
"I'm different Ken, I'm changing and so are you."
"But changing into what Tk?"
"I'm afraid I don't know, but whatever it is that's morphing inside of us is very strong."
"So strong we may not be able to control it?"
Tk looked up and nodded, Ken bit his lip. He wanted to know what was wrong with him, what was going on. His first thought was to call the other digidestined. But what would they think of them? He now understood why Tk didn't want the others to know. The fear of rejection hung in the air and Ken just couldn't face that. Not now, not when he had fought against all odds to become friends and be accepted.
"Gennai again?" Tk asked, a small smile playing across his lips.
"That would be good."
"Takeru Takaishi, get your lazy ass out of bed!"
Tk winced and pulled his pillow over his head, it didn't block out the sound of persistent banging.
"Go away Saka!"
"Make me! Get up you baka."*
Tk mumbled something incoherent into his mattress. He and Ken had talked for a while longer before the pair had each had a shower and gone to bed. By then it had been Two Am, it was now Tk glanced over at his alarm clock, Six AM. Tk heard her footsteps walk away and her banging on Ken's door.
"I'm tired."
"Well it's not my fault the pair of you went to bed late."
They could hear her footsteps fade away slightly, "You promised me you were going to come with me to the park. So get your lazy butts out of bed."
They could hear her stomping across the hall and out the door. Tk yawned and pulled himself out of his bed, after pulling on his clothes he met Ken in the hall.
"Mornin'."
Ken yawned in reply to Tk's statement, Tk chuckled and walked towards the door when a beeping reached his ears. The blonde spun round and stared at Ken's laptop, flicking it open he stared at the e-mail."
"What the?!" Bright light enveloped Tk and Ken, their images flickered and they were pulled into the computer.
~*~
Kari tossed and turned in her bed, sweat beading on her forehead. She woke up with a strangled scream, causing her brother to run in.
"Kari?"
"Tk. . . Tk and Ken. Oh." She moans and buries her face in her hands, tears pricking her eyes.
"What is it?"
"They're after them."
Her huge fearful eyes lock onto Tai's and turning he runs for the phone. Time for a talk with the Digidestined.
To be continued . . .
* Baka is idiot in Japanese.
